Directing

James A. Contner

Born June 12, 1974 (age 52)

No biography available.

Known For

When the seaside community of Amity finds itself under attack by a dangerous great white shark, the town's chief of police, a young marine biologist, and a grizzled shark hunter embark on a desperate quest to kill the beast before it strikes again.

Superman · 1978

Superman

★ 7.21978

MovieScience FictionAction

Mild-mannered Clark Kent works as a reporter at the Daily Planet alongside his crush, Lois Lane. Clark must summon his superhero alter-ego when the nefarious Lex Luthor launches a plan to take over the world.

A giant thirty-five-foot shark becomes trapped in a SeaWorld theme park and it's up to the sons of police chief Brody to rescue everyone.

When New York is caught in the grip of a sadistic serial killer who preys on patrons of the city's underground bars, rookie cop Steve Burns infiltrates the S&M subculture to try and lure him out of the shadows.

When one of Europe's most lethal terrorists shows up in New York, an elite undercover cop is assigned to take him down by any means necessary.

The Last Dragon · 1985

The Last Dragon

★ 6.51985

MovieActionComedy

A young man searches for the "master" to obtain the final level of martial arts mastery known as the glow. Along the way he must fight an evil martial arts expert and rescue a beautiful singer from an obsessed music promoter.

On Golden Pond · 1981

On Golden Pond

★ 7.31981

MovieDramaRomance

For Norman and Ethel Thayer, this summer on golden pond is filled with conflict and resolution. When their daughter Chelsea arrives, the family is forced to renew the bonds of love and overcome the generational friction that has existed for years.

Dorothy Gale, a shy kindergarten teacher, is swept away to the magic land of Oz where she embarks on a quest to return home.

Filmography

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Assistant Camera

MovieScience FictionAction

Camera Operator

A giant thirty-five-foot shark becomes trapped in a SeaWorld theme park and it's up to the sons of police chief Brody to rescue everyone.

Director of Photography

Director of Photography

When one of Europe's most lethal terrorists shows up in New York, an elite undercover cop is assigned to take him down by any means necessary.

Director of Photography

The Last Dragon · 1985

The Last Dragon

★ 6.51985

MovieActionComedy

Director of Photography

On Golden Pond · 1981

Camera Operator

Dorothy Gale, a shy kindergarten teacher, is swept away to the magic land of Oz where she embarks on a quest to return home.

Camera Operator

Monkey Shines · 1988

Monkey Shines

★ 6.31988

MovieHorrorScience Fiction

A quadriplegic man is given a trained monkey help him with every day activities, until the little monkey begins to develop feelings, and rage, against its new master and those who get too close to him.

Director of Photography

When a 13-year-old girl befriends a defiant antisocial child of the streets, the mismatched runaways set off to the Big Apple to find their own adventure.

Director of Photography

The Brink's Job · 1978

The Brink's Job

★ 6.21978

MovieComedyCrime

In 1950, a group of unlikely criminal masterminds commits the robbery of the century. Led by Tony Pino, a petty thief fresh out of prison, and Joe McGinnis, who specializes in planning lucrative capers, the gang robs Brink's main office in Boston of more than $2 million. However, things begin to go awry when the FBI gets involved, the cops start cracking down on the gang and McGinnis refuses to hand over the loot...

Additional Photography

Let's Get Harry · 1986

Let's Get Harry

★ 6.21986

MovieAction

Harry Burck has been kidnapped by South American terrorists, and when the US Government refuses to intervene, Harry's friends decide to take matters into their own hands!

Director of Photography

Where the Boys Are · 1984

Where the Boys Are

★ 4.51984

MovieComedyRomance

Four college co-eds travel to Fort Lauderdale for their Easter week of Spring Break, and become involved in a series of adventures and misadventures

Director of Photography

During their 1976 world tour, Paul McCartney and Wings gave a magnificent performance to 67,000 fans at the Kingdome, in Seattle, Washington. The concert features 30 songs of the Beatles and Wings.

Camera Operator

While trying to get his father out of a financial jam, a man comes up with an idea that turns into an unexpected overnight financial fashion success - the bottomless pants.

Director of Photography

An aspiring country singer, whose money is disappearing faster than his career opportunities, enters a "Tough Man" amateur boxing contest to earn some cash to pay his bills. Amazingly enough, he wins it, and is picked to go onto the national finals. He's torn between his first love, music, and the glitz, glamor and money of the "Tough Man" world.

Director of Photography

Eddie Macon's Run · 1983

Eddie Macon's Run

★ 5.91983

MovieDramaAction

Eddie Macon is running from a nightmare... running to a dream... running for his life and his time is running out. He's escaped a Texas prison for the second time (risking life imprisonment if caught) to make it back to his wife and son. Relentlessly pursued by ruthless truant officer, Carl Marzack, who feels he must prove he can still 'get his man' by returning Macon to jail at any cost.

Director of Photography

Reynolds plays an ex-soldier-of-fortunish character in Vegas, taking "Chaperone" jobs, fighting with the mob, and trying to get enough money together to move to Venice, Italy.

Director of Photography

The rise and fall of a Mafia gangster, based on the life of murdered New York gangster "Crazy" Joey Gallo.

Camera Intern

The Flamingo Kid · 1984

The Flamingo Kid

★ 6.01984

MovieComedyDrama

Brooklyn teenager Jeffrey Willis, thoroughly unhappy with his modest homestead, embraces the other-world aspects of his summer job at the posh Flamingo Club. He spurns his father in favor of the patronage of smooth-talking Phil Brody and is seduced by the ample bikini charms of club member Carla Samson. But thanks to a couple of late-summer hard lessons, the teen eventually realizes that family should always come first.

Director of Photography

A successful but stressed mathematics professor goes to her father's wedding and falls in love with her father's bride's son, a prematurely retired pro baseball player. She must choose between him and her current boyfriend, between Chicago and New York, and between research and administration.

Camera Operator

A fisherman and his family fight to take down a greedy real estate developer who has released toxins into the ocean, turning the area's sharks into bloodthirsty hunters.

Director

When Friendship Kills · 1996

When Friendship Kills

★ 6.51996

MovieDrama

Teenager Lexi Archer moves to Chicago with her newly divorced mother and befriends a popular girl at her new school, Jennifer. After Lexi's volleyball coach suggests that she lose weight, Jennifer reveals she is bulimic and the two girls decide to help each other, leading to disastrous consequences.

Director

The Cover Girl Murders · 1993

The Cover Girl Murders

★ 4.51993

MovieTV MovieThriller

The scene is a remote tropical island, where several top swimsuit models converge for a magazine photo shoot, orchestrated by publisher Lee Majors. The girls are lovely, the scenery gorgeous, the weather couldn't be pleasanter. Only one hitch: one by one, the models fall victim to mysterious fatal accidents. You know by now that these are no accidents.

Director

Smallville · 2001

Smallville

★ 8.22001

SeriesSci-Fi & FantasyAction & Adventure

The origins of the world’s greatest hero–from Krypton refugee Kal-el’s arrival on Earth through his tumultuous teen years to Clark Kent’s final steps toward embracing his destiny as the Man of Steel.

Director

The X-Files · 1993

The X-Files

★ 8.41993

SeriesMysterySci-Fi & Fantasy

The exploits of FBI Special Agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully who investigate X-Files: marginalized, unsolved cases involving paranormal phenomena. Mulder believes in the existence of aliens and the paranormal while Scully, a skeptic, is assigned to make scientific analyses of Mulder's discoveries that debunk Mulder's work and thus return him to mainstream cases.

Director

Three sisters (Prue, Piper and Phoebe) reunite and unlock their powers to become the Charmed Ones, the most powerful good witches of all time, whose prophesied destiny is to protect innocent lives from evil beings such as demons and warlocks. Each sister possesses unique magical powers that grow and evolve, while they attempt to maintain normal lives in modern day San Francisco.

Director

Buffy the Vampire Slayer · 1997

Buffy the Vampire Slayer

★ 8.11997

SeriesComedyDrama

Into every generation a slayer is born: one girl in all the world, a chosen one. She alone will wield the strength and skill to fight the vampires, demons, and the forces of darkness; to stop the spread of their evil and the swell of their number. She is the Slayer.

Director

The story of the Miami Police Department's vice squad and its efforts to end drug trafficking and prostitution, centered on the unlikely partnership of Sonny Crockett and Ricardo Tubbs - who first meet when Tubbs is undercover in a drug cartel.

Director

Las Vegas · 2003

Las Vegas

★ 7.02003

SeriesDramaAction & Adventure

Ed Deline is a strict ex-CIA officer who went from being Head of Security to becoming President of Operations of the Montecito, whose job is to run the day-to-day operations of the casino. Following his departure, former Marine Danny McCoy, Ed's former protégé, becomes the Montecito's new President of Operations.

Director

Angel · 1999

Angel

★ 7.91999

SeriesSci-Fi & FantasyDrama

The vampire Angel, cursed with a soul, moves to Los Angeles and aids people with supernatural-related problems while questing for his own redemption. A spin-off from Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Director

21 Jump Street · 1987

21 Jump Street

★ 7.31987

SeriesCrimeMystery

21 Jump Street revolves around a group of young cops who would use their youthful appearance to go undercover and solve crimes involving teenagers and young adults.

Director

Star Trek: Enterprise · 2001

Star Trek: Enterprise

★ 7.52001

SeriesSci-Fi & FantasyAction & Adventure

During the mid-22nd century, a century before Captain Kirk's five-year mission, Jonathan Archer captains the United Earth ship Enterprise during the early years of Starfleet, leading up to the Earth-Romulan War and the formation of the Federation.

Director

V.I.P. · 1998

V.I.P.

★ 5.31998

SeriesAction & AdventureComedy

While attending a Hollywood premiere with a famous action star, a crazed fan pulls a gun—but her movie hunk turns into a coward, and it's Vallery who becomes the hero. Suddenly, she's thrown into a world of action and danger as owner of a Hollywood protection agency, Vallery Irons Protection (V.I.P.), taking risks to protect others at a price few are willing to pay.

Director

Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman · 1993

Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman

★ 6.91993

SeriesAction & AdventureDrama

A much more lavish version of the popular Superman television series which had first aired forty years earlier, Lois & Clark focused more on the Man of Steel's early adult years in Metropolis. With the unknowing help of Lois Lane, Clark Kent created Superman there in Metropolis after finding work at the world-famous Daily Planet newspaper, where he meets fellow reporter Lois Lane.

Director

Firefly · 2002

Firefly

★ 8.32002

SeriesDramaAction & Adventure

In the year 2517, the universe is a vast frontier where lawlessness reigns and adventure awaits! Join Captain Malcolm Reynolds and his ragtag crew aboard the spaceship Serenity as they navigate the fringes of society, battling the oppressive Alliance and facing off against ruthless bounty hunters.

Director

The Dead Zone · 2002

The Dead Zone

★ 7.32002

SeriesDramaSci-Fi & Fantasy

Johnny Smith discovers he has developed psychic abilities after a coma.

Director

Dark Angel · 2000

Dark Angel

★ 7.52000

SeriesAction & AdventureDrama

Super soldier Max Guevera tries to live a normal life in post-apocalyptic Seattle while eluding capture by government agents from the covert biotech facility she escaped from as a child and searching for her genetically-enhanced brothers and sisters who have dispersed after escape.

Director

seaQuest DSV · 1993

seaQuest DSV

★ 7.11993

SeriesSci-Fi & FantasyAction & Adventure

In the early 21st century, mankind has colonized the oceans. The United Earth Oceans Organization enlists Captain Nathan Bridger and the submarine seaQuest DSV to keep the peace and explore the last frontier on Earth.

Director

The Equalizer · 1985

The Equalizer

★ 7.11985

SeriesAction & AdventureCrime

Robert McCall is a former agent of a secret government agency who is now running his own private crime fighting operation where he fashions himself as "The Equalizer." It is a service for victims of the system who have exhausted all possible means of seeking justice and have nowhere to go. McCall promises to even out the odds for them.

Director

Dollhouse · 2009

Dollhouse

★ 7.22009

SeriesAction & AdventureDrama

Echo is a member of a highly illegal and underground group of individuals whose personalities have been wiped clean so they can be imprinted with any number of new personas. Confined between missions to a secret facility known as the Dollhouse, the "Actives" are hired by the wealthy, powerful and connected to wholly become—with mind, personality and physiology—whomever the client wants or needs them to be. They know no other life than the specific engagements they are in at that time—or do they?

Director

Vinnie Terranova does time in a New Jersey penitentiary to set up his undercover role as an agent for the OCB (Organized Crime Bureau) of the United States. His roots in a traditional Italian city neighborhood form the underlying dramatic base throughout the series, bringing him into conflict with his conservative mother and other family members while acting undercover as syndicate enforcer.

Director

Roswell · 1999

Roswell

★ 7.71999

SeriesSci-Fi & FantasyDrama

Bizarre things start happening in the little New Mexico town where UFOs were spotted in 1947. Cut to 1999, when a cute high-school student saves the life of a teenage waitress. Surrounded by cliques of clever, angst-filled classmates, the two form a bond that threatens the survival of a secret universe involving superhuman powers, a yen for hot sauce and an alien gene pool.

Director

Hercules: The Legendary Journeys · 1995

Hercules: The Legendary Journeys

★ 6.91995

SeriesAction & AdventureDrama

The legendary son of Zeus journeys across the earth fighting monsters and helping people.

Director

The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr. · 1993

The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr.

★ 7.11993

SeriesWesternComedy

A tough-as-rawhide cowpoke, debonair ladies' man and Harvard-educated smarty-britches roams from Frisco to Jalisco in pursuit of outlaws who killed his father...and in search of a mysterious orb possessing out-of-this world powers. Hot lead and cool anachronisms await Brisco as he and his sidekicks - including Comet, the intellectual equine who doesn't know he's a horse - fight for justice in the way, way, way-out West.

Director

The hard-boiled saga of hair-trigger cop Lieutenant Mike Torello and his obsessive pursuit of ruthless gangster Ray Luca.

Director

Midnight Caller · 1988

Midnight Caller

★ 7.61988

SeriesDrama

An ex-cop hosts a late-night talk radio program while getting involved with his listeners' problems in his off-time.

Director

The Flash · 1990

The Flash

★ 7.41990

SeriesAction & AdventureSci-Fi & Fantasy

When a bolt of lightning crashes through a police crime lab, a mix of electrically charged substances bathes chemist Barry Allen, transforming him into the fastest man alive--The Flash.

Director