Spring 2005 Films

Kristen DiLeonardo

JANUARY

Assault on Precinct 13

January 19

Detroit’s Precinct 13 is closing on New Years Eve; the cops led by Sergeant Jake Roenick (Ethan Hawke) and their prisoners must join forces to fight for their lives against masked gunmen who are determined to breakout crime lord Marion Bishop (Laurence Fishburne). The prison bus carrying Bishop and other criminals is stranded at the soon to close Precinct 13. Amidst the celebrating, an arrival of transitory prisoners brings attack on precinct 13. Also starring: John Leguizamo, “Ja Rule”, Maria Bello, Aisha Hinds, Brian Dennehy, and Drea de Matteo. This remake of John Carpenter’s 1976 version of Precinct 13 may be a fantastically violent action film but critics say it lacks the intelligence of the original.

Hide and Seek

January 28

Come out, come out wherever you are…Hide and Seek, starring Robert DeNiro and Dakota Fanning, is a terrifying thriller to start off 2005. A widower (DeNiro) and his daughter (Fanning) move upstate where the young Emily creates an imaginary friend, Charlie. Emily’s frightening way of dealing with her mother’s death cause concern for her father and doctor, who soon come to realize that Charlie is very real. But that’s all I can tell you for now about this eerie nightmare, “If you want to know the secret, you have to play the game.”

FEBRUARY

The Wedding Date

February 4

February is a month for romantic comedies, The Wedding Date, starring Will & Grace’s Debra Messing is one of this months best. Kat (Debra Messing) a New York bachelorette is invited to her younger sister’s wedding where she discovers her ex-fiancé will be the best man. Desperate, Kat hires a professional escort Nick (Dermot Mulroney) to pose as her boyfriend at the wedding. Nick becomes something special to everyone at the wedding, especially to Kat who finds a second chance at love.

Hitch

February 11

Will Smith is the cure for the common man as Alex “Hitch” Hitchens. For a fee, the NYC date doctor helps countless men romance the women of their dreams. In the midst of assisting a shy accountant (Kevin James) Hitch meets his match, Sara – a gossip columnist (Eva Mendes). Sara may have just stumbled onto the scoop of a lifetime with the unmasking of the date doctor who has fallen desperately in love with her. Hitch promises to be a hilarious romantic comedy opening just in time for Valentine’s Day.

MARCH

Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous

March 18

Gracie Hart is about to become the “new face of the FBI”. Her fame brings her new assignments and a new bodyguard. As a team they don’t get along; but when they have to rescue her kidnapped best friends the two take Las Vegas by storm. Also starring: Regina King, Heather Burns and William Shatner.

The Ring Two

March 18

Six months after the horrifying events brought about by the videotape in Seattle, Rachel Keller (Naomi Watts) and her son Aidan (David Dorfman) move to Oregon for a new start. Rachel’s solace quickly turns to fear when local crime scene evidence includes a familiar, unmarked videotape. Keller fears that Samara has returned to continue the horrifying cycle of death that she began so long ago. Fans of The Ring are hoping for a film just as terrifying, but could a sequel live up to the first? Unlike the first, The Ring 2 does not mirror its Japanese counterpart Ringu 2, also by director Hideo Nakata. Starring: Naomi Watts, David Dorfman, Sissy Spacek and Simon Baker.

APRIL

The Amityville Horror

April 15

In 1974 on November 13th Long Island, New York experienced its own real life horror story. Based on a true story, the Amityville Horror is the shocking story of 23 year-old Ronald DeFeo who murdered his parents and four siblings while they slept in their beds. He claims that the voices told him to do it. One year later the Lutz family moved into 112 Ocean Avenue and they only last 28 days…visions and voices that once prompted the press to claim “The Devil is in New York” have returned. The Amityville Horror is one of the most terrifying haunted house stories of all time… because this time its all true. Starring: Ryan Reynolds, Melissa George, and Philip Baker Hall. Aside from slight exaggerations of what some say is the horrific truth, this film will haunt you to the core.

The Weatherman

April 1

David Spritz (Nicholas Cage) is a popular Chicago weatherman who has reached the peak of his career when a national morning TV show offers him a job. He must deal with the problems that come about when he wants to move his family to New York. David’s personal life is falling apart and the harder he tries to keep it all together the faster is falls apart. Starring: Nicholas Cage, Michael Caine, and Hope Davis.

MAY

Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith

May 19

The clone wars are ending after three years of fighting and Anakin Skywalker begins his journey to the dark side of the force – becoming the infamous Darth Vader. Anakins relationship with Obi-Wan Kenobi and his pregnant wife senator Amidala are in jeopardy. Now Chancellor Palpatine has become corrupt – proclaiming himself Emperor – with Anakin Skywalker’s help, he begins to turn the Republic into the Galactic Empire. At the end of the war another conflict is about to begin! Starring: Ewan McGregor, Hayden Christensen, Natalie Portman, Ian McDiarmid, Samuel L. Jackson and Jimmy Smits.

Madagascar

May 27

This is a comedy about a hilarious group of computer-animated friends from the New York’s Central Park Zoo. Marty the zebra, led by a group of penguins, tries to escape the zoo and roam the wild streets. His friends go after him, but they all get captured, crated and shipped to Africa – where they are all set free. The penguins sabotage the ship and the four friends are washed up on the shore of tropical Madagascar. Starring: Ben Stiller, Chris Rock, David Schwimmer and Jada Pinkett Smith.