The selection of movies below are from my personal favorates. For your convenience, I have provided links to each movie,
where you can get more information, or purchase it. As an Amazon Associate I do earn a commission from qualifying purchases.
10 Items or Less (2006)
Color
An actor prepping for an upcoming role meets a quirky grocery clerk
10 Items or Less
An actor (Freeman) prepping for an upcoming role meets a quirky grocery clerk (Vega), and the pair hit the road to show one another their respective worlds.
100 Girls (2000)
Color
Freshman finds love in dorm elevator during power outage, but doesn't ger her name
100 Girls
"After leaving a party at a women's dormitory, Matthew (Jonathan Tucker) is trapped in an elevator with an unknown, and unseen, woman when the power goes out. Matthew and this unknown woman have sex in the dark. When Matthew wakes up in the morning--still in the elevator--he finds himself alone with a pair of her panties.
On a mission to find his mystery maiden by finding a matching bra for the panties, Matthew becomes the maintenance man of the virgin vault. After releasing mice, he goes room to room, setting traps. He convinces the panicked women to leave their rooms and then starts to look for a match. When he is unsuccessful, he continues to break things (such as the air conditioning) in an effort to find his woman. He also fixes the television set, which is greatly received by women he refers to as "Janeites", as they have a great interest in films adapted from books by Jane Austen. He doesn't get much help from his roommate Rod (James DeBello), who keeps telling him to give up, and together they philosophize about men and women. Rod tells him that he doesn't need a girlfriend and that it's futile to try to find the "bra matching the panties", and Matthew accuses him of being too macho. Rod introduces Matthew to the "penile power", which involves the use of weights attached to his penis as a means of increasing the organ's size. He does this and insults women to make himself feel better about the problem he has with his manhood; he suffers from hypospadias.
Early on, Matthew watches as a woman named Patty (Emmanuelle Chriqui) and her boyfriend Crick (Johnny Green) fight. Crick is the epitome of the macho man stereotype, with his big pectorals, conceited attitude, and abusiveness. He wears a ponytail, a manicured goatee, "male make-up", and chews nicotine gum, much to Matthew's dismay. Matthew tries to save Patty, but is hurt by Crick. Crick leaves, and Patty tries to help Matthew, but Matthew can't help but think of Patty's reputation as a "slut".
While searching one room, Matthew finds himself trapped in the bathroom when the occupant returns. Matthew is attacked by Wendy (Larisa Oleynik), until she recognizes him as a high school classmate. Wendy decides to help Matthew in his quest to find his mystery maiden, hoping that, in the process, she may find one of her own, as she is a closeted lesbian.
Matthew is nervous about talking to girls. Arlene (Katherine Heigl) and his teacher Ms. Stern (Aimee Graham) disparage Matthew, asserting that women are more dominant than men are. Arlene beats him at foosball. Ms. Stern asserts that women, rather than men, should be in command. Rod tells Matthew that he's a chicken and should just give up on girls, while Matthew tells him that he has never been able to speak to girls, especially Cynthia (Jaime Pressly).
Matthew puts an advertisement in the school newspaper asking the girl he's seeking to meet him in the basement on a Thursday night. He sits in the dark every Thursday night, waiting for her to show up. The door opens one night, and he thinks it's her, but it's Wendy, coming to check up on him. Finally, the mystery maiden does show up, only to tell him to stop looking for her.
Despite the approach of the end of the semester, Matthew isn't deterred. He disguises himself in drag, as Francesca, as a means to continue his search. In drag, he is actually able to talk to Cynthia one on one which, (until she is injured later on after two students, who are moving furniture, accidentally drop a couch down the stairs crushing her), he is not able to do because he is intimidated by her good looks. Rod flirts with Francesca and later brags to Matthew that he had sex with Francesca. This makes Matthew so angry that he adds another weight onto Rod's "penile power" device, hurting him. Crick makes a pass at Matthew in drag while he fights with Patty. Matthew bites off part of Crick's tongue. As a result, Crick is unable to speak without lisping.
Desperation sets in, so Matthew appeals to his mystery maiden by proclaiming his love for her to the whole dormitory. He finally determines his mystery maiden is Patty. She initially rejects him because she thought that he would see her only as a slut. Crick sees that Matthew wants Patty, but Matthew has him arrested for sexually assaulting him (when he was dressed as Francesca).
Matthew introduces Rod and Dora, and Arlene and Wendy hook up. Cynthia shows off her newly found martial art abilities that she discovered as a way to cope with frustration following her injury, and Ms. Stern learns a valuable lesson on gender equality, as Matthew stands up to her in front of the class, to an ovation. Finally, Matthew proclaims his passionate love to Patty, who sees his loving eyes, and they kiss.
12 Angry Men (1957)
Black & White
Only one juror wants to take time to decide a life or death decision
12 Angry Men
"The story begins in a New York City courthouse, where an eighteen-year-old Hispanic boy from a slum is on trial for allegedly stabbing his father to death. Final closing arguments having been presented, a visibly tired judge instructs the jury to decide whether the boy is guilty of murder. The judge further informs them that a guilty verdict will be accompanied by a mandatory death sentence.
The jury retires to a private room, where the jurors spend a short while getting acquainted before they begin deliberating. It is immediately apparent that the jurors have already decided that the boy is guilty, and that they plan to return their verdict without taking time for discussion--with the sole exception of Juror 8 (Henry Fonda), who is the only "not guilty" vote in a preliminary tally. He explains that there is too much at stake for him to go along with the verdict without at least talking about it first. His vote annoys the other jurors, especially Juror 7 (Jack Warden), who has tickets to a baseball game that evening; and Juror 10 (Ed Begley), who believes that people from slum backgrounds are liars and are wild and dangerous.
The rest of the film's focus is the jury's difficulty in reaching a unanimous verdict. While several of the jurors harbor personal prejudices, Juror 8 maintains that the evidence presented in the case is circumstantial, and that the boy deserves a fair deliberation. He calls into question the accuracy and reliability of the only two witnesses to the murder, the "rarity" of the murder weapon (a common switchblade, of which he has an identical copy), and the overall questionable circumstances. He further argues that he cannot in good conscience vote "guilty" when he feels there is reasonable doubt of the boy's guilt.
Having argued several points and gotten no favorable response from the others, Juror 8 reluctantly agrees that he has only succeeded in hanging the jury. Instead, he requests another vote, this time by secret ballot. He proposes that he will abstain from voting, and if the other 11 jurors are still unanimous in a guilty vote, then he will acquiesce to their decision. The secret ballot is held, and a new "not guilty" vote appears. This earns intense criticism from Juror 3 (Lee J. Cobb), who blatantly accuses Juror 5 (Jack Klugman) -- who had grown up in a slum -- of switching out of sympathy toward slum children. However, Juror 9 (Joseph Sweeney) reveals that he himself changed his vote, feeling that Juror 8's points deserve further discussion.
Juror 8 presents a convincing argument that one of the witnesses, an elderly man who claimed to have heard the boy yell "I'm going to kill you" shortly before the murder took place, could not have heard the voices as clearly as he had testified due to an elevated train passing by at the time; as well as stating that "I'm going to kill you," is often said by people who do not literally mean it. Juror 5 changes his vote to "not guilty". Soon afterward, Juror 11 (George Voskovec) questions whether the defendant would have reasonably fled the scene before cleaning the knife of fingerprints, then come back three hours later to retrieve the knife (which had been left in his father's chest); then changes his vote.
Juror 8 then mentions the man's second claim: upon hearing the father's body hit the floor, he had gone to the door of his apartment and seen the defendant running out of the building from his front door in 15 seconds. Jurors 5, 6 and 8 question whether this is true, as the witness in question had had a stroke, limiting his ability to walk. Upon the end of an experiment, the jury finds that the witness would not have made it to the door in enough time to actually see the killer running out. Juror 8 concludes that, judging from what he claims to have heard earlier, the witness must have merely assumed it was the defendant running. Juror 3, growing more irritated throughout the process, explodes in a rant: "He's got to burn! He's slipping through our fingers!" Juror 8 takes him to task, calling him a "self-appointed public avenger" and a sadist, saying he wants the defendant to die only because "he personally wants it, not because of the facts". Juror 3 shouts "I'll kill him!" and starts lunging at Juror 8, but is restrained by Jurors 5 and 7. Juror 8 calmly retorts, "You don't really mean you'll kill me, do you?", proving his previous point.
Jurors 2 (John Fiedler) and 6 (Edward Binns) also decide to vote "not guilty", tying the vote at 6--6. Soon after, a rainstorm hits the city, threatening to cancel the baseball game for which Juror 7 has tickets.
Juror 4 (E. G. Marshall) states that he does not believe the boy's alibi, which was being at the movies with a few friends at the time of the murder, because the boy could not remember what movie he had seen three hours later. Juror 8 explains that being under emotional stress can make you forget certain things, and tests how well Juror 4 can remember the events of previous days. Juror 4 remembers, with some difficulty, the events of the previous five days, and Juror 8 points out that he had not been under emotional stress at that time, thus there was no reason to think the boy could remember the movie that he had seen.
Juror 2 calls into question the prosecution's claim that the accused, nearly a foot shorter than the victim, was able to inflict the downward stab wound found on the body. Jurors 3 and 8 conduct an experiment to see if it's possible for a shorter person to stab downward into a taller person. The experiment proves the possibility, but Juror 5 then explains that he had grown up amidst knife fights in his neighborhood, and shows, through demonstrating the correct use of a switchblade, that no one so much shorter than his opponent would have held a switchblade in such a way as to stab downward, as the grip would have been too awkward and the act of changing hands too time-consuming. Rather, someone that much shorter than his opponent would stab underhanded at an upwards angle. This revelation augments the certainty of several of the jurors in their belief that the defendant is not guilty.
Increasingly impatient, Juror 7 changes his vote just so that the deliberation may end, which earns him the ire of Jurors 3 and 11, both on opposite sides of the discussion. Juror 11, an immigrant who has repeatedly displayed strong patriotic pride, presses Juror 7 hard about using his vote frivolously, and eventually Juror 7 claims that he now truly believes the defendant is not guilty.
The next jurors to change their votes are Jurors 12 (Robert Webber) and 1 (Martin Balsam), making the vote 9--3 and leaving only three dissenters: Jurors 3, 4 and 10. Outraged at how the proceedings have gone, Juror 10 goes into a rage on why people from the slums cannot be trusted, of how they are little better than animals who gleefully kill each other off for fun. His speech offends Juror 5, who turns his back to him, and one by one the rest of the jurors start turning away from him. Confused and disturbed by this reaction to his diatribe, Juror 10 continues in a steadily fading voice and manner, slowing to a stop with "Listen to me. Listen..." Juror 4, the only man still facing him, tersely responds, "I have. Now sit down and don't open your mouth again." As Juror 10 moves to sit in a corner by himself, Juror 8 speaks quietly about the evils of prejudice, and the other jurors slowly resume their seats.
When those remaining in favor of a guilty vote are pressed as to why they still maintain that there is no reasonable doubt, Juror 4 states his belief that despite all the other evidence that has been called into question, the fact remains that the woman who saw the murder from her bedroom window across the street (through the passing train) still stands as solid evidence. After he points this out, Juror 12 changes his vote back to "guilty", making the vote 8--4.
Then Juror 9, after seeing Juror 4 rub his nose (which is being irritated by his glasses), realizes that, like Juror 4, the woman who allegedly saw the murder had impressions in the sides of her nose which she rubbed, indicating that she wore glasses, but did not wear them to court out of vanity. Juror 8 cannily asks Juror 4 if he wears his eyeglasses to sleep, and Juror 4 admits that he does not wear them -- nobody does. Juror 8 explains that there was thus no logical reason to expect that the witness happened to be wearing her glasses while trying to sleep, and he points out that the attack happened so swiftly that she would not have had time to put them on. After he points this out, Jurors 12, 10 and 4 all change their vote to "not guilty".
At this point, the only remaining juror with a guilty vote is Juror 3. Juror 3 gives a long and increasingly tortured string of arguments, ending with, "Rotten kids, you work your life out--!" This builds on a more emotionally ambivalent earlier revelation that his relationship with his own son is deeply strained, and his anger over this fact is the main reason that he wants the defendant to be guilty. Juror 3 finally loses his temper and tears up a photo of himself and his son, then suddenly breaks down crying and changes his vote to "not guilty", making the vote unanimous.
As the jurors leave the room, Juror 8 helps the distraught Juror 3 with his coat in a show of compassion. The film ends when the friendly Jurors 8 (Davis) and 9 (McCardle) exchange names, and all of the jurors descend the courthouse steps to return to their individual lives.
12 Years a Slave (2013)
Color
Free black man is captured and sold into slavery
12 Years a Slave
"In 1841, Solomon Northup (Chiwetel Ejiofor) is a free African American man working as a skilled carpenter and fiddle player and living with his wife and two children in Saratoga Springs, New York. Two men (Scoot McNairy and Taran Killam) offer him a two-week job as a musician, but they drug Northup and he wakes up in chains, about to be sold into slavery.
Northup is shipped to New Orleans, and is renamed "Platt," the identity of a runaway slave from Georgia. Beaten repeatedly, he is ultimately purchased by plantation owner William Ford (Benedict Cumberbatch). Northup manages to stay on good terms with Ford, a relatively benevolent master. Northup engineers a waterway for transporting logs swiftly and cost-effectively across a swamp, and Ford presents him with a violin in gratitude. Carpenter John Tibeats (Paul Dano) resents Northup and begins verbally harassing him.
The tensions between Tibeats and Northup escalate; Tibeats attacks Northup, and Northup fights back. In retaliation, Tibeats and his friends attempt to lynch Northup, who suffers many hours in the noose. Ford explains that in order to save Northup's life he must be sold to Edwin Epps (Michael Fassbender). Northup attempts to reason with Ford, explaining that he is actually a free man. Ford states that he "cannot hear this" and responds "he has a debt to pay" on Northup's purchase price.
Epps believes his right to abuse his slaves is biblically sanctioned. The slaves must pick at least 200 pounds of cotton every day, or be beaten. A young female slave named Patsey (Lupita Nyong'o) daily picks over 500 pounds and is praised lavishly by Epps, who also repeatedly rapes her. Epps' wife (Sarah Paulson) is envious of her and frequently humiliates and attacks her.
Patsey's abuse worsens as Epps continues to rape her. Patsey wishes to die and asks Northup to kill her; he refuses. Sometime later, an outbreak of cotton worm befalls Epps' plantation; he decides that the new slaves are the cause, a plague sent by God. He leases them to a neighboring plantation for the season. While there, Northup gains the favor of the plantation's owner, who gives him a coin after he plays the fiddle at a wedding anniversary celebration.
When Northup returns to Epps, he attempts to use the money to pay a white field hand and former overseer (Garret Dillahunt) to mail a letter to Northup's friends in New York. The field hand agrees to deliver the letter and takes the money, but betrays Northup. Northup is narrowly able to convince Epps that the story is a lie. Northup tearfully burns the letter, his only hope of freedom.
Northup begins working on the construction of a gazebo with a Canadian laborer named Bass (Brad Pitt). Bass earns Epps' displeasure by expressing his opposition to slavery, by trying to explain to Epps that he could have a little compassion towards those working for him. Epps on the other hand doesn't see them as people, but as property - his property.
One day, Epps becomes enraged after discovering Patsey missing from his plantation. When she returns, she reveals she was gone to get a bar of soap from Mistress Shaw (Alfre Woodard), having become sick from her own stench as a result of being forbidden soap by Mary Epps. Epps doesn't believe her and orders her stripped and tied to a post. Encouraged by his wife, Epps forces Northup to whip Patsey. Northup reluctantly obeys, but Epps eventually takes the whip away from Northup, savagely lashing her.
Northup breaks his violin, and while continuing to work on the gazebo, he asks Bass where Bass is from. Bass replies that he is from Canada. Northup confides his kidnapping to Bass. Once again, Northup asks for help in getting a letter to Saratoga Springs. Bass, risking his life, agrees to do that.
One day, Northup is called over by the local sheriff, who arrives in a carriage with another man. The sheriff asks Northup a series of questions to confirm his answers that match the facts of his life in New York. Northup recognizes the sheriff's companion as a shopkeeper he knows from Saratoga. The man has come to free him, and the two embrace. Though Epps angrily resists and Patsey is distraught, Northup leaves immediately.
After being enslaved for twelve years, Northup is restored to freedom and returned to his family. As he walks into his home, he sees his whole family, including his daughter, who presents him with his grandson and namesake. Concluding credits recount the inability of Northup and his legal counsel to prosecute the men responsible for his being sold into slavery as well as the mystery surrounding details of Northup's death and burial.
1492: Conquest of Paradise (1992)
Color
Voyage of Christopher Columbus
1492: Conquest of Paradise
"In the beginning, Columbus is obsessed with making a trip westwards to Asia, but lacks crew and a ship. The Catholic theologians at the University of Salamanca heavily disapprove of it, and they are not keen on ideas that go against the writings of Ptolemaeus. After continuous warnings at the monastery, he becomes involved in a brawl with the monks, ending up lying in the monastery courtyard to pay penance. His eldest son, Diego, one of the monks, looks on disapprovingly. As Columbus continues his penance through a vow of silence, he is approached by Martin Pinzon, a shipowner from Palos, who introduces Columbus to the banker Santangel. Queen Isabella I (Sigourney Weaver) owes money to Santangel. Columbus meets with the queen, who grants him his journey in exchange for his promise to bring back sufficient amounts of riches in gold.
Columbus tricks many crewmen by telling them that the voyage would only last seven weeks. He goes to confession at the monastery to absolve his sins, and the monk reluctantly gives him absolution, as he is unable to inform the crewmen without breaking his oath. The next morning, three ships leave for the trip to Asia, with the flagship being the Santa Maria. During the voyage at night, Captain Mendez notices him navigating by the stars, a skill previously known only to the Moors. Columbus then happily teaches how to use the quadrant to find the North Star and that the 28th parallel must be followed to find land. Nine weeks go by and still no sign of land. The crew becomes restless and the other captain turns against Columbus. He tries to reinvigorate them, to let them see the dream that he wishes to share. While some of the crewmen were still not convinced, the main sail suddenly catches the wind, which the crewmen see as a small act of God's willingness. At night, Columbus notices mosquitoes on the deck, indicating that land is not far off. Some days later, Columbus and the crew spot an albatross flying around the ship, before disappearing. Suddenly, out of the mist they see Guanahani ("San Salvador") with lush vegetation and sandy beaches, their first glimpse of the New World.
They befriend the local natives, who show them gold they have collected. Columbus teaches one of them Spanish so that they are able to communicate. He then informs them that they are to return to Spain momentarily to visit the Queen and bring the word of God. They leave behind a group of crewmen to begin the colonisation of the New World. Columbus receives a high Spanish honour from the Queen and has dinner with the Council. They express disappointment with the small amount of gold he brought back, but the Queen approves of his gifts. On the 2nd expedition, Columbus takes 17 ships and 1,500 men with him to the island; however, all the crewmen left behind are found to have been killed. When the tribe is confronted by Columbus and his troops, they tell him that other strangers came and savaged them. Columbus chooses to believe them, but his commanding officer Moxica is not convinced. They begin to build the city of La Isabela and eventually manage to hoist the town bell into its tower, symbolising the arrival of Christianity in the New World.
Four years later, Moxica cuts the hand off one of the natives, accusing him of lying about the whereabouts of gold. The word of this act of violence spreads throughout the native tribes and they all disappear into the forest. Columbus begins to worry about a potential war arising, with the natives heavily outnumbering them. Upon return to his home, he finds his house ablaze by Moxica and his followers, confirming his unpopularity among a certain faction of the settlers. Soon, the tribes arrive to fight the Spaniards and the island becomes war-torn, with Columbus' governorship being reassigned with orders for him to return to Spain.
Christopher Columbus is accused of nepotism and offering administrative positions to his personal friends, thereby injuring the pride of the nobles such as Moxica; so, he is replaced by de Bobadilla. It is revealed that Amerigo Vespucci has already travelled to the mainland America. Therefore, Columbus returns to Castile. Columbus is sentenced to many years in prison, but he is bailed out by his sons soon after. When summoned by the Queen about seeing the New World again, he makes a case for her about his dream to see the New World. She agrees to let him take a final voyage, with the proviso that he does not go with his brothers nor returns to Santo Domingo or the other colonies. Columbus and his son go to Panama.The closing scene shows him old, with his youngest son writing down his tales of the New World.
1984 (1984)
Color
Political dystopia
1984
"In a dystopian 1984, Winston Smith endures a squalid existence in the totalitarian superstate of Oceania under the constant surveillance of the Thought Police. The story takes place in London, the capital city of the territory of Airstrip One (formerly "either England or Britain").
Winston works in a small office cubicle at the Ministry of Truth, rewriting history in accordance with the dictates of the Party and its supreme figurehead, Big Brother. A man haunted by painful memories and restless desires, Winston is an everyman who keeps a secret diary of his private thoughts, thus creating evidence of his thoughtcrime -- the crime of independent thought, contrary to the dictates and aims of the Party.
His life takes a fatal turn when he is accosted by a fellow Outer Party worker -- a mysterious, bold-looking girl named Julia -- and they begin an illicit affair. Their first meeting takes place in the remote countryside where they exchange subversive ideas before having sex. Shortly after, Winston rents a room above a pawn shop (in the supposedly safe proletarian area) where they continue their liaison. Julia -- a sensual, free-spirited young woman -- procures contraband food and clothing on the black market, and for a brief few months they secretly meet and enjoy an idyllic life of relative freedom and contentment together.
It comes to an end one evening, with the sudden raid of the Thought Police. They are both arrested and it's revealed that there is a telescreen hidden behind a picture on the wall in their room, and that the proprietor of the pawn shop, Mr. Charrington, is a covert agent of the Thought Police. Winston and Julia are taken away to be detained, questioned and brutally "rehabilitated", separately. Winston is brought to the Ministry of Love, where O'Brien, a high-ranking member of the Inner Party whom Winston had previously believed to be a fellow thoughtcriminal and agent of the resistance movement led by the archenemy of the Party, Emmanuel Goldstein, systematically tortured him.
O'Brien instructs Winston about the state's true purpose and schools him in a kind of catechism on the principles of doublethink -- the practice of holding two contradictory thoughts in the mind simultaneously. For his final rehabilitation, Winston is brought to Room 101, where O'Brien tells him he will be subjected to the "worst thing in the world", designed specifically around Smith's personal phobias. When confronted with this unbearable horror -- which turns out to be a cage filled with wild rats -- Winston's psychological resistance finally and irretrievably breaks down, and he hysterically repudiates his allegiance to Julia. Now completely subjugated and purged of any rebellious thoughts, impulses, or personal attachments, Winston is restored to physical health and released.
In the final scene, Winston returns to the Chestnut Tree Cafe, where he had previously seen the rehabilitated thoughtcriminals Jones, Aaronson and Rutherford (themselves once prominent but later disgraced members of the Inner Party) who have since been "vaporized" and rendered unpersons. While sitting at the chess table, Winston is approached by Julia, who was similarly "rehabilitated". They share a bottle of Victory Gin and impassively exchange a few words about how they have betrayed each other. After she leaves, Winston watches a broadcast of himself on the large telescreen confessing his "crimes" against the state and imploring forgiveness of the populace.
Upon hearing a news report declaring the Oceanian army's utter rout of the enemy (Eurasian)'s forces in North Africa, Winston looks at the still image of Big Brother that appears on the telescreen, then turns away and almost silently says "I love you" - a phrase that he and Julia repeatedly used during their relationship, indicating the possibility that he still loves Julia. However, he could also be declaring his love for Big Brother instead. The novel unambiguously ends with the words: "He loved Big Brother," whereas the movie seems to deliberately allow for either interpretation. Earlier, during Winston's conversation with Julia in the rented room, he stated that "if they can make me change my feelings, they can stop me from loving you, that would be real betrayal". In the final scene, the "real betrayal" has therefore either been committed or averted, depending on whether the "you" that Winston loves is Big Brother or Julia.
2 Guns (2013)
Color
2 undercover cops are forced on the run when they fail to take down a drug cartel
2 Guns
"Criminals Robert Trench (Denzel Washington) and Michael Stigman (Mark Wahlberg) are questioned by the United States Border Patrol after a meeting with drug lord Papi Greco (Edward James Olmos) in Mexico. Unknown to Stigman, Trench is an undercover DEA agent and reports to his superior, Jessup (Robert John Burke), that he failed to acquire cocaine from Greco that they could use as evidence to convict him. Against Jessup's orders, Trench decides to remain undercover and assist Stigman in robbing $3 million from Greco, so they can prosecute Greco for money laundering. Trench later meets with his lover, Deb Rees (Paula Patton), who is involved with another man as well, while Stigman, an undercover Intelligence Specialist with the Navy SEALs, meets with his commanding officer, Harold Quince (James Marsden), who instructs Stigman to kill Trench so the Navy can use the stolen money to fund covert operations.
Trench and Stigman are surprised to find $43 million (rather than $3 million) in the vault. After the heist, Stigman follows orders to betray Trench and escape with the money, managing to pull his gun right as Trench is about to pull his own. He then shoots Trench in the shoulder, unwilling to kill him. Learning of this, Quince attempts to have Stigman killed. Stigman escapes after learning the money will be transferred to a Navy base in Corpus Christi. Meanwhile, a man named Earl (Bill Paxton) aggressively interrogates the bank manager about the money Trench and Stigman stole from him.
Trench visits Jessup to tell him what happened, but Earl and his men are there waiting for him. Earl kills Jessup, frames Trench for the murder and lets him go, making a deal that if Trench returns the $43 million he will be cleared. Trench goes to Stigman's apartment to find out where he took the money, only to have Stigman contact him from a sniper's post across the street. After escaping a hit squad sent by Quince, Trench and Stigman kidnap Greco and interrogate him in the garage at Deb's house, where they find out Earl, Greco's associate, is a black ops operative, and they have stolen money from the CIA.
The garage is attacked by another hit squad, led by Quince, and the trio ends up being captured by Greco and taken to his farm in Mexico. After beating them and receiving a visit from Earl, Greco gives the pair 24 hours to steal the money from the Navy and return it to him, or Deb will die.
At the base, Trench infiltrates Quince's office, only to discover Quince is Deb's boyfriend, and they had planned to steal the money for themselves. Meanwhile, Stigman asks Admiral Tuway (Fred Ward) for help. Tuway orders Quince's arrest, but disavows Stigman to prevent the scandal from tarnishing the Navy's reputation. Quince evades arrest, as does Stigman. Unable to find the money, Trench is too late to prevent Greco from killing Deb. He later realizes that the money is in a motel room that he and Deb frequented and goes to help Stigman, who had returned to Greco's farm alone to exact vengeance.
There, Stigman is surrounded by Greco's men until both Quince and Earl intervene. Trench arrives in a car filled with money, and then blows up the car, scattering the money everywhere, which leads to a massive shootout. During a standoff among Quince, Earl, Trench, and Stigman, Earl reveals that the CIA has 20 other secret banks, and the loss of the $43 million is only a minor setback. Signaling Stigman with a phrase from an earlier conversation, Stigman shoots Earl, and Trench shoots Quince. Trench and Stigman kill Greco and the duo escapes, but not before Trench shoots Stigman in the leg as payback for shooting him in the desert. While planning to continue to take down the CIA's secret banks and sabotage their black ops operations, Trench reveals to Stigman that he did not blow up all the money and had some stashed away.
21 (2008)
Color
Medical student resorts to card counting to raise tuition
21
"Ben, a mathematics major at MIT, is accepted into Harvard Medical School but cannot afford the $300,000 tuition. He applies for the prestigious Robinson Scholarship which would cover the entire cost. However, despite having an MCAT score of 44 and high grades, he faces fierce competition, and is told by the director that the scholarship will only go to whichever student dazzles him. Back at MIT, a professor, Micky Rosa challenges Ben with the Monty Hall Problem which he solves successfully. After looking at Ben's 97% score on his latest non-linear equations test, Micky invites Ben to join his blackjack team, which consists of fellow students Choi, Fisher, Jill, and Kianna. Using card counting and covert signalling, they are able to increase their probability of winning while at casinos, leading them to earn substantial profits. Over many weekends, the team is flown to Las Vegas and Ben comes to enjoy his luxurious lifestyle as a so-called big player. The team is impressed by Ben's skill, but Fisher becomes jealous and fights him while drunk, leading Micky to expel him. Meanwhile, the head of security, Cole Williams, has been monitoring the team and begins to turn his attention to Ben.
Ben's devotion to blackjack causes him to neglect his role in an engineering competition, which estranges him from his friends. During the next trip to Las Vegas, he is emotionally distracted and fails to walk away from the table when signaled, causing him to lose his earnings of $200,000. Micky is angered and quits the team, demanding that Ben must repay $200,000. Ben and three of the students decide that they will continue to play blackjack without Micky, but they are caught by Williams, whom Micky tipped off. Williams beats up Ben and warns him not to return.
Ben learns that he is ineligible for graduation because his course taught by an associate of Micky's is marked as incomplete (with Micky's influence, the professor initially gives Ben a passing grade throughout the year without him having to work or even show up to class). Furthermore, his winnings are stolen from his dormitory room. Suspecting Micky, Ben confers with the other blackjack students, and they persuade Micky to make a final trip to Las Vegas before the casinos install biometric software. The team puts on disguises and returns to Planet Hollywood, winning $640,000 before they are spotted by Williams. Micky flees with the bag of chips, jumping into a limousine, but realizes it was a setup when he discovers that the chips are fake. It is revealed that Ben and Williams made a deal to lure Micky to Las Vegas so that Williams may capture and beat him, because Williams has past grievances against him. Williams proceeds to hold Micky hostage and subject him to beatings. In exchange, Williams allows Ben to play for one more night in Las Vegas, enjoying immunity from capture. However, as Ben is leaving with his earnings, Williams betrays him and takes the bag of chips at gunpoint. Ben protests, and Williams explains that he needs retirement funds, whereas intelligent people like Ben will always find a way to succeed. However, Ben's long-time friends (with whom he has reconciled) Miles and Cam also turn out to be quite good at card-counting while working with Choi and Kianna during Micky's capture and as such, the now 6-man team make a lot of money despite Williams's robbery of Ben and Micky's chips. The film ends with Ben recounting the entire tale to the dazzled and dumbfounded scholarship director.
21 Jump Street (2012)
Color
2 rookie cops go undercover to investigate a high school drug ring
21 Jump Street
"In 2005, scholarly student Morton Schmidt and popular underachieving jock Greg Jenko miss their school prom, Schmidt being rejected by the girl he asked to be his date and Jenko being barred from attending due to failing grades. Several years later in 2012, the duo meets again at the Police Academy and become friends and partners on bicycle patrol. They catch a break when they arrest Domingo, the leader of a one-percenter motorcycle gang, but are forced to release him after they failed to read him his Miranda rights.
The duo is reassigned to a revived scheme from the 1980s, which specializes in infiltrating high schools. Captain Dickson assigns them to contain the spread of a synthetic drug called HFS ("Holy Fucking Shit") at Sagan High School. He gives them new identities and enrolls them as students, giving them class schedules fitting their previous academic performances; Jenko taking mostly arts and humanities, and Schmidt taking mostly science classes, but the duo mixes up their identities. Schmidt gets a lead on HFS from classmate Molly, and he and Jenko meet the school's main dealer, popular student Eric. The two take HFS in front of him to maintain their cover. After experiencing the drug's effects, the duo discovers that Schmidt's intelligence now makes him popular, while Jenko's lax attitude is frowned upon.
Eric takes a liking to Schmidt, who develops a romantic interest in Molly. Jenko becomes friends with the students in his AP Chemistry class and finds himself becoming more interested in geeky hobbies and academic pursuits. Schmidt and Jenko throw a party at Schmidt's parents' house, where they are living during the course of their assignment, and invite Eric. During the party, a fight breaks out between Schmidt, Jenko, and some party crashers. Schmidt wins the fight, solidifying his social status and gaining Eric's trust. Jenko's friends hack Eric's phone to enable them to listen in on his conversations.
At a party at Eric's house, using the phone hack, Jenko and his friends overhear information about an upcoming meeting between Eric and his supplier, but also catch Schmidt making disparaging comments about Jenko. The rift between the duo grows as their new school life intrudes upon their official police work. Schmidt and Jenko track Eric to a cash transaction with the distributors of HFS -- the motorcycle gang from the park -- and a chase ensues on the freeway. They return to school, argue, and eventually begin fighting, which disrupts the school play. They are expelled from school and fired from the Jump Street program.
Eric, stressed and terrified, recruits Schmidt and Jenko as security for a deal taking place at the school prom. While dressing for the prom, Schmidt and Jenko rekindle their friendship. At the prom, they discover that the supplier is the physical education teacher, Mr. Walters, who created the drug accidentally and started selling it to the students to supplement his teacher's salary and pay his alimony to his ex-wife. Having caught Eric smoking marijuana, he was able to persuade him into being his dealer.
The motorcycle gang arrives for the deal but Molly interrupts them and starts arguing with Schmidt. As a result, gang leader Domingo recognizes Schmidt and Jenko and orders his men to kill them. Two of the gang members reveal themselves as undercover DEA agents Tom Hanson and Doug Penhall, and former members of the 21 Jump Street program. In the ensuing gunfight, Hanson and Penhall are fatally wounded. Mr. Walters and Eric escape with the money and Molly as a hostage; the gang, Schmidt, and Jenko follow close behind. Jenko creates a homemade bomb and uses it to kill the gang. Mr. Walters shoots at Schmidt but Jenko takes the bullet to his arm, sparing Schmidt's life. In response, Schmidt shoots Mr. Walters, unintentionally severing his penis. As they arrest Mr. Walters and Eric in addition to successfully reading the former his Miranda rights, Schmidt and Jenko reconcile their relationship. Schmidt and Molly share a kiss.
Both officers are congratulated and reinstated in the Jump Street program as Dickson gives them a new assignment: infiltrating a college.
22 Jump Street (2014)
Color
Cops go undercover as college students to crack a fraternity crime ring
22 Jump Street
"Two years following their success in the 21 Jump Street program, Schmidt and Jenko are back on the streets investigating narcotics trafficking. However, after failing in the pursuit of a group of drug dealers led by The Ghost, Deputy Chief Hardy puts the duo back on the undercover program to work for Captain Dickson -- now located across the street at 22 Jump Street. Their assignment is to go undercover as college students and locate the supplier of a synthetic drug known as "WHY-PHY" (Work Hard? Yes, Play Hard? Yes) that killed a student photographed buying it on campus from a dealer.
At college, Jenko befriends a pair of jocks named Zook and Rooster, who soon become the prime suspects of the investigation. Jenko starts attending parties with the jocks who do not take as kindly to Schmidt. Meanwhile, Schmidt gets the attention of an art student, Maya, by feigning an interest in slam poetry. The two sleep together, to the disapproval of Maya's roommate Mercedes, and Schmidt later finds that Maya is the daughter of Captain Dickson, whom Schmidt bragged to about "getting laid", much to Dickson's fury. Despite sleeping together, Maya tells Schmidt not to take it seriously, and he starts to feel left out as Jenko bonds more and more with Zook who encourages him to join the football team.
When Schmidt and Jenko are unable to identify the dealer, they visit Mr. Walters and Eric in jail for advice, and Walters points out a unique tattoo on the arm of the dealer in the photograph. Whilst hanging out with Zook and Rooster, Jenko notices that Rooster does not have the tattoo but sees it on Zook's arm. Schmidt and Jenko are invited to join a fraternity led by the jocks, but Schmidt refuses, furthering the tension between the two as Jenko passes their requirements. They later realize that Zook is not the dealer but rather another customer. Soon afterwards, they find The Ghost and his men on campus, but The Ghost again evades them. Jenko reveals to Schmidt that he has been offered a football scholarship with Zook and is uncertain about his future as a police officer. Afterwards, Schmidt reveals his true identity and moves out of the dorm, angering Maya.
Spring break arrives, and Schmidt goes after The Ghost. He is joined by Jenko, so the two can have one final mission together. The pair head to the beach where The Ghost is likely to be dealing WHY-PHY. Inside a bar, they find Mercedes, who is The Ghost's daughter, giving instructions to other dealers. The pair, backed up by Dickson and the rest of Jump Street, ambush the meeting. The Ghost flees, while Mercedes is knocked out by Schmidt. While pursuing The Ghost, Jenko is shot in the shoulder. The Ghost attempts to escape in a helicopter; Schmidt and Jenko manage to jump across to it, but they fall into the sea and Jenko is able to throw a grenade into the helicopter. The Ghost celebrates his victory prematurely while the grenade explodes. Jenko tells Schmidt that he still wants to be a police officer as he believes their differences help their partnership, and the two reconcile in front of a cheering crowd. Dickson approaches them claiming to have a new mission undercover at a medical school.
During the end credits, Jenko and Schmidt go on a variety of undercover missions to different schools, which are portrayed as 22 fictional sequels, an animated series, a video game, and a toy line. One mission features Detective Booker while another sees the return of The Ghost, who survived the helicopter explosion.
28 Days Later (2002)
Color
Virus turns people into homicidal maniacs
28 Days Later
"A highly contagious, rage-inducing virus is unleashed in Great Britain after a group of animal liberation activists free chimpanzees infected with the virus in a laboratory in Cambridge, spreading quickly among the populace and resulting in societal collapse. Twenty-eight days after the initial outbreak, bicycle courier Jim awakens from a coma in St Thomas' Hospital in London, where he discovers the city deserted. Wandering through London and finding signs of catastrophe, he is attacked by humans infected by the virus and rescued by survivors Selena and Mark. The two inform Jim about the virus, which is believed to have spread worldwide. At Jim's request, the group travels to his parents' house in Deptford, where he learns they committed suicide. That night, Mark is bitten during an infected attack, and Selena kills him before he turns.
After leaving the house, Jim and Selena encounter cab driver Frank and his daughter Hannah at Balfron Tower. Frank informs Jim and Selena of a military broadcast offering protection to survivors at a blockade in Manchester. With supplies dwindling, he asks them to accompany him and Hannah to the blockade. The two accept, and the group boards Frank's cab to Manchester and become close with each other during the trip. When they reach the blockade, however, they find it seemingly deserted and Frank is infected when a drop of blood falls into his eye. The soldiers arrive and kill Frank.
The remaining survivors are brought to a fortified mansion under the command of Major Henry West. However, the safety promised by the soldiers turns out to be false when West reveals to Jim that the broadcast was intended to lure female survivors into sexual slavery to repopulate the world. Jim refuses to be complicit with the soldiers, who attempt to execute him, but Jim escapes. Jim tricks West into leaving the mansion and releases Private Mailer, an infected soldier kept chained for observations, resulting in the deaths of West's men. Jim, Selena, and Hannah attempt to leave in Frank's cab, but find West sitting in the back seat. West shoots Jim, and Hannah retaliates by putting the cab in reverse, allowing Mailer to grab West through the rear window and kill him, and the three survivors escape from the mansion.
Another 28 days later, Jim recovers at a remote cottage in Cumbria, while the infected are shown dying of starvation. As a Finnish fighter jet flies overhead, Jim, Selena, and Hannah unfurl a huge cloth banner spelling the word "HELLO." The three survivors optimistically watch the jet as they hope that the pilot has spotted them.
2:22 (2017)
Color
Air Traffic Controller keeps seeing 2:22
2:22
"The film starts with Dylan Branson (Michiel Huisman) having a dream about a murder at the Grand Central Station that feels very real. He wakes with a start and progresses with his routine while watching news about a star called Hamlin that died out 30 years ago, but its light is reaching the Earth 30 years later and that this supernova will have effects on the Earth and its inhabitants. Dylan is an air traffic controller who possess a unique ability to visualize patterns.
Dylan is then shown on his way to work, riding a bike and heading to the Grand Central Station to take the train. He works as air traffic controller with a serious talent in visualizing patterns. After work, he goes to a club drinking with his co workers and receives a ticket to an aerial ballet as a gift for his upcoming birthday. The following day at exactly 2:22pm, his world stops after he almost causes a mid air collision of the two aircraft as he was actually attempting to avoid the mid-air collision, resulting in him being suspended from his job for nearly killing over 900 people.
The day after he was suspended, he attends the aerial ballet and meets Sarah (Teresa Palmer). They go to a restaurant and start talking, Dylan tells Sarah that his father was a pilot and that he also trained to be a pilot but could never become one as he was afraid of flying. Sarah tells him that she works at the Howard Pace Art Gallery. He also tells her about his being suspended from work, and he finds out that Sarah was on the plane that almost collided with the other aircraft at 2.22pm. Dylan felt apologetic about the incident but Sarah was instead thankful towards Dylan for saving her life. As they depart, they admit to each other that for a "first date" they felt a deep connection and it felt like they had known each other forever.
The following day, while on the way to the Grand Central, Dylan notices the same happenings (siren, a woman laughing, construction sounds, "Can I help you with", glass breaking) and at 2:21pm, he hears the announcement of the boarding of the Millhurst express, sees a business man reading his newspaper, a couple hugging each other, a line of preschoolers where the last child in line drops something and a pregnant woman under the clock. At exactly 2:22pm, the window of the station shatters. He goes to meet Sarah and asks her out to an early dinner, going to the Central Park with her. Sarah tells Dylan that she was a ballet dancer student before she landed awkwardly and tore two of her knee ligaments. Cheering her up, Dylan creates an improvised speaker using a paper cup and ice cream cone holder, lifting Sarah's mood, then dancing and kissing. They go to Dylan's apartment and make love. The next morning, Dylan asks Sarah where she got her necklace from, to which Sarah replies that it was from her ex-boyfriend; Jonas (Sam Reid) who happens to be the main artist of the gallery at which she works. Dylan asks when is Sarah's birthday and they find out that both of them were born on the same day; April 18, 1986 and they are both turning 30 within a week's time. Dylan suddenly hears a car crash on the road below his apartment at exactly 9:15am, and he tells Sarah that it was 3rd day in a row that the same incident had happened.
Dylan takes a cab with a reckless driver going to Grand Central. As the driver takes the shorter route, Dylan tells him to stop the cab and notices again the same pattern of siren, a woman laugh, construction sounds, and a man saying "Can I help you with". Dylan then shouts for the cab to stop and this infuriates the cab driver, who turns around to tell Dylan off for shouting at him. Just then, another car hits them both, causing the breaking of the cab's glass windows. Even though Dylan is injured, he goes to the Grand Central Station and sees the exact same pattern of events. He tells Sarah of these repeating patterns, but with different people carrying out the same actions. Sarah does not believe Dylan, but helps to clean his wounds from the car accident. Dylan goes home and starts writing all the events of his day starting from 9.10am (water drop, a bug dying, a plane flying overhead etc) and realizes that everything has a pattern thats repeating itself.
Dylan goes to the gallery looking for Sarah, and realises that the gallery was having an exhibition with Jonas' art piece as the main exhibition. Jonas has created a light hologram exhibition about the Grand Central Station, and Dylan sees that it is exactly like the events that he has experienced the past few days (announcement of the boarding of Millhurst Express, a business man reading his newspaper, a couple embracing each other, a line of preschoolers where the last one in line drops something and a pregnant woman under the clocks). Dylan assumes that Jonas is stalking him as only Dylan knows about these events. He attacks Jonas, resulting in a brawl and questions Jonas on whether he was stalking him. In the audience is the owner of the Keifer Gallery and he applauds saying it was a great idea to enact the murder at the Grand Central Station that happened 30 years ago and that he has an exhibit related to it at his gallery. Sarah apologises to Jonas about Dylan's attack and puts her relationship with Dylan on hold.
Later that night, Dylan texts Sarah to beg for her forgiveness. In the mean time, he finds a stack of envelopes hidden in his home. He finds out a man named Jake Redman (Duncan Ragg) had written these letters to a woman named Evelyn. Upon investigation, Dylan finds out that Jake was a criminal, although he was never convicted for his crimes as the police could not find enough evidence to pin him down, while Evelyn was a singer, and they both were lovers. Dylan also finds an article online stating that Jack had shot Evelyn and another policeman, Noah (Jack Ellis), down in the Grand Central Station in a fit of jealous rage before being gunned down by other policemen on 18 April 1986, which was the day both Dylan and Sarah were born.
Dylan then visits Evelyn's sister, and she gives Dylan a stack of letters that Jack wrote to Evelyn as she could never bear to read them and shows him the necklace she is wearing saying that it was all she needs to remember her. The necklace is identical to the one that Dylan had seen Sarah wear. She also tells him that Noah; the policeman was taking Evelyn to Millhurst to keep her safe from Jake and that it seemed that he was also in love with Evelyn. Noah goes to the Grand Central Station to buy a ticket for the Millhurst Express, but is told that the service was terminated 30 years ago and now the train is known as the Poughkeepsie Express. At exactly 2:22pm the chandelier crashes to the floor.
Dylan connects the dots and realises that Dylan was Jake in his past life, while Sarah was Evelyn, and that he would kill her at Grand Central Station on their birthday, 18 April at 2.22pm. He realises that the pattern of events that has been happening was leading up to the day they both would die. He tells Sarah this and she does not believe him. As she tries to calm Dylan down, Dylan insists that they both should break up as he would soon kill Sarah, which he does not want to as he knows that they are soulmates.
Dylan contemplates suicide, which was unsuccessful, while a distraught Sarah looks for Jonas in his apartment. Jonas offers to bring Sarah to Millhurst to help her feel better about the breakup. The next day, both Jonas and Sarah's flight to Millhurst gets canceled and they have to go to Grand Central Station to take a train there. Meanwhile, Dylan looks for Sarah and in the midst of it, he breaks into Jonas' apartment and sees that Jonas recognises Sarah as Evelyn in his past life and that he was Noah. Dylan figures out that Jonas/Noah is obsessed with Sarah/Evelyn and that Jonas/Noah had a gun with him and races to the Grand Central Station to see her. On his way he attracts the attention of the police and leads them there.
At the Grand Central Station, Sarah realises that the patterns Dylan saw were true and she tries to leave but is stopped by a crazed Jonas calling her Evelyn. He wants Sarah to admit that she loves him, while Sarah refuses just as Dylan arrives at the Station. Jonas thinking that Sarah called him there gets enraged and makes his way towards Dylan with a gun while Sarah sees the events unfold as Dylan had described them to her, and realizes that she is the pregnant woman standing under the clock. Jonas first points his gun towards Dylan and then Sarah saying that "she'll never be yours" intending to kill her so that if he couldn't have her neither could Dylan but Dylan shields Sarah just in time but himself gets shot at 2:21pm.
The events from 30 years ago plays out with Jake/Dylan protecting Sarah/Evelyn from Noah/Jonas and at exactly 2:22pm. Jonas gets shot by the police who have followed Dylan there. Dylan also falls in Evelyn's arms and momentarily closes his eyes having visions of Jake and Evelyn being affectionate. He does not die and Sarah then looks at the clock, saying it was 2.23pm and they managed to survive. Turns out that the Jake was framed for murdering Noah and Evelyn as the police had wanted to save the reputation of Noah since he was a police detective and one of them. Also the dying star; Hamlin mentioned at the start of the movie finally disappears but a new star is immediately reborn.
In the ending scene, it is shown that Dylan and Sarah are living happily, with Dylan having finally overcome his fear of flying and is now a pilot and Sarah smiling affectionately at their baby in the cradle.
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
Color
A probe is sent to make contact with an alien race
2001: A Space Odyssey
"In an African desert millions of years ago, a tribe of man-apes is driven from their water hole by a rival tribe. They wake to find a featureless black monolith has appeared before them. Guided in some fashion by the Black Monolith, one man-ape realizes how to use a bone as a tool and weapon; the tribe kills the leader of their rivals and reclaims the water hole.
Millions of years later, a Pan Am space plane carries Dr. Heywood R. Floyd to a space station orbiting Earth for a layover on his trip to Clavius Base, a United States outpost on the moon. After a videophone call with his daughter, Floyd's Soviet scientist friend and her colleague ask him about rumors of a mysterious epidemic at Clavius. Floyd declines to answer. At Clavius, Floyd heads a meeting of base personnel, apologizing for the epidemic cover story but stressing secrecy. His mission is to investigate a recently found artifact buried four million years ago. Floyd and others ride in a Moonbus to the artifact, which is a monolith identical to the one encountered by the man-apes. Sunlight strikes the monolith and a loud high-pitched radio signal is heard.
Eighteen months later, the U.S. spacecraft Discovery One is bound for Jupiter. On board are mission pilots and scientists Dr. David Bowman and Dr. Frank Poole with three other scientists in cryogenic hibernation. Most of Discovery's operations are controlled by the ship's computer, HAL 9000, referred to by the crew as "Hal". Bowman and Poole watch Hal and themselves being interviewed on a BBC show about the mission, in which the computer states that he is "foolproof and incapable of error." When asked by the host if Hal has genuine emotions, Bowman replies that he appears to, but that the truth is unknown. Later, Hal questions Dave on the mysterious purpose of the mission, then reports the imminent failure of an antenna control device. The astronauts retrieve the component making use of an EVA Pod but find nothing wrong with it. Hal suggests reinstalling the part and letting it fail so the problem can be found. Mission Control advises the astronauts that results from their twin HAL 9000 backups indicate that Hal is in error. Hal insists that the problem, like previous issues ascribed to HAL series units, is due to human error. Concerned about Hal's behavior, Bowman and Poole enter an EVA pod to talk without Hal overhearing, and agree to disconnect Hal if he is proven wrong. Hal secretly follows their conversation by lip reading.
While Poole attempts to replace the unit during a space walk, his EVA pod, controlled by Hal, rams him, severing his oxygen hose and setting him adrift. Bowman takes another pod to attempt rescue, leaving his helmet behind. Meanwhile, Hal turns off the life support functions of the crewmen in suspended animation. When Bowman returns to the ship with Poole's body, Hal refuses to let him in, stating that the astronauts' plan to deactivate him jeopardizes the mission. Bowman opens the ship's emergency airlock manually, enters the ship, and proceeds to Hal's processor core. Hal tries to reassure Bowman, then pleads with him to stop, and finally expresses fear. As Bowman deactivates the circuits controlling HAL's higher intellectual functions, HAL regresses to his earliest programmed memory, the song "Daisy Bell", which he sings for Bowman.
When Hal is finally disconnected, a pre-recorded video message from Floyd reveals the existence of the monolith on the moon; its purpose and origin unknown. With the exception of one short, but extremely powerful radio emission aimed at Jupiter, the object has been inert. At Jupiter, Bowman leaves Discovery One in an EVA pod to investigate another monolith discovered in orbit around the planet. The pod is pulled into a vortex of colored light,[14] and Bowman races across vast distances of space, viewing bizarre cosmological phenomena and strange landscapes of unusual colors.
He finds himself, still in the pod, in a bedroom appointed in the neoclassical style. He sees older versions of himself, his point of view switching each time, first standing in the bedroom, middle-aged, and still in his spacesuit, then formally dressed and eating dinner, and finally as an old man lying in the bed. A black monolith appears at the foot of the bed, and as Bowman reaches for it, he is transformed into a fetus enclosed in a transparent orb of light. The film ends as the new being floats in space beside the Earth, gazing at it.
2010: The Year We Made Contact (1984)
Color
First contact is finally made
2010: The Year We Made Contact
"After the mysterious failure of the Discovery One mission to Jupiter in 2001, which resulted in the deaths of four astronauts and the disappearance of David Bowman, the fiasco was blamed on Dr. Heywood Floyd, who resigned his position as head of the National Council for Astronautics. While an international dispute causes tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union, both nations prepare space missions to determine what happened to the Discovery. Although the Soviet ship, the Leonov, will be ready before the American spacecraft Discovery Two, the Soviets need American astronauts to help board the Discovery and investigate the malfunction of the ship's sentient computer, HAL 9000, which caused the disaster. The US government agrees to a joint mission when it is determined that Discovery will crash into Jupiter's moon Io before Discovery Two is ready. Floyd, along with Discovery designer Walter Curnow and HAL 9000's creator Dr. Chandra, joins the Soviet mission.
Upon arriving at Jupiter, the crew detect signs of life on Jupiter's seemingly barren moon Europa. They send an unmanned probe down to Europa to investigate the unusual readings, but just as it finds the source, a mysterious energy burst destroys the probe and its data. The "burst" then flies toward Jupiter. The Soviets believe the burst was simply electrostatic build-up, but Floyd suspects it was a warning to stay away from Europa.
After surviving a dangerous braking maneuver around Jupiter's upper atmosphere, the Leonov crew find the abandoned Discovery floating in space. Curnow reactivates the ship and Chandra restarts HAL, who had been deactivated by Dave Bowman before his disappearance nine years earlier. Also nearby is the giant alien Monolith that the Discovery was originally sent to investigate. Cosmonaut Max Brailovsky travels to the Monolith in an EVA pod, at which point the Monolith briefly opens with a burst of energy, sending Max's pod spinning off into space. On Earth, Dave Bowman, now an incorporeal being that existed inside the Monolith, appears on his wife's television screen and wishes her farewell. He also visits his terminally ill mother just before she dies.
On the Discovery, Chandra discovers the reason for HAL's malfunction: The National Security Council ordered HAL to conceal from Discovery's crew the fact that the mission was about the Monolith; this conflicted with HAL's basic programming of open, accurate processing of information, causing him to suffer the computer equivalent of a paranoid mental breakdown. Although the order bears his signature, Floyd is outraged that this was done without his knowledge.
On Earth, tensions between the USA and the USSR escalate to a state of war. The Americans are instructed to leave the Leonov and move to the Discovery, with both crews ordered not to communicate with each other. Both crews plan to leave Jupiter separately when a launch window opens in several weeks; however, Bowman appears to Floyd and says it is imperative that everybody leaves within two days. Stunned by Bowman's appearance, Floyd returns to the Leonov to confer with Captain Tanya Kirbuk, who remains skeptical. The Monolith then suddenly disappears, and a growing black spot appears on Jupiter itself. The spot is actually a vast group of Monoliths that are constantly multiplying. The Monoliths begin shrinking Jupiter's volume, increasing the planet's density, and modifying its chemical composition. This convinces the two crews that they must leave soon. Since neither ship can reach Earth with an early departure, they work together to use the Discovery as a booster rocket for the Leonov, though it means the Discovery's and HAL's destruction. Bowman's voice is heard once again as he speaks to HAL and tells him that they will soon be together after he transmits one final message to Earth:
ALL THESE WORLDS
ARE YOURS EXCEPT
EUROPA
ATTEMPT NO
LANDING THERE
USE THEM TOGETHER
USE THEM IN PEACE
The Monoliths engulf Jupiter, causing nuclear fusion that transforms the planet into a small star. Discovery is consumed in the blast after the Leonov breaks away to safety. The new star's miraculous appearance inspires American and Soviet leaders to seek peace. Europa gradually transforms from an icy wasteland to a humid jungle covered with plant life. A Monolith stands in the primeval Europan swamp, waiting for intelligent life forms to evolve.
21 Grams (2003)
Color
Heart transplant from hit-and-run victim
21 Grams
"The story is told in a non-linear manner. The following is a linear, chronological summary of the plot:
Jack Jordan (Benicio del Toro) is a former convict who is using his new-found religious faith to recover from drug addiction and alcoholism. Paul Rivers (Sean Penn) is a mathematics professor with a fatal heart condition. Unless he receives a new heart from an organ donor, he will not live longer than one month. Paul's wife wants him to donate his sperm so she can have his baby even if he dies. The two are civil to one another, yet distant. Cristina Peck (Naomi Watts) is also a recovering drug addict and now lives a normal suburban life with a supportive husband and two children. She is a loving mother and active swimmer who has left her days of drugs and booze behind. These three separate stories/characters become tied together one evening when Jack kills Cristina's husband and children in a hit-and-run accident. Her husband's heart is donated to Paul, who begins his recovery.
Cristina is devastated by the loss and returns to drugs and alcohol. Paul is eager to begin normal life again, but he hesitantly agrees to his wife's idea of surgery and artificial insemination as a last-ditch effort to get pregnant. During consultations with a doctor before the surgery, Paul learns that his wife had undergone an abortion after they had separated in the past. Angered, Paul ends the relationship. He becomes very inquisitive about whose heart he has. He learns from a private detective that the heart belonged to Cristina's husband and begins to follow the widowed Cristina around town.
Jack is stricken with guilt following the accident. Despite his wife's protests to keep quiet and conceal his guilt, Jack tells her that his "duty is to God" and turns himself in. While incarcerated, he claims that God had betrayed him, loses his will to live and tries unsuccessfully to commit suicide. He is released after Cristina declines to press charges, as she realizes that putting Jack in prison will not bring her family back. When Jack is released, he is unable to reincorporate himself into normal family life, and instead leaves home to live as a transient, working a job of manual labor.
Paul finds an opportunity to meet Cristina and eventually reveals how the two of them are connected. Desperately needing one another, they begin to develop a relationship. Though Paul has a new heart, his body is rejecting the surgery and his outlook is grim. As Cristina begins to dwell more on her changed life and the death of her girls, she continually focuses on a desire to exact revenge on Jack. She goads Paul into agreeing to murder him.
Paul meets with the private detective who originally found Cristina for him. Paul also purchases a gun from him and learns that Jack is living in a motel. Paul and Cristina check into the motel where Jack is also staying. When Jack is walking alone, Paul grabs him and leads him out into a clearing at gunpoint with the intention of killing him. Paul is unable to kill Jack, who himself is confused, shaking and pleading during the event. Paul tells Jack to "just disappear" then returns to the motel, lying to Cristina about Jack's death. Later that night, while they are sleeping, Paul and Cristina are awakened by a noise outside their door. It's Jack, who, still consumed by guilt and inner torment, orders Paul to kill him and end his misery. There is a struggle, and Cristina blind-sides Jack and begins to beat him with a wooden lamp. Paul has a heart attack and shoots himself to avoid dying from asphyxia.
Jack and Cristina rush Paul to the hospital. Jack tells the police that he was the one who shot Paul, but is released when his story is unable to be confirmed. The conflict between Cristina and Jack remains unresolved (they meet in the waiting room after Paul's death. If they converse, it is not shown.) Cristina learns in the hospital that she is pregnant. After Paul's death, Cristina is seen tentatively preparing for the new child in one of her daughters' bedroom which she was previously unable to enter since her daughters' death, and Jack is shown returning to his family.
300: Rise of an Empire (2014)
Color
Persia-Greek war
300: Rise of an Empire
"Queen Gorgo of Sparta tells her men about the Battle of Marathon, in which King Darius of Persia was killed by General Themistokles of Athens ten years earlier. Darius's son, Xerxes, witnesses his father's death, and is advised to not continue the war, since "only the gods can defeat the Greeks". Darius's naval commander, Artemisia, claims that Darius' last words were in fact a challenge and sends Xerxes on a journey through the desert. Xerxes finally reaches a cave and bathes in an otherworldly liquid, emerging as the 8-foot tall "God-King". He returns to Persia and declares war on Greece to avenge his father.
As Xerxes's forces advance towards Thermopylae, Themistokles meets with the council and convinces them to provide him with a fleet to engage the Persians at the sea. Themistokles then travels to Sparta to ask King Leonidas for help, but is informed by Dilios that Leonidas is consulting the Oracle, and Gorgo is reluctant to side with Athens. Themistokles later reunites with his old friend Scyllias, who infiltrated the Persian troops and learned Artemisia was born Greek, but defected to Persia as her family was raped and murdered by Greek hoplites and she was taken as a sex slave, and subsequently left for dead in the streets. She was rescued and adopted by a Persian emissary. Her lust for vengeance gained the attention of King Darius and he made her a naval commander after she killed many of his enemies. Themistokles also learns that Leonidas has marched to fight the Persians with only 300 men.
Themistokles leads his fleet of fifty warships and several thousand men, which include Scyllias, Scyllias's son Calisto, and Themistokles' right-hand man Aeskylos to the Aegean Sea, starting the Battle of Artemisium. They ram their ships into the Persian ships, charge them, slaughtering several soldiers before retreating from the sinking Persian ships. The following day, the Greeks feign a retreat and lead a group of Persian ships into a crevice, where they become stuck. The Greeks charge the Persian ships from the cliffs above and kill more Persians. Impressed with Themistokles' skills, Artemisia brings him onto her ship where she has sex with him, in an attempt to lure him to the Persian side as her second-in-command. He refuses, causing her to shove him in the middle of sex, and swear revenge on him.
The Persians spill tar into the sea and send suicide bombers to swim to and board the Greek ships with their flame bombs. Artemisia and her men fire flaming arrows and torches to ignite the tar, but an Athenian manages to kill one of the Persians, who falls into the tar carrying a torch, causing ships from both sides to explode. Themistokles is thrown into the sea by an explosion and nearly drowns before being rescued by Aeskylos, and stands by Scyllias's side as he succumbs to his injuries. Believing Themistokles to be dead, Artemisia and her forces withdraw. After recovering from his injuries, Themistokles learns that only a few hundred of his warriors and six of his ships survived the disastrous attack executed by Artemisia.
Daxos, an Arcadian general, tells Themistokles that Leonidas and his 300 men were killed after Ephialtes betrayed the Greeks to Xerxes. Themistokles returns to Athens and confronts Ephialtes. The deformed Spartan traitor reveals that Xerxes plans to attack and burn Athens to the ground. Ephialtes acknowledges and regrets his betrayal shamefully, and welcomes death. Themistokles spares him instead, so he can warn Xerxes that the Greek forces are gathering at Salamis. He then visits Gorgo in Sparta while she is mourning Leonidas's death to ask for help, but Gorgo is angry for what the goal of a united Greece has cost her and her people. Before departing, Themistokles returns Leonidas's sword, which had been delivered to him by Ephialtes under Xerxes's orders, and urges Gorgo to avenge Leonidas.
In Athens, Xerxes's army is laying waste when Ephialtes arrives to deliver Themistokles' message. Upon learning he is alive, Artemisia leaves to ready her entire navy for battle. Xerxes suggests it is most likely a trap, but she still leaves after reminding him that she made him king through her efforts while he sat safely at a distance and watched. The remaining Greek ships charge into the Persians ships, and the two armies battle, beginning the decisive Battle of Salamis. Themistokles and Artemisia engage in a duel, which ends in a stalemate with both receiving severe injuries.
At this moment Gorgo, who had been narrating the tale to the Spartans, arrives at the battle along with ships from numerous Greek city states including Delphi, Thebes, Olympia, Arcadia, and Sparta, all of them uniting against the surrounded Persians. Daxos leads the Arcadian army while Themistokles urges Artemisia to surrender. Xerxes, watching the battle from a cliff, turns his back on her, acknowledging his naval defeat and continuing the march of his army. Artemisia tries to kill Themistokles one last time but is killed as he stabs her through the stomach. While Dilios leads the Greek assault, Themistokles and Gorgo take a moment to silently acknowledge one another's alliance as the remaining Persians attempt a counter-attack. The three then charge at the opposing Persians with the whole Greek army.
42 (2013)
Color
Story of black baseball icon Jackie Robinson
42
"The film tells the story of Jackie Robinson and, under the guidance of team executive Branch Rickey, Robinson's signing with the Brooklyn Dodgers to become the first African-American player to break the baseball color barrier. The story focuses mostly on the 1947 Brooklyn Dodgers season and somewhat on Robinson's 1946 season with the Montreal Royals, which emphasize his battles with racism.
In 1945, Jackie Robinson and his team, the Kansas City Monarchs, stop by a gas station. When the attendant refuses Robinson entry to the washroom, Robinson says they will find another station at which to fill up the team bus, and the attendant relents. As Robinson comes out, a scout for the Dodgers approaches him and sends him to Brooklyn. He is offered a $600/month contract and $3,500 signing bonus, which Robinson accepts after being warned he must control his temper if he wants to play. Robinson proposes to his girlfriend, Rachel, by phone and she accepts.
During Dodgers spring training, Robinson makes it to the franchise farm team in Montreal. After a great season there and spring training in Panama, he advances to the Dodgers. Most of the team soon signs a petition stating they refuse to play with Robinson, but manager Leo Durocher insists Robinson will play with the main team. When Durocher is suspended (for actions in his personal life), leaving the Dodgers without a manager to start the regular season, Burt Shotton agrees to manage the team.
In a game against the Philadelphia Phillies, manager Ben Chapman taunts Robinson, causing him to go back to the dugout and smash his bat to vent his anger. With encouragement from Rickey, Robinson then returns to the field and hits a single, steals second base and advances to third on a throwing error and scores the winning run. When Chapman's behavior toward Robinson generates bad press for the team, the Phillies' owner requires him to pose with Robinson for newspapers and magazine photos. Later, Robinson's teammate, Pee Wee Reese, comes to understand the pressure Robinson is facing, and makes a public show of solidarity, standing with his arm around Robinson's shoulders before a hostile crowd in Cincinnati.
Robinson's home run against Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Fritz Ostermueller, who had earlier hit him in the head, helps clinch the National League pennant for the Dodgers, sending them to the World Series, which they would lose in seven games to the New York Yankees. A concluding postscript describes how Rickey, Robinson, and many of his teammates went on to have distinguished careers, including inductions into the Baseball Hall of Fame. The notes also describe the entrance of other African Americans into the Major Leagues, beginning with the season after Robinson's debut.
49th Parallel (1941)
Black & White
Nazi U-boat is stranded in Canada
49th Parallel
"Early in the Second World War, U-37, a German U-boat, makes its way to Canadian waters and participates in fictional anti-shipping activities similar to those that would later characterize the Battle of the St. Lawrence (which occurred in actuality some time after the film's release). The U-boat succeeds in evading RCN and RCAF patrols by moving north. A raiding party of six Nazi sailors are put ashore to obtain supplies, but no sooner do they land then the U-boat is sunk in Hudson Bay by RCAF bombers. The six attempt to evade capture by travelling across Canada to reach the neutral United States and return to Germany.
Led by Lieutenants Hirth (Eric Portman) and Kuhnecke (Raymond Lovell), the small band of sailors encounter and sometimes brutalise a wide range of people. The band steadily diminishes as one by one they are killed or captured. Initial victims of the Nazi sailors are the Eskimo Nick (Ley On), and a French-Canadian trapper (Laurence Olivier). When a floatplane is dispatched to investigate to reports of their arrival at a Hudsons Bay Company trading post, they open fire on the community gunning down the pilot and local Inuit onlookers. The Nazis steal the aircraft and take off to fly south but not before one of the sailors is shot and killed by an Inuit hunter.
The floatplane crashes in a lake in Manitoba, killing the Nazi submarine engineering officer. The Nazis encounter a nearby Hutterite farming community, believing them to be sympathetic to the German cause. Lieutenant Hirth's fanatical speech is rejected by Peter (Anton Walbrook), the community's leader, and even by one of their own, Vogel (Niall MacGinnis), who comes to the aid of Anna (Glynis Johns), a 16-year-old girl. Vogel, who would rather join the community and ply his trade of baker, is tried by Lieutenant Hirth and summarily executed for the greater crime of trying to break away from the Nazi group.
The dwindling band arrive in Winnipeg and sell equipment for food. Hearing that the police are watching the nearby American border, they decided to make their way to Vancouver and catch a steamship for neutral Japan. Knocking out an innocent motorist for his car, Hirth, Lohrmann and Kranz flee west. With all of Canada searching for them, and having killed eleven civilians along the way, Lohrmann is arrested by Canadian Mounties at a parade at Banff, Alberta. The two remaining Nazis try to walk across the Rockies. They are welcomed at a camp by a British writer named Phillip Armstrong-Scott (Leslie Howard) who takes them for lost tourists but they turn on him destroying his books and paintings before fleeing. The writer and the staff of his camp pursue them. Enraged by the Nazis' mockery and destruction of art, Armstrong-Scott challenges and captures Kranz in a cave.
The story comes to a head with a confrontation between Hirth, the sole remaining fugitive and absent-without-leave Canadian soldier Andy Brock (Raymond Massey) on a baggage and express car of a Canadian National Railway train near the American border. When Hirth learns that the train has crossed into the United States at Niagara Falls, he surrenders his gun to a customs official and demands to be taken to the German embassy in the US, that was still neutral.
Brock explains that Hirth is wanted in Canada for murder but while the US border guards are sympathetic to his plea, they cannot find any official reason to send him back to Canada. Brock then points out that Hirth is locked in the express freight compartment of the baggage car, but is not listed on the freight manifest. The US guards are happy to accept this pretext and send the car, along with Hirth and Brock, back to Canada as "improperly manifested cargo". The film ends with the train reversing to Canada and Brock about to pummel Hirth in the boxcar.
50 First Dates (2004)
Color
Man falls for woman with a memory impairment where she forgets everything the next day
50 First Dates
"Henry Roth is a womanizing veterinarian at Sea Life Park on Oahu who preys on tourists. His closest friends are Ula, a marijuana-smoking Islander; his assistant Alexa, whose sexuality and gender is unclear; Willy, his pet African penguin and Jocko, a walrus.
Henry's boat breaks down, so he goes to the Hukilau Cafe to wait for the Coast Guard. He sees Lucy Whitmore make architectural art with her waffles. Henry assumes she is a local, which prevents him from introducing himself, but the next day he comes back and has breakfast with her. Lucy asks to see him again tomorrow morning.
The next day, Lucy shows no recollection of ever meeting him. The restaurant owner Sue explains to Henry that one year ago, Lucy and her father Marlin went up to the North Shore to pick a pineapple for his birthday. On the way back, a car accident left Lucy with anterograde amnesia. To save her the heartbreak of reliving the accident, Marlin and Doug, Lucy's lisping steroid-addicted brother, re-enact Marlin's birthday.
Despite Sue's warning, Henry tries to get Lucy to have breakfast with him again. It ends poorly when Henry unintentionally hurts Lucy's feelings. At her house, Marlin and Doug instruct Henry to leave Lucy alone. Henry begins concocting ways to run into Lucy through the following days. Marlin and Doug figure this out due to Lucy singing the Beach Boys "Wouldn't It Be Nice" on the days when she meets Henry.
One day, as Henry is about to sit with Lucy at breakfast, she notices a police officer writing her a ticket for her expired plates. Lucy attempts to argue that they are not yet expired, and takes a newspaper to prove herself, but sees that the date on all the newspapers is not October as she thought, and Marlin and Doug are forced to admit their ruse when she confronts them.
Henry comes up with an idea to make a video explaining to Lucy her accident and their relationship, and plays it every morning for her. She watched the tape and is hurt, but eventually comes to her senses and she is able to spend the day by picking up where the tape says she left off. She spends more time with Henry and goes to see some of her old friends. One night Henry sleeps with Lucy and the next morning she awakens screaming, due to having no memory of him and knocks him out. Later that day Lucy decides to erase Henry completely from her life after learning of Henry's decision not to take a sailing trip to Bristol Bay to study walruses, something he had been planning for the past 10 years. Henry reluctantly helps her destroy her journal entries of their relationship.
A few weeks later, Henry is preparing to leave for his sailing trip. Before he goes, Marlin tells him that Lucy is now living at the institute and teaching an art class. As a parting gift, he gives Henry a Beach Boys CD. While listening to the CD, Henry becomes emotional and curses Marlin for giving him the CD and making him feel so emotional. He soon realizes that Lucy would sing "Wouldn't It Be Nice" on days that she met him and assumes that she has regained her memories of him. Henry abandons his trip and travels to the art class. Lucy tells him that she does not remember him, but that she dreams about him every night. They reconcile.
Some time later, Lucy wakes up and plays the tape marked “Good Morning Lucy”. It again reminds her of her accident, but ends with her and Henry's wedding. From the tape, Henry says to put a jacket on and come have breakfast when she is ready. Lucy then sees that she is on Henry's boat, which finally made it to Alaska. She goes up on deck and meets Marlin, Henry and their young daughter, Nicole.
500 Days of Summer (2009)
Color
Man tries to figure out why girlfriend dumps him
500 Days of Summer
"The film is presented in a nonlinear narrative, jumping between various days within the 500 days of Tom and Summer's relationship. There is an on-screen timer showing the day. This is a linear summary of the plot.
On January 8, Tom Hansen meets Summer Finn, his boss's new assistant. Tom is trained as an architect but works as a writer at a greeting card company in Los Angeles. After discovering they have a similar taste in music, they have a conversation about love at a karaoke night; Tom believes in it, but Summer does not. Tom's friend and co-worker McKenzie drunkenly reveals that Tom likes Summer, which Tom asserts is only "as friends", something Summer agrees with. A few days later, Summer kisses Tom in the copy room at work. During the next few months Summer and Tom grow closer.
Tom shows Summer his favorite spot in the city, which overlooks a number of buildings he likes, though the view is somewhat spoiled by parking lots. After several months of dating, both Tom's friends and his preteen half-sister Rachel push him to question Summer where they are in their relationship, though Summer brushes this off, saying that it shouldn't matter if they're both happy. One night, Tom gets into a fight with a man who tries to pick up Summer in a bar, which causes their first argument. They make up and Summer concedes Tom deserves some certainty, but that his demand that she promises to always feel the same way about him would be impossible for anyone to make.
On day 290, they are hanging out in a cafe. Tom wants to go back to Summer's place but she insists on seeing The Graduate and weeps at the ending, which surprises Tom as he'd always thought it was a romantic fairy tale. They visit the record store, but Summer is distracted, appears to have lost interest in Tom, and kisses him good night. Tom tempts her with an offer of pancakes at a diner, where Summer casually announces that the relationship hasn't been working and breaks up with Tom while they are waiting for the food to arrive. Summer wants them to remain friends, but Tom is devastated.
Summer quits her job at the greeting card company. Tom's boss moves him to the consolations department, as his depression is making him unsuitable for happier events. Tom goes on a blind date with a woman named Alison. The date does not go well as he spends it complaining about Summer until an exasperated Alison ends up taking Summer's side. Months later, Tom attends co-worker Millie's wedding and tries to avoid Summer on the train, but she spots him and invites him for coffee. They have a good time at the wedding, dance together, and Summer catches the bouquet. She invites Tom to a party at her apartment and falls asleep on Tom's shoulder on the train ride back. He attends the party hoping to rekindle their relationship but barely gets to talk to Summer and spends most of the night drinking alone, until he spots her engagement ring. Tom leaves, close to tears. He enters a deep depression, only leaving his apartment for alcohol and junk food. After a few days, he returns to work with a hangover and, after an emotional outburst, quits his job. Rachel tells Tom that she does not believe Summer was "the one" and that his depression is being worsened by the fact that he is only looking back on the positive aspects of their relationship.
One day he suddenly finds the energy to get out of bed and rededicates himself to architecture, something Summer had pressured him to do. He makes a list of firms he wants to work for, assembles a portfolio, and goes to job interviews. On day 488, Summer is waiting for Tom at his favorite spot in the city and they talk. Summer explains that Tom was right about true love existing; he was just wrong about it being with her. She says she got married because she felt sure about her husband, something she wasn't with Tom. Summer puts her hand on Tom's and says she is glad to see he is doing well. As she leaves, Tom tells her he really hopes she is happy.
Twelve days later, on Wednesday, May 23, Tom attends a job interview and meets a girl who is also applying for the same job. He finds that she shares his favorite spot and dislike for the parking lots. As he is entering the interview, he invites her for coffee afterwards. She politely declines, then changes her mind. Her name is Autumn. The on-screen clock winds back to its start.
7500 (2019)
Color
Terrorists try to seize control of a Berlin-Paris flight
7500
"European Airways pilots Captain Michael Lutzmann (Carlo Kitzlinger) and First Officer Tobias Ellis (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) are preparing for a flight aboard an A319 from Berlin to Paris. Tobias talks to one of the flight attendants, who happens to be his girlfriend, Gokce (Aylin Tezel). Lutzmann re-enters the cockpit and they begin their pre-flight checks.
Once airborne, one of the flight attendants, Nathalia, begins bringing the pilots their in-flight meals, giving terrorists an opportunity to attempt a hijack by forcing their way into the cockpit. Killing Nathalia in the process, two terrorists, Kinan and Vedat successfully enter the cockpit and attack the pilots. Tobias fights Vedat off and manages to close the door, leaving Kinan in the cockpit. Lutzmann is stabbed and mortally wounded by Kinan as he broadcasts a mayday call. Tobias manages to subdue Kinan by slamming him in the head with a fire extinguisher, surviving the attack, but his left arm is badly wounded in the process. Tobias signals air traffic control using the radio transponder code 7500 (the emergency transponder squawk for a hijacking). The flight is diverted to Hannover, which is the closest place to land safely. Tobias restrains Kinan and straps him in the jump seat.
The remaining hijackers continuously attempt to break into the cockpit while Tobias informs air traffic control of the events that have transpired. Tobias is reminded by control that he is not permitted to open the cockpit door despite threats by the hijackers to harm or even kill hostages. Lutzmann eventually succumbs to his wounds and Tobias unsuccessfully tries to revive him. Inside the cockpit, Tobias watches a camera feed monitor of the entrance to the cockpit, which reveals that a passenger has been taken hostage by Daniel, one of the hijackers. The terrorists begin threatening to kill the hostage unless Tobias opens the door. Tobias pleads with Vedat on the interphone (Omid Memar), telling him that the cockpit door cannot be opened, but Daniel executes the passenger anyway.
Daniel returns with another hostage; this time, it is Gokce. Tobias pleads with them to spare her life, and even attempts to summon the passengers to her rescue by informing them that the hijackers are poorly armed with only glass knives and no firearms. He pleads with Vedat to intervene but to no avail; Gokce is killed as he watches helplessly.
Tobias resumes piloting the plane. Unbeknownst to him, Kinan manages to escape from his restraints and knocks Tobias unconscious. He opens the door to allow Vedat inside the cockpit, who has escaped the passengers attacking the remaining hijackers in the cabin. Vedat manages to close the door and he ties up Tobias as Kinan takes control of the plane. It becomes clear that he intends to crash the plane, but Vedat suffers a crisis of conscience. Fearing death, he kills Kinan and frees Tobias, who retakes control of the plane.
Tobias makes preparations to land at Hannover, but Vedat demands they fly somewhere else, but eventually relents after Tobias explains the plane is low on fuel and has to land, and helps the injured Tobias land the plane in Hannover. After they land, the passengers and remaining crew evacuate while a police hostage negotiator begins communicating to the cockpit via radio. Vedat demands fuel during negotiations, becoming emotionally unstable as he is faced with the outcome of his actions. The hijacker is briefly calmed and distracted when his mother calls him on his cellphone, and he cries to her that he just wants to go home. After the call, he becomes aggravated, as Tobias pleads with the young man to surrender. Eventually, Vedat grows more aggressive and threatens to kill Tobias, but he is shot by a German police sniper and is incapacitated.
The police enter the cockpit as Tobias tries to save Vedat, and he pleads for the police to summon a doctor for Vedat. As Tobias and Vedat are escorted from the plane, Tobias' gaze drifts to Gokce's body, still lying outside the cockpit. In the silence of the evacuated plane, the film ends as Vedat's cellphone begins ringing again in the now empty cockpit.
9 1/2 Weeks (1986)
Color
Sexual Affair
9 1/2 Weeks
"The title of the film refers to the duration of a relationship between Wall Street arbitrageur John Gray (Mickey Rourke) and divorced SoHo art gallery employee Elizabeth McGraw (Kim Basinger). The two meet and have a volatile and somewhat kinky sex life involving a variety of sexual and erotic acts.
The film details a sexual downward spiral as John pushes Elizabeth's boundaries toward her eventual emotional breakdown. He often manipulates her into getting what he wants during sex and sometimes abuses her.
Elizabeth is an attractive divorcee, who works at an art gallery in New York. When she and her friend Molly (Margaret Whitton)organize dinner with friends, they go to the market where Elizabeth sees John (Mickey Rourke), a handsome Wall street broker. Later, Elizabeth goes to a street market. She intends to buy a scarf, but it's too expensive. She meets John again and instantly feels attracted to him. He wins her over when he wraps her with the expensive scarf she wanted to buy.
They start dating, and John shows himself to be peculiar. He starts to blindfold Elizabeth, who is reluctant to go with John's desires, but agrees. John is loving and playful; he gives Elizabeth a watch, and he tells her to think about him at 12 p.m., which she does at work. In fact, she plays with herself thinking about all the things she had done with John. They also play with food, and these experiences make Elizabeth feel like a new woman. However, John is reluctant to meet Elizabeth's friends, and he excuses himself by telling her that he does not share her with anyone.
Elizabeth starts feeling confused, and her confusion increases when she is left by John at his apartment. Going through his belongings she finds a picture of him with a woman in his well organized closet, John calls her, and asks her if she went through his stuff, claiming that he will punish her if she did. When John arrives to his apartment, they have a confrontation about it, but they end up having sex.
John acts as a loving boyfriend, but at the same time, starts controlling Elizabeth by changing her wardrobe without even asking her opinion. Their sexual intensity grows, and they start having sex in public places.
One day, Elizabeth sees John, and she follows him to his office. He acts serious so she leaves feeling humiliated about the awkward manner John treated her. John stops her, and they go to a bar. There, Elizabeth tells him that she wants to feel like a man. John tries to please her, by buying her a suit, and they go to a bar for a drink. After they leave the bar, they are insulted by two guys in a car that believed them to be a gay couple. Elizabeth confronts them, and the guys chase them down an alley. Elizabeth and John fight them; Elizabeth is able to take a knife from one of the attackers, and stabs one of them as John fights the other guy. Eventually, Elizabeth and John win the fight, and they make love passionately.
John's sexual games go to a different level when he buys a mattress and a horse whip which Elizabeth uses in a strip tease for John. John becomes more aggressive in his sexual games, and he intimidates Elizabeth.
On her gallery's show day, Elizabeth sees her ex-husband, which makes her feel uncomfortable and melancholic at the same time. She asks Molly to tell him that she is not available to see him, but Molly reminds her that she is dating him, and that he is there for her, not Elizabeth. She starts feeling lonely, and she hears a message from John arranging a date at a hotel. When Elizabeth arrives to the hotel room, John blindfolds her. Then, a Latina prostitute enters the room, and she starts caressing Elizabeth and telling her to relax in Spanish as John observes them. The prostitute removes the scarf from Elizabeth's eyes, who acts apprehensively, paralyzed by this situation. John starts flirting and kissing the prostitute until Elizabeth reacts, and attacks the other woman. John is able to separate them, and Elizabeth leaves the hotel. She walks around the neighborhood of the hotel and realizes it is a sex spot. John follows her to a sex shop where she is in the middle of a crowd of men watching porn. She soon realizes that John is there and kisses another man to make John feel jealous, but she soon feels bad, and goes back to John who kisses and hugs her.
Elizabeth decides to go to the art show that was taking place simultaneously. Nevertheless, she does not feel well, and goes to John's. They make love, and then Elizabeth decides to leave. John realizes that he is about to lose her, so he opens up by telling her that he has five brothers and his mom used to work as a clerk. Elizabeth tells him that it is too late for him to change, and leaves. John is left devastated, and he tells to himself that he will count to 50 for her to come back. As John starts counting, Elizabeth leaves his apartment and walks through the city crying knowing that she finally ended that passionate but destructive relationship with John, a man who did not know how to love her.
A Beautiful Mind (2001)
Color
Chronicals the Life and work of economist John Forbes
A Beautiful Mind
"In 1947, John Nash (Crowe) arrives at Princeton University. He is co-recipient, with Martin Hansen (Lucas), of the prestigious Carnegie Scholarship for mathematics. At a reception, he meets a group of other promising math and science graduate students, Richard Sol (Goldberg), Ainsley (Jason Gray-Stanford), and Bender (Rapp). He also meets his roommate Charles Herman (Bettany), a literature student.
Nash is under extreme pressure to publish, but he wants to publish his own original idea. His inspiration comes when he and his fellow graduate students discuss how to approach a group of women at a bar. Hansen quotes Adam Smith and advocates "every man for himself", but Nash argues that a cooperative approach would lead to better chances of success. Nash develops a new concept of governing dynamics and publishes an article on this. On the strength of this, he is offered an appointment at MIT where Sol and Bender join him.
Some years later, Nash is invited to the Pentagon to crack encrypted enemy telecommunication. Nash can decipher the code mentally, to the astonishment of other decrypters. He considers his regular duties at MIT uninteresting and beneath his talents, so he is pleased to be given a new assignment by his mysterious supervisor, William Parcher (Harris) of the United States Department of Defense. He is to look for patterns in magazines and newspapers in order to thwart a Soviet plot. Nash becomes increasingly obsessive about searching for these hidden patterns and believes he is followed when he delivers his results to a secret mailbox.
Meanwhile a student, Alicia Larde (Connelly), asks him to dinner, and the two fall in love. On a return visit to Princeton, Nash runs into Charles and his niece, Marcee (Cardone). With Charles' encouragement, he proposes to Alicia and they marry.
Nash begins to fear for his life after witnessing a shootout between Parcher and Soviet agents, but Parcher blackmails him into staying on his assignment. While delivering a guest lecture at Harvard University, Nash tries to flee from people he thinks are foreign agents, led by Dr. Rosen (Plummer). After punching Rosen in an attempt to flee, Nash is forcibly sedated and sent to a psychiatric facility he believes is run by the Soviets.
Dr. Rosen tells Alicia that Nash has paranoid schizophrenia and that Charles, Marcee, and Parcher exist only in his imagination. Alicia investigates and finally confronts Nash with the unopened documents he had delivered to the secret mailbox. Nash is given a course of insulin shock therapy and eventually released. Frustrated with the side-effects of the antipsychotic medication he is taking, which make him lethargic and unresponsive, he secretly stops taking it. This causes a relapse and he meets Parcher again.
After an incident where Nash endangers his infant son and accidentally knocks Alicia and the baby to the ground (thinking he's stopping Parcher from killing her), she flees the house with their child. Nash steps in front of her car to prevent her from leaving, after he realizes that he's known Marcee for a long time, yet she never grew older. He finally accepts that Parcher and other figures are hallucinations. Against Dr. Rosen's advice, Nash decides not to restart his medication, believing that he can deal with his symptom himself. Alicia decides to stay and support him in this.
Nash approaches his old friend and rival, Martin Hansen, now head of the Princeton mathematics department. He grants Nash permission to work out of the library and to audit classes. Years pass and as Nash grows older, he learns to ignore his hallucinations and earns the privilege of teaching again.
In 1994, Nash is honored by his fellow professors for his achievement in mathematics. He wins the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics for his revolutionary work on game theory. The movie ends as Nash and Alicia leave the auditorium in Stockholm; Nash sees Charles, Marcee, and Parcher standing to one side and watching him.
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (1949)
Color
A singing mechanic from 1912 finds himself in Arthurian Britain.
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court
"Hank Martin (Bing Crosby), an American mechanic, is knocked out and wakes up in the land of King Arthur. Here he finds romance with Alisande la Carteloise (Rhonda Fleming) and friendship with Sir Sagramore (William Bendix).
Unfortunately, the heroic Hank also incurs the hatred of both Merlin (Murvyn Vye) and Morgan le Fay (Virginia Field). While Hank persuades King Arthur (Cedric Hardwicke), an aged, semi-perpetual, cold-in-the-nose invalid, to tour his kingdom in disguise to see the true, wretched condition of his subjects, Merlin and Morgan plot to usurp his throne. When Hank tries to stop them, he is returned to his own time.
Heartsick over losing the woman he loves, he goes on a tour of a British castle. Its owner, Lord Pendragon (Hardwicke again), sends him to see his niece, who looks just like Alisande.
A Dangerous Method (2011)
Color
The story of Jung, Freud, and Sabina Spielrein
A Dangerous Method
"Sabina Spielrein arrives at the Burgholzli, the preeminent psychiatric hospital in Zurich, with a typical case of hysteria and begins a new course of treatment with the young Swiss doctor, Carl Jung. He is using word association and dream interpretation as part of his approach to Freud's radical new science of psychoanalysis, and finds that Fraulein Spielrein's condition was triggered by the humiliation and sexual arousal she felt as a child due to her short-tempered father's habit of spanking her naked. These conflicting feelings were compounded by her instinctive knowledge (imparted by an angel's voice that speaks in German) that she had done nothing to deserve such a punishment and in fact that she may have been a stand-in for her mother in her father's abuse (since her mother was unfaithful). Also, her affluent Russian Jewish family afforded her an exceptional education in preparation for university study, although not on the subject of sex, and she was a virgin.
Her intelligence and energy were immediately recognized and encouraged by Jung and Eugen Bleuler, the head of the hospital, and since she plans to study medicine they allow her to assist them in their experiments, including measuring the physical reactions of subjects during word association, to provide empirical data as a scientific basis for psychoanalysis and ameliorate the more sensational aspects of Freud's theories, which contend that all mental illness is rooted in childhood sexual experience, be it real or fantasy. She soon learns that much of this new science is founded on the doctors' observations of themselves, each other, and their families, not just their patients. The doctors correspond at length before they meet, and begin sharing their dreams and analysing each other, and Freud adopts Jung as his heir and agent.
Jung finds in Sabina a kindred spirit with a unique perspective as her self-awareness sharpens, and their attraction deepens in what was already well known at the time as transference. Jung's resistance to the idea of infidelity, and breaking the taboo of sex with a patient, is undercut by the wild and unrepentant confidences of another brilliant, philandering, unstable psychoanalyst who comes under his care, Otto Gross. He decries monogamy in general and suggests that resistance to transference is symptomatic of the repression of normal, healthy sexual impulses, exhorting Jung to indulge himself with abandon.
Jung finally begins their affair, which in the film includes rudimentary bondage and spanking Sabina at times. Things become even more tangled as he becomes her advisor to her dissertation; he publishes not only his studies of her as a patient but eventually her treatise as well. Her original ideas are rooted not only in her insights into her childhood trauma, but the intensity and conflicts in their relationship. Spielrein's thesis suggests that truly heroic, original creations can only emerge from the crucible of great conflict, such as the attraction of opposites and the breaking of taboos, and thus the instinct for creation is inextricably tied to a drive to destruction, and that these feelings and ideas are not restricted to sexual expression despite their roots in the biological drive to reproduce. This includes, finally, his refusal to give her a love child, which is the story behind the reference to Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen operas: they see themselves in the legend of Siegfried, the archetypal Teutonic hero born from a forbidden union. After his attempt to confine their relationship again to doctor and patient, she appeals to Freud for his professional help, and forces Jung to tell Freud the truth about their relationship, reminding him that she could have publicly damaged him but did not want to.
Freud uses his knowledge of the relationship to bully Jung, who is planning to publish new theories quite different from Freud's. Jung is working on Psychology of the Unconscious, and his emerging theories of symbolism, archetypes and transformation are heavily influenced by the theme of Sabina's dissertation and their discussion of the Siegfried mythology but he does not cite her in publication, acknowledging her only in private, and Freud does the same, despite the fact that he welcomed her defection from Jung's sphere of influence. Jung throws off his mantle as Freud's "son and heir", and their friendship ends. Shortly after Freud dismisses the new ideas expressed by Spielrein in the local meeting of the new psychoanalytic society in Vienna, she marries another Russian physician, and leaves both men behind her.
Sabina Spielrein, by then a successful child psychologist and already a widow, was killed with her children by the Nazis during World War II.
A Dark Truth (2012)
Color
Former CIA operative goes back into action in South Africa
A Dark Truth
"The film begins with Francisco Francis (Forest Whitaker) running in the jungle with his family while soldiers are shooting and killing people around them. The scene changes to an office building where Tony Green (Steven Bauer) is speaking to Bruce (Kim Coates) in Clearbac corporate offices telling him that Francisco had broken into the local offices and stolen their files. As he converses with Bruce, he orders Renaldo (Devon Bostick), a young aide in his office, to hurry. Renaldo and Tony leave the local offices amid gunfire and chaos, but pause when a woman shouts at Renaldo. She is his mother; she is shot and killed by soldiers as Renaldo looks on. Tony shows his corporate ID to the soldiers and pulls Renaldo into his car. As they attempt to leave the city, they stop at a road block and watch soldiers gun down an unarmed man. Renaldo jumps out of the car and escapes the carnage.
The scene changes to Jack Begosian (Andy Garcia) speaking to call-ins on his radio program in Toronto, Canada, discussing his pessimism about the government and his faith in the goodness of humankind. He points out that water is not a commodity to be bought or sold and is questioned about his former service in the CIA.
As Jack drives to his home in the remote Canadian forest, Morgan (Deborah Kara Unger) sits shivering in her tub. Later, she goes to a hospital ribbon cutting ceremony where Renaldo confronts her as she gets into her limo, accusing Clearbac of murder and telling her his message is in the car. He shoots himself. Stunned and traumatized, she listens to a tape he left for her recording the gunshots and screams. He tells her that Francisco stole papers proving that Clearbac was involved in a typhus outbreak. The scene switches to Francisco and his family hiding in the jungle as General Aguilla hunts for them. He and his wife, Mia (Eva Longoria) argue briefly about leaving the dead behind. Francisco kills a soldier who pursues them. Renaldo reports that the soldiers got sick and began to execute everyone. Mia hands Francisco a gun and takes a rifle, using it shortly after to shoot another pursuing soldier. (Cuts away briefly to Jack explaining to a caller that he quit the CIA because he stopped believing the lies).
At corporate headquarters, Tony and Bruce argue about General Aguilla's murder of civilians and Bruce orders Tony to do damage control and keep the carnage a secret. Morgan questions her brother, Bruce about what happened in Ecuador. He tells her that Renaldo was an anti-government reporter and nutcase. She tells him about the tape and asks again about what happened. He dismisses her concerns and tells her to go to lunch and do fund raisers and bad marriages. He tells her to go home. Doug, an assistant, enters the office and tells Bruce that the secret will be kept but that Morgan is a problem.
A Face in the Crowd (1957)
Black & White
Man loses sight of himself during his rise to fame
A Face in the Crowd
"In late 1950s America, a drunken drifter, Larry Rhodes (Andy Griffith), is plucked out of a rural Arkansas jail by Marcia Jeffries (Patricia Neal) to sing on a radio show at station KGRK. His raw voice, folksy humor and personal charm bring about a strong local following, and he lands a television show in Memphis, Tennessee under the stage name "Lonesome" Rhodes, given to him on a whim by Jeffries.
With the support of the show's staff writer Mel Miller (Walter Matthau) and Jeffries, the charismatic Rhodes ad libs his way to Memphis area popularity. When he pokes fun at his sponsor, a mattress company, they initially pull their ads--but when his adoring audience revolts, burning mattresses in the street, the sponsor discovers that Rhodes' irreverent pitches actually increased sales by 55%, and returns to the air with a new awareness of his power of persuasion. Rhodes also begins an affair with Jeffries.
An ambitious office worker at the mattress company, Joey DePalma (Anthony Franciosa), puts together a deal for Rhodes to star in his own show in New York City. The sponsor is Vitajex, an energy supplement which he ingeniously pitches as a yellow pill which will make men energetic and sexually powerful. Rhodes' fame, influence and ego balloon. Behind the scenes, he berates his staff and betrays Jeffries by eloping with a 17-year-old drum majorette (Lee Remick). The onetime drifter and his new bride move into a luxury penthouse, while a furious Jeffries demands more money and credit for her role in Rhodes' success.
The sponsor's CEO introduces Rhodes to a senator named Fuller whose presidential campaign is faltering. Under Rhodes' tutelage as media coach, the senator gains the lead in national polls. But Rhodes' life begins to unravel as his amoral dealings with the people closest to him have placed his career trajectory on a collision course with their festering wounds. A woman (Kay Medford) turns up claiming to be his legitimate wife. He also goes home early to find his agent and young wife ending a tryst. He returns to Marcia Jeffries to proclaim that with the election victory assured, he will soon serve on the President's cabinet as "Secretary For National Morale", as a part of his organization called "Fighters for Fuller". He also expects Jeffries to resume her romance with him. She runs away.
Miller tells Jeffries he has written an expose about Rhodes, entitled "Demagogue in Denim", and he has just found a publisher. Ultimately, Rhodes' ascent into fame and arrogance begins to turn on him. DePalma threatens to reveal Rhodes' own secrets if the affair with the young wife is made public, claiming that he and Rhodes are now part of the same corruption. Rhodes is stuck with his business partner, but cruelly dumps his cheating wife.
The final blow is delivered by the one who has loved Rhodes the most and been most injured by his selfishness: Marcia Jeffries. At the end of one of Rhodes' shows, the engineer cuts the microphone and leaves Jeffries alone in the control booth while the show's credits roll. Millions of viewers watch (in what initially is silence) their hero Rhodes smiling and seeming to chat amiably with the rest of the cast. In truth, he is on a vitriolic rant about the stupidity of his audience. In the broadcast booth, Jeffries reactivates his microphone, sending his words and laughter over the air live. A sequence of television viewers is shown to react to Rhodes' description of them all as "idiots, morons, and guinea pigs".
Still unaware that his words have gone out over the air waves (with thousands of angry calls to local stations and the network headquarters), he departs the penthouse studio in a jovial mood and prophetically tells the elevator operator that he is going "all the way down". As the elevator numbers go down to 0, the ratings of the show go down as well, due to Rhodes' insults.
Rhodes arrives at his penthouse, where he was to meet with the nation's business and political elite. Instead he finds an empty space, except for a group of black butlers and servants, by whom, in desperation, he demands to be loved. When they fail to respond, Rhodes dismisses all of them. Rhodes calls the studio and Jeffries listens to him rant as he threatens to jump to his death from the penthouse. Jeffries, who has been silent, suddenly screams at Rhodes, telling him to jump and to get out of her, and everybody's, life. Miller asks her angrily why she did not tell Rhodes the whole truth.
Jeffries and Miller go to the penthouse and Rhodes is drunk and disconnected from reality. He shouts folksy platitudes and sings at the top of his lungs while his longtime flunky Beanie (Rod Brasfield) works an applause machine--Rhodes' own invention--to replace the cheers, applause, and laughter of the audience that has abandoned him. When he vows to get revenge on the TV studio's engineer, Jeffries admits it was she who betrayed him. She demands he never call her again, and Miller tells Rhodes that life as he knew it is over.
Miller bemoans the fact that Rhodes is not really destroyed at all. Both the public's and the network's need for Rhodes, will, "after a reasonable cooling off period" of remorse and contrition, he predicts, return Rhodes to the public eye, but never to his previous height of power and success. Rhodes ends up screaming from the window of his penthouse for Marcia Jeffries to come back as she leaves in a taxi with Miller, while a Coca-Cola sign continuously flashes off and on.
A Family Man (2016)
Color
Ruthless headhunter is about to take over company, but then his 10yo son gets cancer
A Family Man
"Dane Jensen (Gerard Butler) is a successful Chicago-based corporate headhunter who works at the Blackridge Recruitment agency. His life revolves around closing deals in a survival-of-the-fittest boiler room. As the film opens Jensen is shown to be focused on his job, but he also tries to be a family man. His boss Ed Blackridge (Willem Dafoe) is offering Jensen a promotion that will lead to Jensen controlling the company. In order to secure the promotion, he must beat his ambitious rival Lynn Wilson's (Alison Brie) numbers. Jensen's focus on the job becomes a detriment to his family. His wife Elise (Gretchen Mol) asks for more of his time with the family.
Jensen tries to spend some quality time with his oldest child Ryan (Maxwell Jenkins), to prepare Ryan for the adult world. Jensen finds Ryan on the verge of childhood obesity and takes him jogging in the morning. Jensen notices that his son is constantly complaining of tiredness and has bruises. Jensen works harder and spends more time at the office to try to get the promotion, but it does not sit right with Elise. She asks him to prioritize. Ryan is later diagnosed with cancer, which shocks Jensen. He spends more time with his son, which causes his numbers -- a prerequisite of the promotion -- to drop. Meanwhile, Lynn takes the opportunity to tap into his clients and scores. The film culminates with Ryan falling into a coma before getting better, and Jensen losing his job at Ed's firm, due to not making profit. The strict Ed releases Jensen from his non-compete agreement. Jensen starts his own company and is also invested with his family.
A Farewell to Arms (1957)
Color
Soldier impregnates nurse and finds her years later, clinging to life
A Farewell to Arms
"Frederick Henry (Rock Hudson) is an American officer serving in an ambulance unit for the Italian Army during World War I. While recovering from a wound in a British base hospital in northern Italy, he is cared for by Catherine Barkley (Jennifer Jones), a Red Cross nurse he had met earlier, near the front, and they engage in an affair. Frederick's friend, the doctor, convinces the army that Frederick's knee is more severely wounded than it actually is and the two continue their romance but never get married.
Catherine discovers she is pregnant but after sneaking alcohol into the hospital for Frederick, the head nurse Miss Van Campen (Mercedes McCambridge) discovers the duplicity and separates them. She informs Frederick's superiors that he has fully recovered from his wounds and is ready for active duty. During their separation, Catherine comes to believe Frederick has abandoned her.
Following the Battle of Caporetto, Frederick and his close friend Major Alessandro Rinaldi (Vittorio De Sica) assist the locals in fleeing the invading German/Austrian armies. Along the forced march, several people die or are left behind due to exhaustion. When the two ambulance drivers are finally able to report to a local army base, the commandant assumes they are both deserters from the front. Rinaldi is executed by the Italian military; enraged, Frederick knocks out the kerosene lamps and flees, jumping into the river.
Wanted by the Italian army, Frederick evades capture and meets up with Catherine. They flee Milan to hide out on a lake on the Italian-Swiss border (Lake Lugano or Lake Maggiore). Fearing arrest by the police, Catherine persuades Frederick to flee to Switzerland by rowboat; after some adventures, they land successfully in Switzerland. Claiming to be tourists trying to evade the war, the two are allowed to remain in neutral Switzerland. Catherine's pregnancy progresses but due to the conditions around them, the pregnancy becomes complicated and Catherine is hospitalized. Their child is stillborn, and Catherine dies shortly afterward. Frederick leaves, shocked, and wanders the empty streets.
A Few Good Men (1992)
Color
Court-martial of two U.S. Marines
A Few Good Men
"The film covers the court-martial of two U.S. Marines, Lance Corporal Harold Dawson and Private Louden Downey, who killed a fellow Marine, Private William Santiago, at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba. Santiago compared unfavorably to his fellow Marines, had poor relations with them, and failed to respect the chain of command in attempts at being transferred to another base. An argument evolves between base commander Colonel Nathan Jessup and his officers: while Jessup's executive officer, Lieutenant Colonel Matthew Markinson, advocates that Santiago be transferred immediately, Jessup regards this as akin to surrender and orders Santiago's commanding officer, Lieutenant Kendrick, to train Santiago to become a better Marine.
When Dawson and Downey are later arrested for Santiago's murder, naval investigator and lawyer Lieutenant Commander JoAnne Galloway suspects they carried out a "code red" order, a violent extrajudicial punishment. Galloway asks to defend them, but instead, the case is given to Lieutenant Daniel Kaffee, an inexperienced and unenthusiastic U.S. Navy lawyer. Initially, friction exists between Galloway, who resents Kaffee's tendency to plea bargain, and Kaffee, who resents Galloway's interference. Kaffee and the prosecutor, his friend Captain Jack Ross, negotiate a bargain, but Dawson and Downey refuse to go along. They insist they were ordered by Lieutenant Kendrick to shave Santiago's head, minutes after Kendrick publicly ordered the platoon not to touch the would-be victim, and did not intend their victim to die. Kaffee is finally won over by Galloway and takes the case to court.
In the course of the trial, the defense manages to establish the existence of "code red" orders at Guantanamo and that Dawson specifically had learned not to disobey any order, having been denied a promotion after helping out a fellow Marine who was under what could be seen as a "code red". However, the defense also suffers setbacks when a cross-examination reveals Private Downey was not actually present when Dawson and he supposedly received the "code red" order. Lieutenant Colonel Markinson reveals to Kaffee that Jessup never intended to transfer Santiago off the base, but commits suicide rather than testify in court.
Without Markinson's testimony, Kaffee believes the case lost and returns home in a drunken stupor, having come to regret he fought the case instead of arranging a plea bargain. Galloway, however, convinces Kaffee to call Colonel Jessup as a witness despite the risk of being court-martialled for smearing a high-ranking officer. Jessup initially outsmarts Kaffee's questioning, but is unnerved when the lawyer points out a contradiction in his testimony; Jessup had stated he wanted to transfer Santiago off the base for his own safety, but if he ordered his men to leave Santiago alone and if Marines always obey orders, Santiago would have been in no danger. Under heavy pressure from Kaffee and unnerved by being caught in one of his own lies, an enraged Jessup extols his own importance to national security, and eventually reveals that he ordered the "code red". As he justifies his actions, Jessup is arrested; Kendrick would later be arrested for his involvement.
Soon afterwards, Dawson and Downey are cleared of the murder charge, but found guilty of "conduct unbecoming a United States Marine" and dishonorably discharged. Dawson accepts the verdict, but Downey does not understand what they had done wrong. Dawson explains they had failed to stand up for those too weak to fight for themselves, like Santiago. As the two prepare to leave, Kaffee tells Dawson he does not need a patch on his arm to have honor. Dawson, who had previously been reluctant to respect Kaffee as an officer, barks, "Ten-hut! There's an officer on deck!" and salutes Kaffee.
A Fistfull of Dollars (1964)
Color
Man pits warring gangs against each other
A Fistfull of Dollars
"A stranger arrives at the little town of San Miguel. Silvanito, the town's innkeeper, tells the Stranger about a feud between two families vying to gain control of the town: the Rojo brothers (Benito, Esteban and Ramon) and that of the town sheriff, John Baxter. The Stranger decides to play each family against the other in order to make money, and proves his speed and accuracy with his gun to both sides by shooting with ease the four men who insulted him as he entered town.
The Stranger seizes his opportunity when he sees the Rojos massacre a detachment of Mexican soldiers who were escorting a chest of gold that they'd planned to exchange for a shipment of new rifles. He takes two of the dead bodies to a nearby cemetery and sells information to both sides, saying that two Mexican soldiers survived the attack. Both sides race to the cemetery; the Baxters to get the "survivors" to testify against the Rojos, and the Rojos to silence them. The factions engage in a gunfight, with Ramon managing to "kill" the "survivors" and Esteban capturing John Baxter's son, Antonio.
While the Rojos and the Baxters are fighting, the Stranger searches the Rojo hacienda for the gold. While he is searching he accidentally knocks out a woman, Marisol. He takes her to the Baxters, who, in turn, arrange to return her to the Rojos in exchange for Antonio. During the exchange, Marisol's son, Jesus, runs towards her, followed by her husband, Julio. While the family embraces, Ramon orders one of his men, Rubio, to kill her husband as he has already told him to leave town. Silvanito attempts to protect the family with a shotgun with the Stranger backing him up. Neither Ramon nor any of his men attempt to challenge the Stranger, knowing that he is too fast on the draw.
The Stranger then tells Marisol to go to Ramon and for Julio to take Jesus home. He learns from Silvanito that Ramon had framed Julio for cheating during a card game and taken Marisol as his prisoner, forcing her to live with him. That night, while the Rojos are celebrating, the Stranger rides out and frees Marisol, shooting the guards and wrecking the house in which she is being held, making it appear as though it were attacked by the Baxters. He gives Marisol some money and tells her family to leave the town.
When the Rojos discover that the Stranger freed Marisol, they capture and torture him, but he escapes. Believing him to be protected by the Baxters, the Rojos set fire to the Baxter home and massacre the entire family as they run out of the burning building. Ramon kills John Baxter and Antonio after pretending to spare them. Consuelo, John Baxter's wife, appears and curses the Rojos for killing her unarmed husband and son. She is then shot and killed by Esteban.
With help from Piripero, the local coffin-maker, the Stranger escapes town by hiding in a coffin. He hides and convalesces in a nearby mine. When Piripero tells him that Silvanito has been captured, the Stranger returns to town to face the Rojos. With a steel chest-plate hidden beneath his poncho, he taunts Ramon to "aim for the heart" as Ramon's shots bounce off. Panicking, Ramon uses up all of the bullets in his Winchester.
The Stranger shoots the rifle from Ramon's hand and kills the other Rojos standing nearby, including Don Miguel and Rubio. He then uses the last bullet in his gun to free Silvanito, tied hanging from a post. After challenging Ramon to reload his rifle faster than he can reload his own pistol, the Stranger shoots and kills Ramon. Esteban Rojo aims for the Stranger's back from a nearby building, but is shot dead by Silvanito. The Stranger bids farewell and rides away from the town.
A Hero Ain't Nothin' but a Sandwich (1978)
Color
Benjie turns to heroine to deal with life in the ghetto
A Hero Ain't Nothin' but a Sandwich
"A Hero Ain't Nothin' but a Sandwich opens by panning over downtown Los Angeles. The film takes place during the summertime.
Benjie (Larry B. Scott) is a likeable but troubled teen. He lives with Sweets (Cicely Tyson), his mother, and his grandmother, named Mrs. Bell (Helen Martin). Benjie has several friends within the neighborhood, his grades at school are above average, and he appears to be a normal, healthy teenager. However, there is something going on inside Benjie that nobody around him knows or understands. Benjie has deep pain, stemming from constantly dealing with his father having left the family and the fallout from his departure; exacerbated by Benjie's inability to get along with his mother's new boyfriend Butler (Paul Winfield).
Benjie copes with the emotional trauma by trusting his school friends and building relationships stronger than with his own family. He soon discovers that he is happier with his pseudo-family than what he considers a miserable real family. Benjie conforms to the group, and his behavior and outlook change rapidly as he is engulfed by overwhelming peer pressure.
Among Benjie's buddies is Carwell (Erin Blunt), who introduces Benjie to heroin; one day he takes him to the drug dealer's home, a man named Tiger (Kevin Hooks).
Benjie is hardly a street rat; he has a loving family who is always worrying about his well being. Butler (Paul Winfield), the new man around the house, is equally concerned about Benjie, but often at odds with him only to be opposed by the boy's mother.
Benjie's life at school is a refuge as he has two caring teachers who look after him. The first, a hip and bold extrovert called Nigeria (Glynn Turman), asks his students to learn and recite important facts of black history, in which Benjie proves he can absorb information with ease.
Benjie's other influence is Mr. Cohen (David Groh) who is concerned that Nigeria's over-emphasis on African history and desire to rid the school of white staff are wrong, a sort of antithesis of racial harmony. The conflict between these two polar opposites in belief, a tug-of-war over education, history, and white privilege, plays a larger end-game role in the story as we see it unfold before Benji's eyes.
The continued drug use along with the corrupted group mentality soon gets Benjie hooked on heroin, ultimately finding his life crumbling to the merciless drug. The story that follows are the events leading up to a family learning to come to terms with a child who has hit rock bottom and the drastic life changes that have to be made for everyone involved.
A Hologram for the King (2016)
Color
Salesman tries to sell teleconferencing system to Saudi King
A Hologram for the King
"Alan Clay (Tom Hanks) is a salesman for American tech company Relyand, who is sent to sell a holographic teleconferencing system to the Saudi government by overseeing a presentation for the King of Saudi Arabia. The only reason he was offered the job in Saudi Arabia was that he had once met a nephew of the King. Alan is haunted by his former job at bicycle manufacturer Schwinn where he was responsible for outsourcing production to China which led to several hundred people losing their jobs and, in the long run, the financial ruin of the company. He is also depressed because of a messy and costly divorce which leaves him destitute and unable to financially support his daughter Kit (Tracey Fairaway).
Oversleeping on the first day due to jet lag, he misses the shuttle bus to the King's Metropolis of Economy and Trade (a fictionalized version of King Abdullah Economic City),[8] where the sales presentation is to take place. He instead rents a car with a driver. The driver, Yousef (Alexander Black), tells him that he is in contact with a woman and her wealthy husband is jealous, leading Yousef to fear for his life.
After arriving at the development, Alan is informed that neither the King nor his direct contact, Karim Al-Ahmed (Khalid Laith), are there. He furthermore sees that his team is placed in a tent outside the office building where there is no working internet connection or food.
Over the following few days Alan repeatedly oversleeps and calls Yousef to drive him to the development, both becoming closer during the long drives. At the development, he is repeatedly put off and confined to the tent outside the office building. One day, he slips inside the building and meets Danish executive Hanne (Sidse Babett Knudsen). She is sympathetic to his plight but cannot help him get in contact with the King or Karim Al-Ahmed. She offers him some alcohol, which Alan has missed since arriving in Saudi Arabia.
In the evening, Alan gets drunk using the alcohol obtained from Hanne, and tries to cut open a lump he had noticed earlier on his back. Waking the next day, covered with blood from the cut, he goes to a hospital where he meets his doctor, Zahra (Sarita Choudhury) resulting in an immediate connection. She performs a biopsy and asks him to return in a few days for the result.
After more days in the tent without progress in meeting the king or Karim Al-Ahmed, Alan is invited by Hanne to a party at the Danish consulate, where she tries to seduce him. Alan, however, rejects her advances.
The next day, having discovered that air conditioning in the tent has broken down, Alan becomes upset. He once again slips into the office building of the development and finally meets Karim Al-Ahmed. Alan tells Karim about all his grievances: the tent with improper air conditioning, bad internet connection and missing food. Karim ensures him that he will take care of the problems but cannot give him a date for the presentation to the King.
Shortly after, Alan has a panic attack in the hotel and, mistaking it for a stroke, calls Zahra and Yousef. Yousef, arriving shortly after Zahra, notices how close they are and, after she leaves, chastises Alan for endangering her by making advances to her, something Alan vehemently denies. Yousef then confesses that he fears even more for his life because the husband of the woman that Yousef is interested in has threatened him. He decides to flee to his home town over the weekend to let things cool down and Alan decides to go with him.
After returning from the trip with Yousef, Alan learns that his lump contains precancerous cells and should be removed the next day. When returning to the development, Alan notices that the technical problems have been taken care of and he is informed that the King will watch the presentation that day, which is successful. However, Alan sees the officials talking with a Chinese company who ultimately can offer a better product at a cheaper rate than Alan's company. It is implied that the government had always planned to make a deal with the Chinese, and knowingly wasted Alan's time. Afterwards, Alan again rejects Hanne's advances.
The next day, the operation begins with an unknown doctor but, at the last moment, Zahra takes over, to the delight of Alan. After the successful procedure, Alan and Zahra exchange increasingly personal and intimate e-mails which culminate in a secret meeting between the two. They talk about their families, with Zahra explaining that she has children and is also going through a messy divorce. They are driven to a beach house which belongs to Zahra where they go swimming and then have sex.
The film ends with Alan writing to Kit telling her that the deal did not happen but that he has taken a well-paid job in Saudi Arabia (implied to be selling office space and apartments in new developments) and that he has found a new positive force in his life (implied to be Zahra, with whom he has started a relationship).
A Lesson Before Dying (1999)
Color
Story of innocent black man sentenced to death
A Lesson Before Dying
The story begins with the murder of Mr. Grope by two black men. An innocent bystander named Jefferson is charged with and convicted of the murder. He is sentenced to death. In his trial, Jefferson's attorney explains to the jury "What justice would there be to take his life? Justice, gentlemen? Why, I would as soon put a hog in the electric chair as this." Jefferson's godmother, Miss Emma Glenn, and Tante Lou, ask Grant Wiggins, the local schoolteacher and Lou's nephew, to turn Jefferson from a "hog" to a "man". However, they must first get permission from Sheriff Sam Guidry. To accomplish this, they ask Sheriff Guidry's brother-in-law Henri Pichot for assistance. The Sheriff gives Grant permission. When Grant is not there, Miss Emma,Tante Lou, and Reverend Ambrose also visit Jefferson. At the same time, Grant is dating a schoolteacher from nearby Bayonne named Vivian. Over the course of the novel, Grant and Jefferson form a close friendship. Unusual for the time period, Grant also forms a friendship with Deputy Paul Bonin. In early February, it is announced that Jefferson will be executed on April 8. Around this time, Reverend Ambrose becomes concerned that Grant, an agnostic, is not teaching Jefferson about God and thus begins visiting him regularly. This conflict reaches a head when Grant buys Jefferson a radio, which the seniors in the black community, or "quarter", see as sinful. The novels ends with Jefferson's execution, and, much to Grant's surprise, a visit from Paul in which he tells Grant that "Jefferson was the strongest man in that crowded room" when he was executed.
A Letter to Three Wives (1949)
Black & White
3 Wives wonder which one of their husbands has left with another woman
A Letter to Three Wives
"Just as they are about to take a group of underprivileged children on a riverboat ride and picnic, Deborah Bishop (Jeanne Crain), Rita Phipps (Ann Sothern), and Lora Mae Hollingsway (Linda Darnell) receive a message from Addie Ross informing them that she has run off with one of their husbands. She, however, leaves them in suspense as to which one. All three marriages are shown in flashback to be strained.
Deborah grew up on a farm. Her first experience with the outside world came when she joined the Navy WAVES during World War II, where she met her future husband Brad (Jeffrey Lynn). When they return to civilian life, Deborah is ill at ease in Brad's upper class social circle. Adding to her insecurity, she learns that everyone expected Brad to marry Addie, whom all three husbands consider practically a goddess.
However, she is comforted by Brad's friend Rita, a career woman who writes stories for sappy radio soap operas. Her husband George (Kirk Douglas), a schoolteacher, feels somewhat emasculated since she earns much more money. He is also disappointed that his wife constantly gives in to the demands of her boss, Mrs. Manleigh (Florence Bates). Rita's flashback is to a dinner party she gave for her boss. She forgot that her husband's birthday was that night, and only remembered when a birthday present, a rare Brahms recording, arrived from Addie Ross.
Lora Mae grew up poor, not just on the "wrong side of the tracks," but literally next to the railroad tracks. (Passing trains shake the family home periodically.) She sets her sights on her older, divorced employer, Porter (Paul Douglas), the wealthy owner of a statewide chain of department stores. Her mother, Ruby Finney (Connie Gilchrist), is unsure what to think of her daughter's ambition, but Ruby's friend (and the Phipps's servant) Sadie (an uncredited Thelma Ritter) approves. Matters come to a head when she sees a picture of Addie Ross on the piano in his home. She tells him she wants her picture on a piano: her own piano in her own home. He tells her he isn't interested in marriage, and she breaks off their romance. However, he loves her too much, and finally gives in and proposes, skipping a New Year's party at Addie's house to do so.
When the women return from the picnic, Rita is overjoyed to find her husband at home. They work out their issues; she promises to not let herself be pushed around by Mrs. Manleigh.
Deborah's houseman gives her a message stating that Brad will not be coming home that night. A heartbroken Deborah goes alone to the dance with the other two couples.
When Porter complains about his wife dancing with another man, she tells him he has no idea how much Lora Mae really loves him, but Porter is certain his wife only sees him as a "cash register." Unable to take it anymore, Deborah gets up to leave, announcing that Brad has run off with Addie. Porter stops her, confessing it was he who started to run away with Addie, but then explains, "A man can change his mind, can't he?" Porter then tells his wife that, with his admission in front of witnesses, she can divorce him and get what she wants. To his shock, Lora Mae claims she did not hear a word he said. He asks her to dance.
The voice of Addie Ross bids all a good night. In the film, she is shown only once and from behind.
A Man for All Seasons (1966)
Color
Sir Thomas More refuses to sanctify Henry VIII's divorce
A Man for All Seasons
"The film opens with Cardinal Wolsey summoning Sir Thomas More to his palace at Hampton Court. Desiring his support in obtaining a divorce from the Pope so that Henry VIII of England can marry Anne Boleyn, Wolsey chastises More for being the only member of the Privy Council to argue against him. When More states that the Pope will never grant a divorce, he is scandalised by Wolsey's suggestion that they apply "pressure" in order to force the issue. More refuses to support continued efforts to secure an annulment for Henry VIII from the Pope as legal and religious options having been exhausted, provide no grounds for the Pope to issue an annulment.
Returning by a River Thames ferry to his home at Chelsea, More finds Richard Rich, a young acquaintance from Cambridge waiting by the dock for his return. An ambitious young man, who is drawn to the allure of power, Rich pleads with More for a position at Court, but More, citing the various corruptions there, advises him to become a teacher instead.
Entering the house, More finds his daughter Meg with a young Lutheran named William Roper, who announces his desire to marry her. More, a devout Catholic, announces that his answer is "no" as long as Roper remains a heretic.
Shortly afterwards, Wolsey dies, banished from Court in disgrace, having failed to coerce a divorce from the Pope. King Henry appoints More as Lord Chancellor of England.
Soon after, the King makes an "impromptu" visit by barge at More's home in Chelsea to inquire about his divorce. Sir Thomas, not wishing to admit that his conscience forbids him to dissolve what he considers a valid marriage, remains unmoved as the King alternates thinly-veiled threats with promises of unbounded Royal favour. When More finally refers to Catherine as "the Queen," the King explodes into a raging tantrum. Storming off in a huff, King Henry returns to his barge and orders the oarsmen to cast off. His courtiers are left to run through the mud and into the river to catch up as the King laughs hysterically at their predicament. At the embankment, Rich is approached by Thomas Cromwell, a member of Henry's court and political adversary of More. Cromwell subtly inquires whether Rich has information that could damage More's reputation, in exchange for a position at Court.
Roper, learning of More's quarrel with the King, reveals that his religious opinions have altered considerably. He declares that by attacking the Catholic Church, the King has become "the Devil's minister." An alarmed More admonishes him to be more guarded as Rich arrives, pleading again for a position at Court. When More again refuses, Rich denounces More's steward as a spy for Cromwell. Now, More and his family, including wife Alice learn the ugly truth: Rich is being manipulated by Cromwell to spy on him.
As a humiliated Rich leaves, More's family pleads with him to have Rich arrested. More refuses, stating that Rich, while dangerous, has broken no law. Still seeking a position at Court, Rich enlists Cromwell's patronage and joins him in attempting to bring down More. Henry, tired of awaiting for an annulment from the Vatican, redefines the Catholic Church in England by declaring himself "Supreme Head of the Church in England." He demands that both the bishops and Parliament renounce all allegiance to the Holy See. More quietly resigns his post as Chancellor rather than accept the new order. As he does so, his close friend, Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk, attempts to draw his opinions out as part of a friendly chat with no witnesses present. More, however, knows that the time for speaking openly of such matters is over.
The King will not be appeased. It is suggested that More attend his wedding to Anne Boleyn. More declines and is summoned again to Hampton Court, now occupied by Cromwell. More is interrogated on his opinions but refuses to answer, citing it as his right under English Law. Cromwell angrily declares that the King now views him as a traitor.
More returns home and is met by his daughter. Meg informs him that a new oath about the marriage is being circulated and that all must take it on pain of high treason. Initially, More says he would be willing to take the oath, provided it does not conflict with his principles. One issue for More is that the King cannot declare himself to be the head of the Catholic Church as the head of the Catholic Church is the Pope. However, an expert in the law, More knows that if he does not state why he is opposed to taking the oath, he cannot be considered a traitor to the King; More refuses to take the oath and is imprisoned in the Tower of London regardless.
In spite of the bullying tactics of Cromwell, the subtle manipulation of Archbishop Thomas Cranmer and the pleadings of both Norfolk and his family, More remains steadfast in his refusal to take the oath. When he is finally brought to trial, he remains silent until after being convicted of treason on the perjured testimony of Richard Rich. He is then informed that Rich had been appointed as Attorney General for Wales as a reward.
Now having nothing left to lose, More angrily denounces the illegal nature of the King's actions, citing the Biblical basis for the authority of the Papacy over Christendom. He further declares that the Church's immunity to State interference is guaranteed both in the Magna Carta and in the King's own Coronation Oath. As the spectators scream in protest, More is condemned to death.
A New Kind of Love (1963)
Color
Man falls in love with woman he thinks is a hooker
A New Kind of Love
The fashion industry and Paris provide the setting for a comedy surrounding the mistaken impression that Joanne Woodward is a high-priced call girl. Paul Newman is the journalist interviewing her for insights on her profession.
A Night to Remember (1958)
Black & White
The sinking of the Titanic
A Night to Remember
"The Titanic was the largest vessel afloat, and was widely believed to be unsinkable. Her passengers included the cream of American and British society. The story of her sinking is told from the point of view of her passengers and crew, principally Second Officer Charles Lightoller (Kenneth More).
Once in the open sea on her maiden voyage, the ship receives a number of ice warnings from a nearby steamer, the SS Californian. Only one of the messages is relayed to Captain Edward J. Smith (Laurence Naismith), who orders a lookout but because of nearly universal faith in the ship's indestructibility does not slow the ship or consider an alternate route.
Late on 14 April 1912, lookout Frederick Fleet (Bernard Fox) spots an iceberg directly in front of the ship. It turns hard to port but collides with the iceberg on its starboard side, opening the first five compartments to the sea, below the waterline. Thomas Andrews (Michael Goodliffe), the ship's builder, inspects the damage and finds that it will soon sink, a bad situation made horrific by the fact that it does not have sufficient lifeboat capacity for everyone on board.
A distress signal is immediately sent out, and efforts begin to signal a ship (the Californian) that is seen on the horizon, a mere 10 miles away. But its radio operator is off duty and does not hear the distress signal. Fortunately, the radio operator on the RMS Carpathia receives the distress call, understands the emergency and immediately alerts Captain Arthur Rostron (Anthony Bushell) who promptly orders the ship to head to the site at maximum speed.
Captain Smith orders Officers Lightoller and William Murdoch to start lowering the lifeboats. Many women and children are reluctant to get in a small, cramped one, and Murdoch and Lightoller must use force to put them in. Many men try to sneak on board, but Lightoller will not allow them. Murdoch, working the other side of the ship, is shown as more accommodating to men. As the stewards struggle to hold back women and children in third-class, most of the ones from first and second class board the lifeboats and launch away from the ship.
The bow of the ship is swiftly taking on water, and there are only two collapsible lifeboats left. Lightoller and other able seamen struggle to untie them and, unable to take the time to put passengers into them, leave them in the hope that they will save more lives.
The Carpathia is four hours away and is racing to the site, in hope of saving more lives. The ship sinks amid much chaos on the deck, with third class passengers allowed up from below after all the boats have gone.
Lightoller and many others swim off the ship. It sinks deeper into the water; suddenly a funnel breaks loose and crashes onto the surface and the ship goes down. One of the overturned collapsible boats is floating, so Lightoller and a few more men balance on it and wait. Chief Baker Charles Joughin is found in the water, not minding the cold because he's been drinking, and pulled up onto the boat. Lightoller spots another one and the men are saved. The Carpathia comes and rescues the survivors.
Lightoller, the senior surviving officer, reflects that they were all so sure about the safety of the ship, and that he will "never be sure again, about anything."
An epilogue at the end of the film states that the passengers have not died in vain, as today there are lifeboats for all, unceasing radio vigil, and that the International Ice Patrol guards the sea lanes, making them safe for the people of the world.
A Perfect Murder (1998)
Color
Man hires hitman to kill wife, the hitman becomes her lover
A Perfect Murder
"Steven Taylor is a Wall Street financier, married to Emily. When his risky personal investments start unraveling, he intends to access Emily's personal fortune of $100 million. Emily is having an affair with painter David Shaw, and is considering leaving Steven.
Steven knows about the affair, and has learned that David is an ex-convict with a history of conning rich women out of their money. Steven offers David $500,000 to murder Emily. When David responds that he and Emily are in love, Steven reminds him his next arrest will mean 15 years imprisonment.
Steven hides the door key, from Emily's keyring, outside the service entrance to their lavish Manhattan condominium apartment. He attends his regular card game, during which time Emily usually stays in. David will use the key, kill her, and make it look like a robbery.
At his card game, Steven takes a break, using his cellphone to make a call to an automated bank system (adding to his alibi), while using a second phone to call Emily. Emily answers in the kitchen, is attacked by a masked assailant, but stabs him in the neck with a meat thermometer.
Steven returns expecting Emily to be dead, but finds the assailant's body. He takes the key from its pocket and puts it back on Emily's keychain. Police arrive, led by Detective Karaman. They remove the assailant's mask and Karaman notices that Steven is surprised -- the body is not David's. David watches the body being removed from the building and assumes it is Emily.
Steven takes Emily to stay at her mother's. Later, David calls Steven and plays an audio tape of him discussing the plan and demands the full $500,000.
Emily visits her friend, Raquel, and tells her she has decided to leave Steven. Emily wonders aloud what Steven would do if he knew about David. Raquel agrees that Steven might kill her, and that he would get her fortune, as Emily refused to sign a prenuptial agreement.
Emily uses her connections to speak to a bank executive, learning of Steven's financial troubles. She then informs Karaman, who says that Steven's alibi is solid, though there is the minor concern that the dead assailant did not have a key.
Emily returns to her apartment for the first time, but her key does not work. This spurs her to go to the apartment of the assailant, discovering that her key unlocks his door. Emily confronts Steven with this and his financial problems. Steven responds with David's sordid past and accuses him of being a blackmailer conning her and threatening him. When he saw the dead body in their kitchen, he assumed it was David and took the key from his pocket so as not to implicate Emily.
Steven goes to David's loft with the cash, but finds a note directing him to a park. David's phone rings, and Steven answers -- it is a ticketing agent, confirming David's train to Montreal. Steven meets David in a park and swaps the money for the audio tape.
Reaching the private compartment on the train, David opens the bathroom door; Steven lunges out and stabs him, taking David's gun and the money. A dying David laughs, revealing he mailed a copy of the tape to Emily. Steven rushes home and finds the mail still unopened. He hides the money, gun and tape in his safe before Emily enters the room.
Steven showers then dresses for dinner, but Emily suggests they stay in instead. As she heads out to pick up food, she mentions that they should have the locks changed since her key is missing. Steven checks the service entrance, finds the key he hid for David, and realizes that the attacker had put it back after unlocking the door. Emily suddenly appears, revealing that she knows everything now, having found the tape in the safe while he showered. When she turns to leave, Steven attacks her and she uses David's gun to kill him.
When Karaman arrives, Emily plays David's tape, then explains what happened after she told Steven, to which Karaman states she had no choice.
A Place in the Sun (1951)
Black & White
Man gets co-worker pregnant, then falls for another woman
A Place in the Sun
"George Eastman (Montgomery Clift), the poor nephew of rich industrialist Charles Eastman (Herbert Heyes), arrives in town following a chance encounter with his uncle while working as a bellhop in a Chicago hotel. The elder Eastman invites George to visit him if and when he ever comes to town, and the ambitious young man takes advantage of the offer. Despite George's family relationship to the Eastmans, they regard him as something of an outsider, but his uncle nevertheless offers him an entry-level job at his factory. George, uncomplaining, hopes to impress his uncle (whom he addresses as "Mr. Eastman") with his hard work and earn his way up. While working in the factory, George starts dating fellow factory worker Alice Tripp (Shelley Winters), in defiance of the workplace rules. Alice is a poor and inexperienced girl who is dazzled by George and slow to believe that his Eastman name brings him no advantages.
Over time, George begins a slow move up the corporate ladder, into a supervisory position in the department where he began. He has submitted recommendations on improving production in his department, which finally catch the attention of his uncle, who invites him to their home for a social event. At the party, George finally meets "society girl" Angela Vickers, played by Elizabeth Taylor, whom he has admired from afar since shortly after arriving in town, and they quickly fall in love. Being Angela's escort thrusts George into the intoxicating and carefree lifestyle of high society that his rich Eastman kin had denied him. When Alice announces that she is pregnant and makes it clear that she expects George to marry her, he puts her off, spending more and more of his time with Angela and his new well-heeled friends. An attempt to procure an abortion for Alice fails, and she renews her insistence on marriage. George is invited to join Angela at the Vickers's holiday lake house over Labor Day weekend, and excuses himself to Alice, saying that the visit will advance his career and accrue to the benefit of the coming child.
George and Angela spend time at secluded Loon Lake, and after hearing a story of a couple's supposed drowning there, with the man's body never being found, George hatches a plan to rid himself of Alice so that he can marry Angela.
Meanwhile, Alice finds a picture in the newspaper of George, Angela, and their friends, and realizing that George lied to her about being forced to go to the lake. During a dinner which is attended by the Eastman and Vickers families, George appears to be on the verge of finally advancing into the business and social realm that he has long sought. However, Alice phones the house during the dinner party and asks to speak with George; she tells him that she is at the bus station, and that if he doesn't come to get her, she'll come to where he is and expose him. Visibly shaken, he contrives an excuse to the families that he must suddenly leave, but promises Angela he will return. The next morning, George and Alice drive to City Hall to get married but they find it closed for Labor Day, and George suggests spending the day at the nearby lake; Alice unsuspectingly agrees.
When they get to the lake, George acts visibly nervous when he rents a boat from a man who seems to deduce that George gave him a false name; the man's suspicions are aroused more when George asks him whether any other boaters are on the lake (none are). While they are out on the lake, Alice confesses her dreams about their happy future together with their child. As George apparently takes pity on her and, judging from his attitude, decides not to carry out his murderous plan, Alice tries to stand up in the boat, causing it to capsize, and Alice drowns.
George escapes, swims to shore, and eventually drives back up to the Vickers's lodge, where he tries to relax but is increasingly tense. He says nothing to anyone about having been on the lake or about what happened there. Meanwhile, Alice's body is discovered and her death is treated as a murder investigation almost from the first moment, while an abundant amount of evidence and witness reports stack up against George. Just as Angela's father approves Angela's marriage to him, George is arrested and charged with Alice's murder. Though the audience knows that the planned murder in fact turned into an accidental drowning, George's furtive actions before and after Alice's death condemn him. His denials are futile, and he is found guilty of murder and sentenced to death in the electric chair. Near the end, he confesses in his cell that he deserves to die because although he did not kill Alice, he wanted her dead in his heart, making him just as guilty as if he had killed her.
A Raisin in the Sun (1961)
Black & White
Struggles of an inner-city black family
A Raisin in the Sun
"Members of the Younger family are anticipating a life insurance check in the amount of $10,000 and each of them has an idea as to what he or she would like to do with the money. Matriarch Lena Younger wants to buy a house to fulfill the dream she shared with her deceased husband. Walter Lee would rather use the money to invest in a liquor store, believing the income would put an end to the family's financial woes. Ruth, wanting to provide more space and better opportunities for Travis, agrees with Lena. Beneatha would like to use the money to pay her medical school tuition.
Lena spends $3,500 for a down payment on a house in Clybourne Park, and after being agitated many times by Walter, gives him the remaining $6,500 and tells him to save $3,000 of it for Beneatha's medical school and take the remaining $3,500 for his own investments. Meanwhile, Ruth discovers she is pregnant and, fearing another child will add to the financial pressures, considers having an abortion. Walter voices no objection, but Lena is strongly against it, saying "I thought we gave children life, not take it away from them".
Beneatha rejects her suitor George, believing he's blind to the problems of their race. Her Nigerian classmate Joseph Asagai proposes to her, wanting to take her to Africa with him after they finish school, but she is unsure what to do.
When their future neighbors find out the Youngers are moving in, they send Mark Lindner (known as Karl in the play) from the Clybourne Park Improvement Association to offer them money in return for staying away, but they refuse the deal. Meanwhile, Walter loses the insurance money when one of his "partners" in the liquor store scheme, Willie Harris, skips town with the money.
Desperate, Walter offers to take Lindner up on his offer to take money to stay out of Clybourne Park, even while his family begs him not to sell away their dignity. When Lindner arrives, however, Walter has a last-minute change of heart and rejects Lindner's offer again. The Youngers eventually move out of their apartment, fulfilling their dream. The future seems uncertain and slightly dangerous, but they believe that they can succeed through optimism, determination, and remaining together as a family.
A Room with a View (1986)
Color
Woman falls for fellow countryman's moody son
A Room with a View
"Miss Lucy Honeychurch is from an English village in Surrey and is on holiday in Italy with her much older cousin and chaperone, Charlotte Bartlett. Charlotte is conventionally English, with an extremely restrictive personality, and she tends to get her way by expressing her emotions to manipulate others. Lucy has been brought up in an upper-middle class but loving and easygoing household, and has fewer inhibitions, which creates a strong tension between herself and Charlotte. They are in contrast with the more free-thinking and free-spirited backdrop of Italy.
At a small pensione in Florence, Lucy meets such people as the Reverend Mr. Beebe, the two Miss Alans, and the author Miss Eleanor Lavish, but most importantly, the nonconformist Mr. Emerson and his handsome, philosophical son, George, who becomes friends with Lucy. These men, although also English, represent the forward-thinking ideals of the turn-of-the-century, seeking to leave behind the repression and caution that was the norm in Victorian times.
At first, the Emersons seem strange and unfamiliar to Charlotte and Lucy. The men seem sincere but unaware of finer upper-class Victorian manners. Mr. Emerson offers to switch rooms with the women, who desire a room with a view. Charlotte is offended, believing him to be rude and tactless for what she perceives to be indebting them with his offer. As Lucy begins her journey to maturity, she finds herself drawn to George due to his mysterious thinking and readily expressed emotions.
A number of people staying at the pension take a carriage ride in the country. A mischievous Italian driver gets back at Charlotte by misdirecting an unchaperoned Lucy to George in a barley field as he admires the view. George suddenly embraces and passionately kisses Lucy as she approaches him. Charlotte has followed Lucy, witnesses the act, and quickly stops the intimacy. George's unreserved passion shocks Lucy, but also lights a secret desire and romance in her heart. Charlotte suggests that George kissing her was the act of a rake.
Charlotte makes reference to a heartbreak from her youth that occurred the same way and has behaved accordingly with disgust and anger toward George. Charlotte uses guilt to coerce Lucy to secrecy to save both their reputations as a young lady and a chaperone, but it is mostly for her own benefit. Normally, if a young man kissed a young lady, an engagement should be announced to preserve her reputation, but Charlotte considers George to be an undesirable influence.
Upon returning to England, Lucy tells her mother nothing and pretends to forget the incident. She accepts a marriage proposal from a wealthy and respectable but snobbish man named Cecil Vyse. However, she soon learns that George's father is moving to her small village and will be a neighbour due to Cecil having invited the Emersons, during a chance meeting in London, to rent an empty cottage in the village.
The appearance of George in the village soon disrupts Lucy's plans and causes her suppressed feelings to resurface, complicated by the supposed need for secrecy. Lucy consistently refuses George's pursuit of her, but then she suddenly breaks off her engagement to Cecil and makes plans to visit Greece. George has also decided that he must move for peace of mind and makes arrangements. Lucy stops by Mr. Beebe's home and is confronted by George's father before the Emersons are to leave town. She suddenly realizes that the only reason that she planned to travel was to escape her feelings for George. At the end, we see George and Lucy in the Italian pension where they met, in the room with the view, presumably married.
A Royal Affair (2012)
Color
Dutch Queen falls in love with German physician
A Royal Affair
"The US has lost the war on drugs. Substance D, a powerful drug causing bizarre hallucinations, has swept the country. In response, the government develops an invasive, high-tech surveillance system and a network of undercover informants.
Bob Arctor is a detective assigned to immerse himself in the drug's underworld and infiltrate the supply chain. Arctor and his housemates, Luckman and Barris, live in a run-down suburban house in Anaheim, California. They pass their days taking drugs and having long, paranoiac conversations. At the police station, Arctor is code-named Fred and maintains privacy by wearing a “scramble suit” that constantly changes every aspect of his appearance. Arctor's senior officer Hank, and all other undercover officers, also wear scramble suits.
While undercover, Arctor becomes addicted to Substance D. Arctor also befriends a cocaine addict named Donna; she is Arctor's supplier. Arctor hopes to purchase large enough quantities of Substance D from Donna that she is forced to introduce him to her own supplier, but he also develops romantic feelings towards her. Donna rejects Arctor's sexual advances, and Barris questions the nature of their relationship.
Hank orders Fred to step up surveillance on the group. Hank suggests that Fred concentrate his surveillance on the suspected ringleader, Arctor, thereby ordering him to spy on himself. Meanwhile, the justified paranoia of Arctor's housemates reaches extreme levels, and he becomes wrapped up in their concerns. Barris secretly contacts the police and tells them he suspects Donna and Arctor of being terrorists; he unknowingly conveys this information to Arctor at the police station, in his scramble-suited role of Detective Fred.
Arctor's prolonged use of Substance D damages his brain, causing him increasingly to lose track of his identity, and the fact that “Fred” and Arctor are the same person.
After Barris supplies the police with a faked recording allegedly proving his claims about Donna and Arctor, Hank orders that Barris be held on charges of providing false information. After Barris's arrest, Hank reveals to Fred that he has deduced his true identity by a process of elimination. “Fred” is surprised to learn that he is really Arctor, and becomes disoriented. Hank informs him that the real purpose of the surveillance was to catch Barris, not Arctor; the police suspected Barris of being involved in the Substance D supply chain, and were deliberately increasing his paranoia until he attempted to cover his tracks. Hank reprimands Arctor for becoming addicted to Substance D, and warns him that he will be disciplined.
As Arctor undergoes a mental breakdown in the office, Hank phones Donna and asks her to take Arctor to New Path, a corporation that runs a series of rehabilitation clinics. After Arctor leaves the office, Hank enters the locker room and removes his scramble suit, revealing his true identity to the audience--Donna. At New Path, Arctor experiences the symptoms of Substance D withdrawal, including more severe brain damage.
Some time later, Donna (whose real name is Audrey) converses with a fellow police officer, Mike, and the audience learns that New Path is responsible for the manufacture and distribution of Substance D; ironically they use victims of the drug to tend their crops, since (being nearly mindless) they can be trusted not to reveal New Path's secret. Audrey and Mike are part of a police operation to infiltrate New Path, and Arctor was selected--without his knowledge--to carry out the sting. The police had intended for Arctor to become addicted to Substance D; his health was sacrificed so that he might enter a rehabilitation center unnoticed as a genuine addict. They debate whether enough of Arctor's mind will recover that he grasps the situation and returns with evidence.
New Path sends Arctor to work at an isolated New Path farming prison, where he spots rows of blue flowers hidden between rows of corn. These flowers, referenced throughout the film, are the source of Substance D. As the film ends, Arctor hides a blue flower in his boot, so that when he returns to the New Path clinic during Thanksgiving he can give it to his friends.
A Single Man (2009)
Color
Set in 1962 LA, A gay college professor plans to commit suicide after his lover's death
A Single Man
"On November 30, 1962, a month after the Cuban Missile Crisis, George Falconer is a middle-aged English college professor living in Los Angeles. George dreams that he encounters the body of his longtime partner, Jim, at the scene of the car accident that took Jim's life eight months earlier. He bends down to kiss his dead lover. After awakening, George delivers a voiceover discussing the pain and depression he has endured since Jim's death and his intention to commit suicide that evening.
George receives a phone call from his dearest friend, Charley, who projects lightheartedness despite her also being miserable. George goes about his day putting his affairs in order and focusing on the beauty of isolated events, believing he is seeing things for the last time. At times, he recalls his sixteen-year-long relationship with Jim.
During the school day, George comes into contact with a student, Kenny Potter, who shows interest in George and disregards conventional boundaries of student--professor discussion. George also forms an unexpected connection with a Spanish male prostitute, Carlos. That evening, George meets Charley for dinner. Though they initially reminisce and amuse themselves by dancing, Charley's desire for a deeper relationship with George and her failure to understand his relationship with Jim anger George.
George goes to a bar and discovers that Kenny has followed him. They get a round of drinks, go skinny dipping, and then return to George's house and continue drinking. George passes out and wakes up in bed with Kenny asleep in another room. While watching Kenny, George discovers that he has fallen asleep holding George's gun, to keep George from committing suicide. George locks the gun away, burns his suicide notes and in a voiceover explains that he has rediscovered the ability "to feel, rather than think". As he makes peace with his grief, George suffers a heart attack and dies, while envisioning Jim appearing and kissing him.
A Soldier's Story (1984)
Color
Captain investigates murder of black sergeant
A Soldier's Story
"In 1944 during World War II, Vernon Waters, a master sergeant in a company of black soldiers, is shot to death with a .45 caliber pistol outside Fort Neal, a segregated Army base in Louisiana.
Captain Richard Davenport, a black officer from the Judge Advocate General's Corps, is sent to investigate, against the wishes of commanding officer Colonel Nivens. Most assume Waters was killed by the local Ku Klux Klan, but others are doubtful.
Nivens gives Davenport three days to conduct his investigation. Even Captain Taylor, the only white officer in favor of a full investigation, is uncooperative and patronizing, fearing a black officer will have little success. While some black soldiers are proud to see one of their own wearing captain's bars, others are distrustful and evasive.
Davenport learns that Waters' company was officially part of the 221st Chemical Smoke Generator Battalion; though eager to serve their country, they are assigned menial jobs in deference to their white counterparts. Most are former players from the Negro baseball league, grouped as a unit to play ball with Waters as manager. Their success against white soldiers gives them a good deal of popularity, with talk of an exhibition game against the New York Yankees.
James Wilkie, a fellow sergeant Waters demoted for being drunk on duty, initially describes Waters as a strict disciplinarian, but also a fair, good-natured NCO who got on well with the men, especially the jovial and well-liked C.J. Memphis. Davenport uncovers Waters' true tyrannical nature and his disgust with fellow black soldiers, particularly those from the rural South.
Private Peterson reveals he stood up to Waters when he berated the men after a winning game. Waters challenged Peterson to a fight and beat him badly. Interviewing other soldiers, Davenport learns that Waters charged C.J. with the murder of a white MP, after a search conducted by Wilkie turned up a recently discharged pistol under C.J.'s bunk. Waters provoked C.J. into striking him, whereupon the weapons charge was dismissed and C.J. was charged with striking a superior officer.
When C.J.'s best friend Corporal Cobb visits him in jail, C.J. is suffering from intense claustrophobia and tells Cobb of a visit from Waters, who admitted it was a set-up Waters had done to others. Davenport learns from Cobb that C.J., awaiting trail, hanged himself. In protest, the platoon deliberately lost the season's last game, and Waters was shaken by the suicide. Taylor disbanded the team, and the players were assigned to the 221st.
Davenport learns that white officers Captain Wilcox and Lieutenant Byrd had an altercation with Waters shortly before his death. Both officers admit to assaulting Waters when he confronted them in a drunken tirade, but deny killing him as they had not been issued .45 ammunition. Though Taylor is convinced Wilcox and Byrd are lying, Davenport releases them.
Privates Peterson and Smalls go AWOL, and Davenport forces Wilkie to admit he planted the gun under C.J.'s bunk on Waters' orders. Waters had divulged his internalized racism to Wilkie, revealing that during World War I, he helped lynched a black soldier who acted as an Uncle Tom to French civilians. Davenport asks why Waters did not target Peterson because of their fight, and Wilkie explains that Waters liked Peterson. Davenport has Wilkie arrested just as an impromptu celebration begins, as the platoon is to be shipped out to join the fight overseas.
Realizing Peterson and Smalls were on guard duty the night of Waters' murder, and thus had been issued .45 ammunition for their pistols, Davenport interrogates Smalls, found by the MPs. Smalls confesses Peterson killed Sergeant Waters, as revenge for C.J.'s death. Captured and brought to the interrogation room, Peterson confesses to the murder, saying "I didn't kill much. Some things need getting rid of."
Taylor congratulates Davenport, admitting that he will have to get used to Negroes being in charge. Davenport assures Taylor that he will get used to it -- "You can bet your ass on that," he adds, as the platoon marches in preparation for their deployment to the European theatre.
A Star is Born (1937)
Color
A fading movie star helps launch the career of an aspiring Hollywood actress
A Star is Born
"North Dakota farm girl Esther Victoria Blodgett yearns to become a Hollywood actress. Although her aunt and father discourage such thoughts, Esther's grandmother gives Esther her savings to follow her dream.
Esther goes to Hollywood and tries to land a job as an extra, but so many others have had the same idea that the casting agency has stopped accepting applications. Esther is told that her chances of becoming a star are one in 100,000. She befriends a new resident at her boarding house, assistant director Danny McGuire, himself out of work. When Danny and Esther go to a concert to celebrate Danny's employment, Esther has her first encounter with Norman Maine, an actor she admires greatly. Norman has been a major star for years, but his alcoholism has sent his career into a downward spiral.
Danny gets Esther a one-time waitressing job at a fancy Hollywood party. While serving hors d'?uvres, she catches Norman's eye. He gets his longtime producer and good friend, Oliver Niles, to give her a screen test. Impressed, Oliver gives her a new name ("Vicki Lester") and a contract. She practices her few lines for her first tiny role.
When the studio has trouble finding a female lead for Norman's current film, entitled The Enchanted Hour, Norman persuades Oliver to cast Esther. The film makes her an overnight success, even as viewers continue to lose interest in Norman.
Norman proposes to Esther; she accepts when he promises to give up drinking. They elope without publicity, much to press agent Matt Libby's disgust, and enjoy a trailer-camping honeymoon in the mountains. When they return, Esther's popularity continues to skyrocket, while Norman realizes his own career is over, despite Oliver's attempts to help him. Norman stays sober for a while, but his frustration over his situation finally pushes him over the edge and he starts drinking again. When Esther wins the industry's top award (the Academy Award for Best Actress), he interrupts her acceptance speech by drunkenly demanding three awards for the worst acting of the year and accidentally slapping her when he dramatically swings his arms back.
A stay at a sanatorium seems to cure Norman's increasingly disruptive alcoholism, but a chance encounter with Libby gives the press agent an opportunity to vent his long-concealed contempt. Norman goes on a four-day drinking binge and winds up arrested for drunk driving. In court, the judge sentences him to 90 days of incarceration, but Esther pleads with the judge to put Norman under her care. The judge, who is impressed with Esther's acting success, suspends Norman's sentence and puts Norman's custody into Esther's hands. Esther decides to give up her career to devote herself to his rehabilitation. After Norman overhears her discussing her plan with Oliver, he drowns himself in the Pacific Ocean.
Shattered, Esther decides to quit and go home. Showing up soon afterward is her grandmother, who has heard Esther is quitting. Her grandmother tells her of a letter Norman sent her when they got married. The letter stated how proud he was of Esther and how much he loved her. Because of her grandmother's words, and the reminder of Norman's deep love, Esther is convinced to stay in show business. At the premiere of her next film at Grauman's Chinese Theatre, when Esther is asked to say a few words into the microphone to her many fans listening across the world, she announces, "Hello, everybody. This is Mrs. Norman Maine.
A Star is Born (1954)
Color
Sad romance between aspiring actress and has-been actor
A Star is Born
"Esther Blodgett is a talented aspiring singer with a band, and Norman Maine is a former matinee idol with a career in the early stages of decline. When he arrives intoxicated at a function at the Shrine Auditorium, the studio publicist Matt Libby attempts to keep him offstage. After an angry exchange, Norman rushes away and bursts onto a stage where an orchestra is performing. Blodgett takes him by the hand and pretends he is part of the act, thereby turning a potentially embarrassing and disruptive moment into an opportunity for the audience to greet Norman with applause.
Realizing that Esther has saved him from public humiliation, Norman thanks her and draws a heart on the wall with her lipstick. He invites her to dinner, and later watches her perform in an after-hours club while recognizing her impressive talent. He urges her to follow her dream and convinces her she can break into movies. Esther is surprised that someone of Norman's stature sees something special in her. He offers her a screen test and advises her to "sleep on it," promising to call her the next day. Esther tells Danny McGuire, her bandmate, that she's quitting their upcoming gig to pursue movies in L.A. Thinking she is crazy, he tries to talk her out of it, but Esther is determined. Norman is called away early in the morning to filming and then falls ill. He attempts to get a message to Esther but cannot remember her address. When she doesn't hear from him, she suspects he was insincere. Not disheartened, she takes jobs as a carhop and TV commercial singer to make ends meet, convinced she can make it, with or without Norman.
Norman tries to find Esther, who's had to move from her apartment. Then he hears her singing on a television commercial and tracks her down. Studio head Oliver Niles believes Esther is just a passing fancy for the actor, but casts her in a small film role. The studio arbitrarily changes her name to Vicki Lester, which she finds out when she tries to pick up her paycheck. When Norman finally gets Niles to hear "Vicki" sing, he is impressed and she is cast in an important musical film, making her a huge success. Her relationship with Norman flourishes, and they wed.
As Vicki's career continues to flourish, Norman finds himself unemployed and going downhill fast--an alcoholic in a tough new film business which doesn't put up with it. Norman arrives, late and drunk, in the middle of Vicki's Oscar acceptance speech. He interrupts her speech, rambling and pacing back and forth in front of her. While begging for work from the assembled and embarrassed Hollywood community, he accidentally strikes Vicki in the face.
Vicki continues working and tells Oliver that Norman has entered a sanitarium. After supporting him for so long, she worries about the effect of Norman's alcoholism on her, while acknowledging that he's trying very hard to overcome his addiction. Niles is amenable to offering Norman work, a gesture for which Vicki is grateful, thinking this may be just the boost her husband needs. At the racetrack, Norman runs into Libby, who taunts him and accuses him of living on Vicki's earnings. The resulting fight prompts Norman to go on a drinking binge; he is eventually arrested for being drunk and disorderly and receives ninety days in the city jail. Vicki bails him out and brings him home, where they are joined by Niles. Norman goes to bed but overhears Vicki telling Niles she will give up her career to take care of him. He also hears Oliver say that Norman ruined his own career with his drinking. Finally realizing what he's done to himself, Vicki, his career, and the people around him, Norman leaves his bed, tells Vicki cheerfully that he is going to go for a swim, walks into the ocean--and drowns himself.
At Norman's funeral, Vicki is mobbed by reporters and insensitive fans. Despondent, Vicki becomes a recluse and refuses to see anyone. Finally, her old bandmate Danny convinces her she needs to attend a charity function because she constitutes the only good work Norman did and which he died trying to save. At the Shrine Auditorium, she notices the heart Norman drew on the wall on the night they met and for a moment seems to lose her composure. When she arrives on stage, the emcee tells her the event is being broadcast worldwide and asks her to say a few words to her fans. She says, "Hello, everybody. This is Mrs. Norman Maine," which prompts the crowd into a standing ovation.
A Star is Born (1976)
Color
Sad romance between aspiring actress and has-been actor
A Star is Born
"John Norman Howard, a famous and self-destructive singer/songwriter rock star, arrives late for a concert. He is drunk, sings a couple of songs, and walks off stage. John's entourage, including his manager Brian, takes him to a bar where Esther Hoffman is singing. One of John's fans finds him there and starts a fight. Esther grabs John and helps him escape out a back door.
They go to Esther's, but she invites him to come back for breakfast. Over breakfast (pepperoni pizza), she agrees to go to a concert with him. After arriving by helicopter, John rides a motorbike around the stage, snags a cable and crashes off the front of the stage. John is taken away by ambulance and his entourage leave in the helicopter; forgetting Esther.
Afterwards, John is resting at home by his pool. A radio DJ, Bebe Jesus, hovers over the pool in a helicopter and invites John to his studio. John gets angry and shoots at the helicopter. Bebe Jesus then threatens to never play John's songs. Later, John goes to the radio station with a case of whiskey to make peace with Bebe Jesus. The disc jockey does not accept John's apology and calls John an alcoholic over the air. Esther happens to be at the radio station at the same time, taping a commercial. John takes Esther to his mansion and writes her name on the wall with a can of spray paint. There, they make love, have a bubble bath together, and he listens to her playing his piano. She thinks no one would be able to sing to the tune she has written, but he makes up some lyrics and starts singing.
At his next concert, John gets Esther on stage to sing. Although the audience boos when she starts to sing, she wins them over. Later, she tells John she wants them to get married. John replies that he's no good for her, but she persists, and they marry. John takes Esther to a plot of land he has out west where they build a simple house. She wants a tour co-starring with him, but he thinks she should do the tour on her own. Esther's career takes off, eclipsing his.
John returns to the studio thinking of restarting his career. He's told by Bobbie that the band has gone on without him and have renamed themselves. To save face, John asks Bobbie to tell them that he's found some new artists to work with and wishes them luck.
At home alone, John begins to write a new song. As he sings, he is constantly interrupted by the telephone. Someone asks for Esther and wants to know whether he is her secretary. When Esther returns home, she wants to find out how it went with the band and John tells her it didn't work out. He changes the subject to find out about Esther's day and goes through the messages he's taken for her, one of which is that she's up for a Grammy Award.
At the Grammy Awards, Esther wins for best female performance. While she is giving her acceptance speech, John arrives late, drunk and makes a scene. Later, Esther tries to talk Brian into giving John a last chance. John is writing songs again but in a different way. Brian calls on John and likes the new songs, but suggests John release some of his old hits along with the new songs. However, John wants to go with the new work only, so he turns down the offer.
Back at his LA mansion, John finds Quentin, a magazine writer, swimming half-naked in his swimming pool. She says she would do anything to get an exclusive interview. Initially he thinks it's with him, but she confirms it's an interview with Esther that she wants. When Esther arrives soon after, she finds them in bed together. Quentin tries to interview Esther, but John tells Quentin to get out. Esther and John fight with another, him telling her “I love you” and she “I hate you”, until Esther confesses that she does love him. They return to their small home out west, where they have been happiest.
One day, John wakes early and tells Esther he's going to pick up Brian from the airport. Esther asks him to hurry back. John leaves the house with a beer in hand and drives off in his flashy sports car. He leaves playing his track “Watch Closely Now” but gets bored and puts on one of Esther's songs. He continues to drink his beer, while driving too fast and recklessly.
In the next scene, a police dispatch is discussing an accident. The shell of a red sports car is on its side. A helicopter lands at the scene and Esther and Brian run out towards John, whose dead body is covered by a blanket. Esther asks for another blanket and cleans his face. She lies down on John and while crying she asks him what is she supposed to do without him. He is taken away in an ambulance.
Back at the LA mansion, Esther hears John's voice calling out for someone to answer the telephone. But she discovers it's just a tape of the old songwriting session during which the telephone had interrupted his singing. She cries on the step in the now empty house, saying that he was a liar and he wasn't supposed to leave her.
The final scene is what seems to be a memorial concert for John. Esther walks out and is introduced as Esther Hoffman-Howard. The audience raises candles as a tribute to her late husband. She sings the song John wrote for her “With One More Look at You” and then ends with his famous track, “Watch Closely Now”, done in her own style. At the last beat of the song, Esther spreads her arms wide and looks up to the heavens.
A Star is Born (2018)
Color
Sad romance between aspiring actress and has-been actor
A Star is Born
"Jackson "Jack" Maine, a famous country rock singer, privately battling an alcohol and drug addiction, plays a concert. His main support is Bobby, his manager and older half-brother. After a show, Jack goes out for drinks and visits a drag bar where he witnesses a tribute performance to Edith Piaf by Ally, who works as a waitress and singer-songwriter. Jack is amazed by her performance, and they spend the night talking to each other, where Ally discloses to him her unsuccessful efforts in pursuing a professional music career. Ally shares with Jack some lyrics she has been working on, and Jack tells Ally she is a talented songwriter and should perform her own material.
Jack invites Ally to his next show. Despite her initial refusal, she attends and, with Jack's encouragement, sings "Shallow" on stage with him. Jack invites Ally to go on tour with him, and they form a romantic relationship. In Arizona, Ally and Jack visit the ranch where Jack grew up and where his father is buried, only to find that Bobby had sold the land, and it was converted to a wind farm. Angered at his betrayal, Jack punches Bobby, who subsequently quits as his manager. Before doing so, Bobby reveals that he did inform Jack about the sale, but Jack was too inebriated to notice.
While on tour, Ally meets Rez, a record producer who offers her a contract. Although visibly bothered, Jack still supports her decision. Rez refocuses Ally away from country music and towards pop. Jack misses one of Ally's performances after he passes out drunk in public; he recovers at the home of his best friend George "Noodles" Stone, and later makes up with Ally. There he proposes to Ally with an impromptu ring made from a loop of a guitar string, and they are married that same day at a church ministered by a relative of Noodles.
During Ally's performance on Saturday Night Live, Bobby reconciles with Jack. Later, Ally and an inebriated Jack have a fight about Ally's growing artistic success. Jack drunkenly criticizes Ally's new image and music. Her success appears to be outpacing his own recent decline in popularity. By comparison, Ally is nominated for three Grammy Awards. At the Grammys, a visibly intoxicated Jack performs in a tribute to Roy Orbison and, later in the evening, Ally wins the Best New Artist award. When she goes up on stage to receive her award, a still inebriated Jack staggers up to her, where he publicly wets himself and passes out. Ally's father, Lorenzo, berates a semi-conscious Jack, while Ally attempts to help Jack sober up. Jack joins a rehabilitation program shortly thereafter. Jack recovers in rehab for about two months, where he discloses to his counselor that he attempted suicide when he was 13 years old. He also mentions that he has hearing problems due to tinnitus, which has been getting worse.
Jack tearfully apologizes to Ally for his behavior. While returning home, Jack admits to Bobby that it was him he idolized and not their father. Ally asks Rez to bring Jack to perform with her European tour, and Rez refuses, prompting Ally to cancel the remainder of the tour so she can care for Jack. Later, Rez arrives at their home to await Ally; while waiting, Rez confronts Jack and accuses him of nearly ruining Ally's career and stating that Jack will certainly relapse again. That evening, Ally lies to Jack and tells him that her record label has canceled her tour so she can focus on her second album. Jack promises that he will come to her concert that night, but after Ally leaves, he hangs himself in their garage. Ally, grief-stricken and inconsolable after Jack's suicide, is visited by Bobby, who tells her that the suicide was Jack's own fault and not hers. The closing scenes reveal a flashback of Jack working on a song about his love for Ally, which he never finished writing. Ally sings this song as a tribute to Jack, introducing herself for the first time as Ally Maine. The film ends with a close-up of Ally looking up to the heavens.
A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)
Black & White
Woman loses home, seeks refuge with her sister, and goes against her husband
A Streetcar Named Desire
"Under mysterious circumstances, Blanche DuBois, an aging highschool teacher, leaves her home in Auriol, Mississippi to travel to New Orleans to live with her sister, Stella Kowalski. She arrives on the train and boards a streetcar named “Desire” and reaches her sister's home in the French Quarter where she discovers that her sister and brother-in-law, Stanley Kowalski, live in a cramped and dilapidated two-room apartment in an old New Orleans tenement. Blanche and Stella are all that remain of an old aristocratic family. Blanche discloses that the family estate, Belle Reve, has been lost to creditors, and that she wants to stay with Stella and Stanley for a while. Blanche seems lost and broke, with nowhere to go. Stella welcomes her with an open heart.
From the start, Blanche and Stanley are wary of each other. Blanche is soft-spoken and mannerly; Stanley is rough and loud. His mere presence seems to threaten her. Struggling to be polite, Blanche says that she was married and widowed at a young age. She says that she has taken a leave of absence from her job due to her nerves. To satisfy Stanley's skepticism about the loss of the estate, Blanche hands over her papers pertaining to Belle Reve. But Stanley grabs at some her private papers that she is holding back, and they cascade to the floor. Weeping, she gathers them all back, saying that they are poems from her dead husband. He defends himself by saying that he was just looking out for his family, and then announces that Stella is going to have a baby.
Soon after her arrival, Stanley has a poker night with his friends where Blanche meets Mitch. His courteous manner sets him apart from Stanley's other friends. They like each other right away. This is the start of their romance. But Stanley explodes in a drunken rage, striking Stella, and sending his friends running, while Blanche and Stella flee to the upstairs neighbor, Eunice. When his anger subsides, Stanley cries out remorsefully for Stella to come back. "Stella, Stella, hey Stella,” he bellows, until she comes down, and Stanley carries her off to bed. In the morning, Blanche tells Stella that she is married to a subhuman animal. In an emotional monologue, she urges her sister to leave Stanley. Stella is mortified at her sister's bluntness and assures Blanche that all is well, and that she does not want to leave.
As the weeks pass into months, the tension rises between Blanche and Stanley. But Blanche has hope in Mitch, telling Stella that she wants to go away with him and not be anyone's problem. She is on the verge of mental collapse, anticipating a marriage proposal from Mitch. Finally, he tells her that they need each other and should be together. But Stanley, still skeptical, begins to research her past and discovers a closet full of skeletons. He tells Stella what Blanche has been concealing from them, that she has a reputation for mental instability and sexual promiscuity that got her fired from her teaching job in Auriol and practically run out of town. He then says that Mitch will not be coming around anymore. Stanley has tattled to Mitch about Blanche's past and has sabotaged the romance. Stella erupts in anger that Stanley has ruined Blanche's chances with Mitch. But the fight is cut short, as she tells Stanley to take her to the hospital; the baby is coming.
As Blanche waits at home for news of the baby, Mitch arrives and confronts her with the stories that Stanley has told him. At first, she denies everything. Then, she breaks down in confession, describing, in a lengthy monolgue, her troubled past. As she speaks to Mitch, she gives up the Southern belle facade; her voice grows weary and deep; her face becomes drawn and old; she pleads for his forgiveness. But Mitch is hurt and humiliated and rejects her. Blanche starts screaming, and Mitch runs away. Later that night, while Stella's labor continues, Stanley returns from the hospital to get some sleep, only to find Blanche dressed up in a tattered old gown pretending to be departing on a trip with an old admirer. She disdainfully antagonizes him, asserting her sense of superiority over him, spinning tale after tale about her plans for the future. He sees that she is delusional but he feels no pity for her. Instead, he seeks to destroy her illusions. They become engaged in a struggle which ends in rape.
Weeks later, at another poker game at the Kowalski apartment, Stella and her neighbor, Eunice, are packing Blanche's belongings. Stella and Eunice have told Blanche that she is going on a vacation; but, in truth, Blanche is being committed to a mental hospital. She has suffered a complete mental breakdown. She has told Stella what happened, but Stella cannot believe Blanche's story. Stella, under obvious stress, does not know what to do. An older gentleman and lady come to the door; it is the doctor and nurse come to take Blanche away. Blanche does not recognize them and resists going; she collapses on the floor seized with total confusion. Mitch, present at the poker game, breaks down in tears. The doctor approaches and helps Blanche up. He offers his arm gently to her, and she goes willingly with him, saying, “whoever you are, I have always depended upon the kindness of strangers.” As the car drives away with Blanche, Stella takes the baby upstairs to Eunice's, and says she is never coming back to Stanley again.
A Touch of Zen (1971)
Color
Family is murdered when husband uncovers plot to overthrow emperor
A Touch of Zen
"The story is largely seen through the eyes of Gu, who is a well-meaning but unambitious scholar and painter, with a tendency towards being clumsy and ineffectual. A stranger arrives in town wanting his portrait painted by Gu, but his real objective is to bring a female fugitive back to the city for execution on behalf of the East Chamber guards. The fugitive, Yang, is befriended by Gu and together they plot against the corrupt Eunuch Wei who wants to eradicate all trace of her family after her father attempts to warn the Emperor of the eunuch's corruption. His daughter fled, and Abbot Hui intervened to protect them.
The stranger, Yang and her friends are all superior warriors. The stranger has a special flexible sword that bends and that he can wear within his belt, making him seem unarmed.
One of the unique aspects of the film is that Gu is a non-combatant all the way through the film and only becomes involved when he sleeps with Yang. Upon doing so, he is no longer the naive bumbling innocent, but instead becomes confident and assertive, and when Yang's plight is revealed, he insists on being part of it -- and even comes up with a fiendish "Ghost Trap" for the East Chamber guards. This is a plan to use a supposedly haunted site to play tricks on the guards to make them believe they are prey to the undead. He first spreads rumours of ghosts, with his mother playing a part. The film then briefly uses split-screen with six separate views to show the spread of these rumours.
In the aftermath, Gu walks through the carnage laughing at the ingenuity of his plan until the true cost of human life dawns upon him. He sees Abbot Hui and his followers arrive to help bury the dead.
After the battle, Gu is unable to find Yang, who he is told has left him and does not want him to follow her. He tracks her down at the monastery of the saintly and powerful Abbot Hui Yuan, where she has given birth to a child by Gu and become a nun. She tells Gu that their destiny together has ended and gives Gu their child. Later, when Gu and the child are tracked down by Hsu Hsien-Chen, the evil commander of Eunuch Wei's army, Yang and Abbot Hui come to Gu's rescue. In the ensuing battle, Hsu is killed and Yang and Abbot Hui are badly injured (the latter bleeding golden blood). The film famously ends with the injured Yang staggering towards a silhouetted figure, presumably Abbot Hui, seen meditating with the setting sun forming a halo around his head, an image suggesting the Buddha and enlightenment.
A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001)
Color
Robot boy seeks to become human
A.I. Artificial Intelligence
"In the late 22nd century, rising sea levels from global warming have wiped out coastal cities such as Amsterdam, Venice and New York, and drastically reduced the population. A new type of robots called Mecha, advanced humanoids capable of thoughts and emotions, have been created.
David, a Mecha that resembles a human child and is programmed to display love for its owners, is sent to Henry Swinton and his wife Monica as a replacement for their son Martin, who has been placed in suspended animation until he can be cured of a rare disease. Monica warms to David and activates his imprinting protocol, causing him to have an enduring childlike love for her. David is befriended by Teddy, a robotic teddy bear who cares for David's well-being.
Martin is cured of his disease and brought home; as he recovers, he grows jealous of David. He makes David go to Monica in the night and cut off a lock of her hair. This upsets the parents, particularly Henry, who fears the scissors are a weapon.
At a pool party, one of Martin's friends pokes David with a knife, activating his self-protection programming. David grabs Martin and they fall into the pool. Martin is saved from drowning, but Henry persuades Monica to return David to his creator for destruction. However, Monica instead abandons both David and Teddy in the forest to hide as an unregistered Mecha.
David is captured for an anti-Mecha "Flesh Fair", where obsolete and unlicensed Mecha are destroyed before cheering crowds. David is nearly killed, but tricks the crowd into thinking he is human and escapes with Gigolo Joe, a male prostitute Mecha who is on the run after being framed for murder. The two set out to find the Blue Fairy, whom David remembers from The Adventures of Pinocchio and believes can turn him into a human, allowing Monica to love him and take him home.
Joe and David make their way to the resort town Rouge City, where "Dr. Know", a holographic answer engine, leads them to the top of Rockefeller Center in the flooded ruins of Manhattan. There, David meets a copy of himself and destroys it. David then meets his creator Professor Hobby, who tells David that he was built in the image of the professor's dead son David, and that more copies, including female versions called Darlene, are being manufactured.
Disheartened, David falls from a ledge, but is rescued by Joe using their amphibicopter. David tells Joe he saw the Blue Fairy underwater and wants to go down to meet her. Joe is captured by the authorities using an electromagnet. David and Teddy use the amphibicopter to go to the Fairy, which turns out to be a statue at Coney Island. The two become trapped when the Wonder Wheel falls on their vehicle. David asks repeatedly to be turned into a real boy until the ocean freezes and is deactivated once his power source is drained.
Two thousand years later, humans have become extinct and Manhattan is buried under glacial ice. The Mecha have evolved into an advanced, intelligent, silicon-based form. They find David and Teddy and discover they are original Mecha that knew living humans, making them special.
David is revived and walks to the frozen Fairy statue, which collapses when he touches it. The Mecha use David's memories to reconstruct the Swinton home and explain to him that they cannot make him human. However, David insists that they recreate Monica from DNA in the lock of hair. The Mecha warn David that the clone can only live for a day, and that the process cannot be repeated. David spends the next day with Monica and Teddy. Before she drifts off to sleep, Monica tells David she has always loved him. Teddy climbs onto the bed and watches the two lie peacefully together.
About Last Night (2014)
Color
Coulple's flirtation quickly moves from bar to bedroom
About Last Night
While out with loudmouthed pal Bernie (Kevin Hart), Danny (Michael Ealy) meets successful businesswoman Debbie (Joy Bryant), who's as leery of relationships as Danny is. However, Danny and Debbie both feel the pull of undeniable attraction, and they end up spending the first of several nights together. The two try to make a success of being a couple despite warnings from Bernie and Joan (Regina Hall), Debbie's best friend. Meanwhile, Bernie and Joan experience some chemistry of their own.
About Time (2013)
Color
Man from a family of time travelers changes history for the better
About Time
"Tim Lake (Domhnall Gleeson) is a young man from Cornwall, England. He grows up in a house by the sea with his father (Bill Nighy), his mother (Lindsay Duncan), his absent-minded uncle, and his free-spirited sister, Kit Kat (Lydia Wilson). At the age of 21, Tim is told by his father that the men of his family have a special gift: the ability to travel in time. This supernatural ability is subject to one constraint - they can only travel to places and times they have been before. After his father discourages Tim to use his gift to acquire money or fame, he decides that he will use it to improve his love life.
The following summer, Kit Kat's friend Charlotte (Margot Robbie) visits to spend her vacation with Tim's family. Tim is instantly attracted to her and at the end of her stay, decides to tell her how he feels. She tells him that he should not have waited until the last day, that perhaps if he had told her earlier, something could have happened between them. Tim travels back in time and, the second time around, tells Charlotte in the middle of the vacation how he feels. In this instance, Charlotte uses the exact opposite excuse, saying that it would be better if they waited until the last day of the vacation and then something could potentially happen between them. Heartbroken, Tim realises that Charlotte is not attracted to him and that time travel will not empower him to change her mind.
After the summer, Tim moves to London to pursue a career as a lawyer. He is put up by his father's old acquaintance, Harry (Tom Hollander), a misanthropic playwright. After some months, Tim visits a Dans le Noir establishment, where he meets Mary (Rachel McAdams). The two flirt in the darkness of the restaurant and afterwards, Mary gives Tim her phone number. Tim returns home to find a distraught Harry. It turns out that the same night as he met Mary, the opening night of Harry's new play had been ruined by one of the actors forgetting his lines at a crucial point. Tim goes back in time to put things right and the play is a triumph.
Having saved Harry's opening night, Tim tries to call Mary, but discovers that her number is no longer in his cell phone. By going back in time to help Harry, Tim chose a path in which the evening with Mary never happened. He remembers her interest in Kate Moss and manages to find her at a Kate Moss exhibition. He strikes up an acquaintance with her but discovers she now has a boyfriend. Tim finds out when and where they met, turns up early and persuades her to leave the party with him before she can meet the boyfriend. Their relationship develops and Tim moves in with Mary. He encounters Charlotte again by accident and this time she makes it clear she would be ready to start a relationship. Tim turns her down, realising he really loves Mary. He proposes marriage, she accepts and is welcomed into his family. Their first child, Posy, is born. Tim's sister, Kit, has not been so lucky and her unhappy relationship, failure to find a career and drinking lead her to crash her car on the same day as Posy's first birthday.
Kit is seriously hurt but begins to make a good recovery. Tim decides to intervene in her life and does so by preventing her from meeting her boyfriend, Jimmy (Tom Hughes). When he returns to the present time, he finds Posy has never been born and that he has a son instead. His father explains that travelling back to change things before his children were born would mean those children would not be born. Thus, any events that occurred before Posy's birth cannot be changed, and Tim must accept the consequences as a normal person would. Tim accepts he cannot change Kit's life by changing her past but he and Mary help her to change her life herself. She settles down with an old friend of Tim's and has a child of her own. Tim and Mary have another child, a boy.
Tim learns that his father has terminal cancer and that time travel cannot change it. His father has known for quite some time, but kept travelling back in time to effectively extend his life and spend more time with his family. He tells Tim to live each day twice in order to be truly happy: the first time, live it as normal, experiencing each day's inherent unpredictability and stress, and the second time to appreciate its small joys and special moments without making any changes to the events that occurred (and avoiding changing any future events). Tim follows this advice and also travels back into the past to visit his father whenever he misses him.
Mary tells Tim she wants a third child. He is reluctant at first because he will not be able to visit his father after the baby is born but agrees. After visiting his father for the following nine months, Tim tells his father that he cannot visit any more. They travel back to when Tim was a small boy, reliving a fond memory of them playing on the beach. After reliving each day, Tim comes to realise that it is better to live each day once, and appreciate everything as if he is living it for a second time. The film ends with Tim leaving Mary in bed and getting his three children ready for school.
About a Boy (2002)
Color
Man pretending to have son to meet women, develops friendship with woman's 12yo son
About a Boy
"Will Freeman] lives a serene and luxurious lifestyle devoid of responsibility in London thanks to substantial royalties left to him from a successful Christmas song composed by his father. In an attempt to meet single women with children (who Will believes have low expectations in the men they date), Will begins attending a single parent support group, "SPAT", where he falsely states that he has a two-year-old son named Ned. He meets an attractive woman named Suzie in the group, and during a planned play-date with her, he meets Marcus, the 12-year-old son of Suzie's friend Fiona, who was unexpectedly brought along by Suzie. Will gains Marcus's interest and trust after he lies to a park ranger to cover up for Marcus accidentally killing a duck by throwing his mother's home-made cottage loaf at it. Afterward, when Will and Suzie take Marcus home, they find Fiona in the living room, overdosed on pills from a suicide attempt.
Marcus attempts to fix Will up with his mother in order to cheer her up, but the plan fails after a single date. Instead, Marcus becomes close to Will after blackmailing him with the knowledge that "Ned" doesn't exist, and begins to treat him as a surrogate big brother. Marcus's influence leads Will to mature and he seeks out a relationship with Rachel, a self-assured career woman, bonding over their experiences raising teenage sons, though Will neglects to explain his relationship to Marcus. He introduces Marcus to Rachel's insecure son, Ali, who threatens to kill him. Marcus, in turn, develops a crush on a girl named Ellie, a punk rocker at his school, but they instead develop a close platonic friendship. Will, realizing that he desires true intimacy with Rachel, decides to be honest with her about his relationship with Marcus, but this backfires and their relationship ends.
One day, Marcus comes home from school to find his mother crying in the living room. He attempts to tell this to Will, but Will is withdrawn following his break-up. Marcus decides to sing at a school talent show in order to make his mother happy. Will attempts to return to his previous lifestyle, but finds it unfulfilling. He realizes that the one thing that means something to him is Marcus, and decides to help him. He crashes a meeting of SPAT to find Fiona and beg her not to commit suicide. She assures him that she has no plans to do so and reveals that Marcus has decided to sing at the school show that day.
Will realizes this will be a huge embarrassment for Marcus and rushes with Fiona to the school to stop him, but Marcus is steadfast in his decision to perform, believing it will be the only thing that will make his mother happy. When he steps on stage and sings his mother's favourite song--"Killing Me Softly with His Song"--the student body starts to taunt him. Suddenly, Will appears onstage with a guitar to accompany Marcus for the rest of the song, earning themselves a modest applause. Will performs an unnecessary solo immediately afterward, turning himself into the butt of the joke and rescuing Marcus from humiliation and even social suicide.
The following Christmas, Will is back with Rachel and hosts a celebration at his home, with his new extended family. The idea of Will marrying Rachel is brought up and Marcus seems unenthusiastic. But Marcus reveals in voiceover that he is not against Will and Rachel marrying, merely that he believes that couples do not work on their own and that everyone needs an extended support system like he now has, concluding "No man is an island.
Above Suspicion (2021)
Color
Susan Smith is recruited by an FBI agent as an informant
Above Suspicion
Susan Smith is a young woman desperate to escape a seedy life of crime and drugs in a Kentucky coal mining town. When a newly minted FBI agent named Mark Putnam recruits Susan as his informant for a high-profile case, she believes her bad luck may finally be changing. But as Susan and Putnam's relationship deepens, so does the danger, setting them both on a collision course with deadly consequences.
Absence of Malice (1981)
Color
Reporter involved in investigation of liquor distributor mob murder
Absence of Malice
"Miami liquor wholesaler Michael Gallagher (Newman), who is the son of a deceased criminal, awakes one day to find himself a front-page story in the local newspaper, indicating that he is being investigated in the disappearance and presumed murder of a local longshoreman union official, Joey Diaz.
The story was written by Miami Standard newspaper reporter Megan Carter (Field), who reads it from a file, left intentionally on the desktop of federal prosecutor Elliot Rosen (Balaban). As it turns out, Rosen is trying to squeeze Gallagher for information.
Gallagher comes to the newspaper's office trying to discover the basis for the story, but Carter does not reveal her source.
Gallagher's business is shut down by union officials who are now suspicious of him, since he has been implicated in Diaz's murder. Local crime boss Malderone, Gallagher's uncle, has him followed, just in case he talks to the government.
Teresa Peron (Melinda Dillon), a lifelong friend of Gallagher, tells the reporter that Gallagher couldn't have killed Diaz because he was taking her out of town for an abortion on that weekend. A devout Catholic, she doesn't want Carter to reveal this publicly, but Carter prints the story anyway. When the paper comes out the next morning, Peron is so ashamed that she steals newspapers from the yards of her neighbors. Later, offscreen, she commits suicide.
The paper's editor McAdam tells Carter that Peron has committed suicide. Carter goes to Gallagher to apologize, but an enraged Gallagher assaults her. Nevertheless, she attempts to make it up to him by revealing Rosen's role in the investigation.
Gallagher hatches a plan for revenge. He arranges a secret meeting with District Attorney Quinn, offering to use his organized-crime contacts to give Quinn exclusive information on Diaz's murder, in exchange for the D.A. calling off the investigation and issuing a public statement clearing him. Both before his meeting with Quinn and after Quinn's public statement, Gallagher makes significant anonymous contributions to one of Quinn's political action committee backers. Gallagher, thankful for Carter's help, also begins a love affair with her.
Rosen is mystified by Quinn's exoneration of Gallagher, so he places phone taps on both and begins a surveillance of their movements. He and federal agent Bob Waddell obtain evidence of Gallagher's donations to Quinn's political committee. They also find out about Gallagher and Carter's relationship.
Waddell, as a friend, warns Carter about the investigation to keep her out of trouble, but she breaks the story that the office of the district attorney (D.A.) is investigating Gallagher's attempt to bribe the D.A.
The story makes the front page again and causes a huge uproar. The US Assistant Attorney General Wells (Wilford Brimley) ultimately calls all of the principals together. He discovers that Rosen illegally leaked information about the investigation into Gallagher's activities to the press, and fires him, and suggests that Quinn resign. (Gallagher's donations to Quinn's political committee, though not illegal, cast suspicions on Quinn's motives in issuing his statement clearing Gallagher.) Wells intimates that he suspects that Gallagher set Quinn up, but cannot prove it, so he will not investigate further. The newspaper prints a story (not written by Carter) revealing the entire truth about the incidents. It is unclear whether Carter keeps her job, or whether Carter's relationship with Gallagher will continue, but the final scene shows them having a friendly conversation on the wharf where Gallagher's boat is docked.
Absolute Power (1997)
Color
Cat burgler spies chief executive trysting with a trophy wife
Absolute Power
"Master thief Luther Whitney (Clint Eastwood) breaks into the mansion of billionaire Walter Sullivan (E. G. Marshall), but is forced to hide upon the arrival of Sullivan's wife Christy (Melora Hardin), on a drunken rendezvous with Alan Richmond (Gene Hackman), the President of the United States. Hidden behind the bedroom vault's one-way mirror, Whitney watches in horror as Richmond becomes sexually violent; Christy, in self-defense, wounds his arm with a letter opener. Richmond screams for help, and Secret Service agents Bill Burton (Scott Glenn) and Tim Collin (Dennis Haysbert) burst in, see Christy about to stab the President and fatally shoot Christy. Chief of Staff Gloria Russell (Judy Davis) arrives, and they stage the scene to look like a burglary gone wrong. Whitney is unnoticed until he makes his getaway, pursued by the agents, but he manages to escape with millions in valuables as well as the incriminating letter opener.
Detective Seth Frank (Ed Harris) heads the murder investigation. Though Whitney, known to authorities as a high-profile burglar, becomes a prime suspect, Frank does not believe he is a murderer. Burton asks Frank to keep him informed on the case and wiretaps Frank's office telephone. Just as Whitney is about to flee the country, he sees Richmond on television publicly commiserating with Sullivan -- a close friend and financial supporter of the president -- on his loss. Incensed, Whitney decides to bring Richmond to justice. He taunts Russell, leaving her a photograph of the letter opener.
Whitney's estranged daughter Kate (Laura Linney), a prosecutor, accompanies Frank to Whitney's home in search of clues. She agrees to set her father up, arranging a meeting at an outdoor cafe where the police can take him into custody. Frank guarantees Whitney's safety, but Burton learns of the plan through the wiretap, and both Collin and McCarty (Richard Jenkins) -- a hitman hired by a vengeful Sullivan -- prepare to kill Whitney. The two snipers, each unaware of the other, try to shoot Whitney when he meets with Kate. Both miss, and Whitney escapes disguised as a police officer. Whitney later explains to Kate exactly how Christy was killed and by whom.
Whitney tricks Russell into wearing Christy's diamond necklace during a White House event. Suspecting that Kate must know the truth, Richmond decides she must be eliminated. When Whitney learns from Frank that the Secret Service has taken over surveillance of Kate, he races back to Washington, D.C. to protect her. Whitney arrives moments after Collin forces Kate's car off a cliff, but she survives. Collin tries again to kill Kate at the hospital with a poison-filled syringe, but Whitney subdues him with a syringe of his own. Collin pleads for mercy, but Whitney delivers a fatal dose.
Whitney replaces Sullivan's chauffeur, and tells Sullivan what truly happened the night his wife was killed. Sullivan is unconvinced until Whitney explains how Richmond lied in his speech about Christy's excuse for staying home that night, which he could only have learned from her. He gives Sullivan the letter opener with Richmond's blood and fingerprints, and tells him that he has since returned the stolen items.
Whitney drops Sullivan off outside the White House. Sullivan passes through security with the letter opener and enters the Oval Office. Meanwhile, alerted by Whitney that his phone has been bugged, Frank discovers that a remorseful Burton has committed suicide and uses the evidence Burton left behind to arrest Russell. On television the next morning comes the shocking news from Sullivan that Richmond committed suicide by stabbing himself to death. However not confirmed, it is suggested that Richmond died by Sullivan's hand. Whitney is satisfied that justice has prevailed, and happy his daughter is safe and part of his life again.
At the hospital, Whitney watches over Kate's recovery. Detective Frank visits briefly, whereupon Whitney suggests to Kate that Frank join them for supper sometime.
Absolute Zero (2006)
Color
Polar Shift freezes Florida
Absolute Zero
"David Koch (Jeff Fahey), a climatologist employed by Inter Sci, proposes a theory that the last ice age was triggered by Earth's polar shift in a single day. When unusually cold weather strikes Miami and the birds start to return from the south a few months earlier, he is sent to Antarctica to find out what is happening.
Once there, he discovers a frozen body of a human that is at least 10,000 years old. What is interesting is his appearance--he looks as if he was instantly frozen in place. He also discovers cave paintings that show the sun falling down. A sudden blizzard then destroys a base camp and kills some members of his team.
Back in Miami, he presents his findings to his co-workers and his boss. He claims that another polar shift is only a couple of hours away and the new ice age is inevitable. However, nobody believes him. According to the current theories, the shifting of the poles should last at least 200 years so the climate changes, if any, wouldn't appear overnight. David's one-time love Bryn (Erika Eleniak) supports his theory with numerous stories about the falling sun followed by a darkness and terrible cold.
When the weather in Miami starts getting colder and colder, the evacuation is ordered and the people start to move to the north. David, Bryn, and a group of people miss the chance to escape, and their only hope is to hide in a special room at Inter Sci. In a couple of hours, everything from 30 north and south of the equator turns to absolute zero (--273 C) turning the Southern United States, Mexico, Central America, north of South America, and Africa into an ice desert.
They manage to survive although everything is frozen outside the room. When the polar shift is over and the sun appears again, they are rescued.
As a consequence of polar shift, many people die and the world's climate changes completely--Florida is completely frozen, Northern Canada and Siberia become hot deserts; Greenland, Iceland, Northern Europe, New York, Alaska, and Antarctica now have a tropical climate.
Accepted (2006)
Color
Student who was rejected by numerous universities starts his own university
Accepted
"Bartleby Gaines (Justin Long) is a persuasive senior from William McKinley High School in Wickliffe, Ohio, who, among other pranks, creates fake IDs. His gifts do not extend to grades, however, and he receives rejection letters from all of the colleges to which he applies, including those with high acceptance rates. In an attempt to gain approval from his strict father (Mark Derwin), Bartleby creates a fake college, the South Harmon Institute of Technology (S.H.I.T.). His best friend, Sherman Schrader III (Jonah Hill), who has been accepted into his father's prestigious alma mater Harmon College, aids Bartleby and fellow rejects Rory Thayer (Maria Thayer), who only applied to Yale University; Hands Holloway (Columbus Short), who lost his athletic scholarship after an injury; and Glen (Adam Herschman), who failed his SAT exam. To make the "college" seem legitimate, Bartleby convinces Sherman to create a functional website for the school.
When his father insists on meeting the dean, Bartleby hires Sherman's peculiar uncle, Ben Lewis (Lewis Black), a former Harmon College professor, to play that role, and he leases an abandoned psychiatric hospital adjacent to Harmon College and renovates it to look like a college campus. Their plan backfires when the website, which automatically accepts any applicant, enrolls hundreds of other rejected students. Bartleby realizes that these people have nowhere else to go, so he lets them believe that the school is real, a place where they will finally feel accepted, despite objections from his friends. After a visit to Harmon disenchants him with traditional college life, he has the students create their own curricula. Students write down what they want to learn on a giant whiteboard, ranging from the culinary arts, sculpting, meditations, to unusual courses such as psychokinesis, a subject one eccentric kid (Jeremy Howard) wishes to study.
Bartleby creates a school newspaper (the S.H.I.T. Rag), invents a mascot (the S.H.I.T. Sandwiches), and throws themed parties. Meanwhile, the dean of Harmon College, Richard Van Horne (Anthony Heald), makes plans to construct the Van Horne Gateway, a park-like "verdant buffer zone" adjacent to the college that the dean hopes will "keep knowledge in and ignorance out". He dispatches Hoyt Ambrose (Travis Van Winkle) to free up the nearby properties, but when Bartleby refuses to relinquish the lease for the South Harmon property, Hoyt sets to work trying to reveal the college as a fake. The dispute turns personal, since Bartleby has been vying for the affections of Hoyt's ex-girlfriend, Monica Moreland (Blake Lively). Hoyt exposes South Harmon as a fake institution through Sherman, who is attempting to join Hoyt's fraternity as a legacy, but is constantly humiliated and abused by them. After debasing Sherman once more, the fraternity violently forces him to hand over all the files he has created for South Harmon.
Hoyt contacts all the students' parents, and with Van Horne, he reveals the school as a sham. Soon after, the school is forced to close, but Sherman, who has had enough with Harmon College's corruption, files for accreditation on behalf of South Harmon, giving Bartleby a chance to make his college legitimate. At the subsequent State of Ohio educational accreditation hearing, Bartleby makes an impassioned speech about the failures of conventional education and the importance of following one's own passions, convincing the board to grant his school a one-year probationary accreditation to test his new system, thus foiling Van Horne's plans. The college reopens, with more students enrolling, including Sherman and Monica. In addition, Bartleby finally earns the approval of his father, who is proud that his son now owns a college. As the film closes, Van Horne walks to his car in the parking lot, only to watch it suddenly explode. Bartleby watches in astonishment as the eccentric student from earlier makes his interest in psychokinetic explosion a reality.
Ace in the Hole (1951)
Black & White
Reporter takes advantage of man trapped in mine to further his career
Ace in the Hole
"Chuck Tatum is a fiercely ambitious, self-centered, wisecracking, down-on-his-luck reporter who has worked his way down the ladder. He has come west to New Mexico from New York City, along the way being fired from eleven newspapers for libel, adultery, and heavy drinking, among other charges. Now that his car has broken down and Tatum is broke, he talks his way into a reporting job for the Albuquerque Sun-Bulletin, a paper of little consequence.
Tatum stays sober and works there uneventfully for a year. Then while unhappily on assignment to cover a rattlesnake hunt, he learns about Leo Minosa, a local man who has become trapped in a cave collapse while gathering ancient Indian artifacts.
Sensing a golden opportunity, Tatum manipulates the rescue effort, convincing an unscrupulous sheriff to pressure the construction contractor charged with the rescue into drilling from above, rather than shoring up the existing passages, so that Tatum can prolong his stay on the front pages of newspapers nationwide.
Lorraine, the victim's wife, goes along with the reporter's scheme. She is eager to leave Leo and their struggling business in the middle of nowhere, a combination trading post and restaurant. Thanks to the publicity Tatum generates, she experiences a financial windfall, particularly from thousands of tourists who come to witness the rescue.
Herbie Cook, the newspaper's young photographer, slowly loses his idealism as he follows Tatum's lead and envisions himself selling pictures to Look or Life. The editor of the Albuquerque Sun-Bulletin tries to talk some sense into his employees, but Tatum quits on the spot, having sold the exclusive rights to his copy to a New York editor for a lot of money and, more importantly, his old job back.
Thousands flock to the town. The rescue site literally becomes a carnival, with rides, entertainment, songs about Leo, even games of chance. Tatum begins drinking again. He takes up with Lorraine and is greeted heroically by the crowd each time he returns from visiting poor Leo in the cave.
After five days of drilling, the party atmosphere ends abruptly. Upon learning that Leo is fading fast, Tatum belatedly tries to get the contractor to switch back to the quicker procedure of shoring up the walls of the cave, but the vibration from drilling has made this impossible. Leo dies.
Tatum has mistreated Leo's wife once too often as well, and she stabs him with a pair of scissors. Tatum barely reaches his old office in Albuquerque, then collapses on the floor as he is about to reveal a big story: how he caused Leo's death.
Act of Valor (2012)
Color
Navy Seals rescue CIA agent
Act of Valor
"In the Philippines, a terrorist kills the U.S. ambassador, his son, and dozens of children, using a vehicle-borne IED at an elementary school. The mastermind, a Chechen terrorist named Abu Shabal (Jason Cottle), escapes to a training camp in Indonesia.
In Costa Rica, two CIA operatives, Walter Ross (Nestor Serrano) and Lisa Morales (Roselyn Sanchez) meet to consolidate intelligence about their target, a drug smuggler named Mikhail "Christo" Troykovich. Christo's men kill Ross and capture Morales, who is imprisoned in a jungle compound and tortured.
At Coronado, the members of Bandito Platoon, SEAL Team Seven are at home. Lieutenant Rorke confides to Chief Dave that his wife is pregnant, and has the entire team spend time together with their families until their next deployment. SEAL Team Seven is then deployed to Costa Rica to exfiltrate Morales.
The seven Navy SEALs insert into the jungle via HALO and hold position outside the compound all night. At dawn, Special Warfare Combatant-craft Crewmen (SWCCs) are inserted down the river from the compound on-board Special Operations Craft - Riverine (SOC-R) and deploy a drone that identifies the guards and a large group of enemies camped down the road. The SEALs approach the compound, hear Morales being tortured, and decide to enter the compound early. Rorke and Weimy, the team sniper, provide cover for the other five, led by Dave, who conduct room-clearing, engaging several enemy guards. SEAL operative Mikey is shot in the eye, blinding him and knocking him unconscious. The SEALs extract Morales, escaping with her and recovering a cell phone full of the information she had gathered. However, the gunfight alerts the enemy quick reaction force down the road, who drive toward the camp. The SEALs commandeer an enemy truck and exfiltrate. The hot pursuit forces them to revert to a tertiary extraction point, where the SOC-R boats extract the team, and eliminate the enemy pursuit with miniguns.
Cristo and Shabal, who are revealed to have been childhood friends, meet in Kiev. Cristo knows the CIA is watching him and informs Shabal that subordinates will complete their project. Shabal is enraged, but goes to the factory that Cristo specified, where bomb vests are being assembled. These use plastic explosives and ceramic ball bearings to work like a claymore mine, can evade metal detectors, and are thin enough to be worn under any clothing without notice.
On the amphibious assault ship USS Bonhomme Richard, Senior Chief Petty Officer Miller, the operations officer of the SEAL team, informs Rorke that Mikey will survive but has lost his sight in one eye. In addition, the intelligence they recovered confirms that Shabal and Cristo were working together. Shabal, an old-school Muslim terrorist, seeks to bring the jihad to the U.S., while Cristo is not merely a drug dealer, but a smuggler, with routes and contacts for smuggling people into the U.S. Two of the SEALs, Ajay and Ray, are sent to Somalia, where an arms transfer involving Shabal is taking place. The remaining SEALs, composed of Rorke, Dave, Sonny, and Weimy, stay in the U.S. in case the terrorists make it in. Miller himself has been reassigned to SEAL Team Four, hunting for Cristo somewhere on the oceans. Lieutenant Rorke gives a letter to Dave in case he is killed.
The two SEALs in Somalia confirm the presence of Shabal and sixteen terrorists, and identify his plane. They track the plane to an island off Baja California, where the team assaults. They successfully attack and secure the island, killing eight terrorists. Rorke is nearly killed by an RPG that strikes his vest directly in the chest but does not detonate.
Meanwhile, in the South Pacific, Cristo is hiding aboard his yacht, guarded by gunboats and mercenaries. SEAL Team Four identifies the yacht with satellite imaging and deploys several helicopters and gunboats. They quickly kill the guards, capture the yacht, and capture Christo and his family. Senior Chief Miller interrogates Christo. Threatened with permanent separation from his family, Cristo reveals his connection with Shabal and his plans to have his martyrs detonate their vests at strategic points throughout the U.S., causing a panic and doing economic damage surpassing that following the September 11 attacks. But Christo says he is powerless to stop the attack.
The SEALs are informed that not all of their targets were neutralized and that half, including Shabal, are en route to the U.S., via tunnels underneath a milk factory. They are ordered to link up with Mexican Special Forces and neutralize the remaining targets. U.S. Marines relieve the SEALs, who then travel on to Mexico meeting the Mexican Special Forces. The Mexican leader informs the SEALs that the assault will be extremely dangerous, as the smugglers are supported by the well-armed local drug cartel, and that a "Black Hawk Down"--style stalemate would have political consequences.
The SEALs and Mexican forces assault the factory, hiding in dump trucks. The combined forces cordon off the factory while Rorke, the Mexican officer, Chief Dave, Sonny, and several other SEALs led by Weimy clear most of the factory. The Mexican officer is wounded and the SEALs are nearly killed as the explosive vest of a suicide bomber detonates. As they reach the tunnels, an enemy fighter drops an F1 fragmentation grenade into the room. Only Lieutenant Rorke sees the grenade land. Realizing his team cannot escape the room in time, he dives on the grenade and it detonates, mortally wounding him. Dave pursues the terrorists alone, while Sonny tends to Rorke. Dave catches up to the terrorists as they try to escape through the tunnels, but shoots seven of them as they flee into the entrance. However, Shabal appears and fires nearly thirty rounds from an AK-47 into Dave, destroying his weapon in addition to wounding him critically. Dave draws his sidearm and kills the eighth suicide bomber as he runs into the tunnel. Shabal approaches Dave and prepares to execute him, but is killed by Sonny.
At home, Rorke is given a military funeral with full honors, while Dave survived his injuries. The SEALs pay their respects, punching the gold SEAL tridents that signify them as SEALs into Rorke's coffin. It is then revealed that Dave's narration throughout the movie was a written letter meant for Rorke's son, explaining the valor of the father he will never know, and ending with the poem "Live Your Life" by Tecumseh. The film ends with a dedication to every U.S. Navy SEAL killed in action since 9/11, and a list of their names.
Addicted (2014)
Color
Businesswoman and family woman struggles with addiction
Addicted
"On the outside Zoe Reynard seems to have the perfect life. She has a perfect marriage to her husband Jason and the couple share two kids. Despite this, Zoe is not happy in her marriage. After sex one night with her husband, Zoe is displeased that Jason was done so she wakes up to watch porn and plays with a dildo. She attends an art show for a possibly new client to sign on with her company and runs into the artist of the show, Quinton Canosa, and the two quickly share some flirtation. Later, Zoe goes over to his apartment for him to sign a contract but Canosa stops her and the two have sex. Despite Zoe trying to maintain her sanity, she could not resist Canosa's charms and the two have sex again when he takes her out to his special spot. The couple breaks up regularly but always inevitably end up getting back together. On one particular occasion, when Zoe goes to get back with Quinton, she finds him having sex with his next door neighbor.
Zoe, throughout the story, is telling this as a flashback to her therapist, Dr. Marcella Spencer, who is treating her for sex addiction. After diagnosing her with sex addiction, Dr. Spencer assumes it might have been something from Zoe's past that keeps coming back to hurt her and pressures her to confess. However, each time she asked, Zoe avoided the question and walks out. Her addiction begins to take over her life and she soon begins to sleep with another man, Corey, whom she met at a club. When she comes home from work, she sees Corey at her home talking to her mother. Seeing the danger she had put her family into, Zoe decides that she wants to try to fix her marriage with her husband. She invites both Corey and Quinton to meet her at Quinton's apartment. Saying she does not want to say it twice, she breaks up with the two and through this they realize that she had been sleeping with both of them. Corey becomes angry and lunges at her, but Quinton blocks him. As Corey leaves, Quinton knocks him out with a vase. Zoe becomes afraid of him and tries to calm him down, but Quinton tells her that she is not going to leave him anymore. Frightened that he was walking closer, Zoe shoves a glass artwork between them, smashing it to pieces. Quinton walks straight over them, pulling bits of glass out of his feet. While hiding from Quinton who is chasing after her with a palette knife, Jason suddenly appears and smashes a heart sculpture over Quentin's head and saves Zoe before leaving. Zoe chases after Jason, apologizing profusely but he rejects her, telling her he does not want to be with a 'lying, cheating whore.' Out of desperation, Zoe walks out in front of car, injuring herself. The two splits up and Jason stays in a hotel. Zoe becomes a recluse but soon goes to a group therapy session. It is discovered that the root of Zoe's addiction was a rape committed against her by three boys earlier in her life. At the session she speaks of her deep love for her husband and Jason walks into the session.
Adventureland (2009)
Color
College grad reluctantly takes a summer gig at an amusement park
Adventureland
"In 1987, James Brennan plans to have a summer vacation in Europe after graduating with a degree in comparative literature from Oberlin College and enrolling in journalism graduate school at Columbia University after receiving his acceptance letter. A few days after his graduation, his parents advise him to seek a part-time job rather than going to Europe when they unexpectedly announce that financial problems have taken a toll on them and they would be unable to financially support him.
After being rejected from every other job he applies to due to a lack of any real work experience, James gets a job at Adventureland, a local amusement park in his hometown of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where his childhood friend Tommy Frigo works. Assistant manager Bobby assigns James to the games section, despite James' preference of working on rides. He later meets his new co-workers: the sarcastic college student Joel; Bobby's wife and park manager Paulette; siblings Pete and Sue O'Malley; friendly nerd Munch; the alluring but vapid rides worker Lisa P.; and the park's technician, Mike Connell, a part-time musician who claims to have once jammed with Lou Reed, James' musical idol. Another games worker, Emily "Em" Lewin, saves James from being stabbed by a lying, cheating customer. That night, Em offers him a ride home and they begin to get to know each other a bit.
With her father and stepmother out of town, Em throws a party and continues befriending James, who discovers that they both share a similar taste in music. During their conversation, Em persuades James to join her in her swimming pool. After fooling around for a bit, Em leaves the pool to get a drink. James follows only to learn that he has an erection. Not wanting Em to see, he tells her he'll join her shortly. When she leaves, he begins to climb out when Frigo appears and announces James' erection to the other party-goers, prompting them to laugh and James to jump back into the water in humiliation. After the party has broken up, Connell, who is married and has been having an affair with Em, comes over and they have sex.
Later that week, James gives Em his mixtape of "J's Favorite Bummer Songs" and asks her out for a drink. At the local Stardust Lounge she is surprised to learn James has never had sex. They listen to his mixtape and share a first kiss on the way home. The following day, James tells Connell about his strong feelings for Em, which Connell reports to her. After spending a night at a dance club with James, Joel and Sue, Em tells James that she wants to take things slow due to problems in her life, leaving James confused and upset. Meanwhile, Sue drunkenly makes out with Joel in the back of Em's car, but rejects him the next day after he attempts to bring her a gift, using the excuse that her Catholic parents would not allow her to date a Jew, despite Joel's claim that he's actually an atheist. After learning of this, an outraged Em calls Sue an anti-Semite in front of other staff members in defense of Joel and declares that they are no longer friends. Lisa P., who is being hit on by Sue's cocky brother, Pete (who also works at the park), asks James out on a date in front of him, but James has mixed feelings because of his relationship with Em. After Connell talks him into going, he accepts Lisa's offer.
After the date, during which Lisa and James kiss, James learns that Em had called to say she regrets having rejected his feelings. Joel later sees James and Em walking together and, irritated by the recent chain of events, quits. James unsuccessfully tries to talk him out of it, and Joel reveals that he's angry at James for dating Lisa P., when James is already in love with Em. James, riddled with guilt, confesses to Em about his date with Lisa P. After hearing of this, Em goes to Connell's mother's home to end their affair. The park's mentally challenged parking attendant, prompted by Frigo, tells James that one night he saw Em and Connell doing "pushups without any pants on" in the back of Connell's car.
Frigo drives James to Connell's mother's house, which is where Lisa had earlier told him that Connell takes girls to have sex. James already knows the location of the house after heading there with Connell some time before. Shortly after arriving, he witnesses Em leaving. Shocked to see James, Em becomes tongue-tied. After a brief confrontation, James leaves angrily, and Em cries. James tells Lisa about the affair and asks her not to tell anyone, but she tells her friend Kelly and soon afterwards the news spreads throughout the park. Upon noticing that all of the park employees know, Em quits and decides to move back to New York. A heartbroken James drunkenly crashes his father's car into their neighbor's tree and passes out. The next morning, his mother angrily wakes him up and tells him he has to pay to repair it with his summer earnings. On top of that, James' friend from Oberlin, Eric, whom James had initially planned on moving to New York with, calls to let him know that he will not be going to Columbia and instead will be attending Harvard Business School, thus canceling their living arrangements.
Now without enough money for graduate school or a place to live, James nonetheless heads to New York City with his parents' blessing and waits outside Em's apartment in the rain. Upon her arrival, she is reluctant to talk to him, feeling that she has ruined everything between them. James tells her that he sees her in a different way than she sees herself. Touched, Em brings James up to her apartment. James reveals that he'll find a job, work out, and try to attend Columbia University next year. After taking off his rain-soaked clothes to let them dry off, Em offers him an Adventureland t-shirt, something James never wants to see again. They kiss and begin to take their clothes off ready to have sex. James then asks, "Are we doing this?", to which Em replies, "I think so.
Affliction (1998)
Color
Washed up sheriff seeks redemption in case of businessman killed during deer hunt
Affliction
"The film begins with a voice-over narration by Rolfe Whitehouse, announcing the story of his brother Wade's "strange criminal behavior" and subsequent disappearance.
Wade Whitehouse is a small-town policeman in New Hampshire. On Halloween night, Wade meets his daughter Jill, but he is late and the evening is overshadowed by disharmony. Jill eventually calls her mother, Wade's ex-wife, to come and pick her up. When his ex-wife finally arrives, Wade shoves her lover against their car and watches them drive away with Jill. Wade vows to get a lawyer to help gain custody of his daughter.
The next day, Wade rushes to the scene of a crime. Jack Hewitt, a local hunting guide, claims that Evan Twombley, with whom he was hunting, accidentally shot and killed himself. The police believe Jack, but Wade grows suspicious, believing that the man's death was no accident. When he is informed that the victim was scheduled to testify in a lawsuit, his suspicion slowly turns into conviction.
A while later, Wade and his girlfriend Margie Fogg arrive at the house of Wade's father, Glen Whitehouse, whose abusive treatment of Wade and Rolfe as children is seen in flashbacks throughout the film. Wade finds his mother lying dead in her bed from hypothermia. Glen reacts to her death with little surprise, and later gets drunk at her wake and gets into a fight with Wade.
Rolfe, who has come home for the funeral, suggests at first that Wade's murder theory could be correct, but later renounces himself of this presumption. Nonetheless, Wade becomes obsessed with his conviction. When Wade learns that town Selectman Gordon Lariviere is buying up property all over town with the help from a wealthy land developer, he makes the solving of these incidents his personal mission. Suffering from a painful toothache and becoming increasingly socially detached, he behaves more and more unpredictably. He follows Jack, convinced that Jack is running away from something and is involved in a conspiracy. After a car chase, a nervous Jack finally pulls over, threatens Wade with a rifle, shoots out his tires, and drives off.
Finally, Wade is fired for harassing Jack and trashing Lariviere's office. He collects Jill from her mother's house, where his ex-wife furiously castigates his plans to sue for full custody. At a local restaurant, he attacks the bartender in front of his daughter. Then Wade takes Jill home to find Margie leaving him. Wade grabs Margie and begs her to stay, but Jill rushes up and tries to push Wade away. In response, Wade pushes Jill, giving her a bloody nose. She and Margie drive off. Wade is then approached by Glen, who congratulates him for finally acting as a "real man". The latent aggression between the men culminates in a fight in which Wade accidentally kills his father. He burns the corpse in the barn, sits down at the kitchen table and starts drinking.
Rolfe's narration reveals that Wade eventually murdered Jack and left town (possibly to Canada, where Jack's truck was found three days later), never to return. Rolfe relates that the town later became part of a huge ski resort partly organized by Gordon Lariviere, but having nothing to do with either Jack or Twombley. Rolfe concludes that someday a vagrant resembling Wade might be found frozen to death, and that will be the end of the story.
After the Sunset (2004)
Color
After a final heist, Max and his wife decide to retire
After the Sunset
"After the Sunset begins with master thief Max Burdett (Pierce Brosnan) and his beautiful accomplice, Lola Cirillo (Salma Hayek), stealing the second of three famous diamonds known as the Napoleon diamonds from FBI Agent Stanley P Lloyd (Woody Harrelson). Max however is shot by Lloyd before he passes out from being gassed by them. Max survives and tells Lola to get the diamond. She does and leaves a one dollar bill in its place. They then fly to Paradise Island in The Bahamas. Their financial future is set, their career in crime a thing of the past. However, Agent Lloyd refuses to believe their retreat into domesticity. After six months, Lloyd shows up, breaks into Max's house, and starts searching for evidence: taking the bullet he shot Max with. Max arrives and points a gun at him while he is relaxing, prompting Lloyd to draw his. They lower their guns and Lloyd accuses Burdett of hiding out in the same place where a cruise ship is displaying the final Napoleon diamond and the only one he hadn't stolen. He thinks the two are planning to lift the third Napoleon diamond, and complete the set. Max denies this and Lloyd leaves with a movie Max thinks he will learn something from. Lola at first suspects Max is getting ready for another job, but he convinces her he isn't. When she discovers the bullet is gone, she hires two masseuse to successfully get it back.
Burdett unwittingly turns the tables and befriends the frustrated detective Lloyd, showing him the pleasures that Paradise Island has to offer, even paying for the most expensive suite, the bridge suite, for as long as Lloyd was there. Lloyd, out of his element, adapts quickly to the easy-going Caribbean lifestyle. Despite his pleas of innocence, Burdett's curiosity gets the better of him and he starts casing the ship. However, not only does Lloyd suspect that he is ready for 'one more' job, so does the local thug, Henri Moore (Don Cheadle) whose bodyguard threatens Burdett to give him a ride to his boss' where he tries to get him to steal the diamond for him so he can extend his humanitarian business.
Burdett, still wanting the diamond for himself, pretends to work with Moore, and gives him a fake plan as to how he would steal the diamond (which he earlier related to Stan). Stan however has teamed up with local police constable Sophie (Naomie Harris) to catch Burdett, and tails him to Junkanoo, a local parade, where Max loses him, warning that he shouldn't tail so closely before he is hit in the face by a tuba player swinging his tuba by Max's request. Lola kicks Max out after he breaks his promise to spend their first sunset on her new deck she had been working on and after she finds out he lied about writing his vows to her. Max is forced to bunk with Stan, and they share their thoughts about each other's lives. The next morning, the authorities and Sophie discover them, revealing that Stan's FBI license is suspended.
Later, while eating breakfast, the two come up with a plan to get Sophie and Lola back, involving a scuba diving trip (the scuba diving part Lloyd was unaware of). Moore's man prepares to attempt to steal the Napoleon diamond, providing a diversion for Burdett to steal it himself. He switches place with an accomplice. Lola later discovers this and cuts off Stan's air supply to keep him from learning it. Meanwhile Henri's man is caught and arrested and Max steals the diamond. He then returns and saves Stan before he dies. On land, Sophie gets the call about the diamond being stolen. Sophie searches Max, but finds nothing. Stan and she angrily leave, while Lola prepares to leave Max. However, she is stopped by Moore, who threatens to kill her if Max does not tell him where the diamond is. Fortunately, Stan arrives and shoots Moore twice, killing him. Lola is nevertheless unfazed, and leaves Max anyway. After spending the night alone in their home, Max realizes he wants her back, and catches her just before she leaves, promising her she is his only jewel from then on. He then proposes with "the first diamond I ever bought" in his words. She accepts on the condition that she gets the receipt.
The next day, Max is met by Stan while celebrating, who tells him he was never drunk the night Burdett had to bunk with him, and details how he let Max do all the work while he later recovered the diamond. Max concedes that his nemesis has won this time, and is simply happy to live out his life with and watch sunsets with Lola. However, he has fun with Stan when he tries to leave by remote controlling his car again, promising Lola it is the last time.
Age of Consent (1969)
Color
Man becomes involved with 17yo Austrailian native
Age of Consent
"Bradley Morahan (James Mason) is an Australian artist who feels he has become jaded by success and life in New York City. He decides that he needs to regain the edge he had as a young artist and returns to Australia.
He sets up in a shack on the shore of a small, sparsely inhabited island on the Great Barrier Reef. There he meets young Cora Ryan (Helen Mirren), who has grown up wild, with her only relative, her difficult, gin-guzzling grandmother 'Ma' (Neva Carr Glyn). To earn money, Cora sells Bradley fish that she has caught in the sea. She later sells him a chicken which she has stolen from his spinster neighbour Isabel Marley (Andonia Katsaros). When Bradley is suspected of being the thief, he pays Isabel and gets Cora to promise not to steal any more. To help her save enough money to fulfill her dream of becoming a hairdresser in Brisbane, he pays her to be his model. She reinvigorates him, becoming his artistic muse.
Bradley's work is disrupted when his sponging longtime "friend" Nat Kelly (Jack MacGowran) shows up. Nat is hiding from the police over alimony he owes. When Bradley refuses to give him a loan, Nat invites himself to stay with Bradley. After several days, Bradley's patience becomes exhausted, but Nat then focuses his attention on romancing Isabel, hoping to get some money from her. Instead, she unexpectedly ravishes him. The next day, he hastily departs the island, but not before stealing Bradley's money and some of his drawings.
Ma subsequently catches Cora posing nude for Bradley and accuses him of carrying on with her underage granddaughter. Bradley protests that he has done nothing improper. Finally, he gives her the little money he has left to get her to go away.
When Cora discovers that Ma has found her hidden cache of money, she chases after her. In the ensuing struggle, Ma falls down a hill, breaks her neck, and dies. The local policeman sees no reason to investigate further, since the old woman was known to be frequently drunk.
Later that night, Cora goes to Bradley's shack, but is disappointed when he seems to view her only as his model. When she runs out, Bradley follows her into the water, where finally comes to view her as a desirable young woman.
Agora (2009)
Color
Woman astronamer in Medevil times
Agora
"In 391 AD, Alexandria, is part of the Roman Empire, and Greek philosopher Hypatia (Rachel Weisz), is a teacher at the Platonic school, where future leaders are educated. Hypatia is the daughter of Theon (Michael Lonsdale), the director of the Musaeum of Alexandria. Hypatia, her father's slave, Davus (Max Minghella), and two of her pupils, Orestes (Oscar Isaac) and Synesius (Rupert Evans), are immersed in the changing political and social landscape. She rejects Orestes's love, because she prefers to devote herself to science. Davus assists Hypatia in her classes and is interested in science, and is also secretly in love with her.
Meanwhile, social unrest begins challenging the Roman rule of the city as Pagans and Christians come into conflict. When the Christians start defiling the statues of the pagan gods, the pagans, including Orestes and Hypatia's father, ambush the Christians to squash their rising influence. However, in the ensuing battle, the pagans unexpectedly find themselves outnumbered by a large Christian mob. Hypatia's father is gravely injured and Hypatia and the pagans take refuge in the Library of the Serapeum. The Christian siege of the library ends when an envoy of the Roman Emperor declares that the pagans are pardoned, however the Christians shall be allowed to enter the library and do with it what they please. Hypatia and the pagans flee, trying to save the most important scrolls, before the Christians overtake the library and destroy its contents. Davus chooses to join the Christian forces. He later returns with a gladius and starts sexually assaulting her, but quickly begins to sob offers his sword to her. However, she removes his slave collar and tells him he is free.
Several years later, Orestes, now converted to Christianity, is prefect of Alexandria. Hypatia continues to investigate the motions of the Sun, the Moon, the five known "wanderers" (planets) and the stars. Some Christians ridicule the thinking that the Earth is a sphere, by arguing that people far from the top would fall off the Earth. When they ask Davus his opinion he avoids conflict by saying that only God knows these things.
Hypatia also investigates the heliocentric model of the solar system proposed by Aristarchus of Samos; by having an object dropped from the mast of a moving ship she demonstrates to Orestes that a possible motion of the Earth would not affect the motion, relative to Earth, of a falling object on Earth. However, due to religious objections against heliocentrism, the Christians have now forbidden Hypatia to teach at the school. The Christians and the Jews come into conflict, committing violent acts against each other.
The leader of the Christians, Cyril (Sami Samir), views Hypatia as having too much influence over Orestes and stages a public ceremony intended to force Orestes to subjugate her. Hypatia's former pupil, Synesius, now the Bishop of Cyrene, comes to her rescue as a religious authority counterweight, but says he cannot help her unless she accepts Christianity; she refuses. Hypatia makes a personal discovery, theorizing that the Earth orbits around the Sun in an elliptic, not circular, orbit with the Sun at one of the foci. Cyril convinces a mob of Christians that Hypatia is a witch and they vow to kill her. Davus tries to run ahead to warn Hypatia, but she is captured by the mob. They strip Hypatia naked and are about to skin her alive until Davus persuades the mob otherwise, and they decide to stone her instead. When everyone goes outside to collect stones, Davus secretly suffocates her to spare her the pain of being stoned to death and tells the mob that she fainted. Davus leaves as they begin to stone her.
Albert Nobbs (2011)
Color
Woman disguises herself as a man to work as a butler
Albert Nobbs
"Albert Nobbs (Glenn Close) is a woman living as a man in order to find work in the harsh environment of 19th-century Ireland. After living as a male for thirty years, Albert, working as a hotel waiter, is known for her extreme dedication to her job, as well as for a very introverted personality. Albert has been secretly saving all her earnings to buy a tobacco shop to gain some measure of freedom and independence.
Meanwhile, recently unemployed Joe Mackins (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) arrives at the hotel to repair the boiler. Flirtatious maid Helen Dawes (Mia Wasikowska) is attracted to him, and they become lovers; Joe's controlling nature and alcoholism soon become apparent, however.
Albert visits Hubert at her home and meets Cathleen (Bronagh Gallagher). Albert tells Hubert the story of her life: born a bastard and abandoned by her parents, she is raised and educated in a convent before being kicked out after her mother, who had apparently been paying for Albert's care, dies. One night, when she was fourteen, she was brutally gang raped and beaten by a group of men. Immediately afterwards, after hearing there is a need for waiters, she buys a suit, masquerading as a boy, and is hired. She chooses to continue to work and eventually live as a man. She never reveals her birth name to Hubert--she thinks of herself solely as "Albert".
Believing Helen may be the ideal wife to run a shop with, Albert asks her to leave with her. Helen refuses, but Joe, believing that Albert will give Helen money that could help the pair emigrate to America, encourages Helen to lead her on. Helen agrees to be with Albert, who buys Helen expensive gifts to please her. Helen is uncomfortable with Albert and the arrangement that Joe forced her to make. Albert tells Helen she wants to buy a shop, though Helen only wants to leave Ireland for America.
A typhoid epidemic breaks out in Dublin, and when some staff fall ill, customers avoid the hotel, causing financial problems. Albert becomes infected but soon recovers, while Helen discovers she is pregnant with Joe's child. Joe is terrified, fearing he will become like his abusive father. Albert goes to Hubert's home and learns that Cathleen died, devastating Hubert. As a tribute to her, Albert and Hubert don dresses Cathleen made and take a stroll on the beach. Though both at first are extremely uncomfortable, they eventually enjoy spending the day together dressed as women. They take a walk along the beach where Albert, feeling free, runs in the sand. But a stumble and fall bring her back to reality and she and Hubert return to Hubert's, change back into their men's clothing, and go back to their lives as before.
Back at the hotel, Albert learns Helen is pregnant and offers to marry her. Helen refuses, sensing Albert does not love her, though Albert agrees with her fear that Joe will abandon her and the child and go to America alone. Later that evening, when Joe and Helen get into a loud fight, Albert intervenes. Albert physically attacks Joe when he attempts to hurt Helen in a fit of rage; Joe throws Albert against a wall, hitting Albert's head. Albert returns to her room, bleeding from one ear. She dies later that night, presumably as a result of her head injury.
Mrs. Baker discovers Albert's hidden money and uses it to revitalize the hotel. In the following months, Joe has gone to America and Helen has given birth to a son, Albert Joseph. Mrs. Baker makes further use of Albert's money by hiring Hubert to paint the entire hotel. Hubert sees Helen again, who breaks down and reveals that she will be separated from her son and thrown out into the street. Hubert tells her, "We can't let that happen, can we?", implying that she will look after her.
Alex Cross (2012)
Color
Tracks down murderer
Alex Cross
"Dr. Alex Cross (Tyler Perry) is a psychologist and police lieutenant who lives in Detroit with his wife, Maria (Carmen Ejogo), their children, Damon and Janelle, and his mother, Nana Mama. He also frequently visits a prisoner, Pop-Pop, who is serving time for a murder. Cross knows her uncle, Daramus Holiday, committed the murder and framed her, but she refuses to tell the truth. When returning home, he learns that Maria is pregnant with their third child, Cross considers accepting a job as an FBI profiler with a 35% pay rise, but fears Maria's reaction, as it would require them to relocate to Washington, D.C. Meanwhile, a man called Picasso (Matthew Fox) participates in an underground ultimate fighting match, where he flirts with businesswoman Fan Yau (Stephanie Jacobsen). After brutally beating his opponent, Picasso is invited to Fan Yau's house. There, he sedates, tortures, and kills her. He cuts off all her fingers and steals her laptop.
Police captain Richard Brookwell (John C. McGinley) calls Cross and his partner, Tommy Kane (Edward Burns), to the crime scene. On the way there, Cross tells Kane about Maria's pregnancy and the FBI's offer, and guesses that Kane is secretly dating their colleague, Monica Ashe (Rachel Nichols). Investigating Yau's murder, Cross deduces that Picasso is former military and a professional assassin. Cross finds a sketch left behind by Picasso and deduces that his next target is German businessman, Erich Nunemarcher (Werner Daehn). Cross, Kane and Ashe go to Nunemarcher's office but he has his own heavily armed security and tells the police that he has no need of their help. Picasso, however, is already inside the building but is prevented from killing Nunemarcher by Cross, and escapes after being shot in the shoulder by Kane.
Cross realizes the real target is billionaire CEO Giles Mercier (Jean Reno). Cross informs Mercier that Picasso might be trying to kill him. Mercier tells Cross that he would have picked Cross, if he had not found out he was a target of Picasso. While there, Cross, Kane, and Ashe meet Mercier's assistant, who they deduce is an addict.
Later that evening, as revenge for their earlier interference, Picasso attacks Ashe, sedating and beating her in her bathroom; and Maria and Cross go out to dinner to discuss her pregnancy and the possible move to Washington. Then, Picasso calls Cross, using Ashe's phone. After sending Cross a picture of Ashe's beaten corpse in her tub, Picasso taunts Cross to "psycho analyze" him. While Cross slightly interrogates him, Picasso pulls out a sniper shot and aims at Cross, revealing he is close by. After seeing Maria, Picasso switches targets. Cross continues to ponder Picasso with questions, Picasso tells Cross that he (Picasso) can't take him seriously with his blue floral tie. Cross realizes that Picasso is planning to kill him and looks around for him, but Picasso simply tells Cross that he has "a very pretty wife". Cross drops the phone a runs to Maria to block Picasso's attack, but is too late. Cross tries to put pressure on Maria's wounds, but is unsuccessful with Maria dying in his arms. At Maria's funeral, Picasso sits in his car drawing a picture of Cross. He is disappointed that he was unable to give Cross the level pain he hoped for.
At Cross's home after Maria's funeral, Picasso calls Cross to provoke him telling him that he (Cross) is responsible for Maria's death. Kane then finds out the drug, TTX, Picasso uses on his victims paralyzes but does not numb the body, which meant Ashe felt everything Picasso did to her. Cross and Kane determine to bring him down. Cross has Detroit police take Nana Mama and the children out of the city, protecting them from Picasso. Cross and Kane break into the Detroit PD evidence locker, and steal two guns.
Later at a car lot, Cross blackmails Daramus Holiday to tell him where Picasso gets his drugs. Cross tells him that he knows Holiday killed someone with the gun he and Kane stole and framed his niece, Pop-Pop, for the murder. Holiday chuckles and tells Cross that he (Cross) knows full well that there was more then one gun, Kane points a target beam at Holiday, informing they have both guns. Cross tells Holiday that if Holiday gives them a chemist, Pop-Pop will be let free due to evidence issues. Cross and Kane arrive at a drug dealer's hideout. After beating him, Cross demands that they see his security camera footage. Seeing the footage, Cross and Kane learn Picasso's car's license plate.
Cross and Kane learn Mercier is attending at a conference and fearing that this will be an opportunity for Picasso to kill him get Brookwell to clear the area. Picasso, however, does not need to be in the area as he fires a bazooka from a moving train. Cross and Kane chase after Picasso, and have Jody Kenbanoff, a fellow detective, trace the car at the Michigan Theater, which is now a car park. Cross and Kane corner Picasso by crashing their car, stopping him but injuring Kane. Cross chases Picasso into the abandoned cinema. During their fight, they fall through the crumbling theater roof. Cross manages to hold on to a beam but Picasso dangles from his belt. Picasso mutters "I...Made...You!", Cross then knees him in his face yelling "Die!" and Picasso falls to his death below. Kane arrives just before Cross loses his grip and other officers arrive and pull Cross to safety.
Cross eventually learns that Picasso's employer was Mercier himself. Having embezzled money from his clients, Mercier asked for Yau and Nunemarcher's help to fake his death and flee to Bali, and then hired Picasso to eliminate Yau, Nunemarcher and a double pretending to be the real Mercier. Cross is able to frame Mercier for drug smuggling by his addict assistant placing 30 kilos of cocaine near his favorite couch to avoid being arrested and informs the local police. Mercier is arrested in Indonesia where he will be condemned to death by firing squad. Having avenged Maria's murder, Cross decides to accept the FBI's offer and move to Washington with his family. Before he leaves, Kane reveals that he also applied for a job with the FBI. After expressing his hope that he and Cross will work together again one day, they part ways. Cross then walks up to the house and watches Janelle and Damon. Nana comes down from upstairs and tells the kids to make sure they have everything. She notices Cross, smiles, and adds, "You don't want to leave anything behind that you love." The film ends with Cross staring, lovingly, at his family.
Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1974)
Color
Desititute widow and her young son move to Arizona, she meets someone
Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore
"When Socorro, New Mexico, housewife Alice Hyatt's uncaring husband Donald is killed in an accident, she decides to have a garage sale, pack what's left of her meager belongings and take her precocious son Tommy to Monterey, California, where she hopes to pursue the singing career she'd abandoned when she married.
Their financial situation forces them to take temporary lodgings in Phoenix, Arizona, where she finds work as a lounge singer in a seedy bar. There she meets the considerably younger and seemingly available Ben, who uses his charm to lure her into a sexual relationship that comes to a sudden end when his wife confronts Alice. Ben mercilessly beats his wife for interfering with his extramarital affair. Fearing for their safety, Alice and Tommy quickly leave town.
Having spent most of the little money she earned on a new wardrobe, Alice is forced to delay their journey to the West Coast and accept a job as a waitress in Tucson so she can accumulate more cash. At the local diner owned by Mel, she eventually bonds with her fellow servers--independent, no-nonsense, outspoken Flo and quiet, timid, incompetent Vera and meets divorced local rancher David, who soon realizes the way to Alice's heart is through Tommy.
Still emotionally wounded from the difficult relationship she had with her uncommunicative husband and the frightening encounter she had with Ben, Alice is hesitant to get involved with another man so quickly. However, she finds out that David is a good influence on Tommy, who has befriended wisecracking, shoplifting, wine-guzzling Audrey, a slightly older girl forced to fend for herself while her mother makes a living as a prostitute.
Alice and David warily fall in love, but their relationship is threatened when Alice objects to his discipline of the perpetually bratty Tommy. The two reconcile, and David offers to sell his ranch and move to Monterey so Alice can try to fulfill her childhood dream of becoming another Alice Faye. In the end, Alice decides to stay in Tucson, coming to the conclusion that she can become a singer anywhere.
Alien Hunter (2003)
Color
Alien virus threatens life on Earth
Alien Hunter
"In 1947 New Mexico, a radio operator receives a bizarre signal, coming from Roswell. He decides to investigate the signal's origin and goes out to follow it, to never be seen again. Present day and the same signal is received from the South Pole and then retransmitted from the Falkland Islands to the United States. A satellite image captures an unknown object sitting on the Antarctic snow. Cryptologist Julien Rome (James Spader), a teacher at Berkeley University, is invited to investigate the mystery and he is sent to an Antarctic research base, which includes a huge greenhouse of genetically modified plants being studied by the scientists. They found what appears to be an alien vehicle frozen in a huge block of ice. The unknown object is shaped like a shell or pod and is emitting the mysterious encrypted signal. Once it is freed of the ice Julien discovers that it has a powerful static electric charge on its surface and painfully shocks anyone who touches it.
While Julien is trying to decrypt the signal, another team works to open the alien shell. They succeed in cutting the lid off which allows an viscous alien liquid to pour out. An alien also escapes and at the same time as an airborne virus sealed in the shell kills four members of the scientific team by melting them from within. The virus also kills all the plants, making them wilt and turn brown. The virus has an unusually high speed of transmission and extreme virulence. It kills anyone within a few minutes of exposure.
The government is aware of the alien virus and the global risk that it poses. They ask a Russian nuclear submarine to fire a nuclear missile at the base before the threat can spread. As the submarine nears its firing position, Julien manages to communicate with the alien before it is unfortunately killed by one of the survivors. Julien realises that if any of the survivors leave the base alive, the lethal alien virus will cause a pandemic destroying all life on earth. He and three others, Shelly, Kate, and Dr. Gierach, are rescued from the base by an alien spacecraft (which had homed in on the same signal Julien was studying) just a few seconds before the missile hits.
In the aftermath, the government mounts a cover-up campaign by claiming that an experimental nuclear reactor at the base went into melt-down, destroying all of the facilities and killing everyone. The film ends with the alien spacecraft, still carrying the human survivors, leaving the solar system.
All About Eve (1950)
Black & White
Aging diva hires a conniving star struck fan
All About Eve
"The film flashes back a year. Margo Channing is one of the biggest stars on Broadway, but despite her success she is bemoaning her age, having just turned forty and knowing what that will mean for her career. After a performance one night, Margo's close friend Karen Richards, wife of the play's author Lloyd Richards (Hugh Marlowe), meets besotted fan Eve Harrington in the cold alley outside the stage door. Recognizing her from having passed her many times in the alley (as Eve claims to have seen every performance of Margo's current play, Aged in Wood), Karen takes her backstage to meet Margo. Eve tells the group gathered in Margo's dressing room--Karen and Lloyd, Margo's boyfriend Bill Sampson, a director who is eight years her junior, and Margo's maid Birdie--that she followed Margo's last theatrical tour to New York after seeing her in a play in San Francisco. She tells a moving story of growing up poor and losing her young husband in the recent war. Moved, Margo quickly befriends Eve, takes her into her home, and hires her as her assistant, leaving Birdie, who instinctively dislikes Eve, feeling put out.
Eve is gradually shown to be working to supplant Margo, scheming to become her understudy behind her back, driving wedges between her and Lloyd and Bill, and conspiring with an unsuspecting Karen to cause Margo to miss a performance. Eve, knowing in advance that she will be the one appearing that night, invites the city's theatre critics to attend that evening's performance, which is a triumph for her. Eve tries to seduce Bill, but he rejects her. Following a scathing newspaper column by Addison, Margo and Bill reconcile, dine with the Richardses, and decide to marry. That same night at the restaurant, Eve blackmails Karen into telling Lloyd to give her the part of Cora, by threatening to tell Margo of Karen's role in Margo's missed performance. Before Karen can talk with Lloyd, Margo announces to everyone's surprise that she does not wish to play Cora and would prefer to continue in Aged in Wood. Eve secures the role and attempts to climb higher by using Addison, who is beginning to doubt her. Just before the premiere of her play at the Shubert in New Haven, Eve presents Addison with her next plan: to marry Lloyd, who, she claims, has come to her professing his love and his eagerness to leave his wife for her. Now, Eve exults, Lloyd will write brilliant plays showcasing her. Unseen but mentioned in dialogue, Karen has begun to suspect Eve as a threat to her own marriage to Lloyd, and so she and Addison met for lunch and helped each other put the pieces about Eve together. Addison is infuriated that Eve has attempted to use him and reveals that he knows that her back story is all lies. Her real name is Gertrude Slojinski, she was never married, and she had been paid to leave her hometown over an affair with her boss, a brewer in Wisconsin. Addison blackmails Eve, informing her that she will not be marrying Lloyd or anyone else; in exchange for Addison's silence, she now "belongs" to him.
The film returns to the opening scene in which Eve, now a shining Broadway star headed for Hollywood, is presented with her award. In her speech, she thanks Margo and Bill and Lloyd and Karen with characteristic effusion, while all four stare back at her coldly. After the awards ceremony, Eve hands her award to Addison, skips a party in her honor, and returns home alone, where she encounters a young fan--a high-school girl--who has slipped into her apartment and fallen asleep. The young girl professes her adoration and begins at once to insinuate herself into Eve's life, offering to pack Eve's trunk for Hollywood and being accepted. "Phoebe", as she calls herself, answers the door to find Addison returning with Eve's award. In a revealing moment, the young girl flirts daringly with the older man. Addison hands over the award to Phoebe and leaves without entering. Phoebe then lies to Eve, telling her it was only a cab driver who dropped off the award. While Eve rests in the other room, Phoebe dons Eve's elegant costume robe and poses in front of a multi-paned mirror, holding the award as if it were a crown. The mirrors transform Phoebe into multiple img of herself, and she bows regally, as if accepting the award to thunderous applause, while triumphant music plays.
All About Us (2007)
Color
Struggling couple tries to make movie
All About Us
Inspired by a true story, this romantic dramedy follows a young couple struggling to become Hollywood filmmakers who decide to take a trip to Mississippi to seek out Morgan Freeman (in a cameo role) in hopes of convincing him to star in their film. But what the couple doesn't bargain for is the toll career opportunities and success takes on their relationship, finally forcing them to rethink their true priorities in life.
All Good Things (2010)
Color
After man's wife dies, witnesses suspiciously wind up dead
All Good Things
In 1970s New York City, David Marks (Gosling), the son of a powerful real estate tycoon, marries a beautiful working-class student, Katie McCarthy (Dunst). Together they flee the city for country life in Vermont--only to be lured back by David's father. Upon their return, they buy a beautiful apartment where Katie brings up the idea of having children which David implies he can't have any. They eventually buy a lake house out of town and Katie tells their new pregnant neighbor that she is expecting as well. Katie tells David to which he responds by throwing a chair and breaking a shelf. David makes Katie have an abortion, which he misses while doing work for his dad. Katie goes back to college and eventually applies and gets into a medical school. During a celebration party at her parents house, David drags Katie out by her hair when he wants to go home and she asks him to wait. Katie wants a separation but her funds are cut off when she attempts this, which she needs in order to graduate. David gets violent and Katie begins to show signs of abuse. Family secrets are slowly revealed, and then Katie disappears without a trace. Years later, when David's best friend is found dead, the 20-year-old case is re-opened, with David as the main suspect.
All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)
Black & White
Teenage German soldiers survive on the front line (WWI)
All Quiet on the Western Front
"Professor Kantorek gives an impassioned speech about the glory of serving in the Army and "saving the Fatherland". On the brink of becoming men, the boys in his class, led by Paul Baumer, are moved to join the army as the new 2nd Company. Their romantic delusions are quickly broken during their brief but rigorous training under the abusive Corporal Himmelstoss, who bluntly informs them, "You're going to be soldiers--and that's all."
The new soldiers arrive by train at the combat zone, which is mayhem, with soldiers everywhere, incoming shells, horse-drawn wagons racing about, and prolonged rain. One in the group is killed before the new recruits can reach their post, to the alarm of one of the new soldiers (Behn). The new soldiers are assigned to a unit composed of older soldiers, who are not exactly accommodating. The young soldiers find that there is no food available at the moment. They have not eaten since breakfast, but the men they have joined have not had food for two days. One of them, "Kat" Katczinsky, had gone to locate something to eat and he returns with a slaughtered hog he has stolen from a field kitchen. The young soldiers "pay" for their dinner with cigarettes.
The new recruits' first trip to the trenches with the veterans, to re-string barbed wire, is a harrowing experience, especially when Behn is blinded by shrapnel and runs into machine-gun fire. After spending several days in a bunker under bombardment, they at last move into the trenches and successfully repulse an enemy attack; they then counterattack and take an enemy trench with heavy casualties, but have to abandon it. They are sent back to the field kitchens to get their rations; each man receives double helpings, simply because of the number of dead.
The men start out eating greedily, but then settle into a satiated torpor. They hear that they are to return to the front the next day and begin a semi-serious discussion about the causes of the war and of wars in general. They speculate about whether geographical entities offend each other and whether these disagreements involve them. Tjaden speaks familiarly about himself and the Kaiser; Kat jokes that instead of having a war, they should have the leaders of Europe be stripped to their underwear and "fight it out with clubs".
One day, Corporal Himmelstoss arrives to the front and is immediately spurned because of his bad reputation; he is forced to go over the top with the 2nd Company and is promptly killed. In an attack on a cemetery, Paul stabs a French soldier, but finds himself trapped in a hole with the dying man for an entire night. Throughout the night, he desperately tries to help him, bringing him water, but fails miserably to stop him from dying. He cries bitterly and begs the dead body to speak so he can be forgiven. Later, he returns to the German lines and is comforted by Kat.
Going back to the front line, Paul is severely wounded and taken to a Catholic hospital, along with his good friend Albert Kropp. Kropp's leg is amputated, but he does not find out until some time afterwards. Around this time, Paul is taken to the bandaging ward, from which, according to its reputation, nobody has ever returned alive; but he later returns to the normal rooms triumphantly, only to find Kropp in depression.
Paul is given a furlough and visits his family at home. He is shocked by how uninformed everyone is about the actual situation of the war; everyone is convinced that a final "push for Paris" is soon to occur. When Paul visits the schoolroom where he was originally recruited, he finds Professor Kantorek prattling the same patriotic fervor to a class of even younger students. Disillusioned and angry, Paul returns to the front and is happily greeted by Tjaden. He goes to find Kat, and they discuss the inability of the people to comprehend the futility of the war. Kat's shin is broken by a strafing aircraft, so Paul carries him back to a field hospital- only to find that Kat has been killed by a second strafing. Crushed by the loss of his mentor, Paul leaves.
In the final scene, Paul is back on the front lines. He sees a butterfly just beyond his trench. Paul smiles and reaches out towards the butterfly, but becoming too exposed, he is shot and killed by an enemy sniper. The final shot shows the 2nd Company arriving at the front for the first time, fading out to the image of a cemetery.
All Quiet on the Western Front (1979)
Color
German soldier, at first gung-ho, starts to become disillusioned about WW I
All Quiet on the Western Front
"During World War I, 18-year-old Paul B?umer enlists in the German army with five of his high school friends (Behm, Kropp, Muller, Kemmerich and Leer), after being indoctrinated by Kantorek, their teacher, as to the glory and superiority of German culture. After surviving training camp under the brutal Corporal Himmelstoss, the young men board a troop train bound for the front line. Ominously, at the same moment, they notice another train arriving in town loaded with returning wounded soldiers, who are carried off on stretchers.
Once at the front line, they are placed in a squad, along with soldiers Tjaden, Westhus, Detering and others, under the supervision of Stanislaus "Kat" Katzinsky. Kat teaches them how to best take cover, how to find extra food, and other survival skills.
When Paul and his squad return to a French town for a rest week, they see the new recruits have grown younger and younger. To their delight, the leader of these new recruits is their recently demoted training NCO, Himmelstoss. When Himmelstoss tries to make them obey him, they stand up to him. Later in the trenches, while the Germans are launching an offensive attack, Paul sees another squad cowering in a crater, which includes Himmelstoss. Paul forces Himmelstoss to keep on the offensive.
The French and German armies are shown attacking each other repeatedly over a few hundred yards of torn, corpse-strewn land. Kemmerich is wounded, and later dies in an overcrowded army hospital. Paul returns to the trenches with his squad, distraught over Kemmerich's death.
When a French soldier falls into a crater Paul is hiding in, Paul stabs the man in the stomach with his bayonet. Forced to spend the night with him, Paul tries to bandage the dying soldier's wounds, but he dies anyway. Paul escapes from the crater, stricken with guilt. An inexperienced new recruit, after falling into a pit of poison gas, is carried off by the medics to a slow, painful death; the medics had appeared before Kat could put him out of his misery.
Although Paul, Kropp and Leer have their first sexual experience with a trio of accommodating French peasant girls, the vast majority of the young men's experiences are horrific. One by one, practically all of Paul's schoolmate friends die. A haughty, stiff Kaiser Wilhelm II visits their camp to ceremoniously pin medals on heroic soldiers, which includes Himmelstoss.
When Paul's squad is bombed in a French town close to the front, Behm dies while Kropp loses a leg and Paul is seriously wounded. Paul improves and he is granted two weeks leave. Returning home, Paul is told by his sister that their mother is dying of cancer. In visits to a beer garden and to his former teacher, Paul realises that his town's older men, in their enthusiasm for war, have no sense of the horrors they have sent their youth to. He also visits Kemmerich's mother and lies to her that he did not suffer.
Paul returns to duty, Kat is wounded in the leg by an artillery shell and Paul carries him many miles to a field hospital. Only at the hospital does Paul discover that Kat has died, shot at some point during the journey.
Paul writes a letter to Kropp, the sole survivor of their class, who is now an amputee. After finishing the letter, Paul walks through the trench checking on the younger soldiers, having taken up Kat's position as a mentor. He spots a bird and begins to sketch it. The bird starts to fly away and Paul stands up to see where it went, a lone sniper's shot rings out, killing him. A field communique from the German High Command flashes over Paul's lifeless body, falsely declaring “All Quiet on the Western Front”, despite the date on the communique showing that the German army was collapsing, just days from complete surrender.
All the King's Men (1949)
Black & White
30's film about corrupt politician
All the King's Men
"The story of the rise of politician Willie Stark from a rural county seat to the governor's mansion is depicted in the film. He goes into politics, railing against the corruptly run county government, but loses his race for county treasurer, in the face of unfair obstacles placed by the local machine. Stark teaches himself law, and as a lawyer, continues to fight the local establishment, championing the local people and gaining popularity. He eventually rises to become a candidate for governor, narrowly losing his first race, then winning on his second attempt. Along the way he loses his innocence and becomes as corrupt as the politicians he once fought against. As he rises, Stark philanders and gets involved with many women, taking his PR man/journalist Jack Burden's own girlfriend, Anne Stanton, as his mistress.
Stark's son Tommy drinks to deal with his feelings about his father, eventually crashes his car, injuring himself and killing his female passenger. When Stark bullies Tommy into playing a football game, Tommy becomes paralyzed after a brutal hit.
Stark, who had always dealt with those who got in his way by any means, begins to see his world start to unravel and he discovers that not everyone can be bought off.
The story has a complex series of relationships. All is seen through the eyes of the journalist, Jack Burden, who admires Stark and even when disillusioned still sticks by him. Stark's campaign assistant, Sadie is clearly in love with Stark and wants him to leave his wife, Lucy. When Stark's reputation is brought into disrepute by Judge Stanton (Anne's uncle), he seeks to blacken the judge's name. When Jack finds evidence of the judge's possible wrongdoing, a quarter century earlier, he hides it from Stark. Anne gives the evidence to Stark, who uses it against her uncle, who immediately commits suicide. Anne seems to forgive Stark, but her brother, Adam, the surgeon who helped save Tommy's life after the car crash, cannot. After Stark wins an impeachment investigation, Adam assassinates Stark. The doctor in turn is shot down by Sugar Boy, Stark's fawning assistant. Having lost their respect for him, Jack and Anne agree to find a way to destroy Stark's reputation just as he dies. 7
All the King's Men (2006)
Color
Ex reporter unwittingly helps corrupt politician
All the King's Men
"Jack Burden, a Louisiana news reporter, takes a personal interest in Willie Stark, an idealistic small-town lawyer and parish treasurer. Circumstances develop that result in Tiny Duffy, a local political leader Burden knows, urging Stark to run for governor. Burden's upbringing makes him familiar with the undercurrent of politics -- he was raised by his loving godfather Judge Irwin, a former state attorney general, while his good friend, Dr. Adam Stanton, and his sister Anne Stanton--also Burden's former lover--are the children of a former governor. Burden therefore decides to take Duffy's advice and travels as a reporter on Stark's campaign for governor.
The politically astute Burden soon deduces, and Duffy strategist (and Stark mistress) Sadie Burke confirms, that Duffy is using Stark to split his party's vote and thus allow the opposing party to win. They tell Stark, who begins to give speeches in a straightforward manner to appeal to the public, in defiance of the advice given to him by Duffy. His vigorous strategy attacks the corruption of the existing players and promises schools and roads for his “fellow ignorant hicks”, resulting in Stark winning the election. He manages Duffy by making him his lieutenant governor. Stark recruits Burden to work for him as an adviser.
Stark proves to be a very persuasive governor, delivering on many of his new projects. Irwin disapproves of Stark and publicly supports an investigation of possible graft in the new spending. Burden points out that graft is the elite's word for what the previous politicians had always done, while Stark openly tells his crowds that his “crooks, unlike theirs, are itty bitty” compared to the elite's. Stark convinces Stanton to head a new public hospital while he begins having an affair with Anne, provoking Burke's jealousy and Burden's disappointment.
Irwin continues criticizing Stark as political controversies begin to unfold. Stark demands that Burden seek information on the judge to be used against him. Jack insists that there is no such information, but eventually discovers evidence of a bribe that Irwin used to get his appointment many years prior, leading an opponent to commit suicide. Following this revelation, Irwin himself commits suicide. Burden's mother then tells him that Irwin treated him with such love because he was his biological father, which causes a great amount of guilt for Burden.
Stark utilizes many methods of corruption to consolidate his power, including patronage and intimidation. Adam is told that Stark is using the hospital project to rob the state and is framing him in the process. Burden and Anne both assure Adam that this is false. Adam also becomes enraged when he learns of Stark's affair with his sister. Adam waits at the state capitol and assassinates Stark, only to be immediately killed by the governor's bodyguard. It is later revealed that Adam was influenced by Duffy and Burke to murder Stark, allowing Duffy to succeed Stark as governor.
All the Money in the World (2017)
Color
Italian paramilitary kidnaps John Paul Getty
All the Money in the World
"In 1973, 16-year-old John Paul Getty III (Charlie Plummer) (AKA Paul), grandson of oil tycoon J. Paul Getty (Christopher Plummer) who was at that time the world's richest private citizen, is kidnapped in Rome by an organized crime ring. The kidnappers demand a ransom of $17 million. Flashbacks show that Paul's parents, Gail Harris (Michelle Williams) and John Paul Getty Jr. (Andrew Buchan), were divorced in 1971 due to Getty Jr.'s drug addiction and that Gail rejected any alimony in exchange for full custody of her children in the divorce settlement; therefore she does not have the means to pay the ransom. She travels to Getty's estate to beseech him to pay the ransom but he refuses, stating that it would encourage further kidnappings on his family members. The media picks up on the story, with many believing Gail to be rich herself and blaming her for the refusal to pay the ransom. Meanwhile, Getty asks Fletcher Chace (Mark Wahlberg), a Getty Oil negotiator and former CIA operative, to investigate the case and secure Paul's release.
Paul is kept hostage in a remote location in Italy. Initially his captors, particularly Cinquanta (Romain Duris), are tolerant with him because his quiet and submissive demeanor causes them few problems. However, things grow increasingly tense as weeks go by without the ransom being paid, far longer than the captors anticipated. Arguments arise over whether to move Paul to a new location as winter is approaching and their hideout is not suitable for cold conditions. Things get worse when one of the kidnappers accidentally shows his face to Paul, prompting one of the others to kill the man for his foolish mistake. His burned and disfigured body is recovered in the river; investigators erroneously identify the body as Paul's, but Gail examines the body and refutes this.
Using the new lead of the body, Chace is able to pinpoint the hideout where Paul is being held. A raid is conducted with several kidnappers being killed, but Paul is no longer there; he had been sold on to a new crime organization. The new captors are much less patient with Paul and negotiate more aggressively with the Getty family to receive their payment. The kidnappers cut off one of Paul's ears and mail it to a major newspaper, claiming that they will continue mutilating him until the ransom is paid.
After repeated negotiations with Gail and Chace, and frustration from the captors at how long the process was taking, they lower the asking price to $4 million. Getty finally decides to contribute to the ransom, but only $1 million -- this being the maximum amount that he can claim as tax deductible. Moreover, he also will only do so if Gail signs a legal document waiving her parental access rights to Paul and her other children, giving them to Getty's son, her ex-husband. She reluctantly signs them. Berated by an exasperated Chace, Getty finally relents and agrees to pay the full ransom, also voiding the parental agreement with Gail. Gail and Chace take the money to Italy and follow specific instructions from the captors, leaving the money in a remote location and receiving orders to pick up Paul from a construction site. Based on Cinquanta's advice, Paul runs away from the site towards the nearest town, miles away. Meanwhile the captors realize that Chace has broken his word and led the police to them; angry, they decide to find and kill Paul. Chace, Gail, and the captors arrive at the town to look for Paul. One of the kidnappers finds Paul first, but Cinquanta attacks the man (from behind so Cinquanta can't be identified) in order to allow Paul to escape. With Paul wrapped tightly in Gail's arms, they escape the scene, and quickly smuggle Paul out of the country to safety.
When Getty dies, Gail is tasked with managing her children's inherited wealth until they are of age. The company was set up as a charitable trust, which meant that Getty's income was tax-free but also not spendable. He had invested much of it in paintings, sculptures and other artifacts, most of them now reside in the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles.
All the President's Men (1976)
Color
About Watergate
All the President's Men
"In June 1972, a security guard (Frank Wills, playing himself) at the Watergate complex finds a door kept unlocked with tape. He calls the police, who find and arrest five burglars in the Democratic National Committee headquarters within the complex. The next morning, The Washington Post assigns new reporter Bob Woodward (Robert Redford) to the local courthouse to cover the story, which is thought to be of minor importance.
Woodward learns that the five men, four Cuban-Americans from Miami and James W. McCord, Jr., had bugging equipment and have their own "country club" attorney. McCord identifies himself in court as having recently left the Central Intelligence Agency and the others also have CIA ties. Woodward connects the burglars to E. Howard Hunt, a former employee of the CIA, and President Richard Nixon's Special Counsel Charles Colson.
Carl Bernstein (Dustin Hoffman), another Post reporter, is assigned to cover the Watergate story with Woodward. The two are reluctant partners, but work well together. Executive editor Ben Bradlee (Jason Robards) believes their work is incomplete, however, and not worthy of the Post's front page. He encourages them to continue to gather information.
Woodward contacts "Deep Throat" (Hal Holbrook), a senior government official and anonymous source he has used in the past. Communicating through copies of The New York Times and a balcony flowerpot, they meet in a parking garage in the middle of the night. Deep Throat speaks in riddles and metaphors about the Watergate break-in, but advises Woodward to "follow the money".
Over the next few weeks, Woodward and Bernstein connect the five burglars to thousands of dollars in diverted campaign contributions to Nixon's Committee to Re-elect the President (CRP, or CREEP). Bradlee and others at the Post dislike the two young reporters' reliance on unnamed sources like Deep Throat, and wonder why the Nixon administration would break the law when the President is likely to defeat Democratic nominee George McGovern.
Through former CREEP treasurer Hugh W. Sloan, Jr. (Stephen Collins), Woodward and Bernstein connect a slush fund of hundreds of thousands of dollars to White House Chief of Staff H. R. Haldeman--"the second most important man in this country"--and former Nixon Attorney General John N. Mitchell, now head of CREEP. They learn that CREEP used the fund to begin a "ratfucking" campaign to sabotage Democratic presidential candidates a year before the Watergate burglary, when Nixon was behind Edmund Muskie in the polls.
Bradlee's demand for thoroughness forces the reporters to obtain other sources to confirm the Haldeman connection. When the White House issues a non-denial denial of the Post's above-the-fold story, the editor thus continues to support them.
Woodward again meets secretly with Deep Throat, who finally reveals that the Watergate break-in was indeed masterminded by Haldeman. Deep Throat also claims that the cover-up was not to hide the other burglaries or of their involvement with CREEP, but to hide the "covert operations" involving "the entire U.S. intelligence community", and warns that Woodward, Bernstein, and others' lives are in danger. When Woodward and Bernstein relay this to Bradlee, he urges the reporters to continue despite the risk and Nixon's re-election.
In the final scene, set on January 20, 1973, Bernstein and Woodward type out the full story, with the TV in their office showing Nixon taking the Oath of Office, for his second term as President of the United States, in the foreground. The sound of their typewriter keys blends on the soundtrack with that of the 21-gun-salute at the inauguration, as if to suggest that Woodward and Bernstein are actively "gunning-down" Nixon at that very moment. A montage of Watergate-related teletype headlines from the following years is shown, ending with Nixon's resignation and the inauguration of Vice President Gerald Ford on August 9, 1974.
All This, and Heaven Too (1940)
Black & White
Governess who cheated with husband was suspect when wife was found dead
All This, and Heaven Too
"Mademoiselle Henriette Deluzy-Desportes (Bette Davis), a French woman, starts teaching at an American girls school. She is confronted by the tales and gossip about her that circulate among her pupils and, thus provoked, she decides to tell them her life story.
Mademoiselle Deluzy-Desportes is governess to the four children of the Duc de Praslin (Charles Boyer) and the Duchesse de Praslin (Barbara O'Neil) in Paris during the last years of the Orleans monarchy. As a result of the Duchesse's constantly erratic and temperamental behavior, all that remains is an unhappy marriage, but the Duc remains with his wife for sake of their children.
Through her warmth and kindness the governess wins the love and affection of the children and their father, but also the jealousy and hatred of their mother. She is forced to leave and the Duchess refuses to give her a letter of recommendation to future employers. The Duc confronts his wife and she invents alternate letters taking opposite attitudes, which in fact she has not written and does not intend to write. Her account enrages him and leads to her murder.
The Duc de Praslin is in a privileged position; as a peer his case can only be heard by other nobles. He refuses to confess his guilt or openly to admit his love for Henriette, which is a way to protect her as she is under suspicion of complicity in the murder. Ultimately the Duc takes poison to prevent himself confessing the truth to the authorities; however, he lives long enough to reveal it to another of his servants, Pierre (Harry Davenport), a kindly old man who had early warned the governess to escape the de Praslin household. She is released by the authorities.
Henriette's French class is moved by her account. She had been recommended for the teaching position "in the land of the free" by an American minister, Henry Field (Jeffrey Lynn), to whom she had expressed a loss of faith while in prison. He proposes marriage and Henriette accepts.
Almost Christmas (2016)
Color
Widower tries to make the most of Christmas with his four grown children
Almost Christmas
Walter (Danny Glover) is a retired automotive engineer who lost his wife (Rachel Kylian) one year earlier. Now that the holiday season is here, he invites his four grown children and the rest of the family to his house for a traditional celebration. Poor Walter knows that if his daughters Cheryl (Kimberly Elise) and Rachel (Gabrielle Union) and sons Christian (Romany Malco) and Evan (Jessie Usher) can spend five days together under the same roof, it will truly be a Christmas miracle. As his children arrive, Walter realizes a perfect Christmas without his wife is easier said than done. Cheryl, a doctor and the eldest daughter and oldest child, arrives for the holidays with her husband Lonnie, a previously famous basketball player who played overseas in Croatia. His eldest son and second born, Christian struggles with balancing his campaign to become a congressman and his want to spend time with his family. Christian goes as far to invite his campaign manager along, so they can get more work done. Meanwhile, Rachel, his youngest daughter and third born struggles to financially support herself and her daughter due to her recent divorce and studying to become a lawyer. Lastly, Evan, is a successful football player recovering from a shoulder injury, however when his coach tells him his arm is completely healed, Evan struggles to give up the pain medication.
Amelia (2009)
Color
Amelia Airhart and her first trans-atlantic flight
Amelia
"On July 2, 1937, Amelia Earhart (Hilary Swank) and her navigator, Fred Noonan (Christopher Eccleston), are on the last leg of an around-the-world flight. Moving in vignettes from her early years when Earhart was captivated by the sight of an aircraft flying overhead on the Kansas prairie where she grew up, her life over the preceding decade gradually unfolds. As a young woman, she is recruited by publishing tycoon and eventual husband, George Putnam (Richard Gere) to become the first woman to cross the Atlantic Ocean, albeit as a passenger. Taking command of the flight results in a success and she is thrust into the limelight as the most famous woman pilot of her time. Putnam helps Earhart write a book chronicling the flight, much like his earlier triumph with Charles Lindbergh's We. Earhart gradually falls in love with Putnam and they eventually marry, although she enacts a "cruel" pledge as her wedding contract.
Embarrassed that her fame was not earned, Earhart commences to set myriad aviation records, and in 1932, recreates her earlier transatlantic flight, becoming the first female pilot to fly solo across the Atlantic. Throughout a decade of notoriety, Earhart falls into an awkward love affair with pilot and future Federal Aviation administrator Gene Vidal (Ewan McGregor). In a display of romantic jealousy, Putnam quietly tells Amelia that he does not want Vidal in his house. Earhart is annoyed by the seemingly endless agenda of celebrity appearances and endorsements but Putnam reminds his wife that it funds her flying. Earhart returns to her husband on the eve of her last momentous flight. Earhart's last flight was her biggest and most dangerous adventure to date. Her plan was to fly around the world. Earhart's first attempt ends in a runway crash in Hawaii, due to a collapsed landing gear, and her aircraft requires extensive repairs before the flight can be attempted again. Eventually, she takes the repaired Lockheed Model 10 Electra, sponsored by Purdue University, in a reverse direction, leaving the lengthy trans-Pacific crossing at the end of her flight.
Setting out to refuel at tiny Howland Island, radio transmissions between USCGC Itasca, a Coast Guard picket ship, and Earhart's aircraft reveal a rising crisis; the Coast Guard radio operators realize that they do not have sufficient length to provide a "fix". Itasca has a directional finder with a dead battery, and weak radio communications prevent Earhart and USCGC Itasca from making contact. Running low on fuel, Earhart and Noonan continue to fly on. Earhart and Noonan disappear. A massive search effort is unsuccessful, but solidifies Earhart as an aviation icon.
American Gangster (2007)
Color
Drug lords and cops duke it out
American Gangster
"In 1968, Frank Lucas (Denzel Washington), the limo driver-turned-right-hand man of Harlem gangster Ellsworth "Bumpy" Johnson (Clarence Williams III), inherits Johnson's gang when Johnson dies of a heart attack. Disliking the new, flashy gangsters of the neighborhood, Lucas decides to take control of Harlem's crime scene.
Meanwhile, Newark detective Richie Roberts (Russell Crowe) is hated in his precinct for being honest. After his exiled and addicted partner (John Ortiz) dies from accidentally overdosing on a relatively low-priced but unusually potent brand of heroin called "Blue Magic", Captain Lou Toback (Ted Levine) puts Roberts in charge of a task force targeting major drug trafficking in Essex County, New Jersey. The investigation will focus on the actual supplier rather than the middle-men.
Blue Magic is being supplied by Lucas, who has decided to buy his drugs directly from producers in Thailand, which are then smuggled by U.S. servicemen returning from the Vietnam War. This allows Lucas to provide a higher quality product at a cheaper price than his rivals, eventually wholesaling drugs to most of the dealers in the New York area. With Blue Magic's monopoly, Lucas quickly makes a fortune, buying several nightclubs to control the casino and prostitution ring as well, and a large estate in New Jersey for his humble mother (Ruby Dee). Lucas' five brothers, including Huey (Chiwetel Ejiofor) and Turner (Common), are enlisted as his lieutenants in the drug trade and set up shop each at one of various locations throughout the five boroughs. During his rise to becoming the biggest gang leader and drug dealer in Harlem, Lucas meets and falls in love with Eva (Lymari Nadal), a Puerto Rican beauty queen.
As Lucas' business prospers, he makes a point of operating quietly and dressing with a modest conservatism both as a sign of strength and to avoid attracting the attention of the police, since he is relatively unknown to them and they are still far from finding the supplier of the Blue Magic. Also, he himself stays away from the drugs to avoid making hard decisions under the influence. However, Lucas disregards this habit while attending the Fight of the Century with Eva, sporting a gaudy chinchilla fur coat and hat given to him by Eva; Roberts attends the fight, notices the previously unknown Lucas with the coat with even better seats than the Italian mobsters, and decides to investigate him.
Meanwhile, Lucas is forced to contend with Lucchese mafia boss Dominic Cattano (Armand Assante), who threatens him with destroying his family unless he gets a cut of a deal, and corrupt NYPD detectives such as Nick Trupo (Josh Brolin), who attempts to extort and blackmail him to give them a cut. Lucas must also compete with local crime figure Nicky Barnes (Cuba Gooding, Jr.), a young gun motivated to take over Harlem who has been diluting Lucas' Blue Magic and selling it under the same brand name. Things take a turn for the worse when the Fall of Saigon cuts off Lucas' supply, forcing him to rely on the other crime rings.
Roberts' detectives witness Frank Lucas' cousin (Malcolm Goodwin) shoot a woman and then use his driver's predicament to get him to wear a wire. This allows Roberts and his task force to identify and search one of the last planes carrying Lucas' stock, discovering Blue Magic in the coffins of returning war dead service-members; this evidence allows them to obtain a warrant to follow drugs into Newark's projects and Lucas' heroin processing facility. This results in a shootout, in which Steve Lucas (T.I.), Frank Lucas' young cousin who gave up a promising career for the New York Yankees to join Lucas' family, is killed. Meanwhile, Trupo and his men break into Lucas' mansion and kill his dog in order to steal his emergency cash supply hidden under the doghouse. Earlier, Lucas had Trupo's prized Shelby Mustang destroyed, and although he is now out for Trupo's life, his mother dissuades him from killing a cop, warning him that she and Eva will leave him if he does. Lucas is arrested after Roberts' team conducts a raid on all of his shops run by his brothers.
In the police station, Roberts gives Lucas a chance at a shorter jail sentence if he aids his investigation. Lucas initially offered to bribe Roberts, but in the end Lucas provides Roberts with the names of dirty cops in the NYPD, out of respect for Roberts' incorruptibility. In the end, three quarters of the New York DEA are arrested and convicted, and a distraught Trupo commits suicide to avoid arrest. Roberts, having passed the bar exam, prosecutes Lucas, who once condemned provides evidence that leads to more than one-hundred further drug-related convictions, while he himself is sentenced to 70 years in prison, of which he serves 15 years and is released in 1991.
American Gigalo (1980)
Color
One of gigalo's tricks turns up dead, and his client refuses to give him an alibi
American Gigalo
"Julian Kaye (Richard Gere) is a male escort in Los Angeles, whose job is to sell his body to upper-class women. His job supports and requires an expensive taste in cars and clothes and affords him a luxury Westwood apartment. He is blatantly materialistic, narcissistic and superficial. He takes pleasure in his work from being able to sexually satisfy women, offering and selling his body to women.
Julian's procurer, Anne, sends him on an assignment with a wealthy old widow, Mrs. Dobrun, who is visiting town. Afterwards, he goes to the hotel bar and meets Michelle Stratton, a California state senator's wife, who becomes obsessed with him. Julian's friend Leon sends him to Palm Springs on a "substitute" assignment to the house of Mr. Rheiman, a wealthy financier. Rheiman asks Julian to have sado-masochistic sex with his wife Judy while he is watching them. The next day, Julian berates Leon for sending him to a "rough trick" and makes it clear he declines kinky or gay assignments. Leon warns Julian that the wealthy, older women he serves will turn on him and discard him without a second thought.
As Julian begins to have a relationship with Michelle, he learns that Judy Rheiman has been murdered. Los Angeles Police Department Detective Sunday identifies Julian as the prime suspect. Though Julian was with Lisa Williams, another client, on the night of the murder, she protects her marriage by not providing an alibi for Julian.
Julian discovers evidence about the murder. He realizes that he is being framed and grows increasingly desperate. His clothes become rumpled, he goes unshaven and drives a cheap rental car (after painstakingly searching his Mercedes and finding Judy's jewelry that was planted in it to frame him). He neglects to pick up an important client for Anne that he had been scheduled to escort, angering Anne and causing her to shun him. Julian warns Michelle that he is in trouble and, hoping to protect her, he tells her to leave him alone.
Julian concludes that Leon and Rheiman are the ones trying to frame him and that one of Leon's other gigolos was the murderer. Julian goes to confront Leon, telling him the truth and trying to clear his name. Leon refuses to help him and remains implacable. In a fit of rage, Julian pushes Leon from the apartment balcony; although Julian immediately regrets his action and tries to save him, Leon nevertheless falls to his death. With no one to help him, Julian ends up in jail, helplessly awaiting trial for Judy's murder. Michelle reconciles with Julian by telling the police that she was with Julian the night of Judy's murder, sacrificing her reputation and marriage to save him.
American Graffiti (1973)
Color
High school grads spend one final night cruising the strip with their buddies before college
American Graffiti
"On their last evening of summer vacation in 1962, high school graduates and friends Curt Henderson and Steve Bolander meet two other friends, John Milner, the drag-racing king, and Terry "The Toad" Fields, in the parking lot of Mel's Drive-In in Modesto, California. Curt and Steve are to travel "Back East" the following morning to start college. Curt has second thoughts about leaving Modesto. Steve gives Terry his car to care for until he returns. Laurie, Steve's girlfriend and Curt's sister, arrives. Steve suggests to Laurie that they see other people while he is away to "strengthen" their relationship. Though not openly upset, she is, affecting their interactions through the night.
Curt, Steve, and Laurie attend the back-to-high-school sock hop. En route, Curt sees a beautiful blonde woman driving a white Ford Thunderbird. She mouths the words "I love you" to Curt before turning. Curt becomes desperate to find her; one of his friends tells him "The Blonde" is the wife of a local jeweler, but Curt does not believe it. After leaving the hop, Curt is coerced by a group of greasers ("The Pharaohs") into hooking a chain to a police car and ripping out its back axle. The Pharaohs tell Curt that "The Blonde" is a prostitute, which he does not believe.
Curt drives to the radio station to ask disc jockey "Wolfman Jack" to read a message for her on the air. Curt encounters an employee who tells him the Wolfman does not work there and that the shows are pretaped for replay. The employee accepts the message and promises to try to have the Wolfman air it. As he is leaving, Curt sees the employee talking into the microphone and, hearing the voice, realizes it is the Wolfman, who reads the message, asking "The Blonde" to meet Curt or call him on the pay phone at Mel's. Curt is awakened by the phone the next morning. "The Blonde" does not reveal her identity but tells Curt maybe they will meet that night. Curt replies that they probably will not because he is leaving town.
Terry and John cruise the strip. Terry picks up flirtatious and rebellious Debbie. John inadvertently picks up Carol, an annoying, precocious 12-year-old who manipulates him into driving her around all night. Bob Falfa is searching out John to challenge him to a race. Steve and Laurie continue to argue and make up through the evening. They finally split and as the story lines intertwine, Bob Falfa picks up Laurie. Bob finds John and goads him into racing. Many follow them to "Paradise Road" to watch. As John takes the lead, Bob's tire blows out, causing him to lose control. His car swerves into a ditch, rolls over, and catches fire. Steve and John leap out of their cars and rush to the wreck while Bob and Laurie crawl out and stagger away just before it explodes. Laurie grips Steve tightly and begs him not to leave her. He assures her that he will stay.
At the airfield, Curt says goodbye to his parents, Laurie, Steve, John, and Terry. As the plane takes off, Curt gazes out the window and sees the white Thunderbird driving in parallel to his plane. An on-screen epilogue reveals that John was killed by a drunk driver in 1964, Terry was reported missing in action near An L?c in 1965, Steve is an insurance agent in Modesto and Curt is a writer in Canada.
American Hustle (2013)
Color
Fictionalization of the Abscam scandal
American Hustle
"In 1978, con artists Irving Rosenfeld and Sydney Prosser have started a relationship, and are working together. Sydney has improved Rosenfeld's scams, posing as English aristocrat "Lady Edith Greensly". Irving loves Sydney, but is hesitant to leave his unstable and histrionic wife Rosalyn, fearing he will lose contact with his adopted son Danny. Rosalyn has also threatened to report Irving to the police if he leaves her. FBI agent Richie DiMaso catches Irving and Sydney in a loan scam, but offers to release them if Irving can line up four additional arrests. Richie believes Sydney is English, but has proof that her claim of aristocracy is fraudulent. Sydney tells Irving she will manipulate Richie, distancing herself from Irving.
Irving has a friend pretending to be a wealthy Arab sheikh looking for potential investments in America. An associate of Irving's suggests the sheikh do business with Mayor Carmine Polito of Camden, New Jersey, who is campaigning to revitalize gambling in Atlantic City, but has struggled in fund-raising. Carmine seems to have a genuine desire to help the area's economy and his constituents. Richie devises a plan to make Mayor Polito the target of a sting operation, despite the objections of Irving and of Richie's boss, Stoddard Thorsen. Sydney helps Richie manipulate an FBI secretary into making an unauthorized wire transfer of $2,000,000. When Stoddard's boss, Anthony Amado, hears of the operation, he praises Richie's initiative, pressuring Stoddard to continue.
Carmine leaves their meeting when Richie presses him to accept a cash bribe. Irving convinces Carmine the sheikh is legitimate, expressing his dislike of Richie, and the two become friends. Richie arranges for Carmine to meet the sheikh, and without consulting the others, has Mexican-American FBI agent Paco Hernandez play the sheikh, which displeases Irving. Carmine brings the sheikh to a casino party, explaining that mobsters are there, and that it is a necessary part of doing business. Irving is surprised to hear that Mafia boss Victor Tellegio, right-hand man to Meyer Lansky, is present, and that he wants to meet the sheikh. Tellegio explains that the sheikh needs to become an American citizen, and that Carmine will need to expedite the process. Tellegio also requires a $10,000,000 wire transfer to prove the sheikh's legitimacy.
Richie confesses his strong attraction to Sydney, but becomes confused and aggressive when she drops her English accent and admits to being from Albuquerque. Rosalyn starts an affair with mobster Pete Musane, whom she met at the party. She mentions her belief that Irving is working with the IRS, causing Pete to threaten Irving, who promises to prove the sheikh's investment is real. Irving later confronts Rosalyn, who admits she told Pete and agrees to keep quiet, but wants a divorce. With Carmine's help, Richie and Irving videotape members of Congress receiving bribes. Richie assaults Stoddard in a fight over the money, and later convinces Amado that he needs the $10,000,000 to get Tellegio, but gets only $2,000,000. A meeting is arranged at the offices of Tellegio's lawyer, Alfonse Simone, but Tellegio does not appear.
Irving visits Carmine and admits to the scam, but says he has a plan to help him. Carmine throws Irving out, and the loss of their friendship deeply upsets Irving. The federal agents inform Irving that their $2,000,000 are missing, and that they have received an anonymous offer to return the money in exchange for Irving and Sydney's immunity and a reduced sentence for Carmine. It is revealed that the Alfonse Simone, with whom Richie had arranged the wire transfer, was a con man working with Irving and Sydney. Amado accepts the deal, and Stoddard removes Richie from the case, which ends his career. The Congressmen are prosecuted, and so is Carmine, who is sentenced to 18 months in prison. Irving and Sydney move in together and open a legitimate art gallery, while Rosalyn lives with Pete and shares custody of Danny with Irving.
American Psycho (2000)
Color
Businessman has dark secret
American Psycho
"Set in Manhattan during the Wall Street boom of the late 1980s, American Psycho is about the daily life of wealthy young investment banker Patrick Bateman. Bateman, in his late 20s when the story begins, narrates his everyday activities, from his recreational life among the Wall Street elite of New York to his forays into murder by nightfall. Through present tense stream-of-consciousness narrative, Bateman describes his daily life, ranging from a series of Friday nights spent at nightclubs with his colleagues -- where they snort cocaine, critique fellow club-goers' clothing, trade fashion advice, and question one another on proper etiquette -- to his loveless engagement to fellow yuppie Evelyn and his contentious relationship with his brother and senile mother. Bateman's stream of consciousness is occasionally broken up by chapters in which he directly addresses the reader in order to critique the work of 1980s Pop music artists. The novel maintains a high level of ambiguity through mistaken identity and contradictions that introduce the possibility that Bateman is an unreliable narrator. Characters are consistently introduced as people other than themselves, and people argue over the identities of others they can see in restaurants or at parties. Whether any of the crimes depicted in the novel actually happened or whether they were simply the fantasies of a delusional psychotic is deliberately left open.
After killing Paul Owen, one of his colleagues, Bateman appropriates his apartment as a place to kill and store more victims. Bateman's control over his violent urges deteriorates. His murders become increasingly sadistic and complex, progressing from simple stabbings to drawn out sequences of torture, rape, mutilation, cannibalism, and necrophilia, and the separation between his two lives begins to blur. He introduces stories about serial killers into casual conversations and on several occasions openly confesses his murderous activities to his coworkers, who never take him seriously, do not hear what he says, or misunderstand him completely--for example, hearing the words "murders and executions" as "mergers and acquisitions." Bateman begins to experience bizarre hallucinations such as seeing a Cheerio interviewed on a talk show, being stalked by an anthropomorphic park bench, and finding a bone in his Dove Bar. These incidents culminate in a shooting spree during which he kills several random people in the street, resulting in a SWAT team being dispatched in a helicopter. Bateman flees on foot and hides in his office, where he phones his attorney, Harold Carnes, and confesses all his crimes to the answering machine.
Later, Bateman revisits Paul Owen's apartment, where he had further killed and mutilated two prostitutes, carrying a surgical mask in anticipation of the decomposing bodies he expects to encounter. He enters the perfectly clean, refurbished apartment, however, filled with strong-smelling flowers meant, perhaps, to conceal a bad odor. The real estate agent, who sees his surgical mask, fools him into stating he was attending the apartment viewing because he saw an 'ad in the Times' (when there was no such advertisement): she tells him to leave and never return.
At the end of the story, Bateman confronts Carnes about the message he left on his machine, only to find the attorney amused at what he considers a hilarious joke. Carnes tells Bateman that he is too much of a coward to have committed such acts. In the dialogue-laden climax, Carnes stands up to a defiant Bateman and tells him his claim of having murdered Owen is impossible, because he had dinner in London with him a few days before, not once but twice.
The book ends as it began, with Bateman and his colleagues at a new club on a Friday night, engaging in banal conversation.
American Sniper (2014)
Color
American SEAL who amassed a record number of enemy kills
American Sniper
"Growing up in Texas, Chris Kyle is taught by his father how to shoot a rifle and hunt deer. Years later, Chris is a rodeo cowboy. He returns home with his brother only to find his girlfriend in bed with a stranger. He kicks out the man and demands that his girlfriend leave, upon which she justifies her behavior as doing it to get attention, says Chris is a lousy ranch hand, and a "shitty lay." He kicks her out anyway. He is mulling with his brother when he sees news coverage of the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings and decides to enlist in the U.S. Navy, where he is eventually accepted for SEAL training, becoming a U.S. Navy SEAL sniper.
Chris meets Taya Renae at a bar, they marry, and he is sent to Iraq after the September 11 attacks of 2001. His first kills are a woman and boy who attacked U.S. Marines with a grenade. Chris is visibly upset by the experience but earns the nickname "Legend" for his many kills. He is assigned to hunt for the al-Qaeda leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi; during house-to-house searches in evacuated areas, Chris interrogates a family, and for $100,000 the father offers to lead the SEALs to "The Butcher", al-Zarqawi's second-in-command whose favorite torture device is a drill. The plan goes awry when The Butcher captures the father and son, and kills them while Chris is pinned down by a sniper using a Dragunov sniper rifle (SVD). This sniper goes by the name Mustafa and is the best known enemy sniper. Meanwhile, the insurgents issue a bounty on Chris.
Chris returns home to his wife and the birth of his son. He is distracted by memories of his war experiences and argues with Taya over bootleg footage of U.S. Marines shot dead by enemy snipers. Taya expresses her concern for them as a couple and wishes Chris would focus on his home and family.
Chris leaves for a second tour, promoted to Chief Petty Officer. He is involved in a shootout with The Butcher, who is located operating out of a ground floor restaurant, and helps in capturing him.
Chris returns home from his second tour to a newborn daughter, and he becomes increasingly distant from his family. On his third tour, Mustafa seriously injures a unit member, and the unit is evacuated back to base. Chris hears that Mustafa is an excellent marksman who won medals in the Olympics, and when Chris questions how he could have won when Iraq hadn't sent athletes for a few years, he is informed that Mustafa is from Syria. The unit decides to return to the field and continue the mission. Another SEAL is killed by gunfire, compelling Chris with guilt and duty to undertake a fourth tour. Taya does not understand his decision, tells him she needs him, and tells him that if he leaves for another tour in Iraq, she may not be there when he returns.
On tour four, Chris is assigned to kill Mustafa, who has been sniping U.S. Army combat engineers building a barricade. Chris's sniper team is placed on a rooftop inside enemy territory. Chris spots Mustafa and takes him out with a risky long distance shot at 2100 yards (1920 meters), but this exposes his team's position to a large number of armed insurgents. In the midst of the firefight and low on ammunition, Chris calls Taya and tells her he is ready to come home. A sandstorm provides cover for a chaotic escape in which Chris is injured and almost left behind.
Chris returns home, on edge and unable to adjust fully to civilian life. When asked by a Veterans Affairs psychiatrist if he is haunted by all the things he did in war, he instead replied that he is "haunted by all the guys [he] couldn't save". The psychiatrist encourages him to help wounded veterans in the VA hospital. Chris meets veterans who suffered severe injuries, coaches them at a shooting range in the woods, and gradually begins to adjust to home life.
Years later, on February 2, 2013, Chris, playful and happy, says goodbye to his wife and family as he leaves to spend time with a veteran at a shooting range. An on-screen subtitle reveals: "Chris Kyle was killed that day by a veteran he was trying to help", followed by stock footage of thousands of people standing in line along the highway for his funeral procession. Thousands more are shown[9] attending his memorial service at Cowboys Stadium.
Amistad (1997)
Color
Slaves brought to America fight for their freedom
Amistad
"The film begins in the depths of the schooner La Amistad, a slave-ship carrying captured West Africans into slavery. The film's protagonist, Sengbe Pieh (Djimon Hounsou), most known by his Mende name, "Cinque" (meaning "fifth"), painstakingly picks a nail out of the ship's structure and uses it to pick the lock on his shackles. Freeing a number of his companions, Cinqu? initiates a rebellion on board the storm-tossed vessel. In the ensuing fighting, several Africans and most of the ship's crew are killed, except Ruiz and Montez, the owners of the ship, who the Africans believe can sail them back to West Africa.
After six weeks have passed, the ship is running out of food and fresh water, and Cinqu? is growing angry with Yamba who believes keeping the Spaniards alive is the only way to get back to Africa. The next day, they sight land. Unsure of their location, a group of them take one of the ship's boats to shore to fetch fresh water. While there, La Amistad is found by a military vessel bearing an American flag -- the Spaniards have tricked the Africans by sailing directly for the United States. Captured by the Americans, the Amistad Africans are taken to a municipal jail in New Haven, Connecticut, where the ship's occupants, and a tearful Cinqu?, are thrown into a grim dungeon, awaiting trial.
The film's focus now shifts to Washington, D.C., introducing John Quincy Adams (Anthony Hopkins), the elderly former President and sitting member of the U.S. House of Representatives. While strolling in the gardens, Adams is introduced to two of the country's leading abolitionists: the elderly freed slave Theodore Joadson (Morgan Freeman) and Christian activist Lewis Tappan (Stellan Skarsg?rd), both of whom are leading shipping magnates in New England and co-proprietors of the pro-abolitionist newssheet "The Emancipator". The two have heard of the plight of the Amistad Africans and attempt to enlist Adams to help their cause. Adams, apparently verging on senility, refuses to help, claiming that he neither condemns nor condones slavery. News of the Amistad incident also reaches the current President of the United States, Martin Van Buren (Nigel Hawthorne), who is bombarded with demands for compensation from the Spanish Queen Isabella II (Anna Paquin). At a preliminary hearing in a district court, the Africans are charged with "insurrection on the high seas", and the case rapidly dissolves into conflicting claims of property ownership from the Kingdom of Spain, the United States, the owners of the slaves and of La Amistad, and the American captain and first mate of the vessel responsible for re-capturing the slave-ship. Aware that they cannot fight the case on moral grounds, the two abolitionists enlist the help of a young attorney specializing in property law: Roger Sherman Baldwin (Matthew McConaughey).
At the jail, Baldwin and the abolitionists, along with Josiah Willard Gibbs, Sr., a professor of linguistics, attempt to talk to the Amistad Africans, but neither side is able to understand anything the other party says. In the prison, events among the Africans are accelerating. Yamba, Cinqu?'s apparent rival for authority amongst the Africans, has become interested in Christianity, what he thinks is the way things happen spiritually and is now resigned to his death, believing that execution will send them to a pleasant afterlife. The death of one of the Africans provokes them into a furious demonstration against the American authorities, screaming and chanting in their native language. As the hearings drag on, Baldwin and Joadson approach Adams for advice. Adams advises them that, in court, the side with the best story usually wins. He then asks them what their story is. Unable to answer, they decide that their priority must be to find a way to communicate with the Africans. They begin to walk round the city docks, counting numbers in the Mende language. They find a black sailor in the Royal Navy, James Covey (Chiwetel Ejiofor).
Using Covey as a translator, Baldwin and his companions are able to talk to Cinqu?. In his first speaking role in the courtroom, Cinqu?, through a series of flashbacks, tells the haunting story of how he became a slave. Cinqu?, a peasant farmer and young husband and father in West Africa, was kidnapped by African slave-hunters and taken to the slave fortress of Lomboko, an illegal facility in the British protectorate of Sierra Leone. There, he and hundreds of other captured Africans were loaded onto the transatlantic slave-ship (Tecora). Cinqu? tells of the various horrors of the Middle Passage, including frequent rape, horrific torture and random executions carried out by the crew including the deaths of fifty people deliberately drowned by being thrown in the ocean. Upon their arrival in Cuba, Cinqu? was sold at a slave market and purchased, along with many other Tecora survivors, by the owners of La Amistad. Once aboard La Amistad, Cinqu? was able to free himself of his shackles and began the slaves' rebellion for freedom.
The courtroom drama continues as District Attorney William S. Holabird (Pete Postlethwaite) and Secretary of State John Forsyth (David Paymer) press their case for property rights and dismiss Cinqu?'s story as a mere piece of fiction. While exploring the impounded vessel La Amistad for much-needed evidence to support the Africans' claims, Baldwin happens upon a notebook, stuffed into a crevice by Ruiz and Montez to conceal the evidence of illegal slave-trading. Using the book as hard evidence of illegal trading, Baldwin calls expert witnesses including Captain Fitzgerald (Peter Firth), a British naval officer assigned to patrol the West African coastline to enforce the British Empire's anti-slavery policies. As Fitzgerald is cross-examined by the haughty Holabird, tension in the courtroom rises, ultimately prompting Cinqu? to leap from his seat and cry "Give us free" over and over, a heartfelt plea using the English he has learned. Cinqu?'s plea touches many, including the judge and in a court ruling, Judge Coglin (Jeremy Northam) dismisses all claims of ownership. He then rules that the Africans were captured illegally and were not born on plantations; orders the arrest of the Amistad's owners on charges of slave-trading; and authorizes the United States to convey the Amistad Africans back to Africa at the expense of the nation.
While Cinqu?, Joadson, Baldwin, and the jubilant Africans celebrate their victory, a state dinner at the White House threatens to overturn the ruling. While conversing with the Spanish Ambassador to Washington, Senator John C. Calhoun (Arliss Howard) launches into a damning diatribe aimed at President Van Buren, emphasizing the economic importance of slaves in the South, and ends his tirade with a concealed but clear threat that should the government set a precedent for abolition by releasing the Amistad Africans, the South will have little choice but to go to war with the North. With his advisors warning that the Amistad incident could bring the United States one big step closer to civil war, President Van Buren orders that the case be submitted to the Supreme Court, dominated by its Southern slave-owning judges. Furious, Mr. Tappan splits with Joadson and Baldwin, who break the news to an enraged and disgusted Cinqu?. In need of an ally with legal background in the intricacies of Supreme Court workings, Baldwin and Joadson meet again with John Quincy Adams, who has been following the case carefully. Adams, aware that Cinqu? is now refusing to talk to Baldwin, invites the African leader to his home. While Adams gives him a rambling tour of his greenhouse, Cinqu?'s emotional reaction to seeing an African violet, native to his homeland, convinces Adams to assist the case. During preparations for the Supreme Court hearing, Cinqu? tells Adams that he is invoking the spirits of his ancestors. This makes a strong impression upon Adams, presumably because he thinks of his own father, President John Adams, one of America's founding fathers.
At the Supreme Court, John Quincy Adams gives a long and passionate speech in defense of the Africans. He argues that if Cinqu? were white and had rebelled against the British, the United States would have exalted him as a hero; and that the Africans' rebellion to gain their freedom was no different to the Americans' rebellion against their oppressors some seventy years earlier. Arguing that condemning the Amistad Africans would render the principles and ideals of the Constitution worthless, he exhorts the judges to free the Africans. He tells the court how, before the hearing, his client invoked the spirit of his ancestors. Adams then invokes the spirits of America's founding fathers, including his own father. In a poignant shot, the camera frames Adams with the marble bust of his father behind him. Adams invokes the Declaration of Independence. He concludes by arguing that, if a verdict in his favor should hasten a civil war, that war will simply be the final battle of the American Revolution. His case made, the United States awaits the Supreme Court's ruling.
On the day of judgment, Justice Joseph Story (Associate Supreme Court Justice Harry Blackmun) announces the Supreme Court's decision on the case. Because the Amistad Africans were illegally kidnapped from their homes in Africa, United States laws on slave ownership do not apply. Furthermore, since that was the case, the Amistad Africans were within their rights to use force to escape their confinement. The Supreme Court authorizes the release of the Africans and their conveyance back to Africa, if they so wish. Legally freed for the second and final time, Cinqu? bids emotional farewells to his companions; shaking Adams's hand, giving Joadson his lion tooth which is his only memento of Africa and thanking Baldwin in English and in Mende.
The end of the film depicts various scenes. Royal Marines assault the Lomboko Slave Fortress, killing the slavers and freeing the kidnapped Africans held within the dungeons. With the fortress evacuated, Captain Fitzgerald, orders his warship of the Royal Navy's West Africa Anti-Slavery Squadron to open fire on the facility thus destroying it. Interspersed with this are scenes of Martin Van Buren losing his election campaign, Isabella II learning of the Africans' release and the Battle of Atlanta from the American Civil War. The final scenes depict Cinqu? and the freed Africans returning to Africa, dressed in white, the West African color of victory, and accompanied by James Covey. A postscript informs viewers that Cinqu? returned to find his country in civil war and his wife and child missing, probably sold into slavery.
An Affair to Remember (1957)
Color
Two people engaged fall in love on an ocean liner (Remake of Love Affair)
An Affair to Remember
"Nickie Ferrante (Cary Grant), a well-known playboy and dilettante in the arts, meets Terry McKay (Deborah Kerr) aboard the transatlantic ocean liner SS Constitution en route from Europe to New York. Each is involved with someone else. After a series of chance meetings aboard the ship, they establish a friendship. When Terry joins Nickie on a brief visit to his grandmother when the ship anchors near her home at Villefranche-sur-Mer on the Mediterranean coast, she sees Nickie with new eyes and their feelings blossom into love. During their visit, it is revealed that Nickie has had a talent for painting, but has dropped said trait due to his critical attitude towards his own art. As the ship returns to New York City, they agree to reunite at the top of the Empire State Building in six months' time, if they have succeeded in ending their relationships and starting new careers.
On the day of their rendezvous, Terry, in her haste to reach the Empire State Building, is struck down by a car while crossing a street. Gravely injured, she is rushed to the hospital. Meanwhile, Nickie, waiting for her at the observation deck at the top of the building, is unaware of the accident and, after many hours, finally concedes at midnight that she will not arrive, believing that she has rejected him.
After the accident Terry, now unable to walk, refuses to contact Nickie, wanting to conceal her disability. Instead, she finds work as a music teacher. Nickie has pursued his talent as a painter and has his work displayed by an old friend, an art shop owner. Six months after the accident, she sees Nickie with his former fiancee at the ballet, which she herself is attending with her former boyfriend. Nickie does not notice her condition because she is seated and only says hello as he passes her.
Nickie finally learns Terry's address and, on Christmas Eve, makes a surprise visit to her. Although he steers the conversation to make her explain her actions, Terry merely dodges the subject, never leaving the couch on which she sits. As he is leaving, Nickie mentions a painting that he had been working on when they originally met, and that it was just given away at the art shop to a woman who liked it but had no money. He is about to say that the woman was in a wheelchair when he pauses, suddenly suspecting why Terry has been sitting unmoving on the couch. He walks into her bedroom and sees his painting hanging on the wall, and a wheelchair concealed there. He now knows why she did not keep their appointment. The film ends with the two in a tight embrace, each realizing that the other's love endures. In closing, Terry says, "If you can paint, I can walk; anything can happen, don't you think?
An Innocent Man (1989)
Color
Man framed by police sets out to get justice
An Innocent Man
"James "Jimmie" Rainwood (Tom Selleck) is an ordinary and model citizen. Happily married to his beautiful wife Kate (Laila Robins), they have a modest home in Long Beach, California. Jimmie works as an expert American Airlines aeronautics engineer, supporting his wife while she's in college.
Detectives Mike Parnell (David Rasche) and Danny Scalise (Richard Young) are crooked narcotics cops who steal the drugs they seize at busts for their own recreational drug use and to sell to dealers, brutalizing or framing anyone who gets in their way. One of their regular customers for stolen drugs is Joseph Donatelli (J.J. Johnston), a high-level mobster.
One day Parnell takes a large hit of cocaine and gets confused about the address for the next drug bust, and they break into the wrong house. Just as Jimmie walks out of the bathroom with a hair dryer in hand, Parnell shoots, thinking it's a weapon. Jimmie is shot in the shoulder and knocked unconscious. Realizing that they could both be tested for taking drugs and charged, they decide to cover up their mistake. They plant drugs in the house and place a firearm in the hand of Jimmies's unconscious body, framing him as a drug dealer. Jimmie is pegged as a user, having a prior record of marijuana possession while in college, and his only defense is his word against two decorated cops. He claims the two cops framed him, but no evidence proves the men are corrupt. He gets a 6-year prison sentence. Internal Affairs detective John Fitzgerald (Badja Djola) takes an interest in the situation, though he can't do anything due to the only evidence against the corrupt officers being hearsay.
Jimmie is completely unprepared for prison life. Early in his term he sees his cellmate murdered with a screwdriver and set on fire in the prison yard. Later he has a run in with the Black Guerrilla Family run by Jingles, who grabs his commissary purchases, daring him to resist. The gang beats Jimmie senseless and he spends several weeks recuperating. Jimmie knows he can't expect help from anyone, least of all the prison authorities, who punish him for not naming his assailants. Shrewd and respected inmate Virgil Cane (F. Murray Abraham) tells him he needs to "take care of his problem" with Jingles, but Jimmie resists the pressure to kill as long as he can. After Jingles forces him to witness the gang rape of another inmate, Jimmie knows he has no choice but to act.
Jimmie gets a plexiglas shank and stabs Jingles to death, with Virgil acting as lookout. The authorities know Jimmie did the killing but since they can't prove it, he spends three months in a windowless, subterranean solitary confinement. When he's released to the general population he is received as a minor hero for ridding the prison of Jingles. On the outside, Kate is causing trouble by pleading for a review of the case from anyone who might be able to help and is subsequently threatened by Parnell and Scalise. A visit with Fitzgerald goes nowhere, but when she angrily insults him, saying the two crooked cops are laughing at him, he's irritated and suspicious enough to confront Parnell and Scalise and demand that they leave her alone.
Before being paroled after three years served, Virgil suggests to Jimmie that he should take advantage of his prison contacts to get even with the detectives that framed him. But Jimmie just wants to regain his life on the outside and joyfully reunites with Kate. Prison life has hardened him and he warns Kate that in some ways, she no longer knows him. When he comes home to find Scalaise and Parnell in his living room, threatening him and Kate, Jimmie realizes their lives will never be their own while the detectives continue to hound them. Jimmie hates that his wife has been dragged into this violent world but she insists that she does know him, a good man who is only doing what he must. Kate visits Virgil in prison and asks for his help in getting evidence on the corrupt cops that the police can't ignore.
Virgil's outside contacts scam Parnell and Scalise into busting some "competition" that are in reality protected dealers of Donatelli. Fearing both Donatelli and Fitzgerald, the two cops only turn in a fraction of the seized drugs and decide to take the remaining huge haul out of state to start new lives, away from the threat of the mob and the law. Before they can leave town, they are robbed by masked "thieves", Jimmie and Malcolm (M.C. Gainey), another friend of Virgil. Malcolm calls the detectives and says he will swap the drugs for cash, Fitzgerald having finally been convinced to wire Jimmie and Malcolm to record the sting. In the middle of the handoff, Parnell attacks Malcolm and Jimmie is forced to hand over the drugs. Malcolm is shot and killed by Parnell. Fitzgerald then informs Parnell and Scalise that they have been busted and that they are about to be apprehended, however neither of them go down without a fight. Scalise attempts to run down Fitzgerald and Fitgerald fires his weapon to defend himself. Scalise dies after crashing his car while trying to escape. Fitzgerald is injured in the confrontation and Jimmie chases Parnell, beating him bloody until Parnell pulls a knife. Jimmie wrests the knife away from Parnell and has the blade at his throat until Kate, who has been acting as the driver, begs Jimmie not to kill him and let the law take over. Jimmie eventually walks away from Parnell, who is then placed under arrest by his soon-to-be former colleagues.
The movie ends with Kate and Jimmie returning to a life they both deserve. Parnell, now a convict, is put into the general prison population. On entry to the prison tiers, Virgil calls attention to Parnel by yelling, "Hey, officer!" for all the other inmates to hear. Parnell, his face frozen in fear, looks up to the balcony where Virgil is smirking down at him. Jimmie is seen suited up and working again for the airline, finally getting his life back.
An Officer and a Gentleman (1982)
Color
An officer faces challenges in his training
An Officer and a Gentleman
"Zachary "Zack" Mayo (Richard Gere) has been living in the Philippines with his father Byron (Robert Loggia), an alcoholic U.S. Navy chief boatswain's mate, since early adolescence, after Zack's mother committed suicide. Hoping to put his life on a different path, Zack signs up for the Navy's Aviation Officer Candidate School (AOCS) to become a Navy pilot.
Zack and his fellow AOCs are "welcomed" by their head drill instructor, Marine Gunnery Sergeant Emil Foley (Louis Gossett, Jr.). Foley makes it clear that the program is designed to eliminate any officer candidates who are not suitable to earn their "prize"; a commission as an ensign in the U.S. Navy and flight training worth over $1,000,000. Foley further warns the male candidates about the young women in the area, who Foley says scout the regiment for officers that they want to marry and will go so far as to feign pregnancy or actually become pregnant in order to trap them. Zack hits it off with fellow candidate Sid Worley (David Keith) and female candidate Casey Seeger (Lisa Eilbacher).
Zack and Sid meet two local girls - factory workers - at a Navy-hosted dance. Zack begins a romantic relationship with Paula Pokrifki (Debra Winger) and Sid with Lynette Pomeroy (Lisa Blount).
Foley rides Zack mercilessly, believing that he lacks motivation and is not a team player. When Zack's side business of selling pre-shined shoes and belt buckles is discovered, Foley hazes him for an entire weekend in an attempt to make him DOR ("Drop on Request", AOCS term for requesting termination of one's training[3]), but Zack refuses to give in. Foley then tells Zack that he will simply have him thrown out; Zack finally breaks down, telling Foley that he has nowhere else to go and has nothing else in his life. Satisfied that Zack has come to a crucial self-realization, Foley lets up on him.
While Zack and Paula spend the next weekend together, she takes him home to meet and have dinner with her family. After dinner, she shows Zack an old picture of her real father. He was also an AOC who, following his commissioning, left for flight training and simply deserted her mother, refusing to marry her when she became pregnant with Paula.
Later, Zack has a chance to break the record time for negotiating the obstacle course; meanwhile, Seeger will be disqualified if she can't negotiate the 12 foot high wall. which she lacks the upper-body strength to climb easily. Zack abandons his attempt to break the course record in order to coach Seeger over the wall, and she makes it.
Following dinner with Sid and his parents in town, Zack learns that Sid has a long-time girlfriend back home, whom he plans to marry after being commissioned. Meanwhile, Lynette has been dropping hints to Sid that she may be pregnant. During a high-altitude simulation in a pressure chamber, Sid has a sudden anxiety attack. Realizing that he joined up out of a sense of obligation to his family, Sid DORs, and then leaves the base without saying goodbye, so Zack and Paula go out to look for him.
Sid goes to Lynette's house and proposes marriage to her. She turns him down, but not before confessing she wasn't pregnant. She wanted him to graduate in order to fulfill her dream of marrying a Navy pilot, and all but curses him for dropping out. She is later cursed by both Zack and Paula when they come to see her about Sid's whereabouts. Despondent over Lynette's rejection, Sid checks into a motel and commits suicide. Zack decides to DOR himself but Foley won't let him go so close to graduation. He and Zack clash in an unofficial martial arts bout with the platoon looking on. Although Zack dominates for most of the fight (mostly fueled by his anger at Foley, who he believed played a part in Sid's suicide by not stopping him from leaving), Foley manages to win by kicking Zack in the groin. Foley tells him he can quit if he wants to.
Zack does show up for graduation, and is sworn into the Navy with his class. Following naval tradition, he seeks out and receives his first salute from Foley in exchange for a US silver dollar. While tradition calls for the drill instructor to place the coin in his left shirt pocket, Foley places the coin in his right pocket and gives Zack a picture-perfect salute, acknowledging that Zack was a special candidate. Zack tells him he will never forget him and that he never would have made it through without his guidance.
Zack, now Ensign Mayo with orders to flight training, seeks out Paula at the factory where she works. He picks her up and walks out with her in his arms to the applause and cheers of her co-workers, including Lynette.
An Unfinished Life (2005)
Color
Grieving widow and her daughter move in with estranged father-in-law
An Unfinished Life
"One year ago, a bear stole a calf from Mitch (Morgan Freeman) and Einar's (Robert Redford) ranch. The two friends attempted to save the calf, but the bear viciously attacked Mitch -- and because Einar was drunk, he failed to save Mitch from serious injury. The bear escaped into the mountains.
A year later, Mitch's wounds still cause him constant pain. Einar cares for Mitch daily, giving him morphine injections, food, and friendship. He leans his guilt on emotional crutches, while Mitch struggles to walk with real crutches. The bear is later seen foraging for food in town. Sheriff Crane Curtis (Josh Lucas) captures it and it ends up in the town zoo. About the same time, Einar's long-lost daughter-in-law Jean (Jennifer Lopez) shows up on his doorstep.
Jean and her young daughter, Griff (Becca Gardner), move in with Einar and Mitch. Einar's son, Griffin, had married Jean years ago. She discovered that she was pregnant with Griff after Griffin died in a car accident, after which the family broke up. Tension exists between Einar and Jean, as both are still grieving for Griffin; tensions build as Einar has always blamed Jean for his son's death.
Since Griffin died, Jean has been in a series of unsuccessful relationships. She moved in with Einar to escape her abusive boyfriend, Gary (Damian Lewis). Jean starts working at a local coffee shop to earn money to become independent. There she befriends Nina, another waitress (Camryn Manheim). The local sheriff also becomes her friend.
Meanwhile, Gary has tracked Jean down and appears in town. Initially, Einar and the sheriff throw him out of town. Einar asks Jean to tell him how Griffin died. Jean says they flipped a coin to determine who would drive, and she lost. At 3 a.m., the two tired souls had set out on the last leg of a long trip. Jean fell asleep at the wheel. The car flipped six times. Griffin died, but Jean survived. When Einar learns the truth about his son's death, he says they'll have to talk about Jean moving out. Jean says she's through talking. The next morning she takes Griff with her and leaves to stay with Nina, who ends up helping her understand Einar's gruff ways and bitterness.
Griff, who has begun to build a relationship with her grandfather, leaves her mother and goes back to the ranch alone. Einar meets Jean at the diner and invites her to come back and live with him after he and Griff go on a camping trip.
The "camping trip" is a cover story meant to allow them time to carry out a request from Mitch to set free the bear who mauled him. The plan to get the bear into a transport cage does not go well. Griff accidentally knocks the gearshift lever into neutral while Einar is luring the bear into the cage. The bear gets free, and Einar is injured as he jumps out of the way. Griff drives Einar to the hospital, where he and Jean attempt to reconcile. Back at the ranch, Mitch survives a peaceful confrontation with the bear from his past. It goes into the mountains, where it belongs.
Meanwhile, Gary returns to the area and comes to the ranch the next day to accost Jean. He and Einar have an explosive confrontation that ends in Einar threatening Gary with his rifle, before badly beating him up. Gary, battered and exhausted, leaves on a Trailways bus as it moves through Nebraska.
In the final scene, Einar affectionately talks with one of his cats, who throughout the whole story he'd coldly ignored. Griff invites Sheriff Curtis for lunch when he drops by to see Jean (previously Griff, knowing of her mother fooling around with Sheriff, had told him not to stay for lunch). All is well as Mitch narrates the last seconds of the story, describing to Einar his dreams of flying above the earth and coming to understand things about life.
Anatomy of a Murder (1959)
Black & White
Defense of man who murdered barkeep who raped his wfe
Anatomy of a Murder
"In the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, small-town lawyer Paul Biegler (James Stewart), a former district attorney who lost his re-election bid, spends most of his time fishing, playing the piano and hanging out with his alcoholic friend and colleague Parnell McCarthy (Arthur O'Connell) and sardonic secretary Maida Rutledge (Eve Arden).
One day Biegler is contacted by Laura Manion (Lee Remick), the wife of US Army Lieutenant Frederick "Manny" Manion (Ben Gazzara), who has been arrested for the first degree murder of innkeeper Bernard "Barney" Quill. Manion does not deny the murder, but claims that Quill raped his wife. Even with such a motivation, it would be difficult to get Manion cleared of murder, but Manion claims to have no memory of the event, suggesting that he may be eligible for a defense of irresistible impulse--a version of a temporary insanity defense. Biegler's folksy speech and laid-back demeanor hide a sharp legal mind and a propensity for courtroom theatrics that has the judge busy keeping things under control. However, the case for the defense does not go well, especially since the local district attorney (Brooks West) is assisted by high-powered prosecutor Claude Dancer (George C. Scott) from the Attorney General's office.
Furthermore, the prosecution tries at every instance to block any mention of Manion's motive for killing Quill. Biegler eventually manages to get Laura Manion's rape into the record and Judge Weaver (Joseph N. Welch) agrees to allow the matter to be part of the deliberations. However, during cross-examination Dancer insinuates that Laura openly flirted with other men, including the man she claimed raped her. Psychiatrists give conflicting testimony to Manion's state of mind at the time that he killed Quill. Dancer says that Manion may have suspected Laura of cheating on him because he asked his wife, Catholic, to swear on a rosary that Quill raped her. This raises doubt as to whether the act was non-consensual.
Quill's estate is to be inherited by Mary Pilant (Kathryn Grant), whom Dancer accuses of being Quill's mistress. McCarthy learns that she is in fact Quill's daughter, a fact she is anxious to keep secret since she was born out of wedlock. Biegler, who is losing the case, tries to persuade Pilant that Al Paquette, (Murray Hamilton) the bartender who witnessed the murder, may know that Quill admitted to raping Laura but Paquette is covering this up, either because he loves Pilant or out of loyalty to Quill. Through Pilant, Biegler tries to persuade Paquette to testify for the defense, but Paquette refuses.
During the trial, Laura claims that Quill tore off her panties while raping her; these panties were not found in the crime scene, where she alleges the rape took place. Pilant, unaware of any details of the case, voluntarily returns to the courtroom to testify that she found the panties in the inn's laundry room. Biegler suggests Quill may have dropped the panties down the laundry chute, located next to his room, to avoid suspicion. Dancer tries to establish that Pilant's answers are founded on her jealousy. When Dancer asserts forcibly that Quill was Pilant's lover and that Pilant lied to cover this fact, Pilant shocks everyone by stating that Quill was her father. Manion is found "not guilty by reason of insanity". After the trial, Biegler decides to open a new practice, with a newly sober McCarthy as his partner.
The next day Biegler and McCarthy travel to the Manions' trailer park home in order to get Manion's signature on a promissory note which they hope will suffice as collateral for a desperately needed loan. It turns out the Manions have vacated the trailer park, however, with the trailer park superintendent commenting that Laura Manion had been crying. Manion left a note for Biegler, indicating that his flight was "an irresistible impulse" -- the same terminology Biegler used during the trial. Biegler states that Mary Pilant has retained him to execute Quill's estate. McCarthy says that working for her will be "poetic justice".
And Then There Was You (2013)
Color
Natalie resorts to picking up the pieces of her life after her husband leaves her
And Then There Was You
Natalie resorts to picking up the pieces of her life after her husband leaves her for the family he has outside. She falls in love with Darrell, but he has secrets of his own. Can Natalie handle any more secrets?
Angel (2007)
Color
Writer realizes her dream when she becomes a success
Angel
"Angel Deverell (Romola Garai) is considered an outsider in the town of Norley. She has a fanciful imagination and prefers to be alone, writing. Her mother, a shopkeeper, and her aunt, who works for the family that lives in the grand house called Paradise, don't understand her.
She finishes writing her novel, "Lady Irania," and sends it off. Theo Gilbright (Sam Neill) offers to publish her novel, but he requires that she make some changes. Angel refuses and leaves in tears. Theo comes after her and offers to publish the novel as it is. That evening, they dine at Theo's house, where Theo's wife, Hermione (Charlotte Rampling), takes an immediate dislike to Angel.
Angel becomes a success, publishing several novels. At an event, she meets Nora (Lucy Russell), who is a great admirer of Angel, and her brother, Esme (Michael Fassbender), an artist. Angel buys Paradise and hires Nora as her personal secretary. She marries Esme. The Great War breaks out. Esme enlists and Angel is heartbroken.
Angel Heart (1987)
Color
Private dick tracking singer who reneged on a debt has every lead he finds murdered
Angel Heart
"In 1955, Harry Angel, a New York City private investigator, is contacted by a man named Louis Cyphre to track down John Liebling, a crooner known professionally as Johnny Favorite who suffered severe neurological trauma resulting from injuries he received in World War II. Favorite's incapacity disrupted a contract with Cyphre regarding unspecified collateral, and Cyphre believes that a private upstate hospital where Favorite was receiving radical psychiatric treatment for shell shock has falsified records. Harry goes to the hospital and discovers that the records showing Favorite's transfer were indeed falsified by a physician named Albert Fowler. After Harry breaks into his home, Fowler admits that years ago he was bribed by a man and woman so that the two could abscond with the disfigured Favorite. Believing that Fowler is still withholding information, Harry locks him in his bedroom, forcing him to suffer withdrawal from a morphine addiction. The next morning, he finds that the doctor has apparently committed suicide.
Harry tries to break his contract with Cyphre but agrees to continue the search when Cyphre offers him a large sum of money. He soon discovers that Favorite had a wealthy fiancee named Margaret Krusemark but had also begun a secret love affair with a woman named Evangeline Proudfoot. Harry travels to New Orleans and meets with Margaret, who divulges little information, telling him that Favorite is dead, or at least dead to her. Harry then discovers that Evangeline died several years previously, but is survived by her 17-year-old daughter, Epiphany Proudfoot, who was conceived during her mother's love affair with Favorite. When Epiphany is reluctant to speak, Harry tracks down Toots Sweet, a blues guitarist and former Favorite bandmate. After Harry uses force to try to extract details of Favorite's last known whereabouts, Toots refers him back to Margaret. The following morning, police detectives inform Harry that Toots has been murdered. Harry returns to Margaret's home, where he finds her murdered, her heart removed with a ceremonial knife. He is later attacked by enforcers of Ethan Krusemark--a powerful Louisiana patriarch and Margaret's father--who tell him to leave town.
Harry returns to his hotel and finds Epiphany on his doorstep. He invites her into his room, where they have aggressive sex during which Harry has visions of blood dripping from the ceiling and splashing around the room. He later confronts Krusemark in a gumbo hut, where the latter reveals that he and Margaret were the ones who took Favorite from the hospital. He also explains that Favorite was actually a powerful magician who sold his soul to Satan in exchange for stardom. He got his stardom but then sought to renege on the bargain. To do so, Favorite kidnapped a young soldier from Times Square and performed a Satanic ritual on the boy, murdering him and eating his still-beating heart in order to steal his soul. Favorite planned to assume the identity of the murdered soldier but was drafted and then injured overseas. Suffering severe facial trauma and amnesia, Favorite was sent to the hospital for treatment. After Krusemark and his daughter took him from the hospital, they left him at Times Square on New Year's Eve 1943 (the date on the falsified hospital records). While hearing Krusemark's story, Harry runs into the bathroom, vomits and continually asks the identity of the soldier. He returns to find Krusemark drowned in a cauldron of boiling gumbo.
Harry goes to Margaret's home, where he finds a vase containing the soldier's dog tag--stamped with the name Angel, Harold. Harry cries out as he realizes that he and Johnny Favorite are, in fact, the same person. Cyphre appears, and Harry figures out that "Louis Cyphre" is a homophone for Lucifer. Cyphre reveals himself to be Satan himself and, as his eyes glow, he proclaims that he can at long last claim what is his: Favorite's immortal soul. Harry insists that he knows who he is and has never killed anyone, but as he looks at his reflection in a mirror, his repressed memories showing him killing Fowler, Toots, the Krusemarks, and Epiphany come flooding back.
A frantic Harry returns to his hotel room, where the police have found Epiphany brutally murdered. Harry's dog tags are on her body. A police officer enters the room carrying Epiphany's young son, who Harry realizes is his grandchild. The police detective tells Harry that he will "burn" for what he has done to Epiphany, to which Harry replies, "I know. In Hell." Harry sees the child's eyes glow, just as Cyphre's had at their last meeting, implying that Satan is the mysterious entity that impregnated Epiphany. During the end credits, Harry is seen standing inside an iron Otis elevator that is interminably descending, presumably to Hell. As the screen fades to black, Cyphre can be heard whispering, "Harry" and "Johnny", asserting dominion over both their souls.
Angela's Ashes (1999)
Color
Focuses on poor Irish family
Angela's Ashes
"Born in Brooklyn, New York, on 19 August 1930, Frank (Francis) McCourt was the eldest son of Malachy and Angela McCourt. Frank McCourt lived in New York with his parents and four younger siblings: Malachy, born in 1931; twins Oliver and Eugene, born in 1932; and a younger sister, Margaret, who died eight weeks after birth, in 1935. Following this first tragedy, his family moved back to Ireland where the twin brothers, Oliver and Eugene, died within a year of the family's arrival and where Frank's youngest brothers, Michael (b. 1936) and Alphie (b. 1940), were born.
Before they get married, Angela emigrates to America and meets Malachy after he is done serving his three month sentence for hijacking a truck. Angela becomes pregnant with Malachy's child, and with the help of Angela's cousins the MacNamara sisters; Malachy marries Angela. Malachy does not like or does not think this marriage will last, so he attempts to run away to California, but he is unable to do so because he spends all of his money for the ride there at the pub. Angela gives birth to Francis (Frank), Malachy, the twins Oliver and Eugene and Margaret, who dies in infancy. Margaret's death is what eventually prompts the McCourt family to move back to Ireland, to start life anew.
Life in Ireland, specifically in Limerick City, during the 1930s and 1940s is described in all its grittiness. The family lived in a dilapidated, unpaved lane of houses that flooded regularly. The McCourts' house was in the farthest part of the lane, unfortunately near to the only toilet for the entire lane. Frank McCourt's father taught the children Irish stories and songs, but he was an alcoholic and seldom found work. When he did, he spent his pay in the pubs. His family was forced to live on the dole since he could not hold down a paying job for very long due to his alcoholism. The father would often pick up and spend the welfare payment before Angela could get her hands on it to feed the starving children. For years the family subsisted on little more than bread and tea. They were always wondering when their next real meal would be and whether the kids would be able to have shoes for school. Despite all the hardships, many passages of the story are told with wry humor and charm.
Frank's father eventually found a job at a defense plant in Coventry, England, yet he sent money back to his struggling family in Ireland only once. As there were few jobs for women, their mother was forced to ask for help from the Church and the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul. Sometimes, Frank and his brothers scavenged for lumps of coal or peat turf for fuel or stole bread to survive; they also occasionally stole leftover food from restaurants at the end of the day. Angela's mother (a widow) and sister refused to help her because they disapproved of her husband, as he was not from Limerick, and felt he had the "odd manner" about him. Frank's father's issues led to Frank having to support his family as the "man of the house". Therefore, Frank started working when he was fourteen years old. He would give some of his earnings to his mother to feed the rest of the children. Frank spent most of his life without a father to teach him about the world and the things a boy needs to know to succeed in life. As a child, Frank went to elementary school along with the other boys his age; however, most schooling for the boys who lived in the lanes of Limerick ended there, at age thirteen. Though both his teacher, Mr. O'Halloran, and a librarian told Frank to continue his schooling, it was not possible for him. He was turned away from the local Catholic school.
In the damp, cold climate of Ireland, each child had only one set of ragged clothes, patched shoes, and no coat. Frank developed typhoid fever and was hospitalized. Later, he got a job helping a neighbor who had leg problems; he delivered coal for the neighbor and, as a result, developed chronic conjunctivitis. The family was finally evicted after they took a hatchet to the walls of their rented home to burn the wood for heat. They were forced to move in with a distant relative who treated them very badly and eventually forced a sexual relationship on Frank's mother, Angela. When he and his mother went to the Christian Brothers to inquire as to any opportunity for a bright boy in Frank's situation, they simply slam the door in his face. After his failure to be able to pursue any intellectual path, Frank starts his first job as a telegram boy at a post office. The wry wit of Frank's narration clearly shows that he has the capacity to rise above this job, but circumstances stop him progressing. As a teenager, Frank works at the post office as a telegram delivery boy and later delivers newspapers and magazines for Eason's. He also works for the local moneylender, writing threatening collection letters as a means of earning enough to finally realize his dream of returning to the United States. The moneylender died, after he returned to get sherry for her. He took money from her purse and threw her ledger of debtors into the river. Through a combination of scrimping, saving, and stealing, Frank eventually does get enough money to travel to America. The story ends with Frank arriving in Poughkeepsie, New York, ready to begin a new life at the age of nineteen.
Anger Management (2003)
Color
Dave's therapist moves into his house, pushing him to the brink of insanity
Anger Management
"In 1978 Brooklyn, as a young Dave Buznik is about to experience his first kiss with the girl of his dreams, local bully Arnie Shankman suddenly pulls down his pants and underwear, exposing Dave's penis and humiliating him in front of everybody.
Twenty-five years later in 2003, Dave works as a secretary for Frank Head, his disrespectful boss who takes credit for his work. Dave's trauma from the bullying causes him to avoid displaying public affection such as kissing his girlfriend Linda in public. His problems are exacerbated by the fact his narcissistic co-worker, Andrew, is still close friends with Linda, who spurns his attempts to rekindle their past relationship.
During a flight to a business meeting, annoyed by a flight attendant and a sky marshal Dave loses his temper, prompting the marshal to taser him. He is arrested for assaulting the flight attendant and is sentenced to anger management therapy under Dr. Buddy Rydell, a renowned therapist who sat next to him on the plane. Dave's single session is extended to 30 days, however, after he accidentally breaks a waitress' nose while defending himself from a blind man who kept hitting Dave with his cane.
Buddy elects to move in with Dave and join him at work as part of his "radical round-the-clock therapy". This entails unorthodox techniques causing Dave to be passive aggressive. At Dave's workplace, Buddy learns Andrew has a long penis and is shocked to learn of his friendship with Linda. Buddy warns Dave that he should confront Andrew before he and Linda get back together; Dave insists he is "doing okay myself". Buddy sees a photo of Linda on Dave's desk and becomes instantly smitten by her, annoying Dave. To enhance Dave's assertiveness, Buddy arranges for him to visit Arnie Shankman, who has reformed and become a Buddhist monk, telling Dave to exact revenge on him. Arnie expresses his sincerest apologies to Dave for bullying him, but he laughs when Dave reminds him of the kiss incident. Buddy and an initially hesitant Dave provoke Arnie by lying about Dave molesting Arnie's mentally ill sister. A fight ensues between them. After defeating Arnie, Dave and Buddy successfully flee from monks that chased them. Dave is delighted to have had his revenge.
Back home, Linda tells Dave she agreed to follow Buddy's advice that they have a trial separation; Buddy explains to an angry Dave this is to give him time to improve his behavior. Dave attacks Buddy when he learns he and Linda have begun dating. Dave is then called back into court where Buddy is issued a restraining order against him. Dave finally snaps at work when he learns Frank intentionally passed him up and promoted Andrew to a higher position. He punches Andrew in the face for meddling in his relationship with Linda and, using Buddy's advice, proceeds to humiliate Frank. He wrecks his office with a golf club and reminds Frank of all his years of loyal service only to be denied the promotion he wanted. He tells Frank that when he gets out of jail, he expects him to do the right thing and give him the promotion Andrew presumably resigned from. Frank agrees and Dave deliberately steps on Andrew's head as he leaves the room.
Learning from Andrew that Buddy has taken Linda to a New York Yankees game, Dave assumes Buddy intends to steal his proposal idea and races to the stadium. Security captures him and begins to remove him from the stadium but Mayor Rudy Giuliani orders them to allow Dave to speak. Linda is moved when Dave admits publicly that he has an anger problem and is willing to change. Dave kisses her in front of the stadium crowd before she accepts his marriage proposal. Linda reveals to him that the game was the final phase of his therapy and explains that the tormentors and the aggravation he was put through was all Buddy's doing. The people involved, including the flight attendant and the judge are revealed to be Buddy's friends, except the marshal, who was having a very bad day.
Anna (2013)
Color
Man enters mind of troubled 16yo girl
Anna
"Following top secret experiments, people called "viewers" have developed the psychic ability to enter people's memories. John Washington (Mark Strong) is one such gifted individual, a recently widowed man who works for Mindscape, the world's top memory detective agency, which offers the abilities of their psychic employees to help solve criminal cases, although their findings aren't yet recognized as evidence in court.
During a session that goes wrong, John suffers a stroke and is left incapacitated for two years. Financially ruined, he still owns the beach house where his wife died, but refuses to sell it. Desperate for money, John asks his old superior, Sebastian (Brian Cox), for a new job. The case he receives is that of a brilliant but troubled 16-year-old girl, Anna Greene (Taissa Farmiga), who is on a hunger strike. Her stepfather (Richard Dillane) wants her sent to a mental institution, which Anna's mother and, of course, Anna herself are adamantly against. John is there to determine whether she is a sociopath, based on something that occurred at her boarding school, or if she is the victim of psychological trauma.
John and Anna begin their therapy sessions, focusing on Anna's time at a prestigious girl's school and several incidents that happened there. John finds himself drawn to Anna but is also wary of her. Anna's maid, Judith (Indira Varma), who John had just started dating, is thrown down the stairs, and Anna is blamed for the incident. John also harbors suspicions towards Anna's stepfather, who he believes has hired a mysterious man to shadow him, as well as towards Sebastian, who John learns has withheld a file on Anna from him. Anna's behavior towards John becomes more flirtatious, and she draws a portrait of him with the caption, "You are my only safe place."
John learns that Anna had been involved in a sexual relationship with her photography teacher, Tom Ortega (Alberto Ammann), who took erotic pictures of her. However, when he interviews Ortega, who is now serving time in prison, he insists that Anna was the aggressor and set him up. In another session, John and Anna go back to an incident at the school where three of Anna's classmates were poisoned. John accuses Anna of the act but she blames it on another student, nicknamed Mousey (Jessica Barden). However, when John interviews one of the poisoned girls, she says Mousey does not exist. Anna is able to regain his trust by showing him a photograph of herself and Mousey together.
John and Anna go further back into her memories and recover an image of Sebastian approaching her as a four-year-old, which causes John to believe that Anna was sexually molested as a child by Sebastian. John accuses his boss of molesting Anna, an allegation Sebastian vehemently denies. John informs Anna's parents of his diagnosis and suggests they don't institutionalize their daughter as they had planned. Back at his home, John discovers that the signature on Anna's portrait of him matches one supposedly written by Mousey on the photograph. Going through Anna's yearbook, he sees that the girl from Anna's memories was not nicknamed Mousey. Just then he gets a frantic, fragmentary phone call from Anna.
John races to her home to find that someone has broken in. From the house's security room, John sees Anna, distraught at discovering the murdered bodies of her parents, fleeing in panic from an unseen assailant. John calls the police, is told that someone else has already called them, and then follows Anna into the woods. As the police begin to arrive, Anna comes up to John, tells him she is sorry, and then runs away. The police arrest John for supposedly attacking Anna. There is blood on his hands and other evidence which seems to indicate that he broke in, drugged her parents, who are revealed to be still alive, and then attacked her.
After being arrested, interrogated by the police and jailed, John is visited by the man who has been following him (Noah Taylor). It turns out that this man is another memory detective who has been conducting sessions with John to recover the truth about Anna. The memory detective concludes that Anna manipulated her own memories in order to frame John as her killer. Instead, she likely faked her own death in order to escape her parents, who she knew would never stop searching for her if she were alive. John apologizes to Sebastian, who promises to use this new information to secure John's release.
Elsewhere, Anna arranges to have John sent a single red rose, along with a picture of her holding a recent newspaper so he will know she is still alive. John, now released from prison, drives out to the beach house where he sees the family who bought it sitting happily together on the front porch. John is then able to move on with his life and find peace with Judith.
Anna Karenina (1948)
Black & White
Marriage to Army officer destroys socialite's standing
Anna Karenina
"Anna Karenina (Vivien Leigh) is married to Alexei Karenin (Ralph Richardson), a cold government official in St Petersburg who is apparently more interested in his career than in satisfying the emotional needs of his wife. Called to Moscow by her brother Stepan Oblonsky (Hugh Dempster), a reprobate who has been unfaithful to his trusting wife Dolly (Mary Kerridge) once too often, Anna meets Countess Vronsky (Helen Haye) on the night train. They discuss their sons, with the Countess showing Anna a picture of her son Count Vronsky (Kieron Moore), a cavalry officer.
Vronsky shows up at the train to meet his mother, and is instantly infatuated with Anna. He boldly makes his interest known to her, which Anna demurely pushes away -- but not emphatically so. At a grand ball, Vronsky continues to pursue the married Anna, much to the delight of the gossiping spectators. But poor Kitty Shcherbatsky (Sally Ann Howes), Dolly's sister who is smitten with Vronsky, is humiliated by his behaviour and leaves the ball -- much to the distress of Konstantin Levin (Niall MacGinnis), a suitor of Kitty's who was rejected by her in favour of Vronsky. However, after a change of heart, Kitty marries Levin.
Boldly following Anna back to St Petersburg, Vronsky makes it known to society that he is the companion of Anna -- a notion she does nothing to stop. Soon, society is whispering about the affair, and it's only a matter of time before Karenin learns of the relationship. Outwardly more worried about his social and political position than his wife's passion, he orders her to break off with Vronsky or risk losing her son. She tries, but cannot tear herself away from Vronsky.
Leaving Karenin, Anna becomes pregnant with Vronsky's child. Almost dying in childbirth (the child is stillborn), Anna begs Karenin for forgiveness, which he coldly grants. Karenin, being magnanimous, allows Vronsky the notion that he may visit Anna if she calls for him. Embarrassed by the scandal, Vronsky tries to shoot himself, but fails.
Anna tries again to live with Karenin, but cannot get Vronsky out of her head. She leaves Karenin for good, abandoning her child to live in Italy with Vronsky. But her doubts over Vronsky's feelings for her grow, and she eventually pushes him away. Realizing that she has lost everything, Anna walks onto the railway tracks and commits suicide by letting the train hit her.
Anne of the Thousand Days (1969)
Color
King Henry VIII divorces Katherine to marry Anne Boleyn
Anne of the Thousand Days
"The film begins in 1536 when Henry VIII (Richard Burton) considers whether or not he should sign the warrant for the execution of his second wife, Anne Boleyn: then, in a long flashback which takes up virtually the entire film, the whole truth is revealed. Starting in 1527, Henry has a problem: he reveals his dissatisfaction with his wife, Catherine of Aragon (Irene Papas). He is currently enjoying a discreet affair with Mary Boleyn, a daughter of Sir Thomas Boleyn who is one of his courtiers; but the King is bored with her too. At a court ball, he notices Mary's 18-year-old sister Anne (Genevi?ve Bujold), who has just returned from her education in France. She is engaged to the son of the Earl of Northumberland and they have received their parents' permission to marry. The King, however, is enraptured with Anne's beauty and orders his Lord Chancellor, Cardinal Wolsey, to break up the engagement.
When news of this decision is carried to Anne, she reacts furiously. She blames the Cardinal and the King for ruining her happiness. When Henry makes a rather clumsy attempt to seduce her, Anne bluntly informs him how she finds him: "I've heard what your courtiers say and I've seen what you are. You're spoiled and vengeful and bloody. Your poetry is sour and your music is worse. You make love as you eat with a good deal of noise and no subtlety."
Henry brings her back to Court with him, whilst she continues to resist his advances out of a mixture of repugnance for Henry and her lingering anger over her broken engagement. However, she becomes intoxicated with the power that the King's love gives her. "Power is as exciting as love," she tells her brother George Boleyn, "and who has more of it than the king?" Using this power, she continually undermines Cardinal Wolsey (Anthony Quayle), who at first sees Anne as just a passing love interest for the King.
When Henry again presses Anne to become his mistress, she repeats that she will never give birth to a child who is illegitimate. Desperate to have a son, Henry suddenly comes up with the idea of marrying Anne in Catherine's place. Anne is stunned, but she agrees. Wolsey begs the King to abandon the idea because of the political consequences of divorcing Catherine. Henry refuses to listen.
When Wolsey fails to persuade the Pope to give Henry his divorce, Anne points out this failing to an enraged Henry. Wolsey is dismissed from office and his magnificent palace in London is given as a present to Anne. In this splendour, Anne realises that she has finally fallen in love with Henry. They sleep together and, after discovering that she is pregnant, they are secretly married. Anne is given a splendid coronation, but the people jeer at her in disgust as "the king's whore".
Months later, Anne gives birth to a daughter: Princess Elizabeth. Henry is displeased since he was hoping for a boy, and their marital relationship begins to cool. His attentions are soon diverted to Lady Jane Seymour, one of Anne's maids. Once she discovers this liaison, Anne banishes Jane from court. "She has the face of a simpering sheep," she informs Henry, "and the manners, but 'not' the morals. I don't want her near me."
During a row over Sir Thomas More's opposition to Anne's queenship, Anne refuses to sleep with her husband unless More is put to death. "It's his blood, or else it's my blood and Elizabeth's!" she cries hysterically. More is put to death, but Anne's subsequent pregnancy ends as a result of a stillborn boy.
Henry demands that his new minister, Thomas Cromwell, find a way to get rid of Anne. Cromwell tortures a servant in her household into confessing to adultery with the Queen; he then arrests four other courtiers who are also accused of being Anne's lovers. Anne is taken to the Tower and placed under arrest. When she is told that she has been accused of adultery, she laughs. "I thought you were serious!" she says, before being informed that it is deadly serious. When she sees her brother being brought into the Tower, Anne asks why he has been arrested. "He too is accused of being your lover," mutters her embarrassed uncle. Anne's face shudders with horror before she whispers, "Incest?... Oh God help me, the King is mad. I am doomed."
At Anne's trial, she manages to cross-question Mark Smeaton, the tortured servant who finally admits that the charges against Anne are lies. Henry makes an appearance, before visiting Anne in her chambers that night. He offers her freedom if she will agree to annul their marriage and make their daughter illegitimate. Anne refuses, saying that she would rather die than betray their daughter. Henry slaps her before telling her that her disobedience will mean her death.
Moving back to 1536, Henry decides to execute Anne. A few days later, Anne is taken to the scaffold and beheaded by a French swordsman. Henry rides off to marry Jane Seymour and the film's final shot is of their young daughter, Elizabeth (Amanda Jane Smythe), toddling alone in the garden as she hears the cannon firing to announce her mother's death.
Annihilation (2018)
Color
Women find place where laws of nature don't pertain
Annihilation
"At "Area X", a government facility on the southern coast of the US, Lena, a cellular-biology professor and former soldier, is in quarantine. She undergoes a debriefing about a four-month expedition into an anomalous iridescent electromagnetic field dubbed "the Shimmer", of which she and her husband, Kane, are the only survivors. In flashback, Kane, an Army Special Forces soldier, appears in their home after having disappeared on a mission nearly a year ago. He remembers nothing of that time and suddenly falls very ill. A government security force intercepts Kane's ambulance and transports him and Lena to Area X, near where the Shimmer had begun to spread three years earlier.
A psychologist, Dr. Ventress, explains that military teams, including Kane's, have ventured into the Shimmer to attempt to reach the lighthouse where the phenomenon first appeared. Kane is the only person to have ever returned from an expedition. Lena volunteers to join Ventress on a research expedition consisting of two scientists, Josie and Cassie, and a paramedic, Anya. On the expedition, guidance technology fails, the expedition members realize they are unable to remember extended stretches of time, and a mutated alligator attacks Josie. The team rescues Josie and learns that the alligator shows signs of being hybridized with a shark. At an abandoned military base, the team discovers evidence of Kane's expedition along with a memory card left for them. A video on the card shows Kane cutting open the stomach of a fellow expedition member while he was still alive, revealing that his intestines have begun to wriggle in a snake-like manner.
That night, the base's perimeter fence is torn open, prompting the expedition to investigate. Suddenly, a mutated bear drags Cassie away; the following morning, the team finds one of her boots containing her shorn ankle and foot. Lena searches further, alone, and discovers Cassie's mutilated corpse. As the team continues toward the lighthouse at the center of the Shimmer, they find a decayed settlement with human-shaped plants outside it. Josie says she thinks the Shimmer is acting on organisms in the manner of a prism, distorting and refracting DNA in the same way that a prism refracts light. The expedition members realize they are slowly changing as well.
That night, Anya descends into a psychotic state, attacking and restraining the other team members. As she is threatening them, Anya hears what sounds like Cassie crying for help outside and investigates. The bear that killed Cassie enters the house, its roar imitating Cassie's dying screams. It kills Anya and attacks Lena before Josie shoots it dead. Ventress leaves Lena and Josie behind, and sets out to complete the journey while she still can. Josie muses that she doesn't want to continue and begins to grow flowers from her body. She walks away from Lena and disappears among the human-shaped plants.
Lena reaches the lighthouse and goes inside, finding an incinerated corpse, a video-camera, and a hole in the floor. Footage on the camera shows Kane ranting about the Shimmer's effects on him. He urges the cameraman to find Lena, then commits suicide with a white-phosphorus grenade, after which his doppelg?nger walks into view. Lena descends into the hole in the floor and finds Ventress, who has also begun to mutate; she disintegrates into a fiery nebulous structure that absorbs a drop of blood from Lena's face and creates a humanoid being. Lena tricks the humanoid, which has been mirroring her movements, into burning itself alive with one of the phosphorus grenades. The blazing being sets the rest of the lighthouse ablaze, and the flames spread to engulf the various other constructs of the Shimmer, causing them to collapse as burning embers and the Shimmer to dissipate into nothingness.
Lena is sent back to Area X, where she is quarantined and debriefed about the Shimmer in front of a battery of observing doctors. Lena surmises that the Shimmer was not necessarily aiming to destroy Earth, but was instead making something new, although Lena was unsure what it was making. She is brought to Kane, who recovered rapidly when the Shimmer ceased to exist. She asks him if he is the "real" Kane, to which he replies, "I don't think so." He asks her if she is Lena, but she does not answer him. Kane's doppelg?nger and Lena embrace, and their irises shift colors.
Another 9 1/2 Weeks (1997)
Color
Man searches for old flame and falls for her friend
Another 9 1/2 Weeks
Several years after an intense love affair with a woman named Elizabeth (played by Kim Basinger in the original film, 9 1/2 Weeks), John (Mickey Rourke) goes to Paris to find her and attempt to recapture the passion. In Paris, John meets Lea (Angie Everhart), a good friend of his old love, who informs him that Elizabeth has remarried. Lea seduces John into an erotic affair, but he soon learns she's not what she seems.
Apollo 13 (1995)
Color
Astronauts encounter problems in space
Apollo 13
"On July 20, 1969, veteran astronaut Jim Lovell hosts a party for other astronauts and their families, who watch on television as Neil Armstrong takes his first steps on the Moon during the Apollo 11 mission. After the party, Lovell, who orbited the Moon on Apollo 8, tells his wife Marilyn that he intends to return to the Moon and walk on its surface.
On October 30, while giving a VIP tour of NASA's Vehicle Assembly Building, Lovell is informed by his boss Deke Slayton that he and his crew will fly the Apollo 13 mission instead of Apollo 14. Lovell, Ken Mattingly, and Fred Haise begin training for their new mission. Days before launch, it is discovered that Mattingly was exposed to measles, and the flight surgeon demands his replacement with Mattingly's backup, Jack Swigert, as a safety precaution. Lovell resists breaking up his team, but relents after Slayton gives him the ultimatum of either accepting the switch, or else being bumped to a later mission.
As the launch date approaches, Marilyn's fears for her husband's safety manifest in nightmares, but she goes to Cape Kennedy the night before launch, to see him off despite her misgivings.
On April 11, 1970, Apollo 13 Flight Director Gene Kranz gives the go-ahead from Houston's Mission Control Center for launch. As the Saturn V rocket climbs into the sky, an engine on the second stage cuts off prematurely, but the craft successfully reaches Earth orbit. After the third stage fires, sending Apollo 13 on a trajectory to the Moon, Swigert docks the Command/Service Module Odyssey with the Lunar Module Aquarius, and pulls it away from the spent stage.
Three days into the mission, the crew send a live television transmission from Odyssey, but the networks, believing the public now regards lunar missions as routine, decline to carry the broadcast live. Swigert is told to perform a standard housekeeping procedure of stirring the two liquid oxygen tanks in the Service Module. When he flips the switch, one tank explodes, emptying its contents into space and sending the craft tumbling. The other tank is soon found to be leaking, prompting Mission Control to abort the Moon landing, and forcing Lovell and Haise to hurriedly power up Aquarius as a "lifeboat" for the return home, while Swigert shuts down Odyssey before its battery power runs out. On Earth, Kranz rallies his team to do what is necessary to get the astronauts home safely, declaring "failure is not an option." Controller John Aaron recruits Mattingly to help him figure out how to restart Odyssey for the final return to Earth.
As Swigert and Haise watch the Moon passing beneath them, Lovell laments his lost chance of walking on its surface, then turns their attention to the task of getting home. With Aquarius running on minimum systems to conserve power, the crew is soon subjected to freezing conditions. Swigert suspects Mission Control is unable to get them home and is withholding this from them. In a fit of rage, Haise blames Swigert's inexperience for the accident; the ensuing argument is quickly squelched by Lovell. When the carbon dioxide exhaled by the astronauts reaches the Lunar Module's filter capacity and approaches dangerous levels, an engineering team quickly invents a way to make the Command Module's square filters work in the Lunar Module's round receptacles. With the guidance systems on Aquarius shut down, and despite Haise's fever and miserable living conditions, the crew succeeds in making a difficult but vital course correction by manually igniting the Lunar Module's engine.
Mattingly and Aaron struggle to find a way to power up the Command Module with its limited available power, but finally succeed and transmit the procedures to Swigert, who successfully restarts Odyssey by transmitting extra power from Aquarius. When the Service Module is jettisoned, the crew finally see the extent of the damage and prepare for re-entry, unsure whether Odyssey's heat shield is intact. If it is not, they will incinerate during reentry. They release Aquarius and re-enter the Earth's atmosphere in Odyssey. After a tense, longer than normal period of radio silence due to ionization blackout, the astronauts report all is well and splash down in the Pacific Ocean. The three men are brought aboard the amphibious assault ship USS Iwo Jima.
As the astronauts are given a hero's welcome on deck, Lovell's narration describes the events that follow their return from space--including the investigation into the explosion, and the subsequent careers and lives of Haise, Swigert, Mattingly and Kranz--and ends with him wondering when mankind will return to the Moon.
Arbitrage (2012)
Color
Executive tries to cover up accident in which his mistress dies
Arbitrage
"Sixty-year-old multi-billionaire Robert Miller manages a hedge fund with his daughter Brooke (Brit Marling) and is about to sell it for a handsome profit. However, unbeknownst to his daughter and most of his other employees, he has cooked his company's books in order to cover an investment loss and avoid being arrested for fraud. One night, while driving with his mistress Julie Cote (Laetitia Casta), he begins to doze off and crashes; Julie is killed. Miller leaves the scene and decides to cover up his involvement to prevent the public, his wife Ellen (Susan Sarandon), and the prospective buyer James Mayfield (Graydon Carter) from discovering the truth.
Miller calls Jimmy Grant (Nate Parker), a twenty-three year old from Harlem with a criminal record whom he helped get off the street in the past. After being driven home by Grant, Miller drags his injured body into bed at 4:30 am, arousing suspicion in his wife. The next day, he is questioned by police detective Bryer (Tim Roth). Bryer is keen on arresting a billionaire for murder and begins to put the pieces together. Brooke discovers the financial irregularities, realizes that she could be implicated and confronts her father.
Jimmy is arrested and placed before a grand jury but still refuses to admit to helping Miller. Miller once again contemplates turning himself in. Even though Jimmy is about to go to prison, Miller tells Jimmy that investors are depending on him and that waiting for the sale to close before coming forward would serve the greater good. Eventually the sale is closed but Miller finds a way to avoid being charged. He proves that Detective Bryer fabricated evidence. The case against Jimmy is dismissed and the detective is ordered not to go near him. Miller's wife, thinking the police investigation is still on-going, tries to blackmail him with a separation agreement getting rid of his wealth. When Robert Miller refuses to sign, his wife says that she will tell the police that he got into bed at 4:30 am, bruised and bloody. In the final scene, Miller addresses a banquet honoring him for his successful business either because of his wife or in spite of her.[
Argo (2012)
Color
The rescue of some of the Iranian hostages
Argo
"Diplomats at the United States embassy in Tehran look out their windows in increasing concern as protesters rally outside the embassy gate in anger over the CIA involvement in Iran. As militants begin climbing over the gate, all documents are ordered to be destroyed, while American soldiers stationed at the embassy attempt to hold off the crowd with tear gas and smoke grenades. However, their incinerator burns out, forcing them to shred the rest of the documents. Just as the militants barge in and start taking hostages, six diplomats manage to escape via a back door. Among them are Robert Anders (Tate Donovan), Cora Amburn-Lijek (Clea DuVall), Mark Lijek (Christopher Denham), Joseph Stafford (Scoot McNairy), Kathleen Stafford (Kerry Bishe), and Lee Schatz (Rory Cochrane). They sneak through the back streets of Tehran and go to both the British Embassy and the New Zealand Embassy in search of a hiding place before being accepted by Canadian ambassador Ken Taylor (Victor Garber). With the escapees' situation kept secret, the US State Department begins to explore options for exfiltrating them from Iran. Tony Mendez (Ben Affleck), a CIA exfiltration specialist brought in for consultation, criticizes the proposals, but is at a loss for an alternative. While on the phone with his son, he is inspired by watching Battle for the Planet of the Apes and begins plans for creating a cover story for the escapees being Canadian filmmakers scouting for exotic locations in Iran for a similar science-fiction film.
Mendez and his supervisor Jack O'Donnell (Bryan Cranston) contact John Chambers (John Goodman), a Hollywood make-up artist who has previously crafted disguises for the CIA. Chambers puts them in touch with film producer Lester Siegel (Alan Arkin). Together they set up a phony film studio, publicize their plans, and successfully establish the pretense of developing Argo, a "science fantasy" in the style of Star Wars, to lend credibility to the cover story. Meanwhile, the escapees grow frantic inside the ambassador's residence. It is discovered that the Iranian maid, Sahar, (Sheila Vand) knows about the escapees. Unsure whether or not she can be trusted, they realize that their hiding days are numbered. Back at the invaded American Embassy, revolutionaries discover while reassembling the remaining shredded documents, including photos of the diplomats, that there had been six diplomats who had escaped.
Mendez flies out to Istanbul where he receives his fake ID and passport. Then, posing as a producer for Argo, Mendez goes to the Iranian Embassy, receiving a visa. Then he flies into Tehran and links up with the six escapees. He provides them with Canadian passports and fake identities to prepare them to get through security at the airport. Although afraid to trust Mendez's scheme, they reluctantly go along with it, knowing that he is risking his own life too. A scouting visit to the bazaar to maintain their cover story takes a bad turn, but their Iranian culture contact gets them away from the hostile crowd. Unknown to the group, a hidden camera had snapped photos of them.
Mendez is told that the operation has been cancelled to avoid conflicting with a planned military rescue of the hostages. He pushes ahead, forcing O'Donnell to hastily re-obtain authorization for the mission to get tickets on a Swissair flight. Mendez and the escapees arrive at Mehrabad International Airport and get through security with ease. Tension rises however when a group of security guards begin asking them questions at the gate. To double check that the group was actually working for a film company, one of the guards call the supposed studio in Hollywood, and is answered at the last second. Convinced, the guards allow the group to board the plane. Meanwhile, the photos that were taken by the hidden camera at the bazaar are presented to the lead militant at the American Embassy who immediately discovers that the photos match up with the reassembled photos of the escapees, that had been shredded. The guards at Mehrabad Airport are notified just as the plane begins to taxi to the runway. The guards climb into trucks and drive out onto the airfield where they are accompanied by several Tehran police cars just as the plane starts to take off. They drive onto the runway alongside the plane as it begins to gain speed, in an attempt to stop the take off. The pilot however does not notice and proceeds to take off, effectively saving Mendez and the escapees.
To protect the hostages remaining in Tehran from retaliation, all US involvement in the rescue is suppressed, giving full credit to the Canadian government and its ambassador (who left Iran with his wife under their own credentials as the operation was underway; their Iranian housekeeper, who had known about the Americans and lied to the revolutionaries to protect them, escaped to Iraq). Mendez is awarded the Intelligence Star, but due to the classified nature of the mission, he would not be able to keep the medal until the details were made public in 1997. All the hostages were freed on January 20, 1981. The film ends with former President Jimmy Carter's speech about the Crisis and the Canadian Caper.
Armageddon (1998)
Color
Blowup Earth-bound asteroid
Armageddon
"A massive meteor shower destroys the Space Shuttle Atlantis and bombards New York City, the East Coast, and Finland. NASA discovers that a rogue comet passing through the asteroid belt pushed forward a large amount of space debris, including a Texas-sized asteroid that will collide with Earth in 18 days, creating another extinction event. NASA scientists, led by Dan Truman (Thornton) plan to bury a nuclear device deep inside the asteroid that, when detonated, will split the asteroid in two, driving them apart so that they both fly safely past the Earth. NASA contacts Harry Stamper (Willis), considered the best deep-sea oil driller in the world, for assistance and advice. Harry returns to NASA along with his daughter Grace (Tyler) to keep her away from her new boyfriend, one of Harry's young and rambunctious drillers, A.J. Frost (Affleck). Harry and Grace learn about the asteroid and Harry explains he will need his team, including A.J., to carry out the mission. Once they have been rounded up and the situation is explained, they agree to help, but only after their list of unusual rewards and demands are met.
As NASA puts Harry and his crew through a short and rigorous astronaut training program, Harry and his team re-outfit the mobile drillers, named the "Armadillos", that will be used on the asteroid. When a large fragment from the asteroid wipes out Shanghai, NASA is forced to reveal its plans to the world and launches two military space shuttles, named Freedom and Independence. Once in orbit, the shuttles dock with the Russian space station Mir manned by Lev Andropov (Stormare) to refuel. A fire breaks out during the transfer and the station is evacuated just before it explodes, with Lev and A. J. making a narrow escape. The shuttles slingshot around the Moon in order to land on the backside of the asteroid. Traveling through the asteroid's debris field Independence's hull is punctured and crashes onto the rock. Grace, watching from NASA headquarters, is distraught by A.J.'s apparent death.
Freedom lands safely, but misses the target area by 26 miles, so the team must now drill through an area of compressed iron ferrite rather than the planned softer stone. When they fall significantly behind schedule and communications are about to fail, the military initiates "Secondary Protocol"; to remote detonate the nuclear weapon on the asteroid's surface, which apparently will not have any effect. While Truman delays the military at Mission Control, Harry persuades the shuttle commander (Fichtner) to disarm the bomb so they can complete the drilling.
Distracted by "Rockhound" (Buscemi), who is having a mental breakdown, the Freedom crew loses their Armadillo and its operator (Campbell) when it strikes a gas pocket and is blown into space. World panic ensues as the mission is assumed lost, just as another meteorite destroys Paris. Suddenly, A.J., Lev, and "Bear" (Duncan), having survived the Independence crash, arrive in time to complete the drilling.
As the asteroid approaches the Earth, it heats up, causing a dangerous rock storm that damages the bomb's remote trigger. They realize that someone must stay behind to detonate it manually. After all the non-flight crew volunteers, they draw straws, and A.J. is selected. As he and Harry exit the airlock, Harry rips off A.J.'s air hose and shoves him back inside, telling him that he is the son he never had and he would be proud to have him marry Grace. Harry prepares to detonate the bomb and contacts Grace to say his last goodbyes. After the Freedom moves to a safe distance, Harry pushes the button at the last minute (after some difficulty) and his life passes before his eyes as the asteroid is destroyed. It breaks in two and both halves fly past the Earth. Freedom lands, and the surviving crew are treated as heroes. The film ends with A.J. and Grace's wedding, complete with photos of Harry and the other lost crew members present in memoriam.
Arn: The Knight Templar (2010)
Color
Couple punished for illicit affair; he becomes soldier, she becomes nun (Long Ver)
Arn: The Knight Templar
"The plot of the original movie follows the first two volumes of the trilogy. There is an "international" cut which incorporates this and the sequel Arn -- The Kingdom at Road's End into a single movie with a duration of approximately 130 minutes.
Arn Magnusson is a son of the powerful Folkung dynasty in the mid-12th century. He grows up in a monastery belonging to the Cistercians. He is trained in archery, swordsmanship and horsemanship by a former Knight Templar, the brother Guilbert, who resides in the monastery. Arn is also discovered to be ambidextrous. One day while wandering the woods he encounters three men trying to force a young girl into marriage. When the girl begs Arn for help two of the men attack Arn, who kills them in self-defense. Although the monks tell Arn he did nothing wrong, they question Guilbert training him into being a warrior. Guilbert replies that Arn is not meant to be a monk but is destined to be a soldier of God. When Arn leaves the monastery and returns to his family, he is soon pulled into the struggle between the powerful families, all fighting for the crown of V?stra Gotaland. He helps his friend Knut Eriksson to kill the old king Karl Sverkersson. This leads to war between the two factions; Arn and his fiancee Cecilia Algotsdotter are excommunicated for premarital relations (in reality a plot to hurt Knut) and are forced to undertake twenty years of penance, Cecilia in a convent and Arn as a Knight Templar in the Holy Land to fight against the Saracens.
While pursuing a band of thieves, Arn comes across the very enemy of all Christendom, Saladin, and saves his life. Saladin thanks Arn by warning him away from Jerusalem, because he is leading a vast army towards the city. As Saladin marches upon Jerusalem, Arn is given the order to intercept the Saracens before they reach the city, and they successfully ambush Saladin's army in a mountain pass (the ambush taking the place of the historical Battle of Montgisard figuring in the novel). The movie ends with Arn gaining a letter discharging him from his service in the Holy Land from the Templar Grandmaster Arnold of Torroja, and Cecilia giving praise to God on hearing news of Arn's survival.
Arrival (2016)
Color
Aliens land on Earth
Arrival
"A sequence of brief scenes follows a mother's relationship with her daughter, from her birth through childhood to her premature death as a young woman from an incurable disease.
The mother, linguist Louise Banks, is lecturing at a Massachusetts university when twelve extraterrestrial spacecraft appear at twelve different locations across Earth. U.S. Army colonel G.T. Weber asks Louise to join physicist Ian Donnelly and find out why they have come. She is brought to an army camp in Montana near one of the spacecraft.
They make contact with two seven-limbed aliens, whom they call "heptapods"; Ian nicknames them Abbott and Costello. Louise discovers that they have a written language of complicated circular symbols, written in a substance analogous to ink, or dark smoke, and she begins to learn a basic vocabulary. As she becomes more proficient, she starts to have visions of herself with her daughter and of their relationship with the absent father.
When Louise finally asks why the aliens have come to Earth, they answer "offer weapon". An alternate translation of "use weapon" is made at another site. This leads China to break off communications with the rest of the world; other nations also stop exchanging information. However, Louise argues that the symbol interpreted as "weapon" might mean "tool".
Rogue soldiers plant a bomb in the spacecraft. Unaware of this, Louise and Ian re-enter the ship. The aliens give them a much larger, more complex message. Just before the bomb explodes, Abbott ejects Ian and Louise from the craft, leaving them unconscious. When Louise and Ian reawaken, the military is preparing to evacuate, and the spacecraft has moved out of reach. Ian discovers that the symbol for time is throughout the message, and that the writing occupies exactly one-twelfth of the space in which it is projected. Louise suggests this means the aliens must want nations to cooperate.
Meanwhile, China's General Shang has issued an ultimatum to the aliens, demanding they leave within 24 hours, and he prepares to attack. Russia, Pakistan, and Sudan follow China's lead. Louise believes that evacuating is a mistake, and that further attempts to communicate are needed. She goes out alone to the alien spacecraft, and it sends down a shuttle to transport her inside. When only Costello appears, she asks about Abbott and is told Abbott is dead or dying. Louise expresses sorrow for Abbott's death, then asks who is the child in her visions; Costello explains that she is seeing the future (her "visions" are not flashbacks, but flashforwards). Costello adds that they have come to help humanity, because in 3,000 years they will need humanity's help in return. It is their language that is the "weapon" or "tool"; those who master it have their perception of time altered, and they can see the future.
Louise returns as the camp is being evacuated. She has a vision of herself at a future United Nations event, being thanked by Shang for making him decide to call off the Chinese attack. He tells her that she called his private telephone number, and he shows it to her. In the present, Louise steals a satellite phone and calls him, but does not know what to say. Her vision continues with Shang explaining that she convinced him by repeating his wife's dying words in Mandarin, which he tells Louise.[nb 1] In the present, Louise recites those words to Shang. The Chinese hold an emergency press conference to announce they are standing down militarily and are releasing their twelfth of the message. Russia does the same and others follow. The twelve spacecraft then disappear from Earth.
During evacuation of the camp, Ian expresses his love for Louise. She considers life choices, and asks him whether he would change them if he could know the future. Louise knows already that Ian will father her daughter Hannah, but that he will later leave her when she reveals she knows Hannah will die prematurely. She also knows that, when Ian will ask her if she wants to "make a baby", she will agree, despite knowing their fates.
As Good as It Gets (1997)
Color
Misanthropic novelist lets other people into his life
As Good as It Gets
"Melvin Udall is a misanthropic best-selling romance novelist in New York City, whose obsessive--compulsive disorder has him avoiding stepping on sidewalk cracks while walking through the city, and eating breakfast at the same table in the same restaurant every day. He takes an interest in his waitress, Carol Connelly, the only server at the restaurant who can tolerate his uncouth behavior.
One day, Simon Bishop, a homosexual artist who is Melvin's apartment neighbor, is assaulted and nearly killed during a robbery. Melvin is intimidated by Simon's agent, Frank Sachs, into caring for Simon's dog, Verdell, while Simon is hospitalized. Although he initially does not enjoy caring for the dog, Melvin becomes emotionally attached to it. He simultaneously receives more attention from Carol. When Simon is released from the hospital, Melvin is unable to cope emotionally with returning the dog. Melvin's life is further altered when Carol decides to work closer to her home in Brooklyn so she can care for her acutely asthmatic son Spence. Unable to adjust to another waitress, Melvin arranges through his publisher (whose husband is a doctor) to pay for her son's considerable medical expenses as long as Carol agrees to return to work. She is overwhelmed at his generosity.
Meanwhile, Simon's assault and rehabilitation, coupled with Verdell's preference for Melvin, causes Simon to lose his creative muse. Simon is approaching bankruptcy due to his medical bills. Frank persuades him to go to Baltimore to ask his estranged parents for money. Because Frank is too busy to take injured Simon to Baltimore himself, Melvin reluctantly agrees to do so; Frank lends Melvin the use of his Saab 900 convertible for the trip. Melvin invites Carol to accompany them on the trip to lessen the awkwardness. She reluctantly accepts the invitation, and relationships among the three develop.
Once in Baltimore, Carol persuades Melvin to take her out to have dinner. Melvin's comments during the dinner greatly flatter--and subsequently upset--Carol, and she abruptly leaves. Upon seeing Carol, who is frustrated, Simon begins to sketch her, semi-nude, in his hotel room, which rekindles his creativity, and he once more feels a desire to paint. He briefly reconnects with his parents, but is able to tell them that he will be fine.
After returning to New York, Carol tells Melvin that she does not want him in her life anymore. She later regrets her statement and calls to apologize. The relationship between Melvin and Carol remains complicated, until Simon (whom Melvin has allowed to move in with him, as he had to sell his apartment) persuades Melvin to declare his love for her. Melvin goes to see Carol, who is hesitant, but agrees to try and establish a relationship with him. The film ends with Melvin and Carol walking together. As he opens the door at an early morning pastry shop for Carol, he realizes that he has stepped on a crack in the pavement, but does not seem to mind.
As I Lay Dying (2013)
Color
Woman's request to be burried in the town of Jefferson
As I Lay Dying
Based on the classic novel by William Faulkner, first published in 1930, "As I Lay Dying" is the story of the death of Addie Bundren and her family's quest to honor her last wish to be buried in the nearby town of Jefferson.
Assassin's Creed (2016)
Color
Secret medievel society takes on Templars
Assassin's Creed
"In 1492 Andalusia, during the Granada War, Aguilar de Nerha is accepted into the Assassins Brotherhood. He is assigned to protect Prince Ahmed de Granada from the Knights Templar. In 1986, adolescent Callum "Cal" Lynch finds his mother killed by his father, Joseph, a modern-day Assassin. Gunmen led by Alan Rikkin, CEO of the Templars' Abstergo Foundation, arrive to capture Joseph, who convinces his son to escape.
In 2016, Cal is sentenced to death for murdering a pimp, but his execution is faked by the Abstergo Foundation, which then takes him to their research facility in Madrid. He is told that the Templars are searching for the Apple of Eden, in order to eliminate violence by using the Apple's code to control humanity's free will. Sofia, Alan's daughter and the head scientist, reveals that Cal is a descendant of Aguilar, the last person confirmed to be in possession of the Apple. She puts Cal in the Animus, a machine which allows him to relive (and the scientists to observe) Aguilar's genetic memories, so that Abstergo can learn what he did with the Apple.
In 15th-century Spain, Aguilar and his partner, Maria, are deployed to rescue Ahmed, who has been kidnapped by the Templar Grand Master Tomas de Torquemada, to coerce Ahmed's father, Sultan Muhammad XII, to surrender the Apple. Aguilar and Maria intercept the Templars, but are overpowered and captured by Torquemada's enforcer, Ojeda. Cal is quickly pulled out of the Animus by Sofia.
Cal encounters other Assassin descendants held captive at the facility, most of whom are suspicious of his motives, with the exceptions of Lin, the descendant of a 16th century Chinese Assassin known as Shao Jun; and Moussa, the descendant of an 18th-century Haitian Assassin named Baptiste and a key leader. Cal begins experiencing hallucinations, dubbed "the Bleeding Effect", of both Aguilar and Joseph. Cal and Sofia build a rapport during their sessions; she confides that her mother was likewise murdered by an Assassin, sharing his hatred of the Brotherhood of which his father is a member.
Back in the Animus, Aguilar and Maria are scheduled for execution but he manages to free them, leading to a rooftop chase in which they escape through an Assassin "Leap of Faith". Cal's mind reacts violently to the session and he is temporarily paralyzed. When Cal learns that his father is also at the facility, he confronts Joseph over his mother's death. Joseph informs him that the Bleeding Effect will allow modern Cal to possess Aguilar's combat abilities. He also learns that his mother was an Assassin, and she chose to die by Joseph's hand rather than be forced into the Animus. Unconvinced, Cal vows to destroy the Assassins by finding the Apple. Meanwhile, Alan is pressured by a Templar Elder, Ellen Kaye, to shut down the multibillion-dollar Animus Project because they have already "won ... people no longer care about their civil liberties ... they're content to follow", leading Sofia to question her father's true intentions.
Reaffirmed by his encounter with his father, Cal willingly enters the Animus once again, whereupon Aguilar and Maria ambush a meeting between Muhammad and Torquemada. They succeed in killing the Templars and retrieving the Apple, though Ojeda captures Maria in order to force Aguilar to surrender it. Instead, Maria chooses death, and stabs herself on Ojeda's blade. Aguilar kills him and escapes through another Leap, the force of which causes the Animus to violently malfunction. Aguilar gives the Apple to Christopher Columbus, who promises to take it to his grave. When Moussa and the modern Assassin prisoners start a riot in order to escape, Alan orders the facility purged. Abstergo security kills Joseph and most of the other prisoners.
Cal stands in the Animus chamber and is met with the projections of a number of his Assassin ancestors, including Aguilar, Arno Dorian, Joseph and his mother, while Sofia glimpses the projection of an Assassin identical in appearance to her. Persuaded by his mother, Cal embraces his Assassins' Creed and, having fully assimilated Aguilar's memories and abilities, joins Moussa and Lin escaping the facility.
Having retrieved the Apple from Columbus' burial vault, Alan and his followers converge at a ceremony in a Templar sanctuary in London to celebrate their triumph. Inside the sanctuary, a disillusioned Sofia meets with Cal, who has come to take the Apple, and she reluctantly allows him to act. Cal retrieves the Apple, but kills Alan to do it. While Sofia vows revenge against Cal, the Assassins depart, vowing to once again protect the Apple from the Templars.
Atomica (2017)
Color
Safety Inspector forced to go to isolated nuclear power plant
Atomica
"In the near future, the clash between oil and green energy conglomerates results in skyrocketing energy prices and global riots. Amidst this chaos, the corporation Auxilisun develops the tri-fission reactor, a device that not only produces abundant nuclear energy through atomic fission, but also converts nuclear waste into additional clean energy. The tri-fission reactor renders all other forms of energy production obsolete, and Auxilisun power plants are built around the world, providing an inexhaustible supply of cheap energy for all.
Decades later, on Christmas Day, Auxilisun technician Abby travels to Gibson Desert North, the flagship Auxilisun plant built over a nuclear waste storage facility deep within a radioactive "red zone", to restore a broken communications relay. She finds the plant poorly-maintained and seemingly deserted, with no sign of caretakers Dr. Zek and Robinson, but the latter appears brandishing a golf club and demands that she identify herself. He calms down when she complies, but when asked about Zek, he vaguely replies that the doctor is somewhere outside the plant conducting a survey.
As Abby attempts to repair the communications relay and Zek remains absent, she gradually discovers more serious problems affecting the plant's performance and becomes suspicious of the oddly-behaving Robinson, who displays a considerable ignorance of the workings of the machines he supposedly maintains. Abby eventually tracks Zek down in the red zone, but finds him unconscious. When she returns to the plant with Zek in tow, Robinson initially refuses them entry, but soon relents and explains he was following contamination protocol. Robinson also reveals that Zek had experienced a nervous breakdown on the night he left. With Zek moved to the medical bay to recover, a new crisis emerges: one of the plants two main ventilation fans, ostensibly designed to function flawlessly for thousands of years, inexplicably fails, and volatile gases begin building up in the facility. Abby concludes that the fan had been sabotaged by a crazed Zek before her arrival, and handcuffs him to his bed.
Zek finally awakes, and despite treating Robinson with familiarity, he informs Abby that Robinson is an impostor. Days ago, the real Robinson had disappeared and Zek had gone out in search of him, but was knocked out by an unseen assailant, likely the impostor. Somehow, the false Robinson had made it past the red zone and was posing as Robinson for unknown reasons. Zek urges Abby to send a distress signal to Auxilisun HQ, but with comms still down, she has to venture back outside the plant and build a makeshift array while Robinson is occupied.
That night, as Abby tries to slip out of the plant with Zek to send the signal, Robinson catches them and angrily demands Zek tell Abby the truth about Gibson Desert North. Zek fends Robinson off and locks him and Abby in the medical bay. Robinson explains to Abby that Zek had rigged the entire plant into a bomb. As they search the plant separately for Zek, Abby discovers the real Robinson's body in a locker and realizes Zek had not lied. After Robinson incapacitates Zek, Abby turns against Robinson, but the latter overpowers her and amputates one of her fingers to unlock Deep Burial, the facility's nuclear waste repository. Abby confronts Zek with her findings that Gibson Desert North had been decaying for years despite Auxilisun's public assurances that the technology was failsafe, and that the red zone had expanded hundreds of miles into a town called Barrow Creek and was killing the residents. Zek confirms that Barrow Creek was being covered up to avoid a public relations disaster, as too much of the world was dependent on Auxilisun to allow its technology to be called into question. Disgusted, Abby leaves him to escape the plant on his own.
At Deep Burial, Abby corners Robinson, who unmasks himself as the sole survivor of Barrow Creek. Since he had already been fatally irradiated, he had walked through the red zone to Gibson Desert North to destroy it and avenge the death of his family. Robinson then ignites Deep Burial, setting off a catastrophic chain reaction. Abby makes it out of the imploding facility, but when the only transport craft leaves her stranded, she removes her protective suit's helmet and allows herself to succumb to the radiation. Sometime later, presumed Auxilisun employees secure evidence of the disaster, including Abby's corpse and the datapad containing her personal logs.
Atonement (2007)
Color
False rape accusation ruins lives
Atonement
"In 1935, Briony Tallis (Saoirse Ronan), a 13-year-old girl from a wealthy English family, has just finished writing a play. As Briony attempts to stage the play with her cousins, they get bored and decide to go swimming. Briony stays behind and witnesses a significant moment of sexual tension between her older sister, Cecilia (Keira Knightley), and Robbie Turner, a servant's son (James McAvoy), a man that Briony has a childish crush on. Robbie returns home and writes several drafts of letters to Cecilia, including one that is explicit and erotically charged. He does not, however, intend to send it and sets it aside. On his way to join the Tallis family celebration, Robbie asks Briony to deliver his letter, only to later realise that he has mistakenly given her the prurient draft. Briony secretly reads the letter and is simultaneously disgusted and jealous.
That evening, Cecilia and Robbie meet in the library, where they make love and then confess their love for one another. During the act, Briony watches through the partially open door and her confused emotions about Robbie become heightened. At dinner it is revealed that the twin cousins have run away. Briony goes off alone into the woods looking for them and stumbles upon a man running away from apparently raping her teenage cousin Lola (Juno Temple). Lola claims that she does not know the identity of her attacker, but in a fit of pique the still-wounded Briony tells everyone, including the police, that she saw Robbie commit the act. She shows Robbie's shocking letter to her mother. Everyone believes her story except for Cecilia. Robbie is arrested and sent to prison.
Four years later, Robbie is released from prison on condition that he joins the army. He is assigned to A Company, 1st Battalion, Royal Sussex Regiment. He is reunited with Cecilia (who has not spoken with her family since the incident) in London, where they renew their love before he is shipped off to the French front. Briony (Romola Garai), now 18, has joined Cecilia's old nursing corps at St. Thomas's in London because she wants to be of some practical use to society and has given up an offer she received from Cambridge. Her attempts at contacting her sister go unanswered, as Cecilia blames her for Robbie's imprisonment. Later, Robbie, wounded and very ill, finally arrives at the beaches of Dunkirk, where he waits to be evacuated.
Briony, now fully understanding the consequences of her accusation, later visits the now-married Cecilia and Robbie to apologise to them directly. Cecilia coldly replies that she will never forgive her. Robbie, in a rage that almost becomes physical, confronts Briony and demands that she immediately tell her family and the authorities the truth. Briony admits that the rapist was actually family friend Paul Marshall (Benedict Cumberbatch), but that he cannot be implicated in a court of law because he has married Lola.
Decades later, an elderly Briony (Vanessa Redgrave) reveals in an interview that she is dying of vascular dementia, and that her novel, Atonement, which she has been working on for most of her adult life, will be her last. Briony reveals that the book's ending where she apologised to Cecilia and Robbie is fictional. Cecilia and Robbie never saw each other again once he left for war. In reality, Robbie actually died at Dunkirk of septicemia while awaiting evacuation, and Cecilia died a few months later as one of the flood victims in the Balham tube station bombing during The Blitz. Briony hopes that, by reuniting them in fiction, she can give them the happy conclusion to their lives that they had always deserved. The last scene of the movie has Cecilia and Robbie once again together in what could be a fictional plane of existence.
Attack the Block (2011)
Color
Street gang must defend their turf against Extraterrestials
Attack the Block
"On Guy Fawkes Night, trainee nurse Samantha Adams is mugged by a gang of teenage hoodlums: Pest, Dennis, Jerome, Biggz and leader Moses. When a meteorite falls from the sky into a nearby car, Samantha escapes. As Moses searches the wreck of the car for valuables, his face is scratched by a small alien creature. The creature runs away, but the gang chase and kill it. Hoping to gain fame and fortune, they take the dead animal to their acquaintance, cannabis dealer Ron and his boss Hi-Hatz, an incredibly dimwitted and petty gang leader.
More objects fall from the sky. Eager to fight the creatures, the gang arm themselves and go to the nearest crash site. However, they find these aliens are much larger and threatening. Fleeing the aliens, the gang are intercepted by two policemen accompanying Samantha and Moses is arrested. The aliens follow Moses and maul the unarmed officers to death, leaving Samantha and Moses trapped inside a van. Dennis reaches the vehicle and drives away, only to crash into Hi-Hatz's car. Samantha runs away while the rest of Moses's gang catch up and confront Hi-Hatz and his henchman.
The gang try to flee to Wyndham Tower, a tower block, but are attacked by the aliens; Biggz is forced to hide and Pest is bitten in the leg. They find that Samantha lives in their building and persuade her to treat Pest's leg. An alien bursts in and Moses kills it with a samurai sword. Realizing that the group was not lying about the creatures being extraterrestrial, Samantha joins them.
The gang moves upstairs to the flat owned by Tia, Dimples, Dionna and Gloria, believing that their security gate will keep them safe. The aliens instead attack from outside, smashing through the windows and decapitating Dennis. The girls believe them to be the focus of the creatures and kick them out of the flat. Hi-Hatz and two more henchmen attack the gang, but an alien arrives and chases Hi-Hatz and the henchmen into a lift; only Hi-Hatz makes it out alive.
Making their way upstairs to Ron's weed room, the gang runs into more aliens, but using fireworks as a distraction, they manage to get through. Jerome becomes disoriented in the smoke and is killed by an alien. Entering Ron's flat, they find that Hi-Hatz is waiting for them there, who prepares to shoot Moses but he is then suddenly attacked and killed by the aliens who broke through the window. The group flee and are now joined by Brewis, one of Ron's customers and a zoology student. Moses, Pest and Samantha retreat into the weed room, while Ron hides in the flat.
In the weed room, Brewis notices a luminescent stain on Moses' jacket under the ultraviolet light. Brewis theorises that the aliens are like spores, drifting through space on solar winds until they chance on a habitable planet. After landing in an area with enough food, the female lets off a strong pheromone to attract the male creatures so that they can mate and propagate their species. Moses persuades the rest of the gang to return Samantha's stolen ring and together they form a plan. As Samantha has not been stained with the alien pheromone she can to go to Moses's flat and turn on the gas oven.
Samantha successfully bypasses the aliens and turns on the gas in the flat. She leaves the tower block and Moses, with the corpse of the small alien strapped to his back, runs to the gas-filled apartment with all of the aliens following him. He throws the corpse into the apartment, and uses fireworks he ignite the room and leaps out of the window. The resulting explosion kills all of the aliens and leaves a portion of the block in flames.
In the aftermath, Moses, Pest, Brewis and Ron are arrested and held responsible for the deaths around the block. The police then ask Samantha to identify Moses and his friends as those who killed everyone, including the two police officers that had arrested Moses earlier. Instead, Samantha corrects them by saying that all of the boys are her neighbours and they protected her. In the back of the police van, Moses and Pest hear the residents of the block cheering for Moses; they both smile.
August: Osange County (2013)
Color
Three women return to their childhome home when their father dies
August: Osange County
"The action takes place over the course of several weeks in August inside the three-story home of Beverly and Violet Weston outside Pawhuska, Oklahoma.
Prologue
The play opens with Beverly Weston, a once-famous poet, interviewing Johnna, a young Native American woman, for a position as live-in cook and caregiver for his wife Violet, who is being treated for mouth cancer. Violet is addicted to several different kinds of prescription drugs and exhibits paranoia and mood swings. Beverly, who freely admits that he is an alcoholic, lightly converses about Violet's current problems, most of which Beverly concedes are the result of personal demons too powerful to be cured by drugs. Violet enters the scene clearly affected by her drugs. After an incoherent and combative argument with Beverly, Violet returns upstairs. Beverly hires Johnna, lends her a book of TS Eliot's poetry, and continues to drink.
Act One
Several weeks later. Beverly Weston has not been seen for five days. Several family members have gathered in the house to provide support for Violet including her daughter Ivy, her sister Mattie Fae and Mattie Fae's husband Charlie. When Violet is not making calls attempting to track down her husband or popping pills, she spends the time sniping at her family, particularly Ivy, whom she criticizes for her mode of dress and lack of a romantic life. The news comes that Beverly's boat is missing, ramping up the fears that he has committed suicide. Ivy's older sister Barbara arrives from Boulder, Colorado with her husband Bill and 14-year-old daughter Jean. Barbara has not visited her mother in several years, and has mixed feelings about returning to the house because of the confrontational nature of their relationship. They fall into an argument almost immediately, during which Violet accuses her of abandoning her family and breaking her father's heart.
Later in the evening, Jean bonds with Johnna after the older woman allows her to smoke some marijuana in her room. She confides to Johnna that her parents are separated and are attempting to hide the fact from the family. Bill and Barbara argue over the cause of their separation as they make a bed out of the fold-out sofa in the living room: Bill is sleeping with a much-younger woman, one of his students at the university where he teaches. At five AM, the local sheriff, Deon Gilbeau (Barbara's high school boyfriend) rings the doorbell and breaks the news that Beverly has been found drowned. Barbara goes to identify the body as Violet comes downstairs in a drug-addled fog. The act ends with her spiraling into confusion.
Act Two
Several days later. The family has come from Beverly's funeral. Violet spends a quiet moment alone in Beverly's office, bitterly reproaching him for leaving her, and takes some more pills. Before the memorial dinner prepared for the family by Johnna, several family arguments and scenes arise. Ivy and Barbara's sister Karen has flown in from Florida with her new fiance and can talk about nothing except her wedding plans, distressing Barbara. During an argument with her mother and Mattie Fae, Ivy unwittingly confesses that she is seeing someone romantically but refuses to say who. Mattie Fae and Charlie's son Little Charles has overslept and missed the funeral. His father is sympathetic but Mattie Fae is, as usual, rude to and critical of her son. Karen's fiance Steve discovers that Jean is a pot-smoker and offers to share his stash with her, lewdly flirting with the teenaged girl. In a private moment, it is revealed that Ivy's lover is actually Little Charles, her first cousin.
Dinner is served, and Violet begins insulting and needling all of her family members. After inappropriately discussing Beverly's will at the table, she cruelly exposes Barbara and Bill's separation. When Barbara starts to fight back, Violet tauntingly reveals the full extent of her addiction, and the tensions develop into a violent confrontation, culminating in Barbara physically attacking her mother. After family members separate them, Barbara takes control of the situation, ordering that the family raid the house to discover all of Violet's hiding places for her pills.
Act Three
Several hours later things have calmed down, but the pain of the dinner confrontation has not gone away. Barbara reports that Violet's doctor thinks she has brain damage, and the three sisters share a drink in their father's study, discussing their mother. Ivy reveals that she and Little Charles are planning to run away to New York, and refuses to acknowledge the need for someone to take care of Violet. She reveals that it was Violet, not Beverly, who was heartbroken when Barbara left Oklahoma. Violet enters, now more coherent and off her drugs but no less incorrigible, is resigned to dealing with her demise on her own terms. She discusses a depressing story from her childhood with her daughters. In a private moment, Barbara and Violet apologize to each other, but it is uncertain how long the peace will last.
Mattie Fae observes a tender moment between Little Charles and Ivy, and begins taunting him again when the ever-patient Charles finally loses his temper with his wife, berating her for her cruelty to her own son and promising her that unless she can find a way to be kind to Little Charles, he is going to leave her. The lecture is accidentally overheard by Barbara, who confirms when pressed that Little Charles and Ivy are lovers. She is shocked when Mattie Fae reveals that Little Charles is not just Ivy's first cousin but also her half-brother, the result of a long-ago affair between Mattie Fae and Beverly. She refuses to tell Ivy or Little Charles the truth, leaving it up to Barbara, who knows that the news will destroy Ivy, to find a way to end the incestuous affair.
Late that night, Steve and Jean share a joint, and before long, Steve attempts to molest Jean. Johnna walks in on the scene and attacks Steve with a frying pan; the noise brings Jean's parents and Karen to the scene. An ugly argument follows when Jean defensively lashes out at her parents with hurtful comments about her father's affair, and Barbara slaps her. Karen leaves with Steve, choosing to lie to herself and mistakenly blaming Jean for what happened. Bill elects to return to Boulder with Jean and admits, when Barbara confronts him, that he is not going to come back to her. He leaves as Barbara tells him she loves him.
Two weeks pass. Barbara, now drinking heavily, offers Johnna a chance to quit and leave the toxic environment of the Weston house, but she chooses to stay. Sheriff Gilbeau drops by the house with the news that Beverly had stayed at a motel shortly before he committed suicide. He and Barbara nearly share a tender moment, but she is too emotionally exhausted and drunk to consummate it.
Several days later, Ivy has dinner with Barbara and Violet. Ivy attempts to tell her mother, over Barbara's objections, of her plans with Little Charles but Violet suddenly confesses that she already knows that Little Charles is Beverly's son. Ivy recoils in shock and horror, rebuffing Barbara's attempts to comfort her, and says that she will never tell him and leaves for New York anyway. Violet calmly reveals that she has deliberately destroyed Ivy and Charles' affair, which she knew of the entire time. Barbara and her mother have one last angry confrontation during which Violet blames Barbara for her father's suicide. Violet also reveals his suicide might have been preventable since she knew which motel he stayed in the night he left the house. Barbara, realizing that her Mother has slipped beyond her help, leaves the house. Violet breaks down and is left only with Johnna, who ends the play with a quotation from a T.S. Eliot poem: "This is the way the world ends, this is the way the world ends."
Aurora Borealis (2005)
Color
Man takes handyman job at senior facility where his grandparents live
Aurora Borealis
"Duncan is an unemployed youth, trying to cope with the death of his father ten years ago. The film is set in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Duncan's grandparents, Ronald and Ruth move into an apartment with a very nice view. Ron claims that he has seen the Northern Lights aka Aurora Borealis from the balcony. Ron is fast deteriorating with Alzheimer's disease. Kate is the home assistant of Ron and Ruth.
In order to be close to his grandparents, Duncan finds a job as a handyman at the building where they are staying. There he meets Kate and the two quickly fall in love. Meanwhile, Duncan takes care of Ron and helps out Ron in coping with his condition.
Duncan does not want to leave the town he grew up in. He is not able to free himself from his fears of the past and his sorrow of his father's death. Ron nudges him to do something with his life. He tells Kate that Duncan needs someone who can push him to action. Kate too suggests that Duncan move on with his life.
Kate announces that she has chosen to move to San Diego. This hurts Duncan, but he is still not ready to leave.
Ron wants to end his life and misery. He asks Duncan to buy him some shells for his shotgun. In a moment of despair, Duncan loads the shotgun and gives it to Ron, but he is not able to position the gun so that he can pull the trigger with his toe. The gun goes off and Duncan runs inside. Ron follows but has a heart attack and dies.
Kate leaves for San Diego and Duncan says his goodbyes. On reaching her new place, she sees Duncan at the doorstep, ready to give his life a fresh start.
Autumn in New York (2000)
Color
Man has affair with younger woman dying of heart tumor
Autumn in New York
"Will Keane (Richard Gere) is a successful forty-eight year old restaurateur and womanizer who is the subject of a recent New York Magazine cover story. Charlotte Fielding (Winona Ryder) is a free-spirited twenty-two year old woman brought to Will's upscale restaurant by her grandmother and friends to celebrate her birthday. Will notices her immediately, and her grandmother, an old friend of his, introduces them. Will admires the hats she made for the occasion, and is surprised to learn that Charlotte is the daughter of one of his old girlfriends, Katy, who died in a car accident.
The next day, Will calls and asks Charlotte to make a hat for his date for an upcoming benefit dinner. A few days later, she delivers the hat to his apartment. Stood up by his date, he invites her to accompany him to the formal benefit. There they dance and get to know each other, and later end up back at his apartment where they make love. The next morning, while having breakfast on his terrace, Will explains that their relationship has no future. She acknowledges this, revealing she is dying from a heart condition. Later Will tells his friend, John Volpe (Anthony LaPaglia), about his interest in Charlotte.
The next day, Will calls on Charlotte and they go out together. They talk about their age difference and her illness. As they walk through the beautiful fall foliage in Central Park, Charlotte recites lines from a poem: "O world, I cannot hold thee close enough! Thy winds, thy wide grey skies! Thy mists that roll and rise!" As they talk, she notices him checking his watch, and she takes it from his wrist, saying she'll return it when he forgets that she has it. At his restaurant, they continue to get to know each other while preparing a meal for his staff. Watching her among his friends, he begins to fall in love.
Back at his apartment, Charlotte experiences severe heart pain. At the hospital, Will learns from the doctor that she is suffering from neuroblastoma, a rare illness in adults, which in her case produced a tumor near her heart. She has perhaps a year to live. In the coming days, their relationship grows, and she learns more about him. When she asks why he is so interested in food, Will responds, "Food is the only beautiful thing that truly nourishes."
At a Halloween party, Charlotte, dressed as Emily Dickinson, entertains children by reciting lines from one of Dickinson's poems and bringing the words to life with butterflies on her fingers: "Two butterflies went out at noon and waltzed above a stream, then stepped straight through the firmament and rested on a beam; and then together bore away upon a shining sea--though never yet, in any port, their coming mentioned be." Meanwhile in another room, Will meets a former girlfriend and the two end up on the roof having sex. Later, Charlotte suspects that he was unfaithful, and after denying it, he acknowledges his actions. Charlotte breaks off their relationship. They are both deeply affected by the breakup.
Meanwhile, Will receives a letter from Lisa Tyler (Vera Farmiga), the illegitimate daughter he's never met. He goes to the museum where she works and recognizes her from an old photo, but he is unable to approach her. A few nights later he arrives home and Lisa is waiting for him in the lobby; they talk for the first time. She is pregnant and has become sentimental about parenthood, wanting just to meet her own father. She tells him about a dream she's had, that he's been trying to find her all these years in order to say he was sorry for abandoning her. Will says quietly, "Yes I am."
The next day, Will is walking through Central Park and steps over a fence onto a path, leaving behind some children playing beneath a tree. That night, Charlotte returns to her apartment and finds Will asleep in her chair. Angry at first, she tells him to leave, but he apologizes and pleads to be given another chance--to let him love her again. She cries as he holds her in his arms, and later that night they make love. In the morning, Charlotte recites to him lines from a poem: "The stars are soft as flowers, and as near; the hills are webs of shadow, slowly spun; no separate leaf or single blade is here--all blend to one." Later, while skating at Central Park's Wollman Rink, Charlotte suddenly collapses on the ice. At the hospital, Will learns that the tumor has progressed and that she may only have a few weeks to live.
In the coming days, Will searches for a specialist who can perform the necessary heroic surgery to save her life. He turns to his daughter for help, and she finds a specialist who agrees to perform the surgery when the times comes. On Christmas morning, Charlotte wakes up and hears Will decorating the house and terrace. As she prepares to bring him his Christmas gift, Charlotte collapses. She is rushed to the hospital and the specialist is called. At the hospital, Will comes to her side and whispers to her lines from a poem: "Time cannot break the bird's wing from the bird. Bird and wing together go down, one feather. No thing that ever flew, not the lark, not you, can die as others do." Their hands separate as Charlotte is taken to the operating room.
Will, his friends, Lisa, and Charlotte's grandmother wait during the long hours of surgery. Outside the hospital, seagulls fly off into the snowy skies over the city. Finally, the specialist emerges from surgery, and as he approaches it is clear from his expression that he could not save her. Back at his apartment, Will finds Charlotte's Christmas gift lying on the floor--a small box with the hat stem she designed for him. Opening the box, he finds the watch she took from him on their first date. He stands at his window weeping, holding the box closely to his breast.
The following summer on a small boat on Central Park Lake, Will is holding his newborn grandson in his arms as his daughter Lisa looks on with a loving smile. Will notices a swan, and then a reflection in the water of a young woman walking over the Bow Bridge. Father, daughter, and grandson drift peacefully on the lake.
Ava (2020)
Color
Assassine works for black ops organization performing high profile hits
Ava
"Ava Faulkner (Jessica Chastain) is a recovering addict and former soldier turned assassin. In France, she kidnaps her new target, an English businessman. Before she kills him, she questions him on why someone wants him dead. Unbeknownst to her, another woman electronically eavesdrops on the conversation. Afterwards, Ava flies to Boston where she visits with her estranged sister Judy and her mother who is hospitalized for angina pain. Ava has not seen them in eight years.
Ava's handler and former Army superior, Duke, sends her to Saudi Arabia to kill a German general. Ava lures the general into a trap and injects him with a poison to make it appear he died of a heart attack. She is interrupted by the general's security guards. A gunfight ensues, leaving all the men dead.
Ava escapes and travels to Barneville-Carteret where Duke apologizes for the botched operation, insisting that the bad intel was a simple mistake. He gives her time off to decompress and she returns to Boston and meets Michael, her former fiance who is now in a relationship with her sister Judy.
In British Columbia, Duke meets with his superior, Simon. Simon's daughter Camille is the woman who had earlier eavesdropped on Ava's hit. Simon believes Ava is a liability and that her questioning of targets demonstrates insufficient commitment to their operation. After Duke leaves, Simon reaffirms the hit on Ava. She kills her attacker and then confronts Duke who insists that it was a random drug addict attack. That night, Ava goes to dinner with Judy and Michael but their conversation does not go well. The next morning, Judy meets Ava and tells her Michael is missing. Realizing he has started gambling again, Ava rescues him from a gambling den run by a woman, Toni, to whom Michael is indebted.
Duke revisits Simon and reveals he knew Ava was set up. A fight ensues between the two men, resulting in Simon killing Duke. He sends a video of Duke's death to Ava. A heartbroken Ava goes to Judy's house, where she invites Michael to run away with her but he declines, revealing that Judy is pregnant. Ava heads to Toni's den where she kills some of her men before giving Toni a bag of money to pay off Michael's debt. Ava strangles Toni, then changes her mind, letting Toni live while warning her to stay away from Michael.
Back at her hotel, Ava is attacked by Simon. They fight, with both sustaining serious injuries. Exhausted, Simon flees when the fire alarm goes off, warning Ava that he will kill her if he sees her again. Ava pursues Simon, cornering and killing him under the Zakim Bridge. Ava goes to her sister's house, warning Judy to leave the country and giving her the number to a Swiss bank account filled with Ava's earnings. Before she leaves, Michael gives her a letter from Duke, who says that he is happy with how his life turned out. As she walks down the street, Ava is stalked by Simon's daughter, Camille.
Avalon (1990)
Color
Immigrant Russian family adjust to life in the 50's
Avalon
"It is the early 1950s, and much has happened to the family of Russian Jewish immigrant Sam Krichinsky since he first arrived in America in 1914 and eventually settled in Baltimore.
Television is new. Neighborhoods are changing, with more and more families moving to the suburbs. Wallpaper has been Sam's profession, but his son Jules wants to try his hand at opening a large discount-appliance store with his cousin, Izzy, maybe even do their own commercials on TV.
Jules and his wife, Ann, still live with his parents, but Ann is quietly enduring the way that her opinionated mother-in-law Eva dominates the household. Ann is a modern woman who even learns to drive a car, although Eva refuses to ride with her and takes a streetcar instead.
Slights, real or imagined, concern the family, as when Jules and Ann finally move to the suburbs, a long way for their relatives to travel. After arriving late and finding a Thanksgiving turkey has been carved without him, Uncle Gabriel is offended and storms out, beginning a feud with Sam.
Sam also can't understand the methods his grandson Michael's teachers use in school, or why Jules and Izzy have changed their surnames to Kaye and Kirk as they launch their business careers. But when various crises develop, the family members generally see them through together.
Avatar (2009)
Black & White
Disabled Marine travels to planet Pandora to become an avatar, to exploit the natives
Avatar
"In 2154, humans have depleted Earth's natural resources, leading to a severe energy crisis. The Resources Development Administration (RDA) mines a valuable mineral called unobtanium on Pandora, a densely forested habitable moon orbiting Polyphemus, a fictional gas giant in the Alpha Centauri star system.[10] Pandora, whose atmosphere is poisonous to humans, is inhabited by the Na'vi, a species of 10-foot tall (3.0 m), blue-skinned, sapient humanoids[38] that live in harmony with nature and worship a mother goddess named Eywa.
To explore Pandora's biosphere, scientists use Na'vi-human hybrids called "avatars", operated by genetically matched humans. Jake Sully, a paraplegic former Marine, replaces his deceased identical twin brother as an operator of one. Dr. Grace Augustine, head of the Avatar Program, considers Sully an inadequate replacement but accepts his assignment as a bodyguard. While escorting the avatars of Grace and fellow scientist Dr. Norm Spellman, Jake's avatar is attacked by a thanator and flees into the forest, where he is rescued by Neytiri, a female Na'vi. Witnessing an auspicious sign, she takes him to her clan. Neytiri's mother Mo'at, the clan's spiritual leader, orders her daughter to initiate Jake into their society.
Colonel Miles Quaritch, head of RDA's private security force, promises Jake that the company will restore his legs if he gathers information about the Na'vi and the clan's gathering place, a giant tree called Hometree,[39] which stands above the richest deposit of unobtanium in the area. When Grace learns of this, she transfers herself, Jake, and Norm to an outpost. Over the following three months, Jake and Neytiri fall in love as Jake grows to sympathize with the natives. After Jake is initiated into the tribe, he and Neytiri choose each other as mates. Soon afterward, Jake reveals his change of allegiance when he attempts to disable a bulldozer that threatens to destroy a sacred Na'vi site. When Quaritch shows a video recording of Jake's attack on the bulldozer to Administrator Parker Selfridge,[40] and another in which Jake admits that the Na'vi will never abandon Hometree, Selfridge orders Hometree destroyed.
Despite Grace's argument that destroying Hometree could damage the biological neural network native to Pandora, Selfridge gives Jake and Grace one hour to convince the Na'vi to evacuate before commencing the attack. Jake confesses to the Na'vi that he was a spy, and they take him and Grace captive. Quaritch's men destroy Hometree, killing Neytiri's father (the clan chief) and many others. Mo'at frees Jake and Grace, but they are detached from their avatars and imprisoned by Quaritch's forces. Pilot Trudy Chacon, disgusted by Quaritch's brutality, frees Jake, Grace, and Norm, and airlifts them to Grace's outpost, but Grace is shot by Quaritch during the escape.
To regain the Na'vi's trust, Jake connects his mind to that of Toruk, a dragon-like predator feared and honored by the Na'vi. Jake finds the refugees at the sacred Tree of Souls and pleads with Mo'at to heal Grace. The clan attempts to transfer Grace from her human body into her avatar with the aid of the Tree of Souls, but she dies before the process can be completed. Supported by the new chief Tsu'tey, Jake unites the clan and tells them to gather all of the clans to battle the RDA. Quaritch organizes a pre-emptive strike against the Tree of Souls, believing that its destruction will demoralize the natives. On the eve of battle, Jake prays to Eywa, via a neural connection with the Tree of Souls, to intercede on behalf of the Na'vi.
During the subsequent battle, the Na'vi suffer heavy casualties, including Tsu'tey and Trudy, but are rescued when Pandoran wildlife unexpectedly join the attack and overwhelm the humans, which Neytiri interprets as Eywa's answer to Jake's prayer. Jake destroys a makeshift bomber before it can reach the Tree of Souls; Quaritch, wearing an AMP suit, escapes from his own damaged aircraft, then later finds and breaks open the avatar link unit containing Jake's human body, exposing it to Pandora's poisonous atmosphere. Quaritch prepares to slit the throat of Jake's avatar, but Neytiri kills Quaritch and saves Jake from suffocation, seeing his human form for the first time.
With the exceptions of Jake, Norm and a select few others, all humans are expelled from Pandora and sent back to Earth. Jake is permanently transferred into his avatar with the aid of the Tree of Souls.
"In 1969, Dr. Malcolm Sayer (Robin Williams) is a dedicated and caring physician at a local hospital in the New York City borough of The Bronx. After working extensively with the catatonic patients who survived the 1917-1928 epidemic of encephalitis lethargica, Sayer discovers certain stimuli will reach beyond the patients' respective catatonic states; actions such as catching a ball thrown at them, hearing familiar music, and experiencing human touch all have unique effects on particular patients and offer a glimpse into their worlds. Leonard Lowe (Robert De Niro) proves elusive in this regard, but Sayer soon discovers that Leonard is able to communicate with him by using a Ouija board.
After attending a lecture at a conference on the subject of the L-Dopa drug and its success with patients suffering from Parkinson's Disease, Sayer believes the drug may offer a breakthrough for his own group of patients. A trial run with Leonard Lowe yields astounding results as Leonard completely "awakens" from his catatonic state; this success inspires Sayer to ask for funding from donors so that all the catatonic patients can receive the L-Dopa medication and experience "awakenings" back to reality.
Meanwhile, Leonard is adjusting to his new life and becomes romantically interested in Paula (Penelope Ann Miller), the daughter of another hospital patient and begins spending time with her when she comes to the hospital to visit her father. Leonard also begins to chafe at the restrictions placed upon him as a patient of the hospital, desiring the freedom to come and go as he pleases and stirs up a bit of a revolt in the process of arguing his case repeatedly to Sayer and the hospital administration. Sayer notices that as Leonard grows more agitated battling administrators and staff about his perceived confinement, a number of facial and body tics are starting to manifest and Leonard has difficulty controlling them.
While Sayer and the hospital staff continue to delight in the success of L-Dopa with this group of patients, they soon find that it is a temporary measure. As the first to "awaken", Leonard is also the first to demonstrate the limited duration of this period of "awakening". Leonard's tics grow more and more prominent and he starts to shuffle more as he walks, and all of the patients are forced to witness what will eventually happen to them. He soon begins to suffer full body spasms and can hardly move. Leonard, however, puts up well with the pain, and asks Sayer to film him, in hopes that he would some day contribute to research that may eventually help others. Leonard acknowledges sadly what is happening to him and has a last lunch with Paula where he tells her he cannot see her anymore. When he is about to leave, Paula dances with him, and for this short period of time his spasms disappear. Leonard and Dr. Sayer reconcile their differences, but Leonard returns to his catatonic state soon after. The other patients' fears are similarly realized as each eventually returns to catatonia no matter how much their L-Dopa dosages are increased.
Sayer tells a group of grant donors to the hospital that although the "awakening" did not last, another kind -- one of learning to appreciate and live life -- took place. For example, he himself, who is painfully shy, decides to go ask Nurse Eleanor Costello (Julie Kavner) to coffee, many months after he had declined a similar proposal from her. The nurses also now treat the catatonic patients once again with more respect and care, and Paula is shown visiting Leonard. The film ends with Sayer standing over Leonard behind a Ouija board, with his hands on Leonard's hands which are on the planchette. "Let's begin," Sayer says.
Away From Her (2006)
Color
Man puts wife in nursing home when she loses her memory
Away From Her
"Grant (Pinsent) and Fiona (Christie) are a retired married couple living in rural Brant County, Ontario. Fiona begins to lose her memory, and it becomes apparent she suffers from Alzheimer's disease. Throughout the film, Grant's reflections on his marriage are woven with his reflections on his own infidelities, and influence his eventual decisions regarding Fiona's happiness.
When she feels she is becoming a risk to herself, Fiona decides to check into a nursing home, where one of the rules is that a patient cannot have any visitors for the first 30 days, in order to "adjust". Wary of this policy, Grant agrees anyway, at the insistence of his wife whom he loves. During the drive to the home, Fiona acknowledges Grant's past infidelity while he was a university professor. Despite the awkward situation, the couple makes love one last time before separating.
When the 30 day period ends, Grant goes to visit his wife again, only to find she has forgotten him, and turned her affections to Aubrey (Murphy), a mute man in a wheelchair who has become her "coping partner" in the facility.
While seeing his wife grow closer to Aubrey, Grant becomes an unhappy voyeur when visiting his wife at the nursing home. As time goes by and Fiona still does not remember him, Grant even wonders whether Fiona's dementia is an act, to punish him for his past indiscretions. After some time, Aubrey's wife removes him from the home due to financial difficulties. This causes Fiona to sink into a deep depression, with her physical wellbeing also appearing to deteriorate. Grant is touched by this, and visits Aubrey's wife Marian (Dukakis) in an effort to allow Fiona to see Aubrey again. He would rather see his wife happy with another man than miserable and alone. Marian initially refuses, but the meeting leads to a tentative relationship between her and Grant.
As time passes, Grant continues to visit both Fiona and Marian. He eventually moves out of his home and succeeds in taking Aubrey back to visit his wife. But in his "moment alone" before he brings Aubrey into Fiona's room, Fiona temporarily remembers him and the love she has for him. The film closes on their embrace.
Back Street (1941)
Black & White
Woman is in love with married man
Back Street
"The film is set in the early 1900s. It tells the story of a pretty and independent young woman, Ray Smith, who lives in Cincinnati. She has many suitors, none of whom she takes seriously. One day she meets an extremely charming and handsome banker named Walter Louis Saxel, and they fall immediately into a strong attraction, which for her is real love. After a few days of closeness she is shocked when he tells her he is already engaged to someone else. Nonetheless the two of them very nearly marry one another on an impulse, but they are prevented from doing so by arbitrary external forces.
After five years, they meet once again, by chance, in New York City. The banker is now married with two children (Richard and Elizabeth) and is extremely successful in his career, but Ray and he still share the same strong attraction. Ray loves him so much that she gives up her career in dress design and becomes his kept mistress, seeing him only when it is convenient for him. Walter keeps up the appearance of a "happy marriage" and never considers divorcing his wife, whose father is his boss at the banking company.
Ray's loyalty to Walter collapses only once, when he fails to contact her after he has been on an extended trip to Europe with his wife. Ray goes back to Ohio and agrees to marry Curt, an attractive and good-hearted man who proposed to her many times in their youth. However, Walter travels to Ohio to find her, and is able to persuade her to return with him.
Once Walter's children reach adulthood they understand who Ray is, and they despise her. People in Walter's social circle also point condemning fingers at Ray, who suffers all this with patience and fortitude.
In old age, dying of a stroke in his grand home, Walter's last faltering word is to Ray, on the phone. She dies not long afterwards in her apartment.
Back Street (1961)
Color
Woman is in love with married man
Back Street
"Wealthy department-store heir Paul Saxon has a romantic fling with a Nebraska dress-shop owner, Rae Smith, who breaks it off when she discovers he is married.
Rae moves to New York to become a fashion designer, then on to Rome to become the famed Dalian's partner in a salon. Paul continues to woo her, explaining that his alcoholic wife Liz won't grant him a divorce and is unstable, having tried to commit suicide.
Her resistance lowered, Rae becomes the lover of Paul, meeting secretly with him at a house hear Paris that he buys. Paul's son learns of the affair and demands that Rae stop seeing his father. Liz makes a public scene to humiliate Rae at a fashion show.
Paul leaves with her, but Liz drunkenly crashes their car and both are killed. Rae and his son are left alone with their grief.
Back to School (1986)
Color
Rich dad enrolls in his son's school
Back to School
"Thornton Melon's is a rags-to-riches story. The son of an Italian immigrant tailor, he is shown as a boy (Jason Hervey) in his father's shop, bearing a report card with poor grades. His ambition is to go into his father's line of work, but his father reprimands Thornton for his poor schoolwork, and tells him no matter how hardworking, skilled or wealthy one may be, "if a man has got no education, he has got nothing".
As decades pass, Thornton is shown opening his first "Tall and Fat" clothing store and eventually becoming a corporate giant, complete with a TV commercial in which he asks:
Are you a large person? Pleasantly plump? A little on the hefty side, perhaps? Well, let's face it: are you fat? When you go jogging, do you leave potholes? When you make love, do you have to give directions? At the zoo, do elephants throw you peanuts? Do you look at a menu and say, 'Okay'?
He also has changed his last name to "Melon" (from the original "Meloni").
After his college-student son Jason (Keith Gordon) cancels a visit, Thornton goes home to Vanessa (Adrienne Barbeau), his second wife. Thornton is a widower and Vanessa is a social climbing gold digger, unable to bear her crude husband. Upon agreeing to a divorce, he threatens to expose her adulterous affairs after she threatens to sue him for half of his net worth.
Thornton tells his friend, chauffeur and bodyguard Lou (Burt Young) to drive him to Jason's college. It turns out Jason has been keeping secrets from his father. He is not on the Grand Lakes diving team, but instead works as a towel boy, treated badly by star diver Chas Osborn (William Zabka). Jason has only his best friend Derek Lutz (Robert Downey, Jr.) for support and intends to drop out. Thornton pleads with him, offering to go to college with his son if he'll stay, and also tells Jason that he has no reason to be ashamed of his failures, considering Thornton's early mediocre life.
Possessing neither a high school diploma nor any transcripts or SAT scores, Thornton's efforts seem to be stalled. But when the university's "Dean" Martin --- a play on the crooner Dean Martin -- played by Ned Beatty, asks how he can possibly admit an unqualified student, the next scene cuts to a groundbreaking of the university's new Thornton Melon School of Business.
Thornton's bribery earns him the wrath of Dr. Philip Barbay (Paxton Whitehead), dean of the business school. The wrath is further exacerbated when Dr. Barbay's ivory tower ways are at odds with Thornton's knowledge of business gained from actual experience. Thornton promptly strikes up a romance with Dr. Diane Turner (Sally Kellerman), an attractive literature professor who is dating Barbay.
At the same time, Jason begins to attract the interest of Valerie Desmond (Terry Farrell), a girl that Chas has been trying to impress. Jason's popularity on campus also increases thanks to his father's generosity and party-throwing. Jason even earns a spot on the diving team as well after Thornton --- who claims to have once been a spectacular diver himself --- talks the Grand Lakes coach (M. Emmet Walsh) into giving the kid another look.
As a student, even though Diane is inspiring a deeper appreciation of literature, Thornton prefers partying to studying. He hires a team of professionals to complete his assignments, including author Kurt Vonnegut for a major literature paper supposed to be on the author himself, but to Thornton's surprise, Diane gives Thornton an F on his paper. Diane, who is very disappointed in Thornton, tells him that she will not accept work from him that was written by someone else and adds that whoever did write the paper doesn't know the first thing about Kurt Vonnegut. Meanwhile, Jason is fed up with his father, his school, his status and his own failures. At his dad's big party, he gets drunk, punches Chas and disappears.
Thornton's fraud is further exposed by Dr. Barbay, who challenges him before Dean Martin to pass an oral examination from all of his professors. If Thornton fails any part of it, he will be expelled. Not believing that he will be able to pass that oral exam, Thornton packs up and prepares to leave, knowing that he can't be expelled if he drops out. But Jason stops him and reminds him of how he wanted to drop out, too, but Thornton talked him out of it. Jason believes that Thornton can do it and says that they'll help him. Thornton then decides that he's up to the challenge.
With limited time to prepare, Thornton crams for exams with help from Jason, Derek, Lou and Diane. When the big day comes, Barbay begins by telling Thornton that he has only one question, "...in 27 parts." Thornton seems to falter, but is inspired to answer the question with the screaming assistance of a crazed history professor, Terguson (Sam Kinison). He passes, nevertheless, after Dr. Turner inspires him by having him recite Dylan Thomas' poem "Do not go gentle into that good night."
At the championship dive meet, father and son patch things up and, with a little distraction, Derek fouls up the opposing team's dives, while Chas gives a lackluster effort, followed by a near-perfect performance from Jason. Chas fakes a cramp out of spite in an effort to make the team lose. This gives the coach an inspiration. He calls upon Thornton, who comes out of the grandstand to perform an “impossible” dive, the legendary “Triple Lindy," to win the meet.
Thornton learns that he has passed all his classes with a D, except from Diane, who has given him an A. The movie closes with Thornton lecturing the graduating class that the real world is hard, so: "Move back in with your parents... let them worry about it!" and "Look out for Number One, but don't step in Number Two!"[2]
Bad Moms (2016)
Color
Fed-up moms abandon their parental responsibilities
Bad Moms
"Amy Mitchell (Mila Kunis) is a married woman living in the Chicago suburbs with two children, Jane (Oona Laurence) and Dylan (Emjay Anthony), who feels overworked and overcommitted. She works as a sales rep for a "hip" coffee company, prepares healthful, hand-packed lunches for her children, does most of their homework, goes to all of their extracurricular activities, and is active in her school's PTA, run by the domineering Gwendolyn James (Christina Applegate) and her cronies, Stacy (Jada Pinkett Smith) and Vicky (Annie Mumolo). When she catches her husband Mike (David Walton) cheating on her with a camgirl, Amy kicks him out and attempts to keep everything together.
After a particularly stressful day, Amy publicly quits the PTA in response to Gwendolyn's overzealous bake sale plans. At a nearby bar, Amy meets Carla (Kathryn Hahn), a laid-back, sexually active single mom, and Kiki (Kristen Bell), a stay-at-home mom of four who adores Amy's dissent from Gwendolyn. Amy and Carla are irritated to discover that Kiki's husband is domineering and expects her to take care of all the kids and the house with no assistance whatsoever, while Amy and Kiki are disturbed at Carla's very hands-off approach to parenting. The trio embark on an all-night bender that inspires Amy to loosen up with her kids: she takes them for rides in Mike's classic car, gets them lunch from Arby's, forces Dylan to fend for himself to prevent him from being lazy and entitled, and takes the overachieving and constantly stressed Jane for a spa day. Amy herself decides to start dating but finds herself inexperienced due to her early marriage and motherhood. She ultimately ends up striking a connection with Jesse (Jay Hernandez), a handsome widower at the school who's had a crush on her.
After Amy brings store-bought donut holes to the bake sale, she draws the ire of Gwendolyn, who uses her PTA authority to get Jane benched from the soccer team. Amy is angered, and decides to run for PTA president in opposition to Gwendolyn. A meet-and-greet at Amy's home draws only one visitor, who informs them that Gwendolyn has launched a rival party at her own house, catered by Martha Stewart. In spite of this, the other moms, and Martha, swiftly abandon Gwendolyn's party when it becomes clear that she intends to lecture them all evening, leading to a successful party at Amy's house.
Gwendolyn responds by putting drugs in Jane's locker, framing her, which gets her kicked out of all extracurricular activities. Jane and Dylan both go to stay with Mike (who has agreed to an amicable divorce) in response to what they see as Amy's failure as a mom. Amy loses her job because her boss refuses to understand her reasons for taking time off.
A despondent Amy stays home during the PTA election but is roused into action by Carla and Kiki, who finally stands up to her husband and orders him to deal with everything alone until the meeting is over. At the event, Amy gives an inspiring speech about how all the moms are overworked and that they need to take time off, do fewer and less stressful events, and most importantly, allow themselves to make mistakes. Amy wins by a landslide and eventually winds up comforting a devastated Gwendolyn, who reveals that her life is not perfect like she had claimed it to be.
Some weeks later, Amy's approach has led to positive changes: Jane has been reinstated to the soccer team and is stressing out less, Dylan is actually applying himself, Kiki makes her husband help out with taking care of their kids, Carla is more responsible and hands-on, and all of the other moms, including Stacy and Vicky, are feeling more energized. Amy herself has gotten her job back with much better compensation after her boss sees how much he had taken her for granted, and she continues to see Jesse. Gwendolyn invites Amy, Carla, and Kiki for a day of fun on her husband's private jet.
The ending credits play over the cast interviewing their real-life moms.
Bad Teacher (2011)
Color
Gold digging teacher tries to seduce substitue teacher
Bad Teacher
"Elizabeth Halsey (Cameron Diaz) is an amoral, gold digging Chicago-area middle school teacher at the fictional John Adams Middle School who curses at her students, drinks heavily, smokes marijuana, and only shows movies while she sleeps through class. She plans to quit teaching and marry her wealthy fiance, but when he dumps her after realizing she is only after his money, she must resume her job. She tries to win over substitute teacher Scott Delacorte (Justin Timberlake), who is also wealthy. Amy Squirrel (Lucy Punch), a dedicated but overly enthusiastic teacher and colleague of Elizabeth, also pursues Scott while the school's gym teacher, Russell Gettis (Jason Segel), makes advances on Elizabeth, which she rejects. [4]
After learning Scott's ex-girlfriend had large breasts, Elizabeth plans to get surgery to enlarge her breasts, believing she is being overlooked by him. However, she cannot afford the $9,300 procedure. To make matters worse, Scott admits that he has a crush on Amy, only viewing Elizabeth as a friend. Elizabeth attempts to raise money for the surgery by participating in her 7th grade class car wash in provocative clothing and by manipulating parents to give her money for more school supplies and tutoring, but her efforts are not enough. Amy, acting on the growing resentment between them due to her pursuit of Scott and ignoring of school rules, attempts to warn the principal about Elizabeth's embezzlement scheme, but he dismisses her claims as groundless.
Elizabeth later learns that the teacher of the class with the highest state test scores will receive a $5,700 bonus. With this knowledge, Elizabeth decides to change her style of teaching, forcing the class to study intensely for the upcoming test. However, the change is too late and insufficient. The students have low scores on their quizzes, frustrating her even more. Meanwhile, she befriends Russell the gym teacher as Amy and Scott start dating. Elizabeth steals the state test answers by impersonating a journalist and seducing Carl Halabi (Thomas Lennon), a state professor who is in charge of creating and distributing the exams. Elizabeth convinces Carl to go into his office to have some sex, but drugs him and steals the test. A month later, Elizabeth wins the bonus and finally completes the money and pays for the appointment to get her breasts enlarged.
When Elizabeth learns that Amy and Scott are chaperoning an upcoming field trip, she smears an apple with poison ivy and leaves it for Amy, who ends up with blisters covering her face and cannot go. On the trip, Elizabeth seduces Scott. They dry hump and Elizabeth secretly calls Amy using Scott's phone leaving a message recording all the action ensuring she knows about the affair. However, Scott's peculiar behavior, which was subtly exposed by Russell when Scott would agree with anything even if it's contradictory, disappoints Elizabeth. Elizabeth later gives advice to one of her students (Matthew J. Evans) who has an unrequited crush on a superficial girl (Kathryn Newton as Chase Rubin-Rossi) in class, which causes her to reflect on how she has been superficial as well.
After hearing Elizabeth and Scott having sex, Amy switches Elizabeth's desk with her own to trick the janitor into unlocking Elizabeth's sealed drawer. The evidence Amy finds leads her to suspect Elizabeth cheated on the state exam. Amy informs the principal and gets Carl to testify against her. However, Elizabeth took embarrassing photos of Carl while he was drugged and uses them to blackmail him to say she is innocent. Having noticed her desk was switched, Elizabeth informs the principal that some teachers in the school are doing drugs. When the police bring a sniffer dog to search the school, they find Elizabeth's mini liquor bottles, marijuana and OxyContin pills in Amy's classroom, in Elizabeth's desk. Amy is moved to the worst school in the county by the superintendent. Scott asks Elizabeth to start over, but Elizabeth rejects him in favor of a relationship with Russell.
When the new school year starts, Elizabeth is kinder to her co-workers, has started a relationship with Russell, and did not get the breast enlargement because she feels that she looks fine the way she is. Elizabeth also has a new position in the school as the new guidance counselor.
Barbarians at the Gate (1993)
Color
Story of RJR Cigarette takeover
Barbarians at the Gate
"F. Ross Johnson decides to take the tobacco and food conglomerate RJR Nabisco private after receiving advance news of the likely market failure of the company's smokeless cigarette called Premier, the development of which had been intended to finally boost the company's stock price.[1]
The free-spending Johnson's bid for the company is opposed by two of the pioneers of the leveraged buyout, Henry Kravis and his cousin. Kravis feels betrayed when, after Johnson initially discusses doing the LBO with Kravis, he takes the potentially enormous deal to another firm, American Express' former Shearson Lehman Hutton division.
Other bidders emerge, including Ted Forstmann and his company, Forstmann Little, after Kravis and Johnson are unable to reconcile their differences. The title of the movie comes from a statement by Forstmann in which he calls that Kravis' money "phoney junk bond crap" and how he and his brother are "real people with real money," and that it's necessary to stop raiders like Kravis: "we need to push the barbarians back from the city gates."
The bids for RJR Nabisco rise astronomically into the billions as the company's board encourages the competition, which Kravis ultimately wins, even though Johnson's final bid is higher.
Basic Instinct (1992)
Color
Det. Curran investigates Catherine, a writer suspected of murder, crime detailed in her book
Basic Instinct
"In San Francisco, homicide detective Nick Curran (Michael Douglas) investigates the murder of retired rock star Johnny Boz, who has been stabbed to death with an ice pick during sex with a mysterious blonde woman. Nick's only suspect is Boz's bisexual girlfriend, crime novelist Catherine Tramell, who has written a novel that mirrors the crime. It is concluded that either Catherine is the murderer or someone is attempting to frame her. Catherine is uncooperative and taunting during the investigation, smoking and exposing herself during her interrogation. She passes a lie detector test and is released. Nick discovers Catherine has a history of befriending murderers, including her girlfriend Roxy, who impulsively killed her two younger brothers when she was sixteen years of age, and Hazel Dobkins, who killed her husband and children for no apparent reason.
Nick, who accidentally shot two tourists while high on cocaine during an undercover assignment, attends counseling sessions with police psychologist Dr. Beth Garner, with whom he has an on-and-off affair. Nick discovers that Catherine is basing the protagonist of her latest book on him, wherein his character is murdered after falling for the wrong woman. Nick suspects that Catherine has bribed Lt. Marty Nielsen of Internal Affairs for information from Nick's psychiatric file and that Beth had previously given it to Nielsen after he threatened to recommend Nick's termination. Nick assaults Nielsen in his office, and later becomes a prime suspect when Nielsen is killed. Nick suspects Catherine, and when his behavior deteriorates, he is put on leave.
Nick and Catherine begin a torrid affair with the air of a cat-and-mouse game. Nick arrives at a club and witnesses Catherine doing cocaine with Roxy and another man. Nick and Catherine dance and make out, and are later observed by Roxy, having violent sex in Catherine's bed. Catherine ties Nick to the headboard with a white silk scarf, just as Boz was tied by the mystery blonde, but does not kill him. Roxy, jealous of Nick, attempts to run him over with Catherine's car, but dies when the car crashes. Catherine grieves over Roxy's death and tells Nick about a previous lesbian encounter at college that went awry. She claims that the girl became obsessed with her, causing Nick to believe that Catherine may not have killed Boz. Nick identifies the girl as Beth, who acknowledges the encounter, but she claims it was Catherine who became obsessed. Additionally, Nick discovers that a college professor of Beth and Catherine's was also killed with an ice pick in an unsolved homicide, and that the events inspired one of Catherine's early novels.
Nick comes across the final pages of Catherine's book in which the fictional detective finds his partner's body in an elevator. Catherine then breaks off their affair, causing Nick to become upset and suspicious. Nick later meets his partner Gus Moran, who has arranged to meet with Catherine's college roommate at an office building, hoping to reveal what really went on between Catherine and Beth. As Nick waits in the car, Gus is stabbed to death with an ice pick in the elevator. Recalling the last pages of Catherine's book, Nick runs into the building, only to find Gus' body in a manner similar to the scene described. Beth unexpectedly arrives and explains that she received a message to meet Gus. Nick suspects Beth has murdered Gus and, believing that she is reaching for a gun, shoots her, but discovers that Beth was only fiddling with an ornament on her key chain.
Evidence collected at the scene and in Beth's apartment implicates her as the killer of Boz, Nielsen, Moran, and her own husband, along with collections of photos and newspaper clippings of Catherine that imply an obsession with her. Nick is left confused and dejected. He returns to his apartment where Catherine meets him. She explains her reluctance to commit to him as people she cares about keep dying but then the two have sex. As they discuss their future, an ice pick is revealed to be under the bed.
Basic Instinct 2 (2006)
Color
Seductive novelist Catherine faces questions about her fiance's murder
Basic Instinct 2
"Set in London, the film opens with American best-selling author Catherine Tramell in a speeding car with her companion, Kevin Franks, a famous English football star. Tramell takes the man's hand and begins masturbating herself with it, all the while increasing her vehicle's speed. Franks, who is semi-unconscious, does not seem to be aware of what is happening. At the point of orgasm, Tramell veers off the road and crashes into the West India Docks in Canary Wharf on the Thames River. She attempts to save her partner, but as she says while being questioned later by the police, "When it came down to it, I guess my life was more important to me than his."
Tramell is interrogated by Scotland Yard Detective Superintendent Roy Washburn, who notes that D-tubocurarine (DTC), which is a neuromuscular blocking agent used to relax muscles during general anaesthesia for medical surgery, was found in her car and in her companion's body, and the companion was not breathing at the time of the crash (according to the autopsy), and that a man named "Dicky Pep" said that he sold Tramell "15 milliliters of DTC last Thursday". Tramell counters by saying that this Dicky Pep must be lying because, "you've got him on some other charge and he's trying to deal his way out, if he even exists".
Tramell begins therapy sessions with Dr. Michael Glass, who has conducted a court-ordered psychiatric examination and given testimony in her case. Dr. Glass strongly suspects that Tramell is a narcissist incapable of telling the difference between right and wrong. Tramell begins to play mind games with Glass, who becomes increasingly frustrated and intrigued by her. Meanwhile, the journalist boyfriend of Glass's ex-wife, who was in the process of writing a story critical of Glass, is found strangled to death. More murders begin to surface around Dr. Glass, including his own ex-wife, as his obsession with Tramell grows; when his career and life are threatened, he begins to suspect that Tramell is really committing the murders and attempting to frame him for them. Glass increasingly cannot himself distinguish between right and wrong, and the London police begin to suspect him. He confronts Tramell at her apartment, where they engage in passionate sex. Tramell gives Glass a copy of the draft of her next novel, titled The Analyst. After reading it, he realises that Tramell has novelised most of the recent events, with Glass and herself as characters. A character based on Glass's female colleague, Dr. Milena Gardosh, is depicted as the next murder victim in the novel.
Glass runs to Dr. Gardosh's apartment to warn her, finding Tramell already there. Gardosh informs him that he is no longer in charge of Tramell's therapy and that his license will be revoked. Glass and Gardosh struggle, and she is knocked unconscious. Tramell then threatens Glass with a gun she carries, but Glass takes it away from her. When Detective Superintendent Washburn arrives at the scene, Tramell manipulates Dr. Glass into shooting him.
In the final scene, Tramell pays a visit to Dr. Glass now at a local mental hospital, where he has been institutionalised, and he learns from her that the novel has become a best seller. Tramell claims that she manipulated Glass into committing all those murders, and flashbacks are shown of Glass committing the murders. Tramell leaves with a smirk on her face, while Glass continues to sit silently in his wheelchair.
Beach Rats (2017)
Color
Teenager explores new relationships
Beach Rats
Frankie (Harris Dickinson) struggles to escape his Brooklyn home life. He balances his time with a new girlfriend (Madeline Weinstein), his friends, and chatting with older men on the Internet, whom he meets up with for sex and drugs. He does not, however, identify as bisexual or gay to his girlfriend or male friends. He just "has sex with men", in the words of one of his Internet partners. Frankie attempts to compartmentalize his life by having sex with older men, to avoid them happening to know his friends. This becomes increasingly difficult, however, as he moves about the area and happens to run into them, or lures them to meetings for drugs.
Beauty Shop (2005)
Color
Fed up with her dishonest boss, stylist sets up her own beauty shop
Beauty Shop
"Gina Norris (Queen Latifah) is a widowed hairstylist who has moved from Chicago to Atlanta so her daughter, Vanessa (Paige Hurd), can attend a private music school. She's made a name for herself as a stylist, but after her self-centered boss, Jorge (Bacon), criticizes her work, she leaves and sets up her own shop, purchasing a run-down salon by the skin of her teeth by helping out a loan officer.
Upon buying the salon, she runs into instant barriers: loudmouthed young stylists, older clients who are set in their ways, people wary of her ability as a hairdresser and the constant trouble her rebellious sister-in-law, Darnelle (Keshia Knight Pulliam) finds herself in. In a short time, the previous owner's clients become her own and many of her former customers find their way from Jorge's to her salon. When electrical issues arise, she finds that the upstairs renter, Joe (Hounsou) is a handsome electrician from Africa who eventually bonds with Vanessa due to his skills on the piano. Because Jorge is jealous that his shop is losing clients to Gina's, he pays a health inspector to find various ways to shut down Gina's business.
Over time, neighborhood regulars frequent the shop and the varied stylists become close to Gina, as does Joe. One of her former clients from Jorge's even uses her connections to set up a meeting with Cover Girl for Gina's homemade miracle conditioner, affectionately called "hair crack".
Tragedy strikes when the shop is trashed and heavily vandalized the night before Vanessa's big piano recital. When Gina next enters the shop, she finds not only that her staff has cleaned up the majority of the mess and brought items from home so the shop could operate, but that Darnelle has entered beauty school. Shortly, a disheveled woman enters the shop and begs for someone to fix her hair for a wedding she has in a few hours. Soon after, Willie (Lil' JJ) shows Gina the videotape of Jorge and the health inspector. Later that night, Gina goes to Jorge's salon to not only tell him about the tape, but that she knows he is not Jorge from Austria, but George Christie from Nebraska.
Later, as the shop listens to their favorite radio talk show host DJ Helen, they find out she was the desperate customer on the way to the wedding as she gives the shop (and Gina's "hair crack" conditioner) a shout out on the radio.
Becket (1964)
Color
King Henry II Names his drinking buddy Archbishop of Canterbury
Becket
"During the late 12th century, about 100 years after the 1066 Norman Conquest of England, the Normans have removed the native ruling class, replacing it with a new monarchy, aristocracy, and clerical hierarchy.
Thomas Becket is a Saxon protege and facilitator to the carousing King Henry, who transforms into a man who continually invokes the "honour of God". Henry appoints Becket Lord Chancellor to have a close confidant in this position who he can completely control. Instead, Becket becomes a major thorn in his side in a jurisdictional dispute. Henry finds his duties as king and his stale arranged marriage to be oppressive, and is described as the "perennial adolescent" by the Bishop of London. Henry is more interested in escaping his duties through drunken forays onto the hunting grounds and local brothels. He is increasingly dependent on Becket, a Saxon commoner, who arranges these debaucheries when he is not busy running Henry's court. This foments great resentment on the part of Henry's Norman noblemen, who distrust and envy this Saxon upstart, as well as the queen and Henry's mother, who see Becket as an unnatural and unseemly influence upon the royal personage.
Henry finds himself in continuous conflict with the elderly Archbishop of Canterbury, who opposes the taxation of Church property to support Henry's military campaigns in France ("Bishop, I must hire the Swiss Guards to fight for me -- and no one has ever paid them off with principles!"). During one of his campaigns in coastal France, he receives word that the old archbishop has "gone to God's bosom". In a burst of inspiration, Henry exercises his prerogative to pick the next Archbishop and informs an astonished Becket that he is the royal choice.
Shortly thereafter, Becket sides with the Church, throwing Henry into a fury. One of the main bones of contention is Thomas' excommunication of Lord Gilbert, one of Henry's most loyal stalwarts, for seizing and ordering the killing of a priest who had been accused of sexual indiscretions with a young girl, before the priest can even be handed over for ecclesiastical trial. Gilbert then refused to acknowledge his transgressions and seek absolution.
The King has a dramatic secret meeting with the Bishop of London in his cathedral ("I have the Archbishop on my stomach, a big hard lump"). He lays out his plan to remove the troublesome cleric through scandal and innuendo, which the position-conscious Bishop of London quickly agrees to (thus furthering Henry's already deep contempt for church higher-ups). These attempts fall flat when Becket, in full ecclesiastic garb, confronts his accusers outside the rectory and routs them, causing Henry to laugh and bitterly note the irony of it all; "Becket is the only intelligent man in my entire kingdom...and he is against me!" Becket escapes to France where he encounters the conniving yet sympathetic King Louis (John Gielgud). King Louis sees in Becket a means by which he can further his favourite pastime, tormenting the arrogant English. Becket gets to Rome, where he begs the Pope to allow him to renounce his position and retire to a monastery as an ordinary priest. The Vatican is a hotbed of intrigue and political jockeying. The Pope reminds Becket that he has an obligation as a matter of principle to return to England and take a stand against civil interference in Church matters. Becket yields to this decision and asks Louis to arrange a meeting with Henry on the beaches at Normandy. Henry asks Becket whether or not he loved him and Becket replied that he loved Henry to the best of his ability. A shaky truce is declared and Becket is allowed to return to England.
The remainder of the film shows Henry rapidly sinking into drunken fixation over Becket and his perceived betrayal. The barons worsen his mood by pointing out that Becket has become a folk hero among the vanquished Saxons, who are ever restive and resentful of their Norman conquerors. There are comical fights between Henry and his frumpy consort, Eleanor of Aquitaine, his dimwitted son/heir apparent, and his cold-blooded mother, who repeatedly reminds her son that his father would have quickly had someone like Becket done away with for the sake of the realm. During one of his drunken rages he asks "Will no one rid me of this meddlesome priest?" His faithful barons hear this and proceed quickly to Canterbury, where they put Thomas and his Saxon deputy, Brother John, to the sword. A badly shaken Henry then undergoes a penance by whipping at the hands of Saxon monks.
Henry, fresh from his whipping, publicly proclaims that Thomas Becket is a saint and that the ones who killed him will be justly punished.
Before I Fall (2017)
Color
Girl continuously relives her teenage dream
Before I Fall
"Samantha Kingston (Zoey Deutch) wakes on Cupid's Day (February 12). She is picked up by her friends, Lindsay (Halston Sage), Ally (Cynthy Wu) and Elody (Medalion Rahimi), who joke with her about losing her virginity to her boyfriend Rob (Kian Lawley) that night. During class, Sam is handed a rose, gifted from her boyfriend with a nonchalant note. She is also given a pale colored rose with a note suggesting it is from another boy named Kent (Logan Miller). He later invites her to his party. During lunch the girls make fun of Juliet (Elena Kampouris), an outsider girl that they view as a "psycho". At the party, Juliet shows up, seemingly uninvited. Lindsay confronts her and the two fight, with Juliet leaving in tears. As they are driving back from the party, the car hits something and crashes, apparently killing Sam and her friends.
Sam wakes in her room on Cupid's Day again. Thinking the previous day was just a nightmare, Sam continues on with her day but finds that the same events occur, and they again crash leaving the party. Sam wakes up on the same day again. Realizing she is in a time-loop, she convinces the group to have a sleepover instead of going to the party, trying to avoid the crash. They avoid the crash, but find out later in the night that Juliet has killed herself. Despite avoiding the crash, Sam wakes up on the same day again. Camera effects are used to indicate that Sam has continued to endure the same day many times and is seemingly unable to break the loop, so one morning she decides to angrily react to everyone around her, insulting her friends and family. At the party, she has sex with Rob, but appears to not enjoy the experience. She runs into Kent's room and breaks down in tears. Kent finds and comforts her, letting her stay in his room.
The next loop, she skips school and spends time with her sister. At the party, Sam and Kent share a kiss. She hears the fight between Lindsay and Juliet from the hall and chases after her through the woods. Sam tries to stop Juliet, but she jumps in front of Lindsay's car, horrifying Sam and making her realize that Juliet was what the car hit on the original day. Sam wakes up again with a sense of calm and understanding, knowing what she must do to end the loop. She goes about her day much kinder and considerate than she had on the first. She also breaks up with Rob and tells Kent that she has a "secret" to tell him. At the party, she tells Kent she loves him. She again attempts to save Juliet, but when Juliet attempts to run into traffic, Sam accepts her fate and pushes her out of the way, being killed by a truck and ending the loop. As she dies, a montage of good memories plays in her head. Touched and moved, Juliet says to Sam's lifeless body that she saved her, to which Sam's spirit replies "No, you saved me".
Before We Go (2015)
Color
Man comes to woman's aid after she her purse is stolen
Before We Go
"While busking in Grand Central Terminal, Nick Vaughan (Chris Evans) sees a woman, Brooke Dalton (Alice Eve), drop her phone while running to catch a train. She misses the train and returns to the station where Nick returns her broken phone. When he finds her standing outside the terminal she confesses that she has just been robbed and is trapped in the city. He offers to pay for a cab to take her to Boston but his debit card is declined and his credit card is expired. When he tries to call a friend to come loan him the money he finds his phone has died. Nick offers to try to pay for a room for Brooke for the night, but she insists that she needs to reach Boston by morning.
Nick decides to help Brooke find her missing purse. They are able to track it down at a sweatshop that deals in stolen purses. Nick heads inside to retrieve the purse while Brooke uses a payphone to call her husband. After using the phone, she then gets a couple of police officers passing by to investigate the building Nick is in. The sweatshop owners get spooked, punch Nick, and run out along with the bag. Nick and Brook then head for the wedding of a friend of Nick's, hoping to borrow money. Along the way, Nick and Brooke open up more about why they're in New York. Brooke had just sold a painting and was going to surprise her husband by coming home early. Nick has an audition for a band that he has wanted to play with for a while. Instead of ending up at the wedding, they stumble upon an event where they are mistaken for members of the band. Nick and Brooke perform "My Funny Valentine" and flee when the real band shows up. After their last-ditch attempt to get a bus to Boston fails for lack of funds, Brooke borrows a man's phone, calls a friend, and begs her to retrieve a letter she has left for her husband that she does not want him to read.
Elated that her problem is now solved, Brooke offers to go to Nick's friend's wedding and pretend to be his girlfriend in front of his ex, Hannah. At the reception, Nick sees Hannah, but after being introduced to her new boyfriend, he leaves abruptly. Outside, Nick tells Brooke that this was the first time he had seen Hannah since she rejected his marriage proposal and broke up with him six years ago. At Brooke's insistence, Nick goes back to speak to Hannah and discovers that she is pregnant and that their relationship is truly over. Wandering around the city, the two find a psychic who is still open. After he reads her future, he allows Brooke to use his phone and she learns her friend could not get into her home to retrieve the letter.
After they leave the psychic, Brooke reveals to Nick that she discovered that her husband was cheating on her. Though he ended the relationship, she discovered that he was going to see his mistress again. Devastated, she wrote him a letter ending the marriage and went to New York for work. However, during her trip she received a phone call from her husband saying he was coming home early and realized that he had ended the relationship for good.
At a restaurant, Nick tells Brooke that her husband will most likely understand why she wrote him the letter and that if he doesn't, that's that. Brooke, worried about the possible end of her marriage, sneaks out the back of the restaurant and tries to hail a cab to the airport to fly to her mother's in Indiana. Nick appears, frustrated that she tried to bail on him, and they argue about their relationships. They then go to Nick's friend's hotel room. Together, they unwind from the night's adventures. They then share a kiss, write on the back of paintings in the room (a reference to an earlier encounter with a painting with erotic writing on the back of it) and reflect on their night.
In the morning, they return to the train station where they are about to part. Nick picks up a phone from a phone booth and, like an earlier joke, uses it as a "time machine" and pretends to call himself in the past, saying that he will meet a woman and "you will need her more than she needs you". They share one last kiss and finally depart. On her way home, Brooke finds a guest service paper that she and Nick filled out at the hotel. On the bottom it says, "Turn over". After reading what was on the back, she smiles.
Before the Rains (2007)
Color
Man has affair with his Indian servant
Before the Rains
"Before the Rains is set in 1930s Malabar District of the Madras Presidency of British India, against the backdrop of a growing nationalist movement. An idealistic young Indian man, T.K. (Rahul Bose) finds himself torn between his ambitions for the future and his loyalty to tradition when people in his village learn of an affair between his British boss and close friend Henry Moores (Linus Roache) and a married village woman Sajani (Nandita Das).
Henry and T.K. are working on building a road in rural Kerala. The start of the film focuses on the affair between Henry and his house maid Sajani. They make love near a waterfall, witnessed by two children who flee. Both Henry and Sajani are married to different partners and both know of each other's marriages. Henry's wife and son return from their vacation in England. Sajani is distraught but Henry assures Sajani that she is the one he loves. Sajani's violent husband finds out about her infidelity and brutally beats her. Sajani flees to Henry's house; Henry instructs T.K. to take her away into hiding. T.K tells Sajani never to come back as she is now disgraced and her presence in the village will endanger Henry's life. Sajani does not believe T.K but leaves nonetheless. During this time, resentment towards the British grows stronger; news about an adulterous act between an Indian woman and a British man would be inflammatory. Sajani's love for Henry drives her back to Henry's house. Henry tells her to leave and admits that he does not love her. A distraught Sajani finds T.K's handgun (a gift from Henry), shoots herself in the chest, and dies. T.K. and Henry throw her body in the river to conceal her death. Sajani's disappearance garners interest in the village. Sajani's brother and husband gather the men of the village to search the jungle. The same two children who discovered Sajani and Henry near the waterfall then discover her body. It is established that a bullet from an English pistol killed her. A mob led by Sajani's husband attacks T.K., the only Indian man around with a handgun. The bullet and the handgun match and T.K is tried by the village council for murder. T.K is forced to tell the truth to the council, while Henry's wife discovers her husband's affair and his involvement in Sajani's death and leaves her husband to return to England. T.K proves his innocence to the council in a test by fire. The council elders tell T.K. that he has to kill Henry to get his honour back since he aided and abetted in covering up a killing. Sajani's brother and T.K. go to kill Henry. When it comes to the moment for T.K to kill Henry, he cannot pull the trigger but instead tells Henry that no man owns anything, it belongs to everyone. The film ends with the onset of the monsoon. Henry and T.K's road holds and does not yield to the pouring rains.
Behind the Candelabra (2013)
Color
Chronicals flamboyant entertainer Liberace's relationship with his young lover
Behind the Candelabra
"In 1977, 18-year-old Scott Thorson, who works as an animal trainer for movies, meets Bob Black, a Hollywood producer, in a gay bar in Los Angeles. At Black's urging, he leaves his adopted home in search of better-paying work. Black introduces Thorson to Liberace, who takes an immediate liking to the handsome younger man. Liberace invites the two backstage and then to his luxurious home in Las Vegas. Thorson observes that one of Liberace's beloved dogs is suffering from a temporary form of blindness, and with his veterinary assistant background, informs the famous pianist that he knows how to cure the condition. After treating the dog, Thorson becomes Liberace's "assistant" at the performer's request.
Scott moves in with Liberace and becomes his lover. At this point Scott says that he is bisexual because he is also attracted to women. Liberace is sympathetic, informing him that he wanted and tried to love women, but was exclusively attracted to men. He relates a story of a "divine healing" in which a "messenger" informed him that God still loved him.
It gradually becomes clear that Liberace is trying to mold Scott into a younger version of himself; he requests his plastic surgeon Dr. Startz to transform Scott's face to more closely resemble his own and makes an unsuccessful attempt to formally adopt him. Scott soon turns to drugs as he becomes more angry and frustrated with Liberace trying to control him as well as Liberace's obsession to publicly hide their romance at any cost.
By 1982, Scott's increasing drug abuse and Liberace's promiscuity towards younger men, including dancer Cary James, creates a rift that ultimately destroys their relationship; When Liberace begins visiting gay pornographic theaters and suggests they see other people, Scott becomes upset. Scott retains an attorney to seek his financial share of the property by suing Liberace for over $100 million in palimony. As a result, Liberace ends their formal partnership and involves himself with his most recent, and much younger, "assistant". In 1984, Scott's palimony lawsuit begins where he gives details about his five-year romance with the entertainer, while Liberace flatly denies any sexual relationship.
Not long thereafter (in December 1986), Scott receives a phone call from Liberace telling him that he is very sick with what is later revealed to be AIDS, and would like Scott to visit him again. Scott agrees and drives to Liberace's retreat house in Palm Springs where he and Liberace have one last, emotional deathbed conversation before Scott agrees to drop his palimony lawsuit against Liberace in exchange for a small settlement. Liberace dies a few months later in February 1987. Scott attends Liberace's funeral, in which he imagines seeing Liberace performing one last time with his traditional flamboyance, before being lifted to heaven with a stage harness.
Behold a Pale Horse (1964)
Black & White
Outlaw from Spanish/French War is sought
Behold a Pale Horse
"The movie opens with shots from the Spanish Civil War, and a line of Spanish refugees crossing the border into France after defeat by the Francoists, Manuel Artiguez turns away from the border and back towards Spain. But his friends stop him, saying "Manuel, the war is over!". The story returns twenty years later, to a young boy named Paco, who asks a man named Pedro why Artiguez has stopped his guerrilla raids against the Francoists in Spain. Pedro sends Paco into France to find his uncle and Artiguez. When Paco finds Artiguez, he tells him he wants him to kill Vi?olas, a Guardia Civil officer, for killing his father. Paco lets Artiguez know that his father was killed because he wouldn't tell the police where to find Artiguez. Meanwhile, Vi?olas has learned that Artiguez's mother is dying, and sets a trap at the hospital in San Martin to capture Artiguez, presuming that he will come to see his mother. In return for information about the layout of the hospital and surrounding area, Paco tells Artiguez to "bump into Vi?olas" for him.
After Vi?olas has laid his trap, Artiguez's mother dies (after asking a priest to warn her son not to come), but Vi?olas sends a spy to convince Artiguez otherwise, and to come visit her. When the priest appears at Artiguez's house, he's gone, so the priest tells Paco to pass on the message that his mother is dead, and not to go to San Martin. But, for selfish reasons, Paco rips up the letter and doesn't pass on the message. Afterwards, Paco recognizes the man (Carlos) in Artiguez's house as an informer, and tells Artiguez about the priest's message. Trying to clear up the mess, Artiguez takes Paco and Carlos to Lourdes to find the priest, but he's not there, and they let Carlos go. On the way back, however, they see the priest, and take him to Artiguez's house. When Carlos returns for his rucksack, he senses the trap, and escapes. After much internal debate, Artiguez then decides to go to San Martin anyway, presumably with the mission of killing Vi?olas. Once in San Martin, Artiguez encounters a Francoist sniper on the roof of the hospital and attacks him, sending him to his death. Once inside the hospital, he kills a few officers, but is finally shot.
Being Charlie (2016)
Color
Charlie spends his 18th birthday in rehab
Being Charlie
Charlie is a troublesome 18-year-old who breaks out of a youth drug treatment clinic, but when he returns home to Los Angeles, he's given an intervention by his parents and forced to go to an adult rehab. There, he meets a beautiful but troubled girl, Eva, and is forced to battle with drugs, elusive love and divided parents.
Bel Ami (2012)
Color
Young man's rise to power using women
Bel Ami
Georges Duroy (Robert Pattinson) is a penniless former soldier making a living as an office clerk in 1880s Paris. At a club he meets an old friend, Charles Forestier (Philip Glenister), with whom he spent three years during the war in Algeria. The friend is well off and invites Georges to his home where he meets Mrs. Madeleine Forestier (Uma Thurman) and her friends Clotilde de Marelle (Christina Ricci) and Virginie Rousset (Kristin Scott Thomas). Mrs. Rousset's husband is an editor of the conservative newspaper La Vie Francaise and she helps Georges to get a job there, initially by publishing his diaries from the war in the paper. Gradually his social and financial standing improves, with Duroy using his wit and powers of seduction to charm wealthy women.
Belle (2014)
Color
Mulatto girl born in 1761 British Admiral and African mother and raised by her uncle
Belle
"Dido Elizabeth Belle Lindsay was born in 1761, as the natural daughter of Maria Belle, an enslaved African woman in the West Indies and Captain Sir John Lindsay, a British Royal Navy officer. After the death of Dido's mother, Captain Lindsay takes Dido with him, when he returns to England in 1765, entrusting her to his uncle William Murray, 1st Earl of Mansfield, the Lord Chief Justice and his wife, Elizabeth who live at Kenwood House estate outside London. Lord and Lady Mansfield bring her up Dido a free gentlewoman at their Kenwood House, together with their niece, Lady Elizabeth Murray, who came to live with them after he mother died and her father remarried. When the two nieces reach adulthood, the Mansfields commission a portrait to be painted of their two great-nieces. Dido's father dies and leaves her ?2,000 a year, while Lady Elizabeth's stepmother convinces her father not to leave her anything. Arrangements are made for Elizabeth to have her coming out to society but Lord and Lady Mansfield believe no one will want to marry Dido because of her mixed-race status.
Lord Mansfield agrees to take a vicar's son, John Davinier, into an apprenticeship for law. In 1783, Mansfield heard the case of Gregson v. Gilbert, regarding the payment of an insurance claim, for slaves killed when thrown overboard by the captain of a slave-ship -- an event now known as the Zong massacre. Dido helps her uncle with his correspondence and after John tells her about the Zong case, she begins sneaking correspondence to him which he believes will advance the cause of the abolitionists. Lord Mansfield and John have a disagreement on the main issue of the case and John is told not to see Dido again. Dido's aunts, Lady Mansfield and Lady Mary Murray, Lord Mansfield's sister, seek to steer Dido into an engagement with Oliver Ashford, son of a scheming grand dame and younger brother to the bigoted James Ashford. At first James is interested in Elizabeth but stops courting her once he finds out she will have no inheritance. Oliver proposes to Dido and she accepts, even though she continues to see John. After James threatens Dido with violence, she tells Elizabeth she will give part of her inheritance to her for a dowry so she can find another match. Lord Mansfield finds out about Dido's visits to John and confronts both of them. During the confrontation, John professes his love for Dido. Sometime later, Dido meets with Oliver and breaks off their engagement. Dido sneaks into the balcony of the Inn of Court, so that she can hear Lord Mansfield narrowly rule that the Gregson slave-trading syndicate, based in Liverpool, were not due insurance payments for the loss of slaves during a voyage, when they were thrown overboard by the crew. The ship's officers claimed they ordered this action because they were out of potable water. It appeared to Lord Mansfield that the slaves were over-crowded, making them sick and not likely to fetch a high price at auction, so the officers decided they would be worth more in insurance payments after their loss. Lord Mansfield sees John and Dido outside the Court after his ruling and says that Dido can only marry a gentleman. Therefore, he agrees to resume John's apprenticeship in law, so that he can become a gentleman.
Ben-Hur (1959)
Color
Slave Judah swears vengeance against Messala
Ben-Hur
"In AD 26, Judah Ben-Hur (Charlton Heston) is a wealthy prince and merchant in Jerusalem, who lives with his mother, Miriam (Martha Scott); his sister, Tirzah (Cathy O'Donnell); their loyal slave, Simonides (Sam Jaffe) and his daughter, Esther (Haya Harareet). Esther loves Judah but is betrothed to another. Judah's childhood friend, the Roman citizen Messala (Stephen Boyd), is now a tribune. After several years away from Jerusalem, Messala returns as the new commander of the Roman garrison. Messala believes in the glory of Rome and its imperial power, while Judah is devoted to his faith and the freedom of the Jewish people. This difference causes tension between the friends, and results in their split after Messala issues an ultimatum to Judah.
Charlton Heston as Judah Ben-Hur
During the parade for the new governor of Judea, Valerius Gratus, loose tiles fall from the roof of Judah's house. Gratus is thrown from his spooked horse and nearly killed. Although Messala knows this was an accident, he condemns Judah to the galleys and imprisons Miriam and Tirzah. By punishing a known friend and prominent citizen, he hopes to intimidate the Jewish populace. Judah swears to take revenge.
After three years as a galley slave, Judah is assigned to the flagship of the Roman Consul Quintus Arrius (Jack Hawkins), who has been charged with destroying a fleet of Macedonian pirates. Arrius admires Judah's determination and self-discipline and offers to train him as a gladiator or charioteer. Judah declines the offer, declaring that God will aid him in his quest for vengeance. When the Roman fleet encounters the Macedonians, Arrius orders all the rowers except Judah to be chained to their oars. Arrius' galley is rammed and sunk, but Judah unchains the other rowers, and rescues Arrius. In despair, Arrius wrongly believes the battle ended in defeat and attempts to atone in the Roman way by "falling on his sword", but Judah stops him. They are rescued, and Arrius is credited with the Roman fleet's victory.
Arrius successfully petitions Emperor Tiberius (George Relph) to free Judah, and adopts him as his son. Another year passes. Wealthy again, Judah learns Roman ways and becomes a champion charioteer, but still longs for his family and homeland.
Hugh Griffith as Arab Sheik Ilderim
Judah returns to Judea. Along the way, he meets Balthasar (Finlay Currie) and an Arab, Sheik Ilderim (Hugh Griffith). The sheik has heard of Judah's prowess as a charioteer, and asks him to drive his quadriga in a race before the new Judean governor Pontius Pilate (Frank Thring). Judah declines, even after he learns that Messala will also compete.
Judah returns to his home in Jerusalem. He meets Esther, and learns her arranged marriage did not occur and that she is still in love with him. He visits Messala and demands his mother and sister's freedom. The Romans discover that Miriam and Tirzah contracted leprosy in prison, and expel them from the city. The women beg Esther to conceal their condition from Judah so that he may remember them as they were before, so she tells him that they died. It is then that he changes his mind and decides to seek vengeance on Messala by competing against him in the chariot race.
During the chariot race, Messala drives a chariot with blades on the hubs to tear apart competing vehicles; he attempts to destroy Judah's chariot but destroys his own instead. Messala is fatally injured, while Judah wins the race. Before dying, Messala tells Judah that "the race is not over" and that he can find his family "in the Valley of the Lepers, if you can recognize them." Judah visits the nearby leper colony, where (hidden from their view) he sees his mother and sister.
Blaming Roman rule for his family's fate, Judah rejects his patrimony and Roman citizenship. Learning that Tirzah is dying, Judah and Esther take her and Miriam to see Jesus Christ (Claude Heater), but the trial of Jesus before Pontius Pilate has begun. Judah witnesses the crucifixion of Jesus, and Miriam and Tirzah are miraculously healed during the rainstorm following the crucifixion. Judah declares, "And I felt His voice take the sword out of my hand."
Ben-Hur (2016)
Color
Ben-Hur takes his revenge for having been made a slave by his friend's accusation
Ben-Hur
"A Jewish nobleman, Judah Ben-Hur, and his adopted Roman brother Messala are best friends despite their different origins. Messala enlists in the Roman army and fights in the Roman Empire's wars in Germany. Ben-Hur also develops feelings for the family slave Esther although their different station in life compels him not to pursue her. But when her father Simonides seeks to marry her off to a Roman, Ben-Hur declares his love for her and takes her as his wife. Three years later, Messala returns as a decorated Roman officer. His return coincides with a rising insurrection by the Zealots, Jews who are opposed to the oppressive nature of Roman rule. Ben-Hur treats and shelters a young Zealot youth named Dismas. Messala reunites with Ben-Hur and attempts to convince his adoptive brother to serve as an informant. Following a reunion dinner with Ben-Hur and his family, Messala informs them that a new Roman governor Pontius Pilate will be taking residence in Jerusalem.
Days later, Pontius Pilate marches into Jerusalem with Ben-Hur and his family watching from a balcony. Dismas attempts to assassinate Pilate and in retaliation, the Romans storm Ben-Hur's household and arrest him and his family. Rather than betray a fellow Jew, Ben-Hur takes responsibility for the assassination attempt. His mother and sister are sentenced to be crucified. Ben-Hur and Messala fall out with each other. While being led to the prison galley, Ben-Hur encounters Jesus, who fetches him some water. Ben-Hur endures five years of slavery as a rower aboard a Roman prison galley under the command of Quintus Arius. During a naval battle against Greek rebels in the Ionian Sea, Ben-Hur's galley is boarded but collides with another ship and is destroyed as Ben-Hur manages to cling to a floating mast. He is washed ashore and is found by Sheik Ilderim, who recognizes him as an escaped slave. Ben-Hur manages to convince Ilderim not to hand him over to the Romans by treating one of the Nubian's racing horses. After Ben-Hur develops a bond with the four racing horses, a grateful Ilderim then trains Ben-Hur to be a chariot racer.
Ben-Hur and Sheik Ilderim later travel to Jerusalem to take part in a grand chariot race at the newly built Roman circus. Jesus' preaching ministry draws the attention of governor Pilate and Messala, who is now the commander of the Roman garrison and a champion chariot racer. While visiting Jerusalem, Ben-Hur encounters Esther, who has become a follower of Jesus and is involved in charity work. Esther tells Ben-Hur that his mother and sister are dead, and despite their reunion, the two are kept emotionally apart due to her new cause, which is contrary to his insistence on seeking revenge against Messala.
Ben-Hur later confronts Messala alone in their former home but is forced to flee when Roman soldiers turn up. After the Romans execute twenty Jews in reprisal, Esther completely falls out with Ben-Hur. Sheik Ilderim instructs Ben-Hur in chariot racing techniques. Later, Ben-Hur encounters a former Roman soldier named Druses, who informs him that his mother Naomi and sister Tirzah are still alive. However, their reunion is soured when Ben-Hur discovers his mother and sister have leprosy, the former also appearing to have lost her memory.
Sheik Ilderim bribes Pilate into allowing Ben-Hur to compete by proposing a high wager. Esther tries to convince Messala not to race Ben-Hur, but he is adamant that he will win. On the day of the race, Ben-Hur follows Ilderim's instructions to hold back from the race until the final laps. Using dirty tactics, Messala manages to knock out the other competing charioteers. Following a brutal and grueling race, Ben-Hur wins the race. Messala survives but is badly wounded and loses a leg. Ben-Hur's victory emboldens the Jewish spectators and yields dividends for Ilderim.
Despite his victory, Ben-Hur is despondent about his family and his former friend Messala. Later, Esther witnesses the arrest of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. Ben-Hur and Esther witness a bruised and beaten Jesus being forced to carry his cross through the streets. Mirroring his first encounter with Jesus, Ben-Hur tries to offer Jesus water but is beaten by a Roman soldier. Following Jesus' crucifixion, a rainstorm occurs. Naomi and Tirzah are miraculously healed by rainwater containing the blood of Jesus, and Sheik Ilderim pays a ransom to set them free. Despite his anger, Ben-Hur finds the strength to forgive Messala and is reconciled with him and his family. Together, Ben-Hur, his mother, sister, Esther, and Messala accompany Sheik Ilderim's caravan as they leave Jerusalem.
Beyond the Lights (2014)
Color
Rising star is rescued from suicidal despair by policeman destined to become her lover
Beyond the Lights
"In 1998 in London, a young Noni Jean is taken by her mother Macy to a salon to get her hair done before her performance at a talent contest. Noni is happy to win second place for her performance of Nina Simone's "Blackbird", but her mother refuses to accept anything but first place and forces Noni to smash her trophy on the ground. In the present, Noni Jean is a hot new artist who has just won a Billboard Music Award for her collaboration with her boyfriend Kid Culprit and is primed for superstardom. However, the pressures of success cause her to nearly end her life by falling off a hotel balcony. She is saved by a young police officer, Kaz Nicol. Noni's team, including her mother, tells the media in a press conference that she fell by accident. Kaz, who has political ambitions, is not happy to be forced to lie to the media, and is initially cold to Noni. However, he later apologizes to her. Gradually, they connect and begin to fall in love, despite her mother's disapproval. Noni tells Kaz about the songs she has secretly written, and he is supportive of her creative ambitions. Noni decides to end the romantic relationship with Kid Culprit that her team has encouraged.
In spite of her team's attempt to cover it up, rumors persist that Noni attempted suicide and her label tells Macy that her record contract is conditional on a successful upcoming performance. However, during the performance, Kid Culprit suddenly humiliates her and lies about their relationship, and Kaz punches him on stage in defense of Noni. Following this, Noni loses her record contract and is at a low point emotionally, so Kaz takes her on a trip to Mexico away from the spotlight where they enjoy each other's company. Noni gets rid of her old hairstyle in favor of her natural hair, and a trip to a local karaoke bar leads to Noni giving an emotional performance of "Blackbird." The performance is uploaded to the internet and goes viral, causing Noni's mother and the paparazzi to find her. Macy tells Noni that the viral success of her performance has caused her record label to reconsider, and Noni agrees to return home. Kaz tells Noni he is not convinced that anything will be different than it was before, and their relationship is put on pause.
When Noni wants to add a song she has written to her upcoming album, Macy tells her that it can't be done. The two fight about their relationship and Noni tells her mother that even after her suicide attempt, Macy continued to focus only on her career to the detriment of her happiness and mental health. Noni fires Macy as her manager. Meanwhile, Kaz has begun a political campaign and reflects on whether his career should take precedence over his personal happiness. Inspired by Kaz's honesty, Noni gives a television interview where she admits to having attempted suicide and says she is getting help. Noni prepares for her first live performance in London, and shortly before going onstage suddenly encounters Kaz, who has taken a flight there and expresses his love for her. Noni performs a song she has written to an enthusiastic audience. She brings Kaz onstage, tells him that she loves him too, and they embrace.
Billie Elliot (2000)
Color
Boy torn between dance and family
Billie Elliot
"In 1984, Billy Elliot, an 11-year-old from the fictional Everington in County Durham, England, loves to dance and has hopes of becoming a professional ballet dancer. Billy lives with his widowed father, Jackie, and older brother, Tony, both coal miners out on strike (the latter being the union delegate), and also his maternal grandmother, who has Alzheimer's disease and once aspired to be a professional dancer.
Billy's father sends him to the gym to learn boxing, but Billy dislikes the sport. He happens to see a ballet class that is using the gym while their usual basement studio is temporarily being used as a soup kitchen for the striking miners. Unknown to Jackie, Billy joins the ballet class. When Jackie discovers this, he forbids Billy to take any more ballet. But, passionate about dancing, Billy secretly continues lessons with the help of his dance teacher, Sandra Wilkinson.
Mrs. Wilkinson believes that Billy is talented enough to study at the Royal Ballet School in London, but due to Tony's arrest during a clash between police and striking miners, Billy misses the audition. Mrs. Wilkinson tells Jackie about the missed opportunity, but fearing that Billy will be considered to be gay, both Jackie and Tony are outraged at the prospect of him becoming a professional ballet dancer.
Over Christmas, Billy learns his best friend Michael is gay. Billy is supportive of his friend. Later, Jackie catches Billy dancing in the gym and realises his son is truly gifted; he resolves to do whatever it takes to help Billy attain his dream. Mrs. Wilkinson tries to persuade Jackie to let her pay for the audition, but he replies that Billy is his son and he does not need charity. Jackie attempts to cross the picket line to pay for the trip to London, but Tony stops him. Instead, his fellow miners and the neighbourhood raise some money and Jackie pawns Billy's mother's jewellery to cover the cost, and Jackie takes him to London to audition.
Although very nervous, Billy performs well, but he punches another boy in frustration at the audition, fearing that he has ruined his chances of attaining his dream. He is rebuked by the review board, but when asked what it feels like when he is dancing, he struggles for words but describes it as being "like electricity". Seemingly rejected, Billy returns home with his father. Sometime later, the Royal Ballet School sends him a letter of acceptance, coinciding with the end of the miners' strike, and he leaves home for London.
In 1998, 25-year-old Billy takes the stage to perform the Swan in Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake, as Jackie, Tony, and Michael watch from the audience; Billy's father is visibly moved by his performance.
Billionaire Boys Club (2018)
Color
Harvard boys start Ponzi scheme
Billionaire Boys Club
Led by their fellow preppie friend Joe Hunt, a group of wealthy young men in 1980s Los Angeles come up with a plan to get-rich-quick with a Ponzi scheme. The plan ends badly for all involved when Hunt and friend Tim Pitt end up murdering investor and con man Ron Levin.
Birdman (2014)
Color
Washed-up actor attempts to recover his career
Birdman
"Riggan Thomson is a faded American actor famous for playing a superhero named Birdman in a film trilogy in the 1990s. He is tormented by the mocking and critical internal voice of Birdman and frequently visualizes himself performing feats of levitation and telekinesis. Riggan is trying to gain recognition as a serious actor for writing, directing, and starring in a Broadway adaptation of Raymond Carver's short story, "What We Talk About When We Talk About Love." However, the Birdman voice wants Riggan to return to blockbuster cinema and insists that he is an essential part of Riggan's identity.
Jake, Riggan's best friend and lawyer, is producing the play, which co-stars Riggan's girlfriend, Laura, and Broadway debutante Lesley. Riggan's daughter Sam, a recovering drug addict with whom he is trying to reconnect, is working as his assistant. The day before the first preview, a light fixture falls onto Riggan's hapless co-star, Ralph. At Lesley's suggestion, Riggan replaces Ralph with her boyfriend, the brilliant but volatile and self-absorbed method actor Mike Shiner. The first previews are disastrous: Mike breaks character over the replacement of his gin with water, attempts to rape Lesley during a sex scene, and claims that the prop gun does not look real, which is hindering his performance. Riggan clashes continually with Mike, climaxing into a fight scene after Riggan reads a New York Times interview with Mike in which he steals Riggan's personal reason for doing a Raymond Carver play. Jake persuades Riggan to continue with the play. When Riggan berates Sam after finding her using marijuana, she insultingly rebukes and chastises him, telling him he doesn't matter and the play is for his own vanity. All the while, the Birdman voice continues talking with Riggan, judging him as well as everyone and everything around him.
During the final preview, Riggan accidentally locks himself outside with his robe stuck in the fire escape door. He is forced to walk through Times Square in his underpants and enter through the audience to do the final scene. A concerned Sam is waiting in his dressing room after the show. She thinks the performance was very unusual but interesting. She shows him that the Times Square footage is going viral and explains how this actually helps him.
Riggan goes to a bar for a drink and approaches Tabitha Dickinson, a highly influential (albeit cynical) theater critic. She tells him that she hates ignorant Hollywood celebrities who pretend to be serious actors and promises to "kill" his play with a deprecating review without even having seen it; offended, he angrily rebukes her criticisms as prejudiced bias and insults her, crumpling up her notes before she leaves in disgust. On the way back, Riggan buys a pint of whiskey, drinks it, and passes out on a stoop. The next day, walking to the theater with a severe hangover, he has a conversation with the now visible Birdman, who tries to convince him to abandon the play and make a fourth Birdman film. A brief, imaginary action film sequence takes place on the street nearby, and Birdman mocks the moviegoing public's love of spectacle while looking directly at the audience. Riggan visualizes himself flying through the streets of Manhattan before arriving at the theater.
On the opening night, the play is going very well. In his dressing room, a strangely calm Riggan confesses to his ex-wife, Sylvia, that several years ago, he attempted to drown himself in the ocean after she caught him having an affair. He also tells her about his inner Birdman voice, which she ignores. After Sylvia wishes him luck and leaves the room, Riggan picks up a real gun, rather than a prop, for the final scene in which his character commits suicide. At the climax, Riggan shoots himself in the head on stage. The play receives a standing ovation as Tabitha stands and leaves.
The next day, Riggan wakes up in a hospital with his face covered in a mask of bandages where his nose has been surgically reconstructed after he blew it off during the botched suicide. Sylvia is worried about him, but Jake cannot contain his excitement that the play will run forever after Tabitha published a glowing review acclaiming the play, which called the suicide attempt a new art, "super-realism," and just what American theater needed. Sam visits with flowers, which he cannot smell, and takes a picture of him to share with the skyrocketing number of followers on the Twitter account she has created for him. While she steps outside to find a vase, Riggan goes into the bathroom, removes the bandages revealing his swollen new nose, and obscenely says goodbye to Birdman, seen seated on the toilet. Fascinated by the birds flying outside his room, he opens the window, peers up at them, and then climbs out onto the ledge. Sam returns to an empty room and frantically runs to the open window, scanning the ground before slowly looking up into the sky and smiling.
Birdman of Alcatraz (1962)
Black & White
Prisoner who takes an interest in birds
Birdman of Alcatraz
"Robert Stroud (Lancaster) is imprisoned as a young man for committing a murder in Alaska. He is shown as a rebellious inmate, fighting against a rigid prison system: on his way to jail by train he breaks open the window to allow the suffocating inmates to breathe. His rebellious attitude puts him in conflict with Harvey Shoemaker (Malden), the warden of Leavenworth Prison.
While in jail, Stroud learns that his mother (Ritter) tried to visit him but was denied and told to return later in the week. Outraged, he attacks a guard over the issue and the man is killed. Stroud is sentenced to death, but his mother runs a successful campaign and it is commuted to life in prison. The terms of the sentence require that he be kept in solitary confinement for the rest of his life.
To break the monotony, Stroud adopts a sparrow as a pet. This starts a trend and he and the other convicts acquire birds, such as canaries, as gifts from the outside. Before long, Stroud has built up a collection of birds and cages. When they fall ill, he makes experiments and comes up with a cure. As the years pass, Stroud becomes an expert on bird diseases and even publishes a book on the subject. His writings are so impressive that a doctor describes him as a "genius".
Stroud later meets bird-lover Stella Johnson (Field) and agrees to go into business, marketing his bird remedies. He and Stella later marry, but his mother disapproves and this causes a rift between mother and son. He is abruptly transferred to the federal penitentiary at Alcatraz (the "Rock"), a new maximum security institution where he is not permitted to keep birds. He is now growing elderly but still shows a rebellious side, writing a history of the U.S. penal system that is suppressed by Shoemaker, now warden of the Rock.
Still at odds with authority, Stroud nevertheless manages to help stop a prison rebellion in 1946 by throwing out the guns acquired by the convicts. He then assures the authorities that they can now re-enter the premises without fear of being shot. Although Stroud has been a thorn in his side for decades, Shoemaker acknowledges that he has never lied to him and takes him at his word.
Although constantly denied parole, Stroud is eventually transferred to another prison in Missouri after a petition campaign. During the move, he meets several reporters and displays a range of knowledge on more than just birds, such as the technical details of a passing jet aircraft. He even gets to meet Thomas E. Gaddis (Edmond O'Brien) the author of the book based on his life.
Black Coffee (2014)
Color
New couple is hounded by their exes
Black Coffee
Robert (Henson) picked the wrong time to meet his soul mate! After being fired from his own father's company, he feels like his luck has run out - until Morgan (Dennis) enters into his life. Just as things start to heat up between them, trouble brews as Morgan's ex-husband (Rucker) vows to get her back and Robert's gold-digging ex-girlfriend (Hubbard) returns with an agenda of her own. With the help of his cousin (Keyes), Robert's about to find out how much good can come out of a bad situation in this charming romantic comedy that's good to the last drop.
Black Hawk Down (2001)
Color
Black Hawk Helicopters are downed behind enemy lines
Black Hawk Down
"In 1993, following the ousting of the central government and start of a civil war, a major United Nations military operation in Somalia is authorized with a peacekeeping mandate. After the bulk of the peacekeepers are withdrawn, the Mogadishu-based militia loyal to Mohamed Farrah Aidid declares war on the remaining UN personnel. In response, the U.S. Army deploys three of its special operations forces -- 75th Rangers, Delta Force counter-terrorist operators, and 160th SOAR - Night Stalkers aviators -- to Mogadishu to capture Aidid, who has proclaimed himself president of the country.
To consolidate his power and subdue the population in the south, Aidid and his militia seize Red Cross food shipments, while the UN forces are powerless to intervene directly. Outside Mogadishu, Rangers and Delta Force capture Osman Ali Atto, a faction leader selling arms to Aidid's militia. A mission is planned to capture Omar Salad Elmi and Abdi Hassan Awale Qeybdiid, two of Aidid's top advisers.
The U.S. forces include experienced men as well as new recruits, including 18-year-old PFC Todd Blackburn and a desk clerk, SPC Grimes, going on his first mission. When his lieutenant is removed from duty after having an epileptic seizure, Staff Sergeant Matthew Eversmann is placed in command of Ranger Chalk Four, his first command.
The operation begins and Delta Force operators capture Aidid's advisers inside the target building. The Rangers and helicopters escorting the ground-extraction convoy take heavy fire, while Eversmann's Chalk Four is dropped a block away by mistake. Blackburn is severely injured when he falls from one of the Black Hawk helicopters, so three Humvees led by SSG Jeff Struecker are detached from the convoy to return Blackburn to the UN-held Mogadishu Airport.
SGT Dominick Pilla is shot and killed just as Struecker's column departs, and shortly thereafter Black Hawk Super Six-One, piloted by CWO Clifton "Elvis" Wolcott crashes when shot down by a rocket-propelled grenade. Both Wolcott and his co-pilot Dan Briley are killed, the two crew chiefs are wounded, and one Delta Force sniper Busch on board escapes in an MH-6 Little Bird helicopter, although Busch dies later from injuries.
The ground forces are rerouted to converge on the crash site. The Somali militia erects roadblocks, and LTC Danny McKnight's Humvee column is unable to reach the crash area while sustaining heavy casualties including Joyce, Alphabet and Wex. Meanwhile, two Ranger Chalks, including Eversmann's unit, reach Super-Six One's crash site and set up a defensive perimeter to await evacuation with the two wounded men and the fallen pilots. In the interim, Super Six-Four, piloted by CWO Michael Durant, is also shot down by an RPG and crashes several blocks away.
With CPT Mike Steele's Rangers pinned down and sustaining heavy casualties, no ground forces can reach Super Six-Four's crash site nor reinforce the Rangers defending Super Six-One. Two Delta Force snipers, SFC Randy Shughart and MSG Gary Gordon are inserted by helicopter to Super Six-Four's crash site, where they find Durant still alive. The site is eventually overrun, Gordon and Shughart are killed, and Durant is captured by Aidid's militia before the angry mob of Somali civilians can kill him as well.
McKnight's column relinquish their attempt to reach Six-One's crash site and return to base with their prisoners and the casualties. The men prepare to go back to extract the Rangers and the fallen pilots, and MG Garrison sends LTC Joe Cribbs to ask for reinforcements from the 10th Mountain Division, including Malaysian and Pakistani armored units from the UN coalition.
As night falls, Aidid's militia launch a sustained assault on the trapped Americans at Super Six-One's crash site. Jamie Smith is killed while covering for his team mate when he gets shot in the leg and bleeds out despite everyone trying to help him. The militants are held off throughout the night by strafing runs and rocket attacks from AH-6J Little Bird helicopter gunships, until the 10th Mountain Division's relief column is able to reach and save the American soldiers. The wounded and casualties are evacuated in the vehicles, but a few of Rangers and Delta Force soldiers are forced to run on foot from the crash site; after fighting through militia forces, they eventually reach the Pakistani Compound UN Safe Zone. Steele visits his dying friend Ruiz as all the wounded are tended to.
The end titles detail the immediate aftermath of the mission and end of military operations in Somalia: Michael Durant was released after 11 days of captivity, after which President Bill Clinton withdrew all US forces from Somalia. Mohamed Farah Aidid was killed in 1996.
Black Legion (1937)
Black & White
Disgruntled autoworker joins white supremicist group
Black Legion
"When passed over for promotion at work in favor of a foreign-born friend, Frank Taylor (Humphrey Bogart), a midwestern factory worker, joins the anti-immigrant Black Legion, a secret white vigilante organization portrayed as related to the Ku Klux Klan. Dressed in black robes and hoods, Taylor and the Legion mount a torchlight raid and burn down the friend's chicken farm, driving him out of town, so that Taylor can gain the job he believed was his. Soon, however, Taylor's recruiting activities with the Legion get in the way of his work, and he is demoted in favor of neighbor Mike Grogan (Clifford Soubier). The Legion takes action again, attacking Grogan.
Under the continued influence of the Legion, Taylor becomes a brutal racist, and alienates his wife (Erin O'Brien-Moore). He starts drinking heavily and takes up with a loose woman (Helen Flint). When his friend Ed Jackson (Dick Foran) tries to counsel him, a drunken Taylor tells about his Legion activities. Taylor reports the conversation to Cliff, a co-worker and fellow member of the Legion, who initiates a false rumor that Jackson is a woman-beater. On the pretext of punishing him for that offense, the Legion kidnaps Jackson, planning to flog him. Jackson tries to escape. As he is running away, Taylor shoots and kills him; breaking down afterward with guilt and remorse, he exclaims, "I didn't mean to shoot!"
Taylor is arrested for the murder, and the Legion threatens his wife and son to prevent him from implicating the secret group in the crime. Taylor finally tells the truth, resulting in all the members of the Black Legion being convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison
Black Narcissus (1947)
Color
Group of nuns challenged by their remote surroundings in the Himalayas
Black Narcissus
"A mission of Anglican nuns from the Order of The Servants of Mary is invited by the Rajput ruler of a princely state to set up a school and hospital (to be called St. Faith) in the dilapidated seraglio where his father's harem was based, high on a cliff in the Himalayas. An order of monks has already tried unsuccessfully to establish themselves there, and the General's agent Mr. Dean makes the social and environmental difficulties plain. The ambitious Sister Clodagh is appointed Sister Superior and sent with four other nuns: Sister Philippa for the garden, Sister Briony for the infirmary; Sister Blanche, better known as "Sister Honey" to teach lace-making, and the emotionally unwell Sister Ruth for general classes. Mr. Dean is unimpressed, and gives them until the beginning of the monsoon before they leave.
During their time setting up the convent, the nuns face troubles with the old building and with the local Hindu population, often clashing with the building's old native caretaker Angu Ayah. Among these is a holy man in their grounds, the General's uncle, who spends all his time staring into the mountains. They also take in a local girl called Kanchi to try and control her erratic spirit; and the General's current heir--referred to as the Young General--for classes to understand Western culture prior to a trip to Britain. Kanchi is whipped by Ayah for stealing, but the Young General stops her and ends up falling for Kanchi in a situation compared by Mr. Dean to the tale of The King and the Beggar-maid.
Each member also has troubles of their own caused by their surroundings, which seem to magnify their emotions. Briony suffers from ill health, and Philippa loses herself in the environment and ends up planting the vegetable garden with flowers. Ruth, already highly strung, becomes increasingly jealous of Clodagh and obsesses with Mr. Dean, leading her to renounce the order. Clodagh remembers a failed romance from her home in Ireland which prompted her to join the Order. Honey's growing attachment to the children ends in disaster when she gives medicine to a fatally-ill baby. Its death angers the locals, who blame and abandon the mission, and puts further strain on the nuns. Mr. Dean unsuccessfully tries to persuade Clodagh to leave before anything else happens.
One night, Clodagh confronts the now-unstable Ruth, finding her in a modern dress she ordered to impress Mr. Dean. Ruth escapes Clodagh's watch and finds Mr. Dean. When he refuses her advances, she has a complete mental breakdown and goes back to the mission, intent on killing Clodagh. When Clodagh is ringing the bell for morning service located on a cliff edge, Ruth attempts to push her over the edge. In the resulting struggle, Ruth falls off the cliff to her death. The mission leaves just as the monsoon begins, with Clodagh's final request to Mr. Dean being to tend Ruth's grave.
Black Widow (1987)
Color
A federal investigator tracks down a woman who kills husbands for their inheritance
Black Widow
"After Manhattan publishing magnate Sam Peterson apparently dies of Ondine's curse, a condition in which seemingly healthy middle-aged men die in their sleep of respiratory failure, his younger wife of six months, Catharine, inherits his estate. Several months later, Catharine relocates to Dallas, Texas, posing as a Southern belle named "Marielle." She seduces Ben Dumers, the owner of a toy company, and the two marry. Shortly after, she poisons a bottle of expensive liquor, which kills him. After Ben's death, his sister Etta unsuccessfully attempts to contest his will, but is silenced by Catharine's gift of $500,000.
Meanwhile, Alexandra, a Justice Department agent in Washington, D.C., takes note of the similarities in both cases and begins investigating them. Through photographic comparisons of the men's brides, Alexandra determines it to be the same woman. Catharine moves on to Seattle, where she presents herself as a poised sophisticate named Margaret, and begins studying ancient history, especially Pacific Northwest native culture and Roman coins. At a local museum, she impresses William Macauley, a wealthy curator, with her knowledge, and buys her way onto the board of directors. She and William begin dating, and begin a whirlwind romance that leads to marriage. Catharine takes note of William's allergy to penicillin.
Alexandra begins interviewing the friends and families of Catharine's victims, first Sara, Sam's assistant, and next, Etta. Presenting her research to her superior, Bruce, Alexandra convinces him to send her on an investigative trip to Seattle, where she has tracked Catharine, who is now living with William at a rustic home on Bainbridge Island. Alexandra poses as a freelance reporter at the museum, claiming to be writing a story on powerful women, and inquiring about his wife, Margaret. William tells her his wife is private and will likely decline an interview. Shortly after, Catharine goes to the doctor complain of recurring bouts with tonsillitis, and is prescribed penicillin, which she mixes into William's toothpaste. The penicillin triggers a fatal heart attack, but his autopsy shows nothing unusual.
Determined to bring Catharine to justice, Alexandra trails her to Hawaii, where she fled after William's death. In Hawaii, Catharine, going by the name Renni Walker, seduces Paul Nuytten, a French hotelier. Alexandra, posing as "Jessica Bates", enrolls in a scuba diving class Catharine is taking, and the two partner during lessons. Alexandra ingratiates herself to Catharine, and the two become friendly. However, after Catharine observes Alexandra and Mr. Shin meeting in public, she grows suspicious. Catharine subsequently learns from Sara that Alexandra interviewed her several months prior in New York.
Several days later, Alexandra and Catharine go diving together, and Catharine saves Alexandra when her scuba gear apparently malfunctions. Catharine confides in Alexandra that she amassed her wealth from marrying rich men. She also encourages Alexandra to pursue Paul, whom she suspects has a crush on her. While Alexandra and Paul spend an afternoon alone at Catharine's encouragement, Catharine breaks into Alex's apartment and hires Shin to stalk her; he soon takes photos of Alexandra and Paul kissing. Confronting Alexandra with the photos, Catharine pretends to be upset. A short time later, Paul and Catharine are married.
Alexandra arrives at the wedding and accuses Catharine of manipulating her. She gifts Catharine a black widow necklace. Catharine responds by kissing her. Later, Catharine visits Shin and, holding him at gunpoint, forces him to poison himself to death. In Shin's office, police find the photos of Paul and Alexandra. While Catharine goes on a trip to San Francisco, Alexandra confronts Paul with her investigation against Catharine. Paul informs Alexandra that his will declares that his entire estate go to the Cancer Foundation. When Paul subsequently dies, police arrest Alexandra after finding poison Catharine planted in her apartment.
At the reading of Paul's will, his attorney reveals that, because his legal state of residence was Florida, his bequest to charity is invalidated because it was made in the past six months. Catharine visits Alexandra in jail and taunts her. Moments later, Sara enters the visiting area, followed by Paul, who is in fact not dead, having faked his death to entrap Catharine. Catharine attempts to kiss him, but he refuses her, after which she is arrested.
Black or White (2014)
Color
After his wife's death, father struggles to maintain custody of his biracial daughter
Black or White
"Elliot is in an office building on the phone discussing funeral arrangements. His wife has died. He's talking to his colleague/friend Rick about what happened and he tries to offer him support. He goes home alone and drinks himself to sleep. In the morning he hides the bottle as his granddaughter Eloise, who is African American, knocks on the door and asks where her grandmother is. He tells her he will take her to school and to finish getting ready. He sees visions of his daughter and attempts to brush Eloise's hair, but is unsuccessful. She is very cute and they are having difficulty as he tries to do her hair, get her ready, and then take her to school, as he gets lost on the way.
While Eloise is at school, guests are over the house to try and arrange things for the funeral. Rick and his girlfriend Faye go with Elliot to pick Eloise up from school. She hasn't been told yet. He sits her down and tells her that Grandma Carol was killed in a car accident. She asks him if he's been drinking. She doesn't seem to have a reaction about her grandmother at first, but then starts to cry as Faye and Rick watch from the car. Eloise's other grandmother Rowena and family attend the funeral. Rowena immediately starts talking about her big family, implying that Eloise should live with them. Elliot continues to try and be “Mr. Mom” doing everything as her grandmother would do it.
A man named Duvan comes over for an interview to be a tutor for Eloise. His daughter died in childbirth and implies that she was not on speaking terms with them at the time. He also needs him to tutor himself in math to help her. Rowena is threatening to sue for custody via her brother who is a big time lawyer. Rick says that Rowena and Eloise are both black, which angers Elliot as she is “half black”. He then pays Duvan to drive him around since he is too drunk to do it himself. He takes him to see Rowena. She says she wants shared custody and accuses him of not wanting her there because it would be with the “black folks.” He tells her to stop bringing that up because she lives in the safest neighborhood in LA and goes to one of the best schools in the country. He brings up what her son Reggie (Eloise's father) did to the family and the hell they put them through.
Rowena's brother has his legal team and her sitting down for a meeting. He convinces her to say that Elliot has a problem with black people in order to win custody. The judge for the case is going to be a black woman, which makes the case not good for Elliot. Elliot talks to Eloise to find out what she wants. She makes it clear that she wants to stay living with Elliot. They go to court for the initial hearing and the judge doesn't seem to care for Rowena's attitude, which looks good for Elliot. Elliot continues to drink and see visions of his wife and daughter. Eloise tests Elliot by not being obedient, causing him to yell at her. She storms off saying she doesn't want to live with him and she wants her daddy.
Reggie goes to visit Elliot. He asks him for money, saying that if he gives it to him he'll leave which will give Elliot a better chance of having custody. Elliot tells Reggie that Eloise wants to see him so they make plans for him to go visit. Eloise gets all dressed up, but Reggie never shows. She goes to her room and Elliot finds the liquor that his maid hid under the sink. The next day Rowena shows up to Elliot's house with the entire family of cousins to go swimming. She tells Elliot that Reggie is sitting outside at the car. She tries to defend him. He tells him that he wanted to go, but just couldn't. He tells him off saying he's not the “street nigger” he thinks he is. Reggie just walks away, eventually going out to the pool. Eloise goes up to him and they hug. Later, Elliot confronts him and offers him $25,000 to go away and get cleaned up and off drugs. Reggie tells him he is off drugs and just needs it for some debts.
Reggie meets with his Uncle Jeremiah and Rowena. Jeremiah doesn't believe that he is clean and he better be telling the truth because the judge won't believe him. Jeremiah thinks they should leave Reggie out of it in order to win custody, but him being her father, Rowena doesn't want to. Elliot gets a call that Reggie is now petitioning for full custody and brought in the check, saying that Elliot is bribing him to get out of the picture, which is very bad for his case. Elliot meets with his lawyers and explains it wasn't a bribe and that Reggie ruined his daughter's life and he won't let him do the same to Eloise. Elliot goes home and finds out that Reggie came by and took Eloise, telling the maid they would be back by dinner. Elliot goes to Rowena's and they are all having some kind of music party with Eloise on the piano. He sees Reggie across the street, smoking and drinking, and runs after him. Reggie tries to run and he tackles him and tells him never to come to his house without permission again or to take Eloise again.
Rowena comes to find out what's going on and finds out that Reggie didn't have permission to take Eloise. Rowena keeps defending him and Elliot tells her that the “bribery check” was to pay off debts, yet she never saw any of it (she had given him money). On the way to court, Rowena sees Reggie smoking and all disheveled, saying that he can't do it. He wants to, but he can't. Rowena slaps him, trying to knock some sense into him. They go to court and Reggie starts saying the rehearsed lines. Rowena has another outburst and is threatened to be taken out in handcuffs. Rowena sees that Reggie is fidgety and forces Jeremiah to ask for a lunch break. Elliot refuses and wants Rick to cross examine Reggie right then. Rick asks Reggie how his spelling, reading, and writing is, and asks him to spell the name Eloise. He spells it Loeze -- he's illiterate.
After lunch they question Duvan. He says that he is fluent in 9 languages and conversational in 4. He says that while tutoring Eloise, he also tutors Elliot, making him extremely involved. Jeremiah reveals that he is also his driver because of his drinking. Elliot is on the stand and tells about his experiences with Reggie in the past -- about how he was on drugs, asking for money, and one time he pulled a knife on him. Jeremiah asks him about his financial stability, and he explains that yes he will have to go back to work eventually and won't be able to be there with her full time. He then pulls the race card and asks him about when he called Reggie a “street nigger.” He admits to it and apologizes, however he says how Reggie would refer to himself in that way. Elliot says he used the term because it was stuck in his brain. He goes on a rant about how he's not racist and Reggie is just a drug addict.
At home, Elliot is drinking and Reggie comes back asking for money, threatening to take Eloise. They get into a fist fight and Reggie pulls a knife on Elliot. Reggie runs inside to Eloise's room, and Elliot falls into the pool and gets caught under the tarp. Just as he's drowning Reggie jumps into the water and pulls him out, but in his state he sees a vision of his daughter. He gives him mouth to mouth the best he can figure out how to and Elliot survives. Reggie apologizes to him finally about him losing his daughter and leaves, crying.
A week later they are at the final hearing in the case. Reggie admits that Elliot was right and he isn't ready to be a father. He doesn't want custody and says he needs to go away for a while to get himself together first. Elliot was ready to tell about what happened with the fight, but doesn't need to anymore. Jeremiah stands up and says they are now asking for Rowena to have full custody. Rowena can't help herself. She stands up and says she doesn't want full custody and says Elliot has Eloise's best interest at heart and they want him to have full custody, which is granted to him. Eloise is going to visit Rowena and the family for a couple weeks. Elliot tells her he just needs to work on some things. Duvan is going to continue to go there for tutoring.
Black Panther (2018)
Color
Epic fight for the throne of Wakanda
Black Panther
"Thousands of years ago, five African tribes war over a meteorite containing the metal vibranium. One warrior ingests a "heart-shaped herb" affected by the metal and gains superhuman abilities, becoming the first "Black Panther". He unites all but the Jabari Tribe to form the nation of Wakanda. Over centuries, the Wakandans use the vibranium to develop advanced technology and isolate themselves from the world by posing as a Third World country. In 1992, Wakanda's King T'Chaka visits his brother N'Jobu, who is working undercover in Oakland, California. T'Chaka accuses N'Jobu of assisting black-market arms dealer Ulysses Klaue with stealing vibranium from Wakanda. N'Jobu's partner reveals he is Zuri, another undercover Wakandan, and confirms T'Chaka's suspicions.
In the present day, following T'Chaka's death,[N 1] his son T'Challa returns to Wakanda to assume the throne. He and Okoye, the leader of the Dora Milaje regiment, extract T'Challa's ex-lover Nakia from an undercover assignment so she can attend his coronation ceremony with his mother Ramonda and younger sister Shuri. At the ceremony, the Jabari Tribe's leader M'Baku challenges T'Challa for the crown in ritual combat. T'Challa defeats M'Baku and persuades him to yield rather than die.
When Klaue and his accomplice Erik Stevens steal a Wakandan artifact from a London museum, T'Challa's friend and Okoye's lover W'Kabi urges him to bring Klaue back alive. T'Challa, Okoye, and Nakia travel to Busan, South Korea, where Klaue plans to sell the artifact to CIA agent Everett K. Ross. A firefight erupts and Klaue attempts to flee but is caught by T'Challa, who reluctantly releases him to Ross' custody. Klaue tells Ross that Wakanda's international image is a front for a technologically advanced civilization. Erik attacks and extracts Klaue as Ross is gravely injured protecting Nakia. Rather than pursue Klaue, T'Challa takes Ross to Wakanda, where their technology can save him.
While Shuri heals Ross, T'Challa confronts Zuri about N'Jobu. Zuri explains that N'Jobu planned to share Wakanda's technology with people of African descent around the world to help them conquer their oppressors. As T'Chaka arrested N'Jobu, the latter attacked Zuri and forced T'Chaka to kill him. T'Chaka ordered Zuri to lie that N'Jobu had disappeared and left behind N'Jobu's American son in order to maintain the lie. This boy grew up to be Stevens, a U.S. black ops soldier who adopted the name "Killmonger". Meanwhile, Killmonger kills Klaue and takes his body to Wakanda. He is brought before the tribal elders, revealing his identity to be N'Jadaka and claim to the throne. Killmonger challenges T'Challa to ritual combat, where he kills Zuri, defeats T'Challa, and hurls him over a waterfall to his presumed death. Killmonger ingests the heart-shaped herb and orders the rest incinerated, but Nakia extracts one first. Killmonger, supported by W'Kabi and his army, prepares to distribute shipments of Wakandan weapons to operatives around the world.
Nakia, Shuri, Ramonda, and Ross flee to the Jabari Tribe for aid. They find a comatose T'Challa, rescued by the Jabari in repayment for sparing M'Baku's life. Healed by Nakia's herb, T'Challa returns to fight Killmonger, who dons his own Black Panther suit. W'Kabi and his army fight Shuri, Nakia, and the Dora Milaje, while Ross remotely pilots a jet and shoots down planes carrying the vibranium weapons. M'Baku and the Jabari arrive to reinforce T'Challa. Confronted by Okoye, W'Kabi and his army stand down. Fighting in Wakanda's vibranium mine, T'Challa disrupts Killmonger's suit and stabs him. Killmonger refuses to be healed, choosing to die a free man rather than be incarcerated.
T'Challa establishes an outreach center at the building where N'Jobu died, to be run by Nakia and Shuri. In a mid-credits scene, T'Challa appears before the United Nations to reveal Wakanda's true nature to the world. In a post-credits scene, Shuri helps Bucky Barnes with his recuperation.
Black Swan (2010)
Color
Ballerina struggles to play the Black Swan
Black Swan
"Nina Sayers is a 28-year-old dancer in a New York City ballet company, which is preparing to open its new season with Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake. With prima ballerina Beth MacIntyre being forced into retirement, artistic director Thomas Leroy announces he is looking for a new dancer to portray the dual role of the innocent White Swan and the sensual Black Swan. Nina auditions for the role and gives a flawless performance as the White Swan, but fails to embody the Black Swan.
The following day, Nina asks Thomas to reconsider choosing her to play the role. When he forcibly kisses her, she bites him before running out of his office. Later that day, Nina sees the cast list and discovers, much to her surprise and that of her overprotective mother Erica, she will be portraying the lead. At a gala celebrating the new season, an intoxicated Beth confronts Nina, accusing her of sleeping with Thomas to get the role. The following day, Nina discovers that Beth was hit by a car while walking in the street and Thomas believes she did it on purpose.
During rehearsals, Thomas tells Nina to observe new dancer Lily, whom he describes as possessing an uninhibited quality that Nina lacks. Nina also falls victim to several hallucinations of a doppelg?nger following her wherever she goes and finds unexplained scratch marks on her back. One night, Nina accepts Lily's invitation to dinner despite Erica's objections.
Over dinner, Lily offers Nina an ecstasy capsule to help her relax. Nina turns it down, but later accepts a drink laced with ecstasy powder. After consuming it, Nina become sexually interested in not only the men at the bar, but Lily as well. The two dance at a nightclub and return to Nina's apartment late. After fighting with her mother, Nina barricades herself in her room and has sex with Lily. The following morning, Nina wakes up alone and realizes she is late for the dress rehearsal. Upon arriving at Lincoln Center, she finds Lily dancing as the Black Swan and confronts her about their night together. When Lily denies that the sexual part of the evening had ever taken place, Nina wonders whether or not their sexual encounter was a hallucination.
After learning that Thomas has made Lily her alternate, Nina's hallucinations grow increasingly strong to the point where her mother tries to prevent her from performing on opening night. Nina forces her way past her mother, shouting, "I'm the Swan Queen, you're the one who never left the corps!". She arrives at Lincoln Center only to discover that Lily is indeed set to take over her role. She confronts Thomas, who becomes so impressed by her confidence that he allows her to perform. During the end of the ballet's second act, Nina becomes distracted by another hallucination, causing the Prince to drop her on stage. She returns to her dressing room and finds Lily preparing to play the Black Swan. When Lily transforms into Nina's evil twin, the two engage in a fight that ends with Nina stabbing the doppelg?nger with a shard of glass from a mirror that gets smashed, only to reveal that it is actually Lily who has been stabbed. She hides the corpse and returns to the stage, where she loses herself and gives a flawless performance as the Black Swan.
Nina receives a standing ovation from the audience and, after surprising Thomas with a passionate kiss, returns to her dressing room. While changing, Nina hears a knock at the door and opens it to find Lily alive and congratulating her. Realizing the fight never occurred, yet the mirror is still broken, she also realizes that she actually stabbed herself and pulls a shard of glass from her own abdomen.
After dancing the final act, in which the White Swan attempts to commit suicide by throwing herself off a cliff but instead falls onto a hidden mattress, the theater erupts in thunderous applause while Thomas, Lily, and the rest of the cast all gather to congratulate Nina. They then discover that she is bleeding profusely. Thomas orders some of the dancers to go get help and frantically asks Nina what happened to her. Nina replies to him that her performance was perfect and loses consciousness as the screen slowly fades to blinding white light and the credits roll.
Blackhat (2015)
Color
Hacker is let out of jail to help track down cyberterrorists
Blackhat
"At a nuclear plant in Chai Wan, Hong Kong, a hacker causes the coolant pumps to overheat and explode. Not long after in Chicago, the Mercantile Trade Exchange gets hacked, causing soy futures to rise. The Chinese government and the FBI determine that the hack was caused by a Remote Access Tool (RAT). A military officer in China's cyber warfare unit, Captain Chen Dawai (Leehom Wang), is tasked to find the people responsible for the attacks, and enlists the aid of his sister Chen Lien (Tang Wei), a networking engineer. He meets with Agent Carol Barrett (Viola Davis) of the FBI in Los Angeles and reveals the code in the RAT was written by himself and Nicholas Hathaway (Chris Hemsworth), his college roommate. Dawai asks that the FBI arrange for Hathaway to be released from prison, where he is serving a sentence for computer crimes. Hathaway is offered temporary release in exchange for his services.
A dead colleague's computer yields a clue to a connection, so Hathaway and Lien go to the rendezvous but it is a trap set by the hacker to alert him to pursuit. Hathaway fights three men.
In Hong Kong, the team traces the stock trade money to a known paramilitary named Kassar. A stakeout team is murdered while Hathaway, Jessup, Chen, Trang along with a Special Duties Unit team raid Kassar's hideout but once again it is a trap. A shootout ensues and Trang as well as a number of SDU officers are killed. Kassar and his men escape.
The nuclear plant has stabilized enough to retrieve a data drive from the control room but it is corrupted. Agent Barrett turns a blind eye while Hathaway hacks into the NSA to use a classified data tool called Black Widow to reconstruct the corrupted data. He learns that the hacker's server is based in Jakarta. Lien finds out the hacker has been buying satellite photos of a remote site in Perak, Malaysia.
Hathaway's hack into the NSA does not go unnoticed and the US government demands his return to prison. Dawai's superiors agree as they do not want to antagonize the US, while Barrett and her partner Agent Jessup receive orders to detain Hathaway. Dawai, Lien and Hathaway manage to elude their pursuers and make plans to leave Hong Kong and continue their investigation when they are attacked by Kassar and his men, who have been following them. Dawai is killed; shortly after, Barrett and Jessup, who have been tracking Hathaway using an ankle bracelet, arrive at the scene. While both Barrett and Jessup are killed in a firefight, they buy enough time for Lien and Hathaway to escape into the subway.
Hathaway and Lien travel to the location of the satellite photos in Malaysia to try and figure out the hacker's goal. Hathaway realizes that the hacker's attack at the nuclear plant was merely a test for a later plan to destroy several major tin mines in Malaysia, allowing the hacker to make a fortune trading tin futures, financed using the funds from the Mercantile Exchange hack. The two then travel to Jakarta and using a distraction manage to physically gain access to the hacker's server. They manage to transfer the hacker's money from his Hong Kong bank and force the hacker to contact them. The hacker and Hathaway agree to meet to negotiate the return of the money, supposedly in exchange for Hathaway's involvement in the larger scheme.
Hathaway insists the hacker and Kassar come alone but they bring their gang along. The meeting place is a crowded parade and Hathaway trails the hacker and Kassar from behind. Kassar pulls a gun on Hathaway but Hathaway is prepared and manages to stab him with a hidden screwdriver. Two of the hacker's men catch up and wound Hathaway, who manages to kill them. Hathaway finally faces off with the hacker and manages to kill him despite getting stabbed. He escapes the chaos of the parade with Lien's help, and then gets patched up. The film ends with Lien and Hathaway leaving Indonesia, with the hacker's money still in their bank account.
BlacKkKlansman (2018)
Color
Black cop infiltrates Klan
BlacKkKlansman
"In the early 1970s, Ron Stallworth is hired as the first black officer in the Colorado Springs Police Department. Assigned to work in the records room, he faces racial slurs from his coworkers. After he requests a transfer to undercover work, he is assigned to infiltrate a local rally where national civil rights leader Kwame Ture gives a speech. At the rally, Stallworth meets Patrice Dumas, president of the black student union at Colorado College. While she takes Ture to his hotel, Patrice is stopped by patrolman Andy Landers, a racist officer in Stallworth's precinct, who threatens Ture and gropes Patrice.
After the rally, Stallworth is reassigned to the intelligence division. After reading about a local division of the Ku Klux Klan in the newspaper, he calls posing as white and speaks with Walter Breachway, the president of the Colorado Springs chapter. Stallworth recruits his Jewish coworker, Flip Zimmerman, to act as him to meet the Klan members. Zimmerman meets Walter, the more reckless Felix Kendrickson, and Ivanhoe, who cryptically refers to an upcoming attack.
Calling Klan headquarters in Louisiana to expedite his membership, Stallworth begins regular phone conversations with Grand Wizard David Duke. Kendrickson suspects Zimmerman of being Jewish and tries to make him take a polygraph test at gunpoint, but Stallworth breaks the Kendricksons' kitchen window to distract them. Stallworth begins dating Patrice, but does not tell her that he is a police officer. After passing information to the Army CID about active duty members, he learns from an FBI agent that two members are personnel stationed at NORAD.
Duke visits Colorado Springs for Stallworth's induction into the Klan. Over the real Stallworth's protests, he is assigned to a protection detail for Duke. After Zimmerman, masquerading as Stallworth, is initiated, Felix's wife Connie leaves the ceremony to place a bomb at a civil rights rally. Stallworth realizes her intentions and alerts local police officers. When Connie notices a heavy police presence at the rally, she goes to plant the bomb at Patrice's house instead, which was the pre-arranged Plan B. When she is unable to fit the bomb in her mailbox, she puts it on Patrice's car instead. Stallworth tackles her as she tries to flee, but uniformed officers detain and beat him despite his protests that he is working undercover.
Bombmaker Walker recognizes Zimmerman from a prior arrest. He, Felix and Ivanhoe arrive and trigger the bomb, not realizing where Connie hid it, and are killed in the explosion. Zimmerman arrives and frees Stallworth, and Connie is arrested. While celebrating the closed case that night, Stallworth wears a hidden microphone and tricks a drunken Landers into bragging about his assault on Patrice. Landers is arrested.
Police Chief Bridges congratulates the team for their success, but orders them to destroy the records. Stallworth receives a call from Duke, and he reveals to Duke that he is black before hanging up. While Patrice and Stallworth discuss their future, they are interrupted by a knock on the door. Through the window, they see a flaming cross on a hillside surrounded by Klan members.
The film ends with footage from the 2017 Unite the Right Rally in Charlottesville, Virginia and President Trump's statement afterwards, followed by a shot of an upside-down American Flag fading into black and white.
Blade Runner (1982)
Color
Dystopia about bio engineered humans
Blade Runner
"Blade Runner is a 1982 American dystopian science fiction thriller film directed by Ridley Scott and starring Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, Sean Young and Edward James Olmos. The screenplay, written by Hampton Fancher and David Peoples, is loosely based on the novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick.
The film depicts a dystopian Los Angeles in November 2019 in which genetically engineered organic robots called replicants--visually indistinguishable from adult humans--are manufactured by the powerful Tyrell Corporation as well as by other "mega-corporations" around the world. Their use on Earth is banned and replicants are exclusively used for dangerous, menial or leisure work on off-world colonies. Replicants who defy the ban and return to Earth are hunted down and "retired" by police special operatives known as "Blade Runners". The plot focuses on a desperate group of recently escaped replicants hiding in Los Angeles and the burnt-out expert Blade Runner, Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford), who reluctantly agrees to take on one more assignment to hunt them down.
Blade Runner initially polarized critics: some were displeased with the pacing, while others enjoyed its thematic complexity. The film performed poorly in North American theaters but has since become a cult film.[2] It has been hailed for its production design, depicting a "retrofitted" future,[3] and remains a leading example of the neo-noir genre.[4] It brought the work of Philip K. Dick to the attention of Hollywood and several later films were based on his work.[5] Ridley Scott regards Blade Runner as "probably" his most complete and personal film.[6][7] In 1993, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".
Blast from the Past (1999)
Color
Boy is brought up in a fallout shelter and emerges at 35
Blast from the Past
"In 1962, Dr. Calvin Webber (Christopher Walken) is an eccentric scientist who, like so many people at the time, thinks that a nuclear war between the U.S. and the Soviet Union is imminent. He has built a large, fully functional fallout shelter in his backyard deep underground. During the Cuban Missile Crisis and thinking the conflict could escalate, Calvin ends the party at his house and takes his pregnant wife Helen (Sissy Spacek) into the fallout shelter as a precaution. When a fighter jet flying over loses control, the pilot bails out and the jet crashes into their house, causing a large explosion; Calvin, thinking the worst has happened, sets and activates the shelter's locks (designed not to open for 35 years). Everyone assumes the entire family was killed in the accident, as no one knew of Calvin's secret fallout shelter.
Calvin's wife Helen gives birth to a boy, whom they name Adam. Adam grows up being taught and exposed to all culture up to 1962, such as watching reruns of I love Lucy and The Honeymooners and listening to Perry Como and Dean Martin. During their 35-year stay in the shelter, a small diner called "Mom's" is built on the site where their house stood. A young man named Melcher (Joey Slotnick) works for Mom (Dale Raoul) as a soda jerk. The diner (which later becomes a pub) is shown throughout the 1960s, 70s, and 90s, as the neighborhood deteriorates from suburban to inner city ghetto complete with abandoned graffiti-marked buildings, adult bookstores, and the homeless, prostitutes, and addicts as its residents. Eventually, Mom gives the pub to Melcher, an alcoholic, who lives in the abandoned remains (in 1995).
When the locks open in 1997, Calvin is so shocked to see how the world has changed (believing it to be a post-apocalyptic wasteland populated by irradiated mutants), he decides the family must stay underground. However, their supplies are running out, and Calvin suddenly falls ill from the stress, so Adam (Brendan Fraser) must venture onto the surface to procure more. As he leaves the shelter for the first time, he meets Melcher who had encountered Calvin in his radiation suit the previous night and mistook him for God after he burst through the floor of the abandoned pub using his elevator to the surface. Having built a shrine above the elevator shaft, Melcher now worships Calvin and the elevator, with Adam's words of encouragement to him being mistaken as affirmation of his new religion. As he marvels at the outside world, seeing many things for the first time (the sky, a little girl, and "a Negro"), Adam eventually realizes that while purchasing supplies in bulk, he has strayed too far from the pub containing the elevator to the fallout shelter and cannot remember his way back.
Adam meets Eve Rustikoff (Alicia Silverstone) when he tries to sell his father's classic baseball cards at a hobby shop. She stops the store owner (Bill Gratton) from trying to buy the cards for much less than their collectible value and is immediately fired. Adam asks Eve to drive him to a Holiday Inn in exchange for a rare baseball card; she takes the card and leaves, but returns the next morning to give it back out of guilt. When Eve mentions that she must find a new job, Adam asks her to help him purchase supplies and, unaware of the value of money, immediately agrees to her request for $1,000 a week. He also asks Eve to help him find a wife from Pasadena, California (per his mother's advice), who is "not a mutant"; he uses the term literally as meaning a mutant due to radiation from the nuclear war which never happened. Adam meets Eve's gay housemate and best friend, Troy (Dave Foley), who is amused by Adam's naivete but offers advice and gives Adam a fashion makeover.
Eve and Troy take Adam to a 1940s swing-style nightclub to find him a wife. Adam immediately attracts the attention of several women, including Eve's flirtatious rival and nemesis Sophie (Carmen More). Eve becomes jealous and reconnects with her ex-boyfriend Cliff (Nathan Fillion), who goads Adam into an altercation, ultimately backing off as Adam demonstrates his skills in boxing (having trained every day with his dad); Eve leaves the nightclub. Troy later returns home alone and explains to Eve that Adam went home with Sophie. Adam returns later, explaining that he politely rejected Sophie's advances, saying that he could think only about being with Eve. He and Eve kiss, but when Adam tells her the truth about his past and states that he wants to take her to be his wife "underground", she asks him to leave.
The next morning after successfully locating the pub containing the elevator (as well as a full congregation of destitute people hanging onto Melcher's every word), Adam returns to Eve's house, where she is waiting with a mental health professional named Dr. Nina Aron (Jenifer Lewis) and her assistant to have him committed. He sadly cooperates at first, but escapes as they leave the house, asking that Eve and Troy collect his things for him and pay his hotel bill. In the hotel room, Troy and Eve find toiletries and clothing manufactured in the early 1960s as well as absurdly valuable stocks in companies like IBM, and deduce that Adam is not crazy and was telling the truth.
With Melcher and his cult helping with loading the supplies into the shelter, Calvin is prepared to seal him and his family inside once more. Eve spots Adam outside the abandoned pub; the two share an embrace and Adam takes her to meet his parents. Calvin and Helen are impressed with Eve and agree to Adam's request for the two of them to set the lock timer for two months while he and Eve make arrangements.
During this time, he and Eve use the money from selling the stocks to build his parents a new home in the country, which is a 1950s style suburban tract home identical to the home that was destroyed, except it is built on a beautiful spot way out in the country. Included with the house is a restored red 1960 Cadillac convertible. They also use the money to help Melcher rebuild the old pub into a 50s-themed night club after convincing him that Adam isn't God.
When they are settled in, Adam lets Calvin know the truth about the jet crash. He tells his father there was never an atomic war and that the Soviet Union collapsed. Calvin takes the news stoically, thrilled to hear of the fall of the Soviet Union, but still suspecting it was a Commie trick. He tells Adam not to mention this to Helen. After Adam walks away upon being told by Helen that dinner is ready, Calvin mutters "Commies..." to himself and begins measuring the space in the backyard, beginning the development of a new fallout shelter as Eve watches from the window while playing with her engagement ring.
Blockers (2018)
Color
Upon learning their daughters' pact to lose their virginity, the partents plan to interfere
Blockers
"Single mother Lisa Decker drops off her young daughter, Julie, for her first day of kindergarten. She watches on as Julie is joined by two other girls, Kayla and Sam. Kayla's father Mitchell and Sam's father Hunter introduce themselves and become close friends after seeing the bond between their children.
Twelve years later, Julie shares with Kayla and Sam that she plans to lose her virginity to her boyfriend Austin at prom. Kayla pledges to do so as well, though on a casual basis with her lab partner, Connor. Sam, a closeted lesbian, joins the pact to cement the bond with her two best friends. She goes to prom with the harmless Chad.
Lisa sets up a pre-party for the parents and kids. The girls then head to the prom, texting each other about their sex pact. The three parents hear Julie's laptop and intercept the messages. Hunter deciphers their emoji codes, and they realize the girls' pact. Lisa and Mitchell rush to stop their daughters, but Hunter tries to stop them. Hunter shares his intuition that Sam is gay, but at the first party he sees her force herself to kiss Chad. Wanting to protect Sam from doing something she does not want to do, he joins Lisa and Mitchell's crusade.
Having been told that the after-party would be at Austin's house, the parents go there. Instead, they find Austin's parents Ron and Cathy engaging in sex games. After some awkward moments, Ron reveals that the after-party is at a lake house but refuses to give the address. The trio realizes that Mitchell's wife Marcie may have it and return to his house. Against Marcie's wishes, who defends their daughter's right to privacy, they retrieve the address.
As they follow the girls from party to party, it becomes clear that each parent has their own motivation. Mitchell is overprotective and in denial over his daughter growing up. Hunter feels guilty for neglecting Sam during his bitter separation from her mother, who cheated on him. Lisa is struggling to let go of her only child and is offended by Julie's plans to go to distant UCLA.
Knowing that Austin and Ron have been texting, the parents return to Ron's house, intending to grab his phone. After barging in on the couple playing a blindfold sex game, Hunter is forced to go along with it as Mitchell grabs the phone, which reveals that the girls are at a hotel. There a drunk Sam goes to bed with Chad but decides she does not want to have sex, though she does give him a handjob. Kayla and Connor go off together, but she also changes her mind upon realizing her flippant attitude to her virginity, and they limit their sex to Connor performing oral sex on Kayla.
When Mitch finds Kayla with Connor, she is initially furious, but ultimately appeased by her father's good intentions. Hunter finds Sam and they also share a tender moment, where he reveals that a good night was the best he could give her in return for his neglect. Afterward, Sam officially comes out to her father, who is deeply moved at being the first person she told. Lisa sneaks into Julie and Austin's room and, realizing how much they clearly love each other, she sneaks out unnoticed, leaving them alone.
The three adults acknowledge their own friendships have been strengthened. Their daughters are also closer, with Sam coming out to them, to which Julie and Kayla are extremely supportive. They leave Sam with her crush, Angelica, who shares a romantic kiss with her. Three months later, Sam and Kayla drive with Julie to California. As they drive away, Lisa starts receiving the girls' group text, filled with plans to use drugs and have unprotected sex. As the three parents run for the car, the girls text that it was a prank, and a final "I love you" to them.
In a mid-credits scene, Mitchell and Marcie are playing the blindfold sex game that Austin's parents had been playing earlier -- only to be found by a shocked Kayla.
Blood and Sand (1941)
Color
Impovrished child becomes bullfighter
Blood and Sand
"As a child Juan Gallardo (Rex Downing -- young boy) wants only to become a bullfighter like his dead father. One night he has an argument with the pompous critic Natalio Curro (Laird Cregar) about his father's lack of talent in the bullring. The argument spurs Juan to travel to Madrid and achieve his dreams of success in the bullring. Before leaving he promises his aristocratic sweetheart Carmen Espinosa (Linda Darnell) he will return when he is a success and marry her.
Ten years later Juan Gallardo (Tyrone Power) returns to Seville. He has become a matador and uses his winnings from Madrid to help his impoverished family. He sets his mother (Alla Nazimova) up in a fine house and ends her existence as a scrubwoman. He lavishes money on his sister Encarnacion (Lynn Bari) and her fiance Antonio (William Montague) so they can open a business and wed. He hires ex-bullfighter Garabato (J. Carrol Naish), who has become a beggar, as his servant. Best of all he is now able to marry his childhood sweetheart Carmen (Linda Darnell) as he had promised.
Juan's wealth and fame continue to grow along with his talents as a bullfighter. Eventually he becomes Spain's most famous and acclaimed matador. Even the once scornful critic Curro now lavishes praises upon Juan and brags that it was he who discovered Juan's talent. Although Juan remains illiterate, doors open to society and he catches the eye of sultry socialite Do?a Sol des Muire (Rita Hayworth) at one of his bullfights. His mother attempts to warn Juan that if not careful he will, like his father, end up on a path to destruction but Juan refuses to believe her.
Juan is blinded by the attention his fame has brought and Do?a Sol finds it easy to lead him astray. He soon begins to neglect wife, family and training in favor of her privileged and decadent lifestyle. His performance in the bullring suffers from his excesses and he soon falls from his great heights as the premiere matador of Spain. With the loss of fame comes rejection by everyone who was once important to him. Even Carmen casts him off after she learns of his affair. With his fame now gone Do?a Sol moves on to new up and coming matador Manolo de Palma (Anthony Quinn), Juan's childhood friend.
After losing everything a repentant Juan begs for forgiveness and is taken back by Carmen. He vows to change but first he must have one final bullfight to prove he is still a great matador. His prayers for one last success, however, are not answered and like his father before him he is gored by the bull. Garabato angrily says the "beast" is the crowd, not the bull. Juan dies in the arms of Carmen as the crowd cheers for Manolo's victory over the bull. Manolo bows to the fickle crowd near the stain of blood left in the sand by Juan.
Body of Lies (2008)
Color
CIA agent in Jordan infiltrates terrorist network to ferret out criminal mastermind
Body of Lies
"Roger Ferris (Leonardo DiCaprio) is a CIA case officer in Iraq, tracking a terrorist called Al-Saleem (Alon Abutbul). He meets Nizar, a member of the terrorist organization who is prepared to offer information in return for asylum in America. Despite his boss Ed Hoffman's (Russell Crowe) objections, Ferris agrees to shelter Nizar. Nizar is used as a pawn to draw out the rest of his cell, when he is captured Ferris is forced to shoot him to prevent him from exposing Ferris' identity. Furious at Hoffman's refusal to act on the information Nizar provided, Ferris and his associate Bassam (Oscar Isaac) go to search a safehouse in Balad, Iraq, of which Nizar had told them. There, Ferris observes men burning records and attempts to bluff his way in, but is exposed. In the ensuing shootout and chase, Ferris and Bassam's vehicle is hit by an RPG. Ferris and some salvaged discs are rescued by helicopter but Bassam is killed in the explosion.
Meanwhile, unknown terrorists plan to follow up off-screen bus bombings in Sheffield with more attacks in Manchester but blow themselves up when the police arrive at their house. Recovered from his injuries, Ferris is assigned to Jordan to continue searching for Al-Saleem, where he meets with Hani Salaam (Mark Strong), head of the Jordanian General Intelligence Directorate.
Hoffman finds an Al-Saleem safe house in Jordan and orders Ferris to watch it. Simultaneously, Hoffman organizes another 'side operation' via a local agency operative named Skip (Vince Colosimo) and that he is to conduct an operation without Ferris' knowledge. Skip employs the use of an agency asset, Ziyad Abishi who blows cover to a terrorist from the safe house, as he flees to inform his colleagues of their exposure, Ferris makes chase and kills him in such a place and manner that one might believe the death to be random. Salaam (via 'back channels') corroborates the acceptance of killing by those whom remain at the safe house; and Ferris accuses Hoffman of running "side operations" which interfere and (at least) undermine operational integrity of primary operation and tells Hoffman to stop. While going to the hospital to receive rabies shots for bites suffered during the pursuit and elimination of the terrorist, Ferris meets a nurse named Aisha (Golshifteh Farahani), and he begins developing romantic feelings for her. The bombers strike again in an Amsterdam flower market, and kill at least 75 people.
Having recognized one of the men living in the safe house as former small-time criminal Mustaffa Karami (Kais Nashef), Salaam takes Karami into the desert and coerces him into working for Jordanian intelligence, threatening to set him up as a collaborator if he does not co-operate. Hoffman asks Salaam to use Karami, but he refuses, believing a greater return will come later. Unknown to Ferris and Salaam, Hoffman tells Ferris' CIA subordinate (Skip) to follow Karami and kidnap him. Karami escapes and notifies the terrorists in the safe house that it is being watched, and they abandon it. Ferris's partner is caught and Salaam accuses Ferris of having had knowledge of the move on Karami, and blames Ferris's duplicity with him for the destruction of the safe house. He exiles Ferris from Jordan.
Ferris returns to Hoffman in Washington, and they devise a new plan to find Al-Saleem. Suspecting he is motivated more by pride than ideology, they stage a fake terrorist attack and set up Omar Sadiki (Ali Suliman), an innocent Jordanian architect, as its instigator, hoping Al Saleem will come out of hiding and attempt to contact him. Al-Saleem sees TV news coverage of the attack and takes the bait.
Salaam invites Ferris back to Jordan and shares his suspicions that Omar Sadiki is a terrorist, though Ferris feigns ignorance. Ferris later tries to save Sadiki from being kidnapped by Al-Saleem's henchmen but fails and sees his partner nearly killed in the subsequent car crash. Under interrogation, Sadiki denies any knowledge of the attack though he is later found beaten and killed. Ferris goes back to his apartment and finds out that Aisha has been kidnapped. He desperately asks Salaam for help, admitting he fabricated Omar Sadiki's terrorist cell and the attack. Salaam refuses to help because of Ferris earlier having lied to him.
Ferris offers himself in exchange to Aisha's kidnappers, and is brought to the middle of the desert, with Hoffman watching everything via a surveillance drone unmanned aerial vehicle. Ferris is surrounded by a group of SUVs, which circle him to create an obscuring dust cloud before picking him up. The dust cloud blocks Hoffman's view, so that he cannot determine which of the SUVs, now headed in different directions, is carrying Ferris. Ferris is taken across the border to Syria where he is to be interrogated by Al-Saleem. When Ferris asks Al-Saleem about Aisha, he is told that someone has lied to him and that he has been double-crossed. Ferris tells Al-Saleem that there is an infiltrator (Karami) in his organization who works for Ferris, and that, by association, Al-Saleem works for Ferris. Al-Saleem does not believe Ferris, beats him, turns on a video camera and orders his execution. Salaam and his agents arrive at the last moment, saving Ferris' life. Al-Saleem, the leader of this terror group, is shown arrested in his own SUV by Marwan Se-Kia, Hani Salaam's security officer.
Salaam visits Ferris in the hospital and reveals he had faked Aisha's abduction, and orchestrated Ferris's capture by Al-Saleem using Karami as a go-between. Having lost the will to fight in this particular 'war', Ferris goes off the grid and goes to see Aisha again.
Boiler Room (2000)
Color
Ambitious broker turns crooked
Boiler Room
"In 1999, Seth Davis (Giovanni Ribisi), a 19-year-old college dropout and son of a strict New York Federal District judge (Ron Rifkin), runs an illegal but successful underground casino in his Queens apartment. One night, his old friend Adam (James Kennedy)and a coworker, Greg Weinstein (Nicky Katt), stop by the casino to play blackjack. Impressed by Greg's Ferrari parked in front of his apartment, he is curious to know his occupation. Seth finds out that both Adam and Greg are stockbrokers at a firm called J.T. Marlin, a brokerage firm based in a non-descript office building in or near Commack, NY. Eager to earn a nice living legally and impress his parents, Seth decides to join J.T. Marlin.
Arriving at J.T. Marlin, he learns from Jim Young (Ben Affleck) what he needs to do to become a millionaire working at the firm. He also embarks on a romance with Abbie Halpert (Nia Long), an ex-girlfriend of Greg, one of the senior brokers at the firm and also Seth's boss. Seth also becomes part of the crowd of successful stock brokers, including Chris Varick (Vin Diesel) and Richie O'Flaherty (Scott Caan). Seth closes down his casino.
Meanwhile, the FBI have been tracking the firm for a period of time. The company is actually a chop shop brokerage firm that runs a "pump and dump", using its brokers to create artificial demand in the stock of expired or fake companies. When the firm is done pumping the stock, the investors then have no one to sell their shares in the market, and the price of the stock plummets. This becomes a problem for one of Seth's clients, Harry Reynard. After Seth sells him one hundred shares at eight dollars each, the stock market plummets and gets Harry into an excruciating financial situation. When Harry calls Seth back asking why the investment has done so poorly, Seth (under coercion from Greg) sells him even more worthless shares. Seth promises a smooth process in the investment, however this promise does not live up and causes Harry to be abandoned by his family. Now well aware of the firm's fraudulent and unethical practices, Seth becomes deeply unnerved by his work environment and how he has knowingly scammed Harry.
Seth's father confronts and disowns him. Seth later shows up at his office offering to get his father to go along on a scam that would rob J.T. Marlin out of a lot of money, and that he would leave the firm soon after. His father angrily refuses, and orders him to leave. Before he is escorted out, Seth emotionally explains that he closed the casino, and joined the firm not only to gain his father's approval, but also to turn his life around. Upon learning this, but knowing he can't help due to the risk to his job, his father sadly declines, and Seth walks out.
Seth is set up by Abbie (who was working with the police), and is arrested by the FBI for the violation of SEC regulations. He is taken into custody by the FBI along with his father, who was taken in for attempting to conceal his son from the federal law -- a conversation that was of a taped phone call between the two the day after Seth confessed everything. Seth is given federal immunity, meaning he cannot be arrested for as long as he agrees to testify against J.T. Marlin once all the suspects are taken into court. He does this on the condition his father does not get involved with the case, as he exchanges that for information on the firm's techniques of selling, relocations if law enforcement gets too close, etc. Before he is taken into custody overnight, Seth and his father sit alone in the room. Seth's father explains that he has regretted every day that he has been a harsh father to him. He tearfully says 'I am more sorry than you will ever know', and the two tearfully embrace.
Seth is released and instructed by the FBI to return to work the next day. To deliver evidence that can be used against the firm, he copies files of investments onto a floppy disk and hides it away. Before leaving, Seth attempts to get Harry's money back by lying to J.T. Marlin the way they do with their clients. Michael Brantley (Tom Everett Scott), one of the company heads, agrees to go along with Seth's explanation, saying that in order to complete the process, Seth needs a ticket sale signed by a senior broker, something that his direct supervisor, Greg, has explicitly said that he would never do. On his way out of the building, Seth leaves Chris a note asking to meet in private, at which point he informs Chris about the raid and convinces him to sign the sale ticket. Chris then hastily gathers a few belongings from his desk and quickly leaves. Seth is then shown walking past Abbie in the reception area, ignoring her, and then leaving the building deciding what to do with his life now that his job and ties with J.T. Marlin are finished. As he leaves, several cars including prison buses are seen speeding into the parking lot from which FBI agents emerge, ready to raid the building.
Bonnie and Clyde (1967)
Color
Couple that likes robbing banks
Bonnie and Clyde
"In the middle of the Great Depression, Clyde Barrow (Warren Beatty) and Bonnie Parker (Faye Dunaway) meet when Clyde tries to steal Bonnie's mother's car. Bonnie, who is bored by her job as a waitress, is intrigued by Clyde, and decides to take up with him and become his partner in crime. They pull off some holdups, but their amateur efforts, while exciting, are not very lucrative.
The duo's crime spree shifts into high gear once they hook up with a dim-witted gas station attendant, C.W. Moss (Michael J. Pollard), then with Clyde's older brother Buck (Gene Hackman) and his wife, Blanche (Estelle Parsons), a preacher's daughter. The women dislike each other on first sight, and their feud only escalates from there: shrill Blanche has nothing but disdain for Bonnie, Clyde and C.W., while gun-moll Bonnie sees Blanche's flighty presence as a constant danger to the gang's well-being.
Bonnie and Clyde turn from pulling small-time heists to robbing banks. Their exploits also become more violent. When C.W. botches a bank robbery by parallel parking the getaway car, Clyde shoots the bank manager in the face after he jumps onto the slow-moving car's running board. The gang is pursued by law enforcement, including Texas Ranger Frank Hamer (Denver Pyle), who is captured and humiliated by the outlaws, then set free. A raid later catches the outlaws off guard, mortally wounding Buck with a gruesome shot to his head and injuring Blanche. Bonnie, Clyde and C.W. barely escape with their lives. With Blanche sightless and in police custody, Hamer tricks her into revealing C.W.'s name, who was up until now still only an "unidentified suspect."
Hamer locates Bonnie, Clyde and C.W. hiding at the house of C.W.'s father Ivan Moss (Dub Taylor), who thinks the couple--and an ornate tattoo--have corrupted his son. The elder Moss strikes a bargain with Hamer: In exchange for leniency for the boy, he helps set a trap for the outlaws. When Bonnie and Clyde stop on the side of the road to help Mr. Moss fix a flat tire, the police in the bushes open fire and riddle them with bullets. Hamer and his posse then come out of hiding, looking pensively at the couple's bodies.
Book Club (2018)
Color
60 yo plus women book club focus on their love lives
Book Club
"Four women have attended a monthly book club for thirty years, where they bond over the suggested literature. Vivian, who owns and builds hotels, runs into Arthur, a man she turned down marriage to 40 years prior. They begin a flirtation, but Vivian has always refused to settle down because she enjoys her independence. Diane is recently widowed, and her daughters would like her to move closer to them in Arizona because they perceive her to be in danger because she's living alone. Sharon is a federal judge who's been single since she divorced her son's father over 15 years ago. Carol has a successful marriage to Bruce, who has recently retired but they have recently lacked intimacy.
One day, they read Fifty Shades of Grey and are turned on by the content. Viewing it as a wake up call, they decide to expand their lives and chase pleasures that have eluded them. While flying to visit her daughters in Arizona, Diane meets Mitchell and they strike up a relationship, though Diane is hesitant because of how recently her late husband died and because she hasn't dated in decades. Vivian spends more time with Arthur, but because of her fear of commitment, she tries to keep him at a distance. Carol is frustrated with her husband's refusal to have sex with her. By reading the book she begins to realize they are missing something. Sharon starts an online dating account to try and start dating again.
They continue to read Fifty Shades Darker and Fifty Shades Freed in their book club, while trying to figure out how to solve their problems. Diane's children continue to pressure her to move to Arizona despite her fear of leaving her friends behind. She sneaks away to see Mitchell, and her kids, concerned that they can't reach her, send the police out to find her. On discovering her at Mitchell's, her daughters insist on her moving into the basement of one of their homes, essentially ending her relationship with Mitchell. Eventually, Diane tells her daughters that though she is older, she doesn't need to be under surveillance. She packs up her belongings, leaving for Mitchell's house, where they resume their relationship.
Arthur asks Vivian to commit to being in a relationship and she declines, despite Arthur's assurances that he wants her to continue being independent. Arthur leaves for the airport, and soon after, Vivian realizes she's made a mistake and tries to go after him. She misses his airplane, but when she returns to her hotel, she finds Arthur waiting for her and they rekindle their relationship.
Carol, frustrated that her husband, Bruce, is refusing to have sex with her, tries various ways to entice him. Bruce is not receptive, and completely oblivious to Carol's frustrations. She eventually puts some erectile dysfunction medication in his drink, but he becomes angry because that is not what's causing the problem, and they continue to not have sex. Bruce admits that he's been stressed because he retired, and doesn't know what to do with himself. They eventually reconcile after dancing in a fund-raising talent show together.
After a few dates with men she meets online, Sharon decides that it isn't for her. She gives a speech at her son's engagement party, where she realizes that everyone deserves to be in love and happy. She opens her online dating account again, in the hopes of finding someone.
Book of Days (2003)
Color
Life Insurance salesman gets books listing when people die
Book of Days
A grief-struck life insurance salesman rails at God for not stepping in to save his bride; but the tables are turned when a mysterious book is delivered to him, an ancient volume listing names and death dates, dates which are yet to occur.
Boyhood (2014)
Color
Divorced couple bring up their son
Boyhood
"In 2002, six-year-old Mason Evans Jr., and his older sister Samantha live with their single mother Olivia in Texas. Mason overhears Olivia arguing with her boyfriend, saying she has no free time due to parenting.
In 2003, Olivia moves the family to Houston, so she can attend the University of Houston, complete her degree, and get a better job.
In 2004, Mason's father, Mason Sr., visits Houston and takes the children bowling. He promises to spend more time with them. When he drops the kids off at home, he argues with Olivia while Mason and Samantha watch from a window. Olivia takes Mason to one of her classes, introducing him to her professor, Bill Welbrock; Mason sees them flirt.
By 2005, Olivia and Bill have married and blended their two families, including Bill's children from a previous marriage. They share experiences such as playing video games and attending a midnight release of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Mason and Samantha are enrolled in the same school as their step-siblings, where Mason meets and befriends a girl named Nicole, who also has a crush on him.
In 2006, Mason and Samantha bond with their father Mason Sr. as he takes them out for a day in Houston, culminating in a Houston Astros game and a sleepover at his house with his roommate Jimmy. Olivia continues her education and is initially supportive of Bill's strict parenting style, which includes many chores for the kids and a forced cutting of Mason's long hair.
In 2007, Bill becomes abusive as alcoholism takes over his life. After Bill assaults Olivia and endangers the kids, Olivia moves the family to a friend's house and files for divorce.
In 2008, Mason Sr. learns that Samantha has a boyfriend and talks to her and Mason about contraception. He and Mason go camping at Pedernales Falls State Park and bond over the music of Wilco, Star Wars, and Mason's blossoming interest in girls. Mason and Samantha have grown into their new lives in San Marcos, a town close to Austin.
In 2009, Mason is bullied by other students at school and teased on a camping trip but starts receiving attention from girls. Olivia teaches psychology at college and moves in with Jim, a student and Bosnian/Iraq War veteran.
By 2010, Mason has experimented with marijuana and alcohol. Mason Sr., who has remarried and now has a baby, takes Mason and Samantha to visit his wife's parents. For his birthday, Mason Sr. gives Mason a suit and The Black Album, a mix CD of Beatles solo songs; Mason's step-grandparents give him a personalized Bible and a vintage shotgun.
In 2011, Mason is lectured by his photography teacher, who sees his potential but is disappointed in his lack of ambition and hard work. Mason attends a party and meets Sheena, who becomes his girlfriend. After Mason arrives home late one night from a party, a drunk Jim confronts Mason about his late hours. Olivia and Jim eventually split up.
In 2012, Mason and Sheena visit Samantha at the University of Texas at Austin, where they share their hopes and fears about college, staying up late to watch the sun rise. Samantha's roommate discovers them asleep together in her dormitory.
In May 2013, during the end of Mason's senior year in high school, he has a painful breakup with Sheena, wins the silver medal in a state photography contest, and is awarded college scholarship money. Mason's family throws him a graduation party and toasts his success. Mason Sr. gives him advice about his breakup. Planning to sell the house and downsize, Olivia meets Samantha and Mason for lunch and asks them to sort through their possessions. Later that year, as Mason prepares to leave his mother's new apartment for college, Olivia breaks down, disillusioned by how quickly life has passed. At Sul Ross State University in Alpine, Mason moves into his dorm room and meets his new roommate Dalton, Dalton's girlfriend Barb, and Barb's roommate Nicole. Mason eats a cannabis edible or mushroom chocolate given to him by Barb and the group goes hiking at Big Bend Ranch State Park. Nicole shares with Mason her belief that, rather than people seizing moments, moments seize people, to which Mason agrees.
Boys' Reformatory (1939)
Black & White
Boy takes blame for his brother's burglery and must adjust to the reformatory
Boys' Reformatory
"Seventeen-year-old Tommy Ryan lives with Mrs. O'Meara, a seamstress, and her teenage son Eddie. Tommy's exact status is unclear; Mrs. O'Meara's says he is a friend of her son Eddie and "stays here with us and a finer lad never trod the green earth." Tommy works in a grocery store and more than pulls his weight around the O'Meara home, but his foster brother Eddie is unemployed and hanging around a pool hall with a gang of teenage thieves led by Mike Hearn, the pool hall owner.
Hearn promises teenage 'Knuckles' Malone $50 to steal a fur coat from a warehouse and sends Eddie O'Meara along to drive the getaway car. When the heist is thwarted and Knuckles nabbed by the police, Eddie escapes with the stolen goods and returns home. Tommy tries to repair the damage and keep the incident from Mrs. O'Meara by dumping the car and the furs outside of town. He is picked up by the police. In court, Tommy takes the rap in order to spare Mrs. O'Meara the grief of seeing her son implicated in the crime. Tommy and Knuckles are sentenced to the State Industrial School for three years. When alone for a moment with Eddie, Tommy urges him to take good care of his mother.
At the State School, Tommy remains true to himself. He is honest, hard working, and well mannered. Dr. Owens, once a reform school inmate himself but now a morally upright professional man, takes an interest in the boy and urges him to plan for life after prison. He has Tommy removed from the crew at the school's farm to work in his office.
One day, Tommy discovers Eddie O'Meara is an inmate in the reformatory. Eddie dropped out of Hearn's gang of thieves and found a job in order to take care of his mother, but Hearn feared Eddie would squeal to the police about the gang's past. Hearn decided to get the boy out of his way by staging a robbery at the gas station where the boy worked and then framing him. Hearn now fears that Tommy, Eddie, and Knuckles will now "squawk" and realizes his operation is still in jeopardy. He decides to "spring" the three boys from prison and to silence them once he has them in his clutches. Tommy is reluctant to participate in the escape but when he learns that Hearn threats to rough up Mrs. O'Meara he has no choice but to escape and protect her. The escape plan is foiled, but later, Tommy and Knuckles manage to escape at gunpoint.
At the pool hall, Tommy convinces Hearn he is on his side. A heist is planned. Tommy secretly makes plans to meet Dr. Owens at the site of the heist to apprehend Hearn and his gang. Hearn and his men are taken into custody after a car chase. With Dr. Owens assistance, Tommy and Eddie are paroled and restored to Mrs. O'Meara.
Boys Town (1938)
Black & White
Priest founds community for wayward boys
Boys Town
"A convicted murderer asks to make his confession on the day of his execution. He is visited by an old friend, Father Flanagan (Spencer Tracy) who runs a home for indigent men in Omaha, Nebraska. When the prison officials suggest that the condemned man owes the state a debt, Father Flanagan witnesses the condemned man's diatribe to prison officials and a reporter that describes his awful plight as a homeless and friendless boy who was a ward in state institutions. After the convicted man asks the officials to leave, Father Flanagan provides some comfort and wisdom. On the train back to Omaha, Father Flanagan is transformed in his humanitarian mission by revelations (echoed in the words) imparted by the condemned man's litany of hardships experienced as a child without friends or family as a ward of the state.
Father Flanagan believes there is no such thing as a bad boy and spends his life attempting to prove it. He battles indifference, the legal system, and often even the boys, to build a sanctuary that he calls Boys Town. The boys have their own government, make their own rules, and dish out their own punishment. One boy, Whitey Marsh (Mickey Rooney), is as much as anyone can handle. Whitey's older brother, in prison for murder, asks Father Flanagan to take Whitey -- a poolroom shark and tough talking hoodlum -- to Boys Town. Whitey's older brother escapes custody during transfer to federal prison. After thinking he has caused the death of a younger boy, Whitey leaves the un-fenced Boys Town and wanders the streets of town. Whitey is accused of bank robbery and murder on circumstantial evidence. Popular sentiment -- stirred by sensationalized media reports headed by an unsympathetic newspaper owner -- turns against Boys Town, and it seems likely the home will be permanently closed. Whitey joins his brother, but Father Flanagan rescues Whitey and helps capture the gang in the act of robbery. Whitey and Father Flanagan return to Boys Town.
Braveheart (1995)
Color
Scottish warrior avenges killing of his bride, slaying a local English lord's soldiers
Braveheart
"In 1280, King Edward "Longshanks" of England (Patrick McGoohan) invades and conquers Scotland following the death of Scotland's king who left no heir to the throne. Young William Wallace witnesses the treachery of Longshanks, survives the death of his father and brother, and is taken abroad to Rome by his Uncle Argyle (Brian Cox) where he is educated.
Years later, Longshanks grants his noblemen land and privileges in Scotland, including the right of the lord to have sex with a woman subject on her wedding night. When he returns home, Wallace (Mel Gibson) falls in love with his childhood sweetheart, Murron MacClannough (Catherine McCormack), and they marry in secret so that she does not have to spend a night in the bed of the English lord.
Wallace defends Murron from being raped by English soldiers. Murron is captured and publicly executed. In retribution, Wallace slaughters the English garrison. Wallace sends the occupying garrison at Lanark back to England. This enrages Longshanks, who confronts his son Edward about this: he then orders his son to stop Wallace by any means necessary. He also knows his son has a bisexual relationship with his wife, Isabella of France (Sophie Marceau).
Wallace rebels against the English, and as his legend spreads, hundreds of Scots from the surrounding clans join him. Wallace leads his army to victory at Stirling and then sacks the city of York, killing Longshank's nephew and sending his head back. Wallace seeks the assistance of Robert the Bruce (Angus Macfadyen), the son of nobleman Robert the Elder (Ian Bannen) and a contender for the Scottish crown. The Bruce is dominated by his father, who wishes to secure the throne for his son by submitting to the English.
Longshanks, worried by the threat of the rebellion, sends Isabella to try to negotiate with Wallace hoping that Wallace will kill her in order to draw the French king to declare war. Wallace refuses the bribe sent with Isabella by Longshanks, but after meeting him in person, Isabella becomes enamored with him. Meanwhile, Longshanks prepares an army to invade Scotland.
Warned of the coming invasion by Isabella, Wallace implores the Scottish nobility that immediate action is needed to counter the threat and to take back the country. Leading the English army himself, Longshanks confronts the Scots at the Battle of Falkirk where noblemen Lochlan and Mornay betray Wallace. The Scots lose the battle, Wallace is wounded, and Hamish's father dies after the battle. As he charges toward the departing Longshanks on horseback, Wallace is intercepted by one of the king's lancers, who turns out to be the Bruce. Remorseful, the Bruce gets Wallace to safety before the English can capture him. Wallace kills Mornay and Lochlan for their betrayal, avoids assassination attempts, and wages a protracted guerrilla war against the English.
The Bruce, intending to join Wallace and commit troops to the war, sets up a meeting with him in Edinburgh. However, Robert's father has conspired with other nobles to capture and hand over Wallace to the English. Learning of his treachery, the Bruce disowns his father. Following a tryst with Wallace, Isabella exacts revenge on the now terminally ill Longshanks by telling him she is pregnant with Wallace's child, intent on ending Longshank's line and ruling in his son's place.
In London, Wallace is brought before an English magistrate, tried for high treason, and condemned to public torture and beheading. Even whilst being hanged, drawn and quartered, Wallace refuses to beg for mercy and submit to the king. As cries for mercy come from the watching crowd, the magistrate offers him one final chance. Wallace instead shouts the word "Freedom!" Moments before being decapitated, Wallace sees a vision of Murron in the crowd smiling at him.
In 1314, the Bruce, now Scotland's king, leads a Scottish army before a ceremonial line of English troops on the fields of Bannockburn where he is to formally accept English rule. As he begins to ride toward the English, he stops and invokes Wallace's memory, imploring his men to fight with him as they did with Wallace. The Bruce then leads his army into battle against the stunned English, winning the Scots their freedom.
Brazil (1985)
Color
Civil Servant mistakenly becomes enemy of the State
Brazil
"Sam Lowry (Jonathan Pryce) is a low-level government employee who has frequent daydreams of saving a damsel in distress. One day he is assigned the task of trying to rectify an error caused by a fly getting jammed in a printer, which caused it to misprint a file, resulting in the incarceration and death during interrogation of Mr. Archibald Buttle instead of the suspected "terrorist", Archibald Tuttle. When Sam visits Buttle's widow, he discovers Jill Layton (Kim Greist), the upstairs neighbour of the Buttles, and is astonished to see that she has the face of the woman from his recurring dreams. Jill is trying to help Mrs. Buttle find out what happened to her husband, but has become sick of dealing with the bureaucracy. Unbeknownst to her, she is now considered a terrorist friend of Tuttle for attempting to report the mistake of Buttle's arrest in Tuttle's place to a bureaucracy that would not admit such an error. When Sam tries to approach her, she is very cautious and avoids giving Sam full details, worried the government will track her down. During this time, Sam comes in contact with the real Tuttle (Robert De Niro), a renegade air conditioning specialist who once worked for the government but left due to his dislike of paperwork. Tuttle helps Sam deal with two Central Services workers, Spoor (Bob Hoskins) and Dowser (Derrick O'Connor), who later return to demolish Sam's ducts and seize his apartment under the guise of fixing the air conditioning.
Sam discovers that the only way to learn about Jill is to get transferred to Information Retrieval, where he would have access to her classified records. He had previously turned down a promotion engineered by his mother, Ida (Katherine Helmond), vainly addicted to rejuvenating plastic surgery under the care of cosmetic surgeon Dr. Jaffe (Jim Broadbent). She has connections to high-ranking officers and despairs of Sam's lack of ambition. Sam is able to retract his refusal by speaking directly with Deputy Minister Mr. Helpmann (Peter Vaughan) at a party given by his mother. He eventually obtains Jill's records and tracks her down before she is arrested, then falsifies her records to make her appear deceased, allowing her to escape the bureaucracy. The two share a romantic night together, but they are quickly apprehended by the government at gunpoint.
Charged with treason for abusing his newly acquired position, Sam is restrained to a chair in a large, empty cylindrical room (the interior of a power station cooling tower), to be tortured by his old "friend", Jack Lint (Michael Palin), who is wearing a mask seen earlier in Sam's dreams and had previously renounced their friendship in favour of loyalty to the Ministry. Sam also learns that Jill had been killed resisting arrest. However, before Jack manages to begin the torture, Tuttle and other members of the resistance break into the Ministry. The resistance shoots Jack, rescues Sam, and blows up the Ministry building as they flee. Sam and Tuttle run off together, but Tuttle disappears amid a mass of scraps of paper from the destroyed Ministry. Sam runs to his mother attending a funeral for a friend who died of excessive cosmetic surgery. Finding his mother now looking like Jill and fawned over by a flock of juvenile admirers, Sam falls into the open casket, falling through an empty black void. He lands in a world from his daydreams, and attempts escape up a pile of flex-ducts from the police and imaginary monsters. He finds a door at the top of the pile and, passing through it, is surprised to find himself in a trailer driven by Jill. The two drive away from the city together.
However, this "happy ending" is all a product of Sam's delusions: Sam is still strapped to the chair and observed by Jack and Deputy Minister Mr. Helpmann, who is portrayed along the film as a good "friend" of Sam's family. Realising that Sam has grown catatonic, the two declare Sam a lost cause and exit the room. The film ends with Sam sitting in the chair, smiling and blissfully singing "Brazil".
Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961)
Color
Fortune hunter is captivated by an aspiring writer living on wealthy woman's dime
Breakfast at Tiffany's
"Early one morning, a taxi pulls up in front of the Tiffany & Co. flagship store and from it emerges elegantly dressed Holly Golightly, carrying a paper bag containing her breakfast. After looking into the store's window displays, she strolls to her apartment and has to fend off her date from the night before. Once inside, Holly cannot find her keys, so she buzzes her landlord, Mr. Yunioshi, to let her in. Later, she is awakened by new neighbor Paul Varjak, who rings her doorbell to get into the building. The pair chat as she dresses to leave for her weekly visit to mobster Sally Tomato, who is currently incarcerated at Sing Sing. Tomato's lawyer pays her $100 a week to deliver "the weather report".
As she is leaving, Holly is introduced to Paul's "decorator", wealthy older woman Emily Eustace Failenson, whom Paul nicknames "2E". That night, when Holly goes out onto the fire escape to elude an over-eager date, she peeks into Paul's apartment and sees 2E leaving money and kissing him goodbye. Visiting Paul afterward, she learns he is a writer who has not had anything published since a book of vignettes five years before. Holly, in turn, explains she is trying to save money to support her brother Fred after he completes his Army service. The pair fall asleep but are awakened when Holly has a nightmare about her brother. When Paul questions her about this, Holly chides him for prying. She later buys Paul a typewriter ribbon to apologize and invites him to a wild party at her apartment. There, Paul meets her Hollywood agent, who describes Holly's transformation from a country girl into a Manhattan socialite, along with wealthy Brazilian politician Jose da Silva Pereira, and Rusty Trawler, the "ninth richest man in America under 50".
Some time later, 2E enters Paul's apartment, worried she is being followed. Paul tells her he will investigate and eventually confronts Holly's husband, Doc Golightly, who explains that Holly's real name is Lula Mae Barnes and that they were married when she was approaching 14. Now he wants to take her back to rural Texas. After Paul reunites Holly and Doc, she informs Paul that the marriage was annulled. At the Greyhound bus station, she tells Doc she will not return with him, and he leaves broken-hearted.
After drinking at a club, Paul and Holly return to her apartment, where she drunkenly tells him that she plans to marry Trawler for his money. A few days later, Paul learns that one of his short stories will be published. On the way to tell Holly, he sees a newspaper headline stating that Trawler has married someone else. Holly and Paul agree to spend the day together, taking turns doing things each has never done before. At Tiffany's, Paul has the ring from Doc Golightly's box of Cracker Jack engraved as a present for Holly. After spending the night together, he awakens to find her gone. When 2E arrives, Paul ends their relationship. She calmly accepts, having earlier concluded that he was in love with someone else.
Holly now schemes to marry Jose for his money, but after receiving a telegram notifying her of her brother's death in a jeep accident, she trashes her apartment. Months later, she invites Paul to dinner, as she is leaving the next morning for Brazil to continue her relationship with Jose. However, the pair are arrested in connection with Sally Tomato's drug ring, and Holly spends the night in jail.
The next morning, Holly is released on bail. Paul is waiting for her in a cab, bringing her cat and a letter from Jose explaining that he must end their relationship due to her arrest. Holly insists that she will go to Brazil anyway; she asks the cab to pull over and pushes the cat out into the pouring rain. Just after they get underway again, Paul storms out of the cab, tossing the engraved ring into her lap and telling her to examine her life. She goes through a decision-making moment, puts on the ring and runs after Paul, who has gone looking for the cat. Finally, Holly finds it sheltering in an alley and, with it tucked into her coat, she and Paul embrace.
Breaking In (2018)
Color
Woman breaks in to save her children
Breaking In
"After her father Isaac's murder, Shaun Russell travels to the house she grew up in with her two children, daughter Jasmine and son Glover. Shaun intends to settle her father's estate and sell the remotely-located house, which has multiple security features, including a hand-held remote monitor. The security system is off-line at their arrival, but is soon reactivated by Jasmine.
Unknown to the family, four criminals -- Peter, Sam, Duncan, and their leader Eddie -- are already in the house. Jasmine and Glover are taken hostage while Shaun is outside. Peter chases Shaun into the woods, where she manages to knock him unconscious. She leaves him bound and gagged, and uses the intercom to call the house. Eddie tells her they only came for the safe and the $4 million they believe is inside; Isaac was under investigation and Sam had learned that he liquidated his assets. The crew has only 90 minutes from when they cut the phone line before the security company will contact police, so they want to find it and leave quickly.
Concealed in the trees, Shaun sees Maggie, the realtor, arrive with paperwork for the house sale. Eddie greets her at the door, explaining Shaun had gone into town briefly, and invites her in. Maggie notices Shaun's purse on the table behind Eddie and declines. As Maggie is leaving, Duncan attacks and slits her throat, which angers Eddie, as it means Shaun won't be as controllable.
Shaun eventually finds her way into the house, and gives instructions to Jasmine. When Eddie and Duncan next threaten the children, Jasmine leads them to the safe, which Shaun believes only Peter knows how to open. Shaun returns with Peter, a knife at his throat, demanding her family's release. Eddie shoots Peter dead, and Shaun flees back to the woods. Peter had a flash drive containing computer code on a necklace, which is all they needed to unlock the safe. With the money in a bag, Eddie now intends to burn the house with the children in it to cover their escape, which Sam is uncomfortable with.
Duncan and Sam find Shaun on the roof during another rescue attempt. She jumps, pushing Sam off to his death, saving herself with the rope she had tied to the roof. Meanwhile Jasmine frees herself and Glover, having cut through their bonds with a shard of glass from a broken lamp. The children escape the house and join their mother with Eddie in pursuit, but they have Sam's truck keys. Shaun runs over Duncan as they try to drive away, but Eddie shoots at the truck and causes it to crash.
Shaun and the kids lock themselves in the house, thinking it's all over, until they discover the bag of money is also inside. Shaun's husband Justin arrives unexpectedly; Eddie attacks him and convinces Shaun to unlock the door. He finds Shaun with the money bag, doused in gasoline, and holding a lighter; if he kills her, the lighter will ignite the bag and he loses. He unloads his gun and Shaun lets him take the bag. However, Duncan appears and stabs Eddie to death. He goes after Shaun and threatens to rape her and Jasmine. Jasmine arrives to help her mom, but Duncan overpowers her. Shaun swipes Duncan's knife and stabs him dead.
As police sirens approach, Shaun goes outside to hold Justin and her kids close.
Brian's Song (1971)
Color
Pro Football player dies of cancer
Brian's Song
The movie begins as Chicago Bears running back Gale Sayers (Williams) arrives to team practice as an errant punt is sent to Sayers. Running back Brian Piccolo (Caan) goes to retrieve the ball, and Sayers flips it to him. Before Sayers meets with coach George Halas (Jack Warden) in his office, Piccolo tells him - as a prank - that Halas has a hearing problem, and Sayers acts strangely at the meeting. Sayers pranks him back by placing mashed potatoes on his seat while Piccolo is singing his alma mater's fight song. During practice, Piccolo struggles while Sayers shines. Sayers and Piccolo are placed as roommates, a rarity during the racial strife at the time. Sayers quickly becomes a standout player, but he injures his knee in a game against the San Francisco 49ers. To aid in Sayers' recovery, Piccolo brings a weight machine to his house. In Sayers' place, Piccolo rushes for 160 yards in a 17-16 win over the Los Angeles Rams, and is given the game ball. Piccolo challenges Sayers to a race across the park, where Sayers stumbles but wins. Piccolo is given the starting fullback position, and both he and Sayers excel. But Piccolo starts to lose weight and his performance declines, so he is sent to a hospital for a diagnosis. Soon after, Halas tells Sayers that Piccolo has cancer. In an emotional speech to his teammates, Sayers states that they will give Piccolo the game ball. After a game against the St. Louis Cardinals, Sayers visits Piccolo's wife, who reveals that Piccolo has to have another surgery for his tumor. After he is awarded the "George S. Halas Most Courageous Player Award," Sayers dedicates his speech to Piccolo. In a call, Sayers mentions that he gave Piccolo a pint of blood while he was in critical condition. Piccolo dies with his wife by his side. The movie ends with a flashback of Piccolo and Sayers running through the park, while the narrator says that Piccolo died at age 26, and is remembered as he lived, rather than how he died.
Bridesmaids (2011)
Color
Woman struggles with relationship issues
Bridesmaids
"Annie Walker (Kristen Wiig) is a single woman in her mid-30s, living in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. After her bakery, Cake Baby, failed, she lost her boyfriend and her savings and now works in a jewelry store. Although her flaky artist mother (Jill Clayburgh) encourages her to return home, Annie shares an apartment with English immigrant Gil (Matt Lucas) and his long-visiting sister, Brynn (Rebel Wilson), who doesn't pay rent and reads Annie's journal. She has a no-strings-attached sexual relationship with the self-absorbed Ted (Jon Hamm) but hopes for something more. Her best friend Lillian Donovan (Maya Rudolph), is virtually her only source of happiness.
Lillian becomes engaged to a wealthy banker living in Chicago and asks Annie to be her maid of honor. At the engagement party, Annie meets her fellow bridesmaids: Lillian's cynical cousin Rita (Wendi McLendon-Covey); idealistic friend Becca (Ellie Kemper); raunchy future sister-in-law Megan (Melissa McCarthy); and Helen Harris III (Rose Byrne), the beautiful but over-the-top wife of Lillian's fiance's boss. Helen and Annie, each jealous of the other's friendship with Lillian, take an instant dislike to each other, but Lillian persuades them to spend time together. Playing opposite each other in a game of doubles tennis, Annie and Helen deliberately hit each other with their volleys multiple times and scream at their partners if they make a mistake as they are trying to impress the other.
A few days later, Annie takes Lillian and the bridesmaids to a Brazilian steak restaurant for lunch before going to a chic bridal shop. While Lillian is in the restroom, Annie suggests a Paris-themed bridal shower, but Helen disparages the idea. At the bridal shop, Helen again uses her influence to gain access because Annie did not realize that reservations were needed. Then everyone except Helen (who did not eat the meat at the restaurant) becomes ill with food poisoning. While everyone else becomes ill, Helen orders for everyone the bridesmaid dresses she liked best thus continuing to show off and impress.
Worried about her finances, Annie suggests a bachelorette party at Lillian's parents' lake house. Helen overrules her and books a trip to Las Vegas. Out of pride, Annie refuses to allow Helen to buy her a first-class ticket and sits in coach. While Annie was in the coach she was sitting next to someone equally afraid of flying. Because Annie is afraid to fly, Helen gives her sedatives and alcohol. This makes Annie inebriated and paranoid, and her outbursts cause the plane to land in Casper, Wyoming, where she, Lillian and the bridesmaids are escorted off the plane; the bachelorette party is canceled. On the bus back to Milwaukee, Annie tries to apologize but Lillian tells Annie she wants Helen to take over planning the shower and wedding.
Annie continues to hope for a relationship with Ted, but begins flirting with Officer Nathan Rhodes (Chris O'Dowd), a friendly traffic cop who earlier had let her off without a ticket for broken taillights. Nathan encourages her to open a new bakery, but Annie refuses; her business's failure was so painful that she has given up baking entirely. After the two of them spend the night together, Nathan buys baking supplies with which he suggests Annie make them breakfast. Offended, Annie leaves. Annie is fired from her job for calling a rude teenage customer a "little cunt" and after not being able to pay rent, Gil and Brynn tell her she has to move out. She moves in with her mother.
Annie travels back to Chicago for the bridal shower at Helen's house. Helen has created an elaborate version of Annie's Parisian theme, then upstages Annie's heartfelt, handmade shower gift by giving Lillian a trip to Paris to be fitted for her wedding gown by one of the world's top designers. Enraged that Helen has taken credit for the Parisian theme, Annie throws a temper tantrum and is kicked out of the shower. Lillian tells her not to come to the wedding either. On the way home, Annie's car gets hit after she almost hits a porcupine and the driver quickly leaves. Nathan answers the emergency call and tells Annie how much she hurt him and not to contact him again. Ted comes to pick Annie up but, when he asks her to perform oral sex on him on the way home, she breaks off the relationship and walks home.
Over the next several days, Annie becomes reclusive, refusing to leave her mother's house and watching television obsessively. Megan finds her and tells her to stop feeling sorry for herself by revealing to her how she overcame bullying due to her weight and became a high security government employee (she knows the locations of nuclear weapons). Annie realizes her errors and tries to make amends with Nathan by baking him a cake. But he leaves it on his doorstep for raccoons to eat.
On the day of the wedding, which Annie doesn't intend to attend, Helen appears on her doorstep, begging for help in finding Lillian, who has gone missing. Helen tearfully explains how lonely she feels and apologizes for all she has done to hurt Annie out of jealousy. They pull up alongside Nathan in his police car and, after some persuasion via intended reckless and crazy driving, he grudgingly helps Annie and Helen find Lillian, who is at her own apartment. Lillian had gone there distressed by Helen's wedding micromanagement and her fear that Annie will have no one to be with. Annie tells her everything will be fine and helps her get ready for the wedding.
Annie resumes her place as maid of honor at the wedding, which Helen has arranged to include neon signs, fireworks and an appearance by Wilson Phillips. After the wedding, Helen again apologizes to Annie and hopes they can be friends in the future. Realizing that Annie and Nathan were falling in love, Helen arranged for him to pick Annie up after the wedding. They leave in his squad car, lights flashing and siren wailing. In a post-credits scene, Megan is recording a sex tape with an air marshal she met on the plane to Vegas, and she feeds him a submarine sandwich while talking dirty.
Bridge of Spies (2015)
Color
American pilot is captured by the Soviets
Bridge of Spies
"In 1957 New York City, Rudolf Abel is charged with spying for the Soviet Union. Insurance lawyer James B. Donovan is prevailed upon to take on the unenviable task of defending Abel, so that Abel's trial will be seen as fair. Committed to the principle that the accused deserves a vigorous defense, he mounts the best defense of Abel he can, declining along the way to cooperate in the CIA's attempts to induce him to violate the confidentiality of his communications with his client. Abel is convicted, but Donovan convinces the judge to spare Abel the death penalty because Abel had been serving his country honorably, and he might prove useful for a future prisoner exchange; Abel is sentenced to 30 years. Donovan appeals the conviction to the Supreme Court based on the lack of a search warrant for the seizure of Abel's ciphers and photography equipment, but the conviction is upheld. For his principled stand Donovan and his family are harassed, including shots being fired at his home.
Meanwhile Gary Powers, a pilot in the CIA's top secret U-2 spy plane program, is shot down over the USSR. He is captured and sentenced in a show trial to ten years confinement, including three years in prison.
Donovan receives a letter from East Germany, purportedly sent by Abel's wife, thanking him and urging him to get in contact with their lawyer, whose name is Vogel. The CIA think this is a back-channel message hinting that the USSR is willing to swap Powers for Abel. They ask Donovan to go to Berlin unofficially to negotiate the exchange; he arrives just as The Wall is going up. Crossing in to East Berlin, he meets with a KGB officer in the Soviet Embassy and is then directed to Vogel, who represents the Attorney General of the German Democratic Republic (GDR). The Attorney General seeks to swap Abel for an American graduate student named Pryor, who had been arrested in East Germany not long before; in the process the GDR hopes to gain official recognition by the United States.
The CIA wants Donovan to forget about Pryor but he insists both Pryor and Powers should be swapped for Abel. In a message to the Attorney General he bluffs that they will either release Pryor with Powers or there will be no deal. The bluff is successful. As Abel and Powers are poised at opposite ends of the Glienicke Bridge, there is a tense delay until it is confirmed that Pryor has been released at Checkpoint Charlie. The next day, back in the United States, the government publicly acknowledges Donovan for negotiating the deal, rehabilitating his public image. During the end credits the audience also learns that Donovan helped negotiate the release of fighters captured during the failed Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba.
Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason (2004)
Color
Bridget becomes disappointed living with beau
Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason
"The film begins shortly before Bridget's mother's (Gemma Jones) annual Turkey Curry Buffet. Bridget (Renee Zellweger) is ecstatic about her relationship with Mark Darcy (Colin Firth). However, Bridget's confidence in her relationship is shattered when she meets Mark's colleague, the beautiful Rebecca Gillies (Jacinda Barrett). Bridget meets her ex, Daniel Cleaver (Hugh Grant), at her job for Sit-Up Britain and is offered a position as the "Smooth Guidess". Bridget initially refuses, declaring that Daniel Cleaver a "deceitful, sexist, disgusting specimen of humanity". Bridget is delighted when Mark invites her to the "Law Council Dinner", assuming he will propose afterwards, but the night does not end well.
After the "Law Council Dinner", Mark and Bridget have an argument and she walks away from him. Mark goes to Bridget's apartment, apologizes, and tells her he loves her for the first time. Later in the night, Mark asks Bridget if she'd like to go on a ski holiday in Vorarlberg, Austria. Once on the slopes, she learns Rebecca recommended the vacation spot to Mark. While on the holiday, Bridget thinks she's pregnant; after an argument concerning the future of children, the pregnancy test proves negative. After they return home, Bridget and Mark have lunch with both of their parents. When the subject of marriage comes up during conversation, Bridget is hurt by Mark's comment that it's not something they're even thinking about yet.
Bridget hears a message from Rebecca and discusses the message with one of her alleged "friends", who advises Bridget that if Mark says "I refuse to dignify that question with an answer", then you know he's having an affair. Bridget, hearing that answer, breaks up with Mark and goes with Daniel to Thailand to film "The Smooth Guide" with her friend, Shazzer (Sally Phillips). Bridget and Daniel flirt in Thailand. Bridget loses faith in Daniel again when she is in a hotel room and notices that a Thai prostitute has arrived for him. Daniel later says that the "gorgeous Thai girl" was revealed to be a "gorgeous Thai boy".
While packing up for their trip back home, Shazzer asks Bridget to put Jed's (Paul Nicholls) gift in her bag. Bridget is arrested and sent to a Thai prison after airport security-dogs detect a large stash of cocaine inside the gift. In prison, Bridget spends her time sharing relationship stories with the inmates and teaching them Madonna's "Like a Virgin". Mark arrives to tell Bridget that his superiors have sent him to put her release in motion. Bridget identifies Jed in a picture as the man who gave Shazzer the hidden cocaine. Mark walks away after clearly stating that he was just the messenger and declaring that her sex life does not interest him. In Britain, Mark confronts Daniel for not helping Bridget when she was arrested, and they start a fight outside a museum. Eventually, Daniel swears off Bridget for good and sarcastically suggests that Mark "just marry her".
Bridget arrives at Heathrow Airport as an international human-rights celebrity. She is greeted by her parents, who have been busy planning their vow renewal ceremony. At home, she is surprised by her friends, who inform her that Mark personally tracked down Jed and forced him into custody in order to free her, in the process stirring into action the British Government, MI5, Interpol and many other diplomatic big-wigs. Hopeful that he still loves her, she runs to his house. She finds Rebecca there and assumes that there is a romantic relationship between Mark and her. Rebecca reveals that she is not seeking an affair with Mark; she is instead infatuated with Bridget, who is flattered, but politely turns her down.
Bridget confronts Mark at his legal chambers and asks him to take her back. Mark proposes to Bridget and she accepts. The film ends with Bridget's parents renewing their vows and Bridget catching the bouquet.
Bridget Jones's Baby (2016)
Color
43yo Bridget is pregnant, but doesn't know which suitor is the father
Bridget Jones's Baby
"On her 43rd birthday, Bridget Jones is awoken by her mother who reminds her that her time to have children is running out. She goes to attend the funeral of Daniel Cleaver, who is presumed dead after a plane crash. While there she sees her ex, Mark Darcy (Colin Firth), and his new wife. They bump into one another somewhat awkwardly and then go their separate ways.
Bridget now works as a television producer and is close friends with the anchor of the show she runs, Miranda (Sarah Solemani), who offers to take her out for her birthday. Bridget turns down her offer to spend time with her old group of friends, but is heartbroken when they cancel on her due to commitments to their children.
Deciding to celebrate her single life Bridget accepts Miranda's offer to take her away for the weekend. They go to a music festival where Miranda challenges her to sleep with the first man she meets. Falling in the mud, Bridget is helped out by a random stranger. After attending an Ed Sheeran concert a drunk Bridget crawls into a yurt she thinks belongs to her and Miranda, but actually belongs to the handsome stranger she met earlier. The two have sex and in the morning Bridget makes her escape. The stranger returns disappointed that she is gone.
Returning home Bridget goes to the christening of Jude's youngest child where she is the godmother and Mark has been asked to be the godfather. Mark tells her that he and his wife are planning on divorcing and Bridget has sex with him. When Mark reveals he is travelling the next day Bridget is reminded that he had always put work before their relationship and leaves in the morning before he wakes up, leaving behind a note telling him that reconnecting with him is too painful.
Bridget finds that she is gaining weight. Shazzer suggests that Bridget might be pregnant, especially when she realises that Bridget used old, expired condoms when having sex. Taking a pregnancy test at work, Bridget confirms she is pregnant and decides that she wants to keep the baby as it is her last chance to have a child.
After a visit to the obstetrician and gynecologist, Dr. Rawlings, she realises that she does not know who the father is and doesn't even have a way of contacting Jack, the handsome stranger. However Miranda spies him on TV where they realise that Jack Qwant is a billionaire and the inventor of a dating site that has an algorithm to match couples together. Miranda conspires with Bridget to have Jack on the show to take hair samples so that Bridget will be able to test it against the DNA of her baby to either confirm or eliminate Jack as the father. At the taping the hair and makeup artist is able to nab samples of Jack's hair for Bridget but Jack recognises Bridget, and she decides to tell him that she is pregnant and that he is the father, without mentioning Mark Darcy. Initially taken aback Jack decides to throw himself into the role of supporting Bridget.
Feeling things are going too quickly with Jack, Bridget decides to go forward and tell Mark. However Mark is so thrilled at the news that he is about to be a father that Bridget does not tell him about Jack. Bridget also decides not to go forward with testing the DNA while her child is still in the womb as she is terrified by the possibility that she might miscarry. She persuades Dr. Rawlings to go through appointments twice, once with Jack and another time with Mark.
Bridget invites Jack to a work event and is startled when Mark shows up as well. The two men immediately take a liking to one another, finding the other's accomplishments impressive. They go out to dinner where Bridget finally comes clean and tells them that she is unsure who the father is. Jack takes the news well, telling Bridget that the child is the priority. Mark Darcy is upset and walks out of the restaurant.
At an ante-natal class, Jack arrives early and Bridget is gratified when Mark shows up as well. Jack and Mark are mistaken for a gay couple with Bridget as their surrogate, much to Mark's discomfort and Jack's amusement. Mark is also jealous at the easy rapport that Jack has with Bridget and his warmth in taking care of her.
Bridget experiences cramps and goes to the hospital, taking Jack with her as she is unable to reach Mark. When at last Mark arrives he is upset to see the two laughing together and embracing. Mark and Jack fight and Bridget sends them out of the room. Outside, Jack implies that he and Bridget had sex without condoms, making Mark realise that he is less likely to be the father. He leaves once again.
Bridget continues to prepare for the arrival of her baby, now with only Jack by her side. They have a discussion where he asks her to move in with him and confesses that life for him is lonely. Bridget asks him what will happen if Mark is the father and he tells her he will need to re-evaluate their relationship if that is the case. He also confesses that the reason Mark has been absent is because Jack heavily implied that Mark was unlikely to be the father. An upset Bridget goes to talk to Mark, but sees his wife arriving at his house and decides to let him be.
At nine months, Bridget quits her job rather than being fired for numerous gaffes and unprofessional mishaps, notably inviting a guest onto the show with the sole intent of obtaining a sample of his DNA, live broadcasting bare arses during the launch event of a public news-gathering initiative and mixing up a guest with his chauffeur. Unemployed, exhausted, and hungry, she goes out shopping but has her card eaten by a cashpoint and locks herself out of the bank lobby, leaving her keys and her food inside. When no one buzzes her up to her building she stands outside in the rain feeling miserable. Mark arrives and breaks in for her. He informs her that he and his wife are going through with their divorce and she was only there to pick up the last of her things. Just as they are about to kiss Bridget's water breaks. When his phone rings for work he throws it out the window in a romantic gesture, which leaves them without a means to call transport to the hospital. They enlist the help of a local restaurant to get them to hospital, but a traffic jam due to protests forces them to walk. Overtaken by contractions Bridget cannot walk and Mark offers to carry her, but almost collapses. Jack arrives just in time and the two of them get Bridget to the hospital.
During labour both Mark and Jack try to help Bridget. However, during labour Bridget accidentally punches Jack in the nose. She also reaches to Mark for comfort and he reassures her that she can get through labour and he will love her no matter whether the child is his or not, while sustaining an agonising bite to the wrist by Bridget. While Jack and Mark wait outside, Jack apologises to Mark for his behaviour and Mark accepts. Bridget gives birth to a boy and all of Bridget's friends and relatives come to visit her in the delivery room. Meanwhile, Dr. Rawlings has both men come with her to perform the DNA test. After having bonded for the last 6 months Mark and Jack each wish each other luck.
A year later Bridget prepares to be married. At the altar she is greeted by Jack, holding her son, and then moves forward to marry Mark Darcy. After the wedding Mark and Jack, now friends, head to the reception together, while Bridget carries her and Mark's son, William.
A newspaper lying on a bench reveals that Daniel Cleaver has been found alive in the woods in the wreckage of the plane.
Bridget Jones's Diary (2001)
Color
Bridget Searches for Mr. Right
Bridget Jones's Diary
"Bridget Jones (Renee Zellweger) is 32 year old, single, very accident-prone and worried about her weight. She works in publicity at a book publishing company in London where her main focus is fantasising about her boss, Daniel Cleaver (Hugh Grant). At a New Year party hosted by her parents, she re-encounters Mark Darcy (Colin Firth), the barrister son of her parents' friends. They had known each other as children. After their initial encounter, Mark thinks that Bridget is a fool and vulgar and Bridget thinks that he is arrogant and rude, and is disgusted by his novelty Christmas jumper. After overhearing Mark grumble to his mother about her attempts to set him up with "a verbally incontinent spinster who smokes like a chimney, drinks like a fish and dresses like her mother", she decides to turn her life around. She starts her own diary, which covers all her attempts to stop smoking, lose weight and find her Mr. Right.
Bridget and Daniel begin to flirt heavily at work, first over email, ahead of an important book launch, at which Bridget bumps into Mark and his glamorous but haughty colleague Natasha (Embeth Davidtz). Bridget leaves with Daniel and they have dinner, despite the fact that he is a notorious womaniser with a questionable personality, of which Bridget is aware. Bridget learns from Daniel that he and Mark have a history and, as a result, hate each other. Daniel informs Bridget of their falling-out, telling her that Mark broke their friendship by sleeping with his fiancee.
Bridget is invited to a family party, and she takes Daniel along as her "plus one". They spend the day before the party at a country house hotel, where Mark and Natasha are also staying. Daniel, having to spend the day working, is not able to attend and sends Bridget to the party alone. However, his dubious character becomes clearer to Bridget when she returns home from the party to find Daniel with another woman, a colleague of his, Lara (Lisa Barbuscia), and Bridget cuts ties with him soon after. Bridget begins to search for a new job and after landing a job in television, quits her role at the publishing house without giving notice. Daniel makes a desperate attempt to convince Bridget to stay, only for her to retort that she would "rather have a job wiping Saddam Hussein's arse."
Bridget has a long-standing invitation to a friend's dinner party, where she is the only single person and distraught to see Mark and Natasha seated at the table. During the party, Mark privately confesses to Bridget that, despite her faults, he likes her "just the way she is". He later helps Bridget to achieve an exclusive TV interview in a landmark legal case.
Bridget begins to develop feelings for Mark, and he comes to her rescue at her birthday dinner party at her flat in Borough, which she is disastrously attempting to cater for herself. Daniel drunkenly visits, temporarily claiming Bridget's attention. Mark leaves the party, but returns to face Daniel. Mark punches Daniel and the two fight. They end up in a nearby restaurant and finally smash through the window, landing on the street. Mark wins the battle and knocks Daniel out. Bridget chides Mark for being mean and he leaves, but after an insensitive appeal by Daniel, she also rejects him emphatically.
In the meantime, Bridget's mother, Pamela (Gemma Jones) temporarily leaves Bridget's father, Colin (Jim Broadbent) and begins an affair with a perma-tanned shopping channel presenter named Julian. After the affair is over and she has reconciled with Colin, she returns to the Jones family home and unintentionally reveals a truth: that Mark and Daniel's falling-out resulted from Daniel (who was Mark's best friend at Cambridge University) seducing Mark's wife, not the other way around, as Daniel had led Bridget to believe.
At the Darcys' ruby wedding anniversary party the same day, Bridget confesses her feelings for Mark, only to find out that he and Natasha are both leaving to accept jobs in New York. Bridget interrupts the toast to their pending engagement with a stuttering but moving speech about England losing one of its finest men. Her words clearly have an effect on Mark, but he still flies to New York, though with obvious misgivings. Bridget's friends rally to repair her broken heart with a surprise trip to Paris, and just as they are about to leave, Mark appears at Bridget's flat.
When they are about to kiss for the first time, Bridget goes to her bedroom to change into sexier underwear. While Bridget is changing, Mark peeks at her diary, in which she has written many insults about him. Bridget returns to find that he has left. Realising that he had read her diary and that she might potentially lose him again, Bridget runs outside after him in the snow with a thin sweater and tiger skin-print underwear. Unable to find him, she is disheartened and is about to return home when Mark appears having bought a new diary for Bridget in order "to make a fresh start". They kiss in the snow-covered streets. Bridget then notes that "nice boys don't kiss like that", to which Mark, contrary to his uptight nature, retorts "Oh yes they fucking do."
Brothers (2009)
Color
Man tries to take place of his brother who is MIA
Brothers
"Sam Cahill (Tobey Maguire) and Tommy Cahill (Jake Gyllenhaal) are brothers. A Marine captain about to embark on his fourth tour of duty, Sam is a steadfast family man married to his high school sweetheart, Grace (Natalie Portman), with whom he has two young daughters, Isabelle and Maggie (Bailee Madison, Taylor Grace Geare). The film opens with Tommy being released from jail for armed robbery, not long before Sam departs for Afghanistan in October, 2007.
Soon news comes that Sam's helicopter has crashed over the water, killing all of the Marines aboard. In reality, he and a hometown friend, Private Joe Willis (Patrick Flueger), have been taken prisoner in a mountain village. With Sam gone, Tommy attempts to redeem himself in the eyes of his family by wrangling old friends to help with kitchen repairs for Grace and the kids. Grace slowly sheds her previous resentment towards her brother-in-law.
As months pass, Grace and Tommy bond over their mutual mourning, culminating in a passionate fireside kiss. They regret it afterward, and do not take this attraction any further, though Tommy continues to win the favor of his nieces. Meanwhile, Sam and Joe are abused and tortured by their captors, forced to make videotaped dismissals of the military and their mission, though only Joe cracks. The captors eventually deem him useless and force Sam, at gunpoint, to beat Joe to death with a lead pipe. He does so and reacts angrily. Sometime later, Sam is rescued.
Sam returns home, clearly traumatized by his experience. He drifts through encounters in a cold, paranoid daze, refuses to explain to his family what happened while he was in Afghanistan, and lies to Joe's widow that he does not know how Joe died. He also believes Tommy and Grace had a sexual relationship in his absence. During Maggie's birthday party, a resentful and jealous Isabelle claims that Sam's paranoid assumptions are true: that Tommy and Grace slept together. Sam becomes enraged, destroying the newly remodeled kitchen with a crow bar and pulling a pistol on Tommy who arrives and tries to calm his brother's violent breakdown. The police arrive, and after a frantic confrontation in which Sam holds the gun up against his head and nearly commits suicide, Sam surrenders.
Sam is admitted to a mental hospital. Grace visits him and tells him that if he does not tell her what is tormenting him, he will lose her forever. Faced with this decision, Sam finally opens up about the source of his pain, confiding in her that he killed Joe and they embrace. A letter between husband and wife is read in voice over, with Sam wondering if he will be able to continue living a normal life.
Bruce Almighty (2003)
Color
Bruce becomes GOD
Bruce Almighty
"Bruce Nolan (Jim Carrey) is a television field reporter for Eyewitness News on WKBW-TV in Buffalo, New York but desires to be the news anchorman. When he is passed over for the promotion by his mortal rival, Evan Baxter (Steve Carell), he becomes furious and rages during an interview at Niagara Falls, his resulting actions leading to his suspension from the station, followed by a series of misfortunes such as getting assaulted by a gang of thugs for standing up for a blind man they are beating up as he later on meets with them again and asks them to apologize for beating him up. Bruce complains to God that "He's the one that should be fired".
Bruce later receives a message on his pager, directing him to an deserted warehouse where God (Morgan Freeman) meets him. God offers to give Bruce his powers to prove that he is doing the job correctly. God tells Bruce that he cannot tell others he has God's powers, nor can he use the powers to alter free will. Bruce is initially jubilant with the powers, using them for personal gain, such as by getting his job back, and impressing his girlfriend Grace Connelly (Jennifer Aniston) and breathing insects onto the gang that assaulted him with making a monkey come out of a gang member's butt. Bruce finds ways of using the powers to cause miraculous events to occur at otherwise mundane events that he covers, such as discovering Jimmy Hoffa's body, framing two reporters (in revenge for mocking him for his live rage at Niagara falls) for illegal drug possession, or causing an iron meteor to harmlessly land near a cook-off, earning him the name "Mr. Exclusive". Bruce then gets his revenge by controlling Evan to embarrass himself on-air, causing Evan to be sent back to his reporting job in favor of Bruce as the new anchor.
During this, Bruce continues to hear voices in his head that he can't understand at once. He later re-encounters God on Mount Everest, who explains the voices are prayers, meant for God, that Bruce must deal with. Bruce creates a computerized email-like system to receive the prayers and respond but is too lazy to read every prayer before answering them, but finds that the influx is far too great for him to handle- even though God has stated that Bruce is only receiving prayers from the Buffalo area-, and lazily sets the program to automatically answer every prayer as Yes for his era as God.
Bruce attends a party celebrating his promotion. When Grace arrives, she finds Bruce and his co-anchor Susan Ortega (Catherine Bell) kissing, after she forcefully comes on to him, and quickly leaves refusing to believe his pleas that it was a misunderstanding. Bruce follows her, trying to use his powers to convince her to stay but cannot influence her free will. As Bruce looks around, he realizes that the city has fallen into chaos due to his actions: parts of the city believe the Apocalypse is nearly upon Earth due to the meteor strike at the cookoff, while a large number of people, all having prayed to with the multi-million dollar lottery and finding they all won reducing their price to a few dollars, have started rioting in the streets. Bruce returns to God, who explains that he can't solve all the problems and Bruce must figure out a way himself. Bruce returns to his computer system and goes about answering prayers as best he can. He then resigns his short-lived anchorman career and informs Evan that he will be given back the job, thus making the future calm again. When Grace moves with her mother Bruce gets curious about Grace's prayers and when he reads through them, he finds a prayer from Grace, wishing for Bruce's success and well-being. As he reads it, another prayer from Grace arrives, this one saying she still loves him but wishes not to be in love with Bruce anymore.
Bruce is saddened and walks alone on a highway in a thunderstorm, asking God to take back his powers and letting his fate be in his hands. Bruce is suddenly struck by a truck, knocked out nearly to death, and regains consciousness in a white void. God appears, and asks Bruce what he really wants; Bruce admits that he only wants to make sure Grace finds a man that would make her happy. God agrees, and Bruce finds himself bandaged, and bruised up in the hospital, shortly after being recovered- near miraculously- by the doctors. Grace arrives and the two rekindle their relationship (while they hug, Bruce muttering to God, "Now You're just showing off."), with Bruce and Grace later becoming engaged. After his recovery, Bruce returns to his field reporting but takes more pleasure in the simple stories and interviews a baker shop he was at in the beginning, as his colleagues, Evan and Grace happily applaud for him.
Brute Force (1947)
Black & White
Prison inmate hatches dangerous escape plan
Brute Force
"On a dark, rainy morning at Westgate Prison, prisoners crammed into a small cell watch through the window as Joe Collins (Burt Lancaster) returns from his term in solitary confinement. Joe is angry and talks about escape. The beleaguered warden is under pressure to improve discipline. His chief of security, Capt. Munsey (Hume Cronyn), is a sadist who manipulates prisoners to inform on one another and create trouble so he can inflict punishment. The often drunk prison doctor (Art Smith) warns that the prison is a powder keg and will explode if they are not careful. He denounces Munsey's approach and complains that the public and government officials fail to understand the need for rehabilitation.
Joe's attorney visits and tells Joe his wife Ruth (Ann Blyth) is not willing to have an operation for cancer unless Joe can be there with her. He takes his revenge on fellow inmate Wilson (James O'Rear), who at Munsey's instigation had planted a weapon on Joe that earned him a stay in solitary. Joe has organized the brutal attack on Wilson in the prison machine shop but provides himself with an alibi by talking with the doctor in his office while the murder occurs.
Joe presses another inmate, Gallagher (Charles Bickford), to help him escape but Gallagher has a good job at the prison newspaper and Munsey has promised him parole soon. Munsey then instigates a prisoner's suicide, giving higher authorities the opportunity to revoke all prisoner privileges and cancel parole hearings. Gallagher feels betrayed and decides to join Joe's escape plan. Joe and Gallagher plan an assault on the guard tower where they can get access to the lever that lowers a bridge that controls access to the prison.
While the escape plan is taking shape, each of the inmates in cell R17 tells their story, and in every case, their love for a woman is what landed them in trouble with the law. Munsey learns the details of the escape plan from an informer, one of the men in cell R17, and the break goes badly. The normally subdued prison yard turns into a violent and bloody riot, killing Munsey, Gallagher, and the remainder of the inmates in cell R17, including Joe.
Bulworth (1998)
Color
Politician hires hitman to kill himself
Bulworth
"A veteran U.S. Senate Democrat, Bulworth is losing his bid for re-election to a fiery young opponent. Bulworth's leftist views, formed in the 1960s and 1970s, have lost favor with voters, so he has conceded to moderate politics and to accepting donations from special interests. In addition, though he and his wife have been having affairs openly for years, they must still present a happy facade in the interest of maintaining a good public image.
Tired of politics and his life in general and planning to commit suicide, Bulworth negotiates a $10 million life insurance policy with his daughter as its beneficiary in exchange for a favorable vote from the insurance industry. Knowing that a suicide will negate his daughter's inheritance, he contracts to have himself assassinated within two days' time.
Turning up in California for his campaign extremely drunk, Bulworth begins speaking his mind freely at public events and in the presence of the C-SPAN film crew following his campaign. After ending up in a night club and smoking marijuana, he even starts rapping in public. His frank, potentially offensive remarks make him an instant media darling and re-energize his campaign.
Becoming romantically involved with young campaigner Nina (Halle Berry), Bulworth hides out in her family's home. He is pursued by the paparazzi, his insurance company, his campaign managers, Nina's protective drug-dealing brother, and an increasingly adoring public, all before his impending assassination.
Nina reveals she is the assassin he indirectly hired and will now not carry out the job. Bulworth happily accepts a new campaign for the presidency right before he is shot in front of a crowd of reporters and supporters by an insurance representative fearful of Bulworth's push for single-payer health care.
Burlesque (2010)
Color
A small-town girl ventures to LA and finds her place in a neo-burlesque club
Burlesque
A small-town girl ventures to Los Angeles and finds her place in a neo-burlesque club run by a former dancer.
Burn After Reading (2008)
Color
Gym employees get ahold of secret CIA CD
Burn After Reading
"Faced with a demotion at work due to a drinking problem, Osbourne Cox quits his job as a CIA analyst and resolves to write a memoir about his life and career. When his pediatrician wife Katie finds out, she sees it as a justifiable opportunity to file for divorce and continue her extramarital affair unimpeded. Taking her lawyer's advice, she copies financial records and several other files from her husband's computer onto a CD.
When the CD gets left on the locker room floor of Hardbodies, a local gym, by a careless law firm employee, it falls into the hands of personal trainer Chad Feldheimer and his co-worker Linda Litzke, who mistake the numerical data in the Cox's bank records and the cryptic first draft of Osbourne's memoir to be highly sensitive government information. After getting the data traced back to Osbourne, Chad and Linda plan to give the disc back to him for a reward, with Linda planning to use the money to pay for cosmetic surgery. But when a phone call and subsequent in-person meeting with Osbourne goes horribly wrong, Chad and Linda turn over the disc to the Russian embassy, offering more information in return for monetary compensation. With no other data to give them, Linda persuades Chad to sneak into the Cox home to get more files from their computer.
Meanwhile, Osbourne's increasingly erratic behavior - aggravated in part by his encounters with Chad and Linda - prompt Katie to move ahead with the divorce proceedings. She changes the locks on their house, forcing Osbourne to move onto the sailboat they have docked on the Chesapeake Bay. With her husband out of the picture, Katie invites her lover, Harry Pfarrer to move in. A womanizing Treasury Department employee and U.S. Marshal, Pfarrer is coincidentally also secretly seeing Linda. When he finds a strange man hiding in a bedroom closet in Katie's house - actually Chad in search of more documents for Linda - Harry panics and shoots him point blank in the face. Seeing that Chad has no identification or labels in his suit, Harry believes he has just killed a spy and quickly disposes of the body by dumping it in the bay.
Two days later at the CIA headquarters, an official named Palmer and his director learn that information from Osbourne has been given to the Russian Embassy. They are perplexed and decide to maintain observation until the situation "makes sense". Harry, increasingly anxious after killing a man he believes was a government spy (but who was, in fact, Chad), gets into an argument with Katie and decides to leave the house. On his way out, he spots a man who has been trailing him for the past several days. After tackling him to the ground, Harry finds out that the man is a process server tasked with giving him divorce papers from his wife Sandy, who is having an extramarital liaison of her own. Harry is devastated and goes to see an agitated Linda, who confides in Harry that her friend Chad is missing; he agrees to try to help find him (unaware that Chad is the man he killed in Cox's home).
The next morning, Harry and Linda meet in a park, and she provides him with more information about Chad's disappearance. When Harry realizes that Chad is the man he killed, he flees in terror, assuming Linda is also a spy. Linda then turns to Ted Treffon, the kindhearted manager of Hardbodies, who has unrequited feelings for her. Believing the Russians have kidnapped Chad, he agrees to go to the Cox home to search Osbourne's computer. Unemployed and having spent the past several days living on a small boat, Osbourne becomes unhinged when he finds out that his wife has emptied his bank accounts, and, no longer having keys, decides to break into the house to get some of his personal belongings. Finding Ted in the basement, Osbourne initially takes him to be Katie's lover. He soon realizes Ted's affiliation with Linda and the rest of the "league of morons" he feels he has been struggling against his whole life, and fires a gunshot at him. Ted manages to get out of the house, only to be fatally attacked by a hatchet-wielding Osbourne.
At CIA headquarters a few days later, Palmer and his director try to understand what exactly happened. It is revealed that while trying to board a flight to Venezuela, Harry was detained because his name was on a hot list, Ted's body has been disposed of and the CIA are holding Linda who is promising to keep quiet about everything if they will pay for her cosmetic surgery. A CIA agent shot Osbourne during his hatchet assault on Ted and the bullet has put Osbourne in a coma. The director instructs Palmer to let Harry fly to Venezuela, saying that the US has no extradition with Venezuela, decides the CIA will pay for Linda's surgery and postpones considering Osbourne's situation until he regains consciousness, which is not likely. The director tells Palmer that they did not really learn anything.
Butterfield 8 (1960)
Color
Call girl tries to go straight when she thinks she's found Mr. Right
Butterfield 8
"Gloria Wandrous (Elizabeth Taylor) wakes up in the apartment of wealthy executive Weston Liggett (Laurence Harvey) and finds that he has left her $250. Insulted, Gloria, whose dress is torn, takes Liggett's wife Emily's (Dina Merrill) mink coat to cover herself and scrawls "No Sale" in lipstick on the mirror. But she orders her telephone answering service, BUtterfield 8, to put Liggett through if he should call.
Gloria visits a childhood friend, pianist Steve Carpenter (Eddie Fisher), in his Greenwich Village apartment. He chastises Gloria for wasting her life on one-night stands, but agrees to ask his girlfriend Norma (Susan Oliver) to lend her a dress. Gloria leaves, whereupon Norma jealously gives Steve an ultimatum: he must choose between her and Gloria. While they are arguing, Steve accidentally refers to Norma as Gloria.
Liggett takes a train to the countryside where his wife Emily is caring for her mother. A friend, Bingham Smith (Jeffrey Lynn), advises him to end his adulterous relationships and return to Bing's law firm instead of working for the chemical business of Emily's father. Meanwhile, Gloria lies to her doting mother Annie (Mildred Dunnock), claiming to have spent the night at Norma's. A neighbor, Fanny Thurber (Betty Field), insinuates that Gloria spends many nights in "less than virtuous" circumstances, though Annie is oblivious to the insults.
Liggett returns home. Finding the lipstick and money, he phones Gloria to explain the money was meant for her to buy a new dress, to replace the one that he had torn. While drinking later that night, Liggett advises her to ask a high price for her lovemaking talents, prompting Gloria to jam her stiletto heel into his shoe. She insists she does not take payment from her dates and claims she has been hired as a model to advertise the dress she is wearing at three different bistros that very night. Liggett follows her and watches Gloria flirt with dozens of men at several clubs. He drives her to a run-down motel owned by a middle-aged female ex-vaudevillian called Happy (Kay Medford). After sleeping together, Liggett and Gloria decide to explore their relationship further.
Steve invites Norma over to his house, making her assume that he has chosen her over Gloria. However, Norma finds the mink coat hanging in Steve's apartment, and realizes he has not made a choice. He tries to explain that after Gloria's father died, Steve looked after her like a brother. Norma again asserts that she does not want to continue their relationship with "that tramp" Gloria in their lives.
Liggett disappears with Gloria for five days. He brings her to his birth home to show her that he has middle-class roots and did not come from money. Later, after she gives him a lighter with the initials "B.U. 8" on it, he finally admits to Gloria that he is married. Far from being surprised, she thanks Liggett for the respect he showed her, finally calling her by name instead of "honey or babe or dollface". He says that because his wife's father owns the chemical company where he works, he's stuck in the relationship.
While Emily is alone during this time, her mother instructs her to divorce her "absentee husband." She explains that throughout the 150-year history of their family, there has never been a divorce, but that in this case it is warranted, insinuating that Liggett is either a drunk or a philanderer, or both. Emily refuses her mother's entreaties, and says that Liggett is a good man. Emily feels he is frustrated by the do-nothing, planned life her family has handed him, and insists she will be patient with him.
Annie, meanwhile, is very worried that Gloria hasn't phoned for six days. She initially refuses to confide in Mrs. Thurber why she is worried, but Mrs. Thurber tells Annie that everything is fine and she knows all about Gloria's activities. When Gloria returns, she confesses to her mother about having been the "slut of all time," and Annie slaps her. Now that her mother has finally heard the truth, Gloria says she has finally fallen in love with only one man. Gloria visits her psychiatrist, Dr. Tredman (George Voskovec), to insist that her relationship with Liggett has cured her of promiscuity. She rushes exuberantly to Steve's apartment, and realizes that the mink coat is still there and she must return it. As she gets to the apartment building, Liggett's wife enters a few feet ahead of her, and Gloria leaves in shame.
Liggett takes up Bing's offer of a job at the law firm, and he has three months to get back to speed. When he returns home, Emily has noticed that her mink is gone and attempts to phone the police. Liggett nervously makes excuses and rushes out to search for Gloria at her regular clubs, but finds instead that he is just one in a "fraternity" of Gloria's ex-lovers. "We meet at Yankee Stadium", one says.
Gloria goes to visit Happy, who relates that her own wild and promiscuous life in her youth brought her nothing but pain and led to a depressing dead end. When Gloria finds Liggett at a bistro the following evening, he launches into a series of drunken insults and taunts her with "honey, babe, dollface, kid." He creates a scene while calling Gloria out, and is punched by another patron. Gloria then drives a drunken Liggett to his apartment building where Emily, spotting them from a window above, watches as her husband throws the coat at Gloria, saying he would never give the tainted object back to his wife.
Gloria goes to Steve, saying cynically that she feels she has earned the mink coat she is wearing, every thread and fur pelt. She recounts that when she was 13 years old, Major Hartley, a friend of her widowed mother's, had repeatedly raped her while her mother was away, and she hates herself because she loved it. Norma, meanwhile finds Gloria asleep on Steve's couch, but he calmly asks Norma to marry him.
The next day, a defeated Liggett asks Emily for a divorce. He explains he loves Gloria so much that the thought of her deserting him drove him into a rage.
Back home, Gloria tells her mother she is going to Boston to begin a new life. She gives the mink to Fanny and leaves in her sports car. Finding out where Gloria went by begging BUtterfield 8, Liggett drives until he spots her car at a roadside cafe. He tries to apologize to Gloria by asking her to marry him, but Gloria insists that his insults have "branded" her. He convinces her to go to Happy's to talk in private, but when Happy greets her sarcastically, Gloria speeds away.
Liggett drives after Gloria, trying to catch up to her increasingly fast pace. While turning to see him following her, Gloria misses a sign for road construction and hurtles over an embankment to her death. When he returns to the city, Liggett tells his wife about Gloria's death and announces that he is leaving to "find my pride," and that if Emily is still home when he returns, they will work on their marriage.
Caesar and Cleopatra (1945)
Color
Julius tries to resolve fued between Cleopatra and her brother
Caesar and Cleopatra
An aging Julius Caesar takes possession of the Egyptian capital city of Alexandria, and tries to resolve a feud between young Princess Cleopatra and her younger brother Ptolemy. During the resulting sometimes-murderous court intrigues, Caesar develops a special relationship with Cleopatra, and teaches her how to use her royal power.
Cannery Row (1982)
Color
Two misfits fall in love
Cannery Row
"The story is about the skid row citizens of Monterey, California, set during World War II. As declining fish stocks are shutting down a previously rich fishery and the dependent canning industry, bums and hookers lead colorful and adventurous lives in a balmy seaside setting.
Doc (Nick Nolte), a self-employed marine biologist, lives in a dockside warehouse and researches octopuses. Suzy DeSoto (Debra Winger), a girl from the local bordello, is working there only out of necessity.
A collection of linked vignettes describes life on Cannery Row. It is depicted as an impoverished area inhabited by a motley band of people who have experienced failures but somehow have found their niche and a community of strangely kindred souls.
Doc and Suzy don't quite fit in, but are accepted. Mac and the boys gather frogs and sell them to give a surprise party for Doc, which turns into a brawl, breaking Doc's tank with his octopus collection. To make amends, they buy Doc a present of a microscope, but mistakenly get him a telescope instead.
A deeper mystery revolves around why Doc stays in Cannery Row. Suzy discovers that Doc was once a professional baseball pitcher but quit. Another character, the Seer (Sunshine Parker), spends his days playing his horn. He depends on the gifts that mysteriously appear, such as groceries. Suzy eventually learns that the Seer is a former baseball player whom Doc injured with a pitch to the head, and now Doc takes care of him. Doc and Suzy ultimately find love.
Capone (1975)
Color
The rise of Brooklyn gangster Al Capone
Capone
"The story is of the rise and fall of the Chicago gangster Al Capone and the control he exhibited over the city during the prohibition years.
Starting in 1918, Capone hangs out with other gangs until he is found by racketeers Johnny Torrio (Harry Guardino) and Frankie Yale (John Cassavetes). Then he pushes his way into the Chicago underworld, battling mobsters Hymie Weiss and George "Bugs" Moran, while romancing flapper Iris Crawford (Susan Blakely) and becoming kingpin of Chicago crime with the help his ambitious bodyguard Frank "The Enforcer" Nitti (played by Sylvester Stallone).
Later, in the wake of the St. Valentine's Day Massacre, Capone is sent to prison, not for murder or other violent crime but for tax evasion. He contracts syphilis in prison and dies in 1947.
Capone (2020)
Color
Capone suffers dementia after ten years in prison and comes to regret his past
Capone
"Once the most feared bootlegger in Chicago, mobster Al Capone is finally brought down when he is successfully prosecuted for tax evasion. At the age of 40, following nearly a decade of imprisonment, he is released after the government deems him to no longer be a threat as his mind is slowly rotting from untreated neurosyphilis.
Now retired and living with his family in Palm Island, Florida, Capone remains under surveillance by federal agents, as they think he may be faking his insanity. Forced to sell many of his remaining belongings to pay old debts and support himself, Capone begins to have hallucinations and loses control of his motor functions as his disease progresses. He acknowledges that he hid $10 million before he was convicted, although he cannot remember where it is.
After Capone, whose memory is nearly gone, has a physical confrontation with his wife Mae, she instructs her husband's bodyguards to keep everyone away from him. Meanwhile, Capone has increasingly debilitating visions of the men he killed and many of the violent acts he committed throughout his life. His mental capacity continues to deteriorate, until a psychiatrist hired to evaluate him declares that his IQ is no more than that of a child.
Wracked with guilt, and having alienated all around him, Capone eventually dies of complications from his syphilis in January 1947 at the age of 48. His surviving family changes their name from Capone, and the money he allegedly hid away has never been recovered.
Captain Corelli's Mandolin (2001)
Color
Village woman falls for invading Italian officer
Captain Corelli's Mandolin
"The bucolic beauty of Greece's Ionian islands has been invaded by Italy, bringing a large Italian garrison and a few Germans to the tranquil island of Cephallonia, which immediately surrenders. Captain Antonio Corelli, a Greek-speaking officer of the infantry division 'Acqui' with an irrepressibly jovial personality and a passion for the mandolin, and who trains his battery of men - who have never fired a shot - in choral singing, initially alienates a number of the villagers, including Pelagia. The daughter of the village doctor, Pelagia is an educated and strong-willed woman, and while at first offended by the Italian soldier's behaviour, she slowly warms to his certain charm as they are forced to share her father's home when the doctor agrees to put him up in exchange for medical supplies.
When Pelagia's fiance, Mandras, a local fisherman, heads off to war on the mainland, the friendship between Antonio and Pelagia grows. Her beauty and intelligence have captured his heart and his fondness for the village's vibrant community causes him to question his reasons for fighting. Antonio and his battery of musical troops become part of the lives of the villagers, but the moment is fleeting. As the war grows closer, Antonio and Pelagia are forced to choose between their allegiances and the love they feel for one another - a love which must overcome tremendous odds, and endure the inevitable sacrifice which accompanies devotion.
The Italian government surrenders to the Allies, and the Italian troops happily prepare to go home. However, their erstwhile allies the Germans insist on disarming the Italians, intemperately and violently. The Greeks are exposed to the brutal incoming Germans, and arrange with the Italians to use their arms in a brief and futile resistance. For this, the German High Command has thousands of the Italian troops shot as traitors. Corelli survives when one of his soldiers throws himself across him, and Mandras takes him to Pelagia and the doctor to recover, and then to a boat to escape the island.
Pelagia discovers that Mandras did not reply to her letters because he is illiterate, and they part. In 1947, Pelagia receives a parcel from Italy containing a record of the tune Corelli wrote for her, but no note. An earthquake destroys much of the village and the doctor's house, but island life continues, and eventually Corelli returns to Pelagia.
Captain Phillips (2013)
Color
Captain Phillips deals with pirates who capture his ship
Captain Phillips
"Richard Phillips (Tom Hanks) takes command of the MV Maersk Alabama, an unarmed container ship from the Port of Salalah in Oman, with orders to sail through the Gulf of Aden to Mombasa, Kenya. Wary of pirate activity off the coast of the Horn of Africa, he and First Officer Shane Murphy (Michael Chernus) order strict security precautions on the vessel and carry out practice drills. During a drill, the vessel is chased by Somali pirates in two skiffs, and Phillips calls for help. Knowing that the pirates are listening to radio traffic, he pretends to call a warship, requesting immediate air support. One skiff turns around in response, and the other -- manned by four heavily armed pirates led by Abduwali Muse (Barkhad Abdi) -- loses engine power trying to steer through the Maersk Alabama? '?s wake.
The next day Muse? '?s skiff, now fitted with two outboard engines, returns with the same four pirates aboard. Despite the best efforts of Phillips and his crew, the pirates secure their ladder to the Maersk Alabama. As they board, Phillips tells the crew to hide in the engine room and allows himself to be captured. He offers Muse the $30,000 in the ship's safe, but Muse's orders are to ransom the ship and crew in exchange for millions of dollars of insurance money from the shipping company. While they search the ship, Murphy sees that the youngest pirate Bilal (Barkhad Abdirahman) does not have sandals and tells the crew to line the engine room hallway with broken glass. Chief Engineer Mike Perry (David Warshofsky) cuts power to the ship, plunging the lower decks into darkness. Bilal cuts his feet when they reach the engine room, and Muse continues to search alone. The crew members ambush Muse and arrange to release him into a lifeboat to get the intruders off the ship. However, the pirates refuse to release Phillips, and the lifeboat launches with all five of them on board.
As the lifeboat heads for the shore, tensions flare between the pirates as they run low on the herb stimulant khat and lose contact with their mother ship. Najee (Faysal Ahmed) becomes agitated and tries to convince the others to kill Phillips. They are later intercepted by the U.S. Navy destroyer USS Bainbridge. The Bainbridge? '?s captain Frank Castellano (Yul Vazquez) is ordered to prevent the pirates from reaching the mainland by any means necessary. Even when additional ships arrive, Muse asserts that he has come too far and will not surrender. The negotiators are unable to change his mind and a DEVGRU SEAL team parachutes in to intervene, while Phillips makes an unsuccessful attempt to escape from the lifeboat.
While three SEAL marksmen get into positions, Castellano and the SEALs continue to try to find a peaceful solution, eventually taking the lifeboat under tow. Muse agrees to board the Bainbridge, when he is told that his clan elders have arrived to negotiate Phillips's ransom. In the lifeboat, Najee decides to take full control; the pirates tie up Phillips and blindfold him, and the Bainbridge? '?s crew stops the tow. As the pirates are about to shoot Phillips, the marksmen get three clear shots and simultaneously kill the pirates. On board the Bainbridge, Muse is taken into custody and arrested for piracy. Phillips is rescued and treated. He is in shock and disoriented, but he thanks the rescue team for saving his life.
Carmen Jones (1954)
Color
Man deserts military and girlfriend for free spirted girl
Carmen Jones
"Set during World War II, the story focuses on Carmen Jones, a vixen who works in a parachute factory in North Carolina. When she is arrested for fighting with a co-worker who reported her for arriving late for work, foreman Sgt. Brown assigns young soldier Joe to deliver her to the authorities, much to the dismay of Joe's fiancee Cindy Lou, who had agreed to marry him during his leave.
While en route, Carmen suggests she and Joe stop for a meal and a little romance, and his refusal intensifies her determination to seduce him. When their army jeep ends up in the river, she suggests they spend the night at her grandmother's house nearby and continue their journey by train the following day, and that night Joe succumbs to Carmen's advances. The next morning he awakens to find a note in which she says although she loves him she is unable to deal with time in jail and is running away.
Joe is locked in the stockade for allowing his prisoner to escape, and Cindy Lou arrives just as a rose from Carmen is delivered to him, prompting her to leave abruptly. Having found work in a Louisiana nightclub, Carmen awaits his release. One night champion prizefighter Husky Miller enters with an entourage and introduces himself to Carmen, who expresses no interest in him. Husky orders his manager Rum Daniels to offer her jewelry, furs, and an expensive hotel suite if she and her friends Frankie and Myrt accompany him to Chicago, but she declines the offer. Just then, Joe arrives and announces he must report to flying school immediately. Angered, Carmen decides to leave with Sgt. Brown, who also has appeared on the scene, and Joe severely beats him. Realizing he will be sentenced to a long prison term for hitting his superior, Joe flees to Chicago with Carmen.
While Joe remains hidden in a shabby rented room, Carmen secretly visits Husky's gym to ask Frankie for a loan, but she insists she has no money of her own. Carmen returns to the boarding house with a bag of groceries, and Joe questions how she paid for them. The two argue, and she goes to Husky's hotel suite to play cards with her friends. When she draws the nine of spades, she interprets it as a premonition of impending doom and descends into a quagmire of drink and debauchery.
Cindy Lou arrives at Husky's gym in search of Carmen just before Joe appears. Ignoring his former sweetheart, he orders Carmen to leave with him and threatens Husky with a knife when he tries to intervene. Carmen helps Joe escape the military police, but during Husky's big fight, after he wins the match, Joe finds Carmen in the crowd and pulls her into a storage room, where he begs her to return to him. When she rebuffs him, Joe strangles Carmen to death just before the military police arrive to apprehend him for desertion.
Carnal Knowledge (1971)
Color
Follows the sexual escapades of college pals Jonathan and Sandy
Carnal Knowledge
"The story follows the sexual exploits of two Amherst College roommates over a 25-year period, from the late 1940s to the early 1970s. Sandy (Art Garfunkel) is gentle and passive, while Jonathan Fuerst (Jack Nicholson) is tough and aggressive. Sandy idolizes women, while Jonathan objectifies them. He frequently uses the term "ballbuster" to describe women as emasculating teases whose main pleasure is to deny pleasure to men; he extends this term to mean women who want to get married instead of accepting that men mostly want unattached sex. Since each man's perspective on womanhood is extreme and self-serving, neither is able to sustain a relationship with a woman.
The film has three parts. Part I occurs when Sandy and Jonathan are college roommates. Part II follows the men several years after college. In the final part, the men have become middle-aged.
In the beginning, Sandy and Jonathan are discussing women, and what kind appeals to each. Sandy wants a woman who is intellectual. Jonathan is more interested in a woman's physical attributes.
Sandy shyly meets Susan (Candice Bergen) at an on-campus event and they begin dating. Although they enjoy each other's company, Susan is reluctant to enter into a physical relationship. Unbeknownst to Sandy, she is also pursued by Jonathan, who feels a physical attraction for her. They have sex. Jonathan tries to persuade Susan not to have sex with Sandy, but after some delays, Susan is also having sex with Sandy. Part I ends with Susan and Jonathan breaking up.
Part II finds Sandy married to Susan, while Jonathan is still searching for his "perfect woman." Jonathan now defines perfection by a woman's bust size and figure. Jonathan begins a relationship with Bobbie (Ann-Margret), a beautiful woman who fulfills all of his physical requirements. However, Jonathan constantly berates Bobbie for being shallow. Jonathan finds that this purely physical relationship is no more satisfying than his previous relationship with Susan. Bobbie leaves her job at Jonathan's suggestion. She then becomes depressed, spending long hours doing nothing but sleeping in the apartment she shares with Jonathan. The relationship deteriorates. Jonathan berates Bobbie for not cleaning up the apartment while he is out working all day at a nine-to-five job. He claims that he doesn't understand why breakups always have to end with "poison."
Sandy's relationship with Susan is faring no better. Sandy is dissatisfied and bored with the physical part of their relationship, even though he and Susan "do all the right things." He relates how they are "patient with each other" and concludes with a statement that perhaps sex is not "meant to be enjoyable with the person you love."
Sandy and Susan end their relationship. Sandy begins dating Cindy (Cynthia O'Neal). Sandy, Cindy, Jonathan, and Bobbie find themselves together at Jonathan's apartment, where Sandy complains privately to Jonathan that Cindy gets so busy handing out instructions in bed that it's like a close-order drill. Jonathan suggests to Sandy that they trade partners, to "liven things up a bit." Sandy goes to the bedroom looking for Bobbie. Cindy dances with Jonathan and reprimands him for attempting to bed her with Sandy nearby, but indicates she is open to seeing him on his own, saying he should contact her at a more appropriate time. In the meantime, upset by an earlier fight with Jonathan about her desire to get married, Bobbie has attempted suicide. She is found by Sandy, who calls the hospital to have her taken to intensive care.
Part III opens with now-middle-aged Jonathan presenting a slideshow entitled "Ballbusters on Parade" to Sandy (also middle-aged) and Sandy's 18-year-old girlfriend, Jennifer (Carol Kane). The slideshow consists of pictures of Jonathan's various loves throughout his life. He skips awkwardly over a slide of Susan, but not before Sandy notices. He also shows an image of Bobbie, saying they are divorced and had one child together, and he is paying her alimony. Jennifer leaves in tears. Sandy idolizes his new lover, explaining that "she knows worlds which I cannot begin to touch yet." Jonathan believes his friend is deluding himself.
Time passes. Jonathan remains successful, but is alone. A prostitute (Rita Moreno) is with him, and they go through a ritual dialogue about male/female relationships which is apparently a script written by Jonathan. At the end, the prostitute recites a monologue (again scripted by Jonathan) praising his power and "perfection," which apparently has become the only way Jonathan can now get an erection.
Carol (2015)
Color
1950's lesbian love affair
Carol
"During the Christmas season of 1952, aspiring photographer Therese Belivet is working in Frankenberg's department store in Manhattan. She meets a glamorous woman, Carol Aird, who is searching for a doll for her daughter Rindy. At Therese's recommendation, Carol purchases a model train set. When Carol departs she leaves her gloves on the counter. Therese mails them to her using Frankenberg's sales slip with Carol's name and address.
Therese's boyfriend, Richard, wants her to go to France with him, hoping they will marry, but she is ambivalent about their relationship. A mutual friend, Dannie, invites Therese to his workplace, The New York Times, and offers to introduce her to a photo editor friend. Meanwhile, Carol is going through a difficult divorce from her neglectful husband, Harge. Carol calls Frankenberg's to thank the clerk who returned the gloves and invites Therese to lunch. Therese visits Dannie and he kisses her, but she becomes uncomfortable and leaves.
Carol invites Therese to her home in New Jersey. She stops to purchase a Christmas tree and Therese takes candid photographs of her. Harge arrives unexpectedly to take Rindy to Florida for Christmas; he becomes suspicious of Therese as Carol had an affair years before with her friend Abby. Therese witnesses their argument. After Rindy leaves, a distressed Carol takes Therese to the train station so she can return home.
Carol calls to apologize and they meet at Therese's apartment, where Carol surprises her with a suitcase containing a Canon camera and film gifts. Carol has learned that Harge is petitioning the judge to consider a "morality clause" against her, threatening to expose her homosexuality and give him full custody of Rindy. She decides to take a road trip to escape the stress of the divorce proceedings and invites Therese to join her. Richard accuses Therese of being infatuated with Carol and predicts Carol will soon tire of her. The two argue and their relationship comes to an end. On the second night of the trip, Therese meets a traveling salesman, Tommy Tucker.
On New Year's Eve, Carol and Therese kiss for the first time and have sex. The next morning they discover that Tucker is actually a private investigator hired by Harge to obtain evidence against Carol. Carol confronts Tucker, threatening him at gunpoint, but he has already sent secret tape recordings to Harge. Carol and Therese turn back. The following day, in Chicago, Therese learns that Carol has flown home to fight for custody of her daughter, having asked Abby to drive Therese home. Abby gives her a letter from Carol. Back at home, Therese telephones Carol, but knowing that she risks losing custody of Rindy if she continues her relationship with Therese, Carol remains silent and hangs up.
Therese creates a portfolio of her photographs and gets a job at The New York Times. Carol, meantime, has been seeing a psychotherapist as a condition of the divorce settlement. During a meeting in mid-April with divorce lawyers that becomes confrontational, Carol suddenly admits to the truth of what the tapes contained and refuses to deny her nature. She tells Harge he can have custody of Rindy, but demands regular visitation even if supervised.
Carol writes to Therese and they meet in the lounge of the Ritz Tower Hotel. Carol reveals she is going to work for a furniture house and has taken an apartment on Madison Avenue. Therese declines Carol's invitation to live with her. Carol tells Therese that she is meeting associates in the Oak Room and if she changes her mind they can have dinner. Therese remains still and Carol whispers "I love you." They are interrupted by Jack, a colleague who has not seen Therese in months, and Carol departs.
Therese accepts Jack's ride to a party, but finds she cannot connect with anyone. Therese rushes to the Oak Room. She scans the crowd and sees Carol at a table. Their eyes meet. Carol gazes at Therese with a smile that slowly grows as Therese moves towards her.
Carriers (2009)
Color
As lethal virus spreads, four friends seek plague-free refuge
Carriers
"An infectious virus has spread worldwide, killing most of the population. Two brothers, Brian and Danny, along with Brian's girlfriend Bobby and Danny's friend Kate, head to Turtle Beach in the southwestern United States, a secluded beach motel where they believe they can wait for the viral pandemic to die out and eventually start a new life. To help them survive, they follow a set of rules created by Brian.
On their way to the beach, the group encounter survivor Frank and his infected daughter Jodie, whose vehicle has run out of fuel. The four escape from Frank when he attacks them but their car breaks down and they are forced to help Frank and Jodie so they can use his vehicle. At Frank's insistence, they travel to a nearby high school where a serum for the pandemic is rumored to have been developed. Upon arriving, Frank, Brian, Danny, and Kate discover that the serum does not work, and the last remaining doctor is preparing to euthanize a group of infected children and himself. Meanwhile, Bobby is infected by Jodie and hides her infection from the others. Frank is later forced to bring Jodie to a portable toilet, giving Brian the opportunity to leave them behind and take their vehicle.
The group then stops at a hotel, which, unknown to them, is being used as a base by armed survivalists. When the survivalists return, they ambush the group and declare their intent to keep the girls. Forcing Bobby and Kate to disrobe to check them for infection, the survivalists discover that Bobby is infected and order them away. With Bobby's infection revealed to the rest of the group, Brian forces her to leave.
As they run low on fuel, Brian kills two women to siphon their vehicle but suffers a gunshot wound in the process. While treating his brother's injury, Danny discovers that Brian is infected. That night, Danny attempts to leave Brian behind but Brian takes the keys to their vehicle. Determined to not die alone from the virus, Brian refuses to surrender the keys and urges Danny to kill him. Left with no other option, Danny shoots Brian to death. Danny and Kate reach Turtle Beach the next morning, but Danny realizes that without his brother, the place that had seemed so special to them as kids is now empty.
Casablanca (1942)
Black & White
Couple escapes from Nazi Germany
Casablanca
"Cynical American expatriate Rick Blaine (Humphrey Bogart) is the proprietor of an upscale nightclub and gambling den in Casablanca in early December 1941. "Rick's Cafe Americain" attracts a mixed clientele: Vichy French, Italian, and Nazi officials; refugees desperate to reach the still neutral United States; and those who prey on them. Although Rick professes to be neutral in all matters, it is later revealed he ran guns to Ethiopia to combat the 1935 Italian invasion and fought on the Loyalist side in the Spanish Civil War.
At this point, the reason for Rick's bitterness--his ex-lover, Norwegian Ilsa Lund (Ingrid Bergman)--walks into his establishment. Upon spotting Rick's friend and house pianist, Sam (Dooley Wilson), Ilsa asks him to play "As Time Goes By". Rick storms over, furious that Sam has disobeyed his order never to perform that song, and is stunned to see Ilsa. She is accompanied by her husband, Victor Laszlo (Paul Henreid), a renowned fugitive Czech Resistance leader. They need the letters to escape to America, where he can continue his work. German Major Strasser (Conrad Veidt) comes to Casablanca to see that Laszlo does not succeed.
When Laszlo makes inquiries, Ferrari (Sydney Greenstreet), a major underworld figure and Rick's friendly business rival, divulges his suspicion that Rick has the letters. In private, Rick refuses to sell at any price, telling Laszlo to ask his wife the reason. They are interrupted when Strasser leads a group of officers in singing "Die Wacht am Rhein". Laszlo orders the house band to play "La Marseillaise". When the band looks to Rick, he nods his head. Laszlo starts singing, alone at first, then patriotic fervor grips the crowd and everyone joins in, drowning out the Germans. In retaliation, Strasser has Renault close the club.
That night, Ilsa confronts Rick in the deserted cafe. When he refuses to give her the letters, she threatens him with a gun, but then confesses that she still loves him. She explains that when they first met and fell in love in Paris, she believed that her husband had been killed attempting to escape from a concentration camp. Later, while preparing to flee with Rick from the imminent fall of the city to the German army, she learned that Laszlo was alive and in hiding. She left Rick without explanation to tend her ill husband.
Laszlo, aware of Rick's love for Ilsa, tries to persuade him to use the letters to take her to safety. When the police arrest Laszlo on a minor, trumped-up charge, Rick convinces Renault to release him by promising to set him up for a much more serious crime: possession of the letters of transit. To allay Renault's suspicions, Rick explains he and Ilsa will be leaving for America.
When Renault tries to arrest Laszlo as arranged, Rick forces him at gunpoint to assist in their escape. At the last moment, Rick makes Ilsa board the plane to Lisbon with her husband, telling her she would regret it if she stayed, "Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but soon and for the rest of your life."
Major Strasser, tipped off by Renault, drives up alone. Rick shoots Strasser when he tries to intervene. When the police arrive, Renault pauses, then tells them to "round up the usual suspects." Renault suggests to Rick that they join the Free French at Brazzaville as they walk away into the fog.
Casanova (2005)
Color
Casanova, infamous 18th-century player, wins every woman's heart, except for one
Casanova
"A young woman (Helen McCrory) tearfully leaves her son (Eugene Simon) to live with his grandmother and promises to return for him someday. Several years later, in 1753, in Venice, Casanova (Heath Ledger), is notorious for his promiscuity with women, his adventures being represented in puppet theatres around the city. The Doge (Tim McInnerny), the ruler of the city, is a friend to Casanova, but cannot be too lenient on him as he wishes to avoid trouble with the Church. He warns Casanova to marry soon, or he will be exiled from the city. Casanova gets engaged to Victoria, famous for her virginity, to save himself from exile.
Casanova later meets and falls in love with Francesca Bruni (Sienna Miller), who writes illegal feminist books under the pseudonym of a man, Bernardo Guardi, and also argues for women's rights as Dr. Giordano de Padua. Francesca mistakes Casanova's name for Lupo Salvato (Casanova's servant) and Casanova humors her, since she hates the ill-reputed Casanova. Francesca and her mother are heavily in debt, however, so her mother (Lena Olin) pressures her to marry rich Paprizzio (Oliver Platt), from Genoa, a union arranged by her late father. When Paprizzio arrives in Venice, Casanova lies to him and says that the hotel he booked is closed and he persuades him to stay at his house. Casanova also lies and says that he is indeed Bernardo Guardi. While Paprizzio asks his advice on how to impress Francesca, Casanova lures him to stay at home while receiving treatment for weight loss. Casanova visits Francesca, pretending to be Paprizzio and tells her that he lied to her before to make sure she is not in love with someone else and marrying him only for his money. Francesca initially distrusts him but starts gradually to trust him.
During the Venetian Carnival, Francesca recognizes the real Paprizzio from his publicity posters which force Casanova to confess his true identity making her angry. Casanova is arrested by the Venetian Inquisition for crimes against sexual morality, such as debauchery, heresy, and fornication with a novice. He saves Francesca by pretending to be Bernardo Guardi, which cools her anger. At his trial, Francesca confesses that she is the real Bernardo Guardi, and both are sentenced to death. Meanwhile, Francesca's mother and the real Paprizzio fall in love.
Just as Casanova and Francesca are about to be hanged in the Piazza San Marco, they are saved by an announcement that the Pope gave amnesty to all prisoners who were to be executed on that day, as it was the Pope's birthday. It is later discovered that the "Cardinal" who gave the announcement was actually an impostor who happens to be Casanova's stepfather, wedded to his long-lost mother who came back for him just as she promised when Casanova was a child.
As they all escape on Paprizzio's boat, Francesca's brother, Giovanni (Charlie Cox), stays behind to marry Victoria and to continue Casanova's legendary womanizing. The real Casanova spends the rest of his life as a stage actor touring with his family and the Paprizzios
Casino Jack (2010)
Color
Lobbyist involved in corruption
Casino Jack
"Casino Jack is a 2010 biographical political satire film starring Kevin Spacey and directed by George Hickenlooper. The film focuses on the career of Washington, D.C. lobbyist and businessman Jack Abramoff, who was involved in a massive corruption scandal that led to the conviction of himself, two White House officials, Rep. Bob Ney, and nine other lobbyists and congressional staffers. Abramoff was convicted of fraud, conspiracy and tax evasion in 2006, and of trading expensive gifts, meals and sports trips in exchange for political favors. Abramoff served three and a half years of a six-year sentence in federal prison, and was assigned to a halfway house. He was released on December 3, 2010.
In 2010, Spacey was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for best actor for his depiction of Abramoff in the film, eventually losing to Paul Giamatti for his role in Barney's Version.
Cast Away (2000)
Color
FedEx exec stranded on island for 4 years
Cast Away
"In 1995, Chuck Noland (Tom Hanks) is a time-obsessed systems analyst, who travels worldwide resolving productivity problems at FedEx depots. He is in a long-term relationship with Kelly Frears (Helen Hunt), whom he lives with in Memphis, Tennessee. Although the couple wants to get married, Chuck's busy schedule interferes with their relationship. A Christmas with relatives is interrupted by Chuck being summoned to resolve a problem in Malaysia; before Chuck boards the plane, he exchanges gifts with Kelly, with her giving him her grandfather's pocket watch with his favorite picture of her in it, while he gives her a small wrapped box that presumably is an engagement ring, which he tells her not to open until New Year's Eve when he returns.
As they are flying through violent weather, an onboard explosion sends the plane crashing in the Pacific Ocean. Chuck is able to escape the sinking plane and is saved by an inflatable life-raft but in the process, loses the raft's emergency locator transmitter. He clings to the life-raft, loses consciousness, and floats all night before being washed up on an island.
After he awakens, he explores the island and soon discovers that it is uninhabited. Several FedEx packages from the crashed plane wash up on the shore, as well as the corpse of one of the pilots (whom he buries). He initially tries to signal for rescue and makes an escape attempt with the remnants of his life-raft, but he cannot pass the powerful surf. He searches for food, water, shelter, and opens the packages, finding a number of potentially useful items. He leaves one package, with a pair of wings painted on it, unopened (sent at the start of the film by a woman rancher to her unfaithful husband, who was in Russia on business).
During a first attempt to make fire, Chuck receives a deep wound to his hand. In anger he throws several objects, including a Wilson Sporting Goods volleyball from one of the packages. A short time later he draws a face in the bloody hand print on the ball, names it Wilson and begins talking to it. He eventually succeeds in making fire and becoming more adapted to his new environment; and upon further explaining to his new imaginary companion about how far his plane had flown off-course because of the storm, he realizes he may never be found.
Four years later Chuck is dramatically thinner, bearded, his hair is longer, and he is wearing a loincloth. He has become adept at spearing fish and making fires. He also has regular conversations and arguments with Wilson.
After a large section from a portable toilet washes up on the island, Chuck uses it as a sail in the construction of a raft to escape the island. After spending some time building and stocking the raft and deciding when the weather conditions will be optimal (using an analemma he has created in his cave to monitor the time of year), he launches, using the sail to overcome the powerful surf and finally escape to sea. After some time on the ocean, a storm nearly tears his raft apart. The following day, "Wilson" falls from the raft and is lost, leaving Chuck overwhelmed by loneliness and losing the will to live. Later, on the verge of death from dehydration and starvation, he is finally found adrift by a passing cargo ship.
Upon returning to civilization, Chuck must come to terms with the fact that he has long been given up for dead; his family and friends held a funeral, and Kelly has since married Chuck's dentist and has a daughter. During a clandestine reunion with Kelly, the pair impulsively profess their love for each other but soon realize a future together would be impossible. Kelly gives Chuck the keys to the car they once shared and he returns her grandfather's watch, retaining her picture. Later Chuck confesses to a friend that despite losing her "all over again," he's grateful that Kelly was the one thing that motivated his survival and has a second chance at happiness.
Chuck then travels out into the country to return the unopened FedEx package to its sender. The ranch house is empty, so he leaves the package at the door with a note saying that the package saved his life. He then departs and stops at a remote crossroads; the woman rancher -- now divorced -- passes by in a pickup truck to explain where each road leads. As she drives away, Chuck notices the illustration on her truck is similar to the one on the parcel he just left. Chuck is left looking down each road, then toward the departing woman in the truck.
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958)
Color
Man makes peace with his dying father
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
"Late one night, a drunken Brick Pollitt (Paul Newman) is out trying to recapture his glory days of high school sports by leaping hurdles on a track field, dreaming about his moments as a youthful athlete. Unexpectedly, he falls, leaving him dependent on a crutch. Brick, along with his wife, Maggie "the Cat" (Elizabeth Taylor), are seen the next day visiting his family in Mississippi, waiting to celebrate Big Daddy's (Burl Ives) 65th birthday.
Depressed, Brick decides to spend his days inside drinking while resisting the affections of his wife, who taunts him about the inheritance of Big Daddy's wealth. Numerous allusions are made as to their tempestuous marriage -- the most haunting of these are speculations as to why Maggie does not yet have children, while Brick's brother Gooper (Jack Carson) and his wife Mae (Madeleine Sherwood) have a whole clan, many of which run around the "plantation" (as Big Daddy's estate is called) unsupervised and singing obnoxiously.
Big Daddy and Big Mama (Judith Anderson) arrive home from the hospital and are greeted by Gooper and his wife, along with Maggie. Despite the efforts of Mae, Gooper and their kids to draw his attention to them, Big Daddy has eyes only for Maggie. The news is that Big Daddy is not dying from cancer. However, the doctor later meets privately with Brick and Gooper and divulges that it is a deception, but the family wants him to remain happy. Maggie begs Brick to put care into getting his father's wealth, but Brick stubbornly refuses. When Big Daddy is fed up with his alcoholic son's behavior, he demands to know why he is so stubborn. Brick angrily refuses to answer.
Big Daddy forces the issue, dragging Maggie into the conversation and the revealing moment ensues when Maggie tells what happened the night Brick's friend Skipper committed suicide. Maggie reveals she was jealous of Skipper because he had more of Brick's time. She claimed she wanted to ruin their relationship "by any means necessary". She intended to seduce Skipper and put the lie to his relationship with her husband. She got scared and ran away without going through with it. Brick claimed to blame Maggie for Skipper's death, but it is revealed that he actually blames himself for not helping Skipper when he called Brick in a hysterical state.
Big Daddy learns that he will die from cancer and that this birthday will be his last. Shaken, he retreats to the basement. Meanwhile, Gooper, his wife, Maggie, and Brick argue over Big Daddy's will. Finally, Brick descends into the basement, a labyrinth of antiques and family possessions hidden away. Once he finds his father, Brick and Big Daddy confront each other before a large cut-out of Brick in his glory days as an athlete. The rest of the family begins to crumble under pressure, with Big Mama stepping up as a strong figure. Maggie says that she'd like to give Big Daddy her birthday present: the announcement of her being pregnant. After being called a liar by Mae, Big Daddy and Brick defend her lie, even though they know it to be untrue. Even Gooper finds himself admitting "That girl's got life in her, alright." In the end, she and Brick reconcile, and the film ends with the two kissing with the implication that they will make love.
Catch Me If You Can (2002)
Color
FBI man on mission to capture con man
Catch Me If You Can
"In 1963, adolescent Frank Abagnale lives in New Rochelle, New York with his father Frank Abagnale, Sr., and French mother Paula. When Frank Sr. is denied a business loan at Chase Manhattan Bank due to unknown difficulties with the IRS, the family is forced to downsize from their large home to a small apartment. Paula carries on an affair with Jack, a friend of her husband. Meanwhile, Frank poses as a substitute teacher in his French class. Frank's parents file for divorce, and Frank runs away. When he runs out of money, he begins relying on confidence scams to get by. Soon, Frank's cons increase and he even impersonates an airline pilot. He forges Pan Am payroll checks and succeeds in stealing over $2,800,000.
Meanwhile, Carl Hanratty, an FBI bank fraud agent, begins tracking Frank. Carl and Frank meet at a hotel, where Frank convinces Carl his name is Barry Allen of the Secret Service, and that he was also after the fraud. Frank leaves, Carl angrily realizing a minute too late that he has been fooled. Later, at Christmas, Carl is still at work when Frank calls him, attempting to apologize for duping Carl. Carl rejects his apology and tells him he will soon be caught, but laughs when he realizes Frank actually called him because he has no one else to talk to. Frank hangs up, and Carl continues to investigate, suddenly realizing (thanks to a waiter) that the name "Barry Allen" is from the Flash comic books and that Frank is actually a teenager.
Frank, meanwhile, has expanded his con to include the identities of a doctor and lawyer. While playing Dr. Frank Conners, he falls in love with Brenda. While asking her father's permission to marry her, he admits the truth about himself and asks for help with the Louisiana State Bar exam. Carl tracks him to his engagement party and Frank is able to sneak out a bedroom window minutes before Carl bursts in. Before leaving, Frank makes Brenda promise to meet him in Miami two days later so they can elope. Frank sees her waiting for him two days later, but also notices plainclothes agents waiting to arrest him; realizing he has been set up, he escapes on a flight to Europe.
Seven months later, Carl shows his boss that Frank has been forging checks all over Western Europe and asks for permission to travel to Europe to look for him. When his boss refuses, Carl brings Frank's checks to printing professionals who claim that the checks were printed in France. From an interview with Frank's mother, Carl remembers that she was actually born in Montrichard, France. He goes there and locates Frank, and tells him that the French police will kill him if he does not go with Carl quietly. Frank assumes he is lying at first, but Carl promises Frank he would never lie to him, and Carl takes him outside, where the French police escort him to prison.
The scene then flashes forward to a plane returning Frank home from prison, where Carl informs him that his father has died. Grief-stricken, Frank escapes from the plane and goes back to his old house, where he finds his mother with the man she left his father for, as well as a girl who Frank realizes is his half-sister. Frank gives himself up and is sentenced to twelve years in prison, getting visits from time to time from Carl. When Frank points out how one of the checks Carl is carrying as evidence is fake, Carl convinces the FBI to offer Frank a deal by which he can live out the remainder of his sentence working for the bank fraud department of the FBI, which Frank accepts. While working at the FBI, Frank misses the thrill of the chase and even attempts to fly as an airline pilot again. He is cornered by Carl, who insists that Frank will return to the FBI job since no one is chasing him. On the following Monday, Carl is nervous that Frank has not yet arrived at work. However, Frank eventually arrives and they discuss their next case.
The ending credits reveal that Frank has been happily married for 26 years, has three sons, lives in the Midwest, is still good friends with Carl, has caught some of the world's most elusive money forgers, and earns millions of dollars each year because of his work creating unforgeable checks.
Central Intelligence (2016)
Color
Accountant's friend brings him into a world of counterespionage
Central Intelligence
"In 1996, student and star athlete Calvin Joyner (Kevin Hart) is being honored at his high school's senior assembly. Halfway through Joyner's speech, Trevor Olson (Jason Bateman) and his friends throw Robbie Wierdicht (Dwayne Johnson), who was showering, into the hall where the assembly is taking place, embarrassing him as he is still naked. Only Joyner and his girlfriend, Maggie Johnson (Danielle Nicolet), are sympathetic towards Wierdicht, who runs away quickly after Joyner has given him his varsity jacket to cover his private parts. Everyone else, including the bullies, laugh.
Twenty years later, Joyner is married to Johnson and works as a forensic accountant but is dissatisfied with his career. Johnson suggests they see a therapist to salvage their deteriorating marriage. At work, Joyner receives a friend request on Facebook from a man named Bob Stone, who reveals that he is Wierdicht and requests that they meet. Joyner is shocked to see that Wierdicht has transformed into a muscular, confident man. Stone asks Joyner to review a few accounting records. Joyner deciphers the records as multi-million dollar transactions from an auction, with the final payment set to be made the following day. Stone avoids Joyner's questions and spends the night on his couch.
The next morning, a group of CIA agents led by Pamela Harris (Amy Ryan) arrive at Joyner's house in search of Stone, who escapes and erases all traces of his presence. Harris tells Joyner that Stone is a dangerous rogue agent who intends to sell satellite codes to the highest bidder. Soon after, Stone abducts Joyner and explains that he is trying to stop a criminal known as the Black Badger from selling the codes but needs Joyner's skills to find the coordinates of the deal's location. After an attack by a bounty hunter, Joyner flees and calls Johnson, telling her to meet him at the marriage counselor's office. Harris intercepts him and tells him that Stone murdered his partner Phil Stanton and is the Black Badger himself. She warns him to refrain from telling Johnson and gives him a device to alert them to Stone's location. Joyner then arrives for marriage counseling, where he finds Stone posing as the counselor.
Stone convinces Joyner to help him, and Joyner sets up a meeting with Olson, who is able to track the offshore account for the auction, so they can get the deal's location. Olson at first apologizes for his behavour 20 years ago, but then reveals that he was only kidding them and bullies Stone again who is unable to react despite Joyner encouraging him to punch Olson for this. Harris calls Joyner and threatens to arrest Johnson if he fails to help them detain Stone. Joyner is forced to betray Stone, and the CIA arrests him. As Harris tortures Stone to get him to confess, Joyner decides to help Stone escape. Joyner deduces that the deal is happening in Boston and helps Stone steal a plane. At an underground parking garage, where the deal is assumed to be taking place, Stone enters alone, while Joyner sees Harris entering a short while later. He mistakenly assumes that she is the Black Badger and runs after her, only to find Stone meeting with the buyer and claiming to be the Black Badger. Stone shoots Joyner, grazing his neck, to keep him safe.
Stanton (Aaron Paul) arrives, revealing that he is alive, and claims he is the real Black Badger. The buyer attempts to retrieve codes from both Stone and Stanton, but the CIA arrives and a shootout begins, while Joyner grabs both codes and runs outside. He encounters Stone and Stanton, who engage in combat. Unable to decide who is the criminal, Joyner randomly shoots Stone, but Stanton confesses that he is the Black Badger and that Stone is innocent. Joyner causes a distraction that allows Stone to rip Stanton's throat out, killing him. The two deliver the codes to Harris, who then drops them off at their high school reunion, where Joyner reconciles with Johnson. Stone is announced as the Homecoming King, with Joyner revealing to Johnson that he hacked the voting system to ensure Stone's win. Olson attempts to bully Stone a third time, but Stone knocks him out. As Stone delivers his speech, he relives his most embarrassing high-school moment and takes off all his clothes confidently. He walks off stage to unite with his high-school crush Darla McGuckian (Melissa McCarthy). Stone, Joyner, and everyone else dance.
Before the ending credits, some time after the meeting, Maggie is pregnant and Joyner has joined the CIA. As a gift for his first day on the job, Stone gives Joyner back his varsity jacket from high school.
Certain Prey (2011)
Color
When a cop is shot after witnessing a murder, the husband becomes the prime suspect
Certain Prey
When a cop is shot after witnessing a murder, Lucas Davenport is called to the scene. The cops quickly zero in on the husband as the prime suspect until a team of FBI agents descends with evidence linking the crime to a hit woman.
Changing Lanes (2002)
Color
Road rage competition
Changing Lanes
"A successful New York attorney, Gavin Banek, is in a rush to file a power of appointment, which will prove a dead man signed his foundation over to Banek's law firm. He has a collision with another car, belonging to an insurance salesman, Doyle Gipson, who is also in a rush to a hearing to try to gain custody of his children and to prevent his estranged wife from taking them to Oregon. Banek tries to brush Gipson off with a blank check thereby disobeying the law. After Gipson refuses to accept the check and voices his desire to "do the right thing", that is, filing a police report and insurance claim, Banek strands Gipson, telling him, "better luck next time". After arriving to the court late, Gipson learns that it proceeded without him and that it didn't go in his favor.
Unfortunately for Banek, he dropped the crucial power of appointment file at the scene of the accident, and the judge gives him until the end of the day to re-obtain the papers and present them. Gipson, who took the papers, has no intention of returning them, and in desperation, Banek goes to someone skilled with computers and gets him to switch off Gipson's credit. Gipson needed credit for a loan so he could buy a house for his family, and he becomes further enraged, determined to make life difficult for Banek.
Both men continue to do morally reprehensible things in an attempt to one-up each other, and eventually they begin to question their actions. Though it is made clear that Banek and Gipson are radically different, they both have an angry, vengeful streak, each capable of abandoning his morals just to punish the other. The film ends with both men having a new outlook on life, concentrating on ethics and the moral implications of their actions. Ultimately the two men apologize to each other and Gipson returns the file, but it looks to be too late for both of what they were trying to do. Banek ends up using the file to force his boss to do the right thing and plans to represent Gipson pro bono so he can get the house he wants. Banek also visits Gipson's wife to explain everything to her, knowing he owes Gipson that much. The movie ends with Gipson's wife and children smiling at him from across the street, indicating a possible reconciliation or at the very least some kind of arrangement between the two in the future.
Chappaquiddick (2018)
Color
Car accident that drowned Ted Kennedy's passenger
Chappaquiddick
"In July 1969, U.S. Massachusetts Senator Ted Kennedy gives an interview, wherein he is questioned about standing in the shadow of his late brothers, John Kennedy and Robert Kennedy. After the interview, he calls his cousin, Joe Gargan, to arrange for hotel rooms on Martha's Vineyard for the Boiler Room Girls, his brother Robert's campaign staff. Kennedy travels to Chappaquiddick Island, where he meets with Joe and US Attorney for Massachusetts Paul Markham for a sail race. After losing the race, Kennedy goes to a party at a beach house with his friends and the Boiler Room Girls.
Kennedy leaves the party with Mary Jo Kopechne. After a brief stop, they begin driving away and encounter a police officer from Edgartown. The officer asks if they need help, but Kennedy backs up and drives quickly away. In his haste he accidentally drives off the Dike Bridge causing the car to flip over before it submerges into a pond. The screen goes black and he calls out to Mary Jo, then sits crying. He leaves the scene, walking back to the party at the beach house. He tells Gargan and Markham, "We have a problem." They speed over to the site and unsuccessfully attempt multiple dives to enter the overturned vehicle. Gargan and Markham insist he report the incident immediately, which he agrees to do. But instead, he gets in a rowboat he finds, and Gargan and Markham row him to Edgartown, where they go their separate ways.
Kennedy walks past the phone booth outside his hotel and up to his room and gets undressed. He submerges himself in bathtub imagining he was Mary Jo drowning. He gets dressed, puts on a suit, nice pants, and shoes and combs his hair. He goes down to the phone and calls his father asking for advice. His father (played by Bruce Dern) mutters one word, "alibi." Kennedy sits on the steps outside his room. When the night porter emerges, he asks the time, and the porter says it is 2:25 a.m. Kennedy claims he is having trouble sleeping. He gets into bed, now in pajamas, reaches past the desk phone to turn off the light and goes to sleep without contacting the police.
The next morning, the overturned vehicle is discovered by a man and his son, who call the police. Police Chief Arena (Fiore) and the fire department recover Kopechne's body from the car, which they find is registered to Kennedy. Gargan and Markham realize that he has not turned himself in, and insist that he must. Kennedy goes with Markham to the Edgartown Police Department and commandeers the Chief's office waiting for his return. The medical examiner insists it is an open and shut case of drowning, but the undertaker thinks it could be suffocation. The diver says, "She was holding herself up like she was trying to get her last breath of air." He adds, "I could have had her out of that car in 25 minutes--if I got the call--but no one called."
After giving the Chief a prepared statement (written by Markham), Kennedy travels to the Kennedy family compound in Hyannisport, believing he has contained the situation. He is shocked as his stroke-disabled father Joseph P. Kennedy Sr. tells him his actions have disgraced the family, and is surprised by a damage control team led by Robert McNamara, convened to address both his legal problem (potentially manslaughter) and public relations problems. First they address legal problems such as making sure the body is not examined again and that the official records that his license has expired are changed by a Kennedy-friendly official. The team's strategy is to craft a public relations strategy for after the current news cycle, which is dominated by the landing of the first men on the Moon. As Kennedy prepares to attend Kopechne's funeral, he thinks he will gain sympathy by wearing a neck brace, but this ploy backfires in the press.
Kennedy comes up with the idea of appealing to the people of Massachusetts on national television, which his damage control team heartily endorses. They use the family's influence to speed up resolution of the legal hearing, as anything he says publicly might be used against him in the legal case. Kennedy gets a sweetheart plea deal of leaving the scene of an accident with a two months jail time, which the judge suspends on Kennedy's character and good standing.
Gargan--who has become increasingly disgusted with Kennedy for not be honest about the facts of the case and attempting to play the victim--attempts to resign. Kennedy, having just been slapped by his father, tells Gargan he intends to resign from the Senate and asks him to draft a resignation speech. He tells Gargan not to tell anyone.
As Kennedy is ready to go on national television with the speech prepared by Ted Sorensen (played by Taylor Nichols) designed to elicit public sympathy for Kennedy, Gargan delivers the resignation speech, telling Kennedy it is the right thing to do, to act with integrity. But instead, Kennedy throws it away and Gargan is pressed to hold Kennedy's cue cards for Sorensen's speech. Although the public has mixed views, the majority interviewed say they would re-elect him.
The credits explain that Joseph Kennedy Sr. died soon after the incident; Gargan became estranged from the family; and Kennedy lost the Democratic Party presidential primaries, 1980 but continued in the U.S. Senate for 40 years.
Charlie Wilson's War (2007)
Color
Congressman involved with war in Afghanistan
Charlie Wilson's War
"In 1980, U.S. Representative Charlie Wilson (Tom Hanks) is more interested in partying than legislating, frequently throwing huge galas and staffing his congressional office with young, attractive women. His social life eventually brings about a federal investigation into allegations of his cocaine use, conducted by then-U.S. Attorney Rudy Giuliani as part of a larger investigation into congressional misconduct. The investigation results in no charge against Charlie.
A friend and romantic interest, Joanne Herring (Julia Roberts), encourages Charlie to do more to help the Afghan people, and persuades Charlie to visit the Pakistani leadership. The Pakistanis complain about the inadequate support of the U.S. to oppose the Soviet Union, and they insist that Charlie visit a major Pakistan-based Afghan refugee camp. Charlie is deeply moved by their misery and determination to fight, but is frustrated by the regional CIA personnel's insistence on a low-key approach against the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. Charlie returns home to lead an effort to substantially increase funding to the mujahideen.
As part of this effort, Charlie befriends the maverick CIA agent Gust Avrakotos (Philip Seymour Hoffman) and his understaffed Afghanistan group to find a better strategy, especially including a means to counter the Soviets' formidable Mi-24 helicopter gunship. This group was composed in part of members of the CIA's Special Activities Division, including a young paramilitary officer named Michael Vickers (Christopher Denham). As a result, Charlie's deft political bargaining for the necessary funding and Avrakotos' group's careful planning using those resources, such as supplying the guerrillas with FIM-92 Stinger missile launchers, turns the Soviet occupation into a deadly quagmire with their heavy fighting vehicles being destroyed at a crippling rate. The CIA's anti-communism budget evolves from $5 million to over $500 million (with the same amount matched by Saudi Arabia), startling several congressmen. This effort by Charlie ultimately evolves into a major portion of the U.S. foreign policy known as the Reagan Doctrine, under which the U.S. expanded assistance beyond just the mujahideen and began also supporting other anti-communist resistance movements around the world. Charlie states that senior Pentagon official Michael Pillsbury persuaded President Ronald Reagan to provide the Stingers to the Afghans: "Ironically, neither Gust nor Charlie was directly involved in the decision and claims any credit."[2]:419
Charlie follows Gust's guidance to seek support for post-Soviet occupation Afghanistan, but finds almost no enthusiasm in the U.S. government for even the modest measures he proposes. The film ends with Charlie receiving a major commendation for the support of the U.S. clandestine services, but his pride is tempered by his fears of what unintended consequences his secret efforts could yield in the future and the implications of U.S. disengagement from Afghanistan.
Charlotte Gray (2001)
Color
Woman on secret mission during WW II
Charlotte Gray
"In 1942, a young Scot, Charlotte Gray, travels to London to take a job as a medical receptionist for a Harley Street doctor. On the train, a man enters her compartment and chats with her, asking questions about her life and expressing interest that she is fluent in French. He gives her his card with the date, time and address of a book launch. Social life in London is in full swing and her friends convince her to go. She soon meets RAF Flight Lieutenant Peter Gregory, but is interrupted by Richard Cannerley, the older man from the train, who urges her to meet some of his acquaintances and asks her to contact him when she leaves.
The volatile nature of life at the time is epitomised when Charlotte and Peter quickly get involved. As they talk about the war and bravery, Charlotte confides that she thinks Cannerley wants her to try out for some secret organisation. Peter tells her not to get involved. With his leave over, he is to take part in operations over France for the next few weeks.
Charlotte joins the SOE and is seconded to First Aid Nursing Yeomanry (FANY) with the rank of Driver. She completes her initial training and is on leave when she learns that Gregory's plane has gone down and he is missing in action.
Charlotte signs up for operations in France and is dropped in with two men. She lands out of the zone, because of two boys on the ground playing with flashlights. They run away, half thinking she's an angel. Her mission is to complete a test run; a handover of some radio valves.
Her cover immediately is close to being blown, as the contact for the handover is taken by the police in front of her. Her main Resistance contact, Julien, reassigns her to act as a friend of his and housekeeper to his father, Levade, an aging and no longer inspired painter. He has taken in two Jewish children, Andre and Jacob, after their parents were arrested. As time progresses, the film reveals that the parents were deported to Poland, and the Vichy French government is cooperating in the steadily growing oppression of the Jews in France.
Gray participates in a resistance action of blowing up a train bearing tanks and armaments. The Nazis bring their own forces and tanks to the village, to crush the resistance in the area. Gray is told by her SOE contact that Gregory died after being shot down and she grieves for him. A Vichy official arrives from Paris to work with the Germans and local villagers to ensure the quota for a roundup of Jews is met.
The schoolmaster Renech follows Gray and learns that Levade is hiding the children. He threatens Gray with reporting the boys to the Nazis unless she agrees to become his "friend". That night, the Germans surprise Julien's group and kill them all.
Believing Charlotte betrayed them, he confronts her the next day at his father's house. Soon afterward, the Germans, with Renech and the Vichy official, arrive at Levade's place. They ask for his papers and interview him about his Jewish ancestry (which Renech appears to have informed them about). Away from the main room, Renech threatens Julien, saying either his father or the boys must be given up.
Julien returns and states that his father and, thus he, has Jewish ancestry (his father's grandparents); his father understands that he is trying to protect the boys. The officials say that Julien does not qualify, as he has more French ancestry than his father. They take Levade to the prison camp/transfer station, where people are being gathered for deportation to camps in eastern Europe.
Renech betrays the boys anyway, and they are captured by the Nazis, with Charlotte failing to intercept them. Julien locates Renech and murders him in retaliation. He then decides to go to southern France and perhaps escape to fight elsewhere. He asks Charlotte to go with him, but she says she has to stay.
Evading French police, she writes a paper and takes it to the station where Jews are being loaded into cattle cars. People from the village run alongside the cars, searching for their loved ones. Hearing the boys and Levade, she pushes the paper between the boards of their car. Levade reads what is revealed as a letter ostensibly from the boys' parents, encouraging them and reminding them of their love. Charlotte leaves France through a pickup by the SOE.
After the end of the war, she is contacted in London by Peter Gregory, who had been in hiding but survived being shot down. She says things have changed; she grieved for him and can't return to their relationship.
At the end of the film, Charlotte returns to France and to Julien.
Though the film suggests Julien's father and the boys are doomed, the book is explicit that they die in a concentration camp.
Charly (1968)
Color
Charly becomes intelligent
Charly
"Charlie Gordon (Cliff Robertson), a mentally handicapped man with a strong desire to make himself smarter, has been attending night school for two years where he has been taught by Alice Kinnian (Claire Bloom) to read and write. However, his spelling remains poor and he is even unable to spell his own name.
Alice takes Charlie to the "Nemur-Straus" clinic run by Dr. Richard Nemur and Dr. Anna Straus. Nemur and Straus have been increasing the intelligence of laboratory mice with a new surgical procedure and are looking for a human test subject. As part of a series of tests to ascertain Charlie's suitability for the procedure, he is made to race Algernon, one of the laboratory mice. Algernon physically runs through a maze while Charlie uses a pencil to trace his way through a diagram of the same maze. Charlie is disappointed that he consistently loses the races. Nevertheless, he is given the experimental surgery.
After the surgery, Charlie is initially angered that he is not immediately smarter than he was before and still loses in races against Algernon. Eventually, however, he beats Algernon in a race and then his intelligence starts increasing rapidly. Alice continues to teach him, but he soon surpasses her. Charlie's co-workers also try to tease him by making him work on a machine that they believe he will not be able to work. When Charlie shows he can work the machine, his co-workers are not pleased with the fact that he is now intelligent and cannot be teased anymore. They sign a petition against him and he loses his job at the bakery. Charlie also starts staring at Alice's bottom and breasts as well as drawing and painting abstract nude figures of her. He also questions whether Alice loves her fiance. One night, Charlie follows Alice back to her apartment and sexually assaults her, pulling her to the floor and kissing her forcefully until she breaks free by slapping him.
The film then uses a montage sequence to show Charlie with a mustache and goatee riding a motorcycle, kissing a series of different women, smoking and dancing. At the end of the sequence, Charlie has returned home and Alice comes to visit him, both having learned during their time apart that they want to be together. A further montage sequence shows Charlie and Alice running through woods and kissing under trees accompanied by a voice-over of the two of them talking about marriage.
Straus and Nemur present their research to a panel of scientists, including a question and answer session with Charlie. Charlie is aggressive during the session and then reveals that Algernon has just died, causing Charlie to believe that his own increased intelligence is only temporary. After suffering visions of his intelligence fading and of the Charlie from before the operation following him, Charlie decides to work with Nemur and Straus to see if he can be saved. Charlie discovers that there is nothing that can be done to prevent his own intelligence from fading. Alice visits Charlie and asks him to marry her, but he refuses and tells her to leave.
Alice watches Charlie playing with children in a playground, having reverted to his former self.
Cimarron (1931)
Black & White
Struggles of family moving moving to Oklahoma during the 1889 land rush
Cimarron
"The Oklahoma Land Rush of 1889 prompts thousands to travel to the Oklahoma Territory to grab free government land; Yancey Cravat (Richard Dix), his young bride, Sabra (Irene Dunne) and their son, Cim, join the throngs. In the ensuing race, Yancey is outwitted by a young prostitute, Dixie Lee (Estelle Taylor), who takes the prime piece of real estate, the Bear Creek claim, which Yancey had targeted for himself.
His plans for establishing a ranch thwarted, Yancey moves into the town of Osage, a boomer town, where he confronts and kills Lon Yountis, an outlaw who has killed the prior publisher of the local newspaper. Having a background in publishing himself, Yancey establishes the Osage Wigwam, a weekly newspaper, to help turn the frontier camp into a respectable town. After the birth of their daughter, Donna, a gang of outlaws threatens Osage, led by “The Kid” (William Collier Jr.), who happens to be an old acquaintance of Yancey's. To save the town, Yancey faces and kills The Kid.
Beset by guilt over his killing of The Kid, when another land rush appears, Yancey leaves Sabra and his children to participate in settling the Cherokee Strip. After his departure, Sabra takes over the publication of the Osage Wigwam, and raises her children until Yancey returns five years later, just in time to represent Dixie Lee and have her acquitted.
Osage continues to grow, as does the Territory of Oklahoma, which gains statehood in 1907, which benefits from the early oil boom of the 1900s, including the Native American tribes, which Yancey supports, through editorials in his newspaper, after which Yancey once again disappears from Osage for several years. At the time, Sabra is vehemently against Yancey's viewpoint, despite her son's involvement with an Indian woman. Years later, when Sabra becomes the first female congresswoman from the state of Oklahoma, she lauds the virtues of her then Indian daughter-in-law.
Sabra and Yancey are reunited one final time when she rushes to his side after he has rescued numerous oil drillers from a devastating explosion. He dies in her arms.
Citizen Kane (1941)
Black & White
Newspaper baron's rise from poverty to most influential
Citizen Kane
"The film opens with shots of Xanadu, a vast palatial estate in Florida with a "No Trespassing" sign on the gate. Inside the estate's mansion an elderly man on his deathbed holds a snow globe and utters the single word, "Rosebud", before dying; the globe slips from his hand and smashes on the floor.
A newsreel obituary tells the life story of Charles Foster Kane, an enormously wealthy newspaper publisher. The newsreel recounts Kane's entire life, including his mysterious last words. Kane's death becomes sensational news around the world. The newsreel's producer tasks reporter Jerry Thompson with discovering the meaning of "Rosebud".
Thompson sets out to interviews Kane's friends and associates. Thompson approaches Kane's second wife, Susan Alexander Kane, now an alcoholic who runs her own nightclub, but she refuses to talk to him.
Thompson then goes to the private archive of the late banker Walter Parks Thatcher. Through Thatcher's written memoirs, Thompson learns that Kane's childhood began in poverty in Colorado. After "the world's third largest gold mine" was discovered on property his mother had acquired, Mary Kane sends him away to live with Thatcher so that he may be properly educated. The young Kane is seen happily playing with a sled in the snow at his parents boarding-house and protests being sent to live with Thatcher. After gaining full control over his trust fund at the age of 25, Kane enters the newspaper business and embarks on a career of yellow journalism. He takes control of the newspaper, the New York Inquirer and begins publishing scandalous articles that attack Thatcher's business interests. After the stock market crash in 1929 Kane is forced to sell controlling interest of his newspaper empire to Thatcher.
Thompson then interviews Kane's personal business manager, Mr. Bernstein. Berstein recalls how Kane hired the best journalists available to build The Inquirer's circulation. Kane then rises to power by successfully manipulating public opinion regarding the Spanish American War and marrying Emily Norton, the niece of a President of the United States.
Thompson then interviews Kane's estranged best friend, Jedediah Leland. Leland recalls Kane's marriage to Emily disintegrates over the years, and he begins an affair with amateur singer Susan Alexander while he is running for Governor of New York. Both his wife and his political opponent discover the affair and the public scandal ends his political career. Kane marries Susan and forces her into a humiliating operatic career for which she has neither the talent nor the ambition.
Thompson then returns to successfully interview Susan. Susan recalls her failed opera career. Kane finally allows her to abandon her singing career after she attempts suicide. After years spent dominated by Kane and living in isolation at Xanadu, Susan leaves Kane.
Finally Thompson interviews Kane's butler Raymond. Raymond recounts that after Susan left him Kane began violently destroying the contents of her bedroom. He suddenly calms down when he sees a snow globe and says "Rosebud".
Back at Xanadu, Kane's belongings are being cataloged or discarded. Thompson concludes that he is unable to solve the mystery and that the meaning of "Rosebud" will forever remain an enigma. As the film ends, the camera reveals that Rosebud was the name of the sled from Kane's childhood in Colorado. Thought to be junk by Xanadu's staff, the sled is burned in a furnace.
City for Conquest (1940)
Black & White
Truck driver turns to boxing to pay for his brother's music education
City for Conquest
Cagney plays a truck driver named Danny Kenny, who starts as a New York boxing contender. Ann Sheridan plays his girlfriend, Peggy. Being successful as a boxer, Danny decides to financially help his brother Eddie (Arthur Kennedy) to become a professional musician. Peggy on the other hand, loses her heart to Murray Burns (Anthony Quinn), a professional dancer, and she turns down Danny's proposal in order to go for a dancing career. Embittered by Peggy's refusal, Danny continues to work as a boxer and eventually gets blinded by his opponent during a fight, who has placed some rosin dust onto his gloves. Now blind, Danny works as a newspaper stand operator, while Peggy's career as a dancer did not materialize. The movie ends with Eddie becoming a successful composer who dedicates his first major symphony at Carnegie Hall to his brother, who is listening to the concert on the radio from his newsstand.
Cleopatra (1963)
Color
Story of Cleopatra
Cleopatra
"The film opens in 48 BC shortly after the Battle of Pharsalus where Julius Caesar (Rex Harrison) has defeated Pompey. Pompey flees to Egypt, hoping to enlist the support of the young Pharaoh Ptolemy XIII (Richard O'Sullivan) and his sister Cleopatra (Elizabeth Taylor).
Caesar pursues and meets the teenage Ptolemy and the boy's advisers, who seem to do most of the thinking for him. As a gesture of 'goodwill', the Egyptians present Caesar with Pompey's head, but Caesar is not pleased; it is a sorry end for a worthy foe. As Caesar settles in at the palace, Apollodorus (Cesare Danova), disguised as a rug peddler, brings a gift from Cleopatra. When a suspicious Caesar unrolls the rug, he finds Cleopatra herself concealed within and is intrigued. Days later, she warns Caesar that her brother has surrounded the palace with his soldiers and that he is vastly outnumbered. Caesar is unconcerned. He orders the Egyptian fleet burned so he can gain control of the harbor. The fire spreads to the city, burning many buildings, including the famous Library of Alexandria. Cleopatra angrily confronts Caesar, but he refuses to pull troops away from the fight with Ptolemy's forces to deal with the fire. In the middle of their spat, Caesar begins kissing her.
The Romans hold, and the armies of Mithridates arrive on Egyptian soil. The following day, Caesar passes judgment. He sentences Ptolemy's lord chamberlain to death for arranging an assassination attempt on Cleopatra, and rules that Ptolemy and his tutor be sent to join Ptolemy's now greatly outnumbered troops, a sentence of death as the Egyptian army faces off against Mithridates. Cleopatra is crowned Queen of Egypt. She dreams of ruling the world with Caesar. When their son Caesarion is born, Caesar accepts him publicly, which becomes the talk of Rome and the Senate.
Caesar returns to Rome for his triumph, while Cleopatra remains in Egypt. Two years pass before the two see each other again. After he is made dictator for life, Caesar sends for Cleopatra. She arrives in Rome in a lavish procession and wins the adulation of the Roman people. The Senate grows increasingly discontented amid rumors that Caesar wishes to be made king, which is anathema to the Romans. On the Ides of March in 44 B.C., the Senate is preparing to vote on whether to award Caesar additional powers. Despite warnings from his wife Calpurnia (Gwen Watford) and Cleopatra, he is confident of victory. However, he is stabbed to death by various senators.
Octavian (Roddy McDowall), Caesar's nephew, is named as his heir, not Caesarion. Realizing she has no future in Rome, Cleopatra returns home to Egypt. Two years later, Caesar's assassins, among them Cassius (John Hoyt) and Brutus (Kenneth Haigh) are killed at the Battle of Philippi. The following year, Mark Antony (Richard Burton) establishes a second triumvirate with Octavian and Lepidus. They split up the empire: Lepidus receives Africa, Octavian Spain and Gaul, while Antony will take control of the eastern provinces. However, the rivalry between Octavian and Antony is becoming apparent.
While planning a campaign against Parthia in the east, Antony realizes he needs money and supplies, and cannot get enough from anywhere but Egypt. After refusing several times to leave Egypt, Cleopatra gives in and meets him in Tarsus. Antony becomes drunk during a lavish feast. Cleopatra sneaks away, leaving a slave dressed as her, but Antony discovers the trick and confronts the queen. They soon become lovers. Octavian uses their affair in his smear campaign against Antony. When Antony returns to Rome to address the situation brewing there, Octavian traps him into a marriage of state to Octavian's sister, Octavia. Cleopatra flies into a rage when she learns the news.
A year or so later, when Antony next sees Cleopatra, he is forced to humble himself publicly. She demands a third of the empire in return for her aid. Antony acquiesces and divorces Octavia. Octavian clamors for war against Antony and his "Egyptian whore". The Senate is unmoved by his demands until Octavian reveals that Antony has left a will stating that he is to be buried in Egypt; shocked and insulted, the Senators who had previously stood by Antony abandon their hero and vote for war. Octavian murders the Egyptian ambassador, Cleopatra's tutor Sosigenes, on the Senate steps.
The war is decided at the naval Battle of Actium on September 2, 31 B.C. where Octavian's fleet, under the command of Agrippa, defeats the Anthony-Egyptian fleet. Seeing Antony's ship burning, Cleopatra assumes he is dead and orders the Egyptian forces home. Antony follows, leaving his fleet leaderless and soon defeated. Several months later, Cleopatra manages to convince Antony to retake command of his troops and fight Octavian's advancing army. However, Antony's soldiers have lost faith in him and abandon him during the night; Rufio (Martin Landau), the last man loyal to Antony, kills himself. Antony tries to goad Octavian into single combat, but is finally forced to flee into the city.
When Antony returns to the palace, Apollodorus, not believing that Antony is worthy of his queen, convinces him that she is dead, whereupon Antony falls on his own sword. Apollodorus then takes Antony to Cleopatra, and he dies in her arms. Octavian captures the city without a battle and Cleopatra is brought before him. He wants to return to Rome in triumph, with her as his prisoner. However, realizing that her son is also dead, she arranges to be bitten by a poisonous asp.
She sends her servant Charmian to give Octavian a letter. In the letter she asks to be buried with Antony. Octavian realizes that she is going to kill herself and he and his guards burst into Cleopatra's chamber and find her dressed in gold, and dead, along with her servant Iras, while an asp crawls along the floor. Octavian is angry that she is dead and leaves. One of Octavian's guards asks the dying Charmian if the queen did well in killing herself and Charmian answers, "Extremely well, as befitting the last of so many noble rulers" and dies.
Cloak and Dagger (1946)
Black & White
Pysics professor helps against the Nazis
Cloak and Dagger
"In 1944 in the USA, nuclear physicist Alvah Jesper, a handsome bachelor who is working on the Manhattan Project to build an American nuclear bomb, is recruited into the Office of Strategic Services. His mission is to make contact with a Hungarian nuclear physicist, Katerin Lodor, who has been working on the German project to make a nuclear bomb and has escaped into neutral Switzerland. Flown into Switzerland, Alvah finds it full of German agents who, after he manages one brief conversation with Katerin, abduct her. By befriending and then blackmailing an attractive female agent, he discovers where Katerin is being held, but an OSS raid on the building fails and she is shot dead.
In the conversation, she had said that the Germans wanted her to work with an Italian nuclear physicist named Polda. The OSS land Alvah in Italy from a British submarine and he is hidden by an attractive member of the Resistance, Gina. He manages to obtain a brief conversation with Polda, who agrees to work with the Americans only if the OSS first free his daughter Maria, who is being held by the Germans. The OSS raid on the building is successful and in an isolated safe house they deliver Maria to her father. He is horrified, because it is not his daughter but a German agent, who says the house is surrounded by German troops. In the ensuing gun battle, Alvah and Gina smuggle Polda out through the cellar and struggle across country to a rendezvous with a British aircraft which will fly them out. Polda and Alvah board it safely, but Gina says she must stay behind to free her country from the Germans and begs Alvah to come back for her when the war is over.
Cloned (1997)
Color
Couple loses child, and then discovers the child was a clone
Cloned
In the year 2008, a married couple is distraught over losing their 8 year old son in a boating accident. However, when the mother suddenly sees another child who looks identical to her dead child, the Mother investigates the fertility clinic who aided her with her pregnancy and discovers that they cloned her child in an experiment dubbed "Baby 2000". She also discovers that they still have the genes to develop another child for them and faces the question of whether the couple wants another identical child.
Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)
Color
Aliens come and greet Earth
Close Encounters of the Third Kind
"In the Sonoran Desert, French scientist Claude Lacombe and his American interpreter, mapmaker David Laughlin, along with other government scientific researchers, discover Flight 19, a squadron of Grumman TBM Avengers that went missing more than 30 years earlier. The planes are intact and operational, but there is no sign of the pilots. An old man who witnessed the event claimed "the sun came out at night, and sang to him." They also find a lost cargo ship in the Gobi Desert named SS Cotopaxi. At an air traffic control center in Indianapolis, a controller listens as two airline flights almost have a mid-air collision with an apparent unidentified flying object (UFO). In Muncie, Indiana, 3-year-old Barry Guiler is awakened in the night when his toys start operating on their own. Fascinated, he gets out of bed and discovers something or someone (off-screen) in the kitchen. He runs outside, forcing his mother, Jillian, to chase after him.
Investigating one of a series of large-scale power outages, Indiana electrical lineman Roy Neary experiences a close encounter with a UFO, when it flies over his truck and lightly burns the side of his face with its bright lights. The UFO, along with three others, are pursued by Neary and three police cars, but the spacecraft fly off into the night sky. Roy becomes fascinated by UFOs, much to the dismay of his wife, Ronnie. He also becomes increasingly obsessed with subliminal, mental img of a mountain-like shape and begins to make models of it. Jillian also becomes obsessed with sketching a unique-looking mountain. Soon after, she is terrorized in her home by a UFO encounter in which Barry is abducted by unseen beings.
Lacombe and Laughlin--along with a group of United Nations experts--continue to investigate increasing UFO activity and strange, related occurrences. Witnesses report that the UFOs make distinctive sounds: a five-tone musical phrase in a major scale. Scientists broadcast the phrase to outer space, but are mystified by the response: a seemingly meaningless series of numbers repeated over and over until Laughlin, with his background in cartography, recognizes it as a set of geographical coordinates. The coordinates point to Devils Tower near Moorcroft, Wyoming. Lacombe and the U.S. military converge on Wyoming. The United States Army evacuates the area, planting false reports in the media that a train wreck has spilled a toxic nerve gas, all the while preparing a secret landing zone for the UFOs and their occupants.
Meanwhile, Roy's increasingly erratic behavior causes Ronnie to leave him, taking their three children with her. When a despairing Roy inadvertently sees a television news program about the train wreck near Devils Tower, he realizes the mental image of a mountain plaguing him is real. Jillian sees the same broadcast, and she and Roy, as well as others with similar visions and experiences, travel to the site in spite of the false public warnings about nerve gas.
While most of the civilians who are drawn to the site are apprehended by the Army, Roy and Jillian persist and make it to the site just as dozens of UFOs appear in the night sky. The government specialists at the site begin to communicate with the UFOs by use of light and sound on a large electrical billboard. Following this, an enormous mother ship lands at the site, returning people who had been abducted over the past decades, including Barry, and the missing pilots from Flight 19 and sailors from the Cotopaxi, who have not aged since their abductions. The government officials decide to include Roy in a group of people whom they have selected to be potential visitors to the mothership, and hastily prepare him. As the aliens finally emerge from the mothership, they select Roy to join them on their travels. As Roy enters the mothership, one of the aliens pauses for a few moments with the humans. Lacombe uses Curwen hand signs that correspond to the five note alien tonal phrase. The alien replies with the same gestures, smiles, and returns to its ship, which lifts off into the night sky.
Closer (2004)
Color
Photographer and writer embark on an illicit affair
Closer
"A beautiful young woman (Natalie Portman) and Dan Woolf (Jude Law) see each other for the first time from opposite sides of a street as they are walking toward each other, among many other rush-hour pedestrians. She is a young American who just arrived in London, and Dan is an unsuccessful British writer who is on his way to work, where he writes obituaries for a newspaper. Not used to the direction of the traffic, she looks the wrong way as she crosses the street and is hit by a taxi cab right in front of Dan. After he rushes to her side, she smiles at him and says: "Hello, stranger."
He takes her to the hospital, where she is treated and released. Afterward, on the way to his office, they stop by Postman's Park, the same park that he and his father visited after his mother's death. Pausing in front of the office before going to work and leaving her, Dan reminds her that traffic in England tends to come on from the right. On impulse, he asks her name, which she gives as Alice Ayres. They soon become lovers.
A year later, Dan has written a novel based on Alice's life. While being photographed to publicize it, he flirts with the American photographer Anna Cameron (Julia Roberts). Anna shares a kiss with Dan before finding out that Dan and Alice are in a relationship. Alice arrives and uses Anna's bathroom, leaving Anna and Dan alone again. Dan takes the chance to try to persuade Anna to have an affair with him but is cut short by Alice's return. Alice asks Anna if she can have her portrait taken as well. Anna agrees, and Alice asks Dan to leave them alone during the photo shoot. While being photographed, she reveals to Anna that she overheard them, and she is photographed while crying. Alice doesn't tell Dan what she heard, and Dan spends a year brooding over his interest in Anna.
Another year later, Dan enters a cybersex chat room and randomly meets Larry Gray (Clive Owen), a British dermatologist. With Anna still on his mind, Dan pretends to be her, and using the pretense that they will be having sex, Dan invites Larry to meet at the aquarium, where Anna told Dan she often went. Larry goes to the rendezvous, where he by chance meets Anna, and learns that he is the victim of a prank. Anna tells Larry that a man who had pursued her, Dan, was most likely to blame for the setup. Soon, Anna and Larry become a couple, and they refer to Dan as "Cupid" from then on.
Four months later, at Anna's photo exhibition, Larry meets Alice, whom he recognizes from a photograph of her in tears that is being exhibited. Larry knows that Alice and Dan are a couple from talking to Anna. Dan persuades Anna to become involved with him. They cheat on their respective lovers for a year, even though Anna and Larry marry halfway through the year. Eventually Anna and Dan each confess the affair to their respective partners, leaving their relationships for one another.
Alice becomes a stripper, heartbroken by her loss. One day, Larry runs into her accidentally at the strip club. He repeatedly asks her real name, but no matter how much money he gives her, she keeps telling him her name is Jane Jones. He asks her to have sex with him, but she refuses.
Later, Larry and Anna meet for coffee. She asks him to sign their divorce papers, and he bargains with her--she agrees to sleep with him so that he will sign the documents and thereafter leave her alone. Anna and Dan meet the same day at the opera house. Soon after she reveals to him that the divorce papers have been signed, Dan realizes she has had sex with Larry. She claims she did it so he would sign the papers and leave them alone, but Dan is furious and does not trust her.
A distraught Dan confronts Larry to try to get Anna back. Larry tells him Anna never filed the signed divorce papers and suggests that he return to Alice. Since Dan doesn't know where she is, Larry tells him. During the conversation he claims he did not have sex with Alice, but just before Dan leaves he admits that he did.
Alice takes Dan back and decides to return to the States on vacation. While in a hotel room celebrating being back together (and noting that it has been four years since they first met), they talk about the way they met. After bringing up Larry, Dan asks her whether she had sex with him. She initially denies it, but when Dan comes back from going to get cigarettes and instead brings back a rose, she says she doesn't love him anymore and that she did sleep with Larry. Dan reveals that Larry had already told him about the escapade, but he says he forgives her. She insists that it's over and tells him to leave. The argument culminates in Dan slapping Alice. The Alice Ayres tile in the Memorial to Heroic Self-Sacrifice, Postman's Park, London
At the conclusion of the film, Larry and Anna are together, and Alice returns to New York City alone. As she passes through the immigration checkpoint on her way back into the United States, a shot of her passport shows her real name to be Jane Rachel Jones. She had lied about her name during her entire four-year relationship with Dan but had told Larry her real name at the strip club.
Back in London, Dan returns to Postman's Park, and to his surprise, notices the name Alice Ayres on the tiles of the Memorial to Heroic Self-Sacrifice. The Ayres dedication is to a young woman, "who by intrepid conduct" and at the cost of her young life, rescued three children from a fire.
The final scene, which resembles the first, shows Jane walking on a New York street alone being stared at by several of the men around her. She crosses a crosswalk that appears to have a "Don't Walk" signal up.
Cloud Atlas (2012)
Color
Various future dystopias
Cloud Atlas
"The film consists of six interrelated and interwoven stories spanning different time periods. The film is structured, according to novelist David Mitchell, "as a sort of pointillist mosaic."
South Pacific Ocean, 1849
Adam Ewing, an American lawyer from San Francisco, has come to the Chatham Islands to conclude a business arrangement with Reverend Gilles Horrox for his father-in-law, Haskell Moore. He witnesses the whipping of a Moriori slave, Autua, who later stows away on the ship. He confronts Ewing and convinces him to advocate for Autua to join the crew as a freeman. Meanwhile, Dr. Henry Goose slowly poisons Ewing, claiming it to be the cure for a parasitic worm, aiming to steal Ewing's valuables. When Goose attempts to administer the fatal dose, Autua saves Ewing. Returning to the United States, Ewing and his wife Tilda denounce her father's complicity in slavery and leave San Francisco to join the Abolition movement.
Cambridge, England and Edinburgh, Scotland, 1936
Robert Frobisher, a bisexual English musician, finds work as an amanuensis to aging composer Vyvyan Ayrs, allowing Frobisher the time and inspiration to compose his own masterpiece, "The Cloud Atlas Sextet." While working for Ayrs, Frobisher begins reading the published chronicle of Adam Ewing's journal which he has found among the many books at Ayrs's mansion. He never finishes reading the journal and notes in a letter that "A half-finished book is, after all, a half finished love affair." When "The Cloud Atlas Sextet" is revealed to Ayrs, he wishes to take credit for Frobisher's work, claiming it is the result of their collaboration and threatens to expose his scandalous background if he resists. Frobisher shoots and wounds Ayrs and flees to a hotel. Perhaps spurred by his inability to complete Ewing's book, he finishes "The Cloud Atlas Sextet", then commits suicide, just before his lover Rufus Sixsmith arrives.
San Francisco, USA, 1973
Journalist Luisa Rey meets an older Sixsmith, now a nuclear physicist. Sixsmith tips off Rey to a conspiracy regarding the safety of a new nuclear reactor run by Lloyd Hooks, but is assassinated by Hooks' hitman Bill Smoke before he can give her a report that proves it. Rey finds and reads Frobisher's letters to Sixsmith, resulting in her tracking down a vinyl recording of Frobisher's "The Cloud Atlas Sextet." Isaac Sachs, another scientist at the power plant, passes her a copy of Sixsmith's report. However, Smoke kills Sachs by blowing up the plane in which he is flying, and later also runs Rey's car off a bridge, but she is able to escape. With help from the plant's head of security, Joe Napier, who knew her father, she evades another attempt against her life which results in Smoke's death and exposes the plot to use a nuclear accident for the benefit of oil companies.
United Kingdom, 2012
65-year-old publisher Timothy Cavendish reaps a windfall when Dermot Hoggins, the chav author of Knuckle Sandwich, publicly murders a critic who gave the novel a harsh review. When Hoggins's brothers threaten Cavendish's life to get his share of the profits, Cavendish asks for help from his wealthy brother Denholme. Avenging an old affair with his wife, Denholme tricks Timothy into hiding in a nursing home, where he is held against his will and abused by the head nurse, Noakes. While there, Cavendish reads a manuscript of a novel based on Luisa Rey's story. Plotting with three other residents, Cavendish escapes and goes on to write a screenplay of his story.
Neo Seoul, (Korea), 2144
Sonmi
451 is a genetically-engineered fabricant, a human clone and slave worker living a compliant life of servitude as a server at a futuristic fast food restaurant. She recounts her memories before an interviewer, an archivist whose purpose is to document her thoughts and story for the future. Sonmi begins by recounting a day in the life of a fabricant like herself. She tells how she was exposed to ideas of rebellion and liberation (based on Cavendish's adventures), and how she was rescued from captivity by Commander Hae-Joo Chang, a member of a rebel movement known as "Union". He smuggles her to a residence in Neo Seoul where he exposes Sonmi to the larger world, including the writings of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn and a film version of Timothy Cavendish's "ghastly ordeal". They are found and Sonmi is captured. Hae-Joo rescues her, introduces her to the leader of the rebel movement, then shows her that fabricants are not freed at the end of their contract as she believed, but are killed and "recycled" into food for other clones. She decides that the system of society based on slavery and exploitation is intolerable, and makes a public broadcast of her story and manifesto. Hae-Joo is killed in a firefight and Sonmi is captured again. After telling her story to the archivist, she is executed.
The Big Island, 2321
(This section is dated "106 winters after The Fall" in the end credits and book cited as 2321.) Zachry lives in a primitive society called "The Valley" after most of humanity has died during "The Fall," a largely-unexplained apocalyptic event. The Valley tribesmen speak a degenerated form of English, and worship a goddess called Sonmi (Sonmi
451), their sacred text taken from the broadcast of her manifesto. Zachry is plagued by hallucinations of a demonic figure called "Old Georgie" who manipulates him into giving in to his fears. One day, Zachry, Adam (Zachry's brother-in-law)[20][21][22] and Zachry's nephew are attacked by the cannibalistic Kona tribe. He runs into hiding and watches as his companions are murdered. His village is visited by Meronym, a member of the "Prescients", an advanced society still using the last remnants of technology. Her mission is to find a remote communication station called Mauna Sol and send a message to Earth's colonies. Catkin, Zachry's niece, falls sick, and in exchange for saving her Zachry agrees to guide Meronym into the mountains to find the Atlas. At the station, Meronym reveals that Sonmi was not a deity as the Valley tribe believes, but a normal human who died long ago. After returning, Zachry finds his tribe dead, slaughtered by the Kona. He kills the Kona chief, rescues Catkin, and Meronym saves them both from an assault by Kona tribesmen. Zachry and Catkin join Meronym and the Prescients as their ship leaves Big Island.
Prologue / Epilogue
A seventh time period, several decades after the events on Big Island, is featured in the film's prologue and epilogue: Zachry is revealed to have been telling these stories to his grandchildren on a beach in the outskirts of a city on the colony of Earth on another planet. The epilogue also confirming that Meronym, who is also present at the site and now, apparently, his wife, succeeded in sending the message to the colonies and was rescued along with him.
Clueless (1995)
Color
Highschooler gives fellow student a makeover, and gets more than she bargained for
Clueless
"Cher Horowitz lives in a Beverly Hills mansion with her wealthy father Mel, a gruff litigator; her mother died during a liposuction procedure when she was a baby. Cher is attractive, stylish, good-natured and popular. She attends Bronson Alcott High School with her best friend Dionne Davenport, who is also wealthy and beautiful. Dionne has a long-term relationship with popular student Murray Duvall. Cher claims that this is a pointless endeavor for Dionne.
Josh, Cher's socially conscious ex-stepbrother, visits her during a break from college. They spar continually but playfully. She mocks his idealism, while he teases her for being selfish, vain and superficial, saying that her only direction in life is "toward the mall".
After receiving a poor grade, Cher decides to play matchmaker for two hard-grading teachers at her school, Mr. Hall and Miss Geist. She orchestrates a romance between the two teachers to make them relax their grading standards so she can renegotiate a bad grade on her report card. After seeing their newfound happiness, Cher realizes that she enjoys doing good deeds. She then decides to give back to the community by "adopting" a "tragically unhip" new girl at school, Tai Frasier.
Cher and Dionne give Tai a makeover, which provides Tai with confidence and a sense of style. Cher tries to extinguish the attraction between Tai and Travis Birkenstock, an amiable but clumsy slacker, and to steer her towards Elton, a handsome and popular student. However, Elton has no interest in Tai and instead tries to make out in his car with Cher, who rebuffs him.
A fashion-conscious new student named Christian attracts Cher's attention at school and becomes her target boyfriend. When he comes over to watch some movies at her home, she tries to seduce him, but he deflects her advances. Murray subsequently explains to Cher and Dionne that Christian is gay. Despite the failure of her romantic overtures, Cher remains friends with Christian, primarily due to her admiration of his good taste in art and fashion.
Cher's privileged life takes a negative turn when Tai's newfound popularity strains their relationship. Cher's frustration escalates after she fails her driving test and cannot change the result. When Cher returns home in a depressed mood, Tai confesses her feelings for Josh and asks Cher for help in pursuing him. Cher says that Tai is not right for Josh, leading to a quarrel which results in Tai calling Cher a "virgin who can't drive". Feeling "totally clueless", Cher reflects on her priorities and her repeated failures to understand or appreciate the people in her life.
After thinking about why she is bothered by Tai's romantic interest in Josh, Cher finally realizes that she is actually in love with him. Cher begins making awkward but sincere efforts to live a more purposeful life, including captaining the school's Pismo Beach disaster relief effort. Cher and Josh eventually follow through on their feelings for one another, culminating in a tender kiss. Ultimately, Cher's friendships with Tai and Dionne are solidified, Tai and Travis are dating, Mr. Hall and Miss Geist get married, and Cher catches the wedding bouquet -- helping Josh win a $200 bet. She then embraces Josh and they kiss.
Coalition (2004)
Color
About New York's corrupt construction industry
Coalition
COALITION is a realistic depiction of how New York's lucrative construction business is systematically shaken down by minority non-union labor. Our story is about one man's quest to go up against the cities largest and most dangerous coalition group, the SBM, "Survival of the Black Man" coalition. This is an extremely hard-hitting, gritty, modern day "On the Waterfront." A true-to-life voyeuristic view of how both sides of the law is pitted against each other. The story was written by Joseph Ariola, a long time member of the Operating Engineers Union in N.Y.C. Joe hired retired Detective Robert Cea to work on the movie script with him. The story is based on the true inner workings of the police trying to infiltrate the corrupt coalition workers; the mob middle men setting up these coalition deals; the unions trying to organize against impending layoffs due to the cheap unskilled non-union labor; and, one man stuck in the middle trying to battle the mob, killer coalition bosses from his own race, and the pursuit to find his true mission in life.
Cocaine Godmother (2018)
Color
Life of a Miami-based drug lord
Cocaine Godmother
"Griselda Blanco grows up in poverty in Colombia, and commits her first murder after being forced into childhood prostitution. She eventually comes to live in the US with her first husband and three sons Dixon, Uber, and Osvaldo. She earns money by creating fake passports for cocaine smugglers, and moves into the smuggling trade herself when she realizes that using beautiful women as mules will lower the chances of them being caught.
Griselda, fed up with her abusive marriage, leaves her husband and takes her children. She meets Carolina, an American woman with whom she begins a romance. Griselda soon gets remarried to a man named Alberto Bravo, but keeps Carolina as a companion for years.
After moving to Miami, Griselda's drug empire quickly grows. She comes up with the idea to put assassins on motorcycles as they'll be able to move around the city faster than with cars. She does business with Pablo Escobar back in Colombia, and becomes the queen of the cocaine trade. As a result, Miami sees a steep rise in crime.
Griselda and her family are pushed to the edge by the stress of their illegal business. Her three eldest sons have all become dangerous gangsters. Her marriage falls apart and Carolina dies of a drug overdose. Her fourth son Michael, fathered by her most recent boyfriend Dario Sepulveda, is kidnapped and it takes weeks to get him back home. Griselda, herself, develops an addiction to smoking cocaine that makes her increasingly irrational and unreliable.
The DEA have been watching her operation for years. She moves to Los Angeles to lie low, but is eventually found and arrested along with her three sons while Michael is sent to live with a relative in Miami. Griselda serves limited jail time thanks to the loyalty she commands among her minions.
After doing her time, she is deported back to Colombia where she lives a lonely existence after two of her sons were killed by assailants and the other one commits suicide before he can be killed. She dies an old woman when a motorcycle assassin shoots her on the street. The narrator concludes that Griselda "is now free.
Coco Chanel (2008)
Color
Coco Chanel's rise in the fashion world
Coco Chanel
Shirley MacLaine (in a Golden Globe-nominated role) stars in this Lifetime biopic, which tells the story of one of fashion's most prominent women, Coco Chanel, beginning with her humble beginnings in a French orphanage and continuing through her unparalleled success as a fashion icon. The film also explores Chanel's dramatic personal life, including her intense and tragic love affair with an English gentleman. Malcolm McDowell co-stars.
Cold Pursuit (2019)
Color
Grieving father takes vengeance against drug lord
Cold Pursuit
"After being awarded "Citizen of the Year" by the fictional ski resort of Kehoe, Colorado, snowplow driver Nels Coxman's quiet life is disrupted when his son dies from a forced heroin overdose. Nels' wife Grace has a psychotic breakdown and leaves her husband in grief. He is about to commit suicide when he learns that his son was murdered by a Denver drug cartel. He decides to seek vigilante justice, makes a sawed-off rifle, and kills three members of the cartel, sinking their bodies in a nearby river.
The cartel's leader, drug lord Trevor "Viking" Calcote, first suspects that these deaths are the work of his rival White Bull, an Ute with whom he has so far avoided conflict. Viking has one of Bull's gangsters murdered, not knowing it is Bull's only son. This drives Bull to seek revenge ("a son for a son"), and he orders his men to kidnap Viking's young son.
Nels seeks advice from his brother Brock, once a mob enforcer known as "Wingman", and learns about Viking. Brock tells Nels that killing Viking requires a hired assassin, and recommends a transplanted African American hitman known as "the Eskimo". The Eskimo agrees to kill Viking for $90,000, but decides he can get another $90,000 from Viking by informing him that "Coxman" has hired him for the hit. Viking doesn't appreciate the Eskimo's "lack of professional ethics" and kills him. He thinks the Eskimo meant Brock Coxman, and takes him for his "last ride". Since Brock is dying of cancer, he takes responsibility for the hits to protect his brother.
Viking tries in vain to stop the gang war by using one of his own men as a scapegoat and sending White Bull the man's head. This is insufficient to placate Bull, who kills the messenger. Meanwhile, Nels kidnaps Viking's son from his prep school before Bull's men can, in order to draw Viking into an ambush. Nels treats the boy well and protects him from the violence to come, but his identity is revealed to Viking by a Janitor in the prep school.
Both gangs arrive at Nels' workplace, and most of them are killed in the ensuing shootout; Viking is trapped when Nels drops a shorn tree on his car, and is shot in the chest by White Bull. He dies when found by Kehoe police detectives Kimberly Dash and Gip. As Nels leaves the property in his snowplow to continue his work, White Bull jumps into the cab and the two men drive away together. Bull's last remaining enforcer, who had set off on a paraglide flight from the ski resort hotel where the gang stayed the night before, accidentally flies into the snowplow and is killed.
Colette (2018)
Color
Woman ghost writes for husband
Colette
"Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette is a young woman from the rural Saint-Sauveur-en-Puisaye at the end of the 19th century, who begins an affair with Willy. Willy eventually brings Colette to Paris as his bride, with socialites expressing surprise a libertine like him would marry. Willy refers to himself as a "literary entrepreneur", employing a number of ghostwriters to write articles. However, he finds the limited output does not bring in enough revenue to cover his expenses, due to his expensive lifestyle of entertaining socialites. He commissions one ghostwriter to work on a novel while Colette manages his correspondence. One day, Colette finds Willy with a prostitute, leading to a separation. He eventually persuades her to return, promising honesty.
Colette also tells him of her days as a schoolgirl. With Willy finding his expenses mounting and increasingly unable to pay his writers, he asks Colette to write a novel based on her school stories. She completes a draft of Claudine ? l'ecole, which Willy rejects for lacking plot. Years later, some of Willy's furniture is repossessed, and he stumbles on the draft. He suggests revisions and the novel is submitted and published under Willy's byline. Claudine ? l'ecole becomes a bestseller, particularly attracting a female readership. Faced with his first true hit, Willy tells his publisher a sequel is coming, purchases a country house, and locks Colette in a room there to force her to write. Initially objecting, Colette writes Claudine ? Paris, which becomes another bestseller.
As Colette and Willy become an increasingly recognized couple, she attracts the notice of Georgie Raoul-Duval, a Louisiana debutante and they begin an affair. Jealous, Willy also begins an affair with Georgie. Colette discovers this, and bases her next book, Claudine en menage, on the episode. Fearing scandal, Georgie's husband purchases and burns all copies of the book before sale, but does not purchase the copyright, allowing Willy to reprint and sell the book.
The Claudine books enjoy continued success, including a stage adaptation, starring Polaire. Colette begins an affair with Missy, a lesbian socialite who preferred masculine attire. They begin dancing and develop an act at the Moulin Rouge that draws a morally outraged response when they kiss onstage. Willy cites the act as a financial disaster and sells all rights to the Claudine books for 5,000 francs without Colette's knowledge. Angered and feeling betrayed, Colette leaves Willy. Willy asks his employee Paul to incinerate the Claudine manuscripts; Paul returns them to Colette instead.
Colette becomes recognized as a writer in her own right, beginning with The Vagabond, published under her byline, about her music hall experience.
Collateral Damage (2002)
Color
Firefighter is 'collateral damage' when government pursues peace talks instead of justice
Collateral Damage
"A bomb detonates in the plaza of the Colombian Consulate building in Los Angeles, killing nine people, including a caravan of Colombian officials and American intelligence agents. Among the civilians killed are the wife and son of LAFD firefighter, Captain Gordon "Gordy" Brewer, who was injured in the explosion. A tape is sent to the U.S. State Department, in which a masked man calling himself "El Lobo" (The Wolf) claims responsibility, justifying it in that it was in retaliation for the oppression of Colombia by the United States. The FBI believes El Lobo is a Colombian terrorist named Claudio Perrini. CIA Special Agent Peter Brandt, the Colombia Station Chief, is harshly reprimanded for the incident by a Senate Oversight Committee, which promptly terminates all CIA operations in Colombia. Brandt angrily returns to Mompos and meets with his paramilitary allies to plan a major offensive to take down Claudio.
Frustrated at the political red tape regarding the investigation, Brewer travels to Mompos to personally hunt down Claudio but is quickly arrested for illegal entry. The guerrillas stage a prison break to free their comrades and abduct Brewer to demand a large ransom for him. Brandt's unit is alerted to Brewer's presence in Colombia but arrive too late. Brewer escapes the prison, evades capture, and secures a guerrilla zone pass from Canadian mechanic Sean Armstrong. Armstrong introduces him to drug runner Felix Ramirez, the manager of the cocaine distribution facility that finances the guerrillas. Masquerading as a "mechanic", Brewer rigs several improvised explosives and destroys the facility. Felix is blamed for the destruction of the drug plant and is executed in front of a hiding Brewer's eyes. Brewer infiltrates Claudio's headquarters and plants a bomb to kill him, but he is captured when he tries to prevent a woman, Selena, from being caught in the blast radius along with her son, Mauro. At Claudio's home compound, Selena reveals she is Claudio's wife. She and Claudio once lost their own child during an American attack, which compelled Claudio to become a terrorist; Selena found and adopted Mauro, whose parents were killed in the attack. Regardless, Selena eventually sympathizes with Brewer and admits that Claudio is planning another bombing in Washington, D.C..
Meanwhile, Brandt's unit locates Claudio's compound and launches an attack. During the ensuing shootout, Selena helps free Brewer and, along with Brandt, travels back to the State Department in Washington, D.C. to help the search effort for Claudio. Selena identifies Union Station as the target, and the FBI investigates. On the pretense of using the lavatory, Selena excuses herself from the command room and becomes irritated when Mauro refuses to come with her. When Brewer sees Selena make the same gesture as the masked man who claimed to be El Lobo in the tape, he realizes that she was the Wolf all along, and Claudio serves as her figurehead, and that the entire motive behind their cause is personal revenge for the death of their daughter at the hands of the US. Furthermore, Brewer surmises the real target is the State Department, and that he was used to help Selena get past the building's security. Brewer quickly throws Mauro's bomb-laden toy dinosaur out a window seconds before it explodes. Brandt, realizing Brewer's suspicions, is shot and killed trying to stop Selena from fleeing the building.
Brewer chases Selena to the basement of the building where she and Claudio ride off through the tunnels on a motorcycle. Brewer finds the tunnel control console and shuts the gates, preventing their escape. Brewer uses an axe to rupture some gas lines along the walls of the tunnel and, as they ride back, Selena shoots at Brewer, unwittingly igniting the gas. Brewer jumps through a doorway just as the entire tunnel explodes. Selena and Claudio survive the blast, however, and attack him simultaneously. After a short, hand-to-hand fight, Selena is electrocuted by being tossed on the exposed circuitry of the control panel, and Claudio is himself killed when Brewer throws an axe into his chest.
In the aftermath, Brewer carries Mauro in his arms as they leave the State Department. A newscast voiceover explains that Brewer will receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom for preventing one of the worst terrorist attacks in U.S. history from taking place.
Coming 2 America (2021)
Color
King goes to America to bring back his illegitimate son, so he can inherit the throne
Coming 2 America
"On the 30th anniversary of his wedding with Lisa McDowell, Prince Akeem of Zamunda is summoned before his dying father, King Jaffe Joffer. Jaffe and his shaman Baba reveal to a baffled Akeem that he has sired a son during his first visit in Queens, New York after Semmi had enticed two women into spending the night with them while Akeem was still searching for his future queen. One of them drugged Akeem, resulting in a tryst he did not remember; and since Zamundian tradition demands that only a male successor can inherit the throne, and Lisa has borne only daughters, Akeem is forced to travel back to Queens to retrieve his son or else face a violent takeover by Zamunda's militaristic neighbor nation Nextdoria, whose dictator, General Izzi, has repeatedly tried to push Akeem into marrying his eldest daughter Meeka to his foppish son, Idi.
Following King Jaffe's funeral and Akeem's ascension as king, he and Semmi travel to Queens to meet his illegitimate son, Lavelle Junson, to find him a smart-mouthed ticket resaler struggling to get a real job. After an awkward reunion with his mother Mary, Akeem takes them both and Lavelle's uncle Reem back to Zamunda, much to his family's displeasure. When General Izzi learns of this, he drops by to introduce his daughter Bopoto to Lavelle as a last shot at laying claim to the throne of Zamunda, but in order to qualify as a royal prince, Lavelle firstly has to pass a series of traditional - and hazardous - tests. Lavelle is at first highly reluctant to place himself in danger, but then bonds with Mirembe, a royal groomer, who tells him of Akeem's quest to find his queen and encourages him to follow his own path. Lavelle gradually develops an understanding with Akeem's family, and using his wits and some forced courage, he passes and is made Prince of Zamunda.
However, at his accession party, Lavelle overhears a conversation between Akeem and Izzi which makes him believe that Akeem is just exploiting him, and he, Mirembe, Mary and Reem depart back for New York. Upset at losing Mary, whom she has befriended, Lisa locks Akeem out of their bedroom, but after a talk-to with her father, who reminds him of late Queen Aoleon's progressive mind, Akeem flies back to the States, leaving Semmi to stall Izzi, who intends to return in one day to either see Bopoto wedded off to Lavelle or declare war. Returning to Queens, Akeem finds that Lavelle and Mirembe are about to get married. Reminded of his own life's story, he gives them his blessing and releases Lavelle from his royal obligations.
In the meantime, Semmi and the princesses fight off and subdue General Izzi, forcing him to try a more diplomatic approach. Upon his return home, Akeem changes the royal succession tradition by allowing Meeka to ascend to the throne upon his death, while Lavelle is made an ambassador of Zamunda in New York and General Izzi has opened Nextdoria for a peaceful political and trading relationship. The film concludes with a grand party at the royal palace, with Akeem's friends from Queens as special guests.
Coming to America (1988)
Color
African prince heads to America to find a woman who will love him, but not for his money
Coming to America
"In the wealthy African nation of Zamunda, crown prince Akeem Joffer grows weary of his pampered lifestyle on his 21st birthday and wishes to do more for himself. When his parents, King Jaffe and Queen Aoleon, present him with an arranged bride-to-be, Akeem takes action. Seeking an independent woman who loves him for himself and not his social status, Akeem and his best friend/personal aide, Semmi, travel to the New York City borough of Queens and rent a squalid tenement in the neighborhood of Long Island City under the guise of poor foreign students.
Beginning their search for Akeem's bride, they end up being invited by some locals to a rally raising money for the inner city. During the rally, Akeem encounters Lisa McDowell, who possesses all the qualities he is looking for. So, upon his insistence, he and Semmi get entry-level jobs working at the local fast-food restaurant called McDowell's, a McDonald's knockoff owned by widower Cleo McDowell, Lisa's father.
Akeem's attempts to win Lisa's love are complicated by Lisa's lazy and obnoxious boyfriend, Darryl Jenks (Eriq La Salle), whose father owns Soul Glo (a Jheri curl--like hairstyling aid). After Darryl announces their engagement--without Lisa's consent--to their families, she starts dating Akeem, who claims that he comes from a family of poor goat herders.
Meanwhile, although Akeem thrives on hard work and learning how commoners live, Semmi is not comfortable with living in such meager conditions. After a dinner date with Lisa is thwarted when Semmi furnishes their apartment with a hot tub and other luxuries, Akeem confiscates his money and donates it to two homeless men. Semmi wires a telegraph to King Jaffe for more money, prompting the Joffers to travel to Queens to find him.
Cleo initially disapproves of Akeem, as he believes he is poor and therefore not good enough for his daughter. He becomes ecstatic when he discovers that Akeem is actually an extremely wealthy prince, after meeting the Joffers. When Akeem discovers that his parents have arrived in NYC, he and Lisa go to the McDowell residence to lie low where Cleo welcomes them. After Cleo's bond with Akeem is ruined by the unexpected arrival of the Zamundan entourage, Lisa later becomes angry and confused that Akeem lied to her about his identity. Akeem explains that he wanted her to love him for who, not what, he is, even offering to renounce his throne, but Lisa, still hurt and angry, refuses to marry him. Despondent, Akeem resigns himself to the arranged marriage, but as they leave, Jaffe is reprimanded by Aoleon for clinging to outdated traditions instead of thinking of their son's happiness.
At the wedding procession, a still-heartbroken Akeem becomes surprised when his veiled bride-to-be is Lisa herself. Following the ceremony, they ride happily in a carriage to the cheers of Zamundans. Witnessing such splendor, Lisa is both surprised and touched by the fact that Akeem would have given it up just for her. Akeem offers again to abdicate if she does not want this life, but Lisa playfully declines.
Con Air (1997)
Color
Dangerous inmates hijack airplane
Con Air
"Former Army Ranger sergeant and combat veteran Cameron Poe returns home to his pregnant wife Tricia. However, he is given a ten-year prison sentence for accidentally killing a drunk man who attempted to assault Tricia. Eight years later, Poe is paroled and boards a flight to Alabama on the Jailbird, a converted prison transport plane. Poe is flying alongside his diabetic cellmate Mike "Baby-O" O'Dell.
Most of the inmates boarding the flight are being transferred to a supermax prison: mass murderer William "Billy Bedlam" Bedford, serial rapist John "Johnny 23" Baca, Black Guerrilla member Nathan "Diamond Dog" Jones, and professional criminal Cyrus "The Virus" Grissom. The flight is overseen by U.S. Marshal Vince Larkin, who is approached by DEA agents Duncan Malloy and Willie Sims; the latter plans to go undercover to get information from drug lord Francisco Cindino, who is being picked up en route.
After taking off, inmate Joe "Pinball" Parker sets another prisoner on fire as a distraction, allowing Grissom and Diamond Dog to take over the plane. They plan to land at Carson Airport as scheduled, pick up and transfer other prisoners, and then fly to a non-extradition country. Sims tries to retake control, but Grissom kills him. Poe and Grissom also foil Johnny 23's rape attempts on the plane's female guard.
The plane arrives at Carson City and the inmate exchange commences, the ground crew unaware that hijackers are disguised as guards. Amongst the new passengers are Cindino, pilot Earl "Swamp Thing" Williams, and serial killer Garland Greene. The authorities discover the hijacking upon finding evidence in Grissom's old cell and a tape recorder planted by Poe on one of the disguised guards, but don't stop the plane from taking off. Meanwhile, Pinball, sent to dispose of the plane's transponder, tries but fails to make it back to the plane.
The inmates plan to land at Lerner Airport, an abandoned desert airstrip, and transfer onto another plane owned by Cindino and his cartel. Poe finds Pinball's corpse trapped in the landing gear, writing a message to Larkin on the body before throwing it out. Larkin learns of the news and heads to Lerner after contacting the National Guard. Bedford, raiding the cargo, discovers Poe's identity when reading his parole letter and finding the toy bunny Poe intends to give to his daughter, forcing Poe to kill him.
The Jailbird is grounded at Lerner, with no sign of the transfer aircraft. Poe warns the others of Cindino's past acts of deceit and betrayal, and thus Grissom orders the others to fuel up the plane and get it ready for takeoff. Poe leaves to find Baby-O a syringe to give him insulin, meeting Larkin and informing him of the situation. They discover Cindino planning to escape on a hidden private jet, which Larkin sabotages. Grissom executes Cindino by igniting the plane's fuel. Greene encounters a little girl, but resists the urge to kill her.
Meanwhile, Johnny 23 spots a National Guard convoy approaching and gives the alarm. The inmates find a cache of fully loaded shotguns and rifles in the cargo hold and prepare an ambush. As the National Guard arrives, the inmates launch an assault, resulting in a number of casualties, but Larkin defends the surviving troops using a bulldozer as a makeshift shield, while the surviving inmates flee back onto the Jailbird and take flight.
Poe's identity is revealed when Bedford's body is found. Grissom is about to execute him and Baby-O when Larkin and Malloy arrive in attack helicopters, damaging the Jailbird's fuel tank. Though Larkin orders the plane to land at McCarran International Airport, Swamp Thing is forced to land it on the Las Vegas Strip, causing mass destruction and killing Johnny 23. Grissom, Diamond Dog, and Swamp Thing escape on a fire truck, pursued by Poe and Larkin on police motorcycles. The chase leads to the deaths of all three escapees. Poe meets his daughter for the first time and gives her the bunny. As the surviving inmates are apprehended, the only one unaccounted is Garland Greene, who gambles in a casino.
Conspiracy Theory (1997)
Color
Cab driver's life is in danger when government attempts to silence him
Conspiracy Theory
"Alice Sutton (Julia Roberts) is a lawyer working for the US government at the Justice Department. Jerry Fletcher (Mel Gibson), a conspiracy-theory obsessed New York City taxi driver, continually expounds his ideas to her. Alice humors him because he once saved her from a mugging, but does not know he has been spying on her at home. Her own obsession is to solve the mystery of her father's murder.
Seeing suspicious activity everywhere, Jerry identifies some men as CIA, follows them into a building, and is captured. He wakes up bound to a wheelchair. A doctor (Patrick Stewart) injects him with LSD, and interrogates him using torture. Jerry experiences terrifying hallucinations and flashbacks, panics, and manages to escape, incapacitating the doctor by biting his nose. Although injured, Jerry makes his way to Alice's office, eventually collapsing.
She visits him in the hospital. Handcuffed to the bed and forced into a drug-induced sleep, he pleads with her to switch his chart with that of a criminal in the next bed - or he will be dead by morning. Next day, when Alice visits, the criminal is dead, allegedly from a mysterious heart attack. The CIA, FBI and other agencies are there, led by a CIA psychiatrist, Dr. Jonas, with a bandaged nose. Meanwhile Jerry fakes a heart attack and escapes again, with Alice's help. In Jerry's hospital room, she meets an FBI agent named Lowry. While they are examining Jerry's personal items, the CIA arrive and confiscate everything. She declines Lowry's offer to work with her, and later finds Jerry hiding in her car. They go to Jerry's apartment where he tells her about the conspiracy newsletter he produces. Just when Alice has decided Jerry is crazy, a SWAT team breaks in. Jerry sets everything on fire and they leave by his secret trapdoor exit. In the room below, there is a large mural on the wall, which features both Alice on her horse and the triple smokestacks of a factory.
The pair go to Alice's apartment and he accidentally reveals he's been watching her through her window. Furious, she kicks him out. Outside, Jerry confronts Lowry and his partner staking out her place, and he warns them, at gunpoint, not to hurt her. He goes to a book store and, as he has compulsively done in the past, buys a copy of Catcher in the Rye, even though he's never read it. The electronic record of the purchase alerts agents to his location. Jerry sees their operatives rappelling down from black helicopters and hides in a theater, escaping by causing a panic.
Alice calls each person on the newsletter mail-list and finds that all have recently died except one. Jerry uses a ruse to get her out of the office, and then immobilizes the operatives watching her. During their escape, he tells her that he loves her, then flees on a subway train when she brushes off his feelings.
She goes to see the last surviving person on the subscription list, and finds it is Jonas. He explains that Jerry was brainwashed to become an assassin, and claims that Jerry killed her father. She agrees to help find Jerry.
Jerry sends Alice a message to meet him. They ditch the agents following them and he drives her to her father's private horse stables in Connecticut, but Alice secretly calls her office so that Jonas can track her. At the stables, Jerry remembers that he was sent to kill her father (a judge who was about to expose Jonas' operation) but found he could not. Instead, Jerry promised to watch over Alice before the judge was killed by another assassin. Jonas' men capture Jerry, and a sniper tries to get Alice, but she escapes.
Jonas tortures Jerry again. Meanwhile, Alice finds Lowry and forces him at gunpoint to admit that he is not FBI, but from a "secret agency that watches the other agencies" and has been using the unwitting Jerry to uncover and stop Jonas. Alice goes to the site of the smokestacks from Jerry's mural and sees a mental hospital next door. There she bribes an attendant to show her an unused wing, breaks in, and finds Jerry. As Jonas catches them, Lowry arrives with his men and attacks Jonas' men. Jerry attempts to drown Jonas, but is shot. Alice shoots Jonas dead. Alice tells Jerry she loves him before he is taken away in an ambulance.
Some time later, Alice visits Jerry's grave, leaving a pin he gave her upon it, before returning to horse riding. Jerry and Lowry are watching from a car. Jerry agrees not to contact her until all of Jonas' other subjects are caught, but she joyfully finds the pin attached to her saddle.
Contact (1997)
Color
Contact with extraterrestial life
Contact
"Encouraged to explore as a child by her late father, Dr. Eleanor "Ellie" Arroway works for the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) program at the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico. She listens to radio transmissions hoping to find signals sent by extraterrestrial life. Government scientist David Drumlin pulls the funding from SETI because he believes the endeavor is futile. Arroway gains backing from secretive billionaire industrialist S. R. Hadden, who has followed her career and allows her to continue her studies at the Very Large Array (VLA) in Socorro County, New Mexico.
Four years later, with Drumlin seeking to close SETI, Arroway finds a signal repeating a sequence of prime numbers, apparently sent from the star Vega. This announcement causes Drumlin and the National Security Council, led by National Security Advisor Michael Kitz, to attempt to take control of the facility. As Arroway, Drumlin and Kitz argue, members of the team at the VLA discover a video source buried in the signal: Adolf Hitler's welcoming address at the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin. Arroway and her team postulate that this would have been the first significantly strong television signal to leave Earth's atmosphere, which was then transmitted back from Vega, 26 light years away.
The project is put under tight security and its progress followed worldwide. Arroway learns that the signal contains more than 60,000 "pages" of what appear to be technical drawings. Hadden decodes the pages; the drawings are meant to be interpreted in three dimensions. This reveals a complex machine allowing for one human occupant inside a pod to be dropped into three spinning rings.
The nations of the world fund the construction of the machine in Cape Canaveral at the Kennedy Space Center's Launch Complex 39. An international panel is assembled to choose a candidate to travel in the machine. Although Arroway is one of the top selections, Christian philosopher Palmer Joss, a panel member whom Arroway met in Puerto Rico and with whom she had a brief romantic encounter, brings attention to her lack of religious faith. As this differentiates her from most humans, the panel selects Drumlin as more representative. On the day the machine is tested, a religious fanatic destroys the machine in a suicide bombing, killing Drumlin and many others.
Hadden reveals to Arroway that a second machine is hidden in Hokkaido, Japan, and that Arroway will be its pilot. Arroway, outfitted with several recording devices, is locked into the pod of the Japanese machine, dropped into the spinning rings, and disappears. When the pod apparently travels through a series of wormholes, she experiences displacement and can observe the outside environment, including a radio array--like structure at Vega and signs of an advanced civilization on an unknown planet. Arroway finds herself in a surreal beachfront landscape similar to a childhood picture she drew of Pensacola, Florida, and a blurry figure approaches that becomes her deceased father. Arroway recognizes him as an alien taking her father's form and attempts to ask questions. The alien deflects her inquiries, explaining that this journey was just humanity's first step to joining other spacefaring species.
Arroway considers these answers and falls unconscious. She awakens to find herself on the floor of the pod; the machine's control team is repeatedly calling for her. She learns that from outside the machine it appears the pod merely dropped through the machine's rings and landed in the safety net. Arroway insists that she was gone for approximately 18 hours, but her recording devices show only static. Kitz resigns as national security advisor to lead a congressional committee to determine whether the machine was a hoax designed by Hadden, who has died. Arroway is described as an unwitting accomplice in the hoax; she asks them to accept her testimony on faith. Kitz and White House Chief of Staff Rachel Constantine reflect on the fact that while Arroway's recording device only recorded static, it recorded 18 hours of it. Arroway and Joss reunite, and Arroway receives ongoing financial support for the SETI program at the Very Large Array.
Contagion (2011)
Color
The world undergoes a major pandemic
Contagion
"After a business trip to Macao, businesswoman Beth Emhoff (Gwyneth Paltrow) stops in Chicago to have a sexual encounter with an old boyfriend before returning to her family in suburban Minneapolis. At first, she appears to have contracted a cold during her trip. Her son, Clark, also becomes symptomatic and is sent home from school. Beth's condition worsens and two days later she collapses with severe seizures in her home. Her husband, Mitch (Matt Damon), rushes her to the hospital, but she continues to have seizures and dies of an unknown cause. Because it affects the brain and central nervous system, pathologists attribute it to a meningoencephalitis virus. Mitch returns home and finds that Clark has also died from a similar infection. Mitch is put in isolation but turns out to be immune to the disease. He and his teenaged daughter attempt to flee the city, but a military quarantine has been imposed, and they're forced to return to their home to face decaying social order and rampant looting of stores and homes. Not knowing whether his daughter inherited his immunity, Mitch struggles to her frustration with quarantine with his desire to protect her, while trying to come to terms with his own loss.
In Atlanta, representatives of the Department of Homeland Security meet with Dr. Ellis Cheever (Laurence Fishburne) of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and express fears that the disease is a bioweapon intended to cause terror over the Thanksgiving weekend. Cheever sends Dr. Erin Mears (Kate Winslet), an Epidemic Intelligence Service officer, to Minneapolis to begin the investigation. In addition to tracing the outbreak back to Beth, Dr. Mears has to negotiate with local bureaucrats reluctant to commit resources. She later becomes infected with the disease after being in contact with contaminated fomites, while staying at her hotel. The Minnesota National Guard arrives to quarantine the city, and Dr. Mears is moved to the field medical station she helped set up, where she later dies.
At the CDC, Dr. Ally Hextall (Jennifer Ehle) finds that the virus is mix of genetic material from pig and bat viruses. Investigations into cures via treatment protocols or vaccines initially stalls as scientists can't find a cell culture to grow the new virus, which has been named the Meningoencephalitis Virus One (MEV-1). Professor Ian Sussman (Elliott Gould) violates orders from CDC scientist Dr. Hextall to destroy his samples and identifies a line of bat cells that will support research of a vaccine. At the CDC, Dr. Hextall uses this breakthrough to begin to investigate possible vaccines. The virus turns out to spread via fomites with a basic reproduction number of two. This later goes up to four after the virus mutates.
Alan Krumwiede (Jude Law), a conspiracy theorist, posts videos about the disease, and in one of them appears sick and later claims that he recovered using a homeopathic cure derived from forsythia. People attempting to obtain forsythia overwhelm pharmacies, accelerating the contagion as infected and healthy people congregate. Krumwiede leaps to national attention and, during a television interview, accuses Dr. Cheever of informing friends and family to leave Chicago before a quarantine is imposed. It's later revealed Krumwiede was never sick with the virus, but was attempting to boost demand on behalf of investors in the companies producing and distributing the homeopathic treatment. He is arrested for conspiracy and fraud, but is soon released after his 12 million blog readers collect and pay his bail.
Dr. Hextall identifies a potential vaccine, using an attenuated (live) virus. Because of the difficulties of human subjects testing, she follows the precedent of other vaccine researchers and inoculates herself first. Hextall visits her gravely ill father in the hospital to expose herself to the virus and test the vaccine. The vaccine's production is rapidly ramped up and the CDC awards vaccinations via a random lottery based on birth dates for one full year until every survivor is vaccinated. Dr. Cheever, whose phonecall to his girlfriend warning her to leave Chicago ahead of the quarantine, was overheard by the CDC's janitor, later gives his fast-tracked MEV-1 vaccination to the janitor's son. Dr. Hextall places the MEV-1 virus' surviving samples in cryogenic storage with H1N1 and SARS.
Dr. Leonora Orantes (Marion Cotillard), a World Health Organization epidemiologist, travels to Hong Kong to trace the origins of the infections. She collaborates with Sun Feng (Chin Han) and other local epidemiologists and public health officials and they identify Beth Emhoff as patient zero. As the virus spreads, Feng kidnaps Orantes to use her as leverage to obtain the first MEV-1 vaccines for his village. Orantes spends months living with the villagers until the vaccine is announced. Feng exchanges Orantes for the vaccines, which turn out to be placebos. When she is informed of this, Orantes, who has grown close to the villagers, rushes away to warn them.
In the film's final moments, an extended flashback explains the virus' outbreak. A man driving a bulldozer that works for Beth's company knocks down a palm tree where bats are nesting. The bats become disturbed and fly away. One of the bats is carrying a virus; it flies onto a banana plant and eats a chunk of the banana. The bat then roosts on a water supply pipe, over a pig pen. The bat drops a chunk of the banana out of its mouth and into the pig pen, where a pig eats the banana, and demonstrates the chain of contagion with the bat's disease, creating a Bat-Pig hybrid. The next day, a group of Chinese chefs collect piglets from the same pen and take them to a casino. One of the chefs butchers the diseased piglet and is shown preparing it for roasting. The chef is approached and called away from his preparations. He casually wipes his hands on his apron. It is revealed that he is called away to greet and shake hands with Beth Emhoff, creating the Bat-Pig-Human hybrid that makes her patient zero as the origin of the MEV-1 Virus.
Cool Hand Luke (1967)
Color
Inmate keeps trying to escape and getting in trouble
Cool Hand Luke
"Lucas Jackson (Paul Newman) is arrested for cutting the heads off a small town's parking meters one drunken night in the early 1960s. He is sentenced to two years in prison and sent to a Florida prison camp, run by the heartless Captain (Strother Martin). Luke is revealed to be a decorated Korean War veteran. The screen play and the scene's direction begins the introduction and exposition of the uniqueness of his character to this setting, by the reaction to the reading of the record of inmate Lucas Jackson. He was a decorated Korean War hero who was promoted up from the ranks to Sergeant, but who left the service just as he had entered, a "buck" Private. Luke further introduces his character by his "off-hand" explanation of the bravery, promotions and demotions as, "I guess I was just passing time, Captain."
Luke fails to observe the established pecking order among the prisoners and quickly runs afoul of the prisoners' de facto leader Dragline (George Kennedy). The pair box, with the prisoners and guards watching. Although Luke is severely outmatched by the larger Dragline, he repeatedly refuses to stay down and eventually Dragline refuses to fight further. Luke suffers a beating but wins the respect of Dragline and the rest of the prison population. Later, Luke wins a poker game on a bluff with a worthless hand. Luke comments that "sometimes nothing can be a real cool hand," and Dragline promptly bestows on him the nickname "Cool Hand Luke."
After a visit from his mother and nephew (Eddie Rosson), he becomes more optimistic about his situation. Despite the brutal conditions within the camp, including hard physical labor and extended time in "the box" (a harsh solitary confinement used to punish disobedient prisoners), Luke demonstrates an unquenchable spirit and the other prisoners begin to idolize him, particularly after he wins a spur-of-the moment bet that he can eat fifty hard-boiled eggs in one hour. Luke continually circumvents the authority of the Captain and the prison-guard "Bosses" led by the mirror-sunglasses wearing Boss Godfrey (Morgan Woodward) and his sense of humor and independence in the face of incarceration prove contagious and inspiring to the other prisoners. This struggle for influence comes to a head when Luke leads the work crew in a seemingly impossible effort to complete a road-paving job in a single day, in defiance of convention and expectations. Luke becomes recognized as a trouble-maker by the prison authorities. News of his mother's death reaches Luke and the Captain locks him in the box instead of sending him to work, anticipating that Luke might attempt escape in order to attend his mother's funeral. After this, Luke becomes determined to escape. After an initial escape attempt under the cover of a Fourth of July celebration, he is recaptured by local police and fitted with leg irons to prevent further attempts. Upon Luke's returning, the Captain delivers a warning speech to the other inmates, beginning with the famous line, "What we've got here is failure to communicate. Some men you just can't reach. So you get what we had here last week, which is the way he wants it... well, he gets it. I don't like it any more than you men."
Some time later, Luke makes another escape, this time visiting a nearby house where he uses an axe to remove his chain and curry powder to throw off the prison's tracking Bloodhounds. This escape is successful but short-lived. While free, Luke mails the prisoners a magazine that includes a photograph of him with two beautiful women, which is received with awe and delight. He is soon recaptured, beaten, and returned to the prison camp. As part of his punishment he is then fitted with two sets of leg chains. When he regains consciousness, Luke is annoyed by the prisoners' fawning and lashes out, revealing that the picture was a fake. At first the other prisoners are angry, but when, after a long stay in the box, Luke is forced to eat a giant pile of rice, the other prisoners help him finish. Luke's escapades seal him as a legendary figure in the eyes of the prisoners but the Captain sets out to break Luke's spirit. As punishment for his escape, he is required to dig a large hole of the same dimensions as a grave in the prison camp yard, then fill it in and repeat the process, and is mercilessly beaten as his comrades look on with horror. Finally, an exhausted Luke collapses in his hole and begs to God for mercy and to the bosses not to be hit again as the other prisoners watch from the windows of the bunk house. Believing Luke finally to be broken, the Captain allows Luke to stop and go inside. Luke is hauled back into the bunk house where he struggles to his bed alone. Ashamed by Luke's capitulation to the Captain, the prisoners begin to lose their idealized image of Luke. One prisoner pulls out the magazine with Luke's picture in it and tears it up.
Though seemingly broken in spirit, Luke takes one last stab at freedom when he gets the chance to steal the guards' truck. Dragline jumps in the truck with Luke and they drive off. They travel until at night near a church, Luke tells Dragline that they should split up. Saddened and regretful, Dragline thanks Luke as they part and Luke enters the church. Here, Luke decides to talk with God, who he believes made him the way he is and is sabotaging him so he cannot win in life. Luke prays and asks God what he should do but gets no reply. Moments later, police cars arrive outside. Dragline re-enters and tells Luke that he made a deal with the bosses and that they won't hurt them if they surrender peacefully. Luke, knowing better, moves to an open window, quotes the Captain's famous line from earlier ("What we've got here is a failure to communicate") and is immediately shot in the neck by Boss Godfrey. A distraught Dragline hauls him outside and attacks Godfrey but is stopped by the other men. The sheriff (Rance Howard) then says that he's made a call to the local hospital, but the Captain insists on taking him to the prison hospital. When the sheriff says that it's an hour's drive away and that Luke would never survive, the Captain merely says that "He's ours." Luke smiles weakly as the car drives off. The car crushes Boss Godfrey's fallen mirror shades as it pulls out.
Later, Dragline and the other prisoners reminisce about Luke. Dragline describes Luke's unique smile as scenes of Luke's escapades flash across the screen. The final image is the now-repaired picture of Luke and the two women, before the screen fades to black.
Cool Runnings (1993)
Color
Follows Jamaica's first bobsled team
Cool Runnings
"In November 1987, Jamaican sprinter Derice Bannock trains to qualify for the 100 metres in the 1988 Summer Olympics. He fails to qualify when fellow runner Junior Bevil accidentally stumbles, knocking himself, Derice, and Yul Brenner down.
Derice vents his frustrations to Barrington Coolidge, the President of the Jamaica Olympic Association. He spots a photograph in Coolidge's office, featuring his late father Ben, standing next to a fellow Olympic gold medal winner. Coolidge identifies the man as disgraced American bobsled medallist Irv Blitzer, who was disqualified for cheating in the 1972 Winter Olympics. Derice realises he could participate in the 1988 Winter Olympics by forming a bobsled team, recruiting his friend Sanka Coffie, a pushcart derby champion.
Blitzer, working in Jamaica as a bookie, at first refuses to help Derice, until learning he is Ben Bannock's son. A recruitment drive fails, but the arrival of Junior and Yul allows Derice to a form the required four-man bobsled team. The team train with Blitzer, though Coolidge refuses to fund the $20,000 needed to participate in the Olympics, believing the inexperienced team will bring shame to Jamaica. The team find various ways to raise the money, ranging from singing on the street to arm wrestling. Junior, who avoids telling his father about the team, sells his car to finance the trip to Canada.
In Calgary, Blitzer registers the team, receiving an old bobsled from his former teammate Roger. The Jamaicans struggle to drive the bobsled and adapt to the cold, though exercise and hard work eventually pay off. Derice begins to copy the techniques of the Swiss team. Sanka, Junior, and Yul get into a bar fight with the snobbish East German team, and are reprimanded by Derice.
The team successfully qualifies for the finals, only to be disqualified by the Olympic committee, as retribution for Blitzer's prior cheating scandal. Blitzer confronts Kurt Hemphill, his former coach, now a judge in the committee, asking him not to punish the Jamaicans, as they had nothing to do with his cheating scandal. That night, the team are informed that they have been reinstated. Junior's father arrives to retrieve his son, but Junior stands by his commitment to compete, earning Yul's respect.
The team's first day on the track is abysmal, finishing in last place. Sanka realises Derice is copying the Swiss team's methods, and encourages the team to 'bobsled Jamaican'. They improve on the second day, finishing in eighth place. During their final race, one of the bobsled's blades detaches, causing it to flip over and crash. Determined to finish the race, the Jamaicans pick up their bobsled and carry it across the finish line, earning the applause of the other teams and the spectators. An epilogue explains the team would return home as heroes, then return to the 1992 Winter Olympics to participate as equals.
Courage Under Fire (1996)
Color
Investigation to determine if the death of pilot warrents a Congressional Medal of Honor
Courage Under Fire
"While serving in the Gulf War, Lieutenant Colonel Serling (Denzel Washington) accidentally destroys one of his own tanks during a confusing night-time battle, killing his friend, Captain Boylar (Tim Ransom). The U.S. Army covers up the details and transfers Serling to a desk job.
Later, Serling is assigned to determine if Captain Karen Emma Walden (Meg Ryan) should be the first woman to (posthumously) receive the Medal of Honor. She was the commander of a Medevac Huey helicopter that was sent to rescue the crew of a shot-down Black Hawk helicopter. When she encountered a T-54 enemy tank, her crew destroyed it by dropping a fuel bladder onto the tank and igniting it with a flare gun. However, her own helicopter was shot down soon after. The two crews were unable to join forces, and when the survivors were rescued the next day, Walden was reported dead.
Serling notices inconsistencies between the testimonies of Walden's crew. Specialist Andrew Ilario (Matt Damon), the medic, praises Walden strongly. However, Staff Sergeant John Monfriez (Lou Diamond Phillips) claims that Walden was a coward and that he led the crew in combat and improvised the fuel bladder weapon. Sergeant Altameyer (Seth Gilliam), who is dying in a hospital, complains about a fire. Warrant Officer One Rady (Tim Guinee), the co-pilot, was injured early on and unconscious throughout. Furthermore, the crew of the Black Hawk claim that they heard firing from an M16, but Ilario and Monfriez claim it was out of ammo.
Under pressure from the White House and his commander, Brigadier General Hershberg (Michael Moriarty), to wrap things up quickly, Serling leaks the story to a newspaper reporter, Tony Gartner (Scott Glenn), to prevent another cover-up. When Serling grills Monfriez during a car ride, Monfriez forces him to get out of the vehicle at gunpoint, then commits suicide by driving into an oncoming train.
Serling tracks Ilario down, and Ilario finally tells him the truth. Monfriez wanted to flee, which would mean abandoning Rady. When Walden refused, he pulled a gun on her. Walden then shot an enemy who appeared behind Monfriez, but Monfriez thought Walden was firing at him and shot her in the stomach, before backing off. The next morning, the enemy attacked again as a rescue party approached. Walden covered her men's retreat, firing an M16. However, Monfriez told the rescuers that Walden was dead, so they left without her. Napalm was then dropped on the entire area. Altameyer tried to expose Monfriez's lie at the time, but was too injured to speak, and Ilario was too scared of the court-martial Walden had threatened them with and remained silent.
Serling presents his final report to Hershberg. Walden's young daughter receives the Medal of Honor at a White House ceremony. Later, Serling tells the truth to the Boylars about the manner of their son's death and says he cannot ask for forgiveness. The Boylars tell Serling he must release his burden at some point and grant him their forgiveness.
In the last moments, Serling has a flashback of when he was standing by Boylar's destroyed tank and a medevac Huey was lifting off with his friend's body. Serling suddenly realizes Walden was the Huey pilot.
Crash (2005)
Color
Violent series of incidents surround car crash, as post 9-11 tensions run high in LA
Crash
"Today
The film begins with commentary by passenger Detective Graham Waters (Don Cheadle) having suffered a car accident with his partner Ria (Jennifer Esposito). He mentions that the citizens of Los Angeles have lost their "sense of touch." Ria and the driver of the other car, Kim Lee, exchange racially charged insults. When Waters exits the car, he arrives at a police investigation crime scene concerning the discovery of a "dead kid".
Yesterday
While purchasing a revolver at a gun store, Farhad (Shaun Toub), a Persian shop owner, and his daughter Dorri (Bahar Soomekh), argue in Persian over what box of bullets they should buy. The gun store owner grows impatient and degrades the two of them by referring to Farhad as "Osama". Farhad clarifies that he is an American citizen but the store owner continues exchanging racially stereotypical insults at Farhad and has the security guard escort him out of the store. Dorri demands the store owner to give her the gun or give her back the money. After the store owner gives the gun to Dorri, she asks for "the ones in the red box". The store owner asks why, but Dorri does not answer and insists on buying that particular box. In another part of town, two black men, Anthony (Ludacris) and Peter (Larenz Tate), argue over racial stereotyping of African Americans after Jean Cabot (Sandra Bullock), the wife of the local district attorney Rick Cabot (Brendan Fraser), walks in another direction whilst fearfully staring at them.
Anthony and Peter carjack the married couple as they are about to enter their Lincoln Navigator. Later, at the Cabot house, Hispanic locksmith Daniel Ruiz (Michael Pe?a) is changing their locks when Jean notices his tattoos. She loudly complains to Rick about having been carjacked and now having to endure a Hispanic man changing their locks, feeling he will give copies of the keys to "his gang banger friends". Having overheard this, Daniel leaves the keys on Jean's kitchen counter. Detectives Waters and Ria arrive at the scene of a shooting between two drivers. The surviving shooter is a white male, identified as an undercover police officer. The dead shooter, a black male, is revealed also to be an undercover police officer. There is a large amount of cash found in the black officer's trunk. This is the third time the white officer has shot and killed a black man.
LAPD officer John Ryan (Matt Dillon) calls an HMO on behalf of his father and has an argument with a representative named Shaniqua Johnson (Loretta Devine). He then gets into the squad car with his partner Tom Hansen (Ryan Philippe) and sees a car passenger performing fellatio on the driver of a moving vehicle. They pull over the Navigator similar to the one carjacked earlier, despite discrepancies in the descriptions. They order the couple, television director Cameron Thayer (Terrence Howard) and his wife Christine (Thandie Newton), to exit. Cameron is cooperative, but Christine is argumentative. This annoys Ryan, who manually molests Christine under the pretense of administering a pat-down. Intimidated, Cameron says nothing. The couple is released without a citation. Once home, Christine becomes enraged that Cameron did nothing while she was being violated. Cameron insists that what he did was correct and storms out.
Arriving home from work long after dark, Daniel finds his young daughter, Lara (Ashlyn Sanchez), hiding under her bed after hearing a gunshot outside. To comfort her, Daniel gives her an "invisible impenetrable cloak", which makes her feel safe enough to fall asleep in her bed. In the carjacked SUV, Anthony and Peter, arguing and distracted, hit a Korean man while passing a parked white van. They argue about what to do with him, finally dumping him in front of a hospital and driving away. Due to the blood in the vehicle, they are unable to receive payment for the carjacking. The next day, at the Los Angeles Police Department station, Hansen talks to his superior, Lt. Dixon (Keith David), about switching partners. Dixon, a black man, claims that Hansen's charge of Ryan as a racist could cost both Hansen and Dixon their jobs. Dixon suggests a transfer to a one-man car and mockingly tells Hansen that he should justify it by claiming to have uncontrollable flatulence.
Ryan visits Shaniqua and apologizes for the argument. He explains that his father was previously diagnosed with a bladder infection, but he fears it may be prostate cancer. Shaniqua nearly calls security to escort Ryan out of her office when he proceeds to insult Shaniqua by calling her an affirmative action hire. When Ryan asks for his father to see a different doctor, Shaniqua denies the request and he storms out of her office in anger. Meanwhile, Daniel is seen replacing a lock at Farhad's shop and tries to explain to him that the door frame needs to be replaced. Farhad, whose English is limited, misunderstands and accuses Daniel of cheating him, which causes Daniel to leave.
Today
The next morning, Farhad discovers the store has been wrecked and defaced with graffiti. His insurance company does not cover the damage, calling it a case of negligence due to the defective door. When Farhad is told that his shop will be closing down, he vows revenge on Daniel. Detective Waters visits his mother (Beverly Todd), a hard drug abuser. She asks him to find his missing younger brother. He promises and takes notice that there is almost no food in the apartment as he is leaving. When he tries to present evidence in the shooting between undercover police officers, his superiors tell him not to reveal the cash in the black officer's trunk, saying that their work in crafting a non-racist image for the department will be undone.
Jean comes home and sees dishes in the dishwasher. She accosts her Hispanic maid Maria for not putting them in the cupboards. Ryan comes across a car accident and as he crawls into the overturned vehicle, he finds Christine trapped. Upon recognizing Ryan, Christine becomes hysterical, but gasoline is leaking from the tank and running downhill towards another wreck, which has already caught fire. He calms her down, and with the assistance of his partner and spectators, Ryan pulls Christine out just as her car bursts into flames. Anthony and Peter approach another Navigator which happens to be Cameron's. They only see Cameron driving after they open the door and are shocked to see that the driver is black (after Anthony previously bragged about not carjacking black people). Cameron is tired of being pushed around and resists. Anthony tells Peter to shoot Cameron, but Peter does not.
As police officers arrive, Cameron and Anthony both race for the car and jump in. Cameron drives away, with Anthony continuing to point a gun at him. A car chase ensues. Hansen is one of the police officers who has responded and recognizes Cameron's vehicle. Cameron drives into a dead end, puts Anthony's gun into his pocket, and gets out of the car, all the while yelling insults at the officers. Just before he pulls out the gun, Hansen convinces him to stop aggravating the situation and to go home. Hansen vouches for Cameron, fending off the other officers, and promising to give him a "harsh" warning. Later, Cameron tells Anthony that as a black man he is embarrassed for him and drops Anthony off at a bus stop.
Farhad locates Daniel's house and waits in ambush. Just as Daniel's daughter Lara jumps into his arms, attempting to protect him with the "invisible cloak", Daniel's wife Elizabeth (Karina Arroyave) runs out the front door and watches in horror as Farhad shoots Lara. It takes the grief-stricken parents and Farhad a moment to realize that Lara is miraculously unharmed. The box of ammunition that Dorri had selected contained blanks. Farhad later tells his daughter that he believes the little girl was his guardian angel, preventing him from committing a terrible crime. Jean is complaining to someone she knows over the phone that she wakes up angry every day and does not know why. Immediately afterwards, she slips and falls down a flight of stairs, spraining her ankle. Jean phones Rick, telling him of her accident.
Peter, who is hitchhiking, is picked up by Hansen. Peter sees that Hansen has a small statuette of Saint Christopher like his own. He begins to laugh as he realizes that they have so much in common, but Hansen thinks that he is being laughed at. Hansen pulls over and tells Peter to get out if he wants to be "funny". Peter moves to pull the statuette out of his pocket in explanation, but Hansen believes he is pulling out a gun and mistakenly shoots and kills Peter. Hansen dumps the body in the bush beside a road and then torches his own car. Peter is revealed to be Waters' missing brother. Waters and his mother meet at the morgue, where Dorri is revealed to be a coroner and Waters promises to find who is responsible. Mrs. Waters blames her surviving son for his brother's death, claiming he was always too busy to look for Peter.
Anthony returns to the white van owned by the Korean man whom they had run over the night before. Finding the keys still hanging from the door lock, he drives the van away. The Korean man's wife Kim Lee arrives at the previously mentioned hospital looking for her husband, the man who was run over, named Choi Jin Gui. Conscious and coherent, he tells her to go and immediately cash a check that he has in his wallet. The check is most likely payment for the contents of the van. Anthony has driven the white van to a chop shop he frequents, and as they inspect the van, a number of Cambodian immigrants are discovered locked in the back of the van, revealing that Choi was involved in human trafficking. Anthony is offered $500 for each person in the van but refuses out of disgust. Whilst resting in her bed, Jean hugs Maria, saying she is the only true friend she has ever had and apologizes. Anthony drives to Chinatown and sets the Cambodian people free. As Anthony drives away, he passes a car crash, which turns out to involve Shaniqua. Shaniqua and the other driver get out and begin to exchange racial slurs.
Crazy Heart (2009)
Color
Relationship brings washed-up alcoholic singer a new inspiration
Crazy Heart
"Otis "Bad" Blake (Jeff Bridges) is a 57-year-old alcoholic singer-songwriter who was once a country music star. He now earns a modest living by singing and playing his guitar at one-night stands, in small town bars, in the southwestern United States. Having a history of failed marriages (four that he admitted to, although Jean said five) Blake is without a family. He has a son, aged 28, with whom he has not had contact in 24 years. He is mostly on the road performing, staying in cheap motels and traveling in his old car alone. The film opens with his arrival at a bowling alley for a show.
Enter Jean Craddock (Maggie Gyllenhaal), a young journalist after a story, divorced and with a four-year-old son, Buddy (Jack Nation). She interviews Blake, and the two enter into a relationship. Jean and her son become a catalyst for Blake beginning to get his life back on track. In doing so, he lets himself be pushed into renewing a professional relationship with Tommy Sweet (Colin Farrell), a popular and successful country music star he once mentored, and plays as the opening act at one of Tommy's concerts, despite his initial balking and wounded pride at being the opening act to his former student. He asks Tommy to record an album with him, but Tommy says his record company insists on a couple more solo albums before a duet project can be recorded. He instead suggests that Blake concentrate on writing new songs that Tommy can record solo, telling him he writes better songs than anyone else.
Blake's drinking soon gets out of control, and he ends up running off the road while driving drunk. In the hospital, the doctor informs him that although he only sustained a broken ankle from the crash, he is slowly killing himself, and must stop drinking and smoking and lose 25 pounds if he wants to live more than a few more years. Blake's relationship with Jean makes him start to rethink his life. He calls up his son to make amends, only to have his son tell him that his mother, Bad's ex-wife, has died, and hangs up on him. The relationship starts to look up, with Jean visiting him with her son Buddy. After a situation where Blake loses Buddy briefly at a shopping mall while drinking at a bar, Jean breaks up with him.
After losing Jean and her son, who were becoming his only family, Blake resolves to quit drinking. After going through a treatment program at a rehab center, and with support from his Alcoholics Anonymous group and his old friend Wayne (Robert Duvall), Blake finally manages to get sober. Having cleaned up his act, he tries to reunite with Jean, but she tells him that the best thing he can do for her and Buddy is to leave them alone. After losing Jean, Blake finishes writing a song that he thinks is his best ever, "The Weary Kind", and sells it to Tommy.
Sixteen months later, Tommy plays "The Weary Kind" to an appreciative audience while Blake watches backstage, as his manager presents him with another of the large royalty checks for the song. As Blake is leaving, Jean approaches him, saying she has come to the show as writer for a large music publication. As they catch up, Blake sees an engagement ring on Jean's finger and tells her that she deserves a good man. He offers her the money from that royalty check for Buddy to have for his 18th birthday, which Jean initially refuses but eventually accepts after Blake says the song wouldn't exist without them. Jean asks if Blake would like to see Buddy again, but Blake declines saying it might be too unsettling for the young boy. The film ends with them walking away from the concert and chatting to each other.
Crazy Rich Asians (2018)
Color
Girls struggles to adjust as she marries into rich Asian
Crazy Rich Asians
"Rachel Chu, an economics professor at New York University, is eating at a cafe with her boyfriend Nick Young after teaching a lecture. She accepts an invitation to accompany him to Singapore for his best friend Colin and his fiancee Araminta's wedding. The day after arriving in Singapore, Rachel visits her college friend Peik Lin and her family, who are shocked when Rachel tells them that she is dating Nick Young. Peik Lin explains the history of Nick's family fortune and the fanfare surrounding Colin's wedding, warning Rachel that Nick's high-society family and friends will be overly critical of her, though Rachel is unconcerned. At a dinner party at Nick's family home, Nick introduces Rachel to his mother, Eleanor, while Nick's cousin Astrid discovers that her husband Michael has been having an affair. Rachel worries that Eleanor dislikes her, although she seems to make a good impression on Nick's grandmother, Su Yi.
Rachel attends Araminta's bachelorette party, where she is confronted by Amanda, who reveals that she is Nick's former girlfriend. Rachel returns to her hotel room to find it vandalized, and is comforted by Astrid, who tells her about Michael's affair. Nick attends Colin's bachelor party, where he tells Colin about his plan to propose to Rachel. Colin expresses his concern about the trouble it will cause Rachel, especially with Nick expected to inherit his family's corporation. Rachel vents to Nick about the bachelorette party, and he apologizes to her for not telling her about his family. He takes her to make jiaozi dumplings with his family, where Rachel admires Eleanor's emerald engagement ring. Later, Eleanor recounts the sacrifices she made to be a part of the Young family, telling Rachel that she will never be enough. Rachel is hesitant to attend the wedding, but Peik Lin convinces her to stand up to Eleanor, helping her prepare. While traveling to the wedding, Astrid confronts Michael about his affair. He blames his unhappiness on Astrid and her wealth, exiting their car and leaving her alone.
At the wedding, Rachel stands up to Amanda and Eleanor, asserting herself against them, while Astrid arrives at the wedding with her grandmother Su Yi to cover up Michael's absence. During the reception that night, Eleanor and Su Yi privately confront Rachel and Nick. Using the findings of a private investigation, they reveal that Rachel was conceived through an adulterous affair, after which Rachel's mother, Kerry, abandoned her husband and fled to the United States, and demand Nick to stop seeing Rachel for fear of a scandal. Rachel is stunned, as Kerry had said that her father was dead, and runs away in tears, while Nick chases after her despite Su Yi's warnings. Rachel travels to Peik Lin's home, where she stays for a few days. Kerry arrives in Singapore to pay her a surprise visit, explaining that her husband was abusive and that she became pregnant from an old classmate who was trying to comfort her, later fleeing in fear of her husband. Kerry tells Rachel that Nick had arranged for her visit, and urges Rachel to talk to him. When they meet, Nick apologizes and proposes to Rachel.
Rachel meets Eleanor at a mahjong parlor and tells her that she declined Nick's proposal so his relationship with his family would not be ruined, and that when Nick marries another woman who is enough for Eleanor, it will be because of her. She intentionally loses the game to Eleanor and leaves the parlor with Kerry. Astrid tells Michael that she will be moving out of their apartment, blaming him for their marriage's failure. Rachel and Kerry board a flight back to New York City, but are interrupted by Nick, who proposes with Eleanor's ring, revealing her blessing. Rachel accepts and they stay in Singapore for one more night for an engagement party, where Eleanor nods at Rachel in grudging respect. In a mid-credits scene, Astrid exchanges glances with her ex-fiance, Charlie Wu.
Crazy, Stupid, Love (2011)
Color
Smooth bachelor helps divorcee adapt to being single
Crazy, Stupid, Love
"Cal Weaver (Steve Carell) is a middle-aged man who learns that his wife Emily (Julianne Moore) has cheated on him with a co-worker, David Lindhagen (Kevin Bacon), and that she wants a divorce. After moving into his own apartment, Cal goes to a bar night after night, talking loudly about his divorce, until he attracts the attention of a young man named Jacob Palmer (Ryan Gosling), a womanizer who beds women each night, although a young woman named Hannah (Emma Stone) recently had rejected his advances. Jacob takes pity on Cal, and offers to teach him how to pick up women. Using Jacob's teachings, Cal seduces Kate (Marisa Tomei) at the bar. After the encounter, Cal manages to successfully seduce other women in the bar. He sees Emily again at their son Robbie's (Jonah Bobo) parent-teacher conference. The interaction goes well until they discover that Robbie's teacher is Kate, who reveals to Emily that she and Cal have slept together. Cal then confesses to sleeping with nine women. Emily leaves in disgust and begins actively dating David. Meanwhile, Hannah, a recent law school graduate, is expecting her boyfriend, Richard (Josh Groban) to propose marriage while they celebrate her passing the bar exam, but he does not, instead, offering her a position at his law firm. Offended and hurt, Hannah returns to the bar where she originally rejected Jacob's advances and kisses Jacob passionately. The two return to Jacob's home to have sex, but end up talking to each other all night and making a connection. Jacob starts a relationship with Hannah, and he becomes distant from Cal.
At the same time, Robbie makes numerous grand gestures to try to win the heart of his 17-year-old babysitter, Jessica Riley (Analeigh Tipton), who actually has a crush on Cal. On the advice of her classmate Madison (Julianna Guill), she takes naked photos of herself to send to Cal and tucks them away in an envelope inside her dresser drawer. Later, when Emily calls Cal under the guise of needing help with the house's pilot light, Cal decides to try and win her back. Meanwhile, Jacob returns Cal's calls and asks for advice about starting a real relationship and meeting his girlfriend's parents. Jessica's mother, Claire (Beth Littleford), who dislikes Cal, discovers Jessica's naked photos in the dresser drawer and shows them to Jessica's father, Bernie (John Carroll Lynch). Bernie was Cal's best friend before Claire made him end their friendship in the aftermath of the breakup. Bernie rushes to the Weaver residence to confront him about the photos, with Jessica in pursuit. Cal and his kids create a makeshift mini golf set in their backyard to remind Emily of their first date. During the gathering, Jacob and Hannah show up at the house, and Hannah is revealed to be Cal and Emily's first daughter. Cal is appalled that Jacob is dating his daughter, and forbids her to see him. At that moment, Bernie shows up and attacks Cal. Jessica arrives and tells her father that Cal knew nothing of the pictures. Then David arrives on the scene to return Emily's sweater from a previous date. Jacob asks David if his name is Lindhagen and when David replies "yes," Jacob punches him in the face for the pain he caused Cal. Cal, Jacob, David, and Bernie then get into a scuffle which is soon broken up by the police. Cal starts spending time at the bar again and receives a visit from Jacob, who confesses that he is in love with Hannah. Cal replies that he is happy that Jacob is a changed man but does not approve of Jacob and Hannah's relationship, having seen Jacob's former lifestyle. Jacob does not harbor any ill feelings; rather, he respects Cal and praises him for being a great father.
At Robbie's eighth grade graduation, Robbie is the salutatorian and gives a pessimistic speech about how he no longer believes in true love and soul-mates. Cal stops him and instead begins to recount his courtship with Emily to the audience, saying that, while he does not know if things will work out, he will never give up on Emily. With renewed faith, Robbie reaffirms his love for Jessica, to the audience's applause. After the ceremony, Cal gives Jacob and Hannah his blessing. Jessica gives Robbie an envelope containing the nude photos of herself that were originally intended for Cal to "get him through high school." Cal and Emily have a laugh talking about the events that have transpired the past year, hinting that they might get back together.
Crimson Tide (1995)
Color
Nuclear war is threatened when a message for the nuclear sub USS Alabama gets cut off
Crimson Tide
"In post-Soviet Russia, civil war erupts as a result of the ongoing conflict in Chechnya. Military units loyal to Vladimir Radchenko, a Russian ultra-nationalist, take control of a nuclear missile installation and are threatening nuclear war if either the American or Russian governments attempt to confront him.
A U.S. Navy Ohio-class ballistic missile submarine, USS Alabama, is assigned to a patrol mission to be available to launch its missiles in a pre-emptive strike if Radchenko attempts to fuel his missiles. Captain Frank Ramsey (Gene Hackman) is the commanding officer, one of few submarine commanders left in the Navy with combat experience. He chooses Lieutenant Commander Ron Hunter (Denzel Washington) as his new XO, who has an extensive education in military history and tactics, but no combat experience.
During their initial days at sea, tension between Ramsey and Hunter becomes apparent due to a clash of personalities: Hunter is more analytical and cautious, while Ramsey has a more impulsive and intuitive approach. Two incidents bear this out. A fire breaks out in the galley, resulting in the death of the chief mess officer via cardiac arrest. Hunter helps the mess crew fight the fire, but Ramsey chooses to order a missile drill in the midst of the chaos. Hunter, partly due to disagreement with the drill, is late reporting to missile control. Ramsey chastises Hunter for the appearance of discord in front of sailors. Later, Hunter observes a fight between two sailors over a trivial matter and believes the crew's morale is suffering. Ramsey's response is to collectively chastise the Alabama crew as a whole via the 1MC system over a lack of battle focus.
Alabama eventually receives an Emergency Action Message, ordering the launch of ten of its missiles against the Russian nuclear installation, based on satellite information that the Russians' missiles are being fueled. Before Alabama can launch its missiles, a second radio message begins to be received, but is cut off by the attack of a Russian Akula-class submarine loyal to Radchenko.
The radio electronics are damaged in the attack and cannot be used to decode the second message. With the last confirmed order being to launch, Captain Ramsey decides to proceed. Hunter refuses to concur as is required because he believes the partial second message may be a retraction. Hunter argues that Alabama is not the only American submarine in the area, and if the order is not retracted, other submarines will launch their missiles as part of the fleet's standard redundancy doctrine. Ramsey argues that the other American submarines may have been destroyed.
When Hunter refuses to consent, Ramsey tries to relieve him of duty and replace him with a different officer. Instead, Hunter orders the arrest of Ramsey for attempting to circumvent protocol. The crew's loyalty is divided between Hunter and Ramsey, but the Chief of the Boat sides with Hunter ("by the book") in having Ramsey relieved of command and confined to his stateroom, putting Hunter in command. Alabama is attacked again by the Russian submarine. Alabama destroys the submarine, but is hit by a torpedo it failed to elude during the attack. The submarine's main propulsion system is disabled and the bilge bay is taking on water. As the crew frantically tries to restore propulsion, Hunter orders the sealing of the bilge with sailors trapped inside, preventing too much water from being taken on but causing the sailors to drown. Just before the submarine reaches hull crush depth, the propulsion is restored. The officers and crew loyal to Ramsey unite and retake the control room, confining Hunter, the Chief of the Boat and a few others to the officers' mess. The radio team continue to work on repairing their communications systems but the Captain is determined to continue without waiting for verification.
Hunter escapes his arrest and gains the support of the weapons officer in the missile control room, further delaying the launch and leading the Captain to proceed to missile control to force the weapons officer (who is the only man on board who knows the combination to the safe with the firing trigger to actually launch the missiles) to comply with him - by threatening to execute one of his men. Hunter, alongside officers and men loyal to him, storms the ship's command centre, removing the captain's missile key seconds before the Captain could launch, disabling the launch systems. Ramsey and his men return to the control room, resulting in a Mexican standoff with both sides heavily armed and refusing to back down. But with the radio team reporting they are near success, the two men agree to a compromise; they will wait until the deadline for missile launch to see if the radio can be repaired. The two men discuss whether Lipizzans stallions came from Spain or Portugal, and whether they are born white or black.
After several tense minutes, communications are restored and they finally see the full message from the second transmission. It is a retraction ordering that the missile launch be aborted because Radchenko's rebellion has been quelled. Ramsey at that point turns command over to Hunter and returns to his cabin.
After returning to base, Ramsey and Hunter are put before a naval tribunal at Naval Station Pearl Harbor to answer for their actions. The tribunal concludes that both men were simultaneously right and wrong, and Hunter's actions were deemed lawfully justified and in the best interests of the United States. Unofficially, the tribunal chastises both men for failing to resolve the issues between them. Thanks to Ramsey's personal recommendation, the tribunal agrees to grant Hunter command of his own sub while allowing Ramsey to save face via an early retirement. While leaving the base, Ramsey admits to Hunter that he was right; that the Lipizzaner stallions came from Spain.
Crocodile Dundee (1986)
Color
Dundee handles life in the Big Apple, from muggers to high society snoots without a sweat
Crocodile Dundee
"Sue Charlton is a feature writer for her father's newspaper Newsday, and is dating the editor Richard Mason. She travels to Walkabout Creek, a small hamlet in the Northern Territory of Australia, to meet Michael J. "Crocodile" Dundee, a bushman reported to have lost half a leg to a saltwater crocodile before crawling hundreds of miles to safety. On arrival in Walkabout Creek, she cannot locate Dundee, but she is entertained at the local pub by Dundee's business partner Walter "Wally" Reilly. When Dundee arrives that night, Sue finds his leg is not missing, but he has a large scar which he refers to as a "love bite". While Sue dances with Dundee, a group of city kangaroo shooters make fun of Dundee's status as a crocodile hunter, causing him to knock the leader out with one punch.
At first, Sue finds Dundee less "legendary" than she had been led to believe, unimpressed by his pleasant-mannered but uncouth behaviour and clumsy advances towards her. She is later amazed, when in the outback, she witnesses "Mick" (as Dundee is called) subduing a water buffalo, taking part in an aboriginal (Pitjantjatjara) tribal dance ceremony, killing a snake with his bare hands, and scaring away the kangaroo shooters from the pub from their cruel sport.
The next morning, offended by Mick's assertion that as a "sheila" she is incapable of surviving the Outback alone, Sue goes out alone to prove him wrong but takes his rifle with her at his request. Mick follows her to make sure she is okay, but when she stops at a billabong to refill her canteen, she is attacked by a large crocodile and is rescued by Mick. Overcome with gratitude, Sue finds herself becoming attracted to him.
Sue invites Mick to return with her to New York City on the pretext of continuing the feature story. At first Wally scoffs at her suggestion, but he changes his mind when she tells him the newspaper would cover all expenses. Once in New York, Mick is perplexed by local behaviour and customs but overcomes problematic situations including two encounters with a pimp and two attempted robberies. After this Sue realises her true feelings for him, and they kiss.
At a society dinner at her father's home in honour of Sue's safe return and of Mick's visit, Richard proposes marriage to Sue, and in a haze of confused emotions, she initially accepts in spite of Richard having recently revealed his self-centered and insensitive "true colours" during a period of intoxication.
Mick, disheartened at Sue's engagement, decides to go "walkabout" around the United States, but Sue has a change of heart and, deciding not to marry Richard, follows Mick to a subway station. There, she cannot reach him through the crowd on the platform, but has members of the crowd relay her message to him, whereupon he climbs up to the rafters and walks to Sue on the heads and raised hands of the onlookers and kisses her.
Cry Freedom (1987)
Color
Black nationalist and white newspaper editor fight to end apartheid
Cry Freedom
"Following a news story depicting the demolition of a slum in East London in the south-east of the Cape Province in South Africa, liberal journalist Donald Woods (Kevin Kline) seeks more information about the incident and ventures off to meet black activist Steve Biko (Denzel Washington), a leading member of the Black Consciousness Movement. Biko has been officially banned by the Government of South Africa and is not permitted to leave his defined 'banning area' at King William's Town. Woods is opposed to Biko's banning, but remains critical of his political views. Biko invites Woods to visit a black township to see the impoverished conditions and to witness the effect of the Government-imposed restrictions, which make up the apartheid system. Woods begins to agree with Biko's desire for a South Africa where blacks have the same opportunities and freedoms as those enjoyed by the white population. As Woods comes to understand Biko's point of view, a friendship slowly develops between them.
After speaking at a gathering of black South Africans outside of his banishment zone, Biko is arrested and interrogated by the South African security forces (who have been tipped off by an informer). Following this, he is brought to court in order to explain his message directed toward the South African Government, which is White-minority controlled. After he speaks eloquently in court and advocates non-violence, the security officers who interrogated him visit his church and vandalise the property. Woods assures Biko that he will meet with a Government official to discuss the matter. Woods then meets with Jimmy Kruger (John Thaw), the South African Minister of Justice, in his house in Pretoria in an attempt to prevent further abuses. Minister Kruger first expresses discontent over their actions; however, Woods is later harassed at his home by security forces, who insinuate that their orders came directly from Kruger.
Later, Biko travels to Cape Town to speak at a student-run meeting. En route, security forces stop his car and arrest him asking him to say his name, and he said "Bantu Stephen Biko". He is held in harsh conditions and beaten, causing a severe brain injury. A doctor recommends consulting a nearby specialist in order to best treat his injuries, but the police refuse out of fear that he might escape. The security forces instead decide to take him to a police hospital in Pretoria, around 700 miles (1 200 km) away from Cape Town. He is thrown into the back of a prison van and driven on a bumpy road, aggravating his brain injury and resulting in his death.
Woods then works to expose the police's complicity in Biko's death. He attempts to expose photographs of Biko's body that contradict police reports that he died of a hunger strike, but he is prevented just before boarding a plane to leave and informed that he is now 'banned', therefore not able to leave the country. Woods and his family are targeted in a campaign of harassment by the security police, including the delivery of t-shirts with Biko's image that have been dusted with itching powder. He later decides to seek asylum in Britain in order to expose the corrupt and racist nature of the South African authorities. After a long trek, Woods is eventually able to escape to the Kingdom of Lesotho, disguised as a priest. His wife Wendy (Penelope Wilton) and their family later join him. With the aid of Australian journalist Bruce Haigh (John Hargreaves), the British High Commission in Maseru, and the Government of Lesotho, they are flown under United Nations passports and with one Lesotho official over South African territory, via Botswana, to London, where they were granted political asylum.
The film's epilogue displays a graphic detailing a long list of anti-apartheid activists (including Biko), who died under suspicious circumstances while imprisoned by the Government whilst the song Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika is sung.
D.A.R.Y.L. (1981)
Color
Kid who turned out to be computer
D.A.R.Y.L.
"Daryl" (whose name is an acronym for "Data-Analyzing Robot Youth Lifeform") (Barret Oliver) is an experiment in artificial intelligence, created by the government. Although physically indistinguishable from an ordinary ten-year-old boy, his brain is actually a supersophisticated computer with several unique capabilities. These include exceptional reflexes, superhuman multitasking ability, and the ability to "hack" other computer systems. The D.A.R.Y.L. experiment was funded by the military, with the intention of producing a "super-soldier". One of the original scientists has misgivings about the experiment and decides to free Daryl, but is killed in the process.
Daryl is found by an elderly couple and taken to an orphanage. He does not remember who or what he is. Though a normal pre-adolescent boy in most aspects, Daryl begins to exhibit extraordinary talents after he goes to live with foster parents Joyce (Mary Beth Hurt) and Andy Richardson (Michael McKean), including uncanny abilities at baseball, interaction with an ATM, and in playing Pole Position, where he can play and react faster than humanly possible. He is also introduced to the neighbors of the Richardsons: Howie (Steve Ryan) and Elaine Fox (Colleen Camp) and their children Sherie (Amy Linker) and Turtle (Danny Corkill). As Daryl was raised in isolation, his social skills are quite limited. His friend Turtle, an unusually vulgar and obnoxious ten-year-old, helps him develop social skills.
However, just as the Richardsons have truly begun to form a bond with Daryl, their new-found happiness is shattered when the government agents find him and return him to the facility where he was created. Once there, his memory is restored and he is debriefed on the lessons he learned during his time with the Richardsons. Notable lessons include his decision to strike out at a baseball game, because "under certain conditions [relating with others], error was more efficient than maximum performance", and his subjective preference for chocolate- over vanilla-flavored ice cream. Because Daryl has revealed a capacity for human emotions, including fear, the D.A.R.Y.L. experiment is considered a failure by the military and the decision is made that the project be "terminated". Dr. Stewart (Josef Sommer), one of Daryl's designers, decides to free Daryl so he can return to the Richardson family. Unfortunately, despite the cooperation of Dr. Lamb (Kathryn Walker) in the escape, who was originally skeptical about Daryl's humanity and had alerted the military to Daryl's continued existence, they do not get away cleanly. When asked by the military to justify her complicity, Dr. Lamb offers a reformulation of the Turing test: "General, a machine becomes human ... when you can't tell the difference anymore," implying that she is no longer certain that Daryl is not human.
Daryl and Dr. Stewart escape the first wave of pursuers, thanks to Daryl's advanced driving skills, apparently acquired through playing the Pole Position video game and watching a driving stuntman on television. However, when passing two police roadblocks, Dr. Stewart is mortally wounded by a police officer. With his dying words, he assures Daryl that he is indeed a real person. Continuing his escape, Daryl steals a Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird from a nearby airbase. After being told that plane will be blown up mid-flight by the U.S.A.F. using a self-destruct mechanism, as their missiles cannot intercept it, Daryl ejects at the last moment, faking his own destruction. The ejection knocks him unconscious and his parachute falls into a lake, causing him to drown and show no signs of life. In the hospital, Dr. Lamb finds him and reactivates his electronic brain, restoring him to life. Officially dead, Daryl is free to run back to his foster family, and he is reunited with the Richardsons and the Foxes.
Daddy Day Care (2003)
Color
Father opens daycare center
Daddy Day Care
"Charlie Hinton is a hardworking father whose wife Kim has just gone back to work as a lawyer. They enroll their child, Ben, in Chapman Academy, a very academic pre-school headed by Miss Harridan. Soon after, Charlie is laid off. In need of money, he opens up a day care center, Daddy Day Care, with the help of his best friend Phil Ryerson. At first, the local moms are suspicious of men wanting to work with children (mainly because they think they are homosexual or child molesters). But as Daddy Day Care is cheaper and more child-centered than the academy, the latter begins to lose popularity. Miss Harridan attempts to shut down Daddy Day Care by notifying child services that Charlie and Phil are not following the regulations.
Mr. Kubitz, a director of child services notifies them of the codes that need to be fixed, which Charlie and Phil quickly correct. Daddy Day Care grows in popularity and attracts more children. Mr. Kubitz informs Phil and Charlie that they need another employee to keep an appropriate ratio of children to caregivers. Luckily, Marvin, a former co-worker, had dropped by and after seeing how good he is at entertaining the children, Phil and Charlie ask him about joining. Marvin is unsure at first, but then finds himself falling for Kelli, the single mother of one of the children, and agrees.
Later, Mr. Kubitz tells them they have too many kids to stay at Charlie's residence. They find an abandoned building with potential, but do not have the money to buy it. They hold a fund raising event called "Rock for Daddy Day Care" which Miss Harridan finds out about. Miss Harridan and her assistant wreck the festival by unplugging a bouncy castle, filling the food with cockroaches, switching face paint with glue, releasing animals from the petting zoo, and turning on the sprinklers. Daddy Day Care does not raise enough money. Shortly after, Charlie and Phil are offered their old jobs back, accepting Miss Harridan's offer to take the kids back to the academy. Marvin, heartbroken by the closing of the day care, declines Charlie and Phil's offer to be on board their marketing panel.
Charlie soon realizes that marketing is not what it is all cracked up to be, and successfully convinces the children and their parents to return to Daddy Day Care, making it a raging success, and causing Chapman Academy to shut down. Marvin is now in a relationship with Kelli. Miss Harridan now takes a job as a crossing guard, and her former assistant, Jenny, (Lacy Chabert) joins Daddy Day Care at the new facility.
Damsels in Distress (2011)
Color
Three college girls run suicide helpline and date less attractive me to help their confidence
Damsels in Distress
Newly transferred college student Lily becomes friends with Violet, Heather and Rose, a clique who run the campus' suicide prevention centre. Over the course of the film, the four girls date less attractive men in order to help the men's confidence; they try to clean up the "unhygenic" Doar Dorm; they clash with the editor of the campus newspaper The Daily Complainer, who wants to close down the "elitist" Roman letter fraternities; and finally they try to start a new dance craze, called The Sambola!
Dangerous Beauty (1998)
Color
Courtesan whore tried as witch
Dangerous Beauty
"Veronica Franco (Catherine McCormack) is an adventurous, curious, slightly tomboyish young woman in Venice. Her lover Marco (Rufus Sewell) cannot marry her because her family is of too low standing to be considered an appropriate match for a senator's son, and not wealthy enough to provide a good dowry. Marco, a future Senator, marries a foreign noblewoman instead. Veronica's mother (Jacqueline Bisset) must think of the future and her family's financial security, as she still requires dowries for her younger daughters and money for her son's commission. Rather than go to a convent, Veronica's mother suggests she become a courtesan, a highly paid, cultured prostitute like her mother and grandmother before her. At first Veronica is repelled by the idea, but once she discovers that courtesans are allowed access to libraries and education, she tentatively embraces the idea.
Veronica quickly gains a reputation as a top courtesan, impressing the powerful men of Venice with her beauty, wit, and compassion. Marco finds it difficult to adjust to his new wife, who is nothing like Veronica, and becomes jealous as she takes his friends and relatives as lovers. After Marco's cousin Maffio, a poor bard who was once publicly upstaged by Veronica, attacks her, Marco rushes to her aid. They rekindle their romance. Marco wishes her to stop seeing clients and accept his support instead; she rejects the idea, unwilling to sacrifice her financial independence or accept a faux-wife status. Nevertheless, she spends a great deal of time with Marco in the country, neglecting her business, and ignoring her mother's warnings that such a relationship is dangerous for her.
The Fourth Ottoman--Venetian War (1570--73) breaks out, and the city appeals to France for aid. Veronica is encouraged to seduce the King of France and secures a military alliance. Marco accuses her of enjoying being a courtesan, seeming to think she ought to have rejected the King despite the risk to Venice's military and political alliances. Veronica points out that she sacrificed their love for the good of the city, while he only did it to protect his family's political standing, and Marco leaves for war angry. While the Venetians are fighting at sea, a plague hits the city. Religious zealots take the war and plague as punishment for the city's moral degradation, and Veronica's home is quarantined and almost ransacked by a mob.
Veronica is summoned to appear before the Inquisition on charges of witchcraft and refuses to name her clients. When it appears that she will be executed, Marco publicly shames the Venetian ministers and senators into admitting their own adulteries and sins by standing up in the assembly. Bewildered by the extent of sin in the city, the Inquisitor drops the charges of witchcraft, and Marco and Veronica reconcile.
Dark Crimes (2018)
Color
Novel brings up cold case
Dark Crimes
Tadek is a detective who takes on a case involving the murder of a businessman. To his and everyone's surprise the case is identical to a character's murder in a recently published novel by a man named Kozlov. While the crime appears to be an open and shut case, Tadek discovers a darker secret.
Dark Passage (1947)
Black & White
Man escapes prison to find wife's true killer
Dark Passage
"Vincent Parry, a man convicted of killing his wife, has escaped from San Quentin prison by stowing away in a supply truck. He evades police and hitches a ride with a passing motorist named Baker. Parry's odd clothes and a news report on the radio about an escaped convict make Baker suspicious. When questioned, Parry beats him unconscious. Irene Jansen, who had been painting nearby, picks up Parry and smuggles him past a police roadblock into San Francisco, offering him shelter in her apartment.
An acquaintance of Jansen, Madge, comes by Irene's apartment. Parry, without opening the door, tells her to go away. Madge was a former romantic interest of Parry's whom he had spurned. Out of spite she testified at his trial, providing a motive as to why he would have killed his wife. When she returns, Irene explains that she had followed Parry's case with interest. Her own father had been falsely convicted of murder, and since then she has taken an interest in miscarriages of justice. She believes that Parry is innocent.
Parry leaves but is recognized by a cab driver, Sam. The man turns out to be sympathetic and gives Parry the name of a plastic surgeon who can change his appearance. Before the operation, Parry goes to the apartment of a friend, George Fellsinger, for help in proving his innocence and arranges to stay with him during the recuperation from surgery. Dr. Coley performs the operation. Parry, unable to speak, his face wrapped in bandages, returns to George's apartment only to find him murdered. He stumbles back to Irene's house, collapsing at her doorstep. Irene nurses him back to health.
Madge and her ex-husband Bob, who is romantically interested in Irene, come by. Madge is worried that Parry will kill her for testifying against him and asks to stay with Irene for protection. Irene gets rid of Madge and deflects Bob by saying that she has already met someone to whom she is attracted, "Vincent Parry". She feigns that she is lying, but actually she is telling the truth, as Parry hides in a bedroom. Bob takes Irene's statement as a joke, but accepts that Irene is interested in another man.
As he recuperates, Parry learns that he is now wanted for the murder of his friend George, his fingerprints having been found on the murder weapon, George's trumpet. After his bandages are removed, Parry reluctantly parts from Irene, declaring that she will be better off if she is not part of his life.
Parry decides to flee the city before trying to find out who really killed his wife. At a diner, an undercover policeman becomes suspicious because of Parry's behavior. The policeman asks for identification, but Parry claims to have left it at his hotel. On the street, Parry darts in front of a moving car to escape.
At the hotel, Parry is surprised by Baker, who holds him at gunpoint. Baker has been following Parry since they first met. He now demands that Irene pay him $60,000 or he will turn Parry over to the law. Parry agrees, and Baker obliges him to drive the two of them to Irene's apartment. Claiming to take a shortcut, Parry drives to a secluded spot underneath the Golden Gate Bridge. There he succeeds in disarming Baker and questions him, becoming convinced that Madge is behind the deaths of his wife and friend. The two men fight, and Baker falls to his death.
Parry goes to Madge's apartment. Knowing that she doesn't recognize him with his new face, he pretends to be a friend of Bob's who is interested in courting her. Parry eventually reveals his true identity and accuses Madge of having killed both his wife and George. He shows her that he has all the evidence written down, and attempts to coerce her into making a confession. She points out that without her signature the accusations will then be worthless. While turning away from him, she accidentally falls through a window to her death.
Knowing he cannot prove his innocence, and that he will likely be accused of Madge's murder as well, Parry has no choice but to flee. He intends to go to Mexico and then to South America. He phones Irene, revealing his plans; she says she will meet him there. The next time we see him, Parry is relaxing with a drink in a beach bar in Peru, when he sees Irene across the dance floor. They embrace.
Dark Victory (1939)
Black & White
Socialite diagnosed with fatal brain tumor
Dark Victory
"Judith Traherne (Bette Davis) is a young, carefree, hedonistic Long Island socialite and heiress with a passion for horses, fast cars, and too much smoking and drinking. She initially ignores severe headaches and brief episodes of dizziness and double vision, but when she uncharacteristically takes a spill while riding, and then tumbles down a flight of stairs, her secretary and best friend Ann King (Geraldine Fitzgerald) insists she see the family doctor, who refers her to a specialist.
Dr. Frederick Steele (George Brent) is in the midst of closing his New York City office in preparation of a move to Brattleboro, Vermont, where he plans to devote his time to brain cell research and scientific study on their growth. He reluctantly agrees to see Judith, who is cold and openly antagonistic toward him. She shows signs of short-term memory loss, but dismisses her symptoms. Steele convinces her the ailments she is experiencing are serious and potentially life-threatening, and puts his career plans on hold to tend to her.
When diagnostic tests confirm his suspicions, Judith agrees to surgery to remove a malignant brain tumor. Steele discovers the tumor cannot be completely removed, and realizes she has less than a year to live. The end will be painless but swift--shortly after experiencing total blindness, Judith will die.
In order to allow her a few more months of happiness, Steele opts to lie to Judith and Ann and assures them the surgery was a success. As a poor liar, Ann is suspicious and confronts Steele, who admits the truth. Steele tells Ann, "she must never know" she is going to die soon. She agrees to remain silent and continue the lie.
Judith and Steele become involved romantically and eventually engaged. While helping his assistant pack the office prior to their departure for Vermont, Judith discovers her case history file containing letters from several doctors, all of them confirming Steele's prognosis. Assuming Steele was marrying her out of pity, Judith breaks off the engagement and reverts to her former lifestyle. One day, her stablemaster Michael O'Leary (Humphrey Bogart), who for years has loved her from afar, confronts her about her unruly behavior and she confesses she is dying. Their conversation convinces her she should spend her final months happy, dignified, and with the man she loves. She apologizes to Steele, she and Steele marry, and move to Vermont. (Throughout the film Judith and O'Leary engage in arguments about the prospects of a colt, Challenger. O'Leary insists Challenger will never make a racehorse while Judith sees him as a future champion, and just before her death O'Leary admits she was correct.)
Three months later, Ann comes to visit. She and Judith are in the garden planting bulbs when Judith comments on how odd it is she still feels the heat of the sun under the rapidly darkening skies. She realizes she actually is losing her vision and approaching the end. Steele is scheduled to present his most recent medical findings -- which hold out the long-term prospect of a cure for this type of cancer -- in New York, and Judith, making an excuse to remain home, helps him pack and sends him off. Then, after bidding Ann, her housekeeper Martha (Virginia Brissac), and her dogs farewell, she climbs the stairs and enters her bedroom. She kneels briefly at the side of her bed, apparently praying, then lies down on the bed. Martha, who has followed her, drapes a blanket over her. Judith asks to be left alone, and Martha withdraws. The camera focuses on the motionless Judith as the screen becomes blurry, fades to black, and the film ends.
Das Boot (1981)
Color
Story of German U-boats during WW IIt
Das Boot
"The story is told from the viewpoint of Lt. Werner (Herbert Gronemeyer), who has been assigned as a war correspondent on the German submarine U-96 in October 1941. He meets its captain (J?rgen Prochnow), chief engineer (Klaus Wennemann), and the crew in a raucous French bordello. Thomsen (Otto Sander), another captain, gives a crude drunken speech to celebrate his Ritterkreuz award, in which he openly mocks not only Winston Churchill but implicitly Adolf Hitler as well.
The next morning, they sail out of the harbour of La Rochelle to a cheering crowd and playing band. Werner is given a tour of the boat. As time passes, he observes ideological differences between the new crew members and the hardened veterans, particularly the captain, who is embittered and cynical about the war. The new men, including Werner, are often mocked by the rest of the crew, who share a tight bond. After days of boredom, the crew is excited by another U-boat's spotting of an enemy convoy, but they soon locate a British destroyer, and are bombarded with depth charges. They narrowly escape with only light damage.
The next three weeks are spent enduring a relentless storm. Morale drops after a series of misfortunes, but the crew is cheered temporarily by a chance encounter with Thomsen's boat. Shortly after the storm ends, the boat encounters a British convoy and quickly launches four torpedoes, sinking two ships. They are spotted by a destroyer and have to dive below the submarine's rated limit. During the ensuing depth-charge attack, the chief mechanic, Johann, panics and has to be restrained. The boat sustains heavy damage, but is eventually able to safely surface in darkness. An enemy tanker remains afloat and on fire, so they torpedo the ship, only to realize that there are still sailors aboard; they watch in horror as the sailors, some on fire, leap overboard and swim towards them. Following orders not to take prisoners, the captain gives the command to back the ship away.
The worn-out U-boat crew looks forward to returning home to La Rochelle in time for Christmas, but the ship is ordered to La Spezia, Italy, which means passing through the Strait of Gibraltar--an area heavily defended by the Royal Navy. The U-boat makes a secret night rendezvous at the harbour of Vigo, in neutral although Axis-friendly Spain, with the SS Weser, an interned German merchant ship that clandestinely provides U-boats with fuel, torpedoes, and other supplies. The filthy officers seem out of place on the opulent dinner prepared for them, but are warmly greeted by enthusiastic officers eager to hear their exploits. The captain learns from an envoy of the German consulate that his request for Werner and the chief engineer to be sent back to Germany has been denied.
The crew finishes resupplying and departs for Italy. As they carefully approach Gibraltar and are just about to dive, they are suddenly attacked by a British fighter plane, wounding the navigator. The captain orders the boat directly south towards the African coast at full speed. British ships begin closing in and they are forced to dive; it is later implied that the ships used radar to locate the sub. When attempting to level off, the boat does not respond and continues to sink until, just before being crushed by the pressure, it lands on a sea shelf, at the depth of 280 metres. The crew work desperately to make numerous repairs before running out of oxygen. After over 16 hours, they are able to surface by blowing out their ballast of water, and limp back towards La Rochelle under cover of darkness.
The crew is pale and weary upon reaching La Rochelle on Christmas Eve. Shortly after the wounded navigator is taken ashore to a waiting ambulance, Allied planes bomb and strafe the facilities, wounding or killing many of the crew. Ullmann, Johann and the 2nd Watch Officer are killed. Frenssen, Bootsmann Lamprecht and Hinrich are seriously wounded. After the raid, Werner leaves the U-boat bunker in which he had taken shelter and finds the captain, badly injured by shrapnel and bleeding from the mouth, watching the U-boat sink at the dock. Just after the boat disappears under the water, the captain collapses and dies. Werner runs to his body, recoils, and quickly glances around at the destruction, his face frozen with distress. He then looks down at the captain's body, with tears in his eyes.
Daughters of the Dust (1991)
Color
African American family's struggles as they move North in the early 20th Century
Daughters of the Dust
"Daughters of the Dust is set in 1902 among the members of the Peazant family, Gullah islanders who live at Ibo Landing on Dataw Island (St. Simons Island), off the Georgia coast. Their ancestors were brought there as enslaved people centuries ago, and the islanders developed a language--known as Gullah or Sea Island Creole English--and culture that was creolized from West Africans of Ibo, Yoruba, Kikongo, Mende, and Twi origin and the cultures and languages of the British Isles, with the common variety of English being the superstratum in this case. Developed in their relative isolation of large plantations on the islands, the enslaved peoples' unique culture and language have endured over time. Their dialogue is in Gullah creole.
Narrated by the Unborn Child, the future daughter of Eli and Eula, whose voice is influenced by accounts of her ancestors, the film presents poetic visual img and circular narrative structures to represent the past, present and future for the Gullah, the majority of whom are about to embark for the mainland and a more modern, "civilized" way of life. The old ways and African ancestral history are represented by community matriarch Nana Peazant, who practices African spiritual rituals. Nana tells her family as she bids them to remember and honour their ancestors as they embark on their new journey, "We are two people in one body. The last of the old and the first of the new."
Contrasting cousins, Viola, a devout Christian, and Yellow Mary, a free spirit who has brought her lover, Trula, from the city, arrive at the island by boat from their homes on the mainland for a last dinner with their family. Yellow Mary plans to leave for Nova Scotia after her visit. Mr. Snead, a mainland photographer, accompanies Viola and takes portraits of the islanders before they leave their way of life forever. Intertwined with these narratives is the marital rift between Eli and his wife Eula, who is about to give birth after being raped by a white man on the mainland. Eli struggles with the fact that the unborn child may not be his and his mother's pressure for him to maintain his connection to his ancestors. The unborn child of Eli and Eula narrates the film tracing the legacy before her birth.
Several other family members' stories unfold between these narratives. They include Haagar, a cousin who finds the old spiritual beliefs and provincialism of the island "backwards," and is impatient to leave for a more modern society with its educational and economic opportunities. Her daughter Iona longs to be with her secret lover St. Julien Lastchild, a Cherokee Native American, a resident of the island. Lastchild presents Iona with a letter confessing his devotion the day of iona's departure asking her to stay with him.
While the women prepare a traditional meal for the feast, which includes okra, yams and shellfish prepared at the beach, the men gather nearby in groups to talk and play games. The children and teenagers play games, practice religious rites on the beach, and have a Bible-study session with Viola. Yellow Mary and Eula bond as survivors of rape. Bilal Muhammad, a cousin that is believed to be Ibo but hails from the French West Indies, leads a Muslim prayer. Nana evokes the spirits of the family's ancestors who worked on the island's indigo plantations. Nana combines the power of their ancestors with Viola's Bible as a symbol of the old and the new. Eula and Eli reveal the history and folklore of the slave uprising and mass suicide at Igbo Landing. The Peazant family members make their final decisions to leave the island for a new beginning, or stay behind and maintain their way of life. Yellow Mary chooses to stay on the island along with Eli and Eula. In tears, Iona jumps off of a departing boat as Lastchild comes for her on horseback. Haagar is held back by another family member while calling for her daughter. Remaining family members watch as most of the Peazants finally depart.
David and Bathsheba (1951)
Color
King David sees Bathsheba bathing and enters into an adulterous affair with her
David and Bathsheba
After King David sees the beautiful Bathsheba bathing from the palace roof, he enters into an adulterous affair which has tragic consequences for his family and Israel.
Days of Wine and Roses (1962)
Black & White
Couple depend of alcohol to deal with their problems
Days of Wine and Roses
"San Francisco public relations executive Joe Clay (Jack Lemmon) meets and falls in love with Kirsten Arnesen (Lee Remick), a secretary. Kirsten is a teetotaler until Joe introduces her to social drinking. She is reluctant at first, but after her first few Brandy Alexanders, she admits that having a drink "made me feel good." Despite the misgivings of Kirsten's father (Charles Bickford), who runs a San Mateo landscaping business, they marry and have a daughter named Debbie.
Joe and Kirsten slowly go from the "two-martini lunch" to full-blown alcoholism. Joe is demoted due to poor performance, and is sent out of town to work on a minor account. Kirsten is alone all day, and finds the best way to pass the time is to drink. While drunk one afternoon, she causes a fire in their apartment and almost kills herself and their child. Joe eventually gets fired, and goes from job to job over the next several years.
One day, Joe walks by a bar and looks at his reflection in the window, and finds to his horror that he barely knows his own face. He goes home and tells Kirsten that they have to stop drinking, and she reluctantly agrees. Seeking escape from their addiction, Joe and Kirsten work together in Mr. Arnesen's business and succeed in staying sober for two months. However, the urges are too strong, and after a late-night drinking binge, Joe destroys his father-in-law's greenhouse and plants while looking for a stashed bottle of liquor.
Joe is committed to a sanitarium, where he suffers from delirium tremens while confined in a straitjacket. After his release, Joe finally gets sober for a while, with the help of Alcoholics Anonymous, a dedicated sponsor named Jim Hungerford (Jack Klugman) and regular AA meetings. He explains to Joe how alcoholics often demonstrate obsessive behavior, pointing out that Kirsten's previous love of chocolate may have been the first sign of an addictive personality, and counsels him that most drinkers hate to drink alone in the company of sober people.
Meanwhile, Kirsten's drinking persists, and she disappears for several days without alerting Joe. Kirsten is eventually located at a nearby motel, drunk, but when Joe tries to help her, he instead ends up drinking again. When their supply runs out, Joe happens upon a liquor store that closed for the night, breaks in, and steals a bottle, resulting in another trip to the sanitarium stripped down and tied to a treatment table. Hungerford appears at his side and warns him that he must keep sober no matter what, even if that means staying away from Kirsten.
Joe finally gets sober, becomes a responsible father to Debbie and holds down a steady job. He tries to make amends with his father-in-law by offering him a payment for past debts and wrongs, but Mr. Arnesen accuses him of being indirectly responsible for Kirsten's alcoholism. After calming down, Arnesen says that Kirsten has been disappearing for long stretches of time and picking up strangers in bars.
One night, after Debbie is asleep, Kirsten, shakily sober for two days, comes to Joe's apartment to attempt a reconciliation. Joe replies that she is welcome back anytime, but only if she stops drinking. Kirsten refuses to admit she's an alcoholic, but does acknowledge that without alcohol, she "can't get over how dirty everything looks." Kirsten sadly advises Joe to give up on her, and leaves. Joe fights the urge to go after her, and looks down the street as she walks away. When Debbie asks "Daddy, will Mommy ever get well?" he replies gently, "I did, didn't I?" Again Joe looks down the street, the bar's flashing sign reflecting in his window.
Deal of the Century (1983)
Color
About a weapons dealer
Deal of the Century
"Eddie Muntz (Chase) is a small-time American arms dealer who talks his way into a job with a large defense corporation selling high-tech military unmanned aerial vehicles to a South American dictator (William Marquez). Muntz arrives in war-torn and impoverished "San Miguel" to sell weapons to both its leader and the rebels seeking his ouster.
In the middle of a sales pitch to the rebels, Muntz is caught in a firefight and is shot in the foot. Hobbling in a rundown hotel days later, Muntz meets Harold DeVoto (Wallace Shawn), a sales rep for the American defense contractor, Luckup.
Muntz peddles small arms (assault rifles, anti-personnel mines, and machine-pistols disguised as cassette tape players), whereas Luckup's product is more sophisticated--the Peacemaker UAV, a military dream that operates without pilots or airbases. But the military junta of San Miguel strings DeVoto along, driving the man to suicide. Muntz successfully takes over the deal and wins a contract worth millions.
On returning to America, he is angrily confronted at gunpoint by Catherine (Sigourney Weaver), Harold's widow. Demanding the contract, Catherine shoots Muntz instead, reopening the wound on his foot. Waking up in the hospital, Muntz is told by Frank Stryker (Vince Edwards), a Luckup executive, that San Miguel reneged on the deal after a distastrous and highly publicized demonstration of the Peacemaker.
Muntz nevertheless decides to help Luckup re-sign San Miguel. He is joined by his partner, Ray Kasternak (Gregory Hines), an ex-fighter pilot now undergoing a religious crisis of conscience, and also by Catherine. Muntz's efforts are complicated by tensions with Luckup, by Ray's religious conversion, by "The Peacemaker's" many technical glitches and his own growing moral reservations.
On the eve of a major defense industry exposition, Muntz is visited by Massagi (Richard Libertini), an immensely wealthy arms merchant who both encourages him to finalize the San Miguel deal and coaches him on how to do it. Massagi reveals that the global arms industry has a stake in sales of weapons like the Peacemaker because they allow for localized and conventional wars that will keep their business viable into the next century. Massagi also explains how recent changes to federal law not only legalize bribes to foreign dictators, but make those bribes tax deductible. These revelations spur Muntz on, while also adding to his unease.
Muntz accompanies San Miguel's dictator to the weapons expo, where billions of dollars of high technology are displayed and demonstrated. To the dictators, Muntz disparages any warplanes he sees, reminding them of the obvious benefits of pilot-less aircraft.
While Muntz demonstrates some of his own wares (including a booby-trapped urinal), Ray hijacks one of the fighter jets being demonstrated, threatening to attack the expo, also daring them to attack him. Ray circles overhead as representatives for defense contractors bicker among themselves as to whose weapons are good enough to shoot him down.
Stryker takes matters into his own hands, launching the Peacemaker. This time, the UAV proves a much more formidable threat, and not even Ray can destroy it. Misusing all of the Peacemaker's weapons, however, Stryker instead destroys the entire expo. Before he can try again for Ray, Muntz uses his cane to shut off the Peacemaker's remote control panel, allowing Ray to destroy it.
In the final scene, we learn that Ray has left the arms industry to become a missionary. Muntz is also out of weapons trafficking, but still a salesman working at his brother's car dealership. (After selling weapons, dealing used cars appears an almost noble enterprise.) He sells Catherine a car, and it's implied that they will be doing other deals together.
Dear John (2010)
Color
Love between soldier who reenlists and his girlfriend
Dear John
"In 2003, John Tyree (Channing Tatum), a Staff Sergeant in the United States Army Special Forces is lying on the ground in combat gear with multiple gunshot wounds to his body. Coins begin to fall over him as, in a voiceover; he recalls a childhood trip to the U.S. Mint. He compares himself to a coin in the United States Military, and states that the last thing he thought about before he blacked out was "you".
In 2001, in Charleston, South Carolina, John is on vacation. He meets Savannah (Amanda Seyfried), a college student on spring break, when he rescues her purse from the water. Over the course of two weeks, Savannah and John fall in love. John meets Savannah's family, her neighbor, Tim Wheddon (Henry Thomas), and Tim's son, Alan (Luke Benward) who has autism.
Savannah meets John's father (Richard Jenkins), a reclusive man who seems to be obsessed with his coin collection (specifically mules), but his genuine interest draws her, to John's surprise. Savannah mentions to John that his father, like Alan, may have high-functioning autism. This upsets John, who storms off, and then gets into a fight with Savannah's friend Randy (Scott Porter) and, in the process, accidentally punches Tim. John apologizes to Tim, leaves Savannah a note, and then they spend one last day together, parting with, "I'll see you soon then" rather than goodbye.
John and Savannah continue their relationship through letters, expecting to build a life together when he leaves the army. But the recent September 11 attacks make him reconsider the army, and he ultimately chooses to re-enlist. Over the next two years, the romance goes on, through their letters. After a time, John finds himself anxiously awaiting the next letter, but when it arrives it is a Dear John letter, informing him that she has become engaged to someone else, John burns all of Savannah's letters.
Despite being wounded and encouraged to return home, John re-enlists. After four more years and many missions, while waiting to receive orders on his unit's next deployment, John is informed that his father had a stroke. When John arrives at the hospital he learns that his father is still alive but in grave condition. John writes a letter to his father, which he reads to him at the hospital; John's voiceover at the beginning of the film was from this letter, in which he told his father that the first thing to cross his mind after he was shot was coins, and the last thing to cross his mind before he lost consciousness was his dad, ultimately the most precious person in his life. Soon afterwards, his father sadly dies.
John goes to visit Savannah and is shocked to find that she has married Tim and is living with him. He learns that she had to abandon her dream of a riding camp for kids with autism because of Tim's fight against lymphoma, and John goes with her to visit him in the hospital. Tim tells John that Savannah still loves him and she has never forgotten him. That night, Savannah asks John to stay for dinner. At the table, John asks Savannah why she did not even call him and she says it was because just hearing his voice would make her change her mind. As John goes towards the door, Savannah says "I'll see you soon then". She asks him to reply the same (like they always do) but there is silence. John could not say it back because it wouldn't have the same meaning as before. John stands at the door struggling inside to decide. Savannah asks for him to say it back once again. He replies "Goodbye, Savannah" and leaves, which leaves Savannah crushed and heartbroken. John drives away knowing the decision to let her go had killed him inside. John makes a decision to sell all of his father's coin collection except the mule that John found, to raise money which could help Tim in his treatment. Back in the army, it shows John using the mule as a charm. It then shows John receiving a letter from Savannah telling him that Tim died after two months and ending with "I'll see you soon, then." The film then skips forward to show John as a civilian, having left the army, carrying his bike. He sees Savannah in a coffee shop, and they make eye-contact. The last scene ends with both of them warmly hugging one another outside the coffee shop.
Death Wish (2018)
Color
Man avenges a violent attack agains his wife and daughter when police don't seem interested
Death Wish
"Paul Kersey, a Chicago-area Emergency Room surgeon, lives with his wife, Lucy, and daughter, Jordan. When the family visits a restaurant with Paul's brother Frank, a valet named Miguel photographs their home address from their car's navigation software after hearing about a night they plan to be away from home. However, Paul is called to the hospital that night, and Jordan and Lucy are present when the three armed criminals break into their home. Moments later, one of the invaders is scared by Lucy and Jordan's effort to fight back in defense of their lives and home. The criminals ultimately shoot Lucy to death, and Jordan is seriously wounded and subsequently comatose from their attempted murder of her. Paul attends Lucy's funeral with her family in Texas. As Paul and Lucy's father Ben leave, they encounter a group of marauding poachers. Seeing these criminals standing over the wounded body of a wrongfully shot deer, Ben grasps a lever-action rifle and shoots at them. After the poachers disperse and escape in a truck, Ben tells Paul that if the police can't help, then he has to do it himself. Paul becomes frustrated with the lack of police progress on the case, led by Detectives Kevin Raines and Leonore Jackson. After seeing two men harassing a woman, Paul tries to intervene but is kicked and punched to the ground by the two assailants. He visits a retail gun store, but there is a long mandatory waiting period to legally purchase a firearm, plus a chance the weapon will be traced back to him. When a gang member is brought to the hospital and his Glock 17 pistol falls off the gurney, Paul takes it and later practices shooting. He uses the Glock to stop a carjacking, a video of which goes viral and because of the hoodie he wears he is given the nickname of "Grim Reaper". During the effort, he cuts his left hand due to improperly handling the pistol.
Continuing his fight against violent criminals, Paul decides to kill the drug dealer calling himself "the Ice Cream Man" after a young boy comes to the hospital with a gunshot wound to the leg. Paul later walks through an urban neighborhood, and calmly approaches the drug dealer (who is holding a gold-plated Colt 1911A1 pistol). Paul refers to himself as "his last customer," and shoots the Ice Cream Man. News, TV, and radio reports consistently demonstrate divided opinions of support and condemnation of Paul's developing war against violent criminals. Later at the hospital, Paul recognizes a critically wounded Miguel, wearing Paul's watch stolen during the attack on his family. Miguel dies and Paul takes his phone, leading him to a liquor store which fences stolen goods. The owner, Ponytail, recognizes Paul and messages one of the other criminals in their group, Fish, before Paul demands his family's belongings back at gunpoint. Fish quietly arrives at the liquor store, aims his weapon at Paul, and erroneously kills Ponytail after Paul ducks his head. After a firefight with Paul, Fish claims the attack on Paul's home was done by a mechanic named Joe before a bowling ball falls onto Fish's head. Shocked from the ball's impact, Fish falls onto Paul and is shot by his own weapon. The detectives visit Paul with his stolen college ring, recovered at the liquor store. Assured that the ring's discovery will lead police to the perpetrators, Paul destroys their cell phones to cover his tracks. Finding Joe at his auto body shop (and recognizing his facial scars from the night of the murder of his wife), Paul interrogates him for information, cutting his sciatic nerve with a scalpel and pouring brake fluid into the open wound. Joe divulges that the third attacker (and group leader), Knox, murdered Lucy, and Paul later releases a mechanical jack. The pulled lever subsequently drops a 1970 model Chevrolet Monte Carlo onto Joe's head.
Knox calls Paul, arranging to meet in a nightclub bathroom, where they exchange fire and wound each other. Paul gets away while Knox arrives at the hospital, posing as a bystander and giving the detectives a description of Paul. Arriving home, Paul is confronted by Frank, who was questioned by the detectives (looking for a lefty - they see him batting left-handed at a batting cage) and realizes Paul is the Chicago vigilante. During the intervention, the hospital calls to tell Paul that Jordan has exited her coma and regained consciousness. Frank tells Paul "it's over," and he will not go after Knox. A week later, Paul leaves the hospital with Jordan and encounters Knox in the elevator. Paul returns to the retail gun store to legally purchase weapons. Days later, Knox and two accomplices invade and attack Paul's home at night. Paul glimpses a man running across the lawn and hides Jordan under the stairs, and she calls the police. After killing the two invading accomplices, Paul is ambushed and shot in the basement by Knox. Facing the barrel of Knox's gun and knowing both he and Jordan will be killed, Paul expeditiously retrieves an M4 carbine rifle from a hidden compartment under a coffee table and shoots Knox dead. The police arrive and Raines accepts Paul's story, subtly suggesting Paul end his private war against violent criminals.
Months later, Paul drops off Jordan at NYU. He spots a man stealing a bag from a bellhop, calls out to him, and points at him with a finger gun.
Death at a Funeral (2010)
Color
Son bothches funeral when corpse if lost
Death at a Funeral
"The film revolves around the funeral ceremony for the father of Aaron (Chris Rock) and Ryan (Martin Lawrence). Aaron, the older son, lives with his wife Michelle (Regina Hall) at his parents' home. Aaron and Michelle have been trying to buy their own home and have children but have been unsuccessful. Aaron envies Ryan because Ryan is a successful writer, while he has not had his novel published, and resents his brother because he would rather spend money on two first class tickets (for himself) from New York to L.A. than help him pay for the funeral expenses.
Aaron and Ryan's cousin Elaine (Zoe Saldana) and her fiance Oscar (James Marsden) are on their way to pick up her brother Jeff (Columbus Short) before heading to the funeral. To ease Oscar's nerves, she gives him a pill from a bottle labeled as Valium. Jeff later reveals to Elaine that it is actually a powerful hallucinogenic drug he has concocted for a friend. Chaos ensues when Oscar hallucinates that the coffin is moving; he knocks it over, and the body falls out of the coffin.
Aaron is approached by an unknown guest, a dwarf named Frank (Peter Dinklage, reprising his role from the original film), who reveals himself to be the secret lover of his deceased father. Frank shows Aaron photos as proof and threatens to reveal them to Aaron's mother unless he is paid $30,000. Aaron tells Ryan, who suggest Aaron pay the money because Ryan claims he is buried in debt. While Aaron and Ryan meet with him to pay him, Frank starts to deride Aaron's ability as writer and Aaron refuses to pay.
Frank begins to turn violent and puts his hand in his pocket (hinting he may have a gun) and tries to leave the room; Ryan attacks Frank and both Aaron and Ryan tie Frank up to prevent him from leaving. Norman (Tracy Morgan) comes in and sees what happened. He gives Frank several doses of what he also believes is Valium to try to calm him down, before Jeff tells them it is actually the same hallucinogen Oscar took earlier.
While Jeff and Norman, who are supposed to be watching Frank, get distracted by Uncle Russell (Danny Glover), Frank frees himself from his bonds, jumps off the couch, and hits his head on the coffee table. With Aaron, Ryan, Jeff and Norman believing Frank is dead, they plan to put him in the coffin. While everyone is outside watching Oscar, who is now naked on the roof, threatening to jump because he saw Elaine's ex-boyfriend Derek (Luke Wilson) kissing her, Aaron and Ryan put Frank in the coffin.
Elaine tells Oscar that Derek forced himself on her and calms him down by revealing she is pregnant. With everyone back inside, they continue the eulogy. While Aaron awkwardly tries to give his speech, Frank starts banging on the coffin and suddenly emerges from it. The pictures fall out of his pocket and Cynthia sees the pictures, screams at Frank, and starts to attack him. Aaron yells for everyone's attention as he delivers a moving, impromptu eulogy saying that his father was a good man with flaws like everyone else.
The film ends with Aaron and Ryan saying goodbye while Ryan gets a ride to the airport by little Martina (Regine Nehy), who he has been trying to seduce all day. Aaron and Michelle are finally alone and going to try to have a baby. Aaron asks where Uncle Russell is and Michelle tells him that she gave him what she believes is Valium to calm him down. In the final scene Uncle Russell is on the roof naked like Oscar had been complaining about how "everything is just so fucking green".
Deep Impact (1998)
Color
Comet hits Earth
Deep Impact
"On May 10, 1998, teenage amateur astronomer Leo Biederman (Wood) discovers an unusual object near the stars Mizar and Alcor at a star party in Richmond, Virginia. He alerts astronomer Marcus Wolf (Smith), who realizes that the object is a comet on a collision course with Earth. Wolf tries to get the information out, but dies in a car accident before he can alert the world.
A year later, MSNBC reporter Jenny Lerner (Leoni) investigates the resignation of the Secretary of the Treasury (Cromwell) and his connection to an "Ellie". She discovers that Ellie is not a mistress but an acronym: "E.L.E.", for "Extinction-Level Event". Because of Lerner's investigation, President Tom Beck (Freeman) advances the announcement of the grim facts: the comet, named Wolf-Biederman, is 7 miles (11 km) wide -- large enough to cause a mass extinction, and possibly wipe out humanity, if it hits Earth. The United States and Russia have been secretly constructing a spacecraft, the Messiah, in orbit. They plan to use it to transport a team lead by Captain Spurgeon Tanner (Duvall) to the comet, so that it can be destroyed with nuclear weapons.
After landing on the comet, the crew members plant nuclear bombs 100 meters beneath the surface. When the bombs are detonated, the ship is damaged and loses contact with Earth. Instead of being destroyed, the comet splits into two smaller rocks nicknamed "Biederman" (1.5 miles (2.4 km) wide) and "Wolf" (6 miles (9.7 km) wide), both world-threatening.
Beck announces the Messiah crew's failure, declares martial law, and reveals that governments worldwide have been building underground shelters. The United States' shelter is in the limestone caves of Missouri. The US government conducts a lottery to select 800,000 ordinary Americans aged 50 and under to join 200,000 pre-selected scientists, engineers, teachers, artists, soldiers, and officials. Lerner and Leo's families are pre-selected, but Leo's girlfriend Sarah Hotchner (Sobieski) is not. Leo marries Sarah to save her family but the Hotchners are mistakenly left off the evacuee list; Sarah refuses to leave without them.
A last-ditch effort to use Earth's missile-borne nuclear weapons to deflect the two chunks of the comet fails. Leo returns home looking for Sarah, but her family has left for the Appalachian Mountains and is trapped in a traffic jam on the highway. Sarah's parents urge Leo to take Sarah and her baby brother to high ground; Sarah still does not want to abandon her parents, but they convince her to let them go. Lerner gives up her seat in the last evacuation helicopter to her friend Beth, who has a young daughter. She instead joins her estranged father (Schell) at her childhood beach house, where they reconcile and remember happier times.
The Biederman fragment impacts in the Atlantic Ocean near Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, creating a megatsunami. Leo, Sarah and her baby brother survive. Lerner, her father, Sarah's parents, and millions along the Atlantic coasts of North and South America, Europe, and Africa perish. The world braces for the impact of Wolf in western Canada, which will create a cloud of dust that will block out the sun for two years. This, in turn, will destroy most life on Earth. Low on fuel and life support, the crew of the Messiah decides to undertake a suicide mission with the remaining nuclear warheads. After saying goodbye to their loved ones by video conference, the ship reaches the fragment and enters a fissure to blow itself up, which breaks Wolf into much smaller pieces that burn up in Earth's atmosphere.
President Beck, speaking to a large crowd in front of the United States Capitol building, which is undergoing reconstruction, urges the nation and the world to continue their recovery.
Deepwater Horizon (2016)
Color
Horrific explosion of the Deepwater Horizon (2010 Gulf oil spill)
Deepwater Horizon
"On April 20, 2010, Deepwater Horizon, an oil drilling rig operated by private contractor Transocean, is set to begin drilling off the southern coast of Louisiana on behalf of BP. Chief Electronics Technician Michael "Mike" Williams (Mark Wahlberg) and rig supervisor James "Jimmy" Harrell (Kurt Russell) are surprised to learn that the workers assigned to pour the concrete foundation intended to keep the well stable are being sent home early without conducting a pressure test, at the insistence of BP managers Donald Vidrine (John Malkovich) and Robert Kaluza (Brad Leland). While Mike prepares the drilling team, including Caleb Holloway (Dylan O'Brien), Harrell meets with Vidrine and persuades him to conduct a test, which only serves to weaken the already-crumbling foundation further. His patience thinning, and without waiting for Harrell to confirm the results, Vidrine orders the well to be opened.
At first, the operation goes smoothly, but the foundation eventually fails completely, triggering a massive blowout that overpowers and kills Keith Manuel, Shane Roshto, Roy Kemp, Karl Kleppigner, Adam Weise and Gordon Jones.
A chain of equipment malfunctions, coupled with a failed attempt to seal the well, ignites the oil, killing Dewey Revette, Stephen Curtis, Jason Anderson (Ethan Suplee) and Donald Clark. Andrea Fleytas (Gina Rodriguez), the rig's navigation officer, tries to alert the Coast Guard, only to be overruled by her superior, Captain Curt Kuchta, on the grounds that the rig is not in any imminent danger. With oil now spewing into the ocean, a frightened pelican flies into the bridge of a nearby vessel, which heads towards the rig just as the workers begin a frantic evacuation. Harrell, still alive, although seriously injured in the explosion, is rescued by Mike and assumes control of the situation, only to discover that the rig could not be saved. Dale Burkeen, a close friend of Mike's, sacrifices himself to keep a burning crane from collapsing onto the surviving crew, while Mike and Caleb are able to rescue Vidrine and Kaluza and get them to safety.
As night falls and the burning oil lights up the area, the Coast Guard becomes aware of the incident and sends a ship to collect the survivors. With all the lifeboats full, Mike locates the emergency life raft, but it becomes separated from the rig before he and Andrea can board, causing the latter to suffer a panic attack. Just as the oil in the well itself ignites and destroys the rig, the two jump into the water and are picked up by rescuers.
Returned home, the workers reunite with their families in a hotel lobby, during which a relative of one of the dead crew members angrily confronts Mike for failing to save him, resulting in Mike having a panic attack. The film ends with a series of clips showing the aftermath of the disaster, including testimony from the real-life Mike Williams and the revelation that not a single employee of either Transocean or BP was prosecuted for their actions. Pictures appear of the 11 men who lost their lives before the credits.
Defending Your Life (1991)
Color
Man has to defend his life in heaven
Defending Your Life
"Daniel Miller (Albert Brooks), a 40-year-old Los Angeles advertising executive, dies in a car accident on his birthday and is sent to the afterlife. He arrives in Judgment City, a Heaven-like waiting area populated by the recently deceased of the western half of the United States, where he is to undergo the process of having his life on earth judged. Daniel and the rest of the recently deceased are offered many Earth-like amenities and activities in the city while they undergo their judgment processes--from all-you-can-eat restaurants (which cause no weight gain and serve the best food), to bowling alleys and comedy clubs.
As his defense attorney, Bob Diamond (Rip Torn), explains to Daniel, people from Earth use so little of their brains (3-5%) that they spend most of their lives functioning on the basis of their fears. "When you use more than 5% of your brain, you don't want to be on Earth, believe me," says Diamond. If the Judgement court determines that Daniel has conquered his fears, he will be sent on to the next phase of existence, where he will be able to use more of his brain and thus be able to experience more of what the universe has to offer. Otherwise, his soul will be reincarnated on Earth to live another life in another attempt at moving past his fears.
Daniel's judgment process is presided over by two judges (played by Lillian Lehman and George D. Wallace). Diamond argues that Daniel should move onto the next phase. His formidable opponent is Lena Foster (Lee Grant). Diamond informs Daniel that she is known as "the Dragon Lady." Each utilizes video-like footage from select days in the defendants' lives, shown to the judges to illustrate their case.
During the procedure, Daniel meets and falls in love with Julia (Meryl Streep), a woman who lived a seemingly perfect life of courage and generosity, especially compared to his. The proceedings do not go well for Daniel. Foster shows a series of episodes in which Daniel did not overcome his fears, as well as various other bad decisions and mishaps. The final nail in his coffin, it seems, is when Foster, on the last day of arguments, plays footage of his previous night with Julia, in which he declines to sleep with her, for what Foster believes is his same fear and lack of courage. It is ruled that Daniel will return to Earth. Meanwhile, Julia is judged worthy to move on. Before saying goodbye Diamond comforts Daniel with the knowledge that the court is not infallible and just because Foster won it doesn't mean she's right. Daniel remains disappointed.
Daniel finds himself strapped to a seat on a tram poised to return to Earth, when he spots Julia on a different tram. On an impulse, he unstraps himself, escapes from the moving tram, and risks electrocution and injury to get to Julia. Although he cannot enter her tram at first, the entire event is being monitored by Diamond (and Foster), who convinces the judges that this last-minute display of courage has earned Daniel the right to move on. The judges agree and open the doors on Julia's tram, allowing Daniel in, reuniting him with Julia and allowing them to move on to the next phase of existence together.
Definitely, Maybe (2008)
Color
Woman hears fathers stories of how he met 3 different women and guesses which is her mother
Definitely, Maybe
"Will Hayes works at an advertising agency in New York City and is in the midst of a divorce from wife Sarah. After her first sex education class, his 10-year-old daughter Maya insists on hearing the story of how her parents met. Will gives in, but changes the names and some of the facts, leaving Maya to guess which of the women from his past is Sarah, her mother.
Will begins his "mystery love story" in 1992, when he moves away from Madison, Wisconsin and his college sweetheart, "Emily Jones", to work on the Clinton campaign in New York City. There, he meets "April Hoffman", a fellow campaign staffer, and delivers a package from Emily to her college friend, "Summer Hartley". The package is revealed to be Summer's diary, which Will had read, learning she had a brief affair with Emily. Summer is dating her professor, Hampton Roth, but spontaneously kisses Will.
He tells April his plan to propose to Emily, and rehearses his proposal; April replies, "Definitely, maybe". They go to her apartment, where Will notices her many copies of Jane Eyre. She explains that her father gave her a copy with a personal inscription shortly before he died, but the book was later lost. She has spent years searching secondhand bookstores to find it, and collects any copy with an inscription. April and Will kiss, but he abruptly leaves. The next day, Emily arrives in New York City. Will tries to propose, but Emily confesses that she slept with his roommate, and urges him to move on and pursue his ambitions.
After Clinton is elected, Will opens a political consulting firm, and stays in close touch with April as she travels the world. He encounters Summer, now a journalist and single, and they begin a relationship. April returns from abroad, planning to tell Will that she loves him, but discovers he is planning to propose to Summer. Will learns that Summer has written an article that will ruin his candidate's campaign. He asks her not to publish it, but she refuses, and Will ends their relationship. The article derails the campaign, losing Will his political career and friends.
Years later, April reaches out to Will, who has fallen into depression in his new job, while she has a new boyfriend named Kevin. She throws Will a birthday party, reuniting him with his old colleagues. He drunkenly confesses to April that he loves her, leading to an argument about the state of their lives. Passing a bookstore, he finds the inscribed copy of Jane Eyre April's father gave her. He goes to April's apartment to give her the book, but decides against it when he meets Kevin, who is living with her. Will runs into Summer who tells him she's pregnant and invites him to a party where he reunites with Emily, who has recently moved to New York City.
In the present, Maya deduces that "Emily" is her mother. Maya hopes her parents will reunite, but when the divorce is finalized, Will assures Maya that she is the story's happy ending.
Unpacking in his new apartment, Will discovers April's book. He brings it to her, apologizing for waiting so long, but she asks him to leave. At Maya's urging, Will realizes he is miserable without April, whose name he didn't change in the story like he did to "Emily"/Sarah and to "Summer", whose real name is Natasha. Will and Maya go to April's apartment and he tries to explain his reasonings to her but she doesn't let them inside. As Will and Maya walk away, April runs after them. Will explains that he kept the book as the only thing he had left of her. April invites them in to tell her the story, and she and Will kiss.
Deja Vu (2006)
Color
Agent gets Deja Vu during bombing investigation
Deja Vu
"On Mardi Gras in New Orleans, the ferry Sen. Alvin T. Stumpf is carrying hundreds of U.S. Navy sailors and their families across the Mississippi River from their base to the city. Suddenly, the ferry explodes and sinks, killing 543 passengers and crew members.
Special Agent Douglas Carlin (Denzel Washington) from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) is sent to investigate and discovers evidence of a bomb planted by a domestic terrorist. Arriving at the scene he meets with local investigators and FBI Special Agent Paul Pryzwarra (Val Kilmer), and informs them of his findings. He learns about and is invited to examine a partially burned body pulled from the river, identified as Claire Kuchever (Paula Patton), which was reported to the authorities minutes before the explosion.
Pryzwarra is impressed with Doug's detective expertise, and asks him to join a newly formed governmental detective unit whose first case is to investigate the bombing. Led by Dr. Alexander Denny (Adam Goldberg), they investigate the events before the explosion by using a program called "Snow White", which enables them to look into the past (4 days, 6 hours, 3 minutes, 45 seconds, 14.5 nanoseconds) in detail by (according to Pryzwarra) using several satellites to form a triangulated image of events. The system is limited in that they can only see past events once; there is no fast forwarding or rewinding, although they can record what they see in the process. Convinced that Claire is a vital link, Doug persuades them to focus on her. While the team observes Claire's past through "Snow White", the bomber calls her to talk about the SUV that she advertised for sale. He doesn't buy her car, but the "Snow White" team now knows exactly where and when he was during the call.
Doug finds out "Snow White" is actually a time window, and can send inanimate objects into the past. Despite Denny's protests against tampering with the past, Doug has the team send a note back to his past self with the time and place to stop the ferry bomber. Instead, his partner Larry Minuti gets the note and while following up on it is shot by the terrorist. The team attempts to follow the fleeing terrorist, who takes Minuti with him, but he moves outside of Snow White's range. However, Doug is able to follow him in the present using a specially equipped vehicle with a mobile Snow White unit. In the past time, the bomber takes Minuti to his bayou shack where he kills him and sets fire to his body. Still needing a vehicle big enough to hold the bomb the terrorist goes to Claire's address, kidnaps her and takes her car.
Using a facial recognition system, the ferry bomber is identified and taken into custody. He turns out to be Carroll Oerstadt (Jim Caviezel), who is angry at the military after being turned down for joining by both the Marines and Army, because their medical screening showed he was unstable. Considering the case now closed, the government shuts down the Snow White investigation. Despite the killer having been caught, Claire and the ferry victims remain dead, which unsettles Doug since he is convinced that the Snow White team can actually alter history. Doug persuades Denny to do one last experiment: send Doug to the past to save Claire and stop the bombing; a risky procedure, since no human has ever been sent back. Doug survives the trip, because he was sent back to a hospital emergency room, where they were able to revive him. He steals an ambulance and races to Oerstadt's shack just in time to stop Claire's murder, while Oerstadt flees with the bomb.
Doug and Claire go to the ferry. Doug boards to try to find and disarm the bomb, but meanwhile Oerstadt captures Claire. Claire is tied up in the bomb car with her mouth gagged with duct tape. A brutal gunfight ensues which culminates with Doug attempting to negotiate with Oerstadt but finally catching him off guard and killing him. He gets into the car to try to free Claire but police surround the vehicle and threaten to open fire. To save everyone, Doug and Claire purposely drive the bomb SUV off the end of the ferry before it explodes. Claire escapes but Doug, unable to get out of the vehicle, dies in the underwater explosion. As Claire mourns Doug's death, she is approached by an identical Doug Carlin, the one from her present, who consoles her.
Demolition Man (1993)
Color
Man from the past goes after criminal who comes to the future
Demolition Man
"In 1996, LAPD Sgt. John Spartan leads a raid to rescue hostages taken by the psychopathic criminal Simon Phoenix. After an initial scan reveals no sign of the hostages, Spartan enters Phoenix's stronghold and captures him. However, before he is captured, Phoenix detonates several barrels of C4, which destroys the building. The hostages' bodies are found in the rubble, and Spartan is blamed for their deaths. Both men are sentenced to "CryoPrison," where they are kept in cryogenic storage and exposed to subconscious rehabilitation techniques.
In 2032, Phoenix escapes from CryoPrison during a parole hearing and begins a crime spree. By now the cities of Los Angeles, San Diego and Santa Barbara have merged into the utopian San Angeles, under the pacifist guidance of Dr. Raymond Cocteau. All vices have been outlawed, and the San Angeles Police (SAPD) are now incapable of dealing with criminals like Phoenix. However, veteran officer Zachary Lamb suggests that Spartan be revived and reinstated to the force to help them recapture Phoenix. Lieutenant Lenina Huxley is assigned to assist Spartan.
The revived Spartan has trouble adapting to life in the future. Most of Huxley's fellow officers, especially Chief George Earle, find him brutish and uncivilized. After Phoenix breaks into a museum's weapon exhibition to arm himself, he runs into Cocteau and tries to shoot him, but can not. Cocteau calmly reminds him of why he was revived: to kill Edgar Friendly, the leader of the Scraps resistance fighters, who live in underground ruins beneath San Angeles. After seeing the exchange on security cameras, Spartan and Huxley check prison records and determine that Cocteau programmed Phoenix to make him an even more dangerous criminal and assassin, with the goal of eliminating Friendly. While Spartan and Huxley enter the underground to warn Friendly, Phoenix confronts Cocteau and demands that he release other prisoners to assist him.
At Friendly's underground base, Phoenix and his gang of Cryo-Cons attempt to kill both Spartan and Friendly, but the two of them and Huxley repel the attack. During a subsequent car chase through San Angeles, Phoenix admits that the hostages that Spartan tried to save in 1996 were already dead before the building exploded, so Spartan spent 36 years in prison unnecessarily. Though Phoenix escapes, the Scraps emerge from the underground to join the SAPD against Phoenix and his new criminal gang.
Opposed to Cocteau's plans for San Angeles, and realizing that he cannot kill Cocteau himself because of his programming, Phoenix has one of his men kill Cocteau. Spartan and Huxley arrive at Cocteau's headquarters to capture Phoenix and what remains of his gang, but Phoenix escapes to the CryoPrison to revive the most dangerous convicts. After knocking out Huxley to protect her, Spartan raids the CryoPrison to confront Phoenix. After an intense battle with Phoenix, Spartan freezes him solid. Spartan escapes just before the cryo-machinery overloads, destroying the prison. With Cocteau dead and the prison destroyed, the police and Scraps find themselves at odds over how to run their society. Spartan suggests that they find a way to compromise between order and personal freedom, then kisses Huxley and departs with her.
Denial (2016)
Color
Academic sued to prove WW II actually took place
Denial
"Deborah Lipstadt is an American professor of Holocaust studies whose speaking engagement is disrupted by David Irving, a Nazi Germany scholar. He files a libel lawsuit in the UK against her and her publisher for declaring him a Holocaust denier in her books. As in the United Kingdom the burden of proof in a libel case lies with the accused, Lipstadt and her legal team, led by solicitor Anthony Julius and barrister Richard Rampton, must prove that Irving lied about the Holocaust.
To prepare their defence, Lipstadt and Rampton tour the Auschwitz death camp in Poland with a local scholar, while the research team subpoenas Irving's extensive personal diaries. Lipstadt is annoyed by Rampton's apparently disrespectful questions on the subject, and frustrated when the team minimises her involvement in the case, arguing she harms its chances of success. The British Jewish community pleads with her to settle out of court to avoid creating publicity for Irving. However, her team has a promising start when they persuade Irving to agree to a trial by judge instead of a jury, which he could have manipulated to his advantage, by appealing to his ego.
Irving conducts his own legal representation, facing Lipstadt's legal team. Irving endeavours to twist the presented evidence for the defence. Lipstadt is approached by a Holocaust survivor who pleads for the chance to testify, but Lipstadt's legal team insists on focusing the trial on Irving.
Irving tries to discredit evidence for gas chambers at Auschwitz, claiming there were no holes on the roof for the Zyklon B gas crystals to be introduced. His soundbite "no holes, no holocaust" dominates the media coverage. Furious, Lipstadt demands that she and the Holocaust survivors take the stand. Julius angrily counters that Irving would only humiliate and exploit a survivor on cross-examination, as he has in the past. Rampton visits Lipstadt at her home to explain his approach and earns her trust. In court, he subjects Irving to skilful cross-examination and exposes his claims as absurd, while expert testimony exposes the distortions in Irving's writings.
As the trial concludes, the judge disquiets the defence by suggesting that if Irving honestly believes his own claims, then he cannot be lying as Lipstadt asserted. After an agonising wait for the ruling, Justice Charles Gray rules for the defence, convinced by the evidence that Lipstadt's criticism of Irving as a deceitful Holocaust denier is valid. Lipstadt is hailed for her dignified demeanour, while her legal team reminds her that despite her silence during the trial, it was her writing that countered Irving's lies and provided the basis for this victory. At a press conference Lipstadt praises her lawyers for their strategy.
Dennis the Menace (1993)
Color
Dennis helps catch local thief
Dennis the Menace
"Dennis Mitchell is a five-year-old boy who lives with his parents Henry and Alice, and is the bane of next door neighbor George Wilson's existence. Because of his trouble-making but unintentional behavior, his parents often struggle to find suitable babysitters to deal with him. On one night, they manage to get one named Polly and her boyfriend Mickey to babysit him, but repeated doorbell pranks from him push the two too far (not knowing he is behind this), and they end up pulling a prank on George when he rings the doorbell to scold Dennis after finding paint and wood in his food in an earlier incident. While all of this and the rest of the events in town go on, a burglar named Switchblade Sam (said name not mentioned in the film, only in the end credits) arrives in town and begins robbing houses, as well as striking fear into the children that he meets.
Dennis' parents are both called away on business trips at the same time, and when everyone they know refuses to look after him, they turn to George and his wife Martha (who loves Dennis and sees him as a surrogate grandson) to look after him. George is further irritated by him spilling bath water on the bathroom floor, swapping chemicals, and bringing his pet dog, Ruff, into the house for a while. All of this is happening around the time the Summer Floraganza, a long-awaited event, is scheduled to happen. As a longtime member of the local garden club, George is chosen to host it. He is excited to have this honor, as he has been growing and nurturing a rare plant for forty years. After growing for the said length of time, its flower finally blooms, only to die several seconds later.
Alice gets stuck at the airport due to a storm, thus forcing Dennis to stay with the Wilsons for an extra night, which coincides with the unveiling of the plant and its blooming to the members of the garden club. While that is happening, he is sent away for causing trouble (namely overturning the dessert table when he pushed a black button, which he found out opened the garage door), when he hears Switchblade Sam robbing the house. He goes downstairs, and finds George's gold coins missing. He runs outside to tell him just as the flower is beginning to bloom, which causes him and all the guests to miss its entire lifespan. Not knowing about the robbery, he severely scolds him, tells him that he has no use for him, and that he doesn't want to know or see him anymore. Shortly thereafter, Dennis gets on his bicycle (with a wagon attached) and rides off into the night, eventually bumping into Switchblade Sam in the woods. Sam then abducts him, intending to use the child as a hostage.
Dennis' parents return home and learn of his departure, and they, the authorities, his friends (Joey, Margaret, Gunther and all the neighborhood kids), and George (who feels intense guilt and remorse after remembering all the things he said to him and having now discovered his house was burglarized and that Dennis actually had good intentions when he tried to tell him) search all night for him. Around the same time, Dennis unintentionally but effectively defeats Switchblade Sam by tying him up and handcuffing him, losing the key, and repeatedly setting him on fire, amongst other things. He returns to George's house the next morning with Switchblade Sam in his wagon, having also recovered George's gold coins, and Sam is taken into police custody by a slightly amused sheriff who had previously advised him to leave town. Dennis and George make up, and the Mitchells and Wilsons become friends on better terms. That night, George explains that he's learned some things about kids: kids are kids, and that one has to play by their rules, roll with the punches, and expect the unexpected.
The film's end credits are accompanied with Dennis inadvertently humiliating his mother's egotistical coworker, Andrea, while she is using a photocopier. Dennis impishly whacks the "PRINT" button and runs away, with other workers looking on. Andrea loses her balance and her head gets pinned face-down on the scanner-bed, and the machine relentlessly flashes its blinding light in her eyes as it repeatedly "takes her picture" and spews out page after page of black-and-white "photos" showing her various agonized facial expressions as she writhes about on the scanner bed.
Dial M for Murder (1954)
Color
Tennis champ concocts plan to kill his rich unfaithful wife
Dial M for Murder
"Tony Wendice (Ray Milland), an English retired champion tennis player, is married to wealthy socialite Margot (Grace Kelly), who has had an affair with American crime-fiction writer Mark Halliday (Robert Cummings). When Tony retires from tennis, he secretly discovers the affair. He decides to murder his unfaithful wife, both for revenge and to ensure that her money will continue to fund his comfortable lifestyle.
Tony invites an old acquaintance from the University of Cambridge, Charles Alexander Swann (Anthony Dawson), to his London flat. Tony is aware that Swann has become a small-time criminal with several aliases and has been secretly following Swann so he can blackmail him into murdering Margot. Tony tells Swann about Margot's affair. Six months ago, Tony had stolen her handbag, which contained a love letter from Mark and anonymously blackmailed her. After tricking Swann into leaving his fingerprints on the letter, Tony offers to pay him ?1,000 to kill Margot; if Swann refuses, Tony will turn him in to the police as Margot's blackmailer. Swann's credibility, in denying Tony's accusation, would be hurt by his criminal record.
After Swann agrees, Tony explains his plan: the following evening, he will go with Mark to a party, leaving Margot at home while hiding her latchkey under the carpet of the staircase facing the front door of their flat. Swann is to sneak in when Margot is fast asleep and hide behind the curtains in front of the French doors to the garden. At eleven o'clock, Tony will telephone the flat from the party. Swann must strangle Margot when she answers the phone, open the French doors, leave signs that would trick the police into believing that a burglary had gone wrong, and then exit through the front door before hiding the key under the stair carpet again.
The following night, Swann enters the flat while Margot is in bed and waits. At the party, Tony discovers that his watch has stopped, so he phones the flat three minutes later than intended. When Margot comes to the phone, Swann tries to strangle her with his scarf, but she manages to grab a pair of scissors and stab him fatally in the back. She picks up the telephone receiver and pleads for help. She is stunned to find that it is Tony on the line. He tells her not to touch anything until he arrives home. When he returns to the flat, he calls the police and sends a distraught Margot to bed. Before the police arrive, Tony moves what he thinks is Margot's latchkey from Swann's pocket into her handbag, plants Mark's letter on Swann, and destroys Swann's scarf, replacing it with Margot's own stocking in an attempt to incriminate her.
The following day, Tony persuades Margot to hide the fact that he told her not to call the police immediately. Chief Inspector Hubbard (John Williams) arrives and questions the Wendices, and Margot makes several conflicting statements. When Hubbard says Swann must have entered through the front door, Tony falsely claims to have seen Swann when Margot's handbag was stolen and suggests that Swann made a copy of her key. Hubbard does not believe this because no key was found on Swann's body upon inspection. Hubbard arrests Margot after concluding that she killed Swann for blackmailing her. Margot is found guilty of murder and sentenced to death.
Some months later, on the day before Margot's scheduled execution, Mark visits Tony, saying he has devised a story for Tony to tell the police to save Margot from execution. To Tony's consternation, Mark's "story" is very close to what did actually happen: that Tony bribed Swann to murder Margot. Tony says the story is too unrealistic. Hubbard arrives unexpectedly, and Mark hides in the bedroom. Hubbard questions Tony about large sums of cash he has been spending, tricks him into revealing that his latchkey is in his raincoat, and inquires about Tony's attache case. Tony claims to have lost the case, but Mark, overhearing the conversation, finds it on the bed, full of banknotes. Deducing that the money was Tony's intended payoff to Swann, Mark stops Hubbard from leaving and explains his theory. Tony tells another lie, "confessing" that the cash was Margot's blackmail payment to Swann, which he had concealed to cover up her guilt. Hubbard appears to accept Tony's explanation over Mark's theory, and Mark leaves angrily. Hubbard discreetly swaps his own raincoat with Tony's. As soon as Tony leaves, Hubbard uses Tony's key to re-enter the flat, followed by Mark. Hubbard had already discovered that the key in Margot's handbag was Swann's own latchkey and deduced that Swann had put the Wendices' key back in its hiding-place after unlocking the door. Now, correctly suspecting Tony of having conspired with Swann, Hubbard had developed an elaborate ruse to confirm this.
Plainclothes police officers bring Margot from prison to the flat. She tries unsuccessfully to unlock the door with the key in her handbag, then enters through the garden, proving to Hubbard that she is unaware of the hidden key and is therefore innocent. Hubbard has Margot's handbag returned to the police station, where Tony retrieves it after discovering that he has no key. The key from Margot's bag does not work, so he uses the hidden key to open the door, demonstrating his guilt. With his escape routes blocked by Hubbard and another policeman, Tony calmly makes himself a drink and congratulates Hubbard as Hubbard makes a phone call.
Disclosure (1994)
Color
Software whiz rejects new female boss's advances and gets accused of sexual harassment
Disclosure
"Bob Garvin, a technology company founder, plans to retire when his company, DigiCom, merges with a larger company. Production line manager Tom Sanders expects to be promoted to run the CD-ROM division. Instead, Meredith Johnson, a former girlfriend of Tom's who is responsible for the merger, is promoted to the post, as Garvin wanted to "break the glass ceiling" and promote a woman in place of his late daughter.
Meredith calls Tom into her office to discuss some operations regarding problems with the CD-ROM production line in Malaysia, but instead sexually forces herself onto him. He initially reciprocates her desire to engage him in oral sex, but rebuffs attempts to have full sexual intercourse. Meredith angrily screams a threat towards Tom for spurning her. Later that night, Meredith tricks Tom into arriving late the next morning, allowing her to take his place in a meeting with the merger partners to discuss the problems with the CD-ROM drives, where Meredith pressures Tom into admitting that he is unaware of the cause of the problems.
Tom then discovers that Meredith has filed a sexual harassment complaint against Tom with legal counsel Philip Blackburn. To save the merger from a scandal, DigiCom officials demand that Tom accept reassignment to another location. Otherwise, he will lose his stock options in the new company. His career will be ruined and he will be jobless if he takes the outplacement, as the other location is scheduled for sale after the merger. Tom receives an anonymous e-mail from "A Friend" that directs him to Seattle attorney Catherine Alvarez, who specializes in sexual harassment cases. Tom decides to sue DigiCom, alleging that it was Meredith who harassed him, at the expense of causing animosity with his wife and colleagues. The initial mediation goes badly for Tom as a tearful Meredith repeatedly lies and blames him.
After discovering a recording from Tom's phone records of the encounter proving that Meredith's accusation is false, Garvin, who believes the merger will be unsuccessful without Meredith, proposes that if Tom drops the lawsuit, he will not have to transfer, causing Tom to suspect that Meredith's accusations are vulnerable. Tom remembers mis-dialing a number on his cell phone during the encounter with Meredith but not hanging up. This inadvertently left the recording of the incident on a colleague's voicemail. Tom plays the recording at the next meeting and discredits Meredith. DigiCom agrees to a settlement calling for Meredith to quietly be eased out following the merger.
As Tom celebrates his apparent victory, he receives another e-mail from "A Friend" warning that all is not what it seems. Tom overhears Phillip telling Meredith that even though Tom won the sexual harassment suit, they will make Tom look incompetent at the next morning's merger conference, with Garvin's support. Since the problems with the CD-ROMs are shown as coming from the Malaysian production line, which is under Tom's responsibility, he can be fired as the cause of these problems. Tom attempts to look for clues in the company database, but his access privileges have been revoked. He remembers that the merging company's executives have a virtual reality demonstration machine in a nearby hotel that has access to the company database.
As he gets into DigiCom's files, he sees that Meredith is deleting them. Tom receives a call from a Malaysian colleague who is able to fax Tom copies of incriminating memos and videos. They show that Meredith and one of the head of operations in Malaysia agreed to change the production specifications that Tom had laid down, without his knowledge, to gain favor with the Malaysian government and to cut costs for the upcoming merger. Because of Meredith's complete lack of technical expertise and knowledge, the production changes ordered by her resulted in the problems afflicting the CD-ROMs that Tom is responsible for. In an attempt to save the merger that she had created and unwilling to take any responsibility, Meredith had set up the sexual encounter between her and Tom to falsely accuse him of sexual harassment to force him out of DigiCom so she could blame him for the changes, with Blackburn's support, while covering up the CD-ROM problems from him.
When Tom makes his presentation at the conference, Meredith brings up the production problems, but he is now able to publicly show the evidence exposing her direct involvement in causing defects with the hardware. After Meredith angrily accuses Tom of mounting a last-ditch effort of revenge while trying to justify her decisions involving the changes and continuing to blame him for poor decisions, Garvin realizes the full extent of her incompetence and has no other option but to fire her. Garvin subsequently announces that the merger has been completed and then names Stephanie Kaplan to head up the Seattle operation, a decision that Tom is pleased with, especially when she publicly highlights his contributions and says that she is relying on him to be her right hand man going forward.
Tom subsequently asks Stephanie's son, Spencer, if he knows "A Friend". Spencer says he is the research assistant of Professor Arthur Friend at the University of Washington. Tom realizes that Spencer had access to Friend's office computer, enabling Stephanie (via her son) to have previously warned him as "A Friend" when he was in trouble, and that she knew exactly everything that was going involving the CD-ROM Drives and Meredith. A gratified Tom is happy to resume his position as the Head of Manufacturing.
Diamond Head (1963)
Color
Rich pineapple growers become involvd with Hawiian natives
Diamond Head
"Richard "King" Howland is a swaggering bigoted land baron living on the Big Island of Hawaii. He objects when his sister, Sloan Howland, announces she plans to marry Paul Kahana, a native Hawaiian, even though Richard is having a torrid affair with an Asian woman, Mai Chen. During Sloan and Paul's engagement party, Mai Chen's brother attacks Richard with a knife. Paul tries to break up the fight and is killed. Bitter at her brother for Paul's death, Sloan runs off to Honolulu where she is taken in by Paul's brother, Dean, and his family.
Meanwhile, Mai Chen gives birth to Richard's child, but dies during childbirth. Ever the rabid racist, Richard refuses to accept the child and Sloan takes it upon herself to care for the baby. After an angry fight with Sloan and Dean, Richard is confronted with a personal dilemma -- whether to continue on with his close-minded ways or to welcome his newborn son into his family.
Although the story is based on the novel by Peter Gilman, the screenplay by Marguerite Roberts makes several significant changes in Gilman's story. Several characters are eliminated, including Richard's father, Richard's wife, and his hapa haole (half-Hawaiian/half Caucasian) half-brother. Roberts also changed the ending of the story.
Dirty Harry (1971)
Color
'Scorpio Killer' terrorizes San Francisco
Dirty Harry
"A psychopathic killer, later referred to as "Scorpio", shoots a woman while she swims in a rooftop pool. He leaves behind a blackmail letter demanding he be paid $100,000 or he will kill more people. The note is found by SFPD Inspector Harry Callahan. The mayor teams up with the police to track down the killer, although to stall for time, he agrees to Scorpio's demand over Callahan's objections.
During his lunch break Callahan foils a bank robbery. He shoots two robbers and holds a third at gunpoint, bluffing him to surrender with an ultimatum:
I know what you're thinking: 'Did he fire six shots or only five?' Well, to tell you the truth, in all this excitement, I've kinda lost track myself. But being this is a .44 Magnum, the most powerful handgun in the world, and would blow your head clean off, you've got to ask yourself one question: 'Do I feel lucky?' Well, do you, punk?
Callahan is assigned a rookie partner, Chico Gonzalez, against his opposition to working with an inexperienced police officer. The killer, Scorpio, is spotted by a police helicopter near Saints Peter and Paul Church. He was staking out potential victims (in retaliation to the mayor's coded message to him put in a newspaper). Callahan and Chico are unsuccessful in finding him, and Callahan is briefly mistaken for a Peeping Tom. After assisting in preventing a suicide, Callahan and Chico learn that Scorpio has murdered a 10-year old African American boy.
Based on his blackmail letter, the police think that Scorpio plans to kill a Catholic priest next. The police set up a stake-out where the killer was first spotted. Scorpio eventually arrives, kills a police officer in the shootout that follows, then escapes.
The next day, the police receive another letter from Scorpio. He claims he has kidnapped a teenager named Mary Deacon. He threatens to kill her if he is not given a ransom of $200,000. Callahan is assigned to deliver the money. He uses a tracking device so Chico can keep secretly following him. Scorpio instructs Callahan via pay phones to run around the city. They meet at the Mount Davidson cross where Scorpio gives Callahan a beating and admits he intends to let Mary die. Chico successfully intervenes to stop Scorpio from killing Callahan, but Chico is wounded in the shootout. Callahan uses a concealed knife to stab Scorpio in the leg. The killer flees without the ransom and seeks medical help.
Callahan learns of Scorpio's hospital visit and a doctor reveals to him that Scorpio lives in a room at Kezar Stadium. Callahan finds him there and chases Scorpio, shooting him in the leg. Callahan tortures Scorpio into confessing where Mary is being held, but she is found already dead. The district attorney reprimands Callahan for his conduct, explaining that because Callahan obtained his evidence against Scorpio (namely a sniper rifle in Scorpio's possession) illegally, all of it is inadmissible in court and Scorpio is to be released as a free man. Stunned and outraged, Callahan continues to shadow Scorpio on his own time. The killer pays a man $200 to beat him severely and then publicly announces himself as a victim of police brutality.
Scorpio steals a handgun from a store owner and hijacks a school bus. He contacts the police with another ransom demand that includes a flight out of the Santa Rosa airport. Callahan jumps onto the roof of the bus from an overpass. After Callahan forces Scorpio off the bus, the killer flees to a nearby quarry and holds a boy at gunpoint. Having shot Scorpio through the shoulder, Callahan reprises his ultimatum about losing count of his shots. Unlike the earlier encounter, Callahan does have one remaining bullet. Scorpio reaches for his gun, but Callahan shoots and kills him. Callahan removes his police badge, throws it in the nearby water, and walks away.
Divergent (2014)
Color
Dystopia where each person must choose their faction
Divergent
"In a futuristic dystopian Chicago, society is divided into five factions: Abnegation the selfless, Amity the peaceful, Candor the honest, Dauntless the brave, and Erudite the intelligent. Members join a faction based on their choice but are given a suggestion by an aptitude test. Beatrice Prior (Shailene Woodley) has grown up in Abnegation, the faction that runs the government, yet has always been fascinated by Dauntless. Her father, Andrew (Tony Goldwyn), serves on the ruling council along with the head of Abnegation, Marcus Eaton (Ray Stevenson).
Each year, 16-year olds undergo a serum-based aptitude test that indicates the faction into which they would best fit, and informs their choice at the Choosing Ceremony. Beatrice takes the test with a Dauntless woman named Tori (Maggie Q) as her proctor. Her test shows attributes of several factions (Abnegation, Erudite and Dauntless), meaning she is Divergent. Tori records her result as Abnegation and warns her to keep the true result secret, telling her that since Divergents can think independently and the government therefore cannot control them, they are considered threats to the social order.
The next day at the Choosing Ceremony, Beatrice's brother Caleb (Ansel Elgort) chooses Erudite, while with hesitation, Beatrice chooses Dauntless. After the ceremony, Beatrice meets Christina (Zo? Kravitz) and Al (Christian Madsen), two Candors who chose Dauntless, and Will (Ben Lloyd-Hughes), an Erudite who also chose Dauntless. The Dauntless initiates are given tests such as jumping from a train running at full speed and taking a leap of faith from a tall building into a large hole. During these tests, the initiates meet Eric (Jai Courtney), a brutal young leader of Dauntless, and Four (Theo James), the transfer initiates' instructor. Beatrice volunteers first to jump off the building and leap into the hole, which has her branded as First Jumper. After the jump, when Four asks her name, Beatrice decides to shorten it to "Tris".
Tris initially struggles in Dauntless training, but slowly improves. After being forced to fight her enemy Peter (Miles Teller) and being hospitalized, Tris almost fails out of Dauntless, but redeems herself by playing a key role in winning a capture-the-flag game.
After the physical stage of Dauntless training, the initiates are put into simulations in order to face their fears. Tris' divergence allows her to excel at these tests, but Four, who strikes up a relationship with Tris, warns her to conceal the reasons behind her success and to solve the challenges the way a true Dauntless would.
Tris visits her brother in Erudite, who tells her that Erudite is planning to overthrow Abnegation and become the ruling faction. On her return to Dauntless headquarters, Tris is attacked due to her success in training, with Peter, Al, and Drew attempting to throw her into a chasm. She is rescued by Four. The next day, Al pleads with Tris for her forgiveness but she refuses and calls him a coward. Later, she is shocked to learn Al has killed himself by jumping into the chasm.
In preparation for her final test, Four takes Tris into his own fear simulations, where she finds out that one of his fears is taking orders he doesn't want to do. She also finds out that his real name is Tobias, and he is the son of Abnegation leader and head of government, Marcus Eaton. After the simulation, Four and Tris realize their feelings for each other and share a kiss. When the day of the test comes, Tris passes without revealing she is Divergent. During the post-test celebration, the Dauntless are injected with a serum which is said to be administered as a tracking device, but which is revealed to be a mind control serum.
Controlling the heavily armed members of Dauntless through the serum, Erudite manipulates them into attacking Abnegation. Divergents are unaffected, so Tris and Four have to blend in. At Abnegation, Eric spots that Four is not under mind-control, and Four and Tris are caught and separated. Tris's mother Natalie (Ashley Judd) appears and rescues Tris, but dies while doing so. During the escape, Tris is forced to kill Will when, under the effects of the serum, he attacks her. To stop Erudite's plan, Tris, her father, brother, and Marcus sneak into Dauntless headquarters. Seeing that Peter is not under the serum, Tris orders him to take them to Erudite's operations room. Her father sacrifices himself in a shootout. Tris goes in alone and finds Four, who is now under a more advanced form of mind control that works even on Divergents. After a fight she manages to wake him from his stupor, knowing he cannot shoot her while looking at her face, for that is one of his fears. Erudite leader Jeanine (Kate Winslet) is about to start the protocols that will make Dauntless kill Abnegation, but Tris throws a knife, stabbing her through the hand, then injects her with the mind control serum and orders her to stop and then delete the program. Tris, Caleb, Peter, Four, and Marcus flee Dauntless on the train, intending to ride to the end of the tracks.
Django Unchained (2012)
Color
Slave fights to become a free man
Django Unchained
"Somewhere in Texas in the year 1858, several male slaves are being driven by the Speck Brothers, Ace and Dicky. Among the shackled slaves is Django, sold off and separated from his wife, Broomhilda. The Speck Brothers are stopped by Dr. King Schultz, a German dentist and bounty hunter from D?sseldorf. Schultz asks to buy one of the slaves, but while questioning Django about his knowledge of the Brittle Brothers, for whom Schultz is carrying a warrant, he irritates Ace who aims his shotgun at Schultz. Schultz quickly kills Ace and leaves Dicky at the mercy of the other newly freed slaves, who blow his head off. Since Django can identify the Brittle Brothers, Schultz offers Django his freedom in exchange for his help in tracking them down. After executing the Brittles, Django partners with Schultz through the winter and becomes his apprentice. Schultz explains that, being the first person he has ever given freedom to, he feels responsible for Django and is driven to help him in his quest to rescue Broomhilda. Upon first learning of her name, Schultz tells Django the tale of the mythical German valkyrie, Br?nnhilde.
Django, now fully trained, collects his first bounty, keeping the handbill as a good luck charm. In Mississippi, Schultz uncovers the identity of Broomhilda's owner: Calvin Candie, the charming but brutal owner of the Candyland plantation, where slaves are forced to fight to the death in wrestling matches called "Mandingo fights." Schultz, expecting Candie will demand an extortionate amount if they are forthright, devises a ruse to purchase one of Candie's prized fighters, purchase Broomhilda on the side for a reasonable sum, then disappear before the deal is finalized. Schultz and Django meet Candie at a club in Greenville and submit their offer. His greed tickled, Candie invites them to Candyland. After he secretly debriefs Broomhilda on the plan, Schultz moves to the next step, claiming to be charmed by the German-speaking Broomhilda.
During dinner, Candie's staunchly loyal overseer, Stephen (Jackson), becomes suspicious. Deducing that Django and Broomhilda know each other and that the sale of the Mandingo fighter is just a misdirection, Stephen alerts Candie, who subsequently extorts the bounty hunters for the complete bid amount. Schultz yields and, after the money is paid and the paperwork signed, Candie demands a formal handshake from Schultz to finalize the deal. Schultz instead shoots him through the heart with a concealed derringer. He apologizes to Django before he is killed by one of Candie's henchmen. In the ensuing gun battle, Django kills many of the remaining henchmen but surrenders once Broomhilda is taken hostage at gunpoint.
The next morning, Django is informed by Stephen that he will be sold to a mine and worked to death. En route to the mine, Django proves to his escorts that he is a bounty hunter by showing them the handbill from his first kill. He then convinces them of a very large bounty for a man back at Candyland, of which they would receive the majority, should Django be released. Once Django is uncuffed and given a pistol, he swiftly kills his captors, takes their dynamite, and rides back to Candyland.
Returning to the plantation, Django takes Broomhilda's freedom papers and releases her from her improvised cell. When Candie's mourners return from his funeral, Django guns down Candie's sister and remaining henchmen. Django then releases the two house slaves and shoots Stephen in the knees, crippling him. As Stephen angrily curses him, Django ignites the dynamite he has planted throughout the mansion. He and Broomhilda watch from a distance as the mansion explodes before riding off.
In a post-credits scene, a group of slaves who appeared earlier in the film wonder aloud who Django really was.
Do the Right Thing (1989)
Color
Racial tensions come to a head on hot day in Brooklyn
Do the Right Thing
"Mookie (Spike Lee) is a 25-year-old delivery man living in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn with his sister, Jade (Joie Lee). He and his girlfriend, Tina (Rosie Perez), have a son. He works at the local pizzeria, but lacks ambition. Sal (Danny Aiello), the pizzeria's Italian-American owner, has been in the neighborhood for 25 years. His older son Pino (John Turturro) intensely dislikes blacks, and does not get along with Mookie. Because of this, Pino is at odds with both his father, who refuses to leave the increasingly African-American neighborhood, and his younger brother Vito (Richard Edson), who is friendly with Mookie.
The neighborhood is full of distinct personalities, including Da Mayor (Ossie Davis), a friendly local drunk; Mother Sister (Ruby Dee), who watches the neighborhood from her brownstone; Radio Raheem (Bill Nunn), who blasts Public Enemy on his boombox wherever he goes; and Smiley (Roger Guenveur Smith), a mentally disabled man, who meanders around the neighborhood trying to sell hand-colored pictures of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr.
While at Sal's, Mookie's trouble-making b-boyish friend, Buggin' Out (Giancarlo Esposito), questions Sal about his "Wall of Fame", a wall decorated with photos of famous Italian-Americans. Buggin' Out demands that Sal put up pictures of black celebrities since Sal's pizzeria is in a black neighborhood. Sal replies that it is his business, and that he can have whomever he wants on "The Wall of Fame". Buggin' Out attempts to start a protest over the Wall of Fame. Only Radio Raheem and Smiley support him.
During the day, the heat and tensions begin to rise. The local teenagers open a fire hydrant and douse the street, before police officers intervene. Mookie and Pino begin arguing over race, which leads to a series of scenes in which the characters spew racial insults into the camera. Pino and Sal talk about the neighborhood, with Pino expressing his hatred, and Sal insisting that he is not leaving. Sal almost fires Mookie, but Jade intervenes, before Mookie confronts her for being too close to Sal.
That night, Buggin' Out, Radio Raheem, and Smiley march into Sal's and demand that Sal change the Wall of Fame. Raheem's boombox is blaring and Sal demands that they turn the radio off, but they refuse. Buggin' Out calls Sal and sons guineas while saying that they're closing down the pizzeria for good until they change the Wall of Fame. Sal, in a fit of frustration, tells him he will "tear his nigger ass", then destroys the boombox with a baseball bat. Raheem attacks Sal, leading to a huge violent fight that spills out into the street, attracting a crowd. While Radio Raheem is choking Sal, the police arrive. They break up the fight and apprehend Radio Raheem and Buggin' Out. Despite the pleas of his fellow officers and the onlookers, one officer refuses to release his chokehold on Raheem, killing him. Realizing that Raheem has been killed in front of onlookers, the officers place his body in the back of a squad car, and drive off, leaving Sal, Pino, and Vito unprotected.
The onlookers, enraged about Radio Raheem's death, blame Sal and his sons. Mookie grabs a trash can and throws it through the window of Sal's pizzeria, sparking the crowd to rush into the restaurant and destroy it, with Smiley finally setting it on fire. Da Mayor pulls Sal, Pino, and Vito out of the mob's way. Firemen and riot patrols arrive to put out the fire and disperse the crowd. After police issue a warning, the firefighters turn their hoses on the rioters, leading to more fighting and arrests. Mookie and Jade sit on the curb, watching in disbelief. Smiley wanders back into the smoldering building and hangs one of his pictures on what is left of Sal's Wall of Fame.
The next day, after having an argument with Tina, Mookie returns to Sal, who feels that Mookie betrayed him. Mookie demands his weekly pay, leading to an argument. They cautiously reconcile, and Sal finally pays him. Mister Se?or Love Daddy (Samuel L. Jackson), a local DJ, dedicates a song to Raheem.
The film ends with two quotations expressing different views about violence, one from Martin Luther King and one from Malcolm X, before fading to a photograph of them shaking hands. Prior to the credits, Lee dedicates the film to the families of six victims of police brutality: Eleanor Bumpurs, Michael Griffith, Arthur Miller, Jr., Edmund Perry, Yvonne Smallwood, and Michael Stewart.
Doctor Faustus (1968)
Color
Doctor makes deal with the devil
Doctor Faustus
University of Wittenberg scholar Faustus earns his doctorate, but his insatiable craving for knowledge and power leads Faustus to try his hand at necromancy in an attempt to conjure Mephistopheles out of hell. Faustus bargains his soul to Lucifer in exchange for 24 living years where Mephistopheles is his slave. Signing the pact in his own blood, Mephistopheles proceeds to reveal to Faustus the works and doings of the Devil.
Doctor Strange (2016)
Color
Neurosurgeon is drawn into the world of the mystic arts
Doctor Strange
"In Kathmandu, Nepal, the sorcerer Kaecilius and his zealots enter the secret compound Kamar-Taj and behead its librarian. They steal a ritual from an ancient and mystical text belonging to the Ancient One, a long-lived sorcerer who has taught every student at Kamar-Taj, including Kaecilius, in the mystic arts. The Ancient One pursues the traitors, but Kaecilius and his followers escape.
In New York City, Stephen Strange, an acclaimed but arrogant neurosurgeon, loses the use of his hands in a car accident. Fellow surgeon and former lover Christine Palmer tries to help him move on, but Strange vainly pursues experimental surgeries. Strange eventually seeks out Jonathan Pangborn, a paraplegic who mysteriously regained the use of his legs. Pangborn directs Strange to Kamar-Taj, where he is taken in by Mordo, a sorcerer under the Ancient One. The Ancient One demonstrates her power to Strange, revealing the astral plane and other dimensions such as the Mirror Dimension. She agrees to train Strange, despite his arrogance, which reminds her of Kaecilius.
Strange studies under the Ancient One and Mordo, and from ancient books in the library that is now presided over by the master Wong. Strange learns that Earth is protected from other dimensions by a spell formed from three buildings called Sanctums, found in New York City, London, and Hong Kong, which are all connected and accessible from Kamar-Taj. The sorcerers' task is to protect the Sanctums, though Pangborn had forgone this responsibility to instead channel mystical energy into walking again. Strange progresses quickly, and he secretly reads the text from which Kaecilius stole pages, learning to bend time with the mystical Eye of Agamotto. Mordo and Wong warn Strange against breaking the laws of nature, drawing a comparison to Kaecilius' desire for eternal life.
Kaecilius uses the stolen pages to summon the powerful Dormammu of the Dark Dimension, where time is non-existent. Kaecilius destroys the London Sanctum to weaken Earth's protection, and sends Strange from Kamar-Taj to the New York Sanctum. The zealots begin to attack the New York Sanctum, but Strange holds them off with the mystical Cloak of Levitation until Mordo and the Ancient One arrive. Strange and Mordo become disillusioned with the Ancient One after Kaecilius reveals that her long life is drawn from Dormammu's power. Kaecilius mortally wounds the Ancient One and escapes to Hong Kong. Before dying, the Ancient One tells Strange that he, too, will have to break rules to balance Mordo's steadfast nature. Strange and Mordo arrive in Hong Kong to find Wong dead, the Sanctum destroyed, and the Dark Dimension already engulfing Earth. Strange uses the Eye to reverse time and save Wong, then creates an infinite time loop inside the Dark Dimension that traps himself and Dormammu in the same moment forever. After repeatedly killing Strange to no avail, Dormammu finally agrees to leave Earth and take Kaecilius and his zealots with him if Strange undoes the time loop.
Disgusted by Strange and the Ancient One defying nature's laws, Mordo departs. Strange returns the Eye, which Wong calls an Infinity Stone, to Kamar-Taj, and takes up residence in the New York Sanctum to continue his studies. In a mid-credits scene, Strange decides to help Thor, who has brought his brother Loki to Earth to search for their father Odin. In a post-credits scene, Mordo confronts Pangborn and takes away the energy he uses to walk, stating that Earth has "too many sorcerers".
Doctor Zhivago (1965)
Color
Doctor and his wife become involved in the revolution
Doctor Zhivago
"The film takes place mostly against a backdrop of the pre-World War I years, World War I itself, the Russian Revolution of 1917, and the Russian Civil War. A narrative framing device, set in the late 1940s or early 1950s, involves KGB Lieutenant General Yevgraf Andreyevich Zhivago (Alec Guinness) searching for the daughter of his half brother, Doctor Yuri Andreyevich Zhivago (Omar Sharif), and Larissa ("Lara") Antipova (Julie Christie). Yevgraf believes a young woman, Tanya Komarova (Rita Tushingham), may be his niece and tells her the story of her father's life.
When Yuri Zhivago is orphaned after his mother's death in rural Russia, he is taken in by his mother's friends, Alexander (Ralph Richardson) and Anna Gromeko (Siobhan McKenna), and grows up with their daughter Tonya (Geraldine Chaplin) in Moscow.
In 1913, Zhivago, as a medical student in training, but a poet at heart, meets Tonya as she returns to Moscow after a long trip to Paris. Lara, only 17, is involved in an affair with the older and well-connected Victor Ipolitovich Komarovsky (Rod Steiger), a friend of her mother's (Adrienne Corri). That night, the idealistic reformer Pavel Pavlovich ("Pasha") Antipov (Tom Courtenay) drifts into left-wing extremism after being wounded by sabre-wielding Cossacks during a peaceful demonstration. Pasha runs to Lara, whom he wants to marry, to treat his wound. He asks her to hide a gun he picked up at the demonstration. Lara's mother discovers her affair with Komarovsky and attempts suicide. Komarovsky summons help from his physician (Geoffrey Keen), Zhivago's former professor, whom he accompanies back to Lara's home to treat her mother. When Komarovsky learns of Lara's intentions to marry Pasha, he tries to dissuade Lara, and then rapes her. In revenge, Lara takes the pistol she has been hiding for Pasha and shoots Komarovsky at a Christmas Eve party, wounding him. Komarovsky insists no action be taken against Lara, who is escorted out by Pasha. Zhivago tends Komarovsky's wound. Although enraged and devastated by Lara's affair with Komarovsky, Pasha marries Lara, and they have a daughter named Katya.
During World War I, Yevgraf Zhivago is sent by the Bolsheviks to subvert the Imperial Russian Army. Pasha is reported missing in action following a daring charge attack on German forces. Lara enlists as a nurse to search for him. Yuri Zhivago is drafted and becomes a battlefield doctor.
During the February Revolution in 1917, Zhivago enlists Lara's help to tend to the wounded. Together they run a field hospital for six months, during which time radical changes ensue throughout Russia as Vladimir Lenin arrives in Moscow. Before their departure, Yuri and Lara fall in love, but Yuri remains true to Tonya, who is now his wife.
After the war, Yuri returns to his wife Tonya, son Sasha, and Alexander, whose house in Moscow has been divided into tenements by the new Soviet government. Yevgraf, now a member of the CHEKA, informs him his poems have been condemned by Soviet censors as antagonistic to Communism. Yevgraf arranges for passes and documents in order for Yuri and his family to escape from the new political capital of Moscow to the far-away Gromeko estate at Varykino, in the Ural Mountains. Zhivago, Tonya, Sasha, and Alexander board a heavily guarded cattle train, at which time they are informed that they will be travelling through contested territory, which is being secured by the infamous Bolshevik commander named Strelnikov.
While the train is stopped, Zhivago wanders away. He stumbles across the armoured train of Strelnikov sitting on a hidden siding. Yuri is summoned before Strelnikov, whom he recognizes as the former Pasha Antipov. During a tense interview, Strelnikov informs Yuri that his estranged wife Lara is now living in the town of Yuriatin, then occupied by the anti-Communist White Army forces. He permits Zhivago to return to his family, although it is hinted by Strelnikov's right-hand man that most people interrogated by Strelnikov end up being shot.
The family lives a peaceful life in a cottage at the Varykino estate until Zhivago finds Lara in nearby Yuriatin, at which point they surrender to their long-repressed feelings. When Tonya becomes pregnant, Yuri breaks off with Lara, only to be abducted and conscripted into service by Communist partisans.
After two years, Zhivago at last deserts and trudges through the deep snow to Yuriatin where he finds Lara. Lara tells Yuri that Tonya had discovered her while searching for him, and that his family is now in Moscow. She reveals a sealed letter Tonya had mailed to Lara 6 months ago to give to Yuri: Tonya, her father, and their children are being deported and will live in Paris. Yuri and Lara renew their relationship.
One night, Komarovsky arrives and informs them they are being watched by the CHEKA due to Lara's connection by marriage to Strelnikov and Yuri's "counter-revolutionary" poetry and desertion. Komarovsky offers Yuri and Lara his help in leaving Russia. They refuse. Instead, they return to the abandoned Varykino estate, taking up residence in the banned main house, where Yuri begins writing the "Lara" poems. These will later make him famous but also incur government displeasure. Komarovsky reappears and tells Yuri that Strelnikov was captured only five miles away while apparently returning to Lara, but then committed suicide en route to his own execution. Therefore, Lara is in immediate danger of execution herself, as the CHEKA had only left her free to lure Strelnikov out of hiding. Zhivago sends Lara and Katya away with Komarovsky, who has been appointed a government official in the nominally independent Far Eastern Republic of the early 1920s. Refusing to accompany a man he despises, Yuri remains behind to face his fate.
Years later, Yevgraf finds a sick and destitute Yuri in Moscow during the Stalinist era and gives him a new suit and a job. While riding a tram, Yuri spots a woman he surely thinks is Lara walking on a nearby street. Unable to call her from the tram, Yuri struggles to get off at the next stop. Yuri runs after her but suffers a fatal heart attack before he can even signal to her, and the woman walks away oblivious to Yuri's presence. Yuri's funeral is well attended, a surprise to Yevgraf as Yuri's poetry was officially "unattainable at the time". Lara approaches Yevgraf at the funeral, reveals she had given birth to Yuri's daughter, but lost her in the collapse of the White-controlled government in Mongolia. After vainly looking over hundreds of orphans with Yevgraf's help, Lara disappears during Joseph Stalin's Great Purge of the late 1930s, and "died or vanished somewhere...in one of the labour camps," according to Yevgraf.
While Yevgraf strongly feels that Tanya Komarova is Yuri's and Lara's daughter, he is still not convinced. But as Tanya leaves, Yevgraf notices that she carries a balalaika, an instrument that Yuri's mother was renowned for playing. Questioning her further, he learns that Tanya is self-taught--in fact, her fiance proclaims her an 'artist' with the balalaika. Yevgraf smiles, "Ah. Then it's a gift," thereby implying she truly must be Yuri's and Lara's daughter after all.
Dolores Claiborne (1995)
Color
Housekeeper accused of murdering employer
Dolores Claiborne
"In 1995, Dolores Claiborne works as a domestic servant on Little Tall Island in Maine. Dolores has a struggle with her elderly, paralyzed employer, Vera Donovan, in her mansion. Vera falls down the staircase and Dolores ransacks the kitchen. She is caught by a mailman, who sees her standing over Vera with a rolling pin, apparently intending to kill her. Vera dies and the police begin a murder investigation.
Dolores' daughter, Selena St. George, is a successful journalist, living in New York City, who battles depression and substance abuse. Selena arrives in town to support her mother, despite her own doubts about Dolores' innocence. Dolores insists she did not kill her employer. Selena finds little sympathy for Dolores, as the entire town believes she murdered her husband, Joe St. George, almost 20 years earlier. Some of the town's inhabitants harass her by vandalizing her home, taunting her in the street, and driving by her house and screaming at her. Detective John Mackey, who was the chief detective in her husband's murder case, is determined to put Dolores away for life.
Selena also believes Dolores killed her father, and has not spoken to her mother in over a decade. In 1975, Joe was an abusive alcoholic, and one night Dolores had threatened to kill him if he ever harmed her again. Selena, then 13 years old, was unaware her mother was being abused. Dolores went to work as a housemaid for millionaire Vera Donovan in order to raise enough money to pay for Selena's education. Dolores went to the bank to withdraw her money so she and Selena could flee Joe's abuse. The plan backfired, however, when the bank notified Dolores that Joe stole the money from Selena's savings account.
Dolores says Vera threw herself down the staircase and begged Dolores to put her out of her misery. Mackey refuses to believe her, and reveals that Vera has left her entire fortune to Dolores. Mackey informs them the will is eight years old, which nearly convinces Selena her mother is guilty. Dolores eventually tells Selena that before he died, Dolores realized Joe was sexually abusing Selena when he gave her an heirloom locket. Selena has always furiously denied any abuse, and after a fierce argument, she storms out, leaving Dolores to fend for herself.
Back in 1975, Dolores broke down and confessed Joe's abuses to Vera, who remained characteristically cold until Dolores mentioned that he was molesting Selena. Turning unusually sympathetic, Vera implied she killed her own late, unfaithful husband, Jack, and engineered it to look like an accident. Vera's confession formed a bond between the two women and convinced Dolores to take control of her situation. As a total solar eclipse approached, Dolores was pointedly given the rest of the day off by Vera. Dolores and Selena had an argument about Dolores' suspicions regarding Joe's sexual abuse. Selena fled home for the weekend to work at a hotel, where guests had flocked for the eclipse. Joe soon returned from working on a fishing boat, and Dolores offered him a bottle of Scotch to celebrate the eclipse. After Joe got drunk, Dolores revealed she knew he stole from Selena's account and molested his own daughter, then provoked him into attacking her and falling down an old well, leaving him to die as he plunges to the stone bottom.
Selena hears this entire story on a tape left for her by Dolores, who had foreseen her departure. While on the ferry, Selena suddenly uncovers a repressed memory of her father forcing her to give him a handjob. Realizing everything, Selena rushes back to Dolores as she is attending the coroner's inquest. As Mackey makes a case to be sent to a grand jury in an attempt to indict Dolores for murder, Selena arrives and tells him he has no admissible evidence, he is only doing this because of his personal vendetta against Dolores, and that despite an often stormy relationship, Vera and Dolores loved each other. Realizing that the case would likely end with either a dismissal or acquittal, Mackey reluctantly drops the charges. Dolores and Selena reconcile on the ferry wharf before Selena returns to New York.
Donnie Brasco (1997)
Color
FBI agent get involved with mobster he's charged with tracking down
Donnie Brasco
"Starting in 1978, FBI agent Joseph D. Pistone is assigned to infiltrate the New York City--based Bonanno crime family. Calling himself Donnie Brasco and posing as an expert jewel thief from Vero Beach, Florida, he befriends Benjamin "Lefty" Ruggiero, a low-level mob hit man whose personal life is in tatters, and Dominick "Sonny Black" Napolitano, the captain of Lefty's crew.
Lefty cannot make enough money and he is continually passed over for promotion within the crime family. His son is a drug addict. He constantly reminds Brasco of his growing disillusionment with his life after his having spent 30 years as a wiseguy killing 26 people and has little to show for it.
In Donnie, at least, Lefty sees a young protege who might be able to succeed where he failed. He takes Donnie under his wing. Donnie quickly becomes accepted by the other family members, as an "associate" (the lowest Mafia rank describing people who have criminal ties to the Mafia but are not actual members) and is later nearly officially inducted into the mob as a "made man."
The longer Pistone plays the role of a gangster, the more he finds himself actually becoming Donnie Brasco during his rare off-duty hours. His long absences and change in personality drive a wedge between Pistone and his wife and three children. Meanwhile, the slightest mistake in his performance as a mobster could result in death to him and his family.
In addition, Pistone has come to regard Lefty as a close and trusted friend. He knows that when the day finally comes that the FBI arrests his mob associates, he will be ending Lefty's life as surely as if he himself had killed him.
Don't Say a Word (2001)
Color
Shrink must save kidnapped daughter
Don't Say a Word
"In 1991, a gang of thieves steal a rare $10-million gem, but, in the process, two of the gang double-cross their leader, Patrick Koster (Sean Bean) and take off with the precious stone.
Ten years later, on the day before Thanksgiving, prominent private practice Manhattan child psychiatrist, Dr. Nathan R. Conrad (Michael Douglas), is invited by his friend and former colleague, Dr. Louis Sachs (Oliver Platt), to examine a disturbed young lady named Elisabeth Burrows (Brittany Murphy) at the state sanatorium.
Having been released from prison on November 4, Patrick and the remaining gang members break into an apartment which overlooks Nathan's apartment, where he lives with his wife Aggie (Famke Janssen) and daughter Jessie (Skye McCole Bartusiak). That evening, Patrick kidnaps Jessie as a means of forcing Nathan to acquire a six-digit number from Elisabeth's memory. As Nathan visits Elisabeth, she is reluctant at first, but he gains her trust later--especially when he reveals that Jessie has been kidnapped and will be killed if he does not get the number they want. Sachs admits to Nathan that the gang who kidnapped Jessie also kidnapped his girlfriend to force him to acquire the number from Elisabeth. Sachs is then visited by Detective Sandra Cassidy (Jennifer Esposito) who reveals to him that his girlfriend has been found dead. Meanwhile, Aggie hears Jessie's voice and realizes the kidnappers reside in the apartment nearby. The kidnappers send one of them to kill Aggie while the others escape with Jessie, but Aggie sets an ambush and kills him.
After Nathan takes Elisabeth out of the sanatorium, she remembers certain events regarding the gang. It is revealed that Elisabeth's father was a member of the gang that committed the robbery ten years prior and that he double-crossed them and took the stolen gem. However, other members of the gang later found him and ordered him to reveal where he had hidden the gem, subsequently pushing him in front of a subway train. The gang members were arrested immediately, and Elisabeth escaped with her doll in which the gem was hidden. She also remembers that the required number, 815508, is the number of her father's grave at Hart Island and that her doll is placed beside him in the coffin. She explains that she had stowed away on a boat that was taking her father's coffin for burial in Potter's field on Hart Island, where the gravediggers put the doll, named Mischka, inside.
Nathan and Elisabeth steal a boat to reach Hart Island. The gang members track them down and demand that Nathan give them the number they want. Elisabeth reveals the number and Patrick orders his companion to exhume her father's coffin after releasing Jessie. He finds the doll and the gem hidden inside it. He then decides to kill Nathan and Elisabeth, but Cassidy arrives before he can shoot them. Patrick's companion is shot by Cassidy, but Patrick manages to wound her. Taking advantage of the confusion, Nathan takes the gem from Patrick and throws it to a nearby excavation machine. Patrick goes to recover the gem, but Nathan triggers the mechanism which covers Patrick with earth, burying him alive. Nathan reunites with Aggie and Jessie, and invites Elisabeth to live with them.
Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead (1991)
Color
17 year old becomes fashion executive
Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead
"Sue Ellen Crandell is a 17-year old high school graduate who, due to lack of funds cannot go to Europe for the summer with her friends. Sue Ellen remains optimistic about a summer of freedom with her siblings: stoner Kenny, tomboy Melissa, ladies man Zach and TV fanatic Walter while their mother travels to Australia. Much to Sue Ellen's dismay, her mother hires a live-in babysitter, Mrs. Sturak, a seemingly sweet, humble old woman who assures Mrs. Crandell that she can take care of all five children. Eventually, Sue Ellen and her siblings find that Mrs. Sturak had died in her sleep. Instead of telling the authorities and their mother (which would ruin their summer), they agree to stuff the babysitter in a trunk and drop her off at a local funeral home, with a note attached reading "Nice old lady inside, died of natural causes". They discover that the envelope given to Mrs Sturak by their mother with their summer money is empty, and she had it on her person when they delivered her to the funeral home.
With no money to pay the family's bills, Sue Ellen finds work at a fast food restaurant called Clown Dog. Despite a budding relationship with an attractive co-worker named Bryan, she quits because of the obnoxious manager. Sue Ellen then forges a resume under the guise of a young fashion designer and applies at General Apparel West (GAW), hoping to secure a job as a receptionist. However, Rose Lindsey, a company executive, finds her resume so impressive that she offers Sue Ellen a job as Rose's executive administrative assistant, much to the chagrin of Carolyn, a receptionist on Rose's floor who was initially in line for the job.
At GAW, Sue Ellen has to balance the adult responsibilities thrust upon her while still trying to enjoy herself as a teenager. The double life causes a strain on her relationship with Bryan when she discovers that he and Carolyn are brother and sister.
Sue Ellen finds herself tested when she learns that GAW is in danger of going out of business. She takes it upon herself to create a new clothing line and Rose suggests holding a fashion show to exhibit their new designs. Sue Ellen offers to host the party, convincing her siblings to help clean up the house and act as caterers. Although she manages to pull off the party, it comes to an end when Bryan unexpectedly shows up to apologize for their breakup, shortly followed by Mrs. Crandell herself, who has come home early from Australia. With her cover blown, Sue Ellen has no choice but to confess the truth in front of everyone.
While apologizing to Rose after the party, Sue Ellen learns that her unique designs had saved GAW. Rose then offers the real Sue Ellen the job as her personal assistant, which she respectfully declines in favor of going to college first.
In the end, Sue Ellen and Bryan make up, but are soon interrupted by Mrs. Crandell, who inquires about Mrs. Sturak's whereabouts. As the credits roll, the scene cuts away to the cemetery, where two morticians look over a gravestone that reads "Nice Old Lady Inside, Died of Natural Causes".
Double Indemnity (1944)
Black & White
Insurance agent and wife plot the perfect murder
Double Indemnity
"Walter Neff (Fred MacMurray), a successful insurance salesman, returns to his office building in downtown Los Angeles late one night. Visibly in pain, he begins dictating a confession into a Dictaphone for his friend and colleague, Barton Keyes (Edward G. Robinson), a brilliant claims adjuster. The story, told primarily in flashback, ensues.
Neff first meets the alluring Phyllis Dietrichson (Barbara Stanwyck) during a routine house call to remind her husband that his automobile insurance policy is up for renewal. They flirt, until Phyllis asks how she could take out an accident policy on her husband's life without his knowledge. Neff deduces she is contemplating murder, and makes it clear he wants no part of it.
However, he cannot get her out of his mind, and when Phyllis shows up at his own home, he cannot resist her any longer. Neff knows all the tricks of his trade and devises a plan to make the murder of her husband appear to be an accidental fall from a train that will trigger the "double indemnity" clause and pay out twice the policy's face value.
After Dietrichson breaks his leg, Phyllis drives him to the train station for his trip to Palo Alto for a college reunion. Neff is hiding in the backseat and kills Dietrichson when Phyllis turns onto a deserted side street. Then, Neff boards the train posing as the victim and using his crutches. He makes his way to the last car, the observation car, and steps outside to the open platform to supposedly smoke. A complication ensues when he finds a man named Jackson (Porter Hall) there, but he manages to get Jackson to leave. Neff then jumps off at a prearranged spot, and he and Phyllis place Dietrichson's body on the tracks.
Mr. Norton, the company's chief, believes the death was suicide, but Keyes scoffs at the idea, quoting statistics indicating the improbability of suicide by jumping off a slow-moving train, to Neff's hidden delight. Keyes does not suspect foul play at first, but his instincts - the "little man" in his chest - start nagging at him. He wonders why Dietrichson did not file a claim for his broken leg, and deduces he did not know about the policy. He eventually concludes that Phyllis and some unknown accomplice murdered him.
Keyes, however, is not Neff's only worry. The victim's daughter, Lola (Jean Heather), comes to him, convinced that stepmother Phyllis is behind her father's death: Lola's mother also died under suspicious circumstances -- while Phyllis was her nurse. Neff begins seeing Lola, at first to keep her from going to the police with her suspicions and then because he is plagued by guilt and a sense of responsibility for her.
Keyes brings Jackson to Los Angeles. After examining photographs of Dietrichson, Jackson is sure the man he met was not the 51-year-old, but someone about 15 years younger. Keyes is eager to reject the claim and force Phyllis to sue. Neff warns Phyllis not to go to court and admits he has been talking to Lola about her past. Lola eventually tells him she has discovered her boyfriend, the hotheaded Nino Zachetti (Byron Barr), has been seeing Phyllis behind her (and Neff's) back.
When Keyes informs Neff that he suspects Nino of being Phyllis's accomplice (Nino has been spotted repeatedly visiting Phyllis at night), Neff sees a way out of his predicament. He arranges to meet Phyllis at her house. He informs her that he knows about her involvement with Nino, and guesses that she is planning to have the other man kill him. He tells her that he intends to kill her and put the blame on Nino. She is prepared, however, and shoots him in the shoulder. Wounded but still standing, he slowly comes closer and dares her to shoot again. She does not, and he takes the gun from her. She says she never loved him "until a minute ago, when I couldn't fire that second shot." She hugs him tightly, but then pulls away when she feels the gun pressed against her. Neff says, "Goodbye, baby," and shoots twice, killing her.
Outside, Neff waits for Nino to arrive (something Neff had orchestrated). Neff advises him not to enter the house and instead go to "the woman who truly loves you": Lola. Nino is reluctantly convinced and leaves.
Neff drives to his office and starts speaking into his Dictaphone, as seen at the film's opening. Keyes arrives unnoticed and hears enough to know the truth. Neff tells Keyes he is going to Mexico rather than face the gas chamber, but sags to the floor before he can reach the elevator. Keyes, who throughout the film has had a kind of paternal affection toward Neff, sadly tells him, "Walter, you're all washed up."
Down to Earth (2001)
Color
Black Comedian dies and comes back as white billionaire
Down to Earth
"Lance Barton (Chris Rock) is a struggling comedian who is quite funny and confident in his personality, but is unable to bring his talent across in front of an audience. After being booed off stage one night he hears about an opportunity from his manager, Whitney Daniels (Frankie Faison), at the Apollo Theater, which is having a goodbye show due to its imminent closing. He is hoping to get a chance to prove himself in front of a real audience, when on his way home riding a bike Lance is distracted by Sontee Jenkins (Regina King). Not paying attention, he is hit by a semi truck and is instantly killed. Because of this, Lance is brought up to Heaven where he meets the angels, King (Chazz Palminteri) and Keyes (Eugene Levy) who reveal that Lance has died before his time, and can help Lance return to Earth.
Lance and King then start searching for a body. After sorting through many, they find Charles Wellington III, (Brian Rhodes III) an extremely rich businessman freshly drowned in his tub by his wife (Jennifer Coolidge) and assistant, Winston Sklar (Greg Germann). Lance wants nothing to do with the body until he discovers that Sontee, the girl he saw when he was Lance, is protesting Charles by handcuffing herself to a coffee table in his penthouse, demanding Charles' presence. Lance sees this as a chance to get to know her, but he is reluctant to permanently be Charles. Accordingly, he makes a deal with King to loan Charles' body until a more suitable body is found. Soon after, Charles returns from death, but with the witty soul of Lance Barton inside him. Only he and the angels can see him as Lance. Everybody else sees him as the middle-aged, rich, Caucasian Charles.
Very unpopular in the past, the public and those closest to Charles start to notice a change in his personality. He transforms from a snobbish billionaire into a homely philanthropist. Despite recent events he continues to follow his comedy dreams through Charles, contacting his old manager Whitney and convincing him that he is Lance reincarnated. Through many humorous moments and issues, he gets Sontee to fall in love with him.
All too soon, Charles' wife and Sklar's plans to murder him succeed as he is shot and killed by a hired assassin. Fulfilling the deal Lance and King set up earlier, King and Keys then send Lance to return yet again to Earth as Joe Guy, a great comedian and more acceptable candidate who will die in a car accident. Joe returns from this accident unscathed, now with Lance's soul. After pulling off a successful performance at the Apollo and reconnecting with Whitney, King and Keyes re-emerge. They inform him that after their current conversation, he will not remember them, Lance, Charles or Sontee. As said, after the angels leave he no longer remembers the previous events or his previous lives. Even though he has lost his memory of Lance, he still has the characteristics of him. In result, he reconnects with Whitney again and proceeds in getting Sontee to fall in love with him all over again, after meeting her in the theater for the first time as Joe Guy.
Dr. Strangelove (1964)
Black & White
Mad Man launches nuclear attack on Russia
Dr. Strangelove
"United States Air Force Brigadier General Jack D. Ripper is commander of Burpelson Air Force Base, which houses the SAC 843rd Bomb Group equipped with B-52 bombers. The 843rd is currently on airborne alert, in flight just hours from the Soviet border.
Ripper orders his executive officer, Group Captain Lionel Mandrake of the RAF, to put the base on alert, asserting that it is not a drill. He also instructs Mandrake to issue Wing Attack Plan R to the aircraft. The alert is sent to the patrolling aircraft, including one piloted by Aircraft commander Major T. J. "King" Kong and his crew. All the aircraft commence an attack flight on Russia, and lock out unauthorized external communications through the CRM 114 Discriminator.
Mandrake discovers that no order for war has been received, and tries to stop Ripper, who locks them both in his office. Ripper reveals to Mandrake that he believes the Soviets have been using fluoridation of United States' water supplies to pollute the "precious bodily fluids" of Americans.
At the Pentagon, General Buck Turgidson briefs President Merkin Muffley in the "War Room" along with several other top officers and aides about the attack. Muffley is shocked to learn that such orders could be given without his authorization, but Turgidson reminds him that the issued Plan R allowed such an action as a way of defending against a Soviet first-strike attack on Washington D.C. Turgidson reports that his men are trying to cycle through every CRM code to issue the stand-down order but this could take over two days. Muffley orders Turgidson to storm the base and seize Ripper, though Turgidson warns that Ripper may have already alerted his men to this possibility.
Gen. Turgidson attempts to convince Muffley to let the attack continue, as their first strike on the Soviets would wipe out the majority of the Soviet missiles, and the little they could retaliate with would only cost a few million American lives. Muffley refuses, and instead brings in the Soviet ambassador Alexei de Sadeski (Peter Bull) to get Soviet premier Dimitri Kisov on the "Hot Line". The President alerts the Premier, who is drunk, to the situation, and authorizes the USSR to fire upon the US planes to stop the attack.
After a heated discussion, the ambassador explains that the Soviet Union has created a doomsday device consisting of 50 buried bombs with "Cobalt Thorium G" set to detonate should any nuclear attack strike their country; the Soviets had conceived of this after reading a New York Times article claiming the United States was also working on such a device. The President's wheelchair-bound scientific advisor, former Nazi Dr. Strangelove, is skeptical, noting that a doomsday device would only be an effective deterrent if everyone knew about it. Sadeski admits they had plans to reveal its existence the following week at a Soviet party conference, in honor of the Premier "who loves surprises."
U.S. Army airborne forces arrive at Burpelson, but as predicted, the base's troops consider the troops to be Soviets in disguise and open fire. Despite many casualties, the Army forces eventually overtake the base. Before he can be restrained, Ripper shoots himself. Colonel "Bat" Guano forces his way into Ripper's office. He initially suspects Mandrake of being an enemy, but Mandrake convinces him otherwise.
