Opened in Theaters, Friday, September 14th (3)

Across the Universe

All you need is love

At once gritty, whimsical and highly theatrical, Revolution Studios' Across the Universe is a groundbreaking movie musical, springing from the imagination of renowned writer-director Julie Taymor (Frida, Titus, and the Broadway smash hit musical "The Lion King") and writers Dick Clement & Ian La Frenais (The Commitments), that brings together an original story and 33 revolutionary songs -- including "Hey Jude," "I Am the Walrus," and "All You Need is Love" -- that defined a generation.

Taymor says, "The idea was to create an original musical using only the songs of the Beatles."

A love story set against the backdrop of the 1960s amid the turbulent years of anti-war protest, mind exploration and rock 'n roll, the film moves from the dockyards of Liverpool to the creative psychedelia of Greenwich Village, from the riot-torn streets of Detroit to the killing fields of Vietnam.

The star-crossed lovers, Jude (Jim Sturgess) and Lucy (Evan Rachel Wood), along with a small group of friends and musicians, are swept up into the emerging anti-war and counterculture movements, with "Dr. Robert" (Bono) and "Mr. Kite" (Eddie Izzard) as their guides. Tumultuous forces outside their control ultimately tear the young lovers apart, forcing Jude and Lucy -- against all odds -- to find their own way back to each other.

The film also features cameos by such notable stars as U2's Bono, Salma Hayek, Eddie
Izzard and singer Joe Cocker.

Written by Dick Clement, Ian La Frenais

Directed by Julie Taymor

Starring - Jim Sturgess, Evan Rachel Wood, Eddie Izzard, Joe Anderson, Dana Fuchs, Cynthia Loebe, Martin Luther, T.V. Carpio, Bono

Rated - PG-13 for some drug content, nudity, sexuality, violence and language

Running Time – 2:11 min

Genre - Musical, Romance

Opening in Theaters - Friday, September 14th, 2007 (Limited Release on 9/14/2007, expands on 9/21/2007)

The Brave One

How many wrongs to make it right?

For Erica Bain (Jodie Foster), the streets of New York are both her home and her livelihood. She shares the sounds and the stories of her beloved city with her radio audience as the host of the show "Street Walk." At night, she goes home to the love of her life, her fiancé David Kirmani (Naveen Andrews). But everything Erica knows and loves is ripped from her on one terrible night when she and David are ambushed in a random, vicious attack that leaves David dead and Erica close to it.

Though Erica's broken body heals, deeper wounds remain -- the devastation of losing David and, even more overwhelming, a suffocating fear that haunts her every step. The city streets she had once loved to roam, even places that had been warm and familiar, now feel strange and threatening.

When the fear finally becomes too much to bear, Erica makes a fateful decision to arm herself against it. The gun in her hand becomes a tangible way to protect herself from an intangible enemy ... or so she thinks. The first time she shoots someone, it is kill or be killed. The second time is also in self-defense ... or did she make a choice not to take herself out of harm's way? The fear that had once paralyzed her has been replaced by something else ... something that drives her to reclaim the life that was taken from her that night ... something that Erica does not even recognize in herself.

Stories of an anonymous vigilante grip the city, and NYPD detective Sean Mercer (Terrence Howard) becomes increasingly determined to track down the killer. As he pieces together the clues, the evidence begins to point not to a guy with a gun ... but a woman with a grudge.

With Mercer closing in and her own conscience trying her, Erica must decide whether her quest for some form of justice, and even vengeance, is truly the right path, or if she has become the very thing she is hunting.

Written by Roderick Taylor, Bruce A. Taylor, Cynthia Mort

Directed by Neil Jordan

Starring - Jodie Foster, Terrence Howard, Naveen Andrews, Mary Steenburgen

Rated - R for strong violence, language and some sexuality

Running Time – 2:02 min

Genre - Crime, Drama, Thriller

Opening in Theaters - September 14th, 2007

December Boys

After this summer, nothing would be the same.

Based on the classic Michael Noonan novel, DECEMBER BOYS is the story of four orphan teenagers growing up behind the closed doors of a Catholic convent in outback Australia during the 1960s. As the boys watch younger kids get adopted by loving families, they begin to realize that as they get older, their turn may never come. When the convent sends the boys to visit the seaside one summer, they finally have something to look forward to.

While at the seaside, the boys meet a young couple unable to have children, who would make the perfect parents. The eldest of the boys, Maps, finds himself drawn to Lucy, a beautiful girl from down the coast. Competing to be the most adoptable, the rest of the boys, Sparks, Misty and Spit, severely test their friendships as long gestating feelings of rejection explode to the surface.

The bonds of friendship eventually overcome the rivalries, sealing forever the strong ties that bind the December boys as they learn the real meaning behind friendship, family and love.

Written by Marc Rosenberg

Directed by Rod Hardy

Starring - Daniel Radcliffe, Teresa Palmer, Christian Byers, Lee Cormie, James Fraser, Jack Thompson, Kris McQuade, Suzie Wilks, Victoria Hill, Sullivan Stapleton

Rated - PG-13 for sexual content, nudity, underage drinking and smoking

Running Time – 1:45 min

Genre - Drama, Family, Romance

Opening in Theaters - September 14th, 2007 (NY, LA; expands: September 28, 2007)

Eastern Promises

Every sin leaves a mark.

The mysterious and charismatic Russian-born Nikolai Luzhin (Mr. Mortensen) is a driver for one of London's most notorious organized crime families of Eastern European origin. The family itself is part of the Vory V Zakone criminal brotherhood. Headed by Semyon (Academy Award nominee Armin Mueller-Stahl), whose courtly charm as the welcoming proprietor of the plush Trans-Siberian restaurant impeccably masks a cold and brutal core, the family's fortunes are tested by Semyon's volatile son and enforcer, Kirill (Vincent Cassel), who is more tightly bound to Nikolai than to his own father.

But Nikolai's carefully maintained existence is jarred once he crosses paths at Christmastime with Anna Khitrova (Academy Award nominee Naomi Watts), a midwife at a North London hospital. Anna is deeply affected by the desperate situation of a young teenager who dies while giving birth to a baby. Anna resolves to try to trace the baby's lineage and relatives. The girl's personal diary also survives her; it is written in Russian, and Anna seeks answers in it.

Anna's mother Helen (Sinéad Cusack) does not discourage her, but Anna's irascible Russian-born uncle Stepan (Jerzy Skolimowski) urges caution. He is right to do so; by delving into the diary, Anna has accidentally unleashed the full fury of the Vory.

With Semyon and Kirill closing ranks and Anna pressing her inquiries, Nikolai unexpectedly finds his loyalties divided. The family tightens its grip on him; who can, or should, he trust? Several lives - including his own - hang in the balance as a harrowing chain of murder, deceit, and retribution reverberates through the darkest corners of both the family and London itself.

Written by Steve Knight

Directed by David Cronenberg

Starring - Viggo Mortensen, Naomi Watts, Vincent Cassel, Armin Mueller-Stahl, Sinead Cusack, Donald Sumpter, Jerzy Skolimowski

Rated - R for strong brutal and bloody violence, some graphic sexuality, language and nudity

Running Time – 1:40 min

Genre - Thriller

Opening in Theaters - September 14th, 2007 (Limited; wide release: September 21)