Bovie Movie

Eddie Murphy gets way, way out in this futuristic sci-fi comedy. In the year 2087, the Earth’s natural resources have been largely depleted, and an increasingly large number of people have taken up residence on the moon, where the pioneering attitude of the new residents has created a culture not unlike the old west. Pluto Nash (Eddie Murphy) is one such lunar exile who formerly made his living outside the law, but has since gone straight and now runs the hippest nightclub in the moon colony known as “Little America.” Pluto is approached by Mogan (Joe Pantoliano), a gangster who wants to buy the nightclub; Pluto has no interest in selling, but it seems Mogan isn’t about to take no for an answer. Pluto also discovers Mogan is in cahoots with Max Crater, a crime boss whose goal is to take over the entire moon. The Adventures Of Pluto Nash also features Randy Quaid as Pluto’s robot bodyguard, Rosario Dawson as a naive singer who has just arrived on the moon, Peter Boyle as Rowland the pool hustler, Jay Mohr as old-school lounge singer Tony Francis, Illeana Douglas as a cloning technician, and Pam Grier as Pluto’s mother.

Filmed on location in Montreal and New York, The Bone Collector is a suspense thriller that combines Rear Window and Seven. Two cops on the trail of a brutal serial killer must see as one, act as one, and think as one before the next victim falls. Lincoln Rhyme (Denzel Washington) is an intelligent forensics detective who was paralyzed in the line of duty. The author of several books, he has a keen eye for detail and nose for clues that have made him a legend in the law enforcement community. Amelia Donaghy (Angelina Jolie) is a street-smart policewoman in her twenties. On her last day as a street cop, before being transferred to a desk job, Amelia discovers a badly mutilated corpse. Rhyme is asked to investigate the case, but he declines. To him, it is an open-and-shut case not worth his time. But when he takes a close look at the evidence, he is intrigued, as the photos reveal complex messages in their details. The lunatic, who might be a taxi driver (a Scorsese allusion), amuses himself by paying homage to legendary murders in his own gruesome acts. Amelia is assigned to assist Rhyme, and she must be the eyes and ears of the quadriplegic detective. And they must capture the killer before he strikes again. Written by Jeremy Iacone and based on a book of the same title by Jeffrey Deaver, The Bone Collector was directed by the Australian thriller specialist Phillip Noyce, who directed such films as Clear and Present Danger and Dead Calm.

In this belated prequel to director Brian De Palma’s 1993 crime drama, gangster Carlito Brigante (Jay Hernandez) rises through the ranks of the New York underworld to establish himself as Spanish Harlem’s most powerful kingpin. As the intoxication of ultimate power tightens its firm grip on the rising heroin czar, he soon learns that greed and deception are the unspoken laws of the street. With no one to trust except for his two brothers in crime, Carlito begins building an empire founded on supplying the city’s addicts with the one product that is always in demand. His dreams of ruling the city finally becoming a reality, Carlito soon learns that the only way to sustain his power is through loyalty and respect. Adapted from author Edwin Torres’ acclaimed novel, Carlito’s Way: Rise to Power also stars Mario Van Peebles, Luis Guzm?n, and Sean Combs.

Director Troy Miller follows up the little-seen Mr. Show movie Run Ronnie Run! with this prequel to Dumb and Dumber, the 1994 box-office smash that starred Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels and launched the careers of writer/directors Peter Farrelly and Bobby Farrelly. For the follow-up, we’re taken back to 1986 when Lloyd Christmas (Eric Christian Olsen) and Harry Dunne (Derek Richardson) first met while in high school. Dissatisfied with their being stuck in remedial classes, the dense duo sets out to prove that they can attend classes with their peers of normal intelligence. Along the way, they encounter a greedy principal played by Eugene Levy and a friendly janitor played by Luis Guzman who takes Lloyd under his wing. Along with Mimi Rogers as Harry’s mom, Mrs. Dunne, Dumb and Dumberer also features performances by Rachel Nichols and Cheri Oteri.

The plucky little guy that comedian Buster Keaton portrayed throughout most of his two-reel silents is just about out of pluck here. After being fired by his boss and jilted by his girlfriend, there seems to be nothing left but to end it all. And even that won’t go right — try as he might nothing works (and hilariously so). Throwing himself in front of a streetcar fails. He lamely tries to hang himself. The “poison” he swallows is someone’s bootleg liquor stash. Desperately he throws himself in front of an oncoming pair of headlights, but it’s not a car, it’s two motorcycles that navigate easily around him. Suicide is forgotten when he somehow gets involved with a scientific search for an armadillo, which leads him to a country club. Notorious bandit Lizard Lip Luke (Joe Roberts) terrorizes the club’s patrons, but Buster saves the day and the girl (Virginia Fox). “Now no one can stand in the way of our getting married!” he tells the young lady. “Except my husband over there,” she retorts. Out of luck once again, Buster dons a swim suit, climbs up to the highest diving platform and jumps. Missing the pool completely, he goes through the tile and vanishes. “Years later” reads the title card, and we see the country club pool, overrun by weeds from misuse. The hole is still there, though, and Buster promptly emerges, a Chinese wife and two Chinese-American kids in tow. Out of all the two-reelers he made, Keaton said that Hard Luck was his favorite, and he claimed that performing the high dive was the greatest thrill of his life. Unfortunately, the end of Hard Luck has deteriorated with time (although the rest of the film is mostly intact), and apparently only fragments of it exist.

The title refers to the radioactive fallout which descended upon ruined city of Hiroshima after the dropping of the first atomic bomb. Young bride-to-be Yoshiko Tanaka has the misfortune to be visiting Hiroshima on the day of the explosion. Incredibly, she is unhurt; she returns to her own village, across the bay from Hiroshima. Unfortunately, her townsmen have been profoundly affected by the “black rain”; over the next five years, the poison in their systems slowly but surely erodes their souls. In a tragic state of denial, Yoshiko’s former friends insist that they can’t be sick-it must be the girl who is bringing sickness to them. Now a pariah, Yoshiko’s life is shattered as surely as if the bomb had disintegrated her upon impact. Director Shohei Imamaura, a onetime assistant to the great Ozu and the director of such Japanese classics as The Insect Woman and The Ballad of Narayama, never sensationalizes his material; the story is effective told in a muted, subdued fashion, allowing the horror to arise from the inner torment of the characters rather than being artificially imposed by camera trickery or “shock” cutting. Based on a novel by Masuji Ibuse, the black-and-white Black Rain won the Japanese equivalent of the Academy Award, along with several other honors.

The best-selling series of subversive children’s books from author Lemony Snicket (aka Daniel Handler) come to the screen in this black comedy for the whole family (and how often do you get to see one of those?). The Baudelaire siblings — gadget freak Violet (Emily Browning), bookworm Klaus (Liam Aiken), and baby Sunny (Kara Hoffman and Shelby Hoffman) — were living a fairy-tale existence with their parents until they died in a fire that destroyed the family home. With few close relatives and a large fortune the children won’t inherit until they reach adulthood, the Baudelaire children are left in the care of the peculiar Count Olaf (Jim Carrey), an out-of-work actor who would love nothing more than to get his hands on the kids’ money. It doesn’t take long for the children to figure out that Count Olaf is up to no good, and they try to steer clear of his various murderous schemes with the help of wildly paranoid Aunt Josephine (Meryl Streep) and snake-fancying Uncle Monty (Billy Connolly). Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events also features Catherine O’Hara, Timothy Spall, Cedric the Entertainer, and Luis Guzman; Jude Law narrates in the guise of author Snicket.

Adam Sandler and Emily Watson star in Punch-Drunk Love, an odd romantic comedy from gifted young director Paul Thomas Anderson. Sandler plays Barry Egan, a shy sad-sack with a great deal of repressed anger that occasionally bursts forth in sudden violent outrages, who falls in love with Lena Leonard (Emily Watson), a co-worker of one of Barry’s seven sisters. After calling a phone-sex line, Barry is extorted by bad-guy Dean Trumbell (Anderson regular Philip Seymour Hoffman), who eventually sends four goons to assault Barry and get the money. This film was screened in competition at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival, where Paul Thomas Anderson was named Best Director.

Few famous novels have been filmed as often as Alexandre Dumas’ The Count of Monte Cristo–and few versions are as enjoyable as this 1934 adaptation starring Robert Donat. Donat plays Edmond Dantes, wrongly accused of a plot against the post-Napoleonic French government. Condemned to a prison cell in the impenetrable Chateau D’If, Dantes vows vengeance against the four conspirators who framed him. He is particularly anxious to give his ex-friend Mondego (Sidney Blackmer) his comeuppance, since it was Mondego who married Dantes’ fiancee Mercedes (Elissa Landi). Twelve years pass; with the help of ancient fellow prisoner Abbe Foria (O.P. Heggie), Dantes digs his way out of the Chateau D’If and escapes. He finds the treasure of Monte Cristo, which makes him the wealthiest man in the world. He uses his riches to put his plan of revenge into motion, methodically destroying every one of his enemies. Though he lives for vengeance, Dantes–alias the Count of Monte Cristo–has his humanity restored by the love of Mercede, who despite her marriage has always remained spiritually faithful to him. According to publicity, the 1955 TV series based on The Count of Monte Cristo was filmed on the standing sets from the 1934 film. This might well have been true, since both film and series were produced by Edward Small.