The Picture Mill Movies
Walt Disney Pictures resurrects one of their time-honored franchises with Race to Witch Mountain, a family-oriented sci-fi adventure that tells the story of two alien visitors (AnnaSophia Robb and Alexander Ludwig) whose search for their spacecraft gets them caught up in an adventure with a cab driver (Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson) and a UFO specialist (Carla Gugino). As the group races toward the mysterious mountain in the Nevada desert that has mystified scientists and paranormal researchers for years, the government, gangsters, and an extraterrestrial bounty hunter attempt to prevent them from reaching their intended destination. Should the two planetary travelers fail in recovering their ship, an alien invasion will be launched against the entire planet. The original 1975 picture Escape to Witch Mountain was followed by the sequel Return From Witch Mountain, as well as a 1995 made-for-TV remake. ~ Jeremy Wheeler, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dwayne Johnson, AnnaSophia Robb, (more)
Two strangers (Cameron Diaz and Ashton Kutcher) find themselves hitched after a wild night of Las Vegas shenanigans in this 20th Century Fox comedy. Jack Fuller (Kutcher) is a single Manhattanite who can never quite commit to a permanent, long-term relationship and repeatedly hears from his lovers that he "isn't serious boyfriend material." Employed by his father (Treat Williams) at a local furniture business, Jack spends his workdays goofing off by watching sporting events behind dad's back. Joy McNally (Diaz) is faring slightly better; a young, polished urbanite, she juggles a demanding job as a trader on the NYSE with a marital engagement to the impressive Mason (Jason Sudeikis), but has modified her entire life and all of her interests to please her intended.
Coincident with Mr. Fuller's decision to fire his son, Mason severs his engagement to Joy; as a result, both Jack and Joy hit the skids at around the same time and decide to cut their losses by heading out to Vegas. The two accidentally bump into one another when a computer mix-up at the hotel puts them in adjoining rooms; though they begin their acquaintanceship by bickering endlessly, they end up spending a long, drunken night on the town together, and when the sun rises and Joy comes to, she discovers that she unwittingly married Jack in the middle of the night. Alas, just when the two are about to call it quits by filing for divorce after the shortest marriage in history, Jack tosses a coin into a Vegas slot machine and hits a three-million-dollar jackpot -- which naturally pits the newlyweds against one another in an attempt to claim the full share of the money. A conservative local judge, R.D. Whopper (Dennis Miller), then adds the final twist by refusing to grant a divorce until Joy and Jack have given married life a fair shake. In time, the marrieds may just discover that this union isn't as far off the mark as they initially thought. Dennis Farina, Queen Latifah, and Zach Galifianakis round out the supporting cast. ~ Jeremy Wheeler, All Movie Guide
Coincident with Mr. Fuller's decision to fire his son, Mason severs his engagement to Joy; as a result, both Jack and Joy hit the skids at around the same time and decide to cut their losses by heading out to Vegas. The two accidentally bump into one another when a computer mix-up at the hotel puts them in adjoining rooms; though they begin their acquaintanceship by bickering endlessly, they end up spending a long, drunken night on the town together, and when the sun rises and Joy comes to, she discovers that she unwittingly married Jack in the middle of the night. Alas, just when the two are about to call it quits by filing for divorce after the shortest marriage in history, Jack tosses a coin into a Vegas slot machine and hits a three-million-dollar jackpot -- which naturally pits the newlyweds against one another in an attempt to claim the full share of the money. A conservative local judge, R.D. Whopper (Dennis Miller), then adds the final twist by refusing to grant a divorce until Joy and Jack have given married life a fair shake. In time, the marrieds may just discover that this union isn't as far off the mark as they initially thought. Dennis Farina, Queen Latifah, and Zach Galifianakis round out the supporting cast. ~ Jeremy Wheeler, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Cameron Diaz, Ashton Kutcher, (more)
A vacationing couple makes a terrifying discovery about the motel room they have just checked into in this thriller scripted by Mark L. Smith and directed by Nimród Antal (Kontroll). Their car broken down and their prospects for finding a tow-truck driver at such a late hour slim to none, David (Luke Wilson) and Amy Fox (Kate Beckinsale) decide to make the best of their situation by resting out the night at a nearby motel. Left with few choices of entertainment for the evening, the pair soon settles down to enjoy one of the low-budget slasher films sitting atop their motel room VCR. Upon realizing that all of the films seem to have been shot in the very same room they currently occupy, David and Amy suddenly become the stars of a particularly sadistic fright flick. As hidden cameras track their every move, the hapless couple attempt to turn the tables on their would-be killer before they meet the same grim fate as the poor souls being butchered on television. Frank Whaley and Ethan Embry co-star in a thriller that's sure to keep leery travelers sticking to the main highway. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kate Beckinsale, Luke Wilson, (more)
An ancient secret threatens to unleash the powers of darkness on a group of modern prep school students when the sole survivor of a cursed bloodline returns to lay claim to the powers denied to him centuries ago in a supernatural teen thriller from director Renny Harlin and screenwriter J.S. Cardone. The story begins in 1692, when five families from the Ipswich Colony of Massachusetts formed a covenant of silence that would forever protect their remarkable powers. One family went too far, though, and as a result of their transgression they were forever banished from the land. Flash forward to the new millennium and the four Sons of Ipswich are now the student elite at the prestigious Spenser Academy. Bound by their sacred ancestry and sworn to silence, these four teens share a secret so remarkable that it has served to protect their families for hundreds of years. The past has a way of coming back when you least expect it though, and when the fifth Son of Ipswich returns seeking to harness the powers denied him in the past, the battle is on to ensure the safety of The Covenant and lay the one descendent who threatens to reveal their secret to rest once and for all. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Steven Strait, Sebastian Stan, (more)
The new night watchman at New York's Museum of Natural History finds that the job comes with more responsibility than he ever dreamed in this wild fantasy comedy directed by Shawn Levy and starring Ben Stiller, Robin Williams, Mickey Rooney, and Dick Van Dyke. Larry Daley (Stiller) is a kind-hearted dreamer who always knew that he was destined for greatness, he just never quite knew how. None of his ideas or inventions has panned out, so with a heavy heart, he takes a regular job as a lowly graveyard-shift security guard at the Museum of Natural History in order to provide a more stable life for himself and his ten-year-old son. His first night on the job, however, he finds that guardianship of the museum is far from stable -- at nightfall, an Egyptian spell brings the artifacts and wax figures to life! With Attila the Hun charging to war through the hallways, the diorama miniatures embroiled in a deadly feud, and a two-ton Tyrannosaurus Rex nagging to play fetch, Larry has half a mind to turn tail and run. On top of cleaning up after two million years of historical chaos every night, he also has to make sure that not a single museum piece leaves the building -- from the bratty Capuchin monkey in the African exhibit, to the life-sized Neanderthal in the prehistoric display -- because if morning light falls on an escaped artifact, it will turn to dust. Larry turns to a wax replica of President Roosevelt (Williams) for a little advice on keeping things in tact, but Teddy seems to think that a man of Larry's greatness needs little help. Larry isn't sure if the former commander in chief is right; this is hardly what he signed up for, but he can't pass up the chance to care for a museum where history really does come to life. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ben Stiller, Carla Gugino, (more)
Japanese horror specialist Takashi Shimizu returns to the mythology that terrified audiences the world over with this terror-inducing sequel to the hit 2004 frightener. When a cursed Tokyo home is burned to the ground, the baneful spirit once confined within its walls is suddenly unleased to terrorize anyone and everyone who crosses its dark path. Original producers Sam Raimi, Rob Tapert, and Taka Ichise return to help Shimizu realize his hair-raising vision with this tale that finds Karen's (Sarah Michelle Gellar) sister, Aubrey (Amber Tamblyn), teaming with spellbound journalist Eason (Edison Chen) to investigate the spectral mystery. Meanwhile, the ghostly grip of Toshio (Oga Tanaka) and Kayako (Takako Fuji) tightens on a Chicago housewife (Jennifer Beals) halfway across the globe. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Amber Tamblyn, Arielle Kebbel, (more)
An aspiring astronaut who was forced to forsake his dream of exploring space in order to save the family farm begins building his own personal rocket as a means of reaching the stars in this quirky rural drama starring Billy Bob Thornton. There once was a time when Charlie Farmer (Thornton) seemed like a shoo-in for NASA's esteemed astronaut training program. An Air Force pilot who held a degree in aerospace engineering, Charlie was well on his way to blasting off when a family crisis grounded his celestial aspirations. Of course, Charlie's feet may be firmly planted on terra firma these days, but his thoughts are constantly ascending into the clouds and beyond. It's been ten long years since the man who would navigate the stars began tending to the family farm, and during that time, Charlie has dedicated every moment of his spare time to building the rocket that will one day launch him into space. Though his devoted wife, Audie (Virginia Madsen), the pair's three children, Sunshine, Stanley, and Shepard, and even his father-in-law, Hal (Bruce Dern), all support Charlie in achieving his lifelong goal of becoming the nation's first independent astronaut, a last-minute hitch on the eve before the big launch unexpectedly stalls Charlie's countdown. It seems that Charlie's quest to obtain a substantial amount of high-grade rocket fuel has attracted the attention of not only the FBI, but the CIA, the FAA, and the United States military as well. Now, as the powers that be attempt to ground Charlie, citing concerns for civilian safety, a media frenzy descends upon the once-quiet farm as the reluctant renegade hero vows to show his children just how far one's courage and willingness to pursue one's own ideals can get a person when one refuses to give up hope. Northfork writing/directing duo Mark and Michael Polish team up to tell the tale of a man considered an oddity by his neighbors, a criminal by the government, and an inspiration by the media and the people. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Billy Bob Thornton, Virginia Madsen, (more)
- 2006
- PG13
- Add Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby to QueueAdd Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby to top of Queue
When America's number one NASCAR speed-demon is issued a direct challenge from a gay, French Formula One racer with a hunger for the top spot and a mean talent for tight-cornering, the race is on to become the number one man in all of NASCAR in a full throttle comedy starring Will Ferrell and directed by Anchorman cohort Adam McKay. Ricky Bobby (Ferrell) is a national hero with a "smokin' hot" trophy wife, pair of borderline-abusively precocious sons, and an endless line of endorsement deals filling his mansion with toys and driveway with sports cars and Hummers. His racing partner and lifelong friend Cal Naughton, Jr. (John C. Reilly), never fails to provide him with a hand on the racetrack, frequently performing their trademark "slingshot" maneuver to shoot Ricky into first place, leaving Cal in second. While the public loves these buddies (popularly known by the meaningless childhood nicknames they find so exceedingly cool: "Shake and Bake"), a wedge comes between the two, as Ricky Bobby's longstanding winning-streak is broken by flamboyand French Formula One driver Jean Girard (Sacha Baron Cohen), robbing Ricky of everything in an instant as the trauma leaves him unable to drive. Ricky's wife takes his fortunes while Cal takes his wife, and now he's back with his mother (Jane Lynch) and long-estranged father (Gary Cole). Things look bad for Ricky, but his father was once a race car driver himself, and now with the help of a training montage, a live cougar, and the courage to drive without his gleaming white Wonder Bread endorsement, Ricky might be ready to face the track again. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Will Ferrell, John C. Reilly, (more)
- 2006
- G
- Add The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause to QueueAdd The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause to top of Queue
Tim Allen returns as a regular guy-turned-Jolly Old Elf in the second sequel to the 1994 hit The Santa Clause. Scott Calvin (Tim Allen), who doubles as Santa Claus, has settled into his home at the North Pole with his new wife, Carol (Elizabeth Mitchell), and is preparing for another Christmas when he receives a visitor -- Jack Frost (Martin Short), the cold-weather sprite who has been sent to help out St. Nick by Mother Nature (Aisha Tyler) and Father Time (Peter Boyle) after making a scene at a meeting of the Council of Legendary Figures. However, while Jack is supposed to acting as an assistant to Santa, he has a habit of making things go haywire, and as it happens this is no mistake -- Jack is hoping that an exasperated Santa will quit his position so Jack can take over and finally have a holiday he can bend to his will. Meanwhile, Scott has invited Carol's parents, Bud (Alan Arkin) and Sylvia (Ann-Margaret), over for a long-promised visit, but since he needs to keep his other identity a secret, he and his elves are forced to go to great lengths to convince them that they're actually in Northern Canada. Wendy Crewson, Judge Reinhold, and Spencer Breslin also reprise their roles from the first two Santa Clause films. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tim Allen, Elizabeth Mitchell, (more)
The war on drugs has been lost, and when a reluctant undercover cop is ordered to spy on those he is closest to, the toll that the mission takes on his sanity is too great to comprehend in director Richard Linklater's rotoscoped take on Philip K. Dick's classic novel. With stratospheric concern over national security prompting paranoid government officials to begin spying on citizens, trust is a luxury and everyone is a suspected criminal until proven otherwise. Bob Arctor (Keanu Reeves) is a narcotics officer who is issued an order to spy on his friends and report back to headquarters. In addition to being a cop, though, Arctor is also an addict. His drug of choice is a ubiquitous street drug called Substance D, a drug known well for producing split personalities in its users. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Keanu Reeves, Robert Downey, Jr., (more)
A child that will steer humankind down the road to hellfire has been born, and as his evil flourishes in a world full of hate, the ominous Biblical prophecies slowly begin falling into place in director John Moore's remake of Richard Donner's 1976 horror classic. Robert (Liev Schreiber) and Katherine Thorn (Julia Stiles) were as loving parents as any young boy could ask for, but as fate would have it, their new son Damien is far from the typical child. Now, as the mysterious boy's growth begins to share frightening parallels with the Biblical passages detailing the rise of the Antichrist, and the lives of all who seek to reveal his true nature are cut gruesomely short, Robert and Katherine are forced to face the horrifying prospect that their child has been sent from Satan to hasten the fall of modern civilization, and that there is little they can do to curb his prophesied path of ultimate destruction. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Julia Stiles, Liev Schreiber, (more)
A couple who live on different sides of the divide of life and death discover just how many boundaries love can cross in this romantic comic fantasy. Elizabeth (Reese Witherspoon) is a hardworking and dedicated medical resident who, after 20 hours on duty, is heading home when she falls asleep at the wheel of her car and is involved in a fatal auto accident. Several weeks later, a man named David (Mark Ruffalo) takes over the lease on Elizabeth's apartment, but he discovers that she hasn't quite vacated the building. Elizabeth's body may be dead, but her spirit is still quite lively, and her ghost is insisting that the apartment is still hers...and that she wants him to move out. David brings in Darryl (Jon Heder), an eccentric man who claims to have psychic powers, to help sweep Elizabeth's spirit out of the apartment, but she refuses to budge, certain that she can't be completely dead, despite all evidence to the contrary. As Elizabeth and David try to share the flat, they discover that their differences aren't as great as they once imagined, and they become attracted to one another. But will Elizabeth's spirit stay in the land of the living long enough for their romance to go somewhere? Just Like Heaven marked Jon Heder's first feature film role after his breakthrough appearance in the independent hit Napoleon Dynamite. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Reese Witherspoon, Mark Ruffalo, (more)
A woman is forced to prove her own sanity to save the life of her daughter in this taut thriller. Kyle Pratt (Jodie Foster) is a successful aircraft designer who has recently been dealing with the traumatic death of her husband. After traveling to Berlin on business with her six-year-old daughter, Julia (Marlene Lawston), Kyle falls asleep on their flight back to New York, only to discover that her daughter has gone missing. While not knowing where Julia has gone is troubling enough, even more disturbing is the insistence by sky marshal Gene Carson (Peter Sarsgaard) and Captain Rich (Sean Bean) that no records indicate that the child ever boarded the jet. As Kyle becomes increasingly desperate to find her daughter, she must prove to the men in charge that her daughter did in fact board the plane with her, and that this turn of events is not a product of her imagination. But if Julia has gone missing, who has taken her and why? Also starring Erika Christensen and Kate Beahan, Flightplan was the first English-language feature from German director Robert Schwentke. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jodie Foster, Peter Sarsgaard, (more)
A middle-aged man finds a callow twentysomething usurping his professional life and worming his way into his family in this alternately funny and poignant comedy drama. Dan Foreman (Dennis Quaid) is a middle-aged man who has spent 20 years as the head of advertising sales for Sports America, a leading athletics magazine. Dan is happily married to Ann (Marg Helgenberger) and has a college-age daughter, Alex (Scarlett Johansson), whom he dotes on, but Dan's comfortable life is given a major shake-up when a large multimedia firm buys the magazine. Seen as a bit long in the tooth to be truly competitive, Dan is demoted to second in command of advertising, and his position is handed over to Carter Duryea (Topher Grace), a 26-year-old who talks a good game about sales but has no practical experience in the field. Dan's wounded ego makes working with the arrogant Carter an uphill battle, but when he learns that Ann is expecting another baby, Dan is in no position to quit. Before long, Dan becomes aware of Carter's intense insecurities about his new job as the younger man reaches out to him for guidance, but this doesn't make Dan any less angry when Carter begins a romance with Alex after his marriage to Kimberley (Selma Blair) crashes and burns. In Good Company marked the solo directorial debut of Paul Weitz; he previously worked in collaboration with his brother Chris Weitz, who serves as producer on this film. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dennis Quaid, Topher Grace, (more)
An unlikely band of scientists and soldiers join forces to save the world from certain destruction in this action-drama. As the world is struck with a variety of inexplicable phenomena -- attacks by enormous swarms of birds in London, the explosion of the Colosseum in Rome, a potentially deadly malfunction which forces the Space Shuttle into a Los Angeles riverbed, and the simultaneous deaths of 32 people with pacemakers in Boston -- a team of top scientific minds from around the globe is assembled to determine what has thrown the world into such a frenzy. Dr. John Keyes (Aaron Eckhart) makes the startling discovery that the Earth's electromagnetic forces have begun to collapse, thanks to a sudden lack of movement of the molten ore at the center of the Earth. If the planet is to be saved, the core of the Earth needs a jump start, and Keyes assembles a team to burrow to the center of the planet and bomb the insides back into action. Joining Keyes on this dangerous, last-chance mission are the brilliant but arrogant Conrad Zimsky (Stanley Tucci), French arms expert Dr. Serge Levesque (Tchéky Karyo, maverick researcher "Brazz" Brazzleton (Delroy Lindo), geeky computer genius Rat (DJ Qualls), and two no-nonsense military types, Commander Richard Iverson (Bruce Greenwood) and Major Rebecca Childs (Hilary Swank). However, as the crew digs deeper into the Earth, the more they discover what they haven't been told about their mission and what's really been causing the worldwide chaos. The Core was originally scheduled for release in the fall of 2002, but the movie didn't reach theaters until the spring of 2003 as special-effects experts perfected the film's more spectacular scenes. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Aaron Eckhart, Hilary Swank, (more)
A thief and a lawman join forces to hunt down a common enemy in this action thriller. Tony Fait (DMX) is a master thief who, along with his crew (Gabrielle Union, Anthony Anderson, and Drag-On), pulls off a major score when they steal a cache of highly valuable black diamonds. However, the hard-as-nails Tony has a soft spot for his young daughter Vanessa (Paige Hurd), and Ling (Mark Dacascos), a former detective turned ruthless criminal, kidnaps Vanessa, demanding a ransom from Tony for her return -- the stash of black diamonds. The jewels have already been stolen, however, from Tony's fence Archie (Tom Arnold), and are now in the hands of a powerful underworld boss (Chi McBride). Determined to get back his daughter whatever the cost, Tony and his gang set out to find both Ling and the diamonds, but he soon gets some invaluable help from an unlikely corner -- Su (Jet Li), a government agent from Taiwan who was once Ling's partner, and has an old score to settle with him. Cradle 2 the Grave also features Kelly Hu and Roxana Brusso. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
This haunted house chiller is the second feature from Dark Castle Entertainment, the mid-budget outfit put together in 1999 to remake the cheesy horror genre pictures of William Castle by his daughter, Terry Castle, and producers Gilbert Adler, Robert Zemeckis, and Joel Silver. Financially ravaged and widowed by a fire that is consuming him with guilt, Arthur Kriticos (Tony Shalhoub) is left to raise two kids on his own: beautiful teenager Kathy (Shannon Elizabeth) and grade school student Bobby (Alec Roberts). Good news suddenly drops into their lives when a lawyer visits and reveals that they have inherited a lavish home from a late uncle, Cyrus (F. Murray Abraham), an eccentric ghost hunter. The Kriticos family moves into the remote house only to discover its odd secret: the dwelling contains a state-of-the-art, elaborate system of moving glass walls that trap spirits inside. Soon the ghosts, which can only be seen through the use of special high-tech spectacles, are loose in the elaborate contraption and are none too thrilled about their predicament. With the exits sealed, the family members try to learn the secret of Uncle Cyrus' bizarre mansion and survive supernatural assaults with the help of sassy housekeeper Maggie (Rah Digga), neurotic psychic Rafkin (Matthew Lillard), and Kalina (Embeth Davidtz), an activist championing the civil rights of ghosts. The eyeglasses through which the spirits can be viewed in Thirteen Ghosts (2001) were part of a ballyhoo gimmick involving pairs of spectacles handed out to audiences for screenings of the 1960 original, which was presented in "Illusion-O." ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tony Shalhoub, Embeth Davidtz, (more)
