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.

The plot of this Raymond Chandler-esque comedy crime caper from the Coen Brothers (Joel Coen and Ethan Coen) pivots around a case of mistaken identity complicated by extortion, double-crosses, deception, embezzlement, sex, pot, and gallons of White Russians (made with fresh cream, please). In 1991, unemployed ’60s refugee Jeff “The Dude” Lebowski (Jeff Bridges) grooves into his laid-back Los Angeles lifestyle. One of the laziest men in LA, he enjoys hanging with his bowling buddies, pompous security-store owner Walter Sobchak (John Goodman) and mild-mannered ex-surfer Donny (Steve Buscemi). However, the Dude’s life takes an alternate route the afternoon two goons break into his threadbare Venice, California, bungalow, rough him up, and urinate on his living room rug. Why? Because Jackie Treehorn (Ben Gazzara) is owed money by the wife of a certain Jeff Lebowski. However, the goons grabbed the wrong Jeff Lebowski. With the right info, they would have invaded the home of philanthropic Pasadena millionaire Jeffrey Lebowski (David Huddleston). The Dude looks up his wealthy namesake, manages to get a replacement for his rug, and meets the millionaire’s sexy young wife Bunny (Tara Reid). Later, Jeffrey (”The Big”) Lebowski calls in the Dude to deliver a $1 million ransom for the return of his kidnapped wife. Fine — except that Walter intrudes and botches the ransom drop. As events unravel, the Dude gets caught up in the schemes of Lebowski’s daughter, erotic artist Maude (Julianne Moore), encounters both cops and bad guys, and drifts through an elaborate bowling fantasy sequence titled Gutterballs. The soundtrack includes Bob Dylan, Yma Sumac, Moondog, Captain Beefheart, and the Sons of the Pioneers.

The DVD of Goodfellas has got to be one of the very first DVDs ever released by Warner Brothers because they make a critical error in the release. While many films offer widescreen on one side and full screen on the other, this film offers only one version — a widescreen film broken into two sides. Viewers have to flip the DVD over to watch the second half of the film; 19 chapters are on side A and the last 15 chapters are on side B. Goodfellas is a classic film, and the DVD offers a great video transfer and excellent Dolby Digital 5:1 Surround, but no DVD fan will accept the two-sided format. In terms of extras, there are very few, limited only to theatrical trailers, production notes, and cast bios. For many, this Martin Scorsese classic is a must-have for any collection, but those who can wait for a future, corrected release of this film are better off watching the widescreen VHS tape. Language option in English and French and subtitles in English, French, and Spanish.

Scary Movie screenwriters Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer join forces to parody the “biggest” movies ever to hit the silver screen in this comedy that gives such popular box-office hits as Pirates of the Caribbean and Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe the same treatment that Scary Movie gave to the slasher subgenre. A virtual smorgasbord of spoof, Epic Movie tells the tale of four fully grown orphans: one the victim of snakes that attacked her plane, another raised by a kindly Louvre curator, the third a Mexican “libre” wrestling refuge, and the last an average mutant from an “X”-community. When the curious quartet visits a sprawling chocolate factory, they stumble across a magical wardrobe which transports them to the enchanted land of Gnarnia. It seems that the wondrous fantasy land has recently fallen under the spell of the evil White Bitch (Jennifer Coolidge), and in order to bring peace back to Gnarnia these four bumbling mortals will have to join forces with a charismatic pirate, a painfully sincere group of aspiring wizards, and one particularly libidinous lion.

Four men are changed forever by an act of mercy — changes which have a profound impact many years later — in this blend of horror and science fiction based on a novel by Stephen King. Jonesy (Damian Lewis), Henry (Thomas Jane), Pete (Timothy Olyphant), and Beaver (Jason Lee) were four friends who, as schoolboys, rescued a boy with Down’s Syndrome, Duddits (Donnie Wahlberg), from a savage beating at the hands of bullies. Their experience with Duddits left the boys profoundly changed, as they discovered they had developed psychic powers which allowed them to wordlessly communicate with one another, read the minds of others, and see events in the future. The four remained close friends into adulthood, and meet every year for a weekend get-together at a remote hunting lodge. However, one year Jonsey is approached by the spirit of Duddits, which leads him into a severe auto accident, though his wounds heal with mysterious speed and are gone by the time he and the guys get together a few months later. As the guys drink and swap stories, a desperately ill hunter makes his way into the cabin, whose body has become the host for a horrible wormlike creature, which breaks free and soon goes on a killing spree, leaving only Henry alive. In the wake of this attack comes a massive snowstorm, and Henry learns that these events are the first signs of a major attack by a powerful alien force which can assume any form it wishes. As duplicitous military leader Col. Abraham Curtis (Morgan Freeman) comes in to quell the menace, Henry finds himself in communication with the late Jonsey, whose previous near-death experience gives him an unexpected advantage in stemming the alien tide.

Outrageously violent, time-twisting, and in love with language, Pulp Fiction was widely considered the most influential American movie of the 1990s. Director and co-screenwriter Quentin Tarantino synthesized such seemingly disparate traditions as the syncopated language of David Mamet; the serious violence of American gangster movies, crime movies, and films noirs mixed up with the wacky violence of cartoons, video games, and Japanese animation; and the fragmented story-telling structures of such experimental classics as Citizen Kane, Rashomon, and La jet?e. The Oscar-winning script by Tarantino and Roger Avary intertwines three stories, featuring Samuel L. Jackson and John Travolta, in the role that single-handedly reignited his career, as hit men who have philosophical interchanges on such topics as the French names for American fast food products; Bruce Willis as a boxer out of a 1940s B-movie; and such other stalwarts as Harvey Keitel, Tim Roth, Christopher Walken, Eric Stoltz, Ving Rhames, and Uma Thurman, whose dance sequence with Travolta proved an instant classic.

The third entry in Tom Cruise’s Mission: Impossible film series involves super Impossible Mission Forces (IMF) agent Ethan Hunt (Cruise) being forced back into the field just when he was planning on marrying his girlfriend, Julia (Michelle Monaghan). The agency asks Hunt to save an operative (Keri Russell) he trained after weapons dealer Owen Davian (Philip Seymour Hoffman) kidnaps her. With the help of his field team — played by Ving Rhames, Jonathan Rhys-Meyers, and Maggie Q — Hunt achieves his goal, but becomes involved in a web of double-crosses that leave him wondering if he can trust his superiors (Billy Crudup and Laurence Fishburne). Eventually Davian threatens Julia’s life in order to get away with his evil plan. Simon Pegg appears as an IMF tech expert.

Screenwriter John Hamburg directs his second film (since his 1998 debut Safe Men) with the romantic comedy Along Came Polly. Ben Stiller plays Reuben Feffer, a professional risk assessor who never takes chances in any aspect of his life. When his new bride Lisa (Debra Messing) leaves him for a European scuba instructor named Claude (Hank Azaria), he finally decides to a risk of his own. At a party, he meets free-spirited Polly Prince (Jennifer Aniston), whom he remembers from his seventh-grade Model U.N. Unlike the control-freak Reuben, she’s spent her life living on the edge. They reluctantly begin a romance and Polly introduces him to a new world of spicy food and suggestive dances. Along Came Polly also stars Philip Seymour Hoffman as Reuben’s washed-up best friend Sandy Lyle and Alec Baldwin as the obnoxious insurance company boss Stan Indursky.

Two guys find out the hard way that sneaking into the wrong party can cause serious problems in this comedy. Jeremy Klein (Vince Vaughn) and John Beckwith (Owen Wilson) are a pair of longtime friends who work for a law firm, helping contentious couples mediate their divorces. Their job has given them a cynical attitude about marriage, and as a hobby each weekend the two make a point of crashing weddings reception, where they load up on free food and booze and try their luck at seducing the bridesmaids. When William Cleary (Christopher Walken), the nation’s Secretary of the Treasury and a possible candidate for the Presidency, announces his daughter is to wed, the nuptials are billed as the social event of the year, and Jeremy and John decide they must attend the reception. However, John makes the mistake of falling head over heels for Claire (Rachel McAdams), the bride’s sister, while Jeremy attracts the attentions of a woman he’d prefer not to be involved with, and soon their romantic peccadilloes get them in very hot water.

A previously pampered society mouse must fight his way back to the comforts of Kensington after he is sent spiraling into an underground world filled with scavenger rats and villainous toads in a fun-filled family adventure produced by DreamWorks Animation and Aardman Features and featuring the voices of Hugh Jackman, Kate Winslet, Ian McKellen, and Jean Reno. Roddy (Jackman) was living the high life when he first met Sid the sewer rat (Shane Richie), but that’s all about to change when Sid decides to send the hapless mouse down the pipes and stealthily take his place in the lap of luxury. Though the bustling sewer city of Ratropolis isn’t without its fair share of kind citizens, it is certainly no place for a pampered mouse with a taste for life’s finer things. Upon making the acquaintance of scavenger rat Rita (Winslet), Roddy is certain that the pair can navigate their way back to the surface in Rita’s trusty boat, the Jammy Dodger, but Rita’s help doesn’t come cheap, and the nefarious Toad (McKellen) is determined to rid Ratropolis of all things rodent. When Toad’s hapless hench-rats Spike (Andy Serkis) and Whitey (Bill Nighy) fail to achieve acceptable results, the green meanie is forced to call in the cavalry in the form of legendary French mercenary Le Frog (Reno) to get the job done.