To anyone who has ever yearned to see woolly mammoths in full stampede across the Alps, 10,000 BC can be heartily recommended. There's also a flock of "terror birds" (lethal ostriches on steroids) in a steaming jungle only a splice away from the heroes' snow-dusted alpine habitat. And lo, somewhere in the vastness of the North African desert lies a city whose slave inhabitants alternately ...
Manufacturer: Warner Home VideoStarring: Steven Strait, Camilla Belle, Cliff Curtis, Joel Virgel, Ben BargaDirected By: Roland Emmerich
You can never accuse director Danny Boyle of lacking ambition. Sunshine sees one of Britain's most successful directors switching genre once more, as he tackles this gripping science fiction flick about a quest to re-ignite the dying sun. And he nails it, too, adding another plus to a CV that's already covered a kids' film (Millions), a big Hollywood blockbuster (The Beach), ...
Manufacturer: 20th Century Fox Home EntertainmentStarring: Rose Byrne, Cliff Curtis, Chris Evans, Troy Garity, Michelle YeohDirected By: Danny Boyle
A briskly paced hybrid of Boogie Nights and Goodfellas, Blow chronicles the three-decade rise and fall of George Jung (Johnny Depp), a normal American kid who makes a personal vow against poverty, builds a marijuana empire in the 1960s, multiplies his fortune with the Colombian Medellín cocaine cartel, and blows it all with a series of police busts culminating in one final, ...
Manufacturer: Entertainment in VideoStarring: Johnny Depp, Penélope Cruz, Franka Potente, Rachel Griffiths, Paul ReubensDirected By: Ted Demme
A powerhouse performance by Denzel Washington fuels Training Day, a brutal urban police drama in which a rookie narcotics cop learns the hard way that even good cops can go very, very bad. Washington plays veteran detective Alonzo Harris, a self-proclaimed "wolf among wolves", eager to teach his rookie partner Jake (Ethan Hawke) that normal rules don't apply on the mean streets of Los ...
Manufacturer: Warner Home VideoStarring: Denzel Washington, Ethan Hawke, Scott Glenn, Tom Berenger, Harris YulinDirected By: Antoine Fuqua
Sir Anthony Hopkins trots out another psycho you'll hate to love in Fracture, a by-the-numbers legal thriller that's redeemed by electric performances from its two leads. Hopkins is on fine accent-bending, twinkle-eyed form as aeronautics engineer Ted Crawford, who has devised the perfect way to bump off his cheating wife. Ryan Gosling positively crackles as Willy Beachum, the cocky public ...
Manufacturer: Entertainment in VideoStarring: Anthony Hopkins, David Strathairn, Ryan Gosling, Billy Burke, Rosamund PikeDirected By: Gregory Hoblit
New Zealand filmmaker Lee Tamahori (The Edge) directed this brutal but powerful story drawn from the culture of poverty and alienation enveloping contemporary Maori life. Rena Owen plays the beleaguered mother of two boys--one of whom is already in prison while the other contemplates membership in a gang--and a daughter whose potential is being smothered at home. Temuera Morrison gives an ...
Manufacturer: Entertainment in VideoStarring: Rena Owen, Temuera Morrison, Mamaengaroa Kerr-Bell, Julian Arahanga, Taungaroa EmileDirected By: Lee Tamahori
A confident hybrid of M*A*S*H, Treasure of the Sierra Madre, and Dr. Strangelove, Three Kings is one of the most seriously funny war movies ever made. Improving the premise of Kelly's Heroes with scathing intelligence, it explores the odd connection between war and consumerism in the age of Humvees and cellular phones. Writer-director David O. Russell's third ...
Manufacturer: Warner Home VideoStarring: George Clooney, Mark Wahlberg, Ice Cube, Spike Jonze, Cliff CurtisDirected By: David O. Russell
One of the most charming and critically acclaimed films of 2003, the New Zealand hit Whale Rider effectively combines Maori tribal tradition with the timely "girl power" of a vibrant new millennium. Despite the discouragement of her gruff and disapproving grandfather (Rawiri Paratene), who nearly disowns her because she is female and therefore traditionally disqualified from tribal ...
Manufacturer: Warner Home VideoStarring: Keisha Castle-Hughes, Rawiri Paratene, Vicky Haughton, Cliff Curtis, Grant RoaDirected By: Niki Caro
The African Queen meets Swept Away in this sometimes laboured romantic comedy by director Ivan Reitman. Fortunately, he cast an old pro in Harrison Ford, as Quinn Harris, a South Seas charter pilot who must ferry New York fashion editor Robin Monroe (Anne Heche) from one island to another--a hop that falls flat when they fly into a mammoth storm that causes them to crash on a ...
Manufacturer: Touchstone Home VideoStarring: Harrison Ford, Anne Heche, David Schwimmer, Jacqueline Obradors, Temuera MorrisonDirected By: Ivan Reitman
