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The best Samuel L. Jackson movies and TV shows prove that he is one of Hollywood’s most popular and beloved actors as he has become almost a character himself. Jackson had early success as a theater actor before he got a chance to move into movies with small roles in Spike Lee’s School Daze and Do the Right Thing. From there, he skyrocketed to the top of Hollywood, with his first major breakout role in Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction as Jules Winnfield.

That performance made him a major star and he never looked back. Jackson has appeared in the Star Wars franchise as Mace Windu in the prequel series and took on the overarching role of Nick Fury in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, where he has appeared in countless movies and TV shows over the MCU’s entire run. He also appeared in giant franchise movies like Unbreakable and Jurassic Park,...

Hillbilly Elegy features a star-studded cast including Amy Adams and Glenn Close. The main actors in Hillbilly Elegy have all been in many great projects over the years; The cast of Hillbilly Elegy has plenty of other movies that received much better reviews than the 2020 film.

Ron Howard's film Hillbilly Elegy has faced some controversy since its release in 2020, but its star-studded cast remains notable, and their other movies are certainly worth the watch. Hillbilly Elegy follows the true story of J.D. Vance's Appalachian childhood, alongside his wise grandmother and his addicted mother. Though the film's message has been brought into question, the cast led by Amy Adams and Glenn Close has been singled out as one of the film's undoubted strong suits.

Hillbilly Elegy's cast includes many big stars and relative newcomers. Amy Adams and Glenn Close are the most familiar faces, and therefore, take on the most pivotal roles.

Jake Gyllenhaal is an attorney accused of murder in the Apple TV+ limited series “Presumed Innocent,” which is based on the Scott Turow novel.

Here’s who plays who in the rest of the cast and where you might have seen the cast before. Where appropriate, we’ve also listed who played the character in the 1990 movie that starred Harrison Ford, but not all the characters in the series line up with those in the movie.

The first two episodes premiered on June 12 and subsequent episodes debut on Wednesdays through July 24.

Jake Gyllenhaal as Rusty Sabich Jake Gyllenhaal as Rusty Sabich in “Presumed Innocent” (Credit: Apple)

The “Zodiac” star plays Chicago prosecutor Rusty Sabich, who is accused of the brutal murder of his mistress Carolyn Polhemus who was also his colleague. Gyllenhaal recently starred in the “Road House” remake and will return for its sequel. In the 1990 movie, Harrison Ford played this role.

Exclusive: Renate Reinsve (The Worst Person in the World), Peter Sarsgaard (Dopesick), and O-t Fagbenle (The Handmaid’s Tale) have joined the main cast of Presumed Innocent, Apple TV+’s upcoming limited series from David E. Kelley, J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot and Warner Bros. TV, where the company is based. They join previously cast Jake Gyllenhaal, who also executive produces, Ruth Negga, Bill Camp and Elizabeth Marvel.

Inspired by Scott Turow’s courtroom thriller, Presumed Innocent is the story of a horrific murder that upends the Chicago Prosecuting Attorneys’ office when one of its own is suspected of the crime. The book was published in 1987 and was turned into a 1990 feature starring Harrison Ford in the role Gyllenhaal is taking on.

As reimagined by Kelley, who is an attorney by trade, Presumed Innocent the TV series will be exploring obsession, sex, politics, and the power and limits of love, as...

By Lee Pfeiffer

In the 1970s and 1980s  director  Brian De Palma had some high profile hits with Hitchcockian thrillers such as "Sisters", "Obsession", "Dressed to Kill", "Blow Out" and "Body Double". De Palma's defenders extolled the virtues of these films as clever homages to Hitchcock while detractors accused De Palma of using The Master's formulas to make a fast buck. In 1982 director Robert Benton jumped on the same bandwagon with his own Hitchcockian  project, "Still of the Night", which was shot under the title "Stab" before the marketing campaign had been re-evaluated. A few years earlier Benton had triumphed at the Oscars with "Kramer vs. Kramer", taking home the Best Director Oscar. That film also provided an important career boost for Meryl Streep, who also won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress. The two were reunited for this project which stands out on both of their credentials as an odd choice.

Silver films star Jeff Goldblum, Jerry Stiller, Mark Ruffalo.

Cohen Media Group has added five titles to its Cannes virtual market slate including the market world premiere of documentary Breaking Bread.

Beth Elise Hawk directed the profile of Dr. Nof Atamna-Ismaeel, the first Muslim Arab to win Israel’s Master Chef who uses the platform to build cultural bridges and invites Arab and Jewish chefs to a cooking event in Haifa, Israel.

Cohen Media Group acquired Us rights to the film before the market and plans a theatrical release this year. On Monday it emerged that Cohen and wholly-owned Curzon...

"I'm not losing my job over this!" Juno Films has debuted a new official trailer for an indie true story drama titled Radium Girls, which originally premiered in 2018 at the Tribeca Film Festival. The film follows two teen sisters who dream of Hollywood as they paint luminous watch dials at the American Radium factory in New Jersey. They soon discover a corporate cover-up about radiation and, in a radical coming-of-age story, Bessie and the Radium Girls decide to take on American Radium. The national sensation following the case of the "Radium Girls" ultimately led to significant and lasting impact in the area of workplace health and safety and the study of radioactivity. Starring Joey King and Abby Quinn as the two Cavallo sisters, along with Cara Seymour, Scott Shepherd, Susan Heyward, Neal Huff, Collin Kelly-Sordelet, John Bedford Lloyd, and Joe Grifasi. This looks like an important story we've all forgotten about retold again.

John Sayles’ coal strike epic is grand American filmmaking bolstered by fine Haskell Wexler cinematography, great performances by dedicated actors, and a screenplay that avoids the common pitfalls of liberal filmmaking — by assuming the structure of an action Western. Filmed on a shoestring not far from the site of historical events, the pro- Union picture revs up viewer emotions, winding up as a moving, satisfying experience. Matewan’s been out of circulation far too long, but those that remember it will give it a high recommendation.

Matewan

Blu-ray

The Criterion Collection 999

1987 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 133 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date October 29, 2019 / 39.95

Starring: Chris Cooper, James Earl Jones, Mary McDonnell, Will Oldham, David Strathairn, Ken Jenkins, Kevin Tighe, Gordon Clapp, Bob Gunton, Jace Alexander, Joe Grifasi, Nancy Mette, Jo Henderson, Josh Mostel, Gary McCleery, Maggie Renzi, Tom Wright.

Cinematography: Haskell Wexler

Film Editor: Sonya Polonsky

Original Music: Mason Daring

Produced by Peggy Rajski,...

Alec Bojalad Sep 20, 2019

Liz seeks help from Burt and comes across Ernie (hey!) in this exclusive new clip from Lodge 49 season 2 episode 7 "Exile."

Pawnshop owner Burt (Joe Grifasi) might be the most powerful person in Lodge 49's version of Long Beach, California. When absolutely anyone in the economically-depressed town needs money, they must visit the joyless shopkeep to seek a loan.

That's exactly the position that Liz Dudley finds herself in when she enters Burt's shop in this exclusive new clip from Lodge 49 season 2 episode 7 "Exile." Though something funny happens to Liz as she seeks a loan. She runs into Luminous Knight Ernie Fontaine. What a positively Sesame Street-level twist! Give it a look below.

For two characters who have shared very little screen time, Liz and Ernie do have quite the intersecting history via Dud. The nature of their conversation quickly reveals this.

“Hey Luminous Knight.

When a film shot in Buffalo, NY co-written and starring a native of the city comes across you’re desk you look upon it with a certain level of skepticism. I’ve lived here almost my entire life and I’m still guilty of seeing my hometown as a B-level sector in comparison to New York City or Hollywood. This year has changed that thought-process for locals and the industry with two effective genre works exiting the Queen City with aspirations for the big time. Against all odds I have to admit they both deserve every accolade bestowed upon them. Horror flick Emelie came out of the gate first with success and now The American Side hits theaters with a chance at earning more. This hard-boiled noir is the real deal.

Written by lead actor Greg Stuhr and director Jenna Ricker, this adventure of a yokel private investigator is full of MacGuffins and shady characters.

Recently, CBS released the new,official synopsis/description for their upcoming "The Good Wife" episode 13 of season 7. The episode is entitled, "Judged," and it turns out that we're going to see some very interesting and high drama stuff go down in the courtroom when Alicia and the judge get into it over one of Alicia's clients that she feels was wrongfully thrown in prison, and more! In the new, 13th episode press release: Alicia Argues Against Judge Schakowsky When She Learns That A Former Bond Court Client was Wrongfully Imprisoned, On "The Good Wife," Sunday, Jan. 31. Press release number 2: Alicia will end up arguing against Judge Schakowsky (Christopher McDonald) when she finds out that a former bond court client was wrongfully imprisoned. Also, Diane is going to assist the student editor of a college newspaper when the school threatens to fire her for writing a politically charged article. Guest...