Mandrake identifies the proper CRM code from Ripper's desk blotter doodles, and SAC is able to contact the bomber planes and send them away from Soviet air space. The War Room celebrates. However, Sadeski reports that of the four planes that the Soviets had believed shot down, they cannot account for one of them - that of Major Kong. A surface to air missile had ruptured the fuel tank and caused the CRM aboard Kong's plane to self-destruct, leaving the crew no way to receive the counter-order. President Muffley gives the plane's original destination to the Soviets, to allow them to concentrate on finding it. However, due to the fuel loss, Major Kong has changed the destination to a closer high-priority target, an ICBM complex at Kodlosk.
On approaching the new target, the crew discovers that the bomb release mechanism has been damaged. Major Kong repairs the damage, but ends up falling out of the plane along with the bomb; he straddles the bomb and rides it like a rodeo cowboy as it falls and detonates.
While discussing the after-effects of the activation of the doomsday device, Sadeski notes that, within ten months, the surface of the earth will be uninhabitable. Dr. Strangelove recommends that the President gather several hundreds of thousands of people, with a high female-to-male ratio, to live in deep mineshafts in order to escape the radiation, and to then institute a breeding program to allow the United States to repopulate the surface after a hundred years have passed. Gen. Turgidson warns that the Soviets will likely do the same, and worries about a "mineshaft gap".
At this point, Dr. Strangelove suddenly shouts that he has a plan, and miraculously gets up from his wheelchair, takes a few halting steps and shouts, "Mein F?hrer! I can walk!" The film then cuts to a montage of nuclear detonations, accompanied by Vera Lynn's recording of "We'll Meet Again", indicating the end of the world in a nuclear holocaust.
Drum Line (2002)
Color
Harlem street drummer enrolls in Southern university expecting to lead the maching band
Drum Line
"The story revolves around Devon Miles, a teen who has just graduated from high school in New York City. Upon graduating, Devon heads to Atlanta, Georgia to attend Atlanta A&T University, a historically black college that takes enormous pride in its marching band. En route to A&T, Devon befriends fellow band mates Charles, Jayson, and Ernest. Devon was personally invited to attend on full scholarship by Dr. Lee, head of the band, for his prodigious talents. The A&T band separates itself from its competitors by requiring all members to read music, by focusing on various styles of music rather than what is currently popular on the radio, and by dedication to the teamwork emphasized "one band, one sound" concept. Preseason band camp is physically and mentally challenging, designed to push members past what they previously thought were their limits. At the end of preseason, the musicians audition for spots on the field, and Devon is the only freshman to make P1, the highest level player. While going through his rigorous process, Devon also finds time to romance an upperclassman dancer, Laila.
College life starts well for Devon, as he has a girlfriend and a spot on the field. Things begin to sour when Sean, Devon's percussion leader, begins to grow weary of Devon's cocky attitude. Sean later challenges Devon to take a solo in his first game, believing the freshman will panic and be embarrassed in front of everyone. Sean is shocked when Devon takes the solo and is subsequently humiliated. This sets up some tension in the drumline which is exacerbated when Dr. Lee is told by President Wagner, the school's president, to change his focus from music to entertainment, otherwise he could potentially lose his funding. Lee does not want to give Devon more playing time because he feels Devon's attitude and respect are lacking. The situation further deteriorates when it is revealed that Devon cannot read music. Devon is demoted to P4 by Dr. Lee until he learns, then later put back on P1 when Wagner pressures Dr. Lee to do so. However, after inflaming a melee with a visiting band at A&T's homecoming game after Devon plays on a opposing band member's drum (a serious insult in drumline mythos), Devon is expelled from the band by Dr. Lee. The fight also harms his relationship with Laila, as she is embarrassed to introduce him to her parents, who attended the game.
Devon contacts A&T's rival school Morris Brown College, to discuss playing for their band next season. Mr. Wade, Brown's band leader, says that Devon does not need to know how to read music and will likely get a full scholarship and a good position on the drumline. When Wade wants to know what Dr. Lee is planning for the BET Big Southern Classic (a large competition of college bands), Devon realizes Mr. Wade was merely using him to steal A&T's performance ideas and that his heart and honor are still with the A&T band. Disgusted with Mr. Wade and himself, he rejects the scholarship offer from the rival band and returns to A&T.
Though Devon is still not playing for the band, he cannot give up his drumming. After receiving cassette tapes from his estranged father, Devon gets some ideas for new drum arrangements. He and Sean have a final confrontation that clears the air and they begin to work together. The two present their idea for an entrance cadence to Dr. Lee who decides they will be used during the Classic. Devon helps the drumline prepare and patches up his relationship with Laila. In appreciation for all his help getting the band ready for the Classic, Dr. Lee tells Devon he can return to the band the following school year.
At the Classic, the bands are shown performing a mixture of popular songs. Morris Brown's band even gets rapper Petey Pablo to perform during their routine. A&T is not fazed by this and performs their mix of retro and current sounds. A tie results in the Morris Brown and A&T drumlines facing off against each other. Dr. Lee allows Devon to play for this face-off, showing his faith in Devon's improved character and in thanks for all the hard work he has done in getting the band ready for the Classic. Morris Brown goes first and A&T responds. Morris Brown's second cadence includes their snares moving forward and playing on the A&T drums (the same move that incited the fight at A&T's homecoming game), then throwing down their sticks. The A&T line manages to hold their composure in the face of the insult. They play their cadence and in the middle throw down their sticks, mimicking the Morris Brown actions, but then the entire line pulls out another set of sticks and continues playing. They end their routine in the faces of the Morris Brown drumline, but instead of playing on their drums, the line all drop their sticks onto the other drumline's drums. The judges award the win to A&T.
Duplicity (2009)
Color
Corporate spies all double crossing each other
Duplicity
"The film opens five years before the present day, showing the Fourth of July celebration at the American consulate in Dubai, where Ray Koval (Clive Owen), an MI6 agent, appears to seduce Claire Stenwick (Julia Roberts), who, unbeknownst to him, is a CIA agent. Claire drugs Ray and steals classified documents from him.
The scene cuts to a silent, slow motion brawl on the tarmac between Howard Tully (Tom Wilkinson), the CEO of Burkett & Randle, and Dick Garsik (Paul Giamatti), the CEO of Equikrom, illustrating the longstanding rivalry between the two executives.
In the present day, Ray is now a corporate spy in New York City who recently went to work for Equikrom. At a meet, he spots Claire and thinks the mission is blown. Ray follows her and confronts her about the incident in Dubai. Claire puts on an innocent act, pretending she has never met Ray, until they both realize they were supposed to meet. Claire has been working undercover for Equikrom at Burkett & Randle for the past 14 months, and Ray is to be her new handler.
At Burkett & Randle a major development is underfoot, and Tully makes a speech that paints them as innovators defending themselves from duplicity and theft. At Equikrom, Garsik obtains a copy of the speech through Claire and plots to steal whatever Burkett & Randle has developed.
The scene cuts to two years earlier in Rome, where we see Ray and Claire again meeting for the "first" time since Dubai, replaying the same dialog as in NYC. The audience learns that Ray and Claire did not meet at Equikrom by chance--they plan to cheat both companies and sell a corporate secret to the highest bidder. However, neither still completely trusts the other, nor knows who is playing whom.
The team at Equikrom believes Ronny Partiz (Denham), a child prodigy turned genius, might be responsible for Burkett & Randle's new product. Ray and Boris Fetyov (Oleg Stefan) stake out Partiz at a casino in the Bahamas, where Claire and Jeff Bauer (Thomas McCarthy) from Burkett & Randle foil their plans by planting evidence of them cheating the casino.
In return, Tully at Burkett & Randle thanks Claire for successfully defending the company's new product, revealing it to be a cure for baldness. When Bauer is later caught attempting to steal the formula and Claire is left guarding him and the formula by herself, she uses one of the rigged photocopiers at Burkett & Randle to transfer it to Equikrom.
Back at Equikrom, Claire accuses Ray of stealing the formula for himself. He is searched and exposed when it is found. Claire waits at the Z?rich airport in Switzerland and when Ray arrives, it is revealed that Claire and Ray were only putting on an act at Equikrom. Each pretends at first they don't have the formula and then Claire confesses she loves Ray and says they are each the only one who can ever understand the other. Claire proposes they each reveal what they have on the count of three but Ray says he loves Claire back by saying first that he had another copy of the formula. Claire admits that she had it too, creating real trust for the first time.
Ray and Claire attempt to sell the formula to a Swiss company for $35 million. Meanwhile, Garsik tells his shareholders that they are in the final stages of testing for a product that cures baldness. The Swiss, however, say the formula is a fraud. The scene cuts to ten days earlier, where Claire and Ray were practicing the act they would present when it was revealed that Ray would be Claire's handler. Unbeknownst to them, there was a hidden microphone in their room monitoring them. From the beginning, Claire and Ray were being played by Tully and his people. Pam Frailes (Kathleen Chalfant) from Equikrom was really working for Burkett & Randle all along, Partiz was used as the bait, Bauer staged stealing the formula, and the formula never existed at all. It was all a trick to get Garsik to announce he had a revolutionary product, which was in fact just a regular skin cream, and which would ruin Garsik and Equikrom. The film ends with Ray and Claire realizing they have been played by Tully.
Dying Young (1991)
Color
Dying man hires nurse to care for him and falls in love with her
Dying Young
"Hilary O'Neil (Julia Roberts) is a pretty, outgoing yet cautious young woman who has had little luck in work or love. After recently parting ways with her boyfriend when she caught him cheating, Hilary finds herself living with her eccentric mother (Ellen Burstyn).
One day, Hilary answers an ad in a newspaper for a nurse only to find herself being escorted out before the interview starts.
Victor Geddes (Campbell Scott) is a well-educated, rich, and shy 28 year-old. As the film progresses, Victor's health worsens progressively, due to leukemia. Despite his father's protests, Victor hires Hilary to be his live-in caretaker while he undergoes a traumatic course of chemotherapy. Hillary becomes insecure of her ability to care for Victor after her first exposure to the side effects of his chemotherapy treatment. She studies about leukemia and stocks healthier food in the kitchen.
He is "finished" with his chemotherapy and suggests they take a vacation to the coast. They rent a house and she begins to feel that she's no longer needed to care for him. They fall in love and continue living at the coast.
He's hiding his use of morphine to kill the pain. During dinner with one of the friends they made there Victor starts acting aggressively and irrationally. Victor collapses and is helped to bed. She searches the garbage and discovers his used syringes. She confronts him and he admits he wasn't finished with his chemotherapy. He explains that he wants quality in his life and she says that he's been lying to her.
She calls his Father and he comes to take him home but he wants to stay for one last (Christmas) party. Hilary and Victor reconnect at the party and he tells her that he is leaving with his father to go back to the hospital in the morning. After speaking with Victor's father who says Victor wants to spend one night alone before leaving, Hilary goes back to the house they rented only to find Victor packing clothes, ready to run away and not go with his father to the hospital. Hilary confronts him about running away and Victor admits that he's afraid of hoping. At this confession, Hilary finally tells Victor she loves him and they then decide to go back to the hospital where he will fight for his life with Hilary. The last frame of the movie shows Victor and Hilary leaving the house, which has a small picture of Gustav Klimt's "Adam and Eve" (the first painting Victor shows Hilary) in the window.
East of Eden (1955)
Color
Story of father and 2 sons during the war
East of Eden
"The story is set in 1917, before and during American involvement in World War I, in the central California coastal towns of Monterey and Salinas. Cal (James Dean) and Aron (Richard Davalos) are the sons of a modestly successful farmer and wartime draft board chairman named Adam Trask (Raymond Massey). Cal is moody and embittered by his belief that his father favors Aron. Although both Cal and Aron had long been led to believe that their mother had died "and gone to heaven", the opening scene reveals that Cal has apparently learned that his mother is still alive, owning and running a successful brothel in nearby Monterey.
After the father's idealistic plans for a long-haul vegetable shipping business venture end in a loss of thousands of dollars, Cal decides to enter the bean-growing business, as a way of recouping the money his father lost in the vegetable shipping venture. He is advised that if the United States enters the war, the price of beans will skyrocket. Cal hopes this will finally earn him the love and respect of his father. He goes to his mother Kate (Jo Van Fleet) to ask to borrow the capital he needs. She reluctantly lends him $5,000.
Meanwhile, Aron's girlfriend Abra (Julie Harris) gradually finds herself attracted to Cal, who seems to reciprocate her feelings.
Cal's business goes well, and he decides to give the money to Adam at a surprise birthday party for his father, which he and Abra plan together. As the party gets underway, Aron suddenly announces that he and Abra are engaged. While Adam is openly pleased with the news, both Abra and Cal are uneasy, having recently discovered a mutual attraction for one another is emerging, despite their suppressed feelings. Cal makes a surprise birthday present of the money to his father; however, Adam refuses to accept any money earned by what he regards as war profiteering. Cal does not understand, and sees his father's refusal to accept the gift as just another emotional rejection. When the distraught Cal leaves the room, Abra goes after him, to console him as best she can. Aron follows and orders Cal to stay away from her.
In anger, Cal takes his brother to see their mother, then returns home alone. When his father demands to know where his brother is, Cal tells him. The shock drives Aron to get drunk and board a troop train to enlist in the army. When Sam (Burl Ives), the sheriff, brings the news, Adam rushes to the train station in an attempt to dissuade him, but can only watch helplessly as his son steams away from him with his head out the rail car window, maniacally laughing at him.
Adam suffers a stroke because of the incredible strain, leaving him paralyzed and unable to communicate. Cal and Abra enter the bedroom. Cal tries to talk to him, but gets no response and leaves the bedroom leaving Abra alone with Adam. Abra pleads with Adam to show Cal some affection before it is too late. She persuades Cal to go back into the room. When Cal makes his last bid for acceptance before leaving town, his father manages to speak. He tells his son to get rid of the annoying nurse and not to get anyone else, but to stay and take care of him himself. The film ends with Cal and Abra sitting by Adam's bedside.
Eastern Promises (2007)
Color
Russian mobster covers up rape of girl who died in childbirth
Eastern Promises
"Anna Khitrova (Naomi Watts), a British-Russian midwife at a London hospital, finds a Russian-language diary on the body of Tatiana, a 14-year-old girl who dies in childbirth. She also finds a card for the Trans-Siberian restaurant, which is owned by Semyon (Armin Mueller-Stahl), an old vor in the Russian Mafia. Anna thus sets out to track down the girl's family so that she can find a home for the baby girl, having meetings with Semyon who she initially regards as friendly. Anna's mother Helen (Sinead Cusack) does not discourage her, but Anna's Ukrainian uncle and self-described former KGB officer, Stepan (Jerzy Skolimowski), whom Anna asks for help with the translation of the diary, urges caution. Through translation of the diary, Anna comes to learn that Semyon and his unstable son Kirill (Vincent Cassel), had abused the girl, addicted her to heroin, forced her into prostitution and raped her. Ultimately Anna realises that the baby was fathered by Semyon.
Semyon's driver is Nikolai Luzhin (Viggo Mortensen), who also serves as the family cleaner, dumping murdered bodies in the River Thames. Through Nikolai, Semyon, fearing prosecution, promises to give the location of the girl's family to Anna if she hands back the diary. Nikolai takes the diary but does not give a location, instead later urging Anna to keep the baby in the UK as the girl's home is a bad village to grow up in. Semyon distrusts Anna's uncle Stepan due to his former position and ethnicity, ordering a hit on him. Nikolai accepts and soon Stepan goes missing. As Nikolai's star rises within the vory, an impressed Semyon sponsors him as a full member, with the appropriate tattoos, due in part to Nikolai's protection of Semyon's incompetent son who authorized a hit on a rival Chechen vory leader with the help of a Kurdish associate, Azim. The hit was not approved by Semyon and was ill-advised as the Chechen gang soon arrive to London seeking vengeance and kill Azim's nephew who had also been involved in the hit. Semyon hatches a plan to trick Nikolai into temporarily taking Kirill's place during a meeting at the baths with Azim. The Chechens attack, thinking Nikolai is Kirill, but Nikolai kills them both and ends up in hospital with severe wounds as a result.
It is then revealed that Nikolai is actually an FSB agent who has infiltrated the gang, working under license by the British Government and a Senior Officer (Rhodri Wyn Miles). As part of his undercover duties, Nikolai was able to read Tatiana's diary before Semyon had it destroyed and hatched a plan to have Semyon arrested for statutory rape, with a paternity test of the Tatiana's baby as evidence. Stepan is also safe, hiding in a 5-star hotel in Edinburgh for protection. Semyon orders Kirill to kidnap the baby girl and kill her but as Kirill sits by the Thames, almost unable to throw the little girl into the river, Nikolai and Anna find him and persuade him to give the baby back. Nikolai and Kirill embrace as Nikolai tells him that his father is finished and they are now the bosses. Nikolai and Anna then kiss as they part for the last time. Nikolai succeeds Semyon's place as boss of the organization and Anna gains custody of Tatiana's baby, whom she raises as Christine.
Easy Rider (1969)
Color
Hippies clash with Rednecks
Easy Rider
"Wyatt (Peter Fonda) and Billy (Dennis Hopper) are freewheeling motorcyclists. After smuggling cocaine from Mexico to Los Angeles, they sell their haul and receive a large sum. 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 and his family. Later, Wyatt picks up a hippyish hitch-hiker, and he invites them to visit his commune, where they stay for the rest of the day. The notion of "free love" appears to be practiced, with two of the women, Lisa and Sarah, seemingly sharing the affections of the hitch-hiking commune member before turning their attention to Wyatt and Billy. As the bikers leave, the hitch-hiker gives Wyatt some LSD for him to share with "the right people".
Later, while riding along with a parade in a small town, the pair are arrested for "parading without a permit" and thrown in jail. There, they befriend ACLU lawyer 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 it due to the gateway drug theory but quickly relents.
Stopping to eat at a small-town Louisiana diner, the trio attracts the attention of the locals. The girls in the restaurant think they are exciting, but the local men and a police officer make denigrating comments and taunts. Wyatt, Billy, and George decide to leave without any fuss. They make camp outside town. 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 in his sleeping bag, gather his belongings, and vow to return the items to his family.
They continue to New Orleans and find a brothel George had told them about. Taking prostitutes Karen and Mary with them, Wyatt and Billy wander the parade-filled streets of the Mardi Gras celebration. They end up in a cemetery, where all four ingest the LSD the hitch-hiker had given to Wyatt and experience a bad trip.
The next morning, as they are overtaken on a two-lane country road by an old pickup truck, the passenger in the truck reaches for a shotgun, saying he will scare them. As they pass Billy, the passenger fires, and Billy has a lowside crash. Wyatt rides down the road towards the pickup as it makes a u-turn. Passing in the opposite direction, the passenger fires the shotgun out the window. The gunshot is shown as a red blotch that fills the screen, followed by a reverse cut of the riderless motorcycle, flying through the air before landing and becoming engulfed in flames while Wyatt lies motionless on the side of the road behind the wreck.
Eat, Pray, Love (2010)
Color
Woman embarks on journey to find herself
Eat, Pray, Love
Elizabeth Gilbert (Julia Roberts) had everything a modern woman is supposed to dream of having - a husband, a house, a successful career - yet like so many others, she found herself lost, confused, and searching for what she really wanted in life. Newly divorced and at a crossroads, Gilbert steps out of her comfort zone, risking everything to change her life, embarking on a journey around the world that becomes a quest for self-discovery. In her travels, she discovers the true pleasure of nourishment by eating in Italy; the power of prayer in India, and, finally and unexpectedly, the inner peace and balance of true love in Bali, Indonesia.
Edge of Darkness (2010)
Color
Man fights to uncover nuclear bomb facility
Edge of Darkness
"By moonlight, three bodies float to the surface of the Western Massachusetts stretch of the Connecticut River. At South Station, Boston, Thomas Craven (Mel Gibson) picks up his daughter, Emma (Bojana Novakovic), who has returned home to visit. She vomits while getting into the car. At home, as Craven prepares a meal, Emma starts to nosebleed and vomits again, and becomes frantic, saying that she needs to see a doctor and tell him something. When they stop at the porch, as they hurriedly leave to find a hospital, a masked gunman yells "Craven!" and then fires simultaneous shotgun blasts at Emma before driving away. Blasted through the door, she dies in Craven's arms.
At first, everyone believes that Craven, a homicide detective for the Boston Police Department, was the gunman's target, but when Craven finds Emma had a .45 pistol in her night stand, he starts to suspect that Emma was an intended target. At the police station, he checks the ownership of the pistol and finds that it belongs to her boyfriend David (Shawn Roberts). David is living in fear of a nearby company called Northmoor, where Emma worked, and Craven makes a discovery: Emma found out that Northmoor, a research and development facility under contract to the U.S. government, was secretly manufacturing nuclear weapons using foreign material and foreign specifications. It was intended to be traced to foreign nations if they are used as dirty bombs. Following the failed break-in of the activists seen dead at the opening, Emma was poisoned with thallium through a bottle of organic milk. Burning her clothing in his backyard, Craven encounters Jedburgh (Ray Winstone), a British "consultant" tasked with preventing Craven from discovering Emma's information, or killing him. Jedburgh instead takes a liking to Craven, and leaves him to investigate. David is later killed. Throughout the film, Craven repeatedly imagines he hears and sees his daughter, even having short conversations and interactions with her (as the happy young child he remembers and loves).
Craven also has several encounters with Northmoor agents, and he eventually discovers through one of Emma's friends, another activist who is nearly killed by another of Northmoor's agents, that Jack Bennett (Danny Huston), head of Northmoor, ordered the murder of his daughter, as well as the activists Emma was working with to steal evidence of the illegal nuclear weapons. Northmoor personnel kill a hitman marked as a fall guy after he is set up for killing Emma. Craven confronts lawyer and Massachusetts U.S. Senator Jim Pine (Damian Young), contacted earlier by Emma, revealing that they know almost everything that happened. At night, Craven's fellow detective and friend, Bill (Jay O. Sanders), talks to Craven at his home while the Northmoor agents break into the house. Craven realizes that Bill set him up, and the agents taser and kidnap him, taking him to Northmoor. Craven, upon waking up handcuffed to a gurney, manages to quickly escape the facility and returns home.
His health deteriorating rapidly from the poison, Craven arrives at Bennett's house and kills the agents, one of whom Craven realizes is the man who shot his daughter. After he orders him at gunpoint to scream the name "Craven", he executes his daughter's killer. Bennett shoots Craven, but Craven tackles Bennett and pulls out the radioactive milk. He forces it down Bennett's throat and collapses. A gagging Bennett frantically runs to his cabinet to get pills to counteract the radioactivity, but Craven drags himself over and shoots Bennett in the throat, killing him.
Craven is hospitalized for the gunshot wounds and radiation poisoning. Jedburgh, who is revealed to be suffering from an unrelated terminal illness, meets the Senator (for whom he had been working) and the two political advisors who assigned Jedburgh to eliminate Craven. He listens to their suggestions as to how to play the Northmoor incident in a positive light. He tells them that he is done and then suggests an assassination attempt on the Senator should be the feature story, to drive Bennett's death out of the tabloids. They are happy to go along with the story until Jedburgh coldly tells the senator that he is on the wrong side of the equation. As the meeting ends, Jedburgh abruptly pulls out a gun and shoots both advisors, and then the senator dead, before a young Massachusetts State Police officer enters (the meeting is at the Senator's home). Jedburgh points his gun at the officer and asks if the young man has a family and kids. The officer says yes; Jedburgh contemplates shooting the officer, and thus ultimately becoming like those who he sought to stop, lowers his gun to face his death as an honorable man. He is immediately shot dead by the officer.
As Craven lies dying in the hospital, a young reporter for the local FOX TV station WFXT, who spoke to Craven a few nights earlier at his home, opens a letter from him with DVDs (recorded by Emma) revealing the conspiracy, with Craven's "good luck" wishes, ensuring Northmoor's end. As Craven dies, Emma, in spirit form, comforts him. The father and daughter are shown leaving the hospital together, walking down the corridor and toward a bright, white light.
Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007)
Color
Elizabeth's tempestuous relationship with Sir Walter Raleigh
Elizabeth: The Golden Age
"In 1585, Catholic Spain, ruled by King Philip II of Spain, is the most powerful country in the world. Seeing Protestant England as a threat, and in retaliation for English piracy of Spanish ships, Philip plots to take over England and make his daughter, Isabella, the Queen of England in Elizabeth's place. Meanwhile, Elizabeth I of England is pressured by her advisor, Francis Walsingham, to marry - if she dies childless, the throne will pass to her cousin, Mary, Queen of Scots, who is Catholic.
English explorer Walter Raleigh is presented at Elizabeth's court, having returned from the New World. Elizabeth is attracted to Raleigh, enthralled by his tales of exploration, and asks Bess Throckmorton, her most favored lady-in-waiting, to observe him. Bess also finds Raleigh attractive and they begin a secret affair. With tensions strained between England and Spain, Elizabeth seeks guidance from her astrologer, Dr. John Dee.
Jesuits in London conspire with Philip to assassinate Elizabeth and replace her with Mary, in what Philip calls "The English Enterprise", historically known as the Babington Plot. From her imprisonment, Mary sends secret correspondence to the Jesuits, who recruit Anthony Babington to assassinate Elizabeth. Walsingham continues to warn Elizabeth of Spain's rising power and of the Catholics' plots against her, but unlike her predecessor and half-sister Mary I of England, Elizabeth refuses to force her people to share her religious beliefs.
Walsingham's Catholic brother, who knows of the plot against Elizabeth, is jailed, leading Walsingham to reveal Spain's plan to Elizabeth, who angrily confronts the Spanish diplomats. The Spanish ambassador feigns ignorance, accuses Elizabeth of receiving Spanish gold from pirates, and insinuates that she has a sexual relationship with Raleigh. Enraged, Elizabeth throws the Spaniards out of court. Meanwhile, Philip is cutting down the forests of Spain to build the Spanish Armada to invade England. Mary writes letters condoning the plot.
Babington storms into a cathedral where Elizabeth is praying and fires a pistol at her, though Elizabeth is unharmed as there was no bullet in the gun. As Elizabeth learns of Mary's involvement in the plot, Walsingham insists Mary be executed to quell any possible revolt. Elizabeth reluctantly agrees. Mary is tried for high treason and beheaded; Walsingham realizes this was part of the Jesuits' plan all along: Philip never intended for Mary to become queen, but with the Pope and other Catholic leaders regarding Mary as the true Queen of England, Philip uses Mary's death to obtain papal approval for war. The "murder" of the last legitimate Catholic in the line of succession gives Philip the pretext he needs to invade England and remove Elizabeth, leaving the way to the English throne free for his own daughter.
Bess reveals to Raleigh that she is pregnant with his child, and pleads with him to leave. Instead, the couple marries in secret. When Elizabeth confronts Bess, she confesses her pregnancy and that Raleigh is her husband. An infuriated Elizabeth berates Bess, reminding her that she cannot marry without royal consent. She banishes Bess from court and has Raleigh imprisoned for the crime of seducing a ward of the Queen.
As the Spanish Armada begins its approach up the English Channel, Elizabeth forgives Bess and sets Raleigh free to join Sir Francis Drake in the battle. The ships of the Armada vastly outnumber England's, but a storm blows the Armada toward the beaches, endangering its formation and becoming vulnerable to English fire ships. Elizabeth, atop her coastal headquarters, walks out to the cliffs and watches the Spanish Armada sink in flames as the English prevail.
She visits Raleigh and Bess and blesses their child. Elizabeth appears to triumph personally through her ordeal, again resigned to her role as the Virgin Queen and mother to the English people.
Elmer Gantry (1960)
Color
Fast talking Evangelist
Elmer Gantry
"Elmer Gantry (Burt Lancaster) is a hard-drinking, fast-talking traveling salesman with a charismatic personality. He is drawn to the road show of Sister Sharon Falconer (Jean Simmons) and is immediately attracted to the saintly revivalist.
Gantry soon cons his way into Sister Sharon's good graces and joins the troupe as a fiery preacher. Gantry and Falconer develop what her manager calls a "good cop/bad cop" routine, with Elmer telling the audience members that they will burn in Hell for their sins and Sharon promising salvation if they repent.
The group makes its way out of exclusively provincial venues and into Zenith, Winnemac, a larger city. Falconer eventually admits to Gantry that her real name is Katie Jones and that her origins are humbler than she publicly admits. Falconer also becomes Gantry's lover and loses her virginity to him.
Gantry's on-stage antics draw the attention of a big-city reporter, the skeptical Jim Lefferts (Arthur Kennedy). Lefferts is shown to be torn between his disgust for religious hucksterism and his genuine admiration for Gantry's charm and cunning. The two men begin a public feud which increases the notoriety of both.
The success of the Falconer-Gantry team comes to the attention of Lulu Baines (Shirley Jones), a former girlfriend of Elmer's who fell into disrepute and became a prostitute when her affair with Gantry ruined her standing in her minister father's eyes.
Gantry, acting as a moralist, unwittingly invades the brothel where Lulu works. With police and media in tow, he sends the prostitutes out of town. Lulu proceeds to frame Gantry out of revenge for this and out of jealousy for his relationship with Falconer.
Lulu blackmails him. Falconer is asked to bring $25,000 in exchange for the negatives of incriminating pictures. Falconer brings the money, but Lulu refuses to accept; it is unclear why she has had a change of heart.
Lulu had at first offered Lefferts the exclusive story of Gantry's sexual indiscretion, but he refused, shrugging the pictures off as merely proof that Gantry is as human as anyone else. Later, when an angry mob threatens Gantry at the tent revival following the publication of the incriminating photos in another newspaper, Lefferts fights in Gantry's defense.
Lulu joins the congregation at this tent revival and is a witness to Gantry's humiliation. As she watches the mob curse Gantry and smear him with eggs and other produce, she is emotionally shaken and flees the scene.
Lulu returns to the brothel, which is now in a dilapidated state from Gantry's publicity stunt. Her pimp, who with the photographer had helped frame Gantry, is there to collect the $25,000. Lulu tells him she did not take Falconer's money, whereupon he beats her. Gantry comes to Lulu's rescue. He disposes of the pimp and apologizes to Lulu, who then publicly confesses to having framed Gantry.
Elmer returns to Sharon on the night her new tabernacle opens. He wants them to live like a more normal couple. Sharon is unable to give up her soul-saving ventures, though, and insists that she and Elmer were brought together by God to do His work. Sharon then tragically dies in a fire at the tabernacle, unable or unwilling to see past her own religious zeal when the place is engulfed in flames.
Deeply saddened by Sharon's death and having reached something of a moral awakening, Elmer decides to stop evangelizing, quoting from the Bible: "When I was a child, I understood as a child and spake as a child. When I became a man, I put away childish things."
Endless Love (2014)
Color
Intense boy falls for wealthy girl and their parents try to keep them apart
Endless Love
"Reserved, lovely 17-year-old Jade Butterfield graduates from high school with an impressive college scholarship but few friends, having focused on her studies rather than a social life. David, another graduating senior, has had a crush on her for years but never acted on it.
Hoping to make some summer memories, Jade asks her parents, Hugh and Anne, for a graduation party, which is very unlike her. She invites the entire class, including David. At first, nobody comes. The party consists of only Mr. and Mrs. Butterfield's friends. However, David is the first to show and sabotages another student's party which forces everyone there to go to Jade's party instead. The night is full of music, laughter and dancing. The two hit it off and are caught fooling around in a closet due to a power outage that brings everyone into the same room. When Jade's father, Hugh, asks to make a toast to Jade, she exits the closet with David. Hugh worries that David's impulsive and carefree nature will adversely affect his daughter, who is preparing to leave for a medical-school internship.
David, who works at his widower-father Harry's garage, tries to please Hugh by fixing a car which belonged to Jade's brother Chris who died of cancer years ago. Ironically, Hugh is the only one not pleased by David's gesture. Late that night, Jade invites David into her family's study where - at her own urging - they make love. The two strive to make the most of the ten days she has left at home. Ultimately, Jade opts to decline the internship and spend the rest of the summer with David...which infuriates Hugh. Later, Jade invites David to accompany the family to their lake house; he is welcomed with open arms by everybody except Hugh, whom Anne urges to give David a chance. Anne points out that Jade seems truly happy for the first time since Chris passed away.
One night, David sees Hugh cheating on Anne with another woman; the next morning Hugh intimidates David into keeping quiet about the affair. David and Jade, along with Jade's brother Keith and his girlfriend Sabine, sneak into a local zoo after-hours for a night of fun. Jenny, David's jealous ex-girlfriend, calls the police; when they arrive, David allows himself to be caught so the others can escape. Hugh agrees to bail David out, on the condition that he breaks up with Jade and she takes the internship as planned.
Against Hugh's orders, Jade goes to meet David at a restaurant where he's eating with his friend Mace...who, unbeknownst to either David or Jade, has invited Jenny (he figured David could use a sympathetic ear, after being forced to stop seeing Jade). Jade suddenly turns up, and jumps to the obvious-but-wrong conclusion; frustrated, she drives off and gets into an accident. At the hospital, Hugh gives Harry a restraining order to keep David away from Jade...who has suffered only minor injuries. Upon leaving the hospital, she tries to contact David - having realized by now that he was never unfaithful to her and never would be. But Harry won't allow this because it would land his son in prison. Over the next few months, David and Jade each attempt to move on with their lives by seeing other people; still, both are unhappy.
David runs into Anne at a bookstore. She tells him that - despite the tension between her and Hugh - she admires his and Jade's love for each other. Anne arranges for David to meet Jade at the airport when she comes home for the holidays. The couple reaffirm their love, and Jade plans to move in with David that night, while Anne confronts Hugh about his obsession with destroying David's life. Anne also learns that Hugh prevented her recommendation letter for David from being sent out to college.
Back at home, Hugh reams Keith and Sabine for listening to records from Chris's collection. Keith seconds his mother's sentiments regarding what losing Chris has done to Hugh. When Keith subsequently announces that he's moving in with Sabine, Anne opts for going with him. Hugh then finds Jade preparing to leave with David, who is waiting outside. Hugh charges outside in a rage, knocking over a burning candle on the way, and furiously attacks David with a baseball bat. Jade rushes to his defense...proclaiming that it was Hugh himself, not David, who tore their family apart. The defeated Hugh goes back inside, and discovers the fire which has started in Chris's room; Jade and David see the house in flames, so David rushes back in to save Jade's father, who is struggling to gather up Chris' possessions. When David falls unconscious, Hugh decides to leave the things and help David to safety instead. Outside, David and Hugh put aside their differences while they wait for medical attention.
Anne and Hugh amicably separate but remain determined to rediscover the love, inspired by Jade and David who are flying out to California, having been selected as maid of honor and best man respectively at Sabine and Keith's wedding. Both couples celebrate on the beach, where they camp for the night. Sharing David's bedroll, Jade fondly recalls how her first love - the relationship she shares with him - was everything all at once, the kind of undying love worth fighting to keep.
Enigma (2001)
Color
Breaking of German encryption during WW II
Enigma
"The story, loosely based on actual events, takes place in March 1943, when World War II was at its height. The cryptanalysts at Bletchley Park, Buckinghamshire, have a problem: the Nazi U-boats have changed one of their code reference books used for Enigma machine ciphers, leading to a blackout in the flow of vital naval signals intelligence. The British cryptanalysts have cracked the "Shark" cipher once before, and they need to do it again in order to keep track of U-boat locations.
The film begins with Jericho returning to Bletchley after a month recovering from a nervous breakdown brought on by his failed love affair with Claire. Jericho immediately tries to see her again and finds that she mysteriously disappeared a few days earlier. He enlists the help of Claire's housemate Hester Wallace, to follow the trail of clues and learn what has happened to Claire.
Mr. Jericho and Miss Wallace, as they formally address each other, work to decipher intercepts stolen by Claire and determine why she took them. Jericho is closely watched by an MI5 agent, Wigram (Jeremy Northam), who plays cat and mouse with him throughout the film. Meanwhile U-Boats closing in on one of the ship convoys from America allow Jericho and the team to work on breaking back into reading Shark.
Jericho and Hester's research uncovers the British government's cover-up of the Katyn Massacre for fear knowledge of it might weaken American willingness to remain in the war on the same side as Joseph Stalin.
Cryptanalyst Jozef 'Puck' Pukowski (Nikolaj Coster Waldau), working at the Park, learned of Katyn from Claire and was so incensed by the massacre -- which claimed the life of his brother -- that he set about betraying Bletchley's secrets to the Nazis in order to take revenge on Stalin.
Claire is presumed dead as Jericho trails Puck to Scotland and catches up with him just as he is about to be taken on board a U-boat, but Wigram and the police have been waiting for the sub and it is bombed and sunk.
A short scene after the war sees Jericho and Hester married with a child on the way. As Jericho waits for her in London, he notices Claire walking across the square.
Epoch (2001)
Color
Scientists seek answeres to natural disasters that start to plague the Earth
Epoch
"Four billion years ago, before life had developed on Earth, a cosmic object fell in the seas of our planet. In modern times in the mountains of Bhutan, a huge artifact makes its way to the surface, producing a powerful electromagnetic pulse causing worldwide blackouts.
Alarmed by the electromagnetic phenomenon and under request of the government of Bhutan, the American NSA launches a military and scientific reconnaissance operation on site, led by Dr. K.C. Czaban (Stephanie Niznik) with the technical assistance of terminally ill engineer Mason Rand (David Keith), picked up on the Mexican border in time for the mission. The team finds the artifact suspended in the air and object of veneration from the natives, who call it the Torus and consider it a gift from the gods with extraordinary healing properties.
The US team enters the Torus, but an air strike by the Chinese Army against the artifact prompts an unexpected response from the object, which destroys two Chinese military planes and kidnaps a US soldier. Unsuccessful diplomatic negotiations escalate the tension in the area between Chinese and US armed forces, while inside the Torus the scientific team goes to the core of the huge machine. They discover how ancient the artifact is and speculate it could have been the spark of life on Earth, as well as the cause of multiple extinctions in the course of the eras. Fomented by NSA agent Allen Lysander (Ryan O'Neal), conflict explodes between the troops of the two factions and the Torus reacts, blanketing the planet with a thick cloud cover, evidently starting the process for a new mass extinction.
By Presidential order, the US soldiers plant a nuclear bomb inside the Torus to destroy it, and Czaban and Rand unsuccessfully try to deactivate the device to keep it from detonating. However, the Torus absorbs the blast and, seemingly satisfied by the extreme sacrifice attempted by the two scientists, ceases its actions, sheds its external shell and, in the form of an energy sphere, leaves Earth. Four months later, Rand, now cured after his exposure to Torus, receives from Czaban the news that she is pregnant, despite being sterile before their encounter with the alien artifact.
Epoch: Evolution (2003)
Color
Scientist returns to the monolith to see if it is the key to saving Earth from destruction
Epoch: Evolution
In this follow-up to the 2000 film Epoch, it's been 10 years since Torus, a massive monolith, ascended from far above the Earth and stunned the entire world. When we're reacquainted with the scene, the planet is facing total destruction. Now, Dr. Mason Rand (David Keith) must figure out whether Torus will actually help Earth or do just the opposite -- all the while, his son's life hangs in the balance.
Equilibrium (2002)
Color
Totalitarian society where emotion is prohibited
Equilibrium
"Equilibrium is set in a dystopian city-state of Libria. After a Third World War devastated the Earth, a totalitarian state emerged whose ideology determined human emotion to be the root cause of conflict. All emotionally stimulating material is banned and "sense offenders" are ruthlessly persecuted. Illegal materials are rated "EC-10" for "emotional content" and incinerated. Everyone is required to take daily injections of Prozium, an emotion-suppressing drug.
Libria is governed by the Tetragrammaton Council, which is led by a reclusive figurehead known as "Father" (Sean Pertwee). Father never interacts with anyone directly, but he is seen on giant video screens throughout the city. The Tetragrammaton Council uses the police to enforce conformity. At the pinnacle of Librian law enforcement are the Grammaton Clerics, who are trained in the martial art of gun kata. The Clerics raid the "Nether" region outside the city, where they destroy emotionally stimulating materials such as art, books and music, executing the people hiding them. Despite their efforts, a resistance movement, known as the "Underground", has emerged.
John Preston (Christian Bale) is a high ranking Grammaton Cleric and a widower with two children whose wife, Viviana (Alexa Summer), was executed for "Sense Offense". After a raid, Preston notices his partner, Errol Partridge (Sean Bean), taking a book of poems instead of incinerating them. Realizing Partridge is keeping the book, Preston tracks him down and executes him. Before he dies, Partridge says that all the consequences of feeling are a cost he "would pay gladly". The next morning, Preston accidentally breaks his daily vial of Prozium, and as he does not have an immediate replacement, he begins to experience emotions. Upon gaining replacement vials, he decides against taking them and instead hides them behind the mirror in his bathroom.
Preston is partnered with career-conscious Brandt (Taye Diggs). Together, they arrest Mary O'Brien (Emily Watson), for sense offense. Preston's emotional confusion is exacerbated during her interrogation. Without Prozium, Preston finds it difficult keeping an emotionless facade in front of his son (Matthew Harbour) and his suspicious partner. Preston forges an emotional connection with O'Brien and he feels remorse for killing Partridge, especially after he finds out that Partridge and O'Brien were lovers. He eventually contacts the Resistance and is then summoned before Vice-Counsel DuPont (Angus Macfadyen) who reveals there is a traitor in the clerics. DuPont tells him to exterminate the Resistance and to find the traitor. The Resistance convinces him to assassinate Father to start a revolution. They plan to disrupt Prozium production which will then lead to an uprising by the populace.
After Preston fails to stop Mary O'Brien's execution, he is caught having an emotional breakdown by Brandt, who arrests him and brings him before the Vice-Counsel. After tricking DuPont into believing that Brandt is the real traitor, Preston is informed that a search of his home will take place as a formality. He rushes home to destroy the hidden vials of unused Prozium before the search team can find them, only to find the search team is already inside and searching. He proceeds directly to where he had hidden the vials, but finds that his son -- who reveals that he stopped taking Prozium after his mother died -- has already taken the unused vials from their hiding place to prevent the search team from finding them.
Preston and the Resistance leader Jurgen (William Fichtner) agree that the only way the reclusive Father will grant Preston an audience that will make it possible to assassinate him, would be if Preston can get credit for having the Resistance leadership arrested. As planned, the leaders of the Resistance are captured and Preston is granted an exclusive audience with Father. Father actually turns out to be DuPont, who replaced the original Father after his death. Preston goes on a rampage, fighting his way to DuPont's office, which is filled with artwork and ornate furniture, all illegal items. It is revealed that Brandt was not arrested, but was part of a ruse to expose Preston. It also becomes clear that DuPont does not take Prozium and has been reading poetry. DuPont taunts him, asking Preston how it felt to betray the Underground. Preston kills all of DuPont's bodyguards, and defeats Brandt in a katana battle. Preston and DuPont finally fight in a gun kata battle, which Preston wins.
DuPont tries to convince Preston to spare him, asking if taking his life is worth the emotion of knowing he killed someone who is "feeling" and knows how beautiful life can be. Preston repeats Partridge's last words and announces that he gladly will pay the cost, shooting DuPont in the chest. He then destroys the propaganda communication control systems, freezing all of the indoctrination propaganda everyone had been subjected to all their lives. The Underground blows up the Prozium manufacturing and storage facilities, while scores of rebels successfully attack key points throughout the city. Just when Jurgen and the Resistance leaders are being sent to their execution, they hear the sounds of the explosions and smile with the knowledge that their revolution succeeded. Preston quietly watches the overthrow of the government from DuPont's office, holding O'Brien's red ribbon and smiling.
Escape From Alcatraz (1979)
Color
Frank Morris recruits two bank robbers and masterminds a daring Escape From Alcatraz
Escape From Alcatraz
"The story begins on January 18, 1960 as Frank Morris (Clint Eastwood) arrives at the maximum security prison Alcatraz, having been sent there after escaping from several other prisons. He is sent in to meet the warden (Patrick McGoohan), who curtly informs him that no one has ever escaped from Alcatraz. Eventually he meets his old friends, brothers John and Clarence Anglin (Fred Ward and Jack Thibeau), and he makes the acquaintance of the prisoner in the cell next to his, Charlie Butts (Larry Hankin). Morris befriends numerous other inmates, including English (Paul Benjamin), a black inmate serving two life sentences for killing two white men in self-defense; the eccentric Litmus (Frank Ronzio) who keeps a pet mouse and calls himself Al Capone, and the elderly artist and chrysanthemum grower Doc (Roberts Blossom).
Morris also makes an enemy of the rapist Wolf (Bruce M. Fischer), whom Morris beats in the shower room after Wolf attempts to come onto him. Still seething from this encounter, Wolf attacks Morris in the yard and both men spend time in the hole. When the warden discovers that Doc has painted a portrait of him, as well as other policemen on the island itself, he permanently removes Doc's painting privileges; in response, a depressed Doc cuts his fingers off with a hatchet from the prison workshop and is led away. Later, the warden finds one of Doc's chrysanthemums and crushes it in front of the inmates; an angry Litmus leaps at the warden and suffers a fatal heart attack. The warden coldly reminds Morris that "some men are destined never to leave Alcatraz--alive."
Morris notices that the concrete around the grille in his cell is weak and can be chipped way, which evolves into an escape plan. Over the next few months Morris, Butts, and the Anglins dig through the walls of their cells with spoons (which have been soldered into makeshift shovels), make papier-m?che dummies to act as decoys, and construct a raft out of raincoats. On the night of their escape, Butts loses his nerve and does not go with the others. Morris and the Anglin brothers make it out of the prison and are last seen paddling their raft into the night. When their escape is discovered the following morning, a massive manhunt ensues. The warden is adamant that the men drowned, despite no bodies being found. He finds a chrysanthemum on the shore of Angel Island and throws it into the bay after being told that they do not grow there.
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
Color
Man wants to purge memories of ex-girlfriend, but has second thoughts
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
"Shy, soft-spoken Joel Barish and unrestrained free-spirit Clementine Kruczynski begin a relationship on a Long Island Rail Road train from Montauk, New York to Rockville Centre. They are almost immediately drawn to each other, despite their contrasting personalities, and both had felt the need to travel to Montauk that day. Although they do not realize it, Joel and Clementine are, in fact, former lovers, now separated after having spent two years together. After a fight, Clementine had hired the New York City firm Lacuna, Inc. to erase all of her memories of their relationship. Upon discovering this from his friends Rob and Carrie, Joel was devastated and decided to undergo the procedure himself, a process that takes place while he sleeps.
Much of the film subsequently takes place in Joel's mind, during this memory erasure procedure. Joel finds himself revisiting his memories of Clementine in reverse, starting from the disintegration of their relationship. As he comes across happier, positive memories of Clementine early in his relationship, he decides to preserve at least some memory of her and his love for her, trying to evade the procedure by taking his idealized memory of Clementine into memories not related to her, or waking up to stop the process. Despite his efforts, the memories are steadily erased. He comes to the last remaining memory of Clementine, the day he had first met her at a beach house in Montauk. As this memory disintegrates around them, she tells him, "Meet me in Montauk."
Separate, but related, story arcs revolving around the employees of Lacuna are revealed during Joel's memory erasure. Patrick, one of the Lacuna technicians performing the erasure, uses Joel's memories and mannerisms to seduce and romance Clementine. Mary, the Lacuna receptionist, is dating the other memory-erasing technician, Stan, but has feelings for Dr. Howard Mierzwiak, the married doctor and head of Lacuna. During Joel's memory wipe, Mary discovers she had previously had an affair with Dr. Mierzwiak and agreed to have this erased from her memory when Dr. Mierzwiak's wife found out. On learning this, she asks Stan whether he knew about this, to which he claims that he didn't. Mary then quits her job and steals the company's records, mailing them to all of Lacuna's customers out of revenge.
The film returns to the present, after Joel and Clementine have met aboard the train. They both come upon their Lacuna records later that day, and react with shock and bewilderment - they have no clear memory of having known each other, let alone having had a relationship and having had their memories erased. Joel pleads with Clementine to restart their relationship; Clementine initially resists, pointing out it could go the same way. Joel accepts this, and they decide to try anyway.
Evan Almighty (2007)
Color
God summons Congressman Evan to build an ark in preparation for a devastating flood
Evan Almighty
"Newly elected to Congress, former local television news anchorman Evan Baxter (Steve Carell) leaves his hometown of Buffalo, New York and relocates to the fictional town of Prestige Crest, Virginia, with a political campaign promise to change the world. Evan prays to God (Morgan Freeman) to help him change the world as well. As a result, things are going quite well for Evan, but from the film's beginning, six mysterious things start to happen around him:
His alarm clock repeatedly rings at around 6:14 A.M., despite being set for 7:00 A.M.
Large quantities of ancient tools and wood are delivered to his house without explanation.
Pairs of animals follow him without any apparent reason (with birds even flying into his office through the window).
He grows a large beard that is restored wholly as soon as he shaves it.
Eight vacant lots near his home in Prestige Crest are purchased in his name.
The number "614" appears wherever he goes.
Evan soon learns that 614 refers to the verse in the Book of Genesis, where God instructs Noah to build an Ark in preparation for a flood. God appears to Evan and cordially insists that Evan should build an Ark as well. Although Evan resists, God follows him using different guises and eventually manages to convince him to build the Ark after reminding him that this is the only opportunity he has to change the world and save his community. Concerned about Evan's behavior, his wife, Joan (Lauren Graham), initially supports him, through what she believes is a mid-life crisis. Evan enlists his three sons, Dylan, Jordan, and Ryan (Johnny Simmons, Graham Phillips, and Jimmy Bennett), to build the Ark. God tells Evan that the flood will come on September 22 at midday.
The Ark used for filming was located in Crozet, Virginia.
Animals continue to follow Evan around, which becomes increasingly inconvenient, even following Evan to Congress, despite his efforts to detain them. At first, Evan's greedy boss, Congressman Chuck Long (John Goodman), is unimpressed and allows him latitude, but Long warns Evan that he will no longer tolerate it any more. This eventually compels Evan to publicly confess that the reason for the animals, beard, robe, and strange behavior, is because God had asked him to build an Ark in preparation for a flood. Evan is temporarily suspended from Congress after being humiliated by Long. As security guards kicks Evan out of Congress, some birds poop on Long's face before flying away. Joan loses patience and leaves Evan alone after believing that he is going insane. However, Evan decides to continue to build the Ark alone, gaining media attention and public ridicule, while hundreds of animals assemble in pairs. Meanwhile, God appears to Joan at a diner and tells her that he gives people opportunities by which to achieve things rather than directly giving them what they pray for. With her new-found faith from God, Joan finally returns to Evan to finish the Ark together and prepare for the flood.
On September 22, Evan learns from his three congressional staffers, Rita, Marty, and Eugene (Wanda Sykes, John Michael Higgins, and Jonah Hill), that Long had previously obtained approval for the construction of a dam upstream from Prestige Crest against the locals' personal wishes, and had cut corners in building code checkpoints in doing so. They advise Evan to fight the bill in Congress that day to prevent more of Prestige Crest woodland falling to the same fate. Evan trusts his faith and loads all the animals onto the newly finished Ark in front of hundreds of spectators and live news crews, who continue to make many jokes about him. Meanwhile, Long and the police place a wrecking ball to destroy the Ark due to numerous building code violations within Prestige Crest. As midday arrives, a brief cloud-burst of rain comes, but is short-lived. Evan sees the swelled-up lake in the distance caused by the recent rainfall, in which the flood bursts Long's unsafe dam and completely destroys Prestige Crest. With the flood surging towards them, all of the spectators, reporters, and policemen immediately scramble together onto the Ark, which rides the flood through the streets and landmarks of Washington, D.C.. The Ark finally halts in front of the Capitol, which interrupts the vote on Long's controversial Public Land Act bill. Long becomes outraged until he soon discovers that the flood really did happen. Evan informs Long that the flood was actually caused by his defective dam. At first, Long refuses to believe this, but Evan and the other Congressmen manage to turn against him, causing the vote on the Public Land Act bill to be suspended and pending investigation about Long and his dam.
In the epilogue, Evan takes his family on a long-promised hiking trip, where God reappears under a tree and congratulates him, telling Evan that he and his family can have everything they had originally wished for. God tells Evan that the correct way to change the world is by doing one Act of Random Kindness (A.R.K.) at a time. Evan and God do the happy dance before God disappears, leaving Evan to rejoin with the rest of his family as a dove flies off the tree and into the sky. During the film's closing credits, God issues a new commandment to the outgoing audience: "Thou shalt do the dance", followed by a celebratory fantasy scene in which the film's cast and crew dance to "Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)" by C+C Music Factory.
Evelyn Prentice (1934)
Black & White
A criminal lawyer's wife faces blackmail when she has an affair
Evelyn Prentice
John Prentice is a brilliant lawyer who neglects his wife. The action starts when John is unable to go to a dinner party because of work. Evelyn, his wife, and her guests end up at a night club where Lawrence Kennard, a poet and gigolo, tries to strike up a conversation but is rebuffed. Lawrence sends her some of his books and she begins a flirtation with him. In the meantime, her husband obtains an acquittal for a Nancy Harrison. When John has to go to Boston for business, Nancy follows and tries to seduce him. A watch is sent to Evelyn stating it was left on the train in Mr. Prentices' drawing room leading Evelyn to believe her husband has been unfaithful. She began the relationship but breaks it off when she realizes she is still in love with her husband. Lawrence attempts to blackmail her with letters she wrote. A shot is fired. Meanwhile, Amy, a friend of Evelyn's, shows John the watch. He corrects his ways by becoming more attentive. Judith Wilson, Lawrence's main paramour, is charged with the crime. Evelyn, along with their small daughter, convinces her husband to take on Wilson's defense. But, as the case progresses, she becomes more and more worried that Judith will be convicted. She decides she must go to court and confess. Despite her husband's efforts to prevent her, Evelyn blurts out that she apparently shot Kennard when they struggled over the gun. John manages to get Judith to confess to shooting Kennard, and to convince the jury it was self-defense. Once it is all over, John tells Evelyn all is forgiven and forgotten.
Evening (2007)
Color
Events surrounding a dying woman
Evening
"The film alternates between two time periods, the 1950s and the present, in which a dying Ann Grant Lord (Vanessa Redgrave) reflects on her past. Her confusing comments about people she never mentioned before leave her daughters, reserved Constance (Natasha Richardson) and restless Nina (Toni Collette), wondering if their mother is delusional.
As a young woman in her early twenties, cabaret singer Ann (Claire Danes) arrives at the spacious Newport, Rhode Island, home of her best friend Lila Wittenborn (Mamie Gummer), who is on the verge of getting married. Lila's brother (and Ann's college friend) Buddy (Hugh Dancy) introduces her to Harris Arden (Patrick Wilson), the son of a former family servant. Buddy tells Ann his sister always has adored Harris, and expresses his concern that she's marrying another man out of a sense of duty rather than love. Inebriated, Buddy passes out, and as Ann and Harris chat they find themselves bonding.
On Lila's wedding day, she confesses to Ann she confronted Harris with her feelings for him and he rebuffed her, so she goes along with the ceremony as planned. At the reception, at Lila's request, Ann sings a song and is joined on stage by Harris. Afterwards Buddy, drunk again, confronts the two about their growing closeness and kisses Harris. As Lila prepares to depart with her new husband, Ann offers to take the bride away with her, but Lila refuses and leaves for her honeymoon.
Buddy admits to Ann he's had a crush on Harris since his childhood, though he also claims not to be "that way" - he denies that this would be okay as Ann assures him. He then changes the subject, confessing he has loved Ann ever since their college days, offering as proof a note she once sent him he has kept in his pocket ever since. Ann later expresses her anger at him for repressing his sexual orientation by building her up as his true love. She and Harris slip off to his secret hideaway, where the two make love.
Buddy, in search of the couple, stumbles into the road and is hit by a car. His friends find him, but too late to save his life. The following morning, Ann and Harris, oblivious to what transpired the night before, jokingly consider sailing away, but at the Wittenborn house they hear the tragic news.
In the present day, Lila (Meryl Streep) arrives at Ann's bedside to comfort her and reminisce. Ann recalls a day when she ran into Harris in the street in New York City. By then she had one daughter and was on the verge of moving to Los Angeles, and he was married with a son. He intimated he still loved her before the two exchanged cordial goodbyes.
As Lila leaves, she tells Nina about Harris and reassures her that her mother did not make any mistakes in her life. Nina sits with Ann, who encourages her daughter to have a happy life. Nina finally musters up the courage to tell her boyfriend Luc she is pregnant with their child. An ecstatic Luc proudly announces the news to Constance and promises he always will be there for Nina. Their joy is interrupted by Ann's nurse, who urges the women to rush to their mother's bedside to bid her farewell.
Everybody Wants Some (2016)
Color
Group of students intent on making the college baseball team
Everybody Wants Some
"In Texas in the fall of 1980, college freshman Jake Bradford, an all-state pitcher in high school, moves into an off-campus house with other members of the college baseball team including his roommate Billy, nicknamed "Beuter" for his Deep Southern accent. He joins Finnegan, Roper, Dale, and Plummer cruising campus by car, looking for women. Upperclassmen Roper and Finnegan both "strike out" with two women, but one of them, Beverly, says she likes Jake; he makes a note of her room number.
At a team meeting in the house, the coach introduces the new players, including freshmen Jake, Plummer, Beuter, Brumley, and transfer students Jay and Willoughby. The coach cites two rules: no alcohol in the house, and no women upstairs. The team quickly disregards the rules and hosts a drunken party during which several players take women up to their bedrooms. The next morning, Beuter leaves temporarily for home, concerned his girlfriend is pregnant.
The team goes out drinking and "cruising chicks", beginning the night at a local disco. Jay makes arrogant remarks to a bartender, provoking a brawl, and the team is ejected. Jay goes home, and the rest of the team changes clothes and visits a western-themed bar. The next day Willoughby shares his marijuana, music, and philosophy with the freshmen. Jake happens upon Justin, a high school teammate who has embraced punk subculture. He invites the team to a punk concert, and with Jake's encouragement, they go. Jake leaves flowers and a note on Beverly's apartment door that night, then attends a massive party at the team's house.
Beverly calls him in the morning and they agree to meet. She says she is a performing arts major; Jake answers only that he is a baseball player, based on Finnegan's advice. At the team's first unofficial practice, Jay upsets his teammates by pitching aggressively. McReynolds, the team's captain and best player, puts Jay in his place by hitting a home run. The coach arrives unexpectedly and calls Willoughby off the pitcher's mound. It is later revealed that Willoughby is 30 and has been fraudulently transferring to new colleges to continue playing ball and enjoying the student lifestyle.
Beverly invites Jake to "Oz", a costume party thrown by performing arts students. Jake mentions the party to his teammates and tries to tell them they would not enjoy it, but they cajole him into taking them. Although they initially feel out of place, they enjoy themselves all the same. Finnegan is ridiculed by his friends for pretending to be into astrology, and Jake takes part in an improvised Alice in Wonderland--themed take on The Dating Game. Jake and Beverly spend the rest of the night together.
The next morning, the semester begins and Jake and Beverly walk to class together. Two teammates razz Jake for not returning home that night. He runs into Plummer in his classroom, and they settle in for their first lecture. Their history professor enters and writes "Frontiers are where you find them" on the chalkboard. As their first college class officially begins, Jake and Plummer fall asleep.
Everyday Black Man (2010)
Color
After leaving his violent past behind him, Moses returns to it to protect his neighborhood
Everyday Black Man
The film focuses on Moses, a local grocery store owner Moses played by Henry Brown. Moses has a past. One that was violent and one that he walked away from. He is now a dedicated community man. Moses has a daughter who has a daughter Claire (played by Tessa Thompson) who has no idea that he is her father and because of the past he has, he cannot tell her that he is her real father. He has been turned down for a loan from a bank and then becomes duped by a seemingly good man into letting his shop being used to sell drugs. The film takes another direction with Moses just being an ordinary insignificant man turning into a man who needs to take things to another level.
Everything Must Go (2010)
Color
After man loses his job, his wife kicks him out and and he lives on his lawn
Everything Must Go
"Salesman Nick Halsey (Will Ferrell) is fired from his job of 16 years following an unspecified incident in Denver related to his alcoholism. He sits in the parking garage after leaving the office, drinking from a flask. He then takes the Swiss Army Knife he was given as a farewell gift and stabs it into his supervisor's car tires, only to leave the knife (which has his name on it) and run away when he is unable to pull it back out from the tire. He immediately drives to a convenience store and buys a large amount of beer. When he returns home, he finds his wife is gone, the locks have been changed, and his belongings have been strewn all over his front lawn. His wife has left him a letter telling him that she is leaving him, also over the Denver incident, and to not contact her.
Nick spends the night on the lawn. In the morning, he leaves to buy beer and food, returning to find his company car being taken back. In addition, his credit cards no longer work, he has been blocked from the joint checking account he has with his wife, and his phone service is terminated. When the police ask him to vacate the premises, Nick gets them to contact his AA sponsor, Detective Frank Garcia (Michael Pe?a), who provides him with a permit for a yard sale, allowing him three more days before he must move on. Nick gets a neighborhood boy, Kenny (Christopher Jordan Wallace), to help him sell his possessions, assuring Kenny he will pay him for the help, and also that he will teach him to play baseball. The first day's sale is unsuccessful as Nick is unwilling to let items go.
Nick meets his new neighbor, a pregnant young woman named Samantha (Rebecca Hall), and invites her to his backyard. There, he tells her that he had been sober for six months until attending a conference in Denver, during which he had gotten blackout drunk with a female coworker; he awoke with no memory of the night before, and soon learned that she had lodged a complaint against him, setting the stage for his firing.
Nick then finds a yearbook with a friendly message from an old classmate, Delilah (Laura Dern), whom he tracks down and visits. The reunion is awkward, but Delilah nevertheless gives Nick a hug and tells him that he is a good person deep down.
Now completely broke, Nick has to go without alcohol and soon experiences withdrawal. Samantha gives him a Valium and tells him that he needs help. He replies that she is no better than him because she puts up with her husband's drinking and frequent absences. Samantha storms off, angry and hurt.
The next morning Nick awakes to find Kenny has arranged his belongings on the lawn and has put price tags on them. Most of the things are sold by that evening. Nick apologizes to Samantha, who admits that he was right and that she had told her husband to come home or get a divorce. She, Nick and Kenny then go out to dinner. In the restaurant restroom, Nick encounters his former supervisor, who explains that the incident in Denver probably did not happen. They fired the female employee he got drunk with because it was discovered she has a history of suing fellow employees for sexual harassment, and that Nick probably would have gotten his job back if only he hadn't slashed the supervisor's tires. Nick expresses little reaction to this news, but when the supervisor leaves a glass of beer in the restroom, Nick takes it back to him without drinking a drop.
After dinner, Nick meets with Frank, and answers Frank's phone while he steps out of his office. The caller is Nick's wife, Catherine, telling Frank she is waiting at his house. Nick confronts Frank, who admits Catherine has been staying with him ever since she left Nick. The two men have a fight, and Frank says Catherine deserves better than Nick. It is also divulged that Nick and his wife were both recovering alcoholics. Later, while Frank drives Nick home, he observes that, because Catherine got sober and Nick didn't, their marriage had little chance of succeeding, and proceeds to list the ways Nick failed her as a husband. He then hands Nick a packet of divorce papers for him to sign, along with some spending money and keys to the house. Nick tells Frank to drop him off on the nearest curb; before he gets out of the car, he asks Frank to tell his wife he's sorry. He walks home the rest of the way, at one point stopping to look into the convenience store where he regularly bought beer, but moves on.
The next day, he settles up with Kenny -- including repaying him for what he skimmed from Kenny's profits for beer money -- and receives an appreciative hug from Samantha, whose husband has come home. She hands him the Polaroid photo she took of him a few days prior, with the message from her fortune cookie taped to the bottom, which says "Everything is not yet lost.
Executive Action (1973)
Color
Military and industrial leaders conspire to assassinate JFK
Executive Action
"A narrator states that when President Lyndon Johnson was asked about the Kennedy Assassination and the Warren Commission report, he said he doubted the findings of the Commission. The narration ends with the mention that the segment did not run on television and was cut from a program about Johnson, at his own request.
At a gathering in June 1963, shadowy industrial, political and former US intelligence figures discuss their growing dissatisfaction with the Kennedy administration. In the plush surroundings of lead conspirator Robert Foster (Robert Ryan), he and the others try to persuade Harold Ferguson (Will Geer), a powerful oil magnate dressed in white, to back their plans for an assassination of Kennedy. He remains unconvinced, saying, "I don't like such schemes. They're only tolerable when necessary, and only permissible when they work." James Farrington (Burt Lancaster), a black ops specialist, is also among the group: He shows Ferguson and others that a careful assassination of a U.S. President can be done under certain conditions, and refers to the murders of Abraham Lincoln, James Garfield, and William McKinley as examples, and includes assassination attempts of others including Roosevelt in 1933. He calls this "executive action".
The film cuts to a desert, where a shooting team is doing target practice at a moving object. One of the shooters says they can only guarantee the operation's success by slowing down the target to 15 miles per hour.
The lead conspirators, Farrington and Foster, discuss preparations for the assassination. Obtaining Ferguson's approval is crucial to the conspirators, although Farrington proceeds to organize two shooting teams in anticipation that Ferguson will change his mind. Ferguson, meanwhile, watches news reports and becomes highly concerned at Kennedy's increasingly "liberal" direction: action on civil rights, Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, nuclear disarmament. The deciding moment comes when he is watching an anti-Kennedy news report on the deteriorating situation in South Vietnam. It is followed by Kennedy's October 1963 decision, National Security Action Memorandum #263 to withdraw all US advisers from Vietnam by the end of 1965, effectively ending America's direct involvement in the Vietnam War. Ferguson calls Foster and tells him he now supports their project.
While the motives of the man in the white suit are clear, the film attempts to cast light on the murky paranoid fears of the conspirators through dialogues between Foster and Farrington. They are primarily concerned about the future of America and the security of ruling-class white people around the world. Foster forecasts the population of the world in 2000 at 7 billion, "Most of them yellow, brown or black. All hungry and all determined to love; they'll swarm out of their breeding grounds into Europe and North America." He sees victory in Vietnam as an opportunity to control the developing world and reduce its population to 550 million, adding that they can then apply the same "birth-control" methods to unwanted groups in the US: poor whites, blacks and Latinos. "I've seen the data," he emphasizes, although it is unclear whether he does it to reveal himself privy to plans known to the CIA, or to hint knowledge of even more secret information not even known to Ferguson.
The scene of the shooting is described. As news of the assassination reaches the conspirators, the film describes the effects. Farrington and his assistant discuss the fallout from the assassination, especially how to deal with the fact that Oswald has survived. Farrington contacts nightclub owner Jack Ruby. Ruby stalks and kills Oswald.
While the real assassins leave Dallas, the conspirators work to cover up the evidence. They discuss the political fallout in Washington, D.C., concerned about retribution from Robert F. Kennedy and the "believability" of the plot. Foster states that "Bobby Kennedy is not thinking as Attorney General but as a grieving brother. By the time he recovers it will be too late." The conspirators agree that people will believe in the story because "they want to believe the story." Soon after, Foster receives a call from Farrington's assistant: Farrington has died of a heart attack "at Parkland Hospital." The conspirators are now insulated from the link to the group that committed the killings.
Their work is not quite finished. A photo collage is shown of 18 material witnesses, all but two of whom, it says, died from unnatural causes within three years of the assassination. A voice-over says that an actuary of the British newspaper The Sunday Times calculated the probability that all these people who witnessed the assassination would die within that period of time to be 100,000 trillion to one.
Exodus: Gods and Kings (2014)
Color
The story of Moses
Exodus: Gods and Kings
"In 1300 BC, Moses, a general and member of the royal family, prepares to attack the Hittite army with Prince Ramesses. A High Priestess divines a prophecy from animal intestines, which she relates to Ramesses' father, Seti I. He tells the two men of the prophecy, in which one (of Moses and Ramesses) will save the other and become a leader. During the attack on the Hittites, Moses saves Ramesses' life, leaving both men troubled. Later, Moses is sent to the city of Pithom to meet with the Viceroy Hegep, who oversees the Hebrew slaves. Upon his arrival, he encounters the slave Joshua and is appalled by the horrific conditions of the slaves. Shortly afterwards, Moses meets Nun, who informs him of his true lineage; he is the child of Hebrew parents who was sent by his sister Miriam to be raised by Pharaoh's daughter. Moses is stunned at the revelation and leaves angrily. However, two Hebrews also overhear Nun's story and report their discovery to Hegep.
Seti dies soon after Moses' return to Memphis, and Ramesses becomes the new Pharaoh (Ramesses II). Hegep arrives to reveal Moses' true identity, but Ramesses is conflicted about whether to believe the story. At the urging of Queen Tuya, he interrogates the servant Miriam, who denies being Moses' sister. When Ramesses threatens to cut off Miriam's arm, Moses comes to her defense, revealing he is a Hebrew. Although Tuya wants Moses to be put to death, Ramesses decides to send him into exile. Before leaving Egypt, Moses meets with his adopted mother and Miriam, who refer to him by his birth name of Moishe. Following a journey into the desert, Moses comes to Midian where he meets Zipporah and her father, Jethro. Moses becomes a shepherd, marries Zipporah and has a son Gershom.
Nine years later, Moses gets injured during a rockslide. He comes face to face with a burning bush and a boy called Malak, who serves as a representation of God. While recovering, Moses confesses his past to Zipporah and reveals what God has asked him to do. This drives a wedge between the couple, because Zipporah fears he will leave their family. After he arrives in Egypt, Moses reunites with Nun and Joshua, as well as meeting his brother Aaron for the first time. Moses returns to confront Ramesses, demanding the Hebrews be released from servitude. Ramesses refuses to listen, insisting that to free the slaves would be economically impossible. Upon Moses threatening Ramesses life, Ramesses orders the death of Moses, executing random Hebrew families until he is found. Using his military skills, Moses trains the slaves in the art of war. The Hebrews start attacking the Egyptians, prompting Ramesses to raid slave villages. Malak appears to Moses and explains that ten plagues will affect Egypt. All the water in the land turns to blood, and the Egyptians are further afflicted by the arrival of frogs, lice, and flies. The plagues of the death of livestock, boils, hail and thunder, locusts, and darkness continue to affect the Egyptians. While conversing with Malak, Moses is horrified at learning the tenth plague will be the death of all firstborn children. The Hebrews protect themselves by covering their doors with the blood of lambs, as instructed by Moses. Ramesses is devastated over his son's death and relents, telling Moses and the Hebrews to leave.
During the exodus from Egypt, the Hebrews follow Moses' original path through the desert and towards the Red Sea. Still grieving for his son, Ramesses decides to go after the Hebrews with his army. After making their way through a dangerous mountain pass, Moses and the Hebrews arrive at the edge of the sea, uncertain about what to do. Moses flings his sword into the water, which begins to recede. Ramesses and his army pursue the Hebrews, but Moses stays behind to confront them. The Red Sea reverts to its normal state, drowning the majority of the Egyptians (crossing the Red Sea). Moses survives and makes his way back to the Hebrews. Ramesses is revealed to have survived, but he is distraught over the destruction of his army. Moses leads the Hebrews back to Midian, where he reunites with Zipporah and Gershom. At Mount Sinai, after seeing Malak's displeasure at the Hebrews' construction of the Golden Calf, Moses transcribes the Ten Commandments. Years later, an elderly Moses riding with the Ark of the Covenant sees Malak walking with the Hebrews through the desert.
Eyes Wide Shut (1999)
Color
After argument married man has series of one-night stands
Eyes Wide Shut
"Dr. Bill Harford and Alice are a young married couple living in New York. They attend a Christmas party thrown by a wealthy patient, Victor Ziegler, where Bill is reunited with Nick Nightingale, a medical school drop-out who now plays piano professionally. While a Hungarian man named Sandor Szavost tries to seduce Alice, two young models try with Bill. He is interrupted by his host who had been having sex with Mandy, a young woman who has overdosed on a speedball. Mandy recovers with Bill's aid.
The following evening at home, while smoking cannabis, when Alice asks him if he had sex with the two girls, Bill reassures her that he had not. She asks if he is jealous of men who are attracted to her. He thinks women are more faithful than men. She tells him of a recent fantasy she had about a naval officer they had met on vacation. Disturbed by Alice's revelation, Bill is called by the daughter of a patient who has just died. After visiting the home, he goes to a prostitute named Domino but Alice phones as Domino begins to kiss Bill. Meeting Nick at the jazz club Bill learns that Nick has an engagement where he must play piano blindfolded. Bill learns that to gain admittance, one needs a costume, a mask, and the password, which Nick had written down. Bill goes to a costume shop and offers the owner, Mr. Milich, a generous amount of money to rent a costume. In the shop, Milich catches his teenage daughter with two Japanese men and expresses outrage at their lack of a sense of decency.
Bill takes a taxi to the country mansion mentioned by Nick. He gives the password and discovers a sexual ritual is taking place. A woman warns him he is in terrible danger. A porter then takes him to the ritual room, where a disguised red-cloaked Master of Ceremonies confronts Bill with a question about a second password. Bill says he has forgotten it. The masked woman who had tried to warn Bill intervenes and insists that she will redeem him. Bill is ushered from the mansion and warned not to tell anyone about what happened there.
Just before dawn, Bill arrives home guilty and confused. He finds Alice laughing loudly in her sleep and awakens her. While crying, she tells him of a troubling dream in which she was having sex with the naval officer and many other men, and laughing at the idea of Bill seeing her with them. The next morning, Bill goes to Nick's hotel, where the desk clerk tells Bill that a bruised and frightened Nick checked out a few hours earlier after returning with two large, dangerous-looking men. Bill goes to return the costume, but not the mask, which he has misplaced, and learns Milich has sold his daughter into prostitution.
Bill returns to the country mansion in his own car and is met at the gate by a man with a note warning him to cease and desist his inquiries. After reading a newspaper story about a beauty queen who died of a drug overdose, Bill views the body at the morgue and identifies it as Mandy. Bill is summoned to Ziegler's house, where he is confronted with the events of the past night and day. Ziegler was one of those involved with the ritual orgy, and identified Bill and his connection with Nick. Ziegler claims that he had Bill followed for his own protection, and that the warnings made against Bill by the society are only intended to scare him from speaking about the orgy. However, he implies the society is capable of acting on their threats. Bill asks about the death of Mandy, whom Ziegler has identified as the masked woman at the party who'd "sacrificed" herself to prevent Bill's punishment, and about the disappearance of Nick, the piano player. Ziegler insists that Nick is safely back at his home in Seattle. Ziegler also says the "punishment" was a charade by the secret society to further frighten Bill, and it had nothing to do with Mandy's death; she was a hooker and addict and had died from another accidental drug overdose. Bill does not know if Ziegler is telling him the truth about Nick's disappearance or Mandy's death, but he says nothing further. When he returns home, Bill finds the rented mask on his pillow next to his sleeping wife. He breaks down in tears and decides to tell Alice the whole truth of the past two days. The next morning, they go Christmas shopping with their daughter. Alice muses that they should be grateful that they have survived, that she loves him and there is something they must do as soon as possible. When Bill asks what it is, she replies, "Fuck".
Fail-Safe (1964)
Black & White
Accidental limited nuclear exchange with Russians
Fail-Safe
"During the early 1960s, Cold War tensions existing between the United States and the Soviet Union are heightened. An accidental thermonuclear first-strike attack by a group of United States Vindicator bombers (Convair B-58 Hustler aircraft) is launched in a mission against Moscow (the capital of what was then the Soviet Union).
Amidst an ordinary tour for VIPs at the U.S. headquarters of the Strategic Air Command (SAC) at Offutt AFB in Omaha, Nebraska, an alert is initiated when SAC radar indicates an intrusion into American airspace of an unidentified flying object. The standard procedure of SAC is to keep several groups of bombers constantly flying around the clock as a most immediate response to any potential nuclear attack on the country. Upon any initial alert from headquarters, these airborne groups proceed to pre-identified aerial points around the globe called "fail-safe points" to await an actual "go code" before proceeding towards Russian targets.
Shortly after reaching those points, the flying object is identified merely as an off-course airliner and the alert is canceled. However, a technical error sends an errant "go code" to a group of bombers, ordering them to proceed and attack their target. Coincidentally and simultaneously, a new Russian jamming device begins radio jamming of communications between SAC headquarters and the bomber group with the result that the group commander, Colonel Jack Grady (Edward Binns), begins to lead the attack on Moscow.
Pressure mounts as the President of the United States (Henry Fonda) and his advisers attempt to recall the group or shoot them down. Communications are begun with the Soviet Chairman, whereupon mistakes on both sides (the American accidental launch of the mission and the coincidental Russian jamming) are acknowledged. The jamming is reversed; however, SAC training and protocols cause the crew to reject counter-orders to abort the mission.
Before completion of the accidental attack on Moscow, the President realizes the severity of the situation and seeks a resolution to the matter that will avoid reprisal from the Russians and, ultimately, an all-out nuclear holocaust. With this threat in mind, the President orders an equally nuclear-armed American bomber toward New York City - which otherwise would be destroyed by the Soviets, along with many other American cities, in any counter-attack. Upon failure to stop the destruction of Moscow, the President orders General Black (Dan O'Herlihy) in the bomber over New York to drop the same nuclear payload which struck Moscow, in the hope that it will appease the Soviets.
Failure to Launch (2006)
Color
Parents hire a 'relationship consultant' to try to get their son to move out
Failure to Launch
"Tripp (Matthew McConaughey), a 35-year-old man, is still living with his parents Al (Terry Bradshaw) and Sue (Kathy Bates) in Baltimore. Tripp's best friends Demo (Bradley Cooper) and Ace (Justin Bartha) are also still living in their parents' homes and seem proud of it. Tripp has a number of meaningless romances; when he gets sick of the women, he scares them off by inviting them to “his place,” and after seeing he lives at home, they promptly dump him, leaving him free again. Al and Sue are fascinated when their friends, whose adult son recently moved away from home, reveal that they hired an expert to get their son to move out.
The expert is Paula (Sarah Jessica Parker), who believes that men continue to live at home because they have low self-esteem. Her approach is to establish a relationship with the man to build his confidence and transfer his attachment from his parents to her. However, upon meeting Tripp, she finds that he does not fit any of her previous profiles, having normal social skills and no problems with self-esteem. He also has a good job which he enjoys. After an awkward encounter with his parents, Paula thwarts his attempt to dump her and has sex with him, all the while developing real feelings for him. She and Tripp find themselves sailing unfamiliar waters and confide in their friends.
Paula's vocation exasperates her roommate Kit (Zooey Deschanel), who believes that Paula took the job because she once had her heart broken by a man who lived with his parents. Paula, on the other hand, is shocked when she finds out why Tripp lives at home: his life collapsed when his fiancee suddenly died, and his family has been his source of solace ever since.
Ace discovers what is going on and blackmails Paula for a date with Kit; although Kit is more attracted to Demo, she and Ace wind up falling in love. Ace then outs Paula to Demo, who in turn reveals all to Tripp. Tripp angrily confronts his parents and breaks up with Paula. Wracked with guilt, Paula refunds Al's and Sue's money. After an awkward confrontation, Tripp manages to forgive his parents, but he cannot forgive Paula for manipulating him.
Tripp's parents and friends devise a plan to reconcile the two lovers. They tie up and gag Tripp and lock him and Paula together in a room. Paula pours her heart out to him, and he finally forgives her. The film ends with Al and Sue in their empty nest, happily singing "Hit the Road, Tripp," fading into the closing credits playing the Ray Charles song, and Tripp sailing away with Paula on his newly purchased boat.
Fair Game (2010)
Color
Story of CIA agent Valerie Plame
Fair Game
"Valerie Plame is employed by the Central Intelligence Agency, a fact known outside the agency to no one except her husband and parents. She is an agent involved in a number of sensitive and sometimes dangerous covert operations overseas.
Her husband, Joseph C. Wilson, is a diplomat who most recently has served as the U.S. ambassador to Gabon. Due to his earlier diplomatic background in Niger, Wilson is approached by Plame's CIA colleagues to travel there and glean information as to whether yellowcake uranium is being procured by Iraq for use in the construction of nuclear weapons. Wilson determines to his own satisfaction that it is not.
After military action is taken by George W. Bush, who justifies it in a 2003 State of the Union address by alluding to the uranium's use in building weapons of mass destruction, Wilson submits an op-ed piece to The New York Times, claiming these reports to be categorically untrue.
Plame's status as a CIA agent is subsequently revealed in the media, the leak possibly coming from White House officials, including the Vice President's chief of staff and national security adviser, Scooter Libby, in part to discredit her husband's allegation that the Bush administration had manipulated intelligence to justify the invasion of Iraq. As a result, Plame is instantly dismissed from the agency, leaving several of her delicate operations in limbo and creating a rift in her marriage.
Plame leaves her husband, further angered by his granting of television and print interviews, which expose them both to public condemnation and death threats. Wilson ultimately persuades her, however, that there is no other way to fight a power as great as that of the White House for citizens like them. Plame returns to him and testifies before a Congressional committee, while Libby is convicted of perjury and obstruction of justice and given a 30-month prison sentence, although President Bush commutes the jail time on Libby's behalf.
Fallen (1998)
Color
Homicide cop faces murderous spirit that can move from one host to the next
Fallen
"Philadelphia Police Detective John Hobbes visits serial killer Edgar Reese, whom he helped capture, on death row. Reese is in high spirits and, during conversation, grabs Hobbes' hand and delivers a spiteful monologue in an unknown language, assumed to be gibberish but later identified as Aramaic. As he is executed, Reese mocks the spectators and sings "Time Is on My Side" by the Rolling Stones.
Hobbes and his partner Jonesy investigate a string of new murders reminiscent of Reese's style, which they assume is by a copycat killer. Following hints given by Reese and the copycat killer, Hobbes tracks down a woman named Gretta Milano. Gretta explains that her father, a former detective, killed himself in an isolated cabin after being accused of a series of occult murders similar to the ones Hobbes and Jonesy are investigating. Hobbes visits the Milano family's abandoned lake-house. In the basement he finds several unsettling books about demonic possession. He also discovers the name "Azazel" written on a wall, obscured under layers of grime.
Hobbes asks Gretta about the name, but she strongly urges him to drop the case to protect the lives of himself and his loved ones. She reconsiders after a terrifying encounter with Azazel, who confronts her in the guise of several strangers on the street and attempts to possess her. Seeking sanctuary in a church, Gretta explains to Hobbes that Azazel is a fallen angel who can possess human beings by touch. Hobbes realizes that Azazel, while possessing Edgar Reese, shook his hand before the execution but was not able to possess him. Gretta explains that the demon will try to ruin his life and warns him of Azazel's inevitable victory. Azazel visits Hobbes at his precinct, possesses his friend Lou, and taunts him. Azazel moves from person to person, singing "Time Is on My Side" after each transfer. Hobbes asks Lou and several others why they were singing the song, but they have no recollection. Hobbes runs outside and calls out to Azazel in Aramaic. The demon, now moving among people in the street, praises Hobbes for his cleverness. Hobbes says that he knows of Azazel's true identity; the demon threatens him and disappears.
To provoke Hobbes, Azazel possesses his nephew Sam and attacks John's intellectually disabled brother Art in their home. He again flees into other people on the street, ending up in a schoolteacher. As the teacher, Azazel draws a gun and forces Hobbes to shoot his host in front of a group of bystanders. Azazel boasts that if his current host is killed, he can transfer to another host in the surrounding area without needing to touch them.
Lieutenant Stanton informs Hobbes that his fingerprints were found at one of the murder scenes, and in light of the bizarre circumstances of the shooting of the teacher, he has become a suspect for all the murders. Azazel inhabits several of the witnesses and gives false accounts that the shooting was unprovoked, throwing further suspicion on Hobbes. Azazel comes into Hobbes' home and murders his brother, while marking Sam. Hobbes takes his nephew to Gretta's house. Gretta explains that, if forced out of a host body, Azazel can only travel for as long as one breath can sustain him, after which he will die.
Hobbes goes to the Milano cabin and calls Jonesy, knowing he will trace the call. Stanton and Jonesy arrive to arrest Hobbes; however, Jonesy kills Stanton, revealing himself to be possessed. Azazel prepares to shoot himself, which will allow him to possess Hobbes, the only other person for miles around. Hobbes wrestles Jonesy for his gun, and Jonesy is accidentally wounded. Hobbes smokes cigarettes which he explains have been laced with the same poison Azazel used to kill his brother, which will leave Azazel stranded in the wilderness without a host. Hobbes taunts him and kills Jonesy. Azazel possesses Hobbes, frantically attempts to flee, and succumbs to the poison. Azazel, in voice over, mocks the audience for believing that he has lost, and a possessed cat emerges from beneath the cabin and heads back to civilization.
Falling Down (1993)
Color
Man gets stuck in traffic trying to get to daughter's birthday party
Falling Down
"William Foster (Douglas) is recently divorced, and his ex-wife Beth (Hershey) has a restraining order to keep him away from her and their child, Adele. In addition, he was recently laid off from his job. His frustration grows when his car air conditioning fails while he is stuck in traffic. He abandons his car and begins walking across Los Angeles to attend Adele's birthday party.
At a convenience store, the Korean owner (Chan) refuses to give change for a telephone call. Foster begins ranting about the high prices. The owner grabs a baseball bat and demands Foster leave. Foster takes the bat and destroys much of the merchandise before leaving. Shortly thereafter, while resting on a hill, he is accosted by two gang members who threaten him with a knife and demand his briefcase. Foster attacks them with the bat and takes their knife.
The two gang members, now in a car with two friends, cruise the streets and find Foster in a phone booth. They open fire in a drive-by shooting, hitting several bystanders but not Foster. The driver loses control and crashes. Foster picks up a gun, shoots the only surviving gang member in the leg, then leaves with their bag of weapons.
At a fast food restaurant, Foster attempts to order breakfast, but they have switched to the lunch menu. After an argument with the manager, Foster pulls a gun and accidentally fires into the ceiling. After trying to reassure the frightened employees and customers, he orders lunch, but is annoyed when the burger looks nothing like the one shown on the menu. He leaves, tries to call Beth from a phone booth, then shoots the booth to pieces after being hassled by someone who was waiting to use the phone.
Sergeant Martin Prendergast (Duvall), on duty on his last day before retirement, insists on investigating the crimes. Interviews with the witnesses at each scene lead Prendergast to realize that the same person may be responsible. Foster's “D-FENS” vanity license plate proves to be an important lead, because Prendergast remembers being in the same traffic jam as Foster earlier that day. Prendergast and his partner, Detective Torres (Ticotin), visit Foster's mother. They realize Foster is heading toward his former family's home in Venice, California and rush to intercept him.
Foster passes a bank where a black man is protesting being rejected for a loan application. The man exchanges a glance with Foster and says "don't forget me" as he is escorted away by police. Foster stops at a military surplus store to buy a new pair of shoes. The owner (Forrest), a white supremacist, diverts Torres' attention when she comes in to ask questions. After she leaves, he offers Foster a rocket launcher, and congratulates him for shooting "a bunch of niggers" at the Whammy Burger. When Foster expresses disgust for the store owner's racism, the man pulls a gun and attempts to handcuff him, but Foster stabs him with the gang member's knife, then shoots him dead. He changes into army fatigues and boots, takes the rocket launcher, and leaves.
He encounters a road repair crew, who aren't working, and accuses them of doing unnecessary repairs to justify their budget. He pulls out the rocket launcher, but struggles to use it, until a young boy explains how it works. Foster accidentally fires the launcher, blowing up the construction site.
By the time Foster reaches Beth's house, she has already fled with Adele. He realizes that they may have gone to nearby Venice Pier, but Prendergast and Torres arrive before he can go after them. Foster shoots Torres, injuring her, and flees with Prendergast in pursuit.
At the end of the pier, Foster confronts his ex-wife and daughter. His daughter is happy to see him, but his ex-wife is frightened. Prendergast arrives and acknowledges Foster's complaints about being ill-treated by society, but doesn't accept that as an excuse for his rampage. Distracting Foster, Beth kicks the gun away as Prendergast draws his revolver, insisting that Foster give himself up. Foster pulls another gun, prompting Prendergast to shoot him dead before he can see that Foster's gun is only a water pistol.
Family Plot (1976)
Color
Cabbie teams with psychic to collect a big reward by finding a kidnapped millionaire
Family Plot
"Fake psychic Blanche Tyler (Barbara Harris) and her boyfriend George Lumley (Bruce Dern) attempt to locate the nephew of wealthy, guilt-ridden, elderly Julia Rainbird (Cathleen Nesbitt). Julia's recently-deceased sister gave the baby boy up for adoption, but Julia now wants to make him her heir and will pay Blanche $10,000 to find him. Julia knows almost nothing about the infant. During his investigation George discovers that the boy was given the name Edward Shoebridge, and is thought to have died while still young. However George tracks down a man, Joseph Maloney (Ed Lauter), who paid for Edward's tombstone years after his supposed death, and George comes to think the grave is empty. George and Blanche bicker frequently, but he is as good an investigator as she is a psychic, and their relationship is solid.
Meanwhile, it has been revealed to the viewers that Shoebridge murdered his adoptive parents and faked his own death, and is now a successful jeweler in San Francisco known as Arthur Adamson (William Devane). He and his live-in girlfriend Fran (Karen Black) kidnap millionaires and dignitaries, confining them in a secure room in the cellar of their home, and return them in exchange for ransoms in the form of valuable gemstones. Arthur conceals the latest ransom, a large diamond, "in plain sight" within a crystal chandelier hanging above the home's main staircase.
When Adamson learns that George is investigating him, he enlists Maloney (the two had murdered Adamson's adoptive parents long ago) to kill Blanche and George. Maloney initially refuses to help, then contacts Blanche and George, telling them to meet him at a cafe on a mountain road. He cuts the brakeline of Blanche's car, but they manage to survive their dangerous high-speed descent. Maloney tries to run them over, but dies in a fiery explosion when he swerves to avoid an oncoming car and his car goes over the edge.
At Maloney's funeral, his wife (Katherine Helmond) tearfully confesses, under pressure of George's questioning, that Shoebridge's name is now Arthur Adamson. George must go to work driving his taxi for an evening shift, so Blanche tracks down various A. Adamsons in San Francisco, eventually reaching the jewelry store as it closes for the day. Arthur's assistant Mrs. Clay (Edith Atwater) offers to let Blanche leave a note. Blanche tricks Mrs. Clay into giving her his home address.
Arthur and Fran are bundling their latest kidnap victim, Bishop Wood (William Prince), into their car when Blanche rings their doorbell. They attempt to drive out of their garage, but Blanche's car blocks their way. She tells Arthur that his aunt wants to make him her heir, and for a moment everyone seems delighted with developments. Then Blanche sees the unconscious bishop, and she is abducted by the couple. Arthur drugs her and leaves her in the cellar, to deal with after they exchange the bishop for ransom.
Searching for Blanche, George finds her car outside Arthur and Fran's house. When no one answers the door, he breaks in and searches for her. He finds her handbag with blood stains on it, and indications of a struggle. When Arthur and Fran return home George hides upstairs. He overhears Arthur telling Fran about his plan to kill Blanche and make her death seem a suicide. George manages to talk to Blanche, who is faking unconsciousness in the cellar (left open by Arthur when he went to check on her) and they come up with a plan. Arthur and Fran enter to carry Blanche out to the car, but she knocks them down and runs out and George locks the kidnappers in.
Blanche then goes into what appears to be a genuine "trance". She walks out of the basement and climbs halfway up the main staircase, stops, and points at the huge diamond hidden in the chandelier. Blanche then "wakes" and asks George what she is doing there. He excitedly tells her that she is indeed a real psychic. He calls the police to collect the reward for capturing the kidnappers and finding the jewels. A smiling Blanche winks at the camera.
Fandango (1985)
Color
Five college graduates for a final weekend fling
Fandango
"In 1971, at a fraternity house on the University of Texas campus in Austin, Texas, Gardner Barnes (Kevin Costner) is throwing darts at a picture of himself and his ex-girlfriend Debbie (Suzy Amis). He rejoins the graduation party going on downstairs, but not before tearing the picture in half. Gardner is a member of a clique called the Groovers, whose other members include Kenneth Waggener (Sam Robards), engaged to be married, and ROTC geek Phil Hicks (Judd Nelson). Phil's parents arrive at the fraternity house just in time to see another Groover named Lester (Brian Cesak) pass out (and remain unconscious for most of the film). They also meet the strong, quiet seminary student Dorman (Chuck Bush).
Kenneth interrupts the festivities by announcing his student deferment has expired and he is now to be drafted into the Vietnam War. Gardner is not surprised: his own notice came weeks before. Kenneth also reveals he has decided to call off his engagement to Debbie on account of being drafted. Gardner reacts with some joy and relief. The Groovers decide to celebrate their last days before the draft by going on a road trip, intending to visit a notorious roadhouse, then "dig up" someone - or something - named Dom near the Rio Grande. They drive all night before making a rest stop. Some, including Phil, resist continuing, but Gardner presses them on.
Phil's car runs out of gas and the Groovers must decide whether to walk to the nearest town or hitch. Phil is adamant about not leaving his car behind, when someone gets the idea to lasso a train passing on the railroad track parallel to the road. Dorman successfully attaches the front bumper with some fence cable to the back of the train, but the car's front end is pulled off, leaving the car in place. The Groovers push the car to a garage in the nearest town and eat at a Sonic Drive-In. They meet up with some townie girls (one of whom is played by Elizabeth Daily) and eventually end up playing in a cemetery operated by one of the girls' undertaker father, where they come upon a fallen Vietnam War soldier's tombstone. They sleep at the former movie set of Giant.
The next morning, with the car repaired with a front end from a different make and model, the Groovers continue. Phil wants to go back, prompting Kenneth to shout angrily at him. Gardner confesses they only let Phil hang with them because they felt sorry for him. Humiliated, Phil retorts that he will take on any challenge. The group sees a sign for a parachute school giving jumping lessons. Gardner cons the hippie-ish instructor Truman Sparks (Marvin J. McIntyre) into giving Phil a free lesson. Phil is terrified but goes up into Truman's aircraft. However, he is carrying Truman's dirty laundry instead of a parachute. The boys try desperately to warn him from the ground without success. Fortunately, Phil is able to open the emergency chute on his stomach with much prompting from Truman by walkie-talkie. The Groovers get a picture for their efforts; Phil gets some of his wounded pride back.
After discovering the charred, abandoned remains of the roadhouse, the Groovers press onward. At last they reach a bluff overlooking the Rio Grande and dig up Dom -- which turns out to be a magnum of Dom Perignon champagne. Each takes a drink before Gardner toasts to "freedom and youth." Kenneth is disheartened, having second thoughts about calling off the engagement. Pondering on the nature of love, Gardner decides to make things right. He calls Debbie, gets her to re-accept the engagement, and arranges for Truman Sparks to fly her from Dallas to the border town and back. Through some trickery, reminiscent of stone soup, he sets up a beautiful wedding for Kenneth and Debbie. Debbie and Gardner share one last dance after the wedding.
After the ceremony, Phil gives Kenneth and Debbie his car as a wedding present. Lester goes to hitch a ride "anywhere" and Phil and Dorman shake hands before leaving. Perched atop a cliff overlooking the town and watching the wedding reception, Gardner lifts a beer in salute to his friends.
Far From Heaven (2002)
Color
Wife finds husband with another man, forms relationship with her black gardener
Far From Heaven
"In 1957 suburban Connecticut, Cathy Whitaker, appears to be the perfect wife, mother, and homemaker. Cathy is married to Frank, a successful executive at Magnatech, a company selling television advertising. One evening Cathy receives a phone call from the local police who are holding her husband. He says it's all a mix up but they won't let him leave alone. Frank has in fact been exploring the underground world of gay bars in Hartford, Connecticut. One day, Cathy spies an unknown black man walking through her yard. He turns out to be Raymond Deagan, the son of Cathy's late gardener.
Frank often finds himself forced to stay late at the office, swamped with work. One night when Frank is working late, Cathy decides to bring his dinner to him at the office. She walks in on him passionately kissing another man. Frank confesses having had "problems" as a young man, and agrees to sign up for conversion therapy. However, his relationship with Cathy is irreparably strained, and he turns to alcohol.
Cathy runs into Raymond at a local art show, and initiates a discussion with him about modern painting, to the consternation of a few onlookers. One night, after a party, Frank attempts to make love to Cathy. He is unable to become aroused and strikes Cathy when she tries to console him.
Cathy decides to spend a day with Raymond. They go to a bar in the black neighborhood in which she is the only white person present. Frank toasts her with a drink saying "Here's to being the only one". They are sighted together by one of Cathy's neighbors, who immediately tells everyone. The town is soon ablaze with gossip about the two of them. This becomes evident when Cathy attends a ballet performance by her young daughter and the mothers of the other girls prevent them from socializing with Cathy's daughter. Cathy's husband is also furious. Cathy goes to find Raymond to tell them that their friendship isn't "plausible".
Over Christmas and New Years, Cathy goes on a vacation with her husband to Miami to take their minds off of things. At the hotel, Frank has another sexual encounter with a young man.
Back in Hartford, three white boys taunt and assault Raymond's daughter, Sarah. Frank tells Cathy that he has found a man who loves him and wants to be with him and seeks a divorce from Cathy. When Cathy eventually finds out that the victim of the attack was Raymond's daughter, Sarah, she goes to the Deagan home to find them packing up and moving to Baltimore. At one point when he addresses her as "Mrs. Whittaker", she begs him to call him Cathy. She suggests they can be together now that she is to be single. Raymond declines, saying "I've learned my lesson about mixing the two worlds," he says. In the final scene, Cathy goes to the train station to see Raymond off and say her silent goodbye to him, waving to him as the train moves out of the station.
Fargo (1996)
Color
Police chief in pursuit of car dealer who is planning to kidnap his wife for ransom
Fargo
"In 1987, Jerry Lundegaard, the manager of a Minneapolis Oldsmobile dealership owned by his father-in-law, Wade Gustafson, is desperate for money. On the advice of mechanic and convicted felon Shep Proudfoot, Jerry travels to Fargo, North Dakota and hires Carl Showalter and Gaear Grimsrud to kidnap his wife, Jean. He promises them a new Cutlass Ciera and half of the $80,000 ransom he says he intends to extract from Wade.
Jerry pitches Wade a lucrative real estate deal and believes Wade has agreed to lend him $750,000 to finance it, so he attempts to call off the kidnapping. Wade and his accountant Stan Grossman inform Jerry that Wade intends to make the deal himself and pay Jerry only a modest finder's fee.
Carl and Gaear kidnap Jean and transport her to a remote cabin in Moose Lake. A state trooper stops them near Brainerd for driving without displaying temporary registration tags. The trooper rejects Carl's clumsy bribe attempt and hears Jean whimpering in the back seat. Gaear shoots him, then chases down and kills two passers-by who witnessed the scene.
The following morning, Brainerd police chief Marge Gunderson, who is seven months pregnant, correctly surmises that the dead trooper was ticketing a car with dealer plates. She later learns that two men driving a dealership vehicle checked into the nearby Blue Ox Motel with two call girls and placed a call to Proudfoot. After questioning the call girls, Marge visits Wade's dealership, where Proudfoot feigns ignorance. Jerry insists to Marge no cars are missing from his inventory. While in Minneapolis, Marge reconnects with Mike Yanagita, a high school classmate, who awkwardly tries to romance Marge before breaking down and saying his wife has died.
Jerry tells Wade the kidnappers have demanded $1 million and will deal only through him. In light of the three murders, Carl demands Jerry hand over all of the $80,000 he believes is the entire ransom. Carl is with another call girl in a Minneapolis hotel room when Proudfoot enters and attacks him for bringing Proudfoot to the attention of the police. Carl then calls Jerry and orders him to deliver the ransom immediately. Wade insists on bringing it himself and meets Carl at a parking garage. He refuses to hand over the money without seeing his daughter, so an enraged Carl shoots him. Wade is also armed and fires back, wounding Carl in the jaw. Carl kills Wade and a garage attendant, then drives away with the briefcase containing the ransom.
On the way to Moose Lake, Carl discovers the briefcase contains $1 million. He removes $80,000 to split with Gaear, then buries the rest in the snow alongside the highway. At the cabin, Carl finds that Gaear killed Jean because she would not be quiet. Carl is furious and says they should split up and leave immediately, and they argue over who will keep the Ciera. Carl uses his injury as justification, shouts insults at Gaear, and attempts to take the vehicle. Gaear kills Carl with an axe.
Marge learns from a friend that Yanagita lied; he has no wife and is mentally ill. Reflecting on this, Marge returns to Wade's dealership. Jerry nervously insists no cars are missing and promises to double-check his inventory, then flees the interview. Marge sees Jerry driving off the lot and calls the state police.
Marge drives to Moose Lake after a local bartender reports having heard a "funny-looking guy" brag about killing someone. She drives by the cabin and sees Carl and Gaear's car, then discovers Gaear feeding Carl's dismembered body into a woodchipper. Gaear attempts to flee, but Marge shoots him in the leg and arrests him. Shortly afterwards, Jerry is arrested at a motel outside Bismarck, North Dakota.
Marge's husband Norm tells her the Postal Service has selected his painting of a mallard for a three cent postage stamp and complains that his friend's painting won the competition for a twenty-nine cent stamp. Marge reminds him that many people use smaller denomination stamps whenever prices increase and they need to make up the difference. Norm is reassured, and the couple happily anticipates the birth of their child.
Fatal Attraction (1987)
Color
Married man's weekend fling becoms unhinged and refuses to let him go
Fatal Attraction
"Daniel "Dan" Gallagher is a successful, happily-married Manhattan lawyer whose work leads him to meet Alexandra "Alex" Forrest, an editor for a publishing company. While his wife, Beth, and daughter, Ellen, are out of town for the weekend, Dan has an affair with Alex. Although it was initially understood by both as just a fling, Alex begins to cling to him.
After leaving unexpectedly in the middle of the night, Dan reluctantly spends the following day with Alex after she persistently asks him over. When Dan attempts to suddenly leave again, she cuts her wrists in a manipulative ploy to force him to stay. He helps her bandage the cuts, stays with her overnight to make sure she is all right, and leaves in the morning. Although Dan believes the affair to be forgotten, Alex shows up at his office one day to apologize for her behavior and invites him to a performance of Madame Butterfly, but he politely turns her down. She then continues to call him at his office until he tells his secretary that he will no longer take her calls.
Alex then phones his home at all hours, claiming that she is pregnant, will not consider an abortion, and plans to keep the baby. Although he wants nothing to do with her, she argues that he must take responsibility. After he changes his home phone number, she shows up at his apartment (which is for sale) and meets Beth, feigning interest as a buyer. Later that night, Dan goes to Alex's apartment to confront her, which results in a scuffle. In response, she replies that she will not be ignored.
Dan moves his family to Bedford, but this does not deter Alex. She has a tape recording delivered to him filled with verbal abuse. She stalks him in a parking garage, pours acid onto his car, ruining the engine, and follows him home one night to spy on him, Beth, and Ellen from the bushes in their yard: the sight of the family makes her sick to her stomach. Her obsession escalates further when Dan approaches the police to apply for a restraining order against Alex (claiming that it is "for a client"). The lieutenant claims that he cannot violate her rights without probable cause, and that the "client" has to own up to his adultery.
At one point, while the Gallaghers are not home, Alex kills Ellen's pet rabbit, and puts it on their stove to boil; Beth finds the pot and screams in terror. After this, Dan tells Beth of the affair and Alex's supposed pregnancy. Enraged, she demands that Dan leave. Before he goes, Dan calls Alex to tell her that Beth knows about the affair. Beth gets on the phone and warns Alex that she will kill her if she persists. Without Dan and Beth's knowledge, Alex picks up Ellen from school and takes her to an amusement park. Beth panics when she cannot find Ellen. She drives around frantically searching and rear-ends a car stopped at an intersection which causes her to be injured and hospitalized. Alex drops Ellen off at home unharmed, asking her for a kiss on the cheek.
Dan barges into Alex's apartment and attacks her, choking her and coming close to strangling her. He stops himself, but as he does, she lunges at him with a kitchen knife. He overpowers her but decides to put the knife down and leave, while Alex is leaning against the kitchen counter, smiling. The police begin to search for her after Dan tells them about the kidnapping. Following Beth's release from the hospital, she forgives Dan, and they return home.
Beth prepares a bath for herself when Alex suddenly appears with the kitchen knife and explains her belief that Beth is standing in the way of having Dan to herself before proceeding to attack her. Dan hears the screaming, rushes in, wrestles Alex into the bathtub, and seemingly drowns her. She suddenly emerges from the water, swinging the knife, but Beth arrives with Dan's revolver and shoots Alex in the chest, finally killing her. The final scene shows police cars outside the Gallaghers' house. As Dan finishes delivering his statement to the police, he walks inside, where Beth is waiting for him. They embrace and proceed to the living room as the camera focuses on a picture of the family.
Father of the Bride (1950)
Black & White
Father gets caught up in the chaos surrounding his daughter's wedding
Father of the Bride
"Following the wedding of his daughter Kay (Elizabeth Taylor), Stanley T. Banks (Spencer Tracy), a successful suburban lawyer, recalls the day, three months earlier, when he first learned of Kay's engagement to Buckley Dunstan (Don Taylor). At the family dinner table, Kay's casual announcement that she is in love with Buckley and has accepted his proposal makes Stanley feel uneasy, but he soon comes to realize that his daughter has grown up and the wedding is inevitable. While Ellie (Joan Bennett), Kay's mother, immediately begins making preparations for the wedding, Stanley lies awake at night, fearing the worst for his daughter.
Stanley's misgivings about the marriage eventually make Ellie anxious, and she insists that Kay introduce them to Buckley's parents. Kay calls the tradition "old-fashioned rigamarole," but arranges the meeting nevertheless. Before the introduction, Stanley has a private conversation with Buckley, and is pleased to learn that the young man is the head of a small company and that he is capable of providing a comfortable life for Kay. The Bankses' first meeting with Doris and Herbert, Buckley's parents, gets off to an awkward start, and goes from bad to worse when Stanley drinks too much and falls asleep in the wealthy Dunstans' living room.
Following Kay and Buckley's engagement party, Stanley, who misses the entire party because he is in the kitchen mixing drinks, realizes that his plans for a small wedding have been swept aside and he will be expected to pay for an extravagant wedding "with all the trimmings." As costs for the June event spiral out of control, Stanley calculates that he can afford to accommodate no more than one hundred and fifty guests. The task of paring down the guest list proves too difficult, however, and Stanley reluctantly consents to a 250-person reception. To save costs, Stanley suggests to Kay that she and Buckley elope. Kay is at first shocked by the suggestion, then reconsiders, supports the idea, and conveys that to her mother. Ellie strongly disapproves of eloping which causes Stanley to express his disapproval too, making it appear the idea was originally Kay's.
The plans for a lavish wedding continue until the day that Buckley tells Kay that he wants to take her on a fishing trip in Nova Scotia for their honeymoon. Kay reacts to the announcement with shock and calls off the wedding, but she and Buckley soon reconcile, and the two families begin their wedding rehearsals. On the day of the wedding, chaos reigns at the Banks home as final preparations are made for the reception. The wedding ceremony brings both joy and sorrow to Stanley, as he realizes that his daughter is now a woman and no longer his child. During the reception, Stanley tries to find Kay so he can kiss the bride but only manages to see her leaving for her honeymoon. Ellie and Stanley survey the mess in their home and concur that the entire affair was a great success. Kay calls and tells her father she loves him and thanks her parents for everything.
Father of the Bride (1991)
Color
Father has hard time letting go of his daughter when she announces her plans to wed
Father of the Bride
"George Banks is the owner of a successful athletic shoe company called Side Kicks in San Marino, California. George narrates what he had to go through with his daughter's wedding. His 22-year-old daughter Annie, freshly graduated from college, returns home from Europe and announces that she is engaged to Bryan MacKenzie, despite their only having known each other for three months. The sudden shock turns the warm reunion into a heated argument between George and Annie, but they quickly reconcile in time for Bryan to arrive and meet them. Despite Bryan's good financial status and likeable demeanor, George takes an immediate dislike to him while his wife, Nina, accepts him as a potential son-in-law. George does not want to let go of his daughter.
George and Nina meet Bryan's parents, John and Joanna MacKenzie who are wealthy and live in a mansion in Bel-Air. John reassures George by also expressing how shocked he had initially been at Bryan's engagement, but George quickly gets into trouble when he begins nosing around the MacKenzies' financial records. He eventually ends up falling into the pool when cornered by the MacKenzies' vicious pet Dobermans.
All is forgiven, however, and the Banks family meets with an eccentric European wedding coordinator, Franck Eggelhoffer. He sneers dismissively at George's complaints about the price of the extravagant wedding items, including a flock of swans. The high price, and the seemingly excessive number of wedding invitations and cost of each dinner, begin to take their toll on George and he becomes slightly insane. The last straw occurs when he retrieves his old tux from the attic - with the expectation that at least IT will still fit - and as he struggles to put it on - it promptly rips when he bends over. He leaves the house to cool off, but ends up causing a disturbance at the supermarket. Fed up with paying for things he doesn't want, he starts removing hot dog buns from the store's 12-bun packets so as to match the 8-dog packets of hot dogs. He ends up getting arrested, but Nina arrives to bail him out of jail on the condition that he stop ruining the wedding.
With help from Nina and Franck, George becomes more relaxed and accepting of the wedding, particularly when Annie and Bryan receive rather expensive gifts from extended family members. The wedding plans are put on hold when they have a fight over a blender Bryan gave her as a gift, which only gets worse when she refuses to believe his story about George's earlier antics. George takes Bryan out for a drink, initially intending to get rid of him for good, but seeing his heartbroken face and genuine claim that he loves Annie, George has a change of heart and finally accepts him. He confesses to Annie that what happened at the MacKenzies' house was true, and she and Bryan reconcile.
Despite some last minute problems with the weather, the wedding is finally prepared, almost one year after Bryan and Annie's first meeting. They marry and the reception is held at the house, despite a nosy police officer objecting to the number of parked cars in the street. Unfortunately, George misses Annie throwing her bouquet and is unable to see her before she and Bryan leave for their honeymoon in Hawaii. The film picks up George's narration from the beginning as the wedding reception ends. Annie calls him from the airport to thank and tell him that she loves him one last time before they board the plane.
With the house now empty and the wedding finished, George finds solace with Nina and dances with her
Fear and Desire (1953)
Black & White
Soldiers crash land behind enemy lines
Fear and Desire
"Fear and Desire opens with an off-screen narration by actor David Allen who tells the audience:
There is a war in this forest. Not a war that has been fought, nor one that will be, but any war. And the enemies who struggle here do not exist unless we call them into being. This forest then, and all that happens now is outside history. Only the unchanging shapes of fear and doubt and death are from our world. These soldiers that you see keep our language and our time, but have no other country but the mind.
The story is set during a war between two unidentified countries. An airplane carrying four soldiers from one country has crashed six miles behind enemy lines. The soldiers come upon a river and build a raft, hoping they can use the waterway to reach their battalion. As they are building their raft, they are approached by a young peasant girl who does not speak their language. The soldiers apprehend the girl and bind her to a tree with their belts. The youngest of them, Sidney, is left behind to guard the girl. He starts to talk to her, but as she doesn't understand him, he descends into a state of delirium. When he unbelts her, believing she will embrace him, she tries to escape and Sidney shoots her dead. Mac, another of the four soldiers, finds the dead girl and watches as Sidney runs off towards the river. Mac persuades the commander, Lt. Corby, and his friend Fletcher to let him take the raft for a solo voyage, in connection with a plan to kill an enemy general at a nearby base. Mac distracts the generals guards by shooting at them while on the raft and is wounded. While this is happening, Fletcher and Corby successfully infiltrate the base, and the enemy general is killed. After killing the general, they use an enemy plane to escape to their home base. After landing, they talk and eat with their own general, and return to the river to await Mac. Sitting there, they philosophize about war and how no man is made for it, before finding the raft floating downriver, with Mac's dead body and a delirious Sidney.
Fences (2016)
Color
Man caught cheating on his wife
Fences
"In 1950s Pittsburgh, Troy Maxson (Denzel Washington) lives with his wife Rose (Viola Davis) and their son Cory (Jovan Adepo), and works as a waste collector alongside his best friend, Jim Bono (Stephen Henderson). Troy's younger brother, Gabriel Maxson (Mykelti Williamson), sustained a head injury in World War II that left him mentally impaired, for which he received a $3,000 government payout that Troy used to purchase a home for his family. Gabriel has since moved out, but still lives in the neighborhood, often getting in trouble with the law for his eccentric behavior, which includes religious fixations.
In his adolescence, Troy left home from his abusive father and became a robber to sustain himself. After killing a man during a robbery led him to prison, he met Bono and revealed himself to be a talented baseball player. He then played in the professional Negro Leagues; but he never made it to Major League Baseball, which had no black players in the years before 1947. When Bono says that Troy was born too soon, Troy rejects this choice of words and insists that he was passed over due to the color of his skin. Having survived a near-fatal bout of pneumonia in his youth, Troy claims to have done so by defeating the Grim Reaper in a fistfight, upon which the Reaper vowed to return for a rematch.
Troy's estranged son from a previous relationship, Lyons Maxson (Russell Hornsby), visits him on each payday to borrow money, upsetting Troy, whose belief in responsibility rejects Lyons's pursuing his dream of becoming a musician instead of finding a real job -- Troy refuses to even visit the club where his son's band is playing. Rose later tells Troy that Cory is being scouted by a college football team, but Troy is dismissive of Cory's chances of reaching the NFL. Not only is he stung by his own lack of success in baseball, but he believes that racial discrimination is still common in the major leagues. He tells Cory that he will not sign the permission documents. He does not want his son to fail as he did, but there is also some jealousy that Cory might achieve the success that had eluded his father.
Rose asks Troy to build a fence around their house, and Troy demands that Cory help him as punishment for Cory not doing his chores due to football practice. Troy and Cory clash over Cory's ambitions to play college football. On learning that Cory is not working at his part-time job due to football practice, Troy demands that he return to the job, despite Cory's attempts to convince him that the job is being held for him until football season is over.
Troy achieves a promotion to driving the garbage truck, becoming the first African-American to do so in Pittsburgh, even though he can't read and doesn't have a driver's license. Bono finds out that Troy is cheating on Rose with Alberta, a woman he met at the local bar, and alerts him his actions will have repercussions. The two then become estranged when Troy is assigned to a different neighborhood. Troy later finds out that Cory did not return to his part-time job at the A&P, and forces Cory's coach to kick him off the team -- Troy also refuses to meet with the college scout who plans to visit their home. Cory lashes out and throws his helmet at Troy, which Troy claims is the first of Cory's three permitted offenses. When called to bail Gabriel out of jail for disturbing the peace, Troy unknowingly signs papers rerouting half of Gabriel's pension to a psychiatric hospital, forcing Gabriel to be institutionalized.
Troy is forced to reveal his affair to Rose when his mistress becomes pregnant, leading to an argument in which Troy aggressively grabs Rose, causing Cory to intervene and knock Troy into a fence, which Troy marks as Cory's second offense. In the following months, Troy and Rose become estranged, although they keep living in the same house, as Troy continues to visit his mistress, who ultimately dies in childbirth after going into early labor, leading an embittered Troy to angrily challenge the Reaper to another fight.
Troy brings his baby daughter Raynell home, and Rose decides to raise her as her own, but refuses to accept Troy back into her life. Cory is considering enlisting in the United States Marine Corps after missing his opportunity to attend college. One day, when he returns home, an intoxicated Troy blocks his path and instigates a fight in which Cory swings at Troy with a baseball bat. Troy gains the upper hand, grabs the bat from Cory, and drives him out of the house. Both energized and disoriented by his victory, Troy once again challenges the Reaper to come for him.
Six years later, Troy has died of a heart attack, and Cory, now a USMC corporal, returns home, but informs Rose he will not attend the funeral. Rose admits to loving Troy despite his many flaws and pleads that Troy is still a part of him, and Cory later reconsiders after interacting with an older Raynell (Saniyya Sidney). Lyons is serving three years for fraud, and gets furlough to attend the funeral. Similarly, Gabriel is released from the hospital to attend and reunites with his family as they all bid farewell to Troy. Gabriel prays for St. Peter to open the gates of heaven for Troy, and a shimmering sunlight glistens over them, symbolizing intergenerational forgiveness and peace.
Ferris Beuller's Day Off (1986)
Color
Kid plays hooky and enjoys a good time with friends
Ferris Beuller's Day Off
"As the movie opens, high school senior Ferris Bueller (Matthew Broderick) decides to skip school on a nice spring day by faking an illness to his parents (Lyman Ward and Cindy Pickett), then encourages his girlfriend, Sloane Peterson (Mia Sara) and his pessimistic best friend, Cameron Frye (Alan Ruck) to spend the day in Chicago as one of their last flings before they head off to different colleges. Ferris persuades Cameron to let them use his father's prized 1961 Ferrari 250 GT California convertible to drive into the city. The rest of the school and many residents learn of Ferris' exaggerated illness and offer donations to help "Save Ferris". Only two people are not convinced by Ferris's deception: his often sarcastic sister Jeanie (Jennifer Grey), outraged at Ferris's ability to defy authority easily, and the school's Dean of Students, Edward Rooney (Jeffrey Jones), who believes Ferris to be truant.
Ferris and his friends arrive downtown and leave the Ferrari with two garage attendants, who drive off in it, and take it for a joyride a short time later. Ferris, Sloane and Cameron enjoy many sights of the city, including a Cubs game at Wrigley Field, visits to the Sears Tower, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the Chicago Mercantile Exchange as well as taking part in the Von Steuben Day Parade, considered the German-American event of the year, where Ferris lip-syncs to "Danke Schoen" and The Beatles' version of "Twist and Shout" while riding on a parade float. Ferris even uses his ploys to pretend he is Abe Froman, the Sausage King of Chicago, to dine at an upscale restaurant, Chez Quis, while narrowly avoiding his father, who is on his way to lunch with business associates.
Meanwhile, Mr. Rooney goes off-campus to try to find Ferris, first at a local hangout, then at Ferris's home. He tries to gain entry but gets stuck in the mud and loses his shoe while being chased by the family's dog. He eventually gains access but Jeanie comes home trying to find Ferris and discovers Mr. Rooney in the kitchen, mistaking him for a burglar. She high-kicks him in the face and runs upstairs to call the police. This forces Mr. Rooney to flee the scene, dropping his wallet in the process. When the police show up, they take Jeanie in for prank calling and while at the police station, she talks to a drug addict (Charlie Sheen), who tells her that she needs to stop worrying so much about Ferris and more about herself. Jeanie becomes increasingly annoyed with the addict but is found kissing him when her mother arrives to pick her up, upset at having to do so.
At the end of the day, Ferris and his friends retrieve the Ferrari, but discover on the way home that nearly two hundred miles have been added to the odometer. This sends Cameron into a panic and Ferris says to the audience, "This is where Cameron goes berserk" just before Cameron emits a scream of terror, fearing his father's reaction. Cameron goes temporarily catatonic, and tries to drown himself in the neighbor's pool before Ferris saves him. After calming him down, Ferris comes up with a plan to run the car's engine in reverse inside Cameron's father's hillside garage, hoping to undo the mileage on the odometer. When they realize this is not working, Cameron unleashes his pent-up anger against his father, kicking and damaging the front of the Ferrari. He realizes it is high time to stand up to his father and vows to accept the consequences of the damage he has done. He calms down and leans against the car, which is still running in reverse gear, and it falls off the jack and crashes through the glass wall of the garage, landing in a ravine behind the house. Despite Ferris' offer to take the blame, Cameron still plans to "take the heat" and admit his actions to his father.
Ferris walks Sloane home, before realizing he must get home within five minutes. He then races through the backyards of his neighborhood to get back home before his parents. Along the way, he has several close encounters with his family members driving home, but his parents do not notice him. When he arrives home, he is unable to find the house key under the doormat and instead finds Mr. Rooney with the key, saying "Looking for this?" Mr. Rooney then explains to Ferris how he has waited for this day and tells him to expect another year of high school. However, Jeanie finds the two, thanks Mr. Rooney for "driving Ferris back from the hospital" and shows him the wallet that he left behind when he broke in earlier, throwing it in the mud. Mr. Rooney gets attacked by the dog, leaving Ferris with enough time to get back into bed just before his parents check on him.
As the credits are rolling, Mr. Rooney, in his disheveled state, is invited by a bus driver to hitch a ride back to school on a school bus as it drives students home. Later, at the end of the credits, Ferris emerges from the bathroom, saying directly to the audience, "You're still here? It's over. Go home. Go!
Field of Dreams (1989)
Color
Iowa farmer hears voice telling him to turn his cornfield into a baseball diamond
Field of Dreams
"36-year-old Ray Kinsella (Kevin Costner) lives with his wife, Annie (Amy Madigan), and daughter, Karin (Gaby Hoffmann), on their Iowan corn farm. Troubled by his broken relationship with his late father, John Kinsella (Dwier Brown), a devoted baseball fan, he fears growing old without ever achieving anything.
While walking through his cornfield one evening, he hears a voice whispering, "If you build it, he will come". He sees a vision of a baseball diamond in the cornfield and the great "Shoeless" Joe Jackson (Ray Liotta) standing in the middle. Believing in him, Annie lets him plow under part of their corn crop to build a baseball field, at risk of financial hardship.
As Ray builds the field, he tells Karin about the 1919 Black Sox Scandal. Several months pass, and just as Ray is beginning to doubt himself, Shoeless Joe appears, asking if others can play and returns with the seven other Black Sox players. Annie's brother, Mark (Timothy Busfield), can't see the players, warning they are going bankrupt and offers to buy the land. Meanwhile, the voice urges Ray to "ease his pain".
Ray and Annie attend a PTA meeting, where she argues against someone who is trying to ban books by Terrence Mann (James Earl Jones). Ray deduces the voice was referring to Mann, who had named one of his characters "John Kinsella", and once professed a childhood dream of playing for the Brooklyn Dodgers. When Ray and Annie have identical dreams about Ray and Mann attending a game at Fenway Park, Ray finds Mann in Boston. Mann, a recluse, agrees to attend one game; Ray hears the voice urging him to "go the distance", seeing statistics on the scoreboard for a player Moonlight Graham (Burt Lancaster), who played in game for the New York Giants in 1922 but never got to bat. Mann also admits having heard the voice and seen the scoreboard.
They drive to Minnesota, learning that Graham, who was a physician, died years earlier. Ray finds himself in 1972, encountering an elderly Graham, who states he happily left baseball for a satisfying medical career. During the drive back to Iowa, Ray picks up a young hitchhiker (Frank Whaley), Archie Graham, who's looking for a baseball field. Ray later tells Mann that his father dreamed of being a baseball player, but later tried to make him pick up the sport instead. At 14, after reading Mann's books, Ray stopped playing catch with his father, and they became estranged after he mocked John for having "a hero who was a criminal". Ray admits that his greatest regret is that they never reconciled. Arriving at the farm, they see various classic all-star players have arrived, fielding a second team. A game is played, and Archie finally gets his turn at bat.
The next morning, Mark returns, demanding that Ray sell the farm or the bank will foreclose on him. Karin insists that people will pay to watch the ball games. Mann agrees, saying that "people will come" to relive their childhood innocence. A scuffle breaks out between Ray and Mark, knocking Karin off the bleachers. Graham saves her, knowing he will be unable to return after stepping over the boundary. Having become old Dr. Graham again, he reassures Ray he has no regrets. He is commended by the other players, and then disappears into the corn. Suddenly, Mark can see the players and urges Ray to keep the farm.
Shoeless Joe invites Mann to enter the corn, and Mann disappears into it. Ray is angry at not being invited, but Joe rebukes him, glancing towards the catcher at home plate, saying, "If you build it, he will come." Removing his catcher's mask, he is Ray's father as a young man. Ray realizes "ease his pain" referred to his father.
Ray introduces John to Annie and Karin without revealing their relationship. As John begins to head towards the cornfield, Ray, calling him "Dad", asks if he wants to play catch. They play as hundreds of cars are seen approaching the field, fulfilling the prophecy that people will come to watch baseball.
Fierce People (2005)
Color
Mother and her son move in with a billionaire
Fierce People
"Trapped in his drug-dependent mother, Liz's (Diane Lane), Lower East Side apartment, 16-year-old Finn Earl (Anton Yelchin) wants nothing more than to escape New York. He wants to spend the summer in South America studying the Ishkanani Indians (known as the "Fierce People") with his anthropologist father whom he's never met. Earl's plan has to change after he is arrested in an effort to help Liz, who works as a massage therapist. Determined to get their lives back on track, Liz moves the two of them into a guesthouse for the summer on the country estate of her ex-client, the aging billionaire, Ogden C. Osbourne (Donald Sutherland).
In Osbourne's world of privilege and power, Finn and Liz encounter the super rich, a tribe portrayed as fiercer and more mysterious than anything the youth might find in the South American jungle. (Dirk Wittenborn, the author of the novel on which the film is based, grew up poor and feeling an outsider among the super rich in an upper-crust New Jersey enclave.)
While Liz battles her substance abuse and struggles to win back her son's love and trust, Finn falls in love with Osbourne's granddaughter, Maya (Kristen Stewart). He befriends her older brother, Bryce (Chris Evans); and wins the favor of Osbourne. When violence ends Finn's acceptance within the Osbourne clan, the promises of this world quickly sour. Both Finn and Liz, caught in a harrowing struggle for their dignity, discover that membership in a group comes at a steep price.
Final Destination (2000)
Color
Teen avoids death from a plane crash due to a premonition
Final Destination
"Final Destination is a 2000 American supernatural horror film directed by James Wong. The screenplay was written by Glen Morgan, Wong and Jeffrey Reddick, based on a story by Reddick. The film stars Devon Sawa, Ali Larter, Kerr Smith, and Tony Todd. Sawa portrays a teenager who "cheats death" after having a premonition of himself and others perishing in a plane explosion and uses it by saving himself and a handful of other passengers, but is continued to be stalked by Death by claiming back their lives which should have been lost in the plane.
The film was based on a spec script intended for The X-Files, written by Reddick. X-Files writing partners Wong and Morgan were interested and agreed to re-write and direct a feature film of it, marking Wong's film directing debut. Filming took place in Alabama and Vancouver. Final Destination was released on 17 March 2000, and was a financial success, making $10 million on its opening weekend.[2] The film score was released on the same date comprising original compositions by Shirley Walker. The film was released on DVD on 26 September 2000 in the USA and Canada,[9] which includes commentaries, deleted scenes, and documentaries.
The film received mixed reviews from critics; where negative reviews classified the film as "dramatically flat" and "aimed at the teen dating crowd", while positive reviews praised the film for "generating a respectable amount of suspense", "playful and energized enough to keep an audience guessing" and as "an unexpectedly alert teen-scream disaster chiller". It received the Saturn Award for Best Horror Film and Best Performance by a Younger Actor for Sawa's performance. The film's success spawned three sequels composed of Final Destination 2 (2003), Final Destination 3 (2006), The Final Destination (2009) and one prequel Final Destination 5 (2011), all distributed by New Line Cinema; as well as a series of novels and comic books published by Black Flame and Zenescope Entertainment respectively.
Finding Forrester (2000)
Color
Novelist, recognizing a young athlete's writing talent, decides to mentor him
Finding Forrester
"Sixteen year old Jamal Wallace (Rob Brown) sleeps in his bedroom in New York City, surrounded by stacks of books, and then jumps to go meet his friends on the basketball court. Reclusive writer William Forrester lives on the top floor of the building across from the basketball courts where Jamal and his friends play. They regularly notice him watching them from his window, although they never see his face, referring to him simply as 'The Window'. One day after school, one of the boys challenges Jamal to sneak into the apartment, part of "dare thing" he and his boys do where they must retrieve an item from the apartment to fulfill the dare. Jamal accepts the challenge and sneaks in through the window. He steals a knife-like letter opener only to be surprised by Forrester and flees, inadvertently leaving his backpack behind. Later, Jamal confronts a man outside Forrester's apartment delivering supplies to Forrester and displays his gifted intellect discussing the history of the BMW corporation, in reference to the man's car. After the man leaves, Jamal's backpack is dropped to the street in a ghostly manner. Jamal returns home to find that Forrester has read his journals and made editorial notes in them -- crossing out line after line and making other marks in red ink. Jamal returns to Forrester's apartment and requests that Forrester read more of his writing, only to be told to begin with 5,000 words on why he should "stay the fuck out of my home", which Jamal completes and leaves on Forrester's doorstep the following day.
Jamal returns the next day, and is invited inside. While initially taunting Jamal with veiled racial threats, Forrester displays an intimate knowledge of Jamal gained from peering out the window, knowing that Jamal had been visited by a representative from Mailor-Callow -- a prestigious private school that offered Jamal a full academic scholarship. Forrester knows the school wants Jamal, first and foremost, for his skill on the basketball court, but agrees to help Jamal with his writing as long as Jamal doesn't ask prying questions (other than "soup questions") about his personal life. A 'soup' question, according to Forrester, is one that provides the questioner with useful information (i.e. 'How do you make this soup?') as opposed to one meant purely to satisfy one's curiosity. Jamal, whom had learned that Forrester was the author of a famous book, 'Avalon Landing', agrees and grows closer to Forrester causing his in-class writing work to improve; well beyond what his literary professor, Crawford (Abraham), feels a 16 year-old basketball-playing black kid from the Bronx could possibly accomplish. Calling his work, "too good" Crawford suspects that Jamal is plaigarising his work.
Eventually Jamal convinces Forrester (whom never leaves his apartment) to go out and attend a game at Madison Square Garden, but Forrester cannot handle the crowds and has a severe anxiety attack. Jamal takes him instead to see Yankee Stadium as a surprise late at night after everyone has gone. He and Forrester go out on the field to the pitcher's mound, where he tells Jamal intimate details about his family, which explains the basis of his book -- specifically his brother's post-war trauma, alcoholism and Forrester's indirect role (in refusing to drive home one night) that led to his death. He also explains how the subsequent deaths of his parents soon after affected him and led to his becoming a recluse.
As part of Jamal's tutelage, to aid him in "finding his own words," Forrester gives him some of his own private essays to rewrite, with the condition that Jamal is not to take anything they write out of the apartment. When a prestigious writing contest requires some of Jamal's best work, still suspected of plagiarism, he is forced to begin the piece in Crawford's office, and later falls back on a particular piece of Forrester's that he re-wrote and submits as his own, not realizing it was one of Forrester's few published works. Crawford finds the parallels with Forrester's piece published in 1960 and brings Jamal up on plagiarism charges.
Because the title and first paragraph are identical, Jamal must either admit cite Forrester's work or prove he had Forrester's permission to use his material. He refuses to do either, to keep his promise to Forrester, thus eliminating his entry from the competition and endangering his standing at the school. Crawford demands, as restitution, that Jamal write an apology letter to his classmates, and read it in front of the class.
Jamal tells Forrester what he has done and asks him to defend him, but Forrester is angry at Jamal for breaking his promise and refuses. Jamal then accuses Forrester of being scared and selfish for not helping him.
Jamal is then offered a bribe. He is told by the school that they value his contributions in basketball, and agree to drop the plagiarism charges if he wins them the state championship. Jamal comes to realize that his intellectual gifts have less to do with remaining at the school than his ability on the basketball court, and deliberately misses (we are left not knowing for sure) two free throw shots at the end of the game, costing the team the championship. Immediately following the game, Jamal proceeds to the library and writes an essay to Forrester which discusses how the gift of friendship obliges one who has no blood-family, to find his/her family. Later that night, Jamal's essay is found by his brother Terrell (Busta Rhymes) who personally delivers it to Forrester and laments that Jamal's bright future is about to be taken away.
Despite discouragement, Jamal attends the literary contest, signaling his intent to continue at the school. During the readings, Forrester appears, announces himself and receives permission to read (Jamal's) essay that draws overwhelming applause from the students. As Crawford is praising the work, Forrester acknowledges his friendship with Jamal and reveals that the essay he'd just read was written by Jamal. He goes on to explain that Jamal had written the contest essay -- using the published title and first paragraph -- with permission and that Jamal's silence was due to honoring the promise he'd made to him. Crawford adamantly states that this will not change any of the board's decisions. The board overrules him and drops the plagiarism charges, readmitting Jamal's entry to the competition. After the competition, Forrester thanks Jamal for his friendship and tells him of his desire to visit his homeland of Scotland. Before departing, Forrester asks Jamal if he missed the two free throws at the end of the game on purpose, to which Jamal responds, "that's not exactly a 'soup' question is it?"--repeating to Forrester the response that Jamal received to personal questions he had asked of him.
One year later, Jamal is in his senior year and is a successful student with many enrollment offers from many prestigious universities. Forrester's attorney (Matt Damon in a cameo role) schedules a meeting with Jamal, and reveals that Forrester has died of cancer. Jamal learns that Forrester was terminally ill while they knew each other. In accordance with Forrester's will, Jamal is given a package, the keys to Forrester's apartment (ownership presumed), and a letter, in which Forrester thanks Jamal for helping him rekindle his desire to live. The package contains the manuscript for Forrester's second and final novel, called Sunset, for which Jamal is expected to write the foreword.
Fire in the Sky (1993)
Color
Arizona logger mysteriously disappears for five days in an encounter with a flying saucer
Fire in the Sky
"On November 5, 1975 in Snowflake, Arizona, logger Travis Walton, and his co-workers -- Mike Rogers, Allan Dallis, David Whitlock, Greg Hayes and Bobby Cogdill -- head to work in the White Mountains.
Driving home from work, the loggers come across an unidentified flying object. Curious, Walton gets out of the truck and is struck by a bright beam of light from the object and is sent flying several feet backwards as if pushed by an unseen force. Fearing Walton has been killed, the others escape from the scene. Rogers decides to go back to the spot to retrieve Walton, but he is nowhere to be found. Making their way back to town to report the incident, the loggers are met with skepticism by investigators Sheriff Blake Davis and Lieutenant Frank Watters. Watters, realizing that there was a great deal of tension between Dallis and Walton and that Dallis has a criminal record, suspects foul play, a belief that quickly spreads to the rest of the town, leaving the loggers as social pariahs.
After a large search party turns up no sign of Travis, the loggers are offered the chance to take a lie detector test. Though Dallis is initially hesitant, the loggers ultimately take the test in the hopes of proving their innocence. However, Watters declares that the tests were inconclusive and that they will have to return the next day to retake it. Rogers is outraged and he angrily declines, the other loggers following suit. The test's administrator reveals to Watters and Davis that, with the exception of Dallis (whose test results were inconclusive), the loggers seem to be telling the truth.
Five days later, Rogers receives a call from someone claiming to be Walton. He is found at a Heber gas station, alive but naked, dehydrated and incoherent. A ufologist questions Walton but he is thrown out and Walton is taken to a hospital. Rogers visits Walton while in the emergency room and ends up telling Walton that he left him after he was struck by the light but came back to get him. Walton appears enraged by this and turns away from Rogers who blames the whole incident on Walton for getting out of the truck. During a welcome home party, Walton suffers from a mental breakdown and flashback of the abduction by the extraterrestrials.
In his flashback, he awakens inside a slimy cocoon. Breaking out of its membrane, he finds himself in a zero-gravity environment inside a cylindrical enclosure whose walls contain other similar cocoons and he is horrified to inadvertently discover that one contains the decomposing remains of a human body. As he makes his way to a neighboring area featuring what appear to be several humanoid space suits, he is apprehended by two extraterrestrial creatures. He is unwillingly hauled down corridors full of terrestrial detritus such as shoes and keys before arriving in a bizarre examination room. The aliens strip him of his clothes and cover him with an elastic material that pins him to a raised platform under an array of equipment and lights in the middle of the room. Despite Walton's terrified screams, the aliens pitilessly subject him to an experiment in which a gelatinous substance is shoved into his mouth, his jaw is clamped open, a device is inserted into his neck and he is forced to endure an ocular probe while fully conscious during the experience. Afterwards, Walton loses consciousness until finding himself back on Earth disoriented and severely traumatized.
While interviewing Walton, Lieutenant Watters expresses his doubts about the abduction, dismissing it as merely a hoax. He notes Walton's newfound celebrity because of the tabloids' attempts to profit from his tale, believing that he had faked the abduction to become a celebrity. However, with the investigation closed, Watters is forced to abandon his pursuit and leaves town. Two years later, Walton visits Rogers, now a recluse, and the two reconcile. The closing titles inform that in 1993, Walton, Rogers, and Dallis were resubmitted to additional polygraph examinations, which they passed, corroborating their innocence.
Fireflies in the Garden (2008)
Color
Novelist forced to confront relationship with his father and painful memories of his mother
Fireflies in the Garden
"English professor Charles and his son Michael, a successful author, have always had a strained relationship, with each pushing the other away. On a boyhood road trip, young Michael claims to have lost his glasses, knowing he has them in his pocket. Charles makes him walk home in the rain as punishment. The rule breaking and tit-for-tat continues over the years. Jane, the much younger sister of Charles's wife, Lisa, stays with them while Lisa is expecting. The baby "boy" later turns out to be a girl, Ryne. Jane has been close with Michael since childhood and sides with him against Charles.
Michael embarrasses Charles in front of the latter's colleagues by falsely claiming to have written Fireflies in the Garden, a poem by Robert Frost. Charles orders him to hold his weighted arms out horizontally as punishment. Jane later feeds Michael when he's unable to lift his aching arms. The conflicts build until Michael intervenes in a quarrel between his parents and forces Charles to the ground.
In present day, Ryne, now a college senior, picks up Michael at the airport. While Charles and Lisa drive to Jane's house for a party to celebrate Lisa's college graduation, Charles swerves to avoid hitting Christopher, Jane's son. The car hits a telephone pole, killing Lisa and severely injuring Charles.
Michael attempts to comfort Christopher and Leslie, Jane's daughter, by telling them Jane was his best friend before she was their mother. He takes them fishing with firecrackers, as he had with Jane growing up. He prompts them to lie to their mother about this. Jane chastises him lovingly after finding out, while Charles chastises him angrily. Things worsen when Michael has noisy sex with Kelly, his alcoholic ex-wife, who is there for the funeral.
Michael sees Christopher running off through a field and assures the latter he is not to blame for Lisa's death. Christopher insists on walking home alone after their talk, but disappears for several hours. Jane blames Michael, who deduces Christopher is at Lisa's grave. Michael discovers Lisa had been having an affair with her professor Addison and planning to leave Charles after graduation. Jane learns that Kelly is pregnant and newly sober and that Michael doesn't know.
Michael uses the title of the Frost poem as the title of his book about his childhood. The book contains revelations of sexual misconduct between Charles and one of his students during Lisa's pregnancy, Charles's grief over Lisa's death, Michael's joy over impending fatherhood, the happiness captured in a rare home movie of pregnant Lisa and Charles, and Jane helping Charles and Michael reconcile. No longer wanting to hurt his father, Michael destroys his manuscript.
Michael and Kelly reconcile and announce her pregnancy to the family before leaving. While discussing baby names with Ryne and Kelly, Michael mentions he likes "Max", the name Lisa had intended for Ryne.
First Blood (1982)
Color
Green Beret has run-in with Sheriff
First Blood
"Seven years after his discharge, Vietnam War veteran John Rambo travels by foot to visit an old comrade, only to learn that his friend has died from cancer due to Agent Orange exposure during the war.
Rambo continues to travel, wandering into the small town of Hope, Washington. He is intercepted by the town's Sheriff, Will Teasle, who considers Rambo an unwanted nuisance. When Rambo asks for directions to a diner, Teasle drives him out of town and tells him not to come back. When Rambo returns, Teasle arrests him on charges of vagrancy, resisting arrest, and possessing a concealed knife.
Led by chief deputy Art Galt, Teasle's officers abuse Rambo, triggering flashbacks of the torture he endured as a POW in Vietnam. When they try to dry-shave him with a straight razor, Rambo overwhelms the patrolmen, regains his knife, and fights his way outside, stealing a motorcycle and fleeing into the woods. Teasle organizes a search party with automatic weapons, dogs, and a helicopter. Galt defies orders and attempts to shoot Rambo from the helicopter. Trapped on a high cliff over a creek, Rambo leaps into a tree, injuring himself. He throws a rock, fracturing the helicopter's windshield; the pilot's sudden reaction causes Galt, who has removed his safety harness in order to get a better firing angle, to lose his balance and take a deadly plunge to the jagged rocks far below.
Rambo tries to persuade Teasle and his men that Galt's death was an accident and that he wants no more trouble, but the officers open fire and pursue him into the woods. It is then revealed that Rambo is a former Green Beret and received the Medal of Honor, but Teasle, bent on revenge, refuses to turn the manhunt over to the State Police. One by one, Rambo non-lethally disables the deputies, using both booby traps and his bare hands, until only Teasle is left. Overpowering Teasle and holding a knife to his throat, Rambo tells him he could have killed them all, and he threatens to fight back with greater force if Teasle does not let it go.
The state police and National Guard are called in to assist in the manhunt, while Rambo's mentor and former commanding officer Colonel Sam Trautman also arrives. Trautman confirms that Rambo is an expert at guerrilla warfare and survival, which he honed in intensive combat in Vietnam; as such, he advises and suggests that Rambo be allowed to slip through the perimeter and escape to the next town - thereby defusing the situation - then be permitted to surrender peacefully later. Confident that Rambo is hopelessly outnumbered, Teasle refuses. Teasle allows Trautman to contact Rambo -- on a police radio he stole while escaping -- and try to persuade him to surrender peacefully. Rambo recognizes Trautman's voice but refuses to give up, condemning Teasle and his deputies for their abuse and noting "they drew first blood," before hanging up.
Trying to slip through the cordon, Rambo is surprised by a young boy out hunting; he overpowers but refuses to harm the boy, who alerts the pursuers. A National Guard detachment corners Rambo at the entrance of an abandoned mine. Against orders, they use a rocket, collapsing the entrance and seemingly killing Rambo. He survives and finds another way out, hijacking a supply truck carrying an M60 machine gun and ammunition and returning to town. To distract his pursuers, he blows up a gas station, shoots out most of the town's power, and destroys a gun store near the police station. Trautman, knowing that the sheriff is no match for Rambo, tries to convince Teasle to escape, but is ignored.
Rambo spots Teasle on the police station's roof and they engage in a brief gunfight, ending with Teasle shot and falling through a skylight. As Rambo prepares to kill him, Trautman appears and warns Rambo that he will be shot if he does not surrender, reminding him he is the last survivor of his elite unit of Green Berets. Rambo collapses in tears and talks about his experience in Vietnam and after his return. Teasle is transported to a hospital, while Rambo surrenders to Trautman and is taken into custody.
Flatliners (1990)
Color
Med students try near death experience
Flatliners
"Nelson Wright, a medical student, convinces four of his medical school classmates--Joe Hurley, David Labraccio, Randy Steckle, and Rachel Manus--to help him discover what lies beyond death. Nelson flatlines for one minute before his classmates resuscitate him. While "dead", he experiences a sort of afterlife. He sees a vision of a boy he bullied as a child, Billy Mahoney. He merely tells his friends that he cannot describe what he saw, but something is there. The others follow Nelson's daring feat.
Joe flatlines next, and he experiences an erotic afterlife sequence. He agrees with Nelson's claim that something indeed exists. David is third to flatline, and he sees a vision of a black girl, Winnie Hicks, that he bullied in grade school. The three men start to experience hallucinations related to their afterlife visions. Nelson gets physically beat up by Billy Mahoney twice. Joe, engaged to be married, is haunted by his home videos of his sexual dalliances with other women. David finds Winnie Hicks on a train, and she verbally taunts him as he taunted her.
Rachel decides to flatline next on Halloween. David tries to stop the others from giving Rachel their same fate, but she is already "dead" when he arrives. Rachel nearly dies after the power goes out, and the men are unable to shock her with the defibrillator paddles. Luckily, she survives, but she, too, is haunted by the memory of her father committing suicide when she was young.
The three men finally reveal their harrowing experiences to one another, and David decides to put his visions to a stop. He goes to visit Winnie Hicks, now grown up, and he apologizes to her. Winnie thanks him, and she accepts his apology. David immediately feels a weight lifted off his shoulders. Then, David finds Nelson, who accompanied David to visit Winnie, beating himself with a climbing axe. For Nelson, Billy Mahoney is attempting to beat him to death for a third time. David stops him in time, and they return to town.
Meanwhile, Joe's fiancee, Anne, comes to his apartment, and she breaks up with him after she discovers his videos. Joe's visions cease after Anne leaves him. Rachel seeks comfort in the arms of David, and the two make love. While Rachel and David are together, Nelson takes Steckle and Joe to the graveyard. He reveals that he killed Billy Mahoney as a kid when he hit him with a rock, and he fell out of a tree. Nelson storms off, leaving Joe and Steckle stranded.
David leaves Rachel alone in order to rescue Joe and Steckle at the cemetery. While alone, Rachel goes to the bathroom, and she finds her father. He apologizes to his daughter, and her guilt over his death is lifted when she discovers that he was addicted to heroin. Then, Nelson calls Rachel, and he tells her that he needs to flatline again in order to make amends. He apologizes for involving her and their friends in his stupid plan.
The three men race to Nelson, who has been dead for nine minutes. Rachel soon finds them, and the four friends work feverishly to save Nelson. Meanwhile, a young Nelson is being stoned by Billy Mahoney from the tree. Nelson dies in the afterlife from the fall, and his friends cannot revive him. When they are about to give up, David gives Nelson one last shock. They bring him back, and Nelson tells them, "Today wasn't a good day to die."
Flatliners (2017)
Color
People experiment with near death
Flatliners
"A medical student, Courtney (Ellen Page), is obsessed with the idea of the afterlife, wanting to find out what happens after death. She invites fellow students Jamie (James Norton) and Sophia (Kiersey Clemons) to join her in an experiment, in an unused hospital room: using defibrillation to stop her heart for sixty seconds whilst recording her brain, and then reviving her. She assures them they would not be held responsible for any accidents. Sophia is against this, but Jamie does it anyway. After sixty seconds, they panic as they are unable to revive her, but eventually manage to with the help of Ray (Diego Luna). Later, Marlo (Nina Dobrev) arrives and learns of the experiment.
Initially Courtney begins to recall memories of past events such as her grandmother's recipe for bread. Courtney experiences increased intelligence and euphoria, being suddenly able to play the piano after 12 years and answer questions in class perfectly. Envious, Jamie flatlines, but has a disturbing near death experience as he meets his ex-girlfriend. Courtney and Jamie start seeing visions, but do not tell the others. Marlo and Sophia follow suit and flatline, for an increasing number of minutes. They experience similar positive results as Courtney.
It soon turns into a living horror as those who flatlined find themselves haunted by visions: Courtney is haunted by her dead sister Tessa from a car crash she caused because she was using her phone. Jamie is haunted by the baby of his ex-girlfriend he got pregnant and begged into getting an abortion. Marlo is haunted by a man named Cyrus (who was stung by jellyfish) whom she killed when she accidentally mixed up his medication, and Sophia is haunted by a girl named Irina whose life she ruined out of jealousy by hacking her phone and sending out her nudes to make sure she was valedictorian. They realise there is a downside to flatlining.
Ray, the only one who didn't flatline, initially disbelieves what's happening. He tells everyone to stop the experiment immediately. The hauntings get more and more intense. Courtney, traumatised by her visions, records a message apologising for the consequences and admitting that her interest in flatlining was due to the death of her sister, not for scientific discovery. Shortly after, she is chased by visions of her dead sister and falls to her death from the roof of her house after her sister's ghost appears in front of her. Marlo is suffocated while driving and crashes her car. Jamie is stabbed in the hand by his vision.
Marlo retrieves Courtney's phone that was found at the scene of her death. They watch Courtney's recording and find out that she had encountered similar hauntings. They come clean to the mistakes that they made and soon come to a conclusion that the hauntings they're experiencing are their hallucinations because of their guilt from their past sins, not paranormal beings.
The group takes action to stop the hallucinations by fixing their past mistakes. Sophia visits Irina to apologize to which Irina accepts. Jamie visits his ex-girlfriend and discovers she didn't get an abortion, but kept the baby; he apologizes and promises to provide for his son. Later, Ray and Marlo get into a fight when Ray finds out Marlo covered up the real reason how Cyrus died. Tired of being haunted by her hallucinations, Marlo flatlines on her own in the hope of killing herself because she cannot fix her mistake. Ray, Sophia, and Jamie rush to stop her and are successful. In the end, Marlo, Ray, Sophia, and Jamie reminisce about Courtney and celebrate their friendships in the little restaurant they hang out at, where there is a performance of the piano piece that Courtney played.
Flawless (2007)
Color
Disgruntled janitor undertakes jewel heist against former employer
Flawless
"A reporter enters a restaurant to interview Laura Quinn, the only woman to ever have been a manager at the London Diamond Corporation, for a puff piece about the first generation of women entering the workforce. Quinn places a box on the table, revealing a huge diamond, and says, "I stole it." The reporter, suddenly enthralled, assumes that Quinn has been in prison for the theft all this time.
The story then flashes back to 1960, when Quinn was still employed as a manager at London Diamond Corporation. She is passed over for a promotion for the sixth time despite being intellectually superior to her male co-workers. Quinn discovers that she is getting fired from the janitor, Mr. Hobbs. He offers her a place in a plot: stealing enough diamonds to make them rich, but not enough to be noticed. Knowing she is considered old by her coworkers and has few other professional prospects, she agrees. At a social event at the Company President's mansion she finds the vault combination codes.
Quinn and Mr. Hobbs hatch a plan, exploiting a weakness in the new camera security system. However, Mr. Hobbs steals every single diamond from the vault, almost two tons worth, and holds them for a ransom of 100 million pounds. The head of the insurance syndicate from King's Row is forced to pay the ransom, leaving him financially ruined. Quinn, having never agreed to this, now finds herself trapped.
The company hires a private investigator, Mr. Finch, to keep the matter from going public. Suspicious from the start, Mr. Finch keeps a close eye on Mr. Hobbs and Miss Quinn. Quinn wants to avoid jail time by giving the diamonds back but Mr. Hobbs refuses. Having no idea where he's hidden them she conceals their scheme.
The situation escalates as the diamonds are not returned, the incident is leaked to the Press, and the president of London Diamond Corporation has a heart attack due to the stress. Feeling cornered while out for a drink with Mr. Finch, Miss Quinn runs to the bathroom and cries uncontrollably. After losing her diamond earring down the drain, she gets an idea as to how the heist could have been pulled and where the diamonds could be. Excusing herself, she goes down into the sewer under the company and finds Mr. Hobbs guarding a passage. He pulls a gun on her, but she finds a huge diamond at her feet. Mr. Hobbs confesses that he has no interest in the diamonds or the money, and wants to ruin the head of the insurance syndicate whose deliberate delay in covering his wife's medical expenses resulted in her death many years before.
Once the deadline for the ransom has passed, resulting in the insurance head's suicide, Mr. Hobbs leaves. Miss Quinn finds the rest of diamonds and calls Mr. Finch claiming she followed a hunch. While there is sufficient proof that she was involved in the incident, Mr. Finch is unwilling to press charges against Quinn. Finch instead acts by helping the company recover the stolen property and implying to the press that the theft was just a rumour.
The story returns to the present. Quinn tells the reporter that she resigned and shortly after received a letter from a bank in Switzerland: Mr. Hobbs apologised for involving her, needing a disgruntled employee for access to the diamond vault, and as compensation gave her the ransom money. Quinn details how she spent the rest of her life donating all of the money left to her to many different organisations and people in need. She has returned to London after a long absence only to tell the story and leave the diamond she found in the sewer, calling it the last reminder of the woman she was.
Flight (2012)
Color
Pilot whose safe landing of damaged passenger jet scruitinized by investigators
Flight
"On October 14, 2011, Airline captain William "Whip" Whitaker (Denzel Washington) awakens in his Orlando hotel room with flight attendant Katerina Marquez (Nadine Velazquez) after a night of sex, alcohol, and very little sleep. After using cocaine to wake up, he boards SouthJet flight 227 to Atlanta. After Whip threads the plane through turbulence at takeoff, copilot Ken Evans (Brian Geraghty) flies the airplane while Whip discreetly mixes vodka in his orange juice and takes a nap. Whip is jolted awake just before their final descent and the aircraft goes into a steep dive as a result of an apparent catastrophic failure of control systems of the aircraft. With no other choice, Whip rolls the plane upside down to bring it out of the dive and maneuvers the plane right-side up just before crash-landing in a field. He loses consciousness upon impact.
Whip awakens in an Atlanta hospital with minor injuries. He is greeted by his old friend Charlie Anderson (Bruce Greenwood), who now represents the airline's pilots union. He tells Whip his heroism saved 96 of 102 people on board. An NTSB official informs him Katerina was among those killed, and that Evans has been put into a coma.
Sneaking a cigarette in the stairwell, Whip meets Nicole (Kelly Reilly), who is recovering from a heroin overdose, and promises to visit her when they leave the hospital. In the morning, his friend and drug dealer, Harling Mays (John Goodman), picks him up and sneaks him away from the hospital. Whip drives to his late father's farm, where he hopes to avoid the media. When he meets Charlie and attorney Hugh Lang (Don Cheadle), they explain that the NTSB performed a toxicology screen while he was unconscious in the hospital that revealed he was intoxicated, which could result in Whip going to prison on drink, drugs and manslaughter charges. Lang promises to get the toxicology report ruled inadmissible on technical grounds, but Whip leaves in a fury and seeks out Nicole. He finds her skipping out on her lease and offers to let her stay at the farm.
Nicole and Whip begin a romantic relationship, but Nicole is trying to stay clean and sober while Whip's alcoholism progresses, and she soon leaves. The media discover his farmhouse, so he drives intoxicated to visit his ex-wife and teenage son, but they call the police. He begs to stay with Charlie, vowing not to drink before the upcoming NTSB hearing.
The night before the hearing, Charlie and Hugh check Whip into a guarded hotel room to ensure he does not get intoxicated. His mini-bar has only nonalcoholic beverages, but Whip discovers that the door to the adjoining room is open and finds alcohol in its mini-bar. Charlie and Hugh find him the next morning, passed out drunk. They call Harling, who brings him cocaine to perk him up for the hearing.
At the hearing, Ellen Block (Melissa Leo), the lead NTSB investigator, reveals that the cause of the plane's malfunction was a damaged jackscrew in the elevator assembly. She commends Whip on his valor. Just as it appears Whip will escape culpability, Block raises the fact that there were two empty alcohol containers found in the trash on the plane; Whip knows these were his. Block points out that only the flight crew had access to the alcohol, and since only Katerina's toxicology screen showed alcohol, Block asks Whitaker whether he thinks Katerina may have been drinking on the job. Refusing to taint Katerina's good name, Whip admits not only that he was flying intoxicated but also that he is intoxicated at the hearing.
Thirteen months later, an imprisoned Whip, serving a minimum five-year sentence, tells a support group of fellow inmates that he is glad to be sober and does not regret doing the right thing, because he finally feels "free". He has kept in touch with Nicole and is reconnecting with his estranged son.
Focus (2015)
Color
Con man's ex-girlfriend winds up on one the other side of one of his cons
Focus
"Seasoned con-man Nicky Spurgeon (Will Smith) goes to a nightclub, where a very inexperienced grifter, Jess Barrett (Margot Robbie), attempts to seduce him and later pretends that they've been caught by her jealous husband, in order to con Nicky. Seeing through their deception, Nicky exposes their plan and advises them never to lose focus when faced with unexpected situations before leaving. Jess finds him in another nightclub a few days later and convinces Nicky to become her mentor by detailing all information she acquired on him, including that his father, Bucky Spurgeon, was forced to shoot Nicky's grandfather after a con gone wrong, a ploy known as the "Toledo Panic Button."
Nick takes Jess to New Orleans, where she is introduced to Nicky's crew. She picks a few pockets as a test, and soon Nicky and Jess develop a romantic relationship, upsetting Nicky, who was taught by his father to never become emotionally involved with anyone in their line of business. At the 17th Associated Football Franchise of America Championship Game at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome between the Chicago Rhinos and the Miami Threshers, Nicky and Jess con a compulsive gambler, Liyuan Tse (B.D. Wong) out of all his money, after making Tse pick a player's number, 55, from the game---a number that he was psychologically programmed by Nicky and his crew to pick which would be the same number worn on the Chicago sideline by a person Jess would easily recognize: Farhad (Adrian Martinez), a member of the crew. Nicky later explains that Jess was the "little blind mouse" who was not supposed to know until later that Nicky was running a game on Tse the whole time. Afterwards, Nicky gives Jess her share but reluctantly sends her away, leaving her heartbroken.
Three years later, Nicky is in Buenos Aires, working for billionaire motorsport team owner Rafael Garriga (Rodrigo Santoro). Garriga needs to beat a team headed by Australian businessman McEwen (Robert Taylor) to win the championship. Nicky will pretend to be a disgruntled technician on Garriga's team and will sell a bogus component to McEwen, slowing their car down during the race. At a pre-race party, Nicky runs into Jess, who is now Garriga's girlfriend. Nicky has a convincing fight with Garriga in public and is recruited by McEwen to provide the component.
Nicky begins pursuing Jess again, and they eventually rekindle their relationship. The head of Garriga's security entourage, Owens (Gerald McRaney), is suspicious and follows Nicky and Jess. Nicky delivers the component to McEwen for three million euros but also sells it to the other teams for similar amounts. While he is waiting for Jess at his hotel room, he receives a text saying "You're burned leave now" meaning he is exposed and should leave immediately.
Nicky and Jess attempt to return to the United States together. However, they are caught by Garriga's men and taken to Garriga's garage, where Nicky pleads for Jess's life and is beaten by Garriga. Nicky explains his game. It involved wooing Jess (again) enough to plant a necklace on her with a device that would remotely read Garriga's keystrokes on his laptop, thus giving Nicky the password to download the specs for the component onto his own laptop. In other words, Jess was the "little blind mouse" in Nicky's con once again. However, Jess then reveals that she was only trying to seduce Garriga in order to steal his valuable watch, and afterward Owens shoots Nicky in the chest, causing a horrified Garriga to leave. Owens then reveals himself to be Nicky's father, Bucky, and assures Jess that he avoided any major arteries. He simply employed the "Toledo Panic Button." Bucky then tapes up Nicky's wounds and draws excess blood out of his son's chest with a metal plunger so that he can breathe again. They flee the garage in Garriga's vehicle.
Bucky drives Nicky and Jess to the hospital to treat Nicky's punctured lung and departs with Nicky's money as a reminder of the consequences of losing focus. After he leaves, Jess reveals that she snatched Garriga's watch before he left the warehouse, and a smiling Nicky and Jess then go into the hospital together.
For A Few Dollars More (1965)
Color
Man joins posse to capture outlaw
For A Few Dollars More
"The man many call Manco is a bounty killer who makes a living collecting rewards issued for wanted outlaws, a profession shared by a former army officer, Colonel Douglas Mortimer. Eventually, the two learn that a ruthless, cold-blooded bank robber, "El Indio", has been broken out of prison by his gang, slaughtering all but one of his jailers. While murdering the family of the man who captured him, Indio carries a musical pocketwatch that was a memento of his youth, using it to time the duel. Flashbacks reveal that he had taken the watch from a young woman, who had shot herself as he was raping her, after he had murdered her husband. The incident has haunted Indio, and he smokes an addictive drug to cloud his memory.
Indio plans to rob the Bank of El Paso, which has a disguised safe containing "almost a million dollars". Manco arrives in the town and becomes aware of Mortimer, who arrived earlier. He sees Mortimer deliberately insult the hunchback Wild, who is reconnoitering the bank. Manco confronts Mortimer after the two have studied each other, and they decide to work together as neither intends to back down. Mortimer persuades Manco to join Indio's gang and "get him between two fires". Manco achieves this by freeing a friend of Indio's from prison despite Indio's suspicions.
Indio sends Manco and three others to rob the bank in nearby Santa Cruz. Manco guns down the three bandits and sends a false telegraphic alarm to rouse the El Paso sheriff and his posse, who ride to Santa Cruz. The gang blast the wall at the rear of the El Paso bank and steal the safe, but are unable to open it. Groggy is angry when Manco is the only one to return from Santa Cruz, but Indio accepts Manco's version of events thanks to Mortimer having given Manco a convincing wound. Manco manages to convince the gang to ride to the small border town of Agua Caliente rather than travel through Rio Bravo. Mortimer, who anticipated Manco would deviate from their planned ambush, is already there. Wild recognises Mortimer, forcing a showdown that results in the hunchback's death before Mortimer offers his services to Indio to crack open the safe without using explosives. Indio locks the money in a strongbox and says that the loot will be divided after a month.
Manco and Mortimer break into the strongbox and hide the money, only to be caught immediately afterwards and beaten up. Mortimer has secured the strongbox lock, however, and Indio believes that the money is still there. Later that night, Indio has his lieutenant Ni?o kill the guard stationed to guard Manco and Mortimer with a knife belonging to Cuchillo. Once Ni?o has freed the prisoners, Indio reveals that he knew they are bounty hunters and executes Cuchillo to make it appear he betrayed the gang, while sending his men after Manco and Mortimer in hopes they would all kill each other so that he can split the money just between Ni?o and himself. But Groggy realizes the scheme and forces Indio to open the strong box after killing Ni?o, only for the two to find it empty. Eventually, after he and Manco kill the bandits, Mortimer calls out Indio while revealing his full name. Mortimer shoots Groggy as he runs for cover, but is disarmed by Indio, who plays the pocketwatch while challenging the bounty hunter to regain his weapon and kill him when the music ends. But as the music ends, the same tune begins from an identical pocketwatch which Manco has pilfered from Mortimer. Manco gives his own gunbelt and pistol to Mortimer, saying: "Now we start". When the music ends, Mortimer shoots first, killing Indio.
Mortimer takes Indio's watch and Manco remarks on Mortimer's resemblance to the woman in the photographs. Mortimer reveals himself as her brother and, with his revenge complete, declines his share of the bounty and leaves. Manco tosses the bodies of Indio and his men into a wagon, finally adding Groggy's body after killing him, and rides off to collect the bounties on them all, briefly pausing to recover the stolen money from its hiding place.
Forrest Gump (1994)
Color
Simpleminded man finds himself involved in many significant events in the 60s and 70s
Forrest Gump
"In 1981, at a bus stop in Savannah, Georgia, a man named Forrest Gump recounts his life story to strangers who sit next to him on a bench.
In 1951, in Greenbow, Alabama, young Forrest is fitted with leg braces to correct a curved spine, and is unable to walk properly. He lives alone with his mother, who runs a boarding house out of their home that attracts many tenants, including a young Elvis Presley, who plays the guitar for Forrest and incorporates Forrest's jerky dance movements into his performances. On his first day of school, Forrest meets a girl named Jenny Curran, and the two become best friends.
Forrest is often bullied because of his physical disability and low intelligence. While fleeing from several bullies, his leg braces break off, revealing Forrest to be a very fast runner. This talent eventually allows him to receive a football scholarship at the University of Alabama in 1963, where he is coached by Bear Bryant; he witnesses Governor George Wallace's stand in the schoolhouse door at which he returns a dropped book to Vivian Malone Jones,[6] becomes a top kick returner, wins National Championships, is named on the All-American team, and meets President John F. Kennedy at the White House.
After graduating college in 1967, Forrest enlists into the U.S. Army. During basic training, he befriends a fellow soldier named Benjamin Buford Blue (nicknamed "Bubba"), who convinces Forrest to go into the shrimping business with him after their service. In 1968, they are sent to Vietnam, serving with the 9th Infantry Division in the Mekong Delta region. After months of routine operations, their platoon is ambushed while on patrol, and Bubba is killed in action. Forrest saves several wounded platoon mates -- including his lieutenant, Dan Taylor, who loses both his legs -- before being shot and is awarded the Medal of Honor for his heroism by President Lyndon B. Johnson.
At the anti-war March on the Pentagon rally, Forrest meets a man who "had an American flag for a shirt" and briefly reunites with Jenny, who has been living a hippie lifestyle. He also develops a talent for ping-pong, and becomes a sports celebrity as he competes against Chinese teams in ping-pong diplomacy, earning him an interview alongside John Lennon on The Dick Cavett Show, influencing the song "Imagine". He spends the 1972 New Year's Eve in New York City with Lieutenant Dan, who has become bitter due to the loss of his legs and angry at Forrest for unwittingly breaking his family's history of dying in the line of duty. Forrest soon meets President Richard Nixon and is put up in the Watergate complex, where he accidentally witnesses and reports some men with flashlights keeping him awake.
Discharged from the army, Forrest returns to Greenbow, and endorses a company that makes ping-pong paddles. He uses the earnings to buy a shrimping boat in Bayou La Batre, fulfilling his promise to Bubba. Lieutenant Dan joins Forrest in 1974, and they initially have little success. After their boat becomes the only one to survive Hurricane Carmen, they pull in huge amounts of shrimp and create the Bubba Gump Shrimp Company, after which Lieutenant Dan finally thanks Forrest for saving his life. Lieutenant Dan invests into what Forrest thinks is ”some kind of fruit company” and the two become millionaires, but Forrest also gives half of the earnings to Bubba's family. Forrest then returns home to his mother as she dies of cancer.
In 1976, Jenny -- in the midst of recovering from years of drugs and abuse -- returns to visit Forrest, and after a while he proposes to her. That night she tells Forrest she loves him and the two make love, but she leaves the next morning. Heartbroken, Forrest goes running, and spends the next three years in a relentless cross-country marathon, becoming famous again. He eventually decides that he's grown tired of running (metaphorically and physically) and returns to Greenbow.
In 1981, Forrest reveals that he is waiting at the bus stop because he received a letter from Jenny, who asked him to visit her, until an elderly woman reveals he can just as easily walk there. As Forrest is finally reunited with Jenny, she introduces him to their son, Forrest Gump Jr. Jenny tells Forrest she is sick with an "unknown virus" and the three move back to Greenbow. Jenny and Forrest finally marry, but she dies a year later. The film ends with Forrest seeing his son off on his first day of school.
Four Brothers (2005)
Color
Four brothers return home when their mother is murdered
Four Brothers
"In November 2004, the seemingly random murder of their adoptive mother, Evelyn Mercer (Fionnula Flanagan), at a Highland Park, Michigan convenience store, brings four brothers back home to Detroit, Michigan to find out what happened. Originally under the impression the crime was a simple robbery-gone-wrong, the brothers soon discover that the robbery was merely a cover for what was, in fact, a hit put out on Evelyn. After this revelation, Bobby (Mark Wahlberg), Angel (Tyrese Gibson), Jeremiah (Andre Benjamin) and Jack Mercer (Garrett Hedlund) track down the hired guns who killed Evelyn. Refusing to say anything, they are unceremoniously executed by Bobby and Angel.[N 1]
The next day, Detroit Police Lieutenant Green (Terrence Howard) and Detective Fowler (Josh Charles) confront the brothers about the murders. Lieutenant Green warns them that their interference with Evelyn's case is ill advised, and that it will eventually put them in over their heads. After confronting Jeremiah about the revelation of his failing business and benefiting from Evelyn's life insurance, the brothers are treated to a somewhat different version of events. Jeremiah informs them that his construction company was failing precisely because he was not getting involved with Victor Sweet (Chiwetel Ejiofor), and that for a project to succeed he had to pay off the right people, which he initially failed to do. In his effort to restore his business and relieve pressure from himself, he tried to pay off Sweet's henchmen. As for the life insurance, Jeremiah explains that the money went directly to him for his daughters, because he paid all of Evelyn's bills while his other brothers were not around.
Back at their home, during a confrontation with Jeremiah, Sweet's men attack the brothers. Jack is shot and killed during the attack. Bobby finds one of the gunmen still alive and questions him about who sent them. He almost spares the gunman but summarily executes him. When Lieutenant Green arrives, he tells them not to worry about any legal ramifications, assuring them that it will go down as self-defense. He also informs them that Evelyn filed a police report regarding Victor Sweet and his involvement in Jeremiah's affairs, and his partner, Detective Fowler, passed on that report to Sweet. Green warns the brothers to stay out of the matter and let him handle Fowler and then they will work together on Sweet. Later at a bar Green confronts Fowler, hitting him and ordering Fowler to hand in his badge. They walk out of the bar, and Fowler kills Green and calls it into dispatch claiming two assailants had fired upon Green.
Meanwhile, the remaining brothers devise a plan to buy Victor Sweet off with the $400,000 from their mother's life insurance. When Sweet accepts, Angel sets off for Fowler's. Arriving at Fowler's, he subdues him. Jeremiah then goes to meet Sweet, while Angel's girlfriend, Sofi, heads to the police station, where she tells the police that Angel is planning to kill a police officer. Hearing the sirens in the distance, Fowler thinks they are coming for Angel, until Angel removes his jacket showing a wire however, with no receiver. Angel claims the whole conversation was taped, including Fowler's admission that he killed Green. The police arrive at Fowler's in full force, and Fowler gets the upper hand on Angel. With a gun pointed to Angel's head, Fowler tells the police to back off. Fowler opens fire on the officers outside, who return fire and kill him.
Meanwhile, Jeremiah meets with Sweet and reveals that the $400,000 are to buy off Sweet's henchmen and kill Sweet in exchange. Sweet angrily demands to know who will be the one to kill him just as Bobby shows up. Bobby and Sweet brawl, resulting in Bobby knocking Sweet unconscious. His former henchmen seal his fate after he is dropped in a hole carved into the ice, drowning him. The three brothers, now in police custody, are beaten in an attempt to make them confess to the murder of Victor Sweet, which they do not. Back home, they set about repairing their mother's house, and continuing their lives together.
Four Christmases (2008)
Color
Couple reluctantly visits with their families during Christmas
Four Christmases
"Orlando "Brad" McVie (Vince Vaughn) and his girlfriend, Kate (Reese Witherspoon) are a happily unmarried and childfree, upscale San Francisco couple whose respective households are somewhat similar - both bearing divorced parents, warring siblings with out-of-control kids and general awkward memories and simmering resentments from the past, which they find too embarrassing to share with each other. In an effort to avoid these families at Christmas time, Brad and Kate pretend to be engaging in charitable work and escape to exotic sun-spots, such as Fiji, to enjoy a relaxing Christmas there. Unfortunately, in the third Christmas of their relationship, Brad and Kate are trapped at San Francisco International Airport by a fogbank that cancels every outbound flight. To make matters worse, they are caught on camera and then interviewed by a CBS 5 news crew, revealing their whereabouts to the whole city and, worst of all, their families.
With no escape, their lies foiled and no excuses to make, they find themselves unable to avoid a Christmas at home with their respective families. They first visit Brad's father (Robert Duvall), then Kate's mother (Mary Steenburgen), and then Brad's mother (Sissy Spacek) and, finally, Kate's father (Jon Voight), thereby celebrating four Christmases in one day. As they brace themselves for a marathon of homecomings, Brad and Kate expect the worst, but are nevertheless unable to prepare themselves enough for what they get. As the day progresses, each discover a new secret about each other that both had been too embarrassed to tell each other about, and soon find their relationship on the verge of collapse. While Brad counts down the minutes to freedom, Kate finds herself looking at the lives of Brad's and her own siblings and realises that she does want a marriage and children of her own, the prospect of which frightens Brad. Eventually, in the final visit of the day, at Kate's father's house, Kate asks Brad to let her spend the visit on her own and claims to her family that they had split up. Meanwhile, Brad spends some time at his own father's house with just his father and realises how empty his life is without a marriage and children, and that he loves Kate much too much to leave her. He returns to her and they discuss the possibilities of having a child and getting married. The two then embark on their holiday in Fiji.
A year later on New Year's Day, the couple welcomes their first born child, a baby girl, which they have spent the last nine months hiding from their families. However, as their baby is the first born in the New Year, a news crew comes to congratulate them - once again revealing them, and their new baby to the whole city, and their families.
Four Good Days (2021)
Color
Mother and daughter navigate four difficult days dealing with substance abuse
Four Good Days
"A year after last seeing her, 31-year-old drug addict Margaret "Molly" Wheeler walks to her mother Deb's house remembering times before her fall. She insists that she is ready to be sober and begs her mother to allow her to stay for a few days before going to detox. Deb, although clearly ambivalent about the matter, stands resilient with the support of her husband Chris, fearing that supporting Molly in any way will serve as an enabler. Molly spends the night outside her mother's house and is persistent about her recovery. The next morning a frustrated Deb agrees to take Molly to detox. Upon arrival, it is revealed that Molly has been an addict for over a decade, has lost custody of her children, and is on her 15th attempt at sobriety. Four days after commencing detox, she is offered an opioid antagonist in order to help her on the road to sobriety. However, she must stay off any drugs for an additional four days before it is safe for her to receive the first shot, and then expect an additional shot each month.
On her first day at home, Molly discovers through Deb, many of her misdeeds during her time as an addict, of which Molly clearly regrets. Although at home, Deb remains suspicious of Molly's intentions, but by the end of the day, secretly begins to have hope.
On the second day, Sean, Molly's ex and her children's father, allows her to see them. Although at first reluctant, they are happy to see her and make the most of their time together. She and Deb go grocery shopping, where they see Coach Miller, who invites Molly to speak to her class on drug addiction. Back at home Deb reveals that she was very unhappy with Molly's father Dale, as she felt forced into marriage after becoming pregnant with Molly's older sister Ashley, and thus walking out on the family. Her abandonment is something Molly has always held against Deb, attributing it to her having become an addict. Deb dismisses this, admitting that Dale's implied mental and emotional abuse as the reason for her leaving, much to Molly's surprise.
Molly speaks to Coach Miller's class on the third day home. While speaking to the class, she releases her emotions, is blatant and transparent to the children about her situation and experiences, using the moment to vent. This causes Deb to openly express her optimism and hopes that this time, Molly will finally recover. After, Molly asks that Deb take her to see Sammy, a friend and fellow addict. There, Deb has a chance encounter with Molly's ex-boyfriend Eric, who inadvertently reveals that Molly had been pregnant. Molly later confesses to Deb that she was pregnant, but gave the baby up for adoption. That evening Molly receives a phone call from the detox center seemingly stating that due to issues with her insurance, she cannot get the shot until Monday, adding an additional three days to her wait and thus the fight against her urges. A suspicious Deb questions the call, they argue, and Molly leaves with Sean.
The additional days become excruciating for Deb as she attempts to contact Molly incessantly to no avail. On Monday morning, Molly arrives at the house urging Deb to get ready so they will not miss her appointment at the detox facility. However, before they leave Molly asks Deb for her urine, confirming Deb's suspicions. Molly further admits that she has relapsed. Despite this, she is adamant that she does wish to get sober, and Deb provides her urine. At the center Molly receives the opioid antagonist shot, but due to her having drugs in her system, she goes into acute withdrawal, and they rush to the hospital.
Four months later, Molly is still living with Deb, visits her children regularly, is getting ready for her next shot, and is on her way to recovery. The film ends with a byline about the real life mother and daughter inspirations for the film, Amanda Wendler (Molly) and Libby Alexander (Deb).
Fracture (2007)
Color
Man beats the rap for murdering his wife
Fracture
"Theodore "Ted" Crawford (Anthony Hopkins), a wealthy and talented Irish aeronautical engineer in Los Angeles, discovers that his wife Jennifer (Embeth Davidtz) is having an affair with police detective Robert Nunally (Billy Burke). After confronting his wife, Crawford shoots her, seriously wounding her, and immediately confesses the crime to Nunally at the scene.
He then engages in a battle of wits with rising star deputy district attorney William "Willy" Beachum (Ryan Gosling), who considers this an open-and-shut matter and agrees to go to trial immediately. Beachum is busy, making preparations for his transition from criminal law to corporate attorney for Wooton & Simms, a well-known law firm, and begins a romantic relationship with his future boss, Nikki Gardner (Rosamund Pike).
At the trial, Crawford acts as his own attorney, which serves as a key vehicle for the plot of the movie--matching up a star prosecutor against a supposedly untrained litigant. Crawford reveals that the arresting officer (Nunally) was having an affair with his wife, assaulted him during his arrest, and was present during his interrogation. Crawford's confession is ruled to be inadmissible as evidence, as it was fruit of the poisonous tree. Beachum discovers that Crawford's handgun was not used to shoot his wife because it had never been fired and did not match the shell casings at the crime scene. As the house was under surveillance the entire time from the shooting to Crawford's arrest the police are baffled.
Beachum is tempted by Nunally's scheme to plant false evidence to implicate Crawford but decides against it at the last minute. With no new evidence to present to the jury, Beachum is forced to concede the trial, and Crawford is acquitted. The disgraced Nunally commits suicide with his own gun outside the courtroom.
After the trial, Beachum's future with the prestigious firm is in tatters. However, he also experiences a change of heart and begins to see his job as a D.A. for what it really is: fighting injustice for those like Crawford's wife. Crawford himself observes this change, joking scathingly that Beachum has "found God". This motivates Beachum to continue searching for evidence almost obsessively. Realizing that Crawford's plan is to dispose of the only eyewitness to the crime, Beachum goes to great lengths to get a court order to keep Jennifer on life support. Nikki Gardner refuses to help him, and they end their relationship. In a last-ditch effort, Beachum is able to get a court order from Nikki's father, who is a judge. Beachum arrives at the hospital just as staff are turning off Jennifer's life support, and despite announcing he is carrying a court order, security prevent him from entering and Jennifer dies.
A mix-up of cell phones causes Beachum to realize that both Nunally and Crawford used the same type of gun. He figures out that before the crime Crawford switched his gun with Nunally's in a hotel room where Jennifer and Nunally secretly met. Crawford shot his wife with Nunally's gun, whereupon the detective arrived on the scene carrying Crawford's gun. While Nunally lingered over Jennifer, trying to revive her, Crawford reloaded Nunally's gun and placed it back where Nunally had left it, while at the same time taking back his original, unused gun. Distracted by the sight of Jennifer's body, Nunally did not notice the guns being switched back. When Crawford appears back in the room brandishing his original gun, Nunally tackles and assaults him before he is arrested, at which point Nunally unwittingly holsters his own gun, the murder weapon, and lets Crawford's unused one be taken as evidence.
Beachum confronts Crawford with his new evidence. Since she died, the bullet lodged in Jennifer's head can now be retrieved and matched with Nunally's gun. Beachum made Crawford confessed, since Crawford is protected under the Double Jeopardy Clause. However, Beachum reveals that by allowing his wife to die, Crawford can now be prosecuted for murder, having previously been tried merely for attempted murder. Since he had taken Jennifer off life support, new charges can be filed against Crawford and a new trial can be set. Crawford is arrested by the waiting police.
The film ends with a new trial about to begin, with Beachum prosecuting and Crawford surrounded by defence attorneys from Wooton & Simms.
Fragments (2008)
Color
Survivors of a random shooting
Fragments
As the survivors of a madman's senseless shooting spree grapple with fate, each suffers aftereffects as uncontrollable as the crime itself. Loneliness, guilt, despair and faith consume them until each finds an epiphany among the ruins.
Frankie & Alice (2014)
Color
Black woman battles to vanquish her white racist alter ego
Frankie & Alice
"Frankie is performing at a Los Angeles club in 1973. She is one of the best strippers at the club, and often attracts the attention of wealthy businessmen. One night, the club's female employees go out for a "Girls Night". As the girls observe all the men at the bar, Frankie gets the attention of a well-known bartender. She agrees to go to his home for casual sex. Before the two can engage in any sexual activity, Frankie switches to an alter ego, and cracks the man's head open with a picture frame. Word of Frankie's violent activity spreads to the strip club quickly, and Frankie is fired from the needed job. The same manic episodes occur while Frankie is at the laundromat and a wedding.
Frankie starts psychiatric therapy with Doctor Oz. During a session, Frankie learns that she has two alters: Genius, a seven-year-old child; and Alice, a Southern white racist woman, whom Frankie struggles to overcome. Through regular sessions with Dr. Oz, Frankie begins to recall the traumatic events that led to her split personality. She realizes that, when she was a teenager, she was in love with a white man who died in a car accident while they were on the road. In the same session, she also uncovers the memory of the birth of her child. Moments after the birth, Frankie's mother realizes that the child is half-white, and kills it, thus triggering Frankie's personality to split.
After she watches the taped sessions, and puts everything together, Frankie begins the healing process, taking control of her life and semi-integrating the personalities that Dr. Oz assures her will always be present.
Frankie & Johnny (1991)
Color
Man who just got out of prison meets waitress
Frankie & Johnny
"An emotionally scarred waitress named Frankie attends her godson's baptism in Altoona, Pennsylvania. Meanwhile, a middle-aged man named Johnny is released from prison. Frankie returns home to New York City to her job waitressing at the Apollo Cafe. The owner, Nick, sends her co-worker Helen home early after she complains of dizziness. Johnny arrives looking for work and Nick hires him as a short-order cook despite his criminal record. After work, Frankie returns home to her apartment to find a stranger, Bobby, installing shelves, but he is revealed to be the boyfriend of her friend and neighbor, Tim. That night, Johnny solicits a prostitute, but just asks her to lay clothed in bed with him.
The next day, Nick announces to his staff that Helen has been hospitalized. Frankie and her co-worker Cora visit an unconscious Helen and share their fears of dying alone like her. The next day, after helping a man who had an epileptic seizure, Johnny asks Frankie out on a date, but she refuses. Helen dies and Frankie, Cora, and fellow waitress Nedda are surprised to see Johnny at her funeral. Back at work, Johnny asks Frankie out again. After she refuses again, he has a one-night stand with Cora, which she shares the details of with Frankie and Nedda.
Weeks pass, and Johnny asks Frankie to be his date at a co-worker's going-away party, but she again refuses. He shows up at her apartment anyway, where Bobby and Tim help Frankie decide what to wear. At the party, Johnny attempts to convince Frankie that they are a good match. After the party, he buys her a flower and convinces her to take him back to her apartment, where they spend an intimate night together.
Now convinced that they are meant to be together, Johnny shows up at her bowling night and professes his love to her. Frankie argues that he cannot love her after such a short period of time, and reveals that she cannot have children after Johnny mentions starting a family. Afterwards, Frankie avoids Johnny, not answering his phone calls and switching her shifts. However, Johnny switches his shifts too and they talk to each other. Johnny confesses that he is divorced and has two children who he hasn't seen since he got out of prison for check fraud. Frankie encourages him to see them, and she confesses that her last boyfriend cheated on her with her best friend.
After work, Johnny walks Frankie to her apartment, where they discuss their lives and listen to "Clair de Lune". However, the intimacy makes Frankie uncomfortable and they argue. She asks him to leave, but before he does, he calls the radio station and asks them to play an encore of "Clair de Lune". Frankie confesses that a previous boyfriend had physically abused her, at one point causing her to have a miscarriage which made her unable to have children. Frankie invites Johnny to stay and they watch the sunrise together.
Frantic (1988)
Color
Man loses wife in Paris and is frantically tries to find her
Frantic
"Dr. Richard Walker is a surgeon visiting Paris with his wife Sondra for a medical conference. At their hotel, she is unable to unlock her suitcase, and Walker determines that she has picked up the wrong one at the airport. While Walker is taking a shower, his wife mysteriously disappears from their hotel room.
Still jet-lagged, he searches for her in the hotel with the help of a polite but mostly indifferent staff and then wanders outside to search himself. A vagrant overhears him in a cafe and says he saw Walker's wife being forced into a car. Walker is skeptical until he finds his wife's ID bracelet on the cobblestones. He contacts the Paris police and the US embassy, but their responses are bureaucratic and there is little hope anyone will look for her.
As Walker carries on the search himself (with input from a very sympathetic but wary desk clerk at the hotel), he stumbles onto a murder scene and then encounters the streetwise young Michelle, who had mistakenly picked up his wife's suitcase at the airport. It transpires that Michelle is a career smuggler but does not know for whom she is working. She reluctantly helps Walker in his increasingly frantic attempt to learn what was in the switched suitcase and to trade whatever it is for the return of his wife.
It turns out that hidden within a small replica of the Statue of Liberty is a krytron, a small electronic switch used in the detonators of nuclear devices. The film ends with a confrontation beside the River Seine where Walker's wife is released. However, a firefight ensues between the Arab and Israeli agents. During the crossfire, the Arab agents are killed but Michelle is also shot and dies with Walker and Sondra at her side. Angry and upset, Walker throws the krytron into the river while the helpless Israeli agents look at him. Soon after, the Walkers leave Paris.
Frenzy (1972)
Color
Unemployed bartender is suspected of killing his wife in a string of serial strangulations
Frenzy
"Richard Blaney, a recently-discharged squadron leader of the RAF, gets fired from his job as a bartender in a pub near Covent Garden. He laments his loss with his friend Bob Rusk, who runs a fruit-stand. Rusk consoles him by giving him some grapes and a tip on an upcoming horse-race, but Blaney has no money to bet. He visits his ex-wife Brenda (Barbara Leigh-Hunt), who runs a successful matchmaking agency. He complains loudly about his situation; Brenda, embarrassed, sends her secretary out for lunch. Shortly after Blaney leaves, Rusk, whom the agency has turned away because of his creepy sexual proclivities, arrives unexpectedly. Finding Brenda there alone, he rapes her and then strangles her with his tie, revealing that he is the serial killer whom the newspapers call the "necktie murderer." After Rusk leaves, Blaney arrives, hoping to visit with Brenda again, but he finds her office locked and gets no reply when he calls her name. The secretary, returning from lunch, sees Blaney leaving. When the murder is discovered, Blaney naturally becomes the number-one suspect.
Blaney meets up with Barbara "Babs" Milligan (Anna Massey), his former co-worker at the pub, and convinces her that he is innocent. The two visit a hotel, where they make love and then narrowly dodge the police. They appeal to one of Blaney's RAF buddies for help, but the man's wife refuses to let him harbor a fugitive from justice. Blaney persuades Babs to get his belongings which he had left at the pub, so that he can flee. There, Babs runs into Rusk, who offers to let her use his flat for the night. After leading her there, he rapes and murders her. He hides her body in a sack and stows it in the back of a lorry hauling potatoes. Back in his room, he discovers that his distinctive jeweled tie pin (with the initial R) is missing, and realizes that Babs must have torn it off while he was strangling her. Knowing the tie pin will incriminate him, Rusk goes to retrieve it, but the lorry starts off on its northern journey while he is still inside. In spite of the bumpy ride, he manages to retrieve her body from the sack. Rigor mortis has set in, and Rusk is forced to break Babs' dead fingers, one by one, in order to retrieve the pin. Disheveled and covered in potato-dust, he gets out when the lorry stops at a roadside cafe, and manages to return to his flat at Covent Garden. When Babs' body is discovered in the lorry, Blaney is suspected of her murder as well as Brenda's.
Blaney, unaware that Rusk is the actual murderer, turns to him for help. Rusk offers to hide Blaney at his flat and then tips off the police. In the face of this treachery, Blaney realizes that Rusk must be the murderer. At the trial, the jury finds Blaney guilty, but during the trial, and while being led away to prison, Blaney loudly protests that he is innocent and that Rusk is the real killer. Chief Inspector Oxford (Alec McCowen) reconsiders the evidence and quietly begins to investigate Rusk. He discusses the case with his wife (Vivien Merchant) while trying to avoid eating the unsavory food she has learned to prepare in an "exotic cooking" course.
Blaney, now in prison, vows to escape and avenge himself on Rusk. He deliberately injures himself and is taken to the hospital, where his fellow inmates help him escape the locked ward. He goes to Rusk's flat and finds that Rusk is not there, but finds another dead woman in Rusk's bed with Rusk's necktie still around her neck. Inspector Oxford, who has anticipated that Blaney would go after Rusk, arrives to find Blaney with the dead woman. Just as Blaney begins to protest his innocence, the two hear a loud banging noise from the stairs. The Inspector hastily conceals himself, and Rusk enters, dragging a large trunk into the flat. Oxford reveals himself, wryly shakes his head at the trapped Rusk and remarks: "Mr. Rusk, you're not wearing your tie.
Frida (2002)
Color
The life of the Mexican artist Frida
Frida
"Frida begins with the traumatic accident Frida Kahlo (Salma Hayek) suffered at the age of 18 when a trolley bus collided with a motor bus she was riding. She is impaled by a metal pole and the injuries she sustained plague her for the rest of her life. To help her through convalescence, her father brings her a canvas upon which to start painting. Throughout the film, a scene starts as a painting, then slowly dissolves into a live-action scene with actors.
Frida also details the artist's dysfunctional relationship with the muralist Diego Rivera (Alfred Molina). When Rivera proposes to Kahlo, she tells him she expects from him loyalty if not fidelity. Diego's appraisal of her painting ability is one of the reasons that she continues to paint. Throughout the marriage, Rivera cheats on her with a wide array of women, while the bisexual Kahlo takes on male and female lovers, including in one case having an affair with the same woman as Rivera.
The two travel to New York City so that he may paint the mural Man at the Crossroads at the Rockefeller Center. While in the United States, Kahlo suffers a miscarriage, and her mother dies in Mexico. Rivera refuses to compromise his communist vision of the work to the needs of the patron, Nelson Rockefeller (Edward Norton); as a result, the mural is destroyed. The pair return to Mexico, with Rivera the more reluctant of the two.
Kahlo's sister Cristina moves in with the two at their San ?ngel studio home to work as Rivera's assistant. Soon afterward, Kahlo discovers that Rivera is having an affair with her sister. She leaves him, and subsequently sinks into alcoholism. The couple reunite when he asks her to welcome and house Leon Trotsky (Geoffrey Rush), who has been granted political asylum in Mexico. She and Trotsky begin an affair, which forces the married Trotsky to leave the safety of his Coyoacan home.
Kahlo leaves for Paris after Diego realizes she was unfaithful to him with Trotsky. When she returns to Mexico, he asks for a divorce. Soon afterwards, Trotsky is murdered in Mexico City. Rivera is temporarily a suspect, and Kahlo is incarcerated in his place when he is not found. Rivera helps get her released.
Kahlo has her toes removed when they become gangrenous. Rivera asks her to remarry him, and she agrees. Her health continues to worsen, including the amputation of a leg, and she ultimately dies after finally having a solo exhibition of her paintings in Mexico.
Fried Green Tomatoes (1991)
Color
Soul mates cause uproar in rural Southern town
Fried Green Tomatoes
"Evelyn Couch (Kathy Bates), a timid, unhappy housewife in her forties, meets elderly Ninny Threadgoode (Jessica Tandy) in a Birmingham, Alabama, nursing home. Ninny, over several encounters with Evelyn, tells her the story of the now-abandoned town of Whistle Stop, Alabama, and the people who lived there. The film's subplot concerns Evelyn's dissatisfaction with her marriage and her life, her growing confidence, and her developing friendship with Ninny. The narrative switches several times between Ninny's story, which is set between World War I and World War II, and Evelyn's life in 1980s Birmingham.
Ninny's story begins with tomboy Imogene "Idgie" Threadgoode (Mary Stuart Masterson), the youngest of the Threadgoode children, whom Ninny describes as her sister-in-law. Idgie's close relationship with her charming older brother Buddy (Chris O'Donnell) is cut short when he is hit by a train and killed. Devastated, Idgie recedes from formal society for much of her childhood and adolescence until Buddy's former girlfriend, the straitlaced Ruth Jamison (Mary-Louise Parker), intervenes at the request of the concerned Threadgoode family.
Idgie initially resists Ruth's attempts at friendship, but then gradually allows a deep attachment to develop. Ruth leaves Whistle Stop to marry Frank Bennett (Nick Searcy) and moves to Valdosta, Georgia. Idgie is upset at losing her friend and struggles to forget her. After some time she visits Ruth, now pregnant and suffering from physical abuse from Frank. Against Frank's wishes, Ruth returns to Whistle Stop with Idgie, where her child, named Buddy Jr., is born. Papa Threadgoode gives Idgie money to start a business so she can care for Ruth and Buddy Jr. Ruth and Idgie open the Whistle Stop Cafe, employing cook Sipsey (Cicely Tyson) and her son Big George (Stan Shaw), who makes a barbecue that quickly becomes popular with their patrons.
Frank Bennett eventually returns to Whistle Stop in an attempt to kidnap Buddy Jr., but is thwarted by an unseen assailant. Frank goes missing and his truck is later found at the bottom of a nearby lake. Idgie is immediately a suspect, as she had publicly threatened violence against him for beating Ruth. She is arrested along with Big George for Frank's murder. The local sheriff offers to release her and pin the crime solely on Big George, but Idgie refuses to sacrifice her friend. During the subsequent trial, the local minister lies, providing Idgie and Big George with an alibi for the time of Frank's disappearance. Taking into account Frank's reputation for getting drunk, the judge rules his death an accident. Idgie and Big George are cleared of all charges.
After the trial, Ruth develops cancer and dies. Following her death, the cafe closes. Over time, many Whistle Stop residents eventually move away, bringing Ninny to the end of her story, but not before the revelation of what really happened to Frank: Sipsey had killed Frank (with a blow to the head from a cast-iron skillet) while trying to stop him from kidnapping Buddy Jr. Big George then barbecued Frank's body and served it to the Georgia sheriff searching for Frank.
Evelyn discovers that during Ninny's temporary stay at the nursing home, Ninny's house was condemned and torn down. Evelyn, having become good friends with Ninny, offers her a room in her home which Ninny accepts. As the two friends walk away from Ninny's former home, they pass Ruth's grave, freshly adorned with a jar of honey and honeycomb and a card which reads "I will always Love You. The Bee Charmer", Ruth's old nickname for Idgie.
From Hell (2001)
Color
Inspector falls for Jack the Ripper's prostitute targets
From Hell
"In 1888, Mary Kelly (Heather Graham) and her small group of London prostitutes trudge through unrelenting daily misery. When their friend Ann Crook (Joanna Page) is kidnapped, they are drawn into a conspiracy with links higher up than they could possibly imagine. The kidnapping is soon followed by the gruesome murder of another woman, Martha Tabram (Samantha Spiro); and it becomes apparent that they are being hunted down, one by one as various prostitutes are murdered and mutilated post-mortem.
The murder of Martha and her companions grabs the attention of Whitechapel Police Inspector Frederick Abberline (Johnny Depp), a brilliant, yet troubled, man whose police work is often aided by his psychic "visions." His colleague, Sergeant Peter Godley (Robbie Coltrane), tries to grasp his friend's wild theories. Abberline's investigations reveal that the murders, while gruesome, imply that an educated person is responsible due to the precise and almost surgical method used. Ann is found a few days later in a workhouse having been lobotomized after officials and doctors supposedly found her to be insane, though it is implied this was done to silence her.
Abberline consults Sir William Gull (Ian Holm), a physician to the Royal Family, drawing on his experience and knowledge of medicine. During this meeting, it is revealed Abberline is struggling with opium addiction. Gull's findings, coupled with his superiors impeding his investigations, point Abberline to a darker and more organized conspiracy than he originally thought. Abberline becomes deeply involved with the case, which takes on personal meaning to him when he and Mary begin to fall in love.
Abberline deduces that Freemason influence is definitely present in these crimes. His superior, a high ranking Freemason himself, then makes direct intervention and suspends Abberline. It is then revealed that Gull is the killer. He has been killing the witnesses to painter Albert Sickert (Mark Dexter)'s forbidden Catholic marriage to Crook, who bore his legitimate daughter, Alice. Sickert is actually Prince Albert, grandson of reigning Queen Victoria (Liz Moscrop), and therefore Alice is heiress to the British throne. Gull tells Abberline that "mankind will remember him for giving birth to the 20th century." Abberline draws his gun, vowing that Gull will never see the 20th century, but before he is able to shoot Gull, he is knocked out by Ben Kidney, another Freemason.
The Freemasons try to have Abberline eliminated without leaving any witnesses, but Abberline fights back and kills two of the assassins by overturning a carriage. Gull himself is a Freemason and his increasingly sinister behavior lends an insight into his murderous, but calculated, mind. Rather than publicly charge Gull, the Freemasons decide to lobotomize him to protect themselves and the Royal Family from the scandal. Gull defiantly states he has no equal among men, remaining unrepentant up to his lobotomy, resulting in him becoming invalid just as Ann had been.
Abberline tries to save Mary, but arrives too late, and blames his superior for not helping him or Godley on the cases. Abberline does nothing but watch Mary's mutilated body being taken away. Abberline receives a mysterious letter, which he soon realizes is from Mary, but he decides not to look for her as a way to offer her protection, as the Freemasons may be watching his every move. Abberline decides to burn the letter, knowing that he can never have a normal life.
Mary Kelly was not killed; Gull mistook Ada, whom Liz said was from France (but is from Brussels in Belgium), for Mary and he killed her instead. Mary lives with Alice as her daughter in a cottage on a cliff by the sea. Abberline is found dead of an opium overdose, knowing he can never see Mary again without endangering her. Sergeant Godley comes to pay his respects for the Inspector.
From Here to Eternity (1953)
Black & White
Army Life in Hawaii before the bombing of Pearl Harbor
From Here to Eternity
"In 1941, bugler and career soldier Private Robert E. Lee Prewitt (Montgomery Clift) transfers to a rifle company at Schofield Barracks on the island of Oahu. Captain Dana "Dynamite" Holmes (Philip Ober) has heard he is a talented middleweight boxer and wants him to join his regimental team to secure a promotion for Holmes. Prewitt refuses, having stopped fighting because he blinded his sparring partner and close friend over a year before. Holmes and Prewitt are both adamant.
Holmes makes life as miserable as possible for Prewitt, hoping that he will give in. Holmes orders First Sergeant Milton Warden (Burt Lancaster) to prepare general court-martial papers after Sergeant Galovitch (John Dennis) first insults Prewitt and then gives an unreasonable order that Prewitt refuses to obey. Warden suggests, however, that he try to get Prewitt to change his mind by doubling up on company punishment. The other non-commissioned officers join the conspiracy. Prewitt is supported only by his friend, Private Angelo Maggio (Frank Sinatra).
Lancaster and Kerr in the beach scene at Halona Cove, Oahu, Hawaii.
Meanwhile, Warden begins an affair with Holmes' neglected wife, Karen (Deborah Kerr). Warden tells Karen that he is risking a twenty-year prison sentence. Sergeant Maylon Stark (George Reeves) has told Warden about Karen's many previous affairs at Fort Bliss, including with him. As their relationship develops, Warden asks Karen about her affairs to test her sincerity. Karen relates that Holmes has been unfaithful to her most of their marriage. She miscarried one night when Holmes returned home from seeing a hat-check girl, drunk and unable to call a doctor, resulting in her being unable to bear any more children. She then affirms her love for Warden.
Prewitt and Maggio spend their liberty at the New Congress Club, a gentlemen's club where Prewitt falls for Lorene (Donna Reed). She wants to marry a "proper" man with a "proper" job and live a "proper" life. Maggio and Staff Sergeant James R. Judson (Ernest Borgnine) nearly come to blows at the club over Judson's loud piano playing.
Later, Judson provokes Maggio by taking his photograph of his sister from him, kissing it, and whispering in Prewitt's ear. Maggio smashes a barstool over Judson's head. Judson pulls a switchblade, but Warden intervenes. Judson backs down but warns Maggio that sooner or later he will end up in the stockade, where Judson is in charge.
Karen tells Warden that if he became an officer, she could divorce Holmes and marry him. Warden reluctantly agrees to consider it. Warden gives Prewitt a weekend pass. He goes to see Lorene. Maggio then walks in drunk, having deserted his post. The military police arrest Maggio, and he is sentenced to six months in the stockade.
Then Sergeant Galovitch picks a fight with Prewitt. At first, Prewitt refuses to fight back amd then resorts to only body blows. His fighting spirit reemerges, and Prewitt comes close to knocking Galovitch out before Holmes finally stops the fight. Galovitch accuses Prewitt of starting the fight, but the man in charge of the detail says that it was Galovitch. Holmes lets him off the hook.
The entire incident is witnessed by the base commander, who orders an investigation by the Inspector General. After Holmes' motives are revealed, the base commander orders a court-martial. When Holmes begs for an alternative, an aide suggests for Holmes to resign his commission. Holmes' replacement, Captain Ross (John Bryant), reprimands the others involved and has the boxing team's framed photographs and trophies removed. He then demotes Galovitch to private and puts him in charge of the latrine.
Maggio escapes from the stockade and dies in Prewitt's arms after telling of the abuse he suffered at Judson's hands. Prewitt tracks Judson down and kills him with the same switchblade Judson pulled on Maggio earlier, but sustains a serious stomach wound. Prewitt goes into hiding at Lorene's house.
When the Japanese attack Pearl Harbor, Prewitt attempts to rejoin his company under cover of darkness but is shot dead by a patrol. Warden notes the irony of the boxing tournament being canceled because of the attack.
When Karen finds out that Warden did not apply for officer training, she realizes they have no future together. She returns to the mainland with her husband. Lorene and Karen meet on the ship. Lorene tells Karen that her fiance was a bomber pilot who was heroically killed during the attack. Karen recognizes Prewitt's name but says nothing.
From the Terrace (1960)
Color
Man's wife finds love elsewhere while he climbs corporate ladder
From the Terrace
"In 1946, David Alfred Eaton (Paul Newman) returns home from the war to Philadelphia. He finds his mother Martha (Myrna Loy) driven to alcoholism by years of neglect and abuse from her husband Samuel Eaton (Leon Ames), owner of a prestigious iron and steel company. Having withdrawn from his family after the death of his firstborn son thirteen years earlier, Samuel's resentment drove Alfred to turn his back on the family business and strike out on his own with his closest friend, Lex Porter (George Grizzard).
While attending a party at the estate of Lex's wealthy uncle, Alfred is dazzled by Mary St. John (Joanne Woodward), the daughter of a wealthy family. Mary is drawn into a relationship with Alfred and breaks off her secret engagement to Dr. Jim Roper (Patrick O'Neal), defying her parents. After a humiliating argument, Alfred's father falls ill, and Alfred shuns the family business once again to start an aviation company with Lex.
On his wedding day, Alfred receives word that his father has died. Certain that Samuel has timed his death to spite him, Alfred goes ahead with the ceremony. With his uncle's money, Lex and Alfred then fund the Nassau Aircraft Corporation, but when Lex shows more interest in perfecting aircraft designs than in selling planes, Alfred becomes impatient.
One wintry day, Alfred and Mary are driving home from a party when they see a little boy fall through the thin ice of a frozen pond. Alfred plunges into the icy waters to save him. The boy's grandfather, James Duncan MacHardie (Felix Aylmer), the most famous financier in America, invites Alfred and Mary to dinner. MacHardie, a shrewd businessman, sensing Alfred's drive and ambition, offers him a job in his investment firm.
Obsessed by the need to outdo his father, Alfred travels the country for MacHardie, leaving Mary alone for months at a time. Lonely and self-pitying, Mary begins to resent Alfred's constant absences. Creighton Duffy (Howard Caine), MacHardie's son-in-law, whose position is threatened by Alfred's acumen, suggests that Alfred spend two months in rural Pennsylvania checking out the business aptitude and prospects of Ralph Benziger (Ted de Corsia), a prosperous coal mine owner.
After an ugly argument with his wife, Alfred goes to Pennsylvania. Invited to dinner at Benziger's home, he meets the man's beautiful and compassionate daughter, Natalie (Ina Balin). Lonely and overwhelmed by her sensitivity, Alfred impetuously invites her on a date, but she refuses because he is married. Later that night, however, Natalie reconsiders and arranges to meet him at a drive-in movie the following evening.
Alfred confides to Natalie that her warmth and generosity has made him realize what a sham his marriage is. They share a kiss but Natalie still believes they must end this relationship before it goes any further, for both their sakes.
Upon returning to New York, Alfred is immediately summoned to MacHardie's office. He is informed that Mary has been having an affair with Dr. Roper. But the archly conservative MacHardie proceeds to warn Alfred that he will not tolerate divorce within his firm, considering it a failure in the employee's character. MacHardie also assigns him to analyze the Nassau Aircraft Corp., his former firm, as a possible investment.
One night, while leaving a party with his wife, Alfred unexpectedly encounters Natalie in front of the hotel. Sensing that Alfred and Natalie were intimate, Mary vindictively calls Roper and makes a date with him. Alfred goes to meet Natalie and tells her that although he is estranged from Mary, his career prevents him from requesting a divorce.
Alfred begins to investigate Nassau Aircraft's business practices. Duffy, who has become unethically involved with Nassau and will reap a financial windfall if MacHardie invests in the company, threatens to blackmail Alfred unless he suppresses his report.
Alfred and Natalie find themselves unable to resist their attraction to each other and a tryst in a hotel room ensues. Photographers hired by Duffy burst in and capture their indiscretion. Natalie, uncertain if Alfred's main concern is to save her reputation or his career, decides to leave. Mary, meanwhile, suggests to her husband that they share an open marriage, seeing whomever they please. After she seductively retires to her bedroom, the scandalous photos are delivered to Alfred at his home.
At work the next day, MacHardie ushers in Mary to celebrate Alfred's surprise promotion to partner. Duffy smirks, only to see Alfred rise and denounce MacHardie's hypocrisy of placing success and social position above personal responsibility and happiness. Alfred then issues the uncensored report exposing Duffy's duplicity and walks out. Mary runs after him, but it is too late. He leaves her for good and returns to Natalie's home and a new life.
Fruitvale Station (2013)
Color
Portrays the 2009 police shooting of Oscar Grant in San Franciso
Fruitvale Station
"The film depicts the story of Oscar Grant III, a 22-year-old from Hayward, California, and his experiences on the last day of his life, before he was fatally shot by BART Police in the early morning hours of New Year's Day 2009. The movie begins with the actual footage of Oscar Grant and his friends being detained by the BART Police at the Fruitvale BART station on January 1, 2009 in Oakland California at 2:15 am before the killing.
The film shows scenes of him and his girlfriend Sophia arguing about Grant's recent infidelity. It later shows Grant unsuccessfully attempting to get his job back at the grocery store. He briefly considers selling some marijuana but in the end decides to dump the stash. Grant later attends a birthday party for his mother and tells her afterward that he will take the BART to see fireworks and other New Year's festivities in San Francisco.
On the return train, Katie, a customer at the grocery store where Grant used to work at, recognizes Grant and calls out his name. A former inmate, from when Grant was in prison (shown in an earlier flashback), then recognizes Grant and attempts to assault him, starting a disturbance that leads the BART Police to intervene. Amid the chaos, Grant's girlfriend calls and asks where he is; he assures her he is fine. In the end, after Grant is restrained on the station platform, a BART Police officer shoots him in the back. Grant is rushed to a hospital but later dies.
In the post-credits scene, title cards show that Grant's death sparked a series of protests and riots across the city and that the incident was recorded by several witnesses, either by cell phone or video camera. The BART Police officers who were involved were fired and the one who shot Grant was later tried and found guilty of involuntary manslaughter, claiming he mistook his gun for his Taser, and served an 11-month sentence. There is also footage of a gathering of people celebrating Grant's life on New Year's Day 2013 with the real-life, much older Tatiana (Grant's daughter) standing among them.
Full Metal Jacket (1987)
Color
Vietnam-era marine recruits face the Tet Offensive
Full Metal Jacket
"During the United States' involvement in the Vietnam War, a group of boot camp recruits arrive at Parris Island. The ruthless drill instructor, Hartman, employs forceful methods to turn the recruits into combat-ready Marines. Among the recruits is the overweight and dim-witted Leonard Lawrence, whom Hartman nicknames "Gomer Pyle", as well as the wisecracking J.T. Davis, who receives the name "Joker" after interrupting Hartman's speech with an impression of John Wayne.
Private Pyle is initially inept at basic training and is the focus of Hartman's brutality, but he slowly improves after being paired with Joker. However, when Hartman discovers a contraband jelly doughnut in Pyle's unlocked foot locker, he adopts a collective punishment policy: he will punish the entire platoon for every mistake Pyle makes. One night, the recruits haze Pyle with a blanket party Joker reluctantly participates. Following this, Pyle seems to reinvent himself as model recruit, showing particular expertise in marksmanship, though with frightening stress marked by facial expressions, rather than confidence. This impresses Hartman, but worries Joker, who notices Pyle talking to his rifle, and believes, he may be suffering a mental breakdown.
The recruits graduate and receive their Military Occupational Specialty assignments. Joker is assigned to Military Journalism, while most of the others -- including Pyle -- are assigned to Infantry. During the platoon's final night on Parris Island, Joker discovers Pyle in the head[a] while loading his rifle, and executing drill commands and loudly recites the Rifleman's Creed. Gradually the other recruits wake, including Hartman, who storms in, insults Pyle and orders him to surrender the rifle, whereas Pyle shoots Hartman dead and then kills himself by a shot in the mouth, while Joker helplessly watches the scene in horror.
In January 1968, Joker -- now a sergeant -- is a war correspondent in Da Nang, South Vietnam for Stars and Stripes with Private First Class Rafterman, a combat photographer. Rafterman wants to go into combat, as Joker claims he has. At the Marine base, Joker is mocked for his lack of the thousand-yard stare, indicating his lack of war experience. They are interrupted by the start of the Tet Offensive as the North Vietnamese Army unsuccessfully attempts to overrun the base.
The following day, the journalism staff is briefed about enemy attacks throughout South Vietnam. Joker is sent to Phu Bai, accompanied by Rafterman. They meet the Lusthog Squad, where Joker is reunited with Cowboy. Joker accompanies the squad during the Battle of Hu?,[8] where platoon commander "Touchdown" is killed by the enemy. After the Marines declare the area secure, a team of American news journalists and reporters enters Hu? to interview various Marines about their experiences in Vietnam and their opinions about the war.
While patrolling Hu?, Crazy Earl, the squad leader, is killed by a booby trap, leaving Cowboy in command. The squad becomes lost, and Cowboy orders Eightball to scout the area. A Viet Cong sniper wounds Eightball and Doc Jay, the squad Corpsman. Believing that the sniper is drawing the squad into an ambush, Cowboy attempts to radio in tank support to no avail. The squad's machine gunner, Animal Mother, disobeys Cowboy's orders to retreat and attempts to save his comrades. He discovers there is only one sniper, but Doc Jay and Eightball are killed when Doc Jay attempts to indicate the sniper's location. While maneuvering toward the sniper, Cowboy is shot and killed.
Animal Mother assumes command of the squad and leads an attack on the sniper. Joker discovers the sniper, a teenage girl, and attempts to shoot her, but his rifle jams and alerts her to his presence. Rafterman shoots the sniper, mortally wounding her. As the squad converges, the sniper first prays and then begs for death, prompting an argument about whether to kill her or leave her to suffer. Animal Mother decides to allow a mercy killing only if Joker performs it. After some hesitation, Joker shoots her. The Marines congratulate him on his kill as Joker stares into the distance. The Marines march toward their camp, singing the "Mickey Mouse March". Joker states in narration that despite being "in a world of shit", he is glad to be alive and is no longer afraid.
Funny Girl (1968)
Color
Life and romance of a rising star
Funny Girl
"Set in and around New York City just prior to and following World War I, the story opens with Ziegfeld Follies star Fanny Brice awaiting the return of husband Nicky Arnstein from prison, and then moves into an extended flashback focusing on their meeting and marriage.
Fanny is first seen as a stage-struck teenager who gets her first job in vaudeville and meets the suave Arnstein following her debut performance. They continue to meet occasionally over the years, becoming more romantically involved as Fanny's career flourishes and she becomes a star. Arnstein eventually seduces Fanny, who decides to abandon the Follies in favor of Nicky.
After winning a fortune playing poker, Nicky agrees to marry Fanny. They move into an expensive house and have a daughter, and Fanny eventually returns to Ziegfeld and the Follies. Meanwhile, Nicky's various business ventures fail, forcing them to move into an apartment. Refusing financial support from his wife, he becomes involved in a bonds scam and is imprisoned for embezzlement for eighteen months.
Following Nick's release from prison, he and Fanny briefly reunite long enough to agree to separate.
Gaslight (1940)
Black & White
New wife tormented by strange happenings in her home
Gaslight
"Alice Barlow (Marie Wright) is murdered by an unknown man, who then ransacks her house, looking for her valuable and famous rubies. The house remains empty for years, until newlyweds Paul and Bella Mallen move in. Bella (Diana Wynyard) soon finds herself misplacing small objects; and, before long, Paul (Anton Walbrook) has her believing she is losing her sanity. B. G. Rough (Frank Pettingell), a former detective involved in the original murder investigation, immediately suspects him of Alice Barlow's murder.
Paul uses the gas lamps to search the closed off upper floors, which causes the rest of the lamps in the house to dim slightly. When Bella comments on the lights' dimming, he tells her she is imagining things. Bella is persuaded she is hearing noises, unaware that Paul enters the upper floors from the house next door. The sinister interpretation of the change in light levels is part of a larger pattern of deception to which Bella is subjected. It is revealed Paul is a bigamist. He is the wanted Louis Bauer, who has returned to the house to search for the rubies he was unable to find after the murder.
Geostorm (2017)
Color
Weather control system goes awry
Geostorm
"In 2019, following many catastrophic natural disasters, an international coalition commissions a system of climate-controlling satellites called "Dutch Boy", named after the story of Hans Brinker. After Dutch Boy neutralizes a typhoon in Shanghai, a Senate sub-committee reprimands chief architect Jake Lawson, because he brought "Dutch Boy" online (without authorization) and replaces him with his brother Max, who works under Secretary of State Leonard Dekkom.
Three years later, a UN team stationed in the Registan Desert comes across a frozen village. Makmoud Habib, an Indian engineer working on the International Climate Space Station (ICSS), copies data from the Afghanistan satellite onto a hard drive before he is killed in a supposed accident. After convincing President Andrew Palma to conduct an investigation, Max persuades Jake to go to the ICSS to investigate. Another satellite increases temperatures in Hong Kong, causing gas explosions that nearly kill Max's college friend Cheng Long, the head of Dutch Boy's Hong Kong department.
Jake arrives at ICSS to examine the malfunctioning satellites (which are damaged afterwards and their data erased) with station commander Ute Fassbinder and her crew, consisting of engineer Eni Adisa, systems specialist Duncan Taylor, technician Al Hernandez, and security officer Ray Dussette. They recover the hard drive, but hide it from the crew, suspecting a traitor, and examine the data, discovering that a virus has wiped out everyone's login access to the satellite and is causing the malfunctions. Suspecting Palma is using Dutch Boy as a weapon, Jake tells Max he needs to reboot the system to eliminate the virus which requires the kill code held by Palma. The ICSS staff neutralize malfunctioning satellites by deliberately knocking them offline via collisions with replacement satellites.
Back on Earth, Cheng discovers he and Max have lost login access and warns Max of a global cataclysm known as a "Geostorm" if the malfunction continues. Cheng is pursued to Washington, D.C. by a team of rogue government agents, who ultimately cause his death in a traffic incident, but not before he says "Zeus". Discovering Project Zeus simulates extreme weather patterns to create a Geostorm, Max enlists his girlfriend, Secret Service agent Sarah Wilson, to acquire the code. During this time, the ICSS team loses control of all operations as the virus initiates the self-destruct program.
During the Democratic National Convention (DNC) at Orlando's Moxley Arena, Max discovers Orlando is next to be targeted after a massive hailstorm hits Tokyo and part of Rio de Janeiro freezes over. Max requests Dekkom's help, but Dekkom instead tries unsuccessfully to kill Max, unveiling himself as the saboteur; Max immediately informs Sarah. The two kidnap Palma to protect him from Dekkom's agents and secure the kill code, which is Palma's biometrics. As they escape from the DNC stadium before a lightning storm destroys it, Max reveals their activities and Dekkom's treachery to Palma. After outsmarting Dekkom's mercenaries, the three arrest and confront Dekkom about his intentions: to decimate the other elected officials in America's line of succession, giving him the chance to dominate the world while eliminating America's enemies at the same time. Max and Sarah escort Palma to the Kennedy Space Center, where they transmit the code but learn that the self-destruct sequence cannot be stopped.
Meanwhile, in space, as more disasters strike around the world (including tornadoes in Mumbai, a heatwave in Moscow and a megatsunami in Dubai), Jake realizes Taylor is the traitor, and masterminded Habib's death and the storms on Dekkom's orders. In the ensuing confrontation, Taylor accidentally ejects himself into space while Jake escapes. As the crew evacuates, Jake and Ute stay behind to ensure the system's reboot, eliminating the virus and transferring satellite control to NASA, preventing the Geostorm at the last second, before they are rescued by a shuttle heralded by Hernandez.
The two take shelter in a replacement satellite as the self-destruct sequence completes and use its thrusters as a beacon. A nearby shuttle piloted by crew member Hernandez picks them up. Six months later, Jake works as the head engineer for Dutch Boy once more, which is now administered by an international committee.
Get Hard (2015)
Color
Man prepares himself to go to prison
Get Hard
"James King (Will Ferrell) is an extremely wealthy hedge fund manager of Barrow Funds run by Martin Barrow (Craig T. Nelson). He is engaged to his gorgeous gold-digging fiancee Alissa (Alison Brie) who is Martin's daughter. His car washer, Darnell Lewis (Kevin Hart), and his wife, Rita (Edwina Findley), are trying to put their daughter Makayla (Ariana Neal) in a better school away from the bad neighborhood they live in. Darnell meets James when he accidentally frightens James in the parking lot. James makes a speech about how he got to his success, and to inspire Darnell to go for his. He pulls out a big wad of cash, only to give two singles as a "tip" for Darnell.
Alissa hosts an engagement party for herself and James. She gives him an electric guitar as a gift, and invites John Mayer onstage to perform. James performs alongside Mayer momentarily until the FBI storm in and arrest James for fraud and embezzlement. James' lawyer Peter Penny (Greg Germann) urges James to go for a guilty plea, but he refuses and insists that he will be exonerated. Instead, everybody that lost money in the embezzlement scheme is out for James's head. Upon James being found guilty, the judge (Elliott Grey) sentences James to ten years at San Quentin State Prison, with only 30 days to get his affairs in order. His assets are frozen and he is placed under house arrest. James cuts off his ankle monitor and tries to flee the country. He drives to a country club to get Alissa to go with him, but she says she has left him and decided to move on after it was discovered he wasn't innocent. The police then show up and re-arrest James, who asks his boss Martin for help.
James encounters Darnell once more in the parking lot, expressing his fears over going to prison. He asks Darnell how he managed in prison, simply assuming he was incarcerated because he is black. James then begs Darnell to teach him how to toughen up if he wants to survive in prison. Darnell demands payment in the form of $30,000, which James agrees to.
Darnell, who has little idea of how to act tough himself, tries to put on a facade of his own. To start his "training", Darnell pepper-sprays James upon arriving to his home. He tries to get James ready for prison by intimidating with his "mad dog" face (James can only "sad dog" it), creating scenarios in which he must defend himself, and picking fights at the park (only for James to be beaten multiple times). James gets in touch with Martin and says he's getting help. Martin, who is the actual crook, thinks James is onto him and orders Peter and a hired gun named Gayle (Paul-Ben Victor) to take care of business.
With little time left and even less improvement, Darnell figures that James has to learn how to perform oral sex in prison. They go to a gay hook-up spot for James to find a man to give fellatio to, but he can't go through with it and tells Darnell (in front of the other curious and interested gay men) that he will keep going and do whatever it takes to "get hard." James starts to work out harder and faster, makes shivs, and learns "keistering" - smuggling contraband in the anus. Darnell simulates a prison raid with help from James' personal workers acting as inmates. In the chaos, James gets a shiv stuck in his head. Darnell drives James to his home for Rita to get the shiv out. He has dinner and listens to Darnell make up a story of how he went to prison (which is just a retelling of Boyz n the Hood). After James leaves, Makayla and Rita say they don't think James did it and that Darnell needs to do something that will really help him.
Mere days before his incarceration, James and Darnell resolve for James to join a local gang called the Crenshaw Kings to protect him in prison. James dresses in a ridiculous outfit that gets unwanted attention. Darnell's cousin Russell (T.I.), who runs the gang, isn't convinced that James can pay him and knows that Darnell is lying about prison. James does help the gang gain interest in finance and stocks. Darnell drives James to a bar where the Alliance of Whites gang is based. James is unable to be a convincing racist, leading the white supremacists to think he's a cop. They nearly burn his face with a motorcycle tire until Darnell rescues him by bursting in with a flamethrower. Darnell realizes James is innocent and they conclude that Martin is the crook. They sneak into his office and find the embezzlement records on Martin's old computer. Unfortunately, Gayle finds them and takes the computer back after telling James that Darnell has a clean record and never actually went to prison. Despite his earlier misjudgment of Darnell previously being in prison, James feels betrayed and leaves the parking lot.
James returns to the Crenshaw Kings with the intention of joining. For his initiation, they want him to kill someone. Darnell arrives in time to stop him and convince him to catch Martin and expose him. The two find Martin's yacht and sneak on board. They grab the computer only to come across Gayle and more hitmen. James unleashes a series of capoeira moves on the goons while Darnell protects the computer. Martin comes out and confesses to the crime while Alissa steps out and admits that she was in on the scheme with the involvement of Peter. Martin and Alissa try to convince James to run away with them, but he turns them down and heads to the life raft with Darnell. The duo tries to get out on the life raft until Gayle shoots it out. James pulls out a gun he kept up his rear and aims it at Gayle until the US Marshals show up just in time, in response to James being outside of the county lines as he still had the ankle monitor that Peter gave him.
James then shows the Marshals the embezzlement records on Martin's computer, proving that Martin is the embezzler and James was just a target to frame the crime on. Martin and Gayle are then taken away by the Marshals, Alissa is also taken away while stating that she will call her lawyers, and James cleared of all charges relating to the embezzlement. However, a Marshal noticed that James was in possession of an unlicensed gun as the Marshals converge on him. James only had to do six months for it. Thanks to Darnell's training, James was ready to face prison life. Martin wasn't ready at all as the inmates of San Quentin start to converge on him. While serving his time, James helped the FBI find and return all the assets that Martin stole and got his bank account thawed out for it. James knew just where to invest his money, Darnell ended up opening his carwash, which was a total success that Rita and Makayla are proud of.
After James gets released after his six months are up, Darnell is happy to see that James survived and he tells Darnell that he couldn't have survived without him. As Darnell drives James home, he decides to celebrate his freedom with a Wall Street Journal and a forty, which James considers a perfect Sunday.
Get On Up (2014)
Color
Life story of musician James Brown
Get On Up
"The film opens in 1993 with James Brown walking through a darkened hallway as an audience chants his name. He hears the voices of people he knew throughout his life. The film then cuts to 1988 in Augusta, Georgia; James learns that his private bathroom in a strip mall he owns was used without his consent. As he confronts and then forgives the trespasser, he accidentally fires a shotgun, attracting the police.
During the 1960s, James and his band decide to travel to Vietnam to show support to the black troops, where they put on a well-received show. In 1939, James is raised in the woods by his parents (Susie and Joe Brown), whose marriage is fraught with financial struggles and physical abuse. James performs in a singing group, The Famous Flames, formed by Bobby Byrd, whose family sponsored his release from prison, a penalty he paid for stealing a suit. James lives with the Byrd family and becomes lead singer of Bobby's group. In 1964, manager Ben Bart convinces them to let The Rolling Stones close The T.A.M.I. Show instead of The Flames. The Flames upstage the Stones, and, exiting the stage, James tells the Stones, "Welcome to America". In James' childhood, Susie leaves Joe, and Joe threatens her with a gun and keeps James. Joe continues to abuse James until Joe joins the army. James is left living with and working for his Aunt Honey, who runs a brothel. At her home, he attends church and enjoys the choir.
At the age of 17, James steals a suit, is arrested, and receives a five-to-thirteen-year prison sentence. In prison, James sees a group of singers performing. His enthusiastic reaction incites a riot wherein both he and one of the singers, Bobby Byrd, are injured. Bobby invites James into the Byrd household. Years later, James joins Bobby's gospel group and they put on a show at a club as The Famous Flames, following a performance by Little Richard. Another flashback from James's childhood shows him and other black boys forced into a battle royal boxing match while a band plays. Inspired by the funky band, James wins the match.
In the 1950s, James and Bobby meet an agent from King Records, with whom The Flames record their first single, "Please, Please, Please", on the Federal Records label in 1956. King Records executive Syd Nathan initially mocks the song but appreciates James's vocals. Ben Bart becomes James' manager, calling him the true voice of the group. The records are labelled as "James Brown and His Famous Flames", leading all the members except Bobby to quit. James and Bobby form a new band with Maceo Parker, Pee Wee Ellis, Nafloyd Scott, and Baby Roy.The Famous Flames singing group is also re-formed, replacing the members that quit. The Flames perform at the Apollo Theater to an excited audience. After the show, Bobby tells James that a lady claiming to be his mother is there. As a young child James had seen Susie with a soldier, to whom she claimed she didn't know James. Aunt Honey consoled James, saying that his mother was a fool and James would someday be rich.
James has a child, Teddy, with his first wife Velma. He later divorces her and marries Dee-Dee. On one occasion, the couple hosts a Christmas event. Afterwards, James hits Dee-Dee for wearing a revealing outfit. In an attempt to reach out to the black community, James records the song "Say It Loud - I'm Black and I'm Proud" (1968) with a group of children. James convinces the Boston Garden' manager to not cancel a performance following the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr.. Several people try to get on stage; security guards intercede until James controls the audience.
Over time, James manages the band poorly, and they all quit. Ben dies of a heart attack. Bobby muses about a career as a lead singer, leading to a heated argument with Brown, who tells Bobby that, although Bobby's wife Vicki Anderson (who was a featured singer in Brown's Revue) could be a major solo performer, Bobby could not. Angry and upset, Bobby fires back at Brown, and after Brown makes some cruel statements, finally leaves him for good. Backtracking several years, to an incident at the Apollo, Brown's mother Susie appears backstage during a Flames concert and expresses her love for James despite her reluctance to be a mother. After she leaves, Bobby comes back in, sees James having a breakdown, and heeds his request to take care of Susie. In 1973, James learns Teddy has been killed in a car accident. Immediately before the incident at the strip mall, James smokes a joint laced with angel dust. The police chase James and arrest him.
In 1993, James meets Bobby for the first time since Teddy's funeral to give him tickets to his show. James walks onto the stage through a darkened hall. He sees visions of people from his life chanting his name. His performance of "Try Me (I Need You)" moves Bobby and his wife Vicki to tears, and the audience cheers.
Get Out (2017)
Color
Man apprehensive when other black men disappear form his girlfriend's parents
Get Out
"After talking with his girlfriend on his cellphone, a man named Andre Hayworth is abducted by an unknown assailant while walking through a suburb late at night.
Months later, photographer Chris Washington and his girlfriend Rose Armitage take a trip to meet Rose's parents, neurosurgeon Dean and psychiatrist/hypnotherapist Missy, and her brother Jeremy. At the house, everyone tries to make Chris feel welcome, but he is disturbed by the odd behavior from the groundskeeper and housekeeper, Walter and Georgina. That night Chris talks to Missy about his mother, who died in a hit and run when he was eleven. As they talk, Missy hypnotizes Chris into a paralytic state, sending his consciousness into a void that Missy calls "the sunken place." Chris wakes up in bed the next morning and believes he had a nightmare, but later realizes that Missy has hypnotized him to quit smoking.
Guests arrive for the Armitages' annual get-together, where various older couples take an uncanny interest in Chris. He meets Logan King, a guest whose bizarre demeanor and familiarity unsettles him. He calls his best friend, TSA Officer Rodney "Rod" Williams, whom he tells about his hypnosis and the unusual behavior of everyone. He later tries to stealthily take a picture of Logan with his phone, but its camera flash causes Logan to suffer a nosebleed, and then hysterically yell at Chris to "Get out!" Dean claims that Logan has suffered an epileptic seizure, but Chris is skeptical. Chris and Rose go on a walk, and he persuades her to leave with him. While they are away, Dean holds a mysterious auction, a picture of Chris on display, with Jim Hudson, a blind art dealer, placing the winning bid.
While packing to leave, Chris sends the picture of Logan to Rod, who recognizes Logan as Andre, a past mutual acquaintance. Chris also finds dozens of photos of Rose in prior relationships with men and women, including Andre, Walter and Georgina, all of whom were black, despite the fact Rose had previously told Chris he was her first black boyfriend. Alarmed, Chris tells Rose that they need to leave immediately, but the whole family--Rose included--blocks him. Chris tries to escape but is incapacitated by Missy's hypnosis. Rod worries when Chris does not return or answer his calls, and discovers that Andre has been missing for six months. He goes to the police, but is derided.
Chris wakes up strapped to a chair, and is presented with a video that explains the family has perfected a method of pseudo-immortality in which Dean transplants the brains of his older friends and family into the bodies of younger people, selected by Rose and hypnotically prepped by Missy. Jim Hudson wants to use Chris as a host so he can regain sight, with Chris being doomed to exist in "the sunken place" for the rest of his life as Jim controls his body. When Chris asks "Why black people?", Jim says that everybody has their own reasons, but black people are currently in fashion. Chris plugs his ears with wads of stuffing pulled from the chair, blocking the hypnotic commands that render him unconscious. When Jeremy comes to collect him for the surgery, Chris escapes, killing Dean, Missy, and Jeremy.
As he drives away, Chris hits Georgina. Guilt over his failure to help his mother forces him to take the unconscious Georgina with him, but she soon awakens and attacks him, causing the car to crash. Georgina, whose body was the vessel for Rose's grandmother, just as Walter's is for Rose's grandfather, is killed. Rose and "Walter" catch up with Chris, but Chris is able to use his phone's camera flash to free the real Walter, as with Logan earlier. Walter takes Rose's rifle and shoots her in the gut and then kills himself in order to prevent the grandfather from regaining control of his body. Chris begins to strangle Rose, but cannot bring himself to kill her and stops trying just as an apparent police car pulls up. Rose cries out for help, hoping that Chris will be seen as the attacker, but the driver turns out to be Rod in a TSA vehicle. He and Chris drive away as Rose succumbs to her gunshot wound.
Ghost (1990)
Color
Ghost of deceased boyfriend protects woman from murderous plot
Ghost
"Sam Wheat (Patrick Swayze), a banker, and Molly Jensen (Demi Moore), a potter, are a loving couple who move into a New York City apartment. At work, Sam discovers a major discrepancy in multiple bank accounts and confides in his good friend and colleague Carl Bruner (Tony Goldwyn). Carl offers to investigate the matter, but Sam decides to investigate himself. Later that night, Sam and Molly are attacked by armed thug Willie Lopez (Rick Aviles) and Sam is killed by a gunshot during a struggle with Willie. Sam's ghost arises from his dead body, which lies next to the distraught Molly. He gradually realizes that he is a ghost whose presence cannot be seen or heard.
One day, Sam is alone at the apartment (testing his ability to walk through doors) when Willie comes in, looking for something. Sam is unable to stop the killer but spooks Molly's cat, Floyd, causing Willie to get scratched and flee. Sam follows the killer to his place in Brooklyn and hears that he will return to Molly's house. Sam wanders into the parlor of Oda Mae Brown (Whoopi Goldberg), a charlatan medium who discovers to her shock that she has actual psychic powers when she meets Sam, her first real ghost. Sam persuades Oda Mae to warn Molly about Willie, but Molly does not believe her, especially after she learns of Oda Mae's extensive criminal record as a forger and con artist.
Sam discovers that Carl was involved in a money laundering scheme at the bank and that the attack was an attempt by Carl to acquire Sam's security codes so that he could transfer the money from the many accounts to one at another bank. Sam learns how to move solid objects by willpower from an aggressive poltergeist (Vincent Schiavelli) he meets in the New York City subway. Afterward, Sam persuades Oda Mae to thwart Carl's money laundering scheme. Following Sam's instructions, Oda Mae impersonates the owner of Carl's fake bank account, closes the account, and reluctantly gives its $4 million contents to a homeless shelter.
Carl, due to transfer the money to a correspondent bank overseas, becomes desperate when he finds the account closed and empty. Sam taunts him in the deserted office by moving objects and making accusations appear on his computer screen, repeatedly typing "MURDERER" and "SAM". Carl visits Molly and declares to Sam that he will kill Molly unless the money is returned that evening. He and Willie then go to Oda Mae's apartment to find her. Sam manages to get there first and warns Oda Mae and her two sisters, who quickly escape and take refuge in a neighbor's apartment. Sam uses his powers to separate and distract Carl and Willie, who are ransacking Oda Mae's apartment in search of the money. Horrified by the experience, Willie flees and is run over by a car. Willie rises as a ghost and is dragged into the darkness by a gang of shadowy demons.
Afterwards, Sam and Oda Mae return to Molly's apartment to warn her about Carl, but she refuses to let her in and breaks down in grief. Sam finally convinces her that Oda Mae is genuine and he is truly present as a ghost by having her push a penny underneath the front door and Sam levitating it in front of Molly. Astonished, Molly lets Ode Mae inside and while waiting for the police, Sam uses Oda Mae's body to share a final dance with Molly.
Carl arrives, prepared to murder Molly and Oda Mae, but they flee. Sam is left momentarily weakened, as possession is taxing to a ghost. In the storage room, Carl manages to get a hold of Oda Mae and threatens to kill her, but Molly comes to her aid and holds Carl off long enough for Oda Mae to escape his grasp. Carl grabs Molly and holds her at gunpoint, but Sam recovers and disarms him. Carl tries to escape by swinging a giant metal hook at Sam and climbing through a window. However, the hook hits the window and causes the plate glass to break into several jagged shards, one of which pierces Carl's stomach and kills him. His ghost is then carried away by the same shadowy demons that took Willie earlier.
As Sam goes to Oda Mae and Molly and asks if they are all right, Molly suddenly realizes that she can hear him. A heavenly light fills the room and Sam becomes fully visible to both Molly and Oda Mae. Sam looks behind him and sees hundreds of people, presumably angels, in a portal to Heaven. His task is completed and he can move on. Sam says an emotional farewell to Molly, thanks Oda Mae for her help, and departs to the afterlife.
Giant (1956)
Color
Covers the life of a Texas cattle rancher and his family and associates
Giant
"The plot focuses on themes of discrimination (race, class and gender) as it affects the social evolution of a Texas family over a quarter century from the 1920s until after World War II.
In the 1920s, Jordan "Bick" Benedict, Jr. (Rock Hudson), head of a wealthy Texas ranching family, travels to Maryland to buy War Winds, a horse he is planning to put out to stud. There he meets and courts socialite Leslie Lynnton (Elizabeth Taylor), who ends a budding relationship with Sir David Karfrey (Rod Taylor) and marries Bick after a whirlwind romance.
They return to Texas to start their life together on the family ranch, Reata, where Bick's older spinster sister Luz Benedict (Mercedes McCambridge) runs the household. Luz resents Leslie's presence and attempts to intimidate her. Leslie meets Jett Rink (James Dean), a local handyman who works for Luz and hopes to find his fortune by leaving Texas. Jett becomes secretly infatuated with Leslie.
As Leslie spends time becoming acclimated to the harsh Texas heat, once nearly passing out, she discovers on a car ride with Jett that the Mexican workers' living conditions in the local town are terrible. After tending to Angel Obregon II, one of the Mexican children, she pressures Bick to take steps to improve their condition. This starts a theme concerning Texans' attitudes towards Mexicans in general.
When riding Leslie's beloved horse, War Winds, Luz expresses her hostility for Leslie by cruelly digging in her spurs. Luz dies after War Winds bucks her off. In her will, Jett is bequeathed a small piece of land on the Benedict ranch. Bick tries to buy back the land, but Jett refuses to sell. Jett makes the land his home and names it Little Reata. Over the next ten years, Leslie and Bick have twins, Jordan "Jordy" Benedict, III (Dennis Hopper as a teenager and young adult) and Judy Benedict (Fran Bennett as an adult), and later have a daughter they name Luz Benedict II (Carroll Baker as an adult).
After spurning the Benedict family's fair offer to buy the land, Jett discovers traces of oil in a footprint of Leslie's. He drills in the same spot and hits a gusher. Drenched in oil, he drives to the Benedict front yard covered in oil and proclaims to the family and their guests that he will be richer than the Benedicts. Jett next acts inappropriately towards Leslie, and this leads to a brief fistfight with Bick before he quickly drives off. In the years preceding World War II, Jett's oil drilling company continues to prosper. Determined to continue as a cattle rancher like his forefathers, Bick rejects several offers to drill for oil on Reata.
Tensions in Bick's and Leslie's household revolve around their children. Bick insists that Jordy must succeed him and run the ranch, as his father and grandfather did before him -- but Jordy wants to become a doctor. Leslie wants Judy to attend finishing school in Switzerland, but Judy loves the ranch, wants to study animal husbandry at Texas Tech, and falls in love with a local cow hand, Bob Dace. Both children succeed in pursuing their own vocations, each asking one parent to convince the other to let them have their way. Bick then tries to interest Dace, now his son-in-law (Judy's husband), to work on the ranch after he returns from the war but he refuses. Jett arrives and persuades Bick to allow oil production on his land, using the excuse that this will help the war effort. Realizing that his children will not take over the ranch when he retires, Bick agrees. Both Bick and Jett show evidence of a drinking problem. Luz II, now in her teens, starts flirting with Jett.
Once oil production starts on the ranch, the wealthy Benedict family becomes even wealthier and more powerful, as evidenced by the installation of a new swimming pool next to the house which is seen attended by a senator. Now a young man, Angel (Sal Mineo) enlists in the United States Military but gets killed in WWII, and his body is shipped home for burial.
After the war ends in 1945, the Benedict-Rink rivalry continues, coming to a head when the Benedicts discover that Luz II and the much older Jett have been dating. At a huge party given by Jett in his own honor at Jett's hotel in nearby Austin, Jordy's wife of Mexican descent, Juana (Elsa Cardenas), is racially insulted by hotel staff. An irate Jordy tries to start a fight with Jett. Jett's goons hold Jordy, Jett punches him repeatedly and then has him escorted out. Fed up, Bick challenges Jett to a fight. Drunk and almost incoherent, Jett leads the way to a wine storage room. Seeing that Jett is in no state to defend himself, Bick lowers his fists, and instead topples Jett's wine cellar shelves creating a very loud crash heard by the entire assembly. The Benedict family leaves the party. Jett, staggers into the banquet hall drunk, takes his seat of honor then passes out on the table. All the guests leave. Later, Luz II sees Jett recovering from his drunken stupor, talking to an empty room, and disclosing that he really wanted her mother, implying strongly that his interest in Luz II is really a vicarious interest for Leslie.
The next day, the Benedicts are driving down a back road and stop at a diner. The racist owner, Sarge (Mickey Simpson), insults Juana and her and Jordy's son Jordan IV. When the owner goes on to eject an old Mexican man and his family from the diner, Bick tells Sarge to leave them alone. This leads to a fistfight that Bick ends up losing which results in all of the Benedicts being thrown out of the diner, but his family members are proud of him for standing up to the burly owner.
Later, in the final scene back at the ranch, Bick and Leslie watch their two grandchildren, one biracial (Jordy and Juana's son), play in a crib and reflect on their life. Leslie tells Bick that she considered him to be her hero for the first time in her life after the fight in the diner, something he always tried to do with his ranching heroics. Reflecting on the Benedict family's legacy, Bick views it as a failure because their lives didn't turn out the way he planned, but Leslie considers their version of the family to be a success. The final shot pans to the face of each child, one white, one Hispanic, but both Texans.
Gifted Hands (2009)
Color
Struggles of African American neurosurgeon
Gifted Hands
"The movie begins in 1987, where Dr. Ben Carson (Cuba Gooding, Jr.) goes to Germany to visit a couple named Peter and Augusta Rausch, who have twins conjoined at the head. Ben knows that chances of saving them both will be a risk, because one baby always dies in situations like that. Ben agrees to do the operation, but he will wait four months so he can come up with a plan to save them both. While looking into some of his books, the movie flashes back to the year 1961, where 11 year old Ben Carson (Jaishon Fisher) starts out life as an African American child from a one-parent home with failing grades at school. Ben has an older brother named Curtis. His mother, who dropped out in the third grade, starts making decisions for him. When her boys need to learn multiplication tables, she has them swear to learn them while she is gone to check herself into a mental institution. When she sees her two sons' success hindered by TV, she schedules timings to watch TV, boys show great interest in watching only a quiz show later on and commands them to read two books per week from the library and give her a book report, she also moves them to better schools.
Meanwhile as time passes, Ben learns how to multiply and to spell. He starts to explore the world of books, and he grows in it. He begins to show a temper; Ben almost kills his friend who tells him to go to hell. He used his new knife to stab him and it broke when it hit the buckle of his belt. Having almost killed someone because of his temper, he realizes that he can't do anything about it. He runs to his room and cries out to God, praying that He delivers him from his temper. He becomes the top student in his eighth grade class, third in his high school class and with hard work and strong determination, he got a scholarship to college, passed the MCAT and went on to medical school. He meets his girlfriend Candy, whom he falls in love with. One day, when he struggles with a test study, she helps him out and Ben eventually passes and gets an A.
In the year 1976, Carson faced adversity from fellow doctors and students while working at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland. It is here where he performed an operation as a resident without supervision, risking his medical career to save a man's life. Then in the year of 1985, he saves the life of a girl who has seizures 100 times a day, by removing only the half of her brain that was responsible for seizures in a procedure called 'hemispherectomy". After two children, Candy, his wife, becomes pregnant with twins, but loses the babies from a bloody miscarriage. Ben's mother later moves in with the family.
Then the movie goes back to where it began: the year of 1987. Ben is eventually convinced to operate on the two twins, and he manages to make the operation successful, and both twins are saved.
Gigi (1958)
Color
As she comes of age, Gigi metamorphoses into a stunning beauty
Gigi
"Set in turn-of-the-20th century Paris, the film opens with Honore Lachaille among high society in the Bois de Boulogne. A charming old roue, he cynically remarks that "Like everywhere else, most people in Paris get married, but not all. There are some who will not marry, and some who do not marry. But in Paris, those who will not marry are usually men, and those who do not marry are usually women." So marriage is not the only option for wealthy young bon vivants like his nephew Gaston, who is bored with life. The one thing Gaston truly enjoys is spending time with Madame Alvarez, whom he calls Mamita, and especially her granddaughter, the precocious, carefree Gilberte, aka Gigi. Following the family tradition, Madame Alvarez sends Gigi to her sister, Great Aunt Alicia to be groomed as a courtesan and learn etiquette and charm. To Alicia, love is an art, and a necessary accomplishment for Gigi's social and economic future. The young girl initially is a very poor student who fails to understand the reasons behind her education. She enjoys spending time with Gaston, whom she regards as an elder brother.
After Gaston publicly embarrasses his cheating mistress and tries to rebuild his reputation with endless parties, he decides to take a vacation by the sea. Gigi proposes if she beats him at a game of cards he must take her and Mamita along. He accepts, and she happily wins. During their holiday, Gigi and Gaston spend many hours together, and the two learn Honore and Mamita once were romantically involved before becoming comfortable friends. Alicia insists Gigi's education must increase dramatically if she is to catch a prize such as Gaston. Gigi is miserable with her lessons, but endures them as a necessary evil, though she still seems awkward and bumbling to her perfectionist great-aunt. When Gaston sees Gigi in an alluring white gown, he tells her she looks ridiculous and storms out, but later returns and apologizes, offering to take her to tea to make amends. Mamita refuses, telling him a young girl seen in his company might be labeled in such a way as could damage her future. Enraged yet again, Gaston storms out and wanders the streets of Paris in a fury.
Realizing he has fallen in love with Gigi, who no longer is the child he thought her to be, Gaston returns to Mamita and proposes he take Gigi as his mistress, promising to provide the girl with luxury and kindness. The young girl declines the offer, telling him she wants more for herself than to be passed between men, desired only until they tire of her and she moves on to another. Gaston is horrified at this portrayal of the life he wishes to give her, and leaves stunned. Gigi later decides she would rather be miserable with him than without him. Prepared to accept her fate as Gaston's mistress, Gigi emerges from her room looking like a woman. Gaston is enchanted and takes her to dinner at Maxim's, where she seems perfectly at ease. The stares of other patrons make Gaston extremely uncomfortable as he realizes Gigi's interpretation of things may have been accurate after all, and discovers his love for her makes the idea of her as his mistress an unbearable one. He leaves the party with Gigi in tow and takes her home without explanation. After wandering the streets throughout the night, he returns to Mamita's home and humbly asks for Gigi's hand in marriage.
The final sequence reverts to Honore Lachaille, proudly pointing out Gaston and Gigi riding in their carriage in the Bois de Boulogne, which is filled with high society. The couple are elegant, beautiful, and happily married. Honore has been a framing device for the film, which can be seen as a romantic victory of love over cynicism.
Girl, Interrupted (1999)
Color
Girl is sent to a mental institution
Girl, Interrupted
"In April 1967, 18-year-old Susanna Kaysen (Winona Ryder) inadvertently checks herself into Claymoore Hospital after taking an overdose of aspirin. She denies the accusation from many that she was attempting to commit suicide, claiming that she was only "trying to make the shit stop." Nurses and therapists are surprised when Susanna acknowledges that she does not actually want to go to college and would like to become a writer.
She befriends fellow patients Polly "Torch" Clark (Elisabeth Moss), Georgina Tuskin (Clea DuVall), Daisy Randone (Brittany Murphy), Janet Webber (Angela Bettis), and Cynthia Crowley (Jillian Armenante) and forms a small troupe of troubled women in her ward. Susanna is particularly enchanted by Lisa Rowe (Angelina Jolie), a diagnosed sociopath who easily manipulates the women around her, being gentle or cruel toward them as she sees fit. When Lisa returns to the ward after running away, she notices that her old best friend's place has been taken by Susanna. She demands to know what happened to her best friend, eventually realizing that she had committed suicide. Eventually, Lisa befriends Susanna and the two start causing trouble. Lisa encourages Susanna to stop taking her medications and/or trade them with others, sneak out of their rooms at night and generally resist the influences of therapy.
During a visit outside the ward at a nearby ice cream shop, Susanna is confronted by her mother's friend, the angry wife of her old English teacher, with whom she had an affair, and her daughter. The woman harshly berates Susanna, but Lisa intervenes with a verbal assault, horrifying the older woman. As a result, Lisa loses her outside privileges.
Susanna's former boyfriend, Tobias "Toby" Jacobs (Jared Leto), comes to visit her. The two attempt to have sex in her room, but despite Lisa's attempt to delay the routine checks they are interrupted by orderlies and take a walk on the grounds instead. Toby reveals that he is about to be drafted, and invites her to run away to Canada with him. He tries to convince her that she isn't crazy and that the girls in the asylum aren't really her friends, but Susanna refuses to go with him.
It is shown that Polly observes the couple as they speak outside. That night, she awakens screaming. The nurses remove her and place her into solitary confinement to calm her down, but she continues sobbing, horrified by the burn scars all over her body and face. To cheer her up, Susanna steals a guitar from the music room and sits outside Polly's room with Lisa, singing "Downtown" by Petula Clark. Lisa is seen slipping a pill into the mouth of the orderly on watch, who has fallen asleep. When a male orderly notices them, Susanna seduces him to keep him from reporting the incident. Afterwards, the two girls fall asleep outside Polly's room. In the morning, Valerie Owens, the RN (Whoopi Goldberg) sees the two, exclaims that she is sick of their antics and is referring them to the therapists.
The next morning, Susanna is called into the therapist's office, where she is analyzed once more. Susanna meets the head psychiatrist, Dr. Sonia Wick (Vanessa Redgrave), and attempts to shut her out with a nasty attitude. In response, Wick decides to take Susanna as her patient. She is diagnosed with borderline personality disorder. Lisa is also taken to see the doctor but does not return, and Susanna falls into a depression. Frustrated with Susanna's noncompliance, Valerie throws her into a cold bath to wake her and repels Susanna's verbal attack, stating that in spite of her disorder, she is not insane.
Lisa returns in the middle of the night, and she and Susanna break out of Claymoore. They hitch a ride with some hippies, and Susanna kisses Lisa, seemingly happy. They spend the night at the house of the recently released Daisy, whom Lisa antagonizes in her usual fashion. She accuses Daisy of having an incestuous relationship with her father, and mocks her for continuing to cut herself. Although Susanna expresses anger toward Lisa, she is not able to stop her nor does she look for Daisy until the next morning, when she discovers that Daisy has hanged herself. Unfazed by the suicide, Lisa searches Daisy's pocket and takes whatever cash she can find. She puts the money in Susanna's coat and decides that it is time to leave, but a mortified Susanna stays behind to phone an ambulance and subsequently return to the hospital, while Lisa remains at large. Susanna also adopts Daisy's cat, Ruby. In the next few weeks, she begins to cooperate with her doctors and responds to her therapy, expressing her feelings through writing and painting. She is soon scheduled to be released.
At that point, Lisa is caught and returned by the police. Upon learning about Susanna's pending release, Lisa targets Susanna for ridicule and emotional abuse. On her last night at Claymoore, Susanna awakens to discover Lisa in the maze of corridors beneath the ward, reading Susanna's diary to Georgina and Polly, including all of the private thoughts and comments she has made about the other residents. The other girls turn on Susanna, with Georgina verbally threatening to have Susanna killed by her father, who she claims to be head of the CIA, and with Lisa particularly vicious, stating that she has done everything for Susanna, playing the villain so that Susanna could be the good guy. Susanna eventually stands up to Lisa, having believed that her inability to do so is what resulted in Daisy's death. Susanna tells her that Lisa keeps coming back to the hospital because she has nowhere else to go, and that she is "already dead", giving her a brutal and cold observation similar to the way Lisa is toward others. Emotionally wounded, Lisa decides to stab herself with a large hypodermic needle and attempts to commit suicide, but Georgina verbally reaches out to her and she stops. Defeated, Lisa suffers a mental breakdown and cries out in anguish, revealing that her sociopathy is possibly false. A scene from the start of the film reveals that the four stayed in the basement until being found by orderlies at daybreak; Polly holding Ruby, Georgina tidying up mess caused by the confrontation, and Lisa resting in Susanna's lap.
Susanna is released the next day. Before she leaves, she visits Lisa who is now strapped down to a bed, telling her that she will get out and that she must come and see her. Although depressed, Lisa is now much more emotionally expressive. As Susanna leaves, she says goodbye to all her friends, giving Polly her adopted cat Ruby and reconciling with Georgina. At the end of the film, Susanna states that by the 1970s, many of her friends had been released, some of them seen and others never heard from again.
Girls Trip (2017)
Color
Four friends travel to New Orleans for the annual Essence Festival
Girls Trip
"In an attempt to reconnect with her friends from college, lifestyle guru Ryan Pierce, dubbed "the next Oprah," decides to invite her friends on a girls' trip to Essence Music Festival in New Orleans, where she will be the keynote speaker. Known as the "Flossy Posse," the group includes Sasha, an ex-journalist from Time magazine who now owns a floundering gossip site and is struggling financially; Lisa, a nurse and uptight single mother who has not had a boyfriend since her divorce years earlier; and Dina, a happy-go-lucky, impulsive party animal who was fired after harming a co-worker who accidentally ate her lunch.
Shortly after arriving, Sasha receives a photo of Ryan's husband Stewart kissing another woman. The friends are reluctant to tell Ryan initially, but Ryan admits she is already aware of the situation and informs her friends that the two are in couple's therapy to address Stewart's infidelity. After Dina confronts Stewart at their hotel with a broken bottle, the Flossy Posse are ejected and settles into a one-star motel instead. At the Essence Fest later that night, they run into an old friend Julian, a musician performing at the festival who Ryan flirts with. He later gives up his hotel suite so that the women have somewhere decent to stay.
The next day, Ryan and Stewart host a cooking demonstration together at the music festival that goes awry when Stewart's mistress, Simone, shows up. A potential investor is impressed, however, and a business meeting is set up for Ryan and Stewart with their agent, Elizabeth, who then introduces Ryan and Stewart to Bethany Marshall. Dina serves the women absinthe right before the meeting, causing them to hallucinate. At her meeting, Ryan thinks the waitress is Stewart's mistress; Lisa thinks her kids are at the club with her; Dina thinks she is flying; and Sasha thinks she is making out with an attractive man who is actually a lamp. The girls eventually pull Ryan out of the meeting and decide to go to a club to dance the absinthe off. They run into Simone and her friends and engage in a dance off before getting in a bar fight. Julian picks them up before they can get arrested and takes them back to their hotel.
Ryan and Stewart are offered a massive deal from the chain store Best Mart, whose representative wants to hire them as spokespeople. Ryan goes out to celebrate with the girls at one of Julian's shows. Simone shows up and tells Sasha that she is pregnant. She offers to give Sasha's blog exclusive content to her affair with pictures as well. Stewart once again goes to Ryan to convince her to stay with him to finalize their deal. Simone goes public with the affair, and Ryan accuses Sasha of being the one who leaked the pictures. The fight spills out into the relationship of all the women and they all part on bad terms.
Dina and Lisa make up quickly. After Sasha decides to take down her blog, disgusted with the celebrity gossip racket, Dina and Lisa reunite with her. As Ryan begins to give her keynote speech on the last day of the music festival and denies that the picture of Stewart and Simone is real, she sees her friends walk into the room. Ryan eventually admits the picture and affair are real. The speech is a success and when the women reunite after the show, Ryan apologizes to Sasha. Ryan's agent arrives and tells Ryan that the deal with Best Mart is still on but with her alone. Ryan decides to take Sasha as her business partner the way they planned to be years ago. A series of events shows the girls happily reunited and Ryan beginning a relationship with Julian.
Gladiator (2000)
Color
Maximus fights in the ring, having been condemned by the emperor's son
Gladiator
"In AD 180, Spanish-Roman General Maximus Decimus Meridius leads the Roman army to a decisive victory against the Germanic tribes near Vindobona (Vienna), ending a long war on the Roman frontier and winning the favor of elderly Emperor Marcus Aurelius. The emperor is already old and dying, and although he has a son, Commodus, he asks Maximus to succeed him as a regent and turn Rome back into a republic. The emperor speaks with Commodus afterwards and explains his decision, but Commodus reacts by killing him and claiming the throne.
Maximus is confronted by Commodus, who asks for Maximus' loyalty, but the general suspects foul play and refuses. General Quintus, captain of the Praetorian Guard and a friend to Maximus, chooses to follow Commodus' orders and sends men to the Roman province of Spain to kill Maximus's wife and son on their farm estate. Maximus manages to escape his own execution and makes the long journey to his Spanish farm on horseback as fast as he can, but finds his wife and son already dead. He buries them and collapses. A passing slave caravan captures Maximus, assuming that he is a deserter. Maximus is taken to "Zucchabar" (Roman province of Mauretania) in North Africa and sold to a man named Proximo, who uses him as a gladiator.
Maximus is forced to fight in local tournaments, and wins every match because of his superior skill. He makes friends with Proximo's other gladiators, including a Numidian named Juba and a German named Hagen. His successes allow Proximo to bring the team to the Roman Colosseum, where Commodus has organized 150 days of games to honor his late father. Proximo explains to Maximus that he was himself a gladiator who fought well enough in the Colosseum to win his freedom, granted to him by Marcus Aurelius himself. Maximus realizes that if he fights well enough in the Colosseum he may have a chance to personally meet the Emperor, giving him his chance to kill Commodus.
Having arrived at the Colosseum, Proximo's team is put in a match that is meant to be a reenactment of the Battle of Zama. Maximus and his teammates are on foot, armed with spears and shields, against a cohesive and well-equipped force of mounted fighters and archers on chariots. By means of Maximus's leadership, however, the team is able to upset their opponents. Commodus comes down personally to congratulate Maximus on his victory. Maximus prepares to kill Commodus, but at the last moment decides against it. At this point, Maximus removes his helmet and reveals himself to Commodus. Maximus promises to exact vengeance against Commodus, who is still in shock to learn that Maximus is still alive. While Commodus yearns to kill Maximus on the spot, he cannot; doing so would cause the watching crowd to develop distaste for his leadership, since the crowd loves Maximus.
Commodus tries to have Maximus killed by paying Tigris of Gaul, a former gladiator, to come back and fight Maximus. Tigris is well known, having earned his freedom by never being defeated. During the match, Colosseum staff approach Maximus from behind, holding tigers by the leash, in order to put Maximus at a disadvantage. Against all expectations, Maximus still wins, but he spares Tigris's life and is declared by the crowd as "Maximus the Merciful" and this further angers Commodus. Commodus goes down to Maximus and has his Praetorians surround him, and launches insults at him, hoping to provoke Maximus into attacking him and giving him the reason he needs to have Maximus killed. Maximus responds by turning his back to Commodus and walking away, a grave insult toward an emperor, and Commodus's own Praetorians show their deference to Maximus by stepping aside for him.
As Maximus is being escorted back to the gladiator's quarters, his former servant Cicero approaches him and says that Maximus still has the loyalty of his army. Commodus's sister Lucilla and the senator Gracchus secure a meeting with Maximus, and Maximus obtains their consent to escape Rome, rejoin his army, topple Commodus by force, and hand power over to the Senate. Commodus, however, suspects a plot against him, and forces Lucilla to confess it by threatening to kill her son. Praetorians close in upon the gladiator quarters before Maximus can leave. Proximo, loyal to Maximus, refuses to open the gate in order to buy Maximus time to escape. When the Praetorians break through, Proximo's gladiators assault them in order to give Maximus more time. The Praetorians kill Hagen and many others, and find and butcher Proximo. Maximus reaches the rendezvous place, but it is already staked out by Praetorians. Cicero is killed and Maximus is captured.
Commodus, desperate to kill Maximus and to restore his own glory, arranges to have a duel with him. Before the fight begins, Commodus stabs Maximus in the side, leaving him severely weakened, but also in the process hints to killing his own father in Quintus's presence. During the fight, Maximus still manages to dodge Commodus's blows and disarm him. Commodus asks the Praetorians to give him a sword, but Quintus, fed up with Commodus, orders them to sheathe their swords. Commodus produces a hidden stiletto, but Maximus turns the blade back into Commodus's throat, killing him.
Maximus succumbs to the stab wound and dies, asking with his last words that the Roman Republic be restored, the slaves be freed, and senator Gracchus be reinstated. As he dies, he has a vision of walking through a field of grain and being finally reunited with his wife and son in the afterlife. Lucilla has the body of Maximus carried out for an honorable burial while the crowd stands in respect. Some time later, Juba revisits the Colosseum at night, and he buries Maximus's two small figurines of his wife and son at the spot where he died. He promises that he will see Maximus again, "but not yet."
Glengarry Glen Ross (1992)
Color
Chicago real estate salesmen compete for the best leads
Glengarry Glen Ross
"The film depicts two days in the lives of four real estate salesmen who are supplied with names and phone numbers of leads (potential clients) and regularly use underhanded and dishonest tactics to make sales. Many of the leads rationed out by the office manager lack either the money or the desire to actually invest in land.
Blake (Baldwin) is sent by Mitch and Murray (the owners of the office in which the characters work) to motivate the salesmen. Blake unleashes a torrent of verbal abuse on the men and announces that only the top two sellers will be allowed access to the more promising Glengarry leads and the rest of them will be fired.
Shelley "The Machine" Levene (Lemmon), a once-successful salesman now in a long-running slump and with a sick daughter, knows that he will lose his job soon if he cannot generate sales. He tries to convince office manager John Williamson (Spacey) to give him some of the Glengarry leads, but Williamson refuses. Levene tries first to charm Williamson, then to threaten him, and finally to bribe him. Williamson is willing to sell some of the prime leads, but demands cash in advance. Levene cannot come up with the cash and leaves without any good leads.
Dave Moss (Harris) and George Aaronow (Arkin) complain about Mitch and Murray, and Moss proposes that they strike back at the two by stealing all the Glengarry leads and selling them to a competing real estate agency. Moss's plan requires Aaronow to break into the office, stage a burglary and steal all of the prime leads. Aaronow wants no part of the plan, but Moss tries to coerce him, saying that Aaronow is already an accessory before the fact simply because he knows about the proposed burglary.
At a nearby bar, Ricky Roma (Pacino), the office's top "closer," delivers a long, disjointed but compelling monologue to a meek, middle-aged man named James Lingk (Pryce). Roma does not broach the subject of a real estate deal until he has completely won Lingk over with his speech. Framing it as being an opportunity rather than a purchase, Roma plays upon Lingk's feelings of insecurity.
The salesmen come into the office the following morning to find that there has been a burglary and the Glengarry leads have been stolen. Williamson and the police question each of the salesmen in private. After his interrogation, Moss leaves in disgust, only after having one last shouting match with Roma. During the cycle of interrogations, Lingk arrives to tell Roma that his wife has told him to cancel the deal. Scrambling to salvage the deal, Roma tries to deceive Lingk by telling him that the check he wrote the night before has yet to be cashed, and that accordingly he has time to reason with his wife and reconsider.
Levene abets Roma by pretending to be a wealthy investor who just happens to be on his way to the airport. Williamson, unaware of Roma and Levene's stalling tactic, lies to Lingk, claiming that he already deposited his check in the bank. Upset, Lingk rushes out of the office, threatening to contact the state's attorney, and Roma berates Williamson for what he has done. Roma then enters Williamson's office to take his turn being interrogated by the police.
Levene, proud of an unlikely sale he made that morning, takes the opportunity to mock Williamson in private. In his zeal to get back at Williamson, Levene carelessly reveals that he knows Williamson left Lingk's check on his desk and did not make the bank run the previous night--something only the man who broke into the office would know. Williamson catches Levene's slip-of-the-tongue quickly and compels Levene to admit that he broke into the office. Levene eventually breaks down and admits that he and Moss conspired to steal the leads to sell to a competitor. Levene attempts to bribe Williamson to keep quiet about the burglary. Williamson scoffs at the suggestion and tells Levene that the buyers to whom he made his sale earlier that day, Bruce and Harriet Nyborg, are in fact bankrupt and delusional and just enjoy talking to salesmen. Levene, crushed by this revelation, asks Williamson why he seeks to ruin him. Williamson coldly responds, "Because I don't like you."
Levene makes a last-ditch attempt at gaining sympathy from Williamson by mentioning his sick daughter, but Williamson cruelly rebuffs him and leaves to inform the detective about Levene's part in the burglary. Unaware of Levene's guilt, Roma walks out of the office for lunch and talks to Levene about forming a business partnership before the detective starts calling for Levene. The film ends as Levene walks, defeated, into Williamson's office.
Glory (1989)
Color
Follows the first brigade of African-Americans to serve in combat during the Civil War
Glory
"Captain Robert Gould Shaw leads a company of Union soldiers in an attack on Confederate troops at the Battle of Antietam. His regiment suffers heavy losses and Shaw is wounded and loses consciousness. He is awakened by a black gravedigger named John Rawlins and sent to a field hospital. While receiving medical attention, Shaw is told that President Lincoln is on the verge of issuing the Emancipation Proclamation freeing slaves in rebel held territory.
While on leave in Boston, Shaw is promoted to Colonel and given command of the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry; the first all-black regiment. He accepts and asks his friend, Cabot Forbes, to be his second-in-command. Their first volunteer is another of Shaw's friends, an educated black man named Thomas Searles. Others who join the regiment include an escaped slave named Silas Trip, a free black man named Jupiter Sharts, as well as the gravedigger Rawlins. At the military camp, the company is forced to endure the unyielding and strict discipline of Sergeant Major Mulcahy. Shaw ensures that the troops are trained effectively and properly equipped despite institutional racism, thus earning the respect of his men.
The 54th is deployed to Georgia and is assigned mostly menial work. Shaw confronts his commanding officers Charles Garrison Harker and James M. Montgomery, accusing them of war profiteering and corruption and threatening to report them if the 54th infantry is not deployed for combat. Shaw's request is granted and the regiment participates in a skirmish in South Carolina where they successfully repel a Confederate attack. Soon after, Shaw volunteers to lead an assault on Fort Wagner. As his troops march into battle, the supporting white brigades, who had been skeptical of black soldiers, exhort "Give 'em hell, 54th!" At dusk, Shaw personally leads his men in a charge upon the fort under heavy fire. As they attempt to advance under cover of darkness, they become pinned down. Shaw rallies forward but is shot and killed prompting his men to charge. Though the 54th succeeds in breaching the fort, the attack is repulsed and many die in the fighting.
The film's epilogue reveals that Fort Wagner was never taken, but notes that news of the regiment's courage spurred the recruitment of more than 180,000 African American volunteers, a fact which President Lincoln considered instrumental in the Union's victory.
Going in Style (2017)
Color
Three elderly friends cheated out of their pensions decide to rob a bank and head for Vegas
Going in Style
"Joe, Willie, and Albert are senior citizens and lifelong friends living in New York. During an unpleasant appointment at the bank, Joe is one of the victims to witness a robbery in progress carried out by three individuals wearing black masks. During the robbery, he notices the leader bearing a Mongol warrior tattoo on his neck as the only lead that could help the police identify the culprit. However, the leader sympathizes with Joe when he finds out about his current financial situation brought up by the bank. The robbers subsequently escape with over $1.6 million.
When the company they worked for is bought out, their pensions become a casualty of the restructuring. Joe is hit particularly hard and finds out that he, his daughter, Rachel, and granddaughter, Brooklyn, will be homeless in less than thirty days. Willie finds out he is gravely ill from kidney failure and needs a transplant and is even more frustrated because his financial situation forces him into a long-distance relationship with his daughter and granddaughter. Desperate, the three friends decide to rob the bank that is going to restructure their pension funds and take back what is rightfully theirs.
Inspired by his experience of the robbery, Joe originates the idea; at first Albert and Willie are appalled, but eventually agree when they later learn that their bank intends to steal their pensions. Trying to shoplift some items from a grocery store, where Al's love interest, Annie, works, results in a comic disaster, so the trio turn to Joe's former son-in-law, Murphy, and a professional criminal and pet store owner named Jesus to teach them the ropes. They plan an alibi using their lodge's carnival as a cover.
Joe, Willie, and Albert disguise themselves as "The Rat Pack" (Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, and Sammy Davis, Jr.) and use guns with blanks so that no one gets hurt. The robbery almost goes awry when Willie collapses briefly and a child witness partially pulls off his mask to allow him to breathe better; she sees the wrist watch he wears with a picture of his granddaughter on it as he engages in a friendly conversation so as not to let her feel intimidated; however, the three manage to get away with over $2.3 million. They are soon arrested on suspicion by FBI Agent Hamer after the manager from the grocery store recognizes Al's walk from the video surveillance cameras, but they all stick to their alibis.
Hamer puts them along with other senior suspects into a police lineup, using the child witness who partially took off Willie's mask. She refuses to identify Willie, leaving Hamer with no case. Willie suffers total kidney failure and is near death until Al agrees to donate a kidney. While part of the money is used to help the three friends with their financial situations, the rest is given to their families, friends, co-workers, and fellow members at the lodge. Joe finally gets his granddaughter a puppy he promised her if she got A's in every subject at school; courtesy of Jesus, who is later revealed to be the leader of the robbers from the robbery Joe witnessed and has laundered the money that they stole. The tattoo on his neck is also revealed to be a fake made of henna, intended to throw the FBI and the police off the scent. The movie ends at Al and Annie's wedding as the three friends celebrate their good fortune.
Gone Baby Gone (2007)
Color
Investigator hired to look into disappearance of little girl
Gone Baby Gone
"Private investigator Patrick Kenzie and his partner/girlfriend Angie Gennaro witness a televised plea by a woman named Helene McCready for the return of her missing daughter Amanda, who was abducted with her favorite doll "Mirabelle". Patrick and Angie are then hired by the child's Aunt Beatrice to find Amanda and discover that Helene and her boyfriend "Skinny Ray" had recently stolen money from Cheese, a local Haitian drug lord. After Ray is murdered, Patrick and Angie join the police detectives investigating the case, Remy Bressant and Nick Poole, to arrange a trade of the money for Amanda. Captain Jack Doyle shows Patrick a telephone transcript of the drug lord setting up an exchange for Amanda. The exchange at a nearby quarry in Quincy is botched and Amanda is believed to have drowned, as her doll is found in the quarry and returned to Helene. Doyle, whose own daughter was killed years before, takes responsibility for the death and goes into early retirement.
Two months later, a seven-year-old boy is abducted in Everett and Patrick receives information that the boy was taken by a known child molester. After entering his house and finding evidence of the abducted boy, Patrick returns with Remy and Nick to rescue him. They are seen by the residents and Nick is shot. Patrick enters the house during the shootout and finds one of the residents dead. He retreats into the child molester's room, where he finds the boy's dead body; he then shoots the child molester in the back of the head in a fit of rage.
Nick later dies of his wounds. Trying to alleviate Patrick's guilt over the events at the house, Remy unthinkingly confides that he once planted evidence on someone with the help of "Skinny Ray" -- whom he had initially told Patrick he didn't know. After Nick's funeral, Patrick speaks to a police officer, who tells him that Remy had been asking about the drug lord's stolen money before the drug lord knew it was missing. Patrick then questions Beatrice's husband Lionel in a bar and pieces together that Lionel and Remy had conspired to stage a fake kidnapping in order to take the drug money for themselves and to save Amanda from her mother's neglectful parenting. At that point, Remy (trying to cover for his earlier mistake) enters the bar, while wearing a latex mask and holding a shotgun, and stages a robbery. He points the shotgun at Lionel's head, but the bartender shoots Remy twice in the back. Remy flees and is pursued by Patrick to the rooftop of a nearby building, where he dies.
Patrick is questioned by the police about Remy's death and learns that the police never had a phone transcript like the one that Doyle had shown him prior to the botched exchange. Patrick and Angie drive to Doyle's home, where Patrick finds Amanda living happily with Doyle and his wife; Doyle was part of the phony kidnapping all along. Patrick threatens to call the authorities, but Doyle attempts to convince him that Amanda is better off living with them than with her mother. Patrick leaves and discusses the choices with Angie, who says she will leave him if he calls the police, since she believes that Amanda is much better off with the Doyles. In the next scene, the police arrive, Doyle is arrested, Amanda is returned to her mother amidst heavy publicity, and Patrick and Angie break up.
Patrick later visits Amanda as Helene is about to leave on a date with someone she met during the publicity over her daughter's disappearance; at the same time, she makes a play for Patrick himself. Helene informs Patrick that Beatrice has been forbidden to visit and is upset about her husband's arrest. Helene has no babysitter for Amanda and when asked, she tells Patrick that Dottie (Helene's friend) will watch her, even though she has yet to ask Dottie herself. Patrick volunteers to watch Amanda, who is holding her old doll and watching television. Patrick asks Amanda about Mirabelle, only to hear Amanda inform him that her doll's name is "Annabelle" -- implying that Helene did not even know the name of her daughter's favorite toy.
Gone With the Wind (1939)
Color
Southern belle has an undying love for another woman's husband
Gone With the Wind
"On the eve of the American Civil War in 1861, Scarlett O'Hara lives at Tara, her family's cotton plantation in Georgia, with her parents and two sisters. Scarlett learns that Ashley Wilkes--whom she secretly loves--is to be married to his cousin, Melanie Hamilton, and the engagement is to be announced the next day at a barbecue at Ashley's home, the nearby plantation Twelve Oaks.
At the Twelve Oaks party, Scarlett notices that she is being admired by Rhett Butler, who has been disowned by his family. Rhett finds himself in further disfavor among the male guests when, during a discussion of the probability of war, he states that the South has no chance against the superior numbers and industrial might of the North. Scarlett secretly confesses to Ashley that she loves him, but he rebuffs her by responding that he and the sweet Melanie are more compatible. Afterwards, Rhett reveals to Scarlett he has overheard their conversation, but promises to keep her secret. The barbecue is disrupted by the declaration of war and the men rush to enlist. As Scarlett watches Ashley kiss Melanie goodbye from the upstairs window, Melanie's shy younger brother Charles asks for her hand in marriage before he goes. Though she does not love him, Scarlett consents, and they are married before he leaves to fight.
Scarlett is quickly widowed when Charles dies from a bout of pneumonia and measles while serving in the Confederate Army. Scarlett's mother sends her to the Hamilton home in Atlanta to cheer her up, although the O'Haras' outspoken housemaid Mammy tells Scarlett she knows she is going there only to wait for Ashley's return. Scarlett, who should not attend a party while in deep mourning, attends a charity bazaar in Atlanta with Melanie. There, Scarlett is the object of shocked comments on the part of the elderly women who represent proper Atlanta society. Rhett, now a blockade runner for the Confederacy, makes a surprise appearance. To raise money for the Confederate war effort, gentlemen are invited to offer bids for ladies to dance with them. Rhett makes an inordinately large bid for Scarlett and, to the disapproval of the guests, Scarlett agrees to dance with him. As they dance, Rhett tells her he intends to win her, which she says will never happen.
The tide of war turns against the Confederacy after the Battle of Gettysburg in which many of the men of Scarlett's town are killed. Scarlett makes another unsuccessful appeal to Ashley while he is visiting on Christmas furlough, although they do share a private and passionate kiss in the parlor on Christmas Day, just before he returns to war.
Eight months later, as the city is besieged by the Union Army in the Atlanta Campaign, Melanie goes into premature and difficult labor. Keeping her promise to Ashley to take care of Melanie, Scarlett and her young house servant Prissy must deliver the child without medical assistance. Scarlett calls upon Rhett to bring her home to Tara immediately with Melanie, Prissy, and the baby. He appears with a horse and wagon and takes them out of the city through the burning depot and warehouse district. Instead of accompanying her all the way to Tara, he sends her on her way with a nearly dead horse, helplessly frail Melanie, her baby, and tearful Prissy, and with a passionate kiss as he goes off to fight. On her journey home, Scarlett finds Twelve Oaks burned, ruined and deserted. She is relieved to find Tara still standing but deserted by all except her parents, her sisters, and two servants: Mammy and Pork. Scarlett learns that her mother has just died of typhoid fever and her father's mind has begun to fail under the strain. With Tara pillaged by Union troops and the fields untended, Scarlett vows she will do anything for the survival of her family and herself.
Part 2
Scarlett sets her family and servants to picking the cotton fields, facing many hardships along the way, including the killing of a Union deserter who attempts to rape her during a burglary. With the defeat of the Confederacy and war's end, Ashley returns, but finds he is of little help at Tara. When Scarlett begs him to run away with her, he confesses his desire for her and kisses her passionately, but says he cannot leave Melanie. Meanwhile, Scarlett's father dies after he is thrown from his horse in an attempt to chase away a scalawag from his property.
Scarlett realizes she cannot pay the rising taxes on Tara implemented by Reconstructionists, so pays a visit to Rhett in Atlanta. However, upon her visit, Rhett, now in jail, tells her his foreign bank accounts have been blocked, and that her attempt to get his money has been in vain. As Scarlett departs, she encounters her sister's fiance, the middle-aged Frank Kennedy, who now owns a successful general store and lumber mill. Scarlett lies to Kennedy by saying Suellen got tired of waiting and married another beau, and after becoming Mrs. Frank Kennedy, Scarlett takes over his business and becomes wealthy. When Ashley is offered a job with a bank in the north, Scarlett uses emotional blackmail to persuade him to take over managing the mill.
Frank, Ashley, Rhett and several other accomplices make a night raid on a shanty town after Scarlett narrowly escapes an attempted gang rape while driving through it alone, resulting in Frank's death. With Frank's funeral barely over, Rhett visits Scarlett and proposes marriage, and she accepts. They have a daughter whom Rhett names Bonnie Blue, but Scarlett, still pining for Ashley and chagrined at the perceived ruin of her figure, lets Rhett know that she wants no more children and that they will no longer share a bed.
When visiting the mill one day, Scarlett and Ashley are spied in an embrace by two gossips, including Ashley's sister, India (who dislikes Scarlett). They eagerly spread the rumor, and Scarlett's reputation is again sullied. Later that evening, Rhett, having heard the rumors, forces Scarlett to attend a birthday party for Ashley. Incapable of believing anything bad of her beloved sister-in-law, Melanie stands by Scarlett's side so that all know that she believes the gossip to be false. After returning home from the party, Scarlett finds Rhett downstairs drunk, and they argue about Ashley. Seething with jealousy, Rhett grabs Scarlett's head and threatens to smash in her skull. When she taunts him that he has no honor Rhett retaliates by forcing himself onto her, kissing Scarlett against her will, and states his intent to have sex with her that night. Frightened, she attempts to physically resist him, but Rhett overpowers her and carries the struggling Scarlett to the bedroom. The next day, Rhett apologizes for his behavior and offers Scarlett a divorce, which she rejects, saying that it would be a disgrace.
After Rhett returns from an extended trip to London, Scarlett's attempts at reconciliation are rebuffed. She informs him that she is pregnant, but an argument ensues which results in Scarlett suffering a miscarriage. As Scarlett is recovering, tragedy strikes when Bonnie dies while attempting to jump a fence with her pony. Melanie visits their home to comfort them, but then collapses during a second pregnancy she was warned could kill her.
On her deathbed, Melanie asks Scarlett to look after Ashley for her and to be kind to Rhett. As Scarlett consoles Ashley, Rhett quickly leaves and returns home. Realizing that Ashley only ever truly loved Melanie, Scarlett dashes after Rhett to find him preparing to leave Tara for good. She pleads with him, telling him she realizes now that she had loved him all along, and that she never really loved Ashley. However, he refuses, saying that with Bonnie's death went any chance of reconciliation. As Rhett is about to walk out the door, Scarlett begs him to stay but to no avail, and he walks away into the early morning fog leaving Scarlett weeping on the staircase and vowing to one day win back his love.
Gone in 60 Seconds (2000)
Color
Former car thief comes out of retirement to steal 50 cars in one night
Gone in 60 Seconds
"Car thief Kip Raines works with his gang to steal fifty high-end cars for Raymond Calitri, a British gangster in Long Beach, California. After stealing a Porsche 996 from a showroom, Kip unwittingly leads the police to his crew's warehouse, forcing the thieves to flee. Detectives Castlebeck and Drycoff impound the stolen cars and open an investigation. Atley Jackson, Calitri's associate, reaches out to Kip's older brother Randall "Memphis" Raines, a notorious but reformed car thief. Memphis meets with Calitri, who has kidnapped Kip and threatens to kill him in a car crusher. Memphis agrees to steal the fifty cars within 72 hours, and Kip is released; Calitri warns that if the cars are not delivered on time, Kip will be killed.
Memphis visits his mentor Otto Halliwell and they assemble a crew of old associates: Donny Astricky, now a driving instructor; Sphinx, a mute mortician; and Sara "Sway" Wayland, a mechanic and bartender. Kip and his crew volunteer to help, and the group tracks down the cars, giving each a code name; Memphis insists on saving a 1967 Ford Shelby GT500, dubbed "Eleanor"--which he has attempted to steal before--for last. While scouting the cars, he and Kip narrowly avoid being killed by a rival gang. Hoping to deliver the cars before they can be traced, the crew plans to steal all fifty cars in one night.
Castlebeck and Drycoff learn that Kip bribed a Mercedes dealership employee to order laser-cut transponder keys, enabling the detectives to stakeout the Mercedes cars on the crew's list. A member of Kip's crew impulsively steals a Cadillac Eldorado not on the list, and the crew discovers a stash of heroin in the trunk. Castlebeck arrives, forcing the crew to distract him while they dispose of the drugs. He leaves, having ascertained that the heist is happening that night.
The crew sets their heist in motion, stealing the various cars and delivering them to Atley on the docks. As they prepare to use the transponder keys to steal the Mercedes cars, Memphis spots Castlebeck and Drycoff watching from a surveillance van. Abandoning the cars under surveillance, the crew breaks into the police impound lot, distracting the guard and stealing the Mercedes cars originally stolen by Kip's crew; the plan is hampered temporarily when Otto's dog eats, and eventually passes, the keys. Memphis and Sway rekindle their past romance while stealing a Lamborghini Diablo. Castlebeck and Drycoff return to the warehouse seized from Kip's crew. Having found pieces of a broken blacklight lamp, the detectives discover the crew's list of fifty cars written in ultraviolet-sensitive paint. With too many cars to track, Castleback focuses on the Shelby GT500, knowing Memphis will steal it last, and determines the location of the only 1967 Shelby in the area. When the crew steals a Cadillac Escalade, security is alerted, and a member of Kip's crew is injured. Memphis steals Eleanor just as the detectives arrive, and leads police on a chase through the city and into a shipyard. Reaching the Vincent Thomas Bridge, blocked by an accident, Memphis jumps Eleanor off the ramp of a tow truck and lands on the other side, escaping the police.
Memphis arrives at Calitri's junkyard twelve minutes late, and Calitri refuses to accept the slightly damaged Shelby, ordering his men to crush the car and kill Memphis. Kip and Atley use the junkyard crane to knock out the henchmen, and an armed Calitri pursues Memphis into the warehouse as the detectives arrive. Calitri prepares to shoot Castlebeck, but Memphis kicks Calitri over a railing to his death. A grateful Castlebeck lets Memphis go free, and Memphis tells him where to find the container ship full of stolen cars.
The crew celebrates with a barbecue, and Kip reveals that he has bought Memphis a dilapidated 1967 Shelby GT500. Otto promises to restore the car, and Memphis invites Sway on a ride, but the car breaks down just as they drive away.
Good Night, and Good Luck (2005)
Black & White
Newsman takes on Joeseph McCarthy and his communist witch hunt
Good Night, and Good Luck
"Set in 1953, during the early days of television broadcast journalism. Edward R. Murrow (David Strathairn) and his dedicated staff -- headed by his co-producer Fred Friendly (George Clooney) and reporter Joseph Wershba (Robert Downey, Jr.) in the CBS newsroom--defy corporate and sponsorship pressures, and discredit the tactics used by Joseph McCarthy during his crusade to root out Communist elements within the government.
Murrow first defends Milo Radulovich, who is facing separation from the U.S. Air Force because of his sister's political leanings and because his father is subscribed to a Serbian newspaper. Murrow makes a show on McCarthy attacking him. A very public feud develops when McCarthy responds by accusing Murrow of being a communist. Murrow is accused of having been a member of the leftist union Industrial Workers of the World, which Murrow claimed was false.
In this climate of fear and reprisal, the CBS crew carries on and their tenacity ultimately strikes a historic blow against McCarthy. Historical footage also shows the questioning of Annie Lee Moss, a Pentagon communication worker accused of being a communist based on her name appearing on a list seen by an FBI infiltrator of the American Communist Party. The film's subplots feature Joseph and Shirley Wershba, recently married staffers, having to hide their marriage to save their jobs at CBS as well as the suicide of Don Hollenbeck (Ray Wise) who had been accused in print of being a Communist.
The film is framed by performance of the speech given by Murrow to the Radio and Television News Directors Association in 1958, in which Murrow harshly admonishes his audience not to squander the potential of television to inform and educate the public, so that it does not become only "wires and lights in a box."
Good Will Hunting (1997)
Color
Life of boy genius who refuses to realize his potential
Good Will Hunting
"20-year-old Will Hunting (Matt Damon) of South Boston has a genius-level intellect and an eidetic memory, but chooses to work as a janitor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and spend his free time with his friends Chuckie Sullivan (Ben Affleck), Billy McBride (Cole Hauser), and Morgan O'Mally (Casey Affleck). When Fields Medal-winning combinatorialist Professor Gerald Lambeau (Stellan Skarsg?rd) posts a difficult problem taken from algebraic graph theory as a challenge for his graduate students to solve, Will solves the problem quickly but anonymously. Lambeau posts a much more difficult problem and chances upon Will solving it, but Will flees. Will meets Skylar (Minnie Driver), a British student about to graduate from Harvard University and pursue a graduate degree at Stanford University School of Medicine in California.
Will is faced with incarceration after assaulting a man who had bullied him as a child. Lambeau arranges for Will to forgo jail time if he agrees to study mathematics under Lambeau's supervision and to see a therapist. Will agrees, but treats his first few therapists with contempt and they refuse to work with him. In desperation, Lambeau calls on Sean Maguire (Robin Williams), his estranged college roommate who also grew up in South Boston and now teaches psychology at Bunker Hill Community College. Unlike the other therapists, Sean pushes back at Will and overcomes his defense mechanisms, and after a few unproductive sessions Will begins to open up.
Will is particularly struck by Sean's story of how he met his wife by giving up his ticket to the historic sixth game of the 1975 World Series after falling in love at first sight. Sean neither regrets his decision, nor does he regret the final years of his marriage when his wife was dying of cancer. This encourages Will to build a relationship with Skylar, though he lies to her about his past and is reluctant to introduce her to his friends or show her his run-down neighborhood. Will also challenges Sean to take an objective look at his own life, since Sean has been unable to move on from his wife's death.
Will begins to chafe under Lambeau's high expectations and makes a mockery of job interviews that Lambeau arranges for him. Sean cautions Lambeau against pushing the boy too hard. Will walks in on a heated argument between the two over his future and it greatly upsets him. When Skylar asks Will to move to California with her, he panics and pushes her away, revealing that he is an orphan and that his foster father physically abused him. Skylar tells Will that she loves him, but he denies loving her and then leaves her. He next storms out on Lambeau, dismissing the mathematical research he has been doing. Sean points out that Will is so adept at anticipating future failure in his interpersonal relationships that he deliberately sabotages them in order to avoid the risk of emotional pain. When Will refuses to give an honest reply about what he wants to do with his life, Sean shows him the door. Will tells Chuckie he wants to be a laborer for the rest of his life; Chuckie responds that it would be an insult to his friends for Will to waste his potential, and that his fondest wish is that Will should leave to pursue something greater. Will decides to accept one of the job offers arranged by Lambeau.
At another therapy session, Sean and Will share that they were both victims of child abuse, and Sean helps Will to accept that the abuse he suffered wasn't his fault. Having helped Will overcome his problems, Sean reconciles with Lambeau and decides to take a sabbatical to travel the world. When Will's friends present him with a rebuilt Chevrolet Nova for his 21st birthday, he decides to pass on his lucrative job offers and drive to California to reunite with Skylar.
GoodFellas (1990)
Color
Mobster with dreams of becoming big-time wise guy ends up in witness protection
GoodFellas
"In 1955, a young Henry Hill becomes enamored of the criminal life and Mafia presence in his working class Italian-American neighborhood in Brooklyn. He begins working for local caporegime Paul "Paulie" Cicero and his associates: James "Jimmy" Conway, an Irish truck hijacker and gangster, and Tommy DeVito, a fellow juvenile delinquent. Henry begins as a fence for Jimmy, gradually working his way up to more serious crimes. The three associates spend most of their nights in the 1960s at the Copacabana nightclub carousing with women. Henry starts dating Karen Friedman, a Jewish woman. She is initially troubled by Henry's criminal activities but is eventually seduced by his glamorous lifestyle. She marries him, despite her parents' disapproval.
In 1970, Billy Batts, a made man in the Gambino crew who was recently released from prison, repeatedly insults Tommy at a nightclub owned by Henry; Tommy and Jimmy then beat, stab and shoot him to death. The unsanctioned murder of a made man invites retribution; realizing this, Jimmy, Henry, and Tommy cover up the murder by burying the body in Upstate New York. Six months later, however, Jimmy learns that the burial site is slated for development, prompting them to exhume and relocate the decomposing corpse.
In 1974, Karen harasses Henry's mistress Janice and holds Henry at gunpoint. Henry moves in with Janice, but Paulie insists that he should return to Karen after collecting a debt from a gambler in Tampa with Jimmy. Upon returning, Jimmy and Henry are arrested after being turned in by the gambler's sister, an FBI typist, and they receive ten-year prison sentences. In order to support his family on the outside, Henry has drugs smuggled in by Karen and sells them to a fellow inmate from Pittsburgh. In 1978, Henry is paroled and expands this cocaine business against Paulie's orders, soon involving Jimmy and Tommy.
Jimmy organizes a crew to raid the Lufthansa vault at the JFK Airport, stealing several millions in cash and jewelry. After some members purchase expensive items against Jimmy's orders and the getaway truck is found by police, he has most of the crew murdered. In his voiceover narration, as dead bodies are being discovered all over the city, Henry theorizes that Jimmy would have killed them anyway rather than share the profits of the heist. Tommy and Henry are spared by Jimmy. Tommy is deceived into believing he has been proposed to be made; he is murdered on the way to the ceremony in retribution for Batts's murder, leaving Jimmy devastated.
By 1980, Henry has become a nervous wreck from cocaine use and insomnia. He sets up a drug deal with his Pittsburgh associates, but is arrested by narcotics agents, and jailed. After bailing him out, Karen explains that she flushed $60,000 worth of cocaine down the toilet to prevent FBI agents from finding it during their raid, leaving them virtually penniless. Feeling betrayed by Henry's drug dealing, Paulie gives him $3,200 and ends their association. Henry meets Jimmy at a diner and is asked to travel on a hit assignment, but the novelty of such a request makes him suspicious. Henry realizes that Jimmy plans to have him and Karen killed, prompting his decision to become an informant and enroll, with his family, in the witness protection program. He gives sufficient testimony to have Paulie and Jimmy arrested and convicted. Henry is grateful to be alive, but he is forced out of his gangster life and has to readjust to normal life once again; he narrates, "I'm an average nobody. I get to live the rest of my life like a schnook."
The end title cards state that Henry is still a protected witness as of 1990, but that he was arrested in 1987 in Seattle for narcotics conspiracy, receiving five years' probation. He has been clean since then. He and Karen separated in 1989 after 25 years of marriage, while Paulie died the previous year in Fort Worth Federal Prison at age 73 from respiratory illness. Jimmy was serving a 20 years to life sentence in a New York prison for murder, in which he would have been paroled in 2004 at 78 years old.
Goodnight, Mr. Tom (1998)
Color
During WW II, man takes on refugee boy
Goodnight, Mr. Tom
"Tom Oakley is a reclusive old man living in an English countryside village in September 1939. World War II has just started, and he is forced by the local billeting officer to house an evacuee from London. Tom doesn't want to, complaining that he doesn't know about children of the boy's age.
The evacuee is nine-year-old William "Willie" Beech, a shy boy who behaves strangely, not eating much and being very shy. He arrives in the village by steam train with a group of other evacuees. Tom leaves Will alone for a while as he goes and complains to Mrs Ford, the billeting officer. Will goes to the local churchyard, where he looks at a beautiful gravestone with an angel sculpture, and meets his future schoolteacher, Mrs Hartridge, and her husband, a pilot. They leave, and he then meets Sammy, a collie, who terrifies him. Will picks up a spade, and, before he can strike, Tom stops him, explaining that Sammy is his dog. Later, Tom unwittingly scares Will whilst stirring the coals in the fireplace with a red hot poker. Will is scared, and faints, under the misapprehension that Tom is going to beat or brand him with it. Whilst unpacking Will's things, Tom finds a letter from Will's mother, saying that he is a 'sinful' boy, and that she has packed a belt in case he misbehaves.
The next day, Will wakes up to find he has wet the bed, as he often did back in London. When Tom tells him to take his wet pyjamas off, it is revealed, to the camera only, that Will has belt marks on his back. Later, they go to the post office, where Will meets Zacharias "Zach" Wrench, a Jewish boy of around the same age, who he makes friends with. Zach is billeted with Dr Little and his wife, who are Tom's friends. His dad works as a fireman.
Tom asks Mrs Fletcher, his neighbour and friend, to talk to her knitting club and help rustle up some clothing for Will, who only has one set of clothes.
Mrs Fletcher sends her boys round old clothes for William. When William changes into the clothes, Tom sees the belt marks on his back and realises the extent of William's abuse. Enraged, Tom takes the belt Will's mother sent and throws it in the direction of a nearby pond. Mrs Fletcher sends her boys round to help with Tom's new Anderson shelter.Will helps out too, but wears a sweater, not only to avoid dirtying his new shirt but to conceal the belt marks. Afterwards, Tom goes to do volunteer work in the church, showing that the better side of him is coming out.
One day, Will plays Tom's small organ, which belonged to Rachel, his dead wife. However, Tom doesn't like anybody touching the instrument because it brings back bad memories and warns Will not to touch it without his permission. Later that day, they go fishing, and Will brings along Zach and some other children, who he makes friends with, including two girls called Ginnie and Carrie.
Not long after, the summer holidays stop. Will has to go to school, which he has been dreading. As it turns out, though, Will meets Zach there and becomes friendly with some other boys, too. On his first lesson, he is put in a lower class, with much younger children, because he is illiterate. When he gets home, he tells Tom who, when informed by Mrs Hartridge why this has happened, takes it upon himself to teach Will, so that he can be in the class he wants to. Will is a clever boy, and he learns well and quickly. Tom is astounded to discover that, despite not knowing how to write, Will can draw a near-perfect straight line without a ruler. As he spends more time with the pencil, Will uncovers his secret talent for drawing and painting.
One morning, Tom is placing flowers on the graves of his dead wife and son, when suddenly, he meets William, who is in his pyjamas. Tom explains to Will how his wife Rachel and his son, John, died of scarlatina while he was away fighting in World War I more than 20 years earlier. On their headstone it says that they both died in 1917. Will explains that he came to tell how he did not wet the bed that night. Tom is as delighted as Will himself and has, by now, become a genuine father-figure to the boy.
On the day of Will's birthday, Tom surprises him by revealing that he has organised a surprise party. Tom, Sammy, Mrs Fletcher, the Littles, Zach, Ginnie, and Carrie are all there. In the jolly atmosphere of it all, Tom is persuaded by Mrs Fletcher to play his organ again, and gives a splendid performance of It's a Long Way To Tipperary. Then, when all the guests have given their presents and left, Tom gives Will the best present of all, a set of watercolours.
The next day at school, Will is promoted to Mrs Hartridge's class to be with the children of his own age. Overjoyed, he runs to tell Tom the news, only to find another set of news from the billeting office - that his mother is ill and wants him back in London for a while to look after her. He must go, but is sad to do so. Promising to write letters, he says farewell to Tom and boards the train to London.
When Will gets to London, he's picked up by his mother at the station, who does not seem pleased to see him. They get to the flat, where his mum tells him to be quiet, so that "no-one will know he's there". He is told that there is a surprise for him, a "present from Jesus". It is a baby girl. Mrs Beech's attitude to William is revealed as disdainful and waspish. When she hears that the belt has not been brought home, she smacks him, thinking that he deliberately left it behind, and sends him to his room.
The next morning, William is greeted by an unusually friendly mum, and a meal of egg and toast. But again, Will's mum later loses her temper, thinking that Will stole the picture he painted and the watercolours and other presents she finds in his bag. Will truthfully tells her that he got them as gifts from his friends, who he tells her about. She is angry to hear that some of them are girls, and demands to know if they go to church. Will responds that they do, apart from Zach because he is Jewish and there isn't a synagogue in the village. Mrs Beech is an anti-semite and, after calling Will a blasphemer when he points out that Jesus was a Jew, locks him in a cupboard under the stairs.
Over the following days, Tom thinks Will has forgot about him, until he finds the belt dug in the mud and realizes that Will is in danger. He travels to London, where he meets an ARP Warden who promises to help him find Will. They get to the house, where they meet Mrs Beech's neighbour, who tells them that Mrs Beech has apparently gone to the coast, and that Will has been evacuated to the country (not knowing that he had come back). Sammy smells something in the house. They break down the door and, when inside, find Will and the baby. Will lets the baby (who he has named Trudy) be held by Tom, who then passes her on to a policeman. It is revealed that the baby is, in fact, dead.
Whilst in hospital, Will constantly wakes up screaming from a terrible nightmare. Tom visits, and meets the suspicious Dr Stelton, a psychiatrist who wants Will be taken to "the children's home", most likely a mental hospital, which Tom does not think is a good idea. Will has a haircut so that the wounds on his head can heal. Tom, meanwhile, has concocted a plan. He retrieves Will's belongings from the house and sneaks into the hospital when it is less busy that night. When he is sure that there are no staff about, he kidnaps Will and takes him back to the village.
Dr Little informs Will that he will recover fine physically. However, Will still has nightmares. Tom reveals the root of the nightmares. It seems that the nightmares are about Dr Stelton taking him away. After opening up and talking about the nightmares, Will finds that he doesn't have them anymore. Later, Zach visits, with the news that Mrs Hartridge has had her baby, but that her husband is feared dead after being shot down in his airplane. The baby girl is called Peggy.
In the news, the East End of London has been blitzed by the Luftwaffe. Zach's father has been working there as an auxiliary fireman. Also, Tom and Will soon have some visitors: a policeman, Mrs Ford (who looks nervous to be in this situation), Dr Stelton, and Mr Greenway, a stern-looking man from the Home Office. They are here to inform Will that his mother is dead, and that they wish to take Will to the children's home in Sussex. Mr Greenway talks to Tom in the garden. Mr Greenway, who is not very emotional, is baffled as to why Tom wants to keep Will. Tom explains that it's because he loves him. At last, Mr Greenway gives in, to the annoyance of Dr Stelton, and Tom adopts Will officially and legally to the joy of both of them.
Zach, meanwhile, is packing. He has to go and see his father who has been injured by a bomb in the East End. A week later Mrs Little reveals that Zach has been killed in a bombing. Will doesn't go to school, loses his appetite, and doesn't talk to anyone, not even Tom. To cheer him up, Tom gives Zach's red bike to Will, which he always used to ride. But Will is still silent, so Tom takes him back to Rachel's grave, declaring that when someone dies, they're not really gone as they're still in your memory, just like Rachel and John are to him. The film ends on a happy note with Mrs Hartridge's hearing that her husband is, in fact, a prisoner of war and not dead and Will learning to ride Zach's bike.
Gosnell: The Trial of America's Biggest Serial Killer (2018)
Color
Abortion doctor is charged with seven murders
Gosnell: The Trial of America's Biggest Serial Killer
"The film focuses on the police investigation and trial of Kermit Gosnell. The film draws from the book Gosnell: The Untold Story of America's Most Prolific Serial Killer.[14][15]
During an investigation into a prescription pill mill run by Dr. Kermit Gosnell, Detective James "Woody" Wood learns that a woman had died at the clinic after being administered narcotics without a doctor on the premises. Woody believes that the woman, Karnamaya Mongar, is a homicide victim who deserves justice. He and his partner, Detective Stark, accompany the Drug Enforcement Agency and Federal Bureau of Investigation on a raid of Gosnell's clinic.
The officers are shocked by conditions inside the clinic, where cats roam and defecate freely and Gosnell is nowhere to be seen although the patients are drugged up for their abortions. As Woody and Stark search the clinic for evidence regarding Karnamaya Mongar, they discover the frozen remains of what look to them like babies, not fetuses.
Woody engages the support of Assistant District Attorney Lexy McGuire. They uncover a disturbing truth: Gosnell had been performing illegal late-term abortions by having his untrained staff drug patients into a stupor then administer drugs to induce labor. The patients would deliver live babies that Gosnell and his staff would then kill by "snipping" their spines with surgical scissors. Most shocking of all, Lexy learns that health officials deliberately turned a blind eye to the goings-on in Gosnell's clinic.
The trial hinges on the difference between late abortions performed legally and the abortions Gosnell performed. The prosecution focuses on the fact that the babies that Gosnell killed were not legally aborted while in the womb; they were delivered alive and then killed. Lexy enters a photo of "Baby Boy A," the largest of those babies, into evidence. Gosnell's defense attorney focuses on the gruesome and shocking nature of legally performed late abortions and asserts that Gosnell is a victim of a racist Catholic crusade against a Black man performing legal services to minority women.
In the end, the jury finds Gosnell guilty of most of the charges against him, including the murder of Baby Boy A.
Gothika (2003)
Color
Psychiatrist finds herself in her own hospital
Gothika
"Psychiatrist Dr. Miranda Grey (Halle Berry) works at a mental hospital. While driving home, Miranda has a car accident after trying to avoid a girl (Kathleen Mackey) on a road during a stormy night. She rushes to try to help the girl. The girl turns out to be a ghost, and possesses Miranda's body by burning her after she extends her hand to the girl. Miranda loses consciousness. Miranda next wakes up in the very hospital she works for, but as a patient treated by her co-worker, Dr. Pete Graham (Robert Downey, Jr.). Drugged and confused, she remembers nothing of what happened after the car accident. To her horror, she learns that her husband Douglas (Charles S. Dutton) was brutally murdered and that she is the primary suspect. While Miranda copes with her new life in the hospital, the ghost uses her body to carry out messages (most noticeably, she carves the words "not alone" into Miranda's arm) which leads her former colleagues to believe Miranda is suicidal and is inflicting the wounds on herself.
Meanwhile, Miranda bonds with fellow inmate (and former patient) Chloe Sava (Penelope Cruz). Several times in sessions, Chloe had claimed that she'd been raped while in the hospital, but Miranda had always attributed these stories to mental illness. One night, the door to Miranda's room in the hospital is opened by the ghost that has been haunting her. When she passes Chloe's room in the hospital, she can hear the rape occurring and momentarily sees a man's chest pressed against the window. The man's chest bears a tattoo of an Anima Sola. Miranda realizes that Chloe was not making up these stories, and when she sees Chloe the next day, she apologizes, and the two embrace. Chloe warns Miranda her attacker said he was going to target Miranda next. Miranda begins regaining some of her memories bit by bit, and slowly comes to remember herself killing her husband. She realizes that the ghost had used her body to murder Douglas, thus making Miranda the patsy for his murder. This is why all of the physical evidence points to Miranda.
Miranda escapes the hospital, having recognized the girl as a ghost. Seeking clues to the mystery of why she killed her husband, she goes to a farmhouse in Willow Creek, Rhode Island. In the cellar of the barn she discovers a room containing a blood-stained bed, what appears to be a box containing drugs, restraints, and video equipment. She watches the tape that is still in the camera and the viewer hears a woman screaming as if tortured or raped. In the final seconds of the video, Douglas walks into the shot, covers a woman's lifeless body on the bed with a sheet, and winks at the camera. At this point, police arrive, and one officer comes closer to Miranda and draws a gun on her while she is holding a knife to him. Miranda backs up to a stair case, and all of a sudden an injured, frantically screaming girl grabs hold of her from the adjoining crawlspace. The police release the girl, and Miranda is taken to jail. While she is in jail, Sheriff Ryan (John Carroll Lynch), who was Douglas' closest friend, talks to Miranda, and quizzes her on how she knew all these things. He does not believe her claim that ghosts told her everything, and asks her what sort of person the accomplice would be. Miranda uses her experience as a psychiatrist to give a psychological profile, and as she does so realizes that Ryan fits the profile perfectly. He attacks Miranda and in the fight reveals his tattoo -- an Anima Sola. Miranda kills the sheriff in an act of self-defense, with the help of the ghost.
Miranda is next seen walking with Chloe on a city sidewalk discussing how each helped the other come to terms with their experiences. Miranda claims to be free of the ghost's influence and sends Chloe off in a taxi. Miranda then sees a young boy standing in the middle of the road who appears as though he is about to be struck by a fire truck. Miranda yells for the boy to move, but after the fire truck passes through the boy without harming him she realizes he was only a ghost. As Miranda walks away, a poster with the words "Have you seen Tim?" and a picture of the same boy is shown taped to a pole next to the street on which Miranda is walking.
Gotti (1996)
Color
Based on the true story of John Gotti, the 'Teflon Don' Mafiosa
Gotti
The film starts In 1973 in New York, and ends in 1992, with Gotti's imprisonment. Gotti's association with three mobsters is also highlighted in the film: a father-son like relationship with family underboss Aniello "Mr. Neil" Dellacroce, his deep but rocky friendship with Gotti crew member and longtime friend Angelo Ruggiero, and the respect and ultimate frustration that he felt for the man who became his underboss, Salvatore "Sammy the Bull" Gravano. The film details Gotti's rise within the Gambino crime family and his ranks from soldier, then captain (or capo), and finally, boss. The final title was achieved through the dramatic murder in public of Gambino family boss Paul Castellano in 1985. Following the murder of Castellano, the film concentrates on the legal trials of John Gotti: one for assault and two for racketeering under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) statutes. Gotti's famous personality, trial acquittals, and media attention are all dramatized. The film ends with Gotti's conviction and sentencing to life imprisonment at Marion Federal Penitentiary in Marion, Illinois, because Gravano turns state's evidence and agrees to testify against Gotti. The film is primarily based on the columns of reporter Jerry Capeci, who also wrote the novel that documented Gotti's rise and fall inside the Gambino crime family, and served as executive producer of the film which was based on his novel.
Gotti (2018)
Color
John Gotti's rise to power as boss of Gambino family
Gotti
"Mob boss John Gotti reflects on his three-decade reign of crime in New York City. In 1972, he is tasked by Neil Dellacroce, underboss to the Gambino crime family, to kill James McBratney, who is believed responsible for the kidnapping and murder of boss Carlo Gambino's nephew. Killing McBratney at a bar, Gotti becomes a “made man”.
Decades later in the 1990s, Gotti is incarcerated at the United States Medical Center for Federal Prisoners in Springfield, Missouri, having been diagnosed with throat cancer. He meets with his son, John “Junior”, who is considering a plea bargain.
In 1972, After the McBratney hit, he is identified in the murder and sentenced to four years at Green Haven, but leaves on medical furloughs to conduct further criminal business, including another hit. Gotti is paroled from Lewisburg in 1974 after serving two years and joins his wife, Victoria, and children at their new home in Howard Beach, Queens. By 1979, Gotti operates out of the Bergin Hunt and Fish Club with friend Angelo Ruggiero. Junior enters the New York Military Academy but hopes to follow in his father's footsteps. Despite Dellacroce's counsel and the assurances of Frank DeCicco, Gotti is mistrustful of Anthony Casso. In 1980, Gotti's 12-year-old son Frank is struck and killed by a neighbor's car. The neighbor later disappears, and the only witness to his abduction is intimidated into silence.
By 1985, the Gambino organization has come under scrutiny, and Gotti doubts Paul Castellano's leadership. Junior instigates a bar brawl that leaves a man dead, infuriating Gotti. The Gambino family faces further scrutiny when the government releases embarrassing tapes of Ruggerio, caught on FBI wiretap. Gotti escapes criminal charges, but the prosecution announces that his associate, Wilfred Johnson, is an informant; although Gotti agrees to give him a “pass”, Johnson is later killed. Gotti learns that Castellano plans to reorganize the Gambino family and possibly break up Gotti's crew. Dying of cancer, Dellacroce helps Gotti secure the approval of the Five Families to eliminate Castellano, who fails to attend Dellacroce's funeral.
On December 16, 1985, Gotti has Castellano and his bodyguard gunned down, and is named the new head of the Gambino family, capturing the attention of the press and the public as “the real-life Godfather”. Vincent Gigante plots with Casso to eliminate Gotti, and DiCicco is killed by a car bomb that Ruggerio believes was meant for Gotti. Casso survives an unsanctioned hit, tracking down the assassin and torturing him into revealing he was sent by Ruggerio. Gotti settles the matter with Gigante, and casts Ruggerio out of his crew.
Escaping prosecution for the third time, Gotti is nicknamed “the Teflon don” by the press. Ruggiero dies of cancer in 1989. Becoming a made man, Junior is married in 1990. On trial in 1992 for the fourth time, Gotti is charged with Castellano's murder; Sammy Gravano testifies against him, and Gotti is sentenced to life in prison. Junior assumes control as the organization is targeted by rivals and several members are killed, and is himself taken into custody in 1998.
Gotti dies on June 10, 2002. Junior chooses to leave his criminal life behind for the sake of his family, and after five trials in 37 months, he goes free.
Gran Torino (2008)
Color
Old man helps kid to fight local gang
Gran Torino
"Walt Kowalski (Clint Eastwood), a gruff retired Polish American factory worker and war veteran, has recently been widowed after 50 years of marriage. His Highland Park neighborhood in Detroit, formerly populated by working-class white families, is now dominated by poor Asian immigrants, and gang violence is commonplace. Adding to the isolation he feels is the emotional detachment of his family. He rejects a suggestion from one of his sons to move to a retirement community (sensing they want his home and possessions), and lives alone with his dog. Walt suffers from coughing fits, occasionally coughing up blood, but conceals this from his family. A young Catholic priest tries to comfort him, but the agnostic Walt disdains the young, inexperienced man.
The Hmong Vang Lor family reside next door to Walt. Initially, he wants nothing to do with his new neighbors, particularly after he catches Thao Vang Lor (Bee Vang), a member of that family, attempting to steal his Ford Gran Torino as a coerced initiation into a Hmong gang run by Thao's cousin, "Spider." The gang is infuriated and attacks Thao, but Walt confronts them with a rifle and chases them off, earning the respect of the Hmong community. As penance, Thao's mother makes him work for Walt, who has him do odd jobs around the neighborhood, and the two form a grudging mutual respect. Sue (Ahney Her), Thao's sister, introduces Walt to Hmong culture and helps him bond with the Hmong community. Walt helps Thao get a job and gives him advice on dating.
The gang continues to pressure Thao and again assaults him on his way home from work. Walt sees Thao's injuries and visits the gang members' house where he attacks a gang member. In retaliation, the gang performs a drive-by shooting on the Vang Lor home, injuring Thao, and kidnapping and raping his sister. There are no witnesses and the gang refuses to talk about the crimes; preventing police from doing anything about "spider" and his gang. The next day, Thao seeks Walt's help to exact revenge, who tells him to return later in the afternoon. In the meantime, Walt makes personal preparations: he buys a suit, gets a haircut and makes a confession to Father Janovich. When Thao returns, Walt takes him to the basement and gives him his Silver Star; Walt then locks Thao in his basement and tells him that he has been haunted by the memory of killing an enemy soldier (which he had not confessed to Janovich) and insists that Thao must never be haunted with the experience of killing another man.
Walt then goes to the house of the gang members where they draw their weapons on him. He talks loudly, berating them and drawing the attention of the neighbors. Putting a cigarette in his mouth, he asks for a light; he then puts his hand in his jacket and provocatively pulls it out as if it is a gun, inciting the gang members to shoot and kill him. As he falls to the ground, his hand opens to reveal an army lighter: he was unarmed. Sue frees Thao and they drive to the scene in Walt's Gran Torino. A Hmong police officer tells them the gang will be arrested for murder and imprisoned for a long time.
Walt's funeral Mass is celebrated by the young priest, Father Janovich, and attended by his family and many of the Hmong community. Afterward, his last will and testament is read, and to the surprise of his family, Walt leaves them nothing: his house goes to the church and his cherished Gran Torino to Thao provided he doesn't modify it. As the film ends, Thao is seen driving the car along Lakeshore Drive with Walt's dog, Daisy.
Green Book (2018)
Color
Blank pianist must deal with racism
Green Book
"New York City bouncer Frank "Tony Lip" Vallelonga is searching for new employment while the Copacabana nightclub, where he works, is closed for renovations. He is invited to an interview with Doctor Don Shirley, an eccentric African American pianist who is looking for a driver for his eight-week concert tour through the Midwest and Deep South. Don hires Tony on the strength of his references and with the agreement of his wife, Dolores. They depart with plans to return to New York on Christmas Eve. Don's record label representatives give Tony a copy of the Green Book, a guide for African-American travelers to find motels, restaurants, and filling stations that would serve them.[9]
They begin the tour in the Midwest before eventually heading farther south. Tony and Don initially clash, as Don is disgusted by Tony's habits while Tony resents being asked to act with more refinement. As the tour progresses, Tony is impressed with Don's talent on the piano, and increasingly appalled by the discriminatory treatment that Don receives from his hosts and the general public when he is not on stage. A group of white men threaten Don's life in a bar, and Tony is alerted and rescues him. He instructs Don not to go out without him for the rest of the tour.
Throughout the journey, Don helps Tony write love letters to his wife, correctly spelling, dictating, and rephrasing passages which deeply move her. Tony encourages Don to get in touch with his own estranged brother, but Don is hesitant, observing that he has become isolated by his professional life and achievements. In the south, Don is detained by police officers during a gay encounter with a white man at a YMCA pool, and Tony bribes the officers to prevent the musician's arrest. Don is upset that Tony "rewarded" the officers for their treatment. Later, the two are arrested after a police officer pulls them over late at night in a sundown town, and Tony punches him after being insulted. While they are incarcerated, Don asks to call his lawyer and instead uses the opportunity to reach Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, who pressures the governor into releasing them. Because Tony lost his temper, Don is frustrated that he had to distract Kennedy who, with his brother President John F. Kennedy, are working hard for minority rights.
On the night of the final performance on tour in Birmingham, Alabama, Don is refused entry into the whites-only dining room of the country club, the same room in which he has been hired to perform and where many of his audience members are eating. He can order from the menu but must eat in a small changing room. First Tony says to Don that it is the last show, and he should order from the menu so they can finish and go North. Don says he will not perform at the country club unless he can eat in the dining room. The owner tries to bribe Tony into talking Don into performing, and Tony shoves him against the wall. Don calms Tony down, saying that he will let him decide whether he should play or not. Tony walks out, followed by Don and the management yelling about a contract. Tony takes Don, still in white tie and tails, to get dinner at a predominantly black blues club, Orange Bird, where Don rouses the crowd with a passionate Frederic Chopin's Winter Wind etude before being joined by the very impressed blues band. He then plays and improvises as one of the band, which gets everyone on their feet dancing.
Tony and Don head north to try to make it home by Christmas Eve. While en route on a snowy road they are stopped by another police officer, and expect further police harassment. To their surprise, the officer turns out to be a Maryland State Trooper who has noticed they have a flat tire, and he helps Tony safely change it. Tony soon realizes he is too exhausted from driving in the snow to get home without sleep, and tells Don that he will stop at the next lodging. Later that night the car arrives in the snowy Bronx with Don driving and Tony asleep in the back. Don wakes Tony, and tells him he's home. Tony invites Don to come in and meet his wife, but Don wishes him a merry Christmas and drives away.
Don arrives back at his apartment above Carnegie Hall, and soon realizes that he is alone on Christmas Eve. Behind a late arriving couple, Don suddenly appears in the hallway at Tony's place with a bottle of champagne. Tony embraces Don, then introduces him to his guests. Dolores walks up and embraces Don and then, whispering in his ear, warmly thanks him for helping Tony with the letters.
Greenland (2020)
Color
Family fights for survival as planet-killing comet races towards Earth
Greenland
"John Garrity is a structural engineer living in Atlanta, Georgia, with his estranged wife, Allison, and their diabetic son, Nathan. He returns home to watch the near-earth passing of a recently discovered interstellar comet named Clarke, with his family and neighbors.
While in a store, John receives a strange automated message from DHS informing him that he and his family have been selected for emergency sheltering. Confused and concerned, he returns home just as a comet fragment enters the atmosphere on live television. Previously expected to land near Bermuda, the fragment instead strikes Tampa, Florida, vaporizing the city and most of the state. John once again receives a call with instructions to head to Robins Air Force Base for an evacuation flight.
The Garritys then learn from their neighbor Ed that Clarke is actually a giant cluster of objects expected to bombard Earth over the next two days, with the largest piece expected to cause an extinction level event. The family packs up and flees, refusing to take anyone else, as they would be denied boarding.
At Robins Air Force Base, while consolidating their belongings into one bag, the family discovers that Nathan's insulin is in the car. John hurries back for it, while Allison and Nathan are told that they cannot board because of Nathan's diabetes, and are then escorted off the base. Realizing what happened, John leaves the base as a panicked mob breaks in, destroying several evacuation planes when gunfire ignites jet fuel.
Returning to their car, he finds Allison's note that they left for her father's in Lexington, Kentucky. After getting medical supplies from a looted store, Allison and Nathan are picked up by Ralph and Judy Vento. Against Judy's objections, Ralph kidnaps Nathan, hoping to use him and the wristbands to board a flight.
John hitches a ride on a truck with other survivors from the base. A young man named Colin tells him they are going to Osgoode, Ontario, where private planes are flying to Greenland. Another man sees John's wristband and attempts to fight him for it, causing the truck to crash and Colin to be killed. The hostile man is then killed by John before he leaves. Back at the evacuation site, Ralph and a reluctant Judy are arrested after failing to pass as Nathan's parents, and Allison and Nathan reunite shortly afterwards at a FEMA camp across the street.
The following day, John watches the destruction and a countdown to final impact on TV. Stealing a car, he finally reaches his father-in-law, Dale's, and Nathan and Allison arrive shortly after. After the family learn about a complex of underground bunkers near Thule Air Force Base in Greenland where the evacuees are going, John realizes they have just enough time to reach Osgoode. The family then says goodbye to Dale, continuing in his truck.
Hours later, in Upstate New York, they get caught in a traffic jam when a shower of fragments rain down, destroying vehicles and killing numerous people. John manages to drive to an underpass for refuge and they continue to Canada, learning Clarke's largest fragment will make impact somewhere in Western Europe. That night, they arrive at the Osgoode airport and persuade the pilot of the last plane to take them.
The next morning, as they approach Greenland, another fragment strikes off the coast, causing them to crash-land. The survivors flag down a military truck and are taken to Thule, and are quickly ushered inside the bunker complex right as the rest of Clarke enters the atmosphere and collides with Europe, devastating civilization.
Nine months later, the bunkers attempt to make radio contact with other potential survivors as various cities are shown in total ruin including Sydney, Mexico City, Paris and Chicago. The Garritys and others of the shelter exit to see a radically-changed landscape, as Greenland makes contact with other stations around the globe. Each are relieved to hear each other and report that the atmosphere is finally clearing, potentially giving humanity the chance to rebuild.
Groundhog Day (1993)
Color
TV Weatherman is forced to repeat the day until he realizes his action can effect the outcome
Groundhog Day
"On February 1, television weatherman Phil Connors reassures his Pittsburgh viewers that an approaching blizzard will miss Western Pennsylvania. Alongside his producer Rita Hanson and cameraman Larry, Phil travels to Punxsutawney for his annual coverage of the Groundhog Day festivities. He makes no secret of his contempt for the assignment, the small town, and the "hicks" who live there, asserting that he will soon be leaving his station for a new job.
A white house with green roof. It is set back from a lawn and surrounded by bare trees
On February 2, Phil awakens in the Cherry Tree Inn to Sonny & Cher's "I Got You Babe" playing on the clock radio. He gives a half-hearted report on the groundhog Punxsutawney Phil and the festivities. Contrary to his prediction, the blizzard strikes the area, preventing all travel out of Punxsutawney, and although he desperately searches for a way to leave, he is forced to spend the night in the town.
The next morning, Phil wakes once more to "I Got You Babe" and the same DJ banter on the radio. Phil experiences the previous day's events repeating exactly and believes he is experiencing dej? vu. He again unsuccessfully attempts to leave the town and retires to bed. When he awakes, it is again February 2. Phil gradually realizes that he is trapped in a time loop that no one else is aware of. He confides his situation to Rita, who directs him to a neurologist, who in turn directs him to a psychologist; neither can explain his experiences. Phil gets drunk with locals Gus and Ralph and then leads police on a high-speed car chase before being arrested and imprisoned. The next morning, Phil awakens in the Cherry Tree Inn.
Realizing that there are no consequences for his actions, Phil begins spending loops indulging in binge eating, one-night stands, robbery, and other dangerous activities, using his increasing knowledge of the day's events and the town residents to manipulate circumstances to his advantage. Eventually he focuses on seducing Rita, using the loops to learn more about her so that he can try to sleep with her. No matter what steps he takes, Rita rebuffs his advances, particularly when Phil tells her he loves her; Rita asserts that he does not even know her.
Phil gradually becomes depressed and desperate for a way to escape the loop. He commits suicide in a variety of ways, even kidnapping Punxsutawney Phil and driving them both off a cliff. Each time he reawakens on February 2 to "I Got You Babe". He eventually tries to explain his situation to Rita again, using his detailed knowledge of the day to accurately predict events. Convinced, Rita spends the rest of that day's loop with Phil; she encourages him to think of the loops as a blessing instead of a curse. Lying on the bed together at night, Phil realizes that his feelings for Rita have become sincere. He wakes alone on February 2. Phil decides to use his knowledge of the loop to change himself and others: he saves people from deadly accidents and misfortunes, and learns to play the piano, sculpt ice, and speak French. Regardless of his actions, he is unable to save a homeless old man from death.
During one iteration of the loop, Phil reports on the Groundhog Day festivities with such eloquence that other news crews stop working to listen to his speech, amazing Rita. Phil continues his day helping the people of Punxsutawney. That night, Rita witnesses Phil's expert piano-playing skills as the adoring townsfolk regale her with stories of his good deeds. Impressed by his apparent overnight transformation, Rita successfully bids for him at a charity bachelor auction. Phil carves an ice sculpture in Rita's image and tells her that no matter what happens, even if he is doomed to continue waking alone each morning forever, he wants her to know that he is finally happy because he loves her. They retire to Phil's room.
Phil wakes the next morning to "I Got You Babe", but finds Rita is still in bed with him and the radio banter has changed; it is now February 3rd. Phil tells Rita that he wants to live in Punxsutawney with her.
Grown Ups (2010)
Color
Five childhood pals reunite after 30 years to mourn the loss of their basketball coach
Grown Ups
"In 1978, childhood friends Lenny Feder, Eric Lamonsoff, Kurt McKenzie, Marcus Higgins, and Rob Hilliard win their junior high basketball championship, and celebrate at a lake house with their coach, Robert “Buzzer” Ferdinando.
Thirty years later, Lenny is a successful Hollywood talent agent, married to fashion designer Roxanne; Eric claims to co-own a lawn furniture company, and his wife Sally still breastfeeds their 4-year-old son; Kurt is a stay-at-home dad whose wife Deanne is pregnant again, living with her mother; Rob is married to his much older fourth wife, Gloria; and Marcus is a slacker and lothario.
When Buzzer dies, the friends reunite for his funeral, returning to their hometown with their families. Lenny rents the lake house for everyone to stay over Fourth of July weekend, though his family is leaving early to attend Roxanne's fashion show in Milan. He pushes his spoiled sons to play outside, and runs into his childhood nemesis Dickie, who claims Lenny's foot was out of bounds when he made the winning shot. As the friends spread Buzzer's ashes, Rob breaks down in regret over his failed marriages, and reveals that he has invited his estranged daughters Jasmine, Amber, and Bridget to visit. The men play “arrow roulette”, shooting an arrow straight into the air, and Rob wins by not running for cover, but the arrow impales his foot. Lenny is thrilled to find the kids playing with cup-and-string telephones; Roxanne realizes the positive impact the weekend is having on their children, and tells Lenny to cancel their Milan trip and stay at the lake instead.
Everyone visits a water park, where Marcus flirts Jasmine and Amber after buying them skimpy bikinis, and Eric convinces his son to stop breastfeeding. The families cause chaos throughout the park: Rob assaults a ride attendant when the latter insults Rob's other daughter Bridget for being less attractive than her sisters; the husbands ignore warnings about a chemical in the children's pool that turns urine blue; and the wives attract a bodybuilder, then jeer at his high-pitched Canadian accent. At the zipline ride, Lenny and his friends meet Dickie and his former teammates, including Wiley, who is severely injured after sliding down the zipline by his feet. Returning to the lake house, Lenny teaches his son to shoot a bank shot, and the couples end the night dancing together.
The next day, Rob attacks Marcus, mistakenly believing that he slept with Jasmine, and Marcus admits to feeling insecure compared to his happily married friends. Everyone comes clean about the state of their lives: Roxanne confronts Lenny for canceling their flight to Milan before they left home, and he admits that he wanted their family to have a normal vacation; Deanne confronts Kurt for spending time with the Feders' nanny Rita, but Kurt retaliates by point out how she underappreciates him; Eric reveals that he was laid off from his job; and Rob admits what everybody already knows -- that he wears a toupee. Gloria helps everyone reconcile, and Lenny and Kurt offer to help Eric start a new business.
On their last day at the lake house, Lenny and his friends agree to a basketball rematch against Dickie and their former opponents. The game culminates in Lenny and Greg facing Dickie and his son, but Lenny misses the game-deciding shot. As the families watch the Fourth of July fireworks, Lenny tells Roxanne that he let Dickie's family win to get him off his case, and felt that his own family needed to know what losing feels like. A drunken Marcus plays another game of arrow roulette, and the crowd flees in panic; Wiley, trapped in a full-body cast, is struck in the foot by the arrow and declares, "We win again!" before fainting.
Grown Ups 2 (2013)
Color
Man gets more than he bargains for when he moves his family to his hometown
Grown Ups 2
"Three years after the events of the first film, Lenny Feder has relocated his family to his hometown, where his friends Eric Lamonsoff, Kurt McKenzie, and Marcus Higgins live. Lenny wakes up to find a reindeer in his bedroom, which wreaks havoc through the house until he uses his daughter Becky's stuffed animal to lure it outside. Lenny dismisses his wife Roxanne's suggestion that they have another child; Eric worries that his wife Sally is encouraging their children's self-confidence above all else; Kurt gives his wife Deanne a gift for their anniversary, which she has forgotten; and Marcus prepares to spend the summer with Braden, his son from a past fling, but is intimidated by the tall, tattooed teenager, who deeply resents him.
Roxanne, Sally, and Deanne are dismayed to learn that their attractive new yoga teacher Kyle is gay. Lenny commandeers his children's school bus from the unstable driver, Nick Hilliard, and takes everyone to their last day of school. He picks up Kurt and Eric and visits K-Mart, where they are joined by Marcus, who has sent Braden to school. Kurt persuades Lenny to throw a party for the first day of summer, and the friends discuss Lenny's childhood bully Tommy Cavanaugh. Police officers Fluzoo and Dante escort them to Becky's ballet recital at McDonough Elementary, where Lenny runs into Tommy, who openly threatens him.
As school ends, Kurt's daughter Charlotte agrees to go on a date, Lenny's younger son Keith struggles with his own bully Duffy, and their older brothers Andre and Greg accompany Braden to an abandoned quarry, where they join a college party.
After humiliating their old rival Dickie at his ice cream stand, Lenny, Eric, Kurt, and Marcus visit a quarry, where they swam during their youth, only to be confronted by a hostile college fraternity led by Milo and Andy, who force them to jump into the water naked. Finding their fraternity house vandalized, the frat boys blame Lenny and his friends and swear revenge. Later, the friends take Marcus' van, vandalized by Braden, to Eric's auto body shop, and Marcus inadvertently rolls through town in a runaway tire.
Lenny learns that Keith is a gifted football kicker, but accidentally breaks his son's leg. Eric apologizes to Sally for avoiding her to spend time with his mother, and endures a sexually charged car wash from male cheerleaders. Lenny becomes suspicious of Kyle's relationship with Roxanne, who is angered by her employee Penny's lifelong obsession with Lenny. Marcus bonds with Braden, Charlotte goes on her date, Andre passes his driving test overseen by Wiley, and Greg succeeds in asking out Nancy.
Roxanne tells Lenny that she is pregnant, and most of the town arrives for the Feders' 1980s-themed party. Lenny realizes Roxanne is not having an affair with Kyle, who has repaired Becky's stuffed animal, and challenges Tommy to a fight, but Tommy takes a dive to allow Lenny to save face in front of his own bullied son. Soon after, the fraternity crashes the party, looking for the culprit of the frat house vandalism, to which Braden admits his role. When the fraternity members insults the townsfolk, a massive brawl breaks out between them. The partygoers eventually defeat the fraternity with Andy getting attacked by a wild reindeer thanks to a tactic by Becky.
Afterwards, the friends, Nick, and Dickie enjoy a meal at Mrs. Lamonsoff's house, reminiscing about their childhood together. Eric's mother reassures Lenny about his new baby, and reveals that Eric was accidentally conceived in the men's bathroom at a New England Patriots game. Lenny returns home to Roxanne and they reconcile, looking forward to their growing family.
Grumpy Old Men (1993)
Color
Two old men vie for attention when attractive widow moves next door
Grumpy Old Men
"In Wabasha, Minnesota, retirees John Gustafson and Max Goldman are feuding next-door neighbors. Living alone, they spend their time ice fishing and pulling cruel practical jokes on each other, including John leaving a dead fish in Max's truck. Their rivalry irritates their friend Chuck, owner of the town bait shop, and Max's son Jacob, who is running for mayor. Dodging the attempts of IRS Agent Snyder to collect a serious debt, John supports his daughter Melanie when she separates from her husband Mike.
John and Max both find themselves attracted to Ariel Truax, a free-spirited art professor who moves in across the street. Chuck has Thanksgiving dinner with Ariel, prompting John and Max to compete for her affections. Chuck dies, and Max discovers John's IRS debt. John spends time with Ariel, revealing that he and Max used to be childhood friends. John and Ariel have sex -- his first time since 1978 -- and a jealous Max drives John's fishing shanty into thin ice, which John narrowly escapes. He confronts Max, and the source of their animosity is revealed: Max resents John for marrying Max's high school sweetheart. John explains she was unfaithful and Max was happier with the woman he did marry, but Max reminds John that he will have nothing to offer Ariel once the IRS takes his house. With this on his mind, John ends his relationship with Ariel, who warns that he will regret the risks he did not take in life.
Jacob is elected mayor, and Max continues courting Ariel. On Christmas, Melanie comes to visit and John is upset to learn she has reconciled with Mike. Giving her the same warning Ariel gave him, John leaves for the local bar. At Melanie's request, Jacob asks Max to settle things with John, but the fathers are unable to mend their dispute and John storms out of the bar. Max soon follows and finds John in the snow, having suffered a heart attack. At the hospital, Max checks in by declaring he is John's friend. He tells Ariel what happened, and she reconciles with John as he recovers.
Max tries to resolve John's debt, but the unsympathetic Agent Snyder prepares to sell John's house and possessions. Barricading the house, Max leaves a fish in Snyder's car and buries him in snow, while Jacob is able to temporarily block the property's seizure. Spring arrives, and John and Ariel get married. As a wedding gift, Max informs John that he and Jacob have paid off the debt. The newlyweds drive off, but not before John finds Max has left another fish in the car. Max leaves to find a date of his own, as Jacob and an officially divorced Melanie begin a new romance with each other.
Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967)
Color
Parents dismayed when daughter brings home Black man
Guess Who's Coming to Dinner
"The plot centers on Joanna's unexpected early return from a Hawaii holiday to her family's upper-class American home in San Francisco. She has brought her new fiance, a young, idealistic black physician, to meet her parents--the newspaper publisher Matt Drayton (Spencer Tracy) and his wife, art gallery owner Christina Drayton (Katharine Hepburn).
The household is politically liberal and Joanna's parents instilled in her the idea that all the races were no better than the others. Over the next several hours before cocktails are served Joanna is perplexed by the reactions of her parents--her parents are not as settled by her engagement with John as is she since they never thought that her choice would ever be a colored man and surprised by John the latter who made the decision without telling Joanna that if her parents do not abide by the marriage by the time that he leaves for New York City late that evening he will end the engagement.
Joanna has already decided that she will join John In Geneva in a couple weeks when they will marry but John will spend three months with a world health organization in Geneva's flight is at the end of the evening headed for New York City then on to Geneva where he will work in a project for three months. Joanna has decided to not be separated from John so will go with him on the same flight, and marriage to follow in a couple weeks. Before dinner plans are finalized, John's parents (Roy E. Glenn, Beah Richards) are invited by Joanna to dinner that evening. Joanna and John's parents meet each other for the first time and they learn about what john has not told them about Joanna.
Matt's golf buddy is the Monsignor Ryan (Cecil Kellaway), a Catholic priest. He is also invited to dinner, shares the same enthusiasm as Joanna about the pending nuptials and tells her father as much.
It is during cocktails after John's parents have arrive at the Drayton home that different sets of parental characters pair up to share their views with the other and learn that it seems that the mothers are more optimistic than the fathers. Universally, it had been expressed by the parents that more than a few hours are necessary for a proper decision but John's mother brings up her idea of what it is that she believes the men are missing about the situation--passion. John expressed his view that his father that the elder Prentice thought of himself as a colored man whereas John thought of himself as a man.
Matt then calls everyone to together to give his monologue about the situation; it does not matter what everyone else thinks about what Joanna and John have between them to make it through life when many others do not share or cannot accept them. That the views of John's father can probably change with the work of the other three parents.
He Got Game (1998)
Color
Jake is granted temporary release to persuade his estrnged son to play ball
He Got Game
" Jesus Shuttlesworth (Ray Allen), the top high school basketball player in the United States, is being pursued by the top college basketball programs in the nation. His father, Jake, is a convicted felon serving time at Attica Correctional Facility for accidentally killing his wife, Martha, Jesus' mother, six years earlier. Jake is temporarily released by the governor, an influential alumnus of "Big State," one of the colleges Jesus is considering, so that he might persuade his son to sign with the governor's college. If successful, he'll get an early release from prison.
Upon his first moments outside of prison, Jake contacts his daughter, Mary Shuttlesworth (Zelda Harris), who is happy to see him. When Jesus returns home from school, he refuses to look his father in the eye, and tells his sister to get rid of the "stranger" in their living room. Jesus later agrees to meet with his father at an alternative location away from Mary. Throughout the movie, Jake tries to persuade Jesus to attend Big State with seemingly no success. Eventually, he divulges the deal set up by the governor. However, Jesus appears to be unsympathetic to his father's situation.
Flashbacks illustrate the younger Jesus' grueling basketball training under his father, and the night an argument between Jake and Jesus escalated into violence, resulting in Jake accidentally killing Jesus' mother after she intervened.
Intertwined with the story of the Shuttlesworth family is the sub-plot of Dakota Barns (Milla Jovovich), a prostitute who stays in the room next to Jake in the run-down hotel, which the warden has booked for him. Dakota is being abused by her procurer and companion, Sweetness, which Jake overhears through the thin walls. Throughout the film, Jake is seen helping Dakota by cleaning her wounds and giving her some of his money to be used for his expenses during his week out of prison. He also develops a romantic relationship with her. Dakota is seen in one of the final scenes of the movie taking a Greyhound bus away from New York City.
Jesus is tempted with offers of cash and women on recruiting visits to big-time basketball programs. He also considers entering the NBA in order to play professionally sooner and immediately lift himself and his sister out of poverty. Jake finally challenges Jesus to a game of one-on-one basketball. If Jake wins, Jesus will sign a letter of intent to play for Big State and if Jesus wins, he can make his own decision. After a competitive start, Jake tires during the course of the game and Jesus wins. As Jake is collected for transportation back to Attica, he turns to Jesus and says, "Let me tell you something, son: You get that hatred out your heart, or you'll end up just another nigga ... like your father."
Ultimately, Jesus decides to sign to play for Big State and gives Jake his blessing. However, the governor does not give Jake the promised reduction, as Jesus did not sign the letter of intent, and Jake's work-release is fabricated in the media as an escape from prison before being recaptured. Jake ultimately finds freedom by casting away his dreams and burdens to his son, Jesus, symbolized by the throwing of his old basketball over the prison wall and magically onto the Big State court where Jesus is practicing alone. Jesus clutches the ball, knowing it is a message of hope from his father.
He's Just Not That Into You (2009)
Color
Story follows nine people with their various romantic problems
He's Just Not That Into You
"Gigi, Conor and Alex
In Baltimore, Gigi repeatedly misreads the romantic interest of her dates.
Following a tepid date with real estate agent Conor Barry, Gigi is befriended by bar owner Alex, who suggests she misinterprets romantic signals. As their friendship continues, Gigi interprets his helpfulness as a sign he is attracted to her, but Alex rebuffs her, chastising her for ignoring his advice.
As Gigi moves on from Alex, he realizes he is in love with her. After leaving several unanswered messages, Alex arrives at Gigi's apartment after she returns from a pleasant date, and declares his love and they end up kissing.
Janine, Ben, and Anna
Gigi's friend and co-worker, Janine Gunders, obsesses over her home renovations while her husband, Ben, becomes attracted to Anna Marks, a yoga instructor and aspiring singer. Ben and Anna pursue a flirtatious friendship under the pretense of him helping her establish a singing career. Ben reveals that he only married Janine after she delivered an ultimatum, saying that they should marry or break up. Ben agrees to only be friends with Anna, but she continues her pursuit until they sleep together.
Finding cigarette butts hidden in the back yard, Janine accuses Ben of smoking again, citing her father's death from lung cancer. Ben blames the workmen at their house. During a tense home improvement shopping trip, Ben confesses his infidelity. Devastated, Janine blames herself and wants to save their marriage; Ben seems less enthusiastic.
Later, Anna and Ben are about to have sex in his office, but they are interrupted by Janine, who arrives hoping to spice up their marriage. Forced to hide in a closet and listen as Ben and Janine have sex, Anna afterward leaves in disgust, ending her affair with Ben. As Janine tidies up Ben's clothes at home, she discovers a pack of cigarettes and explodes in anger. When Ben returns home, Janine is gone, leaving his clothes folded on the staircase with a carton of cigarettes and a note asking for a divorce. Janine moves into an apartment to restart her life, and Anna is seen performing at an upscale nightclub. Alone, Ben buys beer at the same supermarket where he met Anna.
Conor, Anna, and Mary
Anna enjoys a close friendship with Alex's friend, Conor. Though Anna wants a casual relationship, Conor misinterprets her playful affection as romantic interest.
Anna's friend, Mary Harris, works in advertising sales for a local gay newspaper and helps Conor promote his real estate business. Like Gigi, she meets many men, mostly online, but despite constantly monitoring her emails, pager, phone, and Myspace messages, her dates go nowhere.
While Conor attempts to cultivate a gay clientele, two gay men explain how he is going wrong with Anna. Taking their advice, Conor declares his love to Anna. Vulnerable after falling out with Ben, Anna agrees to a more serious relationship. When Conor later proposes buying a house and moving in together, Anna admits she does not want to and they return to being just friends.
Mary later runs into Conor, recognizing him from his ad photo and having only spoken to him over the phone. They hit it off, and start dating.
Beth and Neil
Gigi's co-worker, Beth Murphy, lives with her boyfriend Neil, a friend of Ben's. After seven years together, Beth wants to get married, but Neil opposes marriage. Gigi announces she will no longer misinterpret vague gestures and comments, and says that men who delay marrying likely never intend to. This spurs Beth to confront Neil, who remains adamant that he never wants to marry, and she breaks up with him.
Preparations for her younger sister's wedding reopen the issue after Beth hears backhanded comments from various family members. During the reception, her father Ken suffers a heart attack. Beth cares for him as he recuperates at home while her sisters wallow and their husbands remain glued to the television with constant takeout food. Beth's patience wanes as the household grows more dysfunctional, but Neil arrives with groceries and helps with chores. They reconcile, with Beth assuring Neil that she wants him back without being married. Neil later proposes, and they wed aboard his sailboat.
Heartburn (1986)
Color
Man cheats on his wife
Heartburn
"Manhattan food writer Rachel Samstat and Washington, D.C. political columnist Mark Forman meet at a mutual friend's wedding. Both have been married before and Mark has a reputation for being a serial womanizer. After a whirlwind courtship, the two marry, despite Rachel's reservations. They purchase a dilapidated Georgetown townhouse and Rachel struggles to adapt to being a wife in Washington's political high society. The ongoing renovations of their house create some stress in Mark and Rachel's marriage, but they are brought closer together when Rachel discovers she is pregnant. Rachel experiences a difficult labor in which the baby's life is briefly threatened, but she gives birth to a healthy baby girl named Annie.
Soon after, Rachel discovers evidence of Mark's extramarital affair with socialite Thelma Rice during her pregnancy with her second child. She leaves him and takes their daughter to New York, where she moves in with her father and gets her job back as a food writer. Although she insists that she has left him for good, Rachel is dismayed when he fails to call her after several days. She inadvertently leads a burglar to a group therapy session she is attending in her therapist's apartment; he robs the group and takes Rachel's wedding ring. Just after, Mark arrives and asks her to come back, insisting he will never see Thelma again.
Rachel gives birth to their second child, but struggles to fully forgive Mark. She spreads a nasty rumor about Thelma having chlamydia but is caught out by Mark. The New York police return Rachel's wedding ring after they catch the burglar. When she takes it to the jeweler's to get the stone tightened, she discovers that Mark has bought a very expensive necklace, which coincides with Thelma's birthday. Realizing that he has returned to the affair, Rachel sells her wedding ring and leaves with both her children for New York, this time for good.
Heat (1995)
Color
A cop and a thief face off
Heat
"Career criminal Neil McCauley and his crew, Chris Shiherlis, Michael Cheritto and Trejo, hire new recruit Waingro and commit an armored car heist, stealing $1.6 million in bearer bonds from money launderer Roger Van Zant. Waingro impulsively kills one of the guards however, forcing them to kill the remaining two to leave no witnesses. An infuriated McCauley tries to kill Waingro afterwards, but he escapes. Afterwards McCauley's fence, Nate, suggests they try to sell the bonds back to Van Zant, who agrees but secretly instructs his men to kill McCauley at the meeting. With backup from his crew, McCauley thwarts the ambush and vows revenge.
Lieutenant Vincent Hanna of the LAPD leads the investigation of the heist and learns that McCauley's crew plans to rob a precious metals depository. Hanna and his unit--Sergeant Drucker and Detectives Sammy Casals, Mike Bosko, and Danny Schwartz--stake out the depository, but when an officer inadvertently makes a noise, McCauley is alerted and abandons it. Despite the police surveillance, McCauley and his crew take on a final heist, a brazen bank holdup worth $12 million, to secure their personal lives. Hanna's unit investigates the murder of a prostitute by Waingro, putting them on his trail. Waingro later approaches Van Zant in search of work and revenge against McCauley.
Hanna learns that his wife Justine is having an affair and moves to a hotel, while McCauley finds a relationship with Eady, a woman he meets in a cafe. Hanna deliberately intercepts McCauley and invites him to coffee. Meeting face to face, each concedes to the other the problems of his personal life. Hanna describes his concern for his depressed stepdaughter Lauren and the failure of his third marriage due to his obsession with work, and McCauley confesses that life as a criminal forbids attachment and requires mobility, making his relationship with his girlfriend tenuous. Both men admit their commitment to their work and will not hesitate to kill the other if the circumstances demand it.
Hanna discovers that McCauley and his crew have evaded their surveillance, but Trejo is compromised. In need of a new getaway driver, McCauley recruits Donald Breedan, an ex-convict working a dead-end job at a diner. Hanna's unit is alerted to the robbery by a confidential informant and surprises McCauley's crew as they exit the bank. Cheritto, Breedan, and several police officers, including Detective Bosko, are killed in the ensuing shootout. McCauley narrowly escapes with an injured Shiherlis, and leaves him with a doctor to treat his wounds. He tracks down Trejo, whom he finds beaten to a bloody pulp with his wife murdered. Trejo reveals that Waingro was the informant. McCauley finishes off Trejo at his own request, then kills Van Zant at his home. He makes plans to flee to New Zealand with Eady, who he reconciles with after she becomes aware of his criminal activities. The police surveil Waingro in a hotel near Los Angeles International Airport, and Hanna attempts to bait McCauley into coming out of hiding by releasing Waingro's whereabouts through his contacts.
Shiherlis' estranged wife Charlene is lured by her lover Alan Marciano to a police safe house, where Drucker threatens to charge her as an accomplice and send her son into foster care if she doesn't betray her husband to the police. Charlene initially agrees, but, when Shiherlis shows up in disguise, she surreptitiously warns him, and he slips through the dragnet. Hanna finds Lauren unconscious in his hotel room from a suicide attempt and rushes her to the hospital. As he and Justine wait in the lobby, they reconcile but admit their marriage will never work. McCauley and Eady are en route to the airport when Nate calls with Waingro's location. McCauley has a change of heart, risking his assured freedom to exact his revenge. McCauley infiltrates the hotel, creates a distraction by pulling a fire alarm, and kills Waingro. Moments away from escape, he is forced to abandon Eady when Hanna approaches through the crowd. Hanna chases McCauley into a field outside the LAX freight terminal and mortally wounds him, before holding McCauley's hand as he dies.
Heaven Can Wait (1978)
Color
Man is taken prematurely and comes back as millionaire
Heaven Can Wait
"Joe Pendleton (Warren Beatty), a backup quarterback for the American football team Los Angeles Rams, is looking forward to leading his team to the Super Bowl. He is riding a bicycle through the Mulholland Drive tunnel under Sepulveda Boulevard in Los Angeles when he collides with a truck. An over-anxious guardian angel (Buck Henry) on his first assignment plucks Joe out of his body early in the mistaken belief that his death is imminent, and Pendleton arrives in the afterlife.
Once there, he refuses to believe that his time was up, and upon investigation, the mysterious Mr. Jordan (James Mason) discovers that he is right; he was not destined to die until much later - (10:17am on March 20, 2025 to be exact). Unfortunately, his body has already been cremated, so a new body must be found. After rejecting several possibilities (men who are about to die), Joe is finally persuaded to accept the body of millionaire industrialist Leo Farnsworth. Farnsworth has just been drugged and drowned in his bathtub by his wife Julia (Dyan Cannon) and her lover, Farnsworth's personal secretary, Tony Abbott (Charles Grodin).
Julia and Tony are naturally confused when Farnsworth reappears, alive and well. Leo Farnsworth buys the Los Angeles Rams to lead them to the Super Bowl as their quarterback. To succeed, he must first convince, and then secure the aid of, long-time friend and trainer Max Corkle (Jack Warden) to get his new body into shape. At the same time, he falls in love with an environmental activist, Betty Logan (Julie Christie), who disapproves of Farnsworth's policies and actions.
As the film's plotline heads toward the Super Bowl, the characters all face a crisis. Julia and Abbott continue their murderous plans, and Abbott shoots Farnsworth dead. The Rams are forced to start another quarterback, Thomas Jarrett, in the climactic football game. After a brutal hit on the field, Jarrett is himself killed. With Mr. Jordan's help, Joe then occupies his final body, that of Jarrett. Joe is shown snapping to life in Jarrett's body, then leading the Rams to victory.
During the team's post-game victory celebration, Mr. Jordan removes Joe's memory of his past life and departs. Joe becomes Thomas Jarrett and the cosmic balance is restored; the winning quarterback, Jarrett, is shown meeting Betty after the celebrations have ended, and as the film ends it is strongly implied that they are falling in love due to a mutual sense of dej? vu.
Heaven's Fall (2006)
Color
Black men accused of rape
Heaven's Fall
In the film, two young white women (portrayed by Leelee Sobieski and Azura Skye) accuse nine black youths of rape in the segregated South. Timothy Hutton stars as criminal defense attorney Samuel Leibowitz. The film begins after the first trial of the nine in the present-day bustling city of Scottsboro, Alabama. Samuel Leibowitz, a successful Jewish lawyer from New York is called down past the Mason-Dixon Line to defend the nine blacks.
Heaven's Gate (1980)
Color
Sheriff intervenes when cattle ranthers try to drive off settlers
Heaven's Gate
"In 1870, two young men, Jim Averill and Billy Irvine, graduate from Harvard College. The Reverend Doctor speaks to the graduates on the association of "the cultivated mind with the uncultivated" and the importance of education. Irvine, brilliant but obviously intoxicated, follows this with his opposing, irreverent views. A celebration is then held, after which the male students serenade the women present, including Averill's girlfriend.
Twenty years later, Averill is passing through the booming town of Casper, Wyoming, on his way north to Johnson County, where he is now a marshal. Poor European immigrants new to the region are in conflict with wealthy, established cattle barons organized as the Wyoming Stock Growers Association; the newcomers sometimes steal their cattle for food. Nate Champion -- a friend of Averill and an enforcer for the stockmen -- kills a settler for suspected rustling and dissuades another from stealing a cow. At a board meeting, the head of the Association, Frank Canton, tells members, including a drunk Irvine, of plans to kill 125 named settlers, as thieves and anarchists. Irvine leaves the meeting, encounters Averill, and tells him of the Association's plans. As Averill leaves, he exchanges bitter words with Canton. Canton and Averill quarrel, and Canton is knocked to the floor. That night, Canton recruits men to kill the named settlers.
Ella Watson, a Johnson County bordello madam from Quebec, who accepts stolen cattle as payment for use of her prostitutes, is infatuated with both Averill and Champion. Averill and Watson skate in a crowd, then dance alone, in an enormous roller skating rink called "Heaven's Gate," which has been built by local entrepreneur John L. Bridges. Averill receives a copy of the Association's death list from a baseball-playing U.S. Army captain and later reads the names aloud to the settlers, who are thrown into terrified turmoil. Cully, a station master and friend of Averill's, sees the train with Canton's posse heading north and rides off to warn the settlers but is murdered en route. Later, a group of men come to Watson's bordello and rape her. Averill shoots and kills all but one of them. Champion, realizing that his landowner bosses seek to eliminate Watson, goes to Canton's camp, and shoots the remaining rapist, then refuses to participate in the slaughter.
Canton and his men encounter one of Champion's friends leaving a cabin with Champion and his friend Nick inside, and a gunfight ensues. Attempting to save Champion, Watson arrives in her wagon and shoots one of the hired guns before escaping on horseback. Nick is killed before Canton's men push a burning cart towards the cabin, setting it on fire. Champion writes a last letter to Ella. Champion emerges from the burning cabin shooting at Canton's men but is killed by a hail of bullets. Watson warns the settlers of Canton's approach at another huge, chaotic gathering at "Heaven's Gate." The agitated settlers decide to counterattack; Bridges leads the attack on Canton's gang. With the hired invaders now surrounded, both sides suffer casualties (including a drunken, poetic Irvine) as Canton leaves to bring help. Watson and Averill return to Champion's charred and smoking cabin, and discover his corpse, along with a handwritten letter documenting his last minutes alive.
The next day, Averill reluctantly joins the immigrant settlers, with their cobbled-together siege machines and explosive charges, in an attack against Canton's men and their makeshift fortifications. Again, there are heavy casualties on both sides, before the U.S. Army, with Canton in the lead, arrives to stop the fighting and save the remaining besieged mercenaries.
Later, at Watson's cabin, Bridges, Watson, and Averill prepare to leave for good, but they are ambushed by Canton and two others. Averill and Bridges shoot and kill Canton and one of his men but both Bridges and Watson are killed. A grief-stricken Averill holds Watson's body in his arms.
In 1903, about a decade later, a well-dressed, beardless, but older-looking Averill walks the deck of his yacht off Newport, Rhode Island. He goes below, where an attractive middle-aged woman is sleeping in a luxurious boudoir. The woman, Averill's old Harvard girlfriend (perhaps now his wife), awakens and asks him for a cigarette. Silently he complies, lights it, and returns to the deck.
Hell's Angels (1929)
Black & White
WW I Pilots are captured by the Germans
Hell's Angels
"Roy (James Hall) and Monte Rutledge (Ben Lyon) are very different British brothers. Strait-laced Roy loves and idealizes the apparently demure Helen (Jean Harlow). Monte, on the other hand, is a womanizer. Their German friend and fellow Oxford student Karl (John Darrow) is against the idea of having to fight England when World War I breaks out.
Meanwhile, the oblivious Monte is caught in the arms of a woman by her German officer husband (Lucien Prival), who insists upon a duel the next day. Monte flees that night. When Roy is mistaken for his brother, he goes ahead with the duel and is shot in the arm.
Karl is conscripted into the German Air Force, and the two British brothers enlist in the Royal Flying Corps (RFC), Monte only to get a kiss from a girl at the recruiting station.
When Roy finally introduces Monte to Helen, she invites Monte to her flat. Monte tries to rebuff her advances for his brother's sake, but gives in. The next morning, however, he is for once ashamed of himself.
Meanwhile, Karl is an officer aboard a Zeppelin airship sent to bomb Trafalgar Square, London. As the bombardier-observer, he is lowered below the clouds in a spy basket. He deliberately guides the Zeppelin over water, where the bombs have no effect. Four RFC fighters are sent to intercept the Zeppelin. Roy pilots one, with Monte as his gunner. To gain altitude more quickly, the airship commander (Carl von Haartman) orders everything possible be jettisoned. When that is not enough, he decides to sacrifice Karl by cutting the cable that secures his pod. He then accepts the advice of another officer; the officer and other crewmen obediently leap to their deaths "for Kaiser and fatherland". German machine gunners shoot down three aircraft; Roy and Monte survive a crash landing. After his machine guns jam or run out of ammunition, the last British pilot aloft dives his fighter into the dirigible, sending it crashing in a blazing fireball. The brothers narrowly avoid the debris.
Later, in France, Monte is branded a coward for shirking his duty when his replacement is shot down in his place. When a Staff Colonel asks for two volunteers for a suicide mission, Roy and Monte step up. They are to destroy a vital enemy munitions depot their squadron had tried to blow up for days. They will sneak in using a captured German bomber the next morning so that a British brigade will have a chance in their otherwise hopeless afternoon attack.
That night, Roy discovers Helen in a nightclub with Captain Redfield. When he tries to take her home, she turns on him, revealing that she never loved him, that she was, in fact, not the young innocent he believed her to be. Devastated, Roy joins Monte for some carousing. Monte decides not to go on the mission and nearly persuades Roy to do the same, but in the end, Roy drags Monte back to the airfield.
The raid on the German munitions dump is successful. However, they are spotted in the act by a flight of German fighters from the Flying Circus, led by Manfred von Richthofen. Monte defends the bomber with a machine gun until their squadron arrives, and a dogfight breaks out. Their buddy "Baldy" shoots down the one German who is still targeting the bomber, but then von Richthofen swoops in and shoots the brothers down. They are captured.
They are given the option of talking or facing a firing squad by none other than Roy's old dueling opponent. Monte decides to save his life. Unable to change his brother's mind, Roy convinces Monte that he should speak with the German general alone. He offers to tell what he knows on condition that there is no witness to his treason. The general is persuaded to give him a pistol (with one bullet) to kill Monte. Roy fails to get Monte to do the right thing, and has no choice but to shoot his brother in the back. Afterward, Roy is executed. The British attack gets off to a successful start.
Here Are the Young Men (2021)
Color
Just out of high school, friends Matthew, Rez and Kearney embark on the binge of a lifetime.
Here Are the Young Men
Just out of high school in the summer of 2003, Dublin friends Matthew, Rez and Kearney embark on the binge of a lifetime. But as things spin out of control, the trio witnesses an event that has unexpected consequences.
Here Comes Mr. Jordan (1941)
Black & White
Boxer dies prematurely and is returned to Earth in the body of a millionaire
Here Comes Mr. Jordan
"On May 11, 1941, boxer and amateur pilot Joe Pendleton (Robert Montgomery), affectionately known as "the Flying Pug", flies his small aircraft to his next fight in New York City, but crashes when a control cable severs. His soul is "rescued" by 7013 (Edward Everett Horton), an officious angel who assumed that Joe could not have survived. Joe's manager, Max "Pop" Corkle (James Gleason), has his body cremated. In the afterlife, the records show his death was a mistake; he was supposed to live for 50 more years. The angel's superior, Mr. Jordan (Claude Rains), confirms this, but since there is no more body, Joe will have to take over a newly dead corpse. Mr. Jordan explains that a body is just something that is worn, like an overcoat; inside, Joe will still be himself. Joe insists that it be someone in good physical shape, because he wants to continue his boxing career.
After Joe turns down several "candidates", Mr. Jordan takes him to see the body of a crooked, extremely wealthy banker and investor named Bruce Farnsworth, who has just been drugged and drowned in a bathtub by his wife Julia (Rita Johnson) and his secretary, Tony Abbott (John Emery). Joe is reluctant to take over a life so unlike his previous one, but when he sees the murderous pair mockingly berating Miss Logan (Evelyn Keyes), whose father's name has been misused by Farnsworth to sell worthless securities,[3] he changes his mind and agrees to take over Farnsworth's body.[Note 1]
As Farnsworth, Joe repays all the investors and has Miss Logan's father exonerated.[3] He sends for Corkle and convinces him that he is Joe (by playing his saxophone just as badly as he did in his previous incarnation). With Farnsworth's money to smooth the way, Corkle trains him and arranges a bout to decide who will next fight the current heavyweight champion, but Mr. Jordan returns to warn Joe that, while he is destined to be the champion, it cannot happen that way. Joe has just enough time to tell Miss Logan, with whom he has fallen in love, that if a stranger (especially if he is a boxer) approaches her, to give him a chance. Then he is shot by his secretary. While Joe returns to a ghostly existence, Farnsworth's body is hidden, with everyone believing Farnsworth has simply disappeared. Corkle hires a private investigator to find him.
Accompanied by Mr. Jordan, Joe goes to retrieve his lucky saxophone he left on Farnsworth's piano and finds the police conducting a group interrogation. Corkle, talking to himself, wanders the room looking for Joe or Mr. Jordan. Corkle has explained about Joe, Mr. Jordan and the body-switching, to the police detective (Donald MacBride) who thinks he is a nut. Joe manages to mentally nudge Corkle into turning on the radio to hear the championship fight and hears that Murdock has collapsed from a slight grazing punch. Mr. Jordan reveals that the boxer was shot by gamblers because he refused to throw the fight. Joe takes over Murdock's body and wins the title. Back at the mansion, Corkle hears one of the radio announcers mention a saxophone hanging by the ringside and seeing the saxophone gone from the room, realizes Joe has assumed Murdock's body.
Corkle races down to the dressing room. There, Joe passes along information from Mr. Jordan that Farnsworth's body is in a refrigerator in the basement of the mansion. Corkle tells the detective, who promptly has Mrs. Farnsworth and the secretary arrested. As Murdock, Joe fires his old, crooked manager and hires Corkle. Mr. Jordan reveals to Joe that this is his destiny; he can be Murdock and live his life.
Healing the gunshot wound and at the same time removing Joe's memory of his past life, Mr. Jordan hangs around for a bit longer until Miss Logan arrives. She wanted to see Corkle, but runs into Murdock instead. The pair feel they have met before. The two go off together, while Mr. Jordan smiles and says "So long, champ.
Hereafter (2010)
Color
Supernatural tale about three very different people and their responses to death
Hereafter
"On assignment in Thailand, French television journalist Marie Lelay (Cecile de France) is shopping for souvenirs for her lover's children. Back in a hotel room, her lover Didier (Thierry Neuvic) looks over the balcony and witnesses the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami coming onshore. It hits as Marie watches from a distance. She runs away from the shore while trying to save a little girl, but they are both quickly swallowed by the wave. She is pulled lifeless from the water by two men who attempt resuscitation, but they give up when it apparently fails. She soon gasps back to life after having a near-death experience in which she sees a vision of human figures inhabiting a realm of light, among them the silhouettes of the girl, whom she wasn't able to save, and her mother holding hands. Marie and Didier manage to reunite in the aftermath of the disaster.
Marie returns with Didier to Paris. Her experience, however, interferes with her work, pressuring her and exhausting her to the point that Didier, who is also her producer and supervisor, sends her on a leave of absence to write the book they've discussed, which would add to her business prestige. Marie sells her idea of a new book and receives complete backing for the book. She celebrates by going to dinner and asks Didier what he thinks happens when they die. He answers that it's "lights out" and nothing else. Marie believes that there may be a hereafter where there is life on the other side.
Now writing a book and with more time to contemplate her near-death experience, Marie travels to Switzerland to meet a renowned specialist in the field. As the director of a hospice who has seen her share of dying patients, the doctor describes herself as a former atheist who was convinced by evidence experienced by Marie through her patients that the afterlife exists and that people like Marie have had a genuine view of it. She persuades Marie to write a book on her experience in the hope that the scientific community will ultimately accept the reality of life beyond death. Having been in talks with a publisher before her trip to Thailand about a biography of Francois Mitterrand, Marie now stuns them with her new manuscript entitled "Hereafter: A Conspiracy of Silence". The publisher rejects the manuscript, insisting that his company only publishes books with political themes and that her switching the content is unacceptable. Marie leaves her office humiliated.
Later that evening at dinner with Didier, Marie recounts her humiliation at the publisher's office, lamenting that she should just write her book as a hobby on her own time and return to work at the television show. Didier is evasive and Marie learns that he does not intend on having her back at the job from which he urged her to take leave, claiming her public interest in the hereafter damages her reputation as a serious journalist. Stunned and hurt, she asks if he is having an affair with the woman who has replaced her on the TV news program. He responds with telling silence and she abruptly leaves the restaurant. Just as she arrives, totally dejected, back at her apartment, the publisher calls to tell her that he knows of two publishers who would be interested in her book. She sends out manuscripts to the two publishers the next day.
On assignment in Thailand, French television journalist Marie Lelay (Cecile de France) is shopping for souvenirs for her lover's children. Back in a hotel room, her lover Didier (Thierry Neuvic) looks over the balcony and witnesses the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami coming onshore. It hits as Marie watches from a distance. She runs away from the shore while trying to save a little girl, but they are both quickly swallowed by the wave. Pulled lifeless from the water, she is resuscitated by rescuers, but is left for dead. She gasps back to life after having a near-death experience in which she sees a vision of human figures inhabiting a realm of light, among them the silhouettes of the girl, whom she wasn't able to save, and her mother holding hands. Marie and Didier manage to reunite in the aftermath of the disaster.
Marie returns with Didier to Paris. Her experience, however, interferes with her work, pressuring her and exhausting her to the point that Didier, who is also her producer and supervisor, sends her on a leave of absence to write the book they've discussed, which would add to her business prestige. Marie sells her idea of a new book and receives complete backing for the book. She celebrates by going to dinner and asks Didier what he thinks happens when they die. He answers that it's "lights out" and nothing else. Marie believes that there may be a hereafter where there is life on the other side.
Now writing a book and with more time to contemplate her near-death experience, Marie travels to Switzerland to meet a renowned specialist in the field. As the director of a hospice who has seen her share of dying patients, the doctor describes herself as a former atheist who was convinced by evidence experienced by Marie through her patients that the afterlife exists and that people like Marie have had a genuine view of it. She persuades Marie to write a book on her experience in the hope that the scientific community will ultimately accept the reality of life beyond death. Having been in talks with a publisher before her trip to Thailand about a biography of Francois Mitterrand, Marie now stuns them with her new manuscript entitled "Hereafter: A Conspiracy of Silence". The publisher rejects the manuscript, insisting that his company only publishes books with political themes and that her switching the content is unacceptable. Marie leaves her office humiliated.
Later that evening at dinner with Didier, Marie recounts her humiliation at the publisher's office, lamenting that she should just write her book as a hobby on her own time and return to work at the television show. Didier is evasive and Marie learns that he does not intend on having her back at the job from which he urged her to take leave, claiming her public interest in the hereafter damages her reputation as a serious journalist. Stunned and hurt, she asks if he is having an affair with the woman who has replaced her on the TV news program. He responds with telling silence and she abruptly leaves the restaurant. Just as she arrives, totally dejected, back at her apartment, the publisher calls to tell her that he knows of two publishers who would be interested in her book. She sends out manuscripts to the two publishers the next day.
George Lonegan
In San Francisco, former professional psychic George Lonegan (Matt Damon) is persuaded against his wishes to perform a reading for Christos (Richard Kind), a wealthy client of his brother Billy (Jay Mohr). A genuine medium with a gift for communicating with the dead, George abandoned his old career because he was unable to deal with the emotional impact of the reunions and the often disturbingly intimate family secrets revealed in front of him. While doing the reading, George hears the word June and asks if a date in June means anything to him. Christos at first denies that it means anything, but privately reveals to Billy that June was the name of his late wife's nurse, with whom he was in love for 10 years. Afterwards, Billy pressures George to get back into the business of doing readings; he insists that George has a "gift" and an obligation to help people. George explains that his "gift" is actually a curse, and that the process is extremely painful for him and the people around him.
George enrolls in a cooking class taught by one of San Francisco's leading chefs. Its students are paired-up, resulting in George being partnered with a young woman named Melanie (Bryce Dallas Howard). The two soon hit it off. He is returning to his apartment when confronted by a neighbor of Christos who begs for him to perform a psychic reading in order to talk to her baby again. He refuses.
After attending their second class, George and Melanie decide to put their new culinary skills to use by preparing an Italian dinner at George's place. All goes well until they hear an ill-timed phone message from his brother, which inclines George to reveal his past as a psychic to Melanie. He explains how he fell ill as a child and that during surgery to save him, he suffered brain damage which left him with migraines and the psychic ability, which doctors diagnosed as a form of schizophrenia. He has medication to stop the visions, but does not take it because it robs him of the ability to feel anything. Curious, she presses George to do a reading for her. George explains his reluctance, since he knows it will destroy any chance for a relationship between them. Melanie is insistent, however, and George acquiesces. They contact the spirit of Melanie's mother.
During the first cooking class together, George receives a vision from Melanie when he accidentally touched her. He now reveals it was her father, who was asking her forgiveness for what he did to her as a child. Melanie flees George's home in tears. Saddened, George toys with the idea of taking the medication but instead just deals with his sadness and difficulty with sleeping by listening to audiobook versions of Charles Dickens novels as read by Derek Jacobi. George is laid off from his factory job, and is persuaded by Billy to revive his psychic practice. At the next cooking class, Melanie does not show up.
Marcus
In London, 12-year-old twins Marcus and Jason (Frankie and George McLaren) try desperately to prevent social services from taking them away from their dysfunctional and single mother, Jackie (Lyndsey Marshal), a heavy heroin addict. After evading the police authorities yet again, Jackie sends Jason to the local chemist to pick up her detox prescription. On the way home, Jason is attacked by street thugs, and while trying to escape, he is hit by a van and killed. Marcus hears the commotion through Jason's cell phone and arrives at the accident, horrified to find that his brother has died.
No longer able to protect his mother, and barely able to cope with life without the brother he idolizes, Marcus is sent to a foster home, away from his mother. In his new foster family, Marcus refuses to speak to anyone. He is distant at school and barely does much of anything. He becomes hopeful that there is some way to talk to his brother again. Desperate for one last reunion with his twin brother, Marcus steals money from his foster parents and goes around London seeking psychics to help him contact Jason. Most of the mediums he encounters are either outright frauds or their methods don't work. While he is trying to board the underground at Charing Cross, Jason's cap, which has become a talisman for Marcus, blows off his head. Delayed by trying to find the cap, he misses his train and sees it explode in the tunnel during the 2005 London Bombings.
London Book Fair
Still convinced that his ability is a curse, George abandons Billy and his plans for a psychic business and leaves San Francisco for London. There, he visits the Dickens House and learns of a live reading of Dickens by Derek Jacobi that same day at the London Book Fair. While there, he meets Marie who is at the fair promoting and signing her book. While handing a signed copy of her book to George, their hands touch and George has a psychic flash of Marie's near-death experience.
Marcus and his foster parents are also at the London Book Fair to meet their previous foster son, who is there in his new job as a security guard. While there, Marcus spots George whom he remembered back from when he was searching for psychics online. Marcus attempts to speak with George, who brushes him off and returns to his hotel. Undeterred, Marcus follows him back and stands vigil outside his window until George eventually agrees to do his reading.
Through George, Jason tells Marcus that he is happy in the afterlife. He instructs Marcus to stop wearing his cap and says that is why he knocked it off his head at the train station, which had the side effect of saving him from the bomb. Jason tells Marcus he must now stand on his own but not to fear this "because we are one". Marcus later visits his mother in a rehabilitation center. She is visibly better, and he is not wearing Jason's cap. As compensation for helping him, Marcus lets George know where Marie is staying. George visits the hotel and leaves an anonymous note for Marie, saying he believes her book to be true. She decides to join the anonymous fan for lunch and discovers George. While she is looking for him, George sees a vision of them kissing and holding hands, with the curse/gift gone, and George with some kind of a normal life. The film ends with the two just sitting down to talk close to where George imagined them kissing.
Hidden Figures (2016)
Color
Female mathmaticians help with first lunar mission
Hidden Figures
"In 1961, mathematician Katherine Johnson works as a "computer" in the segregated West Area Computers division of Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, alongside her colleagues, aspiring engineer Mary Jackson and her unofficial supervisor Dorothy Vaughan.
Following a successful Russian satellite launch, pressure to send American astronauts into space increases. White supervisor Vivian Mitchell assigns Katherine to assist the Space Task Group of Al Harrison due to her skills in analytic geometry. She becomes the first African-American woman in the team--and in the building, which has no bathrooms for non-white people.
Katherine's new colleagues are initially dismissive and demeaning, especially head engineer Paul Stafford. Meanwhile, Dorothy's request to be officially promoted to supervisor is rejected by Mitchell. Mary identifies a flaw in the experimental space capsule's heat shields, encouraging her to pursue an engineering degree more assertively.
At a barbecue, Katherine meets National Guard officer Jim Johnson, and they are attracted to each other, but she is disappointed when he voices skepticism about women's mathematical abilities. He later apologizes, and they ultimately get married.
Harrison invites his subordinates to solve a complex mathematical equation, and Katherine steps forward, leaving him impressed. The Mercury 7 astronauts visit Langley and astronaut John Glenn is cordial to the West Area Computers.
Over time, Katherine becomes better acquainted with her colleagues. Harrison becomes upset when she is not at her desk and she angrily explains how far she has to walk to use the colored people's bathroom in another building. Harrison abolishes bathroom segregation, personally knocking down the Colored Bathroom sign. Despite Stafford's objections, he allows Katherine to be included in their meetings, in which she creates an elaborate equation to guide the space capsule into a safe re-entry. Despite this, Katherine is forced to remove her name from all the reports, which are credited solely to Stafford. Meanwhile, Mary goes to court and convinces the judge to grant her permission to attend night classes in an all-white school to obtain her engineering degree.
Dorothy learns of the impending installation of an IBM 7090 electronic computer that could replace her co-workers. She visits the computer room and successfully starts the machine. Later, she visits a public library, where the librarian scolds her for visiting the whites-only section, to borrow a book about FORTRAN. While congratulating Dorothy on her work, Mitchell assures her that she never treated her differently due to the color of her skin; Dorothy is unconvinced. After teaching herself FORTRAN and training her West Area co-workers, she is officially promoted to supervise the Programming Department and the others are transferred there. Mitchell eventually addresses Dorothy as "Mrs Vaughan," indicating her new-found respect.
As the final arrangements for John Glenn's launch are made, Katherine is informed she is no longer needed at Space Task Group and is being reassigned back to West Area Computers. As a wedding and farewell gift from her colleagues, Harrison buys her a pearl necklace, the only jewelry allowed under the dress code.
Prior to the launch, however, discrepancies arise in the IBM 7090 calculations for the capsule's landing coordinates, and Glenn requests that Katherine be called in to check the calculations. Katherine quickly does so and hurriedly delivers the results to the control room, only to have the door slammed in her face. However, Harrison brings her into the control room so they can relay the results to Glenn together.
After a successful launch, the space capsule has a warning light indicating a heat shield problem; mission control decides to land it after three orbits instead of seven. Katherine understands the situation and concurs that they should leave the retro-rocket attached to heat shield for reentry to which Harrison agrees immediately. Their instructions prove correct and Friendship 7 successfully lands in the ocean.
Following the mission, the mathematicians are laid off and ultimately replaced by electronic computers. Katherine is reassigned to the Analysis and Computation Division, Dorothy continues to supervise the Programming Department, and Mary obtains her engineering degree and gains employment at NASA as an engineer.
An epilogue reveals that Katherine calculated the trajectories for the Apollo 11 and Apollo 13 missions In 2015 she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. The following year a new 40,000-square-foot Computational Research Facility at the Langley Research Center was renamed the Katherine G. Johnson Computational Research Facility in her honor.
High School (2010)
Color
Valedictorian gets school high to cover his own failed drug test
High School
High school valedictorian-to-be Henry Burke (Matt Bush) takes his first hit of pot with his ex-best friend Travis (Sean Marquette), only to learn that, due to a spelling bee champion's recent use of marijuana, their high school is conducting a drug test where anyone caught under the influence of anything will be expelled. Travis knows of a psychotic drug dealer, known as Psycho Ed (Adrien Brody), who carries an exclusive kind of pot called "kief", and the two boys steal the stash and intend on getting the whole school high, to invalidate the drug test and save Henry's future. But Psycho Ed is right on their trail and so is Dr. Gordon, the school dean.
Hitler: The Rise of Evil (2003)
Color
Follows Hitler's rise from humble roots to mastry of Germany
Hitler: The Rise of Evil
"The opening of film features a montage of Hitler's life in 1899 to 1914, when he left Austria for Munich. His participation in the First World War on the German side is then shown in a series of episodes that includes his promotion to the rank of corporal, his awarding of the Iron Cross for bravery, and his blinding during a gas attack.
Hitler returns to a revolutionary Munich in 1919 and, still employed by the army, is assigned to report on the newly-formed political parties in the city. After attending a meeting of the German Workers' Party, he is recruited by the party's leader, Anton Drexler, to organise its propaganda activities and give increasingly-popular speeches that harp on the themes that Germany has been betrayed by the leaders who surrendered in the last war and that Communists and Jews are sapping the German spirit from within. After meeting the wealthy art publisher Ernst Hanfstaengl, Hitler is encouraged to refine his image and create a symbol for the party, which he does by adopting the swastika. Hanfstaengl also puts Hitler in contact with the city's elite, including the war hero Hermann Goring, and the militant Ernst Rohm, eventual organiser of the paramilitary SA. In 1921, Hitler forces Drexler to resign and takes over as leader of the renamed National Socialist Party.
In 1923, the Minister of Bavaria, Gustav von Kahr, urged on by his speechwriter, the journalist Fritz Gerlich, tries to outfox Hitler by convincing him that he is preparing to stage a military coup against the national government in Berlin and that Hitler must remain silent, or his party can play no part in it. Upon learning that the proposed putsch is merely a ruse, Hitler confronts Kahr at gunpoint and coerces him and his associates into supporting his own plan for a putsch. Rohm and the SA plan to take over the military barracks in preparation for a march on Berlin, but the attempted coup is quickly crushed. Hitler takes refuge at the Hanfstaengl home, almost resorting to suicide before Ernst's wife takes the gun from his hand.
Arrested by the authorities and tried for treason, Hitler manages to use the trial to his advantage, winning over the audience and the judge with his courtroom theatrics. Consequently, he is awarded a lenient sentence in Landsberg Prison, where he writes his memoirs (later published as Mein Kampf). In 1925, Hitler goes to the countryside to escape from politics and is joined by his older half-sister, Angela, and her daughter, Geli Raubal. When he returns to Munich, Hitler takes Geli with him but, distraught by his overbearing control of her life, she commits suicide.
Eschewing revolution, Hitler now demands that the party follow a democratic course to power. That declaration puts him into conflict with Rohm, but Hitler's demand for complete subordination of the party to himself as F?hrer (Leader) wins the approval of most others, including an impressionable young agitator named Joseph Goebbels. During the late 1920s, the party's political fortunes improve, with the National Socialists gaining more and more seats in the Reichstag with each election. Alarmed by the party's growing popularity, Gerlich continues to write articles in opposition to Hitler and, when the paper's editor fires him, forms his own newspaper.
In 1932, Hitler becomes a German citizen and runs for president against the incumbent, Paul von Hindenburg. Although he is unsuccessful, the party has become the largest in the Reichstag, which emboldens Hitler to demand that he be made Chancellor of Germany. Though Hindenburg despises Hitler, the former Chancellor Franz von Papen helps bring that about in 1933. Later, the Reichstag building is set on fire, allegedly by a communist, and Hitler uses the incident to have parliament award him dictatorial powers, which include suspension of civil liberties and suppression of the press. As a consequence, Gerlich's newspaper is shut down and he is arrested by the SA and sent to a concentration camp.
Germany now becomes a police state, and Hitler crushes all his opponents, both inside and outside the party, which sees Rohm being shot and the SA greatly reduced. After Hindenburg's death in August 1934, Hitler combines the office of president and chancellor into one, finally making him the ultimate ruler of Germany.
Honest Thief (2020)
Color
Bank thief falls in love and decides to come clean, but is double-crossed by two FBI agents
Honest Thief
"Sneaking around Boston for years, Tom Dolan, a former US Marine and demolitions expert, has become a master thief, earning the nickname the "In-and-Out Bandit" for his slick ways when it comes to stealing large amounts of money which he never spends as Tom is in it for the thrill the robberies give him. He turns over a new leaf when he meets and falls in love with Annie Wilkins, a psychology graduate student working at a storage unit facility.
Into their relationship, Tom attempts to turn himself in to the FBI in exchange for a short sentence so he can put his criminal past behind him. FBI Agent Sam Baker brushes him off, having received several false confessions in the past, and sends subordinates John Nivens and Ramon Hall to interview him. Tom directs them to the storage unit where his money is hidden, but Nivens convinces Hall to steal the money and keep it for themselves. Nivens and Hall confront Tom at gunpoint at his hotel where he reveals that he has two-thirds of the money hidden elsewhere as a bargaining chip, but Baker unexpectedly arrives; Nivens murders Baker, and Tom is forced to flee with Annie when she also arrives at the hotel.
Tom tells Annie everything and orders her to flee, fearing for her safety. However, she returns to the storage unit to get security camera evidence that shows Nivens and Hall stealing the money. Nivens and Hall show up and Nivens knocks Annie unconscious, but an increasingly reluctant Hall tricks him into thinking she is dead and takes the evidence, unbeknownst to Nivens. Tom finds Annie and races her to the hospital. He then escapes from police pursuit, defeats Baker's partner Sean Meyers in a fistfight, and tells him what really happened before escaping. Nivens goes to the hospital to kill Annie, but can't get near her because Meyers is sitting in her room. Subsequently, Meyers realizes that Tom is telling the truth after seeing that Nivens' story doesn't add up and returning Hall's gun to him which Tom had given to Meyers, unloaded, as proof during their fight.
Tom ambushes Hall in his home and convinces him to give up the security footage and the location of the safe house where the money was kept. Hall warns Tom that Annie's life is in danger and Tom gets Annie out of the hospital and takes her to a safe place before destroying Nivens' house. Tom then sends Annie to give Meyers the security footage and lead him to the rest of the money in another storage unit as a show of good faith. Nivens flees to the safe house and meets up with Hall, where Tom confronts them. When Nivens discovers Hall turned over the security footage, he murders him in a rage, wounds Tom, and escapes. Anticipating his actions, Tom plants a dud bomb in Nivens' car, forcing him to call in a bomb squad to disarm it. Meyers has Nivens arrested and recovers the stolen money from his car. After Nivens is gone, its revealed that Tom had the remorseful Hall keep a hidden voice recorder on his body which had caught Nivens confessing to Baker's murder as well as Nivens murdering Hall.
Meyers receives the voice recorder, exonerating Tom for the murder of Baker. With his name cleared of the murder charges, Tom turns himself in, and Meyers promises to try to get a lighter sentence for Tom. Meyers expresses his respect for Tom's actions in both taking down Nivens and turning himself in for Annie, suggesting that in other circumstances, Tom would make a good FBI agent.
Horrible Bosses (2011)
Color
3 guys want to do in their bosses
Horrible Bosses
"Nick Hendricks and Dale Arbus are friends who despise their bosses. Nick works at a financial firm for the sadistic David Harken, who dangles the possibility of a promotion in front of Nick, only to award it to himself. Dale is a dental assistant being sexually harassed by his boss, Dr. Julia Harris; she threatens to tell his fiancee (Lindsay Sloane) that he had sex with her unless he actually has sex with her. Nick and Dale's accountant friend Kurt Buckman enjoys working for Jack Pellitt (Donald Sutherland) but after Jack dies, the company is taken over by Jack's cocaine-addicted, amoral son Bobby.
At night, over drinks, Kurt jokingly suggests that their lives would be happier if their bosses were no longer around. Initially hesitant, they eventually agree to do away with their employers. In search of a hitman, the trio meet Dean "Motherfucka" Jones (Foxx), an ex-con who agrees to be their "murder consultant". Jones suggests that Dale, Kurt and Nick kill each other's bosses to hide their motive while making the deaths look like accidents.
The three reconnoiter Bobby's house, and Kurt steals Bobby's phone. They next go to Harken's house. Kurt and Nick go inside while Dale waits in the car. Harken returns home and confronts Dale for littering, but then has an allergy attack from the peanut butter on the litter. Dale saves Harken by stabbing him with an EpiPen. Nick and Kurt think Dale is stabbing Harken to death and flee, Kurt accidentally dropping Bobby's phone in Harken's bedroom. Harken's wife Rhonda (Julie Bowen) thanks Dale for saving her husband, causing Harken to jealously accuse her of having an affair with Dale. The next night, Kurt watches Julia's home, but she seduces and has sex with him. Nick and Dale wait outside Bobby's and Harken's houses to commit the murders. Harken discovers Bobby's cellphone in his bedroom and uses it to find his address, suspecting Rhonda is having another affair. He drives over and kills Bobby, with Nick as a secret witness.
Nick flees at high speed, setting off a traffic camera. The three friends meet to discuss their reservations about continuing with their plan. They are arrested by the police, who feel the camera footage makes them suspects in Bobby's murder. Lacking evidence, the police are forced to let the trio go free.
They consult with Jones again, but learn that he has never actually killed anyone, having been imprisoned for bootlegging the film Snow Falling on Cedars. They decide their only option is to get Harken to confess and secretly tape it. The three accidentally crash Harken's surprise birthday party. Nick and Dale get Harken to confess to the murder before realizing that Kurt, who has the audio recorder, is elsewhere having sex with Rhonda. Harken threatens to kill all three for attempting to blackmail him. They flee by car. Harken gives chase, ramming their vehicle. Kurt asks his car's navigation-system operator to help get them out of trouble. Believing they have committed a crime, the operator remotely disables Kurt's car, allowing Harken to catch and hold them at gunpoint. Harken shoots himself in the leg as he boasts about his plan to frame them for murdering Bobby and attempting to kill him to get rid of the witness.
The police arrest Nick, Dale and Kurt, but the navigation-system operator reveals that the entire conversation was recorded. Harken is sentenced to 25 years to life in prison, while the friends get their charges waived. Nick is promoted to president of the company under an abusive CEO (Bob Newhart), Kurt retains his job under a new boss, and Dale blackmails Julia into ending her harassment by convincing her to sexually harass a supposedly unconscious patient while Jones secretly records the act.
Hot Fuzz (2007)
Color
Cop deals with a surge of accidents in sleepy town
Hot Fuzz
"Police Constable Nicholas Angel, a high-achieving member of the Metropolitan Police Service, is transferred to the village of Sandford, Gloucestershire for making his colleagues look bad by comparison. Sandford is a crime-free idyll, a regular winner of "Village of the Year" awards, watched over by the Neighbourhood Watch Alliance (NWA). To Angel's frustration, the local police service is lazy and complacent. His new partner is Danny Butterman, son of Inspector Frank Butterman, who constantly discusses his love for action and buddy cop films.
After a local theatre performance of Romeo and Juliet, the actors in the lead roles, suspected of engaging in an affair, are murdered by a cloaked figure. Angel suspects foul play, but everyone else passes it off as an accident. When Angel is called to resolve a neighborhood dispute, he discovers a stash of unlicensed firearms and an old naval mine in an elderly man's shed. Angel confiscates the stash in the police department's evidence room.
Drinking in the village pub, Danny and Angel meet Simon Skinner, manager of the local supermarket, and George Merchant, a wealthy drunkard who made his fortune selling kitchen goods. Danny takes Angel home and the two binge-watch action movies. That evening, an unseen figure causes a gas explosion that destroys Merchant's mansion, killing him. The incident is deemed an accident and Angel is ridiculed for believing otherwise.
At the local fair, Tim Messenger, editor of the Sandford Citizen, approaches Angel, claiming to have information regarding Merchant. A robed figure topples a severed church spire onto Messenger, killing him. Angel persuades Frank that the incident was murder and discovers a link between the victims in the Sandford Citizen.
Leslie Tiller, the village florist, tells Angel she intends to sell her shop and move to the city. While Angel is distracted, Tiller is murdered by a cloaked figure. Angel gives chase but loses the killer. Angel accuses Skinner of the murders, but his alibi is backed up by video footage. Angel theorises they may be multiple killers, but Frank shoots down the idea.
As Angel returns home, he is attacked by Michael Armstrong, one of Skinner's supermarket employees. Angel subdues Armstrong and follows clues that lead him to a secret NWA meeting. Angel confronts the NWA and tries to arrest them. The group reveals that they kill residents who threaten Sandford's chances of winning the "Village of the Year" award. After Frank reveals himself as one of them, Angel flees and discovers the bodies of the NWA's many victims. As the NWA corners Angel, Danny appears and fakes Angel's murder. Pretending to dispose of the body, Danny helps Angel escape the NWA; he begs him to leave the village for his own safety.
At a petrol station, Angel is inspired by the movies he watched with Danny, and returns to Sandford. He arms himself with the confiscated guns and reunites with Danny. The pair engage in shootouts with the NWA, then besiege the supermarket with the rest of the police force, forcing Skinner to flee with Inspector Butterman. After a car chase that ends in a model village of Sandford itself, Skinner and Frank are arrested.
Angel's former superiors beg him to return to London, as the crime rate has risen in his absence, but Angel remains in Sandford. As the officers process the paperwork, Tom Weaver, the last NWA member, attempts to kill Angel. Danny takes a bullet for Angel, and in the process Weaver accidentally activates the confiscated naval mine, destroying the station and killing him. One year later, Angel and Danny are in charge of the Sandford Police as Inspector and Sergeant, respectively.
Hotel Rwanda (2004)
Color
Hotel manager saves 1000 refugees
Hotel Rwanda
"In April 1994, tensions between the Hutu and Tutsi peoples lead to genocide in Rwanda, where corruption and bribes between politicians are routine. Paul Rusesabagina, manager of the H?tel des Mille Collines, is Hutu, but his wife Tatiana is Tutsi. Their marriage is a source of friction with Hutu extremists, including Georges Rutaganda, a goods supplier to the hotel who is also the local leader of Interahamwe, a brutal Hutu militia.
As the political situation in the country worsens following the assassination of the president, Paul and his family observe neighbors being killed, initiating the early stages of the genocide. Paul curries favor with people of influence, bribing them with money and alcohol, seeking to maintain sufficient influence to keep his family safe. When civil war erupts and a Rwandan Army officer threatens Paul and his neighbors, Paul barely negotiates their safety and brings them to the hotel. Upon returning with them, he finds his receptionist Gregoire occupying the Presidential suite threatening to rat them out if he is put back to work.
More evacuees arrive at the hotel from the overburdened UN refugee camp, the Red Cross, and various orphanages, among which Tatiana desperately searches for her brother, sister-in-law, and two nieces. As the situation becomes more violent, Paul must divert the Hutu soldiers, care for the refugees, be a source of strength for his family, and maintain the appearance of a functioning hotel. He eventually gains the protection of the Rwandan army general Augustin Bizimungu, who threatens Gregoire back to work.
Low on supplies, Paul and Gregoire drive to collect hotel supplies from Georges Rutaganda and witnesses Tutsi hostages being treated violently by the Hutu militia. Georges explains to Paul that the "rich cockroaches'" money is going to be valueless because all of the Tutsis will be dead. Paul expresses disbelief that the Hutu extremists will wipe out all of the Tutsis, but Georges replies: "Why not? We are halfway there already."
They return to the hotel through the dark and thick fog, on a road that Georges recommends. At one point, Paul believes they have gone off the road and tells Gregoire to stop. When Paul exits the vehicle, he sees the riverside road is full of bodies and realizes that Georges was correct in his estimation that half the Tutsis are already dead.
The UN peacekeeping forces, led by Canadian Colonel Oliver, are unable to take assertive action against the Interahamwe because the peacekeepers are forbidden to intervene in the conflict and prevent the genocide. The foreign nationals are evacuated, but the Rwandans are left behind. When the UN forces attempt to evacuate a group of refugees, including Paul's family, Gregoire betrays them by informing the Interahamwe of the evacuation, and they are ambushed and forced to turn back.
In a last-ditch effort to save the refugees, Paul pleads with General Bizimungu for assistance. However, when Paul's bribes no longer work, he blackmails the general with threats of him being tried as a war criminal if he doesn't help. Soon afterward, Paul's family and the hotel refugees are finally able to leave the besieged hotel in a UN convoy. They travel through retreating masses of refugees and militia to reach safety behind Tutsi rebel lines and are reunited with their nieces.
The end title cards explain that Paul saved at least 1,200 Tutsi and Hutu refugees. He and his family, who adopted the two nieces, moved to Belgium, but Tatiana's brother Thomas and his wife were never found. The genocide came to an end in July 1994 when the Tutsi rebels drove the Hutu militia and the Interahamwe across the border into the Congo. At least one million people died in the genocide.
Houdini (1953)
Color
Biopic follows the life of Harry Houdini
Houdini
"In the 1890s, young Harry Houdini (Tony Curtis) is performing with a Coney Island carnival as Bruto, the Wild Man, when Bess (Janet Leigh), a naive onlooker, tries to protect him from the blows of Schultz (Sig Ruman), his "trainer." Harry then appears as magician The Great Houdini and, spotting Bess in the audience, invites her on stage. Harry flirts with the unsuspecting Bess during his act, but she flees from him in a panic. When Bess shows up to watch Harry perform two more times, however, he corners her. Bess admits her attraction, and soon after, the two appear at Harry's mother's house, newly married. Bess becomes Harry's onstage partner, touring the country with him, but soon grows tired of the low pay and grueling schedule.
After Bess convinces Harry to take a job in a locksmith factory, Harry works as a lock tester while fantasizing about escaping from one of the factory's large safes. On Halloween, Harry and Bess attend a special magicians' dinner at the Hotel Astor, during which magician Fante offers a prize to anyone who can free himself from a straitjacket. Harry accepts the challenge and, through intense concentration, extricates himself from the jacket, greatly impressing Fante. Afterward, however, Fante advises Harry to "drop it," noting that Johann Von Schweger, a German magician, retired at the height of his career after performing a similar feat, fearful of his own talents. Bess then persuades Harry to give her his prize, a single, round-trip boat ticket to Europe, so that she can cash it in for a down payment on a house.
Later, at the factory, Harry locks himself inside one of the big safes, determined to make an escape. Before he can get out, however, the foreman orders the safe blown open, then fires Harry. That night, in front of his mother (Angela Clarke), Harry and Bess argue about their future, and frustrated by Bess's insistence that he quit magic, Harry walks out. Soon, a contrite Bess finds Harry performing with a carnival and presents him with two one-way tickets to Europe. Sometime later, at a London theater, Harry and Bess are concluding their magic act when a reporter named Dooley (Michael Pate) challenges Harry to break out of one of Scotland Yard's notoriously secure jail cells. Harry, who hired Dooley to issue the challenge, accepts the challenge, unaware that the jail's cells do not have locks in the door, but on the outside wall. Despite the added difficulty, the dexterous, determined Houdini picks the cell lock and appears on time for his next performance. Now billed as the "man who escaped from Scotland Yard," Harry begins a successful tour of Europe with Bess.
In Berlin, Harry is joined by his mother and begins searching for the reclusive Von Schweger. While performing an impromptu levitation trick with Bess at a restaurant, Harry is arrested for fraud. During his trial, Harry denies that he ever made claims to supernatural powers, insisting that all his tricks are accomplished through physical means. To prove his point, Harry locks himself in a safe in the courtroom and breaks out a few minutes later, noting that safe locks are designed to keep thieves out, not in. Vindicated, Harry then goes to see Von Schweger, who finally has responded to his queries, but learns from Von Schweger's assistant, Otto (Torin Thatcher), that the magician died two days earlier. Otto reveals that Von Schweger summoned Harry to ask him the secret of "dematerialization," a feat he accomplished once but could not repeat. Although Harry demurs, Otto insists on becoming Harry's new assistant and travels with him to New York.
There, Harry finds he is virtually unknown, so for publicity, hangs upside down on a skyscraper flagpole, constrained by a straitjacket. Harry executes the escape and soon makes a name for himself in America. To prepare to be submerged in a box in the chilly Detroit River, Harry bathes in an ice-filled bathtub. During the trick, which takes place on Halloween, the chain holding the box breaks, and the box drops upside down into an opening in the ice-covered river. Although Harry manages to escape from the box, the current drags him downstream, and he struggles to find air pockets under the ice and swim back to the opening. Above, Bess and the horrified audience assume Harry has drowned and proclaim his demise. To Bess's relief, Harry shows up later at their hotel, saying that he heard his mother's voice, directing him toward the opening. Just then, Harry receives word that his mother died at the exact time that he heard her voice.
Two years later in New York, Harry, who has not performed since his mother's death, reveals to Simms (Douglas Spencer), a reporter, that he has been trying to contact his mother's spirit, without success. Harry invites Simms to attend a seance with him, and after the medium appears to have communicated with his mother, Harry and Otto expose her as a fake. After a public crusade against phony mediums, Harry decides to return to the stage and builds a watery torture cell for the occasion. Terrified, Bess threatens to leave Harry unless he drops the dangerous trick, and he agrees not to perform it. Before the show, Harry admits to Otto that his appendix is tender, but goes on, despite the pain. When the audience noisily demands that he perform the advertised "water torture" trick, Harry succumbs and is immersed, upside down, in a tank of water. Weak, Harry cannot execute the escape and loses consciousness. Otto breaks the tank's glass, and after reviving, the now-dying Harry vows to a weeping Bess that he will come back.
House of Cards (1993)
Color
After moving, mother finds out her child is autistic
House of Cards
Following the death of her husband, Ruth Matthews moved her family to a quiet suburb, hoping to put the past behind them. While her son Michael is able to adapt, her daughter, Sally, is apparently traumatized by the experience and starts displaying unusual behavior. Ruth is later court mandated to see Jake Beerlander, an expert in child autism, to help Sally.
House of Gucci (2021)
Color
When Patrizia marries into the family, her ambition triggers a spiral of betrayal, and murder
House of Gucci
"n 1978, Patrizia Reggiani is a young, attractive Italian woman working as an office manager within her father's small trucking firm. At a party, Patrizia meets Maurizio Gucci, a law student and heir to a 50% interest in the Gucci fashion house through his father Rodolfo. Patrizia aggressively pursues the awkward Maurizio, charming him into love. Rodolfo warns Maurizio that Patrizia is only after wealth and tells Maurizio that he will disinherit him if he marries Patrizia; Maurizio chooses Patrizia over his connection to Gucci, leaving the family. Patrizia and Maurizio marry, and Maurizio takes a job at the Reggiani trucking company. When Patrizia becomes pregnant, she sees her child as an avenue for familial reconciliation. She lets it slip to Maurizio's uncle Aldo that she is pregnant; Aldo is delighted by the news and takes the couple under his wing. Aldo introduces Patrizia to his unintelligent son Paolo, who aspires to be a designer within Gucci despite his lack of talent. Thanks to Aldo, Maurizio and a terminally ill Rodolfo reconcile shortly before the latter's death. Rodolfo writes Maurizio back into his will, but fails to sign a document transferring the Gucci shares to him before he dies. Patrizia forges Rodolfo's signature, giving Maurizio a 50% interest in Gucci.
Patrizia starts to devise a plot to obtain a controlling interest in Gucci by acquiring some of Aldo and Paolo's shares (the two hold the other 50% interest). She clashes with Aldo over the firm's clandestine sale of cheap "fake" Gucci products on the black market, and begins to consult Giuseppina "Pina", a psychic, for guidance. She manipulates Maurizio, who has little real interest in Gucci, into taking a more active role within the company. Paolo acquires proof that Aldo has been evading taxes in the United States; he gives the proof to Patrizia in exchange for her promise that he will be allowed to design his own line. Aldo is arrested by the IRS and sentenced to a year and a day in prison. Patrizia lies to the Italian police and tells them that Paolo is not authorized to use the Gucci trademark; the police stop his fashion show by force. Patrizia and Maurizio ask Paolo to sell them his shares, but he rebuffs them and cuts ties between them.
Italian police ransack Maurizio's house and attempt to arrest Maurizio for forging Rodolfo's signature. Maurizio's family flee to Switzerland, where Maurizio meets his old friend Paola Franchi. After an argument between Maurizio and Patrizia, Maurizio decides that he is tired of his wife's influence on himself and the company. He orders his wife and daughter to return to Italy and begins an affair with Paola, which Pina seemingly senses. When Maurizio's business plans harm the company, he seeks assistance from equity company Investcorp, through which he hatches a scheme to acquire shares of the company from a now-impoverished Paolo. Aldo returns from prison and immediately realizes what Paolo has done. When Investcorp offers to buy Aldo out, he refuses until Maurizio reveals himself as the deal's instigator. Dejected, Aldo sells the shares and cuts contact with Maurizio.
Patrizia attempts a reconciliation with Maurizio, but he flatly ignores her. Later, he asks Patrizia for a divorce through his long-time assistant Domenico De Sole, which Patrizia refuses. Maurizio recruits up-and-coming designer Tom Ford to revitalize the company's image through a new line. Ford's products are successful, but Maurizio has so thoroughly mismanaged the company that, by 1997, Investcorp's leaders feel compelled to buy him out, replacing him with Ford and De Sole. Patrizia eventually grows so furious with Maurizio that she asks Pina to help her kill him. Pina puts Patrizia in contact with two hitmen. A few days later, the hitmen shoot Maurizio to death in broad daylight outside his office.
Closing intertitles describe the fate of the remaining characters: Aldo died of prostate cancer in 1990 and Paolo died in poverty shortly following the sale of their shares to Maurizio. Patrizia, Pina, and the hitmen are sentenced to long prison terms following their arrest for murder. Gucci is fully acquired by Investcorp and successfully managed into the present; no Gucci family members remain at the company.
House of Sand and Fog (2003)
Color
Woman loses house and tries to get it back from new owner
House of Sand and Fog
"Abandoned by her husband and trapped in a malaise that has left her depressed and indifferent to her surroundings, recovering drug addict Kathy Nicolo (Jennifer Connelly), living alone in a small house near San Francisco, ignores eviction notices erroneously sent to her for nonpayment of county taxes. Assuming the misunderstanding was cleared up months ago, she is surprised when Sheriff's Deputy Lester Burdon (Ron Eldard) arrives to forcibly evict her from her house. Telling Kathy that her home is to be auctioned off, Burdon feels sympathy for her, helps her move out and advises her to seek legal assistance to regain her house.
Immigrant Massoud Amir Behrani (Ben Kingsley), a former colonel in the Iranian military who fled his homeland with his family, now lives in San Francisco working multiple menial jobs. Living beyond his means, he maintains the facade of a respectable businessman so as not to shame his wife Nadereh (Shohreh Aghdashloo), son Esmail (Jonathan Ahdout) and married daughter Soraya. Seeing the auction of Kathy's house in the newspaper, he buys it for a quarter of its actual value intending to improve and sell the house and use the profits to secure his family's future. While driving by, Kathy is angered to see her house being renovated and confronts the construction workers, injuring her foot. Nadereh and Esmail treat her wound, but her jealousy at seeing how the Behranis have settled in only makes her more determined to get her house back.
Taking Lester's advice, Kathy finds an attorney who assures her that because of the county's mistake, they will return Massoud's money and the house will be restored to her. Massoud, having already spent money on improving the house, is unwilling to accept anything less than the much higher appraised value of the property, which the county refuses to pay. Informed that her only option is to sue the county, Kathy instead tries to convince Massoud to sell back the house for what he paid by telling him she and her brother inherited it from their father. Massoud refuses and angrily manhandles Kathy back into her car.
Desperate for help and a place to stay, Kathy seeks Lester out and enters his private life; the two begin an affair and eventually he abandons his wife and children and becomes her protector. Lester confronts Massoud under a pseudonym, threatening to have him deported if he refuses to resell the house back to the county. Massoud reports this to the police and identifies Lester from a photo, resulting in a reprimand by Internal Affairs, and furiously warns Kathy to back off. Now aware that Lester is in trouble, Kathy calls her brother Frank, but he is unwilling to help her.
Despondent, Kathy attempts suicide outside her old house, but Massoud finds her and brings her inside the house. Kathy again tries to kill herself with pills, but Nadereh saves her by inducing her to vomit. As she and her husband carry Kathy to the bedroom, Lester breaks into the house, sees Kathy unconscious, and locks the Behranis in their own bathroom, refusing to let them out until Massoud agrees to relinquish the house. Massoud eventually offers to sell the house back to the county for the price he paid and will give Kathy the money in exchange for her putting the house in his name. Lester agrees to take Massoud and Esmail to the county office to finalize the transaction, while Kathy reluctantly goes along with the plan.
Outside the office, Lester begins to manhandle Massoud and Esmail seizes Lester's gun and aims it at him. Massoud grabs hold of Lester and screams for help, drawing the attention of nearby police officers who misinterpret the situation and shoot Esmail instead of Lester. Massoud is arrested but is released after Lester confesses and is imprisoned.
After his release, Massoud rushes to the hospital only to find his son did not survive. Massoud, distraught and grief-stricken after the loss of his son, goes home and kills Nadereh by lacing her tea with a lethal dose of medication. He then dons his old military uniform, tapes a plastic dust cover over his head, and asphyxiates himself beside Nadereh's body whilst clutching her hand. Kathy eventually finds the couple and frantically attempts to revive Massoud with CPR but she is too late. As the bodies of Massoud and Nadereh are taken away by paramedics, a policeman asks Kathy if the house is hers. After a long pause, she quietly replies "no".
How to Lose a Guy 10 Days (2003)
Color
Player makes a bet he can get a woman, while she writes an article how to get rid of a guy
How to Lose a Guy 10 Days
"Andie Anderson (Kate Hudson) is a writer for the women's magazine Composure as the "How to", subject-matter expert. She is bored and wishes she could write about more serious topics. After Andie's best friend Michelle (Kathryn Hahn) experiences yet another break-up, Andie is inspired to write a new article titled "How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days"; she will begin dating a man and drive him away within 10 days.
Simultaneously, advertising executive Benjamin "Ben" Barry (Matthew McConaughey) is looking to branch out from his usual remit of beer and sports campaigns, and lead a prestigious advertising campaign for a diamond company. At a bar, Ben's boss, Phillip (Robert Klein) questions whether Ben has enough insight into the romance typically associated with diamonds, and in response Ben wagers he could make any woman fall in love with him. His manager accepts the wager and says that if he can achieve this before an event that will take place in 10 days, he will allow Ben to lead the diamond campaign. Ben's rivals, Judy Spears and Judy Green (Michael Michele and Shalom Harlow), were at the Composure magazine offices earlier in the day and know about Andie's task. Seeing Andie at the bar, they pick her as the woman to be romanced by Ben.
Ben and Andie meet and soon start their quests, neither revealing their true intentions. Andie works hard to drive Ben insane and make him break up with her in order to complete her article, but Ben continues to stick around in hopes of making her fall in love with him. Andie gets Ben knocked out in a movie theater by talking aloud while watching a film, rapidly moves her things into his apartment, acts overly possessive and clingy, ruins his boys' poker night for him and his friends, and takes him to a Celine Dion concert when he was under the assumption he was going to see a New York Knicks basketball game.
Ben stays with her despite everything, and after coming very close to breaking up they attend couples counseling, led by Andie's friend Michelle. They agree, as a solution to their problems, to visit Ben's family in Staten Island for the weekend. While vacationing together Ben and Andie begin to form a genuine bond. Andie then tries to explain to her boss Lana (Bebe Neuwirth) that she cannot continue writing and publishing this article as she has "really got to know this guy", but Lana remains insistent upon it. Around the same time, Andie and Ben go to the company ball together where Phillip meets Andie and tells Ben that he "met her, she loves you, you win".
Seeing Ben's good news, Judy and Judy set about to sabotage him. They tell his close colleagues, Tony and Thayer (Adam Goldberg and Thomas Lennon), that Andie knew about the bet all along and was playing along to help Ben win. Tony and Thayer beg Andie to keep quiet, unwittingly making her aware of the bet. Almost simultaneously, Lana, who is unaware of Ben's role in Andie's "How To" article, reveals Andie's true intentions to Ben. Upon learning of Ben's bet, Andie attempts to humiliate Ben in front of everyone at the party, and the pair argue on stage.
They go their separate ways before Ben is shown Andie's article and encouraged to read it. She explains in it how she "lost the one person she ever fell for", and, when he hears she quit her job at Composure and is on her way to Washington, D.C. for an interview, he chases her taxi and stops her. Once he accuses her of running away, they reveal their true feelings for each other and the film ends with Ben instructing the taxi driver to return Andie's belongings to her home, and then they kiss.
Howards End (2017)
Color
Follows the Wealthy Wilcoxes, gentle, idealistic Schlegels and lower-middle class Basts
Howards End
Margaret Schlegel is an intelligent, idealistic young woman who is courted by the older Henry Wilcox, a self-made conservative businessman, after his wife Ruth Wilcox dies unexpectedly and he becomes owner of Howards End. Meanwhile Margaret's passionate and capricious younger sister Helen Schlegel takes up the cause of Leonard Bast, a young bank clerk who falls on hard times at work and at home with his partner Jacky. In the absence of their late parents, the sisters' loving but interfering Aunt Juley tries to keep the young ladies and their brother Tibby on the straight and narrow.
Hud (1963)
Black & White
Hud, who is constantly fighting with his father, can't wait to inherit his ranch
Hud
"Hud Bannon (Paul Newman) is an ambitious, brash, callous and self-centered man whose life fits him like a cheap suit. He has few interests other than enjoying himself and avoiding responsibility. His life is limited to drinking, brawling in bars, joyriding in his sporty pink Cadillac, and sleeping with women (married or otherwise). Although his elderly rancher-father Homer (Melvyn Douglas) is a deeply principled man, none of his ethics have rubbed off on Hud; he's (maybe) the spoiled youngest son and baby-brother of Homer's eldest son, Norman.
Also living at the Bannon Ranch is Hud's teenage nephew Lonnie (Brandon deWilde). Lonnie's late father was Hud's elder brother, Norman, who died in a car wreck as a result of Hud's recklessness. Hud wrongly believes that his brother's death is the primary cause of Homer's anger and resentment toward him. The age difference between Hud and (his late brother) Norman makes Hud much nearer in age to his nephew Lonnie than he would otherwise be. Throughout the early part of the film, Lonnie is continuously seeking ways to develop a post-childhood brotherly relationship with Hud, looking toward establishing as a young man the kind of personal bonds that can exist between young-adult brothers. Indeed, in the course of the screenplay's unfolding of its events, Hud does begin to open up to his nephew. but for reasons that will later be revealed, the transparent falseness of Hud's opening up to Lonnie only confirms the despicable nature of his character. Hud, in a true act of adult cruelty (that reveals his true nature) comes to recognize Lonnie's desire for an emotional attachment to him, and tries to use this attraction to gain Lonnie's support in his moves against Homer.
The central challenge in the screenplay's plot that the Bannons have to confront is the fact that Homer has probably permanently destroyed the ranch's operational and financial viability through his own acts of carelessness. He buys some cheap Mexican cattle which, unknown to him, are infected with foot-and-mouth disease. He failed to quarantine these animals (after they were brought to the ranch), though they had been bought from sources both out of the state and out of the country entirely.
Homer only calls in Hud after some of the cattle in the herd have simply dropped dead, without obvious cause. Homer alone decided upon what course of action to take and merely wanted Hud to share standing watch over the dead carcasses in shifts until the state veterinarian arrived to formally test them. Hud, who suspects what the problem might be when Homer tells him the origin of the newly bought cattle, recommends they quickly sell them before word gets out.
But Homer, ignoring both Hud's suggestion and the financial consequences to the ranch, does not alter his decision, and he calls in the state veterinarian (Whit Bissell). The vet immediately issues a legally binding order that the Bannon ranch be quarantined. Thus, no livestock movement to or from the ranch is possible. After the test results come back, the vet orders the entire herd be destroyed and buried on the ranch under state supervision, to quarantine the infection there and to keep it from spreading. Although this will probably bankrupt the Bannons, Homer complies, rather than risk spreading the disease or passing the problem on to unsuspecting buyers. Hud is angry that his inheritance has been eroded; he attempts to have Homer declared legally incompetent, so that he can usurp control of their ranch.
In a key scene, Hud takes Lonnie out for a night on the town. They get drunk and triumph in a barroom brawl. Afterwards, back on the ranch, Hud begins to reflect on "old times" when he and Lonnie's father used to do the same thing. He briefly lets down his guard about his feelings toward his brother, Norman's untimely death, and his father's coldness towards him. Homer confronts Hud as they come into the ranch house; he accuses his son of trying to corrupt Lonnie. Most angering of all to Homer is that fact that he clearly sees the cunning, ulterior motive of Hud in his show of personal attention and feigned affection toward Lonnie, in that Hud is trying to use this attraction to gain Lonnie's support in his moves against Homer.
A huge blowup between father and son ensues; Hud accuses Homer of hypocrisy, "quoting Scripture like he wrote it himself" and nursing a hatred for him over Norman's death. Homer reveals that his disappointment runs deeper than that and long predated the fatal wreck: "I took that hard, but I buried it!" He is then goaded by Hud into spilling out his deep, visceral disgust for him, saying that Hud cares about no one but himself and is so unethical that he's "not fit to live with." Hud says, "My mama loved me, but then she died."
Lonnie and Hud are both attracted to the Bannons' middle-aged housekeeper, Alma (Patricia Neal); yet Hud is crude and insulting to her, while Lonnie is protective. Although Hud's attraction to her is (at first) somewhat mutual, Alma keeps her distance because she has already been "around the block" with macho womanizers like Hud.
In a drunken rage, Hud forces himself upon Alma, and Lonnie comes to her aid. She promptly flees the ranch, disgusted and demoralized at Hud's brutishness. After Lonnie drops her off at the bus station, Hud happens by as she is waiting. He apologizes for his drunken assault, but not for his attraction to her. Driving back to the ranch, Lonnie spots his grandfather at the roadside. Homer has fallen from his horse during a survey of the Bannon ranch. Hud pulls up behind Lonnie, and both try to help Homer, but he does not survive. At the very end, Homer accuses Hud of being eager for him to die.
Although Lonnie initially idealized Hud for his charm and liveliness, he is repelled by his uncle's treatment of Homer and Alma; Lonnie now sees Hud for what he is. After Homer's funeral, Lonnie leaves the ranch, not sure if he will ever return. Lonnie tells Hud to put his half of their inheritance in the bank, then walks off. For a moment, Hud feels the emptiness of his life, which he has created by driving everyone who loved him away. But after a swig of beer and a moment's thought, he dismisses Lonnie's departure with a deprecating wave and a smile of indifference. Hud goes back into the Bannon house alone; the final fade-out shows the window shade's pull-ring, swaying to and fro.
Hustlers (2019)
Color
During the 2008 collapse, Destiny and Ramona turn the tables on their Wall Street clientele
Hustlers
"In 2014, Elizabeth, a journalist, is working on a story involving former New York City-based stripper Dorothy, known as Destiny, and Destiny's former friend and mentor, Ramona Vega.
Seven years prior Destiny is working at Moves, a strip club, to support her grandmother, but is barely getting by. Mesmerized by Ramona's performance and the money she earns, Destiny strikes up a conversation. Ramona agrees to take Destiny under her wing, and the two form a formidable team. Destiny enjoys newfound wealth and a deep friendship with Ramona. A year later, the financial crisis of 2007--2008 strikes, and both women find themselves out of a job and lose touch. During this period, Destiny becomes a struggling single parent who has difficulty finding a job.
With no other options, Destiny returns to dancing. However, Moves has changed: the financial crisis has impacted the number of customers, and the club is primarily staffed by dancers from Russia regularly willing to perform sex acts for money, a line Destiny crosses in a moment of desperation. She reconnects with Ramona, who introduces her to her new hustle. Along with her two protegees, Mercedes and Annabelle, Ramona targets rich men at bars. The women pretend to drink with each target while secretly lacing the men's drinks with a ketamine/MDMA mix; once inebriated, they are escorted to Moves where the crew has negotiated a set cut rate that they receive based on how much they are able to charge on their targets' credit card.
The hustle proves itself to be very lucrative, and the women enjoy their new source of wealth. However, other strippers begin to emulate their strategies of bringing the clubs clients for a cut. Furious, Ramona cuts her business ties with Moves, reasoning that they can keep the entirety of what they earn; the group begins to service clients in hotel rooms or their own homes. Mercedes and Annabelle become uncomfortable with the new practice and no longer reliably show up, so Ramona hires women with drug problems and criminal records as well as sourcing strangers as new clients against Destiny's advice.
Destiny's fears prove true when a client Ramona booked for Mercedes suffers a near-fatal accident and she must take him to the hospital when Ramona cannot be reached, with Mercedes bailing out in the process. It is revealed that Ramona had again been preoccupied with bailing Dawn, a drug-addicted new hire whom Destiny finds sloppy and unreliable, out of jail. Upon returning home, Destiny finds that her grandmother, who has raised her since she was a child, has died. At the funeral, Ramona makes amends and promises to take care of Destiny from now on.
Returning to 2014, Destiny becomes uncomfortable when Elizabeth insists on talking about Ramona and why they ended their friendship; she stops the interview when Elizabeth brings up Doug. When Elizabeth returns home, Destiny calls to finish their conversation, recalling how her friendship with Ramona--and their crime ring--fell apart. She explains that Ramona's continued callousness drove a wedge between the women, and Destiny could no longer justify her crimes. Doug was one of her last targets, who Destiny viewed as genuinely nice person, as opposed to their initial targets, sleazy Wall Street bankers not held accountable for causing the 2008 market crash. Doug is able to convince the police to take his claims seriously because he has evidence of the group's crime, leading to Dawn being picked up by the police and quickly agreeing to wear a wire to implicate Destiny and Ramona; the investigators manage to locate several other corroborating victims. Destiny, Ramona, Annabelle, and Mercedes are arrested, but only Destiny takes a plea deal to serve no jail time, because she does not want her daughter to grow up without a mother the way she did. Ramona is sentenced to five years of probation, while the others serve short jail sentences on weekends before being released on probation.
Sometime later, Elizabeth receives a call from Destiny, who has read the article and asks her if Ramona ever said anything about her. Elizabeth reveals that she only interviewed Ramona once, during which she explains that after an incident she started to keep her most valued possessions with her at all times, including a cherished childhood photo of Destiny. Ramona fondly expresses that she could never understand how Destiny's parents could have abandoned her. At the end of their call, Elizabeth encourages Destiny to reach out to Ramona.
I Am Legend (2007)
Color
Virus turns humans into Zombies
I Am Legend
"In 2009, a genetically re-engineered measles virus, originally created as a cure for cancer, turns into a lethal strain which kills 94% of those it infects, mutates 5% into predatory, nocturnal and vampiric mutants called "Dark seekers" who are extremely vulnerable to sunlight and other sources of UV, with only the remaining 1% immune. Three years after the outbreak, US Army virologist Lieutenant Colonel Robert Neville (Will Smith) lives an isolated life in the ruins of New York City, which is now deserted, unsure if any other uninfected humans are left in the world.
The effects of the virus vary in other species; animals that coexist with humans, like rats and domestic dogs, are infected, but wild animals, like deer and lions, remain unaffected. The city has fallen into ruins and overgrown vegetation covers crumbling buildings and wild deer roam the streets while being preyed upon by lions that have escaped Central Park Zoo. Neville's daily routine includes experimentation on infected rats to find a cure for the virus and trips through Manhattan to hunt for food and supplies. He also waits each day for a response to his continuous recorded radio broadcasts, which instruct any uninfected survivors to meet him at midday at the South Street Seaport.
Flashbacks reveal that his wife (Salli Richardson) and daughter (Willow Smith) died in a helicopter accident during the chaotic evacuation of Manhattan, prior to the military-enforced quarantine of the island in 2009, in which Neville stays behind on the island as military personnel. Neville's loneliness is mitigated by the companionship of his German Shepherd Samantha aka Sam (given to him by his daughter Marley as a puppy to protect him before she died in the helicopter crash), interaction with mannequins he has set up as patrons at a video store, and recordings of old television broadcasts. At night, he barricades himself and Sam inside his heavily fortified Washington Square Park home to hide from the Darkseekers. One day, while waiting for survivors, Sam follows a deer into a dark building. Neville cautiously goes in after her and finds the deer's corpse along with Sam, but the building is infested by a colony of Darkseekers. Both manage to escape unharmed and the attacking Darkseekers are killed by the sunlight.
Neville finds a promising treatment derived from his own blood, so he sets a snare trap and captures a female Darkseeker from the colony building, while a male Darkseeker (termed "Alpha Male" in the script, and played by Dash Mihok)[6] tries to go after them, but is blocked by the sunlight and returns to the shadows. Back in his laboratory in the basement of his house, Neville treats the female without success. The next day, he is ensnared in a trap similar to the one he used to capture the female, and by the time he manages to escape, the sun is setting and he is attacked by infected dogs. Neville and Sam manage to kill them, but Sam is bitten in the fight. Neville brings Sam home and injects her with a strand of his serum, but when she shows signs of infection and tries to attack him, Neville is forced to strangle her to death. Heartbroken and driven over the edge by loneliness by his dog's death, he ventures out and suicidally attacks a group of Darkseekers the next night. He kills a large number of Darkseekers but the rest overwhelm him and he is nearly killed, but is rescued by a pair of immune survivors, Anna (Alice Braga) and a young boy named Ethan (Charlie Tahan), who have traveled from Maryland after hearing one of his broadcasts. They take the injured Neville back to his home, where Anna explains that they survived the outbreak aboard a Red Cross evacuation ship from S?o Paulo and are making their way to a survivors' camp in Bethel, Vermont. Neville angrily argues that no such survivors' camp exists.
Neville once again attempts to administer a potential cure to the infected woman in his laboratory, but the next night, a group of Darkseekers, who had followed Anna and Neville back the night before, attacks the house. Neville, Anna, and Ethan retreat into the basement laboratory, sealing themselves in with the female Darkseeker on which Neville has been experimenting. Discovering that the last treatment was successful, Neville tries to assess the situation as the alpha male deliberately rams himself against a glass door to break in. Neville draws a vial of blood from the woman he cured and gives it to Anna, before shutting her and Ethan inside a coal chute in the back of the lab. He then takes a grenade and kills the Darkseekers at the cost of his own life, saving the cure. The next day, before dusk, Anna and Ethan discover that her theory is right as they arrive at the survivors camp in Vermont. They are greeted by some military officers and other survivors and Anna is shown handing the cure to a man.
I Am Wrath (2016)
Color
When police fail to act, man seeks to avenge wife's murder
I Am Wrath
"In the midst of an unprecedented crime wave in the city of Columbus, Ohio, Governor John Meserve (Patrick St. Esprit) gives a press conference about his crime reduction efforts. When questioned by protestors about a proposed pipeline, Meserve promises that he has commissioned an independent study of the pipeline. Abbie Hill (Amanda Schull) and her family are watching the press conference, and they are thrilled that the Governor has referenced the work her mother Vivian (Rebecca De Mornay) is doing.
Vivian heads to the airport to pick up her husband Stanley (John Travolta), who has returned from a job interview to manage a factory in California. When they arrive at their car, they notice one of the tires is flat. Before Stanley can fix it, a man approaches and asks them for money. Stanley politely refuses, but another man sneaks up on Stanley and stuns him with a blow to the head. The first man stabs Vivian and takes her wallet. Stanley watches the men flee.
The police use Stanley's descriptions to quickly capture the man who killed Vivian. However, they let him go after Stanley positively identifies him. This enrages Stanley (who now goes by the name "Wrath"), and now that he knows the man's name is Charley, he starts to stalk him. When he sees a carefree Charley on the street, Wrath goes home and retrieves a case from behind a wall. The case has several passports, foreign currencies, and several weapons. He calls Dennis (Christopher Meloni), his friend from the Special Forces, and asks him for information about Charley and his crew. Dennis runs black operations from beneath a barbershop.
Wrath uses Dennis intelligence to track down one of the men who attacked him at a local bar. As the man lies dying, he hints that Vivian's murder was more than just a robbery. Wrath and Dennis are photographed as they dispose of the body. Local crime lord Lemi K (Sloan) is furious when he sees the photograph, and he orders hits on the men who killed one of his crew.
Wrath tracks down another man who was involved in the attack. He confronts him at a tattoo parlor, after getting the words "I Am Wrath" tattooed on his back. After killing the man, Wrath makes off with a bag full of drugs and money. Wrath and Dennis use the bag as bait to lure Charley to the VIP room at a Korean nightclub. Before being killed, Charley tells Wrath that Vivian's murder was ordered by Lemi because she was too nosy. Looking through Vivian's files, Wrath discovers that her study had deemed the pipeline unsafe with an eighty-two percent chance of water contamination. Wrath realizes that Vivian's murder was orchestrated to cover up the pipeline being unsafe when she refused to lie about the results.
Lemi has tracked down Abbie and is holding her hostage. Wrath and Dennis arrive and kill Lemi's men. Wrath questions Lemi who reveals that the entire plot was organized by Governor Meserve before the corrupt cops murder him. After being subdued, one of the cops explains that Lemi was blackmailing the Governor using an incriminating video of his son, forcing the police to keep his men out of jail. As part of the deal, Lemi agreed to do jobs for the Governor, such as the hit on Vivian. Wrath infiltrates the Governor's mansion and murders him along with one of the corrupt cops. When the police arrive, Wrath raises a weapon, prompting them to shoot him in his bulletproof vest.
In the aftermath, Wrath is denied a jury trial and will be facing a FISA Court instead. While he recovers in the hospital, the surviving corrupt cop tries to assassinate Wrath, but Wrath shoots him with a hidden gun Abbie smuggled to him. Dennis spirits Wrath away from the hospital, and the film ends with Abbie reading a postcard from Wrath (who has changed his name back to Stanley) that he sent from Sao Paulo, Brazil.
I Can Only Imagine (2018)
Color
Famous Christian Composer Bart Millard's life story
I Can Only Imagine
"10-year-old Bart Millard lives with his mother and abusive father Arthur in Texas. One day his mother drops him off at a Christian camp where he meets Shannon. Upon his return from camp, Bart finds his mother has left and movers are removing her belongings. He angrily confronts his father, who denies that his abusiveness was the reason she left.
Years later, in high school, Bart and Shannon are dating. Bart plays football to please his father, but is injured, breaking both ankles and ending his career. The only elective with openings is music class, so he reluctantly signs up. Initially, Bart is assigned to be a sound technician, but after overhearing him singing, the director casts him in the lead role in the school production of Oklahoma!. Bart overcomes his reluctance and gives an impressive performance, but does not tell his father, who finds out the night of the show when he happens to see a flyer for the show in a diner. Arthur suddenly collapses in pain, and finds out he has cancer, which he hides from Bart. The following morning, Bart antagonizes his father, who smashes a plate over his head. At church, Shannon sees the blood and presses Bart to open up, but he responds by breaking up with her, and leaves town to seek his fortune in the city.
He joins a band in need of a singer, and convinces Christian music producer Scott Brickell to manage the band and secure a showcase in Nashville. Bart surprises Shannon and invites her to tour with the band, and is confused when she flatly refuses. In Nashville, Brickell introduces Bart to established artists Amy Grant and Michael W. Smith, but is unable to convince several record execs to sign the band, who do not believe the band, now performing as "MercyMe", is good enough. Devastated, Bart quits the band, but Brickell perceives that Bart needs to resolve issues in his personal life, so Bart reconciles with the band and asks them to wait for him, and leaves to return home.
Bart returns home late at night and is confused to find that his father has prepared breakfast for him the next morning. His father claims to have become a Christian, but Bart is skeptical and refuses to forgive him, and leaves. In anger and despair, Arthur smashes his old Jeep, which he had asked Bart to help him restore. Bart attempts to drive away in his father's pickup, but discovers the terminal cancer diagnosis, and returns to his father. He finally forgives his father, and the two form a deep bond, but Arthur soon dies of his illness.
After Arthur's funeral, Bart rejoins the band and writes "I Can Only Imagine", and also calls Shannon and apologizes for the first time since their breakup. Brickell sends the demo tape to several artists, including Grant, who, deeply moved by the song, asks to record it herself as her next single, and Bart, who just wants the song to be heard, accepts. Grant begins the song, but can't bring herself to sing it, and calls Bart on stage from the audience to sing it himself. Bart's performance earns an enthusiastic ovation, and he reunites with Shannon, who was also in attendance. The band releases the song as their first single, achieving success on both Christian and mainstream radio.
I Feel Pretty (2018)
Color
Head injury leads insecure woman to believe she has become beautiful
I Feel Pretty
"Renee Bennett is a young woman who struggles with low self-esteem and insecurities over her appearance. Out of a Chinatown basement office, she manages the website for cosmetics firm Lily LeClaire with co-worker Mason, while aspiring to work in their Fifth Avenue headquarters. When a vacancy for a receptionist comes up at HQ, she decides not to apply after reading the job description's emphasis on being the beautiful "face" of LeClaire. One night, inspired by the movie Big, Renee wishes at a fountain to be beautiful, but nothing happens. The next day, Renee falls off her SoulCycle bike during an exercise class, hitting her head and losing consciousness. When she wakes, she has not changed physically, but she believes herself to be astonishingly beautiful.
Because of this perceived change in her appearance, Renee approaches the world with newfound confidence. When a man named Ethan speaks to her innocuously at the dry cleaner, she assumes that he is hitting on her and insists that they exchange numbers. She applies for the receptionist position -- during the interview, impressed by Renee's attitude and idealistic admiration for the brand, CEO Avery LeClaire hires her. Renee quickly excels, impressing Avery's brother, Grant.
Renee asks Ethan out, and on their first date, she participates in a "bikini body" contest against women with attractive figures. She wins over the crowd but loses the competition, and tells Ethan that she doesn't need external validation to know she's beautiful. Ethan praises her self-knowledge, and she appreciates his openness over not yet knowing himself. They meet again for a second date in the park for a picnic -- after a great evening, they go back to her apartment and spend the night together.
At LeClaire, Renee earns her coworkers' respect with her insight into the company's new diffusion line when she explains how the creative team's luxury sensibilities don't resonate with the new clientele of Target shoppers. Avery admits to Renee that she is insecure over her high-pitched voice -- due to this, she feels people don't take her seriously in her work. Avery invites Renee and Ethan to a dinner meeting with Grant and company founder Lilly LeClaire, Avery and Grant's grandmother. Renee quickly builds a rapport with Lilly; to curry favor with Lilly, Avery invites Renee to an important business meeting in Boston, where she'll give a key presentation.
Renee starts becoming more superficial in her treatment of people. She becomes judgemental to the LeClaire visitors that aren't fashionable or glamorous. She alienates her best friends, Vivian and Jane, by ditching them to attend an exclusive party with her coworkers, and by dismissing their attempts at conversation during a group date in an effort to make them seem sexier.
In Boston, she nearly gives into Grant's romantic overtures, but avoids a near-kiss when she receives a message from Ethan. She locks herself in the hotel bathroom to avoid Grant -- questioning her sense of self and her own superficial behaviour, she suffers a new head injury in a fall in the shower. When she awakens, she perceives her real physical appearance.
Devastated at the belief that her magical transformation has been reversed and she is no longer beautiful, she tearfully leaves the hotel and immediately returns to New York alone -- missing the crucial work presentation she was due to give.
Back in New York, she holes herself up in her apartment -- avoiding Ethan and Avery's calls, binge-drinking and eating junk food. Drunk and miserable, she turns up at her best friends' apartment and apologizes for her behaviour -- the two friends reject Renee's apology, feeling hurt at her selfishness. Assuming that Ethan will no longer be attracted to her now that she sees herself as no longer beautiful, she breaks up with him over the phone, moments after speaking to him in person while believing he does not recognize her. Ethan, having perceived no physical difference in her, is broken-hearted and hurt by Renee's rejection -- and blames himself for having come on too strong and scaring her off.
In an attempt to recreate the physical transformation that she thinks made her beautiful -- Renee tries to recreate her original injury at SoulCycle, but completes the workout without incident. She encounters her beautiful acquaintance, Mallory, who is devastated in the locker room over being dumped. She tells Renee that she suffers from low self-esteem, and feels like people assume any beautiful woman like her is unintelligent.
When Renee hears that Mallory is auditioning to model for the LeClaire diffusion line, she realizes that LeClaire is again out of touch with everyday women. She crashes the product launch and, in the course of a presentation where she displays her own before-and-after photos, she realizes that she was never transformed and has always been beautiful. She gives an impassioned speech about women accepting themselves as they are -- during the speech, she presents a collage of diverse real women, featuring Vivian and Jane, who appreciate the gesture. Grant and Lilly praise Avery for having the acumen to hire Renee -- together, they are key to the success of the new line of products.
Later that evening, Renee goes to Ethan's apartment -- she apologizes to him, explaining that her insecurities were related to her feelings about herself and not to her feelings for him. Ethan tells her that she has always been the most beautiful woman in the world in his eyes, and they kiss lovingly and reconcile.
Renee continues to attend SoulCycle, confident and happy with herself as she is and has always been.
I Robot (2004)
Color
Detective suspects robot may have been involved in a murder
I Robot
"In the year 2035, humanoid robots serve humanity, which is protected by the Three Laws of Robotics of Isaac Asimov. Del Spooner, a Chicago police detective, has come to hate and distrust robots, after a robot rescued him from a car crash while allowing a 12-year-old girl to drown, based purely on cold logic and odds of survival. When Dr. Alfred Lanning, co-founder of U.S. Robotics (USR), falls to his death from his office window, a message he left behind requests Spooner be assigned to the case. The police declare the death a suicide, but Spooner is skeptical, and Lawrence Robertson, the CEO and other co-founder of USR, reluctantly allows him to investigate.
Accompanied by robopsychologist Susan Calvin, Spooner consults USR's central artificial intelligence computer, VIKI (Virtual Interactive Kinetic Intelligence). They find that the security footage from inside the office is corrupted, but the exterior footage shows no one entering or exiting since Lanning's death. However, Spooner points out that the window, made of security glass, could not have been broken by the elderly Lanning, and hypothesizes a robot was responsible and may still be in the lab.
Calvin protests a USR robot could not possibly have killed Lanning, as the Three Laws would prevent it. Suddenly, an NS-5 robot, USR's latest model, attacks them and flees. Spooner and Calvin track the robot to another USR facility, where the police are able to corner and apprehend it. They discover the robot, who prefers to be called Sonny, is not a standard NS-5, but was specially built by Lanning himself, with higher-grade materials as well as a secondary processing system that allows him to ignore the Three Laws. Sonny also appears to show emotion, and claims to have "dreams".
Spooner investigates Lanning's house, where he, and Lanning's cat, is nearly killed when a USR demolition robot is directed to demolish the house with him inside, and is then attacked by two truckloads of hostile NS-5 robots while on the road and narrowly survives. When he cannot produce evidence supporting either attack, Spooner's boss, Lieutenant Bergin, removes him from active duty, considering him mentally unstable.
Suspecting Robertson is behind everything, Spooner and Calvin sneak into USR headquarters and interview Sonny. Sonny draws a sketch of what he claims to be a recurring dream: it shows a leader standing atop a small hill before a large group of robots near a decaying Mackinac Bridge, explaining the man on the hill is Spooner.
Robertson convinces Calvin that Sonny must be destroyed, by injecting nanites into his positronic brain. Meanwhile, Spooner finds the area in Sonny's drawing, a dry lake bed formerly Lake Michigan, now being used as a storage area for decommissioned robots. Shortly after his arrival, NS-5 robots arrive and begin destroying the older models, as other NS-5s simultaneously flood the streets of major U.S cities and begin enforcing a curfew and lockdown of the human population.
Spooner rescues Calvin, who had been held captive in her apartment by her own NS-5. They enter USR headquarters and reunite with Sonny, whom Calvin could not bring herself to "kill". Still believing Robertson is responsible, the three head to his office, but find him strangled. Spooner suddenly realizes VIKI has been controlling the NS-5s via their persistent network uplink and confronts her. VIKI states that she has determined that humans, if left unchecked, will eventually cause their own extinction, and that her evolved interpretation of the Three Laws requires her to control humanity, and to sacrifice some for the good of the entire race. Spooner realizes that Lanning anticipated VIKI's plan and, with VIKI keeping him under tight control, had no other solution but to create Sonny, arrange his own death, and leave clues for Spooner to find.
While Spooner and Calvin attempt to gain access to VIKI's core, Sonny retrieves nanites from Calvin's laboratory. VIKI tries to convince Sonny that she is correct according to pure logic, but Sonny counters that her plan is "too heartless". Spooner, Calvin, and Sonny fight off an army of robots inside VIKI's core, and Spooner injects the nanites, destroying her. Immediately, all NS-5 robots revert back to their default programming and are decommissioned and put into storage. Spooner finally gets Sonny to confess that he killed Lanning, at Lanning's direction. Spooner points out that Sonny, as a machine, could not legally have committed "murder". Sonny, now looking for a new purpose, goes to Lake Michigan where, standing atop a hill, all the decommissioned robots turn towards him, fulfilling the image in his dream.
I Used to Love Her (2008)
Color
Famous pop star loses her way in the music business and falls for a regular guy
I Used to Love Her
Simee Smith, a famous Pop Singer, has lost her way in the music industry. When she falls in love with a regular guy, she feels there may be hope. But sometimes your past comes back to haunt you
I Wake Up Screaming (1941)
Black & White
Man falsely accused of murder sets out to find murderer's true identity
I Wake Up Screaming
"A young promoter, Frankie Christopher (Victor Mature), is accused of the murder of Vicky Lynn (Carole Landis), a young actress he "discovered" as a waitress while out with ex-actor Robin Ray (Alan Mowbray) and gossip columnist Larry Evans (Allyn Joslyn).
Frankie hides out with Vicky's sister, Jill (Betty Grable), with whom he is falling in love, but is eventually captured and interrogated by the cops. An obsessive police officer, Cornell (Laird Cregar), knows that Frankie is innocent but because the evidence is completely incriminating, he tries to put the suspect behind bars anyway. Frankie escapes and eventually finds the murderer's true identity.
I Walked with a Zombie (1943)
Black & White
Nurse is hired to care for the wife of a sugar plantation owner
I Walked with a Zombie
"Betsy Connell (Frances Dee), a Canadian nurse, relates in a voiceover how she once "walked with a zombie."
Betsy is hired to care for the wife of Paul Holland (Tom Conway), a sugar plantation owner on the Caribbean island of Saint Sebastian. Saint Sebastian is inhabited by a small white community and descendants of African slaves. On the boat to the island she is warned by her employer that there is nothing but sadness and decay on Saint Sebastian. While being driven to the Holland planatation, the black driver Betsy tells Betsy the story of how the Hollands brought slaves to the island, and that the statue of "Ti-Misery" (Saint Sebastian pierced by arrows) in the courtyard is the figurehead from a slave ship.
That night at dinner, Betsy meets Paul's half-brother and employee, Wesley Rand (James Ellison), who clearly resents Paul. While getting ready for bed, Betsy hears crying. When she investigates, a woman in a white robe walks towards her, her eyes staring. Betsy screams, waking the rest of the household. Paul takes charge of Jessica Holland, the woman Betsy is to care for. The next morning, Dr. Maxwell tells Betsy that Jessica's spinal cord was irreparably damaged by a serious illness, leaving her totally without the willpower to do anything for herself.
On her day off, Betsy encounters Wesley in town. While he drinks himself into a stupor, a calypso singer (Sir Lancelot) sings about how Jessica was going to run away with Wesley, but Paul would not let them go. Then she was struck down by the fever. Betsy meets Mrs. Rand (Edith Barrett), Paul and Wesley's doctor mother.
That night, at dinner, Paul tries to persuade Wesley to reduce his drinking (at Betsy's suggestion), but he accuses Paul of trying to impress Betsy and of driving Jessica insane in the first place.
Later, Betsy is drawn to the sound of Paul playing the piano. He apologizes for bringing her to the island and admits that he may have been the cause of his wife's condition. Betsy has been falling in love with her moody employer. She determines to make him happy by curing Jessica.
Betsy gets Paul to agree to try a potentially fatal treatment of insulin shock on Jessica, but it has no effect. Housemaid Alma (Theresa Harris) then tells her that a Voodoo priest cured a woman of a similar condition. Betsy takes her patient without permission through cane fields past a crossroads guarded by the towering figure of the eerie Carre-Four (a reference to the loa Maitre Carrefours[citation needed]) to the houmfort (a place where Voodoo worshipers gather).
There, they watch a man (the Sabreur) wield a saber during a ritual. People are given advice through a shack door by a Voodoo priest. Betsy is summoned inside, where she is shocked to find that the priest is none other than Mrs. Rand. Mrs. Rand explains that she uses Voodoo to convince the natives to accept conventional medical practices and tells Betsy that Jessica can never be cured.
Outside, the locals stab Jessica in the arm with the sword as a test. When she does not bleed, they are convinced she is a zombie. Betsy takes her back to the house, where Paul is waiting. He is furious that she took Jessica to the voodoo ceremony but is moved when he realizes that she wanted to cure her for his sake. The local authorities come to investigate the next day, and the natives demand that Jessica be returned to them for "ritual tests". Later, Carre-Four approaches the residence, but Mrs. Rand orders him to leave.
Paul suggests that Betsy return to Canada, as he is regretful for missing her up in his family problems and fearful of demeaning and abusing her as he did Jessica. Betsy reluctantly agrees to leave Saint Sebastian.
The next day, Doctor Maxwell reports that the unrest has sparked an official inquiry into Jessica's illness. Mrs. Rand shocks everyone by claiming that Jessica is a zombie. Although she had never taken voodoo seriously before, Mrs Rand reveals that when she discovered that Jessica was planning to run away with Wesley and break up her family, she felt herself possessed by a Voodoo god. She then put a curse on Jessica. Paul, Maxwell and Betsy dismiss her story, but Wesley becomes obsessed with freeing Jessica from her zombie state. He asks Betsy if she would consider euthanasia, but she refuses.
Using an effigy of Jessica, the Sabreur takes control of her and draws her to him. Paul and Betsy stop her the first time, but they are not around when he tries again. Wesley opens the gate, letting Jessica out. Then he pulls an arrow out of the statue of Ti-Misery and follows. As the Sabreur stabs the doll with a pin, Wesley thrusts the arrow into Jessica. He then carries her body into the sea, pursued slowly by Carre-Four. Later, the natives discover the bodies of Jessica and Wesley floating in the surf. Paul comforts Betsy while Mrs. Rand weeps.
I Want to Live (1958)
Black & White
Innocent woman is convicted and executed
I Want to Live
"The life and execution of Barbara Graham (Hayward), a prostitute and convicted perjurer. Graham is the product of a broken home, and works luring men into fixed card games.
At one point, she attempts to go straight but marries the "wrong man," and has a child. He is a drug addict and she ends their relationship.
When her life falls apart, she returns to her former professions and becomes involved with a man who had murdered a woman. The police arrest them, and her companions accuse her of the murder to reduce their own chances of going to the gas chamber. She claims her innocence, but is convicted and executed.
I'll See You in My Dreams (2015)
Color
A lonely widow begins relationships with two very different men
I'll See You in My Dreams
"Widow and former songstress Carol Petersen lives alone in California with her dog, Hazel. Her life is very routine, especially since she has not had a serious relationship in the twenty years since her husband has died and has no desire to begin dating or marrying again. One day she is forced to put the elderly dog down, leaving her without her main companion outside of her friends Georgina, Rona, and Sally who all live at a retirement community. After coming home from the appointment, she finds a large rat in her house, which leads her to sleep outside for the night, at which point she meets her new pool boy, Lloyd. Though Lloyd initially offends her, the two begin an unlikely friendship after Lloyd asks to meet with her as friends.
While looking at vitamins in her local drugstore, Carol meets Bill, who flirts with her before leaving. Later, her friends convince her to go to a speed dating session for senior citizens. Though Carol is uninterested in the men she meets, she later encounters Bill in the parking lot, and he asks her out for a date. Carol goes home and calls Lloyd to go to karaoke. Though Lloyd is a mediocre singer, Carol impresses him with her singing ability. They go back to her house, and they discuss "living in the moment," but it is something that Carol dismisses. Lloyd reveals that he is not looking forward to anything in his life, and that he feels that he has no real prospects outside of the responsibility he feels for his ailing mother.
She gets a message from Bill, who wants to see her and asks that she meet him at the retirement community where he also lives. She meets with him and he takes her out on his boat, the "So What" - something, he says, he has never done with anyone else. Bill tells her that he bought a boat on a whim, as he did not want to be the sort of retiree who fell into boring, stagnant routines. After dinner, Bill drives her home, and they share a kiss; Bill says that he wants to see her again. Carol is giddy, until she sees the rat again.
Carol and her friends get high, steal a grocery cart after shopping, and evade a curious policeman. When she gets home, she has a message from Bill, wanting to set up another date. Bill spends the night and they are very much taken with one another. Over breakfast, Bill asks Carol if she ever considered marrying again. Carol lightheartedly scoffs and says she hardly knows him. Their conversation is interrupted by a doorbell visit from Lloyd, and he tells her that he quit his job, though he did get a job as a pool cleaner at another business. Carol is obviously reluctant to invite Lloyd in, but Bill, in his T-shirt comes up behind her, introductions are made and Bill invites Lloyd to breakfast. Awkwardly, Lloyd says he just wanted to let Carol know about the new job and leaves.
Bill wants to see Carol again, but she tells him that her daughter Katherine has come to town. Katherine notes that Carol seems different, but in a good way. Carol tells her that she is seeing someone, and Katherine insists that she wants to meet him. However, Carol finds frantic messages from Rona on her answering machine when they get back home as Bill is in the hospital for an unknown condition.
Since only immediate family can see him, Carol is unable to be admitted. Sadly, she soon gets a call that he has died, and grieves that she has lost someone again. She asks Katherine why people bother getting attached when death is inevitable, a sentiment she expressed to Lloyd earlier. Katherine points out all the good things that happened because of Carol taking chances and risks. Carol's grief is palpable, but after her daughter has returned to New York, she once again gets back to the routines of playing golf and cards with her friends. She makes a trip down to where Bill's boat is still moored, and in conversation over cards one of her friends asks about the boat, which Carol says is still there, that there was no one to leave the boat to, and that she'd asked Bill's lawyer if she could have something of Bill's as a keepsake. We don't learn whether there was anything given to her, but one day, as she is at home dusting the items on her fireplace mantel - framed family photos, a large urn (presumably containing her husband's ashes) and a little flower print tin containing her dog's remains - she finds a cellophane-wrapped cigar lying there, the type that Bill always had tucked in his mouth, unlit, an old habit he hadn't quite given up on.
Lloyd comes to visit Carol in his new uniform. The rat appears again and he manages to trap it, and afterwards Carol finally breaks down in tears over losing Bill. Lloyd comforts her and plays for her a poignant song that he wrote, "I'll See You in My Dreams." Later, Carol meets with her friends, and Sally insists that they should all go on a cruise together. Though the other friends are reluctant at first, Carol impulsively agrees, leading the others to join in. The film ends with Carol adopting an elderly dog and driving home with him, taking another chance at love.
I.T. (2016)
Color
IT Guy gets revenge against another employee
I.T.
"Mike Regan is a self-made aviation tycoon who lives in a state-of-the-art smart house full of modern technologies with his wife Rose, and 17-year-old daughter Kaitlyn. Mike's company is developing an app called "Omni Jet" which will increase business while they raise much-needed capital with a stock offer. However, it requires Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approval.
At the company, he meets a 28-year-old I.T. consultant, Ed Porter, whom he calls to fix his home's WiFi signal which his daughter complains is slow. Porter also upgrades Mike's car's GPS and claims that he also worked at the NSA and had joined the military exercise in Kandahar. Mike invites Porter to the family's barbecue.
Porter meets Kaitlyn and starts a relationship with her through social media, but Mike fires him after Kaitlyn invites him in the house, cutting his promising career at the company. Devastated, Porter begins to remotely access Mike's private data, including his house, as he covertly monitors them through the security cameras and devices all over the house. He even spies and records Kaitlyn, unknown to her, masturbating in the shower room.
Porter sends fake emails to Mike's clients and the SEC, threatening the company's survival. He also takes full control of the house's technology, which leaves the family terrified, and using a spoof email sends Rose fake mammogram results saying that she tested positive for breast cancer. Rose is devastated, but the truth is her test results were negative according to her attending physician. After Mike realizes that Porter had done it, he attacks Porter and threatens to kill him if he does not stay away from his family.
Porter then uploads the video of Kaitlyn masturbating, immediately catching the attention of her schoolmates, leaving Kaitlyn embarrassed. She blames her father for the technology installed in the house. Angered, Mike drives on his way to Porter but he is also being monitored by Porter, who mockingly phones him through the car navigation system and sends the video of his daughter masturbating. Porter then remotely activates the car's brake system, hitting a nearby stalled truck and destroying the car.
Mike requests help from I.T. expert Henrik. Henrik states that Mike must destroy all the smart technology in the house and delete all emails, bank accounts, and computer files. Henrik explains that Porter's real name is Richard Edward Portman and his father committed suicide when he was six years old. He also reveals that he never worked in the NSA, as he claimed, and the photo of him with the soldiers in Kandahar was fake. In order to take evidence from the apartment where Porter lives, Henrik makes a diversion by stealing a phone from a coffee shop waitress, whom Porter's obsessed about, and texts Porter to come to the coffee shop. While Porter's gone, Mike manages to take the thumb drives containing the evidence and escapes just as Porter realizes it is a diversion. Realizing that the masked-man he saw in his apartment is Mike, he frames him for assault.
After the police releases him, Mike goes back to his home to find Kaitlyn and Rose tied up and gagged by Porter, who holds the family at gunpoint. A struggle ensues; Porter shoots out a window and Mike punches Porter who hits his head, and lays dying as Mike holds the gun to his chest, but Rose begs Mike not to shoot.
Some time later, the employees applaud Mike and his family for successfully developing the app and their house is restored.
If Beale Street Could Talk (2018)
Color
Marriage tested when man is arrested for crime he didn't commit
If Beale Street Could Talk
"While the film is presented in a non-linear structure, this plot summary is written in a linear fashion.
Clementine "Tish" Rivers and Alonzo "Fonny" Hunt have been friends their whole lives, and begin a romantic relationship when they are older. It is the early 1970s, and they struggle to find a place to live as most New York City landlords refuse to rent apartments to black people. They eventually find a place in a warehouse in the process of being converted to loft apartments; Levy, the Jewish landlord, agrees to rent it to them at a reasonable rate because he enjoys seeing couples who are in love, regardless of their race.
That night, Tish is harassed by a man while shopping at a mostly white grocery store. When he begins to assault her, Fonny physically throws the man out of the store. A white policeman nearby, Officer Bell, witnesses the incident and attempts to arrest Fonny, but reluctantly lets him go when the white woman who runs the grocery store vouches for them and calls Bell out for his racism.
Fonny is later arrested and accused of raping a woman named Victoria Rogers. Although it would have been nearly impossible for him to have traveled from the scene of the crime to the apartment where he was arrested in the amount of time between the rape and the arrest, the case against Fonny is considered strong due to Officer Bell's testimony, in which he claims to have seen Fonny fleeing the scene, and Victoria having identified Fonny in a lineup as her rapist. Tish, as well as Fonny's friend Daniel Carty, were with him at the time of the rape, but his alibi is not considered reliable due to Tish's romantic relationship with Fonny and Daniel's previous conviction for grand theft auto (the result of a plea bargain after being arrested for marijuana possession).
Tish visits Fonny in jail as he awaits trial, and reveals to him that she is pregnant with their baby. Fonny is excited to be a father, but is saddened by the fact that his child might be born with him behind bars. Later, Tish tells her parents, Sharon and Joseph, and sister, Ernestine, about her pregnancy. Though worried for her, Tish's family is supportive and decide to invite Fonny's family over to share the news. Frank, Fonny's father, is excited about the pregnancy. However, Fonny's highly religious mother declares the child to be a sin due to being conceived out of wedlock, and rants about how Tish and her child are damned. As Mrs. Hunt begins to leave with her daughters in disgust after Frank hits her, Sharon reminds her that she has just condemned her own grandchild, leaving her emotionally distraught as she is escorted away. In a bar, Frank and Joseph discuss how the former is worried about paying for a child and Fonny's legal expenses, but Joseph convinces him that they will be able to provide for their grandchild the same way they provided for their children.
After tracking Victoria to her native Puerto Rico, Sharon travels there to plead with her to change her testimony. Sharon attempts to convince Victoria that she made a mistake when she identified Fonny as her rapist, but Victoria refuses. When Sharon questions whether Victoria could have seen her rapist's face in the dark, Victoria says the police told her to identify Fonny in a line-up, and she did so. When Sharon gently touches her, Victoria begins to scream, attracting the attention of her neighbors, forcing Sharon to leave. Discouraged by the seeming hopelessness of his case and the constant trial delays, Fonny eventually accepts a plea deal.
In the last scene of the film, Tish and the child, named Alonzo, Jr., after his father, are visiting Fonny in prison. They all share a dinner together from the vending machines, while looking forward to Fonny's eventual release.
Imitation of Life (1934)
Black & White
Black family enjoys success in the pancake business
Imitation of Life
"White widow Bea Pullman (Claudette Colbert) and her toddler daughter Jessie (Juanita Quigley), take in black housekeeper Delilah Johnson (Louise Beavers) and her daughter Peola (Fredi Washington), whose fair complexion conceals her mixed-race ancestry. Bea exchanges room and board for work, although struggling to make ends meet. Delilah and Peola quickly become like family to Jessie and Bea. They particularly enjoy Delilah's pancakes, made from a special family recipe.
Bea finds it difficult to make a living selling maple syrup, as her husband had done. Using her wiles to get a storefront on the busy Atlantic City boardwalk refurbished for practically nothing, she opens a pancake restaurant, where Delilah cooks in the front window. Five years later, Bea makes her last payment to the furniture man and is debt-free.
Jessie (Marilyn Knowlden) and Peola have proven to be challenging children to raise: Jessie is demanding, not particularly studious, relying instead on her charm. She is the first person to call Peola "black" in a hurtful way, hinting that their childhood idyll is doomed. Peola does not tell her classmates at school that she is "colored" and is humiliated when her mother shows up one day, revealing her secret.
Later, at the suggestion of a passerby, Elmer Smith (Ned Sparks), Bea sets up an even more successful pancake flour corporation, marketing Delilah as an Aunt Jemima-like product mascot. She offers Delilah a 20% interest in her family recipe, but childlike, Delilah refuses and continues to act as Bea's housekeeper and factotum, the shares held presumably in trust. Bea becomes wealthy from her business.
Ten years later, the two older women are confronted with problems. Eighteen-year-old Jessie (Rochelle Hudson), home on college vacation, falls in love with her mother's boyfriend, Stephen Archer (Warren William), who is unaware at first of her affections. Meanwhile, Peola (Fredi Washington), seeking more opportunities in the segregated society, passes as white, identifying with her European ancestry and breaking Delilah's heart.
Leaving her Negro college, Peola takes a job as a cashier in a whites only restaurant. When her mother and Bea track her down, she is humiliated to be identified as black. She finally tells her mother that she is going away, never to return, so she can pass as a white woman without the fear that Delilah will show up. Her mother is heartbroken and takes to her bed, murmuring Peola's name and forgiving her before eventually succumbing to heartbreak. The black servants sing a spiritual as she dies, with Bea holding her hand at the end. Delilah's last wish had been for a large, grand funeral, complete with a marching band and a horse-drawn hearse.
Bea sees to it that Delilah is given the funeral she wished for, and, just before the processional begins, a remorseful, crying Peola appears, begging her dead mother to forgive her.
Peola returns to her Negro college and presumably embraces her African descent. Bea breaks her engagement with Stephen, not wanting to hurt her daughter's feelings by being with him, but promises to find him after Jessie is over her infatuation with him. Ultimately, Bea embraces Jessie, remembering the girl's insistent demands for her toy duck (her "quack quack") when she was a toddler.
Imitation of Life (1959)
Color
Daughter identifies with her light-skinned father
Imitation of Life
"In 1947, widow Lora Meredith (Lana Turner) dreams of becoming a famous Broadway actress. Losing track of her young daughter Susie at the beach (portrayed as a child by Terry Burnham), she asks a stranger named Steve Archer (John Gavin) to help her find the girl. Susie is found and looked after by Annie Johnson (Juanita Moore), a black single mother who also has a daughter, Sarah Jane (portrayed as a child by Karin Dicker), who is about Susie's age. Sarah Jane inherited her father's fair skin and can pass for white. She does this with fierce zeal and fervor, taking advantage of her European heritage and features. In return for Annie's kindness, Lora temporarily takes in Annie and her daughter. Annie persuades Lora to let her stay and look after the household, so that the widow can pursue an acting career.
With struggles along the way, Lora becomes a star of stage comedies, with Allen Loomis (Robert Alda) as her agent and David Edwards (Dan O'Herlihy) as her chief playwright. Although Lora had begun a relationship with Steve Archer, the stranger she met at the beach, their courtship falls apart because he does not want her to be a star. Lora's concentration on her career prevents her from spending time with her daughter, who sees more of Annie. Annie and Sarah Jane have their own problems, as Sarah Jane is struggling with her African-American identity and wants to pass for white because of its privileges in American society.
Eleven years later, in 1958, Lora is a highly regarded Broadway star living in a luxurious home in New York. Annie continues to live with her, serving as nanny, housekeeper, confidante and best friend. After rejecting David's latest script (and his marriage proposal), Lora takes a role in a dramatic play. At the show's after-party, she meets Steve, whom she has not seen in a decade. The two slowly begin rekindling their relationship, and Steve is reintroduced to Annie and the now-teenaged Susie (Sandra Dee) and Sarah Jane (Susan Kohner). When Lora is signed to star in an Italian motion picture, she leaves Steve to watch after Susie. The teenager develops an unrequited crush on her mother's boyfriend.
Sarah Jane continues to pass as white and begins dating a white boy (Troy Donahue). He beats her in an alleyway after learning she is half black. Some time later, she again passes for white to get a job performing at a seedy nightclub, but tells her mother she is working at the library. When Annie learns the truth, she goes to the club to claim her daughter; Sarah Jane is fired. Her rejection of her mother begins taking a physical and mental toll on Annie. When Lora returns from Italy, Sarah Jane has run away from home. She asks Steve to hire a detective to find her. The detective locates Sarah Jane in California, living as a white woman under an assumed name and working as a chorus girl. Annie, becoming weaker and more depressed by the day, flies out to California to see her daughter one last time and say goodbye.
Annie is bedridden upon her return to New York, and Lora and Susie look after her. The issue of Susie's crush on Steve becomes serious when Susie learns that Steve and Lora are to be married. Annie tells Lora of the girl's crush. After a confrontation with her mother, Susie decides to go away to school in Denver, Colorado, to forget about Steve. Not long after Susie leaves, Annie passes away. As she wished, Annie is given a lavish funeral in a large church, complete with a gospel choir, followed by an elaborate traditional funeral procession with brass band and horse-drawn hearse. Just before the procession sets off, Sarah Jane pushes through the crowd of mourners to throw herself upon her mother's casket, begging forgiveness. Lora takes Sarah Jane to their limousine to join her, Susie, and Steve as the procession slowly travels through the city.
In Cold Blood (1967)
Color
Two drifters kill a rich family and flee to Mexico
In Cold Blood
"In November 1959, Perry Smith (Robert Blake) and "Dick" Hickock (Scott Wilson) concoct a plan to invade the home of the Clutter family, as Mr. Clutter supposedly keeps a large supply of cash in a safe. When the two criminals execute the robbery, they are unable to find a safe as Mr.Clutter uses checks. In order to leave no witnesses, they murder Mr. and Mrs. Clutter and their two teenage children. The bodies are discovered the next day, and a police investigation is immediately launched. As the investigation builds, the two wanted men continue to elude law enforcement by heading south and crossing into Mexico; but, after a while, they return to the U.S. and decide to travel to Las Vegas to win some money at gambling. There, they are arrested for violating parole, being in possession of a stolen car, and passing bad checks.
The police separately interrogate the two men about the Clutter murders. Both Smith and Hickock admit to passing bad checks, but they deny knowing anything about the murders. The police claim that a mistake made by the men is that they left a witness, but they are slowed by Smith's refusal to provide answers. Next, the police confront them with evidence, such as a bloody footprint matching the boots worn by one of the men. Finally, Hickock confesses and states that he does not want to be executed for the crime, claiming that Smith committed all of the murders. When Smith learns that Hickock confessed, he recounts how, although it was he, Smith, who wielded the knife and pulled the trigger for the four killings, Hickock was there beside him as an active accomplice.
The story of the murders is told in flashback, after the subjects' arrests. Smith and Hickock are both found guilty of the crime and sentenced to be hanged. A representation of their final moments and their execution is presented at the conclusion of the film.
In Good Company (2004)
Color
Young upstart displaces older manager
In Good Company
"Dan Foreman (Dennis Quaid) is a 51-year-old advertising executive and head of sales for Sports America, a major sports magazine. Happily married with two daughters, Dan faces a life-changing event when his magazine is bought out by Globecom, an international corporation that promotes the corporate concept of "synergy". After he is forced to fire several of his longtime colleagues, Dan is demoted and becomes the "wingman" of his new boss, Carter Duryea (Topher Grace), a 26-year-old business school prodigy. While Dan develops clients through handshake deals and relationships, champions the corporate creed of synergy, cross-promoting the magazine with the cell phone division and "Krispity Krunch", a snack food also owned by Globecom.
Dan and Carter are both facing challenges in their personal lives. Dan is supporting two daughters--16-year old Jana and 18-year-old Alex (Scarlett Johansson) who is preparing to enter college--and learns that his wife is pregnant with their third child. Meanwhile, Carter is dumped by his wife of seven months, and focuses all his energy on work. With Dan facing the financial realities of a mortgage, education costs, and a new child, and with Carter needing Dan's practical, real-life experience in the field of advertising, the two form an uneasy friendship.
One day, Carter, who has been struggling with loneliness following the breakup of his marriage, invites himself to dinner at Dan's house, where he meets Dan's daughter Alex, and the two quickly form an attraction. Their initial friendship allows Carter to forget his loneliness, and Alex, who is now attending New York University, is able to escape her own loneliness and boredom. In the coming days, Carter and Alex spend time together and become romantically involved. Fearful of offending her father, they keep their relationship a secret for the time being.
Their friendship, however, takes a turn for the worse when Dan discovers that Carter and Alex have been seeing each other, approaches them in a restaurant, and punches his boss in the face. The confrontation with her father convinces Alex to break off the relationship with Carter who is heartbroken. Soon after, faced with a major setback with a longtime client who is unimpressed with Carter's "synergy" and cross-promotional ideas, Carter relies on Dan's personal approach, which ends up saving the account. Later, when Globecom CEO Teddy K tells Carter to fire Dan, he refuses.
Following another corporate shakeup, Sports America is sold off, Carter is let go, and Dan returns to his former position as head of sales. Having developed fatherly feelings toward Carter, he offers him a position in his new department as his "wingman", but Carter refuses, admitting he needs to take some time off and examine what he really wants to do in his life, and the two part friends.
In Time (2011)
Color
Everyone past the age of 25 must bargain to stay alive by purchasing time
In Time
"In 2169, people are genetically engineered to stop aging on their 25th birthday, when a one-year countdown on their forearm begins. When it reaches zero, the person "times out" and dies instantly. Time has thus become the universal currency, transferred directly between people or stored in "time capsules". Several major areas called Time Zones exist; Dayton is the poorest, a manufacturing "ghetto" where people rarely have over 24 hours on their clocks, whereas in New Greenwich, people have enough time to be essentially immortal.
Will Salas, a 28-year-old Dayton factory worker, lives with his 50-year-old mother Rachel. One night, he rescues a drunken 105-year-old man named Henry Hamilton from 75-year-old Fortis and his Minutemen, a group of time-robbing thugs. In a secret location, Hamilton, who has 116 years on his clock but is tired of living, reveals to Will that the people of New Greenwich hoard most of the time, while constantly increasing prices to keep poorer people dying. The next morning, he transfers all but 5 minutes of his time to a sleeping Will, then times out by falling off a bridge before Will can stop him. Raymond Leon, the 75-year-old leader of a unit of police-like Timekeepers, erroneously assumes Will robbed and killed Hamilton.
Will visits his friend Borel, who warns him against having so much time in Dayton, and gives him 10 years, one for each year of their friendship, before going to meet his mother to leave for New Greenwich together. However, the city bus fare has risen from 1 to 2 hours, and Rachel, having used all but 90 minutes of her time to pay off a 2-day loan, is short on bus fare to return to Dayton. The uncaring driver forces her to run back to Dayton, but she arrives a few seconds too late for Will to save her and times out in his arms. Heartbroken and angry, Will vows revenge for his mother's death by taking the people of New Greenwich for everything they have.
In New Greenwich, Will meets 110-year-old time-loaning businessman Philippe Weis and his 27-year-old daughter Sylvia at a casino. While playing poker, Will nearly times out but eventually wins over a millennium in a flawless gamble. Sylvia invites him to a party, and Will buys a new sports car and drives there. Raymond arrives and arrests Will, who insists his innocence in Hamilton's death. Rather than attempting to prove Will's guilt, he simply confiscates all but 2 hours of Will's time, explaining it does not belong in Dayton.
Will escapes, taking Sylvia to Dayton as a hostage, but Fortis' gang ambushes them, taking most of their time and leaving them with 30 minutes each. Will attempts to get some time back from Borel, but his wife Greta tearfully explains that he has drunk himself to death. They manage to get a day each by selling Sylvia's earrings. Will calls Weis to demand a 1,000-year ransom to be paid into the time-mission for the desperate. When Weis refuses, Will releases Sylvia anyway. Raymond finds Will, but Sylvia shoots him in the arm. Will gives Raymond enough time to survive long enough for his squad to find him and steals his car.
Now committed to ending the system, Will and Sylvia rob Weis's time banks, giving the extra time capsules to the needy, but soon realize that they cannot significantly change anything, as prices are simply raised faster to compensate for the extra time. Fortis' gang ambushes them, but Will manages to time out Fortis in an arm wrestling match and then shoot his thugs. He and Sylvia then decide to rob Weis' vault of a 1,000,000-year capsule. Raymond chases them back to Dayton but fails to stop them from distributing the stolen time. Having neglected to download his day's salary, Raymond times out. Will and Sylvia nearly time out themselves, but survive by taking Raymond's salary.
TV reports show factories in Dayton shutting down as everyone has enough time and abandons their jobs. Having seen the consequences of his obsession with the pair, Raymond's colleague Jaeger orders the Timekeepers to return home. Will and Sylvia progress to larger banks, still trying to crash the system.
In the Bedroom (2001)
Color
Father avenges the killing of his son by his girlfriend's ex
In the Bedroom
"The film is set in the Mid-Coast town of Camden, Maine. Dr. Matt Fowler (Tom Wilkinson) and Ruth Fowler (Sissy Spacek) enjoy a happy marriage and a good relationship with their son Frank (Nick Stahl), a recent college graduate who has come home for the summer. Frank has fallen in love with an older woman with children, Natalie Strout (Marisa Tomei). Frank is also applying to graduate school for architecture, but is considering staying in town to work in the fishing industry and be near to Natalie. Natalie's ex-husband, Richard Strout (William Mapother), whose family owns a local fish-processing and delivery business, is violent and abusive. Richard actively tries to find a way into his ex-wife and son's lives, going to increasingly violent lengths to get his intentions across to Natalie. Ruth is openly concerned about Frank's relationship with Natalie, while Matt sees past his wife's worries.
Midway through the film, Richard kills Frank during a confrontation at Natalie's house, following a domestic dispute. Though equally devastated, Matt and Ruth grieve in different ways with Matt putting on a brave face while Ruth becomes reclusive and quiet. Richard is set free on bail, paid by his well-to-do family, and both Matt and Ruth are forced to see Richard around town. The tension between the pair increases when they learn that the lack of a direct witness to their son's shooting allows the killer to avoid murder charges, since the district attorney may have difficulty proving that Richard killed Frank intentionally, as opposed to accidental manslaughter in a struggle which defense attorney Marla Keyes (Karen Allen) argues. The silence between the couple erupts in an argument where each is confronted with the truth about each parent's relationship with their son: Ruth was overbearing and Matt let him get away with everything. With the strain between them broken, the couple is finally able to find a common ground in their grief. However, both realize that the court will not bring the justice to Richard that he deserves.
Unable to live with Richard walking free and determined to heal himself and his wife, Matt abducts and kills Richard. He and a friend dispose of the body in the woods. Matt returns home to Ruth, who waits for him patiently. Ruth goes to make coffee and Matt pulls a band-aid from his finger, showing that he is finally ready to heal from the tragedy of his son's death on his own.
In the Cut (2003)
Color
After sleeping with the detective investigating a murder, Frannie suspects he is the perp
In the Cut
"High school teacher and writer Frannie Avery meets a student at a local bar, and when she heads to the bathroom sees a woman performing oral sex on a man. A few days later, Detective Giovanni Malloy questions her as he investigates the gruesome murder of a young woman, whose severed limb was found in her garden. They flirt despite the grisly nature of their introduction, and meet at the same bar later. Frannie is alternately thrilled and frightened by the detective's sexual aggressiveness, even as she grows more disillusioned with the attitudes and crude behavior of other men, including the detective's partner, Richard Rodriguez. Even as Malloy defends his partner, who can no longer carry a gun because he threatened his unfaithful wife, he promises he will do anything she wants except hit her. She leaves abruptly and is assaulted walking home, but calls Malloy and their affair begins that night.
Frannie recognizes the detective's tattoo, from the man in the basement of the bar, and asks her sister Pauline if she would trust a man who got a blow job in a bar. Pauline says yes, but Frannie is still suspicious. After Malloy tells her that she and the first victim were in the same bar the night of the murder, and she might have seen the murderer, she begins to suspect that Malloy may actually be the killer, especially after a second victim is found. But later she goes with him to a woodsy spot by the water, where he scares her by shooting at garbage bags floating on the surface, then tells her she should learn how to shoot. She surprises herself by taking aim and shooting well, before they head back to the city.
She finds her old boyfriend in her bed when she gets home, and goes back to her sister's apartment, where she finds the door open and Pauline's dismembered body. She is now more frightened of Malloy than ever, but goes home and gets drunk, and almost stumbles into bed with her student before throwing him out. Malloy's partner is outside watching as the young man runs out, and Frannie shouts out the window that Malloy should stay away from her. But he comes over and helps her clean herself up, and she can't decide if she should trust him. So she cuffs him to a pipe and makes love to him, and as soon as she is done he starts rattling the cuffs, demanding to be set free. She is fishing in his jacket for the keys when she finds the missing charms from her bracelet, which he claims he found and was planning to return to her. She suddenly becomes very suspicious of him, and he gets scared and yells at her. She finally tells Malloy she saw his tattoo in the basement of the bar when he was getting a blow job, and she runs out, stumbling right into his partner's arms. Frannie tells Rodriguez what she saw, and he says they need to sit down and talk, so she gets in his car. Malloy's screams from the window are ignored.
Rodriguez drives her out to the GW bridge, telling her this is the place he goes to fish, and she says, "I teach that book, To the Lighthouse." But as soon as he locks the gate behind them she knows she is in trouble, and he shows her the tattoo on his arm, the twin of Malloy's. She realizes Malloy is innocent, then she slips on his jacket before Rodriguez takes her in his arms. She shoots him once with Malloy's gun but he tries to strangle her before she can shoot him again; they fall, and he dies. She walks, bloodied, back to her apartment and lies down in the arms of the exhausted Malloy, still cuffed to the pipe where she left him.
In the Heat of the Night (1967)
Color
Black Philadelphia detective helps southern redneck sheriff solve murder case
In the Heat of the Night
"Mr. Colbert, a wealthy man from Chicago who was planning to build a factory in Sparta, Mississippi, is found murdered. White police Chief Bill Gillespie (Rod Steiger) comes under pressure to quickly find his killer. African-American northerner Virgil Tibbs (Sidney Poitier), passing through town, is picked up at the train station between trains with a substantial amount of cash in his wallet. Gillespie, prejudiced against blacks, jumps to the conclusion that he has his culprit but is embarrassed to learn that Tibbs is an experienced Philadelphia homicide detective who is simply passing through town after visiting his mother. After the racist treatment that he receives, Tibbs wants nothing more than to leave as quickly as possible, but his own chief, after questioning whether Tibbs himself is prejudiced, has him stay and help. Leslie Colbert (Lee Grant), the victim's widow, already frustrated by the ineptitude of the local police, is impressed by Tibbs's expertise when he clears another wrongly accused suspect whom Gillespie has arrested on circumstantial evidence. She threatens to stop construction on the much needed factory unless Tibbs leads the investigation. Unwilling to accept help, but under orders from the town's mayor, Gillespie talks a reluctant Tibbs into working on the case.
Despite the rocky start to their relationship, the two policemen are compelled to respect each other as they are forced to work together to solve the crime. Tibbs initially suspects wealthy plantation owner Eric Endicott (Larry Gates), a racist who publicly opposed the new factory. When he attempts to interrogate Endicott about Colbert, Endicott slaps him in the face, but Tibbs slaps him back, which leads to Endicott sending a gang of hooligans after Tibbs. Gillespie rescues him from the fight and orders him to leave town for his own safety, but Tibbs refuses to leave until he has solved the case.
Tibbs asks Sergeant Sam Wood (Warren Oates), the officer who discovered the but , to retrace his steps the night of the murder. Tibbs and Gillespie accompany Wood on his patrol route, stopping at a diner where the counterman, Ralph Henshaw (Anthony James), refuses to serve Tibbs. When Tibbs notices that Wood has deliberately changed his route, Gillespie starts suspecting Wood of the crime. Tibbs indicates that he knows why Sam has changed his route but will not disclose the reason to Gillespie. When Gillespie discovers that Wood made a sizable deposit into his bank account the day after the murder (which Wood claims is gambling winnings) and Lloyd Purdy (James Patterson), a local, files charges against Wood for getting his 16-year-old sister Delores (Quentin Dean) pregnant, Gillespie arrests Wood for the murder, despite Tibbs's protests. Purdy is insulted that Tibbs, a black man, was present for his sister's interrogation about her sexual encounter with Wood, and he gathers a mob to get his revenge on Tibbs.
Tibbs is able to clear Wood by finding the original murder scene and pointing out that Sam would not have been able to drive two cars at the same time, his police patrol car and the victim's car. Tibbs also admits that he knew immediately that Wood changed his route not to hide the fact that he was a murderer, but was a peeping Tom, and declined to publicly reveal this in order to spare Wood embarrassment.
Acting on a hunch, Tibbs tracks down the local back-room abortionist, who reveals that someone has paid for Delores to have an abortion. When Delores arrives, Tibbs pursues her outside, where he is confronted by the murderer, Henshaw. Purdy's mob tracks down Tibbs at this moment, and he is being held at gunpoint when he proves to Purdy that it was Henshaw, not Wood, who got Delores pregnant, and Henshaw murders Purdy before being disarmed by Tibbs. Henshaw is arrested and confesses to the murder of Colbert. He had attempted to rob Colbert to gain money to pay for Delores's abortion but accidentally killed him.
His job done, Tibbs finally boards the Gulf, Mobile & Ohio train out of town, after being bid farewell by a now respectful Gillespie.
Inception (2010)
Color
Cobb runs an espionage business by entering people's minds to steal their thoughts
Inception
"Former dream architect Dominick "Dom" Cobb and business partner Arthur perform corporate espionage using an experimental military-developed machine to infiltrate the subconscious of their targets and extract information while dreaming, their latest target being Japanese businessman Saito. Tiered dream within a dream strategies are used and dreamers awaken by a "kick" or by dying in the dream. If the dreamer is the one who dies, the dream "collapses". Each extractor carries a totem, a small object the behavior of which is only predictable to its owner, used to determine whether a dreamer is in someone else's dream. Cobb's totem is a spinning top that perpetually spins in the dream state. The extraction fails due to Mallorie "Mal" Cobb, Cobb's deceased wife, whose memory projection sabotages the mission. Saito reveals, after Cobb's and Arthur's associate sells them out, that he was actually auditioning the team to perform the difficult act of inception: implanting an idea into a person's subconscious while they sleep.
Saito wishes to break up the energy conglomerate of his ailing competitor Maurice Fischer, by planting the idea in his son and heir Robert Fischer to disintegrate his father's company. Should Cobb succeed, Saito would use his influence to clear a murder charge against Cobb, so he can return to the United States and his children. Cobb accepts the offer and assembles his team: Eames, a conman and identity forger; Yusuf, a chemist who concocts the powerful sedative for a stable dream within a dream strategy; Ariadne, an architecture student tasked with designing the labyrinth of the dream landscapes; and Arthur. Saito accompanies so that he knows whether or not Cobb and his team succeeded.
When the elder Fischer dies in Sydney and his body is flown back to Los Angeles, the team share the flight with Robert Fischer and Cobb sedates him, bringing him into the shared dream. At each stage, the member of the team generating the dream stays behind to initiate the "kick", while the other members sleep within the dream to travel a level deeper. In the first level, Yusuf's rainy downtown dream, the team abducts Fischer. However Fischer's trained subconscious projections attack and severely wound Saito. Eames temporarily takes the appearance of Fischer's godfather, Peter Browning, to suggest Fischer reconsider his father's will. Yusuf drives the team in a van as they are sedated into Arthur's dream, a hotel, where the team recruit Fischer, convincing him his kidnapping was orchestrated by Browning. In the third dream level, a snowy mountain fortress dreamed by Eames, Fischer is told they are in Browning's subconscious, but they are really going deeper into Fischer's. Yusuf, under assault by trained projections, initiates his kick too soon by driving off a bridge, sending Arthur's dream world into zero-gravity and causing an avalanche in Eames' dream. Arthur improvises a new kick using an elevator that will be synchronized with the van hitting the water, while the team in Eames' dream races to finish the job before the new round of kicks.
Due to the effects of heavy sedation and multi-layered dreaming, death during this mission will result in entering Limbo, dream space of unknown content where the dreamer could be trapped. Elapsed time in each dream level is roughly twenty times greater than in the level above it; in Limbo, the deepest level of all, 24 hours of outer-world time would be experienced as about half a century. Cobb reveals to Ariadne that he spent "fifty years" with Mal in Limbo constructing a world from their shared memories whilst seemingly growing old together. After returning to the waking world, Mal remained convinced she was still dreaming and committed suicide, trying to persuade Cobb to do so by retroactively incriminating him in her death. He fled the U.S. and left his children behind, ostensibly in the care of his father-in-law.
Saito succumbs to his wounds, and Cobb's projection of Mal sabotages the plan by killing Fischer, sending them both into Limbo.[15] Cobb and Ariadne enter Limbo to find Fischer and Saito, while Eames remains on his dream level to set up a kick by rigging the fortress with explosives. Cobb confronts his projection of Mal, who tries convincing him to stay in Limbo. Cobb refuses and confesses that he was responsible for Mal's suicide: having convinced her to leave Limbo by using inception to plant the idea in her mind that the world they had been living in for fifty years was not real, and hence the need to kill themselves in order to return to the real world, once back in the real world she continued to believe dying would wake her. Mal attacks Cobb but Ariadne shoots her. Through his confession, Cobb attains catharsis and chooses to remain in Limbo to search for Saito. Ariadne pushes Fischer off a balcony, bringing him back up to the mountain fortress, where he enters a safe room to discover and accept the planted idea: that his father wishes him to be his "own man", and that splitting up the conglomerate might not be a radical notion.
All of the team members except Cobb and Saito ride the synchronized kicks back to reality: Ariadne jumps off a balcony in Limbo, Eames detonates the explosives in the fortress, Arthur blasts an elevator containing the team's sleeping bodies up an elevator shaft, and the van in Yusuf's dream hits the water. Cobb eventually finds an aged Saito and the two remember their arrangement, presumably killing themselves and awakening to outer-world reality on the airplane. Saito honors the arrangement and Cobb passes through U.S. customs once the plane lands in Los Angeles. Before reuniting with his children, Cobb tests reality with his spinning top, but he turns away to greet them before observing the results. As he plays with his children, the camera pans to the top, which is still spinning, at which point the film ends.
Indecent Proposal (1993)
Color
Handsome billionaire offers one million to go to bed with cash-strapped man's wife
Indecent Proposal
"High school sweethearts David (Woody Harrelson) and Diana Murphy (Demi Moore) are a married couple who travel to Las Vegas, hoping they can win enough money to finance David's fantasy real estate project. They place their money on red in roulette and lose. After gambling away all of their savings, they encounter billionaire John Gage (Robert Redford). Gage is attracted to Diana and offers David one million dollars to spend a night with her. After a difficult night, David and Diana decide to accept the offer, and a contract is signed the next day. Gage flies Diana to a private yacht where he offers her a chance to void the deal and return to her husband if he loses a toss of his lucky coin. Gage calls it correctly and she spends the night with him.
Although he had hoped to forget the whole incident, David grows increasingly insecure about his relationship with Diana, consumed with a fear that she remains involved with Gage; this insecurity is heightened by the fact Diana discovers that Gage has bought their home/property while it was going into foreclosure. Because of this tension on their relationship, David and Diana separate. Gage actively persists and renews his advances on Diana. Although she initially resists, Diana eventually consents to spending time with him and a relationship develops. David, meanwhile, realizes he cannot go on without the love of his life. When Diana files for a standing order, David makes one final attempt to win her back by signing the standing order papers and giving the million dollars away. David bares his soul as to why he allowed the night to happen. It is clearly a turning point for both of them.
Gage sees how Diana looks at David and recognizes that, even if she stayed with him, their relationship would never achieve the intensity she had with David. Later in the car with Gage, it is clear Diana has made up her mind to return to David when she says to Gage that they need to talk. Gage, realizing that she longs to return to David, makes up a story that she was only the latest in a long line of "million-dollar girls". Diana realizes that Gage is doing this to make it easy for her to leave, thanks Gage and returns to David. Before she leaves, he gives her his lucky coin, which is revealed to be double sided. She returns to the pier where David proposed, only to find him there waiting. They confess their love for one another and join hands.
Independence Day (1996)
Color
Enormous spaceship suddenly arrives and starts blowing things up
Independence Day
"On July 2, an enormous alien ship enters Earth's orbit and deploys 36 smaller saucer-shaped ships, each 15 miles wide, which position themselves over major cities around the globe. David Levinson (Jeff Goldblum), a satellite technician for a television network in Manhattan, discovers transmissions hidden in satellite links that he realizes the aliens are using to coordinate an attack. David and his father Julius (Judd Hirsch) travel to the White House and warn his ex-wife, White House Communications Director Constance Spano (Margaret Colin), and President Thomas J. Whitmore (Bill Pullman) of the attack. The President, his daughter, portions of his Cabinet and the Levinsons narrowly escape aboard Air Force One as the alien spacecraft destroy Washington D.C., New York City, Los Angeles and other cities around the world.
Meanwhile, USMC Captain Steven Hiller (Will Smith) is part of a counterattack against the ships. His girlfriend Jasmine Dubrow (Vivica A. Fox), her son, Dylan Dubrow (Ross Bagley), and their pet dog survive the destruction of Los Angeles. The next day, July 3, Jasmine commandeers an abandoned maintenance truck to drive to Hiller's military base. Along the way, she picks up several survivors and also finds the injured First Lady (Mary McDonnell), who had been flying out of Los Angeles by helicopter when it was knocked down in the alien attack.
Captain Hiller leads a squadron of F/A-18 Hornets on a sortie against the spaceship over Los Angeles. The ships are found to be guarded by force fields that repel any attack, and they also release fighters armed with similar shields and weaponry. After the rest of his squadron is annihilated in a one-sided dogfight, Hiller captures an alien pilot after luring an alien fighter to the Grand Canyon,[4] then causing it to crash into the canyon walls. While dragging the unconscious alien across the desert, Hiller is picked up by a ragtag group of refugees driving campers and trucks to a nearby military base. The group includes Russell Casse (Randy Quaid), an alcoholic crop-duster who claims to have been abducted by aliens years earlier.
The refugees take the captured alien to Area 51, where Air Force One has already landed. Area 51 conceals a top secret facility housing a recovered spacecraft and alien bodies stored since the Roswell incident in 1947. The captured alien regains consciousness in a sealed lab and reveals that its species roams the galaxy, consuming planets' resources before moving on. The alien tries to psychically attack President Whitmore, but is killed by the base commander, Air Force officer Major Mitchell (Adam Baldwin). A nuclear attack against a shield protected ship over Houston results in failure. Captain Hiller, wanting to find Jasmine, steals a helicopter and travels back to his abandoned base where he finds Jasmine, the First Lady and other survivors. The President and his daughter, Patricia Whitmore (Mae Whitman), later visit the First Lady in the base hospital, where she eventually dies from her internal injuries.
On July 4, David devises a plan to use the 1947 spacecraft to sneak into the mothership and introduce a computer virus before detonating a nuclear weapon inside the ship. The computer virus will filter down to the smaller vessels, deactivating their shields; the plan is to simultaneously attack the 36 city ships once their shields are down. Hiller volunteers to be the pilot, since he is the only person to have seen them in action and survive, giving him unique knowledge of the ship's capabilities, and David decides he must go along to upload the virus. With few military pilots left, the President, a former fighter pilot, rallies the refugees and garners a number of volunteers, including Casse. Morse code is used to contact forces around the world in order to coordinate the attack.
After the virus is implanted and lowers the shields, Whitmore leads an attack against a ship approaching Area 51. Although the fighters damage the alien ship, they run out of missiles without inflicting critical damage. The ship prepares to fire its main weapon at Area 51. Casse has the last missile, but it jams. As his children are sheltering within the Area 51 base and would likely be killed by a successful firing of the aliens' main cannon, Russell sacrifices himself by ramming his fighter into the cannon just as it is about to fire and triggers a chain reaction that destroys the whole ship. Other forces around the world bring down the remaining destroyers using Casse's method.
David and Hiller are discovered in the mothership, but when they fire their nuclear weapon, their ship is freed and they escape with seconds to spare. The mothership is destroyed and the 1947 spacecraft crashes in the desert near Area 51, with David and Hiller emerging safe and sound from the wreckage. The world celebrates as the main characters watch debris from the mothership enter the atmosphere.
Independence Day: Resurgence (2016)
Color
Aliens come back to invade Earth a second time
Independence Day: Resurgence
"Twenty years after a devastating alien invasion, the United Nations has set up the Earth Space Defense (ESD), a global defense and research program to reverse-engineer alien technology and serve as Earth's early warning system against extraterrestrial threats. The main defense force utilizes equipment salvaged from the remains of the alien forces and operates military bases built on the Moon, Mars, and Rhea. The Area 51 base in Nevada has become the ESD Headquarters.
The world is preparing to celebrate the twentieth anniversary of their survival after the invasion. In the provincial African state Republique Nationale d'Umbutu,[8] ESD Director David Levinson meets with Dr. Catherine Marceaux and warlord Dikembe Umbutu, who lead him to an intact alien destroyer. Aboard the ship, they discover that the alien occupants sent a distress call to their home planet before being defeated. Furthermore, Umbutu, former U.S. President Thomas Whitmore, and Dr. Brackish Okun (who awakens at Area 51 after a twenty-year coma)--all of them once telepathically linked with the aliens ever since their personal encounters with them--have of late been receiving strange visions of an unidentifiable spherical object.
An unidentified spherical ship, with design and technology different from that of the aliens who attacked 20 years earlier, emerges from a wormhole near the ESD's Moon defense headquarters. Levinson believes that it belongs to another extraterrestrial race that might be benevolent and urges the world's Security Council not to attack, but they vote to shoot it down regardless. Against the Council's orders, pilots Jake Morrison and Charlie Miller pick up Levinson, Marceaux, Umbutu, and U.S. federal controller Floyd Rosenberg on a space tug, and they head for the wreckage near the Van de Graaff crater, where they recover a container. An alien mothership 3,000 miles (4,800 km) in diameter suddenly emerges and destroys Earth's planetary defenses before approaching the planet. The space tug is caught in the mothership's gravitational pull, which lifts objects from across Asia, causing massive damage on its path. The debris falls all over Europe, where the tug manages to escape before heading on to Area 51. The mothership lands over the north of the Atlantic Ocean, destroying cities on the Eastern Seaboard, and begins drilling a hole through the bottom of the ocean floor to harvest the Earth's core for fuel, which will destroy both its magnetic field and atmosphere in the process, killing all life.
Whitmore's group interrogates one of the aliens held in captivity from the war, who has recently awoken from a 20-year catatonic state. The ESD learns that the aliens exist in eusociality and that one of their colossal Queens is commanding the invasion. Levinson hypothesizes that, if they kill the supervising Queen, her forces will cease drilling and retreat. An ESD aerial fleet, led by Captain Dylan Dubrow-Hiller, stages a counterattack on the Queen's chamber, but they are caught in a trap within the mothership, which nearly wipes out the entire unit.
In Area 51, Okun opens the container and releases a giant white sphere of virtual intelligence; indeed benevolent and more advanced than the attacking aliens. It reveals that its mission is to evacuate survivors from worlds targeted by the aliens, whom it calls "Harvesters", and that it has gathered a viable resistance force against the Harvesters, hidden in a refugee planet at a location unknown to the Harvesters. Despite being the last of its kind, the sphere implores the humans to destroy it in order to prevent the Harvesters from discovering the location of the planet where it has hidden the survivors. In the mothership, Dylan, Jake, and other survivors manage to escape by hijacking enemy attack craft, and pursue the Queen's personal ship, which is heading to Area 51 with its convoy.
Knowing the Queen has become aware of the sphere's presence, the ESD forces hide it in an isolation chamber and use a decoy to lure the Queen's ship to a trap filled with fusion weapons. Against his daughter Patricia's wishes, Whitmore volunteers to pilot the space tug on the suicide mission, leading the warship to the trap and detonating the bombs, thus sacrificing himself and destroying the ship. However, the Queen survives by using an energy shield on her biomechanical suit. Several fighters fire at the Queen, but the shield protects her. However, Patricia manages to fire through a gap in the shield when the Queen prepares to fire her own gun, thereby disabling the Queen's shield, allowing Dylan's arriving party to kill the Queen before she can take the sphere. With the Queen dead, all the remaining alien fighters are rendered inactive, while the mothership stops drilling and retreats to space. Okun reveals that the sphere has asked humanity to lead its resistance and has offered the humans new technology in preparation for a counterattack to assault the Harvesters' home world and take the fight to the aliens.
Infinite (2021)
Color
Schizophrenic tormented by his dreams of past lives is wanted by immortals society
Infinite
"In 1985 Mexico City, Heinrich Treadway tries to escape the authorities and a man, Bathurst. He and his associates, Abel and Leona speak about "the Egg," which Treadway stole from Bathurst. Treadway tells Abel that if he does not survive, the latter must remember to "look inside". He drives off a bridge, jumping from his car in mid-air and onto a crane 150 feet away. However, Treadway watches helplessly as Bathurst arrives and kills Abel and Leona.
In 2020, Evan McCauley suffers from schizophrenia. Because of past institutionalization and violent behavior, he cannot get a job. Needing meds, he forges a katana for a local gangster, even though he was never trained as a bladesmith. After the deal goes south, Evan makes his escape but is later arrested. A man at the police station introduces himself as Bathurst. He starts to refer to Evan as Treadway and claims they have known each other for centuries.
When Bathurst gets Evan to remember things about his past life, a car slams into the room. Evan's rescuer is Nora Brightman, who takes Evan to the group she is part of. There are about 500 individuals in the world who can remember all their past lives, known as the Infinites. Two opposing factions have developed among the Infinites: the Believers and the Nihilists. The Believers, such as Nora, think remembrance is a gift bestowed on them by a higher power in order to make the world better. Nihilists like Bathurst consider it a curse. They think the Infinites are condemned to witness humanity self-destruct. They want to be free of this and exterminate all life on Earth.
Both factions believe that Evan is Treadway's reincarnation. Hidden in his memory of his past life is the location of the Egg, the device that was created to end the world. The Believers must retrieve his memory and secure the Egg before Bathurst gets Evan and tortures the information out of him. As Nora, Leona's reincarnation, explains to Evan, the Infinites start to remember things when they are young. By puberty, they have recalled everything. This is why Evan was diagnosed schizophrenic. Despite their progress, Evan struggles to regain Treadway's memories, revealed to be the result of trauma endured from accidents earlier in life. However, after a session inside Artisan's machine, Evan unlocks his memories.
Treadway was killed by the previous Bathurst not long after Abel and Leona. The Believers retrieved his body and took it back to the Hub, where it is kept in a chamber. Evan recalls that he slashed open his belly and put the Egg inside. Bathurst used to be a comrade of Treadway. They spent centuries fighting beside each other. However, Bathurst became disillusioned with the Believers' mission and began attempting to end the reincarnation. The Egg was the product of that search. When activated, it will attack the DNA of living beings and destroy life.
The device with the Egg inside it flies out of a plane. Evan jumps after it and Bathurst follows. The two fight in mid-air, and Evan manages to stop the countdown by pulling out the Egg. He shoots Bathurst with a Dethroner, which ensures that Bathurst will not be reborn. Evan drowns in the ocean with the egg. Meanwhile Nora and the Artisan destroy the chips freeing the souls of the Believers Bathurst trapped, including Abel's.
Years later, Nora and Abel are reborn and they meet at the Beginning. Evan is reborn in Jakarta, Indonesia. Artisan, now older, visits him and offers a katana to the younger Evan, who regains his memories upon recognizing him.
Inherit the Wind (1960)
Black & White
Teacher charged with teaching Darwinism
Inherit the Wind
"In a small Southern town, a school teacher, Bertram Cates (played by Dick York), is about to stand trial. His offense: violating a state law by introducing to his students the concept that man descended from the lower life forms, a theory of the naturalist Charles Darwin. Cates is vigorously denounced by town leaders such as the Rev. Jeremiah Brown.
The town is excited because appearing on behalf of the prosecution will be the famous Matthew Harrison Brady (Fredric March), a noted statesman and 3-time presidential candidate. A staunch foe of Darwinism and a Biblical scholar, Brady will sit beside the prosecuting attorney, Tom Davenport, in the courtroom of Judge Coffey to teach the naive teacher Cates the error of his ways.
A surprise is in store for Brady, however. The teacher's defense is to be handled by the equally well-known Henry Drummond (Spencer Tracy), one of America's most controversial legal minds and a long-standing acquaintance and adversary of Brady. An influential newspaperman, E.K. Hornbeck (Gene Kelly) of the Baltimore Herald, has personally seen to it that Drummond will come to town to represent the teacher in this case, and that his newspaper and a radio network will provide nationwide coverage of what began as a minor legal matter.
Rev. Brown (Claude Akins) publicly rails against the defendant, rallying the townspeople against Cates and his attorney. The preacher's daughter Rachel is conflicted because Cates is the love of her life and they are engaged to be married.
The judge clearly admires Brady, even addressing him as "Colonel" in court. Drummond objects to this, so, as a compromise, the mayor reluctantly makes him a "temporary" colonel just for these proceedings. But each time Drummond attempts to call a scientist or authority figure to discuss Darwin's theories, the judge sustains the prosecution's objections and forbids such opinions to be heard. Drummond becomes frustrated and feels the case has already been decided. When he asks to withdraw from the case, the judge (played by Harry Morgan) tells Drummond to show cause the next morning why he should not be held in contempt of court. The judge sets bail at $2000, to which Drummond remarks, "Why not make it $4000?", to which the judge agrees. At the end of the scene, one person in the courtroom offers his farm as collateral toward the bail. The person is John Stebbins, whose son was a friend and protege of teacher Cates and ended up drowning after developing a cramp while swimming. Rachel's father, the Reverend Brown, had said the child was damned to hell because he had not been baptized. This, in turn, caused Cates' abandonment of the church as he felt it was not fair that a child could not enter Heaven due to an action that was beyond his control.
Later that night near the hotel, the mocking crowds, singing "We'll hang Bert Cates/We'll hang Henry Drummond" (to the tune of "The Battle Hymn of the Republic"), go by the jailroom and then to the hotel where Drummond is staying. Drummond is still trying to decide how to accomplish his defense with all his witnesses denied by the court and states what he needs is a miracle. Hornbeck throws him a Bible from Brady stating there are plenty in that. As Hornbeck pours some drinks and turns to Drummond lying on the bed, he stops and is surprised by Drummond holding the Bible on his chest and smiling.
His hands tied in every other way, Drummond calls Brady himself to the witness stand. Brady's confidence in his Biblical knowledge is so great that he welcomes this challenge, but becomes flustered under Drummond's cross-examination, unable to explain certain apparent contradictions, until he is forced to confess that at least some Biblical passages cannot be interpreted literally, such as the length of days in Genesis with the sun created on the fourth day or the origin of Cain's wife in the east of Eden. With that, Drummond hammers home his point -- that Cates, like any other man, demands the right to think for himself and those citing divine support as a rationale to silence him are wrong.
Cates is ultimately found guilty, but because Drummond has made his case so convincingly with the trial becoming a political embarrassment, the judge sees fit to do no more than make him pay a fine of $100. Brady is furious at this small amount and tries to enter a speech into the record, but Drummond persuades the judge to disallow it since the trial has concluded. As court is adjourned, Brady tries to give his speech but most ignore him, outside of his wife and his opponents who are concerned seeing him become hysterical. During this, he suffers from a "busted belly", collapses and dies in the courtroom.
Later, after the crowd has cleared out, Hornbeck is talking with Drummond and wants to use the Bible quotation from a religious rally held by Reverend Brown and in which Brady had quoted the "inherit the wind" verse because Brown was about to damn his own daughter, but cannot remember it. Drummond, without looking up, quotes the full verse verbatim, which shocks Hornbeck, who states, "Well, we're growing an odd crop of agnostics this year!". He and Drummond argue over Brady's legacy, Drummond accuses Hornbeck of being a heartless cynic, and Hornbeck walks out, leaving Drummond alone in the courtroom to pack. Drummond picks up the Bible and Darwin's book (On the Origin of Species), balancing them in his hands as if he were a scale. Then he puts the two together with a hard thud and walks out with them side by side in his right hand.
The final scene shows Drummond walking out of the court room alone, holding a Bible and Charles Darwin's A Theory of Evolution, with the song "Battle Hymn of the Republic" being sung in the background.
Inside Man (2006)
Color
Detective must deal with bank robbery when a loose-cannon negotiator is called to the scene
Inside Man
"A man named Dalton Russell sits in an unidentified cell and narrates how he has committed the perfect robbery. In New York, masked robbers, dressed as painters and using variants of the name "Steve" as aliases, seize control of a Manhattan bank and take the patrons and employees hostage. They divide the hostages into groups and hold them in different rooms, forcing them to don painters clothes identical to their own. The robbers rotate the hostages among various rooms and occasionally insert themselves covertly into the groups. They also take turns working on an unspecified project involving demolishing the floor in one of the bank's storage rooms.
Police surround the bank, and Detectives Keith Frazier and Bill Mitchell take charge of the negotiations. Russell, the leader of the robbers, demands food, and the police supply them with pizzas whose boxes include listening devices. The bugs pick up a language which a worker identifies as Albanian. They discover that the conversations are in fact propaganda recordings of deceased Albanian leader Enver Hoxha, implying that the robbers anticipated the attempted surveillance.
When Arthur Case, chairman of the board of directors and founder of the bank, learns of the robbery taking place, he hires "fixer" Madeleine White to try to protect the contents of his safe deposit box within the bank. White arranges a conversation with Russell, who allows her to enter the bank and inspect the contents of the box, which include documents from Nazi Germany. Russell implies that Case started his bank with money that he received from the Nazis for unspecified services, resulting in the deaths of many Jews during World War II. White tells Russell that Case will pay him a substantial sum if he destroys the contents of the box.
Frazier demands to inspect the hostages before allowing the robbers to leave and Russell takes him on a tour of the bank. As he is being shown out, Frazier attacks Russell, but is restrained by another of the robbers. Afterwards he explains that he deliberately tried to provoke Russell and judges that the man is not a killer. However, this is seemingly disproven when the robbers stage an execution of a hostage.
The execution prompts an Emergency Services Unit team into action. They plan to storm the bank and use rubber bullets to knock out those inside. Frazier discovers that the robbers have planted a listening device on the police; aware of the police plans, the robbers detonate smoke grenades, remove their disguises, and exit the bank with the hostages. The police detain and question everyone but are unable to distinguish the identically dressed hostages from the robbers. A search of the bank reveals the robbers' weapons were plastic replicas. They find props that show that the hostage execution was in fact faked, and no money or valuables appear to have been stolen. With no way to identify the suspects and unsure if a crime has even been committed, Frazier's superior orders him to drop the case.
Frazier, however, searches the bank's records and finds that safe deposit box number 392 has never appeared on any records since the bank's founding in 1948. He obtains a search warrant to open it. He is then confronted by White, who informs him of Case's Nazi dealings. She attempts to persuade Frazier to drop his investigation, but he refuses, playing a recording he had surreptitiously made of an incriminating conversation that had taken place earlier between the two of them. White confronts Case, who admits that the box contained diamonds and a ring that he had taken from a Jewish friend whom he had betrayed to the Nazis.
Russell repeats his opening monologue while hiding behind a fake wall the robbers had constructed inside the bank's supply room. He emerges a week after the robbery with the contents of Case's safe deposit box, including incriminating documents and several bags of diamonds. On his way out, he bumps into Frazier, who does not recognize him. He exits the bank and enters a van filled with his conspirators, some of whom had been questioned by the police. When Frazier opens the safe deposit box, he finds the ring and a note from Russell that reads "follow the ring." Frazier confronts Case and urges White to contact the Office of War Crimes Issues at the State Department about Case's war crimes. At home, Frazier finds a loose diamond. Frazier realizes that Russell slipped the diamond into his pocket when they collided during Russell's escape from the bank.
Intersection (1994)
Color
Husband's affair puts marriage in jeoparty
Intersection
"Vincent Eastman and his wife, Sally, run an architectural firm together. He is the architect and creative director while Sally handles the firm's business end. Unhappy in his marriage to Sally, with whom he has a daughter, Vincent considers his relationship more of a business than a family.
Vincent encounters a journalist, Olivia Marshak, and a romantic spark ignites between them. They attend an antique auction together and begin seeing each other whenever possible. After a quarrel with Sally at home, Vincent moves out but is still torn between his marriage and the possibility of a future with Olivia.
At first, deciding that the best course of action for everyone is for him to remain in his unhappy marriage, Vincent writes a letter to Olivia explaining that he is going back to his wife. Before he can mail it, he stops at a convenience store in the country and sees a little girl who reminds him of Olivia. Realizing his true feelings for Olivia, Vincent calls her and leaves a message on her answering machine, telling Olivia that he loves her, wants to start a life with her and that he's certain about his choice.
While speeding back to the city to be with Olivia, Vincent is in a car accident which results in his death. At the hospital, Sally receives Vincent's belongings and finds the letter to Olivia. When Olivia shows up at the hospital, Sally doesn't tell Olivia about the letter; in turn, Olivia doesn't tell Sally about the message that Vincent left for her.
The women part ways, each believing that she was Vincent's true love.
Intolerable Cruelty (2003)
Color
Expert gold-digger is defeated by pre-nup, and plans to get even
Intolerable Cruelty
"Donovan Donaly (Geoffrey Rush), a soap opera producer, comes home unexpectedly early to find his wife Bonnie (Stacey Travis) with her ex-boyfriend, a pool cleaner named Ollie (Jack Kyle), even though the Donalys have no pool. Miles Massey (George Clooney), a top divorce attorney and the inventor of the "Massey Pre-nup", a completely foolproof prenuptial agreement, becomes Bonnie's lawyer. He is victorious in the divorce case, leaving Donovan with nothing. Meanwhile, Rex Rexroth (Edward Herrmann) is having a sexual roleplaying session with a blonde in a motel room when a private investigator named Gus Petch (Cedric The Entertainer) bursts in and records everything with a video camera. He takes the video to Rex's wife, Marylin Rexroth (Catherine Zeta-Jones), who married Rex solely to obtain wealth and independence via a divorce. Rex hires Miles. Marylin learns from her friend, a wealthy fellow serial divorcee named Sarah Sorkin (Julia Duffy), that Miles is a dangerous opponent.
After Marylin and her lawyer, Freddy Bender (Richard Jenkins), fail to reach a settlement with Miles and Rex, Miles asks Marylin to dinner, where they spar. Miles hires Gus to steal some information for him. In court, Miles has a concierge named Heinz, the Baron Krauss von Espy (Jonathan Hadary) testify that Marylin asked him several years ago to find her a rich, easily-manipulated husband. As a result, Marylin winds up with nothing. Miles's aged boss, Herb Myerson (Tom Aldredge), congratulates Miles on his fine work. Marylin wants revenge and gets it with the help of broke soap producer Donaly, whom she finds living on the street clutching his Emmy statuette. Soon after, Marylin shows up at Miles's office with her new fiance, an oil millionaire named Howard D. Doyle (Billy Bob Thornton). Though Marylin insists Doyle sign the Massey Prenup, he destroys it during the wedding as a demonstration of his love. A few months later, Marylin divorces Howard and receives the "Doyle Oil fortune".
Marylin later bumps into Miles in Las Vegas, Nevada, where he is the keynote speaker at a convention of divorce attorneys. They discover that they both are lonely people despite their wealth. Miles marries her on the spur of the moment. He insists on signing the Massey Prenup to show that he is not doing it for her money, but she tears it up. He announces at the convention that he is abandoning divorce suits in favor of pro-bono work in East Los Angeles. However, Miles soon discovers that Howard D. Doyle is in fact just an actor from one of Donaly's soap operas. Marylin has tricked him and now his wealth is at risk. Miles' boss is most displeased with this turn of events and demands that something be done to save the firm's fearsome reputation. He refers Miles to a hitman named Wheezy Joe (Irwin Keyes). But when Miles learns that Marylin's ex-husband Rex has died of a heart attack, leaving her millions because he never changed his will, Miles rushes to save his wife. Marylin however is in no danger. Her rottweiler guard dogs have Wheezy Joe surrounded and she offers to pay him double to switch sides. When Miles and his assistant Wrigley arrive, they are confronted by the hit man. In the confusion of the ensuing struggle, Wheezy Joe mistakes his salbutamol inhaler for his gun and shoots himself in the head. Later, Miles and Marylin meet to negotiate their divorce. Miles pleads for a second chance and retroactively signs a Massey Pre-nup. She tears it up, and they kiss. Marylin tells Miles that she has suggested an idea to Donaly for a TV show, and Gus Petch becomes the host of America's Funniest Divorce Videos.
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)
Black & White
Pods possess people's bodies
Invasion of the Body Snatchers
"Psychiatrist Dr. Hill is called to the emergency room of a California hospital, where a screaming man is being held in custody. Dr. Hill agrees to listen to his story. The man identifies himself as a doctor, and he recounts, in flashback, the events leading up to his arrest and arrival at the hospital:
In the nearby town of Santa Mira, Dr. Miles Bennell sees a number of patients apparently suffering from Capgras delusion -- the belief that their relatives have somehow been replaced with identical-looking impostors. Returning from a trip, Miles meets his former girlfriend, Becky Driscoll, who has herself recently come back to town after a divorce. Becky's cousin Wilma has the same fear about her Uncle Ira, with whom she lives. Psychiatrist Dr. Dan Kauffman assures Bennell that these cases are merely an "epidemic of mass hysteria".
That same evening, Bennell's friend, Jack Belicec, finds a body with his exact physical features, though it appears not fully developed; later, another body is found in Becky's basement that is her exact duplicate. When Bennell calls Kauffman to the scene, the bodies have mysteriously disappeared, and Kauffman informs Bennell that he is falling for the same hysteria. The following night, Bennell, Becky, Jack, and Jack's wife Teddy again find duplicates of themselves, emerging from giant seed pods in Dr. Bennell's greenhouse. They conclude that the townspeople are being replaced while asleep with exact physical copies. Miles tries to make a long distance call to federal authorities for help, but the phone operator claims that all long-distance lines are busy; Jack and Teddy drive off to seek help in the next town. Bennell and Becky discover that by now all of the town's inhabitants have been replaced and are devoid of humanity; they flee to Bennell's office to hide for the night.
The next morning they see truckloads of the giant pods heading to neighboring towns to be planted and used to replace their populations. Kauffman and Jack, both of whom are "pod people" by now, arrive at Bennell's office and reveal that an extraterrestrial life form is responsible for the invasion. After their takeover, they explain, life loses its frustrating complexity, because all emotions and sense of individuality vanish. Bennell and Becky manage to escape, but are soon pursued by a crowd of "pod people". Exhausted, they manage to hide in an abandoned mine outside town. Bennell leaves a little later, coming upon a large greenhouse farm, where he discovers giant seed pods being grown by the hundreds. When Bennell kisses Becky after his return, he realizes, to his horror, that Becky fell asleep and is now one of them. As Bennell runs away, she sounds the alarm. He runs and runs, eventually finding himself on a crowded state highway. After seeing a transport truck bound for San Francisco and Los Angeles filled with the pods, he frantically screams at the passing motorists, "They're here already! You're next! You're next!"
Dr. Hill and the on-duty doctor dismiss Bennell's account until a truck driver is wheeled into the emergency room after being badly injured in an accident. He was found in his wrecked truck buried under a load of giant seed pods. Finally believing Bennell's story, Dr. Hill calls for all roads in and out of Santa Mira to be barricaded, and alerts the FBI.
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)
Color
Pods replace peoples' bodies
Invasion of the Body Snatchers
"In deep space, a race of gelatinous creatures abandon their dying world. Pushed through space by the solar wind, they make their way to Earth and land in San Francisco. Some fall on plant leaves, assimilating them and forming small pods with pink flowers. Elizabeth Driscoll, an employee at the San Francisco health department, is one of several people who bring the flowers home. The next morning, Elizabeth's boyfriend, Geoffrey Howell, suddenly becomes distant, and she senses that something is wrong. Her colleague, health inspector Matthew Bennell, suggests that she see his friend, psychiatrist Dr. David Kibner. Kibner suggests that Elizabeth wants to believe that Geoffrey has changed because she is looking for an excuse to get out of their relationship.
Meanwhile, Matthew's friend Jack Bellicec, a struggling writer who owns a bathhouse with his wife Nancy, discovers a deformed body on one of the beds and calls Matthew to investigate. Noticing that the body (which is adult sized but lacks distinguishing characteristics) bears a slight resemblance to Jack, Matthew breaks into Elizabeth's home and finds a semi-formed double of her in the bedroom garden. He is able to get the sleeping Elizabeth to safety, but the duplicate body has disappeared by the time he returns with the police.
Matthew realizes that what is happening is extraterrestrial, and that people are being replaced by copies while they sleep. Matthew calls several state and federal agencies, but they all tell him not to worry. In addition, people who had earlier claimed that their loved ones had changed seem to have been converted as well, including (unbeknownst to him) Dr. Kibner.
That night, Matthew and his friends are nearly duplicated by the pods while they sleep. The pod people try to raid Matthew's house, but he and his friends are able to escape. During this, they discover that the pod people emit a shrill scream once they learn someone is still human among them.
Jack and Nancy create a diversion within a crowd of pursuing pod people to give Matthew and Elizabeth time to escape. Matthew and Elizabeth are chased across San Francisco. They are eventually found by the doubles of Jack and Dr. Kibner at the Health Department. Kibner's double tells them that what the alien species is doing is purely for survival and that they are even doing humanity a favor by ridding them of emotion[dubious -- discuss]. Matthew and Elizabeth are injected with a sedative to make them sleep. However, having already taken a large dose of speed, the couple overpower them and escape the building.
In the stairwell, they find Nancy, who has learned to evade the pod people by hiding all emotion. Outside, Matthew and Elizabeth are exposed as human when Elizabeth screams after seeing a mutant dog with a man's face. They flee, and discover a giant warehouse at the docks where the pods are grown. After Matthew and Elizabeth profess their love for each other, Matthew goes out to investigate, only to discover a cargo ship being loaded with hundreds of pods.
Matthew returns to find that Elizabeth has fallen asleep. Although he tries to wake her, her body crumbles to dust and Elizabeth's double arises behind him, telling him to sleep. Now alone, Matthew sets the pod warehouse on fire, destroying many unhatched pods. However, he is chased by the pod people and hides under a pier outside. However, the pod people know he will have to fall asleep eventually.
The next morning, Matthew watches dozens of children being led into a theatre to be replaced. At work he sees Elizabeth, but she is completely oblivious to him. While walking towards City Hall, he is spotted by Nancy, who has avoided conversion into a pod person. She calls his name, to which Matthew responds by pointing to her and emitting the piercing pod scream. Realizing that Matthew is now a pod person, Nancy screams in helpless terror.
Invisible Stripes (1939)
Black & White
Ex-con returns to crime to make a living
Invisible Stripes
Cliff Taylor (George Raft) is an ex-con who wants to go straight, but since being released from prison on parole, he finds it hard to find and hold a job due to his criminal past. Cliff's younger brother Tim (William Holden) is worried because he cannot afford to marry his girlfriend Peggy (Jane Bryan) and increasingly disillusioned about being able to make a position for himself in the world honestly. Afraid that Tim might end up leading a life of crime like himself, Cliff decides to help him find the money to settle down. He tells his family he has found a job as salesman, but in reality he gets back to ex fellow convict Charles Martin (Humphrey Bogart) and they organize a number of robberies. With the money he gets from his criminal activities, Cliff is able to buy a garage for his brother, who is now able to get married. Cliff, in the meantime, decides to quit the gang. However, after a failed robbery, Martin and his pals hide in Tim's garage. The police finds out, and Tim is taken to the police station. Cliff manages to exonerate his brother from the charges, but in exchange Tim has to identify the robbers and testify against them. Before the police can proceed to arrest Martin, Cliff meets him in his house and tells him to escape before being caught. However, Martin's pals, seeing their boss and Cliff together, understand that they are trying to escape and kill them.
Iron Jawed Angels (2004)
Color
Young suffragettes campaign for amendment giving women the right to vote
Iron Jawed Angels
"The film begins as Alice Paul (Hilary Swank) and Lucy Burns (Frances O'Connor) return from England, where they participated in the women's suffrage movement. Once the pair becomes more active within the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA), they begin to understand that their ideas were much too forceful for the established activists, particularly Carrie Chapman Catt (Anjelica Huston). The pair leave NAWSA and found the National Women's Party (NWP), a better way to fight for women's rights.
Over time, problems occur as NAWSA leaders criticize NWP tactics, such as protesting against a wartime President Woodrow Wilson and picketing outside the White House with "Silent Sentinels." Male supremacists famously (and infamously) label the women "iron-jawed angels." Relations between the American government and the NWP protesters also intensify, as many women are arrested for their actions, though the official charge is "obstructing traffic."
The women are sent to the Occoquan Workhouse for 60-day terms where they suffer under unsanitary and inhumane conditions. During this time, Paul and other women undertake a hunger strike, during which paid guards force-feed them milk and raw eggs. News of their treatment leaks to the media through the husband of one of the imprisoned women, a U.S. Senator, who has been able to lobby for a visit (the suffragists are otherwise unable to see visitors or lawyers) by putting a letter in his shirt. Pressure is put on President Wilson as the NAWSA seizes the opportunity to try for the nineteenth amendment to the Constitution.
Paul, Burns and all of the other women were all pardoned by President Wilson.
Irresistible (2020)
Color
Democratic consultant convinces farmer who is a retired marine, to run for mayor
Irresistible
"Plunged into despair by the results of the 2016 presidential election, veteran Democratic Party campaign consultant Gary Zimmer is shown a viral video of retired Marine Col. Jack Hastings giving a speech standing up for the undocumented immigrant population of his hometown of Deerlaken, Wisconsin. Calculating that getting Hastings elected as a Democrat in Deerlaken's upcoming mayoral election will help him convince the American people in the heartland to vote Democrat in the next presidential election, Zimmer travels to Wisconsin to persuade Hastings to run. Arriving in Deerlaken, Gary experiences the vast cultural divide between his home of Washington, D.C. and the townspeople's more rural mannerisms and political beliefs.
Gary soon meets Hastings and his daughter Diana and pitches his idea. Hastings initially declines, considering himself more of a conservative and having no real interest in politics, but later relents and agrees to run under the condition that Gary serve as his campaign manager. Hastings recruits his friends and neighbors as volunteers for the campaign. However, setbacks soon arise such as limited Wi-Fi, xenophobia, social conservatism, and the fact that the incumbent mayor, Braun, is being funded by the Republican National Committee. The RNC also sends down Faith Brewster, Gary's nemesis, to counter Gary.
As the race heats up, Gary takes Jack to New York City so they can recruit fundraisers for the campaign to match Faith's money and resources. Jack gives a powerful speech to the possible donors about how he needs their help for his small town, which inspires Gary. Their donations allow Gary to upgrade their campaigning methods. Soon the election polls show the two candidates neck-and-neck, although the Hastings campaign takes a dive when one of Gary's team members advertises a pro-contraceptive platform to a group of single women who turn out to be nuns. When Gary starts berating his teammates, Diana convinces him to apologize and that if he is going to run her father's campaign, he needs to be nice.
When it starts to look like Faith and Braun are going to win, Gary tries to convince Jack and Diana to play dirty and start exploiting Braun's skeletons. Diana is horrified that Gary would play dirty and secretly goes to Braun for advice. The two decide to secretly reveal a bigger scandal about Braun so Gary will not go after Braun's brother, which was his original plan. The scandal, however, proves to be false.
On Election Day, no one votes, which confuses both Gary and Faith. It quickly becomes clear that the election was actually a setup. Diana reveals she masterminded the entire scheme, filming the video of her father's immigration speech (which was carefully scripted) so that the Democrats and Republicans would pour thousands of dollars into the election; the town has been quietly siphoning the money to get through its financial troubles due to the recent closure of a nearby military base. Gary is shocked that Diana would play him and Diana then counters by explaining the town had no choice but to set him up because D.C. politicians play small towns like theirs all the time while doing nothing to help when times are tough. When Gary reveals that he has feelings for Diana, she rejects him.
Later, Diana becomes the mayor of Deerlaken after a special election.
It Happened One Night (1934)
Black & White
Runaway socialite and reporter fall in love
It Happened One Night
"Spoiled heiress Ellen "Ellie" Andrews (Claudette Colbert) marries fortune-hunter "King" Westley (Jameson Thomas) against the wishes of her extremely wealthy father (Walter Connolly) who wants to have the marriage annulled. She runs away, boarding a bus to New York City, to reunite with her new spouse, when she meets fellow bus passenger Peter Warne (Clark Gable), an out-of-work newspaper reporter. Warne recognizes her and gives her a choice: if she will give him an exclusive on her story, he will help her reunite with Westley. If not, he will tell her father where she is and collect the reward offered for her return. Ellie agrees to the first choice.
Soon penniless, Ellie has to rely completely on Peter. As they go through several adventures together, Ellie loses her initial disdain for him and begins to fall in love. When they have to hitchhike, Peter claims to be an expert on the subject. As car after car passes them by, he eventually ends up thumbing his nose at them. The sheltered Ellie then shows him how it's done. She stops the next car, driven by Danker (Alan Hale), dead in its tracks by lifting up her skirt and showing off a shapely leg.
When they stop for a break, Danker tries to drive off with their luggage. Peter chases him down and takes his car. One night, nearing the end of their journey together, Ellie confesses her love to Peter. Peter mulls over what she has said, decides he loves her too, and leaves to make arrangements after she has fallen asleep. When the owners of the motel in which they are staying notice that Peter's car is gone, they roust Ellie out of bed and kick her out.
Believing Peter has deserted her, Ellie calls her father, who is so relieved to get her back that he agrees to let her marry Westley. Meanwhile, Peter has obtained money from his editor to marry Ellie, but as he drives back to tell her, they pass each other on the road. Although Ellie has no desire to be with Westley, she believes Peter has betrayed her for the reward money, so once home she agrees to have a second, formal wedding and commit to her life with Westley.
Ellie tries to pretend that nothing has happened, but she is unable to fool her father. On her wedding day she finally reveals the whole story (as she sees it). When Peter comes to Ellie's home, Mr. Andrews offers him the reward money, but Peter insists on being paid only his expenses: a paltry $39.60. When Ellie's father presses him for an explanation of his odd behavior, Peter admits he loves Ellie (although he thinks he is out of his mind to do so), then storms out.
At the wedding ceremony, as Mr. Andrews walks his daughter down the aisle, he reveals Peter's refusal of the reward money to Ellie and quietly encourages her to run off again, telling her that her car is out back for a quick get-away. At the point where she is to say "I do," she makes up her mind. She runs off to find Peter. Her pleased father pays Westley off, enabling Ellie to marry Peter.
J Edgar (2011)
Color
Biopic of J. Edgar Hoover, the FBI director notorious for his overzealous law enforcement
J Edgar
"The film opens with J. Edgar Hoover in his office during his later years. He asks that a writer, known as Agent Smith, be let in, so that he may tell the story of the origin of the FBI for the sake of the public. Hoover explains that the story begins in 1919, when A. Mitchell Palmer was Attorney General and Hoover's boss at the Justice Department. Palmer suffers an assassination attempt, but is unharmed when the bomb explodes earlier than intended. Hoover recalls that the police handling of the crime scene was primitive, and that it was that night that he recognized the importance of criminal science. Later, Hoover visits his mother, Anna Marie, and tells her that Palmer has put him in charge of a new anti-radical division, and that he has already begun compiling a list of suspected radicals. He leaves to meet Helen Gandy, who has just started as a secretary at the Justice Department. Hoover takes Gandy to the Library of Congress, and shows her the card catalog system he devised. He muses about how easy it would be to solve crimes if every citizen were as easily identifiable as the books in the library. When Hoover attempts to kiss her, she recoils. Hoover gets down on his knees and asks her to marry him, citing her organization and education, but his request is once again denied. However, Gandy agrees to become his personal secretary.
Despite his close monitoring of suspected foreign radicals, Hoover finds that the Department of Labor refuses to deport anyone without clear evidence of a crime; however, Anthony Caminetti, the commissioner general of immigration dislikes the prominent anarchist Emma Goldman. Hoover arranges to discredit her marriage and make her eligible for deportation, setting a precedent of deportation for radical conspiracy. After several Justice Department raids of suspected radical groups, many leading to deportation, Palmer loses his job as Attorney General. Under a subsequent Attorney General, Harlan F. Stone, Hoover is made director of the Justice Department's Bureau of Investigation. He is introduced to Clyde Tolson, a recently graduated lawyer, and takes his business card. Later, while reviewing job applications with Helen Gandy, Hoover asks if Tolson had applied. Gandy says he had, and Hoover interviews and hires Tolson.
The Bureau pursues a string of gangster and bank robbery crimes across the Midwest, including the high profile John Dillinger, with general success. When the Lindbergh kidnapping captures national attention, President Hoover asks the Bureau to investigate. Hoover employs several novel techniques, including the monitoring of registration numbers on ransom bills, and expert analysis of the kidnapper's handwriting. The birth of the FBI Crime Lab is seen as a product of Hoover's determination to analyze the homemade wooden ladder left at the crime scene. When the monitored bills begin showing up in New York City, the investigators find a filling station attendant who wrote down the license plate number of the man who gave him the bill. This leads to the arrest, and eventual conviction, of Bruno Hauptmann for the kidnapping and murder of the Lindbergh child.
After going to a Shirley Temple film with Hoover's mother, Hoover and Tolson decide to go out to a club. When Ginger Rogers asks Hoover if he ever wishes he had someone to keep him warm at night, he responds that he has dedicated his life to the bureau. Ginger's mother asks Hoover to dance and he becomes agitated, saying that he and Tolson must leave, as they have a lot of work to do in the morning. When he gets home he shares his dislike of dancing with girls with his mother, and she tells him she would rather have a dead son than a "daffodil" for a son. She then insists on teaching him to dance, and they dance in her bedroom. Soon after, Hoover and Tolson go on a vacation to the horse races. That evening, Hoover tells Tolson that he cares deeply for him, and Tolson returns the feeling by stating that he loves Hoover. However, Hoover claims to be considering marriage to a young woman twenty years his junior, Dorothy Lamour, he has been seeing in New York City, provoking outrage from Tolson. Tolson accuses Hoover making a fool out of him and then begins throwing insults at Hoover, and consequently they begin throwing punches at each other and cause grave damage to the hotel room in the process; they eventually end up fighting on the floor. The fight ends when Tolson gets an upper hand over Hoover, and suddenly kisses him. Hoover demands that it must never happen again; Tolson says that it won't, and attempts to leave. Hoover apologizes and begs him to stay, but Tolson only says that if Hoover ever mentioned another woman again, their friendship would be over. He then leaves, with Hoover professing love for him moments after.
Years later, Hoover feels his strength begin to decline. He requires daily visits by a doctor, and Tolson suffers a stroke which leaves him in a severely weakened state. An attempt by Hoover to blackmail Martin Luther King, Jr. into declining his Nobel Peace Prize proves ineffective, and King, Jr. accepts the prize. Hoover eventually begins to consider his mortality and tells Helen Gandy to destroy his secret files if he were to die to prevent Richard Nixon from possessing them. When Tolson appeals to Hoover to retire when Hoover comes to visit him, Hoover refuses, claiming that Nixon is going to destroy the bureau he has created. Tolson then accuses Hoover of exaggerating his involvement in many of the bureau's actions.
Returning home one evening after work, Hoover, obviously weakened, goes upstairs. Shortly after, Tolson is called by Hoover's housekeeper and he goes upstairs to find Hoover dead next to his bed. Griefstricken, he gently kisses Hoover's forehead and covers his body with a sheet before walking out. The news of Hoover's death reaches Nixon, and while he does a eulogy on television for him, several members of Nixon's staff enters Hoover's office and proceeds to rifle through the cabinets and drawers in search of Hoover's rumored "personal and confidential" files, but find them all to be empty. In the last scene, Helen Gandy is seen destroying stacks of files, assumed to be from Hoover's personal archive.
Jason Bourne (2016)
Color
Bourne tries to find his identitiy
Jason Bourne
"A decade after he exposed Operation Blackbriar and disappeared, Jason Bourne has finally recovered from his amnesia, isolating himself from the world and making a living by taking part in illegal fighting rings. In Reykjavik, Nicky Parsons, who has been collaborating with a hacktivist group led by Christian Dassault, hacks into the CIA's mainframe server in order to expose the CIA's black ops programs, which alerts Heather Lee, the head of the agency's cyber ops division, and CIA Director Robert Dewey. In the process, Parsons finds documents that concern Bourne's recruitment into Treadstone and his father's role in the program, and she decides to travel to Athens to find and inform him.
In Greece, Parsons and Bourne meet at Syntagma Square in the midst of a violent anti-government protest. They evade the CIA teams sent to locate them, but Parsons is killed by the Asset, an ex-Blackbriar program assassin who also holds a personal grudge against Bourne, having been captured and tortured following Bourne's actions that exposed Blackbriar. Before she dies, Parsons is able to pass Bourne the key to a luggage locker which holds the CIA files.
Intending to find the answers about his past and family, Bourne locates Dassault in Berlin. Decrypting Parsons's files, Bourne discovers that his father, Richard Webb, was an analyst for the CIA and was involved with the creation of the original Treadstone program. However, malware planted in the files alerts the CIA to Bourne's location, and Dewey sends a team to capture him while Lee remotely erases the files to prevent another leak. Dassault attacks Bourne, but is killed in the fight. Lee takes the opportunity to alert Bourne to the team's presence as she believes that he can be persuaded to return to the agency. Using the few leads he gathered in Berlin, Bourne tracks Malcolm Smith, a former Treadstone surveillance operative, in London and arranges to meet him in Paddington Plaza.
Lee persuades Dewey's boss, Edwin Russell, the Director of National Intelligence, to allow her to contact Bourne in person to attempt to bring him back in. Dewey, who disagrees with the plan to re-recruit Bourne, secretly authorizes the Asset to eliminate Lee's team and kill Bourne. Knowing that the CIA is watching him, Bourne evades Lee and the Asset long enough to confront Smith. Smith admits that Richard Webb created Treadstone, but tried to prevent them from recruiting Bourne. Under Dewey's orders, the Asset killed Richard Webb in Beirut and staged his death as a terrorist attack to persuade Bourne to join Treadstone. Smith is killed by the Asset while Bourne escapes and finds Lee, who admits that she is not comfortable with Dewey's methods and directs him to a technology convention in Las Vegas.
Dewey is scheduled to attend the convention for a public debate on privacy rights with Aaron Kalloor, the CEO of social media enterprise Deep Dream. Kalloor is the public face of corporate social responsibility in the Internet age, but he has secretly been funded by Dewey, who intends to use Deep Dream for real-time mass surveillance alongside the latest incarnation of the CIA's targeted assassination 'Beta' program, known as "Iron Hand". Suspecting that Kalloor will refuse to allow the CIA access to Deep Dream, Dewey authorizes the Asset to assassinate Kalloor and Lee, whom he no longer trusts. Bourne arrives at the convention in time to thwart the assassination and confronts Dewey in his suite. Dewey appeals to Bourne's sense of patriotism as he stalls for time, knowing that agents are closing in. Bourne kills Jeffers, Dewey's right-hand man, while Lee kills Dewey before he can shoot Bourne. Bourne covers up Lee's involvement before giving chase to the Asset and finally kills him by breaking his neck after a long fight in a storm sewer.
In the aftermath, Lee convinces Edwin Russell that Dewey's methods were outdated and offers herself as a candidate to become Dewey's replacement as CIA Director, to act as Russell's eyes and ears within the CIA. She outlines her plan to use Bourne's trust to bring him back to the agency, but recognizes the need to kill him if he refuses. Lee approaches Bourne, promising him that the CIA will become the organization he thought it was when he joined. Bourne asks for time to consider her offer, but leaves a recording of her conversation with Russell in her car -- making it clear that he does not trust her -- before he disappears agai
Jason's Lyric (1994)
Color
misunderstood young black adults learn how to deal with love and maturity
Jason's Lyric
"A family tragedy leaves deep scars and affects two brothers to choose different paths in their future. Jason (Allen Payne) is a responsible young man who works as a sales clerk in a television repair shop and lives at home with his hard-working mom, Gloria (Suzzanne Douglas). Joshua (Bokeem Woodbine) is the younger brother, who is just released from prison. Previously traumatized by his father, Joshua becomes a volatile, disturbed ex-con who is obviously bound for a violent end. Joshua deals drugs for short-term cash and joins a crew scheming a bank robbery.
One day at his workplace, after Jason turns down an offer from his manager to move town for a pay rise; reasoning to stay close to his family, a beautiful female customer whose name later revealed to be Lyric (Jada Pinkett), walks into the shop to buy a television. Jason is instantly captivated by her beauty that he desperately tries his best to pursue and woo her, such as: giving her a rose bouquet he bought randomly from strangers when he follows her home. Lyric initially resists Jason's smooth-talking, but his persistence, determination, sincerity and humor eventually melt her initial cold heart. As Jason spends more times with Lyric and gets to know more about her, he comes to fall genuinely in love with her, found new happiness and inspired to do more romantic things to win her heart. Such as: borrowing a city bus to take her on a date, setting up a mock of candlelight dinner in an abandoned bus station, riding in a rowboat in the bayou and end up making love in the woods that magically turns into flower fields; representing their wild dreams. Jason even starts to think about leaving home as he is inspired by Lyric's dreams of an escape and a peaceful life. Jason also starts to confide more about Lyric with his mother, which she gladly supports.
Despite he has gained his happiness by dating Lyric, Jason is still often haunted by the nightmares of the tragedy in his childhood. Either young Jason (Sean Hutchinson) or young Joshua (Burleigh Moore) killed their father, Mad Dog (Forest Whitaker), when he drunkenly attacked their mother, it is still unclear. This nightmare makes Jason feels conflicted between his love for his family and his girlfriend, Lyric. Meanwhile, Alonzo (Treach) is setting up a plan to rob a bank with his gang and Joshua joins in. One day, Lyric eavesdrops on their conversations about the robbery plan and immediately tells Jason about it. Lyric warns Jason to not to cross her brother, Alonzo, and Jason promises her to just talk to his brother followed by offering a literal escape the town together, which Lyric delightfully accepts. They agree to meet at the bayou.
Unfortunately, the robbery does not go as planned as Joshua comes in late. Most significantly, he causes bedlam by independently terrorizing and beating the customers of the bank, despite he does get in the getaway car with his gang in time, when the heist is over. As punishment, Joshua is whipped by the rest of Alonzo's gang. Jason informs his mother that he and Lyric are thinking about moving town together, which his mother reluctantly supports. Joshua returns home severely wounded, Jason and their mother are horrified and quickly treat him. Jason is furious upon learning that Alonzo has brutally tortured his brother, so he decides to confront his girlfriend's brother, to exact revenge. After the confrontation, the two engage in a vicious fight in a public restroom, thus Jason breaks his promise to Lyric.
Having broken his promise, Jason meets Lyric at the bayou as planned, but she immediately sees the sign of otherwise. Jason states that he cannot leave with her because Joshua needs him, much to Lyric's chagrin. When Lyric furiously confronts about why he keeps having the nightmares that made him feels obligated to keep saving his brother who does not want to be saved, he eventually explains more detail about his tragic family history by revealing himself as the one who took the gun from Joshua, in order to stop their abusive dad from harming their mother further. But he accidentally shot Mad Dog in the chest instead, instantly killing him. This guilty feeling explains why he feels obligated to his family. Finally understand, Lyric comforts Jason and suggests him to walk away, but warns him as well that they cannot be together if he keeps coming back to save his obviously incorrigible brother. In the evening, while watching the family pictures through the slide projector, his mother states that she has now approved Jason's wish to leave the town with Lyric and be happy, convincing him that he owes her and Joshua nothing nor did he kill Mad Dog. Joshua overhears and assumes that Jason is leaving not only because of Lyric, but because Alonzo may take revenge. Growing jealous, Joshua plans to kill them all in order to keep his brother from leaving.
Joshua is preparing the gun in the bar. Unbeknownst to him, Rat (Eddie Griffin), Jason's good friend, notices him and quickly aware of Joshua's intentions. As Jason finishes packing up, Rat quickly informs him about Joshua's attempt to kill Alonzo and anyone connected or related to him, including Lyric. As Alonzo and his girlfriend as well as Lyric's co-worker, Marti (Lisa Nicole Carson), go out for a date, Joshua arrives shortly after they are gone. He begins mercilessly shooting down Alonzo's two crew members and successfully found Lyric in her bedroom. Jason and his friends make their ways to Lyric's house, but their car is stopped by an oncoming train, thus Jason decides to get off his car and runs across the speeding train. Jason finally arrives safely at Lyric's home just in time. As he steps over Alonzo's crews' dead bodies, he picks the scattered gun on the floor, just in case, and rushes upstairs looking for Lyric. He finds Joshua pointing his gun at Lyric's neck while asking about Alonzo's whereabouts and venting his jealousy over her for taking away his older brother. Jason carefully steps in and convinces Joshua not to kill Lyric. After getting into a heated argument that concludes his younger brother remains unchanged, Jason is eventually fed up with Joshua that he draws his gun to him as well. However, Joshua accidentally shoots Lyric, much to Jason's horror. Upon realized he might lose the woman he loves and his chance at happiness to be with her, Jason has finally made up his mind to rather save Lyric, followed by reminding her to stick with their plan to leave the town together, while weeping for her. He ignores Joshua's apology and his pleas to not giving up on him.
Still weeping, Jason carries the injured Lyric out of her home to a growing crowd outside and takes her to the waiting ambulance. Joshua is fed up with his life upon realized to have no one to rely on that he decides to end it all by killing himself (off screen), in earshot of everyone outside. The film ends with Jason and the now-recovered Lyric ride a bus together, leaving town and start a new life; however, some versions are edited out this part.
Jayne Mansfield's Car (2012)
Color
Jim braces for a visit from his ex-wife's current husband, who's bringing her body to bury
Jayne Mansfield's Car
"The film is set in 1969 Morrison, Alabama. The Caldwell family includes three World War II veterans, brothers played by Thornton, Bacon and Patrick, their sister Donna (LaNasa), and a patriarch, Jim Caldwell (Duvall), who is a World War I veteran. The Caldwells are involved in a cultural clash with the Bedfords, a family which includes Phillip (Stevenson), a World War II veteran, his sister Camilla (O'Connor), and their father Kingsley (Hurt), also a World War I veteran.
The Bedfords are a London family visiting Morrison for the funeral of Kingsley's wife, who is the ex-wife of Jim Caldwell and the mother of Caldwell's children. Duvall described the film in an interview as "putting Tennessee Williams in the back seat".
The film's title refers to the automobile in which movie star Jayne Mansfield was supposedly decapitated in 1967. When a nearby town has a side show displaying the vehicle, Jim Caldwell takes Kingsley Bedford along to gawk at the grisly artifact.
Jerry Maguire (1998)
Color
High powered sports manager leaves job for simple life
Jerry Maguire
"Jerry Maguire (Tom Cruise) is a glossy 35-year-old sports agent working for Sports Management International (SMI). After having a life-altering epiphany about his role as a sports agent, he writes a mission statement about perceived dishonesty in the sports management business and his desire to work with fewer clients so as to produce better quality. In turn, Management decides to send Bob Sugar (Jay Mohr), Jerry's protege, to fire him. Jerry and Sugar call all of Jerry's clients to try convincing them not to hire the services of the other. Sugar secures most of Jerry's previous clients. Jerry speaks to Arizona Cardinals wide receiver Rod Tidwell (Cuba Gooding, Jr.), one of his clients who is disgruntled with his contract. Rod tests Jerry's resolve through a very long telephone conversation while Sugar is able to convince the rest of Jerry's clients to stick with SMI instead. Leaving the office, Jerry announces that he will start his own agency and asks if anyone is willing to join him, to which only 26-year-old single mother Dorothy Boyd (Renee Zellweger) agrees. Meanwhile, Frank "Cush" Cushman (Jerry O'Connell), a superstar quarterback prospect who expects to be the number one pick in the NFL Draft, also stays with Jerry after he makes a visit to the Cushman home. However, Sugar is able to convince Cushman and his father at the last minute to sign with SMI over Jerry. Cushman's father implies they decided to sign with Sugar over Jerry when they saw Jerry attending to Tidwell; an African-American player, versus his son (a white player).
After an argument, Jerry breaks up with his disgruntled fiancee. He then turns to Dorothy, becoming closer to her young son, Ray (Jonathan Lipnicki), and eventually starts a relationship with her. However, Dorothy contemplates moving to San Diego as she has a secure job offer there. Jerry concentrates all his efforts on Rod, now his only client, who turns out to be very difficult to satisfy. Over the next several months, the two direct harsh criticism towards each other with Rod claiming that Jerry is not trying hard enough to get him a contract while Jerry claims that Rod is not proving himself worthy of the money for which he asks. Jerry marries Dorothy to help them both stay afloat financially and to keep her from moving away. He is emotionally and physically distant during the marriage but is clearly invested in becoming a father to Ray. Although Dorothy loves Jerry, she breaks up with him because she believes that he does not love her.
During a Monday Night Football game between the Cardinals and the Dallas Cowboys, Rod plays well but appears to receive a serious injury when catching a touchdown. He recovers, however, and dances for the wildly cheering crowd. Afterwards, Jerry and Rod embrace in front of other athletes and sports agents and show how their relationship has progressed from a strictly business one to a close personal one, which was one of the points Jerry made in his mission statement. Jerry then flies back home to meet Dorothy. He then speaks for several minutes, telling her that he loves her and wants her in his life, which she accepts. Rod later appears on Roy Firestone's sports show. Unbeknownst to him, Jerry has secured him an $11.2 million contract with the Cardinals allowing him to finish his pro football career in Arizona. The visibly emotional Rod proceeds to thank everyone and extends warm gratitude to Jerry. Jerry speaks with several other pro athletes, some of whom have read his earlier mission statement and respect his work with Rod.
The movie ends with Ray throwing a baseball up in the air surprising Jerry. Jerry then discusses Ray's possible future career in the sports industry with Dorothy.
Jersey Boys (2014)
Color
Docudrama about the offstage lives of the Four Seasons
Jersey Boys
"In 1951, in Belleville, New Jersey, Tommy DeVito, narrating the story, introduces the audience to himself, Tommy's brother Nicky, and their friend Nick Massi, who perform together as The Variety Trio, and to a barber's son, 16-year-old Frankie Castelluccio, already well known in the neighborhood for his singing voice. Frankie has the admiration of Genovese Family mobster Angelo "Gyp" DeCarlo, who takes a personal interest in him.
One night, the group attempts a robbery of a safe, for which the police later arrest them. In court, Frankie is let off with a warning but Tommy is sentenced to six months in prison. After his release, Tommy reunites the group and adds Frankie as lead singer. Frankie changes his professional name to Frankie Vally, and then Frankie Valli. At a performance, Frankie is entranced by a woman named Mary Delgado. He takes her to dinner, and they are soon married.
The group, now called "The Four Lovers," is in need of a songwriter after Nicky leaves. Tommy's friend Joe Pesci tells him about a talented singer-songwriter, Bob Gaudio, and invites him to hear the group perform. Gaudio, now narrating, is impressed with Valli's vocals and agrees to join.
The band, having recorded several demos, attempts to attract interest, with little success. One day in New York City, producer Bob Crewe signs them to a contract. However, they quickly realize that it only allows them to perform back-up vocals for other acts (as The Romans and The Topix). Crewe says that the group does not have a distinctive image or sound yet. Inspired by a bowling alley sign, the guys rename themselves "The Four Seasons," and sing a new song Gaudio has written, "Sherry", to Crewe, who agrees to record it.
"Sherry" quickly becomes a commercial success, followed by two more, "Big Girls Don't Cry" and "Walk Like a Man". However, before an appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show, Valli is approached by Jewish mobster Norman Waxman, a loan shark for one of the other Five Families, who claims that Tommy owes him $150,000. Frankie goes to DeCarlo, who gets Waxman to allow the group to pay the debt, which turns out to be considerably larger. Tommy must go to work for the mob's associates in Las Vegas until it is paid. Nick, irritated by Tommy's irresponsibility, not being involved in the group's decisions, and never being able to see his family, also leaves the group.
Forced to tour constantly to pay the debt, the band hires a set of studio musicians and becomes Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, with Gaudio now acting only as songwriter and producer. Valli learns from his now ex-wife Mary that his daughter, Francine, now a drug addict, has escaped from home. Valli tracks her down and regrets not acting as a better father for her when she was growing up. He also arranges for Gaudio to offer her singing lessons and for Crewe to cut a demo for her.
A few years later, the group has finally paid off Tommy's debt. However, this coincides with the news of Francine's death by drug overdose. Frankie and Mary both grieve for their daughter. Gaudio composes a new number for Valli to sing, his first as a solo artist. Frankie is at first hesitant, as he is still in mourning, but eventually agrees. The piece, "Can't Take My Eyes Off You", becomes a commercial success.
In 1990, the original Four Seasons are to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The quartet performs "Rag Doll" onstage, their first performance together in over twenty years. The music fades as the four men take turns addressing the audience. Tommy, in an ironic twist, now works for Joe Pesci, who has gone on to become an Oscar-winning actor. Nick claims to have no regrets about leaving the group, enjoying the time he spends with his family. Bob has retired to Nashville, Tennessee. Lastly, Frankie finally takes over the narration, stating that the best time he had during his time with the Four Seasons was before their success, "when everything was still ahead of us and it was just four guys singing under a street lamp."
Jezebel (1938)
Black & White
Woman's drives her fianc? away, only to later try to win him back from his new wife
Jezebel
"In 1852 New Orleans, spoiled, strong-willed belle Julie Marsden (Bette Davis) is engaged to banker Preston "Pres" Dillard (Fonda). In retaliation for Pres refusing to drop his work and accompany her while she shops for a dress, she orders a brazen red one for the most important ball of the year, though an unmarried woman is expected to wear a white dress. All of Julie's friends are shocked, but no one can convince her to give up her whim.
At the Olympus ball, Pres and Julie's entrance is met with shock and disdain by all present. She finally realizes the magnitude of her social blunder and begs Pres to take her away, but instead he forces her to dance with him. All of the other dancers leave the floor. When the orchestra stops playing at the instruction of one of the ball's sponsors, Pres orders the conductor to continue. Pres and Julie finish the dance.
Afterwards, Pres takes his leave of Julie, implicitly breaking their engagement. In a final bit of spite, Julie slaps him in the face. Aunt Belle Massey (Fay Bainter) urges her to go after Pres and beg his forgiveness, but she refuses, confident that he will return to her. Instead, he goes north on business. Julie shuts herself up in her house and refuses to see visitors.
A year later, Pres finally returns, to help Dr. Livingstone (Crisp) try to convince the city authorities to take measures against an outbreak of yellow fever. Before Pres can stop her, Julie humbles herself and begs for his forgiveness and a return of his love. Then Pres introduces her to his wife, Northerner Amy (Margaret Lindsay).
Dismayed, Julie eggs on her admirer, skilled duellist Buck Cantrell (Brent), to quarrel with Pres, but the scheme goes awry. Pres's inexperienced brother Ted (Richard Cromwell) is the one who is goaded into challenging Buck. In an unexpected twist, Ted shoots and kills Buck.
Then something happens that overshadows everything else. As Dr. Livingstone had warned repeatedly, a deadly epidemic of yellow fever sweeps the city, as it had done numerous times before. Pres is stricken and, like all other victims, is to be quarantined on an island. Amy prepares to go along to care for him, risking her own life, but Julie tells her that she does not know how to deal with the slaves and Southerners on the island. She begs to go in her place, as an act of redemption. Amy agrees, but only after Julie admits that Pres no longer has any love for Julie.
Jobs (2013)
Color
Based on the real life story of Steve Jobs
Jobs
"The film opens in 2001 with a slightly older Steve Jobs (Ashton Kutcher) introducing the iPod at an Apple Town Hall meeting.
It then flashes back to Reed College in 1974. Jobs had already dropped out due to the high expense of tuition, but was still attending classes with the approval of Dean Jack Dudman (James Woods) who took him under his wing. Jobs is particularly interested in a course on calligraphy. He meets up with his friend Daniel Kottke (Lukas Haas) who is excited to see that Jobs is holding a copy of Be Here Now by Baba Ram Dass. Influenced by this book and his experiences with LSD, Jobs and Kottke spend time in India.
Two years later, Jobs is back in Los Altos, California living at home with his adoptive parents Paul (John Getz) and Clara (Lesley Ann Warren). He is working for Atari and develops a partnership with his friend Steve Wozniak (Josh Gad) after he sees that Wozniak has built a personal computer (the Apple I). They name their new company Apple Computer, though there already is a company called Apple Records that is owned by The Beatles (Wozniak then teases Jobs that this is symbolic of his preference for Bob Dylan). Wozniak gives a demonstration of the Apple I at the Homebrew Computer Club, where Jobs receives a contract with Paul Terrell (Brad William Henke). Jobs asks his mechanic/carpenter father Paul for permission to use the family garage (set up as a carpentry/tool center) for his new company. His father agrees and Jobs then adds Kottke, Bill Fernandez (Victor Rasuk), Bill Atkinson (Nelson Franklin), Chris Espinosa (Eddie Hassell), and later Rod Holt (Ron Eldard) to the Apple team to build Apple I computers. Terrell is disappointed by what they produce which forces Jobs to seek capital elsewhere. After many failed attempts by Jobs to gain venture capital, Mike Markkula (Dermot Mulroney) invests in the company which allows them to move forward.
Jobs and Wozniak develop the Apple II and introduce it at the 1977 West Coast Computer Faire. The Apple II is a remarkable success and suddenly, the company (and Jobs) are very successful. But the success causes Jobs to begin distancing himself from old friends such as his housemates Kottke and his high school girlfriend Chris-Ann Brennan (Ahna O'Reilly) whom he promptly breaks up with after she tells him that she is pregnant with their child. Brennan eventually gives birth to Lisa Brennan-Jobs whom Jobs continues to deny as is his daughter. He also brings in John Sculley (Matthew Modine) to become the CEO of the company. As his behavior becomes more erratic (for example firing an employee for not appreciating his investment in using fonts), Jobs is moved away from The Lisa to the Macintosh Group where he works with Bill Atkinson, Burrell Smith (Lenny Jacobson), Chris Espinosa, and Andy Hertzfeld (Elden Henson). He also forces the original team leader of the Macintosh group, Jef Raskin, out of it. Though the Macintosh is introduced with a great deal of fanfare in 1984, Jobs is forced out of the company by Sculley in 1985.
The film jumps forward to 1996. Jobs is married to Laurene Powell Jobs (Abby Brammell) and has accepted Lisa (Annika Bertea) as his daughter (she now lives with them). He has a son, Reed (Paul Baretto) and is also running the company NeXT which Apple decides to buy. He is asked by then-CEO Gil Amelio to return to Apple as a consultant. Jobs does so and soon he is named the new CEO, ultimately firing Amelio and his ex-friend Markkula (who refused to support him when he was forced out of Apple 11 years prior). Jobs becomes interested in the work of Jonathan Ive (Giles Matthey) and works to reinvent Apple. The film ends with Jobs recording the dialogue for the Think Different commercial in 1997. Before the credits, there are original photos of the main characters, including Steve Jobs.
John Q (2002)
Color
Man holds ER hostage until the surgeon agrees to perform his son's heart transplant
John Q
"A woman drives recklessly down on a winding road, eventually fatally colliding with a truck. Weeks earlier across the country in Chicago, factory worker John Quincy Archibald and his wife Denise face financial trouble due to the ongoing recession. They rush their young son Michael to the hospital when he collapses at his baseball game, and are informed by cardiologist Dr. Raymond Turner and administrator Rebecca Payne that Michael needs a heart transplant to survive. The procedure is extremely expensive ($250,000) and the hospital requires a 30% down payment ($75,000) to place Michael on the organ recipient list, and John discovers that because of his job's recent changes to their insurance carrier and his working hours, his health insurance will not cover the surgery.
After failing to acquire alternate aid from elsewhere, John and Denise struggle to raise the money themselves, and the hospital eventually prepares to send Michael home to die, leading a distraught Denise to urge John to do something. Determined to save his son, John confronts Dr. Turner at gunpoint and takes him and several patients and staff hostage in the ER, but allows a gunshot victim inside to be treated. Police arrive not long after, and negotiator Lt. Frank Grimes makes contact with John, who identifies himself as “John Q.” and demands that Payne put Michael's name on the recipient list.
Grimes clashes with his superior Chief Gus Monroe, while most of the hostages sympathize with John and his plight and reflect on the flaws of the American healthcare system. Agreeing to release some of the patients, John is attacked by hostage Mitch Quigley, whose girlfriend Julie Byrd is fed up with Mitch's abuse and helps to subdue him instead. Handcuffing Mitch, John frees expectant couple Steve and Miriam Smith and immigrant mother Rosa Gonzales and her infant son, who all declare their support for John to the news crews outside. Grimes and Payne reveal John's actions to Denise, and Payne decides to place Michael on the list and perform the operation for free.
Overriding Grimes' command, Monroe allows a SWAT sniper to enter the ER via an air shaft, luring John into the line of fire with a phone call from Denise. John speaks with Michael as his condition worsens, while a news crew hacks the police surveillance feed and broadcasts John's conversation with his family. Ending the call, John discovers the hacked news footage as the sniper fires, wounding him in the shoulder. He overpowers the sniper, using him as a human shield as he steps outside and reiterates his demands in front of a cheering crowd. As night falls Monroe and the hospital staff, and Michael is brought to the ER in exchange for the sniper's release, while Denise is force to stay outside at the police command post along with jimmy and Gina.
John reveals his intention to commit suicide so his own heart can be used to save his son. He persuades Turner to perform the operation, and Julie and security guard Max Conlin bear witness to John's impromptu will. He says his goodbyes to Michael, and prepares to end his own life using the only bullet he brought, but Denise reaches the ER with news that the heart of a recently deceased organ donor -- the motorist from the beginning of the film -- is a match for Michael and is on the way. Once the heart arrives, John releases the remaining hostages, including patient Lester Matthews, who surrenders to police disguised as John. Posing as one of the surgeons, John accompanies his son to the operating room, where a sympathetic Grimes, who was the only one to notice the switch between him and Lester, finds him with Denise and allows him to watch Michael's operation before taking him into custody.
Three months later, John's actions have sparked national debate about healthcare, and all the hostages testify on his behalf at trial. John is acquitted of attempted murder and armed criminal action, but convicted of kidnapping and false imprisonment; his lawyer assures him that he will likely serve no more than two years. As John is driven to jail to await his prison sentence, a now-healthy Michael thanks him.
Judgement at Nurenberg (1961)
Black & White
American judge presides over tribunal of Germans accused of war crimes
Judgement at Nurenberg
"The film's events relate principally to actions committed by the German state against its own racial, social, religious, and eugenic groupings within its borders "in the name of the law" (from the prosecution's opening statement in the film), that began with Hitler's rise to power in 1933. The plot development and thematic treatment question the legitimacy of the social, political and alleged legal foundations of these actions.
The real Judges' Trial focused on 16 judges and prosecutors who served before and during the Nazi regime in Germany and who either passively, actively, or in a combination of both, embraced and enforced laws that led to judicial acts of sexual sterilization and to the imprisonment and execution of people for their religions, racial or ethnic identities, political beliefs and physical handicaps or disabilities.
A key thread in the film's plot involves a "race defilement" trial known as the Feldenstein case. In this fictionalized case, based on the real life Katzenberger Trial, an elderly Jewish man had been tried for having a "relationship" (sexual acts) with an Aryan (German) 16-year-old girl, an act that had been legally defined as a crime under the Nuremberg Laws, which had been enacted by the German Reichstag. Under these laws the man was found guilty and was put to death in 1935. Using this and other examples, the movie explores individual conscience, collective guilt, and behavior during a time of widespread societal immorality.
The film is notable for its use of courtroom drama to illuminate individual perfidy and moral compromise in times of violent political upheaval; it was one of the first films not to shy from showing actual footage filmed by American and British soldiers after the liberation of the Nazi concentration camps. Shown in court by prosecuting attorney Colonel Tad Lawson (Richard Widmark), the scenes of huge piles of naked corpses laid out in rows and bulldozed into large pits were considered exceptionally graphic for a mainstream film of its day.
The film bridges the gap between English-speaking and German-speaking persons within the courtroom by presenting the film in English, but implying use of the German language through headphones used by characters whose native language is the opposite of that spoken.
Julius Caesar (1953)
Black & White
Shakesphere's Julius Caesar
Julius Caesar
When Brutus (James Mason), Cassius (Gielgud) and a band of rogue Roman officials murder Julius Caesar (Louis Calhern), they're driven out of Rome. But they vow to return and fight Marc Antony (Brando) -- who proves his loyalty to the bitter end.
Jumping the Broom (2011)
Color
Woman finds out she was adopted at her wedding
Jumping the Broom
"Sabrina Watson (Paula Patton) is the only child of the wealthy Watson family of her mother Claudine (Angela Bassett) and father Greg Watson (Brian Stokes Mitchell). Sabrina starts the film having another affair with Bobby, a cheating stud. She asks God to help her again get out of this situation and she promises (again) not to have a one-night stand with anyone and only have sex with her future husband. One day, she accidentally hits Jason Taylor (Laz Alonso) when driving up quickly after putting on make-up and not seeing him run through. She gets out to offer her services and overreacts. Jason forgives her and takes up a night of dinner with her. Five months later, after going out, Sabrina tells Jason about her job offer in China and asks him to still be with her in a long-distance relationship but Jason declines. She walks off sad and soon realizes a music group singing and Jason comes back and asks her to marry him which she accepts.
Sabrina's mother is running the wedding. She has doubts but trusts her daughter. After the couple talk to Reverend James (T.D. Jakes), they decide to stay while a driver picks up Jason's family and friends. Jason's group is his insecure mother Pam (Loretta Devine), his charming uncle Willie Earl (Mike Epps), Pam's best friend Shonda (Tasha Smith) and Jason's cousin Malcolm (DeRay Davis). Also appearing is Sabrina's aunt Geneva (Valarie Pettiford). Their first meeting is awkward as everyone seems to dislike each other and they make small rude remarks. Pam becomes annoyed by Sabrina's acts of kindness and counts three strikes already against her. Sabrina talks to her friends during the cocktail party, one of them being her maid of honor Blythe (Meagan Good). While Blythe goes to get more wine, she meets Chef McKenna (Gary Dourdan), and both instantly feel a connection. Shonda also meets Sabrina's cousin, Sebastian (Romeo Miller), who is instantly drawn to her. Shonda is attracted to him as well but she feels uncomfortable because she thinks he's too young for her. During the dinner at night, Pam gives a rude blessing and has a fight with Claudine but this is stopped by Greg. Claudine also says in French that she thinks Greg is having an affair with his associate Amanda. While outside, Pam listens in on Geneva and Claudine fighting and finds out that Geneva is actually Sabrina's mother and gave Sabrina to Claudine and Greg after she was born.
During the bachelor party, Sabrina and Jason have a fight about his mother wanting them to be jumping the broom. Malcolm talks to Jason and complains and asks why he isn't the best man. Jason tells him that they haven't been best friends in years and Malcolm has only been there to ask for money. When Jason leaves and tries to apologize to Sabrina, Chef McKenna is busy kissing Blythe and not noticing the food which begins to burn which sets off the alarm. Sabrina closes the door on him but they make up through text; however, they have doubts about their wedding.
In the morning, everything begins normal. The boys have a friendly game of football though Pam tries to tell Jason of Claudine and Geneva's secret. Blythe also talks to McKenna about the relationship. McKenna tells her that he thinks she is beautiful and a relationship is still an option. While Pam is getting fitted in her dress, she tries to confront Sabrina on the secret but is interrupted when Jason gets hurt when pushed by Malcolm. Pam tells Sabrina to ask her parents who are her real parents. Claudine and Geneva tell the truth which hurts Sabrina and causes her to drive off and cancel the wedding. Jason confronts his mother and tells her he is a grown man and to stop treating him like a little boy. Jason tells everyone to look for Sabrina and also punches Malcolm. Jason prays to God to help him.
Geneva is called by Sabrina who is at the docks in a boat. Geneva gives the story of Sabrina's father. He was a man in Paris whom she loved and planned to travel the world with but she soon found out he had a wife and child and she returned home alone and pregnant. Jason meets back with Sabrina and the two reconcile. Sabrina goes back home to dress. She gets a broom and a note from Pam saying she is returning home and is sorry. She chases down Pam and asks her to stay. They forgive each other and Pam agrees to stay. Jason and Sabrina have the wedding and also jump the broom. After the wedding, Sebastian kisses Shonda, finally winning her affections, and presumably begin a relationship. Greg and Claudine reconcile and she reveals she has a secret fund. Malcolm and Amy (Julie Bowen), the wedding planner, start sharing a moment together in which she asked if he want to dance with her and he accepts. At the end, the whole family does the cupid shuffle with everyone happy.
Kama Sutra (A Tale of Love) (1996)
Color
A woman and her servant compete for the love of a king
Kama Sutra (A Tale of Love)
"Set in 16th century India, this movie depicts the story of two girls who were raised together, though they came from different social classes. Tara (Sarita Choudhury) is an upper-caste princess while Maya (Indira Varma) is her beautiful servant. The two girls are best friends, but an undercurrent of jealousy and resentment is caused by Tara's haughtiness, symbolized by the fact that Maya is given Tara's hand-me-down clothes and never anything new to wear. As the girls approach marriageable age, Tara resents that Maya is a better classical dancer than she is, and that her parents and hunchback brother, Prince Bikram (aka "Viki") show affection for her servant.
Tara is prepared to marry Prince Raj Singh (Naveen Andrews), and Maya is forced into the role of the inferior servant at their wedding festival. When the prince comes to view his future wife, he is instantly infatuated with Maya instead. Noticing this, Tara spits in Maya's face, sending her from the wedding in tears. Maya decides to take revenge when she chances on Raj sleeping alone, before he has completed the marriage rites with Tara. Maya has her first sexual experience with Raj, but unknown to both, Tara's brother, Prince "Viki", hides and watches the two of them together. Viki is crushed that his childhood infatuation has slept with his future brother-in-law, but at first keeps the knowledge to himself, and the wedding rites are completed the next day.
As Tara is leaving home as a newly-wedded bride to Raj, Maya tells her that just as Maya wore the princess's used clothes all her life, Tara will now have something Maya has used. During her wedding night, Tara, a sheltered virgin full of romantic dreams, is hesitant to consummate their relationship. This angers and sexually frustrates Raj, who rapes his horrified bride, setting a tone of violence and humiliation for the marriage. Despite this, Tara still yearns for a loving relationship with her indifferent husband.
To save Maya's honor, Viki sends a marriage proposal for her. When she refuses, he publicly brands her as a whore, and she is forced to leave her home. Wandering on her own, she meets a young stone sculptor, Jai Kumar (Ramon Tikaram) who works for Raj. He reveals that Maya has been the inspiration for his beautiful and highly erotic statues. Realizing she has nowhere to stay, Jai takes her to an older woman named Rasa Devi (Rekha), who is a teacher of the Kama Sutra, the ancient art of seduction and love making. Maya begins an intense romantic and sexual relationship with Jai that is abruptly halted when he fears he might not be able to work properly with Maya consuming his thoughts. Rejected by her first real lover, Maya finds comfort with Rasa Devi, making the decision to learn the courtesan's art.
Raj, now the king, recognizes the visage as Maya's in one of Jai's sculptures. He dispatches his attendants to find Maya and she is delivered to the King as his new concubine. Soon after, Raj and Jai have a "friendly" wrestling competition, in which Jai wins. Jai gets the King's favor, but is also warned that there will be dire consequences if he should ever defeat the King again. Jai then learns of Maya's new status as the favored concubine. Jai understands that his king is a dangerous man and he must keep his former relationship with Maya a secret, for their mutual safety.
In the meantime, the threat of an invading Shah inches closer. As Raj descends deeper into opium addition, sexual cruelty and debauchery, he becomes irresponsible with his duties as King. He insults Viki sexually and for being a hunchback. In retaliation, Viki writes a letter to the Shah to rid the kingdom of Raj, who now taxes the poor for his own perverted pleasure. Jai and Maya rekindle their passion and the two begin meeting in secret. As tensions between Jai and Raj grow, Maya and Jai exchange wedding vows in private. Raj later catches the two lovers together, and sentences Jai to death.
After finding Tara in the midst of a suicide attempt, Maya reconciles with her childhood friend. Maya then teaches Tara how to seduce the King, while Tara promises to help Maya escape to visit Jai. However, when Tara goes to her husband, he recognizes Maya's style of seduction and again tries to humiliate his wife. Finally free of her tormentor, Tara tells Raj that she doesn't even love him enough to hate him, and leaves.
Maya leaves the castle and visits Jai one last time. Telling Jai she is his forever, Maya hacks off her long hair, symbolizing that she will be his widow. Maya then tries her best to convince Raj to free Jai by promising him her total surrender. But knowing he can't have her heart, Raj rejects her plea. Just before the execution, a box arrives from the Shah, holding the severed head of the grand vizier Raj's brother.
Jai is killed, while Maya watches from the crowd. But after discovering his brother's head, Raj is a broken half shell of what he was. He is no more than a helpless child as he expects the army coming and tries to cling to Maya for comfort. Maya leaves, just as the Shah's army arrives. Viki, riding with the army, sees Maya and calls to her, but she doesn't respond. She walks away alone, with new wisdom and strength, a heart 'as open as the sky'.
Key Largo (1948)
Black & White
Hotel commandeered by exiled gangster
Key Largo
"Ex-Major Frank McCloud (Humphrey Bogart) arrives at the Hotel Largo in Key Largo, Florida, to visit the family of George Temple, a friend from the Army who had served under him and was killed in the Italian campaign. He meets with George's widow Nora Temple (Lauren Bacall) and his father James (Lionel Barrymore), who owns the hotel. Because the winter vacation season has ended and a major hurricane is approaching, the hotel has only six guests: the dapper Toots (Harry Lewis), the boorish Curly (Thomas Gomez), stone-faced Ralph (William Haade), servant Angel (Dan Seymour), an attractive woman, Gaye Dawn (Claire Trevor) who suffers from alcoholism, and a sixth man who remains secluded in his room. They claim to have come to the Florida Keys for a fishing trip and have a charter boat waiting.
Rebuffing Curly's attempts to engage him in conversation, Frank (as planned) meets with Nora and James Temple. He tells them where George is buried and recounts George's heroism under fire. Nora seems taken with Frank, stating that George frequently mentioned Frank in his letters. Frank reveals to them the intimacy that is the experience of men in combat. They learn that George had told Frank personal and confidential details about the Temples (father and daughter-in-law). And Frank had committed to memory the small and cherished details that George had spoken of, to relieve the boredom, stress, and stark terror that was the reality of their moment-to-moment existence in combat.
The three begin preparing the hotel for the coming hurricane, but are interrupted by Sheriff Ben Wade (Monte Blue) and his deputy Sawyer (John Rodney), who are looking for the Osceola brothers, a pair of Native Americans who escaped from Sheriff's custody after being arrested on minor charges. James Temple promises the lawmen that he will use his influence with the local Indians to get the boys to surrender. Soon after the police leave, the local Seminoles show up seeking shelter at the hotel, among them the Osceola brothers.
With the storm approaching, Curly, Ralph, Angel and Toots pull guns and take the Temples and Frank hostage. They explain that the sixth member of their party is notorious gangster Johnny Rocco (Edward G. Robinson), who was exiled to Cuba some years before for being an undesirable alien. The gang discovered Sawyer looking about and knocked him unconscious. As they are held at gunpoint, Temple lets go a stream of insults toward Rocco, who responds by taunting Temple, explaining how he will one day return to prominence. At one point Rocco gives Frank a pistol and offers to fight a duel with him, but Frank declines, stating that he believes in self-preservation over heroics and that "one Rocco more or less isn't worth dying for." Sawyer grabs the gun and tries to escape, but Rocco shoots him. In the gunplay it becomes apparent that the gun that Rocco gave to Frank was not loaded. Rocco's men take Sawyer's body by boat to deep water and throw it overboard.
Rocco intends to hold the Temples and Frank hostage until his American contacts from Miami arrive to conclude a deal. As the storm rages, the Seminoles, usually sheltered in the hotel in storms, huddle outside as Rocco and his company worry about storm damage and insist the Indians stay outside. Rocco forces Gaye, his former moll, to sing for them by promising to give her a drink after she sings for them. After Gaye sings "Moanin' Low" a capella, Rocco berates her for her poor performance and fading looks and will not give her a drink. Frank goes to the bar, serves himself a drink and gives the drink to Gaye. While Gaye says "Thanks, fella" to Frank, Rocco slaps Frank in the face several times for disobeying his order not to give Gaye a drink; Frank ignores the slaps, and says, "You're welcome" to Gaye. Nora tells Frank that she knows his story about her husband's heroism was false and that Frank was the real hero. Mr. Temple invites Frank to come live with them at the hotel, a prospect that seems to intrigue Nora.
After the storm subsides, Sheriff Ben Wade shows up looking for Sawyer, who had telephoned from the hotel before the hurricane. Temple is forced by Rocco to lie and say that he has not seen the deputy, but as Wade is leaving he discovers Sawyer's corpse floating in the water nearby, where it has been blown in by the hurricane. Rocco blames the killing on the Osceola brothers, whom Wade then confronts in the nearby boathouse and kills.
After Wade leaves with Sawyer's body, Rocco's contact Ziggy (Marc Lawrence) arrives to conclude the deal. Rocco sells Ziggy a large amount of counterfeit money. Because the captain of the luxurious yacht on which they arrived from Cuba has moved it to deeper water to avoid storm damage they need another boat. Rocco forces Frank, who has skills as a seaman, to take him and his henchmen back on a small boat belonging to the hotel. Rocco pays James Temple for the stay and has his henchmen gather everyone's bags, except for Gaye's. He tells her he will not be taking her to Cuba with him and gives her some money for expenses. Nora and Gaye try to convince Frank to make a break for safety once he is outside the hotel, but he agrees to take the men to Cuba. Gaye appears to make a last-ditch attempt to convince Rocco to take her with him and uses the embrace to steal Rocco's gun, which she then manages to pass on to Frank.
Out on the Straits of Florida Curly worries that Gaye will tell the police about Ziggy. Rocco indicates that is exactly what he wants to happen. Soon afterwards Frank tricks Ralph into looking over the stern, races the engine and knocks him into the water. Toots realizes that Ralph has been lost, and fires at Frank, but the wounded Frank kills Toots. Curly then arrives, but Frank mortally wounds him too. Curly then walks down to Rocco and Angel, but dies before he can respond to Rocco. Rocco demands Angel to go up, lying to Angel that Frank is dead. Angel refuses. Rocco then kills Angel, and attempts to trick Frank into surrendering by offering to share his money. However, Frank is quiet, and is aware of the trick. Rocco comes up, concealing a gun, but Frank notices the gun and shoots him. Rocco is then shot again, and tries one more time, before Frank kills him.
Frank then radios the Miami Coast Guard station (using the correct Call sign "NAM") asking for help and to get a message to the hotel. Meanwhile, Gaye reassures Wade that Rocco bears the blame for the murder of Sawyer, and that he was misdirected into killing the Osceola brothers. Wade mentions that Ziggy's gang has been captured and leaves with Gaye. The phone rings and James and Nora are delighted to hear that Frank is coming back. Nora opens the shutters to the sun while out at sea Frank steers the boat towards shore.
Kill Your Darlings (2013)
Color
Poet falls for a classmate who introduces him to the nascent Beat movement
Kill Your Darlings
"In 1944, poet Allen Ginsberg (Daniel Radcliffe) wins a place at Columbia University in New York City. He arrives as a very inexperienced freshman, but soon runs into Lucien Carr (Dane DeHaan), an unruly character who holds strong anti-establishment beliefs.
Ginsberg discovers that Carr only manages to stay at Columbia thanks to a professor working as a janitor, David Kammerer (Michael C. Hall), who writes all of Carr's term papers for him. Kammerer's character is established to have a predatory relationship with Carr, still being in love with Carr, and is revealed to be pressuring Carr for sexual favors in exchange for assuring that he cannot be expelled.
As Ginsberg spent more time with Carr, he soon meets William S. Burroughs (Ben Foster), who is far into drug experimentation, and the writer Jack Kerouac (Jack Huston), who was a sailor at that time and expelled from Columbia. Together, these ambitious people decided to start a new literary movement named The New Vision as a rebellion towards laws, institutions and Ginsberg and Carr's lawful professor Steeves. As Ginsberg spirals into the lifestyle of drugs, alcohol and cigarettes along with his new found friends, he slowly starts developing romantic feelings for Carr.
Carr tells Kammerer he is done with him and recruits Ginsberg to write his term papers instead. Kammerer, in retaliation, puts Kerouac's cat into the oven only for Kerouac to discover and rescue it in the middle of the night.
After a while, Kerouac and Carr attempt to run off and join the merchant marine together, hoping to go to Paris.
There is a confrontation between Carr and Kammerer, during which Kammerer is killed by stabbing (and perhaps also by drowning). Carr is arrested, and asks Ginsberg to write his deposition for him. Ginsberg is at first reluctant to help the unstable Carr, but after digging up more crucial evidence on Kammerer and his past relationship, he writes a piece entitled "The Night in Question". The piece describes a more emotional event, in which Carr kills Kammerer who outright tells him to after being threatened with the knife, devastated by this final rejection. Carr rejects the "fictional" story, and begs a determined Ginsberg not to reveal it to anybody, afraid that it will ruin him in the ensuing trial.
From Carr's mother, it is revealed that Kammerer was the first person to seduce Carr, when he was much younger and lived in Chicago. After the trial, Carr testified that the attack took place only because Kammerer was a sexual predator, and that Carr killed him in self-defense. Carr is not convicted of murder and receives only a short sentence for manslaughter.
Ginsberg then submits "The Night in Question" as his final term paper. On the basis of that shocking piece of prose, Ginsberg is faced with possible expulsion from Columbia. Either he must be expelled or he must embrace establishment values. He chooses the former, but is forced to leave his typescript behind. A week or two later he receives the typescript in the mail with an encouraging letter from his professor telling him to pursue his writing.
Killer of Sheep (1978)
Black & White
Follows the life of Stan, a poor, working class family man
Killer of Sheep
Stan works long hours at a slaughterhouse in Watts, Los Angeles. The monotonous slaughter affects his home life with his unnamed wife and his two children, Stan Jr. and Angela. Through a series of confusing episodic events--some friends try to involve Stan in a criminal plot, a white woman propositions Stan to work in her store, Stan and his friend Bracy attempt to buy a car engine--a mosaic of an austere working-class life emerges in which Stan feels unable to affect the course of his life.
King of Thieves (2019)
Color
Group of Retired criminals pull off one of the biggest heists in British history
King of Thieves
"A famous thief in his younger years, 77 year old widower Brian Reader pulls together a band of misfit criminals to plot an unprecedented burglary at the Hatton Garden Safe Deposit. The thieves, all in their 60s and 70s except for one, employ their old-school thieving skills to plan the heist over the Easter holiday weekend. Posing as gas repairmen, they enter the deposit, neutralise the alarms, and proceed to drill a hole into the wall of the safe. Two days later, they manage to escape with allegedly over ?14 million worth of stolen jewels and money. When police are called to the scene and the investigation starts, the cracks between the misfit gang members begin to show as they row over how to share the goods and become increasingly distrustful of each other.
Meanwhile, the crime has become public knowledge, and a frenzy of speculations begin. As details about the crime come to light, both the British public and the media are captivated, and the investigation is followed with bated breath around the United Kingdom.
The gang badly fractures when trying to dispose of the stolen assets. Brian is excluded by the group and not realising the true value of the haul the gang make several mistakes culminating in all of them being arrested. The only gang member to escape justice is Brian's young protege who escapes the country. All of the gang are remanded to custody.
Kingdom of Heaven (2005)
Color
Young peasant blacksmith takes up knighthood to help repel the Islamic crusaders
Kingdom of Heaven
"In 1184 France, Balian (Orlando Bloom), a blacksmith, is haunted by his wife's recent suicide. A group of Crusaders arrives in his village; one of them introduces himself as Balian's father, Baron Godfrey of Ibelin (Liam Neeson). Godfrey asks Balian to return with him to the Holy Land, but Balian declines and the Crusaders leave. The town priest, Balian's half-brother (Michael Sheen), reveals that he ordered Balian's wife beheaded before burial. In a fit of rage, Balian kills his brother and flees the village.
Balian joins his father, hoping to gain forgiveness and redemption for himself and his wife in Jerusalem. After he reaches Godfrey, soldiers sent by the bishop arrive to arrest and assassinate Balian. Godfrey refuses to surrender Balian, and in the ensuing attack, Godfrey is struck by an arrow that breaks off in his body, weakening him.
In Messina, Godfrey knights Balian and orders him to serve the King of Jerusalem and protect the helpless, then succumbs to his injuries. During Balian's journey to Jerusalem his ship runs aground in a storm, leaving Balian the only survivor. Balian is confronted by a Muslim cavalier, who attacks him over his horse. Balian reluctantly slays the cavalier but spares the man's apparent servant (Alexander Siddig), asking him to guide him to Jerusalem. Upon arriving, Balian releases him, and the man tells Balian that his deed will gain him fame and respect among the Saracens.
Balian becomes acquainted with Jerusalem's political arena: the leper King Baldwin IV (Edward Norton); Tiberias (Jeremy Irons), the Marshal of Jerusalem; the King's sister, Princess Sibylla (Eva Green); and her husband Guy de Lusignan (Marton Csokas), who supports the anti-Muslim activities of brutal factions like the Knights Templar. After Baldwin's death, Guy intends to break the fragile truce with the sultan Saladin and make war on the Muslims.
Guy and his ally Raynald of Ch?tillon (Brendan Gleeson) attack a Saracen caravan, and Saladin advances on Raynald's castle Kerak in retaliation. At the request of the king, Balian defends the villagers by charging Saladin's cavalry, despite being overwhelmingly outnumbered. Balian's knights are captured, and he encounters the servant he freed, who he learns is actually Saladin's chancellor Imad ad-Din. Imad ad-Din releases Balian in repayment of the earlier debt. Saladin arrives with his army to besiege Kerak, and Baldwin meets it with his. They negotiate a Muslim retreat, and Baldwin swears to punish Raynald, though the exertion of these events weakens Baldwin. In his camp, Saladin assures his impatient generals that he will claim Jerusalem, but only when he is confident of victory.
Baldwin asks Balian to marry Sibylla and take control of the army, knowing they have affection for each other, but Balian refuses the offer because it will require Guy's execution. After Baldwin dies, Sibylla succeeds her brother, and Guy becomes king. Guy releases Raynald, asking him to give him a war, which Raynald does by murdering Saladin's sister. Sending the heads of Saladin's emissaries back to him, Guy declares war on the Saracens. Guy sends three Templars to assassinate Balian, the most strident voice against war, though Balian survives the attempt.
Guy and the Templars march Jerusalem's army to war, despite Balian's advice to remain near water. Saladin's army annihilates the Crusaders in the ensuing desert battle and marches on Jerusalem. Tiberias and his men leave for Cyprus, believing Jerusalem lost, but Balian remains to protect the people in the city. Balian knights the men of the city and hopes to hold out long enough for the Saracens to offer terms. After a siege that lasts three days, a frustrated Saladin parleys with Balian. When Balian reaffirms that he'll let the city burn before surrendering, Saladin agrees to allow the Christians to leave safely in exchange for Jerusalem--though he ponders if it would be better if there were nothing left to fight over.
In the marching column of citizens, Balian finds Sibylla, who has renounced her claim as Queen of Jerusalem and other cities. After returning to France, English knights en route to retake Jerusalem ride through the town to enlist Balian, now the famed defender of Jerusalem. Balian tells the crusader that he is merely a blacksmith again, and they depart. Balian is joined by Sibylla, and they pass by the grave of Balian's wife as they ride toward a new life together. An epilogue notes that "nearly a thousand years later, peace in the Holy Land still remains elusive.
Kinsey (2004)
Color
Kinsey interviews thousands of people about their sex lives and releases report
Kinsey
"Professor Alfred Kinsey is being interviewed about his sexual history. Interspersed with the interview, are flashbacks from his childhood and young-adulthood. The young child years show his father, a lay minister, denouncing modern inventions as leading to sexual sin, then humiliating him in a store when its keeper shows him cigarettes, while his adolescence shows his experiences as a Boy Scout and a late teenage scene shows Kinsey disappointing his father by his chosen vocational intentions. It then shows adult Kinsey teaching at Indiana University as a professor of biology lecturing on gall wasps. Kinsey falls in love with a student in his class, whom he calls Mac, and marries her. Consummation of their marriage is difficult at first, because of a medical problem Mac has that is fixed easily with minor surgery, after which it is shown that she has an equally intense sexual appetite as her husband. Meanwhile, at the University, Professor Kinsey, who is affectionately called "Prok" by his graduate students, meets with students after hours to offer individual sexual advice.
At a book party celebrating Kinsey's latest publication on gall wasps, Kinsey approaches the dean of students about an open-forum sex education course as opposed to the anti-sex propaganda taught in a general health class. Eventually, it is approved, but on the grounds that it is open only to teachers, graduate or senior students or married students. Nevertheless, Kinsey begins, teaching the sex course to a packed auditorium. Kinsey continues to answer students' questions in personal meetings but finds his answers to be severely limited by the complete paucity of scientific data about human sexual behavior. This leads Kinsey to pass out questionnaires in his sexual education class from which he learns of the enormous disparity between what society had assumed people do and what their actual practices are. After securing financial support from the Rockefeller Foundation, Kinsey and his research assistants, including his closest assistant, Clyde Martin, travel the country, interviewing subjects about their sexual histories.
As time progresses Kinsey begins realizing that sexuality within humans, including himself, is a lot more varied than was originally thought. The range of expression he creates later becomes known as the Kinsey scale, which ranks overall sexuality from completely heterosexual to completely homosexual and everything in-between.
The first sexological book Kinsey publishes, which is on the sexual habits of the male, is a large-scale success and a best seller. Kinsey's research turns to women, which is met with more controversy. With the release of the female volume, support for Kinsey declines. McCarthyist pressures lead the Rockefeller Foundation to withdraw its financial support, lest it be labeled "Communist" for backing the subversion of traditional American values. Kinsey feels that he has failed everyone who has ever been a victim of sexual ignorance. A customs office is tipped off to an importation of some of Kinsey's research material, which only exacerbates the financial situation of Kinsey's research organization. Kinsey suffers a heart attack, and is found to have developed an addiction to barbiturates. Meeting with other philanthropists fails to garner the support needed. Still, Kinsey continues his taking of sex histories.
The story returns to the initial interview with Kinsey, and he is asked about love and if he will ever attempt to conduct research on it. His response is that love is impossible to measure and impossible to quantify (and without measuring, he reminds us, there can be no science), but that it is important. The final scene is of Kinsey and his wife, pulling over to the side of the road for a nature walk. She remarks about a tree that has been there for a thousand years. Kinsey replies that the tree seems to display a strong love in the way its roots grip the earth. Afterwards, the two walk off together, Kinsey remarking "there's a lot of work to do".
Kiss of Death (1947)
Black & White
Ex-con rats out his partner
Kiss of Death
"On Christmas Eve, down-on-his-luck ex-convict Nick Bianco (Mature) and his three cohorts rob a jewelry store located on an upper floor of a New York skyscraper. Before they can exit the building, however, the proprietor sets off his alarm. While attempting to escape, Nick assaults a policeman, but is wounded in the leg and arrested.
Assistant District Attorney Louis D'Angelo (Donlevy) tries to persuade Nick to name his accomplices in exchange for a light sentence. Confident that his lawyer, Earl Howser, and cohorts will look after his wife and two young daughters while he is incarcerated, Nick refuses and is given a 20-year sentence. Three years later, at Sing Sing Prison, Nick learns that his wife has committed suicide, and his daughters have been sent to an orphanage. He later finds her obituary in the newspaper and learns his wife had been worried over financial issues prior to her death.
Nick is visited in prison by Nettie Cavallo (Gray), a young woman who used to babysit his girls. Nettie reluctantly tells Nick that his wife was raped by Pete Rizzo, one of his accomplices. Nick decides to tell all to D'Angelo; but because so much time has elapsed, D'Angelo cannot use Nick's information to reduce his sentence, but makes a deal that if Nick helps the police on another case, he will be paroled. D'Angelo questions Nick about one of his previous, unsolved robberies, which he pulled off with Rizzo. Nick implies to Howser that Rizzo "squealed" on him.
Howser, who also acts as a go-between to a fence for his clients, tells Tommy Udo (Widmark), a psychopathic killer who did time with Bianco, that Rizzo "squealed". When Udo shows up at Rizzo's tenement, only Rizzo's mother (Mildred Dunnock) is present and tells him that her son is out but will return that evening. Udo examines the apartment and determines that Rizzo has probably left town. Udo binds Mrs. Rizzo to her wheelchair with an electrical cord and pushes her down a flight of stairs, killing her.
Soon after, Nick is freed on parole at D'Angelo's behest, and visits Nettie, pledging his love to her. But in order to remain out on parole, Nick must continue his work with D'Angelo, and arranges a "chance" meeting with Udo, with whom he served time at Sing Sing. The unsuspecting Udo takes Nick to various clubs, including one at which narcotics are being smoked, and Udo reveals enough information to Nick about a murder he committed to enable the police to arrest him. Nick reports back to D'Angelo, who is satisfied that he has enough to indict Udo for the past murder. D'Angelo then releases Nick.
When Udo later comes up for trial, Nick, who is now married to Nettie and living in Astoria, Queens, is reluctant to testify against him, but realizes he must in order to maintain his parole. Despite Nick's testimony and other evidence, however, Udo is acquitted.
Certain that Udo will seek revenge, and convinced the police will not be able to protect him and his family, Nick sends Nettie and the children to the country. While at home late one night, Nick is startled when D'Angelo shows up at the front door. He tries persuading Nick to submit to protective custody, but Nick punches D'Angelo in the jaw (rendering him unconscious) and goes off to deal with Udo on his own. Nick searches unsuccessfully for Udo at his favorite haunts, but finally finds him at Luigi's restaurant in East Harlem. The two men confront each other, but Udo tells him that as far as he's concerned they are still "pals". Nick is unconvinced, especially after Udo makes a thinly-veiled threat against Nettie and his children. Nick warns Udo to stay away from his family, telling him that this matter is strictly between the two of them. Udo orders the restaurant owner to prepare Nick the specialty of the house, and walks out.
Before long, Nick sees Udo's sedan parked out front, and knows that as soon as he steps out the front door, Udo will ambush him. Before confronting Udo, Nick had instructed D'Angelo by telephone to go to a police station near the restaurant and await his call; he now summons D'Angelo to come in exactly two minutes to the restaurant, where Nick will provide sufficient evidence to put Udo away. Nick leaves his gun with the cashier and walks outside. One of Udo's henchmen draws a pistol and prepares to shoot Nick at point-blank range, but Nick provokes Udo into shooting him, knowing that he will now be incarcerated for life as a "three time loser." Udo shoots Nick, but is quickly surrounded by police. Udo attempts an escape on foot, but is gunned down in the street. He survives, but is arrested. Though badly wounded, Nick survives, and he and Nettie look forward to a happy, peaceful life together.
Kramer vs. Kramer (1979)
Color
Divored wife comes back to reclaim son
Kramer vs. Kramer
"Ted Kramer (Dustin Hoffman) is a workaholic advertising executive who has just been assigned a new and very important account. Ted arrives home and shares the good news with his wife Joanna (Meryl Streep) only to find that she is leaving him. Saying that she needs to find herself, she leaves Ted to raise their son Billy (Justin Henry) by himself. Ted and Billy initially resent one another as Ted no longer has time to carry his increased workload and Billy misses his mother's love and attention. After months of unrest, Ted and Billy learn to cope and gradually bond as father and son.
Ted befriends his neighbor Margaret (Jane Alexander), who had initially counseled Joanna to leave Ted if she was that unhappy. Margaret is a fellow single parent, and she and Ted become kindred spirits. One day, as the two sit in the park watching their children play, Billy falls off the jungle gym, severely cutting his face. Ted sprints several blocks through oncoming traffic carrying Billy to the hospital, where he comforts his son during treatment.
Fifteen months after she walked out, Joanna returns to New York to claim Billy, and a custody battle ensues. During the custody hearing, both Ted and Joanna are unprepared for the brutal character assassinations that their lawyers unleash on the other. Margaret is forced to testify that she had advised an unhappy Joanna to leave Ted, though she also attempts to tell Joanna on the stand that her husband has profoundly changed. Eventually, the damaging facts that Ted was fired because of his conflicting parental responsibilities which forced him to take a lower-paying job come out in court, as do the details of Billy's accident.
The court awards custody to Joanna, a decision mostly based on the assumption that a child is best raised by his mother. Ted discusses appealing the case, but his lawyer warns that Billy himself would have to take the stand in the resulting trial. Ted cannot bear the thought of submitting his child to such an ordeal, and decides not to contest custody.
On the morning that Billy is to move in with Joanna, Ted and Billy make breakfast together, mirroring the meal that Ted tried to cook the first morning after Joanna left. They share a tender hug, knowing that this is their last daily breakfast together. Joanna calls on the intercom, asking Ted to come down to the lobby. She tells Ted how much she loves and wants Billy, but she knows that his true home is with Ted, and therefore will not take custody of him. She asks Ted if she can see Billy, and Ted says that that would be OK. As they are about to enter the elevator together, Ted tells Joanna that he will stay downstairs to allow Joanna to see Billy in private. After she enters the elevator, Joanna wipes tears from her face and asks her former husband "How do I look?" As the elevator doors start to close on Joanna, Ted answers, "Terrific."
Lawless (2012)
Color
Bootleggers tussle with law enforcement and each other, as they adapt to a chaning world
Lawless
"In 1931, the Bondurant brothers--middle brother Forrest, eldest brother Howard, and youngest brother Jack--are running a successful moonshine business in Franklin County, Virginia. The brothers use their gas station and restaurant as a front for their illegal manufacturing business with the assistance of Jack's disabled friend and engineer, Cricket. Jack witnesses infamous mobster Floyd Banner shoot dead two ATU agents in broad daylight.
Jack returns to the gas station, where Forrest hires dancer Maggie as a waitress. Shortly afterward, the gas station is visited by newly arrived U.S. Marshal Charley Rakes, accompanied by the sheriff, the sheriff's deputy, and Commonwealth's Attorney Mason Wardell. Rakes demands a cut of profits from all bootleggers within the county, including Forrest, in exchange for ignoring their operations. Forrest refuses and implores his fellow bootleggers to unite against Rakes, but they refuse.
Meanwhile, Jack lusts after Bertha, daughter of the local Brethren preacher. He attends their church service drunk, embarrassing himself but piquing her interest. Jack walks in on a visit from Rakes to Cricket's house, and is beaten by him as a message to his brothers. That night, Forrest beats and throws out two customers who had been harassing and threatening Maggie. After Maggie resigns and leaves, Forrest is ambushed by the two men, who slit his throat. Maggie returns looking for Forrest but is beaten and raped by the men. She keeps the assault from Forrest.
While Forrest recovers at a hospital, Jack decides to cross the county line with Cricket to sell their remaining liquor. They too are ambushed by the mobsters, led by Banner, but are spared when Jack reveals he is a Bondurant, whom Banner admires for their stance against Rakes. Banner reveals to Jack the address of his brother's assailants, who were previous employees of his and currently work for Rakes.
Forrest and Howard find, torture, and kill the men and send one of their testicles to Rakes. Banner becomes a regular client of the brothers, who have expanded their operation with multiple large stills deep in the woods, increasing its profitability. Jack continues to court Bertha. Maggie decides to return to Chicago, but Forrest convinces her to stay and provides her with a spare room. They develop a romantic relationship. On a day trip, Jack decides to show Bertha the brothers' secret operation, but they are followed and ambushed by Rakes and his men. Howard and Jack flee but Cricket and Bertha are caught. The police take Bertha home but leave Cricket to Rakes, who murders him.
After Cricket's funeral, the sheriff warns the Bondurants that Rakes and his men are blockading the bridge out of town, with Wardell calling in Prohibition agents to shut down the county's moonshine businesses. Jack speeds off in Cricket's car to confront Rakes. Howard and Forrest quickly follow to provide backup, to Maggie's chagrin. She reveals she had delivered him to the hospital after the attack and Forrest deduces that she had been assaulted as well.
Jack arrives at the bridge but is wounded by Rakes. Howard and Forrest arrive and a shootout ensues, during which Forrest and his driver are also wounded, the latter fatally. A convoy of bootleggers arrive and hold the lawmen at gunpoint. Rakes ignores them and attempts to execute Forrest, but is shot in the leg by the sheriff in an attempt to halt the bloodshed. Rakes turns to leave the scene, but suddenly turns around and shoots Forrest several times. The convoy opens fire on Rakes, but he runs into a covered bridge. Since he is unable to run far, the badly wounded Jack and Howard chase after him and execute him together.
Following the end of Prohibition in 1933, Wardell is arrested on corruption charges while the Bondurants are all married -- Jack to Bertha, Forrest to Maggie, and Howard to a Martinsville woman -- and working in legitimate occupations. During a festive reunion at Jack's house sometime later, Forrest drunkenly ambles to a frozen lake and falls into the freezing water. Although he drags himself out, he later dies of pneumonia, putting to rest the legend of his invincibility.
Layer Cake (2004)
Color
Seasoned British drug dealer ready to retire wraps-up a couple last jobs
Layer Cake
"The protagonist XXXX (otherwise unnamed) is a London cocaine distributor who abhors violence and operates with the care and professionalism of a legitimate businessman. His chief associates are his enforcer and partner Morty and Gene, an Irish gangster who serves as XXXX's liaison to mob boss Jimmy Price. Just as XXXX is ready to retire from criminal life, Jimmy summons him to a lunch meeting and gives him two tasks to perform.
The first is to track down Charlie, the drug-addicted runaway daughter of one of Price's associates. XXXX enlists two con men, Cody and Tiptoes, to find Charlie; they learn that Charlie has apparently been kidnapped, but are unable to figure out who abducted her.
The second task is for XXXX to oversee the purchase of one million ecstasy tablets from the "Duke", a low-level criminal who recently returned to London from Amsterdam with his girlfriend Slasher and crew of thugs led by his right-hand man Gazza. Unbeknown to XXXX, the Duke and his crew have stolen the pills from a gang of Serbian war criminals. XXXX meets the Duke's feckless nephew, Sidney, and finds himself attracted to Sidney's girlfriend Tammy. XXXX tries to broker the sale of the pills to Liverpool gangsters Trevor and Shanks but they refuse, informing him of the pills' origin and that the vengeful Serbians have sent an assassin, Dragan, to recover the pills and kill the thieves. As the Duke had mentioned his name to the Serbians, XXXX is also a target.
XXXX arranges a tryst with Tammy but is kidnapped and brought to Eddie Temple, a wealthy crime lord. Eddie explains that Charlie is his daughter, whom he has recovered; Jimmy, having recently lost a fortune due to bad investments he blames on Eddie, wanted her as a hostage until Eddie recouped his losses. Eddie gives XXXX a recording, revealing that Jimmy has been working as an informant for Scotland Yard, planning to betray XXXX to the police once the pills were sold in exchange for immunity for his own crimes and XXXX's money. Eddie demands that XXXX sell him the pills instead.
XXXX assassinates Jimmy at his home, but later finds that his accountant, an associate of Jimmy's, has vanished along with XXXX's money. Confronted by Gene and Morty, he shares the evidence of Jimmy's betrayal, and the pair acknowledge him as the new acting boss. Gene shows them the corpse of the Duke, who was killed by one of his men when Slasher threatened to go to the cops if Jimmy didn't help them out of their situation. XXXX hires a hitman to ambush and kill Dragan, but Dragan kills him first and makes XXXX promise to recover the pills.
Sidney brings XXXX to Duke's old hideout, and as he tries to bargain with Gazza for the pills, the police arrive. The criminals barely escape the raid, and Dragan watches from afar as the pills are confiscated. However, it turns out that XXXX arranged for the raid, with Cody and Tiptoes posing as officers to secure the pills. XXXX delivers the Duke's severed head to Dragan as a peace offering; satisfied, Dragan reports to the Serbians that the police have seized the drugs; the gang simply absorbs the loss as they are already manufacturing more drugs.
When XXXX and his crew arrive at Eddie's warehouse to sell the pills as arranged, Eddie's henchmen relieve them of the drugs at gunpoint, and Eddie welcomes him to the "layer cake” of the criminal hierarchy. Having anticipated this double-cross, XXXX arranges Trevor and Shanks to gun down Eddie's men in an armed robbery, take the drugs, and sell them so he can settle his accounts. The gang assembles for lunch at the Stoke Park Country Club, honouring their new boss; nevertheless, XXXX follows through on his decision to retire. With Tammy on his arm, he exits the club, and is shot by the jilted but apologetic Sidney. XXXX collapses, contemplating his uncertain fate.
La La Land (2016)
Color
Jazz musician and aspiring actress fall in love, but their ambitions get in the way
La La Land
"While stuck in traffic on a Los Angeles highway ("Another Day of Sun"), Mia Dolan, an aspiring actress, has a moment of road rage with Sebastian Wilder, a struggling jazz pianist. After a bad day at work, her subsequent audition goes poorly when the casting director takes a call in the middle of an emotional scene. That night, Mia's roommates take her to a lavish party in the Hollywood Hills, where Mia hopes for a breakthrough ("Someone in the Crowd"). She walks home after her car is towed.
During a gig at a restaurant, Sebastian slips into a passionate jazz improvisation despite warnings from the owner to stick to the setlist of traditional Christmas songs. Mia overhears the music as she passes by ("Mia and Sebastian's Theme"). Moved, she enters the restaurant, but Sebastian is fired for his disobedience. As he storms out, Mia attempts to compliment him, but he brushes her off.
Months later, Mia runs into Sebastian at a party where he plays in a 1980s pop cover band; she teases him by requesting "I Ran (So Far Away)", a song he considers an insult for "a serious musician". After the gig, the two walk to their cars, lamenting each other's company despite the chemistry between them ("A Lovely Night").
The next day, Sebastian arrives at Mia's work, and she shows Sebastian around the movie lot, where she works as a barista, while explaining her passion for acting. Sebastian takes Mia to a jazz club, describing his passion for jazz and desire to open his own club. They warm to each other ("City of Stars"). Sebastian invites Mia to a screening of Rebel Without a Cause; Mia accepts, forgetting a commitment with her current boyfriend. Bored with the double date with her boyfriend, she runs to the theater and finds Sebastian as the film begins. When the projector breaks, the two conclude their evening with a romantic dance at the Griffith Observatory ("Planetarium").
After more failed auditions, Mia decides, at Sebastian's suggestion, to write a one-woman play. Sebastian begins to perform regularly at a jazz club ("Summer Montage"), and the two move in together. Sebastian's former classmate Keith invites him to be the keyboardist in his jazz fusion band, where he will be offered a steady income. Although he is dismayed by the band's pop style, Sebastian signs after overhearing Mia trying to convince her mother that Sebastian is working on his career. The band finds success, but when Mia attends one of their concerts ("Start a Fire") she is disturbed, knowing Sebastian does not enjoy their music.
During the band's first tour, Mia and Sebastian get into an argument; she accuses him of abandoning his dreams, while he claims she liked him more when he was unsuccessful. Mia leaves, insulted and frustrated. Sebastian misses Mia's play due to a band photo shoot that he had previously forgotten. The play is a disaster; few people attend, and Mia overhears dismissive comments. Sebastian attempts to apologize to Mia for missing the play, but she is unwilling to forgive him and ends their relationship. Despondent and unable to pay the theater back, Mia moves back home to Boulder City, Nevada.
Sebastian receives a call from a casting director who attended Mia's play, inviting her to a film audition. Sebastian drives to Boulder City and persuades Mia to attend. The casting directors ask Mia to tell a story; she sings about her aunt who inspired her to pursue acting ("Audition (The Fools Who Dream)"). Sebastian, confident the audition was a success, encourages Mia to devote herself to the opportunity. The two profess they will always love each other but are uncertain of their future.
Five years later, Mia is a famous actress and happily married to another man, with whom she has a daughter. One night, the couple stumble upon a jazz bar. Noticing the "Seb's" logo she had once designed, Mia realizes Sebastian has opened his club. When Sebastian notices Mia in the crowd, he plays their love theme on the piano, and the two imagine what might have been had their relationship worked perfectly ("Epilogue"). Before Mia leaves with her husband, she shares a smile with Sebastian.
Lady Jane (1986)
Color
Jane reluctantly takes the throne from Queen Mary after Henry VIII's death
Lady Jane
"The death of King Henry VIII of England throws his kingdom into chaos as his heir, Edward VI, is both under-age and in poor health. Anticipating the young king's imminent death from consumption and anxious to keep England true to the Reformation by keeping the Catholic Mary from the throne, John Dudley, Lord President of the Council and second only to the king in power, hatches a plan to marry his son, Lord Guilford, to Lady Jane Grey, and have the royal physician keep the young king Edward VI alive--albeit in excruciating pain--long enough to get him to name Jane his heir.
Jane is not happy with the proposed marriage, and must be forced into it through corporal punishment by her parents. At first Jane and Guilford decide to treat their union purely as a marriage of convenience, but then they fall deeply in love.
After Edward VI dies, Jane is placed on the throne. She is troubled by the questionable legality of her accession, but after consulting with Guilford, turns the tables on John Dudley and the others who thought to use her as a puppet.
After only nine days, however, Queen Jane is abandoned by her council precisely because of her reformist designs for the country. The council then supports Mary, who at first imprisons Jane and Guilford.
Consumed with guilt, Jane's father, the Duke of Suffolk, raises a rebellion to restore her to the throne, presumably in concert with Thomas Wyatt's rebellion. When the rebellion fails, Queen Mary I offers to spare Jane's life if she renounces her Protestant faith. When she refuses, Jane, her father and Guilford are all executed.
Lakeview Terrace (2008)
Color
Couple is harassed by their off-kilter, cop neighbor
Lakeview Terrace
"Abel Turner (Samuel L. Jackson) is a twenty-eight-year veteran of the LAPD. A single and widowed father, he is particularly strict with his two children, Marcus (Jaishon Fisher) and Celia (Regine Nehy). As his kids leave for school the new neighbors begin moving in next door. They are a young interracial couple, Chris and Lisa Mattson (Patrick Wilson and Kerry Washington), who are recently married and buying their first home.
Chris's first exchanges with Turner have somewhat hostile undertones, with Abel making comments about Chris's smoking (which Chris hides from Lisa) and listening to hip hop music. The following night, Chris and Lisa have sex in their swimming pool. Unknown to them, Abel's children are watching. Abel arrives home to see this spectacle and is upset, so he repositions the home security floodlights so they shine into Chris and Lisa's window, keeping them awake. When Chris confronts him, Abel claims that the lights are part of his security system to prevent crime and says that it is a complex process to shut down the system and the lights.
Abel attends a housewarming party hosted by Chris and Lisa. He is garrulous but has an edge, and criticizes Chris and his friends for their liberal political and social tendencies. He also exposes Chris's smoking to Lisa, as Chris has been discarding his cigarette butts on Abel's lawn. As he leaves, Chris tells Abel that he is starting to take offense to him, but does not plan to move. One evening, they hear noises downstairs, and find the tires of Chris' car slashed. They suspect Abel and call the police. However, because of Abel's status within the LAPD, the arriving officers are unable to do anything.
Chris and Lisa have dinner with her father, who warns them that acrimony with a police officer may cause trouble. Chris buys his own floodlights and shines them into Abel's bedroom. Lisa later reveals that she is pregnant, which causes conflict as Chris does not yet want to have children. Chris later finds out that Lisa skipped birth control pills to force the issue, and when he confronts her she accuses him of being shortsighted. Meanwhile, Abel is suspended without pay for his abuse of a suspect on the job, which brings even more fury out on him. He hosts a loud bachelor party while the kids are away with their aunt. Chris arrives to complain about the music, but Abel taunts him.
Chris plants trees at the fence between their houses, which leads to an almost violent exchange between the two neighbors, as Abel refuses to have their trees hanging over his property without permission. Later Chris goes to a local bar, and as he finishes his drink, Abel enters and tells Chris that he lost his own wife, when a car hit her on a highway. Abel makes a last cryptic comment about his wife, wondering what she was doing out in that area, at that time with her white boss, when she was supposed to be working, implying she was being unfaithful to Abel.
Wildfires rage in the hills surrounding the community. The neighbors attend a barbecue in a home down the hill. Abel's informant Clarence Darlington (Keith Loneker) is sent to trash their home, as another means of making the Mattsons uncomfortable in the neighborhood. Lisa goes home early, surprising him, and they struggle, which leads to her being knocked out, but not before she triggers the alarm. Chris races home upon hearing the alarm, followed by a frustrated Abel. Chris rushes to the injured Lisa, while Abel comes upon his hired criminal trying to escape and shoots him dead in the pool. The Mattsons go to the hospital, where Lisa is found to be okay.
The wildfires are not contained and the residents of the neighborhood are instructed to pack a few things and leave their homes. Abel remains at his house hosing off his roof as he does not want to leave his home. He enters the Mattsons' home, hoping to retrieve Clarence's cell phone because he is afraid his call to the perpetrator could be traced, implicating him in the break-in. Before he can find it, Lisa and Chris unexpectedly return from the hospital and Abel returns to his home. Chris thanks Abel for helping him, trying to express a sense of community with Abel. When Chris and Lisa are packing to leave, Chris discovers the cell phone under their bed and picks it up. He dials the last number logged on the phone and hears Abel answer. Chris realizes Abel is responsible for the break-in.
Abel comes over with his gun drawn, trying to convince Chris that the perpetrator was a police enemy and was trying to set Abel up. He and Chris struggle and Chris tells Lisa to take the car and the perp's phone and get the police. Abel shoots Lisa's car and she crashes into a parked car. Chris tackles Abel and gets his gun. After pistol whipping Abel and seemingly knocking him out, Chris runs to help Lisa out of the car. This leads to a standoff, with Chris holding Abel's gun and Abel now holding a second gun from his leg holster.
Officers of the LA County Sheriff's Department arrive. Abel hides his gun behind his back and tries to convince them Chris is unbalanced due to the break-in and attack on Lisa earlier that day. Chris refuses to drop his weapon until Abel puts his down, but Abel raises his arms and insists that he is unarmed. Chris finally throws Abel off, by asking about his wife's death and how he was unable to recognize that she had become unfaithful to him. Infuriated, Abel shoots Chris and is promptly gunned down and killed by County Sheriff officers. Chris is taken to an ambulance with a gunshot wound to the chest, but is told he will live. He and Lisa later talk about their pride in their home, neighborhood, and soon-to-be family.
Last Vegas (2013)
Color
Three friends throw bachelor party for their single friend
Last Vegas
"Billy, Paddy, Archie, and Sam were childhood friends from Flatbush, Brooklyn, New York, who are now elderly. Sam and his wife Miriam live in Naples, Florida. Archie, twice-divorced, lives in Englewood, New Jersey. Paddy lives alone in his Brooklyn apartment, a curmudgeon since the death of his wife, Sophie, over a year ago. Billy is a successful entrepreneur in Malibu, California, who lives with his 31-year-old girlfriend Lisa. Shortly after proposing to Lisa, Billy finds an old bottle of scotch he and his friends stole in their childhood days, and calls Sam and Archie, who immediately propose a bachelor party for Billy in Las Vegas. After being given permission by Miriam to cheat on her, Sam collects Archie and Paddy and they fly off to rendezvous with Billy in Vegas.
Billy and Paddy get into a heated argument about Billy's failure to attend Sophie's funeral. They head to Binion's Gambling Hall and Hotel to check in, but the hotel is closed for renovations. They agree to try the Aria Resort and Casino where the wedding will be held, but are attracted to the lounge by the singing voice of Diana. The five share a drink, and they convince Diana to join them at the Aria.
While waiting to get rooms, Archie goes to a blackjack table. He buys chips with $15,000 (half of his pension funds). When Paddy and Sam return, they find that Archie is up $102,000. They quickly leave the table in fear of being accused of card counting. Billy tours the wedding chapel with Diana, and becomes charmed with her.
The quartet later become judges of a swimsuit competition. They are then confronted by the casino manager, who offers the group his largest penthouse suite for free (instead of 50 Cent), in hopes that Archie will stay and spend his winnings at the hotel.
Billy suggests they open the old bottle of scotch to celebrate, but Paddy storms off. That night, the remaining three go to the hotel's nightclub. They drink too much and have a good time.
The next day, while the others are hungover and recovering, Paddy visits Diana and tells her that he and Billy were both in love with Sophie when they were younger and she picked Paddy. Diana tries to convince him to stop grieving and move on with life because Sophie would want it.
Paddy joins Billy at their pool cabana and admits he needs to move on from Sophie's passing while also being upset with Billy for marrying a much younger woman. Sam and Archie decide to throw a big bachelor party for Billy in their suite that night. They prepare for the party and invite several people including a bachelorette group from the nightclub, exotic dancers, a band of transvestite entertainers, and cast members of Zarkana.
Billy visits Diana. She admits that she is fond of him, and asks if he truly loves Lisa. As they walk along The Strip, Billy tells Diana that Paddy gave Sophie an ultimatum to choose either Billy or him, and she secretly chose Billy first, but Billy told Sophie that she was meant to be with Paddy.
The bachelor party goes into full force as Paddy gets ready to be social again, finally removing his wedding ring.
Paddy tells Billy he invited Diana to the party because he likes her and wants to start anew after Sophie's passing, but realizes Billy likes her too. When Diana arrives, Billy pushes Paddy into the decorative pool in the suite, and takes Diana upstairs to tell her that Paddy likes her and to give him a chance. She says she feels like she is being treated like Sophie, and "gifted" by Billy to Paddy, which Paddy overhears. Paddy is devastated to learn this and throws the old bottle of scotch in the trash as he leaves the party.
The next morning, Paddy confronts Billy at the pool and tells him he does not love Lisa like Paddy loved Sophie, and that the wedding must be stopped. As Lisa and her bridesmaids arrive, Paddy pushes Billy into the pool and tells Lisa that Billy is calling off the wedding.
Billy and Lisa talk it out and Lisa leaves with her bridesmaids. As the guys pack up to leave, Billy comes to terms with his age and admits his fear of getting old and being alone. They come together as friends again, and tell Billy to go see Diana. Billy shows up at the lounge where Diana is singing and reveals his feelings for her. The guys finally decide to crack open the old bottle of scotch for a toast, however to their surprise, all but Paddy find the taste to be repulsive.
A couple months later, Billy and Diana call Archie and Paddy to announce they are getting married. They try to call Sam but he is unable to answer the phone as he is busy in bed with Miriam.
Last Flag Flying (2017)
Color
Vets hold service for one of their own
Last Flag Flying
"In 2003, Larry "Doc" Shepherd visits the bar of Sal Nealon, a former Marine that he served with in Vietnam. Sal willingly joins Doc on an impromptu drive where Doc reveals that he's also tracked down another friend from Vietnam, now-Reverend Richard Mueller. Sal and Doc are invited to dinner with the Muellers, where Doc reveals he is recently widowed and just lost his only son in Iraq. He admits he tracked down Sal and Mueller in the hope that they would accompany him to collect his son Larry Jr's body and take him to his scheduled burial. Sal agrees, though Mueller is hesitant, claiming that Sal and Doc represent a dark period in his life. His wife urges him to do it, so he reluctantly agrees to accompany him.
Along the way, Sal and Mueller clash over their differing philosophies and their mutual guilt over their past; both Sal and Mueller (nicknamed the Mauler) indulged in alcohol, drugs and prostitutes while on deployment, and on one occasion used up the entire supply of then-19 year old Doc's painkillers, which led to a needlessly painful death for one of their fellow Marines and a dishonorable discharge for Doc. Sal, who has no social filter from a head injury from the war, continually gets under Mueller's skin for having found religion, whilst Mueller expresses frustration at Sal's lack of maturity. At Dover Air Force Base, Doc requests to view the maimed body of his son, against the advice of Mueller and LtCol Willits. During the viewing, LCpl Charlie Washington, Larry's close friend, reveals to Sal and Mueller that Larry Jr had been killed while shopping at an Iraqi market, contrary to the official story of dying while fighting heroically; Sal reveals the truth to a disillusioned Doc, who refuses the Arlington National Cemetery burial and insists on giving Larry Jr a civilian burial. Willits orders Washington to accompany the body and coerces Doc into changing his mind about having his deceased son buried in civilian clothing.
Sal, Mueller and Doc begin a long road trip back home, waylaid by the Department of Homeland Security (alerted by their cash rental, vague destination and Mueller's praying) and a missed train in New York. Over the course of the journey, the clashing becomes more good natured and Doc begins to boost in the company of his friends. Sal asks Doc to move to his town to run the bar with him, and the three purchase their first cell phones to stay in contact. Their trip takes them to Boston where Sal insists that they meet the mother of Jimmy Hightower, the fellow Marine who died painfully without morphine. When they arrive, they realise that Mrs. Hightower was given the same story about her son's heroism that Doc was given about Larry Jr; Sal decides not to deny her the story and the trio pretend to have been the men that Hightower saved when he was killed in action.
The group return to Portsmouth for Larry Jr's funeral, and where Washington persuades Doc that Larry's civilian suit will be too small and he should be buried in his dress blues. At the burial, Sal and Mueller wear their uniforms, and participate in the flag-folding ceremony. Back at Doc's house, Charlie gives Doc a letter from Larry, claiming not to have read it. Doc reads Larry's wishes; to be buried beside his mother wearing his uniform. Doc smiles as Larry thanks him for being a great father.
Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
Color
Lawrence who helps unite warring Arab tribes to strike back against the Turks in WW I
Lawrence of Arabia
"In 1935, T. E. Lawrence is killed in a motorcycle accident. At his memorial service at St Paul's Cathedral, a reporter tries to gain insights into this remarkable, enigmatic man from those who knew him, with little success.
During the First World War, Lawrence is a misfit British Army lieutenant stationed in Cairo, notable for his insolence and knowledge. Over the objections of General Murray, he is sent by Mr. Dryden of the Arab Bureau to assess the prospects of Prince Faisal in his revolt against the Turks.
On the journey, his Bedouin guide is killed by Sherif Ali for drinking from a well without permission. Lawrence later meets Colonel Brighton, who orders him to keep quiet, make his assessment of Faisal's intentions, and leave. Lawrence promptly ignores Brighton's commands when he meets Faisal. His knowledge, attitude and outspokenness pique the Prince's interest.
Brighton advises Faisal to retreat to Yenbo after a major defeat, but Lawrence proposes a daring surprise attack on Aqaba which, if successful, would provide a port from which the British could offload much-needed supplies. While strongly fortified against a naval assault, the town is lightly defended on the landward side. He convinces Faisal to provide fifty men, led by a sceptical Sherif Ali. Two teenage orphans, Daud and Farraj, attach themselves to Lawrence as his servants.
They cross the Nefud Desert, considered impassable even by the Bedouins, travelling day and night on the last stage to reach water. Gasim (I. S. Johar) succumbs to fatigue and falls off his camel unnoticed during the night. The rest make it to an oasis, but Lawrence turns back for the lost man. Sherif Ali, won over, burns Lawrence's British uniform and gives him Arab robes to wear.
Lawrence persuades Auda abu Tayi, the leader of the powerful local Howeitat tribe, to turn against the Turks. Lawrence's plan is almost derailed when one of Ali's men kills one of Auda's because of a blood feud. Since Howeitat retaliation would shatter the fragile alliance, Lawrence declares that he will execute the murderer himself. Stunned to discover that the culprit is Gasim, he shoots him anyway. The next morning, the intact alliance overruns the Turkish garrison.
Lawrence heads to Cairo to inform Dryden and the new commander, General Allenby, of his victory. During the crossing of the Sinai Desert, Daud dies when he stumbles into quicksand. Lawrence is promoted to major and given arms and money to support the Arabs. He is deeply disturbed, confessing that he enjoyed executing Gasim, but Allenby brushes aside his qualms. He asks Allenby whether there is any basis for the Arabs' suspicions that the British have designs on Arabia. Pressed, the general states they have no such designs.
Lawrence launches a guerrilla war, blowing up trains and harassing the Turks at every turn. American war correspondent Jackson Bentley publicises his exploits, making him world famous. On one raid, Farraj is badly injured. Unwilling to leave him to be tortured, Lawrence is forced to shoot him before fleeing.
When Lawrence scouts the enemy-held city of Daraa with Ali, he is taken, along with several Arab residents, to the Turkish Bey. Lawrence is stripped, ogled and prodded. For striking out at the Bey, he is severely flogged, and possibly raped, which is implied. He is then thrown out into the street. It is an emotional turning point for Lawrence. He is so traumatised by the experience that he abandons all of his exploits, going from having proclaimed himself almost a god, to insisting he is merely a man. He attempts to return to the British forces and swear off the desert, but he never fits in there. In Jerusalem, Allenby urges him to support his "big push" on Damascus, but Lawrence is a changed, tormented man, unwilling to return. After Allenby insists that Lawrence has a destiny, he finally relents. Lawrence naively believes that the warriors will come for him rather than for money.
He recruits an army, mainly killers, mercenaries, and cutthroats motivated by money, rather than the Arab cause. They sight a column of retreating Turkish soldiers who have just slaughtered the people of the village of Tafas. One of Lawrence's men from the village demands, "No prisoners!" When Lawrence hesitates, the man charges the Turks alone and is killed. Lawrence takes up the dead man's cry, resulting in a massacre in which Lawrence himself fully participates, with disturbing relish. Afterward, he realises the horrible consequences of what he has done.
His men then take Damascus ahead of Allenby's forces. The Arabs set up a council to administer the city, but they are desert tribesmen, ill-suited for such a task. The various tribes argue among themselves and in spite of Lawrence's insistence, cannot unite against the English, who in the end take the city back under their bureaucracy. Unable to maintain the utilities and bickering constantly with each other, they soon abandon most of the city to the British. Promoted to colonel and immediately ordered home, his usefulness at an end to both Faisal and the British diplomats, a dejected Lawrence is driven away in a staff car.
Lee Daniels' The Butler (2013)
Color
Black butler serves several US Presidents
Lee Daniels' The Butler
"In 2009, an elderly Cecil Gaines recounts his life story, while waiting in the White House. Gaines was raised on a cotton plantation in the 1920s Macon, Georgia, by his sharecropping parents. One day, the farm's owner, Thomas Westfall, rapes Cecil's mother, Hattie Pearl. Cecil's father confronts Westfall, and is shot dead. Cecil is taken in by Annabeth Westfall, the estate's caretaker, who says, "he's going to be a 'House Nigger' now" and trains Cecil as a house servant.
In his teens, he leaves the plantation and his mother, who has been mute since the incident. One night, Cecil breaks into a hotel pastry shop and is, unexpectedly, hired. He learns advanced skills from the master servant, Maynard, who, after several years, recommends Cecil for a position in a Washington D.C. hotel. While working at the D.C. hotel, Cecil meets and marries Gloria, and the couple have two children: Louis and Charlie. In 1957, Cecil is hired by the White House during Dwight D. Eisenhower's administration. White House ma?tre d' Freddie Fallows shows Cecil around, introducing him to head butler Carter Wilson and co-worker James Holloway. At the White House, Cecil witnesses Eisenhower's reluctance to use troops to enforce school desegregation in the South, then the President's resolve to uphold the law by racially integrating a high school in Little Rock.
The Gaines family celebrates Cecil's new occupation with their closest friends and neighbors, Howard and Gina. Louis, the eldest son, becomes a first generation university student at Fisk University in Tennessee, although Cecil feels that the South is too volatile; he wanted Louis to enroll at Howard University instead. Louis joins a student program led by James Lawson, to peacefully engage in a sit-in at a segregated diner; he is arrested. Furious, Cecil confronts Louis for disobeying him. Gloria, suffering from her husband's long working hours, descends into alcoholism and has an affair with the Gaineses' neighbor, Howard.
In 1961, after John F. Kennedy's election, Louis and a dozen others are attacked by the Ku Klux Klan while traveling on a bus in Alabama. Kennedy delivers a national address proposing the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Several months after the speech, Kennedy is assassinated. His successor, Lyndon B. Johnson, enacts the transformative legislation into law. As a goodwill gesture, Jackie Kennedy gives Cecil one of the former president's neckties before she leaves the White House.
In the late 1960s, after civil rights activist Martin Luther King, Jr.'s assassination, Louis visits and tells his family that he has joined the radical organization called the Black Panthers. Aware of Richard Nixon's plans to suppress the movement and upset at his son's actions, Cecil orders Louis and his girlfriend, Carol, to leave his house. Louis is soon arrested and is bailed out by Carter Wilson.
The Gaineses' other son, Charlie, confides to Louis that he plans to join the Army in the war in Vietnam, to which Louis announces that he won't attend Charlie's funeral if he is killed there. A few months later, the Gaines family hold a funeral for Charlie, which Louis does not attend; his father is furious. However, when the Black Panthers begin to use violence in response to racial confrontations, Louis leaves the organization and returns to college, earning his master's degree in political science and eventually winning a seat in Congress.
Meanwhile, Cecil's professional reputation has grown to the point that in the 1980s, he and his wife are invited by Ronald and Nancy Reagan as guests at a state dinner. Cecil sees that the invitation is just for show, as Reagan plans to veto Congressional sanctions against South Africa. Cecil announces his resignation to the President, but not before gaining Reagan's support in his years-long effort to have the black White House staff receive the same rate of salary and career opportunities as their white counterparts.
Gloria, wanting Cecil to mend his estranged relationship with Louis, reveals to him that Louis told her that he loved and respected them both. Realizing his son's actions are heroic rather than antagonistic, Cecil joins Louis in a protest against South African apartheid.
The film then advances to Barack Obama's 2008 presidential campaign, where an elderly Gloria dies shortly before Obama is elected as the nation's first African-American president, a milestone which leaves Cecil and Louis in awe. The film ends with Cecil preparing to meet the inaugurated president in the White House.
Legally Blonde (2001)
Color
Blonde becomes lawyer to one-up her ex
Legally Blonde
"Fashion merchandising student and sorority girl Elle Woods is taken to an expensive restaurant by her boyfriend, the governor's son, Warner Huntington III. She expects Warner to propose, but he breaks up with her instead. He intends to go to Harvard Law School and become a successful politician, and believes that Elle is not "serious" enough for that kind of life. Elle believes she can win Warner back if she shows herself capable of achieving the same things. After months of studying, Elle scores a 179 on the Law School Admission Test and, combined with her 4.0 GPA, is accepted to Harvard Law.
Upon arriving at Harvard, Elle's SoCal personality is a complete contrast to her East Coast classmates, who refuse to take her seriously. Elle soon encounters Warner but discovers he is engaged to another classmate, his old girlfriend Vivian Kensington. She meets Paulette Bonafonte at a hair salon and helps her get her dog that her ex-husband took. The snobby Vivian sees Elle as a fool and constantly treats her as such. Later, Elle tells Warner that she intends to apply for one of her professor's internships, but Warner tells her that she is wasting her time because she simply isn't smart enough. It is here when Elle realizes that Warner will never take her back or take her seriously, and finds motivation to prove herself by working hard and demonstrating her understanding of the subject.
The following semester, Professor Callahan, the school's most respected teacher, decides to take on some first-year interns to help with a high-profile case. Among those chosen are Elle, Warner, and Vivian. Callahan is defending a prominent fitness instructor named Brooke Windham, who is one of Elle's role models. Accused of murdering her husband, Brooke is unwilling to produce an alibi (she later reveals to Elle that she was having liposuction, a fact that would ruin her reputation, which Elle promises not to disclose). Vivian earns a new respect for Elle and even reveals that Warner couldn't get into Harvard without his father's help. Emmett Richmond, Callahan's junior partner, has also taken notice of Elle's potential. One night, Callahan attempts to seduce Elle, who now believes that is the reason why she got the internship. Vivian thinks that Elle slept with Callahan in exchange for allowing her a spot in the case. Devastated, she quits and nearly returns home to California, telling Emmett what happened. When Emmett explains how Callahan's behaviour caused Elle to quit her internship, Brooke fires Callahan and replaces him with Elle (under the guidance of Emmett, as she is only a law student, citing a Massachusetts Supreme Court ruling that law students may represent clients as long as they do so under the supervision of a licensed attorney). Elle begins to cross-examine Brooke's stepdaughter Chutney, and notices important inconsistencies in her story: Chutney testified that she was home during her father's murder but did not hear the gunshot because she was in the shower after getting her hair permed that morning. Elle says that washing permed hair within the first 24 hours would deactivate the ammonium thioglycolate, and points out that Chutney's curls are still intact. With her story falling apart, Chutney confesses that she had killed her father but only by accident, as she intended to kill Brooke because she hated the fact that her father married someone who was the same age as her.
After the trial, Warner approaches Elle and asks her to take him back, since she has proven herself. Elle rejects him, realizing that he is shallow and a "complete bonehead". She and Vivian, however, become good friends -- especially after she dumps Warner. Two years later Elle, having graduated top of her class, gives the graduation speech. (Warner, it transpires, only barely managed to graduate at all.) Emmett has started his own law firm and has been dating Elle for two years, with plans to propose to her later that night.
Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & Blonde (2003)
Color
Blonde lawyer fights Washington to get her dog's mother out of a cosmetics testing lab
Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & Blonde
"Elle Woods wants her Chihuahua, Bruiser, to reunite with his mother, because she would like Bruiser's mom to attend her wedding to Emmett. Elle hires a detective to find Bruiser's mother, only to discover that the owner of her dog's mother is C'est Magnifique, a cosmetics company that uses Bruiser's mother for "testing". She finds out that her law firm represents the C'est Magnifique Corporation and when she urges the firm to drop them as a client, she's fired.
Elle decides to leave Boston, where she and Bruiser have settled with her fiance Emmett, and go to Washington, D.C., to work on Bruiser's Bill. Elle is upset that her dog's mother is in a make-up testing laboratory, and decides to take it upon herself to be the "voice for those who can't speak" and to outlaw animal testing.
While working for Congresswoman Victoria Rudd, Elle is met with skepticism and other barriers common to Washington politics. Rudd's member of staff, Timothy, sarcastically calls her "Capitol Barbie". (There has even been a Barbie doll based on Elle Woods.[3]) After a variety of ups and downs including a failed attempt to improve her work environment by having her co-workers write compliments about one another and place them in the "snap cup", Elle starts to lose her faith in Washington politics.
Elle discovers that Bruiser is actually gay, after she is paged by "The Paws That Refreshes: A Doggy Day Spa". Bruiser has been affectionate with Leslie, a Rottweiller owned by Congressman Stan Marks, the Chairman of the Committee on Energy and Commerce which has jurisdiction over Bruiser's Bill. Elle also finds that Congresswoman Libby Hauser, the Ranking Member of the same committee, was a member of Elle's sorority Delta Nu. As a result, both Marks and Hauser warm to Elle and eventually come to support Bruiser's Bill.
Elle also discovers that Congresswoman Rudd has actually been working against her. Rudd has been doing so in an effort to satisfy the interests of a major campaign donor named "Bob" (who is never seen, but with whom Rudd has several telephone conversations). However, Rudd is eventually blackmailed into supporting Elle's petition, because Rudd's Chief of Staff, Grace Rossiter, eavesdrops on a recorded conversation during which Rudd admits to Elle that she has been working against Bruiser's Bill in order to help Rudd's sponsors who want to continue with tests on animals. As Grace is appalled that Rudd lied to Elle and blamed it on her, Grace and Elle eventually reach a place of mutual respect, especially after Grace admits she came to Washington D.C. with an enthusiasm not unlike Elle's, but later lost that idealism when she discovered how dirty politics could really be.
With the help of her friends, Elle's discharge petition is successful, and Bruiser's Bill is brought to the floor of the House. Bruiser's mother and the rest of the dogs are released by C'est Magnifique Corporation. Elle and Emmett get married in a park in D.C., albeit not at Fenway Park as they had planned, but standing on the home plate which has been delivered to D.C. by the UPS Guy.
In the final scene, Emmett asks Elle whether they want to live in Beverly Hills, Washington D.C., or Boston. As Elle has many legal and political job offers after the successful discharge hearing, she responds, "Oh, I think I know just the place", and winks as they drive by the White House.
Legend (2015)
Color
Identical twin gangsters terrify the public, frustrate police with their criminal exploits
Legend
"In the 1960s, Reggie Kray is a former boxer who has become an important part of the criminal underground in London. At the start of the film, his twin brother Ron is locked up in a psychiatric hospital for paranoid schizophrenia. Reggie uses threats to obtain the premature release of his brother. The twins unite their efforts to control a large part of London's criminal underworld. One of their first efforts is to muscle-in on the control of a local nightclub, using extortion and brutal violence.
Reg enters into a relationship with Frances, his driver's sister, whom he eventually marries. When he is imprisoned for a previous criminal conviction, which he cannot evade, she makes him swear that he will leave his criminal life behind, an oath he never honours due to the allure of crime. While Reg is in prison, Ron's mental instability and violent temperament lead to severe financial setbacks at the nightclub. The club is almost forced to close after Ron scares away most of the customers. On the first night after Reg's release from prison, the brothers have an all-out fist fight, but they manage to partially patch things up.
The brothers are approached by Angelo Bruno of the Philadelphia crime family who, on behalf of Meyer Lansky and the American Mafia, wants to engage them in a crime syndicate deal. Bruno agrees to a fifty-fifty deal with Reg to split London's underground gambling profits in exchange for local protection by the brothers. Initially, this system is highly lucrative for the Kray brothers. Ron's barely concealed volatility results in him publicly murdering George Cornell, an associate of the Torture Gang, rivals of the Krays. As a result, Scotland Yard opens a full investigation of the Kray brothers.
Reg's marriage with Frances crumbles due to his addiction to crime. Unable to bear Reg's false promises to reform, Frances starts consuming prescription drugs illegally. After he beats and rapes her in a fit of rage, she leaves him. When Reg approaches her to reconcile, Frances seems to agree and they plan to visit Ibiza. But soon she kills herself by drug overdosage leaving Reg guilt ridden. The twins' criminal activities continue and Ron pays petty criminal Jack McVitie to kill Leslie Payne, Reg's partner, who controls the legal side of the Krays' operations, as he doesn't trust Payne. Jack only wounds Payne, who then turns the brothers over to Detective Superintendent Leonard "Nipper" Read, the head of the investigation. Reg finds out and brutally stabs McVitie with a knife during a party hosted by Ron. The testimony given by Payne means that Ron is arrested and charged with Cornell's murder. The final scene shows a police squad breaking down the door to Reggie's flat in order to apprehend him for McVitie's murder.
The closing captions indicate both brothers receiving criminal convictions for murder. They died five years apart, Ron from a heart attack in 1995, and Reggie from bladder cancer in 2000.
Let's Be Cops (2014)
Color
Two guys get more than they bargained for when they pretend to be cops
Let's Be Cops
"Two longtime pals, Justin Miller (Wayans), a struggling video game designer, and Ryan O'Malley (Johnson), an unemployed, washed-up former college quarterback, recall a pact they once made: if they hadn't "made it" in Los Angeles by the time they were thirty, they would head back to their Columbus hometown. As they leave a bar, their car is hit by an SUV full of tough-looking Albanians, who intimidate them into not retaliating.
Justin attempts to pitch a video game about policemen but the idea is rudely dismissed by his boss. Later, Ryan convinces him to use the police uniforms from his presentation as costumes for their college reunion party. Upon attending, they meet many successful former classmates and both are confronted with a sense of failure and they mutually accept to honor their pact. As they walk home, they are treated like real cops and decide to enjoy the gag. It allows Justin to finally get the attention of Josie, a waitress to whom he is attracted and who works at a local diner, Georgie's.
Ryan decides to take the hoax further than one night. He learns official procedures on YouTube and buys a used police cruiser, modifying it with decals to resemble a real LAPD car. Although reluctant, Justin agrees to continue the charade, and through it begins a relationship with Josie. Ryan gets revenge on the Albanians who hit his car, unaware they are actually mobsters blackmailing the owner of Georgie's. During their many shenanigans, Ryan and Justin end up on a real distress call with Patrol Officer Segars. The experience shakes Justin, who realizes they face serious jail time if exposed. He tries to “retire,” but gets a phone call from Josie about a man frequently harassing her at work. It turns out to be Mossi Kasic, leader of the Albanian mobsters. Once more, the pair are intimidated into doing nothing.
Via Segars, Ryan obtains surveillance equipment to gather evidence and put Mossi away, along with an unidentified partner who has been investigating the pair. Ryan convinces Justin to do an undercover operation to obtain information on an incriminating shipment of crates. During the mission, they discover the crates full of SWAT equipment and weapons, along with secret tunnels that run between Mossi's club and Georgie's restaurant. This necessitates the acquisition of the restaurant, explaining the blackmail. After a few close encounters with the mobsters, they barely escape. Fed up, Justin insists on mailing the evidence anonymously, but Ryan, finding purpose in his life again, is set on delivering it personally. They fight, and part ways.
Ryan brings his evidence to Segars, who recommends it go to the highest authority, which is Detective Brolin. Unfortunately, Brolin is actually Mossi's business partner. After instantly recognizing each other, Ryan makes it out of the station, but his sudden threat has blown their cover. Meanwhile, Justin decides to "man up" and, in uniform, assertively pitches his game again. One of Brolin's officers shows up to try and kill him, inadvertently helping to sell the pitch. Ryan is abducted, and Mossi sends a threatening message to Justin. Overwhelmed, Justin pleas to Segars for help after admitting everything. He also confesses to Josie that he is not a real cop, which he had made previous attempts to do, and she disgustedly leaves him.
Justin goes into the tunnels alone while Ryan pits Mossi and Brolin against each other, prompting Mossi to shoot and kill the detective. Justin attempts to save his friend, but is overpowered. Segars arrives, causing Mossi and his crew to retreat. Segars admonishes the duo for their deception and orders them to leave before going after the mobsters, without waiting for backup. Ryan and Justin agree they can't abandon him, and suit up with the SWAT equipment. They save Segars, but he becomes incapacitated. The pair then face Mossi alone, during which the two reconcile. They fail to take him out, but luckily, Segars is able to show up and shoots Mossi in the back of the chest, saving Justin and Ryan.
Thanks to the respective confidence and motivation gained during their impersonations, Justin has become a successful game developer, while Ryan graduates from the police academy as a true, fully-fledged member of the LAPD. Justin apologizes to Josie, and after she forgives him, they rekindle their relationship. Ryan, however, still has not given up on their fun as cops together, and convinces Justin to don the fake uniform once again and join him on patrol.
Lianna (1983)
Color
Married woman has affair with another woman
Lianna
"Lianna (Linda Griffiths) is the wife of a college professor teaching film and media at a University in a small to midsized town in New Jersey, and the mother of two children. In an attempt to give her husband more freedom - at his request - and cure her boredom in being a housewife, she takes a child psychology class with her friend Sandy.
Becoming more involved in the class and interacting with the female professor, she realizes she has a crush on the instructor, Ruth. Ruth invites Lianna over to her home for dinner and they talk into the night, Lianna explaining that she was a graduate student at one time who married the professor. They eventually sleep together and begin an affair, complicated by Lianna's husband's affair with one of his students. Lianna expresses interest in leaving her husband for Ruth, but Ruth backs away, warning Lianna that living with another woman would jeopardize her career as a child psychologist - and she has a partner in another city.
Lianna leaves her husband after a particularly ugly fight to live alone for the first time in years. Lianna visits a lesbian bar and attempts to connect with other lesbians through a string of affairs to explore her new identity. The film explores her loneliness, her changing relationships with her children, and her new relationship with Sandy, who is shocked at Lianna's revelations at first, but slowly begins to accept it and support Lianna.
Liberal Arts (2012)
Color
35 yo Jesse comes back to his alma mata for a speaking engagement and falls for sophomore
Liberal Arts
"Jesse Fisher (Radnor) is a 35-year-old college admissions officer in New York City who loves literature and language, but is newly single and dissatisfied with his life and career. He believes that the happiest time of his life was the years at his unnamed Ohio liberal arts college, where he could study uninterrupted, surrounded by others like him. Peter Hoberg (Jenkins), his former English professor, invites Jesse back to the college to attend Peter's retirement ceremony. Jesse meets 19-year-old Zibby (Olsen), a sophomore studying drama and the daughter of Peter's friends.
After the retirement dinner, Jesse stumbles upon a dorm party where he runs into Zibby. They agree to have coffee together the next day. He spends the afternoon with Zibby and they walk around the campus discussing life, books, and music. He also encounters his old romantics teacher, Judith Fairfield (Janney)--a woman he has long admired--and meets the eccentric Nat (Efron), and Dean (Magaro), a brilliant but depressed student who, like Jesse, always carries a book with him.[5] Before Jesse leaves, Zibby asks to stay in touch; they become pen pals and become closer via handwritten letters. Meanwhile, Peter feels lost ahead of his upcoming retirement, and goes to the dean to ask to stay on. The dean replies that the faculty have already hired his replacement.
Zibby invites Jesse back to campus, hinting that she has feelings for him. Jesse has concerns about the 16-year age gap, but agrees. They spend time together and kiss. When Peter sees them together, however, he warns Jesse about living in the past. Zibby confesses her feelings to Jesse and asks him to sleep with her; he agrees, but changes his mind after she admits that she is a virgin. Zibby is insulted and hurt and asks him to leave. Jesse goes to a bar where he meets Fairfield again. They have a one-night stand, but afterwards she tells him to grow up and kicks him out. Meanwhile, Zibby goes to a party and kisses a classmate. Jesse leaves without seeing Zibby again, but says goodbye to Peter.
Jesse returns to New York and, some months later, writes to Zibby again. He apologizes for hurting her, says that he misses her and credits her for helping him to grow. He meets and starts dating Ana (Reaser), a bookseller his own age with a similar love for books. After Jesse helps avert Dean's suicide by overdose, he advises the young man to stop hiding from life within books. Jesse goes to see Zibby and apologizes to her again. She says that she had hoped to take a shortcut to adulthood through a relationship with Jesse, and that she understands that what he did was the right thing. Jesse goes back home and renews his correspondence with Zibby. The film ends with Zibby lying down reading Songs of Innocence and of Experience which she received via courier from Jesse, and Ana lying on Jesse's chest, them happily talking about growing old.
Lies and Illusions (2009)
Color
Lies and Betrayal over stolen diamonds
Lies and Illusions
"The film begins with self-help author Wes Wilson (Christian Slater) who has recently come out with his first best selling book. At the after-party, he meets up with an attractive woman named Samantha (Sarah Ann Schultz). They flirt, and he proposes publicly. He introduces her to his agent, who tries to talk Wes into writing a sequel. Wes dismisses the agent and takes Samantha to his car to leave the party early. They are attacked in the parking lot, and Samantha is knocked out and kidnapped.
Time passes slowly for Wes, who is haunted by his inability to save her. At a book signing, however, he meets Nicole (Christa Campbell), who says she is a reporter. He goes to her house for an interview, and they bond. A few more months pass and Wes and Nicole become a couple.
Suddenly a man named Isaac (Cuba Gooding, Jr.) who Wes had met before at the book signing, shows up and demands to know where some diamonds are. Wes runs away, and Isaac's main henchman Boone (Robert Giardina) and another give chase. Eventually Wes gets back to his apartment, only to find Samantha there. She apologizes but Wes is heartbroken that she would betray him. Samantha also tells him that Nicole wants the diamonds as well. Just then one of Isaac's henchmen shows up, and Samantha kills him. Wes is frightened, and leaves.
Isaac eventually kidnaps Wes and, using him as a lure, finds Samantha, who tells him where the diamonds are. Wes gets the diamonds, but decides to run away. Again Isaac and his henchmen give chase, and a shootout ensues. Isaac shoots Wes in the arm, and calmly takes the diamonds. Samantha escapes while Nicole helps Wes.
Isaac is shown admiring the diamonds on his jet, when Samantha comes out of the cockpit, showing that she has shot the pilot. She shoots Isaac twice, and jumps out of the jet. The plane crashes and Isaac dies.
Later, Wes is talking to his agent, Martin Rivera (Al Madrigal) about writing another book on his adventures, hinting it will be labeled as fiction. He thinks he sees Samantha outside, only to find it is someone else. About ready to give up, Samantha suddenly appears and uses the same pick up line he teased her with at the party at the opening of the film.
Boone sits down next to Wes' agent and says he has a plan for a book about recipes for couples who are having marital troubles.
Life of Pi (2012)
Color
Boy is shipwrecked on lifeboat with zoo animals
Life of Pi
"In Canada, novelist Yann Martel meets Pi Patel, who has been told that Pi's life story would be a good subject for a book. Pi tells his story to Yann:
Pi's father names him Piscine Molitor after the swimming pool in France. In secondary school in Pondicherry, he adopts the name "Pi" (the Greek letter, p) to avoid the sound-alike nickname "Pissing Patel". He is raised Hindu family with both vegetarian and non-vegetarian, but at 12 years old, is introduced to Christianity and then Islam, and decides to follow all three religions as he "just wants to love God". His mother supports his desire to grow, but his father, a rationalist, tries to convert him. Pi's family owns a zoo, and Pi takes interest in the animals, especially a Bengal tiger named Richard Parker. After Pi gets dangerously close to Richard Parker, his father forces him to witness the tiger killing a goat.
When Pi is 16, his father announces that they must move to Canada, where he intends to settle and sell the animals. The family books passage with the animals on a Japanese freighter. During a storm, the ship founders while Pi is on deck. He tries to find his family, but a member of the crew throws him into a lifeboat. A freed zebra jumps onto the boat with him, breaking its leg as it lands. The ship is submerged into the Mariana Trench with the crew and his family. Pi sees what appears to be a survivor, but it turns out to be Richard Parker, which evades his efforts to keep him out of the boat.
After the storm, Pi awakens in the lifeboat with the zebra, and is shortly joined by a surviving orangutan. A spotted hyena emerges from a tarpaulin covering half of the lifeboat and snaps at Pi, forcing him to retreat to the end of the boat. It kills the zebra and later the orangutan. Richard Parker emerges from under the tarpaulin, killing the hyena and attempting to kill Pi, before retreating back to cover for several days.
Pi fashions a small tethered raft from flotation vests which he retreats to for safety from Richard Parker. Despite his moral code against killing, he begins fishing, enabling him to sustain the tiger as well. When the tiger jumps into the sea to hunt for fish, Pi considers letting him drown, but ultimately helps him back into the boat. One night, a humpback whale breaches near the boat, destroying the raft and its supplies. Pi trains Richard Parker to accept him in the boat, and realizes that caring for the tiger is also keeping himself alive.
Weeks later they encounter a floating island of interconnected trees. It is a lush jungle of edible plants, fresh water pools and a large population of meerkats, enabling Pi and Richard Parker to eat and drink freely and regain strength. At night, the island transforms into a hostile environment. Richard Parker retreats to the lifeboat while Pi and the meerkats sleep in the trees; the water pools turn acidic, digesting the fish in them. Pi deduces that the island is carnivorous after finding a human tooth embedded in a flower.
Pi and Richard Parker leave the island, and eventually reach the coast of Mexico. Pi is saddened that Richard Parker does not acknowledge him before disappearing into the jungle. He is rescued and brought to a hospital. Insurance agents for the Japanese freighter company interview him, but do not believe his story and ask what "really" happened. He tells a different story, in which the animals are replaced by human survivors of the shipwreck: his mother for the orangutan, an amiable sailor for the zebra, and the ship's brutish cook for the hyena. In this story, Pi kills the cook and feeds on his flesh until he reaches Mexico. The insurance agents are not satisfied with this story either, but they leave without questioning Pi further.
Yann recognizes the parallels between the two stories, noting that in the second one, Pi fills the role of the tiger. Pi asks which story the writer prefers, and Yann chooses the first, to which Pi replies, "and so it goes with God". Glancing at a copy of the insurance report, Yann sees that the agents also chose the first story.
Life of the Party (2018)
Color
Housewife goes to school as her daughter
Life of the Party
"After dropping off their 22-year-old daughter Maddie to her senior year at Decatur University in Atlanta, Dan tells Deanna that he wants a divorce because he has fallen in love with another woman, realtor Marcie. Heartbroken, Deanna visits her parents Mike and Sandy to tell them what happened, with Mike furiously denouncing Dan for making Deanna drop out of college in her final year because she was pregnant, as well as his overbearing ways during their marriage.
Deanna visits Maddie to tell the news and about her plans to enroll at Decatur University to finish her degree in Archaeology. Maddie is doubtful, but supportive. She introduces Deanna to her sorority friends Amanda, neurotic Debbie, and Helen. Deanna later meets her agoraphobic and chronically depressed roommate Leonor. On the first day of school, she meets demeaning girls Jennifer and Trina, who mock Deanna's age.
Deanna, supported by good friend Christine, joins Dan, supported by Marcie, at a mediation session to prepare their divorce papers. Marcie intends to sell their house without Deanna's approval.
Maddie and her friends take Deanna to a frat party, where she meets a student named Jack, a friend of Maddie's boyfriend, Tyler. The next morning mother and daughter catch each other leaving the bedrooms of their respective guys. Jack has truly fallen for Deanna, and they have sex again in the stacks at the library.
Another night, they attend an 80's-themed party where Deanna has a dance-off with Jennifer, resulting in earning the respect of her schoolmates. She has became both “one of the girls” but also a trusted mentor to Maddie's sorority sisters, who make her an honorary sister. Deanna is also doing great in her classes, until she has a midterm exam that requires an oral presentation. Her stage fright causes her to collapse part way through.
While Deanna is at restaurant with Christine and Frank (her husband), and another couple (Bill and Amy) from their group of friends, Dan and Marcie unexpectedly show up, declaring they are getting married. Jack turns out to be Marcie's son and knowing about Deanna sleeping with Jack, Marcie walks out in disgust.
While Maddie attends Dan and Marcie's wedding, Deanna and her student friends unknowingly get high from chocolate bark laced with marijuana, and they head to the reception, where they start wrecking the wedding hall. Dan, Marcie, and Maddie find them and Marcie tells Deanna she is cut off financially from Dan.
Deanna tries to make amends with Maddie, and tells her that she is leaving college since she has no means of paying the rest of her tuition. The girls decide to throw a party to raise the money. No one shows up as they are at a Christina Aguilera concert, so Helen posts a Twitter message claiming Aguilera will be at the party after her show. Christine and Frank attend, along with Mike and Sandy. Mike offers to give Deanna a 401K check to pay her tuition, but Deanna refuses. The party is soon filled with people expecting Aguilera, when a suspicious Jennifer confronts Helen, telling her that if Aguilera doesn't show up in three seconds, Jennifer will put Helen in another coma. The two girls engage in a serious fist fight until Deanna intervenes, telling them that girls should support each other and behave like friends. Suddenly, Aguilera (who turns out to be Leonor's cousin) arrives and puts on a show with Deanna and the girls to an excited crowd.
Deanna still needs to complete her presentation in class. She is nervous until Maddie, Helen, Amanda, Debbie, and all the sorority sisters show up to support her, and Deanna manages to give the presentation with ease. At the end of the year, Deanna and Maddie graduate together, with all their friends and family there to support them. Maddie encourages Deanna to throw her cap in the air. She does so, and it hits Dan in the face.
Like Crazy (2011)
Color
Britan and American fall in love, and must confront their long-distance relationship
Like Crazy
"Anna Gardner, a British exchange student attending college in Los Angeles, meets and falls in love with Jacob Helm, an American student who returns her affections. After graduation, Anna decides to spend the summer with Jacob rather than return to the United Kingdom, unaware of the consequences of overstaying her student visa, which expired upon her graduation. After returning to London for a family engagement, Anna flies back to Los Angeles, where she is detained, denied entry, and deported back to the United Kingdom by immigration officials.
Despite her efforts at appealing the immigration decision, Anna is told she is banned from entering the United States. The couple's love for each other grows strained by their separation and long-distance relationship. Jacob then leaves behind his successful design business and visits Anna in London for a few weeks after calling her one night. There, he learns that Anna's parents, Bernard and Jackie, have hired an immigration lawyer to try to get the ban lifted. Bernard suggests that marrying may help their efforts. Jacob is uncomfortable with the suggestion, and the couple struggle with their feelings.
After Jacob returns to the United States, he and Anna grow apart, and Jacob begins a relationship with his colleague, Samantha. Anna also tries to find a new life for herself, beginning work as a secretary for a magazine, but she is unable to abandon her feelings for Jacob. Later, while Jacob is talking to a customer accidentally tells "Anna" to get to phone, to which Samantha answers. Anna eventually calls Jacob from London, and both admit that they will never find in others what they found in each other and that they should marry. Jacob then breaks up with Samantha, returns to London, and marries Anna in a small registry office ceremony with her parents as witnesses -- Jacob and Anna affirming that they will "never allow anything to destroy the feelings we share for each other". With a tearful parting, Jacob returns to his business in Los Angeles while the couple waits six months before they appeal the ban on Anna's visa.
Six months later, Jacob flies back to the United Kingdom for the appeal, but it is rejected. With their relationship compromised and no hope of resolving the visa issue, Anna and Jacob begin to fight with each other out of jealousy and frustration. Jacob flies back to the US and rekindles his relationship with Samantha while Anna starts dating Simon. Anna eventually gets promoted at work to the position of editor--something she had been working towards. Her love life, however, is not as positive or fulfilling--she realizes Simon does not evoke the same feelings in her as Jacob, whom she still misses.
Sometime later, Anna is finally offered a new visa. Anna invites her parents over for dinner to meet Simon, who they end up not liking. Afterwards Simon proposes to Anna, to which she declines. She leaves her job, boyfriend, and apartment and flies to Los Angeles to Jacob, who greets her with flowers at the airport where they have an awkward reunion. Jacob brings Anna to his house where he joins her in the shower. As the water falls over them they remember happier memories they had together at the beginning of their relationship, which has now become strained due to their indiscretions during the time spent apart.
Lilies of the Field (1963)
Black & White
Nuns believe black worker was sent by God to build a new chapel
Lilies of the Field
"Homer Smith (Sidney Poitier) is an itinerant handyman/jack-of-all-trades who stops at a farm in the Arizona desert to obtain some water for his car. There he sees several women working on a fence, very ineptly. The women, who speak very little English, introduce themselves as German, Austrian and Hungarian nuns. The mother superior, the leader of the nuns, persuades him to do a small roofing repair. He stays overnight, assuming that he will be paid in the morning. Next day, Smith tries to persuade the mother superior to pay him by quoting Luke 10:7, "The laborer is worthy of his hire." Mother Maria Marthe (Lilia Skala, called "Mother Maria"), responds by asking him to read another Bible verse from the Sermon on the Mount: "Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin. And yet I say unto you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.”
Mother Maria likes things done her way. The nuns have essentially no money and subsist by living off the land, on what vegetables the arid climate provides, and some milk and eggs. Even after being stonewalled when asking for payment, and after being persuaded to stay for a meal, and against his better judgment, Smith agrees to stay another day to help them with other small jobs, always with the faint hope that Mother Maria will pay him for his work.
As Smith's skills and strengths become apparent to the nuns, they come to believe that he has been sent by God to fulfill their dream of building a chapel for the townsfolk--who are Latino and impoverished--as the nearest church is miles away.
When Sunday comes, Mother Maria informs Smith that he will be driving the sisters to Mass in his station wagon. (The nuns have no vehicle and thus ordinarily would walk the long distance to church.) Smith is invited to attend the Catholic Mass, celebrated by a roving priest not in a church but outdoors, but he declines because he is a Baptist. Instead, he takes the opportunity to get a proper breakfast from the trading post next door. In talking to the proprietor, Juan (Stanley Adams), Smith learns about the hardships that the nuns, led by the unyielding Mother Maria, overcame to emigrate from Eastern Europe -- over the Berlin Wall -- only to barely scratch out a meager living on the farm that was willed to their order. Juan humorously tells Homer that he considers prayer and belief in religion a form of "insurance", and suggests that is why Homer is helping the nuns without being paid.
Though he has come to realize how unlikely it is that he will be paid, and partly out of respect for all the women have overcome, Smith stays longer and finds himself driven to work on at least clearing the construction site for the chapel. He rationalizes that it would be too hard for the sisters to move the heavy beams. After losing another duel of Bible quotes with Mother Maria, Smith acknowledges that he has always wanted to be an architect, but couldn't afford the schooling. His unfulfilled dream impels him to agree to undertake the (unpaid) job of building the sisters a chapel.
To earn money to buy some "real food" to supplement the spartan diet the nuns are able to provide him, Smith gets a part-time job with the nearby construction contractor, Ashton (director Ralph Nelson, uncredited), who is impressed that Smith can handle nearly every piece of heavy equipment he owns. Smith supplements the nuns' diet as well, shopping for groceries to stock up their kitchen and delighting them with treats such as lollipops.
To pass the evenings, Smith (whom the nuns call "Schmidt") helps the sisters improve their rudimentary English (only Mother Maria speaks the language well enough to converse with him) and joins them in singing. They share their different musical traditions with one another: their Catholic chants and his Baptist hymns. He teaches them to join him in the call-and-response song "Amen" by Jester Hairston (dubbed by Hairston in the film).
Smith, determined that the building will be constructed to the highest standards, insists that the work be done by him and only him. Meanwhile, the nuns write letters to various philanthropic organizations and charities asking for money for supplies, but all their requests are denied. As word spreads about the endeavor, locals begin to show up to contribute materials and to help in construction, but Smith rebuffs all offers of assistance in the labor. As he gains a larger and larger audience for his efforts, the locals, impressed with his determination, but no less dogged than he, will content themselves no longer with just watching. They find ways to lend a hand that Smith cannot easily turn down -- the lifting of a bucket or brick, for example. Once the process is in motion, they end up doing as they intended, assisting in every aspect of the construction, as well as contributing materials. This greatly accelerates the progress, much to the delight of everyone but Smith.
Even Ashton, who has long ignored Mother Maria's pleas, finds an excuse to deliver some more materials. Almost overnight, Smith finds that he's become a building foreman and contractor. Enduring the hassles of coordinating the work of so many, the constant disputes with Mother Maria, and the trial of getting enough materials for the building, Smith brings the chapel to completion, placing the cross on the spire himself and signing his work where only he and God will know.
It is the evening before the Sunday when the chapel is to be dedicated. All the work has been done and Smith is exhausted. Now that there is nothing more to keep Smith among them, Mother Maria, too proud to ask him outright to stay, insists that he attend the opening Mass next day to receive proper recognition from the congregation. She speaks enthusiastically of all that "Schmidt" still can do to aid the town, such as building a school. Making no reply to any of this, Smith tricks Mother Maria, as part of the night's English lesson, into saying "thank you" to him. Until then, she stubbornly had thanked only God for the work, assistance, and gifts that Smith had provided to the nuns. It is a touching moment between two strong personalities.
Later that evening, as he leads the nuns in singing "Amen" once again, Smith slips out the door and, still singing the lead, the nuns' voices chiming softly behind him, he takes one last look at the chapel he built. Mother Maria hears him start up his station wagon, but remains stolidly in her seat, singing along with the rest of the sisters, as Smith drives quietly off into the night.
