Bovie Movie

The second film in Peter Jackson’s series of screen adaptations of J.R.R. Tolkien’s internationally popular Lord of The Rings trilogy, The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers literally begins where The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring ended, with the Fellowship splitting into three groups as they seek to return the Ring to Mordor, the forbidding land where the powerful talisman must be taken to be destroyed. Frodo (Elijah Wood), who carries the Ring, and his fellow Hobbit Sam (Sean Astin) are lost in the hills of Emyn Muil when they encounter Gollum (Andy Serkis), a strange creature who once carried the Ring and was twisted by its power. Gollum volunteers to guide the pair to Mordor; Frodo agrees, but Sam does not trust their new acquaintance. Elsewhere, Merry (Dominic Monaghan) and Pippin (Billy Boyd) are attempting to navigate Fangorn Forrest where they discover a most unusual nemesis — Treebeard (voice of John Rhys-Davies), a walking and talking tree-shepherd who doesn’t much care for Hobbits. Finally, Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen), Gimli (John Rhys-Davies), and Legolas (Orlando Bloom) arrive in Rohan to discover that the evil powers of Saruman (Christopher Lee) have robbed King Theoden (Bernard Hill) of his rule. The King’s niece Éowyn (Miranda Otto) believes Aragorn and his men have the strength to defeat Saruman, his henchman Wormtongue (Brad Dourif), and their minions. Éowyn soon becomes infatuated with Aragorn, while he struggles to stay faithful to the pledge of love he made to Arwen (Liv Tyler). Gandalf (Ian McKellen) offers his help and encouragement as the Rohans, under Aragorn’s leadership, attempt to face down Saruman’s armies, but they soon discover how great the task before them truly is when they learn that his troops consist of 10,000 bloodthirsty creatures specially bred to fight to the death. Most of The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers was shot in tandem with The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King during a marathon 18-month shooting schedule, overseen by Peter Jackson.

This film is a ’90s version of the classic Robin Hood story, with Kevin Costner starring as the good-guy thief. Costner is joined in his efforts against the murdering Sheriff of Nottingham (Alan Rickman) by Morgan Freeman who plays a philosophizing Moor, and by Nick Brimble, who plays Little John (anything but little). After Robin barely survives a watery skirmish with Little John, the two become allies and Robin joins forces with Little John’s band of robber thieves to overcome the evils of the dastardly Nottingham sheriff.

One of the great stories of doomed love is given a new screen interpretation in this historical drama. After the collapse of the Roman Empire, King Donnchadh (David O’Hara) of Ireland has become the de facto ruler of England, but one of his underlings, Lord Marke (Rufus Sewell), dreams of uniting British forces with an eye toward self-rule. One of Marke’s most valuable allies is Tristan (James Franco), Marke’s protégé, who has become a brave warrior since he was rescued by the lord after his parents were murdered by Irish forces during a battle. While Marke and Tristan dream of banishing Ireland’s presence in England, Tristan has a secret he’s been hiding from Marke — after suffering serious wounds during a hard-fought battle, he was rescued and nursed back to health by Isolde (Sophia Myles), King Donnchadh’s daughter, and the two fell deeply in love. But the couple were separated after Tristan returned to England, and when King Donnchadh attempts to quell the British uprising by staging a tournament among the nation’s greatest warriors, with an extreme and rather personal surprise in store for Tristan.
Tristan & Isolde was directed by Kevin Reynolds, and produced in part by Ridley Scott, who attempted to bring the story to the screen back in the 1970s.

An expensive but enormously profitable war picture, Where Eagles Dare centers upon a daring rescue and even more daring escape. Disguised as Nazi officers, commandoes Maj. John Smith (Richard Burton), Lt. Morris Schaffer Clint Eastwood and six other courageous souls parachute behind enemy lines. Their mission: to rescue an American general, held captive in a supposedly impenetrable Alpine castle. Aiding and abetting the commandoes are Allied undercover agents Mary (Mary Ure) and Heidi (Ingrid Pitt). Also on hand is a British officer (Patrick Wymark), who masterminded the mission. Somewhere, somehow, someone amongst the Allies is going to turn out to be a traitor. There’s also a neat plot twist in store when the commandoes manage to reach the American general — which leads to yet another twist. The vertigo-inducing climax has made Where Eagles Dare one of the most sought-after of “early” Eastwood starring features. The film was written directly for the screen by espionage novelist Alistair MacLean.

