James Foley Movies
American filmmaker James Foley has been making notable, critically acclaimed films since the mid 1980s when he debuted with Reckless, starring Daryl Hannah and Aidan Quinn. He got his start after studying film at NYU and USC, Los Angeles. For his 1992 film Glenngarry Glen Ross Foley won a major prize at the Venice film festival and actor Al Pacino won an Oscar nomination for "Best Supporting Actor." ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
A hard-nosed star reporter learns who her real friends are -- and gets in way over her head -- investigating a murder in this twisty thriller. Perfect Stranger stars Halle Berry as Rowena, a prominent New York journalist who writes using a pseudonym to entrap some of the tri-state area's most corrupt individuals, using a network of informants, acquaintances, and digital gadgets. When her latest exposé is buried at the behest of her paper's corporate backers, she walks off the job and into a personal quagmire. Her childhood friend Grace (Nicki Aycox) is murdered when she threatens to reveal she's been sleeping with married advertising mogul Harrison Hill (Bruce Wills). With the help of her loyal techie friend Miles (Giovanni Ribisi), she goes undercover -- and online -- to find the smoking gun that will indict Hill. But Rowena soon finds herself caught in a web of manipulation, deceit, and false truths. ~ Michael Hastings, Rovi
- Starring:
- Halle Berry, Bruce Willis, (more)
James Foley directs the slick crime caper Confidence, written by first-time screenwriter Doug Jung. Told in flashback, smooth-talking con man Jake Vig (Edward Burns) relates an elaborate scheme orchestrated by his gang :Gordo (Paul Giamatti), Miles (Brian Van Holt), and Big Al (Louis Lombardi). The crew pulls off a swindling job stealing money from a guy named Lionel (Leland Orser), who turns out to be a mob accountant for the crazy crime boss known as the King (Dustin Hoffman). After the damage has been done, Jake and his crew attempt to pull off an even bigger scam to make up for their mistake. This time the con involves the King's enemy, the mob-connected banker Morgan Price (Robert Forster). Two corrupt cops (Donal Logue and Luis Guzman) join Jake's team while the King appoints his henchman, Lupus (Frankie G.) to oversee the operation. Rachel Weisz plays Lily, Jake's love interest who is also in on the scam. Eventually, Andy Garcia shows up as FBI Agent Gunther Butan, who has been perpetually chasing after Jake. Confidence premiered at the 2003 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, Rovi
- Starring:
- Edward Burns, Rachel Weisz, (more)
The horror film Camp Utopia begins with a group of teenagers traveling to a remote area in the woods where, years before, a cult leader massacred his loyal minions. Sure enough, the teens start dying one by one. The survivors each try and figure out what is happening before they become victims as well. Camp Utopia was directed by Robert Madero and stars Stephen Pearcy as the cult leader. ~ Perry Seibert, Rovi
The Frightening is a horror film set in a high school. Not long after Corey Patterson (Matt Twining) and his mother (Brinke Stevens) move into a new town, he is involved in a school rivalry between the popular kids and the outsiders. Soon they all have a deeper problem to deal with. Jack Carlisle III, Robert Donavan, and Tanya Dempsey round out the cast of this film that was directed by David DeCoteau (Final Stab, The Brotherhood, Retro Puppet Master). ~ Perry Seibert, Rovi
- Starring:
- Matt Twining
Nick Chen (Chow Yun-Fat) was the first Chinese-born immigrant in the NYPD, and is now one of the force's most decorated officers. As such, he's been named leader of the city's Asian Gang Unit, who are the primary peacekeepers in Chinatown. Trouble has just arrived for the Triads, the long-entrenched Chinese gangsters who are the real power behind Chinatown. After years of posing as honest businessmen, the Triad's powers are threatened by the newly arrived Fukienese Dragons. With a gang war on the horizon, the city sends a new recruit, Danny Wallace (Mark Wahlberg), to join Chen's unit. Danny finds Chen and the AGU in a very comfortable (perhaps too comfortable) relationship with the Triads. When the mobsters attempt to corrupt Danny, Chen must reassess his relationship with the Triads, and Danny must also learn that certain concessions must be made to ensure the peace in this world set apart from the rest of New York. ~ Ron Wells, Rovi
- Starring:
- Chow Yun-Fat, Mark Wahlberg, (more)
