Minnie Driver

Cinderella is a Tamil movie starring Raai Laxmi in a prominent role. It is a fantasy horror thriller directed by Vinod Venkatesh.

A happily married professor, known for having many affairs with students, becomes the prime suspect when a young woman has gone missing. Evan Birch is a family man and esteemed professor at a distinguished college, where his charm and reputation have made his philosophy class very popular. When a female student named Joyce goes missing, Evan's previous off-campus dalliances make his wife question his alibi. Gruff police Detective Malloy has even more reason to be suspicious when crucial evidence makes Evan the prime suspect in Joyce's disappearance. Suddenly, the questions Evan faces aren't merely academic--they're a matter of life or death. Suave philosophy professor and loving family man, Evan Birch, is still trying to put the past behind him, and the hurtful experience that almost ruined his marriage several years earlier. However, the refined intellectual lands in a tight spot once again, when popular high-school cheerleader Joyce Bonner goes missing, bringing grizzled police detective Malloy to his doorstep. Little by little, minor slips of the tongue and strange inconsistencies in his statements will make Evan the prime suspect, putting to the test his already-shaky alibi. Is Evan really involved in the young girl's disappearance? —Nick Riganas Respected philosophy professor Evan Birch leads a carefree life as a family man. At least, that's how it appears at first glance. In reality, however, Birch has a tendency to have affairs with his female students. He even had to leave his old job due to an incident in the past and is therefore anything but a model husband. When 17-year-old cheerleader Joyce Bonner disappears at a lake, Birch finds himself in serious trouble. The investigator in charge, Malloy, follows a lead that takes him straight to Evan Birch: shortly before the young woman's disappearance, the professor's car was seen near the lake. Birch can hardly believe what he is being accused of and refuses to cooperate with the authorities. However, due to his massive memory lapses, he nevertheless becomes frightened: Could he really be capable of kidnapping or even murder? Malloy also turns his attention to Birch's immediate circle and questions his wife Ellen. She is irritated that Birch is refusing to cooperate with the investigators, but believes it to be a harmless misunderstanding. While Birch struggles to remember the day of the murder, Malloy continues his investigation undeterred, determined to uncover the truth. But is there such a thing as universal truth? —3sat

Set in contemporary rural China, Xiaoyu (Liang Yongni), a young married woman, ended her own life after she was interrogated by the police about her past. She was slandered for prostitution activity when she was living in the city. The widowed husband (Su Hao) embarks on a journey to uncover his deceased wife's past. He slowly learns about the course of Xiaoyu's life in the city through people who knew her-once a naive woman from a small village, Xiaoyu was gradually engulfed in the urban life with the promise of money and comfort. A heartbreaking modern parable of shattering dreams and innocence. —Fumiko Miyamoto

A retired film star's wedding to her fourth husband brings chaos when their families (and her ex-husband) show up for the festivities.

Ella Enchanted is a modern-day Cinderella fairy tale staring Anne Hathaway. Ella is given the gift of obedience by her fairy godmother (Vivica A. Fox). Ella must obey any orders that are given to her by anyone. Her mother knew about the spell and did not use it to hurt Ella. Ella's mother dies and a few years later, her father remarries. Her new stepmother has two mean daughters. They find out about the spell, and they begin to order Ella to steal items at the store and do as they wish. Ella runs into the prince and soon falls in love. Ella searches for her fairy godmother and pleads with her to take away the gift, so she can be normal. Douglas Young (the-movie-guy) Ella is born into an ordinary household. Her mother is a fairy and there is another household fairy, Mandy living at their house. Ella's fairy godmother, Lucinda, comes when Ella is just a baby. Ella's mother and Mandy try to hide her, but Lucinda finds Ella and gives her the "gift" of obedience. Because of this, Ella must obey any order given to her by anyone. Even with this curse, Ella grows up to be a strong-hearted young lady. In school, when she is a kid, she saves a girl called Areida and they grow up to be bestfriends. Ella's mother then falls very ill. She tells Ella not to tell anyone about the curse and says "whatever anyone says, what is inside you is stronger than any spell." She then gives Ella her necklace and dies. Now Ella is a grown woman. Her father gives her the news that he has married again, to a rich woman called Dame Olga, because they need the money. Dame Olga and her two daughters Hattie and Olive come to live at their house. Almost immediately, Ella's father goes away on a job. Hattie orders Ella to do things and soon she finds out that Ella has to obey every command. Meanwhile, Prince Char comes to their town with his Uncle who is the temporary king. He is a handsome young man and all the women, including Hattie and Olive has a crush on him. But Ella is against him because she does not like Char's uncle's ruling and she thinks that Char is also like that. Later she meets Char and after he saves her from a horse-drawn carriage coming towards her, they start talking. But they're soon interrupted by Hattie and Olive; Hattie orders off Ella and Olive and tries to chat up Char, but he runs away. Ella and Areida are at the marketplace and Hattie and Olive see them. Hattie orders Ella to steal some glass shoes on a nearby display, but a guard spots her. Ella starts running and after a long chase he catches her. At home, Dame Olga scolds Ella. Hattie tells Ella to say that it was Areida who told her to steal. So when Dame Olga asks, Ella is forced to say Areida and Dame Olga orders Ella to tell Areida that she couldn't ever see her again. Areida comes to see Ella and Ella says what Dame Olga said. Later, Ella decides to go look for Lucinda and ask her to take away the curse. Mandy gives Ella a book and tells her it's Benny, her boyfriend, whom she accidently turned into a book. Benny is able to show Ella a picture of anyone in their present surroundings and also maps and other useful information. Ella asks to see Lucinda and they see that Lucinda is in Giantville because everything else around her is huge. Ella then sets off with Benny. Benny shows Ella a map of the forest. Suddenly they come to a clearing where two people are teasing / hurting an elf. Ella saves the elf, Slannen, and he takes her to an elf restaurant to eat. Meanwhile, an invitation to the Prince's coronation ball arrives for Ella, and Dame Olga, Hattie and Olive get it. Slannen sets off with Ella to look for Lucinda. In the forest they encounter some ogres. Ella was told not to speak and not to move. Then they tied her up and hung her down from a tree branch over a boiling pot. Slannen is tied to another tree. Just as they were lowering Ella to the pot, Prince Char arrives, saves Ella and defeats the ogres. He thinks that the ogres killed his father. Ella talks to Char about how bad the giants are treated, but Char says that his uncle probably doesn't know about that. So he goes to Giantville with Ella and sees that the giants are being treated as slaves. Ella, Char, Slannen and Benny go to a giants' bar where Ella learns that Lucinda has already left the place. Char talks to a giant and tells him that once he becomes king, the giants won't be slaves. Char asks Ella to stay there that night and resume the search for Lucinda tomorrow. They have a fun night at the end of which they kiss. Char tells her that he may be able to help her find Lucinda using the books at the library at his castle. So the next day they go to the castle. At the castle, Char and Ella meet Hattie with a group of other women who are on a tour of the castle. Ella and Char run away and they meet Char's uncle Edgar and his pet snake. Ella is introduced to Edgar and then she goes off to the library with Benny. In the mean time, Char tries to talk to Edgar about the giant enslavement and how the elves aren't allowed to do anything but sing and dance (Slannen wants to be a lawyer). Edgar says they'll talk about it after the coronation ceremony. Char then reveals to Edgar that he plans on asking Ella to marry him at the ball at midnight. Same time and same place where his father proposed to his mother. Ella finds a clue to Lucinda's whereabouts in Benny's book. Meanwhile, Hattie and Olive are chatting with Edgar. Hattie tells Edgar that Ella does everything she's told, that she can't help it. In return, Edgar says that Hattie can have Char's hand in marriage when he becomes king. Edgar then goes to the library and tells Ella that Char will take her to the hall of mirrors and ask her a question. And at the stroke of midnight, Ella has to plunge a dagger (Edgar takes out a dagger) through Char's heart and kill him. Edgar says that it's lucky Ella's here because then he won't have to do it himself. Ella is shocked that he's willing to kill his own nephew. Edgar reveals that in fact, it was he who killed his brother, Char's father, the king. Then Edgar orders Ella's not to tell anyone about this. Ella quickly goes to find Lucinda, but a fairy there tells her that Lucinda was thrown out of there. Beaten, Ella writes a letter to Char saying that they couldn't be together. Then Ella tells Slannen to chain and padlock her to a huge tree in the middle of a meadow, away from the castle. After that she tells Slannen to go to the castle, find Benny, and to keep Edgar away from Char. At 23:30 that night Lucinda suddenly appears in the meadow. Ella begs her to take the gift back. Lucinda is offended and tells her that she has to get rid of it herself. To "prove what a gem she is," Lucinda then unchains Ella from the tree amid her protests and suggests that she should be at the ball dancing with the Prince. Lucinda then magically prepares Ella for the ball with a beautiful white gown. Ella is forced to go to the ball where she immediately meets Char. She tells him that she loves him when he asked to tell him how she really feels about him. Then he tells her to come with him and takes her to the hall of mirrors. The time is 23:57. There Ella starts crying and tries to explain to Char what's happening when he proposes. But Char doesn't understand. All this time, Edgar is watching the whole thing. As the clock strikes midnight, Ella starts sobbing and we see the dagger behind her back. Char hugs her to try to comfort her. Ella raises the dagger over Char, but using all her strength she fights against plunging it into him. She has flashbacks and suddenly remembers what her mother told her before she died. "What's inside you is stronger than any spell." Then Ella screams, "You will no longer be obedient!" and Char looks up and sees the dagger in Ella's hand in the reflection. The spell is broken. Ella drops the dagger but Char thinks that Ella tried to kill him. Edgar barges in and calls the guards and orders them to take Ella away to the dungeon. Char is having trouble believing that Ella might hurt him, so Edgar and his pet snake tell Char that, what happened in the forest with the ogres, was all planned by Ella and the ogres so that she could get close to Char and kill him. Edgar tells Char to concentrate on tomorrow's coronation ceremony and leave Ella to him. Later Edgar tells the snake that he has an idea on how to prevent Char from becoming king. The next day, Slannen comes to the castle with some elfin friends and two giants. They find Benny in the rubbish bin outside. Slannen rescues him and Benny shows them that Ella is in the dungeon. The three ogres from the forest also join them in the rescue mission. They get into the castle by hiding themselves in a carriage driven by Slannen who is disguised as the executioner. Meanwhile, the coronation ceremony is starting. Slannen gets the guard to open the dungeon doors by saying that he is Ella's lawyer. The ogres then disable the guard and Slannen releases Ella. Ella asks Benny to show Edgar. They see Edgar placing a poisoned crown in the place of the original crown. Ella, Slannen, and the others dash off. Just as the poisoned crown is about to be placed on Char's head, they burst through the hall doors and a huge fight erupts. Char jumps in to save Ella. During the fight, Ella explains to Char what really happened right down to where Edgar poisoned Char's crown. Mandy tries to change Benny back to a real man and gets it on the second try and Benny joins in the fight too. Ella then takes Char aside and tells him that Edgar is the one who killed Char's father. Char is unable to believe it and Edgar comes and says, "Of course it's not true. Who are you going to believe, a lying twit or the man who raised you?" At that point Ella sees that Edgar's snake is about to strike Char and steps on it. All the women there attack the snake because it was about to kill their beloved Char. Char finally believes everything Ella told him. Edgar is very angry and starts shouting. In his excitement he forgets that the crown is poisoned and places it on his head and immediately passes out. Ella and Char get married. [By: Shuwey]

Bob Rueland (David Duchovny) and his wife Elizabeth (Joely Richardson) are deeply in love. She is a dedicated animal psychologist specializing in great apes, who has for 16 years worked with a gorilla at the Chicago zoo. Bob is a builder, and he is very committed to a project to build a wonderful new gorilla enclosure at the zoo, to his wife's design. Grace Briggs (Minnie Driver) is an orphan who has been brought up by her devoted grandfather Marty O'Reilly (Carroll O'Connor) who is proprietor of an Italian restaurant, the chef being Marty's dear friend Angelo Pardipillo (Robert Loggia). Grace's great friend is Megan Dayton (Bonnie Hunt), married to the chauvinistic but clumsily chivalrous Joe (James Belushi). Grace has a weak heart, caused by incurable disease, and needs a transplant. One night, after a gala with guest in evening dress, Elizabeth is fatally injured and dies in the hospital. She's a donor and her heart is transplanted into Grace. Bob is devastated and so is Elizabeth's dog Mel, which pines for her in their apartment hallway for months. During this time Grace gradually recovers from surgery with her new heart, and after much thought writes a letter to the donor family of her heart, for forwarding by the donor/transplant agency as the arrangement is anonymous. Grace creates a garden full of varied flowers, in Marty's back yard in the city; and she paints pictures, of the city scene around her but also of scenes of an Italian city, though she has never been abroad. She gets around the city on her bicycle, and often visits Megan. They go with Megan's children to the zoo, and --- mysteriously, because he doesn't do it for anybody else --- the gorilla comes over and gives Grace a "high-five" with his hand on the divider through which visitors look at him. Grace even passes close to Bob in the crowd around the existing gorilla enclosure, and he seems to experience some frisson as though he can feel Elizabeth's heart still beating but now inside Grace. At last, after a year or so, one of Bob's best friends Charlie Johnson (David Alan Grier) persuades him to come out on a foursome date. Charlie is a veterinary expert at the zoo, involved with the care of the gorilla. On top of all his other projects (on which he is always the man in charge of the whole operation), Bob has been working intensively on the new gorilla enclosure and has been seeing a lot of Charlie, who also knew Elizabeth very well but has grown increasingly concerned about Bob's state of mind since her death. The place they pick for the four-way date, about which Bob is still doubtful, is O'Reilly's Italian restaurant. Bob turns up late and is dismayed by the fussy, bossy personality of the woman who is his blind date; however he is rather taken with Grace, who comes to take their order. He even asks her whether they have met somewhere. Bob finally contrives a mobile phone call and claims he must rush back to work on one of his projects which has hit a crisis needing him on site immediately although it's late. Grace gives him a dinner to take away, and he escapes to eat it on his own. He leaves his mobile phone on the counter and only realizes the next day that he has mislaid it. He goes back the next night after hours, and is greeted by Mary, Angelo and their two elderly friends, one of whom is the apple in the eye of O'Reilly's other waitress, the amply proportioned Sophie (Marianne Muellerleile). These four repeatedly debate the relative merits of Sammy Davis, Dean Martin, Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra, and play cards. Grace has gone to bed and is unaware that Bob has arrived in the now closed restaurant. She goes downstairs in her dressing gown and shower cap, and is horrified to find Bob there seeing her en dishabille. However Bob is undisturbed and, as he helps her cover the flowers in her precious garden against an expected gale, asks her out the next evening. The couple are in love but Grace gets increasingly obsessed with the idea that he must not find out she has had heart surgery. Then, on first being invited back to his apartment, she discovers her own letter "to the donor family" on his desk, and realizes this is the man whose dead wife's heart is now inside her. She goes to pieces, takes the letter, and leaves. Bob goes to see her and she shows him the letter. This time, it is Bob who leaves abruptly. All this time, Grace has had an airline ticket to Italy which Marty got for her. The next time Bob calls, she says she is going away, to Italy, to paint. Bob presents her with a new bright red bicycle, and she takes it to Italy with her. But, sitting in her room or with her easel on a rooftop with her artist's easel in front of her, she thinks only of Bob and can't get anything done. An avuncular Italian waiter comes and offers her refreshment. WHen she declines he offers to listen to her story. Meanwhile Bob is distracted, can't concentrate on his work, and the next thing we see he is on an Italian street. That morning, Grace encounters a trio of nuns who admire her beautiful red bicycle. She offers one a ride on it. Off the nun pedals into the crowd. The scene shifts to Bob, a little way off in the same town, who finds himself looking at random at cyclists as they speed past him. Then a nun comes by, and he thinks he recognizes the bike so he runs after her. We go back to Grace and the other two nuns; when the third returns on the bike, she is riding on the from and a man is behind her pedaling. It is Bob. Grace is so moved that he flew all the way to Italy to find her. (They have only been separated a few days.) Back in the USA the gorilla enclosure has a grand opening. Then at O'Reilly's there is a wedding: it is Sophie and Wally getting hitched.

The partner and nephew of an armored-truck driver tries to prevent three million dollars from being taken by a gang during a catastrophic flooding caused by a severe storm. In the small town of Huntingburg, the armored truck with three million dollars driven by Tom and his Uncle Charlie gets stuck in the flooding. They realize that the town has been evacuated since the dam does not have capacity to hold the storm. While waiting for the National Guard, they are attacked by Jim and his gang formed by Kenny, Mr. Mehlor and Ray and the clumsy Kenny kills Charlie. Tom flees with the bags of money and hides them in the cemetery. Then he is hunted down by Jim and his gang and he hides in a church. Out of the blue, he is knocked out and awakes locked in a cell. Soon he learns that the restorer Karen believed he was a looter and hit him. Sheriff Mike Collins and Deputy Wayne Bryce go to investigate Tom' story while Officer Phil takes Karen out of the town by boat. However she escapes with the boat and goes to the church. Meanwhile Tom is trapped in the cell full of water and Karen rescues him. He decides to return to the armored truck to retrieve a shotgun but he is captured by Jim and his men and learns that Charlie was part of the gang. He tries to retrieve the hidden money for the gang, but Sheriff Collins and his men have already taken it. Soon Tom learns that the Sheriff wants to keep the money for him and his men and Tom and Karen are witnesses and he teams up with Jim. —Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Set during a massive flood started by a dam accident in a small town, Tom (Christian Slater) is an armored truck guard who gets robbed by Jim (Morgan Freeman). Tom gets away with all the money and hides it. In a panic, he tells the sheriff about the area he hid the money in and the sheriff locks him up. Now Tom has to get to the money and keep himself alive battling the sheriff, Jim and his crew and the elements. —ShowBob <showbob@geocities.com> Young Tom helps his uncle Charlie, who is a bank armoured-truck driver. Criminal Jim leads a gang of four, they want to steal that truck with money, but the city is taken by a flood. Tom manages to hide the moneybags and everyone wants them, including local sheriff, who wants that money for himself. —Anonymous Heavy Rainfall causes a Indiana river to swell and flood the town. All inhabitants are forced by public services to leave instantly. Tom and his uncle Charlie work for a money transport firm and their assignment is to evacuate all cash from the banks along the flooding river. So, their truck is loaded with about three million Dollars. Hank tries to prevent further flooding, as he's the guy responsible for the dam up the river, but he has to open one gate in order to save the old dam from breaking. Only the police under the Sheriff's leadership stay in town to prevent looting. As the water level rises, Tom and Charlie's Truck gets stuck in the flooded road. This is the moment, Jim, an elderly thief, and his gang have been waiting for. In an attempt to get the money from the truck, Charlie gets shot and Tom swims off to save the cash bags. While trying to hide, he meets Karen, who resisted to leave the old church she has been restoring for eight months. She thinks he is a looter, and calls the cops to bring him in. But as the Sheriff finds out about that much cash in a situation like this, he radios his old pal Hank, up at the dam... —Julian Reischl <julianreischl@mac.com>

New Jersey, 1950s. Two brothers run an Italian restaurant. Business is not going well as a rival Italian restaurant is out-competing them. In a final effort to save the restaurant, the brothers plan to put on an evening of incredible food. Primo and Secondo are two brothers who have emigrated from Italy to open an Italian restaurant in America. Primo is the irascible and gifted chef, brilliant in his culinary genius, but determined not to squander his talent on making the routine dishes that customers expect. Secondo is the smooth front-man, trying to keep the restaurant financially afloat, despite few patrons other than a poor artist who pays with his paintings. The owner of the nearby Pascal's restaurant, enormously successful (despite its mediocre fare), offers a solution, he will call his friend, a big-time jazz musician, to play a special benefit at their restaurant. Primo begins to prepare his masterpiece, a feast of a lifetime, for the brothers' big night.