By Todd Garbarini

Director Robert Mandel's F/X is one of the most entertaining and compulsively watchable thrillers of 1986. I originally caught up with it on VHS and, while I was impressed with the film, the ending I found to be both hokey and frustrating, mostly due to the completely out-of-place 1982 song “Just an Illusion” by Imagination that plays over the end credits. I felt that it undermined all that preceded it. However, like William Friedkin's To Live and Die in La (1985) and David Lynch's Blue Velvet (1986), F/X is a film that would only grow on me after subsequent repeated viewings. I learned to forgive the inclusion of this song as the final minutes should really be viewed as a visual pun on the film’s overall theme, which begs the question “What is real and what is fiction?”

F/X, which was released on Friday,...

Eddie Cooper and Joe Grifasi will join the previously announced Ellen Greene, Jake Gyllenhaal and Taran Killam in the Encores Off-Center concert production of Howard Ashman and Alan Menken's Little Shop of Horrors, running for three performances, July 1-2, 2015 at New York City Center. Eddie Cooper replaces his father Chuck Cooper, who will be starring in the upcoming Broadway musical Amazing Grace.

Recently,CBS released the new,official synopsis/spoilers for their upcoming "Elementary" episode 5 of season 3. The episode is entitled, "Rip Off," and it turns out that we're going to see an illegal diamond trade get connected with a murder that Sherlock and Kitty are investigating, and more. In the new, 5th episode press release: Sherlock and Kitty are going to investigate a murder connected to the illegal diamond trade. Press release number 2: Sherlock and Kitty will investigate the murder of a small postal store owner whose death is connected to the illegal diamond trade. Also, Captain Gregson will put his career in jeopardy when he hits a fellow NYPD officer. Guest stars feature: Ophelia Lovibond (Kitty Winter), Rafi Silver (Amit Hattengatti), Liza J. Bennett (Hannah Gregson), Michael DeMello (Dana Kazmir), Cynthia Kerr (Leslie Hendrix), Daniel Abeles (Leonard Oosthuizen), Joe Grifasi (Captain Moretti), Nadia Dajani (Dr. Grannis), Derek Grabner (Chris...

She received the coveted Eugene O’Neill Theater Center’s Monte Cristo Award earlier this week for her outstanding work on the stage and Meryl Streep took a moment to catch up with GossipCenter at the NYC event.

While on the star-studded red carpet, the Oscar-winning actress revealed the keys to her success, stating its thanks to “Luck, [laughs] that’s a big one. Stamina, a sense of humor, not taking any of it too seriously and not giving up.”

After Streep's colleagues including Joe Grifasi and Judith Light praised the actress, they also played off the award’s title and revealed which toppings would encompass their personalized sandwich.

Former Nickelodeon President Geraldine Laybourne joked, “definitely slime.” And Meryl’s toppings of choice? “A lot of fresh, organic vegetables.”

Check out GossipCenter’s full red carpet coverage from the Monte Cristo Awards in the player above!

New York – In recognition of her many achievements and her enduring commitment to stage and screen acting, Meryl Streep will receive the 14th annual Monte Cristo Award, bestowed by the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center. The award will be presented at a gala dinner in New York on April 21, 2014, by veteran actor Joe Grifasi, a longtime friend of Streep's who was her classmate at the Yale School of Drama and a fellow artist during the summer she spent working at the O'Neill Center in Waterford, Conn. “The O’Neill is a place unlike any other,” said Streep in a statement.

read more...

George Street Playhouse and Artistic Director David Saint have announced that full casting for their 2012-13 season opener, One Slight Hitch, has been completed. Joining the previously-announced Mark Linn-Baker will be Clea Alsip, Rosie Benton, Lauren Ashley Carter, Scott Drummond, Lizbeth Mackay and Christopher Tocco. Helmed by Joe Grifasi, this tale of matrimonial mayhem will begin performances tonight, October 2 and continue through Sunday, October 28. Opening night, with a dessert reception sponsored by Stage Left and Catherine Lombardi restaurants, will be Friday, October 5.

George Street Playhouse and Artistic Director David Saint have announced that full casting for their 2012-13 season opener, One Slight Hitch, has been completed. Joining the previously-announced Mark Linn-Baker will be Clea Alsip, Rosie Benton, Lauren Ashley Carter, Scott Drummond, Lizbeth Mackay and Christopher Tocco. Helmed by Joe Grifasi, this tale of matrimonial mayhem will begin performances Tuesday, October 2 and continue through Sunday, October 28. Opening night, with a dessert reception sponsored by Stage Left and Catherine Lombardi restaurants, will be Friday, October 5.

Meryl Streep gave American TV viewers a late night laugh on Monday when she attempted to show off her musical skills with an original song - on a concertina she "can't play".

The star, who turned 60 last month, brought the accordion-like instrument with her during her appearance on Conan O'Brien's The Tonight Show - just days after a friend gave her the music box as a gift.

And Streep admits she has enjoyed irritating her husband, sculptor Don Gummer, with her attempts to master the instrument - after he gave her a toaster as a birthday present.

She laughed, "He gave me a toaster. He likes his toast. And I got this from my friend Joe Grifasi, who's an actor, who enjoys driving my husband crazy. This is a concertina. I call it 'Tina. I got it Wednesday. I've picked it up pretty fast.

"It's sort of amazing, it sounds like breathing and I already wrote a song. You know the greek myth about the sirens - the greek women who lure the sailors onto the rocks? This is called Siren Song."

Struggling to play the two-note tune, she laughed, "I'm sorry, it's a beautiful thing. Too bad I can't play it!"...

NEW YORK -- The sort of cheesy thriller that would prove mildly diverting on late-night cable, "Slow Burn" at least features a terrific cast to enliven its familiar elements. Equally derivative of John Grisham and "The Usual Suspects", the film opened nationwide Friday without being screened for critics despite the fact that it played the Toronto International Film Festival a couple of years ago.

Ray Liotta stars as Ford Cole, a hotshot district attorney who is grooming himself for the mayoral race.

His political career is put into jeopardy one fateful night -- when he is being followed around by a Vanity Fair reporter (Chiwetel Ejiofor), no less -- when his beautiful, biracial assistant D.A. and lover (Jolene Blalock, formerly of "Star Trek: Enterprise") is arrested in the killing of a stalker (Mekhi Phifer) who allegedly raped her.

Desperately racing to clear the case in the predawn hours to save his own skin, Cole finds himself even more flummoxed when the victim's fellow record store employee (billed as James Todd Smith aka LL Cool J, and isn't it time he picked a name already?) shows up at the station to claim that the shooter and victim were in fact lovers.

The ensuing investigation features plenty of twists and turns involving a shady real estate deal, an apparently all-powerful but never seen gang leader, the perpetrator's dubious racial heritage and enough false identities to fill a dozen Agatha Christie novels.

Director-screenwriter Wayne Beach ("Murder at 1600", "The Art of War") provides properly moody atmospherics and keeps things moving at a relatively swift pace but is ultimately unable to compensate for the story's inconsistencies, incongruities and implausibility. Not helping matters is the series of cheesy, film noir-style one-liners that Cool J is forced to utter, including: "She stood there like a tangerine, ripe and ready to be plucked"; "The closest her family's been to Africa is Whitney Houston's greatest hits"; and (our favorite), "She walked in the room smelling like mashed potatoes and every man wanted to be the gravy."

The supporting cast, which also includes Bruce McGill, Taye Diggs, Joe Grifasi and co-producer Fisher Stevens delivering pungent turns, is uncommonly good, and "Trek" fans will no doubt appreciate the opportunity to ogle the gorgeous Blalock in her several nude scenes.

SLOW BURN

Lionsgate

Credits:

Director-screenwriter: Wayne Beach

Story: Wayne Beach, Anthony Walton

Producers: Fisher Stevens, Sidney Kimmel, Bonnie Timmermann

Executive producers: John Penotti, Andrew Karsch

Director of photography: Wally Pfister

Editor: Kristina Boden

Production designer: Tim Galvin

Music: Jeff Rona

Cast:

Ford Cole: Ray Liotta

Luther Pinks: James Todd Smith aka LL Cool J

Isaac Duperde: Mekhi Phifer

Godfrey: Bruce McGill

Ty Trippin: Chiwetel Ejiofor

Jeffrey Sykes: Taye Diggs

Nora Timmer: Jolene Blalock

Running time -- 93 minutes

MPAA rating: R...

• Quick Links  Complete Film Listing:  Premiere's section  Dramatic Comp  Docmentary Comp  World Dramatic Comp:  World Documentary Comp:  Park City at Midnight:  New Frontier  Short Film Programs January 18 to 28, 2007 Counting Down: updateCountdownClock('January 18, 2007'); This yearâ€.s spectrum section as a promising mix of world preems and is perhaps a stronger selection than what was offered same time last year and sadly the highlight of the section finds the last film from actor/director Adrienne Shelly. "Angel-a" (France), directed and written by Luc Besson, a fairy tale about a man who gets a new lease on life after he rescues a beautiful young woman from a suicide attempt in the Seine River. "Bugmaster" (Japan), directed by Katsuhiro Otomo and written by Sadayuki Murai, derived from an ancient legend and based on a famous Manga about an itinerant, mystical doctor who cures people from a plague caused by supernatural creatures called "Mushi.

...

'Echo' Finds High Notes / Doo-wop-themed drama manages a certain poignancy depite its blatant manipulation

By David Hunter

Martin Davidson, director of "Eddie and the Cruisers" and "The Lords of Flatbush", takes us on another nostalgic cruise in the doo-wop-themed "Looking for an Echo". His angle is to set the story in present times, with Armand Assante starring as Vince, who once upon a time fronted a local band that had a few hits and then faded away.

A Regent Entertainment release with no enticements for viewers under 40, except perhaps the presence of likable heartthrob Edoardo Ballerini ("The Last Days of Disco"), "Echo" is a scattershot success at best and deliriously pumped up with its own sense of importance at worst.

Bartender, part-time musician and bus-riding lonely heart, Vince is depressed and not much of a talker. He's never gotten over the death of his wife 10 years ago, and pays close attention to his three children, including two grown sons and a daughter suffering from leukemia. A chip off the old block, Anthony (Ballerini) is a musician and unabashed fan of Vince's old group Vinnie and the Dreamers. Older brother Tommy (David Vadim) is a New York cop with a mild mean streak.

It's through frequent visits to the hospital that Vince resurrects his romantic nature with the enthusiastically available Joanne (Diane Venora), one of the nurses attending his seriously ill daughter, Tina (Christy Romano).

With a little help from Anthony, who croons Dad's biggest hit, "This I Swear", at a rock show they drop by for, Vince and Joanne have a long and successful first date.

Approaching 50 -- and passing it during the course of the movie -- Vince is bitter about the long-ago days when he fronted a band of "losers" that got shafted out of the big bucks. But with Joanne drawing him out of his funk, Vince goes along on a trip to Atlantic City, N.J., with former Dreamers bandmates, including Vic (Joe Grifasi). They have a swell time, Tina's condition goes from worse to better, and Anthony composes a new song that marks the passing of the teeny-bopper musical mojo from one generation to the next.

Executive produced by Steve Tisch ("Forrest Gump") and featuring music wrangling by Kenny Vance -- of Jay and the Americans fame as well as the creator of soundtracks for many films, including "American Hot Wax" and "Eddie and the Cruisers" -- "Echo" is thoroughly manipulative. But Assante and Venora, in fine performances, are well-matched, while the common experience of taking years to rebound from life's disappointments and tragedies leads to a warm, heartfelt atmosphere with the comfortableness of a slow air by one of the a cappella groups that inspired the filmmakers.

LOOKING FOR AN ECHO

Regent Entertainment

Steve Tisch/Paul Kurta

Credits: Director: Martin Davidson; Screenwriters: Jeffrey Goldenberg, Robert Held, Martin Davidson; Producers: Paul Kurta, Martin Davidson; Executive producer: Steve Tisch; Director of photography: Charles Minsky; Editor: Jerrold Ludwig; Costume designer: Sandy Davidson; Music: Kenny Vance. Cast: Vince: Armand Assante; Joanne: Diane Venora; Anthony: Edoardo Ballerini; Tina: Christy Romano; Vic: Joe Grifasi; Tommie: David Vadim. MPAA rating: R. Running time - 97 minutes. Color/stereo.