Browse Movies : 2005 : M

"Match Point" represents a departure for native New Yorker Woody Allen, the majority of whose films lovingly depict New York and—not always so lovingly—New Yorkers. Crossing the Atlantic for the first time in his film career, Allen set "Match Point" in London, where it was also filmed. The film is described as a melodrama about many things -- ambition, the seduction of wealth, love, sexual passion and, most importantly, the huge part luck plays in events as opposed to the comforting misconception that more of life is under our control than it really is.

Four zoo animals are shipped back to their homeland by an animal rights group that feels they belong in the wild. When the ship capsizes, the animals find themselves stranded in Madagascar. Having had humans care for them their entire life, they know nothing about survival and must work together with the locals to help them fit in.

Charlotte "Charlie" Honeywell (Jennifer Lopez) is a professional dog walker who has a hard time finding any good men to date, with her social life mostly composed of continually disastrous blind dates. Her dreams seem to come true, however, when she meets Kevin, the perfect guy... until she meets his mother (Jane Fonda), who thinks no girl is good enough for Kevin, and *especialy* not Charlie. With her mother-in-law trying to sabotage the relationship, can Charlie's dream of a perfect wedding and marriage ever happen?

An eccentric widow (Judi Dench) buys an old London theater and opens it up as the Windmill, a performance hall which goes down in history for, among other things, its all-nude revues; also starring Christopher Guest and Bob Hoskins.

Tommy Lee Jones stars as a veteran FBI agent assigned to watch over a group of cheerleaders in the action/comedy "Man of the House". The collegiate cheeleaders witnessed a murder after a competition. The agent must investigate the murder, learn to deal with the energetic, yet dysfunctional bunch, while protecting them from the killers. Brian Van Holt plays an FBI agent, and Shea Whigham another Texas Ranger. Paget Brewster has been cast as Binky, the enthusiastic cheerleading coach.

The story catches up with FBI agent Gracie Hart (Sandra Bullock) shortly after she successfully disarmed a threat against the Miss United States Pageant while working undercover as a contestant in Miss Congeniality. Having become a media celebrity following her heroic pageant exploits, Gracie has been spending more time lately at the salon than the shooting range, working the talk show circuit and promoting her book. When her friends, pageant winner Cheryl and emcee Stan, are kidnapped in Las Vegas, Gracie's all-out efforts to jump back into action to save them puts her at loggerheads with the FBI top brass who don't want to risk losing their mascot and fear she might not be up to the job anymore.

The film recounts the dramatic story of the secret Israeli squad assigned to track down and assassinate 11 Palestinians believed to have planned the 1972 Munich massacre—and the personal toll this mission of revenge takes on the team and the man who led it. Eric Bana stars as the Mossad agent charged with leading the band of specialists brought together for this operation.

Inspired by actual events, the narrative is based on a number of sources, including the recollections of some who participated in the events themselves.

This is a profile of several New York City's public school kids and their journey into the world of ballroom dancing. The eleven-year-olds go from reluctantly participating in ballroom dancing to preparing to compete in the citywide finals.

The true story of a dying river town in Indiana, which in 1971 succeeded in becoming the host for the Gold Cup of hydroplane boat racing. Competing on the racing circuit requires deep-pocketed sponsorships and top-of-the-line technology and equipment. Jim McCormick, even though he's now a father with a family to support and has a steady job, has never abandoned his dream of piloting the community-owned Miss Madison to victory in the sport's biggest event. Alas, the economic struggles of this trade-diminished municipality have severely crimped its level of support. But faced with the opportunity to welcome the prestigious championship, McCormick wins, or more correctly hustles, the town's backing and, despite the misgivings of his wife and a sizable percentage of his neighbors, undertakes to race Miss Madison and compete with the big boys.

This biopic focuses on the life of 20th-century Italian artist Amedeo Modigliani during the period after the first World War.

John and Jane Smith are an ordinary suburban couple with an ordinary, lifeless suburban marriage. But each is hiding something the other would kill to know: Mr. and Mrs. Smith are actually highly paid, incredibly efficient assassins--and they work for competing organizations. Mr. and Mrs. Smith both discover a new source of excitement in their marriage, when they're hired to assassinate each other--and that's when the real fun starts. The result is a total action spectacle, as Mr. and Mrs. Smith put their formidable skills to work and their marriage to the ultimate test.

Ernesto is a successful artist who has his life turned upside down by his family's wishes for the canonization of his murdered mother. His extreme dislike for her ignorant ways brings about a greater connection to his inane brother who killed her, while his other brothers favor her beautification.

Each winter, alone in the pitiless ice deserts of Antarctica, deep in the most inhospitable terrain on Earth, a truly remarkable journey takes place as it has done for millennia. Emperor penguins in their thousands abandon the deep blue security of their ocean home and clamber onto the frozen ice to begin their long journey into a region so bleak, so extreme, it supports no other wildlife at this time of year. In single file, the penguins march blinded by blizzards, buffeted by gale force winds. Guided by instinct, by the otherworldly radiance of the Southern Cross, they head unerringly for their traditional breeding ground where--after a ritual courtship of intricate dances and delicate maneuvering, accompanied by a cacophony of ecstatic song--they will pair off into monogamous couples and mate. The females remain long enough only to lay a single egg. Once this is accomplished, exhausted by weeks without nourishment, they begin their return journey across the ice-field to the fish-filled seas. The male emperors are left behind to guard and hatch the precious eggs, which they cradle at all times on top of their feet. After two long months during which the males eat nothing, the eggs begin to hatch. Once they have emerged into their ghostly white new world, the chicks can not survive for long on their fathers' limited food reserves. If their mothers are late returning from the ocean with food, the newly-hatched young will die. Once the families are reunited, the roles reverse, the mothers remaining with their new young while their mates head, exhausted and starved, for the sea, and food. While the adults fish, the chicks face the ever-present threat of attack by prowling giant petrels. As the weather grows warmer and the ice floes finally begin to crack and melt, the adults will repeat their arduous journey countless times, marching many hundreds of miles over some of the most treacherous territory on Earth, until the chicks are ready to take their first faltering dive into the deep blue waters of the Antarctic.

Melinda and Melinda combines romantic comedy and drama in a way that Woody Allen, unique among filmmakers, likes to contrast. It takes place in Manhattan and chronicles a pair of crises that give great reign to the funny and serious talents of Chiwetel Ejiofor, Will Ferrell, Jonny Lee Miller, Radha Mitchell, Amanda Peet, Chloë Sevigny and Wallace Shawn. All the usual Allen areas are explained - the fragility of love, marital infidelity, sophisticated romance, the inability to communicate. As a character in the movie puts it, "He's despondent, he's desperate, he's suicidal. All the comic elements are in place."

In the wake of a painful estrangement from his daughter, boxing trainer Frankie Dunn (Clint Eastwood) has been unwilling to let himself get close to anyone for a very long time—then Maggie Fitzgerald (Hilary Swank) walks into his gym. In a life of constant struggle, Maggie's gotten herself this far on raw talent, unshakable focus and a tremendous force of will. But more than anything, she wants someone to believe in her. The last thing Frankie needs is that kind of responsibility—let alone that kind of risk—but won over by Maggie's sheer determination, he begrudgingly agrees to take her on. In turns exasperating and inspiring each other, the two come to discover that they share a common spirit that transcends the pain and loss of their pasts, and they find in each other a sense of family they lost long ago. Yet, they will both face a battle that will demand more heart and courage than any they've ever known.

The countdown is on—in 7 days' time Britain converts to the Euro. It's the biggest opportunity the criminal world has ever had. Billions of sterling head for the incinerator. When a railway heist goes wrong and an enormous bag of money falls from the sky into the hands of Damian and Anthony, there's only one thing to do—spend it like there's no tomorrow.... But how can a 7 and 9 year-old hope to spend a quarter of a million quid a week? Anthony's black market operations bring hyper-inflation to the school playground and Damian wants to help the poor, but they're in short supply. Oh, and the train robbers want their money back. Will they manage to spend the money before it's worthless. Will the school authorities discover what's going on? Or will the robbers get there first?

Hiding inside a group of eight young FBI profilers learning to hunt serial killers is a killer attempting to hunt them. As one by one the agents begin to disappear, none can be trusted. Each one is under suspicion. And they are all in mortal danger until, in the ultimate test of their crime-solving skills, they uncover the mysterious predator lurking in their midst.

Brian has been crazy about Drew Barrymore since the second grade when he first saw her in "E.T." Now it's 20 years later, and since Drew hasn't come knocking on his door, Brian decided to make the first move. By documenting his quest to meet Drew on video tape, Brian thought he would represent the "everyman," and his quest will seem noble, instead of just desperate. Armed only with steadfast determination, a video camera and $1,100 that he recently won on a game show, Brian summoned the powers of "Six Degrees of Separation," figuring he must know somebody who knows somebody who knows somebody who knows Drew. Despite the odds, Brian found encouragement in the words of Drew Barrymore: "If you don't take risks, you'll have a wasted soul." "My Date with Drew" will inspire moviegoers everywhere to follow their dreams.

In the Yorkshire countryside, working-class tomboy Mona (Nathalie Press) meets the exotic, pampered Tasmin (Emily Blunt). Over the summer season, the two young women discover they have much to teach one another, and much to explore together.

Margaret Cho performs her stand-up comedy, recorded live in May of 2005 at the Warner Theater in Washington D.C. during her "State of Emergency" tour.