September 25
A Knight’s Tale
This is an action/adventure movie set in medieval England, but featuring a rock music soundtrack. Crowds at jousting matches do the wave while Queen’s "We Will Rock You" is played. When a knight dies, his servant William (Heath Ledger) takes his place in a tournament. William wins the tournament and sets out to win the championship from the evil Count Adhemar (Rufus Sewell). With the help of some papers forged by a compulsive gambler named Chaucer (Paul Bettany), William participates in a series of jousting matches. Along the way William has some revolutionary armor made by a female blacksmith (Laura Fraser) and falls in love to David Bowie’s "Golden Years" with the lovely Jocelyn (Shannyn Sossamon). Other musical numbers include "The Boys Are Back in Town" by Thin Lizzy and "Takin’ Care of Business" by Bachman-Turner Overdrive.
Along Came a Spider
Morgan Freeman and Monica Potter star in this suspense thriller about law enforcement dealing with a deranged criminal. Dr. Alex Cross (Freeman) is a Washington, D.C., police detective whose specialty is forensic psychology. Cross and Secret Service agent Jezzie Flannigan (Potter) work together on a case involving the kidnapping of a Senator’s daughter. The kidnapper is a man named Gary Soneji (Michael Wincott), who has a strange obsession with the famous kidnapping of the Lindbergh baby in the 1930s. Soneji plays a bizarre cat-and-mouse game with Cross and Jezzie, as they try to work through the cryptic clues he deliberately gives them and safely recover the kidnapped girl.
Amores Perros (Life’s a Bitch)
Set in Mexico City, Amores Perros is a Spanish-language drama that tells three interlinked stories. The first story is about a poor young man named Octavio, who is in love with his brother’s wife Susana. To raise money to run off with Susana, Octavio enters his canine Cofi in dog-fighting contests, but then Octavio has a bad auto accident while speeding along with the bloody Cofi. The second story concerns Valeria, a model seriously injured in the accident, and Daniel, a middle-aged executive who has left his wife and family to move in with her. But Valeria’s little dog gets lost under the floor, and Daniel and Valeria struggle to come to terms with her injury. The third story is about El Chivo (Emilio Echevarria), who witnesses the auto accident and rescues Cofi. El Chivo is paid to kill someone, and while preparing for that, he seeks his daughter Maru.
The Forsaken
The Forsaken is a horror film about vampires. Sean (Kerr Smith of Dawson’s Creek) is driving from Los Angeles to Miami when he picks up a hitchhiker named Nick (Brendan Fahr). Along the way, the two young men try to help a confused young woman named Megan (Izabella Miko). Both Nick and Megan have already been bitten by vampires, and Megan involuntarily bites Sean, infecting him also. However, Nick is aware that if they can hunt down and kill head vampire Kit (Johnathon Schaech), they can avoid turning into vampires themselves. But Kit and his great-looking ghoul-friend Cym (Phina Oruche) are trying to finish off Sean, Nick, and Megan first. Somehow all this involves more female breasts than might be expected. On Rotten Tomatoes, 94 percent of the critics found this movie to be rotten.
Kingdom Come
Featuring an all-star cast, Kingdom Come is a character-driven comedy/drama about an African American family that assembles for the funeral of the family patriarch. The deceased wasn’t all that lovable, and his widow Raynelle (Whoopi Goldberg) wants "Mean and Surly" put on his tombstone. Among those at the funeral are Raynelle’s son (LL Cool J), a mechanic, and his wife (Vivica A. Fox), who has just had a miscarriage. Also in attendance are Raynelle’s daughter Charisse (Jada Pinkett Smith) and her cheating husband (Anthony Anderson). Another family member present is the deceased’s religious sister (Loretta Devine), who’s feuding with her slacker adult son (Darius McCrary). A wealthy distant relative (Toni Braxton) also shows up, and the funeral is presided over by a flatulent minister (Cedric the Entertainer).
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