Kieran Culkin

Nearly a decade after impressing audiences at the 1999 Toronto International Film Festival with their engaging coming of age story Goat on Fire and Smiling Fish, filmmakers Derick and Steven Martini return to deliver this period drama following two families whose lives are profoundly affected by complex relationships, real estate woes, and Lyme disease. Set on Long Island in the late 1970s, Lymelife opens to find a suburban community swept up in fear after local resident Charlie Bragg (Timothy Hutton) is diagnosed with Lyme disease. Charlie's tightly-wound neighbor Brenda Bartlett (Jill Hennseey) is determined not to let her gentle fifteen year old son Scott (Rory Culkin) suffer a similar fate, and has taken to duct-taping his cuffs to ensure that he remains Lyme disease-free. Meanwhile, as Charlie convalesces, his wife Melissa (Cynthia Nixon) goes to work for Brenda's philandering husband Mickey (Alec Baldwin), a respected real estate developer. All the while, Melissa remains clueless to the fact that she was hired more out of lust than as a friendly favor to a neighbor in need. For years, Scott has pined after Charlie and Brenda's daughter Adrianna (Emma Roberts), and strangely enough it seems that she's finally starting to return his affections. Tensions are running particularly high in the neighborhood lately, and when Scott's older brother Jimmy (Kieran Culkin) arrives home on leave from the army, his confrontations with his tempestuous father Mickey threaten to trigger repercussions that will affect the lives of everyone involved. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys brings Chris Fuhrman's well-received, posthumously published teen novel to the screen. Set in the 1970s, the film concerns two rebellious Catholic schoolboys -- bashful, pensive Francis (Emile Hirsch) and whip-smart, impulsive Tim (Kieran Culkin) -- who spend their free time pulling elaborate pranks and creating a comic book featuring themselves and their friends, Wade (Jake Richardson) and Joey (Tyler Long), as superheroes. Their alter egos are brought to life in animated sequences by Spawn creator Todd McFarlane. Their grim, strict, one-legged teacher, Sister Assumpta (Jodie Foster), is drawn as a motorcycle-riding supervillain. Vincent D'Onofrio plays the more easygoing Father Casey. Egged on by Tim, Francis admits that he has a crush on Margie Flynn (Jena Malone). Tim encourages Francis to pursue Margie, at one point even sending her a mash note and signing his friend's name. Francis and Margie eventually begin seeing each other. But when Margie reveals a terrible, painful secret to Francis, it sets off a chain of events that leads to tragedy. The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys marks the feature debut of director Peter Care. It was screened at several festivals, including the 2002 Sundance Film Festival. The film sparked a small controversy at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival, where it was rejected, allegedly in retaliation for producer Foster's decision to forego heading up the fest's jury in order to replace Nicole Kidman in Panic Room. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide

John Irving scripted this screen adaptation of his 1985 novel. Set during World War II, The Cider House Rules concerns Homer Wells (Tobey Maguire), an orphan who spent most of his childhood at the St. Cloud Orphanage in rural Maine, where he grew up under the strong but affectionate care of Dr. Wilbur Larch (Michael Caine). Larch has passed along his medical education to Homer, and the young man helps the doctor care for abandoned children and the newborn babies of unwed mothers; however, Homer refuses to assist Larch with the illegal abortions that he performs on the side; Homer has moral objections to abortion, while Larch believes in the rights of the individual and sees it as his duty to keep women in need away from dangerous incompetents. Wally Worthington (Paul Rudd), an air-force pilot, brings his girlfriend Candy (Charlize Theron) to St. Cloud for an abortion, and Homer decides to go with them when they leave, hoping to see the world; however, the three end up going no further than the state line, where Wally's mother (Kate Nelligan) runs an apple orchard and cider mill, and Candy's family traps lobsters. When Wally ships off to battle, Homer grows closer to Candy, and the two fall in love. But their idyllic life at the cider mill is interrupted when Rose Rose (Erykah Badu), a field worker at the orchard, becomes pregnant and her father, cider-house foreman Mr. Rose (Delroy Lindo), turns out to be the father of her unborn child. This news coupled with the death of Dr. Larch, forces Homer to take a long look at both his moral principles and his future. Rapper Heavy D appears in the supporting cast as Peaches. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

An American businessman rents a cottage in Ireland, only to find the cottage is also inhabited by leprechauns as well. Soon, the American finds himself embroiled in a fierce dispute between the leprechauns and their enemies, the fairies, that only he can help settle. ~ All Movie Guide

