Michael Cerenzie Movies

Two people recently spurned in their love life come together amidst their urban lifestyles in New York City in this drama from writer/director Daphna Kastner (Spanish Fly). The CP Productions picture is especially notable for reuniting Harvey Keitel and Martin Scorsese, who are handling various producing duties on the film. ~ Jeremy Wheeler, All Movie Guide

A teenager out of his element makes a shaky transition to adulthood in this bittersweet comedy drama set in the mid-Seventies. Jake (Frankie Muniz) is a seventeen year old growing up in Brooklyn who dreams of some day making his living as a writer. Jake is being raised by his mother Faye (Frances Fisher) in the wake of his parents' divorce, but she decides to send him to Florida to spend some time with his father, a racetrack tout who calls himself Zowie (Harvey Keitel), when she learns she's seriously ill. While traveling to Florida, Jake strikes up a friendship with cheerful stoner Rickie (Ryan Cabrera), who is a student at the same Miami high school Jake will be attending. Rickie invents a wildly colorful history for his new pal, and soon everyone at school is in awe of the party animal with the wealthy father from New York, even though none of what Rickie has told them is true and Jake has trouble keeping track of his new life history. While a few of the girls at school seem to like Jake, his head is turned by Marina (Amber Valletta), a beautiful model he meets when she's doing a photo shoot at the beach. While Mariana is in her early thirties and clearly out of Jake's league, she's charmed by his sweetness and sincerity, and the two strike up a friendship that grows into something much more intimate. Meanwhile, Zowie is in dutch with a handful of loan sharks and trying to end a serious losing streak at the track while wondering what to make of his son, whose career choice doesn't much impress him. My Sexiest Year also stars Haylie Duff, Karolina Kurkova and Daphna Kastner. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

This gang warfare drama is from director Scott Kalvert, whose previous film was the controversial and violent The Basketball Diaries (1995). In the sweltering summer of 1958, Leon (Stephen Dorff) and Bobby (Brad Renfro) are leaders of the Brooklyn street gang known as the Deuces. When their brother Alley Boy died from an overdose, the two toughs vowed to keep narcotics out of their turf, but now they're being muscled by a new and more powerful gang called the Vipers, fueled by drug money and led by mobster Fritzy Zennetti (Matt Dillon). As a vicious gang war heats up that will determine Brooklyn's future, a romance develops between Bobby and Annie (Fairuza Balk), the leader of a girl gang. Deuces Wild co-stars Frankie Muniz, Balthazar Getty, Max Perlich, Drea de Matteo, Deborah Harry, Vincent Pastore, Joshua Leonard, James Franco, and Johnny Knoxville. ~ Karl Williams, Rovi