Martin Donovan Movies

A teen learns that all the gadgets in the world can't help him overcome his awkwardness around the opposite sex in this big-budget family entertainment. In Agent Cody Banks, Malcolm in the Middle star Frankie Muniz plays a young man plucked from suburban obscurity to be trained as a CIA super-agent. His mission? Get friendly with his classmate Natalie (played by another teen TV star, Lizzie McGuire's Hilary Duff) so that he can uncover her father's diabolical scheme to create indestructible robots. To compound his problems, Cody also has to deal with the same stresses as any adolescent: nagging parents, insufferable classwork, and a fragile sense of self-esteem. Agent Cody Banks was produced by MGM, not coincidentally the studio responsible for another popular spy franchise, the venerable James Bond series. ~ Michael Hastings, All Movie Guide

Thirty years after realizing that they had they had both found that rare once in a lifetime love, a man and a woman separated by fate decide to take a second shot at romance despite the fact that both had moved on with their lives a long time ago. As children growing up together in Grosse Pointe, Michigan, Mark and Sara were inseparable. As teens it just seemed that the two adolescents were just really close friends, but when Mark's family moves to New Orleans in the early 1970s the letters that he and Sarah exchange reveal that their true feelings for one another run far deeper. Though their love is vividly expressed in a pair of intensely heartfelt letters, any chance for romance is effectively destroyed when Mark's meddling mother Carole (Brooke Adams) intercepts the letters and hides them from her son. Mistakenly believing that each has rejected the other's love, Mark and Sara both manage to move on with their lives despite their initial devastation. Years later, Mark and Sara are both in their forties, living in different cities and locked in unhappy marriages - Mark to a career-driven psychiatrist named Laura (Jessica Hecht) and Sara to struggling alcoholic named Chris (Michael Arata). Mark feels like his life has become hollow, and spends the majority of his time confiding his true feelings in his older brother Earl (M.C. Gainey), an eccentric French Quarter artist. But one day, when Mark discovers the letters that had been hidden by his mother, he sees the opportunity for a new life of happiness and contacts Sara to tell her the truth. The moment the two make contact, it's as if they were both transported back to that special time when nothing else mattered aside from their growing feelings for one another. Neither Mark nor Sara are particularly happy with the way their lives have turned out, and excitedly make plans to rendezvous in New Orleans. Could it be that Mark and Sara were truly meant to be with one another, or did their one chance at a lifetime of happiness actually end with the hiding of those passionate correspondences so many moons ago? ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Five people cross paths in New York City over the course of a day marked by violence in this independent drama from writer and director Jay Anania. Judy (Judy Kuhn) is a singer who is busy in a recording studio working on an album of British folk songs with jazz keyboardist John Medeski. Shira (Alyssa Sutherland) is a successful fashion model doing a photo shoot. Najia (Carmen Chaplin) is a journalist from Palestine who is in the United States working on a piece on treating victims of wartime violence, and she's arranged an interview with a well-respected doctor, Dr. Mary Wade (Olympia Dukakis). And Walter (Martin Donovan) is a quiet man who enjoys spending time in the park observing others. When a Palestinian suicide bomber sets off an explosive charge on a busy Manhattan street corner, all five characters are forced to deal with the physical and emotional wreckage of its aftermath. Day on Fire was screened as part of the "Visions" series, devoted to challenging works from new filmmakers, at the 2006 Toronto Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

A lover, an ultimatum, a phone call, and a gun: these elements are found in each segment of Hal Hartley's Flirt, an experimental comedy-drama that essentially repeats the same story three times. But while the basic narrative remains the same -- a congenital flirt must decide whether or not to commit to a current lover, who otherwise will marry someone else -- the details differ greatly, from the location of the film to the gender of the participants. The initial segment, set in New York, tells the tale with a male flirt in turmoil over his relationship with a woman. The film then moves to Berlin, where the same drama is played out amongst a gay male couple, with an added touch of self-reflexive humor. The third and final episode takes place in Tokyo, with a female flirt and a more abstract cinematic approach, including several sequences in traditional Japanese pantomime. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide

Scott Reynolds directed this New Zealand thriller about a transsexual stripper. Architect Robert Marling (Martin Donovan) has mounting problems that include drinking, gambling, and alimony payments to his ex, Jennifer (Joanna Going), who's attempting to gain custody of their son. Redesigning a strip club for his psycho friend Stanner (Richard Schiff), Marling meets transsexual dancer Heaven (Danny Edwards), who has precognitive visions. Heaven's therapist, Dr. Melrose (Patrick Malahide), employs his patient's predictions to boost his own bank account. With all professional ethics evaporating, the evil Melrose sleeps with Jennifer while counseling Marling. Hallucinatory visions prompt Heaven to warn Marling of even more hellish events awaiting in his future. Shown at the 1998 Montreal World Film Festival and the 1998 Toronto Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide

Australian director Bill Bennett sets this exploration of sexual politics and cultural differences against the stunning vistas of the Trobriand Islands. In it, two anthropologists travel to a remote island in the South Pacific to study its culture in the 1930s. Evelyn (Maya Stange) is an adventurous free thinker, while her husband Phillip (Martin Donovan) is a rigid scholar bound to convention and propriety. Tension develops between the couple when Phillip fails to acknowledge what Evelyn sees as obvious: that women run this lusty culture. Tensions are upped another notch when Evelyn falls for Mick (Rufus Sewell), a macho American pearl merchant. As Evelyn's life begins to crash in around her, the Japanese army invades her island paradise and tragedy strikes her priggish husband. In a Savage Land was screened at the 1999 Vancouver Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide

Most people hang up on wrong numbers, but a woman finds herself falling in love with one caller in this offbeat independent comedy. Julia (Daphna Kastner) is a writer specializing in books for children who shares an apartment with her boyfriend Jack (David Charles). Jack wants to get married, but Julia isn't so sure that she wants to commit to a permanent relationship. One day, Julia gets a phone call that turns out to be a wrong number; however, she finds herself striking up a conversation with the man on the other end, Daniel (David Duchovny). Julia finds herself attracted to the voice on the other end of the phone as she starts discussing the ups and downs of her relationship with Jack. After spending several hours on the line, Julia invites Daniel over to visit, and she ends up sleeping with him. The next day, Julia discovers that this wasn't as much of a chance encounter as she thought -- Daniel, who has been in therapy for some time, enjoys calling women he doesn't know and seducing them over the phone. He almost never sees them again, owing to his tremendous fear of commitment, but there's something about Julia that encourages Daniel to finally confront his problems. Julia Has Two Lovers was co-written by leading lady Daphna Kastner, and it afforded David Duchovny one of his first major screen roles, three years before his breakthrough on the TV series The X-Files. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Writer-director Spike Lee's epic portrayal of the life and times of the slain civil rights leader Malcolm X begins with the cross-cut imagery of the police beating of black motorist Rodney King juxtaposed with an American flag burning into the shape of the letter X. When the film's narrative begins moments later, it jumps back to World War II-era Boston, where Malcolm Little (Denzel Washington) is making his living as a hustler. The son of a Baptist preacher who was murdered by the Ku Klux Klan, Little was raised by foster parents after his mother was deemed clinically insane; as an adult, he turned to a life of crime, which leads to his imprisonment on burglary charges. In jail, Little receives epiphany in the form of an introduction to Islam; he is especially taken with the lessons of Elijah Mohammed, who comes to him in a vision. Adopting the name 'Malcolm X' as a rejection of the 'Little' surname (given his family by white slave owners), he meets the real Elijah Mohammed (Al Freeman, Jr.) upon exiting prison, and begins work as a spokesman for the Nation of Islam. Marriage to a Muslim nurse named Betty Shabazz (Angela Bassett) follows, after which X spearheads a well-attended march on a Harlem hospital housing a Muslim recovering from an episode of police brutality. The march's success helps elevate X to the position of Islam's national spokesperson. There is dissension in the ranks, however, and soon X is targeted for assassination by other Nation leaders; even Elijah Mohammed fears Malcolm's growing influence. After getting wind of the murder plot, X leaves the Nation of Islam, embarking on a pilgrimage to Mecca that proves revelatory; renouncing his separatist beliefs, his oratories begin embracing all races and cultures. During a 1965 speech, Malcolm X is shot and killed, reportedly by Nation of Islam members. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide

This stylish combination of expressionistic horror and deadpan black comedy centers on the activities of a beautiful female vampire on the streets of New York City. Playing fast and loose with the Dracula legend, the film examines the legendary count's children, particularly the alluring and mysterious Nadja (Elina Lowensohn). At the film's beginning, Nadja is celebrating her father's demise and hoping to begin a new life. She hopes that this life will include Lucy (Galaxy Craze), a spunky young woman that she seduces after an encounter in a New York bar. Unfortunately, Lucy is already married, to the nephew of eccentric vampire hunter Van Helsing (Peter Fonda), who disposed of Nadja's father and has now set his sights on capturing the daughter. Matters are further complicated when Nadja's brother Edgar (Jared Harris), a vampire who wishes to give up his blood-sucking nature, also becomes involved. Gorgeously shot by cinematographer Jim Denault in a mixture of 35mm black-and-white and low-budget Pixelvision video, the film resembles a combination of the surrealist visions of co-producer David Lynch and the quirky humor and stylized sensibility of Hal Hartley. The convoluted narrative sometimes fails to gel, and the self-conscious, arty approach will not appeal to audiences looking for conventional thrills, but those with a taste for the unusual may find the film an appealing contemporary spin on a familiar legend. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide

Another member of the Fiennes family leaves a mark in the film business, as Martha Fiennes makes her big-screen directorial debut with a screen adaptation of the verse novel by Aleksander Pushkin, with her big brother Ralph Fiennes in the leading role. Onegin (Fiennes) is a blase man who has grown weary of the social whirl of his life in St. Petersburg in the 1820s. Onegin's wealthy uncle has recently passed on, bequeathing him a large estate in the country, where the financially embarrassed Onegin has now chosen to live. Onegin makes fast friends with his neighbor Lensky (Toby Stephens), who introduces Onegin to his fiancée Olga (Lena Headley). Olga in turn introduces him to her mother (Harriet Walker) and her younger sister, Tatyana (Liv Tyler). Onegin finds Tatyana interesting, and she is strongly infatuated with him, finding him coolly attractive and enjoying his straightforward way of expressing himself. Tatyana makes her feelings known to Onegin in a love letter, but he calmly rejects her advances. Lensky senses Tatyana's attraction to Onegin and talks to him about her; Lensky is shocked when Onegin says he regards her as unintelligent, and in a moment of anger Lensky challenges his friend to a duel. Neither man wants to kill the other, but both are too stubborn to back down, and Onegin ends up shooting Lensky, forcing him to flee to parts unknown. Six years later, a older and more humble Onegin re-encounters the married Tatyana and begs her for a second chance. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Having spent virtually all of her 15 years enwrapped in a sheltered, pampered existence, Lily Greeley McAllister (Alison Lohman) was not quite prepared for the emotional jolt attending the suicide of a strange man in the dining room of the Greeley family's luxurious Pasadena home. Lily was equally unprepared for the blasé, unconcerned reactions of the Greeleys to this appalling spectacle. Attempting to find out why the man killed himself and why no one seemed to care all that much, Lily began to methodically unearth a number of unsavory family secrets -- and in the process, put her own future in dire jeopardy. Mike White of Dawson's Creek, Freaks and Geeks, and Chuck and Buck fame was the guiding creative force behind this bizarre weekly blend of Beverly Hills 90210 and Dallas, while actress Diane Keaton helmed the series' pilot episode. Others in the cast included Natasha Gregson Wagner and Mark Valley as two branches of the Greeley family tree, and Dana Delany as Catherine McAllister. The 60-minute Pasadena debuted September 21, 2001, on the Fox Network. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Quick is based on a series of adventure novels featuring a gorgeous hitwoman. When the title character, played by Teri Polo, is set up by her boss, she takes -- well -- quick action. Abducting the mob witness (Martin Donovan) whom she'd been hired to kill, Quick runs off to parts unknown. As the evil henchmen (Jeff Fahey, on the verge of better parts, and Robert Davi) close in, Quick decides to befriend her captive and entreat his aid. Tia Carrere also appears in this explosive actioner. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide