This prequel, set before the haunting of the Lambert family, reveals how gifted psychic Elise Rainier reluctantly agrees to use her ability to contact the dead in order to help a teenage girl who has been targeted by a dangerous supernatural entity.
The plane crashes (boy, does it crash) in the remote Alaskan nowhere, and the rough-and-tumble oil wildcatters who survive must fight their way to safety. That in itself might be enough from which The Grey could fashion a suspenseful thrill-ride, but the movie has one more ace up its sleeve. Wolves! A pack of them, starving and considerably irritated that these outsiders have blundered into their territory. And while it is true that most real-world wolves are hardly man-eaters, director Joe Carnahan and cowriter Ian Mackenzie Jeffers are really not all that interested in reality. Despite some hair-raising moments and a healthy spattering of gore, The Grey is an existential action picture, and the wolves function only as all-purpose predator (being computer-generated, they never really look real anyway). What's really at stake are the souls of these men--how they get along together, and how they face death. Yes, there is always something faintly absurd hanging around this movie; it's like a Jack London story adapted by Luc Besson. But out of its pulpy mash, Carnahan extracts something gutsy. It certainly helps that he's got the mighty Liam Neeson on board as the most capable of the survivors; Neeson exudes the kind of authority that the average action hero can only play-act. Dallas Roberts and Dermot Mulroney add colour, and Frank Grillo jumps off the screen as the most belligerent of the desperate crew. It's possible for a movie to have an absurd premise yet carve something unexpectedly philosophical out of that: The Incredible Shrinking Man and Rise of the Planet of the Apes come to mind. Add this one to that oddball list. --Robert Horton
Exasperated with her rebellious daughter, a woman sends the teen to Idaho to live with her own stern mother.
A small town newspaper reporter writes about three California gray whales trapped in the Arctic Circle.
Double bill of festive family adventures directed by Douglas Barr. In 'Northpole' (2014) the magical land where Santa Claus (Robert Wagner) lives is powered by the festive spirit generated by people around the world. However, as modern life takes over and people have less time to spend with their families over Christmas, Northpole is rapidly losing power and so it is left to one young boy, Kevin (Max Charles), to convince his family to save Christmas. In 'Northpole - Open for Christmas' (2015) Mackenzie Warren (Lori Loughlin) hopes to sell The Northern Lights Inn that she has inherited from her late aunt, and enlists the help of handyman Ian (Dermot Mulroney) to fix up the place. Ian and his daughter are charmed by the inn but can't revive Mackenzie's childhood love for the building. But Santa needs the inn to survive so he sends Clementine the elf (Bailee Madison) to restore Mackenzie's holiday cheer. Can they all work their magic on her and save the inn?
Stranded after a tragic plane crash, two strangers must forge a connection to survive the extreme elements of a remote snow covered mountain.
Taking its lead from Jonathan Demme's Oscar-winning pulse-raiser The Silence Of the Lambs, Copycat strives for intelligence over gristle and carnage. It's a terse, involving thriller that swings away from the usual cinematic notion of violence as a means to an end by forgoing brawn for brains. Young San Francisco police inspector Ruben Goetz (Dermot Mulroney) is teamed with brilliant force vet, M J Monahan (Holly Hunter), a diplomatic, no-nonsense cop who must buck the system in order to find a killer who is copying the crimes of history's most notorious serial killers. Ruben would rather shoot to kill than merely wound a suspect; Monahan labours to help him think more diplomatically. Everything changes when crank calls arrive at the station from serial-killer pin-up girl psychiatrist Helen Hudson (Sigourney Weaver). She's been housebound for 13 months, ever since murderer Daryll Lee Cullum (Harry Connick Jr.) nearly made her his next victim because she testified against him in court. Though he's in prison, he's still mentor and muse to every loose cannon walking the streets--one of whom is killing people with a vengeance and hoping to finish the job Cullum began. Cop and doc team up to solve the case in this stylish, plot-driven movie. Though Copycat loses steam in the end, it still makes a point. And it serves as a cautionary tale for people everywhere, tossing in street smart warnings against victimisation. The teaming of Hunter and Weaver works well, the short and the tall forging a terrific and friction-filled relationship that leads to grudging respect. Establishing an ominous atmosphere reminiscent of his classic British TV miniseries The Singing Detective, director Jon Amiel has an eye for the dark and the unusual and it gives this film an edge that eludes most other mainstream filmmakers. --Paula Nechak
