Christopher Violette Movies

Morgan Creek revives the series that launched Jim Carrey to superstardom with this comedy concerning the offspring of everyone's favorite wisecracking wildlife sleuth. His mother wrongly arrested for kidnapping a baby panda, Ace Ventura's seventh-grade son determines to follow in his father's footsteps by catching the real culprit. Sibling scribes Jason and Justin Heimberg collaborate with Jeff Sank and David Mickey Evans (The Sandlot) on a screenplay directed by Evans . ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

A meager grocery clerk embarks on an epic mission to win the international competitive bagging championships and bag the heart of his dream girl in the first National Lampoon comedy produced in house in nearly twenty years. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Season One of the latest Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers spinoff Power Rangers SPD begins, appropriately, with the two-part "Beginnings." The year is 2020, and the fragile peace between earthlings and extraterrestrials is in danger of being shattered by the evil Troobian emperor Gruumm (Rene Naufahu) and his Krybot soldiers; worse still, Gruumm is assisted by malevolent youngster Mora (Olivia James-Baird), who can conjure up additional villains merely by drawing them on paper. As the elite A-squad of the Space Patrol Delta Power Rangers zooms off to do battle with Grumm in space, Cmdr. "Doggie" Cruger (John Tui) prepares a quintet of rookie B-squad members, fresh from New Ranger Academy, to safeguard the surface of the earth. Three of these novices are Blue SPD Ranger Sky (Chris Violette), Green SPD Ranger Bridge (Matt Austin), and Pink SPD Ranger Syd (Alycia Purrott). They are joined by Jack (Brandon Jay McLaren) and "Z" (Monica May), who are introduced as thieves but who quickly reformed and assimilated. "Z" is designated the Yellow SPD Ranger, while Jack is the Red SPD Ranger--and as such he is obliged to assume leadership of the "B-squad", which does not endear him to Sky, who'd expected to be given this honor. Season Highlights include the 2-part "Sam", in which Mora endeavors to win a lonely kid with teleportation powers over to the bad guys, while "Z" tries to convince the boy to stay on the side of Right. In another two-parter, "Shadow", Cmdr. Doggie has nightmares about alien attacks on his home planet Sirius, and will not be able to assume the mantle of Shadow Ranger until his overcomes his fears. Other 2-parters include "Messenger", replete with a dire warning from the future and an assault by the evil Morgana (Josephine Davison); and "Reflection", wherein the SPD's technology is stolen by a pair of two-bit crooks. The season's final episode, titled (what else?), "Ending", puts the B-squad's martial arts and survival skills to the ultimate test when the five SPD Rangers are captured by Gruumm. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Money and power bring major corruption to the world's energy marketplace in this taut political drama. After a long war between the United States and a coalition of Middle Eastern nations leads to a gap in the flow of multinational oil trading, the price of gasoline in America shoots past six dollars a gallon and both the energy industry and the stock market are walking on thin ice. In the midst of this instability, Tom Hansen (Christian Slater), a leading advisor at of one Wall Street's top firms, is looking to hire new talent to help with his latest client, Condor Oil and Gas. Condor's CEO, Jared Tolson (Robert Loggia) used to employ Tom's best friend until the younger man died in a mysterious accident, and Tom is eager to do what he can for Jared. Tom hires Abbey Gallagher (Selma Blair) to assist with the Condor account; Abbey is a passionate environmental activist who is wary of associating herself with a major energy firm, but her mentor Prof. Roseman (John Heard) persuades her she can be an advocate for green concerns on the inside. As Tom and Abbey spend more time together, they become romantically drawn to one another, but Tom's love for her puts Abbey in great danger when she finds out what he knows about illegal oil trading operations and money laundering schemes that link Condor with the Russian Mafia. The Deal also stars Colm Feore, Angie Harmon, and Françoise Yip. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

The "National Lampoon" franchise is resurrected for another politically incorrect collegiate romp with this R-rated gross-out sex comedy. National Lampoon's Van Wilder revolves around the exploits of its title character (Ryan Reynolds), a seventh-year senior who's made it his goal in life to help each and every Coolidge College undergrad succeed in life -- or at least in bed. Van's charmed life seems to have an expiration date, however; his father (Tim Matheson) has cut off his presumably vast allowance. Financial insecurity doesn't phase the big man on campus, and he soon starts up a lucrative cottage industry as a planner of high-priced campus blowouts. When an enterprising reporter from the college paper gets wind of Van's liberal interpretation of the school's code of conduct, it seems his gig is up -- unless, of course, he can charm the hard-edged Gwen (Tara Reid) into accepting his uniquely skewed world view. In addition to Matheson, Van Wilder features cameos from a number of '80s teen movie stalwarts, including Edie McClurg, Paul Gleason, and Erik Estrada. ~ Michael Hastings, All Movie Guide

The fine line between investigating a character's feelings and wanting to kill yourself gets played for laughs in this dark comedy. Matt (Jamie Harris) is a screenwriter whose career is not going especially well and whose personal life is dwindling into nothingness. Matt starts talking with his friends about suicide, and nearly all of them become deeply concerned, convinced his depression has taken him over the edge. Matt insists to all around him that his questions about killing himself are merely part of his research for a script about a man who has turned suicidal. But his ex-girlfriend Amanda (Alison Eastwood) is the only one that seems to believe it. Suicide, the Comedy is dominated by close relatives of the rich and famous; Jamie Harris is the son of Richard Harris, Alison Eastwood is Clint Eastwood's daughter, and Chad Lowe, brother of Rob Lowe, appears in the supporting cast. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Adam Rifkin wrote and directed this comedy that begins at a Los Angeles dinner party when unmarried, unattached novelist Art Witz (Jason Alexander with hair) argues that couples actually live in a state of denial and cannot maintain monogamous relationships. The plotline diverges to examine the lives of couples at the dinner party, including Isaac and Claudia (Ryan Alosio and Amy Yasbeck), who have an agreement to keep their affairs secret. Medical student Sophie (Leah Lail) sees a professor when she's not with her husband, attorney Joel (Jonathan Silverman), a fan of "Oriental" massages. Despite an upcoming marriage to pregnant Sammie (Christine Taylor), chef Sam (Patrick Dempsey) can't stop looking at pornography. Shown at the 1998 Seattle Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide

While Neal Cassady never gained fame as a writer, he was a pivotal figure among the Beat poets and novelists of the 1950s. A close friend of most of the seminal figures in the Beat movement, Cassady's free-wheeling, larger-than-life personality was a major influence on Jack Kerouac, who used him as the inspiration for the character Dean Moriarity in On the Road, and he was a founding member of Ken Kesey's post-Beat, pre-hippie "Merry Pranksters," driving their now-famous psychedelic bus (whose destination, then as now, was "Furthur"). The Last Time I Committed Suicide is loosely based on several incidents from Cassady's life, as well as an eight-page letter that he wrote to Kerouac about some complicated events in his love life. In the late 1940s, 20-year-old Cassady (Thomas Jane) was living in Denver and working the late shift at a tire factory when he became involved with Joan (Claire Forlani), a sad young woman with a suicidal bent, and befriended Harry (Keanu Reeves), a cheerful but past-his-prime alcoholic. Cassady also found himself the target of the affections of Cherry Mary (Gretchen Mol), a sexy 16-year-old whose mother, Mrs. Greenway (Christine Rose), doesn't much care for him; he also encountered Ben (Adrien Brody), a shy young poet whose interest in Cassady seemed to be more than just literary. Footage of the real Neal Cassady can be found in the documentary on the Beat Movement, The Source. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide