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Director: Harold Ramis
Stars: Robert De Niro, Billy Crystal, Lisa Kudrow (Full Cast)
Studio: Warner Bros. Pictures

The Plot: Mobster Paul Vitti (DeNiro) takes a job as a consultant on a TV show about the mob. Meanwhile, therapist Ben Sobel (Crystal) takes over his dead father's practice, and is the one now in desparate need of analysis.

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THE BUZZ: Whereas This was funny until about the last twenty minutes, That is funny for about twenty minutes. And they're not consecutive minutes either. - Keith Simanton

Message Boards: Along the psychology theme .... | Sequel

Adaptation.

Director: Spike Jonze
Stars: Nicolas Cage, Meryl Streep, Chris Cooper (Full Cast)
Studio: Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE)

The Plot: Screenwriter Charlie Kaufman (Cage) attempts to adapt a non-fiction book by Susan Orlean (Streep) about an orchid dealer (Cooper) into a feature film. All their lives become strangely intertwined. All three characters exist in real life. All our brain cells are stretched to their limit.

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THE BUZZ: Oh, to be in college again and to go out after Adaptation and talk about it. Sigh. Cage, Jonze, Cooper, and Kaufman should all be nominated come Oscar time but regardless they've created a sardonic yet sentimental, thoughtful yet flippant, solipsistic yet humanistic, original movie. Please go see it.
- Keith Simanton

Message Boards: A list of the best movis not to be in the top: 250 | A profound provocative exploration

Equilibrium

Director: Kurt Wimmer
Stars: Christian Bale, Sean Bean, Emily Watson (Full Cast)
Studio: Miramax Films

The Plot: In a fascist future where all forms of feeling are illegal, a man (Bale) charged with enforcing the law rises to overthrow the system.

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THE BUZZ: After lackluster follow-ups to American Psycho, Bale could finally have another cool movie on his hands with this sci-fi thriller. Hopefully, it won't be a Minority Report rehash.

Update: Oh... it is.

Message Boards: Major continuity error that everybody seems to have missed. | *SPOILERS* re: Sympathy for the dogs

Empire

Director: Franc. Reyes
Stars: John Leguizamo, Peter Sarsgaard, Denise Richards (Full Cast)
Studio: Universal Pictures

The Plot: Victor (Leguizamo), is trying to escape his life as a drug dealer in the South Bronx. Enter Jack (Sarsgaard), a Wall Street investment banker with a business proposal that has Victor's name (and money) written all over it.

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THE BUZZ: If the makers of Empire had lavished the attention on plot and dialogue that they do on the gaping, sucking, bloody bullet wounds that pierce the heads and bodies of most of the movie's actors, they might have had something provocative and powerful to say about drug culture and class differences. You need this movie like... you need another hole in your head. - Mark Englehart

Message Boards: Awful, however... | Denise Richards

My Kingdom

Director: Don Boyd
Stars: Richard Harris, Lynn Redgrave (Full Cast)
Studio: First Look International

The Plot: Modern day Liverpool is the setting for this gangster tale based on Shakespeare's King Lear.

Photos (see all 4 | slideshow)

THE BUZZ: Kingdom rolls out early in hopes that the brilliant Richard Harris will receive an Oscar nomination for his last starring role. The performance earned him a best actor nomination at the British Independent Film Awards this past October.

Message Boards: Too Leary to work? | so glad sandy man spoilers

Soap Girl [Los Angeles, California]

Director: Young Man Kang
Stars: Kerry Liu, Luciano Saber, Gina Hiraizumi (Full Cast)
Studio: Leap Frog Productions Inc.

The Plot: A young Asian girl (Liu) takes a job at a seedy massage parlor in Hollywood, where she falls in love with an unsullied poet (Saber).

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THE BUZZ: Director Kang has been all over the indie/low-budget map. Girl may grant him larger success, or at least a touch of controversy. Seems some people are all up in arms with his portrayal of Asian women as comely lovecats, though from what we've seen, it looks like a winning combo of beauty and brains.

Message Boards: why luciano | 'Soap Girl' DVD Available Now!

Blackboards [limited]

Director: Samira Makhmalbaf
Stars: Said Mohamadi, Behnaz Jafari, Bahman Ghobadi (Full Cast)
Studio: Leisure Time Features

The Plot: Nomadic teachers search for students in the mountainous areas of Kurdish Iran in the name of literacy.

Photos (see all 10 | slideshow)

THE BUZZ: Hiking is fundamental. This looks devastating and essential.

Message Boards: Powerful Movie | wonderful movie

Star Trek: Nemesis

Director: Stuart Baird
Stars: Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, Brent Spiner (Full Cast)
Studio: Paramount Pictures

The Plot: The Enterprise, on a mission to broker peace with the Romulans, is faced with a threat that could lead to the Earth's destruction.

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THE BUZZ: Save the rousing final fifteen minutes Nemesis is an even-numbered Trek film that thinks it's odd. The whole affair is devoid of momentum, aimless and chatty. At one point a Romulan Senator chastises the main baddie this time out: "We supported you because you promised action, and yet you delay!" Only the die-hards in the audience won't nod in agreement. - Keith Simanton

Message Boards: Who Wants an extended version of this film on dvd/blu ray ? | Star Trek films and the ratings they get

About Schmidt [limited]

Director: Alexander Payne
Stars: Jack Nicholson, Hope Davis, Dermot Mulroney (Full Cast)
Studio: New Line Cinema

The Plot: After his wife passes away, a retired actuary in his 60's (Nicholson) travels across country to attend the wedding of his daughter (Davis) to a man he doesn't approve of. Along the way, he confronts what little he's made of his life.

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THE BUZZ: This is about more than Nicholson's ultramagnetic performance - the steady maturation of Payne as a writer-director is just as seductive and distinguished. He stokes the satire but never lets it get out of control, never strips it of meaning. To do what he does is tricky and brave. And placing fusty old Jack with the radiant Kathy Bates is the best on-screen match I've seen this year.
- Arno Kazarian

Message Boards: Warren Schmidt's job -- ACTUARY | Bill Murray?

Maid in Manhattan

Director: Wayne Wang
Stars: Jennifer Lopez, Ralph Fiennes, Natasha Richardson (Full Cast)
Studio: Columbia Pictures

The Plot: A senatorial candidate (Fiennes) falls for a hotel maid (Lopez), thinking she's a socialite when he sees her trying on a wealthy woman's dress.

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THE BUZZ: Director Wayne Wang tries to pass off this humorlesss stale fruitcake by wrapping it up, but it's in that clear cellophane and you see through it immediately. Ralph Fiennes is the red and green chunky bits. - Keith Simanton

Message Boards: i like the movie.. | Lopez was brilliant but Fiennes was painful to watch!

Evelyn [limited]

Director: Bruce Beresford
Stars: Pierce Brosnan, Julianna Margulies, Aidan Quinn (Full Cast)
Studio: United Artists

The Plot: In the 1950s, three Irish children are thrown into various Catholic-run orphanages when courts decide their impoverished father (Brosnan) is unfit to take care of them; he fights a lenghty legal battle to get them back. Based on a true story.

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THE BUZZ: For what is, at heart, a courtroom drama, the focus is (wisely) mostly elsewhere, on the more emotional aspects. Brosnan is ultimately too pretty as a working class stiff; however, his acting is solid. Even though many of the characters feel like stereotypes, the story is a powerful one.
- Jon Reeves

Message Boards: Irish films | problems with this film

The Hot Chick

Director: Tom Brady
Stars: Rob Schneider, Rachel McAdams, Anna Faris (Full Cast)
Studio: Buena Vista Pictures

The Plot: A "popular yet mean-spirited" teenage girl wakes up one day to find herself turned into a man in his 30's (Schneider), and discovers how shallow and cruel she's always been.

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THE BUZZ: There is indeed a hot chick involved here, but it sure as hell ain't Schneider. Sexy, sly Anna Faris (of Scary Movie fame) walks away with every scene she's in, bringing true laughs and grace to a movie whose concept of high comedy is the repeated exposing of Schneider's genitals (shudder). The rest of the movie is about as sophomoric as you'd expect, with Schneider looking even more haggard than usual. Considering he's surrounded by a gaggle of teenage girls, you'd think someone would have given him a makeover – and fast! - Mark Englehart

Message Boards: This is every song in the movie | Very underrated movie

Drumline

Director: Charles Stone III
Stars: Nick Cannon, Zoe Saldana, Orlando Jones (Full Cast)
Studio: Fox 2000 Pictures

The Plot: A band director recruits a Harlem street drummer to play at a Southern university.