Lorenzo "Shakes" Carcaterra (Jason Patric), Thomas "Tommy" Marcano (Billy Crudup), Michael Sullivan (Brad Pitt), and John Reilly (Ron Eldard) are four childhood friends who grew up in Hell's Kitchen, New York City in the mid-1960s. Hell's kitchen was an immigrant neighborhood and life was tough. Domestic violence was a daily occurrence, but the Kitchen also protected its own from outside criminals. During this time, the local priest, Father Bobby Carillo (Robert De Niro), plays a very important part in their lives and keeps an eye on them. They served as altar boys at the church. However, early on they start running small errands for a local gangster, King Benny (Vittorio Gassman). The boys also had a competition going on who could play the boldest prank. Mostly it was innocent stuff like sitting in the priest's chamber of the confession booth, or poking holes into walls to ogle at naked women changing clothes in the change rooms. On a summer day in 1967, their lives take a sharp turn when they almost kill a man after pulling a prank on a hot dog vendor. They accidentally roll the cart down a set of subway stairs, severely injuring an elderly man. As punishment, they are all sentenced to serve time at the Wilkinson Home for Boys in Upstate New York. Shakes is given six-to-twelve months, while the others are given 12-to-18 months. The juvenile center is full of hard-core offenders, with no method for rehabilitation. There, the boys are systematically beaten, abused, and sexually assaulted by guards Sean Nokes (Kevin Bacon), Henry Addison (Jeffrey Donovan), Adam Styler (Lennie Loftin), and Ralph Ferguson (Terry Kinney). These traumatic events change the boys and their friendship forever. Father Bobby visited the boys regularly, but Nokes warned them not to say anything else the reprisals would be severe. Father Bobby gives Shakes the strength to keep going. Mr. Carlson (John Slattery) is the English teacher at the facility and appreciates the interest that Shakes shows in the subject. Guard Marlboro (James Pickens Jr.) is the only one who tries to protect the boys a little bit from the brutality of the predators. When at the facility, the boys participate in Wilkinson's annual football game between the guards and inmates. Michael convinces inmate Rizzo Robinson (Eugene Byrd) to help win the game. Humiliated, the guards move the boys to solitary confinement for weeks, where they are systematically beaten. Rizzo does not survive, and his family is told he had died of pneumonia. In spring 1968, shortly before Shakes's release from Wilkinson, he suggests the boys publicly report the abuse. The others refuse, with Michael asserting that no one would believe them or care, and they vow to never speak of it again. The night before Shakes is released, Nokes and the other guards arrange a "farewell party", in which the four boys are brutally sexually assaulted worse than they have been before. Fourteen years later in 1981, John and Tommy, now gangsters, find Sean Nokes in a Hell's Kitchen pub. When John and Tommy confront him, he dismisses the abuse he put them through. They both shoot him dead in front of several witnesses. Mike, now an assistant District Attorney, arranges to be assigned to the case, secretly intending to botch the prosecution to use it as a means of getting revenge. Moreover, he and Shakes begin forging a plan to get their revenge on all the guards who abused them. Together with many of their lifelong friends, especially Carol (Minnie Driver), a social worker, and King Benny, they manage to carry out their revenge using information on all the Wilkinson guards compiled by Mike previously. Benny spreads the word not to touch Mike and forbids any hits on Mike for taking the case against John and Tommy. Mike says that all Juvenile records are destroyed after 7 years, so there is no link between them and the guards anymore. They hire Danny Snyder (Dustin Hoffman), a washed-up, alcoholic lawyer, to defend John and Tommy to make it seem as if the case is hopeless, allowing them to carry out their plan without being watched. Benny gets involved and 2 of the 4 witnessed change their minds about testifying against John and Tommy. Mike provides all the research to Danny to prove that one of the witnesses who testifies to have seen both John and Tommy walk out of the pub, was drunk at the time of the shooting. However, to clinch the case they need a key witness who can give John and Tommy an alibi. Shakes has a long talk with Father Bobby and tells him about the abuse they suffered at Wilkinson. Mike calls Ralph Ferguson as a character witness in court. Again, Danny has been provided a detailed list of questions to expose Ferguson and Nokes as serial abusers of kids at the juvenile facility. Ferguson breaks down under the strain of the questions and his oath and admits to all accusations against him and Nokes. After a few days of soul-searching, Father Bobby agrees to lie on the stand about where John and Tommy were on the night of the shooting; the priest swears under oath that they were with him at Madison Square Garden at a New York Knicks basketball game. As a result, they are acquitted. The remaining guards are also punished for their crimes: one, Henry Addison, is killed by the drug gang run by the older brother of Rizzo (who was informed by Benny about Addison's crimes against Rizzo), a boy killed years before in the Wilkinson Home; the other, Adam Styler, a corrupt policeman accused of extorting and killing a drug dealer, is exposed, and arrested. Mike and Shakes had provided all the evidence against Adam to a detective, who was Benny's cousin. After the case is over, Mike quits his job as an attorney and moves to the English countryside where he becomes a carpenter; John drinks himself to death and Tommy is eventually murdered, both within a few years of the acquittal.