Michael Pierce Movies
A group of returning vacationers boards a late-night shuttle bound for home, but soon finds their journey taking a dark turn in this tale of terror from writer/director Edward Anderson. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peyton List, Cameron Goodman, (more)
- 2008
An Interpol agent in pursuit of a fast-driving murder suspect uncovers a far-reaching fraud conspiracy in this peddle-to-the-metal actioner directed by Die Hard action specialist John McTiernan and starring Thomas Jane. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Thomas Jane
Michael Radford (Il Postino and The Merchant of Venice) directs screenwriter Edward Anderson's script about an aging janitor and an American executive who form an unlikely alliance in order to carry out an elaborate jewel heist. Set in 1960s-era London, the tense crime thriller stars Michael Caine as the scheming maintenance man who longs to relieve his employers at the London Diamond Corporation of their valuable inventory, and Demi Moore as the savvy executive who is completely perplexed by the wealthy diamond magnates. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Demi Moore, Michael Caine, (more)
Two mismatched lawmen are on the trail of an unusually talented criminal in this crime thriller. Quentin Conners (Jason Statham) is a veteran police detective who is less than pleased when he's assigned a new partner, Shane Dekker (Ryan Phillippe). While Conners has been with the force for years, Dekker is a rookie, and it doesn't take Conners long to realize his partner has a lot to learn about the nuts and bolts of investigation. However, the two are forced to put aside their differences when they're given an important new case to crack -- a brilliant thief (Wesley Snipes) has masterminded a series of high-stakes bank heists, and the police are baffled as to how he seems to know what they're up to just as soon as they do. Chaos also stars Justine Waddell as a police officer who has become involved with one of the detectives. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jason Statham, Ryan Phillippe, (more)
A minor crook finds himself in major peril when a "hot" weapon goes missing in this violent crime thriller. Joey Gazelle (Paul Walker) is a low-level "mechanic" in the Mafia who hopes to rise through the ranks by doing whatever is needed. One night, a drug deal goes very wrong when police show up and try to close down the operation; shots break out and a battle ensues, with a pair of of cops meeting a particularly violent fate at bad end of a gun barrel. Joey is given the gun that killed the policemen and is told to make it disappear so it can't be used as evidence; however, before he can do that, the weapon is stolen by Oleg (Cameron Bright), a friend of Joey's young son, who takes the pistol and uses it to shoot his abusive stepfather. Now that the gun is implicated in high profile crimes, it's vitally important that Joey find it as soon as possible, but his search for the firearm is complicated by the fact that Oleg's stepdad is affiliated with a rival gang of Russian mobsters, and that Rydell (Chazz Palminteri), a seriously corrupt police detective, is hot on Joey's trail. Joey's search for the gun takes him through the grim criminal netherworld of the city, where he must face off against nearly every sort of crook, con artist, and deviate that has ever walked the earth. Running Scared is from writer-director Wayne Kramer, who made a name for himself with the well-reviewed independent feature The Cooler. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Paul Walker, Cameron Bright, (more)
A filmmaker's quest to join an outlaw bicycle club morphs into a more intimate study of rebellion, drug addiction, underground sub-cultures, and the curious way in which we sometimes become precisely what we despise most. Directors Anthony Howard and Jacob Septimus' film began as an exploration of the militant, anti-corporate bike protests that gained prominence in the late 1990s and early 2000s, but along the way the filmmakers discovered a subculture within that subculture - a group of New York City tall-bike gangs who bonded like family, and frequently took to the streets in ritualistic jousting sessions. Somewhere beneath the compound fractures, cracked skulls, and cracked necks that go along with such dangerous endeavors, the filmmakers began to recognize the contradictions of die-hard individualists struggling to establish a group identity. But in order to truly understand what the Black Label Bicycle Club is truly all about, co-director Howard had to become part of the group. In the process of trying to accomplish that goal, a longstanding feud between the leader of the Black Label Bicycle Club and an ambitious rival came to a head, Howard's junkie girlfriend abandoned him, and a secret project that seemed to go against everything the Black Label Bicycle Club stood for prompted both the filmmakers, as well as some club members, to ponder the authenticity of their rebellion. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
Writer/director Wayne Kramer offers a glimpse into the aging Las Vegas casino world with the romantic drama The Cooler. Bernie Lootz (William H. Macy) is extremely unlucky at gambling, and he owes the Shangri-La casino over 100,000 dollars. He is so unlucky that he is hired as a "cooler," someone to gamble next to high rollers and give them some of his bad luck to stop them from winning. This arrangement works out for awhile, until Bernie has almost paid off his debt and meets cocktail waitress Natalie Belisario (Maria Bello). The two start to fall in love and Bernie's luck begins to change. However, the old-fashioned mob boss Shelly Kaplow (Alec Baldwin) isn't going to let Bernie go so easily. Meanwhile, Larry Sokolov (Ron Livingston) arrives on the scene to help update the business management of the old mobster-run casino. Also starring Joey Fatone and Paul Sorvino as lounge singers. The Cooler was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize in the dramatic competition at the 2003 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- William H. Macy, Maria Bello, (more)
