CAST: Edward Norton, Rosario Dawson, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Barry Pepper, Anna Paquin, Brian Cox, Tony Siragusa
SYNOPSIS: Norton has one more day of freedom before he starts a seven-year prison sentence for dealing heroin. He spends it rambling through nightclubs with two old friends.
WHAT WE SAID: St. Petersburg Times film critic Steve Persall gave 25th Hour a D when he reviewed it in January. "Spike Lee has never made a movie as listless and ultimately pointless as 25th Hour," Persall said. "The movie appears to have been constructed around the coincidence that Lee had the first opportunity to incorporate the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on his beloved New York City into a film, (but) without social commentary and populated by characters impossible to support, Lee's movie is too long, somber and misguided to matter."
MPAA RATING: R (harsh profanity, violence, nudity, sexual situations, drug references)
RUNNING TIME: 134 minutes
DVD FEATURES: Commentaries by Lee and writer/author David Benioff, deleted scenes, The Evolution of an American Filmmaker featurette, Ground Zero: A Tribute, widescreen format.
Adaptation
DIRECTOR: Spike Jonze
CAST: Nicolas Cage, Meryl Streep, Chris Cooper, Tilda Swinton, Brian Cox, Judy Greer, Maggie Gyllenhaal
SYNOPSIS: Cage plays frustrated screenwriter Charlie Kaufman, who has writer's block as he tries to adapt for the screen The Orchid Thief, a book about rare flowers and an intelligent redneck stealing them from nature preserves. Cage also plays Charlie's twin brother, Donald, who takes over the typewriter and turns the story into everything Charlie doesn't want it to be. Streep co-stars as author Susan Orlean, and Cooper won a best supporting actor Oscar for his role as the orchid thief.
WHAT WE SAID: Persall gave Adaptation an A- when he reviewed it in January. "Adaptation is a movie about making a movie based upon a book that can't possibly be filmed, looping around that inevitable failure until viewers get dizzy. . . . It seems like a public service to warn moviegoers that the movie they think they're watching isn't the movie they'll wind up with unless they're willing to invest a lot of thought and a second viewing to find it. . . . Subplots are exclusively the plot of Adaptation, shuffled with the frantic precision of a writer beating his block. It's a daring experiment that will frustrate some viewers, especially when those subplots become moot in the final act, just when we're getting comfortable with the filmmakers' criss-cross style."
MPAA RATING: R (profanity, sexual situations, drug abuse, violence, brief nudity)
RUNNING TIME: 114 minutes
DVD FEATURES: Theatrical trailers, mastered in high definition, widescreen format
Antwone Fisher
DIRECTOR: Denzel Washington
CAST: Derek Luke, Denzel Washington, Joy Bryant, Salli Richardson, Novella Nelson
SYNOPSIS: Washington makes his directorial debut and Luke makes his starring debut as Fisher, a Navy seaman whose violent outburst sends him to a psychologist played by Washington. The script was penned by the real Fisher from his autobiography.
WHAT WE SAID: "An impressive newcomer, Derek Luke, plays Fisher as a man-child haunted by a sordid past in a bad foster home," Persall said in December, giving the film an A-. "Antwone Fisher is sturdy filmmaking inspired by an extraordinary life. Some may complain about Washington's lack of visual ingenuity or the film's steady march to a feel-good finale. Normally, so would I. But there is something sincere about Luke's face, Washington's patience and especially Fisher's resilience that won me over, as it will for any moviegoer with a heart."
MPAA RATING: PG-13 (mature themes including child abuse, profanity, violence)
RUNNING TIME: 113 minutes
DVD FEATURES: Commentary by Washington and producer Todd Black, Meeting Antwone Fisher featurette, The Making of Antwone Fisher behind-the-scenes featurette,Hollywood and the Navy featurette, widescreen format
Max
DIRECTOR: Menno Meyjes
CAST: John Cusack, Noah Taylor, Leelee Sobieski, Molly Parker SYNOPSIS: Young Adolf Hitler (Taylor) frets about being a misunderstood painter, then gets help from a Jewish gallery owner (Cusack).
WHAT WE SAID: Persall gave the film a D when he reviewed it in December. "Max isn't smart enough to be considered tasteless, or brave enough to delve into its tagline equation of "Art+
Politics = Power.' It's just Springtime for Hitler without the laughs."
MPAA RATING: R (language)
RUNNING TIME: 108 minutes
Star Trek: Nemesis
DIRECTOR: Stuart Baird
CAST: Patrick Stewart, Brent Spiner, LeVar Burton, Jonathan Frakes, Michael Dorn, Marina Sirtis, Gates McFadden, Tom Hardy, Ron Perlman, Dina Meyer
SYNOPSIS: The Next Generation crew of the starship Enterprise takes its final movie voyage. Capt. Picard (Stewart) is lured to an enemy planet by promises of a peace treaty, unaware that a Romulan plot exists to clone him for evil purposes.
WHAT WE SAID: Times television critic Eric Deggans, who reviewed this movie in December, gave it a B. "Nemesis has detailed, state-of-the-art digital effects; meaty scenes for Patrick Stewart's Captain Jean-Luc Picard and Brent Spiner's android Data; movie-level production values; and two (count 'em!) Kirk-style, hand-to-hand fight scenes. But Trekkers will also find a lot of holes in the complex, roller-coaster-quick plot, with too many twists you can see coming a mile away."
MPAA RATING: PG-13
RUNNING TIME: 116 minutes
DVD FEATURES: Commentary by Baird, four documentaries, deleted scenes, photo gallery, widescreen format
