Kevin Turen Movies

Writer Nicholas Jarecki makes his feature directorial debut with this drama centering on a Wall Street hedge-fund tycoon and family man who scrambles to maintain a picture-perfect façade as his empire slowly begins to topple behind the scenes. Robert Miller (Richard Gere) is about to turn 60. One of the most successful businessmen in New York City, he lives a life of luxury that few will ever experience. But there's a storm coming, and nobody knows it better than Robert. If he can finalize the bank purchase of his trading empire before any evidence of his shady business dealings is unearthed, there's a chance he could emerge relatively unscathed. Not even Robert's wife Ellen (Susan Sarandon) or their astute daughter Brooke (Brit Marling) have any idea of the hole their family patriarch has dug, but they are about to be swallowed up by it as well. At the crucial moment when his plan falls apart, however, a deadly complication leaves Robert with no choice but to seek the help of shady Jimmy Grant (Nate Parker), a man the wealthy financier never expected to see again. Just when it seems the situation couldn't get any worse, NYPD detective Michael Bryer (Tim Roth) realizes he may have uncovered a key piece of evidence that will ensure Robert pays for his sins. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

A satirical workplace comedy with a slick action twist, Fouad Mikati's Operation: Endgame explores the violence that erupts when the organization charged with protecting America implodes, and the employees turn their guns on each other instead of their enemies. Somewhere beneath Washington, D.C., an intense rivalry is heating up between two opposing teams of government assassins. The hired killers in the organizations take their names from Tarot cards. The Fool (Joe Anderson) is the latest recruit. Reporting for his first day on the job, The Fool is shocked to find that his boss is dead, and the office is on lockdown. To make matters worse, the building has been rigged with explosives, and it's going to blow soon. Now, in order to get out alive, The Fool will have to root out the killer in his midst, and make a quick escape before his co-workers catch him in their crosshairs. Ellen Barkin, Zach Galifianakis, Rob Corddry, and Jeffrey Tambor star. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

One woman's day goes all to pot in this resinous comedy from independent filmmaker Gregg Araki. Jane (Anna Faris) is a college dropout and aspiring actress who suffers from a certain lack of ambition, doubtless reinforced by her fondness for marijuana. One morning, Jane wakes with a busy day ahead of her -- she has a big audition, she has to pay the electric bill on her apartment to prevent the power from being shut off, and she needs to pick up some pot after paying her debt to her dealer -- and decides to take the edge off her anxieties by getting a little stoned. Under the influence, the cupcakes her roommate Steve (Danny Masterson) has made for his friends to enjoy at the weekend's Sci-Fi convention look too good to resist, and she gobbles them down. What Jane doesn't realize until it's too late is that the baked goods were laced with some especially strong marijuana, and what starts as a pleasant buzz turns into a world-class high that refuses to go away. As Jane struggles to make her way through the day, fate keeps throwing her into strange and surreal situations involving police officers, Steve's lovesick best friend, and a rare original manuscript of The Communist Manifesto. Smiley Face also stars Adam Brody, John Krasinski, Jane Lynch, Michael Hitchcock, John Cho and Roscoe Lee Browne. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Photographer and filmmaker Larry Clark offers another look at the inner workings of urban youth culture in this comedy drama. Jonathan (Jonathan Velasquez) is a teenaged El Salvadorian refugee living in a primarily Mexican-American and African-American neighborhood in South Central Los Angeles. Jonathan and a handful of fellow Salvadorian émigrés who are his best friends stand out like sore thumbs on the block, due less to their national origin than because they've rejected the hip-hop music and fashion around them in favor of old-school punk, as favored by the Ramones and latter-day Latino bands such as Suicidal Tendencies. Jonathan and his pals Kiko (Francisco Pedrasa), Eddie (Eddie Velasquez), Porky (Usvaldo Panameno), and Spermball (Milton Velasquez) have a group of their own, and Jonathan, a sweet but streetwise kid who has a way with the girls, is the lead singer. Like all good punk rockers, Jonathan and his bandmates are seriously into skateboarding, and one day they hop several busses and make a pilgrimage to a legendary skate spot in Beverly Hills. If the kids felt like outsiders in South Central, they soon discover they're unwelcome outcasts in the moneyed L.A. suburbs; before long they're on the run from cops as well as Anglo skaters, and even Jonathan's chance assignation with a neighborhood sexpot leads to no small share of drama. Wassup Rockers received its world premiere at the 2005 Toronto Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi