Rosemarie DeWitt
- 2008
Violence and voyeurism lurk beneath the surface of life at an exclusive prep school in this independent drama. Robert (Ezra Miller) is a high school student who has made a hobby out of dulling his senses with violent pornography he finds on the internet. While Robert doesn't have many friends, he does have a habit of documenting the habits of his classmates with a digital video camera, and he happens to be on hand when two girls from his class succumb to fatal drug overdoses. As the deaths leave the school's faculty at a lost for what to do and send many of the students into a state of depression and denial, Robert finds himself becoming even more alienated from the world around him. Afterschool was the first feature film from writer and director Antonio Campos, and was screened as part of the "Un Certain Regard" series at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ezra Miller, Jeremy White, (more)
Lingering tensions clash with new hopes in director Jonathan Demme's ensemble drama set during an idyllic wedding that threatens to descend into chaos with the appearance of the bride's estranged sister -- a volatile and unpredictable girl whose turbulent history of personal crisis and family conflict quickly threatens to take precedence over the happy ceremony. Rachel Buchman (Rosemarie DeWitt) is about to be married to the love of her life, but while the weather outside may be perfect, there's a storm blowing in. That storm goes by the name Kym (Anne Hathaway). Kym is the family black sheep, and wherever she goes disaster is sure to follow. Now, as friends and family gather together for a memorable day of dining, dancing, and celebration, everyone braces themselves knowing that, at any given moment, old skeletons may be dragged out and dusted off for display by the bombshell who seems to have an acerbic one-liner for every situation, and a flare for drama that could set their family home ablaze. Bill Irwin and Debra Winger co-star. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anne Hathaway, Rosemarie DeWitt, (more)
- 2007
Writer-director Adam Rapp's gritty urban romance Blackbird unfolds in mid-1990s Manhattan. The picture dramatizes the ill-fated courtship between two melancholic heroin addicts - Gulf War veteran Bayliss (Paul Sparks) and ex-stripper Froggy (Gillian Jacobs) - as they fall in love and battle magnetizing addictions. The possibility of redemption waxes strong from time to time, with hope for some semblance of a "normal life" lingering quietly in the background, but Bayliss and Froggy never quite seem to find the strength and control to pull everything together. And in the end, they join one another on a downward spiral that leads inexorably toward mutual self-destruction. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Paul Sparks, Gillian Jacobs, (more)
When the growing divide between a troubled teen and his emotionally distant father finds the boy seeking the friendship of a disheveled and temperamental high-school umpire, the bond shared between the unlikely pair leads both to realize things about themselves that they never knew in an affecting coming-of-age tale starring Nick Nolte, Timothy Hutton, Trevor Morgan, and Sally Kirkland. Ray Cook (Nolte) is a gruff, hard-drinking ump whose questionable call has recently cost a high-school baseball team one of the season's most crucial games. When Ray discovers his house being vandalized one evening and manages to capture vengeful young baseball player Dave (Morgan) in the act, the fundamentally decent boy agrees to return to the house and repair the damage. A lonely and terminally ill teen whose relationship with his father (Timothy Hutton) has gradually disintegrated following the death of his mother, Dave is offered the option of foregoing his daily clean-up sessions if he will agree to pose as Ray's son for the grizzled elder's upcoming 40th high-school reunion. Despite Dave's initial hesitation to take part in the plan, he soon agrees, and what was once a simple business plan gradually blossoms into something much more meaningful. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Nick Nolte, Trevor Morgan, (more)
- 2006
Fox's Standoff was one of several series from the 2006-2007 TV season that were built around hostage situations. The protagonists were a pair of FBI agents working out of the "Crisis Negotiation Unit," Emily Lehman (Rosemarie DeWitt) and Matt Flannery (Ron Livingston). Experts at defusing tense hostage crises, Emily and Matt were less successful coping with their personal problems, most of which stemmed from the fact that they were sleeping together, which Matt tactlessly revealed to one and all while he was on the job! Since this sort of cohabitation was strictly against department policy, the two agents had to wrestle with their passions even while endeavoring to talk various captors out of killing their captives...and the results were often as amusing as they were suspenseful. Also in the cast were Gina Torres as Emily and Matt's boss Cheryl Carrera, who favored direct action over negotiation; Michael Cudlitz as gonzo sniper-force leader Frank Rogers; Raquel Alessi as intelligence analyst Lia Mathers; and Jose Pablo Cantillo as FBI agent Duff Gonzalez. The weekly, hour-long Standoff debuted September 5, 2006, as a lead-in for the popular Fox medical drama House. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ron Livingston, Rosemarie DeWitt, (more)
