Colin Farrell Movies and Shows Ranked

We’re ranking the movies and shows starring Colin Farrell! Let’s start with his Certified Fresh efforts, including his disappearing act as the Penguin in The Batman, repeat work with directors Yorgos Lanthimos (The Lobster, Killing of a Scared Deer) and Martin McDonagh (In Bruges, Seven Psychopaths), and miniseries The North Water. Next, we list his Fresh films, including breakthrough Phone Booth and broad comedy turn Horrible Bosses. Farrell’s Rotten movies with high Audience Scores include Veronica Guerin (directed by Joel Schumacher, whom Farrell worked frequently with, including Phone Booth and Tigerland), A Home at the End of the World, and American Outlaws. —Alex Vo

(Photo by Warner Bros./courtesy Everett Collection.)

All Joel Schumacher Movies, Ranked by Tomatometer

Your typical journeyman director deep in the studio system will make movies across plenty of genres, on-time and under-budget, foster some lasting professional relationships, and never make a name for themselves beyond to the most ardent, specific film buffs. Yes, Joel Schumacher worked across multiple genres without a thematic throughline, with studios and actors quick to praise his behind-the-scenes professionalism, but the director also brought enough verve and dynamic color to his films that Schumacher’s name, at his creative peak, did become a kind of brand. A calling card of big Hollywood entertainment with style to separate from the rest. This began in earnest in 1987 with the Brat Pack-adjacent The Lost Boys, the stylish horror/comedy that pulled vampires out of cliff-nested castles and into teen parties and suburbia, a popular concept still seen in the likes of True Blood and Twilight. Having made Kiefer Sutherland a star, Schumacher worked with him again on his next film, Flatliners.

Schumacher entered his most commercially viable period in the ’90s, starting with 1993’s Falling Down, starring Michael Douglas on a particularly bad Los Angeles day, in a film that has been latched onto as a manifesto of urban rage still discussed and referenced now. Schumacher took the reins for 1995’s Batman Forever after Tim Burton and Michael Keaton left the blockbuster franchise. Some inspired casting (Val Kilmer as Bruce Wayne, Jim Carrey as The Riddler, and Tommy Lee Jones as Two-Face), plenty of wild art direction, a brash soundtrack, and just a touch of camp turned the movie into pop-culture phenomenon. A year later, Schumacher released A Time To Kill at a time when anything Grisham, Crichton, and Clancy was being adapted and making a mint at the box office. (Schumacher had previously turned Grisham’s The Client into a movie.)

Then came the disastrous Batman & Robin, which killed the franchise for nearly a decade. Schumacher took full ownership for the movie’s failure, claiming that he had steered too far towards what marketing and merchandising wanted out of a Batman joint. A public bomb of this proportion could’ve been a career-ender, but his workmanship and a steady line of stars willing to collaborate time and again meant the next Schumacher film was never far off. He worked twice with Colin Farrell, first in 2000’s Tigerland, which introduced the actor to American audiences, and then in 2003’s Phone Booth, which made Farrell a star. Sutherland, back in the saddle, played the villain. Schumacher can be credited with helping launch Gerard Butler’s career in full, when he cast him as lead in 2005’s The Phantom of the Opera. In 2007, Schumacher worked again with Carrey for psychological thriller The Number 23. His final film was 2011’s Trespass, reuniting him with 8MM‘s Nicolas Cage and Batman Forever‘s Nicole Kidman.

We celebrate his life and career with our guide to every Joel Schumacher film, by Tomatometer. —Alex Vo

(Photo by © Focus Features)

105 Great Movies to Watch Alone

For some, staying home right now can mean curling up with a loved one on the couch for a date-night flick or gathering the whole family together for movie night. For many others, it can mean flying solo – long days and nights of streaming by yourself. We’re here to help with some movie suggestions we think are tailor-made for that latter experience.

Just like going to the movie theater alone can be a singularly joyous “treat yo self” excursion, solo home-viewing can be a great experience too – if you choose the right film. There are movies out there that actually benefit from being watched alone: It might be that they require a level of concentration and focus that distracting friends and loved ones just won’t allow you, or that the maximum scare factor is best felt when you are completely isolated – just like the babysitter being stalked on screen. It might just be that the movie has the kind of awkward/titillating sexy bits that make watching it with a first date – or, let’s say, mom – not exactly ideal. Watch it alone – no judgment, no nervous giggles.

