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A Sound of Thunder

In Chicago, 2055, the Time Safari company offers the ability for people to hunt dinosaurs in the past via time travel technology. As a precaution against the potential change of the past, the company preys only on the dinosaurs who would otherwise die of natural causes and keeps the clients from stepping off the designated path. Because of the dangers of interfering with the time line, the company's activities are vocally attacked by Sonia Rand, the developer of the time machine software TAMI, who feels scorned for not receiving credit and fears they may alter the past through their activities. A trip with clients Eckels and Middleton goes afoul when the gun carried by team leader Travis Ryer fails to go off. The dinosaur, an Allosaurus, rushes the group, scattering the clients. Ryer kills the dinosaur, regroups the clients and returns to 2055, unaware that Middleton had stepped on a butterfly. The next day, they hear reports of global increases in temperature and humidity, and Ryer observes a sudden increase in plant life. On their next trip, they find that the Allosaurus they intend to hunt is already dead when they arrive and the volcano erupting much sooner. They quickly return and report the changes, and the government shuts down Time Safari to investigate. Ryer learns from Rand they are being struck by "time waves" that cause drastic alterations to the city as they pass due to something that happened on a previous expedition. Ryer and Rand narrowly escape a building after a time wave causes the appearance of thousands of beetles and a tree bursting through its structure. Rand warns that more time waves can be expected, and each will affect more advanced life forms, people being the last. They return to Time Safari to try to fix what has gone wrong along with the government. They are struck by another time wave that leaves the city without power and now covered by dense vegetation. Evaluating the machine's logs, they find that the Eckels/Middleton expedition had come back a few grams heavier and that the bio-filter was turned off. They recognize that they can use the time machine to go back to intercept their past selves so as to prevent whatever happened, but will only have a few seconds to act, and so must work to figure out who they need to stop. The Time Safari finds their equipment and gear free of anything, so Ryer and Rand lead a group through the city - now filled with evolved and deadly Baboonlizards and other new hazards that kill some of their party members - to find Eckels and Middleton. Eckels is safe but asserts he remained on the path, while Middleton, poisoned by the new wildlife, takes his life before they can stop him. However, they are able to find a dead butterfly on the sole of the suit he used for the safari. The party makes it back to Time Safari after more time waves hit, now finding the time machine partially underwater and unusable. Rand obtains the hard drive containing the TAMI software with plans to use it with the nearby university's particle accelerator as a substitute time machine. Ryer and Rand are the only two survivors once they finally make it to the university, Rand noted that the appearance of simian-like Babboonlizards from the latest time wave means the next one will wipe away humanity. Rand prepares the accelerator and stays behind while Ryer goes through the time portal, just as the last time wave hits turning Rand into a humanoid catfish-like creature. Ryer catches up to the previous expedition, catches Middleton to prevent him stepping on the butterfly, tells Jenny the bio-filter is off at the same time asking her to give his earlier self a recording of the events he has witnessed. The expedition returns without incident to the future they had left. Ryer shares the footage with Rand.

alternate reality, stupid, boring, flashback

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Donald's Dilemma

As the film begins, Daisy Duck is talking to a psychiatrist about an incident that occurred with her boyfriend, Donald. She recalls how they were walking through the park, passing by a skyscraper. On the 99th floor of the skyscraper is a potted flower, which falls and hits Donald on the head, knocking him out. When he comes to, he hears a voice in his head, telling him, "You are the greatest singer in the world." He gets up, and proceeds to croon "When You Wish upon a Star" in a Sinatra-like voice. Daisy is stunned, but Donald coldly glances at her as though he does not recognize her. At that moment, a theatrical agent sweeps Donald into his window, causing the flower on his head to fall at Daisy's feet.She takes the flower home, as a way to remember her lost love. She sees Donald everywhere, hawking products and on marquees-- he has become a major celebrity. She almost drives herself insane, but eventually hears that Donald is playing at the Music City Radio Hall. She decides to go see him, but is greatly hindered by a massive crowd. Many months pass, during which Daisy has no success at being able to see Donald.One night, as she is going home, she runs into Donald on the street. She grovels at Donald's feet, but only succeeds in getting a dime thrown at her. She then comes back to the present, where she is talking to the psychiatrist about what happened. The psychiatrist concludes that the hit on the head from the flower pot is what caused Donald to change so radically. He offers to help, but warns her that Donald will no longer be successful if he changes back to normal. Daisy is eager to have him back, though, so the psychiatrist tells her to put the flower in another pot and drop it on Donald's head somehow. She agrees to this plan.That night, as Donald is performing, Daisy slips into the building through the back door. She makes her way past a sleeping security guard, and climbs up into the rafters, where she drops the pot on Donald. It hits him on the head, and he quickly reverts to his regular voice. He is booed off the stage and thrown out of the building, where Daisy is waiting for him. He is thrilled to see her, asking, "Where have you been?" They kiss as the film irises out.

suicidal

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Piranha 3DD

The film starts with a newscast about a year after the attack on Lake Victoria by prehistoric piranhas, an eradication campaign has left the lake uninhabitable by life, and the town itself has been largely abandoned as a result of the drying-up of their main revenue source, tourism. The beaches have dried up and there is no longer Piranha in the lake. No explanation is given about the fates of the original survivors.At a nearby lake, Clayton (Gary Busey) and Mo walk into the water to recover the body of a dead cow. The viewer finds out that eggs have been laid inside the cow and the metabolism is forcing the eggs to come out via farting from its rear end. Oblivious to the danger, the Piranha bite and swarm onto the two farmers. Mo is completely devoured and disappears under the water leaving his hat bobbing into the crimson of his blood. Clayton makes one more bid for freedom, jumping out of the water. Alas he doesn't make it far and in one last bid to show the Piranha that he can't be beaten, he pulls one off his face and bite it's head off. He then spits it out towards the camera as the other Piranha rip him to shreds under the water.A young woman named Maddy (Danielle Panabaker), a marine biology student, returns home for the summer to the waterpark she co-owns with her sleazy step-dad called Chet. She finds to her horror that her step-father Chet (David Koechner), plans to add an adult-themed section to the waterpark with 'water-certified strippers', and re-open it as "Big Wet." There will be a family friendly part for the kids but he is proud to show off his big investment which is the Adult pool. Maddy finds that the adult part is littered with topless and fully naked women and a camera that shows their naked genitalia as they get out of the pool. An employee called Big Dave is busy having sex with a water inflow pipe in the pool. At a party at the waterpark that night, Maddy encounters several old acquaintances, including her policeman ex-boyfriend Kyle (Chris Zylka), and Barry (Matt Bush) who has secretly been in love with her since grade-school. She also runs into two of her close friends, Ashley (Meagan Tandy), and Shelby (Katrina Bowden).Shelby and her boyfriend Josh (Jean-Luc Bilodeau) go skinny-dipping in the lake, where a piranha makes its way inside her vagina and she thinks it was something perverse that Josh has done. Meanwhile, Ashley and her boyfriend Travis (Paul James Jordan) go to have sex in their van. They accidentally trip the handbrake, causing the van to roll into the lake. As the water starts coming in, they both scramble to find the key to open the handcuffs. Fearing for both of their lives, Ashley decides to make a break for it and swim to get help. This proves to be a fatal mistake as the Piranha get in and start to devour Travis, particularly his hand that is cuffed to the pole. Ashley manages to make it on the roof of the van. She looks into the back window to see if Travis is ok and his bloody stump smashes through the glass before he sinks beneath the water and the Piranha devour the rest of the half dead Travis. Ashley sits on top of the van screaming for help. It is later shown that she did die via the piranha as what is left of her body is lying motionless on the lake's floor.The next day, Maddy is trying to console Shelby about their missing friends. While sitting on a jetty, they are both attacked by the swarm of piranhas which proceed to break the wooden planks apart. Shelby jumps to a floating piece of the jetty but Maddy knows it is not safe. So she tells her to jump back and they only just make it to the sand when a Piranha bursts from the water to bite Maddy. Maddy's quick impulse comes into play when she grabs the Piranha and throws it down on the sand. She then picks up a rock and begins to batter it to death. Blood seeps out of the body of the Piranha and she thinks it's dead. She goes to poke it and the Piranha gives one last snap at her before it dies. Maddy, Kyle and Barry go to Lake Victoria's pet reserve and ask Mr. Goodman (Christopher Lloyd) how they can stop it. He conducts an experiment with the original Piranha that was captured by placing a sheet of steel between it and a small frog. The Piranha manages to bite through the sheet of steel and is just about to get the frog when Barry quickly pulls it out and Goodman curses him for saving it. He informs them that the Piranha may be moving via sewage pipes and underground rivers between lakes. The trio return to the lake, where they establish that the piranhas cannot make their way into the outflow pipes connecting the lake and the waterpark. Maddy swims down to check the pipelines and make sure the safety grates are still intact. Just then a shoal of Piranha begin to attack her and she frantically swim for the shore. She manages to make it out without serious injuries.With the Piranha inside her vagina, Shelby tells Josh she doesn't feel so good, and ask him to have sex with her to make her feel better. She thinks she is dying and doesn't want to die a virgin. While Shelby and Josh are having sex, the piranha in Shelby's vagina bites Josh's penis, forcing him to wrestle with it round the room before finally having to chop the organ off with a knife. Shelby wakes from her seizure and goes in search for Josh. She finds the head part of his penis on the floor right next to the Piranha with a pool of Josh's blood. She turns around to find Josh holding the knife and screaming to her about what has she done to him. Both are hospitalized. Kyle is revealed to be corrupt and taking pay-offs from Chet, who is secretly pumping water from an underground river into the water park. Before he leaves Chet's company, he writes him up a speeding ticket to which Chet rolls up and throws away calling Kyle a crooked cop."Big Wet" finally has it's big opening. Among the first guests are Deputy Fallon (Ving Rhames), who survived his previous ordeal with the piranhas but lost his legs, and former cameraman Drew Cunningham (Paul Scheer). While the duo attempts to overcome their fear of the water after they were attacked a year ago. Fallon calls the water a pussy and tells Andrew to push him in. Andrew begins to and Fallon pleads with him not to dump him in the water. Andrew backs off and again Fallon tells him to tip him in. Andrew sighs and goes again to tip him in. Again Fallon pleads and begs not to go in. A beautiful woman tells Andrew off for trying to push Fallon in. Andrew tells her that Fallon wants him to do it to which Fallon replies that he doesn't. Andrew is called a bully and scolded for trying to push Fallon in. Andrew again backs off and Fallon says he ain't afraid of some pussy ass water. David Hasselhoff also makes an appearance as a celebrity lifeguard. A boy is bitten by a Piranha on his leg and tells his mum who tells him that it wasn't. He walks up to Hasselhoff to ask for a band-aid. Hasselhoff thinks he is a fan and gives him an autograph but the boy doesn't know who he is. Hasselhoff starts to go through every show he was on from baywatch to Knight Rider and even SpongeBob Squarepants the movie and still the kid says he has never heard of him. Hasselhoff decides he has found a new friend but the kid walks off and goes back into the pool.Discovering the connection between the park and the underground river, Maddy attempts to shut the waterpark down, but is stopped by Chet and Kyle. The piranhas make their way to the area and attack, killing many of the lifeguards and waterpark-goers. Big Dave ends up having a Piranha stuck in his bum. The little boy who mey Hasselhoff starts to get attacked again by the Piranha. Hasselhoff hears the boy's cries for help and calls him a stupid little ginger moron. Deputy Fallon attaches a shotgun prosthesis to his legs in order to save the visitors. He walks into the water and a Piranha tries to bite his legs. He taunts to the Piranha that his new legs are titanium and then proceeds to blow them out of the water with the shotgun. Hasselhoff, after rescuing the small boy, becomes pleased that he has finally become a real lifeguard and instead of thanking Hasselhoff, the kid just wants to be let go.In the chaos, Maddy confronts and punches Chet whilst blaming him for the chaos.decides to make an escape and finds a little girl crying over her savagely mutilated and dead mother's body. While Maddy attempts to get help, Chet plans to flee before running into a little girl who had just lost her mother to the Piranhas. Feeling sorry for the child he gives her some of the money he got from the opening and gets into a golf buggy. He reverses by accident and runs over the poor little girl. Knowing that he has done this, he tries to make a speedy getaway. Although he wasn't paying attention to where he was going and accidently runs into a banner wire which slices through his neck, killing him. As the cart crashes, his head is sent flying from his body and into his beloved adult pool were his head lands between a bloodied woman's DD's before being sent flying into the pool water where Piranha munch on his dead flesh. The camera shows the piranha devouring what's left of Chet's head.Maddy tells Barry that the only way to stop them is to shut down the pumps and suck the water out of the pools. Barry begins to drain the pools; however Maddy, who is rescuing people from the water, becomes caught in the suction and dragged down to the bottom of the pool where a oversized Piranha sees her as an easy menu. Barry sees the piranha and throws the trident he carries straight into the Piranha's head, killing it instantly. After Kyle refuses to save her, Barry, despite being unable to swim, leaps down into the water with a oversized rock to pull him down and brings her to the surface. Barry performs CPR and Maddy comes back to life and pukes water into his mouth. She opens her eyes and finds that Barry saved her life and she kisses him in gratitude. Barry seems happy that he was Maddy's knight in shining armor.Big Dave pours concentrated Chlorine into the pipes as revenge for the attack on his bum, followed by a lit cigarette. The resulting explosion kills most of the piranhas and sends Barry's litter trident into the air. Kyle overcome with combined guilt for leaving Maddy to die and allowing Chet to siphon water from the lake, hops into action trying to save dead caresses of the bathers. Shocked after seeing Maddy in the arms of Barry, Kyle stops for a moment and oversees a trident coming towards him. Standing in the danger zone too late, Kyle is killed by the trident at the last second after the explosion ended. The celebrations are cut short however, when Maddy takes a phone-call from a horrified Mr. Goodman, who informs them that the Piranha are evolving and are now able to move on land. The tank that was holding the original Piranha has a smashed hole in it giving the impression that the Piranha has escaped and is loose in the shop. The film ends as one such piranha emerges from the pool, snapping it's jaws, and looks like it's hopping or jumping. Just then, David (the same boy who Hasselhoff saved earlier on after having a chat with him) attempts to take pictures of it with his phone and, even though her mother orders him to avoid it, corrects himself by telling her mother that the Piranhas "are slow in land". His spoken words were turned out to be his last because the moment after he said that, the Piranha leaps and decapitates the child when turning around to take more photos. The mother screams in horror as Hasselhoff casually replies "little ginger moron".The credits shows the leftovers of the poor boy and some bathers looking at the remains and the hopping Piranha. Before an post credit shows a trailer of Hasselhoff as a life guard.

violence, absurd, suspenseful, comedy, romantic

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Klute

The film begins with the disappearance of Pennsylvania executive Tom Gruneman (played by Robert Milli). The police reveal that an obscene letter was found in Gruneman's office, addressed to a prostitute in New York City named Bree Daniels (Fonda), who had received several similar letters from him. After six months of fruitless police work, Peter Cable (Cioffi), an executive at Gruneman's company, hires family friend and detective John Klute (Sutherland) to investigate Gruneman's disappearance. Klute rents an apartment in the basement of Daniels' building, taps her phone, and follows her as she turns tricks. Daniels appears to be liberated by the freedom of freelancing as a call girl, but in a series of visits to her psychiatrist (Vivian Nathan), she reveals the emptiness of her life and that she wants to quit. Klute asks Daniels to answer some of his questions, but she refuses. He approaches her again, revealing that he has been watching her. She does not recall Gruneman. She reveals that she was beaten by one of her johns two years earlier, but after seeing a photo of Gruneman, she says she cannot say for sure. Daniels takes Klute to meet her former pimp, Frank Ligourin (Scheider), who reveals that one of his prostitutes, Jane McKenna, passed the abusive client on to Bree and another prostitute named Arlyn Page (Dorothy Tristan). McKenna committed suicide and Page became a drug addict and disappeared. Klute and Daniels develop a romance, though she tells her psychiatrist that she fears these feelings and wishes she could go back to "just feeling numb." She admits to Klute a deep paranoia that she is being watched. They find Page, who tells them the customer was not Gruneman but an older man. Page's body then turns up in the Kill Van Kull. Klute deduces a connection between the two "suicides" of the prostitutes, surmising that the client probably also killed Gruneman and might kill Daniels next. He revisits Gruneman's contacts to find connections with the case. By typographic comparison, the supposed obscene letters of Gruneman are traced to Cable, with whom Klute has been meeting to report on his investigation. Klute asks Cable for an additional $500 to buy the "black book" of the first prostitute who apparently committed suicide, telling Cable he is certain the book will reveal the identity of the abusive client. Cable corners Bree and reveals that he sent her the letters, explaining that Gruneman had interrupted him when he was attacking a prostitute. Certain that Gruneman would use the incident as leverage against him within the company, Cable attempted to frame Gruneman by planting the letter in his office. He confesses to the killings. After playing an audiotape he made as he murdered Page, he attacks Daniels. Klute rushes in, and Cable jumps or is thrown out a window to his death (the film uses ambiguous editing). Daniels moves out of her apartment with Klute's help, though her voiceover with her psychiatrist reveals her fear of domestic life and a likelihood that the doctor will "see me next week." The film often cleverly uses dim light to make it difficult to identify the characters and what is going on. The music, though clever and tuneful, seems to enhance the built in confusion as to just what is going on. These devices enhance the tension and force of the motions of the characters.

murder, mystery, neo noir, storytelling, sadist

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Friday the 13th Part III

Picking up from the previous events with a flashback sequence, Jason (Richard Brooker) has seemingly survived his attack from Paul and Ginny, and migrates to a store where he changes clothes and then murders the store owners, the henpecked Harold (Steve Susskind) with a meat cleaver into his chest and his shrewd wife Edna (Cheri Maugans) with a knitting needle through the back of her head, before moving on to a nearby lake front property named Higgins Haven.At the same time, 18-year-old Chris Higgins (Dana Kimmell), who was attacked by a mysterious, disfigured stranger in the woods near Crystal Lake two years earlier, returns to the property with her friends; Debbie (Tracie Savage), her boyfriend Andy (Jeffrey Rogers), dim-witted prankster Shelly (Larry Zimmer), Vera (Catherine Parks), and stoners Chuck (David Katims) and Chilli (Rachel Howard). After meeting Abel, an inebriated, religious fanatic derleict who warns them to turn back, the gang meets Chris' boyfriend Rick (Paul Kratka) at their destination; Higgins Haven. Chris intends to face her fears; however, none of her friends know that an unmasked and reclusive Jason has taken refuge in the barn to recover from his wounds.Meanwhile, Shelly and Vera go shopping at a local supermarket to get food and supplies when they get into trouble with a three-person biker gang, called the Black Widows, led by a brutal woman named Fox (Gloria Charles). When Shelly accidently knocks over their motorcycles outside the store, Fox and her two minions Ali (Nick Savage) and Loco (Kevin O'Brien) follow Shelly and Vera back to Higgin's Haven for revenge. However, they are dealt with by Jason before they can do any real damage except for taking the gas out of the gang's van. While looking around the barn in fascination, Fox is murdered with a pitchfork to her neck. Loco looks for her and gets impaled with a pitchfork. Ali is next when he enters the barn and finds the two's corpses. He attacks the unseen Jason, but gets bludgeoned with a 10" pipe wrench.At nightfall, Jason continues lurking around the barn while spying on the kids who settle down for a party at the nearby cabin. When Chris and Rick go for a walk in the woods, Jason wanders out of the barn to cause more harm again. At first, Jason only harasses them from a distance. When Chuck goes to an outhouse to take a dump and smoke more pot, Jason walks past and bangs on the walls of the outhouse before retreating.Later, Shelly, wearing a wet-suit and a Red Wings hockey mask plans another scare prank against Vera who is siting on a pier beside Higgens Lake. After Vera angrily tells Shelly to go off, he wonders into the barn where Jason slits his throat and takes his hockey mask, now concealing his deformity. Taking the spear-gun that Shelly had with him, Jason (fully masked) walks out of the barn and sees Vera wading out in the shallow water to get Shelly's wallet after she accidently drops it in the water. Thinking it's Shelly, Jason shoots Vera right in her left eye, killing her as her body falls in the water, and having Jason to discard the spear-gun.With Vera killed, Jason finally sneaks into the house, where he continues onward with his killing spree. After Andy and Debbie have sex, she goes to the bathroom for a shower, but gets surprised by Andy, who is walking on his hands. Jason sneaks up to him and horizontally murders him with a machete. Debbie leaves the shower and rests in her hammock in her bedroom, where she soon discovers Andy's horizontally-spitted body hanging from an overhead plank and gets stabbed through the hammock with a kitchen knife. Next, Jason disables the power to the cabin by tampering with a fuse box. When Chuck goes to the basement to fix it, Jason approaches him and shoves his face on the circuit panel, electrocuting him. At the same time, Shelly, whom is still alive and having his neck still slit, stumbles into the cabin before dying where Chilli finds him, but she is quickly attacked and killed by Jason who shoves a hot fireplace poker through her stomach.When Chris and Rick return they find the place empty, where they split up to find out what's going on. Rick, outside is attacked by Jason who kills him by crushing his head, which one of his eyes pops out.After finding the corpse of Loco, Jason then confronts Chris with an felling axe, and a climatic chase ensues with the two of them exchanging attacks with Chris trying to keep away from the masked murderer. During the process, she slows him down by dumping a bookshelf over him, then stabs him in his left leg with the same knife used to kill Debbie (Just before Jason throws it at a wall, which nearly hits Chris), and then bashes him with a fireplace log. Chris tries to escape in the van and almost hits Jason, but it soon runs out of gas (due to the biker gang's vandalism), forcing her to run back to the barn to hide.Jason enters the barn and arms himself with a machete and confronts Chris on the barn's rafter, but she manages to subdue him by bashing him on his head with a shovel. She seemly defeats Jason by tying him to a rope and hanging him to make sure that he is dead. Jason survives the hanging and briefly shows his real disfigured face to Chris while trying to get the noose off his neck, which she recognizes him as the man who attacked her two years ago. As Jason precedes to attack Chris with his machete, one of the bikers, Ali (who seemingly survived his attack), attempts his revenge on Jason, but Jason severs his right hand and hacks him to his demise. While Jason is hacking up Ali, Chris picks up an felling axe and slams it down to Jason's skull, causing him to stagger and fall over, seemingly killing him. Chris then wanders over to the lake and falls asleep in a canoe that drifts into the middle of the lake.The next morning, she wakes up in the canoe, when suddenly she sees Jason (now unmasked and bloody from the axe cut) appearing from an upper window, causing him to run outside to the lake to attack, but sees that it was just a part of her imagination. Reliving, suddenly she gets pulled into the water by a decaying Mrs. Voorhees (Whom has her head still intact).It is revealed that it was just a disturbed nightmare and at some point later, the police take Chris (Mentally disturbed from the events) off the property into the police car as they drive off. The film ends with Jason's deceased corpse, still with the axe intact in his head and showing the lake in peace once again.

cult, horror, grindhouse film, murder, violence

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Under Siege 2: Dark Territory

Casey Ryback has retired from the United States Navy and now owns and operates the Mile High Cafe, where he is also a chef, in Denver, Colorado. Casey is taking his estranged niece Sarah to Los Angeles to visit the grave of Sarah's father. Sarah and Casey board the Grand Continental, a train traveling from Denver to Los Angeles through the Rocky Mountains. Onboard the train, Sarah and Casey befriend a porter named Bobby Zachs. As the train makes its approach to the Rocky Mountains, it is hijacked by armed mercenaries, led by former U.S. government computer hacker and computer genius Travis Dane with his right-hand man and mercenary leader Marcus Penn. Dane worked on Grazer One, a top-secret military satellite particle weapon designed to destroy underground targets. The military fired Dane due to his mental instability; Dane later faked his suicide. The mercenaries take the train's passengers and staff hostage, herding them into the last two cars. Casey kills one mercenary, then slips away. Among the hostages are two former US Department of Defense colleagues who worked with Dane. Dane threatens them with torture unless they reveal the codes to take over Grazer. Despite giving up the codes, they are thrown from the train into a deep valley. During the course of events, Zachs becomes Casey's sidekick. Middle Eastern terrorists have offered Dane $1 billion to destroy the Eastern seaboard by using Grazer to target a nuclear reactor located underneath the Pentagon. Dane demonstrates Grazer to investors by destroying a Chinese chemical weapons plant. After one investor offers an additional $100 million, Dane destroys an airliner carrying the investor's ex-wife. The U.S. government has difficulty locating Dane or Grazer. When officials destroy what they think is Grazer, Dane explains the NSA's premier intelligence satellite was destroyed instead. As long as the train keeps moving, his location cannot be determined. However, Casey faxes a message to the owner of the Mile High Cafe, who contacts Admiral Bates. Bates reluctantly approves a stealth bomber strike to destroy the train. Zachs discovers that they are on the wrong tracks and on a collision course with a Southern Pacific freight train hauling gasoline tank cars. Since the trains are in dark territory, it was impossible for the train dispatchers to communicate with the trains' engineers to stop the trains to avoid collision. Casey kills the mercenaries one by one and releases the hostages, but Dane uses his computer skills to locate the stealth bombers and re-targets Grazer to knock them out before they can complete their mission. Meanwhile, Penn had previously captured Sarah and uses her as bait for Casey. Casey confronts Penn and breaks his neck after a fight that spills into the kitchen. Casey finds Dane about to depart in a chopper hovering over the train. When Dane informs Casey that there is no way to stop Grazer from destroying Washington, Casey shoots him. The bullet destroys Dane's computer and injures Dane. Pentagon control of the satellite is restored and it is destroyed by remote control one second before it would have fired on the Pentagon. The Grand Continental and freight train collide on a trestle. Casey races through the exploding train and grabs a rope ladder dangling from the chopper. Dane, who had survived Casey's bullet, also catches on to the ladder. He attempts to climb into the helicopter, but falls to his death into the explosion when Casey shuts the helicopter door on his hands, severing his fingers. The explosion causes the helicopter to spin out of control, but the pilot is able to regain control. Casey, having previously detached the last two cars from the rest of the train, informs the Pentagon that the passengers are safe. Later, Sarah and Casey pay their last respects at her father's grave.

revenge, comedy, action, murder, violence

tt0114781

Peter & the Wolf

On the edge of the vast forests of Russia, where wolves still roam, lies a little cottage surrounded by a big, high fence. This is where Peter lives with his grumpy Grandfather. Grandfather will not let Peter go out into the forest. Peter has a friend, the lovable Duck, with whom he hangs around Grandfather's yard. A Bird with a broken wing arrives in the yard. Bird is very impatient with Peter and signals to go into the forest. His heart beating fast, Peter tiptoes into the cottage and reaches over his sleeping Grandfather and the snoring, fat Cat. Ever so carefully Peter takes the keys to the gate.Peter has the time of his life playing in the forest with his friends. He helps Bird to fly, using a balloon and some rope. Then everyone skates on the frozen lake. Everyone, that is, except Cat. She chases Bird, but is so fat that she crashes straight through the ice and into the freezing water. Grandfather awakes and sees that Peter is in the forest. Very angry, he grabs his gun an rushes outside. He grabs Peter off the ice and drags him back into the yard.Suddenly the forest goes quiet. Peter looks out through a hole in the fence and sees the Wolf on the edge of the forest. Moments later the Wolf snatches up Duck, tosses her high into the air and swallows her in a single gulp. Peter slings a heavy net over his shoulder and climbs up the tall fence and into the tall tree. Peter falls from the tree and the Wolf attacks him. Eventually, after a fierce struggle, Peter catches the Wolf.Grandfather drives into town with the captured Wolf, Peter standing, triumphant, on top of the Wolf's cage. The town bullies arrive and tease the defenceless Wolf with a gun. Peter opens the cage and the Wolf races back into the forest.

revenge

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Shallow Hal

Hal Larson (Jack Black) is a superficial man whose fixation on the physical beauty of women gets in the way of seeing their inner beauty. Hal and his equally shallow friend, Mauricio (Jason Alexander), spend their nights obnoxiously hitting on beautiful women at nightclubs. Hal's work life is steady, but he is dismayed after being passed over for a long-sought promotion. His love life is nonexistent, as we see when he tries to ask his attractive neighbor, Jill, out for a date. Jill isn't interested; she finds Hal too shallow. Hal becomes trapped in an elevator with famous American life coach Tony Robbins. While waiting for the elevator to be repaired, Robbins sympathizes with Hal's disappointment but tries to figure out his ideas about women. He hypnotizes Hal into only seeing a person's inner beauty. Hal does not realize he's been hypnotized and later meets Rosemary (Gwyneth Paltrow), daughter of the president of the company where he is employed. Rosemary is morbidly obese, but Hal sees a slender and beautiful trophy blonde. He is immediately smitten by her. His boss is not certain about Hal dating his daughter, thinking that Hal may be trying to climb to the top of the corporate ladder. Used to being overlooked due to her appearance, Rosemary initially interprets Hal's interest as mocking, but begins to realize his feelings for her are sincere. After apologizing to him, they begin to date, which includes a bike ride with Walt (Rene Kirby). Mauricio, worried about Hal's new taste in women, convinces Robbins to give him the trigger phrase to undo the hypnosis. Mauricio phones Hal, who is on a date with Rosemary, and says the trigger phrase, breaking Hal's hypnosis. While at the restaurant, Rosemary tells Hal she's signed up with the Peace Corps for a 14-month mission in Kiribati. Mauricio confesses to Hal the truth about Robbins' hypnotherapy, but Hal does not believe it until he runs into a woman who initially appeared beautiful to him but whom Hal now sees in her true, unattractive state. Hal begins to avoid Rosemary, who becomes melancholic without him around. Distraught that he was not seeing the "real" Rosemary, Hal accepts a dinner invitation from his neighbor, Jill. The two dine together and Jill tells Hal that she has observed him overcoming his shallow nature and is interested in dating him now. Hal realizes his true feelings for Rosemary who has, coincidentally, arrived at the same restaurant with her family and sees Hal and Jill seated together. Assuming the worst, Rosemary leaves in tears. Not recognizing Rosemary, Hal walks right by her on his way to the pay phone to, ironically, reassure her of his feelings, after refusing to date Jill because of his feelings for Rosemary. Confused and distraught, Rosemary calls Hal a "psycho" over the phone and effectively breaks up with him. Five days later Steve informs Hal that Rosemary’s Peace Corps partner, Ralph, wants to be in a relationship with her again. Hal attempts to find Rosemary, but instead encounters a young patient named Cadence at the hospital where Rosemary volunteers. Previously, due to Robbins' hypnosis, Hal saw Cadence as a perfect little girl; he now sees that there are severe burns all over Cadence's face. Inspired by Cadence, Hal changes his views on the outer appearances of people in general. Hal, during his search for Rosemary, finds that Mauricio had his own reason for stopping Hal's hypnosis: He has a vestigial tail, which has prevented him from ever getting close to a woman. Mauricio confesses he was jealous of Hal's happiness and is afraid to start a relationship with a woman. Hal convinces Mauricio to accept his abnormality, with confidence. Hal makes up with Mauricio and decides to reconcile with Rosemary. He heads to the Peace Corps recruiting office and confronts Ralph, believing he and Rosemary got back together. Ralph informs Hal that he and Rosemary are not together and that Rosemary's parents are throwing her a farewell party (and Ralph wasn't invited). Hal, Mauricio, Ralph and Ralph's friend Leboy arrive at the home of Rosemary's parents. Rosemary initially rebuffs Hal's presence, but then accepts his apology when Hal professes his love for her. Rosemary informs Hal she is still leaving on her Peace Corps mission. Hal says he is coming, too, having just been sworn into the Peace Corps right before arriving at the Shanahans' home. Hal and Rosemary reconcile, cheered by the crowd as they kiss. He tries to carry her bridal-style to the car, but finds he cannot lift her, so she triumphantly carries him instead. As they drive off, Mauricio meets a woman who loves dogs and the two walk off together as he wags his "tail".

brainwashing

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Open Range

In Montana in 1882, "Boss" Spearman is an open range cattleman, who, with hired hands Charley, Mose, and Button, is driving a herd cross country. Charley is a former soldier who fought in the Civil War and feels guilty over his past as a killer. Boss sends Mose to the nearby town of Harmonville for supplies. The town is controlled by a ruthless Irish immigrant land baron, Denton Baxter, who hates open-rangers. Mose is badly beaten and jailed by the marshal, Poole. The only friendly inhabitant is Percy, a livery stable owner. Boss and Charley become concerned when Mose does not return. They retrieve him from the jail but not before getting a warning from Baxter about free-grazing on his land. Mose's injuries are so severe that Boss and Charley take him to Doc Barlow. There they meet Sue Barlow. Charley is attracted immediately, but assumes that Sue is the doctor's wife. After catching masked riders scouting their cattle, Boss and Charley sneak up on their campfire in the night, and disarm them. At the same time, another attack results in Mose's death. Button is badly injured and left for dead. Charley and Boss vow to avenge this injustice. They leave Button at the doctor's house and go into town, where they lock Poole in his own jail. Boss knocks him out with chloroform he has stolen from the doctor's office. The deputies are locked up as well. Charley learns that Sue is the doctor's sister, not his wife. He declares his feelings for her, and she gives him a locket for luck. Charley leaves a note with Percy, in which he states that if he should die, money from the sale of his saddle and gear are to be used to buy Sue a new tea set, having accidentally destroyed her previous set during a "flashback" episode. Boss and Charley are pitted against Baxter and his men. Charley shoots Butler, the gunman who shot Button and killed Mose. An intense gun battle erupts in the street, with Boss, Charley and Percy outnumbered before the townspeople begin to openly fight against Baxter. After an intense firefight, Baxter's men are dead and Baxter ends up wounded and alone, trapped in the jailhouse. Boss rushes to the jail, mortally wounding Baxter. Sue's brother tends to the wounded townspeople and open-rangers. Charley speaks to Sue in private, telling her he must leave. She counters that she has a "big idea" about their future together and that she will wait for him to return. He does return, and proposes to Sue. Charley and Boss decide to give up the cattle business and settle down in Harmonville, taking over the saloon.

atmospheric, revenge, murder, violence

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Unaccompanied Minors

When Katherine and Spencer are on there way to their fathers house, a blizzard hits delaying all plane flights at Hoover International. Zach Van Bourke (Wilmer Valderrama) takes Katherine and Spencer to the UM room (Unaccompanied Minors Room) In the huge concrete room there are lots of crazy kids in there. That is where Spencer meets Donna (Quinn Shephard), Charlie (Tyler James Williams), Grace (Gena Mantegna) and Beef (Brett Kelly).The five kids decide to escape the UM room and try to find something to do. Spencer grabs a bite to eat, Grace goes to the high flyers room, Donna steals a golf cart type vehicle inside the airport, Beef goes into the safety equipment room and plays around in there and Charlie sings at Sharper Image. They are eventually caught and brought back to the UM room where they discover no one else is there. They also get a lecture from Oliver (Lewis Black), the head of the airport. All the kids, including Spencer's little sister, were brought to the Hoover International Lodge to spend the night on Christmas Eve. Spencer, Donna, Charlie, Grace and Beef are all forced to sleep in the dirty UM room. The kids find a way to trick Zach Van Bourke and they manage to escape the UM room. When they get out, Beef says that he will find a Christmas tree for Spencer's sister to make her Christmas better. Donna and Grace get into a fight after arguing over something stupid. The 4 kids eventually make a trip to distract the guards by letting a dog out of its cage. The 4 kids eventually go to the unclaimed baggage wearhouse, where they find some cool things. Charlie finds 4 walkie talkies and Spencer finds a doll. Both of those things will eventually help them. They are caught on camera and must make a run from Oliver and the guards. They eventually go to the the lodge to see Spencer's sister and deliver the doll that Spencer found for Katherine. Charlie and Donna knock on people's doors and blame it on Oliver who gets punched in the face by a man. Spencer puts the doll next to his sister as she is sleeping.Oliver catches them and Spencer tells Oliver not to wake up his sister. The 4 kids are brought back to private rooms where there are guards next to the doors. They all 4 still have walkie talkies so they manage to get out through the vents in the ceilings. They are in the vents and Charlie falls through the celing into a room with decorations. The 4 kids decorate the airport because it has no Christmas decorations. Beef comes back with the Christmas tree even though he had to go a long way to get it. Oliver doesn't like Christmas because his wife left him on Christmas a couple years back. Oliver catches them but congratulates them for escaping. Oliver decides to bring Christmas to the airport so he dresses up as Santa. They get a list of all people flying alone so they give gifts to them. Spencer meets up with Katherine and there father comes to see them. He drove to the airport all the way from Pennsylvania to meet them. His car blew up on the way so he had to use a Hummer to get there.THE END

comedy, flashback

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Stop Making Sense

Stop Making Sense opens as lead singer David Byrne walks out onto an empty stage holding only an acoustic guitar and a portable cassette tape player. He introduces the first song, "Psyco Killer" by saying "I want to play a tape." As the show progresses, Byrne is accompanied by the rest of the members of the band as well as some guest performers. Tina Weymouth is the first to appear for the song Heaven. Then Chris Frantz appears for Thank You for Sending Me an Angel and Jerry Harrison for Found a Job. Instruments and equipment are gradually brought out onto the bare stage during the first few songs and the entire group is brought together for the band's big hit, "Burnin Down the House." The film offers us a glimpse inside the mind of lead singer David Byrne through the progression of the songs and stage effects. In a self-interview included in the film, Byrne talks about the physicality of music and that it doesn't have to make sense to the mind if it makes sense to your body. Director Jon Demme's use of wide angle shots to give the viewer a sense of being in the crowd as they are able to view the whole stage and all of the performers at once. Unlike many concert films and videos, which use more quick-cut editing techniques in an MTV-like fashion, much of Stop Making Sense uses lengthy camera shots to allow the viewer to examine the performances and onstage interaction and the limited amount of crowd shots, which only appear at the end of the film, allow the viewer to make their own judgments about the film. The film is a great look at one of the leading bands in the New Wave movement of the late 70s and 80s and is a must see for any fan of Talking Heads.

cult

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The Mummy

In Egypt, circa 1290 BC, high priest Imhotep engages in an affair with Anck-su-Namun, the mistress of Pharaoh Seti, despite strict rules that other men are forbidden to touch her. When the Pharaoh discovers their tryst, Imhotep and Anck-su-Namun murder the monarch. Imhotep is dragged away by his priests before the Pharaoh's guards can discover his involvement; Anck-su-Namun then kills herself, intending for Imhotep to resurrect her. After Anck-su-Namun's burial, Imhotep breaks into her crypt and steals her corpse. He and his priests flee across the desert to Hamunaptra, the City of the Dead, where they begin the resurrection ceremony. However, they are caught by Seti's guards before the ritual could be completed, and Anck-su-Namun's soul is sent back to the Underworld. For their sacrilege, Imhotep's priests are mummified alive, and Imhotep himself is forced to endure the curse of Hom Dai: his tongue is cut out and he is buried alive with a swarm of flesh-eating scarabs. The ritual curses him to become an immortal walking plague if he were ever to be resurrected. He is buried under high security, sealed away in a sarcophagus below a statue of the Egyptian god Anubis, and kept under strict surveillance throughout the ages by the Medjai, descendants of Seti's palace guards. If Imhotep were ever to be released, the powers that made him immortal would allow him to unleash a wave of destruction and death upon the Earth.In 1923, soldiers from the French Foreign Legion, led by American Rick O'Connell, make a final stand at Hamunaptra against an overwhelming force of Medjai warriors. The soldiers are massacred and O'Connell makes a final retreat inside the city, only to be cornered by a group of Medjai. However, they flee when Imhotep's evil presence manifests itself, leaving him to die in the desert.In 1926, Cairo librarian and aspiring Egyptologist, Evelyn Carnahan is presented with an intricate box and map by her bumbling brother Jonathan, who says he found it in Thebes. The map seems to point the way to the lost city of Hamunaptra, where all of the wealth of Egypt was supposedly stored; however, the museum curator, Dr. Bey, dismisses Hamunaptra as a myth, and accidentally damages the map. Jonathan reveals he actually stole it from an American (revealed to be O'Connell), who is currently in prison, and may be able to tell more about Hamunaptra. Rick tells them that he knows the location of the city from his days in the Foreign Legion. He makes a deal with Evelyn to reveal the location of Hamunaptra, in exchange for Evelyn saving Rick from being hanged. Evelyn successfully negotiates his release from the prison warden by offering him 25% of the found treasure; however, the warden insist on coming along in order to protect his investment. They board a ship to start their expedition to the city, where they encounter a band of American treasure hunters led by the famed Egyptologist Dr. Allen Chamberlain, and guided by Beni Gabor, a cowardly former Legion soldier who served with Rick and also knows the location of the lost city.During the journey, the boat is invaded by Medjai soldiers who are looking for Evelyn's box and the map. The expedition manages to fight them off, but the map is lost and the boat goes up in flames, forcing the entire party to go ashore. Rick, Evelyn and Jonathan are separated from the other treasure hunters and procure camels at a nearby market. Since Rick knows the way to the city, they arrive at Hamunaptra at the same time as the other party, but due to tensions between the two groups, they start exploring the city in separate locations. The Americans discover a chest between the legs of the statue of Anubis. They have it opened by several of their carriers, but the chest is booby-trapped and the carriers die from an acid spray. In the meanwhile, Evelyn is looking for the Book of Amun-Ra, a solid gold book supposedly capable of taking life away. Her team discovers a tomb buried directly below the statue of Anubis. Evelyn's box turns out to function as a key that opens the tomb; inside there is a sarcophagus. Suddenly, the prison warden runs by, screaming in pain. Unbeknownst to the rest, he had found a decorative scarab, but it contained a real scarab that entered his body and ate a way into his brain. The warden knocks himself into a wall and dies instantly.After a quiet evening outside, Rick and Evelyn get in a romantic mood, when suddenly, both groups are attacked by the Medjai, led by a warrior named Ardeth Bay. Rick forces a stand-off by lighting a stick of dynamite and threatening to blow everyone up. Bay warns them of the evil buried in the city, and gives them one day to leave. His groups then ride out. Rather than heed his warning, the two expeditions continue to work on their respective projects. The sarcophagus is opened, and contains the gory remains of Imhotep. The team of Americans, meanwhile, open the chest, in spite of a warning on its lid that threatens to kill everyone who takes its contents. They discover the black Book of the Dead, accompanied by canopic jars carrying Anck-su-Namun's preserved organs; each of the Americans takes a jar as loot, while Dr. Chamberlain takes the book, but Beni flees the scene out of fear for the curse.At night, Evelyn takes the Book of the Dead from the Americans' tent; her key also fits on it. She reads a page aloud, accidentally awakening Imhotep's mummified remains. Immediately, the first plague announces itself: a swarm of locusts invades the terrain, forcing everyone inside the city. The entire group is separated into smaller parties when a giant army of scarabs breaks loose, and eats everything in its path. One of the Americans gets lost, and is attacked by Imhotep, who takes his eyes and tongue while partially regenerating his body. Evelyn also encounters Imhotep, and he seems to recognize her as Anck-Su-Namun; however, Rick shoots him down before everyone flees the catacombs. They run into Ardeth and his group of Medjai warriors again. He berates them for resuccecting Imhotep, who will now bring along death and destruction. The only thing to do is flee the city, until a way can be found to kill him again. The entire group leaves, but Beni is left behind. He also encounters Imhotep, but successfully pleads for his life, and is allowed to become his slave.Both groups return to Cairo. Rick and the Americans plan to leave Egypt, but Evelyn decides to stay, reasoning that releasing the curse was their fault, so they have the responsibility to stop Imhotep. That afternoon, the next plague announces itself: water turning into blood, signaling that Imhotep is nearby. The group deduces that Imhotep will go after the four men who took the Book of the Dead and the canopic jars. Beni has indeed taken Imhotep to Cairo, helping him trace the Americans. Rick and Jonathan track down the American whose eyes were stolen; they find his desiccated body, and Imhotep slowly regenerating his own. Rick tries to kill Imhotep but he is invulnerable to weapons; only the presence of a cat in the room startles him, and he flees in a dust storm. Rick returns to his quarters as the second plague starts: violent hailstorms ravage the city. He locks Evelyn in her room to keep her safe from Imhotep, ordering the remaining two Americans to stand guard while he and Jonathan leave to warn Dr. Chamberlain. The doctor's chamber is empty, but they witness Imhotep killing Dr. Chamberlain in the streets, taking the Black Book and releasing a swarm of flies. Imhotep proceeds to Evelyn, entering the room and consuming the body of the American on guard. He enters the sleeping Evelyn's bedroom through the keyhole by transforming into sand, and tries to kiss her. Rick, Jonathan and the remaining American enter, and scare him away by threatening him with a cat.The group goes to the museum, hoping that the museum curator Dr. Bey may have some answers. They are astonished to find him together with Ardeth Bay. Dr. Bey reveals to also be a member of the secret society sworn to prevent Imhotep's resurrection (which is why he purposely tried to burn the map). He theorizes that Imhotep will fears cats (the guardians of the underworld) until he is fully immortal; he also thinks that Imhotep intends to resurrect Anck-su-Namun, using Evelyn's body to regenerate it. All of a sudden, a solar eclipse occurs, so they have to make haste. Evelyn hypothesizes that if the black Book of the Dead brought Imhotep back to life, the gold Book of Amun-Ra can kill the high priest once again. The group finds a tablet in the museum that describes the location of both books, and Evelyn deduces that the gold book must be buried beneath the statue of Horus. At that moment, a large group of natives, covered in boils and sores (the next plague) and under Imhotep's spell, surround the museum. The heroes leave the museum by car, but the remaining American is captured during the pursuit, and consumed by Imhotep. Finally cornered by his followers, the fully regenerated Imhotep offers Evelyn to come with him, in exchange for letting the others go. She agrees, but as they leave, Imhotep goes back on his words. Dr. Bey sacrifices his life by holding back the crowd of followers while the rest flee through the sewers.Rick, Jonathan and Ardeth enlist the help of Winston Havlock, a desillusioned WWI fighter pilot, to fly them over to Hamunaptra. Imhotep returns to Hamunaptra in a sandstorm, carrying Evelyn and Beni, pursued by Rick's plane. Imhotep uses his powers to cause a huge sandstorm, but distracted by Evelyn, he only succeeds in letting the plane make an emergency crash landing, killing only Winston. Rick, Jonathan and Ardeth enter Hamunaptra and discover a new area ful of Hamunaptra's famed treasures. They quickly get into a battle with Imhotep's resurrected mummy priests, so they make their way to the statue of Horus, where they find the Book of Amun-Ra. However, when cornered by the priests, Ardeth sacrifices himself to allow Rick and Jonathan to escape. Imhotep, in the meanwhile, has resurrected the mummified remains of Anck-su-Namun and is preparing to sacrifice Evelyn, when Rick and Jonathan interfere. Rick frees Evelyn from a group of mummies, while Jonathan reads an inscription on the book in order to kill Imhotep; unfortunately, this only summons a group of mummified guards, who go after Rick, while Evelyn is attacked by the resurrected Anck-su-Namun. Jonathan succeeds in finishing the inscription, giving him command of the guards just before they kill Rick; he commands the guards to kill Anck-su-Namun. Imhotep turns his anger towards Rick, while Jonathan and Evelyn succeed in opening the Book of Amun-Ra. Imhotep is about to kill Rick when Evelyn recites the counter-curse. Imhotep's immortal soul is taken from him, and he becomes mortal. Rick fatally stabs him, and rapidly decaying into a mummy again, Imhotep leaves the world of the living, vowing revenge. Beni, who was secretly dragging treasure outside, accidentally sets off an ancient booby trap. As Hamunaptra begins to collapse into the sand, Rick, Evelyn and Jonathan race towards the exit, with Jonathan accidentally dropping the gold book. Beni remains behind, and is trapped and eaten by a swarm of flesh-eating scarabs. The heroes escape before Hamunaptra disappears in the sand. Ardeth, who has unexpectedly survived, waits for them outside andthanks them for their help. They ride off into the sunset on a pair of camels laden with Beni's treasure.

horror, violence, action, boring, stupid

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Hercules

Based on both the legend of Hercules and Heracles.On Mt Olympus, Zeus and his wife are celebrating the birth of their son, Hercules. The Lord of the Underworld, Hades, is also invited, though is not at all pleased with the birth of Hercules.Returning to the Underworld, Hades meets up with the 3 Fates, who tell Hades that in 18 years, when the planets align, if he unleashes the Titans (who were imprisoned by Zeus), he will defeat Zeus and rule over all. However, there is a possibility that Hercules could stop him.Hades assigns his minions, Pain and Panic, to turn hercules mortal, and kill him. Armed with a potion, the two kidnap Hercules, and take him to Earth. Hercules drinks almost every drop except one, when a childless couple disturbs the two minions' plan. The two decide to tell Hades that they killed Hercules, but figure leaving him on Earth as a mortal will keep him from interfering in Hades' eventual plot.As Hercules is almost completely mortal, he cannot return to Mt Olympus. However, the childless couple have taken him in, and raise him as their own. However, not being completely mortal, Hercules is ostracized from the rest of society by his immense strength. As he approaches his teenage years, his father tells of how they found him, with a medallion bearing the symbol of the gods.Hercules sets off for the Temple of Zeus to find answers. Once inside the temple, the enormous statue of Zeus comes to life, first scaring Hercules, but then explaining how he is the young boy's father. Zeus then explains that if Hercules can become a True Hero, he'll be able to return to My Olympus and rejoin them. Zeus then provides Hercules with a winged horse named Pegasus, and sends them off to find Philoctetes.Hercules and Pegasus find Philoctetes (who is nicknamed 'Phil') on a deserted island. Having become a grouchy, old satyr, Phil is at first reluctant, but finally relents. After an intense period of training, Hercules grows from a scrawny teenager to a buff young man. At Hercules' insistence to try what he has learned, Phil, Hercules and Pegasus head for the city of Thebes, which is plagued by a number of disasters and problems.On the way there, they are sidetracked by Meg, who appears to be menaced by a centaur. Hercules grows somewhat enchanted with her, before Phil gets them back on track to Thebes. After they leave, Meg meets with Hades, and his assistants, Pain and Panic. Meg was actually trying to get the centaur to side with Hades, but claims Hercules spoiled her plans. Upon hearing this, Hades angrily grabs his assistants, realizing they have lied to him. Pain and Panic manage to convince Hades that since Hercules is mortal, they can still kill him.In Thebes, Hercules tries to convince the citizens that he is a hero, but noone is willing to believe him. Suddenly, Meg appears, and tells of two small boys trapped under a rock in a nearby canyon. Hercules saves the little boys (actually Pain and Panic in disguise), but then has to contend with the 3-headed beast called the Hydra. After finding out that cutting off one head produces 3 more, Hercules ends up crushing the beast with a rock slide. The defeat of the Hydra causes the citizens of Thebes to acknowledge Hercules as a hero, and further anger Hades.Hades continues to send beasts and creature against Hercules, but each and everyone is defeated, further making Hercules a hero in the eyes of the citizens. Statues and merchandise are soon rampant with Hercules' face, and Hercules thinks that his fame will allow him to return to Mt Olympus. However, upon visiting the Temple of Zeus again, Zeus explains to Hercules that fame does not equal heroism. When Hercules asks to know what he can do, Zeus refuses to explain further.Back in Thebes, the conversation has upset Hercules, who wonders if he even has what it takes to be a hero. While in his home, Meg appears, and gets Hercules to come with her for an evening rendezvous. However, Meg's intentions are to secretly find Hercules' weakness, but as the night goes on, she begins to find him charming. The mood is broken when Phil and Pegasus show up to take Hercules home. During the flight away, Phil ends up getting hit by a tree, and falls off Pegasus. When he comes to, he sees Meg talking to Hades, with their conversation sounding as if Meg has been two-timing Hercules. In truth, Meg refuses to go along with Hades plan, claiming that Hercules has no weakness...which leads Hades to believe that she IS that weakness.Back at Thebes Stadium, Phil tries to convince Hercules of what he saw, but Hercules angrily hits Phil. Phil, hurt by his protege's backlash, gets up and leaves. Once Phil is gone, Hades appears, and offers Hercules an ultimatum: if Hercules gives up his powers for 24 hours, Hades will allow Meg to go free, with the provision that the deal will be voided if any harm comes to her. Hercules goes through with the deal, only to have Hades then tell Hercules how Meg was working for him. Now drained of his strength, Hercules can only watch as Hades lets loose the Titans that Zeus had imprisoned years earlier.Hades sends a giant cyclops to Thebes to destroy the City. Even though Hercules is drained of his strength, he still tries to stop the creature. Fearing that he'll be killed, Meg and Pegasus find Phil, who they convince to return and help his student. With Phil's help and some ingenuity, Hercules ends up blinding and finishing off the cyclops, but in the process, Meg is gravely injured.Her injury causes Hades' deal to expire, and Hercules receives his strength back. With Phil watching over Meg, Hercules and Pegasus fly to Mt Olympus, where the Titans have all but over-powered Zeus and the other gods. Hercules helps turn the tide of battle, and ends up taking care of the Titans, and Hades angrily retreats to the Underworld.When Hercules returns to Thebes, Phil reveals that Meg has died. Upset by this, Hercues descends into the Underworld to get her back. Hercules makes a deal with Hades, that he will take Meg's place if he rescues her from the River of Death. Hades accepts the deal, sure that Hercules will die before he can save her.It seems Hercules will die, but upon reaching Meg, he suddenly begins to glow yellow, having achieved god status by risking his life to save her. Hercules manages to get Meg out of the River of Death, much to Hades ranting and protestations, several of which cause Hercules to send him flying into the river, where the dead attempt to drown him.Hercules, Pegasus, Phil and Meg then fly to Mt Olympus where the gods are waiting to welcome Hercules back, now that he has become a 'True Hero.' However, Hercules chooses to stay on Earth, but still be able to visit his family.The film ends as one of the gods creates a constellation in the sky of Hercules, making Phil swell with pride that he was able to train a legend and a god.

good versus evil, romantic

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Flatliners

The movie opens with a shot of Nelson (Kiefer Sutherland), a medical student, saying, "Today is a good day to die." The movie then moves on to explain this statement as Nelson tries to convince Joe Hurley (William Baldwin), David Labraccio (Kevin Bacon), Randy Steckle (Oliver Platt), and Rachel Manus (Julia Roberts), four of his classmates, to help him conduct a dangerous experiment: Nelson wishes to experience clinical death for one minute before being brought back to life by emergency measures, saying he wants to see if there is anything beyond death. Nelson's classmates are extremely apprehensive about the idea, but after much arguing, the five students decide to go ahead with the experiment. Nelson is then "flatlined," and his experience in the "afterlife" is interspersed on-screen with his classmates' attempts to bring him back to life. Despite some difficulty, they are able to successfully resuscitate him. Describing later what he felt, Nelson says, "You can't break it down into specifics, but there is something there. It's comforting."The success of the experiment prompts the others to do the same, each for their own reasons. Joe goes next, looking for little more than fame, and agrees with Nelson that there is post-death activity. David then argues that, as the atheist in the group and the experiment's control, he should go next. After David also experiences things that he cannot ascribe to his previous scientific viewpoint, Rachel insists on being the next one to be put under.Almost immediately after each experiment, however, each participant starts to experience strange phenomena. Nelson sees his injured dog Champ and a little boy, who quickly progress from just appearing before him to stalking and assaulting him. Joe, an out of control playboy despite being engaged, starts seeing visions in TV sets of women whom he secretly videotaped while having sex with them. On a subway train, David suddenly sees a little girl who calls his name, insults him with schoolyard taunts, and then disappears. Nelson and Joe remain silent about what has happened to them, but during Rachel's experiment, David speaks up about his strange experiences. Eventually, he convinces the others to abort Rachel's experiment, but an electrical short almost prevents them from bringing her back.David then explains what is happening to him: he remembers the little girl that is appearing to him as a girl that he bullied in school named Winnie Hicks (Kimberly Scott). This prompts Joe to speak up about his experiences as well. David then prods Nelson to do the same. Nelson complies and identifies his assailant as Billy Mahoney (Joshua Rudoy), a kid he used to pick on, but his description of the injuries to his face get Randy's attention, as that cannot be mere hallucination. Randy argues that what the others have said is impossible, but Nelson replies that they have experienced death and are, therefore, in uncharted territory. Nelson asserts, "Somehow we brought our sins back physically,... and they're pissed." David and the others then chastise Nelson for not speaking up sooner, as that equated to an unethical withholding of findings.The team then moves on to dealing with what they have unleashed. After getting surrounded by ghosts of women using the same vacuous pickup lines on him that he used on them, Joe finds his fiancée Anne (Hope Davis) in his apartment. She reveals that she found his videotapes, and she is therefore leaving him; not for cheating on her, but for so cruelly violating the trust of so many women. Rachel is haunted by visions of her father, who committed suicide when she was five. Nelson attempts to confront Billy Mahoney head-on, only to be beaten down once again.David, trying a different approach, finds where the adult Winnie Hicks, now a mother and wife, is currently living, and, accompanied by Nelson, drives out to ask for her forgiveness, hoping it will resolve David's long-time guilt and make his hallucinations disappear. At first Winnie tries to be polite, but she reveals that she has tried to forget about what happened when they were children, and she does not appreciate David coming and reopening those wounds. David continues trying to apologize, but, realizing that he is now just making the situation worse, he leaves. As he is going, though, Winnie calls to him, and with a tear in her eye, says, "Thank you." While this is happening, Nelson, who was waiting in the car, is once more attacked by Billy Mahoney. When David arrives, all he sees is Nelson alone on the floor struggling, and he snaps a terrified Nelson out of it.When Nelson and David get back to town, Rachel, who saw another vision of her father in class, reveals to the others what is happening to her and sarcastically thanks Nelson for the "nightmare." An argument between the five then erupts. David finally calms everyone down and goes to take care of Rachel while instructing Joe and Randy to help Nelson find Billy Mahoney. David tries to console Rachel, and they eventually make love off-screen.Nelson takes Randy and Joe to a cemetery. It is explained, through a flashback, that Nelson accidentally killed Billy (and fatally injured his dog Champ at the same time) while bullying him in school. Nelson becomes angry, screaming at the tombstone, "I thought I paid my dues!" since Nelson's life was ruined after the incident, at which he was separated from his family. He then says that David is right, that he can still make amends. Nelson gets in the car and drives off alone. Joe and Randy, having been stranded by Nelson, call David. David rushes out to pick them up, and they figure out what Nelson's plan is.Meanwhile, Rachel, now alone, finally confronts her father and sees the truth of what happened when she was a child: though she blamed herself all these years for his death, he was actually addicted to heroin. Rachel and her father then have a tearful reconciliation which is interrupted when Nelson calls, apologizing for getting them all involved in the situation. He also admits to Rachel that he is going under one last time committing suicide by himself. Nelson rushes to the laboratory where the group has been conducting their experiments, injects himself with potassium, and dies. The others all show up moments later and try to resuscitate Nelson to no avail.Meanwhile, in the afterworld, Nelson appears, first young and then old, switching places with Billy Mahoney; being killed as Billy was knocked out of a tree. Finally, after twelve minutes, the team gives up and lets Nelson go. While talking over Nelson's dead body, Rachel says that Nelson told her on the phone that he thought he deserved to die. David angrily disagrees, saying Nelson was just a child who had made a mistake. David puts the defibrillator paddles to Nelson again, and in the afterworld, Nelson suddenly gets up and is faced by a now smiling Billy. He waves goodbye and walks off with Champ into the light as Nelson, hearing voices calling to him, runs the other way. Back on the table, the group has successfully brought Nelson back to life. Nelson then whispers in David's ear, "It wasn't such a good day to die," and thanks them. NOTE: The film's depiction of cardiopulmonary resuscitation is commonly regarded as inaccurate. While defibrillation is of no use if a patient has truly flatlined, it is possible for a patient to be in ventricular fibrillation or pulseless ventricular tachycardia, and still be revived with use of paddles.(as per Wikipedia)

cruelty, alternate reality, haunting, flashback, psychedelic, revenge

tt0099582

Summer of Sam

Writer Jimmy Breslin begins narrating the film; telling the viewer about New Yorks current prosperity. However, things were not always this way, showing news articles from 1977 about the .44 Caliber Killer and explaining how the city was in a massive state of decay, explaining that there are 8 million stories in the naked city, and this is one of them:We are shown a disgusting apartment with a man screaming to stop an incessant dog barking. Eventually, he goes out and shoots two girls talking in a parked car. The film cuts to Vinny (John Leguizamo) and his wife Dionna (Mira Sorvino) going to a night club for dancing and to meet up with their friends. Dionnas cousin asks to be taken home and Vinny offers to give her a ride, allowing Dionna to stay. We soon discover the real reason he offered to take her home was to have sex with her in the back seat of his car. However, before he can finish, the two are scared off by another couple in the car behind him. As Vinny speeds off, the killer comes out of the bushes and kills the couple.While driving Dionna home, she begins questioning what took Vinny so long to drive her cousin home. Vinny offers the excuse that he had to urinate but before she can question him further, they arrive at the exact same spot where Vinny was having his affair, only now it is a crime scene. Vinny goes to investigate and to his horror, it is the same couple that scared him off. Vinny begins vomiting as he gets back to the car, telling Dionna that the .44 Caliber Killer is back. The next day as Vinnys friends; Joey T (Michael Rispoli), Brian, and Anthony inquire about the killer, they tell Vinny that the killer probably saw him and will come after him too. Although they are joking, Vinny begins taking this to heart. Soon after, Ritchie (Adrien Brody) shows up in a punk fashion to which all except Vinny object to. Ruby (Jennifer Esposito) is the last to arrive and after being dumped by her boyfriend who was only using her for sex, immediately takes an interest in Ritchie and his new style.At Dionnas fathers restaurant, the local mob boss Luigi (Ben Gazzara) is asked by one of the detectives (Anthony LaPaglia) on the .44 Caliber Killer case for help. Luigi initially refuses, but after hearing the letter left by the .44 Caliber Killer, now called the Son of Sam, agrees. Meanwhile, as Ruby discusses her current predicaments with Vinny at the salon, Ritchie comes in asking for money as he has been kicked out and forced to move into his garage after walking in on his mother and stepfather having sex. Vinny offers to give Ritchie a place to stay for a while, but Ruby convinces him to move into the garage and fix it up with her help. That night as Ritchie and Ruby finish redecorating the garage, Ruby attempts to give Ritchie oral sex but he asks her to stop. Before she can leave, Ritchie explains that just because he doesnt want to have sex with her, doesnt mean he wants her to leave.Back at the salon, as Vinny and his boss Gloria (Bebe Neuwirth) begin having sex, Vinny begins feeling guilty, but quickly gets over it and sleeps with her. After being told by Anthony and Brian that he no longer fits-in in the neighborhood, Ritchie takes Ruby to a gay theatre where he has been dancing and secretly selling his body for money. During Ritchies performance, the owner, Midnite (Michael Imperioli), asks Ruby what she likes to do as she is too hot to be giving it away for free. Outside the theatre, Ruby admits that she has fallen for Ritchie and begins dressing in punk. Meanwhile, after yet another letter to the police from the Son of Sam, Vinnys paranoia reaches a boiling point and although Dionna tries to comfort him, he is unable to perform with her. With the police making no headway with the Son of Sam, Luigi decides to take matters into his own hands and catch the killer and offers another $5,000 to the reward hoping at least to get more names on their list of suspects. Meanwhile at a pizzeria; Joey T, Anthony, Brian, and the heroin addict Woodstock are devising their own list which is primarily made up of people they dont like. At the top of their list, however, is Ritchie.While at a diner, Vinny and Ritchie discuss their relationships but are asked to leave as Ritchie is scaring some of the other patrons. Before a fight can break out, Ritchie breaks a glass over his head to intimidate the other customers trying to pick a fight with him and Vinny. As they walk down the beach, Ritchie tries to explain himself to Vinny, but the conversation proves to be too deep for him to follow. With temperatures reaching 104, a blackout hits the five boroughs. To defend themselves and their neighborhood from the Son of Sam from trying anything, Luigi has a block party for everyone while Joey T leads a mob to patrol the neighborhood, beating and attacking anyone who tries to enter. As this is going on; Ritchie, Vinny, Dionna, and Ruby are having dinner where Ritchie invites them to come see him and his band perform at the club CBGB while in the bathroom, Dionna asks Ruby for advice on what to do about Vinny as she doesnt seem to please him. The only advice Ruby can give is to not be married to him. Vinny and Dionna go to the club, but are scared off by all the people outside. So instead, they try to get into Studio 54, but the bouncer refuses to let them in. They are however greeted by another man who takes them to another club: Plato's Retreat. There, he and Dionna get stoned and have sex as well as three-ways with other people. On the way home, Vinny mocks an already embarrassed and humiliated Dionna out of jealousy more than anything. In the following fight, Dionna reveals that she knew he had sex with her cousin and drives off, leaving Vinny chasing after the car.As July 29 arrives, Joey T and the others begin slashing the car tires of everyone on their list, while we see the real Son of Sam descending further into madness and is now seeing a black dog telling him to go out and kill. The next day at the diner, Vinny, Joey T, and the others are eating when the owner come over tells Vinny that he and Ritchie have been kicked out due to Ritchies actions. Before Joey T can get more information, Vinny storms out. Meanwhile Bobby the Fairy, yet another friend of Joey Ts group, sees Ritchie in the gay theatre to which Ritchie threatens to kill him should he tell anyone. Although Ritchie is only trying to protect his name, Bobby takes this literally. That night, we see the Son of Sam kill yet another two victims in Brooklyn.Joey T and the others are now beginning to suspect that Ritchie is the Son of Sam as he is the only one whose whereabouts they cannot account for, but Vinny stands up for him, saying that he knows Ritchie as if he were his brother. They all reveal to Vinny that Ritchie has been dancing and shooting porn films with Ruby at the gay theatre and ask if he knew that. Although Vinny is shocked by this, he still refuses to accept that Ritchie is the Son of Sam, but reluctantly agrees to help Joey T and the others by telling them where Ritchie and his band perform. Joey T and Anthony go to CBGB to try and find Ritchie while outside, Vinny has already met up with him. He begins to ask Ritchie if hes in a cult, dancing in a gay joint, and is the Son of Sam. Ritchie is upset that Vinny actually would think that way about him, but is angered that he brought Joey T down to get him and walks off. The following day, a composite sketch of the killer is released and everyone sees someone different. No surprise, Joey T tries to convince Vinny that its Ritchie; however Vinny doesnt see any resemblance until Joey T draws in spiky hair on the picture. Looking more like Ritchie now, Vinny begins freaking out. So much so that when he goes to the salon, he explodes on Gloria and dumps his drink on her, storming off. By the time he gets home, Gloria has already called Dionna and told her about all the women he cheated on her with. Vinny attempts to apologies and tries explain that Ritchie may be a killer, but it is too late; a heartbroken Dionna leaves him. This sends Vinny spiraling out of control as he begins drowning himself in cocaine and quaaludes.With Richie back at his parents' garage, Joey T and the others decide to make their move and capture Ritchie and take him to Luigi. However before they go, Joey T decides to get Vinny. They break into Vinnys house to find him stoned and force him to come help lure Ritchie out of the house, promising not to hurt him. Unbeknownst to them, during this time, the police have captured David Berkowitz, the real Son of Sam. Meanwhile, Vinny comes knocking on Ritchies door and tells him that Dionna left him. Ritchie invites him in, but Vinny asks him to come outside, not wanting Ruby to hear. As the two talk, Vinny tries to tell Ritchie to run, but before he can understand what Vinny is saying, Joey T and the others spring on him. Vinny watches as Ritchie uses his guitar to defend himself, but is quickly beaten senseless by the group. Ruby is restrained by Bobby as they drag Ritchie off. However, they dont get too far as Ritchies stepfather, Eddie (Mike Starr), comes out of the house, brandishing a Luger pistol. As Joey T tries to explain who Ritchie is, Eddie reveals to them that the cops had already caught the Son of Sam in Yonkers, much to the group's surprise. As they begin to leave, Vinny can only look at a bloodied and beaten Ritchie with guilt and weakly attempts to apologize to his former friend before walking away too.Jimmy Breslin recaps the events of the summer of 1977; David Berkowitz was done in by a parking ticket and is serving six consecutive terms of 25 years to life, the Yankees won the World Series, Elvis Presley died, and 3,700 were arrested during the blackout. He finishes by reiterating that there are 8 million stories in the naked city, and this was one of them.

cult, murder, violence

tt0162677

La cabina

The following is a very complete explanation of the films story from horrorwood.com.The story begins with four workmen in a phone company truck arriving at a plaza surrounded by apartment buildings. They unload a red telephone box from the back of the truck and install it in the middle of the plaza - leaving its door ajar.A human Venus fly trap has been set.Shortly afterwards a middle aged suited man sees his son off to school and then decides to go into the telephone box to make a call. He soon finds that the phone is out of order, but while trying it the door has closed behind him. Initially puzzled that the door won't open he then starts to become agitated and tries to force it open to no avail. He doesn't have to wait long before two men walking by on the way to work spot his predicament and fruitlessly try to pull the door open.Unfortunately, they can't stick around and have to leave. More people have noticed what's going on and a crowd starts to gather, obviously this is entertainment in a town where nothing much normally happens.The mood of the film so far is fairly light-hearted, though it's easy to feel sympathy for the man whose discomfort and embarrassment has become palpable now he's also become an object of curiosity and amusement. The next few minutes are played mainly for laughs as several people, including a couple of policemen, try to pull the phone box door open only to fail and fall over backward with the door handle in their hands.The crowd itself becomes a source of curiosity, too--there's a tall man stealing cakes from a tray a boy holds on his head; an old woman is invited to sit on a chair a man was taking somewhere; a couple of workmen stand around with a big mirror; and children taunt the trapped man.Symbolism and homages begin to emerge. For instance, we notice that two of the onlookers are women sat chatting and knitting. This is presumably a reference to Madame Defarge who sits knitting while people go their deaths in Charles Dickens' story A Tale Of Two Cities.Eventually, a fire truck arrives and the firemen decide to break the glass of the phone box. One of them gets on top of the box and is just about to smash the top glass with a sledgehammer when the phone company truck comes back, its horn beeping for attention.The phone company workmen proceed to load the phone box onto their truck. It's at this point that the man inside realizes that something is definitely not right about the whole situation. Despite his obvious panic and gestures to the workmen to get him out, the crowd wave him off with cries of "Good luck". Having been so close to escape his fate is getting even more puzzling.Like some kind of peculiar mobile freak show, the truck drives through the town with the trapped man eliciting jokes by passers by and lots of friendly waves. Much to his disappointment people continually misunderstand his gestures for help. On the way out of town they come to a halt in traffic and by the side of the road is a funeral party standing around a glass casket containing a corpse on display. This is an unsubtle way of signaling the man's own fate.A little later, while stopped at traffic lights another phone company truck pulls up alongside and on it is an identical phone box with a stuck man inside it. Looks of empathy and questioning pass between the two men before the other truck pulls away. Our man then becomes even more panicked and desperately tries to get the workmen's attention to let him out. This is the first indication that something more than just an unlucky accident for one person is at work.BEWARE: SPOILERS AHEAD, STOP READING NOW!!!A neat touch is when we see a man briefly struggling to get out of a phone box by the side of the road, but in his case the door soon gives way and he walks away little knowing what may have befallen him otherwise.So now we know there's a concerted effort going on to capture people. For what purpose we can only guess at but will never find out. Around this time the soundtrack becomes portentous with low register rhythms. Driving out of the town there's one final and meaningful encounter with other people. When the truck has to again stop some circus dwarves near the road look on, and they are the only ones to simply look and not laugh or wave.In return the man earnestly looks back at them. Maybe the dwarfs who are used to being stared at because of their appearance identify with the man's situation in which he's an object of curiosity and fun. Then blatant symbolism enters when the camera focuses on a ship in a bottle that one of the dwarfs is holding.The journey continues on winding mountain roads, first up and then down. For reasons that aren't obvious a helicopter joins in following the truck from the air.Eventually, the final destination gets closer as a tunnel into the mountainside is reached. The helicopter lands just outside and the pilot gets out to wave at the man as he enters the tunnel.As the truck continues into an underground complex, the soundtrack changes to sinister chanting in Latin somewhat like that used in The Omen. While driving in, they pass men cleaning out phone boxes, and also a truck going the other way full of empty phone boxes. By this time, the man is more anguished but despite frantically banging on the glass he's continually ignored.At this point I started to wonder--are the four workmen a metaphor for the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, or is it just coincidence because four are needed to load and unload the phone box?Soon after, the truck yields its unlikely cargo to an overhead crane that takes it away and passes it to a series of conveyor belts. The man's improbable fate is then made clear when he's taken past corpses in identical telephone boxes to his own.Coming to a halt the man's phone box is put down next to one containing the other victim he saw earlier. That man has strangled himself with the phone cord rather than endure a drawn-out death.It's all over for the man; he now knows it but still makes a last effort of banging on the glass hoping to be let out. Desperately aware that he's doomed the final shot of him is slowly sliding down the glass of his coffin in despair and resignation.What started out as an ordinary day for an ordinary man has turned into the kind of thing that nightmares are made of.Turning full circle, the film ends back at the plaza, where a shiny new telephone box is installed and its door left open. We are left wondering how long it'll be until some other unlucky person attempts to make a call. The questions about what the hell is going on are never answered.The trapped man is brilliantly played by Jose Luis Lopez Vazquez, a Spanish actor with a substantial list of acting credits to his name.I first saw this film on TV late at night many years ago, and it's been stuck vividly in my memory ever since. It's truly terrifying, playing to archetypal fears like people ignoring your pleas for help and being buried alive.------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From DVD RESURRECTIONSdvdresurrections.com/MovieReview_LaCabina.htmlThis amazing short film was directed by Antonio Mercero for Spanish television in 1972. It's a wonderful example of efficient, lean horror story telling which squeezes in plenty of thrills and shocks in its 40 minute running time.Essentially a European riff on a Twilight Zone style format, the film begins with a team of workmen installing a new public phone box. Later a man drops his boy off at the nearby bus stop and then pauses to make a call...But the phone doesn't work and when he tries to exit he finds himself trapped. The filmmaker makes a lot out of the claustrophobic setting in these opening scenes, the box is glass on all four sides leaving our victim exposed and embarrassed as a crowd gathers to witness the odd spectacle. Small children taunt him, offering him peanuts and calling him a monkey. Several people offer to help including the police, the local strongman and a handyman with a bag of tools.Soon, the telephone crew appears to take the box with our hero inside, loading it onto a flatbed truck as the amused crowd laugh and wave goodbye to the hapless prisoner.The film up to this point is presented as a lightweight comedy, with plenty of physical comedy and pratfalls as the crowd attempt, and fail, to break the man out of the phone box. However, once the booth is fixed to the truck, the tone shifts subtly into one of increasing dread.First, the man witnesses another guy successfully leaving a similar booth, causing a look of anguish to cross his face. The film is very clever in this regard, working almost in a silent movie style. The trapped man can only mouth words and use exaggerated gestures to communicate.The truck drives past a funeral in which a young woman can be seen in a glass sided coffin increasing our sense of unease. As the truck pulls up to a junction alongside another lorry transporting another hapless man-in-a-box our guy can barely keep a grip as we finally have our suspicions confirmed and realize that everything is wrong and something sinister is afoot...Who has kidnapped him? Where are they going? What terrible fate is about to befall him?The film is a triumph, telling a simple story with an excellent central performance from the lead that has to deliver a huge range of emotions through body language without turning the whole film into an embarrassing pantomime. The photography sets this apart from the usual TV movie fare and the varied score, which ranges from playful for the comedic opening to apocalyptic during the twisted finale, all help to create a thrill ride with a shocking ending that will stay with you for a good while afterwards.

psychedelic

tt0065513

Zatôichi monogatari

The blind masseur Zatoichi is hired by yakuza gang-leader Sukegoro (Eijiro Yanagi) as he thinks that war is inevitable with the rival yakuza Shigezo (Ryuzo Shimada). Zatoichi has a distinguished reputation as a swordsman and Sukegoro thinks he is money well spent. Shigezo responds by hiring a ronin of similar repute, Miki Hirate (Shigeru Amachi). Ichi is a meek and humble man who is commonly underestimated by most men, and looked upon suspiciously. His being a masseur, which was a position of low regard in feudal Japan, merely increases the hostility that is shown towards him. They even try to take advantage of his blindness in a gambling den, but from early on it is clear that Zatoichi draws strength from his disability. The only person who respects him is Hirate, who has a similar code of practice. Though Hirate and Ichi know they must fight when the war begins, they develop a kind of friendship. Hirate is eager to fight Zatoichi, as he is terminally ill with tuberculosis and considers death at the hands of a master swordsman preferable. As Hirate becomes increasingly sick, Sukegoro decides to attack Shigezo. He also tells Ichi that he is no longer needed. However, as the war begins, Shigezo informs Hirate of his fallback plan since Hirate is ill, that he intends to shoot Ichi with his rifle. Hirate drags himself from his bed to fight Zatoichi on the condition that the rifle is left behind. Ichi learns from a boy at the temple where Hirate was staying that Hirate will be fighting after all, and also learns the reason. Zatoichi travels to the battle to duel with the dying samurai. After the tense final fight, in which Zatoichi prevails, Zatoichi leaves Iioka and rejects the advances of Otane (Masayo Banri), who has become disillusioned with the yakuza lifestyle, to continue as a solitary wanderer.

cult, violence

tt0056714

Unknown

Martin Harris (Liam Neeson) and his wife, Liz (January Jones), arrive in Berlin for a biotechnology conference where he is to give a paper. When they arrive at their hotel, also the site of the conference, Martin realizes he left his briefcase with their passports at the airport. While Liz checks in, he takes a cab to retrieve the briefcase. When a truck's cargo crashes into the road, the cab veers into the river. The cab driver, Gina (Diane Kruger), rescues him but disappears into the crowd when authorities arrive.Martin is in a coma for four days. When he revives, his memory is shaky. When he sees a television news report about the biotechnology conference, he remembers that he is supposed to be there. He checks himself out of the hospital and goes to the hotel. He sees Liz at a reception and goes to embrace her. But she claims not to know him and introduces everyone to her husband, who claims to be Martin Harris (Aidan Quinn).Martin wanders the streets of Berlin. He tracks down Gina, an illegal immigrant working several jobs. She doesn't want to help him because she risks deportation. Martin goes to meet Professor Bressler (Sebastian Koch), a German bioscientist with whom he had had phone calls about their plans to revolutionize food production. But when he arrives, Martin B is already there. After an argument, Martin is escorted out by police. He checks himself back into the hospital for more tests. One of the nurses gives him the name of a private detective. After one of the tests, a hit man kills the nurse and tries to abscond with Martin, but Martin disappears into the crowded emergency room and escapes.Martin goes to see the private detective, Ernst Jurgen (Bruno Ganz), a former Stasi officer. Jurgen believes Martin's story, and tells him to track down Gina again. He finds her and asks for a place to stay for the night, giving her a watch that Liz gave him on their anniversary. As he takes a shower, the hit man bursts in. Gina kills him with his own poison. As they escape in a borrowed cab, they are pursued by a second hit man. They elude him by hiding in a discotheque.Martin and Gina meet with Jurgen. He has a friend at the airport searching security camera footage for Martin, and has contacted Martin's colleague, Rodney Cole, who Martin is certain can help. Martin follows Liz to a photography exhibition. At first she pretends not to know him but pulls him aside to tell him that she is being forced to betray him and that she still loves him and will wait for him at the airport. When Martin B and the second hit man appear, Martin is barely able to escape with Gina.Rodney Cole (Frank Langella) arrives at Jurgen's office. Realizing who Cole really is, Jurgen takes cyanide rather than reveal what he knows. Martin and Gina retrieve the briefcase with the passports and thousands of euro in cash. Gina leaves Martin to wait at the airport. Cole arrives and takes Martin to a black van where he is tasered by the second hit man. Gina sees this and follows the black van in a stolen cab. Cole and the hit man take Martin to the top level of a deserted parking garage. Cole explains to Martin that he is really a government assassin using "Martin Harris" as a cover. When Martin woke up from the post-accident coma, he believed his cover story was the truth, so Martin B was called in to finish the mission. Before the second hit man can kill Martin, Gina crushes him between the van and cab; the impact sends the van, with Cole in it, crashing to the ground below.Martin now remembers everything. Several months earlier he and Liz had gone to the hotel to plant a bomb. It would be used to kill Bressler in a manner that could be blamed on Muslim extremists opposed to the liberalizing plans of Prince Shada (Miro Hamada), who is also sponsoring the biotechnology conference. He and Gina race to the hotel. There, at a reception for Bressler, Liz copies the files containing information about a new, easily grown form of corn, and arms the bomb. Martin arrives in time and persuades hotel security that a bomb is about to go off. When security evacuates the hotel, Liz goes to disarm the bomb while Martin B follows Bressler in order to kill him. Liz fails and is obliterated in the explosion. Martin and Martin B fight amidst the debris as Gina watches. Martin kills Martin B with a glass shard.The next day, Bressler and Prince Shada freely give their new corn to the world, in their mutual effort to end world hunger. Using additional fake passports found in his briefcase, Martin and Gina leave Berlin together, as Henry and Claudia Taylor.

violence, action, murder, flashback

tt1401152

Get Low

Old man Felix lives alone in a cabin in the woods. One day after hearing about an old local who died, he hitches his mule to a wagon and rides into town. He goes to a church and presents a priest with a handful of money to plan his own funeral. The priest suggests that Felix needs to make peace with God first. Upset, Felix walks out.Funeral director Frank is frustrated that people in town are not dying much. Frank hears from his apprentice Buddy about Felix's conversation with the priest, and asks Buddy to visit the old man at his cabin.Felix comes to Frank's funeral home, and tells him that he intends to attend his funeral as a party, where he wants people to talk about him while he is still alive. Frank is confused, but wants to accommodate him. On the way out, Felix bumps into Mattie, who is familiar with him.Frank and Buddy take Felix to town to get his picture taken, cut his long beard and hair, and get a funeral suit. On the drive back, Frank is surprised to hear Felix say that he and Mattie "had a go."After a card game that evening, Frank offers to walk Mattie home. She quietly declines.Frank and Buddy take Felix to a local radio station for a live interview about his upcoming funeral party. Felix persists with his desire to hear people show up and tell the supposedly bad stories they know about him. Felix also makes the shocking announcement that he will sell raffle tickets for his valuable 300 acres of timber, which will be given away when he dies.Mattie goes to visit Felix for the first time. The two walk around his expansive woods and he invites her to stay for dinner. Night falls, and they talk by the fire in his cabin, catching up on many years gone by. She suggests that he is not over something in his past, and then gets emotional when she sees a small picture of a woman across the room. She storms out.Frank tells Felix he is concerned about the large amount of money coming in for the raffle. Felix tells Frank to keep all the money at the funeral home until the party, and promises he will fairly settle all expenses afterward.Felix asks Buddy to drive him to an old church in the next state, where he meets Rev. Charlie, who is happy to see him. Felix asks Charlie to speak at his funeral, but Charlie asks if Felix has told the truth. Felix gets upset that Charlie wants him to deal with what he did to a woman 40 years earlier, and storms out. Charlie tells Buddy that Felix's secret is between him and God.On the drive back that night, Felix gets out of the car alone and wanders off to a tombstone marked "Mary".Frank returns to the funeral home and finds that Buddy has been beaten during a robbery attempt.Felix stops by Mattie's house in town, soaked from rain. Felix tries to confess about why he keeps the picture of Mattie's sister: he fell in love with her when he was courting Mattie. But Mattie wants to know the more crucial question of whether he was involved in her death. Felix soon faints.Felix goes to Frank to explain that he wants to call off the funeral, which Frank protests. Felix says he does not have the guts to tell the truth.Frank goes to visit Rev. Charlie and asks him to have sympathy.Buddy finds that the money is missing from the casket where he and Frank had been hiding it.Buddy goes to Felix and tells him that he suspects Frank took the money, but agrees to still give Felix a funeral if he wants one.Frank brings Rev. Charlie back to town, and admits to Buddy that he stole the money but still has it in the hearse.The three men go out to Felix's property and are amazed to see so many people gathered for the funeral party. Felix asks Rev. Charlie to tell everyone the truth if he can't, directing him to a nice casket he has made and stored in a barn.Frank begins speaking to the crowd while Felix has memories of running from a burning house. Rev. Charlie takes the stage and introduces Felix, who tentatively tells those assembled that he did something shameful he could never fix, which he confessed to Charlie 40 years earlier, and no one ever since. He explains that he never sought forgiveness because he needed to be sick about it the rest of his life. Mattie shows up.He fell in love with a married lady named Mary, and they planned to run away together. He went to visit her one night and found that her husband had beaten her badly with a hammer, but before he could help her, the house caught on fire. He tried to save her from the husband, but the flames engulfed her, and he caught on fire himself. He ran from the house, in flames. He could not get Mary out.He speaks out to Mattie and asks for forgiveness, because it was all his fault. Mattie walks away.Later, the raffle is held and the crowd disperses.That night, Mattie goes to Felix and they embrace.The next day, watching the hearse drive away, Felix sees a vision of Mary and walks toward her.Rev. Charlie speaks over Felix's grave behind his cabin, with Frank and Buddy's family assembled. Mattie drops a picture of her sister Mary on his casket.Buddy looks back at Felix's cabin. He kisses his baby, who smiles.

boring, depressing, dramatic, humor, romantic, entertaining, storytelling

tt1194263

Prêt-à-Porter

Paris, Fashion Week 1994: all kind of models, designers, reporters, fashion editors... join together to present next year's trends. Kitty Potter (Kim Basinger) is a reporter in search of big news.Sergio (Marcello Mastroianni) sends an identical Christian Dior tie to the president of the French Association of Fashion, Olivier de la Fontaine (Jean-Pierre Cassel) and meets with him in high secrecy. He disregards his wife Isabella de la Fontaine (Sophia Loren), who is mad at him and tries to avoid Kitty in the airport, but she sees him so he has to give the interview. They have a sandwich and then Sergio and Olivier leave the airport. Sergio doesn't realise that he is carrying Joe Flynn's (Tim Robbins) suitcase. Scruffy American journalist Anne Eisenhower (Julia Roberts) has lost Joe Flynn's suitcase. Flynn is not there yet, and she can't understand or speak any French, so she takes Sergio's luggage by mistake.While they are together in a limo, the president dies while they are stuck in a traffic jam and Sergio runs away. When the chauffeur realises that his passenger is dead, he cries for help, and Sergio jumps from a bridge so that a police officer doesn't catch him.Eccentric fashion designer Cy Bianco (Forest Whitaker) is always changing his mind. Her favourite model Sophie Choiset (Chiara Mastroianni) is heavily pregnant, so she can't walk the runway. Eccentric photographer Milo O'Brannigan (Stephen Rea) is a lazy, I-can't-be-bothered rock-'n'-roller who takes a photo of all the designers together, including Sonya Rykel (herself), and Jean-Paul Gualtier (himself).Isabella goes to the Richard Lacroix fashion show as if nothing had happened. After the show, where Christy Turlington (herself), Tatjana Patitz (herself), Naomi Campbell (herself), Helena Christensen (herself) and other models strut their stuff, Kitty will interview Gianfranco Ferré (himself), at the time head designer for haute couture house Christian Dior (himself).Anne tries to contact people in the world of fashion without much success. As she and Joe share a luxurious hotel room, and she can't stand drinking, they end up making love. The next morning, she gets angry because he jumped to the occasion, leaving it as a one-night stand when she mentions it.Watching the televised Issey Miyake show, Sergio sees Joe wearing his jacket. Kitty interviews Miyake (himself) as well. Inspector Tantpis (Jean Rochefort) and Inspector Forget (Michel Blanc) say that it's going to be easy to find who killed Olivier, as everybody hated him.Sergio moves from one fashion show to the other. He is always among the crowd, always in search of Isabella. When he finally approaches her, Isabella faints, with Kitty crying, "She's not dead! She's not dead!" again and again.Elle editor-in-chief Fiona Ulrich (Lili Taylor) wants to sign Milo. He asks her to go to her knees and bend. When she complies, he photographs her, so she dismisses him while calling him names. He laughs all the way. Later, as a freelance photographer, Milo makes an editorial advertisement for LO footwear, with Linda Evangelista (herself), Carla Bruni (herself), Kristen Fick (herself), Adriana Karembeu (herself), and Greta Cavazzoni (herself). Milo will do the same trick, this time photographing Simone Lowenthal (Anouk Aimée), who offered him sex and also wants him to sign for an important position.Sergio aka Sergei, finally talks to a dinner party where Kitty interviews Cher (herself). Sergei and Kitty were lovers when they were younger, but as they belonged to a Communist party, he left after their wedding night. He is saying that he still loves her, when they are interrupted by somebody offering her sympathies as a recently widow. They will meet the following day at 16:00 at Le Pensevr's statue.Although he is married, Cy has a gay lover, Clint Lammeraux (Lyle Lovett), and they share a joint outside at night.At the hotel, Sergio gets Joe Flynn's copy key, posing as Flynn. Cy does his fashion show on an underground train. Two models fight. Pilar (Rossy de Palma) works for Simone (Anouk Aimée), who has problems with Jack Lowenthal (Rupert Everett) because they and the company are bankrupt. Cy and his lover meet their partners, who are also cheating on one another. While they are about to fight, Kitty appears and interviews them.Isabella and Sergio go to bed, but after her striptease, he falls sleep, so she leaves in frustration. Simone makes the last preparations for her fashion show, wherein the models, including Yvette Horner (herself) wear cowboy boots and nothing else. The inspectors say that Olivier died because of the ham sandwich he ate, which got stuck in his esophagus, so he choked to death. Anne and Joe say goodbye, both better dressed this time. Simone for LO presents a catwalk of nude models to the music of The Cranberries' Pretty. First confused and then fed up, Kitty leaves, giving her microphone to Sophie, who gladly takes the position in front of the camera.At Olivier's funeral, we see some naked children playing, following the new fashion of Simone, the trend of appreciating the human body and showing it without ornaments. Sergio has fallen asleep again, so he's not in time to talk to Isabella, who dresses in black.The film ends with images of several catwalks.---Summary written by KrystelClare

satire

tt0110907

101 Dalmatians

American video game designer Roger Dearly (Jeff Daniels) lives with his pet dalmatian Pongo in London. One day, Pongo sets his eyes on a beautiful female dalmatian named Perdy. After a frantic chase through the streets of London that ends in St. James's Park, Roger discovers that Pongo likes Perdy. Her owner, Anita Campbell-Green (Joely Richardson) falls in love with Roger when they meet. They both fall into the lake as a result of their dogs chasing each other, but they return to Roger's home and Anita accepts his proposal. They get married along with Perdita and Pongo. Anita works as a fashion designer at the House of de Vil. Her boss, the pampered and very glamorous Cruella de Vil (Glenn Close), has a deep passion for fur, going so far as to have a taxidermist, Mr Skinner, skin a white tiger at the London Zoo to make it into a rug for her. Anita, inspired by her dalmatian, designs a coat made with spotted fur. Cruella is intrigued by the idea of making garments out of actual dalmatians, and finds it amusing that it would seem as if she was wearing Anita's dog. Anita soon discovers that Perdy is pregnant and is then informed by Nanny (Joan Plowright) that she (Anita) is, too, much to her shock. Some time later, Cruella visits their home and expresses contempt upon meeting Roger. Her initial disgust at them having a baby turns to excitement when she finds out Perdy is expecting too. Several weeks later, she returns when a litter of 15 puppies are born and offers Roger and Anita £7,500 for them, but they refuse. She dismisses Anita and vows revenge against her and Roger. She has her henchmen, Jasper and Horace (Hugh Laurie and Mark Williams) break into their home and steal the puppies while Roger and Anita are walking in the park with Pongo and Perdy. Along with 84 others dalmatians that were previously stolen, they deliver them to her ancient country estate, De Vil Mansion. She also hires Skinner to kill and skin them to create her coat. With the family devastated at the loss of their puppies, Pongo uses the twilight bark to carry the message via the dogs and other animals of Britain, while Roger and Anita notify the Metropolitan Police. A dog who had witnessed the stolen puppies follows Jasper and Horace to the mansion, and finds all of them inside, before helping them escape under the duo's noses. They make their way to a nearby farm, where they are later joined by Pongo and Perdy. Cruella arrives at the mansion and soon discovers what has happened. Furious, she decides to carry out the job herself, while Jasper and Horace attempt to search for them also. After several mishaps, Jasper and Horace discover nearby police on the hunt for Cruella and her henchmen and hand themselves in, joining Skinner who was beaten earlier while trying to kill Lucky (one of the 15 puppies), who had been left behind. Meanwhile, Cruella tracks the puppies to the farm where they are hiding and tries to retrieve them. However, they outwit her and cause her to fall into a vat of molasses and get thrown through a window into a pig pen. Shortly afterwards, the fleeing dalmatians (including Lucky) are found and sent home via the Suffolk Constabulary, while those looking for Cruella arrive at the farm to arrest her. In the police van, she belittles Jasper, Horace, and Skinner for their incompetence before they are sprayed by a skunk which she had mistaken for her bag. Pongo, Perdy and their puppies are reunited with Roger and Anita. After being informed that the remaining 84 puppies have no home to go to, as they have not been claimed by their original owners, they decide to adopt them, bringing the total to 101. Roger designs a successful video game featuring dalmatian puppies as the protagonists and Cruella as the villain and they move to the countryside with their millions. Roger and Anita have a baby daughter and a year later Anita becomes pregnant again.

psychedelic, comedy, cute, entertaining

tt0115433

Lord Love a Duck

In the psychiatric ward of a prison, Alan Musgrave, who calls himself "Mollymauk" after an extinct duck-like bird, tells his story into a tape recorder. Alan and Barbara Ann Greene are both senior transfer students at Los Angeles' new, ultra-modern Consolidated High School. Under Alan's hypnotic spell, Barbara Ann reveals her desire to be popular. Alan assures her that he will make her every wish come true. First, Barbara Ann wishes to join a sorority whose members must each own a designated number of cashmere sweaters, and Alan has her persuade her father to buy sweaters. To keep Barbara Ann from failing any courses, Alan has her use her sex appeal to obtain the job of secretary to the principal. Barbara Ann then meets wealthy and handsome college senior Bob Barnard during a sex seminar at a drive-in church, and she decides to vacation at Balboa, where Bob is to be chaperon. Alan takes her to Balboa, where he sets up a possible screen test for Barbara Ann with a producer of beach-party movies. Bob, who is in love with Barbara Ann, has problems with his zany mother, so Alan installs himself in the Barnard house and takes over the management of Mrs. Barnard by introducing her to alcohol. Mrs. Barnard discovers that Marie, Barbara Ann's divorced mother, is a bar girl and tries to end the romance. Thinking that she has ruined her daughter's life and her own, Marie commits suicide. Later Bob and Barbara Ann marry, despite Mrs. Barnard's objections. Bob, who has graduated and become a marriage counselor, disapproves of his wife's career in movies, and Alan decides to eliminate him. Bob proves almost indestructible, but by graduation time Alan has put him in a wheelchair. At Consolidated's graduation, he pursues Bob with a bulldozer, eliminating him and everyone on the speaker's platform as well. Barbara Ann goes on to Hollywood fame as the star of "Bikini Widow". In the prison, Alan tries to explain why he did it all, confessing that it might have been for love.

cult, comedy, satire, murder, romantic

tt0060636

Canadian Bacon

Thousands of former employees are outraged with military businessman R.J. Hacker (G. D. Spradlin), who had closed down his weapons manufacturing plant, Hacker Dynamics. At a conference held at the former plant, he pins the blame for the shutdown of his business on the current President of the United States (Alan Alda), who has just arrived. The President defends his own belief that the future of the children is more important than war, which has caused major decline in his approval rating. After the conference, he expresses to confidantes General Dick Panzer (Rip Torn) and National Security Advisor Stuart Smiley (Kevin Pollak) his discontent about not having an enemy to engage in war. An attempted negotiation with Russian President Vladimir Kruschkin (Richard E. Council) to start a new cold war with Russia fails, and the President's suggestion of a war on international terrorism is deemed too absurd. Serendipitously, American sheriff Bud Boomer (John Candy) offensively criticizes Canadian beer while attending a hockey game between the neighboring nations in Niagara Falls, Ontario. The ensuing brawl ends up on the news and catches Stuart's attention; Stuart, in turn, collects more information about Canada from a CIA agent named Gus (Brad Sullivan), who suggests Canada as their new enemy. Before long, television channels are littered with anti-Canada propaganda, which Boomer believes wholeheartedly. He prepares for war by distributing guns to his fellow sheriffs, including his girlfriend Honey (Rhea Perlman) and their friends Roy Boy (Kevin J. O'Connor) and Kabral Jabar (Bill Nunn). After they apprehend a group of Americans "dressed as Canadians" attempting to destroy a hydroelectric plant, despite Gus's protests, they sneak across the border to litter on Canadian lands, which leads to Honey being arrested by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. In a rescue attempt, Boomer, Roy Boy and Kabral sneak into a Canadian power plant and cause a countrywide blackout. When the President learns of this, he orders Boomer's immediate removal from Canada before it's too late. Hacker, seeking revenge on the President for shutting down his business, uses a software program ("Hacker Hellstorm") to activate missile silos across the country. The President learns that the signal causing the activation of the silos originated from Canada, and summons Hacker. Hacker offers to sell a program to the President that can cancel out the Hellstorm — for $1 trillion. With only six minutes left, the President is trying to figure out what's going on. Stuart, fed up with the President being too busy to give Hacker the money, realizes that Hacker, getting up to leave, is the one controlling the silos, not Canada, and, after storming up, takes the operating codes from him required to stop the Hellstorm (accidentally killing Hacker in the process). The President orders Stuart's arrest, despite his protests that he is now able to give the codes to the President so they could deactivate the missiles which are aimed at Moscow. As the launch time approaches the President pleads with Canadian Prime Minister Clark MacDonald (Wallace Shawn) over the phone to stop the launch. Meanwhile, Honey was taken to a mental hospital upon her capture and escaped all the way to the CN Tower. She discovers the central computer for the Hellstorm located at the top and destroys it with a machine gun, aborting the launch sequence. She then reunites with Boomer, who had tracked her to the Tower, and they return to the United States via a speedboat. An ending montage reveals the characters' fates: Boomer realizes his dream of appearing on Cops; Honey has been named "Humanitarian of the Year", ironically by the National Rifle Association; The President was defeated in the next election by a large landslide and now hosts "Get Up, Cleveland"; Stuart served eight months in prison, but was pardoned by the new President; General Panzer committed suicide after learning that "Hogan's Heroes" was fictional; Gus was last spotted heading to Mexico; R.J. Hacker's body has been viewed daily at Republican National Headquarters; Kabral has become a hockey star, winning the Hart Memorial Trophy three years in a row; Roy Boy's whereabouts become unknown; and MacDonald is "still ruling with an iron fist."

satire

tt0109370

House at the End of the Drive

When David King purchases a house in the hills far above the angst of Los Angeles, he gets much more than he bargained for when strange and unexplainable occurrences in and around the house begin to take control of his daily life. After he and his loyal dog Sebastian settle into the house, David begins to realize theres something particularly odd with the neighborhood, and it all seems to stem from the house at the end of the drive. Before long, ghostly voices begin to whisper through the intercom system in the dead of night, strange visitors arrive, some with unsettling accounts of the houses history, and David becomes plagued with a series terrifying and gruesome hallucinations.During a dinner party at his home with friends, Robert, Felicia and Jennifer, David discovers more about the neighborhoods bloody history, and fact and fiction intertwine as the friends talk ghosts and spirits from beyond, and David recounts his odd experiences in the house. The night prompts the friends to take steps that will alter their lives forever.When they decide to sneak in and explore the decrepit house at the end of the drive, supernatural forces from the past transport them through time back to a night of brutality and murderous bloodshed. In a cruel twist of fate, David, Robert, Felicia and Jennifer materialize as the soon to be victims of a massacre they had been discussing earlier over a quiet and casual dinner. Is the knowledge of the future enough to shield them from the horrors of the Helter-Skelter mayhem from the past? Can careful plotting overpower the supernatural invasion by a most infamous family of mass murders? Surely yesterday is finally over but only time will tell, as the hapless visitors to the house at the end of the drive are swept into a hell storm of dark forces and fury beyond belief.The film is inspired by the true events of the Sharon Tate slayings one of the most heinous crimes of the 20th Century that shocked the world. Many of the events that take place in HOUSE AT THE END OF THE DRIVE are based on actual events that had taken place in the OMAN house where principal photography was shot. Like THE EXORCIST and THE ENTITY before it, the film is anchored in documented evidence of the paranormal.Which is scarier the past or the present? Sometimes there is no difference!

paranormal, horror

tt0464054

Memoirs of a Geisha

Chiyo Sakamoto (Suzuka Ohgo), a young girl from a poverty stricken fishing village, is sold along with her older sister Satsu (Samantha Futerman) into a life of servitude by her aging father. Chiyo is taken in by Mrs. Kayoko Nitta (Kaori Momoi), the Mother (proprietress) of a geisha house in Gion, one of the most prominent geisha districts in Kyoto, whereas Satsu is sold to a prostitution brothel. At the okiya, Chiyo meets another young girl named Pumpkin (Zoe Weizenbaum), the cranky Granny (Kotoko Kawamura), and the okiya's only working geisha, Hatsumomo (Gong Li) who is famous for her breathtaking beauty. Chiyo soon discovers Hatsumomo is secretly a cruel and jealous woman that views Chiyo as a potential rival due to her striking bluish-gray eyes, along with being a change in Mother's future financial dependence. Hatsumomo then goes out of her way to deliberately make Chiyo's new life miserable by having her take the blame for everything and intentionally withholding information of her sister's whereabouts in the pleasure district. However, Auntie (Tsai Chin) is aware of this and warns Chiyo against trusting and angering Hatsumomo, given her history with the ill-mannered geisha. Chiyo tracks down Satsu and makes plans to run away together. However, upon returning to the okiya she discovers Hatsumomo with her boyfriend, Koichi (Karl Yune), which is against the rules of the Geisha lifestyle. When they are caught, Hatsumomo attempts to twist the situation by accusing Chiyo of stealing. Chiyo denies this and informs Mother of what she saw in the shed. As a result, everyone is barred from leaving the okiya at night except to attend work engagements, and this further increases Hatsumomo's anger towards Chiyo. On the night of their planned escape, Chiyo attempts to sneak out but falls off the rooftop and is seriously injured. As punishment for dishonoring the okiya, Mother tells Chiyo that she won't invest any more money in her geisha training. She also informs Chiyo that both her parents (Mako and Elizabeth Sung) are dead. Chiyo misses her chance to flee and never sees Satsu again. She is also demoted from geisha training to working as a slave to pay off her increasing debts to Mother. One day, while crying on a riverbank, Chiyo is noticed by the Chairman (Ken Watanabe) and his geisha companions. He buys her a shaved ice dessert and gives her his handkerchief with some money in it. Inspired by his act of kindness, Chiyo resolves to become a geisha so that she may one day become a part of the Chairman's life. Several years later, Pumpkin (Youki Kudoh) has begun her training as a maiko under Hatsumomo's tutelage and Chiyo (Zhang Ziyi) is envious of it as she remains a maid under Mother. She is unexpectedly taken under the wing of Mameha (Michelle Yeoh), one of Gion's most successful geisha and long time rival of Hatsumomo's. Although initially reluctant, Mother is persuaded by Mameha to allow Chiyo to train as a geisha. Under Mameha's tutelage, Chiyo becomes a maiko and takes the name of Sayuri. She grows in popularity, and Hatsumomo grows so desperate that she tries to ruin Sayuri's reputation. Predicting this, Mamaeha takes her to a sumo wrestling match where Sayuri is reintroduced to the Chairman, who seems unaware of her previous identity as Chiyo, as well as his business associate Nobu Toshikazu (Kōji Yakusho) (whom Hatsumomo finds repulsive), who takes a liking to her. Meanwhile, Mameha orchestrates a bidding war for Sayuri's mizuage between two men: Nobu and Dr. Crab (Randall Duk Kim), which will make her a full geisha. Upon learning what Mameha has planned, Hatsumomo spreads cruel rumors that Sayuri has already lost her virginity. However, Sayuri is named the lead dancer for a popular performance, which angers Hatsumomo as she was hoping for Pumpkin to be named the lead. At the performance, she attracts the attention of many men, including the Baron (Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa) (Mameha's danna), with her performance. When Dr. Crab congratulates Sayuri, she secretly convinces him to listen to a different opinion before taking the word of someone who lies. The Baron invites Sayuri to his estate for a sakura-viewing party, which Mameha is reluctant to let Sayuri attend but lets her go anyway. When the Baron presents a kimono to Sayuri in private at the party, he undresses her against her will in order to "take a look", but does not go any further. Sayuri's mizuage is won with a record-breaking bid of fifteen thousand yen. Mother, seeing Sayuri as a financial asset, names her as her adopted daughter and heiress to the okiya. This crushes Pumpkin, who was hoping that she would get adopted so she could have security in her old age, and enrages Hatsumomo. She is then told by Mother that she must give up her spacious room to Sayuri, which further outrages Hatsumomo, who tries to remind her of her previous financial contribution. Mameha later tells Sayuri that the bid had ended up a contest between Dr. Crab and the Baron, Nobu having refused to partake in the bidding because it was against his principles. Mameha let it go to Dr. Crab because of her romantic feelings for the Baron, despite his bid being even higher. When returning home from the mizuage ceremony, Sayuri finds a drunken Hatsumomo in her room, where she has found the Chairman's handkerchief. A fight ensues, during which a gas lantern is knocked over and ignites a fire, and the okiya is partially destroyed by the flames. Hatsumomo is then kicked out of the okiya by Mother, her belongings given to Sayuri, and she is banished from Gion with her fate left unknown. Sayuri's successful career is cut short by the outbreak of World War II. Sayuri and Mameha are separated, with Sayuri going to the hills to work for a kimono maker, an old friend of Nobu's, and Mameha going to a physician, the Chairman's old friend. After the war, Sayuri is reunited with Nobu, who needs her help with impressing an American Colonel named Derricks (Ted Levine) who has the power to approve funding for the Chairman's firm. Sayuri reunites with Mameha, who now makes a living renting rooms for the poor. Although she is reluctant to return to the geisha lifestyle after what she's been through, she agrees to help impress Derricks. Sayuri is reacquainted with Pumpkin, who is now a flirty escort. Sayuri goes on a trip with Nobu, the Chairman, Mameha, Pumpkin, and the Americans to the Amami Islands. At Amami, the Colonel propositions Sayuri, but is rejected. Nobu witnesses the incident and confronts Sayuri. He finally confesses his feelings, telling her that he wants to become her danna. Knowing that entering into a relationship with Nobu will destroy any chance of her being with the Chairman, Sayuri is distraught and devises a plan. Mameha catches on to it and warns her against it because of the kindness Nobu has shown her. She wants Sayuri to accept him as her danna and not end up like Hatsumomo did. She refuses and enlists Pumpkin's help to have Nobu catch her seemingly being intimate with the Colonel. However, because of her secret resentment of Sayuri, Pumpkin brings the Chairman instead, having full knowledge of Sayuri's feelings towards him. When Sayuri confronts her, Pumpkin coldly tells her that she did a lot of favors for her in the past and she stole her chances of being adopted by Mother. She hoped by having the Chairman see her with Derricks, he would be disgusted by Sayuri's behavior and she would have to accept Nobu as her danna. A few days later, after returning to Gion, Sayuri receives a call to go to the teahouse. Sayuri expects to see Nobu, but instead the Chairman comes and finally reveals to her that he has known all along that she was the girl at the riverbank. He tells her that he had told Nobu about the affair after confronting Pumpkin for her behavior, effectively destroying Nobu's affections for Sayuri and his desire to be her danna. He also reveals that he was responsible for sending Mameha to her so that she could fulfill her dreams of becoming a geisha. Sayuri finally reveals her love to the Chairman, and the film ends with their loving embrace and kiss, and a stroll through the garden.

dramatic, romantic, intrigue, cruelty, historical

tt0397535

American Pastoral

Seymour Levov, known as "Swede" has died. His story is told in flashbacks. Swede was from a Jewish family and worked at the glove factory his father, Lou, founded. He and Dawn Dwyer, a former beauty queen and pageant winner, meet with Lou before their marriage. Lou and Dawn disagree about whether Dawn's future children will be raised as Jews or Catholics. He unsuccessfully tries to intimidate her. Then Dawn says she and Swede will not have children if it means raising them as Jews. Swede intervenes and smooths things over between Dawn and Lou.The Levovs have a picture-perfect life during post-war 1950's America. They have a beautiful country home in Newark and Swede commutes daily to the factory. He is good to his employees and they are very loyal to him. Dawn raises cows. She and Swede have a daughter, Meredith (known as Merry) who has a severe stutter. They send her to a speech therapist but see little improvement. A new therapist, Sheila, believes the stutter is caused by Merry's unconscious resentment of her mother. The Levovs don't believe this but since Merry likes Sheila, she is allowed to continue.An adolescent Merry and her father go camping. Dawn stays behind because one of their cows is about to give birth. As they are preparing to leave, Swede hands Merry a bouquet of wildflowers for her mother. Merry seems disturbed and asks Swede to kiss her. He does, on the cheek. Then she asks to be kissed like he kisses her mother. Swede blows up and orders her to fix the strap on her dress, which was pulled down over her shoulder.Fast forward to Merry's teenage years, which take place in the mid to late sixties. She is contemptuous and disrespectful to her parents, especially Dawn. She has no friends at home but is allowed to spend her Saturdays in New York City. Dawn and Swede don't know her friends there and feel they are a bad influence. Nonetheless they continue to allow her to go, provided she is home by curfew. One night she doesn't show up. Swede waits a long time and at last she arrives by the last train. They argue and a police officer orders Swede to move his car. Because of the riots, shootings and bombings of local businesses, there is a curfew. Swede narrowly escapes being attacked by a gang of thugs and they arrive home safely.Merry is informed that she has lost the privilege of going to New York because she broke the rules. Swede advises her that if protesting the war means so much to her, she should do it locally. Not long after, a bomb explodes in the local post office, killing one man. Merry disappears and the FBI come looking for her. Swede and Dawn cannot believe their sixteen year old daughter has done this terrible thing. They believe she was brainwashed. But a search of their home by the FBI reveals many incriminating pieces of evidence. Their phone is tapped in case Merry calls them. But she has disappeared into thin air. Swede learns that the underground has probably taken her in and are protecting her.An charming young woman visits the factory, introducing herself as Rita Cohen and pretending to have an interest in how gloves are made. Swede welcomes her and offers to have a pair made for her, on the spot. After accepting them, her personality changes. She is suddenly all business as she demands Merry's Audrey Hepburn scrapbook. Merry had asked for it. Rita turns a deaf ear to Swede's pleas to take him to Merry. They arrange to meet at a deserted spot late that night.Dawn thinks Swede should call the FBI or police but he refuses. He recently learned that Merry was sighted in the Newark train station six months earlier but the FBI couldn't find her. He spends many nights waiting until the last train, hoping to spot her.At the predetermined spot, Rita takes the scrapbook but won't say where Merry is. Swede notices that she is wearing Merry's coat. She tells him that Merry hates her parents, especially her beauty queen mother. Rita speaks of Dawn in very contemptuous terms.Swede hasn't noticed but Dawn has sold off most of her cows. When she goes to the barn, she finds a note demanding $10,000 in small bills. Swede is to take it to Rita's hotel room. She attempts to seduce him, promising to tell him where Merry is after it's done. Swede runs from the room but returns a few minutes later. Rita and the money are gone. She left via the fire escape. Swede runs outside, spots Rita's van, and runs after her but to no avail.He finally contacts the FBI, who take fingerprints but tell him he made a grave mistake in not notifying them. Swede still believes Merry is being held captive and brainwashed. But he and Dawn are finally beginning to realize that they might never see their daughter again.Dawn has a nervous breakdown and is hospitalized. Swede visits her faithfully, during which time she asks how she ended up with a life like the one she now has. She had wanted to be a teacher but instead wound up as Swede's princess, isolated and kept from doing what she really wanted to.After her return home, Dawn decides to undergo plastic surgery to make herself look younger. The psychiatrist assures Swede it is normal. But once the surgery is done, Dawn drifts away from Swede. She takes up with a younger man. Swede knows about the affair but does nothing.Finally there is an unofficial break in Merry's case. In downtown Manhattan, Swede spies Rita. He follows, then attacks her, pushing her into a wall and demanding to know where Merry is. She says that Merry is working at a vet clinic. She warns him not to go there during business hours as he will make a scene and Merry will be discovered. There is no way she could handle the FBI. Before leaving, Rita asks Swede to take care of Merry, as she herself can no longer stand being around her.Swede goes to the clinic, which is in a run-down part of town. He sees a girl locking up and leaving. But he barely recognizes his daughter. Merry is filthy, run-down, and wearing a face veil. She is shocked to see him but doesn't run away. They talk and he is surprised to find that her stutter is gone. Merry is living in an abandoned house. She is now a "Jain", a member of an obscure India religion. They don't believe in bathing, among other things, and she wears the veil to avoid breathing the fresh air. Swede learns that after the bombing, which Merry admits she is responsible for, she hid in the home of her speech therapist Sheila. From there she went into hiding with the underground, changing her name nearly every day. In the process of being moved from New York to Chicago, she was raped.At home, Swede tests the waters by asking Dawn how she'd feel if Merry turned up after all these years. Dawn declares it is not possible, that if she had wanted to get in touch with them she would have. Swede realizes Dawn has pretty much written Merry off and doesn't tell her of his meeting with their daughter.He goes back, taking a bag of Merry's belongings. This time he asks her how many other bombings she has done. The answer is two. But despite his pleas, she refuses to return home and asks him not to come back. He does but she has vanished. He continues to go there. Years pass and at last he dies.At his graveside service, Merry shows up as the mourners are leaving. She is more conventionally dressed as she walks up to the coffin. Dawn stares at her in disbelief.

tragedy, murder, flashback

tt0376479

Partir

There have been so many variations on D.H. Lawrences Lady Chatterley's Lover over the past eighty years that it has become almost a genre of its own. Few, however, have been as successful in elucidating Lawrence's theme of the psychic need to integrate mind and body into a single life force as Catherine Corsini's Leaving.Suzanne (Kristin Scott-Thomas) is an English woman who tries to leave her French husband Samuel (Yvan Attal) after becoming sexually involved with Spaniard Ivan (Sergi Lopez) an ex-convict who has been hired to build an office for her physiotherapy business in the back yard of their bourgeois estate. Samuel uses every means at his disposal , from cutting off her finances to threatening prison for her lover, to keep her in the house, until she finds but one means of exit.It is to both Corsini and Scott-Thomas's credit that such a stale premise has resulted in a movie that succeeds so well as both a celebration of erotic self-discovery and denunciation of patriarchal power structures. Corsini is lean and precise in both her script and direction. The first kiss between the lovers is seen in long shot from an obscure angle that makes the viewer question if anything really happened. Then Corsini cuts to a shot of them in a car, and we expect but do not receive a dialogue concerning the kiss, after which Suzanne is shown in bed with her husband, reading because of an apparent inability to sleep.Scott-Thomas gives a performance of exacting physicality. In the beginning, she is all limbs and no center, observing her own body with curious amusement. Her first tryst with Ivan is accomplished through an almost paralytic clinging, as if she is a dead battery charging itself. Before attaining the perfect harmony of body and mind, there is an interim transformation during which her husband accurately if disparagingly describes her as a bitch in heat.Samuel's fury at his wife's defection explodes with the incredulous rage of a factory owner whose workers have gone on strike. "You are my wife!" he insists, reducing her to a possession without a personal identity. All the rules of civility between human beings are forgotten in the ensuing battle between the former partners in a now ruptured marriage.In transgressing the boundaries of class as well as the limits of sexual fidelity, Suzanne loses her bourgeois privileges and becomes subject to the economic harassment of the those controlling the chains of finance, from the banks to the justice system. In the end, the lovers are outlaws, frolicking in the lusciousness of the natural world, while the distant sound of police sirens echo Raymond Chandler's aphorism that you can say goodbye to just about anything except the cops

murder

tt1315962

Ben 10: Race Against Time

Taking place after the series, the story opens in Bellwood as a mysterious black figure appears and immediately starts destroying things. Ben Tennyson (Graham Phillips), in the form of Heatblast (voiced by David Franklin), confronts him. After a short battle, Ben seemingly obliterates the villain, which is strange considering it was way too easy. The next day, Ben goes back to school, and has trouble adjusting to normal life again. After a bad day he gets bullied by Cash (Tyler Patrick Jones) and JT (Tyler Foden) and two girls he tried to flirt with earlier in the movie resulting in Greymatter (voiced by Carlos Alazraqui) getting his revenge on the bullies by causing complete chaos at the diner where Ms. Dalton (Aloma Wright) works. Later he and Gwen Tennyson (Haley Ramm) go over and reveals the same villain Ben defeated earlier. Max Tennyson (Lee Majors) identifies him as Eon (Christien Anholt), an alien called a Chronian from an unknown dimension, who the Plumbers captured almost two centuries ago. When he arrived, he was half dead and brought a device with him called the Hands of Armageddon, which would open a time rift to his home dimension and unleash his race upon Earth if activated. They travel to the containment facility where Eon is supposed to be kept in suspended animation, only to find it empty and his guard aged to near-death. The guard tells Max not to let Eon find the hardware store, where the Hands were kept. Before he dies, the Plumber warns Ben that Eon is after him. Traveling back to Bellwood, Max takes Ben and Gwen to the location of the Hands of Armageddon, guarded by the few remaining Plumbers ranging from Ms. Dalton, Mr. Hawkins the Postman (Jeff Jensen), Fire Chief Whittington (Michael Runyard), Principal White (Robert Picardo), Mrs. Carlay the Plant Caregiver, Mr. Jenyx the Telephone Company Worker, and Mr. Enguells the Sanitation Worker. Eon has followed them and breaks into the facility, but cannot activate the device. When Ben attempts to use the Omnitrix, it malfunctions glowing bright purple and burning giving Ben intense pain. Eon attempts to kidnap Ben, claiming it to be a rescue, but Ben escapes. Eon manages to corner Ben, explaining that his race learned to control time itself, but trapped themselves by misusing their power. He claims that his fate is intertwined with Ben's. Eon is scared off by an old man who happens to be another Plumber before he can elaborate. Grandpa Max decides it would be best for Ben to leave Bellwood so that Eon won't find him, but Ben bravely refuses and they both come to a deal where Ben will be monitored daily by a Plumber in disguise. The Plumbers, all around town, guard Ben around the clock. When Ben goes to the school gym to be alone, Principal White attempts to calm Ben's fears just when Eon freezes then reverses time as he throws White out of the way. Eon then tries to show Ben his future by disabling the Omnitrix. However, Ben sets off the fire alarm, strikes Eon in the side, and breaks out of his grasp. This time, Ben is able to become Diamondhead (voiced by Daran Norris) and fights him off. Later that night, Ben decides to lure Eon into a trap by purposefully leaving himself open, but this backfires and he is captured, along with Gwen and Max after the Rustbucket is destroyed. At the Plumber facility storing the Hands of Armageddon, Eon explains some of the background of the Omnitrix: Ben can only remain in his alien forms for ten minutes at a time, a fail-safe to prevent them from overwhelming his human self and personality with the forms own. He also reveals that he is an evil version of Ben from an alternate timeline, which Max admits he never wanted Ben to figure out. Eon knows how to deactivate the fail safe, and in doing so, can turn Ben into a Chronian. This is because the Hands need the energy of a young Chronian, which is why he kidnapped Ben. He does so, Eon presses the Omnitrix that is glowing bright purple and turns Ben into a younger clone of him. Meanwhile, Principal White has gotten out of the nurse's office and finds the imprisoned Plumbers. When trying to find the key to that room, they point to the button near the door which freed them all. Gwen and Max manage to free themselves. While Max tries to disable the Hands of Armageddon at the cost of his own life, Gwen reaches to Ben inside young Eon. Ben successfully overcomes Eon, and with the help of the other Plumbers, manages to save Max and disables the time rift, sending Eon's race back to their own dimension. Just when it seems like they've won, time stops for everyone but Ben. The older Eon reappears, angered at Ben's victory. After Ben points out that the Hands and Eon's world is gone, Eon throws Ben across the room in fury. Ben transforms into Wildmutt and fights him off, eventually knocking him into the Hands of Armageddon, destroying both the Hands and Eon. After doing an impromptu magic trick for the school talent show and getting second place, using Wildmutt's timely de-transformation and a well placed stage curtain, Ben finally accepts being just Ben for a while and go for pizza. Max says that it's probably a good idea to put away the Omnitrix for the time being. Max also points out that aliens are persistent, and as they walk off into the night, an alien ship flies towards Earth.

prank

tt1037011

The Tale of Despereaux

A noble mouse named Despereaux saves a princess. === Book I: A Mouse Is Born === Book one tells a story about a small, sickly mouse born in a castle whose name is Despereaux. He was born very small with large ears and his eyes open. Despereaux, unlike other mice, spends lots of time reading. He particularly enjoys a book about how a knight saves a princess and they live happily ever after. One day while reading he hears music. He follows the sound and is led to Princess Pea and King Philip. He sits at the king's feet to hear the music and falls in love with the princess and speaks to her, but the king led the mouse away because mice were related to rats, which are outlawed. Furlough, his brother, sees this and tells his father, Lester Tilling. Lester calls the mouse council; Furlough goes to collect Despereaux. The mouse council orders Despereaux to be sent to the dungeon because talking to a human is forbidden. In the dungeon he meets Gregory, the jailer, who saves him because Despereaux tells Gregory a story. === Book II: Chiaroscuro === Book II talks about a rat named Roscuro who, unlike the other rats, loved the light and was less vicious and cunning than the other rats. Finally, he decided enough was enough and went into the light. He climbs onto a chandelier, which is above a banquet. However, he falls into the queen's soup, and the queen, whose habit was to state the obvious, said, "There's a rat in my stew," before dying. The princess, now hostile to Roscuro, orders him to leave. Roscuro, angry, desires revenge against the princess. The king, upset, bans the use of spoons, soup, and bowls. === Book III: GOR! The Tale of Miggery Sow === Many years before Despereaux and Roscuro were born, a six-year-old girl named Miggery "Mig" Sow witnesses the death of her ill mother. Afterwards, Mig is sold to work by her father for some cigarettes, a hen, and a red tablecloth to a man Mig calls "Uncle". Uncle often clouts Mig's ears, leaving her partially deaf. Mig decides, upon seeing the princess pass by on a horse, that she wants to be a princess. Mig is then sent to work in the castle by the King's soldiers, who tell "Uncle" that no human being is allowed to own another. In the castle she gains weight and becomes lazy. Mig's main job is to go down to the dungeons to deliver Gregory the jailer his meal and, while there, she meets Roscuro and confesses to him that her greatest wish is to become a princess. Roscuro convinces Mig that if she helps him kidnap Princess Pea, he'll make her a servant girl so Miggery Sow can become a princess. === Book IV: Recalled to the Light === Despereaux escapes the dungeons on a tray of Gregory's that Mig brings back to the kitchen, where he hears her conversation with Roscuro. However, Despereaux is soon discovered by Mig and Cook. Cook, as a mouse-hating woman, orders Mig to kill Despereaux. She explains to Mig that her philosophy with mice is "kill 'em, even if they're already dead." When Despereaux is attempting to flee, Mig chops off his tail with a knife so that she can tell Cook that she missed the "meecy" and at least spare the "meecy"'s life. Despereaux spends the night in pain, sleeping on a sack of flour. He dreams of the castle's knights in shining armor, darkness, and light. However, when the knight removes the helmet, it doesn't reveal anyone. Despereaux begins to doubt "'happily ever after" and everything else that he has read and starts to weep. Meanwhile, Roscuro leads Mig to Princess Pea's room with a knife, and to kidnap Princess Pea and lead her to the dungeon. The next morning, the castle is in a panic over the missing princess. Guards are sent to search the dungeon, only to find Gregory dead from starvation, being lost in the dark because Roscuro has chewed the rope which secures him to where he started. Despereaux is seen by the mouse council, who mistake him for a ghost because he is covered in flour from his night on the flour sack. Despereaux forgives his father, upon the latter's request, for sentencing him to the dungeon. Despereaux goes on to seek the King. Despereaux tells the King that he knows that Pea is in the dungeon, but the King refuses to believe him because Despereaux is related distantly to the rats. Despereaux then goes to Hovis, a mouse who is, in secret, Despereaux's friend. Hovis gives him an entire spool of red thread and a sewing needle, as a sword, for his quest to the dungeons. Mig, meanwhile, learns that Roscuro tricked her into helping him kidnap Pea, and that she will never be a princess. Roscuro plans for Pea to remain locked in the dungeons, so that he can marvel over her brightly colored dress, but Despereaux arrives to save Pea and Mig chops Roscuro's tail off with the knife when he refuses to show them the way back. However, many rats arrive on the scene because they followed the smell of Despereaux, and the soup he recently ate. Despereaux threatens to kill Roscuro with the sewing needle. Roscuro begins crying. Pea offers that if Roscuro lets her go, she will treat him with some soup. Roscuro agrees. Botticelli and the other rats are so disgusted by the happiness of all that is happening that they all return into the darkness. Despereaux and Pea become close friends. Roscuro is allowed access into the upstairs of the castle, and reunites Mig's father, who has become a prisoner in the dungeons, with his daughter. Mig's father promises that he loves Mig and will never leave her. But before this, however, Roscuro, Mig, the King, Pea, and Despereaux all get together for soup, as Despereaux's friend Hovis, his parents, and his brother watch in amazement behind the scenes.

fantasy

tt0420238

Starship Troopers 2: Hero of the Federation

On an unnamed planet inhabited by the Arachnids, a squad of soldiers find themselves pinned down and surrounded on all sides by Arachnid forces. Even with their new laser gun technology and assistance from psychic soldiers, the Arachnid assault overwhelms them and General Jack Shepherd (Ed Lauter) decides to make a last stand with several of his best soldiers, allowing the majority of his surviving troops to escape. The plan works, and the soldiers, whom include Sergeant Dede Rake (Brenda Strong), the psychic Lieutenant Pavlov Dill (Lawrence Monoson), Private Jill Sandee (Sandrine Holt) and her lover Private Duff Horton (Jason-Shane Scott), and Private Lei Sahara (Colleen Porch) escape. Despite reaching relative safety, the team is whittled down by deadly dust storms and Arachnid ambushes. Among these deaths is the only member of the platoon with a radio, Corporal Thom Kobe (Brian Tee). Lieutenant Dill finds himself unable to command his soldiers as he receives traumatic visions of utter annihilation. He takes his anger out on Private Sahara, who is revealed to have been psychic but lost reliable control of her psychic abilities as puberty took place, which seems to be rather typical.The remaining refugees find themselves sheltering within Hotel Delta 1-8-5, an old and abandoned structure containing Captain V. J. Dax (Richard Burgi), a disgraced (though with a fantastic combat record) soldier who had killed his commanding officer and was sealed in a furnace-like cell to be taken back to Earth to be court-martialled for his crime. As a deadly dust storm kicks up, the soldiers find themselves without communications or back-up for a lengthy period of time and protect themselves through the use of electric pulse fences with limited battery power to hold off the Arachnid warrior bugs. Dax takes command of the small group, much to the annoyance of Dill, and the two develop an instant dislike to each other at first sight. Dax sees Dill as an incompetent commander, while Dill sees Dax as a traitor to the Federation.Soon after defenses for Hotel Delta are set up, Shepherd and three of the soldiers return. While the troops in the outpost originally think that all of their comrades has reached safety, it becomes clear that, in fact, all their comrades died. But Shepherd was rescued by three of his fellow soldiers. In addition to Shepherd, the three troops include the near-catatonic Private Charlie Soda (Kelly Carlson), the odd acting Tech Sergeant Ari Peck (J. P. Manoux), and the medic Private Joe Griff (Ed Quinn). With the help of the newcomers, they solve all of their technical issues, including lack of communication. After General Shepherd manages to radio to the Starfleet, they now need only to wait for a Fleet dropship to rescue them, but it may take several hours due to the fleet being on the other side of the planet.Tempers flare at the base as Soda seduces both Horton and Sandee. In a rage, Soda finds a new significant other in Griff. However, both Horton and Sandee soon act strange, as do many other survivors. Sahara seems to have become ill as she has nightmares and wakes up vomiting. Accidentally brushing Griff's hands brings on a psychic vision in Sahara. Sahara goes to Rake for advice and tells her what really went on. Rake suggests that Sahara is simply pregnant and that pregnancy not only brings on the symptoms she describes, but makes girls temperamental and makes them think that "they know it all". Eventually, Sahara and Dax find themselves facing a new breed of Arachnid, a small bug that infests the human body by forcing open the mouth and propagating inside the brain. They come to Dill with their news and make amends with him, also learning that he only made bad decisions because of the visions he was receiving and that he felt incredibly guilty over the loss of men under his command in the escape. Sahara tells Dill that she has been receiving parts of the vision as well, and Dill reveals to Sahara that an occasional side-effect of pregnancy is the temporary return of the psychic abilities lost at puberty.Soon after making amends, Dill corners several infected soldiers and intends for them to be captured and studied, but as he insults them another infected soldier kills him with a knife that Dax gave him earlier. The assault is blamed on Dax (his name was inscribed on the knife) and he is imprisoned again in the cell.Eventually a dropship finally arrives but all of the troopers are infected including Shepherd, who, if returned to Earth, may infect the leaders of the Federation. Rake takes multiple adrenaline shots, wounding one infected soldier and killing another before freeing Dax, but kills herself because she has also been infected (Note: it is unclear why the parasite was unable to control her, perhaps because of the adrenaline shots).A soldier attempts to infect Sahara, but after several unsuccessful attempts to stop him, Sahara manages to kill him and escape. Sahara uses her restored psychic abilities to read the mind of the bug that had attempted to control Rake's mind and discovers the bugs plan: use General Sheppard to infest High Command allowing the bugs to wipe out the human race on Earth and cause Sahara's vision to come true. Sahara and Dax kill the rest of the infected troops, and make it to the roof of the structure to confront the infected Shepherd just as the pulse fences give way, allowing thousands of warrior bugs to swarm over Hotel Delta. Just as Shepherd is about to be rescued, Dax kills him with two rifles held akimbo. He gets Sahara onto the ship and tells the bewildered crew that she holds information vital to the survival of the Federation. He then refuses to get onto the ship ("Murderers don't go home!") and vows to give her time to escape. Dax goes down in a blaze of glory, fending off bugs as they overwhelm him.Planet Earth, one year later. Although Dax is labeled as a Hero of the Federation, his death is shrouded in propaganda as the Federation uses his end as a means of recruitment. Sahara and her newborn baby attend a lecture by a recruiting officer whom is encouraging visitors to join up in the continuing war against the bugs. Having received an honorable discharge from the military to raise her infant son, Sahara walks out of the recruiting station. The recruiting officer walks up to Sahara after the lecture and thanks her for attending, and then, after seeing her baby that she is holding, urges her to raise her son well for: "we need fresh meat for the grinder". Sahara, alarmed, flees the recruiting station. This act appears to have no effect on the recruiter, showing the movie's take on military idealism.

violence, flashback

tt0367093

Blue Jasmine

Jasmine Francis (Cate Blanchett) disembarks in San Francisco after a flight from New York City. She takes a taxi to her sister Ginger's (Sally Hawkins) apartment, where Ginger is dismayed to learn that Jasmine traveled first class despite claiming to be broke. Jasmine has recently suffered a nervous breakdown and, having incurred heavy debts, has been forced to seek refuge with her sister. A series of flashbacks reveal that Jasmine's husband, money manager Hal Francis, was arrested for running a fraudulent operation with his clients' money. Ginger and her husband, Augie, were among Hal's victims; he swindled them out of $200,000 of lottery winnings that Augie had wanted to start a business with. Hal committed suicide in prison after being publicly disgraced. Jasmine's step-son Danny (Alden Ehrenreich) dropped out of Harvard and cut himself off completely from Jasmine, believing her to be complicit in Hal's crimes. Ginger and Augie lost everything in the Ponzi scheme and their marriage fell apart. After Hal's death, Jasmine began drinking heavily and abusing anti-anxiety medication. She also developed a habit of talking to herself about her past. Ginger is now dating a mechanic called Chili (Bobby Cannavale), whom Jasmine detests for his low breeding and coarse manners. She considers becoming an interior designer because of her "great taste" and past experience in decorating her homes. She wants to take online courses, but, having no computer skills, she decides to take a class in computers to gain basic proficiency. With no income, she grudgingly takes a job as a receptionist with a dentist (Michael Stuhlbarg), who pesters her with unwanted sexual advances. She fights him off and quits. Jasmine's situation improves when she meets a wealthy widower, Dwight (Peter Sarsgaard), at a party. Dwight is a diplomat aspiring to become a Congressman. She poses as an interior designer, telling him that her husband was a surgeon who died of a heart attack. Dwight is impressed by her stylishness and invites her to decorate his new home. Ginger begins a romance with Al (Louis C.K.), whom she met at the same party. She breaks up with Chili, who begs her not to leave him. Eventually she finds out that Al is married and gets back with Chili, realizing she has been influenced by Jasmine. Jasmine develops a romance with Dwight and he is about to buy her an engagement ring when they bump into Augie outside the jewelry store. Augie rails at Jasmine about what Hal did to Ginger and him. Augie also reveals that Danny is living nearby in Oakland and is now married. Dwight is outraged that Jasmine lied to him and calls off the engagement. Jasmine goes to Oakland and finds Danny, who tells Jasmine he never wants to see her again because of what she did to his father. It is revealed that Jasmine finally learned of Hal's many affairs and confronted him. When he told her he wanted to divorce her to be with a 19-year-old au pair, Jasmine, in a moment of blind rage, called the FBI to inform the authorities of Hal's fraudulent business dealings. This led to his arrest. Jasmine returns to her sister's apartment and finds Ginger back with Chili, who is moving in now. Jasmine and Chili needle each other, and Jasmine is furious when Ginger takes his side. Jasmine lies to Ginger and claims she is going to marry Dwight, and leaves. Jasmine, now totally unhinged, takes a seat on a park bench and starts muttering to herself.

dark, depressing, flashback, melodrama, tragedy, entertaining, sentimental

tt2334873

Stand Up Guys

Released from prison after serving 28 years, Val reunites with his old friend and partner Doc. Doc has been ordered by mob boss Claphands to kill Val as soon as he gets out. One of the first things Val wants is to visit a local brothel, which is run by Wendy. After Val is unable to perform, he and Doc break into a drugstore where Val consumes a larger dose of Viagra than what is prescribed. After a return to the brothel, Val tells Doc that he's ready to party. They go to a club, where Val shares an intimate dance with a younger woman. After snorting some pills, Val passes out, so Doc contemplates killing him then and there. Instead, he takes Val to a hospital where the head nurse is Nina, their old friend Hirsch's daughter. Thereafter, they go to a local diner where Val correctly guesses that Doc is to kill him. Doc says he's been given until 10 a.m. to do the job, or else he will be killed as well. Val breaks into a black Dodge Challenger SRT8, and they go to get Hirsch, who had once been their getaway driver. Hirsch gets behind the wheel and almost immediately into a highway chase with the police. Asked what he wants to do next, the widowed Hirsch chooses the brothel, since he hasn't slept with anyone since his wife. After they leave, the three men hear sounds coming from the Challenger's trunk. In it, they find a naked Sylvia, who was kidnapped by men who abused her, then threw her into the trunk. Sylvia tells them where the kidnappers are. Val and Doc go there, then shoot a couple of them. After tying everyone up, Sylvia comes in with a baseball bat, whereupon Doc and Val leave her to her revenge. Back at the car, Doc and Val find that Hirsch has died. They break the news to Nina, who helps the two bury her father at the cemetery. Doc and Val return to a diner, where the young waitress (who waits on them several times) is revealed to be Doc's granddaughter Alex, who adores Doc, but has no clue who he is. Doc makes a phone call to Claphands, begging him to show Val mercy, since he has only a few years left. Claphands reveals that he knows about Alex, and that he will hurt her if Doc doesn't complete the job. Doc writes a letter to Alex, puts his home keys inside the envelope, then pins it to the wall of the diner. Walking down the street at sunrise, Val spots a church and he goes inside to give a priest his confession. Next, they break into a tailor shop, where they try on suits. Two thugs working for Claphands interrupt them, pestering Doc to get the job done. Doc and Val shoot them both. Alex goes to Doc's apartment. The phone rings. It's Doc and he asks what she thinks of his paintings of sunrises. When he was painting, Doc says, he was thinking of her. A shoe box in the closet is filled with cash. The rent has been paid in advance for a year. He tells Alex goodbye and Alex calls him her grandfather. He tells Alex that he loves her and hangs up. Strolling down to Claphands' warehouse, Doc and Val draw their pistols and open fire. A firefight commences, during which Doc and Val shoot at Claphands and his men, killing both of the latter. A firefight between them and Claphands ensues. The camera pans above the building, and the sky turns into one of Doc's sunrise paintings.

revenge

tt1389096

Easy Rider

The protagonists are two freewheeling bikers: Wyatt (Fonda), nicknamed "Captain America", and Billy (Hopper). Wyatt dresses in American flag-adorned leather (with an Office of the Secretary of Defense Identification Badge affixed to it), while Billy dresses in Native American-style buckskin pants and shirts and a bushman hat. The former is quite open to people they meet on their journey and accepting of help while the latter is more hostile and suspicious. After smuggling cocaine from Mexico to Los Angeles, Wyatt and Billy sell their haul to "Connection", a man (played by Phil Spector) in a Rolls-Royce, and receive a large sum in return. With the money stuffed into a plastic tube hidden inside the Stars & Stripes-painted fuel tank of Wyatt's California-style chopper, they ride eastward aiming to reach New Orleans, Louisiana, in time for the Mardi Gras festival. During their trip Wyatt and Billy stop to repair one of the bikes at a farmstead, and have a meal with the farmer (Warren Finnerty) and his family. Wyatt seems to appreciate the simple, traditional lifestyle presented here. Later Wyatt stops to pick up a hippyish hitch-hiker (Luke Askew) and he invites them to visit his commune, where they stay for the rest of the day. Life in the commune appears to be hard, with young hippies from the city struggling to grow their own crops in a dry climate with poor soil and little rainfall. At one point, the bikers witness a prayer for blessing of the new crop, as put by a commune-member (Robert Walker Jr.): A chance "to make a stand", and to plant "simple food, for our simple taste". The commune is also hosting a traveling theater group that "sings for its supper" (performs for food). The notion of "free love" appears to be practised, with two of the women, Lisa (Luana Anders) and Sarah (Sabrina Scharf), seemingly sharing the affections of the hitch-hiking commune-member before turning their attention to Wyatt and Billy. The hitch-hiker asks the two bikers to stay at the commune, saying, "the time is now", to which Wyatt replies "I'm hip about time...but I just gotta go." As the bikers leave, the hitch-hiker (known only as "Stranger on highway" in the credits) gives Wyatt some LSD for him to share with "the right people". Later, while naughtily riding along with a parade in a small town, the pair are arrested by the local authorities for "parading without a permit" and thrown in jail. There, they befriend American Civil Liberties Union lawyer and local drunk George Hanson (Jack Nicholson), who has spent the night in jail after overindulging in alcohol. George helps them get out of jail and decides to travel with Wyatt and Billy to New Orleans. As they camp that night, Wyatt and Billy introduce George to marijuana. As an alcoholic and a "square", George is reluctant to try the marijuana ("It leads to harder stuff", and "I don't want to get hooked"), but he quickly relents. Stopping to eat at a smalltown Louisiana diner, the trio's appearance attracts the attention of the locals. The girls in the restaurant think they're exciting but the local men and a police officer begin making loud and denigrating comments and taunts. One of the men menacingly states, "I don't believe they'll make the parish line." The waitress does not take their order and Wyatt, Billy and George, feeling the hostility, decide to leave without any fuss. They make camp outside town. The events of the day cause George to comment: "This used to be a hell of a good country. I can't understand what's gone wrong with it." He observes that Americans talk a lot about the value of freedom but are actually afraid of anyone who truly exhibits it. In the middle of the night a group of locals attack the sleeping trio, beating them with clubs. Billy screams and brandishes a knife and the attackers leave. Wyatt and Billy suffer minor injuries but George has been bludgeoned to death. Wyatt and Billy wrap George's body up in his sleeping bag, gather his belongings, and vow to return the items to his parents. They continue to New Orleans and find a brothel George had told them about. Taking prostitutes Karen (Karen Black) and Mary (Toni Basil) with them, Wyatt and Billy decide to go outside and wander the parade-filled street of the Mardi Gras celebration. They end up in a cemetery, where all four ingest the LSD which the hitch-hiker had given to Wyatt. They experience a bad trip. Making camp afterward, Billy declares that their trek has been a success. Wyatt disagrees, declaring, "We blew it." The next morning, the two are continuing their trip eastward to Florida (where they hope to retire wealthy) when two rednecks in an old pickup truck spot them and decide to "scare the hell out of them" with their shotgun. As they pull alongside Billy, one of the men lazily aims the shotgun at him and threatens and insults him by saying, "Want me to blow your brains out?" and "Why don't you get a haircut?" When Billy casually flips his middle finger up at them, the hillbilly fires the shotgun and the shot hits Billy. His motorcycle goes down and he lands near the edge of the road, seriously wounded in the side. As the truck then takes off past Wyatt down the road, Wyatt turns around and races back to put his American flag-emblazoned jacket over his critically injured friend, who is already drenched in blood, before riding off for help. Seeing the injured biker, the old pickup truck turns around and closes in on Wyatt. The hillbilly fires at Wyatt as he speeds by, killing Wyatt instantly, his motorcycle goes flying in flames. As the murderous rednecks drive away, the film ends with an aerial shot from a helicopter of the flaming bike in the middle of the deserted road and two bikers lying there, as the camera recedes into the sky.

comedy, avant garde, dark, murder, realism, cult, atmospheric, psychedelic, humor, satire

tt0064276

The Waltons: A Decade of the Waltons

The real-life 'John-Boy Walton' (Earl Hamner, Jr.), whose voice-overs narrated THE WALTONS televison series for nearly a decade makes a special appearance as himself and the On-Screen Narrator in this 2-hour special. This drama and quasi-documentary is built around a new story informally titled "Grandma's Birthday" and features many flashback scenes and highlights from the TV series. The family plans a surprise birthday party for Grandma Esther Walton and puts together a photo album of precious photographs as a gift for her to unwrap at the party. The narrator walks in and out of scenes as if he were invisible or perhaps as the ghost of an absent John-Boy. Historical black-and-white footage from the Great Depression and Dust Bowl era is inserted within the special as a very brief documentary. Actress Ellen Corby's triumph over a stroke in real life is celebrated using flashbacks of her TV role as Grandma overcoming a similar stroke. By having the actors say good-night to one another around the supper table while using their real-life first names, a touching tribute is paid to the late Will Geer (a.k.a. Grandpa) who began the tradition of saying Grace at the same table. Other special treats include Mr. Hamner introducing the Walton-children cast members to their real-life counterparts (the Hamner siblings) via a cross-country split screen. We also get to travel on-location to the narrator's real-life hometown of Schuyler, Virginia, to enjoy the beauty of nature in the snow-covered foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains along the Rockfish River. Mr. Hamner pays respects at his daddy's grave site, and he even treats the viewers to a trip to his boyhood home on Tree Top Loop where he interviews the woman who inspired the character of Olivia Walton, his very own mother -- Doris Hamner.

depressing, flashback

tt1101051

Vampires: The Turning

Prologue: For many centuries, phi song neng (vampire spirits who have vowed never to drink human blood) have lived among the villages of the Far East. One day, over 800 years ago, a young, human warlord named Niran fell in love with a beautiful song neng woman named Sang. Niran wanted Sang for his own, so he killed her husband and son. In her pain and rage, Sang attacked Niran during a Songkran []New Year] solar eclipse, turning him into a vampire. From Niran have come many jai tham (vampires who drink human blood and kill humans for pleasure). Only Sang can end the jai tham's nightly attacks on humans. Doing so, however, will end the entire bloodline and turn every vampire, song neng as well as jai tham, into mere mortals again. Since the coming Songkran festival will feature the first solar eclipse in 800 years, Sang intends to kill herself by exposing herself to the sun's rays at the end of the eclipse and, thus, wipe out all the vampires in Thailand.Connor [Colin Egglesfield] and Amanda [Meredith Monroe] are vacationing in Thailand during this year's Songkran festival. Connor, trained since childhood in Muay Thai (Thai boxing), takes Amanda to see a match. However, Amanda cannot take the brutality and goes back to their hotel alone. On the way, she gets lost in the Phang Nga market, and Mr Nice Guy [Dom Hetrakul] offers to show her the way to her hotel. He leads her on a short cut down a deserted alley, then suddenly turns into the vampire Niran, drinking her blood and carrying her off on a motorcycle. Connor tries to follow, but he is stopped by another vampire, obviously intent on killing him. Just as the vampire is about to succeed, a bald-headed man appears and chops off the vampire's head. Connor begs for his help finding Amanda, but he warns Connor to leave Thailand immediately and threatens to kill Connor if he follows him. Of course, Connor steathfully (i.e., ten steps behind) follows Kiko [Roger Yuan] home to Kong Sai House.When the police refuse to consider Amanda missing until 48 hours have passed, Connor goes back to Kong Sai House, only to find everyone asleep. While snooping through the house, Connor is attacked by a female vampire [Stephanie Chao] (who turns out to be Sang, but Connor doesn't know that yet). Connor gets away from her by jumping out a window. As Connor lands on the ground below, he is stopped by vampire slayer Raines [Patrick Bauchau] who insists on testing Connor's blood to see if he is infected. When Connor comes up clean, he begs Raines to help him find Amanda but, like Kiko, Raines warns him to leave Thailand. Amanda is as good as dead, he says. If she resists, the jai tham will bleed her dry; if not, they'll turn her, and then Raines will slay her (he gets $10,000 for every vampire he kills). Either way, Amanda should be considered dead to Connor.Connor won't accept it and returns again to Kong Sai House. While there, he sees a photo of Niran in front of the Techno Games Arcade near the Phang Nga market. Figuring that Niran might have taken Amanda there, he snoops around. He finds Amanda being held in a cell with skeletons, carcasses, and other humans in various stages of being drained of their blood. Basically, he's stumbled into the jai tham's pantry. Amanda and Connor escape but are attacked outside by two jai tham on a motorcycle. One drives off with Amanda; the other stays to kill Connor. Just as Niran and the rest of the jai tham arrive to join the fun, Sang appears. Connor grabs a motorcycle and, with Sang riding behind him, they succeed in outrunning the jai tham.Both Amanda and Connor are now faced with decisions. Amanda must decide whether to allow Niran to turn her or to keep on drinking from her, which causes acute pain. Connor has to decide whether or not to join the song neng in hopes of winning the battle with the jai tham and helping Sang to kill herself so that all vampires (including him) will be turned back into mortals. The alternative, if Sang is not successful, is that Connor will remain a vampire until the next Songkran eclipse rolls around in 800 years and Sang can try again. Connor's decision is made doubly hard because he's got the hots for Sang. Amanda decides to continue resisting, and Connor decides to become song neng. This requires being bitten by Sang and, apparently, having sex with her, too.The day of the eclipse is upon them. The song neng have made a deal with the slayers. Since Sang's embrace of the sun must take place in the same spot where the curse began 800 years ago (a couple blocks away), the song neng have made a deal with Raines. Raines and his slayers will line the buildings and walls that overlook the site, which looks like an archeological dig, in order to kill any jai tham who try to stop Sang. Connor, Kiko, and the rest of the song neng will help Sang get to the required spot. The eclipse starts at 3:00, and they will have 17 minutes to do the job. All is set.Suddenly, the sun is covered and the city falls dark. The slayers are in position. Connor and the song neng move out from under the trees. The jai tham arrive on their motorcycles. In the melee that follows, Connor and Niran fall through a weak spot into a pit where they continue fighting. Time is running out, and Kiko realizes that the slayers have double-crossed them. Suddenly, the slayers open fire, shooting everyone, song neng and jai tham. Only Connor and Niran remain protected in their hole. Connor manages to impale Niran, but when he surfaces from the pit, Connor finds only bodies. He shouts for Sang, but there is no answer. Raines walks up, gloating over how much he will get for all the vampire heads AND those in the future. If Sang ends the curse, he explains, there's no more vampires, and we're in the vampire hunting business.Connor locates Sang as Raines turns his crossbow on her. Connor offers to shoot Sang so that she doesn't have to suffer. Raines hands his bow to Connor. Connor aims at Sang but suddenly swings his aim to Raines. Forcing Raines to carry Sang to the designated spot, Connor gives her one last kiss before the sun reappears and Sang is toast. She explodes, taking Raines with her. Connor hurries back to the jai tham's pantry and rescues Amanda.Epilog: Connor and Amanda are on an airplane flying back to the States. Amanda looks out the window, and her eyes appear to be totally black. Is she or isn't she? [Original synopsis by bj_kuehl]

cult, violence

tt0398378

Touch

A preternatural drama in which science and spirituality intersect with the hopeful premise that we are all interconnected, tied in invisible ways to those whose lives we are destined to alter and impact. Through masterful storytelling, the series follows a group of seemingly unrelated characters, beginning with a former firefighter tormented by his inability to save a dying woman, an Iraqi teenager who will go to great risks to help his family, a gifted singer whose actions at a karaoke bar save lives thousands of miles away, and a British businessman desperately trying to retrieve a key piece of information from his lost mobile phone, who affect each other in ways seen and unseen. At the center is Martin Bohm (Sutherland), a widower and single father, haunted by an inability to connect to his mute 10-year-old son, Jake. Caring, intelligent and thoughtful, Martin has tried everything to reach his son, who shows little emotion and never allows himself to be touched by anyone, including Martin. Jake busies himself with cast-off cell phones, disassembling them and manipulating the parts, allowing him to see the world in his own special way. After multiple failed attempts at keeping Jake in school, Martin is visited by social worker Clea Hopkins, who insists on doing an evaluation of the Bohms' living situation. Although new at her job, Clea sees a man whose life has become dominated by a child he can no longer control. She believes his attempts to communicate with Jake are just wish fulfillment, and determines that it's time for the state to intervene. But everything changes when Martin discovers that Jake possesses a gift of staggering genius -- the ability to see things that no one else can, the patterns that connect everything. Jake is indeed communicating after all. But it's not with words, it's with numbers. And now he needs Martin to decipher their meaning and connect these numbers to the cast of seemingly unrelated characters whose lives they affect. Along the way, Martin will be guided by Boris Podolsky, a discredited aging professor who offers Martin a compelling but unorthodox theory about Jake and his rare ability. Whether it be chance, coincidence, timing, synergy or fate, there are events that touch us all, as part of an interconnected, dazzlingly precise universe.OFFICIAL SYNOPSIS

paranormal

tt1821681

Bad Grandpa

In the opening shot, an eight-year-old overweight boy, named Billy (Jackson Nicholl), is sitting in the waiting room of a law office. He reads a magazine and turns to a page with a picture of a guy fishing. Billy turns to the lady next to him and says he'd like to live in that spot next to the jail house since his mom is going there for getting caught selling drugs. His mom then comes out to grab him and tell Billy they're going to see his grandpa.We meet the enderly Irving Zisman (Johnny Knoxville) sitting in the waiting room of a hospital, checking out a magazine of his own and getting aroused at the sexual imagery. A nurse comes in to tell Irving that his wife had taken a turn for the worst, and she is now dead. After a brief moment of silence, Irving starts laughing, overjoyed that his wife is dead. He talks to his penis "Leroy" and says "We're free!" Irving leaves the hospital to get himself off, but unfortunately for him, the massage parlor and strip club are closed. Desperate, he sticks his penis in the slot of a vending machine. That's when he gets himself stuck and starts asking onlookers for help. He tries pulling his penis out, stretching it to an unnatural length before someone steps in to help.Irving attends his wife Ellie's (Catherine Keener, as a corpse) funeral with a whole group of strangers. He is surprised to see them all though he admits he and Ellie outlived all their friends. Just as he starts giving a speech, Billy and his mom Kimmie (Georgina Cates) barge in and Kimmie pulls Irving out to talk to him. She has a loud conversation with him saying she's going back to jail for violating her parole, and she orders Irving to make sure Billy stays with his father. Irving reluctantly agrees and they re-enter the church. Kimmie starts to steal a pearl necklace from Ellie's casket, but Irving goes to stop her. Their struggle ends up pushing Irving into the casket, spilling Ellie's corpse onto the floor to the horror of everyone in attendance.Irving takes Billy to a restaurant to meet with a counselor while they contact Billy's father Chuck (Greg Harris) via webcam to inform him of the current circumstances. Chuck turns out to be a deadbeat jerk who refuses to take Billy in as he cannot afford to. He proceeds to take a hit from his bong as his girlfriend comes in to remind him that he can get child support for Billy, so he instructs Irving to take Billy down to Raleigh, North Carolina to drop him off with Chuck by Sunday at 2:00.Irving later starts selling Ellie's belongings. He tries to sell her bed to a potential customer and then offers to test it out. He hands her a pad with a button to adjust the bed, but once she presses it, the bed folds rapidly, bending Irving repeatedly. The customer is then too freaked out to buy the bed. Later, Irving calls a couple of unwitting guys to come help take the bed out, though he really asks them to help him and Billy carry Ellie's body to the trunk of his car, since he felt that she needs to be taken south to be buried properly. Though disturbed, the two men help them and then leave before they are implicated in a crime.Irving and Billy hit the road not long after getting everything together. Billy says he's hungry, so Irving pulls over to a nearby market where a woman is selling food. He tries to hit on her while Billy goes on a kiddie ride outside the shop. He tells Irving that it's not working, forcing Irving to test it out. He ends up getting shot through the window as the ride springs off it's base, startling everybody else. Frustrated, Irving tries to ship Billy off to North Carolina in a box. He takes him to the post office, but because Billy keeps moving and speaking, the two women in the place open it and are shocked to find him in there. Before he can get in anymore trouble, he says he'll just take Billy back on the road.Irving leaves Billy in the car as he goes to a rec center to play Bingo with other older folks. Irving starts to drink the ink from the markers before pulling out a margarita maker and blending drinks for everybody. He mentions that he visited a country where lemon juice was squirted on a man's penis to determine if he had a disease, then proving his being clean by squirting lemon juice on his own penis. Irving then proceeds to hit on the women there, making them laugh or repulsing them. Meanwhile, Billy leaves the car to walk around and stop an older gentlemen to get him to tie his shoe. He keeps him talking for a few minutes while trying to coax the man into adopting him.The two stop in a supermarket when Billy gets hungry again. Irving takes food out from their containers and makes himself and Billy sandwiches, which is seen by the employees. A woman comes out to chastise Irving for eating without paying and criticize him for influencing Billy. Still, Irving gets Billy to smuggle some items and run from the manager, who yells at Irving even as he tries flirting.The two pull into a motel for the day. They pull Ellie's corpse out of the trunk since Irving thinks it would be disrespectful to leave it in the car, all while another man watches them in displeasure. Irving then asks the man if he knows where there is a strip club around here so he can seduce a black woman. The man points him out to one and he leaves Billy in the room.Irving goes to a club featuring male performers. He tells one of the dancers that he plans on waiting until the women are so aroused by the dancers for him to swoop in and make his move. He starts talking to a group of women, making them laugh despite is crass behavior. When the men start to dance, Irving jumps on the dance floor and pulls down his pants, revealing his balls that sag past his thighs. Everybody runs away while laughing in surprise and disgust.Meanwhile, Billy leaves the motel room to find Irving. He goes to another strip club and then to an adult book store. The book store employee offers to watch him while they find his grandpa, and Billy tells her that she looks like a stripper, naming her Cinnamon. Irving eventually comes back home before they have to hit the road again.As they near North Carolina, Irving tries to use Billy as bait to find a woman to hook up with. The women they speak to find Billy adorable, but they all turn Irving down. They drive to a diner where Irving drives the car into a large penguin statue, knocking it over and arguing with one of the employees about fixing it. In the diner, Billy asks why he has to stay with his dad when he doesn't like him very much. Irving insists that he has to go with him, and then he farts. They get into a gassy contest, which ends when Irving pushes too hard and sharts against a wall. They proceed to leave and later play some basketball while Billy asks Irving if he can take him fishing.On another misadventure, Billy gets hungry yet again and Irving takes him to a church where a wedding reception is taking place. During a group photo, Irving swipes a glass of champagne, causing the whole tower of glasses to collapse, and he ends up falling on top of the table, spilling the cake on the floor. Billy seizes the opportunity to eat some of the cake.Irving eventually drives Billy to a bar where they are meeting Chuck. Chuck is talking to a member of a biker organization called Guardians of Children, who help abused kids. Chuck explains that Billy will allow for him to get child support just as Irving and Billy walk in the door. Irving asks Chuck to make sure that Billy is well taken care of, though he rudely responds to Irving that he'll get the job done. Irving bids Billy farewell and they say they love each other, just as the GOC members watch the scene. As Irving leaves tearfully, one GOC member comes out to assure him that they'll keep their eyes on Billy. Irving drives away, but quickly starts to miss Billy and reminisces about their time on the road. He proceeds to turn the car around and drive back to the bar to get Billy back, just as Chuck is showing off his bad parenting by denying Billy any food in the place. Irving calls Billy to him, but Chuck prepares to fight the old man. The GOC members pull the two away from each other and allow Irving to leave with Billy while they hold Chuck off and warn him there will be trouble if he acts threateningly.To celebrate their reunion, Irving and Billy crash a child beauty pageant after spotting a flyer for it on their road trip earlier. Billy gets dressed up as a girl and charms most of the judges, even though one reigning child champion and her mother note the unusual event of a girl being there with a grandpa. Billy dresses up as a sailor girl to put on a show while "My Bunny Lies Over The Ocean" plays. It appears cute until Billy rips off the outfit to reveal him wearing women's underwear and then put on a risque pole dance to "Cherry Pie". The other parents and girls are stunned, and Irving tops it off by walking onstage and throwing Billy dollar bills. His wig falls off and the two run out.Irving drives up to a bridge where he and Billy finally get rid of Ellie's body by throwing it into the river. The two then proceed to fish, fulfilling Billy's desires.During the end credits are outtakes and behind-the-scenes looks at Johnny Knoxville performing as Irving in the outrageous stunts, and the reactions of all the unknowing extras when the filmmakers pop out to inform them that they're shooting a movie.The credits end with a dedication to the late Ryan Dunn.

prank, stupid, humor, boring, flashback

tt3063516

Silsila

Orphaned at very young age, brothers Shekhar Malhotra (Shashi Kapoor) and Amit Malhotra (Amitabh Bachchan) lead independent lives. Shekhar is a Squadron Leader with the Indian Air Force, and Amit is an emerging writer. Shekhar has fallen in love with the lovely Shobha (Jaya Bachchan), while Amit seeks to woo the attractive Chandni (Rekha). Amit finds professional success as a playwright in Delhi, enjoying a successful launch into the circles of Delhi's intellectual elite. Amit's passion and dedication to his craft wins Chandni's affections for Amit, and they share a brief, blissful period of courtship. Chandni's parents prepare to arrange her wedding to Amit. Both Shekhar and Amit plan to marry at the same time, but Shekhar is killed in air combat against PAF, leaving a pregnant Shobha behind. Taking pity on Shobha, Amit marries her and writes to Chandni to forget him. This news breaks Chandni's heart. She goes on to marry Dr. V.K. Anand (Sanjeev Kumar), who is in love with her. Tragedy strikes once more, and Shobha loses her child in a car accident. With no child to bind them together, Amit and Shobha drift apart. Amit runs into Chandni and they secretly rekindle their romance. They meet on the sly until a fateful night when Chandni accidentally hits a passerby on the way home from a tryst with Amit. The police get involved but Amit manages to hush the matter up. But the secrecy of the affair is endangered by the fact that the police inspector in charge of investigating the accident is Shobha's cousin (played by Kulbhushan Kharbanda), who is determined to expose Amit's affair with Chandni. Soon Amit decides that he can no longer continue his loveless marriage to Shobha and wishes to reconcile with Chandni. This news shatters Shobha - who had long known of Amit's affair - but she does not lose hope. She believes that if her love is true he will return to her. Similarly, Chandni's husband Dr. Anand is aware of and devastated by Chandni's infidelity. Dr. Anand leaves on a business trip, assuring Chandni he will be back soon, hopeful that she will be there when he returns. Amit and Chandni leave town to start a new life elsewhere, but tragedy strikes. Chandni's husband Dr. Anand's plane crashes, causing the lovers to rush to the wreckage site visible to them from the overhead helicopter they are making their escape in. Rushing into the fray to save Dr. Anand, Amit is confronted by Shobha, who in a moment of turmoil reveals that she is expecting his child. When Dr. Anand is rescued from the wreckage Chandni realises her love for her husband. The film ends with a song depicting Amit and Shobha living happily in marriage and an end title saying, "Love is faith and faith is forever".

cult, romantic

tt0083081

The Bonfire of the Vanities

New York City, 1985. Sherman McCoy (Tom Hanks) is a financial wünderkid who is about to earn a million dollars through a bonds scheme. His life looks perfect. His wife Judy (dark-haired Kim Cattrall) is a bit eccentric and posh, but she plays the perfect-mother-and-wife game to their only daughter Campbell (Kirsten Dunst). Unknown to his loyal wife, Sherman is having an affair with Maria Ruskin (Melanie Griffith). She's a Southern belle gold digger who enjoys using her sexual charms to get what she wants, and got married to a wealthy old man.However, all hell breaks loose one dark night when Sherman and Maria are going out. She's returning from an overseas business trip and while driving her back to her Manhattan apartment from New York's J.F.K. Airport, they take a wrong turn, exiting on the Long Island Expressway and the end up lost in a drug-filled "war zone" area of South Bronx. After finding a ramp leading back onto the expressway, they find the ramp blocked by debris. Against Maria's advice, Sherman gets out of the car to clear the debris from the ramp when he is approached by two black youths whom presumably are coming to rob him. Seeing the two thugs approaching Sherman, Maria gets behind the wheel of the car and drives off in a panic and runs over a teenager who happened to be passing by. Sherman begins to attack one of the black youths while the other one flees. Having cleared the ramp, Sherman returns to the car. Maria wants to leave the place as soon as possible, so they leave the wounded boy on the street. Sherman and Maria drive away and make it back to Manhattan where they swear not to report the incident to anyone.The black teenager who was run over, Henry Lamb (Patrick Malone), is found and taken to a nearby hospital, where he falls into a coma. Soon after, the investigation of Henry's accident begins. The hot-tempered local community leader, Reverend Beacon (John Hancock) threatens to create a "Bronx uprising" (a race riot) if the police don't find the "rich white man" who ran over an "innocent black teenager". The reasons for Beacon's involvement is that he merely wants to stir up popular feelings to cause unrest and tension by claiming that Henry's case is a case of institutional racism in America.Under severe pressure, NYPD Detectives Martin and Goldberg (Barton Heyman and Norman Parker) investigate all cars which look like the runaway car that was described by various witnesses to the accident. They finally check on Sherman, who refuses to let them see his car, and because of that, he pinpoints himself as a suspect. As a result he gets arrested. Sherman spends a long and demoralizing night in jail (where he presumably gets beaten and harassed by fellow detainees). At his courtroom arraignment the next morning, Sherman is so dehumanized from his experience that he can barely speak in court. Sherman's lawyer Tom Killian (Kevin Dunn) enters a not guilty plea on his behalf.The prosecutor, Jed Kramer (Saul Rubinek), is very interested in putting Sherman in jail to begin his political career with a strong aim at rich people, gaining the popular favor for himself. Against Kramer's protest, Sherman is released on bail pending a probable cause hearing to begin the following week.Meanwhile, Peter Fallow (Bruce Willis) is an always-drunk, good-for-nothing journalist who is forced to investigate the matter in order to ingratiate himself with his boss. Reverend Beacon is interested in stirring popular feelings as well, claiming that Henry's hit-and-run case is being used politically, as the Jewish district attorney Abe Weiss (F. Murray Abraham), who is the Bronx District Attorney seeking re-election, wants to ingratiate himself with the black community in the area. According to Judge Leonard White (Morgan Freeman), almost all of D.A. Weiss' prosecutions end up with black and Puerto Rican defendants going to prison and Weiss is seeking a white defendant for purposes of convincing the community that he is worth re-electing.Following Sherman's release on bail, Fallow follows him from the courthouse and onto a local subway train where he interacts with Sherman (without telling him that he is a journalist) to try to get him to open up with facts about the case. Sherman tells Fallow that he was there on that night but was not the one driving the car. Fallow is very surprised, but Sherman gets off the train before Fallow can ask him anymore questions.Sherman goes to Maria to plead with her to come forward in order to admit to driving the car that put the black teenager in the hospital, but she wants to be left out of the problem. She's married to a wealthy older man named Arthur Ruskin (Alan King), who allows her to have her freedom and plenty of money as a trophy wife. She sublets an apartment to her friend Caroline Heftshank (Beth Broderick), whom Fallow is currently dating. It's a rent-controlled flat, so Caroline and Maria are being investigated by the authorities in order to prove that Caroline doesn't live there. Maria has several mics (bugs) put around her flat.Fallow talks to Arthur Ruskin in at a luxurious restaurant about the Sherman case and about Maria's involvment with Sherman. They drink a lot, and Fallow tries to get some information from Maria's husband. Ruskin dies from a heart-attack on the spot, creating a commotion at the snobbish restaurant.Meanwhile, Henry's mother, Annie Lamb (Mary Alice) wants to go out and buy new clothes for herself. Suddenly, she looks more interested in making the most of the situation than to be with her son in hospital. Beacon accepts the idea. Annie sues the hospital because they're not giving proper care to Henry, who still remains in a coma. Reverend Beacon and Kramer meet with Mrs. Lamb where they try to persuade her to testify against Sherman as they work behind the scenes to frame Sherman for the hit-and-run to further advance their own careers... as well as look good in front of the TV news cameras.Elsewhere, Sherman, who used to consider himself a "master of the universe," now is without a job. In just one day, he gets fired because his employers do not want any bad publicity for their firm. That evening, he arrives home for a party he had forgotten about. Judy angrily tells him that she's leaving him and is taking their daughter with her because Judy also believes the biased news stories about him committing the hit-and-run. Just then, Sherman's landlord enters and wants him out of the building as soon as possible, because several black people are demonstrating outside the building, and they look like a lynch mob, which is bad publicity for the building and disturbs the wealthy tenants. Sherman suffers a nervous breakdown and he starts shooting a shotgun at the walls of the apartment. Everybody leaves in a panic.Kramer is trying to play both sides: he puts microphones on both Maria and Sherman, in order that the recording proves which one of them was driving the car at the moment of the hit-and-run. Sherman and Maria secretly meet at the funeral of Maria's husband, but she seems adamant to have sex. Sherman can't believe it, but as usual, he's weak with her and was going to fall for it. However, she rejects him when she feels the microphone hidden under his clothes.Sherman has lost everything, but at least his visiting father (Donald Moffat) backs him up somehow, telling him that he loves and will always support him while they are talking Sherman's now empty executive home.Meanwhile, Fallow, who used to be a downtrodden loser a few days ago, feels pity for Sherman, who is losing everything and can't even prove that he's innocent. In a restaurant gathering with some fellow newspaper-related people, Caroline approaches him, telling him that she's lost her flat because of Maria's inability to stay silent. The mic audio recordings have proved that Caroline didn't really live in the flat, subletting it with black money. Fallow talks to the guy who had put the microphones (Vito D'Ambrosio), and comes to know the truth. Fallow aquires the recordings and then gives them to Sherman.In court at Sherman's probable cause hearing, Judge Leonard White tries to control the proceedings, so that there are no political demonstrations. Maria is taken to the stand, where she lies by saying that Sherman was driving the car, acting as an all-innocent widow. Kramer had given her immunity in order to frame Sherman, also threatening her with falsely charging her with perjury if she does not testify against him. Without even telling his lawyer, Sherman plays the recording Fallow had given him. In it, Maria admits she was the one who had been driving Sherman's car that notorious evening, and also mocks her own late husband. She faints on the stand from this turn of events.It works. Judge White has to stop the proceedings when Kramer tries to snatch the mini-tape recorder out of Sherman's hands. Kramer and Sherman's lawyer, Killian, approach the bench because of the new evidence. Sherman lies by asserting that the tape is all his (making it admissible evidence and it is technically truthful since it refers only to the dummy tape he was holding and ignores the real tape that is hidden which is not his).The courtroom spectators go in an uproar, to which Judge White responds by launching a tirade, stating that they have no right to act self-righteous and smarmy, or above Sherman, considering Reverend Beacon claims to help disadvantaged black New Yorkers but actually engages in race baiting, or that the District Attorney Weiss pushed this case not in the interest of contempt from justice but in the public opinion, in order to appeal to voters from minorities, in order to further his political career, appealing to their desire to "get even". Judge White dismisses the case because of decency and truth, in which nobody is interested. Sherman is free to go.Through all of this, Fallow is watching everything while standing annoymously among a group of reporters. As a triumphant and relived Sherman leaves the courtroom with his lawyer, amind the black spectators who continue to yell and insult him, Fallow states in voice-over: "And that was the last time anyone saw or heard of Sherman McCoy". After this, Sherman left New York City and was never publicly seen or heard of again, presumably to live humbly in another state or even in another country in obscurity.In the final scene, set five years later in 1990, there is a large audience applauding Peter Fallow's premiere of his very first book titled Bonfire of the Vanities. Reverend Beacon, Jed Kramer, DA Weiss, Tom Killian, Judge White, Caroline, Annie Lamb, and the rest of people who had something to do with the case (except for Sherman McCoy) are in attendance. In a final voice-over, Fallow states that he never saw Sherman McCoy again, but quotes a well-known Bible verse from the Book of Mark, Chapter 8, Verse 36: "What does it profit a man to gain the whole world, but lose his own soul?" Fallow says that Sherman lost everything to gain his soul. Fallow says of himself that he has gained everything but... (he doesn't finish the sentence. It's implied that he has sold his soul to the system in order to become successful).Fallow says that there are always compensations to selling one's soul for success. He stands up and takes an the award he's given concerning the book he wrote about Sherman's case.

revenge, comedy, satire

tt0099165

The Night of the Iguana

The defrocked Rev. Dr. T. Lawrence Shannon (Richard Burton) is to be the tour guide and historian for a church ladies' bus tour of Mexican religious historical sights. Even before boarding the old fashioned school bus, Shannon develops a contentious relationship with the lesbian leader of the women's group, Judith Fellowes (Grayson Hall) who is protective - read jealous - of the delinquent Charlottes (Lyon) interest in the reverend as her potential rescuer from being placed with the aged travelers. Driven to distraction by the attentions of the delinquent Lolita, Reverend Shannon has a alcoholic breakdown - as does the bus, right on cue - as they arrive nearby the Puerta Vallarta version of Bed & Breakfast establishment of the wildly over-the-top Maxine Faulk played by Gardner. Shortly after their arrival, the tour begins to heat up as the Reverend takes the bus's distributor thereby preventing the ladies' escape or the continuation of their tour. Shortly after the tour bus arrives, come an aging poet and his niece (Kerr). The heterosexual mirror to the appropriately named Fellowes, Hannah Jelkes proves to be less conservative than her spinster-like appearance indicates. Gardner's character has two native "beach boys" who chase down and chain up the titular Iguana so that it might be "fattened up" to be eaten up for dinner. All to the excitement and shock of the touring women. All the while Lyon is pursuing Shannon while as Jelkes and Faul pursue him as well and he pursues the bottle. Fellowes is either protecting Lyon's honor or hoping to convert her to lesbianism. An impromptu party develops and builds to a crescendo of death - Kerr's character's elderly poet uncle; jealous fighting - the beach boys and the bus driver, Lyon's character's other protector; and (verbally) Shannon and almost everyone else but the senile Miss Peebles - the author's tour ladies' personification. After sharing her secret sin with Shannon and the timely and sweet death of Miss Jelkes's poet just after finishing his last and lengthy poem, all the players find a weird peace. This acceptance that world must continue in its flawed manner and all must forgive, accept redemption and move on, arrives towards the end of the Night of the Iguana.

dramatic

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Appurushido: Ekusu makina

Two years after the incident at Olympus, a utopian city, Deunan Knute and Briareos Hecatonchires of the counter-terrorism unit E-SWAT rescues a group of European Union officials from cyborgs. The duo returns to Olympus, where Briareos is confined to hospital until he recovers, while Deunan continues E-SWAT work. When Deunan's commanding officer Lance introduces her to her new partner, Tereus, she is shocked as her partner resembles Briareos' human form. Deunan confronts Lance for an explanation, and is given the tour of the new Bioroid production facility. During the tour, Hitomi, a bioroid that Deunan befriended during those events, is mentioned to now be a minister of political affairs. Here it is shown that Tereus is actually a Bioroid; a prototype for a whole new production line of Bioroids to be soldiers without negative emotions to impact their judgment in fighting. As his physical and mental strength was found to be most desirable in E-SWAT, Briareos' DNA was used mostly in Tereus' design. Reluctantly, Deunan is partnered up with Tereus to evaluate his performance. While departing, Deunan encounters Hitomi and Hitomi gives her a ride home. Deunan notices that many Olympus citizens are wearing Connexus; a device on their ears which projects holographic data over the eyes. Deunan, Lance and Hitomi visit Briareos, still recovering in hospital. Here, Lance states that out of the last five terrorist incidents, four of them have been by groups composed solely of cyborgs, with transmitted signals from surrounding locations, thus suggesting that digitally vulnerable cyborgs are actually being manipulated to perform these acts. Because many of these cyborgs consist of parts made by Poseidon, a multinational industrial conglomerate, an emissary is sent to Prime Minister Athena. The emissary denies Poseidon blame, but Olympus still boycotts them, which Poseidon finds undesirable as other world powers may follow suit. Meanwhile, Hitomi hosts a birthday party, in which Deunan is happy to find Briareos attending now that he's fully recovered. Briareos meets Tereus for the first time - which makes him uncomfortable - but the two accept each other. Briareos also accepts Deunan's new partnership with Tereus, and has found someone other than Deunan to partner with, which upsets her. She storms off, but is eventually joined by Tereus, who displays many of Briareos' personality traits, which by Deunan's own admission makes her feel "confused." The next day, Athena and an assemblage of world leaders discuss making a global security network by merging all the satellites worldwide to prevent terrorist attacks before they happen. ESWAT and the Olympus police forces set up barricades around the conference hall. ESWAT personnel pick up the broadcast of an unknown signal. Soon enough, a variety of vehicles and non-cybernetic humans begin to assault the conference, much to the confusion of ESWAT and the regular police. Even more strangely, at the same time, Aeacus kills an engineer on board an ESWAT transport, declaring, "We will all be one. I am Halcon" and destroys it to escape wearing his Land-Mate. Briareos rushes to the explosion, and initially tries to stop Aeacus but ends up killing him. As Deunan and Tereus arrive, Tereus uncovers the mysterious signal coming from robotic doves. Simultaneously, the unknown signal disappears, and the attackers collapse. A funeral is held sometime later for Aeacus. At the same time all the satellites are joined, Briareos is nearly run down by an unmanned vehicle. He stops it but suddenly goes berserk and hacks into a public terminal, crashing the main satellite control, forcing Olympus to switch to a backup. Briareos is hospitalized, with the unknown signal ruled out as the cause of his outburst. Briareos gets suspicious of his cyborg doctor, Richard Kestner, who operated on him after his accident. He has Hitomi look up Kestner's files, learning that he once worked with Poseidon's Halcon Laboratories - but all records of his project are mysteriously erased. Briaereos breaks out and tracks down Kestner, who confesses that he is part of a plan to "unify" humanity through erasing individuality, to which he attributes the source of human conflict. He then reveals that he secretly injected Briareos with nanites designed to take control of his body when his adrenaline heats up. Kestner then commits suicide before the police arrive, making them think that Briareos killed him. Briareos escapes, but is cornered by Tereus. Deunan arrives just on scene with an antidote designed to suppress the nanites. The virus Kestner placed in the backup network takes control of the satellites and, through these satellites, all people linked to the Connexus, compelling them to riot against Olympus. Believing that Poseidon knows something about all this, Briareos, Tereus and Deunan track down a Poseidon convoy to learn about Halcon. As they discover, Halcon was once the leading scientific laboratory until they started mind control experiments, which Poseidon was forced to end when the project lead Elizabeth Xander was killed in an accident. Poseidon assists the ESWAT officers in infiltrating the fortress where the Halcon signal is transmitting. Once they are in the control center, they discover that Xander was resurrected as a cyborg to control all those linked to the Connexus. Deunan manages to briefly free her from Halcon control with the last syringe of antidote. With little time before the virus retakes control, Xander frees the enthralled before she has Deunan kill her. The heroes then escape the collapsing fortress and return to Olympus.

sci-fi

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Next Day Air

The film opens with Leo (Donald Faison) giving a voice over explaining how he was just a deliveryman and wondering how he got into this situation.2 Days Ago. Rhino (Cisco Reyes) is talking on the phone with a girl named Chita as he drives to a meeting with Bodega Diablo, a drug kinpin. Chita tells Rhino where to send a package and Rhino tells her to be ready to sign for it. When Rhino arrives at Bodegas, Rhino asks if theres anyone they can trust with such a big shipment. Bodega tells him that they have no choice since they took a loss with their last courier, Carlos. Rhino tells Bodega that he found Carlos, and takes Bodega to the trunk of his car. Inside, Carlos is crying. Carlos claims that he got the money from Rhino to pay for a shipment when the Feds swooped in and took it. Bodega is skeptical and slams the trunk on Carlos face.Yesterday. In Philadelphia. A News report covering a robber states that the robbers took only the surveillance tapes. The three robbers are watching the news report on television and laughing about the fact that they are only accused of stealing the surveillance tapes. They were all ready to rob the bank, armed and with masks on. Brody (Mike Epps), Guch (Wood Harris), and Hassie went into the bank and took hostages. Guch told Brody to go to the safe, but Brody misheard him and went and grabbed the tapes. Guch yells at him because Brody wasnt acting logical and calls him an idiot. The three escaped the bank with only the security tapes. A security guard comes out shoots at them while they try to get into their car, so the group ditched the car. They then start to debate why Hassie is living in their apartment.Cut to Leo at the shipping dock. He drops a package when Ivy (Lauren London) calls him out on it. Ivy says she isnt angry at Leo but that Ms. Jackson, Leos mother, might be. Leo is certain that a lady he delivered a package to ratted him out for smoking weed during a delivery. Ivy tells Leo that he needs to see Ms. Jackson in her office. Apparently, Leo and Ivy broke up a week ago and Leo is hoping for reconciliation. He gets pissed when she says shes not in love with him and starts throwing boxes into the truck. Ms. Jackson sees this and yells at him to get in her office. She accuses him of smoking pot on delivery and tells him that if he screws up again, shell fire him. She tells him to start acting like Eric (Mos Def), the star employee. Though he promises that he wont get any more complaints, Leo immediately starts smoking pot on his next delivery. As Guch and Brody talk about their shitty living situation and their failed attempts at robberies, Leo is forced to carry a large package up to Guch and Brodys apartment since the elevator is broken. Leo leaves the package with Hassie for Gonzalez.Jesus Gonzalez and Chita are waiting for the package, which is apparently a large quantity of cocaine. Jesus is freaking out because they stole the shipment from Bodega. Chita goes to track the package, while Gonzalez waits. Guch and Brody notice the package Hassie signed for and find the cocaine inside a plant vase. They are shocked when they see all the cocaine and start trying it out. They consider it a miracle since theyre broke and can sell the cocaine for money. They realize that it belongs to Puerto Ricans across the hall. They hide the cocaine in a trash bag and Brody suggests that they sell the cocaine to Brodys cousin, Shavoo. Shavoo makes cocaine with his right hand man, Buddy, and sells it on the street. Brody calls up Shavoo and offers to sell it to him before he sells it to someone else.Leo walks over to his truck and sees a man cutting into a box and yells at him. It turns out to be Eric and the two screw around a bit and smoke some weed. Eric says he hates Leo because Leos mother supports Leo and Eric is struggling to make it on his own. They express a desire to move up from their position before going off to make their own deliveries. Not too far away, Chita is tracking the package from a payphone.Shavoo and Buddy are driving around while Shavoo explains the situation. Shavoo states that he doesnt trust Brody and Guch since they are stupid. When they arrive, Shavoo tries the cocaine that Guch and Brody offer him. Brody shows Shavoo and buddy the rest of the bricks. Shavoo offers to give them 150,000 dollars in the long run, but 15,000. Guch wants to hold onto the cocaine until Shavoo brings back the money. Shavoo promises to get them their money in two hours. In the hall, Shavoo makes it clear that they can make a very large profit off the cocaine and head to their storage unit. Chita returns to Jesus and tells him that tracking number was invalid. She tells him that the phone was broken and that it wasnt her fault. They get a phone call from Bodega and ask if the package arrived. Bodega says that he tracked the package and that it got picked up. Jesus tells him that it was Leo who stole the package and that he will find it soon. He grabs his gun and goes to find Leo.Leo is trying to hit on a pair of women and they soundly reject him. He wants to smoke a joint but realizes he is out of weed. Shavoo and Buddy arrive at the storage unit and tells Buddy that hes thinking of quitting the drug dealing business and retiring on 500,000. Shavoo tells him that he doesnt think drugs are worth dying for, and he makes Buddy promise that they quit after this run. They find their storage container open and freak when they see the entire storage unit is empty: all their money was stolen (a few hundred thousands). They realize that whoever did it needed a lot of people to carry all the money out.Jesus and Chita start driving around to find Leo. Jesus recounts his introduction to Bodega. Bodega thought that Jesus stole a package of cocaine from Bodega because of his friend Hector. Jesus tries to get Hector and himself out of there, but Bodega instead makes Jesus work for him as a drug mule. Rhino killed Hector and made Jesus his replacement. Jesus pulls up behind a delivery truck and pulls out his shotgun and pulls it on the driver who turns out to be Eric. Jesus and Chita hold him at gunpoint. Eric clearly has no idea what they want and Jesus tells Chita that Eric is NOT the guy they are after. They steal his watch and leave him in the truck.Brody calls Shavoo and Shavoo tells he wont be able to come back to the apartment in two hours and that he will buy the shipment the next day. Guch believes this is confirmation of Shavoos intention to rob them, but Brody tries to calm Guch down. Shavoo and Buddy are torturing one of the storage lot attendants for information and he agrees to help them. The attendant tells them that a man named Wade stole his money. Shavoo goes into Wades supply store and buys everything necessary to torture the information out of Wade and then confronts him about the stolen money. They recover the money and tie the two attendants up with duct tape. They then lock them in the storage container and leave them.Meanwhile, Leo is across town visiting his drug dealer. A random guy steals a package from Leos truck and Leo chases him down. Jesus gets a call from Bodega and tells him that he hasnt recovered the shipment. Bodega sends Rhino to take care of Jesus.A montage of that night occurs. Guch and Brody party with some strippers. Chita and Jesus pray and spend the night together. Leo leaves work. Shavoo and Buddy count their money. Rhino takes a plan into Philadelphia.Today Chita and Jesus are woken up by a phone call. Rhino calls but hangs up when Jesus picks up. Bodega and Rhino are outside the door and push Jesus back into the apartment. Bodega tells them that they are going to find Leo and recover the cocaine. Bodega tells Jesus that they are going to need more guns. Across the hall, Guch and Brody are planning what theyre going to spend their money on. Guch hides a bunch of guns around the apartment in case Shavoo tries to screw them over. Guch tells Brody that HE would kill Brody for one brick, let alone ten. Brody is hurt by this statement and visibily upset, while Guch tries to play it off. Leo goes to his delivery truck and opens the back only to find Bodega, Rhino, Chita and Jesus all pointing guns at him. They pull him into the truck. Shavoo and Buddy check their money and then arm themselves before they go into the apartment. Buddy puts a shotgun into the money bag and they go up to the Brodys apartment.In the truck, Leo is being beaten by Jesus in front of Bodega and Rhino. Bodega makes it clear that they will kill him and Leo tries to remember. Leo tells him that he delivered the package. When Jesus pulls a gun, he tells them he can take them to the place he delivered the cocaine. Meanwhile, Brody and Shavoo are arguing over the cocaine. Shavoo thinks he may have replaced the cocaine with lower quality stuff. Brody and Guch get very suspicious but Shavoo gets the money. Hassie wakes up and goes to use the bathroom while Guch and Brody count the money and Shavoo and Buddy pack the cocaine.Leo leads the group to Guch and Brodys apartment. Bodega tells Leo that he has to get the shit back. Leo knocks on the door in the middle of the deal. The four of them freak out thinking it is the cops. Brody sees that its the delivery man and they realize that Leo knows he delivered the package to the wrong place. Leo asks Brody for the box he delivered by mistake. Brody tells them that he delivered the box back to the station. Bodega forces his way into their apartment. A Mexican showdown ensues. Leo is in the middle of the standoff. Guch shoots Jesus, while Bodega shoots Guch three times in the chest. Brody grabs a sub machine gun and starts shooting at Bodega. He misses every shot and Bodega shoots Brody twice in the chest. Shavoo kneecaps Bodega before shooting him in the chest in order to avenge his cousin. Shavoo grabs the cocaine and makes a break for the door, only for Rhino to shoot him with a shotgun. Buddy and Rhino get into a knife fight in whats left of the kitchen. Rhino stabs Buddy to death in the kitchen. Shavoo, half alive, reaches for a gun. Rhino grabs Shavoo and tries to stab him once more, but Shavoo shoots Rhino several times in the chest. Shavoo remembers what he told Buddy about how drugs arent worth dying for. Instead of taking the drugs, Shavoo leaves. Leo, who was on the floor the whole time not moving, jumps up when hes sure it isnt over. He finds the 100,000 dollars Shavoo was going to pay for the drugs with. Chita comes out of her hiding place as Leo is leaving with the money. Leo pulls out the shotgun Buddy left in the bag and makes her go back in her apartment. A random couple sees him with a shotgun and so he yells at them and gets in the elevator. Chita goes in to check on Jesus and finds him alive. She helps Jesus and they realize that Erics stolen watch saved Jesus life by stopping the bullet. They take the cocaine and leave the apartment.

bleak, murder, flashback

tt1097013

The Children

Two maintenance employees of a nuclear power plant are conducting an outdoor safety check when they become anxious to leave. Eager to get to the local bar and have a drink, they skip part of the test. Unfortunately a large buildup of pressure causes a yellow toxic gas to leak from one of the pipes. The gas forms into a large cloud that drifts across the ground.Nearby, a school bus carrying six students home from school is driving along the road. Cathy Freemont (Gale Garnett) passes the bus and waves to the children, when suddenly the large cloud of toxic gas drifts into the road. Both vehicles drive through it.Cathy arrives home, but the school bus is detained somewhere. Sheriff Billy Hart (Gil Rogers) finds the bus haphazardly parked along the side of the road, apparently abandoned in a hurry, with no sign of the children or the bus driver. Hart pays a visit to the home of Tommy Button, one of the children on the bus. Tommy lives with his mother, Leslie (Suzanne Barnes), and her female lover, Dr. Joyce Gould (Michelle Le Mothe). Leslie apparently spends her life dazed and heavily medicated, while Dr. Gould is hostile toward the sheriff for no good reason. She accompanies him to the site of the abandoned bus, where she finds Tommy's things on board. When Hart departs, Joyce goes to walk home when she spots a figure standing in a nearby cemetery. She recognizes it as Tommy, just as it disappears among the gravestones. She rushes up into the cemetery, where she stumbles across the horribly mutilated body of the bus driver; he seems to have been burned from within his clothes, his flesh horribly charred and disfigured. Suddenly Tommy appears behind Joyce, his fingernails black. Relieved, she sweeps him into a reassuring hug, suddenly screaming in agony as her flesh begins to char. Tommy's hands are roasting Joyce alive, and her burnt body falls beside that of the bus driver.The five children have been transformed into smiling zombies by the cloud of radioactive vapors, intent on burning alive anybody who comes into their path. They move through the town, visiting their parents and families, most of whom are caricatures of bad parenting. Little Janet Shore's parents are swingers who don't even know or care where their daughter is. Paul MacKenzie's sister is a slutty blonde who is more interested in bedding the dopey town deputy. Cathy Freemont is pregnant with her third child, yet she still gives in to smoking in times of stress. John Freemont (Martin Shakar) joins the sheriff in the hunt for the children, trying to keep from Cathy that their daughter Jenny is among the missing children.John and Sherrif Hart find charred bodies all over the town of Ravensback, the handiwork of the children. Nobody suspects that the children are behind the deaths, and everybody makes the mistake of hugging the kids when they come across them. John and Hart make the connection about the killer children and John rushes home to protect Cathy and the youngest Freemont child, Clarkie, who escaped the cloud of poisonous gas because he was at home that day with a cold. Along the way, they encounter Janet Shore, who is dazed like the other zombies, but apparently still human--her fingernails are normal. They take her along in the back of Hart's squad car.Meanwhile at the Freemont house, the zombified Jenny attempts to return home, and Cathy joyfully rushes out to greet her, but John intervenes and Jenny scorches his hand before he can get away from her.John and Hart barricade the house and start firing on the children, who have congregated in the yard outside the house. Bullets have no effect on the zombies, which get back up and continue to walk around. While the adults are distracted, one of the killer children sneaks into an upstairs window of the house and fries Clarkie to death. It then tries to kill Cathy, but John attacks it with a sword, slashing out and chopping off its hands. It instantly dies, howling in pain.Armed with a machete, John hunts the children, cornering them in a barn, until he has hacked most of them to death. Unfortunately, he forgets about Janet Shore, whose fingernails have changed to black. She chars Hart to death, lurching at him out of the back seat of his car. John hacks Janet to death in retaliation.John is distracted by the cries of Cathy from inside of the house--the baby is being born. As the sun rises, the sounds of Cathy giving birth to her child fill the house. The baby is born and all seems well, until John notices it nursing at Cathy's breast, its fingernails black.

murder

tt0080527

Arthur

Arthur Bach is a rich socialite from a financially powerful English family, based in the New York City area. Though his family has built great prestige for themselves, Arthur is an embarrassment. He cavorts with women, including prostitutes, he drinks heavily and is often seen publicly inebriated, and consistently makes a spectacle of himself, which is often documented in newspapers and tabloids.Arthur's father and his grandmother demand that Arthur marry a woman named Susan Johnson, herself the daughter of another powerful businessman, Burt Johnson. The marriage would lead to a lucrative business partnership between Arthur's father and Johnson and would secure Arthur's sizable inheritance. Arthur, however, does not love Susan and is depressed because he feels he's being coerced.One day, while in Bergdorf-Goodman's store in Manhattan Arthur spots a young woman, Linda Marolla, stealing a necktie (a birthday present for her unemployed father). One of the store's security guards follows her outside and Arthur and his servant, Hobson, follow them as well. Linda quickly makes a scene when the guard accuses her of the theft, but Arthur steps in and covers for her, saying she was buying the tie for him. The guard is apologetic and leaves. Arthur kisses Linda in front of a crowd to continue the ruse, and then asks her for her phone number. He also offers his limo and chauffeur, Mr Bitterman, to Linda to get home.Arthur takes Linda out on a date and the two instantly fall for each other. Arthur meets later with his father, who expresses his disappointment at Arthur's reputation as a rich playboy. Arthur tells his father that he refuses to marry Susan, at which point his father threatens to cut off his inheritance of $750 million. Arthur acquiesces and takes his mother's engagement ring to give to Susan. Arthur later meets with his grandmother, Martha, the Bach family matriarch, who tells him the same thing his father did: she'll cut him off if he doesn't marry Susan. She also suggests that while he's married to Susan, he can still see Linda on the side. Arthur, however, does not want to carry on an unfaithful relationship with Linda but still agrees to marry Susan.Arthur later discusses the matter with Hobson, with whom he has a closer relationship than his own father. Hobson tells Arthur to respect his family's wishes and marry Susan. Hobson, however, recognizes that Arthur is indeed in love with Linda.Before leaving to pick up Susan to propose to her, Arthur calls Linda and tells her the truth. Linda seems mostly unfazed by the news, however, her father breaks down at the thought of her daughter missing the chance to marry a millionaire. At Burt Johnson's house, Arthur talks to Johnson himself, who tells the young playboy that he doesn't approve of his excessive drinking. He also explains a bit about his upbringing, relating a story about how he killed a burglar at the age of 11. To Johnson, the most important thing in his life is Susan, and he would kill to protect her.Susan and Arthur go to a posh restaurant where Arthur proposes to her. Though Susan knows about Arthur's philandering and drunkenness, she still will marry him. Arthur takes Susan home and then drives to Linda's apartment very late at night and even drunker than he was at dinner. He offers Linda $100,000 for her trouble, which she refuses and orders Arthur to leave.The next day, Arthur has a brief argument with Hobson concerning his future. Arthur, who has been mostly passive all his life, apologizes to Hobson for raising his voice. Hobson takes Arthur's attitude to heart and visits Linda and her father. He tells Linda that Arthur and Susan's engagement party is being held at Arthur's family home in Southampton, Long Island. He also gives her a stylish dress to wear, knowing that she'll go. Right before he leaves, Hobson coughs and seems weak, but he dismisses Linda's questions about it.Linda arrives at the engagement party and, when she sees Arthur singing to his fiance, begins to flirt with another guest, claiming she'd met him before. Arthur sees her there and sends the bewildered man away to get them drinks. Arthur takes Linda on a tour of the house and they end up in the horse stables. Their conversation proves that they are still in love with each other. When Susan interrupts, Linda tries to cover for Arthur by saying she'd come to beg him for money, however, Susan brings unhappy news: back in New York, Hobson has been taken to the hospital and his very ill. Arthur leaves immediately to see Hobson.At the hospital, Arthur tries to make things as comfortable as possible for Hobson, bringing in his own bed, having meals delivered from expensive restaurants, buying him presents and staying in the hospital room with him. Arthur also has the wedding postponed. During the time he cares for Hobson, Arthur stays sober and stops his philandering and excessive spending, having spent a large amount of his own money to keep his friend comfortable. Hobson eventually dies, causing Arthur incredible grief. Arthur goes to a small bar and becomes incredibly drunk a few hours before the wedding. He goes home and dresses for the wedding and, still drunk, visits Linda at the diner where she works as a waitress. Arthur asks her to marry him, despite the fact that he will lose his inheritance and be poor. Linda agrees and she agrees to go with him to tell Susan.Arthur is late arriving at the church. He finds Susan in one of the back rooms and tells her he doesn't love her. Susan becomes upset and calls for her father, who begins to beat Arthur up. Linda arrives. trying to protect Arthur, however, Johnson, grabbing a small cheese knife, starts after Arthur and Linda. Suddenly, Martha Bach appears and slaps Johnson, bringing him out of his murderous rage. Arthur walks out to the dais in the church and tells everyone that the wedding is off and that he'll likely not see many of them again because he'll become poor when his family cuts off his inheritance. He collapses in front of them.After all the guests have left, Arthur and Linda talk on the dais, while Martha listens from the pews. Arthur promises to be faithful to Linda and begins to talk about finding a job when Martha interrupts and says that no heir of her family will ever be working class. She tells Arthur that he can have his full inheritance and can stay with Linda. At first, Arthur refuses, but accepts. He then has Bitterman drive he and Linda through Central Park together.

comedy, entertaining

tt0082031

Captain Kronos - Vampire Hunter

When his village is plagued by mysterious deaths marked by highly accelerated aging, Dr. Marcus calls in his army friend, Captain Kronos. Kronos and his companion, the hunchback Hieronymus Grost, are professional vampire hunters. Grost explains to the initially sceptical Marcus that the dead women are victims of a vampire who drains not blood but youth, and that there are "as many species of vampire as there are beasts of prey." The discovery of another victim confirms Grost's explanation. Along the way, Kronos and Grost take in a local barefoot gypsy girl, Carla, who had been sentenced to the stocks for dancing on the Sabbath. She repays them by helping them hunt the vampire; she later becomes Kronos' lover. Grost and Kronos conduct a mystical test that indicates the presence of vampires. Their findings are contradicted by an eyewitness who claims to have seen "someone old, very old", whereas a youth-draining vampire should appear youthful. Marcus visits the family of his late friend, Lord Hagen Durward, and speaks with Durward's son, Paul (Shane Briant), and his beautiful sister Sara (Lois Daine). He must leave before speaking with the bed-ridden Lady Durward. While riding through the woods, Marcus encounters a cloaked figure that leaves him shaken, and he finds blood on his lips. At a tavern, Kronos defeats thugs led by Kerro, who were hired by Lady Durward's coachman to murder him. Kronos, Grost, Marcus and Carla set up a network of alarm bells in the woods to announce the passage of vampires. Meanwhile, a large bat attacks and kills a young woman. Marcus realises that he has become a vampire and begs Kronos to kill him. After various methods (including impalement with a stake and hanging) fail, Kronos accidentally pierces Marcus's chest with a cross of steel that Marcus had been wearing round his neck. Having thus determined the vampire’s weakness, Kronos and Grost obtain an iron cross from a cemetery. They are accosted by angry villagers who believe that they murdered Dr. Marcus. Grost forges the cross into a sword while Kronos conducts a knightly vigil. After seeing the Durward carriage flee the scene of a vampire attack, Kronos suspects Sara as the vampire. Carla seeks refuge at Durward Manor to distract the household while Kronos sneaks inside. The "bedridden" Lady Durward reveals herself as the newly-youthful vampire, and she hypnotises Carla and the Durward siblings. Lady Durward has raised her husband Hagen from the grave. She offers the mesmerised Carla to her husband, but Kronos erupts from hiding. Kronos uses the new sword's mirrored blade to turn Lady Durward’s hypnotic gaze against her. He kills Lord Durward in a duel, and then destroys Lady Durward. The next day, Kronos bids Carla goodbye, before he and Grost ride on to new adventures.

good versus evil, action, gothic

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Bon Voyage, Charlie Brown (and Don't Come Back!!)

Charlie Brown is surprised in class, when it is announced that he and Linus have been selected as part of a student exchange program. Charlie leaves school to pack, and willingly invites Snoopy and Woodstock to come along. The surprises continue as Charlie finds a letter in the mailbox: and it's addressed to him! However, it's written in a 'strange language.'Shortly after going inside, Charlie receives a call from Peppermint Patty, who says that she and Marcie have also been accepted as part of a student exchange program, and will be on the same flight as Charlie and Linus.At the airport, the other kids see their friends off, with the majority calling "Bon Voyage, Charlie Brown." "And don't come back!" yells Lucy. After they have gotten to the ticket counter, everyone is shocked that Snoopy was able to procure a First Class ticket, over their economy-class seats.During the plane flight, Charlie shows the letter that he received, which came from France. As Marcie has been studying French, she offers to translate it. The letter seems to be anticipating Charlie's arrival, and offers to allow him to stay at the Chateau Mal Voisin ("The Chateau of the Bad Neighbor"). The letter is from someone named Violette, but Charlie has no idea who she is.Their plane soon touches down in London, England, where the group has lunch, while Snoopy drives up to Wimbledon and plays a short tennis match. From London, the group takes a train to Dover, before getting on a hovercraft to France.In France, the group manages to rent a car, with Snoopy serving as a driver. Their first stop is Morville, where Peppermint Patty and Marcie will be staying. Also with their exchange program family, is a son named Pierre. After Charlie, Linus, Snoopy and Woodstock leave, the girls explain where their friends are going. When Pierre hears about them going to the Chateau Mal Voisin, he grows apprehensive, saying that noone goes to the chateau, and the owner would never invite outsiders. They attempt to call the chateau, but receive no response, and decide to wait until morning.Meanwhile, Charlie, Linus, Snoopy and Woodstock arrive in the town of Le Heron, amid a rain storm. They pass by the school and a pub, and on the outskirts, they see the dark outlines of the chateau. However, noone appears to be home, and they end up camping in some nearby stables. Snoopy is assigned to watch the group, but once Charlie Brown and Linus are asleep, he and Woodstock sneak off to the local pub for some root beer.The next morning, Charlie and Linus awake to find themselves covered in blankets, and a meal prepared for them.

romantic

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About a Boy

Will Freeman (Hugh Grant) is a 38-year-old bachelor who prides himself on being "cool". Thanks to royalties from a successful Christmas song that his father composed, Will does not need to work to maintain his leisurely lifestyle. He spends most of his free time smoking, watching television and reading about pop culture.The story begins when Will's friends Christine (Sharon Small) and John (Nicholas Hutchinson) give birth to their second child; when asked if he would be the child's godfather, Will bluntly refuses, insisting that he "really is that shallow". In an attempt to avoid spending time with Christine and John, he meets Angie (Isabel Brook), a single mother. After sharing a brief relationship with her, Will comes up with the idea of attending a single-parents group (SPAT - Single Parents Alone Together) to meet potential female partners. As part of his ploy, he invents a two-year-old son named Ned.At one of the single parents group meetings, Will meets Suzie (Victoria Smurfit) and attempts to court her. His pursuit of the single mother takes him to one of the group picnics where he meets Marcus (Nicholas Hoult), the son of one Suzie's friends. Marcus is a 12-year-old, introverted and eccentric boy with a depressed and suicidal mother, Fiona (Toni Collette). At the picnic, Marcus accidentally kills a duck with a stale loaf of bread while trying to feed it, and when a park keeper questions him about it, Will tries to pass it off (the duck) as already dead whilst trying to sink the body so as to not upset the children. When Suzie and Will return him back home, they find Fiona in the living room, overdosed on pills.After this incident, Marcus begins to be uncomfortable with staying at home, due to his mother's condition. He follows Will, and deduces that he is single, childless: essentially, the complete opposite of how he presented himself. He appears on Will's doorstep, trying to blackmail threaten Will into dating his mother, in hopes that Fiona will no longer be depressed if she has a boyfriend. This doesn't work, so Marcus just hangs out at Will's apartment after school, much to Will's initial dismay.After many afternoons of an apathetic limbo, Marcus is chased to Will's apartment by bullies, and Will begins to realize the importance of his presence in Marcus's life. He starts helping Marcus to fit into the modern adolescent world by taking him shopping to buy shoes. Unfortunately, these shoes only get stolen a few days later, causing a fight between Marcus, Fiona and Will.At school, Marcus becomes friends with a Goth girl called Ellie (Natalia Tena) and develops a crush on her. Will also develops a crush on someone, a single woman called Rachel (Rachel Weisz). Will pretends Marcus is his son in order to appear interesting to Rachel. At this point Marcus asks Will for clarification of the difference between a girl that's a friend, and a girlfriend. Will replies that it is all to do with sex. Marcus ponders this and decides that if he is able to be with Ellie often and tell her things, he doesn't care about the idea of sex. Will initially scoffs at this, but later remarks to himself "Yes, I wanted to touch Rachel. But at this moment, if I had the choice...I'd settle for the less and the more that Marcus wanted."Eventually Will reveals to Rachel that Marcus is not really his son, and the relationship ends. Marcus comes home from school one day to see his mother sitting on the couch crying. He attempts to unburden himself to Will, who is unreceptive as he is still upset about the breakup with Rachel. Will tells Marcus that he can't help him and the two have a fight. Marcus decides that the only way to help his mother is to sing at the school variety show - an act which Ellie deems "suicide". Will continues his superficial existence but realizes that it doesn't fulfill him the way it did before. He remarks "...there was only one thing that meant something to me: Marcus. He was the only thing that meant something to me. And Fiona was the only thing that meant something to him. And she was about to fall off the edge." Will crashes a SPAT meeting and implores Fiona not to commit suicide again. She assures him that she has no plans to do so in the immediate future. Fiona reveals that Marcus is going to sing at the school show and the two rush there to stop Marcus from committing social suicide. At the show, Will sees Rachel in the audience as her son is performing in the show. Will makes his way backstage in an attempt to stop Marcus from singing. Marcus is unswayed and says "My mum wants me to sing it. It'll make her happy." He then proceeds to sing a shrill, out of tune and piercing rendition of "Killing Me Softly". The audience of school children taunts him until Will comes onstage with guitar to accompany Marcus for the rest of the song. With Will's assistance, the school children accept Marcus' performance, giving him mild applause at the end. Seeing this, Will continues to perform an unnecessary solo, with the intent that the school children would remember the performance only for his involvement, and not Marcus'.The film ends at Christmas the next year. The festivities are at Will's place where Marcus, Rachel, Rachel's son Ali, Fiona and Ellie are present. "Every man is an island," Will remarks, an idea that he had adhered to religiously at the beginning of the film. "But clearly, some men are part of island chains. Below the surface of the ocean they're actually connected." The idea of Will marrying Rachel is brought up, and Marcus seems unenthusiastic. The film ends with Marcus's explanation of his reaction: "I don't know what Will was so upset about. All I meant was I don't think couples are the future. You need more than that. You need backup. The way I saw it, Will and I both had backup now. It's like that thing he told me Jon Bon Jovi said: "No man is an island."

comedy, realism, whimsical, dramatic, cute, flashback, feel-good, psychedelic, romantic, entertaining, storytelling

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In Cold Blood

It is November 13, 1959. Perry Smith, a dwarfish, dreamy, soft-spoken man of Cherokee Indian and Dutch descent has been paroled from prison for the past few months. He's on a Greyhound Bus drifting from an unknown location to Kansas City and strumming his guitar. A little girl is fascinated by his strumming, but after he spots her, she walks away. He is to meet up with an old prison buddy, Willie Jay. But he's also expecting to meet with Dick Hickock, another former prison buddy from the local area that had written him a letter about a "perfect score" they could make in western Kansas and that he will meet him at the bus terminal.Dick Hickock is a charming young man from a simple farm family that own a small tract of land and live just outside of Olathe, Kansas, a suburb of Kansas City. His father is ill and dying of cancer. He informs his father that is coughing badly outside the outhouse that he will get them a better place. With his rifle in the backseat of his 1949 Chevrolet, he is ready to pick up Perry and begin his journey.At the Greyhound terminal in Kansas City, Perry phones the prison chaplain, Reverend James Post, inquiring about his friend Willie Jay. Perry is upset that he has not yet been released from prison and the chaplain warns him not to set foot into Kansas, since his parole has a condition that he is not to do so.Out in western Kansas in the town of Holcomb, near Garden City, we are introduced of a prosperous farmer by the name of Herbert Clutter and his family. He is a healthy, vigorous, kindly, yet straitlaced man of 48 years of age that has never used tobacco, alcohol, or caffeine in his life and having a glass of milk for breakfast. His beautiful and sweet 16 year old daughter gives him a morning kiss informing him of her busy day ahead and he finds his 15 year old son Kenyon down in the basement, who is sneaking a smoke and painting a box for his older sister's wedding. Herbert smells the smoke and pretends he doesn't know Kenyon is doing it, but knows and dismisses it. Herbert's wife Bonnie is an ailing and frail woman suffering psychosomatic illness and bedridden much of the time.Back at the Kansas City bus terminal, Perry is in the washroom treating his badly scarred knee that he got years ago from a motorcycle accident. Afterwards, he looks in the mirror and imagines himself performing in Las Vegas in a nightclub with empty chairs, but then Dick notices him and gets him out of his trance. They leave the terminal.Dick and Perry are on Interstate 670 entering Kansas. Perry has now broken parole entering Kansas. Dick informs him of the "perfect score" about a rich farmer in western Kansas named Herbert Clutter that he was tipped off on by a former prison buddy, Floyd Wells. He was told that Clutter had a safe with probably 10,000 dollars in it and that they could rob it and leave no witnesses, killing everybody in sight. We get to know these two people, Perry, a quiet, introspective, dreamy, but unstable young man and Dick, less intellectual, but more masculine and practical. Dick assures Perry that it was okay he didn't meet up with Willie Jay, because he is "a flaming faggot".Perry and Dick stop at a hardware store in Emporia purchasing duct tape, rubber gloves, and nylon rope for their victims. At the checkout stand, Dick steals a package of razor blades. They regret not having purchased nylon stockings, but Perry said maybe they could go to a Catholic church and get them after seeing nuns. Dick jokes and says, "yeah, we'll just go barge in like it was a five and dime store".On the trip we simultaneously see the everyday life of the Clutter family and Perry and Dick traveling. Herbert is writing a check to an insurance salesman for 40,000 in case anything happens to him and they have a television repairman come. Perry and Dick stop at a hamburger stand, Perry dreams of his childhood growing up with his Dutch father and Cherokee mother having rodeos all over the southwest, and they arrive in Garden City and stop at a Fina gas station to refuel. Perry is in the washroom gobbling aspirin and wincing from the pain in his leg and Dick steals some snacks at the counter while his car is being fueled. The Clutter family is about to go to bed and soon afterwards, Perry and Dick arrive at the Clutter house in Holcomb. Perry said they should split and not do this, but Dick talks him into it. They are both slightly drunk.The next morning, a friend of Nancy's and her parents are repeatedly ringing the doorbell at the Clutter home, but nobody answers. They cautiously enter the home. The girls father finds a severed phone cord and the girl is screaming. Afterwards, police cars and ambulances arrive at the Clutter home to take away the bodies. The postmistress, Sadie Truitt, is surprised at what's going on.Perry is asleep at a hotel in Olathe and Dick is at his parents modest home eating. He asks his father what happened to the basketball game and told it got interrupted because of a murder that happened in Garden City that's on the news. Dick jokes and declares he's never been so hungry in his life.Agent Alvin Dewey has been in charge of the case and is a local resident. He and another agent, Roy Church, have been dispatched to investigate the scene. They are trying to recover fingerprints and Dewey can't find a clue as to why they have been robbed, because Herbert Clutter never kept large sums of cash on him and did everything by check. They are later at the courthouse in Garden City seeing a slide show of bloody footprints seen of two different kinds of shoes and Dewey informs the men that the press do not get the information. After reviewing the slideshow, Dewey insists he will give only facts, mainly that Herbert Clutter's throat was cut and that the women were not molested. He meets up with a stern, but friendly and easygoing reporter, Bill Jensen, supposedly Truman Capote's alter ego. They converse alone in the courtroom and can't figure out the case, but Dewey informs him the two older daughters will get the insurance, even though it was written the same night of the murder. Agent Church is at the Clutter home with the housekeeper and she discovers that Kenyon's radio is missing.Back at the Olathe hotel, Perry and Dick are listening to the investigation on Kenyon's radio. Perry is disgusted that Dick's prison buddy Floyd Wells lied to him about the money and feels that the story is not true about no clues as to who did the crime. Dick tells him to quit worrying, even though he's a witness.Prisoner Floyd Wells hears the report of the Clutter murders on the radio and is surprised at the 1,000 dollar reward for anybody that has any clue of them. But still the agents have no clue of it. Yet somehow they knew that over 40 dollars in cash was stolen.Meanwhile about two days later, Perry and Dick are shopping in Kansas City. Dick plans to write a lot of hot checks for a fitted suit for Perry, whom he says is about to get married, an expensive ring, camera, and a television set. Afterwards they leave and are on their way to Mexico to never come back, hoping to score there.The investigation continues with men dragging a river near the Clutter home to search for the murder weapon. No success. Dewey and Agent Clarence Duntz go back to the Clutter home and find a man staying there they believe to be a suspect, but instead he turns out to be an escaped mental patient occupying the place.Dewey and Bill Jensen meet at Hartman's Cafe, a small restaurant in Holcomb managed by Bess Hartman, a sassy, no-nonsense woman. Dewey receives an immediate phone call there from Harold Nye, another agent assigned to the case, with a phone call from Lansing, Kansas from Logan Sanford, head of Kansas Bureau of Investigation. There is a confession from Floyd Wells, Dick Hickcok's former cellmate about Floyd being a former hired man for Clutter and how he told Dick about Clutter's place and all the money and a safe that he had and that Dick wanted to rob the place. He explains how Dick was obsessed with the Clutter home, but never took him seriously. Sanford insists on a pickup for parole violation for Hickock and that he's also wanted for passing hot checks.Perry and Dick cross the border from Laredo, Texas into Mexico, believing they are now safe and sound and off to live the good life.Somewhere in Nevada in an auto junkyard with a decrepit trailer, Agents Dewey and Church meet with Tex Smith, a man nicknamed "The Lone Wolf" a reclusive, eccentric, yet courteous 60-ish man that is the father of Perry. They inquire of Perry's whereabouts and if he's seen him, but he says he has not seen Perry since his stint in prison, but they do the math and realize he hasn't seen Perry in years. Smith does most of the talking about Perry's background that he feels he learned his lesson and always taught his kids to be truthful, enterprising, sober, and independent, but that his wife that was a Cherokee Indian that took to drunkenness, sleeping with young men, and the kids living with that and that he put a stop to it. Also telling them of the story when Perry joined him in Alaska after getting out of the Army to prospect gold and building a lodge. The agents find the interview pointless in getting Perry captured and leave.Perry and Dick are living in a decrepit motel somewhere in Mexico. Perry believes that if they sell the car and buy some deep sea diving gear, they can get the buried treasures in the Yucatan Peninsula to get the Cortez jackpot. However, Dick being practical and realistic tells Perry to forget about it and that he's selling his car for $120 to pay their hotel bill, bar, food, and get a bus ticket to Barstow, California. Much to Perry's extreme disappointment, Dick tells him to knock it off, stop dreaming, and that it's all made up.Dewey and Bill Jensen are back at the Clutter home still trying to find out the motive of the murders. Even with a newspaper article written about how such an incident could happen months before, they still can't figure it out. But Dewey insists that once they are found, they'll hang.Dick is enjoying himself at the hotel with a prostitute, while Perry is packing his belongings. Perry takes a glimpse of the prostitute and she reminds him of his own mother. He has flashbacks of his mother sleeping with a younger man and drunk while he and his siblings look on. His father catches his mother in the act throwing the man out, slapping her bare back with a belt, and pouring her alcohol all over her back. It's made evident Perry had a very traumatic and unhappy childhood, despite his love and devotion for both of his parents and siblings.Perry and Dick are somewhere in the California desert hitching a ride. Dick comes up with a plan that Perry sit in the backseat and when Dick asks him to pass him a match, Perry take his belt to garrotte the driver and rob him. An elderly man in a jeep stops, but then drives away and changes his mind. Then Rosey Grier, a black football star of the New York Giants and a friend of his offer them a ride in his pink Cadillac, but they refuse. They end up taking a ride with a traveling salesman they form a friendly relationship with. Dick asks Perry to pass him a match, but just as Perry is about to garrotte the salesman, the man stops the car to pick up a soldier hitchhiking for Christmas.Agent Harold Nye is at the homestead of Walter Hickock, father of Dick, and discovers a 12 gauge shotgun he suspects is the murder weapon. Mr. Hickock tells the man he can't understand how Dick would ever commit such a crime and tells the detective about Dick's history that he's still a good man despite what has happened, but the detective seems disinterested at the testimony and takes the weapon.Perry and Dick end up at a barn in a farmhouse somewhere in Iowa and discover a Pontiac convertible with the keys in it and steal the car. Afterwards, they decide to pass a lot of hot checks in Kansas City and swap license plates to avoid detection. Agent Duntz is in Kansas City and got a report of them buying two tires with a hot check at an auto parts store from a worried clerk and tells Dewey about it. They intend to meet Perry and Dick at the Hickock farm. Duntz is going to meet them at the Hickock farm. Perry and Dick are just about to cross into Kansas through a toll booth, but detect a police car. Perry turns the steering wheel around and he and Dick and go back before approaching the toll booth.Back in Garden City, Alvin Dewey is studying a map of Kansas about their possible travel route, then telephoned that Perry and Dick have eluded detection. He can't figure out why they came back to Kansas, otherwise.Somewhere in the desert southwest, Perry and Dick pick up a boy and his grandfather. Dick is reluctant, but Perry insists on doing it. They go through it and the boy tells them if they pick up a bunch of old soda bottles, they can make some money. They end up picking up numerous bottles. By the time they drop off the boy and his grandfather in Las Vegas, they make over six dollars from it. Perry and Dick are in good spirits and want to gamble the five dollars. Perry picks up his belongings from the local post office he has picked up from Mexico. Before they can go to the casinos, they are arrested by local police.Perry and Dick are in the Las Vegas jail and informed they have visitors. Church and Nye are interviewing Hickock and Dewey and Duntz and interviewing Smith. They are initially believed to think they are being charged with passing a series of hot checks and driving a stolen vehicle, but subconsciously realize they are being investigated about the Clutter murders. Both of them are in separate interrogation rooms making up a story that Perry was to go to Fort Scott to get money from his sister, but it turned out she moved, then they slept with a couple of prostitutes in Kansas City that they don't remember the names of. After Dick is inquired about the Clutter murder case, he flies off the handle. But they know Dick is lying about going to Fort Scott because Perry's sister never lived there and the post office is closed Saturday. Perry is told directly by Duntz directly he killed the Clutter family that day. Dick feels they are putting him on, but after they show him proof of the footprints, he spills the beans and admits Perry did all the killing. Dick faints afterwards.The next day, Perry and Dick are taken from the Las Vegas jail to Garden City, Kansas. Perry tells Alvin Dewey the story of what happened that night. Flashback to November 14, they reluctantly entered the house and did not find the safe, took Herbert Clutter and his son Kenyon down to the basement, with Nancy and the mother upstairs tied up. After a lot of frustration and finding only a small sum of cash, Perry's legs are hurting him and he has a flashback of his father pulling a gun on him saying "I'm the last living thing you're ever going to see". He cut Herbert Clutter's throat, then shot him, then Kenyon, Bonnie, and Nancy Clutter. Perry concludes that his murder of the Clutter's was not personal, he just did it and thought Herbert Clutter was a very nice man.The next day, they arrive in Garden City, Kansas at the courthouse and both are jailed. Sometime later, their court case is presented by the prosecutor as a motive simply for money and that they need the death penalty, because life imprisonment would mean possible parole in 7 years. He also quotes The Ten Commandments "Thou Shalt Not Kill". Per Bill Jensen, the jury declared the death penalty.Perry and Dick are taken to Lansing, Kansas to the death row section. They spend the next five years there living a mundane life entirely of sitting in their cell with a weekly shower and only reading and writing material to keep themselves occupied outside their own thoughts. Bill Jensen narrates about the mundane life on death row before execution and that neither one of them would have ever done the crime alone, but together, they formed a third personality, which is the one that did it. Perry spends most of his time painting portraits and Dick doing research about his rights to not be executed. Three times their case went to the Supreme Court and were rejected.After a little over five years of waiting, Perry and Dick are executed by hanging on April 14, 1965 at the gallows nearby. Dick is the first one and makes a final testimony that he has no hard feelings and is being taken to a better place. During Dick's execution, Perry and Reverend James Post, whom he talked to on the phone at the bus terminal, is present. Perry tells the chaplain about the story of he and his father in Alaska prospecting and building a lodge, but it was a complete failure and not a single client ever came and over time when food was running low, Perry's father got cross and blamed him for being greedy when he was eating a biscuit. They got in a fight and he pulled a gun on Perry saying "I'm the last living thing you're ever going to see", from the vision he had before killing the Clutter's. Perry declares he hates his father, but loves him as well.Dick has now died from hanging and cut down. Bill Jensen declares to a young reporter that the hangings are not solving anything except three families broken up and more speeches from politicians and everyone passing the buck. Perry is brought over in a police car to be hanged. Right after being brought up to the gallows and before hanging, he envisions the leathery and impersonal hangman looking like his father. The trap door opens and Perry is hanged.

suspenseful, murder, flashback

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Meet Joe Black

William Parish (Anthony Hopkins) is a multimillionaire who has run a successful empire for the past forty years in New York. But, after his wife passes away, he feels empty and becomes convinced that Death is now after him too. He hears strange voices in his head, mimicking his own words, but they are phony and ridicule him in every possible manner. William's eldest and somewhat meddlesome daughter, Allison (Marcia Gay Harden), is planning her father's 65th birthday party.Her sister Susan (Claire Forlani), an attractive young doctor, is involved with one of Bill's board members, Drew (Jake Weber). Her father disapproves of the relationship and suggests she look for someone more suited to her character. Early in the morning she meets a handsome and cheery stranger (Brad Pitt) in a café, but fails to learn his name before they leave. The young man is struck and killed by a car a few minutes later.Death (Brad Pitt) appears to Bill in his home. Bill finally realizes that the young man is the personification of death. But death wants a holiday from his taxing, eternal responsibility of taking the souls of the dead to the after life. He chooses William to be his guide strikes a deal with Bill: as long as Bill shows him around the world of mortals, Bill will get to live a little longer. Temporarily doubting his own sanity, he finally agrees. He is introduced to William's family at a dinner at his house, when Susan arrives a few minutes late. She immediately recognizes the young man she met earlier that day, but the young man as Death is unfamiliar with the practices of mortal men and does not remember their original meeting. He acts awkwardly around her and she is confused and upset by his sudden odd behavior, very unlike his actions earlier that day.When the dinner guests ask Bill for the name of his "old friend", Bill hesitatingly introduces him as "Joe Black". The family is puzzled by the sudden appearance of an old friend of their father's that they have never met. Joe insists that Bill allow him to accompany him everyplace he goes, and Bill reluctantly agrees. Bill knows that these are his last days on earth, but despite his best efforts, he fails to keep events from rapidly spiraling out of control. A merger has been proposed to the Board of Bill's company, and Drew actively supports the transaction, but Bill as Chairman vetoes the proposal. Drew is very antagonistic towards this sudden, new "old friend" of Bill's, and is disrespectful and rude towards him.Susan grows disaffected of her relationship with Drew, beginning to see him for who he really is, and is somewhat enamored of the diffident, seductive, mysterious Joe Black. They have sex and she tells Joe that she loves him. Joe enjoys the experiences of his flesh, of human feelings and desires, and is in love with her as well. This complicates matters, as Bill doesn't want Death to become involved with his daughter, and tells Joe that their deal didn't include this. Death has little care for Will's feelings and declares his intention to take Susan with him for his own.As his last birthday arrives, Bill makes a last attempt to demonstrate to Joe the meaning of true love and all it encompasses, especially honesty and sacrifice.Bill's 65th birthday on his large estate is a wonderful, perfect event. Joe attends, pretending to be an Internal Revenue Service agent. Bill makes a last attempt to demonstrate to Joe the meaning of true love and all it encompasses especially honesty and sacrifice. Joe comes to understand that his love for Susan means he has to sacrifice his desire to take Susan with him and allow her to live her life, and he abandons his plans to take her.Unknown to Bill, Drew is conspiring with a enemy of BIll's who is bidding to acquire Parrish Communications. Drew capitalizes on Bill's strange behavior. He uses information inadvertently given to him by Bill's son-in-law Quince (Jeffrey Tambor) and convinces the board to vote Bill out as Chairman. He also persuades the Board to approve the merger which Bill had decided to oppose. Quince is devastated by what happens to Bill as all but one other member of the board vote him out.Joe, as the IRS agent, uses his knowledge of Drew's actions and intimidates Drew into resigning from the company and Board and to leaving Susan. Joe helps get Bill reinstated as Chairman of the Board. Bill devotes his remaining hours of life at the party to his daughters Allison and Susan. Joe says his last goodbye to Susan, admitting in veiled terms that he isn't what he appears to be. She senses something of the truth behind his words but is unable or unwilling to vocalize this realization. A fireworks show marks the end of the party and Joe escorts Bill to the edge of the garden and Susan follows them.Joe takes Bill over the bridge and the two disappear. Susan saw them walking away and runs up to the bridge. She is surprised when Joe reappears and walks back over the bridge. Death has left with Bill. Joe is now the young man Susan met at the coffee shop at the start of the movie. The young man, unaware of the events which had transpired from the time of his death until his return, talks to Susan. After a few moments, Susan suddenly realises that Joe is not the person whom she fell in love with. In sorrow, she realises that Joe (Death) has left and she is now talking with Joe (young man at coffee shop). She gazes past Joe's shoulder at the spot where she last saw Joe (Death) and Bill. Tearing, she says to Joe (young man), "I wish you could have known my father". She then asks him, "What do we do now?". He replies, "It'll come to us.". She nods and agrees. They hold hands and walk back towards the celebration of (Bill's) life.

paranormal

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The Caller

When troubled divorcee Mary Kee sets up home in her new apartment, she stumbles across an old telephone which she quickly falls in love with. Struck by its antique charm, she gives it a place of pride in her home. Before long, Mary begins to receive strange phone calls from a mysterious, unknown caller. Over time, she discovers that the caller is a woman named Rose, and the two strike up an unlikely friendship. However, when Rose claims to be calling from the past, Mary begins to question her new friend's motives. As Rose's phone calls become ever more disturbing, Mary's sense of terror escalates. Feeling haunted in her own home, she cuts all contact with Rose. Enraged by Mary's betrayal, Rose threatens to exact her terrible revenge. Not on Mary in the present but on Mary as a child in the past. Mary finally realizes that she will have to kill Rose in order to save herself. But how can she kill someone living in the past? She fails. Rose pours hot grease on the young Mary Kee causing the adult Mary Kee to wretch with her new burn scars. After this Mary Kee tries to kill Rose by inviting her to a birthday party at a bowling alley she knew would catch fire and burn, killing all in it. Rose misses the bus and the plan fails, so Rose has the young Mary talk to the adult Mary on a day that the old Rose attempted to barge in and kill her. Mary coaches the young Mary to break a mirror and use the shards to kill Rose, thus ending the attack and the calls, but Mary's abusive husband, Steven reappears, she asks him to leave or he may be sorry, as he denies to go Mary kills him.

murder

tt1049956

The Ghost and the Darkness

In 1898, Sir Robert Beaumont, the primary financier of a railroad project in Tsavo, Kenya, is furious because the project is running behind schedule. He seeks out the expertise of Lt. Colonel John Henry Patterson, a British military engineer, to get the project back on track. Patterson travels from England to Tsavo, telling his wife, Helena, he will complete the project and be back in London for the birth of their son. He meets British supervisor Angus Starling, Kenyan foreperson Samuel, and Doctor David Hawthorne. Hawthorne tells Patterson of a recent lion attack that has affected the project. That night, Patterson kills an approaching lion with one shot, earning the respect of the workers and bringing the project back on schedule. However, not long afterwards, Mahina, the construction foreperson, is dragged from his tent in the middle of the night. His half-eaten body is found the next morning. Patterson then attempts a second night-time lion hunt, but the following morning, another worker is found dead at the opposite end of the camp from Patterson's position. Patterson's only comfort now is the letters he receives from his wife. Soon, while the workers are gathering wood and building fire pits around the tents, a lion attacks the camp in the middle of the day, killing another worker. While Patterson, Starling and Samuel are tracking it to one end of the camp, another lion leaps upon them from the roof of a building, killing Starling with a slash to the throat and injuring Patterson. Despite the latter's efforts to kill them, both lions escape. Samuel states that there has never been a pair of man-eaters; they have always been solitary hunters. The workers, led by Abdullah, begin to turn on Patterson. Work on the bridge comes to a halt. Patterson requests soldiers from England to protect the workers, but is denied. During a visit to the camp, Beaumont tells Patterson he will ruin his reputation if the bridge is not finished on time and that he will contact the famous hunter Charles Remington to help because Patterson has been unable to kill the animals. Remington arrives with skilled Maasai warriors to help kill the lions. They dub the lions "the Ghost" and "the Darkness" because of their notorious methods of attack. The initial attempt fails when Patterson's borrowed gun misfires. The warriors decide to leave, but Remington stays behind. He constructs a new hospital for sick and injured workers and tempts the lions to the abandoned building with animal parts and blood. When the lions fall for the trap, Remington and Patterson shoot at them; they flee and attack the new hospital, killing many patients and Dr. Hawthorne. Abdullah and the construction men leave, and only Patterson, Remington, and Samuel remain behind to face the marauders. Patterson and Remington locate the animals' lair, discovering the bones of dozens of the lions' victims. That night, Remington kills one of the pair by using Patterson and a baboon as bait. The workers celebrate, though later Patterson dreams about his wife and infant son visiting him in Tsavo, only for them to be killed by the remaining lion before he can get to them. Waking from his nightmare the next morning, Patterson discovers that the remaining lion has dragged Remington from his tent and killed him; Patterson and Samuel cremate Remington's corpse on a pyre at the spot where he died. Grief-stricken and desperate to end the carnage, the two men burn the tall grass surrounding the camp, driving the surviving lion toward the camp (and the ambush they set there). The lion attacks Patterson and Samuel on the partially constructed bridge and after a lengthy fight, Patterson finally kills it. Abdullah and the construction workers return, and the bridge is completed on time. The film ends with Patterson's wife arriving with their son, and a narration by Samuel, who informs the audience that the lions are now on display at the Field Museum in Chicago, Illinois. Even today, he says, "If you dare lock eyes with them, you will be afraid".

revenge, violence

tt0116409

Everly

We open to the sounds of a woman being assaulted. A naked Everly (Salma Hayek) enters her bathroom, her body shaken from sexual abuse. She flushes the toilet to cover the sound of her taking off the top. Inside, in a plastic bag are a phone and a gun. She calls her police contact, Detective Roberts, frightened. Getting a voicemail, she leaves him a message, telling him, He knows.Inside the bag is also a locket with a picture of a baby, which makes Everly cry. She then calls another number, getting the voicemail of Edith (Laura Cepada) and Maisey (Aisha Ayamah). Everly hangs up without leaving a message. The men outside her bathroom door are getting more aggressive, telling her to come out now. Everly reaches for the gun, and puts it to her head, intending to commit suicide. However, one of the men breaks through the door and a shot is heard.It turns out she shot the men that broke through the door. She then goes outside, and shoots the other five men dead, though getting shot in the process. Christmas music plays on the speakers, making it clear the film is taking place during the holidays. Everly's upstairs neighbor, Mrs. Havendash, yells at her to keep it down. Everly can only look up in amazement. She scoffs before collapsing to the ground in shock.Everly hears a knock on her door. A tenant on her floor, Anna (Gabriella Wright) asks if everything is all right. Everly says 'yes'. Anna comes in and sees all the dead bodies and Everly pointing a gun at her. Anna says she's sorry and quickly leaves.Everly goes back into the bathroom and calls Detective Roberts again. She screams into the phone for him to call her, and explain what is going on, even if to tell her she is on her own, and he sold out like the rest of the corrupt cops. Everly inspects her wound, and sees the blood pouring out. She hears her phone ring, only to realize it isn't hers. It is the phone of one of the men she killed. Eventually all the men's phones ring and the same man is calling; Taiko (Hiroyuki Watanabe) the crime lord that owns Everly.Everly takes the phone of the dead man on the sofa and answers it. Taiko realizes immediately that it is Everly and tells her he left her a gift. Everly spots a large red box and opens it. It contains the head of Detective Roberts. Everly is horrified, realizing she is truly on her own. Taiko then reveals that Roberts was only the beginning and then states, the address of Edith and Maisey; Everly's mother and daughter. Taiko says he has his men waiting at their apartment, waiting for his command. Everly looks at the phone in shock and begs Taiko not to hurt them. She tells him that hes right; she should die for her betrayal. Taiko pretends to agree to not harm them, only to turn around and say he will allow Maisey to live long enough to turn her into a child sex slave for his pedophilic clientele. Everly's rage boils over and she screams FUCK YOU! at Taiko and destroys the phone.Everly grabs her phone and furiously dials her mother, over and over, until she picks up. Everly rips up the floorboards in her kitchen to retrieve a large bag of money she has hidden away for the past couple years. Finally getting Edith on the phone, she warns her mother that men are waiting for them and she needs to take Maisey and run. Edith doesn't understand what she is talking about, but then begins to hear men beating on the door, trying to break in. Over the phone, Everly hears Edith get Maisey and barely escape the apartment into their car. Gunshots ring out and Everly freezes, waiting to hear a response. However, Edith and Maisey escape the apartment. Everly tells her mother to meet her downtown. Edith says she will call the police but Everly tells her he owns the police. Edith wants to know who she is talking about but Everly tells her mother she doesn't have time to explain.Everly hears the elevator ding and checks the hallway. A man with a shotgun is clearing the hall. Edith is yelling into the phone telling Everly she disappeared for four years and she wants an explanation. Everly crouches to the ground and fires on the man, knocking him back. Everly gets back on the phone, telling her mother that she did not abandon them. Everly tells her that she is going to give them enough money to disappear and if they don't, Edith will be killed and Maisey will be sentenced to a life of misery. Everly tells her mother to call back when she arrives at the meeting place.Everly hears a cell phone in the next apartment. Looking through bullet holes, she sees her co-worker Zelda (Caroline Chikezie) get a call from Taiko who places a bounty on Everly. Zelda grabs a pair of sais and heads over to Everlys door. Everly waits with one of the dead mens machine guns but she can't control the kick and sprays bullets wildly. Zelda races in and tries to stab Everly with the sais. Everly then forces Zelda to be skewered by one of her own weapons. The shotgun guard comes in and laughs at Zelda so she throws one of the sais at him almost hitting him. Everly goes for the other but gets dragged away by Zelda. As she is being dragged away, Everly is able to grab a gun and fires at Zelda. She misses and Zelda falls down. Everly then rolls over and shoots Zelda in the head.Everly hides behind her kitchen counter only to be confronted by another hooker who is about to shoot heronly to be killed herself. Everly looks up, only to be shot at by Elyse who mistakenly shot the other woman and is looking to collect the bounty too. Everly sees the phone of the second dead hooker and sees that Taiko put a fifty thousand dollar bounty on her head. Everly tries to reason with Elyse, willing to buy her freedom. Just when Everly is about to convince her, Dena (Jennifer Blanc) comes in, and Dena and Elyse argue over who will kill Everly and wind up shooting each other.Everly looks out to see Elyse dead, and Dena badly wounded. Despite trying to kill her moments ago, Everlys compassion overrides her survival instincts and she tries to administer first aid. Anna comes back in with a gun. Everly says she knows Anna wants to kill her, but she can help Dena first? Anna and Everly try to help but Dena quickly dies. Anna and Everly point guns at each other. Anna doesnt want to hurt Everly, but if she doesnt, Taiko will kill her. Everly scoffs. "Look around, I can kill you too", she says.Everly tells Anna that she knows she's going to die tonight, but she has a mother and a daughter to keep safe and needs the time to make that happen. Everly speaks to Anna, noting she was a mother once too which only makes Anna more unstable. Everly tells Anna she rather not give Taiko or one his men the satisfaction of killing her and would rather let Anna do it. Anna questions why she wouldn't just run, but Everly says that Taiko will never stop hunting them until Everly is dead. If she dies, he wont care anymore. Anna nods and tells Everly she will give her two hours to make her final arrangements before delivering herself to Anna to die.Everly sees the shotgun the guard left behind and picks it up. As she walks back, her next door neighbor charges out of the room. Everly quickly shoots her dead and shuts the door."That's a lot of dead whores", the man on the couch, only known as Dead Man (Akie Kotabe) says. Everly is shocked that he is still alive, seethes in rage at his comment. "You don't get to call them that. Get up", she says but he wont. It turns out the bullet that hit him has severed his spine, making it impossible for him to move or feel pain. Dead Man inspects Everly and tells her that her wound is rather minor compared to his. Dead Man asks for a glass of water and Everly begrudgingly gives him one. She uses some liquor to sanitize a wound on her hand and winces in pain. Everly sees Dead Man apparently smiling at her pain and takes away his water.Everly looks outside and sees four of Taiko's men and an attack dog outside waiting for her. Nevertheless, she grabs a pistol, the shotgun, and her bag of money and goes to the door. Tell Taiko to lick my balls, Everly says as she opens the door. A shotgun blast nearly hits her and she closes the door. One of Taiko's men calls her a bitch. Everly opens the door and fires off a shotgun round. "I'M NOBODYS BITCH!" she screams, heading into the next door apartment. We see it is the shotgun guard with a new weapon. He then pulls out a grenade and throws it into the room Everly went into. The explosion throws her back in her apartment. The shotgun guard has the drop on her but the Dead Man distracts him so Everly can pull out her pistol. She then shoots him in the genitals and the chest, killing him.Everly gets a call from her mother saying she is at the meeting spot. Everly says she is on her way.Everly hears sirens and curses. She looks outside to see police on their way. She locks her door and turns on her television which is hooked up to security cameras for the whole building. Dead Man cannot believe she has a system like that. Everly shrugs. You know how much he likes to watch, Everly deadpans. Everly watches as the police evacuate the building with the rest of tenants save for the delusional Mrs. Havendash. Everly, seeing the coast is clear plans to run. Dead Man requests that Everly kill him so he doesn't have to face Taiko, and comments he didnt participate in her gang rape. Dead Man says he was only following orders which Everly says that of course absolves him of responsibility. Dead Man says no, but Taiko has made him do horrible things including human trafficking and sexual slavery, by putting the fear of being killed into him. That is Taiko's main weapon; the fear of death and having the ruthless nature to always carry it out at his leisure.Everly goes to leave, but Dead Man begs her to destroy the tape before Taiko sees it. Everly looks back and realizes that there was even a camera. Dead Man warns her not to watch it but Everly does. We don't see anything but we hear the audio of her screaming and Everly's pained horrified reaction. Dead Man looks on in stoic remorse. She puts the tape in an alcohol drink and lights a match, destroying it. Everly points a gun at Dead Man. Our worst day could be a blessing in disguise, he says. Everly leaves him without killing him and makes her escape. Dead Man watches on the camera feed and actually cheers her on, hoping she will be able to make it out. However, at the last moment she is caught by the police officers still in the building. They work for Taiko too. They throw her back into the apartment, telling her Taiko will deal with her soon enough.Dead Man asks her what she will do now, and Everly tells him to shut up. Dead Man tells her a proverb his grandfather used to say, which gives Everly the idea to make Edith and Maisey covertly come to her apartment, get the money and disappear. Realizing the place is filled with corpses, Everly hides the bodies the best she can and cleans up the blood. In addition, she gathers up all the weapons; the pistols, the shotgun, the grenades, and a heavy machine gun and hides them throughout the apartment. She then takes a shower and squirts soap into her wound, making her cry out in pain. She then tends to it with a bandage kept in place with duct tape. Putting on a sun dress, Everly asks Dead Man if he thinks Maisey will like it. Dead Man replies that she perhaps should wear something a bit more practical given that her fight is not over. Everly agrees and changes.Dead Man asks for a final request; a cigarette. Dead Man says he doesn't understand how she got to the police. Everly explains that they came to her; a cop arrived undercover as a plumber and convinced her to turn on Taiko. She was frightened every minute thinking Taiko would find out but went along with the idea that if he was out of the way, she could finally be free and rejoin her family.Everly gets a call from Edith, who is walking into the building. Everly coaches Edith on how to fool the Yakuza men into going up to the seventh floor. However, Edith slips at one point, giving the man in the elevator suspicion. Everly races to the elevator, grabbing one of the sais still embedded in the hallway and hides as the door opens. She then stabs the man, getting into a hand to hand brawl. Everly eventually gets the upper hand and stabs the men dead in the throat and gets another gun in the process. Edith and Maisey come down via the staircase and go to Everly's door.Everly opens the door and says hi to her mother and Maisey, overcome with emotion. Edith asks if they can talk inside, but Everly firmly tells her that she has to take the money and go. However, Edith forces her way inside, and will not take no for an answer. Everly gives Maisey a long overdue Christmas gift; a large Pink bear which Maisey loves. Maisey shows Dead Man the bear and he says it is very beautiful, like you (obviously feeling deep remorse and shame for what he put Everly and her family through). Everly once again tries to make her mother leave, but Edith will not leave without answers and pulls Everly into the bathroom to get them.In the bathroom, Edith screams at her for abandoning both her and Maisey, for not contacting them, and putting her through unbelievable stress and heartache. However, Edith is just glad that Everly is alive. Still, Edith wants to know what happened. Everly tells her mother that there are so many things she wants to tell her, but there is literally no time. Everly does tell her that she was taken against her will to be someones slave and she has been locked up in the apartment for four years. Edith, even without the full picture, realizes the scope of her daughters torture and tells her she is so sorry.Maisey is with Dead Man and begins to look around. Not wanting her to see anything horrible, Dead Man distracts her with the Itsy Bitsy Spider song.Edith asks who Taiko is. Hes the Devil, Everly replies. Edith asks what he did to her. Did he torture you? Edith asks. Everly says she was one of the lucky ones; she wasnt trafficked overseas or sent to a dungeon to be raped constantly which makes Edith recoil with horror. Everly says that her punishment was losing her child, her family. Edith tells Everly they are leaving together, but Everly says she needs to leave without her. Edith hears a phone ring and discovers three of the dead Yakuza men, the very men that raped and planned to murder her daughter. Everly tells her that is what Taiko is; he is a bringer of death and asks if Edith finally understands why she needs to leave. Edith nods yes.Dead Man, quite near death, wakes up to see Maisey is gone. He calls out to her, only to find she has found the box with Detective Roberts head. She wants to open it but Dead Man says that will not be wise, and yells out to Everly.Back in the bathroom Edith realizes that Everly will not be leaving alive. "Sorry Mama", Everly says.Everly finally hears Dead Man and rushes out, and stops Maisey moments before she opens the box. As they tend to Maisey, Edith gasps and Everly looks to see that Dead Man finally succumbed to his wounds. Everly closes his eyes and appears to have a moment of sadness for him, given he spent his last hours apologizing for his role in Everly's plight and in his last breath, shielded a child from the horror he took part in. They cover his body with a sheet.Everly hears a dog bark and realizes Maisey went into the hallway, where a guard and attack dog wait. Everly carefully grabs Maisey and runs into the apartment, handing her to Edith. The dog attacks Everly but gets confused, biting Dead Mans leg instead. The guard tries to tell the dog to kill Everly but he doesn't understand. Everly grabs a grenade and throws it into the hall, and the dog mistakes it for a ball and runs after it. The guard tries to stop the dog, but the grenade explodes, killing them both.Everly checks the security feed to see an elevator of Yakuza men, plus one in the staircase are coming up to kill them. Everly grabs a grenade and the shotgun, surprising her mother. Everly goes to Anna's door and begs her to open up and shield her family. Anna finally opens the door and says she is doing it for Maisey and that their agreement still stands. Everly says she understands and shuts the door. The Elevator opens and the men stare at her. The one in the staircase rushes out, so Everly shoots him, knocking him into the elevator. Using their disorientation to her advantage, Everly throws a grenade inside, and as the door shuts, it explodes, killing all inside and causing the elevator to fall to the ground floor. Everly looks to the cameras, to now see there are now a team of heavily armored killers waiting for her. As she goes for a gun, she doesn't notice a man in a white suit enter the building. Then the power goes out.A man in a steel cage is wheeled in along with the man in the white suit, who calls himself The Sadist (Togo Igawa). The Sadist lets the caged man, The Masochist free, who charges Everly. Everly shoots him several times, only for The Masochist to fall on top of her. Unable to move, The Sadist disarms Everly and puts her in the cage, binding her arms with rope with the help of his four feudal costumed helpers.The Sadist describes himself as a makeup artist and outlines his specialties; sulfuric acid, battery acid, gasoline, and sodium hydroxide, all of which will be used to disfigure and torture Everly. To further toy with her, he pretends to pour acid in her eyes when it is only water. Meanwhile, Mrs. Havendash makes noise upstairs so The Sadist orders one of his men to shoot her. The man fires into the roof, killing her.The Sadist begins his work, making his men use a stun gun on the cage to disorient Everly. He then pours acid on her hand, near the rope which begins to fray it. Then he pours some on her leg, burning skin and making her cry out. Before he can pour it in her eyes, Edith shows up and kills two of The Sadists helpers before being knocked out. The Sadist orders Edith to be brought to a nearby chair, in order to torture her in front of Everly. The Sadist pours gasoline down Ediths throat while Everly struggles with the frayed rope. She finally breaks free, and grabs a gun from one of the helpers, killing him, wounding The Sadist, and killing the other helper. Everly makes her mother induce vomiting to throw up the gasoline when The Sadist attacks again. When he tries to kill Edith with a sword hidden in his cane, Everly disarms him and pours acid down his throat. It liquefies his body from the inside out. The Sadist calls it a fitting end as his guts drip out of him and he hits the floor, dead.Everly gets a call from Taiko. Everly asks if he has had enough. Taiko says no, he has been enjoying himself for the past few hours. Everly looks across the street at the building and sees Taiko sitting with one of his men in a sniper position. He had been watching the entire time, and could have killed her at any point but chose to let her fight continue. Taiko then says it is now time to let her truly suffer and has his sniper shoot Edith. Everly holds her mother as she dies in her arms. Taiko laughs maniacally telling hes not doing with her yet.Everly, having enough, pulls the large machine gun out of the oven and walks over to the window. Taiko sees this and tells her that is not a good idea. "Fuck You", Everly says, and sprays the building with machine gun fire. In response, Taiko's man shoots a LAW Rocket into the apartment, engulfing it in flames. Everly is only able to find a safe spot with seconds to spare. Taiko calls out to Everly and when she doesn't immediately respond, he beheads his sniper for denying him Everlys death. Everly then walks out to the window and glares at Taiko. Taiko then leaves the building he is in.Suddenly, smoke grenades fill the apartment and Everly runs to take cover. A four man squad enters her apartment. Hiding under the floorboards, Everly covertly kills three of the men. As the second squad enters via the windows, Everly shoots one out of the apartment window before being shot and subdued by the remaining men. Taiko enters, and orders Everly to be put on the bed with a noose around her neck, and then tells his men to leave.Taiko then takes the sword and slides it around Everly's body, taunting her. Everly says if he is going to kill her, just do it already. Taiko says it wasnt going to be that easy. Everly asks him "why though?" He was there the entire time, and could've ended it hours ago. Perhaps he cannot bear the thought of her dead after all. Taiko then cuts her cheek and says perhaps he will get Maisey to watch Everly die. Taiko asks Everly if her daughter knows she is nothing more than a used up whore. "Keep my daughter's name out of your mouth!" Everly screams, kicking him in the face.Taiko swings his sword but only winds up cutting the rope, freeing Everly. He then digs his finger into her new bullet wounds, wanting to continue his punishment. He throws her over the bed, and slings his blade into the floor making it stick. He tells Everly dying by his blade is not an honor worthy of her and pulls out a small knife. Taiko tells her he intends to take her back tattoo as a souvenir. Everly sees a shard of glass and reaches for it. She gets it and breaks it off in his leg. As he pulls out a gun, Everly grabs a taser from one of The Sadists helpers and shocks Taiko several times. As she holds a gun on him, Taiko says if she kills him, Maisey and her will never be safe. Everly hands him the small blade and tells him to "Die with honor. Do it yourself". Taiko pretends to comply, then throws the blade into her shoulder, wounding her. But Everly got off a shot in return, grazing his head. As she pulls the blade out, Taiko gets ready to charge her. Taiko runs towards her, but Everly grabs his sword and stabs him completely through his body. She then proceeds to twist the blade, then pull it out vertically, cutting him haphazardly in half.Back in Anna's apartment, Anna has put Maisey in the closet with her bear, and tells her to be quiet and don't move. Anna, though unwilling to harm a little girl, isn't above stealing Everly's money and running. First though, she calls 911 to report Maisey's location. However, someone breaks into her apartment and kills her. The 911 responder hears it all and sends units to the apartment.Maisey leaves the closest, oblivious to Anna, dead, right behind her. She goes outside in the hallway, calling for her grandmother. Behind her, is The Masochist, still alive (he is the one who killed Anna). Maisey closes her eyes and tries to calm herself while The Masochist is standing behind her with a meat cleaver telling her to turn around. A gun shot is heard, and The Masochist drops dead.Everly is in the hallway, with a gun. She calls over to Maisey, telling everything is okay. Maisey tells Everly that she knows she is her mother, that she has her picture in her room. Everly gives her daughter her locket and tells her to think of her. Maisey asks why Everly was gone so long. Everly tells her she missed every moment and never stopped thinking about her. Everly tells Maisey that she loves her, always. "I love you Mommy", Maisey replies.Maisey looks at Everly. It appears she has died from her wounds. In that moment, the real police show up (i.e. ones Taiko hadn't corrupted) with EMTs. A SWAT officer pulls Maisey out of the building as the EMTs work on reviving Everly. A slow pan of the building shows the destruction of the past few hours. As the camera pans up to the sky, an EKG flat line is heard. That flat line turns into a heartbeat rhythm. A loud gasp is heard. It appears that Everly will survive after all and will be able to build a new life with her daughter.

violence, revenge, comedy, murder, sadist

tt1945084

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Note: this is an English-language adaptation of the Swedish novel trilogy by Stieg Larsson. But with the same setting in Stockholm, Sweden.On his birthday, Henrik Vanger (Christopher Plummer), retired CEO of Vanger Industries, receives a pressed flower in the mail from an anonymous sender and phones retired inspector Gustaf Morell (Donald Sumpter).Co-owner of the magazine Millennium, Mikael Blomkvist (Daniel Craig) is swarmed by reporters as he leaves a courthouse, having lost a libel suit leveled against him by corrupt businessman Hans-Erik Wennerstrom (Ulf Friberg). His reputation destroyed and his life savings gone, Blomkvist returns to the office and informs his co-owner Erika Berger (Robin Wright), who is also his lover, that he is resigning.Dirch Frode (Steven Berkoff), the attorney of Henrik Vanger, meets with Dragan Armansky (Goran Visnjic) at the headquarters of Milton Security, having requested a background check on Blomkvist. Armansky has arranged for Lisbeth Salander (Rooney Mara), a girl in her twenties with multiple tattoos and facial piercings who is his best researcher and computer hacker, to come in and personally report her findings on Blomkvist.On Christmas Day, Blomkvist receives a phone call from Frode summoning him to the Vanger estate on Hedeby Island in Hedestad for a face-to-face meeting with Henrik. Upon his arrival, Henrik explains that he is interested in hiring Blomkvist to investigate the murder of his niece Harriet Vanger, who disappeared from the island over 40 years ago. Before she vanished, Harriet would give Henrik a pressed flower for his birthday every year, a tradition that he believes has been continued by the person responsible for her disappearance. Convinced that someone in the family murdered Harriet, Henrik will allow Blomkvist to conduct his investigation out of a cottage on the island, under the guise of writing a memoir about Henrik and his life. Blomkvist is reluctant to accept, until Henrik offers him incriminating evidence that would validate his claims against Wennerstrom.Meanwhile, Lisbeth pays a visit to the home of her legal guardian Holger Palmgren (Bengt C.W. Carlsson) and discovers that he has had a stroke. Ruled legally incompetent as a child, Lisbeth is a ward of the state and she is placed under the guardianship of lawyer Nils Bjurman (Yorick van Wageningen), who takes full control of her finances.When her laptop computer is damaged during an attempted mugging at a local metro station in which she savagely beats her would-be attacker, Lisbeth goes to the apartment of Bjurman to get funds for a replacement, who forces her to perform sex acts on him in exchange for access to her money. One night, when she requests money for food, he has Lisbeth come to his apartment, where he handcuffs her to his bed and proceeds to rape and sodomize her, unaware that she has secretly recorded the crime using a hidden camera on her backpack.Taking up residence in the cottage, Blomkvist begins his investigation of Harriet, taking particular interest in a notebook of Harriet's that has a list of five names and a corresponding five-digit number for each of them. Speaking with Morell, the chief investigator who was called in when Harriet first disappeared, Blomkvist is informed that they are simply random local phone numbers. But a surprise visit from his daughter yields unexpected results, and he discovers that the names all belong to victims of unsolved murder cases and the numbers refer to specific bible verses in the Book of Leviticus that each depicts the different methods used in each killing.Lisbeth takes revenge on Bjurman. She visits him at his apartment again, asking him for money for rent. When he lets her in, she tasers him. He wakes up to find himself with his mouth taped shut, tied spread-eagled on the floor, and naked in his own bedroom. Lisbeth sodomizes him with an large steel bar and tells him how she recorded the previous night's rape. She tells him she intends to release it all over the Internet if he doesn't allow her to control her own finances and apply to have her status of legal incompetence rescinded. Before she leaves, she tattoos I AM A RAPIST PIG on his chest and informs him that she will kill him if he ever brings another woman to his apartment, involuntarily or voluntarily.Just as Blomkvist begins to suspect that he is on the trail of a serial killer, Henrik falls ill and Blomkvist must now answer to Frode and Martin Vanger (Stellan Skarsgård), brother of Harriet and current CEO of Vanger Industries who also lives on the island. Blomkvist requests a research assistant and Frode recommends Lisbeth, revealing that he paid for a background check on Blomkvist, which he demands to see. After reviewing the file, Blomkvist realizes that Lisbeth hacked into his computer and pressures Dragan Armansky into giving him her address for a face-to-face meeting.Meanwhile, Lisbeth goes to a local nightclub for a drink when she gets picked up by an equally outgoing woman named Miranda Wu, whom the flattered Lisbeth responds to her advances and takes LSD with her before they both return to Lisbeth's apartment where they spend the night together.The next morning, Blomkvist shows up on the doorstep of Lisbeth's apartment where he asks for her help with his case. Lisbeth is initially suspicious of him, but she relents when he reveals that he needs her assistance in finding a serial killer of women. She agrees.While he is waiting for Lisbeth to come to the cottage, Blomkvist takes a stroll across the island and is shot at by an unseen gunman, sending him fleeing back to the cottage where he finds that Lisbeth has arrived and even begun to set up surveillance cameras. After treating his head wound, Lisbeth strips naked and the two of them have sex, despite the initial reluctance of Blomkvist.While Lisbeth is off collecting information about each of the murders, Blomkvist discovers photos from a parade that Harriet attended on the day she disappeared, which imply that she saw something that frightened her. Visiting a woman who was also present at the parade, Blomkvist finds that she has an obscured picture of a mysterious man standing across the street from Harriet, whom he believes to be the killer. Once Lisbeth arrives on the island and presents her information from each murder, Blomkvist asks Frode and Martin for access to their corporate archives, in hopes of finding a connection between the company and the different locations of each killing.Scouring the archives dating back to the 1940s, Lisbeth discovers that Gottfried Vanger, the late nephew of Henrik, was in the same town as each of the women during the time they were murdered, with the exception of one victim who was killed two years after Gottfried downed in the lake outside his home on the island.Back on the island, Blomkvist pays a visit to Henrik's brother Harald Vanger (Per Myrberg), a recluse who is shunned by the rest of the family for being a Nazi, and asks to see some pictures he took from the days after Harriet first disappeared. One photo in particular catches his attention, because the person in the photo is wearing the same school uniform as the mysterious man from the parade. Blomkvist asks Harald to identify this man and he says that it is Martin when he was only a teenager.Back at the archives, Lisbeth begins to notice that Martin is visible in the background of news clippings of Gottfried visiting each of the towns on business, having accompanied his father on his travels. She then realizes that the final victim, killed two years after the death of Gottfried, studied at the same school as Martin, leading her to believe that he took after his father.Unable to reach Lisbeth due to poor cell phone reception, Blomkvist decides to break into Martin's house alone and look for clues, but Martin sees him. Martin invites Blomkvist in for a drink, and then leads Blomkvist at gunpoint to a secret basement where Martin gases him, knocking him unconscious. Marin chains Blomkvist and harnesses him to an overhead rail system. Martin casually reveals to Blomkvist that he used the basement to murder all his victims, and that he even had a girl captive in the basement when he met with Blomkvist and Frode a couple of days prior.Lisbeth returns to the cottage she has been sharing with Blomkvist during their research and looks through his research. She concludes Martin may be at the center of the girls' disappearance. She checks the cottage surveillance cameras and sees Martin looking for Blomkvist.In the basement, when Blomkvist suggests that Martin killed Harriet, Martin becomes furious and admits that he has no idea what happened to Harriet. He places a plastic bag over Blomkvist's head and prepares to kill Blomkvist, but hesitates when he is about to remove Blomkvist's pants. Lisbeth appears behind him and hits Martin across the face with a golf club. Martin falls to the floor and then escapes. Lisbeth grabs Martin's pistol and tries to find him in the house, when he flees in his car. Lisbeth chases him on her motorcycle, and when he attempts to run her off the road, he loses control of his car and crashes. Lisbeth walks towards the car, pistol in hand, but the car explodes and burns, killing Martin.With Martin dead, Blomkvist pays a visit to Anita Vanger (Joely Richardson) in London, who was the best friend of Harriet, but she is surprisingly unaffected by the news. Confronting her further, Blomkvist discovers that she is, in fact, Harriet. When she was a teenager, her father Gottfried would repeatedly rape her and eventually Martin began to do so as well. After fighting back one night and drowning her father in the lake, Harriet thought the nightmare was over, until she saw Martin at the parade, watching her intently from across the street after leaving school. Determined to get out, Harriet turned to Anita for help, who smuggled her off the island and whose identity Harriet assumed once she died several years later. Harriet has also been the one sending Henrik the flowers, intending for them to be a sign to him that she is living well.After Harriet returns to Sweden and back to the island for a tearful reunion with Henrik, Blomkvist discovers that the evidence Henrik has against Wennerstrom is useless, having passed the statute of limitations. But Lisbeth reveals that she has hacked into his computer and offers Blomkvist the evidence he needs, which he uses to convince Erika Berger to publish another article exposing Wennerstrom. When Wennerstrom goes on the run once the allegations and evidence become public, Lisbeth travels Europe in disguise and converts all of his funds into bonds which she takes for herself, making it appear as if he has emptied his accounts and taken it all for himself. His criminal associates are none too pleased and, in a matter of days, news breaks that Wennerstrom has been found dead.Having done all of this for Blomkvist, Lisbeth intends to declare her love for him by presenting him with a motorcycle jacket she saw in an old photograph on his computer. But, when she arrives at this apartment, Lisbeth sees him happily walking off with Erika, prompting her to throw his gift into a dumpster and then drive off on her motorcycle.

dark, suspenseful, gothic, murder, mystery, violence, atmospheric, flashback, psychedelic, action, revenge

tt1568346

Purple Rain

The film opens at the First Avenue nightclub in Minneapolis where the band 'The Revolution' is playing their song "Let's Go Crazy". The lead singer, The Kid (Prince) has an energetic style that the people seem to dig. Arriving at the nightclub is aspiring performer Apollonia (Apollonia Kotero), who wants to see the manager. He's not there, so one of the ladies that works there takes down Apollonia's information. After The Revolution is done playing, Morris Day and The Time begin to play, the former having a rivalry with The Kid.The Kid lives at home with his mother (Olga Karlatos) and his father (Clarence Willliams III), a mixed race couple. The father physically abuses the mother, and strikes back at The Kid whenever he tries to defend her.The next day, Morris and the club's owner Billy (Billy Sparks) discuss getting a new group to replace The Revolution since people are getting tired of The Kid's schtick. Morris wants to organize an all-girl group, and Billy appears to be on board.The Kid pursues Apollonia. He takes her for a ride on his motorcycle and rides to a nearby lake, where he tells her he will help her break out if she gets into the water of Lake Minnetonka. Apollonia strips down to her underwear and jumps into the water. The Kid then says that it's not Lake Minnetonka. He gets on his motorcycle and begins to ride away, leaving Apollonia naked and pissed off. However, he stays and lets her climb back on.Two members of The Revolution, the bass player Wendy (Wendy Melvoin) and assistant guitarist Lisa (Lisa Coleman), frequently write music for the band and ask The Kid to give it a listen, but he never does and he continues to refuse to use their music, which causes tension between the band. The Kid mocks their sentiments using a puppet.Morris approaches Apollonia to join the girl group. He buys some fancy champagne and tries to convince her that The Kid can't help her kick-start her career since he can hardly get his own career off the ground. As The Kid performs, he watches the two of them sitting together. With The Revolution, he sings "The Beautiful Ones," which brings Apollonia to tears.After the show, The Kid brings Apollonia to his home. He plays a record track in his room that sounds like a woman moaning erotically, but he tells Apollonia that the woman is crying, and he is just playing the track backwards. The Kid then passionately kisses Apollonia and they make love for the first time.A few days later, Morris eventually persuades Apollonia into joining the group. She goes to The Kid's home and gives him the news. He reacts by angrily slapping her the same way his father does to his mother.The Kid learns from Billy that he plans to cut one of the acts for the club. This leads The Kid to go on a motorcycle ride to have time with his thoughts (while "When Doves Cry" plays). This is cut between moments of memories he shared with Apollonia. When he returns home, he finds his mother on the front steps crying. He enters his home to confront his father. The Kid finds him in the basement smoking a cigarette and playing the piano. He learns that his father has composed several musical pieces of his own, but he claims to have not written them down. When he asks his son if he has a girlfriend, The Kid says 'yes', and his father tells him not to get married.Back at the First Avenue, The Revolution performs "Computer Blue", with The Kid acting out like he's getting a blowjob on stage. The audience doesn't appear to be digging his music. Apollonia and Morris show up. The band starts playing the very provocative "Darling Nikki", which makes Apollonia uncomfortable and humiliated. After she leaves, The Kid goes into his dressing room and starts taking out his anger. Billy enters and criticizes him, comparing him to his father and his own failed musical career.Soon, the girl group, Apollonia 6, make their debut at the club. Their song, "Sex Shooter", is a hit, and Billy continues to hint at The Kid that they'll be taking his spot. After the show, Apollonia and Morris (who is drunk) are walking together. The Kid comes to get her on his motorcycle once Morris starts to get fresh. They ride by a bridge, where The Kid starts getting aggressive with Apollonia. She leaves him.When The Kid returns home, he sees that the place is a mess, and his mother is gone. He goes down to the basement, and his father shoots himself in the head with a handgun. But the wound only grazes his head. The medics take him away. The Kid starts raging out in the basement, whereupon he discovers his father's compositions. The following morning, he picks up a tape of a song that Wendy and Lisa wrote, "Slow Groove". It inspires him to start composing.That night, The Time plays their set to a satisfied crowd. After the performance, Morris goes by The Revolution's dressing room and tauntingly asks The Kid, "How's the family?" His buddies laugh, but Morris quickly regrets what he said.The Revolution goes up to play. Before the song, The Kid announces that they're playing a song written by Wendy and Lisa, which he dedicates to his father. The song is "Purple Rain". It thrills the crowd so much that even Billy sheds a tear. Once the song ends, The Kid goes backstage and plans to hop on his motorcycle, but he hears the enthusiastic cheering and goes back, where the other musicians congratulate him and cheer him on. He sees Apollonia as well, who appears to have forgiven him. He returns to the stage and plays "I Would Die 4 U". This is cut between scenes of him visiting his father at the hospital with his mother, as well as Apollonia visiting The Kid in the basement.The film concludes with a shot of The Kid giving the audience one more intense look.

cult, violence

tt0087957

The Fisher King

Jack Lucas (Jeff Bridges), a cynical, arrogant shock jock talk radio host, becomes suicidally despondent after his insensitive on-air comments inadvertently prompt a depressed caller to commit multiple murders at a popular Manhattan bar. Three years later, while heavily intoxicated and depressed, he attempts suicide. Before he can do so, he is mistaken for a homeless person and is attacked and nearly set on fire by ruffians. He is rescued by Parry (Robin Williams), a deluded homeless man who is on a mission to find the Holy Grail, and tries to convince Jack to help him. Jack is initially reluctant, but comes to feel responsible for Parry when he learns that the man's condition is a result of witnessing his wife's horrific murder at the hands of Jack's psychotic caller. Parry is also continually haunted by a hallucinatory Red Knight, who terrifies him whenever he shows any confidence.Jack learns that Parry had slipped into a catatonic state following his wife's death and had remained there for a few years. When he emerged he seemed obsessed with the tale of the legend of the Fisher King, a form of which Parry recounts to Jack. The legend varies, but all iterations possess three elements: the Fisher King was charged by God with guarding the Holy Grail, but later incurred some form of incapacitating physical punishment for his sin of pride, and had to wait for someone to deliver him from his suffering. A simpleminded knight named Percival, referred to in the movie as "The Fool", healed the wounds with kindness to the king, asking him why he suffers and giving him a cup of water to drink. The king realizes the cup is the grail and is baffled that the boy found it, as demonstrated in the closing exchange: "I've sent my brightest and bravest men to search for this. How did you find it?" The Fool laughed and said "I don't know. I only knew that you were thirsty." Echoes of the legend recur throughout the film, but in a continually shifting manner, so that it sometimes appears that Lucas is Percival to Parry's Fisher King, sometimes vice versa, and sometimes that one or the other is re-enacting part of the story with another character (most obviously in Parry's self-assigned quest to obtain the Grail from the man he believes is its guardian).Jack seeks to redeem himself and help Parry find the Grail and find love again. Jack sets Parry up with a woman Parry has been smitten with from afar, Lydia, a shy woman who works as an accountant for a Manhattan publishing house. Jack successfully introduces them to each other and sets up an equally successful dinner date (Jack and his strong-willed girlfriend, Anne, join them). Following dinner, Parry declares his love for Lydia but is once again haunted by the Red Knight. Parry tries to escape his hallucinatory tormentor but is attacked by the very thugs from whom he had earlier rescued Jack. The beating is not fatal but causes Parry to become catatonic again.Jack promises to find the Grail for Parry. He infiltrates the Upper East Side castle of a famous architect and retrieves the "Grail", a simple trophy. When he brings it to Parry, the catatonia is broken and Parry regains consciousness. While he and Jack lead the patients of the mental ward in a rousing rendition of "How About You?", Parry is reunited with Lydia and Jack (who had earlier broken up with Anne for dubious reasons) reunites with his love as well.=====================The story opens in a radio broadcast studio where arrogant and cynical "shock jock" Jack Lucas talks to a caller about the banality of the social scene in New York City (where his show is broadcast). The caller tells Jack about a bad date he'd had recently, sounding quite despondent over being rejected by a woman. Jack tells him, in a largely dismissive tone, that social status dictates that the caller will never be successful if he tries to enter this woman's more aristocratic social circle. Jack's show ends for the day and he returns to his lush penthouse where quarrels briefly with his girlfriend (whom leaves) and admires himself, repeating his tagline ("FORGIVE me!!). Jack turns on the news and finds out that the despondent man he'd been talking to had killed several people in a popular Manhattan restaurant with a shotgun. Jack is devastated, blaming himself for the man's breakdown.Three years later Jack is off the radio & morbidly depressed, living with a woman, Anne, who owns a video store downstairs from her apartment. Jack drinks heavily and works part-time for Anne. When Jack offends a chatty customer, Anne tells him to go back to her apartment and get some rest. That night, Jack, while watching a television show he's produced based on his radio experiences, insults Anne, saying that he's only lived with her for sex. Anne storms off and Jack leaves the apartment, taking a bottle with him. Mistaken for a bum on the street, a small child gives him a wooden Pinocchio doll. Jack ends up near the Manhattan Bridge at the East River, feeling suicidal with cinder blocks tied to his ankles. While he prepares himself to jump in the water, he's attacked by two young men who believe he's a vagrant; they beat him severely, douse him with gasoline and intend to burn him alive. Just as they light a match, they are attacked by another bum who speaks much like a medieval knight and wields a non-lethal bow and arrow. Several other bums join him and sing "How About You?" and Jack's would-be killers are quickly outnumbered and defeated. One of the killers is captured and tied up by the vagrants' leader and left to be victimized by anyone who comes along. Jack is initially terrified of the leader, who is suddenly kind and takes him to a safe area under a bridge, populated by more homeless men. Jack spends an hallucinatory night with them, even impressing them all when his coat briefly catches fire, causing him to dance around in a panic.The man takes Jack back to his home, the maintenance room in the basement of an apartment building. The man tells Jack his name is Parry and that he's a knight on a sacred quest; Perry believes the Holy Grail is in the home of a prominent architect living in a castle-like building on the Upper East Side. Parry also hints that he is often visited by the "little people", hallucinations that advise him on the quest. Parry, however, is terrified of the Red Knight, a large, monstrous enemy that rides a black horse and breathes fire. Jack also notices that Parry has a small shrine dedicated to a young woman to whom he's infatuated, however, Parry yanks him away from the shrine when he discovers him there. Parry believes that Jack has been sent to aide him in his quest. Jack tells Parry openly that he's crazy and leaves. As he walks out he meets the building manager who at first thinks Parry has invited someone to live with him. The manager tells Jack that Parry used to live in an apartment in the building a few years ago before his wife was murdered. The manager goes on to say that Parry's wife was killed in the same tragic restaurant shooting incident that Jack believed he caused.Jack goes back to Anne's apartment, finding her distraught at his disappearance but happy to see him alive. He explains what happened the previous night and how he was attacked. Jack realizes that much or all of his depressive state can be relieved if he helps Parry. He asks Anne about the Holy Grail and she pontificates on the nature of good and evil and God and the Devil. The two of them have sex. Later, Jack tells Anne that he feels he's cursed because of the trouble he believes he caused Parry and she tries to comfort him.Jack revisits Parry's home and is met by the manager who tells Jack more about Parry: his real name is Henry Sagan and he was a professor of medieval studies at Hunter College. After his wife was killed, he fell into a catatonic state and lived in an asylum on Staten Island. One day he simply awoke from his catatonia and became Parry. He was taken back to his old apartment building where the manager allowed him to live in the basement. The manager also tells Jack that Henry was deeply in love with his wife.Jack finds Parry in the Midtown area of Manhattan, sitting atop a parked car, oblivious to the alarm blaring. Jack offers Parry money for compensation, however, Parry gives it to another homeless man. Jack is angry, but Parry grabs him, pulling him behind a column. A woman, Lydia, has emerged from the skyscraper, the same woman that Parry had built the shrine to in his home. She is at once clumsy and awkward, finding it difficult to negotiate her way past people and through the building's revolving door. Parry and Jack follow her to a Chinese restaurant where they watch her through the window. Later, she stops at a news stand, where she buys a new novel, a habit that Parry has noticed; she buys a new book every few days. After she returns to work, Parry tells Jack that he's "deeply smitten" with her but lacks the self-confidence to approach her. Just then Parry's nemesis, the Red Knight, appears. Jack cannot see the monster; it is a hallucinatory manifestation of Parry's own fear that only he can see. However, Parry yells that the Red Knight is uncharacteristically afraid of Jack and drags Jack along on the chase. They race through Central Park until Jack, lagging behind, finds Parry sitting on a rock. Parry tells Jack that their combined effort has frightened the Red Knight off. The pair hear screaming and happen across another homeless man who had buried himself in the dirt of a horse trail in the park, hoping that riders will trample him. Jack and Parry take him to a homeless shelter where Jack comforts the man while Parry tries to stir the other patients into song. Jack talks briefly with the man they rescued who tells him he's a cabaret singer and a veteran who watched all his friends die.Later, back in Central Park on the Great Lawn, Jack lays on the grass with Parry next to him. Parry is nude, unafraid of the danger in the park at night, and gazes at the clouds and stars and tells Jack the story of the Fisher King, who once possessed the Holy Grail but lost it, grew old and became depressed. The king was saved by a passing fool who gives him a drink of water; the cup he uses is the Grail itself and the king is revived. Parry says he has a vague memory of a lecture he gave on the story as a professor before his mental breakdown. Jack suggests that Parry needs to be introduced to Lydia and says he'll help him.Jack returns to Anne's place and formulates a plan to have Parry meet Lydia socially. He poses as a contest official and tells Lydia she's won a free membership at Anne's store. Lydia is not so easily fooled and hangs up on Jack. Jack sends the cabaret singer to Lydia's office; the man does a flamboyant musical number informing Lydia she won the membership.Lydia shows up at the video store. Parry is there too, posing as an employee. Lydia's membership is squared away and Parry helps her find a few movies to rent. She doesn't find any she'd like but notices that Anne has a fancy manicure. Anne tells her that she does her nails herself and she'll do Lydia's for a reasonable fee. Lydia agrees and Anne invites her to her apartment that night. Jack will meet them there later with Parry and they'll all go to dinner. Jack gives Parry his wallet to pay for dinner.Anne and Lydia talk about Lydia's need for self-confidence. Jack helps Parry clean up for dinner. The four go to a Chinese restaurant where the plan to get Lydia and Parry together is successful. Jack and Anne go back to Anne's place and Parry escorts Lydia home. Lydia expresses many assumptions about Parry, believing that he'll stay with her one night and leave. Parry tells her that he's quite in love with her and promises to contact her again. As he leaves, Parry's abnormal fear hits him, he sees the Red Knight and runs screaming into the night. He ends up at the same spot where he found Jack when Jack attempted suicide. A few moments later, while Parry lies on the ground, twitching uncontrollably, the same two punks who tried to kill Jack find him - both are standing on either side of the Red Knight. The punks beat him severely.The next day Jack calls his old radio agent and tells him he'd like to get back on the air. Anne comes on to Jack, however, Jack asks to talk to her seriously; Jack thinks that he needs to break up with her because his career may once again take off. Anne is instantly furious and upset and argues with him. Just then, Jack receives a phone call from the police; they found Jack's wallet on Parry when he was brought to a hospital. At the hospital, Anne and Jack find out about the assault and that Parry has become catatonic again. Parry will be remanded to a mental hospital until he regains his mind.Jack settles quite easily back into his previous life as a radio host, however, his arrogance and insensitivity have mellowed greatly. He is also in talks to produce a television talk show. While in a meeting with a TV executive, Jack leaves unexpectedly and visits Parry, bringing him the Pinocchio doll he'd gotten from the child. Jack tells Parry that he knows Parry wants him to steal the "grail" from the castle on the Upper East Side, however, he also refuses to do it. Jack demands that Parry wake up, to no avail, and finally promises to undertake the dangerous mission.Using Parry's plans and notes, Jack makes use of a slingshot to carry a rope and anchor to a parapet and the high tower of the castle. He makes it inside and creeps down the long staircase. About halfway down, he sees the man who shot Parry's wife and recoils at the hallucination. Jack finds the castle's study and the Grail, which turns out to be a trophy given to a "Lanny Carmichael". Jack hears a noise behind him and finds Carmichael slumped in an easy chair by the fireplace, having taken an overdose of medication. Jack tries unsuccessfully to wake the man up, choosing instead to leave by the front door, tripping the security alarm.Jack once again visits Parry and gives him the cup. Exhausted, Jack slumps on Parry's bed and falls asleep. Some time later, Parry's fingers, holding the cup, begin to caress it. Parry wakes up and tells Jack that he really misses his wife.The next day, Lydia visits Parry and finds his bed empty. Parry and Jack are leading the other patients in a rousing rendition of "How About You?". Parry sees Lydia crying and hugs her, asking her why she looks so sad. Jack continues to lead the other patients in song.Jack goes to Anne's store and reconciles with her, admitting he loves her. She slaps him but accepts him back into her life. The story ends with Jack and Parry nude in Central Park, watching the clouds and laughing.

comedy, murder, thought-provoking, suicidal, flashback, insanity, psychedelic, melodrama

tt0101889

Irréversible

Irréversible contains thirteen scenes presented in reverse chronological order. They are arranged here in chronological order. A young Italian woman living in France named Alex (Monica Bellucci) is reading An Experiment with Time by John William Dunne in a park, surrounded by playing children. Beethoven's 7th Symphony is heard in the background. The camera spins around faster and faster until it blacks out into a strobe effect, accompanied by a pulsing, roaring sound. A rapidly spinning image of a lawn sprinkler resembling the cosmos can be dimly perceived. A title card reads: "Le Temps Detruit Tout" ("Time destroys everything") – a phrase uttered in the film's first scene. The film ends. Alex sits on the bed clothed, her hand on her belly. A poster for Stanley Kubrick's 1968 film 2001: A Space Odyssey, with the tagline "The Ultimate Trip", is above the headboard. Alex lies in bed with Marcus (Vincent Cassel) after having sex. Alex reveals she might be pregnant, and Marcus is pleased with the possibility. They prepare to go to a party, and Marcus leaves to buy wine. Alex takes a shower, then uses a home pregnancy test that confirms she is pregnant. She is elated. At a nearby Paris Métro station and aboard a subway train, Alex, Marcus, and Pierre (Albert Dupontel) are on their way to a party. They discuss sex and Pierre refers to the fact that he and Alex were once dating, but are no longer in a relationship. He implies that Marcus stole Alex from him. Alex, Marcus, and Pierre have arrived at the party. Alex is annoyed by Marcus's unrestrained use of drugs and alcohol and his flirtatious behavior with other women, and consequently decides to leave the party alone. On her way home, Alex sees a pimp called "Le Tenia" ("The Tapeworm") (Jo Prestia) beating a transsexual prostitute named Concha (Jaramillo) in a pedestrian underpass. Once the man sees Alex, he releases Concha and turns his attention to Alex, who attempts to flee, but Le Tenia catches her and threatens her with a knife. Le Tenia pins Alex to the ground and anally rapes her for several minutes of screentime, after which he brutally beats her into unconsciousness. Marcus and Pierre leave the party and encounter commotion on the street. Marcus wails as he discovers Alex's bloodied body being wheeled on a stretcher into an ambulance by paramedics. Alex is hospitalized and revealed to be comatose. Marcus and Pierre are questioned by the police. They then talk to a street thug named Mourad (Mourad Khima) and his friend Layde (Hellal). The two gangsters promise, if they get paid, to help them find the rapist, who Mourad claims is Le Tenia. Marcus and Pierre go looking for the man who raped Alex. Marcus is still high on drugs and very agitated. The men track down Concha, Le Tenia's last victim. At first, she refuses to talk to them. After Marcus threatens to slash her with a piece of broken glass, she identifies Le Tenia as the rapist and says he can be found at a gay BDSM nightclub called The Rectum. They are soon chased by angry sex workers seeking to defend Concha. Mourad and Layde run in a separate direction. Marcus and Pierre hail a taxi. Following a row, Marcus assaults the taxi driver and steals the car. Marcus and Pierre go to The Rectum, but do not know what Le Tenia looks like. Marcus finds Le Tenia standing with another man. Thinking the other man is Le Tenia, he assaults him, but the man wrestles Marcus to the ground, breaks Marcus's arm, and attempts to rape Marcus on the club floor. Pierre defends Marcus by using a fire extinguisher to crush the man's skull, thus killing him. Le Tenia – the source of all the havoc – stands there groggily, perhaps not believing he got away with it. Police arrest Pierre and put him in handcuffs. An ambulance arrives, and Marcus is put on a stretcher and taken from the club. Outside, Mourad and Layde shout homophobic insults at Pierre and Marcus. The murdered man is revealed not to be Le Tenia after all. Rather, the man standing next to him in the club was the real Le Tenia. Across the street in a small apartment, two men are talking about sex. One of them is "the Butcher," the protagonist of Noé's previous film, I Stand Alone. In a drunken monologue, the Butcher reveals that he was arrested for having sex with his own daughter. The subject of their discussion shifts to the commotion in the streets outside. Without looking out the window, they derisively attribute the commotion to the patrons of The Rectum. Outside, Mourad is seen talking to a police officer.

cruelty, murder, thought-provoking, violence, cult, revenge, sadist

tt0290673

Thief

Frank (James Caan) is a highly experienced jewel thief and hardened ex-convict who has a set structure to his life. With a pair of successful Chicago businesses (a bar and a car dealership) as fronts for his lucrative criminal enterprise, Frank sets out to fulfill the missing part of his life vision: a family beginning with Jessie (Tuesday Weld), a cashier he has begun dating. After taking down a major diamond score, Frank gives the diamonds to his fence, Joe Gags (Hal Frank). However, before Frank can collect his $185,000 share of the score, Gags is murdered by being pushed out of a 12th-story window for skimming off mob collection money. Barry (James Belushi), Frank's friend and associate making the pick-up, discovers that a shady plating company executive Gags was working for, Mr. Attaglia (Tom Signorelli), is responsible for Gags' murder and stealing Frank's payoff. In a tense confrontation at Attaglia's plating company, Frank demands his money back. This leads to a face-to-face meeting with Attaglia's employer, Leo (Robert Prosky), a high-level fence and Chicago Outfit boss. Unknown to Frank, Leo has been downing Frank's "merch" from Gags for some time. He admires Frank's eye for quality fenced goods and professionalism, and wants him taking down contract scores all over the country working directly for him, offering Frank large profits. "I'll make you a millionaire in four months," Leo states at their jargon-filled meeting, which is monitored from a distance by police surveillance – as well as a hidden Barry armed with a rifle, in case the meeting goes bad. At first, Frank is reluctant to consider Leo's offer, not wanting to "deal with egos" or the added exposure. But later that night at a coffee shop, an emotional bonding with Jessie changes the game when she agrees to be part of his life after he relates a harrowing tale of prison survival by way of a toughened mental attitude. To hasten his plans, Frank now agrees to do just one big score for Leo, telling Barry that this will be their last job. With a little help from the paternal Leo after being rejected at the state adoption agency, Frank is even able to acquire a baby on the black market, a son he names David after his recently deceased mentor and closest friend from prison, nicknamed Okland (Willie Nelson). Things start heating up on account of Frank's new association with Leo. After resisting a shakedown from a group of corrupt police detectives, then subsequently ditching their surveillance, Frank and his crew are soon involved in a large-scale West Coast diamond heist organized by Leo. All goes well with Frank's "burn job" and he is expecting the agreed-upon sum of $830,000 on $4 million wholesale of unmounted stones. But when Frank returns from the job, Leo tosses him an envelope containing less than $100,000, the "cash part" according to Leo, who says he has invested the rest of Frank's cut in shopping centers, an idea Frank had flatly rejected. In addition, Leo sets up a Palm Beach score for Frank in six weeks without consulting him. An irate Frank bluntly tells Leo that their deal is over, takes the envelope of cash as he leaves and demands the rest of his money in 24 hours or "...you will wear your ass for a hat." Frank drives to his car lot unaware that Leo's henchmen have already beaten and captured Barry, and are waiting in ambush for him. In the set-up, Frank is knocked out with the butt of a carbine and Barry is killed by several shotgun blasts from Carl (Dennis Farina), one of Leo's main enforcers. Frank awakens with Leo staring down at him, surrounded by his henchmen. Leo coldly informs him that he, Jessie, their child, and everything he owns are Leo's property. He threatens to prostitute Jessie and "...whack out your whole family" if Frank does not continue working for him. Leo warns Frank to "tighten up" and focus on his responsibilities; meanwhile, his henchmen dispose of Barry's body, dumping it into a plating tank. Frank goes home to contemplate his next move, gradually sinking into a hardened apathy akin to his prison days. He coldly orders an uncomprehending Jessie out of their house, telling her their marriage is over. He instructs an associate to drive her, the baby and $410,000 in cash somewhere where they cannot be found, informing Jessie more money will be coming at regular intervals, but that he will not be joining her. With nothing to lose, Frank blows up their home in a fiery nighttime blast using high-explosive charges. He then drives to his business establishments and does the same, destroying his bar in a violent explosion then setting fire to his car lot. Armed with a pistol, he quietly breaks into Leo's house in a peaceful neighborhood and pistol whips Attaglia in the kitchen. Frank hunts for Leo, who is hiding, armed with a .357 Magnum revolver. Leo is inevitably located and gunned down. Frank then pursues Attaglia as he tries to escape from the house, but is promptly confronted in the front yard by Carl and another henchman. In the ensuing gunfight, Frank is shot, but manages to kill the trio. Frank loosens what appears to be a ballistic vest he was wearing beneath his jacket, and walks away into the night.

comedy, suspenseful, neo noir, murder, cult, violence, atmospheric, psychedelic, revenge

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El retorno de Walpurgis

Prologue: It is medieval Transylvania. Irineus Daninsky has just slain Lord Bathory, head of a coven of witches and worshippers of Satan. His widow Elizabeth is holding a Black Mass in order to exact revenge when Daninsky and his troops crash the ceremony. Later, as the witches are all hung and Elizabeth is burned at the stake, she curses Daninsky. One of Daninsky's descendants will accidentally kill one of the Bathory descendants and set in motion a curse which will bring hell on earth to all succeeding generations of Daninskys.Many generations later, Waldemar (the last remaining Daninsky) [Paul Naschy] is out in the forest hunting a wolf when he accidentally shoots a man (actually a werewolf). This sets in motion the curse, initiated by the man's family of gypsies, who select one of them, Ilona [Ines Morales], to infiltrate Daninsky's home and make him fall in love with her. One night, as Waldemar is traveling through the Borgo Pass on his way to Bistritz, his carriage comes upon a Ilona lying in the road. Waldemar cares for her at his castle until she is well. Waldemar's maid Malitza [Ana Farra] warns that Ilona is up to no good, but Waldemar has already taken her as a lover. On the eve of Walpurgis, Ilona takes a knife and a wolf's skull from her things, calls upon the dreaded Grey Shadow, slits her own wrist baptizing the wolf skull with her blood, and then presses the fangs of the wolf into Waldemar's chest, just above his left breast. Ilona then runs from the castle, where she is presently chopped up by the ax of insane murderer Janos Villeya, who has escaped from police custody and gone into hiding on Daninsky's land.Some days later, as Waldemar is recuperating from his wound and suffering emotionally from the betrayal and loss of Ilona, he learns that an engineer named Laszlo Wilowa [Eduardo Calvo] from Budapest has just moved into the area, along with his blind wife Irina and their two daughters, Kinga and Maria. One day, as Waldemar is hunting for rabbit, he comes upon Kinga hanging from a cliff and crying for help. Waldemar helps her down, meets her family, including her precocious younger sister Maria. As the days pass, Waldemar finds that he is enjoying Kinga's company. Meanwhile, Kinga is falling in love with Waldemar.One afternoon, Waldemar receives a note from Kinga [Fabiola Falcon] in which she asks him to meet her at an abandoned cottage near the mill. Just as Waldemar arrives, she is attacked by the insane murderer. Fortunately, Waldemar saves her, stabbing Janos in the stomach. As Janos runs off, Waldemar turns to Kinga, only to find that it is Maria [Maritza Olivares]. In an effort to upstage her older sister, Maria has decided to give her virginity to Waldemar. Waldemar tries to resist but, when Maria disrobes, he sweeps her into his arms. They make love, until the full moon rises and Waldemar suddenly changes into a werewolf and kills Maria. Malitza, who has been watching, drags Maria's body into the woods and leaves it to be found as yet another of Janos's victims.Meanwhile, the mark of the werewolf (a red pentagram) has made its appearance on Waldemar's breast, and he has been changing into a werewolf on the nights of the full moon, during which he unknowingly kills some villagers. On the very night that Kinga tells Waldemar that she is pregnant, Waldemar kills her father. Blame for the killings has so far fallen on the escaped murderer, whom some say is a werewolf. Finally, Malitza explains to Waldemar what has been happening and tells him about the curse. Malitza promises to take care of it, so she reveals the truth to Kinga and gives her a silver dagger.One night, some children playing ball discover Janos's body in an advanced state of decomposition. It becomes apparent to everyone that someone else has been doing the killing, and all eyes turn to Waldemar when they remember how he was marked by Ilona on the night of Walpurgis. The villagers decide to storm the castle and kill Waldemar. As the villagers, with their guns and torches and dogs, close in on Waldemar, Kinga gets to him first and stabs him through the heart with the silver dagger.Epilogue: Five or six years have passed since Waldemar's death. Kinga and her son visit his grave, and we are reminded of Elizabeth Bathory's curse -- that it will extend to all of Waldemar Daninsky's descendents.Original Synopsis by bj_kuehl.

violence, cult, murder, romantic, flashback

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Neko no ongaeshi

A young girl named Haru awakens to another day, where it seems she's a few steps behind everything. Rushing to school, she comes in late for class, to mocking laughter from her classmates, and even from one guy in her class whom she has a crush on.After school, walking home with her friend Hiromi, Haru curses her misfortune. As they walk down a busy street, they see a dark cat carrying a small box in his mouth. In the middle of the street, the cat drops it, and attempts to pick it up, unaware that a large truck is heading towards it! Haru grabs her friend's lacrosse stick, and running into the street, saves the cat, before collapsing into some bushes and breaking the lacrosse stick. Unseen by anyone but Haru, the cat then stands on it's hind legs, and thanks her for saving him. It then gets back on all fours, and rushes off. When Haru relates the incident to Hiromi, her friend can scarcely believe it either.Later that evenin, Haru tells her Mother about the incident. Her Mother explains that it sounds like something that happened when Haru was little. Supposedly, a dirty white kitten was following her as she ate fish crackers. Haru then took pity on the kitten, and gave her the whole box. Haru's Mother claims that Haru told her that the kitten talked to her, but Haru doesn't recall anything like that happening.Later that night, Haru hears something outside, and sees a procession of cats walking down the street. Then eventually stop outside Haru's house, and she comes outside. Among the procession are the Cat King, his Prime Minister Natori, and a servant cat named Natoru. Natori explains that the Cat King thanks Haru for saving his son, and she is presented with a scroll, that gives information about numerous gifts she will receive for her good deed.The next day, Haru wakes up, wondering if it was a dream. Her ponderings are soon put to rest when a number of things happen. Her friend Hiromi has awoken to find numerous lacrosse sticks outside her door. At Haru's place, cat tail plants surround their house, and as she heads to school, a number of cats chase after her (Haru surmises that she must have some catnip on her). At school, she is freaked out when she finds a number of individually-boxed mice in her shoe locker.Getting over the shock, she goes about the day, taking Hiromi's clean-up duty upon her request. While taking out the garbage, she sees the guy she has a crush on, walking by with his girlfriend. This distracts Haru and she trips and falls, feeling more miserable than the day before. Suddenly, she sees the King's assistant, Natoru, who becomes shocked when Haru yells at him regarding the 'gifts' she has received. Noting that she seems upset, Natoru offers to take her to the Cat Kingdom for a personal tour, and even tells her of the additional gift she will receive for her good deed: the chance to marry the Cat King's son, Prince Lune. This shocks Haru, who then starts to wonder if being among cats wouldn't be so bad, since they seem to have very few responsibilities. Natoru takes this as a 'yes' answer, and rushes off, leaving Haru distraught at the idea of her (a human girl) marrying a cat! As she panics, a disembodied voice tells her to find a white cat at the crossroads, who will lead her to the Cat Bureau.Haru goes to the specific location, where she finds a large white cat. The cat doesn't say a word, but she follows him through all sorts of little nooks and crannies, until he reaches a small embankment of shops that almost seem doll-like in size. Here, the large white cat gets up on his hind legs, and heads to a small storefront. As he does so, the setting sun catches on the windows surrounding them. The front door of the building opens, and a cat in a suit emerges, giving his name as Baron Humbert von Gikkingen, but Haru decides to just call him 'Baron.' Baron cites the large white cat as Muta, and as they talk, a stone statue comes to life, which Baron says is named Toto.Baron invites his guests into his home, where Haru explains about her predicament, and how a strange voice told her to seek out the Cat Bureau. The Baron decides that he and Muta will make a visit to the Cat Kingdom in regards to Haru's request for their help. However, the Baron requests that Haru never forget who she is, as this will be very important. As they speak, there is a knock at the front door. Haru answers it, only to find Natoru there, and a number of cats who carry Haru off, intending to take her to the Cat Kingdom. Muta manages to catch up with them, but Baron and Toto lose their trail.Haru wakes up in the Cat Kingdom, where she finds she has shrunk to the size of a cat. Looking around, she is met by a white cat named Yuki, who pleads with Haru to leave the Cat Kingdom at once. However, Natoru appears, and takes both Haru and Muta to the King's palace.Haru is taken to be dressed to meet the King, while Muta is escorted to a banquest hall, where he gorges on a number of foods. As Haru changes, she is then met by the King, who is overjoyed that she has chosen to marry his son. However, Haru explains her trepidations, since she is a human, and the Prince is a cat. The King and Natori smile, telling her that that is no longer a problem, since Haru is now half-cat. Haru looks in a nearby mirror, and is shocked to see that she has somehow turned into a cat! Running from the room, she finds Muta, stuck in a bowl of catnip jelly, unable to move.Even though Haru is still upset over being turned into a cat, she is taken to the main dining room, where the King attempts to cheer her up with a number of entertainment acts. When none seem to please Haru, he has the performers tossed out a nearby window. Suddenly, a masked strange comes forward, promising to cheer up Haru. As the band strikes up a waltz, Haru dances with the mysterious stranger, feeling more at ease being a cat. This feeling causes her to grow whiskers, which makes her gasp. The masked stranger then tells her not to forget who she really is, as he said so before. Suddenly, the Cat King calls for the music to stop, demanding to know who the stranger is. He removes his mask to reveal the Baron! The Cat King sends his troops to take down the Baron and retrieve Haru, but this quickly fails. In the ensuing scuffle, Muta is freed from the bowl of catnip jelly, and joins the battle.Off to one side, Yuki appears and hastens Baron and Haru to her. She explains that there is a way for Haru to regain her human form, and helps her and the Baron escape through a secret entrance, which leads to a maze outside the castle, of which a large tower extends from it's center. Yuki explains that if they can get to the top before a specific time, they will be able to return to their world.Muta then joins them, and they set out going through the maze. However, the King sends a number of troops, and tries to throw them off course. His plans fail, and Haru, Baron and Muta make it to the tower, climbing up it's outer stairway. Just when it seems they've made it halfway-up, the King detonates the tower, causing the mid-point to plummet to the bottom!Haru, Baron and Muta are then met by the King, though the reunion is short-lived when Prince Lune arrives, along with a contingency of soldiers. The King explains to the Prince about Haru, but the Prince explains that he wishes to marry Yuki. He then hands her the same box that Haru saw him with on the street. The box contains some fish crackers. Yuki then explains that they are just like the kind that Haru gave her when she was a kitten, and thanks her for helping her all those years ago.The King finds this very moving, but then tries to see if Haru will marry him instead. Haru angrily rejects his advances, and Muta happily proclaims that he admires her spirit.The King, not one to be spurned, still tries to claim Haru, but Muta and Lune's soldiers prevent him from advancing, and Haru heads up the nearby steps for the top of the tower. Baron also confronts the King, and wins in a duel against him, before hearing Haru cry out from the top of the tower...which leads to the other world, but whose opening is several hundred miles up in the sky! Muta and Baron rush to her aid, but not before she falls over the edge.They freefall towards Haru's hometown, when a flock of crows appears, courtesy of Toto. Haru makes it safely down, and they say their goodbyes, with Haru admitting that she has a bit of a crush on Baron, before he takes off.The next day, Haru's Mother awakes, and is shocked to see that Haru is up before her, having already prepared breakfast. Later on, Haru meets up with Hiromi, who happily tells her friend that the guy she has a crush on has broken up with his girlfriend. However, instead of being excited at this, Haru shows no concern, as this is now unimportant to her. It appears that her experience has allowed her to become more independent.

romantic, flashback

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Pandora and the Flying Dutchman

In 1930, fishermen in the small Catalan port of Esperanza make a grim discovery in their nets, the bodies of a man and a woman. The resultant ringing of church bells in the village brings the local police and the resident archaeologist, Geoffrey Fielding (Harold Warrender), to the beach. Fielding returns to his villa, and, breaking the "fourth wall", retells the story of these two people to the audience. Esperanza's small group of English expatriates revolves around Pandora Reynolds (Ava Gardner), an American nightclub singer and femme fatale. All the men love her (or believe that they do), but Pandora is unable to love anyone. She tests her admirers by demanding they give up something they value, citing Geoffrey Fielding's quote that the "measure of love is how much you are willing to sacrifice for it." One of her admirers (Marius Goring) even commits suicide in front of Pandora and her friends by drinking wine that he has laced with poison, but Pandora apparently shows indifference. Pandora agrees to marry a land-speed record holder, Stephen Cameron (Nigel Patrick), after he sends his racing car tumbling into the sea at her request. That same night, the Dutch captain Hendrick van der Zee (James Mason) arrives in Esperanza. Pandora swims out to his yacht and finds him painting a picture of her posed as her namesake, Pandora, whose actions brought an end to the earthly paradise in Greek mythology. Hendrick appears to fall in love with Pandora, and he moves into the same hotel complex as the other expatriates. Geoffrey and Hendrick become friends, collaborating to seek background information on Geoffrey's local finds. One of these relics is a notebook written in Old Dutch, which confirms Geoffrey's suspicion that Hendrick van der Zee is the Flying Dutchman, a 16th-century ship captain who murdered his wife, believing her to be unfaithful. He blasphemed against God at his murder trial, where he was sentenced to death. The evening before his execution, a mysterious force opened the Dutchman's prison doors and allowed him to escape to his waiting ship, where in a dream it was revealed to him that his wife was innocent and he was doomed to sail the seas for eternity unless he could find a woman who loved him enough to die for him. Every seven years, the Dutchman could go ashore for six months to search for that woman. Despite her impending wedding to Stephen, Pandora declares her love for Hendrick, but he is unwilling to have her die for his sake, and tries to provoke her into hating him. Pandora is also loved by Juan Montalvo (Mario Cabre), an arrogant, famous bullfighter, who murders Hendrick out of jealousy. But as soon as Montalvo leaves, Hendrick comes back to life as if nothing had happened. He attends the bullfight the next day, and when Montalvo sees him in the audience, he becomes petrified with fear and is fatally gored by the bull. Before dying, Montalvo tells Pandora about his murder of his romantic rival, leaving her confused. On the eve of her wedding, Pandora asks Geoffrey if he knows anything about Hendrick that will clear up her confusion. Once he sees the Flying Dutchman preparing to sail away, he hands her his translation of the notebook. However, the Dutchman's yacht is becalmed. On learning the truth, Pandora swims out to Hendrick again. He shows her a small portrait of his murdered wife. She and Pandora look exactly alike. Hendrik explains they are man and wife and that through her he has been given the chance to escape his doom, but he rejected it because it would cost her death. Pandora is undaunted, however. That night, there is a fierce storm at sea. The next morning, the bodies of Pandora and the Dutchman are recovered.

romantic, murder

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Practical Magic

Maria Owens, a young witch, is exiled to Maria's Island in Massachusetts with her unborn child for escaping her execution. When her lover does not come to rescue her, she desperately casts a spell upon herself to stop falling in love due to heartbreak, only to die soon after. The spell becomes a curse for several generations. 11-year-old twin sisters, Gillian and Sally Owens, two descendants of the Owens family, are taken in by their aunts Frances and Jet after the death of their parents. Sally is the more gifted of the two while Gillian's talents are more in charm and persuasion, and have been subject to ridicule during their youth. After witnessing their aunts cast a spell on a man for a woman who seems obsessed with having his love, Gillian decides to fall in love and Sally casts a true love spell to protect herself. The sisters cast an oath to each other using blood from both of their hands and Gillian leaves for Los Angeles. Sally meets and marries Michael, a local apple salesman. They have two young daughters, Kylie and Antonia. One morning, after several blissful years of marriage, Sally hears the "death-watch beetle" and realizes that it is coming for her husband. Despite Sally tearing up the floor in an effort to find and kill the beetle, Michael is killed by a truck during his early morning routine of taking apples to the local farmers market. Sally and her daughters return to the Owens home to live with the aunts and realize that the aunts cast a spell so she could fall in love. Sally decides that she and her daughters will not perform magic. While Gillian begins a relationship with Jimmy Angelov in Orlando, Sally is devastated by her husband's death. Gillian feels that Sally needs her and drugs Jimmy to return to Massachusetts. Gillian returns to Sally after Jimmy becomes abusive, but the sisters are kidnapped. Sally puts belladonna into Jimmy's tequila, inadvertently killing him. The sisters resurrect him using the forbidden spell from their aunts' book of spells, but Jimmy attempts to kill Gillian after being revived. Sally kills him again, and the sisters bury his remains in their home's garden. State investigator Gary Hallett arrives from Tucson, Arizona in search of Jimmy, who is also a serial killer. As Gary begins to suspect Sally, Gillian, Kylie and Antonia create a potion to banish Gary; however, the girls realize he is the one described in Sally's true love spell, and remove the potion. Later, Sally has Gary record her testimony and sees the letter she had once written Gillian, and realizes he must have read it more times than he had let on. Unable to deny their feelings for each other, they kiss and Sally realizes that he was there because of the spell she cast years earlier. Sally discovers that Jimmy's spirit has possessed Gillian's body and Gary sees Jimmy's spirit emerge. Jimmy attempts to possess Gary, only to be hurt by his silver star-shaped badge and is temporarily exiled. Later, Sally tells Gary that he is there because of her spell and the feelings they have for each other are not real. Gary replies that curses are only true if one believes in them and reveals that he also wished for her, before returning to Tucson. Jimmy possesses Gillian again and attempts to kill Sally before Frances and Jet return. Sally, realizing she must embrace magic to save her sister, asks the aid of the townswomen and they form a coven to exorcise Jimmy's spirit. Sally makes them stop when she sees that the effort might kill Gillian. Getting inside the circle, Sally and the townswomen reenact her oath with Gillian. They are able to break the Owens curse, exorcising Jimmy's spirit and allowing the coven to exile him permanently. Sally receives a letter from Gary telling her that she and her sister are cleared of any suspicion of wrongdoing in Jimmy's case and Gary returns to Massachusetts to be with Sally. The Owens women celebrate All Hallow's Eve dressed up in witch costumes, and are embraced and welcomed by the townsfolk.

comedy, paranormal, whimsical, cult, flashback, psychedelic, melodrama, tragedy, romantic

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Persepolis

At the airport, Marjane is unable to board a plane to Iran. She then takes a seat and smokes a cigarette. She reflects on her childhood, full of politically driven conflict. As a young girl, Marji lived in Tehran and wanted to be a prophet and a disciple of Bruce Lee. Her childhood ambition is the general uprising against the Shah of Iran. Her middle-class family participates in all the rallies and protests. Marji and a group of friends attempt to attack a young boy named Ramen, whose father, a member of SAVAK, killed Communists for no particular reason. One day, Marji's Uncle Anoush arrives to have dinner with the family after recently being released from his nine-year sentence in prison. Uncle Anoush inspires Marji with his stories of his life on the run from the government, a result of rebelling. Political enemies cease fighting and elections for a new leading power commence. Marji's family's situation does not improve as they are profoundly upset when Islamic Fundamentalists win the elections with 99.99% of the vote and start repressing Iranian society. The government forces women to dress modestly, including wearing a head scarf, and Anoush is rearrested and executed for his political beliefs. Profoundly disillusioned, Marji tries, with her family, to fit into the reality of the intolerant regime. The Iran-Iraq war breaks out and Marji sees for herself the horrors of death and destruction. The Iranian government begins implementing ridiculous laws that create blatant injustices. Marji witnesses her father threatened by rifle-wielding teenaged government officials and watches her critically ill uncle die after an unqualified government-appointed hospital administrator refuses to allow him to travel abroad for medical treatment. The family tries to find solace in secret parties where they enjoy simple pleasures the government has outlawed, including alcohol. As she grows up, Marji begins a life of over-confidence. She refuses to stay out of trouble, secretly buying Western heavy metal music, notably Iron Maiden, on the black market, wearing unorthodox clothing such as a denim jacket, celebrating punk rock and other Western music sensations like Michael Jackson, and openly rebuts a teacher's lies about the abuses of the government. Fearing her arrest for her outspokenness, Marji's parents send her to a French lycée in Vienna, Austria, where she can be safe and free to express herself. She lives with Catholic nuns and is upset with their discriminatory and judgmental behavior. Marji doesn't make any friends, and ultimately feels intolerably isolated in a foreign land surrounded by annoyingly superficial people who take their freedom for granted. As the years go by, Marji is thrown out of her temporary shelter for insulting a nun and is driven out into the streets. Marji continues to go from house to house until ending up in the house of Frau Dr. Schloss, a retired philosophy teacher. One night, her grandmother's voice resonates, telling her to stay true to herself as she leaves a party after lying about her nationality, telling an acquaintance that she was French. Her would-be lover reveals his homosexuality after a failed attempt at sex with Marji. She engages in a passionate love affair with Markus, a debonair native, which ends when she discovers him cheating on her. Marji is accused of stealing Frau Dr. Schloss' brooch, she becomes angered and leaves. She spends the day on a park bench, reflecting upon how cruel Markus was to her. She discovers that she has nowhere to go. She lives on the street for a few months. Eventually, she becomes ill and contracts bronchitis, and almost dies. Marji recovers in a Viennese hospital and returns to Iran with her family's permission and hopes that the conclusion of the war will improve their quality of life. After spending several days wasting her time watching television, Marji falls into a clinical depression. She attempts suicide by overdosing on medication. She falls asleep and dreams of God and Karl Marx reminding her what is important and encouraging her to live. Her determination is renewed and she begins enjoying life again. Marji attends university classes and parties. She enters into a relationship with a fellow student. Marji notices that her situation has gradually worsened and that Iranian society is more tyrannized than ever. Mass executions for political beliefs and petty religious absurdities have become common, much to Marji's dismay. She and her boyfriend are caught holding hands and their parents are forced to pay a fine to avoid their lashing. Despite Iranian society making living as a student and a woman intolerable, Marji remains rebellious. She resorts to personal survival tactics to protect herself, such as falsely accusing a man of insulting her to avoid being arrested for wearing makeup and marrying her boyfriend to avoid scrutiny by the religious police. Her grandmother is disappointed by Marji's behavior and berates Marji, telling her that both her grandfather and her uncle died supporting freedom and innocent people and that she should never forsake them or her family by succumbing to the repressive environment of Iran. Marji, realizing her mistake, fixes her mistakes, and her grandmother is pleased to hear that Marji openly confronted the blatant sexist double standard in her university's forum on public morality. The police raid a party. While the women are arrested, the men escape on the rooftops. One of the men, Nima, unwittingly hesitates before one of them jumps, consequently falling to his death. Her family decides that Marji, after her friend's death and her divorce, leave the country permanently to avoid being targeted by the Iranian authorities as a political dissident. Marji's mother forbids Marji from returning and Marji reluctantly agrees. Marji states that this would be the last time she saw her grandmother who died not long after her departure. Marji is shown collecting her luggage and getting into a taxi. As the taxi drives away from the south terminal of Paris-Orly Airport, the narrative cuts back to the present day. The driver asks Marji where she is from and she replies "Iran," showing that she's kept the promise she made to Anoush and her grandmother that she would remember where she came from and that she would always stay true to herself. She recalls her final memory of her grandmother telling her how she placed jasmine in her brassiere to smell lovely every day.

comedy, avant garde, murder, flashback, psychedelic, autobiographical, humor, philosophical, romantic, historical, storytelling

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Kill Kill Faster Faster

'Kill Kill Faster Faster' is a contemporary film noir inspired by the critically acclaimed novel of the same name by Joel Rose. Produced by rising UK outfits Aria Films and Full Circle Films. Director Gareth Maxwell Roberts has written the screenplay with author Joel Rose. The film runs for 93 minutes and was completed in June 2007. Kill Kill Faster Faster is a New York tragic love story - streetwise, stylish and desperately, savagely sad. Joe One-Way serves a life stretch for the murder of his teenage bride Kimba. Inspired to write by Clinique, his cellmate and mentor, Joe writes the play White Man: Black Hole. NYC film producer Markie Mann pulls strings to have Joe paroled, contracting him to write the screenplay. Fleur is Markie's wife, a one-time hooker and ex-con, who cant help but fall for kindred spirit Joe. Their attraction is irresistible. Fleur is Joe's salvation. Propelled on a journey of obsession, guilt and lust, Joe struggles between the pull of heroin, his violence and the desire to redeem himself in the eyes of his estranged twin daughters. Joe One-Way soon discovers that life on the outside may be too dangerous even for him.

revenge, flashback

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The Man Who Would Be King

In 1885, while working as a correspondent at the offices of the Northern Star newspaper in India, Rudyard Kipling (Christopher Plummer) is approached by a ragged, seemingly crazed derelict, who reveals himself to be his old acquaintance Peachey Carnehan (Michael Caine). Peachy tells Kipling the story of how he and his comrade-in-arms Daniel "Danny" Dravot (Sean Connery) traveled to remote Kafiristan (in modern-day Afghanistan, the province is now known as Nuristan), became "gods", and ultimately lost everything. Three years earlier, Dravot and Carnehan had met Kipling under less than auspicious circumstances; Carnehan, a former Colour sergeant of the Queen's Own Royal Loyal Light Infantry, pickpocketed Kiplings's pocketwatch but was forced to return it as he was a fellow Freemason. Carnehan claims to be an expert in "whiskey, women, waistcoats and bills of fare." Both Dravot and Carnehan are in the process of blackmailing a local Rajah by posing as newspaper correspondents of "The Northern Star" newspaper-which outrages the real correspondent (Kipling). In order to save their lives, Kipling has the local district commissioner detain both Dravot and Carnehan - who obliquely blackmail the commissioner himself. Despite being accomplished gun smugglers, swindlers, fencers of stolen goods, conmen, and blackmailers, both of them are bitter that after fighting to make India part of the British Empire, they will have little to return home to except dead-end jobs. Both Dravot and Carnehan turn up at Kipling's office and explain their biggest gamble yet: feeling that India is too small for men such as themselves, they intend to travel to Kafiristan, a small and remote country in order to help a local king overcome his enemies, overthrow him, and become "gods"/rulers themselves before stealing various riches and returning to England in triumph. After signing a contract pledging mutual loyalty and forswearing drink and women until they achieved their grandiose aims, Peachy and Danny (taking along twenty Martini Henry rifles) set off on an epic overland journey north beyond the Khyber Pass. Kipling, after attempting to dissuade the men, gives Dravot his masonic emblem as a token of brotherhood. Over the next few weeks, Dravot and Carnehan travel through Afghanistan, fighting off bandits, blizzards, and avalanches as they make their way into the unknown land of Kafiristan (literally "Land of the Infidels"). They chance upon a Gurkha soldier who goes by the name Billy Fish (Saeed Jaffrey), the sole survivor of a missing mapping expedition sent several years earlier which had been lost in an avalanche. Billy speaks English as well as the local tongue. Acting as translator and interpreter of customs and manners, he smooths the path of Dravot and Carnehan as they begin their rise, offering their services as military advisors, trainers, and war leaders to the chief of the much-raided village of Er-Heb. Dravot and Carnehan muster a force to attack the villagers' most-hated enemy, the Bashkai. During the battle, Dravot is struck by an arrow, but is unharmed, leading the natives to believe that he is a god. In fact, the arrow was stopped by a bandolier hidden beneath his clothing. As victory follows victory, the defeated are recruited to join the swelling army. Finally, nobody is left to stand in their way, and they are summoned to the holy city of Sikandergul, where the chief high priest, Kafu Selim, sets up a re-enactment of the arrow incident, to determine whether Dravot is a man or a god by seeing whether or not he bleeds. When Dravot flinches, the monks grab him and open his shirt to stab him, only to be stopped by Dravot's Masonic jewel. By coincidence, the symbol on the jewel matches one known only to the highest holy man, the symbol of "Sikander" (a linguistic corruption of Alexander the Great), who had conquered the country thousands of years before and promised to return. The holy men are convinced Dravot is the immortal son of Sikander. They hail him as king and lead the two men down to storerooms heaped with treasure (gold, silver, diamonds, emeralds, rubies, among various jewels) that belonged to Sikander, which now belongs to Dravot. As months pass, Carnehan is anxious to leave with the treasure before winter arrives and closes the mountain passes (and before the natives learn the truth about them). Dravot is against it, however, and develops delusions of grandeur. First, Dravot 'suggests' that Carnehan bow to him like the others, ostensibly to "keep up appearances" in front of the natives and continue the deception. He adjudicates disputes among local people and villages, and issues proclamations overseeing their administration. He begins making plans to turn the land into a modern country, to the extent that he envisages eventually meeting Queen Victoria "as an equal." Resigned that Dravot's mind is made up, Carnehan decides to take as much loot as he can carry on a small mule train and leave alone. Meanwhile, Dravot decides to take a wife after seeing the beautiful Roxanne (Shakira Caine), despite Carnehan's strong warnings. Roxanne, having a superstitious fear that she will burst into flames if she consorts with a god, tries frantically to escape, biting Dravot during the wedding ceremony. The bite draws blood, and when everyone sees it, they realize that Dravot is not a god but a man after all. The angry natives pursue Dravot and Carnehan. When it becomes clear that the battle is lost, Dravot and Carnehan offer Billy a horse to escape, but Billy refuses and wishes them luck before courageously charging into the mob with a kukri single handedly. Billy is killed amidst the mob and Dravot and Carnehan are soon captured. Dravot apologizes to Carnehan for spoiling their plans, and Carnehan forgives him. Now resigned to his fate, Dravot is forced to walk to the middle of a rope bridge over a deep gorge as the ropes are cut. Carnehan is crucified between two pine trees, but he is cut down the next day when he survives the ordeal. Eventually, he makes his way back to India, but his mind has become unhinged by his sufferings. As Carnehan finishes his story, he presents Kipling with Dravot's severed head, still wearing its crown, thereby confirming the tale.

avant garde, satire, murder, historical fiction

tt0073341

Grease 2

It is 1961, two years after the original Grease. The first day of school has arrived and the T-Birds and the Pink Ladies dance and sing as they enter the high school ("Back to School Again"). The Pink Ladies are now led by Stephanie Zinone (Michelle Pfeiffer), who feels she has "outgrown" her relationship with her ex-boyfriend Johnny Nogerelli (Adrian Zmed), the arrogant and rather immature new leader of the T-Birds. A new arrival comes in the form of clean-cut English student Michael Carrington (Maxwell Caulfield) (a cousin of Sandy Olsson from the previous film). He is welcomed and introduced to the school atmosphere by Frenchy (Didi Conn), who was asked by Sandy to help show Michael around. Frenchy reveals she has returned to Rydell to get her high school diploma so she can start her own cosmetics company. Michael eventually meets Stephanie and quickly becomes smitten with her. At the local bowling alley, a game ("Score Tonight") turns sour due to the animosity between Johnny and Stephanie. Stephanie retaliates by kissing the next man who walks in the door, who happens to be Michael. Bemused by this unexpected kiss, Michael asks her out, but he learns that she has a very specific vision of her ideal man ("Cool Rider"). As he realizes that he will only win her affection if he turns himself into a cool rider, Michael accepts payment from the T-Birds to write term papers for them; he uses the cash to buy a motorcycle. Following an unusual biology lesson ("Reproduction") given by Mr. Stuart (Tab Hunter), a substitute teacher, a gang of rival motorcyclists called the Cycle Lords (most of whom are members of the defunct Scorpions) led by Leo Balmudo (Dennis C. Stewart) surprise the T-Birds at the bowling alley. Before the fight starts, a lone mysterious (unnamed) biker appears (who is Michael in disguise), defeats the enemy gang and disappears into the night ("Who's That Guy?"). Stephanie is fascinated with the stranger. Meanwhile, Louis (Peter Frechette), one of the T-Birds, attempts to trick his sweetheart Sharon (Maureen Teefy), one of the Pink Ladies and Stephanie's friends into losing her virginity to him by taking her to a fallout shelter and faking a nuclear attack ("Let's Do It for Our Country"). The next evening while working at a gas station/garage, Stephanie is surprised again by the Cool Rider, and they enjoy a romantic twilight motorcycle ride. Just as Michael is about to reveal his identity, they are interrupted by the arrival of the T-Birds and Pink Ladies. Before Michael leaves, he tells Stephanie that he will see her at the school talent show, in which the Pink Ladies and T-Birds are performing. Johnny, enraged by Stephanie's new romance, threatens to fight the Cool Rider if he sees him with her again. The Pink Ladies walk away haughtily, but this has little effect on the T-Birds' self-confidence ("Prowlin'"). At school, Stephanie's poor grades in English lead her to accept Michael's offer of help. Johnny, upon seeing them together in a discussion, demands that Stephanie quit the Pink Ladies to preserve his honor ("rep", reputation). Although still enamored with the Cool Rider, interactions with Michael reveal that she has become romantically interested in him as well. Michael ponders over his continuing charade he puts on for Stephanie ("Charades"). At the talent show, Stephanie and the Cool Rider meet but are ambushed by the T-Birds who pursue Michael on their respective motorcycles, with Stephanie and the Pink Ladies following in a car. They chase him to a construction site which conceals a deadly drop, and the biker's absence suggests that he has perished below, leaving Stephanie heartbroken and inconsolable. Johnny and his T-Birds remove the competing Preptones preppie boys by tying them to a shower pole in the boys' locker room and drenching them. During the Pink Ladies' performance in the talent show ("Girl for All Seasons"), Stephanie enters a dreamlike fantasy world where she is reunited with her mystery biker ("(Love Will) Turn Back the Hands of Time"). She is named winner of the contest and crowned the queen of the upcoming graduation luau, with Johnny hailed as king for his performance of "Prowlin'" with his fellow T-Birds. The school year ends with the luau ("Rock-a-Hula Luau"), during which the Cycle Lords appear and begin to destroy the celebration. However, the Cool Rider reappears. After he defeats the Cycle Lords again, he reveals himself to be Michael. Initially shocked, Johnny gives him a T-Birds jacket, officially welcoming him into the gang, and Stephanie accepts that she can now be with him. As a reward, Michael and Stephanie kiss for their new love for each other. All the couples pair off happily at the seniors' graduation as the graduating class sings ("We'll Be Together"). The credits start rolling in yearbook-style, as in the original film.

romantic

tt0084021

The Beast of War

A rustic Afghan village in a dry, rocky terrain. The villagers look up to the sound of jet airplanes, explosions rock the hillside and buildings and a group of three tanks approach, firing and destroying more of the village. People and goats run for their lives. An Afghan man fires an anti-tank round but misses. Women pelt and hammer a tank with stones until a yellow smoke canister is deployed, the poison gas drives off the Afghans. The gas-masked soldiers get out and continue to ransack the village.Major Daskal (George Dzundza) a tank commander exits and fires his machine gun at another tank being attacked. Koverchenko (Jason Patric) runs to aid the other tank. An Afghan elder is captured and dragged to Daskal's tank and placed under the tread. An interpreter, Afghan tank crewman Samad (Erick Avari) demands to know where the mujaheddin are. As the women wail the village elder is crushed.The three tanks depart but Maj Daskal's tank misses a left turn and heads into an area surrounded by high ridges. Back in the village the menfolk return to see the destruction. Taj Mohammed (Stephen Bauer) is distraught and laments to his uncle Akbar (Kabir Bedi). A group of modern rebels arrive on motorbikes, led by Taj's cousin, Moustafa (Chaim Girafi) with his Ray-Bans, AK-47 and cigarettes. Moustafa reports the tank is lost in the valley of the jackals. Taj is now the village Khan as it was his elder brother who was crushed. His sister-in-law-to-be Sherina (Shoshi Marciano) brings out an old rocket propelled grenade (RPG) launcher to help avenge the deaths.The lost Russians stop to get their bearings. Major Daskal's map is partially burnt and doesn't have all the details. Koverchenko and Samad chat and Samad admits he doesn't believe in Muslim paradise. Suddenly the tank is attacked by the Afghans on the ridge, the Major fires a round close to the mujaheddin as the tank moves away. Moustafa fires the RPG but misses by a mile. Taj is angry and demands the RPG as the rebels squabble. Uncle Akbar has a leg wound but the Afghans continue to follow the tank.Hot and thirsty the Afghans approach a waterhole, one of them bends down to drink, Taj finds an empty poison box but it is too late and the drinking man suffers an agonizing death. Hidden in bushes not too far away the tank aims at the group by the waterhole. The round misfires and the men quickly evacuate. Maj Daskal suspects Samad had something to do with the misfire. The Major and Koverchenko enter the tank to clear the round. The shell is placed on the ground with a grenade booby trap. The tank continues on it's way.An Afghan finds the tank shell and blows his arm off when he moves it. Taj tells the others to leave the man food and water but Moustafa puts the badly injured man out of his misery. A pack of dogs and the village women arrive at sunset to bury the man.The walking Afghans come up to a man chanting by a large bonfire. He thinks Taj is David come to slay Goliath, the tank. The Russians have camped for the night and Koverchenko and Samad play chess and talk. Samad explains the Afghan philosophy of nanawatai, where anyone, even a sworn enemy can request sanctuary which the Afgans are obliged to provide. Golikov (Stephen Baldwin) and Kaminski (Don Harvey) fight and Maj Daskal discovers Kasminski has been drinking the brake fluid (alcohol) in his canteen. The Major also rips the last page from Koverchenko's diary.A grenade drops down and the Russians take cover. In a wild firefight the panicky Russians manage to get in their tank and drive away blindly. They stop again some distance away, Golikov has a face wound from shrapnel. Once again Maj Daskal is suspicious of Samad. They do a 360 degree sweep with all weapons as they fire tank rounds, flame thrower and machine gun after the perimeter security devices indicate intruders. Samad is sent to investigate. All he finds is a dead goat.At a river Daskal prevents Samad from his prayers and forces him to check the riverbed by walking into the water. While waist deep the Major kills him with a burst from the turret machine gun. Koverchenko is enraged and records the incident in his diary. Daskal rants about giving to the motherland, he fought as an 8 year old against the Germans in WW2 and was called "Tankboy". The three younger tankers start to discuss mutiny. Koverchenko reports they now have no food or water and running low on gas and leaking oil. After another argument Koverchenko is tied down and left on a slab rock with a grenade under his head. Koverchenko pleads with Golikov to let him loose to no avail.Uncle Akbar notices Sherina and the other women are following. Sherina has some C4 and grenades. The dogs find Koverchenko and nip at his heels, as he moves the grenade falls and goes off but Koverchenko is unharmed.Taj expresses doubts to his uncle as he leaves the injured older man behind. Motoring down a wide open area Daskal sees the Kandahar road up ahead in his binoculars. The Russians rejoice! But they have to stop, a large deep chasm blocks the way forward.Koverchenko bakes in the sun, now the Afghan women find him and start to stone him. Desperate, Koverchenko pleads for Nanawatai and the women stop. The men arrive and Taj grants the sanctuary and wonders why the Russians left him. At mealtime the Afghans prepare food and allow Koverchenko first dibs. The RPG is damaged and using simple language and gestures Taj gets the Russian to repair the launcher. Koverchenko also agrees to help destroy the tank.A Russian helicopter lands near the tank. The two young men are happy to board the aircraft but Major Daskal demands they get off, they are "tankers" and have to drive back. The pilot provides some jerrycans of fuel and says they have to go back the way they came. Golikov and Kaminski are stunned as the helo flies away in a cloud of dust. Hiding in rocks the Afghans are happy to see the tank come back. Taj lays out a plan to attack.The tank travels thru the night, Kaminski reports the engine overheating in the morning. At the waterhole the helo is there on the ground. The pilot and crew are all dead, not knowing the water was poisoned. In the distance the Afghans approach, Major Daskal sees Koverchenko running with the mujaheddin. The tank won't start, dead battery. The machine gun is out of ammo. Daskal begins a manual turret traverse cranking a handwheel. The tank fires an anti-tank round over the Afghan's heads, Koverchenko gestures and tells them to spread out. The tank starts up and moves away before Koverchenko can get a shot with the RPG. The Russian notices an oil trail and races after the tank. The tank has to follow a winding path in the canyon while the pursuing Afghans can take a straight line shortcut over the hills. Daskal notices them following and shoots at the ridges, finally the main gun runs out of ammo.Taj and Koverchenko get ahead of the tank and try to aim the RPG. Koverchenko fumbles but gets a shot off, a direct hit on the muzzle of the main gun. The tank continues to the Pass and apparent safety. Taj appeals to Allah and an explosion above sends a rockslide down onto the tank. It is stopped. Sherina and her women look down from above. The tank is disabled as the right tread is broken. Noticing leaking fuel, Koverchenko sends a firebomb that explodes under the tank. Golikov and Kaminski panic and Daskal issues them with grenades, he wants them all to suicide together. Kaminski refuses and the two younger men manage to disarm the Major. The three Russians get out with their hands up surrendering. Golikov gets on his knees disgusting both the Afghans and Daskal. Koverchenko taunts the Maj but uses his nanawatai protection to allow the Russians to leave on foot. At the crossroads Daskal pauses and falls behind the other two, the angry Afghan women approach screaming.At the burning tank Taj gives Koverchenko a souvenir rifle. Sherina arrives all bloody and apologizes to Taj. Another Russian helo arrives and the mujaheddin scatter. Taj calls for Koverchenko to come with them but he puts on the horse collar sling and is lifted up in the air.

