Richard Crudo Movies

The human population of planet Earth has been decimated by bloodthirsty vampires, and now the only hope for the few remaining survivors lies in the skills of one man who always lived by the sword. Tao (Steven Seagal) is a katana master who never met a vampire he didn't want to slay. When roving packs of vampires force the few uninfected survivors to seek refuge in an abandoned hospital, the only hope for the human race lies with Tao's special squad of ex-military vigilantes. The only cure for these creatures is execution, and that's Tao's specialty. As the hunt gets underway, Tao and his team make it their mission to ensure that the creatures of the night don't inherit the Earth. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Over a hundred leading cameramen (and women) discuss the fine art of motion picture photography in this documentary. Cinematographer Style is compiled from interviews with a broad cross section of respected cinematographers, ranging from award-winning veterans such as Gordon Willis (The Godfather), Vittorio Storaro (Apocalypse Now), Vilmos Zsigmond (Deliverance), and Haskell Wexler (One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest) to contemporary masters of the craft such as Roger Deakins (A Beautiful Mind), Peter Deming (Lost Highway), Ernest Dickerson (Do the Right Thing), and Remi Adefarasin (Match Point). While several participants discuss the tools of their trade, Cinematographer Style focuses as much on the philosophy behind photographing movies -- how they find a style that matches the material, their visual influences, how to prepare for a shoot, establishing a lighting and color scheme, and how "pretty" the image ought to be to match the story. Sponsored in part by Kodak, Cinematographer Style received its world premiere at the 2006 Los Angeles Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

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

Whittier (Anne Judson-Yager) arrives at the fictional California State College hoping to join the national champion varsity cheerleading team. She meets up with her friend from cheerleading camp, Monica (Faune Chambers), and they're both impressive at the tryouts. Head cheerleader Tina (Bree Turner) is ready to ask them to join the team, but Dean Sebastian (Kevin Cooney) goes a step further, telling Tina that Whittier will be the next head cheerleader. This angers Tina's pal Marni (Joie Lenz), who had the position staked out, but Tina goes along with the plan, taking Whittier under her wing. Whittier meets Derek (Richard Lee Jackson), a campus deejay who immediately takes a shine to her. But Tina is very demanding and controlling. She warns Whittier that Derek is not the type of boy she should be dating. Monica is bothered by Tina's meddling, but Whittier momentarily lets her cheerleading ambition get the better of her, and breaks it off with Derek. Then Tina, upset with Monica's sassy attitude, forces Whittier to choose between her friendship and the squad. Whittier and Monica get fed up and quit the team, but Whittier's school spirit cannot be suppressed. With Monica's help, she gathers up the outcasts from the drama club, the dance club, and other groups that have lost their funding and forms a ragtag squad of her own, determined to battle the varsity squad for a spot at the national championship. Directed by Damon Santostefano (Three to Tango), Bring It On Again was released straight-to-video; aside from its subject matter, it has no direct connection to the original Bring It On. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide

Comic Chris Rock co-scripted and stars in this remake of 1941's Here Comes Mr. Jordan, which was also remade with Warren Beatty in 1978 as Heaven Can Wait. Comedian Lance Barton (Rock) is struggling to get his career off the ground when he dies in an untimely bus accident; arriving at the Pearly Gates, he discovers that he's not supposed to have passed on for another 50 years. Barton is not happy with this turn of events, and eventually the Powers That Be send his spirit back to Earth, but for the time being he has to make do with the body of a middle-aged, closed-minded millionaire, Charles Wellington. Lance falls in love with a young community activist (Regina King), but he soon finds he has bigger problems at home: the millionaire's wife and her lover are both trying to kill him. The supporting cast includes Mark Addy as an actor passing himself off as an English manservant, Chazz Palminteri as Mr. King, Heaven's no-nonsense manager, and Eugene Levy as Mr. Keyes, the angel who accidentally ends Barton's life. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

It's said that most American men think about sex once every two or three minutes, but this statistic would seriously underestimate the horniness of Jim (Jason Biggs), a high school senior in suburban Michigan. Jim is thoroughly obsessed with sex, a fact of which his parents become aware when they discover him performing the sin of Onan with a gym sock while watching scrambled pay-per-view porn. Jim's buddies Kevin (Thomas Ian Nicholas), Finch (Eddie Kaye Thomas), and Oz (Chris Klein) are no less anxious to relieve themselves of their virginity, so they all make a pledge: they will go to bed with a woman in the three weeks before senior prom or die trying. Kevin appears to have the advantage, since he already has a girlfriend, Vicky (Tara Reid), but before he ventures into the Final Frontier, Kevin is urged to consult "The Bible," a hand-written how-to manual possessing erotic wisdom passed down through the ages. Oz is a good-looking jock who is actually a nice guy -- which is part of the problem, since he has his heart set on a nice girl, Heather (Mena Suvari), who does not seem the type to leap into bed within 21 days. Finch has no immediate prospects, though Jessica (Natasha Lyonne) is in a position to know if those rumors about him are true. And Jim is a truly hopeless case -- after his attempted seduction of beautiful Czech exchange student Nadia (Shannon Elizabeth) turns out to be a disaster, he ends up going to the prom with Michelle (Alyson Hannigan), an annoyingly chatty band geek who does, however, have a fascinating story about a flute. American Pie was the directorial debut of Paul Weitz, who, along with his brother Chris Weitz (who served as producer), previously wrote several screenplays, including Antz and Madeline (where they presumably worked all their wholesome ideas out of their system). ~ Mark Deming, 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

Oregon pot dealer David (Luke Wilson) is perfectly happy with his uninspired artwork and sonambulstic slacker life. Along wih his layabout gay friends -- Tony (Andy Dick) and Robert (Jeremy Sisto) -- David seems to have no worries as long as the marijuana crop keeps coming in. But a social hitchhiker named Serena (Alicia Witt) finds her way into David's life and a relationship staggers to full blossom. As David gets more serious about his art, thanks to Serena's encouragement, Serena leaves to try out the rock 'n' roll life of New York City. David numbs his feelings for Serena with meaningless sex with her friend Mary (Brittany Murphy) and a wild mushroom-induced adventure in the woods with Jennifer (Amy Locane) and a zany drug guru Devlin (Jack Black). Meanwhile, Serena gets a brutal wakeup call about life in the big city and returns home to David. But is that the best thing for both of them? ~ Buzz McClain, All Movie Guide

In this drama set in Los Angeles, a group of Yale graduates spend their days as mindless workers at a mundane job and their nights as mooching barflies who enjoy cutting down other patrons with their smart-mouth comments. The main character John loses his roommate and must move into the filthy apartment of Andy, a strange sort who collects and paints Nazi soldier figurines. John later gets a temporary job with a conniving slum lord. Following a failed romance, John suffers a "controlled mental breakdown." ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

This black comedy centers upon the L.A. theater scene. Steve Maletti owns a small struggling theater. He also directs the plays there. He has just secured two popular TV stars to appear in his newest production. Unfortunately, the actors get a movie deal and fly away to Africa leaving the hapless Maletti, who must close the show. His theater will fold if he doesn't come up with a hit show. He finds his chance when he secures the rights to a Broadway hit. Now he must convince the critics that it's a good production. His toughest job will be convincing the curmudgeonly critic Milton Mandler. Maletti decides to scare him into writing a good review, too bad Maletti literally scared the old man to death. Fortunately Mandler had written a rave review of the play before his heart failed. Maletti must then conceal the critic's death until after the review appears in the L.A. Times. It doesn't take long before a suspicious cop is hot on Maletti's trail. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide