Movies Released November 14, 2003

Friday, November 14

Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World PG-13

Russell Crowe is Lucky Jack Aubrey, the Navy's greatest fighting captain and Paul Bettany is ship's doctor Stephen Maturin. The ship, the Surprise, is suddenly attacked by a superior enemy. With the Surprise badly damaged and much of his crew injured, Aubrey – the "Master" of the Surprise and "Commander" of his men – is torn between duty and friendship as he sets sail in a high-stakes chase across two oceans, to the far side of the world, to intercept and capture their foe. It's a mission that can decide the fate of a nation – or destroy Lucky Jack and his crew. The film is based on the narrative outline of the tenth book in Patrick O'Brian's legendary "Aubrey/Maturin" series of high seas novels about the British navy during the Napoleonic Wars.
Russell Crowe, Paul Bettany, John Collee, Billy Boyd, Samuel Goldwyn, Duncan Henderson, Peter Weir, Ian Mercer
Drama Action Adventure War Historical

Looney Tunes: Back in Action PG

Set in a live-action world in which Warner Bros.' beloved assortment of irreverent animated entertainers interact with human characters for maximum comic effect, the story unfolds on the Studio backlot and careens all over the map in time-honored Looney Tunes style. Our celluloid heroes embark on a hilarious adventure that takes them from Hollywood to Las Vegas, Paris and the jungles of Africa in search of Fraser's character's missing father and the mythical Blue Monkey Diamond.
Glenn Ficarra, Brendan Fraser, Heather Locklear, Matthew Lillard, Joe Dante, Chris deFaria, Joel Simon, Larry Doyle
Action Adventure Comedy Family Kids Animation

The Big Empty

John Person (Jon Favreau), a struggling actor on the verge of eviction from his Hollywood studio apartment, goes against his better judgement -- and that of his pretty neighbor Grace (Joey Lauren Adams) -- and accepts an offer from his strange neighbor Neely (Bud Cort) to courier a blue suitcase up to the desert truck stop of Baker, California. His instructions are simple: deliver the suitcase to a trucker called Cowboy (Sean Bean) and collect $27 thousand. Oh yeah, and he has to defend the suitcase with his life. Naturally, nothing goes according to plan once John arrives. The Cowboy is nowhere to be found, John meets with some kooky alien-obsessed locals and Special Agent Banks (Kelsey Grammer) questions John about the mysterious decapitation of Neely and about other missing persons. When the final showdown approaches, John is faced with a choice that could change his life forever. Has the whole town gone mad? Or are the loony locals, who he dismissed as crazy, the only sane ones in this strange parallel universe called The Big Empty?
Sean Bean, Jon Favreau, Daryl Hannah, Joey Lauren Adams, Adam Beach, Steve Anderson, Rachael Leigh Cook, Kelsey Grammer
Drama Comedy
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Tupac: Resurrection R

A documentary about the pivotal hip-hop artist Tupac Shakur that is narrated entirely in the words of the deceased artist himself. Through a variety of interviews, journal readings, poetry performances, private home movies, and never-before-seen concert footage, the film serves as a "self-portrait" of a cultural icon whose career and persona, both, continue to grow from beyond the grave.
Lauren Lazin, Tupac Shakur
Crime Musical Documentary

The Cooler R

Bernie Lootz (William H. Macy) is the unluckiest man in Las Vegas... he's so unlucky, it's contagious. Looking to knock out their highest rollers, one of the last mob-run casinos in town, the Shangri-La Hotel and Casino downtown, decides to use Bernie as a "cooler" to defuse their lucky streaks. The scheme goes fine until Bernie falls in love with a cocktail waitress, Natalie (Maria Bello), who becomes his "lady luck", much to the chagrin of the casino's crooked director (Alec Baldwin) who aims to break up the romance, and Bernie's newfound luck...
Wayne Kramer, Ron Livingston, Paul Sorvino, Alec Baldwin, William H. Macy, Maria Bello, Joey Fatone, Shawn Hatosy
Comedy Romance Crime

A House on a Hill

Harry Mayfield (Baker Hall) was once an extremely successful Los Angeles architect. Today, he is an aging, charming but cantankerous idealist who teaches rather than practices architecture. Decades earlier, he had started work on a magnificent house for his family on a hillside site overlooking the city and the sea. A rich young couple, Kate and Richard Banks, see the charred remains of what was once his house, and decide they want Mayfield to come out of retirement and re-build the house for them. Mayfield, flattered by the attention and attracted by the challenge, agrees. Kate hires him to redesign the house and asks a young Hollywood friend, Gaby (Sangiacomo), to make a documentary record, a film of the building of the house. She learns that Mayfield's work made considerable impact on his colleagues and experts in the field, but for some reason he never achieved great public fame. The house was not finished, and the incidents surrounding its failure to be completed caused the tragic death of his young son, and possibly the end of his career. Mayfield works hard to make a new design. After getting it approved by Kate he starts construction with the contractor he has hired to rebuild the house.
Laura San Giacomo, Charles Lucia, Robert Harders, Chuck Workman, Phillip Baker Hall, Shirley Knight, Henry Rollins, Rebecca Staab
Drama

Friday, November 14