Jodie Foster

[6] A mother and daughter hole up in an impenetrable ‘panic room’ after three strange men invade their Manhattan home looking for a hidden fortune. Jodie Foster stars in this claustrophobic thriller from director David Fincher (Se7en, Fight Club), with a pre-Twilight Kristen Stewart playing the role of her teen daughter. The bad guys are played by Jared Leto, Forest Whitaker, and Dwight Yoakam — …

[6] Jodie Foster directs this universal story of holiday family togetherness, warts and all. Holly Hunter stars as a woman who travels to be with her parents for Thanksgiving after just being let go from her job. While she tries to obscure the truth from her mom and dad (Anne Bancroft and Charles Durning), she revels in the rebellious nature of her somewhat-estranged, gay brother …

[8] Contact is a message-driven movie that may be too esoteric for a lot of mainstream moviegoers. It’s a character-driven drama with only a few moments of your typical blockbuster spectacle — but I applaud the movie for daring to tangle in an exploration of science vs theology. Jodie Foster gives an impassioned performance as Ellie Arroway, an astronomer (and atheist) who discovers a message …

[6] Intentionally bizarre and overwrought, I’m not sure what to make of this adaptation of John Irving’s novel about an extended, eccentric family that moves into a down-trodden hotel. I liked a previous Irving adaptation, The World According to Garp, much better. Garp director George Roy Hill was better able to balance the humor and sorrow than Hotel director Tony Richardson. Richardson leans so much …

[7] Emile Hirsch and Kieran Culkin put in great performances in this odd coming-of-age film about best friends who are constantly rebelling against their Catholic school teacher, a one-legged nun played by Jodie Foster. I like that the characters, even Foster’s antagonistic one, aren’t one-sided. The film suggests the boys are out of control, but also that they have plenty to rebel against. I expected …

[5] Writer/director Neill Blomkamp (District 9) serves up a blunt class struggle allegory set in a future where the filthy rich live on Elysium, a nice orbiting space station, while the rest of us live on the wastelands of planet Earth. Matt Damon stars as the working-class hero who risks it all to break into the floating utopia where he can cure himself and a …

[9] Here we have a horror film so classy, it won the Oscar for Best Picture.  Anthony Hopkins and Jodie Foster each deliver career-defining performances as Hannibal Lecter and Clarice Starling, the central characters in author Thomas Harris’ perverse contemporary retelling of Beauty and the Beast.  The screenplay balances their provocative banter with a well-constructed mystery surrounding the identity and whereabouts of a serial killer …

[8] Ellen Burstyn stars as a widowed mother who suddenly finds herself having to start a new life in this engaging comedy/drama from Martin Scorsese. Burstyn plays Alice Hyatt, and if that name sounds familiar it’s because the TV show “Alice” was based on this film (though only Vic Tayback reprises his role in the series). The feature film begins inside Alice’s troubled home life, married …