Columbia Pictures (USA): 161

The American biographical drama film, The Pursuit of Happyness (2006), directed by Gabriele Muccino, follows the story of Chris Gardner. In 1981, Gardner, a San Francisco salesman, puts all his savings into portable bone-density scanners. He promotes them to doctors and touts their convenience over regular X-rays. These scanners become a key factor in Gardner’s life. Despite being successful in selling most of them, the delay in receiving payments causes tension with his wife Linda, who also works as a hotel maid. As their financial struggles increase, so does the strain on their marriage, even with their young ...

The American sports drama film, Rocky Balboa (2006), was written, directed by, and starred Sylvester Stallone. The protagonist, now 60 years old and retired from boxing, leads a quiet life as a widower. His wife Adrian passed away four years prior after losing her battle to cancer. Rocky now operates a successful Italian restaurant named after her, where he entertains customers with stories from his past. Alongside coping with his grief over Adrian’s death, Rocky also struggles with his strained relationship with his son Robert – now a moderately successful young corporate lawyer. His brother-in-law and best ...

Sofia Coppola wrote and directed a historical drama film Marie Antoinett (2006) centered around the life of Queen Marie Antoinette. The youngest daughter of Empress Maria-Theresa of Austria, fourteen-year-old Maria Antonia, is described as a beautiful, charming, and naïve archduchess. In order to unite two rival countries, her mother arranges for her to marry Louis-Auguste, the Dauphin of France. Upon arriving in France and taking on the name Marie Antoinette, she meets King Louis XV and her future husband. Their wedding takes place immediately upon their arrival at the Palace of Versailles. The couple is expected to ...

The mystery thriller film, The Da Vinci Code (2006), was directed by Ron Howard and written by Akiva Goldsman. It is based on Dan Brown’s 2003 novel of the same name. In the story, Jacques Saunière, a curator at the Louvre, is being pursued by an albino Catholic monk named Silas. Silas is determined to find the ‘keystone’ and destroy the Holy Grail. However, Saunière gives him false information before being tragically murdered. The police discover his body in a pose resembling Da Vinci’s Vitruvian ...

Casino Royale (2006) is the twenty-first film of the James Bond series produced by Eon Productions. It is based on Ian Fleming’s novel of the same title and directed by Martin Campbell, with a screenplay written by Neil Purvis, Robert Wade, and Paul Haggis. The movie features Daniel Craig as Bond in his debut performance. In an effort to shake off the ...

Directed by Andy Tennan, Hitch (2005) is an American romantic comedy film. As a professional ‘date doctor’, Alex ‘Hitch’ Hitchens excels at coaching men in the art of wooing women with the ultimate goal of developing genuine, long-term relationships. He has achieved great success in this field. During one of his coaching sessions with client Albert Brennaman, who has fallen for Allegra Cole, a celebrity at the investment firm where Albert works, Hitch finds himself drawn to Sara Melas. Despite their budding relationship, Hitch struggles to make a connection with Sara as his usual methods fail to ...

The American film Closer (2004), directed and produced by Mike Nichols and written by Patrick Marber, is based on his award-winning 1997 play of the same title. In London one busy morning, writer Dan Woolf encounters a striking American woman who has been hit by a car due to unfamiliarity with driving on the opposite side of the road in England. On their way back from the hospital, they take a detour to Postman’s Park. Dan learns her name is Alice Ayres and they begin a romantic relationship. One year later, Dan writes a novel inspired by Alice’s life. While ...

The film Secret Window (2004) is a psychological thriller featuring Johnny Depp and John Turturro. Written and directed by David Koepp, it is based on Stephen King’s novella Secret Window, Secret Garden. After finding his wife Amy in an affair with their friend Ted, mystery writer Mort Rainey seeks solace in his cabin at Tashmore Lake, while Amy remains in their home. Although they have been separated for six months, Mort has yet to finalize their divorce due ...

50 First Dates (2004) is a romantic comedy directed by Peter Segal. The movie follows Henry Roth, a marine veterinarian at Sea Life Park Hawaii on Oahu, who has a unique dating approach – he only dates tourists to avoid getting too serious. Henry’s circle of friends includes Ula, an Islander who loves smoking marijuana; Alexa, his androgynous assistant; Willy, his beloved pet African penguin; and Jocko, the friendly park walrus. One day, while waiting for the Coast Guard at the Hukilau Café after his boat breaks down, Henry meets Lucy Whitmore, an art teacher who is making architectural art with her waffles. ...

Spider-Man 2 (2004) follows the story of Peter Parker, a young man who gained superhuman abilities two years prior and now goes by the name Spider-Man. Peter is currently struggling with strained relationships with both his love interest, Mary Jane Watson, and his best friend, Harry Osborn. To add to his troubles, he discovers that his Aunt May is facing eviction. In addition to these personal challenges, Peter also finds himself experiencing sudden bouts of power loss at critical moments. Meanwhile, Harry has taken over as head of Oscorp’s research division and is funding a project led by nuclear scientist Otto Octavius. Octavius soon becomes a mentor to Peter ...

The Rundown (2003) is a film directed by Peter Berg and written by James Vanderbilt and R.J. Stewart. Beck, a ‘retrieval expert’ who works for Billy Walker, is sent to a nightclub to collect a championship ring from a football player. During the job, he is attacked by one of Walker’s other collectors and decides that he wants to leave the business. However, Walker convinces Beck to take on one final task – retrieve his son Travis from a small mining town in Brazil and he will provide enough money for Beck ...

S.W.A.T. (2003) is an American crime thriller film directed by Clark Johnson and written by David Ayer. Los Angeles Police Department SWAT officer Jim Street, along with partner Brian Gamble and their team, enter a seized bank where Gamble disregards orders and confronts the robbers, resulting in a hostage getting hurt. Despite successfully apprehending the criminals, they get removed from the team by Captain Fuller of the LAPD Metropolitan Division. In hopes of reinstating him, Fuller offers Street a deal to betray Gamble, but Street declines and is demoted to working at ...

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 ...

The American horror film Gothika (2003), directed by Mathieu Kassovitz and written by Sebastian Gutierrez, was co-produced by Joel Silver and Robert Zemeckis. Dr. Miranda Grey, a psychiatrist at Woodward Penitentiary in rural western Connecticut, crashes her car one night to avoid hitting a young woman on a country road. After waking up, she discovers that she is now an inmate at the women’s ward where she works. Her colleague, Dr. Pete Graham, is treating her for the ...

The film Once Upon a Time in Mexico (2003) tells the story of El Mariachi, who is recruited by CIA officer Sheldon Jeffrey Sands for a mission. He must take down General Emiliano Marquez, a corrupt Mexican Army officer working for drug lord Armando Barillo. Barillo plans to assassinate the President and overthrow the government during a time of civil unrest in Culiacán, the capital of Sinaloa. Years ago, El Mariachi’s wife and daughter were killed by Marquez in retaliation for a previous confrontation. Along with El Mariachi, Sands enlists retired FBI agent Jorge Ramírez to kill Barillo, who had also killed his former partner Archuleta. AFN operative Ajedrez is ...

The fantasy adventure film, Peter Pan (2003), was co-directed and written by P. J. Hogan and Michael Goldenberg. Set in Edwardian London, the story follows Wendy Darling as she tells her younger brothers, John and Michael, tales of Captain Hook and his pirates. One night, as Wendy shares her stories with her brothers, Peter Pan overhears from outside their nursery window. However, not everyone is impressed with Wendy’s imaginative tales. Concerned about her future prospects, Aunt Millicent urges the Darlings to focus on more practical matters. Meanwhile, at school, ...

Big Fish (2003), directed by Tim Burton and based on the novel Big Fish: A Novel of Mythic Proportions by Daniel Wallace, follows the life of Edward Bloom. At his son William’s wedding, Edward reminisces about the day Will was born, claiming to have caught a giant catfish with his wedding ring as bait. Growing up, Will often heard these fantastical stories, but never believed them to be true. This caused a rift between him and his father. However, when Edward is diagnosed with cancer years later, Will and his pregnant wife Joséphine visit Edward at their ...

The American buddy cop action comedy, Bad Boys II (2003), was directed by Michael Bay and produced by Jerry Bruckheimer. Eight years have passed since their triumph over Fouchet, and Miami PD detectives Mike Lowrey and Marcus Burnett are now focused on a new case involving the trafficking of ecstasy in Miami. During an undercover operation at a Klan meeting, they uncover that the Klansmen are actually buyers and not distributors. However, due to a malfunctioning radio, the arrival of the Tactical Narcotics Team (TNT) is delayed, causing Mike and Marcus to engage in a ...

Trapped (2002), a crime thriller directed by Luis Mandoki, follows the story of Dr. Will Jennings, a research physician who has recently patented a new anesthetic drug. After giving a talk about his patent at a Seattle hotel, he is approached by Cheryl, a mysterious woman who claims to be a fan of his work. In the hotel hallway, Cheryl makes advances towards Will before pulling out a gun and forcing him into his room. She then demands ransom for his daughter Abby. Meanwhile, Joe – Cheryl’s husband – breaks into Will’s luxurious Portland home and confronts Karen, Will’s wife who had just come back from ...

Men in Black II (2002) is a comedic sci-fi film based on the popular Marvel Comics series. It follows Agent J, who has been with the MIB for five years and has risen to the top of his field. However, he has developed a tendency to neuralyze partners he believes are not equipped to handle the job emotionally. When a murder involving an alien named Ben occurs at a pizza place, waitress Laura Vasquez reveals that the culprits are Serleena, a shape-shifting Kylothian posing as a lingerie model, and her two-headed assistant Scrad and Charlie. According to Laura, they were after something known as the Light of Zartha. Despite MIB protocol, J becomes strongly infatuated with ...