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Valerie a týden divu

Valerie [Jaroslava Schallerová] has just come of age with her first bleeding. Babischka [Helena Anyzová] says that it's time to put away her magic earrings and attend to the missionaries who are coming to town. Valerie, however, is more interested in the performers who have arrived for Hedvica's wedding. As the celebrators pass below her dining room window, Valerie sees a "monster," a masked man whose face changes from human to a nosferatu-like vampire. Even Babischka pales when she sets eyes on him.Now Valerie begins to see the vampire everywhere. He is the Bishop, he is the Constable, he is her boyfriend Orlik's guardian, he is the Weasel, he is Babischka's lover Richard. Babischka wishes to be young again so that Richard will find her beautiful, so she signs away her house (Valerie's inheritance) in return for a drink of Hedvica's blood on her wedding night. Babischka then shows up as Valerie's second cousin Elsa, young, beautiful, and vampire. When Valerie learns that the Vampire is dying and must have blood, she steals a chicken and feeds him the blood off her lips.A visiting priest, another of Babischka's lovers, tells Valerie that her father was also Orlik's father, which greatly disturbs Valerie to find that she and Orlik are brother and sister, but she is more disturbed when the priest attempts to seduce her, so upset in fact that she kills herself with her magic earrings. The priest then kills himself but comes back to life. The priest convinces the town that Valerie bewitched him, so the townsfolk tie Valerie to a stake and set her on fire, but her magic earrings save her.Suddenly, Babischka is back. She reveals to Valerie a story about how her lover Richard had two children with Valerie's mother (of which Valerie is one, of course) just as a carriage drives up and Valerie's parents get out. A hunter kills a weasel which has been eating the chickens, and much merriment ensues as the whole town turns up to celebrate. The story ends with Valerie asleep in a bed in the middle of the forest. [Synopsis by bj_kuehl]

fantasy, allegory, cult, flashback, psychedelic, sadist

tt0066516

Heavenly Creatures

New Zealand, 1952. Fourteen-year-old Pauline Rieper (Melanie Lynskey) is a student at a strict all-girls high school in Christchurch, South Island, New Zealand. She resides with her working-class parents, Herbert and Honora (Simon O'Connor and Sarah Peirse), whose home doubles as a boarding house. Introverted Pauline sleeps in a small furnished hut in the yard.Pauline's life changes dramatically when she befriends wealthy British transfer student Juliet Hulme (Kate Winslet), the daughter of a respected physicist. Pauline's quiet nature is countered by Juliet's charisma and outspokenness, and the girls quickly become inseparable. Juliet is unafraid of authority, impressing Pauline by fearlessly correcting their French teacher during class and by ignoring their art teacher's instructions altogether.They are also the only two girls in their class forbidden from taking part in gym activities, due to childhood battles with bone disease, on Pauline's part, and lung disease on Juliet's. They spend this class period bonding over their passions for music, art, film, and literature. They share a particular fondness for the music of popular tenor Mario Lanza, and for the actor James Mason.Pauline is invited to visit Juliet at the Hulme home, a stately mansion on a sprawling property of woods and creeks. Juliet and her younger brother Jonathan (Ben Skjellerup) often dress up and play fantasy games in the fairy tale-like setting. Pauline is awed by the lifestyle of the Hulmes, but becomes a regular visitor as her friendship with Juliet grows. Juliet occasionally visits Pauline at her parents' house, but Honora is nervous and uncomfortable with Juliet's large personality, while Pauline is embarrassed by her father's questions and silly comments.Juliet and Pauline create a fantasy kingdom called Borovina, about which they write stories, create models of the characters, and eventually interact with each other as the invented king and queen, Charles (Pauline) and Deborah (Juliet). They also elaborate on Juliet's theory of the afterlife, "the Fourth World," where they believe their favorite film stars and musicians will be saints. The girls hope to one day become famous actresses in America, and to have their stories about Borovina published.Pauline spends extensive time at the Hulme house with Juliet and her parents, Henry and Hilda (Clive Merrison and Diana Kent), and Juliet's younger brother Jonathan (Ben Skjellerup), even joining them on vacations. During this time, Pauline sees the dysfunction that exists within the Hulme family. Juliet has a deep abandonment issues, stemming from her childhood when her parents left her in the Bahamas for five years to recover from a bout of illness. When Dr. and Mrs. Hulme mention they are planning a trip to London together, Juliet becomes very upset and channels her resentment into her relationship with Pauline, continuing to construct an alternate reality of bliss and hopefulness that becomes more and more real to both girls.Shortly before her parents' departure, Juliet contracts tuberculosis and is sent to a clinic for four months. At the beginning of her stay, her parents (somewhat reluctantly) tell her that it's not too late to cancel their trip to London, if that's what she wants, but they quickly change the subject and bid Juliet a brief goodbye. Juliet is miserable at being abandoned by her parents again, especially during another bout of illness, and remains angry until she is visited by Pauline and Honora. While Honora is anxious about Pauline becoming ill as well, the girls are overjoyed to see each other again. They continue to communicate via frequent letters detailing both their own thoughts and those of Charles and Deborah.With Juliet away, Pauline begins to seek new experiences to fill the emotional void. She allows the persistent affections of John (Jed Brophy), an awkward young man boarding at the Rieper's house who claims to be in love with Pauline and comes to her room at night. Though Pauline is annoyed by his presence, she allows him to climb into bed with her to have sex. She remains oblivious to his intentions at first, as her thoughts are occupied with Juliet, Borovina, and her disdain for school, but John soon makes his true feelings known. They are caught together by Pauline's father, who evicts John and is deeply angered and hurt by his daughter's behavior. Her mother, Honora, is furious as well, calling her a "tart" who brings shame on their family, and forces Pauline to move back into the main house where she can be kept out of trouble. Pauline continues to sneak out to see John, whom she calls "Nicholas" after one of her and Juliet's characters from Borovina, though she has no real interest in him, and allows him to have sex with her simply out of resentment for her parents.When Juliet is well enough to return home, the girls resume their relationship, which only grows in intensity. Juliet's father Henry is disturbed with the obsessive behaviors of the girls, and nervously meets with Pauline's parents to reveal his concerns. Though he admits that he has seen no explicitly inappropriate behavior from the girls, he recommends that Pauline see a doctor friend of his, Dr. Bennett (Gilbert Goldie), who also has a background in child psychology.After interviewing a sullen Pauline, Dr. Bennett tells Honora that Pauline is likely going through a homosexual phase, but that it will likely wear off as Pauline matures. With homosexuality being considered a mental illness at the time (not to mention the social implications from the largely Catholic community), the parents of the girls agree that the friendship must taper off.Meanwhile, Hilda Hulme's affair with her marriage counseling patient, Bill Perry (Peter Elliott), is discovered by Henry and they agree to divorce. Henry resigns from his position as rector of the University of Canterbury and plans to move back to England. After being told the news of this final abandonment, Juliet is told that she will be sent to live with a relative in South Africa, using the excuse that the warm climate will be better for her health. Juliet and Pauline will be allowed to spend three weeks together before the move. Pauline makes a desperate plea to her mother to be allowed to move to South Africa with Juliet, but Honora flatly refuses to allow it. Pauline begins to despise her mother for her role in breaking up the relationship, which has endured and blossomed for the past two years, and her thoughts turn violent as her time with Juliet begins to run out.After viewing an Orson Welles film at the local cinema 'The Third Man', Juliet and Pauline return home to Juliet's house where they finally consummate their feelings towards each other and make love for the first time. With their romantic bond cemented, Juliet and Pauline entertain a rather flimsy plan to run away together to America, but following the scheme's collapse, they decide to kill Pauline's mother to remove what they believe to be the chief obstacle to their fantasy life.On June 22, 1954, they arrange an outing with Honora to Victoria Park, where the three of them stop for tea before going for a walk in the woods. After a bit of hiking, Juliet distracts Honora by dropping a pink gemstone onto the path and directing Honora's attention to it. While Honora is bent over examining the stone, Pauline extracts a brick in a stocking from her purse. She and Juliet take turns bludgeoning Honora until she is dead, and then run screaming, drenched in blood, back to the tea shop where they tell the shopkeep that "Mummy's been terribly hurt."The final scenes are a montage black and white fantasy segment of Juliet's parents taking her away on a ship while Pauline watches from the docks as she and her one true love, Juliet, are separated as a result of their murderous actions forever.The film closes with an on-screen text saying that the girls' story of Honora's "accidental" death quickly dissolves, and both are arrested after police find Pauline's diary which explicitly outlined their murder plan. Pauline is charged under her mother's maiden name, Parker, after it was discovered that her parents were not legally wed. Being too young for the death penalty, Juliet Hulme and Pauline Parker were convicted of murder and served five years in prison and were released in late 1959 under the condition that they never contact each other again. Juliet returned to England with her mother, while Pauline remained in New Zealand until 1965 when she left and her current whereabouts are unknown. Neither of them saw each other again.

fantasy, psychological, murder, boring, cult, violence, revenge, flashback, insanity, psychedelic, melodrama, romantic, queer

tt0110005

Slam Dance

In Hollywood, the land where dreams are made.Charles C. "Drood" Drood (Tom Hulce) is a professional artist who makes his livelihood from cartoons. He has fallen asleep because he spent all the night working. Helen (Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio), his ex-wife, calls him in anger because he forgot to pick his daughter up - a sweet girl called Elizabeth "Bean" Brood (Judith Barsi) C. C. is also trying to avoid his boss, who phones him to demand whatever work he had to finish up. If not, he'll be fired. At that moment, when he is trying to avoid him, is when his friend Jim Campbell (rock star Adam Ant) tells him that he has sold a piece of his artwork and that his comission is 500 dollars. When Charles meets Helen, he asks her to move in with him once again, as he is not that sure about their impending divorce. It's implied - but not seen - that she rejects the offer.At school, during her daughter's break, CC talks to Bean. One of her young teachers talk to her, Mrs Margaret Bell (Rosalind Chao). She finds him amusing.Some thugs pick CC up. They demand something from him, but nobody clarifies CC what it's expected of him. They kidnap him, beat him and scare the shit out of him. Charles goes to the police, who think he must have done something. The police asks him whether the name of a young woman called Yolanda Caldwell (Virginia Madsen) tells him something. Charles says that he's never heard of her. The police officer shows him a photograph of her, dead. Charles has a reminiscence of him having a warm sexual relationship with her. Det. Benjamin "Ben" Smiley (Harry Dean Stanton) and Det. John Gilbert (John Doe) question Drood about her. He admits he didn't attend a meeting with her, because after all he's still married and has a child, and he's trying to make things work out with Helen.He tells how he met Yolanda - he questions her when he realises that he's got many drugs/pills in her handbag. She is a blonde bombshell, and flirts with him.Back home, Charles' aspect is horrible: his face has been smashed to a pulp. His landlady, Mrs. Raines (Herta Ware), a hard-of-hearing old lady, gives him a package, and talks about a post office conspiration about mixing dates. He tries to convey to her landlady the message that he may leave the flat soon, but communication is impossible. In the packet which Charles has received there is a photograph of Yolanda in a sexy outfit having fun with several important grey-suited men, probably politicians.Somebody has created a mess in his condo because they are looking for that photograph. A young man points at him with a gun to get it. Charles remembers how they were together, in a picnic on the top of a hill close to a high way but dressed to the nines. Ben is happy playing around, while her father is a bit melancholic. Helen is worried about the breaking-in in Charles' apartment. He tells her to chill out. Helen doesn't believe he's become mature at all. When Charles comes back to his flat, there is a funny conversation with Mrs Raines because she won't use a hearing aid, and she complains about the new lock on his door.Charles Drood enters and starts making cartoons. However, he soon goes down to a pub, looking like a punk, buying shots for himself. Obviously, he gets drunk. The thug who vandalised his apartment appears out of nowhere and pulls his gun out again, threatening him in the toilets. Charles doesn't know what to do anymore. Charles paints, and the crime becomes his main inspiration. The police has organized surveillance of him and is following all his steps, he can only remember how worried her lover was during the last part of her life. He questions Jim about one party at which Yolanda was present, especially whether she went there with a Congressman. Jim says that she may have attended with somebody but can't remember whom with. Jim is at loss about Charles' intentions. However, Jim is cracking jokes and that gives Charles inspiration to go and look at her body in the morgue.At the mortuary, - to which he goes with a ridiculous hat and dark sunglasses - he mentions that she was married but doesn't know the name of her husband. The perton who helps him makes a phonecall right afterwards he leaves the place without looking at the body in the morgue. Charles draws and draws about the situation.His life goes downhill, from bad to worse. Little by little, he tries to investigate. She phones to a phone he found in a visit card. He phones and enquires about Yolanda. Shelly appears. It looks like she's a professional secretary, but she gets naked, as she is really a prostitute. He tells her to go away, but she won't, as she needs to earn her money. When she looks at Charles' artwork, Shelly calls her "Nancy", instead of Yolanda. Suddenly, Drood is interested in Shelly, and tries to get Yolanda's real name and surname. Shelly refuses. At that moment, Bean and Helen enter the studio, and they find Charles hugging the naked young woman. Helen won't believe anything that Charles says; in fact, she doesn't want to talk to him in her life again.Drood tries to talk with Mrs. Raines. He enters her apartment, where she is deepley asleep. He looks around and realises that she has been nicking things from mail and packets from all the tenants in the building, as she is a nosy lady. As usual, she can't communicate with her, and he only suceeds in scaring her. When he comes back to his apartment, he finds "Shelly" dead. He has to run away once again - this time, he's found a photograph of some masked middle-aged men naked, presumably about to have an orgy with some of the prostitutes from Shelly and Virginia's agency. When he's about to talk to Smiley at the police station with that new clue, he recognises one of the detectives (Marty Levy) - who is celebrating Smiley's promotion - as one of the thugs who threatened him in the car at the beginning of everything.Drood asks Helen for help, but she won't help him out. Charles has to almost break in because she won't even try listening to him. Helen was having sex with a young man. Helen tells him to go away. Charles decides he needs to see Bean, even when it's really late. He doesn't want to wake her, though, and is tender with his little girl.The police are investigating Shelly's murder the following morning. Smiley questions Helen in her workplace. She works at a kindergarten and Drood phones him while she's talking to Smiley. Smiley and one of the detectives talk about framing Drood: either they will go down or Drood will.Drood disguises himself: even his friend Jim can't recognize him. Jim is panicking. Helen is worried and Ben is having trouble at school: his friend accuses him of beng too selfish, too absorved with himself to worry about anybody else. Drood gets Jim's car keys with threats.Nancy Barron was the secretary/office aide of Bobby Nye (Millie Perkins), a person involved with a city hall sex scandal. At a city hall party, Drood attends in disguise. An opera singer (John Fleck) is singing. A lady at the party recognises him, and presents Drood to several councilmen and their wives as an artist. Later, somebody says that lady's name: she is Bobby Nye. She comments that his work will rise its price as the model has passed away. The detective/thud appears, and he softly takes Drood away. Somebody had told him to hit Nancy/Yolanda, and he took things too far. That young man commits suicide: he is sorry that everything went overboard.Drood phones Helen: she now knows she's innocent. Drood tells Helen to remember the number of their hotel room during their honeymoon. Droods asks her for money and new clothes. Drood is worried because Helen decides to phone Smiley to talk with him face-to-face, with the bait of telling him where Drood is hiding. We see Smiley's office: he used to be in love with Yolanda/Nancy as well.Helen wants Drood to talk with Smiley. Smiley seems eager to help Drood. Detective John Gilbert appears and points his gun towards Drood. Drood shoots Smiley. In the ensuing fight, Drood kills John. Drood feels that he's a walking dead man. Helen panicks when an over-the-top maddened Charles Drood decides to kill himself. The audience knows that Helen is in love with him all over again.Drood goes on his own way without Helen, advising to her that she say she was kidnapped by demented Charles. Charles Drood puts his rings on the fingers of the suicidal detective and plans to make his body pass as his own dead body. In order to do that, he must savagely take all his real teeth out, later putting his there. He sets fire to the car, who goes off in flames. Charles Drood will attend his own funeral in a disguise and being careful to hide away.Helen and Bean, mourning Drood with long-looking faces, enter a car with a chaffeur.Closer to the chaffeur driving away: it's Charles Drood.

neo noir, murder, flashback

tt0093986

Gli invasori

A voice-over narrator explains that in the year 786 A.D., three large Viking ships landed in the British isles, heralding the beginning of an attempted invasion. More ships followed, and within a few years, an all-out war is instigated. King Harald, the only Viking chieftain interested in maintaining peace, makes a plea to King Loter (Franco Ressel). The English king sends Sir Rutford (Andrea Checchi), the commander of the British sea forces, to work out a deal with the Vikings. However, Rutford is not interested in making bargains, and stages a surprise attack on the Vikings, thus opening the movie. In the ensuing battle, many Vikings are killed, most of them women and children. King Harald and a few Vikings fight bravely, killing a number of English knights, but he himself is felled by an arrow fired by Rutfords chief assassin. During the battle, Harold's two young sons, Erik and Eron, are whisked away by one of his chiefs. But in the attempt to escape from the beach where the battle rages, Eron is rescued by a few Vikings along with some women and children, but Erik is left behind in the chaos.Later, King Loter arrives on the scene where he threatens to strip Rutford of his title and of his command of the sea forces for the indiscriminate killing of Viking women and children. But Rutford retaliates by having his assassin kill Loter with an arrow, and making it seem that a wounded Viking killed him. Loter's wife, Queen Alice (Francoise Christophe), is greatly distress by the sudden death of her husband, and wonders away. She finds the young Viking boy, Erik, on the beach hiding away from where the carnage happened. Figuring out that he's a Viking, the queen decides to raise Erik as her own son, and takes him back to her castle residence, not realizing that a small tattoo on the boy's chest is a family crest which adorns the chest of both boys. Eron, in the meantime, is returned to the land of the Vikings and vows to spend the rest of his life plotting revenge against the British for the death of his father, and brother.20 years later, the Vikings once again wage war against the British. The adult Eron (Cameron Mitchell), has fallen in love with a vestal virgin named Daya (Ellen Kessler), the identical twin sister of the vestal virgin Rama (Alice Kessler). But because of the pagan Viking custom, she is promised to the gods, and they cannot reveal their love out of fear of being executed. Eron knows that only a king is permitted to marry a vestal virgin, and so he plans to take advantage of the forthcoming war with England to prove his valor and leadership abilities.King Olaf, the leader of the Vikings, makes a pack with Iceland, Norway, and Sweden to form an alliance to invade Britain once again for control of the North Sea. Because of his old age and physical infirmity, Olaf determins that a younger man will have to lead the attack in his place. Olaf chooses Eron, but his choice is resisted by Garan, who fears that Eron will lose sight of the objective by seeking out personal glory. Garan wishes to be elected leader, and a vote by the 20 field chieftains is taken. When the vote is a draw, Olaf determines that they will have to fight to the death. In the ensuring swordfight, Eron is victorious, but refuses to kill his opponent, and asks Garan to lead with him side-by-side. Eron is clearly a man of passion and valor, and although hot-tempered, he has compassion. But his major flaw is that Eron is too trusting.In England, the adult Erik (Giorgio Ardisson) is appointed as Duke of Helford, and leader of the British sea forces, replacing Sir Rutford. Erik's first duty by his mother, Queen Alice, is to stave off the impending Viking invasion. But Rutford is jealous of the young man, and plots to sabotage the mission by planting a spy on board who will set fire to Eriks ship while at sea.The two Viking and English fleets meet in the North Sea, and a sea battle begins. The Vikings board Erik's flagship, just as the spy begins to set fire to it. In the battle, Erik and Eron meet and engage in a swordfight, neither of them aware of their blood kin relationship. However, as Rutford planned, Erik's ship catches afire, enabling the Vikings to advance upon England. Erik jumps overboard, and later washes ashore in Viking land. He is found by Rama, and is immediately smitten with him, but she does not understand the significances of the cross he wears around his neck, and especially when he asks her if she's an angel. Fearing discovery and execution for interaction with a male, Rama points Erik in the direction of a local Viking fishing village and agrees to secretly meet with him later. Because of his blond, Nordic features, Erik is accepted by the Vikings as a ship-wrecked fisherman. One of Erik's crewmembers, also shipwrecked, recognizes him and plots to help him escape when the time is right.Back in England, Sir Rutford proposes marriage to the queen. He accepts the fact that she cares nothing for him, but claims to see the marriage as an opportunity of uniting the country. However, it is apparent that he is only interested in becoming king for his own self-interest. Queen Alice immediately sees though his deception and refuses by saying. "your ambition shows. It devours you."When the Vikings arrive, Rutford grants them admission into the castle. Eron and his men take over with little difficulty, and Rutford is appointed Regent, with the objective of ruling in Eron's absence. Eron then takes Queen Alice as a hostage back to Viking land, promising to kill her if anybody in England rebels against Rutford or his men.In Viking land, Rama is assigned to look after the captive Queen Alice. Rama happens to notice that the queen also wears a cross, and she mentions this to Erik when they secretly meet again. Demanding to know the prisoner's name, Erik is shocked when Rama mentions that its his 'mother'. Erik surmises that his presence in Viking land is an act of fate to rescue his mother, and also find happiness with Rama.The next day, Eron and Daya are to be married, while Rama and Erik plan to take advantage of the ensuing ceremony to flee to England with Queen Alice. As Erik, standing anonymously among all the other Vikings, watches the wedding ceremony, is mistakenly believes that it is Rama who is being married. Enraged by this imagined 'affront', Erik confronts Daya, who doesnt know who he is, and as a result, gives his true identity away when Eron recognizes him. Erik is then locked away by Eron to be executed the following morning.After drugging the men who are guarding Erik, Rama explains to him that the woman he saw married was her twin sister, and not her. Erik is relived to hear this and escapes from his prison with Rama. However, Eron and a horde of Vikings give a pursuit. Chasing them across a rickety bridge, Eron nearly falls to his death. Encouraged by Rama, Erik, rescues Eron from certain death. Undaunted by this act of kindness, Eron continues to peruse them, but Erik and Rama, meet up with Queen Alice and they safely sail away back to England.Upon their return, Erik is pleased to discover that the Scots have volunteered to help defend England against the Vikings. Before Erik and his combined English-Scots forces can attack the castle and reclaim it from Rutford, Eron and the Vikings arrive. Eron leaves Daya in Rutford's castle, while he accepts a direct challenge from Erik. In the ensuing swordfight, Eron catches sight of the tattoo on Erik's chest. Recognizing it as the same mark which adorns his chest, he comes to finally realize that Erik is really his long-lost brother.Reunited with his brother, Eron declares a ceasefire. This upsets Rutford, who respons by having his henchman fire an arrow at Erik. Eron throws himself in the path of the arrow, and is fatally wounded. The enraged Vikings attempt to storm the castle, but Rutford raises the drawbridge, and promises to kill Daya by the next morning if the Vikings to not disband.As Eron lies dying, he names Erik as his successor as King of the Vikings. Becoming more and more delirious, he asks to see Daya one last time. Erik determines to do this by breaking into the castle and retrieving her. With the help from Viking arch men, Erik begins to slowly scale a wooden tower alongside the cliff waterfront of the castle, as the Vikings shoot arrows into the wooden frame which he uses as grappling instruments. When Rama realizes that the dying Eron will not last much longer, she poses as her sister to him. Eron is oblivious to the deception, and upon declaring his love for her, he finally dies.In the meantime, Erik has scaled the wall, and makes his way into the castle. He rescues the captive Daya, killing Rutford's henchman guarding her. At dawn, the combined Viking, English and Scots armies attack the castle. Despite heavy casualties, the Vikings succeed in scaling the walls, and fighting the defenders. Eron manages to fight his away out of the castle and lowers the drawbridge, allowing the rest of the armies to advance into the fortress. All of Rutford's men are killed with Rutford himself being the last to fall when he attempts to shoot an arrow at the escaping Eron, and he is pierced with at least a dozen arrows by the Vikings and falls off the castle rampart to his death.With peace restored, Queen Alice reclaims her throne and allows Erik to leave England to claim his title as King of the Vikings. Erik returns to Viking land with Rama, while the dead Eron is also returned to Viking land with the mourning Daya to have a traditional Viking burial.

cult, cruelty, violence

tt0055022

Long-Haired Hare

One day, Bugs is sitting outside his hole, playing a banjo and singing "A Rainy Night in Rio". Nearby, in a luxurious house, a famous opera singer named Giovanni Jones is rehearsing "Largo al factotum" from The Barber of Seville. However, Jones is distracted by Bugs' singing, and goes over and smashes his banjo over his head in a fit of anger. Bugs remarks, "Music hater."Later, Jones is rehearsing again, but is again distracted by Bugs playing the harp and singing "My Gal is a High Born Lady" (with re-written lyrics). Jones destroys the harp and jams Bugs' head in it, causing him to remark, "Also a rabbit hater. Oh, well." Bugs then decides to loudly play the tuba, but this does not impress Jones any more than previously. He ties Bugs' ears to a tree and beats his head against the branch. Fed up, Bugs makes his trademark Groucho Marx comment: "Of course you know, dis means war!"That night, Jones is performing a concert at the Hollywood Bowl, and begins by singing "Chi mi frena in tal momento". Bugs is sitting on top of the large stadium, and taps it with his fingers, the reverberation causing Jones to tremble slightly when he hits a certain note in the song. Bugs remarks, "Acoustically perfect," and bangs on the stadium with a mallet, resulting in a much more violent reverberation & causing Jones to wildly shake and move around the stage, until he falls into a tuba player's instrument. Bugs takes Jones back stage, informing the audience of an interruption in the program, and orders the maestro to play a vamp. Bugs fixes Jones up backstage, and sprays liquid alum into his mouth. Jones goes back on stage and proceeds to sing the "Figaro" section of "Largo al factotum". With each singing of "Figaro", his head shrinks to an extremely small size and his voice grows extremely high in pitch.Later, Jones is due to go on stage again, but Bugs, dressed in a bobby soxer outfit, begs him to stop. Bugs showers Jones with praise, and asks for his autograph, giving him a pen which turns out to be a stick of dynamite. It explodes as Bugs sneaks away, and Jones steps onto stage, bows and faints.Finally, Bugs enters disguised as famous conductor Leopold Stokowski. Greatly in awe, all the orchestra members, Jones and the conductor immediately stop what they are doing, so Bugs can take over. He snaps the conductor's baton in half, and proceeds to conduct first the orchestra and then Jones through a bizarre performance with his hands. He receives rapturous applause, but Bugs is not finished. He then persuades Jones to hold a high note for an extremely long period of time. While Jones is holding the note, his clothes unravel and his face changes from one colour to another. Bugs slips his hand out of his glove for a brief period, and steps outside to order a pair of earmuffs, which he puts on to block out the noise. He returns to find Jones still holding the high note and pounding on the floor, but continues to have him hold the note. Eventually, this causes the Hollywood Bowl's dome to crack and fall apart. The debris crashes onto the stage, burying Jones.Bugs receives massive applause, and bows to the audience. The ravaged Jones also emerges from the rubble and bows. Just then, Bugs notices a large boulder suspended on a rafter. He gets Jones to hold the high note again, as the boulder tumbles off the rafter and hits Jones, finishing him off. Bugs then pulls out his repaired banjo, and plays "Good Evening, Friends". Iris out.

psychedelic

tt0041598

Fort Apache

At sometime in the mid 1870's (the exact date is never given) Lieutenant Colonel Owen Thursday (Henry Fonda) is en route to his new posting in Arizona at Fort Apache. Traveling with the widower Lieutenant Colonel is his daughter, Philadelphia (Shirley Temple). Colonel Thursday is clearly upset at having received this posting. We learn that during the Civil War, Thursday was a brevet General but has lost his promotion since the war and has been floating around the war department since with no one knowing what to do with him. When Thursday and his daughter arrive at a store on the way to the fort the meet up with recent West Point graduate, Second Lieutenant Michael Shannon O'Rourke (John Agar). Philadelphia is smitten with the young lieutenant. At this point, Sergeants Beaufort, Mulcahy, Quincannon, and Schattuck (Pedro Armendariz, Victor McLaglen, Dick Foran, and Jack Pennick respectively) arrive with a wagon to escort O'Rourke to Fort Apache. O'Rourke offers Thursday a ride to the fort which the Colonel accepts, also starting a running gag where Thursday is unable to remember O'Rourke's name. At Fort Apache we learn that Captain Kirby York (John Wayne), a popular and respected officer, was hoped to take over the regiment. Many are visibly upset at Colonel Thursday's appointment to command, especially Captain Sam Collingwood (George O'Brien) who along with York served under Thursday in the Civil War. Collingwood puts in for a transfer to West Point when Thursday arrives as due to an indecent during the war which is only ever alluded to Collingwood refuses to serve under Thursday again. We then meet Lt. O'Rourke's father, former brevet Major now Sergeant Major and Medal of Honor holder Michael O'Rourke (Ward Bond) and his mother Mary (Irene Rich). Lt. O'Rourke attempts to take over the training of new recruits but proves unsuccessful as the lieutenant is described as "... an officer and a gentleman..." doing work not meant for a gentleman. The four sergeants immediately take over training leading to comedic outcomes. This frees Lt. O'Rourke to call on Philadelphia and spend time with her, much to Philadelphia's delight. Time is also given to show the soldier's wives (Anna Lee, Movita, and Mae Marsh) helping Philadelphia to settle into the Fort. It is learned through exposition that Colonel Thursday would rather be on the northern plains fighting the Lakota or Cheyenne tribes rather than remain in Arizona to contain the Apaches on their reservation. He even dismisses the Apaches as "digger Indians" much to York's chagrin. Thursday clearly hungers for glory and will go to any lengths to achieve it. Thursday is also upset at what he sees as Fort Apache's lack of discipline and military protocol. He institutes reforms which, while unpopular, do contribute to better the regiment. While on a pleasure ride with Philadelphia, Lt. O'Rourke sees smoke on the horizon and finds that a repair team sent out to fix Fort Apache's telegraph lines has been massacred by Apaches. They return to the fort to sound the alarm. Colonel Thursday, while grateful to O'Rourke for protecting his daughter, is angry at the lieutenant for taking his daughter off post without his permission. He later revels that he thinks O'Rourke, as the son of an Irish immigrant, is beneath Philadelphia's social class and thus an unsuitable match. Thursday sends Lt. O'Rourke out with four men to bury the repair team and finish their job. When a small band of Apaches attack the repair crew, Thursday and York's company spring a trap and drive back the Apache. They then travel to a store managed by Indian Agent Silas Meacham (Grant Withers), fearing for his life. They learn that Meacham, and the Bureau of Indian Affairs in general, are incredibly corrupt and spend money given to them to take care of the Apaches on cheap, shoddy goods. The Apaches, tired of getting poor grade food and cheap whiskey instead of proper meals and tools, have subsequently left the reservation under Cochise (Miguel Inclan). The soldiers also find a cache of Winchesters which Meacham has been illegally selling to the Apaches for even more personal profit. Though Thursday finds Meacham a despicable human being, he is a representative of the US government and entitled to army protection. Thus, Thursday has Meacham taken back to Fort Apache and destroys most of Meacham's supplies. Captain York, who as dealt with Cochise in the past, volunteers to meet with the Apache leader and negotiate the latter's return to the reservation. Succeeding in his enterprise, York returns to the fort during the annual non-commissioned officer's dance to report to Colonel Thursday. Thursday then musters the regiment to intercept Cochise, disarm the Apaches, and escort them by force to the reservation. York argues against this as he promised Cochise fair and humane treatment. Thursday dismisses York's advise and departs to attack Cochise. Not a minute after the troops leave the fort, Captain Collingwood's transfer orders finally arrive but his wife doesn't sent a runner to fetch the Captain, knowing he would rather die than be seen a coward. Thursday finds himself outsmarted by Cochise but the Apache chief doesn't initially attack. He tries to negotiate with Thursday but the Colonel, hungry for battle, insults Cochise and forces the Apache into battle. Not wanting to share glory with Lt. O'Rourke and York, Thursday orders them to remain behind and defend the wagon train while he leads the bulk of the regiment to attack Cochise. Riding into what he believes is the Apache camp, Thursday is ambushed and most of his men killed. Thursday manages to escape to the supply wagons but takes a spare horse from York and returns to the survivors of his command. His return earns the respect of Lt. O'Rourke, his father, York, and Captain Collingwood. Thursday, Sergeant O'Rourke, Collingwood, and the dozen or so other survivors are subsequently massacred by Cochise and his men. Seeing Cochise and his band approaching the last company protecting the wagon train, York send O'Rourke to nearby Fort Grant to get reinforcements and "... marry that girl!" But Cochise, knowing the York is an honorable man, gives the Captain Thursday's banner and rides away with his people. A year or two later, York has been promoted to Lieutenant Colonel and given command of the Fort Apache regiment. Philidephia and Lt. O'Rourke have married and have a son. York interviews a group of reporters about Colonel Thursday. Though York knows Thursday's actions and character have been glorified to the extreme a la Colonel Custer, he goes along with what the reporters believe in order to support the regiment's image and support their actions against a new Apache uprising led by Geronimo.

cult

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Lucifer

Based upon the characters created by Neil Gaiman, Sam Kieth and Mike Dringenberg, LUCIFER is the story of the original fallen angel.Bored and unhappy as the Lord of Hell, LUCIFER MORNINGSTAR has abandoned his throne and retired to L.A., where he owns Lux, an upscale nightclub. Charming, charismatic and devilishly handsome, Lucifer (Tom Ellis) is enjoying his retirement, indulging in a few of his favorite things wine, women and song when a beautiful pop star is brutally murdered outside of Lux. For the first time in roughly 10 billion years, he feels something awaken deep within him as a result of this murder. Compassion? Sympathy? The very thought disturbs him as well as his best friend and confidante, Mazikeen (Lesley-Ann Brandt), a fierce demon in the form of a beautiful young woman. The murder attracts the attention of LAPD homicide detective CHLOE DANCER, who initially is dismissive of Lucifer. But she becomes intrigued by his talent for drawing out peoples secrets and his desire to dispense justice, doling out punishment to those who deserve it. As they work together to solve the pop stars murder, Lucifer is struck by Chloes inherent goodness. Accustomed to dealing with the absolute worst of humanity, Lucifer is intrigued by Chloes apparent purity and begins to wonder if theres hope for his own soul yet. At the same time, Gods emissary, the angel Amendiel (D.B. Woodside), has been sent to Los Angeles to convince Lucifer to return to the underworld can the Devil incarnate be tempted toward the side of Good, or will his original calling pull him back toward Evil?

good versus evil, paranormal

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A Murder of Crows

Images of haywire outside a prison. It's a rainy night. A police car arrives. The new inmate in cell 6 used to be a lawyer, Lawson Russell (Cuba Gooding Jr.). He speaks in the voiceover and says that people love to see a lawyer trapped in prison, as the system is seen as something which protects the strong versus the week, and he says that he started to understand that a Thursday, during Carnival time.Cut to New Orleans, during Carnival time. People drinking and a girl who shows off her breasts to the cheering crowd. Lawson alleges he's just met his consciousness, that it wouldn't go away, and that a lawyer is not allowed to have one. He phones Judge Banning, and somebody dressed up as the devil who has just broken produces a gun while he's giving that person his back and talking on the phone. Judge Wiley Banning (Carmen Argenziano) is dressed up as Caesar in a party at his home. Lawson wants to recuse himself and resign from his present case. Banning tells him that he's bound to win the case, so that he's being stupid, and he screams at Lawson saying that he wants to see him in his chambers the following day. Lawson admits that it was professional suicide. Banning calls Lawson's present client, Thurman Parks III (Eric Stoltz).Thurman and Lawson had grown up together. Thurman was the mayor's son, and Lawson was a lawyer's son. Thurman had killed a dancer, smothering her with her pantyhose. Lawson says that juries won't declare over the innocence or otherwise of an accused person, but over the abilities of the best lawyer. Lawson says that he showed the jurors a photograph of the half-naked body of the deceased until they were desensitized and it became meaningless, while the parents of the girl were devastated. Lawson recognises that the strategy was working. Talking in private in Lawson's office, Thurman becomes cocky, saying that he had told "that bitch" that he'd get away with it, referring to an unknown reporter the audience knows nothing about. That admission makes Russell cringe. They had been preparing the questions and answers Thurman would answer the following day in court. It was a rainy night as well, the wind pushes open the windows, and Lawson says that the case saved his life.The plaintiff, Billy Ray Richardson (Doug Wert) and Lawson are arguing in front of Banning. The judge tells him that he'll have Russell disbarred if he doesn't finish the case. The jury foreman (David Willis) calls for everybody to rise when Banning enters the room. Russell says that if you are very rich, as Thurman was, proof is very hard to come by. He's looking at the victim's photograph while Banning tells him to start, and Thurman smirks triumphantly to him, which it's the last straw for him.Thurman is going to testify before the jury. He starts saying what he'd memorized: on the 17th of June he was in the Silverband Club having a drink with Janey Broussard (Tara Crespo), the deceased. Lawson asks Thurman what they talked about out of the blue; Thurman answers, but afterwards, Lawson shouts to him if she could say something while he killed her. Thurman doesn't want to answer, Banning tries to stop this thread of inquires, declares him out of order and a police officer finally takes Lawson away.It was declared a mistrial. Lawson Russell gets disbarred and he has to leave his office. His best friend Elizabeth Pope (Marianne Jean-Baptiste) tries to defend her friend, but it was an impossible feat. The Louisiana Chief of Justice (Sharon Samples) disbars Lawson. Elizabeth tries to offer some consolation, saying that he defended the innocent and punished the guilty, and that his late father would be proud of his son. Lawson decides to go back to Key West, where his father had left a house, to write a John Grisham-like novel.A year afterwards, a sick old man supposedly called Christopher Marlowe hires Russell and his boat to go out fishing. Lawson is drunk, but they bond over the fishing. Marlowe talks about his late wife while Lawson says that he could feel something odd in his customer. Later, they go to a bar to have some drinks, which Churkie (Shawn C. Suttles) serves. Marlowe asks for a daiquiri, Hemingway's favourite. They talk about pocket watches, and Marlowe says that his is special, as it has a sing-song music. Russell tells Marlowe that he's a writer now, but that he used to be a barrister. Marlowe begins bad-mouthing lawyers. Lawson admits he had fun, but he's as sure as hell glad when he says goodbye to him.Back home, the following morning, Lawson orders the sale of some of his stock, as he's not earning enough money to pay for his expenses and he may lose the house - which he doesn't even want to think about. His book, after a year, was only on page 6. He admits that writing is very hard. At this moment, Marlowe pops in. He seems to feel a bit sick, so Lawson offers him a glass of water. Marlowe produces a novel he's just written, and he asks Lawson to read it and give him his honest opinion. The frail man leaves, and tells Lawson to take his time reading his novel, and that they may meet up at the same bar at night. Lawson turns off his computer and starts reading A Murder of Crows, by Christopher Marlowe. It begins with a William Shakespeare's quotation: First thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers. A Murder of Crows is about 5 Southern defense attorneys who defend people who they know they are guilty but are finally acquainted. These lawyers are all rich, but they are killed in revenge of their defending rich clients. The suspenseful thriller novel is so exciting, that Lawson goes to the bar to meet Marlowe, but Churkie tells him that he's already left, feeling bad. When Lawson goes to the boarding hotel where Marlowe leaves, he can only see Goethe, a police officer that the old man died without family of natural causes - a heart attack. What Lawson knows doesn't match up with what Goethe knows, as Marlowe had told his landlady (Ellen Gerstein) that he had not family. Goethe says that spouses sometimes go after one another in less than a year. He suggests Russell lights a candle in Saint Andrew's. Goethe says that Marlowe will be cremated tomorrow, and that his belongings will go to the state, so Lawson holds onto A Murder of Crows.Lawson looks for a publishing house for the computer-version he's plagiarised. Janine DeVrie (Ashley Laurence), owner of DeVrie Publishers, is immediately interested. She treats him as a start from the beginning. The book is an instant bestseller, and Lawson can afford a sports car, a jewellery watch, and he starts a relationship with Janine DeVrie while making it up to the cover of Forbes magazine among others. Janine suggests an advance over Russell's following book. She takes him to his mansion by limousine and they make wild sex. Her nipple is pierced. Outside her one-of-a-15-bedroom room, crows gather.A white-trash man whose surname is Dubose asks for Russell's signature in a long line of people at Planet Hollywood. The audience realises that it's the same man as Goethe and Marlowe, but Lawson pays no attention, in spite of his complaint about having an impersonal greeting. Elizabeth Pope congratulates him as well. It's then when Lawson realises what he's done, and that there would never be a "next book". He realises he's a thief, and that he was losing the only decent thing in his life - Elizabeth. He takes a rest to have a smoke, and Thurman appears with his novel in his hands. He's been acquainted in a second trial. Truman threatens him. It looks as if Thurman knew Janine making a stupid remark about her "not forgetting his whip".A hand-gloved person sends a signed copy of the book to Clifford "Cliff" Dubose (Tom Berenger), and the packet is waiting for him when he returns from his holiday in Jamaica. This Dubose is clearly NOT the Dubose the book was signed for. He starts reading it after feeding his car. A New Orleans desk Sergeant (Robert Peters) mockingly greets Dubose. A police technician who was sleeping while on duty looks for murder victims whose occupation prior was being a lawyer.Dubose arrests Lawson. Billy Ray accuses Russell of having killed the 5 victims, disguising the crimes as suicides or accidents and then telling everything in the book. Obviously, Russell says it's a coincidence, but Billy Ray says that even details which were not released to the press appeared in the book. Immediately, Lawson realises that he burnt the only thing which could prove he didn't write A Murder of Crows, as he had put the original manuscript into the fire. Dubose was the investigator of the first case, which had been disguised as a burglary gone awry. Lawson won't speak anymore, and he asks for an attorney. Billy Ray cynically wishes him good luck in finding one, as he knows that the association of lawyers had condemned his novel, so he will have problems to hire one. So Lawson calls for Elizabeth Pope's help. He tells her that he'll collaborate with the police if he's let outside. While he and Pope leave the police station, Dubose tells Richardson that Russell is guilty, because he's looked at him. Dubose tells his officers to follow Russell, and Billy Ray says that he knows the judge who would sign a search warrant.Lawson checks in the newspaper news about the five murdered attorneys. She can't believe it when he tells her that he's got no source apart from a manuscript he himself had destroyed in his fireplace. Pope refuses to represent him. On his way back home, Lawson mocks one of the officers (Chad Rose) who are following him, but to his dismay, his house is being searched. Dubose gives permission to the searchers to be "particularly destructive", and somewhere something made of glass gets broken. Dubose admits he likes the analogy between crows and lawyers in A Murder of Crows. Some compromising photographs from the murders have been planted in the Kitchen cupboard. Thurman laughs out loud when the story breaks the news, which a half-naked woman (Gaelle Comparat) is playing with a toy train. Janine is angry, because the media (Renée Estévez) puts pressure on her and her company inquiring whether she knew about the book murders being real. She is more than satisfied in private, though, as she comments with her attractive attorney (Glendon Rich) that the book would be the best sale.Meanwhile, Lawson is at large, escaping by train.A county clerk (Anastasia Roussel-Drake) checks the deaths of Marlowe, and the existence of a Detective Goethe. It's only then when Russell realises that both are writer-based aliases when she mentions the German writer. He reads Christopher Marlow's Faust, a man who sells his soul to the devil, and both writers did masterpieces on the topic.He returns home to pick up a gun. Two police officers (Eric James and Jim Hanna) see him, but he goes to the clerk office of courts. He steals a subpoena and gives it to Evans, Marlowe's landlady. He paid in cash and left after a week. He produces the subpoena to see all the March phone registers. Evans says that Marlowe always used the phone booth in the corner. Two cooperative and flirting phone company supervisors - one male, one female - cooperate with Lawson. Russell has to run away from several police cars, but they (Julie Letche) lose him.Dubose and Richardson complain that the FBI is taking over the case and neither of them want to speak to reporters. Dubose thinks that Lawson wants to commit suicide, and that's why he hasn't left the contry. Lawson goes to Baton Rouge. All calls were local, except one to Althea Delroy (Deneen Taylor), who lives in Jackson Street at the Garden District. Thurman Parks used to live there as well, but he didn't have Althea's number. Thurman and Janine are hooking up and slapping each other. Pope learns that Althea Delroy was a single mother who was a housekeeper and who owed 59,000 dollars of her condo. She leaves the info on a table - from where it disappears. Lawson follows Althea, who was Prof. Arthur Corvus (Mark Pellegrino)'s housekeeper. Lawson recognises him immediately. Corvus is analyzing and discussing Hamlet with students Laura (Marisa Petroro-Parker) and James (Nate Adams).At the Corvus' house, he sees photographs of the wife and little child. The child's room smelled of humidity, so he guessed she must have been at boarding school. At Corvus' laptop, he finds nothing, but then he searches everything, and finds Marlowe's pocket watch. Corvus is a professor of scriptwriting, acting, literature, and he was the Marlowe, Goethe and the book-sign guy. Althea looks startled at the escaping Russell.Corvus arrives home and worries if something happened to Althea. She's speaking to the police, and has recognised Lawson Russell. Corvus pretends not to know who he is straight away. He speaks to Dubose. When Dubose asks about Corvus' family, he doesn't reply, because the FBI arrive and Dubose is not too happy about it. Dubose thinks that there's no relation between Corvus and Russell, and that he was looking for a place to hide away.Jeffrey Lowell was the first murder victim. He had defended a banker who had hit-and-run a lady and her daughter. They were Jean and Trudy Corvus. Lowell got a release on a technicality, as the arresting officer hadn't read the banker his rights. Somebody recognises Russell and he has to run away.Meanwhile, Corvus is loading up a gun. He makes Lawson sit down while threatening him with the gun. They have a conversation at gunpoint and they tell everything.When Corvus is about to shoot Russell, Dubose appears. Dubose asks for back up, but Corvus kills him. Corvus wants to put the blame on Russell. Both fight. Lawson points the gun which killed Dubose to Corvus, leaving his fingerprints on it. Realising there's no way out, Russell kills Corvus.Cut to the prison. Elizabeth visits him. They hold hands.Lawson is a millionaire - the sale numbers for his book went to the roof.Banning judged Russell's case, so the best criminal attorney saved Lawson.As a free man, he moves to a summer destination. He says that the rich and powerful can always trod on the weak and meed, but that all everyone can hope for is a little justice once in a while.-- written by KrystelClaire

murder

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Bedtime Stories

It's 1974, and a man by the name of Marty Bronson (Jonathan Pryce) is narrating a story. The story is about himself as the owner of a quaint hotel that is also run by himself and his 2 children. The daughter (Abigail Droeger), at 12 years old is very serious minded and runs the front desk efficiently. And the son (Thomas Hoffman), at 10 years old, has a wondrous imagination that will take him anywhere, but is absolutely, totally, completely, utterly, & entirely useless to the hotel. Little do the children know, though, that the motel is in debt, and Marty is forced to sell to an English chap by the name of Barry Nottingham (Richard Griffiths). However, Marty will only sell to Barry under the agreement that his son run the place when he is of age.Fast forward and we see the quaint hotel quadrupled in size and is no longer a family establishment but more for the rich and famous, and Marty's son Skeeter Bronson (Adam Sandler) is the hotel handyman. When Nottingham announces plans to build a new hotel he appoints another man named Kendall (Guy Pearce) to become the manager.After work, Skeeter visits his sister for it is his niece's birthday (who he hasn't seen in 4 years). There his sister Wendy (Courteney Cox) informs him that the school that the children Patrick (Jonathan Morgan Heit) and Bobbi (Laura Ann Kesling) attend, which she herself is the principal at, is being closed down and that has to relocate to Arizona for a job and asks Skeeter if he could watch her kids while she goes for an interview. Even though Skeeter doesn't know his niece and nephew very well, he agrees.After the day shift babysitter Jill (Keri Russell) leaves, he settles them into bed and they ask him to read a story. After looking at the lame books that the children have, he refuses to read them and instead makes up his own story. Modeled around his own life, he tells the story of a medieval squire named "Sir Fixalot" and his rival "Sir Buttkiss". Throughout the story the kids make their own additions, such as the king giving Sir Fixalot a chance to prove himself. During the celebration, Patrick announces that "it starts raining gumballs" and the story ends.The following day, Skeeter is called to fix Nottingham's television and during the visit, Nottingham tells Skeeter the "secret" theme that he had announced for the hotel - a rock and roll theme much like that of the Hard Rock Hotel. When Skeeter points out this has been done before he is offered the opportunity to compete with Kendall "to prove himself" for a better theme. While driving to his sister's house, Skeeter is suddenly greeted with a shower of gumballs raining down from above (which he does not see is caused by a crashed delivery truck). Skeeter concludes that the story has come true and quickly develops a plan to use it to his advantage.For the next story, he elaborates a Western theme in which he receives a free "Ferrari" horse from a Native American chief. The children do not corroborate the story, but have him save a damsel in distress from several criminals. They claim he should be rewarded with a kiss, but an angry dwarf kicks him instead. That night, Skeeter goes out in search of his Ferrari and meets a Native American man who steals his wallet. Later, Violet who is being hounded by paparazzi, is rescued by the passing Skeeter. Just as he is about to kiss her, he is kicked by an angry dwarf from a nearby fraternity.From this point, he determines that it is only the changes made by the children that actually affect reality. The following night, Skeeter tries to sell the kids on the theme ideas contest, but they are more interested in romance and action in their stories. The next story begins with Skeetacus, a Greek gladiator who, after impressing the emperor and a stadium of onlookers, attracts the attention of the "fairest maiden". He and the maiden walk into a restaurant where all the girls who were mean to him growing up are sitting at a table, they are to be so impressed by the maiden he is with, they start to nervously sing the "Hokey Pokey". After a meal they go for a walk on the beach where a large hairy man who is having trouble breathing is washed up on the shore, and after Skeetacus saves this man's life, a rainstorm sends him and the maiden into a magical cave which has Abraham Lincoln in it. Skeeter loses his patience with the story and upsets the children. Unable to get them to continue, the story ends.The next day, Skeeter learns that Violet will not be meeting with him as he thought, but unexpectedly runs into Jill, who invites him to lunch. The girls from Skeeter's high school are at the restaurant, so Skeeter asks Jill to pretend to be his girlfriend. After the girls break into the "Hokey Pokey" and Skeeter casually saves the life of a man on the beach, a sudden rainstorm sends them under the dock and he realizes that he is falling in love with her. But the kiss he is about to receive is interrupted as he is reminded about the Abraham Lincoln part of the story as someone walks on the dock above them, and thinking that the real "Abe" is going to appear he ducks. Instead a penny falls through the dock.For Skeeter and the kids' final night together, a space-themed story begins with Skeeter's character who battles Kendall's character in anti-gravity. Skeeter's hard-to-understand character wins and Skeeter quickly ends the story. Patrick interjects that the story is too predictable and says that Skeeter is then 'incinertated' before ending the story.At Nottingham's birthday party, among the fiery hazards that Skeeter is trying to avoid, his tongue is stung by a bee, making him hard to understand when competing with Kendall's new Broadway-themed hotel. Nottingham enjoys Skeeter's approach over the showy approach that Kendall had provided. A panic attack on a fiery birthday cake causes Skeeter to be "fired" by Nottingham. Afterward Jill, Patrick, and Bobbi are all upset as they learned where, which Skeeter had just discovered, the hotel was going to be built: on the property of the school which they all work and attend. Wendy believes he did not know, but is upset because he had inadvertently taught the children there are no such things as happy endings. When they attend the demolition to protest, Skeeter is inspired to prevent the school from being demolished. After finding Nottingham an alternative location, Skeeter takes Jill on a wild motorcycle ride which ends at the school and manages to stop the countdown. Sometime later, he marries Jill and founds a hotel named after his late father. Kendall and his scheming partner Aspen (Lucy Lawless) are demoted to Skeeter's hotel waiting staff.

psychedelic, cute, entertaining, romantic

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88 Minutes

The film opens with a scene of an unknown assailant breaking into the home of two sisters. After one goes to sleep, the attacker subdues one of them using halothane and murders her after torturing her. After police questioning, the attacker, Jon Forster (Neal McDonough), is convicted by a jury after Jack Gramm (Al Pacino) testifies against him in court. As Gramm leaves, Forster taunts him, saying "tick tock."Nine years later, several similar torture murders with very similar modi operandi occur. Gramm is questioned but released. On the way to his class, he receives a threatening phone call telling him that he has 88 minutes to live until 11:45 a.m.. He reports the threat to Shelly (Amy Brenneman), his secretary, and brushes off the threat. He receives another call while teaching in his classroom, and he becomes suspicious of several of the students. A dean, Carol (Deborah Kara Unger), enters the classroom and warns everyone of a bomb threat, telling everyone to leave. Gramm finds a written threat on the overhead projector screen in the classroom. Gramm goes to the parking lot to see that his car has been vandalized with a similar threat with fewer minutes showing.As Gramm walks toward campus security, he finds one of his students, Lauren Douglas (Leelee Sobieski), has been attacked by an unknown person in the same parking garage. Gramm reports this to the campus police after questioning nearby people at the garage exit.Gramm later discovers, through a tape about his younger sister being killed years earlier, that someone had accessed his secure files. With the help of his teaching assistant Kim (Alicia Witt), Gramm tries to notify authorities while trying to uncover Forster's past at the same time. One suspect is Kim's former husband, Guy has been watching Dr. Gramm. Guy had spent time in the same prison as Forster.His secretary, Shelly, who is a lesbian, finally admits that she was distracted by a woman who some how got a copy of the tape out of the secure area. As Shelly and the woman are lying on the couch in the office after their love making, the camera pans down and you can see it is Lauren there with her. The pieces begin to fit together.Guy comes to Dr. Gramm's apartment about the same time as someone starts a fire in the elevator. As Kim opens the door to the apartment, some one on the lower landing, wearing a motorcycle helmet, opens fire and Guy is killed in a hail of bullets.Parks wants to arrest Gramm now because of all the evidence piling up against him, but Gramm convinces Parks to give me just ten more minutes to find out who's behind all the murders and why. However Gramm has found out that a visitor to Forster on several occasions and identified herself as a "Lydia", one of his attorneys. He looked at a fax copy of her ID and sees the picture is Lauren.Carol calls and tells Gramm to meet her in his office on campus at 11:40, she ends the call by giving Gramm a similar threat by saying "tick tock." Soon after, Kim calls Gramm telling him he has five minutes to meet her in another building on campus and she adds, "tick tock." Before leaving, he manages to convince Agent Parks (William Forsythe) to make a rendezvous with him at 11:40 in the other building on the 7th floor. Gramm arrives and finds that Lydia (who is actually Lauren under a pseudonym) had set this up and was working with Forster all this time.Carol has been hung over a balcony by a rope around her heel, while Kim has been tied up in a chair. Lauren threatens Gramm with a gun and threatens to drop Carol if he doesn't drop his gun. She forces him to "confess" that he gave false details at the trial, but Parks has arrived is across the courtyard on the same floor. Gramm tells Lauren, but she doesn't believe him. Parks shoots Lauren just as the 88 minutes ends.Both Carol and Lauren begin to fall from the 7th floor balcony. Gramm tries to save both but is unable to hold onto Lauren and haul up Carol, and so he chooses Carol over Lauren who falls to her death. He manages to pull Carol back up with the help of Parks. Just then, Lauren's cell phone rings and it's Forster calling, Forster laughs at Gramm and tells him to put his lawyer on the phone. He says when he gets out, he's going to come pee on Gramm's grave. Gramm tells him that Lauren is dead and that Forster only has 12 hours to live. Gramm then throws the cell phone over the railing and it smashes on the floor below.

neo noir, murder, violence, flashback, suspenseful, sadist

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UFO: Target Earth

Reporter Tom Lewis (Tom Harper) interviews a Georgian university professor, Professor Bauer (Ed Lynch), who saw a UFO last night. He saw a thunder of light and a fast-moving object. Mrs Acree (Ida Acree) also watched a huge light in the sky, but it couldn't be a helicopter because of the lack of noise. A couple of farmers (Luann McMann & George Lafia) also felt that the UFO was the one responsible for having taken them. The aliens didn't use words in English, they just felt the feelings of traquility and trust within themselves. A couple of ranchers (Johnny Baker & Sam Durrance) saw a cigar-shaped which desintegrated, but only the remains of a human airplane are visible at that moment. The ranchers insists to the interviewer that they know what they saw.A love song and title credits.On the afternoon of 26th March 1974, a university communications specialist, Alan Grimes (Nick Plakias) heard a military call. Somebody is checking strange phenomena, and that person thinks it's about UFO's. Gen. David Gallagher (Brooks Clift) is the leader of the Army.A small boy called Alan (Billy Crane) tells his mother (Martha Corrigan) that he's scared of a light which hurts and which got him naked. The mother dismismisses it saying that it was his waking star, and that nothing is the matter. Outside, the storm is about to break lose.Grimes wants to get in touch with Vivian (Cynthia Cline). She thinks that aliens are surrounding us, and that she can communicate with "it". Grimes makes an appointment with her for the following day. Grimes also talks to Dr Whitham (Phil Erickson), and the receptionist (Kathleen Long) tells him that he's in the planetarium. Whitham thinks that so-called UFOs are visual illusions. He shows Grimes around his office and they talk about the speed of light limit. Whitham thinks it's all a myth, and that the approaching comet will be confused as a UFO by some members of the public.Grimes and Vivian meet at a bar because she's feeling an oppresive feeling. She suffers a panic attack. The music in the bar fades away for a few moments.Grimes tells Dr. Mansfield (LaVerne Light) his suspicions, stating that he feels some kind of weird enerty, even within the room they are in. Grimes wants him, Vivian and Col. Gallagher to meet. He tells Grimes to code his messages, even in case of emergency. They talk about a lake in spiral, and she remembers some de-colourings in the electrical power poles. But Vivian has no sensations about the lake.Dr Mansfield lets Grimes use her computer. Vivian and Grimes talk to the woman (Martha Corrigan) who had a third-phase contact. Her declaration seems to be the same that some of Vivian's images. Vivian has a feeling of deja-vu when her and Grimes arrive to the lake. She feels a bit used, but takes his walkie-talkie anyway. He goes around in a boat in a lake.Vivian gets some sounds on the walkie -she's stayed near the tent- while Grimes is setting a light and camera system on the other side of the lake. Vivian runs away across the forest but leaves the walie behind. Grimes tries to talk to her with no avail. Grimes goes to the rescue and somebody answers him with Vivian's walkie. Mansfield and her assistant Dan Rivers (Tom Arcuragi) look for Vivian, and she thinks he should have not brought her there.Vivian keeps on hearing "stach, stach", and she tells them to go away, as though she were a different person. Vivian says they're using her. Mansfield takes her away. Back to the camp, Mansfield thinks that Vivian's got psychiatric problems. Mansfield thinks that the aliens may have fallen to Earth but they couldn't secure enough power to start their journey back to their planet. Mansfield herself won't believe that possibility until she sees them, but she needs to make some kind of explanation; she thinks that Grimes is too emotional. She looks at the comet.That night, Mansfield gets sick. The equipment points to a high concentration of energy underwater. Vivian cares for Mansfield when she starts to hyper-ventilate. The equipment detects great levels of energy and the TV set gets turned on. Grimes stares at the monitor feeling that somebody is with them. Rivers asks Vivian to tend to him. She doesn't want to leave Mansfield on her own and thinks that it was Grimes who produced the phenomena all the time.The aliens are shapeless pure energy, but humans are transmitting their fears to them, so humans should leave their fears aside. Mansfield wakes up and tells Grimes to cast his fears aside. The image on TV tells Grimes that they've been waiting thousands of years. The power of humans' mind and imagination is the power that the aliens need to activate their spaceship.Grimes will die or the planet will perish. Grimes is only the 4th person who ascended to the aliens' level. An elderly Grimes commits suicide in the lake, in spite of Rivers' attempt to stop him: Rivers can only rescue... a skeleton.The aliens say (I don't know to whom) that they are beyond the judgement of humans.More graphic design loops with orchestra's music. The loops become an alien spaceship which is going away from our planet.A quotation from Apocalypse.The eye of Grimes reflects an eclipse.---written by KrystelClaire

psychedelic

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The Terminator

Over an apocalyptic battlefield in the year 2029, the ruins of the city of Los Angeles are dominated by robotic war machines, some like tanks, others are hovercrafts, a title card tells us that in the future, humans will wage a long war against an enemy known as the Machines. The "final battle" however, will not be fought in this future world, but in the past, specifically our present... tonight.The year switches to Los Angeles, May 12, 1984 at 1:34 am. At the Griffith Park Observatory overlooking the city, lightning emanates from above a garbage truck, knocking out power. The driver sees an object ahead of him and flees as the electrical surge dissipates. The object is the Terminator (Arnold Schwarzenegger), a naked and heavily muscular cyborg, and he stands up and starts walking toward the city where he is spotted by three young punks. The Terminator orders the men to give him their clothes, and the punks produce knives in response. The Terminator swats two punks aside, the third stabs him, but the Terminator tears open the punk's body with his bare hands, and kills him. One of the subdued punks immediately takes off his jacket and offers his clothes to the Terminator.In a downtown alley, a homeless man sees a bright, circular light just above the ground, similar to the one at Griffith Park. A scarred, naked man, muscular but much smaller in size than the other man who arrived in a similar fashion, is forced through the portal and lands in the alley, in obvious pain. This is Kyle Reese (Michael Biehn). Reese takes the homeless man's pants, just as a police car pulls up and two cops yell at him to freeze. Reese is able to hide and attacks one of the cops, taking his pistol and demanding the cop tell him the date and year. The cop becomes puzzled by Reese's question. When the cop's partner arrives, Reese runs into a department store. He steals several items, including a pair of Nike sneakers and a long coat and escapes the store. In another alley outside, he steals a shotgun from an unoccupied squad car. Finding a phone book nearby, he looks up the name "Sarah Connor."Elsewhere a young woman, Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton), lives the life of a lonely waitress. Sharing an apartment with her friend Ginger, Sarah is living out a boring life that seems to go nowhere.The Terminator steals a car and goes to a local sporting goods store where he has the owner (Dick Miller) show him several assault weapons and a pistol with laser sighting. He asks for a "phased-plasma rifle"; the owner tells him "only what you see, pal". The owner tells his customer that he can take the rifles right away but the pistol has a waiting period. As he explains the process, the Terminator casually loads the shotgun and shoots the clerk. Shortly after, the Terminator finds a phone book and looks for the name "Sarah Connor" finding three listings in the Los Angeles area. He goes to the address of the first listing; as he walks to the front door, a small dog barks at him. When this Sarah Connor opens the door, the Terminator forces his way inside and shoots her with the pistol he acquired. Not long after, at the diner where she works, Sarah's co-worker drags her to the television where she sees a news report about women sharing her name being murdered by an unidentified assailant.That evening, Sarah and her roommate, Ginger, prepare for separate dates. Ginger's boyfriend, Matt, will be coming over to spend the night. Sarah gets a message from her date, who cancels. Sarah decides to go out for pizza and sees another news report where the police announce the death of another woman sharing her name. Sarah becomes worried, and when she sees she is being followed (by Kyle Reese), she ducks into a small dance club called Tech Noir. She tries to call Ginger, however Ginger and Matt do not hear the phone as they are having sex. Not long after Sarah's call, the Terminator attacks and fatally shoots both Ginger and Matt, before hearing Sarah's voice on a message machine saying where she is. Sarah then phones the police department and is connected to Lt. Traxler, the detective investigating the Sarah Connor killings. He tells Sarah to stay put until he can get a squad car to her. The Terminator arrives at the club, dispatches a bouncer, and works his way inside.In the meantime, Reese has also entered the dance club. Sarah is spotted by the Terminator, which aims its laser sighted pistol at her. Reese fires on the Terminator, hitting it with several blasts and knocking it to the floor. He tells Sarah "Come with me if you wanna live" and Sarah sees the Terminator impossibly rise to its feet. Reese and Sarah escape through the back door of the club, with the killer chasing them -- as he chases them, we learn that the Terminator is a robot of some kind who sees them through a computerized form of red night vision. Reese blasts the gas tank of a nearby car which explodes. The Terminator is unfazed, and jumps on the hood of Reese's car, smashing its fist through the windshield and grasping at Sarah. Reese maneuvers his car and throws the killer off. Reese speeds off while the Terminator subdues a cop (screenwriter William Wisher) and takes his car.During the chase, Reese frantically identifies himself and explains that Sarah has "been targeted for termination" and that the killer chasing them is not a man but a machine called a "terminator"; a metallic combat chassis covered with living human tissue to make it appear human. (Known as a Cyberdine Model 101 Infiltrator Unit, Type 800 Series in further sequels.) Reese tells Sarah that the first and larger 600 Series Terminators had rubber skin, but the newer 800 Series are very hard to identify which is why he followed Sarah and waited for the Terminator to make it's move so he could identify it.While hiding out in a parking garage, Reese also explains that Sarah is destined to give birth to the humans' future leader John Connor. Reese goes on to say that a nuclear war will be initiated by a new, powerful computer system (referred to as "Skynet" in the first sequel) that is going to be tasked with controlling all defense systems. Reese himself has not seen the ensuing nuclear holocaust but was born and grew up destitute and starving in the ruins. He was enslaved and marked with a barcode and was forced to work loading bodies into incinerators. The human race, he says, will be on the verge of extinction when Sarah's son, John, is able to organize the remaining humans into an effective resistance movement that, by the time Reese will be sent back to the present day by Connor himself, had actually defeated Skynet. In desperation, Skynet has sent the Terminator to the present day to murder Sarah and eliminate John Connor's existence. Reese also explains that the Terminator pursuing Sarah, is a new model, one that appears infinitely more human than its predecessors. Reese tells her the android will bleed, sweat and even has bad breath to enhance the disguise. Reese is uncertain that he can defeat the android without having the advanced weaponry of the future.While hiding out in a parking garage, Reese gets rid of his first car and steals a second one. The Terminator finds them there and the chase resumes. Reese has Sarah take over driving and is able to hit the Terminator with a few blasts from his shotgun. Sarah stops their car and the Terminator crashes into a wall. When she and Reese are arrested, she sees that the Terminator has escaped the scene.At Traxler's police precinct, Sarah is told that Ginger is dead and that Reese has been given to a criminal psychiatrist, Dr. Peter Silberman (Earl Boen). His story about the Terminator is treated as the babbling of extreme delusion. While watching the videotape of the interview, Silberman eagerly says that a case like Reese's could be career-making. During the interview, Silberman asks Reese why he didn't bring weaponry from the future with him, to which Reese replies that only living material will go through the time portal. Reese quickly becomes agitated and begins to scream into the camera that the Terminator must be destroyed or it will not stop until it kills Sarah.The Terminator goes back to a shoddy hotel room where it hides out. It removes one of its eyes that had been damaged when it was shot by Reese. Under the eye is a sophisticated robotic eye that glows red. It dons a set of sunglasses, changes into different clothes and marches out to resume the hunt for Sarah, taking a pump-action SPAS shotgun and an AR-15 automatic rifle.At the police precinct, the Terminator arrives in the foyer just as Dr. Silberman is leaving and asks to see Sarah. The desk sergeant refuses to let the Terminator in. The Terminator looks menacingly at the desk sergeant and simply states "I'll be back." The Terminator goes outside and one minute later crashes a car through the front door. It marches through the precinct, ruthlessly shooting every officer in its path. The Terminator gets to a circuit panel and after ripping out a main circuit cable, shoves the live wire into the fuse box creating an electrical surge that blows out all lights in the building, leaving the policemen at a disadvantage. In the battle, Traxler is killed and Reese escapes confinement. He finds Sarah and the two escape the precinct.While hiding out in a sewer tunnel, Sarah realizes that Kyle's story is true. Reese tells her more about the future where humans barely survive amid the wreckage of cities and the predations of the Terminators. Initially, Skynet's vehicles, "hunter-killers" or HKs, would use infra-red technology to find and kill humans. Kyle mentions that John Connor's talent for strategy helped the Resistance to defeat them. Later, the new Terminators, "infiltrators" like the one he and Sarah are on the run from, appeared and began to find hidden bunkers where humans hid out. Sarah lapses into sleep and has a nightmare of a firefight where Terminators break into a human sanctuary and massacre scores of civilians. Kyle himself is there; after finding a place to rest after a Resistance patrol, he takes out a Polaroid photo of Sarah and admires it. Alerted by dogs (who can sense a Terminator) at the entrance to the bunker, Reese joins the valiant fight to destroy a Terminator that has gotten in. The Terminator, carrying a heavy plasma gun, slaughters everyone and causes an explosion that cripples Reese. Reese sees the picture of Sarah being burned nearby.Meanwhile, the Terminator is back in its seedy motel room hideout looking at an address book that it took from Sarah and Ginger's apartment and sees a list of names including that of Sarah's mother who lives upstate. After harshly dismissing the hotel owner, the Terminator then leaves its room and gets on a stolen motorcycle and takes off on the road.Later, the two reach a roadside motel, where Kyle goes to purchase chemicals needed to make explosives. While he is shopping (using "borrowed" money) Sarah showers and phones her mother, telling her the phone number where she is, unaware that the Terminator is on the other line and recreating the voice of Sarah's mother. Sarah's mother is nowhere in sight, but the appearance of the cabin's knocked down front door with a large shotgun blast hole in it suggests that the Terminator forced its way in and probably shot Sarah's mother and waited for Sarah to call. The Terminator then phones the motel and, using its real voice, asks the desk clerk to give him the motel's address.At the motel, Sarah and Kyle make a stockpile of pipe bombs filled with plastique, a compound that Kyle had learned to make and teaches Sarah to make as well, also showing her the cautious process involved to make the bombs. When Sarah asks Kyle if he has ever had a lover, he replies he has not, a fact that touches Sarah. Kyle then mentions having a photo of Sarah and how he has fallen in love with her. Realizing he has gone too far, he furiously begins loading explosives, but Sarah stops him and kisses him. The two lose their inhibitions and have sex. Their consummation results in the conception of Sarah's (and Kyle's) son, John.That evening, the Terminator tracks them to the motel and the two flee again in a stolen pickup truck (alerted by a tenant's pet dog barking at the sight of the approaching Terminator). As they race down a wide highway, Reese makes a valiant effort to destroy the Terminator with the pipe bombs he and Sarah made, however, he is hit by gunfire. Sarah manages to knock the Terminator off it's motorcycle and her truck flips over.The Terminator recovers and is immediately struck by a semi-tanker truck and dragged for a short distance. After the driver stops, the Terminator kills him and takes control of the truck, attempting to run down Sarah. Sarah is able to get Kyle out of their wrecked pickup before the Terminator runs it down.Near a factory, Kyle uses another pipe bomb to detonate the truck's tank trailer, which explodes. As Reese and Sarah embrace, the Terminator emerges from the wreckage, its flesh completely burned off. Reese and Sarah retreat into the factory, which is automated. Reese switches on as many of the machines as he can, making tracking more difficult for the Terminator. They are finally cornered and Reese places his last bomb in the endoskeleton of the Terminator, which explodes, scattering pieces of the android. Sarah, nursing a severely injured leg, finds Reese, but he's dead.She is suddenly attacked by the top half of the Terminator's skeleton. She desperately crawls away, finally luring the Terminator into a giant hydraulic press. She traps it there and, as it mindlessly tries to break her neck, pushes the button activating the press. The Terminator is crushed until its red glowing eye fades, signalling its death.Sarah is taken to an ambulance and sees the paramedics loading Kyle into a body bag. Later, she is driving a Jeep in the desert, a large dog in the passenger seat, seemingly towards Mexico, stopping at a gas station. She is more visibly pregnant with John Connor and has been recording her voice using a cassette player; the tapes are for her son. One of the questions she poses is whether or not she should tell John about Reese being his father and if that will affect his decision to send the warrior back in time to meet and save Sarah. While the Jeep's tank is filled, a young boy takes her picture with a Polaroid camera (it is the same picture that John will give Reese in the future). She and the boy bargain over the price and she buys it. The boy says something in Spanish and the gas station owner tells her he said "A storm's coming!" Sarah sees the storm approaching and says "I know." She drives off into an unknown future.

mystery, gothic, murder, neo noir, bleak, dramatic, cult, violence, action, romantic, suspenseful, alternate history, sci-fi

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Fortress

In a dystopic future society, married couples are allowed to become pregnant only once and are not permitted to become pregnant again even if the baby doesn't survive gestation or delivery. A faceless corporation called MenTel controls society, including its prisons. Couple John and Karen Brennick have had one failed pregnancy and are forbidden to have another, however she becomes pregnant again. In the film's opening scene, the couple are attempting to pass a security checkpoint while traveling to a safer region. Though they're careful to protect Karen's abdomen from detection, the guards become suspicious and try to stop them. They are captured and sentenced to a MenTel prison.John arrives at the penitentiary, a vast underground facility where treatment is harsh and punishments are brutal. He is ushered through the initial check-in where a small device is forcibly inserted down his throat: an "intestinator", which causes extreme abdominal pain when a punishment order is issued. The device can also be triggered to detonate in cases of extreme punishment, which John witnesses soon after he & the other prisoners are implanted; a prisoner, who becomes hysterical and crosses a safe-zone, is killed when his abdomen explodes.John is put into general population with some of the prison's worst inmates. In the cell that he shares with three men a hulking man, Stiggs, lords over the cell. John is forced to sleep on the floor. During his first night, he dreams of a sexual encounter with his wife and is interrupted by the prison's control system, ZED-10, which can enter the minds of inmates who have inappropriate thoughts. The prison's director is a man named Poe, who oversees ZED's operations.John also runs afoul of another hulking inmate, Maddox. Maddox attacks John and the fight, which would normally be stopped by intestination, continues when Poe cancels the punishment order. The two men battle across the walkway that leads out of the cellblock. The walkway is retracted and John wins the upper hand, causing Maddox to fall off the walkway where he hangs on by one hand. John pulls the man up, saving his life, however, Poe orders a powerful weapon called the splattergun to target Maddox' intestinator: the man's abdomen is blown out and he falls to his death. John is immediately intestinated along with dozens of other prisoners. While John writhes in pain, he notices that Maddox' intestinator lies nearby, undamaged. As he's dragged away to isolation, he passes it to one of his cellmates, Abraham, who holds it for him.John is subjected to physical and mental torture in isolation -- he is encased in a pod that feeds him hallucinatory visions that bombard his senses. After spending several weeks there, he's returned to his cell but is catatonic and remains in that state for four months. His other cellmate, Abraham, who works as a housekeeper in Poe's office and living quarters, nurses John. When it seems hopeless to return John to his normal state, John returns, having been encouraged by the thought of his wife, who had gotten Poe drunk on champagne and had accessed ZED, entering John's dreams and breaking his catatonia. John becomes leader of the cell, bumping Stiggs down the ladder.While John was in isolation, D-Day had taken the opportunity to study the intestinator. He finds that they are magnetic; using Stiggs as a test subject, he uses the freed intestinator to pull the other one out of Stiggs. It causes Stiggs a great deal of pain and nausea but the men realize they can at least free themselves from ZED's & Poe's control. They also have Abraham steal a small crystal from Poe's office, part of a holographic projector which shows construction plans for future prison levels. John forms a plan to have the men escape out of one of the construction sites where they all work. While they study the plans, they crystal is dropped and damaged. Abraham, who'd been up for parole, takes responsibility and may lose his chance at release. He decides to join John and the others in the escape.Poe becomes attracted to John's wife Karen. He allows her to live in his apartment with her. One day she finds him in a reclining chair, hooked up by leads to ZED; Poe is a cyborg. Horrified, Karen rejects him. Abraham, who'd been listening to their conversation, tells John, who charges Abraham with freeing Karen when the escape is attempted.The next day when the men report for work, John and Stiggs start a fight to distract the guards at the construction site. While they do, D-Day places all the intestinators he'd extracted from his cellmates on a ventilation pipe. When Poe orders a mass intestination, the intestinators explode, blowing a hole in the duct. John and his crew run for the exit but are stopped by strike clones, prisoners who have been converted into cybernetic soldiers. Stiggs is killed by a clone when he tries to surrender. John and the men are able to overpower one and steal the gun it had built into it's arm. When the splattergun is sent to their level, it cannot track them and they ride it's carriage to the top level.In his offices, Poe secures the room and traps himself, Abraham and Karen inside. When Karen and Abraham try to kill Poe, he overpowers them and kills Abraham. John, D-Day and their cellmate, Nino arrive at Poe's quarters; Poe shows John that Karen has been taken to an operating room where Karen's baby will be removed from her abdomen by Cesarean section and she will not survive the procedure. John forces Poe to take him to Karen, however, Zed sends the splattergun and Poe is destroyed. Zed tells John and his crew that a unit of strike clones are being sent to their location. D-Day tells John to get him to a computer console and is able to successfully disrupt ZED with a computer virus -- moments later, D-Day is killed by a strike clone. The virus is enough to shut down the lights in the surgical lab and delay the doctors long enough for John to find Karen. John, Karen and Nino escape to the surface where they steal a MenTel truck and drive off, finally arriving in a forested area where Karen goes into labor in an abandoned barn.Suddenly the truck they stole, still controlled by ZED, tries to run them down. Nino is killed, however, John is able to destroy the truck with the weapon he'd stolen, setting it on fire with the flame thrower. The truck swerves into the barn where Karen had been in labor and explodes. John believes Karen and his child are dead until he hears the child wailing and sees Karen alive; she'd escaped the barn shortly before. John and Karen leave to start a new life with their newborn child.

insanity, cult, violence

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Akira

On July 16, 1988 an atom bomb vaporizes Tokyo. 31 years after WW3 in 2019, Neo-Tokyo has risen, a decrepit city filled with violence and desolation. In a grungy part of town, a man goes to a bar where the bartender (Yôsuke Akimoto) sells drugs to a customer and the TV recaps the day's news. There is unrest due to unemployment and a bad economy. A young man, wearing a red biker suit, enters the bar and gathers some friends from a back room, announcing that they will be going after the Clowns, a rival bike gang, on Route 5. Outside, a younger teen, Tetsuo (Nozomu Sasaki, English: Jan Rabson), is admiring a bright red motorcycle with special technical features. Kaneda (Mitsuo Iwata, English: Cam Clarke), the youth in the red suit and the leader of the Capsules biker gang, walks out of the bar and mocks Tetsuo, telling him he doesn't possess the skill to operate the bike, which belongs to Kaneda. The bosozoku gang rides out into the night.They meet the Clowns at the designated area, chasing them through the skyscraper district where the Clowns are knocked off their bikes. Bystanders watch as nearby cars are damaged and bombed by the violence. In the skirmish, Tetsuo wipes out and is left alone as the police arrive and the gangs split up.A wounded man, dripping blood, leads a short, green-skinned person through the night streets. He pulls a gun and shoots a pair of pursuing dogs. The man is eventually stopped by police near a group of rioting protesters and, in the chaos, is shot to death. The little green person cries out in terror as a building begins to collapse. The crowd scrambles for safety and a mustached man and his companion, a young woman named Kei (Mami Koyama, English: Lara Cody), are split up.Meanwhile, Kaneda's gang continues to pursue the Clowns. Tetsuo chases a Clown on his own and they approach the scene where police are attempting to hold back rioters with water cannons and tear gas. Tetsuo closes in on the Clown, wearing a red cross logo, as the rider wipes out. Tetsuo rides by and viciously hits the downed man on the head. When Tetsuo looks up, he sees the green person standing in his path. There is a crash and an explosion. Kaneda and the rest of the gang arrive on the scene to find Tetsuo semi-conscious in the street while the green person walks away, unhurt. Kaneda calls out to him but the person disappears into the darkness. A second green-skinned person then arrives in a hovering chair and speaks to the other in a child's voice, beckoning him to return and saying 'there is no escape'. A helicopter with an armed paramilitary group lands in the square and forces the Capsules gang to the ground as a tall man with a jarhead haircut emerges from the helicopter. Colonel Shikishima (Tarô Ishida, English: Tony Pope) sends Tetsuo to the hospital while Kaneda and his gang are taken into custody before he leaves in the helicopter with the two green children.At the police station, Kaneda and his gang are interrogated. Eight of the Clowns have been put in the hospital, but the Capsules are released. Kaneda notices Kei being held with another group and persuades . Unknown to him, she is a member of a terrorist organization though she teases him for attempting to flirt by freeing her before she slips away.Meanwhile, at the hospital, Tetsuo is placed in a full-body scanner. His status is overseen by Doctor Onishi (Mizuho Suzuki, English: Lewis Arquette), who suddenly makes an alarming discovery. He contacts Shikishima who is in a meeting with a politician, discussing a possible 'mole' on the Executive Council. Arriving at the hospital, Shikishima is told by Onishi that Tetsuo possesses psychic abilities similar to Akira, a young esper like the two green children, who caused the nuclear-like destruction of Tokyo 31 years prior. Project Akira was sprung from a secret government lab run by a dissident, underground terrorist group, but there was an error involving the growth pattern. Onishi claims that Tetsuo possesses the key to solving that dilemma. However, Shikishima is concerned about Tetsuo's power and, after receiving a prophesy from the esper Kiyoko (Fukue Itô, English: Melora Harte) envisioning Neo-Tokyo's destruction, instructs Onishi to kill Tetsuo if he thinks the power might get out of control.Once awakened, however, Tetsuo escapes from the hospital and makes his way toward the hideout for the Capsules gang in a vandalized wreck of a building. There, the rest of the gang is recuperating with girlfriends from the evening's events, discussing their surprise of the cooperation between police and the army. A timid young girl, Kaori (Yuriko Fuchizaki, English: Michelle Ruff), expresses her concern for her boyfriend, Tetsuo. Suddenly, he appears and proposes that they run away together. They steal Kaneda's bike and ride off, but not before Kaneda and the others see him leaving.Tetsuo and Kaori ride until the bike stalls. They are then confronted by three Clowns who accost Kaori and threaten to torch the bike. Kaneda and the rest of the Capsules arrive and help Tetsuo fight off the Clowns. Tetsuo, however, angry at having to be rescued, takes his frustrations out on a fallen Clown, kicking him fiercely. He begins to suffer a severe migraine, hallucinating that his internal organs have dropped out of his lower chest and hearing the word 'Akira'. Not a moment later, a CRC team arrives by armored vehicle and helicopters. Having pinpointed his location via a scanning device, Doctor Onishi has Tetsuo taken back to the hospital, leaving Kaneda and his gang to wonder about what's going on.Nearby an explosion rocks a building and police shoot and kill fleeing armed men. Kaneda is drawn to the violence and sees a mustached man fleeing with Kei. Kaneda follows her as police flashlights bracket her attempt to escape. Kaneda assists Kei in escaping as a cop is shot and killed. Kei leads Kaneda to the terrorist headquarters where the leader, the mustached man named Ryu (Tesshô Genda, English: Bob Buchholz), discusses their earlier failed attempt at kidnapping #26, which turns out to be the first green esper child, Takashi (Tatsuhiko Nakamura, English: Barbara Goodson). He proposes a new plan to gain access to a government facility to find what they can on the newest subject: Tetsuo. After being discovered eavesdropping, Kaneda explains to the suspicious group that he and Tetsuo are best friends from the same gang and that he can help. Ryu seeks advice from a short, old man named Nezu (Hiroshi Ôtake, English: Mike Reynolds) who speaks of Akira as a symbol for hope and change while he watches the fires and protests in the city streets from afar.Meanwhile, Tetsuo experiences memories from his days as a boy. Suddenly, his memories turn into a nightmarish hallucination. Colonel Shikishima approaches an aged green-skinned esper girl; Kiyoko, sitting inside a crib while Onishi scans readings. Kiyoko is seen to have a '25' tattooed on her palm. She makes an ominous prediction. Shikishima flies out with a few scientists and don parkas before entering a large, oval-like facility. They enter the frigid space and begin activating some of the equipment within. A massive door slowly opens and the Colonel enters the cavernous chamber. A small, red light and sign reads 'Akira 28'.Colonel Shikishima then attends a meeting with the Supreme Executive Council where he is angered by the members' refusal to further fund his project. He questions them, stating that his intents are the duties of a soldier before he angrily, and abruptly, leaves. Council member Nezu smiles at the Colonel's distress.In his hospital room within the government facility, Tetsuo experiences fantastic hallucinations of a toy rabbit, a teddy bear, a toy car and milk. Confused about what's happening, Tetsuo steps out on a glass and cuts his foot which startles the three green children responsible for the hallucinations; Takashi, Kiyoko, and Masaru (Kazuhiro Kamifuji, English: Bob Bergen). Frightened at the sight of blood, the esper children flee despite their attempt to kill Tetsuo. Angered and realizing the power he holds, Tetsuo chases after them through the hospital, killing anyone who stands in his way and wreaking havoc with his telekinetic abilities.Meanwhile, the Resistance group, having made it into the facility disguised as electrical workers, are spotted sneaking in the sewers and a chase ensues. During the violent shootout, Kaneda manages to take over a flying platform, a small aerial vehicle flown by soldiers, and takes Kei as they flee the scene. However, they are quickly detained by soldiers. Using Kei as a medium and possessing her, Kiyoko leads them to a government nursery where Tetsuo is located. Kaneda faces Tetsuo, explaining that he's here to rescue him, but Tetsuo won't have it. He angrily retorts that he needs no rescuing now and, since he's discovered where Akira is, is eager to find out what he is, hoping to make his headaches go away. Possessing stronger powers than the three espers, Tetsuo manages to escape and uses his abilities to fly away; his destination is the Neo-Tokyo Olympic Stadium under which Akira is being held in a cryogenic storage facility.Desperate to find and stop Tetsuo, Colonel Shikishima places Neo-Tokyo under martial law. Tetsuo leaves a trail of destruction through the city before he stops at the bar seen at the start of the film, still wearing his hospital gown, and approaches the bartender, now alone. Tetsuo demands 'capsules' before we see two of his fellow Capsule gang members, Yamagata (Masaaki Ôkura, English: Michael Lindsay) and Kai (Takeshi Kusao, English: Matthew Mercer) walk in from outside. They find the inside of the bar totally destroyed and the bartender lying dead as Tetsuo sits on a pile of rubble and furniture, giggling. Perplexed and disgusted, they wonder if the person they see is really Tetsuo or someone else. Tetsuo speaks to them cryptically before intimidating and attacking them.Having been left behind and locked once more in a holding cell, Kei is used again by Kiyoko to speak to Kaneda, warning him of Tetsuo's immense power. The cell door unlocks and the two escape. Meanwhile, a government representative arrives to arrest Shikishima but the Colonel's men remain loyal to him and assist the Colonel in a coup d'etat. He mobilizes his men to the stadium. Nezu, the government mole, listens to this report from home and murders his staff before Ryu arrives to inform him of the mission's failure to capture Tetsuo. Nezu shoots him and leaves with a briefcase full of money. However, he later dies in an alley from a heart attack. Having followed him, Ryu also dies from his wounds.Kai manages to find Kaneda and Kei at an urban water-filled ditch and explains that he and Yamagata found Tetsuo, who acted strangely and somehow killed Yamagata. Angered by the news of his friend's death, Kaneda vows vengeance. Takashi and Kiyoko then appear, beckoning Kei who walks over the water before disappearing. Kiyoko tells Kaneda and Kai that Tetsuo's powers have become unstable and they are trying to stop him. Kaneda argues that Tetsuo is his friend and that he is responsible for finding a way to defeat and kill him.Tetsuo makes his way towards the stadium, killing soldiers in his path and destroying vehicles and helicopters. Possessed by Kiyoko once again, Kei attempts to fight him but is thrown aside. Tetsuo exhumes Akira's entire cryonic chamber from the ground and opens it but finds nothing aside from dissected body parts housed in individual canisters. Kaneda, armed with an experimental laser cannon, rides into the chaos and confronts Tetsuo. As they fight, Shikishima intervenes with an orbital weapon called SOL, the beam of which severs Tetsuo's right arm. Enraged, Tetsuo flies into space and rips SOL out of orbit, causing it to disintegrate in the atmosphere. He then returns to the stadium where Kaori arrives, finding him screaming in pain due to his intense powers while he synthesizes an artificial, mechanical arm using the remains from Akira. The arm seems to throb with a life of its own. Shikishima finds Tetsuo and explains to him that the espers' mind-controlling drugs administered to Tetsuo were meant to stunt the evolution of his uncontrollable abilities, but they are weakening. He pleads with Tetsuo to return to the hospital but Tetsuo attacks him. Shikishima shoots back and Kaneda appears, intervening.The three espers arrive at the stadium and appear to try and communicate with the remains of Akira in the canisters. Unable to control his powers any longer, Tetsuo's body begins to morph: his arm transforms into a horrific blob that attempts to swallow the Colonel. Kaneda shoots it, causing it to recede but Tetsuo's entire body swells into a protoplasmic mutation, crushing Kaori to death in the process. Kaneda escapes as the espers awaken Akira; now appearing as a young boy without the need for a physical body. His appearance triggers a monstrous explosion and Kiyoko grabs Shikishima, transporting him to safety in the nick of time. Akira creates a blinding ball of energy that engulfs the entire city and begins to absorb Tetsuo who cries out for Kaneda's help. Desperate to save his friend, Kaneda follows Tetsuo into the energy sphere, followed closely by the three espers who are determined to save Kaneda, though they observe that they might not return.Kaneda experiences Tetsuo's and Akira's childhood memories, seeing how much Tetsuo trusted Kaneda and witnessing how the three esper children were first studied upon just before Tokyo's destruction. The espers tell Tetsuo that Akira is sending him 'away', but somewhere safe as Kaneda is ejected from the inside of the sphere, just before it explodes. The explosion partially destroys most of Neo-Tokyo, leaving a gaping hole where the sphere was that is quickly flooded by the sea. Doctor Onishi is killed when his laboratory collapses.Kaneda awakens and is reunited with Kei and Kai. Together, they ride away on their damaged bikes to start anew. Colonel Shikishima emerges from the tunnel where he was placed by Kiyoko and watches as the sun rises over the destroyed city.Elsewhere, a cosmic 'bang' breaches the darkness and a voice speaks out, "I am Tetsuo." Coming into full control of his powers, he initiates a new universe.

murder, stupid, paranormal, anti war, cult, violence, atmospheric, flashback, psychedelic, action, romantic, comic, revenge, alternate history, sci-fi

tt0094625

Såsom i en spegel

"Through a Glass Darkly," originally titled "The Wallpaper," is the first part in a film trilogy, the start to a new direction taken by Ingmar Bergman: "chamber films," so named for their analogy to chamber music.First Movement. The film opens with the mirroring of a gloomy sky on the placid Baltic Sea waters at the Faro Island shores, near Gotland's northernmost tip. Four bathers, all in a jovial mood, splashing and joking, are returning from a swim in the cold sea. As they reach the jetty, the youngest members of the quartet, Karin (Harriet Andersson) and her teenage brother, Fredrik, known as Minus (Lars Passgard), are sent off to get some milk at a nearby farm, while Karin's physician husband, Martin (Max von Sydow), and her father, David (Gunnar Bjorstrand), a writer, go and set up their fishing nets. David has just returned from Switzerland, where he was finishing writing his latest novel, and their task gives them a private opportunity to discuss Karin's status, whose schizophrenia has been diagnosed as most likely incurable.On the way to the farm, Minus expresses his hope that their father will be successful with his latest novel's publication. On the way back, Minus confides in his sister his sexual apprehensions, which eventually degenerates into his admonishment of Karin for the (maybe) too intimate attention she keeps showing toward him. But most importantly, he confesses how much he wishes he could communicate with his father.The quartet is reunited for the evening dinner around a table in front of their cottage. Again, a festive atmosphere prevails, but soon turns sour. David confesses that while he was anxious to return to his family after his long absence, that he is about to leave again, in spite of his earlier promise to his children not to travel so often. Somewhat guiltily, and seeking forgiveness, David distributes some presents, all of them turning out to be unsuitable. He goes into the house under the pretense of getting his pipe tobacco, but it is only to release his pent-up anguish at being trapped in his own narcissistic world. When David returns to the table, the family proposes to perform a short play, written by Minus as a gift to his father. The play, "The Artistic Haunting" or "The Tomb of Illusions," tells of a prince who chooses world fame over love. This, of course, strikes too close to David for comfort, but he nevertheless applauds.Readying themselves for bed, Karin and Martin discuss the evening, and Karin turns down her husband's tender advances. But later in the night, the cry of gulls awakens her and, following her inner voices, she steals out of the room to an abandoned upstairs room. In the room, she presses her ear to the wall, listening to voices emanating from behind it. She moves to the center of the room, falls to her knees in ecstasy, and achieves a sexual climax. Karin descends to her father's room, where he is still putting some last touches on his novel. He carries her to his bed, tucks her in, and she falls asleep. Minus appears standing on the window sill, and asks his father to come and join him in retrieving the nets. Some time after their departure, Karin awakens. Rummaging in David's desk, she finds his diary, which she opens toward the last written pages and reads, "Her illness is incurableI'm horrified by my curiosity, by my urge to record its course, to make an accurate description of her gradual disintegration, to use her." Karin is crushed by her discovery. She returns to her bedroom and tells her husband about some of her findings in David's diary. But she cannot bring herself to tell him that David is actually studying her descent into madness. Martin tries unconvincingly to reassure her.Second Movement. Karin and Minus are alone. Minus is "studying" his Latin book, into which he has hidden a girlie magazine. Karin uncovers the subterfuge and teases him about it. In this moment of familiarity, Karin tells Minus her terrible secret, her experience in the room upstairs, and takes him to the room. She explains her experience with the voices she hears from behind the flower wallpaper. She tells him how she passes through the wall into an adjacent room where people are waiting for "Him." Karin further confesses to Minus that she has sacrificed Martin for the "other." On the other hand, somewhat lucidly, she states she is not sure this is all real.Some time later, Minus is looking desperately everywhere for Karin, who has disappeared from his sight. At last, he finds her lying down inside the hull of a beached boat wreck. Minus approaches Karin, who is lying on the boards in a fetal position, and leans over her. Karin, with a devilish grin on her face suddenly reaches for him, and forces him against her in a passionate embrace. We guess from the next scene, where Minus is holding Karin in his arms that incest has occurred.Meanwhile, David and Martin, who went by motorboat to Gotland, have anchored the boat and are having lunch. Martin confronts David's having written in his diary about Karin and her sickness. What follows is a disturbing exchange of accusations. David admits to studying Karin and her illness as a subject for his next book, but doesn't Martin wish at times for Karin's death? David confesses that recently in Switzerland, he tried to commit suicide, but fate (God?) intervened and saved him. At that moment, David manages, for the first time, to communicate his inner most feelings:" From the void within me, something was born that I can't touch or name. A love. For Karin. For Minus. For you."David and Martin, returning to their island, are greeted at the pier by Minus, who tells them about Karin's latest crisis. They all run to the shipwreck. As Karin expresses her wish to talk privately to her father, Martin is vexed and possibly guesses what happened between the two siblings. He leaves to go get an ambulance for Karin. Karin tells her father that she is giving up "living in two worlds," and wants to be committed. She also hints unambiguously at the incest. David's transformation continues as he confesses his guilt to Karin.Third Movement. Karin is in her room, packing her bags. As Martin goes to fetch some medicine for her, she slips away to the abandoned room upstairs. When David and Martin find her there, she is standing in the middle of the room talking to "them." Martin enters the room and Karin tells him to rejoice at God's imminent arrival. She tells her husband to come and kneel with her, to wait for God to appear. The helicopter ambulance arrives in a roar of engine and whirring blades that makes the house shake and the closet door open. Through the window, we catch a glimpse of the helicopter landing like a giant spider suspended by an invisible thread. Suddenly, Karin is overwhelmed by her vision of the spider-God. She run down stairs and is stopped by Minus, thus allowing Martin enough time to inject her with a sedative. As she calms down, she describes her vision of a horrifying "spider-God" who tried to penetrate her. The ambulance nurse knocks at the door. Karin puts on her sunglasses, as if they were a symbolic of cutting herself from the world, and calmly walks to the waiting ambulance.Following his sister's departure, Minus enters his father's room for the first time. Minus tells him of his panic over going on living, after the latest happenings. David's answer to his son is that he can live if he can hold unto something. "I do not know if love is proof of God's existence, or if love is God himself," says David, but, "that thought helps me in my emptiness and my dirty despair." After some more exchanges, as David leaves the room to prepare dinner, Minus, in near ecstasy says, "Papa spoke to me."

bleak, insanity, atmospheric

tt0055499

Birdemic: Shock and Terror

Rod (Alan Bagh) is a young software salesman living a successful life in Silicon Valley. He meets up with old classmate and aspiring fashion model Nathalie (Whitney Moore) and begins dating her. Things go well for the couple, with Rod receiving a large bonus that he uses to start his own business, while Nathalie is chosen as a Victoria's Secret model. As they grow closer, the couple remains oblivious to signs of something going wrong around them, such as unexplained wildfires and the carcasses of diseased birds turning up on beaches. After consummating their relationship in a motel, Rod and Nathalie wake up to find that their town is under attack from eagles and vultures. The birds spit acid and explode into flames upon striking the ground. On the DVD commentary, the director explained that was because they became mutated and toxic due to global warming. Rod and Nathalie escape from the motel by joining up with an ex-Marine named Ramsey (Adam Sessa) and his girlfriend Becky (Catherine Batcha). As they leave town, they rescue two young children, Susan (Janae Caster) and Tony (Colton Osborne), whose parents have been killed by the birds. The group proceeds to drive from one town to the next, fending off more bird attacks along the way and briefly meeting a scientist named Dr. Jones (Rick Camp) studying the phenomenon. Becky is killed by the birds. Ramsey tries to save a busload of tourists. As they leave the bus, Ramsey and the tourists are killed by acid that is dropped by the birds. Nathalie stops Rod from attempting to rescue Ramsey because she feared the birds will kill him, too. Rod, Nathalie and the kids continue to flee from the birds, driving into a forest where they briefly meet a "Tree Hugger" named Tom Hill (Stephen Gustavson), who talks to them about the dangers of global warming. On the DVD commentary, the director explained that the birds were attacking people in retaliation for global warming, and that they were targeting gas stations and cars, since they burn carbon dioxide [sic]. After escaping a forest fire, the quartet ultimately settles on a small beach, where Rod fishes for dinner. As they prepare to eat, they are attacked by the birds, but then doves appear and all the birds leave in peace. The film ends as Rod, Nathalie and the kids watch the birds fly off into the horizon.

cult

tt1316037

Ghost Town

The film begins as married New York City businessman Frank Herlihy (Greg Kinnear) is accidentally killed while trying to buy an apartment for his mistress. Shortly afterward, cynical dentist Bertram Pincus (Ricky Gervais) has a near-death experience while under general anesthetic during a colonoscopy. When he recovers, he is able to see and communicate with ghosts who populate the area. The ghosts annoy Bertram by asking him to help them with personal business that was left unfinished when they died. Frank promises to keep the other ghosts away if Bertram will break up an engagement between Frank's widow Gwen (Leoni), a professional Egyptologist, and Richard (Billy Campbell), a human-rights lawyer who Frank says is dishonest. Bertram eventually agrees to the deal and tries to woo Gwen away from Richard. Bertram's past rudeness to Gwen makes this difficult, but he attracts her interest by analyzing the teeth of a mummified Egyptian Pharaoh that she has been studying. When Bertram has dinner with Gwen and Richard, he decides that Richard is not as bad as Frank claimed, but Bertram himself begins to fall in love with Gwen, and she enjoys Bertram's sense of humor. At another dinner, Gwen reveals that she learned of Frank's mistress the day he died, and when Richard visits Bertram for some dental work, Bertram drugs him with laughing gas in order to make him reveal that Gwen has broken their engagement. Frank doesn't understand why he is still on Earth if his "unfinished business" was to break up Richard and Gwen. Gwen, not being engaged to Richard any longer, says yes to a work proposal that would send her to the Valley of the Kings in Egypt for six months. As a going-away present, Bertram gets her a new key chain from a fancy jeweler's, as she had earlier mentioned that she desperately needed one. But when he mistakenly reveals information about Gwen that only Frank could have known, she demands the truth, and Bertram tells her the whole story about the ghosts. Gwen doesn't believe him and demands to know what Frank's worst nightmare was. Frank lies to Bertram, telling him a fake nightmare, and Gwen, thinking that Bertram has been lying to her and playing some kind of game, walks away and cuts him off. Bertram demands to know why Frank lied to him about the nightmare, and Frank points out that Bertram only cares about his own needs. Bertram sinks into a depression and asks a fellow dentist (Aasif Mandvi), for medication that will help him forget Gwen. His colleague instead convinces him that his life would be better if he decided to stop being selfish and start helping people. Bertram begins helping the ghosts around him with their "unfinished business" on Earth, bringing comfort to people they left behind and enabling the ghosts to depart. As he does this he realizes that the ghosts were still on Earth not because they had unfinished business, but because the people they were close to were not finished with them. He begins to appreciate life and the people he encounters. Bertram realizes that the reason Frank cannot leave is that Gwen has not let go of him yet. He confronts Gwen who asks him to ask Frank why she wasn't enough for him, and Frank says he's sorry for hurting her, which Bertram tells Gwen. Gwen is incredulous that after his infidelity, all Frank would have to say was 'sorry' and thinks that Bertram is making it all up. He rushes after her and while trying to persuade her to believe him, gets hit by a bus. Bertram, now a ghost himself, watches with Frank as people crowd around his body and Gwen sobs over him. Richard arrives on his way to the reception and tries to revive Bertram with prayer and CPR. Seeing how distraught Gwen is, Frank gives Bertram 'some advice' that will be useful in case he is resuscitated, and tells him that Gwen's tears are for Bertram, in other words she loves him. After saying this, Frank is finally allowed to leave the earthly plane. Bertram wakes up alive in the hospital. Later Gwen, who needs dental work, comes in for an appointment with another dentist but finds Bertram's office to say hello. Bertram tells Gwen of Frank's real nightmare—that of losing his way home, which was the advice Frank told him, and then assures her that Frank has 'found his way home.' The movie ends with Gwen saying, "It hurts when I smile", to which Bertram replies "I can fix that for you".

entertaining

tt0995039

Malcolm X

As the opening credits roll, we hear Malcolm X (Denzel Washington) delivering a speech about the oppression of the black race by the white race, openly and loudly accusing whites of murder, rape and slavery. Intercut with the credits is footage of the 1991 beating of Rodney King by Los Angeles police officers and an American flag burning into an "X".In the Roxbury neighborhood of Boston, in the early years of World War II, a young Malcolm Little meets with his friend, Shorty (Spike Lee) at a local barber shop to have his hair straightened to make him acceptable to whites. The process is a painful one, with a concoction of eggs and lye applied to Malcolm's head and combed out. Malcolm admires himself in the mirror and he and Shorty take to the streets dressed in colorful "zoot" suits.In a flashback sequence, Malcolm narrates that he grew up poor in rural Nebraska. When his mother was pregnant with him, a small group of Ku Klux Klan riders broke the windows of his parents' house, looking for his father, a local minister and activist. Malcolm later narrates that his family's home was burned down and his father was murdered when he was four or five, thrown in front of a train after suffering a skull injury. The case was falsely recorded as a suicide and his family received no compensation, becoming destitute. Malcolm's mother, who was of Caribbean descent and partially white, married his father because he was black and a follower of Marcus Garvey, who preached that Black Americans should return to Africa to have their own region of the world, free of white influence. Eventually, his mother was remanded to a mental institution and Malcolm and his brothers and sisters became wards of the state. Malcolm, while in grade school, showed excellent academic skills and told a teacher he wanted to be a lawyer. However, his racist teacher tells him that it "isn't a practical career for a negro".Flashing back to contemporary 1944, Malcolm and Shorty and their girlfriends go to a jitterbug club. After a rigorous dancing number, Malcolm meets Sophia (Kate Vernon), a white, blond woman who becomes infatuated with him. Malcolm's black girlfriend, Laura (Theresa Randle), is a devout Catholic and has avoided Malcolm's sexual advances. Eventually, Malcolm takes up with Sophia. At one point, he treats her with obvious racial misogyny, getting her to feed him breakfast.Working for a local railroad company, Malcolm travels to Harlem. He goes to a bar where his drink is doubled unexpectedly by a man named West Indian Archie (Delroy Lindo), who runs numbers locally. When Malcolm is harassed by another patron who insults his clothes and speaks ill of his mother, Malcolm hits the man in the head with a liquor bottle. Archie recognizes that Malcolm won't back down in a fight and calls him over to his table. Malcolm sees immediately that Archie is a person of considerable influence and goes to work for him, running numbers.One night, while Malcolm, Sophia and Archie drink and snort cocaine, Malcolm places a bet for several numbers with Archie. One of Malcolm's numbers hits and he stands to collect a large sum of money. Archie denies that Malcolm had the number and reminds his protege of his reputation for never forgetting a number. Malcolm chooses to break his ties with Archie.A few nights later, at a dinner club, Archie threatens Malcolm. Malcolm escapes through the bathroom window. He returns to Boston, reconnects with Shorty and the two resolve to become petty thieves. One of their first partners, Rudy, tells them about a elderly man he takes care of who has money and many valuable items in his house. When Rudy declares he'll lead the group, Malcolm plays Russian Roulette, threatening to blow off Rudy's nose. A terrified Rudy tells Malcolm to lead the group.The robbery is a success and over a period of time, Shorty and Malcolm loot a considerable amount. One night, while Shorty and Malcolm straighten Malcolm's hair, they discover the water has been turned off. Malcolm is forced to rinse his head in the toilet bowl and he and Shorty are arrested when the police burst in. Sophia and Peg (Debi Mazar) are also arrested. The racist judge (a cameo by civil rights attorney William Kuntsler), after hearing a guilty verdict, sentences the two white women to 18 months for their association with the robbery group, but harshly sentences both Shorty and Malcolm to eight to ten years for 14 different robbery charges and declares the sentences will be served concurrently (a devastated Shorty faints in the courtroom, thinking he'd serve over 100 years until Malcolm explains what "concurrent" sentencing is).Malcolm is sent to a Massachusetts penitentiary. On his first day he refuses to recite his incarceration number and is thrown into solitary confinement. The prison priest (Christopher Plummer) tries to reach Malcolm but is obscenely rebuffed. Malcolm is eventually released and recites his number. While in the showers, straightening his hair, he is met by Baines (Albert Hall), a member of the Nation of Islam, the black Muslim organization of the United States. Baines tells Malcolm that the best way out of prison, both the penitentiary and the figurative prisons of his mind, is through the teachings of Elijah Muhammad (Al Freeman Jr.), the founder and leader of the Nation of Islam. Malcolm refuses at first but grows more interested in Baines' preachings. Malcolm becomes a willing student; Baines tells him that all white people are not to be trusted. Baines has Malcolm copy out an entire English language dictionary, pointing out the double-standards that guide words like "black" and "white", telling his student that he must learn the meanings behind every word and that language is the key to using the white race's power against them. Malcolm is reluctant at first to pray directly to Allah until he has a vision in his jail cell of Elijah Muhammad. Muhammad tells him that the only path to truth is through Allah. Malcolm finally gains the courage to pray as a Muslim. Malcolm also becomes a sore point for the prison priest; Malcolm challenges the traditional images of Jesus and the apostles, claiming they were anything but white.Malcolm is paroled from prison in 1952, after serving six years and he goes to the Nation's headquarters in Chicago where he meets Elijah Muhammad himself. Malcolm is noticeably humbled by the experience and breaks down in awe-filled tears at meeting his savior. As part of joining the Nation of Islam, Elijah Muhammad instructs Malcolm to drop his last name of 'Little', which his ancestors inherited from a white slave owner, and replace it with the letter 'X' which is a symbol of his lost African surname.Malcolm X returns to Harlem and begins his life as a preacher for the Nation of Islam. The Nation sets up a mosque in a single room and their congregation quickly grows. At one point, Malcolm, while preaching a sermon, sees Shorty in the crowd. He embraces him, kindly pointing out that Shorty is a representative of his former criminal life and the two go out for coffee. Shorty tries to get Malcolm to join him for a cocaine fix but Malcolm tells him that he's clean. Malcolm gets news about West Indian Archie and his old gang from Shorty and finds out where Archie is living. Archie has since suffered a stroke and lives as an invalid in a squalid Bronx apartment. Malcolm visits him and comforts him when he sees how poor life has become for his old boss. Malcolm also challenges the Harlem division of the New York City Police Department when one of his temple's members, Brother Johnson, is beaten in the streets and taken to jail and denied medical attention. Malcolm gathers the Fruit of Islam, the Nation's security force, and, joined by a growing mob of local protesters, marches on the police precinct, demanding to see Johnson. When he is turned down he calmly and firmly tells the officers in charge that neither he nor the Fruit of Islam will move until they are satisfied that Johnson is being cared for properly. The silent protest works and Johnson is taken to the hospital. Malcolm orders the Fruit of Islam to disperse and leaves the angry crowd on the street for the police to deal with. As the Nation leaves, the captain (a cameo by Peter Boyle) remarks "that's too much power for one man to have."A short time, while drinking coffee in a nearby cafe, a young man named Benjamin, who'd witnessed the police beating of Brother Johnson and was impressed with Malcolm's stolid handling of the police, approaches Malcolm and asks him how he can become a Muslim. Malcolm questions Benjamin carefully, saying he shouldn't join an organization if he doesn't understand it. Benjamin becomes disappointed and begins to leave when Malcolm tells him he shouldn't give up easily either. Malcolm invites him to come to his temple the next day. Benjamin leaves, promising he'll make Malcolm proud of him.In 1958, Malcolm meets his future wife, nurse Betty Sanders (Angela Bassett). The two are instantly attracted to each other and Malcolm eventually proposes to her. They are married in a private ceremony and plan to have children. They are soon the parents of four daughters.Over the next few years as Malcolm's influence grows, he soon finds himself in a high advisory position to Elijah Muhammad himself, which draws much jealously from Baines. As a result, Malcolm receives less attention in the Nation's official publication, "Muhammad Speaks". Baines speaks to Muhammad directly, telling him that Malcolm may be shamelessly courting the white media for himself, rather than for the good of the Nation. Following a formal public speaking session, Malcolm is confronted by a disgruntled man who suggests that Muhammad may not be the benevolent leader the Nation believes him to be.Malcolm, tipped by Betty, begins to investigate reports in the New York Post that Muhammad himself may have fathered illegitimate children with at least two unmarried women who served on his office staff. Malcolm talks to the women who confirm the reports and have been ostracized within the Nation. Malcolm privately confronts Muhammad who claims that, because he himself never married, that he must father his progeny any way he can. Baines also tries to justify Muhammad's philandering by recounting the stories of both Noah (a drunk) and Solomon (who had many wives). Malcolm is not convinced and loses much of his stature and faith in the Nation of Islam.In November 1963, Malcolm's candid and brutally truthful reputation is further damaged when, following the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, publicly states that the president's death was an example of the historical violence of the white race and the United States itself, referring to the incident as an example of "the chickens coming home to roost." The remark is quickly misconstrued in American newspapers, prompting anger from both the black and white establishments. Muhammad, who appears to be in poor health, decides to sideline Malcolm by informing him that his duties as the Nation of Islam's spokesperson are suspended for 90 days. Malcolm is enraged by what he sees as a clear case of betrayal by both Elijah Muhammad and the Nation of Islam, but he none the less accepts and submits to the punishment.In early 1964, during his suspension, Malcolm decides to complete a "hajj", a holy journey of self-discovery to the Middle East and Mecca in Saudi Arabia, required of all Muslims if they are able. He tours the ancient pyramids at Giza, knowing that he's being tailed by two men he assumes are CIA agents. Arriving in Mecca, he participates in the Muslim ritual of the seven circuits around the Kaaba, drinks from the Well of Zamzam and kisses the Black Stone. He also realizes that Islam is not limited to people of Arab, Middle Eastern or African descent, but the many people in his pilgrimage include many Caucasian whites, mixed race people and Asians as well. Malcolm willingly eats and prays with them. The hajj changes Malcolm's outlook and he experiences a spiritual re-awakening, realizing that exclusion of races other than African-Americans from Islam cannot accomplish anything.Returning to the United States, he gives a press conference where he declares that his days of preaching for African-American separation from white America are over. He forms a new Islamic organization, the Organization for African-American Unity (OAAU), one that will spread the word of tolerance of all who wish to worship Allah and the Qur'an, and which involves breaking his relations with the Nation of Islam. Very soon, Malcolm's family begins to receive death threats on the phone from Nation of Islam members. Malcolm guards his house at night with a rifle.One night in February 1965, two firebombs are thrown at Malcolm's house and he gives a public statement to a television news crew that if he'd actually seen the bombers himself, he'd have opened fire on them in the street.Malcolm receives further death threats and becomes somewhat despondent. He arranges to speak at the Audubon Ballroom in Harlem on February 21, 1965, his first such public speech since founding OAAU. Malcolm goes to a New York hotel and stays overnight there, possibly to draw attention away from his family. He receives more death threats from the Nation of Islam in his hotel room. He drives to the Audubon and meets a woman on the street who tells him not to listen to his detractors and that Jesus will protect him -- Malcolm acknowledges her kindness. One of his men, Brother Earl (James McDaniel), wants to position guards around the stage and podium and wants everyone attending to be searched to insure Malcolm's safety. Malcolm refuses, saying he wants the attendees of the speech to feel relaxed. Malcolm also becomes angry when his staff inform him that the OAAU program hasn't been completed and that the reverend scheduled to speak before Malcolm cannot attend. The rest of the staff are excused and Malcolm speaks alone to Brother Earl, muttering about the present day being "a time for martyrs." He also refuses to postpone the engagement when Earl suggests it. Earl leaves and Malcolm prepares his notes.In the auditorium, Betty and Malcolm's daughters are seated in the front row while Brother Benjamin 2X (the same young man from the cafe scene) speaks ahead of Malcolm and introduces him. Malcolm steps to the podium and greets the crowd when a man in the back row suddenly starts shouting at someone... intended as a distraction. While the security guards run over and deals with the yelling man (exactly as planned), a man in the second row runs up to the stage and opens fire. Malcolm smiles slightly and is hit in his left shoulder and chest by two shotgun blasts and falls to the stage. Two additional assassins in the front row also rush the stage and shoot Malcolm several more times with pistols. As the killers run out of the auditorium, one of them is caught and beaten by the angry crowd. The police arrive a few minutes later to find Betty holding her dead husband and crying. Malcolm's body is taken to a nearby hospital just down the street where he is declared dead-on-arrival from multiple gunshot wounds.The story ends with Martin Luther King's weary statement on Malcolm's death and the violence that caused it. The same eulogy delivered by Ossie Davis at Malcolm's memorial services plays over a montage of film and photographs of the real Malcolm. Footage of Nelson Mandela (recently released from prison after 30 years) speaking to a South African grade school class is also shown. The final shot is of Malcolm himself shouting "By any means necessary."

murder, cult, violence, flashback, historical, blaxploitation

tt0104797

Harry Brown

Shot with a cellphone camera, the film opens with a gang initiation, where a boy living on a council estate in South London is made to take drugs and hold a pistol. He is later shown joyriding with two others on a motorbike, harassing and shooting dead a mother walking her child, and then fleeing only to be killed by an oncoming lorry.The eponymous Harry Brown (Michael Caine), an elderly former Royal Marine and Northern Ireland veteran, tries his best to be indifferent about his violent neighbourhood. He lives in a small flat at Heygate Estate in Walworth, London. He often pays visits to his hospitalized and comatose wife, but avoids cutting through a noisy public underpass under a local motorway, which is a gathering spot at all hours for a local street gang. Otherwise, he spends his days drinking and playing chess with his best friend, Leonard Attwell (David Bradley), at a pub run by Sid (Liam Cunningham), a shady Irishman who takes kickbacks from a pair of black marketeers, Kenny (Joseph Gilgun) and Stretch (Sean Harris).Harry is awakened in the middle of the night by a phone call where he is informed that his wife is dying, but in order to reach the hospital before she passes away he must go through the underpass, but he is too scared to do so and arrives too late. After the funeral, Leonard confides that he is being bullied by some youths and shows him an old bayonet he now carries to defend himself, citing that the police would not heed his complaints. Leonard later wakes in his flat to find someone had pushed burning dog faeces through his mail slot. He goes on his balcony and curses loudly.The next day, Harry is visited by detectives Alice Frampton (Emily Mortimer) and Terry Hicock (Charlie Creed-Miles), who tell him that Leonard had been murdered. Members of a local gang, including the gang's leader Noel Winters (Ben Drew), are arrested, but they refuse to answer questions about the murder and are all released due to lack of evidence. Noel is very abusive to the cops and refers to his jailed father as the local kingpin. Harry gets drunk after Leonard's funeral, and while walking home along a cannal street, one of Noel's gang attempt to rob him with a knife; Harry's military training suddenly reasserts itself and he turns the knife on his drugged-up attacker, killing him.Detective Frampton visits Harry again the following morning and informs him that because Leonard was killed with his own bayonet, the crime will probably be reduced to manslaughter on the basis of self-defense.Harry decides to take matters into his own hands by becoming a vigilante. The following night, he follows Kenny from Sid's pub to a squalid house and manages to talk himself into a pistol deal. Inside, the drugged-up dealers are growing copious amounts of cannabis and making pornography, and have one of the girls abused in these videos on their sofa, suffering from a drug overdose. Harry asks Stretch to call an ambulance for her, but he threatens him instead, forcing Harry to ambush the pair and kills them both. He then steals several handguns, burns down the den, and drives the girl to a hospital in the drug dealers' vehicle. He notices that the bag that he had picked up at the den contains enormous amount of money, which he takes with him, after leaving a wad of notes for the girl, who is still unconscious. He later deposits this money in a church.Over the next few days, Harry continues to survey the gang and underpass from Len's old apartment. He follows a a major drug-trafficker to capture the man's nephew, newest gang member Marky (Jack O'Connell). Harry kills the man, then captures and tortures the young man into revealing some cellphone camera footage of Leonard's murder, proving the gang's involvement. Harry uses Marky to bait Noel and another gang member into a gunfight at the underpass, which ends with Noel escaping, but Marky and the other gang member are killed. Harry gives chase, but collapses after having an emphysema attack, leaving him to be taken to hospital.Certain that the recent violence is related to a gang war, Police Superintendent Childs (Iain Glen) orders a major arrest operation, unconvinced that Harry is the vigilante as Frampton has suspected. Childs tells Frampton she will be re-assigned to an Identity Theft Unit. The late-night raids on the neighbourhood result in a massive riot. Harry awakens and leaves the hospital, and Frampton convinces Hicock to help her stop him, but the two end up badly injured in a car crash in the riots. Harry rescues them and takes them to Sid's pub, where Frampton confronts Harry and tells him that Sid is actually Noel's uncle. Harry finds Sid and Noel in the pub basement and shows Sid the cellphone video. Sid appears to be apologetic but as Harry drops his guard with an emphysema attack Sid takes his gun and delivers a vicious blow.Frampton is in the midst of calling for backup when Sid and Noel come upstairs. Noel kicks and pounds the already injured Detective Inspector. Harry is thrown on the floor semi-conscious. Sid decides they will kill the three and dump them outside as riot victims. Sid suffocates Hicock to death while Noel begins strangling Frampton. Harry then manages to draw a hidden revolver and kills Noel and Sid in return shoots Harry. Harry asks to be taken out of his misery but before Sid can finally execute him, Frampton's police backup arrives and he is gunned down by a police marksman.At a news conference held after the riot, Childs states that Frampton and the late Hicock will be rewarded for their work, but denies the rumours of vigilante involvement in the entire case.The final scene is of a seemingly recovered Harry walking toward the underpass, which is now quiet and safe and the gang nowhere in sight. The VoiceOver of Childs states the impressive decrease in crime due to police efforts in the estate.

neo noir, murder, thought-provoking, cult, revenge, violence, flashback, suspenseful, sadist

tt1289406

Paranormal Activity 2

The film opens with home video footage of Kristi Rey (Sprague Grayden) bringing her newborn son Hunter (William Juan Prieto & Jackson Xenia Prieto) home from the hospital. We then follow Hunter through the first several months of his life via a montage of various video clips. We meet Kristi's husband Dan Rey (Brian Boland), Ali (Molly Ephraim), his daughter from a previous marriage, Martine (Vivis Cortez), the family's housekeeper/nanny and Abby, the family's German Shepherd.A year after Hunter is born, the family comes home to find their house seemingly broken into (though both doors were locked) and trashed, though the only thing missing is a necklace which Kristi's sister Katie (Katie Featherston) had given to her. Dan has a number of security cameras installed throughout the house - in the backyard, baby's room, kitchen, living room, entryway, and outside the front door.The first night, suspicious activity begins, with the pool light flickering and eventually dying out in the middle of the night, and the pool cleaner being taken out of the pool. Soon pots begin to fall seemingly of their own accord in the kitchen. Hunter is repeatedly woken up in the middle of the night by loud banging sounds from inside the house and outside his window, and Abby is seen staring at something unseen in Hunter's room and barking or growling at it. After one evening where this happens, Martine attempts to cleanse the house of "evil spirits." Upon discovering the nanny performing these acts, Dan fires her. Katie and Kristi reveal that, as children, they felt they were tormented by a demon or unknown spirit, but they tried to keep the ordeal a secret and not talk about it. Ali begins investigating the mysterious happenings. She discovers that, if a human makes a deal with a demon for wealth or power, the payment for said deal is the life of the family's first-born male; coincidentally, Hunter is the first male to be born into Kristi and Katie's side of the family since their great-great-grandmother was alive.Kristi confides in Katie everything that has been happening, and tries to bring up how, as children, they felt demons around them; Katie becomes really angry and demands that Kristi not pay the events any attention, for it would just make things worse. Soon after, while Kristi is in the kitchen, the cupboards are flung open and everything explodes out of them. The violence continues to escalate; the family dog, Abby, is attacked and pulled violently off camera and knocked unconscious. Dan and Ali take the dog to the vet, leaving Kristi alone with Hunter. She goes to check on the baby and notices a light flicker off. She turns the light back on, but then is dragged by an unseen force out of the room and halfway down the stairs before she is released. Kristi runs back upstairs into Hunter's room but she is dragged back downstairs, this time into the basement where she stays for over an hour. Finally, the basement door opens and Kristi emerges, dazed and presumably possessed.The following day, Ali is at home with Kristi, who won't get out of bed. Ali goes upstairs after hearing several banging sounds to find Kristi sitting in the baby's room with a bite mark on her thigh, while Hunter is crying for unknown reasons. She hears a thump in her own room and goes to investigate, yet looks back to find Kristi has left Hunter's room. Ali goes back later to comfort a screaming Hunter while Kristi stands in his room at the window, staring out at everything; when Ali gets too close, however, she turns and commands that Ali not go near him. Ali calls Dan, crying, and begs him to come home. When he arrives, she shows him the footage from the night before of Kristi being dragged down the stairs. Dan immediately calls Martine, who prepares a cross that will force the demon out of Kristi. But she adds one last detail: the demon will have to be passed on afterwards to someone else, a blood relative, to keep it from returning. Dan tells Ali that he is going to pass the demon onto Katie so that Kristi and Hunter will be saved; she pleads with him not to, but he doesn't listen.Dan approaches Kristi, who is sitting up in bed in a daze. He attempts to touch her with the cross, but she bites him, and all the lights in the house go out. Kristi and the baby disappear, and Ali says that they're in the basement. After fumbling around and knocking things over in the dark, Dan finds Hunter in a corner of the basement, seemingly alone. From behind, Kristi attempts to attack him, knocking the camera from his hands. Dan manages to put the cross on her chest to remove the demon from her body. The floor begins to shake and demonic yells are heard. The next scene shows Dan putting Kristi to bed and then burning a photo of a young Katie, to pass the demon on to her.Three weeks later, Katie visits and explains how things have now begun happening at her house; Kristi, having no memory of Dan's actions, says that the paranormal events have stopped at her house, and that Katie should follow her own advice and not pay any attention to what is going on. After Katie leaves, we see her arrive at her and Micah's house, where he has just purchased the camera. This is where the events of Paranormal Activity take place, as the demon slowly begins to infiltrate Katie and Micah's life and eventually possess Katie and kill Micah.The next scene cuts to the night after Micah was murdered. Dan is watching television in the living room and Kristi is in the baby's room, holding Hunter because he had woken up crying. Katie, possessed and bloodstained from the murder of Micah, is seen standing in the entry of the house behind Dan. She approaches him silently from behind and snaps his neck. Kristi hears the commotion downstairs, then spots Katie approaching her from the dark hallway. Katie violently throws Kristi against a wall, killing her and Hunter begins to cry. The final scene is Katie calmly leaving the room with Hunter, who begins to giggle as they disappear down the hallway.The ending credits say that Ali was on a school trip and returned home to find her father and step-mother dead. Katie and Hunter's whereabouts remain unknown.

cult, boring, murder

tt1536044

Witness

Rachel Lapp (Kelly McGillis), a young Amish widow, and her 8-year-old son Samuel (Lukas Haas) are traveling by train to visit Rachel's sister. At the 30th Street Station in Philadelphia, Samuel inadvertently sees two men brutally murder a third. Captain John Book (Harrison Ford) is the policeman assigned to the case.Samuel witnessed the murder, a slashing, in the restroom and escaped the killers' detection by hiding in a stall. Book and his partner, Sergeant Elton Carter (Brent Jennings), question Samuel. He is unable to identify the perpetrator from mug shot photographs or a police lineup, but notices a newspaper clipping at the police station with a picture of highly regarded narcotics officer James McFee (Danny Glover) and recognizes him as one of the killers. Book remembers that McFee was previously responsible for a drug raid where evidence had mysteriously disappeared from the police department.Book confides his suspicions to his superior officer, Chief Paul Schaeffer (Josef Sommer), who advises Book to keep the case secret so they can work out how to move forward with it. As Book returns home, he is confronted by McFee in a parking garage and badly wounded in the ensuing gunfight before McFee escapes. Since only Schaeffer had been told, Book realizes Schaeffer must have warned McFee and is also corrupt.Book calls Carter and orders him to remove the Lapp file from the records. Book then hides his Dodge and uses his sister's VW to return Rachel and Samuel to Lancaster County. After the Lapps' safe arrival in rural Pennsylvania, Book collapses from loss of blood in his vehicle in front of the Lapp farm.Impressing upon them that hospitalization will allow the corrupt officers to find him, Book is gradually tended back to health by the Amish. As Book heals, he begins to develop feelings for Rachel. The Lapps' neighbor, Daniel Hochleitner (Alexander Godunov) had himself hoped to court her and this becomes a cause of friction. Later Rachel and John are caught dancingan affront to the conservative Amish way of life. Rachels father-in-law, Eli, takes her aside and warns that if she continues she could be shunned (ostracized) by the community. Rachel, in turn, feels she has done nothing wrong.The corrupt officers intensify their efforts to find Book, who is informed via a call from a payphone that Carter has been killed. While still in town, Hochleitner and the other Amish men are harassed by local punks. Breaking with the Amish tradition of nonviolence, Book retaliates. The fight gets noticed by the local townspeople and is reported to the police. The news reaches Schaeffer.John subsequently comes upon Rachel as she bathes, and she stands half-naked without shame before him. He walks away without a word. Soon after, the two realize they are in love, but because of the publicity the fight has gotten, Book knows he must leave. Upset, Rachel removes her bonnet, and she and John run to one another, embracing with a passionate kiss.McFee, Schaeffer, and "Fergie" Ferguson (Angus MacInnes), the second killer at the train station, arrive at the Lapp farm with pump action shotguns. Book, unarmed and in the barn with Samuel, orders Samuel to run to the neighbors for safety. The trio split up and search for Book. John tricks Fergie into the corn silo and suffocates him under tons of corn. He retrieves Fergie's shotgun and kills McFee. A crazed Schaeffer then forces Rachel and Eli out of the house at gunpoint; Eli signs to Samuel (who returned unseen upon hearing gunfire) to ring the warning bell. Although Schaeffer briefly forces Book to surrender to him, the loud clanging summons all other Amish within earshot. With so many witnesses present it is clear to Schaeffer that he cannot escape, and he gives up.As Schaeffer is taken by local police and Book prepares to leave, he shares a quiet moment with Samuel, then exchanges a silent, loving gaze with Rachel. Eli bids Book goodbye for his return to Philadelphia, saying "You be careful out among the English [i.e., non-Amish]", as he had said to Rachel at the beginning of the film, and showing Book that he now respects him like the people of his own faith. As Book drives away from the Lapp farm, he passes Hochleitner, presumably on his way to court Rachel, and exchanges an amicable wave of farewell.

mystery, neo noir, murder, realism, dramatic, violence, romantic, suspenseful

tt0090329

Lara Croft: Tomb Raider

The film opens with Lara Croft (Angelina Jolie) in an Egyptian tomb, seeking a diamond at one end of a chamber. As she approaches she is attacked by a large robot. After an intense chase and battle, she disables it by ripping out its motivational circuits. She takes the diamond, which is revealed to be a memory card labeled "Lara's Party Mix", and inserts it into a laptop computer inside the robot, whereupon it plays music. Now it is revealed that the scene took place in a practice arena in her home, and that her assistant Bryce (Noah Taylor) programmed the robot, SIMON, to challenge her in combat. It is the day of the first phase of a planetary alignment, culminating in a solar eclipse, which (in the film) happens once every 5,000 years. In Venice, the Illuminati search for a key to rejoin halves of "the triangle", which must be done by the final phase of the alignment. Mr. Powell (Iain Glen), an Illuminati member, makes assurances that they are almost ready, but in reality he has no idea where to find the key. Lara's butler, James "Hilly" Hillary (Chris Barrie), tries to interest her in several projects; but she ignores them. May 15, as Hilly is aware, is the day that Lara's father disappeared many years earlier. She has not recovered from his loss. Later that night, Lara has a dream reminding her what her father said about the alignment and an object linked to it called the Triangle of Light. Waking, she is aware of a clock ticking. Searching for it, she discovers a secret chamber under the staircase with a carriage clock that had spontaneously begun ticking. Bryce probes it and discovers a strange device hidden inside the clock. Since the device resembles a clock, Lara consults a clock expert friend of her father's, Mr. Wilson (Leslie Phillips). She believes it is connected to the "Triangle of Light", but Wilson disavows knowledge of the clock or the Triangle. Lara encounters Alex West (Daniel Craig), a fellow tomb raider with unscrupulous methods. They are attracted to each other, but Croft cannot abide his for-profit attitude. That night, Lara is contacted by Wilson, who tells her that he gave her name to a man named Manfred Powell in regards of the clock. In reality, Wilson is also a member of the Illuminati. The next day, Lara sees Powell in his home, and shows him photographs of the clock. Later, while discussing it with Bryce, she points out that Powell was lying about his knowledge. That night, as Lara does a bungee ballet, armed commandos invade the house and steal the clock despite her attempts to fend them off. The next morning, Lara receives a letter from her father, arranged to arrive after the beginning of the alignment, where he explains that the clock is the key to retrieve two halves of the mystic Triangle of Light, which is revealed to be an object of phenomenal destructive power that granted its wielder power over time and space. He says that it was made from a metal found in a meteor crater made by a meteor that had fallen to earth during a previous alignment. Initially housed in a city built in the meteor crater by those who worshiped the object, misuse of the Triangle's power destroyed the city and so it was split into two halves; one was hidden in a tomb in Cambodia, the other half in the ruined city itself, in modern-day Siberia. Her father urges her to find and destroy both halves before the Illuminati can find it. In Cambodia, West figures out part of the puzzle on how to retrieve the triangle half, but Lara manages to successfully grab the piece. Before everyone can leave, the liquid metal which came out with the piece brings the statues in the temple to life and attacks the team killing some members. Lara is left to fight off and destroy a huge six-armed guardian statue which is the last one to come to life. She successfully defeats it and leaves the temple by diving through a waterfall. She then travels to a Buddhist town where a young monk welcomes her. After a worship service, an aged monk who is the leader there gives Lara some tea and as they converse, he tells her that he knew her father before. She and Powell arrange to meet in Venice, since each of them has what the other needs to finish the Triangle. Powell proposes a partnership to find the Triangle, and informs Lara that her father was a member of the Illuminati, which she vehemently denies. Though hesitant at first, she, along with Bryce, meets with Powell for the trip to Siberia. Inside the tomb, there is a giant model of the solar system, which activates as the alignment nears completion. Lara retrieves the last half of the Triangle, but when Powell tries to complete it, the halves will not fuse. He realizes that Lara knows the solution to the puzzle, and kills West in order to persuade her to complete the Triangle to save both West's life and her father's. Lara reluctantly complies, and they then struggle for control of the Triangle, with Lara prevailing. Lara then finds herself in a strange alternate existence facing her father Lord Richard Croft (Jon Voight). He explains that it is a "crossing" of time and space, and urges her to destroy the Triangle instead of using it to save his life. She leaves her father and returns to the chamber, where time is slowly running backwards from the point where Powell killed West. Croft takes the knife he threw into West's chest and reverses it, then destroys the Triangle, which returns time to its normal flow and directs the knife into Powell's shoulder. The chamber begins to self-destruct, Everyone turns to leave, but Powell tells Croft that he killed her father and retrieved his pocket watch with a picture of Lara's mother inside. Lara and Powell engage in a hand-to-hand fight. Lara kills him, retrieves it, and escapes as the chamber crumbles. At the mansion, Hilly and Bryce are shocked to see Lara wearing a dress. She goes into the garden to her father's memorial, then returns inside, where Bryce has a reprogrammed SIMON, ready to challenge Lara once again. Hillary reveals a silver tray holding Lara's pistols, which she takes with a smile.

cult, action, murder, boring

tt0146316

The Ten Commandments

The film covers the life of Moses from his discovery in a basket floating on the Nile as a baby by Bithiah, a childless young widow and daughter of the then-Pharaoh, Rameses I, to his prohibition from entering the land of Israel in the wake of God's judgment on him at the waters of Meribah. In between, the film depicts the early adulthood of Moses as a beloved foster son of Pharaoh Seti I (brother of Bithiah) and general of his armies, his romance with Throne Princess Nefertari (or Nefretiri, as she is called in the film) and rivalry with the Pharaoh's own son, Prince Rameses II.Shortly after Moses' birth, Rameses I had ordered the slaying of all firstborn male Hebrews to prevent the prophecy of the Deliverer from coming true. Moses' mother (called "Yoshebel" in the film) had set him adrift on the Nile to escape, with his sister Miriam watching from a hidden spot. Bithiah discovers the Ark while playing with other young women in the banks of the Nile. She orders them to leave, then shows her servant Memnet the baby. Memnet warned Bithiah that the swaddling cloth was Levite, so the baby was placed there to escape Bithiah's father's edict. But Bithiah declared that this baby would be her son, and remembered when the pyramids were dust, and named "Moses" because she had drawn him from the Nile (the Hebrew name "Moshe" derived from the Hebrew word "Mashu", meaning "to draw"). Despite Memnet's protests about serving a son of Hebrew slaves, Bithiah ordered her to serve him and to swear to secrecy on pain of death. But Memnet hides the cloth under her clothes.As a young general, Moses is victorious in a war with the Nubian people of ancient Ethiopia, loosing captured ibises to combat the serpents (as recorded by Josephus) and further impresses Seti I by being wily enough to enter into an alliance with the conquered Ethiopians rather than subjugate them. Moses then is charged with building a treasure city for Seti's Jubilee, that Rameses failed to complete (probably the Biblical treasure cities of Pithom and Ramases (Avaris)).Meanwhile, Moses and Nefretiri are deeply in love; she is the "throne princess", who must marry the next Pharaoh. Rameses wants her for himself, not because of any liking for her but for the throne, but Nefretiri hates him.When Moses assumes control of the project, he rescued an old grease-woman from being left to be crushed; unknown to him it was his birthmother Yoshebel. Moses tells the Egyptian Master Builder Baka, "blood makes poor mortar" and asks "are you a master builder or a master butcher?" And he frees Joshua the stonecutter who had struck an Egyptian, punishable by death, to try to save Yoshebel whom Joshua didn't know. Moses was impressed with Joshua's bravery and words, and institutes numerous reforms concerning the treatment of the slave workers such as one day in seven to rest and even going so far as to raid temple granaries for necessary food supplies. Moses questions Joshua about his God, and Joshua declares his strong faith but says that God's name is unknown.Rameses uses these changes as proof that Moses is planning an insurrection by currying the slaves' favor, and points out that the slaves are calling Moses the "Deliverer" of prophecy. However, when Seti confronts Moses, Moses argues he is simply making his workers more productive by making them stronger and happier. He proves his point with such impressive progress on the project that Seti becomes convinced that Rameses falsely accused his foster brother. Seti promises that Moses will get credit for the new city. Rameses, meanwhile, has been charged by his father with the task of finding out if there really is a Hebrew fitting the description of the Deliverer, and is having no luck.As Nefretiri is joyously preparing for marriage, Memnet informs her that Prince Moses is not a prince at all, but the son of Hebrew slaves. Nefretiri is furious at the accusation, whereupon Memnet produces the Levite cloth and tells Nefretiri to wrap their firstborn in it. Memnet also tells her that a little girl had led her to Yochebel to breastfeed Moses, which she realized must be the real mother. Nefretiri kills Memnet by pushing her over the balcony.Moses learns of this, so asks Bithiah, who dissembles and reminds him of how he never doubted her when he held his hand as he took his first step. When Moses leaves, promising that no matter what he found, he would always love her. She rushes in a chariot to Yoshebel. Bithiah pleads with her not to reveal anything, since she has put the throne of Egypt within his grasp, and also declares how much she loved and cared for him, and promised to free them and make sure they were well cared for. But Moses had followed from a distance, and Yoshebel could not look him in the eyes and deny that she was his mother. And her robe matched the pattern of the much more faded Levite cloth Memnet kept. Then Yoshebel's adult children introduce themselves to Moses as, "I am your brother, Aaron," and "I am Miriam, your sister." Bithiah sadly departs.Declaring he is not ashamed ("Egyptian or Hebrew, I'm still Moses"), but curious, he spends time working among the slaves to learn of their hardship, only to be rescued from the mudpits by Nefretiri. Moses then saves Joshua, a Hebrew stonecutter, from being whipped death at the hands of Baka; he kills Baka who was about to whip Joshua to death. Dathan, the devious and ambitious Hebrew overseer who's been charged by Rameses to help him find the Deliverer, watches from hiding. Moses confesses to Joshua that he himself is Hebrew; Joshua excitedly proclaims Moses the Deliverer, and although Moses denies it, Dathan has all the proof he needs. Revealing what he knows to Rameses, Dathan bargains for Baka's house, a post as Governor of Goshen and the ownership of Joshua's betrothed Lilia.Moses is arrested and brought in chains before Seti, who begs him to say he is not the Deliverer. Moses does so, but avows that he would free the slaves if he could. Bithiah confesses to her brother Seti that she took Moses from the Nile knowing by the design on his blankets that he was Hebrew. In a short, impassioned speech, Moses says that it is evil to enslave or oppress people, "to be stripped of spirit, and hope and faith, all because they are of another race, another creed. If there is a God, He did not mean this to be so!" Seti is grievously hurt, since he said that he had always loved him as a son, more than his own real son Rameses. So Seti imprisons him and orders his name stricken from all records and monuments, to be unspoken in Egypt forever thereafter. Rameses banishes Moses to the desert, fearing to execute him lest he create a martyr. Meanwhile, Seti proclaims Rameses to be the next Pharoah. Nefretiri as the Throne Princess is required to marry the arrogant prince, to her great distress.Moses makes his way across the desert, nearly dying of hunger and thirst. He comes to a well in the land of Midian. After drinking and eating dates from a nearby palm tree he passes out, to be awakened by the sound of seven sisters watering their flocks. Bullying Amalekites appear, pushing the girls aside, whereupon Moses wakes. Seemingly appearing out of nowhere he thrashes the Amalekites soundly with his staff, forcing them to wait their turn at the well. Moses finds a home in Midian with the girls' father Jethro, a Bedouin sheik, who reveals that he is a follower of "He who has no name", which Moses recognized as the God of Abraham. Jethro explains that they are the descendants of Ishmael, Abraham's first-born. Moses later impresses Jethro and the other shieks with his wise and just trading, so Jethro offers Moses one of his daughters as a wife. Moses chooses the eldest daughter, called Sephora in the film (the Greek form of her name), the least flamboyant but wisest, who was previously the one who had stood up to the Amalekites.Back in Egypt, Seti dies heartbroken, with Moses' name on his lips, and Rameses succeeds him as Pharaoh (becoming Rameses II), taking Nefretiri as his Queen. Herding sheep in the desert, Moses finds Joshua, who has escaped from hard labour in the copper mines. Moses sees the Burning Bush on the summit of Mount Sinai; climbing up to investigate, he hears the voice of God. Naming himself "I Am That I Am", God charges Moses to return to Egypt and free His chosen people.At Pharaoh's court, Moses comes before Rameses to win the slaves' freedom, turning his staff into a snake to show Rameses the power of God. Jannes and another magician do the same, but Moses's snake eats the others (not shown; the small son of Rameses and Nefretiri tells his mother with alarm). But the Pharaoh decrees that the Hebrews be given no straw to make their bricks, but to make the same tally as before on pain of death. As the Hebrews prepare to stone Moses in anger, Nefretiri's retinue rescues him; but when she attempts to resume their relationship, he spurns her, reminding her that not only is he on a mission, having been touched by God, but that he is also married.As Moses continues to challenge Pharaoh's hold over his people, Egypt is beset by divine plagues. We see the water turned into blood, and hear of others. But Rameses hears of a naturalistic explanation of a mountain beyond the Nile cataract spewing red mud, although this would not have explained what the film showed: the red colour starting from where Aaron's stick touched the river and moving away, or the water in pitchers turning red as it was poured. but given this explanation, Rameses declared it not surprising that fish would die and frogs leave the water, and flies would bloat upon their carcasses and spread disease. So Moses predicts hot hail and three days of darkness; the hot hail comes shortly after and bursts into flame on the ground. Moses warns that the next plague would come from his own lips.Enraged at the plagues and Moses' continuous demands, and at his generals and advisers telling him to give in. Rameses orders all first-born Hebrews to die, but just as Moses had foretold, this intention backfires. Although Nefretiri warns Sephora to escape with Gershom on a passing caravan to Midian, Moses tells her sadly that it is her own son who will die, and he cannot save him. In an eerily quiet scene, the Angel of Death creeps into Egyptian streets in a glowing green cloud, killing all the firstborn of Egypt, including the adult son of Pharaoh's top general, and Pharaoh's own child. Meanwhile, Bithiah is released to Moses.Broken and despondent, Pharaoh orders Moses to take "your people, your cattle, your God and your pestilence" and go. Dathan is also ordered out when the Egyptian guards sees the sacrifice lamb's blood on the sides of his door frame, his position as an overseer counting for nothing with the Egyptians, the Hebrews resentful of him and refusing him the privileges he expects. The Exodus of the Hebrews from Egypt begins.Behold His mighty hand!Goaded into rage by Nefretiri in her grief and anger at Moses, the Pharaoh arms himself and gathers his armies to chase the former slaves to the shore of the Red Sea. Held back by a pillar of fire, the Egyptian forces can only watch as Moses parts the waters ("Behold His mighty hand!") to provide his people an escape route. As the Hebrews race over the seabed, the pillar of fire dies down and the army rides in hot pursuit. The Hebrews make it to the far shore just in time to witness God's closing of the waters on the Egyptian army, drowning every man and horse. Rameses looks on in despair. All he can do is return to Nefretiri, confessing to her, "His god is God."The former slaves camp at the foot of Sinai and wait as Moses again ascends the mountain. When Moses delays coming down from Sinai, the Hebrews lose faith and, urged on by the evil Dathan, build a golden calf as an idol to bear before them back to Egypt, hoping to win Rameses' forgiveness. Aaron is forced to help fashion the gold plating. He also orders Lilia to be sacrificed. The people proceed to indulge their most wanton desires in an orgy of sinfulness. Sephora, now re-united with Moses, tells the people that he has gone to receive God's Law, and Bithiah asks, "Would the God who's shown you such wonders let Moses die before his work his done?" But their defences are mostly disregarded after Dathan's demagoguery.Meanwhile, high atop the mountain, Moses witnesses God's creation of the stone tablets containing the Ten Commandments. When he finally climbs down, Moses beholds his people's iniquity and hurls the tablets at the idol in a rage. The idol explodes, and Dathan and his followers (such as Korah) are killed, a burning crevasse swallows all who do not join Moses at his side. After God forces them to endure forty years' exile in the desert wandering lost to prove their loyalty, the Hebrews finally are on the eve of arriving in the land of Israel. An elderly Moses then appoints Joshua to succeed him as leader (with Lilia by Joshua's side), says a final good bye to his devoted wife Sephora, and goes forth out of Israel to his destiny.

violence, murder, melodrama

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Love Happy

Private detective Sam Grunion (Groucho Marx) has been searching for the extremely valuable Royal Romanoff diamonds for eleven years, and his investigation leads him to a troupe of struggling performers, led by Mike Johnson (Paul Valentine), who are trying to put on a musical revue called Love Happy. Grunion notes that the impoverished young dancers would starve were it not for the sweet, silent Harpo (Harpo Marx), at Herbert & Herbert, a gourmet food shop that also trafficks in stolen diamonds. Harpo kindly helps ladies with their shopping bags, all the while pilfering their groceries and stuffing them in the pockets of his long trench coat. When the elegant Madame Egelichi (Ilona Massey) arrives, store manager Lefty Throckmorton (Melville Cooper) tells her that "the sardines" have come in. Harpo sneaks into the basement and watches as Lefty lovingly unpacks a sardine can marked with a Maltese cross, and swipes the can from Lefty's pocket, replacing it with an unmarked one. Madame Egelichi, who has gone through eight husbands in three months in her quest for the Romanoff diamonds, is furious when Lefty produces the wrong can. When Lefty remembers seeing Harpo in the basement, she orders him to call the police and offer a $1,000 reward for his capture. At the theater, meanwhile, unemployed entertainer Faustino the Great (Chico Marx) asks Mike for a job as a mind-reader, and when Faustino's clever improvisation stops the show's backer, Mr. Lyons (Leon Belasco), from repossessing the scenery, Mike gratefully hires him. Harpo, who is secretly in love with dancer Maggie Phillips (Vera-Ellen), Mike's girl friend, gives her the sardine can, and she says she will eat them tomorrow. A policeman sees Harpo inside the theater and brings him to Madame Egelichi, who turns Harpo over to her henchmen, Alphonse (Raymond Burr) and Hannibal (Bruce Gordon) Zoto. After three days of interrogation, Harpo still refuses to talk, and when he is left alone, he calls Faustino at the theater, using the bike horn he carries in his pocket to communicate. Madame Egelichi listens on the extension as Faustino declares that there are plenty of sardines at the theater, and she goes there at once. Meanwhile, Mike has just finished telling the troupe that they do not have enough money to open when Madame Egelichi arrives and offers to finance the show. Mike cancels his plans to take Maggie out for her birthday so that he and his new backer can discuss the arrangements. In the alley outside the theater, Harpo, having escaped from Madame Egelichi's suite, finds the diamonds in the sardine can which had been set out for a cat, and puts them in his pocket. When he finds Maggie crying in her dressing room, Harpo takes her to Central Park, where he plays the harp for her and gives her the diamonds as a birthday gift. On the opening night of the show, Grunion is visited by an agent of the Romanoff family, who threatens to kill him if he does not produce the diamonds in an hour. At the theater, Lefty and the Zoto brothers spy through a window as Maggie puts on the diamond necklace, but Mike asks her not to wear it, promising to buy her an engagement ring instead. As they kiss, Maggie removes the necklace and drops it on the piano strings. The curtain goes up, and when Harpo sees Lefty and the Zoto brothers menacing Maggie, he distracts them with a piece of costume jewelry and leads them up to the roof. Meanwhile, on stage, Faustino plays the piano, and when he strikes the keys forcefully, the diamond necklace flies into the air, drawing the attention of Madame Egelichi, who is watching from the audience. Faustino pockets the diamonds, then rushes to the roof to help Harpo. Madame Egelichi shows up with a gun and demands the necklace, but Faustino gives her the fake diamonds. After tying up Lefty and the Zotos and recovering the real diamonds, Harpo encounters Grunion, who has been hiding on the roof. Harpo drops the diamonds in Grunion's pocket, but then steals them back as Madame Egelichi begins to lead the detective away. Later, in his office, Grunion comments that Harpo disappeared with the diamonds, never realizing their true value. Grunion interrupts his story to take a phone call from his wife, who turns out to be the former Madame Egelichi.

humor

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Far from Home

Charlie Cox (Matt Frewer) is a divorced writer for Highways Magazine, which is based in Los Angeles. Charlie and his daughter Joleen (Drew Barrymore) are on their way home from a cross country vacation when they run out of gas in Banco, Nevada, a small town located in a remote part of the desert. It's the day before Joleen's 14th birthday. When they stop in the Banco Supermarket, they notice that there's no one behind the counter, but Sheriff Bill Childers (Dick Miller) is in the store. When Joleen looks behind the counter, she screams. That's because she sees the body of the store's owner, Ferrell Hovis, in a pool of blood. Charlie and Joleen later check a nearby gas station owned by a friendly Vietnam war veteran named Duckett (Richard Masur), but Duckett is not expecting to have any gas delivered to the station for at least another day, so Charlie and Joleen check into the nearby Palomino Guest Ranch and Trailer Park, which is owned by an abusive woman named Agnes Reed (Susan Tyrrell). Joleen soon meets Agnes's teenage son Jimmy Reed (Andras Jones). That night, while Agnes is taking a bath, Agnes is killed when a hand reaches in through her bathroom window and pushes a small fan into the bathtub water, electrocuting Agnes. Also that night, Charlie and Joleen meet their neighbors, fellow travelers Louise (Karen Austin) and Amy (Jennifer Tilly). The next day, while babysitting Agnes's young daughter (Stephanie Walski), Amy notices that water is coming from under the bathroom door, and she's horrified to find Agnes's body in the overflowing bath tub. Amy calls for help, and Sheriff Childers responds. While swimming in the park's pool, Joleen hears two people loudly having sex in a nearby trailer, and while watching through the window, she's startled by Jimmy watching through another window. Later that day, when Jimmy gets aggressive and tries to rape Joleen at a local swimming hole that he invited her to, Joleen is rescued by Pinky Sears (Anthony Rapp), another teenager who lives at the guest ranch. Charlie and Joleen agree to car pool with Louise and Amy. The killer is now obsessed with Joleen, and he steals her journal that night. Minutes later, as Charlie, Jolene, Louise, and Amy are about to leave the guest ranch, the killer blows up the car - with Amy in it - to prevent Joleen from leaving. The next day, when Jimmy tries to take the money from Agnes's office, Jimmy is accused not only of trying to rob the office, but also of the murders of Ferrell, Agnes, and Amy. Duckett goes to Pinky's trailer, where he discovers that Pinky's mother has been dead for some time, and her body is covered with bags of ice. She had gotten sick and passed away. Pinky, who is the killer, shows up and stabs Duckett with a screwdriver, and then leaves. Joleen, wanting to hang out with Pinky, goes to Pinky's hideaway at an abandoned building that was never completed. There she finds her diary, and comes to the realization that Pinky is the killer, and she tells him that he needs help. When Duckett radios Sheriff Childers, and tells Childers and Charlie that Pinky has Joleen, Childers and Charlie head to the hideaway to find Pinky and Joleen, and at the hideaway, Pinky kills Childers by cutting his throat. Pinky chases Joleen up to the top platform on a nearby radio tower. Charlie tries to get up on the platform, but Pinky stops Charlie by cutting Charlie's hand. Pinky says that he thought Joleen loved him. Duckett, who is sitting in a nearby vehicle with a rifle in his hands, fires a shot that causes Pinky to fall off of the tower. Pinky is killed when he lands in a large satellite dish far below. Later, Duckett explains about Pinky keeping his mother's body iced, and then explains what he has figured out - that Pinky started slipping over the edge before he ever met Joleen. Pinky has been keeping ice on his mother's body and leaving her TV on because he really didn't want to believe she was gone. Pinky had to somehow get food for himself, so when Pinky went to the supermarket to get food, and Ferrell denied him, he killed Ferrell. Pinky had to live somewhere, so when Agnes went after Pinky, angrily demanding that Pinky pay rent that he couldn't afford, or leave, Pinky killed Agnes. Pinky became obsessed with Joleen, so when Joleen, Charlie, Amy, and Louise went to leave, Pinky blew up the car, with Amy in it, to stop Joleen from leaving. Charlie, Joleen, and Louise leave Banco, and they head home to California. An angry Jimmy, who had escaped from Sheriff Childers's car, is seen walking along some railroad tracks, to parts unknown.

romantic, murder, prank

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Partition

Gian Singh is a Sikh who goes off to war in the British Indian Army with his two best friends Andrew and Avtar. The three are being seen off by Andrew's sister Margaret and Walter. Gian promises to look after Andrew only to resign after Andrew is killed. Gian is tortured by the guilt of not being able to save Andrew. The young Muslim woman Naseem (Kristin Kreuk) is separated from her family in riots and unaware that her father has been killed, hides in hope that the Sikh mobs won't find her. Gian finds Naseem in the woods, having just returned to his home town near the Pakistani border. Their efforts to hide are foiled; Naseem and Gian are forced to bargain for Naseem's life with money. The townspeople, although initially resenting her presence, begin to accept Naseem, and it seems that the bad parts of their lives have faded away until night when both Naseem and Gian suffer from tortured visions of their past. These visions ultimately unite the two and they get married and have a son they call Vijay. In love, the world seems perfect until Margaret shows up on Gian's doorstep with news that Naseem's family has been found in Pakistan. Naseem leaves to see them in Pakistan. She is to return in a month but does not arrive. Her two brothers, discovering her marriage to a Sikh, lock her up in her room and forbid her to ever return to India. Akbar, the eldest, is particularly stubborn, and vows to keep her away from her husband at all costs. Gian, tired of waiting, sets off on a trip to Pakistan to retrieve Naseem. He disguises himself as a Muslim, cutting off his hair and donning a Kofi. Even with the disguise he has to sneak across the border as his papers are not sufficient. Gian meets with Walter and Margaret, who barely recognise him without his turban, and leaves Vijay with them while he goes to get Naseem. When he arrives, still dressed as a Muslim, Naseem immediately recognizes him. As they run toward one another they are stopped by her brothers and Akbar beats Gian. To explain himself to his neighbors he tells them that Gian is a Sikh. Meanwhile, Naseem has been locked up by her brother Zakir. Gian is hauled to jail and there he wallows in the darkness, refusing to return to India until he remembers that he has a son who needs him. Naseem's mother, realizing that the couple are truly in love, frees Naseem, who runs to the train. She recognizes Vijay immediately and hugs him, unaware that Gian is just on the other side of the tracks. When he calls her name, they begin to fight through the crowd to reach one another. Just as they meet Akbar pulls them apart and begins a struggle with Gian. Gian is pushed over the railing onto the tracks just as the train arrives and is killed. Naseem sobs hysterically as she slowly collapses to the ground. Naseem and Vijay escape on the train as the police arrive for Akbar. With the help of Margaret and Walter they move to England and Avtar spreads Gian's ashes given by Walter over a banyan tree.

romantic

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The Company You Keep

A recently widowed single father, Jim Grant (Robert Redford), is a former Weather Underground militant wanted for a 1980 Michigan bank robbery and the murder of the bank's security guard. He has been hiding from the FBI for over thirty years, establishing an identity as a defense attorney near Albany, New York. When Sharon Solarz (Susan Sarandon), another former Weather Underground member, is arrested on October 3, 2011, an ambitious young reporter, Ben Shepard (Shia LaBeouf), smells an opportunity to make a name for himself with a national story. His prickly editor, Ray Fuller (Stanley Tucci), assigns him to follow up. Ben's ex-girlfriend, Diana (Anna Kendrick), is an FBI agent, and he presses her for information about the case. She tells him to look up a Billy Cusimano (Stephen Root). Billy, an old hippie with a history of drug arrests who runs an organic grocery, is an old friend of Sharon Solarz and a former client of Jim's. Billy is disappointed that Jim doesn't want to take Sharon's case, and he conveys this information to Ben when Ben questions him. Ben pursues Jim and tries to question him, but Jim is evasive. Spooked by the federal investigation, Jim takes his 11-year-old daughter Isabel (Jackie Evancho) on "a little trip", driving north at first to throw off his pursuers. Ben learns that Mimi Lurie (Julie Christie), an accomplice in the Michigan bank robbery, was last seen in Canada. A private investigator helps Ben find out that Jim had no Social Security number prior to 1979 and finds a copy of Jim Grant's California death certificate. Ben concludes that Jim is really Nick Sloan, another former Weatherman, and writes an article breaking this news, creating a sensation and accelerating the FBI's interest. Meanwhile, Jim and Isabel arrive in New York City. They go sight-seeing and check into a fancy hotel. The manhunt for Jim/Nick is now national news. While Isabel is sleeping, Jim leaves the room key hidden in the hotel lobby, where his brother, Daniel Sloan (Chris Cooper), retrieves it. FBI agents, under the direction of Diana's boss Cornelius (Terrence Howard), have been tracking Daniel and follow him to the hotel. They nearly catch Jim there, but Jim creates a diversion and escapes. Sharon Solarz refuses to provide any information to the FBI, but she agrees to talk to Ben. She is unrepentant about her radical activism in the Weather Underground; she reveals that Nick and Mimi had a love affair long ago. Ben also questions Daniel and writes a gratuitously unflattering piece about him, annoying Ben's boss. Jim/Nick goes to Milwaukee to find Donal (Nick Nolte), his old best friend, who now owns a lumber yard. Donal discourages him from looking for Mimi, but tells him to contact former SDS member, history professor Jed Lewis (Richard Jenkins). Jed resents the Weather Underground's role in splintering the antiwar left. He initially refuses to help Jim, but when he finds out that Jim has a young daughter, he uses his connections with their old radical friends to track down Mimi. At Big Sur, California, Mimi imports marijuana into the U.S. aboard a sailboat as part of a big operation run by Mac McLeod (Sam Elliott), Mimi's boyfriend. Through Jed, Jim reaches Mac, who informs him that Mimi left to go "inland". Jim knows where she is going. Ben begins to feel that Jim's actions make no sense for a guilty man. Defying his boss, he goes to Michigan to investigate the original crime. He meets with retired cop Henry Osborne (Brendan Gleeson), who was the first person to investigate the robbery. Osborne refuses to talk in front of his adopted daughter Rebecca (Brit Marling), and Ben realizes that he is hiding something important. Ben does some research, finding that Osborne had strong connections to Mimi's family before the bank robbery. He learns of the Linder-Lurie company property on the Michigan upper peninsula near Ontario, Canada. Osborne acknowledges that if Mimi were to come forward with the information that Jim was not present at the robbery (although Jim's car was used during it), Jim would be cleared of all charges. Later, Ben flirts with Osborne's daughter Rebecca. Jim and Mimi meet in a secluded cabin on the Linder-Lurie property; she is still passionate about the goals of the Weathermen and unapologetic about her actions 30 years earlier, but Jim argues that life has changed. Jim asks Mimi to turn herself in and confirm his alibi, for the sake of his daughter, Isabel. He doesn’t want to leave Isabel behind and repeat the mistake that he and Mimi made 30 years earlier by giving up their own daughter. Mimi reveals that she saw their daughter recently in Ann Arbor, and that she is a beautiful young woman now. Meanwhile, Ben realizes that Jim is searching for Mimi, who can clear him of the charges, and that Rebecca is their daughter. He tells Rebecca to speak to her father. The next morning, Mimi flees the cabin to sail to Canada just as Ben arrives at the Linder-Lurie property to find Jim. Ben tells Jim that he knows the truth about Rebecca and Osborne; Jim says that Ben must now decide whether to reveal it or keep the secret. Jim leaves the cabin so that the FBI will chase him instead of Mimi. Cornelius catches Jim, and soon afterwards Rebecca learns of the circumstances of her adoption. Meanwhile, Mimi turns her boat around and returns to the U.S. to give herself up. The next day, Jim is freed from jail and reunites with Isabel. Ben decides not to expose Osborne's actions of 30 years before and to protect Rebecca's true identity.

anti war, romantic, avant garde, murder

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The Rite

Michael Kovak (Colin O'Donoghue), disillusioned with his father, a mortuary owner, decides to enter a seminary school and abdicate his vows upon completion, thereby getting him a free college degree. Four years pass and Michael is being ordained to the diaconate at the seminary. However, after ordination he writes a letter of resignation to his superior, Father Matthew, citing a lack of faith. Father Matthew (Toby Jones), apparently wanting to talk Michael out of his decision attempts to catch up to Michael on the street. He trips as he walks over a curb, causing a biker to swerve into the path of an oncoming car. The young woman, believing Michael to be a priest after seeing his clerical garb, asks him for absolution. Unable to refuse, Michael comforts her and performs the ritual absolving her sins. Seeing how calmly he handled the situation, Father Matthew tells Michael he is called to be a priest, whether Michael believes this or not; he later approaches Michael with an invitation to travel to Rome in order to attend a class on exorcism. Michael reluctantly accepts after being told by Father Matthew that he will be levied a $100,000 student loan if he leaves immediately, but that if he still desires to resign from his position after taking the class, then he may be free to leave.During classes, he meets a young woman, Angelina (Alice Braga), who is also taking the course. He soon learns that she is a reporter who has been asked to cover the course for an article in a newspaper. Realizing Michael is a skeptic and is very tentative in his faith, Father Xavier (Ciarán Hinds) later asks Michael to see a friend of his, Father Lucas (Anthony Hopkins), who is a renowned Welsh Jesuit exorcist. Michael agrees and meets Father Lucas at his home, where he sees one of the priest's patients: a pregnant sixteen-year-old girl. It is later revealed that she was raped by her father, which led to her possession. However, Michael remains skeptical, even after witnessing several preternatural events, such as the girl coughing up three long nails and fluently speaking English. She pointedly reminds Michael of the last patient he performed embalming on and of his loathing for his father. He later speaks with Angelina again, who asks him to relay the information that he gets from Father Lucas to her, as she has tried to get an interview with him many times now but has been refused, and Michael declines. Meanwhile, the possessed girl's condition worsens, which prompts Father Lucas and Michael to have her taken to a hospital for further care. There, Father Lucas performs another exorcism on the girl while Michael observes; they leave the hospital room together with Michael leaving the hospital and Father Lucas staying overnight outside of the girl's room. Late that night, she miscarries, and the baby dies from cardiac arrest and the mother via blood loss. Disheartened, Father Lucas feels he has failed her. After Michael sees this he decides to confer with Angelina.After the death of the young woman, Father Lucas begins behaving strangely, exhibiting signs of demonic possession. Michael and Angelina later find him sitting outside of his house in the rain. Father Lucas takes them into his house and, knowing himself to be possessed, tells Michael that he needs to find Father Xavier in order to perform the exorcism. Angelina and Michael try desperately to contact and find Father Xavier; however, they learn that he is out of contact for 3 days. Learning this, Michael decides to perform the exorcism on his own, with Angelina present. After constant rebuking by the demon and a long, drawn out fight, Michael regains his once lost faith and is able to force the demon to reveal its name, which is Baal. He completes the exorcism and the demon leaves Father Lucas. Successful, Michael leaves Rome, returning to the United States and to his life.The final scene of the film shows Michael, now Father Michael Kovak, entering a confessional and beginning to hear a girl's confession, revealing that he has found his calling as a priest and did not resign.

mystery, suspenseful, psychological, flashback

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The Game

Nicholas Van Orton (Douglas) is a successful businessman, but his success has come at the cost of his family life. When the movie opens, he is divorced, distant from his caring ex-wife and cold toward his only living relative, his kid brother, Conrad (Penn). Nicholas goes about life in a cold, detached manner and seems incapable of expressing emotion or caring for anyone outside of himself.On Nicholas's 48th birthday, Conrad presents him with an unusual gift, a game offered by a company called Consumer Recreation Services, promising that it will change Nicholas' life. (The idea of Consumer Recreation Services seems to be borrowed directly from the G.K. Chesterton story "The Tremendous Adventures of Major Brown"). The nature of the game is unclear at first, but it appears to be a sort of live action role-playing game that integrates directly into the player's real life. After a full day of tests and a physical examination, Nicholas is informed that the game company cannot serve him. However, Nicholas soon discovers that this is false and the game has begun. The game focuses on a key moment of Nicholas' life when, as a child, he witnessed his father committing suicide by leaping off their family home, the same home Nicholas lives in. Significantly, Nicholas' father took his life on his 48th birthday, the same age as Nicholas is now.As the movie progresses, evidence mounts that the game is actually an elaborate scheme, but each time Nicholas thinks he has uncovered the truth, he finds that a new layer of complexity has been revealed and that his previous assumptions were false. The Game quickly escalates into a no-holds-barred assault on everything Nicholas values, and his carefully ordered life and business empire rapidly disintegrate around him as The Game takes control. An employee of an upscale restaurant (Unger) at first assists him in escaping from the clutches of the CRS operatives, but after a series of narrow escapes and repeated attempts on his life, Nicholas is captured, transported to Mexico and subjected to a premature burial (albeit one he easily escapes from), all while having his bank accounts drained by the employee who was pretending to help him. The Game is now revealed to be an elaborate scam to relieve the power elite of their property and their lives.Alienated from his friends and his trusted lawyer, Nicholas comes to a realization about his life and reconciles himself with his ex-wife, who has happily remarried and is pregnant with her second child. Nicholas soon becomes desperate and retrieves a hidden handgun from his home, where upon he heads directly into the offices of The Game company and takes one of the staff hostage. The movie comes to a climax on the roof of the game company's skyscraper. A jumpy Nicholas demands answers. The employee appears surprised by the gun, telling Nicholas that the game company thought they had replaced any real firearms Nicholas could access with fakes. A door opens, surprising Nicholas, and he fires without looking, only to reveal that he has shot his brother holding a bottle of champagne and dressed for his birthday celebration. Stricken with remorse, Nicholas leaps off the skyscraper and crashes through a glass ceiling, but he lands safely in an airbag. There he finds his family and friends awaiting his arrival and The Game is revealed to have just been a game. The accounts have not been drained, the gun was replaced with one firing blanks, and his brother is alive. As they embrace, Conrad confesses that he arranged the game as a way to shake his brother back to reality and make his brother enjoy life, to which the two break down in tears. Nicholas then offers to split the seemingly large cost of the game, to which his brother happily agrees.As a party is in full swing with friends and family, Nicholas meets several of the guests who at all points, were operatives in the game in various guises. When he finds out that one employee is about to depart for the night, Nicholas runs outside and strikes up a conversation with her as the film ends.

dark, psychological, neo noir, mystery, atmospheric, plot twist, psychedelic, action, tragedy, suspenseful

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The Golden Compass

Lyra Belacqua (Dakota Blue Richards) is (ostensibly) an orphan living at Jordan College in the Oxford of an alternate universe. In Lyra's world, every person is accompanied by a daemon, a physical representation of their soul in animal form. Because she is young, Lyra's daemon, Pantalaimon (voice: Freddie Highmore) -- Pan, for short -- can change his shape to appear as any animal he chooses. He most often appears as an ermine, or at need a moth or a cat. Adults' daemons settle in to one shape and don't change.Lyra overhears an interview between the Master of Jordan College (Jack Shepherd) and Fra Pavel (Simon McBurney), a representative of the powerful and sinister religious body called the Magisterium. They're discussing an expedition to the far north planned by Lyra's uncle, Lord Asriel (Daniel Craig); Asriel wants to study a mysterious substance called Dust that seems to enter Lyra's world from parallel universes. Fra Pavel pressures the Master to withhold his support from Lord Asriel's expedition. The Master refuses, so, when left alone in the room, Fra Pavel poisons a decanter of Tokay wine that has been decanted specially for Lord Asriel.Lord Asriel soon arrives (accompanied by his daemon, a snow leopard), and pours himself a glass of the poisoned Tokay, but Lyra emerges from her hiding place to stop him from drinking it: she dashes the glass to the floor where it shatters. Lord Asriel sends her back to eavesdrop on the meeting that is about to begin. The Master and fellows of Jordan College, plus Fra Pavel, convene to hear about Lord Asriel's proposed expedition and research on Dust, which they agree to fund. Asriel is sure that Dust is connected with a means to get from one universe to other parallel universes. Pavel tells Asriel that talk of Dust is heresy.Even before we meet Lyra, boys and girls have been disappearing, snatched off the streets. The children call the kidnappers Gobblers. Lyra and her friend Roger (Ben Walker) promise one another that if either is caught, the other will come to the rescue. That night, while Lyra is at dinner being introduced to Mrs. Coulter (Nicole Kidman), Roger and another friend, Billy Costa (Charlie Rowe), are taken by the Gobblers.At the dinner, Lyra is seated immediately across the table from the Master when Mrs. Coulter arrives, accompanied by her daemon, a golden monkey. The Master and all the scholars are evidently in awe of her. Mrs. Coulter takes a seat right next to Lyra, who is most impressed with her new acquaintance and agrees eagerly when Mrs. Coulter says she is also planning a trip to the far north, and proposes that Lyra come along as her assistant. The Master is evidently forced (by Mrs. Coulter's influence in high places) to agree.In the morning, just before Lyra's departure, the Master comes to Lyra's little upper room in college and gives her a strange golden instrument called an alethiometer, or "golden compass". He tells her that it is capable of telling the truth, but he can't tell her much about how it works. He admonishes her to keep the alethiometer to herself and above all not to let Mrs. Coulter know that she has it.Lyra spends some time in Mrs. Coulter's company, going to expensive shops to be bought new clothes and restaurants to dine with posh people. All the while, Lyra keeps the alethiometer with her in a shoulder bag. One day Mrs. Coulter orders her to stop wearing the shoulder bag, and when the girl shows reluctance Mrs. Coulter has her daemon, the golden monkey, half strangle Pantalaimon. Lyra runs to her room, now hating Mrs. Coulter, hides the alethiometer, then goes to explore Mrs. Coulter's private study. In a waste paper bin Pan finds papers which show that Mrs. Coulter is deeply involved with an arm of the Magisterium called the General Oblation Board (the Gobblers!); that the General Oblation Board is using children to investigate something called intercision; and that Billy Costa and Roger the kitchen boy are on a list of boys who have been taken. Immediately after discovering this, Lyra catches Mrs. Coulter's golden monkey daemon trying to steal the alethiometer. Pan changes into a bird, grabs it back, and they flee through the upstairs window. They're pursued and caught by Gobblers, then rescued by fierce but friendly Gyptians, who have been watching over Lyra at Lord Asriel's request. One of their rescuers is Ma Costa (Clare Higgins), Billy's mother.Lyra travels with the Gyptians and becomes acquainted with John Faa (Jim Carter), lord of the Gyptians, and his advisor Farder Coram (Tom Courtenay). She learns how to ask the alethiometer questions and how to interpret its responses. She also meets Serafina Pekkala (Eva Green), queen of the witches, who tells Lyra that she is the subject of a prophecy concerning the fate of the world; that the missing children are being held at Bolvangar in Norroway; and that Lyra will find help in Trollesund, a town on the coast of Norroway. Meanwhile, Mrs. Coulter has dispatched a pair of mechanical spy flies to locate Lyra. When the spy flies find the Gyptian ship, Farder Coram captures one and seals it up in a tin, explaining that its sting contains a sleeping potion. The other escapes, though it's not clear that it does Mrs. Coulter any good.When they arrive in Trollesund, Lyra meets the Texan aeronaut Lee Scoresby (Sam Elliot), who offers to help her -- but first he wants to get a friend out of a jam. The friend is Iorek Byrnison (voice: Ian McKellen), one of the great Panserbjørne -- armored ice bears -- of Svalbard. Iorek, exiled from his home after losing a fight, is a virtual prisoner in Trollesund; the townspeople got him drunk and stole his armor, which he cherishes the way humans cherish their daemons. Now, alcoholic and despairing, he works as a mechanic and metalsmith in exchange for whiskey. Consulting the alethiometer, Lyra learns that Iorek Byrnison was heir to the throne of Svalbard until he was betrayed and defeated by Ragnar (voice: Habib Nasib Nader), the current king. She also learns where the armor is hidden and tells Iorek, who promises in return to help her find the missing children. Lee Scoresby and the Gyptians dissuade the soldiers who try to stop the re-armored bear, and Lyra and her allies march into the interior toward Bolvangar.When they camp for the night, Lyra puzzles over something the alethiometer is telling her and seeks out Iorek Byrnison. She asks him to take her to a valley nearby, where she finds Billy Costa, weak and anguished because he's been separated from his daemon. This, Lyra realizes, is what intercision means; it's a fate so horrible she and Pan can hardly bear to think about it.Iorek Byrnison and Lyra take Billy back to the Gyptians' camp, which is immediately set upon by the ferocious Samoyed people who live in that area. They capture Lyra and carry her to Svalbard as an offering to the armored bears. Recalling that Mrs. Coulter told her King Ragnar longs to have a daemon of his own, Lyra asks Pan to hide and introduces herself to Ragnar as Iorek Byrnison's daemon. As she hoped, Ragnar becomes furiously jealous. Lyra tells him that if he can defeat Iorek in single combat, she will become Ragnar's daemon. Ragnar agrees to fight Iorek Byrnison, and Iorek gallops up on cue, intending to rescue Lyra. When Lyra explains what she's arranged, apologetic and frightened because after running all that way Iorek seems in no shape to fight, Iorek surprises her with his enthusiasm. He wants nothing more from life than a chance to fight Ragnar, and dubs her Lyra Silvertongue for her skillful manipulation of the usurper-king.Iorek fights Ragnar and kills him by feigning an injury, then hitting Ragnar so hard his jaw flies off. This victory wins back Iorek Byrnison's rightful place as king of the ice bears, but he leaves his kingdom to complete his obligation to Lyra. He takes her most of the way to the experimental station at Bolvangar where the children are being held, but has to leave her and go for help when the bridge over a crevasse breaks, leaving Iorek on the wrong side.Inside the experimental station, Lyra asks Roger to get the other children ready to escape. He shows her to a room where she can be alone with the alethiometer, but she has to hide under the table when the experimental station staff and Mrs. Coulter come in. After Mrs. Coulter leaves, Lyra's foot slips, giving her away. She's captured by the staff and she and Pan are put into the intercision device, the machine used to separate children from their daemons. The separation is almost complete when Mrs. Coulter, looking terrified, runs in and stops the procedure.Lyra and Pan wake up with their bond intact, and a distraught Mrs. Coulter assures Lyra that she's safe and she'll never be hurt. Lyra, shrinking from Mrs. Coulter, asks why they're separating children from their daemons. Mrs. Coulter explains that Dust (which she seems to equate with original sin) came into the world long ago when people first disobeyed the Authority (God). While children are immune from Dust, it contaminates adults through their daemons. The goal of the intercision research is to prevent people from ever being affected by Dust. (This explanation is a slightly more palatable version of the one given in an earlier scene, in which high officials of the Magisterium, disturbed about Jordan College's rebellious support of Lord Asriel, look forward to a future when intercision will mold a population that never questions the Magisterium's authority.) Mrs. Coulter says that intercision doesn't hurt -- "it's just a little cut."If intercision is such a good thing, Lyra counters, why did Mrs. Coulter stop the lab staff from doing it to Lyra? Mrs. Coulter admits that the procedure isn't perfect yet. When she mentions taking Lyra home, Lyra says venomously that her home is Jordan College. Mrs. Coulter reveals that she is Lyra's mother -- a relationship Lyra rejects -- and that Lord Asriel is her father. Lyra pretends to cooperate when Mrs. Coulter asks for the alethiometer, but gives her instead the tin holding the spy fly. The fly's sting knocks out Mrs Coulter and her daemon. Lyra escapes and leads the children out into the snow, pausing only to sabotage the intercision device, which explodes in a very satisfying way.Outside the experimental station the children confront the guards, who attack them. Iorek Byrnison intervenes, but is nearly overcome before the arrival, at dramatic intervals, of Lee Scoresby, the witches led by Serafina Pekkala, and the Gyptians. There's a ferocious melee; whenever someone is killed, their daemon disintegrates in a swirl of Dust. Lyra's friends win the battle.Lyra sets off with Iorek Byrnison and Lee Scoresby to find Lord Asriel, who has been captured by the Samoyed people. Roger insists on coming along. Meanwhile Mrs. Coulter, having learned that Lord Asriel has bribed his captors and set up a laboratory to continue his research on Dust, sets off to stop him. In the final scene, Lyra and Roger curl up with Iorek Byrnison in the back of Mr. Scoresby's flying machine, heading north.

fantasy, boring, violence, intrigue, alternate reality, psychedelic, storytelling, sci-fi

tt0385752

Titan A.E.

By the year 3028 A.D., deep space travel and interaction with a plethora of alien races is commonplace for humanity and, as often happens with the passage of time, a new discovery is made. As electricity and splitting the atom were in history, what comes to be known as the Titan Project proves to be a profound scientific advance in mankind's role in the universe; a testament to their strength and imagination. However, it is explained that this marvel does not go unnoticed. The Drej, an alien race comprised entirely of energy, deems the human race a threat and advance their armada on Earth to destroy the Titan Project and what they see as mankind's last chance of being a dominant force in the galaxy.Five year-old Cale (Alex D. Linz) puts the last touches on his latest invention, a hydro-powered console, before it accidentally breaks in a small creek. His father, Sam Tucker (Ron Perlman) comes to collect him, explaining that they have to leave. He takes his son to the nearby base where he is stationed and where evacuation pods filled with people are being sent into space. Sam places Cale in the care of family friend and guardian Tek (Tone Loc) before explaining that he has to go away for a while. He gives Cale a gold ring and tells him that, as long as he wears it, there will be hope. Then, despite Cale's pleas, Sam is escorted by friend Joseph Korso (Bill Pullman) to a nearby hangar as Cale is brought aboard an evacuation pod with Tek. Reports of Drej fighters attacking civilian pods ring out as Cale's ship takes off. He watches as his father runs inside and activates the Titan Project; a large, spherical ship which manages to fly past the incoming Drej and uses its hyperdrive to vanish into outer space. At a safe distance, Cale watches as the Drej mothership, commanded by the Queen Drej (Christopher Scarabosio), hones in on Earth and destroys it in one shot with a massive energy blast.Fifteen years later, Cale (Christopher Scarabosio) works in a salvage yard in asteroid belt Tau 14. The human population has dwindled severely over the past few years and the race is considered inferior to other alien species, constantly ridiculed and rumored to be near extinction. Impatient and tired of constantly being shoved to the back of the line, Cale defiantly rides his scooter away from the check-out point to the nearest hangar entrance, only to collide with a docking ship. He is propelled onto the bow of the ship and briefly gets a glimpse of the young female pilot within before she closes the shield doors. The pilot then sends a com-link message to the disembarking captain, reminding him that they are on a time schedule. Cale makes it inside and begins to wash up before he's confronted by two fellow alien workers who express distaste with Cale's line-jumping stunt. They begin to beat him up to teach him a lesson before the captain of the newly-arrived ship intervenes and lassos the aliens. He introduces himself as Joseph Korso and says he's been searching for Cale who carries mankind's last salvation. Skeptical and disheartened to hear that Korso was a friend of his father's, Cale refuses to cooperate and reunites with Tek in the galley who seems rather disinterested in Cale's complaints.Korso, meanwhile, is alerted by pilot Akima (Drew Barrymore) that their time limit has been cut with the arrival of a few Drej fighters. With the mounting pressure, Korso follows Cale into the galley and greets Tek as an old friend, to Cale's astonishment. Korso then shows Cale the reason he's there; he takes Cale's ring and uses a pen to activate a minute code within the lining before replacing it on Cale's finger. The ring projects a holographic map onto the palm of Cale's hand. Korso explains that the ring was coded to Sam's DNA, and is thus to Cale's. The map is supposed to lead to where Sam hid the ship the Titan and, if they find it before the Drej do, they will be able to give the human race something they haven't had in years; a new planet to call home. At that moment, two Drej fighters enter the galley and immediately target Cale. Korso disables the artificial gravity generator at the back of the kitchen and he and Cale follow the cowardly cook (Jim Breuer) through an escape hatch. They make it to a warehouse and hijack a construction vehicle with the Drej in hot pursuit. Cale is injured in the escape and Korso pilots the vehicle straight through a closed dock and into space. He calls for Akima to pick them up as the windshield on the vehicle cracks. Korso kicks it out and uses a fire extinguisher to propel him and Cale into the hold of the Valkyrie.When Cale wakes, he meets Akima face to face along with the sly first mate, Preed (Nathan Lane), before he is introduced to the rest of the crew including Stith (Janeane Garofalo), the surly weapons specialist, and Gune (John Leguizamo), the eccentric astronomer. Cale is brought to Gune who reads the map on his palm and determines that their next heading should be to Sesharrim, a planet that, as Korso recalls, is home to the ancient Gaoul race. After arriving, Preed and Gune are left at the ship to watch for the Drej while the others take a boat across a lake filled with hydrogen-pod trees. They find the remnants of a temple and are suddenly surrounded by bat-like creatures. Before Korso can open fire, Akima determines that they are the Gaoul. The lead Gaoul approaches Cale and instructs him through pantomime to hold his palm up towards the planet's prominent star. Held against the sky, Cale sees the arrow on the map pointing towards the distant Andali Nebula where the Titan is surely hidden. Suddenly, Drej fighters descend on the planet and attack the group. The Gaoul assist the group escape to their boat as Preed and Gune, having been distracted from their post, struggle to get the Valkyrie airborne again. The Gaoul use the hydrogen pods on the trees to destroy some of the fighters but, in the chaos, Cale and Akima are knocked off the boat. Before Korso can retrieve them, a Drej ship locks onto them with its tractor beam and escapes into outer space. It takes Cale and Akima to the Drej mothership where Akima, of no use, is expelled into space in a pod. Cale is then held before the Queen and forced to open his palm, giving the Drej a complete copy of the map detailing where the Titan is hidden. Cale is then sent into confinement.Meanwhile, Korso and Preed are able to track Akima's location to a prison block on a nearby planet. They attempt to disguise themselves as a slave trader and his subordinate but the guard (Charles Rocket) displays higher-than-average intelligence. So they use force and make their way towards the cell where Akima is resting atop her pod, unconscious invalids on the ground around her.On board the Drej mothership, Cale discovers that he can manipulate the energy keeping him locked inside to release himself. He escapes to the main hangar and commandeers a Drej ship, flying out into space with a scouting party. He is able to catch up to the Valkyrie although the crew nearly mistakes him for another Drej scout. Safe again, Cale and Korso have a heart-to-heart and Cale is allowed to pilot the Valkyrie through a tract of space. Putting his piloting skills to the test, Cale playfully races a band of 'space angels', creatures that dwell in nebular matter. The crew then makes a pit stop at a human drifter colony called New Bangkok to repair the ship and pick up supplies. However, as Cale and Akima return to the ship with a few necessities, they overhear Korso speaking to a holographic link with the Queen Drej. Korso argues with her that Cale is his responsibility and he alone will use him to find the Titan, though the Queen asserts that, despite their agreement, the Drej will do whatever is necessary to assure the Titan's destruction. Cale and Akima turn away straight into Preed's gun and he leads them inside where they are confronted by Korso. Korso admits that he made a deal with the Drej; that he would lead them to the Titan with the assurance of his own survival and for the hefty bounty. No longer wanting to believe that the human race is destined for extinction, Cale fights Korso and Preed and manages to escape the ship with Akima, though she is wounded in the process. With Cale and Akima safely in New Bangkok, Korso takes the Valkyrie and leaves for the Andali Nebula.Akima and Cale are assisted by the locals including an old woman (Tsai Chin) who assures them that Akima merely needs rest. While waiting, Cale meets a young girl (Crystal Scales) and her brother who shows Cale that a little imagination is all that's needed to envision a better place to live rather than just accepting what is. Encouraged, Cale later tells Akima, fully healed, that he plans to beat Korso to the Titan using an old ship at the colony. With the help of other able-bodied humans, Cale and Akima are able to repair and refit the old Phoenix and blast off towards the Nebula.The Andali Nebula's center is a thick ring of ice crystals which makes for extremely tricky navigation. Korso and Preed struggle to maintain a steady course as Cale and Akima come up behind them. They use the reflective surface of the ice to create an illusion as they sneak right by the ship before igniting their engines full thrust and making a break for the Titan. The Valkyrie tries to follow, but the ever-shifting ice blocks their path. Cale and Akima make it to the center of the ice pack and finally discover the resting place of the Titan. They find a hatch to dock at and make their way inside. Akima finds a library stacked with vials that are revealed to be genetic information for all animals and plant life that were found on Earth. Meanwhile, the Valkyrie finds the Titan and docks at an alternate entrance. Korso and Preed prepare to disembark and instruct Gune and Stith to stay behind. However, the pair are suspicious of Korso's intentions. They are proven right when Preed sends a com-link message to Stith's watch which proceeds to beep in a countdown. Gune removes Stith's watch and runs off before it explodes. Stith awakes in the rubble unharmed but finds Gune apparently injured. He announces that he needs to take a brief nap before he falls still.Cale and Akima make their way to the main console at the center of the ship where Cale finds his old invention, completely repaired, and activates a message from his father. The image explains that the ship has the power to create an entirely new planet for humans but that, in its escape, the ship used up all of its auxillary power. He begins to go over the initiation process to restore power until a shot rings out and the message ends. Korso appears and demands Cale's ring but Preed suddenly presses his gun to Korso's head. He announces that he made a separate deal with the Drej; that he could live provided he killed everyone else before their imminent arrival. Korso fights back and manages to overpower Preed, breaking his neck. Cale then tackles Korso and they both fall over the edge of the platform. Cale is able to grab onto a piece of rigging and climb back onto the main platform but Korso falls further until he grasps a wire which leads him back onto the main unit. At that moment, an alert sounds; the Drej have arrived.Stith is reunited with Cale and Akima and she activates the controls to the exterior guns, blasting away at the Drej fighters. Cale struggles to think of a way to beat the Drej and activate the Titan until he remembers that the Drej are pure energy. He is able to harness into their energy and restart the internal power system, but one of the circuit breakers located outside malfunctions. Cale has no choice but to go out and fix it manually. Stith provides cover until all guns are shot out by the Drej. Cale is cornered by Drej fire until Korso appears and offers to help. They work together to fix the circuit until Korso is gravely injured. He opts to stay behind, effectively sacrificing himself in order to unjam the circuit. As Cale escapes back into the Titan, he is covered by Gune piloting the Valkyrie; apparently having recovered from his nap. Korso uses his gun to link the circuits and is electrocuted in the process. Cale makes it back to the main platform and uses his ring to activate the ship just as the Drej mothership targets the Titan. A blast is sent out from the Titan and the Drej are disintegrated, their energy sucked into the Titan's engines. Waves of energy expand from the center of the ice ring and swirl it together towards the center. The Titan flies out of the core as gravity takes over and a new planet is formed, the remaining ice melting into vast seas.Cale and Akima step foot onto the new planet and Akima asks what they should call it. Cale decides to name the planet 'Bob', despite Akima's protests. They kiss and watch as Gune and Stith fly the Valkyrie above them in a victorious sweep. Meanwhile, ships and colonies of the surviving humans have received word of their new home and all flock to claim it. Year 16 A.E., for 'After Earth', introduces us to 'New Earth', aka 'Planet Bob'.

cult, murder, violence, romantic

tt0120913

Il miele del diavolo

Johnny (Stefano Madia) and Jessica (Blanca Marsillach) are young lovers embroiled in the throes of wild passion. Johnny, a musician, is obsessed with sex, and carries the protesting, but breathless, Jessica along with his erotic charm. The film opens at a recording studio where Johnny, after taking a break playing his saxophone, calls Jessica into the booth and sexually fondles her before other techs arrive and Jessica is forced to leave.Meanwhile, Dr. Wendell Simpson (Brett Halsey), is a surgeon with marital problems. He never makes love to his unhappy wife Carol (Corinne Clery), and is obsessed with his work at the hospital more than anything else. What's more, Carol has recently discovered that he makes regular visits to prostitutes during and after work. He visits Anna, a call girl at a local hotel where after fondling her and having quick but unsatisfying sex, forces her to leave after paying her.The next day, Johnny continues his torrid affair with Jessica by forcing her to fondle him while riding on his motorcycle. Afterwords at their house, he semi-forces himself upon her and has sex with her anally despite her protests to stop. Next, while Johnny fools around by riding around on his motorcycle he falls and hits his head on a stone plate. At first he appears fine, but later, in the recording studio, he collapses into a coma brought on by an apparent subdural hematoma.That evening, Carol demands a divorce from Dr. Simpson when he is called to the hospital in the operating room to perform emergency brain surgery on an injured musician. Carol follows Simpson right to the O.R. and springs the divorce plans she has for him again. During the operation, Simpsons mind wanders, and Johnny dies on the operating table. Driving away from the hospital, Simpson is chased by the grief-stricken Jessica who swears revenge on her boyfriend's "killer".Jessica starts sending threatening notes and making harassing phone calls to Simpson at his office, always repeating the same line, "why did you let him die?" At a private golf club, Simpson and Carol are playing on the links when they decide to make one final attempt to patch up their marriage. Entreating her husband to "treat me like a whore", Carol entices her husband to bed. Just as things start to happen as Simpson begins having sex with Carol, the telephone rings. After more then a dozen or more rings, Simpson feels compelled to answer despite the urgency of his wife's needs. He rolls off her to pick up the phone, but the phone rings off before he can answer. However, the damage is done. Carol gets up, dresses, and walks out on him for good. Seconds later, the telephone rings again. When Simpson picks it up right away, he hears Jessica's voice again saying, "why did you let him die?"Jessica becomes steadily more deranged with grief, spending hours watching home videos of Johnny. The next day she pulls a gun on Simpson as he gets into his car to go to the hospital. Forcing him to drive to her house, she chloroforms him when they arrive and ties him up in the cellar. Simpson regains consciousness to find an Alsatian dog barking furiously at him, tied up just inches away. Outside, Jessica is smashing his car with an axe. She then informs her captive that she intents to kill him... but only when she's ready. Jessica then sets about humiliating her captive by forcing him to eat dog food, and having him lick her bare abdomen which is smeared with his own blood from a wound she inflicts on him. Simpson finds himself strangely and perversely attracted to his tormentor.Jessica's sadistic games go further when she forces Simpson at gunpoint to down to the beach outside the building. Whilst dragging him on a leash, she says she intends to drown him, and almost does by holding him under the water of the surf. But then she suddenly changes her mind and in a panic pulls Simpson out of the water and revives him.In a series of flashbacks, Jessica's memories are shown of her dead lover, which become more ambivalent as she recalls some of the cruelties and excesses Johnny was capable of. A baby she'd been carrying from her affair with Johnny miscarried at an early stage, and her periods resume. Her pet dog dies as well, and she buries him on the beach. Growing ever more melancholic, she engages in further sex games with the submissive Simpson who listens with compassion to Jessica's ramblings about her life with Johnny, until she re-calls a final recollection which changes her mind about Johnny.Several months earlier, during a vacation getaway to Venice, Italy, Johnny bought an expensive bracelet to symbolize their love for one another. Johnny and Jessica went to a local cinema with one of Johnny's friends, Nicky (Bernard Seray), a camp musical associate. During the movie, the two lovers embraced in a passionate kiss, but Jessica was horrified to discover that Johnny was simultaneously letting Nicky go down on him. The memory of this kinky ménage-a-trios was the last straw.Back in the present, Jessica, finally seeing the self-destructive person Johnny really was, walks to the ocean and throws the "mystical bracelet" Johnny bought for her, into the water. Jessica returns to the house to her prisoner's "kennel", where she unties Simpson and tells him that he is free to go.Jessica goes back upstairs to her bedroom, strips off all her clothes, and lies down on her bed, putting the pistol to her head intending to kill herself. Seconds later, the besotted Simpson walks willingly into her bedroom and prevents her from committing suicide by having sex with her as both of them are now drawn into a torrid passion of their own making. The film ends with Simpson and Jessica laying side by side in bed when Simpson begins to recite a poem to Jessica that he said earlier in the film:"When you have spent your life like a fortune that never seemed to end. A second chance will come like a long lost friend. Great joy will fill you and flush you hot. No more will you ever be cool for she is the Devil's honey pot. And you'll drown in her you fool."

sadist

tt0090903

Ich war neunzehn

Its April 16th, 1945. Soviet soldier Georg Hecker (Jaecki Schwarz) is announcing to German troops over a loudspeaker system that the war is over and they should surrender to the Russian army. Ich bin Deutscher (Im a German) Georg says. Georg and his parents left Köln, Germany when he was only 8 years old and Georg was raised in Moscow. He is now 19 and returning to the Fatherland as a Soviet soldier. Georg is traveling with his platoon through German towns on the way to Berlin.April 22nd 1945, the Russians are coming into the German town of Bernau. A section of troops are given the task of finding any Nazis in the town. The Russian General (Mikhail Glusski) makes Lieutenant Hecker the commandant and gives him control of the town. As soon as Georg and his troops are left alone, a very young German girl (Jenny Gröllman) appears. The girl is clearly in post traumatic shock from having lived through the war. She saw a woman commit suicide and feels that everyone is better off committing suicide. They girl lost her parents and his confused as to what she should do. She asks Georg if she should Stay in this town? Go home? Go west? They leave the girl and tell her to figure it out for herself.While in Bernau, the troops come across a house with a red flag. Checking if they are Soviet supporters, the troops instead find the towns Mayor (Erich Giesa) and his wife attempting to make a good impression on their new rulers by offering them wine and pretending to be communist sympathizers. The troops instead drink their wine and confiscate their house. As soon as the commandants quarters are set up, Georgs first order of business is to meet with a reverend who wants to hold a service in the town. We are not sure as to Georgs decision as the next scene is quickly ushered in. Georg is having a printer make copies of flyers that have been produced, and after he answers no to being either a Communist or Nazi party member, Georg appoints the old printer as the new mayor of Bernau.While in his quarters, Georg is fixing a tear in his uniform while a female Soviet soldier (Galina Polskikh) eats nearby. Soon thereafter, the same German girl that Georg spoke to briefly is brought into the room by one of the other Russian troops. The girl asks if she can sleep in Georgs quarters and he quickly tells her no. Through this act, the female soldier discovers that Georg can speak German. The girl expresses her fears of the Russian troops and, incensed, the female soldier begins to yell at the German girl about the terrible things that happened in her home town. The girl quickly replies I didnt do anything and its not my fault. Russian tanks arrive and continue through the town without stopping to assist the small number of troops in Bernau.Still in Bernau, Georg sleeps with the radio on and hears German news reports of 15 year old Hitler Youth and wounded soldiers carrying out the German counter offensive. Georg is awakened, given breakfast and then leaves. As he is leaving, he again comes across the German girl. They say nothing and only stare as the Soviet truck drives away.April 23rd 1945, trying to find a new place to set up headquarters, Georg and his troops find a Nazi supply unit. Being mostly officers, the unit does not believe Georg when he tells them the war is over and it is best that they surrender. The commanding officer says that he must file a formal request for permission to surrender.April 24th, 1945, driving farther into Germany, they come across a group of Russian soldiers about to execute a man who they believe to have been a Nazi camp guard. Georgs friend Wadim (Vasili Livanov) tries to convince them not to. After finding the German mans Nazi uniform, Wadim leaves and a gunshot is heard.At this point, the film shows actual footage of a Sachsenhausen concentration camp executioner explaining how he operated the gas chambers and the crematorium. A quick shot of Georg standing in a shower is shown, perhaps washing off the sins of his Fatherland. According to the executioner, 13,500 Russians were killed in this manner in only two months.Wadim and another soldier, Sascha (Aleksei Ejbozhenko), sit in a German mans apartment. They ask him how he could live under a Nazi regime, then the German explains to them the seduction of the Nazi party. Sascha takes records that belong to the man. As the German man explains the ideas of Germanness more, Sascha plays the records, while Gregor and Wadim look through German books to try and understand things better.April 30th, 1945, given a special mission as truce bearers, Wadim and Gregor approach Sandau fortress, which contains a number of SS officers. When they present themselves to the fortress, a rope ladder comes down and SS Colonel Lewerenz (Johannes Wieke) along with an adjutant (Jürgen Hentsch) greet Georg and Captain Heymann (Wadim). After being given the terms of surrender, Colonel Lewerenz says that the decision must be made by his fellow officers as a group. The adjutant returns with the news that the other officers refuse to surrender. Gregor and Wadim enter the fortress to try and reason with the other officers. Gregor and Wadim tell the officers that not only is Sandau surrounded, but so too is Berlin. The officers do not believe them and say that their intelligence says otherwise. Disregarded as Goebels propaganda, Wadim still tries to convince them it is best to surrender. They are told that those who surrender will be given extra rations and will be taken care of.Deeper into the fortress, a teenage soldier tells his commanding officer (Kurt Böwe) a harrowing story of how he single handedly destroyed a tank and its driver with a bazooka. The boy says that he was given a chocolate bar for his efforts. Disgusted that he only received sweets, the commanding officer gives the boy his own Iron Cross. Approached by one of the officers who talked to Wadim and Gregor, the commanding officer and he discuss matters, suggesting even killing Gregor and Wadim. The other officers along with Colonel Lewerenz decide that they will surrender only with the unconditional surrender of the German Army. Wadim and Gregor give them until 7am to surrender, or the Soviet army will storm the fortress.Gregor and Wadim are blindfolded and escorted out of the fortress a different way than they came. When they reach the exit, the same officers that escorted them to Sandaus exit, escape down the river on a raft. Gregor continues to warn the Germans of the impending attack via loudspeaker. They surrender only 5 minutes before 7am.May 1st, 1945 Gregor, Wadim, Sascha and their driver Dshingis (Kalmursa Rachmanov) speed down the autobahn swerving around the flaming wrecks of German automobiles. Celebrating the surrender of the German Army, soldiers dance and sing as officers sing, drink and make tiny meat filled pastas called pelmeni. The soldiers decorate the courtyard with lights and a band of German firefighters plays music. While enjoying their meal, the Soviet General comes into the officers dining hall and brings with him former concentration camp inmates who are to be their guests of honor for having resisted the Nazis. A coincidence, one of the inmates actually turns out to be an old family friend of Gregors. Sadly, Gregor does not remember him.Having had too much to drink, Gregor falls and hurts himself. He hears the voice of his mother who tells him that he is always doing things too early. He smoked when he was 8 and was drinking schnapps when he was fifteen. Wadim is discussing with one of the camp inmates and asking him how he should explain the war to children. Being a school teacher, Wadim is very confused as to what he should do. The inmate tells how Hitler came into power and Wadim still asks how he should clarify that Goethe and Auschwitz are both German names.May 2nd, 1945, the troops come to a small town in the countryside and appoint one of the former inmates as the new mayor. As they dive away, they play the war ballad about Jamara. While driving, Gregor discusses things with one of the other inmates. Gregor asks about how things were in Germany before the war. The inmate asks Gregor what he is planning to do after the war, Gregor ponders that maybe school is an option. The inmate jumps onto another truck as he tries to make his way home and Gregor whistles Jamara as they drive away.Gregor and his troops reach a clearing in a small valley and find a whole platoon of troops playing dominoes, volleyball and soccer, cooking and sunbathing. Gregor finds another soldier who is just as young, if not younger than he is. They talk briefly and then encounter a German counter offensive in which the German troops were disguised as Russians and using a Russian tank. In the exchange, the young soldier is killed. Gregor and his troops are able to get away.May 3rd, 1945, Russians discover that there are counter offensives going on all over Germany. The General reports that in every counter offensive, the Germans are disguising themselves as Russians. Gregor, Wadim, Sascha and Dshingis are stationed at a small farmhouse and are setting up a surrender site. The young children at the farmhouse dont like or trust the Russian troops, even though Gregor is a German. Along the road are wounded and weary German soldiers. Again over the loudspeaker, Gregor tells them to surrender. Slowly, one by one the troops cross over the river and the small footbridge that separates them from the road.Among the surrendered is the same young boy from Sandau who received the Iron Cross for his valiant efforts. The farm family then offers to take him in. Gregor begins to make friends with one of the German soldiers (Dieter Mann). While packing up to leave, they are attacked by a group of SS resistance soldiers from across the river. They begin to fire back and Gregors German friend even joins in. After the exchange, it turns out that Sascha has been killed. Enraged, Gregor announces over the loudspeaker that he will have vengeance and kill all of the troops for having killed his friend. They finish packing up, along with all of the German prisoners. Gregors German friend asks him to mail a letter for him, everyone packs up and leaves.

autobiographical, murder

tt0061802

Combat Shock

The film begins with stock footage scenes of warfare in Vietnam. An American soldier named Frankie is seen running alone through the jungle as his voice narrates. He explains that he "goes back there every night" right before he wakes up in bed with his wife in their squalid NYC apartment. The distorted cries of his baby are heard, and his pregnant wife wakes up to tend to the boy. They argue over Frankie's unemployment and their son's health. The baby is a mutant, portrayed by a puppet. Frankie assumes it was a result of chemical weapons used during the war. The bulk of the film consists of long sequences of urban blight underscored by Ricky Giovinazzo's synthesizer soundtrack. A junkie scores from the local kingpin, Paco. Frankie waits in line outside the unemployment office. The junkie desperately searches for a needle to shoot up with. Frankie kills time entertaining a child prostitute. The junkie resorts to dumping the drugs directly onto a wound he opens in his arm and passes out. A random woman comes upon him and steals his gun and ammunition, putting them in her purse. There is no work for Frankie at the unemployment office. Unexplained arbitrary things happen, such as one social worker asking another if he's seen his Veg-O-Matic. Frankie's social worker spaces out during their meeting and says, "Life is hot, and because life is hot, I must take off my jacket." He then resumes the meeting, imploring Frankie to go back to school because he has no marketable skills. Frankie is desperate for work, having been unemployed for four months. He calls his father to ask for money. His father thinks the call is a prank, because he believes his son died in Saigon. Frankie explains that he was reported killed 15 years ago but he made it out alive and spent three years in an army hospital recuperating. He tells his father that his wife is pregnant again and they are being evicted, but his father claims that he is also broke and about to die from a heart condition. Seemingly broken, Frankie comes across the woman who stole the junkie's gun and steals her purse, an out of character criminal act for him. She screams for help. Paco and his thugs chase Frankie. When they overcome him, they mercilessly beat him. The gun falls out of the bag during the pummeling. When Paco goes through the bag, he finds the bullets and realizes there must have been a gun in it. He turns around to see Frankie standing with the gun. Frankie shoots all three men in a daze. He has been beaten to a pulp, and his voice over explains that his father was right: he had died in Saigon. He explains that his company had come upon a village where everyone had killed themselves to avoid being raped and murdered by the US soldiers. He realizes that he must similarly 'save' his family, and he returns home. His wife is horrified by his appearance and briefly tends to his wounds. He is catatonic and hallucinates in front of the TV. Eventually, he reloads the gun and prepares to kill himself, but another hallucination reminds him of his purpose for returning home. Frankie walks into the bedroom, tells his wife that he loves her, and then shoots her in the stomach. As she lies on the ground, he shoots her three more times, yelling at her to die. He shoots the baby once and then picks it up from the crib. He cradles it and walks into the kitchen with it. Frankie lays the baby in the oven, and turns it all the way to the cleaning setting. He then pours himself a glass of spoiled milk and drinks it, before committing suicide via gun. The final shot shows a train passing by into the night.

tragedy, cult, murder, violence, flashback

tt0090866

Miracle

Kurt Russell stars as coach Herb Brooks in a true story of the 1980 U.S. Olympic ice hockey team winning the gold medal by defeating the powerful Soviet Union and Finland teams at Lake Placid. Brooks has had a dream of coaching the U.S. Olympic team ever since he was cut from the 1960 U.S. Olympic team. Brooks' dream comes true, and he gets the coaching job in 1979. Brooks puts together a team of college kids and begins to get them into shape. Since the Soviet Union is the greatest hockey team in the world, Brooks begins to retrain his team in the European style of playing the game. The Soviet Union team has won four consecutive gold medals and recently defeated a team of National Hockey League all-stars. Brooks said that the all-stars were individual players and not a team. With all his hard training, he finally turns these kids into the U.S. Olympic team, and a family. The team defeats the Soviet Union in the semifinal round by not allowing them a single goal for the last 10 minutes of the game. With the world watching the game on TV, Al Michaels asks his famous question at the end of the game, `Do you believe in miracles? Yes!' The team still had to play Finland in the final round, which they won. Douglas Young (the-movie-guy)

inspiring

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Full Circle

Julia Lofting (Mia Farrow), her husband Magnus (Keir Dullea), and their young daughter Kate (Sophie Ward) eat breakfast and Kate starts to choke on a piece of an apple. When the apple refuses to dislodge, Julia reaches for a knife and tries to perform a tracheotomy on Kate's throat, but fails and Kate bleeds to death.Distraught by the death of her only child, Julia leaves her husband and moves to a new house; a mysterious old row house in a low part of London. An upstairs room contains a child's possessions. As she unpacks, Julia finds a mechanical clown toy with sharp, clanking cymbals and accidentally cuts her finger on them.In a nearby park, Julia thinks she sees Kate, but the girl disappears. She hears strange noises in her house, blaming them on Magnus, who she believes is spying on her. When Julia takes photos of the child's possessions in the room, she is baffled when there is nothing in the frame of the developed photo and sees that the items cannot be photographed. A radiator in the house mysteriously turns on by itself. Later, Julia sees the girl in the park, but finds a mutilated turtle and a knife where she stood.Magnus' sister, Lily, asks Julia if her friends can use her house to conduct a seance. The medium, Mrs. Fludd, explains that spirits need to control someone to carry out physical acts. During the seance, Mrs. Fludd becomes frightened and tells Julia to leave the house immediately. Moments later, one of Lily's friends, Miss Pinner, falls down the stairs.While Julia is out, Magnus breaks into her house to find her. He sees something and follows it to the basement, but is killed after falling from the staircase - his throat cut on a broken bottle.A neighbor tells Julia the house once belonged to Heather Rudge, who moved away after her daughter Olivia choked to death (in a similar manner to Kate). Julia visits Mrs. Fludd, who has taken ill since the seance. She tells the medium she is convinced her house is possessed by Kate's spirit, but the medium tells her she saw a boy in the park, bleeding to death. When Julia finds an article about a boy, Geoffrey Braden, murdered in the park, she visits Greta Braden, Geoffrey's mother. Mrs. Braden tells her a vagrant was executed for the crime but that the other children in the park murdered her son. She says she and her companion have been following the lives of the children, now adults, and asks Julia to visit the remaining two, Captain Paul Winter and David Swift. Winter dismisses her after she says she's seen Mrs. Braden. Outside she sees Miss Pinner, who denies seeing anything frightening in the house. Julia next visits Swift, an alcoholic, who admits that Olivia had power over him and the other children. She made them each kill an animal, then made them watch as she murdered Geoffrey. He says he told only Mrs. Rudge.That night, as she sleeps, a child's hand caresses Julia's face and holds her hand. The phone rings and when Julia tries to answer it, a child's hand pushes hers away, causing her water glass to fall and break. Later, Swift is shown leaving his apartment. He slips on a broken bottle in the stairwell and he falls over the railing to his death.Julia tells her friend, Mark (Tom Conti) what she has discovered but he doesn't believe her. That evening, her heater won't turn off. She tries to unplug it and shocks herself. Mark is later electrocuted when a lamp falls into his bath. Julia visits Mrs. Rudge in a psychiatric home. Mrs. Rudge confesses that she killed Olivia after learning about the murder. As Julia rushes out in fear, she looks over her shoulder at Mrs. Rudge, who sees Olivia's eyes. Mrs. Rudge dies of a heart attack.At home, Julia sees the ghost Olivia in the bathroom mirror, then in the living room on the floor playing with the clown toy. She takes it from her, offers her a hug and asks her to stay. In the final shot, Julia is seen bleeding to death, her throat apparently cut on the sharp edges of the cymbals.

gothic, haunting

tt0074611

Embrace the Darkness 3

NOTE: Sequel to Embrace the Darkness 2 (2002).Jennifer [Brooke Larele] isn't happy with the way Jack is trying to control her life so she kicks him out into the sunlight. While Jack burns up, Jennifer notices that her own skin isn't reacting to the sun. When news of Jack's "spontaneous combustion" reaches the newspapers, reporter Sean Flynt [Glen Meadows] becomes interested. So does vampire Victor Chamberlain [Ty Winston]. But Jennifer is more interested in finding out why she didn't react to the sun, so she reads up on vampires in the local bookstore. She learns that she is a "pure" vampire (a mortal who was "pure" at the time of turning can become a "pure" vampire with superpowers and the ability to become mortal again if she falls in love with a mortal who also falls in love with her) and that her powers will be at their greatest during the next solar eclipse which, coincidentally, happens in four days.Just then, Sean enters the bookstore, the owner decides to go to bed, and Sean and Jennifer have sex on a couch. Sean is certain that he could fall in love with a girl like Jennifer. Jennifer refrains from biting him and, instead, returns to her motel room where she finds Victor waiting for her. Victor has figured out that Jennifer is a pure vampire and plans to take Jennifer's power for himself during the eclipse by consuming her blood and eating her heart.Meanwhile, Sean has grown interested in Victor Chamberlain, even though his editor has warned him to back off from any investigation, so Sean asks coworker Anna [Vanessa Lynch] to crash Victor's party. Victor discovers that Anna is from the press and kills her. When Anna's body shows up, drained of blood, Sean goes after Victor. Sean manages to expose Victor to the sun's rays, but Anna saves Victor before too much damage is done. As Victor recuperates, Jennifer reads his copy of the Opus Vampiris and figures out that Victor intends to kill her for her powers. Now Jennifer has a dilemma. Does she kill Victor and assume her position as the ruler of vampires or do Jennifer and Sean fall in love and return Jennifer's humanity?

pornographic

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In the Land of Blood and Honey

Danijel, a Serb, first meets Ajla, a Bosnian, on the dance floor. Their flirtations are brought to an abrupt end by a bomb attack. Its 1992 and Yugoslavias civil war is raging. All of a sudden, Danijel is a soldier with orders to obey, and Ajla is now a woman who lives in fear of her life. Shortly afterwards Ajla is imprisoned at an internment camp where rape and torture are the order of the day. One of the camps henchmen is Danijel. In order to protect Ajla, who is an artist, he asks her to draw portraits of his comrades-in-arms. At first their relationship is fuelled by passion but before long Ajla realises her powerful position and uses Danijels desire to help other Bosnian women prepare an uprising. Desperate for his Islamic-hating fathers respect, Danijel tries to prove his masculinity to Ajla of all people.Angelina Jolies directorial debut tells a story that puts a human face on the Balkan war. The plot centres on a struggle for survival, and a conflict on a battlefield where it is no longer possible to distinguish between repression and desire, strategy and feelings.Source: Berlinale

revenge, murder, violence, flashback

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Prom

Class president Nova (Aimee Teegarden) has been planning her high school's prom. She and her friends, Mei (Yin Chang), Ali (Janelle Ortiz), Brandon (Jonathan Keltz), and Rolo (Joe Adler) have created the perfect decorations, which they store in the school's shed. Nova, who has a crush on Brandon, hopes he will ask her to prom.Meanwhile, Lloyd (Nicholas Braun), the "invisible" guy at school, is complaining about prom to his stepsister, Tess (Raini Rodriguez) because he has no date but she encourages him to just ask someone. Elsewhere at the school, Tyler (De'Vaughn Nixon) is confronted by his girlfriend, Jordan (Kylie Bunbury), who assumes he is cheating on her due to the single gold earring she finds in his car. He assures her this is not the case, and Jordan believes him."Bad boy" Jesse Richter (Thomas McDonell) has been missing school lately and showing other "unacceptable" behavior, such as riding his motorcycle on school grounds. Principal Dunnan (Jere Burns) has a talk with him, but is not satisfied with Jesse's attitude.Mei learns she has been accepted into Parsons, which conflicts with the plans she made with her boyfriend, Justin (Jared Kusnitz), of going to the University of Michigan together. She is stressed about this and becomes irritable as prom approaches, which she agrees to go with Justin.Sophomore Lucas (Nolan Sotillo) is attracted to Simone (Danielle Campbell), his lab partner, who he tries to get with the help of his friend Corey (Cameron Monaghan).That night, Tyler takes Jordan to the school's shed, which he has decorated with many candles, to ask her to prom, and she agrees. When they leave the shed, however, they forget to put out a single candle. The shed catches fire and burns down. The next day, a devastated Nova, with no decorations and only three weeks to prom, asks her friends for extra help to pull the dance off, which they all back out of, each listing their own reason.Principal Dunnan, seeing her dilemma, has an idea, and forces Jesse to help her for Prom, or he cannot graduate. Although Nova and Jesse both are unhappy with this situation, they comply anyway. At school, Lloyd is having trouble finding a date, even with the help of his sister. As one thing goes wrong after another, Lloyd loses confidence and becomes frustrated.Later at home, Brandon shows up at Nova's house to tell her he cannot take her to prom, and that she will have to find another date. As the date becomes closer to prom, Nova and Jesse grow closer while working together.During lacrosse practice, Tyler invites Lucas to the team barbecue, and tells him to invite a girl. Lucas decides to ask Simone, which she agrees to. At Tyler's barbecue, Tyler tries to make a move on Simone, only to be rejected by her. It is made clear they have a history. Simone tells Lucas that if she had known it was Tyler's barbecue, she would not have come. Mei's attitude is becoming worse and worse, and Justin believes she does not want to go to prom. He calls the date off, and Mei is left feeling very uncomfortable. One night, Nova finds out that the neighboring high school has the same theme for their prom as her own. Jesse suggests they take his motorcycle to go check out the other school's decorations, and she agrees. However, they are caught by the police, who call Nova's parents. Nova's father is infuriated with Jesse and insults him.At school, Lucas is blowing off Corey to spend more time with Simone, and asks her to study for the upcoming test with him, to which she agrees. However, as she is about to go to library, Simone is stopped by Tyler, who convinces her to talk with him. He tells her about his feelings for her. Jordan sees the two talking and immediately grasps the situation.After school, Nova apologizes to Jesse for her father's behavior. Later, she takes him dress shopping. Back at school, Simone apologizes to Lucas for having ditched him. She has a surprise, tickets to a concert, where Stick Hippo (his and Corey's favorite band) is opening. Lucas wants to take Simone instead of Corey, much to Corey's dismay. Jordan dumps Tyler for his unfaithfulness, and decides to go to prom alone. This prompts him to ask Simone to prom, which is the same night as the concert, and she agrees. Simone tells Lucas that she is sorry, but she cannot go to the concert.Mei apologizes to Justin for her behavior and tells him the truth, but instead of feeling hurt that she is going to a different college, he tells her he is proud of her. They agree that they should still go to prom together.Lloyd spots Lucas sitting outside the school, looking dejected. He learns his situation, and tells Lucas his own mistake with girls and high school. Lloyd tells Lucas that if he really loves Simone, he should tell her.Two nights before the prom, Nova, Ali, and Mei are in Nova's room, talking. Nova confesses to them that she has feelings for Jesse, which her dad unfortunately overhears. The next day, Nova's father tells Jesse he cannot ask Nova to prom, because he is "bringing her down". That afternoon, Jesse is unusually hostile towards Nova and deserts her.On prom night, Lucas climbs a tree to reach Simone's window. He tells her how he feels and begs her not to go to prom, but she goes anyway. Disappointed, Lucas realizes what a bad friend he has been to Corey, and offers him the other concert ticket. The two head off to see their favorite band happily.At her house, Nova is heartbroken, and refuses to pose for the camera in her prom dress. Her father, worried, explains that he was the one who told Jesse not to ask her to prom. Angered, Nova storms out of the house. Meanwhile, at Lloyd's house, it is revealed that he is taking his sister to prom. At Jesse's house, his mother has a talk with him, and he realizes that he should still take Nova to prom.At the school, Tyler leads Simone into the building, and almost immediately abandons her. Simone finds out from a couple of girls that it was actually Jordan who dumped Tyler, and Tyler had gone to her with no other option. When Tyler asks her to dance (He was crowned prom king and Jordan queen) she refuses and leaves. She goes to the concert parking lot, where she waits for Lucas, and they share a dance.Nova is having an awful time at prom, and when Ali tells her the fountain centerpiece is broken, she cannot take it anymore. As she is about to leave, she hears the fountain work again, and knows the only person who could have fixed it was Jesse. He walks up to her and asks her to prom. She agrees, and they dance and share a kiss.

romantic

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Coffy

In a crowded nightclub, a well-known drug pusher is enjoying an evening out with several female companions. One of his junkie henchmen approaches him and tells him that he's driving the pusher's car, and he's brought him a young woman who is willing to do anything to get some drugs. The pusher is angry until he sees the person in the car, a beautiful woman who returns with him to a shabby apartment. Just when it seems like they are going to have sex, the woman pulls a severely sawed-off shotgun out of her macrame purse and blasts the dealer's head off. The henchman, who is in the other room shooting up, is confronted by the woman, who tells him her last name is Coffin, and that her sister is LuBelle Coffin. LuBelle is now in a hospital, having shot up with tainted heroin, and her mind is permanently damaged. The enraged woman forces the man to take another hit of heroin, which kills him.The woman is known to her friends and associates as Coffy (Pam Grier), a nurse at a city hospital. Coffy has a romance with political hopeful Howard Brunswick (Booker Bradshaw), but she is devoted to caring for her sister. She gets news of her "hit" from Carter (William Elliott), a policeman friend of hers. Carter is a good cop who refuses to take payoffs from local mobster Arturo Vitroni (Allan Arbus), and as a result, Vitroni sends his henchmen to knock Carter around. Coffy happens to be in the way at the time, and both of them wind up in the hospital. Coffy is little more than shaken, but Carter is beaten unconscious and seriously injured.More angry than ever, Coffy sets out to stop the mobsters once and for all. She learns of a pusher named King George (Robert DoQui) who is supplying heroin to local dealers. George is also a well-known pimp; Coffy is vaguely familiar with George because one of his prostitutes, Priscilla (Carol Locatell), once came to Coffy's hospital after George cut her face. Coffy visits Priscilla at her home and leans on her for information about George and his business practices. Priscilla tells Coffy about Arturo Vitroni and how he is one of George's best clients. Vitroni apparently likes to treat his hookers cruelly, humiliating them and making them do degrading things for his pleasure. Priscilla balks when Coffy asks her where George keeps his stash; she is afraid that if she tells Coffy this, George will find out and kill her, so she pulls a knife on Coffy and tries to frighten her off. Instead, Coffy turns violent, shattering a wine bottle and threatening Priscilla with the jagged edge. Priscilla tells Coffy that George keeps his heroin stash in a box under his fireplace. Just then, Priscilla's tough lesbian pimp, Harriet (Dea St. Lamont), returns and fights with Coffy, who just barely escapes.With the information she got from Priscilla, Coffy sets out to infiltrate George's business. She sets up a meeting with King George and pretends to be a Jamaican hooker named Mystique. George immediately takes her into his fold, much to the chagrin of George's 'old lady', Meg (Linda Haynes). During a party at George's pad, the jealous Meg dumps a tray of cocktails in Coffy's lap. When she goes into George's bedroom to clean up, Coffy sees her opportunity and accesses his drug stash, disposing of all his heroin and replacing it with ordinary sugar. Returning to the party, she then picks a fight with Meg and winds up fending off Meg and the rest of the girls. Coffy emerges the victor when Meg cuts herself on a series of razorblades that Coffy has hidden in her afro. Arturo Vitroni witnesses the fight, and he so taken by Coffy that he requests a session with her that very night.Coffy arrives at Vitroni's house and attempts to assassinate him, but she is stopped by Omar (Sid Haig), Arturo's bodyguard. They make the mistake of believing that King George has sent Coffy to make a hit on Arturo, so they retaliate. Keeping Coffy locked up, they lure George into a limousine and then kill him by tying a rope around him and dragging him behind the vehicle.They are undecided about what to do with Coffy. One of Vitroni's goons recognizes Coffy from the night they roughed her up along with Carter; another of Virtoni's shady associates recognizes Coffy as Howard Brunswick's girlfriend. Believing her to be a hit woman, the gangsters summon Brunswick, unsure about whether he is associated with Coffy's attempted hit. Vitroni is suspicious when he realizes that Coffy and Howard do indeed know one another, but Coffy insists Howard had nothing to do with her attempt on Vitroni's life, blaming it entirely on King George. To her dismay, Howard betrays Coffy and tells Vitroni that for all he cares, they can kill her.Omar and some other goons take Coffy to a desolate area of the city with intentions of killing her and dumping the body. Along the way they inject her with some heroin they took from King George's stash--Coffy knows it's really just sugar. She distracts them with her feminine wiles and manages to stab Omar in the throat, mortally wounding him. Another goon chases Coffy out onto a busy freeway, where he is run down by a passing vehicle. The third goon, a crooked cop, tries to run Coffy down after chasing her under a bridge, but she shatters his windshield with a brick and he flips the car. Coffy steals his shotgun just before the car explodes, killing him.Coffy stashes her shotgun and hitches a ride with a stranger, luring him out of the car and stealing it once he's gone. She returns to her hiding place and retrieves the shotgun, then returns to Vitroni's and drives the car straight into the house, killing one goon who was standing on the porch. Inside she lets loose with her shotgun, killing everyone she sees until she has Vitroni cornered in a swimming pool. She toys with him and tells him she'll take a million dollar payoff to let him live, but after he tells her where Brunswick went, she shoots him anyway.Coffy's revenge isn't complete until she pays a visit to Howard. She slips into his beach house and surprises him, holding the shotgun on him. Howard is shocked to see Coffy alive, and even more shocked to hear that she's killed all of his shady associates. Howard manages to sooth Coffy, convincing her that he was only playing along with the crooks to buy time. But his speech is interrupted by a woman calling for him from upstairs; a semi-nude white woman walks out of one of the bedrooms. Coffy responds by gunning down Howard right there in his living room, as the terrified woman screams in horror. Coffy then stumbles out into the morning light, grimy and covered with bloody scratches and bruises, but alive.

dark, cruelty, murder, neo noir, cult, sadist, violence, action, romantic, revenge, blaxploitation

tt0069897

Fallen

Homicide detective John Hobbes (Denzel Washington) and Edgar Reese (Elias Koteas), a serial killer, are talking just before the latter is going to be executed in prison. Reese is proud of all his crimes, and doesn't repent at all. Hobbes witnesses the execution of Reese. At the last second, Reese starts shouting that he is innocent, that it wasn't him, all his cocky demeanour lost.However, this doesn't finish the matter. Soon after the execution the killings start again, and they are very similar to Reese's style. Hobbes starts hearing people on the street singing the same tune that Reese sang in the gas chamber.He is told that maybe the fallen angel Azazel is behind it all. Azazel is cursed to roam the Earth without a form, and he can switch bodies by any contact, making him hard to track. The last clue is given by Gretta Milano (Embeth Davidtz), a semi-mad woman who lives in a flat crammed with bric-a-brac, pictures, and small statues representing all kind of of angels. When Hobbes is forced to kill a man possessed by Azazel, he must clear his name while protecting his family and others from the evil, vengeful Azazel. Milano tells him to kill Azazel in a place where no other person is around. If Hobbes kills the person who is at the moment possessed by Azazel, and he himself commits suicide, the fallen angel will die, because he can't survive for long without a body.Hobbes is determined. His workmates are suspicious of him. They think that he has tricked them all, being the serial killer from the very beginning, or that he has become so obsessed with the serial killer that now he's copy-cattting him. His co-worker and closest friend, Det Jonesy (John Goodman), is one of those who seem to have changed their minds concerning Hobbes. Lou and Stanton (James Gandolfini and Donald Sutherland) start having no doubts that Hobbes is the killer.Hobbes goes to a lonely cottage kilometers away from nowhere where he has dared Azazel to go. To his surprise, it's Jonesy who goes. He tells him that it was about Hobbes from the beginning. When Hobbes and Reese had the conversation, there was a second when they shook hands, but Azazel could not move inside Hobbes because he was an honest and good person. There is a final confrontation and Hobbes kills Jonesy, and then kills himself.It seems that evil has died. However, a voice tells the audience that there is only an animal which can hold a demon, a cat. We see a cat which is making its way to the nearest inhabited town. The audience now knows that Hobbes didn't succeed.

comedy, suspenseful, gothic, murder, neo noir, boring, paranormal, cult, violence, plot twist, flashback, good versus evil, insanity, psychedelic, philosophical, revenge

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Star Trek: Nemesis

On Romulus members of the Romulan Imperial Senate debate whether to accept the terms of peace and alliance with the Reman rebel leader Shinzon. The Remans are a slave race of the Romulan Empire, used as miners and as cannon fodder. A faction of the military is in support of Shinzon, but the Praetor and senate are opposed to an alliance. After rejecting the motion, the Praetor and remaining senators are disintegrated by a device left in the room by a military-aligned senator. Meanwhile, the crew of the USS Enterprise-E prepare to bid farewell to first officer Commander William Riker and Counselor Deanna Troi, who are being married on Betazed. En route, they discover a positronic energy reading on a planet in the Kolaran system near the Romulan Neutral Zone. Captain Jean-Luc Picard, Lieutenant Commander Worf, and Lieutenant Commander Data land on Kolarus III and discover the remnants of an android resembling Data. When the android is reassembled it introduces itself as B-4. The crew deduce it to be a less-advanced, earlier version of Data. Picard is contacted by Vice-Admiral Kathryn Janeway and orders the ship on a diplomatic mission to nearby Romulus. Janeway explains that the Romulan Empire has been taken over in a military coup by Shinzon, who says he wants peace with the Federation and to bring freedom to Remus. On arrival, they learn Shinzon is a clone of Picard, secretly created by Romulans to plant a high-ranking spy into the Federation. The project was abandoned when he was still a child and he was left on Remus to die as a slave. After many years, Shinzon became a leader of the Remans, and constructed his heavily armed flagship, the Scimitar. Initially, diplomatic efforts go well, but the Enterprise crew discover that the Scimitar is producing low levels of thalaron radiation, which had been used to kill the Imperial Senate and is deadly to nearly all life forms. There are also unexpected attempts to communicate with the Enterprise computers, and Shinzon himself violates Troi's mind through the telepathy of his Reman viceroy. Dr. Crusher discovers that Shinzon is aging rapidly because of the process used to clone him, and the only possible means to stop the aging is a transfusion of Picard's own blood. Shinzon kidnaps Picard from the Enterprise, as well as B-4, having planted the android on the nearby planet to lure Picard. However, Data reveals he has swapped places with B-4, rescues Picard, and returns with Picard to the Enterprise. They have now seen enough of the Scimitar to know that Shinzon plans to use the warship to invade the Federation using its thalaron-radiation generator as a weapon, with the eradication of all life on Earth being his first priority. The Enterprise races back to Federation space but is ambushed by the Scimitar in the Bassen Rift, a region that prevents any subspace communications. Two Romulan Warbirds come to the aid of the Enterprise, as they do not want to be complicit in Shinzon's genocidal plans, but Shinzon destroys one and disables the other. Recognizing the need to stop the Scimitar at all costs, Picard orders the Enterprise to ram the other ship. The collision leaves both ships heavily damaged and destroys the Scimitar's primary weapons. To assure their mutual destruction, Shinzon activates the thalaron weapon. Picard boards the Scimitar to face Shinzon alone, and eventually kills him by impaling him on a metal strut. Data jumps the distance between the two ships with a personal transporter to beam Picard back to the Enterprise, and then fires his phaser on the thalaron generator, which destroys the Scimitar, and Data, while saving the Enterprise. The crew mourn Data, and the surviving Romulan commander offers them her gratitude for saving the Empire. The Enterprise returns to Earth for repairs. Picard bids farewell to newly promoted Captain Riker, who is off to command the USS Titan and begin a possible peace-negotiation mission with the Romulans. Picard meets with B-4, discovering that Data had copied the engrams of his neural net into B-4's positronic matrix before he "died". Though B-4 does not yet act as Data, Picard is assured that he will become like his friend in time.

violence, flashback

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Ngo si seoi

Somewhere in the jungles of South Africa, a multinational military unit, Special Force Unit, ambushes a convoy and kidnaps several scientists working on a highly-volatile compound extracted from a recently discovered meteorite. Among the operatives is a Hong Kong national identified by his code name "Jackie Chan". Morgan (Ron Smerczak) of the CIA is sent to South Africa to investigate the incident, not knowing that Morgan and newly-retired Lieutenant General Sherman (Ed Nelson) orchestrated the abduction for their personal profit. At the same time, the CIA assigns another operative in South Africa for a more covert operation.Chan wakes up in a tribal village somewhere in the African veldt, still recovering from injuries sustained in an accident he cannot remember; due to this, when asked for his name by the natives, he responds by asking himself, "Who Am I?", and is referred to as that by the natives.The tribesmen show him the remains of a crashed helicopter and graves of those who perished aboard. He spends weeks recuperating from his wounds and learning about the tribe's culture. After spotting rally cars from several miles away, "Who Am I?" bids the village farewell and ventures on a journey back to civilization. He befriends Japanese rally navigator Yuki (Mirai Yamamoto) after saving her brother from a snake bite and offering to help them finish the race.When they reach Johannesburg, "Who Am I?" meets Christine Stark (Michelle Ferre), an American journalist sent to interview him about his rally adventure. However, Morgan hears of "Who Am I?" and sends hitmen to kill him. Morgan also pretends to be his ally, telling him to contact him if he is in danger. After escaping from the hitmen, Christine cracks a secret code written on a matchbook found on one of the dead operatives, which leads them to Rotterdam, Netherlands. "Who Am I?" and Christine bid Yuki farewell and head for Rotterdam to find more answers to his identity.In Rotterdam, "Who Am I?" discovers that Christine is actually an undercover CIA agent. Not knowing whom to trust, he sneaks into the Willemswerf alone, where he discovers the masterminds behind the kidnapping of the scientists. It is revealed that Morgan and Lieutenant General Sherman are about to sell the extraterrestrial compound to a powerful arms dealer. While waiting for the online transaction to finish, the three men leave the conference room for a coffee break giving "Who Am I?" time to sneak in and steal the disc containing the compound information. He also cancels the transaction and sends the money to a children's organization, infuriating the arms dealer. After escaping from the building, "Who Am I?" regroups with Christine, who calls for the execution of a "Plan B", to surround the Erasmus Bridge and corner Morgan. After Christine takes Morgan into custody, "Who Am I?" throws the disc off the bridge and tells Christine that he will return to Africa.

comedy, murder, stupid, cult, violence, flashback, absurd, suspenseful, entertaining

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Bad Teacher

Elizabeth Halsey is an immoral, gold-digging Chicago-area middle school English teacher who curses at her students, drinks alcohol heavily, smokes marijuana, and shows movies while sleeping through class. She plans to quit teaching and marry her wealthy fiancé Mark but, when he dumps her after learning she is only after his money, Elizabeth must resume her job. She tries to win over substitute teacher Scott Delacorte, who is also wealthy because his family runs a watch company. Amy Squirrel, a dedicated but overly enthusiastic colleague, also pursues Scott while the school's gym teacher, Russell Gettis, makes it clear that he is interested in Elizabeth romantically; she, however, is not interested in him because he's just a gym teacher. Early in the film, Elizabeth plans to get surgery to enlarge her breasts, and becomes all the more motivated to do so once she learns Scott's ex-girlfriend had large breasts. However, when she tries to schedule an appointment for her breast surgery, she cannot afford the $9,300 procedure. To make things worse, Scott admits that he has a crush on Amy, and that he only likes Elizabeth as a friend. Elizabeth attempts to raise money for the surgery by participating in her 7th grade class car wash in provocative clothing and by manipulating parents to give her money for more school supplies and tutoring, but her efforts are not enough. Amy, acting on the growing resentment between them due to Elizabeth pursuing Scott and ignoring school rules, attempts to warn the principal about Elizabeth's embezzlement scheme, but he dismisses her claims as groundless. Elizabeth later learns from her best friend, Lynn Davies, that the teacher of the class with the highest state test scores will receive a $5,700 bonus. With this knowledge, Elizabeth decides to change her style of teaching, forcing the class to intensely read and study To Kill A Mockingbird for the upcoming test. However, the change is too late and insufficient. The students have terrible scores on their quizzes, frustrating her even more. Meanwhile, she befriends Russell the gym teacher as Amy and Scott start dating. Desperate to pay off the procedure for her breast surgery, Elizabeth steals the state test answers by disguising herself as a journalist and seducing Carl Halabi, a state official who is in charge of creating and distributing the exams. Elizabeth gets Carl drunk and convinces him to take her to his office to have sex, but she spikes his drink and steals a copy of the answers. A month later, Elizabeth's class aces the test and she wins the bonus, giving her the funds needed to get her breasts enlarged. When Elizabeth learns that Amy and Scott are chaperoning an upcoming field trip, she smears an apple with poison ivy and leaves it for Amy, who ends up with her face breaking out in blisters, so she cannot go. On the trip, Elizabeth seduces Scott. They dry hump and Elizabeth secretly calls Amy using Scott's phone leaving a message recording all the action, ensuring she knows about the affair. However, Scott's peculiar behavior, which was subtly exposed by Russell, disappoints Elizabeth. Elizabeth later gives advice to one of her students who has an unrequited crush on the superficial Chase in class, which causes her to reflect on how she has been superficial as well. On a field trip the boy makes an embarrassing public confession of his love and is ridiculed by his classmates. Elizabeth takes him aside, gives him her bra, and tells everyone she caught him having sex with a student from another school, which erases his image as a loser. Left behind at the school, Amy switches Elizabeth's desk with her own to trick the janitor into unlocking Elizabeth's sealed drawer. Amy finds Elizabeth's journalist disguise and the practice test, which leads her to suspect Elizabeth cheated on the state exam. Amy informs the principal and gets Carl to testify against her. However, Elizabeth took embarrassing photos of Carl while he was drugged and, with the help of her roommate, Kirk, uses them to blackmail him to say she is innocent. Having failed to nail Elizabeth for cheating, Amy accuses her of drug use, based on a tip from a student. When the police arrive and bring their sniffer dog to search the school, they find Elizabeth's mini liquor bottles, marijuana and OxyContin pills in Amy's classroom, in a secret compartment in Elizabeth's desk which Elizabeth helpfully points out to the police. At the end of the school year, Amy is moved to the worst school in the county by the superintendent. Scott asks Elizabeth to start over, indicating that he now has a crush on her, but Elizabeth rejects him in favor of a relationship with Russell, who she has learned she has a lot in common with. When the new school year starts, Elizabeth has not gotten the breast enlargement after all, because she feels that she looks fine the way she is. She also has a new position as the school's guidance counselor.

comedy, adult comedy, intrigue, absurd, romantic, revenge

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Ready to Rumble

Sewage workers Gordie Boggs (David Arquette) and Sean Dawkins (Scott Caan) are huge wrestling fans. They seem to know a lot about it except the biggest piece of it; wrestling is scripted. Their favorite wrestler is WCW World Heavyweight Champion Jimmy King (Oliver Platt) who personifies a modern king. Unbeknownst to them, King is actually a low life wrestler who burned out his fortune and didn't show a lot of respect for his boss, his family, or his co-workers.WCW promoter Titus Sinclair (Joe Pantoliano), fed-up with King's attitude and antics, establish a plan to screw King out of his title and destroy him. To do so, he hires WCW wrestler Diamond Dallas Page (Himself) and his crew of wrestlers. He books a match between King and DDP and keeps everyone thinking that King is gonna win.So Sean and Gordie go to the WCW monday nitro show as fans, believing they're about to witness another King victory. What ensues is their favorite wrestler getting beat up for real in the ring, loosing his championship belt and getting publicly fired from WCW for life. After the match, the two wrestling fans express their rage in their septic truck, resulting in a car crash.After this event, Gordie believes that the car crash was fate and that they should make Jimmy King once again World Champion. Sean agrees to help Gordie, and the dimwitted duo go on a quest to put their King back on his throne. The next day, they meet Isaac (Chris Owen), a nerdy wrestling fan who's father seems to think everything Issac does is for pussies. They asks their new friend to use his internet knowledge to find out where the washed-up wrestler lives. Isaac succeeds to find King's address, and the boys go to an unexpected-looking neighborhood. They find King's estranged wife Eugenia (Caroline Rhea) and his uneducated son Frankie (Tait Smith) who both happens to be far from the queen and prince type. Eugenia reveals that King left them a while ago to run with another girl and never returned or sent anything for child support. They later meet his parents (Kathleen Freeman and Lewis Arquette), who reveals that their son borrowed their mobile home, and never returned it.The duo finally find King, with the help of Isaac, hidding in a trailer park, drunk and dressed like a woman. After paying King 30$ for a 5 minutes encounter, they have a conversation in which King says that he gave up on wrestling. Gordie and Sean, with their stupidity, anger King to the point where he suddenly attacks the two boys. The boys encourage King to beat them up, convincing him that he can still fight and that he should fight DDP again. King accepts the offer and knocks out the boys with his finishing move to thank them. The two boys wake up the next day to find Jimmy King ready to take a shot at wrestling again.While on a road trip to the WCW arena, Gordie sends letters to his angry father, an overzealous cop who wanted Gordie to follow in his footsteps to be a policeman and who hates wrestling because he deem it unmanly and fake. Gordie tells his father that he will not join him in a policeman test, making him frustrated to the point where he shoots the letter with his gun.They arrive at the WCW arena where they hide King in a port-a-potty and meet one of the Nitro Girls, Sasha (Rose McGowan). When DDP mocks Jimmy King on camera, King comes out of the port-a-potty and beats him up. King ask for a rematch which Sinclair agrees with a few conditions. The match will be a triple cage match for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship between DDP and King. If King wins, he not only regain his title but he also gets a million dollar cash prize. However, if King loses, he will never wrestle again in WCW or anywhere else. Gordie and Sean agrees with the terms, not listening to King's protest.Later that night, during a party, Sasha flirts with Gordie, saying she was impressed with him, and invite him on a date at her appartment where she has sex with him.Meanwhile, King, out of sheer panic, tries to run away but falls into a sewer. The boys find him and convince him they found the perfect trainer for him. They find Sal Bandini (Martin Landau), an old school trainer who likes to train his students by beating them up and putting them through excruciating submission holds. Sal agrees to train King and therefore starts beating him up. The boys also think that King should have a partner to back him up. They turn to WCW wrestler Bill Goldberg (Himself) who used to be King's partner. Goldberg refuses to help King due to way King treated him in the past.That night, Sal is assaulted and injured by WCW thugs Sid Vicious(Himself) and Perry Saturn (Himself). At he hospital, Gordie overhears Sasha on the phone with Sinclaire and realises Sasha was faking their relationship to spy on them, and breaks up with her.Under Sal's advice to hide until the match, Gordie and Sean bring King to their hometown of Lusk, Wyoming. On the way, King goes to his wife to apologies and promises, after two kicks to the groin, to use the million dollar cash prize to make it up to her and their son.Upon their arrival, Gordie's father comes along to pick up his son and convinces him that his dreams of wrestling are stupid. That night, Sean and King try to bust Gordie out of his room where he's been confined to study until the next police exam, but Gordie refuses, saying it's time he gets real with his life.King and Sean holds an audition to find an entourage to help King during the match. Many candidates show up, but no one makes the cut and King realises he's gonna have to do it alone. As they are about to leave, Gordie comes to say goodbye and apologies to King for not going with them. King dismiss the apology because he understands and thanks Gordie for everything he's done for him.Meanwhile, Sean meets up with Wendy (Melanie Deanne Moore) whom he first tought of as one of the guys but realised he has developped a soft spot for her while she was always infatuated with him. He gives her a New-York Hard Rock Cafe T-shirt and confess that he's been thinking about her. She thanks him by bringing him inside the RV and have sex with him before he leaves.The night of the match, King is ready but very nervous. He's joined by Sean, dressed to impress as he's going to act as a manager to King. The match starts and turns rapidly to nightmare for King when it is revealed that DDP's goons were hiding under the ring and therefore, are inside the cage with him. One of the goons is a masked wrestler who turns out to be King's son Frankie who proceeds to beat up his dad. As King is getting beat up by the goons, out comes WCW wrestlers Goldberg, Booker T, Billy Kidman and Disco Inferno to help him.Unfortunately, they can't get in the cage since de door is padlocked. Out comes another man on a motorcycle who uses the entrance ramp as a jump to crash through the cage door and take out some of the goons. That man is Gordie, dressed in a wrestling version of his father's uniform. His father sees his son on TV and starts cheering him on with is collegues. Gordie and the others deal with DDP's possee and defeat them while King and DDP climb the cage to get to the belt. Sasha tries to get back together with Gordie as the fans love him, but is knocked out by a ladder after not listening to Sean's warning.Meanwhile, in the highest cage, DDP manages to throw King down to the lowest cage. As he attempts to reach for the belt, Page is knocked down to the lowest cage himself by WCW wrestler Sting who was threatened into helping DDP earlier by Sinclaire. The two climb back to the top again and fight it out until King manages to slam DDP all the way to mat, knocking him out in the process. King retrieves the belt and is once again champion.After this, Sean and Gordie beat up Sinclaire before tossing him in the crowd where the fans beat him up some more. Goldberg asks King to re-team with him, but the new champ announces his new partner will be Gordie and their manager will be Sean. Gordie's father is cheering and accept his son's decison while Wendy is seen at work jumping and screaming her love for Sean.Afterward, Sean is back in Lusk, at the convenient store where the story began, telling the story to some kids and saying "dreams can come true". Just as one of the kids ask Sean to prove that his story is real, the store clerk, known for being mean to kids, is projected throught the glass door by Goldberg, Gordie and King. All ends happily as the heroes ride off in a stretch Hummer (driven by Nitro Girl Chae), together with Sal, now fully recovered in a hot tub with beautiful women and ends it by saying "God bless America".The end credits feature bloopers and a montage of kicks to the groin.

revenge, cult, violence

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Panic in the Streets

At night, on a seedy street of New Orleans, we see an upper floor window that is thrown open. In that room a poker game is under way. One of the players is seaman Kochak (Lewis Charles), who gathers a large pot he has just won and says he feels sick and needs to go rest. The other players object, Blackie (Jack Palance), Raymond Fitch, ( Zero Mostel), and Poldi (Guy Tomajan), claiming that it was too early to quit. Despite threats, Kochak leaves. Blackie quickly talks to the other two, ordering them to bring back Kochak or the money. Raymond and Poldi follow Kochak out, stop him and push him, but Kochak continues on his way. Raymond and Poldi are giving up, but an angry Blackie demands that he be followed. Some distance away, in the dock area, Kochak is surrounded, there is a brief fight. Blackie kills Kochak with two shots and orders Raymond and Poldi to get rid of the body after retrieving the money.The next morning, Dr. Clinton Reed, a U.S. Public Health Service officer (Richard Widmark) is at home looking forward to a day off with his wife Nancy (Barbara Bel Geddes) and son Tommy (Tommy Rettig), We see him as a family man painting furniture with his young son. Later he and the wife discuss how it appears they can't make ends meet with his salary, as there are bills that have gone unpaid for quite a while.From a dock on the river front, the dead body of Kochak has been spotted, and policemen pick it up and take it to the morgue. The coroner technician digs out the two bullets and notices something strange with the body. Immediately he isolates the body and phones Dr. Reed at home.Dr. Reed reluctantly agrees to come back to the morgue, and confirms the dead man had pneumonic plague, similar to bubonic plague but attacking the lungs, and transmitted not by rats but by coughing and sneezing and physical contact among people. He takes charge, isolates everyone who touched the body, has the body cremated and starts inoculating the policemen and morgue technicians.At a hastily summoned emergency meeting with mayor Murray (H. Fowler, Jr.), police chief Tom Warren (Paul Douglas) and other authorities, Reed describes the potentially enormous consequences and deaths that could ensue from not finding those infected. Death occurs within four days of the onset of illness, and illness within about two days of contagious exposure. So they have a 48 hour window to try to find those exposed and prevent further illnesses by inoculations.Since the dead man was moved by his killers, the killers have been exposed and must be found. The search has to be done with a different excuse, otherwise the killers might leave town and potentially infect the whole nation. The secret must also be kept from the public, otherwise there would be a mass exodus that might spread the illness through a vast area.The mayor supports Reed, the rest go along very reluctantly. Warren objects that he has an impossible job because the murder victim is unidentified, but grumblingly he promises to do his best. Reed and Warren display short tempers and grudging respect for each other as they start off on their search for the killers.Warren orders a round up of all known petty criminals and suspects, who are shown a picture of the murder victim and are asked what they know. Reed is so involved an intense that he gets in the way of the police procedures, so he goes on his own to try other ways to identify the murder victim.Dr. Reed goes into the seamens hiring hall and offers a $50 reward to anyone who can identify the murder victim, to no avail. He senses there is a reluctance to give information, so he announces he will wait at a nearby café, Franks Place just in case anyone wants to talk to him. After some waiting, a girl comes to him and says she thinks she knows a boat owner who might have seen the unidentified victim. Reed follows her to a boat and the owner denies knowing anything. After some pushing, the owner says he also owns a café that is run by his wife and will ask his wife.At the café, the wife is consulted by her husband out of sight from Reed. She recognizes the man but refuses to admit it. She complains of having a headache, and she starts to cough.Meantime, Blackie, Raymond and Poldi have sensed that the police is after something important, and Blackie guesses that the dead man, who was Poldi's cousin, is much more important than one would guess from a merchant seaman, and imagine that Kochak had information about some treasure or drug stash.A scene in Blackies supposed legitimate business serves to define the characters of both Blackie and Raymond. Blackie argues with Raymond and his shrewish wife (Liswood), and shows Raymonds frantic subservience as he tries to pacify each, like some berserk pinball.There are brief scenes where Blackie's complex character is further developed. When a stunning prostitute asks Blackie for $100 (the equivalent of $1000 in 2010), he doesn't hesitate. When a little newspaper seller gives him some information, he insists on giving money to him, although, he doesn't want it. When a doctor tells him that the man he is trying to kill is sick and needs an expensive sanitarium, Blackie quickly offers the money. He may be a killer, but he sure is generous.The film intersperses small scenes that grab attention simply by making the characters and their little exchanges interesting. Like the Irish dwarf, for instance, who refuses to take payment for his favors, looking up at the towering Blackie, saying, "No, Blackie, no." And then after Blackie stuffs the bills into his sweater, he hobbles away backwards and saying, "God bless ye, Blackie, God bless ye."In the same vein, Reeds character is developed as struggles with his status as a nearly absentee dad, slaving away at a job that pays him poorly and barely managing to spend any time with his wife and son. The $50 reward he offers for information means the bill he was going to pay will have to wait.Blackie starts to suspect Poldi of holding out on him, since Kochak was Poldi's cousin, so Poldi disappears trying to get away from Blackie.Meantime, the wife of the café owner has been taken to a hospital, and dies from the plague. Her husband arrives, and Dr. Reed is able to extract more information due to the heavy guilt and grief. Kochak is identified as having arrived in a ship called the Queen of the Nile, which is still within reach of the authorities.The ship is boarded, and despite the Captains denials and lack of cooperation, Reed succeeds in questioning the crew, and finds that there had been a recent death on board. The interview of two Asian cooks aboard the Nile Queen is hilarious -- "He cawr me dirty names and ask for Shishabob!" Later, loudly proclaiming that the crew will start dying in just a few days, Reed succeeds in convincing the seamen to get inoculated. The captain yields as his crew starts to mutiny.During these searches, three times, Reed just misses meeting up with Raymond. The viewer is tantalized with both men in the same frame but unaware of the connection between them.The film has a subplot in which a news reporter, who wears his "Freedom of Speech" as a badge of honour, is shut down and locked away in a jail, to prevent him from publishing a story that might indeed trigger panic in the streets. This is a decision by the mayor at the urging of Reed that gives rise to a brief discussion of Constitutional rights.Eventually Blackie finds and interrogates the dying Poldi as to the precise nature of his cousin's presumed contraband. Cat like, Blackie stalks his victim across the room, eventually preying over the doomed man's sick bed, holding Poldi's feverish head in his hands. Meantime, Poldi's mother has summoned a nurse, whose entrance prevents Blackie from torturing the dying Poldi. She is aware of the seriousness of Poldi's condition, and refuses to leave. Blackie summons his own doctor, and the doctor expels the nurse, who manages to get messages to Reed about the situation. Were it not for the serendipitous perceptive nurse, Reed and Warren might still be looking for the killers.The doctor together with Blackie Fitch start to move Poldi out of his room and down some stairs and this is when they meet up with Reed. Poldi is thrown down to his death, and an exciting chase follows. Blackie and Raymond hijack a van to flee, as they are being chased by Reed, Warren, and half the New Orleans Police, first in 1949 Ford police cars, then on foot after the van is surrounded. The two escaping killers try to throw off the pursuers in a coffee and bananas warehouse where they hide among the mountains of burlap coffee bags. At one point Reed enters and yells at them that they will die unless they surrender and get inoculated.The weight challenged Raymond trying to keep up with Blackie is a source of shots that would be funny except for the circumstances.After Raymond is captured, in the final chase shots Blackie is on the run at the water level under the wooden docks, with the police hot on his tail. Trying to escape on a fruit boat headed towards South America the dirty and murderous rat, Blackie, is prevented from getting on board by the ship's rat shield causing him to end up in the water where he is eventually captured.The final shots symbolize that the emergency is over, as the exhausted Reed returns to his family.

murder

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The Cooler

We begin with an aerial view of the hotels in Las Vegas, before settling on one called the Shangri-La. Inside one gaming area, the patrons all seem to be winning. Joe, a floor boss, picks up a phone and asks where Bernie is - they need him right away. Moments later, from an elevator emerges Bernie Lootz (William H. Macy), dressed in a seedy-looking ill-fitting suit. As he limps through the casino and passes people, their luck immediately goes sour. Roulette wheels, blackjack cards, crap tables and slot machines all stop paying out. Bernie then wanders over to Doris, the barmaid, who pours him a coffee. He asks for cream, but as she starts to pour it the creamer runs dry.A pretty blonde waitress, Natalie Belisario (Maria Bello) brings a drink order to the bar. Bernie tries to chat with her, but she is clearly distracted. She asks Doris if Shelly left word for her; he was supposed to put her at the tables rather than the nickel slots she's been stuck at. As Natalie leaves, Bernie promises her he'll talk to Shelly but she doesn't seem to notice.Joe tells Bernie he's needed on table 11. Bernie tells Joe to have Natalie bring him a drink - that he talked to Shelly and he wanted her on the tables tonight. Natalie brings him the drink, thanking him for talking to Shelly. Bernie then takes the drink to a player at the crap table who's having a hot streak - which ends immediately. Bernie then plays some blackjack, losing his money and wrecking the luck of all the other players.Next, we see casino boss Shelly Kaplow (Alec Baldwin) in his office. He has a headache and is trying to get a manicure, when a small entourage of men in gray suits barge in . Leading the pack is his casino partner, Nicky Bonnatto (Arthur J. Nascarella). Nicky introduces Shelly to his new VP Larry Sokolov (Ron Livingston) and his numbers guy, Marty Goldfarb. After drinks, smokes and jokes, Nicky tells Shelly that Larry has some ideas to revitalize the Shangri-La. Shelly asks why - they raked in $35 million last year. Larry explains that he respects the job Shelly has done the last 16 years, but that things have changed on the strip. Shelly responds in disgust about the "Disneyland" the strip has become. What was once a high class hooker, has now become a cheap, fat whore. Larry points out that other casinos are raking in dough and the Shangri-La just can't compete anymore. Shelly says they're not trying to compete; this is where old-time real money comes to play. Larry counters they only offer nostalgia - fine for museums but not casinos.Later, Shelly meets Bernie on the floor and stops him for a chat. He asks how his knee is and tells him about an orthopedist who can make a kneecap out of titanium. But Bernie reminds him he won't be here past Sunday. Shelly asks him where he's going to go that better than this. But Bernie insists that in seven days he's gone.Bernie goes to his motel room at the Bettor Life motel, a dismal dive. He sits in bed watching TV. He can't even try to sleep because his neighbor is having loud, headboard-banging sex on the opposite side of the wall.Next day, a high roller is on a hot streak. When Natalie brings him his drink, he deliberately takes his time stuffing the money into her cleavage, causing her to topple over into Bernie. She apologizes, but Bernie tells her she might want to stick around. He hands the guy some new dice, and his lucky streak evaporates. The roller sees Natalie smiling at his misfortune, and starts swearing at her, until he is hauled off by security. Natalie smiles at Bernie gratefully.Shelly takes his partner and the new guys out to watch Buddy Stafford (Paul Sorvino), the casino's older, worn-down lounge singer. Larry is clearly not impressed. Shelly goes to see the singer in his dressing room. Buddy is embarrassed about his performance. Shelly tries to pump up his ego, but Buddy is more concerned whether Shelly brought his fix. Shelly did and Buddy quickly shoots up. He tells Shelly about a nature show he saw - how a lion who was once the leader of a pride had gone past his prime and was expelled and left to forage on his own until he died. It would be so much easier, he moans, if he could just walk away with his dignity intact. Shelly disagrees, saying that would be like admitting he was dead already.Bernie walks out to his car and is surprised to find Natalie waiting for him. "Buy you a drink?" she invites. Larry, meanwhile, introduces Shelly to Johnny Capella (Joey Fatone), a new hot singer he thinks should be headlining at the Shangri-La. Shelly tells Larry he already has Buddy signed up for five more years. Johnny is miffed and walks out.Natalie and Bernie are in a diner, where she is reviewing his astrological chart, telling him he is a slow starter when it comes to romance. He tells her it all doesn't matter; he knows what the outcome will be - all bad. He asks if she knows what he does. "You're a cooler", she replies. "You turn winners into losers". He tells her he does it by just being himself. Everyone who's ever been next to him has had their luck turn sour; it's always been that way. That sounds like a self-fulfilling prophecy, she retorts. He blurts out that he is leaving in five days anyway, so she suggests they don't waste any time and just go to his place. He nervously tells her he's not sure he can afford her. She is insulted, and he realizes he's made a mistake. I've done it again, he tells her. I've cooled the damn table. But she assures him he hasn't cooled anything yet.They go to his motel room, where she notices his plants are all dead, and he has a cat food dish but no cat. She sits down on the bed, while he dusts off an old record. But as it starts to play the needle scratches across it. He resets it and nervously sits next to her. She tells him to relax - at least one of them has done this before. As the record starts to play, "Luck Be a Lady Tonight", she starts to undress. He notices she has a tattoo of two dice, each reading a two, on her behind. She walks to him coyly and starts to seduce him. But he is nervous, and ends up just rolling on top of her and finishing very quickly. She tells him gently, "It's okay. I've had worse", then gives him other kind reassurances. The next morning Bernie wakes up to find he's alone. Sadly, he picks up her pillow and hugs it. Suddenly she walks out of the bathroom, brushing her teeth, and asks if he wants to go to breakfast. He nods yes with a huge smile.At breakfast, he tells her about his past. He was an out-of-control gambler who built up a huge debt until Shelly broke his legs with a baseball bat. Natalie is horrified, but Bernie says he's actually grateful. His shattered bones are a reminder to keep him from giving into the temptation to gamble. He worked out a repayment plan with Shelly - six years off the books cooling tables, and it's up in five days. The conversation is interrupted as a pregnant girl nearby has labor pains. Bernie sees them and recognizes the husband as his son, Mikey (Shawn Hatosy). Bernie and Natalie escort the pregnant couple, Mikey and Charlene (Estella Warren), to their car. She has settled down and is no longer in labor. When Bernie asks about Mikey's mother, he angrily responds she's getting by as long as she's high. Bernie nervously invites him to come to his motel to "catch up". Mikey says he might do that for the kid's sake.Bernie sits down at a blackjack table with one other player, Mel, who is obviously winning. He bets one hand and the dealer goes bust with it. Afterward, incredibly, the dealer busts on hand after hand, letting Mel rake in the dough. Bernie is perplexed and leaves the table. Shelly wonders if the dealer is cheating, but can't believe it. They run across Larry - who knows Bernie is a cooler. He chides Shelly for sticking to the old ways. He says there are more effective ways nowadays. He shows Shelly a CD with soft music laced with a subliminal message of "Lose. Lose. Lose." Shelly only rolls his eyes.The other partners arrive, and Shelly takes them to Buddy's room only to find Buddy on the floor dead of an overdose. Shelly suggests that the Paradise room stay closed tonight in Buddy's honor, but Larry quickly has Johnny Capella take over and do the show. The partners are impressed, but not Shelly.Bernie and Natalie try the ring toss as a carnival, but she misses all her tosses. They sit down and Natalie looks sadly at a little boy standing next to his dad. She asks Bernie if he noticed the tattoo on her butt: two dice each with a 2 - a Little Joe. She admits she had a son named Joe, but only for a year. She gave him up for adoption ten years ago because she was 17 and wanted her life back. Her family abandoned her after that, and she ran off to become a showgirl. Deep down, she knows she did the right thing, but now feels she was selfish. Bernie stands up as if to leave, and tells her softly, "I think...I could kick your ass at the dime toss". She laughs and they hug tenderly.Afterward, they make love in his motel room. Bernie is now very confident and gives Natalie obvious pleasure. Then with a smile he asks if she'll do something for him. Moments later, it sounds like they are having loud, headboard-banging sex, but the camera pans up to reveal that the two of them are just leaning against the headboard, rocking it and screaming out loudly. Finally, Bernie screams out and the two collapse, quietly laughing as the neighbor yells for them to shut up. "Did we wake you?" Bernie calls out.Later on, Natalie returns to Bernie's apartment to find Charlene and Mikey waiting there. Mikey asks if Bernie is renting her, because he can't figure out how else his loser father could get so lucky. Before she can say something back, Bernie returns from parking his car. He's surprised but happy to see Mikey. Mikey then tells him they're strapped for money and Bernie gives them $3,000 in cash, all the money he has to spare.Meanwhile, Larry presents a model of the new Golden Shangri-La to the partners: 3 floors of gaming, entertainment, boutiques, restaurants - even a roller coaster. Shelly responds by telling them the plot of the movie LOST HORIZON, how Shangri-La was totally untouched by the outside world - a paradise. Thats what the hotel Shangri-La was supposed to be, and you don't mess with that. Shelly insists that someday people will want the old Vegas back and he'll be there to give it to them.Nicky then goes to play some craps but is annoyed by a rude player. After Nick craps out and the guy laughs, Nicky head-butts him and beats him bloody until security, called by Bernie, drags the guy away. Bernie tells Natalie how anxious he is to get out of Vegas and begs her to come with him. She answers that she's done an astrological compatibility chart on them and they're good together - but only if they stay in Vegas.Bernie returns to his job. As he stands by a table, he is appalled to see his son there, playing craps. Natalie finds him and so does Larry, as Mikey rolls two nines and wins big. Shelly arrives in time to see Mike subtly switching back the real dice for his obviously loaded dice. He then throws a losing roll and decides to graciously leave with his winnings. Shelly tells him he doesn't want to lay out that kind of cash on the floor and invites them to come to his office to collect. Mikey agrees, but when Shelly tells him not to bother bringing his chips he knows he's in trouble. Larry suggests they turn them in to the authorities, but Shelly tells Larry to watch him protect his investment the "old school" way. Bernie is torn up, but goes to save his son.Shelly has the couple down in a basement area, about to work Mikey over when Bernie arrives and begs him to stop. Shelly accuses Bernie of being in on the con, but believes him when he denies it. Instead, he tells Bernie they were up 150 grand when they left the table, so he wants $75,000 each for their lives. When they start to punch Mikey, Bernie agrees to cover the 150 G's. Charlene then starts to have contractions and pleads to go to the hospital. Shelly responds by kicking her in the stomach, then pulling up her shirt to reveal that the "baby" was just a large cushion. Shelly mocks the shocked Bernie by cradling the cushion. He gives Bernie a chance to change his mind but the cooler still offers to cover the debt. Shelly then orders Mikey to be put up on the table. Bernie pleads that they had a deal, but Shelly tells him 150 grand buys only their lives. With that he takes a sledge hammer and breaks both of Mikey's legs.Back at his motel, Bernie blames himself for what happened to Mikey. Natalie gently tells him to stop beating up on himself and begins to dance with him instead. Later on, they are in bed together. She sits up and confesses that she knows she loves him. "You blindsided me, Bernie Lootz," she declares. "I never saw it coming". She then tells him there are things about her that he should know, but he doesn't care; it won't change how he feels about her. He's afraid to voice just how he feels about her because of all his rotten luck. But she tells him his rotten luck is all over now, so he admits that he loves her too.As a new day dawns, Bernie awakes to find his cat Trixie has come back, and Natalie has left him a note, "Have a Spectacular Day". He goes off to work with a new confidence. When the waitress pours his coffee, the creamer finally pours out cream for him. As he makes his rounds, people around him start to get very lucky. Even as Shelly takes him aside to find out what's going on, a brand new slot machine rigged for virtually no payouts hits a big jackpot. Bernie tells Shelly theres nothing wrong with him - he's just in love!Shelly has Natalie brought to him. He reminds her he only hired her to be a lover to Bernie, not to actually fall in love with him. Now his falling in love has turned Lootz's bad luck to good and cost the casino at least a million. He demands that she leave him, not even telling him to his face but just leaving a note. She refuses at first until Shelly threatens her life.Bernie returns home to find a note from Natalie that she has left him. Afterward he returns to the casino to find the creamer has run dry again and he is once more bringing bad luck to everyone he touches. He meets Shelly in the lounge and asks if he muscled Natalie into leaving, but Shelly denies everything and acts offended. Bernie comments that the new lounge singer is all flash and no soul and that he misses Buddy. Shelly tells him Buddy was tired and that he gave him an easy way out. He admits that he knew Buddy would never accept the casino buyout. He'd have fought to the end and eventually would have been hurt. So he gave him the overdose instead and let him die peacefully. Bernie is appalled.That night in his motel room, a lonely Bernie hears a knock on the door. Natalie is back, suitcase in hand. He takes her back before she can even say a word. Later, in bed, she suggests they run away together, but he says he can't. He owes Shelly a debt, and if he ran, Shelly would come after him and hurt her as well.At the casino, Bernie is bringing people luck again, so Shelly has Natalie grabbed from the motel. He tells her he could make her disappear and no one would miss her. "Bernie would!" she counters. She tells Shelly it must kill him to know that Bernie loves her. Bernie was your friend, she shouts at him, and you crippled him. Still he stood by you but no more! She and Bernie are leaving tonight and he can't stop them. Shelly slams her face into a mirror which shatters and leaves her face bloody. He then departs quietly.Bernie returns home to find Natalie hiding in the dark. He finds the broken mirror and turns on the light, seeing her with cuts on her face. She confesses that Shelly paid her to get close to him. She thought it was easy money. But as she got to know him, she saw that he wasn't a phony or a hustler but a decent guy. And she loved the way he treated her like a lady. Now Shelly wants her gone because she brought him luck. She just wanted to tell him the truth before leaving him, because she knows he wouldn't want her now. But instead, Bernie rushes her to the hospital, where they stitch up her cuts. He tells her afterward that everything will be all right. And if she ever looks in the mirror and doesn't like what she sees, then don't believe it. Look into my eyes instead, he tells her tenderly, they're the only mirror you're ever going to need.They go back to the Shangri-La. She tells him she lied about his astrological chart that first night - that it was actually the worst she had ever seen. But he assures her that was before he opened his heart to her now he has Lady Luck on his side. She gives him the $3,000 that Shelly had paid her and suggests he give it to Shelly as a down payment.He goes inside to where Shelly is meeting with his partners, throws Natalie's bloody handkerchief on the table and punches Shelly in the stomach swearing to kill him if he touches Natalie again. Shelly and his men drag Bernie up to the roof. Shelly says he hurt Natalie because he never gives up on a good thing, and Bernie is a very good thing - the best cooler ever. Bernie says he's not that man anymore. He promises to leave, get a job and send Shelly half his paycheck, but.Shelly says if he tries to leave the casino without paying his debt, he'll toss both he and Natalie off the roof. Bernie says he won't do that, because with him dead, he'd no longer the biggest loser in the world - Shelly would. What do you have except this place, Bernie challenges, your legacy is an illusion - you've got nothing. Shelly isn't impressed by the speech and walks away.Bernie turns his $3,000 into chips and starts throwing the dice at the crap table and winning. After he has run up some serious money and gotten Shelly's attention (but no interference from him) Larry arrives demanding Shelly shut him down right now and proclaiming that Bernie isn't leaving with one dime. Shelly hauls Larry into the men's room and tells him Bernie is okay and nobody's touching a hair on his head. He pins Shelly down and declares, wait, on a subsonic level, I hear a mantra "Pain! Pain! Pain!" Then he breaks Larry's wrist.At the table, Bernie is up over 100 grand until he craps out. He bets again but craps out a second time. He then takes the rest of his chips - $80,000 in all and places one last bet, throwing the dice nervously. He is next seen walking out of the casino empty-handed. Natalie is just grateful that he is alive as he drives them away. Meanwhile, Shelly is in his office with a headache, refusing to answer his ringing phone. He finally smashes the model of the new Golden Shangri-La to bits.Miles away in the car, Natalie asks Bernie to tell her what happened. He stops the car on the side of a desert road and opens the door as if he has to throw up. Meanwhile, Shelly gets into his car in the parking lot only to find Nicky waiting in his back seat. Bernie, meanwhile, proceeds to pull wads of money out of his pockets. He tells Natalie he won big at the casino. "Bahamas, here we come", he declares. Then a cop appears at their window, ordering them to step out. Bernie tells the cop he's sorry if he was driving carelessly, but that they just won a load of money. The cop pulls out a gun and tells them they didn't win anything - and orders them to get on their knees.Nicky tells Shelly he's just protecting his investment the old school way. He points his gun at Shelly's temple and shoots him dead. Meanwhile, on their knees in the desert, Natalie whispers to Bernie that they should have known it was all too good to be true. They turn to give each other one last loving gaze as the cop cocks his gun. But instead of hearing a gunshot, they hear a loud thud. They turn to see that a car has run down and killed the cop. Bernie realizes it was just a random drunk driver - a freaky, lucky coincidence. Bernie and Natalie get back into the car and drive away with their money.We see Larry being introduced to the investors as the new Director of Casino Operations at the new Golden Shangri-La. "The future looks very bright, gentlemen. Very, very bright," he assures them. And with those words of endorsement ringing in our ears, we watch Bernie and Natalie drive off toward a new life together.

violence, psychedelic, murder, storytelling

tt0318374

Ai no mukidashi

Chapter 1: YuYu Honda, a young teenage Catholic is attempting to live his life in a faithful and orderly manner. Before his mother dies, she makes him promise that he will marry a woman as beautiful as The Virgin Mary. His father, Tetsu, becomes a devout Catholic priest following the death of Yu's mother, and operates his own church. As he grows up, Yu comes to realise that only marrying Mary will suit him, and goes on his search for Mary. A woman named Kaori becomes obsessed with Tetsu, and forces her love on him, which he eventually reciprocates. Together, the three move into a new house where their relationship is kept a secret. Tired of this secrecy, Kaori leaves the house, which leaves Tetsu broken and depressed. He makes Yu come to confessional every day, and demands to know his sins. Yu, unable to think of any sins he might have committed, lies, but is caught. He decides to deliberately commit sins and confess them to his father.Tetsu becomes displeased with this, and moves to his church, almost disowning Yu as his son. Yu falls in with a gang of three delinquent boys named Takahiro, Yuji and Senpai, who teach him to steal, fight and live on the streets, amused by his need to commit sins only to confess them to his father. They suggest he try something more provocative, which a Catholic priest would not tolerate, and take him to a man named Llyod, who specialises in a "kung fu" technique of taking voyeuristic "panty shot" photos of girls in public. After great training, Yu becomes an expert himself at taking "panty shot" photos, but unlike others, does not do it for perverted reasons, but simply out of a need to commit sins. When he confesses his activities to his father, Tetsu beats him as a father would beat his son, which pleases Yu. He refuses to take Yu's confession, and throws him out of the church, where Yu piously prays to God even in the rain.A gang of three girls, led by Koike pass him and he photographs them, but is caught. Koike however, lets him go, amused about his situation. Yu's friends see this and are greatly inspired by Yu, whom they approach to be trained themselves. Yu obliges, and the four operate as a ring of voyeur photographers, comparing each others photos and rating them. On one such day, Yu bets that if Yuji's photo is better than his, he will wear female clothes, kiss a girl he likes and profess his love in a female voice. Yu loses the bet, and goes out wearing the outfit worn by Meiko Kaji in Female Convict #701: Scorpion, and refers to himself as Sasori (Scorpion).He finds a girl being attacked by a large group of thugs, while she stands off against them. Taking this to be his chance, Yu attacks the group, fighting side-by-side with the harassed girl, whom he sees as the Mary he had promised to marry. The title card is shown at this point.Chapter 2: KoikeKoike, who performs many fraudulent and illegal activities such as drug-dealing, works for a New Religious Movement called the Zero Church, of which she is the regional leader. The daughter of a man seen by society as a model Christian, she was frequently abused by him as a child, physically and sexually. As she grows up, she comes to resent all sex and violently attacks men. One day, she finds that her father has had a stroke, but with a full erection. She takes her revenge by snapping his penis and then chopping it off.Extremely happy after doing so, she ends up meeting the Director of the Zero Church, who inducts her in their ranks and tells her that she has the unique ability to seek out the "original sin"s of others (which she explains is how she came to discover Yu). Unbeknownst to Yu however, she continues to observe and film him, electronically eavesdropping on his conversations with his father and in a board meeting of the Zero Church, proposes a plan to convert Yu's entire family.Chapter 3: YokoYoko grew up with an abusive father who often brought women home and neglected her. Growing up, Yoko becomes fatalistic and comes to hate the very idea of a happy family. She develops a hatred for men, but her life is changed when she meets Kaori, whom her father brings home one day. Kaori and Yoko come close to the point where Yoko accepts Jesus, while being treated to every whim and fancy by her new foster mother Kaori.Kaori however, returns to Tetsu's church and beings to force her love on him, which he resists. Obsessed with him, Kaori rams her car into his, crashing it until she can finally achieve him again. Tetsu returns home with Kaori, much to Yu's surprise, and declares that he will be giving up his priesthood in order to get married to Kaori. When Kaori breaks the news to Yoko, she gets angry and walks away.Meanwhile, Koike, who had been observing Yoko as well as Yu, organises the group of henchmen who harass her before Yu, prompting his intervention in the fight.Chapter 4: SasoriFighting as the enigmatic Sasori, Yu inspires Yoko and the henchmen are dealt with. As per the bet, Yu kisses her after the fight and tells her that he loves her before departing. After this event, Yu realises that this is the first time he has had an erection to a girl - confirming that the girl, Yoko is his Mary.Yu becomes infatuated with Yoko, while Yoko comes to believe that she is a lesbian and becomes infatuated with Sasori. Yu loses interest in his "panty shot" photography, and finds that Yoko will be joining his class as a new student. As Yoko has no interest in Yu, he finds himself unable to approach her directly. When dressed up as Sasori however, Yoko lets her guard down. Yu gives her his number, and finds later that night that Tetsu will be marrying Kaori once he is relieved of his priesthood by the Vatican. Yoko is repulsed when she learns that Yu will be her brother, and calls Sasori. Yu, as Sasori, advises Yoko to be more understanding of him and to understand that perverts have a reason for being the way they are. Sasori ultimately makes Yoko promise that she will treat Yu more affectionately, and as a brother.Yoko does as told, and this sudden improvement in their relations pleases Yu, who still finds himself unable to reveal to her that he is Sasori. The next day however, Koike joins Yu's class as a new student. As per Koike's instructions, henchmen attack the class seeking Sasori. Yu is pushed aside by Koike, who dispatches the thugs and declares that she is Sasori, before Yoko. Yoko is overjoyed to learn that Sasori is in her class, and the two start to have close sexual relations, much to Yu's chagrin. Koike repeatedly taunts Yu, who is infuriated with her designs.Meanwhile, Tetsu's faith in Catholicism starts to waver as he is chastised by his superiors for wanting to give up priesthood in favour of romance. He breaks a long-standing family tradition by not saying grace before dinner. Koike embeds herself in Yu's family, coming to help Yoko with her homework and often for sleepovers, in which she'd have sex with Yoko. She also comes to be the family's spiritual guide and counsels Tetsu and Kaori. When Yu learns that Koike slept with Yoko in his Sasori outfit and has discovered his stash of photographs, he knocks her out cold and decides to reveal the truth about Sasori to Yoko.Yoko however is repulsed by this, and runs away, leaving Yu helpless and angry. The next day, Koike spreads videos and photos of Yu's perverted photos in the school, leading to Yu's expulsion. Yu's family becomes estranged from him, and Tetsu beats him. With Yoko avoiding him, Yu runs away from home, running wildly in the streets screaming Yoko's name. He is eventually found by his friends Senpai, Yuji and Takahiro, and returns to takes refuge in them and recounts his tale.Sneaking into school, Yu learns that both Yoko and Koike have stopped attending school. He finds his home abandoned, and that Tetsu has been missing from Church. Koike managed to convince the family that it was the parents' immoral and sinful behaviour that caused Yu to become a perverted sinner, and inducts Yoko, Tetsu and Kaori into the Zero Church, where they are placed under brainwashing sessions.Yu receives a call from Koike, taunting his situation and advising him to join a porn video company called Bukkake-sha, where he is accepted. The company president is pleased with his skills and assigns him a job filming adult videos in the Tosatsu genre, which is Yu's specialty. Yu is told by Koike's sidekicks that he will continue to work in Bukkake-sha if he wants to see Yoko again. The videos become highly successful, as Yu is motivated by the promise of seeing Yoko again. The company president is impressed with Yu and offers him an active role in adult videos, which Yu fervently denies.Yu is instead placed as a performer in a "weird show" for perverts, wherein he is introduced as the immoral son of a Catholic priest, who "forgives" perverts for their perverted thoughts that they confess to him. He eventually meets Koike's sidekicks again, who show him a video of a brainwashed Yoko. Furthermore, he finds Yoko in a TV report on an attempted suicide in the Zero Church, and he takes researches means to recover Yoko from the Zero Church, but is largely unsuccessful.One day, Yu's friends organise a plan in which Yoko is abducted and taken to an empty beach, tied up and left alone with Yu till she breaks. Yoko refuses to give in, repeatedly calling him a pervert, and a few days into her abduction, tricks Yu into releasing her. Yu catches her and tries to convince her to leave Zero Church, calling it a sham, declaring that even if he is a perverted sinner, he at least has the dignity of being one. Yoko recites the entirety of Corinthans 13, and refuses to give into what she perceives is Yu's perverted love.The next day, Koike and the director of the Zero Church arrive at the beach, having caught Yu's friends. Yu is beaten up and Koike orders Yoko to cut off Yu's penis, while Yu hesitates. Eventually, the director intervenes and invites Yu to join Zero Church, under the condition he strive to get rid of his pervert nature, and prove it by not having an erection while facing Yoko. Yu joins the Church and manages to not have an erection while facing Yoko, and is taken as a dedicated member of the Church.Pretending to be a dedicated member to the cultlike organisation, he discovers Yoko's location and procures dynamite, a katana, a knife and the Sasori outfit, with the help of his friends. He raids the Zero Church facility where Yoko is being kept and brainwashed, and kills the Zero Church's director. Dressing up as Sasori, he arrives before Yoko alongwith his family and Koike. Restrained by Tetsu and Kaori, and with Yoko retreating away from him, he uses the dynamite to blow up a lower floor of the facility, forcing police intervention.When he starts to attack Koike, Yoko starts to strangle him to death, causing him to bleed from his eye, making it look like he's crying blood. Yu breaks free, but has a nervous breakdown and becomes mentally affected. Koike is amused by Yu's breaking down, and says that he has become the same as her and kills herself with the katana. All the while, Yoko cries out of fear and stress.Last ChapterOnce the cult's brainwashing activities come to light, it is closed down. Tetsu and Kaori join a victim support group and appear to return to normal. Yoko goes to live with her relatives, where she uneasily settles into ordinary family life again. She comes to profusely miss Yu, watching the Tosatsu adult videos he made. Eventually, she breaks down on remembering how he cried blood when she tried to strangle him. She berates herself for not having known anything then, and for never having understood Yu.Yu is placed in an mental institution where he has developed a complex in which he is Sasori, and he attacks invisible foes with his katana. Yoko comes to meet him and finds that he does not recognise her, and greets her as Sasori, only remembering that he once saved a girl like her. Yoko presses on him and insists that he is her brother and that he opened her eyes and rescued her from Zero Church. She drives the doctors away and is forcibly taken away by the police, while Yu remains in shock. Shortly thereafter, however, he sees a reflection of himself from below in which he sees his erection, and realises that he is a man.Having flashbacks of his childhood, and the fight in which he first met Yoko, he regains his memories and starts running frantically out of the institution, meeting up with Yoko as she is being taken away by the police. At long last, the two are finally united.

pornographic, cult, romantic, brainwashing, plot twist, sadist

tt1128075

Sentô shôjo: Chi no tekkamen densetsu

Rin (Yumi Sugimoto), a young high school student, is an unassuming and awkward girl who is bullied at school. One day, while being bullied, she feels a sharp pain in her hand. Later, Rin learns that she is a descendant of the ancient Hiruko clan, whose members are mutants gifted with superpowers. No sooner than she learns of this, that her home is raided by anti-Hiruko soldiers. Rin's parents are killed and Rin barely escapes with her life. After killing an entire shopping district out of misunderstanding and grief-fueled rage, Rin meets Rei (Yuko Takayama), another mutant. Rei introduces Rin to a small rag-tag group of mutant rebels led by a transvestite samurai named Kisaragi (Tak Sakaguchi), who is bent on restoring the Hiruko clan's place in the world.Under the instruction of Kisaragi and Rei, Rin begins training, wearing an iron mask until she can control her powers. While in training, the tentacle-armed Yoshie (Suzuka Morita) tells Rin about Rei's past; only three years ago, Rei had been a freak show attraction at a circus, and the only person to show her compassion and acceptance was a human boy who gave her a gold cross necklace. When the townsfolk killed the boy for loving her, Rei's hatred for humans was born. Rin later finds the necklace after Rei accidentally drops it after a training session.When Rin achieves control over her powers much sooner than Kisaragi had expected, he orders her, along with Yoshie, to infiltrate an anti-Hiruko conference and attack a high ranking general named Koshimizu. Rin and Yoshie successfully take out Koshimizu, but find themselves unable to kill some innocent surviving humans. Rei, under Kisaragi's orders, kills the survivors.Eventually, Rin realizes that, in spite of everything that has happened, she cannot turn against her human side. She manages to persuade Yoshie to join in her cause to protect innocent humans rather than kill or subjugate them. Meanwhile, other Hiruko schoolgirls are being brainwashed to carry out suicide bomb attacks at various locations to kill humans. Kisaragi kidnaps and drains the blood of the fervently anti-Hiruko prime minister, which grants him a large grotesque and super-powered body. Yoshie takes on the brainwashed mutant schoolgirls while Rin faces off against Rei. Rin manages to successfully convince Rei to stop her war on humans when she returns Rei's treasured gold cross necklace and triggers fond memories of the human boy who loved her. Rin, Rei and Yoshie team up to defeat Kisaragi and rescue the prime minister.

violence, murder

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The Host

In 2002, an American military pathologist orders his Korean assistant to dump 200 bottles of formaldehyde down a drain leading into the Han River. Over the next four years, there are sightings of a strange amphibious creature in the waterway, and the fish in the river die off. A suicidal man, just before jumping into the river, sees something dark moving in the water. In 2006, a slow-witted young man named Park Gang-du (Song Kang-ho) runs a small snack-bar in a park near the River with his father, Hee-bong (Byun Hee-bong). Other family members are Gang-du's daughter, Hyun-seo (Go Ah-sung); his sister Nam-joo (Bae Doona), a national medalist archer; and his brother, Nam-il (Park Hae-il), an alcoholic college graduate and former political activist. While Gang-du is delivering food to some customers, a huge creature emerges from the Han River and begins attacking people. Gang-du sees his daughter in the crowd and tries to grab her and run. As he realizes he grabbed on the wrong girl, he sees the creature snatching Hyun-seo and diving back into the river. After a mass funeral for the victims, government representatives and the American military arrive and quarantine people who had contact with the creature, including Gang-du and his family. It is announced that the creature is not only a direct danger, but also the host of a deadly, unknown virus. Gang-du is in a hospital when he receives a phone call from Hyun-seo. She is on the phone long enough to explain that she is trapped somewhere in the sewers with the creature, but her phone stops working shortly after. Gang-du tries to explain this to others, but his claims go ignored by all except his family. The four of them escape the hospital. Hee-bong buys a truck, weapons, and a map of the sewers to look for Hyun-seo. They find a snack bar, have a meal and rest. Upon waking up, they encounter the creature. Soon, they discover their gun only serves to anger it, and Hee-bong gets himself killed buying time for his children to escape. Gang-du is captured by the Army. Nam-il and Nam-joo escape but are separated from each other. Two homeless boys, Se-jin and Se-joo, are searching for food when they are attacked and swallowed by the creature. It returns to its sleeping area in the sewer, a large hole, and regurgitates them. Only Se-Joo is alive. Hyun-seo helps Se-Joo hide in a spot the creature cannot reach. Nam-il meets an old friend to trace the location of Hyun-seo's call. He learns that the government has placed a bounty on his family. The friend tries to capture Nam-il, but he manages to escape after obtaining Hyun-seo's general location. He texts the location to Nam-joo and Gang-du. He meets a homeless man (Yoon Je-moon) who knows about the quarantine but decided to stay in the city. After learning of Nam-il's intentions, the man decides to help him. Gang-du overhears the scientists discussing the fact that there is no virus; it is all made up to distract people from the creature's origin. The scientists decide to lobotomize Gang-du to silence him. Gang-du escapes by taking one of the nurses hostage and continues searching for his daughter. Back in the sewers, while the creature is sleeping, Hyun-seo makes a rope from old clothes and uses it to get out of the hole. She realizes too late that the creature only feigns sleep to lure her out of her hiding spot. Hyun-seo and Se-joo are swallowed by the creature. The government announces the plan to release a chemical called Agent Yellow into the river and the surrounding area, hoping it will kill the creature. Gang-du finds the creature's sleeping spot but sees no one there. As Gang-du climbs down to the hole, the monster passes over him. He sees Hyun-seo's arm hanging out of its mouth and gives chase, meeting Nam-joo on the way. The creature makes its way to the location where Agent Yellow is released and a large crowd has formed in protest. As the creature attacks the crowd, Agent Yellow is released, which appears to stun the creature. Gang-du pulls Hyun-seo out of its mouth and sees her still clutching Se-joo. The boy is still alive, but Hyun-seo is already dead. As the creature wakes up, Gang-du starts to attack it but is knocked to the ground. Nam-il and the homeless man come to Gang-du's aid. While Nam-il throws Molotov cocktails at the creature, the homeless man pours gasoline onto it. Nam-il accidentally drops his last bottle. Nam-joo picks up the flaming cloth from the bottle with one of her arrows and fires it at the creature, setting it on fire. Before the creature can escape into the water, Gang-du impales it with a metal pole, finally killing it. As Nam-il and Nam-joo hold Hyun-seo, mourning her death, Gang-du picks up Se-joo and takes him to safety. In the final scene, Gang-du has adopted Se-joo. The two live in his food stand, and he still watches over the river. They have a meal together, ignoring a news broadcast about the aftermath of the incident.

revenge, psychedelic, murder, romantic, flashback

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Captain Ron

Martin Harvey is a middle-aged office worker who lives in a suburb of Chicago with his wife, Katherine, 16-year-old daughter, Caroline and 11-year-old son, Ben. When he learns his recently deceased uncle has bequeathed him a 60' yacht once owned by Clark Gable, he decides to take his family to the island of Ste. Pomme de Terre ("Saint Potato") to retrieve the yacht so he can sell it. Katherine resists the idea, but agrees after Caroline announces she has just gotten engaged. When the Harveys arrive at the island, they discover that the yacht, the Wanderer, is in terrible condition. Upon hearing this, the yacht broker cancels his plan to send an experienced captain to help them sail to Miami, and instead hires a local sailor, Captain Ron Rico, a one-eyed man with a very laid back attitude, and Navy veteran who claims to have piloted the USS Saratoga. He launches immediately when he sees the car he arrived in roll off the dock and sink. The car's owner arrives at the dock and shoots at Captain Ron. Captain Ron takes Ben's money in a game of Monopoly, giving him beer to drink and charging him for it later, but shows loyalty to Martin, who he refers to as "Boss". Martin doesn't like him, calls him "Moron" in his diary, and believes that he doesn't know what he's doing. The Harveys decide to stop off in the Caribbean, but learn that Captain Ron doesn't know how to navigate. While on a random island, Martin decides to go on a nature hike, but runs into guerrilla led by General Armando. Captain Ron bargains for Martin's freedom by giving them a lift to the next island, and receiving some firearms in return to fight off pirates. This angers Martin, as he declares there will be no firearms on his yacht and tosses them overboard, before realizing that without them, he is going to have to give the guerrillas a lift. In the yacht's cabin, Katherine shows Martin the initials from Clark Gable and Carole Lombard marked on the bedpost. Katherine and Martin are so excited that they share their feelings and have passionate sex. When they arrive at their next destination, San Juan, Puerto Rico, Martin and Katherine are arrested for smuggling guerrillas. Caroline and Ben party with the locals and Captain Ron, which ends with Caroline getting a tattoo, Ben breaking his glasses and Captain Ron losing his glass eye. Martin and Katherine are released from jail, but forced to leave that night. Martin decides to leave Captain Ron behind and they encounter pirates who steal the yacht, and are stuck floating in a raft. They land in Cuba and discover the yacht there. The pirates find them, but with the help of Captain Ron, they are able to escape with the yacht. Captain Ron learns that they underrate Martin and decide to play hurt, forcing him to take control in the escape. Using the skills that Captain Ron taught them, they are able to get the sails up after the engine breaks from lack of oil to distance themselves from the pirates. The United States Coast Guard fires once at the pirates, scaring them away and creates a safe passage to Miami. They arrive in Miami and part ways with Captain Ron. As they sail to their destination, they decide to turn the yacht around and keep it. In the final scene, Captain Ron (now cleaned up with his hair pulled back and wearing a suit) appears and is now employed by a wealthy couple in a small motorboat. Captain Ron tells the couple they should take the boat out for a spin.

cult, comedy

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Gothika

Psychiatrist Dr. Miranda Grey (Halle Berry) who works at the Woodward Penitentiary For Women, has a car accident after trying to avoid a girl (Kathleen Mackey) on a road during a stormy night. She rushes to try to help the girl. The girl turns out to be a ghost and possesses Miranda's body. Miranda next wakes up in the very hospital she works for, but as a patient treated by her co-worker, Dr. Pete Graham (Robert Downey, Jr.). Drugged and confused, she remembers nothing of what happened after the car accident. To her horror, she learns that her husband Douglas (Charles S. Dutton) was brutally murdered and that she is the primary suspect. While Miranda copes with her new life in the hospital, the ghost uses her body to carry out messages (most noticeably, she carves the words "Not Alone" into Miranda's arm), which leads her former colleagues to believe Miranda is suicidal and is inflicting the wounds on herself. Meanwhile, Miranda bonds with fellow inmate and former patient, Chloe Sava (Penélope Cruz). Several times in sessions, Chloe had claimed that she'd been raped while in the hospital, but Miranda had always attributed these stories to mental illness. One night, the door to Miranda's room in the hospital is opened by the ghost that has been haunting her. When she passes Chloe's room in the hospital, she can hear the rape occurring and momentarily sees a man's chest pressed against the window. The man's chest bears a tattoo of an Anima Sola. Miranda realizes that Chloe was not making up these stories and, when she sees Chloe the next day, she apologizes and the two embrace. Chloe warns Miranda that her attacker said he was going to target Miranda next. Miranda begins regaining some of her memories bit by bit and slowly comes to remember herself killing her husband. She realizes that the ghost had used her body to murder Douglas, thus making Miranda the patsy for his murder. This is why all of the physical evidence points to Miranda. Miranda escapes from the hospital, having recognized the girl as a ghost. Seeking clues to the mystery of why she killed her husband, she goes to a farmhouse in Willow Creek, Rhode Island. In the cellar of the barn, she discovers a room containing a blood-stained bed, what appears to be a box containing drugs, restraints, and video equipment. She watches the tape that is still in the camera and the viewer hears a woman screaming as if tortured or raped. In the final seconds of the video, Douglas walks into the shot, covers a woman's lifeless body on the bed with a sheet, and winks at the camera. At this point, police arrive and one officer comes closer to Miranda and draws a gun on her while she is holding a knife to him. Miranda backs up to a staircase and, all of a sudden, an injured, frantically screaming girl grabs hold of her from the adjoining crawlspace. The police release the girl, and Miranda is taken to jail. While she is in jail, Sheriff Ryan (John Carroll Lynch), who was Douglas's closest friend, talks to Miranda and quizzes her on how she knew all these things. He does not believe her claim that ghosts told her everything and asks her what sort of person the accomplice would be. Miranda uses her experience as a psychiatrist to give a psychological profile, and as she does so, realizes that Ryan fits the profile perfectly. He attacks her and, in the fight, reveals his tattoo (an Anima Sola). Miranda kills the sheriff in an act of self-defense with the help of the ghost. Pete, just a few seconds later, shows up at the station, worried about Miranda's safety after he solves the mystery himself. He looks relieved to see Miranda safe and, through the soundproof window, mouths the words "I'm sorry, Miranda." Approximately a year later, Miranda is seen walking with Chloe on a city sidewalk, discussing how each helped the other come to terms with her experiences. Miranda claims to be free of the ghost's influence and sends Chloe off in a taxi. Miranda then sees a young boy standing in the middle of the road who appears as though he is about to be struck by a fire truck. Miranda yells for the boy to move but, after the fire truck passes through the boy without harming him, she realizes he was only a ghost. As Miranda walks away, a poster with the words "Have you seen Tim?" and a picture of the same boy is shown taped to a pole next to the street on which Miranda is walking.

psychological, neo noir, gothic, murder, paranormal, violence, horror, flashback, insanity, romantic, suspenseful

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Enthiran

After a decade of research, the scientist Vaseegaran creates a sophisticated android robot with the help of his assistants, Siva and Ravi, to commission it into the Indian Army. He introduces the robot, named Chitti, at a robotics conference in Chennai. Chitti helps Sana, Vaseegaran's medical student girlfriend, cheat in her examination, then saves her from being assaulted by a group of thugs. Vaseegaran's mentor, Professor Bohra, is secretly engaged in a project to create similar android robots for a terrorist organisation, but has so far been unsuccessful. Vaseegaran prepares Chitti for an evaluation by the Artificial Intelligence Research and Development (AIRD) Institute, which is headed by Bohra. During the evaluation, Chitti attempts to stab Vaseegaran at Bohra's command, which convinces the evaluation committee that the robot is a liability and cannot be used for military purposes. Vaseegaran's effort to prove Bohra wrong fails when he deploys Chitti to rescue people from a burning building. The robot saves most of them, including a girl named Selvi who was bathing at the time, but she is ashamed at being seen naked on camera and flees, only to be hit and killed by a truck. Vaseegaran asks for one month to modify Chitti's neural schema to enable it to understand human behaviour and emotions, to which Bohra agrees. While nearing the deadline, Chitti becomes angry with Vaseegaran, demonstrating to him that it can manifest emotions. Chitti uses Sana's textbooks to successfully help Sana's sister Latha give birth to a child. Bohra congratulates Vaseegaran on the achievement and allows Chitti to pass the AIRD evaluation. Chitti develops romantic feelings for Sana after she congratulates Chitti by kissing it. When Vaseegaran and Sana realise this, Sana explains to Chitti that they are only friends. Saddened by Sana's rejection, yet still in love with her, Chitti deliberately fails an evaluation conducted by the Indian Army. Enraged, Vaseegaran chops Chitti into pieces, which are dumped by Siva and Ravi into a landfill site. Bohra visits the site to retrieve Chitti, which has now reassembled itself, albeit in a damaged state. Bohra embeds a red chip inside Chitti while reconstructing it, converting it into a ruthless killer. It then gatecrashes Vaseegaran and Sana's wedding, kidnaps Sana, creates replicas of itself and kills Bohra. Using its robot army, Chitti occupies AIRD and causes mayhem in the city. After informing Sana that it has acquired the human ability to reproduce, Chitti wishes to marry her so that a machine and a human being can give birth to a preprogrammed child, but Sana refuses. It eventually finds Vaseegaran, who entered AIRD to stop it, and nearly kills him before the police appear. The ensuing battle between Chitti's robot army and the police personnel leads to many casualties and much property destruction. Vaseegaran eventually captures Chitti using a magnetic wall and accesses its internal control panel, whereby he instructs all the other robots to self-destruct. He removes Chitti's red chip, calming it. In a court hearing, Vaseegaran is sentenced to death for the casualties and damages caused by the robot army, but Chitti explains that it was Bohra who caused its deviant behaviour and shows the court video footage of Bohra installing the red chip. The court releases Vaseegaran, while ordering that Chitti be dismantled. Left with no choice, Vaseegaran asks Chitti to dismantle itself. While saying goodbye, Chitti apologises to Vaseegaran and Sana before dismantling itself. The film's setting then shifts to 2030. Chitti is now a museum exhibit. A curious school student on excursion asks her guide why it was dismantled, to which Chitti responds, "Naan sinthikka arambichen" (English: I started thinking).

romantic

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Thir13en Ghosts

Ghost hunter Cyrus Kriticos (F. Murray Abraham) and assistant Dennis Rafkin (Matthew Lillard) lead a team on a mission to capture a spirit, called the Juggernaut, in a junkyard. Several of the men are killed during the ensuing fight, including Cyrus himself. However, the team is able to catch the ghost.Arthur Kriticos (Tony Shalhoub), a mathematician who is also a widower, is informed by the estate lawyer of his uncle Cyrus, Benjamin Moss (JR Bourne), that he has inherited a mansion. Arthur and his financially insecure family plan to move into this mansion with his two children, Kathy (Shannon Elizabeth) and Bobby (Alec Roberts). Their babysitter/nanny Maggie (Rah Digga) accompanies the family.Dennis Rafkin, disguised as a power company employee, meets the family and Benjamin as they tour the mansion. The residence is made almost entirely of glass. It contains Latin phrases etched on floors and movable glass walls, along with priceless artefacts. Arthur and his family are eager about inheriting this new home, and while Arthur is discussing financial matters with the attorney, Kathy and Bobby venture off on their own to explore the mansion. After seeing several ghosts in the basement, Dennis frantically runs upstairs to warn Arthur about the home he is about to own. Benjamin assures Arthur that Dennis is crazy and should be ignored. Dennis tells Arthur that there are twelve spirits are imprisoned in the house, held captive by the spells written throughout the residence.Benjamin Moss is seen sneaking off to collect a valise of money which was intended to be payment. However, upon taking the money, he activates a mechanism set up by Cyrus that seals the entrance and releases the ghosts, one by one. Consequently, Moss encounters one of them, the Angry Princess, and backs up into an open doorway, which snaps shut and slices him in half. Later the existence of ghosts is proven to the skeptical Arthur, when he witnesses an attack on his daughter by the ghost known as the Jackal.Bobby, the younger of the two children, disappears after getting separated from Maggie and he wanders into the basement. There he encounters several spirits, including the Torso and the Bound Woman. Arthur manages to find Kathy, and the two battle the Jackal. Kalina Oretzia (Embeth Davidtz), a spirit liberator, helps Arthur free Kathy from the Jackal's grip, only to be lost again a few moments later. After this, Arthur's objective is clear - to find his children and leave this house as soon as possible. This becomes problematic for two reasons: only those equipped with special glasses are able to see the ghosts; and the walls continue to shift, making navigation difficult.Kalina explains that this is not a house - it is a complex machine built by Cyrus, known as the "Ocularis Infernum" (Eye of Hell.) Created by the Devil and powered by the dead, once completed, this demonic device would allow its user to see into the future. To Arthur's horror, he discovers one of the ghosts powering this machine is the spirit of his dead wife, Jean. Kalina goes on to tell Arthur that his children are in grave danger, and the only way to ensure their successful return is to offer his soul in exchange. If Arthur takes his place as the 13th ghost, his sacrifice of pure love would combat all of the evil contained within the machine, thus shutting it down.Cyrus is revealed to be alive, having faked his death in order to lure Arthur to the house; Kalina turns out to be his secret partner and lover, and knocks Maggie unconscious. Cyrus has orchestrated the previous events, including the abduction of Kathy and Bobby, so that Arthur will become the 13th ghost not to stop the machine, as Kalina had claimed, but to trigger it. Cyrus then turns on Kalina and crushes her between two glass walls, claiming "greatness requires sacrifice."Arthur and Dennis make another attempt to save Kathy and Bobby with the help of a detached wall. Facing the Hammer, Dennis pushes Arthur into a corner where he is then protected by the wall, sacrificing his own life in the process. After combating the Hammer, Dennis finds himself cornered by the angry spirit and the newly released Juggernaut; he is brutally beaten and dies when the Juggernaut breaks him in half.Trapped behind the glass, Arthur is visited by Jean's ghost. Then, all the ghosts disappear from the basement, responding to a tape-recorded summons played by Cyrus. Kathy and Bobby have been placed at the center of a set of whirling, razor-sharp rings. Arthur and Cyrus have a violent confrontation , which is interrupted by the sound of Maggie beginning to destroy the machine. Due to this breakdown in equipment, the ghosts are released from their trance. All the ghosts except Jean immediately grab Cyrus, and hurl him into the spinning rings. Dennis' ghost then appears, telling Arthur to go to his kids. Waiting for a break in the razor rings, Arthur jumps to save his children, making the leap without dying. The house's glass walls shatter, releasing the spirits from captivity. A peacful-looking Jean lingers briefly to say goodbye to her family, then departs with the others.The film ends with a battered Maggie walking through the wreckage yelling, "I quit!"

murder, stupid, paranormal, violence, psychedelic, revenge

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Bad Santa

Willie T. Soke and his dwarf assistant Marcus Skidmore are professional thieves. Every year, Willie disguises himself as a department store Santa Claus and Marcus disguises himself as an elf in order for both of them to rob shopping malls at night, using Marcus' wife Lois as their getaway driver and accomplice. Marcus takes his duty as an elf seriously, but Willie is a sex-addicted alcoholic, and is gradually unable to appropriately perform his Santa duties with children, plus his safe-cracking performance is being affected, much to Marcus' dismay. When they are hired at the Saguaro Square Mall in Phoenix, the vulgar remarks made by Willie shock the prudish mall manager Bob Chipeska, who brings them to the attention of security chief Gin Slagel. At the mall, Willie is visited by Thurman Merman, a friendly but exceedingly naive and gullible, overweight boy who thinks Willie is really Santa. Thurman is a constant target of bullying by a teenage gang of skateboarders. At a bar, Willie meets Sue, a woman with a Santa Claus fetish, and they begin a sexual relationship. Willie is harassed by a man in the bar, but Thurman intervenes. Willie gives Thurman a ride home, then enters the boy's house where he lives with his senile grandmother. Thurman reveals that his mother died, and his father, Roger, is away "exploring mountains" (he is actually in jail for embezzlement) until next year. Willie tricks Thurman into letting him steal from the house safe and a BMW owned by Roger. Bob informs Gin that he overheard Willie having sex with a woman in a mall dressing room and Gin starts to investigate. Willie goes to his motel room and sees it being raided, causing him to take advantage of Thurman's naivete and live in his house, much to Thurman's delight. The next day, Marcus gets angry at Willie for taking advantage of Thurman, and states his disapproval of Willie's sex addiction when Willie makes a rude remark about Thurman's grandmother. Gin's investigation of Willie includes visiting Roger, who indirectly reveals that Willie is staying with Thurman illegally. Gin confronts Willie and Marcus at the mall, and takes them to a bar. There, he reveals that he has figured out their plan, blackmailing them for half of the cut to keep silent. Marcus tries to reason with Gin for a smaller cut, but Gin is adamant. With Willie and Marcus now in a corner, their partnership begins to falter, which is exacerbated further when Willie shows up to work clearly drunk or hungover and destroys the Santa attraction, much to Marcus' and Gin's shock. Willie attempts to commit suicide by inhaling vehicle exhaust fumes. He gives Thurman a letter to give to the police, confessing all his misdeeds and information about a heist that will take place in the mall on Christmas Eve. Willie notices Thurman's black eye, which persuades him to make an example of the skateboarding bullies. He confronts and beats up the gang's leader, frightening the other members into stopping their acts towards Thurman. Enraged at Gin for blackmailing him, Marcus and Lois set up a trap for Gin, feigning needing a jump start for their vehicle. Lois hits Gin with the car, then Marcus kills him via electrocution. As Christmas draws closer, Willie and Thurman set up for the holiday, with help from Sue. On Christmas Eve, when the heist is almost complete, Willie goes to get Thurman a pink stuffed elephant that he had wanted for Christmas. Just as he gets the elephant, Marcus reveals to Willie that he intends to kill him, fed up with his increasing carelessness year after year. Lois tells him to hurry up and kill Willie so they can get away with the money and merchandise. But just as Marcus is about to shoot Willie, the police swarm the trio, tipped off by the letter Willie gave to Thurman. When Marcus opens fire, the police shoot at him and Willie flees. Determined to give Thurman his present, he leads the police on a chase to Thurman's house, ignoring orders to freeze. He is repeatedly shot on Thurman's porch, but survives. The epilogue is told through a letter from Willie, who is in a hospital recovering. He expresses his gratitude for Thurman in giving the letter to the police and his name was cleared of the robbery, adding that he will be working for the police as a sensitivity counselor. The shooting of an unarmed Santa embarrassed the police, and Sue is granted guardianship over Thurman and his house until Thurman's father is released. Willie also explains that Marcus and Lois are doing time behind bars for their actions, while expressing hope that Roger is wise to avoid the two. Willie ends the letter by telling Thurman that he should be let out of the hospital soon and for him to be ready for his return. When the lead skateboard bully harasses Thurman again, Thurman finally stands up to him by kicking him hard in the crotch and riding away on his bike.

comedy, dark, murder, adult comedy, cult, suicidal, violence, humor, melodrama

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Coonskin

In the South, Sampson and the local Preacherman plan to bust out their friend Randy from prison. As they rush to the prison, the two are stopped by a roadblock and have a shootout with the police. Meanwhile, Randy and another cellmate named Pappy escape from inside the prison and wait for Sampson and the Preacherman to help them get out. While waiting for them, Randy unwillingly listens to Pappy tell a story about three guys that resemble Randy and his friends. Pappy's story is told in animation set against live-action background photos and footage. Brother Rabbit, Brother Bear, and Preacher Fox are forced to pack up and leave their Southern settings after the bank mortgages their home and sells it to a man who turns it into a brothel. The trio moves to Harlem, "home to every black man". When they arrive, Rabbit, Bear, and Fox find that it is not all that it is made out to be. They encounter a con man named Simple Savior, a phony revolutionary leader who claims to be the cousin of "Black Jesus", and that he gives his followers "the strength to kill whites". In a flashy stage performance in his "church", Savior acts out being brutalized by symbols of black oppression—represented by images of John Wayne, Elvis Presley, and Richard Nixon, before asking his parishioners for "donations". Rabbit and his friends quickly realize Savior's "revolution" is merely a money making scam. Rabbit openly steals a large portion of the donation money, prompting Savior to try to have him killed. After Rabbit tricks his would-be murderers (in a paraphrasing of the story of Br'er Rabbit and the briar patch), he and Bear kill Savior. This allows Rabbit to take over Savior's racket, putting him in line to become the head of all organized crime in Harlem. Rabbit lays out his plan to keep all organized crime money in Harlem. But first, he has to get rid of a few other opponents. Savior's former partners tell Rabbit they will join him but only if he can kill his opponents, otherwise they will kill him instead. Rabbit first goes up against Madigan, a virulently racist and homophobic white police officer and bagman for the Mafia, who demonstrates his contempt for African Americans in various ways, including a refusal to bathe before an anticipated encounter with them (he believes they're not worth it). When Madigan finds out that Rabbit has been taking his payoffs, he and his cohorts, Ruby and Bobby, are led to a nightclub called "The Cottontail". A black stripper distracts him while an LSD sugar cube is dropped into his drink. Madigan, while under the influence of his spiked drink, is then maneuvered into a sexual liaison with a stereotypically effeminate gay man, and then shoved into women's clothing representative of the mammy archetype, adorned in blackface, and shoved out the back of the club where he discovers that Ruby and Bobby are dead. While recovering from being drugged, he fires his gun randomly, and is shot to death by the police after shooting one of them. Rabbit's final target is the Godfather who lives in the subway with his wife and his cross-dressing, gay (and possibly incestuous) sons. The contract for killing Rabbit is given to his only straight son Sonny. Arriving outside Rabbit's nightclub in blackface and clothing representative of minstrel show stereotypes, Sonny is shot multiple times by Rabbit before dying in an explosion caused by a car crash. His body is cremated and taken back home, where his mother weeps over his ashes. Also during the shootout with Sonny, Bear defends Rabbit and is shot several times. Rabbit helps an injured Bear to safety. During his recovery, Bear becomes torn between staying with Rabbit or starting a new crime-free life. Bear decides to look for Fox in order to seek his advice. Upon arriving at Fox's newly acquired brothel, Bear is "married" to a girl he, Fox, and Rabbit met during the fight with Savior's men. Under the advisement of Fox, Bear becomes a boxer for the Mafia. During one of Bear's fights, Rabbit sets up a melting imitation of himself made out of tar. As the Mafiosos take turns stabbing at the "tar rabbit", they become stuck together. Rabbit leaves a bomb next to them and then he, Bear, Fox, and the opponent boxer rush out of the boxing arena as it blows up. The live-action story ends with Randy and Pappy escaping from the prison while being shot at by various white cops, but managing to make it out alive. The main plot of the film is interspersed with animated vignettes depicting a white, blond, large-breasted Miss America who serves as a personification of the United States. In each of these short scenes, she seduces a black man (meant to depict the African-American populace), only to instead beat or kill him.

comedy, cult, violence, absurd, psychedelic, satire, humor, blaxploitation

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Magic in the Moonlight

Berlin, Germany. 1928Stanley Crawford (Colin Firth) is a British illusionist/magical debunker performing a show under the guise of Wei Ling Soo, a Chinese magician. He does such tricks as making an elephant disappear, sawing a woman in half, and entering a sarcophagus and re-emerging in a chair, to the delight of audiences. Backstage, Stanley is rude and snobbish towards his assistants and a fan seeking an autograph. He is approached by his old friend and fellow illusionist Howard Burkan (Simon McBurney). Over a drink, Howard asks Stanley to travel with him to the French Riviera to see a wealthy family that have been enchanted by a young woman claiming to be a medium. Stanley's task is to reveal her as a fraud. He informs his fiance Olivia (Catherine McCormack) of his trip, as she is also a skeptic.The two friends drive to Côte d'Azur to meet the Catledge family. Stanley first meets Caroline Catledge (Erica Leershen) and her husband George (Jeremy Shamos), who both show concern over Caroline's brother Brice (Hamish Linklater), who is smitten with this so-called medium. He is heard practicing serenading her. Stanley and Howard meet Brice, who expresses his awe of this woman, as she has apparently seen things about himself that she couldn't have known, giving him a more introspective look on himself. This woman, Sophie Baker (Emma Stone), arrives with her mother (Marcia Gay Harden). Upon meeting Stanley, she gets a "mental vibration" of him being from the Orient, specifically China, and also deduces that he's done business in Germany. Not quite impressed, Stanley admits that he was recently in Berlin on business. Throughout the rest of the afternoon, Stanley displays his sarcasm and skepticism to Sophie and her mother. Mrs. Baker thinks he's obnoxious, and while Sophie agrees, she adds that he's not entirely unappealing.Brice strums his ukulele and sings to Sophie. He tells her he is very much in love with her and wants to marry her. She neither expresses interest nor disdain for him.That night, the Catledges gather for a seance in which Sophie attempts to communicate with the deceased husband of Brice and Caroline's mother, Grace (Jacki Weaver). Grace is eager to see if she can really speak to her husband. The family connects hands with each other and Sophie as she attempts to make contact. She beckons the spirit to knock once for "yes" and twice for "no". A knock is heard, and Stanley keeps his eyes peeled for anything. Suddenly, a candle begins floating in the air. Everyone, even Stanley, is baffled. Howard reaches to grab it, but sees no evidence of a wire or anything.Stanley still doesn't believe Sophie has any gift, but she is able to shake him a bit when he mentions his uncle and she gets another mental vibration of a "death by water". Stanley admits to Howard that his uncle drowned a few years back. Later, Sophie mentions seeing Wei Ling Soo as a child and enjoying the performance. She knows Stanley is the magician and tells him not to doubt what she can do. It's obvious Sophie has a hold on him as Stanley can barely sleep at night.The family holds another seance where Grace asks her deceased husband if she was always his only woman. One knock for yes. She then hesitantly asks if he ever had an affair with a specific woman she names. Two knocks for no. Grace is overjoyed.Sophie goes for a swim in the Catledges' pool. Brice continues to serenade her and then has the butler bring in a bunch of dresses that Sophie had been checking out in town.Stanley invites Sophie with him to go out on the town. She enjoys eating a lot, to Stanley's surprise. She even mentions information about Olivia and an older flame of Stanley's, Jenny.Stanley takes Sophie to the home of his Aunt Vanessa (Eileen Atkins), something of a mother to Stanley. Sophie asks Vanessa to hand her some type of jewelry, and she gives Sophie her pearl necklace. From holding it, Sophie determines a love affair of Vanessa's, as the necklace was given to her by a man that could not be with her because he was still married. This cracks Stanley, causing him to believe in Sophie's gifts and acknowledge her as the real deal.On their trip home, his car breaks down. He spends hours taking the engine apart and putting it back, but to no avail. A thunderstorm starts happening, scaring Sophie and making her think they'll die. She and Stanley run for shelter and find a nearby observatory. Stanley recognizes it from his youth. They go inside where he keeps Sophie close so she stays warm. He then takes her near the telescope and opens the roof, where they see the moon and stars up above.Everyone attends a fancy and lavish party. Stanley is dancing with Vanessa while Sophie cuts a rug with Brice. They switch partners, giving Stanley and Sophie a chance to walk together. She asks him if he has thought anything of her lately as a woman. He awkwardly responds that he hasn't seen her in that way, specifically as a woman, but he has become pleasantly surprised by what he's seen from her, regarding her gifts. Sophie leaves disappointed.Stanley, Sophie, and her mother gather with reporters for a press conference. Everyone asks Stanley about his new feelings regarding this type of magic or how he feels now as a skeptic. Moments later, George comes in to tell Stanley that his aunt has been in a car accident. He immediately steps out.At the hospital, Stanley is told that Vanessa is being treated by doctors. He sits down and starts to pray. For a moment, it appears that he really believes what he's saying, until he comes to a realization. He quickly dismisses all his beliefs and goes back to thinking Sophie is a fraud.Stanley returns to the Catledge home to confront Sophie. He asks her how she did not predict the car accident and warn him about it. He leaves the room with Sophie and Howard alone. It is then that we learn that the two of them conspired to trick Stanley. Howard knew Sophie was a fraud, but he wanted to really get Stanley after years of being second best to his more successful friend. Stanley then turns around in his chair to show that he has been listening the whole time. Sophie is ashamed and wants Stanley to forgive her, especially since she knows that his time spent with her has let him believe in new possibilities and have a new lease on life. Despite this, Stanley refuses to forgive her.Vanessa makes a full recovery, and Stanley picks her up and takes her home. When they get back, Stanley slowly begins to express his true feelings toward Sophie. He realizes he doesn't love Olivia as much as he thought, and he has fallen in love with Sophie.Stanley finds Sophie sitting on a swing. By now, she has already accepted Brice's marriage proposal. Stanley makes an uneasy proposal, saying she should marry him instead. Sophie says he already had his chance, and it's gone. She walks away while he tries to take the offer off the table.Stanley forgives Howard for trying to trick him. He also mentions that he broke it off with Olivia, who happened to be calm about it, as they both realized they weren't right for each other.Stanley returns to Vanessa's home one more time after being rejected. He sits in the living room talking aloud and expressing his regret over not expressing his love for Sophie earlier. He then hears a knock. He knows Sophie is near. He then asks if she'll marry him. Another knock for yes. Stanley turns around to see Sophie standing in the doorway. He goes up to her and they kiss.

romantic, cute, philosophical, plot twist

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Leprechaun: Back 2 tha Hood

The film opens with an animated prologue revealing the origins of leprechauns, stating that they were summoned by a king to protect his gold. After the death of the king the Leprechauns returned to their places of origin, all except one (Warwick Davis) who through the ages slowly became corrupted and obsessed with the gold he still guarded. In the present, Father Jacob (Willie C. Carpenter) finds the leprechaun's gold and intends to build a youth center. Jacob manages to banish Lubdan the Leprechaun, summoning demonic hands which drag him underground, but soon after dies of injuries inflicted by the leprechaun during the fight. One year later, two friends Emily Woodrow (Tangi Miller) and Lisa Duncan (Sherrie Jackson), have their fortune told when the clairvoyant Esmeralda (Donzaleigh Abernathy) who warns them that they will attain great wealth soon, but it must be denied as it will come at a great price and summon a terrible evil. While having a barbecue at the abandoned youth center construction site with Lisa, their stoner friend Jamie Davis (Page Kennedy) and her ex-boyfriend-turned-drug dealer Rory Jackson (Laz Alonso), Emily falls through a hole and discovers the Leprechaun's gold in a tunnel where it was hidden by Father Jacob. Evenly splitting up the gold, the quartet of friends use it to fulfill their fantasies, unaware that by taking the gold they have released Lubdan the Leprechaun, who begins stalking the group (killing a guest by impaling his chest with a bong, taking one of his coins at a party held by Jamie, prompting the police to temporarily arrest him). At the salon where Emily works the Leprechaun sneaks in and, after killing a regular customer, Doria, on the massage table by breaking her neck, attacks Emily, who barely escapes and warns Rory and the recently released Jamie, who rush to get to Lisa's. In her house, Lisa is attacked by the Leprechaun and manages to fight him off for a short while, but is killed when the Leprechaun claws her in the stomach, with her friends finding her body. While Emily and Jamie want to return the gold, Rory does not and takes off with it; shortly after realizing Rory is gone, Emily is attacked and chased outside by the Leprechaun, but is saved when Rory has a change of heart and comes back for her. Searching for Rory, Lubdan stops by his house and kills Rory's profligate girlfriend Chanel (Keesha Sharp) by tearing out her jaw, reclaiming the gold she used to make a tooth while Rory and Emily are stopped and harassed by Officers Thompson (Beau Billingslea) and Whitaker (Chris Murray). After the Leprechaun appears and kills the two officers, Emily and Rory escape and regroup with Jamie, only to be confronted by a machine gun wielding group of Rory's drug-dealing rivals, led by Watson (Shiek Mahmud-Bey) and Cedric (Sticky Fingaz). Planning on killing Rory for infringing on their territory, Watson and his gang are all disposed of by Lubdan, while Emily, Rory and Jamie drive off in Watson's car (which Lubdan latches to the bottom of for a short while) and go looking for help from Esmeralda. Told to use four-leaf clovers against the Leprechaun by Esmeralda, Rory laces the hollow-point bullets of his gun with clovers Jamie finds in the marijuana Rory had earlier sold him. When the Leprechaun arrives, Rory shoots him several times with the clover bullets, only for his gun to jam before he can finish the Leprechaun off. Rory and Emily are given the chance to run with the gold when the Leprechaun is distracted by Jamie, who is quickly wounded with a baseball bat to the leg, and Esmeralda dies in a magical duel with the Leprechaun. Followed to the roof of the building, Rory tries fighting Lubdan and is knocked out, though before the Leprechaun can kill him, Emily taunts him by throwing some of his gold into nearby wet cement and lures him into the ruins of the youth center, where she tosses his gold into a furnace before knocking the Leprechaun in with it. Believing the Leprechaun is dead, Emily returns to Rory, only for Lubdan to renew his attack on them. Knocking Emily off the roof and leaving her barely holding on, Lubdan taunts her, but is shot several times in the middle of his speech by Rory, who had fixed his gun. Shooting the Leprechaun repeatedly, Rory runs out of bullets, but distracts him long enough for Emily to hit Lubdan with the chest of coins, sending him off the rooftop and into the wet cement below, where the Leprechaun sinks and becomes trapped with his gold. The film then cuts back to the animated prologue like the one at the beginning, and Lubdan digs himself out of the ground, leaving on a cliffhanger.

paranormal, cult

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Twins

Julius Benedict and Vincent Benedict are fraternal twins, the result of a secret experiment carried out at a genetics laboratory to combine the DNA of six fathers to produce the perfect child. To the surprise of the scientists, the embryo split and twins were born. The mother, Mary Ann Benedict, was told that Julius died at birth, and not told about Vincent at all. Vincent was placed in an orphanage run by nuns in Los Angeles and believes his mother abandoned him. With no one but himself to rely on, Vincent escaped from the orphanage and became an indebted, small-time crook. Julius was raised on a South Pacific island by Professor Werner, where he engages in intense physical training and extensive study. Each twin is unaware of the other's existence. On Julius's 35th birthday, Julius discovers he has a twin brother. With Professor Werner's blessing, Julius proceeds to the United States to find his brother. Julius discovers that Vincent lives in L.A. and eventually tracks him down in jail for unpaid parking tickets. Julius bails Vincent out, but Vincent does not believe his story and abandons him in a car park. Julius pursues Vincent to his workplace and finds him being beaten up by Morris Klane, a loan shark enforcer. Julius subdues Morris, earning Vincent's trust and respect. He later meets Vincent's girlfriend Linda Mason and enters a romantic relationship with her sister Marnie. Over dinner, Vincent shows Julius a document he stole from the orphanage that shows their mother is actually still alive, but believing that she abandoned him at birth, Vincent shows no interest in finding her. Julius tracks one of their six fathers to the address on the document. The father directs Julius to Mitchell Traven in New Mexico, the other professor who headed the experiment. Vincent steals a late-model Cadillac Sedan de Ville for his chop shop contact and finds a prototype fuel injector in the trunk that was to be delivered to an industrialist, Beetroot McKinley, in Houston, for five million dollars. Vincent decides to pose as the delivery man and deliver the fuel injector himself so he can collect the money and pay off his debts. He reluctantly allows Julius, Linda and Marnie to accompany him to New Mexico to find professor Traven. Mr. Webster, the real delivery man, begins pursuing Vincent. In New Mexico, Traven reveals the truth to the twins and directs them to Santa Fe, where their mother lives in an art colony. On the way to Santa Fe, the twins are accosted by the Klane brothers, but they fight them off for the last time. At the art colony in Santa Fe, a painter informs Julius and Vincent that their mother has died. They leave, unaware that the painter is in fact their mother, Mary Ann, who didn't believe their story. Vincent bitterly heads to Houston alone to deliver the prototype to McKinley, leaving Julius and the girls behind in New Mexico for their safety. Julius chases after Vincent, and finds him seconds after the exchange with McKinley. Webster appears and kills McKinley, demanding the money from Vincent. Julius intercepts Webster in order for Vincent to escape, but Vincent returns and agrees to give Webster the money to save Julius. Webster decides to kill them anyway for seeing his face, but Vincent kills him by unloading a heavy chain onto his head and burying him. Julius and Vincent return both the prototype and $4 million (Vincent skimming $1 million), and use that along with the reward to start a consulting firm. Their publicity reaches the art colony and Mary Ann learns that her sons are alive. She violently confronts Traven for concealing the truth and tracks Julius and Vincent down to their workplace. Sometime later, Julius and Vincent marry the Mason sisters. Both marriages produce twin children, and the couples are last seen meeting their mother and Professor Werner on an outing.

comedy, entertaining

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Maid in Manhattan

Marisa Ventura is a single mother trying to get by with her 10-year-old young son Ty by working as a maid for The Beresford Hotel in the heart of Manhattan. When not in school, Ty spends time among Marisa’s fellow hotel workers, who think she is capable of being promoted to management. While Marisa and fellow maid Stephanie are cleaning the room of socialite Caroline Lane, Stephanie convinces Marisa to try on a designer Dolce & Gabbana coat. Lane had previously asked for it to be returned to the store and Stephanie argues that it “technically” doesn’t belong to anyone at the moment. Elsewhere in the hotel, Ty befriends hotel guest and senatorial candidate Christopher Marshall, whom Ty learns has an interest in Richard Nixon, the subject of his school presentation. Ty wants to go with Chris to walk his dog and the pair go to Caroline Lane’s room to ask Marisa for permission. Chris meets Marisa who is wearing the designer coat, and is instantly smitten with her. He assumes that she is Caroline Lane. The trio spend some time together in the park. Though Marisa and Chris are attracted to each other, Marisa is terrified that management will find out about the ruse and makes it a point to avoid Chris afterwards. Chris asks the hotel’s head butler Lionel Bloch to invite “Caroline Lane” to lunch, but he is confused when the real Caroline shows up instead of Marisa. Ironically, Marisa was present when she received the invitation and even offered Caroline some advice on what to wear for their “Lunch à deux”. When the real Caroline shows up, Chris asks his assistant Jerry Siegal to find “the other Caroline Lane” promising that he will attend an important dinner and wishes her to go with him. Jerry asks Lionel to find her. Lionel, who has figured out that Marisa is the woman Chris has been looking for, tells her to go to the dinner and end the affair swiftly if she wants to keep her possible future in hotel management. Stephanie and the hotel staff assist her in preparing for the evening by styling her hair and loaning her an expensive dress and spectacular necklace. Marisa is unable to end the affair, and she spends the night in Chris's hotel room. The next morning, Marisa is spotted by the real Caroline Lane and her friend leaving Chris' room. Caroline blurts out the truth to the hotel management and Marisa is fired in front of Chris in Lane’s hotel suite. Both Marisa and Chris spend some time apart with him still thinking about her and Marisa hounded by the press and her disapproving classist mother Veronica. Some time later, Marisa has obtained another job as a maid at another hotel. Chris is giving a press conference in the same hotel and Ty attends it and asks Chris whether people should be forgiven if they make mistakes, referencing former President of the United States, Richard Nixon. Ty leads him to the staff-room where Marisa is having her break. Chris and Marisa are reunited and the film ends with images of publications showing that Chris has been elected, he and Marisa are still together after one year, Marisa has started her own hospitality business, and Marisa’s maid friends have been promoted to management.

romantic, fantasy

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My Sister's Keeper

Conceived by means of in vitro fertilization, Anna Fitzgerald (Abigail Breslin) was brought into the world as a savior sister at the informal suggestion of Kate's doctor, Dr. Chance (David Thornton) (a formal suggestion would have been a violation of legal and medical ethics). She is a genetic match to her older sister, Kate (Sofia Vassilieva), who suffers from acute promyelocytic leukemia, and Anna can therefore donate compatible organs, blood, and tissue to help her sister. Her family members are introduced one by one, and each tells about how Kate's illness has affected them personally. When Kate turns 15, she goes into renal failure and 11-year old Anna knows that she will be forced by her parents to donate one of her kidneys. She also realizes that she may not be able to live the life she will want to lead – she won't be able play any sports, drink alcohol, or be a mother in the future. Anna tells her parents that she does not want to be a donor and proceeds to sue them for medical emancipation and the rights to her own body. Her father Brian (Jason Patric) sees Anna's point, though her domineering mother, Sara (Cameron Diaz), who leads an obsessive campaign to keep Kate alive, is indignant at Anna's decision when she receives the notice of court proceedings. Attorney Campbell Alexander (Alec Baldwin) agrees to work for Anna as her guardian ad litem, suing for partial termination of parental rights. It is later learned he agreed to take the case – not for the notoriety, but because he suffers from epilepsy, and is genuinely sympathetic to her predicament because he also understands how it feels to have no control over his body. Both Sara and Alexander tell their side of the story to the judge (Joan Cusack), who had recently lost her young daughter, something Sara inadvertently mentions. To Sara's dismay, the judge decides against summary dismissal, and the case goes to a hearing. The film is interlaced with flashbacks that detail Kate and Anna's close relationship, as well as how Kate's illness has affected her siblings' lives and their relationships. In a flashback, Kate also meets a fellow cancer patient, Taylor Ambrose (Thomas Dekker), whom she begins dating. After a date, they kiss outside Kate's house, with Sara and Kate's father Brian watching from their bedroom window. After this, he becomes her boyfriend in and out of hospital and supports her as she undergoes treatment. He then asks her to the hospital's "prom" for teen patients; there, they slow-dance, then proceed to a vacant hospital room. A few days later, Kate begins to worry as she has not seen Taylor since the dance. In anger, she reveals to Sara that they did "stuff" together. Kate subsequently learns that Taylor has died and later attempts suicide by overdosing on painkillers, but Anna stops her. Kate later expresses hope that after she dies, she will see Taylor wherever she ends up. Kate makes a request to go to the beach one last time. Brian obtains permission and compassionate encouragement, from Dr. Chance, who claims she is "no more sick there", to do so. Brian discharges her from the hospital for the day and takes her and the kids to the beach. When Brian arrives home to pick everyone up, Sara overreacts and demands that Kate be returned to the hospital immediately, arguing that bringing her to the beach is effectively "killing her". Brian angrily refuses and drives off, threatening Sara with a divorce if she does not join them. Sara shows up at the beach, where they enjoy one final family outing. During the hearing, Anna and Kate's brother, Jesse, reveals while Anna is on the witness stand that Anna is actually acting under Kate's instruction; Kate, not wanting to live any longer and be a detriment to her family, had gently persuaded Anna to refuse to donate her kidney, knowing that Sara would be too narrow-minded to listen to her. It also emerges that Anna had wanted to give Kate her kidney of her own accord, and had been terribly upset at Kate's decision. Sara is indignant and attempts to argue, but is finally forced by both Jesse and Brian to realize that Kate had been trying to tell her she is ready to die for some time. The judge makes a request to visit Kate in the hospital before finalizing the case. Later that day, as the remainder of the family leave, Kate gifts her mother with a memory book she has made over the years and later dies while sleeping at the hospital with her mother by her side. After Kate's death, Campbell brings the court decision: Anna won the case. The family moves on with their lives. Sara, who gave up practicing law to look after Kate returns to work, Brian retires from firefighting and counsels troubled youths, and Jesse receives an arts scholarship in New York. Anna reveals that every year on Kate's birthday they go to Montana, which was her "most favorite place in the world". Anna concludes that she was not born merely to save her sister, she was born because she had a sister, and that their relationship continues even in death.

tragedy, home movie

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Moonshot

"On July 20, 1969, three men made history as the men on a mission to land on the moon. The eight-day journey aboard Apollo 11 was one of the most watched events ever. This film tells what it was like to be at the heart of the mission that changed the world. I know, my name is Buzz Aldrin. I was there." THE MOON was once a source of bizarre science-fiction and fantasy stories because it was such an unexplored mystery. All that changed on July 20, 1969. History was made as the first men landed and walked on the moon. The Apollo 11 mission was one of the most watched events ever and the amazing story is recreated in the docu-drama Moonshot: The Flight of Apollo 11, on ITV at 10.50pm on Monday, exactly 40 years after the landing.Starring Daniel Lapaine (Hotel Babylon, Muriel's Wedding) as Neil Armstrong, James Marsters (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Smallville) as Buzz Aldrin (pictured) and Andrew Lincoln (Afterlife, Teachers) as Michael Collins, this drama documentary weaves the story of the men who undertook the mission with HD Nasa footage of Apollo 11 to bring together a unique testimony of this historic event. Written by Tony Basgallop (Hotel Babylon) and directed by Richard Dale, (Diana: The Last Days of a Princess, 9/11: The Twin Towers), Moonshot is the story of the moment that united 600 million people around the world. Dramatising key moments and events in the years spent preparing for their mission, the film builds a picture of the astronauts' lives on the ground and how they shaped what happened in space and on the moon. In 1961 President Kennedy told the world that that the United States would land on the moon by the end of the decade. This began the series of Apollo missions that would culminate with Apollo 11 - the first moon landing. Moonshot follows the astronauts as they go through NASA's intense selection procedures and reveals the arduous Apollo training process that has such an impact on their families and friendships.In 1967, the dangers of the mission were brought home when three astronauts were killed by a fire on the first Apollo spacecraft, affecting everyone in the close knit space community. Then, in 1968, Apollo 8 was the first manned flight to orbit the moon and the mission was a big media event. The nation crowded around their television sets to watch, prompting a concerned Buzz to tells Neil Armstrong: "My face doesn't fit on the screen, like some of the other guys. Too big, too long." Neil also has his concerns about the media and he tells Buzz: "If they want to talk about the technical aspects then sure, I'm happy to answer but for some reason they just want to know how everything feels." Buzz replies: "Even if you could tell them they wouldn't get it. Because when you're up there in space looking down there's nothing wrong with the world, but when you're down here looking up, everything's different." The film captures the deliberations involved in selecting the crew. In one scene, the NASA official leading the process tells Neil Armstrong that Buzz Aldrin has a reputation for speaking his mind. He gives Neil a choice between Aldrin and fellow astronaut Jim Lovell, forcing him to think about who he would be able to work with - and who he could trust with his life. Armstrong chooses Aldrin, but which of them would take the first steps on the moon would be decided by NASA. [D-Man2010]The fact that this docudrama on the Apollo 11 mission in 1969 is a British/German/ French/American co-production and scripted by a Hotel Babylon writer might lead you to dread a mushy mess, but it turns out to be solid, worthy and well put together. It interleaves news footage with dramatised scenes that imagine what it was like behind the scenes at Nasa and among the astronauts' wives. James Marsters (Spike in Buffy) plays Buzz Aldrin as a restless, shoot-from-the-hip type; Daniel Lapaine is excellent as unflappable Neil Armstong; and Andrew Lincoln makes up the numbers as Michael Collins, the module pilot who never got to walk on the Moon. Instead of focusing on the engineering feat, the film dwells on tensions between Aldrin and Armstrong and their awe at being in space. It's impressively done, but bathed in the kind of rich, orchestral music that sounds stirring and self-important. Plus why is Anna Maxwell Martin wasted in a non-role as Armstrong's wife? [D-Man2010]

historical

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Thralls

NOTE: "Thrall" is from an Old Norse word meaning "slave." Slavery was supported by Norse mythology, which claimed that thralls had a separate ancestry through the god Rig. In Thralls, a thrall is a half-vampire, the "white trash of vampires." They often serve in bondage to a full vampire who keeps them in check by promising to make them full vampires one day.Thralls opens with a short narrative regarding an ancient demon named Beli-al and how the saying aloud of his name resulted in the word becoming flesh, and the flesh becoming the centuries-old book known as The Necronomicon. Between its covers, hidden within ancient rituals and archaic superstitions, was contained a spell so powerful that, just to decipher it would drive the reader insane. Centuries passed, and the name of Beli-al and The Necronomicon faded away.Cut to a nice house somewhere in suburban Iowa. Rennie [Richard Cox] drives up to the house and goes upstairs to a white room in which six women, all dressed in white, are chained by their ankles. He tosses them a rat for dinner. Then he notices an errant chain. Following it, he finds a chewed off foot and is immediately staked through the chest by Roxie [Fiona Scott], the footless thrall. Roxie and her five "sisters"-- Leslie, Lean, Brigette, Buzz, and Tanya -- escape. As they make off in Rennie's car, they are attacked by their master, Mr Jones [Lorenzo Lamas]. He grabs Tanya, rips out her heart, takes a bite, and utters in exasperation, "Women!" as the remaining thralls speed away. Time passes.Pig-tailed Ashley [Siri Baruc] can no longer live at home now that her alcoholic father is dead, so she has come to live with her sister Leslie [Leah Cairns]. As Ashley waits for Leslie in the bus station, she is hassled by a gang of thugs looking for "a good time." Suddenly, Leslie shows up. Leslie gives Ashley the keys to her car and tells her to leave the bus station while Leslie stays behind to deal with the punks. A few kickpunches later, the thugs are coldcocked. Ashley is duly impressed. When she asks Leslie how she learned to fight like that, Leslie promises that they will have a talk.Leslie is one of Mr Jones' escaped thralls. She and her sister thralls now run a very popular nightclub. Just ask Doughboy Jeff [Kevan Ohtsji] who, accompanied by his cousin Jim [Shawn Roberts], is biting at the reins trying to get into the club and get himself some "bitches." Tonight is the Winter Solstice, the longest day of the year, and Doughboy and Jim are ready to experience their first rave. After Ashley has had a chance to freshen up, she orders a bottle of water at the bar and meets Jim. The two of them hit it off, until Cisco [Nigel Vonas] gets into a fight with Jim over Ashley. Lean [Sonya Salomaa] breaks up the fight, Brigitte [Moneca Delain] takes Cisco to the back room "where we put troublemakers," and Ashley and Jim take seats at a table.Ashley notices that Jim's nose is bleeding, so she goes to the back room for a first-aid kit. When she hears heavy panting through the door, she peeks through the vent to see Brigitte going down on Cisco. Suddenly, Brigitte sprouts fangs and bites him. Ashley is taken aback and returns to the dance floor to find Jim. When Ashley tries to tell Jim that she saw Brigitte biting Cisco and drinking his blood, Jim concludes that Ashley is nuts and ditches her. Jim looks around for his cousin Doughboy and finds him in the deejay booth with Roxie, who is just about to put the bite on him. Jim interrupts, telling Doughboy what Ashley just told him and asking for the keys to their car so he can leave. Doughboy hands over the keys and, when Roxie excuses herself for a few minutes, Doughboy takes over Roxie's job as deejay.Roxie runs to Brigitte, and Brigitte runs to Lean, who is working the door as a bouncer. Lean switches places with Brigitte so that she can have a talk with Leslie about the need to clue in Ashley to the fact that they are thralls. Lean tells Roxie to get Leslie while she goes to the back room to speak with Ashley who is packing her bags to go home. When Lean attempts to explain that they are "different," Ashley thrusts a cross in her face, starts screaming "Vampires!", and runs up to the deejay booth, hoping to get help from Doughboy. Lean, Brigitte, and Buzz [Lisa Marie Caruk] corner Ashley outside the deejay booth. Trying to back away from the thralls, Ashley falls over the railing, but the thralls form a chain and catch her just before she hits the floor. While the dancers cheer at what they think was a stunt, Leslie whispers in Ashley's ear, "I guess it's time we had that talk."The thralls attempt to explain themselves to Ashley, what it means to be a thrall, how they only drink enough blood to survive, don't kill or turn their victims, can't fly, and how Mr Jones is the one who made them this way. But they think that they may have found a way to attain full vampire status and get back at Jonesy. Lean has gotten her hands on The Necronomicon and learned that, by performing a ritual to Beli-al on the Winter Solstice at midnight, they can raise themselves to full vampire status. Tonight is the Winter Solstice, and it's already 11:40.Out in the parking lot, Jim is searching for the car when he notices a big bat that turns into Mr Jones. The next thing he knows, Jones is standing beside him. Rennie, still with the stake sticking out of his chest, hits Jim from behind. Jones leaves Rennie to bite on Jim with his fake fangs that keep falling out, while Jones himself goes into the club. Once inside, he takes over the deejay booth, ordering all the patrons outside. When Cisco gets mouthy, Jones simply rips out his spine. Buzz attempts to stop Jones with a gun, but Jones puts a knife to Lean's neck. When Buzz informs him that the gun is loaded with silver bullets, Jones drops the knife and releases Lean. Buzz hands the gun to Lean and walks away. As Buzz passes Jones, he reaches out and quickly pulls out Buzz's heart. Lean turns the gun on Leslie and Brigitte. It seems that Lean is in cahoots with Jones, who is the one who arranged for them to escape with The Necronomicon, forked over the money to set up the nightclub, and paid for them to throw this rave on the longest night of the year. In return for Lean's help, Jones promised her that they would rule together for all eternity. When Jones tells Lean to retrieve The Necronomicon and Lean mentions that it's in the back room with Leslie's little sister, Jones decides to get it himself.Meanwhile, in the back room, Ashley has been reading The Necronomicon. Jones comes in and attempts to sweet talk Ashley into becoming his "little girl," but Ashley will have none of it. She hits him in the forehead with a cross just as Jim, who has managed to get away from Rennie and re-enter the club by crawling through a ventilation duct, drops down from the ceiling. Jim grabs Ashley's hand and they run out on the dance floor where Lean is still holding off Leslie and Brigitte with her form of hundreds of bugs and then reconstitutes himself. Ashley warns everyone about what the ritual of Beli-al is really all about -- Jones is going to release the demon so that it will be under his power.Suddenly, Rennie enters and stabs Ashley. Rennie retrieves The Necronomicon and hands it to Jones. It's almost time to perform the ritual. As Ashley lay dying, Jones begins to chant. Jim pleads with Leslie and Brigitte to do something for Ashley to keep her from dying, but they explain that as half-vampires they cannot turn anyone. But two half-vampires equal a whole vampire, don't they? What if Ashley is bitten by both Leslie and Brigitte? It's worth a try.Beli-al's head appears. Jones invokes him to come forth and yells to Lean and Roxie in the deejay booth to turn up the power from the psychic power collector in which Roxie has been storing the psychic energy generated all night by the dancers. Roxie tries to stop Lean from releasing more energy, but Lean shoves a stake through Roxie's chest. Before she succumbs, Roxie manages to grab an iron bar and toss it at the psychic collector, breaking the collector and dissipating the power flow. Beli-al's head disappears from whence it came.Jones is POed. When Lean tries to explain to him what happened and reminds him of his promise, he hands her off to Rennie, who can't wait to taste her blood. Lean wants nothing to do with Rennie and, in her struggle to get away, she falls on him and impales herself on the stake still sticking out of his chest. "Men!" Lean exclaims as she dies. Jones informs Leslie and Brigitte that he's going to take them back home, when suddenly Ashley flies in. She's turned into a full vampire, lost her pigtails, and somehow managed to learn martial arts as she commences to beat up on Jones. Jones turns into a bat, and Ashley offers herself to him as "fresh meat" if he'll let up on Leslie and Brigitte. When Jones flits down for a bite, Ashley runs a sword through him.As Ashley hugs Leslie and Brigitte for making her into a vampire, Jones gets up from the floor, a bit more contrite now that he's been bested. After getting Ashley to pull the sword out of his gut, he tries to cut them a deal. Since Jones is the one who put up the front money for the club, he offers them an 80/20 split, 80 for him. No dice. 70/30? 60/40? "How about a nice even split...five ways?" suggests Ashley and chops Jones into five easy pieces with her sword. [Original synopsis by bj_kuehl]

pornographic, violence, murder, flashback

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The Sting

It is 1936 and a money runner is carrying the week's take -- $11,000 -- from an illegal gambling outfit in Joliet, Illinois, to the main office. On the way, three men con him by replacing his money with tissue paper. Doyle Lonnegan (Robert Shaw), the mobster who was supposed to get the money, exacts revenge by having one of the con men, Luther Coleman (Robert Earl Jones), pushed out of a window; he dies. Lonnegan also orders a hit on Luther's partner, Johnny Hooker (Robert Redford). Hooker goes to Chicago to escape Lonnegan's wrath. In Chicago he meets Henry Gondorff (Paul Newman), an old friend of Luther's. To revenge Luther's death, they set up an elaborate plan -- a "long con" -- to swindle an enormous sum out of Lonnegan so neatly that he won't even realize he's been conned.Posing as an obnoxious gambling boss from Chicago, Gondorff gets into a high-stakes poker game with Lonnegan, who is known to cheat. Gondorff cheats better and wins $15,000 from Lonnegan -- but Lonnegan can't pay it right away because his wallet is missing. (One of Gondorff's associates picked his pocket before the game.) Gondorff sends Hooker to Lonnegan's room to pick up the money. Hooker, playing Gondorff's resentful second-in-command, tells Lonnegan he has a great plan to con Gondorff, but he needs "someone respectable" to place the bets. Lonnegan, furious at being out-cheated, bites.Gondorff and company do a lot of fast work to get ready for the final phase of the long con. First they assemble a mob and rent an empty basement, transforming it in a couple of days into a prosperous gambling parlor. An announcer in a back room describes horse races as if they were happening live -- but he's reading from a ticker tape, so the results are known in advance. They choose a race with odds they like -- maybe 3:1 or 4:1 -- and call in a tip (a particular horse or horses to win, place, or show) to the pay phone at the corner drugstore, where Lonnegan is waiting. Gondorff's gang has also rented a room with a view of the corner drugstore; when Lonnegan comes out on his way to the gambling den, a watcher rings a buzzer to warn them he's coming. They run through this once with a fairly small bet to show Lonnegan the system will work; the final plan they give Lonnegan calls for a bet so large it will ruin Gondorff. They run into trouble when Lonnegan demands to meet Hooker's imaginary accomplice. Hooker has told Lonnegan the key to the scam is his friend at Western Union who gives him race results by phone before they're released over the wire. Pretending to be painters, the gang tricks a genuine Western Union manager into vacating his office for an hour, and one of them poses as the manager. Lonnegan is convinced.Meanwhile, Lonnegan's goons have tracked Hooker to Chicago but failed to kill him. (They -- and Lonnegan -- have no idea that the man Lonnegan is "helping" to con Gondorff is the same guy who helped Luther take the runner's money at the beginning of the movie.) Lonnegan assigns the job to someone called Solino, who, it's implied, is a very skilled assassin.Lt. Snyder (Charles Durning), a Joliet cop, has pursued Hooker to the big city because Hooker gave Snyder counterfeit cash when Snyder tried to shake him down. Snyder isn't getting very far; when Hooker can't stay out of Snyder's way entirely, he can outrun him. Snyder is induced to assist FBI Agent Polk (Dana Elcar), who's after Gondorff. Snyder collars Hooker and brings him to Polk, who pressures him to give up Gondorff by threatening to lock up Luther's wife. Hooker, who was close to Luther's family, gives in, provided the FBI will let the Lonnegan con run its course before arresting Gondorff.The night before the final act of the con, Hooker hooks up with Loretta (Dimitra Arliss), the new waitress at the diner where he likes to eat. When he wakes up, she's gone. He's somewhat puzzled to find that she hasn't robbed him. He dresses, fits something we don't get a good look at over his back teeth, and goes out. A man whom we've seen only glimpses of before now is stalking Hooker with a gun. As Hooker walks down a sunlit alley and spots Loretta coming toward him, smiling, the armed man emerges behind him and shoots -- hitting Loretta neatly in the middle of the forehead. She drops a handgun as she falls. Hooker, stunned, listens to the gunman's explanation that Loretta Solino is "a pro" -- a hired killer -- and she hadn't killed him the night before because witnesses had seen him entering her apartment. To Hooker's bewildered "Who are you?", the gunman replies "Gondorff asked me to look after you."Lonnegan, with half a million dollars in a suitcase, receives his tip in the drugstore and goes to Gondorff's gambling parlor to place the bet. The betting clerk needs Gondorff's approval to accept such a large bet; there's some taunting and snarling between Gondorff and Lonnegan before Gondorff accepts it. Lonnegan sits down to listen to the race. He's joined by Kid Twist (Harold Gould), the faux Western Union manager who's been calling in Lonnegan's tips. When Lonnegan mentions that he bet on the tipped horse to win, Kid Twist, shocked, tells him the bet should have been to place, not to win. In a panic, Lonnegan tries to rescind the wager, but it's too late.While Lonnegan is shouting, the FBI bursts in to arrest Gondorff. Having secured the mastermind, his prize, Polk tells Hooker he can go. Hooker throws a guilty look at Gondorff and starts to slink away, but Gondorff pulls a gun and shoots him in the back. Polk shoots Gondorff. Lonnegan, standing nearby, can see that Hooker is bleeding from the mouth; both men look quite dead. Lt. Snyder, whose job is to get Lonnegan away as quickly as possible, duly hustles him out, telling him he doesn't want to be mixed up with dead bodies.Back in the gambling den, good cheer reigns. The dead have risen and are congratulating one another and their many accomplices -- including the erstwhile FBI agents -- for a job well done. The set is already being disassembled; Gondorff tells the mobsters where to pick up their share of the take and he and Hooker leave together.

boring, depressing, murder, cult, plot twist, clever, inspiring, revenge, entertaining

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The Ghost Writer

A British ghostwriter (Ewan McGregor) is hired by the publishing firm Rhinehart, Inc. to complete the autobiography of former Prime Minister Adam Lang (Pierce Brosnan). His predecessor and Lang's aide, Mike McAra, has recently died in an apparent drowning accident. The writer travels to Old Haven on Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts, where Lang and his wife Ruth (Olivia Williams) are staying, along with Lang's personal assistant (and implied mistress), Amelia Bly (Kim Cattrall). Amelia forbids the writer from taking McAra's manuscript outside, emphasizing that it is a security risk. Shortly after the writer's arrival, former Foreign Secretary Richard Rycart (Robert Pugh) accuses Lang of authorizing the illegal seizure of suspected terrorists and handing them over for torture by the CIA, a possible war crime. Lang faces prosecution by the International Criminal Court unless he stays in the U.S. (or one of the few other countries that does not recognise the court's jurisdiction). While Lang is in Washington, the writer finds items in McAra's room suggesting he might have stumbled across a dark secret. Among them is an envelope containing photographs and a phone number the writer discovers is Rycart's. During a bike ride, the writer encounters an old man (Eli Wallach) who tells him the current couldn't have taken McAra's body from the ferry where he disappeared to the beach where it was discovered. He also reveals a neighbour saw flashlights on the beach the night McAra died, but later fell down the stairs and went into a coma. Later, Ruth admits to the writer Lang had never been very political, and until recently always took her advice. When he tells her the old man's story, she suddenly rushes out into the rainy night to "clear her head." Upon returning, she reveals Lang and McAra had argued the night before the latter's death, and the ghost writer and Ruth have a one night stand while Adam is away. The next morning, the writer takes the BMW X5 McAra used on his last journey. Unable to cancel the pre-programmed directions on the car's sat-nav, he decides to follow them. He arrives in Belmont at the home of Professor Paul Emmett (Tom Wilkinson). Emmett denies anything more than a cursory acquaintance with Lang, despite the writer showing him two pictures of the pair among photographs found in McAra's possessions, as well as another on the wall of Emmett's study. When the writer tells Emmett the sat-nav proves McAra visited him the night he died, Emmett denies meeting McAra and becomes evasive. The writer leaves, and successfully eludes a car that is pursuing him. He boards the ferry back to Martha's Vineyard, but when he sees the pursuit car drive aboard, he flees the boat at the last moment and checks into a small motel by the ferry dock. With no one else to turn to, the writer redials Rycart's number, asking for help. While waiting, the writer does research on Emmett and links his think tank to a military contractor. He also finds leads connecting Emmett to the CIA. When Rycart arrives, he reveals McAra gave him documents linking Lang to so-called "torture flights," where terrorist suspects were placed on private jets owned by Emmett's company, to be tortured while airborne. Rycart further claims that McAra found new evidence, which he wrote about in the "beginning" of the manuscript. The men cannot, however, find anything in the early pages. The writer discusses Emmett's relationship with Lang, while Rycart recounts how Lang's decisions as Prime Minister uniformly benefited U.S. interests. When the writer is summoned to accompany Lang on his return flight by private jet, he confronts Lang and accuses him of being a CIA agent recruited by Emmett. Lang derides his suggestions. Upon leaving the aircraft, Lang is assassinated by a British anti-war protester, who is in turn shot by Lang's bodyguards. Nevertheless, the writer is asked to complete the book for posthumous publication, as in light of Lang's death it will be a certain bestseller. Amelia invites him to the book's launch party in London, where she unwittingly tells him the Americans tightened access to the book, as the "beginnings" contained evidence threatening national security. She also tells him Emmett, who is in attendance, was Ruth's tutor when she was a Fulbright scholar at Harvard. The writer realizes the clues were hidden in the original manuscript in the opening words of each chapter, and discovers the message: "Lang's wife Ruth was recruited as a CIA agent by Professor Paul Emmett of Harvard University." He concludes Ruth shaped Lang's every political decision to benefit the USA under direction from the CIA. The writer passes a note to Ruth reveaing his discovery. She unfolds the note, and is devastated. When she sees the writer raising a glass, she is kept from following him by Emmett and other assistants. As the writer leaves the party he attempts to take a taxi, without success. As he crosses the street off-camera, a car accelerates in his direction to an impending collision. As witnesses react in horror, the pages containing McAra's manuscript are blowing in the wind, leaving the writer's fate unconfirmed.

boring, mystery, murder, dramatic, intrigue, atmospheric, suspenseful

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I Know Who Killed Me

The quiet suburb of New Salem is being terrorized by a serial killer who abducts and tortures young women, holding them captive for weeks before murdering them. Aubrey Fleming (Lindsay Lohan), a pianist and aspiring writer, appears to be his latest victim when she disappears during a night out with her friends. She is later seen bound and gagged on an operating table as her hands are exposed to dry ice. As the days tick by, the special FBI Task Force convened to track the killer begins to lose hope of finding him before it's too late. Late one night, a driver discovers a young woman by the side of a deserted road, disheveled and critically injured. The girl is rushed to the hospital, where Aubrey’s distraught parents, Susan (Julia Ormond) and Daniel (Neal McDonough), wait by her side as she slips in and out of consciousness. When she is finally able to speak, she shocks everyone by claiming to be a down-on-her luck stripper named Dakota Moss, who has never heard of Aubrey Fleming. Convinced Aubrey is suffering from post traumatic stress disorder, her doctors, parents, and law enforcement officials can only wait for rest and therapy to restore her memory. But after returning to her parents’ suburban home, she continues to insist she is not who they think she is, despite bearing bizarre wounds identical to those of the serial killer's previous victims, which include her hand and half of her leg cut off. An FBI psychologist believes Dakota to be a delusional persona of Aubrey, and the agents speculate the persona is to distance and protect Aubrey from the events that happened. Examining Aubrey's laptop, they discover a short story about a girl with an alter ego named Dakota. In addition, a DNA test confirms that Dakota is Aubrey. Unaware of this, Dakota explains away her injuries as various events that happened before she arrived in town. She begins to suspect she may be Aubrey's identical twin sister, and comes to believe her injuries are sympathetic resonance with her twin's wounds, in a stigmata-like fashion. However, Susan shows Dakota a video of her pregnancy ultrasound clearly revealing there was only one fetus in her womb. Dakota then confronts Daniel and asserts Susan's child died shortly after birth, and that Daniel took Aubrey from Virginia Sue Moss (another character from Aubrey's short story), a crack addict and leaving her with Dakota to raise alone. Confused and terrified, Dakota starts seeing visions of a menacing figure slowly butchering his captive. One of these visions take Dakota to a nearby cemetery. After investigating the grave of Aubrey's recently murdered friend, Jennifer Toland (Stacy Lynn Gabel), Dakota finds a blue ribbon from a piano competition, with a message from Jennifer's (and Aubrey's) piano teacher, Douglas Norquist (Thomas Tofel). She is followed by Daniel, and declares "I know who killed me". The two go, without FBI backup, to Norquist's home to confront him. Daniel heads into Norquist's house alone leaving a panicking Dakota in the car alone. Attempting to calm herself, Dakota refers to herself as Aubrey. Daniel is seemingly overpowered, and it is implied killed, by Norquist. Dakota, having entered the house, attacks Norquist in self-defense and cuts his hand off before being overpowered and tied up. Confused, Norquist asks why she has returned and exclaimed he had buried her (referencing an earlier vision Dakota had). Freeing herself, Dakota kills Norquist and heads into the nearby wood finding where Norquist had buried Aubrey alive. Having freed Aubrey, seemingly verifying Dakota's version of events, Dakota lies on the ground next to her.

dark, cruelty, murder, violence, flashback, revenge, sadist

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Scary Movie 3

Katie (Jenny McCarthy) and Becca (Pamela Anderson) are talking about a tape, which Katie believes is a sex tape, but Becca refers to a cursed tape (The Ring). After several odd occurrences, they both die. Meanwhile, in a farm outside Washington, D.C., widowed farmer Tom Logan (Charlie Sheen) and his clumsy brother George (Simon Rex) discover a crop circle, saying "Attack Here!" (Signs). Meanwhile, (taking place nearly ten years after the second film) Cindy Campbell (Anna Faris), now a blonde news reporter, announces the crop circles on the news. She then goes to pick up her paranormally endowed nephew Cody (Drew Mikuska) from school, where her best friend Brenda Meeks (Regina Hall) is his teacher. George Logan arrives to pick up his niece Sue, who is in the same class. Cindy falls in love with George, who invites her and Brenda to a rap-battle that evening with his rapper friends Mahalik (Anthony Anderson) and CJ (Kevin Hart) (8 Mile). George competes and proves to be actually quite talented, but due to unintentional racist blunders, he's thrown out. Later, Brenda asks Cindy to keep her company, since she watched the cursed videotape. After playing several pranks on Cindy (fake seizures, burning hand, etc.), she gets the rest of the popcorn in the lounge, when the TV turns on. Brenda fails to turn it off. Tabitha (Marny Eng) climbs out of the well and the TV, Brenda gets into a fight with Tabitha. Tabitha ends up killing Brenda, since Cindy is ignoring the ruckus. George receives a phone call about the death, and Tom meets with Sayaman, who apologizes for the accident involving himself and Tom's wife Annie (Denise Richards). During Brenda's wake, George and Mahalik, due to a misunderstanding, wreak havoc on Brenda's corpse in an unsuccessful attempt to revive her, only to blow up her body and end up getting kicked out of the house. Later, Cindy decides to watch the tape, finding it odd. She then gets a phone call, saying she'll die in a week. She calls George, CJ and Mahalik for help. CJ offers that his Aunt Shaneequa might be able to help. Aunt Shaneequa (Queen Latifah), the Matrix Oracle, and her husband Orpheus (Eddie Griffin) agree to watch the tape. Shaneequa discovers the hidden image of a lighthouse, and gets into a fight with Tabitha's mother. Shaneequa tells Cindy to find the lighthouse to break the curse. When Cindy returns home, she finds Cody watched the tape. Back at work, Cindy searches through pictures of lighthouses before finding the one from the tape. Desperate to save Cody, Cindy tries to warn everyone by entering a message into the news anchor's teleprompter, but she is interrupted by her boss and a janitor who insults the manager on the teleprompter (which the anchorman blindly recites). The Logans hear the message and take it seriously since they encountered an alien disguised as Michael Jackson (Edward Moss), and President Baxter Harris (Leslie Nielsen), who personally visits the farm to investigate the crop circles. Cindy ventures to the lighthouse, where she encounters The Architect (George Carlin). The loquacious (and lecherous) old man explains Tabitha was his evil adopted daughter, whom his wife drowned in the farm's well, but not before she imprinted her evil onto the tape. Unfortunately, he mistook the evil tape for a copy of Pootie Tang and returned it to Blockbuster instead, unleashing the curse. When Cindy asks about how this relates to the Aliens, the Architect speculates that Tabitha is summoning them to aid her in destroying the human race. Returning home, Cindy discovers her station has been broadcasting the evil tape for hours, and there have been various sightings of aliens around the world. Worse, Cody is missing. Cindy manages to track him back to the Logan farm, where he has taken refuge with George. Tom orders everybody into the basement for safety, as he, George and Mahalik go outside to fight off the extraterrestrials. The aliens (voiced by Tom Kenny) arrive but reveal they are friendly and have come to stop Tabitha, since they accidentally watched the tape on a broadcast they had intercepted, thinking it was Pootie Tang. In the basement, Cindy realizes the farm's cellar is what is seen on the tape and she finds the well where Tabitha was drowned under the cellar floor. Suddenly, Tabitha appears behind her. A short fight ensues, during which Tabitha takes Cody hostage. Cindy and George appeal to her, offering her a place in their family. Tabitha appears to accept the offer, but then changes back to her monstrous form and advances to Cindy and the others, only to be accidentally knocked back into the well by President Harris. The aliens leave in peace, and Cindy and George get married. Leaving for their honeymoon, they realize they forget to take Cody with them. At first, Cody is about to get hit by Cindy's car in an intersection, but she put the brakes this time to prevent it from happening, much to Cody's relief. Unfortunately, Cody gets hit by another car passing through the intersection.

comedy, adult comedy, stupid, paranormal, bleak, cult, horror, humor

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Hair

Hair is a musical focusing on the lives of two young men in the Vietnam era against the backdrop of the hippie culture.Set in the late 1960s, Claude Hooper Bukowski (John Savage) is a naive Oklahoman sent off to see the sites of New York before beginning his enlistment in the US Army. On his arrival he observes a group of hippies lead by George Berger (Treat Williams) begging for change from a trio of horseback riders. Later, Claude catches the runaway horse the hippies have rented and uses it to show off his riding skills to one of the trio of strangers--an upper class débutante. While returning the horse to the hippies, Claude accepts their invitation to be shown around the city.In the course of a single evening, Claude gets stoned after smoking marijuana and then is introduced to the race and class issues of the 1960's. On the morning after, George finds a scrap of newspaper identifying the mysterious girl. The hippy group which includes Hud (Dorsey Wright), Jeannie (Annie Golden) and Woof (Don Dacus) crash a private party where the girl, Sheila Franklin (Beverly D'Angelo), secretly enjoys the disruption of her rigid environment. After the group is arrested, Claude uses the only money he has to pay George's fine so that George can find the funds to get the rest of them released. Meanwhile, at the prison, Woof's refusal to have his hair cut leads into the title song.Unsuccessful at convincing Sheila to get the funds from her father, George returns to his parents' home and is able to convince his mother to give him enough money to have the others released from jail.For their next adventure, the group attends a peace rally in Central Park where Claude drops acid. When Jeannie proposes they get married to keep Claude out of the Army and Sheila shows up to apologize, Claude's "trip" reflects his internal conflict over which world he belongs in--his own native Oklahoman farm culture, the upper class society of Sheila or the free-wheeling world of the hippies.When his trip is over, Claude and the hippies have a falling out over both a mean trick they pull on Sheila (taking her clothes while she's skinny-dipping, which then leads to Sheila being completely humiliated when she has no choice but to hail a taxi completely naked) and their philosophical differences over the war in Vietnam and personal versus community responsibility. In the end Claude goes through with his original plan and reports to the draft board. He begins his enlistment in the Army and makes it through basic training.When Claude writes to Sheila from his training camp, she seeks out George and his group to share the news. George begins to cook up a scheme to visit Claude in Nevada at the military base. Enter Hud's finance (Cheryl Barnes), who wants him to return to their life together with his son, LaFayette Jr. (Rahsaan Curry). Tricking Sheila's brother Steve (Miles Chapin) out of the family car, the hippies, Sheila and Hud's finance all head west and try to enter the training camp to visit Claude.Turned back at the guard post, George's next scheme has Sheila chat up Fenton (Richard Bright), an Army Sergeant, at a local bar. Luring him out a back country road with intimations of sex, Sheila helps the group relieve him of his uniform and his car. Using both the car and dressed in Fenton's Army uniform, George infiltrates the Army base, finds Claude and reveals himself. When Claude refuses to leave for fear of being found missing during a headcount, George schemes to take his place long enough for Claude to visit with the others waiting in the desert.While Claude is away, the base, which has been on alert, becomes fully activated with immediate ship-outs to Vietnam. George, unwilling to reveal the Claude is AWOL, boards the plane to Vietnam in Claude's place. Claude arrives too late to slip back into his place.The final scene is at Arlington Cemetery several months later showing George's headstone (he was killed in action in Vietnam) and the song "Let the Sunshine In". As the song continues, the movie closes with crowd shots of a full scale peace protest in Washington.

anti war, cult, romantic, flashback

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Airport

The story takes place during one long night during a sudden blizzard at Lincoln International, a fictional Chicago airport based very loosely on O'Hare International Airport.The action mainly centers on Mel Bakersfeld (Burt Lancaster), the airport general manager. His devotion to his job is tearing apart his family and his marriage to his constantly angry and domineering wife Cindy (Dana Wynter), who resents his use of his job at the airport as a device to avoid going to various after-hours events she wants him to participate in, as she attempts to climb into the social circles of Chicago's elite. His problems in his marriage are further exacerbated by his romantically-charged friendship with a lovely divorcee, Trans America Airlines (TGA) passenger relations manager Tanya Livingston (Jean Sebrig).The movie centers on Bakersfeld's struggles to keep the airport open during the snowstorm. His chief problem is the unexpected closure of primary Runway two zero, caused when a landing airliner turns off past the wrong side of a runway marker light, burying the plane's landing gear in the snow, and blocking the runway. Bakersfield is forced to call upon Joe Patroni (George Kennedy), the tough and practical head of maintenance operations for Trans World Airlines, at Lincoln. Patroni is told to move the disabled aircraft blocking the runway two zero. Patroni spends the rest of the movie with his men to dig the plane out of the snow and fights with the pilots to do so under the aircraft's own power without damaging it.Meanwhile, Bakersfield deals with his brother-in-law Vern Demerest (Dean Martin), a pompous and self-confident senior pilot for Trans America Airlines who opposes Bakersfield on a number of issues involving business and personal issues. Both Mel Bakersfield and his sister Sarah (Barbara Hale) are unaware that Vern is having an extramarial affair with Gwen Meighen (Jacqueline Bisset), a chief stewardess on his routine flights whom is planning her latest trip to Rome, Italy and is frustrated about her secret affair with Vern who keeps telling her that he will leave his wife.Back at Lincoln Airport, the closing of runway two zero due to the stuck plane requires the use of shorter runway two-five, which has the unfortunate consequence of causing planes to take off over a noise-sensitive suburb, whose residents picket the airport in protest. Mel Bakersfield instists that the airport stay open despite pressure from the owner and the mayor to close it for the night.A little later, the airport authorites arrest an elderly lady named Mrs. Ada Quonsett (Helen Hayes) whom is attempting to board a plane without a ticket. Ada is brought to the TGA lounge office where he and Tanya discover her to be a frequent stowaway whom has a long record of stowing away aboard cross-country flights and passes herself off as the "poor old lady" to get away with it. Mrs. Quonett is put in the custody of a TGA agent to be put on a flight back to her home in California, but gives him the slip.Meanwhile, D.O. Guerrero (Van Heflin) is an increasingly psychologically-disturbed, bankrupt building contractor and demolitions expert, who is determined to find a way to solve his financial problems, regardless of what it will cost others. After having signed up for a $225,000 life insurance policy, he plans to commit suicide by blowing up a Rome-bound Boeing 707 Intercontinental jet over the Atlantic Ocean so his wife Inez (Maureen Stapleton), who manages a seedy diner, can collect the insurance money since a plane crashing in the ocean leaves no trace of evidence for the insurance company to investigate his death. He leaves their apartment on the ruse that he intends to take a bus to another part of town to meet with a potential employer. When Inez arrives home and finds a special delivery from the travel agency who issued his plane ticket, she heads off to the airport to try to stop him.Gwen and Vern arrive at Lincoln to board their Flight 2 to Rome and she tells him that she just learned that she's pregnant. As the plans begins to board, Ada stows away on plane and sits next to Guerrero whom is behaving nervously, holding his briefcase (with the bomb in it) on his lap, intending to detonate it once the plane is over the ocean.After the plane takes off, Guerroero's wife arrives too late at the airport and goes into a state of shock. When she is brought to the security office after she is found wondering around, she manages to tell them about her husband and what he intends to do. Bakersfield learns about this and has Flight 2 contacted to inform Vernon as well as the co-pilot Captain Harris (Barry Nelson) about the bomb on board. Also learning that Ada is on board the flight and sitting next to Guerrero, Bakersfield contacts Vernon on board the flight to turn the plane around back for Chicago.As the plane is being turned around, Gwen approaches Ada, loudly exposing her as a stowaway while ignoring Guerrero, in a ruse to bring her to the cockpit, where Ada is let in on what is going on. Ada agrees to help create a diversion. When she is brought back to her seat by Gwen, Vern appears and attempts to lunge at Guerrero who figures out what is going on and stands up out of his seat. Gwen manages to grab the briefcase, but another passenger, thinking they are wrongly grabbing "personal property," tosses it back to Guerrero. Vern tries to persuade Guerrero not to trigger the bomb but Guerrero runs into the lavatory at the rear of the aircraft and triggers the bomb. The detonation blows a large hole in the plane, killing Guerrero and seriously injuring Gwen. The plane is structurally damaged in the explosion and subsequent rapid decompression.As Flight 2 returns to Lincoln, Vern learns that the short runway two five is unable to handle the landing of the damaged plane so Flight 2 must land at runway two zero which still has the stuck-in-the-snow plane on the runway. Patroni and his men are still trying to dig the plane out of the snow and after hearing about the emergency, he goes into the cockpit and attempts to rev up the engines to free the plane, which after a tense minute, Patroni finally manages to do so without damaging the runway or the plane.After a harrowing flight back, Vern manages to land the plane and save the rest of the passengers and crew. After everyone had disembarked, he decides to accompany the badly injured Gwen to the hospital where his wife sees him and becomes aware of his extramarital affair. He has decided to leave his wife to be with Gwen.After Mrs. Ada Quonsett is cleared of all criminal charges of stowing away, she is given a first class ticket to return to her hometown.His marriage over, Mel Bakersfield asks Tanya if she would like to "have breakfast" at her apartment with him and she happily agrees.

cult, suspenseful, melodrama

tt0065377

Angel and the Badman

Wounded and on the run, notorious gunman Quirt Evans (John Wayne) gallops onto a farm owned by Quaker Thomas Worth (John Halloran) and his family and collapses. When Quirt urgently insists upon sending a telegram, Thomas and his daughter Penelope (Gail Russell) drive him into town in their wagon. After wiring a claim to the land recorder's office, Quirt passes out and Penny cradles him. Ignoring the doctor's advice to rid themselves of the gunman, the compassionate Worth family tends to the delirious Quirt, and Penny becomes intrigued by his ravings of past loves. Days later, when Quirt regains consciousness, Penny patiently explains the family's belief in non-violence. Three weeks later, Laredo Stevens (Bruce Cabot) and Hondo Jeffries (Louis Faust) ride into town looking for Quirt. When Penny's younger brother Johnny (Stephen Grant) rushes home to inform Quirt of his visitors, Quirt quickly prepares to flee. Penny, now smitten with Quirt, offers to run off with him. At the sound of approaching horses, Quirt grabs his gun and discovers that it has been emptied. Training his gun on the doorway, Quirt calmly greets Hondo and Laredo. Thinking that Quirt has the upper hand, Laredo offers to buy his claim. When Quirt sets the price at $20,000, Laredo hands over $5,000 in gold and challenges him to come for the balance when he is able – if he has the nerve. Afterward, Quirt saddles his horse, but when Penny begs him to stay, he changes his mind. Later, Quirt learns that cantankerous rancher Frederick Carson (Paul Hurst) has dammed up the stream that runs through the valley, thus draining the Worths' irrigation ditches. Quirt intimidates Carson into opening the dam. One Sunday, Penny asks Quirt to join the family for a ride. Before they leave, Marshal Wistful McClintock (Harry Carey) comes to question Quirt about a stagecoach robbery. The family swears that Quirt was with them at the time. The marshal then asks Quirt why he resigned as Wyatt Earp's deputy, sold his ranch and crossed over to the wrong side of the law soon after cattleman Walt Ennis was gunned down in a saloon brawl. When Quirt refuses to answer, the marshal leaves. Penny then begs Quirt to steer clear of Laredo, and he acquiesces because of his love for her. As Quirt and the Worths ride to the Quaker gathering, Quirt's erstwhile sidekick, Randy McCall (Lee Dixon), tags along. Randy tells Quirt that Laredo plans to rustle a herd of cattle and suggests that they then steal the herd from Laredo and let him take the blame. Mr. Worth gives Quirt a Bible for ending the feud with Carson. Fearing that he will never be able to live up to Penny's expectations, Quirt abruptly leaves with Randy. Quirt and Randy steal the herd from the original rustlers. They then celebrate with showgirls Lila Neal (Joan Barton) and Christine Taylor (Rosemary Bertrand). When Lila, sensing a change in her old flame, teases Quirt about his Bible, Quirt becomes angry and rides back to the Worth farm. Overjoyed, Penny throws her arms around him, just as the marshal arrives to question Quirt about the rustling. Quirt states that Lila can provide him with an alibi. Penny is hurt that Quirt was with his old flame, who she heard him talk about in his delirium, thinking Quirt prefers Lila's fair hair. Quirt realizes the depth of his feelings for Penny, and they kiss hungrily in the barn, while the camera fades. The marshal warns Quirt that he is the wrong man for Penny. Quirt decides to propose to her anyway. Instead of replying, Penny invites Quirt to join her picking blackberries. Quirt answers Penny's questions about his early life. Kindly Walt Ennis raised him after his parents were massacred by Indians. Then Ennis was murdered. Quirt and Penny are ambushed and chased by Laredo and Hondo on their way home. Their wagon plunges over a cliff into the river, causing Penny to develop a dangerous fever. When the doctor informs Quirt that there is no hope for her, Quirt straps on his pistol and rides into town to exact revenge. After Quirt leaves, Penny's fever suddenly breaks. In town, Quirt sends Bradley to tell Laredo and Hondo he is waiting for them in the street. Penny and her family arrive. She gets Quirt to surrender his gun to her. As Laredo and Hondo draw their guns, Marshal McClintock shoots them both. Quirt rides off in the wagon with Penny. The marshal picks up Quirt's discarded weapon. Bradley comments that Quirt may need the weapon, to which the marshal says, "Only a man who carries a gun ever needs one." And, the film fades to black.

revenge, comedy, violence

tt0039152

Stir Crazy

Writer Skip Donahue (Gene Wilder) and actor Harry Monroe (Richard Pryor) are fired from their jobs in New York, and leave for Hollywood to find a new way to make a living. Along the way, they take odd jobs to make ends meet. In one such job, Skip and Harry dress up as two woodpeckers, performing a song and dance routine as part of a promotion for a bank. Harry and Skip remove their costumes to take a break, and two men who have been watching steal the costumes and perform the routine as though they were Harry and Skip. The men then use the costumes to rob the bank, and in the confusion Harry and Skip are immediately arrested, whisked through a absurd speedy trial and handed 125-year jail sentences. Their court-appointed lawyer, Len Garber (Joel Brooks), advises them to wait until he can appeal their case.Life in a maximum-security prison proves difficult for both Skip and Harry. After a failed attempt at faking insanity, they make friends with Jesus Ramirez (Miguel Ángel Suárez), a real bank robber, and Rory Schultebrand (Georg Stanford Brown), a gay man who killed his stepfather. Rory takes an immediate fancy to Harry, much to Harry's chagrin. Having been there a while, Jesus and Rory inform Skip and Harry of the numerous goings-on in the prison, as well as the other members and who to watch out for, such as Jack Graham (Jonathan Banks), who runs the cell block, and is in charge of the contraband that comes in; and ax murderer Blade (Charles Weldon), who runs the "third-world" side of the cell block. The most feared inmate, however, is Grossberger (Erland Van Lidth), a convicted mass murderer of incredible size and strength who refuses to speak and is feared by the inmates and guards alike. Seeing something "kind" in Grossberger, the naive Skip attempts to talk with him, unsuccessfully.After being in prison for three months, Skip and Harry are brought to see Warden Walter Beatty (Barry Corbin) and Deputy Warden Wilson (Craig T. Nelson), the head guard. They wish to run a "test" with Harry and Skip on a mechanical bull in the warden's office. To everyone's surprise, Skip rides the bull at full power, so Beatty selects him to compete in the prison's annual rodeo competition.Out in the yard, Jesus and Rory inform Harry and Skip of the truth behind the rodeo: it's really a crooked operation run by Beatty and Warden Henry Sampson (Nicolas Coster), who heads the neighboring prison. The money from the rodeo, which is supposed to go to the prisoners, really ends up in the wardens' pockets. Knowing that Skip will be selected as the prison's new "champion", Jesus and Rory hatch a plan for escape. In order for it to work, Skip must refuse to participate in the rodeo: the longer he holds out, the better chance he has at "striking a deal" with the warden. After Skip refuses to participate, the angry warden orders Deputy Wilson to "straighten him out", which Wilson is only too happy to do.Prison life soon becomes more difficult than ever for Harry and Skip as Wilson and the guards attempt to break them down. First they are put on hard labor detail and deprived of both water and sleep. When this fails, the guards lock Skip up, overnight, hanging by his wrists and ankles. Skip awakens the next morning to discover that his bad back is cured. Wilson then puts Skip in solitary confinement; Skip asks for an extra day. Being returned to his cell, Skip discovers that he and Harry have a new cell mate: Grossberger, whom they quickly befriend.Harry and Skip are visited by Garber, along with his cousin Meredith (JoBeth Williams), who is fighting to prove their innocence. Skip takes an immediate liking to Meredith, who informs him she never gets personally involved with clients.Meanwhile, Warden Beatty is furious at Wilson for not breaking Harry and Skip yet, and decides to handle things himself. Soon afterward, Harry is sent to the prison's hospital ward for appendicitis. A prisoner in the neighboring bed (Franklyn Ajaye) tells Harry of the horrors of the ward: he himself was admitted for a hernia operation, and the doctor castrated him in the process. As soon as Harry sees the doctor (Alvin Ing), he runs screaming from the ward.Skip meets with Warden Beatty to make a deal. In exchange for Skip's participation in the rodeo, Skip requests his own crew (Harry, Jesus, Rory, and Grossberger), along with a much bigger jail cell, all according to the plan. Warden Beatty agrees, telling Deputy Wilson to have an inmate guard watch them at all times. Willson assigns Graham and Blade to the task, who anxiously voice their resentment: Graham, who resents being "pushed aside" for Skip, and Blade, who regard the group as "brown-noses". Wilson tells Graham of his own agenda: Skip will not leave the rodeo alive.Training Skip and Harry for the rodeo, Graham ensures that their lives - especially Harry's - are made difficult. While practicing for the rodeo, Skip, Harry, Jesus, Rory and Grossberger acquire the numerous tools they require for their escape, using the prison's metal shop to transform them into seemingly everyday items. In their new large jail cell, the quintet have numerous comforts: books, a television, a radio, and a guitar, among other things. While relaxing in their cell, Grossberger breaks his silence when he sings "Birmingham Jail" during an awkward moment.Meanwhile, Meredith has gotten a job as a waitress in a country western strip club, so she may search for possible suspects. When she meets the real crooks - recognized by a tattoo on one of their hands that a witness (Tracy Lee Rowe) saw on one of them - Meredith calls Len Garber, and the police.The rodeo begins, and Skip, Harry, Jesus, Rory and Grossberger all perform their tasks flawlessly, arousing no suspicions, in spite of Wilson and Graham's attempt to kill Skip: Graham spikes a horse Skip is riding, but Skip manages to stay on the horse and dismount, unhurt. Graham then puts a lock on the gate, trapping Skip inside with an out-of control bull, but Grossberger breaks the lock off, allowing Skip out through the chute with the bull. During every major event when everyone is distracted, one of them slips out through a secret opening, taking them through air vents to either a restroom, where Jesus' wife Teresa (Karmin Murcelo) waits to provide them disguises, or through a vent to a hollow pushcart, manned by Jesus' brother Ramon (Henry Kingi). Once through, they put on their disguises and re-enter the grounds as customers.Skip is set to compete against reigning champion Caesar Geronimo (Joe Massengale) to swipe the prize: a bag of money (in reality the wardens' side bet) from the horns of a large, Brahman bull. Skip asks Caesar if he's tired of being his warden's stooge, suggesting that they give the money to the prisoners, even offering to help Caesar win if he chooses to do so. Both contestants play hard, but Caesar is the winner, grabbing the bag. Inspired by Skip's words, Caesar throws the bag over the fence to the inmates, much to the shock and outrage of wardens Beatty and Sampson. Skip prepares his own escape through the secret opening, but Graham shows up, suspicious. Grossberger knocks Graham out and Skip makes his escape into the waiting pushcart. He's herded off into the waiting camper, and the group drives off.Arriving at a secret meeting spot, Jesus and Rory quickly make introductions, then bid Harry and Skip farewell as they all pile into a waiting car, heading off to Mexico. Harry and Skip hop in the other waiting car, only to be stopped by another car containing Len Garber and Meredith. She tells Harry and Skip that, thanks to her work, the police have captured the real crooks, who have confessed to the bank robbery that wrongly convicted them. Harry and Skip, ecstatic, decide to resume their original plans of heading to Hollywood. Skip asks Meredith to go with him, and Meredith, on a whim, says "yes".

comedy

tt0081562

The Loved Ones

Brent (Xavier Samuel) is driving with his father in the passenger seat, when a bloodied man appears in the middle of the road. Swerving to avoid hitting the man, Brent's vehicle collides with a tree. Six months later, Brent is planning to attend a high school dance with girlfriend Holly (Victoria Thaine), having politely refused an offer by Lola Stone (Robin McLeavy). Brent and Holly meet up, go to Holly's car and they have sex, seen by the now hurt Lola. Holly drives the pair on account of the car crash, and it's revealed that Brent's father died in the accident. Wracked with guilt, Brent has turned to recreational cannabis use and self-mutilation with a razor blade he keeps on a necklace. Once home, Brent leaves the house, goes to a nearby cliff, climbs it halfway and contemplates suicide, but then comes to his senses and climbs to the top. While listening to music, Brent is attacked from behind. Bound to a chair, he wakes up at Lola's house sitting at a table with Lola, her father (John Brumpton), and a lobotomized-woman they call Bright Eyes (Anne Scott-Pendlebury). Lola's father has turned his house into a dance for his daughter. Lola takes a syringe, fills it with bleach and injects it into Brent's voice box to render him unable to scream or talk. When she makes a threatening comment about Holly, Brent kicks Lola and manages to escape outside. Lola's father chases Brent up a tree, where he and Lola hurl rocks at Brent, knocking him down. The two bring Brent back inside, and nail his feet to the floor with knives. Lola reveals via a scrapbook that she has been abducting many boys throughout her life, one victim in particular is Timmy Valentine, who Brent recognizes to be the bloody man that he swerved in his vehicle six months ago to avoid hitting and led to his Father's death. Timmy turns out to be the brother of Mia Valentine, the goth girl Brent's best friend Jamie asked to the prom. Lola then "draws" on Brent by using a fork to carve a heart with "L S" in the middle on his chest onto which she liberally throws salt. After being crowned Queen of her dance, Lola admits to Brent that she is looking for her prince, which is not Brent as he is "just another frog". However, Lola confides in her father that he is her prince. Afterward, Daddy lifts the carpet to reveal a secret trap door with the previous abductees still inside. Lola drills a hole through Brent's skull as they intend to lobotomize him like their other captives. But when Lola complains that the hole is too small for her to pour boiling water into, Brent slashes her father with his razor-blade pendant necklace. Brent then attacks Daddy, stabbing him repeatedly in the neck with one of the knives that Brent pulled out of his feet. Lola jumps on Brent and tries to hit him, but Brent knocks her out. Brent then pushes Lola's dad into the pit where he watches in horror as the nearly starved captives eat Daddy. Lola gets up and throws Brent in, throwing nearby objects at him in anger. Brent finds a flashlight and hammer that Lola had thrown down which he uses to kill the abductees as they advance on him. Lola then goes and smothers Bright Eyes with a pillow, revealing that the woman is her mother. On a hunch, Holly calls a policeman (Mia's father) in the neighborhood. When he gets to Lola's house, he sees through a window the bloody floor and chair and breaks in. In an attempt to attract the policeman's attention, Brent makes noise by throwing objects at the doors, alerting the policeman of his presence. But when he opens the doors, Lola appears behind the policeman and Brent cannot say anything to warn him. Lola drives a meat cleaver into his face and the policeman falls down, dropping his gun. Brent attempts to shoot Lola, but she quickly moves out of the way where she finds Brent's necklace on the floor. She then informs Brent that she is going to go to his house and kill his mother, Carla for murdering her father, and Holly for breaking her heart. Brent notices a large pile of bones in the pit. That gives him the idea to pile up the dead bodies, and he manages to climb out. Lola begins walking on the road with a knife and her scrapbook when she sees a car advance. It is shown to be Holly, so Lola hides and throws her book at the windshield, distracting Holly to a halt. She then attempts to kill Holly, but Holly evades Lola and a chase ensues. Brent is seen driving the police car fast, attempting to catch up with Lola. He sees Holly and nearly hits her but swerves and hits Lola instead. Holly clambers into the police car, and is shocked to see Brent. The two embrace tearfully as Lola, severely injured but still not dead, crawls to kill the pair. They hear the noise of Lola's knife as she drags herself and Brent reverses the car, striking Lola in the head and crushing her skull. Brent and Holly arrive back home. Carla looks outside the window to see her son in a brutal state and embraces him after all the horror he has been through. The last scene shown is that of Brent's face as he is being held by Carla, looking on.

suspenseful, cruelty, murder, violence, horror, clever, insanity, romantic, revenge, sadist

tt1316536

Penny Dreadful

Penny, (Rachel Miner), a young woman traumatized by a childhood auto accident that killed her parents, accompanies her therapist Orianna (Mimi Rogers) on a road trip to a mountain community as part of her therapy to overcome her fear of cars. On their way up a secluded road Orianna finds out that Penny is taking sleeping pills. This greatly disappoints Orianna as the pills only slow Penny's recovery.She explains this to Penny in frustration and fails to notice a hooded hitchhiker standing on the side of the road. Orianna accidentally hits the hitchhiker and then offers the hitchhiker a ride to their destination, which happens to be an even more secluded location. The Hitchhiker remains completely silent during the drive with his hood pulled up to conceal his face. The only action the hitchhiker takes, besides silently offering them a skewer of raw meat, is checking out the bag in the backseat containing a book written by Orianna which then leads to Penny explaining the reason for their trip and her severe fear of cars.Orianna and Penny drop off the hitchhiker in the middle of the road going through a camp which is closed for the season. The duo does not get too far, however, due to a flat tire caused by the Hitchhiker, who punctures the tire with one of the meat skewers. Orianna insists that Penny wait in the car while she goes to try to get reception on her phone and call for help-much to Penny's disapproval as she knows the hitchhiker is waiting out there for them.Orianna sets out for help but she doesn't get far when she sees a bright light in front of her. Penny waits anxiously in the car; after half an hour she realizes something has gone wrong. She leaves the car and tries to locate Orianna. Penny finds a phone and tries to call for help, but the phone is disconnected. As she turns around she sees the hitchhiker behind her, and tries to run but falls and hits her head.When Penny wakes up, she is sitting in the car again, with the video camera in her hands. She turns it on to find a video recently recorded. She watches the video in horror as she realizes that the hitchhiker taped the murder of Orianna. Penny starts to panic, and when she looks to her side she sees Orianna's dead body in the seat next to her and realizes that she is trapped in the car between two tall, thick trees and there is no escape.Penny tries to call for help, but the hitchhiker continues to terrorize and torture her. A man who works in the mountains tries to help, but is killed by the hitchhiker who is hiding under the car. The man's mistress is also killed nearby, while waiting for a tryst in the woods. The man's bearded co-worker comes looking for him, but falls down a hill and is killed by the hitchhiker as well.Penny is tortured for another few hours and when she tries to crawl out of the car window, the hitchhiker grabs her right foot and cuts off one of her toes. Penny continues to take sleeping pills and painkillers to escape the madness. When she awakes for the last time, she turns around to find the hitchhiker (a wild-eyed scruffy woman) sitting in the back wearing Orianna's clothes, who then tries to strangle her while saying, "Don't forget your breathing exercises, Penny". She manages to fight off the hitchhiker and escape from the car, only to trip from her injured foot. The hitchhiker finds her and tries to attack but a man driving a pick up truck drives past in time to hit the hitchhiker with his truck. The hitchhiker appears to be dead at this point and the truck driver is panicking. He tells Penny to wait in the car while he assists the hitchhiker. Penny feels a bit of relief as she watches the man and the dead hitchhiker. But terror boils up when she realizes the hitchhiker is still moving...

violence, murder, flashback

tt0454224

Die

Six people, each of them is on the road to self-destruction. They wake up in cells in a surreal facility, without knowing how they got there or why. An insane criminal captures six people that have had problems in the past and makes them play a game to decide the fate of each others lives. Die is basically a PG-13 version of Saw. Die is mainly dialogue that is uninspired and pretty predictable. When I saw that Elias Koteas was one of the stars I had pretty high hopes for this movie. I feel he a great actor who isn't given enough recognition. he played in Skin walkers, Shooter and many others. The movie introduces the captives one by one until they are apparently killed off. Then eventually they all wake up to find themselves in a glass prison cubes and a guy that informs them they must play a game. A game which will decide their fate. We find out that at some point in each of the six captive's lives they tried to commit suicide. So they are paired up in teams and one has to roll a die (guess this is where the title of the movie comes into play) to decide what kind of chance the opposite captive has to live. For instance one guy was going to kill himself with a gun so he had to roll a die to see how many bullets had to put in the revolver. Once the number of bullets are decided he then had to squeeze the trigger while pointing it at the other captive. This was done a few times while some people lived and some didnt. Not a bad ideal for a horror flick. The back ground stories of the captives was pretty lame and not very interesting. The scenes with the villain and the captors was actually the best part of the movie. The rest of the movie was a couple of FBI agents trying to track down the kidnapped, missing people. Then they had to figure out how to connect the dots that were found. It's really not too shabby of a horror flick.

suicidal, flashback

tt1465478

We Bought a Zoo

Benjamin Mee (Matt Damon) is still grieving the loss of his wife and dealing with the expulsion of his 14-year-old son, Dylan (Colin Ford), from school, and decides to make a restart by buying a new house. He tours many houses with his 7-year-old daughter, Rosie (Maggie Elizabeth Jones), and his realtor, Mr. Stevens (J. B. Smoove), but finds none he likes until his daughter finds a listing with what seems like the perfect house. They drive to an old large house and Benjamin inspects the property, telling his realtor it is perfect. When they hear a lion roar, Stevens explains that the house comes with a zoo in the back, which closed several years before; if they want the house, they must buy the zoo. Although reluctant at first, Mee decides to buy the zoo when he sees Rosie happily playing with the peacocks. Dylan, however, hates the idea of moving away from his friends and retreats into his artwork which has grown more macabre since the death of his mother. Benjamin's brother, Duncan (Thomas Haden Church), tries to dissuade him from the purchase, but Benjamin buys it anyway. The zoo staff, led by the 28-year-old head keeper, Kelly Foster (Scarlett Johansson), help to start renovating the zoo with the intent to reopen it to the public. When Kelly confronts Benjamin about why he bought a zoo, knowing nothing about running one, Benjamin simply responds "Why not?". Dylan befriends Kelly's 13-year-old homeschooled cousin, Lily Miska (Elle Fanning), who develops a romantic interest that Dylan is oblivious to. A strict USDA inspector, Walter Ferris (John Michael Higgins), arrives for a surprise inspection and makes a list of repairs that would cost around $100,000, which Benjamin does not have. Rhonda Blair (Carla Gallo), the zoo's accountant, gossips that Benjamin will probably sell the zoo. The workers' morale sinks, fearing the property will be sold to a buyer that will close it down. When Lily tells Dylan that she heard his family might be leaving, he is overjoyed, which hurts her feelings. Benjamin discovers that his wife bequeathed him an investment account, with instructions to use the money wisely while listening to his heart. Duncan advises him to walk away and start over with the money, but Benjamin decides to use the money to repair the zoo. While this lifts the zoo workers' morale, Dylan is unhappy about having to stay; he confronts his father, and a heated argument ensues. They reconcile the next morning and Dylan admits he misses Lily. Benjamin gives his son advice using his favorite principle, that you only need 20 seconds of courage to achieve great things. Benjamin realizes that instead of trying to start over by forgetting his wife, he should accept that she will always be a part of him. Prior to the grand opening of the zoo, the facility passes a very stringent inspection from Ferris, who grudgingly wishes them good luck. Dylan, following his father's advice, confesses to Lily that he loves her and she forgives him. The week prior to the opening, the worst rainstorm in 100 years is predicted to wash it out. The weather clears in time, but in the morning they are disappointed when no visitors arrive. They discover that a fallen tree has blocked the access road, with a large crowd of waiting visitors behind it. The staff help them to climb over the tree. There are so many people that they run out of tickets, forcing Benjamin and Kelly to look for more. They end up face to face in a shed, where Kelly admits to Benjamin that she is romantically interested in him and since she "can't get a handle on it", she kisses him, telling him that maybe they can do it again on New Year's Eve; Benjamin kisses her back, and tells her that he is looking forward to it. Benjamin takes his children to the restaurant where he met their mother, explaining that it was the point where their existence became a possibility. He takes them through that day's encounter, where Benjamin worked up the nerve to talk to his future wife with "20 seconds of insane courage", and walks up to the table she was at. He visualizes her (Stéphanie Szostak) sitting there, and asks her why such an amazing woman would talk to someone like him. She responds, "Why not?".

feel-good

tt1389137

Doc Hollywood

Dr. Benjamin Stone is a promising young surgeon working in Washington, D.C. with plans of making more money working for a Beverly Hills plastic surgeon. On his last day, he realizes that none of his colleagues care enough about him to say good-bye to him, instead leaving him a cake with an insult made out of icing. Driving out west in a 1956 Porsche 356 Speedster, Stone swerves to miss a cow on the highway and crashes uncontrollably into the fence of a local resident in the rural hamlet of Grady, South Carolina. The resident is local Judge Evans, who sentences him to community service at the nearby hospital as punishment rather than allow Stone pay for the fence with cash. Defeated and stranded due to the damage to his car, Ben reports to the local clinic, where Nurse Packer further humbles him by recording his community service hours by clocking him in and out, like a factory worker. Though upset, Ben makes friends with Mayor Nick Nicholson, who is also the owner of the town's cafe, and Melvin, the local mechanic tasked with repairing his car. Ben soon finds the clinic work is more laid-back than the emergency room to which he is used with simple cases, such as spots before the eyes of an elderly patient not cleaning her glasses, fishing hook impaling and even reading mail for a young illiterate couple, Kyle and Mary Owens, whose baby he later delivers. The small-town experience soon humbles Ben when he misdiagnoses a young boy as having mitral valve regurgitation leading to late cyanosis, a case the town's curmudgeonly doctor, Aurelius Hogue, treats with a Coca-Cola. Hogue explains that the boy had chewed his father's tobacco and was given too much bismuth subnitrate as an antacid, causing a blue tinge; the carbonic acid component of the soda would relieve his stomachache. The two finally bond when Ben saves Hogue after he suffers a near-fatal heart attack. Since Hogue is eager to retire, Ben is urged by the locals to stay and replace him, although he is tempted by his budding romance with a tomboyish ambulance driver, Vialula, better known as "Lou," a single mother to a four-year-old named Emma. Ben soon confides to her that he grew up in a small town in rural Indiana, where his parents lived and died, and how he can't see himself confined to a small town. Lou is also pursued by Hank Gordon, a local insurance salesman. He waits for Ben at the mayor's lakeside lodge, where Ben has been staying. Ben expects a fight, but Hank explains that though he can't give Lou what Ben can, he's still a better man for her. After the two men talk, Ben comes to realize he's not selfless enough for a life with Lou and plans to not see her anymore. Ben is soon pardoned from community service for saving Hogue, allowing him to head to California for his job interview. With his car fixed, he tries to sneak out of town, but his departure is delayed when he finds Kyle and Mary Owens stranded by the side of the road with Mary in deep labor. While he's delivering their baby, a tractor trailer smashes into his Porsche and he must leave town without it: the entire town comes to see him off in a taxi. On the West Coast, Ben's new boss, Dr. Halberstrom, hires him at the interview, based on an unexpected recommendation from Hogue. However, Ben soon tires of the superficiality of Beverly Hills, even going so far as calling to check the weather in Grady on his phone. The next day, he's surprised to receive a message at work from a woman with a "heavy Southern accent" and rushes to a restaurant, where he noticed his restored Porsche in the parking lot. Nancy Lee, the mayor's daughter, and Hank have come to California, and Hank tells Ben he took his own advice to "do what a man's gotta do." Ben returns to Grady, hoping to patch things up with Lou, who takes him back.

comedy, boring

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The Exorcism of Emily Rose

In an extremely rare decision, the Catholic Church officially recognized the demonic possession of the 19 year-old college freshman. Told in flashbacks, The Exorcism of Emily Rose chronicles the haunting trial of the priest accused of negligence resulting in the death of the young girl who is believed to be possessed and the lawyer who takes on the task of defending him.Lawyer Erin Bruner (Laura Linney) takes on the church and the state when she fights in defense of a priest, Father Richard Moore (Tom Wilkinson) who performed an exorcism on a young woman, Emily Rose (Jennifer Carpenter). Bruner must battle the state lawyer as well as her own loneliness, as she realizes that her career so far has not fulfilled her. She takes the case, albeit reluctantly, because she believes it will elevate her to senior partner at her law firm. The priest agrees to let her defend him only if he is allowed to tell Emily's story.The trial begins with the calling of several medical experts by the prosecutor, Ethan Thomas (Campbell Scott). One expert testifies that Emily was suffering from both epilepsy and psychosis. The defense contests that she may have actually been possessed, though Bruner is careful never to say that in so many words intially. Indeed Bruner explains that Emily was suffering from something that neither medicine nor psychology could explain, and that Father Moore as well as her family realized this and tried to help in another way. Several flashbacks show how this began. Alone in her dorm room one night, at 3:00 AM, she smells a strange burning smell from the hallway. When she checks on it, she sees the door open and shut by itself several times. When she goes back to her room, she sees a jar of pencils and pens move by itself. Additionally, her covers roll themselves down, and a great weight seems to press down on her, a force which also proceeds to choke her and seemingly to possess her momentarily. Through these episodes she wonders if they are really happening or if it is just a hallucination she is experiencing. She suffers more "visions", is hospitalized, and diagnosed with epilepsy. She is given anti-seizure medications which she claims do not work. Her visions continue, as do her severe bodily contortions.She leaves school and returns to live with her parents. She and her parents become convinced she is not epileptic or mentally ill but is possessed by demons. They ask for their local parish priest to be called in to perform an exorcism, and the Church agrees. The prosecution counters that all this could be explained by a combination of epilepsy (the contortions) and psychosis (the visions).Meanwhile, Bruner begins to experience strange occurrences in her apartment at 3:00 AM, including strange smells and sounds. Father Moore warns her that she may be targeted by demons for possibly exposing them. Later in the film Father Moore explains that 3:00 AM is the "witching hour" which evil spirits use to mock the Holy Trinity. Significantly, it is the opposite of 3:00 PM, traditionally taken to be the hour at which Jesus died.Seeing that the prosecution is putting up a seemingly solid medical case, Bruner decides to try to show that Emily may have actually been possessed. She calls in an anthropologist, Dr. Sadira Adani, to testify about various cultures' beliefs about spiritual possession.A medical doctor present during the exorcism comes forward to reveal an audio tape made during the rite. The priest is then called to the stand to testify. The tape is played and the movie then flashes back to the exorcism. It is performed on Halloween night because Father Moore believes it might be easier to draw out the demons on that night. The priest, Emily's boyfriend, and her father are in the room. Emily is tied to the bed. The priest uses holy water and various words from the Rituale Romanum. She speaks in tongues, including Latin, German, Ancient Greek, Hebrew, and Aramaic. Several cats run into the room, jumping on the priest and knocking him down. Emily breaks her ties and jumps out the window, running into the barn. They follow her. Inside the barn, they are subjected to more supernatural phenomena such as unnatural gusts of wind and demonic screams and voices. The demon inside Emily refuses to name itself after repeated demands from the presiding Father but finally reveals contemptuously that there are not one but six demons. They go on to identify themselves in dramatic fashion, naming themselves one after another in dual voices from Emily. They identify themselves as the demons that possessed Cain, Nero, and Judas Iscariot and one of the Legion. Beyond that two demons name themselves directly as Belial, and "Lucifer, the devil in the flesh."The film returns to the court room. The priest says that after this, Emily refused another exorcism but also refused to take her anti-psychotic medication, having accepted her fate. She died a few weeks later. The prosecutor contends that her speaking in tongues can be explained by her having gone through Catholic Catechism, in which she could have learned the ancient languages, and that she had studied German in high school. The priest admits that it might be possible that she could have learned these languages in school.Bruner then wants to call the doctor as a witness, but he does not show. She walks outside and sees him on the street. He says he can no longer testify, but he does believe in demons. Before he can explain he is hit by a car and killed. Later that night Bruner's boss tells her she has ruined the whole trial and that if she recalls the priest to the stand she will be fired.Nevertheless, Bruner calls the priest back to the stand the next day. He reads a letter that Emily wrote him before she died. In the letter Emily describes another vision she had, the morning after the exorcism. She walks out of the house and sees the Virgin Mary, who tells her that although the demons will not leave her, she can leave her body and end her suffering. However, the apparition goes on to say, if she returns to her body she will help to prove to the world that God and the Devil are real. She chooses to return. She concludes the letter by saying "People say that God is dead, but how can they think that if I show them the Devil?" She then receives stigmata, which the priest believes is a sign of God's love for her, but the prosecution counters that she could have received the stigmata wounds from a barbed wire fence on her property.Father Moore is ultimately found guilty; however, on a recommendation from the jury, the judge agrees to a sentence of time served. In modern American legal practice, juries are only allowed to answer questions specifically directed to them, though sometimes they are asked separately to sentence defendants. The jury's recommendation in this fictional case does not follow American practice.Bruner is offered a partnership at her firm for saving Father Moore from extended jail time, but she refuses and in fact quits. She goes with Father Moore to Emily's grave, where he has put a quote (which she recited to him the day before she died) from the second chapter twelfth verse of Philippians on her grave: "work out your own salvation with fear and trembling".

good versus evil, psychological, murder, flashback

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Charly

Charly Gordon (Cliff Robertson) is a retarded male adult. He enjoys playing on the playground with other kids. He goes to night school, and his teacher, Miss Alice Kinnian (Claire Bloom) asks him to come to a university to take tests. She takes him through logic tests while scientists watch from behind a 2-way mirror.Charly works at a bakery, sweeping floors, where his co-workers tease him and play practical jokes on him, led by Gimpy (Edward McNally). He doesn't realize they are jokes at his expense.The next day, Alice take Charly back to the laboratory, where he races a mouse, Algernon, through a maze. Algernon wins, and Charly is baffled - he had his lucky rabbit's foot, too. She drives him home, and asks to see his apartment, which is very plain. His landlady, Mrs. Apple (Ruth White) thinks he's fooling around with her. Alice tells him that Algernon had a special operation that made him smarter, and asks Charly if he would like to have the same operation.Alice discusses Charly's qualifications with Dr. Strauss (Lilia Skala) and Dr. Nemur (Leon Janney). At first, the doctors are skeptical, but Alice convinces them to try the operation on Charly. Charly chats with the lab technician Bert (Dick Van Patten).Charly rides the tour bus to get around. His friends Hank (Barney Martin), Joey (William Dwyer) and Gimpy take him to Paddy's (Dan Morgan) bar, where they play tricks on him. Depressed, he goes to the playground, and Alice finds him and tells him the operation has been approved. He's happy again, and swings on the swing.The next day, Charly undergoes the operation. When he awakes, he's no smarter, and Algernon still beats him in the maze test. Charly is frustrated, and storms off. He works off his anger riding bumper cars, then returns to his apartment, only to find Algernon has been placed in his room. He yells at Algernon, and Mrs. Apple tells him that having a pet is a gift.Charly begins to show improvement, and beats Algernon in a maze race. Alice continues to teach him, and Charly begins to fall in love with her. Charly studies more advanced subjects, and his co-workers try to fool him, but he's now as smart as they are. Gimpy is suspicious. Charly is beginning to notice Alice is a woman, and she is beginning to become uncomfortable with him. Alice tells Dr. Straus that she wants to resign from the program.Charly's maturation continues, and he is fired from the bakery, since his friends no longer want to be around him. Alice explains that growth can be painful. Dr. Nemur wants to continue pushing Charly's education, but Dr. Strauss thinks he needs to mature emotionally first. Charly follows Alice and her fiance home and tries to rape him. She screams at him, calling him a stupid moron.Charly begins to live recklessly, riding motorcycles, going to parties, and smoking. Eventually he returns home, and Alice is waiting for him. They begin a romance, and Charly asks Alice to marry him. They have a wonderful vacation and return to the seminar to present the "Algernon-Gordon" effect. Doctors Nemur and Strauss show Charly's original test footage and Charly watches from backstage. When he comes onstage, he answers questions about what is, and what is to be. Charly then turns to the audience and asks what will become of him. No one answers, and Charly tells him that he will return to his previous intelligence - he has Algernon, and has realized that the operation is only temporary. He runs from the seminar, and is chased by images of how he used to be.Charly winds up at a bar, where a retarded busboy is made fun of by the patrons. The doctors and Alice argue over what to do about Charly, and Charly offers to use his vast intelligence to help. He begins to experience mental blocks, a possible sign of regression. His research is unsuccessful, and Alice asks Charly to marry her. He then asks her to leave.Days later, Alice sadly watches Charly playing on the playground again.The End.

tragedy, psychological, philosophical, prank

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Arthur

Arthur (Russell Brand) is a drunken playboy who revels in party and drinking. On the way to a dress party, he and Bitterman (Luis Guzman) dress as Batman and Robin, get arrested, then bail out everyone from jail.The next day, Hobson (Helen Mirren) cleans up after Arthur and kicks out various hookers. Hobson nannies Arthur, trying to keep him sober. She takes him to see his mother Vivienne (Geraldine James), who tells him he must marry Susan Johnson (Jennifer Garner) to stabilize the family business. Arthur proceeds to spend money as fast as possible, then bumps into Naomi (Greta Gerwig). They share a moment, and Arthur asks to see her again, but he still has to marry Susan.He goes to ask Susan's father Burt (Nick Nolte) for her hand in marriage. Burt approves, only because he thinks Susan will straighten him out. Arthur goes to dinner with Susan, and she begins to manipulate him. Arthur refuses to abide by the decision, and he clears out Grand Central Station to have dinner with Naomi (Pez). She's impressed by his wealth, but prefers simple fun. She takes him to her house to have dinner - canned pasta - and they bond. Atrhur enourages Naomi to write the story she's been working on. Susan finds out and works to destroy the relationship with Naomi. Naomi also tries to make friends with Hobson.Arthur decides to get a job, and goes to an AA meeting. Hobson stands up and describes Arthur's life at the meeting, embarassing him. Arthur explains his situation to Naomi, and she throws him out.Arthur prepares for the wedding, but Hobson begins to see how miserable he is. She goes to Vivienne to plead for Arthur, then goes to Naomi and tells her Arthur loves her. Hobson falls ill, and Arthur and Naomi share concern over her. Naomi tells Arthur that her book was bought, but Susan intrudes and tells her that Arthur coerced the purchase; she gets angry and leaves.Arthur starts to care for Hobson, feeding her canned pasta at first, but gradually improving, remaining sober. He finds out that Hobson has made sacrifices for him, and she passes away. Arthur is devastated, and starts drinking again.The wedding day arrives. Arthur finds a note from Hobson, telling him to go to Naomi. Arthur refuses to get married, and Susan yells that she needs to marry him to take control of the company. Arthur renounces his wealth and leaves the chapel, stripping nearly naked. He visits Naomi, but she spurns him. He goes to church and stops drinking. He finds Naomi's new book and sees it was dedicated to him. He visits her and apologizes for his behavior. They kiss, and he tells her his mother has forgiven him and they leave together - in the Batmobile.

entertaining, stupid

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The Strangers

Kristen McKay (Liv Tyler) and James Hoyt (Scott Speedman) return to the remote summer vacation home owned by James's parents in the mid-hours of the night following a friend's wedding reception. After an episode between the couple when Kristen turns down a marriage proposal from James, they receive a knock at the front door. When they open the door, there is a young blonde woman standing there with her face partly obsured by a burnt out door light. "Is Tamara home?", she asks. "No, I think you have the wrong house", they tell her. The mysterious woman then walks off into the night. James fixes the door light and then leaves the house to go buy cigarettes and get his mind off of things.Meanwhile, Kristen stays at the house alone. The blonde woman returns, asking for Tamara, but this time Kristen does not open the door; "You already came by here", she tells the woman, who responds with "Are you sure?". The smoke alarm goes off soon after, due to the fireplace being blocked, and Kristen pulls the alarm off the ceiling and it clatters to the floor. Someone begins banging at the door. Kristen, a little unnerved at the entire situation, locks the doors in the house, and calls James asking him to hurry back, when the phone line goes dead. Kristen plugs her cell phone in to charge it, changes into jeans and a flannel shirt, and then picks up a half-smoked cigarette. As she stands in the living room of the house, a man wearing a sack mask emerges from the hallway behind her, and watches her silently as she gets a glass of water. He then disappears.Another barrage of knocks come from the front door, and Kristen sees the smoke alarm, which was previously lying on the floor, sitting neatly on the center of a dining room chair. She hurries to grab her cell phone, but it has been taken off the charger and is nowhere in sight. She hears something hitting the windchimes and making a dragging noise on the back patio, and she slowly, armed with a kitchen knife, walks toward the sliding glass door. She pulls the curtain back, and the man in the mask is standing there, and he slams his hand on the window. She screams in terror, and bumps into the phonograph in the living room, knocking the needle off track, which causes it to begin repeating the same phrase from a country song. Suddenly, the front door opens slightly, and Kristen approaches it. In between the crack of the door someone wearing a doll-like mask peeks her head through. Kristen closes the door, locks it, and hides in the bedroom, yelling for the strangers to go away. Suddenly, the vinyl album stops skipping, and footsteps come down the hallfortunately, it is only James, who is entirely unaware of what is going on.The couple search the house, but find nobody, and James initially believes Kristen to be letting her imagination get to her. The couple see the blonde woman, now wearing a Dollface mask (Gemma Ward), standing in the back yard, staring at the house. James then goes outside to the car to retrieve his cell phone, only to find the car entirely vandalized, and his cell phone stolen. Dollface touches the back of his neck as he is crouched down in the car, and runs off, only to reappear a few feet from the car. He tells her to leave, and Kristen pokes her head outside in concern. James turns to Kristen, and when he turns back around, Dollface has vanished. James returns to the house, and he and Kristen find his cell phone sitting on the piano with its battery removed. James decides it's time to leave.They go outside and attempt to drive away in the car, even with its tires slashed, but a truck pulls up behind them, driven by a different unidentified woman, wearing a mask that resembles a pin up. The Man in the Mask (Kip Weeks) appears in front of the car, and a dark-haired woman wearing a the Pin Up Girl mask (Laura Margolis) rear-ends the car, as James and Kristen scramble back into the house. They find a shotgun and gun shells in the bedroom, along with the word "hello" written all over the bedroom window in red paint by the villains. They approach the front door with the gun, and the Man in the Mask begins to break through the door with an axe. They block the door with the piano, and James attempts to shoot him, but misses. They then hide in a room down the hallway, armed with the gun toward the open doorway.James' friend, Mike (Glenn Howerton), whom he called earlier, arrives at the house, and has a rock thrown through his windshield. He approaches the house, and hears country music playing loudly on the record player. He enters through the back glass door, just as Dollface emerges from the shadows behind him. He sees the house is a complete disaster, and he walks down the hallway as the music continues playing. The Man in the Mask appears behind him, holding up his axe preparing to strike. Just as the music stops, Mike steps in the doorway, and James fires the gun, striking Mike right in the head. He dies instantly, and after a few seconds James and Kristen realize they shot the wrong person. The villains paint "KILLER" on the back door to taunt James, and he heads to the barn outside to use a ham radio for help. He spots Pin Up Girl emerging from the barn, and attempts to shoot at her from down on the ground, but the Man in the Mask runs up behind him at full speed. Kristen soon follows, after she senses the presence of the Man in the Mask in the house. She falls, twists her ankle, and is unknowingly stalked through the front lawn by Pin Up Girl. Once she gets to the barn, she fiddles with the radio, but it is then destroyed by Pin Up Girl.Kristen crawls back to the house, as Dollface sits on the swing set in the backyard and Pin Up Girl stands in front of the barn. Once inside, Kristen cannot find James, and the power goes out. The Man in the Mask then enters the front door, and Kristen hides in a pantry as he lurks around the living room. He leaves, and just as Kristen is about to slip out of the pantry, Dollface appears in the door's slit shutters, and smashes it through. She then pauses, and notices the engagement ring, and Kristen emerges from the pantry, while Dollface taunts her by spinning a butcher knife around on the counter. The Man in the Mask then enters the house, holding a defeated James by his shirt collar. Kristen runs to the bedroom, but the window does not open. The lights come back on, and she creeps back toward the hallway. Upon reaching the doorway, The Man in the Mask rushes toward her, slamming her head into the back wall of the hallway. She falls to the floor and he drags her down the hall. She is initially unconscious but soon begins to claw at the floor and the screen fades to black as she screams.It is then daylight, and each of the strangers loom over Kristen and James, who are now tied to chairs in the living room; Kristen has been dressed back into her white gown. Kristen cries, and asks "Why are you doing this to us?", to which Dollface emotionlessly replies, "Because you were home". Each villain removes their mask, but the camera does not show their faces. The three strangers then take turns stabbing both James and Kristen, and then leave in their pickup truck. As they drive down the road, they stop to talk to two boys delivering religious pamphlets. Dollface gets out of the truck and asks for one, to which one of the boys asks, "Are you a sinner?". "Sometimes", she says, and when the children are out of ear shot, Pin Up Girl says quietly, "It'll be easier next time." The three strangers then drive off.The two boys approach the house, and enter to find a bloody and disastrous scene. James lies on the floor, dead, and Kristen in the hallway having dragged herself a short distance away from the living room, her white gown saturated in blood. One of the boys approaches Kristen's body, and just as he is about to reach toward her, she grabs his arm and screams in terror.

violence, suspenseful, murder, boring, flashback

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Kôkaku Kidôtai

A police bulletin reports a 208 is in progress in the C13 area of New Port City. A figure studies a night-scope green image of men talking about programming bugs and Project 2501. A voice reports Section 6 is ready to move in. Major Motoko Kusanagi disconnects wires from the back of her neck and stands up, takes off her overcoat. She does a back layout fall from the top of a tall building. A group of armed and helmeted police enter a building. Inside a room four men are surprised that the police have arrived and two draw their weapons and go to the door to start firing. The older man of the group tells the others to stop shooting and as the police storm the room he claims diplomatic immunity.Nakamura, the head of Section 6 enters to say that taking a programmer out of the country is an offense. However, the young programmer has signed a request for asylum. Suddenly a voice speaks out and assaults the foreigner, an invisible attacker rips the man apart. The police fire at the windows, Nakamura goes to a smashed window to see Major Kusanagi falling and becoming invisible as her thermoptic camoflage turns on again.Title sequence begins showing a cyborg female body undergoing a genesis. Major Kusanagi ascends from a pool of liquid. She awakens from sleep in a dark room, looks pensively out the window then gets dressed in a combat suit and leaves her apartment.A VTOL twin-rotor craft lands on the roof of a tall building. The Japanese Foreign Minister leaves the aircraft and begins talking to the waiting Aramaki, the head of Section 9. They discuss a secret meeting with the Gavel Republic planned for the next day. Gavel has a new revolutionary government and the leader of the old ruling junta is seeking asylum in Japan. The Foreign Minister admits he'd like to deport Col. Maless if he had a good political excuse. He also thanks Section 9 for helping with the programmer defection, as this way the diplomatic corps was able to keep their hands clean.In a lab a group of red-suited techs and Major Kusanagi are studying an unconscious woman, trying to access her brain. She is the Foreign Minister's Interpreter, and has been cyber-brain hacked since 23 minutes earlier while on the phone. Aramaki suggests someone called the Puppetmaster is trying to disrupt the talks with Gavel by turning her into an assassin. Batou and Ishikawa are in a car tracing the signal, the Major goes to rendezvous with them.In their van, the Major dresses in armour as Togusa drives, they discuss the Puppetmaster. He is believed to be an American but nothing else is known about him. He has been active around the world conducting cyber terrorism and ghost-hacking people's brains. This is the first time he has appeared in Japan. They consider it may all be disinformation, then the Major chides Togusa for still using an old style handgun, as she loads and locks a large automatic rifle. Togusa is curious on why he was recruited into Section 9, the Major replies it is because he is still mainly human and so can be an unpredictable non-specialized asset on the team.On an inner city street two garbage collectors are at work. One urges the other to hurry up as the partner is busy at a public access computer terminal. The computer user explains a guy in a bar gave him some software so he could ghost hack his estranged wife. As they drive off Batou and Ishikawa arrive in a hurry and realize they just missed their target, yet again. They talk to a local and begin to suspect the garbagemen. Kusanagi plugs into the net and with Section 9 HQ quickly determines the trash route coincides with hacking locations. She takes over driving the van and issues orders to Batou and Ishikawa. The garbagemen are alerted the police are investigating and the hacker husband decides to go to his programmer friend. Togusa and the Major get close. The vehicles arrive together near a man wearing sunglasses at another 'net station. He fires a submachine gun and takes out the Section 9 van. The Major and Togusa scramble out of the wreck as the shooter continues to riddle the van with armour piercing shells. Batou arrives on the scene and the shooter cloaks himself with thermoptic camoflage and tries to escape.Batou notices the blurry camo and fires back. The Major goes to the rooftops to scan. The man enters a crowded street market area. A wild gunfight continues as Batou gives chase. The Major tries also but the man seems to escape and stands in a shallow waterfront. An invisible Major Kusanagi proceeds to kick the man senseless. On questioning Batou and the Major realize the man was also a hacked puppet.Outside a large estate house Aramaki and Section 9 prepare to assault. A helicopter lands on the lawn and a man they believe to be the Puppetmaster disembarks. Further questioning of the garbageman reveals he has been hacked also and given false family memories.Major Kusanagi floats from the depths of the harbour. Batou greets her onboard a boat and asks why she dives. They drink beer and reflect on being high maintenance supercyborgs. The Major speaks briefly in a different voice.In a grimy cityscape the Major rides a water ferry and gazes at the city around her. A sad eyed beagle stares back.On a roadway at night a blonde woman is hit by a car. In the Section 9 lab she is a cyborg wired up and is electro-shocked. She had been built two hours earlier at Megatech and escaped. The body has no organic brain but does have semblance of a ghost. The Major decides to dive into the brain to investigate and pauses to reflect on her own existence.Nakamura from Section 6 Treaties Section of the MFA arrives with an associate. Nakamura shows a card signed by the Foreign Minister and demands the cyborg body. In the parking garage Togusa is suspicious and checks the video of the Section 6 arrival. He reports the men may have come in with thermoptic camoflaged cyborgs.In the lab Aramaki and Nakamura view the partially dissembled torso of the mystery cyborg. The other Section 6 man, Dr. Willis, starts keyboarding and confirms the the cyborg is the Puppetmaster. Section 6 has also been chasing him and they lured him into the cyborg body. The torso comes alive and states it's name is Project 2501, a self aware computer program and requests political asylum.The camoflaged Section 6 cyborgs attack and grab the torso. Before driving away Togusa manages to hit the car with a tracking device bullet. Aramaki authorizes Section 9 to retake Project 2501, but to destroy it if they can't recover it. Meanwhile Ishikawa reports on his investigation. Dr. Willis and the defecting programmer from earlier developed Project 2501 for Japanese Foreign Ministry diplomatic dirty tricks, but somehow they lost control of it. Section 6 is trying to cover it all up.Out in the city Batou realizes there is a decoy car, The cars split up. The one Batou is chasing hits a roadblock and the two men inside are killed by sniper fire. Kusanagi in a helicopter overlooks the other car. She rappels down with her warbag then realizes the car is protected by a large cloaked walking tank. The Major loads up with heavy ammo as Batou rushes to help. After a hot and heavy firefight The Major gets on top of the tank and tries to lift the hatch. Her arms tear off and the tank grappels her head and shakes her like a doll. Batou arrives with an anti-tank weapon and takes out the armoured vehicle. He takes the Project 2501 torso from the car and places it beside the wounded Motoko. In the skies above two Section 6 helos observe and prepare. Batou wires up the Major to the torso.Project 2501 speaks through the Major and explains himself. He states he learned of Section 9 on the 'net and planned this joining up. Project 2501 wants to experience real life and death and proposes a merger with the Major. Batou is unable to disconnect the wires as the Section 6 targeting lasers rove over the female bodies. Section 6 is hacked to give the merger more time. As the Major sees the light the blond torso is destroyed with a headshot. Batou manages to partially cover the Major's face with his arm as another Section 6 shot seems to destroy Kusanagi.In an apartment a young girl with blank eyes sits in a armchair. The girl stirs and is greeted by Batou, it is Kusanagi in the only body Batou could find. 20 hours have passed since the shooting, the Foreign Minister has resigned but the incident will be covered up. The girl gets up to leave and tells Batou she is neither the Puppetmaster nor Major Kusanagi, rather a new being. The newborn states "the 'net is vast and infinite" as she leaves the safe house.

neo noir, murder, cult, violence, alternate reality, psychedelic, philosophical, suspenseful, sci-fi

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Stalag 17

Captured Americans coping with life in a German POW camp in World War II are puzzled by the simplicity with which the Germans are able to stave off escape attempts, shooting those who try. Sefton (William Holden) is a POW who has profitably wagered with his fellow American prisoners that these escapes would fail.The POWs fear there may be an informer in their midst, but who is it? As it becomes clearer and clearer to his fellow inmates that Sefton has considerable contact with his German captors, his fellow POWs mistakenly conclude that he is the informer and they turn on him, including physically beating him and helping themselves to some of his belongings.Sefton understands in full that to clear his name, he must determine the identity of the real informer, and he is, eventually, able to work out that Price (Peter Graves), whose English is impeccable, is a German informant masquerading as an American POW. Written messages, Sefton discovers, are being smuggled by Price to the Germans through a hollow chess piece on the chessboard in the barracks, wth phony air raid drills staged to enable the Germans to retrieve these messages undetected.Now realizing that Price has figured prominently in the death of the Americans that have attempted escape, Sefton plots revenge, and, after exposing Price's true identity to his fellow POWs, he maneuvers to force Price to make an unauthorized exit from the barracks. To the guards manning the tower, Price's exit looks like an American escape attempt, and they shoot him, much to the dismay of Stalag Commandant Von Scherbach (Otto Preminger).The diversion created by the shooting incident gives Sefton a chance to escape, and he takes with him a brave lieutenant (Don Taylor) who has recently been captured. Because of the measures of success against the Germans he had gained prior to his capture, the lieutenant is a marked man, but he and Sefton are successful in their escape attempt.The elimination of the German informer and the first successful escape by American POWs lift the spirits of the other POWs.================================A few days before Christmas, 1944, at the German prisoner-of-war camp, Stalag 17, two American POWs, Manfredi and Johnson, inmates of Barracks 4, are preparing an escape. The story's narrator, Cookie, one of the prisoners, suggests that there may be a traitor among the men of Barracks 4.The men have secretly been digging a tunnel from their latrine to a point just beyond the barbed-wire fence that marks the perimeter of the camp. After going over their plan to sneak into Switzerland, Manfredi and Johnson get out of the barracks through a trap door hidden under the wood-burning stove and sneak into the latrine. They crawl through the tunnel and begin digging to the surface beyond the barbed wire fence.Inside the barracks, the men speculate as to how long it will take their comrades to emerge beyond the fence. They begin to predict that the escapees will make it all the way when one of them, a shrewd man named Sefton, wagers two packs of cigarettes that the men won't even make it out of the nearby forest. The other men, most of whom dislike Sefton, wager against him.Outside, Manfredi and Johnson dig to the surface and are about leave when they are spotted by a small German squad outside the fence, who open fire, killing them both. Inside the barracks, the remaining prisoners, including Sefton, are disheartened, knowing their buddies could not possibly have escaped. The hot-headed Duke demands an explanation from the barracks' security officer, Price. Price says he doesn't have an answer. Meanwhile, Sefton and Cookie quietly gather up the cigarettes that Sefton has won in the bet and store them in a footlocker Sefton keeps under his bed.The next morning the entire camp is awakened for roll call. Barracks 4 is overseen by Sergeant Schultz, a jolly man whom the men have absolutely no trust for. In the camp's muster grounds, the men are addressed by the camp commandant, Oberst von Scherbach. Scherbach tells the men that his guards successfully prevented the escape from night before and that no man has ever escaped from his camp alive. He also has the corpses of Manfredi and Johnson lying in the mud and uncovered for all the men to see. The Barracks 4 chief, Hoffy, protests the treatment of the bodies and demands they have a proper burial. Von Scherbach agrees to do so. Von Scherbach goes on, saying that being caught outside the barracks after lights out means summary execution. Also, the stove in Barracks 4 will be removed so it cannot be used to camouflage the trap door the men cut in the floor.Von Scherbach also announces that each barracks will be given a small Christmas tree and that all the prisoners will go through delousing. One of the prisoners, the shellshocked Joey, begins to play his ocarina, which is gently taken away by another prisoner, Stanislaus "Animal" Kazawa. While the commandant talks and uses a mocking tone, Animal throws the ocarina at the water in front of the commandant, splashing his highly polished boots with mud. The Commandant demands the guilty man step forward. Animal does and is followed moments later by several other men. Eventually, the entire prisoner population steps forward, covering for Animal. The Commandant, temporarily flustered, cancels the Christmas trees and tells the men they'll be deloused with cold water from the camp's fire hoses. The men are dismissed.After the men have the opportunity to clean up in their latrines, and following a small incident where Animal is nearly shot for crossing the barbed-wire of the camp while lusting after Russian female prisoners, the men go back to their barracks for breakfast. Sefton fries himself an egg in front of the other prisoners and when questioned about how he paid for it, he tells them that he bartered for it using the cigarettes he'd won the night before. The other men are quite angry that Sefton would use cigarettes he'd gotten as a result of the deaths of their comrades, however, Sefton counters, saying that many other prisoners trade with the Germans and that life in the camp is such that thievery is common. One of the other prisoners, Duke, who has a short temper, tells Sefton that collusion with the Germans could get him hurt or killed and small fight breaks out. Hoffy promptly breaks it up and Sefton, claiming he has indigestion, gives the fried egg to Joey. Price, the barracks security officer, asks Sefton how he could be so sure that Manfredi and Johnson wouldn't make it to freedom. Sefton says he didn't know for sure but he "liked the odds" of the situation. Sefton also angrily tells his comrades that they're wasting their time and risking their lives unnecessarily by trying to escape. Sefton plans to ride out the war as a prisoner and stay alive.The barracks of the camp share a ham radio that they keep hidden and use to listen to the BBC and other communications about the war. The radio is smuggled throughout the compound by Marko and his partner, Steve, who is on crutches having lost a leg in combat. They use his empty pantleg to hide various items, including the radio. When the radio is brought to Hoffy and Barracks 4, Marko tells them they can have it only for two days; the traitor in their barracks is known to the rest of the camp and the other barracks chiefs fear the radio will be discovered. The men set up the radio immediately, using a few yards of chicken wire as the antenna, which doubles as their volleyball net. One of the prisoners, Blondie, is a radio expert and begins to report about military actions in Europe; the news he picks up is about the famous Battle of the Bulge. Just then, Schultz arrives to seize the barracks stove and the radio is cleverly hidden in a pail of water. Hoffy and Duke try to grill Schultz about the barracks spy but Schultz refuses to tell them anything. Schultz also notices that a signal from the spy has been left for him; a loop has been tied in the cord for one of the bare light bulbs hanging from the rafters. After he barks orders for the men to leave, he goes to the chess board and takes the black queen. Pulling off the crown, he sees a small note rolled up and hidden inside. He exchanges the queen for an identical piece, pulls the loop out of the cord and walks out.While the men uncover the escape tunnel they dug, they notice a horse-drawn cart going by with the coffins of Manfredi and Johnson. The men all remove their hats in respect. Cookie narrates for a while about Sefton himself who, despite the poor conditions of the camp, has built a substantial entrepreneurship for himself based mostly on the trading of cigarettes. Sefton has several successful businesses at his disposal including distilling schnapps from potato peels, horse races (he uses mice that run around a small track), and a telescope that the men use to peek into the delousing shack in the Russian compound where female prisoners are disinfected. Hoffy, Price and Duke are not pleased with Sefton's ventures, fearing that the Germans will find out and punish them more harshly than ever.A new prisoner arrives; Lieutenant James Dunbar, who is being housed at 17 until the Germans ship him to the officers camp. Dunbar is greeted warmheartedly by the rest of the barracks. However, there is instant friction between him and Sefton. Sefton tells everyone that Dunbar is from a wealthy family and should be pampered during his stay. Dunbar lets the first few comments go but tells Sefton that he can resent his family's wealth but he should tread cautiously. Sefton tells Dunbar that his family fortune won't protect him in the camp. Sefton leaves the barracks, to an unknown destination.The rest of the men ask Dunbar about how he was captured & brought to the camp. He was shot down on a bombardment mission and had been on his feet for three days without any sleep. He'd have been brought to Stalag 17 earlier but there was a major delay coming out of Frankfurt: a German munitions train was destroyed just outside the city and snarled much of the Reichsbahn transport for miles around. The sergeant that accompanied Dunbar, Bagradian, tells everyone that it was Dunbar himself that blew up the train. Dunbar is modest about the incident but tells everyone that he'd rigged a simple time bomb and tossed it aboard the train as it was leaving the station.Schultz shows up unexpectedly and confiscates the radio, playing coy for a bit before revealing it's hiding place in the bucket. After he leaves, the men turn on Cookie, demanding to know where Sefton has been for the past few hours. With Hoffy's permission, Animal breaks into Sefton's footlocker & discovers a wealth of contraband that Sefton's been hoarding. Duke suddenly appears and tells them that he knows where Sefton disappeared to: he's been over at the Russian women's barracks partying with them. In a fury, Hoffy smashes Sefton's prized telescope.When Sefton returns, he finds the men staring angrily at him and that his footlockers have been broken into. Hoffy and the rest of the men suggest that he's the German spy they've been unable to identify. The Commandant suddenly makes an appearance and arrests Dunbar for suspicion of sabotaging the train that was destroyed near Frankfurt. Dunbar is taken into custody and the men become angrier with Sefton, immediately suspecting him. They turn on him and he is brutally beaten.The next morning the men are rousted out by Schultz. Sefton is unable to get out of bed and Schultz notices that he's been severely beaten. Sefton tries to bribe Schultz into revealing the identity of the traitor but is rebuffed. When the other prisoners walk in on them, they're belief in Sefton as the traitor is reinforced. Hoffy tells Sefton that he tried to get Sefton transferred to another barracks but couldn't. Sefton tells everyone that he'll find out who the traitor is.On Christmas Eve the Geneva agent inspects the camp and brings Red Cross supplies for the men. A mistaken shipment leaves the men with a large supply of ping-pong balls. That night the men celebrate with a small tree they decorate with their dog tags. The solemnity of the evening is ruined when the camp lights go out & Schultz tells them all to evacuate and take refuge in the trenches used in case of bombings. Schultz waits until everyone leaves and begins talking to Price, who is the traitor. He shows Schultz how Dunbar sabotaged the train using nothing more than a book of matches and a lit cigarette. After they leave, Sefton steps out from a hiding spot, having heard the whole conversation.On Christmas Day the men throw a party in their barracks with music and much of the liquor and wine that Sefton had been hoarding. Sefton talks to a suspicious Cookie about the traitor in their midst. Sefton talks about the potential consequences of revealing the traitor to the others & what punishment they'd face if they killed the man outright. Sefton suggests that a well-constructed plan to rid themselves of the traitor and appear blameless is needed.Hoffy shows up and announces that the SS has arrived to take Dunbar into custody -- his method for destroying the ammo train has been uncovered. Hoffy tells the men that they've come up with a plan to rescue Dunbar from the SS. All the men from the other barracks will disperse outside and help with a diversion. Sefton seizes the opportunity to demand that he stay in the barracks & be guarded by someone they trust -- Sefton suggests Price.Outside, the men have Steve drop a smudge pot crafted from ground ping-pong balls from his empty pantleg onto the ground near the SS agents car. When the cover from it is thick enough, a small group of the men rush the SS guards and grab Dunbar, hiding him. The commandant is furious and runs checks of every man against their records. The barracks are searched and the prisoners are forced to stand in the appelplatz for six straight hours, however Dunbar is never found. It is later revealed that Dunbar is hiding out in one of the water towers above one of the latrines.That night Hoffy calls a meeting where they'll draw the name of the man who will get Dunbar out of the water tower and out of the camp through the barbed wire. When the name is drawn, Price takes the tag and says he'll go. He figures that his work as barracks security chief has been less than adequate and he'd like to make it up to the men. Another trap door is cut in the floor and as he prepares to leave, Sefton steps forward and announces another wager that Dunbar will never make it out of the camp. The men are instantly furious with him but he slowly begins to reveal Price as the traitor. Price slips up during interrogation, proving that he'd left the United States and had gone back to Germany when the war broke out. He tries to escape through the trap door but is easily caught and subdued. Sefton then tells everyone that he'll be the man to get Dunbar out -- he likes the odds because now they can use Price as a decoy. They'll throw him out the door with cans tied to his leg and he'll be fired upon by the Germans in the guard towers.Sefton slips down through the trapdoor, bidding everyone farewell and sneaks over to the latrine. He gets a freezing Dunbar down from the water tank and waits for the signal from his comrades. When Price is thrown out into the appelplatz he draws fire from all the towers, despite his cries for help in German. As he desperately tries to approach the commandant's offices, he's gunned down. At the edge of the camp, Sefton cuts through the wire fence and he and Dunbar escape into the woods. In the appelplatz, the commandant and Schultz first smile at the corpse lying the mud but are quickly chagrined to find that it's not Dunbar, but Price. In the barracks, the men reflect on how well Sefton's plan worked. The Animal suggests that Sefton merely wanted to steal their wirecutters. Cookie happily begins whistling the theme of the Army Air Force.

comedy

tt0046359

Witness for the Prosecution

A few years after War War II, in London, Leonard Vole (Tyrone Power), is accused of murdering a rich widow, Emily French (Norma Varden), who has bequeathed him a substantial sum of money.Sir Wilfred Robarts (Charles Laughton), a skilled lawyer who has recently been ill, is asked to defend Vole. Sir Wilfred's doctor has instructed him to avoid excitement. After his hand-picked replacement barrister expresses doubt over Vole's innocence, Sir Wilfred decides to handle the case himself, despite protests from his nurse (Elsa Lanchester) and doctor.After a conversation with Mrs. Christine Vole (Marlene Dietrich), Sir Wilfred decides not to call on her to testify in defense of her husband.In the courtroom, Christine Vole surprisingly appears as a Witness for the Prosecution. A parade of circumstantial evidence points to murder. Christine's testimony does not provide an alibi for her husband.All seems lost as the defense concludes its case. But a late night phone call reveals new evidence that Christine wrote letters to her lover about denying her husband an alibi. This evidence changes the jury's opinion and Leonard is acquitted. However, Sir Wilfred suspects something is amiss with this sudden reversal and dramatic evidence.All is revealed in the last dramatic court scene, as Christine admits to deliberately sabotaging her own testimony with the letters, to get her guilty husband freed. But in the penultimate twist, Leonard shows his true stripes and reveals his intention to leave his "wife" for a younger woman. Christine seizes a letter opener and, in full view of Sir Wilfred, his nurse (Miss Plimsoll), and the other woman, stabs Leonard, killing him. Miss Plimsoll cancels Sir Wilfred's trip to Bermuda and Sir Wilfred announces he will defend Christine Vole in her trial for murder.

dramatic, mystery, murder

tt0051201

Failure to Launch

Tripp(Matthew McConaughey) is a whimsical 35 year-old man going through relationship troubles. His troubles seem to begin and end with the fact he lives with his parents. His parents, Al and Sue(Terry Bradshaw and Kathy Bates) have just been told by their friends that Tripp needs to meet the right girl, if they ever want their son to leave. Fortunately for Al and Sue Tripp meets Paula(Sarah Jessica Parker) who has an amazing personality to overcome her equine features and blatant violations push-up bra safety.Unbeknownst to Tripp, Paula has been hired by his parents to become his inspiration to move out. Sue also helps spur Tripp out of the house by telling him to do more chores. We then learn that Tripp is a boat salesman and he is lying to Paula in an attempt to have intercourse with her. Paula is not annoyed by this fact and continues to play him. Tripp confides to his friends that he really likes Paula and they inform him that he is doomed to fail because of his living situation.Tripps second date with Paula is another whacky disaster as his injured hand leads him to fumble with sushi. Paula then calls Tripp to the vets office to help her with the staged euthanasia of her dog. Tripp then takes Paula to play paintball, and Ace(Justin Bartha) meets Kit(Zooey Deschanel). It turns out Kit is also in on the deceit to lure Tripp out of the house. Paula believes that her job is almost done and that Tripp has fallen for her.While Tripp is with his friends surfing he tells them that he has to get rid if Paula because she is too serious. So Tripp takes her home where his parents lie to him about knowing Paula. Tripp is suspicious that Paula is not annoyed by his living situation. Sue tells Paula that Tripp brought her to the house to break up with her. Paula then turns up her prostitution up a notch, and sleeps with him in return for payment by his parents.Ace then catches Paula with another client and Paula then barters Kit to Ace in return for his silence. Kit then falls for Ace as he offers a means to kill a federally protected bird. Meanwhile, during a date with Tripp, Demo(Bradley Cooper) tells Paula that he knows what she is doing and tell her more about Tripp and why he hasnt left home. Demo then tells Tripp what he told Paula and that she is being paid by his parents.Tripp then makes a meal for Paula and his parents and tells them he wants Paula to move in with him, but then unexpectedly turns the tables and tell them he knows Paula is a prostitute, and leaves. Suddenly Tripp and Paula both realize, thru help of their friends, that they are unhappy.Sue gets the gang together and they concoct a plan to get Tripp and Paula back together. Tripp is then beaten and tied up and falsely imprisoned in a bugged house with Paula. They have a talk and get back together while they make love on a web cast that their friends are watching. They then sail off into the sunset, and more whacky adventures.

entertaining

tt0427229

Peacock

Peacock (2010) Synopsis:The film begins with lots of different voices and noises, shouting and people not saying very nice things. This is the voice of Johns mother throughout his childhood. Theres a massive storm and Emma Skillpa (Cillian Murphy) quickly takes down some of her washing off of the line and rushes in the house holding the basket. She quickly opens the door to collect the paper on the doorstep. She leaves dinner set out on the table and places the slippers in the same position. She peers out the window and keeps looking at the time. She moves the stool and walks up the stairs to the bedroom where she takes her wig off and gets undressed.John Skillpa (Cillian Murphy) sits reading the paper and collects his lunch from the table and walks over to his bike. He collects a treat from the hidden box under the stairs and cycles off to work in the Peacock State Bank. Once in his office, Mr. French (Bill Pullman) comes in to give him a pile of work and his pay slip.After work John stops by the river and chucks things around, he is emptying the contents of a bag he is holding, when he comes across a hand written note from Emma, which he looks down at, and smiles. He jumps onto the tire swing and sways looking up at the trees. On the way home, he stops by at the shop and bumps into Louise (Eden Bodnar) who invites him over for dinner as she says he must get lonely in his house. John returns home with the shopping, gets his dinner out of the fridge, which is accompanied by a handwritten note, which makes him laugh a little and soon after goes up to bed.The next morning, we hear the loud noises of the train nearby, Emma is taking down the washing in the garden, when all of a sudden the train comes crashing through the fence and Emma is unconscious for a short while. When she wakes up, lots of people are gathered around her and Louise questions who she is and how she knows John. Emma does not know how to respond, so walks away quickly muttering that she lives here. Emma enters the house and closes the door immediately and stands there taking deep breaths. Emma looks at the clock, ensures the curtains, blinds and doors are shut and that the food is on the table ready for when John arrives.John comes down into the living room and hears a lot of noise outside, he opens the door and is shocked at the state of the incident, which took place several feet away from his house. Louise asks if his lady friend is ok and he does not know how to answer this either and leaves the situation by giving an excuse that his breakfast is getting cold, so that he could go back inside. Next to Johns breakfast is a note reading Go straight to work. Dont talk to strangers! John walks over to see that his lunch has not been made, goes outside and jumps on his bike to cycle to work.On his way to work, he cycles along and Officer Tom McGonigle (Josh Lucas) stops to talk to John, he says that he needs to go to work and cycles off in a hurry. When at work, lots of people kept asking him about the train incident, his boss came into his office and said he could have the day off, but he decides to stay until lunch as he has lots of work to do. When he cycles home, the officer is in the garden and mentions how John acted like he did not know him when he passed him on the street earlier on. The officer also mentioned that when he knocked on the door to check if the lady was ok, nobody answered and people in the town said that it was Johns wife.The officer talks about how he told John what to do with the house and everything when his mum died. John wants the train gone as soon as possible as it is bringing everyone in the community to his house and they are all asking questions. John is quite worried about this because, he'll need to create some kind of cover story about Emma.Emma hears something at the door, so opens the door slowly and peers out. It's the neighbors Connor Black (Graham Beckel) a senior political advisor and Fanny Crill (Susan Sarandon), they are holding a newspaper. A bird flies in and the neighbors rush in to try and get it out again. Emma asks them to get out the house very quietly, but in a polite way. They are hoping to speak to Mr. Skillpa, as they want to discuss how John would feel if they used the train as a backdrop for a rally in the backyard, as the train was part of a campaign they were running. Connor talks to Emma about how he needs her and John's help for this, Fanny shows Emma the newspaper and there is a photograph of Emma on the front page, Emma does not really know how to react. Emma asks Fanny how she and Connor know John, Fanny's husband owns the bank where John works. Fanny sits down and takes her shoes off, while Connor is outside smoking his cigarette. Fanny runs the county shelter for women and she wants to use the rally for a photo shoot with the women from her shelter. Emma says to Fanny that she needs to go upstairs and Fanny gets up walking towards her as she wants Emma to say yes to let them use the train for the photo shoot. Emma stands upstairs looking out the window and looks over to John's clothes laid out on the bed.Emma comes down with some lemonade and cookies for Connor and Fanny who are standing out in the garden. After they leave, Emma goes back into the house and the phone is ringing. Emma answers the phone and it is Mr. French asking for John because he has not shown up to work yet. Emma rushes upstairs, gets changed. John cycles to work to find Mr. French, Connor and Fanny in his office. Ray Crill (Keith Carridine) holds up the newspaper and Fanny talks about how she loved meeting his wife Emma. John reacts as if he does not know anything and Connor talks about the political rally they want to hold in the back garden. Fanny tells John how Emma seemed very happy to hold the rally there; John raises his voice and shouts at Fanny. Mr. Crill stands up and is angry at how John spoke to his wife Fanny. John is very frustrated at the moment because he just wants the train gone and life to how it was before the train incident.Fanny and Connor leave the office and Ray sits down to talk to John so he can try and persuade him to say yes to the political rally. John cycles to the river to sit on the rock next to the tire swing. When John gets home, just before he steps in his door, Maggie (Ellen Page) with her son Jake (Flynn Milligan) calls him and starts talking to him. Jake runs into the house and they both follow. Maggie tells John that they are planning on leaving the town and how they need some help with money. John is unsure why Maggie is asking him and she tells him that his mother used to send her money. John has to break the news to Maggie that she died a year ago. John feels sorry for Maggie and wants to help her; John tells Maggie that he has his own money and walks upstairs. Maggie and Jake sit down on the sofa and Emma comes down the stairs.Emma introduces herself as John's wife to Maggie and Jake, they say goodnight and then leave the house. Emma comes outside and asks Maggie where her car is; she says she borrowed it to a friend and is walking, but Emma guesses correctly that she doesn't have a car so decides to offer them a lift home. Maggie asks for John and Emma says that he is sleeping. Emma does not usually drive, so it is a bit of a rocky journey to Maggie's. Emma helps Maggie into the house with Jake and puts Jake to bed; there is a knock on the door. Maggie explains how John's mother made him do horrible things. Maggie opens a small box in the room next door and gets out the birth certificate to show Emma that John is Jake's father. Emma looks shocked, but does not say anything. Back at home, Emma walks up the stairs towards the bedroom at the end of the hall very quietly and enters; she looks around at all of the photographs framed in the room and sees John's mother's dress that Maggie described earlier. Emma lies down on the bed.Emma makes a phone call and springs a question about wanting to adopt Jake. Emma turns up to the shelter to let Fanny know that they can go ahead with the rally. Emma drives with Fanny to tell Connor that they will do the rally. After telling Connor, Officer Tom McGonigle needs John and Emma to fill in an accident form with him. Emma makes up an excuse that Fanny Crill is waiting for her. Fanny asks Emma if she ever met John's mother and she says she did not, Fanny said not many people did. Emma asks Fanny if she has any kids and Fanny said she had a son called James, but he died 14 years ago. Emma tells Fanny how she and John wanted a little kid.Emma stops by at Wade's café to say hello to Maggie. Jake accidentally drops a plate and Wade shouts at him. When Emma gets home, she hangs the washing up outside and then goes to the broken step to get out the old box and finds a key and a bankbook. Emma goes to the bedroom and just sits there quietly. There is a loud knock at the door and John comes running down the stairs to answer it. It is Fanny; she has a gift for John and Emma to say thank you. Ray sits waiting in the car outside and says to John that he does not have to bother coming into work today. Fanny walks back to the car and John slams the door shut and turns the light on. John walks over to his breakfast on the table and takes the top plate off which is covering it. He picks up his breakfast plate and chucks it in the sink; it smashes. John then goes outside to the broken step to retrieve the box, looks at the key and book. John opens the present from Fanny and Ray Crill; it is a small photo frame, he puts it down and holds his head in his hands. John then walks over to the table again; to see his breakfast on the table and the sink empty. He is a little confused and has to take a double take. This time when he takes the top plate off, he is more satisfied than previously; picks up his serviette ready to eat and then hears voices outside. John rushes over to the door and Officer Tom McGonigle is there, he asks John to bring his wife out so that they can both go over the accident form with him. John is a bit overwhelmed by the situation and is not really sure how to handle it, so makes a fuss and says that he does not want the rally to happen. Officer Tom McGonigle said he would swing back later when John has calmed down. In this time, John decides to repair the fence the train had broken.John goes to a workshop to ask a guy if he could remove the train from his back garden, he demands 800 in cash. John rushes into work and gets asked straight away where he was yesterday. As John is about to walk into his office, there is a call for him at reception and the receptionist says that she thinks it is his wife Emma. It is Maggie and she is at the women's shelter; John cycles home quickly, goes to the cupboard for a particular key and notices that it is gone. John walks over to the hallway and at the end of the hall, his mother's bedroom door is slightly open. John looks in the wardrobe and sees a few extra hangers in there than before, looks at the photograph and sees that the bed is unmade. John rushes over to his wardrobe and picks up Emma's clothes to donate to the shelter; when he arrives at the shelter, he asks to see Maggie. John tells Maggie that he will giver her money as he wants her and Jake to get out of Peacock because it is not safe in Peacock. John talks to Maggie and says how he can not go home, instead he asks Maggie where she wants to go and that he will take her wherever she wants to go. Maggie has family in Madison and takes John's offer of taking her and Jake there; she apologises to John for causing trouble to him and Emma and John replies and tells Maggie that she is not his wife.John runs to the bank and tries to get in, but it is closed. John then drives to the river near the tire swing where he occasionally went before or after work. Officer Tom McGonigle pulls up in his car to find John lying down on the floor, beside the tree. John states to Officer Tom McGonigle that he cannot go home. John chucks a stone into the river and they both look over. John speaks to Officer Tom McGonigle and says that his mother held his head under water, when he was a kid. John starts talking about his mum and Officer Tom McGonigle reminds him that his mother is gone. John is upset and stands up in frustration.John and Officer Tom McGonigle both drive back to John's house and Officer Tom McGonigle waits until John is in his door before driving off. John slowly walks into his house and into the room, he then turns around and crashes the door shut. John opens the cupboard, gets something out and runs downstairs and calls for his mum. John rings on the doorbell at a nearby motel; he has turned up with a small bag and asks for a room. John is unsure of how long he needs the room for when he is asked. John sits down on a chair in his motel room, tilts his head back and closes his eyes for a short time. John opens the bag and is shocked to see his mother's blue and white dress folded up in his bag. John slowly backs away from the bag. Back home, Emma is wearing John's mother's dress and eating breakfast at the table. Emma draws open all of the curtains and someone knocks on the door. Emma opens the door and it is the guy from the workshop, John asked him to remove the train yesterday. Fanny pulls up at the house and asks if she knows where Maggie is as she is not at the shelter. Emma is worried, so drives to the café where Maggie works. Emma says to Maggie that Fanny Crill has a job for her at the bank and they could stay in Peacock together. Emma walks down to the basement back at home, turns the light on and opens a cardboard box, which is labeled John's Toys. The phone rings, Maggie answers it at the café; it's John, he tells her to meet him at the motel at 11 o'clock sharp and to make sure nobody knows, especially Emma.John turns up at the bank and sees Louise and Mr. French; Mr. French questions why John came in the front door. John sparks the question to Mr. French: "What would you do without me?" Mr. French simply replies, "Find someone more reliable." John is pleased with this response, because he is just prepping himself for leaving later with Maggie. John turns up in his office with his stack of paper work, he sits down at his desk and gets the key out of his jacket pocket for his safe. John opens his brown paper bag and fills it with his money. John goes outside at work and puts his bike in the boot of his car.Back at home; Emma is shaving her eyebrows off with a razor. Emma is at the motel and starts to dance with Cal (Nathan Christopher). Emma introduces herself as Maggie. They go back to the motel room, Cal is at the desk pouring drinks and Emma hits Cal over the head, knocking him down to the floor. Emma lays him down on the bed and sets the room alight. Emma is doing this to fake John's death. Emma goes back home and two people knock at the door and Fanny walks over too, they have come to let her know that John has died in a fire in his motel room. They say a prayer for John together.The rally goes on in Emma's back garden; Emma is nowhere to be seen while the rally is going on. Emma is in the house looking after Jake, she gives him John's old toys. Emma takes a photograph of Jake sitting at the table and then has a series of flashbacks and drops the camera. Emma rushes outside to the rally and asks Maggie to come with her; Emma gives Maggie the money in the brown paper bag. Maggie and Jake leave, because Emma says that is what John would have wanted. Fanny saw the door slam shut, Emma has locked the door; it is nearly time to take the photo. Emma ignores the constant knocking at the door and chooses to sit peering out of the window instead.

murder, flashback

tt1188113

Young Frankenstein

Dr. Frederick Frankenstein (Gene Wilder) is a lecturing physician at an American medical school and engaged to the tightly wound socialite Elizabeth (Madeline Kahn). He becomes exasperated when anyone brings up the subject of his grandfather Victor Frankenstein (German /ˈfrankenʃtaɪn/, in English traditionally /ˈfrænkenstaɪn/), the infamous mad scientist; to dissociate himself from his forebear, Frederick insists that his surname is pronounced /ˈfrankenstiːn/. When a solicitor informs him that he has inherited his family's estate in Transylvania after the death of his great-grandfather, the Baron Beaufort von Frankenstein, Frederick travels to Europe to inspect the property. At the Transylvania train station, he is met by a hunchbacked, bug-eyed servant named Igor (Marty Feldman), and a lovely young personal assistant named Inga (Teri Garr). Upon arrival at the estate, Frederick meets the forbidding housekeeper Frau Blücher (Cloris Leachman). Upon discovering the secret entrance to his grandfather's laboratory and reading his private journals, Frederick is so captivated that he decides to resume his grandfather's experiments in re-animating the dead. He and Igor steal the corpse of a recently executed criminal, and Frederick sets to work experimenting on the large corpse. Matters go awry when Igor is sent to steal the brain of a deceased revered historian, Hans Delbrück; startled by lightning, he drops and ruins Delbrück's brain. Taking a second brain, Igor returns with a brain labeled "Do Not Use This Brain! Abnormal", which Frederick unknowingly transplants into the corpse. Soon, Frederick is ready to re-animate his creature (Peter Boyle), who is eventually brought to life by electrical charges during a lightning storm. The creature makes its first halting steps, but, frightened by Igor lighting a match, he attacks Frederick and must be sedated. Meanwhile, the townspeople are uneasy at the possibility of Frederick continuing his grandfather's work, unaware of the creature's existence; most concerned is Inspector Kemp (Kenneth Mars), a one-eyed police official with a prosthetic arm and a thick German accent. Kemp visits the doctor and subsequently demands assurance that he will not create another monster. Upon returning to the lab, Frederick discovers Blücher setting the creature free. After she reveals the monster's love of violin music and her own romantic relationship with Frederick's grandfather, the creature is enraged by sparks from a thrown switch and escapes from the Frankenstein castle. While roaming the countryside, the monster has frustrating encounters with a young girl and a blind hermit (Gene Hackman). Frederick recaptures the monster and locks the two of them in a room, where he calms the monster's homicidal tendencies with flattery and fully acknowledges his own heritage, shouting out emphatically, "My name is Frankenstein!". Frederick offers the sight of "The Creature" following simple commands to a theater full of illustrious guests. The demonstration continues with Frederick and the monster launching into the musical number "Puttin' On the Ritz". However, the routine ends disastrously when a stage light explodes and frightens the monster, who becomes enraged and charges into the audience, where he is captured and chained by police. Back in the laboratory, Inga attempts to comfort Frederick and the two wind-up sleeping together on the suspended reanimation table. The monster escapes when Frederick's fiancee Elizabeth arrives unexpectedly for a visit, taking Elizabeth captive as he flees. Elizabeth falls in love with the creature due to his inhuman stamina and his enormous penis (referred to as Schwanstücker or Schwanzstück). The townspeople hunt for the monster. Desperate to get the creature back, Frederick plays the violin to lure his creation back to the castle and recaptures him. Just as the Kemp-led mob storms the laboratory, Frankenstein transfers some of his stabilizing intellect to the creature who, as a result, is able to reason with and placate the mob. Elizabeth marries the now erudite and sophisticated monster — with her hair styled identically to that of the female creature from the Bride of Frankenstein, while Inga joyfully learns what her new husband Frederick got in return during the transfer procedure — the monster's Schwanzstücker.

cult, comedy, gothic, satire, humor

tt0072431

The Wisdom of Crocodiles

"Neuropsychologists say that 'we don't have one brain. We have three--one that is human, built over another that is mammalian, built over yet another that's reptilian. So, when a psychiatrist asks you to lie down on the couch, you're being asked to lie down with a horse and with a crocodile.'" [Steven Grlscz]A wrecked car is suspended in the treetops, the driver a young woman. Investigators notice that there is no blood, but they make nothing of it. Nor do they notice her fiancé, Steven Grlscz [Jude Law], among the bystanders. Later that day, Steven writes one word in his diary: despair. While waiting for the Tube, Steven saves Maria Vaughan from jumping in front of the train. He gives her his card, she calls him, and they begin a love affair. When Steven is assured that Maria has feelings for him, he takes her to his bed, drinks her blood, and then drives to the coast where he disposes of her body in the sea. This time the word entered in his diary is: disappointment. Steven Grlscz is a vampire, but far from typical. He can go out in the sunlight, eat regular food, does not sleep in a coffin, and has no fangs. Yet he needs to drink blood once a month or he will die. His favorite target is young women with whom he first develops a relationship.While touring a museum or industrial plant of some sort, Steven sketches asthmatic Anne Levels [Elina Löwensohn]. When they meet later in a cappucino shoppe, she asks to see the drawings. They exchange names and make a date for Wednesday night. When Anne breaks the date in order to work on some waterproof concrete (she's a structural engineer), Steven brings her Chinese takeout. So begins the carefully choreographed relationship between vampire and new prey.However, Stephen is worried when he overhears a news broadcast about the body of Maria Vaughan being found in a fishing net. He immediately telephones the police, probably because he knows that the trail will eventually lead to him. Inspector Healey [Timothy Spall] and Sgt Roche [Jack Davenport] come to question him. Steven makes up a story about not seeing Maria after they had an argument over her wanting to marry him and him not wanting to continue the relationship with her. Steven becomes their prime suspect, and Inspector Healey begins to tail him. One evening, after Steven sees Anne off on the train, Healey is attacked by a gang of hoods who beat him and steal the crucifix he wears around his neck. Steven intervenes and saves Healey. So begins the carefully choreographed relationship between vampire and detective.Meanwhile, things with Anne are going nicely. In his diary, Steven describes her as confident, independent, witty, and full of strange little stories and sayings. Steven keeps notes on all his intendeds, because the goal is to woo their trust and love. Anne visits him where he works as a medical researcher investigating crystals from human kidneys and bladders. Steven contends that extreme emotional states can cause the body to form crystals, and he shows her a number of them which he names "rage, resentment, spite, malice, and bad temper." When Steven and Anne are attacked by the gang of hoods from the Tube, Steven saves Anne in an amazing show of superstrength and speed, apparently some of the vampiric qualities that he *does* possess.Anne is falling in love, but Healey and Roche are still suspicious of Steven. They question people along the route that Steven might have taken to the seashore and find a toll collector who may remember him. Steven is brought in for a line-up, but the toll collector fingers someone else. Steven and Healey strike up a friendship in which they confide personal things with each other. Steven retrieves the crucifix from Healey's attacker and returns it to Healey. When Healey learns that Steven actually saved Maria from committing suicide, he begins to doubt that Steven has it in him to be a killer.One night, Anne is in a bad mood and snaps at Steven. She immediately apologizes, but Steven leaves in a huff and hides out, refusing to return Anne's phone calls. After Anne has to perform a tracheostomy on an injured man, she admits to herself that she misses Steven and calls him. Steven has been drawing pictures of her and admits that he misses her, too. They plan to meet at his apartment, the first time that Anne has been invited there.Steven knows that he is dying and that he needs blood. His body is breaking down, he bleeds and doesn't heal, and he has to wear an alarm to remind him to breathe while he's sleeping. It's time to feed on Anne but, when he tries, he can't bring himself to kill her. Instead, he explains to her that he is a vampire who feeds on the emotions in blood. Like kidney stones, he says, emotions are "things" carried in the blood. Some emotions, e.g., resentment, malice, despair, and disappointment, only serve to make him sick. He prefers to feed on love. He thinks that perfect love might cure him if he ever finds it. Could Anne be this perfect love? Anne isn't buying it. To show his love for her, Steven lets her go. He even hands her a knife and informs her that, with one cut, he will bleed to death in 20 minutes.Anne puts down the knife and, rather than run, she stays with him, tending him as he grows weaker and weaker, bathing his eyes when he goes temporarily blind, waking him when he forgets to breathe, offering to go to the chemist when they run out of elastoplasts (bandaids). Steven is even more convinced of Anne's love for him and, as his end approaches, he knows what he must do. While Anne is at the chemist, he prepares for his dinner. When Anne realizes what he is doing, she runs to the roof, intending to kill herself rather than let him kill her. As she rescinds her love for him ("I know you for what you are...I don't love you!") and Steven replies, "It may not be in your heart, but it's still in your blood," a big tear runs down his cheek.Anne jumps, but Steven catches her hand just in time. She removes a large stickpin from her hair and plunges it through Steven's hand. Still, he succeeds in pulling her back to the roof, whether to save her life or his dinner is up to you to decide. As Steven lay dying, he muses. "When I was a boy," he says, "I fell out of a tree but I managed just to grab a branch. I hung there for a long time, terrified, the silence and the pain in my arms and the blood pounding in my ears. And then I fell. I don't remember what happened when I hit the ground. All I can remember now is the agony of holding on and the wonderful feeling of letting go." With that, Steven lets go of life, and Anne walks home in tears. [Original Synopsis by bj_kuehl.]

cult, murder, storytelling, romantic

tt0120894

The Warriors

As night falls over Coney Island, Cleon (Dorsey Wright), leader of the Warriors, meets up with eight of his most trusted lieutenants to travel by subway to the faraway Bronx. They will be attending an event called by a man named Cyrus, described as "the one and only." Throughout the city, other gang delegations are seen entering the subway in their full colors. As the Warriors speculate about the event during their subway ride, we learn that Cyrus, leader of the largest gang in the city, the Gramercy Riffs, has called a truce of all the gangs in New York. He wants an unarmed delegation of nine from each gang to come to a mass meeting to hear what he has to say. Some of the Warriors are excited at the prospect, while others are skeptical.At Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx, the meeting is well-attended with over 100 gangs represented. The charismatic Cyrus (Roger Hill) takes the stage and delivers a spellbinding speech. He says that, instead of fighting each other over turf, they could unite to form an army of 60,000 soldiers, compared to only 20,000 police in the whole city. He punctuates his points with "Can you dig it?" to the crowd's wild response. Outside the meeting area, the police are seen silently moving in.Most of the crowd is enthralled with Cyrus' vision, but one member has his own agenda. Luther (David Patrick Kelley), the psychotic leader of a gang called the Rogues, has snuck a gun into the gathering. At a high point in the speech, Luther fires at Cyrus, killing him instantly. When Cyrus falls back, there is a brief stunned silence, followed by pandemonium. The crowd was so fixated on Cyrus that hardly anyone saw who fired the shot, but Luther turns to see that Fox (Thomas G. Waites) of the Warriors witnessed the assassination, so he points the gun to kill Fox. Just at that moment the police spotlights come on, blinding Luther.Cleon walks towards the middle of the chaos, to see whether Cyrus survived. Luther begins screaming to the crowd, "That's him! The guy who shot Cyrus!" Another member of the Rogues also claims to have seen Cleon shoot Cyrus. Cleon denies it, but Luther continues to scream "The Warriors did it! The Warriors did it!" and charges at Cleon. Cleon holds his own in a fight against the Rogues, but then the Gramercy Riffs, martial arts experts, step in and bring Cleon down with kicks and elbow hits. Cleon presumably has been killed.The other Warriors break through a wooden fence to make their escape, winding up in a cemetery as the rest of the police rush into the park and the various gangs flee. They take a head count and determine that everyone is there except for Cleon. Swan (Michael Beck), who as war chief is the second-ranked member after Cleon, states they are going to the subway, to catch a train back to Coney Island. A member named Ajax (James Remar) gives Swan some trouble when he asks: "Who made you leader?" Swan advises him to make his move, but the remaining members intervene, telling Ajax to calm down and urging everyone to stick together. Ajax backs down for now, and they make their way toward the subway, worrying whether the truce is still on. If it isn't, they will have to "bop" (fight their way) across other gangs' territories, vulnerable because they are wearing their colors and are not "packed" (armed).Meanwhile, the Gramercy Riffs' new leader, Masai (Edward Sewer), addresses the Riffs at their underground hideout. He wants the Warriors, alive if possible. The Riffs inform a local DJ (Lynne Thigpen), and she puts the word out on the radio, urging all local gangs to be on the lookout and capture or kill the Warriors, "the gang that broke the truce", for the Riffs. She dedicates the song "Nowhere to Run" to the Warriors. As the song plays, gangs throughout the city are getting ready to hunt down Cyrus' assassins.The Warriors wait for a train outside an elevated train station, so that they will not be ambushed on a open platform. Ajax complains that they are acting like "wimps," but the others' caution is justified, since a school bus filled with a tough-looking skinhead gang known as the Turnbull ACs begins patrolling the area. When the train arrives, the Warriors make a break for it and barely make the train ahead of the gang. Masai is informed of the Turnbulls' failure. Meanwhile, Luther gets a telephone update from an informant and learns that the Riffs have put the word out on the street that they want the Warriors alive. The Rogues don't want the Warriors taken alive, for fear of the stories they might tell. Luther tells his crew that they can do some looking too.The celebrating Warriors' journey home is cut short when a fire on the tracks delays the train. They have no choice but to make their way to the next station on foot. That route takes them directly through the Bronx territory of a small gang known as the Orphans, who did not attend the gathering at Van Cortlandt Park and apparently don't know of the contract out on the Warriors. After determining the Orphans' numbers to be at least 30 versus their eight, Swan decides a diplomatic solution would be best. He brings Fox with him to meet with the Orphans' leader (Paul Greco). After a bit of tough posturing, the leader accepts the explanation of the subway fire, buttered up a bit by Fox's respectful comments, and tells them they can move through the territory if they come in peace. However, his girlfriend Mercy (Deborah Van Valkenburgh) begins taunting him with chicken noises and cutting comments. The leader's manhood is now insulted, so he orders the Warriors to remove their gang colors if they want to proceed through their territory. Swan refuses in no uncertain terms, and the Orphans leave while the Warriors march on.The curious Mercy tails the Warriors, and gets caught by Ajax. She claims to want some real action. Just then, the Orphans show up again, packed and ready to rumble. They throw some tough words around, but Snow (Brian Tyler) produces a Molotov cocktail, which Swan throws at a car near the Orphans. The Warriors take off past the flaming vehicle. The car explodes, the Orphans fail to pursue, and the Warriors hightail it to the next station with Mercy. She seems determined to stick around for the ride.The DJ passes on the news of the Orphans' defeat.Luther gets another update that the Warriors are making their way through and that the cops are out to get every gang in the city. When asked why he seems so happy about this situation, Luther responds "I'm having a good time!"The train at the 96th street station is not moving and the frustration of the Warriors, especially Vermin (Terry Michos), is obvious. A police officer walks by the car, and they take off running. During this escape they split into three separate groups. Fox and Mercy run down the platform. A cop comes from behind one of the pillars, and tackles Fox. Fox yells at Mercy to run away, and in the struggle the cop tosses Fox onto the tracks, where he is killed by an oncoming train. Mercy is running in the other direction and doesn't see Fox's death.Vermin, Cochise (David Harris), and Rembrandt (Marcelino Sanchez) manage to evade the police and board a subway train to Union Square, the agreed upon meeting place if they are split up. Ajax, Swan, Snow, and Cowboy (Tom Mckitterick) also outrun the police and exit the station at the front door, only to find a bigger potential threat - a group of men in baseball uniforms, their faces painted, leisurely swinging baseball bats. The Baseball Furies have been waiting for them. The four Warriors take off running down the street. The chase continues into Riverside Park. Swan and Snow split to the side, leaving Ajax and Cowboy running forward. The Furies fail to see the split, and follow Ajax and Cowboy. Swan and Snow circle to the Furies' backs. Cowboy can no longer run, so Ajax turns to face his foes, with Swan coming up from the rear. In the ensuing melee, Ajax's and Swan's fighting skills shine. They succeed in wresting control of bats and eventually in laying out all of the Furies.The DJ announces the Baseball Furies' defeat and disparages all the gangs for their poor performance.Meanwhile, Vermin, Cochise and Rembrandt have arrived at Union Square to wait for the others. They see a group of six young women giving them "come hither" looks. Cochise and Vermin can't believe their luck in finding attractive chicks who seem to want to party with them, naively failing to realize that the women are lesbians. Only Rembrandt, the youngest Warrior, senses the danger. They go to the group's clubhouse and the leader (Lisa Mauer) identifies them as the Lizzies, an all-girl gang and says that they want to get down with the Warriors because they have heard of their reputation. Cochise and Vermin waste no time heading off to couches with their choice of girl. Rembrandt stays aloof and says that they need to get back. He notices the women exchanging glances, but before he can react, the door is locked and the leader pulls a gun and says "So you guys are the famous Warriors? The guys who shot Cyrus." Rembrandt shouts a warning and the three crash through a door, dodging bullets to escape. Rembrandt informs the others of what he has learned; that the women thought the Warriors shot Cyrus. They finally realize that every gang in the city must be looking for them.Swan and his crew continue walking through the park. They pass a lady on a bench (Mercedes Ruehl), who gives her best smile. Ajax decides to play games with the woman, and won't be dissuaded even after the others press on him the need to get home. Ajax disparages the others' manhood and turns back toward the woman. A few minutes later, Cowboy and Snow decide to go back to look after Ajax, and Swan continues to the station alone. The woman turns out to be an undercover cop, and Ajax is arrested when he tries to assault her. There's nothing Cowboy and Snow can do, so they make their way to Union Square.When Swan gets back to the 96th street station, he finds Mercy still hanging around. A cop spots them, and the two wind up running into a tunnel. Holed up in an underpass off the tracks, Mercy comes on to Swan. He insults her and says he wants to find something better. Mercy declares that Swan isn't any better than her. Swan continues on to Union Square and Mercy follows him. The Punks, who's leader wears roller skates, spot Swan on the subway platform and hang around waiting for their chance.Meanwhile, Snow and Cowboy have made it to Union Square and meet up with Cochise, Rembrandt and Vermin. Swan sees his fellow Warriors and signals them to lead the Punks into the men's room. They hide in the stalls, and ambush the Punks with Rembrandt's spray paint. The ensuing battle, which Mercy joins on the Warriors' side, is another victory for the Warriors.Back at the Riff's headquarters, Masai is told that there is a new witness who saw who really shot Cyrus.The six remaining Warriors board the final train home, with Mercy still in tow. Two young couples in evening dress coming from a school prom present such a contrast to Swan and Mercy that Swan takes pity on Mercy and clumsily signals that he accepts her.Upon arrival at Coney Island, the sun has risen, and the journey is seemingly over. The Warriors and Mercy walk through the deserted Coney Island streets, only to realize that Luther and the Rogues are following them in a car. With no time to contact other members to come to their defense, the Warriors take shelter under a dock. Swan now has a switchblade he took from the Punk leader; the others arm themselves with what's around: Furies baseball bats, crowbars, hockey sticks, two-by-four pieces of wood, etc. Luther makes an ominous rattling sound with beer bottles and chants "Warriors, come out to play-ay!"Swan leads his crew and Mercy out to the beach, and the Rogues follow. Finally face to face, Swan asks Luther why he killed Cyrus, to which the crazed Luther replies: "No reason. I just... like doing things like that." When Luther pulls a gun on Swan, he manages to flick his knife into Luther's wrist, disarming him. At that moment, the Gramercy Riffs appear in force on the beach. Swan asks whether the Riffs are still looking for the Warriors, to which Masai replies, looking at Luther, that they have found what they're looking for. Masai praises the Warriors as "good, real good," and makes an exit path for them. They file out to the screams of Luther's death agonies.As the DJ announces that the alert is cancelled, the six surviving Warriors walk down their hometown beach, Swan hand-in-hand with Mercy. They are glad to have made it home, but are also emotionally defeated because they know that they and all the New York City gangs are back where they started from: nowhere.

suspenseful, realism, murder, cult, violence, revenge

tt0080120

Moscow on the Hudson

Set against the backdrop of the Cold War and Soviet political repression of the early 1980s prior to perestroika, Moscow on the Hudson tells the story of Vladimir Ivanoff (Robin Williams), a saxophonist with the Moscow circus.The story begins in New York with Vladimir advising a newly arrived Frenchman that he is on the wrong New York bus and giving him instructions on how to get to his destination. He then tells the Frenchman that it is always difficult getting around the city when one first arrives. Vladimir then begins remembering his own arrival to New York from Russia, and the scene shifts to Vladimir riding on a Russian bus some time earlier.Vladimir exits the bus and immediately witnesses a group of three people holding signs being accosted by two men, likely KGB agents or secret police, who force them into a nearby car and confiscate their signs. Vladimir then inquires of a passing Russian soldier if the nearby queue is for toilet paper; the soldier replies that it is for shoes. Vladimir joins the queue and obtains three pairs of shoes in the only size (38) now available.Vladimir arrives late to rehearsal at the circus and Boris (Savely Kramarov), one of the apparatchik assigned to the circus, criticizes him harshly and implies that he may miss the approaching trip to New York City. Vladimir tells him the reason he was late and ultimately gives Boris one pair of shoes obtained from the queue.Later, while Vladimir is riding with his friend, circus clown Anatoly Cherkasov (Elya Baskin), in Anatoly's Lada, Anatoly begins expressing his discontent with life in Russia, claiming that he is an oppressed artist. Vladimir expresses disinterest in Anatoly's complaints. Anatoly stops to buy fuel for his car from a mobile black-market gasoline dealer. While the friends wait for the gasoline seller to fill Anatoly's jerrycans, the two practice their English. Anatoly reveals to Vladimir in English that he plans to defect during the upcoming trip to New York. Vladimir is disconcerted that Anatoly has told him this as he is obligated to inform on him. Anatoly shouts in English at the uncomprehending fuel seller and oblivious passing motorists that he wants to see the world.Anatoly leaves Vladimir at another queue; as Vladimir exits the vehicle, Anatoly asks if he will be coming by the apartment at 9:00 p.m. as usual and Vladimir agrees. After inquiring and determining that toilet paper can be purchased at this queue, Vladimir begins to walk to the end of the excessively long line but meets with a neighborhood friend, Leonid, already standing in line. During the ensuing conversation, Leonid reveals that he was once a teacher but is now paving roads after the authorities had sent him to a camp for protesting the war in Afghanistan. Leonid also reveals that the authorities had declared him to be crazy for protesting the war. After agreeing to talk later, Leonid advises Vladimir to never go crazy.Vladimir returns home to his family, who are overjoyed that he has obtained toilet paper. Vladimir announces that he won't be staying for dinner as he is meeting Svetlana. Vladimir's mother expresses a desire for Vladimir to marry Svetlana, and Vladimir remarks that he doesn't want another marriage.Vladimir meets with Svetlana, and they both walk to Anatoly's apartment for their date. Svetlana expresses a desire for Vladimir to join the communist party as it would make obtaining an apartment when they get married easier; Vladimir responds that he is not a "joiner". At the apartment, after Anatoly leaves, Vladimir gives Svetlana a gift -- a roll of toilet paper. Svetlana expresses her jealousy that Vladimir gets to see America without her and hints that she would like Vladimir to obtain designer jeans for her.Vladimir returns home drunk from vodka. In the morning, around the breakfast table, Vladimir's grandfather, Nicholai Ivanoff, aggressively criticizes the news reports on the television and Russia's leaders in general. As Vladimir is leaving the building with packed suitcases for the circus trip to America, he is intercepted by the two circus-assigned apparatchik waiting at the entrance. They question Vladimir about his grandfather's anti-Soviet behavior and imply that he may be senile and need to be committed. Vladimir responds that he is just a comedian, an old man, and a war hero who should just be ignored. They also reveal that they are aware that Vladimir and Svetlana have been using Anatoly's apartment for their "sexual encounters". Both agents finally reveal that they want Vladimir to "keep an eye on" Anatoly Cherkasov during the trip to America in exchange for protecting his grandfather.The Moscow circus arrives in New York and are shuttled around in a chartered bus. The performers are amused at the colorful environment that is New York, which strongly contrasts with the bleak surrounding of Moscow (as portrayed earlier). During the bus ride, Anatoly writes "freedom" in the dust on the bus window, and Vladimir quickly wipes it off.The performers stay at the Howard Johnson Hotel, and Vladimir and Anatoly happen to be sharing a room. Vladimir revels in the American custom of taking the towels, which he packs into his suitcase, and the quality of the toilet paper. Vladimir reveals to Anatoly that it is no coincidence they are sharing a room together because the apparatchik watching over the circus want him to "spy on" Anatoly.During a formal reception, Anatoly reveals to Vladimir that he intends to defect during the opening parade and his opening bicycle routine; Vladimir remarks, "Good. They grab you and throw you right to bear". Vladimir and Anatoly enter a bathroom, and the two Apparatchik, who have been shadowing Anatoly throughout the evening, emerge from the same toilet stall just as Anatoly was about to comment on his plans. The Apparatchik comment that they will soon be back in Moscow, but otherwise all leave the bathroom without further drama.The next day during the opening circus performance, Anatoly attempts to defect but is met by the Apparatchik agents.The following day, the performers are allowed to shop at Bloomingdale's for 30 minutes before going to the airport to return to Russia. Vladimir meets a perfume clerk at Bloomingdale's, Lucia Lomardo (María Conchita Alonso), while attempting to find blue jeans for Svetlana. Anatoly once more reveals to Vladimir that he is going to defect in Bloomingdale's. Vladimir angrily challenges Anatoly to just do it and stop informing him of the plan. However, Anatoly is shadowed by the quieter of the Apparatchik and loses his nerve.As the performers are being led back to the bus, Vladimir attempts to buy the designer jeans for Svetlana. Anatoly seemingly dares Vladimir to defect in his stead. Vladimir then attempts to defect to one of Bloomingdale's security guards, Lionel Witherspoon (Cleavant Derricks). A clerk announces the defection, and the Apparatchik, who are distracted by their own shopping, rush over to prevent it. A chase ensues through Bloomingdale's, out onto the street, and back into Bloomingdale's. Vladimir then attempts to hide behind Lucia's counter. Orlando Ramirez (Alejandro Rey), an immigration lawyer, approaches and gives Lucia his card to give to Vladimir. After trying to hide inside Lucia's dress, Vladimir crawls away through Bloomingdale's but once again encounters Lionel. Boris and the other Apparatchik arrive and confront Vladimir, but Lionel defends him. Boris first pleads with Vladimir to return and then threatens, but Vladimir repeats, "I defect", to the cheers of the rapidly assembling crowd. Connie Chung and an ABC News crew are already on scene. The FBI arrive and interview Vladimir about why he is defecting and whether or not he has relatives or friends in America. Lionel, basking in the glare of the media, offers to take in Vladimir after revealing he knows no one in America outside of Lionel and Lucia. As a final parting gesture, Vladimir rushes out onto the street as the charted bus of circus performers is leaving and says goodbye to his saxophone, which had been left on the bus. He also communicates to Anatoly that he is now free (a free bird).Lionel Witherspoon (Cleavant Derricks), an African American security guard who has just protected Vladimir from his furious Russian handlers during Vladimir's defection at Bloomingdale's, takes him home to Harlem to live with Lionel's mother, unemployed father, sister, and cranky but good-hearted grandfather--a living arrangement noticeably similar to that of Vladimir's family back in Moscow.With the help of sympathetic immigration attorney Orlando Ramirez (Alejandro Rey), a naturalized citizen from Cuba who witnessed Vladimir's defection, Vladimir soon adapts to life in America. Vladimir attempts to find work despite speaking little English and fearing the threat of his former KGB handlers. He initially lives in poor neighborhoods and takes low-paying jobs such as fast-food service, limousine driver, and sidewalk merchant.Vladimir starts a relationship with Lucia. At a party celebrating Lucia's becoming an American citizen, Vladimir proposes to her; but she refuses and breaks up with him. A little while later, Lionel decides to move to Alabama to be with his young son; and Vladimir learns from a friend of his sister that his beloved grandfather back home in Moscow has died.Grieving, Vladimir goes to a Russian nightclub to ease his mind. When he returns home, late to his apartment building and drunk, he is mugged by two young men. He later reports the incident to the police with Orlando present, and the two go to a diner where Vladimir rants about his misfortunes. A nearby Russian immigrant overhears the conversation, and interrupts Vladimir to disagree, leading the two into a tense confrontation that is settled after Vladimir comes to appreciate his good fortune of living in America. Soon after, Lucia reunites with Vladimir telling him that she is not ready for marriage but would love to live with an immigrant, and Lionel moves back from Alabama and takes over Vladimir's job driving a limousine.In the end, Vladimir gets a job as a saxophonist in the band at the Russian nightclub, with time to play the music he loves during the day. He encounters the former apparatchik Boris operating a hot dog stand. (Boris had lost his status back in the Soviet Union after Vladimir's defection.) The former apparatchik is glad to see Vladimir and gives him a free hot dog, showing his appreciation for the life he too now has in America.

flashback

tt0087747

Ah-ga-ssi

PART ONESet in Korea during the 1930s prior to World War II, the film begins with a local Korean woman named Sook-Hee preparing to move away from her home and move into the estate of a Japanese heiress, Lady Hideko. Sook-Hee is taken on a long ride until she reaches the large estate in the countryside. A woman greets her and gives her a tour of the grounds including an annex which has been furnished into a library. Sook-Hee is told that she wont sleep in the servants quarters but near the Lady of the house as she is her handmaiden. She calls Sook-Hee 'Tamako' and tells her that the lady is often tasked with reading for the master (her uncle) and that he loves books. Sook-Hee is then showed her room which is just across from the Lady's bedroom. When left alone, Sook-Hee tries to peek into the room but a loud noise scares her back to her tiny cot.Later in the night, Sook-Hee awakens to hear the Lady Hideko screaming. She rushes into her bedroom and comforts her. Hideko says she had a nightmare and tells Sook-Hee that her aunt had hung herself from the big cherry tree and on moonless nights, her aunts ghost dangles from the branch. Sook-Hee proves to be a good handmaiden as she comforts the Lady by feeding her sake and singing to her.Sook-Hee tells us (through voice-over) that we think she is a Korean handmaiden named Tamako but she's really Sook-Hee, a pickpocket raised by a woman who teaches children how to steal and commit forgeries. In a flashback, we see the house takes in abandoned newborns and sells them to Japan. A man enters the house of thieves and tells them about an interpreter who bribed his way into a translating job for the high officials. He helps Japan annex Korea and then gets naturalized so he can marry the daughter of a Japanese noble. He builds a mansion, filled with books, and invites Japanese collectors to his library to hold readings of rare books and auction them off. Some of the books, he needs to sell but doesn't want to lose possession so he hired this man (telling the story) to create forgeries he has convinced the nobles he is Count Fujiwara from Japan. The collector's wife died with no children and her sister has died but his wife's niece is still alive and employed to perform book readings for her uncle. Now an orphan, this woman is rich she has 1.5 million yen in cash and 300,000 yen in bonds -- and the man who calls himself Count Fujiwara plans to make her fall in love with him and after marrying her, hell declare her insane and have her locked up in a madhouse thus inheriting her fortune. He wants Sook-Hee to work as her handmaiden so she can persuade her to fall in love. Her uncle also wants to marry her for her money but if Sook-Hee can convince her to marry the Count, hell give her 50,000 yen and the dresses and jewelry. Sook-Hee demands 100,000 yen.Sook-Hee goes to the estate to meet with the staff, to convince them to hire her. The women who work on staff steal her shoes as a prank which angers her because it will make her look bad. She is amazed to see how beautiful Lady Hideko is. Sook-Hee gives her a reference letter from the last woman she worked for but in reality, its a forgery by the man who is pretending to be Count Fujiwara. He has written it in Japanese, which Sook-Hee can't read or write. He has told Sook-Hee what the letter says "A maid is like a pair of chopsticks". Her presence is little noted, but her absence causes much distress. Lady Hideko claims she has a headache from all the reading she has had to do for her uncle and asks Sook-Hee to read it. Sook-Hee struggles to do so from memory, claiming it says she's like a spoon and then finally admits she is illiterate and can't even read in Korean. Lady Hideko said she doesn't care if Sook-Hee curses or steals but she doesn't ever want to be lied to. She shows Sook-Hee a picture of her mother and asks if she is as beautiful. Sook-Hee tells her that she has heard the Count say he dreams of her face in bed, her first attempt at planting a seed of a relationship.Lady Hideko gives Sook-Hee some shoes and then leaves to go to reading practice, which shell do alone. Sook-Hee goes through all the dresses to see what clothes shell inherit after the woman is locked up. She finds Ben Wa balls. After trying on hats, she finds a rope in a hatbox. Sook-Hee goes outside and looks up at the cherry tree the Lady's aunt was said to have hung herself from.Sook-Hee finds Lady Hideko reading in the library with her uncle. She tries to approach but is told not to go past the snake. A gate is rolled closed, locking her out. She notices a statue of a snake on the ground, creating a boundary of limitations which she isn't allowed to cross.Back in her room, Sook-Hee bathes Lady Hideko, giving her a lollipop which she says she used on children to help them associate bath time with sweetness. Lady Hideko complains one of her teeth is sharp. Sook-Hee grabs a thimble and begins shaving it down. The two exchange sexual energy while this is going on. Sook-Hee admires Lady Hideko's naked breasts.Count Fujiwara arrives at the estate to help with forgeries and requests the Lady's handmaiden to run an errand for him. Sook-Hee and the Count discuss their plan in private. Sook-Hee tells him the Lady is naïve and wont take the hint that he wants sex, even if he pulls on her nipples. Count Fujiwara says Sook-Hee has to put it into her head that the Lady is much happier since he arrived. He also gives her a gift to send along. Sook-Hee presents the gift sapphire earrings. Sook-Hee is excited that they'll be hers when the Lady is sent away to the madhouse. She also convinces Lady Hideko that the earrings are actually spinel.Lady Hideko arranges for Sook-Hee to be dressed up which is a new experience for Sook-Hee. Lady Hideko finishes off the look with the sapphire earrings. They button each others dresses up which is depicted in a very sexual way with Sook-Hee openly longing to touch her. Sook-Hee asks if Lady Hideko is planning to marry her uncle. Hideko points out that's what he raised her for, knowing he'd need access to her money one day. Eventually he will put his entire library up for auction because he cant afford any more books.The Count paints with Lady Hideko, trying to be flirtatious. Sook-Hee watches, feeling sorry for Lady Hideko for being duped. He tells Sook-Hee a peach is ripe which is the signal for her to start convincing the Lady that shes falling in love with the Count. After he leaves, Sook-Hee claims the Lady's cheeks have grown flushed since he arrived but the Lady isn't really convinced.Lady Hideko and Sook-Hee have a personal conversation on the grounds, about how the Lady's mother died in childbirth and its like she strangled her as punishment for being born. Sook-Hee takes this to heart and tells her no baby is guilty of being born and that her mother would probably have been very happy to have given life to her. This surprises and touches the Lady. The Count arrives and steals the Lady away, sending Sook-Hee to run errands so they can be alone. Not wanting to leave Lady Hideko with the Count, Sook-Hee rushes to grab things but when she returns, she sees the clothed Lady mounting the clothed Count, which makes her terribly jealous.Now Sook-Hee harbors anger at Lady Hideko. At night, the servants bell is rang and Sook-Hee is called into the Lady's bedroom. She asks Sook-Hee why she didn't greet her when she got back from her reading. Sook-Hee is obviously still bitter that Lady Hideko is falling for the Count but claims she simply fell asleep. The Lady says she can feel a nightmare coming on and suggests Sook-Hee sleep in bed with her. After a while, she tells Sook-Hee that the count asked to elope with her when her uncle leaves to visit his gold mine. The Lady says without a mother, shes never been told what men want. Sook-Hee teaches her how to kiss by demonstrating on her. Then she begins to make love to her under the context of showing her what it will be like when she makes love to the Count. The two women end up having sex for the first time, both claiming it is simply an instruction although they both seem to be in love with the other.The next time the Count is painting with Lady Hideko, he orders Sook-Hee to find another job to do. Sook-Hee follows suit but then stops short, saying she has no other job except to look after the Lady. Outside the grounds, the Count yells at Sook-Hee for not helping him with his plan. He puts Sook-Hees hands on his crotch and tells her to feel how much he wants her fortune and tells her hes not going to let her fuck it up. Sook-Hee threatens to tell her that hes just a pickpocket but he threatens, in return, to tell her that Sook-Hee is a Korean farmhand and shaman. Sook-Hee cant return home empty-handed, not providing for all the people who have taken her in since she was a little girl. Sook-Hee responds by saying Lady Hideko has no one on earth and if he frightens her, shell close up like a clam. She adds not to ever put her hand on his tiny joke of a cock again.Now Sook-Hee follows the plan accordingly, telling Lady Hideko that she (the Lady) is falling for the Count. But the Lady says she's fallen in love with somebody else. Nonetheless, Lady Hideko agrees to marry the Count if Sook-Hee can go with them to Japan. The Count leaves the estate to visit his mine while the Count pretends to leave but secretly hides so he can sneak off with Lady Hideko. As soon as her uncle is gone, Hideko leaves with the Count and Sook-Hee on a ferry to Japan. Once there, Hideko and the Count are married. The next morning, Sook-Hee stops by their room and finds blood on Hideko's sheets, alluding to having lost her virginity. The Count watches the two women together. When he's not looking, Sook-Hee kisses Hideko.By the end of the week, Count Fujiwara is missing, claiming that he has gone to certify the marriage and convert the inheritance into cash. When he returns, Sook-Hee yells at him for taking her virginity and then leaving her alone. She tells him to hurry up and throw Hideko in the madhouse. Two men arrive at the hotel and ask Sook-Hee what treatment she would suggest for Hideko. Sook-Hee says she wants her confined to a place where no one can harm her and she can do no harm. The group travels into town, stopping at a mental hospital. Sook-Hee waits with the employees as they tell the Countess they are going to look after her but then they end up grabbing Sook-Hee and taking her into the madhouse. She claims she is not the Countess and they have the wrong woman. The Count and Hideko do nothing to defend Sook-Hee as she struggles.PART TWOWe now learn about the back story of Lady Hideko. As a little girl, she has to put medal balls in her mouth (reminiscent of Ben Wa balls) while she is hit repeatedly by her aunt for talking back. She is then brought into her room where she's told there is an ogre who lives outside her room who will burst in and smother her if she ever cries out. The aunt also shares the photo of Hideko's mother that we had seen her show to Sook-Hee.Hideko's aunt instructs her in Japanese by reading books which end up being graphic and teaching her words like penis and vagina. Her uncle comes by and grabs both of their faces, suffocating them before letting them go. We now see the young Hideko slapping a servant for saying bad things about her in Korean, which she can speak. Her uncle tells her that she has a touch of lunacy that she got from her mother and he will try to teach her so she doesn't get sent to a mental hospital. The training consists of her being taught to read from his book collection which is now revealed to be very explicitly sexual books. The young Hideko reads from a graphic story and her uncle yells at her lack of articulation. We then see the adult Lady Hideko at the readings for collectors, reading from sexually explicit passages.She flashes back to the day of her aunt's hanging and the servants staring up at her. Meanwhile, the readings continue for the Japanese book collectors and the stories are more and more graphic. She also performs demonstrations of the material for the audience she chokes herself; she is whipped; she sits on a wooden puppet and is lifted to the ceiling. The books are auctioned off. One has lost its value because the sexually explicit illustration has been ripped out. Nobody wants to buy the book, figuring that the illustration was necessary to depict what words alone could not.The man who pretends to be Count Fujiwara is involved in these readings, hired for forgeries. He tells Hideko's uncle how all the women on the estate are attracted to him except for one Hideko. He heard that her uncle is engaged to her and suggests to him to go easy on her training or shell be dead inside.Count Fujiwara and Lady Hideko talk over dinner. He tries to tell her he loves her but she knows he's lying. He admits to being the son of a Korean farmhand and he spent three years learning to paint forgeries so he would have access to her and possess her father's inheritance. But he realized how smart she was after he met her and has another deal to suggest hell rescue her from her uncle, they'll split the money. She says she doesn't want to marry anyone. He realizes she plans to kill herself but he says all her money would go to a perverted uncle. She points out that he will find them if they eloped and take her to the basement where he tortures people he has brought her there as a young girl and showed her what he did to her aunt. Count Fujiwara gives her highly concentrated opium and says if she's ever caught, three drops will make her sleep, five drops will knock her out, and all of it will kill her.They plan to find a handmaiden for her who they will send to a madhouse under Hideko's name. They get rid of her old one after she is caught having sex with the Count. We now see Sook-Hee's arrival from Hideko's perspective. When Sook-Hee tries to peek in her room, she bangs against the wall, scaring her. She watches Sook-Hee undress for bed. Then she screams to get Sook-Hee to come, claiming she had a nightmare. Hideko reads a letter from Count Fujiwara telling her to show Sook-Hee her clothes at every opportunity since that is part of what she will receive for helping him out (if she wasn't being duped). He points out she wont be able to read the letter she's reading because she's illiterate. Hence her asking Sook-Hee to read the recommendation out loud she knew she couldn't read it. Hideko also goes outside and scolds her servants for stealing Sook-Hee's shoe, saying if she runs away, shell throw them out. In the next flashback, we see Sook-Hee bathing Hideko and fixing her tooth but now we see this was followed by Hideko inviting Sook-Hee to join her in the tub.When Sook-Hee presents the earrings to Hideko, Count Fujiwara wrote her a letter warning her that Sook-Hee would pretend they were fake because she wants them but they're actually Hideko's own earrings. He tells her, to keep her from getting suspicious, they should occupy Sook-Hee with the task of trying to convince Hideko to marry him and that she shouldn't fall in love with him too easily. As before, Hideko gives Sook-Hee the earrings and admires her when she is dressed up. Also as before, Sook-Hee is very kind towards Hideko when she discusses losing her mother in childbirth, leading Hideko to feel a companionship towards Sook-Hee.Count Fujiwara and Hideko really don't like each other and both only tolerate the other to go along with their plan. Sook-Hee now mopes around, angry, watching a flirtatious exchange between Hideko and the Count; now we hear them openly discussing their dislike for each other. Sook-Hee becomes jealous which Hideko notices. As before, when she is away running errands, Sook-Hee rushes back to find a clothed Hideko mounting Count Fujiwara on the grounds. Now we see that they staged that pose just to convince her they were falling in love.We see Hideko giving the readings of sexual literature to the Japanese men. She reads about Ben Wa balls. The men applaud. Then we see the scene again where Hideko and Sook-Hee have sex, under the pretext of educating Hideko on how to please a man. But now the lesbian sex scene is extended and more graphic.Count Fujiwara yells at Lady Hideko, telling her if she scares Sook-Hee, shell close up like a clam. The Lady feels bad about arranging to have Sook-Hee locked up in a madhouse but he tells her that Sook-Hee said Lady Hideko was so dense, she wouldnt know someone wanted sex even if they pulled on her nipples. While it is true Sook-Hee said this early on, it was when she was not fully invested in Lady Hideko's companionship and trying hard to go along with the plan despite her developed attachment. However, it is enough to upset Lady Hideko who is now convinced Sook-Hee doesn't really have feelings for her. In her room, Hideko asks Sook-Hee if she still thinks she should marry the Count, even if she (the Lady) ends up having feelings for someone else. When Sook-Hee says yes, Hideko slaps her and shoves her out of her room. Then she grabs the rope that Sook-Hee found in the hatbox earlier and goes to hang herself from the same tree her aunt had, saying she wishes she'd never been born. (We're meant to believe this is why she allows Sook-Hee to be sent to a madhouse despite falling in love with her).But when hanging from the tree, before she can fall, Sook-Hee appears, holding Hideko by the legs. She immediately confesses to everything, how she was trying to trick her into marrying the Count and they were going to send her to the madhouse. Hideko asks, Sook-Hee, are you worried about me? and Sook-Hee asks how she knows her name since shes pretended to be a handmaiden named Tamako. Hideko confesses her plan to send Sook-Hee to the madhouse. Now Sook-Hee writes home and tells the woman who raised her to be a thief there is a change of plans and they need her help with a forgery.Hideko's uncle drives away to visit his gold mines. He warns Lady Hideko about the basement, meaning if she ever betrays him, he will punish her with torture like he has done to family members before. With him gone, Sook-Hee is finally able to explore the library. She sees the uncle's collection is all perversely sexual literature. Offended that Hideko had been forced to read it, she tears pages and illustrations out of all the books and then dumps them in the indoor ponds underneath the floorboards.The two women are finally free, preparing for Hideko to elope, and we see them running through the fields, laughing. Cut to Sook-Hee being put in the madhouse. Instead of sadness, Hideko is seemingly unaffected and says she's hungry.PART THREE.Hideko and Count Fujiwara dine at a nice restaurant, their plan having worked. Meanwhile, Sook-Hee laughs hysterically while eating dinner at the mental hospital. At a photography studio, Count Fujiwara explains that they'll replace Sook-Hee's photo on her ID with Hideko's so she can take on her identity and Hideko can be declared in a mental institution, allowing them to recoup her inheritance without being caught by her uncle. The Count confesses he might actually like Hideko and suggests they get married again, now that shes stolen Sook-Hee's identity. She inquires whether he feels remorse about having locked Sook-Hee in a madhouse alone but he says she's naïve and deserves her fate.In the madhouse, a fire is set allowing Sook-Hee to escape.Back at a hotel, Hideko dips the opium the Count gave her into a wine glass. They kiss and he decides he wants to have sex. She drinks from her wine glass, hoping hell follow suit, but he doesn't. She lets him kiss her breasts and then they kiss but he still doesn't drink the wine. Finally she drinks from his glass and kisses him, transferring wine from her mouth to his. He then gets really aggressive towards her sexually, citing the books she read out loud that declares women like being taken forcefully. But before he can harm her, he passes out from the opium in the wine.When wakes up, he is being taken by two thugs somewhere into town.Now Sook-Hee and Hideko have reunited. Sook-Hee has taken a picture of herself dressed as a man and uses her forgery skills to replace the photo in Count Fujiwara's ID, taking over his identity. Hideko sends a letter to her uncle, telling him that the Japanese Count who he had been trying to impress for years is actually the son of a Korean farmhand and she drops him off with her uncle as a gift. She also tells him to tell the Count that, outside of books, no woman likes to be taken by force. Now that he knows he's been betrayed, the uncle takes the man who pretended to be Count Fujiwara to his basement and tortures him, cutting off his fingers with a paper trimmer. The Count asks for a cigarette.The two women go to the train station. The uncle's goons are there, checking for any women traveling together who are trying to leave town. The women go undetected in two ways; they buy a ticket to a nearby city and then change it to Shanghai, paying the difference; and Sook-Hee is currently disguised as a man so they aren't seen as two women.In another flashback, we see that the Count didn't really take Hideko's virginity. She broke her own hymen with a butter knife, resulting in the blood Sook-Hee saw the next morning. In present day, Hideko's uncle asks about all the details about his niece's wedding night, exposing that he had a perverted fascination with his young niece and wasn't simply after her money. He asks graphic questions about whether he touched her breasts or her cunt. Whether her vagina had many wrinkles and the look of her vaginal secretion. He admits he's just an old man who likes dirty stories. The Count ignores him, asking for a cigarette to help his memory, which Hideko's uncle grabs from the Count's clothes and he smokes.The two women have made it to the ferry. Sook-Hee gets rid of her fake mustache now that they're safely en route to Shanghai. Meanwhile, Hideko's uncle cuts off the Count's underwear as he lays bleeding from losing his fingers. Before the torture can continue, the Count says that the cigarettes were filled with mercury and they both are now poisoned from the smoke. The uncle dies. The Count inhales the air in an effort to kill himself.In the final scene, Sook-Hee and Hideko are in their stateroom on the ship as they travel to their new home. Now free, they undress and kiss and have a long sexual experience (they have more lesbian sex; but this time they are both clearly affectionate and in love). They put the Ben Wa balls in their mouths and then inside each others vaginas. The final shot shows the steamer ship sailing away into the night.

plot twist, comedy, romantic

tt4016934

The Day of the Jackal

The film begins in the stormy period of 1962, France, where an assassination plot is attempted on Colonel Charles de Gaulle, the French President. De Gaulle had granted the country of Algeria independence, a decision that enraged many French citizens. Many of them, mostly fanatics and extremists from the army, forced an underground organization called the Organisation de l'armée secrète, which put the plot in place. As the Presidents car passes by a group of OAS agents, headed by Jean-Marie Bastien-Thiery, open fire on the vehicle; a number of bullets shatter and enter the vehicle, but not a single of them make a mark on de Gaulle or anyone else inside. Six months later, Bastien-Thiery and the other conspirators in the plot are captured. Bastien-Thiery's lawyer makes a stay of execution, but it is turned down, and the next morning, Bastien-Thiery is executed by firing squad.The top members of the OAS, Colonel Rodin, manager Casson and treasurer Montclair take stock, and realize that they cannot make any move as they will constantly be watched and identified: the OAS is planted with snitches who will watch every members move, and each member has had their complete details archived. Rodin realizes that what they need is a foreigner, someone whom no one in France has seen and has no record.Three months later, Rodin has succeeded in finding the right individual, an Englishman with a short but impeccable record. He invites him to Vienna for an interview by the three OAS leaders. The Englishman is smart, enigmatic and cold-blooded; he points out the need for an outsider to assassinate de Gaulle, given that the other attempt failed and that informers within the OAS have crippled the organization. He accepts the job, but asks a fee of $500,000 (a huge sum back then), citing De Gaulle's first-class security and that the job is an once-in-a-lifetime assignment and certainly to be his last. He demands utmost secrecy and anonymity, and asks that no one but the four of them know of this project and that he work completely by himself. He takes the codename the Jackal, and takes his leave of the OAS heads; his farewell is observed by Rodins bodyguard and adjutant Victor Wolenski.The Jackal begins his preparations: he researches extensively on his target, he acquires two false passports, he pays a visit to Paris to acquire a good shooting location, and he contacts two individuals in Belgium. The first is an armorer whom he commissions to build a special rifle; the second is a forger from whom he requires special French documents.Later on, the Jackal receives an OAS contact named Valmy that will inform him of any developments regarding the President. Around the same time, the OAS sends a female agent named Denise to bed a high-ranking French politician. Two weeks after visiting the armorer and forger, he returns to acquire his purchases. He is satisfied with the gun the armorer has made, and a trial of the rifle goes well; the forger on the other hand tries to blackmail him over his papers, and the Jackal snaps his neck.All his plans complete, he leaves for France under the name of Paul Oliver Duggan.Meanwhile, to raise money to pay the Jackal, the OAS stages a number of bank robberies across Paris. The robberies range from late night burglaries to daylight ambushes of armored cars. This sudden crime wave is noticed by the French Action Service (the French espionage branch), and although several of the robbers are captured, they are hired thugs who only know that they've been ordered to carry out these robberies on behalf of the OAS.The Action Service's suspicions grow when they learn that Rodin and his associates have suddenly secluded themselves in the Hotel Garibaldi, in Rome, which is owned by an OAS sympathizer. They observe that they are being attended to by Wolenski; they abduct him off the street while he's walking to the post office to pick up mail, load him into the back of a truck and drive him to an airfield, where he's then flown to Paris in a small propeller plane. They interrogate and torture him to death, but all they get is that a blond killer named Jackal visited his superiors. This however is enough to deduce that this Jackal has been contracted to shoot De Gaulle.The French Interior Minister asks for an interview with De Gaulle, but his demand for secrecy is rebuffed; de Gaulle is a proud man who refuses to go into hiding or shield himself. The Interior Minister instead convenes a secret council to deal with the Jackal, which includes high-ranking individuals like Police Commissioner Berthier and Colonel St-Clair. Berthier states that because of the Jackals anonymity from even his own employers, no one has a clue where to start looking for him; the key to finding and stopping the Jackal thus is to establish his identity. He recommends his own deputy, Inspector Claude Lebel, as the best detective in France and ideal for the job of uncovering the Jackal.Lebel, a mild-mannered but tenacious policeman, is summoned to the council. He is given access to every resource available, but he is asked to keep things secret, and that he succeeds. Lebel brings in his assistant Caron to help him out, and the two get to work contacting the heads of police agencies abroad. Meanwhile, St-Clair arrives home and pours out everything about the situation to his mistress, Denise. She later slips off and phones Valmy...Over in London, enquiries are being headed by Inspector Thomas, who has been given express authority by the Prime Minister to make full investigations regarding the Jackal (ensuring that he not be English, or if he is to be stopped). The British police come up with two things that they pass over to Lebel. Firstly, that there was a suspicious character named Charles Calthrop who was in the Dominican Republic around the time its dictator Trujillo was assassinated (Jackal in French is chacal, the word formed from the first three letters of each name); a search on Calthrop's home reveals he is absent. Second and more worryingly, a review of all passport applications reveals that one was made for one Paul Oliver Duggan, who had died at the age of two.Meanwhile, the Jackal learns from Valmy that his assignment is blown, but decides to continue on regardless. He makes it to a hotel at Grasse, where he spends the night charming and seducing a fellow guest, Baroness Collette de Montpellier.The next morning the hotel records are taken and scanned, as is French custom (and more urgently than usual). Presently Duggan's name is spotted and immediately Lebel orders forces on the hotel and he heads over there himself. They find no sign of the Jackal, him having already left the hotel (something Lebel finds strange), but they learn that the Baroness's bed had been slept in by two people. Lebel interviews the Baroness, but she denies knowing a thing about the man.The Jackals quick getaway before the police arrive is cut short by accidentally crashing his car. He decides to head for the Baroness's estate, where she takes him in. That night she tells him the police were looking for him, but promises she wont say anything if he tells her what hes about; in response, he strangles her. He takes on a new disguise and identity of bespectacled Danish pastor Per Lundqvist, and quickly but quietly leaves. He heads to Tulle station in the Baronesss car and catches a train to Paris. Hours later, the servants discover the Baroness's body.Lebel reports the failure of catching the Jackal and the murder of Madame de Montpellier, and notes that he could not have escaped unless he had been forewarned and that he now has the identity of a Danish pastor (having traced the car to the station and questioned the station authorities). He also notes that the murder means he can do away with secrecy and initiate a public manhunt. A police squad heads to Paris station to intercept the Jackal, but they arrive a few minutes too late. Lebel sends police to check every hotel in Paris, but the Jackal evades them by entering a Turkish bathhouse and being picked up by a French homosexual.Lebel uses a phone tap to discern that Denise is the OAS spy thats been tipping off the Jackal. He presents a recording of her phone call to the council, and St-Clair leaves (he later commits suicide); he'd tapped all the phones of the council members, having had suspicions about the Jackal being forewarned. Afterwards, he works out that the Jackal will strike in two days, or August 25, 1963 which is Liberation Day, the anniversary of France's liberation from Nazi Germany. De Gaulle, as a World War II veteran, is sure to make a public appearance on that day no matter what the threat, and the council disbands, intending to make all attempts to find the Jackal before then.Meanwhile, the Jackal kills the homosexual when he sees a public broadcast about Per Lundqvist being wanted for murder.In the early hours of Liberation Day, the Minister wearily informs Lebel that they couldnt find the Jackal. All they can do is implement the utmost security precautions around. The day goes on, but nothing happens. Some time later, a police officer allows the Jackal, disguised as an old one-legged French war veteran, to head to his residential address, after seeing his papers; the Jackal enters his location, sheds his disguise and disassembles his crutch to form his rifle, and waits for the President to present medals to former French Resistance members.Lebel strolls around looking for anything the least suspicious or out of place, but he doesnt find anything until he meets the police officer around the time the President presents medals. He learns that the officer let a cripple with a crutch through, sees that the address pointed out has a window open on the top floor, and rushes over there, ordering the officer to follow him.The Jackal aims, takes his shot... and misses. De Gaulle had suddenly bent his head to kiss a Resistance soldier, a French custom. The Jackal reloads his gun for a second shot, but then Lebel and the officer burst in on him. He guns down the officer, but Lebel snatches up the officers submachine gun and empties it into the Jackal.Over in London, Charles Calthrop appears at his flat. The British authorities take him in for questioning, but conclude that he had nothing at all to do with the Jackal and close the matter (also forswearing any responsibility regarding the Jackal, since he was an Englishman but also a Dane and a Frenchman). Thomas ponders who the Jackal really was...The film ends with a funeral in Paris: a body is buried in an unmarked grave, with Lebel the only witness.

avant garde, mystery, murder, intrigue, historical fiction, suspenseful, historical

tt0069947

Le viol du vampire

Three strangers--Thomas, Marc, and Brigitte--are coming to cure four sisters (for want of names, I shall call them Catherine, Nicole, Sylvie, and Marie) of their vampirism. Legend has it that vampire hunters ran a sword through Catherine's heart during the reign of Louis XV, and villagers raped Nicole and blinded Sylvie with a pitchfork. But they neglected to cut off their heads, and so the sisters survived. Today, they live on a manor, surrounded by crosses and protected from the villagers. Thomas, Marc, and Brigitte don't buy the legend. They think the sisters are simply humans who have been driven mad by years of persecution and villagers who think of them as monsters. Curing them will require only dispelling the sisters' belief that they are vampires. The first step is to burn all the crosses around the house. Catherine succumbs to Thomas' promise to cure her, but Marie feels that this is a betrayal and that Catherine must die to protect the other three. Catherine and Marie stage a sword fight, but it is Marie who gets stabbed. The next morning, Catherine goes off with Thomas to see if she can get over her fear of sunlight (she can't).With the crosses removed from around the house the sisters are free to roam. This causes fear among the villagers, and they gang up to search for and kill the sisters. When Nicole goes wandering in the village, the villagers get her. They also kill Brigitte, who happened to be standing nearby. The villagers then storm the manor. Sylvie is wounded. Thomas tells Catherine that he doesn't think she is a monster and asks for 'the kiss of the vampire.' Catherine obliges. When Thomas comes to, he has been turned into a vampire. So the legend was true! To escape the angry villagers, Catherine takes Thomas through a secret passage leading to the beach. Marc follows and, knowing that Thomas is now a vampire, he shoots both Thomas and Catherine, leaving their dead bodies on the beach.As the lord of the manor checks the dead bodies of Thomas and Catherine, he is surrounded by a group of vampires wearing long robes with hoods. They present him to the Queen of the vampires who, angry at the lord for failing to protect the sisters, kills him and licks his blood from her knife. "Now we have to start all over again," she says. The Queen orders that the bodies of Thomas and Catherine be destroyed, but her subjects disobey her and leave them lying on the beach. Eventually, Thomas and Catherine awaken.Marie's body has been taken to a clinic where she awakens. The Queen orders her to find Sylvia and also to bring her the body of a woman who recently died a violent death (turns out to be Brigitte). Brigitte's body has been placed in a crypt. The blind Sylvie has opened Brigitte's coffin and is singing to her. A funeral wagon flanked by vampires makes its way to the cemetery. They take the body of Brigitte away and transfer it into an ambulance just as Marc arrives with an armload of flowers. When he discovers that Brigitte's body is missing, he first knocks out Sylvie and carries her body outside. Then he jumps into his car and pursues the ambulance. He catches up with it, jumps from his car into the ambulance, but the driver knocks him out and takes him back to the clinic. As the vampires pass the cemetery, they find Sylvie sitting on the ground. She has had her eyes gouged out and apparently is insane, believing that she's about to be married. The vampires take her to the beach, strip her naked, and leave her to wander in the waves.Meanwhile, back at the clinic, Thomas and Catherine have somehow made it there. Dr Semski asks Thomas for his help. At first, Thomas refuses. The doctor's assistant/lover explains how the Queen turned them both into vampires and then forced them to work in the clinic so that she could carry out research on vampires. But Dr Semski has been working on an antidote. Thomas finally agrees to help. Unfortunately, the Queen has learned that the doctor's assistant has betrayed her. The Queen has the assistant brought to her, where she is stripped, tied up, and beaten with seaweed.Thomas and Dr Semski are now performing in autopsy on a vampire. They find a reduction of the stomach and small intestine and enlargement of the heart. The doctor decides to test out the antidote on the autopsy victim (who is still alive) but, before they can finish preparing it, they are attacked by two of the Queen's vampires. Thomas is tied up and left on the floor in the autopsy room. When the autopsied vampire wakes up, she cuts Thomas loose.Marc has gone home and gotten some sleep. When he wakes up, he finds Brigitte in his living room. He can't believe his eyes but knows that she must be a vampire. He and Brigitte go to the Queen's house/clinic where they find some of the subjects in a lab, hypnotized, being brainwashed by a tape made by the Queen while they are hooked up to large cylinders that are either draining their blood or feeding them (it's hard to tell). Marc shuts off the tape, and Brigitte dies in his arms.There is to be a wedding. The queen has chosen Dr Semski and his assistant to be united in "the imminent triumph of the immortal race...the wedding of blood that will open the doors to the world." The doctor and his assistant are nailed into a coffin together. As the Queen revels in her triumph, Dr Semski suddenly breaks out of the coffin, and Thomas and Catherine appear and start shooting the vampires. The Queen escapes into the research lab to take a drink from a canister of blood. Unfortunately for her, someone has poisoned the blood. She dies in agony. The doctor decides to try out the antidote on his assistant. It works! She is no longer a vampire but, as a human, she is also dead. An unfortunate side effect.Marie runs down to the beach to escape in a boat, but she is attacked by Sylvie. Thomas and Catherine enclose themselves in a tomb to await their true deaths. Marc is last seen carrying the dead Brigitte from the Queen's house while crying out, "All the vampires are dead! Chere, chere, chere Cordelia." [Original Synopsis by bj_kuehl].

psychedelic, gothic

tt0062446

Octopussy

The pre-title teaser takes place in an unidentified Latin American country: James Bond infiltrates a military airbase in order to plant a bomb on a secret radar system, however he is quickly captured by the same officer that he impersonates. As his captors drive him off the base, Bond's female assistant distracts the guards enough for the agent to escape. Using an Acrostar mini-jet, Bond attempts to fly out of the country. A missile is launched from a nearby battery and streaks towards his plane. Bond is unable to outmaneuver the missile at first but is able to lure it into the aircraft hangar where he'd previously failed to destroy the radar system: he flies straight through it, trapping the missile inside and destroying the hangar. As he streaks away, Bond sees that he is nearly out of fuel. He lands near a gas station and cheerfully asks the attendant to "Fill her up, please."In East Germany a clown is fleeing a circus, with two knife-throwing twins in pursuit. As he tries to escape at a border crossing into West Germany, one of the twins hits him in the back with a throwing knife and he falls into a river and is washed away. The man survives the attack and stumbles into the British embassy. He crashes through a glass door and falls dead, a jeweled egg rolling from his hand.In London, Bond reports to his MI6 superior, M, who tells him about the recovered egg which was made by Carl Faberge for the Russian royal family. M informs Bond that the egg is a very elaborately constructed fake and that the real egg is up for auction. He also informs Bond that the man who turned up dead in East Berlin was Agent 009.In a situation room somewhere in the USSR, a group of Soviet officers and state officials meet about the current peace and disarmament talks between themselves and the rest of Western Europe. A combative General, Orlov, presents a plan to the committee where he would lead a fast incursion with tank divisions into Western Europe through Eastern Germany and Czechoslovakia. Orlov's belief is that the disarmament talks are weakening the Soviet army's numerical advantage. The plan is dismissed by the rest of the committee as far too extreme. Orlov sulks and receives a message to report to the Ministry of Antiquities. When he arrives, he gets the news about the stolen egg. He orders one of the twins who killed 009 to have the real egg purchased.Back in London, Bond attends the auction with MI6s antiquities expert and, during the tense bidding for the egg where Bond himself drives up the price, switches the fake for the authentic one. The bidder who wins the egg is a wealthy Afghani exile named Kamal Khan. Bond follows him to Delhi in India.Bond goes to his hotel's nightclub to meet Khan socially. Khan seems unbeatable in backgammon until Bond steps up and wagers the authentic egg. Bond exposes Khan's method of cheating; he uses loaded dice, which Bond seizes and uses to his own advantage, winning a large sum of money in the bargain. As he reports to MI6's safe house, he is attacked by Khan's henchmen, one of them is his personal bodyguard, the turbaned giant, Gobinda. Bond and his Indian Secret Service contact, Vijay, evades his pursuers during a furious chase through a bazaar and finds himself in Q's lab. Q plants a tracking device on the egg and synchs it to Bond's wristwatch.Later, at his hotel, Bond meets another of Khan's operatives, a beautiful woman named Magda, who tells Bond he may trade the egg for his life. Bond sleeps with her, knowing she'll steal the egg. While they're in bed, Bond notices she has an elaborate tattoo of a blue-ringed octopus. Magda escapes Bond's room and is picked up by Khan. Gobinda appears and hits Bond, rendering him unconscious.Bond awakes in Khan's palace and Gobinda informs him that he will attend dinner at 8pm. At the meal, Bond asks why he's being held captive when Khan already has the egg. Khan intends to torture Bond to find out what he knows and which British agency he is working for. Following dinner, Bond escapes from his room and makes his way to the lower chambers of the palace where he finds Khan meeting with Orlov, however, the details about the egg are still unclear but it appears to be a form of payment. He also hears the name of a East German city, Karl-Marx-Stadt. Orlov orders Khan to kill Bond. When Khan finds out that Bond has escaped his confinement, Khan orders a hunting party formed. Bond is able to evade them and the dangers of the nearby jungle.Bond reports to Q who supplies him with a motorized fake alligator which allows him to infiltrate the mysterious floating palace, inhabited only by beautiful women and their secretive leader. He finds a woman, Octopussy, who leads the Octopus Cult, women who are assassins and thieves, who pose as circus performers. She and Bond actually share a connection; her father was a thief whom Bond had tracked years before, however, before Bond could arrest the man, he killed himself and the gold the man had looted was never found. Khan himself suddenly appears, saying that Bond had escaped, however, Octopussy tells Khan that the agent is staying with her. Khan leaves, silently furious at the turn of events. He hires a small group of assassins to infiltrate Octopussy's compound, stressing that Octopussy herself is not to be harmed. Before the assassins make it to the island, they kill Vijay, who'd been on stakeout nearby.Bond snoops around Octopussy's private study and finds a flyer for her circus. She walks in the room and tells Bond she'll be going away for a week. Bond suspects that Octopussy will be going to Karl-Marx-Stadt with Khan. He and Octopussy quarrel a bit when Bond says he may not be there when she returns. The two make love; while in bed together they are attacked by assassins after Bond. Bond and Octopussy thwart them all, however Bond is forced out a window and into the river. He appears to be eaten by an alligator, however it is the same false one he used to infiltrate the palace. Returning to the stakeout point where Q and Bond's Indian contact, Vijay, had been waiting for him, Bond finds Q with the murdered Vijay. Before he died, Vijay confided in Q that he was attacked by Kamal's men. Bond tells Q to contact M and inform him that he needs to travel to Karl-Marx-Stadt.Bond travels to West Berlin to meet with M on the situation. From there, Bond travels into East Germany and secretly attends Octopussy's circus. The next day, Bond poses as a circus employee where he soon discovers that the Faberge egg is part of a cache of priceless jewelry being used to pay Orlov for a stolen Soviet nuclear bomb that will be detonated on the American airbase at Feldstadt in West Germany. The nuclear explosion will be planned to look like an accident by the United States - the bomb will be housed in the cannon from the human cannonball stunt in the show, which will also make smuggling it over the East/West German border easier. Orlov hopes that NATO will order nuclear disarmament throughout Europe so that he may make his lightning armored strike through the Iron Curtain and invade Western Europe.Meanwhile, the fake jewelry has already been delivered by Orlov to the Moscow Ministry of Antiquities to take the place of the stolen items. Orlov's superior, General Gogol, having discovered that the jewelry in Moscow is bogus, immediately departs for the East-West German border to apprehend Orlov.Bond is able to find the train car with the cannon where the jewelry is also hidden for smuggling purposes. The jewelry is being removed from one cannon and being placed into another - Khan and Orlov have been working together to double-cross Octopussy from the beginning. Bond finds one of the twin knife-throwers making the switch and kills him, hiding the body in the cannon's barrel and donning his clothes. Bond interrogates Orlov when the latter arrives to inspect the work, finding out his plan for conquering Europe. Bond is forced to retreat when Soviet guards come to aid Orlov and he steals Orlov's car. During a brief chase, the tires on Orlov's car are shredded and Bond drives onto the train tracks in pursuit of the train itself. He manages to board the train with Orlov in pursuit.Bond hides in the cannon car inside a gorilla suit. The train is stopped at the West/East German border and the border guards from both countries search the train, finding neither Bond in the gorilla suit or the bomb in the stage cannon. When the train resumes, Orlov drives to the border and attempts to flee on the train by chasing after it on foot. When he crosses the border illegally, the border guards open fire and fatally wound him until Gogol arrives. Standing before the dying Orlov, Gogol ridicules him as being a nothing but a "common thief", but with his last breath Orlov vows to be made Hero of the Soviet Union by tomorrow.On the train, now traveling through West Germany, Bond witnesses Khan and Gobinda arming the bomb by setting a timer to detonate it in four hours at 3:45 pm when the stage cannon will be used. Gobinda hears a clang in the room caused by Bond while hiding in a gorilla suit. He follows Bond to the roof of the train where they battle briefly. The brother of the twin that Bond killed finds them both but realizes that Bond is not his brother. The two fall off the train together, Bond being pursued by the twin - Bond kills the man and now finds himself lagging behind the train. He hitches a ride with a German couple, then steals a woman's car and drives to the airbase at Feldstadt with the local police in pursuit.Bond forces his way onto the base, chased by security guards. Bond trades the twin's clothing for a clown suit and goes in search of the cannon. Bond immediately runs to the base commander, who is sitting with Octopussy at the performance. Khan and Gobinda have already stolen out of the tent to clear the blast area, leaving Octopussy behind. Bond tells the commander that the bomb is about to go off and pleads with Octopussy to back him up, showing her some of the fake jewelry. Failing that, Bond returns to the cannon to open the box and disarm the bomb. Though Bond is restrained by security, Octopussy now convinced, uses a guard's gun to disable the lock on the box which exposes the bomb With the bomb now exposed, the base commander gives Bond time to disarm the bomb, which he does. Bond removes the detonator just seconds before it activates, and the bomb is disarmed. Octopussy asks Magda where Khan went, she tells her back to India.Both Bond and Octopussy separately follow Khan to his palace in Delhi. Octopussy uses her women followers as commandos to infiltrate the palace and subdue Khan's men. Octopussy finds Khan herself but is captured. Khan retreats to a waiting plane and takes off. Bond manages to grab hold of the plane's exterior and refuses to be thrown off by Khan. Khan sends Gobinda out to deal with Bond but Bond is able to throw him off the craft to his death. Bond next disables the tail mechanisms, sending the plan plummeting towards earth. Bond is able to find Octopussy inside the plane and the two jump to safety just before the plane crashes into a cliff, killing Khan.Back in London, M meets with Gogol, who wishes to congratulate Bond personally for stopping Orlov. M says that Bond is still in India, recovering from varying injuries. In truth, Bond is fine and spends a romantic evening with Octopussy aboard her yacht.

revenge, cult, murder

tt0086034

Turistas

Three young American tourists, Alex (Josh Duhamel), his sister Bea (Olivia Wilde), and her friend Amy (Beau Garrett), are backpacking in Brazil. They decide to go by bus and visit parts of the country instead of flying directly to the Northeastern beaches they wish to visit. After a bus crash leaves all the passengers stranded, they are joined by two English men, Finn (Desmond Askew) and Liam (Max Brown), and an Australian woman, Pru (Melissa George), who is fluent in Portuguese. The group find a cabana bar where several other tourists and locals are partying. After spending the day on the beach, they are served drugged drinks and pass out. The next morning, they awaken on the deserted beach, robbed of their luggage, money, and documents. Looking for help in the nearby village, they encounter conflict with locals as they see some of their belongings worn or lying around. Offering help, Kiko (Agles Steib), a local who speaks some English, volunteers to take them to an isolated cabin in the forest, where they can wait for help. In a long walk through the wilderness, Kiko shows them a “secret" cave beneath a waterfall, but, taking a bad dive into the river, Kiko hits the rocky bottom, and is rendered unconscious and begins bleeding profusely from a cut in his head. Proceeding to the cabin in the jungle, they find food, clothes, and a number of prescription drugs, as well as a drawer filled with other people’s passports. They manage to heal Kiko's wound and reluctantly decide to spend the night at the cabin. They are awakened in the middle of the night by a helicopter bringing Zamora (Miguel Lunardi), a physician, and a few associates and doctors, surrounded by armed henchmen. A woman who arrives advises them to flee, but they are confused and try to fight them, only to be beaten into submission. Zamora proceeds to a makeshift operating room where he removes organs from a sedated Amy, while he explains to Finn, who is tied up, that organ theft for transplant from Brazilians by rich gringos is part of a pattern of exploitation of Brazilian "resources", and that it is time to "give back". Victims' usable organs are being harvested and sent to the People’s Hospital in Rio de Janeiro and used for the benefit of the poor. After her liver and kidneys are removed, Amy dies on the operating table. Meanwhile, the rest of the group outside manages to break free from cages they have been contained in, and fight and kill one of Zamora’s associates, with the aid of Kiko, who returned after being sent away by Zamora. While Bea and Pru flee into the jungle, Alex, Kiko and Liam attempt to raid the cabin. They successfully rescue Finn, who is unable to walk because he has been sedated, but while they are running away from the cabin, Finn is shot in the head. Alex realizes they have to resume their escape, but Liam decides to stay behind to fight back, only to be shot and taken away to be "salvaged" . Bea and Pru are separated in the jungle, and Alex and Kiko find Bea the next morning hiding near the river. The three head to the flooded cave, eluding one of Zamora’s associates who is trailing close behind, armed with a bow and arrows. For a time, they are able to put some distance between themselves and their pursuers. They enter the cave where they find Pru hiding. Diving and swimming to the cavern's secondary entrance, they find Zamora is also there, and he shoots them in the water, killing Kiko and injuring Alex. The survivors are forced to backtrack into the water of the cave, where they can take air at only a few places. They are split up, looking for breathing points, trying not to be noticed and fall prey to the archer. Bea and the archer meet at the same breathing spot, but Bea grabs an arrow from the man, stabbing him in the neck and killing him. Alex, Bea and Pru get out of the cave only to run into Zamora at the exit. Alex attacks Zamora and repeatedly hits him in the head with a rock, but is interrupted by one of Zamora's henchman who is armed with a rifle. Zamora instructs him to kill the foreigners. Seeing the trio of survivors vulnerable and scared, and Zamora in agony, the man hesitates. This infuriates Zamora, who orders the gunman to carry out the killing. Pru tries to convince the gunman to spare them, pointing out Zamora's poor treatment of him. Zamora calls the gunman a coward, and is shot in the head by the gunman who turns and walks off. Soon after, the survivors, coming out of the jungle, meet local villagers who take them in. Later, Alex, Bea, and Pru stand in line, waiting to board an airplane in silence while a couple of tourists behind them argue over going by bus. Alex turns and advises them to take the plane. The male tourist (director John Stockwell) says "thanks man", and they all board the plane. The last scene shows Alex, Bea and Pru sitting in the plane as it flies away.

violence, murder

tt0454970

Central Intelligence

1996 - Central High School student Robbie Whierdicht (Dwayne Johnson) is in the locker room shower dancing and lip-syncing to En Vogue's "My Lovin". A group of high school bullies led by Trevor Olsen (Dylan Boyack) come in and mock Robbie since he is overweight and dorky. Meanwhile, a school assembly goes on with the whole senior class honoring its most popular student Calvin "The Golden Jet" Joyner (Kevin Hart). Trevor and his goons carry Robbie into the gym and slide him across the floor butt-naked. Everyone laughs at Robbie, except for Calvin, who gives him his jacket to cover himself up. Robbie runs out of the gym, utterly humiliated.20 years later, Calvin works an accounting job that he hates. His former assistant just got promoted above him. Calvin is married to his high school sweetheart Maggie (Danielle Nicolet), but their marriage hasn't been going well as of late. What's more, their high school reunion is coming up, and Calvin fears that he's peaked in high school and his life has just gone downhill.At work, Calvin declines a Facebook invitation to the reunion. Immediately after, he receives a friend request from someone named Bob Stone. Immediately after THAT, he gets a suspicious phone call, but it turns out to be Maggie. Bob Stone then starts messaging Calvin to invite him out for a drink. He claims he is really Robbie Whierdicht. Calvin hesitantly accepts the invite.Calvin walks to the bar and is surprised to find that Robbie has completely transformed into a muscular guy. The two have drinks and catch up. As Bob leaves for a moment, a man walks by and takes Bob's chair. Calvin tells the guy to give it back, but the guy's friends stand up menacingly. Bob returns and tells them to apologize for disrespecting Calvin. One of the goons happens to have a gun. Bob takes his shot and simply says "I don't like bullies" before kicking all their asses in less than ten seconds.Calvin and Bob leave the bar, with Calvin excited over what he just witnessed. They head over to their old high school for a stroll down memory lane. They see a trophy case with all of Calvin's accomplishments, along with a picture of a girl named Darla McGuckian, whom Bob had a crush on and was noted for having two lazy eyes. Bob walks by the boys locker room and is brought back to the worst day of his life. Calvin comforts him and pulls him away from there.The two then walk back to Calvin's house. Before they part ways, Bob mentions needing Calvin's help regarding something in Calvin's line of work. Bob goes into his house to use the computer. They come across files involving satellite codes and a bidding war. Bob spills beer on Calvin's laptop before they can see more. He then asks to sleep over. Calvin reluctantly allows him to do so.In the morning, a group of CIA agents led by Pamela Harris (Amy Ryan) show up at Calvin's door looking for Bob. Calvin says he's on the couch, and the agents head in. Bob is nowhere to be found. Harris explains to Calvin that Bob is wanted for murder and conspiracy to commit treason.The agents follow Calvin to work in case he makes contact with Bob. Sure enough, Bob calls Calvin and says he is somewhere in the building. Harris leads the agents to that specific floor, but Bob is really hiding in Calvin's office. Bob reveals he is in the CIA and that the people that want the satellite codes are willing to kill for them. Bob calls for an Uber to pick them up, which will be in six minutes. He times his next moves accordingly. Bob takes Calvin's tie and wraps it around the sprinkler on the ceiling. He then lights it on fire before Calvin runs outside to alert everyone to Bob's presence. The agents run up and start shooting at Bob, but the man effortlessly hits back and incapacitates most of the agents. He and Calvin are then cornered by Harris and the other agents. At the right moment, the sprinklers go off, giving Bob the chance to wheel Calvin away in a mail cart and burst out a window. They land on the company's inflatable balloons and ride away in the Uber.Bob takes Calvin to his safe spot to remove the GPS from the car. Bob tells Calvin about how he's been set up, since his partner Phil (Aaron Paul) was trapped in an elevator and was left to be blown up, which Bob has been framed for. He believes someone with the code name "Black Badger" is seeking out the satellite codes for a sinister purpose, and he needs Calvin's help because he's the only person Bob trusts. An assassin shows up on his motorcycle. Bob knocks the guy off, leaving Calvin to take the motorcycle and ditch Bob. He calls Maggie and tells her to not go home. As he walks away, Harris pulls up in a van and makes Calvin get in. She says Bob is dangerous and flips his story around to say that it was HE that betrayed Phil and orchestrated his murder. She gives Calvin a device to use in order to alert them to Bob's whereabouts.Calvin meets Maggie at the office of a marriage counselor named Dr. Dan...who is really Bob. They have a session in which Calvin is made to look like a bad guy who is hurting his and Maggie's relationship. After Maggie leaves, Calvin threatens Bob with calling Harris. Bob knows he wouldn't do that.The two of them go to the office of someone that can help them out on their mission. Unfortunately for Bob, this person is Trevor Olsen (now played by Jason Bateman). After Trevor gets them what they need, Trevor brings up the incident that has traumatized Bob. Trevor claims to have found religion and he delivers a heartfelt apology to Bob...which he quickly takes back as he was faking. He's still a dick that thinks little of Bob. Calvin waits for Bob to kick his ass too, but Bob freezes up and decides to leave. As they leave the office, Calvin gets a call from Harris saying that he needs to deliver Bob to them, or something will happen to Maggie. Calvin then meets Bob outside. Bob says Calvin was always his only friend...which makes it harder on both of them when the agents arrive and apprehend them.Bob and Calvin are detained at the CIA headquarters. The agents start to torture Bob to get info out of him by breaking one of his fingers. Filled with regret, Calvin fights back and rescues Bob, leaving the other agents in cuffs. Calvin apologizes to Bob for what he did, deciding he still wants to help him. Bob forgives him and proceeds to give him a high-five, only to see his messed-up finger. He pops it back into place.Bob and Calvin learn the location of where the bad guys want to buy the satellite codes. They fly a plane to the spot, but Bob says the plane has run out of gas. They head in for a crash landing. Calvin expresses his regret of not being a father. Bob then pulls the plane back up, having faked the situation to get Calvin to express his fears under extreme stress.Bob heads into the buy alone, telling Calvin, "I'll see you on the other side", which is the same thing he told Phil before his death. Calvin then spots Harris showing up at the location, leading him to think she's Black Badger. Calvin enters the buy spot to find Bob making the deal with the buyer (Thomas Kretschmann). Bob shoots at Calvin, but he just grazes his neck. The real Black Badger emerges to make a deal...it's Phil, claiming he has the real satellite codes. He and Bob argue over who the real Black Badger is, and Phil insults "Sixteen Candles" and "Road House", Bob's favorite movies. Harris and her agents arrive and start shooting at the buyer and his goons, leaving Calvin, Bob, and Phil to run. Calvin ends up swiping the codes.The three all find themselves over a small bridge. Calvin has a gun in his hands, and he aims it at both Bob and Phil. He shoots Bob in the leg, but he holds the gun on Phil. Phil says he faked his own death and set Bob up simply because he was just annoyed with Bob as his partner, always being a dork and going on about how Calvin was his hero. Before Phil can kill Calvin, Bob rips out Phil's throat (just like "Road House") and pushes him into the river. Bob apologizes to Calvin for shooting him, saying he needed to make it look convincing.The guys hand over the codes to Harris, who thanks them for their help. With Bob's name cleared, Harris has them taken to the reunion in a chopper. The two arrive and meet Maggie. Calvin promises to make things work between them.The three enter the reunion. A new prom king is announced, and it's Bob. Calvin tells Maggie he hacked into the school's voting system and gave him the honor. Trevor and his buddies go up to make fun of Bob, but he won't have any of it, and he gives Trevor a punch that he's had coming for 20 years. Bob goes onstage and gives a speech stating that he's come to accept who he is and acknowledging Calvin as his friend. He then proceeds to take his clothes off, no longer ashamed of himself. The others cheer him on. Bob is then approached by Darla McGuckian (Melissa McCarthy). He takes off her glasses, claiming she is beautiful as she is. They then kiss. Bob and Calvin go on to dance.Months later, Maggie is pregnant with her and Calvin's first kid. Bob arrives to pick Calvin up to hang out. He gives Calvin back his jacket that he gave him 20 years earlier. The two then head off.

comedy, murder, violence, flashback, revenge, prank

tt1489889

The Fall

The movie opens on a black and white rendering of a 1920s silent film production, where there is some shouting and chaos following an accident with a stunt on a bridge. A dead horse is raised by pulley from the water below.At a rehabilitation hospital near Los Angeles, Alexandria (Catinca Untaru), a cherubic 5-year-old girl of Romanian descent, wanders the grounds. Her arm is suspended and she wears a quarter-body cast; later we learn this is the result of an accident in the orange grove where she and her immigrant family work. She is working on a note in her room upstairs, on a piece of doily-type paper she has created, and she drops it below to Nurse Evelyn (Justine Waddell), with whom there seems to be shared affection. The note floats instead into a downstairs room, and when Alexandria is roaming the halls, she sees it is being read by another patient, Roy (Lee Pace). Roy is a Hollywood stunt man who is paralyzed from the waist down. He's confined to a bed, with a bedside commode, and little to do. He is also pining over an unrequited love for a film actress, who is now involved with the leading man from the film where Roy was stunt double.Roy asks who Alexandria is, tells her the note does not make sense, light-heartedly questioning whether it is even in English, and Alexandria nabs the note back and scurries away. Roy wants to hold her attention. Upon learning her name is Alexandria, Roy tells her a story to capture her imagination, about Alexander the Great (who he says she is named after). He says Alexander is also awaiting a message. Alexandria imagines a centurion wandering a castle grounds with a horse, but when Roy tells her that Alexander is without his horse and lost in a desert, Alexandria re-imagines the story with Alexander among soldiers with parched lips, awaiting another soldier. The messenger arrives and tells Alexander all is lost because of his lust for water, and that the only water that remains is in a helmet that this soldier holds. Alexander pours the water from the helmet into the sand, and Alexandria protests "Why?" Roy tries to explain it in westernized terms, but it does not make sense to Alexandria. The doctors come, and Roy tells Alexandria to come back the next day, so he can tell her an epic story about India.The next day, they start a give-and-take relationship; where he regales her with stories so that she will steal morphine pills for him. We learn that Alexandria is very close to Nurse Evelyn, who comforts her when she is scared, and has a special understanding of the girl and her sense of whimsy. Nurse Evelyn is a nun, but she is having an affair with the lead doctor in the children's area of the hospital. We also see the area where x-rays are taken. There are frightful men in full lead uniforms and cast-iron masks (seemingly shielding them from dangerous radiation exposure) taking the x-rays; these strangely outfitted men scare Alexandria.On the first day, as Alexandria arrives, Roy is visited by another actor/stunt double (Robin Smith), who famously lost his lower leg and walks with a peg leg. He urges Roy to accept a settlement from the studio. He scolds Roy for doing the stunt and falling hard for the lead actress on the film, who he was trying to impress with the stunt. He says that Roy, as a college-educated man, deserves a better life.Roy's story starts with a Hindi man swimming to a small island to report back to four other prisoners that the brother of one of them is set for execution. (This tale makes up most of the story of the movie.) The prisoners are united by a hatred of Governor Odious, on whom they have sworn revenge. Governor Odious has imprisoned them on the island to humiliate them, and Roy introduces them one by one. The first is a slave named Otta Benga, who Alexandria's imagination embodies as a friendly ice-delivery man from the hospital. He was one of Governor Odious's slaves, but when his brother died in the heat, he rebelled, led an uprising, and swore revenge on Governor Odious.The second prisoner is the Hindi swimmer, called the Indian, who Alexandria imagines as a friendly man from her home orange grove. He was a man of means who married the most beautiful woman in the land, but when Governor Odious fell in love with the woman and kidnapped her, leading to her suicide, he swore revenge on Governor Odious.The third is Luigi, a munitions expert, who Alexandria imagines as the peg-legged stunt double who visited Roy earlier. He was exiled because Governor Odious feared him. Upon returning, Luigi was shunned by everyone he knew, as well as his church, at Odious's insistence. He similarly swears revenge.The fourth is Charles Darwin. (Yes, that Charles Darwin. He is described by Roy as the famous English naturalist.) Darwin had sought a rare butterfly named Americanus Exoticus. Governor Odious mocked him by sending one of the butterflies of this species dead, thumbtacked inside a box, and as a result, Darwin swears revenge on Odious.The last prisoner introduced, the tale's main character, is the Black Bandit, who is embodied, at Roy's insistence, by Alexandria's father. Alexandria later confesses that her father has perished in an attack on her house by angry people (thieves who burnt down the house and stole the family's horses). Thereafter, she imagines Roy in this role. The Black Bandit is the one whose twin brother, the Blue Bandit, is set for execution. He and his brother were captured and condemned by Governor Odious, but Roy escaped. Now, he is intent on escaping the island, but he cannot swim. Darwin consults with his monkey, realizes elephants can swim and are indigenous to the region, and they convince an elephant to swim to the island and carry the Black Bandit to the shore, so all the prisoners escape together. Once on shore, they are ready to seek out and kill Odious, as well as rescue the Black Bandit's brother. Out of a smoky tree emerges a charred-appearing holy man in a loincloth, who Roy refers to as the Mystic. The Mystic represents indigenous people, who swear revenge on Governor Odious for destroying their land. The prisoners storm the castle where the Black Bandit's brother is held. It is the Mystic whose magical powers defeat the great number of guards. However, they are too late: the Blue Bandit has been tortured and killed.Alexandria is rapturous over the tremendous tale, in all its detail and grandeur, but Roy interrupts the story to have her check his toes, to see if he is completely paralyzed. He is, but she does not tell him. There is a ruckus in the room, involving Roy's doctor, another patient in the room, a wealthy hypochondriac who has only imagined his illness, and an elderly man with dentures who plays affectionately with Alexandria. The hypochondriac thinks Roy is telling disturbing tales to Alexandria and tells the doctor to make him stop scaring her.When the tale continues, the Black Bandit takes an oath of revenge and they go in search of Governor Odious. Roy tells Alexandria he cannot sleep. He says he cannot remember the story unless she can go to the hospital infirmary and get him morphine. When he resumes the story, he tells her about the way the travelers look for Governor Odious using a map that Darwin unwisely placed in a box with bug specimens; the bugs have been eating the map, and the directions to the castle are obscured. (The map, as she imagines it, is also on one of Alexandria's doily papers). Here starts a fascinating part of the film where the Mystic swallows the map, said to be poisonous, then leads the team deep into a part of the desert where there is a jungle. Other indigenous people dance over the Mystic's poison-weakened body, and a tattooed map appears on his trunk that Darwin sketches on his pad. This is how they find their way to the next leg of the journey. They ultimately come to a caravan flying Odious's flag and pulled by slaves. At Otta Benga's insistence, they free the slaves and surround the carriage, but the only ones to emerge are a Princess and a child (said to be her nephew). They capture the Princess, whom Alexandria imagines as Nurse Evelyn.Roy now asks Alexandria to steal medicines from the wealthy patient's locked bedside cabinet and give them to him. He says he will tell more of the story, but then when he falls asleep, she has to leave, and not come back the next day. He expects to be dead.The Black Bandit, now envisioned as Roy in Alexandria's mind, falls for the Princess, and she is discovered to be the fiancée of Governor Odious (just as Roy's previous girlfriend, the actress, becomes involved with the lead actor, the villain in the world outside the fantasy tale). Roy and the others plan to execute her for treason, but when the Black Bandit shoots her and she does not die, they discover that the locket around her neck caught the bullet. This opened the locket, which now reveals a message for her: she must not marry for power or riches, but only to follow her heart in love. She and the Black Bandit are subsequently married. Unfortunately, it is a trap, and the church fills with henchmen (always envisioned as men dressed like the x-ray technicians: giant cast-iron masks and lead suits, growling like dogs). The travelers are all chained in the desert, left to die, but rescued at the last minute by a young girl who was in one of their traveling packs all along. (It is Alexandria, wearing a Black Bandit costume). Alexandria encourages the telling of this part of the tale, just as Roy passes out.Roy is suicidal; he is trying to overdose on the hypochondriac's medicine. The next day, Alexandria is shocked to find a stretcher with a deceased patient, who she thinks is Roy. Instead, it is the old man with the dentures. Alexandria is overjoyed to see Roy in his bed, but Roy is devastated. He realizes the wealthy patient's pills were sugar pills (placebos) and shouts "There is nothing wrong with you!" Roy has to be restrained.Unfortunately, Alexandria is at a point in the tale where the suspense is too much. She cannot be consoled upstairs by Nurse Evelyn. She sneaks out to steal morphine, hoping to convince Roy to tell her more of the story, but she slips on a shelf and suffers terrible head trauma. There is a horror sequence where her father's death, her fears of the hospital, and other childhood fantasies take over. Roy is there, drunk, as she recovers. Roy has been scolded for making her steal medicines for him. He is tender with her, but can't tell the tale to a child's level because he is so distraught. All of the main characters of the tale die in different, awful ways pursuing Governor Odious, and Alexandria protests that Roy should not make them die.Finally, the Black Bandit and the young girl who is Alexandria in the tale reach the grounds of the castle where they find Odious, imagined as the silent film's lead actor. Roy does not put up much of a fight. Roy tells Alexandria that he cannot, because he is weak, and he had his fingers crossed during his oath to avenge his brother. Alexandria keeps begging him, and then makes Roy swear to let the Black Bandit live. Roy promises (ultimately, it seems, promising to not commit suicide and give up on his own life). He is drowning in the pool of Governor Odious's palace in the story he is telling, paralyzed and unable to rise just as Roy is paralyzed in real life. But Alexandria asks to see his hands to make sure his fingers are not crossed, and when he raises his hands, the Black Bandit in the tale regains the strength to punch Odious and rescue himself. Odious ultimately stumbles back onto his own sword and kills himself. The Princess tells Roy he has passed the test, but Roy in real life and in the tale resolves to see the world through less romanticized terms, and, with Alexandria, is resigned to life's foibles and ready to move on past believing the Princess will love him. (The film's director, Tarsem Singh, has said the film came from a period of despair in his own life after the loss of his girlfriend.)The movie closes with Roy and Alexandria watching the silent movie together where Roy was injured. Alexandria narrates that she returned to her family and the orange groves safely, and misses Roy, but that her mother told her he is fine and in movies, and whenever she sees a silent movie with stunts, she will know he is there. The conclusion is a montage of many silent movies, including those of Harold Lloyd, when stuntmen performed incredible acts of bravery without the precautions of modern times.

comedy, boring, fantasy, cult, flashback, psychedelic, revenge, storytelling, sentimental

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London Has Fallen

The opening scene is set somewhere in Pakistan where terrorist mastermind and financier Aamir Barkawi (Alon Aboutboul) is reportedly responsible for a bombing in Europe. He is throwing a wedding celebration for his daughter at his compound. Barkawi talks with two of his sons about one of them finding a mole, a German agent, in one of their terrorist cells in Lebanon. When he learns that the mole had been killed, he tells his sons to be "absolute" with removing the threat (implying to not only kill the spy but kill the spy's whole family as well). As the celebration is underway, an informant working as one of the waiters leaves a text message to the United States government to Barkawi's location. The military located in Nevada launches a drone strike against it just as the informant leaves. The compound blows up, supposedly killing Barkawi along with his family.Two years later.President Benjamin Asher (Aaron Eckhart) and his top Secret Service agent/best friend Mike Banning (Gerard Butler) are jogging together near the White House in Washington (which is still recovering from the terrorist attack in the previous film). Mike returns home where it is revealed that he is currently expecting his first child with his wife Leah (Radha Mitchell). He is hoping to take some time off to spend time with his family and to finish setting up the nursery. She clearly becomes irritated by the number of security cameras in the room that he has installed.In Yemen, we see Barkawi is still alive (but walking with a limp), and he meets with his son Kamran (Waleed Zuaiter). They begin to set in motion plans for revenge.Back in Washington, Asher and Mike are both informed that the British Prime Minister James Wilson has recently passed away. They, along with Asher's staff, including now Vice President Allan Trumbull (Morgan Freeman) and Secret Service Director Lynne Jacobs (Angela Bassett), travel to London to join all the other world leaders for Wilson's funeral. Believing it to be heavily secured, they are proven wrong when several mercenaries under Barkawi's commands initiate an attack, starting with a bomb destroying the Canadian prime minister's leader's limo. Soon, the mercenaries disguised as royal guards and police officers begin opening fire on civilians and other world leaders. The female German chancellor is killed by two assassins at Buckingham Palace before they are killed. The Japanese prime minister and his driver are killed on a bridge when two suicide bombers blow up both support spans and allowing the bridge to fall into the river. The Italian prime minister is killed with his mistress while standing atop Westminister Abbey. The French president is killed in his boat when another suicide bomber sails a barge containing explosives close to the boat. At St. Paul's Cathedral, Mike takes Asher and Jacobs with him to safety while shooting the mercs in the street.Quickly, the terrorists start to hit London's landmarks, including Big Ben and the Tower Bridge over the River Thames, setting off explosives that kill even more people. Mike, Asher, and Jacobs head into a chopper to safety. However, the terrorists launch Stinger ground-to-air missiles at the choppers, taking out the two security choppers before striking the presidential one. The presidential chopper crash-lands to the ground, resulting in Jacobs being fatally impaled. Before dying, she tells Mike to "make those fuckers pay". Mike and Asher then go on the run, while being chased by more assassins on motorcycles.Back in Washington, the president's staff sits in horror, fearing that their friends are dead. Mike attempts to contact Trumbull and send a message to let them know that he and Asher are still alive. He and the president are forced to venture to an underground station and after killing the terrorists pursing them, walk on foot through one of the abandoned metro tunnels. As Mike and Asher are running through the tunnels, Asher notes that the terrorists want him dead, and if it must come down to it, he orders Mike to kill him. Mike reluctantly agrees.Back in Washington, Trumbull and his staff receives a threatening call from Barkawi to let them know that he is out for revenge for the death of his family. They are informed that Wilson's autopsy report detected poison in his body, meaning he was intentionally murdered with the plan for all the world leaders to come together to be killed off.With the city on lock-down, Mike and Asher run to the home of MI6 agent Jacqueline "Jax" Marshall (Charlotte Riley), whom Mike knows well. Jax gets onto her computer and learns that Barkawi is behind the whole plot. She plays back a message from Trumbull confirming that they received Mike's message and are sending help. On the security cameras, the three see several armed men arrive in what is supposedly the Delta team there to rescue Mike and Asher, until Mike notices that the men are not sweating despite wearing heavy gear. They realize that the terrorists intercepted their message and are there to attack. The terrorists storm in and fire on the three. Mike shoots some of them and manage to kill all of them, with some help from President Asher. Mike and President Asher then take a car and drive through the streets until they are again ambushed by more terrorists, leading to their car being rammed by a truck. Despite being dazed, Mike manages to shoot and kill one of the terrorists who tries to finish him off, but Asher is abducted by the rest of the terrorists who then escape.Asher is taken to a private location where Kamran is setting everything up for him to be publicly executed. He punches Asher several times to make him suffer beforehand. Meanwhile, Mike is already on his way to rescue him with the real Delta team.The terrorists set up the cameras and broadcast it to every network around the world, so it's shown around places like Times Square. Kamran tells Asher to say some final words. Kamran readies his machete to decapitate Asher until Mike bursts in and shoots all but Kamran. He engages in a fistfight with Kamran and lets him know that no matter how many times enemies try to attack America, they'll still be there in a thousand years. Kamran manages to make a run for it. Mike orders the Delta team leader to blow the place up. Mike takes Asher and they jump down a shaft as the place goes up in flames, killing Kamran and the surviving terrorists. The Delta team finds Mike and Asher and reports to the staff that they're alive.Barkawi's compound is located in Yemen. Trumbull calls him to let him know that he's lost. Another drone strike is launched against Barkawi, and this time, he's taken out for good.Mike returns home and is spending time with Leah and their newborn child. He's looking at the letter of resignation to Asher he'd previously written. On TV, Trumbull speaks regarding the recent events, leaving an inspiring message that America will prevail. This convinces Mike to delete the letter.

comedy, murder, violence, good versus evil, humor, revenge

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The Children's Hour

Former college classmates Martha Dobie (Shirley MacLaine) and Karen Wright (Audrey Hepburn) open a private school for girls. Martha's Aunt Lily (Miriam Hopkins), an aging actress, lives and teaches elocution at the school. After an engagement of two years to Joe Cardin (James Garner), a reputable obstetrician, Karen finally agrees to set a wedding date. Joe is related to the influential Amelia Tilford (Fay Bainter), whose granddaughter Mary (Karen Balkin) is a student at the school. Mary is a spoiled, conniving child who bullies her classmates, particularly Rosalie Wells (Veronica Cartwright), whom she blackmails when she discovers her in possession of a student's missing bracelet. When Mary is caught in a lie, Karen punishes her by refusing to let her attend the weekend's boat races. Mary goes home to her grandmother and twists a story so that she will not have to return to school that day. Karen learns what the story is from a father of a departing student and confronts Amelia about Mary accusing Martha and Karen of being lovers. Mary is foiled at convincing others that she personally saw the interactions between Martha and Karen. Mary coerces Rosalie to corroborate her story. Joe is frustrated by the situation, saying that he has finished cleaning up his grandmother's home, and maintains his engagement to Karen and his friendship with Martha. The two women intend to file a suit of libel and slander against Mrs. Tilford. Martha and Karen are isolated at the school. Aunt Lily returns after the suit has been lost because she would not return to testify on behalf of her niece and Karen. The incident had been circulated widely by the media. Joe wants to continue with his intention to marry Karen and wants Martha to restart life with them in a rural area where he has found a practice. Karen insists that Joe tell her whether he believes that there was a relationship between Martha and Karen. Joe tells Karen that he believes it's untrue. She then says that nothing ever happened and that she could not continue with the engagement. Rosalie's mother (Sally Brophy) discovers a cache of items among her daughter's belongings, including the bracelet inscribed to Evelyn. Mrs. Wells takes her daughter to Mrs. Tilford who, while walking over to meet her granddaughter, Mary, on the stairs collapses on the floor. Karen tells Martha that Joe will not come back. Martha is distraught at Karen's cryptic explanation and urges her to not let Joe go. Karen, however, wants to leave town with Martha the next day. She believes they can go where they will not be recognized and can start a new life, but Martha does not. As Martha tries to talk herself into believing she and Karen are just good friends, she realizes that she does truly love Karen. While Karen does not believe her, tries to dissuade her and maintains her own heterosexuality, Martha comes to believe she has loved Karen ever since they met and that she was simply unaware of the true nature of her feelings. Despite Karen's assurances to the contrary, Martha feels responsible for ruining both their lives and is appalled by her feelings towards Karen. Mrs. Tilford visits the two teachers. She has learned about the falsehood perpetrated by her; the court proceedings will be reversed and the award for damages settled. Karen refuses Mrs. Tilford's gesture. Martha no longer wants to continue with the conversation. Karen leaves her for a walk on the school grounds. Aunt Lily asks Karen about the whereabouts of Martha as her door is locked. Karen breaks loose the door's slide lock with a candleholder and discovers Martha has hanged herself in her room. After Martha's funeral, Karen walks away alone, while Joe watches her from the distance.

tragedy, romantic, queer

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La battaglia di Algeri

The opening scene is of a man who has presumably been tortured by some French military personnel. The commander (Col. Mathieu played by Jean Martin) enters and tells the man to put on a French uniform. The man sheds a tear. He is obviously being forced into something he doesnt want to do. In the next scene you have the commander again speaking to some young men who are hidden in a wall. Ali is obviously going to be a main character. We see him running through the streets. Some French young men trip him. Ali is a bit of a hot head and smashes the French boys face.We see a man in a prison being beheaded with the guillotine. Ali witnesses this.Cut to Ali (played by Brahim Hadjadj) being approached by a young boy with a note. He is given instructions on how to carry out a terrorist plot. He is tricked into shooting a French officer but the gun was empty. He meets one of the leaders of the resistance movement, the Jaffar. In the next scene a drunken man is beaten by a bunch of little kids.In the next scene Ali shoots a middle-aged man.A FLN wedding is performed. The French put them in charge of civic affairs but it seemed like a religious wedding.Ali appears to be among a group of young men who infiltrate the police headquarters and kill several police personnel. This is only the beginning of a series of attacks against the police. There are casualties on both sides.The women use their outward signs of piety (burkas) to hide weapons. A group of women dress up like western women. Bombs are distributed. The women go into the French sectoran area that looks as though it may have been pulled out of Paris with fashionably dressed people, sidewalk cafés and people enjoying their leisure time.The French respond to all of the Terrorist activities with a show of force. For a moment the commandant looks like an Amway salesman describing what is exactly like a multilevel marketing scheme in his explanation of a terrorist cell. The FLN is ordered to strike but the French have a hidden agenda to find out whom the resistance fighters might be. The French captain is very cleaver to know that the insurrection would come after the terrorist bombings.Another bombing at a crowded horse race: Some of the French adults attack an Algerian child.There are two scenes with reporters asking questions. In the first one a high-level resistance fighter is questioned. In the second, the captain is confronted with some difficult questions. One of the things they are asked about is if they use torture. The captain answers in a diplomatic manner and then the audience sees several acts of brutal torture with the Algerians as the victims.In the closing scene we see the captain negotiating with the resistance fighters who want a written promise that they will have a fair trial if they surrender. The fighters ask him to send it up in a basket. The resistance fighters send a basket containing a bomb. It explodes killing or injuring at least one soldier. Jaffar is captured but Ali is still at large.The closing scene shows Ali with his friends. They hear soldiers coming and all but the woman hide in the wall-hiding place. The French soldiers plant a bomb outside the hiding place. We saw this scene before at the beginning of the movie. Apparently the Algerian we saw in the opening scene who shed a tear led the French to Ali. The bomb explodes.The final scene takes place some time later in 1960. There is a riot going on with soldiers shooting into the crowds. The film ends with the captain narrating that on July 2, 1962 a new nation of Algeria was born.

avant garde, murder, realism, cult, violence, flashback, revenge, historical, sadist

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The Last Time I Saw Paris

As World War II ends in Europe, Stars and Stripes journalist Charles Wills (Van Johnson) is on the streets of Paris, covering the celebrations. He is suddenly grabbed by a beautiful woman, who kisses him and disappears. Charles follows the crowd to Café Dhingo and meets another pretty woman named Marion Ellswirth (Donna Reed). The mutual attraction is instant and she invites him to join her father's celebration of the end of the war in Europe. Charles, Marion and her persistent French suitor Claude Matine (George Dolenz) arrive at the Ellswirth household, and we find that the woman who had kissed Charles is Marion's younger sister Helen (Elizabeth Taylor). Their father, James Ellswirth (Walter Pidgeon), had survived World War I and promptly joined the Lost Generation. Unlike most drifters, he never grew out of it; raising his two daughters to desire such a lifestyle. Helen takes after her father and uses her beauty to sustain a life of luxury even though they are flat broke. Marion goes the other way and looks for serious-minded and conventional young men such as Claude, an aspiring prosecutor, and Charles, the future novelist. Charles and Helen fall in love and start dating. After Helen recovers from a near-death case of pneumonia, they get married and settle in Paris. James good-naturedly joins the happy family of Charles, with Helen eventually having a daughter Vickie (Sandy Descher). Marion, having lost Charles to Helen, agrees to marry Claude. Charles struggles to make ends meet with his meagre salary, unsuccessfully works on his novels and looks after Vickie. At about this time, the barren oil fields in Texas James had bought years before finally begin to produce. Charles, to whom James had given the oil fields as a dowry, quits his job, and Helen and James begin to host parties instead of going to them. Sudden wealth changes Helen, who becomes more responsible, while Charles parties his wealth away after quitting his newspaper job and having all his novels rejected by publishers. They also each start to pursue other interests: Helen flirts with handsome tennis player Paul Lane (Roger Moore), while Charles competes in a local Paris-to-Monte Carlo race with professional divorcee Lorraine Quarl (Eva Gabor). After the race Charles returns to Paris, only to find Helen sitting in Café Dhingo with Paul. A fight breaks out between Paul and Charles, and an angry Charles goes home first and puts the chain on the door, preventing it from being opened all the way. When Helen comes home and tries to enter she can't. She calls out to him, but Charles is in a drunken stupor on the staircase and we hear the bottle drop from his hands as Helen calls. Helen ends up having to walk all the way to her sister's in the snow and rain. She catches pneumonia again and dies. Marion petitions for and gets full custody of Vickie, while Charles returns home to America. A few years later, having straightened himself out, published a book, and stopped boozing, Charles returns to Paris, hoping his reform will persuade Marion to give Vickie back to him. Charles tells Marion that he only has one drink a day now. Marion refuses, still feeling resentful towards Charles for having fallen for Helen instead of her. Seeing that Charles and Vickie belong together, Claude steps in and tells Marion that she is punishing Charles for his not realizing that Marion loved him. It is painful for him to tell her that he, Claude, could not have all of her love, but Charles should not be punished any more. Marion goes into Café Dhingo (on whose main wall is a big picture of Helen) to look for Charles (who is gazing at the painting) and tells him that Helen would not have wanted him to be alone. Outside the cafe, Claude is with Vickie. The child runs to Charles and Charles and the child walk off together as the movie ends.

romantic, melodrama

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