Michael Cavalieri Movies
- 2001
Promoted to captain, Lt. Fancy (James McDaniel) is nervous about revealing the identity of his replacement as skipper of the 15th. Diane (Kim Delaney) and Connie (Charlotte Ross) investigate when a man's -- er -- member is sliced off and deposited near an ATM machine. The possibility of a vicious turf war between the Scarpelli and Marino crime families rears its ugly head. A mob informant names a name that has the squad reeling in disbelief. And all speculation regarding the new precinct head comes to an end when the infamous Lt. Susan Falto (Denise Crosby) makes her entrance. With this episode, former recurring character Connie McDowell (played by Charlotte Ross) becomes a regular. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- 2000
With Weaver on suspension, the prickly Romano (Paul McCrane) is in charge of the ER. Carter (Noah Wyle) goes ballistic when he suspects that his patient is faking an injury. Abby (Maura Tierney) treats a woman with five children, who doesn't want the sixth baby on the way. Finch (Michael Michele) and Corday (Alex Kingston) exchange heated words over the treatment of a 16-year-old accident victim (Matt Doherty). And while Greene (Anthony Edwards) struggles to cope with his father's terminal illness, a remembrance of the late Lucy Knight unexpectedly materializes at the ER. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- 1998
Drifter Ray Rucci (Michael Cavalieri) is called from California by his stepmother (Trisha Melynkov) because his stonecutter father, Tony (Harold Cannon), is dying. Back in Chicago after a 12-year absence, Ray finds sister Carlotta (Karin Akrgoud-Morrisey) bitter, his father emotionally drained, and family secrets beginning to surface. Winner of the Jack Nicholson Screenplay Award, the film employed a hand-held camera for most scenes. Shown at the 1998 Santa Barbara Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, Rovi
- Starring:
- Michael Cavalieri, Trisha Melynkov, (more)
- 1997
Stage director Anthony Caldarella made his film directorial debut with this drama demonstrating the horror of heroin-addiction impacting on an Italian-American family. During the early '50s, the Casale clan leaves Sicily, arriving at NYC's Lower East Side. It's a time when young Joey Casale (Freddy Capra) is impressed by the magic tricks of older brother Jack (Marco Leonardi). By 1963, however, Jack is deep into drugs, and his heroin habit causes grief for his mother Rose (Karen Colonna Kondazian) and his three straight-arrow brothers: Joey is an industrious student, Vincent (Michael Cavalieri) is a blues musician, while Sal (Peter Alla) manages a successful local trattoria. All make efforts to steer Jack in the right direction, but Jack's self-destructive downward descent seems unstoppable. Shown at the 1997 Hamptons Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, Rovi
- Starring:
- Marco Leonardi, Freddy Capra, (more)
The traditions of the western and the gangster film meet head-on in this dark crime drama. Jericho is a small town in Texas that in the 1920s looks much like it did in the 1860s, except that two violent gangs of rival bootleggers have driven away nearly all of the citizens not involved in the booze racket. Strozzi (Ned Eisenberg) leads a gang of Italian rum-runners with the help of his right-hand-man Giorgio (Michael Imperioli), while Doyle (David Patrick Kelly) is the head of an Irish mob, with Hickey (Christopher Walken) serving as his enforcer; the town's sheriff, Ed Galt (Bruce Dern) is powerless to stop the crime in Jericho, and he mainly tries to stay out of the way and keep an uneasy peace between Strozzi and Doyle. John Smith (Bruce Willis) is a ruthless and amoral gunman on the run from the law who passes through Jericho on his way to Mexico. Sizing up the situation, Smith quickly hatches a scheme by which he'll sell his services first to one of the gangs, and then the other, eventually turning the two sides against each other while he stays in the middle and takes the profits generated by both sides. Writer and director Walter Hill based his screenplay on Akira Kurosawa's classic samurai picture Yojimbo, which also inspired Sergio Leone's ground-breaking spaghetti western A Fistful of Dollars. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Bruce Willis, Christopher Walken, (more)
A veteran New York City detective's world is turned upside down when his estranged brother is suspected of murdering a powerful mob boss in this thriller starring Michael Biehn, William Petersen, and Leo Rossi. Al Scarano (Nick Vallelonga) is a Big Apple detective living the good life, but when a mobster named Tony C (Petersen) calls him to Little Italy late one night, Scarano's cozy self-contained universe slowly begins to unravel. It appears that Scarano's estranged brother Rudy was seen fleeing the scene of a high profile mafia hit, and before Tony C. sends his henchmen to find out the truth the hard way, he offers Scarano one chance to seek out his brother and get to the bottom of the matter. As Scarano's wife pleads with her conflicted husband to leave the past behind and start a new life, the detective must weigh the value of his own life against that of his troublesome bloodline. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
Karate Kid, Part 4 is better known by its release title, The Next Karate Kid. The sole holdover from the first three KK flicks is Noriyuki "Pat" Morita, once more cast as janitor/martial arts maven Miyagi Yakuga. This time, his pupil is orphaned 17-year-old Hilary Swank, the granddaughter of Miyagi's war buddy. Relentlessly bullied by her male classmates and feeling responsible for her parents' fatal accident, Swank is taught self-worth through the tough-but-gentle guidance of Miyagi. While The Next Karate Kid may come off as too "PC" for the tastes of some fans, it is heaps better than the appalling Karate Kid, Part 3. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Noriyuki "Pat" Morita, Hilary Swank, (more)
A teenager in the '50s moves to a new neighborhood and has to deal with all the problems that come with it in this lighthearted feature--complete with a rock 'n' roll soundtrack. ~ Kristie Hassen, Rovi
- Starring:
- Chris Young, Keith Coogan, (more)
