Peter Weir

[4] Gerard Depardieu and Andie MacDowell star in this subdued, kinda boring rom-com from Peter Weir (Dead Poets Society, Witness). Depardieu plays a Frenchman trying to enter the U.S. by marrying an American woman. It’s an under-the-counter sort of arrangement that profits both parties, so long as the government doesn’t find out their marriage is a sham. Of course, the government does find out, and …

[8] Harrison Ford must hide among the Amish after he discovers corruption within his police department. Witness was an opportunity for Ford to show his acting chops, and it remains one of his best performances. This was the first American film made by Australian director Peter Weir (Picnic at Hanging Rock, Fearless). Weir is probably my favorite director. He balances poetic license with elegant restraint …

[5] This Australian TV movie from Peter Weir is a subdued psychological thriller about a woman who grows increasingly frustrated and fearful of an eccentric plumber. Weir (Witness, Dead Poets Society) throws in a little commentary on the issue of class prejudice and does a good job building some suspense, but the stakes aren’t high enough, nor the motivations dire enough, for the movie to …

[6] There’s no director I admire more than Peter Weir (Fearless, Mosquito Coast), even if his latest film left me a tad underwhelmed. The Way Back is about a group of men who escape a Russian labor camp during WWII and risk their lives through thousands of miles of wilderness to find their freedom in neighboring Mongolia. The cast includes Ed Harris and Colin Farrell, …

[5] I’m at a loss for this one. I saw the movie, but I’m still not sure what it’s about. There’s a town that sabotages drivers, all so the community can trade auto parts among themselves and hand the drivers (the ones who live) over to a doctor for medical experimentation. The town’s adults live in fear of their own children, a punkish lot that …

[8] Three girls and a teacher mysteriously disappear during a 1900 school picnic at a strange rock formation in this Australian film from director Peter Weir (Witness, Master and Commander). Weir uses his trademark poetic license to suggest a supernatural cause, but don’t look for a firm answers — the film is based on a true story that was never solved.

[9] Jeff Bridges plays a plane crash survivor who helps fellow passengers carry on with their lives, ignoring his own needs until it’s nearly too late. Fearless is from my favorite director, Peter Weir (Mosquito Coast, Picnic at Hanging Rock), and it’s emblematic of everything I love about his work — it’s deeply emotional, it uses music as a key element rather than an afterthought, …

[10] Harrison Ford gives one of his best performances as Allie Fox, an obsessed inventor who moves his family to a Central American jungle to escape what he perceives to be the end of American civilization. Peter Weir (Witness, Dead Poets Society) directs from a screenplay by Paul Schrader (Taxi Driver, Raging Bull), based on the novel by Paul Theroux. We experience the story through …