Javier Picayo

Fresh off the success of his award-winning senior thesis film The Underdogs, Tisch School of the Arts graduate Jim Mickle returns with this tale of a mysterious virus that causes mass chaos as it sweeps through a terrified Manhattan neighborhood. It's another sweltering summer day in downtown New York City, and as the residents of 51 Mulberry Street lament their crumbling building, higher rent prices, the rising cost of gas, and the ongoing war in Iraq the heat continues to climb as tempers begin to flare. The city is changing, but it's an unseen transformation that won't be noticed until it has evolved into an unstoppable force. A rat has attacked a passenger on the city subway, and just downtown another unsuspecting victim is bitten by a ravenous rodent. As darkness falls over the city, emergency response teams struggle to contain what appears to be a rapidly-spreading virus that is metamorphosing the helpless denizens into a bizarre new species. The streets are quickly filling with these malevolent new creatures, and as a retired boxer named Clutch awaits the return of his daughter from the battlefields of Iraq, the fearless fighter and seven other evicted tenants from 51 Mulberry Street will be forced to bolt the doors, secure the windows, and take one last stand against the mindless, frenzied masses who will stop at nothing to ensure total assimilation. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Can a wealthy Republican politician find happiness with a chambermaid from the Bronx? One man is about to find out, though he hardly realizes it at first, in this romantic comedy from director Wayne Wang. Marisa Ventura (Jennifer Lopez) is a single mother who is raising her gifted but under-confident son Ty (Tyler Garcia Posey) on her own, with some help from her mother Veronica (Priscilla Lopez), after divorcing her husband. Marisa works as a housekeeper at the exclusive Beresford Hotel in Manhattan, where her boss Paula Burns (Frances Conroy) and chief butler Lionel Bloch (Bob Hoskins) urge Marisa and her best friend and fellow maid Stephanie (Marissa Matrone) to be as efficient and inconspicuous as possible. One day, while cleaning the room of noted socialite Caroline Lane (Natasha Richardson), Stephanie spies a beautiful designer gown and dares Marisa to try it on; against her better judgment, she does, and while all dolled up, she bumps into Christopher Marshall (Ralph Fiennes), a wealthy and well-bred bachelor who is running for the Senate. Immediately charmed, Chris asks Marisa to join him for a walk in Central Park, assuming she's the blue-blooded Caroline. Marisa manages to join Chris for the afternoon, with Ty in tow, and Chris finds himself quite taken with Marisa's beauty and down-to-earth personality, as well as Ty's precocious interest in politics. Chris later calls Caroline's room to set up a lunch date, but soon discovers the stuffy Ms. Lane is not the woman he met before. Marisa is also attracted to Chris, but while her friends encourage her to pursue a romance, Veronica believes her daughter is asking for trouble by trying to win a man so far out of her social strata. The supporting cast also includes Stanley Tucci and Amy Sedaris. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide