Movie Listings (September 8, 2006)
Accepted Release Date: August 18, 2006 Run Time: 1 hr. 30 min. Rating: PG-13 - language, sexual material and drug content Cast: Justin Long, Blake Lively, Lewis Black Director: Steve Pink Genre: Comedy Synopsis: High school senior Bartleby B Gaines is on his way to scoring eight out of eight rejection letters from colleges--which isn't going to go over big with Mom and Dad. At least he's not alone in the exclusion. Several of his crew of outcast friends are in the same, college-less boat. So, how does a guy facing a bleak career please his parents, and get noticed by dream girl Monica? Simple: open his own university. B and his band of misfit freshmen take liberal arts literally when they fool their parents and peers and create the esteemed South Harmon Institute of Technology. Just as they are settling in, B and company realize they've done their jobs too well. Dozens of other college rejects show up for classes at this less-than-lofty institute. Under the scornful eyes of the privileged students from the neighboring college, B and his friends forge ahead with maintaining a fake, functioning university. With his future in the balance, it's going to take more than just sleight of hand to keep B out of jail as he strives to get the girl, impress his parents and just become 'accepted'. Barnyard: The Original Party Animals Release Date: August 4, 2006 Run Time: 1 hr. 23 min. Rating: PG - some mild peril and rude humor Cast: Kevin James, S. Scott Bullock, Courteney Cox Director: Steve Oedekerk Genre: Animated, Comedy, Family Synopsis: Down on the farm, the farmer thinks he's in charge, keeping all the animals safe and sound. But when the farmer is out of sight, the lookout sheep shouts Clear! and all of the barnyard animals spring up on two legs, walk, talk, watch TV, and orchestrate practical jokes. For Otis the cow that last one is the most important. He and his best friends--Pip the mouse, Freddy the ferret, Peck the rooster, and Pig the pig--are world-class pranksters and always in the mood for a laugh. Otis is in the state of arrested development and quite happy that way. Otis's dad, Ben, is the cow who makes sure the farm is running on all cylinders. Each morning, Ben leads a meeting to take care of farm business and to issue warnings about their common enemy, the coyotes. (It's a position that Ben takes seriously: As long as I'm still kickin', he says, no animal will be harmed inside that fence!) Ben wants Otis to grow up and take responsibility. Much to Ben's chagrin, Otis's main project comes to life every evening. As soon as the Farmer hits lights out, the barn is transformed into Party Central. On this night, there's even a pretty new cow, Daisy--Otis hams it up for her, and she can't help but be attracted to his fun-loving personality. That world is not for Ben. He's outside, guarding the fence and protecting the farm from the coyotes. When Otis explains to Ben that being on watch isn't his thing. Ben responds: Otis, a strong man stands up for himself, a stronger man stands up for others. When Ben is no longer able to lead, Otis tries to keep order but the role of leader does not come as naturally for him. Without Ben to keep everyone in line, absolute mayhem breaks loose and it isn't long before the farmer begins to get to the bottom of the animals' secret--and the scheming coyotes begin to think that the farm could be theirs for the taking. Beerfest Release Date: August 25, 2006 Run Time: 1 hr. 50 min. Rating: R - pervasive crude and sexual content, language, nudity and substance abuse Cast: Jay Chandrasekhar, Kevin Heffernan, Erik Stolhanske Director: Jay Chandrasekhar Genre: Comedy Synopsis: When American brothers Todd and Jan Wolfhouse travel to Germany to spread their grandfather's ashes at Oktoberfest, they stumble upon a super-secret, centuries old, underground beer games competition--Beerfest, the secret Olympics of beer drinking. The brothers receive a less than warm welcome from their German cousins, the Von Wolfhausens, who humiliate Todd and Jan, slander their relatives, and worst of all, drink them under the table. Vowing to return in a year to defend their country and their family's honor, the Wolfhouse boys assemble a ragtag dream team of beer drinkers and gamers: Barry Badrinath, the consummate skills player with a dark past; Phil Krundle (aka Landfill), a one-man chugging machine; and Charlie Fink Finklestein, the lab tech with a PhD in 'All Things Beer'. With the inspiration of their Great Gam Gam