| 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.
Free
Newsletter About Movies on DVD and Video
Sign
up and stay up-to-date!
|
