Here's a selection of new movies on DVD for December 2008.
In this sequel to
Batman Begins (2005), Christopher Nolan is back as director, as is Christian Bale in the dual roles of the Caped Crusader and Bruce Wayne. Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman and Gary Oldman reprise their roles from the earlier film, but Maggie Gyllenhaal replaces Katie Holmes as Rachel Dawes. Rachel was Bruce Wayne's longtime love, but she is now dating District Attorney Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart). But
The Dark Knight is mostly about the battle of wills between Batman and the movie's creepy, demonic villain, the Joker (the late Heath Ledger).
Keira Knightley and Ralph Fiennes star in this historical drama set in late 18th-century England that is based on a true story. Georgiana Spencer (Knightley) was in her teens when her mother (Charlotte Rampling) arranged her marriage to the Duke of Devonshire (Fiennes), and thus she became the Duchess. Her marriage was loveless and her husband took a mistress, but Georgiana became popular with the aristocratic set. She worked for Whig causes and entered into an affair with up-and-coming politician Earl Grey (Dominic Cooper), who has a tea named for him.
Anna Faris stars in this PG-13 comedy about a former Playboy bunny who finds fulfillment in teaching sorority girls how to make themselves more attractive. Shelley Darlingson (Faris) is a 27-year-old bunny who gets expelled from Hugh Hefner's mansion. Needing a place to live, she happens upon the Zeta sorority house, where there are only a few girls. Zeta isn't getting many new members because the current ones are all awkward and unpopular. Then Shelley educates the girls about makeup, hair and clothes, and she helps them organize a big party.
This action-adventure movie is the third in the series that began with
The Mummy (1999) and
The Mummy Returns (2001). Brendan Fraser is back as archaeologist Rick O'Connell, but his wife Evelyn is now portrayed by Maria Bello (replacing Rachel Weisz). This time around the story is set in 1946 China, and Rick and Evelyn's young adult son Alex (Luke Ford) plays a major role. He awakens the ancient Dragon Emperor (Jet Li), who was cursed by a sorceress (Michelle Yeoh). There's spectacle and action, and actress Isabella Leong provides a love interest for Alex.
This dramedy has an all-female cast that includes Meg Ryan, Annette Bening, Eva Mendes, Debra Messing, Jada Pinkett Smith, Carrie Fisher, Cloris Leachman, Debi Mazar, Bette Midler and Candice Bergen. The movie is an update of the 1939 film of the same name directed by George Cukor, which was based on the play by Clare Booth Luce. The new movie is written and directed by Diane English, creator of TV's
Murphy Brown. The story centers on what happens to four friends (Ryan, Bening, Messing and Smith) after one of their husbands gets into an affair with Mendes' character.
Don Cheadle stars in this thriller about Islamic terrorism. The central character is Samir Horn (Cheadle), an observant Muslim who is the son of an American mother and a Sudanese father. Samir works with a terrorist group being tracked by FBI agents played by Guy Pearce and Neal McDonough. Another key character is the CIA operative portrayed by Jeff Daniels. The film's plot is intricate, and the story unfolds like a jigsaw puzzle as it hopscotches to various locations. Even as Samir helps the terrorists prepare a deadly attack, it's difficult to tell where his loyalties lie.
Directed by Timur Bekmambetov (
Night Watch,
Day Watch), this bang-and-boom, relentlessly violent, extremely kinetic actioner stars James McAvoy, Angelina Jolie and Morgan Freeman. Wesley Gibson (McAvoy) is a mild-mannered Chicago office worker until he meets Fox (Jolie), who reveals to him he is a member of an ancient secret organization called the Fraternity, which kills bad people. It turns out the Fraternity is headed up by Sloan (Freeman) and gets its orders in the form of cloth woven on the Loom of Fate. After training, Wesley becomes an avenging assassin.
