Norris, Dean

Little Miss Sunshine

Despite their individual problems and disappointments, the Hoovers decide to support young daughter Olive's dream of competing in a California beauty pageant.
Genre: Feature Film-Comedy
Rating: R
Release Date: 5-FEB-2007
Media Type: DVD

Pile together a blue-ribbon cast, a screenplay high in quirkiness, and the Sundance stamp of approval, and you've got yourself a crossover indie hit. That formula worked for Little Miss Sunshine, a frequently hilarious study of family dysfunction. Meet the Hoovers, an Albuquerque clan riddled with depression, hostility, and the tattered remnants of the American Dream; despite their flakiness, they manage to pile into a VW van for a weekend trek to L.A. in order to get moppet daughter Olive (Abigail Breslin) into the Little Miss Sunshine beauty pageant. Much of the pleasure of this journey comes from watching some skillful comic actors doing their thing: Greg Kinnear and Toni Collette as the parents (he's hoping to become a self-help authority), Alan Arkin as a grandfather all too willing to give uproariously inappropriate advice to a sullen teenage grandson (Paul Dano), and a subdued Steve Carell as a jilted gay professor on the verge of suicide. The film is a crowd-pleaser, and if anything is a little too eager to bend itself in the direction of quirk-loving Sundance audiences; it can feel forced. But the breezy momentum and the ingenious actors help push the material over any bumps in the road.-- Robert Horton

Beyond Little Miss Sunshine

More Dysfunctional Family Comedies

More films from the stars of Little Miss Sunshine

More Independent Films Turned Sleeper Hits

Stills from Little Miss Sunshine

Starship Troopers

In the first and finest RoboCop movie, director Paul Verhoeven combined near-future science fiction with a keen sense of social satire--not to mention enough high-velocity violence to satisfy even the most voracious bloodlust. In Starship Troopers, Verhoeven and RoboCop cowriter Ed Neumeier take inspired cues from Robert Heinlein's classic sci-fi novel to create a special-effects extravaganza that functions on multiple levels of entertainment. The film might be called "Melrose Place in Space," with its youthful cast of handsome guys and gorgeous women who look like they've been recruited (and in some cases they were) from the cast of Beverly Hills 90210. Viewers might focus on the incredible, graphically intense action sequences (definitely not for children) in which heavily armed forces from Earth go to off-world battle against vast hordes of alien "bugs" bent on planetary conquest. The attacking bugs are marvels of state-of-the-art special-effects technology, and the space battles are nothing short of spectacular. But Starship Troopers is more than a showcase for high-tech hardware and gigantic, flesh-ripping insects. Recalling his childhood in Holland during the Nazi occupation, Verhoeven turns this epic adventure into a scathingly funny satire of fascist propaganda, emphasizing Heinlein's underlying warning against the hazards of military conformity and the sickening realities of war. It's an action-packed joy ride if that's all you're looking for, but Verhoeven has a provocative agenda that makes Starship Troopers as smart as it is exciting. --Jeff Shannon

From the bridge of the Fleet Battlestation Ticonderoga with its sweeping galactic views to the desolate terrain of planet Klendathu teeming with shrieking fire-spitting brain-sucking special effects creatures acclaimed director PAUL VERHOEVEN crafts a dazzling epic based on Robert A. Heinlein's classic sci-fi adventure. CASPER VAN DIEN DINA MEYER DENISE RICHARDS JAKE BUSEY NEIL PATRICK HARRIS PATRICK MULDOON and MICHAEL IRONSIDE star as the courageous soldiers who travel to the distant and desolate Klendathu system for the ultimate showdown between the species.Run Time: 129 minutesFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: SCI-FI/FANTASY Rating: R UPC: 043396198555 Manufacturer No: 19855

Without Limits

Since audiences are inclined to F/X spectacle, it was easy to understand the 1998 box-office battle between Armageddon and Deep Impact, which shared almost exactly the same premise. But two films about the now-obscure long-distance runner Steve Prefontaine? Without Limits and Prefontaine were in production at the same time, with the cheaper Prefontaine rushed into theaters in 1997 while Without Limits was held back until the fall of '98. As it turned out, neither movie scored a deep impact at the box office, but Without Limits is much more satisfying as a competent, heartfelt slice of sports history. Billy Crudup (a rising star who strongly resembles the film's producer, Tom Cruise, in both looks and intensity) plays Prefontaine, or "Pre," the mustachioed runner who blazed out of Coos Bay, Oregon, in the late 1960s. The movie grazes across the major events of Pre's career at the University of Oregon, where he blew away the competition and positioned himself as the leading American runner (and a charismatic hunk) going into the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich--that star-crossed competition at which Arab terrorists kidnapped and killed members of the Israeli team. Though the film suffers from some of the built-in problems of the true-life biopic, director Robert Towne (who earlier made a remarkable track-and-field picture, Personal Best) captures the texture of the athletes' world. Acting honors go to Donald Sutherland, turning in an emotional performance as coach Bill Bowerman; while tutoring Pre, Bowerman was tinkering with some waffle-soled running shoes, a hobby that later became a little company called Nike. --Robert Horton

The Negotiator

Although it eventually runs out of smart ideas and resorts to a typically explosive finale, this above-average thriller rises above its formulaic limitations on the strength of powerful performances by Samuel L. Jackson and Kevin Spacey. Both play Chicago police negotiators with hotshot reputations, but when Jackson's character finds himself falsely accused of embezzling funds from a police pension fund, he's so thoroughly framed that he must take extreme measures to prove his innocence. He takes hostages in police headquarters to buy time and plan his strategy, demanding that Spacey be brought in to mediate with him as an army of cops threatens to attack, and a media circus ensues. Both negotiators know how to get into the other man's thoughts, and this intellectual showdown allows both Spacey and Jackson to ignite the screen with a burst of volatile intensity. Director F. Gary Gray is disadvantaged by an otherwise predictable screenplay, but he has a knack for building suspense and is generous to a fine supporting cast, including Paul Giamatti as one of Jackson's high-strung hostages, and the late J.T. Walsh in what would sadly be his final big-screen role. The movie should have trusted its compelling characters a little more, probing their psyches more intensely to give the suspense a deeper dramatic foundation, but it's good enough to give two great actors a chance to strut their stuff. --Jeff Shannon

This film centers on a former FBI hostage negotiator who after being framed for murder tries to clear his name by taking several people hostage in order to uncover the guilty party.Running Time: 143 min.System Requirements:Interactive Menus Production Notes Additional Footage Documentaries Video Format: Widescreen (no AR specified) Subtitles: French English Track Info: English: Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround French: Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA Rating: R UPC: 085391675020

The One (Special Edition)

In a stunning dual role international action star Jet Li portrays Gabriel Yulaw a police officer confronted with a sinister duplicate of himself. This evil double is an escapee from an advanced parallel universe with a mission to kill Gabriel. His alter ego's hunt culminates in a fateful battle between good and evil that changes Gabriel's perception of reality and forces him to examine the evil hidden within him.System Requirements:Starring: Jet Li Carla Gugino Delroy Lindo and Jason Statham. Directed By: James Wong. Running Time: 87 Min. Color. This film is presented in "Widescreen" format. Copyright 2002 Columbia TriStar.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: ACTION/ADVENTURE Rating: PG-13 UPC: 043396063921 Manufacturer No: 06392

The One sets a martial arts milestone by pitting action star Jet Li against his greatest enemy: himself. This sci-fi thriller establishes a "multiverse" consisting of countless parallel universes, each populated by variants of every individual. Li plays a renegade from the Multiverse Agency, illegally traveling through "quantum tunnels" to eliminate all versions of himself until only two remain, each sharing the cumulative strength of their "parallel universe versions." This mumbo-jumbo inspires a variety of dazzling special effects, and director James Wong (with cowriter and fellow X-Files alumnus Glen Morgan) injects clever humor into the Matrix-derivative premise. Carla Gugino is wasted as the "good" Li's obligatory love interest, but The One will appeal to action fans with its fast-paced pursuit between the evil Li and two agents (Delroy Lindo, Jason Statham) assigned to stop his trans-universal killing spree. It's a one-gimmick movie, best enjoyed with your brain in neutral. --Jeff Shannon

The Last Seduction

Whew. Linda Fiorentino is like a home-grown apocalyptic nightmare as the sizzling, sexy dame who thinks "sharing" is a dirty word. Fiorentino, a master of the double-cross, hooks up with naive Peter Berg, a nice guy desperate for a little adventure. There are endless twists to this cleverly vicious story, but the real draw is Fiorentino, whose performance is brilliant. She is the Everywoman you never want to meet: cool as ice, passionate, tough, self-satisfied, smart, and amoral. Bill Pullman is a surprise as a Machiavellian doctor who is almost her match. Definitely not a date flick, as this represents one vicious battle in the sexual wars. --Rochelle O'Gorman

Bridget Gregory (Linda Fiorentino) seems to have it all: beauty intelligence and a marriage to Clay a wealthy physician (Bill Pullman). But everything isn't enough for Bridget who persuades her husband to make dirty deals on prescription drugs and then runs with the profit. Now incognito in a mid-American small town. Bridget draws a naive local Mike Swale (Peter Berg) into a smoldering affair.Passion greed and revenge forge a desperate triangle between the three as Bridget draws her unknowing victims deeper into her deadly web of deceit. System Requirements:Running Time: 110 MinFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: MYSTERY/SUSPENSE Rating: R UPC: 012236132172 Manufacturer No: 13217

Starship Troopers (Special Edition)

In the first and finest RoboCop movie, director Paul Verhoeven combined near-future science fiction with a keen sense of social satire--not to mention enough high-velocity violence to satisfy even the most voracious bloodlust. In Starship Troopers, Verhoeven and RoboCop cowriter Ed Neumeier take inspired cues from Robert Heinlein's classic sci-fi novel to create a special-effects extravaganza that functions on multiple levels of entertainment. The film might be called "Melrose Place in Space," with its youthful cast of handsome guys and gorgeous women who look like they've been recruited (and in some cases they were) from the cast of Beverly Hills 90210. Viewers might focus on the incredible, graphically intense action sequences (definitely not for children) in which heavily armed forces from Earth go to off-world battle against vast hordes of alien "bugs" bent on planetary conquest. The attacking bugs are marvels of state-of-the-art special-effects technology, and the space battles are nothing short of spectacular. But Starship Troopers is more than a showcase for high-tech hardware and gigantic, flesh-ripping insects. Recalling his childhood in Holland during the Nazi occupation, Verhoeven turns this epic adventure into a scathingly funny satire of fascist propaganda, emphasizing Heinlein's underlying warning against the hazards of military conformity and the sickening realities of war. It's an action-packed joy ride if that's all you're looking for, but Verhoeven has a provocative agenda that makes Starship Troopers as smart as it is exciting. --Jeff Shannon

Total Recall (Special Limited Edition)

This science fiction blockbuster from 1990 began its production life as a very different movie than the one that was released. An adaptation of the Philip K. Dick short story "We Can Remember It for You Wholesale," Total Recall was originally conceived of with Richard Dreyfuss starring as a Walter Mitty-like character who experiences a variety of artificially induced fantasies. The movie we know is a mega-budget action epic set on Mars. Arnold Schwarzenegger plays a normal working man who discovers that his entire reality has been invented to conceal a plot of planetary domination. Oscar-winning special effects and violent action propel the twisting plot, in which Arnold manipulates his manipulators in a world of dazzling high technology. Director Paul Verhoeven (Robocop) indulges his usual penchant for gratuitous bloodshed, but the movie has enough cleverness to rise above its excesses. --Jeff Shannon

This science fiction blockbuster from 1990 began its production life as a very different movie than the one that was released. An adaptation of the Philip K. Dick short story "We Can Remember It for You Wholesale," Total Recall was originally conceived of with Richard Dreyfuss starring as a Walter Mitty-like character who experiences a variety of artificially induced fantasies. The movie we know is a mega-budget action epic set on Mars. Arnold Schwarzenegger plays a normal working man who discovers that his entire reality has been invented to conceal a plot of planetary domination. Oscar-winning special effects and violent action propel the twisting plot, in which Arnold manipulates his manipulators in a world of dazzling high technology. Director Paul Verhoeven (Robocop) indulges his usual penchant for gratuitous bloodshed, but the movie has enough cleverness to rise above its excesses. --Jeff Shannon

The Lawnmower Man (New Line Platinum Series)

In 1992, The Lawnmower Man was hailed as a CGI (computer-generated image) breakthrough. It's fascinating to consider it in a historical context, knowing it came just a year after Terminator 2: Judgment Day and was followed by Jurassic Park a year later. Written and directed by Brett Leonard, The Lawnmower Man focuses on a scientist (Pierce Brosnan) trying to utilize technology for governmental gain. As with all top-secret government projects in the movies, it goes horribly wrong. Forced to progress from a chimp to a human subject, Brosnan secretly recruits local backwards boy and lawnmower pusher Jobe (Jeff Fahey). The increases in intelligence are alarming. He learns Latin in two hours, becomes an object of sexual desire (apparently all it takes is cowboy boots), and then develops telepathic and telekinetic abilities. What the film ought to be remembered and appreciated for are the visuals, which undoubtedly advanced the arcade and home computer game industry. --Paul Tonks

3 Strikes

The chase is on in the wildest manhunt L.A. has ever seen with this arrestingly funny comedy starring Brian Hooks (Bulworth), David Alan Grier (Return to Me), Faizon Love (Friday) and N'Bushe Wright (Blade). Boasting hot new music from Tha Eastsidaz featuring Snoop Dogg,Silkk The Shocker and more, this irreverent comedy written and directed by D.J. Pooh (Friday) is hilarious fun! Rob Douglas (Hooks) is a two-time offender with one thing on his mind: getting out of prisonfor good! So on the day of his release, his pal J.J. (De'Aundre Bonds) pickshim up in a smooth new ride to take him home to his girlfriend (Wright). But when the cops stop them on the way, J.J. confesses that his hot new wheels are real hot, and he's not goin' down without afight! Facing his third strike and a 25-year sentence, Rob flees on foottoo bad he gets caught on videotape! With two strikes against him, Rob's got two choices in front of him: clear his name or go directly back to jail!