Browse Movies : 2009

The first film in the Disneynature series, "Earth," narrated by James Earl Jones, tells the remarkable story of three animal families and their amazing journey across the planet we all call home. "Earth" combines rare action, unimaginable scale and impossible locations by capturing the most intimate moments of our planet's wildest and most elusive creatures. Directors Alastair Fothergill and Mark Linfield, the acclaimed creative team behind the Emmy Award®-winning "Planet Earth," combine forces again to bring this epic adventure to the big screen, beginning Earth Day 2009.

A reporter covering the Challenger Space Shuttle launch becomes mixed up in the lives of some local students.

In the epic action adventure fantasy "Avatar", James Cameron, the director of "Titanic", takes us to a spectacular new world beyond our imagination. On the distant moon Pandora, a reluctant hero embarks on a journey of redemption, discovery and unexpected love - as he leads a heroic battle to save a civilization.

The story’s protagonist, Jake Sully, is an ex-Marine who was wounded and paralyzed from the waist down in combat on Earth. In order to participate in the Avatar program, which will give him a healthy body, Jake agrees to travel to Pandora, a lush rainforest environment filled with incredible life forms – some beautiful, many terrifying. Pandora is also the home to the Na’vi, a humanoid race that lives at what we consider to be a primate level, but they are actually much more evolved than humans. Ten feet tall and blue skinned, the Na’vi live harmoniously within their unspoiled world. But as humans encroach on Pandora in search of valuable minerals, the Na’vi’s very existence is threatened – and their warrior abilities unleashed.

Jake has unwittingly been recruited to become part of this encroachment. Since humans are unable to breathe the air on Pandora, they have created genetically-bred human-Na’vi hybrids known as Avatars. The Avatars are living, breathing bodies in the real world, controlled by a human driver through a technology that links the driver’s mind to the Avatar body. On Pandora, through his Avatar body, Jake can be whole once again. Moreover, he falls in love with a young Na’vi woman, Neytiri, whose beauty is matched by her ferocity in battle.

As Jake slides deeper into becoming one of her clan, he finds himself caught between the military-industrial forces of Earth, and the Na’vi – forcing him to choose sides in an epic battle that will decide the fate of an entire world.

Conceived 14 years ago and over four years in the making, "Avatar" breaks new ground in delivering a fully immersive, emotional story and reinvents the moviegoing experience.

From Chutney in India to Chow Mein in China, "Chandni Chowk to China" follows one man's passage from simple cook to kung fu fighter on a thrilling, madcap journey from the by-lanes of Chandni Chowk in Delhi, India, to the grandeur of the Great Wall of China and beyond. The first-ever Bollywood kung fu action comedy, the film brings together the two largest Asian communities, India and China, on one cinematic canvas.

Starring Bollywood's biggest action star, Akshay Kumar, the film parallels the actor's own journey to fame: Kumar worked as a cook before pursuing his passion for martial arts.

"Chandni Chowk to China" also stars stunning model-turned-actress Deepika Padukone, Bollywood veteran Mithun Chakraborty, Ranvir Shorey, and Chinese martial arts expert and actor Gordon Liu ("Kill Bill: Vols. 1 and 2").

Nikhil Advani ("Kal Ho Na Ho") directed the film from a screenplay by Shridhar Raghavan ("Bluff Master," "Khakhee"). Ramesh Sippy, Mukesh Talreja and Rohan Sippy are the producers.

The film also features stunts choreographed by veteran martial arts stunt coordinator Huen Chiu-Ku, whose credits include "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon," "Kill Bill: Vols. 1 and 2" and "The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor." The musical trio Shankar, Ehsaan and Loy composing the eclectic score, an eclectic Indo-Chinese fusion inspired by the music of China and India.

"Chandni Chowk to China" focuses on the epic heroic journey of Sidhu (Kumar), a simple cook from Chandni Chowk who longs to escape his dreary existence and looks for shortcuts with everything from astrologers and tarot readers to a magic potato, believing in anything and everything except himself. His fate changes when two strangers from China claim him to be a reincarnation of a war hero from the past and enlist him to come back with them to their village in China.

