The Nativity Story is a remarkable act of imagining the tale of Christ's birth as a flesh-and-blood drama actually set in Israel two millenia ago. Written by Mike Rich (Finding Forrester) and directed by Catherine Hardwicke (Thirteen), the film makes very strong impressions in a scene-by-scene way.
Director Sydney Pollack delivers megawatt star power, high gloss, and political passion to The Interpreter, his first thriller since The Firm. With Nicole Kidman and Sean Penn delivering smooth, understated performances, the film more closely recalls Pollack's 1975 Robert Redford/Faye Dunaway paranoid thriller Three Days of the Condor, trading conspiratorial politicians for potential assassination in the United Nations General Assembly (this being the first film ever granted permission to use actual U.N. locations). Kidman plays a U.N.
Arizona Territorial Prison inmate Paris Pittman is a schemer, a charmer and quite popular among his fellow convicts - especially with $500,000 in stolen loot hidden away and a plan to escape and recover it. New Warden Woodward Lopeman has other ideas about Pittman. Each man will have the tables turned on him. Academy Award winner Joseph L. Mankiewicz cleverly lassoes a twisting, turning Wild West tale of brawls, chases, shootouts and wry wit, courtesy of a script by David Newman and Robert Benton (Bonnie and Clyde).
The famous Humphrey Bogart punishment picture! After years of complaining about his one-dimensional gangster roles, it was said that Jack Warner decided to teach Bogie a lesson and put him in the role of a vampiric lab assistant who needs freshly drained blood in order to stay alive. Bogart is a hoot in pasty-faced white makeup and a grey streak through his hair. Wayne Morris play the wise-cracking reporter who exposes Bogie as the killer. (Tough job considering the makeup). Look for Olin Howard (Jensen the drunk in Them! and the Blob's first victim) as the undertaker.
Director Paul Mayeda Berges adapts author Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni magic realist tale about an enchanting Indian orphan who has leaned to harness the magical properties of spices. Orphaned by regional strife in her homeland of India, Tilo (Aishwarya Rai) is subsequently kidnapped by a vicious gang of bandits. A daring escape is quick to follow, and soon after washing up on mysterious shores the traumatized girl is sheltered by a benevolent old woman (Zohra Segal) who reveals to her the remarkable powers of common spices.
Mark Of The Vampire is Tod Browning's remake of his "London After Midnight" with Bela Lugosi as the vampire, Count Mora, and Lionel Atwill as Inspector Newman. In the original, both roles were played by Lon Chaney. The plot concerns the death of Sir Karell Borotyn, who appears to have been killed by vampire Count Mora. Fearing that the vampire's next victim will be Borotyn's daughter, Irena (Elizabeth Allan), vampire expert Professor Zelen (Lionel Barrymore) is called I to protect her and shed some light on the goings-on.
One of the great plots in horror film history, and one that has been repeated many times. Colin Clive plays the brilliant concert pianist Stephen Orlac, whose hands are crushed in a train accident. His wife, Yvonne, is a noted stage actress whose ardent admirer is Dr. Gogol (Peter Lorre). Although she rejected Gogol previously, she is forced to seek his help in restoring her husband's hands. Gogol replaces Orlac's hands with those of executed knife thrower Rollo, and the fun begins. Clive is his usual tortured, neurotic self and Lorre is brilliant as the oily monomaniacal Gogol.
That TV commercial actress is so seductive she could sell you anything. Sheís only a computer generated illusion. What about the real beauty who was the computer's model? Sorry, you can't meet her: she and others like her have been murdered. Writer/director Michael Crichton (ER, Coma) reaches into his brain-teasing bag of tricks for a mesmerizing thriller full of unfriendly persuasion generated by high-tech trickery. Albert Finney stars as a Beverly Hills plastic surgeon whose supermodel clients start dying mysteriously. Susan Dey plays his latest patient, also now in peril.
Tod Browning's last great film is about as respected Parisian banker (Lionel Barrymore), who is framed for robbery and murder and sent to Devil's Island. Years later he escapes in the company of a scientist who has discovered a way to shrink living things to one-sixth their original size. Barrymore finds a new use for the scientist's discovery as a means of revenge on those who had framed him.
First screened in Europe and scheduled for limited release in the U.S., Bandidas can now be viewed by all fans of the visually stunning duo, Penelope Cruz and Salma Hayek. Set in Mexico 1888, Bandidas is a Western spoof about two women, Maria Alvarez (Penelope Cruz) and Sara Sandoval (Salma Hayek), who seek to avenge the tragedies befallen both their fathers under robber baron, Tyler Jackson (Dwight Yoakam). Jackson, employed by the Bank of New York, is sent to Mexico to buy land and open banks to the detriment of local culture.
