Dan Cortese Movies
Many remember Dan Cortese as the host of MTV Sports from 1992 to 1997. The former college football player subsequently embarked on a conventional acting career, appearing on a number of TV shows like Melrose Place, 8 Simple Rules, and Veronica's Closet. He also had a recurring role on the series What I Like About You from 2006-2006, and later took on a starring role on the sitcom Surviving Suburbia alongside Bob Saget in 2009. ~ Cammila Albertson, All Movie Guide- 2008
One of several reality-based series hastily assembled to fill the breach opened by the TV writers' strike of 2007-2008, My Dad is Better Than Your Dad was a game show in which father-child teams squared off against one another. Put through a variety of athletic, technical and scholastic challenges, and subjected to all manner of zany stunts, these teams, each consisting of a dad and his 8-to-9 year old son or daughter, competed not only for money and prizes, but also for the kids' "bragging rights", enabling the youngsters to triumphantly shout out the series' title. The loudly enthusiastic studio audience largely consisted of the contestants' mothers and siblings. Described as "High-Energy" and "Family-Friendly", the series was essentially a dressed-up version of the sort of fare that Nickelodeon served up in abundance back in the 1980s. Produced by Mark Burnett of Survivor fame and hosted by Dan Cortese, My Dad is Better Than Your Dad made its NBC bow on February 18, 2008. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dan Cortese
A normal suburban mother poses as a famous soccer star in order to save her daughter's struggling soccer team in this affectionate sports comedy starring Missi Pyle and Emily Osment. Becca (Osment)'s soccer team is locked into a depressive losing streak, and without a new coach there's no chance they will ever make it to the regional finals. As luck would have it, Italian soccer legend "Lorenzo Vincenzo" is in town, and he's got a foolproof plan to get Becca's team back on the right track. What none of the players or parents realize, however, is that "Lorenzo Vincenzo" is actually Becca's mother Wendy (Pyle) in disguise. Will Wendy be able to maintain her elaborate ruse long enough to lead Becca's team to the regional finals, or will the stress of balancing family responsibility with maintaining her secret identity cause this well-meaning soccer mom to come completely unglued before the winning goal can be scored. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Missi Pyle, Emily Osment, (more)
- 2003
Created by Tim Kelleher, the UPN sitcom Rock Me Baby starred Dan Cortese as Jimmy, a popular Mancow-like morning radio shock-jock to whom nothing was sacred on the air. Though a professional gadfly, Jimmy went all soft and mushy when his lovely wife Beth (Biana Kjalich) presented him with a bouncing baby son named Otis. This placed Jimmy in a bind: If he poked cruel fun at his family during his radio program, he risked incurring the wrath of Beth; but if he didn't, he faced the ire of his partner Carl (Carl Anthony Payne) and his boss Boyle (Joey Slotnick). Debuting September 16, 2003, Rock Me Baby also featured the requisite zany friends and wacky neighbors. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dan Cortese, Biana Kjalich, (more)
It's The Shining at sea in the made-for-cable paranormal thriller The Triangle. The story opens in the Caribbean, where Stu (Luke Perry), a shady lawyer, has chartered a boat captained by Louis Morgan (Dorian Harewood) for a fishing excursion. Accompanying Stu are his "trophy" girlfriend Julia (Polly Shannon), his best friend Tommy (Dan Cortese), and Capt. Morgan's attractive First Mate (Olivia D'Abo). Swept into the Bermuda Triangle by inclement weather, the five seafarers are greeted with the daunting vision of a huge, deserted ocean liner: the Queen of Scots, which disappeared in 1939. Climbing on board the liner to investigate, Stu and his comrades find themselves at the mercy of an unfriendly spirit: the ghost of a legendary movie star who had gone on a murderous rampage on the night that the Queen of Scots vanished without a trace. Lensed on location in Barbados and Toronto, The Triangle premiered August 12, 2001, on WTBS. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Luke Perry, Olivia D'Abo, (more)
Brooke Shields plays a woman who gathers her friends together for a weekend of female bonding and boyfriend-related angst in this relationship comedy-drama. When our heroines' excursion to Las Vegas gets out of hand, however, the inebriated women find themselves involved with five male strangers of questionable integrity. Virginia Madsen and Johnathon Schaech co-star. ~ Michael Hastings, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dan Cortese, Virginia Madsen, (more)
- 1997
- R
Similar to the big-budget volcano film Dante's Peak, Volcano: Fire on the Mountain begins with an unfortunate couple who are consumed by lava after climbing to the peak of a rumbling volcano. Despite a the efforts of a volcanologist, the mountain community remains unconvinced and refuses to evacuate, which proves to be a big mistake when the volcano erupts. Directed by Graeme Campbell, the film features Dan Cortese and Cynthia Gibb. ~ Tracie Cooper, All Movie Guide
- 1996
Rita Rudner was both co-writer and co-star of this multi-plotted romantic comedy, set in a bed and breakfast in the middle of Southern California's wine country. In the course of the film's 90 minutes, a number of curiously matched couples will find true romance -- and sometimes even true happiness. Standout performances amongst the star-studded cast include Rita Rudner's turn as a pregnant food critic, Jack Lemmon as a desperate concert promoter, and Dudley Moore as a lonely vintner. Made for cable television, A Weekend in the Country debuted June 12, 1996, on the USA network; a mildly R-rated version was later prepared for home video release. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Faith Ford, Christine Lahti, (more)
Based on one of Shirley Jackson's spookier stories, this made-for-TV thriller recounts a small New England town's chilling annual ritual, a quasi-pagan affair involving human sacrifice performed in a particularly horrific manner. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1995
Hosted by actor Dan Cortese (At First Sight), this MTV episode from Starcuts Studio is an edge-of-your-seat plunge into the world of extreme sports. With star-studded appearances by skydiver/actor Wesley Snipes (Blade) and arm wrestler/actor Sylvester Stallone (Rocky), this program combines the glitz and glory of Hollywood with the pumped-up testosterone of thrill-seeking sports into a complete 45-minute highlight reel. Additional events covered include in-line skating, mountain biking, downhill skiing, and base jumping into Freedom Canyon, AZ. ~ C. Dwayne Smith, All Movie Guide
- 1995
- R
This action-packed, fact-based crime drama tells the story of Ma Barker and how she turned her four sons into ruthless criminals in hopes of escaping a life of intense poverty. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Theresa Russell, Dan Cortese, (more)
- 1995
- R
The title adequately sums up the plot of this bittersweet drama. The guys are Lenny and Joey. Lenny is going out with Rhonda whom he met in a planetarium; they believe the stars govern their destiny together. Meanwhile Joey is busy sleeping with a series of women named Cindy. He is unconscious of the fact that he does this to ease the hurt of his failed relationship with a girl named Cindy. The two buddies spend most of the film talking about their lives in a variety of urban settings. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dan Cortese, Jonathan Silverman, (more)
The plot of this action film begins in 1996, with Los Angeles in a violence-crazed conflagration. One of the LAPD's most notorious cops, John Spartan (Sylvester Stallone), known as "the demolition man," is in hot pursuit of blonde-haired psychopath Simon Phoenix (Wesley Snipes), who is so nasty he even kills sometimes just because he feels cranky. John captures Simon, but not before Simon kills innocent hostages. John is blamed for the deaths of the hostages, and both he and Simon are cryogenically frozen to remove their brand of ultra-violence from a society that is simply just too violent. The film shifts to the future world of 2032, where Los Angeles has become a megalopolis called San Angeles. There is no poverty, Arnold Schwarzenegger was (at one time) president of the United States, and Taco Bell is the sole survivor of the Franchise Wars. Into this peaceful and bland society, Simon is summarily defrosted by reigning benevolent dictator Dr. Cocteau (Nigel Hawthorne) to have Simon murder Edgar Friendly (Denis Leary), the leader of a group of underground rebels. But Cocteau bites off more than he can chew when the melted-down Simon proceeds to go on a murder-and-looting spree. Reluctantly, Cocteau defrosts John to hunt down his old adversary. As John adjusts to self-driving cars and having sex wearing helmets, he pairs up with Lenina Huxley (Sandra Bullock), a bored cop with a nostalgic fascination for 20th-century culture. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sylvester Stallone, Wesley Snipes, (more)