His opportunistic translator, Chopstick (Ranvir Shorey), tells Sidhu of the women, wine and princely existence that await him in foreign lands; what Chopstick doesn't tell him is that he has become the village's best hope to take on the vicious gangster Hojo (Gordon Liu), who has been terrorizing them. Along the way, Sidhu meets Sakhi, played by Deepika Padukone ("Om Shanti Om"), a stunning TV model who has embarked on her own adventure to pay homage to the land of her birth, her dead father and twin. Padukone also portrays Sakhi's long-lost twin sister, Meow.

Soon, Sidhu realizes he is in way over his head and faces imminent defeat without a miracle. Only at his lowest point does he meet a Kung Fu master (Roger Yuan) who can help Sidhu find his inner hero, set the village free, and pursue the love of his life.

Devastated by the kidnapping of her father, Chun-Li takes to the streets of Hong Kong, embarking on an epic quest for justice – and hurtling toward a confrontation with a seemingly unstoppable foe.

An alcoholic woman becomes involved in a nefarious ransom kidnapping scheme with a stranger from an AA meeting.

Walt Disney Pictures takes the Disney Channel phenom to the big screen in a feature film extravaganza. Miley Stewart (Miley Cyrus) struggles to juggle school, friends and her secret pop-star persona; when Hannah Montana's soaring popularity threatens to take over her life—she just might let it. So her father (Billy Ray Cyrus) takes the teen home to Crowley Corners, Tenn., for a dose of reality, kicking off an adventure filled with the kind of fun, laughter and romance even Hannah Montana couldn't imagine.

The story will unfold against the backdrop of the credit crunch and the subprime mortgage crisis in the US, where repossessions of homes, cars and other forms of property is at a new high.

The story is about a gay man (Colin Firth), who tries to go about his normal routines after the death of his partner. Matthew Goode will play Firth's former boyfriend, and Julianne Moore will be his friend.

Paramount Pictures and Hasbro, whose previous collaboration was the worldwide blockbuster "Transformers," have reunited for another extraordinary action-adventure "G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra." From the Egyptian desert to deep below the polar ice caps, the elite G.I. JOE team uses the latest in next-generation spy and military equipment to fight the corrupt arms dealer Destro and the growing threat of the mysterious Cobra organization to prevent them from plunging the world into chaos.

After a young, middle class couple moves into what seems like a typical suburban “starter” tract house, they become increasingly disturbed by a presence that may or may not be somehow demonic but is certainly most active in the middle of the night. Especially when they sleep. Or try to.

Combining the visionary imaginations of two premier fantasists, director Henry Selick (“The Nightmare Before Christmas”) and author Neil Gaiman (Sandman), this new movie is a wondrous and thrilling, fun and suspenseful adventure that honors and redefines two moviemaking traditions. It is a stop-motion animated feature – and, as the first one to be conceived and photographed in stereoscopic 3-D, unlike anything moviegoers have ever experienced before. Coraline Jones (voiced by Dakota Fanning) is a girl of 11 who is feisty, curious, and adventurous beyond her years. She and her parents (Teri Hatcher, John Hodgman) have just relocated from Michigan to Oregon. Missing her friends and finding her parents to be distracted by their work, Coraline tries to find some excitement in her new environment. She is befriended – or, as she sees it, annoyed – by a local boy close to her age, Wybie Lovat (Robert Bailey Jr.); and visits her older neighbors, eccentric British actresses Miss Spink and Miss Forcible (Jennifer Saunders and Dawn French) as well as the arguably even more eccentric Russian Mr. Bobinsky (Ian McShane). After these encounters, Coraline seriously doubts that her new home can provide anything intriguing to her….but it does; she uncovers a secret door in the house. Walking through the door and then venturing through an eerie passageway, she discovers an alternate version of her life and existence. On the surface, this parallel reality is similar to her real life – only much better. The adults, including the solicitous Other Mother (also voiced by Teri Hatcher) seem much more welcoming to her. Coraline is more the center of attention there – even from the mysterious Cat (Keith David). She begins to think that this Other World might be where she belongs. But when her wondrously off-kilter, fantastical visit turns dangerous and Other Mother schemes to keep her there, Coraline musters all of her resourcefulness, determination, and bravery to get back home – and save her family.

