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May 2007 Releases
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Dreamgirls
The 1982 Tony-Award-winning musical DREAMGIRLS shimmies its way to the big screen with a stellar cast and undeniable sheen. Set in 1960s Detroit, DREAMGIRLS follows the commercial and cultural struggles of the R&B recording industry, through the rise of the Dreamettes (later shortened to just the Dreams) from backup singers to headlining international superstars. The trio--Deena (Beyoncé Knowles), Effie (Jennifer Hudson), and Lorrell (Anika Noni Rose)--soon discover the harsh reality behind the glamour of fame and fortune, as the group's controlling and shady manager, Curtis Taylor Jr. (Jamie Foxx), uses them to help build his musical empire and capture his dream of crossing over from R&B to the pop charts. He sacrifices Effie's immense talent as lead singer for Deena's stunning, more mainstream look to sell the sound, pushing marketable appeal over musical artisanship--and compromising the ambitions of his protégés.
Street Date: 5/1/2007
Genre: Musical
Rating: PG13
Starring: Eddie Murphy, Beyonce Knowles, Jamie Foxx
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Happily Never After
For those who couldn't get enough of SHREK, HAPPILY NEVER AFTER supplies a similar take on fairy-tale traditions. Set in Fairy Tale Land, this comedy features the heroes and villains of stories from Rumplestiltskin to Sleeping Beauty. The job of the wizard (George Carlin) is to ensure everyone has happy endings. But when he leaves on vacation, he entrusts his tasks to his inept assistants. Cinderella's evil stepmother (Sigourney Weaver) begins to wreak havoc on the endings of fairy tales. Though she's interested in menace in general, she particularly wants her stepdaughter, Ella (Sarah Michelle Gellar), to suffer. She vows to keep her from Prince Charming (Patrick Warburton), much to the delight of his servant, Rick (Freddie Prinze, Jr.), who is in love with Ella himself.
Street Date: 5/1/2007
Genre: Family
Rating: PG
Starring: George Carlin, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Freddie Prinze Jr, Sigourney Weaver
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Motives 2 - Retribution
This sexy sequel to MOTIVES picks up three years after the steamy thrills of the original. Emery Simms is a rarity--an innocent man in prison. On the outside, his ex-wife (Vivica A. Fox) is married to his best friend (Sean Blakemore), and they're attempting to make a normal life. But Simms is killed in prison, and his brother Donovan (Brian J. White) returns to discover the real reason for his brother's death. The web of lies and murder may prove just as poisonous to Donovan as it was to his late brother.
Street Date: 5/1/2007
Genre: Thrill
Rating: R
Starring: Vivica A. Fox, Brian J. White
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Sandlot 3 - Heading Home
90210's Luke Perry plays a cocky baseball player in this follow-up to THE SANDLOT and THE SANDLOT 2. Tommy Santorelli (Perry) is a star on the field, but he's not a team player. When a wayward pitch knocks him out, Tommy wakes up to find he's a kid again. Now he's not worried about his salary or his name in lights; instead, he has to help his team save the sandlot from a villainous man who wants to destroy their beloved field.
Street Date: 5/1/2007
Genre: Family
Rating: PG
Starring: Luke Perry, Sarah Deakins
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Because I Said So
Diane Keaton lights up the screen as an overbearing, matchmaking single mother in this slightly offbeat romantic comedy from director Michael Lehmann (HEATHERS, THE TRUTH ABOUT CATS AND DOGS). The film is a lot of fun, with both Keaton and Mandy Moore delivering energetic performances as a loveable and pretty believable mother-daughter team. After seeing two of her three stunning daughters (Piper Perabo, Lauren Graham) happily marry, Daphne Wilder (Keaton) focuses all her worries on Milly (Moore), her youngest, most insecure, and unlucky-in-love offspring. Twentysomething Milly has got her career as a chef figured out, but is clueless when it comes to love, attracting a never-ending slew of married, cheating, and closeted men. Taking matters into her own hands, Daphne places a personal ad for her daughter, interviewing the suitors herself and settling on one particularly promising young man named Jason. Meanwhile, clueless to her mother's plans, Milly starts to fall for Johnny, a cute musician who in spite of treating Milly like gold, is hardly what Daphne has in mind for her daughter's future. As Milly becomes increasingly involved with both men, Daphne must face whether maybe she could still have her own romantic life at age 60, instead of just living vicariously through her grown daughters.
Street Date: 5/8/2007
Genre: Chick
Rating: PG13
Starring: Diane Keaton, Mandy Moore
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Breaking & Entering
BREAKING AND ENTERING may lack the quality and scope of Anthony Minghella's previous work such as THE ENGLISH PATIENT and COLD MOUNTAIN, but it's an interesting, character-driven drama. Jude Law (CLOSER) plays Will, a landscape architect who succeeds in business but finds his personal life is tougher to navigate. He has been with Liv (Robin Wright Penn, FORREST GUMP) for years, but it's difficult to connect with her due to her worry over her teenage daughter. When Will catches a teenage boy named Miro (Ravi Gafron) breaking into his office, he chases the thief home. He later meets the boy's mother, a Bosnian refugee played by Juliette Binoche (CHOCOLAT). His anger at Miro is quickly transformed into attraction to his mother, further complicating his relationship with Liv.
Street Date: 5/8/2007
Genre: Drama
Rating: R
Starring: Jude Law, Juliette Binoche
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Catch And Release
Screenwriter Susannah Grant makes her directorial debut in this tale of love, loss, and finding new love. Gray Wheeler's (Jennifer Garner) wedding day is not going as planned. Instead of walking down the aisle in her wedding gown, she is at the funeral of her fiancé, Grady, following his accidental death on a trip meant to be his bachelor party. To make ends meet, Gray puts her things in storage and moves in with Grady's roommates, levelheaded and attentive Dennis (Sam Jaeger) and quirky yet lovable Sam (Kevin Smith). With childhood friend Fritz (Timothy Olyphant) in from L.A. and crashing on the couch, it's a full house. Inhabiting Grady's old room, Gray soon learns that her fiancé had been keeping some big secrets from her and may not have been the man she thought he was. Perhaps more importantly, she discovers some surprising things about herself, and her ability to heal and love again.
Street Date: 5/8/2007
Genre: Chick
Rating: PG13
Starring: Jennifer Garner, Timothy Olyphant, Kevin Smith
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Fur
Was Diane Arbus a brilliant innovator whose photographs captured the beauty in the most desperate of subjects? Or was she an exploiter of "freaks," shilling pictures of the deformed as a modern-day sideshow? Regardless of where one stands on her work, few can argue its impact on the art world. In FUR: AN IMAGINARY PORTRAIT OF DIANE ARBUS, director Steven Shainberg makes a bold first attempt at bringing the artist to the big screen. The film opens with Arbus (Nicole Kidman) living as a depressed housewife in a ritzy Park Avenue apartment. Assisting her husband Allen (Ty Burrell) in his photography studio, Arbus helps him shoot ads for women's magazines. One night, after spying on her mysterious next door neighbor--a sharply dressed man with a hood over his face--Arbus decides to heed her husband's advice to step out and take some photos of her own. She climbs the stairs to her neighbor's apartment with the intention of taking his portrait, and there she meets Lionel (Robert Downey, Jr.). Lionel suffers from hypertrichosis, a disease that causes thick hair to grow over every inch of his body, including his face. He and Arbus strike up a flirtatious friendship, and he introduces her to the underworld of New York. They party with dwarves, dominatrixes, and circus performers--all future subjects of Arbus photographs. Arbus's marriage soon begins to fall apart, and her relationship with Lionel builds towards a traumatic, but transformative, end.
Street Date: 5/8/2007
Genre: Bio/Drama
Rating: R
Starring: Nicole Kidman, Robert Downey Jr.