and the support of her caretaker, Cherry, this Magnificent Five train relentlessly, using their hearts, minds and livers to drink faster, smarter and harder than they ever have before. The Covenant Release Date: September 8, 2006 Run Time: 1 hr. 37 min. Rating: PG-13 - intense sequences of violence, action, sexual content, partial nudity, language Cast: Steven Strait, Sebastian Stan, Laura Ramsey Director: Renny Harlin Genre: Horror, Suspense/Thriller Synopsis: As the new school year begins at Spenser Academy, a New England boarding school for the region's reigning elite, students have gathered for a wild outdoor party to mark the end of the summer. Hundreds of feet above the gyrating bodies, Caleb Danvers and his three best friends walk to the edge of a dizzying precipice and drop unseen and unscathed before casually joining the fray. At the party, gorgeous newcomer Sarah Wenham is introduced to the boys by her equally stunning roommate Kate. The girls also meet an intriguing transfer student named Chase Collins, who quickly ingratiates himself into the group. When the police arrive to disperse the partiers, they discover the body of a student, dead of an apparent drug overdose. The school headmaster immediately suspects Caleb and his friends are somehow involved. Meanwhile, as Sarah, a former Boston public school student, tries to adjust to dorm life at the elite prep school, she can't shake the creepy feeling that someone--or something--is watching her every move. With tensions rising at school, Caleb and his friends close ranks. Although they appear to be normal teenagers, they share an unspoken bond: Not only are they descendants of the original families that settled Ipswich Colony around the time of the Salem witch trials, they also inherited their ancestors' supernatural powers. But their ability to shape-shift, defy gravity and perform superhuman feats of strength comes at a terrible cost: Every time one of the Sons of Ipswich uses his magical powers, he ages prematurely, and the temptation to abuse the power makes it more addictive than any drug. What's more, life is only going to get harder for the young friends: At the moment each boy turns 18, he will ascend, gaining far more potent--and addictive--powers. With Caleb's birthday just a few days away, his mother Evelyn is terrified her son will find it impossible to resist the lure of the power like his father before him. Caleb assures her he'll be able to handle his new abilities. But will he really? And what if he needs his power to fight an evil force that threatens everything he loves? Crank Release Date: September 1, 2006 Run Time: 1 hr. 23 min. Rating: R - strong violence, pervasive language, sexuality, nudity and drug use Cast: Jason Statham, Amy Smart, Efren Ramirez Director: Mark Neveldine,Brian Taylor Genre: Action/Adventure Synopsis: Chev Chelios is about to begin his morning with an unexpected wake-up call. Groggy, practically unable to move and with a heart that's barely beating, he hears the voice of thug Ricky Verona, who reveals Chev has been poisoned in his sleep and only has an hour to live. As it turns out, Chev is a hit man who freelances for a major West Coast syndicate. A run of the mill job the night before instead went awry: he let his target slip away in an effort to quit professional killing and start a new life with his girlfriend Eve. Now, Chev must keep moving to stay alive: the only way to prolong the poison from stopping his heart is to keep his adrenaline flowing. As the clock ticks, Chelios cuts a swath through the streets of Los Angeles, wreaking havoc on those who dare stand in his way. He must rescue Eve from danger, stay two steps ahead of his nemeses and search for an antidote to save his own life. Crossover Release Date: September 1, 2006 Run Time: 1 hr. 35 min. Rating: PG-13 - sexual content and some language Cast: Wesley Jonathan, Anthony Mackie, Wayne Brady Director: Preston A. Whitmore II Genre: Drama Synopsis: Noah Cruise, a naturally talented basketball player, is determined to become a doctor using his basketball scholarship to attend UCLA pre-med, rather than succumbing to the lure of a former sports agent Vaughn, and his push for Noah to go for the NBA. Noah's best friend, Tech, the buddy that covered for him and did time for an assault charge, is also an outstanding basketball player, but has less lofty ambitions--he wants to get his GED and win an underground street ball game against an arrogant rival, Jewelz. Noah and Tech's lives drastically change when