AlexanderThe fourth film to chronicle the life of fourth-century B.C. ruler Alexander the Great,
Oliver Stone's Alexander stars
Colin Farrell as the titular Macedonian conqueror. The film follows the young king as he leads his forces on a bloody empirical conquest across the known world, taking large parts of Asia and the Middle East to amass a giant empire, all by the time he turned 25.
Anthony Hopkins co-stars as Ptolemy I along with
Rosario Dawson as Roxane,
Angelina Jolie as Olympias,
Jared Leto as Hephaistion, Val Kilmer as King Philip II, and Jonathan Rhys-Meyers as Cassander. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide
Blood DiamondA South African mercenary and a Mende fisherman find their fates forever intertwined as they embark on a quest to obtain a rare and highly coveted pink diamond in director
Edward Zwick's frantic adventure drama. Ripped from his family farm and forced to toil away in the sweltering South African diamond fields, Solomon Vandy (
Djimon Hounsou) discovered an extraordinary rough stone of immeasurable value. Danny Archer (
Leonardo DiCaprio) is a hired gun who specializes in the sale of so-called "blood diamonds" that are used to finance rebellions and terrorist organizations, and is currently serving time for smuggling. As a bloody civil war rages in Sierra Leone and Archer learns that Vandy has safely hidden the diamond in a place where no one would ever suspect, the pair enlist the aid of disillusioned American journalist Maddy Bowen (
Jennifer Connelly) in recovering the treasure that has the power to save Vandy's family and provide the desperate Archer with a much-needed chance for redemption. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
TroyHomer's sprawling tale of love and war in ancient Greece comes to the screen in all its grandeur in this epic-scale adventure. In 1193 B.C., Paris, Prince of Troy (
Orlando Bloom), has fallen in love; however, the beautiful woman who has beguiled him is Helen, Queen of Sparta (
Diane Kruger), who is wed to King Menelaus (
Brendan Gleeson). While Helen is hardly immune to Paris' charms, this doesn't blunt Menelaus' fury when Paris steals her away from him. Menelaus' brother Agamemnon (
Brian Cox), the power-hungry king of the Mycenaeans, is eager to expand his empire through Troy to the lands of the Aegean Sea, and he uses Paris' romantic slight against Menelaus as an excuse to wage an all-out war against the great walled city. Priam, King of Troy (Peter O'Toole), summons his armies, led by Prince Hector (
Eric Bana), to meet the onslaught of Agamemnon's forces, but while the great city has yet to yield in a battle, Agamemnon has a formidable ally -- Achilles (
Brad Pitt), a mighty and seemingly unstoppable warrior whose presence could tip the scales in Agamemnon's favor.
Sean Bean,
Julie Christie,
Saffron Burrows, and
Rose Byrne highlight the film's supporting cast. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Wyatt EarpDirected by
Lawrence Kasdan, this epic version of the legendary western sheriff-gunslinger's life story stars
Kevin Costner as Earp, who lived from 1848 to 1929. Growing up on a farm in Iowa, Earp tries to run away to join the Union Army in the Civil War, but he is turned away because of his youth. Instead, he studies law and marries Urilla Sutherland (
Annabeth Gish). But Urilla dies of typhoid fever before they can have children. Earp grows despondent and descends into drinking and petty thievery, but his father Nicholas (
Gene Hackman) finds him, sobers him up, and sets him straight. Earp becomes a buffalo hunter and a close companion of Bat Masterson (
Tom Sizemore) and his brother Ed (
Bill Pullman). With his brothers, Virgil (
Michael Madsen) and Morgan (
Linden Ashby), Earp sets out to clean up the violence-plagued towns of the old West -- by using his own guns to settle scores. Earp takes up with Mattie Blaylock (
Mare Winningham), a drug addict and prostitute, then discards her for actress Josie Marcus (
Joanna Going). In Tombstone, Arizona, the Earp brothers and their comrade Doc Holliday (
Dennis Quaid), who is plagued by tuberculosis and a compulsion for gambling, meet their match in a ruthless gang led by Ike Clanton (
Jeff Fahey). ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide
