Deborah Aquila

Kiefer Sutherland stars as an NYPD detective-turned-security guard who discovers something sinister lurking in the mirrors of a fire-damaged department store in Haute Tension writer/director Alexandre Aja's menacing study in the origins of evil. It's been just about a year since mercurial police detective Ben Carson (Sutherland) was suspended from the NYPD for the fatal shooting of an undercover officer, and ever since that fateful day he's been locked in a self-destructive spiral of anger and alcoholism. Increasingly isolated from his wife and kids, Ben spends most nights crashed-out at his sister Angela's (Amy Smart) apartment in Queens. But Ben hasn't given up hope just yet, and in order to get his life back together and prove that he's still capable of supporting his family he takes a job as the night watchman at the Mayflower department store. The Mayflower used to be a lavish symbol of inner-city prosperity, that is, until a raging inferno gutted the building while claiming numerous lives in the process. These days, the Mayflower is a scorched reminder of human misery, the ornate mirrors therein reflecting a suffering so profound that it begins to wear on Ben's already-fragile psyche. Not only that, but whatever force dwells behind the shimmering glass seems to have gained the power to alter reality as well.

After Ben gazes into the mirrors and sees a vision of himself being relentlessly tortured, he is horrified to experience violent convulsions, spontaneous bleeding, and frightening asphyxiation. And while his sister is always willing to lend a sympathetic ear, she chalks the anomalies up to an unusually potent mix of stress and anxiety. Unfortunately for Ben, his estranged wife, Amy (Paula Patton), isn't nearly as forgiving. A prosaic NYPD medical examiner who has seen her fair share of tragedy, Amy fears that Ben's erratic behavior could be placing their children in danger. Later, as Ben begins to draw connections between his increasingly gruesome visions and a former Mayflower security guard who vanished without a trace, he begins to suspect that an unimaginable evil is using the mirrors as a gateway into the real world, and that his family is in mortal danger from forces beyond their realm of understanding. Perhaps if he Ben can manage to convince Amy that their children's lives are at risk, he can summon the courage to face the greatest evil he has ever known. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

An undercover CIA agent within a terrorist cell is marked as a terrorist suspect by the FBI in Overture Films' upcoming thriller Traitor. Don Cheadle produces and stars in the film as the operative under Guy Pearce's investigation. Based on an idea by Steve Martin, the film is written and directed by Day After Tomorrow screenwriter Jeffrey Nachmanoff. ~ Jeremy Wheeler, All Movie Guide

A recent college graduate desperate to have one last fling before launching himself into the real world falls into a strange love triangle with a charismatic couple in director Rawson Thurber's feature adaptation of Michael Chabon's freshman novel. Peter Sarsgaard, Mena Suvari, Nick Nolte, Sienna Miller and Jon Foster star in a film that was adapted for the screen by director Thurber. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Finding Forrester star Rob Brown steps into the cleats of Heisman Trophy-winning gridiron giant Ernie Davis in director Gary Fleder's inspirational sports docudrama. As a young boy reared not far from the northern Pennsylvania state line, Davis dreamed of blasting through the end zone and scoring a triumphant touchdown while fans rose to their feet and cheered. When Davis later became a star running back for the Syracuse Orangemen, his dreams were finally on the way to becoming a reality. Under the wing of coach Ben Schwartzwalder (Dennis Quaid), it seemed as if there is nothing that could stop Davis from entering into the annals of sports history; even during an era in which the civil rights movement was just gaining momentum, this fledgling gridiron giant never once doubted his ability to rise to the top. When Davis was diagnosed with leukemia shortly after being drafted into the NFL, however, his will to survive soon eclipsed his dreams of success. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Commercial director Noam Murro makes the leap to feature films with this comedy drama concerning an aging professor-turned-bitter eccentric due to the death of his longtime wife. Ever since his wife passed away, Lawrence Wetherhold (Dennis Quaid) has become overly acerbic and self-absorbed. He's alienated his son (Ashton Holmes) and transformed his daughter (Ellen Page) into a friendless overachiever. Now, at the precise moment Lawrence thought he had finally figured it all out, his life comes crashing down all around him as he falls for a former student (Sarah Jessica Parker) and his shiftless adopted brother (Thomas Haden Church) comes knocking on the door in search of a place to stay. Though Lawrence always relied on his intelligence to get him out of life's little jams in the past, it's going to take quite a bit more than intellectual thinking to move past this sticky stage in his suddenly chaotic life. David Denman and Christine Lahti co-star in this romantic comedy drama, which serves as the screenwriting debut of Goats and Modern Ranch Living author Mark Jude Poirier. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

An American woman (Jessica Biel) with a failed marriage under her belt and an Englishman (Ben Barnes) get swept up in a whirlwind romance in the South of France that ends with a shotgun wedding. The consequences come when they travel to Britain to face his family, headed by Colin Firth and Kristin Scott Thomas. Stephan Elliott adapts the Noël Coward play and directs for Endgame Entertainment. ~ Jeremy Wheeler, All Movie Guide

Part vigilante drama and part psychological thriller, the James Wan-directed Death Sentence stars Kevin Bacon as Nick Hume, a deceptively passive exec whose wife and children are attacked in a sadistic, gang-related hazing rite, and his oldest son killed. Hell-bent on cold-blooded vengeance, Hume pulls a Bronson by tagging each of the perpetrators, then tracking down and rubbing out each one, with the help of formidable, blue-steel artillery. Aisha Tyler co-stars as the homicide detective who first agrees to assist Hume in his mission, then begins to edge up to the conclusion that the unstable father himself might be responsible for the nasty crimes against his family. Kelly Preston co-stars as Bacon's wife, Helen Hume; the cast also features John Goodman (The Big Lebowski), Leigh Whannell (Saw), and Matt O'Leary. Ian Jeffers loosely adapted Brian Garfield's popular 1975 novel. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide

Salton Sea director D.J. Caruso travels from the shore to the suburbs for this suspenseful tale of a high-school senior who suspects that his neighbor is a notorious serial killer. Kale (Shia LaBeouf) is a high-school senior who has yet to come to terms with the fact that his father is gone, the tragic victim of a fatal accident. As Kale's mother (Carrie-Anne Moss) struggles to pay the bills by picking up extra shifts at work, her son's behavior grows increasingly erratic. When an altercation at school finds Kale placed under court-ordered house arrest, the homebound student teams with newly arrived girl-next-door Ashley (Sarah Roemer) to investigate the suspicious neighbor (David Morse) whom Kale believes to be an elusive and wanted serial killer. Their attentions focused intensely on the man they believe to be a murderous maniac hiding in broad daylight, Kale and Ashley trespass down a dangerous path while attempting to discern whether his suspicions are grounded in fact or just a combination of deep depression and suffocating cabin fever. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

A woman faced with a tragedy discovers the man she loved was not all she imagined him to be in this romantic comedy-drama. Grey (Jennifer Garner) was a beautiful woman who found the man of her dreams in Grady Douglas, and was looking forward to spending the rest of her life with him until he suddenly died only a few days before they were to be married. With her wedding turned into an impromptu funeral, Grey is emotionally devastated but has to deal with the practicalities of her new life alone, including moving out of the house she shared with Grady. Short on cash and in need of emotional support, Grey moves in with two longtime friends, sloppy but philosophical Sam (Kevin Smith) and well-meaning but tightly wound Dennis (Sam Jaeger). Grey also finds herself often chatting with Fritz (Timothy Olyphant), Grady's best friend, through she's always regarded him as a sleazeball. As time passes, Grey discovers that Grady had a secret life he never shared with her -- including a young son from a previous relationship -- and as she tries to come to terms with the past of her former fiancé, she struggles to put her new life on track, and finds herself reevaluating her long-held feelings about Fritz. Catch and Release was the first directorial effort from screenwriter Susannah Grant, whose script credits include Erin Brockovich, 28 Days, and In Her Shoes. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

A structural engineer (Anthony Hopkins) and an ambitious young district attorney (Ryan Gosling) become locked in a deadly battle of wits when the former is found innocent in the attempted murder of his wife in director Gregory Hoblit's tense tale of courtroom mind games. Ted Crawford (Hopkins) is an engineer who lives with his wife, Jennifer (Embeth Davidtz), in the couple's lavish Southern California home. One day, after carefully planning out the details to ensure that there is no way he can be convicted of murder, Ted shoots his wife in a blatant attempt to kill the woman. When head hostage negotiator Rob Nunally (Billy Burke) arrives on the scene to speak with Ted, he is shocked to find that the victim of the shooting is in fact his longtime lover. Though Jennifer survives the trauma of being shot in the head at close range, she hovers comatose between life and death as star prosecutor Willy Beachum (Gosling) reluctantly accepts the case while preparing to leave the Los Angeles criminal court system behind for a more promising career at a posh private law firm. Though the DA (David Strathairn) vehemently resents Beachum's lofty plan for departure, the hotshot young lawyer remains convinced that he can expedite the apparently open-and-shut case and be on his way to greener pastures in one week's time at the very most. Beachum's swelling ego betrays him, however, as his future boss Nikki Gardner (Rosamund Pike) begins to turn up the heat and fracture mechanics specialist Ted chooses to represent himself at the trial knowing well that a career spent spotting structural flaws in aeronautical systems has instilled him with just the kind of argumentative skills needed to riddle the swaggering young lawyer's "foolproof" case with doubt. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

A successful 30-year-old (Zach Braff) with a the perfect girlfriend (Jacinda Barrett) and a lucrative outlook on life struggles with the increasing pressures of adulthood as he weighs the merits of settling down with the woman who loves him against risking it all to be with a comely co-ed (Rachel Bilson) in director Tony Goldwyn's remake of Gabriele Muccino's 2001 comedy drama. Crash and Million Dollar Baby screenwriter Paul Haggis adapts a script originally penned by Italian filmmaker Muccino, and Casey Affleck, Blythe Danner, Eric Christian Olsen, and Tom Wilkinson co-star. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

A supernaturally talented magician attempts to undermine the rigid social structure of turn-of-the-century Vienna by using his powers to win the love of his upper-class, childhood sweetheart in director Neil Burger's cinematic adaptation of Pulitzer Prize-winning author Steven Millhauser's short story. Though the ill-fated childhood romance between cabinetmaker's son Eisenheim (Edward Norton) and upper-class Sophie von Teschen (Jessica Biel) eventually resulted in the heartbroken young man leaving Austria to explore the world, his dreams of one day reuniting with the beautiful duchess never faded. Upon returning to Vienna 15 years later as a talented and renowned illusionist, Eisenheim's hopes of a reunion seem dashed when he learns that Sophie is currently engaged to the Crown Prince Leopold (Rufus Sewell). As the tensions between the Eisenheim and Leopold elevate, urbane Chief Inspector Uhl (Paul Giamatti) finds his sympathy toward Eisenheim growing, despite his formal obligations to the powerful prince. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide