movies

Jay Hernandez stars as Carlos Nunez, a poor but athletically gifted Latino teenager who endures a two-hour bus ride every day from East L.A. to attend the posh, wealthy Pacific Palisades High School in Los Angeles on a football scholarship. A straight-A student, Carlos is focused and driven, but his future is cast in doubt when he becomes the flirtation target of spoiled, self-destructive bad girl Nicole Oakley (Kirsten Dunst), who's the daughter of a prominent congressman (Bruce Davison). When his friends, family, and even Nicole's own father oppose the romance for Carlos' sake, he chooses to ignore their advice and stubbornly pursues his relationship with Nicole, whose feelings grow from simple physical attraction to something much deeper.

L.A. soft-porn writer Carter Webb is frustrated enough, after his actress girlfriend dumps him, to need a serious break. He decides to spend it with his grandmother, who can't really take care of herself and her Detroit suburb house anyway. Helpful Carter soon overcomes mishaps to bond with the foxy neighbor across the street and her daughters. Helping them actually helps him regain perspective and self-confidence.

Kathryn Merteuil and Sebastian Valmont are seductive, manipulative step-siblings who get what they want when they want it. Kathryn makes a bet with Sebastian: Sebastian must bed Annette, daughter of the headmaster at their school, before the end of summer break. Annette has stated that she would wait until love and marriage to sleep with a man. If Kathryn wins, she gets Sebastian's vintage 1959 Jaguar Roadster. If Sebastian wins, he gets Kathryn, the only girl he knows he'll never have. Also in play is Cecile, a naïve girl whose mother had enlisted Kathryn to help her fit in at her new school. However, Kathryn (with Sebastian's help) plans to ruin Cecile's reputation as revenge on Kat's ex-boyfriend, who left her for Cecile.

Smart-but-ineffectual journalist Dan "We use euphemisms!" cannot decide between his girlfriend, loving-but-clingy waitress Alice, or his lover cold-but-intellectual photographer Anna; herself indecisive between Dan and honest-but-thuggish "You're bloody gorgeous!" doctor Larry. The film puts the four leading characters in a box and strips them apart.

Eleven vignettes, all homages to New York City life, are presented. I. Ben (Hayden Christensen), a pickpocket, is attracted to Molly (Rachel Bilson) at first sight, and gets into an interesting "pissing match" with Molly's married lover, New York University professor Garry (Andy Garcia). II. Mansuhkhbai (Irrfan Khan), an orthodox Jain diamond wholesaler, and Rifka (Natalie Portman), an orthodox Jewish diamond retailer who is getting married tomorrow, learn that they have more in common than just diamonds. III. David (Orlando Bloom), a musician and music editor for a video being directed by Abarra, is having problems meeting Abarra's demands while he slowly falls for Abarra's assistant, Camille (Christina Ricci), who he's never met, but has only talked to on the telephone solely about work. IV. A young man believes he's made a powerful connection to a stranger, a young woman, in the simple act of lighting her cigarette, and proceeds to convince her of the same and as such that there is a future for them from that point on, and not at some unspecified time down the road. V. A high school senior, who has been dumped by his girlfriend just before senior prom, is given a gift by his local pharmacist, Mr. Riccoli (James Caan), the senior not understanding the full implication of the gift until the full process of prom night is over. VI. Each on their way to their first official date together after what started out solely as a one night stand, Gus (Bradley Cooper) and Lydia (Drea de Matteo) each contemplate not keeping the date. VII. Isabelle (Julie Christie), a retired opera diva, has returned to a hotel where she's stayed many times and where she has strong memories of encounters with a young bellhop. VIII. Brown-skinned Dante (Carlos Acosta) and white-skinned young adolescent Teya (Taylor Geare) spend time together in a park, most outsiders see a manny and his charge, not realizing the true nature of Dante and Teya's relationship. IX. In questioning why one of her elderly Eastern European customers chose her as the wanted subject for his next painting, a young Chinese herbalist may be inspired to create some art of her own. X. Anna (Robin Wright), who meets Alex (Chris Cooper) by chance on the street each going about their individual business, asks him a question, she having an ulterior motive while expecting a totally different reaction from him contrary to her motive... maybe. XI. Abe (Eli Wallach) and Mitzie (Cloris Leachman) are spending their 63rd Wedding Anniversary together, not always harmoniously. Interspersed between these eleven vignettes are even shorter ones, often tying together to another or to one of the eleven primary ones in some manner.

A pair of naive young girls learn that even the most insignificant actions can have lasting consequences. Influenced by the hip-hop thug lifestyle and seeking to explore life outside of their insulated, culturally homogenized suburb, pretty young teenagers Allison and Emily set their sights on East L.A. to experience the "gangsta" lifestyle firsthand. By the time the pair meet a ruthless Mexican drug dealer named Hector, some true-life Latino gang-bangers, and realize just how far out of their element they really are, it may already be too late to turn back.

Groomed by her overly ambitious mother, Anabelle is on the road to winning the Miss Texas Rose tiara when she dies tragically during a pageant. Her death lands her on the embalming table of Elvis, an embittered young man whose sense of family duty and love for his ailing father keep him from following his dreams. When Anabelle is miraculously resurrected on Elvis' embalming table, the two unexpectedly connect and sparks fly. With the help of each other and Elvis' father, they discover love, freedom and happiness as the real world and their own demons threaten to force them apart.

After causing a loss of almost one billion dollars in his company, the shoe designer Drew Baylor decides to commit suicide. However, in the exact moment of his act of despair, he receives a phone call from his sister telling him that his beloved father had just died in Elizabethtown, and he should bring him back since his mother had problem with the relatives of his father. He travels in an empty red eye flight and meets the attendant Claire Colburn, who changes his view and perspective of life.

An erotic story about a woman, the assistant of an art gallery, who gets involved in an impersonal affair with a man. She barely knows about his life, only about the sex games they play, so the relationship begins to get complicated.

George Monroe (Kevin Kline) is a lonely and sad man. Divorced for ten years, he lives alone on the southern California coast with his pet dog in the same run down shack in which he has lived for twenty-five years, the shack which his father passed down to him. In the intervening years, ostentatious houses have sprung up around him. He's been at the same architectural firm for twenty years in a job he hates, which primarily consists of building scale models. On the day that he is fired from his job, he is diagnosed with an advanced case of terminal cancer, which he chooses not to disclose to his family. In many ways, this day is the happiest of his recent life in that he decides to spend what little time he has left doing what he really wants to do, namely build a house he can call his own to replace the shack. He also wants his rebellious sixteen-year-old son, Sam Monroe (Hayden Christensen), to live with him for the summer, hopefully not only to help in the house construction, but for the two to reconnect as a family. Getting Sam to do any of it will not be an easy task as Sam, who has embarked on some self-destructive behavior, would rather do anything than spend time with his family, which also includes his mother Robin Kimball (Dame Kristin Scott Thomas), her wealthy but emotionally unaffectionate husband Peter Kimball (Jamey Sheridan), and their adolescent children. In Sam, George sees an unhappy person in every aspect of his life, much like George was before that fateful day. What Sam decides to do for the summer may consider Alyssa Beck (Jena Malone), his pretty classmate and George's next door neighbor. Through the process, George also reconnects with Robin, who admits that she's made some pretty bad decisions in her life. He may not want that reconnection to go too far considering his health. Ultimately, George has much to do to complete all he wants before he dies.

The movie is set in the Pacific Northwest; specifically, Washington state. We know this from a glimpse of a license plate, the craftsman architecture of the two houses, and the mature, rich landscapes in between. The setting, like the scrutiny of the four main character's lives, is defined by the narrowness of the camera's field-of view. The one commercial street in town is only seen in the reflection of a store window, a shot of a non-descript auto-yard, or the tunnel of a tree-lined suburban sidewalk. The lush, wooded landscape is understood as an immediate presence in the domestic and professional lives of the characters; a steep hill, railroad tracks, a rushing stream, and a path over an old steel bridge are revisited again and again by the characters in their capacities as lovers, parents and friends.

Pippa Lee feels dislocated when she and her husband Herb move from Manhattan to a retirement community. He's older than she, they have two children who are young adults, and the daughter hardly speaks to Pippa. Pippa tells us about her life, in long flashbacks, starting with her birth to a mom who was a social dynamo and addicted to pills. As a teen, Pippa moves out and lives a hippie life until meeting Herb, who was then married to a young siren. Pippa discloses tragedies and discoveries. In the present, she's sleepwalking at night and talking from time to time with a burned-out case, the 35-year-old son of a neighbor. Can Pippa connect?

The plot revolves around a young married woman whose mundane life takes a turn for the worse when she strikes up a passionate and illicit affair with an oddball discount-store stock boy who thinks he's Holden Caulfield.

Catherine and David, she a doctor, he a professor, are at first glance the perfect couple. Happily married with a talented teenage son, they appear to have the perfect life. But when David misses a flight and his surprise birthday party, Catherine's long simmering suspicions rise to the surface. Suspecting infidelity, she decides to hire an escort to seduce her husband and test his loyalty. Catherine finds herself 'directing' Chloe's encounters with David, and Chloe's end of the bargain is to report back, the descriptions becoming increasingly graphic as the meetings multiply.

An emotionally fragile woman recently released from a mental hospital for self mutilation goes to school to gain secretarial skills to gain employment. She has an alcoholic father and a co-dependent mother who are clueless as to who she really is which a tormented soul who really wants to find something with which she can find success. She is a great secretary and finds a job with a unique, old fashioned, but off center in charge boss with a somewhat sadistic sexual proclivity. She grows and evolves and so does he.

Louanne Johnson is an ex-marine, hired as a teacher in a high-school in a poor area of the city. She has recently separated from her husband. Her friend, also teacher in the school, got the temporary job for her. After a terrible reception from the students, she tries unconventional methods of teaching (using karate, Bob Dylan lyrics etc) to gain the trust of the students.

Veronika, a woman in her mid-twenties, appears to have everything: good looks, good job, and a great life ahead; yet she decides to end her own life. She is unsuccessful and awakens in a mental hospital where she learns that she has only weeks to live. In the hospital she meets people who are only 'insane' because they don't always follow society's rules. With little left to lose, Veronika frees herself to experience relationships and emotions and ultimately discovers what it means to live.

On a flight from Los Angeles to New York, Oliver and Emily make a connection, only to decide that they are poorly suited to be together. Over the next seven years, however, they are reunited time and time again, they go from being acquaintances to close friends to ... lovers?