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Cornelia Funke?s best-selling novel, INKHEART, comes to life in director Iain Softley?s (THE SKELETON KEY, THE WINGS OF THE DOVE) feature-film adaptation of the same name. For 12 years, bookbinder Mo (Brendan Fraser) and his daughter, Meggie (Eliza Hope Bennett), have been traveling the world, poking around secondhand bookstores. Meggie correctly assumes that her father is looking for her mother, Resa (Sienna Guillory), who disappeared without a trace. What Meggie doesn?t know is that Mo is a Silvertongue, and when he reads a story aloud, the details and characters come to vivid life. But when a character comes out of a book, someone has to go back in, and Mo is searching a copy of the book, titled "Inkheart," into which Resa literally disappeared. When Mo read the story aloud, unaware of his powers, she was sucked into the story, and the fantastical novel?s villainous characters were released. Now, Mo and Meggie have to keep evil Capricorn and his henchmen from realizing their diabolical plot, and send everyone back where they belong. INKHEART is awash with colorful details. Capricorn has had to make do with a stuttering Silvertongue who delivers characters that are half-read: text from the book is tattooed on their faces, or they suffer some other malady, emerging from the book mute or with an odd physical feature. Paul Bettany is engaging as Dustfinger, a character who desperately wants to be read back into "Inkheart" and return to his family, portrayed by Bettany?s real-life love, Jennifer Connelly, in a miss-her-if-you-blink performance. Helen Mirren is good fun as eccentric, feisty bibliophile Aunt Elinor, and Jim Broadbent appears as the novel?s author, who is enthralled by the possibilities of Mo?s gift. (1 hr. 43 min.)
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In the hallowed tradition of such coming-of-age comedies as PORKY'S and AMERICAN PIE, Sean Anders's SEX DRIVE is a genial and hilariously juvenile adventure about misguided intentions and true love. As the film opens, we meet the sensitive and lovelorn Ian Lafferty (Josh Zuckerman). Taunted by his testosterone-addled older brother, Rex (an excellent James Marsden), and shunned by his co-worker/dream girl, Ian takes solace in a raunchy Internet romance with a blonde beauty known as Ms. Tasty. With college approaching and his virginity still intact, Ian allows his friend--and least likely Lothario--Lance (Clarke Duke) to talk him into driving from Chicago to Knoxville. There, Ms. Tasty has promised Ian a wild ride of a more intimate nature. Complicating this lusty road trip is the boys' pilfering of Rex's beloved muscle car, as well as the presence of Ian's other best friend, Felicia (Amanda Crew). On the road to Knoxville the trio will encounter engine breakdowns, jilted backwater boyfriends, abstinent temptresses, and an Amish farmer (Seth Green) as handy with autos as he is quick with sarcasm. But as the action comes to a head in Knoxville, Ian and Felicia must confront the greatest hurdle yet: their feelings for each other. Will sex ruin the bonds of friendship? Will Lance change his carefree ways after an Amish assignation? And will Rex beat Ian to a bloody pulp once he catches up with Ian? Director Sean Anders fills SEX DRIVE with just the right mix of bawdy gags, sharp laughs and emotional honesty. The result is a randy romp that remains true to the lessons of its forefathers: love is never the trip you expect it to be. (1 hr. 49 min.)
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A new and rebellious patient is brought to a small mental institution where his antics endear the other patients to him and incur the wrath of the stern and repressive nurse who runs their ward. (2 hrs. 13 min.)
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A young woman is forced to confront the horrors of her past after returning to her childhood home and being stalked by a psychotic ex-military sniper (Michael Madsen). Michael Berryman and Natasha Lyonne co-star. (1 hr. 17 min.)
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In director Wolfgang Petersen's charming fantasy, Bastian (Barrett Oliver), a lonely schoolboy alienated from his father and bullied by his classmates, retreats to an attic where he becomes engrossed in a book entitled THE NEVERENDING STORY. It is the tale of a magical kingdom appropriately named Fantasia, since it is a world born of human fantasies. However, as humanity loses faith in the power of imagination, the once-thriving Fantasia is being destroyed by great storms of Nothingness. Dangerously ill herself, Fantasia's youthful empress (Tami Stronach) sends the young warrior Atreju (Noah Hathaway) on a quest to find a cure for the kingdom. After encountering flying dragons, swamp monsters and a vast assortment of other strange creatures, the young hero discovers that only a human boy can save Fantasia, at which point Bastian is drawn, literally, into the pages of the story. (1 hr. 34 min.)
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James, a lonely orphan, is sent to live with his wicked and greedy Aunts Spiker and Sponge. Unwanted and forced to perform their menial chores, the boy dreams about going to New York City--a place, his father once told him, where dreams come true. Then James meets a mysterious old man who gives him a bag of magical glowing green things (crocodile tongues) and tells him that marvelous things will happen. Racing home, James accidentally spills the contents of the bag at the base of a barren old peach tree. To his astonishment, a peach instantly appears on the branch and grows and grows until it reaches 20 feet in diameter. Hungry and curious, James sneaks out that evening and takes a bite of the peach. When a glowing tunnel appears, the frightened boy ventures inside and meets Centipede, Earthworm, Ladybug, Glowworm, Grasshopper and Miss Spider. Rolling out to sea, the giant peach launches its passengers on a series of wildly imaginative adventures with New York City! as their final destination. (1 hr. 20 min.)
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A jaded ex-cop in a totalitarian future is forced out of retirement to hunt down a group of genetically engineered superhumans bred for slavery. Seeing their heroic struggle against an inhuman system, he ultimately falls in love with one of them. This visually dazzling and boldly moral film caught many critics napping when it first came out. In the Director's Cut version of the film, the director has removed the voice-over narration, as well as the "up" ending that was made from outtakes of Kubrick's "The Shining." Several key never-before-seen elements have also been added and the result is a full immersion in Scott's gaudy, decaying police state. Based on the novel "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" by Philip K. Dick. Academy Award Nominations: Best Art Direction-Set Direction, Best Visual Effects. (1 hr. 57 min.)
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A young boy moves to Florida and encounters a series of mysteries while trying to save a group of endangered owls. (1 hr. 30 min.)
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