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On the Home Front
Returning home from the Iraq war after a well decorated career and a fully served tour, Ryan Phillippe (Breach, Gosford Park) tries to get his life back together in his Texas home town in Stop-Loss, but finds himself subjected to the Stop-Loss program, and is ordered to return to Iraq. After serving with pride, questioning the orders that want to put him back into active duty, take him away from his girl (Abbie Cornish: Candy, A Good Year), and send more of his friends over (Joseph Gordon-Levitt: Brick, 10 Things I Hate about You) put him at odds with his fellow servicemen and family... but the only options seem to be returning to Iraq or going AWOL.
Creeping Vines
An adaptation of Scott Smith' (Sam Raimi's A Simple Plan) novel, The Ruins follows four American tourists as they travel to a historical Mayan site, where strange dangers await. Starring Johnathan Tucker (In the Valley of Elah, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre), Jena Malone (Donnie Darko, The Ballad of Jack and Rose), Laura Ramsey (Lords of Dogtown, The Covenant), and Shawn Ashmore (X-Men, Earthsea), The Ruins offers up a mysterious horror that threatens to destroy anyone who ventures into the prohibited Mayan world.
A mockumentary about zombie life, American Zombie is a doc that follows "Undead Americans," as they live their afterlives, pursue their goals, and try to keep themselves from decomposing too badly. Both a zombie movie and a satire of media sensationalism and social issues, American Zombie takes a new look at the genre.
Spoof
The newest film along the lines of Meet the Spartans and Epic Movie, Superhero Movie sets out to lampoon the recently popular comic book superhero genre. True to the style of the previous movies, it mixed the plots and stories of several parodies, 
and features a large comic cast, including Sara Paxton (Aquamarine, Sydney White), Drake Bell (Yours Mine and Ours, The Jack Bull), Christopher McDonald (The Perfect Storm, Mad Money), and, of course, Leslie Nielsen (Airplane!, Dracula: Dead and Loving It)... as well as the cameos these movies always supply.
The first feature-film based on a YouTube short, 305 comes out this week, hot on the heels of Meet the Spartans. The story focuses on the five guys sent to guard the goat path in 300, never seen in the original movie. The move from YouTube to feature is a first, much like Undercover Brother, the first film to be adapted from a serial internet cartoon
.
The Tracey Fragments stars Ellen Page (Juno, Hard Candy) on a quest as a young girl in search of her brother. Her journey has her cross paths with a number of strange characters in the urban underworld, including psychiatrists, rock stars, and a satanic cashier.
Nick Stahl (The Man without a Face, Terminator 3) stars in Sleepwalking, a drama about a man sleepwalking through life... until his sister (Charlize Theron: The Italian Job, Aeon Flux) arrives with her young daughter (AnnaSophia Robb: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Bridge to Terabithia). When his sister leaves, apparently abandoning him with his niece, he must overcome his complacency to take the young girl on the road to keep her from being discovered and ending up in a foster home.
The newest version of Jules Verne's Journey to the Center of the Earth on DVD stars Rick Schroder (The Andromeda Strain, Poolhall Junkies) as an adventurer trying to find Peter Fonda (3:10 to Yuma, Easy Rider), who disappeared down a mythic passage to the center of the earth, and is out just in time to get you excited for the 3D version of the story hitting theaters this Friday.
A gangster film set in the 1930's in Shanghai, Blood Brothers is a Chinese film about the Shanghai underworld. Produced by John Woo (A Better Tomorrow, Hard Boiled) and built as a stylized action film with references to Sergio Leone and Sam Peckinpah, the story of two brothers moving to the city to make their fortune... and to find out what their fortune will cost.
A series of short animated films set between Batman Begins and the upcoming Dark Knight, Batman: Gotham Knight sets the stage for the most eagerly anticipated action film of the summer. Like the Animatrix DVD, it features shorts in a variety of styles and tones, and features many popular characters from Batman's Gotham City.
TV New Releases this week include the 5th season of BBC procedural Wire in the Blood, the 6th season of the popular whodunit Monk, and the 4th season of the science fiction spinoff Stargate Atlantis.
