Movies: 2833

Clint Eastwood directed and produced Gran Torino (2008), an American drama film in which he also starred. This marked Eastwood’s return to the big screen since his role in Million Dollar Baby (2004). Walt Kowalski is a recently widowed Korean War veteran and retired Ford factory worker living in a Rust Belt neighborhood of Metro Detroit. The area has been plagued by gang violence and an influx of poor Hmong immigrants, including the Vang Lor family next door. Despite his son’s suggestion that he move to a retirement community, Walt chooses to live ...

Swing Vote (2008) is an American comedy-drama film directed by Joshua Michael Stern, depicting a fictional U.S. presidential election. In this alternate version of the year 2008, the entire contest rests on the vote of one man – Ernest ‘Bud’ Johnson from Texico, New Mexico. Bud is a simple, unemployed man with no interest in politics until his twelve-year-old daughter Molly inspires him to take a more serious approach to life. Despite her efforts, Bud remains apathetic towards voting and Molly takes matters into her own hands on election day by attempting to cast a ballot for her father at their local ...

In Stargate: Continuum (2008), a science fiction movie directed by Martin Wood and written by Brad Wright, SG-1 and Jack O’Neill attend a Tok’ra extraction ceremony for Ba’al, the final System Lord of the Goa’uld. However, Ba’al claims to be just one of his many clones and reveals that the true Ba’al has a plan in place. This real Ba’al travels back in time to 1939 and destroys the crew of the Achilles, where the Stargate was being transported to the US. The captain manages to save the ship from complete destruction by dropping a ...

Director Robert C. Cooper brought us Stargate: The Ark of Truth (2008), a military science fiction film following the events of the television series Stargate SG-1. The story follows the regular cast of SG-1 as they uncover a box on Dakara that they believe to be the Ark of Truth. However, their discovery is interrupted by Ori soldiers led by Tomin. Despite Daniel’s clever trick, the box is revealed to be a fake. Tomin defies orders from the Prior and refuses to kill SG-1, prompting Mitchell to eliminate the Prior with an Anti-Prior device. With their leader dead, the Ori soldiers surrender and ...

10,000 BC (2008) is an American action-adventure film co-written, co-produced and directed by Roland Emmerich, with additional writing and scoring by Harald Kloser. The movie follows a tribe called the Yagahl living in the Ural Mountains during the last Ice Age. Their main source of sustenance is hunting woolly mammoths, but their numbers are rapidly decreasing. A skilled hunter who has successfully taken down a dangerous animal receives blessings from an elder shaman named Old Mother. When the village chief discovers a young survivor named Evolet, who had escaped from a ...

Directed by David Ayer, Street Kings (2008) is an American action thriller film. The protagonist, Tom Ludlow, is a detective for the LAPD’s Vice-Special unit who has struggled with alcoholism following his wife’s death. In his latest undercover mission, he arranges a meeting with Korean gangsters under the guise of a firearms deal as he believes they have abducted two teenage girls. During the encounter, Ludlow allows himself to be beaten and robbed before tracking them down using a device on his stolen vehicle. Upon arriving at their hideout, he takes swift action to eliminate the gang members, fabricates ...

Step Brothers (2008) is an American comedy film, directed by Adam McKay and produced by Jimmy Miller and Judd Apatow. The screenplay was co-written by Will Ferrell and Adam McKay. The movie follows the story of Brennan Huff, a 39-year-old living with his divorced mother Nancy, and Dale Doback, a 40-year-old residing with his widowed father Robert. When Nancy and Robert get married, the two step brothers are forced to live ...

The American romantic comedy-drama anthology film, New York, I Love You (2008), showcases 11 short films directed by different filmmakers. Each of the shorts explores the theme of love and is set in one of the five boroughs of New York City. It first premiered at the 2008 Toronto International Film Festival in September and was later released in the United States on October 16, 2009. However, during a focus screening in New York, it was decided to cut two novellas from the original version: These Vagabond Shoes by Scarlett Johansson and Apocrypha by Andrei ...

Seven Pounds (2008) is a film, directed by Gabriele Muccino and starring Will Smith. It follows the story of Tim Thomas, a man who becomes responsible for the deaths of seven people in a car accident while driving and texting. Among the victims were six strangers and his fiancee, Sarah Jenson. Unable to bear the weight of his guilt, Tim makes it his mission to save the lives of seven deserving individuals as a way to seek redemption. He begins by leaving his job as an aeronautical engineer and donating part of his liver to Holly, who works in social services. He then ...

Hancock (2008), a satirical superhero film directed by Peter Berg and written by Vince Gilligan and Vy Vincent Ngo, follows the story of an alcoholic, reckless superhuman named John Hancock. Gifted with flight, invulnerability, and super-strength, Hancock operates as a haphazard and unrefined superhero in Los Angeles. However, his drunken and careless crime-fighting methods, as well as his rude and unpleasant demeanor, often lead to public ridicule and hate. One day, while causing unnecessary destruction during a rescue ...

