Browse Movies : 2002 (Page #4)

With his trademark charm and wit, Michael Moore sets off on a journey to the heart of the country hoping to discover why the American pursuit of happiness is so riddled with violence. From a look at the Columbine High School security camera tapes to the home of NRA President Charlton Heston, from a young man who makes homemade napalm with "The Anarchist's Cookbook" to the murder of a six-year-old girl by another six-year-old, this is an alternately humorous and horrifying look at firearms abuse, destined to leave audiences dreading - but expecting - the next breaking news report about a homegrown assassin with a constitutionally-protected Uzi.

Victor Rosa (John Leguizamo) is all about the mighty dollar and fashions himself as a businessman on par with Rockefeller, Carnegie, and Bill Gates. With an iron fist, he runs a successful "street pharmaceutical" business that peddles a heroin mix he has named Empire. His beautiful fiancée, Carmen, a Baruch College student, befriends a classmate with an investment-banker boyfriend, Jack Wimmer. Victor meets Jack, and they instantly connect. Both are hard-core businessmen from two different sides of the legal fence. When Jack offers Victor a piece of the action on the stock market, he sees his ticket out of the violent streets of the South Bronx and jumps at the opportunity. But there is a bigger price to be paid than clean money for his gorgeous new Soho lifestyle. For the first time, Victor is confronted with a price tag that he will find difficult to pay.

There are those among us who are preternaturally lucky. They are the survivors of the plane crash that kills everyone else, the ones who escape being victims of war and terror, the gamblers who win high-stake games and even life itself. Their gift is not only being lucky, however; it includes the power to rob others of their luck and leave them helpless in the face of misfortune. Frederico has been robbed of his luck and believes that Tomas, the survivor of a plane crash, will be the instrument of his vengeance. The two men embark on a voyage of initiation, a series of trials challenging others that will lead them to the summit of chance, but they must avoid the scrutiny of policewoman Sara, herself a survivor, to finally meet Sam, the master of the domain from which only one person will emerge intact.

"Jonah: A VeggieTales Movie", stars a not-so-garden-variety cast led by the signature characters of the top selling VeggieTales series, Larry the Cucumber (as Pirate Larry, the undisputed laziest pirate in the world) and Bob the Tomato (as himself), as well as upper-crusty Archibald the Asparagus as the monocle sporting prophet, Jonah. Larry, Bob, Archibald and the rest of the Veggie gang set sail on a whale of an adventure in Jonah, the brand's first CGI theatrical feature film. Filled with music, laughs and the strangest adventurers ever to be swallowed whole, this is the story of Jonah and the whale as you've never seen it before - a story where everyone learns that one of the best gifts you can give - or get - is a second chance.

The film follows four sons of well-known Brooklyn-based mobsters and their desperate fight to retrieve a bag of cash in a small Montana town ruled by a corrupt sheriff. As they unite to find the money, they come face-to-face with the bloodshed and betrayal that is their birthright.

When Joe Nast's (Jake Gyllenhaal) plans for marriage change due to an unexpected loss, he wants to be the man he believes everyone wants him to be - dutifully bereaved husband-to-be and perfect would-be son-in-law to Ben (Dustin Hoffman) and JoJo (Susan Sarandon). But when another woman unexpectedly enters his life, he's quickly torn between fulfilling his new role and following his heart.

Robin Williams portrays Sy Parrish, a lonely photo technician at the local SavMart one-hour photo counter who develops an unsettling obsession with long time customers, the Yorkin family, with whom he invents a familial connection.

Written by, directed by, and starring Roberto Benigni, this is the classic story of a wooden puppet come to life and his magnificent odyssey to become a 'real boy'. Despite guidance from the beautiful Blue Fairy (Nicoletta Braschi) and the love of his father, Gepetto (Carlo Guiffre), Pinocchio's curious spirit leads him into one wild adventure after another - distracting him from his goal, and distancing him from his loved ones. Using Carlo Collodi's original masterwork as its source, the film is filled with mysterious fairies, colorful circuses, mystical forests, talking animals, fantastical toys and magnificent playlands.

Ana, a first generation Mexican American teenager living in East Los Angeles, has just graduated from high school. Because she is a talented writer, a caring teacher urges her to apply to college. Ana secretly is excited about the possibility, but her overbearing and hypercritical mother Carmen insists that it is time for her to help provide for the family by working in her sister's sewing factory. When a crisis arises at the factory, it seems as if Ana's fate is unhappily sealed, but her indomitable will to reach beyond a sweatshop life eventually leads her to burst, defiant and resplendent, through every restriction on her life.

In present-day London, 12-year-old Quinn watches as his mother, a construction engineer, inadvertently wakes an enormous fire-breathing beast from its centuries-long slumber. Twenty years later, much of the world has been scarred by the beast and its offspring. As a fire chief, Quinn (Christian Bale) is responsible for warding off the beasts and keeping a small community alive as they eke out a meager existence. Into their midst comes hotshot American Van Zan (Matthew McConaughey) who says he has a way to kill the beasts and save mankind - a way Quinn's never seen done.

The career of a disillusioned producer, who is desperate for a hit, is endangered when his star walks off the film set. Forced to think fast, the producer decides to digitally create an actress "Simone" to sub for the star--the first totally believable synthetic actress. The "actress" becomes an overnight sensation, with a major singing career as well, and everyone thinks she's a real person. However, as Simone's fame skyrockets, he cannot bear to admit his fraud to himself or the world.

Director Rich Murray puts the Philadelphia hip-hop scene on the map with "Snipes", an urban crime thriller that breathes fresh life into the genre. Erik (Sam Jones III) is an ambitious teenager who spends more time posting flyers for his favorite rapper, Prolifik (Nelly), than sitting in the classroom. When he and his best friend stumble across a dead body one night, they trigger a series of tragic events. It turns out Prolifik, as well as the master tapes for his new record, have been kidnapped by a gang of thugs who want Bobby Starr (Dean Winters), the ruthless president of Prolifik's label, to dish out a meaty ransom. If he doesn't, they promise to make sure Bobby's uncle and chief investor, the dangerous Johnny Marandino (Frank Vincent), knows just how carelessly Bobby has been spending his money. Through a misunderstanding, Erik becomes the target of Bobby Starr, as well as the kidnappers. Fearful for his own life, as well as his father's, Erik must find a way to get his hands on the master tapes, before Bobby Starr gets his hands on him. Murray's energizing film boasts credible performances¯especially from rap superstar Nelly¯and a pulsating hip-hop soundtrack.

This film screened in April 2002 in New York City as part of the Gen Art Film Festival.

This is the story of a young man, Sonny (James Franco), living in New Orleans and trained to follow the family tradition as a paid male prostitute for wealthy women, and he hates it. He wants to free himself from this predetermined life and find something for himself outside the business, perhaps even in the Army, but his family won't hear of it.

"The Kid Stays in the Picture" traces the meteoric rise, fall, and rise again of legendary Hollywood producer Robert Evans. Adapted from Mr. Evans's tell-all autobiography, the movie takes the audience on an intimate journey into the mind of this Hollywood legend.

The film is adapted from the autobiography of Wladyslaw Szpilman, a Polish Jew who detailed his survival during World War II. A composer and a pianist, he played the last live music heard over Polish radio airwaves before Nazi artillery hit. During the brutal occupation, he eluded deportation and remained in the devastated Warsaw ghetto. There, he struggled to stay alive even when cast away from those he loved. He would eventually reclaim his artistic gifts and confront his fears, with aid from the unlikeliest of sources.

A New York City taxicab driver is hired to be a chauffeur for a mysterious man named Clark Devlin. When Devlin is hospitalized, the driver takes over Devlin's covert mission for the U.S. government: to uncover the secret scheme of bottled water broker Diedrich Banning. The driver also inherits Clark's computerized tuxedo, which gives its wearer supernatural powers of combat, camouflage and seduction.

Alexis Bledel (TV's 'Gilmore Girls') plays a free-spirited 15-year-od in a stuffy Victorian household who stumbles on the Tucks, a Based on the award-winning book by Natalie Babbitt, Walt Disney Pictures' "Tuck Everlasting" captures the story of Winnie Foster (Alexis Bledel), a teenage girl on the cusp of maturity. Winnie longs for a life outside the control of her domineering mother (Amy Irving), and when lost in the woods near her home, she happens upon Jesse Tuck (Jonathan Jackson), a boy unlike any she's ever met before. He and his family (William Hurt, Sissy Spacek, Scott Bairstow) are kind and generous, and they immediately take her in as one of their own. However, the Tucks hold a powerful secret, and with the mysterious Man in the Yellow Suit (Ben Kingsley) tracking them down, they fear that the world as they know it could end. Ultimately, Winnie must decide whether to return to her life or stay with her beloved Jesse and his family forever.

A heavyweight-boxing champ is accused of raping a woman and sent to prison. There he faces the prison-boxing champ.

When petty thief Cosimo is given the plan for the perfect heist from a lifer in prison--the kind of job you dream about, the kind of job that the reprobates on the block refer to as a 'Bellini'--he has to get out of jail, fast. Opportunities like this don't come along every day for the hard-luck folks who hang around the streets of Collinwood, a working class neighborhood on Cleveland's east side. What Cosimo needs is a fall guy, a 'Mullinski,' somebody who needs the $15,000 Cosimo can offer more than they need one to three years of freedom. But with Cosimo stuck in the joint, it's up to his girl Rosalind to track down a patsy. But while no one wants to do the time for Cosimo's crime, everybody seems to know a guy who will--and for a share in the Bellini, they're willing to track him down. Before long, Rosalind has five guys trailing behind her, looking to get their bungling hands on a piece of the action. Led by Pero, a very amateur boxer who schemes to get the particulars of the job from Cosimo before leaving him in the joint to rot, the group assembles itself. The motley crew consists of: photographer and frustrated artist Riley, a single father with an infant on his hands who needs a thousand bucks to spring his wife from jail; Leon, who desperately wants to secure a better life for his sister, Michelle; Basil, a handsome Italian gigolo who's as broke as a one-wheeled wagon; and Toto, a thief way past his prime who's got nothing but time.