March 7, 2006

"Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire"
This is the fourth installment in the Harry Potter series. Now Harry (Daniel Radcliffe), Ron Weasley (Rupert Grint) and Hermione Granger (Emma Watson) are about 14 and in their fourth year at Hogwarts School. The story centers around the Triwizard Tournament, where competitors from three schools of wizardry face daunting challenges. There is also an elaborate Christmas ball, and Harry and Hermione get dates for it. The movie's villain is the evil, repulsive Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes), who's out to get Harry.

"Jarhead"
Jake Gyllenhaal stars in this military drama based on the 2003 memoir by Anthony Swofford. Like his father and grandfather, Tony "Swoff" Swofford (Gyllenhaal) enlists in the Marines. He receives training, and when in 1990 Saddam Hussein invades Kuwait, Swoff's unit goes to Saudi Arabia, where he endures more training. In 1991 he is sent as part of a sniper unit to the combat zone in Kuwait, but he never gets a shot off. Other actors in the cast include Peter Sarsgaard, Jamie Foxx, Lucas Black and Chris Cooper.

March 14, 2006

"Good Night, and Good Luck"
This docudrama chronicles a vital chapter in American history that took place in the 1950's. Edward R. Murrow (David Strathairn) was a respected TV newscaster, while Sen. Joseph McCarthy (archival footage) wielded power by accusing various Americans of being Communists, often using unfounded accusations as a weapon. The film is about how Murrow and others at CBS helped bring about McCarthy's downfall. George Clooney directed and co-wrote the movie, and he also plays a key character in it.

"A History of Violence"
David Cronenberg directed this drama that stars Viggo Mortensen. Tom Stall (Mortensen) runs a diner in the small Indiana town where he lives with his wife (Maria Bello) and their high-school-age son and little daughter. But a pair of murderous thugs come into the diner, setting off a chain of violent events. This changes the Stall family forever as it emerges that Tom is quite different from the way his wife and son had always believed he was. Ed Harris and William Hurt play important supporting roles in the film.

March 21, 2006

"Capote"
Writer Truman Capote (1924-84) is the subject of this biopic, which features Philip Seymour Hoffman in the title role. The film covers the years of Capote's life when he was researching and writing his 1966 book "In Cold Blood," which centers around the 1959 murders of a rural Kansas family. Much of the movie focuses on the peculiar relationship that developed between Capote and one of the killers. A key character in the film is Harper Lee (Catherine Keener), author of "To Kill a Mockingbird."

"Dreamer: Inspired by a True Story"
Kurt Russell and Dakota Fanning star in this drama about a race horse and a young girl. When a promising horse breaks its leg, trainer Ben Crane (Russell) nurses it back to health with his daughter Cale (Fanning) there every step of the way. Eventually, the horse wins a big race, and father and daughter reconnect. Other actors appearing in the movie include Kris Kristofferson and Elisabeth Shue. The horse part of the film's story is based on what happened in real life to the filly Mariah's Storm in the 1990's.

"The Squid and the Whale"
Starring Jeff Daniels and Laura Linney, this drama written and directed by Noah Baumbach is semiautobiographical. The story is about how two boys—teenage Walt (Jesse Eisenberg) and his younger brother Frank (Owen Kline)—react to their parents' divorce. The parents, who are both writers and rather bohemian, are played by Daniels and Linney. The mother has an affair with a tennis pro (William Baldwin), while the father, who's an academic, gets into a sexual relationship with a student (Anna Paquin).

March 28, 2006

"King Kong"
Peter Jackson ("Lord of the Rings") directed this remake of the 1933 classic and Naomi Watts takes the role played by Fay Wray in the original. The remake boasts greatly improved special effects and is much longer, but the story remains essentially the same. In the 1930's, Carl Denham (Jack Black) is a filmmaker who sets out to make a movie with leading lady Ann Darrow (Watts) and screenwriter Jack Driscoll (Adrien Brody). They all end up on Skull Island, which contains wondrous creatures including a 25-foot gorilla.