Cotton Mather Movies

The world's most famous team of astronauts-cum-superheroes returns in the effects-heavy sequel Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer. As the story opens, Sue Storm (aka The Invisible Girl [Jessica Alba]) and Reed Richards (aka Mr. Fantastic [Ioan Gruffudd]) prepare for their upcoming, superhero-studded wedding celebration. But Reed cannot stay focused on the nuptials -- he's distracted by wire reports of a bizarre, comet-like object hurtling toward the Earth with tremendous force, triggering brownouts, blackouts, tropical storms, and various other climatological disasters. When the said object hits the island of Manhattan, destroying much of the city in its wake, its identity becomes resoundingly clear. "It" is actually a "he" -- a psychotic villain known as The Silver Surfer (voice of Larry Fishburne) who intends, for some unascertainable reason, to destroy much of the Earth, just as he obliterated dozens of planets before it. Feeling compelled to rally their old gang and save the day, Sue and Reed summon Ben Grimm (aka The Thing [Michael Chiklis]) and Johnny Storm (aka The Human Torch [Chris Evans]) to take on the Surfer -- and end up battling not only him, but an obnoxious Army general (Andre Braugher) and the cantankerous Victor Von Doom (Julian McMahon), who has broken out of his icy prison that held him captive at the end of the first movie. Tim Story returns to direct this sequel. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi

The mysterious and unexpected death of an iconic Hollywood star may be just the tip of an iceberg of scandal in this showbiz drama based on a true story. George Reeves (played by Ben Affleck) was a journeyman actor who had played a small role in Gone With the Wind and appeared onscreen with the likes of James Cagney, Rita Hayworth, and Marlene Dietrich, but his career was not exactly booming when he was cast as comic-book hero Superman in a 1951 B-movie, Superman and the Mole Men. A year later, the producers of the movie launched a syndicated Superman television series with Reeves returning as "The Man of Steel." The show became a major hit, and Reeves was a star at last. However, on June 16, 1959, to the shock of many, Reeves was found dead of a gunshot wound. Police soon declared Reeves' death a suicide and closed the case, but his mother (Lois Smith) refused to believe her son took his own life, and hired Louis Simo (Adrien Brody), a private detective, to find out the truth about her son's passing. Simo found that many Hollywood insiders did not care to cooperate as he researched the Reeves case, but his digging uncovered plenty of evidence suggesting the actor did not take his own life, and he also revealed one of Reeves' deepest secrets -- while he was engaged to marry a pretty young starlet, Leonore Lemmon (Robin Tunney), Reeves was also carrying on an affair with the beautiful Toni Mannix (Diane Lane), the wife of Eddie Mannix (Bob Hoskins), a powerful and ill-tempered executive at MGM. While the producers of Hollywoodland based their story on factual accounts of the investigation into the death of George Reeves, they were denied permission to use the Superman logo and the familiar introduction to the Adventures of Superman television show by the respective copyright holders. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

In a 1950s-era alternate universe where domesticated zombies play a functional role in society by delivering the milk, carrying the mail, and even helping out with household chores, one boy is about to find out just how big of a personal responsibility "pet" ownership truly is. When the Earth passed through a cloud of space dust and the dead arose from their graves to devour the flesh of the living, it first seemed that all hope for humanity was lost. Society's rapid slide into chaos, however, was soon halted when scientists at a company called ZomCom created a special collar that turned the rampaging animated corpses docile. Now, thanks to ZomCom, everything is under control -- or is it? Timmy Robinson (K'Sun Ray) isn't quite convinced. Quiet and withdrawn, the skeptical young boy spends so much time locked away in his room that he's almost become invisible around the household. His mother Helen (Carrie-Anne Moss) has recently purchased a zombie to help keep things tidy around the house though, and when the creature attempts to engage the curious youngster in a game of catch, a friendship is forged between boy and zombie that finds the amiable gut-muncher nicknamed Fido (Billy Connolly) practically becoming a part of the family. Things take a turn for the worse however, when Fido's collar malfunctions and Timmy's neighbors begin dying in droves. When ZomCom's top zombie control specialist Mr. Bottoms (Henry Czerny) moves in across the street from Timmy, the increasingly complicated situation threatens to place a serious stumbling block in the path of human-zombie relations. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Marking their first theatrical-release feature since 1995's It Takes Two, the Olsen twins bring their adventures back to the big screen with New York Minute. Billed as a sort of Ferris Bueller's Day Off for tweens, the plot involves the escapades of two enterprising Long Island girls, Roxy (Mary-Kate Olsen) and Jane (Ashley Olsen), as they decide to dupe their parents and spend a day on the island of Manhattan. It seems the high-minded Jane has a speech to give to a scholarship committee, while the punky Roxy wants to meet her favorite rock band. When Jane's planner gets swiped, however, the girls find themselves embroiled in a political scandal involving a high-powered senator (Andrea Martin), as their high school's truant officer (Eugene Levy) doggedly pursues them. ~ Michael Hastings, Rovi

This remake of the classic 1975 science fiction film follows the same basic story line but focuses far more on the sports action of the fictional game at its center. Chris Klein stars as all-American athlete Jonathan Cross, the most popular player of "Rollerball," a violent 21st century sport mixing elements of basketball, hockey, roller derby, and extreme sports, along with the development of live wagering that tracks each game's action. Along with his friends and teammates Marcus (L.L. Cool J) and Aurora (Rebecca Romijn-Stamos), Jonathan is living the life of a media celebrity and millionaire, enjoying the adoration of fans and all of the perks that his fame brings. When the creator of Rollerball, Alexi Petrovich (Jean Reno), realizes that the sport's ratings spike during the on-court accidents that are de rigueur for the game, he schemes to create the bloody incidents that are popular with viewers but put the athletes in mortal jeopardy. Soon, Jonathan and his friends find themselves pawns in a vast corporate conspiracy in which their lives are far less important than profits. Rollerball (2002) also stars pop singer Pink in her acting debut. ~ Karl Williams, Rovi

A single mother and her difficult son find family life isn't necessarily all it's cracked up to be in this drama adapted from writer and professor Tobias Wolff's 1989 memoir of the same name. Nomadic, flaky Caroline (Ellen Barkin) just wants to settle down in one place, find a decent guy, and provide a better home for her handful of a son, Toby (Leonardo DiCaprio). When she moves to Seattle and meets the respectful, respectable Dwight Hansen (Robert DeNiro), she thinks she's got it made. Toby, however, feels differently after spending a few months with Dwight and his children and away from Caroline. The boy's stepfather-to-be seems to want to mold Toby into a better person, but to do so he emotionally, verbally, and physically abuses the kid. The marriage proceeds, and soon Caroline, too, recognizes Dwight's need to dominate everyone around him. She sticks with it, though, convinced it's the best thing for her son, and several years of dysfunction ensue. During this time, Tobias befriends another misfit, the possibly homosexual young Jonah (Arthur Gayle), while continuing to chafe under the yoke of his repressive stepfather. This Boy's Life provided the first lead role for future superstar DiCaprio. The film was written by Robert Getchell, who also penned such mother/son fare as Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore and The Client. ~ Brian J. Dillard, Rovi