Bovie Movie

Youthful wizard Harry Potter returns to the screen in this, the second film adaptation of J.K. Rowling’s wildly popular series of novels for young people. Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) and his friends Ron Weasley (Rupert Grint) and Hermione Granger (Emma Watson) return for a second year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, where Headmaster Dumbledore (Richard Harris), Professor Snape (Alan Rickman), Professor McGonagall (Maggie Smith), and Hagrid the Giant (Robbie Coltrane) are joined by new faculty members Gilderoy Lockhart (Kenneth Branagh), a self-centered expert in Defense against the Dark Arts, and Sprout (Miriam Margolyes), who teaches Herbology. However, it isn’t long before Harry and company discover something is amiss at Hogwarts: Students are petrified like statues, threats are written in blood on the walls, and a deadly monster is on the loose. It seems that someone has opened the mysterious Chamber of Secrets, letting loose the monster and all its calamitous powers. As Harry, Ron, and Hermione set out to find the secret chamber and slay the beast, speculation is rife that one of the heirs of Salazar Slytherin, the co-founder of the school, opened the chamber as a warning against the presence of “mudbloods” (magic-users of impure lineage) at the school — and that the culprit may be fellow student Draco Malfoy (Tom Felton). Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets featured Richard Harris’ second and final appearance as Headmaster Dumbledore; he died less than a month before the film was released in the United States.

In an adaptation of Choderlos de Laclos’ novel, Les Liaisons Dangereuses, Kathryn Merteuil (Sarah Michelle Gellar) and Sebastian Valmont (Ryan Phillippe) are step-brother and step-sister living in Manhattan. With their absent parents travelling in Europe, the wealthy pair have the family penthouse to themselves as they while away their summer break before beginning senior year at a private high school. Sebastian, bad-boy lothario, has apparently slept with all the girls in town and appears numb to it all. Kathryn, who appears to be the good girl class president, is actually far more amoral and malicious than Sebastian, but maintains appearances to the contrary. When she is dumped by her boyfriend, Court Reynolds (Charlie O’Connell), for the innocent Cecile Caldwell (Selma Blair), she schemes revenge by destroying Cecile’s reputation. She challenges Sebastian to deflower Cecile and transform her into a tramp to humiliate Court. Sebastian isn’t as interested as Cecile — she’s spent her whole life in a Catholic girl’s school and presents no challenge. The girl who has caught his attention is Annette Hargrove (Reese Witherspoon), the new headmaster’s daughter. Annette had written an article for Seventeen Magazine on her plans to stay a virgin until she finds her one true love. Kathryn makes a wager. If Sebastian fails to lure Annette into bed before the summer is over, Kathryn gets his car. If he succeeds, Sebastian gets Kathryn, whom he wants anyway. Sebastian accepts the bet, but Annette turns out to be more than either of them bargained for.

Your friendly neighborhood web-slinger is back, only this time his sunny outlook has become partially overcast in the third chapter of director Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man saga. Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, and James Franco return to reprise their roles from the previous two installments, with Thomas Haden Church, Topher Grace, and Bryce Dallas Howard making their first appearances in the series as Flint Marko (aka Sandman), Eddie Brock (aka Venom), and Gwen Stacy, respectively. Peter Parker (Maguire) has finally leaned to walk the middle ground between being the superhero that his city needs, and the man that Mary Jane (Dunst) loves. All is well in New York City until one night, as Peter and M.J. set gazing at the stars, a falling comet streams across the sky and crashes into the ground close by. But this isn’t any ordinary shooting star, and upon impact the mysterious space rock is split open to reveal a shape-shifting symbiote with the power to overtake anything that it comes into contact with. Later, as Harry Osborn acquires his late father’s flying board, engineers a powerful new Goblin outfit, and takes to the sky to avenge dad’s death, the mysterious space sludge infects both Peter’s Spider Man suit and ambitious street photographer Eddie Brock (Grace). His strange new suit giving him a newfound sense of power as it gradually overpowers his personality, Peter discovers that escaped convict Flint Marko was in fact the man responsible for the death of Uncle Ben (Cliff Robertson). Unfortunately for Peter, Marko has recently acquired the power to morph at will and quickly completes his transformation into the dreaded Sandman. As the Sandman gives in to his darkest criminal instincts and the slithering space symbiote transforms Eddie Brock into the nightmarish fanged villain known as Venom, the citizens of New York City must once again call on Spider Man to fend off destructive forces that are far too powerful for the likes of mortal man.

Tense thrills and action mix in the gritty suspense drama Don't Say a Word starring Michael Douglas and Brittany Murphy. Fox has done a very good job on this 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer. All aspects of this transfer look very good, from the evenly saturated color schemes to the deep, dark black levels. No edge enhancement, shimmer, or digital artifacting is spotted anywhere on this disc. The audio is presented in Dolby Digital 5.1 in English (as well as 2.0 in French) and DTS Surround in English. Both the DTS and Dolby 5.1 soundtracks are full and bombastic with surround sounds utilized during much of the film. All aspects of these tracks are clear and free of any excessive hiss or distortion. Also included on this disc are English subtitles. This edition of Don't Say a Word is chock-full of extra features. Starting off the disc are two commentaries: one feature-length commentary with director Gary Felder; and a second with actors Michael Douglas, Sean Bean, Famke Janssen, Oliver Platt, and Brittany Murphy. While the director's commentary is insightful and runs the length of the film, the actor's commentaries are broken up in sections so each actor can give some information about their character or thoughts on the film separately. Taken as a whole, these commentary tracks are very thorough and informative. Next up are three sections: "Preproduction," "Production," and "Post-production." In the "Preproduction" section there is a screen test for actress Brittany Murphy and two insightful storyboard-to-scene comparisons. In the "Production" section is a featurette called "You Are There" which takes a behind-the-scenes look at three separate sequences narrated by the director. Also included are some screening room dailies which show how a scene is comprised of multiple takes or shots, and a set tour with production designer Nelson Coates that features Coates walking the viewer through many of the sets used in the film. In the "Post-production" section, there is an interview with director Gary Felder discussing filmmaking and what works best as a director, "Thriller Themes" which is a short spot about the music in the film (featuring composer Mark Isham in a few brief scenes), and "Inside a Scene: Trench Sequence," a feature that looks at how the end scenes was filmed and why the use of computer graphics was necessary. Also included on this disc are some deleted scenes which don't add much to the proceedings, a short making-of featurette that includes many clips from the film, and some vital statistics on the cast and crew. Finally, there is a DVD trailer for the Michael Douglas drama Wall Street. Strangely, there is no theatrical trailer available for Don't Say a Word anywhere on this disc. This DVD is filled to the brim with special features and should leave fans speechless.

A structural engineer (Anthony Hopkins) and an ambitious young district attorney (Ryan Gosling) become locked in a deadly battle of wits when the former is found innocent in the attempted murder of his wife in director Gregory Hoblit’s tense tale of courtroom mind games. Ted Crawford (Hopkins) is an engineer who lives with his wife Jennifer (Embeth Davidtz) in the couple’s lavish Southern California home. One day, after carefully planning out the details to ensure that there is no way he can be convicted of murder, Ted shoots his wife in a blatant attempt to murder the woman. When head hostage negotiator Rob Nunnaly (Billy Burke) arrives on the scene to speak with Ted, he is shocked to find that the victim of the shooting is in fact his longtime lover. Though Jennifer survives the trauma of being shot in the head at close range, she hovers comatose between life and death as star prosecutor Willy Beachum (Gosling) reluctantly accepts the case while preparing to leave the Los Angeles criminal court system behind for a more promising career at a posh private law firm. Though the D.A. (David Strathairn) vehemently resents Beachum’s lofty plan for departure, the hotshot young lawyer remains convinced that he can expedite the apparently open-and-shut case and be on his way to greener pastures in one week’s time at the very most. Beachum’s swelling ego betrays him, however, as his future boss Nikki Gardner (Rosamund Pike) begins to turn up the heat and fracture mechanics specialist Ted chooses to represent himself at the trial knowing well that a career spent spotting structural flaws in aeronautical systems has instilled him with just the kind of argumentative skills needed to riddle the swaggering young lawyer’s “foolproof” case with doubt.