Jim Piddock Movies

When a high-profile hip-hop star is denied membership into an exclusive country club in the Hamptons, he comes up with a cunning plan to subvert the questionable ruling in this comedy of manners starring OutKast's Antwan Andre Patton. By purchasing property directly adjacent to the 18th hole, popular rapper C-Note (Patton) is subsequently granted membership into the haughty club by default. As the curmudgeonly club members make it their mission in life to get him kicked out, the clever rapper infuses the stodgy old club with new life. Andy Milonakis, Jeffrey Jones, and Faizon Love co-star. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Producer Marc E. Platt brings author Susan Cooper's popular series of children's fantasy books to the big screen with this tale of a young boy (Alexander Ludwig) who discovers that he is the latest in a long line of immortal warriors. When the forces of darkness, led by the villainous Rider (Christopher Eccleston), threaten to overpower the forces of light, the young chosen one must venture out into the world to realize his destiny and ensure that evil is defeated. Ian McShane and Frances Conroy round out the cast. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Mockumentary mastermind Christopher Guest turns his satirical eye away from dog shows, small-town theater, and folk music to offer a hilarious take on Hollywood award season in this comedy focusing on trio of actors whose lives are turned upside down when they discover that their performances in an independent film are generating a sizable buzz in the entertainment industry. Jay Berman (Guest) is in the process of directing his first feature film -- an intimate family drama set in the 1940s and detailing the tempestuous reunion of an estranged Jewish family that is reluctantly drawn together to celebrate Purim at the behest of their dying matriarch. The cast soon comes down with an infectious case of award fever when rumors on the Internet claim that "Purim" stars Marilyn Hack (Catherine O' Hara), Victor Allan Miller (Harry Shearer), and Callie Webb (Parker Posey) may be delivering Oscar-caliber performances. When "Hollywood Now" co-anchors Chuck Porter (Fred Willard) and Cindy Martin (Jane Lynch) perpetuate the buzz on national television, the entire film crew starts to see stars in their eyes. Subsequently convinced that they have a sleeper hit on their hands, unit publicist Corey Taft (John Michael Higgins), talent agent Morley Orfkin (Eugene Levy), and producer Whitney Taylor Brown (Jennifer Coolidge) immediately cave to requests from Sunfish Classics president Martin Gibb (Ricky Gervais) to alter the film so that it may appeal to a larger audience. Now, while "Purim" screenwriters Lane Iverson (Michael McKean) and Philip Koontz (Bob Balaban) are forced to watch helplessly as their original screenplay is plundered in order to cash in on the positive buzz, awards season draws near and the production takes a most unexpected turn. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

While visiting his elderly friend Rusty (Art Evans) at his neighborhood firehouse, Monk (Tony Shalhoub) is blinded by the same intruder who kills Rusty. Despite facing the probability of permanent sightlessness, Monk insists upon solving the old man's murder, using his previously unexploited "sixth sense" to harvest clues. It turns out that there is a connection between Rusty's missing coat and helmet, and another fire that occurred at the same time as the murder. In a fit of hubris (he actually seems to thrive on being blind), Monk not only captures the killer, but also figures out that the culprit didn't act alone...and that there's a lot more to the story than a mere murder. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Les Mayfield directs Samuel L. Jackson and Eugene Levy in the buddy action comedy The Man. Jackson plays ATF agent Derrick Vann. His partner, who it turns out was corrupt, has been killed after a cache of guns were stolen from the ATF office in Detroit. Internal affairs believe Derrick was in on the gun theft, forcing him to go off on his own to bring the bad guys to justice. Dental supply salesman Andy Fiddler (Levy) happens to be in Detroit for a business convention. During the course of figuring out who is responsible for his partner's death, Derrick arrests Andy because of a miscommunication. Soon the hard-edged law enforcer and the meek businessman team up to extricate themselves from their life-threatening predicament. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide

