Thomas Brandise Movies

Where else but Minnesota, a state that has brought us creative minds as diverse as F. Scott Fitzgerald, Garrison Keillor and Paul Westerberg, could a man like Jesse "The Body" Ventura be elected governor? The Jesse Ventura Story follows the inarguably remarkable career of its title character (played by Nils Allen Stewart) as he overcomes an unhappy childhood and strained relationship with his father to find success as a Navy SEAL, a bouncer, a bodyguard, a disc jockey, a professional wrestler and a second-string action movie star, concluding with his most remarkable feat to date: winning Minnesota's 1998 gubernatorial race as a third-party candidate. Produced for NBC television, The Jesse Ventura Story was a model of production efficiency; it was first aired in May 1999, a mere six months after the real life Ventura won the Minnesota election, with Toronto standing in for the Twin Cities. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Though made for only $5000, this gritty and bittlerly funny crime drama marks the debut of promising young New York filmmaker Sal Stabile. Set in a blue-collar neighborhood near Coney Island, it centers on four young men aimlessly hanging out for an evening. They are start in Ray's basement where Zane starts a fight and ends up accidentally shooting Ray's big brother. After much debate, the boys decide to get rid of the body themselves to save trouble. Two more deaths occur until the foursome find themselves tooling about in a car, trying to act normally, as if they weren't carrying three corpses in their trunk and making unsuccessful attempts to dispose of them. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi