Carson Daly Movies

This made-for-cable movie may well stand the test of time as one of the most elaborate practical jokes ever televised -- or, at the very least, one of the cruelest. Perry Karavello is an actor whose talent does not quite reach the level of his ambition, but that has not stopped him from pursuing the vain bitch goddess success for nearly ten years. During this time, comedians Tony Barbieri and Don Barris, proclaiming their undying friendship for Karavello, promise him that, some day, they would help him get his big break in a high-budget action film. The dream seems within Karavello's grasp when, at long last, he lands the starring role of "sports private eye" Stone Fury in the upcoming Chicago-based film Windy City Heat. There's only one problem: There is no such film. The movie, and the grueling events leading up to its "production date" (including an outrageous meeting with the supposed Japanese "money men"), are all part of an outsized hoax, cooked up by Barbieri, Barris, and director Bobcat Goldthwait. Need we add that the hapless Karavello is kept in the dark right up the moment that the director shout's "That's a wrap"? Windy City Heat made its Comedy Central network debut October 12, 2003. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

This animated feature serves as the coda to the MTV series Daria, which spawned 65 half-hour episodes and one previous movie (Daria: Is It Fall Yet?) during its five-year run. It is wry teen misfit Daria Morgendorffer's senior year at Lawndale High -- time to figure out what university to attend. Her first choice is Bromwell, which is also the first choice of her blue-blooded boyfriend, Tom, whose illustrious ancestors are all alumni. When Daria, Tom, and Tom's mother head off for a campus visit, things don't go as planned. Daria almost bombs her interview; even worse, traffic, bad weather, and the need for Tom to suck up to the alumni keep Daria from getting more than a drive-by look at her second-choice school, Raft. Ironically, though, she gets into Raft and not Bromwell. Tom, of course, does, and the resulting friction leaves a question mark hanging over their relationship. College questions also plague Daria's friends: Jane frets over whether even to apply to art school in Boston, while Jodie must convince her status-obsessed father to let her attend a primarily African-American university where she can finally fit in. Big questions face even Lawndale's younger students as Daria's fashion-plate sister, Quinn, is forced to take a restaurant job to pay off the credit-card bills she's rung up on clothes; hanging out with college kids and helping a new friend through a drinking problem help give Quinn a new outlook on her previously shallow life; can the end of the Fashion Club be far behind? Daria: Is It College Yet? premiered on MTV on Monday, January 21, 2002; nearly commercial-free, the original presentation included the world premiere of the video for "Breaking Up the Girl" by pop band Garbage, alongside clips from all five seasons of the show. ~ Brian J. Dillard, Rovi

Writer/director Brad Anderson, known for whimsical romantic comedies like Next Stop, Wonderland, was inspired by the astonishing, creepy visage of an abandoned mental hospital in Danvers, MA, to make the intense psychological horror film Session 9. The film stars the redoubtable Scottish actor Peter Mullan (from Ken Loach's My Name Is Joe) as Gordon Fleming, a new father struggling to keep his asbestos removal company afloat. Desperate to bring in some money, the normally deliberate and careful Gordon gets the contract by promising that his company can clear out the creepy deserted building in a week's time. Assisted by his right-hand man, Phil (David Caruso), Gordon hires a crew and, pressed by the nearly impossible deadline, gets the hazardous work underway. But each man on the crew harbors a dangerous secret, and it's only a short time before the haunted atmosphere of the asylum -- where cruel and primitive means were used to control unstable patients -- begins to work its dark spell on them. Session 9 was one of the first feature films shot using Sony's 24P HD video, which shoots at 24 frames per second, like film, as opposed to the 30 frames per second of conventional video. The filmmakers used the same camera that George Lucas would later use to film Star Wars: Episode II. Using this technology, Anderson and director of photography Uta Briesewitz were able to produce the uniquely effective, deep-focus images in Session 9 using mostly natural light. ~ Josh Ralske, Rovi