Cast: Adrien Brody, Marcia Gay Harden, Christina Hendricks, Sami Gayle, Betty Kaye, Lucy Liu, Tim Blake Nelson, Louis Zorich, Bryan Cranston, Blythe Danner and James Caan
Written By: Carl Lund
Directed By: Tony Kaye
Genre: Drama
Running Time: 1 hour, 38 minutes
Release Date: April 25, 2011
MPAA Rating: Not Rated (it’s an “R” style, though)
Cast: Adrien Brody, Caroline Dhavernas, Jacob Blair, Adrian Holmes, Ryan Robbins, Lloyd Adams, Adrian G. Griffiths
Written By: Christopher Dodd
Directed By: Michael Greenspan
Genre: Adventure/Drama/Mystery
Running Time: 1 hour, 31 minutes
Release Date: October 15, 2010 (Abu Dhabi Film Festival); April, 2011 (U.S.A)
MPAA Rating: R
A man awakens in the passenger seat of a wrecked car in the middle of nowhere. He has no idea who he is, or how he got there. While piecing together sparse clues and memory flashes, he has to try and sort out fact from fantasy and fear.
Oh, and did I mention he’s badly injured, and trying to survive in the elements?
This man is the only living character on screen for about 90% of this film. So, to say a lot depended on Brody’s performance is an understatement.
He fully holds your attention. Even in a movie like this, where the progress is subtle and slow, he keeps it from being boring. With a lesser actor, it may have been.
As with The Experiment, Wrecked is hard to watch at times. Adrien’s character goes through so much physical and mental suffering, and there’s nothing else going on to distract the viewer. Your focus is always on this man and his misery. He sells the pain so well with his physicality and expressions, it will bring a tear to your eye.
Movie in General: 6/10
Brody Performance: 8/10
Cast: Adrien Brody, Forest Whitaker, Cam Gigandet, Clifton Collins Jr., Ethan Cohn, Fisher Stevens, Travis Fimmel, Lavell “David Banner” Crump, Jason Lew, Damien Leake, and Maggie Grace
Written By: Paul T. Scheuring (screenplay), Mario Giordano (novel)
Directed By: Paul T. Scheuring
Genre: Drama/Thriller
Running Time: 1 hour, 36 minutes
Release Date: July 15, 2010 (South Korea), September 21, 2010 (U.S.)
MPAA Rating: R
A group of men, all in need of money for various reasons, sign up for a psychological experiment that pays $14,000 (if they make it the entire two weeks). Half of them are assigned the role of prisoners, the other half, guards. They are given a few rules, and then essentially abandoned by the people running the experiment.
Power changes people. That’s about all I can tell you about the plot without spoiling too much.
Travis is laid off from his job at an elder care facility. He has also started a relationship with a woman named Bay (Maggie Grace), who invites him on a trip to India. He spots the experiment in a newspaper, and it seems like the answer to his money woes.
Travis is assigned the role of prisoner during the experiment, and is soon fighting for the rights of the detainees. He endures a lot of backlash, to say the least.
Sadly, this is the type of movie where almost anything I say will give away plot points. What I’ll say is, Travis basically goes through Hell.
I’ll level with you: this movie is hard to watch. Seeing the mistreatment, and the gross conditions, is enough to turn your stomach.
However, the performances are good (especially those of Brody and Whitaker), and the story is compelling.
If you can handle it, give it a watch.
Movie in General: 6/10
Brody Performance: 8/10
Cast: Adrien Brody, Jeffrey Wright, Emmanuelle Chriqui, Eamonn Walker, Beyonce Knowles, Cedric the Entertainer, Gabrielle Union, Mos Def, and Norman Reedus
Written by: Darnell Martin
Directed by: Darnell Martin
Genre: Biography, Drama, Music
Running Time: 1 hour, 49 minutes
Released: November 24, 2008 (U.S.)
MPAA Rating: R
Adrien plays a slightly sanitized version of Leonard Chess, founder of Chess Records, a pioneering blues and rock n’ roll label. Adrien’s version of Len Chess is mainly concerned with getting black artists heard. The real Chess was more concerned with making money, and not giving the artists much of it. Continue reading “Cadillac Records”
This movie is also known as Manolete, The Passion Within, or Blood and Passion.
Cast: Adrien Brody, Penelope Cruz, Santiago Segura, Josep Linuesa, Nacho Aldeguer
Written by: Menno Meyjes
Directed by: Menno Meyjes
Genre: Biography, Drama, Romance
Running Time: 1 hour, 32 minutes
Released: September 6, 2008 (Toronto Film Festival)
MPAA Rating: Not Rated (I would say PG-13, leaning toward R)
Adrien trained with a dialect coach for this film, but ended up using his own voice/accent, with a few random words pronounced accurately. Sort of like an American newscaster (you know what I’m talking about).
I’m not sure why this happened, given the character he played was a real person born and raised in Spain. Perhaps trying the accent was distracting him too much from the emotional parts, so they scrapped it. Whatever the reason, it’s distracting to have the lead sound American, when everyone else sounds Spanish.
Cast: Adrien Brody, Ben Affleck, Diane Lane, Robin Tunney, Bob Hoskins, Molly Parker, Zach Mills, Kathleen Robertson, Larry Cedar, Jeffrey DeMunn, Lois Smith…
Written by: Paul Bernbaum
Directed by: Allen Coulter
Genre: Crime, Drama
Running Time: 2 hours, 6 minutes
Released: August 31, 2006 (Italy); September 8 in the U.S.
MPAA Rating: R
George Reeves, the man who played Superman on the original television series, passed away via suicide in June of 1959. Some people believed his death was suspicious. At the very least, the circumstances surrounding Reeves’ life and death were somewhat complicated. This film explores many scenarios for what could have happened that night, and it’s very interesting to watch those play out.
Cast: Adrien Brody, Keira Knightley, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Kris Kristopherson, Daniel Craig, McKenzie Phillips…
Written by: Massy Tadjedin, Marc Rocco, and Tom Bleeker
Directed by: John Maybury
Genre: Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Running Time: 1 hour, 43 minutes
Released: January 23, 2005 (Sundance Film Festival)
MPAA Rating: R
In my top 10 Adrien Brody movies, The Jacket is number six. So, obviously, I enjoy it. There are just nitpicky things (or maybe valid) things that keep it from scoring higher.
Cast: Bryce Dallas Howard, Joaquin Phoenix, Adrien Brody, William Hurt, Brendan Gleeson, Sigourney Weaver, Jayne Atkinson, Cherry Jones, Judy Greer, Fran Kranz, Michael Pitt, Jesse Eisenberg…
Written and Directed by: M. Night Shyamalan
Genre: Thriller, Mystery, Drama
Running Time: 1 hour, 48 minutes
Released: July 26, 2004 (U.S.)
MPAA Rating: PG-13
It’s difficult to tell you much about The Village without spoilers, so I will be vague, and put most of my focus on Adrien’s performance.
The safest synopsis I can give you is: People in an isolated community live their lives according to specific rules handed down by the elders. However, younger residents seek to challenge said rules for the good of others.
There, I think that’s a general enough summary.
We’re here, guys! We’ve finally reached The Pianist!
Cast: Adrien Brody, Thomas Kretschmann, Emilia Fox, Frank Finlay, Maureen Lipman, Ed Stoppard, Jessica Kate Myer, Julia Rayner, Daniel Caltagirone, Andrzej Blumenfeld, Valentine Pelka, Ruth Platt, Ronan Vibert, Andrew Tiernan…
Written by: Wladyslaw Szpilman (memoir), Ronald Harwood (adapted screenplay)
Directed by: Roman Polanski
Genre: Drama, History, Biography
Running Time: 2 hours, 30 minutes
Release: May 24, 2002 (Cannes Film Festival); December 4, 2002 (U.S.)
MPAA Rating: R
Cast: Hilary Swank, Jonathan Pryce, Simon Baker, Adrien Brody, Brian Cox, Joely Richardson, Christopher Walken, and Hayden Panettiere.
Written by: John Sweet
Directed by: Charles Shyer
Genre: History, Drama (“Costume Drama”)
Running Time:1 hour, 58 minutes
Release: November 20, 2001 (U.S.A)
MPAA Rating: R
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