Jason Blumenthal Movies

What happens when an actor moves to L.A. at the tail end of the '80s, only to discover that his job opportunities are slim to none thanks to his overwhelming resemblance to Brad Pitt? The question is answered in the Steven Conrad-penned Columbia Pictures comedy starring, who else, but Brad Pitt. ~ Jeremy Wheeler, All Movie Guide

A single woman opts for artificial insemination after dating for years and failing to find the right guy, only to see the man of her dreams breeze into her life just as she learns she's pregnant. Zoe (Jennifer Lopez) is well aware that her biological clock is ticking, but she just can't find the type of guy she'd want to settle down and start a family with. Eventually, she makes the decision to become a single mother. The very same day that Zoe is artificially inseminated, however, she meets Stan (Alex O'Loughlin), a single charmer whom she thinks would make a great father. While at first Zoe struggles to hide her condition from Stan, before long there's no denying the truth and she decides to spill the beans. Much to her surprise, Stan responds enthusiastically, announcing that he's in it for the long haul. Over the course of the next nine months, Zoe and Stan enter into a whirlwind romance, begin drawing up wedding plans, and mapping out the rest of their lives together. But will their burgeoning relationship collapse under the stress of all this weight, or was it simply meant to be that Zoe and Stan would both find each other at such a crucial turning point in each other's lives? ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

A time capsule containing a cryptic message about the coming apocalypse sends a concerned father on a race to prevent the horrific events from unfolding as predicted in this sci-fi thriller directed by Alex Proyas (Dark City) and starring Nicolas Cage. 1958: As the dedication ceremony for a newly constructed elementary school gets under way, a time capsule containing student drawings of the future is buried on the grounds and scheduled to be unearthed on the school's 50th anniversary. Instead of submitting a drawing, however, one little girl scribbles a series of seemingly random numbers on her paper before it is buried. Fifty years later, the time capsule is unearthed for a new generation of students to examine. Young Caleb Koestler (Chandler Canterbury) is one of those students. The mysterious sequence of numbers falling into his possession, Caleb takes the paper to his father, Professor John Koestler (Cage), for examination. Studying the numbers, Professor Koestler soon discovers that they aren't random at all, but an encoded message containing the precise dates, death tolls, and coordinates of every major disaster since the time capsule was buried. Not only that, but the document also indicates that there will be three more such events, the last of which indicates a doomsday scenario that appears directly tied to Professor Koestler and Caleb. His desperate plea to authorities falling on deaf ears, Professor Koestler realizes that his only hope for preventing more lives from being lost is to take personal action. Though the author of the prophecies is no longer living, Professor Koestler is eventually able to track down her daughter Diana Wayland (Rose Byrne), and granddaughter Abby, who reluctantly agree to aid in the investigation. As the final date on the list draws near, Professor Koestler enters into a frantic race against time to prevent destruction on a global scale, in the process realizing that in order to save millions of lives, he may have to make the ultimate sacrifice. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

The rousing, true-life story of a single dad who went from living on the streets to owning his own brokerage firm is brought to the big screen by superstar Will Smith, appearing for the first time opposite his real-life son Jaden Smith. Set in early-'80s San Francisco, the film charts the hard times and eventual comeback of Chris Gardner, a suddenly single salesman who has custody of his son, but finds that providing for the two of them is a challenge in the increasingly unstable economic climate. He struggles to work his way from unpaid intern at Dean Witter to something more substantial, even as life continues to offer him setbacks. Making his Hollywood debut, Italian director Gabriele Muccino was championed by Will Smith for the project. ~ Michael Hastings, All Movie Guide

Rob Reiner directs Luke Wilson and Kate Hudson in Alex & Emma, a romantic comedy about an author and his secretary. Gangsters will kill Alex (Wilson) in 30 days if he doesn't pay back his gambling debts. The only way he can do that is to finish his new novel. He hires sassy court stenographer Emma (Hudson) to transcribe his dictation. The film intercuts between the two of them writing the story, and the story within the story. Hudson plays three roles in the film, and Wilson plays two. Sophie Marceau and David Paymer round out the cast. The premise is (very) loosely based on a series of events that befell Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoyevsky. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide

A nervous hotel manager has all sorts of monkey business to deal with (actually orangutan business, but you get the idea) in this comedy for the family. Robert Grant (Jason Alexander) is the manager of The Majestic Hotel, a large and highly luxurious five-star facility. Grant is harried, overworked, and wants to take his two sons, Kyle (Eric Lloyd) and Brian (Graham Sack), on a well-deserved vacation, but when the owner of the Majestic, Mrs. Dubrow (Faye Dunnaway), hears that the hotel is being considered for the newly-minted and very prestigious six-star rating by the Le Monde Guide, it falls on Robert to make sure that everything is perfect when the guide's staff arrives. Since the inspectors will arrive unannounced, Robert has to chase after anyone who looks like they could be a VIP, so he finds himself giving the star treatment to new guest Lord Rutledge (Rupert Everett) when he spots Rutledge using a pocket camera to snap pictures in the lobby. However, Rutledge is actually a skilled jewel thief who has come to the Majestic to take advantage of its wealthy clientele, and he's arrived with his pet orangutan, Dunston, who has been trained to be Rutledge's partner in crime. Dunston gets lost in the hotel's air duct system; Kyle finds the friendly ape and discovers he makes a great playmate, which makes things all the more difficult for Robert. Paul Reubens (aka Pee Wee Herman) also appears as a trigger-happy animal control officer. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide