PRE-MADE FILM FESTIVALS [Text]

This came about when we found ourselves trapped — with plenty of time on our hands — in the Thanksgiving / New Year's Day holiday slot. The obvious thing to do — if you love movies — is to fill the time with as many movies as possible. And it's fun — really — if the films can all be hung around a theme.

So if you've got a block of time, want to watch some movies, but aren't sure how to proceed, check out our Pre-made Film Festivals. If this helps or if you have your own suggestions, send us an e-mail.

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Jeff Daniels (the frustrated painter in Pleasantville, Joshua Chamberlain, the hero of Little Round Top, in Gettysburg, and even the partner of cop Keanu Reeves in Speed).
Jason Lee (the ex-skateboard champion who first attracted attention in Kevin Smith's Mallrats, the wonderful Chasing Amy, and Dogma, also excels in Heartbreakers and Almost Famous).
Jim Broadbent (can play subtle as in the Ian McKellen Richard III and Bridget Jones's Diary, or flamboyant as in Bullets Over Broadway, Topsy Turvy, and especially Moulin Rouge).
Joe Pantoliano (the always-grousing Cosmo, second to Tommy Lee Jones, in The Fugitive, the too-honest mob functionary in Bound, the whose-side-is-he-really-on cop in Memento, and Cypher in The Matrix).
Greg Kinnear (best at playing smarmy, self-involved types as in Nurse Betty and Mystery Men, also excels when playing against this type as in As Good As It Gets).
Ving Rhames (runs the gamut from intensely forbidding as in Pulp Fiction, to over-the-top-comic-book-crazy as in Con Air, to only-initially-forbidding as in Mission: Impossible and Dave, to grumpy-but-obviously-decent in Out of Sight).
J.T. Walsh (now sadly deceased, was best at portraying that kind of something-to-hide flabbiness seen in politicians, corporate fatcats, and other white collar criminals — like the mayor in Pleasantville, the Internal Affairs official in The Negotiator, and the bar owner with murder on his mind in Red Rock West).
John Cusack (his screen persona is modern, urban, quirky and can be seen to advantage in High Fidelity, Grosse Pointe Blank, Being John Malkovich, and even as a Woody Allen proxy in Bullets Over Broadway and as a federal agent in Con Air).
Joan Cusack (who often appears to advantage in her brother's films — High Fidelity and especially Grosse Pointe Blank — also does well as Kevin Kline's frustrated fiance in In and Out and as the intensely creepy wife of Tim Robbins in Arlington Road).
Jeremy Piven (long-time John Cusack friend, he is sometimes cast as just that — again see Grosse Pointe Blank — or as someone else's friend — as in The Family Man — but also don't miss his hysterical salesclerk cameo in Rush Hour 2).
Jeff Bridges (extremely versatile, he can depict the slovenly bowling slacker "The Dude" in The Big Lebowski, a manipulative bowling president in The Contender, and an in-over-his-head victim in Arlington Road).
Steve Buscemi (specializes in eccentric, borderline-scary characters — sometimes subtle as in Ghost World, sometimes over-the-top as in Fargo, and lately sending up the whole thing as in Con Air and Armageddon).
Janeane Garofalo (modern, urban, quirky; a female John Cusack — has been best in The Truth About Cats & Dogs, Mystery Men, and especially the charming fish-out-of-water comedy The Matchmaker).
Bruce Campbell (closely tied to director Sam Raimi, Campbell is the driving force which propels Evil Dead, Evil Dead II: Dead by Dawn, and Army of Darkness — also catch his wise-cracking reporter in the co-scripted-by-Raimi The Hudsucker Proxy).
Kevin Spacey (can play sympathetic as in the The Negotiator and the virus thriller Outbreak, smarmy/arrogant as in A Time to Kill and L.A. Confidental or psycho/cypher as in Seven and The Usual Suspects with equal conviction).
Tim Robbins (equally adept at portraying strength, weakness, quirkiness, and the most subtle of evil — The Shawshank Redemption, The Player, The Hudsucker Proxy, High Fidelity, Bob Roberts, and Arlington Road).
Philip Seymour Hoffman (often portrays characters engaged in intellectual pursuits or in an employee type of position — in Magnolia, The Big Lebowski, State and Main, and, best of all as Lester Bangs in Almost Famous).
William H. Macy (quiet resignation masking often-deeply-buried inner strength is a hallmark of Macy's performances — Pleasantville, Magnolia, Mystery Men, A Civil Action, and, for a comedic and hyper change of pace, State and Main).
Sam Elliot (with that magnificent mustache, he is decidedly non-urban and non-modern — see Gettysburg and Tombstone — but also appears to good effect as The Big Lebowski's on-screen narrator and, minus the moustache, as a pitbull of a presidental aide in The Contender).
Gene Hackman (a character star who often takes supporting roles and is equally at home in drama and in comedy — Get Shorty, Crimson Tide, Heartbreakers, Enemy of the State, Unforgiven, and Superman).
Morgan Freeman (another character star who often takes supporting roles and is equally intense but is also quieter and more subtle than Hackman — Seven, The Shawshank Redemption, Glory, Nurse Betty and Unforgiven (with Hackman).
Ed Harris (presents quiet authority in the service of good as in Apollo 13, personal ego as in The Truman Show, or evil as in The Rock).
Colin Firth (best at portraying traditional English reserve, subtle arrogance, or both as in Shakespeare in Love, as a splendid Mr. Darcy in the 1995 BBC production of Pride and Predjudice, and as Mr. Darcy again in the Jane Austen-like Bridget Jones's Diary).