Movies Opening 21.12.2007

Rocknroll

Staff member
Administrator
Messages
6,174
View attachment 38420

Charlie Wilson's War

Studio: Universal Pictures
Director: Mike Nichols
Screenwriter: Aaron Sorkin
Starring: Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams, Ned Beatty
Genre: Drama
MPAA Rating: R (for strong language, nudity/sexual content and some drug use)
Official Website: CharlieWilsonsWar.net

Plot Summary: "Charlie Wilson's War" is the true story of how a playboy congressman, a renegade CIA agent and a beautiful Houston socialite joined forces to lead the largest and most successful covert operation in history. Their efforts contributed to the fall of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War, with consequences that reverberate throughout the world today. Oscar® winners Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts and Philip Seymour Hoffman team with Academy Award®-winning director Mike Nichols and screenwriter Aaron Sorkin to bring George Crile's best-selling book to the screen.

Charlie Wilson (Hanks) was a bachelor congressman from Texas who had a habit of showing up in hot tubs with strippers and cocaine. His "Good Time Charlie" exterior, however, masked an extraordinary mind, a deep sense of patriotism and a passion for the underdog, and in the early 1980s the underdog was Afghanistan—which had just been brutally invaded by the Russians.

Charlie's longtime friend and patron and sometime lover was Joanne Herring (Roberts), one of the wealthiest women in Texas and a virulent anti-communist. Believing the American response to the Russian invasion was anemic at best, she prods Charlie into doing more for the Mujahideen (Afghan freedom fighters).

Charlie's partner in this uphill endeavor is CIA Agent Gust Avrakotos (Hoffman), a blue-collar operative in a company of Ivy League blue bloods. Together, the three of them—Charlie, Joanne and Gust—travel the world to form unlikely alliances among the Pakistanis, Israelis, Egyptians, arms dealers, law makers and a belly dancer.

Their success was remarkable. Funding for covert operations against the Soviets went from $5 million to $1 billion annually. The Red Army retreated out of Afghanistan. When asked how a group of peasants was able to deliver such a decisive blow to the army of a superpower, Pakistani President Mohammad Zia ul-Haq responded simply, "Charlie did it."

View attachment 38421

National Treasure: Book of Secrets

Studio: Walt Disney Pictures
Director: Jon Turteltaub
Screenwriter: Cormac Wibberley, Marianne Wibberley, Ted Elliot, Terry Rossio
Starring: Nicolas Cage, Jon Voight, Harvey Keitel, Ed Harris, Diane Kruger, Justin Bartha, Bruce Greenwood, Helen Mirren
Genre: Action, Adventure
MPAA Rating: PG (for some violence and action)
Official Website: NationalTreasure.com

Plot Summary: In this follow up to the box-office hit "National Treasure," treasure hunter Ben Gates (Nicolas Cage) once again sets out on an exhilarating, action-packed new global quest to unearth hidden history and treasures.

When a missing page from the diary of John Wilkes Booth surfaces, Ben's great-great grandfather is suddenly implicated as a key conspirator in Abraham Lincoln's death. Determined to prove his ancestor's innocence, Ben follows an international chain of clues that takes him on a chase from Paris to London and ultimately back to America. This journey leads Ben and his crew not only to surprising revelations – but to the trail of the world's most treasured secrets.

Produced by Jerry Bruckheimer and Jon Turteltaub and directed by Turteltaub, the story reunites the original cast including Diane Kruger, Justin Bartha and Academy Award ®-winner Jon Voight, joined this time by four-time Academy Award®-nominee Ed Harris, Academy Award®-nominee Harvey Keitel, and 2006 Academy Award®-winner Helen Mirren.

View attachment 38422

P.S. I Love You

Studio: Warner Bros. Pictures
Director: Richard LaGravenese
Screenwriter: Richard LaGravenese, Steven Rogers
Starring: Hilary Swank, Gerard Butler, Gina Gershon, Lisa Kudrow, Harry Connick, Jr., Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Kathy Bates, James Marsters
Genre: Drama, Romance
MPAA Rating: PG-13 (for sexual references and brief nudity)
Official Website: PSILoveYoumovie.com

Plot Summary: Holly Kennedy (Hilary Swank) is beautiful, smart, and married to the love of her life—a passionate, funny and impetuous Irishman named Gerry (Gerard Butler). So when Gerry's life is taken by an illness, it takes the life out of Holly. The only one who can help her is the person who is no longer there. Nobody knows Holly better than Gerry. So it's a good thing he planned ahead. Before he died, Gerry wrote Holly a series of letters that will guide her, not only through her grief but in rediscovering herself. The first message arrives on Holly's 30th birthday in the form of a cake and, to her utter shock, a tape recording from Gerry, who proceeds to order her to get out and "celebrate herself." In the weeks and months that follow, more letters from Gerry are delivered in surprising ways, each sending her on a new adventure and each signing off in the same way: P.S. I Love You. Holly's mother (Kathy Bates) and best friends, Sharon (Gina Gershon) and Denise (Lisa Kudrow), begin to worry that Gerry's letters are keeping Holly tied to the past, but, in fact, each letter is pushing her further into a new future. With Gerry's words as her guide, Holly embarks on a touching, exciting and often hilarious journey of rediscovery in a story about marriage, friendship and how a love so strong can turn the finality of death into new beginning for life.

View attachment 38423

Steep

Studio: Sony Pictures Classics
Director: Mark Obenhaus
Screenwriter: Mark Obenhaus
Starring: Bill Briggs, Stefano De Benedetti, Eric Pehota, Glen Plake, Shane McConkey, Seth Morrison, Chris Davenport, Ingrid Backstrom, Andrew McLean
Genre: Documentary
MPAA Rating: PG (for extreme sports action and brief language)
Official Website: Steepfilm.com

Plot Summary: "Steep" is a feature documentary about bold adventure, exquisite athleticism and the pursuit of a perfect moment on skis. It is the story of big mountain skiing, a sport that barely existed 35 years ago.

It started in the 1970s in the mountains above Chamonix, France, where skiers began to attempt ski descents so extreme that they appeared almost suicidal. Men like Anselme Baud and Patrick Vallencant were inspired by the challenge of skiing where no one thought to ski before. Now, two generations later, some of the world's greatest skiers pursue a sport where the prize is not winning, but simply experiencing the exhilaration of skiing and exploring big, wild, remote mountains.

"Steep" features many of the sport's greatest athletes including Bill Briggs, Stefano De Benedetti, Eric Pehota, Glen Plake, Shane McConkey, Seth Morrison, Chris Davenport, Ingrid Backstrom and Andrew McLean.

The man who is often described as the greatest big mountain skier of all, the late Doug Coombs, is the character at the center of STEEP. He died in a skiing accident in La Grave, France, in April, 2006, just days after being filmed for "Steep." His rich life and tragic death reveal the essential question at the heart of big mountain skiing: How does a skier weigh the risks versus the rewards of a sport where the possibility of dying is ever-present?

"Steep" was shot on High Definition and on film in Alaska, Wyoming, Canada, France and Iceland.

View attachment 38424

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

Studio: Paramount Pictures
Director: Tim Burton
Screenwriter: John Logan
Starring: Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Alan Rickman, Timothy Spall, Jamie Campbell Bower, Jayne Wisener, Sacha Baron Cohen
Genre: Musical, Thriller
MPAA Rating: R (for graphic bloody violence)
Official Website: SweeneyToddmovie.com

Plot Summary: Johnny Depp and Tim Burton join forces again in a big-screen adaptation of Stephen Sondheim's award-winning musical thriller "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street." Depp stars in the title role as a man unjustly sent to prison who vows revenge, not only for that cruel punishment, but for the devastating consequences of what happened to his wife and daughter. When he returns to reopen his barber shop, Sweeney Todd becomes the Demon Barber of Fleet Street who "shaved the heads of gentlemen who never thereafter were heard from again." Joining Depp is Helena Bonham Carter as Mrs. Lovett, Sweeney's amorous accomplice, who creates diabolical meat pies. The cast also includes Alan Rickman, who portrays the evil Judge Turpin, who sends Sweeney to prison and Timothy Spall as the Judge's wicked associate Beadle Bamford and Sacha Baron Cohen is a rival barber, the flamboyant Signor Adolfo Pirelli.

View attachment 38425

Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story

Studio: Columbia Pictures (Sony)
Director: Jake Kasdan
Screenwriter: Judd Apatow, Jake Kasdan
Starring: John C. Reilly, Jenna Fischer, Tim Meadows, Kristen Wiig
Genre: Comedy
MPAA Rating: R (for sexual content, graphic nudity, drug use and language)
Official Website: Sony.com/WalkHard

Plot Summary: In Columbia Pictures' new comedy "Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story," co-written and produced by Judd Apatow ("Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby"; "Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy") and co-written, produced, and directed by Jake Kasdan, John C. Reilly stars as the larger-than-life musician and songwriter Dewey Cox.

America loves Cox! But behind the music is the up-and-down-and-up-again story of a musician whose songs would change a nation. On his rock 'n roll spiral, Cox sleeps with 411 women, marries three times, has 22 kids and 14 stepkids, stars in his own 70s TV show, collects friends ranging from Elvis to the Beatles to a chimp, and gets addicted to -- and then kicks -- every drug known to man... but despite it all, Cox grows into a national icon and eventually earns the love of a good woman -- longtime backup singer Darlene (Jenna Fischer).
 
Top