An architect's dealings with a
young thief cause him to re-evaluate his life.
Dexterity
(2006)
Deserted by his wife, Ed King (Law) slips into depression into the town of Myles, New York.
All the King's Men (2005)
Based on the Robert Penn Warren
novel. The life of populist Southerner Willie Stark, a political
creature loosely based on Governor Huey Long of Louisiana.
The
Aviator (2004)
"The Aviator," directed
by Martin Scorsese and written by John Logan, tells the story of
aviation pioneer Howard Hughes (Leonardo DiCaprio), the eccentric
billionaire industrialist and Hollywood film mogul, famous for
romancing some of the world's most beautiful women. The drama
recounts the years of his life from the late 1920s through the
1940s, an epoch when Hughes was directing and producing Hollywood
movies and test flying innovative aircrafts he designed and
created.
Lemony
Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events (2004)
This is the story of the
Bauedelaires, three young orphans, Violet (Browning), Klaus
(Aiken) and Sunny, looking for a new home, who are taken in by a
series of odd relatives and other people, including Lemony Snicket,
who narrates the film, and starting with the cunning and dastardly
Count Olaf (Carrey), who hopes to snatch their inheritance from
them. Violet is the oldest of the Baudelaires at 14, and is their
brave and fast-thinking leader. The only boy is middle child
Klaus, 12, who is intensely intelligent and obsessed with words.
The youngest is infant Sunny, who speaks in a language only her
siblings can understand, and she has a tendency to... bite.
Closer
(2004)
Set in contemporary London, this
is the story of four strangers (Julia Roberts, Jude Law, Natalie
Portman, and Clive Owen) - their chance meetings, instant
attractions and casual betrayals.
Alfie
(2004)
A womanizing British playboy in
New York City finds that there are serious consequences to his
carefree lifestyle.
Final
Cut (2004)
Friends gather together with the
widow of one of their friends to view his final videotape. They
are surprised to find that he had been revealing the disloyalty,
secrets and lies he found in his circle which goes on to show
factions in their friendships.
I
Heart Huckabees (2004)
This ensemble comedy is about a
married couple, the Jaffes (Hoffman, Tomlin), who work as
detectives, helping people solve existential crises in their
lives. For those not familiar with the philosophy-based term of
"existential crisis", some examples of such a crises
would be a "mid-life crisis", a "what am I doing
with my life?" sort of hang up, "my life has been a
mistake", "my whole life is a joke", etc. Their
first client in this movie is Albert Markovski (Schwartzman), who
is experiencing angst because of his position at Huckabee's, a
popular chain of retail stores. Investigating his workplace, the
Jaffes take on one of Albert's coworkers, Brad Stand (Law) as a
client as well, which leads them to investigate his girlfriend,
Dawn Campbell (Watts), who is the spokesmodel in the Huckabees TV
commercials. Meanwhile, Albert teams up with an existential
firefighter (Wahlberg) and a French radical (Huppert) out of
frustration with the idea that the Jaffes are helping the very man
who seems to be part of Albert's existential crisis.
Sky
Captain and the World of Tomorrow (2004)
Famous scientists around the world
have mysteriously disappeared and Chronicle reporter Polly Perkins
(Gwyneth Paltrow) along with ace aviator Sky Captain (Jude Law)
are on the investigation. Risking their lives as they travel to
exotic places around world, can the fearless duo stop Dr.
Totenkopf, the evil mastermind behind a plot to destroy the earth?
Aided by Franky Cook (Angelina Jolie), commander of an all-female
amphibious squadron, and technical genius Dex (Giovanni Ribisi),
Polly and Sky Captain may be our planet’s only hope.
Cold
Mountain (2003)
Directed by Academy Award®-winner
Anthony Minghella ("The English Patient", "The
Talented Mr. Ripley") and based on Charles Frazier's
best-selling Civil War novel of the same name, COLD MOUNTAIN tells
the story of Inman (Jude Law), a wounded confederate soldier who
is on a perilous journey home to his mountain community, hoping to
reunite with his pre-war sweetheart, Ada (Nicole Kidman). In his
absence, Ada struggles to survive, and revive her father's farm
with the help of intrepid young drifter Ruby (Renee Zellweger).
Road
to Perdition (2002)
In Depression-era Chicago, hit man
Michael O'Sullivan (Tom Hanks) is known to friends and enemies
alike as the "Angel of Death". Uncompromising in his
work, O'Sullivan is just as devoted to his private life as an
upstanding husband and father of two young boys. But when those
worlds collide, taking the lives of his wife and younger son,
O'Sullivan and his surviving son leave their sedate home life
behind and embark on a startling journey of revenge.
A.I.:
Artificial Intelligence (2001)
Steven Spielberg's A.I. ARTIFICIAL
INTELLIGENCE stars Haley Joel Osment as an 11-year-old boy living
in a post-apocalyptic world sometime in the future. In his world,
because of global warming melting the earth's ice caps, water
covers most of the earth. Therefore, a race of robots (Artificial
Intelligence) have been constructed to help maintain human life.
Enemy
At the Gates (2001)
While the Nazi and Russian armies
hurl rank after rank of soldiers at each other and the world
fearfully awaits the outcome of the battle of Stalingrad, the
celebrated Russian sniper, Vassili Zaitsev (Jude Law) quietly
stalks his enemies one man at a time. His fame, however, soon
thrusts him into a duel with the Nazi's best sharpshooter, Major
Konig (Ed Harris), and the two find themselves waging an intense
personal war while the most momentous battle of the age rages
around them.
The
Wisdom of Crocodiles (2000)
To all appearances, Steven Grlscz
has everything. He masterfully seduces women, but for him this is
not a game. It is a lonely and desperate pursuit for a woman's
love he literally cannot live without. When the body of his latest
conquest is found at sea, he knows the trail will eventually lead
to him, and he contacts the police under the pretense of aiding
their investigation and moves on to his next victim. Anne Levels
proves more of a challenge than he ever expected, although she is
torn between thinking she's in love and doubting him. Proof that
her perfect love is vital to Steven's survival and her uncertainty
is slowly killing him.
Love,
Honor & Obey (1999)
Jude (Jude Law) and Johnny (Jonny
Lee Miller) are best friends on the mean streets of North London.
Johnny is working as a courier, and he knows that it's going
nowhere, so Jude hooks him up with the toughest gang in town,
thanks to his crime boss Uncle Ray. New guy Johnny is so eager for
action that he instigates a feud with a South London gang, which
soon turns deadly and reminds him that the streets are not a
playground. After a murder at Uncle Ray's wedding, he and his
South London rival decide to stop Johnny, whatever it takes.
The
Talented Mr. Ripley (1999)
Based on Patricia Highsmith's
novel of the same name, Minghella's moody follow-up to his
Oscar-winning THE ENGLISH PATIENT concerns Tom Ripley, a poor New
Yorker, who is sent to Italy by the wealthy Mr. Greenleaf in order
to bring back his spoiled son, Dickie. Once in Italy, Tom charms
his way into the home of Dickie and his girlfriend Marge, where he
begins to get a taste of wealthy living. When Tom begins to wear
out his welcome, he takes drastic actions to ensure that he will
never have to return to the life that he left behind.
Existenz
(1999)
Set in the near-future, eXistenZ
depicts a society in which game designers are worshipped as
superstars and players can organically enter inside the games. At
the center of the story is Allegra Geller whose latest games
system eXistenZ taps so deeply into its users fears and desires
that it blurs the boundaries between reality and escapism. When
fanatics attempt to assassinate Allegra, she is forced to flee.
Her sole ally is Ted Pikul (Law), a novice security guard who is
sworn to protect her. Persuading Ted into playing the game,
Allegra draws them both into a phantasmagoric world where
existence ends and eXistenZ begins.
Immortality
(1998)
Jude Law portrays Steven, a
gorgeous man whose life is devoted to seducing women. He also may
or may not be a murderous vampire. After an endless string of
unsuccessful relationships, he meets Anne, who threatens to curb
his uncommitted ways. The mystery surrounding Steven's vampirism,
combined with a steamy eroticism, makes for a thrilling viewing
experience in this film from Leong, making his first return to the
director's chair since 1991's ONCE UPON A TIME IN SHANGHAI.
Wilde
(1998)
Based on the best-selling
biography by Richard Ellman, this unconventional biopic traces the
brilliant, witty, and tragic life of Oscar Wilde from his rise to
fame as a much-in-demand author and public speaker to his downfall
and ultimate imprisonment for homosexuality. Irish-born and
homosexual, Wilde (Stephen Fry, in a critically lauded
performance) nevertheless takes a loving wife (Jennifer Ehle),
with whom he has children. While married, he becomes aware of his
true sexual identity after a chance encounter with an aggressive
house guest. This leads to a very public affair with vain,
rebellious young Lord Alfred Douglas (Jude Law), the son of the
Marquess of Queensbury (Tom Wilkinson, IN THE BEDROOM). Despite an
astoundingly successful writing career, Wilde's private life lands
him in prison for "gross indecency," a synonym for
homosexual behavior, which was illegal in England at the time.
Bent
(1997)
An interesting cast fills out this
solemn production based on the play by Martin Sherman (who also
wrote the screenplay). During WWII, a Berlin homosexual is caught
up in the Nazi hysteria. After being forced to kill his lover, he
is placed in a prison camp, where he lies so he will be classified
as Jewish rather than homosexual. After a series a
constitution-breaking incidents, his love for a fellow male
prisoner brings him to admit his true nature. Features Mick Jagger
in a brief role as a drag queen.
Midnight
in the Garden of Good and Evil (1997)
Bringing John Berendt’s
international best-selling novel, MIDNIGHT IN THE GARDEN OF GOOD
AND EVIL, to the screen must have been a challenge. The book is
essentially an anecdotal travelogue of the fascinating city of
Savannah, Georgia. The filmmakers decided to add a character, John
Kelso (well played by John Cusack), a writer from New York,
who’s meant to represent Berendt’s point of view. They also
put most of the focus of the narrative on the murder trial of
local millionaire socialite Jim Williams (the redoubtable Kevin
Spacey). This is slightly problematic in that Kelso, a mere
observer, now becomes the central character of the film. But
director Clint Eastwood (straying from his usual milieu, and,
atypically, not appearing the film) and writer John Lee Hancock
still manage to capture the quirky spirit of the book. They’re
greatly aided in this regard by the lush images of cinematographer
Jack N. Green and the detailed work of production designer Henry
Bumstead, who create just the right atmosphere for the small city
and its environs. The strong cast, including actual Savannah
residents such as sparkplug transsexual the Lady Chablis, makes
the film an enjoyable idyll in a strange yet welcoming place.
Gattaca
(1997)
In the near future, where
corporations screen their employees based on their genetic makeup,
a man with a congenital heart condition tries to assume the
identity of a former athlete with perfect genes in order to
fulfill his dream of traveling in space.
I Love
You, I Love You Not (1996)
Daisy, a shy, intelligent Jewish
nonconformist, chafes at the rigid norms and snobbish attitudes
that prevail in her elite, predominantly Gentile Manhattan
boarding school. She takes refuge at the nearby house of her
strong-willed grandmother, whose mentoring helps Daisy face the
challenge of being herself--even after the most sought-after boy
in school wants Daisy to change for him. Based on the stage play
by Wendy Kesselman.
Shopping
(1993)
Writer/Director Paul Anderson
('Mortal Kombat') has created this story of a barren and anonymous
city where the sport of choice is "shopping"- a game in
which stolen cars are driven through store windows where the
participants loot as much as possible before the police arrive.
For Tommy, it's a business, but for Billy & Jo, it's a labor
of love. As the competition between Tommy & Billy grows more
fierce, the stakes become higher and the "shopping"
trips increasingly risky.
The
Tailor of Gloucester (1989)
A British musical version of
Beatrix Potter's story about a tailor who gets help from an
unlikely source--some local mice--to meet a Christmas deadline.
The children of the Royal Ballet School lend support for this
live-action production.