Margo Martindale Movies

An alleged rape gets examined and reexamined in this low-budget thriller from Midwestern-based filmmaker Zack Parker. Margo Martindale (Justified) stars as Janice, the heavyset, middle-aged mother of Jakob (Adam Scarimbolo). He's a neurologically damaged mute who requires constant attention. When Janice makes the mistake of hiring an attractive college student named Paige (Hanna Hall) to look after Jakob, conflict erupts between the co-ed and her charge; a traumatized Paige claims that the enigmatic young man assaulted her, which leads to Jakob's incarceration and drives Janice to seek vengeance against Paige. Parker tells the same story three times, Rashomon-style; he begins by filtering events through Janice's perspective, then retells it from Jakob's and finally Paige's. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi

Colin Firth and Patricia Clarkson headline this ensemble drama from Academy Award-winning screenwriter Horton Foote (To Kill a Mockingbird, Tender Mercies) concerning a small North Carolina community that is transformed by a most unusual visitor. When their town falls on hard times, the close-knit locals strive to get back on their feet to no avail. Things begin looking up, however, when a mysterious stranger makes a controversial proposal designed to put the town back on the map. Now it's up to the members of the community to make the personal changes that will transform the town from the inside out. Orlando Bloom, Amber Tamblyn, and Oscar winner Ellen Burstyn co-star. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

A disgraced Dominican cop fights to clear his name and avenge his father's death in this gritty revenge thriller from director Joshua Crook (Salvage, Rockaway). Luisito's father was an honest butcher who valued hard work. He was a positive role model for a kid from the slums, and Luisito's life was forever changed when notorious drug dealer Rafa (Paul Calderon) shot him down in cold blood. Flash-forward two decades, and Luisito is doing his part to keep the Dominican Republic safe from the criminal element. He's been carefully molded into the perfect crime fighter thanks to the charismatic General Colon (Juan Fernández), who exploited Luisito's childhood trauma before inducting him into the secret police. As a young boy, Luisito fell deeply in love with Jenny. But when Jenny's family moved to New York shortly after Luisito's father was killed, they lost touch. Now, Jenny (Denise Quiñones) is back in the Dominican Republic, and her feelings for Luisito are stronger than ever. If only Luisito could find a way to tell her about his work, perhaps they could find a way to make love work. Unfortunately for Luisito and Jenny, an investigation into General Colon's recent activities reveals an epic betrayal, and sets the stage for a tragic confrontation. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award recipient James C. Strouse follows up his 2007 Sundance Film Festival favorite Grace Is Gone with this comedy drama about an alcoholic ex-basketball star who gets a second chance at success on the court when recruited by a local high school principal to coach the girl's varsity team. Bill (Sam Rockwell) used to sink hoops in the NBA, but that was before the bottle got the best of him. These days, Bill's more likely to be spotted bussing tables at the local diner than hustling up and down the court. Handed the reins on his daughter's basketball team by the school's principal, Bill seizes the opportunity to get back in the game and set things right. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

A pair of siblings are forced to set aside their discomfort with one another for the sake of their father in this low-key comedy drama from writer/director Tamara Jenkins. Wendy Savage (Laura Linney) is a struggling playwright living in New York City who works a day job to support herself and can't shake the feeling that she's failed as an artist. Wendy isn't especially happy about her love life either, gaining little self-esteem from her on-and-off affair with oversexed, married neighbor Larry (Peter Friedman). Wendy's anxieties about her writing career are intensified by the success of her brother, Jon (Philip Seymour Hoffman), who teaches theater history at a college in Buffalo, NY, and has published a number of books. While Jon's life seems fine on the surface, a case of writer's block has stalled work on his latest project, and he's deeply upset that his girlfriend is soon to leave the United States to return to her native Poland. Wendy and Jon don't get along and prefer not to see one another, but an unfortunate circumstance brings them together -- their father, Lenny Savage (Philip Bosco). Elderly Lenny has began showing signs of dementia, and shortly after he takes to smearing his feces on the walls of his Arizona home, his ailing long-term girlfriend suddenly dies. Wendy and Jon have little choice but to fly to Arizona and see what can be done for Lenny, but their long-simmering animosity makes it hard for them to deal with the realities of Lenny's condition. The Savages received its world premiere at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Kevin Bacon, Marcia Gay Harden, and Miles Heizer star in director Alison Eastwood's tale of two families locked into an emotional -- and physical -- collision course. There once was a time when Tom and Megan Stark had all the time in the world to take their dream vacation and start a family, but these days the couple's marriage is suffering and their time appears to be running short. Megan has been diagnosed with a potentially terminal illness, and when the prospect of losing his wife becomes too much to bear, railroad engineer Tom seeks escape in his work. On the tracks Tom is in control; all the routes are predetermined and he knows he'll eventually arrive at his destination. But sometimes even the most predictable events can go suddenly awry, and when Tom's train hits a car that was parked on the tracks by a suicidal mother, his life is plunged into ruin. While there was no way that Tom could have possibly stopped the train on time, the grieving conductor's woes are suddenly compounded upon realizing that he may lose his job because of the accident. Not only that, but the deceased woman's son, Davey, is consumed by the guilt that he could do nothing to prevent the accident, and he now places the blame for his mother's death squarely on Tom. But not all sad stories have to end in tragedy, and perhaps in the aftermath of this fateful accident Megan could receive a second chance at fulfilling her dreams, Tom could learn to open his heart before he is consumed by bitterness, and Davey could finally learn the true meaning of family. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Inspired by his childhood memories of his younger brother Matthew, director/screenwriter Brian Scott Lederman's inspirational drama stars Malcolm in the Middle's Erik Per Sullivan as Mo - a courageous young boy who suffers from Marfan Syndrome. A genetic disorder of the connective tissue that can acutely affect the bones, vision, lungs, and heart function, Marfan syndrome strikes one in 5,000 newborn children. In the film, young Mo and his friends embark on a series of adventures while attempting to work around his physical limitations. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Twenty acclaimed filmmakers from around the world look at love in the City of Lights in this omnibus feature. Paris, Je T'Aime features 18 short stories, each set in a different part of Paris and each featuring a different cast and director (two segments were produced by two filmmakers in collaboration). In "Faubourg Saint-Denis," Tom Tykwer directs Natalie Portman as an American actress who is the object of affection for a blind student (Melchior Belson). Christopher Doyle's "Porte de Choisy" follows a salesman (Barbet Schroeder) as he tries to pitch beauty aids in Chinatown. Nick Nolte and Ludivine Sagnier are father and daughter in "Parc Monceau" from Alfonso Cuarón. Animator Sylvain Chomet turns his eye to a pair of living, breathing mimes in "Tour Eiffel." An interracial romance in France is offered by Gurinder Chadha in "Quais de Seine." In "Le Marais" from Gus Van Sant, a man (Gaspard Ulliel) finds himself falling for a handsome gent (Elias McConnell) who works in a print shop. Isabel Coixet tells the tale of a man (Sergio Castellitto) who is making his final choice between his wife (Miranda Richardson) and his lover (Leonor Watling) in "Bastille." Juliette Binoche plays a grieving mother in Nobuhiro Suwa's "Place des Victoires," in which she's greeted by a spectral cowboy (Willem Dafoe). Richard LaGravanese's "Pigalle" finds a long-married man (Bob Hoskins) turning to a prostitute for advice on pleasing his wife (Fanny Ardant). Gérard Depardieu and Frédéric Auburtin direct Gena Rowlands and Ben Gazzara as longtime marrieds meeting for one final pre-divorce encounter in "Quartier Latin." Steve Buscemi learns a lesson about local etiquette in the Paris Metro in "Tuileries" from Joel and Ethan Coen. In "Loin du 16ème" by Walter Salles, a housekeeper (Catalina Sandino Moreno) longs for her own child as she tends to the infant of her wealthy employer. Elijah Wood stars in "Quartier de la Madeleine," a vampire tale from Vincenzo Natali. Wes Craven presents another fantasy in "Père-Lachaise," in which an engaged young man (Rufus Sewell) receives romantic advice from the spirit of Oscar Wilde (Alex Payne). A postal worker from Colorado (Margo Martindale) shares her thoughts on her visit to Paris in mangled French in Alexander Payne's witty "14th Arrondissement." Other segments include "Place des Fêtes" from Oliver Schmitz, Bruno Podalydès' "Montmartre," and "Quartier des Enfants Rouges" by Olivier Assayas, which stars Maggie Gyllenhaal. Paris, Je T'Aime received its world premiere at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

This short film was director Alexander Payne's contribution to the anthology film Paris, Je T'Aime. Focusing on the area of the City of Lights called Montparnasse, it stars Margo Martindale as an American visiting Paris alone. ~ Matthew Tobey, Rovi

For his first filmmaking effort without brother Josh Kornbluth by his side, Jacob Kornbluth followed up the duo's Haiku Tunnel by writing and directing this offbeat drama about a family struggling to cope with unexpected strife and the pitfalls of adolescence. The Best Thief in the World stars Mary-Louise Parker (Boys on the Side, Angels in America) as the family matriarch, a public-school English teacher whose husband has recently suffered a stroke, leaving her the household's lone breadwinner. Meanwhile, her oldest son Izzy is rebelliously acting out in response to the tumult at home and his own growing pains by breaking into apartments and rearranging the furniture. The Best Thief in the World screened in competition at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Matthew Tobey, Rovi

An estranged couple are brought back together as they run for their lives in a future world where science as well as emotions have gone haywire in this sci-fi drama from director Thomas Vinterberg. In the year 2021, the world seems to have become a very strange place; an unexplained ailment is causing children to drop dead on the streets of New York, ice storms and floods strike major cities without notice, summer is marked by periodic snowfalls, and a strange hole has appeared in the Ugandan sky that causes people to loose the grip of gravity and drift off into space. In the midst of all this, internationally known figure skater Elena (Claire Danes) is getting divorced from her husband John (Joaquin Phoenix) after an 18-month separation. John has arrived in New York City to have Elena sign the divorce papers, but after finally making his way through her entourage, he discovers her to be unhappy and out of sorts, and she asks him to stay. John soon learns that Elena and her staff have a secret -- David (Alun Armstrong), her manager, has had Elena cloned, and now there are three duplicates of her to stand in if she should be killed or injured. John's discovery puts both him and Elena in grave danger, and they are soon on the run from David and his underlings. Meanwhile, Marciello (Sean Penn) ponders the unstable state of the world as he flies from one place to another after a heroic dose of pills designed to combat the fear of flying. It's All About Love received its North American premier at the 2003 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Three women, separated by a span of nearly 80 years, find themselves weathering similar crises, all linked by a single work of literature in this film adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Michael Cunningham. In 1923, Virginia Woolf (Nicole Kidman) is attempting to start work on her novel Mrs. Dalloway, in which she chronicles one day in the life of a troubled woman. But Virginia has demons of her own, and she struggles to overcome the depression and suicidal impulses that have followed her throughout her life, as her husband Leonard (Stephen Dillane) ineffectually tries to help. In 1951, Laura Brown (Julianne Moore) is a housewife living in suburban Los Angeles, where she looks after her son Richie (Jack Rovello) and husband Dan (John C. Reilly). Laura is also an avid reader who is currently making her way through Mrs. Dalloway. The farther she gets into the novel, the more Laura discovers that it reflects a dissatisfaction she feels in her own life, and she finds herself pondering the notion of leaving her life behind. Finally, in 2000, Clarissa Vaughn (Meryl Streep) is a literary editor who is caring for Richard Brown (Ed Harris), a former boyfriend and noted author, who is slowly losing his fight with AIDS. Clarissa is trying to arrange a party to celebrate the fact that Richard has won a prestigious literary award, but is getting little help from Richard's ex-lover, Louis (Jeff Daniels). As she labors to help Richard through another day, he wonders if his life is worth the unending struggle. The Hours also features Toni Collette, Miranda Richardson, Allison Janney, and Claire Danes. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi