Deborah Aquila Movies
On New Year's Eve, no one wants to be alone. On this night in 1981, several different groups of young desperate people begin a journey from around New York City to a big party hosted by Monica (Martha Plimpton) and new friend Hillary (Catherine Kellner). As the hours pass and no one shows, Monica begins to unravel. She must bribe Hilary to stay with the promise of a clear shot at Monica's old boyfriend, Eric (Brian McCardie). Eric, at that moment is drinking in a nightclub with his new girlfriend, Bridget (Nicole Parker) and her friend Caitlyn (Angela Featherstone). When Bridget learns the host of the party is Eric's ex-girlfriend, she moves in on the bartender (Ben Affleck). Another group consists of two teenagers from Long Island, Monica's cousin Val (Christina Ricci) and Stephie (Gaby Hoffmann). The two get lost on the way when they run into a pair of punk rockers, Tom (Casey Affleck) and Dave (Guillermo Diaz). In a nearby diner, Lucy (Courtney Love) commiserates with her best friend Kevin (Paul Rudd) who has just been dumped by performance artist Ellie (Janeane Garofalo) so she could move in with her therapist. As they bar hop it slowly dawns upon the two that they could be more than friends. Elsewhere, new acquaintances Jack (Jay Mohr) and Cindy (Kate Hudson) are celebrating more than the new year. Cindy lost her virginity to Jack the night before, though is afraid Jack is with her out of sense of obligation. Now if only everyone can get to the party by midnight. Linking the different stories is the disco cabbie (Dave Chappelle) in whose cab the party never stops. ~ Ron Wells, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ben Affleck, Casey Affleck, (more)
Like its lively predecessor, The Brady Bunch Movie (1995), this mild comic send-up takes its characters and situations from the popular family sitcom of the 1970s, The Brady Bunch. Set in the '90s, it is filled with in-joke references to American pop culture. However, one need not be familiar with the original series in order to enjoy this film. Bad guy Trevor Thomas (Tim Matheson) is posing as supermom Carol Brady's long-dead first husband Roy Martin. He claims to have been amnesiac and made unrecognizable by plastic surgery after suffering disfiguring injuries, but in truth, he is on the hunt for a very valuable artifact, an ancient Chinese horse carving which Roy sent to his family from the field. Because of the family's sheer niceness, they could never imagine such deception, and husband Mike Brady (Gary Cole) welcomes him into their midst. This causes Roy no end of frustration, as not only must he live with this incredibly sweet and cheerful family while he searches for the carving, but he must endure having his ill-tempered sarcastic jibes go completely unrecognized. When Carol (Shelley Long) is kidnapped, the whole family goes a-hunting. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Shelley Long, Gary Cole, (more)
Australian filmmaker Paul Goldman directs the comedy The Night We Called It a Day, based on the actual events during Frank Sinatra's 1974 tour stop in Sydney. Joel Edgerton plays Rod Blue, a long-haired rock promoter in Australia during the '70s. He hopes to save his floundering career by spending all his money booking Frank Sinatra (Dennis Hopper). But when Sinatra arrives with his girlfriend Barbara Marx (Melanie Griffith), he insults the locals by calling reporter Hilary Hunter (Portia de Rossi) "a two-dollar whore." Union leader and future Australian prime minister Bob Hawke (David Field) tries to cancel the tour unless he apologizes, and it's up to Rod and his assistant Audrey (Rose Byrne) to step in and save the tour. Tom Burlinson performs Sinatra's vocal parts. The Night We Called It a Day was shown at the 2003 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dennis Hopper, Melanie Griffith, (more)
Snakes on a Plane director David R. Ellis follows up his high-flying tale of reptilian terror with this horrific frightener concerning a group of college students who discover that their dormitory was once a mental hospital presided over by a sadistic doctor. As the semester gets under way, it begins to appear as if the spirit of the malevolent M.D. has decided to remain in the haunted hallways in order to continue his experiments on the latest crop of students. Written by Ethan Lawrence and starring Sarah Roemer, Mark Rolston, Ellen Hoffman, Travis Van Winkle, Cody Kasch, and Jake Muxworthy, Asylum features state-of-the-art special effects work by Academy Award-winning artist David LeRoy Anderson (Dawn of the Dead [2004], Men in Black, and The Nutty Professor). ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sarah Roemer, Mark Rolston, (more)
