Sab Shimono Movies

California is at the epicenter of a political and environmental disaster that threatens to destroy the world in this ambitious fusion of comedy, drama, dystopian science fiction, and music from writer and director Richard Kelly, his first film after gaining a cult following with Donnie Darko. In the year 2005, a nuclear attack wipes out part of the state of Texas, and three years later America is a virtual police state, with the government taking control of nearly every part of people's lives, supposedly for their own good. A German firm has found a way to generate energy using seawater, but both public and private concerns are desperate to prevent the new technology from being introduced in the gasoline-starved United States. A Marxist underground based on the West Coast is determined to bring down the federal government through violent revolution.

In this midst of this chaos, we follow a number of stories that continually return to three principle characters. Boxer Santaros (Dwayne Johnson, aka The Rock) is an actor famous for his role in action films; he's trying to secure financing for a new project, but reality keeps mirroring the events in his script and he struggles to hold on to his identity following a bout with amnesia. Krysta Now (Sarah Michelle Gellar) is a porn star who is reinventing herself as a television pundit offering her views on politics, contemporary culture, and teenage sex. And Roland Taverner (Seann William Scott) is an L.A. police officer whose identity has mysteriously split in two, and he struggles to track down his other half. Featuring a massive supporting cast which includes Mandy Moore, Miranda Richardson, Wallace Shawn, Jon Lovitz, Kevin Smith, Amy Poehler, and Justin Timberlake, Southland Tales received its world premiere at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival; director Kelly also created an accompanying series of three graphic novels that chart these events and characters prior to this story. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Greg Pak directs Robot Stories, a feature film made up of four separate vignettes set in the near future. In "My Robot Baby," Maria (Tamlyn Tomita) and Roy (James Saito) must take care of a robot baby before they can adopt a real one. In "The Robot Fixer," a car accident puts Wilson in a coma. His mother, Bernice Chin (Wai Ching Ho), tries to connect with him by repairing his old collection of toy robots. Her obsessive quest to find missing robot parts is observed by her daughter Grace (Cindy Cheung). In "Machine Love," a Sprout G9 iPerson (Greg Pak) is introduced to an office environment. In "Clay," sculptor John Lee (Sab Shimono) refuses to get scanned, which would merge his memory with a collective consciousness. He struggles to maintain his humanity against the judgement of his son Tommy (Ron Domingo) and wife Helen (Eisa Davis). ~ Andrea LeVasseur, Rovi

The half-hour animated series Samurai Jack was the full fruition of a dream long held dear by creator Genndy Tartakovsky (Dexter's Laboratory). As Tartakovsky explained to an interviewer from the Sequential Tart online magazine, "I love action and I love action shows, but I've never seen a show that has enough action to satisfy me. I decided I want good action that's choreographed and since I like samurai, I came up with Samurai Jack." He also wanted to create a series that "has comedy, action, and adventure; it's all those things combined! From show to show you will never guess what will happen next." Though inspired by ancient Japanese legends (stylistically, the series resembled a marriage between cutting-edge anime and "classic" Hanna-Barbera), Samurai Jack's backstory originated in the mind of its creator. The hero was the son of a Japanese emperor, whose civilization was destroyed thousands of years ago by the evil, shape-shifting wizard Aku. Suddenly thrust forward centuries into the future, the young emperor's son endeavored to undo the long-range damage perpetrated by Aku -- which included conquering the world and subjugating generations upon generations of luckless mortals. Adopting the name "Jack" (as he'd been designated by a sarcastic passerby in the 21st century), and armed with his father's sacred sword, our hero utilized his finely honed samurai skills in his efforts to save the world from Aku's clutches. In the course of events, both Jack and Aku zig-zagged forward and backward in time...but alas, never far enough backward to nip Aku in the bud before all the chaos started. Per Genndy Tartakovsky's vision, one was never quite certain if Samurai Jack was to be taken deadly seriously, or if the whole thing was a campy put-on. Not only did the scenario veer sharply from comedy to drama and back again, but even the mixed-genre musical score kept viewers happily off balance. Additionally, Tartakovsky's yearning for "enough action" was carried out in the series' lengthy pantomimic passages, in which action rather than dialogue carried the storyline (a rarity in TV animation of the early 21st century). Introduced with three back-to-back episodes on August 10, 2001, Samurai Jack was one of the best -- and best-received -- of the Cartoon Network's "original" offerings. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Edward Herrmann narrates this portrait of architect Frank Lloyd Wright, as directed by renowned documentary filmmaker Ken Burns (Lewis & Clark.) The film is an assemblage of photos, film clips, TV appearances (including a 1957 The Mike Wallace Interview), home movies, and more recent footage. Interviews include Wright biographer Brendan Gill. Shown at the 1998 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, Rovi

Based on the testimony of survivors, this historical drama recounts the WWII heroism of female prisoners of war. (Glenn Close) stars as Adrienne Partiger, a society doyenne who flees Singapore with other expatriate women, mostly the wives of servicemen, when Japanese forces invade in 1942. When their gunboat is sunk in an air attack, the survivors wash ashore on Japanese-held Sumatra. The women are interned in a grim POW camp where punishments for even minor infractions are extreme. With the help of a missionary (Pauline Collins), Partiger corrals the women, including a tough American (Julianna Margulies), an Australian nurse (Cate Blanchett) and a young wife (Jennifer Ehle) into a musical group. Since singing is not allowed, the a cappella chorus dubs itself "a vocal orchestra" and is tolerated -- if barely -- by their Japanese captors. Though living conditions are squalid, food is scarce, and a thin sliver of soap inspires a shower brawl, the music keeps spirits uplifted and a Jewish-German doctor (Frances McDormand) provides some medical aid. Writer-director Bruce Beresford interviewed real-life participants in similar POW musical groups. Some provided, from memory, sheet music of the pieces they performed, which were used in the film. ~ Karl Williams, Rovi

Benton (Eriq La Salle) tries to save the life of a 13-year-old gang member who's already been declared dead, thereby creating even more friction amongst the ER staffers. Meanwhile, "floating" nurse Rhonda (Jill O'Hara) continues to make disastrous mistakes. And on the domestic front, Greene (Anthony Edwards) worries that Lewis (Sherry Stringfield) may be dating Morganstern (William H. Macy), while Carter (Noah Wyle) grows ever closer to Keaton (Glenne Headly). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

A crime fighter created in the 1930s and popularized in movies, pulp novels, and a radio show starring a young Orson Welles, The Shadow came back to life in 1994 in this slick, well-cast production. Alec Baldwin stars as Lamont Cranston, a murderous opium dealer reformed by a Tibetan mystic, who teaches him how to use his keen mental powers to manipulate others. As penance for his past misdeeds, Cranston masquerades as a degenerate New York City playboy by day and secretly plays the heroic Shadow by night, staving off evildoers with a network of agents and a cab-driving sidekick (Peter Boyle). A greater challenge arrives when Cranston must fight Shiwan Khan (John Lone), the final descendent of Genghis Khan, who has received training from the same Tibetan master who instructed Cranston. Shiwan plans to use atomic weapons to take over New York and then the world. At the same time, Cranston meets socialite Margo Lane (Penelope Ann Miller), and, although he's instantly enamored of her, he discovers that her psychic abilities render his secret identity vulnerable. The Shadow was directed by former music video creator Russell Mulcahy, whose feature film debut Highlander (1986) was a cult classic. ~ Karl Williams, Rovi

The heroes of the family adventure comedy 3 Ninjas return in this sequel (though not all of them are played by the same actors). Rocky (Sean Fox), Colt (Max Elliott Slade), and Tum Tum (Evan Bonifant) are three brothers whose Grandfather (Victor Wong) is a ninja master teaching them martial arts skills. The boys' Little League team has a big game coming up, but before they can hit the diamond, they have to help Grandpa return a sacred Ninja dagger to Japan. However, one of Grandpa's longtime enemies, now a wealthy and ruthless businessman, plans to steal the knife, and the boys are sent on a mission to Japan to rescue the valuable weapon. At first the tycoon sends his inept nephew to face off against the young Ninjas, but when that plan fails, Rocky, Colt, and Tum Tum are met by a team of trained warriors, who to their surprise are led by a teenage girl named Miyo (Caroline Junko King). Miyo soon strikes up a friendship with the brothers who are supposed to be her sworn enemies, and with her help they recover the knife and teach her a few things about baseball that come in handy when the big game finally rolls around. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

After Lisa (voice of Yeardley Smith) bemoans the lack of variety in the Simpsons' dining habits, Homer (voice of Dan Castellaneta) warily takes the family out for dinner to Springfield's leading Japanese restaurant, The Happy Sumo. While Homer is initially suspicious of sushi, he discovers he quite likes it once he tastes some, and ends up trying everything on the menu. The last item, however, is a rare variety of blowfish sushi, and the Master Chef (voice of Sab Shimono) is afraid it may have been cut incorrectly -- making it poisonous. Dr. Hibbert (voice of Harry Shearer) informs Homer that he may have only 24 hours to live, and Homer is determined to make the most of his last day, vowing to spend a final bit of quality time with Lisa, Bart (voice of Nancy Cartwright), Marge (voice of Julie Kavner), and Grampa (voice of Castellaneta). One Fish, Two Fish, Blowfish, Blue Fish first aired on January 24, 1991. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi