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by Ivana Redwine

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

May 2, 2006

The Family Stone
Sarah Jessica Parker, Diane Keaton, Claire Danes and Luke Wilson are among the actors appearing in this ensemble movie that combines elements of comedy and drama. Set at Christmastime, the story is about an uptight woman named Meredith (Parker) meeting the eccentric family of her boyfriend Everett Stone (Dermot Mulroney). Keaton portrays Everett's mom, Rachel McAdams his sister and Wilson his brother, while Danes plays Meredith's sister. This turns out to be a hectic holiday season for all.

Hoodwinked
This animated comedy is based on the Little Red Riding Hood tale. Little Red Riding Hood (voice of Anne Hathaway) goes to visit her Granny (voice of Glenn Close) and encounters the Big Bad Wolf (voice of Patrick Warburton). But the Woodsman (voice of Jim Belushi) suddenly appears on the scene, and later the police conduct an investigation. That's when each of Red, Granny, the Wolf and the Woodsman recounts his or her own version of events, and their stories aren't completely consistent with one another.

Last Holiday
Queen Latifah stars in this comedy, and her character is functionally similar to the one played by Alec Guinness in the 1950 British film with the same title. When Georgia (Latifah) is told she has only weeks to live, she uses her life savings for a stay at the luxurious Grandhotel Pupp in Karlovy Vary in the Czech Republic. A number of unusual things happen to Georgia along the way, some of them involving a coworker (LL Cool J), a department store tycoon (Timothy Hutton) and a world-class chef (Gérard Depardieu).

May 9, 2006

Big Momma's House 2
The sequel to Big Momma's House (2000), this comedy stars Martin Lawrence. Malcolm Turner (Lawrence) is still an FBI agent, and this time around hackers are planning to attack government computers. That's when Malcolm transforms himself into Big Momma by donning a fat suit, a wig and a dress. Big Momma becomes the nanny to the children of Tom Fuller, the main suspect in the computer plot. From that point on, Big Momma tries to crack the case while helping the Fuller kids with their personal problems.

Munich
Directed by Steven Spielberg, this bleak, noirish drama was nominated for five Academy Awards including Best Picture. Inspired by real events, the film is about a five-man commando squad sent out in response to the murders of Israeli athletes at the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich. Led by Avner (Eric Bana), the squad is tasked by the Israeli government with tracking down and assassinating Palestinian terrorists. The movie's version of the story is aimed at raising moral issues for viewers of all nationalities and ethnicities.

Nanny McPhee
Emma Thompson and Colin Firth star in this family comedy. The wife of Cedric Brown (Firth) has died, leaving him with seven children to raise. After going through 17 nannies, he hires Nanny McPhee (Thompson), who starts to whip the kids into shape. She is ugly, but each time she teaches the children a lesson, she gets better looking. Meanwhile, Mr. Brown will fall into poverty if he doesn't continue getting money from his aunt (Angela Lansbury). But she decrees she'll cut him off if he doesn't marry in a month.

The New World
Terrence Malick (Days of Heaven, The Thin Red Line) wrote and directed this historical drama, which stars Colin Farrell. The story begins in 1607 when an English expedition under Captain Newport (Christopher Plummer) arrives in what became Virginia. Captain John Smith (Farrell) gets captured by local Indians, but he is saved by Pocahontas (Q'orianka Kilcher), and this pair goes on to teach each other about their respective cultures. Later, Pocahontas marries settler John Rolfe (Christian Bale) and travels to England with him.

Rumor Has It…
Jennifer Aniston, Kevin Costner, Shirley MacLaine and Mark Ruffalo star in this romantic comedy. Sarah (Aniston) is engaged to marry Jeff (Ruffalo) when she learns that her grandmother (MacLaine) may have been the model for the fictional Mrs. Robinson in The Graduate. If so, Beau Burroughs (Costner) was the probable inspiration for the character played by Dustin Hoffman in the old movie. This leads Sarah to conclude that it's possible Beau is her biological father, and she tracks him down to look into the matter.

May 16, 2006

Napoleon Dynamite Special Edition DVD
Set in a small Western town, this little comedy's protagonist is an awkward, wild-haired, nerdy high school student named Napoleon Dynamite (John Heder). Napoleon lives with his grandma and his unemployed 30-something brother, and his eccentric uncle, who's stuck in a 1982 timewarp, eventually moves in with them. At school, Napoleon is constantly picked on, but he befriends the only Latino student and helps him run for class president.

The Producers
In this 2005 musical version of the 1968 comedy film, Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick reprise the roles they played in the 2001 Broadway hit. Max Bialystock (Lane) and Leo Bloom (Broderick) cook up a fraudulent scheme to make a lot of money for themselves by producing a play that immediately flops. They hire a sexy assistant (Uma Thurman) and a Nazi playwright (Will Ferrell), and they produce Springtime for Hitler. But on opening night, things don't go as Bialystock and Bloom had planned.

Something New
This movie is about interracial romance from the viewpoint of upscale African-Americans. Kenya McQueen (Sanaa Lathan) is a hard-working black woman who is on the way up at a prestigious L.A. accounting firm. She meets Brian Kelly (Simon Baker), a white landscape architect, and they begin dating. But this doesn't sit well with her African-American social circle, and Kenya and Brian become concerned that their relationship might not work out. Then comes along a handsome IBM (ideal black man).

The Ringer
This comedy is about a guy who, although not disabled in any way, chooses to try to solve his money problems by becoming a competitor in the Special Olympics. Steve Barker (Johnny Knoxville) hopes to get $28,000 to pay for reattaching another man's severed fingers. He teams up with his uncle Gary (Brian Cox), who is deeply in debt to loan sharks, and they embark upon a scam. Steve will pose as mentally challenged and enter the Special Olympics competition; then he and Gary will bet heavily on the outcome.

When a Stranger Calls
This horror movie takes its story from the first part of the 1979 film of the same name. This time around, teenager Jill Johnson is played by Camilla Belle. One evening Jill goes to baby-sit at the secluded, three-story home of Dr. and Mrs. Mandrakis. Soon Jill starts getting scary telephone calls, and she is unable to contact anyone she knows to counsel her. She finally phones the police, who tell her the calls are coming from inside the house. From that point on, it's up to Jill to protect herself as best she can.

May 23, 2006

BloodRayne
Based loosely on a video game, this is an action horror movie. In 18th-century Romania, Rayne (Kristanna Loken) is a dhampir, that is, a half-human, half-vampire. Rayne's father is the evil vampire ruler Kagan (Ben Kingsley), and she is out to kill him for having murdered her human mother. In Rayne's quest for vengeance, she joins forces with three vampire hunters (Michael Madsen, Matt Davis, Michelle Rodriguez) from the Brimstone Society. But Kagan commands vast resources, and he has his own agenda.

Cheaper by the Dozen 2
This comedy is the sequel to Cheaper by the Dozen (2003), and Steve Martin, Bonnie Hunt and most of the other principals are back. In the sequel, Tom Baker (Martin), his wife Kate (Hunt) and their large family take a summer vacation at Lake Winnetka, Wisconsin. Their cabin is near the mansion of Jimmy Murtaugh (Eugene Levy) and his wife (Carmen Electra), who also have a large family. Soon Tom and Jimmy renew an old rivalry, and both families are inevitably dragged into the competition.

Transamerica
Felicity Huffman got a Best Actress Oscar nomination for her performance in this drama. Although born male, Bree (Huffman) is well into the process of changing gender. She dresses like a woman and looks forward to the surgery that will make her one. But Bree has a 17-year-old son, and though they don't know each other, she must come to terms with him before having the surgery. Without revealing her identity, Bree bails him out of jail in New York, and the two of them drive to L.A. with a lot happening along the way.

May 30, 2006

Date Movie
In the same way Scary Movie spoofs horror films, Date Movie parodies romantic comedies. Among the movies alluded to are My Best Friend's Wedding, My Big Fat Greek Wedding, Meet the Fockers and The Wedding Planner. In Date Movie, Alyson Hannigan plays Julia Jones, an overweight waitress who falls for Grant Funkyerdoder (Adam Cambell). But after receiving advice from Hitch (Tony Cox), Julia gets a makeover and lands her man. Grant's parents are played by Fred Willard and Jennifer Coolidge.

Freedomland
Samuel L. Jackson and Julianne Moore star in this drama set in New Jersey. A white woman named Brenda (Moore) maintains she was carjacked near a public housing project by a black man. She claims he drove her car away with her four-year-old son in the back seat. Lorenzo (Jackson), a black police detective, is assigned to investigate, and he struggles to crack the case. Although Brenda seems less than completely truthful, Lorenzo must nonetheless pursue the search for her missing son as racial tensions mount.

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