Bovie Movie

Mark Renton (Ewan McGregor), a young man with few prospects and fewer ambitions, lives in economically depressed Edinburgh. Like most of his friends, Renton is a heroin addict who loves the drug’s blissful nothingness; financing his habit also provides excitement and challenges that his life otherwise lacks. Renton’s two best friends are also junkies: Sick Boy (Jonny Lee Miller), a snappy dresser obsessed with James Bond, and Spud (Ewan Bremner), a guileless nerd who suggests Pee Wee Herman’s debauched cousin. Renton and his pals also hang out with Begbie (Robert Carlyle), a borderline psychotic who loathes junkies even though he drinks like a fish. After one too many brushes with the law, Renton kicks heroin and moves to London, where he finds a job, a flat, and something close to peace of mind. However, Sick Boy, Begbie, and Spud all arrive at his doorstep on the trail of a big score, leading Renton back into drugs and crime.

A man whose life has been touched by tragic illness is drawn into the life of another victim whose story has an unsettling twist in this drama. Gabriel Noone (Robin Williams) is a radio talk show host who has developed a loyal following for his deeply personal on-air monologues, many of which deal with his relationship with his companion Jess (Bobby Cannavale), who is HIV-positive and struggling with his health. When Jess’ condition improves, he surprises Gabriel by announcing he needs his space and has decided to break up with him. Gabriel is shaken and feels creatively blocked until Ashe (Joe Morton), a friend in the publishing business, gives him an advance copy of a memoir by Pete Logand (Rory Culkin), a 14-year-old boy living with AIDS. Pete’s book is a harrowing memoir of a childhood fraught with abuse of all sorts meted out at the hands of his parents, and Gabriel is deeply moved by his story. One night, Gabriel gets a phone call from Pete, who claims to be a big fan of his radio show, but the call is cut off by Donna (Toni Collette), Pete’s stern and protective stepmother. While Gabriel admires Pete’s book, he begins to question its veracity, and with the help of Anna (Sandra Oh) tries to research the facts behind the story. As he uncovers more loose ends, Gabriel begins to suspect that Pete isn’t the true author of the work, and that Donna has created his terrible past in the name of literary celebrity. The Night Listener was adapted from the novel by Armistead Maupin.

“Stupid is as stupid does,” says Forrest Gump (played by Tom Hanks in an Oscar-winning performance) as he discusses his relative level of intelligence with a stranger while waiting for a bus. Despite his sub-normal IQ, Gump leads a truly charmed life, with a ringside seat for many of the most memorable events of the second half of the 20th century. Entirely without trying, Forrest teaches Elvis Presley to dance, becomes a football star, meets John F. Kennedy, serves with honor in Vietnam, meets Lyndon Johnson, speaks at an anti-war rally at the Washington Monument, hangs out with the Yippies, defeats the Chinese national team in table tennis, meets Richard Nixon, discovers the break-in at the Watergate, opens a profitable shrimping business, becomes an original investor in Apple Computers, and decides to run back and forth across the country for several years. Meanwhile, as the remarkable parade of his life goes by, Forrest never forgets Jenny (Robin Wright Penn), the girl he loved as a boy, who makes her own journey through the turbulence of the 1960s and 1970s that is far more troubled than the path Forrest happens upon. Featured alongside Tom Hanks are Sally Field as Forrest’s mother; Gary Sinise as his commanding officer in Vietnam; Mykelti Williamson as his ill-fated Army buddy who is familiar with every recipe that involves shrimp; and the special effects artists whose digital magic place Forrest amidst a remarkable array of historical events and people.

Best buddies Abbie (Madonna), a heterosexual yoga instructor, and Robert (Rupert Everett), a gay landscaper, cope with failed relationships, the approach of middle age, and the AIDS-related death of a mutual friend by sticking together as a “family of choice.” Drunk one night, they have sex, and when Abbie turns up pregnant, they decide to move in together and raise the child as decidedly unconventional co-parents. Flash forward several years and Abbie begins dating Ben (Benjamin Bratt), an investment banker. The new relationship causes tension between Abbie and Robert that ultimately leads to betrayal, courtroom confrontation, and a sudden denouement. Everett, a sometime writer of trashy comic novels such as Hello Darling, Are You Working?, reportedly supplied the film’s concept and even additional dialogue, although Tom Ropelewski is the credited screenwriter. This was pop diva Madonna’s first film role since the hoopla of Evita; she supplied a highly edited hit cover of Don McLean’s “American Pie” and one other song for the soundtrack, which was released on her own Maverick imprint.

One man demonstrates how to get rich selling warring nations the tools of their deadly trade in this dark comedy drama. Yuri Orlov (Nicolas Cage) is an opportunistic businessman who stumbled into a gold mine after the end of the Cold War and the collapse of the Soviet Union. Huge caches of Soviet weapons became available at bargain prices (and even for free if one wasn’t above stealing), and as literally billions of dollars’ worth of Soviet military technology disappeared, it began finding its way into the hands of weapons dealers eager to sell it to the highest bidder. Orlov was one such dealer who found plenty of buyers for guns and military gear in unstable Third World nations, who paid cash and didn’t appreciate too many questions. Orlov’s exploits in the arms business quickly made him a very rich man, but they’ve also led to some unwanted attention from Jack Valentine (Ethan Hawke), an Interpol agent who is convinced Orlov isn’t playing by the rules. Inspired by a true story, Lord of War also features Jared Leto, Ian Holm, Bridget Moynahan, and Donald Sutherland.

This film adaptation of the Broadway musical based loosely on Puccini’s opera La Boh?me features many members of the original cast. It follows a year in the lives of seven friends living the disappearing Bohemian lifestyle in New York’s East Village. AIDS and both its physical and emotional complications pervade the lives of Roger (Adam Pascal), Mimi (Rosario Dawson), Tom (Jesse L. Martin), and Angel (Wilson Jermaine Heredia); Maureen (Idina Menzel) deals with her chronic infidelity through performance art; her partner, Joanne (Tracie Thoms), wonders if their relationship is worth the trouble; Benjamin (Taye Diggs) has sold out his Bohemian ideals in exchange for a hefty income and is on the outs with his former friends; and Mark (Anthony Rapp), an aspiring filmmaker, feels like an outsider to life in general, always behind the camera recording the events but never playing a part.

An American ex-con gets caught up in a Parisian bank heist that goes wrong in this ultra-violent thriller. Zed (Eric Stoltz), a safe-cracking expert fresh out of prison, travels to France to participate in a robbery planned by his friend Eric (Jean-Hughes Anglade). But first, Zed decides to indulge in some relaxation with a gorgeous, kind-hearted prostitute by the name of Zoe (Julie Delpy). This idyll, however, is interrupted by Eric, who leads Zed and the other criminals on a long night of drinking, drugging, and debauchery. The next day, the thieves find themselves hung over and exhausted, and the plan soon goes disastrously wrong, turning into a hostage situation. Even worse for Zed, he discovers that the lovely Zoe also works as a teller at the bank, forcing him into a tricky moral dilemma. Writer and director Roger Avary, best known as the co-screenwriter of Pulp Fiction, creates a similar combination of black comedy, extreme violence, and hip attitude. Critics of Quentin Tarantino’s films raised similar objections to Avary’s reliance on bloody violence and a detached sensibility, while the film’s fans acclaimed its fast-paced action.

At the time of its release, Jonathan Demme’s Philadelphia was the first big-budget Hollywood film to tackle the medical, political, and social issues of AIDS. Tom Hanks, in his first Academy Award-winning performance, plays Andrew Beckett, a talented lawyer at a stodgy Philadelphia law firm. The homosexual Andrew has contracted AIDS but fears informing his firm about the disease. The firm’s senior partner, Charles Wheeler (Jason Robards), assigns Andrew a case involving their most important client. Andrew begins diligently working on the case, but soon the lesions associated with AIDS are visible on his face. Wheeler abruptly removes Andrew from the case and fires him from the firm. Andrew believes he has been fired because of his illness and plans to fight the firm in court. But because of the firm’s reputation, no lawyer in Philadelphia will risk handling his case. In desperation, Andrew hires Joe Miller (Denzel Washington), a black lawyer who advertises on television, mainly handling personal injury cases. Miller dislikes homosexuals but agrees to take the case for the money and exposure. As Miller prepares for the courtroom battle against one of the law firm’s key litigators, Belinda Conine (Mary Steenburgen), Miller begins to realize the discrimination practiced against Andrew is no different from the discrimination Miller himself has to battle against. The cast also includes Antonio Banderas as Andrew’s partner, Joanne Woodward as Andrew’s mother, and Stephanie Roth as Joe’s wife.

Laramie, WY, is a small town which became infamous overnight in the fall of 1998, when Matthew Shepard, a gay college student, was found tied to a fence after being brutally beaten and left to die, setting off a nationwide debate about hate crimes and homophobia. A month after the crime, Moises Kaufman, a writer and director with the New York City theater troupe the Tectonic Theater Project, traveled to Laramie with a handful of actors to interview people who lived in and around Laramie in preparation for an upcoming production; Kaufman’s goal was to create a play that focused not on the assault on Matthew Shepard, but on the community where such an attack could happen, and how many of the citizens reacted to the crime. The result was The Laramie Project, which was first performed in early 2000, and was performed in Laramie in the fall of that year, two years after Kaufman and his associates first arrived in the city. The Laramie Project is a film adaptation of Kaufman’s play, in which the thoughts and opinions of Laramie residents from all points of the political spectrum are presented alongside re-enacted excerpts from the trials of the two men who attacked Matthew Shepard. Produced for the premium cable network HBO, The Laramie Project was adapted for the screen by Moises Kaufman, who served as both writer and director. The distinguished cast includes Dylan Baker, Steve Buscemi, Peter Fonda, Janeane Garofolo, Laura Linney, Amy Madigan, Camryn Manheim, Christina Ricci, and Frances Sternhagen.