Actress Amanda Peet (1972)

2012 (2009) is a science fiction film directed and written by Roland Emmerich and Harald Kloser. American geologist Adrian Helmsley travels to East India in 2009 to meet with astrophysicist Satnam Tsurutani, where he learns about a new type of neutrino causing the Earth’s core to heat up. Upon his return to Washington D.C., Adrian informs White House Chief of Staff Carl Anheuser and President Thomas Wilson. The following year, over forty-six nations work together to build nine arks in Tibet and secure important artifacts. Nima, a Buddhist monk, is evacuated with his ...

The supernatural thriller, The X-Files: I Want to Believe (2008), was directed by Chris Carter and co-written by Carter and Frank Spotnitz. After leaving the FBI, former Special Agent Dana Scully now works as a staff physician at a Catholic hospital where she is treating Christian, a young boy with symptoms similar to Sandhoff disease. FBI Special Agent Mosely Drummy seeks out Scully’s aid in locating her ex-partner, Fox Mulder, who has been on the run for several years. To call off their manhunt for Mulder, the FBI ...

Originally known as Terra, Battle for Terra (2007) is an American animated film from 2007 that tells the story of a planet under threat. The peaceful and advanced inhabitants of Terra, a star system in the Milky Way galaxy, are faced with destruction when humans, displaced from their own planet, attempt to colonize it. Mala and her friend Senn belong to this alien race and live on the near Earth-like planet. When a large object blocks the sun, Mala’s curiosity leads her to go beyond the boundaries set by the ruling council and create a telescope. From outside the city walls, she uses it to investigate further. Soon after, reconnaissance ships emerge ...

Syriana (2005), an American political thriller film written and directed by Stephen Gaghan, is loosely based on Robert Baer’s 2003 memoir See No Evil. The movie was filmed in over 200 locations across five continents, including the Middle East, Washington D.C., and Africa. In an interview with Charlie Rose, Gaghan revealed that the film draws from his personal experiences meeting and interviewing powerful figures such as oil owners, media moguls, lobbyists, ...

A romantic comedy-drama, A Lot like Love (2005) follows the story of Emily Friehl and Oliver Martin through various pivotal moments in their lives. Beginning seven years in the past and progressing to the present, their first encounter takes place on a flight from Los Angeles to New York City. Despite Emily’s spontaneous actions, they part ways without exchanging contact information. However, fate brings them together again in the city where they spend time exploring and taking photos with Oliver’s camera. As they get to know each other, Oliver shares his plans of becoming an Internet entrepreneur and gives Emily his mother’s phone number, suggesting ...

Woody Allen wrote and directed the American comedy film, Melinda and Melinda (2004), which first premiered at the San Sebastian International Film Festival in 2004. During a dinner conversation, four writers debate the nature of life – is it inherently comedic or tragic? One writer shares a true incident he heard about a woman named Melinda who causes chaos at a couple’s dinner party, leading to affairs and a suicide attempt. As two playwrights in the group tell their versions of the story, one focuses on humor while the other takes a darker approach. In the latter version, Melinda stays with her friends Lee ...

Something’s Gotta Give (2003) is an American romantic comedy-drama film written, produced and directed by Nancy Meyers. The story follows Harry Sanborn, a wealthy New York record company owner whose preference for dating younger women is put to the test when he meets Marin Klein. As they head to her mother’s beach house in the Hamptons, little do they know that they will be joined by Erica Barry, a playwright and Marin’s mother, as well as Erica’s sister Zoe. After an awkward dinner, things take a turn for the worse when Harry suffers a heart attack during foreplay with Marin and is rushed to the ...

Changing Lanes (2002) is an American drama thriller film directed by Roger Michell, featuring Ben Affleck and Samuel L. Jackson as the main characters. In New York City, two men find themselves in a rush to get to court for very different reasons. One is a recovering alcoholic named Doyle Gipson, who is fighting for joint custody of his sons after attending Alcoholics Anonymous meetings to maintain sobriety. The other is Gavin Banek, a successful Wall Street attorney, who needs to file an important document before ...

High Crimes (2002), an American legal thriller film directed by Carl Franklin, stars Ashley Judd and Morgan Freeman who reunite after their previous collaboration in the 1997 film Kiss the Girls. Claire Kubik, an attorney, and her woodworker husband Tom enjoy an idyllic life in Marin County, California. However, during a Christmas shopping trip to San Francisco’s Union Square, Tom is suddenly arrested by the Federal Bureau of Investigation for his alleged involvement in the brutal murder of nine civilians in ...

Playing by Heart (1998) is a comedic-drama film that follows the lives of various characters in Los Angeles. These include an older couple renewing their wedding vows, a theatre director and architect starting anew, a young woman seeking excitement, a gay man with AIDS and his distant mother, an unfaithful couple trying to reignite their marriage, and the husband exploring ways to overcome its dullness. As the plot unfolds, the audience discovers the interconnectedness between these seemingly unrelated individuals. Unhappily wedded Hugh frequently pursues women using a variety of falsehoods: claiming he caused the death of his wife and child in a car accident; stating ...