With no fewer than eight couples vying for our attention, Love Actually is like the Boston Marathon of romantic comedies, and everybody wins. Having mastered the genre as the writer of Four Weddings and a Funeral, Notting Hill, and Bridget Jones's Diary, it appears that first-time director Richard Curtis is just like his screenplays: He just wants to be loved, and he'll go to absurdly appealing lengths to win our affection.
The year is 2058. With Earth's resources dwindling, human survival depends on the Robinson Family - launched into space to colonize "Alpha Prime," the only other inhabitable planet in the galaxy. But when a stowaway sabotages the mission, the Robinsons find themselves hurtling through uncharted space and non-stop adventure! Packed with more than 750 dazzling visual effects, this $70 million adventure does more than give the 1965-68 TV series a state-of-the-art face-lift.
Sam and his older brother Michael are all American teens with all American interests. But after they move with their mother to peaceful Santa Carla, California, things mysteriously begin to change. Michael's not himself lately. And Mom's not going to like what he's turning into. The Lost Boys reshapes vampire tradition, deftly mixing heart pounding terror, rib tickling laughs and a body gyrating rock soundtrack.
Recovering from the box-office disappointment of The Cable Guy, Jim Carrey gave his fans what they wanted in this good-natured and frequently hilarious 1997 comedy. In a vehicle tailor-made for his verbal and physical antics, Carrey plays a lawyer whose penchant for prevarication is tested when his son makes a birthday wish that his father would tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth for 24 hours, so help him God!
The winning comic finesse of Reese Witherspoon drives Legally Blonde 2: Red White and Blonde. It's astonishing that the sequel could possibly be daffier than the first movie, but Legally Blonde 2 leaves reality behind like an unflattering outfit. Unemployed lawyer Elle Woods (Witherspoon) sets off to our nation's capitol to ban cosmetics testing on animals, after discovering that her beloved chihuahua's own mother is being used as a test subject.
Like The Passion of the Christ, Luther is the story of a spiritual leader, German monk Martin Luther (Joseph Fiennes), in opposition to the religious orthodoxy of the time (in his case, the 1600s). His goal--to bring God to the people and to take money, fear, and shame out of the equation--made him a reformer to some, a heretic to others. Released around the same time as Mel Gibson's blockbuster, it failed to attract the same degree of attention--or controversy. Granted, it's a different film, but not radically so.
Professor Van Helsing and Dracula meet again in this kung fu horror spectacular set in the village of Ping Kuei. After learning about the Seven Golden Vampires of the village, Hsi Ching, Vanessa Beren and Mai Kwei offer to guide Van Helsing and his son to Ping Kuei to free it from the curse of Count Dracula. Throughout their journey, the party encounters several unwanted attackers until they arrive at the golden vampires' derelict temple, inhabited by Count Dracula.
Chinese folklore hero Wong Fei Hong (Chan) discovers a smuggling ring, orchestrated by the British Government, to transport valuable Chinese artifacts out of the country. Hong must use his unique style of martial arts, "Drunken Boxing," to fight the conspirators and salvage the Chinese treasures before it's too late. The more Hong drinks the more agile he becomes and is able to fend off numerous attacks and perform incredible stunts. Aided by his hilarious stepmother and friends, Hong faces the challenge of protecting valuable Chinese history and saving his family honor.
Mr. Bean meets Mr. Bond in Johnny English, a spy spoof that skewers the genre with Rowan Atkinson's trademark brand of veddy-British slapstick. It's a bit half-baked as a wannabe franchise, but Atkinson's creation of a new screen persona is just promising enough to warrant a sequel, despite critics' complaints that Austin Powers had already exhausted the spy-spoof's potential. Poppycock!
The life of rock and roll legend Ritchie Valens bursts across the screen in this celebrated, music-filled movie with star-making performances by Lou Diamond Phillips as Richie and Esai Morales as his half-brother, Bob. La Bamba depicts the 17-year-old Mexican-American's rocket rise to fame, from field laborer to rock star with a string of hit singles and a date with destiny.