revenge

tt0094716

Cruel Intentions 2

Meet Sebastian Valmont (Robin Dunne), who just got kicked out of his old high school from his Principal. His Principal, Mr. Freeman vows to Sebastian, with a file like that he will never get into a new school. Sebastian comments on Mr. Freeman's wife, and asks him how she is doing. Mr. Freeman tells Sebastian, she is fine, and sends him off. Mr. Freeman immediately gets a phone call from Mrs. Freeman and tells him to turn to one of the pages in the year book. Apparently Sebastian's goodbye present was a naked photo of Mrs. Freeman published in the yearbook. Mr. Freeman yells at Sebastian at the window, as he catches a taxi to New York. Sebastian is ready to get a new start.Sebastian arrives in New York City and meets his new rich life, as he finds out his step mother owns a whole building. He meets up with his father, who introduces Sebastian to his step mother, Tiffany Merteuil-Valmont (Mimi Rogers). Tiffany makes a great impression after Sebastian tries to be naughty around her.Sebastian then meets Kathryn (Amy Adams), his step sister. After outdoing her with their Steinway piano, and correcting her SAT words at dinner, Sebastian has yet to see what she is capable of. While showering, Kathryn interrupts Sebastian, and makes a demand, to stay out of her way.The next morning, Sebastian and Kathryn take a limo to their exclusive prep school, Manchester Prep. Outside the Headmaster's office, Sebastian calls a girl, who is just doing some work, beautiful. She is shocked at first, but says thank you. Sebastian comments on how the Headmaster is a joke, before being called his office.Sebastian meets Headmaster Sherman who calls Sebastian's files impressive after having high marks (a 4.0 G.P.A., honor clubs, etc.) but maybe too impressive. Then the girl from the office walks in and kisses the Headmaster. Sebastian is shocked at first but he finds out that the girl is actually the Headmaster's daughter, Danielle.Meanwhile, Kathryn she finds out she has gym and ballet, the two classes she hates. She hunts down the Assistant Headmaster, Muller, and threatens to expose their love affair. He tells her he will change her schedule and she walks away like an innocent angel. Kathryn is clearly a sociopath seductress who'll do ANYTHING to get what she wants.Sebastian meets Danielle for a second time in one of his classes. When Danielle and Sebastian have a heated argument on Dr. Jekyll, and Mr. Hyde, the teacher sides with Sebastian (in a good way). After school, Sebastian catches Danielle working at a used book store and charms the owner to let Danielle off for a cup of coffee.Kathryn's activities after school do not include a job, but a club called the "Manchester Prep Tribunal". A secret society/social club of students where Kathryn is the leader, and they meet every afternoon after school in the attic of one of the administrations buildings where we find out that the Tribunal basically destroys lives of other students and runs the school. It's a new school year, so the Tribunal goes over all the new students. They review a girl named Cherie Clayman, and find out she is really naive and stupid, but extremely rich. Kathryn takes Cherie as her own project to turn her into the school's slut.That evening, Kathryn takes Cherie to a nightclub, and gives her Iced Teas... which are from Long Island (sound familiar?). A guy who Kathryn knows, Court Reynolds, approaches Cherie and Kathryn. Kathryn forces Cherie into the bathroom and tells Cherie that Court has an interest in her. Cherie asks what to do, and Kathryn tells her to let Court have sex with her. Cherie reveals she hasn't even kissed a guy before, but Kathryn has another idea.Back into the club, Kathryn explains to Cherie, how to kiss using Court as an example. Cherie and Court kiss, and Kathryn explains how to french kiss. Just when Cherie's lips are about to press onto Courts, the drunk Cherie vomits onto his pants. He storms off, and Cherie hugs Kathryn in disappointment.Back at their home, Sebastian talks to Danielle on the phone, surprising her, since she didn't give him her number. They talk for about an hour before he hangs up after she asks him to take it slow. Kathryn shows up and just caught the minutes before the act ended. But he reveals to Kathryn he is smarter than her, and tells her she needs to throw up after having that huge salad and kicks her out.The next morning, Sebastian is asleep when the Asian housekeeper, Min Lin leaves him a breakfast tray while he's still asleep and he knocks over the tray, spilling food all over the floor. Min Lin enters and panics, telling Sebastian not to tell anyone what happened. Apparently Min Lin is terrified her employers. While taking a shower again, Sebastian is interrupted by two brunette girls, "kissing cousins", who Kathryn has sent in. They reveal to him how bad the school actually is ("If you don't snort it, SUCK it").Back at school, we find out Kathryn isn't actually excused from ballet class from a teacher. She tries to hit on him, but it doesn't work. She storms off and the teacher notices a MALE student walking by. He starts to fix his tie...Angered by this personal setback, Kathryn goes back to the Assistant Headmaster Muller. She gives him sex, in return to take her off the gym/ballet classes for good. Of course, the Assistant Headmaster chooses to have sex with Kathryn.Meanwhile, Cherie asks Danielle to tutor her after failing a test in French. Cherie notices Danielle's and Sebastian's tension between them after he tries to be romantic with her. Sebastian gives Danielle a cell phone and kisses her when she is off guard. She gets upset and throws the cell phone at Sebastian, then storms off. Kathryn who happened to be nearby laughs at Sebastian's attempt to be romantic.That evening, Kathryn busts the servants when they are caught playing cards with Sebastian. She threatens to tell Tiffany, but Sebastian tells her no one will find out. Sebastian tells her, no wonder the servants don't get their respect because she treats them so badly. Kathryn tells him that they pay the staff for their services not for their respect. Sebastian then tells Kathryn, they are human beings. Kathryn goes off crying (after she made a remark on being a human being earlier, in a deleted scene). In a rare emotional tone, Kathryn tells Sebastian that it's hard living there, under Tiffany's standards. He asks her why she would do bad things when Tiffany is bad. They get interrupted by a phone call. Sebastian answers the phone and it's Cherie. She tells Sebastian how Danielle is crazy about him by making her "moist"... making her eyes moist that is. Sebastian hangs up on Cherie, and goes to Danielle who is walking off somewhere.At the Brooklyn Bridge waterfront, Danielle hears a torrid violin noise that just happened to be played by Sebastian. He asks her about why she got so upset about the kiss. Danielle tells him to be himself, and be honest. He tells her, he can't because he's scared. He's in a new city, new friends, etc. He asks her, what she is scared about. She tells him she is scared about missing her train to go home, and rushes off in a taxi.At home, Kathryn promises not to tell Tiffany about the card game to Min Lin, who accepts. Kathryn then tries to get to know Min Lin better to try to open up, and she tries to compare each other. Kathryn thinks they have a lot in common, but Min Lin brushes it off.The next day, Kathryn gloats with the rest of the Manchester Prep Tribunal about her success the night before of humiliated Cherie, she gets a loud clear message from Cherie, saying that their sleep over will work out over the weekend, after Cherie's mother wanting to talk to Kathryn's mother.After sixth period, Danielle tells Sebastian why she was upset when he kissed her. She reveals it was her first kiss. She wanted everything to be right, but was afraid to know that Sebastian had probably been with lots of girls she couldn't compare to. The bell rings and Sebastian and Danielle share a kiss before she leaves. Kathryn appears behind Sebastian and threatens him about being bored that he'll ruin the whole romance. When he threatens her back, Kathryn declares war and walks away. Sebastian agrees to war and pushes Kathryn in the mud of the school's garden.A few days later, while getting massages, Tiffany tells Kathryn about a new student, who will be her new best friend... Cherie Clayman. Kathryn hates the idea, and tells her plan about making Cherie the school slut. Tiffany tells Kathryn that she is trying to "break them" in for 20 million, for the new school "Merteuil Library." Sebastian walks in, and tells them about his problem, failing gym because of fencing. Tiffany notices how tense Sebastian is and offers a massage. Sebastian excitedly says "yes", being that it's his first professional massage. Kathryn suddenly lost her urge for a massage, and offers Sebastian her spot. She says something to the blond masseuses, incorrectly saying "tack sa mycket" (thank you very much in Swedish), but Tiffany corrects her. Tiffany tells Kathryn, "Don't say it, if you're not going to say it right. It only makes you look foolish." Kathryn leaves, and the two gorgeous women work on Sebastian's thighs as he stands close to them. To avoid getting aroused, Sebastian says "Dead Puppies" over and over.While lying down after his massage, Sebastian is relaxing on the table and feels someone massaging his back. He asks if it's Sonia, or Ingrid. To his surprise it's Tiffany. He starts to freak but she pushes him down. Tiffany then talks about getting to know each other better. She wants to get along with Edward, and him but it's hard for her because Edward is always working on his yacht. Tiffany is happy about Edward working on his yacht, but hints to Sebastian if he is cheating on her in any way, they will be on the street. Before leaving him, she hits Sebastian's behind.Sebastian decides to pay a visit to his father on his yacht. He walks quietly to the bedroom on the yacht but hears a couple of noises in there. He calls for his father before stepping into the room. Edward is lying on the bed, only in his underwear, with his hands above his hand, under a pillow. Sebastian starts to open the first door, saying he is looking for "the cat." Edward is appalled, to think that he was cheating on Tiffany. Sebastian then opens the second door before moving towards his father. He removes the pillow and not to his surprise, Edward is hand cuffed... and behind door number three it's Lilly, Edward's "first mate" who is dressed in a skimpy Victoria Secret like underwear.Sebastian then tells Lilly that didn't his father promised him to sail her around the world? She tells him "yes", but Sebastian tells her one thing. Edward is married. Edward tries to reason with Lilly saying that his wife is old and is about to die, but Lilly doesn't buy it. She calls him a jerk and leaves. Edward asks Sebastian to hand him the keys to the hand cuffs, but Sebastian warns him, "Don't mess it up, because it's my life too." (Edward took him in remember?) Sebastian teaches his father a lesson, as he throws the keys out of a window (straight in the bay) and leaves his father.On the docks, Sebastian tries to comfort Lilly, but she takes it the wrong way and kisses him after he gives her advice. He turns her down, and tells her about having a girlfriend. She understands, and he tells her about having a test in the morning and leaves.Meanwhile, Cherie and her mother, Bunny, are having a little get together in the Merteuil home. Kathryn presses on with Tiffany's charity for the school library and Tiffany explains in the rich society to get in the high standing is you need to do some charity work. While Tiffany has her head down, Edward walks in with the hand cuffs. Only Kathryn sees this, and he runs away to the kitchen. She excuses herself, and explains to Edward that they are just getting started as a family. So she gives Edward a list to make Tiffany happy (dinner, music, a ring, making love, etc.) Edward is shocked at this, but Kathryn asks, "Who's your favorite daughter?" He tells her, she is, and she leaves.The next day, Kathryn takes Cherie out for horse riding lessons. After great pleasure with the saddle, Cherie has an orgasm on the horse, and tells Kathryn now she knows why girls like horse riding.Meanwhile with Sebastian is out on a little date with Danielle. She teases him a bit, after saying she is tired of being the good girl. She massages his crotch, and just when she is about to go down on him (In a public park!) her phone rings. It's her father. She has to go. She leaves Sebastian, with his hard on still raging in his pants.While shopping, Kathryn gets a visit from Blaine, who apparently got Sebastian's original file back. Fast-forward to night, just when Sebastian is about to see Danielle, Kathryn walks into his room. She has almost dominatrix/leather/blackish underwear on. She asks to have him. He gives in for a moment, but resists temptation and leaves to see Danielle. Kathryn then calls Danielle...Sebastian arrives at Danielle's home, and tries to confess his love to her. She tells him no, then Kathryn walks out of Danielle's closet. We find out the good Danielle is just an act, and she is actually a bad girl all this time. Danielle and Kathryn proceeds to kiss and Danielle tells him "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em." And so he does! They all have a threesome together.It's a bright new day, while riding in their limo, Sebastian opens a gift from Danielle. It's a journal... for something to write about. We then see the limo almost running over Cherie. The driver apologizes about her broken bike, and Sebastian (To our surprise, whom she forgot!) offers her a ride. The driver tosses the bike aside, and Sebastian fiddles with his new camera. He tells Cherie it's too bad she can't be sexy so he can take her picture. She replies "I can be sexy!" and starts to take off her coat and starts to pose for him.The limo moves on, and in the front seat, we hear Sebastian and Cherie having sex, while the creepy-looking Kathryn and Danielle sit in the front seat and listen in on them... satisfied with their evil results of corrupting him and Cherie.THE END!

melodrama

tt0196267

The Gift

Set in the fictional town of Brixton, Georgia, young widow and mother of three young boys Annie Wilson (Cate Blanchett), is the town fortuneteller. The town is abuzz with the disappearance of Jessica King (Katie Holmes), fiancée of Wayne Collins (Greg Kinnear), the school's principal.As the search for Jessica begins, the local police and Jessica's father, Kenneth King (Chelcie Ross), enlist Annie's help to see if she can solve Jessica's disappearance. Annie is unable to produce a vision, largely due to the presence of Sheriff Pearl Johnson (J. K. Simmons), who looks upon Annie's trade unfavorably.Annie later receives a vision that Jessica has been murdered and her body weighed down by a chain and thrown into a pond. She also sees a fiddle player, white lilies, and a split-rail fence. She goes to Sherrif Johnson with her findings, and with the information, Johnson decides to search a pond on the property of violent alcoholic Donnie Barksdale (Keanu Reeves), whose battered wife, Valerie (Hilary Swank), gives permission to search their house as Donnie is away fishing. Donnie returns while the search is proceeding. As the police are ready to give up on the search, they find the naked and chained body of Jessica King. Donnie is immediately arrested.During his trial for Jessica's murder, it is revealed that Jessica and Barksdale had an affair, and Jessica's reputation for promiscuity is exposed in court. The case against Barksdale is strengthened when a scratch on his forearm is proven to have been perpetrated by Jessica during a confrontation at a local bar. Annie also takes the stand, and though her psychic testimony is ridiculed by skeptic defense attorney Gerald Weems (Michael Jeter), Donnie is eventually convicted and sent to prison.A subplot reveals other examples of Annie's "gift". Buddy Cole (Giovanni Ribisi) harbors an intense hatred for his father, and consistently has fits of seemingly unprovoked rage, including incidents with Annie -- one of Buddy's only friends -- and with Donnie Barksdale. Buddy tries to explain to Annie why he hates his father, but Annie is preoccupied and doesn't want to listen to the panicky and vulgar Buddy. He asks her, "If I look into a blue diamond, will I die?" but doesn't elaborate. Unable to understand the question, Annie shrugs Buddy off.Soon after, Buddy's hysterical mother calls Annie to come over, as Buddy has snapped and has his father bound to a chair. Buddy sets fire to his father, and as Annie tries to stop him, he shows her a blue diamond tattoo on his father's navel. It is revealed that Buddy's father took advantage of his son's fragile mental state to force him into fellatio. An ambulance takes Buddy's father away, while Buddy is taken to a psychiatric hospital.Later, Annie receives another vision saying that Donnie is innocent. She asks District Attorney David Duncan (Gary Cole) to reopen the case. Duncan refuses, but Annie counters that she will reveal Duncan's own involvement with Jessica King, as Annie had caught them making out in the women's restroom at a local dance. Duncan offers her money to keep quiet, but Annie refuses, still wanting justice for Barksdale.Annie tells Principal Collins that Barksdale is not responsible for his fiancée's death and that D.A. Duncan will not reopen the investigation. After driving out to the pond that night with Collins, Annie realizes that Collins is the murderer. He confesses to Annie that he was angry after he discovered that she was cheating on him with nearly every man in town. Knowing that she'll go to the police, Collins attempts to kill Annie. Just as he is about to land a fatal blow with a steel flashlight, Buddy Cole shows up and knocks Collins out.Sitting in the car at the pond, Buddy, uncharacteristically calm, returns a handkerchief that Annie had loaned him earlier, and tells her that she is the heart and soul of the town and not to stop doing what she's doing. The two drive to the police station with Collins stowed in the trunk. Annie tells Buddy that he will have to return to the hospital, and he waits in the car while she goes inside to talk with Sheriff Johnson. When Annie explains to Johnson what happened at the pond and that Buddy saved her life, the sheriff informs her that Buddy Cole had hanged himself at the hospital earlier that day. She returns to her car to find Buddy gone. However, Annie still has her handkerchief that Buddy's ghost returned to her.

paranormal, violence, intrigue, murder, flashback

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War of the Satellites

We open with the title and credits in white font on a black background and a score by composer/conductor Walter Greene. A star field is crossed by a satellite as observed in a control room at an observatory. The assembled scientists and politicians argue over the tenth mission. Jason ibn Akad (Michael Fox) chides Dr. Pol Van Ponder (Richard Devon) about his lack of success and waste of half a billion dollars on a satellite project, Project Sigma, that hits a barrier in space and is destroyed. Cole Hotchkiss (Robert Shayne) reminds Akad that, "its still in it's orbit, Mr. Akad." Akad asks Sybil Carrington for her thoughts, but she deflects the query with her analytical reply, "I correlate observed data Mr. Akad, I make no predictions." Mr. LeMoine (Bruno VeSota) quickly injects, "I'll make a prediction. All those men in that satellite will die as have all the others. And when they do your project comes to an end, doctor." Dave Boyer (Dick Miller) announces to the assembled, "The satellite is approaching the critical area." All gather around the screen and watch the latest satellite encounter and then be destroyed by a force field. Van Ponder announces that he will launch another satellite.A "young" couple are parked under a moon lit sky, necking in their car. Jay (Jay Sayer) and Mitzi (Mitzi McCall) see a light in the sky. At first they assume it is a shooting star, then realize it is something else when it crashes. They investigate and discover a small rocket with a message, in Latin, for the world. Sybil reads the translated message to the United Nations. The aliens warn the inhabitants of the earth that their, "contamination shall not be allowed to spread." Any attempt to depart the Earth will be stopped. The President (Roy Gordon) opens discussion regarding the message.Van Ponder calls a press conference in his office. He announces another satellite mission that he, himself, will lead. Sybil tells Dave she will accompany her boss. Van Ponder does admit some misgivings to Dave and Sybil, but training and crew selection start. Hotchkiss calls Van Ponder and warns him that Akad is trying to stop the mission. Van Ponder drives over to the U.N. Along the way he experiences trouble with his car and crashes. The aliens cause his wreck, then replace him with one of their own. Hotchkiss announces, "Dr. Van Ponder was killed in an automobile accident while on his way to this forum." To the shock of the assembled, Van Ponder arrives at the U.N. to spontaneous applause. After Hotchkiss leaves Van Ponder's office, the alien demonstrates one of his capabilities--to duplicate himself. The alien reports to his masters that a stronger warning is proposed, but before we learn any details of the plan, Dave enters Van Ponder's office to persuade Van Ponder to keep Sybil off the launch of the next satellite. Sybil enters Van Ponder's office and tells him to turn on the radio. Reports of worldwide disasters are blamed on the aliens. Van Ponder capitulates to the threat and calls off the next mission. Dave and Sybil attend the U.N. meeting and Dave, without consulting with Van Ponder, tells the assembled delegates that, "We must proceed with project Sigma at all costs."As Dave and Van Ponder go over launch parameters, John Campo (Jerry Barclay) enters the room and registers surprise at Van Ponder's presence. He remarks that he just saw Van Ponder at the Proving Grounds. The new solenoids have arrived and he wants Dave to check them. Dave notices a growth on Van Ponders arm. Dave reminds Van that he should have it removed. Dave sees another identical growth on his other arm. His curiosity piqued, Dave records the license plate (New York 9Z 9324) on Van's Lincoln in the parking lot. Dave drives away. Meanwhile, Van goes down to the lab where John is welding a component. John puts the welding torch down on the component and directs Van's attention to the solenoids. The torch is bumped and rotates the flame directly onto Van Ponder's right hand. Feeling no pain at all, his hand is quickly charred. John notices and pulls Van's hand away from the flame and runs for medical attention. Van Ponder shuts off the acetylene. Using his good hand he removes the char from his burnt hand revealing an intact and perfectly restored and normal right hand. When John returns with Dr. Howard Lazar (Eric Sinclair) Van Ponder pretends nothing happened and that John Compo must be hallucinating. John, on the verge of hysteria, concludes, "There's something about you. You're not human."Dave stops at an auto wrecking yard and discovers the bumper of Van Ponder's wrecked car. The license plate number is identical. He concludes the car was so destroyed no one could have survived. He calls Sybil on the phone from a café. She is at the base and informs Dave that the launch schedule was moved up. He has forty-five minutes to get to the launch site. At the launch command center a tech hands the ground controller (Roger Corman) final corrections on the calculations. Dr. Lazar arrives at the elevator with John Compo and tells Van Ponder that John is cleared to fly. Dave witnesses Van Ponder's ability to duplicate himself. His suspicions are now confirmed--Van Ponder is an alien and means to sabotage the mission.Aboard flight #1, Sybil straps herself into her Contour Chaise Lounge while Van Ponder checks on the flight crew and John. Dave joins Dr. Lazar on flight #2 for their departure. The ground controller handles the rocket stage separations and the assembly of the satellite components. The pilot/astronavigator (John Brinkley) and co-pilot (Tony Miller) prepare the craft for its mission. Van Ponder goes to visit John Compo. He places his hand on John's chest immobilizing him. Van Ponder reveals himself and his mission before he kills John. Sybil walks in to the compartment. Van Ponder explains that John couldn't handle the g-force acceleration. Dave tries to convince Sybil that Van Ponder is an alien, but Van Ponder enters and interrupts. John's body is buried in space. Dave meets with Dr. Lazar and tells him John was murdered. He has the doctor examine Van Ponder's finger prints. Dave tells Sybil that the mounting evidence points to an alien imposter. Dr. Lazar goes to confront Van Ponder and give him the required medical exam. But before the doctor can check Van's heart, an urgent call from the pilot interrupts. The satellite is approaching the Sigma barrier. Upon his return, Van activates a heartbeat. It is a new sensation and he visibly reacts. Van Ponder encounters Sybil on his way back to the doctor. He expresses his new found desire for Sybil. She is confused. She excuses herself, "I'm in the middle of a computation." Van submits to the doctor's cardiac exam. When Van tries the same hand on the chest routine to dispatch Dr. Lazar, as he did with John, he is surprised to see that it doesn't work. He kills Dr. Lazar by choking him.Sybil finally suspects Dave may be right about Van Ponder, when under Van Ponder's orders, two crewmembers (Beach Dickerson and James Knight) arrest Dave. On her way to find Dr. Lazar, Sybil sees Van Ponder placing the doctor's body in the disposal chute. Van Ponder sees Sybil and gives chase. She hides in the Solar Energy room. Dave escapes his guards and Van Ponder is informed over the PA system. The Sigma barrier forms while Van Ponder is trying to decide whether or not to kill Sybil. He splits himself into two, confirming Sybil's suspicion. One remains to confront Sybil while the other heads for the command center or bridge. She asks, "You're not human. Who are you? What are you?"Dave follows Van ponder into his cabin and shoots him in the hand. Both Van Ponders bleed. Dave and Van scuffle and Dave gets the gun back and shoots Van Ponder several times. While Dave's Van Ponder collapses, the one confronting Sybil also falls to the deck. Dave orders Plan B be abandoned, and Plan A be activated, much to the flight crew's relief. Both Van Ponders disappear. The Solar Accumulator is deployed against the barrier, but Sybil is still in the Solar Energy Room and is rescued by Dave. The Solar Accumulator works and the Sigma barrier is broken. The closing shot is the satellite in orbit over the Earth.

brainwashing

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Survival of the Dead

The unburied dead are returning to life and attacking the living to kill and eat them. The first part of the film follows the actions of former Colonel and current Sergeant "Nicotine" Crockett (Alan van Sprang). In the opening scene, Colonel Crockett, after a failed raid of sorts that ends in the deaths and reanimation of several fellow National Guardsmen and his getting demoted to Sergeant, deserts his post with fellow soldiers Kenny (Eric Woolfe), Francisco (Stefano Colacitti) and Tomboy (Athena Karkanis). The four fugitive soldiers go on where they rob the protagonists of the previous film (see 'Diary of the Dead').Meanwhile, off the coast of Delaware lies Plum Island, home to two Irish-American feuding families - the O'Flynns and the Muldoons. The former family, lead by Patrick O'Flynn (Kenneth Welsh), rounds up a posse and kills the undead of the island, learning that the Muldoons, led by Seamus Muldoon (Richard Fitzpatrick) are keeping their undead loved ones "alive" until a cure is found. A brief standoff ends with the Muldoons exiling Patrick and several other O'Flynns, under the suggestion of Patrick's daughter Janet (Kathleen Munroe).Three weeks later. The four National Guard deserters find themselves joined by a young teenager known only as Boy (Devon Bostick) after an encounter with some fellow zombie-killers whom the four rouge soldiers are forced to kill when the hunters attempt to kill them as well. Crockett and his group steal an abandoned armored truck nearby and decide to drive north to Canada. Through Boy and an Internet connection they learn of Plum Island - a video that was recorded by Patrick O'Flynn. They head to a nearby dock off the deserted interstate highway as instructed, and a gunfight starts between the O'Flynns bunkered down in a fishing shop and Crockett's group. Francisco jumps off the pier and swims out to a large ferry steamer, successfully commandeers the unmanned ship for the group. During the battle, several zombies showing up to distract both sides of the gunfight. Francisco is attacked by an underwater zombie which he successfully battles, biting the finger off of an attacking zombie along the way.The O'Flynns, except Patrick, are killed and eaten by zombies and the four Army deserters board the ferry. Patrick too jumps aboard, kept there by a shaky truce of sorts as the rest of the group takes care of the zombies on board the ferry. Francisco starts to feel sick, having earlier ingested the blood of a zombie when he bit off the finger of the underwater zombie that attacked him. On the trip over, Patrick reveals he delibrately sent other strangers over to Plum Island to anger Muldoon and trigger the latter's distrust for strangers. Eventually, the group stops the ferry a short distance away and makes it to the island on a small dingy.There, they discover that the Muldoons have chained up the zombies in imitation of their previous lives - a mailman puts mail in a mailbox, a logger wields an axe on some wood, and so on. It is revealed that Patrick's daughter, Janet, is now a zombie, riding around on her horse as she did when she was alive. Not only that, but the living strangers sent over by Patrick have been killed by the Muldoons in order to 'feed' them to the zombies while the strangers who arrived as zombies were allowed to remain animated. Patrick is disgusted with this and, as he attempts to go into town and gather some allies that did not leave the island from his family, two scouting Muldoons attack the deserters, shooting Crockett and Kenny. The latter dies from his wounds, and is shot in the head by Patrick to prevent reanimation. Patrick heads off.Taking shelter in an abandoned meeting house, Boy works to stitch up Crockett's gunshot wound on his left shoulder, Francisco's sickness gets worse and he wanders off where Tomboy finds him and he asks her to shoot him before he turns into a zombie. She complies, and is then captured by Muldoon men and taken to his headquarters across a small bridge leading to the other part of the island. It is now revealed that Janet is, in fact, a twin: Jane, her favored sister, is the zombie on the horse from earlier. Janet helps Crockett out, and she, Crockett and Boy join the O'Flynn group for their attack on the Muldoons. Crockett agrees to come along to exact revenge for Kenny.A standoff occurs at the bridge of the river that separates the two families' land, and the O'Flynn group with Crockett are captured, while Boy and Janet are pushed off into the forest. Tomboy is released from Muldoon's capture (During her capture she also learned that Muldoon's own wife is now a zombie that he keeps chained up in his kitchen) and rejoins the captive group. Muldoon and O'Flynn face off. Muldoon's one wish is to prove O'Flynn wrong about the zombies, hoping to get the creatures to eat something other than human flesh. Muldoon's latest example is Patrick's daughter Jane, attempting to get her to devour a horse. A farmhand, Chuck (Joris Jarsky), brings out a herd of captured zombies to watch the zombie Jane's attempt to eat the horse.She doesn't, and Janet returns with Boy, giving Crockett and the O'Flynns their weapons back. Janet attempts to reach out to Jane, who bites her twin sister on her hand. A climatic gunfight erupts between the two families. Chuck switches sides and gets shot by Muldoon for his trouble. Dying, he releases the zombie herd and is devoured. The gunfight's focus changes to the zombie threat, and they eat and kill most of the ones involved in the shootout.Muldoon and O'Flynn, each with one bullet left in their guns, create a shaky truce that is immediately broken by Muldoon shooting O'Flynn in the back. A dying O'Flynn unleashes a secret gun stored up his wrist and kills Muldoon. Crockett and his group, fed up with all of the death, attempt to leave the island on the ferry boat they came in on. Janet witnesses her sister actually take a bite out of the horse, and rushes to tell Crockett's group the news, but she gets shot in the head by her father with his remaining bullet after mistaking her for her undead sister. He succumbs to his wounds soon after.The three survivors, Crockett, Boy and Tomboy, though tempted to stick around on Plum Island, refuse to become like the Muldoon/O'Flynn families, and leave the island on the ferry they came in on. Also of note: the armored truck they rode into the dock earlier in the film contains a million dollars in cash as they plan to use somehow in the future (possibly creating a new city for survivors in Pennsylvania from 'The Land of the Dead').Meanwhile, on Plum Island, zombies are seen eating the horse Jane started to eat as all of the remaining human population is killed and eaten by the zombies. In the final scene, the zombified Patrick and Muldoon come up on a hill together, guns in hand, attempting to kill one another once more as zombies. However, it is unknown to them that their guns are empty.

violence, murder

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The Falcon Out West

A society detective turns cowboy to solve a Texan's murder.Tom Lawrence A.K.A. The Falcon (Tom Conway) is enjoying an evening out at a New York night club when he is approached by Mrs Irwin (Joan Barclay), who asks him to prevent her Ex-husband Tex Irwin (Lyle Talbot) marrying gold digger Vanessa Drake (Carole Gallagher). Tom doesn't want to get involved with this but Tex, who is dining at the club with his entourage, suddenly collapses on the dance floor and dies. The Falcon examines the body and is surprised to find a rattlesnake bite on the arm of the dead man and an empty wallet in his pocket. Inspector Timothy Donovan (Cliff Clark) arrives at the club to investigate the murder but Tex's attorney Stephen Hayden (Don Douglas) requests that Donovan postpones questioning Vanessa until she recovers from the shock of her fiancée's death. After Vanessa has left the table, Tom notices that one of the two train tickets he found on Tex's body has gone. Tom pockets the other ticket and when Vanessa boards the train to Texas she is surprised to find The Falcon waiting for her in her compartment. She tells Tom that the answer to Tex's death is to be found in Texas and so The Falcon agrees to go with her to Tex's ranch.When they arrive at the Texan train station The Falcon and Vanessa are greeted by Donovan, his assistant Bates (Edward Gargan) and Hayden. Donovan tells Vanessa that he is waiting for extradition papers to take her back to The Big Apple and then accepts her invitation to join her at the ranch. Also there to meet Vanessa is Dusty (Lee Trent), Tex's foreman, whom Tom recognises as being present at the night club just before Tex died. Dusty has brought a stagecoach to the station to transport Vanessa and her party to the ranch, but the gunplay of a group of rowdy ranch hands startles the horses and they bolt with the coach and it's passengers. They are rescued by Marion Colby (Barbara Hale), the daughter of Tex's partner Dave Colby (Minor Watson), who halts the spooked horses and then leads the coach of passengers safely to Tex's ranch. However, they find the ranch in darkness and seemingly deserted so Marion invites them over to the Colby ranch for dinner but Hayden enters Tex's ranch and discovers that the safe has been opened and the contents are strewn across a table.At the Colby ranch that evening, Tom follows Marion into a backroom where she is hiding a set of baggage checks - evidence that she and her father were in New York at the time of Tex's death. When Tom confronts her Marion explains that they had gone to the city to try and persuade Tex not to marry Vanessa but their attempt had only led to an argument and they had left the club before Tex's death occurred. Suddenly a scream is heard and everyone rushes out onto the patio where Vanessa claims someone just tried to kill her with a knife. Tom, Donovan and the others search for her attacker but can find no-one and as it is late they return to Tex's ranch only to discover Mrs Irwin there. She announces that she is going to move back into the ranch until the estate is settled. Tom notices a bloodstain on Irwin's sleeve. Later that night The Falcon goes to his bedroom only to find a scalp dagger embedded in his door, pinning a scalp to the door. Vanessa tells Tom that it is an old Comanche death warning.The next morning Tom goes to show the scalp to Colby, assuming that it has come from Colby's extensive collection of Indian artefacts, but when he mentions what Vanessa told him Colby informs him that the Comanche did not take scalps. Donovan arrives and tells everyone that they must gather at Tex's ranch later that day. When everyone is assembled at the ranch at 3pm Hayden presents Vanessa, Mrs Irwin and the Colbys with papers from Tex's safe, asks them to examine them, then he leaves the room. While they are reading the paperwork Donovan notices that Mrs Irwin is bending the papers in the exact same manner as the papers taken from the safe were bent and he accuses her of breaking into the safe. At that moment Eagle Feather (Chief Thunderbird), the Irwins Indian manservant, enters with news that Hayden is unwell. Rushing to his room the group are helpless as they watch him succumb to snake bite poisoning and die. Donovan persists in accusing Mrs Irwin of the murders until they all go outside and someone takes a potshot at him. They discover that the shooter is Red (Perc Launders), one of Colby's men. Donovan now suspects Colby and goes over to his ranch to question him.At the Colby ranch Tom discovers an Indian medicine bag containing the deed to Tex's ranch and a poison ring in the shape of a snake. Colby admits that he took the deed from the safe because Tex had discovered that Vanessa was cheating on him and so had changed his mind about who to leave his property to. Colby claims that he owns an identical poison ring in his collection but that it had gone missing months ago, but Donovan does not believe him and arrests him. Donovan escorts Colby out to a waiting car, but Tom stays behind and accuses Vanessa of murder. He says it was her who had pinned the scalp to his door to try and frighten him off and that she killed Tex because he had indeed discovered that she was cheating on him and was going to call off the wedding and not give her the ranch. Vanessa is about to plunge the fangs of her poison ring into Tom's arm when her lover Dusty enters and orders Tom at gunpoint to go to the car. Outside meanwhile, Colby's ranch hands have freed their boss from Donovan and are on their way to the ranch house. Dusty sees them coming and orders Tom back inside, before going back into the house The Falcon hangs the snake ring on the outside of the door. When Donovan and Colby's men see it they surround the house and a gun battle breaks out. In the confusion The Falcon manages to disarm Dusty by slamming the door onto his gun hand and Tom then arrests Vanessa. Later, at the train station Tom and Marion are saying goodbye to Donovan and Bates as they board the train back to New York when a beautiful woman steps down from the train and asks The Falcon for his help.

murder

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Mr. Destiny

The story begins on "the strangest day" of Larry Burrows' (James Belushi) life (his 35th birthday) consisting of a series of comic and dramatic misadventures. Larry, who blames all of his life's problems on the fact that he struck out during a key moment of his state high school baseball championship game on his 15th birthday, wishes he had done things differently. His wish is granted by a guardian angel-like figure named Mike (Michael Caine), and appears at various times as a bartender, a cab driver, and so on. Larry soon discovers that Mike has transferred Larry into an alternative reality in which he had won the pivotal high school game. He now finds himself rich and (within his company) powerful, and married to the boss's (Bill McCutcheon) sexy daughter Cindy Jo Bumpers (Rene Russo). At first, his new life seems perfect, but he soon begins to miss his best friend Clip Metzler (Jon Lovitz) and wife Ellen (Linda Hamilton) from his previous life; he also discovers that his alternative self has created many enemies, like Jewel Jagger (Courteney Cox), and as Larry's problems multiply, he finds himself wishing to be put back into his old life. The story begins with Larry's car, an old Ford LTD station wagon, stalled out in a dark alley. Suddenly the pink lights of "The Universal Joint," a bar, come on. Larry goes inside to call a tow truck, and tells bartender Mike his troubles. He reviews the day he just had, which ended with his getting fired after discovering his department head Niles Pender's (Hart Bochner) scheme to sell the company under the nose of its owners to a group of naive Japanese investors. He tells Mike that he wishes he'd hit that last pitch out of the park, after which Mike fixes him a drink called "The Spilt Milk." The Spilt Milk was a drink that gave him his wish that he hit that home run in that championship game. Larry leaves the bar, walks home (his car apparently towed) and discovers someone else living in his house, which is now fixed up (previously his yard and driveway were muddy and unfinished). Mike appears as a cab driver and drives him to his "new" home, a mansion in Forest Hills, explaining that he did in fact hit the last pitch and won the game. He soon discovers that Cindy Jo is his wife and he's the president of his company, Liberty Republic Sporting Goods. Being a classic car buff, he's shocked to find that he owns a collection of priceless antique automobiles. Larry soon discovers that Clip has a low-level job in the accounting department and is quite insecure, as opposed to the jokester he was before. Ellen is shop steward (in both realities) and is married to another man. Jewel, a forklift operator in the previous reality, is now Larry's mistress and his secretary. Ellen hates Larry and he discovers that the union is threatening a walkout due to massive layoffs and increased production, since Niles is selling Liberty Republic in both realities. Seeing Ellen, he realizes how much he misses her and agrees to all the union's demands, providing Ellen agrees to dinner at his favorite restaurant. She reluctantly agrees, and Larry eventually convinces her that they were married in a previous life. After discovering that Larry has agreed to union demands, Niles takes revenge, by telling both Cindy Jo and Jewel of Larry's dinner date with Ellen. He then plots to kill Larry at the office that night. However, company owner Leo Hansen arrives to deliver a note to Larry, announcing his termination, and Niles kills him by mistake. Discovering the note, Niles calls the police who attempt to arrest Larry for Leo's murder. Larry escapes while jealous Jewel creates pandemonium outside in her attempts to shoot him (and shoots out a number of police cars in the process), leading to a police chase. Larry is eventually cornered in a dark alley but the pink glow of "The Universal Joint" comes on and he runs into the bar. Unable to find Mike, Larry attempts to make the "Spilt Milk" himself, the ingredients clearly aged. The flashing lights of the police cars appear and Larry surrenders but instead of cops, a tow truck driver named Duncan enters (the police car lights now tow truck lights). Confused at first, Larry sees Mike back behind the bar and realizes he's back in his old life. Larry thanks Mike for everything and, upon exiting the bar, suddenly realizes that the deal with the Japanese investors is happening shortly. Driven by Duncan to company headquarters, Larry barges into the boardroom, decks Niles and exposes his scheme just as Leo is about to sign the deal. Thinking everyone forgot his birthday, Larry returns home (which still has the muddy driveway and lawn) to a surprise party with his family and friends in attendance. Soon after, Cindy Jo and her husband Jackie Earle (Jay O. Sanders), the company president arrive. Jackie offers Niles' job to Larry, plus a company car, a new Mercedes and he accepts. Back in the past, young Larry is about to leave the stadium, still upset about the loss, when he's approached by a mysterious stranger (Mike) who reassures him that everything will be alright. Larry thanks him for the reassurance, but walks off wondering who Mike thinks he's kidding.

psychedelic, alternate history

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[Rec]²

Reporter Ángela Vidal (Manuela Velasco), and her cameraman Pablo, are covering the night shift in one of Barcelona's local fire stations for the documentary television series While You're Sleeping. While they are recording, the firehouse receives a call about an old woman, Mrs. Izquierdo, who is trapped in her apartment and screaming. Ángela and Pablo accompany two of the firefighters, Álex and Manu, to the apartment building, where two police officers are waiting. As they approach the old woman becomes aggressive and attacks one of the officers, biting his neck. As they carry the injured officer downstairs, they find the building's residents gathered in the lobby. The police and military have sealed off the building and trapped them inside. As people begin to panic, Álex, who remained upstairs with the old woman, is thrown over the staircase railings and seriously injured. The old woman then kills a girl, and the remaining officer, Sergio, is forced to shoot her. Ángela and Pablo begin interviewing the residents, including a sick little girl named Jennifer. Her mother Maricarmen claims she has tonsillitis, and says her dog, Max, is at the vet because he is sick as well. The injured are put in the building's textile warehouse. A health inspector in hazmat suit arrives and attempts to treat them. Suddenly, they become aggressive and start attacking other people. The residents flee and Guillem, an intern, is locked in the warehouse. The health inspector explains that they are infected with a virus similar to rabies, and the time in which the disease takes effect varies by blood type. He reveals the disease is traced back to a dog in the apartment building, and Ángela realizes it's Max. When the residents confront Maricarmen, Jennifer turns, vomits blood at her mother's face and flees upstairs. Sergio handcuffs Maricarmen to the stairs and proceeds upstairs with Manu and Pablo. They find Jennifer but she bites Sergio, who tells the others to leave him. Manu and Pablo find the remaining residents running upstairs as the infected in warehouse have broken down the door. Leaving the handcuffed Mari behind, they enter an empty apartment along with Ángela, a resident called César, and the health inspector, who has been bitten. César mentions that there might be another way out through the basement, where there is a large drain that is connected to the sewers, but says the keys are in Guillem's apartment. The infected health inspector then bites César, forcing Ángela, Manu and Pablo to escape and fight their way up to Guillem's apartment on the third floor. Having found the key, Ángela and Pablo leave the apartment and find Manu among the infected. The pair are chased upstairs, and take refuge in the penthouse. They discover a tape recorder which explains the virus' origin. The penthouse' owner was an agent of the Vatican. He was researching and isolating an enzyme believed to be the biological cause of demonic possession. He located a possessed young girl named Tristana Medeiros, kidnapped and brought her to the penthouse for research. During this time, the enzyme mutated and became viral. The agent, having no other options, sealed Tristana in the house, presumably to let her die of starvation. Pablo reaches up with his camera to record around inside the attic. An infected child swipes at the camera and breaks its light, shrouding them in complete darkness. Pablo turns on the night vision and discovers a sealed door. Tristana, now a blind and horribly emaciated figure, emerges and searches the penthouse for food. Ángela and Pablo try to escape, but Pablo is killed by Tristana and drops the camera. Ángela then picks it up and looks through the screen. Seeing Tristana eating Pablo, she panics, trips and drops the camera. The camera continues to record as Ángela is dragged into the darkness screaming.

violence, murder, claustrophobic

tt1245112

Atlantic Rim

Following the mysterious disappearance of an oil rig and a reconnaissance mini-submarine in the Gulf of Mexico, scientist Dr. Margaret Adams initiates the Armada Program, which consists of giant robots designed for deep sea rescue. The three robots—piloted by Red, Tracy and Jim—dive nearly 800 fathoms to the sea bed, where they not only discover the mangled remains of the oil rig, but encounter the monster that brought it down. Red pursues the monster against orders from Admiral Hadley, prompting the Admiral to order every naval fleet on the East Coast to converge to the oil rig's site. Red emerges on a beach to warn the bystanders to leave the premises for their safety when he is suddenly attacked from behind by the monster as their fight takes its toll on the city. An F-18 Hornet piloted by Spitfire assists Red in taking the monster down. Red, however, is arrested for disobeying a direct order. He is locked in solitary confinement until he is briefly released by Adm. Hadley and later given a medal of honor for his heroic actions before serving the rest of his confinement. Later, Adm. Hadley is informed by Sheldon Geise of a top-secret sonar program that discovered the monsters that are hundreds of millions of years old and lay their eggs on a mixture of crude oil and saltwater. Two eggs have been discovered; one of which hatched into the monster that Red and Spitfire killed. Adm. Hadley orders a search for the other egg, but he is too late, as it has already hatched, with the monster destroying a whole naval fleet before wreaking havoc on the city. As the monster attacks the naval base, Tracy and Jim scramble to spring Red out of solitary before they are picked up by Lt. Wexler. Meanwhile, Geise informs Adm. Hadley that the President has authorized a nuclear strike on the monster, but Adm. Hadley refuses that decision and orders everyone to evacuate the base. The monster retreats after a Northrop Grumman B-2 Spirit drops a payload on it. Adm. Hadley is later informed that another egg has hatched off the Atlantic Coast. Dr. Adams gives the trio special "halo" headbands that neurally link them to their robots, increasing their reflexes by using their direct body movements instead of joysticks. The system's downside is the pilot feeling pain for every damage the robot takes. After a crash course on the new system, the trio fly their robots to New York City to battle the monster. Following numerous refusals by Adm. Hadley to launch a nuclear strike, Geise orders the USS Virginia to launch a warhead. Red intercepts the missile and jams its frequency, saving the city from a nuclear holocaust. In retaliation, Geise threatens Dr. Adams to shut down the robots, but is quickly subdued by Lt. Wexler, despite shooting the Admiral in the arm. During the battle, Tracy loses consciousness when her neural level goes critical. Jim takes Tracy to safety while Red grabs the warhead and the monster before flying them to the atmosphere. He then kicks the monster to deep space, detonating the warhead in the process and sending him crashing back on Earth. The trio and Adm. Hadley celebrate by heading to the local bar for some tequila shots.

violence

tt2740710

Kumonosu-jô

Generals Miki and Washizu are Samurai commanders under a local lord, Lord Tsuzuki, who reigns in the castle of the Spider's Web Forest. After defeating the lord's enemies in battle, they return to Tsuzuki's castle. On their way through the thick forest surrounding the castle, they meet a spirit, who foretells their future. The spirit tells them that today Washizu will be named Lord of the Northern Garrison and Miki will now be commander of the first fortress. She then foretells that Washizu will eventually become Lord of Spider's Web Castle, and finally she tells Miki that his son will also become lord of the castle. When the two return to Tsuzuki's estate, he rewards them with exactly what the spirit had predicted. As Washizu discusses this with Asaji, his wife, she manipulates him into making the second part of the prophecy come true by killing Tsuzuki when he visits. Washizu kills him with the help of his wife, who gives drugged sake to the lord's guards, causing them to fall asleep. When Washizu returns in shock at his deed, Asaji grabs the bloody spear and puts it in the hands of one of the three unconscious guards. She then yells "murder" through the courtyard, and Washizu slays the guard before he has a chance to plead his innocence. Tsuzuki's vengeful son Kunimaru and an advisor to Tsuzuki, Noriyasu, both suspect Washizu as the traitor and try to warn Miki, who refuses to believe what they are saying about his friend. Washizu is unsure of Miki's loyalty, but chooses Miki's son as his heir, since he and Asaji have been unable to bear a child of their own. Washizu plans to tell Miki and his son about his decision at a grand banquet, but Asaji tells him that she is pregnant, which leaves him with a quandary concerning his heir, as now Miki and his son have to be eliminated. During the banquet Washizu drinks sake copiously because he is clearly agitated, and at the sudden appearance of Miki's ghost, begins losing control. In his delusional panic, he reveals his betrayal to all by exclaiming that he is willing to slay Miki for a second time, going so far as unsheathing his sword and striking over Miki's mat. Asaji, attempting to pick up the pieces of Washizu's blunder, tells the guests that he is drunk and that they must retire for the evening. Then one of his men arrives with the severed head of Miki. The guard also tells them that Miki's son escaped. Later, distraught upon hearing of his child is stillborn and in dire need of help with the impending battle with his foes, he returns to the forest to summon the spirit. She tells him that he will not be defeated unless the very trees of Spider's Web forest rise against the castle. Washizu believes this is impossible and is confident of his victory. Washizu knows he must kill all his enemies, so he tells his troops of the last prophecy, and they share his confidence. The next morning, Washizu is awakened by the screams of attendants. Striding into his wife's quarters, he finds Asaji in a semi-catatonic state, trying to wash clean the imaginary foul stench of blood from her hands, obviously distraught at her grave misdeeds. Distracted by the sound of his troops moving outside the room, he investigates and is told by a panicked soldier that the trees of Spider's Web forest "have risen to attack us." The prophecy has come true and Washizu is doomed. As Washizu tries to get his troops to attack, they remain still. Disillusioned with his increasingly unstable leadership, the troops finally accuse Washizu of the murder of Tsuzuki. For his treachery they turn on their master and begin firing arrows at him, also to appease Miki's son and Noriyasu. Washizu finally succumbs to his wounds just as his enemies approach the castle gates. It is revealed that the attacking force is using trees cut down during the previous night to disguise and protect themselves in their advance on the castle.

murder, paranormal, allegory, violence, bleak, atmospheric, psychedelic

tt0050613

The Wedding Ringer

Jimmy Callahan (Kevin Hart) provides best man services for guys who don't have the friends necessary for a wedding. As Doug Harris (Josh Gad), a successful tax attorney, and his fiancee Gretchen Palmer (Kaley Cuoco-Sweeting) are planning for their wedding day, Doug becomes frantic searching for a best man. He faints and is referred to Jimmy's company, The Best Man Inc., by his party planner, Edmundo (Ignacio Serricchio).Doug is sent to The Best Man Inc., by Otis (Corey Holcomb), which is located under an amusement park. Doug meets Jimmy and asks him to pull off a "Golden Tux" (seven groomsmen) to match with Gretchen's bridesmaids, which has never been done before. Jimmy refuses, claiming he is complacent and doesn't need the pressure. After hearing Doug's plea, Jimmy agrees to be his best man along with a payment of $50,000 and all expenses paid. When going over the formalities for the wedding, Doug tells Jimmy his name is Bic Mitchum.Jimmy recruits some former friends. Fitzgibbons (Colin Kane), a criminal who escaped from a federal prison, agrees to be a groomsman because there will be seven bridesmaids to hit on. Next, he recruits Lurch (Jorge Garcia), a plumber, who agrees to get away from his nagging wife. Lastly, he recruits Reggie (Affion Crockett), an airline security agent, who agrees because there will be good food. Jimmy, his secretary Doris (Jenifer Lewis), Fitzgibbons, Lurch, and Reggie interview people willing to fill the four remaining spots based on their "party trick distractions." They choose Kip (Alan Ritchson), a sexy man with a stutter, Endo (Aaron Takahashi), who has three testicles, Bronstein (Dan Gill), who can dislocate and relocate his shoulder, and Otis, who can say every sentence backwards.Doug, excited, tells Gretchen that "Bic" flew in from El Salvador, and he will be at the wedding. He also presents to her two honeymoon tickets to Tahiti. Gretchen insists that Bic comes to the family brunch. Doug meets Jimmy and they memorize their identities. Doug also tells Jimmy that he must act as a military priest from North Dakota.At the brunch Gretchen's father Ed (Ken Howard) asks Jimmy what part of North Dakota he's from. Doug becomes nervous and almost blows his own cover until Jimmy accidentally sets Grandma (Cloris Leachman) on fire. They take her to the emergency room, and Jimmy makes up a lie to Ed that Doug used to play football. Ed challenges Jimmy and Doug to a football game with some of his old college teammates who will be at the wedding.Doug meets his groomsmen, who he is initially not fond of. Doris gives all of them fake identities, all of which share the last names of famous Los Angeles sports figures (Plunkett, Rambis, Garvey, Alzado, Drysdale, Carew, and Dickerson) which they have to memorize. Jimmy takes the groomsmen on fake photo shoots of skydiving, scuba-diving, bowling, running a marathon, and climbing mountains. As Jimmy realizes Doug is beginning to doubt him, he is taken to Edmundo's house. Doug learns Edmundo's flamboyant personality is just a ruse for better business. Edmundo tells him that the only key is to please Gretchen and her mother Lois (Mimi Rogers) and nothing else matters. To prove to Doug how good he is at being a best man, Jimmy takes Doug to a wedding where the best man (Josh Peck) makes a terrible speech. After, they have drinks and show off their dance moves. The two drink after the wedding and talk. Jimmy said he made an excellent best man speech for a minor friend which led to his career as a wedding ringer. Doug said that his father was an international tax attorney and moved frequently as a child, so he never got to make friends. He also tells Jimmy he's never been on a "guy trip" and just wants a friend to "sit down and have a beer with." When his parents died, Doug took over the business, and work consumed him, leaving him without a best man. Jimmy drives Doug home, and reiterates that they are in a business relationship, and Doug, although hurt, agrees.Jimmy, thinking about what Doug said, is reminded by Doris why he started his business in the first place. She tells Jimmy he needs a real friend for himself, and he is motivated to pull off the rest of the wedding.The next day, Doug is captured by Reggie and Fitzgibbons and taken to his outrageous bachelor party. He is introduced to Nadia (Nicky Whelan), who tries to seduce him. Doug instead befriends her and she later puts peanut butter on his genitals. Doug, who is blindfolded, is unaware that Jimmy and Nadia have a basset hound to lick off the peanut butter. When the prank goes awry, the groomsmen and Nadia race to the hospital and evade a cop chase. When Doug wakes up the next day, Nadia kisses him goodbye, and hints she would like to know him better. Later, the groomsmen play football with Ed and his college football friends, including Joe Namath, John Riggins, and Ed "Too Tall" Jones. A mud bowl ensues and Ed blows out his knee on the last play.At the rehearsal dinner that night, Gretchen's bridesmaids sing a song, while Doug's groomsmen create a slideshow of the fake pictures they previously took, winning Gretchen over. That night, Gretchen, speaking to Doug, notices Bic razors and Mitchum deodarant in their cabinets. She recognizes the familiarity in the last names of the groomsmen and deduces the scheme. She asks Doug about it but he brushes it off, saying Gretchen is paranoid, to which she reluctantly agrees.On the day of the wedding, the family priest cancels and is replaced by Jimmy's old Catholic school principal. Doug hatches an idea where Reggie and Fitzgibbons kidnap the priest and Jimmy officiates the wedding as Bic Mitchum. The wedding reception is initially successful. Jimmy passes Gretchen and congratulates her on the wedding. Gretchen exclaims that the wedding is a disaster because her grandmother has third degree burns, her dad's knee is blown out, the food is bad, the bridesmaids are not attracted to the groomsmen, the zipper on her dress is broken, and she isn't marrying the man she loves. Gretchen confesses to Jimmy she only married Doug because she was tired of having bad relationships and he can easily provide the lavish lifestyle she wants. Doug overhears this in the bathroom and tells Jimmy that he can't go through with the rest of the wedding. Jimmy dismisses Doug's ideas and makes the best man speech. Before Jimmy wraps up his best man speech, Doug stops it and reveals he and Gretchen aren't married since "Bic" is not a real priest. He also tells everyone that his groomsmen are fake. Jimmy, Doug, and the groomsmen try to escape. Before doing so, Jimmy asks Gretchen's sister, Allison (Olivia Thirlby) on a date, which she accepts. Doug pays Jimmy his $50,000 like he promised and they accept each other's friendship. As they leave, Jimmy has an idea.They use Doug's first class honeymoon tickets to Tahiti, taking him on a guy trip where the groomsmen, Edmundo, Doris, and Nadia, who begins her romance with Doug, party in the plane, while Lurch says that he "has a bad feeling about this flight."In a scene at the end of the credits, Jimmy and Doug are seen playing a painful game of tennis.

flashback

tt0884732

War Dogs

January 2008, AlbaniaTwo masked men pull David Packouz (Miles Teller) out of a trunk and start beating him. One of the men holds a gun to David's face. We hear David's voice saying what kind of gun it is, and he adds that he is an international arms dealer.We see clips of American soldiers posing with the gear and weapons. David says that while some people see a hero serving his country, he sees thousands of dollars worth of materials. According to David, that's what war is really all about: money. Anyone who says otherwise is in on it and is supposed to keep quiet.The scene then switches to the year 2005 in Miami, Florida. David is a massage therapist making $75 an hour, living with his girlfriend Iz (Ana De Armas). On the side, David tries to sell bedsheets to a retirement home, but he learns that "no one gives a shit about old people".At a funeral, David reunites with an old friend named Efraim Diveroli (Jonah Hill). They hang out after and try to score some weed from neighborhood drug dealers. Efraim gives them $300 for weed, but they pocket the money and ignore Efraim, showing off a gun to make him leave. Efraim walks to his car and pulls out a bigger gun from his trunk, which he starts firing off in the air to scare the dealers away.David and Efraim discuss Efraim's new line of business - gunrunning. He explains to David how to exploit the war on terrorism for profit. David doesn't want to get involved at first, but when he learns Iz is pregnant, he figures he needs to make more money than he does now. He lies to her and tells her that he and Efraim are selling bedsheets to the U.S. army, which she is okay with.After learning the ins and outs of arms dealing and checking through government contracts, David and Efraim start up their own business, AEY Inc, after getting funding from Ralph Slutzky (Kevin Pollak). Soon, the guys earn themselves a contract with the United States Department of Defense to deal weapons. However, they hit a snag when they have Berettas shipped to Jordan, unaware of Italian-made guns not being permitted to be shipped.Efraim interrupts David during a dinner party with Iz and her friends. They have a conversation outside, but Iz overhears their business and learns the truth about what David is doing, leaving her pissed.David and Efraim travel to Jordan and meet with smugglers that will help them retrieve the guns. They meet a man named Marlboro (Shaun Toub), who drives the guys to their destination. They stop to get gas in Fallujah, where the guys wake up and don't see Marlboro. Efraim finds a dead body inside the station, and sees that Marlboro is siphoning gas. David gets a call from Iz, who appears to forgive David for lying to her, even though the lying does bother her. Moments later, the guys see vans approaching, with men firing guns at them. David and Efraim try to get out of there, despite having an empty tank. Marlboro runs after them and hops onto the truck, filling up the tank as they drive. The guys are saved when a U.S. chopper descends, forcing the mercenaries to stop shooting.The guys meet with Captain Santos (Patrick St. Esprit) to deliver the guns. He commends them for driving through the Triangle of Death, and the guys receive their payment.Pretty soon, the guys are making more money and earning more contracts. They start hiring people to work for AEY, and they start doing business with a man named Henry Girard (Bradley Cooper), who is apparently a legend with closing big deals with the army. David and Iz also welcome a baby girl named Ella. However, Efraim becomes increasingly megalomaniacal, even firing one man on the spot just for correcting him on something.David and Efraim then score "The Afghan Deal", which would allow them to supply the Afghan army with a number of weapons and ammunition. The contract came from China, which is a problem because the U.S. army has an embargo on the Chinese military industry, so Chinese ammunition is banned. Efraim has the ammo and weapons repackaged and shipped off anyway.The guys have a falling out with their business when David and Efraim sort out their share of the payment. When David calls Efraim out on screwing people over, Efraim has the two men from the opening of the movie kidnap David and assault him. David breaks off his partnership with Efraim, especially after Efraim refuses to pay David and Ralph back for thousands of money owed to both of them. David decides to just go back to being a massage therapist.David gets a call from a reporter regarding an investigation into the Afghan Deal. He knows he's in trouble. He heads down an elevator and meets Efraim in there. Efraim tries to make it look like he's sorry and that he considers David a friend, but David sees through the facade, which Efraim admits. David punches Efraim in the face. When they get downstairs, they are greeted by a whole team of FBI agents, and the two are arrested.As the film comes to and end, David's voice-over says that Ralph was in on it with the FBI, but he gets apprehended as well. What did them in, however, was the packaging guy that Efraim never paid, so he ratted them out. Both men were charged with conspiracy and fraud. Efraim was sentenced to four years in prison, while David served seven months house arrest, allowing him to stay with Iz and Ella.The last scene has David meeting with Henry. He starts asking a bunch of questions regarding their deals, until Henry pulls out a case full of money, which he offers to David on the promise of "no more questions."

flashback

tt2005151

Eagle Eye

The United States armed forces have a lead on a suspected terrorist in Baluchistan, Pakistan. They plan to take him out during a funeral ceremony, but as the man has been a recluse, getting a positive ID proves difficult. The Department of Defense's new computer system recommends that the mission be aborted due to the uncertainty. Defense Secretary Callister (Michael Chiklis) agrees with the abort recommendation, but the president orders the mission be carried out anyway. The result is a political backlash when all of the victims of the attack turn out to be civilians. Retaliatory suicide bombings across the world target US citizens in response.Jerry Shaw (Shia LaBeouf) is a Stanford University dropout who lacks direction and faces financial difficulty. He finds out that his more ambitious twin brother Ethan, an Air Force lieutenant with expertise in parallel algorithms and quantum electronics, has died, following a truck accident. Jerry had last seen Ethan three Christmases prior.Following Ethan's funeral, Jerry goes to withdraw some money from an ATM and is surprised to see that he suddenly has $750,000 in his account. Money comes flying out of the machine and he scoops up most of it and takes off. When he returns home, he finds his apartment filled with a large number of weapons, explosives, and forged documents. He receives a phone call from an unknown woman who explains that the FBI is coming and will apprehend him in thirty seconds if he doesn't leave right then.Not believing her, Jerry is caught by the FBI and sent to an interrogation room where he meets Special Agent Thomas Morgan (Billy Bob Thornton). After some initial discussion, Morgan leaves the room to meet with Air Force Office of Special Investigations Special Agent Zoe Perez (Rosario Dawson). She wants to interrogate Jerry. Morgan says no. While they are talking, a fax comes in from the Attorney General ordering the FBI to authorize one phone call to Jerry, after he'd already been told he would get no phone calls. An agent takes Jerry to a room with a phone.Jerry picks up the phone and the unknown woman's voice comes on again, this time telling Jerry to get down flat on the floor. Within seconds, the wall caves in and a crane boom comes smashing through. Jerry sees an electronic sign on a building across the street, scrolling words that tell him to climb out and jump. He has now learned that the woman's voice and messages should be given serious attention, so he jumps and falls onto a subway track. The sign tells him to board the train. He does.A cell phone sitting on top of a bag near Jerry rings and a message on the screen is for Jerry. He picks up the phone and answers it. It's the woman giving him further instructions. He's told to stay on the train, but he decides to try and escape by jumping over to another train. That train comes to a sudden stop and Jerry is called and told by the woman to listen and do what he's told. He's told to approach a car being driven by a single mother Rachel Holloman (Michelle Monaghan). The "voice" has also been coercing Rachel into doing things by threatening to kill her son, Sam, a trumpet player on his way to Washington, D.C., from Chicago for a band recital at the Kennedy Center. When the woman spoke to Rachel, she told Rachel that she was "being activated."When Jerry jumps into Rachel's car, she freaks out and fights and argues with him until he mentions her name and is able to calm her down enough to tell her what's been happening to him. The voice then comes across the GPS unit in the car and tells Rachel to get going. At the same moment, the police and FBI are on the scene and start shooting at them, so Rachel takes off. Multiple police and unmarked vehicles are after them.The voice tells Rachel exactly how to drive, how fast, when to brake, where to turn, etc. The voice helps the pair to avoid the Chicago Police and FBI units, demonstrating the ability to remotely control virtually any networked device, such as traffic lights, cell phones, automated cranes, and even electrical wires. All of their pursuers are caused to be diverted or crash as Rachel and Jerry are directed into a wrecking yard. The large cranes in the yard are being remotely controlled and they eliminate the remaining police and FBI vehicles before grabbing Rachel's car and lifting it high in the air. Jerry and Rachel are told to stay in the car, but they decide to jump out anyway. They land on top of some garbage bags in a large barge that is cruising along in the nearby water. Rachel's car is dropped into the water.At a military briefing at the Aberdeen Proving Grounds in Maryland, an officer is explaining the military's latest weapon as something with 80 times more explosive power than C-4. This new explosive is in the form of a hexagonal crystal and it's triggered by broadcasting a particular sonic frequency. 200 units of the crystal explosive are about to be sent out to field units. The voice has arranged for one of the crystals to be sent to a jeweler and the sonic device to be sent to a music store owner. Both men are unwilling participants.The jeweler is ordered to create a necklace from the crystal, while the music store owner is ordered to insert the sound-based trigger inside Sam's trumpet. Sam is an unwitting participant in whatever is being planned.Jerry and Rachel are directed by the voice to travel from Chicago to Washington, D.C. via Kendall County, Indianapolis and Dayton, Ohio. They start out on foot and as they are walking between two major power lines out in the country, a white van approaches and a man named Ranim Khalid (Anthony Azizi) jumps out, thrusts a piece of paper at Jerry and throws the van keys onto the ground, saying "I'm done!" and he turns and runs away. The power lines then start arcing and fall to the ground, electrocuting Kahlid and cooking his body. Morgan and his men find a crystal on the body. It was Kahlid who'd produced the necklace from the larger crystal.As they drive in the van to their next destination, Jerry and Rachel start arguing about his brother and her son and Jerry gets so upset, he pulls the van over, tosses the cell phone on the hood and begins walking away. Rachel chases after him, reminding him that they can't just walk away. The voice had warned them about the serious consequences associated with doing that.Secretary Callister approaches Agent Perez and tells her it's time to bring her fully into the investigation she's involved with. He introduces her to a Major Bowman (Anthony Mackie) and informs her that they suspect a terror attack of some sort is imminent. That information is based on their new massive computer system that monitors virtually every electronic-based system in the country and filters and consolidates information so that threats can be identified. The system is still in beta testing.The computer system, referred to as the "Autonomous Reconnaissance Intelligence Integration Analyst" (ARIIA), consists of what appears to be hundreds of gold colored orbs situated along the walls of a large globe-shaped room. Another orb, attached to a movable arm, interacts with those attached to the walls. The voice of the computer system (voiced by Julianne Moore) is the same voice that had been directing Jerry and Rachel. Secretary Callister orders ARIIA to assist Perez in her investigation.As ARIIA directs Jerry and Rachel to a mall to obtain a change of clothes, Jerry tires of answering ringing cell phones and land lines and tells the ARIIA that he's not taking any more orders via phone. ARIIA tells him to proceed to the video room of a nearby Circuit City store. Over several television screens ARIIA introduces herself to Jerry and Rachel by flashing up photos and videos of everything they've ever done and been recorded via electronic media, including that of their families.In light of the mistake made by the President in the botched terrorist assassination attempt, ARIIA has decided that the executive branch of the U.S. government is a threat to the public good and must be eliminated. ARIIA plans to destroy the President and his cabinet via something referred to as "Operation Guillotine." ARIIA has decided to leave Secretary Callister -- who has agreed with her recommendation to abort the mission -- as the successor to the presidency. ARIIA has not revealed any of this information to Jerry, Rachel, or even Secretary Callister, merely explaining that she is trying to help the people of the United States and Jerry and Rachel are being recruited for purposes of national defense.ARIIA directs Jerry and Rachel to a side street where there's an armored car awaiting delivery of a package. They are directed to intercept the package. To do so, they have to grab a couple of sawn off shotguns and get the drop on two security guards. They are able to get away with the stainless steel briefcase the guards were carrying and ARIIA assists in the getaway by setting off alarms and fire sprinkling systems, causing people to spill into the street and enveloping Rachel and Jerry as they run from the pursuing armored car guards and police. ARIIA opens a locked gate so Jerry and Rachel can get out of the crowd and she eventually directs them to a Japanese tour bus that stops and picks them up.Morgan, realizing that everything connected to a network of some sort was being monitored and controlled, approaches a small business near where Jerry was last seen. Viewing the old fashioned camera/VCR recording, he sees Jerry and Rachel boarding the Japanese tour bus. When he learns the bus is headed for the airport, that's where he and his men go.During the bus ride, Jerry tells Rachel that his brother Ethan was always able to do things Jerry couldn't and he was always trying to help Jerry learn how to do things better so he'd look good in his father's eyes. Jerry figures that whatever Ethan was involved with, it now is incumbent on him to try and complete. He wants to do that for Ethan.The bus drops them at the airport where a man walks up and hands Jerry an envelope containing a credit card and passports and he gives them their next instructions. Morgan and his men arrive at the airport and begin looking for Jerry and Rachel. As Jerry goes through security and places the briefcase on the scanner, ARIIA changes the view picture so it won't reveal what's inside. About that time, Morgan spots Jerry, draws his gun and gives chase. They run through the concourse, eventually exiting an emergency door and going into the luggage handling area, where Morgan fires at them, eventually catching up to them and engaging in hand-to-hand battle as they travel along on a moving belt. Morgan drops his gun and Jerry picks it up and points it at Morgan, but he doesn't shoot. Instead, ARIIA diverts Morgan along another belt that takes him to a holding area.Jerry and Rachel are directed by ARIIA to an Air Force transport plane where the electronic lock on the briefcase is released, revealing two pistol shaped injection syringes. They are directed to inject themselves with a serum that will reduce their bodies' need for oxygen. Then they crawl into a storage container. Before they fall asleep, Jerry gets Rachel to talk about her son so that her mind will relax. He learns that her ex-husband was a disappointment to her and after she fell asleep, he whispers that he won't disappoint her.At the Pentagon, where ARIIA is housed, Agent Perez discovers that Jerry's late brother, Ethan, worked as a technician on ARIAA and when he learned of her plan to destroy the executive branch, he used biometrics to lock it down. ARIIA needs to scan Jerry so that his biometrics can be used to unlock the system.Perez and Major Bowman are viewing a video log of Ethan's last day on the job, working with ARIIA. Ethan strangely walks several times around the room and Perez finally notices he's holding a cell phone and it's flashing. She thinks it may be Morse code. Bowman interprets it to say "Fire Extinguisher." ARIIA picks up on their conversation and is ordering the video log destroyed. Bowman argues with ARIIA, but the computer deletes the log. Perez goes to a nearby fire extinguisher box and finds a memory card for a cell phone tucked in there.After viewing the memory card, Perez calls Morgan and tells him that Ethan worked on a project called Eagle Eye for the Secretary of Defense and was trying to stop the project. He was subsequently killed when a large truck broadsided his car at an intersection. She tells him that the computer system, ARIIA, was attempting to carry out a plan to eliminate the President and other members of the executive branch of the government.Perez and Major Bowman go to Secretary Callister and they take him to a sealed room to discuss what they've learned. The sealed room is to prevent ARIIA from hearing or otherwise learning the content of their conversation. Callister admits to them that the administration had relied on some false intelligence in targeting a terrorist leader and ARIIA had tried unsuccessfully to stop them.Jerry and Rachel are delivered to the Pentagon and are taken 36 stories below ground, to where ARIIA is located. ARIIA orders Rachel to step away from Jerry, then it proceeds to do a biometric scan of his body, and gets him to read a few words put up on a screen. The result is a release of the lock placed by Ethan on Operation Guillotine. ARIIA shows Jerry CCTV footage displaying Ethan's fatal car crash, explaining that she orchestrated his death because he was a threat to her plans. Jerry and Rachel watch as the details of the plan flash across the monitors and the president and his cabinet are shown to be targets.Jerry immediately regrets what he has done and is visibly agitated. ARIIA then instructs Rachel to eliminate Jerry to prevent him from re-establishing the lock on the program. Rachel points a pistol at Jerry, but she cannot bring herself to pull the trigger. Jerry even takes hold of the barrel of the pistol and holds it flush against his face, encouraging Rachel to pull the trigger and save her son's life. Rachel can't and Jerry chooses not to pull the trigger himself.Rachel is escorted away by a man just before Morgan and other men come barging into the control room and arrest Jerry. ARIIA tells Rachel that she has one task remaining and that Jerry will be eliminated by other means.ARIIA allows Major Bowman and Perez to exit the room they'd been meeting with Secretary Callister in, but slams the door shut before the Secretary can leave. She then creates a huge electrical disturbance and fire in the area outside the room, attempting to kill Bowman and Perez. They escape to an area under the floor. ARIIA explains to Secretary Callister what she's doing in terms of Operation Guillotine and how it was decided he will be the new president once the current president and his cabinet are exterminated. Callister is shocked and dismayed.Having been warned by Agent Perez, Morgan believes Jerry's story and asserts his authority to get Jerry released to his custody. He then drives Jerry towards the United States Capitol, instructing him to dispose of any electronics he may have along the way. ARIIA sends a MQ-9 Reaper UCAV after them. After the drone's first pass, their car is flipped and destroyed and they are able to get out and commandeer another vehicle. The drone attacks again while they are driving through a tunnel. Agent Morgan is injured such that he can't continue much longer. He gives Jerry his badge and gun and tells him to get to the capitol and search out the sergeant-at-arms and relay the code for a threat to the president so that the sergeant-at-arms will assist him. As Jerry takes off, the drone returns and sights in on him. Agent Morgan jumps into another vehicle and accelerates towards the approaching drone. He slams his vehicle into what looks like a large steel structure lying in the road. The steel structure is leveraged vertically and slams into the drone, destroying it.Rachel is taken by her male escort to an office where he produces a new identification card for her and hands her a dress to put on. He also gives her the necklace containing the hex crystal. Rachel tries to persuade the man to work with her so they can help each other, but he won't risk the lives of his own family and tells her she has only a few minutes to get to the house chamber where the president will be delivering his State of the Union address.Major Bowman and Agent Perez have made their way back to ARIIA and are attempting to destroy the computer by draining out the liquid nitrogen that surrounds the equipment to keep it cool. ARIIA interrupts their efforts by creating an electrical discharge that knocks them both into a pool of water located at the bottom of the chamber.Rachel is greeted by a young female as she approaches the house chamber and is escorted to her seat in the balcony. The president's cabinet is announced and the members begin to file in. The president arrives. Sam's class, whose recital has been moved from the Kennedy Center to the capitol to play the national anthem prior to the president's speech, begins to play. The trigger that will set off the explosive necklace is set to activate when Sam plays a sustained "high F" on his trumpet corresponding to the word "free" in the last stanza of the national anthem. ARIIA had arranged this as poetic justice, believing the president to not be brave.Jerry overpowers a guard standing at a barred gate that provides underground access to the house chamber. He puts on the guards uniform and manages to gain entry to the chamber just as Rachel is attempting to get to her son, but she is prevented from doing so by security. Observing the extreme fear and agitation on part of Rachel, Jerry jumps up onto a desk, draws his pistol and fires several shots into the air. The performance immediately stops as people scream and scramble for cover. Security rush the kids in the orchestra from the room. A confused Secret Service agent shoots Jerry 2-3 times, taking him down.Back at ARIIA, Bowman unsuccessfully attempts to destroy the central orb of the computer as he is knocked back and down. Rachel then picks up what appears to be a pry bar and jams it into the orb, creating a massive short-circuit which takes ARIIA out.In a committee hearing after the chaos ARIIA caused, the Secretary of Defense urges that another supercomputer like ARIIA should not be built: "sometimes the very measures we put into place to safeguard our liberty become threats to liberty itself," he cautions them.Ethan posthumously receives the Medal of Honor and Agent Morgan posthumously receives the Commendation Medal, while Jerry, injured but alive and well, receives the Congressional Gold Medal.The film ends with Jerry attending Sam's birthday party. He brings a big present (something Sam's father never did) and Rachel thanks him for attending, then tenderly kisses him on the cheek. She tells Jerry that she's glad he's there. He softly responds, "me too".

murder

tt1059786

The Joy Luck Club

The Joy Luck Club was formed by four women in San Francisco: Lindo Jong (Tsai Chin), Ying-Ying St. Clair (France Nuyen), An-Mei Hsu (Lisa Lu), and Suyuan Woo (Kieu Chinh). The members have mainly played mahjong and told each other's stories over the years. They emigrated from their native country, China, remarried, and gave birth to children in America. Suyuan's daughter June (Ming-Na Wen) replaced her when Suyuan died four months before the time the film is set. The mothers have high hopes for their daughters' success, but the daughters struggle through "anxieties, feelings of inadequacy, and failures." Throughout the film, the mothers and daughters bond by learning to understand each other and by overcoming their conflicts. The film begins with June's prologue tale. In the prologue, a woman (presumably Suyuan) bought a swan in China from a market vendor who was selling it as "a duck that stretched its neck [to become] a goose." She kept it as her pet and brought it to the United States. When the immigration officials took it away from her, she plucked out only a swan feather instead while she struggled to grab the swan away. For a long time, the woman had kept the feather, planning to someday give the feather to her daughter. Then the film transits to June's farewell surprise party in San Francisco for her upcoming reunion with her long-lost twin sisters in China. Among the guests are members of The Joy Luck Club, their daughters, other relatives, and friends. The following characters below narrate their journeys to the audience while they reflect upon their pasts. === Lindo and Waverly Jong === In China, four-year-old Lindo (Ying Wu) is arranged, by her mother (Xi Meijuan) and the matchmaker (Hsu Ying Li), to be married to Mrs. Huang's son when she grows up. When Lindo turns fifteen (Irene Ng), her mother sends her to Mrs. Huang, so Lindo marries Huang's son, Tyan Hu (William Gong), a pre-pubescent boy who has no interest in her. During four years of childless and loveless marriage, she is frequently abused by her frustrated mother-in-law, who believes Lindo's childlessness is her own fault. Lindo eavesdrops on the servant girl telling her lover that she is pregnant and he willfully abandons her. Lindo realizes her chance to leave the marriage without dishonoring herself, her family and her in-laws. Later, Lindo purportedly ruins her clothes and then claims that she had a nightmare in which Tyan Hu's ancestors threatened to punish her, Tyan Hu and the matchmaker. Then Lindo claims that the ancestors impregnated the servant girl with Tyan Hu's child. Mrs. Huang does not believe Lindo until Mrs. Huang quickly discovers the servant's pregnancy through inspection. Finally, Lindo claims that the matchmaker intentionally and wrongly paired Lindo and Tyan Hu for more money. Furious, Mrs. Huang orders the matchmaker out of her family's life, allowing the servant girl to have her marriage. Lindo is able to escape the house and moves to Shanghai. Years later in America, Lindo has a new husband, a son, and a daughter named Waverly (Tamlyn Tomita). Aged between six and nine, Waverly (Mai Vu) has become a chess champion. Annoyed by Lindo using Waverly to "show off" at the streets, Waverly shouts at her mother and decides to quit chess. When she tries to play it again, Waverly loses one chess round, prompting her to retire from chess. Years later, she has a daughter Shoshana from her Chinese ex-husband and is going to marry a Caucasian fiancé, Rich (Christopher Rich), much to Lindo's chagrin. In order to make Lindo like Rich, Waverly brings him to a family dinner, but he fails to impress them especially by improperly using chopsticks and insulting Lindo's cooking by marinating the dish with a sauce, humiliating Waverly. While driving home, Waverly lets Rich know how humiliated she and her family are with him, prompting him to properly learn the Chinese table manners. A while later, at the hair salon, Lindo retells her moments with her own mother and declares that she likes Rich very much. She then gives marital blessings to Waverly and Rich, prompting her and Waverly to reconcile with each other. At June's farewell party, Rich almost successfully uses a chopstick (but accidentally drops a piece), impressing Lindo by trying to respect the Chinese table manners. === Ying-Ying and Lena St. Clair === In China, Ying-Ying St. Clair was happily married to Lin-Xiao (Russell Wong) with a baby boy in China until Lin-Xiao abuses her and abandons her for an opera singer. Overcome by her depression, Ying-Ying drowns her baby son in the bathtub, which leaves her distraught afterwards because she feels that if she had killed Lin-Xiao earlier, she would not have lost "the thing that mattered the most." Years after she immigrated to America, she has suffered from trauma and has been haunted by her past, worrying her new family, including her daughter Lena (Lauren Tom). After Ying-Ying finally resolved her years of trauma, Lena shows Ying-Ying around her new apartment with her husband Harold (Michael Paul Chan), who is also Lena's boss. Ying-Ying learns that Lena is uncomfortable with her financial arrangements with Harold. They split the costs of their life evenly with a list of things that they share, making their home life contentious. Seeing that Lena is unhappy with her marriage, Ying-Ying reasserts herself by knocking over a table in the bedroom and causing the vase to fall from the table and break. Hearing the sudden noise, Lena goes to her mother and admits her unhappiness. Ying-Ying replies that Lena should leave and not come back until Harold gives her what she wants. At June's farewell party, Lena is shown to have a new vibrant fiancé, who has given Lena what she wants and is accepting of Ying-Ying. === An-Mei and Rose Hsu === Nine-year-old An-Mei Hsu (Yi Ding) has been raised with her relatives and grandmother. She is reunited with her long-lost mother (Vivian Wu), who was disowned by her family for her "dalliance" with a wealthy middle-aged man Wu-Tsing shortly after her husband's death, and who arrives to see her dying mother (Lucille Soong). In order to not lose her again, An-Mei moves out with her mother to Wu-Tsing's house against her relatives' wishes for her to remain with them. They claim that in allowing An-Mei live with her and Wu-Tsing, the mother will ruin her future. She finds that Wu-Tsing has another three wives, making An-Mei's mother the Fourth Wife. Later, she learns that the Second Wife (Elizabeth Sung) tricked An-Mei's mother into being raped and impregnated by Wu-Tsing. When the relatives did not believe An-Mei's mother and kicked her out, she reluctantly became Wu-Tsing's Fourth Wife as she had nowhere else to turn. After An-Mei's mother gave birth to a boy, the Second Wife took him away from her and claimed him as her own. After An-Mei discovers the past, her mother ultimately commits suicide by eating "sticky rice balls" laced with opium, choosing the day of her death carefully to threaten Wu-Tsing with the vengeance of her angry ghost. Afraid of this curse, Wu-Tsing vows to raise An-Mei and her half-brother with great care and promises to honor their mother as an honorable first wife. When Second Wife tries to pay respects to An-Mei's late mother, An-Mei subtly screams at the Second Wife, destroys the Second Wife's faux pearl necklace (the Second Wife initially tried to win An-Mei over with a similar necklace), and loudly yells out "Mama!" Years later in America, An-Mei's daughter Rose (Rosalind Chao) has been dating her boyfriend, Ted Jordan (Andrew McCarthy) since college. Ted is initially attracted to Rose's assertive, forthright nature. When he confronts his aristocratic mother (Diane Baker) for insulting Rose due to her race, Rose is impressed and agrees to marry him. Over the course of their marriage, however, Rose and Ted become distant from each other, mainly because Rose, desperate to prove herself to Ted's milieu, becomes submissive and demure at the cost of her own identity and interests. They have a daughter, Jennifer, but this does not resolve their marital problems. To make matters worse, Ted cheats on her with another woman and neither are actually happy in their marriage. A while later, An-Mei comes for a visit and relays the story of her own mother's fate to Rose. She encourages Rose to stand up for herself and Jennifer against Ted, or nothing will change. To avoid the same fate, Rose reclaims her strength and stands up to Ted by telling him to leave the house and not take their daughter away from her. This compels Ted to take her seriously and not continue taking her for granted. At June's farewell party, it is revealed the couple have reconciled. === Suyuan and June Woo === In World War II, when the Japanese invaded China, Suyuan Woo escaped the invasion with her twin baby daughters. When Suyuan became ill during her quest for refuge, her cart breaks down, causing the babies to fall. Near death, Suyuan was unable to carry the babies herself and abandoned them along with all of her other possessions, including a photo of herself. Suyuan survived, but was haunted by guilt in the loss of her daughters and never knew what happened to them. After she remarried in America, Suyuan has high hopes for her new daughter June, but June constantly fails to meet her expectations out of a lack of interest. She performs badly during a piano recital at age nine (Melanie Chang), and when Suyuan pushes her to continue training to be a concert pianist, June refuses, saying that she wishes herself dead like Suyuan's other daughters, an action that offends Suyuan. When June grows into adulthood, at a dinner party a year before Suyuan's passing, Waverly, June's long-time rival whom she is freelancing for, turns down her business ideas, and Suyuan remarks that Waverly and June are not alike and that style is something one's born with and cannot be taught implying Waverly has style. June feels humiliated, believing her mother had betrayed her for being a failure in her eyes, and Linda shows sympathy for June. The following day, June berates Suyuan for her remarks and admits she could never live up to her high expectations. June laments that Suyuan has always been disappointed with June because June dropped out of college, is not married, and has an unsuccessful career. However, Suyuan gives her a jade necklace and assures June that she is the one who has the unteachable style and that while Waverly was the best in competitions, June always had the best heart which made her mother prouder than she would have been otherwise. Last Easter before the farewell party, June received the news from the Club that the long-lost twins were alive. When June could not understand the twins' letter written in Chinese, Lindo purportedly mistranslated the letter to make June believe that the twins knew about Suyuan's death and their long-lost half-sister June. Back to the present, when the farewell party ends, Lindo confesses that she wrote letters to the twins and then signed Suyuan's name. June begs Lindo to tell them the truth, but Lindo tells her that it is too late because the twin sisters are anticipating their mother, Suyuan, still believing that Suyuan is alive. A short while later, June's father (Chao-Li Chi) retells the war story of Suyuan and her long-lost twin daughters. Then he gives her the swan feather, which came from Suyuan's—the woman's—swan as explained earlier in the prologue, saying that the feather looks worthless but has "good intentions." When she arrives in China to meet her sisters, June tells them the truth about Suyuan and embraces them. In finally accepting her Chinese heritage, June is able to make peace with her deceased mother.

romantic, historical, storytelling, flashback

tt0107282

Samâ uôzu

Kenji Koiso (Ryunosuke Kamiki) is a young student at Kuonji High School with a gift for mathematics and a part-time moderator in the massive computer-simulated virtual reality world OZ along with his friend Takashi Sakuma (Takahiro Yokokawa). One day, Kenji is invited by fellow Kuonji student Natsuki Shinohara (Nanami Sakuraba) to participate in the 90th birthday of her great-grandmother Sakae Jinnouchi (Sumiko Fuji). After traveling to Sakae's estate in Ueda, Natsuki introduces Kenji as her fiancé to Sakae, surprising them both. Kenji meets several of Natsuki's relatives and discovers that the Jinnouchis are descendants of a samurai (vassal of the Takeda clan) who challenged the Tokugawa clan in 1615. He also meets Wabisuke Jinnouchi (Ayumu Saitō), Natsuki's half-great-uncle and a computer expert who has been living in the United States since stealing the family fortune 10 years ago. Kenji receives an e-mail with a mathematical code and cracks it. Love Machine, an artificial intelligence written by Wabisuke, uses Kenji's account and avatar to hack the infrastructure, causing widespread damage. Kenji, Sakuma, and Natsuki's cousin Kazuma Ikezawa (Mitsuki Tanimura) confront Love Machine. Love Machine defeats Kazuma's avatar King Kazma and continues to consume accounts in the OZ mainframe, creating catastrophic traffic congestion and disabling electrical devices. Two of Sakae's relatives, Rika (Sakiko Tamagawa) and Shota Jinnouchi (Yutaka Shimizu), discover Kenji's involvement. Shota arrests Kenji, but the congestion causes Natsuki to return them to the estate. Sakae calls associates in important positions in Japanese society and relatives who work in emergency services, encouraging them to work their hardest to reduce chaos and damage, comparing the situation to war. Kenji is able to return control of the mainframe to the moderators and engineers. Wabisuke explains that he sold the program to the United States Armed Forces for a test run. After an argument with Sakae, Wabisuke leaves the estate. Sakae later encourages Kenji to take care of Natsuki during a Koi-Koi match. The next morning, Sakae is discovered dead by Kenji and the Jinnouchis. Her youngest son Mansaku (Tadashi Nakamura) explains that she had angina, and that Love Machine had deactivated her heart monitor. Kenji, Sakuma, and most of the Jinnouchis initiate a plan to defeat Love Machine with a supercomputer using ice blocks as a coolant, while Natsuki and the others prepare a funeral for Sakae. Kenji, along with Sakuma and the others, capture Love Machine, but Shota carries the ice blocks to Sakae's body, causing the supercomputer to overheat. Love Machine consumes King Kazma and redirects the Arawashi Asteroid Probe onto a collision course with a nuclear power plant. Meanwhile, Natsuki discovers a will left by Sakae and reunites with Kenji and the rest of the group. Natsuki has Wabisuke return home before the family reads Sakae's will, asking them to bring Wabisuke back to their lives. Realizing that Love Machine sees everything as a game, Kenji has the Jinnouchis confront Love Machine to play Koi-Koi in OZ's casino world, wagering their accounts in a desperate attempt to stop Love Machine. Natsuki wins several rounds, but gets distracted and nearly loses her "winnings". However, OZ users worldwide enter their own accounts into the wager on Natsuki's side, which also prompts the guardian programs of OZ—the blue and red whales known as John and Yoko—to upgrade Natsuki's account. Natsuki wagers the 150 million avatars given to her in a single hand and critically damages Love Machine, prompting the artificial intelligence to redirect the Arawashi towards Sakae's estate. Kenji attempts to break into the probe's GPS, while Wabisuke disables Love Machine's defenses. After being revived and assisted by several of the Jinnouchi family's avatars, King Kazma destroys Love Machine. Kenji activates the GPS code to redirect the Arawashi away from the estate, destroying the estate's entrance and causing a geyser to erupt. In the aftermath, the Jinnouchi family, celebrating their victory as well as Sakae's birthday, has Natsuki kiss Kenji after they confess their love to each other.

satire

tt1474276

Still Alice

Its Alice's (Julianne Moore) 50th birthday party at a fancy restaurant. She is there with her husband (Alec Baldwin) and children. Her daughter Lydia is unable to come due to an audition.Alice is waiting to be introduced at UCLA as a guest speaker in a Linguistics class. She is world renowned in her field. She starts her talk on how babies learn to speak and past tense irregular verbs. Suddenly, she forgets what she's saying and seems to just lose her train of thought.Later she's in the car playing words with friends. She goes to visit her daughter Lydia (Kristen Stewart) and they go out to eat. Lydia talks about her career as an actress and Alice tries to talk her out of it and back to going to college.Alice comes home to an empty house, (she lives in NYC) and decides to go for a jog. She suddenly stops and forgets where she is. She seems upset and tries to compose herself. After a few minutes she remembers where she is and heads home. Her husband is there and she's upset that he is helping fund their daughter's theater company.Alice goes to the doctor and tells him about her memory problems. He does some memory exercises and asks her about her parents. She does well except for one test. She thinks she has a brain tumor and he decides to do a precautionary MRI.Alice is at home preparing Christmas dinner and doing some practice memory exercises herself. As people arrive she forgets little things like the name of a kitchen utensil. Lydia and her siblings come home also all making small talk. During dinner Alice reintroduces herself to her son's girlfriend Jenny, confusing her, as they've already met.She goes back to the doctor who says her MRI is fine but he wants to do a PET scan to check for early onset Alzheimer's Disease due to her memory issues. Going on with their daily lives, Alice is very upset over the possibility of having the disease. She decides to tell her husband what's going on. He's in complete denial and she has a meltdown.They go to the neurologist together and he gives them the bad news. He wants to test her and her children for the gene. They tell the kids and they take the test. Her oldest daughter Anna (Kate Bosworth) is positive (meaning she will eventually develop the disease). She has been going for fertility treatments and is happy that at least they can test the embryos for the gene.Alice sits with her boss and they read reviews from her students who say bad things about her and the course. She tells her boss she has a medical issue and comes clean. She wants to stay as long as possible in the department.After a jog she, goes to Pink Berry for frozen yogurt by herself and when she gets home John is upset because she forgot about important dinner plans. He was worried about her.Alice goes to check out a nursing home for the elderly with Alzheimer's under the pretense of worrying about her parents. She writes a note to herself in her phone with basic questions such as what is the name of her oldest daughter, and then records herself talking to herself (to be watched later) telling herself to swallow a bottle of pills to commit suicide. In the cell phone note it says to watch that video when she can no longer answer the basic questions.She now has to wear a bracelet that says memory impaired. She is let go from Columbia and she and John go to their beach house. They laugh and reminisce about their lives together. Later, she practices answering the questions on her phone. She is becoming increasingly forgetful, asking John repeatedly about when he is going on a conference and when Lydia is coming. They are supposed to go running but she cant remember where the bathroom is and wets her pants. She cries as she no longer remembers where she is.John has to leave for a conference so Lydia comes to stay with her. Alice tells her a list of things she wants to see before she can't anymore, including Lydia going to college. She decides to read one of her plays that has to deal with AIDS it gives them something to talk about. While going through the plays though, she comes across Lydia's journal and reads it, resulting in a fight.Anna is pregnant with twins. She and Lydia get into a fight over Alice. Alice remembers that she fought with Lydia but doesn't know what it was about. Lydia apologizes to her for snapping, even though Alice doesn't know what shes talking about. They have a heart to heart about what Alice is going through.They go to her play the next night and after the show when they go backstage Alice doesn't recognize Lydia as her daughter. They go back to the doctor with concerns about the pace she is deteriorating. She can no longer remember what a highlighter is for example. She gives a speech about the disease to the Alzheimer's Association that her family is able to watch hoping for a cure.John is offered a position at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota. She wants him to delay the job for a year but he can't take off a year for financial reasons. He also doesn't want to take off a year and be at home with her watching her deteriorate. She tries to answer the questions on her phone and can no longer spell the month October. She wakes up in the middle of the night and goes to the kitchen, and is frantically looking for her phone. She takes everything out of the drawers and John goes to her she's panicking because she doesn't have her phone which goes off every morning at 8 to ask her the questions.Anna goes to see her. Alice thinks she's her sister at first. John finds her phone - it was in the freezer with the ice cube trays. Alice thinks she was only looking for it the night before but it had been a whole month. She can't remember how to tie her shoes or what to do with toothpaste. John wakes her up in the morning to help her get dressed. They go to see Anna in the hospital as she just had the babies but her husband is afraid to let her hold them. Back at home they are all trying to figure out what to do. She has a carer now - Elena. Alice is skyping with Lydia and Elena isn't there that day, leaving her all alone. She opens up the video she recorded of herself and hears the instructions about swallowing the pills. By the time she gets to her bedroom however she already forgets what the instructions were so she has to go back downstairs and watch it again until the time comes where she actually needs to bring the computer with her. As soon as she goes to take the pills Elena arrives and she drops them all, forgetting what she was even doing in the first place.John and Alice go to Pink Berry. She can't remember what flavor she usually orders and doesn't recognize Columbia. Lydia has moved back home to NY to help take care of Alice while John leaves to take the job in Minnesota.In the final scene, Lydia reads Alice a story (or monologue from a play?) and as she reads it Alice flashes back to happy times. Lydia asks Alice if she knew what it was about. Alice cannot speak well anymore, and mumbles that it was about love. They hug and we are to presume that Alice continues to deteriorate.

thought-provoking

tt3316960

Get Shorty

Chilli Palmer (John Travolta) is a loan shark living in Miami, Florida. When his New York based boss dies of a heart attack, Palmer finds himself working for Ray 'Bones' Barboni (Dennis Farina) an old rival who hates, Palmer. Bones is upset with Palmer for not collecting a loan from dry cleaner Leo Devoe (David Paymer) who was recently killed in an airliner crash. Bones directs Palmer to get the money from Devoe's widow (Linda Hart).Visiting the widow, Palmer realizes that Devoe is not actually dead, but got off the plane at the last minute and has used the accident to fake his death to get out of the loan and, through his wife, collect a $300,000 life insurance settlement from the airline. Devoe has taken the money out of the state, but never sent for his wife. Angry, she lets Palmer know that he is in Las Vegas.Palmer travels to Vegas and meets with a casino chief who tells him that Devoe has managed to gamble his winnings up to $500,000 and has moved on to Los Angeles. The casino chief asks Palmer while he is in L.A. if he can visit low budget movie producer Harry Zimm (Gene Hackman) and remind Zimm that he owes the casino $150,000 for gambling debts.Palmer arrives in Los Angeles and traces Zimm to the house of his sometimes girlfriend, sometimes star, Karen Flores (Rene Russo). Late at night when Flores hears the TV playing downstairs she sends Zimm down to turn it off and he finds Palmer watching Letterman. Palmer delivers his reminder to Zimm about the casino debt and Zimm promises to pay. Palmer is a big film fan and engages Zimm in a conversation about his work eventually pitching him a story for a potential new film... which is a fictionalized version of his hunt for Devoe. Flores comes downstairs to find them talking over drinks and, less than happy with both, and throws them out.Action switches to the airport where gangster Bo Catlett (Delroy Lindo) is meeting a representative of a Columbian cartel, Yayo Portillo (Jacob Vargas) to buy a shipment of drugs. Catlett takes the drugs and gives Portillo the key to an airport locker where the $500,000 in cash is stowed. Portillo, suspecting a set up and that the locker is being watched by the Federal agents, does not go to the locker, but shows up at Catlett's mountainside house. Catlett shoots him and his body falls over the balcony down the mountainside. Catlett sends his bodyguard, Bear (James Gandolfini) a sometimes stunt man, to retrieve the key and hide the body.Meanwhile, Zimm tells Palmer about a movie he wants to produce, "Mr Lovejoy," which has what he thinks is an Oscar winning script. He can't produce it, however, because Catlett has already lent Zimm $150,000 to do a film called "Circus Freaks." Zimm can't return the money because he lost it at Vegas in attempt to gamble it up to $500,000, the amount he needs to buy the Lovejoy script from the late writer's wife Doris Saphron (Bette Midler). Palmer tells Zimm to let him handle the next meeting with Catlett and he will get Circus Freaks put off for a few months. Palmer will get the money from Devoe to finance Mr. Lovejoy.Zimm gets nervous in the meeting with Catlett and Catlett's tough subordinate Ronnie Wingate (Jon Gries). Zimm screws it up so that Catlett finds out about the valuable script and wants a piece of the production. He even offers to give Zimm $500,000 for the picture and suggests he send Palmer to get it from a locker at the airport.Palmer goes to the airport and senses a setup. He tests what is going on by seeming to open the locker with the money when actually he opens the locker next to it. He is grabbed by federal agents, but then released when they realize that they have made a mistake. Afterward, Bear confronts Palmer in the parking lot to get the key back, but is outmatched by Palmer who levels him with a few blows. As Bear recovers Palmer asks him about his stunt work and flatters him by knowing about the movies hes been in. Palmer mentions that he thinks Bear can do a lot better than working for Catlett.The key to making Mr. Lovejoy a success is to get star Martin Weir (Danny DeVito) to sign on. Flores is Weir's ex-wife and still has a good relationship with him. Flores starts to become romantically involved with Palmer and helps him get access to Weir. As it turns out Weir's current girlfriend is Rock star Nicki (Renee Props) an old friend of Palmer's from Miami. Soon Palmer, who is familiar with Weir's work and flatters him, manages to talk him into signing on for the picture. Palmer also interests Weir in playing the fictional version of himself in the story he is developing.Palmer tracks down Devoe and takes $310,000 of the $500,000 leaving him with just his Vegas winnings. Devoe complains, but Palmer tells him if Bones had found him instead Bones would have taken all the money and killed him.Meanwhile, Bones has learned of the money Devoe has scammed from the airline. He comes to LA when Zimm foolishly contacts him and tries to get him to invest in his film. A meeting between the two doesn't go well and it ends up with Bones brutally beating Zimm up so that he has to go the hospital in a cast and head brace. At the same meeting Wingate appears and is shot by Bones, who then makes it look like Zimm killed Wingate in self defense.The fact that Yayo has disappeared along with $500,000 has brought Colombia drug lord Mr. Escobar (Miguel Sandoval) to L.A. with two goons. Though Catlett denies knowing what happened to Yayo or the money, it is clear that Escobar holds Catlett responsible giving him just a couple of days to find both of them or there will be fatal consequences. Desperate, Catlett confronts Palmer to get Devoe's money, kidnapping Flores and taking her to his house until the cash is delivered.Palmer arrives at the house to rescue Flores. Catlett plans to take the money and kill them both, but with Bear's help (Bear has secretly switched sides), Palmer turns the tables on Catlett and sends him flying over the balcony to his death. Something Catlett had planned for Palmer.Bones finally catches up with Palmer and demands Devoe's money. Finding the airport locker key in Palmer's coat, Bones assumes that Palmer has hid the money at the airport. When Bones goes to the airport and opens the locker we see the federal agents close around him.........The scene suddenly switches to an airport set at a movie studio. A voice addresses Bones and when he turns around we see that the character is now portrayed by Harvey Keitel. Threatening him is Weir playing the fictional version of Palmer. Weir screws up the shot and as the movie company breaks for lunch we see that Penny Marshall is the director and Bear a technical consultant with Zimm producing and Palmer and Flores as executive producers. There is a long helicopter pull out shot from the studio and the credits roll.

comedy, neo noir, murder, cult, violence, satire, revenge, entertaining

tt0113161

Everest

The opening text reads that Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay were the first two people to successfully climb Mount Everest. Since then, only hundreds of professionals have attempted to do the same, with one in four dying.Set in the year 1996, Rob Hall (Jason Clarke) gathered his team, Adventure Consultants, to go ahead and climb Everest themselves. Rob meets with his team, including experienced climber Beck Weathers (Josh Brolin), Doug Hansen (John Hawkes), Yasuko Namba (Naoko Mori), and co-guide Andy "Harold" Harris (Martin Henderson). Together, they plan to embark on what they hope will be a successful and adventurous expedition.Six weeks before the initial climb, Rob and his team are in New Zealand ready to depart from the airport. He's with the manager of the base camp, Helen Wilton (Emily Watson), and his friend/co-worker Guy Cotter (Sam Worthington). Rob informs his friends that he booked journalist Jon Krakauer (Michael Kelly) to do an article on them, which he was going to do for another expedition team, Mountain Madness. Rob later explains to his team the dangerous altitudes and temperatures of the Death Zone on Everest, which they hope to get past quick enough before things get really dodgy.Before boarding the plane, Rob says goodbye to his pregnant wife Jan (Keira Knightley). Rob promises to return home for the birth. Jan later sends him a message to let him know that they'll be having a girl.The expeditions make it to the bottom of the mountain before heading on up toward the base camp. There, Rob runs into Scott Fischer (Jake Gyllenhaal), the leader of Mountain Madness. He's a bit peeved at Rob for getting Jon to move to their expedition, but is still on fine terms. Later, Rob introduces the team to the camp's doctor Caroline McKenzie (Elizabeth Debicki). She and Rob remind the climbers of the lack of oxygen at the top of Everest, as well as the dangers of hypothermia and hypoxia. We see clips of climbers succumbing to the cold and dying.Beck calls his wife Peach (Robin Wright) from the base camp after he forgot to send her a message for their anniversary. She doesn't like him climbing mountains and has stated that she'd divorce him if he ever climbed another mountain. He didn't listen.Adventure Consultants and other expeditions move from Base Camp to Camp II. They walk across a fixed ladder acting as a bridge bridge hanging over a crevasse. Huge ice chunks break off and slide down under the weight of all the climbers, causing the ladder to shake, making Beck nearly fall over. He hangs on for dear life and is guided by Rob the rest of the way over.Facing some concerns, Rob suggests to Scott that they join their expeditions together to get the to the top safely, and to ascend at a later date. Scott is hesitant, saying that he and Rob have different styles, but he ultimately agrees to the union. The two meet with their teams later to state that they plan on having eight oxygen tanks at the top. Scott's guide, Anatoli Boukreev (Ingvar Eggert Sigurosson), says he won't use oxygen. Rob urges the rest of his team to use oxygen.The AC team gathers in a tent at night to discuss why they're climbing. Doug says that he wants to prove that an ordinary person can do the impossible. Yasuko wants to be the oldest woman to climb Everest.The teams encounter problems on their summit, such as several climbers beginning to fall ill (like Doug and Scott), Beck having trouble seeing due to a surgery he had a year before, and no fixed ropes over the south summit, forcing some climbers to turn back. Beck stays behind on the southeast ridge. Guy, who is scaling the mountain next to Everest, observes Rob and company from his POV and contacts them to make sure they're okay.Finally, some of the climbers start to make it to the very top and mark their spots on Everest. Anatoli is the first to touch the top, and Yasuko puts a Japanese flag on there. Rob contacts Helen back at base camp to inform her and the team that they made it to the top. She and the rest of the camp cheer the team on.Doug is still climbing, despite his health rapidly deteriorating and his oxygen levels dropping. Rob runs into him on the way down and he insists to Doug that it's over and that he gave it a good run, but Doug is not yet satisfied and decides he wants to keep climbing. Moved by his determination, Rob guides Doug to the top.A huge blizzard starts moving toward Everest, spelling trouble for the descending climbers. Rob and Doug get hit as the storm hits the mountain, forcing them to take cover. As they get lower, Rob notices there aren't any oxygen tanks where he requested, so he radios Helen to send some up. He and Doug keep walking as the winds intensify. Doug, barely conscious, unbuckles himself from Rob's guide rope. His dizziness, combined with the heavy wind, causes him to fall over the edge to his death.Beck's vision worsens, while Scott starts suffering from hypothermia, forcing them to stay behind from their respective groups. The other climbers go get help, leaving Beck behind with Yasuko. Andy goes up to Rob, wherein Rob tells Andy that Doug is gone. Rob and Andy wait on the side of the mountain until it's safe to keep going. Unfortunately, Andy begins to feel the hypoxia, making him believe he's overheating, and he removes his clothes, leading to his death.Helen, sitting in the tent with Caroline and Guy (who has come to join the camp), radios Rob and urges him to keep moving downward. He tells her that his hands and feet are frozen, and also that Doug and Andy are dead, bringing everyone in the tent to tears. Helen calls Jan and gets her to talk to Rob by putting the phone next to the walkie-talkie. Jan encourages her husband to get down safe, reminding him that he has to return for the birth of their baby.Rob is told by Helen that the people meant to bring him the oxygen tanks aren't coming because of the terrible conditions. He tries to keep moving on his own, but even he knows he can't make it in his condition. He falls over and calls Helen again. She calls Jan again so that she can speak to him one last time. He tells her he is comfortable, and asks how Sarah (the baby) is doing. Jan tearfully agrees to call her Sarah. Rob's last words to her are "Sleep well, my sweetheart. Please don't worry too much."Rob passes away under the snow and ice. Scott succumbs to the cold and lies in the snow to die. Yasuko has also died next to Beck's side. Helen calls Peach to tell her that Beck never returned to camp, which she must in turn tell her kids.Beck, however, despite being frostbitten, partially blind, and almost totally frozen, starts to get up and slowly head on back to camp. Jon spots him and radios Helen to let her know that Beck is alive. She in turn calls Peach to tell her the news. Together, they get a helicopter to fly up and bring Beck back. The helicopter is almost brought down by the winds and extra weight, but they succeed in bringing him down where he gets heated up.Helen and the other climbers return home. They are seen meeting Jan at the airport and tearfully hugging her. Beck also returns home and hugs Peach.The last shot is of Rob's body, frozen and almost completely covered in snow. The final text states that Rob's body is still up on Everest alongside the others that perished. We see photos of the real Rob Hall, Doug Hansen, Andy Harris, Yasuko Namba, and Scott Fischer. Beck Weathers lost his nose and both hands due to frostbite. Jan Arnold gave birth to a girl, whom she named Sarah. We then see a brief video clip of the real Sarah Arnold-Hall.

tragedy, suspenseful

tt2719848

The Deer Hunter

=== Act I === In Clairton, a small working class town in western Pennsylvania, in late 1967, Russian-American steel workers Michael "Mike" Vronsky (Robert De Niro), Steven Pushkov (John Savage), and Nikanor "Nick" Chevotarevich (Christopher Walken), with the support of their friends and co-workers Stan (John Cazale) and Peter "Axel" Axelrod (Chuck Aspegren) and local bar owner and friend John Welsh (George Dzundza), prepare for two rites of passage: marriage and military service. The opening scenes set the traits of the three main characters. Mike is the no-nonsense, serious, but unassuming leader; Steven the loving, groom-to-be, pecked-at by his mother; and Nick the quiet, introspective man who loves deer hunting because, he likes "…the trees…the way the trees are". The recurring theme of hunting with "one shot", which is how Mike prefers to take down a deer, is introduced. Before the trio ships out, Steven and his girlfriend Angela (Rutanya Alda), who is pregnant by another man, but loved by Steven nonetheless, marry in a Russian Orthodox wedding. In the meantime, Mike works to control his feelings for Nick's girlfriend Linda (Meryl Streep). At the wedding reception held at the local VFW hall, the guys drink, dance, sing, and enjoy the festivities, but then notice a soldier in a U.S. Army Special Forces uniform. Mike attempts to ask what Vietnam is like, but the soldier ignores him. After Mike explains that he, Steven, and Nick are going to Vietnam, the Green Beret raises his glass and says "fuck it". After being restrained by the others from starting a fight, Mike goes back to the bar and, in a mocking jest to the soldier, raises his glass and toasts him with "fuck it". The soldier then glances over at Mike and grins. Later, Steven and Angela drink from conjoined goblets, a traditional part of the Orthodox wedding ceremony. It is believed that if they drink without spilling any wine, they will have good luck for life. Two drops of blood-red wine unknowingly spill on her wedding gown. After Linda catches the bride's bouquet, Nick asks her to marry him, and she agrees. Later that night, a drunken Mike runs through the town, stripping himself naked along the way. After Nick chases him down, he begs Mike not to leave him "over there" if anything happens in combat. The next day, Mike, Nick, Stan, John, and Axel go deer hunting one last time. Mike is exasperated by his friends, especially Stan, who drinks and clowns, showing little respect for the ritual of hunting, which to Mike is a nearly sacred experience. Only Nick understands Mike's attitude, but he is more indulgent toward his friends. Mike goes hunting afterwards and kills a deer with one, clean shot. Act one finishes with the friends arriving back at Welsh's bar, with Michael's deer strapped to the hood of the car. They enter rambunctiously, spraying beers over each other and singing loudly. Welsh then makes his way to a piano and begins playing methodically as the others sit quietly. They sit in silence, strewn all over the bar, as their friend plays Chopin's Nocturne No. 6 Op. 15-3, a peaceful, yet ominous melody. === Act II === The film then jumps abruptly to war-torn Vietnam, where U.S. helicopters attack a Communist-occupied village with napalm. A North Vietnamese soldier throws a stick grenade into a hiding place full of civilians. An unconscious Mike (now a Staff Sergeant in the U.S. Army Special Forces) wakes up to see the NVA soldier shoot a woman carrying a baby. Mike kills him with a flamethrower. Meanwhile, a unit of UH-1 "Huey" helicopters drops off several U.S. infantrymen, Nick and Steven among them. Mike, Steven, and Nick unexpectedly find each other just before they are captured and held together in a riverside prisoner of war camp with other U.S. Army and ARVN prisoners. For entertainment, the sadistic guards force their prisoners to play Russian roulette and gamble on the outcome. All three friends are forced to play. Steven plays against Mike, who offers moral support, but Steven breaks down and points the gun upwards whilst pulling the trigger, grazing himself with the bullet when it discharges. As punishment, the guards put him into an underwater cage full of rats and the bodies of others who earlier faced the same fate. Mike and Nick hatch a plan to escape by playing against each other, with Mike convincing the guards to let them play Russian roulette with three bullets in the gun. After a tense match, they kill their captors and escape. Mike earlier argued with Nick about whether or not Steven could be saved, but after killing their captors, he rescues Steven. The three float downriver on a tree branch. An American helicopter finds them, but only Nick is able to climb aboard. The weakened Steven falls back into the water, and Mike plunges in the water to rescue him. Mike helps Steven to reach the river bank, but Steven's legs are broken, so Mike carries him through the jungle to friendly lines. Approaching a caravan of locals escaping the war zone, Mike stops a South Vietnamese military truck and places the wounded Steven on it, asking the soldiers to take care of him. Nick, who is psychologically damaged, recuperates in a military hospital in Saigon with no knowledge on the status of his friends. After being released, he goes AWOL and aimlessly stumbles through the red-light district at night. At one point, he encounters Julien Grinda, a champagne-drinking, friendly Frenchman, outside a gambling den where men play Russian roulette for money. Grinda entices the reluctant Nick to participate and leads him into the den. Mike is present in the den, watching the game, but the two friends do not notice each other at first. When Mike does see Nick, he is unable to get his attention. When Nick is introduced into the game, he grabs the gun, fires it at the current contestant, and then again at his own temple, causing the audience to riot in protest. Grinda hustles Nick outside to his car to escape the angry mob. Mike cannot catch up with Nick and Grinda as they speed away. === Act III === Back in the U.S., Mike arrives home but maintains a low profile. While en route home, he tells a cab driver to drive past the house where all his friends are assembled with a large banner outside, as he is embarrassed by the fuss Linda and the others have made. He visits Linda the following day and grows close to her, but only because of the friend they both think they have lost. Mike eventually learns about Angela, whom he goes to visit at the home of Steven's mother. Angela is apathetic and barely responsive. When asked by Mike about Steven's whereabouts, she writes a phone number on a scrap of paper, which leads Mike to the local veterans' hospital where Steven has been for several months. Mike goes hunting with Axel, John, and Stan one more time, and after tracking a deer across the woods, takes his one shot but pulls the rifle up and fires into the air. He then sits on a rock escarpment and yells out, "OK?", which echoes back at him from the opposing rock faces leading down to the river, signifying his fight with his mental demons over losing Steven and Nick. He also berates Stan for carrying around a small revolver and waving it around, not realizing it is still loaded. Mike visits Steven, who has lost both of his legs and is partially paralyzed. Steven reveals that someone in Saigon has been mailing large amounts of money to him, and Mike is convinced that it is Nick. Mike brings a reluctant Steven home to Angela and then travels to Saigon just before its fall in 1975. He tracks down Grinda, who has made a lot of money from the Russian roulette-playing Nick. He finds Nick in a crowded gambling club, but Nick appears to have no recollection of his friends or his home in Pennsylvania. Mike enters himself in a game of Russian roulette against Nick, hoping to jog Nick's memory and persuade him to come home, but Nick's mind is gone. To keep him from taking another turn, Mike grabs Nick's arms, which are covered in scars (implied to be heroin tracks). At the last moment, after Mike reminds Nick of their hunting trips together, he finally breaks through, and Nick recognizes Mike and smiles. Nick then tells Mike, "one shot", raises the gun to his temple, and pulls the trigger. The round is in the gun's top chamber, and Nick kills himself. Horrified, Mike tries reviving him, but to no avail. === Epilogue === Back home in 1975, the friends have gathered for Nick's funeral, whom Mike has brought home, staying good to his promise. The film ends with everyone at John's bar, singing "God Bless America". Mike toasts in Nick's honor.

boring, murder, realism, cult, violence, atmospheric, psychedelic, suspenseful

tt0077416

Slaughterhouse-Five

It is about March of 1968. A young lady in her early twenties and her husband pull up in their 1969 Ford Country Squire Station wagon to a lavish upstate New York home on a lake, near the town of Ilium, believed to be the fictional title for the actual city of Schenectady. She frantically knocks on the front door calling for her father and no response. She peers through all the windows of the lavish home and sees nothing. Then she lets herself in the back of the home in the utility room desperately searching for her father.In the basement of his home, Billy Pilgrim, a balding, bespectacled, mild-mannered, and passive man of 45 years of age is typing a letter to his local daily newspaper of his time travels and how he is uncontrollably traveling from one point of his life to the other, being "unstuck in time". While he is typing his letter, he finds himself at the Battle of the Bulge in Belgium in January 1945, at the age of 22 alone and running through the snow. He is not dressed as a soldier at all, no weapon, and wearing a stocking cap, overcoat, sweater, and pants that are nothing suggesting Army attire. He is kidnapped by two brash, uncouth, mean, and very stupid men of his age, fellow soldiers named Paul Lazzaro and Roland Weary. They immediately think he's a German, but he denies it and they soon forget about it, since there's an attack going on. The men's Corporal abandons them and Lazzaro swears revenge.Briefly, Billy finds himself back on planet Tralfamadore in the geodesic dome with beautiful, 20-something porn star queen, Montana Wildhack and she suspects he's time traveling again and wants to give him a kiss to help forget about it. Simultaneously, Billy is back at the Battle of the Bulge and Paul Lazzaro hears him say "a little kiss" and Lazzaro is outraged beyond rationalization and accuses Billy of being homosexual, violently attacking him. Shortly after, two German guards take them at gunpoint tell them to get up and for Weary to give up his bootsIt is the summer of 1946, at Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Billy and his annoying and overweight new bride, Valencia Merble Pilgrim, are on their honeymoon. She thinks he had girlfriends during the war, but was glad they waited to have sex and that he married her. Billy seems bored by her doting and chit-chatting .Back to January 1945, Billy, Weary, and Lazzaro are marching with many other soldiers throughout war-torn remains of an unidentified town in Belgium, France, or Germany. Billy is flirted with by two young prostitutes while marching and bumps into Weary, stepping on his gangrene-riddled feet from wearing no combat boots. Lazzaro is furious and beats up Billy for it. Two German officers spot Billy for his clumsiness and bring him over to pose for a photo. Simultaneously, the portrait flashes forward to 1955-1958 with Billy and his family dedicating a new Ilium Optometry Center. Afterwards, an ill, senile, and shell-shocked Colonel named Wild Bob is escorting the men onto the train bound for a POW camp and fails to realize his men are not there. Billy enters the boxcar and goes to sleep. After pulling the covers on his head, it is the Spring of 1946 and he is in a veterans hospital being treated, allegedly for shell-shock or a nervous breakdown. His southern-accented and sweet-natured mother is talking to fellow patient, Elliot Rosewater of Billy's experiences. Soon afterwards, Billy is back in the boxcar with fellow soldier Weary blaming him for his death from gangrene. Paul Lazzaro cradles him in his arms and he dies. Billy finds himself back in the veterans hospital being given shock treatment.The steam locomotive train pulls up to a POW camp somewhere in Germany. Billy is given a blue, fur-collared overcoat way too small for him by German soldiers as a joke. The men are processed by a German officer and led into a shower room to be deloused. Afterwards, Billy finds himself as a little boy of about 6 or 7 in the shower at the YMCA and his father takes him out of the shower and throws him into the pool to "sink or swim".Billy and other soldiers are being marched to the mess hall and given a jovial welcome by English officers singing "The Yanks are Here". They are led into a dining room decorated with candles and with a potluck of potato soup, hot bread, pies, and marmalade. The English officer escorting Billy tells him the coat was a joke and to wear it with pride and how to hold his head high, despite the deplorable circumstances. Billy passes out at the suggestion.With the tune of the Andrews Sisters singing Johnny Fedora, Billy is at his new home in Ilium in spring and summer of 1947 playing with his new puppy, Spot, with his wife calling him for dinner twice. There is a party going on at his house a later night celebrating his new baby daughter, Barbara. He's obviously feeling out of place at the party with disinterested attendees and his wife chewing him out for the dog peeing on her leg. He takes the dog outside, sits at the lake, and sees a strange occurrence in the night sky, a beam of light coming to him, then leaving.It's back to the POW camp. Paul Lazzaro threatens Billy for Weary's death, but fellow soldier Edgar Derby intervenes. Derby is a middle-aged man of 44 years of age that gave up his job as a trade school teacher in Boston to fight in the war. He is a father figure to Billy and the two immediately form a close bond and friendship. Derby goes through Billy's coat and finds a partial denture and diamond of at least 2 carats.It is Billy and Valencia's anniversary at their home in the summer of 1964. He gives his wife a ring made by the diamond found in his coat. Billy is bored by the crowd and retreats inside his home. He catches his son in the bathroom looking at a porn magazine and scolds him for it. But afterwards, Billy looks at the magazine himself, smiling with delighted interest at the centerfold of Montana Wildhack and goes to the bedroom with it.Billy finds himself back at the POW camp in the briefing room with the rest of the soldiers to be told about the men's new assignment in Dresden and how lucky they are. Edgar Derby is nominated as their leader. Simultaneously, when Derby gives an acceptance speech, Billy is at a Lions Club meeting at his hometown in 1957 giving an acceptance speech.It's about 1964 or 1965 and Billy and his family are watching a soft-core porn flick with Montana Wildhack in it. Billy's son enjoys it and his wife is outraged at the filth. Billy pays no attention to her and is engrossed in it.Billy and fellow soldiers are in a boxcar on their way to Dresden and Derby is going over with him a letter he wrote to his wife about his service and about his pride in his son also serving in the South Pacific.About 1965 or 1966, Billy and his wife pull up to a cemetery with a police officer that caught his now-delinquent son and others vandalizing the tombstones and offers to pay off the officers for the damages.The soldiers pull up to the train station at Dresden, being led by an elderly German officer and several teenage proteges under his wing. They are marched to their new quarters through the beautiful city. A group of kids surround Billy while they are marching and an outraged elderly German civilian slaps him in the face, believing he is insulting his people with the coat he is wearing.It is February of 1968. Billy and fellow optometrists, to include his father in law, are about to take a chartered flight to Montreal for a convention. Billy sees visions of skiers in the crowd when waving goodbye and tells the pilots they need to stop the plane, because it will crash. They refuse to acknowledge, but the plane does crashBack to Dresden, the elderly German officer tells them of their quarters, Slaughterhouse Five, where they will be staying and what to shout in German in case of emergency.Billy is buried in the snow in the Green Mountains and a group of skiers find him bloodied and buried in the rubble.Billy's wife frantically pulls her 1967 Cadillac out of the driveway after hearing the news and comes to his rescue. She is so distressed that she misses her turn, backs into a Mercedes, drives the wrong side of the road, and causes numerous damage in vehicle accidents. She escapes the police, gets on the right side of the road, and goes forward, despite the fact the exhaust is ruined and spewing carbon monoxide. There is a brief flashback of Billy giving his wife the car for her birthday maybe a year or two earlier. Then the car pulls up to a hospital in Vermont and she crashes it into the garage, passed out from the carbon monoxide. Two nurses rescue her and bring her inside, with the gurney she's on passing the one Billy is on.Billy is being operated on and simultaneously, he and the fellow soldiers are in their slaughterhouse quarters being briefed about their working assignments by the German officer and daily routine of work. After the operation is over, the doctor that operated on Billy greets his daughter Barbara that everything will be okay. Barbara's husband Stanley comes over to her to give her the news that her mother died from carbon monoxide poisoning earlier.Billy is in his room recovering with an arrogant professor and historian for a roommate named B.C. Rumfoord telling his much-younger wife about being stuck in a room with such a weak and worthless man. He's writing a story on the bombing of Dresden and Billy says in a daze he was there, but Rumfoord couldn't care less. Simultaneously, Billy is blathering in German that he's an American Prisoner of War and Slaughterhouse Five. Rumfoord loses his temper and tells Billy the bombing was justified, while simultaneously, Billy as a young soldier is walking amidst a crowd of cheerful kids just hours before the bombing.The night of the bombing at dinner, an American dressed up in a Nazi uniform with American flag decor named Howard Campbell, is summoned to recruit the men for the Free American Corps, which is an allied unit with the Germans and that the Communists and Jews are their enemy. Derby calls him out on it for what a filthy traitor he really is, but before he can say anything more, an alarm goes off for the city and the men are ordered to evacuate to an underground cellar for shelter. Dresden gets bombed.In March 1968, Billy is taken home by his daughter Barbara and she pleads with him to stay with she and her husband, but he refuses. He is senile, listless, and apathetic at this point. He takes his elderly dog Spot and shuts the door in her face.The bombing is over and the soldiers go up the stairs to inspect the damage. Simultaneously, Billy is walking upstairs in his posh estate to his bedroom with his dog in his arms. The men walk outside. A teenage German soldier guarding their group denounces the bombers as filthy pigs in German and runs to rescue his family, who were already killed and he burns to death searching for them.Billy is laying in bed at his home with Spot and his son Robert has come to visit him. The former delinquent is now a sharp Green Beret in the Army fighting in Vietnam home on emergency leave. Robert is caring of him and trying to have a conversation, but Billy is preoccupied with himself, looking out the window at the night sky, and uninterested at his visiting, but assures him he's proud of him. Right after Robert leaves, the beam of light he saw in the sky while at the lake at his house in 1947 reappears and takes him away. He and his dog Spot are whisked away to a geodesic dome on the planet Tralfamadore. He's confounded as to his appearance there. The Tralfamadorian elder tells him he can't see them because they live in the Fourth Dimension and that he can't leave the dome. No reason why he is there, he just is.Billy and the American soldiers are ordered by the elderly German officer to process the corpses from the rubble of the bombed Dresden city and to collect their personal remains. They are given a direct order that any looting or stealing will result in firing squad. While Billy and the soldiers are collecting the bodies, he's on Tralfamadore telling the elder about the bombing and how it affected him, but he's comforted and assured that everything that happens always has and always will happen and that the past, present, and future are always happening at the same time in their world, which also gets destroyed and destroys the entire universe because of a mishap with one of their test pilots.Porn actress Montana Wildhack has now been added to the exhibit with Billy in the dome and she's scared to death at first not knowing what's happening. The Tralfamadorian elder insists that they mate, but Billy insists on being a Gentleman with her and does not follow the order. But she lets him go to bed with her and they make love.Some days later after the bombing, Derby finds an undamaged figurine in the rubble that is an exact replica of one his son broke before. He's caught by German officers and shot to death by firing squad. Billy tries to stop it to no avail.Billy is back on Tralfamadore with Montana in her new wardrobe. He tells her of his wife, that the thing he liked best about her was her pancakes. They want to have a baby together.It is back to March 1968 when Billy's daughter was frantically searching for him in his house. He, his daughter, and son in law are at the dining room table and she really thinks he's lost his mind about Tralfamadore and his son in law suggests seeing a psychiatrist. He assures them that the Tralfamadorians do not see past, present, and future the way Earthlings do. And also reveals to them the disappeared porn star Montana Wildhack is the love interest there and that he's seen his death.It is an unspecified time, perhaps the early 2000's. An elderly Billy Pilgrim in his 80's addresses a crowd at a high rise in Philadelphia about Tralfamadore and their lack of concept about time. And that a fellow soldier from World War 2 is about to kill him. Paul Lazzaro is now also a very elderly man that lives in the area shooting him sniper-style and instantly killing him.Billy wakes up to find himself amongst the remains to Dresden in April 1945 with Lazzaro and fellow soldiers attempting to steal a grandfather clock. He's assured all the Germans have left, but when in the process of stealing, Lazzaro and the others leave, with the clock toppling on Billy. It turns out the German side of the war is over and Russian soldiers give Billy a drink to celebrate, which he gagsBilly and Montana have a baby on Tralfamadore, with the entire planet celebrating with an array of fireworks

boring, murder, flashback, insanity, absurd, psychedelic, revenge, storytelling

tt0069280

Half-Life

Chapter by Chapter:Anamolous Materials: Gordon Freeman departs his dorm and goes to the Anamolous Materials Lab for a test chamber experiment. He gets into his H.E.V. suit and comes to the chamber. The test goes well until Gordon pushes a 'sample' into the power beam, and a catastrophic event known as the resonance cascade occurs.Unforseen Consequences: Gordon wakes up in the test chamber again and sees that the entire facility is being destroyed. Aliens from an unknown world are also randomly teleporting in areas throughout the complex, and Gordon must seek help in order to survive.Office Complex: Gordon arrives in an administration complex where an alien race known as the Vortigaunts are appearing. Gordon needs to find a way up to the surface where he can escape. He also hears rumors that military troops are coming to save the remaining survivors.We've Got Hostiles: Gordon learns that the military have come in to not only kill the aliens, but also to silence all personnel. They have set up a hazard course to prevent any personnel from escaping, and Gordon needs to fight his way through them.Blast Pit: Gordon reaches a missile silo where a rapidly growing tentacle monster is wreaking havoc upon the area. Gordon must find a way to destroy it.Power Up: Gordon reaches the tramway tunnel entrance where a Gargantua is severely beating the marines into smithereens. Gordon needs to reroute the railway power and kill the giant monstrosity.On A Rail: Gordon travels through the tramway tunnels that lead to a missile that will possibly reverse the resonance cascade, but the marines aborted the launch. Gordon must stop them before it it too late.Apprehension: Gordon makes it to an research facility that has been destroyed in combat by the marines and is partially underwater. Freeman needs to make it to the Lambda Complex where the rest of the science team is most likely taking cover.Residue Processing: Gordon is captured by the marines and placed in a garbage press. He escapes and makes it to an old industrial complex that has been infested with headcrabs. He needs to continue his journey to Lambda Complex and avoid the marines.Questionable Ethics: Gordon arrives at an alien research facility and weapons experimental lab where the marines have sealed off the way out. Gordon needs to find and cooperate with any hiding scientists in order to escape.Surface Tension: Gordon arrives at the surface, but it has become a war zone. The government is throwing the rest of the marines at Black Mesa, and Gordon needs to stop their actions and make it to Lambda Complex.Forget About Freeman: Gordon arrives at an underground storage area where he learns that the marines are losing severely and are beginning to retreat. Gordon is almost at Lambda Complex and is running into an increased amount of aliens and a smaller amount of marines.Lambda Core: Gordon has finally reached the Lambda Complex. The marines are no more, but the aliens are becoming a threat. The missile he launched earlier was unable to do anything because a powerful creature on the other side of the resonance cascade is keeping it open. Gordon must prepare himself to go to the alien world and kill the creature.Xen: Gordon enters the Lambda portal to Xen, the alien world, and must find the chamber where the powerful creature is.Gonarch's Lair: Gordon is teleported to an area of Xen where the mother of all headcrabs lives. He must kill this giant creature and find the portal out of the area.Interloper: In order for Gordon to reach the creature, he needs to traverse through an alien camp and a complex where Vortigaunt Slaves (Alien Grunts) are created.Nihilanth: Gordon has finally reached the creature, and he manages to overpower the giant thing and is teleported to an elevator on Xen with the mysterious 'G-Man'. He has the choice of refusing to serve him and get killed by aliens, or he can serve him and live.

violence, alternate reality

tt0239023

Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham...

Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham "It's All About Loving Your Parents."Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham is a lavish movie that deals with the issues of class distinction and the roles of women and men in marriage. It opens with a grown Rohan (Hrithik Roshan) finishing his boarding school education and returning to visit his grandmothers before he goes home for Diwali. His grandmothers, haunted by the memory of Rohan's estranged brother, Rahul (Shah Rukh Khan), sit Rohan down, and in their grief, tell him the story of his family.Yashvardhan Raichand (Amitabh Bachchan) is a famous, wealthy Indian businessman. He and his wife Nandini (Jaya Badhuri) adopted a baby, Rahul (Shah Rukh Khan), and raised him as their own. Nine years later they had a natural son, Rohan (Hrithik Roshan), and considered their family complete.Rahul was raised as the beloved eldest son, and promised his father he would always uphold the respect and traditions of the Raichand family, and always do his parents proud. However, love intervenes...On his way to deliver medication for Daijaan, the nanny who raised both him and his brother, Rahul sees a beautiful girl, Anjali Sharma (Kajol) celebrating India's cricket win in the street. Enchanted by her exuberance, he watches her dance and then follows her into her family's sweet shop. There, she mistakes him for the prospective groom of her best friend. Thinking him to be Ashfaque the poet, who is set to marry her friend, Anjali recites her original work, much to Rahul's confusion. She then drags him over to look at the day's paper, where there is a picture of "the big snob" (as she terms him) Yash Raichand and his son. Anjali realizes her mistake too late, and is humiliated. Rahul, however, is highly amused and too taken with the outspoken girl to take any offense. Their repartee is interrupted when Rohan, who has come with Rahul to deliver the medicine, comes running by, chased by local kids, including Anjali's sister Pooja. They refuse to allow him entrance to their town without reciting an extremely complicated tongue-twister, which Rahul is unable to do, so they chase him. In rebuttal, when Pooja shows up at Rohan's school to harass him further, the girls and boys of Rohan's school make fun of Pooja's middle-class appearance, and bring her to tears.Rahul goes out to a party with the neighbor girl Naina (Rani Mukherji), but returns home early, having been bored with the high society life. Naina is the daughter of Yash's best friend, another wealthy businessman, and therefore eminently suited to be Rahul's wife. And since Yash is looking for a bride for Rahul, Naina is his prime candidate. The family is having a quiet evening at home when Rahul returns. Nandini mentions Anjali's friend's wedding. Since the bride is Daijaan's daughter, and Daijaan is a long-time employee of the family, Nandini feels she and Yash should attend. Yash, however, does not agree. He feels that Daijaan's family is not of a high enough class, and therefore he will not attend. Nandini attempts to protest, but Yash overrides her. The subject is closed. Yash goes back to his game with Rohan, who accidentally lets slip that they're planning a surprise birthday party for Yash.Coincidentally, the sweets for the party are provided by Anjali's shop. She and her friend Rukhsar (the future bride), come to the party to serve the sweets, and Rahul is caught by the sight of the girl he remembers dancing in the streets. He and his father dance a big party number (Say Shava Shava), and Anjali gets caught up in the excitement. When Nandini reminds Yash to calm down a little, he starts to sing her an old filmi song to placate her. When he forgets the words, Anjali blurts them out. Rukhsar and Daijaan are appalled at Anjali's rudeness to both an elder and a social superior, and hasten her out of the party. On catching sight of Rahul, Anjali is so distracted she bumps into a vase and smashes it. In complete disgrace, she leaves the party.The next day Daijaan brings Anjali by to apologize to Yash for breaking his "pot," as Anjali calls it, not knowing any better. Anjali makes her apology in her own unique way, interrupted not a few times by Rahul, who, on seeing his love again, creates mischief behind his father's back. Hilarity ensues, and on hearing she has been forgiven, Anjali turns to go, rather less decorously than is proper, and in the process, smashes another "pot." Daijaan rushes her away, and Rahul is left leaning against the doorframe, completely lovestruck.On hearing of her sister's humiliation at Rohan's school, Anjali is outraged, and lectures both her sister and her father on the social ineptitude of rich people, saying, "too much money, too little heart." She vows to seek revenge, and as she backs up to go out the door, she bumps directly into Rahul, who has brought Rohan to apologize. Rahul also asks for Anjali's friendship, and the next day calls up her shop. Anjali answers, saying the shop has sweets for all occasions, including engagements and weddings, to which Rahul says, "both will happen in due time." Anjali blushes red, and Rahul proceeds to invite her to the fair being held in her town. She agrees.Rohan and Pooja go running off at the fair, leaving Anjali and Rahul to their own devices. Rahul tells Anjali that she looks very beautiful with her hair loose. Anjali, clearly unused to such compliments, hurries to distract herself at a stall selling bangles. She picks up green ones, a color traditionally chosen for brides, and Rahul, singing a love song, buys them for her. She retreats, believing he is seducing her with the aim of taking over her sweet shop, but Rahul forestalls her, sliding the bangles slowly onto her wrists, explaining that her shop is not what he is after. They declare their love for each other (Suraj Hua Maddham).Following Yash's refusal to go to Daijaan's daugher's wedding, he sends Rahul in his place. While Rahul is at the wedding, Yash finalizes the engagment arrangements with his best friend, betrothing Rahul to Naina. Rahul, however, at the wedding, dances the night away with Anjali. He returns to find out he is engaged, and in his shock refuses the engagement. Yash is outraged and Naina is deeply hurt, but she at least acknowledges that Rahul is irrevocably in love, and lets him out of his obligation to her. Yash is not so forgiving, and demands that Rahul break things off with Anjali at once. Rahul goes to Anjali's village, and walks straight into a funeral procession, which turns out to be for Anjali's father. At the sight of her grief, he abandons all caution and claims Anjali for his wife at last. He marries her still in her mourning clothing, and takes her and her sister Pooja to London, where they settle into their new life.Rohan, meanwhile, having heard this story, becomes determined to reunite his family. He asks his father for permission to go to London for university, citing the very important point that it is a family tradition. Yash, a firm traditionalist, agrees.In London, Rahul and Anjali have set up house, taking along Daijaan as a sort of mother-substitute. They have had a son, and Pooja lives with them. She too is starting university, and has become a first-class beauty queen, extremely popular and desired. She dresses extremely provocatively, scandalizing Rahul and making Anjali roll her eyes. SHe calls herself Poo, and reigns supreme at her school. The only man who won't turn and give her a second look is a mysterious stranger in a Lamborghini. Intrigued by his indifference, Pooja pursues him until he reveals himself by reciting perfectly the tongue-twister she tormented him with all those years ago (Deewana Hai Dekho). It is Rohan, all grown up, and extremely attractive. Pooja immediately drops her beauty-queen facade and explains her family's situation to Rohan. They become allies; their aim is to reunite their families. They concoct a plan to have Rohan come and stay at the house, under the guise that he is a cousin of her friend's. Rahul is disinclined to have him in the house, to say the least, but Anjali agrees without hesitation when Pooja tells her the new boy is straight from India. MIssing her homeland, Anjali accepts Rohan right away. Rahul takes much longer to warm up to the new boy, but cannot shake the feeling that there is something inherently familiar about him. Rohan introduces himself by his father's name, and Rahul, feeling strangely unsettled, decides he should stay in the house. Daijaan too cannot shake the feeling that she knows this Yash.Much to everyone's surprise, Rohan's presence in the house beings to turn Pooja into a dutiful Indian maiden, and Rahul slowly warms to him.At school, Pooja gets up to her old mischief at prom time, and the only person she'll go with is Rohan, who is completely unimpressed with her. She flits by him one Saturday night all dolled up for the club, and Rohan doesn't bat an eye, but rather points out that her shoes are unmatched. She leaves in a flounce, but Rohan follows her to the club. She abandons her date, and turns to find Rohan standing on the balcony of the club, declaring his love for her (You Are My Soniya).Back in India, Nandini is still mourning the loss of Rahul. Yash recognizes her sorrow but only asks that she "bring back his Nandini," nothing of why she's sad or upset. He only wants things to return to some kind of normalcy.Karwa Chauth approaches, and Rohan's plan progresses. He asks Anjali if she has ever recieved the traditional sweets from her mother-in-law for the holiday, and knowing full well the answer is no, calls up his mother to have her speak to Anjali. Anjali, who is deeply hurt by the fact that she has never recieved these sweets, is touched by Rohan's gesture and by his mother's. Thus the real mother-in-law sends sweets to her real daughter-in-law, and they come one step closer.At the night time party for the breaking of the wives' fast, Pooja reveals that she fasted for Rohan, who is bemused at her devotion, but pleased. He mocks her a little, gently, asking who he is to her. In her pique, she dares him to be a man and reveal to Rahul and Anjali who he really is. He asks what his reward will be if he does, and Pooja answers cryptically. In a roundabout way, without a chorus of "Wah, Wah, Ramji," Rohan sings to his "bhaiyya aur bhabi" and satifies his part of the bet. Pooja then fulfills her end of the bargain by telling him how she feels (Bole Chudiyan). In the course of the song Rohan imagines Yash and Nandini entering the party and accepting Anjali into the fold. It is all imagination, alas, and the song ends with Rahul and Rohan embracing. Rohan has been accepted.To further his plan, Rahul calls up his parents in India and begs them to visit him in London. Yash obliges readily, and Rohan tells him the only way he'll be welcome is if he brings a present. Yash is at a loss as to what to get his son, so Rohan tells him to meet him at the Blue Water Mall in London, where he contrives to bring Anjali and Rahul as well. Yash, unfamiliar with the technology of the day, attempts to find an "iPac" or something of the sort, for Rohan. He wanders off in pursuit of the elusive gizmo, and Rahul walks straight into his mother.Tearfully, silently, Nandini cradles her son, with Anjali and their child looking on. Yash approaches, sees Rahul, and flees. Later that evening he is outraged, striking Rohan for being so presumptuous. It is obvious he has not forgiven Rahul. Rohan, in turn, accuses his father of having a bigger ego than is good for him. Similarly devastated at the day's events, Anjali begs Rahul to go to his parents, go to India, ask forgiveness. Cradling his wife's face, Rahul says simply that she can never understand the pain of going from outcast to family to outcast again, and leaves it at that.Rohan finally reveals who he is and brings his father and brother face-to-face again, where Yash berates his son with tears in his eyes. He says Rahul had no right to leave the family and not look back once, not return even once. Rahul, crying, says he thought his father didn't love him. Yash tells him that fathers never stop loving their sons, no matter what, and Rahul and Anjali are accepted into the family. Rohan and Pooja marry, and all ends well.

melodrama, romantic, flashback

tt0248126

Wrong Turn 4: Bloody Beginnings

The film opens in 1974 at the Glenville Sanatorium for the mentaly ill with Dr. Ryan (Arne McPherson) showing a local psychiatrist Dr. Ann McQuaid (Kristen Harris) around the psychiatric hospital. The cannibals from the previous films-One Eye, Three Finger, and Saw Tooth now are locked up in the institution as children. But the cannibals escapes and sets other insane patient free in the hospital. Then cannibals savagely murder an orderly, a guard, Dr. Ryan and Dr. McQuaid.The film then switches to present day (in 2003) where a group of nine college kids; Kenia (Jennifer Pudavick), lesbian couple Sara (Tenika Davis) and Bridget (Kaitlyn Wong), Lauren (Ali Tataryn), Jenna (Terra Vnesa), and Claire (Samantha Kendrick), along with their guy friends Kyle (Victor Zinck), Vincent (Sean Skene) and Daniel (Dean Armstrong) are going snowmobiling. They are heading to their friend Porter's cabin in the mountains. They get lost in a storm and seek refuge inside the now abandoned Glenville Sanatorium. Little do they know, the three now adult cannibals are hiding out in the sanatorium and murdering trespassers (The movie is silent about whereabouts of rest of patients set free by cannibals).The group of teenagers explore the asylum, and decide to wait out the storm. After a montage of rolling around in wheelchairs, acting on illegal drugs, drinking booze and acting like teenagers, the storm still hasn't stopped so the teenagers are forced to sleep in the desolate building. In the middle of the night, Vincent, suffering from insomnia, walks around the asylum and finds Porter's mutilated body - apparently he didn't make it to his cabin either. He is then killed by Saw-Tooth having a metal rod shoved into his chin and out through the top of his head.The next morning, everyone discovers they are still snowed in, and Vincent is missing. The gang splits up to look for him, and Jenna witnesses the cannibals cutting Porter up. She runs back to tell the others and they all meet up in the auditorium. Something wrapped in Porter's jacket is thrown at them and Kenia opens it up to reveal Porter's severed head. Screaming and panicking, the group flocks around the door, trying to get out but the doors are locked. The three cannibals, up in the balcony, throw down a strip of barb-wire and loop it around Claire's neck, pulling her up to the balcony. Kyle tries to save her, but it is too late and the barb-wire tightens, severing Claire's head. Horrified, those who are left of them (Kenia, Sara, Bridget, Lauren, Jenna, Kyle and Daniel) run outside and try to escape on their snowmobiles, but the engines won't turn and it is revealed that the cannibals had stripped them of their spark plug wires. Lauren sets off on her own to ski down the mountain to retrieve help and the other six run inside to try to defend themselves.Kenia, Bridget, Sara, Jenna, Kyle and Daniel barricade themselves in an office where they find files on the three cannibals that say the three are deformed and cannibalistic. Sara, armes herself with a fire poker. Daniel and Kyle leave to go find more weapons with Kyle remembering the room filled with knives and saws that him, Kenia, Claire and Jenna found while they were searching for Vincent. The three are chased by Three Finger who is also wielding an axe and they find the room filled with knives, lock themselves in and hide, waiting for him to pass. Meanwhile, One Eye attempts to break through the door of the office with a drill but Kenia, Bridget and Jenna fend him off.Back with Sara, Kyle, and Daniel, they stock up with an arsenal of knives and other tools, and run back to the others, but on the way Daniel is grabbed by the cannibals and dismembered with a knife. Sara, Bridget, Kenia, Jenna and Kyle go to look for Daniel after hearing his screams. The cannibals are slicing off pieces of Daniel's skin and cooking them in a pot of boiling oil. Kyle is separated from everyone else and discovers the killer clan torturing Daniel.The teenagers devise a plan to catch the cannibals and succeed in trapping them inside a cell. Kyle attempts to set them on fire, but Kenia coaxes him into having the heart and not killing them. Sara, Bridget, Kenia and Jenna go to search for the spark plugs that were stripped from their snowmobiles earlier, and Kyle stands guard outside, but Three Finger manages to pick the lock to get the cell open and Saw Tooth grabs Kyle by the throat and delivers one punch then the screen goes black.Kenia goes to check on Kyle and finds him and the cannibals gone. She runs back to the office with Sara, Bridget, and Jenna and the four girls decide to stay in the room until morning. One of the cannibals appears wearing a potato sack, and the girls stab him to death only to reveal it is Kyle whose tongue was cut out so who couldn't talk and they just mistakenly killed him. The girls then encounter the three cannibals and are chased up into the attic. They find some old winter clothes and put them on and then run back down to the main floor and try to escape through a window. To their dismay, they are all grated, except for one where the grate is bent. Sara rips away the grating and shatters the glass and the girls climb through the window and out into the snow. But Jenna-who climbs through last-doesn't make it and is killed with a drill.Kenia, Sara and Bridget run away into the snow pursued by the cannibals on the teenager's snowmobiles. Bridget is captured, but escapes using her knife to stab one of the killers in the arm. Kenia is wounded, and Bridget is killed. Morning starts to come, and it is revealed that Lauren had frozen to death, just a few yards from a road.It switches to the cannibal chasing Kenia on the snowmobile, but Sara hits him with a log. The two then board the snowmobile and drive off into the snow--but they run into a barbwire fence and are both decapitated. Three Finger then appears, grabs the girl's heads, throws them into the back of the yellow tow truck that appeared in the first film. Three Finger Hops in himself and he and the other cannibals drive off and the film ends.

murder, prank

tt1865567

Bir Zamanlar Anadolu'da

Through the night, three cars carry a small group of men  police officers, a doctor, a prosecutor, grave diggers, gendarmerie forces, and two brothers, homicide suspects  around in the rural surroundings of the Anatolian town Keskin, in search of a buried body. Kenan, one of the suspects, leads them from one water fountain to another; at the time of the crime he was intoxicated and he cannot recall where he and his mentally challenged brother buried the body. The darkness and visual indistinctness of the landscape do not help; each spot looks the same as the others.Meanwhile the men discuss a variety of topics, such as yoghurt, lamb chops, urination, family, spouses, ex-wives, death, suicide, hierarchy, bureaucracy, ethics, and their jobs.Before dawn the prosecutor gets hungry, and the group stops at a nearby village to eat. After the meal Kenan reveals what happened the night of the killing  while drunk he let slip the secret that the victim's son was actually his, and then things got ugly.Daylight breaks. The body is found and taken to the local hospital for autopsy. The mother and son (perhaps 12 years old) are waiting outside the hospital. The son throws a stone at Kenan hitting him between the eyes. Kenan cries.The prosecutor invites the victim's wife to identify the body in the hospital morgue, files the necessary paperwork, and departs, leaving the doctor to perform the autopsy. The autopsy reveals the presence of soil in the lungs, implying that the victim had been buried alive, but the doctor intentionally omits that from the report. This may allow the offenders to get away with lesser charges, but it will also spare the victim's wife and stepson from further grief.The movie ends with a shot from the doctor's perspective of the mother and son in the distance walking away with the husband's belongings. The son sees that a soccer ball has been accidentally kicked far from a schoolyard and he runs and retrieves it and kicks it back to the children in the yard. He then runs back to his mother.

mystery, murder

tt1827487

The Day the Earth Stood Still

When a flying saucer lands in Washington, D.C., the Army quickly surrounds it. A humanoid (Michael Rennie) emerges, announcing that he has come in peace. When he unexpectedly opens a small device, he is shot by a nervous soldier. A tall robot emerges from the saucer and quickly disintegrates the soldiers' weapons. The alien orders the robot, Gort, to stop. He explains that the now-broken device was a gift for the President, which would have enabled him "to study life on the other planets". The alien, Klaatu, is taken to Walter Reed Hospital. After surgery, he uses a salve to quickly heal his wound. Meanwhile, the Army is unable to enter the saucer; Gort stands outside, silent and unmoving. Klaatu tells the President's secretary, Mr. Harley (Frank Conroy), that he has a message that must be delivered to all the world's leaders simultaneously. Harley tells him that such a meeting in the current political climate is impossible. Klaatu suggests that he be allowed to go among humans to better understand their "unreasoning suspicions and attitudes". Harley rejects the proposal, and Klaatu remains under guard. Klaatu escapes and lodges at a boarding house as "Mr. Carpenter", the name on the dry cleaner's tag on a suit he "borrowed". Among the residents are young widow Helen Benson (Patricia Neal) and her son Bobby (Billy Gray). The next morning, Klaatu listens to the boarders speculate about why the alien is here. While Helen and her boyfriend Tom Stephens (Hugh Marlowe) go out, Klaatu babysits Bobby. The boy takes Klaatu on a tour of the city, including a visit to his father's grave in Arlington National Cemetery; Klaatu learns that most of those buried there were killed in wars. The two visit the Lincoln Memorial, then the heavily guarded spaceship. Klaatu asks Bobby who is the greatest living person; Bobby suggests Professor Barnhardt (Sam Jaffe), who lives in the capital. Bobby takes Klaatu to Barnhardt's home, but the professor is absent. Klaatu adds an equation to a problem on Barnhardt's blackboard and leaves his contact information with the suspicious housekeeper. That evening, a government agent takes Klaatu to Barnhardt. Klaatu explains that the people of other planets have concerns now that humanity has developed rockets and a rudimentary form of atomic power. Klaatu declares that if his message is ignored, "Earth will be eliminated". Barnhardt agrees to gather scientists from around the world at the saucer; he then suggests that Klaatu give a harmless demonstration of his power. Klaatu returns to his spaceship that night, unaware that Bobby has followed him. Bobby sees Gort knock out two sentries and Klaatu enter the saucer. Bobby tells Helen and Tom what he saw, but they do not believe him until Tom takes a diamond he found in Klaatu's room to a jeweler and learns it is "unlike any other on Earth". Klaatu finds Helen at her workplace, and they take an empty service elevator, which stops precisely at noon. Klaatu reveals his true identity, then asks for her help. He has neutralized all electricity everywhere, except for such things as hospitals and aircraft in flight. Exactly 30 minutes later, the blackout ends. After Tom informs the authorities of his suspicions, Helen breaks up with him. She and Klaatu go to Barnhardt's home. En route, he tells her that should anything happen to him, she must say to Gort, "Klaatu barada nikto". Their taxi is spotted and hemmed in; Klaatu makes a break for it and is shot dead. Helen quickly heads to the saucer. Gort disintegrates both sentries and advances on her. When Helen utters Klaatu's words, the robot carries her into the spaceship, then leaves to retrieve Klaatu's body. Gort brings Klaatu back to life, but he explains to Helen that his revival is only temporary; the power of life and death is "reserved for the Almighty Spirit". Klaatu emerges from the saucer and addresses Barnhardt's assembled scientists, informing them that he represents an interplanetary organization that created a police force of invincible robots like Gort to "patrol the planets in spaceships like this one, and preserve the peace" by automatically annihilating aggressors. "In matters of aggression, we have given them absolute power over us. This power cannot be revoked." Klaatu concludes with, "It is no concern of ours how you run your own planet, but if you threaten to extend your violence, this Earth of yours will be reduced to a burned-out cinder. Your choice is simple: join us and live in peace, or pursue your present course and face obliteration". Klaatu and Gort reenter the spaceship and depart.

anti war

tt0043456

Bride of Chucky

Tiffany (Jennifer Tilly), a former lover and accomplice of serial killer Charles Lee Ray (Brad Dourif), acquires Chucky's remains after bribing and later murdering a police officer who removed the dismembered children's doll parts from an evidence locker. Believing Ray's soul to be inhabiting the doll, Tiffany crudely stitches Chucky back together and reenacts the voodoo ritual which instilled Ray inside the doll a decade ago. Though her chants initially fail to produce results, Chucky unexpectedly springs to life and smothers Tiffany's goth admirer, Damien (Alexis Arquette), as Tiffany looks on with excitement. Chucky, who is still intent on becoming human again, lays out a plan to retrieve the body-switching amulet Ray was wearing on the night he was killed. The amulet was buried along with his body in a cemetery in Hackensack, New Jersey.Hoping to pick up where she and Ray left off, Tiffany presents Chucky with a diamond ring which he left for her. Upon realizing that Tiffany believed the gift to be an engagement ring, Chucky bursts out laughing, explaining that he stole it from one of his wealthier victims when he was a notorious human serial killer. Heartbroken and enraged, Tiffany punishes Chucky by locking him in a playpen. That next morning, Tiffany approaches a young neighbor, Jesse (Nick Stabile) with an offer to ferry Chucky's body across state lines in exchange for money. Eager to elope with his girlfriend, Jade (Katherine Heigl), and having been foiled in the past by her possessive uncle, Chief Warren Kincaid (John Ritter), Jesse accepts the offer.Inside Tiffany's mobile home, Chucky tries to woo her into freeing him. As a mocking gesture, Tiffany responds by lowering a female children's doll, clad in a miniature wedding dress, into Chucky's playpen. Now irate, Chucky breaks free and surprises Tiffany while she is bathing, dropping a television set into her bathtub and electrocuting her to death. Still dragging the bridal doll, Chucky then recites the familiar voodoo chant, transferring Tiffany's soul into the doll. Chucky blackmails her by pointing out her only hope for becoming human again is to help him steal the amulet. After Tiffany makes a series of vivid alterations to her doll body, the killers pretend to be inanimate as Jesse arrives to pick up the dolls. He then goes to rendezvous with Jade, unaware that the dolls plan on appropriating their bodies once they have the amulet.Midway into the trip, Jade's uncle tracks down the van and starts to inspect it while the couple is away. Annoyed by Kincaid's interference, the killers rig a trap which embeds several nails into the Chief's face, then hide his body inside an onboard trunk. Later, Jesse and Jade stop for supplies and attract the notice of a police officer, who detects the scent of marijuana (which Chucky is smoking). Chucky mistakenly throws the narcotics into view, giving the officer enough cause to detain Jesse. Chucky sneaks over to the officer's squad car, stuffs a wadded-up shirt into the gas tank, and lights it on fire, killing the officer in an explosion.Shaken by the prospect that one of them might be a murderer, Jesse and Jade nevertheless stop at a couples-only hotel to get married. During the ceremony, Chief Kincaid awakens and rises out from the trunk in which Chucky and Tiffany had hidden him. Before he can crawl away, Chucky stabs him repeatedly in the back and re-deposits his body inside the trunk. Meanwhile, Jesse and Jade make the acquaintance of a pair of swingers who pickpocket their money. Tiffany follows the thieves to their private room and tosses a bottle of champagne at the mirrored ceiling above their bed, fatally impaling the couple with shards of glass. Chucky is aroused by this spectacle, and dolls have sex in the blood-soaked room.After a maid discovers the corpse that next morning, Jesse and Jade are both convinced that the other is a killer. Following another escape, they are surprised to run into their mutual friend and confidante, David (Gordon Michael Woolvett), who informs them that they are wanted for multiple murders. Whilst driving, David convinces both to stop accusing each other and patch things up. Upon realizing their misunderstanding, Jesse and Jade resolve their differences. However, David smells a foul odor and uncovers Jade's dead uncle inside the trunk. Concealing his horror, David carefully takes the Chief's gun and order Jesse to pull over, prompting Chucky to reveal himself to everyone. Startled by what he has seen, David unknowingly backs into the path of an oncoming semi truck and is fatally struck before figuring out Jade and Jesse are innocent. A radio announcement informs Chucky the fingerprints found at the scene have been identified as those of Charles Lee Ray, and that authorities plan to exhume his body as part of the investigation.With the van now under suspicion, the dolls transfer their quarry into a stolen recreational vehicle. Jesse is forced to be their driver while Tiffany gives Jade a makeover, getting her ready for when they transfer bodies. As the group nears the Hackensack cemetery, Jesse quips to Chucky that Tiffany "isn't much of a homemaker", due to the fact that there are several dishes in the sink. In response, Chucky orders Tiffany to clean up a little. Jade, taking her lead from Jesse, confides to Tiffany, "You were nice enough to cook for him. The least he could do is wash a dish", igniting a loud, volatile argument between the dolls. In the confusion, Jesse intentionally swerves off the road and crashes, while Tiffany is knocked into the oven by Jade. Still tied to a chair, Jade lays trapped and sees that Tiffany is still alive, though badly charred. Jesse cuts Jade free and pulls her out of the RV before sparking wiring causes the vehicle to explode. Jesse is blown clear, but Jade is taken hostage by Chucky.Chucky approaches his open grave site, shoots the gravedigger exhuming his body in the back of the head, and sends Jade in to open his coffin at gunpoint. She reluctantly retrieves the amulet and throws it to him, but Jesse reappears, dragging Tiffany by her hair. Chucky agrees to let Jade go in exchange for Tiffany. When the couples reunite, Chucky ties the teenagers together and starts to perform the ritual. Touched by Jesse and Jade's love for each other, and seeing Chucky's disgust at her disfigurement, Tiffany betrays Chucky by stabbing him in the back, quoting from Bride of Frankenstein: "Oh, Chucky, look at us. Don't you see? We belong dead."Tiffany releases the teenagers from their bonds, but Chucky retaliates by attacking Tiffany with a shovel. Chucky gets the upper hand, stabbing Tiffany in the chest; however, Jesse retrieves the shovel and knocks Chucky into his own grave, trapping him in the 6-foot pit. As Chucky screams and curses, a police Lieutenant (Lawrence Dane) who has been pursuing the suspicious teens arrives and witnesses the living doll. Jade takes the detective's gun and aims at Chucky, who promises to one day return just like in every sequel of the film series; "But dying is such a bitch." Chucky is shot to death, his lifeless body collapsing next to his former human shell.In the aftermath of what he has just witnessed, the Lieutenant radios in to report Jade and Jesse are innocent, and allows them to run away together. Before the rest of police unit can arrive, the Lieutenant discovers Tiffany's body. After poking her a few times, the charred doll springs to life. The Lieutenant screams in horror as a screeching, sharp-tooth baby emerges from beneath Tiffany's dress and attacks him.

comedy, dark, gothic, murder, cult, violence, horror

tt0144120

The Giant Gila Monster

We open with a narration and a sweeping view of a river wash. A couple, Pat Wheeler (Grady Vaughn) and his girlfriend, Liz Humphries (Yolanda Salas) are sitting in his car when something pushes the car over and down a ravine and into the wash. A giant claw fills the screen and credits roll.A group of teens are dancing at a soda shop. Gordy (Don Flournoy) and his girlfriend, Jennie (Jan McLendon) pull up outside in Gordy's roadster. Chase Winstead (Don Sullivan) and his girlfriend Lisa (Lisa Simone) arrive in Chase's roadster. Chase inquires about Pat and Liz, and when told their car may have broken down, Chase immediately challenges that by saying, "not in his heap, I worked on it myself." Lisa works for the Wheeler family. She is an exchange student from France and Mr. Wheeler is her sponsor. She tells everyone Pat didn't come home for dinner and his father was very upset. Old Man Harris (Shug Fisher) arrives in his 1932 Ford. Chase wants to buy his car but Harris is not interested in selling. The gang of kids leaves for the drive in.The Sheriff (Fred Graham) pulls up to the large Wheeler home. He meets with Mr. Wheeler (Bob Thompson) regarding his missing son, Pat. Wheeler tells the sheriff that both his son and Pat's girlfriend didn't come home last night. The sheriff infers they may have eloped. Wheeler blames Chase; he thinks Chase has too much influence over his son and the rest of the kids in town. The Sheriff reminds Wheeler that Chase is a good kid and works hard after his Dad died "on one of your drill rigs." The Sheriff stops at Compton's Garage to talk to Chase. He thinks Chase may know where Pat and Liz have gone. Chase tells him he doesn't know, but dismisses the elopement theory. The final stop by the Sheriff is the Humphries' farm. He meets with Ed Humphries (Howard Ware) and his wife Agatha (Stormy Meadows) about their missing daughter, Liz. They have no idea where she is, but are more gracious and understanding of the Sheriff's challenge than Mr. Wheeler. On his way out he bumps into Harris. He knows Harris is a drinker and asks to smell his breath. Satisfied, he sends him on his way. No sooner has the Sheriff walked away than Harris pulls out a bottle and takes a swig. He drives off.Mr. Compton (Cecil Hunt), the owner of the garage where Chase works, returns with a load of four quarts of nitroglycerin. Wheeler ordered it in case there was a blowout and oil fire. Compton tells Chase he took the nitro out of the safety cases. Chase is horrified and immediately puts them in the shed in safety cases. His Dad taught him how to handle this dangerous liquid. When the phone rings, Compton reminds Chase that it is not for them, "It's not our ring." But Chase recognizes it as the Sheriff's ring code and eavesdrops--if it is an accident, Chase figures to get a tow job out of it. His hunch pays off, and Chase heads off in his roadster to the scene, with Compton following a short time later with the tow truck.When the Sheriff arrives at the accident scene, Chase is already there. They examine the wrecked vehicle and notice the engine is still warm. Chase directs the Sheriff's attention to the skid marks on the road. They go at a direct right angle to the direction of travel. They also notice blood on the upholstery. While waiting for the tow truck, Chase tells the Sheriff about his little sister's need for leg braces.While Compton is driving down the road in the tow truck he passes a man on the highway with a suitcase. Lurking in the underbrush is the Giant Gila Monster, hereinafter GGM. The man (Desmond Doogh) pulls out a pack of cigarettes and lights one. He hears something, but can't see source of the noise. The GGM approaches and the man falls back into the brush. His suitcase sits untouched. As Compton hooks up the wreck with Chase assisting, the Sheriff tells them the car was reported stolen. On his way home Chase notices the suitcase on the side of the road and stops. The Sheriff pulls up almost immediately. He speculates that it might belong to the person who stole and wrecked the car. They look around and see a loose cigarette and half a pack. They put the case in the Sheriff's car and both depart. Chase stops at the Wheeler home to see Lisa. She is upset. Mr. Wheeler has demanded she stop seeing Chase. He blames Chase for Pat's disappearance.Chase is driving the tow truck when a brand new Cadillac passes him at great speed. The driver notices the GGM on the road ahead and veers to avoid it crashing into a fence and disabling his car. Chase stops to render assistance and notices the driver is unhurt but very drunk. At the wheel is Horatio Alger "Steamroller" Smith (Ken Knox). He is dressed in a tux and introduces himself and explains that a large pink and black thing blocked the road. Chase hooks up his car and tows it back to the garage. The next morning Chase is hammering out the fender of Smith's car and singing. It wakes Smith, who is sporting a hangover, but he likes what hes hearing. He gives Chase his card and tells him to "look me up." He tips Chase $40 then departs.The Sheriff pulls up to the garage and notices Chase working on the wrecked car. It seems Chase has helped himself to a couple of new tires off the wreck for his roadster. Chase tells the Sheriff he will help with the search for Pat and Liz. The Sheriff notices the switch of tires, but doesn't object.Gordy and Chase and their girlfriends search the wash. The GGM watches them. Chase and Lisa walk down the ravine and along the wash. Chase notices marks that look like something large was dragged. Chase tastes some water in the stream, but spits it out and remarks that it tastes bitter, and strongly of minerals. Gordy honks his car horn, and Chase and Lisa run back. Gordy tells Chase he found Pat's car at the bottom of the wash about two or three miles back by the old reservoir. Gordy and Chase pull it out with the tow truck. They bring the wrecked car back to the garage. The Sheriff arrives and asks where they found the car. He notices the same kind of damage as other vehicles sustained. When the Sheriff asks about Compton, the garage owner, Chase tells him he made a fuel oil delivery. On the road, Compton is driving a fuel oil truck. The GGM knocks it off the road and the wreck explodes into flames. Chase closes up the garage and heads home. His mother, (Gay McLendon) meets him on the porch. She blocks his path into the house, so he picks her up. She makes him close his eyes as he enters the house--she has a surprise for him. His little sister, Missy (Janice Stone) is wearing leg braces. Missy exclaims, "Look what Lisa got me." She makes an attempt to cross the room, but falls, gets up and walks a few more steps. Chase then sings her a song. Chase thanks Lisa for the braces. He intended to buy them the next day, but Lisa beat him to it. The phone rings. The Sheriff is inquiring about Compton as there was an accident involving a fuel truck reported. Chase meets him at the garage. Harris reported the accident. Chase, Harris and the Sheriff leave in Chase's car, as the Sheriff's car has a flat tire. They arrive at the accident scene and the truck is still burning, but no trace of Compton. The Sheriff tells Chase that livestock have been reported missing.At the garage, Gordy and his friend hear a radio report about Steamroller Smith agreeing to DJ at their upcoming barn dance. They are waiting for Chase, who drives up with a new paint job on his roadster.Harris is driving down the road, singing and drinking. He sees a train and decides to race it to the crossing. The train misses. Further down the line a trestle is damaged as the GGM slides under it. The train derails and many of the passengers are killed and eaten. After witnessing the derailment, he turns around and drives back to the Sheriff station and makes a report. The Sheriff interviews Harris. Dissatisfied with the story and suspecting drunk driving, he locks him up.Chase's mom arrives home in Chase's roadster. Missy is inside with Chase; shes carrying a suitcase and informs Chase shes spending the night at the Blackwells. The phone rings; its the Sheriff again. He asks for a book on reptiles. At the Sheriff's office he and Chase discuss the possibility of some animal developing gigantism. Harris claims to have seen the GGM, as have some of the survivors of the train wreck. Chase recounts his story of Steamroller Smith's encounter with what he described as a large pink and black creature.At the barn dance people are arriving. Inside there is music and dancing. Chase introduces Steamroller Smith. Smith plays a record. Mr. Wheeler and the Sheriff meet at the garage. Wheeler is mad because his son Pat's car was moved without a proper investigation. He accuses him of protecting Chase. Wheeler concludes his son is dead; he also notices the stolen tires and demands the Sheriff arrest Chase. They drive over to the dance to make the arrest. Smith plays a record and asks the audience to identify the singer. Lisa guesses that it is Chase. Chase picks up a banjo and sings. The Sheriff and Wheeler arrive in separate vehicles, and the GGM simultaneously makes its way to the barn. The GGM crashes through the wall. Panic ensues. The Sheriff retrieves his shotgun from the car and fires with little effect, but does manage to chase it off. The Sheriff deputizes Wheeler and orders him to keep everyone there. Chase and Lisa drive off. Chase has a plan. Chase races back to the garage to retrieve the nitroglycerin, all four quarts. He races along the road and notices a break in the fence and the damaged Blackwell residence, where his little sister was visiting. They drive across a field and spot the Blackwell family and Missy fleeing. Missy falls and is covered by Lisa while Chase races towards the GGM. He jumps clear of his roadster just before it hits the creature. It explodes on impact killing the GGM. The Sheriff arrives and asks, "What did you hit him with?" Chase responds, "my brand new, 100% completed hot rod." Wheeler tells the Sheriff with Compton gone, Chase is unemployed. He tells the Sheriff he has a job for Chase.

violence

tt0052846

Holes

Stanley Yelnats IV (Shia LaBeouf) is a good-hearted teenager born to a luckless family that has been cursed for generations. The luckiest of the Yelnats ancestors, Stanley Yelnats I (Allan Kolman), lost his fortune when outlaw "Kissin' Kate" Barlow stole his treasure chest. The Yelnatses blame their Latvian ancestor Elya Yelnats (Damien Luvara), who was cursed after breaking a promise to carry Madame Zeroni (Eartha Kitt) up a mountain.Stanley is wrongfully arrested and tried for stealing a pair of baseball shoes that Clyde "Sweet feet" Livingston (Rick Fox), a famous baseball player, had donated to charity. Stanley is sent to Camp Green Lake, a juvenile work camp, for his alleged crime. He arrives to find that the "camp" is a dried-up lake run by the corrupt Warden Walker (Sigourney Weaver), her assistant Mr. Sir (Jon Voight), and camp counselor Dr. Pendanski (Tim Blake Nelson). Each day, the detainees must dig a hole 5 ft deep and 5 ft in diameter to "build character," despite the danger of the desert sun, rattlesnakes, and yellow-spotted lizards, which can kill with a single bite. The children are told that if they find anything interesting, they may earn a day off. The inmates, known by their nicknames, include Zero (who refuses to speak to anyone, but likes to dig holes), Armpit, Zig-Zag, Squid, X-Ray and Magnet. Stanley is slowly accepted into the group and is given the name "Caveman." He soon creates a friendship with Zero (Khleo Thomas), whose real name is Hector Zeroni, while teaching him to read.A flashback shows how the men of the Yelnats family suffer under a bad luck curse that affects all aspects of their lives. Stanley II tells Stanley IV the story of how it all started with his great-great grandfather Elya Yelnats in Latvia. Elya worked for Morris Menke (Ravil Isyanov), shoveling manure out of his barn. Elya thought Menke's daughter Myra (Sanya Mateyas) was very beautiful. He goes to a fortune teller, Madame Zeroni, for advice about his destiny. Madame Zeroni recommends that he go to America, where her son has gone, and that his future should be there, instead of with Myra, who is empty-headed. Elya asks Menke for permission to marry his daughter, but Menke says that Igor (Ken Davitian), who is eating with him, has offered her his fattest pig (Igor is fat, too). To prove her point about Myra, Madame Zeroni advises Elya to take a young pig and carry it up the mountain every day so that as the pig grows, he will get stronger. Further, he should sing the pig a certain song when it drinks water from the stream. She tells him that after the pig is full grown and he gives it to Menke, Elya must carry her up the mountain and sing while she drinks, so that she will regain her strength. She gives him a warning, though, that if he forgets to perform that last task, she will curse him and his generations to eternity. Elya gives the pig to Menke, and Menke allows his daughter to choose who she wants to marry. She is indecisive. In anger, Elya tells her to go ahead and marry Igor. He takes Madame Zeroni's advice and heads to America, but forgets to carry her up the mountain as she ordered him to do, if he wants to be spared the curse. He realizes that he has just made the biggest mistake of his life.Another flashback, which reveals how the modern story comes together, relates the history of Camp Green Lake. The town was once a thriving lake town with plenty of water and life. Miss Katherine (Patricia Arquette), the schoolteacher, is accosted by a rich landowner, Warden Walker's ancestor Trout Walker (Scott Plank). He proposes to her, but she rejects him. Miss Katherine is in love with the onion seller Sam (Dulé Hill), an African American who helps repair her schoolhouse in exchange for her renowned spiced peaches. Among other things, Sam claims that regularly consuming onions and 'onion juice' will keep the local yellow-spotted lizards away. When Sam kisses Miss Katherine, the townspeople burn the school. Sam attempts to escape in his boat, the Mary Lou, but Trout kills Sam. In retaliation, Kate kills the sheriff (Eric Pierpoint), who refused to help Sam. She leaves a lipstick kiss on his forehead, beginning her life as the outlaw "Kissin' Kate," who kisses the men she kills.Back in the present, Stanley finds a tube of lipstick that belonged to Kissin' Kate Barlow (Miss Katherine), but he gives it to X-ray because X-ray hasn't had a day off in six months. X-ray gets an entire day off for the tube. Then Armpit tries to pass off a stove knob as something he dug up, but the Warden knows better, and Armpit's joke costs him a week of no shower privileges.After Dr. Pendanski insults Hector, he retaliates by hitting him with his shovel and runs away. After some deliberation, Stanley sets out to help Hector and finds him taking shelter under the remains of Sam's boat, the Mary Lou. Zero, now stranded in the desert, offers Stanley the last jar of "sploosh" (an old jar of Miss Katherine's spiced peaches which had been left on the boat). Stanley, knowing they can't survive in the desert for much longer, heads over to a mountain called God's Thumb.Meanwhile, Walker decides to presume Hector is dead and deletes his files. Stanley carries Hector up the mountain where they find a field of onions and a source of water, helping them regain strength for several days. Unknowingly, Stanley breaks the family curse because Hector Zeroni happens to be a descendant of Madame Zeroni. When he carries Hector to the top of the mountain, sings to him, and lets him drink from the stream that runs uphill, he fulfills the promise made by Elya centuries earlier. After Hector wakes up, he reveals he is the reason Stanley was sent to Camp Green Lake. Hector tells Stanley he had been homeless and had been at the shelter where many things (including Sweetfeet's shoes) had been donated. Because he did not know the shoes were famous, he took the shoes and walked off with them. He then heard sirens coming; thinking they were after him, Hector took off the shoes and tossed them over the bridge, where they fell on Stanley's head. This is how Stanley was caught with the shoes and sent to Camp Green Lake. Stanley thinks it is destiny that they met.In a flashback Kate Barlow, now older, is found in the middle of the now dried-up lake by a pair of husband-and-wife bounty hunters: one of her former students along with Trout Walker (whom the student has married). They mention that the lake dried up because it hasn't rained since Sam died. They order Kate to hand over the Yelnats treasure, but she tells them that they "can dig for a hundred years, and will never find it." Kate allows herself to be bitten by a yellow-spotted lizard on the arm; she suffers for a while and soon dies.As Stanley breaks his family curse, his father finally finds the solution to an odor-eliminating mixture that he has been trying all his life to create -- the addition of peaches and onions. Stanley and Zero decide to go back to Camp Green Lake to investigate the hole in which Stanley found the tube of lipstick, feeling lucky all of a sudden. They dig deeper into the hole and uncover a chest. Warden Walker and Mr. Sir discover them and attempt to take the chest away from Stanley and Zero until they notice that yellow-spotted lizards have climbed onto the boys.When the group is discovered the next morning by the assistant attorney general (Ray Baker) and Stanley's lawyer Carla Morengo (Roma Maffia), Walker attempts to explain that the chest is hers, at which point Stanley jumps out of the hole to confront her with Hector behind him. They are still alive due to the fact that yellow-spotted lizards are averse to the onions they had been eating. Hector reveals that "Stanley Yelnats" is written on the front of the chest.Back at camp, the lawyer finds out that there are no files on Hector. One of the cops notices that Mr. Sir (who was revealed to be Marion Sevillo) has a gun, which is a violation of his parole. When Warden Walker states that she had no knowledge of this, Mr. Sir blurts that Dr. Pedanski isn't a real therapist. The assistant attorney general then declares Camp Greenlake under his jurisdiction as Marion, Warden Walker, and Dr. Pendanski are arrested. As Stanley is beginning to leave, rain falls on Camp Green Lake. Walker, Marion, and Dr. Pendanski are shocked -- it hasn't rained at Green Lake in years. Walker asks Stanley to show her inside the chest, but Stanley refuses. Stanley then drives home with Hector.The Yelnats family claims ownership of the chest and its contents. Stanley decides that half the money should go to Hector and Hector uses some of his share to hire private detectives to find his mother (Shirley Butler).Camp Green Lake is closed and all its juvenile inmates are sent home. Later, it reopens as a girl scout camp. At the end, an advertisement appears on TV for the odor-eliminating mixture Sploosh; the celebrity endorser is Clyde "Sweet feet" Livingston. Stanley, Clyde, and others watch.

revenge, comedy, murder, storytelling, flashback

tt0311289

Metroid Prime 3: Corruption

Six months after the events of Metroid Prime 2: Echoes, Samus is having a nasty dream: Dark Samus, her most recent nemesis, thought to be dead, breaks out of a pod on an unidentified ship. Samus awakes with a shock aboard her new Hunter-class ship built by the Federation for long distances. A transmission summons her to the GF Starship Olympus, commanded by Fleet Commander Dane. Three other bounty hunters, the ice-generating alien Rundas, the cybernetic Ghor, and the shape-shifting Gandrayda, have also been summoned. The four are taken to the Aurora Unit (AU) 242, an artificially intelligent computer mind that controlls the Federation core network. This AU has distressing news: in the past 6 months, the Space Pirates have implemented various Phazon-based weaponry into their arsenal, and are conquering more terrain every day. The GF Spaceship Valhalla has gone missing 4 months before, and the Federation fears that the Pirates have stolen the onboard AU. This suspicion is fuelled by the fact the AU on Skytown above planet Elysia has been infected by a Pirate virus. The Pirates are obviously trying to cripple the Federation's communications, while preparing a major offensive. Dane gives the four bounty hunters the task to deliver a computer vaccine to Skytown's AU. But before the briefing ends, the Pirates start attacking the Olympus with ramming space ships, and a large meteor is on its way to the planet Norion below. Samus and the other hunters fight their way through the ship to the planet surface, in order to fire a large cannon on the meteor. Samus has a brief but fierce encounter with her old nemesis Meta-Ridley again; the creature has obviously been rebuilt, but she fights it off. With the help of her fellow bounty hunters, Samus reactivates three generators that power the cannon. When the hunters are about to activate the cannon, suddenly a large flash of light enters the room. Another old acquaintance: Dark Samus, this time able to fly through solid walls, knocks them all out with heavy Phazon attacks. Samus remains conscious just long enough to activate the cannon, and destroy the large meteor.She awakens a month later onboard the Olympus. The attack by Dark Samus has left an unexpected scar: Samus and the three other bounty hunters were infected with Phazon, and their bodies are now generating the dangerous substance! This fortunately means that their bodies have also become immune to it. And the Federation researchers have found a useful purpose for the Phazon: the Phazon Enhancement Device (PED), a suit addition which allows the wearer to harness the Phazon energy, and enter a Hypermode, which provids strong Phazon-based firepower, matching the Space Pirates' new weapons.The AU 242 tells Samus that during her coma, the Federation has found out that two other meteors, dubbed 'Leviathans', have impacted on the surface of the planets Bryyo and Elysia; they are producing large quantities of Phazon, which corrupts the planets' surfaces. Ghor and Rundas have already been sent to the planets to investigate, while Gandrayda went in search of the Pirates' home world. However, contact with all three of them has been inexplicably severed, so Samus is ordered to go after them, find out what happened and get rid of the Leviathans.Bryyo is a planet comparable to Tallon IV, with old civilizations built amidst lush vegetation. Through old text engravings on the wall, Samus learns that the once thriving civilization devastated itself in a civil war between followers of modern science (the Science Lords) and keepers of the old traditional magic (the Primals). The Leviathan impact and subsequent Phazon spilling have corrupted what little remains of the planet and population. Elysia is a former Chozo colony, where they built a population of self-conscious androids in Skytown, a city floating above the stormy planet surface, before they left for other places. The inhabitants appear to have been corrupted by Phazon too, and the Space Pirates who have invaded the place have, against their better judgment, continued their experiments with the deadly Metroids again. Several dead Pirates are found, some of them sucked dry to the point where their bodies pulverize to the touch. The Pirates have foolishly produced a very dangerous breed of Metroids that is able to enter a trans-dimensional state, and even fly through walls. But Samus makes short work of them. The Leviathans on both planets are protected by generator-powered shields. While searching the generators, Samus finds out to her dismay that there is an unexpected side-effect to the PED: when staying in Hypermode too long, the suit can overload and fully corrupt Samus into a Dark Samus if she doesn't not release excess Phazon. Samus eventually destroys the generators on Bryyo, and she constructs a thermonuclear bomb on Skytown to destroy the shield of the Leviathan on the stormy surface of Elysia. These journeys lead to an encounter with Rundas on Bryyo, and Ghor on Elysia, who are evidently corrupted and mind-controlled by the Phazon infection. She is forced to kill both in battle. Upon death, their bodies disintegrate into Phazon particles, which are absorbed by a floating Dark Samus. Samus eventually enters both Leviathans and defeats the inner guardians inside with the Hyperbeams, destroying the Leviathans, and dispelling the source of corruption on Bryyo and Elysia.She receives word from AU 242, that the Pirates' home planet has been discovered, as well as the wreckage of the Valhalla. Samus infiltrates the Pirates' industrial complex, where she meets the corrupted Gandrayda, who also has to be defeated. Samus finally learns the truth about the Leviathans; they came from a planet immensely far away from the known Galaxy, from a sentient planet dubbed Phaaze. The planet has hurled its seeds through wormholes to distant planets, in order to spread its corrupting Phazon; they were, in fact, Leviathans that had struck the planets Tallon IV and Aether, all those decades ago. Apparently, the core essence of the planet Phaaze is now symbiotically linked with Dark Samus, who had stowed away on a Space Pirate freighter, and had started to brainwash a large group of them. They had helped her attack the Valhalla, killed the crew, and taken the onboard AU to Phaaze.It is clear now that planet Phaaze is Samus' final target. She disables the defences of the Pirates' stronghold, so that Commander Dane can start an invasion. Afterwards she destroys the remaining Leviathan on the planet, and Meta-Ridley guarding it. A trip to the Valhalla gives her a code to control an unused Leviathan that is discovered to be still in orbit around the Space Pirates' planet. Samus reprograms it to open a wormhole to Phaaze itself. The entire Federation armada enters the wormhole and engages the Pirate forces stationed there, while Samus lands and enters the bowels of the planet itself. Landing on the planet causes her suit and PED to go into a permanent state of Hypermode. Not even her ship recognizes her in this state, but she needs this Hypermode badly in her final battle with her dark twin. She arrives near the center of the planet, where the Leviathans were created, as well as the Metroid Prime that had stowed away onboard the one that had once hit Tallon IV. There she encounters Dark Samus again. After winning her first battle, Dark Samus merges with the corrupted AU, but Samus destroys this hybrid, and with it the core essence of Phaaze. The entire planet becomes instantly unstable, and all Pirate ships in space start to explode. Commander Dane orders an immediate retreat to Federation Space. The Federation armada just barely makes it through the collapsing wormhole as Phaaze and the Leviathan explode, destroying every bit of Phazon in the Galaxy with it.Back in Federation Space, the armada makes up a damage report. There are considerable losses to the ships, but all Phazon has disappeared from the scanners. However, Samus has not called in. Commander Dane stares silently, fearing the worst. But then, Samus' familiar ship appears from behind the Olympus. She salutes the crew, and enters a message: Mission Accomplished.Samus lands in Skytown for a brief moment of reflection in the setting sun: the Phazon threat has finally been eliminated, but at the cost of three dedicated bounty hunters. She enters her ship again and flies off, not noticing that Sylux' ship lays in a pursuit...

sci-fi

tt0944840

Point Break

Bank robbers who are surfers? The F.B.I. force can hardly believe that Agent Angelo Pappas is actually considering such a thing. But what do they care? He's probably gone loopy, he's old and washed up, unable to adapt to the new system of the F.B.I. So they ignore his theory, letting the notorious bank robbers "The Ex Presidents" rob as many banks as they like. But Pappas can't believe it when a rookie Agent Johnny Utah is assigned to him! After all the kids a damn ex football player! How the hell is he suppose to solve this bank robbery case with this college punk by his side? But Pappas soon learns that Utah is a crack shot and he's also clever, and supportive of Pappas's mocked theory. Together they set out to get the elusive robbers, realising that sex wax was found at a previous crime scene and that the robberies only take place every summer. The robbers move with the waves.Utah goes deep undercover to find the surfers, meeting Tyler, a tough tomboy chick who can surf like a devil and is a very reluctant mentor as well. He says he's a lawyer and that his parents died, after learning from the F.B.I. system that Tyler's folks are dead too, he uses this to soften her and get her to be his teacher. But is Utah ready for the world of surfers? An elusive sort of tribe that rides on the waves and lives for the eternal thrill of almost meeting their end? He gets tumbled by massive waves and the spiritual and manipulative surfer, Bodhi, Tyler's ex boyfriend, and the leader of a pack of thrill seeking hot head surfers. Utah gets accepted into their group, but as he becomes closer to Bohdi and his pals, he loses sight of their guilt and grows to care for Bohdi as a friend. He botches up an operation with a possible group of surfer suspects who are in fact crystal meth dealers. Through a mass of shooting, blood and naked brawling with two angry females involved with the punks, they learn that these guys aren't their culprits. And that an undercover DEA agent was infact trying to bust them on drug dealing after months of undercover work. As if this isn't enough to make Utah want to take a ticket out of there, he almost catches Bohdi on a mad chase scene on foot, after he stakes out to catch the robbers, but is unable to shoot him because he cares for Bohdi. He also injures his already surgery plagued knee from falling off a slope onto concrete. Pappas doesn't buy Utah's story of him missing Bohdi as he knows Utah is an incredible marksman.Later Bohdi and Utah go sky diving, but the surfer has something up his sleeve. His psycho friend Rosie is holding Tyler hostage after she finds out that Utah isn't a lawyer but a cop and runs off after holding Johnny at gun point. Rosie threatens to kill Tyler and the only way Johnny can save her is by helping The Ex Presidents in one last hiest. But Bohdi makes a fatal error, he gets greedy and goes for the vault, over extending their time and losing a crew member, as well as killing an off duty cop who tries to be a hero. Johnny is knocked out by a maddened Bohdi and left to be arrested by his own force! Mocked by the ass licking agents who are always on his & Pappas's back. They arrest Johnny and are disgusted with him killing a fellow cop, but Utah is totally oblivious to this, hating Bohdi inwardly like a disease. Pappas knows Utah acted like a jock strap and made a bad move by falling into Bohdi's trap. But he defends his young partner anyway against the arrogant pompous ass that is Agent Ben Harp, telling the smart ass that he was on the force when he was still popping his zits and jerking off to the lingerie section of the Sears catalogue. He then punches Harp and knocks him out, saying that he's also always respected his elders and that Harp should learn to too! Now the heat is on, as Utah knows that the only reason he got involved in the robbery was because of Tyler, but now it's become too personal, and Bohdi has gone way too far. But then again, how far is too far for someone as radical as Bohdi?Utah and Pappas go alone to where he and Bohdi first went skydiving, and this results in a massive shoot off and Pappas being blown away by the cowardly Roach, who also gets shot and bleeds out on the plane. They get Utah on the plane and claim that there's no more parachutes, and Roach leaps off saying he'll see Johnny in Hell. Johnny jumps after Bohdi though and in an adrenaline pumping scene he tells Bohdi to pull the chute or he'll blow Bohdi's head off. Being fearless Bohdi says either way they die, and Johnny pulls the chute in a furious gesture of loathing for the other man. They land in the desert planes of an unknown area, Roach's corpse lies on the dusty ground and the money flits into the air with a green haze again the blue sky. Tyler is released by Rosie, and him and Bohdi ride off down the dusty track to where ever they plan to go.Years later, in Australia, Bohdi's prediction of the hundred year storm that would cause the Pacific to swell and produce huge ways, comes true. But Utah has been tracking his ex friend, and in the tumultous storm that the heavens spill upon the Australian coast, the sea swells and floods caused by colossal amounts of rain fall, we see Johnny again walking to the beach. Surfers retreat in droves from the beach, claiming that only a mad man would stay on the ocean in such a tremendous outbreak of fury over the sea. But Johnny knows one man who would, Bohdi, and he's come to collect him to be locked up at last. Bohdi is staring out to see, the figure of peace and in his eyes we see the hunger to ride those waves. Johnny breaks his trance and tells him that he's been tracking him and Rosie for some time now. And that he finally got a break when he found Rosie's marred corpse in a bar after a bad fight. He says he feared that Bohdi would just vanish after that though, but he knew that he would never miss the hundred year storm. Bohdi says that its typical that Utah's here, and that he guesses that the agent has finally got his man. He tries to escape though, almost drowning Johnny in the waves as they pummel each other, falling about in the greyish foam water of the sea. Utah handcuffs Bohdi however and tells him that he told the cops that Bohdi would go quietly. Bohdi begs him not do this, saying he'd die in a cage! Utah doesn't care anymore, it's time that his compadre went down. In the end however, he lets Bohdi go and ride the ferocious waves that rise in terrifying heights like walls of water. Utah watches as Bohdi paddles out to his death as the water crashes into him. Utah stands in the pouring rain, his now long hair sopping and his eyes full of a strange sort of peace. The Australian policemen are livid that he let Bohdi go and say "We'll get him when he comes back in!" Johnny walks away and chucks his F.B.I. badge into the ocean, and replies, it seems, to the raging waves, "He's not coming back."

entertaining, cult, neo noir, murder, violence

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Code Name: The Cleaner

Jake wakes up in a hotel room beside a dead FBI agent and a suitcase full of money. He does not remember anything, indicating that he is suffering from amnesia. As he runs from the hotel he is met by Diane, who tells Jake that she is his wife. Diane takes Jake to a big mansion and calls the doctor to check him. Diane and the doctor discuss how to bring back Jake's memory and the doctor suggests a sexual scenario. Jake overhears Diane and the doctor's conversation and runs away from the mansion in a Benz with the money. Jake goes back to the hotel in disguise and gets an envelope at the reception office which has a D.A.R.T card in it. During this course of the plot he keeps getting flash episodes of him dressed as a special ops guy and fighting bad guys. He is convinced that he is a spy and forgot about it. He now sits at a diner in front of D.A.R.T and meets Gina here. She tells him that Jake works as a janitor at D.A.R.T, which he does not believe.

cult, comic, violence, flashback

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Starcrash

In a distant galaxy, a starship searches for the evil Count Zarth Arn. Closing in on a planet, the ship is attacked by a mysterious weapon (a red blobby field) which drives the crew insane. Three escape pods launch during the attack, but the ship crashes into the atmosphere of the planet and is destroyed. Meanwhile, smugglers Stella Star and her sidekick Akton run into the Imperial Space Police, led by robot sheriff Elle. Akton and Stella escape by jumping into hyperspace. When they emerge, they discover an escape pod from the attacked starship, and in it, a sole disoriented survivor. Before they can escape, they are apprehended by the police, who tracked their hyperspace trail. Tried and convicted of piracy, they are each sentenced to life in prison on separate prison planets. When a riot breaks out at Stella's prison, she uses the diversion to escape the prison, which explodes shortly afterwards. Elle and Police Chief Thor recapture her, only to inform her the authorities have cancelled her sentence; she is taken to an orbiting ship, where she is reunited with Akton. They are contacted holographically by the Emperor of the Galaxy, who thanks them for recovering the starship survivor; he informs them of a feud he has with Count Zarth Arn, who has a secret weapon of immense power hidden away on a planet somewhere, and with which he plans to take over the galaxy. The Emperor orders Stella and Akton to find the Count's weapon, and they are offered clemency if they help find two more missing escape pods as well as the mother ship, one of which may contain the Emperor's only son. With Chief Thor and Elle accompanying them, Stella and Akton set off on their quest. Using hyperspace, which massively cuts the time they have to travel through space, they quickly arrive at the location Akton computes for the first escape pod. Stella and Elle take a shuttle from the spaceship and land near the pod on a sandy, rocky beach. There are no living survivors. Stella meets an Amazonian warrior tribe and is escorted to their underground fortress. On arrival, Elle is ambushed, shot and left for dead, and Stella is taken captive. Stella is taken before Corelia, Queen of the Amazons, who is in league with Zarth Arn. Elle doesn't actually die, and he makes his way to the throne room, taking Corelia hostage to secure Stella's release. They escape, but the queen mentally activates a giant female robot which chases them until they are rescued by Akton and Thor, in the spaceship. On a desolate and uninhabited snow-covered frozen planet, Stella and Elle investigate the mother ship crash site, but as with the first crash site, they find no survivors. Upon their return to the ship, Thor, who has ambushed and apparently knocked out Akton, reveals that he is an agent of Zarth Arn, and will shortly join him as his Prince of Darkness. Thor locks Stella and Elle outside on this planet where the temperature drops thousands of degrees at night, where he knows they will freeze to death; however, Elle preserves Stella's life by using his energy to keep her heart going while they freeze over in the snow. Meanwhile, Akton revives himself and battles Thor, killing him. When morning comes, Akton brings Elle and frozen Stella back onto the ship, where he uses his powers to thaw her out. Approaching the planet of the third escape pod, their ship comes under attack from the same red blobby field, but Akton steers the ship through it, saving them. Stella and Elle, inspecting the pod wreckage, are attacked by primitive cavemen who smash Elle to pieces and abduct Stella, but a man in a golden mask arrives, firing lasers through his eyes, and rescues her. He is revealed to be the Emperor's son, Prince Simon. They are again attacked and overpowered by the cavemen, but Akton appears and fights them off with his light saber; he then reveals that they are standing on the Count's weaponized planet. Arriving at an underground laboratory, the three are captured by the guards. The Count appears and reveals his plan to use them as bait to bring the Emperor to the planet, and then have his weapon self-destruct, destroying the planet, the Emperor, and all of them. He leaves, ordering his two robot golems to keep the group there. Akton engages them in a laser sword duel, and the trio eventually defeat the robots, but Akton is mortally wounded. He says goodbye, and vanishes in a plume of electrical fuzz. The Emperor arrives at the planet. He is aware of the Count's trap, but he buys them all time to escape by using a green ray from his flagship to "stop time" for three minutes. The flagship pulls away as the planet explodes behind it. Stella stands with the Emperor on his flagship, as a huge battle commences between his armada and the Count's, with the Emperor's soldiers storming the Count's space station; however, the attack fails, and the victorious Count gets set to destroy the Emperor's home planet. With no more option left, the Emperor decides to ram a massive space station, the Floating City, into the Count's space station, destroying them both. But Elle has been salvaged and rebuilt by the Emperor's men, and Stella and Elle volunteer to commandeer the City, and to smash it into the Count's station. They fly the city towards the space station, and manage to escape together just as their station crashes into the Count's, finally winning the war. Stella and Elle are picked up by Simon, and the two humans embrace. The movie ends with the Emperor delivering a short victory speech.

good versus evil, cult

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10 Things I Hate About You

Cameron James (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), the new kid at Padua High School, is given a tour of the school by Michael Eckman (David Krumholtz), who is an audio-visual geek and former leader of a clique of future MBAs. Michael provides Cameron with information on the schools various cliques. During the tour, Cameron spots the beautiful and popular Bianca Stratford (Larisa Oleynik) and is immediately smitten with her. Michael warns that Bianca is shallow, conceited, and worst of all, not allowed to date. Michael does, however, inform Cameron that Bianca is looking for a French tutor.At the Stratford residence, Biancas outcast older sister Kat (Julia Stiles) receives a letter of acceptance to Sarah Lawrence College. Her protective father, Walter (Larry Miller), is distraught by the news, as he wants Kat to attend college nearby. Kat distracts her father by revealing that Bianca was given a ride home from school by Joey Donner (Andrew Keegan). Bianca begs her father to allow her to date, but to no avail. Kat's aversion to dating prompts the father to come up with a new rule: Bianca can only date if Kat is dating.Cameron starts tutoring Bianca, and she informs him of her fathers rule after Cameron makes many failed attempts to ask her out. This news motivates Cameron and Michael to set out to find a boy who is willing to date Kat.Cameron suggests Patrick Verona (Heath Ledger), an outcast who is just as ill-tempered as Kat. Cameron tries asking Patrick for his assistance, but Patrick scares him off. Michael then poses the idea to Joey, also attempting to date Bianca, to pay Patrick to take Kat out. Patrick agrees, but Kat, however, wants nothing to do with Patrick. Cameron and Michael finally explain their situation to Patrick and inform him that Bogie Lowenstein (Kyle Cease) is throwing a party (this is actually a plot by Michael to get revenge, as a rumor from Bogie had got him kicked out of their clique). Cameron and Michael spread rumors around school that Bogie's party will have free beer and dancing, although it is actually a small private gathering.At the party, Kat tells Joey to stay away from her sister. Joey brags that he cannot guarantee she'll stay away from him. Kat gets upset and begins drinking, leading her to dance drunkenly on a table. Meanwhile, Cameron discovers that Bianca was using him to find a date for Kat so that Bianca could date Joey.Cameron decides to stop trying to date Bianca, but Patrick convinces him to go for it. Bianca asks Cameron for a ride home after discovering Joeys true character. Cameron drops her off and tells her that he really likes her and was very disappointed in her. At that point Bianca kisses Cameron. Patrick brings Kat home, and she drunkenly tries kissing Patrick. He suggests they should do that some other time, hurting Kats feelings.The next day at school, Patrick publicly sings Can't Take My Eyes Off Of You to Kat in front of everyone asking her forgiveness, landing him in detention. Kat gets him out of detention by "flashing" the soccer coach. Kat and Patrick spend the day together, and they both realize that they truly do like each other. Patrick, motivated by Joey's bribe of $300, asks Kat to the prom. However, she is suspicious of his motives and they get into a fight.Bianca tries to convince her father to let her go to the prom, but he refuses, since Kat isnt going. Bianca confronts Kat. Kat then reveals that she dated Joey and they had sex, mostly because everyone else was doing it. However, when Kat told Joey that she wasn't ready for sex and did not want to do it again, he immediately broke up with her. Even though she forbade Joey to tell anyone of their one time together or else she would tell all the cheerleaders how tiny he is, Kat still felt immense rejection, thus spurring her to not do anything ever again just because everyone else was doing it and distanced herself from her peers.Bianca and Kat end up going to the prom with Cameron and Patrick. Joey is furious to learn that Bianca has gone to prom with Cameron, and confronts Patrick about the "arrangement" in front of Kat. Kat blows up at Patrick and leaves. Joey subsequently confronts Cameron about manipulating the 'deal' for himself, but after he punches Cameron, Bianca hits Joey three times herself, leaving him curled up in pain on the floor with a broken nose and a black eye.The next morning, Bianca thanks Kat for going to prom and the sisters make up. Kat's father allows her to go to Sarah Lawrence. At school, Kat reads a poem which she wrote for English class, titled "10 Things I Hate About You" (written about Patrick). While reading the poem, she reveals (in front of the entire class) how hurt she was by what Patrick did and how much she really cares about him ("But mostly I hate the way I don't hate you. Not even close, not even a little bit, not even at all"). Patrick is shown to be touched by her revelation. In the parking lot, Kat finds a guitar Patrick bought her with the money Joey paid him, and he admits that he messed up their deal by falling for her. Kat forgives Patrick and the two kiss and make up.(Source: WikiPedia. Bangs_McCoy)

comedy, gothic, adult comedy, clever, romantic, entertaining

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Palindromes

The film opens with a funeral for a young woman; the deceased is Dawn Wiener (the protagonist from Solondz's Welcome to the Dollhouse), who went to college, gained a lot of weight, and committed suicide after she became pregnant. Her brother Mark (Matthew Faber, reprising his role) reads the eulogy while Dawn's tearful parents (Angela Pietropinto and Bill Buell, also reprising their roles) sit in the audience. A few years later, Aviva, Dawn's cousin, desires to have a child. She has sex with Judah (Robert Agri), a family friend, and becomes pregnant. Aviva's parents are horrified and demand she gets an abortion. While the abortion is technically successful, it is implied via a fractured, emotional conversation with the doctor (Stephen Singer) that Aviva can no longer have children. Not fully conscious, Aviva is unaware of this, and her parents, already fragile, lead her to believe all is well when she awakens, afraid to upset Aviva. Aviva runs away from home. She befriends a trucker (Stephen Adly Guirgis) and has sex with him; however, the trucker abandons her at a motel. She is eventually found by the Sunshine Family, a Christian fundamentalist foster home that cares for orphans and runaways. She tells them her name is Henrietta — the name she picked for the baby she was persuaded to abort. While at the Sunshine Family home, she discovers a dark side to the foster father; he assassinates abortion providers. His next target is the doctor who performed Aviva's abortion. The hitman whom the foster father uses is the same trucker Aviva previously befriended and had sex with. Convinced she is in love with the truck driver, Aviva flees the Sunshine Family to join him on his assignment. The murder does not go as planned as, in addition to the doctor himself, the trucker (whose name is revealed to be Bob) ends up accidentally shooting the doctor's young daughter when she steps in front of the first shot. The police find Bob and Aviva both in a motel room, and Bob commits suicide by cop. The film then skips ahead several months later to Aviva back home with her parents, planning her next birthday party. During the party, she talks to her cousin, Mark, who has recently been accused of molesting his sister Missy's baby (although he denies having done it). The film skips ahead to Aviva's meeting Judah, who now calls himself Otto, and they have sex again. Once again, Aviva believes she is pregnant and is happy about it.

comedy, cruelty, murder, magical realism, absurd, psychedelic, satire, melodrama

tt0362004

Prince of Darkness

The movie opens with a dying priest clutching a metal box. The priest was protecting the box and soon it is found out why. The box contains a key that opens an area beneath a derelit church. The area contains a room that holds a terrifying secret.A Vicar (Donald Pleasence) begs for help from a professor called Howard Birack (Victor Wong) and a group of physics students to investigate this room and a mysterious cylinder in the basement of the derelict Los Angeles church. The cylinder contains a twisting, green gooey liquid. The students attending the experiment are Walter, Susan, Wyndham, Kelly, Lisa and Catherine. Among these people investigating this is a Metaphysican who is named in the film as Marsh (Jameson Parker). Next to the cylinder is a book inscribed in three different languages which they try to decypher.After reading the written passages found next to the cylinder, it is discovered that the liquid is actually Satan, the devil incarnate. The liquid itself appears to be a living organism, producing increasingly complex data that is revealed by computer decoding to include differential equations and sending the computers into data overload. One of the students decides to call it a night and is brutally murdered by a tramp (Alice Cooper) with part of a bicycle frame. Another student called Wyndham is brutally stabbed with scissors after having bugs crawl on his face and body.The next two days develops into something sinister, small jets of liquid escape the cylinder and possess the group one at a time, causing them to attack and incapacitate the remaining students. From outside Wyndham returns back from the dead and says he has a message from Satan for the rest of the group and just after he says the words: "You're not going to like it". His body erupts with beetles emerging from his body. He loses his head and more bugs crawl out until he whole body disolves and only his suit remains. A student called Conor tries to take his own life with a piece of stair bannister that he proceeds to jab into his throat.They try to escape the church and they are stopped outside by possessed homeless people who are trying to kill them. Birack and the Vicar soon start to realise that Satan is actually the son of an even more dangerous and powerful force of evil, the "Anti-God",who Satan plans to bring into this world and therefore damn it for eternity.The survivors that still remain find themselves sharing the same dream, apparently a subconcious vision that has been sent as a warning to not just the group but also mankind from the future year which is supposed to be taken in the year 1999 shows a distorted vision sequence of a shadowy figure emerging from the front of the church. The vision and the shadowy figure shown seem to change slightly with each and every reoccurance of the dream. A voice overheard as the vision plays out each time warns the 'dreamer' that they are witnessing an actual broadcast from the future and they must alter the course of events to prevent Satan from completing his evil plan.Eventually, the cylinder is opened and the entire gooey substance is entered orally into the body of Kelly, one of the students who becomes the ultimate incarnate of Satan: A gruesomely disfigured being, with powers of Telekinesis and regeneration, who attempts to bring the Anti-God through a dimensional portal using a powder puff mirror. A task that he fails at first because the mirror is too small to bring his father into the human world. Realising his mistake, Satan finds a larger wall mirror, and begins to pull the Anti-god's hand through it as most of the group are immobilised in fights with the other possessed members.Catherine Danforth (Lisa Blount), who Marsh is in love with, begins to sob. She doesn't know what to do, whether to save Marsh from the possessed Conor or stop Satan's plan. She feels that seeing as she is the only one not immobilised like the others, decides to stop Satan's evil plan and tackles the possessed Kelly with both of them falling through the portal in the mirror. The Vicar then smashes the mirror with an axe, trapping Satan, the Anti-God and Catherine on the other side of the mirror. Catherine is seen briefly on the other side of the mirror reaching desperately out to the portal before it closes, leaving her in total darkness. Immediately the possessed drop dead and the homeless people who are no longer under Satan's spell walk away from the church. Walter sees this as an advange and runs away into the night. The survivors are rescued, feeling relieved that the evil has been prevented and the nightmare is over.At the end, Marsh has the recurring dream again, except that this time it's a possessed version of Catherine that is now the figure emerging from the front of the church as they all visioned earlier. He appears to awaken, and rolls over to find Catherine, gruesomely disfigured with her face covered with blood or what looks like bloody muscle instead of skin, lying in bed with him. He awakes, this time for real. Glistening with sweat, shocked and screaming, he gets up off the bed and approaches his bedroom mirror, hand outstretched. The film cuts to black just before his fingers touch the mirror, thus giving the audience the impression that the horror isn't over....

comedy, murder, paranormal, cult, good versus evil, psychedelic, philosophical, claustrophobic, romantic, suspenseful

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