they both fall in love with two local girls, Vanessa Lilly and Eboni Jackson, and take a fateful trip out to L.A. together. Heading South Release Date: September 7, 2005 Run Time: 1 hr. 47 min. Cast: Charlotte Rampling, Karen Young, Louise Portal Director: Laurent Cantet Genre: Drama Synopsis: On the sun drenched island of Haiti in the '70s, foreigners idle away their vacations in the palm-fringed paradise of the beach hotels. Brenda, Ellen and Sue, three North American women, converge on the island looking for flirtation, relaxation and respite from their colorless jobs and marriages. They find what they are looking for in Legba an enigmatic local adonis whose beauty and passion has them enthralled. It is this passion that will lead them away from the guilded cage of tourism and will open their eyes to the poverty stricken and dangerous world of Haiti at the end of "Baby Doc" Duvalier's notoriously violent regime. Hollywoodland Release Date: September 8, 2006 Run Time: 2 hr. 6 min. Rating: R - language, some violence and sexual content Cast: Adrien Brody, Diane Lane, Ben Affleck Director: Allen Coulter Genre: Drama, Suspense/Thriller Synopsis: June 16, 1959. The glamour of Tinseltown permanently fades for actor George Reeves, the heroic Man of Steel on TV's Adventures of Superman, as the actor dies in his Hollywood Hills home. Felled by a single gunshot wound, Reeves leaves behind a fiancée--aspiring starlet Leonore Lemmon--and millions of fans who are shocked by his death. But it is his grieving mother, Helen Bessolo, who will not let the questionable circumstances surrounding his demise go unaddressed. Helen seeks justice, or at least answers. The Los Angeles Police Department closes the case, but Helen hires--for $50 a day--private detective Louis Simo. Simo soon ascertains that the torrid affair Reeves had with Toni Mannix, the wife of MGM studio executive Eddie Mannix, might hold the key to the truth. But truth and justice are not so easily found in Hollywood. Simo pursues dangerous and elusive leads in both high and low places and, in trying to turn up the heat, risks getting burned. The detective also uncovers unexpected connections to his own life as the case turns more personal and he learns more about Reeves himself. Behind the icon was a complex man who gave his life to Hollywood in more ways than one. How to Eat Fried Worms Release Date: August 25, 2006 Run Time: 1 hr. 36 min. Rating: PG - mild bullying and some crude humor Cast: Luke Benward, Adam Hicks, Hallie Kate Eisenberg Director: Bob Dolman Genre: Comedy, Family Synopsis: Mitch Forrester and his wife Helen have packed their boys into the family station wagon and are heading to a new town with a new job for Mitch and a new elementary school for their son Billy. It seems to Billy that everybody else, including his little brother Woody, easily adapts to the new surroundings. Billy's fears are realized in his first moments at the new school when the old adage ‘everybody picks on the new kid' appears to be true. Everybody except the tall, lanky girl named Erika Tanzy whose kindness simultaneously inspires gratefulness and humiliation in Billy. When the school bully Joe and his band of 5th grade followers put worms in Billy's lunch, Billy surprises them all when he stands up to and embarrasses Joe. This leads the two to make a bet: on Saturday Billy must eat 10 worms by 7PM. When his parents leave Woody in his care, Billy presses Erika into service to help keep an eye on Woody and to lend him some moral support in his gastronomic challenge. Joe's gang makes each worm more delightfully revolting than the last, beginning with La Big Porker, which is fried in pig fat. This odyssey through worm cuisine takes the boys all over town as they try to force Billy to throw up by dubbing each specimen increasingly disgusting names like The Burning Fireball, The Greasy Brown Toad Bloater Special, and The Barfmallow. When the adventure finally ends up down by the river for worms such as The Green Slusher and Radioactive Slime Delight, all of the kids learn the true meaning of friendship and bravery, as well as the difficulties and importance of doing the right thing. Idlewild Release Date: August 25, 2006 Run Time: 2 hr. 1 min. Rating: R - violence, sexuality, nudity and language Cast: Andre Benjamin, Antwan Patton, Big Boi Director: Bryan Barber Genre: Drama, Music/Performing Arts Synopsis: In the 1930s American South, there was one spot that served as a haven. All were welcome to come and find the Lord as they walked into church on Sunday mornings. When the good and righteous built these houses of worship, however, they did ask guests to leave a few things at the door, namely: cussing, liquor, fast women, gambling and guns. And that was the part of the sermon to which Rooster just didn't pay attention. Welcome to Idlewild, Georgia. Welcome to Church. Players gather nightly at the Church, with childhood friends--who grew up on opposite sides of the tracks--Rooster and Percival playing two key roles at the club. Soft-spoken and reserved mortician Percival sees playing piano at the nightclub as welcome respite from the doldrums of working in his overbearing father's funeral home. One night in Church, Percival meets the latest celebrity to tour the South, the ethereal Angel. Percival falls head over heels in love with the ingénue and is faced with a choice: stay or leave his oppressive father behind and pursue his dreams of becoming a song-and-dance man in the big cities of which he's only dreamed. Church's manager, Rooster, is the son of a moonshine runner, a man who has grown into his flashy clothes and role as a wheeler-dealer--juggling both his suspicious wife, Zora, and a cast of characters who make their money off the place's illegal dealings. But Rooster's problems multiply after he witnesses a shooting that places Trumpy--one of the mob men--into control of the influx of liquor into his juke joint. While on the run from the mob, the good-hearted scoundrel realizes his life of petty crime is taking him nowhere and must now fight his way back to his family while his best friend Percy tries to escape the hold Idlewild has on him--and start a new life performing in a faraway city. The Illusionist Release Date: August 18, 2006 Run Time: 1 hr. 50 min. Rating: PG-13 - some sexuality and violence Cast: Edward Norton, Paul Giamatti, Jessica Biel Director: Neil Burger Genre: Drama, Romance, Suspense/Thriller Synopsis: When mysterious stage magician Eisenheim begins to perform his astounding illusions in Vienna, word quickly spreads of his otherworldly powers--even reaching the ears of one of Europe's most powerful and pragmatic men, Crown Prince Leopold. Certain that the illusionist is nothing more than an accomplished fraud, Leopold attends one of Eisenheim's shows, convinced that he can debunk him during the performance. But when the Prince's beautiful fiancé and companion, Sophie von Teschen, assists the magician onstage, Eisenheim and Sophie recognize each other from their childhoods--and a dormant love affair is rekindled. With Eisenheim and Leopold vying for Sophie's affection, it quickly becomes apparent that both will go to any length to claim and keep her love. As the clandestine romance continues, Vienna's shrewd Chief Inspector Uhl, a man committed to uphold the law, is charged by Leopold to intensify his efforts to expose Eisenheim, even while the magician gains a devoted and vocal public following. With Uhl doggedly searching for the reasons and the man behind the trickery, Eisenheim prepares to execute his greatest illusion yet. Invincible Release Date: August 25, 2006 Run Time: 2 hr. 8 min. Rating: PG - sports action and some mild language Cast: Mark Wahlberg, Greg Kinnear, Elizabeth Banks Director: Ericson Core Genre: Drama Synopsis: It's every sports fan's wildest, craziest fantasy--the chance to play on the field and go toe-to-toe with the larger-than-life heroes they idolize. Yet, in 1976, this seemingly fairy-tale scenario happened in real life. It was then that Vince Papale, a 30-year-old teacher and part-time bartender with little football experience other than being a season ticket-holder, entered the unprecedented public tryouts for his NFL favorites, the Philadelphia Eagles, and defied all expectations. Not only did Papale make the team--he remade the team, helping to inspire them to break through their 11-season losing and streak and rediscover their winning spirit. In the bicentennial year of 1976, Papale lived out the dreams of a city and a nation by taking on the impossible with an unsinkable attitude and becoming the NFL's most unlikely rookie ever. Little Miss Sunshine Release Date: July 26, 2006 Run Time: 1 hr. 42 min. Rating: R - language, some sex and drug content Cast: Greg Kinnear, Steve Carell, Toni Collette Director: Jonathan Dayton,Valerie Faris Genre: Comedy Synopsis: No one among the Hoovers quite has it together, but it's not for lack of trying. Father Richard, a hopelessly optimistic motivational speaker, is desperately attempting to sell his 9-step program for success--without much success. Meanwhile, the Hoovers' pro-honesty mother Sheryl is constantly harried by her family's eccentric secrets, especially those of her brother, a suicidal Proust scholar fresh out of the hospital after being jilted by his gay lover. Then there are young Hoovers with their unlikely dreams--the four-eyed, slightly pump, seven year-old would-be beauty queen Olive and Dwayne, an anger-fueled, Nietzche-reading teen who has taken a staunch vow of silence until he gets into the Air Force Academy. Topping off the family is the grandfather, a foul-mouthed pleasure-seeker recently kicked out of his retirement home for snorting heroin. They might not be the picture of the perfect mental health, but when a fluke gets Olive invited to compete in the fiercely competitive Little Miss Sunshine competition in California, the whole Hoover family rallies behind her. They pile into their rusted-out VW bus and head West on a three-day tragicomic journey filled with madcap surprises and leading up to Olive's big debut--which will change the entire misfit family in ways they could never imagine. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest Release Date: July 7, 2006 Rating: PG-13 - intense sequences of adventure violence, including frightening images Cast: Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom, Keira Knightley Director: Gore Verbinski Genre: Action/Adventure, Comedy, Family Synopsis: Captain Jack Sparrow is caught up in another tangled web of supernatural intrigue. Although the curse of the Black Pearl has been lifted, an even more terrifying threat looms over its captain and scurvy crew: it turns out that Jack owes a blood debt to the legendary Davy Jones, Ruler of the Ocean Depths, who captains the ghostly Flying Dutchman, which no other ship can match in speed and stealth. Unless the ever-crafty Jack figures a cunning way out of this Faustian pact, he will be cursed to an afterlife of eternal servitude and damnation in the service of Jones. This startling development interrupts the wedding plans of Will Turner and Elizabeth Swann, who once again find themselves thrust into Jack's misadventures, leading to escalating confrontations with sea monsters, very unfriendly islanders, flamboyant soothsayer Tia Dalma and even the mysterious appearance of Will's long-lost father, Bootstrap Bill. Meanwhile, ruthless pirate hunter Lord Cutler Beckett of the East India Trading Company sets his sights on retrieving the fabled Dead Man's Chest. According to legend, whoever possesses the Dead Man's Chest gains control of Davy Jones, and Beckett intends to use this awesome power to destroy every last Pirate of the Caribbean once and for all. For times are changing on the high seas, with businessmen and bureaucrats becoming the true pirates--and freewheeling, fun-loving buccaneers like Jack and his crew threatened with extinction. The Protector Release Date: September 8, 2006 Run Time: 1 hr. 49 min. Rating: R - pervasive strong violence and some sexual content Cast: Tony Jaa, Johnny Nguyen, Nathan Jones Director: Prachya Pinkaew Genre: Action/Adventure Synopsis: Kham's life is turned upside down when an international mafia syndicate, based in Australia, captures his two beloved elephants and smuggles them thousands of kilometers away to Sydney. The two elephants are far more than mere animals to Kham and his father; they are part of his family and were being prepared to be presented as a token of devotion to his Majesty the King of Thailand. The only way Kham can possibly save the animals is by venturing into a foreign land for the first time. Taking on a mafia group to rescue two elephants from a foreign country presents a huge challenge, even for a martial arts master like Kham. Despite the help of Sergeant Mark, a Thai police Sergeant based in Australia, and Pla, a Thai girl forced into modern day slavery, the going gets tough. They must take on the ruthless gang of Madame Rose, whose henchmen include Johnny, a Vietnamese thief and martial arts expert, and the hulking TK. Kham has no choice but to risk his own life for the animals he loves. Pulse Release Date: August 11, 2006 Run Time: 1 hr. 30 min. Rating: PG-13 - violent and disturbing images Cast: Kristen Bell, Steve Talley, Ian Somerhalder Director: Jim Sonzero Genre: Horror, Suspense/Thriller Synopsis: High speed data transfers, super wide-band, wifi--this is the wireless landscape. Huge volumes of information are traveling through the air. As we continue to explore these frequencies, we expose ourselves to realms we didn't even know existed. We only fear what we can touch, hear, see or taste, but there is potentially so much more out there. What if our wireless technologies made a connection to a world beyond our own? What if, when you turn on your cell phone or log on to your email, you exposed yourself to forces beyond your worst fears? What if every connection = infection? Snakes on a Plane Release Date: August 18, 2006 Run Time: 1 hr. 46 min. Rating: R - language, a scene of sexuality and drug use, and intense sequences of terror and violence Cast: Samuel L. Jackson, Benjamin McKenzie, Nathan Phillips Director: David R. Ellis Genre: Action/Adventure, Horror, Suspense/Thriller Synopsis: When a young man witnesses a brutal mob murder, it falls to FBI agent Neville Flynn to escort his charge safely from Hawaii to Los Angeles to testify. But in an act of self-preservation, the crime boss facing prison smuggles hundreds of poisonous snakes onto the commercial aircraft in a crate timed to release its deadly cargo halfway over the Pacific. Flynn, along with a frightened flight crew and passengers, must then band together in a desperate attempt to survive. Step Up Release Date: August 11, 2006 Run Time: 1 hr. 38 min. Rating: PG-13 - thematic elements, brief violence and innuendo Cast: Channing Tatum, Jenna Dewan, Mario Director: Anne Fletcher Genre: Drama, Music/Performing Arts Synopsis: Tyler Gage has grown up all his life on the rough streets of the city and he knows he's unlikely to ever make it out of there. But after a brush with the law lands Tyler with a community service gig at the city's Maryland School of the Arts, everything changes. That's when he meets Nora, the school's prima ballerina, an alluring diva who is desperately searching for someone to replace her injured partner before the school's all-important Senior Showcase. Spying Tyler's moves, Nora can't help but notice he's got a raw but natural gift. She decides to take a chance on Tyler, but as they begin to train, the tension between them, and their polar opposite backgrounds, skyrockets. The only thing standing between Tyler and the void are his dreams of making it off the streets--and the only thing standing in the way of Nora's obviously brilliant future is the Senior Showcase. Now, with everything on the line, Tyler will have just one performance to prove to Nora, and to himself, that he can step up to a life for larger than he ever imagined. Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby Release Date: August 4, 2006 Run Time: 1 hr. 50 min. Rating: PG-13 - crude and sexual humor, language, drug references and brief comic violence Cast: Will Ferrell, David Koechner, Sacha Baron Cohen Director: Adam McKay Genre: Comedy Synopsis: Ricky Bobby has always dreamed of driving fast--real fast--like his father, Reese Bobby, who left the family to pursue his racing dreams. Early on, Ricky's mother, Lucy Bobby worried that her boy was also destined to end up as a professional daredevil on wheels. Ricky enters the racing arena as a jackman for slovenly driver Terry Cheveaux and accidentally gets his big break behind the wheel when Cheveaux makes an unscheduled pit stop during a race to gorge on a chicken sandwich. Ricky jumps into the car and so begins the ballad of Ricky Bobby. Ricky quickly becomes one of NASCAR's top stars, supported by his pit boys--the impressively large crew chief Lucius Washington, a trio of lovably moronic but loyal crew members, Herschell, Kyle and Glenn, as well as racing partner and boyhood best friend, Cal Naughton, Jr. They are all part of the Dennit Racing team, headed by wealthy Dennit Senior and his petulant son, Dennit Junior, whose jealousy of Ricky Bobby increases with every victory. In a short time, Ricky Bobby is on top of the world. He has everything a championship NASCAR driver could ever want--a gorgeous wife, Carley, a lakeside mansion, two hell-raising sons, Walker and Texas Ranger, huge sponsor endorsements and a string of victories from Daytona to Darlington. Ricky Bobby's win at all costs approach had made him a natural hero. But after a frightening crash sends Ricky Bobby to the hospital, he loses his nerve and falls on hard times. When his career and his wife are taken over by his friend Cal, Ricky Bobby turns his back on racing and takes his sons back to his small hometown to live with his mother. But Ricky just isn't cut for the slow life away from the race track and soon hits rock bottom. His mother reluctantly turns to the only person she can think of to help her son--his estranged father Reese Bobby. Ricky Bobby will do anything to find a way back to the top, no matter how many speed bumps life throws his way. Unidentified Release Date: April 7, 2006 Rating: PG - thematic elements Cast: Jonathan Aube, Josh Adamson, Michael Blain-Rozgay Director: Rich Christiano Genre: Sci-Fi/Fantasy Synopsis: A pair of enterprising young reporters from "Both Sides" magazine are sent to Texas to investigate a rash of UFO sightings. Their investigation reveals a supernatural element that forces a wedge between the two reporters. As they pursue their separate and conflicting theories, their lives begin to change. The Wicker Man Release Date: September 1, 2006 Run Time: 1 hr. 37 min. Rating: PG-13 - disturbing images and violence, language and thematic issues Cast: Nicolas Cage, Ellen Burstyn, Kate Beahan Director: Neil LaBute Genre: Drama, Horror, Suspense/Thriller Synopsis: Out patrolling a California highway, police officer Edward Malus stops a station wagon to return a little girl's lost doll. Moments later, a runaway truck slams into the station wagon, igniting it into a fiery wreck with the mother and child trapped inside. Edwards fails to save them before the car explodes--and then spends months of his life choking down pills to get the image of their faces out of his head. But Edward is about to get a second chance. A desperate letter from his former fiancée, Willow, arrives at his home with no postmark. Willow came into his life and left just as unexpectedly years before. But now, her daughter Rowan has gone missing, and Edward is the only person she trusts to help relocate her. She asks him to come to her home on a private island--Summersisle--a place with its own traditions where people observe a forgotten way of life. Edward seizes the opportunity to make his life right again, and soon finds himself on a seaplane bound for the islands of the Pacific Northwest. But nothing is what it seems on isolated Summersisle, where a culture, dominated by its matriarch Sister Summersisle, is bound together by arcane traditions and a pagan festival known as the Day of Death and Rebirth. The secretive people of Summersisle only ridicule his investigation, insisting that a child named Rowan never existed there--or if she ever did was no longer alive. But what Edward doesn't know is that Willow's plea for help has invited more into his life than a chance for redemption. In unraveling Summersisle's closely held secrets, Edward is drawn into a web of ancient traditions and murderous deceit, and each step he takes closer to the lost child brings him one step closer to the unspeakable. And one step closer to The Wicker Man. World Trade Center Release Date: August 9, 2006 Run Time: 2 hr. 5 min. Rating: PG-13 - intense and emotional content, some disturbing images and language Cast: Nicolas Cage, Michael Pena, Maria Bello Director: Oliver Stone Genre: Drama Synopsis: September 11, 2001 was an unusually warm day in New York. Will Jimeno, an officer with the Port Authority Police Department, was tempted to take a personal day to enjoy his hobby of bow hunting, but ultimately decided that he would go to work. Sergeant John McLoughlin, a respected veteran of the PAPD, had been up for hours--a requirement of his daily, 1 ½ hour trek to the city. They and their colleagues made their way to midtown Manhattan, just like they did any other day. Only this wasn't any other day. A team of PAPD first responders drove from mid-town Manhattan to the World Trade Center. Five men, including McLoughlin and Jimeno, went into the buildings and were trapped when the towers collapsed. Miraculously, McLoughlin and Jimeno survived, but were buried and pinned beneath slabs of concrete and twisted metal, 20 feet below the rubble field. Though they couldn't see each other, each could hear that the other had survived, and for the next 12 hours, McLoughlin and Jimeno kept each other alive--talking about their families, their lives on the force, their hopes, their disappointments.

I really ought to try to get to the movies this weekend. I haven't seen a movie since Pirates of the Caribbean 2 came out and I didn't get a review written for it yet. I missed my chance to see Monster House but there are some other movies that look good. Accepted, Barnyard, The Covenant, Hollywoodland and Step Up are at the top of my list. I'm not sure about Invincible How to Eat Fried Worms, the Illusionist and The Wicker Man.