'Resident' latest flick
to bring video game to life
By Geronimo Rodriguez
Daily Cougar Staff
Note: The following is a list of films
opening this weekend. Along with a brief synopsis, the list is intended
to provide moviegoers with general
information about the films. These are
not movie reviews.
Milla Jovovich's Resident Evil is the latest
film based on a video game, the last being Angelina Jolie's Tomb Raider.
Although the game is set in a mansion infested
with monsters, the film version follows a military unit and how it combats
a supercomputer and
a slew of scientists who have mutated
into creatures.
Along with the beautiful Jovovich, the
action/thriller stars Michelle Rodriguez, Eric Mabius, James Purefoy, Colin
Salmon and Marisol Nichols.
Paul Anderson, who also directed Mortal
Combat and Event Horizon, wrote and directed this R-rated film.
In Showtime, Robert De Niro and Eddie Murphy
portray two cops who are called upon to star in a reality-based television
show.
The PG-13-rated comedy features De Niro
as a no-nonsense detective; Murphy takes the role of the out-of-control
rookie.
Rene Russo, William Shatner, Kadeem Hardison
and Aisha Tyler round out director Tom Dey's all-star cast.
Harrison's Flowers follows a woman who
refuses to believe her husband, a photojournalist, is dead after he fails
to return from an assignment
in war-ridden Yugoslavia.
The stunning Andie MacDowell fills the
lead role as Sarah Lloyd. David Strathairn portrays the husband, Harrison.
The R-rated drama marks the English-language
debut for French director Elie Chouraqui.
Last Orders is based on Graham Swift's
prize-winning novel of the same name.
It follows a group of friends as they follow
a friend's dying wish. Jack, played by award-winning actor Michael Caine,
asks them to deliver his
ashes to the sea.
Fred Schepisi also directed Bob Hoskins,
Helen Mirren, Tom Courtenay and Ray Winstone in the R-rated film.
Time of Favor is a psychological drama
about the relationship between two friends and their feelings toward one
woman.
It also examines the relationship between
the Israeli Orthodox nationalists and the military.
Directed by Joseph Cedar, the film won
the Israeli Oscar for Best Picture in 2000. The unrated Hebrew film is
subtitled in English.
The computer-generated animation film Ice
Age will aim to entertain kids this weekend. It follows an infant who is
found by a few animals and
how they attempt to reunite him with his
parents.
Manfred the Mammoth, Sid the Sloth, Diego
the Saber-toothed Tiger and Rhino are the talking creatures, voiced by
Ray Romano, John
Leguizamo, Denis Leary and Cedric the
Entertainer, respectively.
The PG-rated film is directed by Chris
Wedge, who won an Academy Award in 1998 for his animated short Bunny.
The Angelika Film Center continues its
Sensational Cinema program with the release of two films. Both are part
of its cinematic masterpiece
category and will run from March 15 to
21.
A 1975 comic masterpiece, Monty Python
and the Holy Grail, returns to the screen with additional footage and a
new soundtrack.
The spoof about King Arthur's quest for
the Holy Grail stars Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Eric Idle and Terry Gilliam.
Gilliam also wrote
and directed the PG-rated comedy.
In Delicatessen, French directors Jean-Pierre
Jeunet and Marc Caro tell a story about a butcher/landlord's answer to
the meat shortage in a
famine-stricken Paris.
His plans go awry, however, when his vegetarain
daughter falls for a man her father has intentions of butchering.
Along with a dark plot, it entertains with
compelling images and comedic scenarios.