- 2006
- R
When a once-successful a cappella singing group reunites to perform at a fellow singer's wedding, regrets from the past and hopes for the future all come pouring out into the open in director Bruce Leddy's nostalgic reunion film. In college they were treated like rock stars, but these days life isn't so glamorous for the singers whose fleeting taste of fame preceded a humbling fall into relative obscurity. It's been 15 years since the group has performed together, but when one of their own prepares to take his wedding vows and requests that the group back him up, no one can resist the opportunity to recapture a little bit of that old magic. From the recently downsized Ted and the newly divorced Richard to music-studio peon Will and frustrated tech support guy Dave, the future just didn't turn out how these golden-voiced crooners had hoped; only the mellow Spooner and Los Angeles-based TV producer Steven seem truly fulfilled in their current status. But now their buddy Greg is getting married, and the time has come to celebrate his nuptials in song. As the largely frustrated but still talented lot arrives at Spooner's sprawling family beach house in order to rehearse for their performance, these longtime friends will finally have the opportunity to lay to rest longtime grudges, reveal longstanding secrets, and test the strength of their powerful bond on the eve of a life-altering event that promises to bring them closer together than ever before. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Molly Shannon, Mark Feuerstein, (more)
The true story of an athlete who achieved his greatest success against the most daunting odds of his life is brought to the screen in this historical drama. In the 1920s, James Braddock (Russell Crowe) from Bergen, NJ, was a promising contender in professional boxing; he had strength, spirit, and tenacity, but the combination of a serious hand injury and a 1929 defeat in a bout with light heavyweight champ Tommy Loughran sent his career into a serious tailspin. As Braddock's career in the ring dried up, the Great Depression put a stake through the heart of America's economy, and Braddock found himself working at the New York docks for pitiful wages as he tried to support his wife, Mae (Renée Zellweger), and three children. Desperate for money, Braddock turned to his former trainer and manager Joe Gould (Paul Giamatti), who was unexpectedly able to scare up a bout for him, battling John Griffin at Madison Square Garden. While conventional wisdom had it that Braddock was too old, out of shape, and out of practice to have any chance of winning, he defeated Griffin, and continued beating his opponents with a powerful left hook that had been intensified by years of punishing dock work. In a nation desperate for good news, Braddock's surprising comeback became a tonic to struggling workers and unemployed people, and all eyes were on Braddock when in 1935 he took on powerful heavyweight champion Max Baer (Craig Bierko) in what was both literally and figuratively the fight of his life. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Russell Crowe, Renée Zellweger, (more)
- 2005
Inevitably recalling Jean Eustache in his 1977 festival short A Dirty Story, Antonio G. Campos's Buy it Now seizes upon a sensationalistic apocryphal event - that of a 16 year old Manhattanite who opts to sell off her virginity on eBay - and tells it twice, in contrasting narrative modes: pseudo-documentary and dramatized indie feature. The story begins in 2004. Chelsea Magan (Chelsea Logan) is 16 and naïve but not so innocent or guileless; a young woman from a broken home, with a detached, indifferent mother, serious drug addictions and a possible case of anorexia nervosa. One day, she decides to hawk her own chastity on EBay and film the defloration with her mini-DV. All goes according to plan, but Chelsea fails to anticipate the emotional fallout that succeeds her erotic liaison with Peter (Chris McCann); as a consequence, she slits her wrists twice but fails to kill herself. In the second version - a more toned-down, less sensationalistic version of the first - Chelsea and Peter have their initial encounter and Chelsea experiences an emotional crisis upon returning home, at which point her mother insists that she consult her psychoanalyst. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Chelsea Logan, Tiffany Yaraghi, (more)
