Lloyd Phillips Movies
Clive Owen and Naomi Watts star in Run Lola Run director Tom Tykwer's action thriller concerning an ambitious Interpol agent who targets corruption at the top levels of the world's largest banking institutions. The world's most powerful banks have become hopelessly corrupt, prompting Interpol agent Louis Salinger (Owen) and Manhattan assistant district attorney Eleanor Whitman (Watts) to follow a dangerous money trail from Berlin to Milan to New York and Istanbul. But as determined as Agent Salinger and ADA Whitman are to ensure that justice is served, their targets are equally determined to ensure that war and terror continue to propagate so the powers that be can continue to profit. John Woo, Terence Chang, and Jeff Lurie executive produced the film, which was penned by emerging screenwriter Eric Warren Singer. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Clive Owen, Naomi Watts, (more)
A group of hardened Nazi killers stalk their prey in Nazi-occupied France as a Jewish cinema owner plots to take down top-ranking SS officers during the official premiere of a high-profile German propaganda film. As far as Lt. Aldo Raine (aka Aldo the Apache," Brad Pitt) -- is concerned, the only good Nazi is a dead Nazi. Raine's mission is to strike fear into the heart of Adolf Hitler by brutally murdering as many goose-steppers as possible, or die trying. In order to accomplish that goal, Lt. Raine recruits a ruthless team of cold-blooded killers known as "The Basterds" which includes baseball-bat-wielding Bostonian Sgt. Donnie Donowitz (aka "The Bear Jew," Eli Roth) and steely psychopath Sgt. Hugo Stiglitz (Til Schweiger), among others. When the Basterds' secret rendezvous with turncoat German actress Bridget von Hammersmark (Diane Kruger) goes awry, they learn that the Nazis will be staging the French premiere of "The Nation's Pride," a rousing propaganda film based on the exploits of German hero Fredrick Zoller (Daniel Brühl), at a modest theater owned by Jewish cinephile Shoshanna Dreyfus (Mélanie Laurent), posing as a Gentile after the brutal murder of her family by the ruthless Col. Hans Landa (Christoph Waltz). As the Basterds hatch an explosive plan to take out as many Nazis as possible at the premiere, they remain completely oblivious to the fact that Shoshanna, too, longs to bring the Third Reich to its knees, and that she's willing to sacrifice her beloved theater in the process. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Brad Pitt, Mélanie Laurent, (more)
A horse of a different pattern becomes a spoiler in a high-stakes race in the family-friendly comedy-drama. Nolan Walsh (Bruce Greenwood) is a farmer who once earned his living training racehorses before his wife was killed in an accident while riding, which led him to leave the racing game. Nolan tends to his farm and looks after his daughter Channing (Hayden Panettiere) and a large flock of animals, who speak to one another but not to humans. After a traveling circus passes through town, a zebra pony is left behind; Nolan takes in the animal, intending to return it to the circus, but at Channing's insistence they keep the zebra, naming him Stripes (voiced by Frankie Muniz). Channing loves Stripes, and the zebra is welcomed by the other critters on the farm, including grumpy Shetland pony Tucker (voiced by Dustin Hoffman), slow-moving hound dog Lightning (voiced by Snoop Dogg), a New Jersey-born pelican named Goose (voiced by Joe Pantoliano), skinny-brained rooster Reggie (voiced by Jeff Foxworthy), and deep-thinking goat Franny (voiced by Whoopi Goldberg). Channing discovers that Stripes can outrun nearly any horse around, and Woodzie (M. Emmett Walsh), a local character who has spent years handicapping the ponies, is convinced the zebra would be shoo-in in the Kentucky Open, a prestigious race held at the estate of champion horse breeder Clara Dalrymple (Wendie Malick). Channing believes Stripes can win, but he'll need the help of Nolan, who isn't so sure he's ready to start training again; meanwhile, Stripes gets plenty of advice from the other farm animals about his big step onto the race track. Mandy Moore, David Spade, and Steve Harvey also contribute their voice talents to the picture. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Hayden Panettiere, Bruce Greenwood, (more)
The legendary Mexican hero returns to the screen in this swashbuckling sequel to the 1998 box-office hit The Mask of Zorro. It's 1850, and the people of California, eager to improve their difficult lot in life, have launched a campaign to become part of the United States. Don Alejandro de la Vega (Antonio Banderas) has become aware of a plot by moneyed Europeans to block the campaign for statehood through nefarious means, and it looks as if Alejandro's heroic alter ego, Zorro, may have to return to duty. However, Alejandro's wife, Elena (Catherine Zeta-Jones), has grown weary of his secret life, and she demands that he choose between his family and his clandestine career as a champion of the people. This leads to a rift between Alejandro and Elena, and the couple separates, with Alejandro moving out while Elena continues to care for their son, Joaquin (Adrian Alonso). A few months later, Alejandro finds that Elena is already being wooed by Armand (Rufus Sewell), a suave French nobleman who wants her hand in marriage. However, Alejandro also learns that Armand is actually part of a plot to prevent California from attaining statehood by tampering with an upcoming election; meanwhile, there may be more to Elena's involvement with Armand than romantic courtship. Zorro must come to the rescue of the people of California and perhaps his beloved Elena as well before they both fall into dangerous hands. The Legend of Zorro was directed by Martin Campbell, who performed the same duties on The Mask of Zorro. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Antonio Banderas, Catherine Zeta-Jones, (more)
Martin Campbell directs the romantic adventure Beyond Borders. Angelina Jolie stars as Sarah Jordan, a American living with her wealthy British husband, Henry Bauford (Linus Roache), in London during the early '80s. At a charity benefit, she meets passionate relief worker Nick Callahan (Clive Owen), who chastises the rich people for not helping out the needy in war-torn countries. Sarah is quickly compelled to join his humanitarian cause to fight the famine in Ethopia. She then follows him to Cambodia, where they start up a love affair and Nick gets involved in an arms-smuggling operation before they finally end up in Chechnya. Teri Polo appears as Sarah's international journalist sister, Charlotte. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Angelina Jolie, Clive Owen, (more)
Family differences and personal grudges add drama to an already tense situation as the lives of a team of mountain climbers hang in the balance in this action drama. Peter Garrett (Chris O'Donnell) and his sister Annie (Robin Tunney) are the children of Royce Garrett (Stuart Wilson), an avid outdoorsman and climbing enthusiast who died when an accident left all three hanging from a single rope; Royce ordered Peter to cut him loose to save the lives of his kids, even though he knew it would mean his death. Years later, Peter has given up climbing and become a respected nature photographer, while Annie, who holds Peter responsible for her father's death, is a famous world-class mountain climber who is hired by Elliot Vaughn (Bill Paxton), a self-made billionaire, to help him scale K2, a mountain in the Himalayas that's the second-highest peak in the world. In the midst of the climb, dangerous weather strikes, and Elliot, Annie, and their crew find themselves trapped in a cavern that's been sealed tight by an avalanche. Peter, who is near K2 working on an assignment, quickly organizes a crew of expert climbers to save Annie and the other mountaineers, who must work under a tight deadline before the trapped climbers run out of air. Peter's partners in the rescue include beautiful medic Monique (Izabella Scorupco), radical climbers Cyril (Steve Le Marquand) and Malcolm (Ben Mendelsohn), disciplined Pakistani crewman Kareem (Alexander Siddig), and Montgomery (Scott Glenn), an eccentric outdoorsman who has a score to settle with Elliot. While backgrounds were shot on location in Pakistan, most of the climbing sequences in Vertical Limit were actually filmed on mountain ranges in New Zealand. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Chris O'Donnell, Bill Paxton, (more)
Chase Moore and Arie Verveen are the human stars of this period drama about the extraordinary life and times of a horse. In 1914, a German supply ship is en route to Africa with a cargo of work horses when one of the mares gives birth to a foal. The pony is soon separated from his mother when the ship docks in a mining community, and he has a hard time getting along, but an orphaned boy who works at a stable takes a liking to the little horse and looks after him. When war breaks out, the stable is abandoned and the pony escapes into a nearby desert, where an Oryx antelope and a native girl become his companions and teach him how to survive on his own. Running Free was directed by award-winning Russian filmmaker Sergei Bodrov; it was produced by Jean-Jacques Annaud, who displayed a flair for unusual stories about animals with The Bear. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Chase Moore, Jan Decleir, (more)
Billionaire Charles Morse (Anthony Hopkins) accompanies his much-younger wife Mickey (Elle Macpherson) and a fashion photography team headed by Bob Green (Alec Baldwin) to a remote lodge in Alaska. Charles is a quiet, introspective man, fond of accumulating trivia and other facts in his encyclopedic mind; he is also troubled with the idea that Bob and Mickey may be lovers. Even though he suspects the younger man plans to kill him, Charles goes with Bob and his assistant Stephen (Harold Perrineau) on an airplane trip to find a photogenic friend (Gordon Tootoosis) of the lodge owner (L.Q. Jones), but the plane crashes in a lake, killing the pilot. The crash is miles from their planned path, so they can't expect to be spotted by an aerial search; there's only one chance: they have to walk to a more likely spot.Though Robert and Stephan are more physically fit, Charles' calm wit and ingenuity proves the key to their survival, especially after a ferocious bear brutally kills Stephen. Robert and Charles' odyssey becomes more urgent when they discover that the bear is now stalking them. ~ Bill Warren, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anthony Hopkins, Alec Baldwin, (more)
An intense film about time travel, this sci-fi entry was directed by Terry Gilliam, a member of the comedy troupe Monty Python. The film stars Bruce Willis as James Cole, a prisoner of the state in the year 2035 who can earn parole if he agrees to travel back in time and thwart a devastating plague. The virus has wiped out most of the Earth's population and the remainder live underground because the air is poisonous. Returning to the year 1990, six years before the start of the plague, Cole is soon imprisoned in a psychiatric facility because his warnings sound like mad ravings. There he meets a scientist named Dr. Kathryn Railly (Madeleine Stowe) and Jeffrey Goines (Brad Pitt), the mad son of an eminent virologist (Christopher Plummer). Cole is returned by the authorities to the year 2035, and finally ends up at his intended destination in 1996. He kidnaps Dr. Railly in order to enlist her help in his quest. Cole discovers graffiti by an apparent animal rights group called the Army of the Twelve Monkeys, but as he delves into the mystery, he hears voices, loses his bearings, and doubts his own sanity. He must figure out if Goines, who seems to be a raving lunatic, holds the key to the puzzle. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bruce Willis, Madeleine Stowe, (more)
The owner of an aircraft salvage company (Viggo Mortensen) is reported killed in a crash. However, his wife (Andie MacDowell) knows better, and she decides to find him and his secret bank accounts. She travels around the world, and winding up in Cairo, she meets Liam Neeson, who helps her uncover her husband's smuggling scheme. ~ All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Andie MacDowell, Liam Neeson, (more)
A woman starting a new life in a new land finds that fate has some unpleasant surprises in store in this made-for-TV drama. Ceci is a young woman in her teens who has decided to leave her home in Great Britain and strike out on her own in rugged New Zealand. While Ceci finds fortune in this unfamiliar land, a dark cloud seems to follow her on her journey, as a loveless marriage, unexpected death, and a terrible financial blunder leaves her in worse straits than when she started. Originally produced as a mini-series for British television, Heart of the High Country stars Valerie Gogan, David Letch, and Kenneth Cranham. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Valerie Gogan, Kenneth Cranham, (more)
After wiping out half a village of native South Pacific tribesmen, Captain Bully Hayes (Tommy Lee Jones) is eventually captured, put in prison, and the rest of this swashbuckling action film is told in a series of flashbacks as he remembers the recent past. The lead-in scene may be off-putting, but its larger context is soon revealed. Hayes had just left a young couple, Nate (Michael O'Keefe) and Sophie (Jennie Seagrove) on an island so they could set up housekeeping and follow in the missionary footsteps of an uncle, when the villain Ben Pease (Max Phipps) shows up, kidnaps Sophie and leaves her husband for dead. Pease runs into a German naval officer who feels it would be advantageous to join up with him -- so when Captain Hayes saves Nate and, the two go looking for Sophie, their enemies are formidable villains indeed. Laced with humor and acting in the grand pirate-movie tradition, Nate and Hayes has enough adventure and style to stay entertaining for its 100-minute running time. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tommy Lee Jones, Michael O'Keefe, (more)
- 1982
- PG
Harley Cokliss (second-unit director for The Empire Strikes Back) made his feature-film directing debut in this Mad Max-inspired action film. The story takes place in a post-apocalyptic civilization carrying on after a war for oil has depleted the world's petroleum supplies. An outlaw army under the command of Straker (James Wainwright) controls a gigantic truck used as a weapon of pillage. However, Straker's daughter Corlie (Annie McEnroe) doesn't want to be a part of her father's evil designs. She runs away from her father and takes up with Hunter (Michael Beck), a reclusive biker. With Hunter, Annie settles in a peaceful community led by Rusty (John Ratzenberger). But it is only a matter of time before the Battletruck barrels into town, and the peace of the community is shattered. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael Beck, Annie McEnroe, (more)
