Michael Brook

A nihilistic slacker and an outspoken actress-turned-waitress seeking vengeance against her cheating husband find their lives forever changed when he uses his cunning to seduce her and test the loyalty of her best friend's husband. Tre is a hulking giant who uses his brains to seduce Nina, an actress who discovered her husband locking lips with another woman, and moved out of their house on principal. Now, as Nina's more stable friend Kakela watches the affair unfold, she begins to question the loyalty of her own fiancée Gabe. While Tre proposes an experiment that will determine Gabe's loyalty to Kakela once and for all, it may serve as the catalyst that could change the lives of everyone involved. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Former vice president Al Gore shares his concerns on the pressing issue of global warming in this documentary. A long-time environmental activist, Gore first became aware of evidence on global warming in the 1970s, and since leaving public office he has become a passionate advocate for large- and small-scale changes in our laws and lifestyles that could help alleviate this crisis. An Inconvenient Truth records a multi-media presentation hosted by Gore in which he discusses the scientific facts behind global warming, explains how it has already begun to affect our environment, talks about the disastrous consequences if the world's governments and citizens do not act, and shares what each individual can do to help protect the Earth for this and future generations. An Inconvenient Truth was directed by Davis Guggenheim, a veteran documentary filmmaker who also has an extensive background in episodic television. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Filmmaker Chris Payne explores the many factors that played into the ultimate failure of the electric car to catch on with consumers, even as gas prices began to skyrocket, in a thoughtful meditation on the increasingly important role that renewable energy plays in modern society. Introduced as a means of providing an alternative to increasing oil consumption and reducing pollution in 1996, the electric car was all but a forgotten memory only a decade later -- but why? Though interviews with consumer advocacy experts, automotive industry experts, and oil industry heavyweights, Payne paints a though-provoking picture of a culture whose aversion to change and reliance on dwindling resources may be rooted in the financial concerns of a wealthy few, and may also be leading consumers down a troubling path. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

From rescue missions to warfare, helicopters are some of the most versatile vehicles ever built by man. In this documentary from director David Douglas, actor Martin Sheen narrates as viewers follow skilled pilots and their fearless crews on a series of breathtaking missions and receive a crash course in just how one of these fascinating machines is flown. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

A quickly forgotten chapter in United States military history is relived in this harrowing war drama from director Ridley Scott, based on a series of Philadelphia Inquirer articles and subsequent book by reporter Mark Bowden. On October 3rd, 1993, an elite team of more than 100 Delta Force soldiers and Army Rangers, part of a larger United Nations peacekeeping force, are dropped into civil war-torn Mogadishu, Somalia, in an effort to kidnap two of local crime lord Mohamed Farah Aidid's top lieutenants. Among the team: Staff Sgt. Matt Eversmann (Josh Hartnett), Ranger Lt. Col. Danny McKnight (Tom Sizemore), the resourceful Delta Sgt. First Class Jeff Sanderson (William Fichtner), and Ranger Spec. Grimes (Ewan McGregor), a desk-bound clerk getting his first taste of live combat. When two of the mission's Black Hawk helicopters are shot down by enemy forces, the Americans -- committed to recovering every man, dead or alive -- stay in the area too long and are quickly surrounded. The ensuing firefight is a merciless 15-hour ordeal and the longest ground battle involving American soldiers since the Vietnam War. In the end, 70 soldiers are injured and 18 are dead, along with hundreds of Somalians. Black Hawk Down was voted one of the top ten films of the year by the National Board of Review prior to its limited Oscar-qualifying release. On the basis of his work in this film, co-star Eric Bana, a relatively unknown Australian actor playing Delta Sgt. First Class "Hoot" Gibson, won the lead in director Ang Lee's version of The Hulk (2003). ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide

Italian-born documentary filmmaker Giuseppe Asaro directs this tribute to master qawwali singer Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, who died in August 1997. The film demonstrates Nusrat's leading role as an ambassador of world music by including segments of concert footage, from shows for college students in Berkeley, California, to a gathering of Sufis in Pakistan. A Voice from Heaven was screened at the L.A./AFI film festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide

In this bizarre drama that would seem to have "cult item" written all over it, Francis (Aidan Gillen) is a severely introverted young man with a speech impediment who shares a shabby apartment with his bedridden mother, Sal (Susan Tyrrell). Francis has developed certain voyeuristic tendencies which are satisfied through his job in a photo lab, where he helps process other people's snapshots all day. Soon Sal has a new boarder, a massive plumber named Vic (Mark Boone Junior), and Francis notices that a beautiful woman has moved in across the street -- who, to his delight, never draws her curtains. One day, while walking home, Francis sees the woman being attacked by a mugger, and he's able to rescue her. The grateful woman introduces herself as Gloria (Emmanuelle Seigner) and begins flirting with Francis; the evening ends with Francis in Gloria's bed, hardly able to believe his good fortune. However, he can't help watching her from across the street, and when the staunchly vegetarian Gloria is gobbling down some meat, he begins to suspect that not everything is what it seems to be, leading him into a labyrinth of violence and murder. The score was composed by Michael Brook, with contributions from Brian Eno. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Premiering in the dramatic competition at the 1999 Sundance Film Festival, Getting to Know You is director Lisanne Skyler's first narrative feature, following her 1995 Sundance Film Festival documentary No Loans Today. The film takes place in one afternoon at a bus depot where Judith (Welcome to the Dollhouse's Heather Matarazzo) and her brother Wesley wait for the bus. There Judith meets Jimmy (Michael Weston), a kid with a great imagination and nowhere to go. Jimmy tells Judith stories about the lonely people who are sitting at the depot, and his tall tales become flashbacks in the film. As the story progresses, Jimmy and Judith start falling in love and finally reveal the secrets of their own lives: Jimmy's father was a cop who was killed in a simple domestic disturbance call, and Judith lives with her aunt following a spousal argument that put Judith's father in prison and her mother (Bebe Neuwirth) in a mental institution. ~ Arthur Borman, All Movie Guide

Actor Kevin Spacey made his directorial debut with this thriller. Dova (Matt Dillon), Milo (Gary Sinise), and Law (William Fichtner) are three small-time crooks on the run after a botched robbery of a New Orleans warehouse led to a car chase, causing the death of two cops. Needing a place to hide, with Milo seriously injured, they sneak into Dino's Last Chance Bar, a shot-and-a-beer joint located on a side street in a basement. Before long, the bar is surrounded by a squadron of Federal agents and SWAT officers. The three robbers are convinced that the cops are trying to flush them out, but it turns out that they aren't the only crooks in search of a cold beer at Dino's. Smart-suited Guy (Viggo Mortensen) is actually an international dealer in illegal arms that the cops were trailing when they stumbled across the robbery gone wrong. As police negotiator Browning (Joe Mantegna) tries to get the bad guys to come out peacefully, the bar's patrons -- pool shooting Danny (Skeet Ulrich), aging beauty Janet (Faye Dunaway), and boozehound Jack (John Spencer) -- beg for mercy as Dova hatches a scheme that involves killing Guy and all the patrons. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

X the Unknown is a well-crafted imitation of the Quatermass British sci-fi pictures of the 1950s. A group of soldiers on maneuvers in Scotland stumble across a gravel pit which emanates an unusual amount of radiation. Several deaths occur before the radioactive material is mysteriously stolen. Researcher Dr. Adam Royston (Dean Jagger) speculates that the thief is some sort of inhuman monstrosity dwelling at the Earth's core. He points out that past radioactive disturbances have been occurring at 50-year intervals, each followed by sudden deaths and the disappearance of the material. Royston suggests that the unknown monster has been resuscitated by humankind's recent atomic experiments. Sure enough, the monster manifests itself as a huge slab of glowing radioactive mud (laugh now if you must -- you won't laugh when you see it). X the Unknown works well within its limited budget; unfortunately, many TV prints have been truncated, robbing some of the best horrific moments of their full impact. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide