The Marvel Comics superhero Daredevil comes to the big screen with Ben Affleck playing the title role. By night, Daredevil protects the residents of Manhattan’s Hell’s Kitchen area from evildoers, particularly the minions of the Kingpin (Michael Clarke Duncan). By day, Daredevil reverts to his alter ego, blind attorney Matt Murdoch, who is attracted to the comely Elektra Natchios (Jennifer Garner). Colin Farrell also appears in the movie.
Selected DVD Special Features:
“Piglet’s Big Movie” (2003)
Aimed at children, this Disney animated film is based on characters from the “Winnie the Pooh” books. Winnie, Tigger, Rabbit, Eeyore, Owl, and Christopher Robin come up with plans that they think the diminutive Piglet is too little to be of any help in implementing, but they come to realize they are wrong. The movie features some nice songs by Carly Simon, and most adults probably won’t mind joining their kids in watching it.
“The Quiet American” (2003)
Michael Caine gives a fine performance in this drama adapted from Graham Greene’s novel. The story takes place in Vietnam in the early 1950s, when the French are fighting to hold onto the country as a colony. Caine plays a cynical British journalist who has a beautiful Vietnamese mistress. Then an idealistic American intelligence agent (Brendan Fraser) becomes smitten with her, and his efforts to save her and the country lead to tragedy.
Selected DVD Special Features:“Solaris” (2002)
Written and directed by Steven Soderbergh, this sci-fi movie stars George Clooney in the role of a psychiatrist who travels to a space station. There he encounters an entity (Natascha McElhone) that has been created from his memories of his beloved deceased wife, and he struggles to deal with the situation. Released in 2002, this is an English-language version of the same story told in the 1972 Russian-language Tarkovsky film with the same title.
Selected DVD Special Features:“Spider” (2002)
Ralph Fiennes and Miranda Richardson star in this harrowing drama about schizophrenia. Fiennes plays Dennis “Spider” Cleg, a schizophrenic living in a drab London halfway house. Much of the film shows the world as filtered through Spider’s confused mind, in which memories of his mother (Richardson) get mixed with those of a prostitute (also Richardson). Spider also reflects on his father (Gabriel Byrne) committing a heinous murder.
Selected DVD Special Features: