John K. Watson Movies

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

Bill Murray teams up with his biggest co-star to date (with the exception of the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man) in this family-oriented comedy. Jack Corcoran (Bill Murray) is a motivational speaker who makes his living advising others how to tie up the loose ends of their lives, but he has plenty of his own left dangling. Jack is emotionally at the mercy of his mother (Anita Gillette) and his fiancée Celeste (Maureen Mueller), while his booking agent Walter (Jeremy Piven) keeps promising him bigger and better things that don't materialize. Jack has grown up believing that his father died before he was born while trying to rescue a drowning child, but he learns that was not the case at all -- Dad spent a long career working as a circus clown, and died only a few weeks ago. However, Dad was kind enough to bequeath Jack a large stack of debts and his only tangible asset, an Indian elephant named Vera (Tia). Jack is in no position to keep a pachyderm at home, and he has two options for getting rid of the animal -- sell Vera to Terry (Linda Fiorentino), a mean spirited animal trainer, or donate her to Mo (Janeane Garofalo), a zoologist who hopes to return her to the wilds. Either way, Jack has to get Vera from the East Coast to California, and in order to make an important speaking engagement, he and the elephant have five days to cross the country. Larger Than Life also features Matthew McConaughey as an excitable truck driver; Keith David, Harve Presnell, and Pat Hingle also highlight the supporting cast. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

The TV prints of this entertaining melange whittled down the film's original self-serving title (Motown king Berry Gordy was the producer), and settled on merely The Last Dragon. Taimak stars as an African American martial-arts whiz, so devoted to his hobby that he dresses and behaves in what he thinks is true Chinese fashion. Taimak falls in love with sexy veejay Vanity. Gangsters intrude on both their lives when crook Julius J. Carry III tries to promote his talentless protegee into rock stardom. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide