William H. Macy Archives

Pleasantville (1998)

Rating: ★★★½

Jul 16, 1999Trapped Inside a 1950s TV Show

Tobey Maguire and Reese Witherspoon are modern teens who become trapped in a 1950s tv show and end up puncturing its innocence. The messages made end up being broad and heavy-handed but the premise and the visual palette of the film is extremely clever

Director: Gary Ross

Actors: Tobey Maguire, Reese Witherspoon, Joan Allen, Jeff Daniels, …

Category: Fantasy

16 July 199931 August 2020 by Roog

Psycho (1998)

Rating: ★★

May 1, 1999Psycho Remake

Over Gus Van Sant's shot-for-shot remake of Psycho, there hangs the single question of “Why?” The result seems a futile conceit, one only designed to infuriate those who regard the original in such high esteem

Director: Gus Van Sant

Actors: Vince Vaughn, Anne Heche, William H. Macy, Julianne Moore, …

Category: Horror

1 May 199918 February 2025 by Roog

Magnolia (1999)

Rating: ★★★½

Dec 31, 1999Interwoven Stories/Unexplained Phenomena

From Paul Thomas Anderson, a series of interlinking stories and character sketches, featuring some great performances. Underlining everything is a fascination with the inexplicable and the works of Charles Fort

Director: Paul Thomas Anderson

Actors: Tom Cruise, John C. Reilly, William H. Macy, Philip Seymour Hoffman, …

Category: Fantasy

31 December 19994 August 2026 by Roog

Mystery Men (1999)

Rating: ★★

Aug 7, 1999Bumbling Superheroes Comedy

A superhero parody about a group of reject superheroes with useless powers. Despite moments of amusement, this fails to quite come off

Director: Kinka Usher

Actors: Ben Stiller, William H. Macy, Hank Azaria, Janeane Garofalo, …

Category: Science Fiction

7 August 199921 April 2021 by Roog

Jurassic Park III (2001)

Rating: ★★

Jul 20, 2001Genetically-Engineered Dinosaurs Amok

Steven Spielberg handed the directorial reins of the series over to Joe Johnston and this emerges as a better film than The Lost World was, even if it is only ever arranged around a series of effects set-pieces

Director: Joe Johnston

Actors: Sam Neill, William H. Macy, Téa Leoni, Alessandro Nivola, …

Category: Science Fiction

20 July 200116 May 2026 by Roog

The Cooler (2003)

Rating: ★★★

Jul 5, 2004Man with Very Bad Luck

Drama with standout performances. William H. Macy is a loser with perpetual bad luck who is employed by Las Vegas casinos to cool tables that have a winning streak - only for his luck to change when he meets a woman

Director: Wayne Kramer

Actors: William H. Macy, Maria Bello, Alec Baldwin, Ron Livingston, …

Category: Fantasy

5 July 20048 December 2021 by Roog

Nightmares & Dreamscapes: From the Stories of Stephen King (2006)

Rating: ★★★

Dec 16, 2008Stephen King Anthology

TV mini-series that adapts eight Stephen King short stories. As with any anthology, the stories vary in quality but are generally quite reasonable

Director: Brian Henson, Mark Haber, Mikael Salomon, Mike Robe, Rob Bowman, Sergio Mimica-Gezzan

Actors: William Hurt, Bruce Spence, Mia Sara, Claire Forlani, …

Category: Horror

16 December 200828 July 2021 by Roog

Inland Empire (2006)

Rating: ★★

Aug 17, 2007Surrealism

David Lynch's last theatrical films and probably the most divided of Lynch's films. Another delve into cryptic surrealism that arrives at no clear plot destinations or clues about what is going on

Director: David Lynch

Actors: Laura Dern, Justin Theroux, Jeremy Irons, Harry Dean Stanton, …

Category: Fantasy

17 August 200720 April 2026 by Roog

The Tale of Despereaux (2008)

Rating: ★★★

Jan 11, 2008Animation/Talking Animal Adventures

Appealingly old-fashioned film about chivalry and heroism, much quieter than the other animation out there but this still holds its own

Director: Robert Stevenhagen, Sam Fell

Actors: Matthew Broderick, Dustin Hoffman, Emma Watson, Tracey Ullman, …

Category: Fantasy

11 January 20084 April 2025 by Roog

Shorts (2009)

Rating: ★★½

Oct 20, 2009Magic Wishing Stone

Another of Robert Rodriguez's children's films about the wacky chaos caused by the discovery of a magic wishing stone. Nothing earth-shattering but Rodriguez has a lot of fun with the visual absurdities

Director: Robert Rodriguez

Actors: James Spader, Leslie Mann, William H. Macy, Jimmy Bennett, …

Category: Fantasy

20 October 20094 May 2024 by Roog

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes (2024)

Rating: ★★★

Jul 20, 2024Planet of the Apes Sequel

A fourth entry in the Planet of the Apes reboot saga. The previous two entries hit incredible heights in terms of motion capture performances but this still a solid entry that holds up well

Director: Wes Ball

Actors: Owen Teague, Freya Allan, Kevin Durand, Peter Macon, …

Category: Science Fiction

20 July 202412 June 2026 by Roog

The Running Man (2025)

Rating: ★★★

Dec 20, 2025Future Televised Human Hunting

Edgar Wright conducts a remake of The Running Man and takes it more back to the original Stephen King book than the 1987 Arnold Schwarzenegger film, while adding a level of biting modern commentary

Director: Edgar Wright

Actors: Glen Powell, Josh Brolin, Michael Cera, Emilia Jones, …

Category: Science Fiction

20 December 202525 April 2026 by Roog