In the tradition of My Left Foot (1989), Peter Chelsom directed this emotional drama of outcasts, adapted from the Rodman Philbrick's popular young-adult novel Freak the Mighty. Although burly, slow-paced eight-grader Maxwell Kane (Elden Hensen), who narrates, is learning disabled, he nevertheless has a poetic soul, as evidenced when he meets the bright and brainy Kevin Dillon (Kieran Culkin), crippled by a birth defect. The physically deformed Kevin, who wears leg braces and uses crutches, suffers from Morquio's Syndrome, which causes physical growth to stop after the age of six. Illiterate Max gets Kevin as a reading tutor, and the two misfits soon become friends, sharing a vision of life as a contemporary Camelot. Gena Rowlands and Harry Dean Stanton appear as Max's grandparents and guardians. Max is portrayed by 19-year-old Emerson College filmmaking student Henson, while Sharon Stone has the role of Gwen Dillon, Kevin's mother. Boston-born author Philbrick, who winters in Key West, otherwise resides in Seacoast, New Hampshire (the setting of the book). The movie was filmed at a soundstage in Toronto, the University of Toronto, Cincinnati, and Covington, Kentucky. Exhibited out of competition at the 1998 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide

Just as the original 1950 version of Father of the Bride spawned a sequel, so did the 1991 remake; like its counterpart four decades earlier, this story concerns a father who learns that his anxieties are just beginning after his daughter takes the big walk down the aisle. George Banks (Steve Martin) has finally adjusted to the marriage of his daughter Annie (Kimberly Williams) when the fates drop a new bombshell on his head: Annie and her husband Bryan (George Newbern) announce that they're going to have a baby. While George's wife Nina (Diane Keaton) is happy enough about the news, George is thrown into an immediate mid-life crisis; while he and Nina were once discussing the possibility of selling the family home and moving to a place on the beach, George impulsively sells their home to Mr. Habib (Eugene Levy), a greedy land speculator. Now, with ten days to move, George gets even more unexpected news: Nina, who had earlier been fretting about the onset of menopause, has just learned that she's pregnant as well. George now has to deal with being a father again as well as becoming a grandparent, while he also figures out how to get the Banks family home back. Martin Short returns as Franck, the oddly accented wedding planner from Father of the Bride, who has moved into a new career organizing baby showers and redecorating homes. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

An escaped convict fights for his rights while hiding out from the law in this action drama. Sam Gillen (Jean-Claude Van Damme) is a thief who, despite his criminal past, is an essentially decent man; he ended up behind bars after taking a murder rap for his partner. Sam escapes from prison in a daring jailbreak, and he hides out on a remote farm while on the run from police. A young boy named Mookie (Kieran Culkin) finds the fugitive and takes him in; it seems that the farm belongs to his mother Clydie (Roseanna Arquette), and soon Mookie and his sister Bree (Tiffany Taubman) have become friends with Sam, and Clydie and Sam fall in love. However, Franklin Hale (Joss Ackland), an unscrupulous land developer, wants to buy Clydie's farm and isn't taking no for an answer. When Hale's thug Dunston (Ted Levine) tries to use force to drive Clydie off her property, Sam is ready to fight fire with fire. Nowhere to Run was co-authored by noted screenwriter Joe Eszterhas; Richard Marquand received his story credit posthumously. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Steve Martin stars in this remake of the 1950 Vincente Minnelli classic as shoe executive George Banks, whose happily married existence hits a bump when he greets his daughter Annie (Kimberly Williams), home from a semester studying in Europe. She tells her father that she is engaged to be married. When the shocked George asks to whom, she says his name is Bryan (George Newbern) and that he is an "independent communications consultant." George is even more shocked when he finds out what the wedding will cost (when George goes through the card file for invited wedding guests and is told someone is deceased, George chirps, "He died? That's great!"). As George is ignored during the mad preparations for the wedding, he wistfully looks back to all the good times he has had with Annie and sadly looks forward to the time when he loses his little girl. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

Home Alone is the highly successful and beloved family comedy about a young boy named Kevin (Macaulay Culkin) who is accidentally left behind when his family takes off for a vacation in France over the holiday season. Once he realizes they've left him "home alone," he learns to fend for himself and, eventually has to protect his house against two bumbling burglars (Joe Pesci, Daniel Stern) who are planning to rob every house in Kevin's suburban Chicago neighborhood. Though the film's slapstick ending may be somewhat violent, Culkin's charming presence helped the film become one of the most successful ever at the time of its release. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Movie Guide