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Filmography
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Coin Locker Babies (2006)
It is a tale about two boys who
are abandoned at birth in adjacent train station lockers. They
grow up in orphanages and then with foster parents on a deserted
island until they leave for the city in a quest to find and
destroy the women who rejected them at birth.
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August Rush (2006)
A drama with fairy tale elements,
where an orphaned musical prodigy uses his gift as a clue to
finding his birth parents.
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Lonesome Jim (2005)
Casey Affleck plays Jim, a young
man who, after deciding he can't make it on his own, moves back to
his hometown in Indiana -- under his parents' roof. He's saved
from his family's dysfunction by a local woman and her son, who
sees him as a father figure.
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Jersey
Girl (2004) Drama
1 hr. 43 min. Ollie Trinke (Ben
Affleck) is at the top
of his game. A smooth, Manhattan music publicist, Ollie has
just married the love of his life (Jennifer Lopez) and has a
child on the way. It's a perfect life that is tragically
upended when he suddenly finds himself a single father
unqualified for his new role. Before long Ollie's big city
lifestyle clashes head on with fatherhood. After losing his
job, he's forced to move back in with his father (George
Carlin) in the New Jersey Suburb where he was raised. With
the help of a beautiful young friend (Liv Tyler) who opens
him up to love again, and the daughter (Raquel Castro) who
gives him the courage to keep going, he begins to realize
that sometimes, you have to forget about what you thought
you were and just accept who you are.
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The
Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
Action/Adventure,
Drama and Science Fiction/Fantasy
3 hrs. 30 min. The Fellowship's journey is coming to an
end. Sauron's forces have attacked Gondor's capital of Minas
Tirith in his final siege against mankind. Watched over by a
fading steward, the once great kingdom has never been in
more desperate need of its king. But will Aragorn find the
strength to become what he was born to be and rise to meet
his destiny? As Gandalf desperately tries to move the broken
forces of Gondor to act, Théoden unites the warriors of
Rohan to join in the fight. Even in their courage and
passionate loyalty, the forces of men – with Éowyn and
Merry hidden among them – are no match against the
swarming legions of enemies raining down on the kingdom.
With each victory comes great sacrifice. Despite their great
losses, The Fellowship charges forward in the greatest
battle of their lifetime, united in their singular goal to
give Frodo a chance to complete his quest. Traveling across
treacherous enemy lands, Frodo must rely increasingly on Sam
and Gollum as The Ring continues to test his allegiance and,
ultimately, his soul.
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The
Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002)
Action/Adventure,
Drama and Science Fiction/Fantasy
2 hrs. 59 min. The second chapter in the
J.R.R. Tolkien
saga, the hobbits Frodo and Sam brave terrible dangers in an
attempt to have the evil ring destroyed, while Aragorn,
Legolas and their allies strive to rescue the abducted
hobbits Pippin and Merry from the clutches of evil. The
great wizard Gandalf also makes his miraculous return to aid
in the struggle against the united towers of Saruman and
Sauron.
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One
Night at McCool's (2001)
Comedy
and Romance
1 hr. 43 min. Jewel is a beautiful drifter who attracts
the undying devotion of three men: Randy, Randy's cousin
(and lawyer) Carl and Detective Dehling. Part security
seeker, part femme fatale, Jewel strings each fellow along
until someone literally ends up dead.
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The
Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
Action/Adventure
and Drama
2 hrs. 58 min. Set in mythic Middle Earth, a young
hobbit named Frodo Baggins inherits a magic ring from his
elderly cousin Bilbo. The dark Lord Sauron lusts for the
powers that the magic ring holds, knowing it will enable him
to enslave the people of land. In his effort to thwart
Sauron, Frodo recruits the fellowship of a wizard, an elf, a
dwarf and others on a mission to destroy the ring by casting
it into the volcanic fires in the Crack of Doom. However,
the ring unleashes its own power as a result of the
struggle....
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Dr.
T and the Women (2000)
Comedy
and Romance
Robert Altman follows up the good-natured COOKIE'S
FORTUNE with this biting satire of an upper-class elitist
Dallas community. Richard Gere plays Sullivan
"Sully" Travis (better known as Dr. T), a man
whose good looks and overflowing charm have made him the
most popular gynecologist in all of Texas. Things begin to
go wrong for Dr. T when his beautiful wife, Kate (Farrah
Fawcett), begins to lose her sanity. He sends her to a
mental hospital with the hopes of a full recovery, but her
regression into childhood seems to be permanent. Adding to
the mass confusion is an unexpected visit from his alcoholic
sister-in-law, Peggy (Laura Dern), who brings along her
three children, as well as the constant battles between Dr.
T's two daughters: the soon-to-be-married Dee Dee (Kate
Hudson) and the jealous Connie (Tara Reid). Upon meeting his
country club's new assistant golf pro, Bree (Helen Hunt),
Dr. T finally feels like he's met his match--a beautiful,
independent woman who has no desire to be swept off her
feet. Trying to juggle the pressures of his personal and
professional life, Dr. T's recent problems culminate on Dee
Dee's rain-soaked wedding day. Working again with
screenwriter Anne Rapp, Altman closes his sprawling comedy
with an utterly outrageous yet genuinely optimistic finale.
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Cookie's
Fortune (1999)
Drama
Robert Altman revisits the lighthearted territory of his
1970s comedies BREWSTER MCCLOUD and A WEDDING and once again
comes out a rousing success. This time, a tightly wound
narrative by first-time screenwriter Anne Rapp keeps the
laughs rolling as the story unfolds over an eventful Easter
weekend in the small town of Holly Springs, Mississippi. The
town residents are peaceful, kind folk--with the exception
of Camille Dixon (Glenn Close)--a pushy theatre director
with an incredibly shy younger sister, Cora (Julianne
Moore), whose estranged daughter Emma (Liv Tyler) has just
returned to town. On the heels of her latest play, Camille
is shocked to discover that her Aunt Jewel Mae
"Cookie" Orcutt (Patricia Neal) has committed
suicide. Terrified at the thought of how this will tarnish
the family name, she eats the suicide note to make it look
like a burglary. This set-up leads the police to one main
suspect, Willis Richland (Charles S. Dutton), who also
happens to be Cookie’s best friend. Although the rest of
the town is convinced Willis didn’t commit the crime, an
outside investigator (Courtney B. Vance) isn’t so sure. As
Easter Sunday and opening night of the play arrive, the
truth comes out, revealing more secrets than anyone could
have possibly imagined. Director Altman tells his story at a
leisurely pace, beautifully recreating the eccentricities of
small town life in this sweet-natured tale.
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Onegin
(1999)
Romance
Onegin (Fiennes) is a bored, unaffected St. Petersburg
aristocrat who inherits his uncle's large estate. When he
rejects the advances of his neighbor Tatyana (Tyler), her
sister's fiance considers this an offense worth fighting
over. In a senseless, tragic duel, Onegin prevails. Six
years later, Onegin returns to St. Petersburg and is
reintroduced to Tatyana. This time, he falls helplessly in
love with her and discovers, crushingly, that she has
already married and has no intention on reciprocating his
emotions. Fienne's debut as a feature film director is aided
greatly by Adefarasin's cinematography, brother Ralph's
performance, and Tyler's mere appearance. Based on the
classic verse novel EUGENE ONEGIN by Pushkin.
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Plunkett
& Macleane (1999)
Action/Adventure
and Drama
Will Plunkett (Carlyle) is a common thief who teams up
with aristocrat James Macleane to rob from the rich, using
their combined social connections and criminal knowhow to
become "The Gentlemen Highwaymen". But when
Macleane falls in love with the daughter of one of their
wealthy victims, things get complicated. A stylish,
fast-paced, techno-scored adventure. Director Scott is the
son of BLADE RUNNER director Ridley Scott.
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Armageddon
(1998)
Science
Fiction/Fantasy and Thriller
2 hrs. 24 min. Bruce Willis stars as a roughneck oil
driller who takes his merry band of misfits into outer space
to save the world from a giant asteroid on a collision
course with it.
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Inventing
the Abbotts (1997)
Drama
In the placid, potboiler-perfect 1950s hamlet of Haley,
Illinois, life revolves around the wealthy and powerful
Abbott family, which boasts three strapping brunette
daughters in addition to its other assets. On the other side
of the proverbial tracks live two fatherless brothers--one
idolizes the Abbotts, while the other seeks to destroy the
family by systematically deflowering and debasing the
sisters.
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U-Turn
(1997)
Thriller
Oliver Stone shelved his social conscience while making
this vicious nest-of-vipers noir. Sean Penn stars as Bobby
Cooper, a gambler on the run who is forced to lay up in a
desolate Arizona whistlestop with car trouble. Desperate and
broke, he receives an offer from the middle-aged Jake
McKenna (Nick Nolte) to kill his beautiful young wife, Grace
(Jennifer Lopez). Initially reluctant, he's finally forced
to contemplate the deal. But the fun doesn't really begin
until Grace hires Bobby to kill Jake. The film is based on
the modern noir novel STRAY DOGS by John Ridley.
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Stealing
Beauty (1996)
Drama
When 19-year-old Lucy Harmon
(Liv Tyler) arrives in
Tuscany, wondering about her mother (a recent suicide) and
still nursing a crush on Niccolo, the local playboy she met
on a visit four years earlier, everyone sits up and takes
notice--especially director Bernardo Bertolucci, who trains
his camera on the ingenue with understandable enthusiasm.
The Graysons, who own the artists' colony and villa where
Lucy's mother once wrote poetry, take the young girl in, and
their guests enjoy the infusion of youth. Perhaps most
deeply affected is Alex Parrish (Jeremy Irons), a terminally
ill writer who finds Lucy charming and vital. Before such
attentions, Lucy's interest in Niccolo (who turns out to be
a jerk) quickly fades, replaced by an unexpected mystery
regarding the identity of her father and a possible new
love. And in a further attempt to understand her mother,
Lucy writes light little poems as well. (Bertolucci has her
words appear on the screen as she scribbles.) In fact,
everything seems light in lush and lovely in Tuscany, which
provides a gorgeous setting for the gifted ensemble to play
out their intrigues.
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That
Thing You Do! (1996)
Kids/Family
A cautionary pop fable following the meteoritic rise of
"The Wonders," a fictitious foursome during the
early days of pop-rock fandom. When jazz drummer Guy
Patterson fills in for a session with a friend's band, a hit
single is born and the smalltown boys find themselves riding
a rollercoaster of success, guided by the opportunistic hand
of a smooth-talking record label agent. Fun, cheerful, and
innocent. Hanks' directorial debut. Academy Award
Nominations: Best Original Song ("That Thing You
Do").
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Empire
Records (1995)
Comedy
This rocking, slice-of-life comedy examines one
so-strange-it's-normal day at a busy record store, from the
manager's attempts to cope with his bizarre young staff to
the loves, lusts and whinings of his slacker clerks. From
the director of "Pump Up the Volume."
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Silent
Fall (1995)
Drama
Director Bruce Beresford makes a foray into the genre of
psychological mystery with this film, which stars Richard
Dreyfuss as psychologist Dr. Jake Rainer. The doctor has
gone into retirement after the trauma of having an autistic
child under his care commit suicide. Thus, when approached
by local sheriff Michael Rivers (J.T. Walsh) with a request
that he try to get through to an autistic nine-year-old boy
Tim Warden (Ben Faulkner), who likely witnessed and possibly
committed the double murder of his parents, he initially
demurs. However, he puts aside his reservations after
hearing that another psychologist, Dr. Harlinger (John
Lithgow), intends to drug the boy into revealing the truth.
When police entered the murder scene, they had found, along
with the bloody victims, the boy brandishing a knife, and
his teenaged sister Sylvie (Liv Tyler), cowering in the
closet. Since the girl saw nothing, Rainer begins to work
slowly and patiently with this boy who has never spoken,
using a method based on the fact that the the autistic mind
thinks in terms of rote sequences. He also gains the trust
of the haunted Sylvie, and gradually the children unfold
their tale of terror.
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Heavy
(1994)
Drama
An effervescent young waitress illuminates the dim
environs of a gritty roadside beer joint, enchanting the shy
and corpulent chef. Winner of a Special Jury Recognition
Prize at the Sundance Film Festival.
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