A Colombian law student living in Los Angeles and recently threatened with deportation enters into an unusual agreement with an eccentric couple in hopes of maintaining her citizenship and earning her degree in actor-turned-director Shane Edelman's affectionate romantic comedy. Sofia (Angie Cepeda) once had big plans for her life, but lately it seems like everything is falling apart. Her debts steadily growing and her future in the U.S. thrown into question when the man she had married as a means of obtaining her Green Card cruelly steals all of her possessions while threatening her with divorce, Sofia's sole joy in life is the time spent with her precocious six-year-old neighbor Max (Max Wolf Burkholder), a lonesome boy whose parents have always been too busy to provide him with the attention he so desperately needs. When a series of comic coincidences lead Sofia into the company of wealthy eccentrics Frank (Jim Piddock) and Helen Bauman (Nora Dunn), she soon discovers that she may have found the answer to all of her problems. Saddened by their inability to bear children but determined to realize their dream of parenthood at any cost, Frank and Helen offer Sofia 50,000 dollars if she will agree to become a surrogate mother for the pair. Her outspoken cousin Monica (Martita Roca) and Monica's husband George (Richard Speight, Jr.) providing just the support needed to help her successfully deal with both her pregnancy and the increasingly strange demands placed on her by the Baumans in hopes of birthing a healthy baby, Sofia soon begins to feel an increasing closeness with her kindly doctor Neil (Ken Marino). Though her feelings are seemingly reciprocated at first, it soon becomes increasingly obvious that something in Neil's personal life is preventing him from developing a romantic bond with his adoring patient. Determined to face her labor and forge ahead despite her seemingly unending string of personal disappointments, Sofie strives to find the power to regain control of her life during a time when all hope seems lost and she appears to have no one to turn to. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

The writing and directing team who created Waiting for Guffman and Best in Show turn their satiric eye toward the world of folk music in this sly mockumentary. Irving Steinbloom was one of the great behind-the-scenes figures of the folk music boom of the late '50s and early '60s, and helped to nurture the careers of three of the best known acts of the era. The Folksmen -- Mark Shubb (Harry Shearer), Alan Barrows (Christopher Guest), and Jerry Palter (Michael McKean) -- were an earnest folk trio who sang of America's noble past and the challenges of the future; they split up in the early '70s after a failed attempt to go electric. Mitch & Mickey were a duo in both music and life, comprised of Mitch Cohen (Eugene Levy) and Mickey Devlin (Catherine O'Hara). They sang soulful songs of love until the collapse of their relationship sent Mitch into a deep and incapacitating depression. And The Main Street Singers were a nine-piece vocal group -- a "neuftet," as they prefer it -- who offered energetic good-time music, cranking out nearly 30 albums in the course of a decade; their current incarnation, The New Main Street Singers (played by Jane Lynch, Parker Posey, John Michael Higgins, David Alan Blasucci, Steve Pandis, Christopher Moynihan, Paul Dooley and Patrick Sauber) is still on the road. When it is announced that the legendary Irving Steinbloom has died (the character never appears in the film), his son Jonathan (Bob Balaban) decides that the best way to memorialize his father is through music, and with the help of Mike LaFontaine (Fred Willard) of Hi-Class Management, they set out to bring The Folksmen, Mitch & Mickey, and The New Main Street Singers back together for a special concert at New York's Town Hall. Christopher Guest, Michael McKean, and Harry Shearer -- who previously teamed up for This Is Spinal Tap -- not only perform together as The Folksmen in A Mighty Wind, but composed most of the songs performed onscreen. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

It's just another one of those days when a bald eagle swoops into Drew's house and trashes the place. Unfortunately, the bird is an endangered species, meaning not only that it cannot be removed, but Drew (Drew Carey) must also protect and coddle the eagle at all costs! The situation worsens when the eagle "captures" and flies off with a dog belonging to Drew's new girlfriend Kathy (Kathy Griffin). Meanwhile, Oswald (Diedrich Bader) and Lewis (Ryan Stiles) are blackmailed by a youngster (Scotty Leavenworth) who threatens to tell the authorities about their house in the park. Amazingly, this episode was virtually unscripted, with the actors ad-libbing their dialogue based on a storyline provided by Julie Ann Larson). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Season nine of ER begins ten minutes after season eight left off, with the County General ER still in lockdown in the face of a possible smallpox epidemic. Though most of the patients and staffers have been evacuated, a handful are quarantined at the ER for two weeks, among them Carter (Noah Wyle), Abby (Maura Tierney), Chen (Ming-Na), and Pratt (Mekhi Phifer), now a full-fledged series regular. In the midst of the chaos and confusion, Carter and Abby have managed to find the opportunity to lock lips, thereby inaugurating a whole new phase in their relationship. Meanwhile, on the roof of the hospital, Romano (Paul McCrane) throws another temper tantrum, with disastrous consequences when, in mid-rant, he backs into the tail rotor of a helicopter. And in faraway London, the newly widowed Elizabeth Corday (Alex Kingston) has joined her father's business -- but may now be too "Americanized" for her family's tastes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

No sooner have Drew (Drew Carey) and Mr. Wick (Craig Ferguson) assumed their duties as co-managers of Winfred-Louder than they find that the store is about to go out of business. Seeking a new buyer, Drew and Wick approach the fabulously wealthy Lord Mercer (Jim Piddock in his first series appearance). As it turns out, the only person capable of "selling" Winfred-Louder to Lord Mercer's board of directors is Mr. Wick, and only when he is drunk out of his mind--obliging Drew to become an "enabler" until the deal is finalized. Meanwhile, Oswald (Diedrich Bader) hits on a nurse named Colleen (played by Bader's real-life wife Dulcy Rogers), but she is unimpressed until he literally performs a miracle! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Angel (David Boreanaz) tries to assure Cordelia (Charisma Carpenter) and Wesley (Alexis Denisof) that he's recovered from his grief over Darla (Julie Benz). It turns out he's actually had Gunn (J. August Richards) trailing his formerly dead, formerly vampiric former paramour. Lindsey McDonald (Christian Kane) gets to Darla's tenement hotel before Angel can, and, taking her to his superiors at Wolfram & Hart, learns that she was resurrected in the same state she was in before she ever became a vampire. In other words, she's dying of syphilis. In a desperate attempt to escape her looming mortality, Darla later tries to convince a total dweeb of a vampire to "sire" her -- drink and be drunk by her so she can once again become an immortal bloodsucker. Angel interrupts the proceedings, tries to reason with her, and learns of her condition. Crushed, he takes her to Caritas, where the Host (Andy Hallett) sends both of them off on a mystical quest to heal Darla. The Valet (Jim Piddock), an interdimensional functionary, wagers with Angel. If he passes three nearly impossible tests, Darla will be healed; if he fails, she will die immediately. Angel just barely survives the three tests, including one that's more psychological than physical. But even this third challenge is nothing compared to the anguish Angel suffers when the Valet belatedly informs him that because Darla was already resurrected once, she cannot be granted yet another lease on life. Back at Darla's hotel, Angel offers to sire her, theorizing that because he's a vampire with a soul perhaps she will be, too. She demurs, telling him that because of the love and dedication he's shown her, she's content to die the way nature intended 400 years ago. Just then, Wolfram & Hart's minions break in with a surprise guest, Drusilla (Juliet Landau), who promptly drinks Darla's blood and opens her own veins while Angel is held in check. Originally broadcast November 28, 2000, on the WB network, "The Trial" marked season two, episode nine of the supernatural comedy drama. References to the character of Holtz in this episode's flashback sequence will take on new significance in season three when the time-traveling vampire hunter becomes Angel's chief nemesis. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide

A group of intrepid humans attempts to save the Earth from vicious extraterrestrials in this extremely popular science-fiction adventure. Borrowing liberally from War of the Worlds, Aliens, and every sci-fi invasion film inbetween, director Roland Emmerich and producer and co-writer Dean Devlin present a visually slick, fast-paced adventure filled with expensive special effects and large-scale action sequences. The story begins with the approach of a series of massive spaceships, which many on Earth greet with open arms, looking forward to the first contact with alien life. Unfortunately, these extraterrestrials have not come in peace, and they unleash powerful weapons that destroy most of the world's major cities. Thrown into chaos, the survivors struggle to band together and put up a last-ditch resistance in order to save the human race. As this is a Hollywood film, this effort is led by a group of scrappy Americans, including a computer genius who had foreseen the alien's evil intent (Jeff Goldblum), a hot-shot jet pilot (Will Smith), and the President of the United States (Bill Pullman). While some critics objected to the film's lack of originality and lapses in logic, the combination of grand visual spectacle and crowd-pleasing storytelling proved irresistible to audiences, resulting in an international smash hit. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide

In this suspenseful drama, Matt's life spirals out of control after he meets his old acquaintance Simon, the man who saved Matt from burning to death after a car accident many years before. Unlike Matt who has since become a successful video game programmer, Simon's life has led him to the streets. Compassionate Matt decides to help and so invites Simon back home and then helps him find work at Matt's company. This proves to be a big mistake, for Simon is not what he seems, and nothing that has happened between him and Matt, past or present, has been an accident. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide