Jefferson in Paris

Jefferson in Paris

Jefferson in Paris

Cast: Nick Nolte, Greta Scacchi, Jean-Pierre Aumont, Simon Callow, Seth Gilliam, James Earl Jones, Michael Lonsdale, Nancy Marchand, Thandie Newton, Gwyneth Paltrow, Charlotte de Turckheim, Lambert Wilson

Set in the period 1784–1789, the film portrays Jefferson as an ambassador at Versailles before the French Revolution. French liberals and intellectuals hope he will lead them away from the corruption of the court of King Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette and toward a more democratic form of government. Although deploring the poverty of the common people, he embraces the riches of French culture and civilization. It is his first time abroad, and he takes advantage of the opportunity to extend his knowledge of liberal arts and science while absorbing the refinements France has to offer.

A lonely widower, Jefferson develops a close friendship with beautiful Anglo-Italian painter and musician Maria Cosway. Although she becomes increasingly devoted to him, his attachments to the memory of his wife, to whom he promised never to marry again, and to his two daughters, especially the elder, possessive Patsy, prevent him from committing fully to the relationship. At the same time, he succumbs to his attraction to his younger daughter Polly's nurse, Sally Hemings, his wife's half-sister, begotten by her father with one of his mulatto slaves. Sally's brother James also is in Paris, learning to prepare French cuisine for Monticello. When George Washington offers Jefferson the post of Secretary of State, he accepts and prepares to sail home with his family. But James, having enjoyed his freedom in Paris, is unwilling to return to the United States and urges Sally to remain with him. It is only when Jefferson promises he will give James and Sally, who is pregnant with Jefferson's child, their freedom that they consent to leave with him.

Hulk

Hulk

Hulk

Cast: Eric Bana, Jennifer Connelly, Sam Elliott, Nick Nolte, Josh Lucas, Paul Kersey

Ang Lee directs the live-action feature film The Hulk, based on the Marvel comic book created by Stan Lee and illustrated by Jack Kirby. Emotionally stunted Dr. Bruce Banner (Eric Bana) is part of a research team at the University of California at Berkeley. Corporate hustler Glenn Talbot (Josh Lucas) takes notice of the lab and makes plans to take it over. Then Bruce accidentally gets hit by an experimental ray and grows into a huge beast, destroying the lab in the process. A creepy janitor who claims to be his real father, Dr. David Banner (Nick Nolte), starts to secretly use the experimental ray on himself. He creates some mutant dogs and sends them after Bruce's lab mate and ex-girlfriend Betty Ross (Jennifer Connelly).

After Bruce saves her life in the form of the Hulk, she lets her distant father, General Ross (Sam Elliott), take him to an abandoned army base in the desert. However, Glenn Talbot takes over the operation and wants to patent the creature's superpowers for his own profit, so he holds Bruce unconscious in an isolation tank. When provoked, Bruce turns into the Hulk and makes a break for San Francisco, leading to a desert chase sequence involving military aircraft, tanks, and bombs. Only the sight of Betty can make him turn back to his human form. When he is eventually captured, Dr. David Banner shows up for a final confrontation with his son and his old adversary, General Ross

The Mysteries of Pittsburgh

The Mysteries of Pittsburgh: Sienna Miller

The Mysteries of Pittsburgh

Cast: Sienna Miller, Jon Foster, Peter Sarsgaard, Mena Suvari, Nick Nolte

Set in Pittsburgh in the early eighties, the story chronicles the last true summer of Art Bechstein's (Jon Foster) youth. Stuck in a dead-end job working for his eccentric sometime girlfriend Phlox (Mena Suvari), and forced into an endless series of airless dinners with his mobster father (Nick Nolte), Art begins to believe that perhaps he doesn't even exist at all.

What begins as a mundane summer is quickly interrupted when he encounters a beautiful debutante (Sienna Miller) and her lusty, no good hoodlum of a boyfriend Cleveland (Peter Sarsgaard). Together they reveal a side of Art and Pittsburgh that he has never known.

As the summer boils on and their adventures darken, Art decides to risk everything to preserve his new-found paradise, and thrusts himself headlong into the blurring boundaries of family, friendship, and love.

Sienna Miller

Sienna Miller was born in New York and raised in London where she was educated prior to returning to the United States where she studied drama. Before working in film she launched her career in theatre and television. Her breakthrough role came in Matthew Vaughn's "Layer Cake" co-starring Daniel Craig. She followed this with a leading role in the remake of the cult classic "Alfie" co-starring Jude Law and Susan Sarandon. Miller was most recently seen opposite Heath Ledger in Lasse Halstrom's Casanova. She recently completed production on "Factory Girl", in the lead role of Andy Warhol's muse and later, "Camille", a love story opposite James Franco, in which she also stars.