Dylan Bruno
A man who can't walk meets a woman who envies his condition in this offbeat black comedy. Isaac Knott (Nick Stahl) lost the use of his legs when he was eight years old in an auto accident that also claimed the lives of his parents. Despite being confined to a wheelchair, Isaac has enjoyed a successful career as the host of a talk show on a New York City public radio outlet. One day, Isaac is told an odd story about a man who arrived at a local hospital and demanded to have his legs amputated; the man was part of a secret subculture of able-bodied folks who wish to be paraplegics, using wheelchairs when they can and attempting to deaden their legs through artificial means. Isaac becomes fascinated with the idea of these wannabes, and begins studying the phenomenon for a piece on his show. Isaac's research leads him to Fiona (Vera Farmiga), a sexy but mysterious blonde who collects and restores Chinese art. Fiona is also the owner of a wheelchair she doesn't really need, and Isaac, who is increasingly attracted to her, wants to know all about her role in the fake-paraplegic underground. However, Fiona isn't about to give away any of her secrets for free, and Isaac discovers that the exchange of information and trust goes deeper the longer they know one another. The first feature film from writer and director Carlos Brooks, Quid Pro Quo received its premiere at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Nick Stahl, Vera Farmiga, (more)
A so-called anarchist gets an unexpected crash-course in living on the edge in this independent comedy drama. Puck (Devon Gummersall) is a college dropout and self-styled political radical who lives with a handful of friends in an anarchist commune near Plano, TX. Puck's roommates and fellow semi-revolutionaries include aging hippie Johnny Red (John Savage), man-crazy feminist Karla (Gina Philips), DJ and ladies' man Sweeney (Johnny Whitworth), and cheerful mischief maker Double Dee (Steve Van Wormer). While Puck and his pals enjoy engaging in occasional acts of creative vandalism, their sense of anarchy is more a matter of personal choice than a genuine threat against the larger standing order. That begins to change when the mysterious Johnny Black (Dylan Bruno) ingratiates himself into the commune. Johnny Black's political agenda is significantly more aggressive than that of Puck and his friends, and his willingness to use violence to achieve his ends disturbs Puck, as Black not only takes control of the group, but adds guns, explosives, and sabotage to their formula. Puck also finds himself torn between his commitment to his ideals and his infatuation with Jody (Katherine Towne), whose sexual appetites run counter to her public reputation as a Christian and Young Republican organizer. Taking its title from William Powell's infamous book of the same name (which the author has since come to repudiate), The Anarchist Cookbook was the first feature film from writer and director Jordan Susman. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Devon Gummersall, Dylan Bruno, (more)
In July of 2002, nine men were trapped 240 feet below the ground in a Somerset, PA, coal mine. For the next 77 hours, the attention of a war-beleaguered and economically strapped America was focused upon the rescue efforts, despairing along with the miners' families when the shaft began to fill up with water. Although everyone in the U.S. knows the outcome of the story, this made-for-TV movie manages to sustain a respectable level of suspense, expertly shifting dramatic focus from the entombed miners to the rescuers on the surface and back again. Curiously, the film's climax is inconclusive, as if the film had been made during the crisis rather than several months afterward. Originally titled The Miners' Tale and adapted for television by novelist Elwood Reid from the miners' bestselling joint autobiography, The Pennsylvania Miners' Story premiered November 24, 2002, on ABC. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- J.D. Souther, Graham Beckel, (more)
A shy freshman doesn't take long to warm up to fraternity life in this college comedy following in the tradition of Animal House and PCU. Reserved college freshman Jake Taylor (Dylan Bruno) isn't big on fraternities, but when the hardest-partying frat on campus refuses to admit his socially awkward cousin Gil (Dublin James) unless Jake pledges with him, the two are soon on their way to the wild life. When all-night benders and naked scavenger hunts begin to take their toll on Jake's grades and his fraternity-hating girlfriend, Paige (Laura Harris), begins to become suspicious of his decidedly frat-like behavior, the newly converted Greek must enlist the aid of his brothers to ensure that his scholarship isn't revoked and his girl doesn't leave him in the dust. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
Former X-Files writer James Wong makes his sophomore feature as a director at the helm of this science fiction thriller that's reminiscent of Timecop (1994). In the near future, a technology called "quantum tunneling" allows human beings to travel between parallel universes. The abuse of this ability by criminal elements has led to the formation of the Multi-Verse Authorities or "MVA," an agency of quantum traveling cops who apprehend violators of inter-dimensional laws. The MVA faces its greatest crisis when a former agent named Gabriel Yulaw (Jet Li) goes renegade, traveling between one universe and the next, murdering his own parallel selves and gaining enormous power with each slaying. It is believed that when Yulaw has become "the one," the only version of himself to exist, he will be omnipotent, but the final Gabriel Yulaw exists in our plane of existence (the "magna universe") and is also becoming stronger, though he doesn't understand why. Hot on the evil Yulaw's trail are his former partner Harry Roedecker (Delroy Lindo) and Harry's new colleague Evan Funsch (Jason Statham). Created with Wong's longtime writing and producing partner Glen Morgan, The One (2001) co-stars Carla Gugino. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jet Li, Carla Gugino, (more)
- 2001
For her first solo mission, novice angel Gloria (Valerie Bertinelli) is assigned to young, self-made billionaire Dennis Loggins (Christopher Daniel Barnes). Though materially successful, Loggins is spiritually bankrupt: his sole mission in life is to exact a terrible revenge against high school bully Ricky (Dylan Bruno) at their 10-year class reunion. Using his considerable influence, Loggins has meticulously arranged to literally destroy Ricky's life in public, thus paying his former tormentor back for humiliating him in front of the entire student body a decade earlier. And how does Loggins' "lost love" Melissa (played by future House costar Jennifer Morrison) figure into this scheme? Appearing as himself, Toby Keith sings "My List". ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Pregnant 17-year-old Novalee Nation (Natalie Portman) runs away from her Tennessee home toward the bright lights of California, accompanied by her boyfriend, Willy Jack Pickins (Dylan Bruno). But Willy gets cold feet and abandons her at a Wal-Mart in Sequoyah, OK. Novalee's life savings amount to $5.55, so she moves into the Wal-Mart, sleeping there at night and venturing out during the day. With the help of the eccentric Sister Husband (Stockard Channing), and Lexie Coop (Ashley Judd), a nurses' aide, Novalee tries to get her life in order for the sake of her expected child, Americus Nation. Based on a novel by Billie Letts, Where the Heart Is also features Keith David, Joan Cusack, Richard Nance, and Heather Kafka. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Natalie Portman, Ashley Judd, (more)
Director Linda Yellen spins this study of four couples as they struggle to maintain their relationships. Middle-aged divorcée and landlord Katharine (Lynn Redgrave) is completely smitten with her live-in lover Rick (Harry Connick, Jr.). She loves throwing parties, and on one Halloween she hosts a dinner for some wildly dissimilar guests: her tenets Sandra (Cindy Crawford) and Paul (Jamey Sheridan) are conservative professionals, while fellow building dwellers Marta (Monica Keena) and Billy (Dylan Bruno) are rock musicians. Also at the party is wacky psychic Arnita (Tyne Daly). During dinner, Arnita sees the spirits of another couple: Mae (Samantha Mathis), a flapper from the 1920s, and Katharine's great-grandfather Edward (William Hurt). Unnerved, Arnita predicts that one couple will split up by year's end. Though initially shaken, the guests brush her off as a nut. Yet toward the year's end, Katharine grows increasingly jealousy of Rick's flirtation with Sandra. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lynn Redgrave, Jamey Sheridan, (more)
The Rage: Carrie 2 is set in a small town high school, where the members of the football team set the social order. Emulating the "Spur Posse" from Lakewood, California, the boys on the team compete to see who can seduce the most girls, rating them on a point system, and then discarding them as pathetic losers. The story opens with Lisa (Mena Suvari), a victim of this game who responds by jumping off the school to her death. Lisa turns out to be the only friend of Rachel Lang (Emily Bergl). Intelligent but a social outcast, Rachel lives with foster parents; her father is unknown and her mother has been institutionalized. Rachel plans to go after Lisa's victimizer, Eric (Zachery Ty Bryan), but becomes attracted to smart football star Jesse Ryan (Jason London). While this forces the keepers of social order to partially accept her, they secretly plan her downfall. But unknown to them, Rachel's recently arrived hormones have brought on something else -- telekinesis. The one person who recognizes what's happening is guidance counselor Sue Snell (Amy Irving), a lucky survivor of the telekinetic massacre perpetrated by Carrie White (Sissy Spacek) in the original film. Sue wants Rachel to get the help she needs (perhaps as Irving did in her other Brian DePalma film, The Fury) but it's already too late as the stage is set for another showdown at the prom. ~ Ron Wells, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Emily Bergl, Jason London, (more)
Steven Spielberg directed this powerful, realistic re-creation of WWII's D-day invasion and the immediate aftermath. The story opens with a prologue in which a veteran brings his family to the American cemetery at Normandy, and a flashback then joins Capt. John Miller (Tom Hanks) and GIs in a landing craft making the June 6, 1944, approach to Omaha Beach to face devastating German artillery fire. This mass slaughter of American soldiers is depicted in a compelling, unforgettable 24-minute sequence. Miller's men slowly move forward to finally take a concrete pillbox. On the beach littered with bodies is one with the name "Ryan" stenciled on his backpack. Army Chief of Staff Gen. George C. Marshall (Harve Presnell), learning that three Ryan brothers from the same family have all been killed in a single week, requests that the surviving brother, Pvt. James Ryan (Matt Damon), be located and brought back to the United States. Capt. Miller gets the assignment, and he chooses a translator, Cpl. Upham (Jeremy Davis), skilled in language but not in combat, to join his squad of right-hand man Sgt. Horvath (Tom Sizemore), plus privates Mellish (Adam Goldberg), Medic Wade (Giovanni Ribisi), cynical Reiben (Edward Burns) from Brooklyn, Italian-American Caparzo (Vin Diesel), and religious Southerner Jackson (Barry Pepper), an ace sharpshooter who calls on the Lord while taking aim. Having previously experienced action in Italy and North Africa, the close-knit squad sets out through areas still thick with Nazis. After they lose one man in a skirmish at a bombed village, some in the group begin to question the logic of losing more lives to save a single soldier. The film's historical consultant is Stephen E. Ambrose, and the incident is based on a true occurance in Ambrose's 1994 bestseller D-Day: June 6, 1944. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tom Hanks, Edward Burns, (more)
John Irvin directed this gripping and effective WWII drama set amid the carnage and slaughter of the Hurtgen Forest battle when the Allies moved on toward Germany in the fall of 1944. Private Manning (Ron Eldard) hopes for a Section 8 switch away from the frontline combat, but when he's the only survivor of his platoon, Captain Pritchett (Martin Donovan) is so impressed he upgrades Manning to sergeant. This irritates Sgt. Talbot (Dylan Bruno) who views Manning as a coward. Manning is put in charge of a group of awkward recruits, including the clumsy Sanderson (Zak Orth), as the Allies prepare to take a key location, a well-defended bridge. Shown at the 1998 Seattle Film Festival, this television production had its HBO premiere on June 27, 1998. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ron Eldard, Zak Orth, (more)