Mark Wahlberg stars in one of his first features as a hoodlum drug dealer from the wrong side of the trackswho falls in love with Nicole Walker, an upper-middle-class high school girl (Reese Witherspoon). In this psycho-drama (with the emphasis on psycho), Nicole happily loses her virginity to her first love, but, when she begins to doubt the relationship, his tenderness turns to violence, as he stalks and terrorizes her and her friends and family. The girl's father never trusted him in the first place, but his reservations about his daughter's first serious boyfriend are interpreted as Oedipal paranoia, until the boy and his drug-dealing, date-raping buddies besiege the overly fortified house in a twisted attempt to win back Nicole's love. The Seattle setting juxtaposes a grunge rock underworld with an over-privileged suburban household, and includes a very sexual ride on a roller-coaster. And yes, former underwear model Wahlberg appears shirtless several times. ~ Laura Abraham, Rovi
- Starring:
- Mark Wahlberg, Reese Witherspoon, (more)
Based on a novel by John Grisham, this drama deals with a man trying to come to terms with his family and their ugly secrets. Adam Hall (Chris O'Donnell) is a successful attorney based in Chicago who travels to Mississippi to look into the case of Sam Cayhall (Gene Hackman). An outspoken racist and member of the Ku Klux Klan, Cayhall was convicted in the early '60s of the murder of a Jewish civil rights lawyer and his children. Pending a last-minute appeal, it looks as if Cayhall will finally go to the electric chair, and Adam has arrived to see what he can do. It hardly seems like the sort of case Adam would normally be involved with, until we discover Adam's secret: he is actually Cayhall's grandson, and despite his misgivings about the man's racist views, he wants to see if he can spare his life. Cayhall, however, has little use for Adam and even less regard for his legal skills. As Adam spends time with his Aunt Lee (Faye Dunaway), who witnessed Cayhall's execution of a black man years ago, he gets a more complete and disturbing picture of Cayhall's race hatred and the terrible toll it has taken on his family and the community. The Chamber marked the acting debut of former baseball and football star Bo Jackson. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Chris O'Donnell, Gene Hackman, (more)
This nostalgic drama is based upon the childhood memories of screenwriter Joseph Stefano. Set in South Philadelphia in 1933 it centers on both a wise grandfather, and his single-minded grandson. The film opens in a garden on a beautiful day. In the garden is the Italian grandpa telling anyone who will listen that this is his final day of life. No one really believes that, especially not 12-year-old Gennaro who is more interested in finding a quarter so he can go to the grand opening of the brand new La Paloma theater. The grandfather promises the boy that he will receive the money after he dies. The child doesn't believe this and so begins his own search for two bits. Along the way he has many adventures. Towards the end, the grandfather asks the boy to deliver a message to a woman he wronged many years before. He wants her forgiveness before he dies. In the end, Gennaro learns a valuable lesson about life. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Jerry Barone, (more)
David Mamet's award-winning play about a group of desperate real estate agents comes to the big screen from director James Foley. In a role created specifically for the movie, Alec Baldwin appears as a sales motivator, informing the group of hard-luck salesmen that they must compete in a sales contest where the losers will be fired. The agents work their same tired leads, until one hatches a scheme to burglarize the office, steal the leads, and sell them to a rival. Featuring a cast that includes Al Pacino as the office's sales leader, Jack Lemmon as an elderly loser, Alan Arkin and Ed Harris as frustrated salesmen, Kevin Spacey as the harassed office manager, and Jonathan Pryce as a client, Glengarry Glen Ross is, at its core, a character study about a group of men whose time has passed. ~ Matthew Tobey, Rovi
- Starring:
- Al Pacino, Jack Lemmon, (more)
- 1991
Episode 24 of Twin Peaks, "Wounds and Scars," originally aired on March 28, 1991, and was directed by James Foley (Glengarry Glen Ross). Cooper recalls recent events to "Diane" and admits that someone dies every time Windom Earle removes a chess piece from the board. This episode also features the first appearance of Norma's sister, Annie Blackburne (Heather Graham), who recently left the convent to work as a waitress at the Double R diner. Ben Horne has become an environmentalist, and he plans a benefit show to save the pine weasel with Tim Pinkle (David L. Lander aka Squiggy) as guest speaker. Also at the Great Northern Hotel, Nadine and varsity all-star Mike check into the honeymoon suite under false names. Meanwhile, Cooper, Major Briggs, and Margaret (the Log Lady) compare their strange experiences in the woods. Each of them has heard the call of the owl and seen the light, leaving Major Briggs and Margaret with similar tattoo markings. While her parents are away, Donna gets a visitor claiming to be Dr. Gerald Craig, who leaves behind a present containing the next chess move. That evening, the pine weasel benefit talk goes awry, while Audrey and John Justice Wheeler discover their mutual attraction. Still grieving the mysterious death of Josie, a drunken Sheriff Truman destroys all the furniture at the Bookhouse. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, Rovi
Adapted from a novel by pulp writer Jim Thompson, After Dark, My Sweet evokes memories of the film noirs of yore. Jason Patric plays Collie, a short-fused ex-boxer who gets mixed up with alcoholic widow Fay (Rachel Ward) and burned-out former lawman Uncle Bud (Bruce Dern). These two lowlifes involve Collie in a kidnapping scheme. At first willing to go along with the plan, Collie tires of Fay's drunken mood swings and seeks out new companionship. Doctor George Dickinson proves all too eager to be friends with Collie -- more than friends, in fact. Driven back into Fay's arms, Collie agrees to aid in the kidnapping. But when the victim turns out to be diabetic, things go from bad to worse. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Jason Patric, Rachel Ward, (more)
A year after appearing in the box-office sleeper Shanghai Surprise, pop superstar Madonna starred in the screwball comedy Who's That Girl? She plays Nikki Finn, who is being released from prison after serving a four-year sentence for a murder she didn't commit. Meanwhile, wealthy lawyer Loudon (Griffin Dunne) is about to get married that afternoon to the snobby Wendy (Haviland Morris), the daughter of Simon Worthington (John McMartin). Worthington does not approve of the wedding and he wants Nikki out of town as soon as possible, so he sends Loudon to collect Nikki and take her to the bus station. Instead, the flamboyant Nikki seeks her revenge while trying to find out what happened to her friend Johnny, which causes Loudon a lot of trouble. Naturally, wild action ensues -- some of it involving an escaped Cougar belonging to Loudon's boss, the millionaire animal collector Montgomery Bell (John Mills) -- and Loudon having to choose between the prim Wendy and the unpredictable Nikki. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, Rovi
- Starring:
- Madonna, Griffin Dunne, (more)
Amazingly, At Close Range was based on a true story. Bored teenager Sean Penn meets his prodigal father (Christopher Walken) for the first time in years. Though Penn is vaguely aware that his father is a criminal, he is nonetheless impressed by his dad's high life style and creature comforts. But Walken's veneer of charm is fragile indeed, and it becomes clear that he is willing to kill anyone--even his family--if they get in his way. When Walken rapes Penn's girl friend (Mary Stuart Masterson) to keep the boy from cooperating with the DA, it is only a warm-up for the horrors to come. The screenplay for At Close Range was written by Nicholas Kazan, the son of prominent film director Elia Kazan. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Sean Penn, Christopher Walken, (more)
- 1984
- R
Reckless is the word for rebellious teenaged Johnny Rourke (Aidan Quinn). With a drunken dad and a police-blotter rap sheet as long as his arm, Quinn pursues an "impossible" romance with Tracey Prescott (Daryl Hannah), a girl from a wealthy, highly respected family. Tracey is thrilled at the prospect of kicking over the traces with Johnny, and soon proves to be as big a hellraiser as he is....if not more so. Reckless was written by Chris Columbus, just before he hit pay dirt with Gremlins and The Goonies. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Aidan Quinn, Daryl Hannah, (more)
- 1972
- PG
This dreadful, but oddly engaging horror film from director Ed Adlum and co-writer Ed Kelleher deals with a cult of modern-day Druids on a farm in upstate New York. In order to keep their catatonic queen alive in her glass coffin, the cultists drain the blood from passersby with the aid of some cheap plastic tubing. The leader of the cult is a flamboyantly effeminate priest whose hilariously silly explanations of his beliefs provide most of the film's minimal entertainment value. Norman Kelley, Bruce Detrick, and Tanna Hunter co-star in this campy cult favorite from the writers of the similarly appalling Shriek of the Mutilated (1974). Adlum also wrote for the 1970s cult music magazine Creem. ~ Robert Firsching, Rovi
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