Academy Award nominee Viggo Mortensen, Academy Award winners Robert Duvall and Charlize Theron, Guy Pearce and 12-year-old Kodi Smit McPhee star in the big-screen adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's best-selling, Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, "The Road" – the story of a man (Mortensen) and his young son (Smit-McPhee) traveling through a desperate, post-apocalyptic world.

In the "Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakuel", pop sensations Alvin, Simon and Theodore end up in the care of Dave Seville’s twenty-something nephew Toby (Zachary Levi). The boys must put aside music superstardom to return to school, and are tasked with saving the school’s music program by winning the $25,000 prize in a battle of the bands. But the Chipmunks unexpectedly meet their match in three singing chipmunks known as "The Chipettes" – Brittany, Eleanor and Jeanette. Romantic and musical sparks are ignited when the Chipmunks and Chipettes square off.

On what should have been a fun-filled day at the races, Nick O'Bannon has a horrific premonition in which a bizarre sequence of events causes multiple race cars to crash, sending flaming debris into the stands, brutally killing his friends and causing the upper deck of the stands to collapse on him. When he comes out of this grisly nightmare Nick panics, persuading his girlfriend, Lori, and their friends, Janet and Hunt, to leave...escaping seconds before Nick's frightening vision becomes a terrible reality. Thinking they've cheated death, the group has a new lease on life, but unfortunately for Nick and Lori, it is only the beginning. As his premonitions continue and the crash survivors begin to die one-by-one--in increasingly gruesome ways--Nick must figure out how to cheat death once and for all before he, too, reaches his final destination. The film marks the latest in the highly popular "Final Destination" series, and its first 3D installment, giving horror fans an especially visceral thrill ride.

"The Hurt Locker" is a riveting, suspenseful portrait of the courage under fire of the military's unrecognized heroes: the technicians of a bomb squad who volunteer to challenge the odds and save lives doing one of the world's most dangerous jobs. Three members of the Army's elite Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) squad battle insurgents and one another as they search for and disarm a wave of roadside bombs on the streets of Baghdad—in order to try and make the city a safer place for Iraqis and Americans alike. Their mission is clear—protect and save—but it's anything but easy, as the margin of error when defusing a war-zone bomb is zero. This thrilling and heart-pounding look at the psychology of bomb technicians and the effects of risk and danger on the human psyche is a fictional tale inspired by real events by journalist and screenwriter Mark Boal, who was embedded with a special bomb unit in Iraq. In Iraq, it is soldier vernacular to speak of explosions as sending you to "the hurt locker."

St Trinian’s, the infamous school for ‘young ladies’ is once again facing dire financial crisis! The bank are threatening headmistress Camilla Fritton with closure. Her unorthodox doctrine of free expression and self empowerment is also under threat from new Education Minister Geoffrey Thwaits, an old flame of Camilla’s who is determined to bring discipline and order to the anarchic school.

In true St Trinian style the girls are in a league of their own; smart, fearless and determined to defend the school they love to the end. They need to unite the warring girl gang cliques and come up with the cash fast to save the school.

Hugh Jackman reprises the role that made him a superstar – as the fierce fighting machine who possesses amazing healing powers, retractable claws and a primal fury. Leading up to the events of "X-Men," "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" tells the story of Wolverine’s epically violent and romantic past, his complex relationship with Victor Creed, and the ominous Weapon X program. Along the way, Wolverine encounters many mutants, both familiar and new, including surprise appearances by several legends of the X-Men universe whose appearances in the film series have long been anticipated.

"Race to Witch Mountain" is a thrilling action-adventure about a hard luck Las Vegas cab driver Jack Bruno, whose life is thrown into chaos when apparent "runaway" teenagers Sara and Seth jump into his taxi. He soon realizes his two fares are children with exceptional paranormal powers whom he must protect as they elude a collection of ruthless enemies.

Police are on the trail of a serial killer – following clues that are as barbaric as they are "artistic". They have called the criminal the "Picasso Killer": death is his inspiration, the carved bodies of his victims are his works of art.