Bovie Movie

Directed by Rawson Marshall Thurber, Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story revolves around amiable underachiever Peter LaFleur (Vince Vaughn), whose rundown gym, Average Joe’s, is populated by a less-than-average clientele including a self-styled pirate, an ultra-obscure sports aficionado, and a pining high school nerd. It soon becomes apparent that Joe’s is in financial trouble and will soon be foreclosed by attractive attorney Kate Veach (Christine Taylor) - unless Peter can cough up $50,000. Despite Average Joe’s posing little threat to Globo Gym, a fitness Goliath across the street that is owned by egomaniacal White Goodman (Ben Stiller) - Goodman senses an easy acquisition and decides to take over the facility. Peter’s ragtag group of regulars, however, are less than thrilled with the prospects, and mobilize a showdown, winner-takes-all Dodgeball tournament against Globo Gym. The film also features Missi Pyle, Rip Torn, Stephen Root, and Alan Tudyk.

Disney’s animation team dipped into the rich well of ancient mythology for this musical comedy. The son of Greek gods Zeus (voice of Rip Torn) and Hera (Samantha Eggar), Hercules (voice of Josh Keaton) is stolen as a boy by the minions of Hades (voice of James Woods), lord of the underworld. Forced to live among humans, Hercules is turned into a half-god and half-mortal after drinking a forbidden potion brewed by Hades’ right hand men, Pain (voice of Bob Goldthwait) and Panic (voice of Matt Frewer). Now Hercules has the remarkable strength of a god, but is trapped in the body of a human, and before he learns how to use his power properly he goes through a typically adolescent awkward period. In order to become a god and return to his home on Mount Olympus, Hercules must prove himself a true hero on Earth. With the assistance of Philotes (voice of Danny De Vito), a plucky satyr known as “Phil,” the grown-up Hercules (voice of Tate Donovan) learns to use his strength to his advantage and becomes a famous and benevolent protector of those around him, successfully battling a variety of gods and monsters. However, Hades, wanting to cut Hercules down to size, sends his secret weapon after him — Megara (voice of Susan Egan), a seductively beautiful woman under Hades’ control, who is to win Hercules’ heart and render him helpless against the forces of the underworld. Acclaimed British cartoonist Gerald Scarfe served as production designer for this project, while Alan Menken wrote the musical score. Incidentally, for the Spanish language version of the film, Latin pop singer Ricky Martin provided the singing voice of Hercules, two years before he became a chart-topping sensation in America with his hit single “Livin’ la Vida Loca.”

Penelope Spheeris directed this Marlon Wayans comedy, scripted by the Rocket Man team of Greg Erb and Craig Mazin. Saddled with several on and off-campus jobs, hard-working college student Darryl Witherspoon (Marlon Wayans) is aiming for a position with the Smythe-Bates brokerage firm, but twit Scott Thorpe has the right resum? and connections. A frat failure, Darryl also doesn’t score at ice hockey. For extra cash, Darryl becomes a test subject for an experimental drug that heightens the senses by five times. The initial effect is a rectal irritation, but then Darryl finds his enhanced hearing enables him to pick up distant conversations, and his upgraded coordination improves his hockey game. However, an overdose literally leaves Darryl senseless, as he discovers only four of his five senses operative at any given time.

With the Jerry Zucker-Jim Abrahams-David Zucker team absent, this sequel to the cash-cow 1980 spoof Airplane once again finds garrulous man-with-a-past Ted Striker (Robert Hays) compelled to take over the controls of crippled aircraft, all the while trying to patch up his relationship with stewardess Elaine (Julie Hagerty). This time, the first passenger space shuttle is launched into orbit — and takes off for the moon - but the on-board computer malfunctions and sends the craft hurtling toward the sun, threatening the lives of everyone on board. Lloyd Bridges and Peter Graves return from the first Airplane, while William Shatner, Chad Everett, Sonny Bono, Raymond Burr and Chuck Conners join the cast, as they too lampoon their established images.

Writer and director Sofia Coppola puts a new spin on the life and times of one of Europe’s most infamous monarchs in this lavish historical drama which fuses a contemporary sensibility with painstaking recreations of the look of the 18th century. Born to Austrian nobility, Marie Antoinette (Kirsten Dunst) is only 14 years old when she’s pledged to marry Louis XVI (Jason Schwartzman), the 15-year-old king of France, in an alliance that has everything to do with politics and nothing to do with love. Sent to France and literally stripped of her former life, Marie weds Louis, but to the consternation of the royal court, he seems either unwilling or unable to consummate the marriage while their advisors clamor for an heir to the throne. Young and more than a bit out of step with the new life that’s been thrust upon her, Marie gives herself over to the pleasures of life in Versailles, knowing and caring little of the political intrigue that surrounds her. In time, Marie’s trusted older brother, Joseph (Danny Huston), is brought in to coach Louis on the finer points of marital relations, and before long the couple is finally blessed with a child. However, as Marie tends to her children in the gilded cage of her palace and enjoys an affair with a Swedish nobleman, political power plays are throwing France into chaos, and the growing ranks of the poor rebel against the royals and their life of privilege. Also starring Rip Torn, Judy Davis, Steve Coogan, and Asia Argento, Marie Antoinette was given a controversial reception when it premiered at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival.

Otherworldly villains are on the loose again, and it’s up to Earth’s interstellar police force to bring them to justice in this sequel to the sci-fi comedy blockbuster Men in Black. Agent Jay (Will Smith) has become a high-ranking member of the Men in Black, the secret government task force designed to deal with unruly visitors from other worlds, while his former cohort, Agent Kay (Tommy Lee Jones), had his memory wiped clean and now lives a simple but contented life as a mailman. However, an especially nasty alien threat has reared its not-so-ugly head; Serleena (Lara Flynn Boyle) is a shape-shifting Kylothian alien who is in pursuit of another escaped visitor who holds the key to powers that would allow her to destroy the world. Making Serleena all the more dangerous is the fact she’s taken on the appearance of a lingerie model, making her irresistible to most men. When the rampaging Serleena takes control of the MIB offices, Jay is forced to turn to the only man who can help him save the world — the former Agent Kay. After restoring Kay’s memory, the two remaining Men in Black set out to conquer Serleena with a motley band of friendly aliens, including a handful of worm creatures and a talking dog named Frank (voice of Tim Blaney). Jay, meanwhile, has his head turned by Laura (Rosario Dawson), an attractive waitress who was an unwitting witness to an alien attack. Men in Black 2 also features Rip Torn, Tony Shalhoub, David Cross, Patrick Warburton, and Johnny Knoxville.

Starring Anne Bancroft, Ellen Burstyn, and Winona Ryder, How to Make an American Quilt comes to DVD from Universal Studios with a widescreen transfer. Audio is offered in Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound in English, Spanish, and French, with Spanish subtitles and English closed captions available. Extra features include film highlights, talent bios, production notes, and web links.

For his fifth effort as a feature-film director, one-time cinematographer Barry Sonnenfeld brought his cartoonish visual style and darkly humorous sensibilities to this adaptation of, appropriately enough, a tongue-in-cheek sci-fi comic book. Will Smith stars as James Darrel Edwards, a New York City cop with an athletic physique and a flippant, anti-authoritarian attitude toward law enforcement. After chasing down a mysterious perpetrator one night who turns out to be an alien, James is recruited by “K” (Tommy Lee Jones), a veteran of a clandestine government agency secretly policing the comings and goings of aliens on planet Earth. Nicknamed the “men in black” for their nondescript uniform of black suit, shoes, tie, and sunglasses, the agents are assigned to recover a bauble that’s been stolen by an intergalactic terrorist (Vincent D’Onofrio). It seems the item is none other than the galaxy itself, and its theft has plunged humanity into the center of what’s shaping up to become an interstellar war, unless K and his new wisecracking partner, now renamed “J,” can stop the bad guy. On their side but somewhat in the dark is a pretty, unflappable city medical examiner (Linda Fiorentino) who has been zapped one too many times by K’s ingenious memory-sapping device. Men in Black was a box office smash, inspiring an animated children’s television series and a hit soundtrack album that featured a performance by star (and rapper) Smith.