71% (3) Joy Ride 97 min, R, [Mystery, Thriller] [John Dahl] [05 Oct 2001]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 66%, Rotten Tomatoes: 74%, Metacritic: 75%, External Reviews
Awards: 3 nominations.
Actors: Jessica Bowman, Leelee Sobieski, Paul Walker, Steve Zahn
Writer: Clay Tarver, J.J. Abrams
External Links: Wikipedia Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Website Language: English Country: USA
Plot: College student Lewis decides to drive across the country to see Venna, a friend who doesn't know that Lewis is interested in her romantically. Unfortunately for his plans, Lewis gets saddled with his raucous-spirited older brother, Fuller, whose on-the-road pranks get the brothers and Venna sucked into a nightmare when a psychotic truckdriver takes offense.
Rotten Tomatoes: After forays into film noir, thrillers, dramas, and even documentaries, director John Dahl tries the teen horror genre on for size. Paul Walker stars as Lewis Thomas, a college freshman embarking on a cross-country road trip during summer break to pick up his girlfriend Venna (Leelee Sobieski). Along for the ride is Lewis' brother Fuller (Steve Zahn), a practical joker who uses the car's CB radio to play a cruel prank on a lonely trucker known only by the handle Rusty Nail. The victim of Fuller's gag turns out to be a psychotic murderer and soon the brothers are being pursued by the relentless stalker, who gets his revenge in gruesome fashion. Joy Ride, which co-stars Matthew Kimbrough, was produced under the working title "Squelch." ~ Karl Williams, Rovi
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57% (3) My First Mister 109 min, R, [Comedy, Drama, Romance] [Christine Lahti] [26 Oct 2001]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 73%, Rotten Tomatoes: 52%, Metacritic: 48%, External Reviews
Awards: 1 nomination.
Actors: Albert Brooks, Henry Brown, Leelee Sobieski, Natasha Braisewell, Rutanya Alda
Writer: Jill Franklyn
External Links: Wikipedia Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Website Language: English Country: Germany, USA
Plot: Jennifer does not fit in. A total misfit, she's as wacky as a teenager can be. Goth-ed out with multiple piercings, tattoos, and dyed hair, she listens to strange music, watches vintage TV, eats primarily chocolate, and self injures. But now high school is over and she needs a job. Can she possibly have anything in common with the overweight middle-aged man in the haberdashery window? He gives her a job, not to mention a real friendship.
Rotten Tomatoes: Two people with seemingly nothing in common forge an unusual friendship in this comedy drama that marks the feature-length directorial debut of actress Christine Lahti. Jennifer (Leelee Sobieski) is a teenager in her last year of high school who feels cut off from the world around her. She uses black clothes, body modification, and a defiant attitude as a way of keeping the world at bay, but at heart she feels unattractive and unloved, while her parents -- cheerfully oblivious Mother (Carol Kane) and often-absent Benjamin (John Goodman) -- have no idea of how to communicate with her. One day Jennifer happens by a men's clothing store run by stuffy, middle-aged Randall (Albert Brooks); at first she makes fun of him, and he seems bemused by her, but she ends up asking for a job, and Randall gives her part-time work helping out in the stockroom. While Randall's strait-laced style is a 180-degree turn from Jennifer's goth-grunge persona, they soon learn they both have their share of problems with self-image and share a desperate need to be loved. Soon, "R" and "J" (as they like to call each other) have become fast friends, as she encourages him to take chances and try new experiences, and he tries to show her how to let down the walls she's built around herself and allow others to get to know the real Jennifer. My First Mister also features Mary Kay Place, Michael McKean, and Desmond Harrington.
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37% (3) The Glass House 106 min, PG-13, [Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller] [Daniel Sackheim] [14 Sep 2001]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 58%, Rotten Tomatoes: 21%, Metacritic: 34%, External Reviews
Awards: 3 nominations.
Actors: Bruce Dern, Diane Lane, Leelee Sobieski, Stellan Skarsgård
Writer: Wesley Strick
External Links: Wikipedia Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Website Language: English, Spanish, Greek Country: USA
Plot: When Ruby Baker's parents are killed in a car accident, she and her brother, Rhett, must travel to Malibu, to live with Terrence and Erin Glass, their former neighbors. At first, all seems well. Ruby is making new friends at school and Rhett is getting more video games and flashy toys than he's ever had in his life. When Ruby speaks to her family's estate lawyer, he tells her that her parents have left Rhett and her $4 million. Suddenly, Ruby begins to notice odd behavior from Terry and Erin.
Rotten Tomatoes: Follows four teenage girls striving to overcome drug addiction, abandonment and abuse by attending a rehabilitation center in Tehran.
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31% (3) Here on Earth 96 min, PG-13, [Drama, Romance] [Mark Piznarski] [24 Mar 2000]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 51%, Rotten Tomatoes: 17%, Metacritic: 25%, External Reviews
Awards: 2 nominations.
Actors: Chris Klein, Josh Hartnett, Leelee Sobieski, Michael Rooker
Writer: Michael Seitzman
External Links: Wikipedia Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Website Language: English Country: USA
Plot: The lives of three young people - a rich student, a girl from the "wrong side of the tracks" and her boyfriend - unexpectedly intersect during one fateful summer in the romantic drama "Here on Earth." Kelley Morse (Chris Klein), who is cocky and brash, normally would never have crossed paths with the residents of a small town near his posh private school. But when he takes his shiny new Mercedes out for a drive, he locks horns with some of the locals, including Jasper (Josh Hartnett). As Jasper's willful girlfriend Samantha (Leelee Sobieski) looks on, Kelley and Jasper engage in a dangerous car race that turns disastrous, leaving a popular diner owned by Samantha's mother in ruins. Kelley and Jasper are sentenced to a creatively ironic but fitting punishment: They must help rebuild the diner. Not only does this ruin Kelley's summer plans, he also must board at the home of his rival, Jasper. Kelley begins to fulfill his "sentence," but refuses to have anything to do with Jasper and his parents. When Kelley again encounters Samantha, the attraction is immediate and strong. First love blossoms in the Berkshire woods ("a little bit of heaven, here on earth," Samantha calls the pastoral setting), angering Jasper, who has known Samantha practically his entire life. These new feelings and the romantic triangle that develops are only the beginning of a new journey for Kelley, Samantha and Jasper, as they ultimately make life-changing discoveries about themselves and each other.
Rotten Tomatoes: In this romantic drama, a young man must make some difficult decisions when he discovers that his girlfriend's future is almost used up. Kelley (Chris Klein) and Samantha (Leelee Sobieski) are waiting out the summer after their high school graduation before moving on to college. Although Kelley comes from a wealthy family and Samantha's folks are working class, they soon find that they have more in common than they imagined, and they fall in love. However, Samantha's parents (Annette O'Toole and Bruce Greenwood) soon learn that their daughter has only a few more months to live. When Kelley learns the awful truth, he must decide if he should stay by the side of the first girl he's ever loved or obey his father's wishes and go to college. This was the second feature film for director Mark Piznarski, who has directed episodes of the TV series E.R., My So-Called Life, and Relativity, as well as the TV miniseries The 60s.
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19% (3) In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale 127 min, PG-13, [Action, Adventure, Fantasy, Thriller] [Uwe Boll] [11 Jan 2008]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 38%, Rotten Tomatoes: 4%, Metacritic: 15%, External Reviews
Awards: 4 wins & 5 nominations.
Actors: Jason Statham, John Rhys-Davies, Leelee Sobieski, Ray Liotta, Ron Perlman
Writer: Doug Taylor (screenplay), Jason Rappaport (story), Dan Stroncak (story), Doug Taylor (story), Chris Taylor (video game "Dungeon Siege")
External Links: Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Website Language: English Country: Germany, Canada, USA
Plot: Set in the kingdom of Ehb, the story follows Farmer (Jason Statham), who was adopted by his village. When Farmer's wife, Solana (Claire Forlani), and his son leave to sell vegetables at the town of Stonebridge, Farmer's farm is attacked by creatures called Krugs. With the help of his friend and neighbor Norrick (Ron Perlman), he travels to Stonebridge where his wife and son are. Before he arrives, the Krugs, controlled by the wizard Gallian (Ray Liotta), kill his son and capture his wife. Farmer, with the help of Bastian (Will Sanderson), his brother-in-law, and Norrick sets out to find and rescue his wife. The King's nephew Fallow (Matthew Lillard) is conspiring with the wizard Gallian to take over the kingdom led by King Konreid ('Burt Reynolds').
Rotten Tomatoes: Uwe Boll's fantasy adventure film In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale stars Jason Statham as Farmer, a simple man from the Kingdom of Ehb whose goal as the story begins is to care for his family. However, when the power-hungry Gallian (Ray Liotta) invades the kingdom, Farmer must abandon his simple existence in order to rescue his wife (Claire Forlani) and save his king (Burt Reynolds). This film is a cinematic adaptation of the video game Dungeon Siege. ~ Perry Seibert, Rovi
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86% (2) Uprising 177 min, Unrated, [Drama, War] [Jon Avnet] [04 Nov 2001]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 73%, Rotten Tomatoes: 100%, External Reviews
Awards: Nominated for 1 Golden Globe. Another 5 wins & 16 nominations.
Actors: David Schwimmer, Hank Azaria, Jon Voight, Leelee Sobieski
Writer: Paul Brickman, Jon Avnet
External Links: Wikipedia Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Language: English Country: USA
Plot: Using radically refashioned archival footage of the Warsaw ghetto, this interview with Jon Avnet the director of Uprising talks about Marek Edelman who is an evocative memoir of his role in the rebellion that held back the Nazis for almost a month in 1943. The film begins with the growing list of prohibitions and regulations leading to the virtual imprisonment of about half-a-million Polish Jews in an old slum district of Warsaw with inadequate space and plumbing. An overhead tracking shot shows the number of people assembled in the first months of the relocation. The daily struggle against hunger and disease, especially among the dispossessed arrivals seen in their pitful rags, is aggravated by the German demands for "deportations to the east" that many begin to suspect are camouflaged mass murders. By the close of 1942, people living in the ghetto realize they are doomed, and the rudiments of resistance are planned by a handful of the young, including Edelman. Following some sporadic, spontaneous fighting at the ghetto railhead, the Umschlagplatz, in January, led by Moredecai Anielewicz, the scene is set for the more famous and prolonged battle that will begin on 19 April 1943. In the intervening time, many of the ghetto residents construct hidden shelters or bunkers in the basements and cellars of the buildings, often with tunnels leading to other buildings. The handful of fighters who have weapons take to these shelters, giving the uprising the advantage of defensive positions.
Rotten Tomatoes: One of many "inspirational" programs shown in the months following the September 2001 Twin Towers tragedy in New York, Uprising is based on the true story of the Jewish Fighting Organization, a courageous band of youthful Polish guerillas and freedom fighters who refused to knuckle under to the Nazis during World War II. Led by schoolteacher Mordechai Anielewicz (Hank Azaria), the organization comes into being as the Warsaw Jewish ghetto is being systemically decimated and shipped off to the Treblinka death camp by the German occupational forces. From April 19 to May 16, 1943, Anielewicz' followers staged a valiant uprising, which, though ultimately unsuccessful in stopping the Nazi "final solution" juggernaut, inflicted an enormous amount of damage upon the enemy and enabled hundreds of Polish Jews to escape the gas ovens and crematoriums. Much of the story is based upon the eyewitness testimony of surviving freedom fighter Simha "Kazik" Rotem, portrayed in the film by Stephen Moyer. Director Jon Avnet brilliantly combines newly filmed scenes with digitally refashioned archival footage of the actual uprising. Filmed in Bratisla, Slovakia, and boasting an all-star cast, Uprising was shown in two two-hour installments on November 4 and 5, 2001, over the NBC network.
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36% (2) The Wicker Man 102 min, PG-13, [Horror, Mystery, Thriller] [Neil LaBute] [01 Sep 2006]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 37%, Metacritic: 36%, External Reviews
Awards: 2 wins & 7 nominations.
Actors: Ellen Burstyn, Frances Conroy, Kate Beahan, Leelee Sobieski, Nicolas Cage
Writer: Neil LaBute (screenplay), Anthony Shaffer
External Links: Wikipedia Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Language: English Country: USA, Germany, Canada
Plot: While recovering from a tragic accident on the road, the patrolman Edward Malus receives a letter from his former fiancée Willow, who left him years ago without any explanation, telling that her daughter Rowan is missing. Edward travels to the private island of Summerisle, where Willow lives in an odd community that plant fruits, and she reveals that Rowan is actually their daughter. Along his investigation with the hostile and unhelpful dwellers, Edward discloses that the locals are pagans, practicing old rituals to improve their harvest, and Rowan is probably alive and being prepared to be sacrificed. When he locates the girl, he finds also the dark truth about the wicker man.
Rotten Tomatoes: Featuring dramatizations by Oscar-winning actress Anne Baxter and Tony winner George Rose, this 1983 documentary looks at the life and works of Englishman William Blake, a prolific poet, engraver, painter and mystic. Though his symbolic expressions of religious visions -- especially in his book &NFi;The Marriage of Heaven and Hell&NFi_; -- brought the innovative Blake a measure of fame, his genius went largely unrecognized during his lifetime.
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