Lee Thompson Young

11-year-old Akeelah Anderson has a way with words. After winning her schoolwide spelling bee, she decides to enter the competition, despite her classmates' derision and the antipathy of her mother Tanya. Thanks to the efforts of her teacher Dr. Larabee, she reaches the finals. As she gets to know her fellow competitors, Akeelah realizes that coming first isn't everything in life.

Dir. Doug Atchison · With Keke Palmer, Laurence Fishburne, Angela Bassett

A small, turbulent town in Texas obsesses over their high school football team to an unhealthy degree. When the star tailback, Boobie Miles, is seriously injured during the first game of the season, all hope is lost, and the town's dormant social problems begin to flare up. It is left to the inspiring abilities of new coach Gary Gaines to instill in the other team members -- and, by proxy, the town itself -- a sense of self-respect and honor.

Dir. Peter Berg · With Billy Bob Thornton, Lucas Black, Garrett Hedlund

A Hawaiian teenage surfer shows off his skills when he takes to the snow slopes in Vermont.

Dir. Steve Boyum · With Brandon Baker, Yuji Okumoto, Mary Page Keller

A group of National Guard trainees on a routine mission find themselves up against cannibalistic mutants in the New Mexico desert.

Dir. Martin Weisz · With Michael McMillian, Jessica Stroup, Jacob Vargas