2012: Doomsday
The final day on the Mayan calendar finds four faithful strangers convening at an ancient temple in the heart of Mexico in this apocalyptic thriller starring Cliff De Young and Dale Midkiff. Centuries ago, the Mayans set a date for the end of time: December 21, 2012. Now that date is upon us, and NASA scientists have noted that a catastrophic polar shift is about to occur. Could it be that an ancient Mexican temple holds the key to unlocking the secret that could protect humankind from total extinction?
It Might Get Loud
Academy Award-winning An Inconvenient Truth director Davis Guggenheim focuses his probing lens on a subject that's decidedly less urgent but no less fascinating with this look at the electric guitar featuring Led Zeppelin's Jimmy Page, U2's the Edge, and the White Stripes' Jack White. Growing up, all three guitarists realized their rebellion through music: Page was attempting to subvert the sugary-sweet pop music of the 1960s, the Edge was hell-bent on making the guitar solos of the 1970s a distant memory, and White used his screeching strings to buzz out the droning bass machines of the 1980s. Later, Page makes his way to Headley Grange to revisit the birthplace of "Stairway to Heaven",The Edge digs out the original four-track rehearsals for "Where the Streets Have No Name" in Dublin, and White expresses his exuberance for revered bluesman Son House -- all the while displaying their deep love for their instrument of choice by permitting the viewer a rare chance to see them refining as-yet-unreleased material. When the trio comes together for a landmark jam session, their spectacularly diverse styles and instruments become just as apparent as the shared passion that binds them all together.
Family Guy: Something, Something, Something Darkside (2009)
With the fate of the galaxy resting in their hands, Luke (Chris), Leia (Lois), Han Solo (Peter) and Chewbacca (Brian) seek refuge from the evil Lord Vader (Stewie) and the Imperial Starfleet on the ice planet Hoth. There, young Skywalker follows the advice of his late, lusty master Obi-Wan Kenobi (Herbert), and begins harnessing the power of the "farce" under the tutelage of the wise and powerful Jedi Master Yoda (Carl). The powers of the "farce" now strong within him, Skywalker races to aid the rebellion in defeating the dark side once and for all.
All About Steve
A brilliant crossword-puzzle designer travels across the country in hopes of convincing a CNN cameraman that the pair is meant to be together, only to find her quest taking an unexpected turn in this romantic comedy starring Thomas Haden Church and Sandra Bullock. Despite the fact that she has only gone on one short date with the man, a love-struck puzzle creator becomes enamored with a successful cameraman and follows him to a series of media events in hopes that the feeling is mutual. While she is saddened to discover that it is not, she soon becomes involved with a group of misfits who selflessly accept her at face value. First-time feature filmmaker Phil Traill directs a screenplay penned by License to Wed scribe Kim Barker.
Ghost Machine
Two technicians battle a vengeful spirit that has infected their stolen military software.
Blind Date
A married couple deal with a crushing loss in a way that's both funny and deeply sad in this comedydrama from director, screenwriter and star Stanley Tucci. Don (Tucci) and his wife Janna (Patricia Clarkson) meet every night in the same shabby nightclub where Don performs a humorously shambolic magic act. Don and Janna's relationship has been on the verge of collapse since the death of their daughter, and they're trying to reconnect with each other through role playing, so each evening they pretend they're meeting for the first time on a blind date after discovering one another through personal ads. Sometimes they assume characters that are openly confrontational, while other times they try to bring a sweetness and intimacy back into their lives, but more often than not their struggle to reclaim the love they knew ends in confusion and frustration. Blind Date was adapted by Tucci and screenwriter David Schechter from Theo Van Gogh's 1996 film of the same name; it was the second in a series of remakes of Van Gogh's films (following Steve Buscemi's Interview) created in response to Van Gogh's assassination by political extremists in 2004.
Extract
Jason Bateman, Mila Kunis, Ben Affleck, Kristen Wiig, Clifton Collins, and J.K. Simmons star in writer/director Mike Judge's comedy about a flower-extract plant owner contending with an ever-growing avalanche of personal and professional disasters. An employee at the factory has just suffered an unfortunate accident on the assembly line, but little does the put-upon owner realize that things are about to get much worse. As the injured employee threatens to sue and it begins to look like his company will be bought out, the frazzled owner attempts to catch the culprit responsible for stealing wallets from the coat room and begins to suspect that his wife is sleeping with the gigolo he hired to seduce her.
District 9
Director Neill Blomkamp teams with producer Peter Jackson for this tale of extraterrestrial refugees stuck in contemporary South Africa. It's been 28 years since the aliens made first contact, but there was never any attack from the skies, nor any profound technological revelation capable of advancing our society. Instead, the aliens were treated as refugees. They were the last of their kind, and in order to accommodate them, the government of South Africa set up a makeshift home in District 9 as politicians and world leaders debated how to handle the situation. As the humans begin to grow wary of the unwelcome intruders, a private company called Multi-National United (MNU) is assigned the task of controlling the aliens. But MNU is less interested in the aliens' welfare than attempting to understand how their weaponry works. Should they manage to make that breakthrough, they will receive tremendous profits to fund their research. Unfortunately, the highly advanced weaponry requires alien DNA in order to be activated. When MNU field operative Wikus van der Merwe (Sharlto Copley) is exposed to biotechnology that causes his DNA to mutate, the tensions between the aliens and the humans intensifies. Wikus is the key to unlocking the alien's technology, and he quickly becomes the most wanted man on the planet. Ostracized and isolated, Wikus retreats to District 9 in a desperate bid to shake his dogged pursuers.
500 Days of Summer
Joseph GordonLevitt and Zooey Deschanel star in director Marc Webb's wry, nonlinear romantic comedy about a man who falls head over heels for a woman who doesn't believe in love. Mark (GordonLevitt) is an aspiring architect who currently earns his living as a greeting card writer. Upon encountering his boss' beautiful new secretary, Summer (Deschanel), Mark discovers that the pair have plenty in common despite the fact that she's seemingly out of his league; for starters, they both love the Smiths, and they're both fans of surrealist artist Magritte. Before long Mark is smitten. All he can think about is Summer. Mark believes deeply in the concept of soul mates, and he's finally found his. Unfortunately for Mark, Summer sees true love as the stuff of fairy tales, and isn't looking for romance. Undaunted and undeterred by his breezy lover's casual stance on relationships, Mark summons all of his might and courage to pursue Summer and convince her that their love is real.
Staten Island
The lives of a septic tank cleaner, an ambitious mob boss, and a deaf mute deli worker converge in tragedy in this seriocomic crime drama from director/screenwriter James DeMonaco. Blue collar by birth, Sully Halverson (Ethan Hawke) has never amounted to much in life. When Sully finds out he's about to become a father, he schemes to rob Parnie Tarzo (Vincent D'Onifrio), a small time kingpin who's looking for a way to leave his mark on the world. By saving Staten Island Forest, Parnie surmises, he can mold an upstanding public persona for himself while quietly eliminating the competition behind closed doors. That's where Jasper Sabiano (Seymour Cassell) comes in. Seymour may not be able to hear or speak, but he's a hard worker who knows where his bread is buttered. When he's not serving up bagels and coffee, Jasper is dispatching bodies for Tarzo - frequently in Staten Island forest. But lately Jasper has been growing tired of the game, and he's desperate to find a way out. When Sully sets his plan into motion, all three men find themselves thrust into a volatile situation that threatens to destroy their plans for the future as it quickly spirals out of control.
Shattered Lives
Her fears and inability to cope with the harsh realities of life becoming so intense that they manifest themselves in an altered state of reality, a schizophrenic girl begins taking orders from a pair of clown dolls who instruct her to murder her adulterous mother. Rachel is a small girl with a fragile mind. Her allegiance to her parents irreparably fractured when she is forced to keep her mother's extramarital affair a secret from her father, Rachel can't figure out how to handle the situation until her clown dolls Melo and Lelo offer an unsettling piece of advice: kill your mother and in the process absolver her of the evil that has infected her soul. It doesn't take long for Rachel to act on the grim suggestion, but as she grows up and her psyche becomes more fractured, the cycle of violence continues