Brian Taylor Movies
Prior to earning his trade as a writer/director, Brian Taylor honed his filmmaking craft in the cinematographic sphere, with director of photography credits on a string of indie features and low-budget shorts that swept awards and honors across the country. As a technician, Taylor evinced a particularly refined flair for (and a fascination with) the "young" medium of digital video, as exemplified by his DV short The Man Who Loved Elevators (2002) (a work Taylor adapted from the stories of "gutterbucket poet" Charles Bukowski).Taylor and creative partner Mark Neveldine united to form the NevTaylor production house in the early 2000s, where they became known not only for their filmmaking abilities, but for their ingenious engineering skills; they followed in the tracks of Steadicam inventor Garrett Brown by developing a new device to facilitate cinematographic work, christened "The Roller Dolly," and immediately submitted it for a patent. The two, of course, also produced a number of key films, including a documentary on the Fuentes family of cigar makers (shot in the Dominican Republic), and The Keys, an action adventure with surrealist touches, shot in Morocco.
The boys' premier big screen effort came in 2006, with Crank, a restless action thriller. The picture stars Jason Statham as a poison victim certain to die if he allows his pulse to sink to an average level. Issued in September of that year, the pic co-stars Amy Smart (Starsky & Hutch, Rat Race), country singer Dwight Yoakam (Sling Blade), and neophyte Efren Ramirez (best known as Pedro in 2004's Napoleon Dynamite). ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
- 2010
1970s-era DC antihero Jonah Hex makes his way to the big screen as Crank co-writers Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor team to follow the disfigured gunslinger and part-time bounty hunter on his biggest adventure yet. Supernatural elements combine with Western aesthetics to take viewers on a wild and bloody ride, with Josh Brolin leading the way as Hex and John Malkovich stepping into the villainous role of Turnbull. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Josh Brolin, John Malkovich, (more)
- 2009
- R
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Reality and video games merge in this high-concept sci-fi action thriller from Crank creators Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor. In the not too distant future, mind-control technology allows humans to control the actions and movements of other humans, allowing reclusive billionaire Ken Castle (Michael C. Hall) to create the ultimate video game. It's called "Slayers," and it's a mass-scale, multiplayer online first-person shooter that's as controversial as it is popular. In the world of gamers, Simon (Logan Lerman) is a rock star; miraculously managing to keep his character alive week after week, he racks up frags like Billy Mitchell jumps barrels. But unlike Mitchell's Mario, Simon's video-game avatar is a living, breathing human being named Kable (Gerard Butler). Defying the odds to keep Kable running and gunning though even the most explosive battles, Simon captures the imagination of a global audience. Torn from his family, thrown into prison, and forced to fight against his will, Kable realizes that his only hope of ever seeing his family again is to somehow escape the game, reclaim his identity, and expose Castle's dehumanizing technology on live television. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gerard Butler, Amber Valletta, (more)
The indestructible hopped-up hitman Chev Chelios, played to the hilt once again by Jason Statham, returns in Crank High Voltage, picking up where the first film left off -- except this time, Chelios is chasing a Chinese gangster who hijacked his heart and substituted it with a mechanical one that needs to be jolted with an electric charge to stay pumping. Back for the fun is Chev's girlfriend Eve (my Smart) and his physician Doc Miles (Dwight Yoakam), who, as luck has it, turns out to be an ex-heart surgeon. As Chelios delves deeper into the mystery surrounding his stolen heart, he discovers that the answers to his questions lie within the chest of a 100-year old head of the Triad gang, Poon Dong (David Carradine. The maverick directing/writing team of Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor returns to inject more caffeinated craziness into Lionsgate's burgeoning action series, with Efren Ramirez, Bai Ling, Clifton Collins Jr., and Corey Haim rounding out the supporting cast. ~ Jeremy Wheeler, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jason Statham, Amy Smart, (more)
Milo Ventimiglia (of the blockbuster TV series Heroes), headlines this dark crime thriller, which marks the sophomore directorial outing of Marc Schoelermann, following the 2006 telemovie Hexxx. Ventimiglia portrays a young intern, newly arrived at the University Hospital in Philadelphia, who stumbles onto a psychopathic group of colleagues playing a vile game. They regularly select one of their members (on a rotational basis) to commit the "perfect murder," while the rest use forensic methods to try to determine exactly how the homicide was executed. Alyssa Milano (of TV's Who's the Boss? and Charmed) co-stars as Ventimiglia's fiancée, while thesps Johnny Whitworth and Lauren Lee Smith are among the perpetrators. Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor (of Crank fame) scripted. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Milo Ventimiglia, Michael Weston, (more)
Ben Stiller's satirical look at Hollywood, Tropic Thunder concerns the production of an epic Vietnam War film that quickly derails thanks to the giant egos of everyone involved in the production. Stiller stars as Tugg Speedman, an action hero trying to segue out of that genre. Jack Black plays Jeff Portnoy, a drug-addicted fat comic also attempting to change his image by taking on such a serious film. They star alongside Kirk Lazarus (Robert Downey Jr.), one of the world's most awarded actors, and a man who insists on immersing himself totally in a role. In this case, that means Lazarus has had his skin dyed in order to portray an African-American soldier. After their outrageous behavior lands the film's director, Damien Cockburn (Steve Coogan), in very hot water with producer Les Grossman (Tom Cruise), Cockburn takes the advice of grizzled Vietnam vet Four Leaf Tayback (Nick Nolte); in order to gain control of his performers, Cockburn drops the actors off in the jungle, planning to film the movie guerrilla-style with hidden cameras. When the group stumbles upon a heroin production camp, the actors are unaware that they are in very real danger. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ben Stiller, Jack Black, (more)
A one-time freelance hitman who was just attempting to turn his life around is forced to keep his heart pumping when his vengeful former employers inject him with a lethal poison that will permanently stop his ticker if his pulse sinks beneath an active rate in a non-stop urban action extravaganza starring Jason Statham and Amy Smart. Chev Chelios (Statham) was one of the most skilled assassins in the West Coast crime syndicate. When he hung up his guns in the middle of a job to run off with his new girlfriend Eve (Smart), however, the man who was once the hunter now becomes the hunted. Awakened from his slumber by a telephone call informing him of his precarious situation, Chelios soon discovers that the only way to save Eve from certain death at the hands of his nemesis is to stay two steps ahead of his killers, keep his heart-rate high enough to stay alive, and blast through the streets of Los Angeles in search of an antidote. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jason Statham, Amy Smart, (more)
