Scott Rosenfelt Movies

A young reporter is forced to take an active role in a story he's covering in this drama inspired by a true story. Jack Daumier (Gabriel Mann) is a journalist who has just been hired to write for The Valley Standard, a newspaper in San Jose, California published by Albion Munson (Pete Postlethwaite). While much of the country is mired in the great depression, San Jose's agricultural industry is prospering, and Jack mostly finds himself covering fluffy, inconsequential stories; he thinks he's following another one when he's asked to attend a party thrown by Horace and Natalie Walsh (Bruce McGill and Diana Scarwid) in honor of their son Blake Walsh (Joe Mandragona), who has been named second-in-command a Horace's successful department store. Jack thinks meeting Blake's beautiful sister Helen (Emily Harrison) is the high point of the evening until Blake disappears after stepping out for a moment. Horace is later contacted by kidnappers, who are holding Blake for ransom. As local and federal authorities squabble over how to handle the case and rival reporters from around the state invade San Jose to cover the kidnapping, two men are arrested and charged with the crime. A handful of powerful local businessmen are determined to see that "justice is served" and are ready to take the law into their own hands, but Jack speaks to a witness who makes a compelling case for the innocence of the accused men, and Jack decides he has to intervene to insure their safety. Valley Of The Heart's Delight was based in part on the 1933 abduction of Brooke L. Hart, though the story has been fictionalized for this adaptation. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

A battle between real estate moguls and environmental activists takes an unexpected turn into affairs of the heart in this satiric update of Henry James' The Bostonians. Gavin Ransom (Noah Wyle) is a successful real estate developer who has made a tidy fortune putting up gated communities filled with expensive suburban homes all over California. Ransom intends to put up another such development in the as-yet-untouched hillsides of Northern California's Marin County, and, just as he's expected, a number of folks living nearby are objecting to the project, including his sister Olive (Illeana Douglas), an environmental activist who has sided with longtime resident Eileen Boatwright (Cloris Leachman) and progressive lawyer Sybil (Jane Lynch) against the development. Olive and her compatriots get some unexpected support when Zoe Tripp (Kate Mara), a modern folk singer and the daughter of old-school Marin County hippies (Keith Carradine and Valerie Perrine), takes an interest in their protests and begins singing out against Gavin's proposal with guitar in hand. Gavin unexpectedly finds himself growing powerfully infatuated with Zoe, and Olive, a long-closeted lesbian, is equally taken with her; consequently, as the siblings battle against building several dozen cookie-cutter mansions, they also wage a private war for the affections of the young songstress. The Californians was directed by Jonathan Parker, who when not busy with film projects is himself a California real estate developer. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

The first feature from writing/directing team Oren Goldman and Yariv Ozdoba, Final Draft is an insider-comedy about a pair of guys who have been friends since childhood and now, as adults, dream of making it as Hollywood screenwriters. Marty was born in Israel and maintains a somewhat cynical view of the world. Harry, on the other hand, grew up in New York and is slightly more wide-eyed. To bide their time before hitting the big time, the two have resigned themselves to editing home videos of bar mitzvahs and weddings. In addition, Harry works nights teaching Jewish folk dancing classes. But everything takes a positive turn when the guys discover they have a drug dealer in common with a bigwig at Misney studios. When they suddenly find themselves with a meeting scheduled with an actual Hollywood executive and no script to pitch, Harry and Marty scramble to come up with the perfect idea. Also starring Emily Bergl and Laura Jordan as the guys' love interests, Final Draft was shot digitally and premiered at the 2003 Victoria Film Festival in Victoria, British Columbia. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide

Shot on digital video and taking its title from his 1992 book of poetry, Sherman Alexie's The Business of Fancydancing is a portrait of the conflicted relationship between two Native American men. Aristotle Joseph (Gene Tagaban) and Seymour Polatkin (Evan Adams) had long been best friends by the time they left their Spokane reservation to attend college in Seattle. But while Seymour flourished in Seattle as a gay writer, Aristotle endured nothing but bad luck that led to growing resentment, both against white society and his best friend. Although Aristotle returned to the reservation, Seymour remained in Seattle. Now, 15 years later, the sudden death of their mutual childhood friend brings Seymour back to the reservation -- without his white boyfriend -- where he must cope with his status as the de facto mouthpiece for his people and his estranged relationship with both Aristotle, who seems to be growing more violent by the day, and also Agnes (Michelle St. John), his one-time college girlfriend. The Business of Fancydancing was screened at the 2002 Philadelphia Gay and Lesbian International Film Festival. ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, All Movie Guide

Premiering in the dramatic competition at the 1999 Sundance Film Festival, Getting to Know You is director Lisanne Skyler's first narrative feature, following her 1995 Sundance Film Festival documentary No Loans Today. The film takes place in one afternoon at a bus depot where Judith (Welcome to the Dollhouse's Heather Matarazzo) and her brother Wesley wait for the bus. There Judith meets Jimmy (Michael Weston), a kid with a great imagination and nowhere to go. Jimmy tells Judith stories about the lonely people who are sitting at the depot, and his tall tales become flashbacks in the film. As the story progresses, Jimmy and Judith start falling in love and finally reveal the secrets of their own lives: Jimmy's father was a cop who was killed in a simple domestic disturbance call, and Judith lives with her aunt following a spousal argument that put Judith's father in prison and her mother (Bebe Neuwirth) in a mental institution. ~ Arthur Borman, All Movie Guide

Set in 1969 Los Angeles, this movie aims at nostalgia but really is more a depiction of the tragedy of a dysfunctional family. Young Andrew, a 13-year-old male on the brink of manhood, is saddled with a Father who is a compulsive gambler and a Mother who is immersed in constant battle with him because of it. Often desperate for money, their dependence on Andrew's older sister for money is one more cause of tension and anxiety in an already unhappy household. As Andrew cares for himself and his younger sister, the symbol of his coming of age--his approaching bar-mitzvah--comes to symbolize more than just a rite of passage. ~ Tana Hobart, All Movie Guide

This light comedy is a contemporary--and wacky--version of The Hunchback of Notre Dame. In this version, a malformed young man hangs out in the bell tower of a California college campus and has to face a number of prejudices when he is brought out into the light. ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide

In Remote Control, a video by the same name is a big-time rental at the video parlors. Too bad for its renters, because when they watch the video, they get hypnotized and then go out on violent sprees. The video store's boss catches on to what's going on and tries to discover who's behind the evil ploy. ~ All Movie Guide

This children's movie is set in sunny Key West during a Fourth of July celebration. Three buddies sneak off to their secret fort and to their surprise discover a Russian sailor hiding there. He is Mischa, who with two shipmates was assigned to sneak into the town military base to steal certain computer parts. Unfortunately, a rafting accident left him stranded and alone. The boys eventually decide to help poor Mischa make it back to his home. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

After sitting on the shelf for some time, Teen Wolf was released on the heels of the hugely successful Back to the Future in an attempt to cash in on the huge popularity of star Michael J. Fox. Teen Wolf chronicles the plight of Fox as a small-town nerd who can't seem to score a basket on the court or a point with his dream girl. Things change, however, once he discovers his family's hereditary secret, lycanthrope. As he begins to look hairier and hairier, his team begins to win basketball games and his dream girl begins to show interest in his unusual talent. His story does not progress without complications, however. His best friend, an opportunistic weasel, begins to exploit him beyond his limits of toleration, and his dream girl is captive to the requisite bully boyfriend, who, of course, captains the arch-rival basketball team. And then, to top it all off, Fox's other best friend is in love with him. Unbelievably, this film was a box-office success and eventually inspired an even worse sequel, Teen Wolf Too, several years later -- a film which Fox wisely declined. ~ Jeremy Beday, All Movie Guide

In this easily predictable romantic comedy, Gail (Anne Archer) is a no-nonsense geologist from the East Coast and John (Terry Jastrow) is a down-home, intuitive Texan whose expertise lies in guessing where petroleum is located -- Gail, as a geologist, is not in the habit of guessing. As the two meet and work together on a wildcat well in Texas, their romantic and financial fortunes are transparently tied together, and nothing at all comes as a surprise after their first initial meeting and disagreement. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide