Charlie Picerni Movies
Adrenaline loving director Tony Scott teams with iconic action producer Jerry Bruckheimer for this high flung sci-fi action thriller concerning a New Orleans based maverick ATF agent named Doug Carlin (Denzel Washington) who is brought in on a top secret government program to catch the terrorist (Jim Caviezel) responsible for a ferry bombing that kills hundreds. Able to do what most law enforcement officers only dream of, Carlin is now able to look back in time at the perpetrator's movements, and at the life of the innocent woman whose death would set the events into motion. Carlin's instincts tell him that something is amiss, however, and while the government agent who tapped him for the job (Val Kilmer) and the team of ultra-cool scientists who run the project (Adam Goldberg, Erika Alexander) tell him one story about the quantum physics behind this marvel of technology, the hotshot agent suspects that there is a greater power at their fingertips--one that might not just solve the crime at hand, but prevent it. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Denzel Washington, Paula Patton, (more)
Directed by Paul Abascal, Paparazzi chronicles the aftermath of four paparazzi photographers whose search for the all-important "perfect shot" ends in a tragic car accident. Movie star Bo Laramie (Cole Hauser) is understandably furious when, thanks to the notorious celebrity-chasers, his wife, Abby (Robin Tunney), is seriously injured, and his eight-year-old son is paralyzed. After the accident, Bo dedicates his life to putting a stop to a paparazzo's deadly overzealousness. Chris Rock, Matthew McConaughey, Mel Gibson, and Vince Vaughn are reported to be featured in cameo appearances. ~ Tracie Cooper, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Cole Hauser, Robin Tunney, (more)
- 2001
When a driver-for-hire (Clive Owen) is confronted by hijackers, he must decide whether to surrender his passenger (Tomas Milian) or attempt to flee. The first of the five films in the BMW promotional series, Ambush was directed by action film veteran John Frankenheimer and written by Seven scripter Andrew Kevin Walker. ~ All Movie Guide
Tyler Briggs (Michael Vartan) returns home for his mother's funeral only to encounter the redneck side of the family -- his estranged father Gus (Marshall Bell), his two drug-addled, burned-out half-brothers, and their shady friend Teddy (Denis Leary). Sniffing money, Gus wants to reestablish contact with his son, whom he abandoned with his mother 20 years previous, but Tyler wants nothing to do with him or the useless brothers. Tyler settles into a small coastal California town, where he meets the lovely Sandy (Kari Wuhrer) and her brother Jack (Norman Reedus). But Gus and the gang turn up, and Sandy becomes the victim of an attempted rape by Tyler's dimwitted scuzzbucket brothers. That doesn't sit well with Jack and his friends, and soon it's the townies against the career criminals, who happen to be better armed. ~ Buzz McClain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael Vartan, Denis Leary, (more)
An action drama centering on the media circus, 15 Minutes focuses on a New York homicide detective named Eddie Flemming (Robert De Niro), a famous figure known for his heroic on-the-job manner. A tabloid news anchor (Kelsey Grammer) attempts to get the scoop on Flemming's latest beat when a pair of Eastern European criminals (Karel Roden and Oleg Taktarov) find a way to manipulate the media by filming their exploits, which they believe they can sell to bloodthirsty journalists and make themselves rich. In the wake of a double murder, Flemming teams up with Jordy Warsaw (Edward Burns), an arson investigator assigned to help locate the murderous pair. Meanwhile, Flemming must contend with his news reporter girlfriend Nicolette (Melina Kanakaredes) as he and Jordy find themselves enveloped in a lurid series of events that threatens to jeopardize their safety. Kim Cattrall, Avery Brooks, and Vera Farmiga are also featured in the cast. ~ Jason Clark, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert De Niro, Edward Burns, (more)
This long-delayed science fiction thriller from director Gary Fleder was actually filmed prior to his box-office hit Don't Say a Word (2001), which preceded it in theaters by several months. Based on a 1953 short story by Philip K. Dick, the film shares that schizophrenic author's long-running obsessions with concealed identity and humanity's potential inferiority to alternative life forms. Gary Sinise stars as Spencer John Olham, a respected government scientist in the year 2079 trying to devise a secret weapon that will help his fellow humans win a decade-long war with invading aliens that are cloning human subjects and using the replicas as walking time bombs. Suddenly, Olham is accused of being an alien spy and a nationwide manhunt to capture him ensues. With even his doctor wife (Madeleine Stowe) unsure that she can trust him, Olham must uncover the truth on his own, even as he's relentlessly pursued by Hathaway (Vincent D'Onofrio), a federal agent charged with destroying the clones. Imposter has a complicated history, originally produced in early 2000 as a 30-minute short to be included in an anthology entitled "The Light Years Trilogy," a project that never got off the ground. So impressed was Dimension Films with the completed piece, however, that the footage was incorporated into a new feature version. That film was then shuffled around the release schedule for more than a year as effects were completed, reshoots were ordered, and the film was recut for a PG-13 rating instead of its original R. The R-rated "director's cut" was later released on DVD. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gary Sinise, Madeleine Stowe, (more)
Stigmata is a supernatural suspense story about good, evil, and faith. Frankie Paige (Patricia Arquette) is a hair stylist in her mid-20s who has no strong religious convictions until odd things start happening to her after she's given a rosary by her mother: she begins speaking with another person's voice; unknown and unseen forces start to attack her; and she develops stigmata, bleeding wounds that spontaneously appear on her wrists, feet, and side, as Christ was wounded at Calvary. Some people believe that a holy miracle has been visited on Frankie, though no one can say why. A Cardinal from the Vatican (Jonathan Pryce) sends a priest, Father Andrew Kiernan (Gabriel Byrne), to investigate Frankie and her condition; after getting a first-hand look, Father Andrew finds himself less concerned with whether Frankie's wounds are a legitimate miracle and more concerned with saving her life. Billy Corgan, leader of the rock group The Smashing Pumpkins, composed the score for Stigmata in collaboration with keyboardist Mike Garson. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Patricia Arquette, Gabriel Byrne, (more)
Michael Bay (The Rock) directed this science fiction action thriller in the When Worlds Collide tradition. After astronomy students discover a comet-asteroid collision, an asteroid fragment "the size of the Super Dome" threatens. It's destroyed by a secret USA defense in space, but a large chunk veers off toward Singapore. With another asteroid "the size of Texas" en route, a plan is devised to send oil drillers to land on the asteroid and drop a nuclear device down a 1000-foot shaft, a scheme calculated to crack the asteroid into two halves, saving Earth. NASA begins a crash program to train beer-besotted oil roughnecks for the mission. During a stopover to refuel at the Mir Station, the space station is accidentally destroyed, so a Russian cosmonaut also joins the team. Produced by Bay, Jerry Bruckheimer (Con Air), and Gale Anne Hurd (The Relic, The Abyss). ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bruce Willis, Billy Bob Thornton, (more)
This comedy extends and embellishes characters introduced on Saturday Night Live by regulars Will Ferrell and Chris Kattan in their sketch series of two head-bobbing losers who go on the town, looking for action, when they hear the What Is Love? disco tune. Looking cool, brothers Steve (Ferrell) and Doug Butabi (Kattan) always fail to pick up women in their hapless nightclub jaunts. In Beverly Hills, they work at a fake-flower store run by their father (Dan Hedaya). They are always denied entrance to the Roxbury, a leading discotheque, but an auto accident with Richard Grieco (portraying himself) gives them a foot in the door. Inside, they meet the club's owner (an uncredited Chazz Palminteri), and two gold-diggers (Elisa Donovan, Gigi Rice) believe they are wealthy businessmen. Steve finds his father shoving him into marriage with next-door neighbor Emily (Molly Shannon), but Doug keeps this from happening. Fortune smiles, and the Butabi brothers become the co-owners of a new nightclub. The real-life Roxbury on the Sunset Strip (once the location of the Imperial Gardens and the Players Club) was converted into a Japanese restaurant by the time this film was released. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Will Ferrell, Chris Kattan, (more)
- 1997
- R
Tired of protecting people he disrespects and despises, a bodyguard becomes a free agent. Soon he finds himself entangled in a potentially deadly situation involving his ex-lover's missing friend and a scientist who has devised some potentially world-devastating biochemical agents. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Matt McColm, Annabel Schofield, (more)
Like John Woo and Ringo Lam before him, noted Hong Kong action director Tsui Hark made his American filmmaking debut with a thriller starring Jean-Claude Van Damme. For this film, Hark also had the privilege of guiding basketball star Dennis Rodman through his first dramatic role. American anti-terrorist agent Jack Quinn (Van Damme) has retired from duty, content to stay with his pregnant wife at his seaside hideaway. However, the CIA lure him back into duty for one last mission: wiping out crazed international terrorist Stavros (Mickey Rourke). Quinn flies to Antwerp to ambush Stavros, but his plan fails; Quinn is captured and imprisoned in "The Colony," a prison camp for spies "too valuable to kill and too dangerous to set free." To further torture Quinn, Stavros kidnaps Quinn's wife; after she gives birth to their son, Stavros keeps him captive, surrounded by land mines and wild animals. Quinn escapes and makes plans to rescue his wife and child, but he can't do it alone, so he seeks the help of Yaz (Rodman), a top-level underground arms merchant with a tendency towards flamboyant body modification. Rodman also appears with R&B vocalist Crystal Waters on the song "Just a Freak" which appears on the film's soundtrack. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean-Claude Van Damme, Dennis Rodman, (more)
A group of filmmakers looking for a lost native tribe instead find a man-eating monster in this thriller. Terri Flores (Jennifer Lopez) is a documentary filmmaker on assignment to make a film about the Shirishama Indians of the Amazon, a mysterious tribe known as "the People of the Mists." As Terri and her crew -- cameraman Danny Rich (Ice Cube), sound recordist Gary Dixon (Owen Wilson), anthropologist Steve Cale (Eric Stoltz), production manager Denise Kahlberg (Kari Wuhrer), and host Warren Westridge (Jonathan Hyde) -- head down the river, they discover a man whose boat has sunk and desperately needs rescue. Paul Sarone (Jon Voight), the mysterious stranger that they save from the waters, claims to know something of the Shirishama and says he will take the crew to them. Instead, he guides the group to the hiding place of the fearsome Anaconda, a gigantic snake that swallows a man whole, vomits him up, and eats him again (no small accomplishment, that). The snake is worth a fortune if captured, but can a creature so dangerous be captured at all? ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jennifer Lopez, Ice Cube, (more)
- 1997
- PG13
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Just when you'd think that scientists would realize dinosaurs and humans don't mix, along comes The Lost World: Jurassic Park to prove you wrong. In this sequel, John Hammond (Richard Attenborough) summons chaos theorist and onetime colleague Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum) to his home with some startling information -- while nearly everything at his Jurassic Park had been destroyed, engineers were also operating a second site, where other dinosaurs, resurrected through DNA cloning technology, had been kept in hiding. Hammond has learned the dinosaurs on the second island are alive and well and even breeding; Hammond wants Malcolm to observe and document the reptiles before Hammond's financiers can get to them. Malcolm declares he had enough of the dinosaurs the first time out, but decides to make the trip when he finds out that his girlfriend, paleontologist Sarah Harding (Julianne Moore), is already there. However, Ian and Sarah aren't the only visitors expected on the island; a camera crew led by ecological activist Nick Van Owen (Vince Vaughn) is on the way, as is Roland Tembo (Pete Postlethwaite), a world-class wild game hunter who is supposed to round up the dinosaurs and who hopes to bag a prehistoric trophy for himself in the process. This sequel to Jurassic Park boasted even more impressive special effects than the first film, though the acting and screenplay aren't always at the same level. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jeff Goldblum, Julianne Moore, (more)
Comic Rodney Dangerfield co-wrote and stars in this outrageous comedy. Wally Sparks (Dangerfield) is the host of a sleazy tabloid-style talk show who makes Jerry Springer seem genteel by comparison. Wally's show has become so foul that he's alienated his not-especially-discriminating viewers, and his ratings are taking a nosedive. Lenny Spencer (Burt Reynolds), head of the network carrying Wally's show, gives the host an ultimatum -- he has a week to clean up the show and boost his ratings, or his show gets cancelled. Wally's producer Sandy Gallo (Debi Mazar) comes up with an idea -- Floyd Preston (David Ogden Stiers) is the governor of Georgia and a staunch conservative known for his attacks on the lowbrow content of Wally's show, so what better way to show people that Wally is trying to change his ways than having Preston on the show as a guest? In order to persuade the Governor to appear, Wally attends a reception at Preston's mansion, where he makes the mistake of getting in a drunken game of strip poker with Preston's wife Emily (Cindy Williams) and somehow involving himself in a plot to blackmail the Governor. Meet Wally Sparks is packed with cameos in which noted show business figures play themselves, ranging from Tim Allen, Jay Leno, and Bob Saget to Michael Bolton, Ron Jeremy, and Jerry Springer himself. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rodney Dangerfield, Debi Mazar, (more)
Martial arts star Steven Seagal stars in this action drama as Jack Taggart, an undercover agent working for the Environmental Protection Agency. When an EPA representative is murdered in a small Appalachian community, Taggart is sent in -- posing as a handyman working with a Christian relief agency -- to find out what happened. Taggart discovers that Orin Hanner (Kris Kristofferson), a powerful local businessman, has been illegally dumping toxic waste which has been leading to serious health problems among children in the area; it seems that the murdered agent knew too much and was killed to keep him quiet, a scenario the unscrupulous Hanner would be all too willing to repeat. Taggart becomes involved with Sarah Kellogg (Marg Helgenberger), a woman whose father also died under circumstances that trace back to Hanner. Harry Dean Stanton co-stars as Cotton, former member of The Band Levon Helm plays a preacher, and country music stars Travis Tritt and Randy Travis appear as themselves. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Steven Seagal, Marg Helgenberger, (more)
This biographical drama about boxing impresario Don King (Ving Rhames) pulls no punches as it uses flashback sequences to trace King's rise from 1954 Cleveland to the present day. Adapted from Jack Newfield's book on King, this film first aired November 15, 1997 on HBO. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ving Rhames, Vondie Curtis-Hall, (more)
In this comic send-up of dramas set in urban schools (such as Lean on Me and Dangerous Minds), Jon Lovitz plays Richard Clark, a teacher who is persuaded to give up his position at Wellington Academy, an upscale private school (where the receptionist cheerfully answers calls with the question "Are you white?"), to take over a class at Marion Barry High School in Inner City, U.S.A. Marion Barry High is a far cry from the ivory-tower atmosphere of Wellington; the statue in the courtyard holds a crack pipe, the Michigan Militia sets up a booth for career day, and there's so much violence on campus that the school has its own graveyard; however, Clark is determined to reach his thick-headed charges, and he hopes to also make an impression on Victoria Chappell (Tia Carrere), a beautiful woman also on the teaching staff. Clark does battle with Evelyn Doyle (Louise Fletcher), the school's militaristic principal, in an effort to raise standards for the school's star straight-C students, and he finds that he's getting through to one of the school's toughest students, Grig (Mekhi Phifer). Screenwriters Pat Proft and David Zucker helped create The Naked Gun and its follow-ups. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jon Lovitz, Tia Carrere, (more)
Alain Moreau (Jean-Claude Van Damme) is a French cop whose colleagues make a startling discovery -- a man named Mikhail, who was killed in a high-speed chase with police, looks exactly like him. Curious about the stranger with his face, Alain is told by his mother Chantal (Stephane Audran) that Mikhail was in fact his twin brother, whom her poor family was forced to give up at birth. Alain wants to know more about the brother he never knew, but the more he learns the more troubling the news becomes; it seems that Mikhail was involved with gangsters, corrupt FBI agents, and a gang of drug dealers. In order to avenge his brother's death and get to the bottom of his sad story, Alain assumes Mikhail's identity and travels to New York City, where to maintain his cover he takes up with Alex Minetti (Natasha Henstridge), Mikhail's tough-as-nails girlfriend, before finding himself hip-deep in danger with Mikhail's associates. Maximum Risk was the first American film from noted Hong Kong action director Ringo Lam, whose City on Fire has often been cited as a key inspiration for Reservoir Dogs. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean-Claude Van Damme, Natasha Henstridge, (more)
A variety of crooks, losers, and working stiffs living in the shadow of Hollywood find their various personal crises overlapping in this intricately woven melodrama. Lee Woods (James Spader) is a cold-blooded hit man and Dosmo Pizzo (Danny Aiello) a soft-at-heart gangster; they've been sent to murder Roy Foxx (Peter Horton), the former husband of also-ran Olympic skier Becky Foxx (Teri Hatcher). Lee's girlfriend Helga (Charlize Theron) is unhappy about his habit of killing people, and she attracts the attention of Alvin (Jeff Daniels) and Wes (Eric Stoltz), two cops who've been put on vice detail but don't have the heart to bust the prostitute they've been trailing. Alvin dreams of becoming a homicide detective, so when he discovers that he might be on the trail of a murder, it's like Santa Claus showed up in mid-July to hand him a present. Dosmo manages to escape the crime scene, only to foil a murder attempt by Lee, forcing him to hide out in the home of Hopper, a pretentious English art dealer (Greg Cruttwell), whom Dosmo holds hostage along with Hopper's long-suffering assistant, Susan (Glenne Headly). In the midst of all this, a down-on-his-luck television director (Paul Mazursky) contemplates suicide (the main stumbling block is finding someone to take care of his dog) while also being pestered by an actor with equally bad luck (Austin Pendleton) and meeting a compassionate nurse (Marsha Mason) on a visit to a cemetery. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Danny Aiello, Greg Cruttwell, (more)
Comedian Eddie Murphy tried something different with this 1995 film that he produced and co-wrote, enlisting veteran horror director Wes Craven to give the story some chills. The uneven comedy-horror tale features Murphy as a vampire named Maximillian who arrives in Brooklyn on a ship full of people who have been brutally murdered. One of the corpses on board closely resembles that of Rita (Angela Bassett), one of the detectives assigned to the case. Maximillian targets Rita, hoping to get a dance with her that will bring her under his control. He enlists the help of a worker named Julius (Kadeem Hardison), biting his neck and turning him into a slowly decaying ghoul. Also seeking to romance Rita, though in a less sinister way, is her longtime detective partner Justice (Allen Payne). Maximillian uses his supernatural powers to interfere with the budding romance. Murphy also plays a preacher and an Italian gangster in this bizarre film. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Eddie Murphy, Angela Bassett, (more)
A nubile young babysitter (Alicia Silverstone) has no idea that she is the center of a maelstrom of male sexual fantasies. Based on a disturbing short story by Robert Coover, the drama presents a non-linear account of a perfectly mundane event. Having a social engagement, a couple calls for their babysitter. She arrives, they go out, her boyfriend comes over, and the weirdness begins -- for director Guy Ferland makes little distinction between the character fantasies and what is really occurring. Something will happen, and then it will happen again; only the outcome is different. What makes this dark film so disturbingly creepy is that none of the males involved, neither the frustrated boyfriend, the horny husband who hired her, or even her little charge has nice fantasies about her. The film contains several sexual scenes and some scenes of violence. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alicia Silverstone, Jeremy London, (more)
Supermodel and sex symbol Cindy Crawford made her acting debut in this high-decibel thriller. Kate McQuean (Crawford) is a lawyer who -- in the course of a divorce proceeding -- attempts to seize a 157-foot freighter docked off the Florida coast in lieu of unpaid alimony. It turns out that the freighter is the current base of operations of Kazak (Steven Berkoff), a former KGB agent who has become an international money laundering expert and leader of a crack terrorist team. As one might imagine, Kazak is not especially happy about possible eviction, and soon Kate has a hefty price on her head. Kate, however, doesn't know the nature of Kazak's business and isn't sure why someone is trying to kill her. Loose cannon police detective Max Kilpatric (William Baldwin) is assigned to protect Kate, and romance begins to bloom as they dodge a remarkable number of bullets and explosions. Fair Game was originally slated to star Sylvester Stallone alongside Crawford (the film's location was moved to Florida at his request); when he dropped out, Crawford found herself co-starring with Baldwin, another model-turned-thespian. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Cindy Crawford, William Baldwin, (more)
- 1995
- R
Using relatively unknown actors, first-time screenwriter-director Preston A. Whitmore II examines the effects of the Vietnam War on four black Marines sent on a doomed prisoner-of-war rescue mission. The four men are what's left of a platoon that's been decimated after landing behind enemy lines. In charge is Sergeant Barkley (Joe Morton), a no-nonsense, Bible-quoting preacher who is leading three privates to find a POW camp in an abandoned temple. Cole Evans (Allen Payne) is an intellectual who is highly political, racially proud, and a devoted family man. Joe Brooks (Vonte Sweet) is a cheerful, naïve, and brave young soldier. Hoover Branche (Eddie Griffin) is a dope-smoking, foul-mouthed rebel who hates the war and fights the sergeant constantly. They eventually are joined by a crazy, bloodthirsty white soldier, Pippins (Roger Floyd). Flashbacks reveal why each character joined the Marines. Pippins entered the recruiting office to escape rival gang members who were trying to kill him. Brooks enlisted to impress his girlfriend. Branche signed up after being fired from a meat-packing plant for stealing a ham that he used as admission to a party where he wanted to woo a girl. Evans enlisted because bigoted real estate agents prevented him from buying a decent home for his family in L.A. -- he intended to become a Marine officer so that he can get free housing. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Allen Payne, Eddie Griffin, (more)
A black detective becomes embroiled in a web of danger while searching for a fortune in missing drug money in this action-comedy. Writer-director Keenan Ivory Wayans also stars as Los Angeles private eye Arthur Shame, a former cop whose troubled past resurfaces when a one-time colleague asks for help in a narcotic case. During the course of his investigation, he encounters various old connections, ultimately confronting the criminal responsible for Shame's expulsion from the force. He must also deal with two women, Angela, a beautiful old flame (Salli Richardson), and Peaches (Jada Pinkett), his energetic but annoying sidekick. Unlike Wayans' blaxploitation parody I'm Gonna Get You Sucka, A Low Down Dirty Shame sticks more closely to genre conventions, lightening the action with wisecracks and standard comic interludes. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Keenen Ivory Wayans, Charles S. Dutton, (more)
Based on the popular video game Street Fighter II, Street Fighter stars Jean-Claude Van Damme as Col. Guile, the cocky but brave leader of an Allied Nations fighting force. When the evil General Bison (Raul Julia), the power-mad leader of Shadaloo, kidnaps a bus full of Allied Nations relief workers and holds them for a multi-billion dollar ransom, Guile and his team are sent in to do battle with Bison; aiding Guile is intrepid TV journalist Chun-Li (Ming-Na Wen), while a pair of con men (Damian Chapa and Byron Mann) try to play both sides against the middle for their own purposes. Raul Julia died of cancer shortly before the film was released. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean-Claude Van Damme, Raul Julia, (more)