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THE BUZZ: I can name this tune in four notes: (1) Don't be fooled by the Bring It On meets Karate Kid trailer; (2) What should have been thrilling performance scenes were spiked by arrhythmic direction and editing; (3) A single montage scene is acceptable, but four is not; (4) Star Cannon fails to impress as a rebel, a lover, or a teammate.
- Arno Kazarian

Message Boards: Worst embarrassment to the drumming community ever! | worst movie ever

Intact [limited]

Director: Juan Carlos Fresnadillo
Stars: Max von Sydow, Eusebio Poncela, Leonardo Sbaraglia (Full Cast)
Studio: Lions Gate Films

The Plot: Sam (von Sydow) is a World War II concentration camp survivor who possesses the ability to steal, sell, or give away "good luck" to anyone he chooses. He steals luck from Federico (Poncela), an earthquake survivor, who swears vengeance. Federico meets Tomas (Sbaraglia), a recent plane crash survivor, who just may be the man to help.

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THE BUZZ: Lions Gate plucked this Unbreakable-style suspense story fresh from Sundance. Director Fresnadillo is being included among the "new generation of Spanish filmmakers" responsible for revitalizing the thriller for festival audiences worldwide.

Message Boards: Was Tomas the luckiest of them in the end? | Flickering lights

Morvern Callar [limited]

Director: Lynne Ramsay
Stars: Samantha Morton, Kathleen McDermott, Linda McGuire (Full Cast)
Studio: Cowboy Pictures

The Plot: Supermarket clerk Movern Callar (Morton) covers up her boyfriend's recent suicide, steals his unpublished novel, and passes it off as hers. She leaves Scotland for Ibiza, where she collects an advance for the manuscript before hitting the clubs and such.

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THE BUZZ: Ramsay's Ratcatcher was a critic's favorite, but word isn't as favorable this time around. Some are saying she's left out the subtleties of Alan Warner's acclaimed novel.

Message Boards: I'm almost sure... | The Boyfriend (Spoilers?)

The Guys [limited]

Director: Jim Simpson
Stars: Sigourney Weaver, Anthony LaPaglia (Full Cast)
Studio: Focus Features

The Plot: A journalist (Weaver) helps a New York Fire Department captain (LaPaglia), who lost most of his team in the World Trade Center tragedy, write eulogies for eight of them.

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THE BUZZ: We're given to understand that this adaptation of Anne Nelson's play, which she wrote to provide a balance to the media's sensational reactions to 9/11, is anchored by the rock-solid performances of Weaver and LaPaglia.

Message Boards: The Guys ... A poignant tribute to 9/11 | I liked this film a lot

The Jimmy Show [limited]

Director: Frank Whaley
Stars: Frank Whaley, Carla Gugino, Ethan Hawke (Full Cast)
Studio: First Look International

The Plot: A failed New Jersey inventor (Whaley) embarks on a career as a standup comic, turns to drink, and labors to keep his family together.

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THE BUZZ: Writer/director/star Whaley appears in all but one scene in the film. Ugh.

Message Boards:

Pellet

Director: Achero Mañas
Stars: Juan José Ballesta, Pablo Galán, Alberto Jiménez (Full Cast)
Studio: Film Movement

The Plot: 12-year-old El Bola (Ballesta), growing up with his violent father and evil classmates, meets the new kid in school, Alfredo (Galan). They develop a friendship that helps change El Bola's attitude towards his life - teaching him independence and fearlessness in the face abuse and desolation.

Photos (see all 3 | slideshow)

THE BUZZ: Bola, finally being released stateside, won 4 Gola Awards in 2001: Best Film, Best New Director, Best New Actor (Ballesta), and Best Original Screenplay.

Message Boards: Who else felt kind of sorry for Pablo's mother? | Did I miss something?

The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (12/18)

Director: Peter Jackson
Stars: Elijah Wood, Ian McKellen, Viggo Mortensen (Full Cast)
Studio: New Line Cinema

The Plot: Picking up where Fellowship left off, Frodo and Sam continue on their quest to destroy the One Ring, now with Gollum in tow. Strider, Legolas, and friends take on Isengard, as the War of the Rings begins...

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THE BUZZ: Though I spent more time noticing the adaptation than watching the adaptation, Peter Jackson has done it again. He wrestled with the difficult second section of the Lord of the Rings trilogy admirably and courageously and was not overcome. He has compressed (a campfire scene in the Dead Marshes effectively summarizes pages of hinted-at motivations, deportments, and relationships), expanded (Helm's Deep is now a monumental battle), removed (Gandalf riding, riding, riding, the "shadow of the wood," sadly), and explained (how did Grima worm his way into the house of Theoden? The answer is brilliantly, quickly depicted). Additionally the filmmakers have decided, again wisely, to make a different film than Fellowship. They've even shifted the soul of the tale. While Fellowship is Frodo's story, Towers is Gollum's (will Sam have Return?) and Andy Serkis's Gollum is one of the greatest cinematic characters in recent memory. Quibbles: Gimli has been turned into a running-joke (please leave that on the cutting room floor for Return, Mr. Jackson), the girlie parts are even more dead weight than before, and, for the first time, during the attack on Isengard, the effects fail the story. But what a story. - Keith Simanton

Message Boards: I despise the term but... PLOT HOLE!!! | anyone, explain why is 2 Towers rated much lower...

Gangs of New York

Director: Martin Scorsese
Stars: Leonardo DiCaprio, Cameron Diaz, Daniel Day-Lewis (Full Cast)
Studio: Miramax Films

The Plot: It's 1860s Manhattan. The crime-plagued city is run by corrupt politicians of the Tammany Hall era, and gang warfare between the powerful Manhattan Irish and Italian gangs escalates into deadly draft riots. Against this backdrop, a young man (DiCaprio) teams up with a pickpocket (Diaz) to seek vengeance against the man (Day-Lewis) who killed his father.

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THE BUZZ: Martin Scorsese's grotesque failure in Gangs of New York is not in choosing only to show the dregs of 19th century New York society, it's that, unlike Goodfellas, you couldn't give a plug nickel about what happens to a single one of them. Day-Lewis's creation of Bill the Butcher towers over this film and that's a mistake too. He is The Searchers' Ethan Edwards and earns the center of the film. But DiCaprio's scrappy Amsterdam Vallon tries to wrest it away from him and Scorsese lets him have it. This is a movie that--somewhere--moved and Scorsese didn't move with it, but only clutched. What he's left holding is a tattered, bloody bunch of rags. - Keith Simanton

Message Boards: Your favourite fighting/battle scenes of all time | any other movie that was up for 10 oscars...

Antwone Fisher

Director: Denzel Washington
Stars: Denzel Washington, Derek Luke, Joy Bryant (Full Cast)
Studio: Fox Searchlight Pictures

The Plot: A young sailor (Luke) is ordered to see a Navy psychiatrist (Washington) to learn to control his anger, and his therapy inspires him to seek out the family that abandoned him as a child.

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THE BUZZ: His leads are good and Washington does competent work with this emotionally involving, succinctly told tale. The story itself is almost a PSA for adoption centers. As it is a decent and deserving effort one wishes there was more to recommend it. There really isn't. - Keith Simanton

Message Boards: Great film!!!!!It's about overcoming the odds!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!! | AMERICA

The Wild Thornberrys Movie

Director: Cathy Malkasian Jeff McGrath
Stars: Tim Curry, Rupert Everett, Flea (Full Cast)
Studio: Paramount Pictures

The Plot: Nickelodeon's cartoon family travels to Africa, where daughter Eliza meets a mysterious shaman who grants her the power to talk to animals. But there's a catch - if she reveals her gift, she will lose it forever.

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THE BUZZ: Considering how much the animation style of the TV series has always bugged the bejeesus belt out of me, I was inordinately surprised how much I enjoyed Thornberrys. Does it need to be a movie? No, save the improved score (with Paul Simon and a raft of other talented do-gooders). Does it justify being a movie? Oddly, yes. FYI: It's almost entirely family-friendly as well, in case you're really thinking about going. - Keith Simanton

Message Boards: Deserves a lot more recognition! | I know this is a kids movie, but

Two Weeks Notice

Director: Marc Lawrence
Stars: Sandra Bullock, Hugh Grant, Alicia Witt (Full Cast)
Studio: Warner Bros. Pictures

The Plot: A brilliant but neurotic attorney (Bullock) clashes with her charming but irresponible (and fabulously wealthy) client (Grant). Sparkage ensues.

