Kevin Richardson Movies
A disillusioned leftist pulls up stakes for the Great White North in this independent comedy-drama. It's 2004, and John Logue (Breckin Meyer) is a political activist working for the Democratic presidential campaign in Ohio. After a few drinks too many, John is interviewed on camera by a local broadcast journalist, and he announces that if George W. Bush is re-elected, he'll leave the country and move to Canada. A few days later, Bush narrowly defeats John Kerry, and John falls into a deep depression. After returning home to San Francisco, John ponders his alcohol-fueled pledge, and learns that a handful of leftists north of the border have formed a group called "Marry A Canadian," which provides contact with sympathetic singles willing to wed American expatriates hoping to escape the Bush regime and gain Canadian citizenship. John decides to give "Marry A Canadian" a try, and places a classified to find someone willing to split gas and keep him company as he heads for Vancouver. An attractive young woman named Chloe (Anna Paquin) contacts John and agrees to travel with him, but once they're on the road, he learns that politics are not Chloe's primary reason for leaving the States. Blue State received its world premiere at the 2007 Tribeca Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Breckin Meyer, Anna Paquin, (more)
Shot back-to-back with The Matrix Reloaded, the third and final installment of Andy Wachowski and Larry Wachowski's sci-fi action saga picks up where the second film left off. Neo (Keanu Reeves) remains unconscious in the real world, caught in a mysterious subway station that lies between the machine world and the Matrix, and Bane (Ian Bliss) is still a conduit for Agent Smith (Hugo Weaving), who continues to grow out of control, threatening to destroy both worlds. Meanwhile, as the sentinels get closer and closer to Zion, the citizens of the earth's last inhabited city prepare for the inevitable onslaught. By bargaining with The Merovingian (Lambert Wilson), Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss) and Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne) are able to free Neo who, after meeting with The Oracle (Mary Alice stepping in for the late Gloria Foster), decides that he must leave Zion and head for the machine mainframe. As Neo and Trinity venture into the dangerous machine world, with hopes of stopping both the machines and Agent Smith, their comrades in Zion attempt to fight off the attacking sentinels with the odds stacked greatly against them. Other cast members returning include Monica Bellucci, Ngai Sing, and Harold Perrineau Jr. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Keanu Reeves, Carrie-Anne Moss, (more)
- 2003
Hank Peddigrew (Christopher Wiehl), the paramedic boyfriend of the CSI's Sara Sidle (Jorja Fox), is among those injured when an old woman (Sandra Gimpel) crashes her Jaguar into a bar-restaurant during a crowded "happy hour." Was it a random accident, or a deliberately mapped-out murder? As she investigates, Sara is unnerved when she finds out why Hank was at the bar in the first place. Meanwhile, Grissom (William L. Petersen) and Nick (George Eads) probe the death of a woman who succumbed to a gas leak in her home. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 2003
The WB sitcom Like Family was the tale of two family groups, one white and one black. Hoping to find a better living environment for her troublesome teenaged son Keith (J. Mack Slaughter), single, white, working mom Maddie Hudson (Diane Farr) moved out of Manhattan and into the suburban New Jersey home of her black best friend Tanya Ward (Holly Robinson Peete) and Tanya's husband Ed (Kevin Michael Richardson). The fun began when Keith developed a crush on the Wards' daughter Danika (Megalyn Echikunowoke). Like Family premiered September 19, 2003. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Holly Robinson Peete, Diane Farr, (more)
- 2003
- PG13
Part of the Animatrix series of animated shorts set in the universe of the Wachowski brothers' The Matrix, Final Flight of the Osiris comes from Andy Jones, the animation director on Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within. Beginning with a playful sparring session with erotic undertones, the film tells the story of the last moments of the crew of the hovercraft The Osiris. When the crew spots a group of Sentinals approaching, it's a race against time to contact their brethren in the last city of Zion (via the Matrix) before the machines attack their ship. Kevin Michael Richardson and Pamela Segall are among those who provide voices. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide
The Nickelodeon cartoon series The Wild Thornberrys gets its first feature-length animated film, directed by show creator Cathy Malkasian with a screenplay by Kate Boutilier (writer of Nickelodeon's Rugrats in Paris). The main character is 12-year-old Eliza Thornberry (voice of Lacey Chabert), a braces-and-glasses-wearing eccentric girl in an adventurous family of travelers. Due to an interaction with a shaman, she has been granted the special power of communication with animals, as long as she promises not to tell anyone about it. Her powers are challenged when her parents, Nigel (voice of Tim Curry) and Marianne (voice of Jodi Carlisle), decide to take the family on an African safari to make a nature documentary. Also along for the trip is snobby sister Debbie (voice of Danielle Harris), feral youngster Donnie (voice of Flea from the Red Hot Chili Peppers), and pet chimpanzee Darwin (voice of Tom Kane). After her new Cheetah cub friend is stolen by poachers, Eliza is determined to get involved. However, the stuffy Thornberry grandparents get in the way by sending her to boarding school. It's up to Eliza and Darwin to defeat the poachers and save the cub. Also featuring the voice talents of Brenda Blethyn and Lynn Redgrave. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lacey Chabert, Tom Kane, (more)
The most adorable little superheroines in all of Townsville make the jump to the big screen in this feature-length animated adventure based on the popular Cartoon Network series The Powerpuff Girls. Brilliant scientist Professor Utonium (voice of Tom Kane) is performing an experiment in his lab when Jojo, a monkey trained to assist the professor, accidentally drops a bottle of hyper-powerful Chemical X into a mixture of sugar, spice, and everything nice. To the professor's surprise, what should emerge from the subsequent chemical reaction but three little girls: bright and practical Blossom (voice of Cathy Cavadini), sweet and sunny Bubbles (voice of Tara Strong), and tomboyish Buttercup (voice of Elizabeth Daily). Professor Utonium discovers that the girls have remarkable powers and super-human strength, and he hopes they'll be able to improve life in the crime-infected City of Townsville. However, after their first day at Pokey Oaks Kindergarten with Ms. Keane (voice of Jennifer Hale), the girls learn that having super powers can be both a blessing and a curse. Rejected by their classmates and quite unhappy, the girls are easily swayed when Mojo Jojo (voice of Roger L. Jackson), a superintelligent monkey in a turban, asks them to help him with a campaign to save the city. What the girls don't know is that Mojo Jojo is actually the monkey who once assisted the Professor; now he's embraced evil and hopes to use the Powerpuff Girls as part of his criminal scheme to wrestle control of Townsville away from the dense but well-meaning Mayor (voice of Tom Kenny). The Powerpuff Girls Movie was directed and co-written by Craig McCracken, who created the original television show as well as writing most of the episodes. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Cathy Cavadini, Tara Strong, (more)
A lonely little girl makes a very unusual friend -- a ukulele-playing alien who likes to toss around small automobiles -- in this antic animated comedy from Walt Disney Studios. Lilo (voice of Daveigh Chase) is a young Hawaiian girl being raised by her teenaged sister Nani (voice of Tia Carrere) after the unexpected death of their parents in an auto accident. While Nani tries to hold their household together, Lilo is a child with unusual interests and a distinctive sense of humor, which makes it hard for her to bond with her peers, as well as her big sister. Nani decides Lilo might be happier if she had a pet, so the sisters go to the animal shelter to adopt a dog; however, the critter which catches Lilo's fancy is a fuzzy blue creature she names Stitch (voice of Chris Sanders). Nani isn't so sure Stitch is really a dog, and it turns out she's right; Stitch is actually "Genetic Experiment 626," a mutation created by extraterrestrial mad scientist Dr. Jumba (voice of David Ogden Stiers) to be used a weapon. Stitch is an intelligent but gleefully destructive little creature with superhuman strength who has escaped to Earth and crash-landed in the Hawaiian islands, but Lilo sees him simply as a fellow misfit and attempts to teach him to behave like her favorite American icon, Elvis Presley. Meanwhile, Nani struggles to keep Lilo and Stitch on their best behavior as stern social worker Cobra Bubbles (voice of Ving Rhames) tries to determine if Nani is fit to raise a child, while Dr. Jumba and Pleakley (voice of Kevin McDonald) attempt to capture "Experiment 626" and bring him back home. Chris Sanders, who provides the voice of Stitch, also co-wrote and co-directed the film, which features numerous Elvis Presley tunes on the soundtrack, as well as a new recording of "Burning Love" by country star Wynonna. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Daveigh Chase, Chris Sanders, (more)
This family musical enjoys the dubious distinction of being the first film ever based on a theme park attraction, the "Country Bears Jamboree" at Disneyworld. Beary Barrington (voice of Haley Joel Osment) is an adolescent bruin raised by a human family after he was found by a park ranger, abandoned in the forest. Curious about his biological roots, Beary travels to Tennessee to seek out his birth parents while attempting to locate the members of his favorite musical group -- a defunct country music act called the Country Bears -- along the way. Country Bear Hall, the famed venue where the band was launched, is facing imminent destruction at the hands of greedy banker Reed Thimple (Christopher Walken), but young Beary has a plan to save the hall by staging a reunion benefit concert. Beary's path takes him through a guitar duel, a vintage coffee house, and a car wash, as he's pursued by a pair of bumbling cops (Diedrich Bader and Daryl "Chill" Mitchell) trying to reunite him with his adoptive parents. Meanwhile, a panoply of musical legends including Willie Nelson, Bonnie Raitt, Elton John, and Queen Latifah appear Behind the Music-style to comment on the Country Bears' alleged artistic influence on their work. The Country Bears, the first in a pair of planned Disney projects based on the company's theme park rides (the second is slated to be based on "Pirates of the Caribbean"), co-stars Stephen Tobolowsky, Brad Garrett, Alex Rocco, and Stephen Root. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Christopher Walken, Stephen Tobolowsky, (more)
The biggest babies in the entertainment business take their act to Europe in this sequel to the surprise-hit animated feature The Rugrats Movie. Chuckie (voice of Christine Cavanaugh) has been fretting over his father Chas (voice of Michael Bell) and his status as a single father, as he wants to have a mommy like all of his friends. Chas and his father Stu (voice of Jack Riley) were hired to create a bevy of electronic critters for the newly opened Euro-Reptarland theme park, but the robots are acting up, and park manager Coco La Bouche (Susan Sarandon) is hopping mad. So Stu and Chas are flown to Paris to do some repairs, with Chas bringing Chuckie and all his friends along. Their visit to the City of Lights proves to be one adventure after another, as Chuckie tries to find a suitable mother (with Coco leading the pack) and Tommy (voice of Elizabeth Dailey) somehow gets behind the wheel of the giant Reptar robot. Rugrats in Paris: The Movie features original songs from T-Boz from TLC, The Baha Men, and Mylene Farmer, while John Lithgow, Debbie Reynolds, and Mako contribute to the voice cast. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Elizabeth Daily, Christine Cavanaugh, (more)
- 1998
This romantic comedy looks at the notion that opposites attract. Actress Anne Henning (Traylor Howard) is hired for a soap-opera role as the girlfriend of the daytime drama's doctor, played by Jack Westmore (Edward Kerr). Over lunch, the two actors hit it off, and Anne listens to Jack's proposal of a "no strings" relationship, agreeing to a date because he's "the opposite of what I want." In truth, Jack is taken aback by a woman who acts "like a man." Taking a conceptual cue from the late Dennis Potter, the story intercuts the duo in soap-opera scenes, blending fantasy and reality. Shown at the 1998 Santa Barbara Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Edward Kerr, Traylor Howard, (more)
- 1997
The Quest team journeys to Cameroon, there to help harvest a medically beneficial sap from trees that are being threatened with extinction by an insensitive logging company. Before long, the plundering loggers are being menaced by an invisible but undeniably ferocious monster. Dr. Quest cannot help but feel that there is more to the pro-eco beast than meets the eye. Boasting an impressive cast of African-American voice actors, "Dark Sentinel" originally aired on February 10, 1997. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Quinton Flynn, John deLancie, (more)
Gina Gershon and Jennifer Tilly nearly set the screen on fire in this clever, female-powered twist on the standard Mob caper film. Gershon is Corky, an ex-con renovating the apartment next door to where Tilly's Violet lives. Violet is the moll of psychotic gangster Caesar (Joe Pantoliano), who uses the apartment as an occasional location for meetings and beatings, and also uses Violet as an occasional plaything for his Mob cronies. Violet is attracted to the super-sexy Corky, and the two begin an intense affair. Corky hatches a plot to escape with $2 million that Caesar is planning to give to a Mob boss, and the mayhem escalates from there. ~ Don Kaye, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jennifer Tilly, Gina Gershon, (more)
- 1996
Paying a visit to his grandfather's ranch, Jonny becomes curious about a nearby biodome. Investigating, Jonny and his friend Hadji uncover a scheme hatched by a crooked businessman to build weapons out of uranium. Inside joke: Jonny's granddad is named Doug Wildey -- the same name as the celebrated comic-book artist who developed and nurtured the "classic" Jonny Quest series of the 1960s (the episode was in fact dedicated to the "real" Doug Wildey). "Nuclear Netherworld" originally aired on December 26, 1996. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Quinton Flynn, Rob Paulsen, (more)
- 1994
Despite the objections of her husband, Paul (Paul Reiser), Jamie (Helen Hunt) and her friend Fran (Leila Kenzle) are determined to hook up the Buchmans' bedroom TV with "stolen" cable service. The ladies' combined efforts result in a citywide power blackout of 1965 dimensions. Will Tom Brokaw ever get out of that stalled elevator? "Pandora's Box" was original one of three sitcom episodes telecast on the same Thursday evening over the same network (NBC), all of them built around a special "Blackout Thursday" promotion (the other two series involved in this stunt were Friends and Madman of the People). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1994
A blizzard has left Chicago blanketed in two feet of snow -- and the ER is completely bereft of patient activity. But no sooner does the staff try to take advantage of their unexpected "layoff" than disaster strikes in the form of a horrendous 32-car pileup. In the midst of the ensuing chaos, Dr. Angela Hicks (CCH Pounder) makes her first appearance. Meanwhile, Carol (Julianna Margulies) has a surprise in store for her colleagues. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1994
Rosemary Clooney (aunt of series regular George Clooney) returns as a mysterious mental patient wandering the halls of the ER singing Christmas songs. Likewise invested with the Yuletide spirit is Benton (Eriq La Salle), who upon finding an organ-donor card among the effects of a brain-dead patient, begins informing potential recipients. Unfortunately, Benton has spread the "good news" too soon; the donor's wife (Amanda Rogers) refuses to okay anything until she gets a second opinion about her estranged husband's chances for survival. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