The film Che: Part Two (2008), directed by Steven Soderbergh, tells the story of Argentine Marxist revolutionary Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara. In Part Two, titled Guerrilla, we see Guevara’s efforts to bring revolution to Bolivia and his eventual downfall. The film follows the timeline of his time in Bolivia, starting with his arrival in La Paz on 3 November 1966. Disguised as a middle-aged representative from Uruguay, he meets with his men in the mountains. As the days pass (Day 26 and Day 67), we see the strong bond among Guevara’s followers despite being a foreigner. However, by Day ...

In the film Che: Part One (2008), directed by Steven Soderbergh, we follow the life of Argentine Marxist revolutionary Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara. During an interview in Havana in 1964 with Lisa Howard, Guevara is questioned about the potential impact of reform on the message of the Cuban Revolution. In 1955, Guevara first encounters Fidel Castro at a gathering in Mexico City and joins the July 26th Movement after hearing Castro’s plans. Fast forwarding to 1964, we witness Guevara delivering a passionate speech against American imperialism at the United Nations General Assembly in New York City. He also ...

The American comedy film, Zack and Miri Make a Porno (2008), was written, directed and edited by Kevin Smith. The two protagonists, Zack Brown and Miriam ‘Miri’ Linky, have been best friends since the first grade and live together in Monroeville, Pennsylvania. Despite their jobs at the local mall and coffee shop, they struggle to pay their utility bills, leading to their water being shut off the night before Thanksgiving. At their high school reunion, Miri tries to seduce her former classmate Bobby Long while Zack chats with Brandon St. Randy, a porn star who happens to be Bobby’s boyfriend. When they ...

Leatherheads (2008), released by Universal Pictures and directed by George Clooney, is a sports comedy film set in the year 1925. Jimmy ‘Dodge’ Connelly, captain of the Duluth Bulldogs and a seasoned player, is determined to save professional football from its imminent collapse. In search of a savior, Dodge convinces Carter ‘the Bullet’ Rutherford, a decorated war hero from Princeton University, to join the struggling team. With Carter’s fame giving football a much-needed boost, things finally start looking up for the sport. However, as Chicago Tribune reporter Lexie Littleton digs into ...

The neo-noir film, The Merry Gentleman (2008), directed by Michael Keaton, tells the story of Kate. She escapes her abusive husband, a police officer, and moves to Chicago. Despite befriending a colleague at work, she mostly keeps to herself due to her shame over the black eye from her husband’s latest attack. Feeling isolated and rejected, she encounters mainly unsavory characters. One night, while standing in an office window, Frank Logan, a professional hit man on a nearby rooftop preparing for a hit, sees her through his rifle scope. Instead of leaving after the job is done, he takes off his hat and steps out ...

Baz Luhrmann’s epic adventure drama, Australia (2008), follows Lady Sarah Ashley as she travels to her husband’s faltering cattle station, Faraway Downs. It is 1939, just before the start of World War II, and Lady Sarah hopes to make her husband sell the station and save their marriage. However, upon arriving in Australia from England, she learns that her husband has been murdered by an Aboriginal elder known as ‘King George’. The vast Faraway Downs spans across Western Australia and the Northern Territory, reaching all the way to the Timor Sea. In order to secure control of the station for ...

Burn After Reading (2008) is a black comedy film created by the Coen brothers. When Osbourne Cox gets demoted for drinking, he quits his job as a CIA analyst and decides to write a memoir. His wife Katie secretly files for divorce and resumes her affair with U.S. Marshal Harry Pfarrer, who is prone to paranoia. Katie gives her lawyer a copy of Osbourne’s digital records and other personal files, which include an early draft of his memoir. The lawyer’s assistant copies the files onto a CD-R and accidentally leaves it at Hardbodies gym. Personal trainer Chad Feldheimer and coworker Linda Litzke come across the ...

Traitor (2008) is an American spy thriller film written and directed by Jeffrey Nachmanoff, based on a story by Steve Martin. Samir Horn, an Arabic-speaking Sudanese-American and devout Muslim, lost his father to a car bomb in his childhood. As an adult, he becomes an arms dealer and gets arrested during a deal in Yemen. Samir’s friendly relationship with Omar, who later arranges their escape from jail together, introduces him to Fareed, a leader of the terrorist organization al-Nathir. FBI Special Agent Roy Clayton starts suspecting that Samir has become ...

The American sports drama film, Forever Strong (2008), was directed by Ryan Little and written by David Pliler. Rick Penning is the captain of his high school rugby team, coached by his father Richard Penning. Unfortunately, the team’s excessive drinking and drug use ultimately leads to their loss against their rivals, the Highland Rugby Team. In a moment of recklessness after the defeat, Rick gets behind the wheel while under the influence and ends up causing a serious accident involving his girlfriend Tammy. As a result, he is sent to a Juvenile Detention Center ...

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 ...