The Core

Earth's inner core has stopped rotating. Thankfully, the only person who can save humanity from failing pacemakers, confused pigeons and freaky-ass microwave beams is the ever-hunky Aaron Eckhart. Yes, Aaron is going to save the world. On the upside, he is far superior eye candy than Bruce Willis. The Core is, essentially, Armageddon, only inside the Earth. We get to watch a bunch of incredibly cool-looking things happen — the Golden Gate Bridge goes up in flames; the Coliseum explodes — while a team of crack "terra-nauts" work their way to Earth's core in an attempt to stop humanity's impending doom. Rest assured that these cool looking things are certainly cool looking, with the exception of "the pigeon scene." This unintentionally hilarious example of what happens when the Earth's core stops spinning (birds lose their ability to navigate) is arguably one of the highlights of the movie, simply because it's meant to be so frighteningly serious. Out of nowhere, all the pigeons in London go Alfred Hitchcock on England's collective ass, flying madly about, smashing into everything and falling dead to the ground. The rest of the film is exactly what you would expect, but the fact remains that while The Core is by no means any great feat of cinema, it is an enjoyably stupid movie. Included in the extras are a couple of neat mini-documentaries on The Core's excellent visual effects and quite a few deleted scenes that serve to enhance "the humanity" of the film. Plus: director's commentary, "making of" featurette, more. (Paramount)