Jake Eberts Movies

When a high-profile hip-hop star is denied membership into an exclusive country club in the Hamptons, he comes up with a cunning plan to subvert the questionable ruling in this comedy of manners starring OutKast's Antwan Andre Patton. By purchasing property directly adjacent to the 18th hole, popular rapper C-Note (Patton) is subsequently granted membership into the haughty club by default. As the curmudgeonly club members make it their mission in life to get him kicked out, the clever rapper infuses the stodgy old club with new life. Andy Milonakis, Jeffrey Jones, and Faizon Love co-star. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Filmmaker Michael Davie explores the transformative power of music in this documentary concerning an incarcerated South African felon who's hardened façade slowly begins to soften after he joins the prison choir. Jabulani Shabangu is an inmate at Leeuwkop Prison - South Africa's largest penitentiary. Though the angry Shabangu preferred isolation during his early days at Leeuwkop, his outlook seemed to change once he began singing in the prison choir. Organized by kindly former bank robber Coleman Mgododlo, the choir provides the prisoners with a confidence-boosting sense of brotherhood that helps them to endure the hard times behind bars while preparing to venture back into the outside world. As the annual inner-prison choir competition draws near, Shabangu and the rest of the singers at Leeuwkop prepare to sing their hearts out and make Mgododlo proud. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Directed by filmmaker Louis Schwartzberg, America's Heart and Soul traverses across thousands of miles of American soil in an effort to showcase not just the beauty of the land, but the very soul of the United States -- its people. Exploring groups from American Indians to generation-spanning farming families, Schwartzberg endeavors to capture the stories of an extremely diverse population in hopes of displaying their common American dreams and values. Billed as a celebration of the country as told by its people, the documentary also includes the stories of several steel workers, car-show attendees, religious figures, and over 20 other unique individuals. ~ Tracie Cooper, All Movie Guide

Directed by Jon Long, this 45-minute IMAX production travels across the globe not only in an attempt to instill a proper sense of awe, but also to encourage the preservation of the environment as a whole. Among the locations highlighted are the mountains of Vancouver, New Zealand's white sand beaches, the deserts of Namibia, the canyons of Arizona and Utah, and the Alaskan wilderness. In addition to the landscapes, animals and people indigenous to the areas are highlighted in an effort to showcase the ecological and biological diversity of the planet. ~ Tracie Cooper, All Movie Guide

Kevin Costner stars in and directs the Western Open Range. Robert Duvall stars as Boss Spearman, a rugged old-timer who free-grazes cattle. He and Charley Waite (Costner) have been partners for ten years. As the film opens in the 1880s, the pair and their employees -- the beefy, rugged, likable Mose (Abraham Benrubi) and the impetuous Mexican teenager Buttons (Diego Luna) -- are driving cattle across the West. Mose is attacked and thrown in jail during a visit to a town. The local cattle rancher Baxter (Michael Gambon) wants the free grazers off his land and warns Charley and Boss when they retrieve Mose that they have until the next day to be out of the area. Boss decides to fight back, especially after Baxter's men do harm to the foursome. Charley confesses his past as a killer during the Civil War and strikes up a tentative romance with Sue Barlow -- the sister of the town doctor. The film's centerpiece is an extended gunfight between the duo (with some assistance from sympathetic townsfolk) and Baxter's hired gunmen. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide

Robert Redford directed this adaptation of a novel by Steven Pressfield that uses golf as a metaphor for one man's spiritual and philosophical journeys. Rannulph Junuh (Matt Damon) was a gifted amateur golfer from Savannah, GA, until traumatic experiences during World War I shattered his confidence and sent him into a spiral of alcoholism. In 1931, Adele Invergordon (Charlize Theron), a beautiful heiress who once loved Junuh, inherits a spectacular but financially ailing golf course after the suicide of her father. To attract customers, she proposed a high-stakes match between the two most famous golfers of the day, Bobby Jones (Joel Gretsch) and Walter Hagen (Bruce McGill). Local businessmen sponsoring the match insist that a local golfer be added to the card, and Junuh is drafted for the position, but it soon becomes obvious that his game is just a shadow of its former glory. When things seem hopeless, a mysterious gentleman named Bagger Vance (Will Smith) volunteers to serve as Junuh's caddy and coach, using a mixture of ancient wisdom and past-life knowledge to help Junah "remember" the swing he's lost. Jack Lemmon narrates the story, and J. Michael Moncrief plays Lemmon's character as a boy. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Archibald Belaney was a British man who grew up fascinated with Native American culture -- so much so that in the early 1900s he left the United Kingdom for Canada, where he reinvented himself as Archie Grey Owl and lived in the wild as a North American Indian trapper. He eventually became an environmental activist after renouncing trapping and hunting. Grey Owl is based on Belaney's true story, starring Pierce Brosnan in the title role. In 1934, Archie was living a largely solitary life when he met a young woman named Anahareo (Annie Galipeau), an Ojibway Indian nicknamed Pony. Pony is fascinated by Archie, largely because she wants to know about her people's heritage. Her father, Jim (Graham Greene), is a businessman who wears a suit to work and has little concern for his history; in Archie, Pony sees a link to her past that she can't find in her family. Archie has little use for Pony at first, but in time the two begin to bond, and it's Pony who convinces Archie to give up trapping and work to protect animals. She also encourages Archie to write a book about wilderness life in Canada. The book becomes a huge success and makes Archie something of a celebrity, but with recognition come nagging questions about Archie's true heritage. (In reality, Archie Grey Owl's true idenity did not become public knowledge until after his death.) ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Former Monty Python members Terry Jones, Eric Idle, John Cleese, and Michael Palin were reunited by director Jones for this live-action adaptation of the 1908 children's fantasy classic by Kenneth Grahame (1859-1932). The actors have only slight physical changes to suggest animal characteristics, plus tails protruding from their Edwardian-style costumes. In pre-WW I England, fascist Weasels prowl the countryside, forcing modest Mole (Steve Coogan) from his underground home after the Weasels acquire the meadow from wealthy, waddling Mr. Toad (Jones). Toad's inheritance is leaking away because of his fascination with the recently invented motorcar. After Mole takes shelter with refined Rat (Idle), the two set out for Toad's cavernous mansion. Toad crashes into another vehicle, but unfortunately, his attorney (Cleese) has nothing nice to say in Toad's defense. Toad's behavior in court prompts the judge (Stephen Fry) to give him a century-long jail sentence. Rat and Mole plan to spring Toad with the help of the hibernating Badger (Nicol Williamson), but Toad simultaneously puts his own escape plan into motion. Back at Toad Hall, the Weasels construct a dog-food factory and intend to destroy the main house by blowing it up-so the threatened animals make plans to retake Toad Hall.

Crew members who worked on past Python films include James Acheson (production/costume design) and John Du Prez (original music and songs). Lawrence Van Gelder (New York Times) reviewed, "The Wind in the Willows, brimming with verbal and visual wit and imagination, driven by high adventure, reveling in English eccentricity, enlivened by bursts of song, unafraid of ideas and filled with color and splendid performances, exposes most other movies intended to attract children as out-and-out pap." This film should not be confused with the 1996 animated adaptation which also has Michael Palin in the cast. Filmed at Burnham Beeches (in Buckinghamshire, England). Other earlier versions: the second half of Disney's animated The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad (1949); live-action by the Minneapolis Children's Theatre (1983); stop-motion animation for British TV (1983); 1982 stop-motion animation by John Semper (Spider-Man); and Rankin-Bass animation for U.S. TV (1987). ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide

Master animator Richard Williams (best known for his work on Who Framed Roger Rabbit?) created this visually dazzling full-length cartoon. Tack (voice of Matthew Broderick) is a shy and humble cobbler in love with the beautiful Princess Yum Yum (voice of Jennifer Beals). Tack gets his chance to impress the Princess when he's pressed into service to help defeat a wicked sorcerer, Zigzag (voice of Vincent Price); Tack also runs afoul of a charming but duplicitous thief (voice of Jonathan Winters). Arabian Knight (also shown as The Thief and the Cobbler) was reportedly long in production and held back from release for a time because the distributors were afraid that many Americans would not be inclined to see a family film set in the Middle East in the wake of the Gulf War; by the time it finally opened, two members of the voice cast, Vincent Price and Donald Pleasence, had passed on. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

The huge success of the video games featuring animated Italian plumbers the Mario Brothers led to this $42 million live action movie. The two brothers (Bob Hoskins and John Leguizamo) live in Manhattan and are chasing Princess Daisy (Samantha Mathis), who wears a necklace made from a meteor fragment. Its powers can free a race of reptilian creatures from the city's sewers. The villainous ruler of the creatures, who are descendants of dinosaurs, is King Koopa (Dennis Hopper). Koopa has kidnapped Daisy and taken her to the underworld of Dinohattan, which is rat-infested and strewn with garbage. The Mario Brothers must overcome many obstacles, just as they do in video games, to free the princess. The film spares no expense with its use of animatronic monsters and high-tech special effects. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide

In this drama, a wealthy American doctor learns some important lessons about life in one of the poorest cities on Earth. Max Lowe (Patrick Swayze) is a Houston surgeon who has grown weary of the bureaucracy of American medicine. When he loses a patient on the operating table, Max impulsively decides to leave America and travel to India in the hope of "finding himself." Not long after he arrives in Calcutta, Max is attacked by a group of thugs and left without money or a passport. However, a man named Hasari (Om Puri) comes to Max's rescue. Hasari had left his farming community to come to the city, only to be overwhelmed by its dirt, crime, and overcrowding. Despite their poverty, Hasari and his family take Max in and bring him to a medical clinic in the City of Joy, one of the poorest slums in the city. The clinic is run by Joan Bethel (Pauline Collins), an Irish-American nun who urges Max to use his skills to help the people of Calcutta who so desperately need it. Max signs on, and he finds that the experience changes his life. City of Joy was based on a novel by Dominique Lapierre. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

A historical drama about the relationship between a Civil War soldier and a band of Sioux Indians, Kevin Costner's directorial debut was also a surprisingly popular hit, considering its length, period setting, and often somber tone. The film opens on a particularly dark note, as melancholy Union lieutenant John W. Dunbar attempts to kill himself on a suicide mission, but instead becomes an unintentional hero. His actions lead to his reassignment to a remote post in remote South Dakota, where he encounters the Sioux. Attracted by the natural simplicity of their lifestyle, he chooses to leave his former life behind to join them, taking on the name Dances with Wolves. Soon, Dances with Wolves has become a welcome member of the tribe and fallen in love with a white woman who has been raised amongst the tribe. His peaceful existence is threatened, however, when Union soldiers arrive with designs on the Sioux land. Some detractors have criticized the film's depiction of the tribes as simplistic; such objections did not dissuade audiences or the Hollywood establishment, however, which awarded the film seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide

Texasville is Peter Bogdanovich's much-delayed sequel to The Last Picture Show. Adapted from Larry McMurtry's novel and told as a series of episodes, Texasville follows the characters from The Last Picture Show as they reunite in a small Texas town nearly 30 years after the end of the last movie, and face a number of adult problems, as well as confronting lingering emotions and memories from adolescence. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Movie Guide