Vladimir Kulich Movies

When a shifty magician turns state's evidence against a Las Vegas underworld heavy, the high price placed on his head sparks a fevered race to rub the snitch out and collect a tidy paycheck in Narc director Joe Carnahan's dark action comedy. Buddy "Aces" Israel (Jeremy Piven) is a small-time scammer who has somehow managed to get the goods on big-time mobster Primo Sparazza. Upon discovering that Buddy is about to deliver the evidence needed to get him thrown in jail for life, Primo takes out a sizable contract on Buddy that entices every two-bit thug, grizzled bounty hunter, deadly vixen, skilled assassin, and ladder-climbing Mafioso within a hundred-mile radius into taking a shot at the prize. Now holed up in his luxurious Lake Tahoe hideout with only two FBI agents (Ryan Reynolds and Ray Liotta) standing between him from a virtual army of money-hungry rogues, Buddy is about to find out just how far this motley crew of killers is willing to go in order to take him out and hit the jackpot. Ben Affleck, Jason Bateman, Andy Garcia, Alicia Keys, and Martin Henderson co-star in a bullet-strewn, ensemble crime comedy that never stops to reload. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Thanks to her stint as a higher being, during which she relived every atrocity Angelus (David Boreanaz) ever committed, Cordelia (Charisma Carpenter) now knows that Angel and The Beast (Vladimir Kulich) were once in league with one another. With perpetual night engulfing L.A. in a vampire and demon free-for-all, Wesley (Alexis Denisof) convinces Angel and the others that the only way to defeat The Beast is to consult the evil vampire buried underneath Angel's soul. But as Wes seeks the help of Wo-Pang (Roger Yuan), a sorcerer with the power to remove and store souls, Angel manages the seemingly impossible task of destroying The Beast. He makes amends with estranged son Connor (Vincent Kartheiser) and finally makes love with Cordelia. Then he awakens, mutters the name of a certain vampire slayer, and cackles with the maniacal glee of Angelus. The previous series of unlikely events was nothing but an illusion implanted by Wo-Pang in Angel's mind to give him a moment of true happiness -- the trigger that allows his evil alter ego to emerge. Originally broadcast January 29, 2003, on the WB network, "Awakening" marked season four, episode ten of the supernatural soap opera. The sequence in which Angel and Cordy make love deliberately resembles the night Angel took Buffy's virginity and accidentally unleashed the monster inside himself (see Buffy the Vampire Slayer, "Surprise"). In another strong echo of Angel's parent series, the mystic Wo-Pang appears to be of the same order as the sorcerer who pretended to remove Angel's soul in the Buffy episode "Enemies." ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide

Seeking to locate Angel's soul, Wesley (Alexis Denisof) barges into the lair of Wo-Pang (Roger Yuan), who doesn't have it. The mystic informs Wes that unless the soul remains in its sacred vessel, it will eventually make its way to the afterlife, leaving Angelus (David Boreanaz) permanently in control of Angel's body. Back at the hotel, Lilah (Stephanie Romanov) sneaks in through the sewers and attempts to enlist Angelus' help in crushing The Beast (Vladimir Kulich), whom she loathes. The Angel Investigations team interrupts, but Lilah remains at the hotel, somewhere between a prisoner and a reluctant ally. She tells them that the reason information on The Beast is so scarce is that an enchantment removed all references to him from this dimension. She also reveals the crucial piece of information Wolfram & Hart extracted from the Host (Andy Hallett) -- that The Beast is only the henchman of a far more powerful foe. As the gang digests this disconcerting news, Angelus takes the opportunity to reveal the details of Wes and Lilah's little dalliance. In the midst of all this drama, Cordelia (Charisma Carpenter) experiences a vision of how to restore Angel's soul. Once again a champion of good, Angel vows to remain locked up until the gang can be sure the spell is permanent. Cordelia, however, convinces him to come out of his cage. He complies, then clocks her and flees, revealing that he's actually still Angelus. As the team heads out into the demon-infested permanent midnight of Los Angeles to find him, he doubles back to the hotel to stalk Cordelia and Lilah. The women find themselves face to face in the same hiding place, at which point Cordy stabs Lilah, calls her a "stupid bitch" and reveals that she herself deliberately let Angelus loose. Originally broadcast February 12, 2003, on the WB network, "Calvary" marked season four, episode 12 of the supernatural soap opera. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide

Wesley (Alexis Denisof) and the others return to the hotel to find the gleeful Angelus (David Boreanaz) sucking Lilah (Stephanie Romanov) dry. After Angelus flees, an incensed Connor (Vincent Kartheiser) vows to kill his evil father, unaware that the injured Cordelia (Charisma Carpenter) is actually Lilah's murderer. As Wesley prepares to decapitate Lilah's body to prevent any possible vampirification, he is haunted by his ex-lover's memory -- and by his own foolish hope that she would ever forsake her self-serving ways. Such thoughts of redemption remind Wes that Team Angel isn't without allies. He heads to prison to confer with rogue slayer Faith (Eliza Dushku), who has survived not only the last few years behind bars but also a recent attempt on her life. When she learns that Angelus is back, Faith busts out of prison and accompanies Wesley on his search for Angelus. The evil vampire lures Faith to an isolated industrial space where he and The Beast tag-team her. Just as The Beast is about to finish the slayer off, Angelus betrays the molten demon and smites him with his own weapon. The perpetual night that The Beast unleashed on L.A. dies with him, giving Faith the sunlight she needs to hold Angelus at bay. In other developments, Cordelia turns out to be The Beast's mysterious master. She keeps that information under wraps but does tell Connor another secret: She's pregnant with his child. Originally broadcast March 5, 2003, on the WB network, "Salvage" marked season four, episode 13 of the supernatural soap opera. With the announcement of Cordelia's impending motherhood, the producers of Angel were finally able to stop disguising actress Charisma Carpenter's real-life pregnancy with flowing outfits and crafty camera angles. This episode also marked the return of Eliza Dushku's Faith to the Buffyverse after an absence of more than two seasons. The rogue slayer's quest for redemption would continue in the following two installments, after which she would return to Buffy the Vampire Slayer for that show's final five episodes. The use of an ornate Bringer's knife during the attempt on Faith's life serves as a silent tie into the continuity of Buffy season seven. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide

The Host (Andy Hallett) narrates this episode of Angel, which was written and directed by series co-creator Joss Whedon and is structured as one long flashback recounted by the green-skinned demon to an unseen audience. Lorne's tale involves a memory spell he obtained in order to restore the amnesiac Cordelia (Charisma Carpenter) to her rightful self. Performing the ritual with her friends, Cordy does indeed remember who she is -- or at least who she was. Reverting to her snotty, teenaged Sunnydale High self, Cordy finds herself in the company of strangers: Angel (David Boreanaz), who thinks he's an 18th century Irish human; Wesley (Alexis Denisof), who has reverted to his Watcher's Academy schoolboy self; Fred (Amy Acker), who has become a pot-smoking Texas teen; and Gunn (J. August Richards), who is once again a surly young warrior of the L.A. streets. Eventually, after being appraised of the existence of demons by Gunn and Wesley, these inner children incorrectly surmise that they've been locked up together with a vampire in their midst as part of a test by the Watcher's Council (see Buffy the Vampire Slayer, "Helpless"). A comic murder-mystery ensues, but the danger turns real when Angel realizes that he really is a vampire and goes after Cordy. Connor (Vincent Kartheiser), however, comes to her rescue, and between blows, gets the chance to complain with the like-minded Angel about what a pain in the butt fathers can be. Eventually, everyone's true persona is restored -- including Cordy's. But after a momentary vision of the coming apocalypse, she tells Angel that she can't be with him right now. Reluctantly, though, she reveals that before recent events, she really was in love with him. Originally broadcast November 10, 2002, on the WB network, "Spin the Bottle" marked season four, episode six of the supernatural comedy drama. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide

A cultured diplomat joins a band of savage warriors in time to meet an even more fearsome enemy in this historical adventure. In 922 A.D., Ibn Fadlan (Antonio Banderas) is a Muslim emissary from Baghdad en route to meet with the King of Saqaliba when he is captured by a gang of Vikings. While Ibn and his people are intelligent and well-mannered, the Vikings are a rowdy and sometimes unpleasant lot, with an unquenchable appetite for food, alcohol, and women. However, in time he develops an understanding and respect for the Viking warriors and is welcomed into their society by their leader, Buliwyf. However, Ibn must now join them as they return to their homeland once they receive word of an invasion by a huge pack of bloodthirsty invaders who will destroy and eat anything in their path -- including the flesh of the men they have killed. The 13th Warrior was based on the book Eaters of the Dead by Michael Crichton, which was in turn adapted from tales of Viking folklore. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

In this suspenseful drama, a commercial jet filled with passengers becomes a potential agent for widespread death after it is discovered that terrorists have loaded it with a deadly virus. While government officials wrestle with ways of handling the situation and try to avoid the most logical solution -- destroying the plane to save more lives -- the pilot contends with a dangerously low fuel supply. No airport in Europe will allow him to land, and he is too far from the U.S. to return home. At the same time, the passengers grow increasingly restless. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

When a rival businessman (Scott Hylands) threatens his daughter Diana (Darlene Vogel), tycoon John Wellington (Peter Breck) hires Secret Serviceman Jack Travis (Robert Patrick) to protect her. In turn, Travis hires the eccentric mercenary Baxter (Peter Weller), also a former SS agent, to assist. It all seems simple enough at the beginning, but shortly after the bodyguards meet Diana they quickly find themselves in an increasingly complex and deadly situation in which almost no one is exactly who she or he seems to be. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Die Hard meets Cliffhanger in this two-fisted action flick full of cool guns and exploding racists. One cop stands between order and lawlessness when a nefarious band of white supremacists invade a ski resort and take the guests hostage. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide

Based on horror author H.P. Lovecraft's writings, Necronomicon: Book of the Dead includes three short stories devoted to the deadly and mysterious "Necronomicon." When Lovecraft (played by Jeffrey Combs) manages to smuggle the legendary book out of a heavily guarded library, he quickly finds himself immersed in its passages, and three short stories take form as he sets off to record the information. In the first, Bruce Payne plays a disgruntled man whose inheritance of an old motel turns out to be more than he bargained for, as there are a nasty group of demons populating its basement. The second story follows a young reporter in search of a doctor who allegedly found the path to immortality, though, like the unwitting motel owner, he wouldn't realize how far in over his head he was until it became too late. The last story features Signy Coleman as a tough-as-nails police officer who descends into a strange set of catacombs in order to find her missing partner -- little does she know that an infamous serial killer is already living inside its subterranean depths. ~ Tracie Cooper, All Movie Guide

The superb, utterly convincing special effects in the two-part TV movie The Big One: The Great Los Angeles Earthquake cannot be faulted. Less convincing are the scenes in which the fictional TV reporters, demoralized and in tears, can't bring themselves to describe the extent of the destruction. Part One, telecast November 11, 1990, finds seismologist Joanna Kerns trying in vain to convince authorities that the entire LA basin will be shake-and-bake within a few days. This portion of the drama ends with "The Big One" wreaking havoc throughout Lala-land. Part Two, broadcast November 12, concerns itself with the aftermath, the rescues, the tragedies, and above all the effect the natural disaster has on Kerns and her friends and family. Also appearing in The Big One is Ed Begley Jr. as the one political official willing to listen to Kerns' warnings, and Richard Masur as one of those "I can't bear it!" TV journalists. The video version titled The Great Los Angeles Earthquake runs 106 minutes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide