When down and out dad Larry Daley (Ben Stiller) finds himself in desperate need of a job right before Christmas, he grudgingly accepts a gig as a security guard on the graveyard shirt at the Natural History Museum. But the job he thinks will be the worst one imaginable "turns out to be the most incredible thing that has ever happened to him," says Stiller.
On his first night, Larry is handed a flashlight, a dog-eared instruction manual and instructions "not to let anything out."   Confused by the statement, he soon finds out what it means when the primeval beasts, wax figures and artifacts stir magically to life. Soon Tyrannosaurus Rex and Attila the Hun are cutting a swath of destruction, animals are running wild, spear-wielding tribesmen are attacking him and poor Larry hasn't a clue how to get everything under control.   Amid the flying fur and chaos, Larry must recruit the help of a couple of wax figures who have also come to life-Teddy Roosevelt (Robin Williams playing the 26th President of the United States) who advises him on how to survive the night and Sacajawea, the famous Native American guide whose skills help Larry track down the museum's run-away exhibits.   Facing the possibility of losing his job and letting his son down, Larry must do what he can to save the museum from destruction and become the bold, adventurous dad he's always wanted to be. -- Robin Stevenson

Whether one admits it or not, everyone enjoys a little action on the big screen-a first-hand look into the sketchy underworld of power, sex, drugs and crime. Director Nick Cassavetes (Blow, Johnny Q) knows this well. Now, he brings to the big screen the true story of California teen drug lords and the bad things they go through to feed the drug they're most addicted to: power.   Alpha Dog is based on the true-life exploits of drug dealer Jesse James Hollywood (AKA Sean Michaels) who became the youngest person to grace the FBI's Most Wanted List after a botched kidnapping, involving Benjamin Markowitz (his drug client) and his 15-year-old brother Nicholas, turned gruesome.   "This story hits close to home because it could have been my own daughter," Cassavetes told Contactmusic. (His teenage daughter went to the same high school that Hollywood and Markowitz did.) "It was in my back yard. I think it bears true to how things can go wrong so fast."   Set in the '90s, Alpha Dog follows how Johnny Truelove (Emile Hirsch as Hollywood) controls the drugs on the well-manicured streets of his neighborhood with the help of his father Sonny (Bruce Willis). When Johnny's double-crossed over missing money by raging hothead Jake (Ben Foster playing the real-life Benjamin), Johnny and his gang including Frankie (Justin Timberlake) kidnap Jake's little brother, Zack (Anton Yelchin portraying Nicholas).   "My character has the tough talk and he's a little bit crazy, but he's also spineless. And when it comes down to it, he'll make the wrong decisions because he only cares about himself," says Hirsch.   Realizing Zack cannot be "neatly returned," Johnny finds himself with no idea how to fix the bad situation -- leading all players toward something they never saw coming. -- Toni-Marie Ippolito