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Music And Lyrics
Alex Fletcher is a washed-up '80s pop star who's been reduced to working the nostalgia circuit at county fairs and amusement parks. The charismatic and talented musician gets a chance at a comeback when reigning diva Cora Corman invites him to write and record a duet with her, but there's a problem - Alex hasn't written a song in years, he's never written lyrics, and he has to come up with a hit in a matter of days.
Enter Sophie Fisher, Alex's beguilingly quirky plant lady, whose flair for words strikes a chord with the struggling songwriter. On the rebound from a bad relationship, Sophie is reluctant to collaborate with anyone, especially commitment-phobe Alex.
As their chemistry heats up at the piano and under it, Alex and Sophie will have to face their fears - and the music - if they want to find the love and success they both deserve.
Street Date: 5/8/2007
Genre: Chick
Rating: PG13
Starring: Hugh Grant, Drew Barrymore
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The Painted Veil
The third film version of Somerset Maughm's 1925 novel--directed by John Curran--is ripe with stunning Chinese locales and a smart turn from Naomi Watts as Kitty Fane, the aging English socialite who must put herself in strange and turbulent surroundings before she finds her true self. A complex and beautiful international production, this adaptation benefits greatly from the lack restrictions that inhibited it's previous incarnations in 1925 (with Greta Garbo) and in 1957 (as THE SEVENTH SIN).
After pressure from her wealthy parents to settle down, Kitty (Naomi Watts) marries mild-mannered bacteriologist Walter (Edward Norton), despite her lack of love for him. Shortly after their vows, he takes her to Shanghai, where she immediately has an affair with Charles Townsend (Liev Shrieber), an English Vice Consul. Walter becomes aware of Kitty's indiscretion and promptly whisks her away to the mountain village of Mei-tan-fu, where they befriend another English expat, the secretly decadent Deputy Commissioner Waddington (Toby Jones, in an extremely likable performance). Walter begins working to hold an encroaching cholera epidemic at bay---leaving Kitty to ponder her role in the situation as death looms over the village like a specter.
Street Date: 5/8/2007
Genre: Chick
Rating: PG13
Starring: Naomi Watts, Edward Norton
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Arthur And The Invisibles
Director Luc Besson (THE FIFTH ELEMENT) tries his hand at a children's film with ARTHUR AND THE INVISIBLES. Based on a book, this adventure follows Arthur (Freddie Highmore) as he journeys in his own backyard to save his home from greedy land developers. When his grandfather disappears, Freddie follows a series of clues that lead him to the land of the Minimoys (aka the Invisibles). Arthur's entrance into their realm takes the film from live-action to computer animation, changing Arthur from a 10-year-old boy into one of the Minimoys. The elf-like people he encounters are so tiny that insects dwarf them. Their warrior princess (voiced by Madonna) is ready to ascend the throne of the tiny kingdom. But first she and Arthur must join forces to outwit the evil Malthazar (voiced by David Bowie), who is intent on destroying the kindhearted race.
Street Date: 5/15/2007
Genre: Family
Rating: PG
Starring: Freddie Highmore, Mia Farrow
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Curse Of The Zodiac
Inspired by the true story of a serial killer in Northern California during the 60's and 70's, the Zodiac Killer left symbols and riddles behind at his crime scenes, taunting the police and media as they tried to identify him.
Street Date: 5/15/2007
Genre: Horror
Rating: R
Starring: Cassandra Church, Jack Quinn
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The Fountain
It's been a long, strange trip since Darren Aronofsky last invited viewers into his cinematic world--six years in fact--but THE FOUNTAIN is sure to enchant, beguile, and inspire intense debate among his patient fans. The complex tale is split into three different time periods, beginning in the 16th century, when a conquistador named Tomas (Hugh Jackman) strives to find the Tree of Life. The second part of the story finds Jackman playing a Buddha-like character who zips through outer space and dreams of a woman named Izzi (Rachel Weisz). And the third part, which consumes most of the film's screen time, is set in the present day and sees Jackman playing a doctor named Tommy, who is married to the terminally ill Izzi. In this third section Tommy strives to find a cure for Izzi's brain tumor, and makes some progress after experimenting on a monkey with a substance discovered in a tree in South America. Meanwhile, Izzi has been writing a book that she calls THE FOUNTAIN, but has left the final chapter for Tommy to write.
Street Date: 5/15/2007
Genre: Drama
Rating: PG13
Starring: Hugh Jackman, Rachel Weisz
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Half Past Dead 2
WWE and WCW star Bill Goldberg brings his brawn from the ring to the screen in this sequel to the 2002 film HALF PAST DEAD. Joined by rapper Kurupt of Tha Dog Pound, Goldberg plays Burk, an inmate at a prison that brings new meaning to the phrase "maximum security." A riot erupts among the violent offenders, and Burk is forced to unite with fellow prisoner Twitch (Kurupt) in order to survive. They learn that Twitch's fiancée and Burke's daughter have been taken hostage by the man to blame for the riot, cementing their alliance as they try to take him down.
Street Date: 5/15/2007
Genre: Action
Rating: R
Starring: Kurupt, Bill Goldberg
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The Last Sin Eater
Based on the bestseller by Francine Rivers, THE LAST SIN EATER explores the coming-of-age of a young girl plagued with guilt and shame over a recent family tragedy.
Street Date: 5/15/2007
Genre: Drama
Rating: PG13
Starring: Peter Wingfield, Henry Thomas
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Pan's Labyrinth
Written and directed by Guillermo del Toro, PAN'S LABYRINTH is a thrilling, violent fairy tale set in post-Civil War Spain. Ivana Baquero stars as Ofelia, a young girl who moves with her mother, Carmen (Ariadna Gil), into the home of Captain Vidal (Sergi López), in an abandoned mill in the middle of dark, dangerous woods. Vidal is leading his team of soldiers against resistance fighters--and he will do whatever is necessary to kill every last one of them. As Vidal bosses around the pregnant Carmen, a flying creature leads Ofelia through a garden labyrinth and into an underground cave ruled by Pan (HELLBOY's Doug Jones), who believes that Ofelia might be the lost princess of this strange yet magical place. To prove she is royalty, Ofelia must complete three tasks, each more difficult and terrifying than the previous one. Meanwhile, Vidal is becoming more and more paranoid, torturing and murdering seemingly at will. Del Toro (THE DEVIL'S BACKBONE, HELLBOY, CRONOS) creates a marvelous battle between good and evil, between heroes and villains, in both the real world aboveground and the mystical land below. Baquero gives a compelling performance as the terrorized Ofelia, who is befriended by Mercedes (Maribel Verdú), a woman who harbors some secrets of her own. Stellar production design, superb special effects, and a stirring score by Javier Navarrete add to the scary fun. Selected as the closing-night entry in the 2006 New York Film Festival, PAN'S LABYRINTH is a captivating story that is not for the squeamish.
Street Date: 5/15/2007
Genre: Drama
Rating: R
Starring: Ivana Baquero, Maribel Verdu
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Seraphim Falls
It's three years after the Civil War, and Morsman Carver (Liam Neeson) is leading a small hired posse, including Pope (Robert Baker) and Parsons (Ed Lauter), to track down Gideon (Pierce Brosnan) through the snow-covered woods of the Ruby Mountains in New Mexico. While his posse is in it for the money, Carver appears to have more personal reasons for going after Gideon--and demanding that he be taken alive. But in David Von Ancken's exciting Western, the audience is kept in the dark for most of the movie as to just why Carver is so determined to hunt Gideon down and meet him face-to-face. In fact, the script, written by Von Ancken and Abby Everett Jacques, also keeps viewers guessing about which of them might be the hero and which the villain, blurring the distinction between good and evil.
Street Date: 5/15/2007
Genre: Drama
Rating: R
Starring: Liam Neeson, Pierce Brosnan
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Stomp The Yard
What is the difference between a gang and a team? DJ Williams (Columbus Short) is forced to confront this question, along with the usual post-adolescent romantic and family conflicts, when his well-meaning uncle (Harry Lennix) enrolls him at his Atlanta alma mater, Truth University. His enrollment is part of a plea bargain that will save him from being imprisoned, and it is also a last resort to rescue him from the LA gang life that has already claimed his beloved brother. An avid and remarkably gifted hip-hop dancer, DJ is quickly solicited by two fraternities who want to make use of his skills on their respective step teams. DJ resists at first, equating fraternities and stepping as stultifying, upper-class activities.
Eventually DJ warms to the underdog fraternity and, with his amazing krumping, clowning, and breaking, transforms the team. More importantly, the team transforms him, providing a creative outlet and a character-building support network that help cushion the blows life keeps dealing.
Street Date: 5/15/2007
Genre: Drama
Rating: PG13
Starring: Columbus Short, Meagan Good
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Apocalypto
Mel Gibson (BRAVEHEART, THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST) tackles the downfall of Mayan civilization in his latest turn as writer/director. Jaguar Paw (Rudy Youngblood) and his fellow villagers lead a peaceful life in the forest until a savage, unprovoked attack turns their world upside down. After hiding his pregnant wife and young son from the invaders, Jaguar Paw joins in the fight, only to be taken prisoner with the rest of the survivors. Uncertain of what the future holds and taken from his home to a thriving metropolis that might as well be a foreign country, Jaguar Paw has just one goal--to return to his wife and child. Jaguar Paw's journey is a coming-of-age saga running the gamut of love, loss, courage, and redemption.
Street Date: 5/22/2007
Genre: Action
Rating: R
Starring: Rudy Youngblood
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Epic Movie
From Jason Friedberg and Aaron Setzer (DATE MOVIE, SCARY MOVIE) comes this everything-in-the-kitchen-sink, blender-set-to-grind comedy, which pokes fun at big crowd-pleasers like WILLIE WONKA AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY, CHRONICLES OF NARNIA, SNAKES ON A PLANE, PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN, X-MEN, NACHO LIBRE, and THE DA VINCI CODE, among others. The loose plot involves a gang of teen orphans (including Jayma Mays and Faune A. Chambers) whose trip inside Wonka's candy factory leads them to a Narnia-style wardrobe adventure. Jennifer Coolidge is the evil White Witch they have to tangle with in this new land, and Fred Willard plays Aslo, the lion. Scene-stealing Crispin Glover plays the Wonka-be, David Carradine breakdances, and the vivacious Carmen Elektra morphs enticingly in her X-MEN-style blue body paint. A bevy of eerie look-alikes pose as Paris Hilton, Anna Paquin, Samuel Jackson, and P Diddy, among others.
Street Date: 5/22/2007
Genre: Comedy
Rating: NR/13
Starring: Kal Penn, Jennifer Coolidge
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The Good German
Mixing Russian archival footage with presentday actors (in grainy black and white footage), The Good German tells the tale of the formation of NASA, American companies employing Nazi Rocket Scientists after World War II, set against a murder mystery.
Street Date: 5/22/2007
Genre: Drama
Rating: R
Starring: George Clooney, Cate Blanchett, Tobey Maguire
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Letters From Iwo Jima
Filmed almost entirely in Japanese, Letters From Iwo Jima is director Clint Eastwood's companion movie to Flags From our Fathers. While "Flags" dealt with the battle of Iwo Jima from the American point of view, "Letters" is the story of the same battle, told from the perspective of the Japanese.
Street Date: 5/22/2007
Genre: War
Rating: R
Starring: Ken Watanabe
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Hannibal Rising
In the most chilling chapter in the life of Hannibal Lecter, find the answer to the most elusive question of all - why? Reaching back to explore the origins of Lecter's rage, terror and savagery, the story begins in Eastern Europe at the end of World War II when a young Hannibal watches the violent death of his parents - a horrific moment that changes him forever. Showing a cunning aptitude for science, he hones his skills to exact justice on those that hurt his family, igniting an insatiable lust within a serial killer who was not born, but made.
Street Date: 5/29/2007
Genre: Thriller
Rating: R/Unrated
Starring: Gaspard Ulliel, Rhys Ifans, Gong Li
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