Browse Movies : 2003

Set on Mars in the year 2071, "Cowboy Bebop: The Movie" is based on the much-loved animated television series by Japanese director Shinichiro Watanabe. As the film begins, Spike (David Lucas) and his gang of gypsy vigilantes are roaming the city, looking for trouble when Faye (Wendee Lee) witnesses a bioterrorist attack. Hovering above the city in her spaceship, she sees a man fleeing the scene. Over 500 people die in the attack, and the city offers a monetary reward for any information. The gang jumps at the opportunity. They decide to branch out, each using their own tactics to research the tragedy. Spike slinks through Chinatown, being led by shady underground characters. Faye traces the image of the man she saw back to military files. And the young Ed (Mellisa Fahn) and her dog Ein do some handy computer research. Meanwhile Jet (Beau Billinglsea), holds down the fort, worried about the gang. When the criminal Vincent (Daran Norris), is identified, with a connection to Spike's love interest Elektra (Jennifer Hale), the real action begins.

"Cowboy Bebop" is a visually dramatic film that combines several styles of illustration into one beautiful, cohesive animated environment. The Mars of this film is a combination of cities: New York, Hong Kong, London, Paris, and many more. Viewers are compelled to identify monuments and familiar structures, while the terrorist thematic hits fearfully close to home.

"Secondhand Lions" follows the comedic adventures of an introverted 14 year-old boy (Haley Joel Osment) who reluctantly finds himself spending the summer with a pair of cranky, eccentric great-uncles (Michael Caine and Robert Duvall). At first appalled by their gruff uncaring manner, over time he becomes enthralled with his uncles as the exotic tales and remembrances of their own youthful exploits introduce the boy to a world of imagination and wonder and re-ignites the old men's spirits.

John Person (Jon Favreau), a struggling actor on the verge of eviction from his Hollywood studio apartment, goes against his better judgement -- and that of his pretty neighbor Grace (Joey Lauren Adams) -- and accepts an offer from his strange neighbor Neely (Bud Cort) to courier a blue suitcase up to the desert truck stop of Baker, California. His instructions are simple: deliver the suitcase to a trucker called Cowboy (Sean Bean) and collect $27 thousand. Oh yeah, and he has to defend the suitcase with his life. Naturally, nothing goes according to plan once John arrives. The Cowboy is nowhere to be found, John meets with some kooky alien-obsessed locals and Special Agent Banks (Kelsey Grammer) questions John about the mysterious decapitation of Neely and about other missing persons. When the final showdown approaches, John is faced with a choice that could change his life forever. Has the whole town gone mad? Or are the loony locals, who he dismissed as crazy, the only sane ones in this strange parallel universe called The Big Empty?

This is the story of a young woman (Gwyneth Paltrow) from meager beginnings who dreams of becoming a flight attendant as her chance to see the world.

Many years ago, a playful toddler accidentally ended up in one of Santa's bags of presents, and got whisked away to the North Pole, where he would live out his entire childhood. One of Santa's elves adopted the child, named Buddy, and raised it among the tight-knit community of elves, who live up North with Santa, making toys year-round. Now a tall, fully grown man, Buddy and his distinctly non-elfishness, regularly causes havoc in Santa's workshop. He is unable to fully fit in with the other elves, and becomes forlorn. This inspires Buddy's adopted elf father to suggest to his human son that it's time for him to travel out into the world of men, and try to find his biological father and family back in New York City. However, it maybe just as hard for Buddy to fit into this new world, as he's only existed with other elves around him, and is not quite used to the ways of humans--especially urbanites.

Set somewhere, sometime, in an unnamed country, torn by civil war with unclear battle lines or ideology, "Masked and Anonymous" tells the story of a "benefit concert." Impressario Uncle Sweetheart (John Goodman) is scheming to find a headliner for this event whose purpose is unclear and whose charity is its promoter's pockets. Nina Veronica (Jessica Lange) is the veteran TV producer whose job it is to make the concert the international spectacle which it can never be. And when Sweetheart manages to get the iconic cult star Jack Fate (Bob Dylan) released from prison, the stage is set for tumult. Jeff Bridges as the cynical investigative reporter, Penélope Cruz as his girlfriend, Luke Wilson as the devoted acolyte, and a sundry cast of supporting characters give this imaginative allegory its energy and spirit.

After taming the wild west in the comedy "Shanghai Noon", Chon Wang (Jackie Chan) and Roy O'Bannon (Owen Wilson) are back in the saddle, but off the range - this time, they're out to settle a score in civilized London in the sequel, "Shanghai Knights". When a Chinese rebel murders Chon's estranged father and escapes to England, Chon and Roy make their way to London with revenge on their minds. Chon's sister, Lin, has the same idea, and uncovers a worldwide conspiracy to murder the royal family - but almost no one will believe her. With the help of a kindly Scotland Yard Inspector and a 10-year-old street urchin, the acro- batic Chon (Chan) gives Victorian Britain a kick in the pants as he attempts to avenge his father's death - and keep the romance-minded Roy away from his sister. Hilarious escapades and hair-raising adventure await our heroes as they do for Big Ben, Madame Toussaud's, and the Convent Gardens what they did for the Old West.

Set in a small Edo period Japanese brothel near Tokyo, this is the story of a young samurai, Fusanosuke (Hidetaka Yoshioka), who seeks refuge there in the company of a young prostitute, Oshin (Nagiko Tono), after he accidentally wounded a powerful samurai during an argument whose colleagues are now seeking to kill Fusanosuke in return. Soon falling in love with Oshin, Fusanosuke hopes to be able to cleanse her from the sins of her occupation so that she may be his wife, even as danger lurks all around the brothel.

On the afternoon of July 1, 1981, Los Angeles police responded to a distress call at 8763 Wonderland Avenue and soon discovered a grisly quadruple homicide, later compared to the gruesome slaughter at the Tate household at the hands of the Charles Manson family 10 years earlier. Ron Launius (Josh Lucas), Billy Deverell (Tim Blake Nelson), Barbara Richardson (Natasha Gregson Wagner) and Joy Miller (Janeane Garofalo) were brutally murdered, and Ron's wife Susan (Christina Applegate) was left in critical condition. The police investigation that followed - led by detectives Sam Nico (Ted Levine), Louis Cruz (Frankie G.) and Mike Peters (M.C. Gainey) - would unearth a seedy world of drugs and violence, ultimately revealing a motley crew from LA's underbelly including ex-con David Lind (Dylan McDermott), nightclub impresario Eddie Nash (Eric Bogosian), the most unlikely of American heroes - porn legend John Holmes (Val Kilmer) - Holmes' estranged wife Sharon (Lisa Kudrow) and his teenage lover Dawn Schiller (Kate Bosworth).

"Biker Boyz" is an contemporary Western on wheels with desperados who live every day on the edge. Lawyers and city workers by day, they take to the streets in their leathers to race by night. In the world of underground motorcycle clubs, the undefeated racer known as Smoke (Laurence Fishburne) is the undisputed "King of Cali." But Smoke's dominance of the set is about to be threatened by a young motorcycle racing prodigy called Kid (Derek Luke), who is determined to win Smoke's helmet and earn the coveted title.

A couple (Dennis Quaid and Sharon Stone) and their son (Ryan Wilson) and daughter (Kristen Stewart) relocate from the city to the country, where they discover that their dream home, a sprawling farmhouse, is more of a nightmare, as the previous owner (Stephen Dorff) returns from prison... and wants his home back. Badly.

Avery has finally gotten his life back on track. A competitive swimmer, he had to drop out of college to support his girlfriend, Krista, and their son, Jordan. He's back on the swim meet circuit, and starting to have some success. When he's approached by a college scout after winning his latest race, he goes out to celebrate with his friends, Cashmere and Dre. In an instant, Avery's luck is about to run out...

Aboard the Black Pearl, infamous pirate Captain Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush) attacks the city of Port Royal and kidnaps a governor's daughter, Elizabeth (Keira Knightley). Barbossa then sets sail with his hostage toward a secret hideaway, hoping to lift an ancient curse by sacrificing her and returning a once-plundered treasure. Elizabeth's childhood friend Will Turner (Orlando Bloom) meets an eccentric seaman, Jack Sparrow, who reveals that the Black Pearl was formerly his ship, until Barbossa committed mutiny. Together, they assemble a ragtag crew and commandeer a British vessel, hoping to chase down and free both Elizabeth and Sparrow's Pearl. Following after them is the British military, led by Elizabeth's would-be fiancé, Commodore Norrington (Jack Davenport).

A comedy about the oppositional relationship that evolves between a set of Siamese twins--conjoined at the torso--named Bob and Walt. They have used their "disability" throughout life to great advantage; for example, they excelled in High School by using the fact that they are joined at the hip to their advantage in sports, where they were a great hockey goalie and wrestling champion. Unfortunately, their different life goals may begin to threaten their happy union, as they vowed they would never split up. So, after graduation Walt wants to go to Hollywood to pursue an acting career, and although Bob opposes the move, he begrudgingly goes along. When the twins get to Los Angeles, the duo soon finds themselves landing a job on a TV show starring Cher, which results in quick fame and fortune, but will the new changes in their lives ultimately drive the twins apart?

Geophysicist Dr. Josh Keyes (Aaron Eckhart) discovers that an unknown force has caused the earth's inner core to stop rotating. With the planet's magnetic field rapidly deteriorating, our atmosphere literally starts to come apart at the seams with catastrophic consequences. To resolve the crisis, Keyes, along with a team of the world's most gifted scientists, travel into the earth's core in a subterranean craft piloted by "terranauts," Major Rebecca "Beck" Childs (Hilary Swank) and Colonel Robert Iverson (Bruce Greenwood). Their mission: detonate a device that will reactivate the core.

Set in Toronto, a romantic tale which revolves around Rahul Seth, a Westernized, young dot.com millionaire, and his unconventional relationship with the beautiful and wild Sue Singh. Rahul is devastated after the untimely death of his beautiful, pop artist, blonde girlfriend Kimberly. To make matters worse, he is under extreme pressure from his family to get engaged to a good Hindu girl before his sister's upcoming wedding. Lest one forgets, according to the popular Hindu adage, 'the best cure for a broken heart is marriage'. Desperate, he hires the services of the gorgeous Sue, a local escort girl, to pretend to be his fiancée during the ten days of celebration, leading up to his sister's marriage ceremony. While Rahul is the scion of a typically successful NRI family, Sue is the daughter of a humble car mechanic and--professionally speaking--is one of the highest paid escorts in Toronto. They enter into the relationship as opposites. However, during this fateful period of much song, dance and merriment, Rahul and Sue's relationship slowly transcends that of employer and employee. With her passion for life, Sue manages to break through Rahul's hardened exterior to reveal a sensitive man who is not as emotionally dead as he would like to believe. In turn, Rahul's strong personality and advice enables Sue to see her parents in a more positive light.

From Stephen Frears, the Oscar®-nominated director of "The Grifters" and "Dangerous Liaisons", comes a new film set in London's secret underworld, where everything is for sale. It's the story of a young man, Okwe (Chiwetel Ejiofor) and a Turkish chambermaid, Senay (Audrey Tautou), who work at the same West London hotel--a breeding ground for illegal activity. They are put to the test when Okwe makes a shocking discovery late one night.

Based on the best-selling novel by Susanna Moore, "In the Cut" is a psychological thriller starring Meg Ryan and directed by Jane Campion. Ryan plays a lonely New York woman who discovers the darker side of passion after becoming involved with a tough homicide detective, who is investigating a series of murders in her neighborhood.

At a deserted train station, a teacher and a gangster meet and realize that each might have been better suited to the other man's way of life. As a friendship of sorts develops between these opposite personalities, each starts to envy the other and by the week's end, everything will change for both of them.

This homage to the golden era of 1950s Technicolor musicals tells the story of a cabaret singer, Billie Golden (Isabel Rose), living with her mother in Queens who aspires to get out of the "airport circuit" (she sings at a dingy lounge at JFK Airport). Meanwhile, Billie is also trying to choose between two men who represent different paths her life could take next: a corporate attorney (Cameron Bancroft) she knew in high school, who could provide her with money and security; or her piano teacher (Andrew McCarthy) who doesn't have much money but understands her passion for music. In addition to the songs Billie performs on stage, there are also occasional musical numbers that represent Billie's daydream fantasies.