Peter Berg Movies
Onscreen from the late '80s, actor Peter Berg first made a memorable impression in A Midnight Clear (1992), playing one of a group of soldiers stationed in Germany during World War II. The muscular, strong-jawed actor had his real screen breakthrough with John Dahl's critically acclaimed The Last Seduction (1994), a neo-noir that cast him as Linda Fiorentino's unwitting, hormonally misguided accomplice. Berg's subsequent roles tended to be in films of middling quality, and it was for his work on the popular TV series Chicago Hope that he received the most recognition.In 1998, Berg made his feature directorial debut with Very Bad Things, a black comedy starring Jon Favreau, Christian Slater, Jeremy Piven, Daniel Stern, and Leland Orser as a group of men behaving badly. The film, which was shown at the Toronto and San Sebastian Film Festivals, received a fairly mixed critical reception. Nonetheless, Berg continued to be a presence behind the camera. In 2000, he created Wonderland, an edgy dramatic television series set in an asylum. While the ABC show recieved rave reviews and garnered a cult following, it failed to deliver ratings and was quickly cancelled.
Berg finally found himself with a hit on his hands in 2003 with The Rundown. Starring The Rock and Seann William Scott, the Berg-helmed action comedy was well-received by critics and managed to score well at the box-office. In 2004, Berg began work on his third directorial effort, Friday Night Lights, a football film he also scripted. ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, All Movie Guide
- 1993
- R
In this crime drama, a talented, ambitious young lawyer takes the case when one of his colleagues, jealous of the other attorney's flawless court record, is found murdered. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
Based on a novel by William Wharton, A Midnight Clear is set in the Adriennes Forest in December of 1944. A group of American GIs, all of whom have been together a bit too long, cling to the vestiges of their peacetime interests to remain sane. None are brilliant soldiers, though Will Knot Ethan Hawke is the one who exhibits the strongest leadership qualities. Billeted at a chateau, the soldiers begin hearing strange noises emanating from a graveyard, the handiwork of a group of mischievous German soldiers. The two enemy camps draw closer to one another as Christmas approaches, due in great part to the influence of GI Vince "Mother" Wilkins Gary Sinise. A sudden, impulsive hostile act results in the wholesale -- and unnecessary -- slaughter of the German soldiers. Though the exteriors are convincingly mid-European, the film was actually lensed in Utah. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter Berg, Kevin Dillon, (more)
- 1994
Elizabeth Pena and Christina Applegate play Carmen and Kathy, two women from Los Angeles with practically nothing in common. Carmen is a working-class Latina and single mother from the East Side barrio, while Kathy comes from a wealthy family in Beverly Hills. However, both of their boyfriends, Richie (Tony Dean Fields) and Lyle (Peter Berg), have ended up in a jail in the Mojave Desert as part of a confidence scheme. Carmen and Kathy want to be near the men they love to show their support, so they head out to the desert in Kathy's convertible to wait out their stay in jail as they share living quarters in an old trailer home. Across the Moon was the second feature film for director Lisa Gottlieb, who previously helmed the cult favorite Just One of the Guys and episodes of the TV series Dream On. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Elizabeth Peña, Christina Applegate, (more)
- 2002
In Vienna on the trail of "The Man," who may or may not have information pertaining to her late mother, Sydney (Jennifer Garner) is unexpectedly reunited with her ex-lover, fellow SD-6 agent Noah Hicks (Peter Berg). Meanwhile, Syd's father, Jack (Victor Garber), consults with CIA psychiatrist Judy Barnett (Patricia Wettig) about his nagging premonition that his wife (and Syd's mom) may still be alive. And what of the Rambaldi Prophecy -- and who will crack the secret behind that prophecy first? ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 2002
Sydney (Jennifer Garner) returns to America with her ex-lover and fellow SD-6 agent Noah (Peter Berg), who offers her a way out of the spy game once and for all. But Sydney has to take care of unfinished business: Now convinced that her mother, KGB agent Irina Derevko, is still alive, she will not rest until she finds the woman. Meanwhile, Vaughn (Michael Vartan) puts a tail on an assassin known as "The Snowman" in hopes of tracking down the elusive Khasinau, who may or may not be "The Man" behind all the skullduggery occurring in previous episodes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
T.J. (Paul Gross) and Dex (Peter Berg) leave Detroit to wax up their skis and find an adventurous new life on the slopes of Aspen in this skiing drama. The two become instructors and take up residence in a mobile home, at first fulfilling their ultimate bachelor fantasy. But T.J. becomes torn between two women: a sugar mama who appeals to his materialistic side (Finola Hughes) and a local disc jockey closer to his own age, whom he actually loves (Teri Polo). Meanwhile, Dex's writing is not taking off like he'd hoped, and he becomes jealous of T.J.'s luck with women and effortless entrance into the glittery Aspen social network. Dex loses his job and tries to sell drugs to help make ends meet. The two sort out their various problems and their own fractious relationship against the backdrop of preparing for the big race, which provides Aspen Extreme its requisite quantity of skiing footage. ~ Derek Armstrong, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Paul Gross, Peter Berg, (more)
- 2011
Milton Bradley's strategic board game gets a sci-fi facelift with this Universal Pictures production from director Peter Berg (Hancock). The action will pit a small fleet of naval ships against an alien force intent on enriching Earth's valuable assets to ensure their survival. ~ Jeremy Wheeler, All Movie Guide
A taxi driver is unexpectedly taken on the ride of his life in this stylish thriller from acclaimed director Michael Mann. Max (Jamie Foxx) is a cab driver who hopes to some day open his own limo company; one night behind the wheel begins promisingly when he picks up Annie (Jada Pinkett Smith), an attorney working with the federal government who is attractive, friendly, and gives him her business card after paying her fare. Max thinks his luck is getting even better when his next fare, Vincent (Tom Cruise), offers him several hundred dollars in cash if he'll be willing to drop him off, wait, and pick him up at five different spots over the course of the evening. Max agrees, but he soon realizes Vincent isn't just another guy with errands to run -- Vincent is an assassin who has been paid to murder five people who could put the leaders of a powerful drug trafficking ring behind bars in an upcoming trial. As circumstances force Max to do Vincent's bidding, the cabbie has to find a way to prevent Vincent from killing again and save his own skin, a task that becomes especially crucial when he discovers Annie is one of the names on Vincent's hit list. Collateral also stars Mark Ruffalo, Peter Berg, and Bruce McGill as police detectives hot on Vincent's trail. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tom Cruise, Jamie Foxx, (more)
The second film from writer/director James Mangold, the corruption drama Cop Land stars Sylvester Stallone as Freddy Heflin, the much-denigrated sheriff of tiny Garrison, NJ, a community which -- thanks to a technicality -- is populated almost entirely by members of the New York City Police Department. When young cop Murray "Superboy" Babitch (Michael Rapaport) becomes embroiled in a controversial shoot-out which leaves two black youths dead, he apparently commits suicide rather than face the wrath of an official investigation. In reality, however, he flees to safety back home in Garrison. In the wake of the controversial events, NYPD Internal Affairs lieutenant Moe Tilden (Robert De Niro) arrives in Garrison to uncover the truth, attempting to enlist Freddy to help watch the watchmen, including Superboy's uncle, veteran cop Ray Donlan (Harvey Keitel); coked-out Gary Figgis (Ray Liotta); and Joey Randone (Peter Berg), the husband of the woman (Annabella Sciorra) Freddy loved and lost. A rich, complex film about redemption, Cop Land's portrayal of Freddy's struggles to prove his worth mirrors Stallone's own return to thoughtful, character-driven drama after years of vacuous action roles. Like Freddy, he faces an uphill battle, fighting for respectability in the face of a superb cast including Janeane Garofalo, Cathy Moriarty, and Paul Calderon. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sylvester Stallone, Harvey Keitel, (more)
Saturday Night Live cast member Chris Kattan stars in this mob comedy as Corky Romano, a veterinarian with a penchant for pop music from the '80s. As a youth, Corky was kicked out of his Mafia-connected family for being an oddball. Now his long-lost father (Peter Falk) has been indicted and needs Corky to infiltrate the FBI and steal the government's evidence against him. Corky is willing to aid the relatives who so long ago turned their backs on him, but his brothers go overboard when intimidating the computer hacker who gets Corky's bogus application into the FBI academy, presenting him as a super agent named Pissant. Now Corky must live up to his reputation for an eminently qualified top cop while simultaneously trying to get the goods on his dad. Corky Romano co-stars Peter Berg, Chris Penn, Vincent Pastore, Vinessa Shaw, Fred Ward, and Richard Roundtree. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Chris Kattan, Vinessa Shaw, (more)
Adapted from the Robert Boswell novel, the film focuses on a very troubled family beset from all sides by conflict, arguments and scandal. The father (Peter Coyote) brings his wife (Cindy Pickett) and two sons (Vincent D'Onofrio, Peter Berg) to Washington State to begin a new life, but finds that the same problems have followed them. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Vincent D'Onofrio, Jennifer Jason Leigh, (more)
- 1999
