September 04 Movie Preview

Genre: Drama

Studio: Focus Features

Director: Mira Nair

Tagline: All’s fair in love & war

Website: http://www.vanityfairmovie.com

Starring: Reese Witherspoon, Eileen Atkins, Jim Broadbent, Gabriel Byrne, Romola Garai, Bob Hoskins, Rhys Ifans, Geraldine McEwan, James Purefoy, Jonathan Rhys Meyers

Plot Outline: One of America’s most popular stars unites with one of the world’s most acclaimed directors to bring to the screen one of the greatest female characters ever created. The new film version of the classic novel by William Makepeace Thackeray centers on Rebecca (Becky) Sharp. Born into the lower class, Becky can rely only on her wit, guile, and sexuality as she makes her way up through London society circa 1820.

Trailer: Trailer

MPAA Rating: PG-13 (for some sensuality/partial nudity and a brief violent image)

Genre: Comedy

Studio: Lions Gate Films

Director: Lance Rivera

Tagline: This summer, get your grill on!

Website: http://www.thecookoutmovie.com

Starring: Queen Latifah, Quran Pender, Ja Rule, Eve, Jonathan Silverman, Jenifer Lewis, Meagan Good, Tim Meadows, Farrah Fawcett, Danny Glover, Storm P

Plot Outline: When Todd Anderson signs a $30 million deal with his hometown team, the New Jersey Nets, he knows that his life is set for a big change. To keep things real, he decides to throw a barbeque at his place — just like the ones his family used to have. But when you have new and old friends, family, agents, and product reps in the same house, things are bound to get crazy.

Trailer: Trailer

MPAA Rating: PG-13 (for drug content, sexual references and for language)

Genre: Drama, Thriller

Studio: 20th Century Fox

Director: Paul Abascal

Tagline: One good shot deserves another

Website: http://www.paparazzithemovie.com

Starring: Cole Hauser, Larry Cedar, Tom Sizemore, Robin Tunney, Dennis Farina

Plot Outline: A celebrity decides to make a persistent photographer pay for almost causing a personal tragedy.

Trailer: Trailer

MPAA Rating: PG-13 (for intense violent sequences, sexual content and language)

Genre: Drama, Thriller

Studio: MGM

Director: Paul McGuigan

Tagline: Passion never dies.

Website: http://www.wickerparkmovie.com

Starring: Josh Hartnett, Matthew Lillard, Rose Byrne, Diane Kruger, Christopher Cousins

Plot Outline: Intricately moving back and forth in time and revealing the story from each character’s perspective, Wicker Park is an intense psychological drama about a man (Hartnett) caught in an obsessive search for a woman he fell deeply in love with – a woman who then vanished without a trace. Two years after her disappearance, he catches a fleeting glimpse of her in a local bar and begins a twisting search to find her and discover what really happened.

Trailer: Trailer

MPAA Rating: PG-13 (for sexuality and language)

Genre: Documentary

Studio: Miramax Films

Director: Elliot Berlin, Joe Fab

Website: http://www.miramax.com/paperclips/

Starring: Sandra Roberts, Dagmar Schindel-Hildebrad, David Smith

Plot Outline: As a part of their study of the Holocaust, the children of the Whitwell, TN Middle School try to collect 6 million paper clips representing the 6 million Jews killed by the Nazis.

Trailer: Trailer

MPAA Rating: G (for general audiences)

Genre: Crime, Thriller

Studio: New Line Cinema

Director: David Ellis

Tagline: If the signal dies so does she.

Website: http://www.cellularthemovie.com

Starring: Chris Evans, Kim Basinger, Jason Statham, William H. Macy, Valerie Cruz, Matt McColms

Plot Outline: A random wrong number on his cell phone sends a young man into a high-stakes race against time to save a woman’s life. With no knowledge of Jessica Martin (Basinger) other than her hushed, panicked voice on the other end of the tenuous cell phone connection, Ryan (Evans) is quickly thrown into a world of deception and murder on his frantic search to find and save her. Jessica’s life is in his hands, but what is waiting for him on the other side of the line, and what will cost him to find out?

Trailer: Trailer

MPAA Rating: PG-13 (for violence, terror situations, language and some sexual references)

Genre: Drama, Thriller

Studio: Warner Independent Pictures

Director: Gregory Jacobs

Tagline: Ever get the feeling your’re being played?

Website: http://wip.warnerbros.com/index.html?site=criminal

Starring: John C. Reilly, Diego Luna, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Jonathan Tucker, Zitto Kazann, Brandon Keener, Peter Mullan, Maeve Quinlan, Soledad St. Hilaire

Plot Outline: A contemporary caper movie set in Los Angeles. It’s the story of an extremely odd couple: a young Latino man who will do anything for his family (Luna) and a 30-something scheming white guy who will do anything to his family (Reilly). One wants to save his father. The other wants to get rich, in any way possible. So when they come across one of the most valuable pieces of currency in U.S. history, they’re suddenly stuck together, and that’s just…criminal. All they have to do is sell it, which is where the real problems begin. And of course the only way out is family: the one person who can help them, hates them: the schemer’s sister (Gyllenhaal).

Trailer: Trailer

MPAA Rating: R (for language)

Genre: Action, Horror

Studio: Screen Gems (Sony)

Director: Alexander Witt

Tagline: My name is Alice and I remember everything

Website: http://www.re2.com

Starring: Milla Jovovich, Eric Mabius, Oded Fehr, Sienna Guillory, Jared Harris, Sandrine Holt, Mike Epps, Zack Ward, Thomas Kretschmann, Sophie Vavasseur

Plot Outline: The nightmare isn’t over, General Cain ordered The Hive to be reopened, and in doing so contaminated all of Raccoon City, a city of the dead, with Alice stuck right in the middle. Now, along with other surviors, Jill Valentine, Carlos Oliviera and his Captain, Nicholai, they must fight to survive, to escape the nightmare that has plaqed Raccoon City. But now there is a new threat: Matt Addison has fully mutated into a seemingly unstoppable creature, code named Nemesis, who will stop at nothing until everything around it is dead, but it also has another agenda…

Trailer: Trailer

MPAA Rating: R (for non-stop violence, language and some nudity)

Genre: Drama

Studio: IFC Films

Director: James Toback

Tagline: Revenge is a dish best serverd hot.

Website: http://www.ifcfilms.com/?CAT0=3127&CAT1=5786&SHID=22043&AID=7107&CLR=red&BCLR=

Starring: Neve Campbell, Fred Weller, Dominic Chianese, Karen Allen, Barry Primus, Mike Tyson, Lori Singer

Plot Outline: Vera (Neve Campbell) is a femme fatale for the 21st century, a beautiful, capricious young woman exploring the limits of her sexual and intellectual power. She picks up men on the street, videotapes her romps with a female lover, and has sexually frank discussions with her potential employer. The daughter of wealthy, indulgent parents, she seems to be improvising her way through the beginning of her life as an adult. Her boyfriend Ford (Frederick Weller) is a fast-talking hustler prepared to do anything to make a buck. He sees his chance to make big money when he meets aging Italian media mogul Count Tommaso (Dominic Chianese), who is enamored of Vera because of her sexuality, her intelligence, and what he perceives as her naiveté. Ford cooks up an idea to pimp Vera out to the Count for $100,000 — easy money, if he can only talk Vera into it. Incredibly, she agrees. Everything appears to be going even better than planned…but the men have gravely underestimated Vera, who has a few desires of her own. Ford and the Count unwittingly play right into her hands, and when her plan comes to fruition, the results are staggering.

Trailer: Trailer

Trailer: Banned Trailer

MPAA Rating: R (for strong sexuality, nudity and language)

Genre: Action, Animation, Drama, Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Thriller

Studio: Go Fish Pictures (DreamWorks)

Director: Mamoru Oshii

Website: http://www.gofishpictures.com/GITS2

Starring: Akio Ôtsuka, Atsuko Tanaka, Kôichi Yamadera, Tamio Ôki, Yutaka Nakano, Naoto Takenaka

Plot Outline: Batou is a living cyborg. His whole body, even his arms and legs are entirely man-made. What only remains are traces of his brain and the memories of a woman. In an era when the boundary between humans and machines has become infinitely vague, Humans have forgotten that they are humans. This is the debauchery of the lonesome “ghost” of a man, who nevertheless seeks to retain humanity. Innocence… Is what life is.

Trailer: Trailer

MPAA Rating: PG-13 (for violence, disturbing images and brief language)

Genre: Drama, Romance

Studio: Sony Pictures Classics

Director: John Duigan

Tagline: Three lives. One destiny.

Website: http://www.headinthecloudsmovie.com

Starring: Charlize Theron, Penelope Cruz, Stuart Townsend, Thomas Kretschmann, Daniel Gillies, Elizabeth Chouvalidze, David La Haye, Rachelle Lefevre, Amy Sloan, Linda

Plot Outline: HEAD IN THE CLOUDS is a sweeping romantic drama set in 1930′s England, Paris, and Spain. Gilda Bessé shares her Paris apartment with an Irish schoolteacher, Guy Malyon, and Mia, a refugee from Spain. As the world drifts toward war, Gilda defiantly pursues her hedonistic lifestyle and her burgeoning career as a photographer. But Guy and Mia feel impelled to join the fight against fascism, and the three friends are separated – seemingly forever.

Trailer: Trailer

MPAA Rating: R (for sexuality, nudity and some violence)

Genre: Comedy

Studio: Touchtone Pictures

Director: Charles Stone III

Tagline: He’s putting the “I” back in team.

Website: http://www.mr3000.com

Starring: Bernie Mac, Angela Bassett, Evan Jones, Amaury Nolasco, Michael Rispoli, Paul Sorvino, Brian White, Dondre T. Whitfield, Tom Arnold, Chris North

Plot Outline: : Aging baseball star who goes by the nickname, Mr. 3000, finds out many years after retirement that he didn’t quite reach 3,000 hits. Now at age 47 he’s back to try and reach that goal.

Trailer: Trailer

MPAA Rating: PG-13 (for sexual content and language)

Genre: Action, Sci-Fi, Thriller

Studio: Paramount Pictures

Director: Kerry Conran

Tagline: Join the Resistance.

Website: http://www.skycaptain.com

Starring: Jude Law, Gwyneth Paltrow, Angelina Jolie, Casey Affleck, Bai Ling, Giovanni Ribisi, Omid Djalili, Michael Gambon

Plot Outline: Famous scientists around the world have mysteriously disappeared and Chronicle reporter Polly Perkins (Paltrow) along with ace aviator Sky Captain (Law) are on the investigation. Risking their lives as they travel to exotic places around world, can the fearless duo stop Dr. Totenkopf, the evil mastermind behind a plot to destroy the earth? Aided by Franky Cook (Jolie), commander of an all-female amphibious squadron, and technical genius Dex (Ribisi), Polly and Sky Captain may be our planet’s only hope.

Trailer: Trailer

MPAA Rating: PG (for sequences of stylized sci-fi violence and brief mild language)

Genre: Comedy, Romance

Studio: Universal Pictures

Director: Richard Loncraine

Tagline: She’s the golden girl. He’s the longshot. It’s a match made in…

Website: http://www.wimbledonmovie.com

Starring: Kirsten Dunst, Paul Bettany, Austin Nichols, Sam Neill, Jon Favreau, Bernard Hill, James McAvoy, Eleanor Bron, Nikolaj Coster Waldau, James McAvoy

Plot Outline: Peter Colt (Bettany) is an unlucky guy, scoring “love” both professionally and personally. Seeded near the bottom of the world tennis ranks, he manages to score a wild card, allowing him to play in the prestigious Wimbledon tournament. There, he meets and falls in love with American tennis star Lizzie Bradbury (Dunst). Fueled by a mixture of his newfound luck, love and on-court prowess, Peter works his way up the ranks of the tournament players and actually stands a chance of fulfilling his lifelong dream of winning the men’s singles title–if his luck can just hold out.

Trailer: Trailer

MPAA Rating: PG-13 (for language, sexuality and partial nudity)

Genre: Comedy

Studio: Fine Line Features

Director: John Walters

Tagline: Threatening the very limits of common decency

Website: http://www.adirtyshamemovie.com

Starring: Tracey Ullman, Chris Isaak, Selma Blair, Johnny Knoxville, Patricia Hearst, Mink Stole, Susan Allenback, Jeffrey Auerbach, Lance Baldwin, Paul DeBoy, Mary Vivian Pierce, Wes Johnson

Plot Outline: From the wondrously fertile mind of writer/director John Waters comes “A Dirty Shame,” America’s first carnal concussion comedy. Set in the Harford Road area of Waters’ native Baltimore, “A Dirty Shame” tells what happens when a horny horde of “sex addicts” invade a blue-collar neighborhood, to the shock and dismay of the “neuter” neighbors. Rude, joyous and full of sexual anarchy, “A Dirty Shame” is a movie with a generous heart and a dirty mind: in other words, a classic John Waters comedy.

Trailer: Trailer

MPAA Rating: NC-17 (for pervasive sexual content)

Genre: Sci-Fi, Thriller

Studio: Lions Gate Films

Director: Omar Naim

Tagline: Every moment of your life recorded. Would you live it differently?

Website: http://www.finalcutfilm

Starring: Robin Williams, Mira Sorvino, Jim Caviezel, Mimi Kuzyk, Stephanie Romanov, Thom Bishops

Plot Outline: The story is set in a world where implanted microchips can record all moments of an individual’s life. The chips are removed upon death so the images can be edited into something of a highlight reel for loved ones who want to remember the deceased. Caviezel portrays the leader of the organization that opposes this technology’s development.

Trailer: Trailer

MPAA Rating: PG-13 (for mature thematic material, some violence, sexuality and language)

Genre: Comedy, Romance

Studio:20th Century Fox

Director: Forrest Whitaker

Tagline: The girl who always stood out is finally getting the chance to fit in.

Website: http://www.firstdaughtermovie.com

Starring: Katie Holmes, Marc Blucas, Amerie, Margaret Colin, Lela Rochon Fuqua, Michael Keaton

Plot Outline: Samantha Mackenzie (Holmes) wants what every college freshman desires: to experience life away from home and parents. But it’s not going to be easy, because home for Sam is The White House and her dad (Keaton), is the President of the United States. Despite her fishbowl existence, Sam meets and falls for James (Blucas), the Resident Advisor in her dorm.

Trailer: Trailer

MPAA Rating: PG (for language, sexual situations and alcohol-related material)

Genre: Thriller

Studio: Columbia Pictures

Director: Joseph Ruben

Tagline: On September 24th everything you’ve experienced, everything you’ve known, never happened.

Website: http://www.sonypictures.com/movies/theforgotten/

Starring: Julianne Moore, Dominic West, Gary Sinise, Alfre Woodard, Linus Roache, Anthony Edwards

Plot Outline: In “The Forgotten,” Julianne Moore stars as Telly Paretta, a grieving mother struggling to cope with the loss of her eight-year old son. She is stunned when her psychiatrist (Sinise) reveals that she has created eight years of memories about a son she never had. But when she meets a man (West) who has had a similar experience, Telly embarks on a search to prove her son’s existence, and her sanity.

Trailer: Trailer

MPAA Rating: PG-13 (for intense thematic material, some violence and brief language)

Genre: Comedy, Romance

Studio: Touchstone Pictures

Director: Jeff Nathanson

Tagline: The true story of the greatest movie never made

Website: http://www.thelastshot.net

Starring: Matthew Broderick, Alec Baldwin, Calista Flockhart, Toni Collette, Joan Cusack, Tim Blake Nelson, Tony Shalhoub, Ray Liotta

Plot Outline: A movie director-screenwriter (Matthew Broderick) finds a man to finance his latest project but soon discovers that the producer is actually an undercover FBI agent working on a mob sting operation.

Trailer: Trailer

MPAA Rating: R (for language and some sexual content)

Genre: Drama

Studio: Focus Features

Director: Walter Salles

Tagline: Let the world change you … and you can chagne the world

Website: http://www.motorcyclediariesmovie.com

Starring: Gael García Bernal, Jaime Azócar, Rodrigo De la Serna, Ulises Dumont, Facundo Espinosa, Susana Lanteri, Mía Maestro, Mercedes Morán, Jean Pierre Noher, Gustavo Pastorini

Plot Outline: “The Motorcycle Diaries” is based on the journals of Che Guevara, leader of the Cuban Revolution. In his memoirs, Guevara recounts adventures he, and best friend Alberto Granado, had while crossing South America by motorcycle in the early 1950s.

Trailer: Trailer

MPAA Rating: R (for language)

Genre: Action, Comedy, Horror, Romance

Studio: Rogue Pictures

Director: Edgar Wright

Tagline: A romantic comedy. With zombies.

Website: http://www.shaunofthedeadmovie.com

Starring: Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Kate Ashfield, Dylan Moran, Lucy Davis, Bill Nighy, Peter Serafinowicz, Penelope Wilton

Plot Outline: An everyday tale of life, love and the living dead which centers on a group of friends who encounter a literal night from hell at their local pub resulting in a zombie holocaust.

Trailer: Trailer

MPAA Rating: R (for zombie violence/gore and language)

Genre: Comedy, Documentary

Studio: Regent Releasing

Director: Pauly Shore

Tagline: Hollywood will never be the same.

Website: http://www.paulyshoreisdead.com

Starring: Pauly Shore, Jaime Bergman, Ben Stiller, Sean Penn, Fred Durst, Tom Sizemore, Chris Rock, Whoopi Goldberg, Heidi Fleiss, Ellen DeGeneres, Kurt Loder

Plot Outline: Hollywood comedian/actor Pauly Shore loses everything: his house, nobody in Hollywood wants to represent him, he moves back home with his mom and is now parking cars at the Comedy Store. Then one night when he’s up in his mom’s loft, a dead famous comedian appears who tells Pauly to kill himself cause he’ll go down as a comedic genius who died before his time. Pauly then fakes his own death, and the media goes crazy. Celebrities are talking about him on MTV and girls are fighting over him on Jerry Springer. It’s everything that he wanted…his plan worked. A week or so later the LAPD is tipped off about his whereabouts and they break down the door of the seedy motel room that he’s hiding out in and throw him in LA County’s celebrity wing.

Trailer: Trailer

MPAA Rating: PG-13 (for language, sexuality and partial nudity)