Michael Douglas

Michael Douglas stars as a former car dealer who's turned his life upside down from years of infidelity and bad business practices in this Millennium Films production. Brian Koppelman directs from a script he wrote with David Levien; Susan Sarandon, Mary-Louise Parker, Danny DeVito, and Jenna Fischer head up the rest of the cast. ~ Jeremy Wheeler, All Movie Guide

Scripted by Stephen Gerard and based on author Adam Penenberg's 2003 book of the same name, Tragic Indifference details the landmark court case that served to expose the Ford Motor Company's willful indifference to potentially fatal flaws in the design of their popular sport utility vehicles. When single Texas mother Donna Bailey nearly died after the SUV she was in flipped over, she was rendered paralyzed as a direct result of a flaw in Ford engineering. Attorney Tab Turner (played by Michael Douglas) represented her and sought out a public courtroom forum, which not only resulted in an enormous settlement for the crash victim, but also included a personal apology from the prolific auto manufacturer's top brass. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Michael Douglas stars as a treasure-hunting eccentric in this Alexander Payne-produced comedy from director Michael Cahill. Recently released from a mental institution and reunited with his teenage daughter, Miranda (Evan Rachel Wood), Charlie (Douglas) decides there's century's old gold buried near their lower-middle-class neighborhood, and sets out on an obsessive quest to find it. Along the way, the estranged parent and child rekindle a long-lost bond with each other. Featuring a score by David Robbins, King of California screened at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide

While Los Angeles has been the capital of major studio filmmaking in America since the early ears of the 20th Century, in the northern part of California, San Francisco has become home to a different breed of filmmaker -- artists who treasure their independence and carefully guard their creative vision, even while working in the highest echelons of the commercial movie business. Francis Ford Coppola and George Lucas are just two of the best-known directors to emerge from the San Francisco film community, and Fog City Mavericks is a documentary which pays homage to a number of important filmmakers from the City by the Bay. In addition to Coppola and Lucas, Fog City Mavericks profiles directors Clint Eastwood, Carroll Ballard, Philip Kaufman and Chris Columbus, pioneering independent auteur John Korty, experimental filmmaker Bruce Conner, producer Saul Zaentz, editor and sound designer Walter Murch, cinematographer and director Caleb Deschanel, digital animation moguls Brad Bird, Pete Docter, John Lasseter and Andrew Stanton, and actor Robin Williams, and many more. While examining these individuals, the film also embraces the whole of the San Francisco film scene, and explains why these artists remain so loyal to their hometown. Fittingly, Fog City Mavericks received its world premiere at the 2007 San Francisco International Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

A man is being driven crazy by his shiftless best friend, just as the layabout starts making nice with his wife and neighbors in this comedy. Carl and Molly (Matt Dillon and Kate Hudson) are a thirtysomething couple who have just gotten married and are settling down into a cozy new home in a quiet neighborhood. While Carl and Molly are happy with their new digs, Carl's best friend, Randy Dupree (Owen Wilson), is not content with his living arrangements. Dupree has all but made a career out of avoiding work, responsibility, and commitment, and while his charm usually manages to keep him afloat, when he loses his job, his apartment, and his car. Carl can't bear to see Dupree in such dire circumstances, and tells Dupree he can stay on their couch until he can get things straightened out. But while Carl was expecting Dupree to stay for a few days, it soon becomes obvious to both him and Molly that their guest has no intention of moving out anytime soon, and while the likable freeloader starts working his charm on Molly, their neighbors, and their friends, Carl soon finds himself at the end of his rope with his best man and childhood buddy. You, Me and Dupree also stars Amanda Detmer, Seth Rogen, and Michael Douglas as Molly's father. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Mark Wexler is a successful photojournalist who has also distinguished himself as a documentary filmmaker, but in many ways he has spent much of his life in the shadow of his more famous father, Haskell Wexler. One of Hollywood's greatest cinematographers, Haskell is also known as a director (he made the acclaimed feature Medium Cool as well as a handful of documentaries) and as a tireless political activist. But while Haskell is widely respected as a major talent, he's also known for being fiercely opinionated and difficult to work with, and Mark makes no secret of the fact that he's had a prickly relationship with his dad. Mark Wexler takes a detailed look at the life and work of Haskell Wexler in Tell Them Who You Are, which examines Haskell's career in the movie business, his relationship with his family (including his three marriages and his frequent lack of respect for Mark), and how he's viewed by his friends and peers. Interview subjects include Jane Fonda, Paul Newman, George Lucas, Michael Douglas, Milos Forman, Ron Howard, Dennis Hopper, and many more. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

A family takes on the difficult task of learning how to get along with one another in this emotional comedy drama. Alex Gromberg (Michael Douglas) is a middle-aged man who feels caught in the middle of his familial obligations as he muddles he way through a midlife crisis. While a successful businessman, Alex sometimes still feels as if he's under the shadow of his father, Mitchell Gromberg (Kirk Douglas), a successful attorney whose skills in the courtroom outstripped his gifts as a parent. Elderly Mitchell has recently survived a stroke, and Alex and Mitchell want to mend their relationship while there's still time, but making it so proves difficult, even with Alex getting advice from his wife, psychologist Rebecca (Bernadette Peters), and Mitchell being prodded by his long-suffering wife, Evelyn (Diana Douglas). Alex is also trying to reach out to his two sons, who are as different as night and day; college student Asher (Cameron Douglas) is an aspiring club DJ who seems to be styling himself to bear no resemblance to his father, while 11-year-old Eli (Rory Culkin) is an overly serious lad who is having trouble navigating the first steps of adolescence. It Runs in the Family marked the first time Kirk Douglas acted in a film with his son Michael Douglas; adding to the family atmosphere was Michael's son Cameron Douglas, working with his family for the first time, and Diana Douglas, Kirk's former wife and Michael's mother. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Filmmakers Phillip B. Kunhardt III, Nancy Steiner, and Peter W. Kunhardt explore the eternal struggle for liberty in America while simultaneously illuminating the hypocritical underlying factors that undermined the colonist's bold "experiment in freedom," in a revealing documentary featuring the voices of Brad Pitt, Martin Sheen, Michael Caine, Tom Hanks, Anthony Hopkins , Meryl Streep, Michael Douglas, Morgan Freeman, Robert Redford and many more. As the newly arrived British subjects staged the revolution that would cut loose their ties to Great Britain and give birth to a new era of freedom, a new hope for liberty emerged - but how then does one justify the presence of slavery in a society founded on the claim of all men being "created equal?" A blight on the quest for liberty and freedom that literally divided a struggling young nation right down the middle, slavery would be the last true obstacle in ensuring that the land of the free would truly live up to the ideals set forth by the founding fathers. As the north and the south set the stage for a bloody four-year war that would go down in history as one of the most brutal internal struggles ever waged, the resulting Civil War showed the willingness of Americans to actually stand up and fight to protect the rights of others as stated in the Constitution. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

This psychological thriller from screenwriter Patrick Smith Kelly reunites him with his A Perfect Murder (1998) star Michael Douglas. Dr. Nathan Conrad (Douglas) is a respected adolescent therapist faced with a nightmarish scenario when his young daughter (Skye McCole Bartusiak) is snatched by Koster (Sean Bean), a criminal with a talent for high-tech surveillance. Conrad learns that the kidnapper is desperate for a critical piece of information known only to Elisabeth Burrows (Brittany Murphy), one of his catatonic pro bono patients. While his wife Aggie (Famke Janssen) remains at home, bedridden due to a broken leg, Conrad races to unlock the secret stored in Elisabeth's fractured mind, while a New York City detective (Jennifer Esposito) inches closer to discovering the Conrads' dilemma. Don't Say a Word co-stars Oliver Platt and Guy Torry and is directed by Gary Fleder, who follows up his suspense smash Kiss the Girls (1997). ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide

The debut project from co-star Michael Douglas' production company Further Films, this comic crime caper uses the narrative devices of multiple points of view and flashbacks, à la Rashomon (1951) and that classic film's many imitators. A late-night slaying at a bar called McCool's is the point of departure as Detective Dehling (John Goodman), bartender Randy (Matt Dillon), and Randy's lawyer-cousin Carl (Paul Reiser) project their fantasies onto the sexy Jewel (Liv Tyler), whose boyfriend (Andrew Dice Clay) is the corpse in question. As each man spills his guts -- Dehling to his priest, Randy to an aging hit man (Douglas), and Carl to his therapist (Reba McEntire) -- it becomes clear that the femme fatale Jewel has been manipulating the smitten men for her own purposes, namely a house full of cutting-edge electronic gadgets. One Night at McCool's is the debut American film from Norwegian commercial and music video director Harald Zwart. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide

Described by director Steven Soderbergh as "Nashville meets The French Connection," this multi-character drama explores the effects of international drug trafficking on all fronts: from their source, to the U.S. border, to the federal government, to the private lives of users. Based upon a miniseries originally aired on Britain's Channel 4, Traffic divides its time among three main storylines and almost a dozen locales. The first and primary plot thread, set in Ohio and Washington, D.C., concerns freshly-appointed drug czar Robert Wakefield (Michael Douglas), whose enthusiasm for his new prestige position is quickly offset when he realizes his 16-year-old daughter Caroline (Erika Christensen) is graduating from recreational drug use to habitual abuse -- a secret that his wife, Barbara (Amy Irving), has kept from him. South of the border, Mexican cop Javier Rodriguez (Benicio Del Toro) attempts to wage his own war on drugs, heading off a cocaine shipment in the middle of the desert with his less-than-virtuous partner Manolo Sanchez (Jacob Vargas). Surrounded by corruption, Javier approaches the drug war with an attitude of patience and compromise, which opens him up to investigation from General Arturo Salazar (Tomas Milian), the country's dubious drug-enforcement liaison to the U.S. Meanwhile, San Diego drug kingpin Carlos Alaya (Steven Bauer) is caught in a sting operation spearheaded by DEA agents Montel Gordon (Don Cheadle) and Ray Castro (Luis Guzman), leaving behind his very pregnant and very oblivious wife, Helena (Catharine Zeta-Jones). At the behest of Carlos' lawyer and shady confidante, Arnie Metzger (Dennis Quaid), Helena decides to carry on the family business -- with tragic consequences. Adapted by Rules of Engagement scribe Stephen Gaghan, Traffic marked Soderbergh's second major release in 2000 after the critical and box-office success of Erin Brockovich, as well as his second feature as cinematographer (credited under the pseudonym Peter Andrews). A favorite with various guild and critics' awards, Traffic won four Academy Awards in 2001, including statues for Best Supporting Actor (Del Toro) and Best Adapted Screenplay (Gaghan), and surprise wins for Steven Mirrone's editing and Soderbergh's direction. ~ Michael Hastings, All Movie Guide

In 1972, athletes from around the globe gathered in Munich, Germany for the Olympic Games. However, the Olympic spirit of brotherhood and peaceful competition was shattered when eight Palestinian terrorists invaded the athletes' quarters to take the Israeli team hostage, resulting in the violent deaths of eleven athletes. In One Day in September, director Kevin Macdonald mixes newsreel coverage of the tragedy with interviews of witnesses and participants (including Jamil Al Gashey, the only surviving member of the terrorist cadre Black September who were responsible for the killings), as they discuss what happened, and how a dangerous situation turned tragic and deadly . Produced by two-time Oscar winner Arthur Cohn,One Day in September earned Cohn another trophy when it received an Academy Award as Best Documentary Feature. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide