Movies Released March 7, 2003

Friday, March 7

The Safety of Objects R

Esther Gold (Glenn Close) devotes herself to her comatose, bedridden son, and expresses love for her daughter by trying to win her a car in a last-one-standing radio contest. Jim Train (Dermot Mulroney) questions his value as a man when he is passed over for promotion; Annette Jenning (Patricia Clarkson) tries to keep her family intact in the wake of her divorce; and Helen Christianson (Mary Kay Place) looks for fun and inspiration in her banal life. Despair and humor are delicately balanced in this film that examines people's investment in things that are more predictable, if less satisfying, than their relationships with other people.
Dermot Mulroney, Joshua Jackson, Rose Troche, Glenn Close, Jessica Campbell, Patricia Clarkson, Moira Kelly, Robert Klein
Drama

Nowhere in Africa R

A love story spanning two continents, "Nowhere in Africa" is the extraordinary true tale of a Jewish family who flees the Nazi regime in 1938 for a remote farm in Kenya. Abandoning their once-comfortable existence in Germany, Walter Redlich, his wife Jettel (Juliane Kohler) and their five-year-old daughter Regina each deal with the harsh realities of their new life in different ways. Attorney Walter is resigned to working the farm as a caretaker; pampered Jettel resists adjustment at every turn; while the shy yet curious Regina immediately embraces the country-learning the local language and customs, and finding a friend in Owuor, the farm's cook. As the war rages on the other side of the world, the trio's relationships to their strange environment become increasingly complicated as Jettel grows more self-assured and Walter more haunted by the life they left behind. As they eventually learn to cherish their life in Africa, they also endeavor to find a way back to each other.
Caroline Link, Gabrielle Odinis, Juliane Köhler, Regine Zimmermann, Merab Ninidze, Matthias Habich, Karoline Eckertz, Herbert Knaup
Drama Foreign

Tears of the Sun R

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.
Eamonn Walker, Antoine Fuqua, Monica Bellucci, Bruce Willis, Cole Hauser, Fionnula Flanagan, Patrick Cirillo, Alex Lasker
Drama Action Adventure Suspense
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Bringing Down the House PG-13

When a lonely guy (Steve Martin) meets a woman (Queen Latifah) on the Internet who happens to be in prison, she breaks out to be with him, and quickly proceeds to bring chaos and some much-needed change into his middle-class life...
Missi Pyle, Adam Shankman, Eugene Levy, Jean Smart, Victor Webster, Queen Latifah, Steve Martin, Joan Plowright
Comedy Romance Crime

Irreversible

After a fight with her coked-up boyfriend Marcus, Alex leaves a party to go home. She never gets there; instead she's raped in a desolate tunnel. Her angry boyfriend, and her buddy Pierre decide to take justice into their own hands and hunt down the rapist themselves.
Monica Bellucci, Vincent Cassel, Albert Dupontel, Philippe Nahon, Jean-Louis Costes, Stephane Drouot
Thriller Crime

Friday, March 7