January 2007 Movies

Action comedy "Code Name: The Cleaner" stars Cedric the Entertainer as Jake, a mild-mannered janitor with amnesia who gets himself comically entangled in a government conspiracy. Jake gets in over his head when he is duped into believing that he is an undercover agent who subconsciously holds a key piece of information that could expose an arms conspiracy involving the CIA and FBI.

The story is set in 18th-century Paris and follows Jean-Baptiste Grenouille (Ben Whishaw), who becomes obsessed with a young woman, fixating on the idea of bottling her aroma, which eventually leads to murder. Dustin Hoffman plays Guiseppe Baldini, a perfumer, and Alan Rickman plays the father of the girl Grenouille is fascinated by.

Inspired by the classic Grimm Brothers Fairy Tales (the second best-selling book in the world, after the Bible), this feature CGI comedy explores what would happen if the balance of good and evil were set out of whack in Fairy Tale Land.

Tired of the status quo, an unholy alliance of bad guys led by Frieda, Cinderella's evil stepmother, takes on the good guys. Cinderella (aka Ella) starts out as a damsel in distress (your typical Prince dreamer), but when her own fairy tale takes a radical left turn she is forced to form and eventually lead a resistance group without her Prince Charming.

Set against a backdrop of fractured fairy tales spinning wildly out of control, Ella and her unknown true love Rick, the palace dishwasher, ultimately must choose their own destinies in a world of happy endings gone wrong.

The race for control of the kingdom is on, and the power mad Frieda, fuelled by a total disdain for goodness, is set to change the age-old storyline to "Happily N'Ever After"!

Academy Award winner Hilary Swank stars in an inspirational film, based on the true story of teacher Erin Gruwell and her students the Freedom Writers. This group of inner city, at risk students defied the odds to be heard, as Gruwell urges her class to tell their stories through journals writing. Given the ability to express themselves through words and not violence, the kids begin to see connections to eachother that they never knew existed.

A love story set in the 1920s about a young English couple (a doctor and a society girl) who marry hastily, relocate to Hong Kong where they betray each other easily, and find an unexpected chance at redemption and happiness while on a deadly journey into the heart of ancient China. Based on the novel by W. Somerset Maugham.

The story will follow a seasoned if unsuccessful thesps in their 70s who are forced to re-evaluate their lives after the introduction of an inquisitive young woman.

The film follows a police profiler and an insurance agent who help a shy graduate student when the latter is targeted by a bomber who uses riddles to terrify his victims.

Ten-year-old Arthur has a lot on his plate: a real estate developer is about to snap up his grandma's home... and there's no way Arthur's going to hang around for his parents or grandparents to sort out the problem. Maybe the solution lies in his grandpa's treasure, which is hidden somewhere on the "other side" in the land of the Minimoys. The creatures that inhabit this world are just a tenth of an inch tall and live in perfect harmony with their environment.

Arthur ventures into this world of the Minimoys, where he meets Princess Selenia and her brother Betameche. Together they set off to look for the treasure that will save his grandma. An action-packed adventure ensues, full of pitfalls and intrigues, all the way up to the forbidden city ruled by the evil M the Malicious. Arthur's journey in the Minimoys universe reveals that sometimes the smallest heroes make the biggest difference.

The project explores the life of the author of such beloved children's books as "The Tale of Peter Rabbit" and her struggle for independence in Victorian England.

When a young drug dealer by the name of Johnny Truelove kidnaps Zack Mazursky, the fifteen-year-old brother of a man in debt to him, things don't go according to plan. As he desperately tries to get the money owed to him, Johnny's crew looks after Zack. Though a hostage, Zack is enjoying the excitement of his situation, blissfully unaware of the despair of his parents, the rage of his brother and also of the fatal conclusion that awaits him.

The story follows a troubled 19-year-old from the gang-infested streets of L.A. who enrolls in a black university in Atlanta. There he is courted by the top two campus fraternities, both of which need his fierce street-style dance moves to win the highly coveted national stepshow competition. The movie is set in the world of "fraternity stepping," a popular activity among black colleges.

Set in China's Tang Dynasty, follows an imperial bodyguard named Phoenix and Prince Ping as pair of star-crossed lovers who fall in love within the borders of a kingdom. Numerous forces, including Ping's stepmother, who is also in love with him, try to keep the lovers apart. It leads them on a dangerous journey where secrets of the royal family are uncovered.

The high-stakes adventure follows a news producer (Purcell), cameraman (Jones) and reporter who are dispatched to South Africa to track down and bring home alive a legendary 25-foot crocodile known as Gustave. However, their quarry proves far more elusive and deadly than they anticipated, and their situation turns even more perilous when a feared warlord targets them for death.

Set in 1940s Spain against the postwar repression of Franco's Spain, a fairy tale that centers on Ofelia, a lonely and dreamy child living with her mother and adoptive father, who is a military officer tasked with 'ridding the area' of rebels. In her loneliness, Ofelia creates a world filled with fantastical creatures and secret destinies. With Fascism at its height, Ofelia must come to terms with her world through a fable of her own creation.

Sixty-one years ago, U.S. and Japanese armies met on Iwo Jima. Decades later, several hundred letters are unearthed from that stark island's soil. The letters give faces and voices to the men who fought there, as well as the extraordinary general who led them, Tadamichi Kuribayashi (Ken Watanabe). With little defense other than sheer will and the volcanic rock of the island itself, Gen. Kuribayashi's unprecedented tactics transform what was predicted to be a quick and bloody defeat into nearly 40 days of heroic and resourceful combat.

In an effort to explore an event that continues to resonate with both cultures, Clint Eastwood was haunted by the sense that making only one film, "Flags of Our Fathers", would be telling only half the story. With this unprecedented dual film project, shot back-to-back to be released in sequence, Eastwood seeks to reveal the battle of Iwo Jima--and, by implication, the war in the Pacific--as a clash not only of arms but of cultures.

Vince Vaughn stars as a self-confident New York City man-on-the-go who really dislikes his parents. But after a harsh breakup with his girlfriend, the man is forced to move back into his childhood home.

Based on the true story of one of the most intriguing unsolved crimes in the nation's history, "Zodiac" is a thriller from David Fincher, director of "Seven" and "Fight Club". As a serial killer terrifies the San Francisco Bay Area and taunts police with his ciphers and letters, investigators in four jurisdictions search for the murderer. The case will become an obsession for four men as their lives and careers are built and destroyed by the endless trail of clues.

Grace Andrews and Jim Halsey are a collegiate couple who are tormented by the mysterious hitchhiker John Ryder, a.k.a. The Hitcher. The young couple hit the road in a 1970 Oldsmobile 442, en route to spring break. But their pleasure trip soon turns into a waking nightmare. The initial encounters with Ryder are increasingly off-putting for Grace and Jim, and they bravely fight back when he ambushes them. But they are truly blindsided when he implicates them in a horrific slaying and continues to shadow them. The open road becomes a suspenseful, action-packed battleground of blood and metal as, in trying to elude not only Ryder but also New Mexico State Police Lieutenant Esteridge's officers, Grace and Jim must fight for their lives and face their fears head-on.

After the sudden death of her fiancé, Gray Wheeler finds comfort in the company of his friends: lighthearted and comic Sam, hyper-responsible Dennis, and, oddly enough, his old childhood buddy Fritz, an irresponsible playboy whom she'd previously pegged as one of the least reliable people in the world. As secrets about her supposedly perfect fiancé emerge, Gray comes to see new sides of the men she thought she knew, and at the same time, finds herself drawn to the last man she ever expected to fall for.

Mob boss Primo Sparazza has taken out a hefty contract on Buddy "Aces" Israel--a sleazy magician who has agreed to turn state's evidence against the Vegas mob. The FBI, sensing a chance to use this small-time con to bring down big-target Sparazza, places Aces into protective custody-under the supervision of two agents dispatched to Aces' Lake Tahoe hideout. When word of the price on Aces' head spreads into the community of ex-cons and cons-to-be, it entices bounty hunters, thugs-for-hire, deadly vixens and double-crossing mobsters to join in the hunt. With all eyes on Tahoe, this rogues' gallery collides in a comic race to hit the jackpot and rub out Aces.

In these interlocking tales of high stakes and low lifes, Mob boss Primo Sparazza has taken out a hefty contract on Buddy "Aces" Israel (Piven)—a sleazy magician who has agreed to turn state's evidence against the Vegas mob. The FBI, sensing a chance to use this small-time con to bring down big-target Sparazza, places Aces into protective custody-under the supervision of two agents (Reynolds and Liotta) dispatched to Aces' Lake Tahoe hideout.

When word of the price on Aces' head spreads into the community of ex-cons and cons-to-be, it entices bounty hunters, thugs-for-hire, smokin' hot vixens and double-crossing mobsters to join in the hunt. With all eyes on Tahoe, this togues' gallery collides in a comic race to hit the jackpot and rub out Aces.

It's been five years since the end of the American Civil War. Somewhere deep within the snowy mountains of the American West a lone figure - Gideon (Pierce Brosnan) sits in front of a fire, lost in thought. Abruptly, he is pulled out of his reverie by the echo of a Henry rifle and a bullet puffing into the snow inches from his head.

With no time to react another shot rings out. It connects with Gideon's shoulder and whips him to the ground. Instantly Gideon calculates his one chance of survival. To leave everything he owns and run for the cover of the nearby fir trees – his blood leaving a crimson trail in the snow…

So begins the thrilling first act of "Seraphim Falls", and the final stage of Colonel Morsman Carver's (Liam Neeson) terrible revenge - to hunt down and kill Gideon, no matter what it takes. There will be many men dead before these two meet face to face, and only then will Carver fully comprehend the full cost of his undertaking.

Launched by a gunshot and propelled by rage, the relentless pursuit will take them both far from the comforts and codes of civilization and into the unforgiving wilderness. The emotional conclusion to this odyssey comes after a bloody climax in which both men are forced to confront their past and travel deep within the recesses of their souls.

Ten years ago, in the remote mountains of Colorado, a young girl watched helplessly as her family was murdered by a pack of angry men for the secret they carried in their blood. She survived by running into the woods, and changing into something the hunters could never find--a wolf. Now, though she lives half a world away, Vivian Gandillon is still running. Living in relative safety in Bucharest, Vivian spends her days working at a chocolate shop and nights trawling the city's underground clubs, fending off the reckless antics of her cousin Rafe and his gang of delinquents he calls "The Five." Aiden Galvin is an artist researching Bucharest's ancient art and relics for his next graphic novel based on the mythology of the loup garoux--shapeshifters whose power to change effortlessly into the forms of both human and wolf was once considered holy among men. Wrestling demons of his own, Aiden hopes to explore the inner lives of these outsiders that he believes were persecuted to extinction--labeled monsters, murderers, werewolves. What he doesn't know is that the loup garoux are not only very real, they're far from extinct. During a chance encounter in an abandoned church celebrating the loup garoux, Aiden unknowingly comes face-to-face with the real thing, Vivian. Others may have secrets but none as extraordinary as hers, for Vivian is among the last of her kind, leading a tenuous existence under the protection and control of Gabriel, the powerful and enigmatic leader of one of the last packs of loup garoux on earth. After their brief exchange in the church, Aiden can't get Vivian out of his mind, nor can she forget him. He pursues her until she relents and begins to see him, but she can't bring herself to tell him the truth--and lives in fear of showing him what she really is. And what's worse: her future, and who she falls in love with, is already predetermined. To keep their kind from being hunted to extinction, Gabriel holds them to strict laws. One is that he must take a new bride every seven years, and Vivian has been prophesied to be his next.

In the spirit of "Scary Movie" and "Date Movie", a parody that spoofs recent mega-blockbusters. The comedy centers itself around four orphans who visit a chocolate factory and are transported to the wonderful land of Gnarnia, after stumbling upon an enchanted wardrobe. There they battle pirates, encounter earnest wizards and attempt to defeat Gnarnia's dastardly White Bitch.