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THE BUZZ: Grant is the best reason to see this movie, but, surprisingly, these two have an affable charm together. It's too generous to call it chemistry but their rapport works. You don't find that very often in the Sameness Sea of romantic-comedies. Next time they should find a decent script. Sandra better. She's going to need smart dialogue and smart choices to keep her career going because the pixie days are, probably to her great relief, officially over. - Keith Simanton

Message Boards: Best Lines and ad-libbing | Her hair

25th Hour [limited]

Director: Spike Lee
Stars: Edward Norton, Barry Pepper, Philip Seymour Hoffman (Full Cast)
Studio: Buena Vista Pictures

The Plot: A young man (Norton) parties the night away and experiences his last day of freedom before he begins serving a seven-year jail term for drug dealing.

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THE BUZZ: Writer David Benioff (who also wrote the novel this is based on) is apparently hotter than hot. And Lee couldn't ask for a better cast. But will audiences warm to the Requiem for a Dream-type subject content?

Message Boards: Sssshheiiiittt | Spike Lee's best film?

Narc [limited]

Director: Joe Carnahan
Stars: Ray Liotta, Jason Patric, Chi McBride (Full Cast)
Studio: Lions Gate Films

The Plot: When the trail goes cold on the murder investigation of a policeman, an undercover narcotics officer (Patric) on probation is lured back to the force to help solve the case.

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THE BUZZ: After generating positive word-of-mouth at Sundance, Paramount teamed up with Lions Gate to give this a wide distribution. They might have been persuaded by executive producer Tom Cruise, who's had a lengthy and overall profitable relationship with the studio.

Message Boards: Detroit | Narc vs Training Day

Devils on the Doorstep [New York City, New York]

Director: Wen Jiang
Stars: Wen Jiang, , Kenya Sawada (Full Cast)
Studio: Cowboy Pictures

The Plot: A peasant (Jiang) is tasked by the Chinese Army to care for a Japanese prisoner of war and his interpreter, a Chinese, during the final days of WWII.

Photos (see all 2 | slideshow)

THE BUZZ: Yikes, director Jiang was blacklisted from China's film industry for seven years for his portrayal of life under Japanese occupation during the 1930s and 40s.

Message Boards: why was this film banned in China? | great!

Catch Me If You Can [12/25]

Director: Steven Spielberg
Stars: Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hanks, Christopher Walken (Full Cast)
Studio: DreamWorks Distribution

The Plot: A young con artist (DiCaprio) successfully impersonates an airline pilot, doctor, assistant attorney general and history professor, all the while cashing more than $6 million in fraudulent checks. Maybe that's why an FBI agent (Hanks) is after him with a vengeance.

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THE BUZZ: It's Spielberg's Confidentially Yours, his Hatari!, his Wagon Master. In other words, it's a passable movie that benefits from its great director's acumen without giving you much to take home once the lights go up. DiCaprio is impressive as always, the talented little turd. - Keith Simanton

Message Boards: Amy Acker Scene? | Frank Sr. SPOILAAAHHS!

Pinocchio [12/25]

Director: Roberto Benigni
Stars: Roberto Benigni, Nicoletta Braschi, Carlo Giuffrè (Full Cast)
Studio: Miramax Films

The Plot: A wooden puppet dreams of becoming a real boy. This time, he's played by a 50 year-old Oscar-winning manic Italian.

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THE BUZZ: Ooh, the early reviews are in. From what we have read -- and maybe what we've feared all along -- Benigni's adrift in space and orbiting Pluto... Nash.

Message Boards: Is this better in Italian? | WWED (What Would Ebert Do?)

Chicago

Director: Rob Marshall
Stars: Renée Zellweger, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Richard Gere (Full Cast)
Studio: Miramax Films

The Plot: Two tough-talking dames (Zellweger and Zeta-Jones), jailed for murder, strive for fame and fortune--at any cost--in 1920s Chicago. Along the way, there's lots of singing and slinky Fosse-style dancing.

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THE BUZZ: There is a closing number in this great musical with Ms. Zellweger and Ms. Zeta-Jones. If you had told me going into the theater that I'd be staring, transfixed at Renée and not Catherine, I'd have said you were certifiable. But Zellweger is positively solar, electrical, and nuclear energy. I think she hit me with a couple of electrons. - Keith Simanton

Message Boards: Does anyone kinda wish Bob Fosse...... | Ruin the Moment - Chicago Style!

The Hours

Director: Stephen Daldry
Stars: Meryl Streep, Nicole Kidman, Julianne Moore (Full Cast)
Studio: Paramount Pictures

The Plot: Three women in different eras are all profoundly affected by the works of Virginia Woolf, specifically the novel Mrs. Dalloway. Based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Michael Cunningham.

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THE BUZZ: Everything you've heard about Kidman is true – as Virginia Woolf, she's absolutely incredible, unrecognizable not only for her prosthetic nose but for the ferocity of her performance, which blows away anything she's ever done before. Her scenes with Miranda Richardson, and especially Stephen Dillane (who, as Woolf's husband, should be getting all the Supporting Actor notice that Ed Harris is), are pitch-perfect and heartbreaking. The rest of The Hours, though, is alternately brilliant and self-important, with stunning moments of emotional clarity co-existing next to overindulgent, artsy ones that feel compelled to spell out what should just be shown. The acting is uniformly excellent, the writing intelligent, the direction clean and finite…. but in the end, the sum of this movie's parts is definitely greater than the whole. - Mark Englehart

Message Boards: Oscars mistakes | Virginia's 'sister'

Director:
Stars: (Full Cast)
Studio:

The Plot:

Videos (see all 2)

Confessions of a Dangerous Mind -- US Home Video Trailer from Miramax

Confessions of a Dangerous Mind -- US Theatrical Trailer from Miramax

THE BUZZ:

Message Boards:

Sonny

Director: Nicolas Cage
Stars: James Franco, Brenda Blethyn, Mena Suvari (Full Cast)
Studio: Samuel Goldwyn Films

The Plot: Since age 12, Sonny (Franco) has been a sought-after prostitute--under the watchful eye of his mother (Blethyn). The disillusioned young man breaks free and joins the army to try and escape his past. But the family keeps pulling him back in...

Photos (see all 5 | slideshow)

THE BUZZ: First-time director Cage is backed by Gold Circle Films, some of the money behind My Big Fat Greek Wedding. Can this gritty tale, loosely based on screenwriter John Carlen's life, hustle up some box office? Will it lay down for Oscar? Or will it be overshadowed during the holiday season onslaught?

Message Boards: Those of you that thought this was a great film were right | Acid Yellow (spoilers)

Max

Director: Menno Meyjes
Stars: John Cusack, Noah Taylor, Leelee Sobieski (Full Cast)
Studio: Lions Gate Films

The Plot: In 1918, a Jewish art dealer and painter (Cusack) develops a friendship with one of his students -- a young man named Adolf Hitler (Taylor).

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THE BUZZ: This fictionalized story of Hitler's pursuit of painting as a career faces a rough uphill battle from groups objecting to any depiction of Hitler's early years. But with the acclaimed Meyjes making his directorial debut -- and two great leading men (Taylor played the teenage David Helfgott in Shine) -- this could be a very thoughtful and thought-provoking film.

Message Boards: German Accents | Humanising Hitler

The Pianist

Director: Roman Polanski
Stars: Adrien Brody, Thomas Kretschmann, Frank Finlay (Full Cast)
Studio: Focus Features

The Plot: A composer and pianist (Brody) survives the destruction of the Warsaw ghetto and the concentration camps of World War II.

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THE BUZZ: What's impressive about this film is not the levels of depression it brings you to. Those are certainly present. It's the relentless will to survive. That fevered will is the backbone of this tale, which transcends the boundaries of humanity, morality, and art in order just to live, and then retreats back to those boundaries. We are reminded, in an ironically artistic fashion, how much of a luxury, and how much of necessity art is.- Keith Simanton

Message Boards: movies that are very good but you don't want to see again | Did anyone else notice the irony...?

Love Liza [12/30 -- LA/NY]

Director: Todd Louiso
Stars: Philip Seymour Hoffman, Annie Morgan, Kathy Bates (Full Cast)
Studio: Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment

The Plot: Following the suicide of his wife Liza (Morgan), a successful website designer (Hoffman) starts huffing gasoline fumes and flying remote control planes as a distraction. Unable to open the suicide letter she has left, heturns to Liza's mother (Bates) for help.

Photos (see all 41 \| slideshow)	Videos (see all 3)

THE BUZZ: Screenwriter Gordy Hoffman (yes, Philip Seymour's older brother) came up with the idea for Liza while he was driving a cab in Chicago. It passed from his brother's hands into wanna-be director Louiso's (remember, the nerdiest clerk in High Fidelity?), who apparently has knocked his first pitch out of the park.

Message Boards: If Anyone You Ever Loved Offed Themselves | Love Liza vs. About Schmidt

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