Michael Corrente Movies

Director Michael Corrente's coming-of-age comedy drama Brooklyn Rules unfurls in 1985, coincident with the early rise of John Gotti. Three young Brooklyn men of Italian-American heritage -- Michael Turner (Freddie Prinze Jr.), Carmine Mancuso (Scott Caan), and Bobby Canzoneri (Jerry Ferrara) -- make the pivotal, potentially irreversible choices that will determine their directions in life. The boys' periodic run-ins with a sadistic mobster type who rules the neighborhood, Caesar Manganaro (Alec Baldwin), suggest the ever-present option of drifting into a career of crime. On the surface, Michael courageously and doggedly bucks this choice, opting instead for the pre-law program at Columbia and a straight-laced romance with blonde-haired, blue-eyed coed Ellen (Mena Suvari), yet this path is not as antiseptic as it may seem, for he actually scammed his way into the law program. Meanwhile, Carmine idolizes Caesar, and his desire to emulate this thug not only compromises his own moral integrity, but threatens to jeopardize the stability of Michael's life as well by drawing him into a sticky web of criminal activity. While the first two men navigate these treacherous paths, the third friend, Bobby, stakes out safer ground with a low-key job at the post office and married life with his intended. Over the course of it all, the boys' bonds of friendship become stressed and strained given the divergence of their paths. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide

Tod Williams served as both director and screenwriter for this drama, adapted from a portion of John Irving's novel A Widow for One Year. Ted and Marion Cole (Jeff Bridges and Kim Basinger) are a couple whose marriage is on the verge of collapse. After their two teenage sons died in an auto accident, Marion fell into a deep depression from which she has never fully emerged. Meanwhile, Ted has drifted into repeated infidelity, his most recent mistress being the sexually ravenous Mrs. Vaughn (Mimi Rogers), and neither Ted nor Marion are willing or able to devote their full attention to their surviving daughter, Ruth (Elle Fanning). Ted, a successful author of books for children, hires Eddie (Jon Foster), a bright 16-year-old prep-school student, to help him edit his latest manuscript. But Ted is fully aware that Eddie bears a striking resemblance to one of his late sons -- and that this would have a powerful effect on Marion. Eddie quickly develops a strong attraction to his employer's beautiful wife, and Marion, torn between grief and desire, draws him into a sexual relationship that brings the family's many emotional crises to the breaking point. The Door in the Floor also features Bijou Phillips and Louis Arcella. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

For I'll Sleep When I'm Dead, director Mike Hodges re-teams with Trevor Preston, the respected British television writer with whom he made a series of documentaries for ITV back in the 1960s. The film also brings the director together again with actor Clive Owen, the star of his previous film, Croupier, which signaled Hodges' resurgence. Owen plays Will Graham, a former London gangster who moved out to the country after suffering a breakdown of some sort. Will works clearing forests, and lives out of his van, until he loses his job over a lack of proper documentation. Meanwhile, Will's younger brother, Davey, is enjoying his life as a womanizing man about town, and dabbling in drug dealing, until one night, when an older man, Boad (Malcolm McDowell), has him followed and brutally assaults him. The traumatized Davey returns home and takes his own life. Will, uncertain as to where to go, finds himself drawn back to London, where he learns of Davey's death from Mrs. Barz (Sylvia Syms), his landlady. Will investigates what happened that night with his old friend, Mickser (Jamie Foreman). As Will tries to piece together what happened, he goes to visit Helen (Charlotte Rampling), his former lover, who is less than thrilled to see him after he abandoned her years earlier and eventually cut off all contact. The current neighborhood crime boss, Turner (Ken Stott), knows what Will is capable of, and sees him as a threat. Eventually, Will uncovers the truth, and is faced with the unpleasant prospect of avenging Davey's death. Screenwriter Preston took the title for the film from a sardonic song by the late Warren Zevon. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide

Robert Duvall dons tartan and a thick brogue to star as Gordon McLeod, the manager of a failing Scottish football club. The second-division club -- dubbed Kilnockie after the fishing town it calls home -- has a new owner, an American named Pete Cameron (Michael Keaton), who pressures McLeod to spruce up the faltering club and, against McLeod's wishes, hires first-division star Jackie McQuillan (real-life footy luminary Ally McCoist). McQuillan's past days of glory came with a price, as his flashy lifestyle and volatile temperament cost him both his career and wife Kate (Kirsty Mitchell), who is none other than McLeod's own daughter. In the tradition of sports dramas from Hoosiers to Major League, A Shot at Glory sees the rag-tag team -- which also includes a talented American goalkeeper (Cole Hauser) -- put aside their differences for the love of the game, ultimately leading Kilnockie to a climactic match against the legendary Glasgow Rangers . ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, All Movie Guide

Based on a novel by Peter Farrelly, published in 1988 before he became famous as a writer and director of such films as Dumb and Dumber, Kingpin, and There's Something About Mary, Outside Providence is a coming-of-age story set in the 1970s. Timothy Dunphy (Shawn Hatosy), known as Dunph to his friends and Dildo to others, is a high school burn-out with a gift for getting into trouble; it doesn't help that his best friend is named Drugs Delaney (Jon Abrahams), and it somehow makes sense that Dunph's pet would be a three-legged dog with one eye. Dunph's father (Alec Baldwin) is convinced his son is on the fast track to Palookaville, so when Timothy gets in a wreck with a police car, his dad pulls a few strings and enrolls him in a private prep school. Dunph quickly learns the biggest difference between his old friends at home and his new classmates: rich kids have money, and money buys privilege. They can buy drugs from expensive dealers who won't fink on them, and pay for abortions when their girlfriends get unexpectedly pregnant, instead of having to get married. Dunph doesn't entirely fit into a school full of rich kids, but when he falls in love with Jane Weston (Amy Smart), he's determined to win her heart. Peter Farrelly adapted his novel with the help of his brother and screenwriting partner Bobby Farrelly and director Michael Corrente, whose previous credits include the film version of David Mamet's American Buffalo. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

David Mamet's play about three losers planning a robbery is brought to the screen in an admirably simple, straightforward manner. Don (Dennis Franz) is the owner of an "antique store" (read: junk shop) who discovers that the buffalo head nickel he recently sold to a coin collector was a lot more valuable than he imagined. Don hatches a scheme in which he and Bobby (Sean Nelson), a teenage kid who works at the shop, will steal the nickel back and sell it for a much higher price. Teach (Dustin Hoffman), Don's down-on-his-luck buddy, insists on coming in on the job, but Don isn't sure he wants Teach's help -- or that the robbery is a good idea at all. While director Michael Corrente occasionally moves the action out of the shop (unlike the original play), American Buffalo maintains nearly all the dialogue of the original play and its three-man cast. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide