Cookout, the

Finding Forrester (2000)

IMDB rating: 7.20

Plot: Jamal Wallace is an inner-city kid from the Bronx who has an aptness at basketball and a genius at writing. While always a C student, Jamal comes to the attention of a prestigious New York prep school when he scores highly on his standardized tests. While Jamal is given a heavy load at his new school, both he and the school know that the real reason they took him on is for his prowess on the court. Befriended by fellow student Claire and helped along by Pulitzer-prize winning author and recluse William Forrester, Jamal pursues his dreams both on and off the court while overcoming obstacles placed by his bitter literature teacher. As Jamal is shaped by Forrester, he finds that he is changing the old writer as well, forcing him to confront his past…and his future.

10th Kingdom, The (2000)

IMDB rating: 8.10

Plot: Two centuries after Snow White and Cinderella had their adventures, the Nine Kingdoms ready themselves for the coronation of Prince Wendel, Snow White’s grandson, to the throne of the Fourth Kingdom. But an evil once-queen has freed herself from prison, and turns the prince into a golden retriever. Wendel, by means of a magic mirror, escapes into a hitherto-unknown Tenth Kingdom (modern day New York City) and meets Virginia and her father Tony. Pursued by trolls, cops, and a wolf in man’s form, the three blunder back into the Nine Kingdoms and begin their adventures to restore Wendel to his human form and throne, and find the magic mirror that will take Tony and Virginia back home, all the while unknowing that Virginia already has a connection to the Nine Kingdoms that may prove deadly before we reach Happily Ever After.

Bootmen (2000)

IMDB rating: 9.10

Plot: Born charmer Sean Okden gave up tap-dancing when he started working in the steel mill, but as that’s going down the hill he grabs his chance being the only candidate in his coastal Australian home town Newcastle selected for a Sidney show. Being sacked soon just for a row with the arrogant lead dancer, he returns to find his girlfriend in bed with his brother Mitchell, and decides to start his own tap-dance group wearing hardhats, which he soon gives an original edge when the steel mill inspires him to weld metal on their shoes and dance on industrial steel, so it the metallic acoustics fit well with a local rock group. Financing their local debut is so expensive, even when the mill allows them free us of its premises -opening some acrobatic perspectives- while even his father won’t allow him to touch his mother’s inheritance for the project, that the ‘Bootmen’ need to steal the cheerleaders’ podium in a televised sports match to get media attention. Sean generously helps his brother when attacked, at the price of their motorbikes, only to learn his assailant Huey and Mitch rival as car (part) thieves, but still allows him into the group - only to see his fatal fall during an attack by Huey’s goons. Even when the mill announces phasing out Sean continues, now as a benefit for the sacked workers’ retraining.

Gladiator (2000)

IMDB rating: 8.20

Plot: Maximus is a powerful Roman general, loved by the people and the aging Emperor, Marcus Aurelius. Before his death, the Emperor chooses Maximus to be his heir over his own son, Commodus, and a power struggle leaves Maximus and his family condemned to death. The powerful general is unable to save his family, and his loss of will allows him to get captured and put into the Gladiator games until he dies. The only desire that fuels him now is the chance to rise to the top so that he will be able to look into the eyes of the man who will feel his revenge.

How to Kill Your Neighbor’s Dog (2000)

IMDB rating: 7.10

Plot: Shy, chain-smoking, insomniac Peter McGowan is an L.A. playwright with a string of hits that preceded his current ten years of failed productions. His mother-in-law is sinking into senility, a stranger is meandering the neighborhood claiming to be him, neighbors have a new dog that barks all night; his wife wants to have a child, and he does not: he’s become impotent. He’s working on a new play when a single mom moves in next door with her 8-year-old daughter. His wife immediately invites the girl into the McGowan household. Will this child stir Peter’s paternal feelings? Will she also help him get his dialogue right? And what of his doppelganger and the neighbor’s dog?