Laurence Fishburne and Ellen Barkin star in this complex tale of former C.I.A. agents who now specialize in freelance espionage. As the film opens, Nelson Crowe (Fishburne) is being interviewed for a position with the Grimes Organization, which focuses on industrial espionage. He is hired by Margaret Wells (Barkin), who then takes Crowe to her boss, Grimes (Frank Langella). Grimes and Wells visit a man named Walter Curl (Spalding Gray) to tell him that they can bribe a state judge so that Curl's company doesn't have to pay a $25 million fine for the toxic poisoning of some children. The judge himself (David Ogden Stiers) is deep in gambling debts. Meanwhile, Wells aligns herself with Crowe and tries to convince him that the two of them could do away with Grimes and take over his entire organization. The plot thickens from there, with several surprises. The first-time original screenplay was by famous crime writer Ross Thomas, and the film's elegant cinematography by Jack N. Green captures the coldness of the characters and their surroundings. ~ Don Kaye, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Susan Wooldridge, Ellen Barkin, (more)
Handsome, smooth-talking Al Donnelly (Tim Matheson) has everything going for him. A politician, he is engaged in a heated gubernatorial race with the feisty Governor Tracy (Christine Ebersole), a tough old bird who doesn't hesitate to play hardball with opponents. Unfortunately for her, things are looking good for Donnelly. Fortunately she finds his Achilles' heel with his young brother Mike Donnelly (Saturday Night Live alumnus Chris Farley), a fat slob gym teacher and hopeless imbecile who only wants to win his more successful sibling's respect. Unfortunately all he does is embarrass poor Al to death. In desperation, Al assigns the sardonic and prissy Steve Dodds (David Spade) to keep Mike under constant surveillance. The real trouble begins when Tracy's aids try to frame hapless Mike for arson. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Chris Farley, David Spade, (more)
In this supernatural horror story, Jenna (Angela Bettis), an unstable young woman, gives birth to a girl named Cody who proves to be autistic; unable to care for her properly, she turns Cody over to her sister, psychiatric nurse Maggie O'Connell (Kim Basinger). Maggie raises Cody as her own, but when the child (now played by Holliston Coleman) turns six, Jenna and her new husband Eric (Rufus Sewell) forcibly take back the child. Maggie believes Jenna and Eric are not fit parents, but when she takes the matter up with detective John Travis (Jimmy Smits), they discover that a number of children born on the same day as Cody have also been abducted recently. Even worse, it seems that Cody may now be in the hands of Satanists who, in accordance with Biblical prophecy, believe the little girl may be mankind's last line of defense against ultimate evil. Based on a novel by Cathy Cash Spellman, Bless the Child also stars Christina Ricci and Ian Holm. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kim Basinger, Jimmy Smits, (more)
A man seeking to escape his turbulent family life is dragged kicking and screaming back into his dysfunctional past when his two siblings summon him to a remote cabin to discuss their late father's true fate, and finally call the lies of the past out into the open. When Peter (Patrick Wilson) took a wife and entered into a new career, he assumed his painful past would simply fade away. But old ghosts have a habit of lingering around even when they can't be seen, and as Peter arrives at a run down cabin at the request of his siblings Rick (Neil McDonough) and Norman (Scott Michael Campbell), it quickly becomes apparent that the specters of Peter's past are still very real in his former reality. As Peter's brothers relay the details of their final moments with their recently deceased father, those old familiar mind games come into play once again. Something about their story just doesn't seem right, because the presence of their father still looms heavy in the air around the brothers - stirring up the lingering lies that once protected them from the bitter truth of their lives. The joyful memories are fleeting, gradually giving way to revelations that will serve as the only honest moments these brothers ever shared. No one will leave this cabin until this volatile situation has reached its logical conclusion, and each man has finally ventured into the dark place they have spent their entire lives trying to avoid. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Patrick Wilson
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
- Starring:
- Jennifer Garner, Timothy Olyphant, (more)
A one-time freelance hitman who was just attempting to turn his life around is forced to keep his heart pumping when his vengeful former employers inject him with a lethal poison that will permanently stop his ticker if his pulse sinks beneath an active rate in a non-stop urban action extravaganza starring Jason Statham and Amy Smart. Chev Chelios (Statham) was one of the most skilled assassins in the West Coast crime syndicate. When he hung up his guns in the middle of a job to run off with his new girlfriend Eve (Smart), however, the man who was once the hunter now becomes the hunted. Awakened from his slumber by a telephone call informing him of his precarious situation, Chelios soon discovers that the only way to save Eve from certain death at the hands of his nemesis is to stay two steps ahead of his killers, keep his heart-rate high enough to stay alive, and blast through the streets of Los Angeles in search of an antidote. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jason Statham, Amy Smart, (more)
Before the box office success of Varsity Blues (1999) and the critical acclaim of Election (1999), the MTV cable channel created this raunchy campus comedy, the debut feature from MTV Films, the network's motion picture production banner. Josh Miller (Tom Everett Scott) is a studious and responsible pre-med student entering college as a freshman. His wild, hard-partying roommate Cooper Frederickson (Mark-Paul Gosselaar), on the other hand, is a spoiled rich kid who never studies and spends his time getting drunk and ogling co-eds. Before long, Cooper's fun-filled lifestyle has corrupted Josh, and both are on the verge of flunking out of school. That's when they discover a little-used codicil in the college's charter stating that any student whose roommate commits suicide will automatically receive straight A's. Since their third roommate has moved in with his girlfriend, Josh and Cooper set about recruiting the most depressed, suicidal classmate they can find. The prime candidate: Cliff (Lochlyn Munro), a mentally unbalanced wild man. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tom Everett Scott, Mark-Paul Gosselaar, (more)
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
- Starring:
- Kevin Bacon, Garrett Hedlund, (more)
Goldie Hawn delivers a surprisingly understated performance (allowing the audience to shift their laughter from the usually comic Hawn to the unbelievable storyline) in the unsuccessful thriller Deceived. Hawn plays Adrienne Saunders, a successful art restorer who is married to Jack (John Heard), a devoted husband who is also an expert in the antiques business. Married for six years and parents of a charming 5-year-old daughter Mary (Ashley Peldon), the Saunders appear to have everything going for them. But after a series of odd occurrences that even an idiot would notice, Adrienne finally comes the conclusion that her husband is not the man she thought he was when she married him. After Jack tells Mary that he was in Boston but Adrienne's friend tells her she saw him in New York, the mysterious clues begin piling up and are too numerous to ignore: there's a call from a department store concerning some sexy lingerie that Jack purchased; a friend is found murdered after checking on the authenticity of an Egyptian necklace; and there are indications that Jack was involved with a scheme to steal artifacts from a museum. Adrienne is finally convinced that something is fishy about her husband when he mysteriously dies is an auto wreck, and she discovers that Jack has been using the name of a man who had died 16 years earlier. Adrienne proceeds to polish her magnifying glass and conducts some detective work on her own to find out who her husband really was. This is when the danger really begins. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Goldie Hawn, John Heard, (more)
- 2006
Onetime Six Feet Under regular Michael C. Hall stars in this characteristically kinky, cutting-edge crime series from Showtime, based on a character created by novelist Jeff Lindsay. Hall was cast as Dexter Morgan, a likeable, self-effacing Miami police forensic expert specializing in blood-splatter analysis -- who secretly moonlighted as a serial killer. Early on, Dexter's homicidal tendencies were detected by his adoptive police officer father, Harry (James Remar), who encouraged his son to channel his violent impulses in a positive manner, and also pounded a strict moral code into the boy. As an adult, Dexter vowed to "take out the trash" and continue "honing his craft" by murdering other serial killers, and similar miscreants who would have otherwise slipped through the fingers of justice. Remarkably, Dexter managed to emerge a sympathetic figure via inner monologues wherein he explained his motives and modus operandi, all but encouraging the viewer to cheer him on in his bloody crusade against crime. Such was Dexter's harmless-looking veneer that no one suspected him of being a killer: not his adoptive sister, Debra (Jennifer Carpenter), a Miami cop; nor his emotionally scarred girlfriend, Rita (Julie Benz), who'd only recently escaped an abusive relationship with her ex-husband; nor his police superior Lt. LaGuerta (Lauren Velez). Only his colleague Sgt. Doakes (Erik King) had an inkling that there was something...er...strange about the personable Dexter -- an inkling that earned Doakes Dexter's respect. Dexter began its weekly Showtime run on October 1, 2006. ~ Hal Erickson, 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
- Starring:
- Shia LaBeouf, David Morse, (more)
In this thriller, Ashley Judd plays Elizabeth Parsons, who is convicted of murdering her husband and sentenced to a long stretch in prison. After Elizabeth has spent six years behind bars, it turns out that her husband is still alive: he faked his own death as part of an insurance scam, and Elizabeth is soon released. However, Elizabeth's feelings for her husband can hardly be described as warm, and she wants custody of her son. Elizabeth's parole officer (Tommy Lee Jones) wonders if she might try to make his murder a real thing after all, especially since the law states a person cannot be convicted of the same crime twice. Double Jeopardy was directed by Bruce Beresford, from a screenplay by Douglas S. Cook and David Weisberg. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tommy Lee Jones, Ashley Judd, (more)
Shia LaBeouf and Michelle Monaghan star in Disturbia director D.J. Caruso's race-against-time thriller concerning two strangers thrust together by a mysterious telephone call, and their frantic efforts to discover why they have inexplicably become the nation's most wanted fugitives. Jerry Shaw (LaBeouf) and Rachel Holloman (Monaghan) were complete strangers at the beginning of the day, but that changed the instant a strange woman called to threaten both their lives and the lives of their loved ones. Suddenly forced into a series of increasingly dangerous situations, Jerry and Rachel must now take orders from a woman who's using everyday technology to track and control their every move. As the situation intensifies and the hapless duo are deemed the country's most wanted fugitives, they must work together in order to discover who it was that turned their lives upside down, and what they can do to thwart the criminal mastermind's cunning yet diabolical plan. Billy Bob Thornton, Rosario Dawson, Michael Chiklis, and Anthony Mackie co-star. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Shia LaBeouf, Michelle Monaghan, (more)
A glamorous American woman enters into a spirited battle of wits with her disapproving English mother-in-law in this period romantic comedy. John Whittaker (Ben Barnes) and Larita Huntington (Jessica Biel) married in haste following a whirlwind romance. But reality comes knocking when the couple arrives to visit John's parents and his mother has an allergic reaction to her new daughter-in-law. As the battle of wits between the two women escalates, John and Larita's marriage begins to suffer. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jessica Biel, Ben Barnes, (more)
Eight brave sled dogs search for the master who is looking for a way to rescue them in this adventure drama. An American geologist (Bruce Greenwood) flies to Antarctica to participate in a project at the United States Research Base, where he teams up with arctic guide Jerry Shepard (Paul Walker) and his best friend, Cooper (Jason Biggs). The scientist soon discovers that Shepard also has eight other valuable friends -- a pack of sled dogs he's worked with for years, who have rescued him from a number of tight spots. As the three men explore a frozen mountain region, an unexpected accident coupled with a massive storm front forces them to fly to safety, leaving the dogs behind. Shepard is determined to rescue his canine friends, but he has to wait until the weather will allow him to travel back to the mountain, while the dogs struggle against the elements to survive as they attempt to make their way back home. Eight Below was inspired by a true story involving Japanese researchers exploring the Antarctic in 1957; the story was made into the film Nankyoku Monogatari. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Paul Walker, Bruce Greenwood, (more)
40-Year-Old Virgin star Steve Carell reprises his role as preening newscaster Evan Baxter in this heavenly sequel to the 2003 Jim Carrey comedy hit. Shortly after television anchorman-turned-U.S. congressman Evan Baxter (Carell) relocates his family from Buffalo to Northern Virginia, God (Morgan Freeman) reveals to him that a devastating flood is coming and the planet is about to be cleansed once again. Later, when Baxter accepts the responsibility of building a great ark and his rapidly changing physical appearance begins to draw media attention, his skeptical family attempts to discern if his actions are driven by delusion or divine intervention. John Goodman, Wanda Sykes, Jonah Hill, and Molly Shannon co-star in a divine comedy of truly epic proportions. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Steve Carell, Morgan Freeman, (more)
In this sci-fi/horror scarefest, Dr. William Weir (Sam Neill) is a scientist who has designed a spacecraft called Event Horizon which will explore the outer reaches of space past the planet Neptune; the ship employs a special transport mechanism that, in effect, creates a black hole that the ship can pass through, allowing it to travel tremendous distances in a few seconds. The Event Horizon mysteriously disappears in the midst of a mission with no trace of either the ship or its crew, but it reappears in Neptune's orbit after a seven year absence and it's sending out a distress signal. The spaceship Lewis and Clark, and Dr. Weir, are sent to investigate; the crew -- Captain Miller (Laurence Fishburne), pilot Smith (Sean Pertwee), engineer Justin (Jack Noseworthy), navigator Starck (Joely Richardson), physician D.J. (Jason Isaacs), and emergency technicians Peters (Kathleen Quinlan) and Cooper (Richard T. Jones) -- are already tired and unenthusiastic about this assignment, and somewhat confused by Weir's reports. The crew of the Lewis and Clark are convinced that Weir is not telling them something, and when they discover the Event Horizon, they find that things are not what they seem, and an evil presence has taken over the ship. Incidentally, the term "event horizon" describes the outer boundaries of a black hole. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Laurence Fishburne, Sam Neill, (more)
A group of friends living in suburban Oregon come into contact with a sensual free spirit named Chloe (Alexa Davalos), who changes their outlook on life in the most unexpected of ways in this ensemble drama adapted from the acclaimed novel by author Charles Baxter. As college professor and writer Harry Stevenson (Morgan Freeman) sits quietly in the coffee shop of his tight-knit Oregon community, the local residents all around him all become swept up in the magical mischief of love. Coffee shop owner Bradley (Greg Kinnear) has a bad habit of looking for love in all the wrong places, and his relationship with wife Kathryn (Selma Blair) is a prime example of that penchant. Meanwhile, frazzled real estate agent Diana (Radha Mitchell) becomes ensnared in a taboo affair with a married man (Billy Burke), lovely newcomer Chloe attempts the formidable task of romancing troubled soul Oscar (Toby Hemingway), and Harry's own wife, Esther (Jane Alexander), affectionately tries to get through to her husband as he wrestles with the pain of losing a loved one. Fred Ward, Alexa Davalos, Stana Katic, Toby Hemingway, and Erika Maroszán star in a whimsical tale of intersecting lives inspired by Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream, and directed by Robert Benton (Nobody's Fool, The Human Stain). ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Morgan Freeman, Greg Kinnear, (more)
A woman is forced to prove her own sanity to save the life of her daughter in this taut thriller. Kyle Pratt (Jodie Foster) is a successful aircraft designer who has recently been dealing with the traumatic death of her husband. After traveling to Berlin on business with her six-year-old daughter, Julia (Marlene Lawston), Kyle falls asleep on their flight back to New York, only to discover that her daughter has gone missing. While not knowing where Julia has gone is troubling enough, even more disturbing is the insistence by sky marshal Gene Carson (Peter Sarsgaard) and Captain Rich (Sean Bean) that no records indicate that the child ever boarded the jet. As Kyle becomes increasingly desperate to find her daughter, she must prove to the men in charge that her daughter did in fact board the plane with her, and that this turn of events is not a product of her imagination. But if Julia has gone missing, who has taken her and why? Also starring Erika Christensen and Kate Beahan, Flightplan was the first English-language feature from German director Robert Schwentke. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jodie Foster, Peter Sarsgaard, (more)
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
- Starring:
- Anthony Hopkins, Ryan Gosling, (more)
For his debut feature, John Hoffman wrote and directed this effects-heavy family film based on the story Dogs from Outer Space by Zeke Richardson. Produced by Jim Henson Productions, Good Boy! presents the idea that dogs are actually an intelligent alien species sent to earth thousands of years ago to spy on humans in preparation for a full-scale invasion and takeover. But when the spies stop reporting back to the home planet, Canid 3942 (voiced by Matthew Broderick) is sent to earth to investigate. Once there, Canid 3942 encounters Owen Baker (Liam Aiken), a young boy who runs a dog-walking service. Owen befriends the space-dog, renaming him Hubble. When it becomes obvious that the dogs of earth have forgotten their mission, Hubble enlists the help of Owen to get them all into shape before The Great Dane arrives to inspect. If they fail, all of earth's dogs will be recalled to their home planet of Sirius. With Kevin Nealon and Molly Shannon as Owen's parents, Good Boy! also features the voice talents of Brittany Murphy, Carl Reiner, Megan Mullally, and Donald Faison. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Molly Shannon, Liam Aiken, (more)
