Jade Yorker Movies
Director and screenwriter Adam Bhala Lough takes the reigns for this tale of suburban mayhem that made its world premiere at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival. It's the end of another work week in a typical, working class American suburb, and everyone is looking to cut loose before getting back into the daily grind come Monday. When a series of vicious and apparently random youth-related killings shake this quiet community to its very core over the course of three unforgettable days, however, an investigation soon leads the populace to find that there may be a connecting string that ties all of these brutal homicides together. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Nick Cannon, Paul Dano, (more)
The true story of the football team that proved sometimes second chances can make a difference comes to the screen in director Phil Joanou's tale of self-respect and social responsibility on the gridiron. Sean Porter (The Rock) is a detention camp probation officer who oversees the inmates at Camp Kilpatrick in Los Angeles and isn't willing to simply write off the violent offenders who have been placed in his care. Though their prospects for the future are decidedly bleak, Porter is convinced that if he can just get through to his adolescent inmates they may finally be able to turn their lives around and make amends for the mistakes of their past. When Porter's proposal of forming a high-school-level football team at Camp Kilpatrick meets with skepticism and resistance in the highest ranks, the determined coach puts his career on the line to prove that even convicted criminals can acquire the tools needed to build a brighter future when given the proper motivation and the means of doing so. Inspired by filmmaker Jac Flanders' 1993 documentary of the same name, Gridiron Gang features a screenplay penned by In the Line of Fire scribe Jeff Maguire, and features a supporting cast that includes Leon Rippy, Kevin Dunn, and Detroit-born rapper-turned-actor Xzibit. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- The Rock, Jade Yorker, (more)
A young man with a troubled past expresses himself through street art in this independent drama. Anthony (Mark Webber) is a 19-year-old kid living in New York City who was introduced to "bombing" -- graffiti art sprayed on public walls when the cops aren't looking -- by his older brother. When his brother died, Anthony took up bombing himself, and with the help of his pals Justin (Gano Grills) and Kevin (Jade Yorker) he does murals under the street name "Blest," while struggling to avoid the NYPD's anti-graffiti Vandal Squad. Anthony's mother (Donna Mitchell) is after him to quit bombing and attend art school, while his girlfriend (Jaclyn DeSantis) wants to get out of New York, and would like him to join her. However, it takes a run-in with Bobby Cox (Al Sapienza), a Vandal Squad cop with a hair-trigger temper, to push Anthony into making a decision about his life. Bomb the System was the first feature film from writer and director Adam Bhala Lough, who was only 23 years old when the picture was made. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mark Webber, Gano Grills, (more)
It's the day children dream of and parents dread: a sudden snowstorm causes the cancellation of school, giving kids a day off and their folks one more thing to worry about. Snow Day traces what happens in an upstate New York town when a thick layer of white stuff forces local schools to take a day off. Fifteen-year-old Hal Brandston (Mark Webber) is crazy about Claire Bonner (Emmanuelle Chriqui), the prettiest girl in his tenth-grade class, who already has a boyfriend -- the class jock and BMOC. Will the magical powers of Snow Day give Hal a chance to win her away? Meanwhile, Hal's ten-year-old sister, Natalie (Zena Grey), is having so much fun with Snow Day that she doesn't want it to end, so she makes sure the Snow Plow Man (Chris Elliott) can't get the roads cleared before morning. Four-year-old Randy Brandston (Connor Matheus) is all cranked up and ready to enjoy life on a day with no day care -- bad news for his mom, Laura (Jean Smart), a businesswoman who has to close an important deal. And weather is a sore spot with father Tom Brandston (Chevy Chase); as the meteorologist at the lowest-rated TV station in town, he is trying in vain to get folks to pay attention to what he has to say about snow, rain, and the elements. Snow Day was produced by Nickelodeon Movies, the feature-film branch of the children's television network, and its eclectic cast also includes Pam Grier, John Schneider, and Iggy Pop. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Chris Elliott, Mark Webber, (more)
In this hard-edged crime drama, four kids from the tough New York neighborhood of Hell's Kitchen decide to pull a robbery, but their first foray into crime does not go well. When the dust settles, Hayden (Ryan Slater) is dead, and Johnny (Mekhi Phifer) gets pinched by the cops, while Patty (Johnny Whitworth) and Gloria (Angelina Jolie) manage to get away. Johnny serves a five-year stretch in prison for the theft. Although Gloria was in love with Johnny, Hayden was her brother, so she's become susceptible to gossip that Johnny was responsible for Hayden's death, and she is eager to get revenge on her former lover. Patty has also fallen in love with Gloria, and while he is not happy about betraying his old friend, he's soon ensnared in Gloria's plot to kill Johnny. Patty also has to deal with the guilt he feels about his on-again, off-again affair with Gloria's mother Liz (Rosanna Arquette), a failed lounge singer sunk deep into drugs and alcohol. Meanwhile, as he tries to clear his name with Gloria, Johnny is trying to make a career as a boxer; Lou (William Forsythe), a veteran trainer and manager, offers to help Johnny, but the young fighter isn't so sure he wants to be linked to someone with Lou's ties to organized crime. Hell's Kitchen N.Y.C. was the feature directorial debut for Tony Cinciripini, who was formerly an assistant to famed acting coach Lee Strasberg. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mekhi Phifer, Rosanna Arquette, (more)
