Paul Butcher Movies

Further cementing 2003 as the year of Ron Shelton cop movies, the director continued his vacation from the sports genre with Hollywood Homicide, a police comedy that comes right on the heels of Shelton's Dark Blue, a decidedly grittier cop thriller. The film stars Harrison Ford and Josh Hartnett as LAPD homicide detectives Joe Gavilan and K.C. Calden, two cops with bigger dreams. Gavilan moonlights as a real estate agent, while Calden teaches yoga and yearns for a career on the big screen. When an entire hip-hop group is murdered on-stage, Gavilan and Calden are called in to handle the case. As their investigation progresses, they begin to suspect that the rappers were offed for attempting to get out of their recording contract with label head Sartain (Isaiah Washington). Along with Bruce Greenwood and Keith David, the supporting cast boasts a plethora of real-life musicians, including Dr. Dre, Gladys Knight, Dwight Yoakam, Master P, and Ronald DeVoe of New Edition and Bell Biv DeVoe. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide

Five students driving through the desert encounter the inescapable stench of death in director David Payne's retro-inspired slasher/monster/supernatural horror hybrid. The highway has been inexplicably closed, forcing five young travelers into a mysteriously abandoned travel oasis where they are soon confronted with disturbing visions of maimed travelers. Disturbed by the grisly series of visions and determined to escape the spooky motel and diner before whatever killed the previous customers returns, the frightened travelers soon meet a frantic stranger who claims to have recently lost his wife to a terrifying entity that seems to hover between life and death. As the night falls, a blind grad student with heightened senses proves the only hope for survival as the body count begins to rise and the smell of death becomes too suffocating to endure. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

A cow learns to walk like a man, both literally and figuratively, in this computer-animated comedy written and directed by Steve Oedekerk, the creator of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius. Ben (voice of Sam Elliott) is a cow who for years has been the leader and sober voice of reason among the animals at a farm where the critters are a bit unusual -- they can walk on two legs, talk, swim, and act like humans, though they have the good sense to avoid doing these things while humans are around. Ben has long dreamed that his son Otis (voice of Kevin James) would someday take over his duties on the farm, but Otis is a carefree and irresponsible type who would rather party with his friends and hang out with his girlfriend, Daisy (voice of Courteney Cox). Ben and his friend Miles (voice of Danny Glover), a wise and patient mule, wonder if Otis will ever make anything of himself, while Dasiy's best friend, Bessy (voice of Wanda Sykes), is convinced she can do better. However, one night Otis decides to do something about an obnoxious kid who enjoys tipping his fellow cows, and for the first time in his life he gets a taste of leadership -- and he likes it. Barnyard also features the voice talents of Andie MacDowell, Maria Bamford, and Maurice LaMarche. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

In this adventure series, a young submarine in training named Olly teams up with his best friend Beth to learn all there is to know about the undersea world. Under the guidance of Diver Doug, Olly and Beth help Special Underwater Research Facility to fend off pirates, and help marine life. ~ Cammila Albertson, All Movie Guide

Upon acquiring a mysterious book in which the number 23 seems to take on powerful cosmic significance, a once-sane man gradually becomes obsessed with the idea that the frequently recurring number may in fact hold a deadly secret in this intense mystery-thriller starring Jim Carrey and Virginia Madsen, and directed by Joel Schumacher. Walter Sparrow (Carrey) is a middle-aged dogcatcher whose wife Agatha (Madsen) has bestowed him with an obscure mystery novel detailing the investigation launched by a tough-talking gumshoe named Fingerling (also Carrey) whose every move seems to be overshadowed by the enigmatic eponymous number. After noting a series of alarming parallels shared between the fictional detective and himself, Walter is quickly drawn in to the story as the hard-boiled private investigator murders raven-wigged moll Fabrizia (also Madsen) and pins the crime on her unsuspecting lover (Danny Huston). Back in the real world, fiction seems to merge with reality as Walter and Agatha's close friend Isaac (also Huston) begins to ingratiate himself ever deeper into the couple's relationship and Walter begins experiencing a gruesome series of visions in which he violently murders an unfaithful Agatha. His mind fast descending into a dark and violent whirlwind of madness, Walter enlists the aid of Agatha and the pair's adolescent son Robin (Logan Lerman) in seeking out the author of the mysterious tome and uncovering the sinister truth behind the so-called "23 enigma." ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide