Stephen Hays
- 2008
Two girls swap schools and experience some unexpected ups and downs in this coming-of-age comedy from Australia. Thirteen-year-old Esther Blueburger (Danielle Catanzariti) is a geeky misfit attending an upscale private school for girls, where she blends with the rest of the students like oil and water. Esther's parents Grace (Essie Davis) and Osmond (Russell Dykstra) have little concern for or understanding of her problems, and they're far more interested in her twin brother Jacob (Christian Byers). After being humiliated at her bat mitzvah, Esther wanders off and meets Sunni (Keisha Castle-Hughes), a seventeen-year-old high school student with a spunky attitude and little concern about what others think of her, an outlook encouraged by her mother Mary (Toni Collette), who makes a living as an exotic dancer. Esther and Sunni discover neither is happy at school, so they decide to switch places, with Esther pretending to be an exchange student at Sunni's public school. The switch goes over just fine at first, and Esther is welcomed warmly by her new classmates, but she discovers hanging out with an older crowd forces her to face some important new decisions, and she attracts the attentions of a boy who wants a more mature relationship than Esther can handle. Hey Hey, It's Esther Blueburger was the first feature film from writer and director Cathy Randall. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Keisha Castle-Hughes, Danielle Catanzariti, (more)
A man learns about life and love from someone who has only so much of each to spare in this romantic comedy-drama. Jack (Freddie Prinze Jr.) is an advertising executive in his early Thirties who has grown jaded before his time; he devotes his life to his work but doesn't believe in it, and is trapped in a cycle of habits and routines. One day, Jack meets Jill (Taryn Manning), a beautiful young woman who clearly has no idea how to get around New York; Jack helps give her directions and is soon taken by her charm and enthusiasm for life, even if he's too cynical to share her sunny optimism. Learning that Jill needs a place to stay, Jack offers to let her stay at his place, and while the arrangement is meant to be platonic, it doesn't take long for a romance to blossom between them. Jill encourages them to develop a manifesto for responsible and compassionate living and Jack's heart begins to open up, but when Jill begins disappearing in the evenings he suspects that something is wrong. While Jack imagines at first that Jill's met someone else, the truth is more serious -- she's living with cystic fibrosis and despite regular treatments has only so much time left. Jack and Jill Vs. The World was written, produced and directed by Vanessa Parise, who also appears in the supporting cast with Robert Forster and Charles Martin Smith. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Freddie Prinze, Jr., Taryn Manning, (more)
Adapted from the nonfiction book by Natalie Robins and Steven M.L. Aronson, Tom Kalin's Savage Grace recounts the true crime tale of the death of Barbara Baekeland. Stephen Dillane stars as Brooks Baekeland, the son of the man who invented Bakelite, one of the early forms of plastic. As the family fortune begins to decrease after years of wealth, Brooks marries Barbara (Julianne Moore), who desires to mingle in the highest social circles. They have a child, Antony, who is homosexual. Antony grows up to kill Barbara, in part because Barbara takes a personal interest in "curing" her son of his orientation. This was Kalin's first film since 1991's Swoon, a film about the infamous Leopold and Loeb murders. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Julianne Moore, Stephen Dillane, (more)
Just how far will some guys go to pay off a debt? Frank (Jason Lee) and Eddie (Crispin Glover) are a pair of inept would-be wise guys trying to scare up enough money to get out of the small Texas town they call home. They think their ship may have come in when Spider (Pruitt Taylor Vince), a local crime boss, offers them a big payday to drive a truck full of bootlegged cigarettes into Mexico. Frank and Eddie jump at the chance, but soon discover they're been made patsies in a scam when the truck turns out to have been booby-trapped, and by the end of the day they owe Spider a quarter-million dollars. Desperate to raise the cash, Eddie, a part-time gravedigger, hears that an exotic dancer with a rich sugar daddy has recently died, and was buried wearing a valuable diamond necklace. Frank and Eddie then hatch an elaborate scheme to exhume the stripper, swipe the necklace, and hold her remains for ransom. Drop Dead Sexy was the first directorial credit for writer and producer Michael Philip. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Crispin Glover, Jason Lee, (more)
Tim Kirkman wrote and directed Loggerheads, a film that follows three different storylines that all transpire over the course of a Mother's Day weekend, but take place at different times. One of the stories features a man who arrives in a coastal North Carolina town in order to preserve turtles that are endangered. He becomes involved with a local businessman and must decide where he feels in his heart that he belongs. A second story concerns a woman who begins to feel her small-town changing in ways that frighten her. She must face these changing social realities while constantly listening to the speeches of her minister husband. The third storyline involves a woman who intends to spend the weekend celebrating the holiday with her own mother while also attempting to make contact with the child she gave up for adoption years before. Loggerheads was a selection at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bonnie Hunt, Kip Pardue, (more)
David Mamet wrote the screenplay for this adaptation of his play about a man who suddenly stumbles into a new and dangerous life. Edmond Burke (William H. Macy) is on his way home from work one evening when he impulsively stops to have his fortune read by a woman who informs him, "You are not where you belong." When he does arrive home, Edmond soon falls into an argument with his wife (Rebecca Pidgeon), and he storms out into the city, where he stops at a bar for a few drinks. There, Edmond finds himself talking with a man (Joe Mantegna) who freely shares his racist views about the role of African-Americans in society, and suddenly Edmond begins letting go of the sense of self-control that has always governed his actions. After a crawl through the city's underbelly of watering holes, strip clubs, gambling dens, and brothels, Edmond comes face to face with the violence of this world, and unexpectedly finds himself responding in kind. Edmond also stars Julia Stiles, Denise Richards, Mena Suvari, Bai Ling, and Dylan Walsh; it was directed by Stuart Gordon, who worked often with David Mamet during their early days at Chicago's Organic Theater Company. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- William H. Macy, Joe Mantegna, (more)
A European exile finds herself a stranger in a strange land when she comes to the United States in this independent romantic comedy-drama. As a man ponders what to do with his family's estate after the death of his grandmother, he thinks back to how she first came to America shortly after World War I. Olaf (Tim Guinee) is a Norwegian-American farmer looking for a wife to share his home on the Minnesota prairie, and with eligible women in short supply locally, he sends away for a mail-order bride. Inge Ottenberg (Elizabeth Reaser) soon arrives at Olaf's doorstep, but while she's pretty, smart, and amiable, he's taken aback to discover she's not Norwegian but German, which after several years of anti-German propaganda does not make her popular with her new neighbors. Inge isn't very good with English, making it even harder to keep her background a secret, and the local pastor, Rev. Sorrensen (John Heard), is so outraged at the presence of a presumed Hun he refuses to perform their wedding. But Inge struggles to make friends with her new neighbors, in particular Olaf's best friend, Frandsen (Alan Cumming), a gadget fancier whose wife, Brownie (Alex Kingston), is better with mechanical items than he is. In time, Inge's cheerful nature and love of music begin to make an impression on the community as she shares her favorite tunes on her ever-present gramophone. Sweet Land was the first feature film from writer and director Ali Selim. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Elizabeth Reaser, Tim Guinee, (more)
A disillusioned ex-hacker is branded a terrorist by the government for using his vast knowledge of technology to expose greedy CEOs, corrupt politicians, and power-hungry elitists in this thriller starring Eugene Byrd, Ali Larter, and William Sadler. Terell Lessor (Byrd) used to be one of the world's most notorious hackers, but these days he prefers to use his computer skills for vengeance. In order to get even with those who have slighted him in the past, Terell catches the guilty parties in compromising positions via strategically placed spy cameras, and then broadcasts the incriminating footage over the internet. Upon realizing precisely how much power he truly wields, Terell partners with college student Olivia (Larter) to strike fear into hearts of unethical public officials by giving them the same treatment afforded to his personal enemies. When Terell's exploits become front-page news and he is condemned as a terrorist by the government and law enforcement agencies, his once personal mission gains newfound momentum. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Eugene Byrd, Ali Larter, (more)
