Bovie Movie

Screen newcomer Joseph Cross portrays Augusten Burroughs in director Ryan Murphy’s film adaptation of author Burroughs’ best-selling personal memoir of the same name. A child of the 1970s whose alcoholic father Norman (Alec Baldwin) and delusional, unpublished poet mother Deidre (Annette Benning) serve as the dictionary definition of the word “dysfunctional,” Augusten is sent by his mother to live with her eccentric psychiatrist Dr. Finch (Brian Cox) when his disagreeable parents ultimately decide terminate their turbulent marriage. Suddenly thrust into an environment that is as unfamiliar as it is unpredictable, young Augusten forms a curious relationship with the doctor’s two whimsical daughters while learning to adapt and survive under even the most unusual of circumstances.

Griffin Dunne directed this romantic fantasy adapted from the 1995 Alice Hoffman novel about the Owens family of witches, regarded as outcasts in the town where they live. Aunt Frances (Stockard Channing) and her sister Aunt Jet (Dianne Wiest) tried to pass on practical magic skills to their nieces, subdued Sally (Sandra Bullock) and fiery Gillian (Nicole Kidman), brought up by the two aunts after their parents died. The aunts concoct spells for the lonely and the lovelorn, but the family’s use of witchcraft unfortunately invokes a curse that spells doom to the family’s menfolk. Denying her powers, Sally attempted to lead a life minus magic. Her marriage to fish merchant Michael (Mark Feuerstein) brought two daughters — and Michael’s death. Moving into the aunt’s seaside mansion, the widowed Sally warns the aunts not to influence her daughters. Sally intervenes when Gillian suffers at the hands of her abusive Bulgarian boyfriend Jimmy (Goran Visnic), and Arizona detective Gary Hallet (Aidan Quinn), investigating Jimmy’s disappearance, turns up in town, eyeing Gillian and Sally as the leading suspects. Filmed in Washington (San Juan Island, Whidby Island, Coupeville, Friday Harbor).

Is the time approaching when a persona in its entirety could be a mere fabrication of modern culture and technology? Or did Hollywood enter that time long ago? Either way Viktor Taransky (Al Pacino) finds himself growing more and more aware of the media-obsessed culture in which he tries to earn his living. Taransky is a film director struggling to survive in an industry that doesn’t require or want his artistic vision. When first he meets a stranger whose vision is considered somewhat questionable, he doesn’t realize the potential of the idea to digitally incorporate a character into his otherwise unsalvageable film. However, in time, not only the director and the entire studio, but American pop culture at large will grow to embrace Simone. As Taransky earns popularity and acclaim via the success of the digitally constructed actress he “discovered,” he struggles to define his own identity as an artist and a person, and finds that lying to cover up Simone’s non-existence is altering his life entirely. His ex-wife and former employer Elaine (Catherine Keener) notices the difference in his personality, upsetting their daughter Lainey (Evan Rachel Wood) and her hopes of their reconciliation. Meanwhile, stray paparazzi turned private investigators threaten to make public incriminating evidence, which could destroy the limelight Taransky enjoys while “hiding” Simone. Amazingly, what Simone doesn’t say or do creates all the more buzz, and causes Taransky to face the reality of his industry. Written and directed by Andrew Niccol (Gattaca), Simone takes a satirical approach to an otherwise fantastical comedy.

Two friends wonder if there might be more between them when their lives both take a left turn in this romantic comedy. Terry (Joan Allen) is a middle-aged housewife and mother of four teenaged daughters and gets the shock of her life when her husband, without a word of warning, leaves them behind, presumably to move to Sweden with his secretary. Going through a bender of depression and alcohol, Terry finds herself commiserating with Denny (Kevin Costner), a former baseball star turned unenthusiastic radio personality who was her husband’s colleague and friend and an occasional presence at the house. With both Terry and Denny feeling down in the dumps about recent events in their lives, the two find themselves drawn to one another, and while Terry fights the notion of a new romance, her daughters — Andy (Erika Christensen), Hadley (Alicia Witt), Emily (Keri Russell), and Lavender (Evan Rachel Wood) — each have different ideas about their futures. The Upside of Anger was written and directed by Mike Binder, who also plays a supporting role as the producer of Denny’s radio show.