"A brilliantly funny and razor-tongued debut which follows a writer lured to Los Angeles to adapt her feminist mermaid novel into a big-budget action film, who believes her heroine has come to life to take revenge for Hollywood's violations. Penelope Schleeman, a consistently broke Connecticut high school teacher, is as surprised as anyone when her sensitive debut novel, "American Mermaid"-the story of a wheelchair-bound scientist named Sylvia who...

Follows "Swoff," a third-generation Marine enlistee, from a sobering stint in boot camp to active duty, sporting a sniper's rifle and a hundred-pound ruck on his back through the Middle East deserts. There is no cover from intolerable heat or from the Iraqi soldiers, who are always potentially just over the next horizon. Swoff and his fellow Marines sustain themselves with sardonic humanity and wicked comedy on blazing desert fields in a country they...

Sleek thriller set in Greece and Istanbul in 1962. Intrigue begins at the Parthenon when wealthy American tourists Chester MacFarland and his young wife Collete meet American ex-pat Rydal, a scammer working as a tour guide. The two befriend him, but a murder at the couple's hotel puts all three on the run together and creates a precarious bond between them as the trio's allegiance is put to the test.

Ray Kinsella (Kevin Costner) hears a voice, followed by a brief vision of a baseball field. He believes that if he builds a baseball diamond in his cornfield, Shoeless Joe Jackson from the infamous 1919 Chicago "Black" Sox will return to play baseball. By being willing to take a chance, Ray gets a second time up at bat in life.

Pippi learns that her father has been kidnapped by a band of pirates. She, along with Tommy and Annika, sets sail for the South Seas to rescue him.

Nothing was going to stop Roy Hobbs from fulfilling his boyhood dream of baseball stardom. As a 14-year old he fashions a baseball bat from an oak tree. He soon impresses major league scouts with his ability. His talent also catches the eye of a sportswriter who eventually becomes instrumental in Hobbs' career. The appearance of a mysterious woman, however, shatters his dream. Years later Hobbs reappears as a rookie for the New York Knights and has...

Bad day to go fishing: Jacob van Oppen, the former "strongest man on earth" and now an alcoholic, and his manager Orsini, who calls himself "the Prince," make a good living by traveling around small South American towns and organizing wrestling exhibitions. Arriving in Santa Maria, they are met with uncommon enthusiasm: the local newspaper wants to sponsor the fight, helping hands placard the town with posters, and an open call is made for a worthy...

Kit Kittredge (2008). "Set in Cincinnati at the height of the Great Depression, Kit Kittredge, a resourceful young girl, helps her mother run a boardinghouse after her father loses his job."--www.imdb.com Samantha (2004). "Set in 1904, "American Girls" revolves around Samantha as she moves in with her grandmother and learns how to become a proper Victorian young lady."--www.imdb.com Molly (2006). "Molly is a girl living in the year 1944 and WWII...

Centers on the dilemma of a young ballerina torn between the composer who loves her and the impresario determined to fashion her into a great dancer.

Featuring evocative black-and-white imagery and profoundly felt performances, this hushed depiction of crumbling American values remains the pivotal film in the career of the invaluable director and film historian Peter Bogdanovich.