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by Ivana Redwine

Here's a selection of new movies on DVD for June, 2006.

June 6, 2006

Firewall
Harrison Ford stars in this thriller featuring lots of high-tech electronic devices. Jack Stanfield (Ford) is a computer security expert at a bank in Seattle, where he lives with his wife (Virginia Madsen) and kids. But one day Stanfield's family is taken hostage by criminals, who demand that Jack use his knowledge of the bank's computer system to transfer funds into offshore accounts. The crooks, led by Bill Cox (Paul Bettany), employ an elaborate monitoring system, but Stanfield has plenty of technical ingenuity.

Glory Road
Based on fact, this sports drama is about American racism in the mid-1960's. Upon becoming basketball coach at Texas Western College (now University of Texas at El Paso), Don Haskins (Josh Lucas) recruited African-Americans from the northern U.S. At that time, colleges used relatively few black players, and the team experienced some ugly incidents. But Texas Western ended up in the national championship game with an all-black starting five taking the court against an all-white Kentucky team.

The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada
A prizewinner at Cannes, this drama was directed by and stars Tommy Lee Jones. The screenplay was written by Guillermo Arriaga (Amores perros, 21 Grams). Pete Perkins (Jones) is a Texas ranch foreman who hires illegal immigrant Melquiades Estrada. Then there's an incident where Mike Norton (Barry Pepper), who works for the Border Patrol, kills Estrada. After Estrada is buried twice in Texas, Perkins forces Norton to accompany him on a journey to return Estrada to his native village in Mexico for burial.

Underworld: Evolution
This glam-action horror movie is the sequel to Underworld (2003), and Kate Beckinsale and Scott Speedman reprise their roles. Evolution is a convoluted tale about the continuation of the war between vampires and lycans—a lycan is a form of a werewolf. Leather-clad vampire Selene (Beckinsale) and her lover (Speedman) must prevent the release of an uncontrollable, powerful lycan who has been imprisoned for centuries. But the movie is really all about creating a noisy, violent alternate universe.

June 13, 2006

16 Blocks
Bruce Willis stars in this police drama. Jack Mosley (Willis) is a middle-aged, burned-out, alcoholic NYPD detective who is assigned the seemingly routine task of transporting a motor-mouth prisoner named Eddie Bunker (Mos Def) 16 blocks so he can testify at a trial. But the trip turns into an ordeal because corrupt cops, including Frank Nugent (David Morse), set out to kill Bunker. However, Mosley realizes that delivering Bunker safely to court will probably be the last opportunity he will ever have for redemption.

Aquamarine
This family comedy is based on the novel by Alice Hoffman. Claire (Emma Roberts) and Hailey (Joanna "JoJo" Levesque) are 13-year-old best friends in a Florida seaside community, where after a storm they discover the mermaid Aquamarine (Sara Paxton) in a swimming pool. Aquamarine is capable of maintaining a human appearance, provided she doesn't get wet or stay out after dark. The mermaid promises to grant the two girls a wish if they will tutor her in winning the heart of a lifeguard (Jake McDorman).

Dave Chappelle's Block Party
This documentary centers around an outdoor concert held September 18, 2004, that was hosted by comic Dave Chappelle. The concert was in Brooklyn, and performers include Kanye West, Mos Def, Talib Kweli, Common, Dead Prez, Erykah Badu, Jill Scott, the Roots and the reunited Fugees (Lauryn Hill, Wyclef Jean and Pras Michel). The movie also has lots of footage of Chappelle being spontaneously amusing. The film was directed by Michel Gondry (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind).

End of the Spear
Based on real-life events, this is an evangelical-themed film. The story goes back to 1956 when Christian missionaries from North America went to Ecuador and were speared to death by the Waodani, a jungle tribe living around Amazon tributaries. But decades later, the son of one of the slain missionaries returns to the scene of the massacre to try to come to terms with his father's death and the people who killed him. The movie is narrated by actor Chad Allen, who plays both the father and the son as an adult.

The Pink Panther
Steve Martin stars in this comedy, basically a prequel to the 1963 film that starred Peter Sellers. Martin plays Inspector Clouseau, the character Sellers made famous, and Kevin Kline portrays Dreyfus, Herbert Lom's character in the old Pink Panther movies. Once again Clouseau is the bumbling French policeman investigating a crime involving the stolen Pink Panther diamond, but the 2006 film includes gags about Viagra and flatulence. Others appearing in the film are Emily Mortimer, Jean Reno and Beyoncé Knowles.

June 20, 2006

Eight Below
Eight sled dogs—six huskies and two malamutes—are the stars of this Disney family movie, suggested by the Japanese film Nankyoku Monogatari based on a true story. Jerry (Paul Walker) is a guide who uses the dogs during an Antarctic expedition to retrieve parts of meteorites from Mercury for a scientist (Bruce Greenwood). But winter comes on suddenly, the humans barely get out, and the canines are left behind. As months pass, Jerry tries to put together a rescue, and the dogs must fend for themselves.

The Hills Have Eyes
This gory horror movie is a remake of the 1977 Wes Craven film with the same title. An American family—a retired cop, his wife, two teenage kids, an adult daughter, her husband and her baby—take a vacation that involves driving cross-country. On a New Mexico back road they encounter ghoulish mutants, descendants of miners exposed to high doses of radiation during government testing in the 1950's. Living in a faux town built to test nuclear effects, the mutants eat tourists, so the travelers must fight for their lives.

Syriana
Written and directed by Stephen Gaghan, this drama contains several intersecting stories that center around international oil. Among the actors in the ensemble cast are George Clooney, Matt Damon, Jeffrey Wright, Chris Cooper, William Hurt, Tim Blake Nelson, Amanda Peet and Christopher Plummer. The story threads, which eventually converge, involve the CIA, the royal family of a Gulf nation, two oil companies, a high-powered D.C. law firm, a Geneva-based energy analyst and Pakistani refinery laborers.

June 27, 2006

Annapolis
This starts as a military training drama and turns into a boxing movie. Jake (James Franco) grew up in Annapolis, Maryland, aspiring to attend the U.S. Naval Academy, but he couldn't get admitted, so he took a job in a nearby shipyard. But he gets into the Academy after all when his congressman recommends him, thrusting him into a world of hazing and tough training. However, Jake gradually finds himself and finally comes into his own in the Brigades, a tournament that determines the Academy boxing championship.

Failure to Launch
Matthew McConaughey and Sarah Jessica Parker are paired in this romantic comedy. Tripp (McConaughey) is a 35-year-old still living with his parents (Terry Bradshaw and Kathy Bates), who want him out. The parents hire Paula (Parker), who has created a profession for herself by dealing with men like Tripp. Her method is to date the man, manipulate him into moving out of his parents' house, then break off with him. Paula goes into her routine with Tripp, but things soon get complicated when she starts to fall for him.

Madea's Family Reunion
The follow-up to Diary of a Mad Black Woman (2005), this is the second in what promises to be series of movies from Tyler Perry, who offers a unique combination of melodrama, lowbrow humor and Christian values. He wrote and directed Madea's Family Reunion, and he takes three roles in it, including dressing in drag to play matriarch Madea. This time around the story centers on the marital prospects of two of Madea's nieces. Among the actors in the film are Blair Underwood, Cicely Tyson and Maya Angelou.

Ultraviolet
Set sometime in the future, this action sci-fi movie stars Milla Jovovich. A blood virus intended to produce super soldiers has created creatures known as hemophages who possess enhanced physical abilities. Mainstream society fears hemophages, forcing them underground and into camps, and a leader named Daxus sets out to exterminate them. But Violet (Jovovich), a hemophage highly proficient in martial arts and weaponry, may be able to save her race. Caught up in all this is a boy known as Six (Cameron Bright).

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