COURTESY WARNER BROS.
Newcomer Alison Lohman, left, and Michelle Pfeiffer star in "White Oleander."
[ PREVIEW ]
The following is a preview of movies opening this Friday:
"Brown Sugar" >> This romantic comedy centers on the relationship between a music magazine editor (Sanaa Lathan) and a hip-hop A&R man (Taye Diggs), friends since they were brought together as kids by the love of rap. (PG-13)
"Knockaround Guys" >> This movie, made two years ago, finally sees the light of day, thanks to the now-high profiles of stars Vin Diesel and Seth Green who play mobster-related brothers who have to travel from their Brooklyn neighborhood to find a bag of money in a small Montana town ruled by a corrupt sheriff. It's a heist flick, with a supporting cast that includes John Malk- ovich and Dennis Hopper. (R)
"The Rules of Attraction" >> "Pulp Fiction" meets "The Graduate" -- masquerading as "American Pie" is how writer/director Roger Avary describes his satiric comedy, based on Bret Easton Ellis' novel, set on an affluent New England campus in the '80s, where rich kids meet sex, drugs and violence. James Van Der Beek plays a coke-dealer who falls for a classmate (Shannyn Sossamon) who in turn pines for her bisexual ex-boyfriend (Kip Pardue). (R)
"The Transporter" >> This action thriller boasts a United Nations cast and crew: French filmmaker Luc Besson ("La Femme Nikita") wrote the screenplay; Hong Kong martial-arts choreographer Cory Yuen ("X-Men," "Romeo Must Die") directed; and Britain's answer to Vin Diesel, Jason Statham, stars as an ex-Special Forces commando-turned-mercenary hired to kidnap the daughter of a Chinese smuggler. (PG-13)
"Tuck Everlasting" >> "Gilmore Girls' " Alexis Bledel and Jonathan Jackson star in this fanciful teen romance, set in the 19th century, about a girl entranced by a seemingly perfect family who live in the woods near her home, only to discover the supernatural secret of their success. Amy Irving, William Hurt, Sissy Spacek, Scott Bairstow and Ben Kingsley round out the cast. (PG)
"White Oleander" >> Based on the best-selling novel, a teenage girl enters the Los Angeles foster care system when her charismatic devil of a mother (Michelle Pfeiffer) is sent to prison for poisoning her boyfriend. The girl (Alison Lohman) ends up turning tricks, contemplates suicide and is shuffled into the arms of temporary moms played by Renee Zellweger and Robin Wright Penn. (PG-13)
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