Browse Movies : 2006

From Academy Award winning filmmaker Mel Gibson, comes "Apocalypto" a heart stopping mythic action-adventure set against the turbulent end times of the once great Mayan civilization. When his idyllic existence is brutally disrupted by a violent invading force, a man is taken on a perilous journey to a world ruled by fear and oppression where a harrowing end awaits him. Through a twist of fate and spurred by the power of his love for his woman and his family he will make a desperate break to return home and to ultimately save his way of life.

"Down in the Valley", which stars Academy Award Nominee Edward Norton and Evan Rachel Wood, is a suspenseful crime story set at the edge of the San Fernando Valley, a seedy place of horse ranches and immigrant gangs, where ten-lane freeways converge to create a cultural no man's land. A rebellious high school senior Tobe (Wood) and her anemic 11-year old brother Lonnie (Rory Culkin) struggle to escape their grim and hopeless existence and their overbearing father, Wade (David Moorse). Their hoped-for deliverance comes in the form of Harlan, a charming, yet mercurial man (Norton) who thinks he's a cowboy.

A man goes to sleep only to wake up 1,000 years in the future due to a top-secret hibernation program he was selected for. Living in the future, he realizes that civilization is so dumbed-down that he is the most intelligent person alive.

Dan Dunne is an idealistic inner-city junior high school teacher. Although he can get it together in the classroom, he spends his time outside school on the edge of consciousness. He juggles his hangovers and his homework, keeping his lives precariously separated, until one of his troubled students, Drey, catches him in a compromising situation. From this awkward beginning, Dan and Drey stumble into an unexpected friendship that threatens either to undo them, or to provide the vital change they both need to move forward in their lives.

A savage killer from a remote Amazon tribe becomes grandfather to the grandchildren of the North American man he killed.

"Find Me Guilty" is based on the true story of Giacomo "Jackie Dee" DiNorscio (Vin Diesel). After years of federal investigation, 20 members of the New Jersey Lucchese crime family are brought to court on 76 charges of various crimes. Already in the midst of serving a 30-year sentence, Jackie is offered an opportunity to shorten his time by testifying against many of his closest friends. But Jackie refuses to betray his "family," and goes so far as to defend himself in what will ultimately become the longest criminal trial of its time.

At first daunted by the complicated politics of the courtroom, Jackie comfortably takes over the spotlight, insisting "I'm no gangster... I'm a gagster." With his sheer determination and unconditional loyalty, Jackie never fails to surprise even those most skeptical of his intentions.

After 21 months, the Lucchese trial became the longest in U.S. criminal history, and has continued to stand out over the years as a unique moment in courtroom history, featuring 20 defendants, 20 defense attorneys, and unusually extensive summations; one defense lawyer's closing statement ran for 5 days alone. At times hilarious and at times deeply serious, the trial and Jackie's subsequent experiences at this crucial moment in the history of criminal prosecution culminated in one of the most shocking and remarkable verdicts in American judicial history.

"How to Eat Fried Worms" tells the story of Billy, an eleven-year-old who inadvertently challenges the town bully on his first day at a new school. To save face and earn the respect of his new classmates, Billy agrees to a bet that will determine his fate at the school-whether or not he can eat ten worms in one day. As the pressure mounts, he must summon heroic strength to keep his five-year-old brother from blabbing, his weak stomach from betraying him, and his big mouth from getting him into more trouble than he's already in.

A sports drama inspired by a true story about a man who had nothing to lose, and pushed to make his dreams come true. When the coach of Vince Papale's beloved hometown football team hosted an unprecedented open tryout, the public consensus was that it was a waste of time--no one good enough to play professional football was going to be found this way. Certainly no one like Papale--a down-on-his-luck, 30-year-old, substitute teacher and part-time bartender who never even played college football. But against these odds, Papale made the team and soon found himself living every fan's fantasy--moving from his cheap seats in the upper deck to standing on the field as a professional football player.

A man anxious to be a father mistakes an extremely short-statured, baby-faced criminal on the run as his newly adopted son.

This is the strange, disturbing story of the Manderlay plantation.

Manderlay lay on a lonely plain somewhere in the deep south of the USA. It was in the year of 1933 that Grace and her father had left the township of Dogville behind them. Grace's father and his army of villains had spent the entire winter seeking out new hunting grounds in vain, and now they were heading south in one last attempt to find a favourable location in which to take up residence.

By chance their cars stop in the state of Alabama in front of a large iron gate bearing a thick chain and a padlock. Beside the gate, a dead oak tree towers over a heavy boulder with Manderlay hewn in monumental letters into the granite.

Just as Grace, her father and his men are about to leave after a short break and a quick lunch, a young black woman runs up to the car. She knocks on Grace's window. She hammers at the glass in despair. Ignoring her father's advice to leave others to their own affairs, Grace follows the girl through the gates of Manderlay and there, she finds a group of people living as if slavery had not been abolished seventy years earlier, with white masters and black slaves...

Grace believes that she has a duty to make it up to the slaves for injustices they have suffered at the hands of her kind: 'we brought them here, we abused them and made them what they are', as she argues to her father; and she decides that having liberated Manderlay, she will remain at the plantation until she has seen them through their first harvest.

Her father grudgingly leaves her with four henchmen and a lawyer, warning Grace that he won't be there to pick up the pieces when her plans for the resurrection of Manderlay fall apart...

In this dark and witty fable, Emma Thompson portrays a person of unsettling appearance and magical powers who enters the household of the recently widowed Mr. Brown (Colin Firth) and attempts to tame his seven exceedingly ill-behaved children. The children, led by the oldest boy Simon (Thomas Sangster), have managed to drive away 17 previous nannies and are certain that they will have no trouble with this one. But as Nanny McPhee takes control, they begin to notice that their vile behavior now leads swiftly and magically to rather startling consequences. Her influence also extends to the family's deeper problems, including Mr. Brown's sudden and seemingly inexplicable attempts to find a new wife; an announcement by the domineering Aunt Adelaide (Angela Lansbury) that she intends to take one of the children away; and the sad and secret longings of their scullery maid, Evangeline (Kelly Macdonald). As the children's behavior begins to change, Nanny McPhee's arresting face and frame appear to change as well, creating even more questions about this mysterious stranger whom the children and their father have come to love.

Tyler Gage is a street smart juvenile delinquent, with a reckless streak that lands him in a world of trouble after he and his friends trash an auditorium at a high school for the performing arts. Sentenced to do community service at the school, he at first wants nothing to do with the students, until he meets a beautiful dancer who's willing to give him a shot. Against all expectations, Ty gets drawn into her world, and discovers his own talent for dance.

Starring in this epic drama set in the high stakes world of espionage, Matt Damon plays Edward Wilson, an exceptionally bright and talented son of privilege who is recruited from the campus of Yale University to join the Office of Strategic Services, the precursor to the CIA, at the beginning of World War II. Wilson's acute mind, spotless reputation and sincere belief in American values render him a prime candidate for a career in intelligence, as do his deeply embedded commitment to honor and quite secretive nature. As Wilson becomes a veteran operative in counter-intelligence during the Cold War, not even his wife Clover, played by Angelina Jolie, nor his beloved son Edward Jr., can divert him from a path that will force him to sacrifice everything in service to his country.

The film is about a man who believes that he left behind his family's ties to organized crime, only to find that easier said than done upon returning to Philadelphia. It was inspired by the real life experiences of Joseph Pistone, the FBI agent otherwise known as Donnie Brasco.

"Children of Men" envisages a world one generation from now that has fallen into anarchy on the heels of an infertility defect in the population. The world's youngest citizen has just died at 18, and humankind is facing the likelihood of its own extinction.

Set against a backdrop of London torn apart by violence and warring nationalistic sects, Children of Men follows disillusioned bureaucrat Theo (Owen) as he becomes an unlikely champion of Earth's survival. When the planet's last remaining hope is threatened, this reluctant activist is forced to face his own demons and protect her from certain peril.

A family comedy about one-upsmanship, jealousy, clashing neighbors, home decoration...and the true spirit of the holidays. Steve (Matthew Broderick), a suburban dad and Christmas enthusiast, leads a well-ordered, well-planned, and well-organized life. His new neighbor, Danny (Danny DeVito), is Steve's polar opposite: a big personality with big dreams, which have yet to materialize. But Danny's latest dream - to create the biggest holiday light display in the world, visible from outer space - is turning Steve's disciplined world into a chaotic nightmare. As Danny's home explodes with festive lights of incredible design, increasing complexity, and exponentially-growing wattage, Steve becomes a man on a mission. At any cost, he will thwart Danny - or top him.

The Battle of Iwo Jima, which took place in the winter of 1945, was a turning point in the Pacific Theater. In one month, 22,000 Japanese and 26,000 Americans died, and the battle produced one of World War II's most enduring images: a photograph of U.S. servicemen raising an American flag on the flank of Mount Suribachi, the island's commanding high point.

By day, 35-year-old Alex (Covert) is the world's oldest video game tester, but by night. By night, he is privately developing the next big game for the X-Box generation. When one of his roommates(Loughran) spends all the rent money on Filipino hookers, Alex is kicked out of his apartment, and finds himself forced to live with his grandmother (Roberts) and her friends Grace (Jones) and Bea (Knight).

In the re-telling of this classic fable, the story begins at the end. Chief Grizzly (Xzibit) and Detective Bill Stork (Anthony Anderson) investigate a domestic disturbance at Granny's (Glenn Close) cottage involving a karate-kicking Red Riding Hood (Anne Hathaway), a sarcastic Wolf (Patrick Warburton) and an oafish Woodsman ( Jim Belushi). The charges are many: breaking and entering, intent to eat and wielding an axe without a license, but these unusual suspects have their story to tell first.

While Skrat the Saber Toothed Squirrel is still ineffectually trying to regain his precious acorn, the misfit trio of Manny the Mammoth, Sid the Sloth and Diego the Sabretooth Tiger have settled down in an isolated valley with numerous other animals. However, the trio discover that the ice wall surrounding the valley is barely holding back a massive body of water behind it and it's melting state threatens to break and flood the valley. With their one chance of survival being a boat at the other end of the valley, the trio follow the desperate exodus there. Along the way, they meet Ellie, a female mammoth who is convinced she's a opossum like her brothers. While the strange group continues the trek, they must learn to get along even as Manny struggles to find some connection to this strange female who may be the only other one of his kind.