Beacon Pictures (USA): 11

The Guardian (2006), an American action-adventure drama film directed by Andrew Davis, begins with a legend recounted by those who have faced perilous situations at sea. This legend speaks of a mysterious force known as the Guardian, which supposedly helps lost individuals reach the surface and hold on until help arrives. Ben Randall is a renowned rescue swimmer in the United States Coast Guard’s Aviation Survival Technician (AST) program. However, his dedication to his job has caused his marriage to fall apart. During one rescue mission, Ben experiences tragedy when his team crashes into the ocean in their HH-60J ...

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 ...

Directed by Garry Marshall and written by Jack Amiel and Michael Begler, Raising Helen (2004) is an American comedy-drama film. The story follows three sisters, Jenny, Helen, and Lindsay Harris, who are all living in New York. After the loss of their mother when they were young, Jenny took on the role of raising her two younger sisters. While Jenny and Lindsay are devoted stay-at-home moms, Helen enjoys her glamorous lifestyle as an executive assistant at one of Manhattan’s top modeling agencies. One day, Jenny calls ...

Ladder 49 (2004), an American disaster thriller directed by Jay Russell and written by Lewis Colick, tells the story of Baltimore City firefighter Jack Morrison. While responding to a four-alarm fire in a 20-story concrete grain elevator/warehouse in the Canton waterfront neighborhood, Jack saves a man’s life before tragedy strikes. The stored grain explodes, causing Jack to fall through multiple floors and break his leg. As Jack fights for survival, his comrades from Ladder Company 49, led by Deputy Chief Mike Kennedy, work tirelessly to rescue him. Throughout the ...

Open Range (2003) is a film set in Montana during the late 1800s. It was directed and co-produced by Kevin Costner, with a screenplay by Craig Storper based on the novel The Open Range Men by Lauran Paine. The story follows ‘Boss’ Spearman and his hired hands, Charley Waite, Mose, and Button, as they drive a herd of cattle across the country. While Boss is an experienced rancher, Charley carries heavy guilt from his time as a soldier in the Civil War. When Boss sends Mose to nearby Harmonville for ...

The film Spy Game (2001), directed by Tony Scott and starring Robert Redford and Brad Pitt, follows the United States and China as they negotiate a major trade deal. As the President prepares to visit China to finalize the agreement, the CIA becomes aware of their operative, Tom Bishop’s, arrest in Suzhou. With only 24 hours until his execution, Bishop’s actions could jeopardize the deal. To avoid getting involved, a group of CIA executives turn to Nathan Muir, Bishop’s mentor and a retiring veteran agent. ...

Thirteen Days (2000), directed by Roger Donaldson, is an American historical political thriller film. In October 1962, U-2 aerial surveillance photos show the Soviet Union’s placement of intermediate-range ballistic missiles carrying nuclear weapons in Cuba. As a result, President John F. Kennedy and his team must devise a plan to prevent their activation and demonstrate that the United States will not tolerate a missile threat. The Joint Chiefs of Staff advise immediate military strikes against the missile sites followed by an invasion of Cuba. However, Kennedy hesitates as this could provoke the Soviets to ...

The American biographical sports drama film, The Hurricane (1999), was directed and produced by Norman Jewison. It tells the story of Rubin ‘The Hurricane’ Carter, a middleweight boxer wrongfully convicted of a triple murder in Paterson, New Jersey. After spending nearly two decades in prison, his sentence was finally overturned. The film focuses on Carter’s life from 1966 to 1985 as he fights against the unjust conviction. In parallel, we follow the journey of Lesra Martin, an underprivileged Afro-American youth from Brooklyn now living in Toronto. In the 1980s, Lesra becomes intrigued by ...

The film For Love of the Game (1999), directed by Sam Raimi and written by Dana Stevens, is based on Michael Shaara’s novel of the same name. The Detroit Tigers are scheduled to play a final series against the New York Yankees in New York City. Despite their 63-97 record, which eliminates them from any chance at the playoffs, they take pride in facing the Yankees who are vying for the American League East title. In his Manhattan hotel suite, 40-year-old pitcher Billy Chapel waits for his girlfriend Jane Aubrey, but ...

Playing God (1997) is an American dramatic crime thriller directed by Andy Wilson and written by Mark Haskell Smith. The protagonist, Eugene Sands, loses his medical license due to operating while under the influence of amphetamines and opiates. He gets entangled with a crime boss named Raymond Blossom after saving a stranger’s life in a bar with an emergency procedure to inflate their collapsed lung. Blossom hires Sands as his private doctor, tending to his associates when they cannot seek medical attention elsewhere, as well as providing care for the crime lord ...

The American historical comedy-drama film, Princess Caraboo (1994), tells the story of a woman who deceives Regency England by posing as an exotic princess speaking an unknown language. Directed and written by Michael Austin and John Wells respectively, the movie is based on a true 19th-century character. When she is discovered in the fields, dressed extravagantly and speaking unintelligibly, the Worrall family takes her in. However, their Greek butler Frixos immediately suspects her to be a fraud. While Mr. Worrall sends her to face charges of vagrancy, Mrs. Worrall ...