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April 2005 Releases
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Sideways
An intoxicating,
intelligent comedy about the ups, downs and sideways journey of life. A wine-tasting road trip through
California's famed Central Coast takes an unexpected detour as Miles and Jack hit the gas en route
to their mid-life crisis. The comically mismatched pair soon find themselves drowning in wine, women
and laughter.
Street Date 4/5/2005
Genre:
Comedy
Rating:
R
Starring:
Paul Giamatti, Sandra Oh, Virginia Madsen, Thomas Haden Church
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Spanglish
Celebrated chef John Clasky (Adam Sandler) is the patriarch of the Clasky household, but the mood swings of his hypersensitive wife, Deborah (Tea Leoni), are what really runs the show. When the Claskys hire the beautiful Flor (Paz Vega) to be their maid, their already rocky relationship faces some even bigger boulders. Spanish-speaking Flor is a sincere, loving single mother whose daughter, Christina (Shelbie Bruce), receives lavish displays of affection from Deborah. Meanwhile, Deborah neglects her own son and daughter in much the same way that her self-absorbed mother, Evelyn (Cloris Leachman), neglected her. Eventually Deborah crosses a line when she betrays her husband. Faced with this challenge, John and Flor, who share a clear attraction to one another, get the chance to explore their feelings.
Street Date 4/5/2005
Genre:
Comedy
Rating:
PG-13
Starring:
Adam Sandler, Paz Vega, Tea Leoni, Cloris Leachman
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Elektra
In this sequel to DAREDEVIL, the DC Comic series is drawn upon once again to present the mysterious and powerful character of Elektra (Jennifer Garner), a professional assassin with special skills. Clad in a red suit, she relies on her mental acuity, which allows her to see a short distance into the future. With this talent she can stalk her victims and kill them before they are even aware of her presence. She is haunted by the memories of her youth, when as a small girl she witnessed her mother's brutal murder by a mysterious horned enemy. When a mission leads her to a father and daughter, Mark (Goran Visnjic) and Abby (Kirsten Prout), something deep inside her causes her to abort the assassination. But before she knows it, a team of the highly dangerous ninja experts called the Hand are sent to take out Mark and Abby themselves. The leader of the Hand, Kirigi (Will Yun Lee), has a greater objective in mind for Mark and Abby, and Elektra decides to defend the helpless twosome until she solves the mystery behind why the Hand wants them dead.
Street Date 4/5/2005
Genre:
Action
Rating:
PG-13
Starring:
Jennifer Garner, Goran Visnjic, Kirsten Prout, Will Yun Lee
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Dirty War
Terrorism has stretched a long shadow over the citizens of London, with the city frequently under threat from a variety of sources who are eager to cause as much willful destruction as possible. So it's appropriate that this joint venture from the BBC and HBO, which concerns a "dirty bomb" threat, should be set there. Some radical Islamic Fundamentalists plan the attack and, sadly, they succeed, sending scores of people to their death outside a busy commuter station. The police frantically search for the culprits, who plan a second attack, while also tending to the loss of life and devastation meted out by the terrorists.
Street Date 4/5/2005
Genre:
Action
Rating:
(not rated)
Starring:
Ewan Stewart, Martin Savage
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I am David
David, a 12-year-old boy (Ben Tibber) who has lived in a prison camp for most of his life, has no concept of the outside world. So when his father-figure and fellow inmate Johannes (Jim Caviezel) helps him escape, David begins to realize the endless possibilities that await him as he scrambles across Europe to deliver a secret letter to Denmark.
Street Date 4/5/2005
Genre:
Drama
Rating:
PG
Starring:
Ben Tibber, Jim Caviezel, Joan Plowright
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Ocean's Twelve
OCEAN'S TWELVE reintroduces Ocean (George Clooney) and his perfectly trained team of con men, who are determined to take on Europe. Dividing forces to hit Paris, Amsterdam, and Rome, the heist-meisters move beyond casinos to tackle new objectives, one of which involves stealing a famous painting.
Street Date 4/12/2005
Genre:
Action
Rating:
PG-13
Starring:
George Clooney, Julia Roberts, Matt Damon, Brad Pitt, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Don Cheadle, Vincent Cassel, Andy Garcia, Carl Reiner, Elliott Gould, Scott Caan, Bernie Mac, Casey Affleck, Cherry Jones
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Hotel Rwanda
Don Cheadle stars as Paul Rusesabagina, the manager of a European-owned hotel in Rwanda, who created a secret refugee camp for the Tutsi people during the brutal genocide committed against them by the Hutu people in 1994. His efforts helped to save 1200 lives out of close to a million who were killed. HOTEL RWANDA shows this man's courage, while also capturing the political events that occurred between April and September '94. First, United Nations soldiers are restricted from fighting back against Hutu guerillas, even after the Rwandan president is assassinated and the country is thrown into chaos. But as the fighting worsens, all non-Rwandans including UN peacekeepers, Europeans, and Americans are evacuated. This leaves the Tutsi people defenseless against aggressive Hutus who are armed with machine guns and machetes. While working the system with strategic phone calls to powerful international contacts of the hotel, Rusesabagina also uses smart lies and power plays to hold off the Hutus. The morale among the refugees is low, but because they are protected from the inconceivable brutality happening outside the hotel's gates, they maintain a sense of hope.
Street Date 4/12/2005
Genre:
Thriller
Rating:
PG-13
Starring:
Don Cheadle, Nick Nolte, Sophie Okonedo, Joaquin Phoenix
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Suspect Zero
A psychological thriller about two FBI agents
on the trail of an elusive serial killer, who himself is in pursuit of Suspect Zero, the ultimate serial
killer.
Street Date 4/12/2005
Genre:
Thriller
Rating:
R
Starring:
Ben Kingsley, Aaron Eckhart, Carrie-Anne Moss
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The Woodsman
With a 12-year prison stretch reaching an end, convicted pedophile Walter (Kevin Bacon) faces an uncertain walk back into the free world in THE WOODSMAN. Attempting to keep his previous indiscretions sheltered from prying eyes, Walter tries to piece together his shattered life by finding a job and an apartment. The first task is relatively simple, with the ex-con finding employment at a lumberyard thanks to his natural talent for woodcraft. An apartment comes less easily, but Walter manages to secure a roof over his head in a building, which--in a cruel twist of irony--is located opposite an elementary school. For this reformed character, the path to redemption comes strewn with cracked paving stones, which need to be carefully navigated with every tentative step he takes.
Street Date 4/12/2005
Genre:
Drama
Rating:
R
Starring:
Kevin Bacon, Kyra Sedgwick, Eve, Mos Def, David Alan Grier, Benjamin Bratt
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Criminal
Richard Gaddis (John C. Reilly) is a Los Angeles con man in search of a new partner. Enter Rodrigo (Diego Luna), a young grifter pulling minor scams in a casino. When Rodrigo is caught by a savvy waitress who senses his scheme, Richard steps in, posing as an undercover cop, and escorts him out. Much to Rodrigo's surprise, Richard asks him to be his partner-in-crime. Over the next 48 hours, their skills are put to the test as Richard is given a potentially lucrative chance to deliver a counterfeit bank note to a wealthy guest (Peter Mullan) at the hotel where his sister, Valerie (Maggie Gyllenhaal), is the concierge. But is he trustworthy, or is Rodrigo just another one of his unwitting marks?
Street Date 4/12/2005
Genre:
Action
Rating:
R
Starring:
John C. Reilly, Diego Luna, Maggie Gyllenhaal
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Meet the Fockers
Now that Greg Focker is
in with his soon-to-be in-laws, Jack and Dina it looks like smooth sailing for him and his fiancee, Pam
But that's before Pam's parents meet Greg's parents, Bernie and Roz Focker. The hyper-relaxed
Fockers and the tightly wound Byrneses are woefully mismatched from the start, and no matter how
hard Greg and Pam try, there is just no bringing their families together - which all adds up to a
disastrously funny time of "getting to know you."
Street Date 4/19/2005
Genre:
Comedy
Rating:
PG13
Starring:
Robert DeNiro, Ben Stiller, Barbara Streisand, Dustin Hoffman
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House of Flying Daggers
Following up his award-winning martial-arts drama HERO, director Zhang Yimou (JU DOU, RAISE THE RED LANTERN) tells an intricately detailed love story in the swordfighting epic HOUSE OF FLYING DAGGERS, set during the final days of the Tang Dynasty. A mysterious group called the Flying Daggers is a dangerous threat to the government, so police captain Leo (Andy Lau) sends his right-hand man, Jin (Takeshi Kaneshiro), undercover to try to find the rebels' location. Jin, a notorious playboy, pretends he is a roving warrior called "Wind" and befriends Mei (Ziyi Zhang), a blind dancer who is believed to be the daughter of the former leader of the Daggers. As he leads her across the countryside, they are "attacked" by government soldiers--but these battles are staged by Leo in order to convince Mei that Jin is on her side. But when a general orders that Mei must be captured at any cost, the fighting turns real, and Jin must decide between his loyalty to his job and his growing love for Mei.
Street Date 4/19/2005
Genre:
Action
Rating:
PG-13
Starring:
Zhang Ziyi, Takeshi Kaneshiro, Andy Lau, Feng Lu, Song Dandan
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Birth
Nicole Kidman teams up with director Jonathan Glazer (SEXY BEAST) to deliver some sensitive subject matter in BIRTH. Kidman stars as Anna, a wealthy widower preparing to remarry 10 years after the sad, premature death of her husband. She inhabits a vast apartment in New York City, which is owned by her protective mother, Eleanor (Lauren Bacall), who quickly gathers Anna under her protective wing whenever trouble comes calling. Anna's fiancé Joseph (Danny Huston) also resides in the austere apartment, where a party is thrown to celebrate the impending wedlock of the happy couple. An unwelcome visitor in the shape of 10-year-old Sean (Cameron Bright) crashes the festivities, cornering Anna and claiming to be her departed husband. After a derisory reaction from Anna, events take a strange twist when Sean continues to hound the widower, revealing facts that only her late husband could possibly know.
Street Date 4/19/2005
Genre:
Drama
Rating:
R
Starring:
Nicole Kidman, Danny Huston, Cameron Bright, Lauren Bacall
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Love Song for Bobby Long
Upon hearing of her mother's death, jaded
teenage loner Pursiane Hominy Will returns to New Orleans for the first time in years, ready to reclaim
her childhood home. Expecting to find her late mother's house abandoned, Pursy is shocked to
discover that it's inhabited by two of her mother's friends: Bobby Long, a former literature professor,
and his young protege, Lawson Pines. These broken men, whose lives took a wrong turn years
before, have been firmly rooted in the dilapidated house for years, encouraged only by Lawson's
faltering ambitions to write a novel about Bobby Long's life. Having no intention of leaving, they are all
forced to live together. Yet as time passes, their tenuous, makeshift arrangement unearths a series
of buried personal secrets that challenges their bonds and reveals just how their lives are intertwined.
Street Date 4/19/2005
Genre:
Drama
Rating:
R
Starring:
John Travolta, Scarlett Johansson, Deborah Unger
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Riding the Bullet
Based on the eBook by horror author Stephen E. King, RIDING THE BULLET concerns a series of macabre incidents that haunt a troubled art student (Jonathan Jackson). Having survived a suicide attempt, he sets out to save his mother (Barbara Hershey), who has suffered a near-fatal stroke. But in the process, he finds himself coming face to face with Death (David Arquette).
Street Date 4/19/2005
Genre:
Thriller
Rating:
R
Starring:
Jonathan Jackson, David Arquette, Cliff Robertson, Barbara Hershey
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Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events
LEMONY SNICKET'S A SERIES OF UNFORTUNATE EVENTS follows the Baudelaire orphans--Violet (Emily Browning), Klaus (Liam Aiken), and baby Sunny (played by twins Kara and Shelby Hoffman)--as they are followed by the wicked Count Olaf (Jim Carrey). A distant relative and an awful actor, Olaf is determined to claim the fortune willed to Violet, Klaus, and Sunny, whose parents died in a mysterious fire. Enigmatic author Lemony Snicket (Jude Law) recounts the adventures of the three children as they change hands from the conniving Olaf to the reptile-loving Uncle Monty (Billy Connolly) to Aunt Josephine (Meryl Streep), who lives in fear of just about everything.
Street Date 4/26/2005
Genre:
Comedy
Rating:
PG-13
Starring:
Jim Carrey, Meryl Streep, Jude Law, Billy Connolly, Emily Browning, Liam Aiken
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Blade : Trinity
BLADE: TRINITY, the third installment of the film series adapted from Marvel comics. Here, a new challenge faces the preternaturally sharp hunter, Blade (Wesley Snipes), when a group of vamps resurrect the long-slumbering "Drake" (Dominic Purcell)--the ancient and all-powerful Count Dracula--and Blade meets the ultimate opponent. Teaming up with the Nightstalkers, a group of similar-minded hunters led by tough slayer Abigail (Jessica Biel) and her joke-a-minute partner Hannibal (Ryan Reynolds), Blade is ready for battle. However, Drake's handlers are an unruly bunch themselves, with sassy Danica (Parker Posey in a wonderfully exaggerated performance) doing her best to make things as unpleasant as possible.
Street Date 4/26/2005
Genre:
Action
Rating:
R
Starring:
Wesley Snipes, Kris Kristofferson, Jessica Biel
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Darkness
DARKNESS is a terrifying tale in which an ordinary American family moves to a large, creaky Victorian home in the Spanish countryside that, unbeknownst to them, was the scene of some awful experiments on the night of a total eclipse 40 years before. Teenage daughter Regina (Anna Paquin) decides to investigate after unexplained bruises show up on her younger brother (Stephen Enquist), and her father (Iain Glen) displays oddly enraged and erratic behavior. Although her mother (Lena Olin) and her grandfather (Giancarlo Giannini) refuse to believe her, Regina is convinced that something within their new home is the cause of the trouble. As another eclipse looms, Regina enlists the help of her new boyfriend (Fele Martinez) and uncovers truths that could literally destroy her family.
Street Date 4/26/2005
Genre:
Thriller
Rating:
R
Starring:
Anna Paquin, Lena Olin, Iain Glen, Giancarlo Giannini
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Undertow
Chris Munn (an astounding Jamie Bell) is a troubled teenager who can't seem to stay out of trouble. His hard-nosed father, John (Dermot Mulroney), and younger brother, Tim (newcomer Devon Alan), are his only companions. But when John's long-lost brother Deel (Josh Lucas) shows up for a reunion of sorts, the past comes back to haunt everyone. Deel and John were involved in a bitter love triangle as young men, which led to Deel's subsequent incarceration. The brothers also never resolved an issue surrounding stolen gold coins that belonged to their father. When the coins are brought into light, tragedy strikes, forcing Chris and Tim to embark on a frantic journey through the South, trailed by the furious and murderous Deel.
Street Date 4/26/2005
Genre:
Thriller
Rating:
R
Starring:
David Gordon Green, Terrence Malick, Jamie Bell, Dermot Mulroney
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Wild Things - Diamonds in the Rough
Things get stirred-up in Blue Bay when Marie,
a 17-year-old beauty, gets caught in a tangle of deceit and double-crossing after meeting Elena, the "new girl" at school. Elana teases Maria about her wealth and flirts with her stepfather Jay.
When Elena accuses Jay of rape to get money, she peaks the investigative interest of Kristen, a local
who campaigns for rape awareness. Elena successfully extorts Diamonds from Jay, but instead of
freeing him, she continues with the rape charge.
Street Date 4/26/2005
Genre:
Thriller
Rating:
R
Starring:
Dina Meyers, Linden Ashby, Brad Johnson
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Wooly Boys
This boisterous and surprisingly touching independent comedy features Peter Fonda (EASY RIDER, ULEE'S GOLD) and Kris Kristofferson (THE JACKET, BLADE: TRINITY) as a pair of hard-nosed sheep farmers from the North Dakota Badlands. When Stoney (Fonda) falls ill, he is lured back to Minneapolis for treatment by his estranged daughter Kate (Robin Dearden), who encourages him to reestablish a relationship with his grandson Charles (Joe Mazzello, RADIO FLYER, JURASSIC PARK). When Shuck (Kristofferson) realizes his partner is in the hospital, he makes for the city in order to help him break out; their daring escape entangles Charles, who ends up coming along for the ride against his will. Charles is a wisecracking city kid obsessed with computers, and is entirely ill at ease with his grandfather's lifestyle, a situation that is further aggravated by the fact that the trio is now wanted for a host of criminal activities. With Sheriff Hank Dawson (Keith Carradine, HAIR HIGH) in close pursuit, the outlaws make for the ranch, and Charles discovers his roots as well as his lost childhood along the way.
Street Date 4/26/2005
Genre:
Adventure
Rating:
PG
Starring:
Peter Fonda, Kris Kristofferson, Keith Carradine, Joseph Mazzello, Robin Dearden
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