Meet Chris O'Donnell

It had completely slipped my mind that Chris had been cast in the film Max Payne when I went to watch it this past weekend. Based on a popular video game series, this film stars Mark Wahlberg as the eponymous character. You don’t need to be familiar with the video game to quickly connect to the plot of this noir thriller. While definitely not written for a high-brow audience, this film is cut and flows like a video game with mainly one-sided characterizations.

Chris plays an executive at a company where Max’s wife used to work. While he doesn’t have a lot of lines in the film, he uses his emotive talents to convey story even when he is just a background character in a scene. He is able to reveal his character’s intentions through his facial expressions alone. I thought this was going to be another against type character for O’Donnell, but in the end he did reveal himself to be playing similar to type.

4 out of 5 stars

P.S. If you are watching this movie for the first time, be sure to wait until after the credits are done for one additional scene that gives more detail about the fate of the characters and sets up a potential sequel.

In this film, Chris played the father to star Abigail Breslin’s Kit. Being a father of five, Chris easily stepped into the role of father giving a sound performance as the type of dad that you would want to have yourself. He was approachable and empathetic in the first part of the film, and while his character faultered during the middle, you accepted his explanations at the end. This role shows that he’s progressed from roles of the youth into a mature leading (or in this case supporting) actor.

The film itself was an excellent period piece giving you a glimpse and understanding of the depression era and its effects on families and communities. As our own society is on the bring of depression, this film shows that good people band together and help each other out, a lesson that isn’t seen in communities today where everyone is out for themselves.

4 out of 5 stars

Thursday, August 2, 2007 11:49 AM EDT
The Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — Chris O’Donnell and his wife, Caroline Fentress, are expecting their fifth child.

When asked about his four children during an appearance on NBC’s “Today” show, the 37-year-old actor said there was “another on the way.”

“We’re just starting to figure out how it works,” he said Wednesday. “I think I know why this is happening, but we’re gonna figure it out. Very excited, though. We’re really excited about it.”

The couple, who were married in 1997, have three boys and a girl. Fentress gave birth to their fourth child last year.

O’Donnell’s screen credits include “Batman Forever” and “Scent of a Woman.” He stars in the miniseries “The Company,” which premieres Sunday on TNT.

This film could’ve been so much more, but bad editing and a production team that went with an inexperienced director and a shoddy crew lead to a sub-par film.

This ensemble film told the tale of a guy on the run from the Indian mob. Along the way he crosses path with a hitman, a rogue cop and a woman who is after his money. Jeremy Davis, Rachael Leigh Cook, Michael Rapaport and Chris O’Donnell all do a fine job with the material they’re given.

Chris had been approached first about doing the role of the drifter, but he wanted to play the hitman instead. Many of his scenes were cut from the film and a dramatic revelation that he was actually an undercover FBI agent would’ve been a boost to the movie and help explain why he cared about saving Rachael’s character from being raped by Rapaport’s cop. Still, what scenes remain with Chris showed him to be a good character actor in a role unlike most he has played in film.

4 out of 5 stars

I’d seen this movie on DVD last fall, and found it on sale at BJ’s last week so I bought my own copy of it. This film is an insightful biopic of the man who has been both romanticized and villainized for his scientific research into a topic that many consider taboo.

Liam Neeson stars as Dr. Alfred Kinsey, the theoritician and zoologist who studied human sexuality. The strong supporting cast included Laura Linney as his wife, Peter Sarsgaard as their lover, and Chris O’Donnell as fellow researcher Wardell Pomeroy. Written and directed by Bill Condon, this film compares to his earlier biopic of James Whale, “Gods And Monsters”.

Chris made the most of his various scenes, conveying much with just the facial expressions he used as he interviewed subjects with questions such as “Is there tongue kissing during foreplay” and “How often were you having intercourse with animals at age 14?” This latter example showed his great comedic skills when misinterpretting a man’s accent to have said “horse” instead of “whores”. That comedy strings throughout this feature, mixing with the drama of a man whose life paralleled his research. While the film could be considered shocking and frank at times, you leave with a true sense of who the man behind the legend really was.

4 out of 5 stars

I watched this film on DVD yesterday, and then was pleasantly surprised to find it on late night FOX last night. On TV, the film was edited taking out key scenes that helped flesh out the characters and gave the story added emphasis.

The basis of this film is a story that has been told time and time again. Two people with their own issues are forced together by circumstance, and have to learn to respect each other in order to move forward in their lives. In this film, those roles are played by Chris O’Donnell and Al Pacino. Pacino shines as a blind ex-military man on a mission, earning him the Golden Globe and Best Actor Oscars for 1993. O’Donnell plays a prep school scholarship student who witnessed a prank and now has to choose between telling on his friends or being expelled. He was nominated for the Best Supporting Actor Golden Globe. The film also earned Golden Globes for Best Screenplay-Motion Picture and Best Motion Picture-Drama in 1993.

Chris was able to stand up to Pacino in this, his first major film role. While Pacino went over the top in many scenes, Chris kept his performance understated and made you connect with his character in ways other actors would not have been able to do. While the Hollywood ending of the film left everything tied up in pretty bows, you were also left with the sense that the story would continue to unfold beyond the credits. There may be value in a sequel, though a necessary conflict would need to be developed.

5 out of 5 stars

My friend Joey who is a comic book artist did this for me one Christmas to add to my Chris O’Donnell collection. It’s actually one of a few that he’s sketched for me over the years.

Here’s a picture showing some of the Chris memorabilia I have.

Chris’s tv show was cancelled by Fox, so I’ll need to keep my eyes open to see if he’s going to be performing in a play anywhere. As part of my 2006 travel plans, I will go to wherever he is performing and see him perform in person. Then I will ask the stage manager if I can meet him and compliment him on his performance.

Okay, so I have to admit that I’ve got this whole Chris O’Donnell shrine in my bedroom. It’s all these posters, calendars, stand-ups and statues that have come out with him as Robin and from other movies. Plus a friend of mine who is an artist has done a couple more things of him for me. I admit it. I’m a little obsessed. But not in a psycho stalker kind of way. Honestly.