Rating: Half-Full

 

Cast: Dennis Quaid, Jake Gyllenhaal, Ian Holm, Emmy Rossum and Sela Ward

 

Director: Roland Emmerich

 

Writers: Roland Emmerich and Jeffrey Nachmanoff

 

Producers: Mark Gordon and Roland Emmerich

 

Music by: Harold Kloser

 

Oscar Nominations: 0

 

Rated: PG-13 for intense situations of peril

 

Release Date: 05/28/04

 

Favorite Character: Sam Hall

 

Tagline: Now it’s fiction… Tomorrow it’s real

 

Quote: “I will come for you, do you understand me? I will come for you.”- Jack Hall

 

Fun Facts: South Park (1997) Creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone managed to get their hands on a copy of this film’s script during its pre-production. The two planned to secretly shoot the same film with puppets instead of actors, word for word, and release it on the same day. The duo abandoned these plans after their lawyer convinced them that such a film would never get released.

 

20^th Century Fox decided to preview the film for a group of scientists but they were pretty unimpressed with the science stuff in the film.

 

Lindsay Lohan was in talks to play Laura, and came close to signing a contract to star in the film. She had to back out last minute due to major scheduling conflicts.

 

The film was promoted with Countdown-to-Doomsday style clocks in Cinemas.

 

Summary: When the northern Hampshire plunges into ice age, a paleoclimatoligist must get to New York City to find his son and his friends.

 

The Review: As disaster films are fun for me, this one is pretty unrealistic. I mean, I love films that take you places and the story is great, but how in the world would things freeze real fast like that? On the other hand, it’s a thrill ride with excellent visual effects.

 

 

Rating: Full

Cast: Pauly Shore, Carla Gugino, Lane Smith and Cindy Pickett

Director: Steve Rash

Writers: Fax Bahr, Patrick J. Clifton, Peter M. Lenkov, Susan McMartin, Adam Small and Shawn Schepps

Producers: Peter M. Lenkov and Michael Rotenberg

Music by: Richard Gibbs

Oscar Nominations: 0

Rated: PG-13 for elements of sensuality

Release Date: 07/02/1993

Favorite Character:

Tagline: He’s a relative nightmare.

Quote: Crawl sings about the Hungry Man TV dinner he was about to eat. Mason Adams, who plays the grandfather in the film, was the voice over announcer at the time the film was released.

The Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist, Flea, appears as a tattoo artist.

Crawl was originally named “Snakes.”

Carla Gugino already has a butterfly tattoo so the tattoo part was added to the script.

Summary: A farm girl returns home from collage for thanksgiving, bringing along the relative’s worst nightmare…her collage neighbor who is a party animal.

The Review: Paul Shore is totally a zany party animal. A farm movie that’s for everyone. From L.A. to South Dakota. A thanksgiving tradition!

 

 

Rating: Full

 

Cast: Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duvall, Scatman Crothers and Danny Lloyd

 

Director: Stanley Kubrick

 

Writers: Stanley Kubrick and Diane Johnson

 

Producer: Stanley Kubrick

 

Music by: Wendy Carlos and Racheal Elkind

 

Oscar Nominations: 0

 

Rated: R

 

Release Date: 06/13/80

 

Favorite Character: Jack Torrence

 

Tagline: Stanley Kubrick’s epic nightmare of horror

 

Quote: “Here’s Johnny!”- Jack Torrance

 

Fun Facts: The famous quote ‘Here’s Johnny!’

 

In tribute to the film, the makers of “Toy Story” made the carpet in Sid’s house the same as the carpet from the famous hallways scene in The Shining.

 

The film is in the Guinness Book of Records for the most retakes of a single scene with 127 takes for a scene with Shelley Duvall.

 

The baseball bat which Wendy Torrance uses to hit Jack is signed by Boston Red Sox legend Carl Yastrzemski.

 

Summary: A new hotel caretaker and his family spend all winter in a hotel when he goes insane and his psychic son sees stuff from the past and the future.

 

The Review: Another Stephen King well adapted. Great Story and terrific performances. You’ll think twice before going to a Colorado hotel.

 

Rating: Full

 

Cast: Russell Crowe, Joaquin Phoenix, Connie Nelsen, Oliver Reed, Derek Jacobi, Djimon Hounsou and Richard Harris

 

Director: Ridley Scott

 

Writers: David Franzoni, John Logan and William Nicholson

 

Producers: Douglas Wick, David Franzoni and Branko Lustig

 

Music by: Hans Zimmer

 

Oscar Nominations: 12; Best Picture (Douglas Wick, David Franzoni and Branko Lustig), Best Actor (Russell Crowe), Best Supporting Actor (Joaquin Phoenix), Best Director (Ridley Scott), Best Original Screenplay (David Franzoni, John Logan and William Nicholson), Best Original Score (Hans Zimmer), Best Film Editing (Pietro Scalia), Best Cinematography (John Mathieson), Best Art Direction (Arthur Max and Crispian Sallis), Best Costume Design (Janty Yates), Best Visual Effects (John Nelson, Neil Corbould, Tim Burke and Rob Harvey) and Best Sound (Scott Millian, Bob Beemer and Ken Weston)

 

Oscar Wins: 5; Best Picture (Douglas Wick, David Franzoni and Branko Lustig), Best Actor (Russell Crowe), Best Costume Design (Janty Yates), Best Visual Effects (John Nelson, Neil Corbould, Tim Burke and Rob Harvey) and Best Sound (Scott Millan, Bob Beemer and Ken Weston)

 

Rated: R for intense, graphic combat

 

Release Date: V/V/MM (05/05/00)

 

Favorite Character: Maximus Decimus Meridius

 

Quote: “Are you not entertained? Are you not entertained? Is this not why you are here?”- Maximus Decimus Meriduis

 

Fun Facts: Mel Gibson turned down the role for Maximus, which is technically wasn’t Ridley Scott’s first choice for the role.

 

The forest for the opening scene was scheduled for the deforestation, so Scott got permission to burn it down for them.

 

Oliver Reed passed away before the film is finished, so Scott used CGI on another actor in order to finish the film with Reed’s character in it.

 

Russell Crowe had a lot of injuries while filming, he had an aggravated Achilles tendon, a broken foot, a cracked hip bone and popped bicep tendons and lost all feeling in his right forefinger for two years after the sword fight.

 

Summary: After the Emperor’s son betrayed the roman general and murdered his family, he came to Rome as a gladiator to seek revenge.

 

The Review: This is like ‘Game of Thrones’ but in roman times. It has some epicness in it, and the epicness is battles and Russell Crowe’s performance. But try not to use this for a school report on Roman history.