Bovie Movie

Tobe Hooper, who directed one of the truly iconic American horror films of the 1970s, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, offers his take on another well-remembered scare-fest of the era with this remake. Steve (Brent Roam) and Nell (Angela Bettis) are a young couple living in Los Angeles who are short on money — she’s just started work as a teacher, while he’s a medical student doing his internship. They rent a flat in the Lusman Arms, a once beautiful but now decaying (and therefore affordable) apartment building managed by the sleazy Byron McLieb (Greg Travis), who tries to pass off the ramshackle accommodations as “charming” and “historic.” Watching over the Lusman Arms beside Byron is Ned (Adam Gierasch), a greasy simpleton who serves as the building’s handyman. Steve and Nell haven’t been living at the Lusman especially long when she notices that a growing number of young women living in the building have been meeting a violent death, and with some help from good-hearted part-time actor “Jazz” Rooker (Rance Howard), she begins looking into the murders and makes some disturbing discoveries about both the building management and her fellow tenants.

From writer/director David Koepp (Stir of Echoes) comes this filmed adaptation of Stephen King’s novella Secret Window, Secret Garden, one of four stories in the collection Four Past Midnight. Johnny Depp stars as Mort Rainey, a recently divorced author who decides to take some time off at his cottage. Unfortunately for Rainey, John Shooter (John Turturro), an unbalanced wannabe writer, tracks him down, claiming that Rainey plagiarized his work. Also starring Maria Bello, Charles S. Dutton, and Timothy Hutton, Secret Window is the second story from Four Past Midnight to be adapted as a film, the first being 1995’s made-for-television The Langoliers.

When Todd Anderson (Storm P) signs a 30-million-dollar contract with the New Jersey Nets after being named the number one NBA draft pick of the year, his mother (Jenifer Lewis) vows to prevent her son from forgetting his roots. Not used to balancing his new life with his old, Todd mistakenly invites family and friends from his old neighborhood to his multi-million-dollar house for a cookout on the same day of an important endorsement interview. Though his extravagant family cookouts were welcome at his old digs, Todd’s stuffy new neighbors — particularly the conservative Republican Judge Halsted Crowley (Danny Glover) — are less than thrilled with the arrival of Todd’s massive family. Complicating the situation further is the eccentric neighborhood security guard (Queen Latifah), who takes on the heady assignment of ensuring that none of the private community’s rules are broken, as well as two thugs who, determined to get an autographed pair of sneakers, hold up the cookout at gunpoint. Directed by Lance Rivera, The Cookout also features performances from Ja Rule, Eve, Farrah Fawcett, and Jonathan Silverman.

A teenage girl learns that reaching for your dreams isn’t always easy in this heartfelt drama with music. Terri Fletcher (Hilary Duff) is a small-town girl with a great love of music and a fine singing voice. Already one of the lead vocalists in her church choir, Terri has also appeared at local nightspots with some help from her older brother. When he tragically dies in an auto accident, Terri becomes all the more determined to make the most of her talent, and she’s elated when she’s accepted as part of a summer study program at one of California’s most prestigious music schools; however, Terri attends over the stern objections of her father. As she tries to hold together her relationship with her family, she finds herself falling for one of her fellow students, Jay (Oliver James), and competing for attention against dozens of kids whose talent rivals her own. Raise Your Voice also features Jason Ritter, Rebecca De Mornay, Rita Wilson, David Keith, and John Corbett.

The greatest monster hunter of them all has his work cut out for him as he tracks down three deadly foes in this action-adventure saga. Gabriel Van Helsing (Hugh Jackman) is a man who has dedicated his life to battling evil forces who exist outside the bounds of nature; Van Helsing’s work has not always made him friends, and a false accusation of murder still trails him. But when he’s summoned to Transylvania at the behest of Anna Valerious (Kate Beckinsale), whose family has been fighting supernatural beings for generations, Van Helsing wastes no time answering her call. There, Van Helsing discovers that the undying vampire Count Dracula (Richard Roxburgh) has put a misshapen creature named Igor (Kevin J. O’Connor) under his spell, and, in turn, has forged an alliance with a hideous monster (Shuler Hensley) who was created by the misguided Dr. Victor Frankenstein (Samuel West). Adding to Anna’s burden is her brother, Velkan (Will Kemp), a lycanthrope who becomes a bloodthirsty wolf under the light of the full moon. Van Helsing also co-stars Elena Anaya, Silvia Colloca, and Josie Maran as Dracula’s vampire brides.

A group of disparate characters look for understanding and compassion in the midst of a lonely holiday season in this comedy drama. Rose (Susan Sarandon) is a middle-aged divorcée whose mother is in the hospital with an advanced case of Alzheimer’s disease; while Rose wants one more chance to tell her mother that she loves her, the woman doesn’t even know who she is anymore. Mike (Paul Walker) is a police officer who has become the obsessive focus of an elderly waiter, Artie (Alan Arkin), who is convinced Mike is the reincarnation of his late wife. Meanwhile, Mike is engaged to marry the beautiful Nina (Penélope Cruz), but he’s so consumed with jealousy and suspicion that she’s not sure if she can go through with the wedding. And Jules (Marcus Thomas) is a street hustler who has only one fond memory of Christmas — ending up in an emergency room, where the staff was holding a party. Jules wants to relive the experience, and is even willing to injure himself to do so. Noel was the first directorial effort from actor and playwright Chazz Palminteri.

Based on a novel by Elleston Trevor, director John Moore’s The Flight of the Phoenix is a remake of a 1965 film of the same name starring film icon James Stewart. The story revolves around the plight of Captain Frank Towns (Dennis Quaid), a pilot whose C-119 cargo plane full of oil workers could not withstand the violent winds of a desert sandstorm. Stranded in the harsh terrain of Mongolia’s Gobi Desert (a departure from the original, in which the plane crashed in the Sahara), Frank and his navigator face an equal challenge in maintaining order among the survivors. The group of oilmen had planned on an uneventful trip to shut off a group of rigs falling below their productivity expectations — not fending for their very lives. Before long, some men are revealed as cowards, while others exhibit a surprising show of strength, all the while hoping that the wreckage of the original plane can be salvaged before a Lord of the Flies situation occurs. Miranda Otto is featured in a supporting role, as well as Giovanni Ribisi and Tyrese Gibson.

A research team sent to investigate a distress signal sent from a top-secret oil rig makes a horrific discovery in this tale of maritime terror from genre specialist Jay Andrews. Upon arriving on the remote oil rig, Captain Jack Griffin (Billy Warlock) and Professor Anna Davis (Catherine Lough Haggquist) are perplexed to find no trace of life. As they venture ever deeper into the heart of the mysterious oil rig and crew members begin to disappear one by one, rumors of a mysterious creature said to lurk beneath the ocean floor appear to take on an element of reality.

Oceanic wise guys meet up with a small fish who has a big attitude in this computer-animated comedy. Don Lino (voice of Robert De Niro) is the patriarch of a family of sharks who lord over a bustling aquatic community based along a massive underwater reef. Don Lino has two sons, Frankie (voice of Michael Imperioli) and Lenny (voice of Jack Black); Frankie is a carnivorous tough guy who takes after his father, but Lenny is, at heart, a kind soul who has earned the ire of his dad by becoming a vegetarian. One of Don Lino’s cronies is Sykes (voice of Martin Scorsese), who runs a “whale wash” where Oscar (voice of Will Smith) scrubs aquatic mammals for a living. Oscar is a small but ambitious fish who dreams of making something of himself, and when a dropped anchor accidentally kills Frankie, Oscar is suddenly (if mistakenly) celebrated as “the shark killer.” Oscar’s overnight fame attracts the attentions of Lola (voice of Angelina Jolie), a slinky dragon fish who woos Oscar away from his steady date, Angie (voice of Ren?e Zellweger); however, Oscar strikes up a friendship with Lenny and has to decide what to do when Don Lino and Sykes decides it’s time to “take care” of the “different” shark. Also popping up in Shark Tale’s all-star voice cast are Peter Falk, Vincent Pastore, Ziggy Marley, and Katie Couric.

One of the only survivors of a man-made plague joins forces with a team of private warriors in a bid to save what’s left of the Earth in this sequel to Resident Evil, the big-screen adaptation of the popular video game. Picking up where the first film left off, Resident Evil: Apocalypse finds Alice (Milla Jovovich) still battling the living dead who are overtaking Raccoon City, inoculated with an anti-virus by the nefarious and all-powerful Umbrella Corporation (in addition to the virus itself). Alice encounters Jill Valentine (Sienna Guillory), a former member of Umbrella’s internal defense team. Forming an alliance with mercenary-for-hire Carlos Olivera (Oded Fehr) and his cohorts, this tiny band of survivors seeks out Dr. Charles Ashford (Jared Harris), Umbrella’s top scientist and one of the only men with the know-how to find a solution to the zombie menace; however, they discover that Ashford’s cooperation comes with a price — the scientist’s daughter Angie (Sophie Vavasseur) is missing, and he’ll help Alice and her partners only if Angie is returned to him safe and sound. Resident Evil: Apocalypse was the first solo directorial credit for Alexander Witt, who previously distinguished himself as a cinematographer and second-unit director.