Browse Movies : 2003 (Page #4)

This documentary presents 90 minutes of interview footage (edited down from more than ten hours) with Traudl Junge (1920-2002), who from 1942 to 1945 was one of three personal secretaries of Adolf Hitler, whom she describes as a "pleasant boss and fatherly friend". Ms. Junge describes first-hand experiences of what life was like within the most inner circles of the Third Reich, including those chilling last days for Hitler, Goebbels and Eva Braun in the bunker, where she transcribed Hitler's last will and testament before he and the others committed suicide.

Television made him famous, but his biggest hits happened off screen. "Confessions of a Dangerous Mind" is the story of a legendary showman's double life - television producer by day, CIA assassin by night. At the height of his TV career, Chuck Barris was recruited by the CIA and trained to become a covert operative.

Normally, the mantis shrimp only grows to about a foot long or so, but in this movie, a seven-foot-long one shows up in England (by way of the Philippines). Pub owner and failed boxer Bill (Kevin McNally) buys the creature, seeing it as his chance to become rich and famous, training the ferocious crustacean to box. Hitting the road with his amateur boxer best friend, Steve (Perry Fitzpatrick), a trainee hairdresser (Louise Mardenborough) and the giant sea creature, Bill heads to London to convince a TV network to feature the crustacean on an 'American Gladiators'-style event hosted by Ulrika Jonsson.

Set in the competitive world of New York City real estate, a couple (Drew Barrymore and Ben Stiller), whose dream home is a converted duplex apartment in the perfect neighborhood, decide to kill the sweet little old lady (Eileen Essell) who's currently living there, or else they'll never get to buy it...

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.

It has been almost 10 years since one of the scariest horror characters of all time, Freddy Krueger, invaded the dreams of a generation to exact his deadly form of revenge and murder. Now, Freddy has entered into the dreams of another master of evil—the unstoppable Jason Voorhees—plunging cinema's two greatest titans of terror into a battle to end all battles.

In this modern-day comedy of manners, American sisters Isabel (Kate Hudson) and Roxy (Naomi Watts) come face to face with the complicated social mores of French society. Pregnant and jilted by her scoundrel husband, Roxy is headed for "Le Divorce", while Isabel leaps into l'amour with a married French diplomat who happens to be the uncle of Roxy's soon-to-be-ex. Culture clash and scandal ensue as the sisters learn what it really takes to be an American in Paris.

Legendary criminal. Proud homosexual. Cabaret star. Passionate lover. Killer. Devoted father of seven adopted children. Saint or devil? Madame Satã. Born to slaves in the arid wasteland of Northern Brazil and sold by his mother at the age of 7, he pursued his freedom on the mean streets of Lapa, Rio de Janeiro. Jet-black, six feet tall, 180 pounds of proud muscle in a silk shirt and tight pants, a cutthroat razor in his back pocket. Karim Aïnouz's extraordinary portrait of the triumphs and tragedy of this explosive and paradoxical personality unfolds against the vibrant, sordid background of Lapa: thronging underworld of pimps and whores, of cut-throats, queers and artists, of dark bars and brothels thick with smoke, drenched in sweat and cheap perfume. A world run through with violence and raw desire, where desperate dreams spring from poverty and squalor.

Set during the final days of the war between Iran and Iraq, this is the story of an elderly Iranian Kurd musician who ventures off with his two sons, also musicians, into the dangerous territory of Kurdish Iraq in search of his wife, Hanareh, a singer with an amazing voice, who they fear may be in danger there, after she ran away with the old man's best friend.

This is the story of three guys in their early 30's, Mitch (Luke Wilson), Frank (Will Ferrell), and Beanie (Vince Vaughn), who try to relive their old college glory days by moving into a large house near their old campus. They inadvertently form an "unofficial fraternity", where students can enjoy all the riches of the partying lifestyle without the commitment that comes with having to abide by the university's fraternity rules. Soon, however, the realities of their past lives catches up with their wild college lifestyles.

Polite, mild-mannered Dan Mahowny is an assistant bank manager with a head for numbers, a knack for making decisions, and a devastating appetite for gambling. Dan Mahowny is the unlikely hero who takes on two of the financial institutions everyone loves to hate, the bank and the casino, and, for a brief while, he wins.

On their most mind-blowing mission yet, the Spy Kids are about to enter an entirely new dimension: the third dimension. In "Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over", state-of-the-art digital 3D technology puts something special into special effects action for the whole family. On their latest assignment, under-age Juni and Carmen Cortez (Sabara and Vega) journey inside the virtual reality wolrd of a cool but crazy video game, where anything is possible, including the impossible. Action film veteran Sylvester Stallone joins the cast as the power-hungry villain the 'Toymaker', who wants to take over the youth of the world, and Juni and Carmen must battle their way through tougher and tougher levels of a three-dimensional game ingeniously designed to outwit and defeat them. Using their usual humor, gadgetry, bravery and family bonds, the Spy Kids must win every high-flying, puzzle-solving challenge, from racing road warriors to surfing on boiling lava. Meanwhile, high-definition digital 3-D sequences and special viewing glasses give the audience a chance to interact with the larger-than-life excitement on screen. Adding to the visual fun, "Spy Kids 3D: Game Over" also features all-new inventions from the mind of writer/director Robert Rodriguez, who lets his imagination loose in a blazingly colorful, futuristic game world come to life. In this latest chapter of the Spy Kids trilogy, Antonio Banderas and Carla Gugino reprise their roles as suave spy-parents Gregorio and Ingrid Cortez and Ricardo Montalban makes a comeback as the Spy Kids' grandfather, who plays a pivotal role in their mission. Also returning are Steve Buscemi as the mad scientist Romero; Alan Cumming as Floop; Bill Paxton as Dinky Winks; Cheech Marin as Uncle Felix; and Danny Trejo as Uncle Machete.

Steve James's new film takes a deeply personal turn as he returns to the town where 10 years earlier he was a "big brother" to a troubled young boy named Stevie. As he resumes his connection with this emotionally and socially challenged man after so many years, we get a glimpse into the difficulties Stevie faced as a product of his environment. Abandoned by his mother at a young age, he bounced from foster home to foster home, abused and neglected. He soon found his way into trouble with the law, which complicated his strained relationships with what little family he had.

"Super Sucker" is a hilarious comedy about rival door-to-door vacuum cleaner sales teams. In addition to writing and directing, Jeff Daniels, once again, the underdog heads up his team of misfits as Fred Barlow. Barlow meets Howard Butterworth, played by fellow Michigan native and Purple Rose Theatre (a repertory theatre founded by Daniels) alumnus Matt Letscher ('Good Morning Miami'). The two, with the help of Purple Rose Theatre veterans Leonard (Guy Sanville), Rhonda (Sandra Birch), Shelby (John Seibert) and Darlene (Kate Peckham) team up against Barlow's cross-town rival, and nemesis, Winslow Schnaebelt. Schnaebelt, played by Harve Presnell is the razzle-dazzle red-suited competitor who will do anything to undermine Barlow. Barlow and Schnaebelt battle for territory and survival in a ‘winner takes all' contest.

In director Antoine Fuqua's new action-adventure film, Bruce Willis stars as Lt. A.K. Waters, the loyal veteran officer of a Navy S.E.A.L unit. When he's sent into the heart of Africa, the usually hard-bitten Waters finds himself deeply conflicted at having to choose between following orders and the dictates of his own conscience. Though a fictionalization, Tears of the Sun deals with the gritty realism of human conflict as Lt. Waters travels to war-torn central Africa to rescue Dr. Lena Kendricks (Monica Bellucci), a U.S. citizen who runs a mission in the countryside. But when Lt. Waters arrives Dr. Kendricks refuses to abandon the refugees under her care. She implores Waters to escort them on a dangerous trek through the dense jungle to the nearby border. During the journey the S.E.A.L.s find themselves the unwitting guardians of a man sought by the rebel militia. This further endangers their already hazardous mission, but all the while strengthening Waters' resolve to protect Lena and the refugees, and to deliver them safely across the border.

September 1944. Several days before Finland, an ally of Nazi Germany, pulls out of World War II, Veiko, (Ville Haapasalo) a lone Finnish sniper, is turned on by his compatriots for a being a pacifist and, in their eyes, a reluctant fighter. As a punishment, the young man is placed in shackles, nailed to a heavy rock and forced to wear a German uniform, knowing full well that Russian soldiers have orders to shoot Germans on sight, without accepting surrender. Veiko is thus left to die in a remote Lapland forest, with nothing but a few supplies and his wits. Days pass, and after several failed attempts, he succeeds in freeing himself and heads for safety, shackles still attached. While trying to escape, Veiko witnesses the following through his rifle's telescope: Ivan, a captain in the Russian army accused of anti-Soviet correspondence, is being held prisoner by the Soviet Military secret police. En route to his court martial, Russian planes accidentally bomb the vehicle carrying the disgraced captain, killing the driver and his guard. Not far away is Anni (Anni-Kristiina Juuso), a Lapp reindeer farmer whose husband was drafted into the war by the Finnish authorities four years earlier, never to return. Hungry and alone, the young and resourceful widow locates the bodies of Ivan and his captors while foraging for food. As she begins to bury the dead, Anni discovers that Ivan is still alive, but seriously hurt. She carries him to her wooden hut and nurses him back to health. Meanwhile, Veiko, in search of tools to remove his shackles, stumbles upon Anni's farm. Thus World War II creates the unlikeliest of bonds (between three different people, from three different cultures, speaking three different languages.) Comic, and sometimes tragic, misunderstandings soon arise, resulting in a passionate, and very human, three-way relationship. Unable to communicate with the others and unaware that the war between the USSR and Finland is over, Ivan is convinced that Veiko is a German soldier gone astray; to Ivan, the German uniform the Finnish soldier was forced to wear is further proof. But Veiko is unaware of Ivan's hatred and just wants to cut off his shackles, return home and put the war behind him. Yet, to avoid falling into enemy hands, Veiko opts to stay on Anni's farm for temporary safety. The earthy and sensuous Anni, who has not been with a man in four years, could not be more delighted with her good fortune, language barrier be damned. For Anni, Veiko and Ivan are not enemies, but just men. An uncommon and touching bond develops, as the three unlikely souls begin a domestic routine of hunting and gathering in preparation for the long Lap winter. The two men do what they can to contribute to Anni's well being: Veiko builds a sauna and Ivan picks mushrooms... but their war is not over.

Based very loosely on the Alan Moore graphic novel epic of the same name, this is the story of a group of characters drawn from famous works of literature, including Captain Nemo, Allan Quatermain, The Invisible Man, Mina Murray and Dr. Jekyll, banding together to combat criminal undertakings of the highest order near the turn of the 19th century. Rather than remain true to the comic roots, the film also incorporates Tom Sawyer and Dorian Gray, in an apparent effort to keep the cast from being entirely without Americans, and it is set in New York.

Two young couples in Madrid (Alterio and Vega; Toledo and Verbeke) are searching for love and happiness, but ultimately they find only lies and heartache, as they switch lovers back and forth, and the erotic tension escalates. There's also a good deal of singing and dancing amidst all the bed swapping.

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).

Brian O'Conner (Paul Walker), stripped of his badge after the events of the first film, gets a chance to redeem himself by going undercover to infiltrate the world of Miami street racing.