Archive - Aug 8, 2009

When the first manned mission to Mars meets with a catastrophic and mysterious disaster, a rescue mission is launched to investigate the tragedy and bring back any survivors. Exciting and realistic, MISSION TO MARS is the inspirational story of the astronauts of the hurried Mars Recovery mission, the almost insurmountable dangers that confront the heroic crew on their journey through space, and the amazing discovery they make when they finally reach the Red Planet.

HANNIBAL is set in Florence, Italy, a decade after the events of SILENCE OF THE LAMBS, in which psychopath Hannibal Lecter (Anthony Hopkins) was interviewed by FBI agent Clarice Starling (originally played by Jodie Foster) while in the custody of a maximum-security prison. Then he escaped. HANNIBAL picks up where that film left off--with the deranged Lecter now free as a bird in Italy, and Starling still on his trail. A terrifyingly horrific story based on the novel by Thomas Harris, the film takes viewers on a sickening journey through Lecter's violent, cannibalistic mind.

Following in the footsteps of the 1940 Disney classic, FANTASIA 2000 features seven animated short films set to classical compositions, along with the original version of "The Sorcerer's Apprentice," starring Mickey Mouse.

When Lockwood (Miles Mander) arrives at WUTHERING HEIGHTS, it is dark and snowing. Lockwood needs shelter--but he is not welcome. His host, Heathcliff (Laurence Olivier), is ungracious, if not positively hostile. Lockwood wakes in the night and, as he tries to close a window, feels hands clasping at his. He screams for help. Heathcliff arrives, then plunges into the night. Lockwood wonders what this means, and Ellen (Flora Robson) begins to tell him the story of Heathcliff and Cathy Earnshaw (Merle Oberon), how they came together on the Yorkshire moors and how their passion was thwarted.

In Meet the Parents, everything that could possibly go wrong for groom-to-be Greg Focker does. The problems begin with Greg's disastrous first meeting with his girlfriend's family-most notably her intimidating father Jack Byrnes-and it's all downhill from there.

Theodore Flicker's satirical comedy skewers Cold War politics, psychiatry, spy films, and the 1960s counterculture all in one fell swoop. When the U.S. President begins to feel overwhelmed by the duties of his job, respected psychiatrist Dr. Sidney Schaefer (James Coburn) is called in to help him relieve the stress. Schaefer soon feels the pressure of keeping all the President's secrets and decides to resign his post.

Continuing in the tradition of his hits THE WATERBOY and HAPPY GILMORE, Adam Sandler stars in LITTLE NICKY, a supernatural comedy about Satan's geekiest son. Nicky (Sandler) is relieved when his father (Harvey Keitel) decides to continue as ruler of the underworld for another 10,000 years instead of picking one of his bullying brothers, Adrian (Rhys Ifans) or Cassius (Tom "Tiny" Lister), to reign. Adrian and Cassius, hungry for power, decide to travel to New York City in order to spread Hell on Earth.

John Ford's memorable screen version of John Steinbeck's epic novel of the Great Depression--often regarded as the director's best film--stars Henry Fonda as Tom Joad. After having served a brief prison sentence for manslaughter, Joad arrives at his family's Oklahoma farm only to find it abandoned. Muley (John Qualen), a neighbor now nearly mad with grief, tells Tom of the drought that has transformed the farmland of Oklahoma into a desert and of the preying land agents who have plowed under the shacks of the sharecroppers.

A rancher struggles to support his ranch and family during a long= draught. Desperately needing money to build a well, he takes an assignment= to transport a notorious felon, in the hands of authorities, to Yuma for= imprisonment. But, once the two meet, the criminal tries to tempt him= with--in exchange for allowing him to escape--an offer of much more money= than the rancher ever expected, the result of a hidden loot.

GILDA is the film that gave the world the indelible image of Rita Hayworth in that tight gown, lovingly removing that long glove as she sings, "Put the Blame on Mame." That's enough to justify a viewing, but the film has more, including a bewitched, bothered, etc., performance by a never-better Glenn Ford. GILDA is an intricate noir in which Hayworth, as the titular femme fatale, is placed by her mobster club-owner husband in the care of Ford, a small-time hood who also happens to be her ex-lover.