Robert Bella Movies

The true story of one woman's brief and ultimately tragic flirtation with fame in the 1960s provides the basis for this biographical drama. In 1943, Edie Sedgwick (Sienna Miller) was born to a wealthy and socially prominent family, and she grew up with beauty and money, but also a history of mental illness; she was hospitalized with an eating disorder in her late teens, and by the time she was 21, two of her seven siblings had died before their time. In 1964, Edie moved to New York City, and quickly made a splash on the Manhattan social scene; she became friendly with the famous pop artist Andy Warhol (Guy Pearce), who was fascinated by her gamine loveliness and her quirky personality. Warhol wasted no time in casting her in one of his underground movies, and she quickly became a crucial part of his retinue of "superstars." Fashion icon Diana Vreeland (Illeana Douglas) was convinced Edie had the looks and charm to also become a successful model, and soon she was gracing the pages of Life, Vogue, and Glamour. But Edie's instability was hardly helped by her new fast-lane lifestyle, and when she met Billy Quinn (Hayden Christensen), a folk rock singer-songwriter often cited as "the voice of a generation," he persuaded her that Warhol and his associates were simply using her fame and beauty for their own gain, and she found herself torn between two powerful mentors, one of whom had become her lover as well. Factory Girl also co-stars Jimmy Fallon, Mena Suvari, and Tara Summers as regulars at the Warhol "Factory." The character of Musician was inspired in part by Bob Dylan, who was romantically involved with Edie Sedgwick for a brief time. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Colin Fitz was a rock star, but his untimely demise put his career in the past tense a few years ago. On the anniversary of his death, Colin's widow decides to hire security guards to watch Colin's grave, in the hope of preventing a repeat of last year's ugly incident in which a group of ardent fans committed mass suicide near his final resting place. The widow approaches Mr. O'Day (William H. Macy), head of O'Day Security, who agrees to put two men on the job. Dim-witted Grady (Andy Fowle) and philosophical Paul (Matt McGrath) wind up on the case, spending most of the night drinking beer and swapping stories as they keep an eye on the various characters who come to pay their respects to Fitz, including a group of especially zealous Swedish fans. The film received awards at the Austin Film Festival and Houston's WorldFest and competed at the 1997 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

The third film written and directed by playwright David Mamet, this combination of crime drama and character study stars several of Mamet's stock players. Joe Mantegna stars as Bobby Gold, a detective with a gift for negotiation who, along with his partner Tim Sullivan (William H. Macy), accidentally stumbles upon a crime scene -- the murder of an elderly Jewish woman in her corner store. When it turns out that the victim was politically well-connected and Jewish, Bobby's superiors assign him the case because he's also Jewish. The problem is that Bobby isn't very religious and he resents being taken off a higher profile drug investigation involving a dealer, Randolph (Ving Rhames). Bobby's also highly skeptical when the murdered woman's family claims that her death was not a simple robbery but an anti-Semitic hate crime. As he gets deeper into his case, however, Bobby discovers that a larger conspiracy may be afoot, and he begins to question his own ethnic roots. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide