The Company
Robert Altman directed this ensemble drama about life in a somewhat fictionalized version of the Chicago-based Joffrey Ballet. The movie mostly centers around rehearsals and performances of the dance troupe, which is under an artistic director called Mr. A (Malcolm McDowell). One of the principal characters is Ry (Neve Campbell), a promising young dancer, and her romantic relationship with a chef (James Franco) is a key story thread.

Eurotrip
Bad taste, alcohol consumption, and nudity are at the heart of this teen comedy. Just after high school graduation, Scotty (Scott Mechlowicz) sets out to visit a German girl with whom he's been exchanging emails. He and his pal Cooper (Jacob Pitts) fly to London, from which they travel to Paris, linking up with two other American friends. Then the foursome heads for Berlin via a circuitous route, having a series of adventures along the way.

Monster
Charlize Theron won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in this drama, which is based on a true story. Theron plays Aileen Wuornos, a Florida woman executed in 2002 for committing half a dozen murders. The movie chronicles Aileen's lesbian relationship with Selby Wall (Christina Ricci). Desperate to support herself and her young lover, Aileen went back into prostitution and began murdering the johns.

My Baby's Daddy
This sweet-natured comedy stars Eddie Griffin, Anthony Anderson, and Michael Imperioli as three bachelor buddies resisting the idea of growing up. But things begin to change for all three when it turns out that each of their girlfriends is pregnant. Eventually, the three men become fathers and must deal with the ramifications of that. By movie's end, it appears as though each man has begun his journey toward maturity.

June 8, 2004

Along Came Polly
Ben Stiller and Jennifer Aniston are paired in this romantic comedy. Reuben (Stiller), a risk assessment expert, marries a woman (Debra Messing) he deems his ideal mate, but she cheats on him during their honeymoon. Then Reuben, who suffers from irritable bowel syndrome, starts dating free-spirited Polly (Aniston) and must make some major decisions. The movie's cast includes Alec Baldwin, Philip Seymour Hoffman, and Hank Azaria.

City of God
Nominated for four Academy Awards (Best Director, Cinematography, Editing, Adapted Screenplay), this Portuguese-language drama is about youth gangs in Rio de Janeiro. A narrator known as Rocket recounts his experiences in a Rio slum called Cidade de Deus (City of God) during the 1960s, '70s, and '80s. It's an unsettling tale of poverty, kids, guns, and drugs, but Rocket manages to find a niche for himself as a photographer.

Mystic River
Sean Penn and Tim Robbins won Academy Awards for their performances in this drama, which was also an Oscar nominee for Best Picture. Penn, Robbins, and Kevin Bacon play men who were childhood friends, but have gone their separate ways. But the three are brought back together when Penn's character's daughter is murdered, Robbins' character comes home bloody, and Bacon's character is a police detective investigating the crime.

June 15 , 2004

50 First Dates
This romantic comedy pairs Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore. Henry (Sandler) meets Lucy (Barrymore) and is smitten with her. But since receiving a head injury in an accident a year earlier, she has suffered from short-term memory loss. Every morning she wakes up believing she's just beginning the day of her accident. Henry's problem then is how to woo Lucy when each day she awakens unable to remember even knowing him.

Spartan
Written and directed by David Mamet, this is a suspense thriller starring Val Kilmer. Robert Scott (Kilmer) is a veteran agent for some top-secret U.S. government organization. When the daughter of the American President is kidnapped, Scott is assigned to go anywhere and use any means necessary to get her back. He is assisted in that mission by a young agent played by Derek Luke. The movie has a labyrinthine plot and stylized Mamet dialogue.

The Station Agent
This quirky independent film was a hit at Sundance and is well-liked by critics. The central character is a dwarf named Finbar McBride (Peter Dinklage) who inherits an abandoned train station in rural New Jersey. Fin moves into the station, and he meets a guy (Bobby Cannavale) who operates a coffee truck and a grieving artist (Patricia Clarkson). The intersections of the lives of these people turns out to be beneficial to all three of them.

Teacher's Pet
Derived from a TV cartoon series, this is a Disney children's animated movie. Spot (voice of Nathan Lane), a dog who yearns to be a boy, goes to Dr. Krank (voice of Kelsey Grammer), a mad scientist who is experimenting with turning animals into humans. Krank transforms Spot, but because of the difference between dog years and human years, the canine becomes a middle-aged man. Other voices heard include Paul Reubens and Megan Mullally.

Touching the Void
A harrowing real-life mountain climbing incident is at the center of this British semidocumentary film. In 1985 Joe Simpson and Simon Yates scaled a 21,000-foot peak in the Peruvian Andes. But Simpson broke his leg, and their battle for survival turned out to be an extreme ordeal. The movie shows actors and their climbing doubles recreating the incident, and there are interviews with the real Simpson and Yates years afterward.

Tupac: Resurrection
This documentary is about the life of hip-hop artist Tupac Shakur, who was gunned down at age 25 in 1996. Documentarian Lauren Lazin uses sound recordings from Tupac's many interviews so that the story is narrated in the gangsta rapper's own voice. The film tells of Tupac's Black Panther mom, his attendance at a performing arts high school, his move to California, his multiple run-ins with the law, and his rise to fame and financial success.

June 22, 2004

Bad Santa
Billy Bob Thornton stars as the title character in this dark comedy. Each Christmas season, the alcoholic, foul-mouthed Willie (Thornton) and the dwarf Marcus (Tony Cox) surface in a different city, where they take jobs in a department store. Willie works as Santa and Marcus as his elf, which gets them inside the store so they can later rob its safe. The movie catches up with them in Phoenix, where Willie meets a woman with a Santa fetish.

Secret Window
This suspense thriller stars Johnny Depp as Mort Rainey, a successful fiction writer. Depressed by the ugly breakup of his marriage, Rainey lives alone in a remote cabin, where he suffers writer's block. One day a scary stranger, John Shooter (John Turturro), appears at the cabin door and menacingly accuses Rainey of stealing his story. Fearing violence, Rainey contacts the sheriff and hires a bodyguard as unsettling things begin to occur.

June 29, 2004

Barbershop 2: Back in Business
This comedy is the sequel to Barbershop (2002) and again stars Ice Cube as Calvin Palmer, owner and operator of an old-fashioned barbershop in Chicago. Also reprising their roles are Cedric the Entertainer, Sean Patrick Thomas, Eve, Troy Garity, Michael Ealy, and Leonard Earl Howze. This time around, gentrification threatens to close Calvin's barbershop. Queen Latifah appears in Barbershop 2, setting up the spinoff movie Beauty Shop.

Cold Mountain
Nicole Kidman and Jude Law star in this historical drama that was nominated for seven Academy Awards and won one (Renée Zellweger for Best Supporting Actress). In Cold Mountain, North Carolina, Ada (Kidman) and Inman (Law) fall for each other. But Civil War comes, and Inman goes off to battle. With the help of Ruby (Zellweger), Ada struggles to run her farm. Meanwhile, Inman deserts and undertakes a long trek back to her.

The Perfect Score
This is a teen caper movie with a cast that includes Chris Evans, Erika Christensen, Scarlett Johansson, and Leonardo Nam. High schoolers living in Princeton, New Jersey, decide to break into the offices of the organization that makes up the SAT, an exam widely used in the U.S. to screen university applicants. The kids' plan is to get the information they'll need to score high on the exam, enabling them to be admitted to the university of their choice.