Brett Ratner Movies

Oscar-winning Hollywood visionary Steven Spielberg teams with reality television pioneer Mark Burnett for an unscripted series in which undiscovered filmmakers compete for the opportunity to win a development deal at DreamWorks -- the production company behind such major box-office hits as Dreamgirls and War of the Worlds. Each week the contestants are provided with the best resources that the film industry has to offer, provided with a limited budget, and given the assignment of completing various types of film projects. After completion, each film is screened in a one-hour episode and critiqued by three judges: director Garry Marshall, actress and screenwriter Carrie Fisher, and a special guest judge, such as Brett Ratner, Michael Bay, and D.J. Caruso. Though the professional critiques allow the contestants an opportunity to gain a better understanding of their strengths and weaknesses as filmmakers, the final outcome of the competition rests in the hands of the viewing audience -- who are given the opportunity to vote for their favorite film each week. The results of the vote are announced during the next week's episode, and the filmmaker(s) behind the feature with the fewest votes are sent home. In the end, the one director left standing is granted a one-million-dollar development deal at DreamWorks, which could allow the filmmaker the opportunity to realize his or her dream of becoming a major Hollywood director. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

An 18-year old rock & roll fan finds her crafty scheme to have a little fun in the sun with her favorite musician thwarted in this romantic teen comedy starring Amanda Bynes and Jamie-Lynn Sigler. Jenny (Bynes) is a wide-eyed teen who has recently been hired to work at a popular tropical resort for the summer. When Jenny learns that handsome rock star Jason (Chris Carmack) will be a guest at the posh resort, her excitement is simply too powerful to contain. Fortunately for Jenny, fate is on her side this summer, and when Jason falls overboard from his cruise ship Jenny reflexively dives in to save him. Upon rafting to the safety of a nearby shore, Jenny convinces the hunky rocker that the pair are castaways on a deserted island paradise. Of course, considering that the luxury resort is just a stone's throw away, this minor deception is a bit of a stretch, but what's a little white lie when the object of her affections is none the wiser? Jenny's brilliant plan for romance is soon complicated, however, when her romantic rival, Alexis (Sigler), washes ashore pretending to be shipwrecked as well. Now, as the pair competes for Jason's affections, Jenny's deception rapidly begins to unravel. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Super Size Me director Morgan Spurlock re-teams with that film's producers Heather Winters and Joe Morley to produce Sara Sackner's documentary concerning the arts education crisis in America. As arts programs continue to disappear at an unprecedented rate across the country, Sackner examines the role that teachers play in ensuring that creativity and education alive and well in the public school curriculum. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Undoubtedly pitched to network executives as "24 Behind Bars," the weekly, hour-long continuing drama Prison Break starred Wentworth Miller as structural engineer Michael Scofield, who when first seen by the audience was somewhat inexplicably in the process of committing a bank robbery -- and then allowing himself to be arrested and convicted. Scofield was sentenced to five years at Fox River Penitentiary, where, by a stunning coincidence, his brother Lincoln Burrows (Dominic Purcell) was spending his last month on Death Row, awaiting execution for the murder of the brother of the U.S. vice president. Convinced that Lincoln was innocent and the victim of a government conspiracy, Scofield had purposely gotten himself incarcerated at Fox River for the express purpose of helping his brother escape -- a task made slightly less formidable by the fact that Scofield had helped design the prison! Our hero's meticulously worked out scheme depended upon the cooperation of several co-conspirators, among them Scofield's likable cellmate Sucre (Amaury Nolasco); well-connected mobster (and fellow prisoner) Abruzzi (Peter Stormare); Charles Westmoreland (Muse Watson), who may or may have not really been the legendary hijacker D.B. Cooper; and sympathetic prison doctor Sara Tancredi (Sarah Wayne Callies), whose dad was the governor of Illinois. Meanwhile, Lincoln's former girlfriend, lawyer Veronica Donovan (Robin Tunney), burned the midnight oil to figure out who would want to frame Lincoln and why; and Lincoln's 15-year-old son LJ (Marshall Allman) desperately tried to make sense of the fact that both his dad and his favorite uncle were now beyond his reach (temporarily, anyway). Others in the cast included Stacey Keach as Warden Pope, Robert Knepper as fearsome white-supremacist convict T-Bag, and Wade Williams as highly suspicious senior correctional officer Bellick. Merrily playing fast and loose with such intangibles as logic and common sense, Prison Break was given a major publicity blitz before its Fox network debut on August 29, 2005. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Filmmaker Nicholas Jarecki offers a celluloid portrait of a cinematic mastermind at work in this documentary shot over an eight month period and following director James Toback through each phase of production of his 2004 thriller When Will I be Loved. From pre-production to final cut, Jarecki follows the existential-minded director through the entire process of making a movie as Toback opens up to the camera to discuss a variety of deeply personal matters and explore just how they have manifested themselves in such films as Love and Money, The Big Bang, and Black and White. Candid interviews with such well-known Toback collaborators as Woody Allen, Robert Towne, Harvey Keitel, Roger Ebert, Brett Ratner, show just how much impact the well-respected filmmaker has had in Hollywood despite his stubborn refusal to fit into the commercialized mold so frequently associated with the showbiz mecca. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

In this caper movie from director Brett Ratner, two brilliant criminals are lured out of retirement...or are they? Max Burdett (Pierce Brosnan) is a master jewel thief who, with the help of his accomplice and lover Lola Cirillo (Salma Hayek), has stolen two of the three Napoleon diamonds, among the most valuable gems on Earth. Stanley Lloyd (Woody Harrelson) is an FBI agent who has been on Burdett's trail for years and is especially eager to bring him to justice after a humiliating incident in which Max swiped one of the Napoleons out from under Stanley's nose. But word has it that Max and Lola have abandoned their lives of crime, and they've taken up residence on an idyllic island in the Bahamas, where they're living the good life on their ill-gotten fortune. Lloyd is not convinced they're out of the game for good, and when he learns that the third Napoleon diamond will be on display aboard a cruise ship headed in Max's direction, Lloyd joins forces with Sophie (Naomie Harris), a Paradise Island police detective, to catch Max and Lola red handed. Henry Moore (Don Cheadle), an expatriate American gangster who also lives on the island, doesn't believe Max has gone straight either and tries to rope him into stealing the jewel for him. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Paid in Full marks the feature debut of director Charles Stone III, who rose to fame after creating Budweiser's "Wassup" commercials. The urban gangster drama is loosely based on the true story of 1980s Harlem drug kingpins AZ, Rich Porter, and Alpo. (This story was also the basis for a documentary, Game Over (Part 1).) Ace (Wood Harris) works at a laundromat, struggling to get by, while his friend Mitch (Mekhi Phifer) lives the high life selling heroin. His sister's boyfriend, Calvin (Kevin Carroll) also sells drugs, and looks down on Ace for struggling to earn a living. Out delivering laundry one day, Ace meets Lulu (Esai Morales), a big time coke dealer, who lives better than anyone Ace has ever known. When Lulu leaves some coke in the pocket of a coat he's having cleaned, Ace returns it to him, and Lulu rewards him for his honesty by letting him keep the drugs. When Calvin gets busted, Ace hesitantly takes his place in the neighborhood, and starts working for Lulu. As the crack business takes off, Ace finds himself making more money than he knows what to do with. Mitch goes to jail for a short time, where another inmate, Rico (rapper Cam'ron in his acting debut), defends him in a fight. By the time Mitch gets out of prison, Ace is running the neighborhood. Ace makes Mitch his right-hand man, and when Rico gets out of jail, he joins the crew. The drugs and money flow, and Ace tries to keep everyone happy, but there are some who want what's his, and will stop at nothing to get it. Paid in Full was shown at the 2002 Urbanworld Film Festival. ~ Josh Ralske, Rovi

A man trying to run away from trouble finds it follows him in unexpected ways in this action-packed vehicle for comic actors Eddie Griffin and Orlando Jones. Daryl Chase (Jones) is a successful investment banker who handles international accounts for a major New York firm. Chase discovers to his surprise that one of his biggest clients, a company from Mexico, is actually a front for a cartel of drug smugglers; Chase realizes too late that he's been framed for money laundering, and is now wanted by the FBI. Chase is soon approached by a CIA agent, who thinks Chase's relationship with the Mexican drug kingpins might prove useful, but when his local contact disappears, Chase has to make his way to Mexico in order to save his skin and hopefully clear his name. Needing a new identity to get out of town and across the border, Chase obtains a stolen passport -- and soon learns the man whose name he's using is in even deeper trouble with the law than himself. With nowhere else to turn, Chase asks streetwise hustler Freddie Tiffany (Griffin) to help him get out of town; Chase will pretend to be Freddie, while Tiffany will pose as a businessman like Chase. However, Chase finds out Tiffany isn't the man he thought he was, and that his sticky situation is even more perilous and fraught with secrets than he imagined. Double Take was inspired by the 1957 drama Across The Bridge, which was in turn based on a novel by Graham Greene; the supporting cast includes Edward Herrmann, Gary Grubbs, Garcelle Beauvais, and Daniel Roebuck. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

In this whimsical romantic comedy that recalls It's a Wonderful Life, Nicolas Cage plays Jack Campbell, a workaholic bachelor who gets to see what his life might have been like had he stayed with his old sweetheart, Kate (Tea Leoni). Thirteen years before, Jack accepted a brokerage internship that marred his relationship with Kate, under the promise that they would only be separated one year. But much later, Jack has become an urban Wall Street exec with no wife or family of his own, and a mysterious proxy (Don Cheadle) offers him the opportunity to step into the life he left behind. After falling asleep in his posh New York apartment, Jack awakens to find himself in bed with his now-wife Kate, daughter Annie (Makenzie Vega), and a new baby, none of which he has ever experienced in his fast-paced single life. After discovering his "real" life has been eliminated, he begrudgingly tries to fit in with his newly appointed life as a family man. The Family Man also stars Saul Rubinek and Jeremy Piven. ~ Jason Clark, Rovi

A low-level criminal and a struggling newsman become unlikely partners in this comedy. Franklin Hatchett (Chris Tucker) is a fast-talking hustler who runs a small time ticket-scalping business. A TV news story by reporter James Russell (Charlie Sheen) brings Franklin's business to the attention of the police, and he finds himself under arrest. While being transported by police bus from one lock-up to another, Franklin is handcuffed to Raymond Villard (Gerard Ismael), a high-level jewel thief from Europe. Villard's henchmen stage a raid in which they explode the vehicle, killing most of the passengers (including two cops), but freeing their partner. Franklin is able to escape but learns that he's now wanted as a cop killer. Hoping to clear his name, Franklin approaches Russell with a deal -- if he'll hide him from the police and help him prove that he had nothing to do with the deadly explosion, he'll give the reporter an exclusive story, which could help Russell boost his sagging career. Money Talks also features Heather Locklear as Russell's fiancée Grace, and Paul Sorvino as Grace's father, who is quite impressed by Franklin's story that he's related to Vic Damone. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi