Movies starring Liev Schreiber
Liev (pronounced Lee-ev) is the son of Tell Schreiber, a theatrical actor with some film roles. His mother, Heather, was a painter. At age 1, the family moved from San Francisco to Canada. His parents divorced when he was 4 or 5. He and his mother then moved to New York, where she drove a cab. During that time, they lived as squatters in an abandoned building. His mother now lives in an ashram in Virginia. His mother taught him to read. She also forbade him from seeing color movies. Thus he grew up seeing movies at a local revival house, particularly those of Charlie Chaplin. Started acting at ...
show all Liev (pronounced Lee-ev) is the son of Tell Schreiber, a theatrical actor with some film roles. His mother, Heather, was a painter. At age 1, the family moved from San Francisco to Canada. His parents divorced when he was 4 or 5. He and his mother then moved to New York, where she drove a cab. During that time, they lived as squatters in an abandoned building. His mother now lives in an ashram in Virginia. His mother taught him to read. She also forbade him from seeing color movies. Thus he grew up seeing movies at a local revival house, particularly those of Charlie Chaplin. Started acting at Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts. Then graduated from the Yale School of Drama in 1992. He originally wanted to be a playwright, but his teacher encouraged him to become an actor.
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When his army unit was ambushed during the first Gulf War, Sergeant Raymond Shaw saved his fellow soldiers just as his commanding officer, then-Captain Ben Marco, was knocked unconscious. Brokering the incident for political capital, Shaw eventually becomes a vice-presidential nominee, while Marco is haunted by dreams of what happened — or didn’t happen — in Kuwait. As Marco (now a Major) investigates, the story begins to unravel, to the point where he questions if it happened at all. Is it possible the entire unit was kidnapped and brainwashed to believe Shaw is a war hero as part of a plot to seize the White House? Some very powerful people at Manchurian Global corporation appear desperate to stop him from finding out.
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W Somerset Maugham’s classic novel gets a third movie adaptation in this handsome period romance. Re-teaming director John Curran with his We Don’t Live Here Anymore star Naomi Watts, it’s an elegant slow burner in which an adulterous wife gradually finds redemption through her husband’s cruel vengeance. Edward Norton plays the earnest English bacteriologist who hastily weds socialite Watts and relocates her to 1920s Shanghai. However, the couple’s incompatibility becomes apparent when she begins an affair, prompting him to retaliate by accepting a job in a remote, cholera-ravaged village and forcing her to accompany him. The leads deliver performances that are immaculate yet detached, keeping their characters’ emotional conflict simmering beneath the surface. This internalised passion dilutes the narrative’s potency and feels incongruous among the vivid Chinese landscapes and atmospheric historical detail. Fortunately, events are enlivened by Toby Jones’s spirited support as the raffish deputy commissioner, while an award-winning score complements the ravishing visuals.
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Déjà vu will probably be the most likely response to this absurdly faithful remake of Richard Donner’s 1976 horror classic. Director John Moore seems to have followed the original screenplay to the letter, making only a few cosmetic changes and upping the gore content. Liev Schreiber inherits the Gregory Peck role of American diplomat Robert Thorn, who finds himself in a pickle when he realises that his adopted son Damien is the Antichrist. The classy cast also includes Pete Postlethwaite, in the role of oddball priest Father Brennan (originally played by Patrick Troughton), David Thewlis, in David Warner’s role as the suspicious photographer and Mia Farrow, hamming it up magnificently as Mrs Baylock, Damien’s devilish nanny. It’s competently directed and reasonably enjoyable, but you do end up wondering what the point was — perhaps just to serve its release date, 06/06/06.
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In this entertaining remake of a 1956 Glenn Ford thriller, Mel Gibson stars as a maverick tycoon who must decide whether to pay a $2 million ransom for his kidnapped son or take the law into his own hands. There are no prizes for guessing the Die Hard-style avenue Gibson takes, but his method of action is an interesting one. The film suffers overall under Ron Howard’s unusually starchy direction and Rene Russo is wasted as Gibson’s concerned wife, but Gary Sinise gives his villainous Terminator-like role a few wry twists. Lower your expectations and this overplayed urban combat drama will reward with a few tense moments.
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