Stoker is a masterful psychodrama that teems with unsettling vibrations that hark directly back to Alfred Hitchcock, but also to the wave of contemporary cinema that has been surging in South Korea for the past decade. It is the first American feature by the auteur Park Chan-wook, whose widely seen trilogy of "revenge" films, Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, Oldboy, and Lady Vengeance, paved the way for the meticulous craftsmanship of Stoker. The inspiration for Wentworth Miller's haunting script was Hitchcock's Shadow of a Doubt, though Stoker makes for an altogether creepier tale of a mysterious uncle, his melancholy niece, and the deadly interplay of family secrets slowly revealed. Park's delicate weaving of style transforms the material into a narrative symphony, with thematic elements conveyed in the smallest details of composition, art direction, and graceful cinematography. Mia Wasikowska is India Stoker, the teenage niece who just lost her father to a violent auto accident. It's a complete surprise to India and her mother Evelyn (Nicole Kidman) when his handsome younger brother Charlie (Matthew Goode) shows up at the brooding family mansion (itself a character that is integral to the story). Charlie's enigmatic smirk signals both calm and danger, and his presence is a catalyst that ratchets up the emotional turmoil India and Evelyn are already experiencing. India senses the danger even as she is drawn to Charlie, and her mother's repressed sexuality turns into a bonfire under his mysterious charm. He tempts and teases them both in an expertly choreographed dance of menace that fuels the rage building in India and puts further pressure on her mother's cataclysmic despair. Charlie's psychopathic presence infests the brooding, yet deceptively airy surroundings of the Stoker estate with a sense of peril that is just out of reach. Several key scenes unfold at the family dinner table, where poison lurks in Freudian undercurrents and maybe in the food and wine, too. The most mesmerising sequence captures a visit from the sheriff, who's investigating the murder of one of India's schoolmates. The crime is just one of many acts of deadly violence that erupt with jarring force in the past, present, and future of Stoker's disturbing timeline. As the sheriff talks to India and Charlie, the camera swirls around to the rhythm of the scene, separating, uniting, then retreating from them in a virtuosic room-to-room sweep. The extended take says much more about the interplay of India and Charlie's dread connection than the oblique dialogue. It's also a breathtaking illustration of Park's obsessive attention to shot design. But Stoker is much more than an exercise in style; it is also an unnerving and understated thriller that gives big rewards for all that attention to detail. To say that there are plot twists is an understatement for a movie whose elegant creativity is the biggest twist of all. --Ted Fry
Berkeley graduate student Finn (Winona Ryder) is spending the summer at the home of her sparring grandmother and great aunt (Oscar-winners Ellen Burstyn & Anne Bancroft). Their house is a quiet haven where Finn intends to finish her latest thesis and think over a marriage proposal. But when she meets sexy smoldering Leon things begin to get complicated. As she wrestles with her decision the women in her grandmother's quilting bee confide to her the stories of the loves that shaped
Eat Pray Love: Based on the best selling book. Believing there's more to life than a husband, house and career, Liz Gilbert (Julia Roberts) finds herself with a new appetite for life in this inspiring true story, based on the best-selling book. She leaves New York and embarks on a yearlong journey - traveling to Italy, India and Bali - seeking self-discovery through good food, meditation and the prospect of finding true love. James Franco, Billy Crudup and Javier Bardem co-star in this sumptuous and uplifting adventure filled with humor and heart.Notting Hill: William Thacker (Hugh Grant), is the owner of a bookshop in the heart of Notting Hill in London. One day, by a one-in-a-million chance, the worlds most famous actress, Anna Scott (Julia Roberts), comes into his shop. He watches in amazement as she leaves and he thinks he'll never see her again. But fate intervenes - and minutes later William collides with Anna on Portobello Road. So begins a tale of romance and adventure in London W11. With a little help from his chaotic flatmate Spike (Rhys Ifans) and his friends, Max and Bella (Tim McInnerny and Gina McKee), William seeks the face he can't forget..My Best Friend's Wedding: Roberts dazzles as commitment-shy Julianne Potter, who suddenly realises she is in love with her best friend Michael (Mulroney). There's just one catch: he's about to marry someone else. Now she has to win him back, and with just four days, the help of her resourceful boss (Everett) and the benefits of an extremely devious mind, Jules will do anything to steal him back; except tell him the honest truth!
Julia Roberts Cameron Diaz Rupert Everett and Dermot Mulroney star in My Best Friend's Wedding a high-spirited romantic comedy that serves up something wild something new sometimes touching and sometimes truly hilarious! Roberts dazzles as commitment-shy Julianne Potter who suddenly realises she is in love with her best friend Michael (Mulroney). There's just one catch: he's about to marry someone else. Now she has to win him back and with just four days the help of her resourceful boss (Everett) and the benefits of an extremely devious mind Jules will do anything to steal him back; except tell him the honest truth!
Ashton Kutcher is Steve Jobs the iconic Apple innovator and ground-breaking entrepreneur. This inspiring and entertaining film chronicles Jobs' early days as a college dropout to his rise as the co-founder of Apple Computer Inc. and forced departure from the company. More than a decade later Jobs returns and single-handedly sets a course that will turn the once-tiny start up into one of the world's most valuable companies. His epic journey blazes a trail that changes technology - and the world - forever. Jobs is a riveting story of a true American visionary a man who let nothing stand in the way of greatness.
When successful auctioneer Mackenzie receives word that she has inherited her beloved aunt's hotel, The Northern Lights Inn, she is thrilled. As a child, Mackenzie used to spend every Christmas at the inn and looks back on her time there with her aunt fondly. Unsure about what to do with the inn, Mackenzie enlists help from a realtor named Harris and his handyman brother Ben. On the other side of town in the Northpole, Santa sends ambitious elf Clementine on a special mission: the inn is actually a power source for Santa's sleigh, and Clementine needs to get Mackenzie to believe in holiday magic once again and revive the inn. With some unexpected help from Clementine and her team of elves, Mackenzie just might be able to rediscover the true meaning of Christmas and find love along the way.
The complicated life of J. Edgar Hoover is thoughtfully and quietly distilled into a feature film by director Clint Eastwood. J. Edgar is a movie, therefore, thats free of fuss. Told mainly through an older Hoover reciting back his life story, its a conventional structure that allows Eastwood to cherry-pick some of the most interesting moments from the contrversial life of the man who was the first director of the modern day FBI. J. Edgar, as a movie, is sometimes a little too cautious for its own good, sidestepping one or two areas of its subjects life. But in the title role, Leonardo DiCaprio is in excellent form. Sometimes weighed down by ageing make-up, but always able to hold the screen, its his central performance thats the compelling reason to watch the movie. Judi Dench has less to work with as his mother, although Armie Hammer fares better as Clyde Tolson, the man who may or may not have been Hoovers lover. The disc release does dig into Hoover a little bit more, with a feature exploring the complexity of the man. At the very least, it serves as a starting point to find out more about one of the most fascinating people in modern American history. The film and disc certainly scratch the surface on him, and theres plenty here to like and admire. They do leave you with a lot more to discover, though --Jon Foster
The Wedding Date (Dir. Clare Kilner 2005): In this sparkling romantic comedy Debra Messing plays Kat a never-married New Yorker who is invited to her parents' London home for her younger sister's wedding. What should be a joyous occasion bodes disaster for Kat however when she discovers that the best man will be none other than her ex-fianc who two years before inexplicably dumped her. In a desperate attempt to face the ordeal with dignity Kat hires Nick (Dermot Mulroney) a charming and handsome professional male escort to pose as her new boyfriend and escort her to the wedding. Even more valuable to Kat than Nick's good looks and charisma is his keen insight into human behavior--a well-learned trick of his trade. Over the course of the weekend Nick takes on the role of the bride's therapist the father's ideal son-in-law the groom's new best friend and the object of every woman's affection. For Kat what starts out as a pretend relationship with Nick begins to turn into something entirely unexpected: a second chance at love. My Big Fat Greek Wedding (Dir. Joel Zwick 2002): In this hit ethnic comedy Toula (Nia Vardalos) is a thirty-year-old ugly duckling whose life is going nowhere while she works long hours in her family's Greek diner (called Dancing Zorba's). She then decides to give herself a radical makeover lands a new job in her aunt's travel agency and falls for a hunky sensitive vegetarian teacher (John Corbett). They soon decide to get married but her family have a history of getting hitched exclusively to other Greeks. My Big Fat Greek Wedding is a warm funny comedy adapted by writer/star Vardalos from her own one-woman show. The Wedding Singer (Dir. Frank Coraci 1998): It's 1985 and Robbie Hart (Adam Sandler) is the ultimate master of ceremonies until he is left at the altar at his own wedding. Devastated he becomes a newlywed's worst nightmare - an entertainer who can do nothing but destroy other people's weddings. It's not until he meets a warm-hearted waitress named Julia (Drew Barrymore) that he starts to pick up the pieces of his heart. The only problem is Julia's about to have a wedding of her own and unless Robbie can pull off the performance of a lifetime the girl of his dreams will be gone forever...
A series of overlapping stories about four suburban American families experiencing momentous days in their lives.
Hollywood remake of Luc Besson's French thriller 'Nikita'. Young punk Maggie (Bridget Fonda) kills a cop in a bodged robbery but instead of being sent to the chair is reinvented as a ruthless assassin tutored by her government agent mentor Bob (Gabriel Byrne). Released into the community she finds love with her Californian apartment's caretaker (Dermot Mulroney) but her professional obligations increasingly threaten to destroy her happiness. Harvey Keitel makes a cameo appearance as a ruthlessly efficient 'cleaner' not dissimilar to the one he plays in 'Pulp Fiction'.
No parents. No rules! A group of teenage runaways - fleeing abusive parents prostitution drugs and educational isolation - try to survive together on the mean streets of Los Angeles... An all-star cast takes you on an unforgettable tour of Hollywood's notorious underground; from the after-hours dance clubs to the hidden drug dens it's a no holds barred look at life in the fast lane.
50 First Dates: Henry Roth (Sandler) the local marina veterinarian only dates tourists because he's afraid of commitment - that is until he meets Lucy (Barrymore). Unfortunately Lucy lost her short-term memory months ago in a car accident and for her each day is October the 13th. She follows the same routine every day - breakfast at the same restaurant pineapple-picking with her dad and eventually bed time where sleep wipes away her short-term memory. Henry however refuses to be forgotten and as his puppy love matures he embarks on a quest to restore her memory or at least be a part of her everyday routine. But vying for Lucy's attention isn't always easy. Henry explores various approaches before making a video for Lucy to watch every morning reminding her of who she is and what she's doing... Hitch: In Andy Tennant's delightful romantic comedy Hitch Will Smith stars as Alex Hitchens an urban date doctor who helps the common man woo the woman of his dreams. Hitch will use any means necessary--dance lessons back waxing--to instill romantic confidence in his clientele. Why? He was once a lonely wallflower himself who learned about love and heartbreak the hard way. His latest project Albert Brennaman (Kevin James) may be his most difficult. Brennaman a junior accountant prone to clumsiness has fallen head-over-heels for one of his clients Allegra Cole (Amber Valleta) a well-known celebrity. To complicate things further Hitch's dating dogma is shaken when he meets and falls for a beautiful gossip columnist Sara Melas (Eva Mendes) whose sharp wit easily pierces his cool fa''ade. Conflict arises when Melas uncovers Hitch's true profession and blames him for her best friend being dumped. My Best Freinds Wedding: Julia Roberts Cameron Diaz Rupert Everett and Dermot Mulroney star in My Best Friend's Wedding a high-spirited romantic comedy that serves up something wild something new sometimes touching and sometimes truly hilarious! Roberts dazzles as commitment-shy Julianne Potter who suddenly realises she is in love with her best friend Michael (Mulroney). There's just one catch: he's about to marry someone else. Now she has to win him back and with just four days the help of her resourceful boss (Everett) and the benefits of an extremely devious mind Jules will do anything to steal him back; except tell him the honest truth!
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