To help those solo-fliers get through the next little while, the RT team pulled together a list of movies perfect for watching alone for all of those reasons – and a bunch that are just guaranteed to put you in an awesome mood the moment they start. Which might be the best reason of all.

What’s your favorite movie to watch by yourself? Let us know in the comments.
Click on each movie’s title to find out more, including where to stream, rent, or buy.  

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BECAUSE THE MOVIE REQUIRES YOUR ABSOLUTE CONCENTRATION…

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BECAUSE THE MOVIE IS GONNA MAKE YOU UGLY CRY…

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BECAUSE THE MOVIE WILL INSTANTLY PUT YOU IN A BETTER MOOD…

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BECAUSE THE MOVIE’S VERY SEXY BITS WILL BE LESS AWKWARD SOLO…

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BECAUSE THE MOVIE’S EVEN SCARIER IN PERFECT SILENCE…

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Thumbnail image: Everett Collection, Paramount Pictures, Focus Features

In Money Monster, a financial TV host (George Clooney) gets his show taken over by an angry audience member. The twist: it’s all in real-time (i.e. the 98 minutes it takes to watch this is the exact amount of time that passes in the movie), inspiring this gallery of 24 more in-the-moment movies.

(Photo by George Pimentel/Getty Images)

Veteran director Joel Schumacher has had an eclectic, sometimes distinguished, and never less than colorful career across four decades in Hollywood. Though for some his name is synonymous with the camp excesses of Batman Forever and Batman and Robin, the self-described “street kid from New York” boasts a much deeper and more varied filmography that includes cult gems, blockbuster thrillers, and tense, micro genre pieces.

As a young production designer, he worked on vintage Woody Allen movies like Sleeper and Interiors before penning a series of urban pictures — Car Wash, Sparkle, and The Wiz — that bottled something of a minor cult zeitgeist. Schumacher made his debut behind the lens directing Lily Tomlin in The Incredible Shrinking Woman, and as the ’80s wore on, he was responsible for the seminal “brat pack” films St. Elmo’s Fire and Flatliners, while in between he would helm 1987’s stone-cold classic The Lost Boys — back when teen vampires were original, funny, and menacing. After unleashing an unforgettably mad-as-hell Michael Douglas on Los Angeles in Falling Down, Schumacher spent the ’90s alternating between high-profile adaptations like A Time To Kill and the candy-colored second-phase of Warner Bros.’ Batman franchise, where he was called upon, as he recounts, to render the dark knight more accessible (and, by his own admission, to became a salesman for a toy line).

Schumacher’s last decade has mostly seen him scaling back his projects, with the likes of Phone Booth, Tigerland, and Veronica Guerin realigning the filmmaker with his preferred mode of lower budget, darker movies on the fringes. With his latest, the heightened home invasion thriller Trespass, starring Nicolas Cage and Nicole Kidman, in theatrical release this week, we spoke candidly with Schumacher about his career. Read on to hear his thoughts on Batman — including how he wanted to direct The Dark Knight and almost cast Nicolas Cage as the Scarecrow — his admiration for Christopher Nolan’s films, and his preference for smaller, darker movies. But first, after much agonizing, he laid down his all-time Five Favorite Films.

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Luke Goodsell for Rotten Tomatoes: You mentioned Christopher Nolan. What did you think of his Batman films — were you impressed?

Joel Schumacher: Yes. You know, I was the person who was hired to revamp the franchise because of Batman Returns — [Warner Bros.] had a lot of problems with it being too dark, and kids being too scared; they saw it as a disappointment. So we did a younger, sexier, maybe more user-friendly Batman [Forever] which obviously connected, because it was such a hit — and then, I know I disappointed a lot of people with Batman and Robin. But I did my job — I sold a lot of toys. I’d always begged to do The Dark Knight [at the time]. If you look at most of my movies you can understand why I’d wanna do The Dark Knight — my other movies always have the tendency to go toward the dark. But there were a lot of issues going on. We had to get a lot of people into theaters, which we accomplished, and we did it the best we could. And George Clooney always takes blame, which I hate — it’s all me, all the time; it’s my fault. [Laughs] It sold a lot of toys. That was my job. No excuses. Anyway, I love what Christopher Nolan’s done, especially — unfortunately — with Heath’s [Ledger’s] last performance [in The Dark Knight]; although I guess he was doing Terry’s [Gilliam’s] movie when he died. That performance alone in that movie is amazing. I can’t wait to see the next one. I think that Tim’s [Burton’s] movies and my movies and Christopher’s movies are so different that I can appreciate them all, as a Batman fan — which I have been since I was a kid.

RT: Is it true that you wanted Nicolas Cage to play the Scarecrow if you had another shot at Batman?

Schumacher: Yeah. We were preparing. In between the Batmans I did the two [John] Grishams, The Client and A Time To Kill, and I promised Warners that I would do [Grisham’s] Runaway Jury and a fifth Batman. And I was gonna do the Scarecrow. I had lunch with Nic Cage on the set of Face/Off and asked him to play that part, but — on the press tour for Batman and Robin — I was opening toy stores. And that was fun — it was nice to be the one who was hitting balls out of the park and making blockbusters, because I never was that guy — and then it wasn’t fun, because I’d started with very small movies and had done very small movies, and still do. So I actually left Warner Bros., which was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done, because they’d been wonderful to me; but I just didn’t feel Runaway Jury. I just couldn’t do it, because there was no passion for it. And then I did 8MM, which is exactly my kind of material, and also, it’s as far from a summer feel-good movie as anything. That was a big turning point. Deciding not to worry about whether “We’re No. 1” and whether or not I’m making more money every year and all that stuff. I’m a street kid from New York — it was time to get back on the subway.

RT: Do you ever have a desire to return to big films?

Schumacher: Well Phantom [of the Opera] was huge. I think after Phone Booth and Tigerland and Veronica Guerin, you know — they were getting smaller and smaller. [Laughs]. I’m proud of all those movies, but when we got down to Phone Booth, I thought, “What’s next? Are you going to make a movie called Sink, and have everyone standing around the sink?” [Laughs]

RT: I think Mike Leigh made that one.

Schumacher: Right. [Laughs] And Andrew Lloyd Webber had been trying to get me to do Phantom since he saw The Lost Boys in Europe, which was in ’88. So that was a spectacle. I’d always felt that Tigerland and Phone Booth and 8MM were like “dirt under the fingernail” movies, you know what I mean, and that Phantom was gonna be as far from that as you could possibly get. But it also had a very dark hero. Once again, we plunge into the darkness. It was fun to do. I’d never done a musical before. And then it was back to basics again. In the world today, as everyone knows, in the movie business you’re either making expensive franchises or you’re doing tiny movies that may not even see the light of day. For instance, [Schumacher’s last film] Twelve sold right away at Sundance but the people who bought it had no money to market it. DVD got it a following. And that was true of Tigerland, because Rupert Murdoch didn’t want it released because he felt that it was anti-war and anti-American, which it was certainly not.

RT: Trespass is such a small film relative to the fame of its stars. How was it reconnecting with Nicolas and Nicole? Had they changed as performers — and what was it like working in such a confined space?

Schumacher: Well, we all had grown, and certainly the world has seen Nicole and Nic start as very, very young actors. Nic was the crazy young guy, and Nicole was the beautiful girl who was married to Tom Cruise, and I think they’ve both proven to the world what their talents really are — and worked very hard at it, too. We’ve stayed friends for years. There are things that they always were that they still are. They are never late. [Laughs] And when I say they are never late, I don’t mean ever. And they are the most professional actors. Nicole takes 25 minutes in hair and make-up. The guys don’t take 25 minutes — they take an hour. They help the other actors, and when you’re dealing with filming in such a small space, everybody is dependent on each other. Sometimes there are seven people talking at once in a room, and four cameras moving around them constantly. It’s a dance. And it gets a little rough.

RT: Did Nicolas originally want to play the villain in the film?

Schumacher: I wanted him to be the hero. He decided he wanted to play the bad guy, so we investigated that. I said to him, “Everybody knows you can play this bad guy, that you can tear up the screen and you’ll do something unique and original — but I want you to play the hero.” In 8MM, what we worked on together is that he’s a relatively average man who then changes and tragically becomes someone he never thought he would be, and I wanted Nic to play a husband and a father and then also become someone he never thought he would be. Nic got so torn he quit. But he came back after two days and decided he had always wanted to play the father. [Laughs]

RT: Nicolas recently described his acting style as “nouveau shamanic.” What do you think he meant?

Schumacher: Well, Nic is totally captivated by magic — by voodoo, by all of the magical arts, if you will, and superstitions. He loves all of that. I’m sure you can imagine — Nic doesn’t think like anyone else; he thinks like Nic Cage. There’s not necessarily a connected, plotting logic to it — there’s magic to it. He’s an artist. They’re very different styles. Nicole is perfection beyond belief and has worked so hard of every single nuance and second of her performance, while Nic lets it fly — he lets it really fly and sees where it goes. I think they worked off each other really well. Not that Nicole isn’t spontaneous — in a movie like Trespass, everyone’s spontaneous all the time.

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Trespass is in limited release this week.

Thumbnail image: George Pimentel/Getty Images, ©Janus Films courtesy Everett Collection, Paramount Pictures, Trimark, (c)Warner Bros. courtesy Everett Collection, United Artists

Seemingly overnight at the turn of the century, Colin Farrell went from just another struggling actor to a major Hollywood star — only to retreat into semi-obscurity less than a decade later, after cluttering his filmography with a handful of big-budget turkeys. But while misguided efforts like Daredevil and Miami Vice obscured Farrell’s gifts, he remained capable of superlative work — and he’s proved it with a string of critically lauded appearances in recent films. The latest chapter in Farrell’s reinvention is set to arrive with the forthcoming season of HBO’s True Detective, in which Farrell has just been announced as one of the lead actors. With that in mind, we decided now would be the perfect time to take a look back at the critical highlights of an often underrated career. It’s time for Total Recall!

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In case you were wondering, here are Farrell’s top 10 movies according RT users’ scores:

1. In Bruges — 86%

2. Saving Mr. Banks — 85%

3. Minority Report — 80%

4. Crazy Heart — 76%

5. Intermission — 76%

6. The Way Back — 72%

7. Seven Psychopaths — 71%

8. Tigerland — 71%

9. Horrible Bosses — 70%

10. American Outlaws — 69%

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Take a look through Farrell’s complete filmography, as well as the rest of our Total Recall archives. And don’t forget to check out the reviews for The Way Back.

 

Long before he wrote movies like Phone Booth, Cellular, and (ugh) Captivity, filmmaker Larry Cohen was making horror movies about killer babies. And (guess what?) he just got done on the remake of his own 1974 horror flick It’s Alive.

Production recently wrapped on the It’s Alive remake, which will star Bijou Phillips as a woman dealing with killer mutant babies. (Hey, the original is actually quite a bit of schlocky fun!) Although he’s still on board as writer and producer, Mr. Cohen has ceded the directorial reins to Josef Rusnak, whom some of you may remember from a movie called The Thirteenth Floor. Yeah, that one.

Cohen seems to have no problem joining in the remake parade: “Every movie’s being remade, every old horror movie has been remade, usually so badly … I hope [these] will be good ones,” is what he told the MTV Movies Blog. Also on tap for remake duty: the 1973 blaxploitation flick Black Caesar and the “killer cool whip” satire The Stuff (which is a b-movie I’ve always loved.)

No word yet on if Mr. Cohen plans to remake the sequels It Lives Again (1978) and It’s Alive 3: Island of the Alive (1987), but I wouldn’t exactly hold my breath on that. But if Mr. Cohen wants a few suggestions, I sure wouldn’t mind seeing some new (but still good) versions of God Told Me To (aka Demon) and Q: The Winged Serpent.

Source: MTV Movies Blog

At last year’s Comic Con, writer/artist Neil Gaiman said "I’d rather no Sandman movie got made than [to have] a bad Sandman movie." And now comes word that director Joel Schumacher might want to tackle this project.

The quote and the info comes from IESB.net, but aside from "Joel Schumacher expressed some interest in Gaiman’s Sandman while being interviewed at a recent press junket," that’s pretty much all we got. Frankly I think Joel Schumacher and Neil Gaiman would go together like gravel and peanut butter, but that’s just me.

Claire Danes in Gaiman’s next adapted work, this summer’s "Stardust"

Not that I’m a blind hater where Schumacher’s concerned. True that his bad flicks outnumber his good ones, but he’s made a handful of solid titles ("Phone Booth," "Falling Down," "The Lost Boys"). I just don’t see the director of "Batman & Robin" as the right guy to adapt a Neil Gaiman book — especially one like "Sandman."

We’re still a few months away from "Bond 21" ("Casino Royale"), but already we have a release date and a piece of directorial gossip on the NEXT James Bond flick. And yes, Daniel Craig will be returning for a second spin in the Aston Martin.

From IGN FilmForce: "Casino Royale has yet to see the light of day, but that isn’t stopping MGM and Sony from moving ahead with the 22nd film in the secret agent action series. The film studios, along with producers Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli, announced today that "Bond 22" will be released by Columbia Pictures on May 2, 2008. It’s now confirmed that 007 newcomer Daniel Craig will be reprising the role of the legendary Brit action hero.

The film had been rumored for a fall 2007 release. Helmer Roger Michell is thought to be in negotiations to direct the "Casino Royale" follow-up which is, according to previously published news reports, based on an original story idea by Wilson. Michell previously directed Craig in 2004’s "Enduring Love."

Click here for the full report, which includes comments from the Bond producers.

This week at the movies brings us three culture clashes: Native Americans and Europeans ("The New World"), the Waodani people of Ecuador and a group of missionaries ("End of the Spear"), and, uh, werewolves and vampires ("Underworld: Evolution"). What will the critics say?

Ever since the huge success of "The Passion of the Christ," Hollywood has been looking for movies for religious folks that will cross over to the non-devout as well. "End of the Spear" tells the tale of an Ecuadorian warrior who, by tribal tradition, adopts the family of a missionary he has killed. While some critics have praised the film’s visuals and redemptive message, others say the message is a little too ham-fisted. It’s currently at 58 percent on the Tomatometer.

Like the return of Halley’s Comet, director Terrence Malick‘s films are so rarely in theaters that it’s cause for celebration when they appear. With a career that began with the brilliant "Badlands," Malick is a master, but a reclusive one. His latest is "The New World," a meditative, evocative take on the Pocahontas/John Smith tale. The critics are pretty divided on this film; for some, it’s lyrical, visionary, and poetic, but for others it’s a slow, pretentious bore. At 58 percent on the Tomatometer, it’s well below Malick’s 79 percent career rating.

One of the main principles of Darwin’s theory is survival of the fittest. It appears the studio didn’t think "Underworld: Evolution" was all that fit, since it wasn’t screened for critics. (Or maybe it wasn’t a work of intelligent design, either. Just covering all the bases.)

Recent Colin Farrell Movies:
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71% — Intermission (2004)
14% — Alexander (2004)
49% — A Home at the End of the World (2004)
72% — Phone Booth (2003)
44% — The Recruit (2003)

Variety brings news of the currently young and hot Elisha Cuthbert‘s next big role. Only a few days removed from the opening of her "House of Wax," Ms. Cuthbert has signed on to star in the kidnapping thriller "Captivity." To be directed by Roland Joffe ("The Killing Fields"), "Captivity" tells the story of …

… "a fashion model who, along with a chauffeur, gets kidnapped and held in a small room by a serial killer. While the psycho methodically terrorizes them, the victims draw strength from each other and fall in love." Working from a screenplay by Larry Cohen ("Phone Booth"), Mr. Joffe will start production on "Captivity" later this year in Moscow.

The "Tomb Raider" movies had Angelina Jolie. The "Resident Evil" movies had Milla Jovovich. And now the "Silent Hill" movie has Radha Mitchell. Based on the popular video game series, "Silent Hill" was adapted into screenplay form by Roger Avary ("Pulp Fiction," "The Rules of Attraction") and will be directed by French filmmaker Christophe Gans ("Brotherhood of the Wolf"). Aussie actress Radha Mitchell is probably best known for her work in "Phone Booth" and "Pitch Black," and she can currently be seen in Woody Allen‘s "Melinda and Melinda." Production on "Silent Hill" starts this week in Toronto … so it’s probably a good thing they finally hired a lead actor.