2005 Least Anticipated Movies (Page #10)

Rocks Stars. Guitar Gods. Kids. At some point in almost everyone's life, they dream of becoming a rock star: feeling the roar of the crowd; basking in the adoration of legions of fans; experiencing the adventures of life on the road. Now imagine fulfilling that fantasy as a child. Welcome to "Rock School". A meditation on talent and teaching, "Rock School" is a celebration of youthful promise and steadfast dreams. It is also a kick-ass music movie that should be played loud!

Comedy veterans and co-creators Penn Jillette and Paul Provenza capitalize on their insider status and invite over 100 of their closest friends--who happen to be some of the biggest names in entertainment, from George Carlin, Whoopi Goldberg, Drew Cary to Gilbert Gottfried, Bob Saget, Paul Reiser and Sarah Silverman--to reminisce, analyze, deconstruct and deliver their their own versions of world's dirtiest joke, an old burlesque, too extreme to be performed in public, called "The Aristocrats".

Based on Jonathan Larson's award-winning Broadway musical, "Rent" chronicles a group of New York village artists struggling with identity and artistic integrity in an HIV-positive world. Roommates Roger and Mark, a songwriter-recovering addict and a guerrilla filmmaker, respectively, must find a way to pay their former roommate-turned-landlord when he decides to reneg on his promise to provide them rent-free living.

Recruited by the U.S government for their unique ability to lie, cheat and fight, Amy, Max, Janet and Dominique join an underground academy of secret agents known only as D.E.B.S. These crime fighting hotties set out to save the world and keep their lipstick perfectly applied while doing so. Now the girls must combine their skills for their most important mission - to capture vexing vixen Lucy Diamond, the deadliest criminal the world has ever known. When D.E.B.S. star player, Amy, falls for Lucy, chaos erupts and the D.E.B.S. loyalty is put to the test.

It is 1933, and vaudeville actress Ann Darrow has found herself--like so many other New Yorkers during the Great Depression--without the means to earn a living. Unwilling to compromise and allow herself to sink into a career in burlesque, she considers her limited options while aimlessly wandering the streets of Manhattan. When her hunger drives her to unsuccessfully try to steal an apple from a fruit vendor's stall, she is rescued--literally--by filmmaker and multiple hyphenate Carl Denham. It seems that the entrepreneur-raconteur-adventurer is no stranger to theft, having that day lifted the only existing print of his most recent and unfinished film from under his studio executives' noses when they threatened to pull his completion funds. Carl has until the end of the day to get his crew onboard the Singapore-bound tramp steamer, the S.S. Venture, in hopes of completing his travelogue/action film. With that, the showman is certain he will finally achieve the personal greatness he knows awaits him around the corner--and although the crew believe that corner to be Singapore, Denham actually hopes to find and capture on film the mysterious place of legend: Skull Island. Unfortunately for Carl, his headlining actress has pulled out of his project, but his search for a size-four leading lady (the costumes have all been made) has, fatefully, led him to Ann. The struggling actress is reluctant to sign on with Denham, until she learns that the up-and-coming, socially relevant playwright Jack Driscoll is penning the screenplay--the fees his friend Carl pays for potboiling adventure are a welcome supplement to Driscoll's nominal income from his stage plays. With his newly discovered star and coerced screenwriter reluctantly onboard, Denham's moving picture ship heads out of New York Harbor--and toward a destiny that none aboard could possibly foresee.

Unable to tie the knot with his Prozac captivated girlfriend, young Cuban filmmaker Sebastian finds himself thirty years-old and never in love. On his quest to finding the one, Sebastian turns to his friend/tour guide Daria. She introduces him to her sandbox of gay, thirsty, thirty-something cohorts and the adventure of his life as he tries to navigate through the unchartered waters of Hollywood and sexual politics.

Jack lives on the site of his abandoned island commune with his 16-year-old daughter Rose. A single father, Jack has always sheltered Rose from the influences of the outside world, but now, his fatal illness and Rose's emerging womanhood pose troubling questions about the days ahead. A man who has lived a life motivated by environmentalism and other altruistic causes, Jack now rages at those who do not share his concerns, like developer Marty Rance, who is building a housing tract on the edge of his property. When Jack invites his girlfriend Kathleen and her teenage sons, Rodney and Thaddius, to live with them, Rose feels betrayed and the situation quickly becomes precarious. Rose acts out wildly, creating chaos. Everything flies out of control, Jack finds himself trapped in an impossible place and is forced to take action, as Rose undergoes a sexual awakening with both liberating and devastating consequences.

Langston Whitfield (Samuel L. Jackson) is a "Washington Post" journalist. His editor provocatively sends him to South Africa to cover the Truth and Reconciliation Commission hearings, in which the perpetrators of murder and torture on both sides during the Apartheid era are invited to come forward and confront their victims. By telling the unvarnished truth and expressing contrition, they may be granted amnesty. Can the deep wounds of Apartheid be healed through reconciliation? Langston is deeply sceptical. He tracks down Col. De Jager, the most notorious torturer in the SA Police and tries to penetrate the mind of a monster, an experience that obliges him to confront his own demons. Anna Malan (Juliette Binoche), is an Afrikaans poet who is covering the hearings for radio. As a white South African she is shattered by the accounts of the cruelty and depravity committed by her fellow countrymen. Anna and Langston must both question their sense of identity. Where do they each belong? How responsible are they for what is done in the name of their respective countries? The moving testimony of the victims affects them deeply. In different ways they are both estranged from their families, and their shared experience draws them ever closer to each other. It is a story charting the unfathomable depths of human cruelty and the redeeming power of forgiveness and love.

