Imagine Harrison Ford as a rogue scientist exploring not ancient artifacts of lost arks, but biochemical research to help cure rare diseases. In Extraordinary Measures, Ford manages to keep some of that wry rebellious Indiana Jones energy as he plays Dr. Robert Stonehill, a fringe researcher whose findings just might help keep alive the two children of John Crowley, played with heart and sobriety by Brendan Fraser.
Of all the "most anticipated" movies ever claiming that title, it's hard to imagine one that has caused so much speculation and breathless expectation as Christopher Nolan's final chapter to his magnificently brooding Batman trilogy, The Dark Knight Rises. Though it may not rise to the level of the mythic grandeur of its predecessor, The Dark Knight Rises is a truly magnificent work of cinematic brilliance that commandingly completes the cycle and is as heavy with literary resonance as it is of-the-moment insight into the political and social affairs unfolding on the world stage.
With unflappable cool and surprising gentleness, Denzel Washington strides a bleak and barren world in The Book of Eli. Eli is headed west, but on the way, he passes devastation and squalor, and occasionally he must mete out some devastation of his own with a sharp blade. But when he arrives in what passes for a town in this dust-and-ash future, the power-hungry owner of the town's bar, Carnegie (Gary Oldman, looking a million years old), covets his one important possession. (Spoiler alert, sort of: it becomes apparent pretty quickly that it's a King James Bible.) Conflict ensues!
42 is a powerful film about how one man changed baseball… and changed America. The film opens in 1945, after the end of World War II, when team executive Branch Rickey has set his mind on bringing the first black baseball player into the ranks of an American major league baseball team despite the disapproval of his advisers and team manager. A stubborn man who declares that money is green, not black or white, and claims profit as his motivation, Rickey carefully selects Jackie Robinson from the Kansas City Monarchs.
The bodice-ripper that begat all bodice-rippers, John Clelland's 18th century book, Fanny Hill: Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure, has finally been given the screen adaptation it deserves. This 2007 British TV presentation is cheeky and very erotic, yet subtly emotional and painstakingly costumed and set. Fanny herself, played by young, appealing newcomer TK Night, narrates the film, which goes a long way toward defusing what is essentially a tale of a woman forced into prostitution to live.
Samar Anand (Shahrukh Khan), a major in the Indian Army, defuses a bomb showing no fear or regard for personal safety. After a while, Akira Rai (Anushka Sharma), a Discovery Channel filmmaker, dives into a river in Ladakh and is rescued by the major. Samar gives her his jacket but leaves before retrieving it. Akira finds his diary in the jacket pocket and starts reading. The diary recounts Samar's earlier years as a struggling immigrant in London. He worked as a musician and found other menial jobs to support him and his roommate.
Naina (Deepika Padukone) is a shy and nerdy medical student. She studies constantly and always tops her classes. An encounter with an old classmate, Aditi (Kalki Koechlin), makes her realise that she wants more from life than high marks. She makes an impulsive decision to follow Aditi on a commercial hiking trip into the Himalayas, up to Manali. During the hike, she renews her friendship with another former classmate, Kabir "Bunny" Thapar (Ranbir Kapoor). Bunny is a handsome charmer whose dream is to travel the world. He does not plan to marry or settle down.
Rahul Mithaiwala (Shahrukh Khan) is a forty-year old bachelor who lives in Mumbai. His parents died in a car accident when he was eight years old and was brought up by grandparents. His grandfather has a sweet-selling chain store – Y.Y. Mithaiwala. Before his birth centenary celebration, two of Rahul's friends suggest a vacation in Goa which he accepts. On the eve of the celebration, his grandfather dies whilst watching a cricket match.
The Children of Huang Shi is a powerful, inspiring film about a real-life, outsider hero who emerged from Japan's catastrophic invasion of China in 1937. A British journalist, George Hogg (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) sneaks into Nanjing at the height of Japan's destruction of that cosmopolitan city. Rescued from certain death by a suave rebel named Chen Hansheng (Chow Yun-Fat), Hogg goes deep into China's countryside in search of another front to the war.
Hailed by many critics as one of the best films of 1995, this finely tuned black comedy sparked a renewed interest in movies based on books by prolific crime novelist Elmore Leonard, whose trademark combination of tight plotting and sharp humor is perfectly captured here. After the success of Pulp Fiction, John Travolta continued his meteoric comeback as Chili Palmer, a Mob "mechanic" whose latest assignment takes him to Los Angeles, where his fascination with the movie business turns into a new career as a would-be movie producer.