Dill Scallion is a mock-documentary that chronicles the fast rise and even faster fall of a country singer whose IQ appears to equal the waist measurement of his jeans. Billy Burke plays a school bus driver in a small Texas town who becomes a Country and Western superstar overnight thanks to songs like "I Found Love At A Family Reunion" and his unique dancing skills; unfortunately, his dance style is the result of an injured foot, and Dill has to keep hurting himself to keep giving his audience what they want. The film includes cameo appearances from actual country stars (including Willie Nelson and LeAnn Rimes) and supporting performances from Jason Priestley and Henry Winkler; rocker Sheryl Crow contributed an original music score. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Billy Burke, Peter Berg, (more)
- 2012
Frank Herbert's Dune gets adapted once again with this Paramount Pictures production. The sci-fi epic details an intergalactic feud over the control of the melange spice -- which provides the power to travel through the galaxy, as well as opening up psychic abilities for the user. ~ Jeremy Wheeler, All Movie Guide
- 1994
A man trying to escape his criminal past becomes involved with a woman born under a bad sign in this crime drama. Frank T. Wells (Mickey Rourke) has just been released after spending ten years in prison, the result of a manslaughter conviction stemming from an act of self-defense. Frank wants to rebuild his life and start his own ranch; to raise the money, he begins riding on the rodeo circuit. While on the road, Frank meets a woman named Scarlet Stuart (Lori Singer), who has "F.T.W." tattooed on her hand (though it doesn't stand for "Frank T. Wells," but "F--k The World"); Scarlet was both partner in crime and unwilling lover to her brother Clem (Peter Berg), who recently died after shooting four people in a bank holdup. When Scarlet discovers Frank's initials are F.T.W., she believes it means that they were meant to be together, and they quickly fall into a relationship as Scarlet supports herself the way she knows best, armed robbery. Musicians Aaron Neville and Charlie Sexton appear in supporting roles. F.T.W. was also released as The Last Ride. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mickey Rourke, Lori Singer, (more)
One of the most famous real-life UFO abduction cases on record becomes this character-driven drama from sci-fi screenwriter Tracy Torme. D.B. Sweeney stars as Travis Walton, a forestry worker who disappears one night during an encounter with a flying saucer. Authorities treat with skepticism the outrageous story related by the only witnesses to the event, Travis' five co-workers, who include his best friend and future brother-in-law, Mike Rogers (Robert Patrick). A state lawman (James Garner) finds a tabloid newspaper in the crew's pickup truck and quickly ascertains that tensions had arisen between Walton and a surly fellow logger (Craig Sheffer), leading him to conclude that a murder cover-up is underway. However, all of the men pass lie detector tests and the case becomes stalled until the shocking last-minute reappearance of Travis, who tells a literally fantastic story involving his whereabouts for the past week. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- D.B. Sweeney, Robert Patrick, (more)
H.G. Bissinger's best-selling true-life account of a few months in the life of a high-school football team comes to the screen in this adaptation written and directed by Peter Berg. Odessa, TX, is an oil town in the western part of the state that's home to the Permian High School Panthers, the football team with the best winning record in the state. Odessa is a town with more than its share of problems; the decline of the oil business in Texas has set the city's economy into a tailspin, and racial tensions still erupt into violence on occasion. But football is the one thing that brings all the people of Odessa together, and on Friday nights every fall, as many as 20,000 people fill Permian's football stadium to watch Coach Gary Gaines (Billy Bob Thornton) and his boys try to lead the team to victory. As Gaines works to build a winning team in a town where victory is prized above all else, however, his players struggle through the emotional trials common to any teenager and ponder the fact that there is little future in their hometown...and that a championship season can be as much a burden as a triumph. Friday Night Lights also stars Lucas Black, Derek Luke, Jay Hernandez, and country singer-turned-actor Tim McGraw. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Billy Bob Thornton, Derek Luke, (more)
- 2006
One of two football-themed series of the 2006-2007 TV season (the other was The Game, the NBC dramedy Friday Night Lights was based on the H.G. Bissinger book and the 2004 theatrical film of the same name. Like its predecessors, the series took place in a small Texas town (Odessa in the film and book, Dillon on the show), where high school football was not merely a game but a "religion"--or more succinctly, a matter of life and death, with literally every person in the community having a personal stake or a heated opinion of the weekly game. Kyle Chandler headed the large cast as Eric Taylor, the newly hired coach of the Dillon Panthers (the role played by Billy Bob Thornton in the film). Also seen were Connie Britton, recreating her film role as Eric's wife Tami; Scott Porter as star Panther quarterback Jason Street; Minka Kelly as Jason's cheerleader girlfriend Lyla Garrity; Gaius Charles as running back Brian "Smash" Williams; Zach Gifford as perennial benchwarmer Matt Saracen, forced by fate to take over as quarterback during the playoffs; and Adrianne Palicki as high-school vamp Tyra Collette. Unfolding in a semi-serialized fashion, Friday Night Lights kicked off on October 3, 2006. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1989
- R
Peter Berg stars as Henry, a chronic gambler forever in trouble with the mob and the law. Through the auspices of his old friend Cowboy Jack (M.K. Harris), Henry is hired as an all-around flunkey by gang boss Paul Hellwart (Terence Stamp). But there's a problem: Henry is currently sexually involved with a nubile young miss (Michelle Johnson) who happens to be Hellwart's main squeeze. Disloyalty begets violence, and violence begets more violence. Anyone looking for logical character development and clever plot twists will be disappointed by Genuine Risk, though action fans will get their fill. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Terence Stamp, Peter Berg, (more)
Spike Lee directed this comedy-drama about a woman who falls into a career in phone sex. An African-American woman (Theresa Randle) who aspires to a career as an actress endures a number of dispiriting jobs (handing out leaflets and working as a coat check girl) before reaching the end of her rope at an audition with Q.T. (Quentin Tarantino), a sleazy movie director. Q.T. claims that he wants to offer her a role in his next film -- but since the role requires nudity, she will have to show him her breasts first. After firing her agent, the actress is strapped for cash and is offered a job enacting sexual fantasies for men over the phone. Dubbed "Girl 6" by her employers, the actress is treated with respect by her boss (Jennifer Lewis) and is well-liked by her co-workers. However, she has a hard time emotionally distancing herself from her work, and she finds herself becoming infatuated with Bob (Peter Berg), one of her regular callers, going so far as to set up a meeting with him. As she deals in other people's fantasies for a living, Girl 6 begins retreating into her own world of make-believe, where she can be a sexy screen siren or a butt-kicking blaxploitation star. Meanwhile, her former fiancé (Isaiah Washington), who scrapes by as a shoplifter, desperately wants her to give him another chance, and her next door neighbor, a baseball card collector named Jimmy (Spike Lee), keeps pestering her that she ought to be doing something more positive with her life. Girl 6's supporting cast includes Madonna as one of Girl 6's supervisors, John Turturro as her agent, and Debi Mazar as one of the other phone-sex girls; the film also features an original song score by Prince. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Theresa Randle, Isaiah Washington, (more)
Two years before he joined the cast of Saturday Night Live, Adam Sandler starred in this comedy as Shecky Moskowitz, who wants to get a job as a comedian on a cruise ship, but when that job is taken, signs on as a waiter instead, hoping fate will lend a hand. The cast also includes Burt Young, Peter Berg, Billy Zane, and a then-unknown Billy Bob Thornton. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Adam Sandler
- 2009
Inspired by the remarkable story of 2006 Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro -- a horse that seemed to be a serious Triple Crown contender before fatefully shattering one of his hind legs in the Preakness -- Peter Berg's docudrama focuses on the noble efforts made by owners Roy and Gretchen Jackson, trainer Michael Matz, and veterinary surgeon Dean Richardson to humanly stabilize the injury and keep the animal alive against all odds. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
A hard-drinking lush finds himself thrust into superhero mode in director Peter Berg's unconventional look at the private life of a crime-fighter. Will Smith stars as the embittered do-gooder whose lifestyle is more akin to a rock star than a role model, and who has grown as disillusioned with his once-admiring public as they have of him. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Will Smith, Charlize Theron, (more)
- 2012
The team behind the box-office hit Hancock regroups for this follow-up that sees the return of the hard-drinking lush superhero (Will Smith) and his eternally bound goddess (Charlize Theron) as they face a foe that only the two can defeat. Jason Bateman returns to co-star, with Peter Berg once again helming the action comedy feature. ~ Jeremy Wheeler, All Movie Guide
- 2012
Filmmaker Peter Berg adapts Radical Publishing's comic series Hercules: The Thracian Wars for Universal Pictures with this big-screen adventure. Ryan Condal provides the script, with Berg handling producing duties. ~ Jeremy Wheeler, All Movie Guide
