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April 2007 Releases
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Charlotte's Web
Child actor Dakota Fanning gives an impressively mature performance as the loyal and spunky farm girl Fern who rescues the pig Wilbur--the runt of his litter--from her father's axe. But as Wilbur grows up and faces his likely fate of becoming Christmas dinner, another friend steps in to save the day--the spider Charlotte (voiced by Julia Roberts), who spins fancy, slogan-filled webs above Wilbur's pen to convince his guardians that he is indeed a special pig and worth saving. The resulting hubbub saves his hide and reveals the importance of friendship and loyalty. Additionally, in scene after poignant scene, Wilbur learns about the nature of miracles, the seasons of life and death, and the inherent worth of even the runtiest of us.
Street Date: 4/3/2007
Genre:
Family
Rating:
G
Starring:
Dakota Fanning, Julia Roberts (voice)
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The Good Shepherd
With THE GOOD SHEPHERD, Robert De Niro (A BRONX TALE) makes an ambitious return to the director's chair. A labor of love for Oscar-winning screenwriter Eric Roth (FORREST GUMP), the film tells an epic, fictionalized account of how the Central Intelligence Agency was born. Matt Damon plays Edward Wilson, a reserved young man who graduated from Yale in the late 1930s. His membership in the exclusive, hidden Skull and Bones society led him away from poetry and into a relationship with the federal government, who recruited him to help them on several covert operations. Roth's script alternates between Wilson's gradual emergence as a genuine government operative in the early 1940s and the infamous Bay of Pigs conflict in the early 1960s. Along the way, he has a sweet romance with a pretty deaf girl (a sparkling Tammy Blanchard) and ends up marrying the woman he impregnates (Angelina Jolie) out of a strong sense of duty. Throughout the film, the emergence of a mysterious tape haunts Wilson, who is determined to uncover the truth behind a leak in his secret organization.
Street Date: 4/3/2007
Genre:
Thriller
Rating:
R
Starring:
Matt Damon, Angelina Jolie
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Black X-Mas
Though it was only a mild success upon its release in 1974, the original BLACK CHRISTMAS (directed by Bob Clark, who would go on to direct A CHRISTMAS STORY in 1984) has become a cult favorite among horror buffs since the dawn of the home-video era. An early example of the "body count" genre, the film also predates WHEN A STRANGER CALLS (1979) in its use of a killer making threatening phone calls that originate within his potential victims' own house. In this remake, writer/director Glen Morgan takes the basics of Roy Moore's screenplay for the original to create an elaborate and almost comically disturbing back story for Billy, the killer who previously remained a mystery. A handful of sorority girls remain at the house after the school shuts down for Christmas break. An ominous snowstorm blows in, isolating them. At the same time, a killer--who in this version escapes from a mental institution to return to his former family home--breaks into the attic and begins making terrifying phone calls to the girls (led by Kate Cassidy, Michelle Trachtenberg, and Lacey Chabert) before killing them off one by one. SCTV veteran Andrea Martin, who portrayed a victim in the original, returns as Ms. Mac, the house mother.
Street Date: 4/3/2007
Genre:
Horror
Rating:
NR/R
Starring:
Michelle Trachtenburg, Lacey Chabert
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Volver
At the heart of Madrid, three generations of women survive wind, fire and even death, thanks to goodness, audacity and a limitless vitality. They are Raimunda (Pénelope Cruz), who is married to an unemployed labourer and has a teenage daughter (Yohana Cobo); Sole (Lola Dueñas), her sister, who makes a living as a hairdresser; and the mother of both (Carmen Maura), who died in a fire along with her husband. This character appears first to her sister (Chus Lampreave) and then to Sole, although the people with whom she has some unresolved matters are Raimunda and her neighbour in the village, Agustina (Blanca Portillo).
Street Date: 4/3/2007
Genre:
Drama
Rating:
R
Starring:
Penelope Cruz
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Death of a President
British director Gabriel Range (THE DAY BRITAIN STOPPED) imagines the aftereffects of the assassination of George W. Bush in this fictional documentary ("mockumentary" seems too playful a word for this relentlessly taut film) set in 2008. Range uses real news footage, staged scenes (shot on high-res video but cleverly doctored to resemble grainy satellite news images and security-camera tapes), and phony talking-head interviews to create a compelling and believable thriller for the CNN generation. He even adds some whodunit elements, along with philosophical musings about post-9/11 civil liberties, the psychological effects of war, and the multilayered impact that such a murder would have on the world.
Street Date: 4/3/2007
Genre:
Crime
Rating:
R
Starring:
Jay Patterson, Becky Ann Baker
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Copying Beethoven
For her 2006 film, COPYING BEETHOVEN, acclaimed Polish director Agnieszka Holland, crafts a compelling fictionalized account of Ludwig van Beethoven (Ed Harris) as he creates his beloved Ninth Symphony, as seen through the eyes of Anna Holtz (Diane Kruger), a young music student assigned to transcribe his work. Although the thorny deaf composer initially resists Anna's help, the duo eventually form a fruitful relationship that results in one of the world's most spectacular classical pieces.
Street Date: 4/3/2007
Genre:
Drama
Rating:
PG13
Starring:
Ed Harris, Diane Kruger
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Bobby
With the civil rights movement still reeling from the murder of Martin Luther King, Jr. and the country embroiled in the confusion of Vietnam, Senator Robert F. Kennedy's campaign preached a message of peace and tolerance. African-American head chef Edward (Laurence Fishburne) presides over a kitchen staffed primarily by Mexican Americans who are the victims of the racist restaurant manager, Timmons (Christian Slater). Timmons is reprimanded by hotel manager Paul Ebbers (William H. Macy), who is having an affair with a switchboard operator (Heather Graham) behind the back of his beautician wife (Sharon Stone). Meanwhile, a young Diane (Lindsay Lohan) prepares to marry her classmate, William (Elijah Wood), in order to save him from going to Vietnam, and two collegiate campaigners for Senator Kennedy remove their ties to take their first LSD trip, courtesy of a resident hippie drug dealer (Ashton Kutcher).
Street Date: 4/10/2007
Genre:
Drama
Rating:
R
Starring:
Anthony Hopkins, Laurence Fishburne, Lindsay Lohan
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Freedom Writers
A rookie high school English teacher (Swank) inspires her class of inner-city students to learn tolerance, apply themselves, and pursue education beyond high school through creative writing.
Street Date: 4/17/2007
Genre:
Drama
Rating:
PG13
Starring:
Hilary Swank, Patrick Dempsey
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Smokin Aces
A mob boss takes out a $1 million bounty on the life of a Vegas magician turned gangster who has agreed to testify against him and is making one last trip through the casinos of Lake Tahoe. The FBI attempts to protect their key witness as an array of hit men and women descend on Lake Tahoe in a race to take the magician out.
Street Date: 4/17/2007
Genre:
Action
Rating:
R
Starring:
Jeremy Piven, Ryan Reynolds
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Notes on a Scandal
Dame Judi Dench and Cate Blanchett face off with searing performances in this riveting tale of obsession and desire. Based on the novel by Zoe Heller, NOTES ON A SCANDAL is the story of Barbara Covett (Dench), a hard-nosed spinster schoolteacher, and her poisonous friendship with fellow teacher Sheba Hart (Blanchett). When the young and beautiful Sheba shows up as the new art instructor, everyone is charmed by her, including the embittered Barbara. Barbara is thrilled when her lonely life is shaken up by Sheba's overtures of friendship, as Sheba invites her to share in family dinners, and opens up to her about her marital troubles and personal longing. Barbara narrates her own feelings of longing to us from her meticulous diaries, and it becomes increasingly clear that her take on the friendship is uncomfortably intense, if not borderline delusional. Things reach a fever pitch when Barbara happens upon Sheba dallying in the art room with a 15-year-old student. She tells Sheba that she must end the affair at once, but decides not to report her to the school, and instead, to use her knowledge of the indiscretion to draw Sheba closer to her, and put her in her debt. But when Barbara's demands on Sheba become too high, things soon unravel, setting off a chain of events that will leave viewers chewing their nails to the quick, but unable to tear their eyes away.
Street Date: 4/17/2007
Genre:
Drama
Rating:
R
Starring:
Cate Blanchett, Judi Dench
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The Last King of Scotland
Forest Whitaker delivers a ferociously commanding performance as bloodthirsty Ugandan president Idi Amin in Kevin MacDonald's THE LAST KING OF SCOTLAND. Adapted from the novel by Giles Foden, the film recounts Amin's horrific reign through the eyes of a fictional character, Nick Garrigan (James McAvoy), a young doctor from Scotland who travels to Uganda hoping to do some good. Nick is more sanguine about new president Amin than is his counterpart Sarah Merrit (Gillian Andersen), whose experience causes her to be skeptical of Amin's bombastic declarations. After an automobile accident, Nick is called in to treat the president's wounds. His authoritative behavior impresses Amin, who charms Nick into becoming his personal physician. Nick embraces his newfound life of luxury, but he is unable to grasp the reality of the situation. When he does finally realize the atrocities Amin is inflicting upon his people (and is also capable of inflicting on Nick), the terrified doctor tries to make a frantic escape before it's too late.
Street Date: 4/17/2007
Genre:
Drama
Rating:
R
Starring:
Forest Whitaker, James McAvoy, Gillian Anderson
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The History Boys
THE HISTORY BOYS, a clever look at a British school system's attempts to produce Oxford and Cambridge-worthy graduates, is based on the play of the same title by Alan Bennett. Bennett's play provides an interesting springboard for a film about youth, growing up, education, identity, and the complexities of the student-teacher relationship. Set in Sheffield, England, in the early 1980s, the story follows a class of college-bound high-school boys as they prepare for the rigorous entrance exams. Feeling the boys need grooming beyond what the absurd Mr. Hector (Richard Griffiths) and sarcastic Mrs. Lintott (Frances De La Tour) can offer, the headmaster (Clive Merrison) brings in Mr. Irwin (Stephen Campbell Moore) to fill in the gaps. As a finishing school teacher of sorts, it becomes Irwin's job, through innovative history lessons and bold techniques, to turn children into men. But like his colleagues, Mr. Irwin is not without doubts and of his own, and his inevitable attraction to one of his students is something that he continually struggles with.
Street Date: 4/17/2007
Genre:
Comedy
Rating:
R
Starring:
Stephen Campbell Moore, Richard Griffiths
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The Marsh
Claire Holloway (Anwar) is the author of a series of successful children's books. Her personal life, however, is far from a storybook tale. Visions of violence and death haunt her and she is tortured by a darkness that seems to seep from the corners of her subconscious. In hopes of clearing her mind, Claire takes her doctor's advice to go on a sabbatical. She decides to stay at the Rose Marsh Farmhouse, which looks suspiciously like the house she sees in her nightmares. Almost immediately upon arriving at the farmhouse, Claire is shaken by a series of escalating and unexplained events and plunged into a frightening world controlled by the ghost of a ten year old girl (Wilson) - the very girl that Claire has seen in her dreams many nights before. In a frantic attempt to save her sanity, Claire enlists the help of Geoffrey Hunt (Whitaker), a paranormal consultant who helps her unravel the mysterious village's dark secret - as well as her own.
Street Date: 4/17/2007
Genre:
Horror
Rating:
R
Starring:
Forest Whitaker, Gabrielle Anwar
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National Lampoon - Pucked
Former lawyer turned failed entrepreneur Frank Hopper (Bon Jovi) is living on the good graces of his sister (Dunn). While out one day with his best friend Carl (Faustino), he fills out a survey claiming an income of one million dollars and is soon flooded with over 200 credit cards. Using his newly-acquired plastic, Hopper funds a crazy scheme to launch the first all-woman ice hockey league (the Almighty Swans and Fearsome Foxes) and hiring a bevy of beauties. After racking up $300,000 in credit debt in a very short period of time, Frank's dream collapses when the credit card companies catch on to what's happening and take him to court. With the help of an old flame (Warren), Frank defends himself in the hopes of triumphing over the corporate machine.
Street Date: 4/17/2007
Genre:
Comedy
Rating:
R
Starring:
Jon Bon Jovi, Estella Warren, David Faustino
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Night at the Museum
Good-hearted dreamer Larry Daley, despite being perpetually down on his luck, thinks he's destined for something big. But even he could never have imagined how big, when he accepts what appears to be a menial job as a graveyard-shift security guard at a museum of natural history. During Larry's watch, extraordinary things begin to occur: Mayans, Roman Gladiators, and cowboys emerge from their diorama to wage epic battles; in his quest for fire, a Neanderthal burns down his own display; Attila the Hun pillages his neighboring exhibits, and a T-Rex reminds everyone why he's history's fiercest predator. Amidst the chaos, the only person Larry can turn to for advice is a wax figure of President Teddy Roosevelt, who helps our hero harness the bedlam, stop a nefarious plot, and save the museum.
Street Date: 4/24/2007
Genre:
Family
Rating:
PG
Starring:
Ben Stiller, Robin Williams, Owen Wilson
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Deja Vu
After the success of 2004's MAN ON FIRE, director Tony Scott and Denzel Washington teamed up once again--this time alongside high-powered producer Jerry Bruckheimer--to deliver this big-budget spectacle of an action picture set in post-Katrina New Orleans. The city is delivered another crushing blow when a ferry explodes, killing over 500 innocent citizens. Only this time, nature wasn't the cause of the tragedy. Enter ATF officer Doug Carlin (Washington), who is recruited by a newly formed FBI unit (headed by Val Kilmer) to help track down the killer (a Timothy McVeigh-esque Jim Caviezel). When a body is found floating in the river, it is determined that the victim was murdered before the ferry blast occurred. Unfortunately, the victim was the impossibly beautiful Claire Kuchever (Paula Patton), whose death has begun to torment Carlin. Adding a new level to the investigation is a top-secret FBI invention, which allows a select group to view the past on screen as if it had been videotaped days earlier. The more Carlin sees of Kuchever, the more connected to her he becomes, until he decides to risk his life by traveling back in time and altering the course of history.
Street Date: 4/24/2007
Genre:
Action
Rating:
PG13
Starring:
Denzel Washington, Jim Caviezel, Val Kilmer
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The Queen
The Queen is an intimate behind the scenes glimpse at the interaction between Queen Elizabeth II and Prime Minister Tony Blair following the death of Princess Diana. While the country is clamoring for a public display of mourning, the Royal Family looks upon it as a private tragedy, leaving it to Blair to reach a compromise in what has become a public relations nightmare.
Street Date: 4/24/2007
Genre:
Bio/Drama
Rating:
PG13
Starring:
Helen Mirren, Michael Sheen
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Code Name: The Cleaner
Cedric the Entertainer (JOHNSON FAMILY VACATION, BARBERSHOP) stars as Jake, a bumbling amnesiac, in the spy-parody caper CODE NAME: THE CLEANER. Waking up next to a dead FBI agent and a briefcase full of money, and with flashbacks to his combat training, Jake suspects he's actually an undercover operative. He comes into contact with numerous characters who add to his confusion: Diane (Nicollette Sheridan), a blond bombshell claiming to be his wife; Gina (Lucy Liu), a feisty waitress who insists she's his girlfriend; and employees of a computer technology company who are adamant that he's a janitor. The film escalates into a race against the clock--while piecing his past together Jake realizes he holds a valuable secret and must thwart a group of dangerous agents who are after him.
Street Date: 4/24/2007
Genre:
Comedy
Rating:
PG13
Starring:
Cedric the Entertainer, Lucy Liu
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Little Children
Actor-turned-director Todd Field follows up his Oscar-nominated drama, IN THE BEDROOM, with this ambitious adaptation of Tom Perrotta's celebrated novel. Set in the imploding minefields of modern suburbia, LITTLE CHILDREN follows several inhabitants of a small American town as they fumble their way through adulthood. Numb-to-life housewife and mother Sarah Pierce (Kate Winslet) finds an outlet for her yearning in gorgeous househusband Brad Adamson (Patrick Wilson), who is crippled with insecurity over the fact that his perfect wife, Kathy (Jennifer Connelly), is the family breadwinner. When Sarah and Brad meet at the local playground one afternoon, a passionate affair is sparked. In a further attempt to reclaim his youthful fire, Brad joins a night football league with Larry Hedges (Noah Emmerich), a former cop who has begun to harass a convicted sex offender, Ronnie J. McGorvey (Jackie Earle Haley). These troubled lives eventually collide, causing each individual to take full responsibility for their not-so-responsible actions.
Street Date: 4/24/2007
Genre:
Drama
Rating:
R
Starring:
Kate Winslet, Jennifer Connelly, Patrick Wilson
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Thr3e
After becoming the next potential victim of a maniac killer, a young seminary student teams up with a criminal psychologist whose brother was killed by the same criminal. With each other's help, can they decipher the cryptic clues left by the killer before it's too late? THR3E is based on a best-selling book by Ted Dekker.
Street Date: 4/24/2007
Genre:
Thriller
Rating:
PG13
Starring:
Marc Blucas, Justine Waddell
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10 Items or Less
Where does a down-on-his-luck movie star go for inspiration when his career has sputtered to a four-year halt? This is the question director/writer Brad Silberling (LEMONY SNICKET'S A SERIES OF UNFORTUNATE EVENTS) poses for his central character--an unnamed actor played by Morgan Freeman--in 10 ITEMS OR LESS. The answer lies amid the cheap cereal packets and decomposing vegetables of a dilapidated grocery store on the outskirts of Los Angeles, a location Freeman travels to so he can research a potential comeback role. Once there he encounters Scarlet (Paz Vega), a Spanish cashier who, terminally bored with her life and job, takes out all her grievances on the unsuspecting customers in her 10-Items-or-Less line. At the end of Scarlet's shift, Freeman's character finds himself stranded in this desolate outpost, so he approaches her and the two strike up a deal--she will give him a ride home, but only after he has shadowed her while she finishes her errands for the day.
Street Date: 4/24/2007
Genre:
Comedy
Rating:
R
Starring:
Morgan Freeman, Paz Vega
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Until Death
No one likes Anthony Stowe (Van Damme), a dirty, heroin-addicted cop, until he is put into a coma by his ex-partner Gabriel, a newly annointed mob boss. After Stowe awakes months later, he is a better person who wants to put things right.
Street Date: 4/24/2007
Genre:
Action
Rating:
R
Starring:
Jean-Claude Van Damme
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