Richard Martin Movies

Sin City author Frank Miller's sweeping take on the historic Battle of Thermopylae comes to the screen courtesy of Dawn of the Dead director Zack Snyder. Gerard Butler stars as Spartan King Leonidas and Lena Headey plays Queen Gorgo. The massive army of the Persian Empire is sweeping across the globe, crushing every force that dares stand in its path. When a Persian envoy arrives in Sparta offering King Leonidas power over all of Greece if he will only bow to the will of the all powerful Xerxes (Rodrigo Santoro), the strong-willed leader assembles a small army comprised of his empire's best fighters and marches off to battle. Though they have virtually no hope of defeating Xerxes' intimidating battalion, Leonidas' men soldier on, intent on letting it be known they will bow to no man but their king. Meanwhile, back in Sparta, the loyal Queen Gorgo attempts to convince both the skeptical council and the devious Theron (Dominic West) to send more troops despite the fact that many view Leonidas' unsanctioned war march as a serious transgression. As Xerxes' fearsome "immortals" draw near, a few noble Greeks vow to assist the Spartans on the battlefield. When King Leonidas and his 300 Spartan warriors fell to the overwhelming Persian army at the Battle of Thermopylae, the fearless actions of the noble fighters inspired all of Greece to stand up against their Persian enemy and wage the battle that would ultimately give birth to the modern concept of democracy. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

In her first major project following her exit from the daily talk show Live With Regis and Kathie Lee, Kathie Lee Gifford makes a courageous effort to utterly demolish her established "nice lady" image. Spinning Out of Control! stars Gifford as a spoiled, temperamental TV sitcom actress named Amanda Berkeley. As she runs roughshod over her coworkers and fights a losing battle with drug and alcohol addition, Amanda proves to be an exceedingly painful thorn in the side of her faithful press agent Marty (Howie Mandel), who manfully tries to maintain "spin control" with the press and public. Since this film is essentially a comedy, Amanda will eventually experience an epiphany -- but not before accidentally torching her own home. Made for television, Spinning Out of Control! was first broadcast by the E! Entertainment cable channel on March 18, 2001. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In this family canine comedy, a sequel to Air Bud (1997), Josh Framm (Kevin Zegers) finds it a problem when his widowed mother, Jackie (Cynthia Stevenson), starts seeing the community's new veterinarian, Patrick Sullivan (Gregory Harrison). Sullivan gives a football to Josh's golden retriever Buddy, and the athletic animal is soon girding for the gridiron. Coach Fanelli (Robert Costanzo) adds Josh as back-up quarterback to the jr. high team, and an accident takes Josh off the bench and onto the field. Meanwhile, two devious dognappers (Nora Dunn, Perry Anzilotti) see news footage of Buddy playing basketball and make plans to spirit him away to a Russian circus. Four dogs performed the tricks seen here. The character of Air Bud was created by Kevin DiCicco, but Buddy died not long after the first movie. The original basketball-shooting Buddy, a popular half-time attraction prior to the first film, achieved a lifetime total of some 22,000 baskets. ~ Bhob Stewart, Rovi

In this martial arts actioner, a vengeful government agent seeks the gangster who slew his partner. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Tony lives in Ontario, but he has relatives all over the eastern part of the U.S. and Canada. Since he has been earning money by running marijuana from Pittsburgh to Canada, he's been avoiding them, but when his beloved grandfather bids him from his deathbed to take care of his wife, Tony's grandmother, he reluctantly agrees to do so. By now, he has already messed up a delivery for a dealer who is now gunning for him, so when his feisty grandmother proposes suing the American mining company grandpa worked with for causing him to die of black lung disease, he readily agrees to take her to Pittsburgh to file her suit. As they travel, these two angry and distrustful relations bicker and quarrel a lot but also uncover their true value to one another. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi