Movies Released September 3, 2004

The paparazzi are the chroniclers of Hollywood glitz and glamour, and key players in the public's insatiable appetite for information and photos about their favorite stars. They are as much part of gala premiers as bright lights and red carpets. Their photos can make or break careers. For rising action star Bo Laramie, a quartet of paparazzi is at first an annoyance, then an ever-disturbing presence. One night they trap Bo and his family into a high speed chase that ends in a terrible accident, sending his wife Abby into intensive care and son Zach into a coma. Veteran Los Angeles detective Burton believes Bo's version of the accident, but when Burton can't make the case against the photographers, Bo seeks vengeance on his own. And the paparazzi start falling one by one.

Intricately stepping back and forth in time and revealing the story from each character's perspective, "Wicker Park" is an intense psychological drama about a man (Josh Hartnett) caught in an obsessive search for a woman he fell deeply in love with - a woman who then vanished without a trace. Two years after her disappearance, he catches a fleeting glimpse of her in a local bar and begins a twisting search to find her and discover what really happened.

When Todd Anderson is chosen as the #1 NBA draft pick by the New Jersey Nets, he signs a contract for thirty million dollars that instantly changes his life. Whether he likes it or not his mom, Lady Em, is not going to let her son forget his roots. When Todd buys a new house and mistakenly invites family from the old neighborhood for a cookout on the same day he scheduled an endorsement interview, chaos erupts and Todd must choose between his down home roots and his newfound celebrity.

It's a summer holiday weekend in Paris and Antoine and Hélène are on their way to pick up their children at summer camp, thus joining thousands of other vacationers on the highways to the south of France. At first in high spirits, the couple starts sniping at each other during the drive as tensions in their relationship bubble to the surface. Frustrated by the freeway, Antoine takes a byway detour, much to Helene's displeasure, and then leaves her in the car as he stops for a drink. Once they're back on the road, their bickering escalates, with Antoine blaming Hélène for his drinking. Antoine then stops again to continue drinking at another tavern, although this time, Helene warns that she won't be there when he gets back. Still he defies her and goes into the bar, taking the car keys with him. He panics when he leaves the bar and discovers she has left. Believing that she has taken the train, he drives like a madman to the next station, but upon his arrival, the last train is mid-pulling out of the station. Driving away in a state of dread, he picks up a strange hitchhiker—not knowing he might have already crossed the path of his soon-to-be-missing wife.

A chronicle that depicts the human cost of the U.S. Justice Department's campaign against Arab or Muslim immigrants during the post-9/11 frenzy to combat terrorism. While few question the need to undertake measures to protect national security, the sweeping detention, arbitrary arrests and confinement (often without any family communication or legal representation), and subsequent deportation and/or ongoing imprisonment make a mockery of fundamental American principles like the presumption of innocence. Using a bare room and mostly static camera, the filmmakers record a series of encounters with a diverse range of detainees and family members and present them seemingly without much need for skill. But in fact, the subtle and creative direction of these individual and ultimately cumulative portraits belies the effortless appearance of the presentation and produces a simultaneous poignancy and disbelieving outrage. You may feel that you already know all about the issues and experiences communicated in Persons of Interest. Think again. The specific details of these disrupted lives speak volumes. Not since the massive internment of another ethnic group during World War II has the United States experienced such a massive assault on basic civil liberties.

Set in the ferocious Gobi Desert, the story follows two protagonists, Lieutenant Li (Jiang Wen) and Japanese emissary Lai Qi (Kiichi Nakai) - both first-class warriors and master swordsmen. After decades of service to the Chinese Emperor, Lai Qi longs to return to Japan, but is instead sent to the West to chase wanted criminals. His only passport back to Japan is to capture and execute Lieutenant Li, a renegade soldier wanted for leading a violent mutiny when he refused orders to kill female and child prisoners. Li and Lai Qi battle, but finally agree to delay their final personal fight until the caravan carrying Minzhu and a Buddhist monk is brought to safety. The monk, however, is carrying a sacred and powerful pagoda that attracts the attention of the region's ruthless overlord, Master An (Wang Xueqi). Lai Qi and Lt. Li, accompanied by Li's former posse of soldiers, who have forsaken their peaceful new lives to return to his side, must face the cruelty of the desert, the region's barbaric bandits and the brutality of the overlord's men before they can finally face one another.