Steven Tyler Movies

Underworld hipster Chili Palmer is back in the entertainment business in this sequel to the 1995 hit Get Shorty, which like the first film is based on a novel by Elmore Leonard. Gangster-turned-movie producer Chili (once again played by John Travolta) has grown tired of the screen trade, especially after his latest project turned out to be a box-office flop. Chili is looking for new horizons and thinks he may have found his niche when his close friend Tommy Athens (James Woods), a fellow mobster who runs an independent record label, is murdered by Russian gangsters. Chili takes over Athens' record company, Nothing to Lose Records, and begins courting Tommy's girlfriend, Edie (Uma Thurman). Edie is an experienced hand in record production, and together she and Chili spot what would seem to be the ideal act for their label -- Linda Moon (Christina Milian), a beautiful young woman with a powerhouse voice. Linda is stuck, however, in a going-nowhere R&B trio managed by the monumentally sleazy Raji (Vince Vaughn). Chili isn't much concerned about Linda's contract with Raji, but Raji certainly is, and the manager soon takes out a contract on Chili with the same Russian hoods who killed Tommy. Soon Chili is facing all the action he can handle between the Russian gunmen, a music mogul named Nick Carr (Harvey Keitel) who wants Chili to stay out of the business, and Sin LaSalle (Cedric the Entertainer), a successful hip-hop producer who wants Chili to pay him the 300,000 dollars he is owed by Tommy. Be Cool also features appearances by The Rock as a gay Samoan bodyguard, Andre Benjamin (aka Andre 3000 from the hip-hop duo Outkast) as a rapper who isn't very good with a gun, and Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler as himself. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

The dejected habitués of a run-down New Jersey bar currently teetering on the brink of bankruptcy receive an encouraging boost of morale when a one-time drinking buddy about to get his big break in show-business returns to find the girl he once left behind as the popular stage drama comes to the screen in a film starring Kim Dickens, Debi Mazar, Nick Chinlund, and Paul Sorvino. A locals-only dive where whiskey flows free and evenings pass in a bitter, alcohol-fueled haze, Charlie's Bar and New Crystal Ballroom is a holding tank for lost souls and forgotten dreams. Despite the dreary nature of the place, however, things suddenly start to look up when one-time local Joey Parker returns to his old watering hole in search of the woman he once left behind. It seems that the celebrated crooner from Manhattan has recently been booked for his first appearance on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, and in order for his success to truly be complete Joey is convinced that he must first wed his long lost love. Now, as the dreams of the weary are re-awakened by the same winds that blew in the man determined to take hold of his fate, the regulars at Charlie's are about to find out why some dreamers are better left asleep. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

The United States Congress named 2003 the "Year of the Blues" as part of an initiative by several musical education groups to make more Americans aware of the history and heritage of blues music, one of America's most important homegrown art forms. To kick off this celebration of the blues, a special concert was held at New York City's historic Radio City Music Hall, and Lightning in a Bottle documents a memorable evening of music from a star-studded roster of artists. Offering a glimpse at the rehearsals and preparations that went into putting the show together as well as the evening's best performances, Lightning in a Bottle includes appearances by B.B. King, Bonnie Raitt, Steven Tyler and Joe Perry of Aerosmith, Macy Gray, Buddy Guy, Chuck D., Solomon Burke, David Johansen, Jimmie Vaughan and Kim Wilson of the Fabulous Thunderbirds, Alison Krauss, and many more. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Ozzy Osbourne, Gene Simmons, and Aerosmith's Joe Perry and Steven Tyler are among the Heavy Metal artists interviewed in The Decline of Western Civilization 2: The Metal Years. This follow-up to filmmaker Penelope Spheeris' classic 1981 "punk" documentary The Decline of Western Civilization is a bit more reflective and word-dominated than its predecessor, but no less entertaining. One striking aspect of the film is its before-and-after comparisons of the impact of MTV. Heavy Metal newcomers tend to overpraise the cable service, while the "oldsters" implicitly decry the mainstreaming-and in some cases, homogenizing--of their best work. Interestingly, Spheeris' own style has become more mainstream in the years since Decline of Western Civilization, thanks to experience gleaned on such dramatic films as Hollywood Vice Squad (1986) and Dudes (1987). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi