The low-down on this week's premieres
Delving into the world of voodoo, Kate Hudson (Almost Famous) stars in The Skeleton Key, a thriller directed by Iain Softley (K-PAX). As a hospice worker, Caroline Ellis (Hudson) discovers a secret room in her patient's home that is filled with disturbing paraphernalia associated with black magic. With a skeleton key in hand, she attempts to uncover the secrets of the house, hopefully before someone changes the locks.
Reprising his 1999 role as Deuce Bigalow, a lowly a male escort who brings pleasure to strange women everywhere, Rob Schneider (The Hot Chick) travels across the Atlantic in Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo. Lured to Amsterdam by his pimp T.J. Hicks (Eddie Griffin), Deuce begins to take classes that teach him the art of sleeping around. But when high class gigolos start coming up dead, Deuce must learn more about the gigolo societies around him to save himself from becoming the next victim. It's a tough job to be a man-whore, but someone's gotta do it.
Directed by John Singleton (Boyz in the Hood), Four Brothers follows four men as they set out in revenge of their mother's murder. Mark Wahlberg (Boogie Nights), Tyrese Gibson (Baby Boy), Andre Benjamin (Be Cool), and Garrett Hedlund (Friday Night Lights) star as the racially diverse Mercer brothers.
Set in 1945, The Great Raid tells the true story of an American battalion who set out to free 500 of their own soldiers from a Japanese POW camp `see review, page 22`. The film stars Benjamin Bratt (The Woodsman) as the commanding lieutenant leading the mission for freedom.
Although they were pushed back a week, Santikos promises to have Murderball and Happy Endings at the Bijou Theater this week. Murderball is a documentary on the USA quadriplegic rugby team. Happy Endings is a film in which the characters are connected together through 10 separate stories. It stars Maggie Gyllenhaal (Secretary), Tom Arnold (Cradle 2 the Grave), Lisa Kudrow (Wonderland), and Jesse Bradford (Swimfan).