New Zealand filmmaker Peter Jackson fulfills his lifelong dream of transforming author J.R.R. Tolkien’s best-selling fantasy epic into a three-part motion picture that begins with this holiday 2001 release. Elijah Wood stars as Frodo Baggins, a Hobbit resident of the medieval “Middle-earth” who discovers that a ring bequeathed to him by beloved relative and benefactor Bilbo (Ian Holm) is in fact the “One Ring,” a device that will allow its master to manipulate dark powers and enslave the world. Frodo is charged by the wizard Gandalf (Ian McKellen) to return the ring to Mount Doom, the evil site where it was forged millennia ago and the only place where it can be destroyed. Accompanying Frodo is a fellowship of eight others: his Hobbit friends Sam (Sean Astin), Merry (Dominic Monaghan), and Pippin (Billy Boyd); plus Gandalf; the human warriors Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen) and Boromir (Sean Bean); Elf archer Legolas (Orlando Bloom); and Dwarf soldier Gimli (John Rhys-Davies). The band’s odyssey to the dreaded land of Mordor, where Mount Doom lies, takes them through the Elfish domain of Rivendell and the forest of Lothlorien, where they receive aid and comfort from the Elf princess Arwen (Liv Tyler), her father, Elrond (Hugo Weaving), and Queen Galadriel (Cate Blanchett). In pursuit of the travelers and their ring are Saruman (Christopher Lee) — a traitorous wizard and kin, of sorts, to Gandalf — and the Dark Riders, under the control of the evil, mysterious Sauron (Sala Baker). The Fellowship must also do battle with a troll, flying spies, Orcs, and other deadly obstacles both natural and otherwise as they draw closer to Mordor. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) was filmed in Jackson’s native New Zealand, closely followed by its pair of sequels, The Two Towers (2002) and The Return of the King (2003).

“I am….Drac-u-la. I bid you velcome.” Thus does Bela Lugosi declare his presence in the 1931 screen version of Bram Stoker’s Dracula. Director Tod Browning invests most of his mood and atmosphere in the first two reels, which were based on the original Stoker novel; the rest of the film is a more stagebound translation of the popular stage play by John Balderston and Hamilton Deane. Even so, the electric tension between the elegant Dracula and the vampire hunter Professor Van Helsing (Edward Van Sloan) works as well on the screen as it did on the stage. And it’s hard to forget such moments as the lustful gleam in the eyes of Mina Harker (Helen Chandler) as she succumbs to the will of Dracula, or the omnipresent insane giggle of the fly-eating Renfield (Dwight Frye). Despite the static nature of the final scenes, Dracula is a classic among horror films, with Bela Lugosi giving the performance of a lifetime as the erudite Count (both Lugosi and co-star Frye would forever after be typecast as a result of this film, which had unfortunate consequences for both men’s careers). Compare this Dracula to the simultaneously filmed Spanish-language version, which makes up for the absence of Lugosi with a stronger sense of visual dynamics in the lengthy dialogue sequences. In 1999, a special rerelease of Dracula was prepared featuring a new musical score written by Philip Glass and performed by The Kronos Quartet.

The British prime minister and the Royal Family find themselves quietly at odds in the wake of a national tragedy in this drama from director Stephen Frears. On August 31, 1997, Diana, Princess of Wales died in an auto accident in Paris; despite the controversial breakup of her marriage to Prince Charles, she was still one of the most famous and best-loved women in the world, and the public outpouring of emotion over her passing was immediate and intense. However, given the messy circumstances of Diana’s breakup with Charles, official spokespeople for the Royal Family were uncertain about how to publicly address her passing. It didn’t take long for the media to pick up on the hesitation of Buckingham Palace to pay homage to Diana, and many saw this as a sign of the cool emotional distance so often attributed to the royals, which in this case was widely seen as an insult against Diana and the many people who loved her. Prime Minister Tony Blair (played by Michael Sheen) saw a potential public-relations disaster in the making, and took it upon himself to persuade Queen Elizabeth II (played by Helen Mirren) to make a statement in tribute to the fallen Diana — an action that went against the taciturn queen’s usual nature. The Queen was released the same year that Helen Mirren played Queen Elizabeth I in an acclaimed miniseries for British television; The Queen also gave Michael Sheen his second opportunity to play Tony Blair after portraying the prime minister in the television film The Deal.

Can a new marriage survive meddling friends, disapproving families, and some of the worst accommodations in Europe? That’s the question posed in this broad comedy. Tom Leezak (Ashton Kutcher) is a regular guy who likes sports and beer and tries to make ends meet working as a nighttime radio traffic reporter. Sarah McNerney (Brittany Murphy) is a beautiful young woman from a wealthy and privileged family who is trying to make a name for herself as a writer. Tom and Sarah have seemingly nothing in common, but that doesn’t stop them from falling in love. Sarah’s family doesn’t much care for Tom’s boorish ways, and Tom’s buddies think Sarah is too highbrow for him, but, if anything, this makes the couple all the more determined to be together, and they decide to get married and head off to Italy for a month-long honeymoon despite the pleas of those closest to them. However, even after the knot is tied, Sarah’s former beau, Peter Prentiss (Christian Kane), is dead set upon breaking up the happy couple, though as it turns out, a seemingly endless stream of bad luck and post-marital jitters may do the job for him. Just Married was written by Sam Harper, who claims to have loosely based the script on his own experiences on an ill-starred European honeymoon with his wife; fortunately, the couple’s marriage survived the experience.

Shrek and Fiona’s (Mike Myers and Cameron Diaz, respectively) fairy-tale wedding has gone off without a hitch, yet just as the beaming newlyweds prepare to enjoy their blissful “happily ever after,” the sudden death of King Harold (John Cleese) finds everyone’s favorite ornery ogre being reluctantly fitted for the royal crown. Troubled to learn that not only will he be compelled to rule Far Far Away, but that he and Fiona are also expecting a little ogre, Shrek determines to track down his new bride’s rebellious cousin Artie (Justin Timberlake) — the one true heir to the throne — in order to focus on fatherhood without the added distraction of having to preside over the kingdom. As Shrek sets out with faithful companions Donkey (Eddie Murphy) and Puss in Boots (Antonio Banderas) to locate the medieval high-school slacker and bring him back to become the reigning sovereign of Far Far Away, handsome snake Prince Charming (Rupert Everett) slithers back to the castle in the company of the dreaded Captain Hook (Ian McShane) to stage a diabolically timed coup and assume control of the throne. Now, as Shrek, Donkey, and Puss in Boots do their best to wrangle up the feisty Artie, Fiona must enlist the aid of fighting princesses Snow White (Amy Poehler), Sleeping Beauty (Cheri Oteri), Rapunzel (Maya Rudolph), and Cinderella (Amy Sedaris) to barricade the castle and fend off Prince Charming’s invading army of fairy-tale villains until her beloved husband can return with the cavalry to save the day.

James Bond heads East to save the world (and to learn how to serve saki properly) in this action-packed espionage adventure. When an American spacecraft disappears during a mission, it’s widely believed to have been intercepted by the Soviet Union, and after a Russian space capsule similarly goes missing, most consider it to be an act of American retaliation. Soon the two nations are at the brink of war, but British intelligence discovers that some sort of UFO has crashed into the Sea of Japan. Agent 007, James Bond (Sean Connery) is sent in to investigate. After staging his own death to avoid being followed, Bond, disguised as a Japanese civilian, teams up with agent Tiger Tanaka (Tetsuro Tamba) and his beautiful associate Aki (Akiko Wakabayashi). With their help, Bond learns that both the American and Russian space missions were actually scuttled by supercriminal Ernst Blofeld (Donald Pleasance) in yet another bid by his evil empire SPECTRE to take over the world. As he battles the bad guys, Bond finds time to romance both Kissy Suziki (Mie Hama) and Helga Brandt (Karin Dor). You Only Live Twice was one of Sean Connery’s last outings as James Bond. The next Bond film, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, would star George Lazenby as 007, and while Connery would return for Diamonds Are Forever, in 1973, Roger Moore took over the role. (Connery would play Bond one last time, in 1983’s Never Say Never Again, which was produced outside the official series.)