Based on Ann Brashares' best-selling novel about a special 16th summer in the lives of four lifelong friends. The film stars Alexis Bledel, Amber Tamblyn, America Ferrara and Blake Lively as four 16-year-old best friends who are separated for the first time. On a last shopping trip together, the girls find a pair of thrift-shop jeans that fits each of them perfectly and they decide to use these "magic" pants as a way of keeping in touch over the months ahead, each girl wearing the jeans for a week to see what luck they bring her before sending them on to the next. Though miles apart, the four friends still experience life, love and loss together in a summer they'll never forget.

Earthman Arthur Dent is having a very bad day. His house is about to be bulldozed, he discovers that his best friend is an alien--and to top things off, Planet Earth is about to be demolished to make way for a hyperspace bypass. Arthur's only chance for survival: hitch a ride on a passing spacecraft. For the novice space traveler, the greatest adventure in the universe begins when the world ends. Arthur sets out on a journey in which he finds that nothing is as it seems: he learns that a towel is just the most useful thing in the universe, finds the meaning of life, and discovers that everything he needs to know can be found in one book: "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy".

An American artist living a bohemian existence in Paris, Tom Warshaw (David Duchovny) is trying to make sense of his troubled adult life by reflecting upon his extraordinary childhood...The year is 1973, and thirteen-year-old Greenwich Village native Tommy Warshaw (Anton Yelchin) is on the brink of becoming a man. While his bereaved single mother (Téa Leoni) continues to mourn the death of his father, Tommy escapes his own grief by causing trouble at school and making afternoon meat deliveries with his best friend Pappas (Robin Williams), a mentally challenged janitor. Following the romantic advice offered by Lady (Erykah Badu) - incarcerated in the infamous Greenwich Village Women's House of Detention for shadowy reasons—Tommy even experiences his first taste of love. Yet when an unexpected tragedy radically alters his world, Tommy must make a life-defining choice—one that will compel the adult Tom Warshaw, thirty years later, to confront his unfinished past.

It's 'vege-mania' in Wallace and Gromit's neighborhood, and our two enterprising chums are cashing in with their humane pest-control outfit, "Anti-Pesto." With only days to go before the annual Giant Vegetable Competition, business is booming, but Wallace & Gromit are finding out that running a "humane" pest control outfit has its drawbacks as their West Wallaby Street home fills to the brim with captive rabbits. Suddenly, a huge, mysterious, veg-ravaging "beast" begins attacking the town's sacred vegetable plots at night, and the competition hostess, Lady Tottington, commissions Anti-Pesto to catch it and save the day. Lying in wait, however, is Lady Tottington's snobby suitor, Victor Quartermaine, who'd rather shoot the beast and secure the position of local hero—not to mention Lady Tottingon's hand in marriage. With the fate of the competition in the balance, Lady Tottington is eventually forced to allow Victor to hunt down the vegetable chomping marauder. Little does she know that Victor's real intent could have dire consequences for her and our two heroes.

New York City bus driver Ralph Kramden and his feisty wife Alice, struggle to make ends meet. Despite Ralph's many get-rich-quick schemes/motivational speaker tape series, they've managed to save some money and, along with their best friends Ed and Trixie Norton, they seem to have almost enough money for a down payment on a Brooklyn duplex. However, when Ralph decides to try to impress Alice by making up what he's lost and augmenting their savings with another of his crazy schemes, he winds up losing all their money and his marriage to boot—and it takes all his determination and love for Alice to get things on track again.

In the new film from acclaimed writer/director Jim Jarmusch, which won the Grand Prix at this year's Cannes International Film Festival, Bill Murray stars as Don Johnston. The resolutely single Don has just been dumped by his latest lover, Sherry (Julie Delpy). Don yet again resigns himself to being alone and left to his own devices. Instead, he is compelled to reflect on his past when he receives by mail a mysterious pink letter. It is from an anonymous former lover and informs him that he has a 19-year-old son who may now be looking for his father. Don is urged to investigate this "mystery" by his closest friend and neighbor, Winston (Jeffrey Wright), an amateur sleuth and family man. Hesitant to travel at all, Don nonetheless embarks on a cross-country trek in search of clues from four former flames (Frances Conroy, Jessica Lange, Sharon Stone, and Tilda Swinton). Unannounced visits to each of these unique women hold new surprises for Don as he haphazardly confronts both his past and, consequently, his present.

Set in the small town of Estherslope, this is the tale of an 18-year-old outsider named Dick, who having recently lost his father, finds comfort and friendship in the unlikely form of a pistol. He and his gang, the Dandies, name their weapons—his is "Wendy"—but they have sworn never to draw them.

Chronicles the anxiety-ridden two weeks leading to the marriage of Elliot Sherman who is the quintessential Baxter—the nice guy who never gets the girl.

Charlie Price sets out to rescue his dad's ailing Northampton Shoe Factory with the help of a sassy Soho cabaret star named Lola by manufacturing erotic women's boots.

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.

The film comprises Silverman's performance before a live audience interwoven with stylish musical numbers and backstage intrigue. Comedians Bob Odenkirk and Brian Posehn make appearances along with Silverman's band, The Silver Men.

Silverman, who has been compared to the legendary Lenny Bruce, is known as one of the funniest and most provocative people in comedy. Despite the current political climate, in "Jesus is Magic" she takes on such pitch-black topics as September 11th, unwanted body hair, and the Holocaust, and spins them into decidedly un-PC comedic gold. As she says in the film, "When God gives you AIDS, (and God does give you AIDS, by the way) make LemonAIDS."

Due to a bizarre turn of events the fictional world of Royston Vasey is facing annihilation and the only way for its strange inhabitants to avert this disaster, is for them to somehow find their way into the real world and confront their creators. Based in a combination of present day Soho in London and 17th Century Britain, the residents must overcome a series of peculiar events to return their beloved village to safety.