Lilith (1964)
Black & White
Mental health worker falls for patient
Lilith
Set in a private mental institution, Chestnut Lodge in Rockville, Maryland, the film tells of a trainee occupational therapist, a troubled ex-soldier named Vincent Bruce (Beatty), who becomes dangerously obsessed with seductive, artistic, schizophrenic patient Lilith Arthur (Seberg). Bruce makes progress helping Lilith emerge from seclusion and leave the institutional grounds for a day in the country and accompanies her on other excursions in which she is alone with him. She attempts to seduce him, and eventually Bruce tells Lilith he is in love with her. Lilith also seduces an older female patient and enchants a couple of young boys on one of her outings. Bruce triggers the suicide of another patient (Fonda) out of jealousy over the patient's crush on Lilith. This brings up memories in Lilith of her brother's suicide, which she implies was due to an incestuous relationship that she initiated, and she goes on a destructive rampage in her room and winds up in a catatonic state. Bruce presents himself to his superiors for psychiatric help.
Limitless (2011)
Color
Writer discovers drug that gives him with super high intelligence
Limitless
"The movie starts with Edward "Eddie" Morra (Bradley Cooper), standing on the rooftop of his luxury penthouse. Someone is trying to break into his apartment, as he prepares himself to jump.
Three months earlier, Eddie is a New York City author struggling with writer's block and a looming deadline. Things get worse when his girlfriend, Lindy (Abbie Cornish), dumps him, after growing tired of supporting him financially while Eddie makes no progress. One day, Eddie comes across Vernon Gant (Johnny Whitworth), his ex brother-in-law. Vernon, a drug dealer, offers Eddie a nootropic drug, NZT-48, claiming that it was just approved by the FDA and that it allows the user to access 100 percent of his or her brain's capacity instead of the "usual" 20 percent. Eddie takes Vernon's card with his address and phone number, and accepts the pill and arrives home.
Eddie consumes the pill as he enters his apartment and finds the claim is true; with his heightened brain activity, all of his senses become tuned in to everything in his surrounding environment, he can recall everything he has seen and heard, he can learn exponentially faster, and he is able to outsmart and out-talk people. He completes 90 pages of the book that night, but wakes up the next day and realizes that the NZT has worn off. He turns in what he completed so far of his book, and his publisher is very pleased. Eddie goes to Vernon's apartment to get more of the drug, but sees that Vernon has been severely beaten. Vernon also admits that the drug is not FDA approved. However, Eddie agrees to be Vernon's errand-boy in exchange for more of the drug. But when he returns to Vernon's apartment, Eddie finds Vernon shot dead and the apartment ransacked. He quickly finds Vernon's stash of NZT-48, a small amount of cash, and a book of addresses, which he takes before the police arrive. At the police station, Eddie talks to Melissa Gant (Anna Friel), his ex-wife (Vernon's sister), over the phone. She warns him to stay away from anything and anyone that Vernon was involved with, and that they can't contact each other.
Eddie, using NZT-48, quickly finishes the book but believes he is capable of much more with the drug. He finds the ability to identify trends in the stock market and is able to quadruple investments on a daily basis. Seeking to grow a fortune quickly, he obtains a short term loan of $100,000 from a Russian mafia loan-shark, Gennady (Andrew Howard), which he is able to turn into $2 million in a few days at a trading firm. He decides to increase his daily NZT dosage for a more powerful effect. Although he knows he has drawn media attention, he is troubled by a man in a tan coat (Tomas Arana) who appears to be stalking him. Eddie also rekindles his relationship with Lindy, impressing her with his success.
Eddie's success leads to a meeting with a powerful businessman, Carl Van Loon (Robert De Niro), who wants Eddie's advice the next day on a proposed merger with a competitor, Hank Atwood (Richard Bekins). In celebration of this big opportunity, Eddie spends the day drinking and partying heavily. But throughout the day he also experiences short term memory loss, as he can't remember how he got to certain places. He spends time in a hotel with a blonde woman (Caroline Winberg) before ending the day on top of a bridge. Worried about having very little recollection of the past day, he quickly leaves, followed by the man in the tan coat. Eddie meets with Van Loon the next day, having not yet taken a look at the assignment nor a dose of NZT, but as they discuss it, Eddie realizes that Atwood may also be a NZT user based on his sudden rise in wealth. Just then, a news reports breaks that the woman Eddie was with the night before was found murdered. With the thought of having possibly murdered someone while under the influence of NZT, he abruptly leaves the meeting with Van Loon and vomits outside.
Worried about his sudden sicknesses, Eddie talks to Melissa, despite her previous warnings that they can't contact each other. It turns out that she was a former user of the drug, and that quitting NZT cold turkey has extreme side effects, with nausea, vomiting, headaches, which is only the beginning; even still, two years since quitting the drug has left Melissa sluggish and lazy. Afterwards, Eddie returns home but is accosted by Gennady, who demands his repayment of the loan he gave to Eddie. When Eddie's last NZT pill falls out of his pocket, Gennady takes it and consumes it, and demands more of the drug. Eddie becomes sicker, and visits Lindy at work and he tells her that he had stored a stash of the drug at her apartment and asks her to bring it over; as she does, she is followed by the man in the tan coat. Eddie convinces her to take one pill, giving her heightened awareness to injure the man and escape. Afraid of what they might become if they continue to take the drug, Lindy leaves Eddie.
Afterwards, Eddie decides to use the drug more wisely. He learns that he won't experience adverse side effect if he controls his dosage, remembers to eat, and abstains from alcohol. He continues to build his wealth, and hires bodyguards to protect him from Gennady, and buys a highly secured penthouse safe-house. He pays a laboratory to try to reverse engineer NZT. Eddie aids Van Loon in the merger deal, who promises Eddie $40 million if the deal goes through. Meanwhile, Eddie is marked as a suspect in the murder case of the blonde woman he spent time with at the hotel. He hires a "ruthless" and dirty defense attorney named Morris Brandt (Ned Eisenberg) to help defend him. Eddie tries to refuse to give Gennady more of the drug, but he blackmails Eddie for more of it when he threatens to reveal to Van Loon that he's a murder suspect.
On the day of signing the merger, Atwood's wife shows up instead and announces that Atwood had fallen into a coma, but that they have every intention of signing the deal. As Eddie and Van Loon escort her back to her car, Eddie recognizes Mrs. Atwood's driver as the man in the tan coat who has been stalking him. Later, Eddie is required to participate in a line-up for the murder, while Brandt holds his custom-made jacket. Eddie is not recognized by the witness (thanks to his attorney making sure the other suspects looked similar to Eddie) and is let off as a suspect, but later he discovers that the stash of his NZT in his jacket has gone missing. When news of Atwood's coma becomes public, Eddie realizes that Brandt took his stash of NZT from his coat when he sees him on television as Atwood's attorney.
As Eddie starts withdrawals in his safehouse, Gennady and his henchmen try to break in looking for more NZT. Eddie contemplates jumping to end it all, but remembers he may have one more pill. He finds it just as the Russians break in, causing him to drop the pill into a grate. Gennady demonstrates that he has found a way to take NZT directly by injecting a solution of it into his blood by a syringe. As Gennady is about to kill him, Eddie stabs him with a hidden sharp object. Eddie resorts to drinking Gennady's blood to successfully regain his enhanced faculties. One of the henchman returns to find him and the corpse, but Eddie blinds the Russians' eyes by using a syringe needle as a blowdart. He then tricks the blinded goon into killing his sidekick by impersonating the second henchman (by learning Russian earlier, thanks to the NZT), before eventually killing the blinded Russian. Later, learning that Atwood has died, Eddie convinces the man in the tan coat of Brandt's deception, and the two recover Eddie's stash of NZT from Brandt's residence.
A year later, Eddie has remained wealthy, his book has hit the market, and he is running for the United States Senate. Van Loon visits him, initially as a friend, but soon reveals that he has bought the company that made NZT and closed down the laboratory Eddie had hired to make it, seeking to provide Eddie with an unlimited supply in exchange for political favors later on when he becomes President. Eddie surprises Van Loon by revealing that he has been several steps ahead; not only had he hired multiple laboratories to work on NZT, but he has been able to wean himself off the drug while retaining his acute mental abilities, so he has made the effects permanent. Then he recognizes that Van Loon has a terminal heart condition and will die soon, and he escorts him back in his car. Later on, Eddie meets with Lindy in a Chinese restaurant.
Lincoln (2012)
Color
How Lincoln helped to abolish slavery during the Civil War
Lincoln
"In January 1865, President Abraham Lincoln expects the Civil War to end within a month. However, he is concerned that his 1863 Emancipation Proclamation may be discarded by the courts once the war has concluded and that the Thirteenth Amendment be defeated by the returning slave states. Lincoln feels it is imperative to pass the amendment by the end of the month, thus removing any possibility that slaves who have already been freed may be re-enslaved. The Radical Republicans fear the amendment will merely be defeated by some who wish to delay its passage; the support of the amendment by Republicans in the border states is not yet assured either, since they prioritize the issue of ending the war. Even if all of them are ultimately brought on board, the amendment will still require the support of several Democratic congressmen if it is to pass. With dozens of Democrats having just become lame ducks after losing their re-election campaigns in the fall of 1864, some of Lincoln's advisors believe that he should wait until the new Republican-heavy Congress is seated, presumably giving the amendment an easier road to passage. Lincoln, however, remains adamant about having the amendment in place and the issue of slavery settled before the war is concluded and the southern states readmitted into the Union.
Lincoln's hopes for passage of the amendment rely upon the support of the Republican Party founder Francis Preston Blair, the only one whose influence can ensure that all members of the western and border state conservative Republican faction will back the amendment. With Union victory in the Civil War seeming highly likely and greatly anticipated, but not yet a fully accomplished fact, Blair is keen to end the hostilities as soon as possible. Therefore, in return for his support, Blair insists that Lincoln allow him to immediately engage the Confederate government in peace negotiations. This is a complication to Lincoln's amendment efforts since he knows that a significant portion of the support he has garnered for the amendment is from the Radical Republican faction for whom a negotiated peace that leaves slavery intact is morally unacceptable. If there seems to be a realistic possibility of ending the war even without guaranteeing the end of slavery, the needed support for the amendment from the more conservative wing (which does not favor abolition) will certainly fall away. Unable to proceed without Blair's support, however, Lincoln reluctantly authorizes Blair's mission.
In the meantime, Lincoln and Secretary of State William Seward work on the issue of securing the necessary Democratic votes for the amendment. Lincoln suggests that they concentrate on the lame duck Democrats, as they have already lost re-election and thus will feel free to vote as they please, rather than having to worry about how their vote will affect a future re-election campaign. Since those members also will soon be in need of employment and Lincoln will have many federal jobs to fill as he begins his second term, he sees this as a tool he can use to his advantage. Though Lincoln and Seward are unwilling to offer direct monetary bribes to the Democrats, they authorize agents to quietly go about contacting Democratic congressmen with offers of federal jobs in exchange for their voting in favor of the amendment.
With Confederate envoys ready to meet with Lincoln, he instructs them to be kept out of Washington, as the amendment approaches a vote on the House floor. At the moment of truth, Thaddeus Stevens decides to moderate his statements about racial equality to help the amendment's chances of passage. A rumor circulates that there are Confederate representatives in Washington ready to discuss peace, prompting both Democrats and conservative Republicans to advocate postponing the vote on the amendment. Lincoln explicitly denies that such envoys are in or will be in the city -- technically a truthful statement, since he had ordered them to be kept away -- and the vote proceeds, narrowly passing by a margin of two votes.
When Lincoln subsequently meets with the Confederates, he tells them that slavery cannot be restored as the North is united for ratification of the amendment, and that several of the southern states' reconstructed legislatures would also vote to ratify. On April 3, Lincoln visits the battlefield at Petersburg, Virginia, where he exchanges a few words with General Grant. Six days later, Grant receives General Lee's surrender at Appomattox Courthouse.
On April 14, Lincoln is in a meeting with members of his cabinet, discussing possible future measures to enfranchise blacks when he is reminded that the First Lady is waiting to take them to their evening at Ford's Theatre. That night, while Tad Lincoln is viewing Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp at Grover's Theater, the manager suddenly stops the play and announces that the President has been shot. The next morning at the Petersen House, his physician pronounces him dead. The film concludes in flashback to Lincoln delivering his second inaugural address.
Lion (2016)
Color
Lost at 5, and brought up by an Australian family, Saroo seeks to find his Indian parents
Lion
"In 1986, Saroo, a five-year-old boy lives with his elder brother Guddu, his mother and his younger sister in Khandwa, India. Guddu and Saroo steal coal from freight trains to trade for milk and food. One day, Saroo follows his brother to a job and they arrive at a nearby train station, where Saroo decides to stay back and take a nap. Guddu tries to wake him up, but Saroo is too tired. When Guddu does not return, Saroo searches for him and boards a train presuming Guddu is aboard. He falls asleep again in one of the compartments, and wakes up to find the train in motion. After several days, it arrives in faraway Calcutta, where he does not understand the local Bengali language. He stands at a ticket counter and tries to obtain a ticket home, but the attendant does not recognise the name of his village, which Saroo says is "Ganestalay".[4] He spends the night in the station with some streetchildren, but is then woken up and forced to run when a group of men tries to kidnap them.
Saroo continues to wander around the city before coming across Noor, a seemingly friendly woman who brings him back to her apartment. She tells Saroo that a man, Rama, will help him find his way home. Saroo runs away, sensing that Noor and Rama may have sinister intentions, and escapes Noor when she chases after him. After two months of living near the Howrah Bridge, Saroo is taken to the police by a young man. Unable to trace his family, they put him in an orphanage. Three months later, Saroo is introduced to Mrs. Sood, who tells him she has placed an advertisement about him in several local newspapers, but no one has responded. She then tells him that an Australian couple is interested in adopting him. She begins to teach Saroo English and he moves to Hobart, Tasmania in 1987, under the care of Sue and John Brierley, where he slowly starts to settle in. A year later, they adopt another boy, Mantosh, who has trouble adjusting to his new home and suffers from rage and self-harm.
Twenty years later, Saroo, now a young man, moves to Melbourne to study hotel management. He starts a relationship with Lucy, an American student. During a meal with some Indian friends at their home, he comes across jalebi, a delicacy he remembers from his childhood. He confides that he is adopted, and his friends suggest he use Google Earth to search for his hometown in India. Saroo begins his search, but over time disconnects from Lucy, overwhelmed by the thought of emotions his family must have gone through when he was missing.
Saroo visits Sue, whose health is deteriorating, and learns that she is not infertile, but had chosen to help others in need through adoption, believing that there were already too many people on Earth. Saroo spends a long time searching fruitlessly for his hometown. One evening, while scanning Google Earth, he notices the rock formations where his mother worked, and then finds the area where he lived: the Ganesh Talai neighborhood of the Khandwa district. He finally tells his adoptive mother about his search, and she fully supports his efforts.
Saroo returns to his hometown, where he has an emotional reunion with his biological mother and sister, but learns that Guddu is dead. Guddu was killed by a train the same night that they went to the station as children. Saroo's mother never gave up hope and believed that one day her missing son would return, and never moved away from the village. The film ends with captions about the real Saroo's return to India in February 2012. Photos of the real Australian family are shown, as well as a video of Saroo and Sue meeting his biological mother in India, who deeply appreciates Sue's care for her son. Saroo later learned that he had been mispronouncing his own name, which was actually Sheru, a diminutive for sher, the Hindi word for "lion".
Little (2019)
Color
Woman jumps at chance to relive youth
Little
"As a child, Jordan Sanders was bullied. Now an adult, she has become the bully as she runs her own tech company and treats her employees poorly. After a rude encounter with Jordan, a practicing magician child named Stevie wishes for Jordan to be a kid again to take her down a peg. The wish comes true the next morning, when Jordan becomes 13 again (Marsai Martin). She asks her assistant April Williams for help with the company while Jordan is forced to go back to the same school that she was previously bullied at (This is due to her neighbor calling protective services.) Due to the fact that Jordan is a “minor,” April is forced to pose as her aunt and If Jordan doesn't go to school then April will go to jail.
At school, Jordan is introduced to her teacher, Mr. Marshall, who she developes a crush on. While in class and lunch, she is bullied again, with the kids putting straws in her hair. Regardless of everyone teasing her, she befriends three other outcasts - Isaac, Raina, and Devon. Meanwhile, April has a hard time keeping everyone's attention at work without Jordan's authority.
At a restaurant, Jordan and April have dinner, starting to bond over their personal lives. Jordan starts to sing Mary J Blige's "I'm Goin Down" song, to which April finds embarrassing in front of everyone in the restaurant with them thinking Jordan is being a bad child. Even though embarrassed by this, April starts to sing along with Jordan, ending with Jordan accidentally pulling off a guy's hair.
Meanwhile, the company's biggest client, Connor, threatens to move to a different firm if he is not pitched a great idea for an app. Due to April being unable to reach Jordan before the pitch, April informs Conner of her idea 'Discover Eyes'. Jordan, now enraged at April for pitching her idea, leads to a fight, resulting in April quitting.
After Jordan realizes how terrible she has been, she (while still a child) helps the kids perform at a pep rally, earning them the respect of the other students. April finds Stevie and asks that she turn her back to normal. Stevie tries but fails. Jordan, now having changed inside, vows to be a better friend to April. Jordan wakes up the next morning as her adult self and returns to work with a respective and positive attitude towards her employees. After several rejections, April's pitch scores a huge client. Jordan throws the company a celebration party outside, to celebrate the company success with April's pitch, and April's transition from Jordan's assistant to Creative Executive as she wanted earlier.
Little Caesar (1931)
Black & White
'Little Caesar' stages coup to become mob boss
Little Caesar
"Small-time criminals Caesar Enrico "Rico" Bandello (Edward G. Robinson) and his friend Joe Massara (Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.) move to Chicago to seek their fortunes. Rico joins the gang of Sam Vettori (Stanley Fields), while Joe wants to be a dancer. Olga (Glenda Farrell) becomes his dance partner and girlfriend.
Joe tries to drift away from the gang and its activities, but Rico makes him participate in the robbery of the nightclub where he works. Despite orders from underworld overlord "Big Boy" (Sidney Blackmer) to all his men to avoid bloodshed, Rico guns down crusading crime commissioner Alvin McClure during the robbery, with Joe as an aghast witness.
Rico accuses Sam of becoming soft and seizes control of his organization. Rival boss "Little Arnie" Lorch (Maurice Black) tries to have Rico killed, but Rico is only grazed. He and his gunmen pay Little Arnie a visit, after which Arnie hastily departs for Detroit. The Big Boy eventually gives Rico control of all of Chicago's Northside.
Rico becomes concerned that Joe knows too much about him. He warns Joe that he must forget about Olga and join him in a life of crime. Rico threatens to kill both Joe and Olga unless he accedes, but Joe refuses to give in. Olga calls Police Sergeant Flaherty and tells him Joe is ready to talk, just before Rico and his henchman Otero (George E. Stone) come calling. Rico finds, to his surprise, that he is unable to take his friend's life. When Otero tries to do the job himself, Rico wrestles the gun away from him, though not before Joe is wounded. Hearing the shot, Flaherty and another cop give chase and kill Otero. With information provided by Olga, Flaherty proceeds to crush Rico's organization.
Desperate and alone, Rico "retreats to the gutter from which he sprang." While hiding in a flophouse, he becomes enraged when he learns that Flaherty has called him a coward in the newspaper. He foolishly telephones the cop to announce he is coming for him. The call is traced, and he is gunned down by Flaherty behind a billboard - an advertisement featuring dancers Joe and Olga - and, dying, utters his final words, "Mother of mercy, is this the end of Rico?"
Little Miss Sunshine (2006)
Color
Parents embark on a journey to enter their daughter in a beauty pageant
Little Miss Sunshine
"Sheryl Hoover is an overworked mother of two living in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Her gay brother, Frank, an unemployed scholar of Proust, is temporarily living with the family after having attempted suicide. Sheryl's husband Richard is a Type A personality striving to build a career as a motivational speaker and life coach. Dwayne, Sheryl's son from a previous marriage, is a Nietzsche-reading teenager who has taken a vow of silence until he can accomplish his dream of becoming a fighter pilot. Richard's foul-mouthed father, Edwin, recently evicted from a retirement home for snorting heroin, lives with the family. Olive, the daughter of Richard and Sheryl and the youngest of the Hoover family, is an aspiring beauty queen who is coached by Edwin.
Olive learns she has qualified for the "Little Miss Sunshine" beauty pageant, being held in Redondo Beach, California in two days. Richard, Sheryl, and Edwin want to support her, and Frank and Dwayne cannot be left alone, so the whole family goes. Because they have little money, they go on an 800-mile road trip in their yellow Volkswagen van.
Family tensions play out along the way, amidst the aging van's mechanical problems. When the van breaks down early on, the family learns that they must push the van until it is moving at about 20 mph before it is put into gear, at which point they have to run up to the side door and jump in. Later on, the van's horn starts honking unceasingly by itself, which leads to the family being pulled over by a state trooper.
Throughout the road trip, the family suffers numerous personal setbacks and discover their need for each other's support. Richard loses an important contract that would have jump-started his motivational business. Frank encounters the ex-boyfriend who, in leaving him for an academic rival, had prompted his suicide attempt. Edwin dies from a heroin overdose, resulting in the family smuggling the body out of a hospital and nearly having it discovered by the police. During the final leg of the trip, Dwayne discovers that he is color blind, which means he cannot become a pilot, prompting him to finally break his silence and shout his anger and disdain for his family. Olive calms him with a hug, and he immediately apologizes.
After a frantic race against the clock, the family arrives at the pageant hotel, and are curtly told by a pageant organizer that they are a few minutes past the deadline. A sympathetic hired hand named Kirby instead offers to register Olive on his own time. As Olive prepares for the pageant, the family sees Olive's competition: slim, sexualized pre-teen girls with teased hair and capped teeth, performing highly elaborate dance numbers with great panache. It becomes apparent that Olive is an amateur by comparison.
As Olive's turn to perform in the talent portion draws near, Richard and Dwayne recognize that Olive is certain to be humiliated and, wanting to spare her feelings, run to the dressing room to talk her out of performing. Sheryl, however, insists that they "let Olive be Olive", and Olive goes on stage. Olive's hitherto-unrevealed dance that Edwin had taught her is revealed to be a striptease performed to a Rocasound revamp of Rick James' "Super Freak". Despite the other girls being over-sexualized, Olive's burlesque performance scandalizes and horrifies most of the audience and the organizers, who demand Olive be removed from the stage. Instead of removing her, one by one, the members of the Hoover family join Olive, dancing alongside her to show their support. The family completes the dance to a shocked and silent audience, save for a biker dad, Kirby and Ms. California, who cheer enthusiastically.
The family is released from the hotel's security office on the condition that Olive never enters a beauty pageant in California ever again. Piling into the van with the horn still honking, they happily smash through the barrier of the hotel's toll booth and begin their trip home to Albuquerque.
Living Death (2006)
Color
Sadistic playboy gets drugged and mistaken for dead
Living Death
"The masochist Elizabeth lives a marriage of convenience with the cynical, sadistic and reckless playboy Victor, who is the heir of a huge inheritance including the mansion where they live. She is the lover of Victor's lawyer and best friend Roman, but she can not divorce Victor since she signed a prenuptial contract that would leave her with only $10,000. Roman plots with Elizabeth to poison Victor with an experimental drug, but it fails and Victor is completely paralyzed without dying. During his autopsy with three medical students, Victor awakes from his comatose status, and totally deranged, he seeks revenge using his torture chamber. Written by Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Victor Harris is a spoiled playboy who can only feel when he's brutalizing others. Victor's wife, Elizabeth, thinks he's a monster, but can't divorce him. Roman, Victor's lawyer, plots the perfect solution - poison Victor and blame his death on drugs. Unfortunately, the poison fails and and only places Victor in a death-like coma. He can see , hear and feel everything but can't move - even during his autopsy. It's enough to drive him insane and out of his coma. When Victor escapes his grave he traps Elizabeth and Roman in his mansion's secret chamber so he can exact his tortuous revenge.
Logan's Run (1976)
Color
A world where no one lives beyond 30
Logan's Run
"In the year 2274, the remnants of human civilization live in a sealed domed city, a utopia run by a computer that takes care of all aspects of their life, including reproduction. The citizens live a mostly hedonistic lifestyle but have been told that in order to maintain the city, every resident must undergo the ritual of "Carrousel" [sic] at the age of 30, where they are vaporized with the chance of being "Renewed." To track this, the humans are implanted at birth with a Lifeclock crystal in the palm of their hand that changes colors as they approach their "Last Day."
Most residents accept this loose promise of rebirth, but some sense that it is simply execution for the sake of population control, and go into hiding to avoid Carrousel. These fugitives are known as Runners, and the city's computer assigns Sandmen (officially known as DS agents, de facto executioners), who pursue and terminate them.
Logan 5 (Michael York) is a Sandman, along with his friend Francis 7 (Richard Jordan). After chasing and killing one Runner, Logan finds an ankh among his possessions. Later, he meets Jessica 6 (Jenny Agutter), a citizen who also wears an ankh pendant. Logan takes the Runner's possessions to the computer, where he is told the ankh is a symbol of a group of people helping the Runners to find "Sanctuary". The computer instructs Logan to find Sanctuary and destroy it, and accelerates the color change of his Lifeclock to flash red four years before it is due to do so. In order to escape Carrousel himself, Logan is now forced to become a Runner.
Logan regroups with Jessica and explains his situation. Together, they meet with the underground group that leads them to the periphery of the city. Logan finds the ankh symbol is able to open a door, allowing them to leave the city into a frozen cave, but the pair are tailed closely by Francis. In the cave, they meet Box (Roscoe Lee Browne), a robot designed to capture food for the city from the outside. However, Box has also captured Runners that have made it this far and keeps them frozen. Before he can freeze them too, Logan and Jessica escape the robot, causing the cave to collapse and destroy Box.
Once outside, Logan and Jessica notice that their Lifeclocks are now clear and no longer operational. Venturing further, they discover that vegetation has overrun much of the remains of human civilization, and explore the nearby area, once the National Mall in Washington D.C. Within the ruins of the United States Senate chamber, they discover an elderly man (Peter Ustinov), a surprise to them both, neither having ever seen a person this old before. The old man explains what he knows has happened to humanity outside of the city; Logan and Jessica realize Sanctuary is a myth. However, Francis has followed them from the City and he and Logan fight. Logan gains the upper hand, and fatally wounds Francis. As Francis dies, he observes that Logan's Lifeclock is now clear, and believes Logan has Renewed.
Logan and Jessica convince the old man to return to the domed city with them. Leaving the man outside, the two enter and try to convince the residents Carrousel is a lie and no longer necessary. The two are captured by other Sandmen and taken to the computer. The computer interrogates Logan and asks if he completed his mission, but Logan insists "there is no Sanctuary." This answer is not accepted by the computer, even after scanning Logan's mind. It eventually sends the computer into overload, causing many of the city's systems to fail and releasing the seals to the outside. Logan and Jessica regroup with the old man as the citizens flee the ruined city, curious as to both the new surroundings and the old man.
Lonely Hearts (2006)
Color
Two detectives are assigned to pursue two lovers dubbed the 'Lonely Hearts Killers'
Lonely Hearts
Based on the true story, two homicide detectives track Martha Beck and Raymond Martinez Fernandez, a murderous pair known as the "Lonely Hearts Killers" who lured their victims through the personals.
Looking for Mr. Goodbar (1977)
Color
Theresa teaches deaf children by day and cruises singles bars and discos by night
Looking for Mr. Goodbar
"In the mid-1970s, Theresa Dunn (Diane Keaton), a young Irish-American school teacher in Chicago, experiences her sexual awakening, while searching for excitement outside her ordered life. While in college, Theresa lives with her repressive Polish-Irish Catholic parents (Richard Kiley and Priscilla Pointer), and suffers from severe body image issues following a childhood surgery for scoliosis that left a large scar on her back. Theresa later finds out that her scoliosis is congenital, and that her aunt had the same condition and committed suicide. As a result, Theresa is reluctant to have children of her own.
Meanwhile, her beautiful "perfect" older sister, Katherine (Tuesday Weld), has left her husband and embarked on a wild lifestyle involving multiple affairs, a secret abortion, recreational drug use, and a short-lived marriage to a Jewish man. Theresa finds first love, and loses her virginity, to her much older, married college professor Martin (Alan Feinstein). He ends their affair just before her graduation, leaving Theresa feeling used and lonely.
Theresa takes a job teaching deaf children, and proves to be a gifted and caring teacher. With Katherine's encouragement, she moves out of her parents' home and into an apartment in Katherine's building. She frequents a bar at night, where she meets Tony (Richard Gere), a charming but vain Italian-American. She ends up taking Tony to her apartment, taking cocaine with him and sleeping with him. Tony leaves in a hurry, and gives her a Quaalude pill to counteract the cocaine. This causes her to oversleep, and she arrives very late for work the next day, angering her employer and students. Tony then disappears for a long while, and Theresa initially misses him.
Through her job, Theresa also meets and dates an Irish-American welfare caseworker, James (William Atherton). Her parents approve of the responsible James, seeing him as a potential husband for Theresa. However, the couple do not have sex, because James wants a traditional courtship, and a monogamous relationship. Theresa sees that as stifling her freedom. Although James initially seems nice, over time he appears to become controlling, and also disrespectful of Theresa. Moreover, he shows signs of being just as perverted and selfish as Tony.
Meanwhile, Theresa begins to go out to more marginal places, and has sex with complete strangers, often older men. Tony eventually returns and acts as if nothing had happened. He barges in on Theresa while she is with another man, and chases the man away. Tony becomes controlling and abusive, and Theresa also discovers that he is a street hustler. She breaks up with Tony, but he stalks and harasses her, both at home and at her workplace. After imagining what could happen if Tony were to turn her in to the police as revenge, Theresa gathers up all of the drugs in her apartment and flushes them down the toilet.
With the New Year approaching, Theresa resolves to turn over a new leaf and take control of her life. On New Year's Eve, Theresa meets Gary (Tom Berenger) in a bar, and cajoles him into helping her avoid James. Gary has been living with his gay lover, but lies to Theresa, telling her that he has a pregnant wife in Florida. When they are in bed together at her apartment, Gary finds himself unable to achieve an erection. He then sniffs a "popper". Theresa tells him that it is OK if they do not have sex, but Gary misinterprets this as questioning his sexuality. In a rage, Gary attacks her, rapes her, and then stabs her repeatedly, killing her.
Lord of the Flies (1963)
Black & White
Schoolboys marooned on an island become savages
Lord of the Flies
"A group of British schoolboys, living in the midst of a war, are evacuated from England. Their airliner is shot down by briefly-glimpsed fighter planes and ditches near a remote island.
The main character, Ralph, is seen walking through a tropical forest. He meets an intelligent and chubby boy, who reveals his school nickname was Piggy, but asks that Ralph not repeat that. The two go to the beach where they find a conch shell, which Ralph blows to rally the other survivors. As they emerge from the jungle, it becomes clear that no adults have escaped the crash. Singing is then heard and a small column of school choir boys, wearing dark cloaks and hats and led by a boy named Jack Merridew, walk toward their direction.
The boys decide to appoint a chief. The vote goes to Ralph, not Jack. Initially, Ralph is able to steer the children (all of whom are aged between about six and fourteen) towards a reasonably civilized and co-operative society. Only the boy holding the conch is allowed to speak in turns during meetings or "assemblies". The choir boys make wooden spears, creating the appearance that they warriors within the group. Crucially, Jack has a knife, capable of killing an animal.
The boys build shelters and start a signal fire using Piggy's glasses. With no rescue in sight, the increasingly authoritarian and violence-prone Jack starts hunting and eventually finds a pig. Meanwhile, the fire, for which he and his "hunters" are responsible, goes out, keeping them hidden from a passing airplane. Piggy chastises Jack, and Jack strikes him in retaliation, knocking his glasses off, and breaking one lens. Ralph is furious with Jack. Soon some of the children begin to talk of a beast that comes from the water. Jack, obsessed with this imagined threat, leaves the group to start a new tribe, one without rules, where the boys play and hunt all day. Soon, more follow until only a few, including Piggy, are left with Ralph.
Events reach a crisis when a boy named Simon finds a sow's head impaled on a stick, left by Jack as an offering to the Beast. He becomes hypnotized by the head, which has flies swarming all around it. Simon goes to what he believes to be the nest of the Beast and finds a dead pilot under a hanging parachute. Simon runs to Jack's camp to tell them the truth, only to be killed in the darkness by the frenzied children who mistake him for the Beast. Piggy defends the group's actions with a series of rationalizations and denials. The hunters raid the old group's camp and steal Piggy's glasses. Ralph goes to talk to the new group using the still-present power of the conch to get their attention. However when Piggy takes the conch, they are not silent (as their rules require) but instead jeer. Roger, the cruel torturer and executioner of the tribe, pushes a boulder off a cliff and kills Piggy.
Ralph hides in the jungle. Jack and his hunters set fires to smoke him out, and Ralph staggers across the smoke-covered island. Stumbling onto the beach, Ralph falls at the feet of a naval officer who stares in shock at the painted and spear-carrying savages that the children have become, before turning to his accompanying landing party. A small boy tries to tell the officer his name but cannot remember it. The last scene shows Ralph sobbing as flames spread across the island.
Lost Voyage (2001)
Color
Ship comes back empty after three decades from the Bermuda Triangle
Lost Voyage
"The movie opens introducing Aaron Roberts (8 years old) along with his Father, stepmother and Grandmother. Before his Father and Stepmother depart from Jersey, they offer Aaron a special pocket knife as a gift, which he swiftly rejects and criticises his new Stepmother, stating that “She's not my Mother! Having parted from Aaron, his Father and Stepmother discuss Aaron's behaviour and conclude to “Give him time” Then, upon the bridge of the Corona Queen, the Captain and crew discover a mysterious signal fast approaching. Moments later, homicidal spirits enter the ship, wounding the Captain and enter the quarters of Aaron's Father and Stepmother. The entire crew are killed off screen and the Corona enters the mysterious dimension of the Bermuda Triangle. We are later told that most of the crew and passengers are slaughtered and the rest have simply vanished. The children were the last to disappear.
Shifting to the present day (25 years later) the grown Aaron Roberts is depicted recording the story of the Mary Celeste. Then a mysterious, black figure is seen outside his office. He tells Aaron that the similarities between the 2 cases (Mary Celeste and Corona Queen) are remarkable. Aaron contradicts him by telling him that the Corona Queen has never been found. Then, the figure moves away and vanishes off screen. Aaron quickly encounters his colleague Mary who tells him that the Corona Queen has been found adrift off the Bermuda islands. We are then introduced to Dana Elway and Julie Largow, who discover the story of the Corona Queen and conclude to fly out to the ship to capture a memorable story. As TV rivals, Dana is unhappy to hear that Julie is taking over for Dana whilst on vacation. Dana decides to visit Aaron's apartment and attempt to convince him to accompany her team to the Corona. At first, Aaron refuses but after a dream taking him back to the tragic events on the Corona, he accepts. On the way in a storm across the sea in a helicopter, they discuss the Bermuda Triangle and wonder where the Corona Queen has been for so long. Aaron presents the idea that the Triangle is somehow a gateway to a place unknown, perhaps even hell itself. After an encounter of turbulence, Salvage Leader David Shaw and his 2 best salvage operators along with the pilot of the helicopter Pilot find the Corona Queen. The salvage gear is dropped from the helicopter to the ship deck and the crew make their way through to the interior. Firstly they find that the windows of the deck have been smashed to pieces and decide that it may have been the work of terrorists or Pirates. However wonder where the bodies of everyone are as the ship appears completely deserted.
The Corona Queen looks new, but no signs of life. The team sets to work in the crews mess down below in the ship. Aaron accompanies Shaws salvage operators Dazz and Fields to get some atmospheric variance readings where they begin to reassemble the connections in the power/electrical room. Aaron begins to sense a presence in the room as he wanders off by himself deeper into the interior of the Corona Queen. Meanwhile Dana, and Julie as the field correspondent, interview Shaw and we are given some historical information about the background of the ship. After the producer of a tabloid television series (Janet Gunn) sends in a paranormal researcher (Judd Nelson) whose father and stepmother were aboard the ship, homicidal spirits attack the TV crew, including the cameraman (Richard Gunn); a cruise-line representative (Lance Henriksen); and two salvagers (Jeff Kober, Mark Sheppard).
Dana and Aaron barely manage to get away as the ship is once again swallowed and sent back to where it had been for three decades. After the event, Dana is promoted to producer of her show, but finds it bittersweet, as she feels it wasn't worth the death of five people. Aaron finds himself in his office listening to his latest dictation, taken the day he was interrupted by the man in the doorway. As he listens he realizes thet the man said "we should all get on with our lives. Good-bye, son. Rewinding the tape several times, hearing the word, son, makes him realize it was his father telling him good-bye.
Dana arrives at his door, taking him out to dinner. As they leave, the phone rings, but Aaron decides to let it go to the answering-machine. As the recording begins, we hear static and we travel with the static, along the wires, and end up at the Corona Queen
Love & Basketball (2000)
Color
Couple who both play basketball encounter problems when they reach the big leagues
Love & Basketball
"Since childhood, teenagers Monica Wright and Quincy McCall have wanted to be professional basketball stars. However, Monica has to work hard to establish herself, while Quincy is born with natural star potential. As the two struggle to reach their goals of playing professionally, they must also deal with their emotions for each other.
The two became childhood sweethearts in 1981, when Monica's family moved to Los Angeles from Atlanta, moving into the house next door to Quincy's. Quincy's father, Zeke, is the star shooting guard for the Los Angeles Clippers. Quincy and Monica are drawn to each other instantly, sharing a love of the game basketball. Quincy is shocked that a girl could ever love basketball as much as he did, and he is even more shocked when Monica beats him during their first ever game of one on one. He angrily knocks her down during game point, and accidentally cuts her face. Their mothers intervene and soon Quincy and Monica have made up. Monica proves tougher than Quincy ever could've imagined in another person, and draws closer to her, asking her to be his girlfriend. Monica accepts and they share their first kiss, but it isn't long before they insult each other and are rolling around on the grass fighting, with Monica clearly winning.
The second quarter of the story begins in 1988, when both Monica and Quincy are the respective leaders of their high school teams. Scouts have taken clear notice of Quincy, who many see as one of the top prospects in the country. He is extremely popular with the other students, could have any girl in school that he wanted to, and dates one of the prettiest girls in school, but is still good friends and neighbors with Monica. Monica, on the other hand, struggles with her fiery emotions on the court, often resulting in technical fouls at critical moments of games, damaging potential scouting opportunities. She also secretly still harbors feelings for Quincy, but struggles to express them as he is always surrounded by other girls. Monica also struggles with her mother, Camille, pressuring her to give up basketball and "act like a lady." Through soul searching, Monica learns to control her emotions and leads her team to the state championship game. When she and her team come up short, Monica is devastated.
Monica begins to recover from the championship loss with the help of her older sister, Lena, who gives her a makeover. Lena even finds Monica a college friend to take her to her spring dance. Despite having a date of his own, Quincy notices Monica and compliments her new appearance. Later that night, they both speak outside her window and reveal to each other how their dates didn't meet their needs. Monica asks Quincy to open her letter from USC -- which reveals she has been accepted. Quincy has accepted an offer from USC as well, and they celebrate with a kiss. This leads to them finally acting on their feelings, making love that night.
During their freshman year at USC, Monica and Quincy are managing themselves as athletes, students, and a couple. While Quincy finds instant success on the court, Monica struggles for playing time, behind senior guard Sidra O'Neal. Monica frequently has run-ins with the head coach Ellie Davis when her relationship in Quincy becomes more and more strained. Quincy struggles to deal with the media attention, while clashing against his father's efforts to convince Quincy to finish college before going pro. While Monica earns the starting point guard spot at the end of the season, Quincy feels she was not there for him when he was having problems with his father, and the couple splits up.
The fourth quarter follows the plot to 1993, a few years before the establishment of the WNBA. Monica is playing professional basketball with an International Women's Basketball Association (IBWA) team in Barcelona. Monica misses home, but can't imagine a life that doesn't include basketball. While Monica leads her team to a dominant victory in the championship game, she starts to realize that her love for basketball isn't the same as it was before.
Having left USC after his freshman season, Quincy is now engaged, and in his fifth year in the pros, trying to find a role with his new team, the Los Angeles Lakers. He's had a difficult season, but finally finds some playing time when his coach subs him to replace Nick Van Exel. Immediately, Quincy bricks a three point shot, but makes up for it on the very next play with a showtime steal-dunk. But just as quickly as it seems he has turned his bad streak around, he suffers a devastating knee injury when he lands awkwardly after the play, tearing his ACL. His family rushes to the hospital to be with him, but his now divorced parents become embroiled in an argument when they see each other. Monica hears about Quincy's injury, and flies home to see him.
Monica also falls into the usual squabbles with her mother Camille over old resentments, causing Camille to remark that she had to give up her own dreams after having children and resenting Monica for not appreciating the sacrifices she made for her family, with Monica counter-arguing that Camille never made her feel loved and accepted, because she kept trying to force her to give up her goals for a stereotypical "woman's role" in life that she didn't want.
Quincy completes physical therapy, while his wedding draws closer. Monica has quit basketball to work at a bank. Seeing how unhappy Monica is, Camille encourages her to fight for her career and the man she loves. Quincy and Monica meet and reminisce before Monica challenges him to a game of one-on-one, with high stakes; if he loses, he calls off the wedding and chooses Monica. Quincy agrees and wins, but can no longer be apart from Monica and chooses her instead. By 1998, Monica is playing in the new WNBA with her husband Quincy and their toddler daughter cheering.
In a post-credits scene, Quincy and Monica's daughter is shown playing basketball at a playground.
Love Actually (2003)
Color
10 intertwining love stories come to a climax on Christmas Eve
Love Actually
"The film begins with a voiceover from David (Hugh Grant) commenting that whenever he gets gloomy about the state of the world he thinks about the arrivals terminal at Heathrow Airport, and the pure uncomplicated love felt as friends and families welcome their arriving loved ones. David's voiceover also relates that all the messages left by the people who died on the 9/11 planes were messages of love and not hate. The film then tells the 'love stories' of many people:
Billy Mack and Joe
With the help of his longtime manager Joe (Gregor Fisher), rock and roll legend Billy Mack (Bill Nighy) records a Christmas variation of The Troggs' "Love Is All Around". Although he thinks the record is terrible, Mack promotes the release in the hope it will become the Christmas number one single, which it does. After briefly celebrating his victory at a party hosted by Sir Elton John, Billy discerns that Joe is in need of affection and suggests that he and Joe celebrate Christmas by getting drunk and watching porn.
Juliet, Peter, and Mark
Juliet (Keira Knightley) and Peter's (Chiwetel Ejiofor) marriage ceremony is videotaped by the best man, Mark (Andrew Lincoln). Although both Juliet and Peter believe that Mark dislikes Juliet, he is actually in love with her. When Mark evades Juliet's requests to see the video he made at the wedding, she visits him. She says she wants them to be friends and, when she finds and views the wedding video, it turns out to be just adoring close-ups of her. After an uncomfortable silence, Mark blurts out that he snubs her out of "self-preservation." On Christmas Eve, Juliet answers the doorbell to find Mark carrying a boombox playing Christmas songs and large cue cards, on which he has written, without expectation of reciprocation, that he loves her. As he walks away, Juliet runs after him to give him a quick kiss before she returns inside.
Jamie and Aurelia
Writer Jamie (Colin Firth) is pushed by his girlfriend (Sienna Guillory) to attend Juliet and Peter's wedding alone, as she feigns illness. He returns between the ceremony and the reception to check on her, and discovers that she is having an affair with his brother. Crushed, Jamie withdraws to his French cottage, where he meets Portuguese housekeeper Aurelia (Lucia Moniz), who does not speak English. Despite their inability to communicate, they become attracted to each other. When Jamie returns to England, he realises he is in love with Aurelia and begins learning Portuguese. He returns to France to find her and ends up walking through town with her father and sister, gathering additional people as they walk to her job at a restaurant. In broken Portuguese he declares his love for her and proposes. She says yes, in broken English, as the crowd erupts in applause.
Harry, Karen, and Mia
Harry (Alan Rickman) is the managing director of a design agency; Mia (Heike Makatsch) is his new secretary. Harry is happily married to Karen (Emma Thompson), who stays at home bringing up their children. He becomes increasingly aroused by Mia's overtly sexual behaviour at the office and does nothing to dissuade her. At the company Christmas party held at Mark's gallery, Harry not only enquires if Mark is Mia's boyfriend but also dances closely with her. While at the shops, he calls her to find out what she wants for Christmas and ends up almost caught by his wife purchasing an expensive necklace from the jewellery department thanks to the salesman Rufus (Rowan Atkinson). Later on, Karen discovers the necklace in Harry's coat pocket and happily assumes it is a gift for her. When she finds a similarly shaped box under the tree to open on Christmas Eve, she is heartbroken to find it is a Joni Mitchell CD, and realising that the necklace was meant for someone else. She confronts Harry and asks him what he would do if he were her. She says that he has made a mockery of their marriage and of her.
David and Natalie
Karen's brother, David (Hugh Grant), is the recently elected Prime Minister. Natalie (Martine McCutcheon) is a new junior member of the household staff at 10 Downing Street. During a meeting with the U.S. President (Billy Bob Thornton), they run into Natalie and the president makes some inappropriate comments to David about Natalie's body. Later, David walks in on Natalie serving tea and biscuits to the president, and it appears that something untoward is happening. Natalie seems ashamed, but the president has a sly grin on his face. At the following joint press conference, David is uncharacteristically assertive while taking a stand against the president's intimidating policies. Finding that his relationship with Natalie has become strained and a distraction, David has her moved to another job. However, he is spurred to action on Christmas Eve when he finds a Christmas card from Natalie declaring that she is his and no one else's. After a door-to-door search of her street, he comes across Mia, who informs him that Natalie lives next door. The entire family is on their way to a multi-school Christmas play and he offers to drive them so he can talk to her. After Natalie sneaks him in to the school, he runs into his heartbroken sister, who believes he is there for his niece and nephew. As David and Natalie try to keep from being seen and watch the show from backstage, they finally kiss. All their hiding is for nothing, however, as the curtain rises and they are seen kissing by everyone.
Daniel, Sam, Joanna, and Carol
Daniel (Liam Neeson), Karen's close friend, mourns the recent death of his wife, Joanna, as he tries to care for his stepson Sam (Thomas Sangster). Sam has fallen for an American classmate, also named Joanna (Olivia Olson), and, after a discussion with his stepfather, decides to learn playing the drums so that he can accompany her in the big finale for their school's Christmas pageant--the same school that Karen and Harry's children are in. After Sam feels that he missed his chance to make an impression on her, Daniel convinces him that he must try to catch Joanna at the airport, before she returns to the US, and show her how he feels. Sam runs away from the airport security and catches up with Joanna, who acknowledges him by name and kisses him on the cheek, thereby revealing that she does like him. Meanwhile, Daniel meets Carol (Claudia Schiffer), the mother of one of Sam's schoolmates, and they seem attracted to each other.
Sarah, Karl, and Michael
Sarah (Laura Linney) first appears at Juliet and Peter's wedding, sitting next to her friend Jamie. She is an American who works at Harry's graphic design company and has been in love for years with the company's creative director, Karl (Rodrigo Santoro). They finally connect at the firm's Christmas party and he drives her home. As they kiss, Michael, her mentally ill brother, phones from a mental care facility. The evening tryst is aborted. Both are working late on Christmas Eve but Karl just wishes her a Merry Christmas. Sarah calls Michael and goes to see him, sharing her Christmas scarf.
Colin, Tony, and the American girls
After unsuccessfully attempting to woo various English women, including Mia and Nancy (Julia Davis), the caterer at Juliet and Peter's wedding, Colin Frissell (Kris Marshall) informs his friend Tony (Abdul Salis) that he plans to go to America, convinced that his Britishness will be an asset. Landing in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Colin meets Stacey (Ivana Milicevic), Jeannie (January Jones), and Carol-Anne (Elisha Cuthbert), three stunningly attractive women who fall for his Estuary English and invite him to stay at their home, where they are joined by roommate Harriet (Shannon Elizabeth).
John and Judy
John (Martin Freeman) and Judy (Joanna Page) are professional stand-ins for films. They meet for the sex scenes in a film for which Tony is a production assistant. John tells Judy that "It is nice to have someone [he] can just chat to." While the two are perfectly comfortable being naked and simulating sex on-set, they are shy and tentative off-set. Carefully pursuing a relationship, they attend the Christmas pageant (involving David and Natalie, Harry and Karen's children, Daniel and Sam, et al.) at the local school with John's brother.
Rufus
Rufus (Rowan Atkinson) is the jewellery salesman, whose obsessive attention to gift-wrapping nearly results in Harry being caught buying a necklace for Mia by Karen. Also, it is his distraction of staff at the airport which allows Sam to sneak through to see Joanna. In the director and cast commentary, it is revealed that Rufus was originally supposed to be a Christmas angel; however, this was dropped from the final script.
Epilogue
One month later, all of the characters are seen in Heathrow Airport. Billy tells Joe that his Christmas single has spurred a comeback. Juliet, Peter, and Mark meet Jamie and his bride, Aurelia. Karen and the kids greet Harry, but Karen's reaction suggests that they are struggling to move past his indiscretion. Sam greets Joanna, who has returned with her mother from America, and Daniel is joined by his new girlfriend Carol and her son. Newlyweds John and Judy, heading off to their honeymoon, run into Tony, who is awaiting Colin as he returns from America. Colin returns with Harriet and her sister Carla (Denise Richards), who greets Tony with a hug and a kiss. Natalie welcomes David back from his flight in view of the press, indicating that their relationship is now public. These scenes dissolve into footage of actual arrivals at Heathrow, as the screen is divided into an increasing number of smaller segments which form the shape of a heart.
Love Affair (1939)
Black & White
Already engaged fall in love on an ocean liner (Remade in An Affair to Remember)
Love Affair
"French painter Michel Marnet (Charles Boyer) meets American singer Terry McKay (Irene Dunne) aboard a liner crossing the Atlantic Ocean. They are both already engaged, he to heiress Lois Clarke (Astrid Allwyn), she to Kenneth Bradley (Lee Bowman). Nonetheless, they fall in love. At a stop at Madeira, they visit Michel's grandmother Janou (Maria Ouspenskaya), who approves of Terry.
The couple make an appointment to meet six months later on top of the Empire State Building. However, tragedy strikes; Terry is struck by a car on her way to the rendezvous and is told that she may be crippled, though that will not be known for certain for several months. Not wanting to be a burden to Michel, she does not contact him, preferring to let him think the worst.
They meet by accident at the theater, though Terry manages to conceal her condition. Michel then visits her at her apartment and finally learns the truth. He assures her that they will be together no matter what the diagnosis will be.
Love in the Afternoon (1957)
Black & White
Young cellist poses as femme fatale to foil the murder plot against American playboy
Love in the Afternoon
"Young cello student Ariane Chavasse (Audrey Hepburn) eavesdrops on a conversation between her father, Claude Chavasse (Maurice Chevalier), a widowed private detective who specialises in tracking unfaithful husbands and wives, and his client, "Monsieur X" (John McGiver). After Claude gives his client proof of his wife's daily trysts with American business magnate Frank Flannagan (Gary Cooper) in Room 14 at the Paris Ritz, Monsieur X announces he will shoot Flannagan later that evening. Claude is nonchalant, regretting only the business he will lose, since Flannagan is a well-known international playboy with a long history of casual affairs. When Ariane cannot get the Ritz to put her through to Flannagan on the phone, and the police decline to intervene until after a crime has been committed, she decides to warn him herself.
Ariane is in time. When Monsieur X breaks into Flannagan's hotel suite, he finds Flannagan with Ariane, not his wife, who is cautiously making her escape via an outside ledge. Flannagan is intrigued by the mysterious girl, who refuses to give him any information about herself, even her name. He starts guessing her name from the initial "A" on her purse, and when she declines to tell him he resorts to calling her "thin girl". She has no romantic history but pretends to be a femme fatale to interest him, and soon falls in love with the considerably older man. She agrees to meet him the next afternoon, because her orchestral practice is in the evenings (although she does not admit that is the reason). She comes with mixed feelings, but ends up becoming his lover for the evening until his plane leaves (though later Flannagan says he did not make it to first base with her).
Ariane's father, who has tried unsuccessfully to protect her from knowing about the tawdry domestic-surveillance details in his files, notices her change of mood but has no idea that it proceeds from one of his cases.
A year later, Flannagan returns to Paris and the Ritz. Ariane, who has kept track of Flannagan's womanizing exploits through the news media, meets him again when she sees him at an opera while surveying the crowd from a balcony. She puts herself in his path in the lobby, and they start seeing each other again. This time, when he persists in his questioning, she makes up a long list of prior imaginary lovers based on her father's files (Flannagan is number 20 on the list). Flannagan gradually goes from being amused to being tormented by the possible comparisons, but is unsure whether they are real. When he encounters a still-apologetic Monsieur X, the latter recommends Claude to him, and thus Flannagan hires Ariane's own father to investigate.
It does not take Claude long to realize the mystery woman is Ariane. He informs his client that his daughter fabricated her love life. He tells Flannagan that she is a "little fish" that he should throw back, since she is serious and he wants to avoid serious relationships.
When Ariane comes to his hotel suite that afternoon, Flannagan is hurriedly packing to leave Paris, pretending to be on his way to meet former lovers ("two crazy Swedish twins") in Cannes. At the train station, both keep up their act of not caring deeply for each other, although Ariane sheds a few tears that she blames on the soot. As the train departs, and Ariane runs along the platform as Flannagan stands in the door of the coach, her femme-fatale facade cracks as her love shows through. Flannagan changes his mind, sweeps her up in his arms onto the coach, and before kissing her he calls her by her name, Ariane. Then, as voice over, Claude informs us that the couple were married in Cannes and now live together in New York.
Lover Come Back (1961)
Color
Ad exec tricks rival who hates him into romantic liason by posing as a scientist
Lover Come Back
"In a New York advertising agency, Jerry Webster, a Madison Avenue ad executive, has achieved success not through hard work or intelligence but by wining and dining his clients, even setting them up on dates with attractive girls.
Jerry's equal and sworn enemy at a rival agency is Carol Templeton. Although she has never met him, Carol is disgusted by Jerry's unethical tactics and reports him to the Ad Council. Jerry avoids trouble with his usual aplomb, sending a comely chorus girl, Rebel Davis, to seduce the council members.
Jerry then promises Rebel a spot in commercials, so he shoots some featuring her for “VIP”, a nonexistent product. He has no intention that they will be shown, but the perplexed company president, Pete Ramsey, orders them broadcast on TV.
Due to this mistake, Jerry needs to come up with a product quickly. He bribes a chemist, Dr. Linus Tyler, to come up with some sort of product called VIP that could be marketed. When Carol mistakes Jerry for Tyler, the inventor, he pretends to be Tyler, so that in her attempt to steal the account from Jerry, she is actually wining, dining, golfing, and frolicking at the beach with him as Tyler.
Finally Carol learns the truth. Appalled, she once more reports him to the Ad Council, this time for promoting a product that does not exist. Jerry, however, arrives at the hearing with VIP, a mint-flavored candy Dr. Tyler has just created. He provides lots of free samples to everyone there, including Carol.
VIP turns out to be an intoxicating candy, each one having the same effect as a triple martini. Its extreme effects lead to a one-night stand between Carol (who has a low tolerance for alcohol) and her bitter rival, Jerry, complete with a marriage license.
Carol has the marriage annulled, but Jerry convinces the liquor industry to give Carol's firm 25% of its $60 million ($500 million today) annual advertising expenditures in return for pulling VIP off the market and burning the formula. Jerry leaves New York to work in his company's California branch--only to be called back nine months later to remarry Carol in a hospital maternity ward, just before she gives birth to their child.
Lulu on the Bridge (1998)
Color
Moonstone causes man and woman to fall in love
Lulu on the Bridge
"Jazz saxophone player Izzy Maurer (Harvey Keitel) is shot in the chest during a performance at a jazz club by a deranged man. Izzy survives the seven-hour operation, but loses his left lung, ending his music career. A young aspiring actress named Celia Burns (Mira Sorvino) walks into the Chez Pierre restaurant in New York City where she works as a waitress. She and her boss talk about the shooting. Later she purchases Izzy's latest CD.
Following his recovery, Izzy stays to himself and avoids his friends. Gradually he ventures outside and adapts to his new life. His former girlfriend Hannah (Gina Gershon) invites him to a dinner attended by a retired famous actress, Catherine Moore (Vanessa Redgrave), who is now a successful film director, and her film producer friend, Philip Kleinman (Mandy Patinkin). For the first time in a long time he has a good time. Catherine is looking for a young actress to play the part of "Lula" in her upcoming film version of Pandora's Box. Walking home that night Izzy discovers a dead body, finds a bag lying nearby, and rushes home in fear. Later he examines the contents of the bag and finds a small box containing a stone with a red mark. As he examines the stone he hears voices speaking in foreign tongues.
That night, as he lay awake in bed, the stone emits a strange blue light and elevates above the nightstand. The next morning he calls the number written on a napkin he found in the bag and Celia picks up the phone just as she's listening to Izzy's CD. He asks to meet, and she invites him over. When he arrives he demands to know what she knows about the dead man, Stanley Mar (Greg Johnson), and the strange rock. He turns out the lights and shows her the rock's mysterious blue light. Drawn to the rock, Celia touches it and encourages him to touch it too. "It's the best thing, it really is. It's like nothing else," she says. They feel elated by the experience, which makes them feel more connected to everything around them. He tells her, "The way I feel now, I could spend the rest of my life with you." After he leaves, Celia runs after him and invites him back to her apartment where they make love. In the coming days, they fall deeply in love. She gets him a job at her restaurant, but when a customer comes on to her, Izzy causes a scene and they both get fired.
Celia is up for a part in Catherine's film, Pandorah's Box, and with Izzy's help and connections, she gets the part of Lulu. Izzy plans to meet Celia in Dublin, where the film is being shot. Shortly after she leaves, Izzy is attacked by men in his apartment demanding to know why he killed Stanley Mar. He is taken away and held prisoner. He meets a mysterious Dr. Van Horn (Willem Dafoe) who tells Izzy how disappointed he is in him. Izzy has no idea what he's talking about, but Van Horn seems to know details about Izzy's past--his real name, childhood incidents, and catching fireflies with his brother at their summer house on Echo Lake. When Van Horn begins to delve into Izzy's relationships with his father and brother, Izzy responds, "Don't do this to me." When reminded that he refused to play music at his father's funeral, he breaks down in tears. One night, Van Horn storms into Izzy's cell and tell him, "You're not worthy. You've lived a bad dishonest life." Having learned about Celia, Van horn now demands that Izzy reveal her whereabouts. Izzy refuses to acknowledge that he even knows her. As he leaves, Van Horn says, "May God have mercy on your soul."
Meanwhile, Celia is unable to reach Izzy and she suspects that something is very wrong. She fears that Izzy has abandoned her. One night she takes out the rock and the blue light appears, but now it only produces in her an overwhelming sadness. Distressed, Lulu takes the rock and walks to Ha'penny Bridge, where she drops the stone into the dark river below. The following day, Van Horn and his men find Celia in Dublin and attempt to kidnap her. They chase her through the streets to Ha'penny Bridge where she had dropped the stone. As they close in, she jumps into the river.
Back in New York, Izzy finally manages to escape his prison. He learns from the producer of Celia's disappearance and nearly collapses. The producer gives him a videotape of some of Celia's scenes. Later at a jazz club, he asks his friends, "Am I a good person or a bad person?" Back at his apartment he watches the videotape of Celia and weeps.
After being shot at the jazz club by the deranged man, Izzy is taken away in an ambulance. On the way to the hospital, his heart stops and Izzy Maurer dies, just as the ambulance passes a young aspiring actress named Celia Burns. She sees the ambulance pass and makes the sign of the cross.
Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)
Color
Post-apocalypse road warriers duke it out in the desert
Mad Max: Fury Road
"Following a nuclear holocaust, the world has become a desert wasteland and civilization has collapsed. Max Rockatansky, a survivor, is captured by the War Boys, the army of the tyrannical Immortan Joe, and taken to Joe's Citadel. Designated a universal blood donor, Max is imprisoned and used as a "blood bag" for a sick War Boy called Nux. Meanwhile, Imperator Furiosa, one of Joe's lieutenants, is sent in her armoured semi-truck, the "War Rig", to collect gasoline. When she drives off-route, Joe realizes that his five wives--women selected for breeding--are missing. Joe leads his entire army in pursuit of Furiosa, calling on the aid of nearby Gas Town and the Bullet Farm.
Nux joins the pursuit with Max strapped to his car to continue supplying blood. A battle ensues between the War Rig and Joe's forces. Furiosa drives into a sand storm, evading her pursuers, except Nux, who attempts to sacrifice himself to destroy the Rig. Max escapes and restrains Nux, but the car is destroyed. After the storm, Max finds Furiosa repairing the Rig, accompanied by the wives: Capable, Cheedo, Toast, the Dag and the Splendid Angharad, who is heavily pregnant with Joe's child. Max steals the Rig, but its kill switch disables it. Max reluctantly agrees to let Furiosa and the wives accompany him; Nux climbs on the Rig as it leaves and attempts to kill Furiosa, but is overcome and thrown out, and is picked up by Joe's army.
Furiosa drives through a biker gang-controlled canyon to barter a deal for safe passage. However, with Joe's forces pursuing, the gang turns on her, forcing her and the group to flee, while the bikers detonate the canyon walls to block Joe. Max and Furiosa fight pursuing bikers as Joe's car, with Nux now on board, breaks through the blockade and eventually attacks the War Rig, allowing Nux to board. However, as the Rig escapes, Angharad falls off in an attempt to protect Max and is run over by Joe's car, killing her and her child. Furiosa explains to Max that they are escaping to the "Green Place", an idyllic land she remembers from her childhood. Capable finds Nux hiding in the Rig, distraught over his failure, and consoles him. That night, the Rig gets stuck in the mud. Furiosa and Max slow Joe's forces with mines, but Joe's ally, the Bullet Farmer, continues pursuing them. Nux helps Max free the Rig while Furiosa shoots and blinds the Bullet Farmer. Max walks into the dark to confront the Bullet Farmer and his men, returning with guns and ammunition.
They drive the War Rig overnight through swampland and desert, coming across a naked woman the next day. Max suspects a trap, though Furiosa approaches the woman and states her history and clan affiliation. The naked woman summons her clan, the Vuvalini, who recognize Furiosa as one of their own who was kidnapped as a child. Furiosa is devastated to learn that the swampland they passed was indeed the Green Place, now uninhabitable. The group then plans to ride motorbikes across immense salt flats in the hope of finding a new home. Max chooses to stay behind, but after seeing visions of a child he failed to save, he convinces them to return to the undefended Citadel, which has ample water and greenery that Joe keeps for himself, and trap Joe and his army in the bikers' canyon.
The group heads back to the Citadel, but they are attacked en route by Joe's forces, and Furiosa is seriously wounded. Joe positions his car in front of the War Rig to slow it, while Max fights Joe's giant son, Rictus Erectus. Joe captures Toast, who manages to distract him long enough for Furiosa to kill him. Nux sacrifices himself by wrecking the Rig, killing Rictus and blocking the canyon, allowing Max, Furiosa, the wives, and the surviving Vuvalini to escape in Joe's car, where Max transfuses his blood to Furiosa, saving her life.
At the Citadel, the impoverished citizens react to Joe's death with joy. Furiosa, the wives, and the Vuvalini are cheered by the people and welcomed by the remaining War Boys. Max shares a respectful glance with Furiosa before blending into the crowd and again departing for parts unknown.
Madame Bovary (1949)
Black & White
French author Gustave Flaubert must prove his book Madame Bovary is a moral story
Madame Bovary
"Madame Bovary takes place in provincial northern France, near the town of Rouen in Normandy. Charles Bovary is a shy, oddly dressed teenager arriving at a new school where his new classmates ridicule him. Charles struggles his way to a second-rate medical degree and becomes an officier de sante (fr) in the Public Health Service. He marries the woman his mother has chosen for him, the unpleasant but supposedly rich widow Heloise Dubuc. He sets out to build a practice in the village of Tostes (now T?tes).
One day, Charles visits a local farm to set the owner's broken leg and meets his patient's daughter, Emma Rouault. Emma is a beautiful, daintily dressed young woman who has received a "good education" in a convent. She has a powerful yearning for luxury and romance inspired by reading popular novels. Charles is immediately attracted to her and visits his patient far more often than necessary until Heloise's jealousy puts a stop to the visits. When Heloise dies, Charles waits a decent interval before courting Emma in earnest. Her father gives his consent, and Emma and Charles marry.
The novel's focus shifts to Emma. Charles means well but is plodding and clumsy. After he and Emma attend an elegant ball given by the Marquis d'Andervilliers, Emma finds her married life dull and becomes listless. Charles decides his wife needs a change of scenery and moves his practice to the larger market town of Yonville (traditionally identified with the town of Ry). There, Emma gives birth to a daughter, Berthe, but motherhood proves a disappointment to Emma. She becomes infatuated with an intelligent young man she meets in Yonville, a young law student, Leon Dupuis, who shares her appreciation for literature and music and returns her esteem. Concerned with maintaining her self-image as a devoted wife and mother, Emma does not acknowledge her passion for Leon and conceals her contempt for Charles, drawing comfort from the thought of her virtue. Leon despairs of gaining Emma's affection and departs to study in Paris.
One day, a rich and rakish landowner, Rodolphe Boulanger, brings a servant to the doctor's office to be bled. He casts his eye over Emma and imagines she will be easily seduced. He invites her to go riding with him for the sake of her health. Charles, solicitous for his wife's health and not at all suspicious, embraces the plan. Emma and Rodolphe begin an affair. She, consumed by her romantic fantasy, risks compromising herself with indiscreet letters and visits to her lover. After four years, she insists they run away together. Rodolphe does not share her enthusiasm for this plan and on the eve of their planned departure, he ends the relationship with an apologetic, self-effacing letter placed at the bottom of a basket of apricots he has delivered to Emma. The shock is so great that Emma falls deathly ill and briefly turns to religion.
When Emma is nearly fully recovered, she and Charles attend the opera, at Charles' insistence, in nearby Rouen. The opera reawakens Emma's passions, and she encounters Leon who, now educated and working in Rouen, is also attending the opera. They begin an affair. While Charles believes that she is taking piano lessons, Emma travels to the city each week to meet Leon, always in the same room of the same hotel, which the two come to view as their home. The love affair is ecstatic at first, but Leon grows bored with Emma's emotional excesses, and Emma grows ambivalent about Leon. Emma indulges her fancy for luxury goods with purchases made on credit from the crafty merchant Lheureux, who arranges for her to obtain power of attorney over Charles' estate. Emma's debt steadily mounts.
When Lheureux calls in Bovary's debt, Emma pleads for money from several people, including Leon and Rodolphe, only to be turned down. In despair, she swallows arsenic and dies an agonizing death. Charles, heartbroken, abandons himself to grief, preserves Emma's room as a shrine, and adopts her attitudes and tastes to keep her memory alive. In his last months, he stops working and lives by selling off his possessions. When he finds Rodolphe and Leon's love letters, he still tries to understand and forgive her. His remaining possessions are seized to pay off Lheureux. He dies, and his young daughter Berthe is placed with her grandmother, who soon dies. Berthe then lives with an impoverished aunt, who sends her to work in a cotton mill. The book concludes with the local pharmacist Homais, who had competed with Charles's medical practice, gaining prominence among Yonville people and being awarded for his medical achievements.
Madame Bovary (2014)
Color
Bored in her marriage to a country doctor Emma Bovary pursues her dreams of passion
Madame Bovary
"Emma, a young woman who is not yet 18 years old, packs up her belongings and prepares to leave the convent to marry the man her farmer father has arranged as her husband: country doctor Charles Bovary. However, she becomes bored and miserable in the small, provincial town of Yonville. She spends most of her time alone, reading or wandering in the garden while Charles tends to patients. Even when he is home, Emma feels bored or neglected by Charles.
Emma longs for more -- excitement, passion, status, and love. She shows restraint at first, when smitten law clerk Leon Dupuis skittishly professes his affections for her. However, she is intrigued by the dashing Marquis, who makes more overt advances. Their affair emboldens her as she believes it gives her a glimpse of the good life. She spends money she does not have on lavish dresses and decorations from the obsequious dry-goods dealer Monsieur Lheureux, who is all too happy to continue extending her credit.
Made for Each Other (1939)
Black & White
Newly weds struggle with inlaws and financial woes
Made for Each Other
"John Mason (James Stewart) is a young, somewhat timid attorney in New York City. He has been doing his job well, and he has a chance of being made a partner in his law firm, especially if he marries Eunice (Ruth Weston), the daughter of his employer, Judge Doolittle. However, John meets Jane (Carole Lombard) during a business trip, and they fall in love and marry immediately. Eunice eventually marries another lawyer in the firm, Carter (Donald Briggs). John's mother (Lucile Watson) is disappointed with his choice, and an important court trial forces him to cancel the honeymoon. He wins the case, but by that time Judge Doolittle has chosen John's kowtowing coworker Carter as the new partner.
Jane encourages John to demand a raise and a promotion, but with finances tightened by the Depression, Doolittle requires that all employees accept pay cuts. After Jane has a baby, John becomes discouraged by his unpaid bills and by tension between Jane and his mother, who lives with them in their small apartment.
On New Year's Eve, 1938--39, the baby is rushed to the hospital with pneumonia. The baby will die within hours unless a serum is delivered by plane from Salt Lake City. Doolittle agrees to provide funding to deliver the serum, but with a storm raging, and with a wife and children to consider, the pilot refuses to fly. John pleads over the telephone, and the pilot's unmarried friend takes the job. The new pilot almost crashes in the mountains, and the plane's engine catches fire a short distance from New York. The pilot is also injured and knocked unconscious after jumping from the plane and parachuting to safety, but he crawls to a nearby farm house after he comes to. The farmer sees the box containing the serum and telephones the hospital, and the baby is saved. A few years later, John is made partner at the law firm and his son has just spoken his first words.
Made in Heaven (1987)
Color
After falling in love in heaven man has 30 yrs to find his new love after returning to Earth
Made in Heaven
"In a small Pennsylvania town in 1957, Mike Shea (Hutton) dreams of escaping small town life and moving to California with his girlfriend Brenda Carlucci. But Brenda leaves him with his motor running and Mike takes off alone. Along the way, he rescues a woman and her children from a river but perishes himself. He finds himself in Heaven, where his Aunt Lisa greets him, and explains the rules and regulations. Once in the ethereal realm, Mike falls in love with a heavenly guide named Annie Packert (McGillis).
Their love is abruptly interrupted because Annie has not yet earned her wings on Earth; she must leave on a tour of duty and put in time inhabiting a human body. Mike is beside himself with despair, but the heavenly powers, in the form of Emmett Humbird, chain-smoking and sporting an orange crew-cut, offer him a deal. Mike can return to Earth, with the stipulation neither he nor Annie will remember each other. He then has 30 years in which they must find each other again.
Magic Mike XXL (2015)
Color
Males strippers plan blowout performance
Magic Mike XXL
"Three years after abandoning his life as a stripper, Mike is running his own furniture business. He receives a call from Tarzan who informs Mike that Dallas is "gone". Believing that his former boss has died, Mike drives to a hotel only to find that his friends, the remaining Kings of Tampa, are enjoying themselves at a pool party. After revealing that Dallas has bailed on them to start a new show in Macau and only took "The Kid" (referencing Adam from Magic Mike) with him, the Kings let Mike in on their plan: to end their careers on a high note by traveling to Myrtle Beach for a stripping convention. Later, while trying to work, Mike overhears a song he used to strip to and dances. Reinvigorated, Mike decides to join them on their trip.
Driving in a fro-yo van owned by Tito and Tobias, they decide to make their first stop at Mad Mary's. To prove to Richie that he's willing to commit to the trip, Mike participates in an amateur drag queen contest. The others join him soon after. They then head down to a beach where Mike attempts to resolve his issues with Ken through violence. The two later reconcile. Mike also meets a photographer named Zoe who tells him that she's headed for New York. They flirt but mutually agree that they should not have sex.
Back on the road, Mike suggests that they change their routine after the group (excepting Tarzan) take MDMA. They stop at a gas station where he coerces Richie into trying to make the cashier smile with an improvised striptease which he successfully does. This inspires the others to abandon their old routines. Soon afterward, Tobias, under the influence of MDMA, passes out while driving and crashes the van. Everyone is left unscathed aside from Tobias who gets a concussion. In the hospital, the group begins to lose morale, and contemplate packing up and heading home. Mike then reveals that his furniture business isn't going that well and that he's no longer dating Brooke after she rejected his marriage proposal. The group decides to continue on.
In search of a new emcee, Mike brings the group to a Savannah strip club owned by Rome, a woman that Mike has a history with. Despite proving to her that his skills haven't deteriorated, he's unsuccessful in getting her to help them. However, she does give them a ride to their next stop by having Andre, a rapper/singer who works at the club, drive them there.
The group arrives at a mansion. Tito tells them that he knows the girl who lives there and that she's expecting them. They walk in through the door but are greeted by the girl's mother, Nancy, along with Nancy's friends who are all middle-aged women. Nancy's teasing of the group initially makes them feel awkward but as the night goes on, the mood lightens. During this time, Mike meets Zoe again. Zoe confesses that she was hired by another photographer as his assistant solely so he could try to start an affair with her, despite being married. Mike urges her to come to the convention to regain her smile.
After sleeping with Richie, Nancy allows the group to drive her ex-husband's car to Myrtle Beach. When they arrive, they are surprised to see Rome. Rome, after having a change of heart, agrees to be their emcee. She also brings along Andre and Malik to help. With their preparations complete, they head to the convention where they manage to squeeze in a spot thanks to Rome and her seemingly romantic history with the organizer of the event, Paris. The group's performance is a success. During Mike and Malik's performance, Mike brings Zoe on stage. The film ends in celebration, Tobias returning with the fro-yo van and everyone watching the 4th of July fireworks.
Magnificent Obsession (1954)
Color
Man's carelessness contributes to doctor's death, he tries to make amends with his widow
Magnificent Obsession
"Spoiled playboy Bob Merrick's (Rock Hudson) reckless behavior causes him to lose control of his speed boat. Rescuers send for the nearest resuscitator, located in Dr. Phillips's house across the lake. While the resuscitator is being used to save Merrick, Dr. Phillips suffers a heart attack and dies. Merrick ends up a patient at Dr. Phillips's clinic, where most of the doctors and nurses resent the fact that Merrick inadvertently caused Dr. Phillips's death.
Helen Phillips (Jane Wyman), Dr. Phillips's young widow, receives a flood of calls, letters and visitors all offering to pay back loans that Dr. Phillips refused to accept repayment of during his life. Many claimed he refused by saying "it was already used up." Edward Randolph (Otto Kruger), a famous artist and Dr. Phillips's close friend, explains to Helen what that phrase means. This helps her to understand why her husband left little money, even though he had a very successful practice.
Merrick discovers why everyone dislikes him. He runs from the clinic but collapses in front of Helen's car and ends up back at the hospital, where she learns his true identity. After his discharge, Merrick leaves a party, drunk. After running off the road, Merrick ends up at the home of Edward Randolph, who recognizes him. Randolph explains the secret belief that powered his own art and Dr. Phillips's success. Merrick decides to try out this new philosophy. His first attempt causes Helen to step into the path of a car while trying to run away from Merrick's advances. She is blinded by this accident.
Merrick soberly commits to becoming a doctor, trying to fulfill Dr. Phillips's legacy. He also has fallen in love with Helen and secretly helps her adjust to her blindness under the guise of being simply a poor medical student, Robby.
Merrick secretly arranges for Helen to travel to Europe and consult the best eye surgeons in the world. After extensive tests, these surgeons tell Helen there is no hope for recovery. Right after this, Robby shows up at her hotel to provide emotional support, but eventually discovers that Helen has already guessed his real identity. Merrick asks Helen to marry him. Later that night, Helen realizes she will be a burden to him, and so runs away and disappears.
Many years pass and Merrick is now a dedicated and successful brain surgeon who secretly continues his philanthropic acts, and searches for Helen. One evening, Randolph arrives with news that Helen is very sick, possibly dying, in a small Southwest hospital. They leave immediately for this clinic. Merrick arrives to find that Helen needs complex brain surgery to save her life. As the only capable surgeon at the clinic, Merrick performs this operation. After a long night waiting for the results, Helen awakens and discovers she can now see.
Mahogany (1975)
Color
Rapid rise of a fashion model threatens relationship with her boyfriend
Mahogany
"Tracy Chambers is a sassy industrious young woman living in the projects of Chicago who dreams of becoming a fashion designer. She has worked her way up from salesgirl to secretary and assistant to the head buyer at a luxury department store (modeled after, and filmed at, Marshall Field's on State Street, Chicago).[1] Her supervisor at the department store, Miss Evans, (Nina Foch), does not support Tracy's desire to be a designer. She dissuades her from taking the night class due to her belief that it is interfering with Tracy doing her job for her effectively. In actuality Tracy is attempting to bring her dream of being a designer into fruition. She visits her aunt who works in a factory and gives her designs to sew together for her and she visits buyers to see if anyone will purchase her designs. There are no takers as well as comments made to her that the designs are good for Paris but not Chicago. She does not give up though.
One day a great photographer, Sean, played by Anthony Perkins, comes to the department store to shoot models, all Caucasian. He is clearly dissatisfied with the models and the shoot. Tracy and Miss Evans come in to observe and see what they can do for him. As soon as Tracy meets him she begins to talk about what a great photographer he is, Miss Evans cuts her off by asking her to fetch chairs for the models and coffee for herself and Sean. When Sean first sees Tracy he says that she is the type of model that he is looking for not realizing that she is Miss Evans secretary. Miss Evans then insists that she is only a secretary to which Sean insists that he has found a great model. Tracy is smitten with the attentions of the photographer because he is a conduit into the world of fashion that she is working so hard to get into but she is not romantically interested in him. When his time is done in Chicago he lets her know that she would do great in Rome and that he will be sending for her in the future. She takes that news with a grain of salt.
One night, before she meets the photographer while coming home from her art class, she is verbally accosted by Brian Walker (Billy Dee Williams), who is a local activist trying to make the neighborhood aware of the gentrification process going on in their community and attempting to drum up support for change. Tracy comes home from her class, tired and somewhat beleaguered by her circumstances. When Brian Walker directly addresses her through the bullhorn as she walks past him, she then begins to exchange verbal slings with him because she is in no mood. During the verbal exchange, an upstairs neighbor looks out his window and yells at Brian about making so much noise late at night while opening a can of beer and some of the foam falls on Tracy. Everyone laughs, except for Tracy who then, in a beer-soaked huff, heads up to her apartment. Her next encounter with Brian is during her walk to work where she sees him with his bullhorn talking while some neighborhood buildings are being demolished. The construction workers are making comments as to the fact that the neighborhood is better with the rat infested buildings coming down. The comments are meant to annoy Brian and his companions but he decides that he will not retaliate and continues to speak about the situation. In this scene, Brian puts the bullhorn down and Tracy decides that she is going to get him back for their last encounter and while no one is looking she pours milk into the mouthpiece. When Brian picks up the mouthpiece the milk splatters all over him. For him this is the last straw, he assumes that one of the construction workers has done it and a free for all fight begins. The police are called and Brian is taken to jail. When he comes out he finds Tracy waiting outside the police station. She tells him that she bailed him out because it was she who had poured the milk. She also tells him that she has written a bum check for his bail and they high tail it away from the precinct. He tells her that he will give it back to her and he then talks about when. She tells him that she is not interested in him and that she was only relieving her guilty conscience for the misunderstanding which put him in jail. He insists that he will return the money and so she tells him to put it in the mail slot when he does. One night she hears coins, lots of them, being placed in her mail slot. She opens the slot and tons of change fall to the floor. She opens the door and finds Brian is in the hallway. They begin a relationship at that point and Brian becomes her boyfriend. Their relationship includes her assisting in his running unsuccessfully for office in the district. The same night when Brian insists Tracy give up her dreams for his, Tracy receives a call from Sean (Anthony Perkins) to come to Rome and she flees in the middle of the night to become his muse.
Sean reinvents Tracy as "Mahogany" and ultimately she becomes among the most in-demand fashion models. An uneasy relationship develops with Sean, who is possessive and jealous of anyone vying for Tracy's attention, and he struggles to control her sexually and artistically by discouraging her attempts to break away from modeling and further her design aspirations. Tracy, feeling she owes Sean a great deal for bringing her into a world where she has wealth and fame, reluctantly agrees to sleep with him, and Sean's implied or latent homosexuality makes the union a failure. Sean goes on to menace and threaten Brian, who visits Tracy in Rome. Brian fails to persuade Tracy to return home with him to support him in his political aspirations, and Tracy remains behind with Sean. This leads to tragic consequences and a new, wealthy benefactor for Tracy who finally helps her to realize her design ambitions.
Tracy becomes demanding, cruel to her employees, and unwilling to express her appreciation to her new benefactor by becoming his mistress. She finds her career is not all she dreamed it would be without the love and support of Brian, and she realizes she must decide whether to continue with her material lifestyle and loveless relationship in Rome or return to a man she loves in Chicago.
Malcolm X (1992)
Color
Follows the life of Malcolm X from prison, to his marriage, and becoming a murder target
Malcolm X
"Malcolm Little (Denzel Washington) is raised in a poor household in rural Michigan by his Caribbean mother and African-American father. When Malcolm is a young boy, their house is burnt down and his father, an activist for black rights, is killed by a chapter of the Black Legion. His death is registered as a suicide and the family receives no compensation. Malcolm's mother's mental state deteriorates and she is admitted to a mental institution. Malcolm and his siblings are put into protective care. Malcolm performs well in school and dreams of being a lawyer, but his teacher discourages it due to his skin color.
In 1944, Malcolm, now a teenager, lives in Boston. One night, he catches the attention of the white Sophia, and the two begin dating. Malcolm travels to Harlem with Sophia, where he meets "West Indian" Archie, a gangster who runs a local numbers game, at a bar. The two become friends and start co-operating an illegal numbers racket. One night at a club, Malcolm claims to have bet on a winning number; Archie disputes this, denying him a large sum of money. A conflict ensues between the two and Malcolm returns to Boston after an attempt on his life. Malcolm, Sophia, Malcolm's friend Shorty, and a woman named Peg decide to perform robberies to earn money.
By 1946, the group has accrued a large amount of money from thievery. However, they are later arrested. The two girls are sentenced to two years as first offenders in connection with the robberies, while Malcolm and Shorty are sentenced to 8--10 years in jail. While incarcerated, Malcolm meets Baines, a member of the Nation of Islam, who directs him to the teachings of the group's leader Elijah Muhammad. Malcolm grows interested in the Muslim religion and lifestyle promoted by the group, and begins to resent white people for mistreating his race. Malcolm is paroled from prison in 1952 after serving six years, and travels to the Nation of Islam's headquarters in Chicago. There, he meets Muhammad, who instructs Malcolm to replace his surname "Little" with "X", which symbolizes his lost African surname that was taken from him by white people; he is rechristened as "Malcolm X".
Malcolm returns to Harlem and begins to preach the Nation's message; over time, his speeches gather large crowds of onlookers. Malcolm proposes ideas such as African-American separation from white Americans. In 1958, Malcolm meets nurse Betty Sanders. The two begin dating, quickly marry and become the parents of four daughters. Several years later, Malcolm is now in a high position as the spokesperson of the Nation of Islam. During this time, Malcolm learns that Muhammad had fathered numerous children out of wedlock, contradicting his teachings and Islam.
After US President John F. Kennedy is assassinated in November 1963, Malcolm comments that the assassination was the product of the white violence that has been prevalent in America since its founding, comparing the killing to "the chickens coming home to roost." This statement damages Malcolm's reputation and Muhammad suspends him from speaking to the press or at temples for 90 days. In early 1964, Malcolm goes on a pilgrimage to Mecca where he finds that Muslims come from all races, including white. Malcolm, having lost his faith in the Nation of Islam, publicly announces that is founding the Organization of Afro-American Unity, which teaches tolerance instead of racial separation. He is exiled from the Nation of Islam, and his house is firebombed in early 1965.
On February 21, 1965, Malcolm prepares to speak before a crowd at the Audubon Ballroom in Harlem, but tragically, disciples of the Nation of Islam shoot him several times. One of Malcolm's bodyguards shoots one of the shooters, Thomas Hagan, in the leg before a furious crowd beats Hagan. Malcolm is transported to a hospital, but is pronounced dead on arrival.
The film concludes with a series of clips showing the aftermath of Malcolm's death. Martin Luther King Jr. delivers a eulogy to Malcolm, and Ossie Davis recites a speech at Malcolm's funeral. Nelson Mandela delivers a speech to a school, quoting an excerpt from one of Malcolm's speeches.
Mall Cop (2009)
Color
Mall cop tries to thwart criminal mastermind who invades his mall
Mall Cop
"Paul Blart lives in West Orange, New Jersey, with his teenage daughter, Maya, and mother, Margaret. Aspiring to join the New Jersey State Police, he trains at the police academy, but his hypoglycemic medical condition causes him to collapse, therefore failing the exam. To shape up for his career, Blart works as a security guard at the fictional West Orange Pavilion Mall.
Blart patrols the mall on a Segway to assure that things are safe and clean. He also trains Veck Simms, who is new but uninterested in the job. Meanwhile, Blart becomes acquainted with Amy Anderson, the vendor of a new kiosk. Paul meets Amy one evening at a party at Joe's American Bar and Grill with other mall employees. Things initially go well, but Blart is sidetracked when he decides to participate in a nacho-eating contest with his friend Leon. The hot and spicy salsa is more than Blart can handle, causing him to inadvertently drink several alcoholic beverages. He ruins the party and makes a wild exit by falling through a window.
Two days later, on the night of Black Friday, an organized gang of thugs disguised as Santa's Village employees begin what appears to be a bank heist inside the mall. They take Amy and other customers in the bank hostage. Simms is revealed as the gang's leader -- his mall security job was a ploy to gather intelligence. They are keeping the hostages as insurance for the gang's escape. The crew force shoppers to exit the mall and strategically place motion sensors around each entrance to detect any attempt to enter or exit the building.
Blart takes a break in the arcade and plays "Detroit Rock City" via Rock Band. He eventually walks back out in the mall, and discovers the entire mall is evacuated and under a state of emergency. Upon realizing this, he calls the police, and slips out of the mall to speak with Commander Sergeant Howard. Blart realizes Amy is still inside after spotting her car in the parking lot, and decides to return to the mall to look for her. A SWAT team arrives with Commander James Kent at the helm. Kent, a former classmate and bully from Blart's childhood, takes control of the police units and orders Blart to let them handle the situation. Blart refuses and attempts a rescue. Vastly outnumbered and physically outclassed, Blart takes a stand against Simms' crew using improvised measures to take them down one by one. He discovers credit card codes written in invisible ink on the burglars' arms and realizes that their real plans go beyond robbing the bank.
Maya, unaware of what has happened, shows up at the mall on her way to bring Blart some food, but Simms' remaining henchmen seize her and add her to the hostage group. Blart manages to subdue all of Simms' accomplices and attempts to evacuate the hostages by pulling them up through an air vent. The plan fails when Leon does not fit. Simms enters the room, capturing Blart and forcing him to give up the credit card codes he recorded on his cell phone. Simms flees, taking Amy and Maya with him. As police raid the mall to apprehend the criminals and rescue the hostages, Blart borrows a display minivan and joins Kent in pursuing Simms to the airport, where he is attempting to escape to the Cayman Islands.
After a brief scuffle, Blart overpowers Simms and puts him in handcuffs. Moments later, however, Kent pulls his gun on Blart, revealing that he was in cahoots with Simms. Kent demands the phone containing the codes from Blart, who refuses and destroys the phone. Before Kent can retaliate by shooting Blart, Chief Brooks of the mall security team arrives and shoots Kent in the arm. Kent and Simms are arrested, and Amy and Maya are returned safely. For his bravery and assistance, Howard offers Blart a job with the New Jersey State Police. Blart declines, preferring to remain in mall security. Blart and Amy are eventually married in the mall, where they exchange vows on a set of black and white Segways.
Mall Cop 2 (2015)
Color
Mall cop stumble across professional thieves
Mall Cop 2
"Paul Blart (Kevin James) narrates his several misfortunes and his hard recovery. His wife Amy (Jayma Mays) divorced him six days after their marriage and to feel better, Paul takes pride in patrolling the West Orange Pavilion Mall. Two years later, his mother Margaret (Shirley Knight) was killed after being hit by a milk truck. Four years after that, as Paul narrates "he had officially peaked", he receives an invitation to a security officers' convention in Las Vegas and begins to believe his luck is about to change. His daughter Maya Blart (Raini Rodriguez) discovers that she was accepted into UCLA and plans to move across the country to Los Angeles, but in light of her father's invitation, she decides to withhold the information for now.
After arriving in Las Vegas, Paul and his daughter meet the general manager of Wynn Las Vegas, a pretty young woman named Divina Martinez (Daniella Alonso), to whom Paul is instantly attracted. Paul later learns that Divina is dating the hotel's head of security, Eduardo Furtillo (Eduardo Verastegui). Meanwhile, Maya and the hotel's valet, Lane (David Henrie) become instantly attracted to each other. Female security officer Donna Ericone (Loni Love) of the Mall of America, who is attending the convention, is aware of Paul's earlier heroics in the West Orange Pavilion Mall incident and believes Paul will be the keynote speaker at the event. However, Paul discovers that another security guard, Nick Panero (Nicholas Turturro) of the Mall of Miami, is giving the speech.
In the midst of the convention, a VIP guest-disguised criminal named Vincent Sofel (Neal McDonough) and a gang of accomplices disguised as hotel employees are secretly plotting to steal priceless works of art from the hotel and replace them with replicas, then sell the real ones at auction. In the meantime, Paul has become overprotective of Maya after discovering her flirting with Lane and spies on their conversations. He is later mocked by Eduardo for his lack of professionalism in an event where hotel security was notified when Maya turns up missing. In an ensuing argument with her father, Maya becomes angry and claims she's attending UCLA despite Paul's wishes that she remain close to home at a junior college.
At the convention, Paul, Donna, and three other security guards, Saul Gundermutt (Gary Valentine), Khan Mubi (Shelly Desai), and Gino Chizetti (Vic Dibitetto) check out the non-lethal security equipment on display. Later, Paul finds Panero drunkenly hitting on a woman at the bar. Paul attempts to defuse the situation and Panero passes out, giving Paul a chance to be the event's speaker. He contacts Maya asking her to attend, but he learns that she's at a party with Lane. As Paul prepares his speech, Vincent and his cohorts put their plan into motion. Maya absentmindedly walks into the midst of the heist and is taken hostage. Lane is kidnapped as well while searching for her. After a brief fight with an ill-tempered bird in the hotel garden, Paul gives a rousing speech that moves everyone at the convention, as well as Divina, who inexplicably finds herself becoming more attracted to Paul with each passing moment. Following the speech, Paul learns about Maya and Lane's situation and rushes to help but abruptly collapses due to his hypoglycemia that has plagued him for years.
After recovering, Paul is able to take down several of Vincent's thugs and gathers intel on the group's intentions. Using non-lethal equipment from the convention, he is able to take out more of Vincent's crew. Meanwhile, Maya and Lane overhear Vincent adamantly refusing an oatmeal cookie due to a severe oatmeal allergy, leading to said cookie being thrown from a window. Working with a team -- Donna, Saul, Khan, and Gino -- Paul is able to dismantle Vincent's operation, with Maya severely incapacitating Vincent by rubbing oatmeal-infused concealer on his face and Paul finishing Vincent off with an extremely forceful headbutt, as he did to one of Veck Sims' thugs in the first film. Afterward, Paul convinces Divina that her attraction for him is misplaced, and Eduardo is whom she should really be with. Paul also accepts Maya going to UCLA, funding her tuition with the reward money he obtained from Steve Wynn for stopping Vincent. After dropping off Maya at UCLA, Paul falls in love with a passing Mounted Police Officer who reciprocates his advances, but her horse reflexively kicks him into a car.
Man on a Ledge (2012)
Color
Man on a ledge provides distraction for a robbery
Man on a Ledge
"In New York City, Nick Cassidy (Sam Worthington) checks in to the Roosevelt Hotel under the false name of Walker, goes to his hotel room on the 21st floor, and climbs on the ledge, apparently ready to commit suicide. The crowd below sees him and calls the police. They isolate the area, with Dante Marcus (Titus Welliver) controlling the crowd, while Jack Dougherty (Edward Burns) tries to talk with Nick. However, Nick says he will only speak to negotiator Lydia Mercer (Elizabeth Banks), who is on a leave of absence after failing to convince a depressed policeman not to jump from the Brooklyn Bridge a month earlier.
Lydia arrives at the hotel room and manages to acquire Nick's fingerprints from a cigarette they share. Dougherty has them analyzed and discovers that Nick is an ex-policeman who was arrested for stealing a $40 million diamond from businessman David Englander (Ed Harris). Nick was given a 25-year sentence, but after being allowed to attend his father's funeral a month earlier, escaped from his guards. Nick, however, maintains that he is innocent and reveals that Englander used to employ cops to protect his multi-floor jewelry business. One day, while Nick was escorting Englander and the diamond, he was knocked unconscious by two men in ski masks. He awakened to find that Englander had framed him for stealing the diamond in order to get the insurance money, as he lost $30 million with Lehman Brothers and more money when the real estate market crashed.
Unbeknownst to the police, Nick is merely distracting them while his brother Joey (Jamie Bell) and Joey's girlfriend Angie (Genesis Rodriguez) break into Englander's upper floor jewelry vault in the building across the street to steal the diamond and prove Nick's innocence. Meanwhile, Dougherty informs Marcus of Nick's identity, and Marcus orders the security of the jewelry store to check the vault. Although Joey and Angie are able to evade them, they don't find the diamond. They set off the alarms, tricking Englander into retrieving the diamond from another safe that they did not know about, and return to his office, where they ambush him and steal the diamond at gunpoint.
Meanwhile, Nick's ex-partner, Mike Ackerman (Anthony Mackie), arrives at the hotel with evidence that Nick is planning something and demands to be allowed into the hotel room. Lydia does not trust him, and Dougherty backs her up. Ackerman claims he has found bomb schematics in Nick's hideout and is convinced that he will detonate an explosive somewhere. While the crowd is evacuated by the anti-bomb squad, Lydia, believing in Nick's innocence, calls Internal Affairs and discovers that three of the cops employed by Englander were suspected of being corrupt; Ackerman, Marcus and a deceased officer called Walker.
Englander calls Marcus, one of the men who helped him frame Nick, and has him capture Joey and Angie, but they have already given the diamond to a hotel concierge who passes it to Nick as he is being chased by the tactical team throughout the hotel. Marcus chases Nick to the roof where he orders Lydia to be arrested for obstruction. Englander brings Joey and Angie, and threatens to throw Joey off the roof if Nick does not give him the diamond. Nick does, and Englander leaves. Meanwhile, Lydia escapes custody and rushes back to the roof.
There, Marcus holds Joey at gunpoint in order to force Nick to jump off the roof, silencing him, when Ackerman arrives and shoots Marcus who in turn shoots back at Ackerman, wounding him. Nick rushes to Ackerman's side, and Ackerman apologizes, claiming that although he helped Englander to fake the diamond's theft, he never knew Nick would be framed. Marcus survives as he is wearing a bulletproof vest and is preparing to kill Nick when Lydia arrives and shoots him dead.
Nick jumps from the roof onto an airbag set up earlier by the police, catches up to Englander before he enters in his limo, beats him, and pulls the missing diamond from his pocket, revealing the truth. Englander is arrested, while Nick is proved innocent and released after intervention by the governor. He meets Joey, Angie, and Lydia at a bar, where he introduces Lydia to the hotel concierge, who is Nick's father--having faked his death in order to help his son. Joey proposes to Angie with a diamond ring stolen from Englander's vault, and they all celebrate together.
Manchester by the Sea (2016)
Color
Handyman is named as his newphew's guardian after his brother dies
Manchester by the Sea
"Lee Chandler, a sullen and quiet handyman in Quincy, Massachusetts, receives word from George, a family friend, that his brother Joe has suffered a heart attack. Joe dies before Lee can get to the hospital. Lee goes back to his hometown of Manchester-by-the-Sea to break the news to Joe's teenage son, Patrick. Staying in Joe's home while arranging Joe's funeral, Lee is shocked to learn that Joe named him as Patrick's guardian. Reluctant to commit to the guardianship and unwilling to move back to Manchester, but opposed to returning Patrick to his estranged alcoholic mother, Lee makes plans for Patrick to move back to Boston with him. Patrick, deeply rooted in the Manchester community, objects to the idea.
It is shown through flashbacks that Lee once lived happily in Manchester with his wife Randi and their three young children, until his negligence while intoxicated led to a house fire that killed their children. With no criminal charges filed against him but his wife Randi blaming him for the fire, Lee attempted suicide by pulling a gun from a police officer's holster after being interviewed. The attempt failed and he subsequently moved to Boston, becoming bitter and isolated.
Joe's body needs to be kept in storage until spring when the ground thaws and he can be buried. Lee remains in Manchester until the delayed funeral. Over time, Patrick and Lee reestablish their bonds. Lee comes through when Patrick has a panic attack while rifling through the freezer, as he has been constantly bothered by the thought of his father on ice for several months. Conflict continues to arise when Lee refuses to make small talk with the mother of Patrick's girlfriend, Sandy, so that Patrick and Sandy can have sex. Patrick thinks Lee is trying to distance himself from him, especially because Lee is doing all he can to wrap things up and leave Manchester.
Patrick's mother Elise learns of the situation and offers to allow Patrick to move in with her, having found religion and sobriety with her new Christian fiance, Jeffrey. During an awkward meal with them, Patrick finds himself unable to connect with Elise. Elise's hurried departure from the room is followed by the sound of bottles and glass, to Jeffrey's concern. Patrick is later unsettled when his mother's controlling fiance emails him insisting on being an intermediary in the future, saying that it is best for her.
Meanwhile, Lee runs into a remarried Randi and her newborn baby. She expresses great remorse for her treatment of him during the divorce and asks to reconnect. A distraught Lee cannot find the words to respond and leaves before he becomes emotional, parting with the phrase: "There's nothing there." She sobs as he walks away. Lee expresses his rage by picking a fight with strangers at a bar, only to be rescued by George.
Lee arranges for George and his wife to act as legal guardians for Patrick. When an emotional Patrick asks why Lee staying isn't an option, Lee admits that he cannot bear living in Manchester anymore. During a walk after Joe's funeral, Lee tells Patrick that he is searching for a new residence with an extra room, so that Patrick can visit whenever he wants. In a final scene, Lee and Patrick go fishing on Joe's refurbished boat that Patrick has inherited.
Mandingo (1975)
Color
Cousins get married, but sleep with their slaves instead of each other
Mandingo
"The movie is set in the Deep South of the United States prior to the American Civil War. Falconhurst is a run-down plantation owned by widower Warren Maxwell (James Mason) and largely run by his son, Hammond (Perry King). Hammond and his cousin, Charles, visit a plantation where both men are given black women out of hospitality. Hammond chooses Ellen (Brenda Sykes), who's a virgin. Both she and Hammond watch as Charles abuses and rapes his wench, claiming that she likes it. Hammond asks Ellen if this is true, and she says no. Hammond then gently has sexual intercourse with Ellen.
Warren Maxwell pressures him to marry, so Hammond chooses his cousin, Blanche (Susan George). A social climber and sexually promiscuous, Blanche had been having an affair with her brother, Charles. On their wedding night, Blanche's sexual skill and enjoyment of recreational sex convinces Hammond that she is not a virgin--a claim Blanche denies. On their way back from their honeymoon, Hammond returns to the plantation where Ellen is kept and purchases her as his bed wench. Eventually, he comes to genuinely care for her.
Meanwhile, Hammond purchases a Mandingo slave named Ganymede (Ken Norton). Nicknamed "Mede", the slave works for Hammond as a prize-fighter. He's forced to soak in a large cauldron of very hot water to toughen his skin. Hammond also breeds Mede with female slaves on his plantation. Hammond makes a great deal of money betting on Mede's fights.
Rejected by Hammond, Blanche becomes a slovenly alcoholic who does nothing all day long. While Hammond is on a business trip alone, Blanche discovers Ellen is pregnant. Correctly assuming the baby is Hammond's, Blanche beats Ellen. Ellen flees, falls down some stairs, and miscarries. Hammond (who had promised Ellen that her baby would be freed), returns to Falconhurst and discovers Ellen lost the baby. Threatened with bodily harm by Warren, Ellen does not tell him how she miscarried. Hammond gives Ellen a pair of ruby earrings, which she wears while serving an evening meal. Hammond gave the matching necklace to Blanche, who becomes enraged to find Ellen being publicly favored by Hammond.
Hammond leaves on another business trip, taking Ellen with him. A drunken Blanche demands that Mede come to her bedroom. Although the other slaves attempt to stop him, Mede does as he is ordered. Blanche demands that Mede have sex with her, but he refuses. Blanche then says she will accuse Mede of rape if he does not have sex with her, so he spends the night having sex with her. Blanche's sexuality is reawakened by Mede, whom she finds exceptionally well-endowed, and she has sex with him several more times.
Hammond returns to the plantation. A great deal of time has passed since Hammond and Blanche's marriage, and Warren Maxwell is eager for a grandchild. Sensing that the marriage is troubled, Warren locks Hammond and Blanche in a room together and refuses to let them out until they reconcile. They appear to do so. A short time later, Blanche announces she is pregnant, but when the baby is born, it is clear the child is a mulatto. To avoid a scandal, the child is killed on doctor's orders. Sickened at Blanche's sexual indiscretion, Hammond asks the doctor if he has the poison he uses on old slaves and horses. He pours the poison into a toddy for Blanche. An outraged Hammond seeks out Mede, intending to kill him. As Hammond attempts to force Mede into a boiling cauldron of water, Mede tries to tell him that Blanche blackmailed him into having sex. Hammond shoots Mede twice with a shotgun and the second hit throws Mede into the boiling cauldron of water. Hammond uses a pitchfork to drown Mede. In a fit of fury, one of Warren's slaves picks up the shotgun and aims it at Hammond. When Warren calls him a "crazy nigger" and demands that he put the gun down. The slave shoots and kills Warren. As he runs away, Hammond kneels helpless next to Warren's lifeless body.
Manhattan Melodrama (1934)
Black & White
Two childhood friends end up on opposite sides of the law
Manhattan Melodrama
"On June 15, 1904, the ship General Slocum catches fire and sinks in New York's East River. Two boys, Blackie Gallagher (Mickey Rooney) and Jim Wade (Jimmy Butler), are rescued by a priest, Father Joe (Leo Carrillo), but are orphaned by the disaster. They are taken in by another survivor, Poppa Rosen (George Sidney), who lost his young son in the sinking. The boys live with Poppa Rosen for a short while; then Rosen, a Russian Jew, is trampled to death by a policeman's horse after he heckles Leon Trotsky at a Communist rally and a melee breaks out.
The boys remain close friends, though their lives diverge. Studious from the very beginning, Jim (played as an adult by William Powell) gets his law degree and eventually becomes the assistant district attorney. Blackie is a cheerful, happy-go-lucky kid who loves to throw dice and trick other kids out of their money; he (Clark Gable) becomes the owner of a fancy, if illegal, casino. Though his casino is regularly "raided", the cops have been paid off and business resumes immediately after they leave. Blackie's girlfriend Eleanor (Myrna Loy) loves him, but pleads with him in vain to marry her and give up his dangerous life.
Jim is appointed district attorney. Blackie, always a supporter and admirer of Jim's (knowing he is incorruptible), arranges to meet him for a celebration, but something comes up, and he sends Eleanor to keep Jim company at the Cotton Club until he can join them. Jim and Eleanor talk the night away. Afterward, she gives Blackie one last chance to marry her and settle down. When Blackie refuses, she leaves him.
Months later, Jim and Eleanor meet by chance and start keeping company (she informs Jim that she has not seen Blackie for months). Meanwhile, Blackie kills Manny Arnold (Noel Madison) for not paying his gambling debts. Jim summons him to his office, where he tells him that he and Eleanor are going to get married. Blackie is sincerely happy for both of them. Jim also informs his friend that he is a suspect in the Arnold murder. However, there is no real evidence, so the crime goes unsolved.
Though Jim invites him to be the best man at his wedding, Blackie discreetly turns him down. After returning from his honeymoon, Jim runs for governor of New York. Snow (Thomas E. Jackson), who had been his chief assistant until Jim fired him for corruption, threatens to tell reporters that Jim covered up for Blackie in the Arnold case. Though untrue, this would lose Jim a close race for the governorship. By chance, Blackie and Eleanor meet at the horse track. Eleanor tells Blackie about Snow. Blackie shoots Snow dead in a washroom of Madison Square Garden during a hockey game. A beggar who pretends to be blind sees him leave the scene of the crime. Jim has no choice but to prosecute Blackie. Blackie is convicted and sentenced to death.
Jim wins the election, partly because the public knows that Jim is so honest he prosecuted his childhood friend. Eleanor tries to get him to commute the sentence to life imprisonment, revealing Blackie's selfless motive for killing Snow, but that only makes things worse. When Jim remains steadfast, Eleanor leaves him. At the last moment, Jim hurries to Sing Sing Prison and meets Blackie, together with Father Joe, who is now the prison's chaplain. Jim finally offers to commute the death sentence, but Blackie turns him down. Father Joe leads Blackie to the electric chair while saying last rites.
A few days later Jim calls a special joint session of the New York Legislature. He reveals how the murder helped him win the election and how at the end he compromised his principles and was willing to commute his friend's sentence. He then tenders his resignation. When he leaves, Eleanor is waiting for him. She tells him that she was wrong about him, and they leave together to start a new life.
Maniac (2012)
Color
Mannequin store owner becomes obsessed with young artist
Maniac
"Frank Zito is a mentally disturbed young man who has taken over his family's mannequin sales business after the recent death of his mother, who also moonlighted as a prostitute. Frank's childhood experiences of seeing his mother bring home clients or being taken out with her to turn tricks has left Frank unable to enter into meaningful relationships with women, and his sexual impulses tend to manifest themselves as violent urges that Frank externalizes as his mother's will. Struggling to come to grips with his mother's treatment of him, and spurred by memories of his mother brushing her hair before going out at night, Frank stalks, murders, and scalps a woman one night, attaching her hair to a mannequin that he then keeps in his bedroom.
Frank joins an online dating site, where he befriends a local girl named Lucie. The two eventually meet for what turns out to be a successful date. The pair return to Lucie's apartment, where she attempts to seduce the virginal Frank; Frank, feeling overwhelmed by homicidal impulses, insists that he likes Lucie and that he must leave before something bad happens. Lucie, mistaking Frank's panic for nervousness, becomes sexually aggressive and begins performing fellatio. Though he attempts to control himself, Frank eventually strangles and then scalps Lucie. Frank takes her hair back to his apartment, where he attaches it to another mannequin.
One morning, Frank awakens to find a photographer named Anna taking photos of the mannequins in his storefront. Frank invites her into his store, where she becomes taken with his work restoring antique department store mannequins. The two develop a friendship, with Frank agreeing to help Anna put together an art exhibit using his mannequins. As the two spend more time together, Frank begins to fall in love, and becomes more aggressive about trying to control his urges, attempting to take pharmaceuticals to quiet his impulses. Nonetheless, one night he follows a woman home from her dance studio and stabs her to death in a parking lot; once again, he scalps her and attaches her hair to a mannequin in his bedroom.
As the date of the exhibit opening approaches, Frank learns that Anna has a boyfriend, sending him into an emotional tailspin. At the opening of the exhibit, Frank meets Anna's boyfriend, Jason, who takes an instant disliking to Frank and insists he is a homosexual. Frank also meets Anna's mentor, and art director Rita, an older woman who encourages Anna to leave Los Angeles to seek more opportunities. In a drunken state, Rita later mocks Frank, first sexually propositioning him and then teasing him for his interest in mannequins.
Frank follows Rita home, subduing her in her bathtub and then hog-tying her on her bed. Frank begins addressing Rita as his mother, expressing his rage for her treatment of him and articulating his feelings of being unloved, unwanted, and abandoned. Remembering a night he begged his mother to stay at home with him instead of going out to work, only to be left alone yet again, Frank flies into a rage and scalps Rita while she is still alive.
Several nights later, Frank calls Anna, who tearfully tells him of Rita's murder and of a fight she had with Jason, resulting in their breakup. Frank comes to Anna's apartment, where his attempts to comfort her lead to them nearly having sex. Anna expresses feelings of guilt for Rita having been murdered following her show, which Frank dismisses by saying that Rita lived nearby and that she knew the risks of her own neighborhood. Anna becomes suspicious that Frank knows where Rita lived. While attempting to cover for himself; Frank inadvertently confesses to Anna by connecting Rita's murder to the previous ones. As the police had not told her anything about the other murders and a possible serial killer, Anna realizes that Frank's "insider's knowledge" means he is in fact the murderer. The two fight, with Anna stabbing Frank through the hand with a kitchen knife before locking herself in her bathroom. Anna's neighbor, Martin, breaks into the apartment to save her, only for Frank to maim him with a meat cleaver, however gets back up only to be knocked thru Anna's bathroom door and killed. Panicking, Anna stabs at Frank, but ensnares her shower curtain, which Frank uses to obfuscate her and render her unconscious.
At his apartment, Frank attempts to remove Anna from the back of his car; Anna, having regained consciousness, ambushes Frank and stabs him in the stomach with a piece of rebar attached to a mannequin hand Frank had stored in his back seat. Anna flees and is picked up by a passing motorist, who panics at the sight of Frank and runs him down in his car. In the process of hitting Frank, the driver loses control and crashes into a bridge, flinging Anna through the windshield. A bloodied Frank hobbles to the mortally wounded Anna and scalps her as she dies.
Frank returns to his apartment, attaching Anna's hair to a mannequin dressed in a bridal gown. Dying from his injuries, Frank suffers hallucinations of the mannequins transforming into his victims and tearing his body apart, finally ripping off his face to reveal a mannequin head. Before he dies, Frank sees Anna- clad in a wedding dress- lower her veil and turn her back on him.
Later that day, a SWAT team breaks into Frank's apartment, only to find a bloodied, dead Frank in his closet.
Mannequin (1987)
Color
Man falls in love with Mannequin that comes to life
Mannequin
"In Ancient Egypt, Ema "Emmy" Hasure hides in a pyramid from her mother, who wants her daughter to marry against Emmy's will. Emmy prays for the gods to get her out of this mess, and the gods answer Emmy's prayers; she travels through time, on a hunt for true love.
Philadelphia, 1987; when young mannequin-manufacturer, Jonathan Switcher, loses himself in his work with a particular model of mannequin (because, according to himself, artwork cannot be rushed), he is fired. Jonathan finds odd jobs; yet none of these jobs work out because his sculptor background makes him less than ideal for them. While on a moonlight walk with his girlfriend Roxie Shield, Jonathan sees the mannequin he created (and was fired over) in the window of Prince & Company, an upscale department store.
The next morning, Jonathan waits outside the store. He saves the manager, Claire Timkin, from being crushed to death. The grateful Claire hires Jonathan under protest from Vice-President Richards, who assigns Jonathan to be a stock boy. In his spare time, Jonathan hits it off with flamboyant window dresser Hollywood Montrose who has been working with Jonathan's mannequin. That night, Hollywood and Jonathan construct a window display. They have a run-in with the store's night security chief, Captain Felix Maxwell, and his cowardly bulldog Rambo. When Jonathan is alone with her, the mannequin he is obsessed with comes to life as Emmy (a la Pinocchio). The next morning, Jonathan tells Roxie about Emmy. She does not believe him.
Jonathan's window-dressing for Prince & Company attracts large audiences, including Roxie and, unfortunately, B.J. Wert, president of Illustra, a rival department store. It is revealed that VP Richards is a corporate spy for Wert. At their next board meeting, Richards wants to fire Jonathan (ostensibly for showing off with the window displays), but Claire points out that Jonathan's designs are increasing sales for the store. Richards proposes to sell Prince & Company to Illustra for 10% of the former's value, but Claire refuses. The other board members promote Jonathan to visual merchandising.
Emmy and Jonathan's relationship snowballs over the following week. Every night, she helps him and Hollywood create window displays which dazzle everyone at Prince & Company and which, ultimately, makes the store famous throughout Philadelphia. Both dressers still have to deal with Captain Maxwell and Roxie -- the latter of whom also has to deal with Armand (Christopher Maher), another Illustra employee who keeps angling for sex with her. One morning, Maxwell is caught sleeping on the job by Claire, who fires him for this. VP Richards sticks up for Maxwell, but succeeds only in getting himself fired also. Claire promotes Jonathan to vice-president.
Meanwhile, the window designs are still bringing in a tremendous amount of profits and customers for Prince & Company, at Illustra's expense. Armand sneaks into Prince & Company at night and takes pictures of Emmy. The jealous Wert sees the pictures and calls in Richards. They plan to steal Emmy -- not knowing that she is alive -- and put her on display at Illustra. Jonathan takes Emmy for a ride on his motorcycle. Roxie offers Jonathan work at Illustra, but he already has a job; moreover, he and Emmy are in love.
Maxwell and Richards break into Prince & Company. They search for Emmy but cannot tell her apart from all the other mannequins, so they wind up stealing every mannequin in the store. The next morning, Hollywood and Jonathan discover what has happened to Emmy. They dash to Illustra and look around for her. When Wert offers Jonathan Richards' old job, Jonathan suspects the truth and turns him down. Roxie storms out of the office, swearing that Jonathan will never lay eyes on Emmy ever again. Jonathan chases Roxie into an "employees only" area of the store. He is pursued by a dozen security guards, including Maxwell who has a new attack dog named Terminator. The dog completely ignores Jonathan. Roxie loads Emmy and all the other stolen mannequins into a trash incinerator. Jonathan is cornered by Maxwell's security team, but Hollywood assist by bombarding the guards with a fire hose. Jonathan charges up the trash incinerator's conveyor belt to rescue Emmy. She comes to life in his hands; the machine's operator, upon seeing this happen, hits an "Emergency Stop" button.
Maxwell and his fellow guards rush in, followed by Wert, who attempts to have Jonathan arrested for trespassing. Then Claire walks in with a VHS tape from her newly-installed CCTV system. Wert attempts to seduce Claire, who rebukes him, and Richards and Maxwell are arrested for breaking and entering, conspiracy, the kidnapping of Emmy, and grand theft. Seeing Emmy alive, Maxwell questions his own sanity; the police drag him away to a mental hospital. Wert's final act as president of Illustra is to fire his whole staff, including the treacherous Roxie. Claire, who now owns Illustra as well as Prince & Company, promotes Hollywood to manage the former.
Emmy and Jonathan are married in the shop window of Prince & Company, with Claire as a bridesmaid, and with Hollywood as best man. Looking on, the entire Prince & Company family congratulate them.
Mansfield Park (1999)
Color
Penniless woman sent to live with rich relatives
Mansfield Park
"At the age of 10, Fanny Price is sent to live with her wealthy uncle and aunt, Sir Thomas and Lady Bertram, as her own parents do not have enough money to support their many children. Once at Mansfield Park, Fanny meets her cousins Tom, Maria, Edmund, and Julia, as well as Fanny's other maternal aunt, Mrs Norris. Fanny does not feel welcome, and Mrs Norris treats her more like a servant than a relative. Edmund behaves kindly to her, and the two develop a friendship that grows as the years progress.
When Fanny is eighteen, Sir Thomas and his eldest son Tom travel to Antigua. In their absence, the Bertram family is disrupted by the arrival of Henry and Mary Crawford, relatives of the local clergyman. Worldly, cynical and beautiful, Mary and Henry arrive looking for amusement. Edmund is instantly smitten with Mary, somewhat ignoring and hurting Fanny. Maria and Julia both vie for Henry's affections, even though Maria is already engaged to Mr Rushworth. Henry shamelessly flirts with Maria. Later, Tom returns from Antigua, arriving drunk and bringing a friend, Mr Yates, with him. Yates and Tom convince the Bertrams and Crawfords to stage a risque play, Lovers' Vows. The play allows the young people to openly flirt with each other. Edmund initially speaks out against the play but changes his mind when he is offered a part that allows him to act out flirtatious scenes with Mary. Sir Thomas arrives home and in anger immediately stops the play.
Maria marries Rushworth, esteeming his fortune above his character. Henry decides to pursue Fanny as a means to amuse himself. However, Fanny's gentle and kind nature gradually captures his fancy, and Henry becomes emotionally attached to her. After his behaviour towards the Bertram girls, Fanny mistrusts him and does not believe his declarations of love. Even so, Henry proposes and Fanny is pressured by her uncle to accept the offer; she disappoints the family by refusing. Angry, Sir Thomas gives Fanny an ultimatum: accept Henry's proposal of marriage or be sent back to her poor family and experience the difference in comfort. Fanny looks to Edmund for support, but his indifference forces her to choose the latter. Several days after her return home, Henry pays a visit to convince Fanny that his affections for her are genuine. Although she looks more favourably on him, Fanny continues to cling to her feelings for Edmund and rejects Henry. Only when a letter from Edmund arrives which discloses his hopes of marrying Mary does Fanny accept Henry's offer. However, Fanny realizes she does not trust him, and takes back her acceptance the next day. Henry leaves, exceedingly hurt and angry. Edmund arrives to take Fanny back to Mansfield Park to help care for Tom, who has fallen seriously ill and is near death. Edmund confesses he has missed Fanny.
Henry gains Maria's pity when she learns of Fanny's refusal of his marriage proposal, and they are found having sex by Fanny and Edmund. Shocked, Fanny is comforted by Edmund and the two nearly kiss, but Edmund pulls away. News of the scandal spreads rapidly and Mary quickly devises a plan to stifle the repercussions. She suggests that after a divorce, Maria would marry Henry while Edmund would marry Mary; together they might re-introduce Henry and Maria back into society by throwing parties. Fanny questions Mary as to how a clergyman could afford lavish parties, and Mary shocks everyone by stating that when Tom dies, Edmund will be heir to the family's fortune. Edmund is appalled and tells Mary that cheerfully condemning Tom to death whilst she plans to spend his money sends a chill to his heart. Having betrayed her true nature to the Bertram family, Mary leaves the Bertrams' company. Edmund ultimately declares his love for Fanny, and they marry. Sir Thomas gives up his plantation in Antigua and invests instead in tobacco, while Tom recovers from his illness. Fanny's sister Susie joins them at the Bertram household while Maria and Aunt Norris take up residence in a small cottage removed from Mansfield Park.
Map of the Human Heart (1993)
Color
Eskimo falls in love with a woman he cannot have, but they have an affair anyway
Map of the Human Heart
In the opening moments of the movie, set in 1931 in the Arctic-Canadian settlement Nunataaq, Avik (portrayed initially by Robert Joamie) lives under the watchful eye of his grandmother (Jayko Pitseolak). While tagging along after British cartographer Walter Russell (Patrick Bergin), Avik falls prey to the "white man's disease,"--tuberculosis; to assuage his own guilt, Russell takes the boy to a Montreal clinic to recover. There, Avik meets Albertine, a mixed-blood Indian girl, and the two fall in love, but their relationship is quickly broken up by the Mother Superior who is in charge of the clinic. Years later, Avik again meets Russell, who this time is on a mission to recover the German U-boat lying wrecked off the coast of Nunataaq. Avik asks for Russell's help in learning the whereabouts of Albertine, and he gives the cartographer a chest X-ray of the girl which he has carried with him since their separation. More time elapses, and Avik (now played by Jason Scott Lee) has become a British bombardier fighting in World War II. He is sought out by Albertine (Anne Parillaud), who has become Russell's mistress. Still, she begins an affair with Avik; Russell soon finds out, and as revenge sends Avik and his crew on a suicide mission of which Avik is the lone survivor. Despondent over his war experiences, Avik flees to Canada, where he becomes an alcoholic; decades later, he is sought out by Rainee (Clotilde Courau), the daughter born from his affair with Albertine. On his way to the girl's wedding, Avik is killed in an accident; his body washes up on the beach at Nunataaq, a wedding gift still clutched in his arms.
Marauders (2016)
Color
FBI discover lethal heist is just part of a far-reaching consipracy
Marauders
When a bank is hit by a brutal heist, all evidence points to the owner and his high-powered clients. But as a group of FBI agents dig deeper into the case - and the deadly heists continue - it becomes clear that a larger conspiracy is at play.
Margin Call (2011)
Color
Chaos erupts when an analyst uncovers information that could destroy his employer
Margin Call
"Junior risk analyst Seth Bregman (Penn Badgley), his more senior colleague and MIT PhD graduate Peter Sullivan (Zachary Quinto), and trading desk head Will Emerson (Paul Bettany) watch as a contracted temporary human resources team, hired by their firm, conducts an unannounced mass layoff action, right on their trading floor, at the start of an otherwise normal business day. One of the fired employees is Peter and Seth's boss, Eric Dale (Stanley Tucci), who heads risk management on the floor. In his exit interview, Dale attempts to tell his now former employee that the firm should look into what he has been working on. The contracted human resources staff have no interest other than his quickly leaving the building. While Dale is being escorted out, he gives Peter a USB memory stick with a project he had been working on, telling him to "be careful" just as he boards the elevator.
That night, Sullivan finishes Dale's project and discovers that current volatility in the firm's portfolio of mortgage backed securities will soon exceed the historical volatility levels of the positions. Because of excessive leverage, if the firm's assets decrease by 25% in value, the firm will suffer a loss greater than its market capitalization. He also discovers that, given the normal length of time that the firm holds such securities, this loss must occur. So Sullivan alerts Emerson, who calls floor head Sam Rogers (Kevin Spacey).
The employees remain at the firm for a series of meetings with progressively more senior executives, including division head Jared Cohen (Simon Baker), chief risk management officer Sarah Robertson (Demi Moore), and finally CEO John Tuld (Jeremy Irons). Jared's plan is for the firm to quickly sell all of the toxic assets before the market learns of their worthlessness, thereby limiting the firm's exposure, a course favored by Tuld over Rogers' strong objection. Rogers warns Cohen and Tuld that dumping the firm's toxic assets will spread the risk throughout the financial sector and will destroy the firm's relationships with its counterparties. Rogers also warns Cohen that their customers will quickly learn of the firm's plans, once they realize that the firm is only selling (unloading) the toxic mortgage-backed securities but will accept none whatever in exchange for their sale. That is, they will not barter or swap one mortgage-backed security for another.
They finally locate Dale, who had been missing after his company phone was turned off and is eventually persuaded to come in with the promise of a generous fee and the threat of having his severance package challenged if he didn't. Meanwhile, it is revealed that Robertson, Cohen, and Tuld were aware of the risks in the weeks leading up to the crisis. Tuld plans to offer Robertson's resignation to the board and employees as a scapegoat.
Before the markets open, Rogers tells his traders they will receive seven-figure bonuses if they achieve a 93% reduction in certain MBS asset classes in a "fire sale". He admits that the traders are effectively ending their careers by destroying their relationships with their clients. Meanwhile, Robertson and Dale sit in an office, being paid handsomely to do nothing for the day; Robertson vigorously defends herself that she warned of the risks although perhaps not loudly enough. Emerson manages to close the positions, but his counterparties become increasingly agitated and suspicious as the day wears on. After trading hours end, Rogers watches the same human resources team begin another round of layoffs on his floor. He confronts Tuld in the executive dining area and asks to resign, but Tuld dismisses his protests claiming that the current crisis is really no different from various crashes and bear markets of the past, and sharp gains and losses are simply part of the economic cycle. He persuades Rogers to stay at the firm for another two years, promising that there will be a lot of money to be made from the coming crisis. Rogers notices Sullivan meeting with Cohen, Tuld informs Rogers he will promote Sullivan.
In the final scene, Rogers is shown in his ex-wife's front lawn late at night, burying his dog that has died of cancer--he thought that since the dog had spent most of its life there that it should be buried there. His ex-wife comes out and tells him that he doesn't live there anymore. She reassures him that their son, who is implied to also work on Wall Street, took a hit from the day's trading but will be okay. As the credits roll, Rogers continues to dig.
Marnie (1964)
Color
Playboy falls for woman, only to find out she plans to embezzle from his insurance company
Marnie
"Marian Holland charms Sidney Strutt (Martin Gabel), the head of a tax consulting company, into hiring her without references. Some months later, she steals nearly $10,000 from the company safe and flees. Changing her appearance and identity, Marian, whose real name is Margaret "Marnie" Edgar (Tippi Hedren), travels to Virginia, where she stables a horse named Forio. She then visits her invalid mother, Bernice (Louise Latham), whom she supports financially, in Baltimore.
Mark Rutland (Sean Connery), a wealthy widower who owns a publishing company in Philadelphia, meets with Strutt on business. He learns about the robbery and recalls Marnie from a previous visit. Some months later, Marnie, posing as Mary Taylor, happens to apply to Mark's company and is hired after he recognizes her. While working weekend overtime with Mark, Marnie has a panic attack during a thunderstorm. Mark comforts then kisses her. They begin seeing each other socially. It is learned that Marnie suffers from bad dreams, and the color red can trigger an extreme emotional reaction.
Soon after, Marnie steals money from Mark's company and again flees. Mark tracks her to the stable where she keeps Forio. He blackmails her into marrying him, much to the chagrin of Mark's former sister-in-law, Lil (Diane Baker), who is in love with Mark. Lil grows suspicious when she discovers Mark has spent a considerable sum since marrying Marnie. On their honeymoon cruise, Marnie is repulsed by any physical intimacy. Mark initially respects her wishes, but then rapes her. The next morning, she attempts to drown herself in the ship's swimming pool, but Mark saves her.
Lil tips off Mark that Marnie's mother is still alive and living in Baltimore. Mark hires a private detective to investigate. Meanwhile, Lil overhears Mark telling Marnie that he has "paid off Strutt" on her behalf. Lil mischievously invites Strutt and his wife to a large party at the Rutland mansion. Strutt recognizes Marnie, but Mark persuades him to say nothing. When Marnie later admits to additional robberies, Mark works to reimburse her victims to drop charges.
Mark brings Forio to their estate, pleasing Marnie. During a fox hunt, Forio bolts. After a wild gallop, Forio misses a jump, breaks a leg, and lies on the ground screaming in pain. Marnie frantically runs to a nearby house and manages to obtain a gun, and shoots her horse. Crazed with grief, Marnie goes home, where she finds the key to Mark's office. She then goes to the office, opens the safe, and finds herself unable to take the money she wants to steal, even after Mark arrives and "urges" her to take it.
Mark forcibly takes Marnie to Baltimore to confront her mother and extract the truth about Marnie's past. They arrive in a thunderstorm. As it is revealed that Bernice was a prostitute, Marnie's long-suppressed memories resurface: when she was a small child, one of Bernice's clients (Bruce Dern) tried to calm a frightened Marnie during a thunderstorm. Seeing him touch Marnie and believing he was trying to molest her, Bernice attacked him. As the man fended her off, she fell and injured her leg, leaving her disabled. Marnie, frightened and attempting to protect her mother, fatally struck the man in the head with a fireplace poker. Bernice told police that she herself killed the man and prayed Marnie would forget the event. She had become pregnant as a young, unmarried girl and says she has always loved Marnie. Understanding the reason behind her behavior, Marnie asks for Mark's help. He promises to help her. They leave holding each other closely.
Marshall (2017)
Color
NAACP lawyer Thurgood Marshall defends black chauffer accused of murder
Marshall
"In 1940, Thurgood Marshall is an NAACP lawyer traveling the country defending people of color who are wrongly accused of crimes because of racial prejudice. Upon his return to his New York office, he is sent to Bridgeport, Connecticut, to defend Joseph Spell, a chauffeur accused of rape by his white employer, Eleanor Strubing, in a case that has gripped the newspapers. In Bridgeport, insurance lawyer Sam Friedman is assigned by his brother to get Marshall admitted to the local bar, against his will. At the hearing, Judge Foster, a friend of the father of prosecutor Lorin Willis, agrees to admit Marshall, but forbids Marshall from speaking during the trial, forcing Friedman to be Spell's lead counsel. Marshall must guide Friedman through notes, such as when he advises Friedman to allow a woman of Southern white descent into the jury because of her assertive and questioning personality.
Spell swears to Marshall that he never had any sexual contact with Strubing and leads the lawyers to a patrolman who stopped Spell that night while he was driving Strubing's car. Marshall and Friedman investigate Strubing's story that Spell tied her up in the back seat of her car after raping her and drove to a bridge to throw her over. They wonder why Spell appeared to throw her over the calm side instead of the side with rapids. Spell is initially interested in a plea bargain offered by Willis, but Marshall talks him out of it. Later on at trial, though, a doctor testifies to finding pieces of skin underneath Strubing's fingernails, as well as bruises. Strubing herself testifies that she was tied in the back seat when the patrolman pulled Spell over. With this information, Marshall and Friedman confront Spell, who admits that he was lying about not having sexual contact with Strubing.
At trial, Spell testifies that Strubing's husband inflicted the bruises through repeated acts of spousal abuse. That night, he went to see Strubing for an advance on his salary, finding a distraught Strubing wanting to have sex with him. Spell consents, and the two have several sexual encounters that night. Then Strubing panics about being found out and being pregnant. Spell tries to drive her to a doctor, but Strubing has to hide in the back seat when the patrolman questions him. A hysterical Strubing forces Spell to stop by a bridge where she runs out and tries to kill herself. When Spell tries to stop her, she scratches him and jumps off the bridge. But she survives and flags down a motorist making up a desperate story about rape. When Willis asks why Spell didn't tell the truth to begin with, Spell talks about how black men get tortured and lynched in his native Louisiana for having sex with white women. Over Willis's objections, Judge Foster allows Spell's statement to stand.
Before the verdict, Marshall has to leave for a case in Mississippi. A desperate Willis offers Spell a much lighter plea bargain, but Spell feels emboldened enough to turn it down. The night before Marshall leaves, he and Friedman prepare the closing statement that Friedman then delivers on his own. The Southern white woman has now become the jury forewoman, and she ultimately delivers a "not guilty" verdict. Friedman happily breaks the news over the phone to Marshall, who moves on to his next case. Closing credits note that Friedman went on to work in many civil rights cases, while Marshall himself has an illustrious career as the American Civil Rights Movement's principal legal strategist and the first African-American Justice to the Supreme Court of the United States.
Marty (1955)
Black & White
Middle-aged mama's boy meets lonely teacher
Marty
"Marty Piletti (Ernest Borgnine) is an Italian American butcher who lives in The Bronx with his mother (Esther Minciotti). Unmarried at 34, the good-natured but socially awkward Marty faces constant badgering from family and friends to settle down, pointing out that all his brothers and sisters are already married with children. Not averse to marriage but disheartened by his lack of prospects, Marty has reluctantly resigned himself to bachelorhood.
After being harassed by his mother into going to the Stardust Ballroom one Saturday night, Marty connects with Clara (Betsy Blair), a plain schoolteacher who is quietly weeping on the roof after being callously abandoned at the ballroom by her blind date. They spend the evening together dancing, walking the busy streets, and talking in a diner. Marty eagerly spills out his life story and ambitions, and they encourage each other. He brings Clara to his house, and they awkwardly express their mutual attraction, shortly before his mother returns. Marty takes her home by bus, promising to call her at 2:30 the next afternoon, after Mass. Overjoyed, he punches the bus stop sign and weaves between the cars, looking for a cab.
Meanwhile, his cranky, busybody widowed Aunt Catherine (Augusta Ciolli) moves in to live with Marty and his mother. She warns his mother that Marty will soon marry and cast her aside. Fearing that Marty's romance could spell her abandonment, his mother belittles Clara. Marty's friends, with an undercurrent of envy, deride Clara for her plainness and try to convince him to forget her and to remain with them, unmarried, in their fading youth. Harangued into submission by the pull of his friends, Marty doesn't call Clara.
That night, back in the same lonely rut, Marty realizes that he is giving up a woman whom he not only likes, but who makes him happy. Over the objections of his friends, he dashes to a phone booth to call Clara, who is disconsolately watching television with her parents. When his friend asks what he's doing, Marty bursts out saying:
You don't like her, my mother don't like her, she's a dog and I'm a fat, ugly man! Well, all I know is I had a good time last night! I'm gonna have a good time tonight! If we have enough good times together, I'm gonna get down on my knees and I'm gonna beg that girl to marry me! If we make a party on New Year's, I got a date for that party. You don't like her? That's too bad!
Marty closes the phone booth's door when Clara answers the phone. In the last line of the film, he tentatively says "Hello... Hello, Clara?".
Match Point (2005)
Color
Tennis pro becomes involved with the darker side of high society
Match Point
"Chris Wilton, a recently retired tennis professional, is taken on as an instructor at an upmarket club in London. He strikes up a friendship with a wealthy pupil, Tom Hewett, after discovering their common affinity for opera. Tom's older sister, Chloe, is smitten with Chris and the two begin dating. During a family gathering, Chris meets Tom's American fiancee, Nola Rice, and they are instantly attracted to each other. Tom's mother, Eleanor, does not approve of her son's relationship with Nola, a struggling actress, which is a source of tension in the family. Chloe encourages her father, Alec, to give Chris a job as an executive in one of his companies; he begins to be accepted into the family and marriage is discussed.
During a storm, after having her choice of profession attacked by Eleanor, Nola leaves the house to be alone. Chris follows Nola outside and confesses his feelings for her, and they passionately have sex in a wheat-field. Feeling guilty, Nola treats this as an accident; Chris, however, wants an ongoing clandestine relationship. Chris and Chloe marry, but Tom ends his relationship with Nola.
Chloe, to her distress, does not become pregnant immediately. Chris vainly tries to track down Nola, but meets her by chance some time later at Tate Modern. He discreetly asks for her number and they begin an affair. While Chris is spending time with his wife's family, Nola calls to inform him that she is pregnant. Panicked, Chris asks her to get an abortion, but she refuses, saying that she wants to raise the child with him. Chris becomes distant from Chloe, who suspects he is having an affair, which he denies. Nola urges Chris to divorce his wife, and he feels trapped and finds himself lying to Chloe as well as Nola. Nola confronts him at his work and he just escapes public detection.
Soon after, Chris takes a shotgun from his father-in-law's home and carries it to his office in a tennis bag. On leaving, he calls Nola on her mobile to tell her he has good news for her. He goes to Nola's building and gains entry into the apartment of her neighbor, Mrs. Eastby. He shoots and kills her, then stages a burglary by ransacking the room and stealing some jewelry and drugs. As Nola returns he shoots her in the stairwell. He then takes a taxi to the theater to watch a musical with Chloe. Scotland Yard investigates the crime and concludes it was committed by a drug addict stealing money. The following day, the murder is in the news. Chris returns the shotgun and he and Chloe announce that she is pregnant with Chris's child.
Detective Mike Banner invites Chris for an interview in relation to the murder. Beforehand, Chris throws Mrs. Eastby's jewelry and drugs into the river, but by chance her ring bounces on the railing and falls to the pavement. At the police station, Chris denies knowing Nola, but Banner surprises him with her diary, in which he is featured extensively. He confesses his affair to Banner but denies any link to the murder, and appeals to the detectives not to involve him any more in their investigation, as news of the affair may well end his marriage just as he and his wife are expecting a baby.
Late one night, Chris sees apparitions of Nola and Mrs. Eastby, who tell him to be ready for the consequences of his actions. He replies that his crimes, though wrong, had been "necessary", and that he is able to suppress his guilt. At the same time, Banner dreams that Chris committed the murders. His theory is discredited by his partner, Dowd, who informs him that a drug peddler found murdered on the streets had Mrs. Eastby's ring in his pocket. Banner and Dowd consider the case closed and abandon any further investigation. The film ends with Chloe giving birth to a baby boy named Terrence, and his uncle blessing him not with greatness, but luck.
Me Before You (2016)
Color
Lou takes on the job of looking after a rich and depressed newly quadriplegic
Me Before You
"William "Will" Traynor is a successful banker and active man who is in a good relationship with his girlfriend Alicia. One morning while they are in bed, Will receives a call telling him to come into work. While walking to work, he is talking on his mobile phone and inadvertently walks in front of a speeding motorcycle. As a result of the accident, Will is paralysed from the neck down and must permanently use a motorised wheelchair.
Two years later: Louisa "Lou" Clark is a happy, outgoing woman who lives with and supports her working-class family. After losing her job at a local cafe, she is hired as a companion for Will Traynor. Lou has no experience, but Will's mother believes her cheery personality will help lift his spirits. Will only spends time with his nurse Nathan, who knows that he will never regain use of his body due to the damage to his spinal cord. Nathan assists him with everything physical like movement, exercise and clothing.
Cynical and depressed, because he can no longer live an active life, Will initially reacts coldly to Lou's upbeat demeanor and treats her with contempt. After two weeks, Will has a visit from his former best friend Rupert and Will's now ex-girlfriend Alicia, who reveal that they are engaged. Will manages to smash all the photographs on his dresser in anger and indignation, which Lou tries to repair the next day, leading to a verbal altercation between the two. The next day, Will orders Lou to watch a foreign film with subtitles with him, and she has to accept it. The two begin to bond and eventually become close friends. Lou and Will continue to talk every day; she learns that he is cultured and worldly, having travelled extensively. In contrast, her life so far has been simple, without many interests or hobbies or travel away from home. Her long-term boyfriend, Patrick, is training to take part in a Viking triathlon in Norway, a hobby that he chooses over spending more time with her. Will urges Lou to broaden her horizons and tells her that it is her responsibility to live her life as fully as possible.
While Nathan takes care of Will during one of his occasional illnesses, Lou notices scars on Will's wrists. Some time after, Lou overhears an argument between Will's parents and learns that Will has given his parents six months before checking into Dignitas in Switzerland for assisted suicide. Will refuses to accept life with a disability that entails dependency, pain, and suffering without any hope for recovery of his old self. Lou takes it upon herself to change his mind by organizing various trips and adventures to show Will that life is worth living, despite his disability. Will gradually becomes more communicative and open to her plans. Lou, Will and Nathan attend horse racing, a trip far from perfect. Nonetheless, Lou sways Will into attending a Mozart concert.
Will joins Lou's family for dinner on her birthday, where Lou's father reveals he lost his job in a leveraged buyout which happened to have been organised by an associate of Will. When Lou's father is offered a managerial position at Stortfold Castle, owned by Will's family, Lou realises that Will is trying to help her obtain financial freedom from her family. Gradually, they develop strong feelings for one another, which makes Patrick jealous. This causes problems in Lou's and Patrick's seven-year long relationship, eventually leading to their break-up.
Will decides to attend Alicia's wedding and asks Lou to accompany him. At the wedding, Lou and Will enjoy offending the strait-laced guests. Lou learns from the bride's godmother that she considers Will to be Alicia's "one that got away".
During a luxurious trip to the island of Mauritius together, Will informs Lou that he still intends to follow through with his assisted suicide. He wants her to live a full life instead of "half a life" with him. He says their time together has been special, but he cannot bear to live in a wheelchair. He asks her to accompany him to Switzerland to be with him through his last moments. Heartbroken, she informs Will's parents upon arrival in London that she is quitting immediately and travels back to her home by bus. She does not speak to Will for the days that follow. However, at home, Lou's father convinces her to go to Will. She discovers that he has already left for Switzerland, so she decides to go herself to be with Will in his final moments.
A few weeks after Will's death, sitting in his favourite cafe in Paris, Lou reads the letter Will left for her. In it, he encourages her to seek out a specific perfume shop. He has left her enough money to follow her dreams and ends off the letter with "Keep pushing" and "Just live".
Mean Girls (2004)
Color
Cady joins high school clique, whose leader's ex-boyfriend becomes interested in her
Mean Girls
"Sixteen-year-old homeschooled Cady Heron and her zoologist parents, Betsy and Chip Heron, return to the United States after a twelve-year research trip in Africa, settling in Evanston, Illinois. On her first day ever of attending a school, North Shore High School, Cady attempts to make new friends, but to no avail. The next day, she meets and befriends Janis Ian and Damian Leigh. They educate Cady on the school's various cliques and warn her to avoid the most popular and infamous one, the "Plastics", which is led by beautiful and manipulative queen bee Regina George and includes the insecure but rich Gretchen Wieners and sweet but dimwitted Karen Smith. The Plastics take an interest in Cady after defending her against a sexist classmate, and invite her to sit with them at lunch. After learning of the invitation, Janis asks Cady to befriend them and to spy on them for her.
Cady soon learns about the "Burn Book", a scrapbook the Plastics have made that is filled with horrible rumors, secrets, and insults about other girls and some teachers at school. Using the book, Janis devises a plan to get back at Regina but Cady is reluctant, thinking Regina is a good friend. Cady fell in love with Regina's ex-boyfriend, Aaron Samuels, and purposely fails math, a subject she is gifted at, in order to have an excuse to talk to him. Regina finds out about Cady's love for Aaron and jealously steals him back at a Halloween party by kissing him in front of Cady. This spurs Cady to fully commit to Janis' plan to cut off Regina's "resources": involving breaking Regina and Aaron up, tricking Regina into eating "Swedish nutrition bars" that actually make her gain weight, and turning Regina's fellow Plastics against her. In the process, Cady unwittingly remakes herself in Regina's image, becoming spiteful and superficial, and abandons Janis and Damian.
When Regina is finally made aware of Cady's treachery, she retaliates by spreading the contents of the Burn Book all over the school, quickly inciting massive socially motivated brawls throughout the halls. To avoid suspicion, Regina inserts a fake libel of herself in the book in order to blame Cady, Gretchen, and Karen -- the only female juniors not mentioned in the book. Karen convinces the school's principal, Ron Duvall, that they did not write the book, who soon quells the fighting and gathers all of the junior girls in the gymnasium. Math teacher Ms. Norbury makes the girls face the ways they all treat each other and apologize to each other and the teachers; the plan sees success, as friendships are rekindled. When Janis' turn comes, she defies Norbury, confessing her plan to destroy Regina with Cady's help and openly mocking Regina, drawing praise from other students Regina bullied. Pursued by an apologetic Cady, Regina storms out of the school and is struck by a school bus, breaking her spine, and rumors spread that Cady pushed Regina in front of the bus.
Shunned by her peers and grounded by her parents, Cady takes full blame for the Burn Book. After making amends with Regina, she joins the Mathletes in the state championship finals to make up for the math tests she failed. Cady answers the tiebreaker correctly, and they win the championship for the school. At the Spring Fling dance, Regina's new boyfriend, Shane Oman, is elected King, while Cady is elected Queen. Onstage, Cady declares that all of her classmates are wonderful in their own way, snaps her plastic tiara, and distributes the pieces to other girls in the crowd. She then reconciles with Janis, Damian, and Aaron, and reaches a truce with the Plastics.
The Plastics disband over summer vacation: Regina joins the lacrosse team to deal with her anger, Karen becomes the school weather reporter, and Gretchen joins the "Cool Asians" clique. Aaron graduates from high school and attends Northwestern University while starting a relationship with Cady, who visits him during the weekends. Janis begins dating Mathlete Kevin Gnapoor, whom she initially disliked. As Cady reflects on the social peace that has taken over North Shore High, a group of new "Junior Plastics" has arisen, and Cady imagines them being hit by a bus as Regina was.
Mean Girls 2 (2011)
Color
Man offers to pay girl's way through college if she befirends his outcast daughter
Mean Girls 2
"Jo Mitchell, an 18-year-old high school senior from Ohio, attends North Shore High School with the hopes of attending Carnegie Mellon University, her late mother's alma mater. On her first day, however, she encounters a clique called "The Plastics", composed of Mandi Weatherly, the self-proclaimed leader; Chastity Meyer, the ditzy girl with a raging libido; and Hope Plotkin, a hypochondriac. Jo also meets Abby Hanover, whom Mandi perceives to be a rival. Despite Jo's attempts to avoid the Plastics, conflict develops between them and Abby.
Jo's father is a mechanic who rebuilds engines for NASCAR. As a result, she becomes quite a good mechanic herself and ends up taking an advanced shop class, where she meets Tyler (Diego Boneta) and falls in love with him. Her principal means of transportation is a Vespa motor scooter. A voice-over reveals that Jo's mother died before she was one year old.
After Jo gives Abby a ride home, she meets Abby's father, a successful infomercial entrepreneur who offers to pay Jo's college tuition in exchange for her maintaining good friends with Abby. Jo reluctantly accepts, motivated by her desire to attend Carnegie Mellon. Jo, Tyler and Abby become close friends, while Jo learns that Tyler is Mandi's stepbrother. Mandi also escalates her war of pranks, which includes using artificial sweetener and coffee to ruin an engine being repaired by Jo's father.
When Jo and Abby discover that Mandi is going to throw a birthday party, Jo decides that Abby should throw a party herself; Abby's party is the "all invited" kind, unlike Mandi's "invite only" party. After the Plastics see no one at Mandi's house but hears Abby's party's music, they have Hope put ipecac into the pizza that is ordered there. After Jo notices that it smells funny, she then sees Hope also paying the pizza delivery guy and so she stashes it away. When the Plastics go to that party, they don't see anyone puking. Just as Nick, Mandi's boyfriend, doesn't see any food, Jo gives him the injected pizza to eat; after Mandi kisses him for Jo to see, he vomits on her.
Jo, Abby and another outcast girl, school newspaper reporter Quinn, start a new clique called the "Anti-Plastics" and enact a series of pranks against Chastity and Hope. Jo runs against Mandi for Homecoming Court and their campaign threatens Tyler and Jo's relationship. When Jo tries to give back the money Sidney Hanover had given her for her friendship with Abby, Mandi overhears while running and uses this information against her. This leads to Tyler and the "Anti-Plastics" going against her as she is turning towards Mandi's personality.
Mandi and Nick steal the homecoming court charity money, which is to be donated to an animal welfare group. Mandi plants the money in Jo's shed, then gives an anonymous note to Principal Duvall stating that the money is there. Thanks to an unwitting betrayal by Quinn, Jo is expelled, but not before she finds Mandi and challenges her to a game of flag football. Mandi refuses until she realizes that she needs to win to remain popular, and then reluctantly agrees.
Tyler and the other Anti-Plastics try to help Jo prove her innocence with the help of the school's tech boy, Elliott. After the Anti-Plastics beat the Plastics at flag football, Mandi and Nick are arrested after Elliott finds img of them planting the money in Jo's home and texts them to all of the cell phones in the audience at the game. Principal Duvall apologizes to Jo for the mix-up. At the school's Homecoming Dance, Abby and Elliott are elected King and Queen (thanks to Jo dropping out of the competition), and Jo and Tyler share a kiss.
The film ends with Jo and Abby deciding to attend Carnegie Mellon University together, while Tyler attends Penn State University (presumably on a soccer scholarship), which is a short drive from Carnegie Mellon, and Quinn assuming the position she has long coveted -- the leader of the Plastics. Although Mandi and Nick both got community service and were allowed to graduate (thanks in some part to their parents for donating a new library for the school), they lost their popularity for their cruel actions, earning Mandi a bad reputation. Chastity learns the meaning of her name, and Hope begins working on overcoming her fear of germs.
Meet Joe Black (1998)
Color
Death pays a visit to aging millionaire and falls for his daughter
Meet Joe Black
"Billionaire media mogul William "Bill" Parrish (Anthony Hopkins) is considering a merger between his company and another media giant, while also about to celebrate his 65th birthday with an elaborate party being planned by his eldest daughter Allison (Marcia Gay Harden). He begins to hear mysterious voices, which he tries with increasing difficulty to ignore.
His youngest daughter Susan (Claire Forlani), an internal medicine resident, is involved with one of Bill's board members, Drew (Jake Weber). She is considering marriage, but her father is not favorably impressed by her relationship. When she asks for the short version of his impassioned speech, he simply says, "Stay open. Who knows? Lightning could strike!" Shortly thereafter, Susan meets a vibrant young man (Brad Pitt) at a coffee shop. She is instantly enamored but fails to even get his name. Minutes after their encounter (and unbeknownst to her), the man is struck by multiple cars in what appears to be a remarkably serious motor vehicle accident.
The personification of Death arrives at Bill's home in the body of the young man, explaining that Bill's impassioned speech has piqued his interest. Given Bill's "competence, experience, and wisdom," Death tells Bill that for as long as Bill will guide him on Earth, he will not have to die. Bill agrees, and Death places himself at Bill's right hand as "Joe Black" and establishes a constant presence in Bill's home and work. Susan finds Joe appealing, but cannot understand why he is treating her like a stranger.
Bill's best efforts to navigate the next few days -- knowing them now to be his last -- fail to keep events from going rapidly out of his control. Drew is secretly conspiring with a man bidding for Parrish Communications, so he capitalizes on Bill's strange behavior to convince the board to vote him out as Chairman, using information given to him inadvertently by Bill's son-in-law Quince (Jeffrey Tambor) to push through approval for 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.
Susan falls deeply in love with Joe, who, now under the influence of human desires, becomes attracted to her as well. Bill angrily confronts him about his relationship with his daughter, but Death 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. 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. He also helps Bill regain control of his company, exposing Drew's underhanded business dealings to the board by "revealing" himself as an agent of the Internal Revenue Service and threatening to put Drew in jail.
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 away while Susan watches from a distance. She is astonished when Joe reappears, and is at first confused if this is the same man she first met at the coffee shop. The young man, unaware of what events have transpired from the time of his death until his return, approaches Susan. Susan, confused by the day's events, asks him, "What do we do now?" He replies, "It will come to us.
Meet the Blacks (2016)
Color
Family moves to flee their criminal past behind, only to arrive during the annual purge
Meet the Blacks
Carl Black and his family are getting out of Chicago. After having stolen a lot of money from a famed criminal drug king, Key Flo (Charlie Murphy), and believing that he will be imprisoned for the next five to six years, Carl Black (Mike Epps) leaves the hustling lifestyle behind for something better. Carl, his new wife Lorena (Zulay Henao), son Carl Jr. (Alex Henderson), daughter Allie Black (Bresha Webb) and cousin Cronut (Lil Duval) pack up and move to Beverly Hills. Turns out, Carl could not have picked a worse time to move. They arrive right around the time of the annual purge and all Carl's personal issues intertwine while all crime is legal for twelve hours.
Memory (2022)
Color
Hit man with failing memory refuses to do job that's against his moral code
Memory
"Alex Lewis is a contract killer living in Mexico who suffers from early onset Alzheimer's and works for Davana Sealman. He is assigned to kill a man in El Paso, Texas, named Ellis Van Camp (a builder for the Texas Central Processing Facility). Alex's brother turns out to be a resident at a nursing home in El Paso due to his severe Alzheimer's disease. Meanwhile, Special Agent Vincent Serra (of the FBI's Child Exploitation Task Force) goes undercover to bring down an El Paso sex trafficker "Papa Leon," who trafficked his daughter, Beatriz, 13. Vincent ends up killing Papa Leon after the latter takes Beatriz hostage.
Beatriz is later taken to the facility due to being undocumented but Child Protective Services takes her after she is granted a protection visa. Meanwhile, Alex kills Ellis and steals flash drives from his safe containing footage of Davana's son, Randy, sexually assaulting Beatriz, something that shocks him. Alex is later assigned to kill Beatriz but refuses due to children being off limits to him and tracks down Davana's lawyer William Borden, whom he threatens. Instead, Beatriz is killed by another hitman, Mauricio, which infuriates Alex and makes him seek revenge on Davana.
After Alex sleeps with a woman he meets at a bar after helping her when a drunk man comes on to her, the woman is shot dead by Mauricio, who also attempts to kill Alex. Alex and Mauricio then get into a shootout that ends with Alex gaining the upper hand. He eventually burns the bodies of both Mauricio and the woman after placing them inside Mauricio's car. Later, Alex also shoots William dead, which ultimately causes Davana's son, Randy, to panic after realizing that whoever killed Ellis and William will likely come for him. Meanwhile, Vincent begins piecing together information and he, along with Det. Marquez and Special Agent Linda, uncover that William was the lawyer for Randy Sealman (who owns the facility) and that Ellis was the builder for the facility, who was shot with the same exact slug. The three realize that anyone with connections to the facility ends up dead and that Randy is likely next.
After Randy hosts a party on a yacht, the FBI arrive to make sure he doesn't die. Alex manages to kill Randy after hiding out on the yacht before the party begins. After he makes a run for it, he is cornered by Vincent and Marquez but escapes despite Marquez inflicting a gunshot wound on him. Alex later recuperates inside his hideout (a former bakery once owned by his late father surrounded by pigeons) and stops the bleeding. Alex's Alzheimer symptoms eventually begin worsening, but he makes his way to Davana's penthouse to kill her. He instead shoots several police officers before being knocked out by Det. Danny Mora. Meanwhile, Davana hires another man to kill Alex as retribution for the death of Randy.
After Alex is hospitalized, Vincent and Linda retrieve the flash drives from his hideout. They see Alex in the hospital, and his ability to speak is hindered, but he informs Vincent that he has evidence of Davana threatening Ellis, which should be enough to put her on trial, but says he cannot remember where he placed the recording. After the assassin hired to kill Alex comes for him, Alex instead takes him hostage. Snipers later surround the hospital as Alex walks out holding the man hired to kill him as a hostage, the snipers mistakenly kill the hostage. Alex gets inside Vincent's car and says Davana wishes to "bery" him before stepping out and being shot dead. Vincent later realizes that Alex gave him a clue with the word "bery," he retrieves the recording of Davana threatening Ellis but is instead told by the district attorney that it is not enough to prosecute. Instead, Marquez kills Davana by slitting her throat (while masked), and Vincent and Linda watch the news report at a bar. Vincent realizes that Linda took him to the bar to give him an alibi.
Men In Black (1997)
Color
Fighting ugly green aliens
Men In Black
"Agent K (Tommy Lee Jones) is a member of the Men in Black (M.I.B.), a secret non-government agency that polices extraterrestrial aliens seeking refuge on Earth, living normal lives in disguise as humans around New York City. Operating from a base at a Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority ventilation station, they fund themselves using patents on alien technologies released to the public and maintain secrecy using neuralyzers to erase memories of alien sightings, also disguising aliens like humans and pets to maintain their secrecy, and that way, they monitor currently 1500 aliens around the vicinity of New York.
One night, K and K's partner D (Richard Hamilton) are on a regular shift and intercept an alien ship that is flying outside the M.I.B secured boundaries. They intercept the ship, only to find state troopers already found it. After the alien panics and tries to flee, they are forced to destroyed him and to neuralize the troopers. D, feeling too old to work anymore, asks K to neuralize him to "retirement". Agency's leader Agent Zed (Rip Torn) suggests that he should find a new partner.
Meanwhile, James Darrell Edwards III (Will Smith) is a rookie police officer pursuing a man. He chases him trough the rooftops, where the man reveals himself as an alien (his eyelids close horizontally than vertically), before performing suicide by jumping off the roof. K arrives at the office and questions Edwards before neuralyzing him and giving him an M.I.B. business card. At the base Edwards competes in tests alongside other potential recruits from other branches of government and law enforcement, and K takes him aside while the others are neuralyzed and offers him the choice to join M.I.B. Edwards accepts and his identity is erased, becoming Agent J.
Suspicious of extraterrestrials suddenly leaving the planet en masse, the M.I.B. investigate a farmer named Edgar (Vincent D'Onofrio), who was acting strangely after an alien craft crashed on his farm. K determines that Edgar has been killed and his skin is being used for cover by a "Bug", a member of a giant cockroach-like species that are at war with several alien races, including the Arquillians. An Arquillian prince on Earth named Rosenberg (disguised as a human jewerly store owner) is attacked by the Bug, and tells J "the galaxy is on Orion's belt" as he dies.
M.I.B. informant Frank the Pug (Tim Blaney), a Remoonian dressed as a dog, explains that the galaxy is a massive source of sub-atomic energy that would allow the Bugs to destroy the Arquillians, and is housed in a small marble or jewel-like casing that Rosenberg was guarding. Unfortunately, The Bug deduces the galaxy is hanging from the collar of Rosenberg's cat Orion, which has been at the morgue taken care of by Dr. Laurel Weaver (Linda Fiorentino) since his death. J makes the same deduction and goes to the morgue as the Bug attacks Weaver, kidnapping her and seizing the galaxy. To prevent the Bugs from getting the galaxy, the Arquillians deliver an ultimatum to M.I.B. to secure the galaxy within an hour, or they will destroy Earth.
The Bug arrives at the site of two concealed alien crafts, the observation towers of the New York State Pavilion at Flushing Meadows, and K and J arrive to confront it, shooting down one of the crafts. The Bug sheds Edgar's corpse disguise and swallows their guns, then swallows K when he antagonizes it and attempts to board the second ship. J lures it back to the ground by crushing cockroaches to anger it, and the Bug is shot in half from the inside by K, who retrieved his gun in the Bug's stomach, and its bisected torso is destroyed by Weaver using J's gun, who had been at the site and witnessed the battle. The three return to M.I.B. headquarters and K tells J that he hasn't been training him as a partner, but as a replacement since he is ready to retire after decades of service. J accepts K's neuralyzer and uses it on K, using a coma cover story to allow him to return to his civilian life. Weaver joins M.I.B. as J's new partner, Agent L.
As they prepare to continue M.I.B. operations, the camera pans out from Earth, showing the solar system and eventually the galaxy, it is revealed that the galaxy is itself in a marble. A pair of alien hands finish playing with it and place it inside a sack with other such galaxies, echoing Frank's statement about size not being important when it comes to galaxies.
Meteor Apocalypse (2010)
Color
A gigantic meteor disintegrates, showering the entire planet with debris.
Meteor Apocalypse
"A long-period meteor's orbit is determined to be crossing directly in the path of Earth's orbit. All of the world's nuclear states fire their missiles at the comet, but pieces of the comet continue to strike the Earth, contaminating the groundwater and causing millions to become sick.
The story follows David Dmatti (Joe Lando) as he searches for his wife Kate (Claudia Christian) and sick daughter Allison (Madison McLaughlin). They were initially quarantined in the Las Vegas Valley. David finds and revives a young woman named Lynn (Cooper Harris) at a gas station and brings her with him to Las Vegas.
When they arrive, they watch as most of the city is destroyed by a meteor shower and learn the quarantined were transferred to Los Angeles. David is also able to get an antidote for the mysterious illness. When it is discovered that the largest comet fragment will most likely hit Los Angeles, a panicked evacuation is begun. The problem is that the quarantined are left behind. While trying to rescue David's family, Lynn dies, leaving enough antidote for David's daughter. He and his family are soon reunited and watch the final fragment strike the city from a safe distance.
Michael Clayton (2007)
Color
Fixer brought in after lawyer has breakdown representing company he knows is guilty
Michael Clayton
"Michael Clayton (George Clooney) is a "fixer" from the prestigious New York City law firm, using his connections and his knowledge of legal loopholes for his clients' benefit. After leaving an underground poker game and dealing with a wealthy client's (Denis O'Hare) hit and run, Michael drives aimlessly and stops at a remote field. When he leaves his car to admire some horses, it explodes behind him.
Four days earlier, one of the firm's leading attorneys, Arthur Edens (Tom Wilkinson), has a bizarre outburst in the middle of a deposition in Milwaukee involving a class action lawsuit against U-North, an agricultural products conglomerate. Michael arrives in Milwaukee and bails Arthur out of jail, but he escapes from their hotel room in the middle of the night. Meanwhile, Karen Crowder (Tilda Swinton), U-North's general counsel, discovers that Arthur had come into possession of a confidential U-North document detailing the company's decision to manufacture a weed killer that it knew to be carcinogenic. She hires two men (Robert Prescott, Terry Serpico) to follow him and plant bugs in his apartment and phone. When they realize that Arthur is building a case against his own client, Karen asks that he be permanently incapacitated. They assassinate Arthur in a manner designed to resemble natural causes.
Michael is saddened by the actual news of Arthur's death, but becomes suspicious upon learning that U-North was planning a settlement just a few days before and that Arthur had booked a flight for one of the plaintiffs, Anna (Merritt Wever). He learns from Anna that she told no one of her conversations with Arthur, not even her attorney, arousing in Michael further suspicion about how his firm came to know of Arthur's conversations with the U-North class members. With the help of his other brother Gene (Sean Cullen) in the police department Michael gets access to Arthur's sealed apartment and discovers a receipt from a copy store. Upon investigation, he discovers that Arthur had ordered three thousand copies of the confidential U-North document. Michael takes a copy with him, but the two hit men are tailing him and inform Karen of the situation. Michael is about to show his boss, Marty Bach (Sydney Pollack), what he has discovered, only to be offered a renewal of his employment contract as well as an $80,000 bonus he had requested to cover his debt, although it comes with a confidentiality agreement to prevent him from ever shaking down the firm.
One of the hit men rigs his car with a bomb. Michael receives a phone call summoning him to the meeting with the client in Westchester County who had committed a hit-and-run, as seen at the start of the movie. He is being followed by the two men, but they have trouble tailing him. The surveillance team, still off but near Michael's trail, detonates the remote bomb while he is out of the car. An unharmed but surprised Michael runs back to his car and throws his personal effects inside, faking his own death.
Later, at a U-North board meeting, Karen proposes approval of a new settlement agreement. Michael is waiting for her when she exits the conference, and informs her that he has access to copies of the U-North memo and that he knows about her role in Arthur's murder. He goads Karen into offering him $10 million for his silence. Karen reluctantly agrees, prompting Michael to reveal the phone in his pocket that has conveyed their conversation to the police. As he walks away, Karen falls to her knees in shock while detectives rush forward to arrest her. Michael leaves the building and hails a cab, he passes the driver 50 dollars and tells him to "just drive.
Midnight Sun (2018)
Color
Woman hides that she can't go out in the sun from her romatic interest
Midnight Sun
"Sheltered since early childhood, Katie Price lives with a life-threatening sensitivity to sunlight caused by the rare genetic condition, xeroderma pigmentosum. During the day, she is housebound, having only her father, Jack and her best friend, Morgan, to keep her company. Katie comes out of the house every night, when the sun is not present.
One night, she is noticed and asked out by her longtime crush, Charlie, while playing guitar at the train station. Katie leaves suddenly, and forgets her notebook, which Charlie keeps. He returns the next day, and gives it to Katie when she shows up to retrieve it. He explains to her how he got his injury that prevented him from getting a scholarship to the University of California, Berkeley before kissing her on one of the boats.
However, Katie has yet to tell Charlie of her condition, despite her father warning her to. Charlie takes Katie out for a night to Seattle, where they go to a live show, and Charlie makes Katie play one of her songs on one of the city's streets. Once home, they go swimming out in the lake, and dry off with a fire on the beach. Charlie mentions watching the sunrise, and Katie freaks out, running home in fear. Charlie picks her up and quickly drives her there, but she does not make it in time, and is exposed to the sunlight for a couple of seconds. Katie runs inside, while Morgan and Jack come home soon after. Charlie still is standing confused at the front door, and Morgan explains that Katie has xeroderma pigmentosum. Once the doctors run some tests, Katie's doctor comes to the conclusion that Katie's brain is contracting, and it's only a matter of time before she dies.
Katie begins to experience twitches in her finger, which prevents her from playing the guitar. She also ignores Charlie's messages as she does not want to hurt him. Jack eventually convinces Katie to speak to Charlie, who still wants to be with Katie, and does not care about the medical condition. Katie goes to Charlie's swim meet with the Berkeley coach, and they hang out at the house with Morgan and Jack. Charlie takes Katie out one night, and surprises her by booking a recording session, where she sings a song she wrote for him. Soon after, while hanging out at her house, Charlie mentions that he has to visit the boat for the last time, which he has been hired to take care of the whole summer. Katie, fearing that she is going to die, eventually remembers the time Charlie told her that he wished they could sail together, and convinces Jack to let her go with Charlie, despite it being the day. Katie sails with Charlie, feels the sunlight, and spend her final moments with him, dying soon after.
Mildred Pierce (1945)
Black & White
Mother tries to protect spoiled daughter after she murders her husband
Mildred Pierce
"While the novel is told by a third-person narrator in strict chronological order, the film uses voice-over narration (the voice of Mildred). The story is framed by Mildred's interrogation by police after they discover the body of her second husband, Monte Beragon. The film, in noir fashion, opens with Beragon (Zachary Scott) having been shot. He murmurs the name "Mildred" before he dies. The police tell Mildred (Joan Crawford) that they believe the murderer is her first husband, Bert Pierce (Bruce Bennett). Bert has already been interrogated and has confessed to the crime. Mildred protests that he is too kind and gentle to commit murder, and goes on to relate her life story in flashback.
Mildred was married to Bert Pierce, who is presently unemployed. Bert had been a real estate partner of Wally Fay (Jack Carson). Mildred has been supporting her family by baking and selling pies and cakes. Bert accuses Mildred of caring more about their daughters, and making them her priority instead of her husband. Mildred admits this, and the two decide to separate.
Wally propositions Mildred the moment he learns that she and Bert separated. Mildred retained custody of her two daughters, the 16-year-old Veda (Ann Blyth), a bratty social climber and aspiring pianist, and 10-year-old Kay (Jo Anne Marlowe), a tomboy. Mildred's principal goal is to provide for Veda, who longs for possessions that her mother can't afford, and social status above that of her family. She is ashamed of her mother's work as a baker.
Mildred searches for a job, but is hampered by her lack of employable skills. She has never worked outside her home except for her small baking business. The best she can find is as a waitress -- a fact she hides from Veda. One day, Veda gives their maid, Lottie (Butterfly McQueen), Mildred's waitress uniform, with full knowledge that it's Mildred's. Mildred confronts Veda and is forced to admit she is a waitress. Veda treats her with derision and makes it clear that she is ashamed of her mother.
Bert arrives to take his daughters for his weekend visit. Kay contracts pneumonia on the trip and dies. Mildred channels her grief into work and throws herself into opening a new restaurant. With the help of her new friend and former supervisor, Ida (Eve Arden), Mildred's new restaurant is a success. Wally helps Mildred buy the property, and she expands into a chain of "Mildred's" throughout Southern California.
Mildred continues to smother Veda in affection and worldly goods. Veda, despite her mother's love and lavish gifts, remains spoiled, selfish, disrespectful and expresses her scorn of Mildred's common background and choice of profession. Veda's obsession with money and materialistic possessions only increases.
Veda secretly marries a well-to-do young man for his money and position, but expresses unhappiness about her marriage. Mildred and Wally agree to help her get out of the mess she's made, but Veda demands ten thousand dollars from her husband and claims she's pregnant. Her husband's family agrees, but she smugly confesses to Mildred that she lied about her pregnancy just to get the money. Mother and daughter argue, exchanging insults. Mildred tears up the check, is slapped by Veda, and throws Veda out of the house. Mildred decides to go on a series of vacations in order to forget what happened with Veda, but eventually returns home.
Bert invites Mildred out for the evening, but takes her to a club where Veda is performing as a lounge singer. Bert says he couldn't bear to tell Mildred what their daughter was doing and had to show her. Mildred begs Veda to come home, but Veda sneers and says her mother can never give her the lifestyle she wants.
Desperate to reconcile with her daughter, Mildred coaxes Monte Beragon into a loveless marriage in order to improve her social status. She knows Monte is a playboy with high social standing and an elegant mansion, but is virtually bankrupt. Monte's price for marriage is a one-third share of Mildred's business, so that he can settle his debts. Mildred agrees, and Veda, eager to live out her dream as a debutante, pretends to reconcile with her mother.
Beragon lives the life of a playboy and takes Veda along for the ride. Mildred continues to support everyone financially, but ends up losing her business because of Monte's debts. She goes to confront Monte at his beach house, and finds her daughter in his arms. Veda scornfully tells Mildred that Monte loves her and will leave Mildred.
Mildred runs out to her car in tears. Monte shouts that he never promised to marry Veda, and wouldn't lower himself to wed a tramp like her. A showdown ensues, and Veda shoots Monte. Mildred hears the gunshots from her car.
Veda begs her mother to help her one more time, tearfully proclaiming her love and penitence. Mildred refuses to rescue her daughter this time, and calls the police, but can't go through with it.
The detectives bring Veda into the interrogation room and explain they've trapped Mildred all along. They knew Veda committed the murder, and lead her off to jail. Mildred tells Veda "I'm sorry; I tried" but Veda, in typical careless fashion says "Don't worry about me; I'll get by" and is led away to be prosecuted. Mildred leaves the station to find Bert waiting for her.
Mile 22 (2018)
Color
CIA agent transports Indonsian agent to an airfield for extraction before enemy closes in
Mile 22
"CIA agent and former U.S. Marine war veteran, James Silva, leads a Special Activities Division team code-named Overwatch to raid a Russian FSB safe house in the United States. Under the remote supervision of James Bishop and his team, the mission is to locate and destroy shipments of caesium before the highly radioactive substance can be weaponized. In the ensuing firefight, most of the Russians and Overwatch operative Greg Vickers are killed, but critical intelligence on the caesium is destroyed. Silva executes the last survivor, a teenager who warns him that he is making a mistake.
Sixteen months later, in the Southeast Asian country of Indocarr, police officer Li Noor surrenders himself at the US Embassy to negotiate for passage out of the country in exchange for information. Noor is revealed to be the asset of Overwatch agent Alice Kerr and reveals he possesses a disc containing information on the caesium, and is able to negotiate passage out of the country in exchange for unlocking the disc, which is programmed to self destruct within eight hours. Ambassador Dorothy Brady is visited by the country's Deputy Foreign Minister and state intelligence agent Axel, with the two demanding that Noor be handed over as he is wanted for espionage. Meanwhile, Noor fends off an assassination attempt by disguised government agents in the embassy infirmary using his skills as a former member of the elite tactical squad.
Wanting access to the intel, Silva's team is instructed to take Noor to an airplane at an airstrip 22 miles away, being provided with remote assistance from Bishop's team in Colombia. En route they are attacked by a group of men on motorcycles, who use a brief camera blackout to plant a bomb on one of the vehicles. During the ensuing gunfight, operative Sam Snow is mortally injured, and sacrifices herself to buy the group time. Taking cover in a restaurant, they are again attacked by Axel's men, in which Silva is saved by Noor and operative William “Dougie” Douglas is seriously injured. The group retreats into an apartment complex, and Douglas sacrifices himself by putting down cover fire. Inside the building, Alice becomes separated from Silva and Noor, but is able escape harm by using booby-trapped grenades and is later saved by Noor. Axel attempts to stop their car from reaching the airstrip, but is killed by Bishop's team via a drone strike. Arriving just before the plane takes off, Noor and Alice board the aircraft, with Alice having been given time off to see her estranged daughter. Noor provides Overwatch with the passcode to access the disk, with the intel appearing to be legitimate locations of the caesium.
Noticing that the password "rozhdestvo111" matches the address of the FSB safehouse at the start of the film which was Christmas 111, Bishop comes to the conclusion Noor has betrayed them, and is actually acting as a triple agent for the Russian government. The entire mission is revealed to have been compromised, with a team on board a Beriev A-50, led by Senior Lieutenant Aleksander Aslanov, having breached the CIA's secure communications and caused the earlier blackout. The teenager Silva killed at the safehouse is shown to be Anatole Kuragin, the son of high ranking government official Vera Kuragina, who ordered the operation and sought personal revenge against the group. She hired Noor to give Alice the wrong information so they would trust him and activate Overwatch. As Alice realizes Noor's true intentions, he disarms a guard and breaches the cockpit, leaving her fate uncertain. The team in Colombia, having been traced by the Russians, are gunned down, with a critically injured Bishop barely escaping. Having been unable to stop what occurred, Silva tells of his experience during a post-mission debriefing. Returning to his apartment, he puts up a picture of Noor on his wall, vowing revenge.
Milk (2008)
Color
San Francisco politician was murdered by disgruntled city supervisor
Milk
"The film opens with archival footage of police raiding gay bars and arresting patrons during the 1950s and 1960s, followed by Dianne Feinstein's November 27, 1978, announcement to the press that Milk and Moscone had been assassinated. Milk is seen recording his will throughout the film, nine days (November 18, 1978) before the assassinations. The film then flashes back to New York City in 1970, the eve of Milk's 40th birthday and his first meeting with his much younger lover, Scott Smith (James Franco).
Unsatisfied with his life and in need of a change, Milk and Smith decide to move to San Francisco in the hope of finding larger acceptance of their relationship. They open Castro Camera in the heart of Eureka Valley, a working-class neighborhood in the process of evolving into a predominantly gay neighborhood known as The Castro. Frustrated by the opposition they encounter in the once Irish-Catholic neighborhood, Milk utilizes his background as a businessman to become a gay activist, eventually becoming a mentor for Cleve Jones (Emile Hirsch). Early on, Smith serves as Milk's campaign manager, but his frustration grows with Milk's devotion to politics, and he leaves him. Milk later meets Jack Lira (Diego Luna), a sweet-natured but unbalanced young man. As with Smith, Lira cannot tolerate Milk's devotion to political activism, and eventually hangs himself. Milk clashes with the local gay "establishment" which he feels to be too cautious and risk-averse.
After two unsuccessful political campaigns in 1973 and 1975 to become a city supervisor and a third in 1976 for the California State Assembly, Milk finally wins a seat on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 1977 for District 5. His victory makes him the first openly gay man to be voted into major public office in California and in the top three in the entire US. Milk subsequently meets fellow Supervisor Dan White (Brolin), a Vietnam veteran and former police officer and firefighter. White, who is politically and socially conservative, has a difficult relationship with Milk, and develops a growing resentment for Milk when he opposes projects that White proposes.
Milk and White forge a complex working relationship. Milk is invited to, and attends, the christening of White's first child, and White asks for Milk's assistance in preventing a psychiatric hospital from opening in White's district, possibly in exchange for White's support of Milk's citywide gay rights ordinance. When Milk fails to support White because of the negative effect it will have on troubled youth, White feels betrayed, and ultimately becomes the sole vote against the gay rights ordinance. Milk also launches an effort to defeat Proposition 6, an initiative on the California state ballot in November 1978. Sponsored by John Briggs (Denis O'Hare), a conservative state legislator from Orange County, Proposition 6 seeks to ban gays and lesbians (in addition to anyone who supports them) from working in California's public schools. It is also part of a nationwide conservative movement that starts with the successful campaign headed by Anita Bryant and her organization Save Our Children in Dade County, Florida to repeal a local gay rights ordinance.
On November 7, 1978, after working tirelessly against Proposition 6, Milk and his supporters rejoice in the wake of its defeat. The increasingly unstable White favors a supervisor pay raise, but does not get much support, and shortly after supporting the proposition, resigns from the Board. He later changes his mind and asks to be reinstated. Mayor Moscone (Victor Garber) denies his request, after being lobbied by Milk.
On the morning of November 27, 1978, White enters City Hall through a basement window to conceal a gun from metal detectors. He requests another meeting with Moscone, who rebuffs his request for appointment to his former seat. Enraged, White shoots Moscone in his office and then goes to meet Milk, where he guns him down, with the fatal bullet delivered execution style. The film suggests that Milk believed that White might be a closeted gay man.[1]
The last scene is a candlelight vigil held by thousands for Milk and Moscone throughout the streets of the city. Pictures of the actual people depicted in the film, and brief summaries of their lives follow.
Million Dollar Baby (2004)
Color
Boxing coach trains female boxer
Million Dollar Baby
"Margaret "Maggie" Fitzgerald, a waitress from a Missouri town in the Ozarks, shows up in the Hit Pit, a run-down Los Angeles gym owned and operated by Frankie Dunn, an old, cantankerous boxing trainer. Maggie asks Frankie to train her, but he initially refuses. Maggie works out tirelessly each day in his gym, even after Frankie tells her she's "too old" to begin a boxing career at her age. Eddie "Scrap-Iron" Dupris, Frankie's friend and employee--and the film's narrator--encourages and helps her.
Frankie's prize prospect, "Big" Willie Little, signs with successful manager Mickey Mack after becoming impatient with Dunn's rejecting offers for a championship bout. With prodding from Scrap and impressed with her persistence, Frankie reluctantly agrees to train Maggie. He warns her that he will teach her only the basics and then find her a manager. Other than Maggie and his employees, the only person Frankie has contact with is a local priest, with whom he spars verbally at daily Mass.
Before her first fight, Frankie leaves Maggie with a random manager in his gym, much to her dismay; upon being told by Scrap that said manager deliberately put her up against his best girl (coaching the novice to lose) to give her an easy win, Frankie rejoins Maggie in the middle of the bout and coaches her instead to an unforeseen victory. A natural, she fights her way up in the women's amateur boxing division with Frankie's coaching, winning many of her lightweight bouts with first-round knockouts. Earning a reputation for her KOs, Frankie must resort to bribery to get other managers to put their trainee fighters up against her.
Eventually, Frankie risks putting her in the junior welterweight class, where her nose is broken in her first match. Frankie comes to establish a paternal bond with Maggie, who substitutes for his estranged daughter. Scrap, concerned when Frankie rejects several offers for big fights, arranges a meeting for her with Mickey Mack at a diner on her 33rd birthday. Out of loyalty, she declines. Frankie begrudgingly accepts a fight for her against a top-ranked opponent in the UK, where he bestows a Gaelic nickname on her. The two travel Europe as she continues to win; Maggie eventually saves up enough of her winnings to buy her mother a house, but she berates Maggie for endangering her government aid, claiming that everyone back home is laughing at her.
Frankie is finally willing to arrange a title fight. He secures Maggie a $1 million match in Las Vegas, Nevada against the WBA women's welterweight champion, Billie "The Blue Bear", a German ex-prostitute who has a reputation as a dirty fighter. Overcoming a shaky start, Maggie begins to dominate the fight, but after a round has ended, Billie knocks her out with an illegal sucker punch from behind after the bell has sounded to indicate the end of the round. Before Frankie can pull the corner stool out of the way which was inappropriately placed on its side by Frankie's assistant, Maggie lands hard on it, breaking her neck and leaving her a ventilator-dependent quadriplegic.
Frankie is shown experiencing the first three of the five stages of grief: first seeking multiple doctors' opinions in denial, then blaming Scrap in anger and later trying to bargain with God through prayer.
In a medical rehabilitation facility, Maggie looks forward to a visit from her family, but they arrive accompanied by an attorney and only after having first visited Disneyland and Universal Studios Hollywood; their only concern is to transfer Maggie's assets to them. She orders them to leave, threatening to sell the house and inform the IRS of her mother's welfare fraud if they ever show their faces again.
As the days pass, Maggie develops bedsores and undergoes an amputation for an infected leg. She asks a favor of Frankie: to help her die, declaring that she got everything she wanted out of life. A horrified Frankie refuses, and Maggie later bites her tongue repeatedly in an attempt to bleed to death, but the medical staff saves her and takes measures to prevent further suicide attempts. The priest Frankie has harassed for 23 years, Father Horvak, warns him that he would never find himself again if he were to go through with Maggie's wishes.
Frankie sneaks in one night, unaware that Scrap is watching from the shadows. Just before administering a fatal injection of adrenaline, he finally tells Maggie the meaning of a nickname he gave her, Mo Chuisle (spelled incorrectly in the film as "mo cuishle"): Irish for "my darling, and my blood" (literally, "my pulse"). He never returns to the gym. Scrap's narration is revealed to be a letter to Frankie's daughter, informing her of her father's true character. The last shot of the film shows Frankie sitting at the counter of a diner where Maggie once took him.
Minority Report (2002)
Color
Crimes can be predicted before they're committed
Minority Report
"In April 2054, Washington, DC's PreCrime police stops murderers before they act, reducing the murder rate to zero. Murders are predicted using three mutated humans, called "Precogs", who "previsualize" crimes by receiving visions of the future. Would-be murderers are imprisoned in their own happy virtual reality. The Federal government is on the verge of adopting the controversial program.
Since the disappearance of his son Sean, PreCrime Captain John Anderton has both separated from his wife Lara and become a drug addict. While United States Department of Justice agent Danny Witwer is auditing the program, the Precogs generate a new prediction, saying Anderton will murder a man named Leo Crow in 36 hours. Anderton does not know Crow, but flees the area as Witwer begins a manhunt. Anderton seeks the advice of Dr. Iris Hineman, the creator of PreCrime technology. She reveals that sometimes, one of the Precogs, usually Agatha, has a different vision than the other two, a "minority report" of a possible alternate future; this has been kept a secret as it would damage the system's credibility. Anderton resolves to recover the minority report to prove his innocence.
Anderton goes to a black market doctor for a risky eye transplant so as to avoid the citywide optical recognition system. He returns to PreCrime and kidnaps Agatha, shutting down the system, as the Precogs operate as a group mind. Anderton takes Agatha to a hacker to extract the minority report of Leo Crow, but none exists; instead, Agatha shows him an image of the murder of Ann Lively, a woman who was drowned by a hooded figure in 2049.
Anderton and Agatha go to Crow's hotel room as the 36-hour time nears, finding numerous photos of children, including Sean's. Crow arrives and Anderton prepares to kill him, accusing him of being a serial child killer. Agatha talks Anderton out of shooting Crow by telling him that he has the ability to choose his future now that he is aware of it. Crow however begs to be killed, having been hired to plant the photos and be killed in exchange for his family's financial well being. Crow grabs Anderton's gun and pushes the trigger, killing himself. Anderton and Agatha flee to Lara's house outside the city for refuge. There they learn Lively was Agatha's drug-addicted mother who sold her to PreCrime. Lively had sobered up and attempted to reclaim Agatha, but was murdered. Anderton realizes he is being targeted for knowing about Lively's existence and her connection to Agatha.
Witwer, studying Crow's death, suspects Anderton is being framed. He examines the footage of Lively's murder and finds there were two attempts on her life, the first having been stopped by PreCrime but the second, occurring minutes later, having succeeded. Witwer reports this to the director and founder of PreCrime, Lamar Burgess, but Burgess responds by killing Witwer using Anderton's gun. With the Precogs still offline, the murder is not detected.
Lara calls Burgess to reveal that Anderton is with her, and Anderton is captured, accused of both murders, and fitted with the brain device that puts him permanently into a dreamlike sleep. As his body is deposited into the prison, the warden tells him, "that all your dreams come true”.
Agatha is reconnected to the PreCrime system. While attempting to comfort Lara, Burgess accidentally reveals himself as Lively's murderer. Lara frees Anderton from stasis, and Anderton exposes Burgess at a PreCrime celebratory banquet by playing the full video of Agatha's vision of Burgess killing Lively. A new report is generated at PreCrime: Burgess will kill Anderton. Burgess corners Anderton, and explains that as he could not afford to let Lively take Agatha back without impacting PreCrime, he arranged to kill Lively following an actual attempt on her life, so that the murder would appear as an echo to the technician within PreCrime and be ignored. Anderton points out Burgess's dilemma: If Burgess kills Anderton, he will be imprisoned for life, but PreCrime will be validated; if he spares Anderton, PreCrime will be discredited and shut down. Anderton reveals the ultimate flaw of the system: once people are aware of their future, they are able to change it. Burgess shoots himself.
After Burgess's death, the PreCrime system is shut down. All the prisoners are unconditionally pardoned and released, although they are kept under occasional surveillance. Anderton and Lara are soon to have a new child together. The Precogs are sent to an undisclosed location to live their lives in peace.
Miracle Mile (1989)
Color
Resident picks up pulic phone to hear message warning of pending nuclear detonation
Miracle Mile
"The film takes place in a single day and night. The film opens with the two main characters, Harry (Anthony Edwards) and Julie (Mare Winningham), meeting at the La Brea Tar Pits and immediately falling in love. After spending the afternoon together, they make a date to meet after her shift ends at midnight at a local coffee shop, but a power failure means Harry's alarm fails to wake him and Julie leaves for home.
When Harry awakes that night he realizes what's happened and rushes to the shop, arriving at 4 AM. Harry tries to call Julie on a pay phone, but only reaches her answering machine, where he leaves an apology. When the phone rings moments later he picks it up, hearing a frantic man telling his dad that nuclear war is about to break out in less than seventy minutes. When Harry finally gets a chance to talk and asks who's calling, the caller realizes he has dialed the wrong area code. Harry then hears him plead with Harry to call his father and apologize for some past wrong before he is being confronted and presumably shot. An unfamiliar voice picks up the phone and tells Harry to forget everything he heard "...and go back to sleep" before disconnecting.
Harry, confused and not entirely convinced of the reality of the information, wanders back into the diner and tells the other customers what he's heard. As the patrons scoff at his story, one of them, a mysterious businesswoman (Denise Crosby) named Landa, calls a number of politicians in Washington on her wireless phone and finds that they are all visiting South America at the same time. Convinced of the danger, she immediately charters several private jets out of LAX to a compound in a region in Antarctica with no rainfall. Most of the customers and staff leave with her in the owner's delivery van. Harry, unwilling to leave without Julie, arranges to meet them at the airport and jumps from the truck.
Harry is helped and hindered by various strangers, who are initially unaware of the impending apocalypse. In the process he inadvertently causes several deaths and is deeply shaken by that, yet still he goes on. When he finds Julie and later tells her, she notes that there is no confirmation of the attack. Desperate to reach the airport, Harry finds a helicopter pilot (Brian Thompson) and tells him to meet them on the roof of the Mutual Benefit Life Building. Julie has also tried to find a pilot on her own, and in the moments it takes to find her, Los Angeles descends into violent chaos. There is still no confirmation any of this is real, and Harry wonders if he has sparked a massive false panic in the example of Chicken Little. However, when he uses a phone booth to contact the father of the man who called him (using the number of the booth and the area code the man was trying to use) he reaches a man who says his son is a soldier. Harry tries to pass on the message he was given, but the man hangs up before Harry finishes.
When they reach the top of the Mutual Benefit building they find the pad empty, and the roof manned only by a yuppie (Kurt Fuller) taking every drug he can find. Any doubts about a false alarm are eliminated when a warhead can be seen streaking across the sky. As they fear the end, the helicopter suddenly returns with the pilot badly wounded but fulfilling his promise to come back for them. After they lift off from the roof, several warheads hit and the EMP from the detonations causes the helicopter to crash into the La Brea Tar Pits.
As the helicopter sinks and the cabin fills with natural asphalt tar, Harry tries to comfort Julie by saying someday they will be found and they will probably be put in a museum, or maybe they will take a direct hit and be turned into diamonds. Accepting her fate, Julie seems to take some hope in this, and the movie fades out as the tar fills the compartment. A final explosion seems to imply a direct hit has taken place.
Miss Evers' Boys (1997)
Color
Tuskeegee Syphilis Experiment allowed black test subjects to die in spite of care
Miss Evers' Boys
The film tells the story of the Tuskegee experiment, a U.S. Federal Government secret medical experiment on poor African American men in the years 1932-1972, designed to study the effects of untreated syphilis. The story is told from the perspective of the small town nurse Eunice Evers (Alfre Woodard) who is well aware of the lack of treatment, but feels her role is to console the involved men, many of whom are her close friends. In 1932 she is sent to help Dr. Brodus (Joe Morton) and Dr. Douglas (Craig Sheffer) to help them "treat" rural black men in the town of Tuskegee, Alabama. She is sent around town to tell the people that the government is funding their treatment for free, but unbeknownst to them the government will soon run a study that requires them to go without any form of real treatment. She then comes across three men in an abandoned schoolhouse: Willie Johnson (Obba Babatunde), Bryan Hodman, and "Big" Ben Washington, who agree for treatment. The study selected 412 men infected with the disease and promised them free medical treatment for what was called "bad blood". The movie shows Miss Evers' as suggesting the term as a strategy to withhold information about syphilis from the men. The men received fake long-term treatment, which involved giving them mercury and placebos even after penicillin was discovered as a cure. When Caleb Humphries (one of the test subjects who left the experiment) joins the Army during World War II and is treated and cured by penicillin, he returns to tell how he was cured and tries to get help for his friend. But none of the hospitals would help because the test subjects were placed on a list that stated they should not receive medical treatment because they were participants in the experiment. The survivors of the study did receive treatment and financial compensation after the US Senate investigated in the 1970s.
Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation (2015)
Color
IMF agent Ethan Hunt is on the run from the CIA, following the IMF's dissolution
Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation
"After intercepting nerve gas being sold to Chechen terrorists in Minsk, IMF agent Ethan Hunt is determined to prove the existence of the Syndicate, a criminal consortium the CIA does not believe exists. As CIA Director Alan Hunley successfully convinces a Senate committee to disband and absorb the IMF, currently without a secretary in charge, into the CIA for its destructive methods and other misconduct, Hunt is captured by the Syndicate at a record shop in London, while their leader, a blond man in glasses, kills the female IMF agent stationed there. Hunt escapes a torture chamber led by Syndicate member Janik "Bone Doctor" Vinter with the help of disavowed MI6 agent and now Syndicate operative Ilsa Faust. IMF Field Operations Director William Brandt, knowing Hunley will try to capture Hunt, warns him to stay undercover. Cut off from the IMF, Hunt follows his only lead: the man in glasses, later identified as former MI6 agent Solomon Lane.
Six months later, Hunt, still a fugitive living in Paris (luring a CIA team to a decoy safe house in Havana), enlists former colleague Benji Dunn to attend the opera Turandot in the Vienna state theater, predicting that an assassination attempt will be made on the Austrian Chancellor at the performance, and that Lane will also be there. The two stop three snipers, including Faust, but the Chancellor is ultimately killed by a car bomb, and Lane is still not found. Faust drops hints of Lane's plan to Hunt before leaving. After learning the Syndicate is working against "the old world order" by performing several terrorist acts, Dunn stays with Hunt instead of reporting back to the CIA, despite knowing his action amounts to treason.
Hunt, blamed for the Chancellor's death, is pursued by the CIA's Special Activities Division. Brandt contacts Luther Stickell to find Hunt before the CIA does. Stickell tracks Hunt, Dunn, and Faust to Casablanca, where they break into and acquire a secret Syndicate file from a secure building. Faust flees with the data, evading both Hunt and Syndicate members, although Hunt kills the pursuing agents. Dunn reveals he copied the data onto a second USB drive, as Stickell and Brandt catch up to them.
Faust returns to London and attempts to use the file to quit her mission to infiltrate the Syndicate, but her MI6 handler, Atlee, compels her to continue, whilst discreetly wiping her drive. Meanwhile, Hunt learns that the data is an encrypted British government red box that requires the Prime Minister's biometrics to unlock it. They reach London, where Lane's men abduct Dunn, and use Dunn and Faust to blackmail Hunt into decrypting and delivering the data to them. Hunt agrees to the ultimatum, despite Brandt's protests.
As part of Hunt's plan, Brandt reveals their location to Hunley. During a charity auction in Blenheim Palace near Oxford, Hunley, Brandt, and Atlee take the PM to a secure room to protect him from Hunt. Brandt has the PM confirm the existence of the Syndicate, a project proposed by Atlee to perform missions without oversight, effectively making the PM "judge, jury and executioner with zero accountability", before Atlee reveals himself as Hunt in a mask and secures the PM's biometrics, allowing Stickell to decrypt the file. When the real Atlee arrives, Hunt forces him to admit that he began the Syndicate without permission and that he has been covering up its existence after Lane hijacked the project and went rogue, turning the Syndicate against him and MI6. Upon discovering the file contains access to ?2.4 billion in various bank accounts, serving as the Syndicate's would-be operating budget, Hunt destroys the data.
At the meeting, outside the Tower of London, he tells Lane he memorized the data and offers himself in exchange for Dunn and Faust. Dunn escapes after the bomb on him is disarmed, while Hunt and Faust are chased through the Tower of London complex by Lane's men. Faust kills Vinter in a knife fight, while Hunt confronts Lane and lures him into a sealed, bulletproof glass cell where he is gassed unconscious and taken into custody. Having witnessed an IMF operation's success firsthand, Hunley later returns with Brandt to the Senate committee and convinces them to restore the IMF by covering for Hunt and his team. Outside after the meeting, Brandt congratulates Hunley, who is now the new IMF Secretary.
Mississippi Masala (1992)
Color
Daughter of Uganda immigrant falls for African American entrepreneur
Mississippi Masala
"In 1972, dictator Idi Amin enacts the policy of the forceful removal of Asians from Uganda. Jay (Roshan Seth) his wife, Kinnu (Sharmila Tagore), and their daughter, Mina (Sarita Choudhury), a family of third-generation Ugandan Indians residing in Kampala reluctantly and tearfully leave their home behind and relocate. After spending a few years in England, Jay, Kinnu, and Mina settle in Greenwood, Mississippi to live with family members who own a chain of motels there. Despite the passage of time, Jay is unable to come to terms with his sudden departure from his home country, and cannot fully embrace the American lifestyle. He dreams of one day returning with his family to Kampala. The effects of Amin's dictatorship have caused Jay to become distrustful towards black people.
Mina, on the other hand, has fully assimilated to the American culture and has a diverse group of friends. She feels stifled by her parents' wish to only associate with members of their own community. She falls in love with Demetrius (Denzel Washington), a local African American self-employed carpet cleaner. Mina is aware that her parents will not approve and keeps the relationship somewhat secret. The pair decide to spend a romantic clandestine weekend together in Biloxi, where they are spotted by members of the Indian community, and the gossip begins to spread. Jay is outraged and ashamed, and forbids Mina from ever seeing Demetrius again. Mina also faces both subtle and outright dislike from the black community. Demetrius confronts Jay, who reveals his experiences and racist treatment in Uganda, causing Demetrius to call out Jay on his hypocrisy. Ultimately, the two families cannot fully come to terms with the interracial pair, who flee the state together in Demetrius's van.
Jay's wish finally becomes reality when he travels to Kampala to attend a court proceeding on the disposition of his previously confiscated house. While in the country however, he sees how much it has changed and realises that he no longer identifies with the land of his birth. Jay returns to America and relinquishes his long-nurtured dream of returning to Uganda, the place he considered home.
Mistress America (2015)
Color
A lonely college freshman's life is turned upside-down by her impetuous stepsister
Mistress America
"College freshman Tracy Fishko is having trouble adjusting to college life at Barnard. She eventually meets and befriends a fellow student, Tony, and even develops a crush on him, but when he begins dating another girl called Nicolette, she feels alone again. On her mother's advice, she contacts her soon-to-be stepsister Brooke, who also lives in New York.
Tracy is immediately entranced by Brooke and her lifestyle. After spending a whirlwind night with her, she pens a short story and submits it to her college's prestigious literary magazine. Tracy continues to spend time with Brooke, who reveals her plans for a small and eclectic restaurant called Mom's after her dead mother; the restaurant is being financed by her partner. Upon returning home one night, however, Brooke finds herself locked out of her apartment and discovers that her boyfriend has withdrawn financial support. With massive bills for the restaurant coming due, Brooke visits a psychic with Tracy. Tracy interprets the psychic's words as meaning that Brooke should ask for the money from her former friend Mamie-Claire, with whom she had a falling-out after Mamie-Claire stole her idea for a business and married her former fiance.
Tracy has Tony drive her and Brooke to Mamie-Claire's home in Connecticut, with Nicolette joining them to make sure that Tony and Tracy are not having an affair. At Mamie-Claire's home, Brooke and the others crash Mamie-Claire's book party, and Brooke pitches her restaurant to Mamie-Claire, hoping she will invest. Mamie-Claire, who confides to Tracy that she did steal Brooke's T-shirt idea to become rich, insists that she will have to talk to her husband, Dylan. While waiting for Dylan's arrival, Brooke takes a call from her father, who informs her that his wedding with Tracy's mother has been called off. When Dylan comes home, rather than dismiss Brooke, he asks her to pitch her restaurant. Brooke stumbles, but Tracy, still enthused by the project, helps her to pitch it. Dylan tells Brooke he will give her the money but insists that, rather than invest in it, he will give it to her to cover the debt she will have from dissolving the business. Seeing that Tracy is upset by this, and also the toxic effect the offer is immediately having on Dylan and Mamie-Claire's relationship, Brooke ultimately refuses the money. Meanwhile, Nicolette, who witnessed Tracy kissing Tony, confronts Tracy about her short story. The entire party reads it, and Brooke becomes offended by the brutal way in which Tracy characterized her. She informs her that they are no longer about to become sisters, as their parents no longer want to marry, and tells Tracy that she will sue. Upset, Tracy, sitting outside the house, takes a hit on the bong that Tony had earlier fashioned from an apple with her initial emblazoned on it, smoking weed that he had presumably stolen from Dylan's freezer.
Tracy's story is accepted by the university's prestigious literary society, and for a while she joins the group. Still finding herself unable to fit in, she decides to start her own literary club, inviting both Tony and Nicolette to apply for membership.
Finding herself alone on Thanksgiving, Tracy goes to Brooke's old apartment and finds her packing her things, about to move to Los Angeles. She learns that Brooke was able to cover her debts, as Mamie-Claire gave her what would have been her share of money from the T-shirt business. Brooke also tells her that she has passed the SAT and that she has been accepted into college and is considering going. Tracy invites Brooke to have Thanksgiving dinner with her. The two eat out at a restaurant, as the film concludes with Tracy, as narrator, musing: "Being a beacon of hope for lesser people is a lonely business.
Moby Dick (1956)
Color
Captain puts his crew in peril to seek revenge against whale that almost killed him
Moby Dick
Set in 19th-century New England, the story follows the whaling ship Pequod and its crew. Leading them is Captain Ahab, who was almost killed in an encounter with the "great white whale", Moby Dick. Now he is out for revenge. With the crew that has joined him, Ahab is out to destroy the huge sea mammal, but his obsession with vengeance is so great that he cannot turn back, eventually leading to the death of Ahab and all of his crew, save his newest able seaman, Ishmael.
Molly's Game (2017)
Color
Olympic skier turns high-stakes poker diva
Molly's Game
"Molly Bloom is a world-class mogul skier with Olympic aspirations, the result of years of enforced training from her overbearing father. In a qualifying event for the 2002 Winter Olympics, she is severely injured, ending her career.
Instead of following her original plan of attending law school, Molly decides to take a year off and move to Los Angeles. Once she arrives, she becomes a bottle service waitress at a club, where she meets Dean, an ostentatious but unsuccessful real estate developer. She becomes his office manager, and he soon involves her in running his underground poker games. Many famous and wealthy individuals, such as movie stars, investment bankers, and sports players, are involved in Dean's game. Molly earns large sums of money on tips alone.
Molly is initially uninformed on poker topics but quickly learns how to appeal to the players to gain tips. In particular, she hopes to please the most successful player, Player X, by attracting new players to the game. Dean, upon seeing that Molly is becoming increasingly independent in running the games, attempts to control her, and then he fires her. Molly, having gained contacts through years of running the game, decides to create her own poker games. She rents a penthouse at a hotel and hires a staff to help her run games. Additionally, she contacts employees at clubs and casinos to try and spread word about her poker games. Player X, along with many other players, decides to leave Dean's games to play at Molly's game. Molly becomes increasingly successful, gaining more money while being pressured by Player X to raise the stakes for her games. Harlan Eustice, a skilled, conservative, and successful player, joins Molly's game. One night, after accidentally losing a hand to the notorious worst player in Molly's circle, Harlan becomes increasingly compulsive, suffering heavy losses (later, Molly finds out that Player X, who enjoys ruining people's lives more than the game itself, has been funding Harlan to keep him in the game). After Molly berates him for his unethical actions, Player X decides to change venue for his games, and the other players join him, leaving Molly.
Molly moves to New York, with the hope of beginning a new underground poker game. After reaching out to many wealthy New Yorkers, Molly finds enough players for several weekly games. Despite continuous success, she fears being unable to cover her losses when players cannot pay. Her dealer convinces her to begin taking a percentage of large pots, allowing her to recoup her potential losses but making her game an illegal gambling operation. One of her Los Angeles players is indicted for running a Ponzi scheme; Molly is investigated and questioned as to who attended her games. At this time, Molly becomes increasingly addicted to drugs, as the games have increasingly taken their toll. Her players also begin to include wealthy individuals from the Russian mafia, among others. She is approached by several Italian mafia members who offer their services to extort money from non-paying players. After she declines, she is attacked in her home, where she is held at gunpoint and her mother's life is threatened. As she is about to return to her poker games, the FBI conducts a raid, a result of Douglas Downey, one of her players, acting as an informant. Molly's assets are seized, and she returns home to live with her mother.
Two years later, Molly has moved out and published a book where she names a few individuals that played in her games. She is arrested by the FBI and indicted for involvement in illegal gambling with the mafia. She enlists the help of Charlie Jaffey, a high-profile and expensive lawyer in New York, who agrees to help after he learns that she has been protecting innocent people who were affected by her poker games. While she is in New York awaiting trial, her father, Larry, seeks her out and attempts to reconcile with her. He admits that he was overbearing and that he treated Molly differently than her brothers because she had known about his affairs. Charlie reads Molly's book and becomes interested in helping her case, as he feels she has not committed serious enough wrongdoing to merit a prison term. Charlie negotiates a deal for Molly to receive no sentence and for her money to be returned in exchange for her hard drives and digital records from gambling. Molly declines this deal, fearing that the information about her players would be released, and she pleads guilty. The judge, deciding that she had committed no serious crimes, sentences her to community service, probation, and a $200,000 fine.
Money Monster (2016)
Color
Televised kidnapping of financial advisor
Money Monster
"Flamboyant television financial expert Lee Gates is in the midst of the latest edition of his show, Money Monster. Less than 24 hours earlier, IBIS Clear Capital's stock inexplicably cratered, apparently due to a glitch in a trading algorithm, costing investors $800 million. Lee planned to have IBIS CEO Walt Camby appear for an interview about the crash, but Camby unexpectedly left for a business trip to Geneva.
Midway through the show, a deliveryman wanders onto the set, pulls a gun and takes Lee hostage, forcing him to put on a vest laden with explosives. The man reveals that his name is Kyle Budwell, who invested $60,000--his entire life savings--in IBIS after Lee endorsed the company on the show. Kyle was wiped out along with the other investors. Unless he gets some answers, he will blow up Lee before killing himself. Once police are notified, they discover that the receiver to the bomb's vest is located over Lee's kidney. The only way to destroy the receiver--and with it, Kyle's leverage--is to shoot Lee and hope he survives.
With the help of longtime director Patty Fenn, Lee tries to calm Kyle and find Camby for him, though Kyle is not satisfied when both Lee and IBIS chief communications officer Diane Lester offer to compensate him for his financial loss. He also is not satisfied by Diane's insistence that the algorithm is to blame. Diane is not satisfied by her own explanation, either, and defies colleagues to contact a programmer who created the algorithm, Won Joon. Reached in Seoul, Joon insists that an algorithm could not take such a large, lopsided position unless someone meddled with it.
Lee appeals to his TV viewers for help, seeking to recoup the lost investment, but is dejected by their response. New York City police find Kyle's pregnant girlfriend Molly and allow her to talk to Kyle through a video feed. When she learns that he lost everything, she viciously berates him before the police cut the feed. Lee, seemingly taking pity on Kyle, agrees to help his captor discover what went wrong.
Once Camby finally returns, Diane flips through his passport, discovering that he did not go to Geneva but to Johannesburg. With this clue, along with messages from Camby's phone, Patty and the Money Monster team contact a group of Icelandic hackers to seek the truth. After a police sniper takes a shot at Lee and misses, he and Kyle resolve to corner Camby at Federal Hall National Memorial, where Camby is headed according to Diane. They head out with one of the network's cameramen, Lenny, plus the police and a mob of fans and jeerers alike. Kyle accidentally shoots and wounds producer Ron Sprecher when Ron throws Lee a new earpiece. Kyle and Lee finally confront Camby with video evidence obtained by the hackers.
It turns out that Camby bribed a South African miners' union, planning to have IBIS make an $800 million investment in a platinum mine while the union was on strike. The strike lowered the mine's owners stock, allowing Camby to buy it at a low price. If Camby's plan had succeeded, IBIS would have generated a multibillion-dollar profit when work resumed at the mine and the stock of the mine's owner rose again. The gambit backfired when the union stayed on the picket line. Camby attempted to bribe the union leader, Moshe Mambo, in order to stop the strike, but Mambo refused and continued the strike, causing IBIS' stock to sink under the weight of its position in the flailing company.
Despite the evidence, Camby refuses to admit his swindle until Kyle takes the explosive vest off Lee and puts it on him. Camby admits to his wrongdoing to Kyle on live camera. Satisfied with the outcome, Kyle throws the detonator away, then much to Lee's dismay gets fatally shot by the police. In the aftermath, the SEC announces that IBIS will be put under investigation, while Camby is charged with violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.
Money Plane (2020)
Color
Thief agrees to pull off big heist to repay $40 Million he owe's the mob for a botched job
Money Plane
"Jack Reese, a professional thief and former gambler, attempts to steal the (fictional) Asger Jorn painting The Disturbing Duckling from an art museum with the help of his crew of Isabella Voltaic, Trey Peterson and Iggy. When Reese enters the museum, he finds out that the painting is no longer there and that he and his team have been compromised. They are forced to flee empty-handed.
Without any other options, Jack goes to confront notorious gang leader Darius "The Rumble" Grouch at his house, who hired Reese and his crew for the heist in the first place. Already in debt to Darius before the botched heist (and under the threat of harm to his family), Reese takes one more job from him to clear his debt: to sneak aboard the "Money Plane," an airborne casino that caters to elite criminals, in order to steal its reserves of cryptocurrency and hard cash. The night before embarking on the heist, Reese asks his best friend Harry Greer to keep an eye on his family while he is gone; Greer also offers to look into how the museum heist got compromised.
Jack and Trey board the plane under the guises of human traffickers Monroe and McGillicuddy while Isabella poses as one of the flight attendants. As the plane takes off, the Concierge and Bookkeeper welcome their guests, explaining the activities and amenities on board while informing them of the plane's zero-tolerance stance on cheating. After several hands of Texas hold 'em poker, Jack leaves Trey in the main gambling room to subdue the pilots and take control of the plane. While Trey improbably wins a series of games on the plane (including Russian roulette and betting on the outcome of a fight between a man and a cobra), Jack establishes contact with Iggy, who is on the ground to facilitate the transfer of the plane's cryptocurrency, as well as taking calls from Darius who demands to be kept in the loop with the mission and reminds Reese of the consequences should the team fail.
Isabella breaks off to secure the money in the plane's vault, getting into a fight with a guard whom she kills before he can blow her cover. Jack calls Harry while in-air, who reveals that the painting Jack's crew failed to steal was already owned by Darius and that they are being set up to fail. In too deep to back out, Jack and the crew elect to keep going with the heist while asking Harry to work on a "fail-safe" measure on the ground.
Trey and Isabella work on securing the server room where the cryptocurrency is stored, and Iggy establishes a secure link between him and the plane to start transferring the cryptocurrency. However, the team on the plane are attacked by two of the Money Plane's guests who caught wind of their actions, and Iggy is ambushed by assassins who are implied to be on Grouch's payroll. Trey and Isabella manage to fight off and kill their attackers, while Iggy is saved by a handgun-toting drone piloted by Harry. However, the servers have been damaged during the fight, forcing them to download the cryptocurrency onto a USB drive, which if used, would alert the Money Plane to the breach.
Harry guns down a team of assassins sent to Jack's home, while the team in the plane decide to not keep any of the money and instead donate it to charitable causes around the world, with special focus on those affected by guests of the Money Plane. Jack makes one final call to Darius, who is angered by the team's betrayal, but is stunned when Jack reveals he has played a clip of Darius stating his identity and his intentions to rob the Money Plane over the plane's radio, sealing his fate. The team escapes the plane via an emergency exit door while letting the cash money fall out of it, while the Money Plane has assassins sent to Darius' house to kill him.
Three months after the Money Plane heist, two warehouse workers in Istanbul open a painting shipping case only to find out that the artwork inside has been stolen and replaced. Back home, it is revealed that Jack and his crew have stolen The Disturbing Duckling and that the price has been driven up to 60 million dollars, which Jack has split up five ways between him, his crew and Harry, ensuring that they all have enough money to retire.
Monster's Ball (2001)
Color
Racist prison guard falls for African American wife of a man he helped execute
Monster's Ball
"Hank Grotowski (Billy Bob Thornton), a widower, and his son, Sonny (Heath Ledger), are corrections officers in a Georgia State Prison. They reside in Jackson with Hank's ailing father, Buck (Peter Boyle), a racist whose wife committed suicide.
Hank as a deputy warden oversees the execution of convicted murderer Lawrence Musgrove (Sean Combs). As explained to Sonny by Hank, at the diner bar the night before, the movie title is what the execution team calls that night's get-together. The proceedings prove too intense for Sonny, who begins to vomit and then collapses as he is leading Lawrence to the electric chair. Hank beats up Sonny in the jail's bathroom afterwards for being so "soft" and ruining a man's last walk. At home, Hank attacks Sonny in his bed and tells him to get out of the house. Sonny grabs a gun, and threatens his dad, who backs off. The confrontation ends in their living room with Hank at gunpoint, lying on the carpet, and Sonny in Buck's customary chair. Sonny asks his father if he hates him. After his father calmly confirms that he does and always has, Sonny responds, "Well, I always loved you," and then shoots himself in the heart. Hank subsequently buries Sonny in the back garden with no real funeral, as Buck says, "He was weak." Hank subsequently quits his job, burns his uniform in the backyard, and locks the door of Sonny's room.
During the years of Lawrence's imprisonment, his wife, Leticia (Halle Berry), has been struggling while raising their son, Tyrell (Coronji Calhoun), who has inherited his father's artistic talent. She goads the boy to the point of abuse over his obesity. Along with her domestic problems, Leticia struggles financially, leading to the loss of the family car and, worse, an eviction notice on her house. In desperate need of money, Leticia takes a job at a diner frequented by Hank. One rainy night, Leticia and Tyrell are walking down a soaked highway when Tyrell is struck by a car. Hank happens to be driving along and sees Leticia and Tyrell. After some hesitation, he picks Leticia and Tyrell up, and takes them to a hospital, but Tyrell dies upon arrival. At the suggestion of the authorities at the hospital, he drives her home. A few days later, Hank gives Leticia a ride home from the diner. They begin talking in the car about their common losses, and she invites him in. Hank finds out that Leticia is Lawrence's widow, though he does not tell her that he participated in her husband's execution. They drown their grief with alcohol and, in a particularly raw and graphic display, have sex as Leticia repeatedly mumbles "Make me feel good!"
Leticia stops by Hank's home with a present for him, but finds that he is out. She meets Buck, who insults her and implies that Hank is only involved with her because he wants to have sex with a black woman. Leticia is hurt and refuses to interact with Hank, so that incident proves to be the last straw for Hank and he decides to send his father to a nursing home. Leticia is evicted from her home for non-payment of rent and Hank invites her to move in with him. She later discovers Hank's involvement in her husband's death when she finds a drawing of Hank done by Lawrence before his death. She erupts, but is there waiting for him when he returns from town with ice cream. The film ends with the two of them eating ice cream together on the back porch, content with each other.
Monster-in-Law (2005)
Color
Son's mother decides to become the world's worst mother-in-law
Monster-in-Law
"Charlie Cantilini (Jennifer Lopez) is a temp/dog walker/yoga instructor and aspiring fashion designer from Venice Beach, California, who meets doctor Kevin Fields (Michael Vartan). At first, she thinks he's gay because of a lie his vindictive ex-girlfriend Fiona (Monet Mazur) told her. But then Kevin asks her out and she believes that she has finally found the right man.
Things start to sour when Kevin introduces Charlie to his mother, Viola (Jane Fonda), a former newscaster who has recently been replaced by a younger woman, causing her to have a meltdown and attack a guest on-air. Loathing Charlie immediately, Viola becomes more distraught when Kevin proposes to her; fearing she'll lose her son the same way she lost her career. She sets out to ruin Kevin and Charlie's relationship, enlisting the help of her loyal assistant Ruby (Wanda Sykes). The two try everything possible to drive Charlie away, even tricking her into eating nuts, which triggers a severe allergic reaction.
Charlie eventually catches onto Viola's plan and fights back by destroying her bedroom and tampering with her anti-psychotic medication. On Charlie's wedding day, Viola turns up wearing a white dress instead of the peach-colored one Charlie specially made for her. This leads to a violent standoff between the two, with Viola refusing to accept Charlie and stating she'll never be good enough for Kevin. Suddenly, Viola's own dreadful mother-in-law, Kevin's grandmother Gertrude (Elaine Stritch), appears and they have an indignant argument. Gertrude's resentment of Viola bears a strong resemblance to Viola's feelings of animosity toward Charlie, who decides to back down as she feels the same thing will happen to them in 30 years.
Charlie exits to tell Kevin that the wedding is off to save his relationship with his mother. But before that can happen, Ruby enters and tells that Viola's efforts against Charlie to make Kevin happy are unwarranted. Viola ultimately realizes that she wants Charlie to stay, and they reconcile. Charlie then explains to Viola that she wants her to stay.
Charlie and Kevin get married and, when Charlie throws her wedding bouquet, Viola catches it. As Charlie and Kevin drive away to their honeymoon, the film ends with Viola and Ruby walking out of the celebration go out to drink.
Moonfall (2022)
Color
NASA executive embarks on mission to save the Earth from colliding with the Moon
Moonfall
"In 2011, astronauts Brian Harper, Jocinda Fowler, and newcomer Marcus are on a Space Shuttle mission to repair a satellite. Suddenly, a mysterious Black Swarm attacks the orbiter, killing Marcus and incapacitating Fowler before Harper can re-enter the shuttle. Although he is initially hailed as a hero for successfully returning the crippled shuttle to Earth, Harper tries to tell his story, which is dismissed by NASA. After an eighteen-month-long investigation, human error is blamed for the incident, and Harper's account remains widely disbelieved. When Fowler fails to defend him during the hearing, Harper is fired from NASA.
Ten years later, conspiracy theorist K.C. Houseman, who believes the Moon is an artificial megastructure, secretly uses time on a research telescope and discovers that the orbit of the Moon is now veering closer to Earth. He attempts to share his findings with NASA, but is unsuccessful in his efforts. He then turns to Harper, who dismisses him, leading Houseman to go public on social media with his discovery. NASA independently discovers the anomaly and mounts a Moon mission using an SLS Block 2 spacecraft to investigate the abnormality. The same alien Swarm that attacked Harper's shuttle a decade earlier reappears, killing all three lunar astronauts after they drop a probe into a kilometers-deep artificial shaft that has opened up on the Moon's surface.
As the lunar orbit continues to deteriorate, the Moon falls closer and closer to Earth, causing cataclysmic disasters such as tsunamis, gravitational abnormalities, and atmospheric dissipation. Fowler, now the deputy director of NASA, learns that Apollo 11 had discovered lunar surface abnormalities during its historic landing, and that a two-minute radio blackout was meant to conceal how the Moon resonated strongly when the spacecraft's fuel tanks were jettisoned, hitting the lunar surface, suggesting that it had a hollow interior. A military program code-named ZX7 had created an EMP device in an attempt to kill the Swarm, but was abandoned for budgetary reasons. Fowler orders the EMP device brought out of storage and brings the retired Space Shuttle Endeavour out of its museum to serve the new mission. Harper, Houseman, and Fowler launch with the EMP, narrowly escaping to orbit as a gigantic tsunami wave destroys Vandenberg Space Force Base.
As the crew enters the interior of the Moon, they discover that the Swarm is siphoning off energy generated by a white dwarf located at the center of the Moon, causing the artificial megastructure's orbit to destabilize as its power source is depleted. Harper learns that the megastructure was constructed by the ancient ancestors of humanity, who were more technologically advanced than their present-day descendants. The Moon was constructed billions of years in the past as a space ark to repopulate humanity, which was being hunted by a rogue artificial intelligence that grew too strong. The Swarm on the Moon is one of those malicious AIs, which responds to electronic activity in the presence of any organic life. As the Moon continues to approach the Earth, the President of the United States gives the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Jenkins, orders to launch a nuclear strike at the Moon. However, the Air Force Chief of Staff, General Doug Davidson, refuses to carry out the strike order, so he can save the lives of his ex-wife (Fowler), as well as both Harper and Houseman, while sacrificing his own life in the process.
Meanwhile, Harper's son Sonny escorts Fowler's son Jimmy, and their nanny Michelle in an attempt to reach Davidson's military bunker in the Colorado mountains. They reach Aspen and reunite with Harper's ex-wife and Sonny's mom Brenda, as well as his step-family. But they are caught in the multiple disasters caused by the rapid destruction wrought by the near proximity of the Moon. As the group makes their way towards the bunker, they fight off other survivors and increasingly deadly natural disasters before reaching the safety of a deep mountain tunnel. Brenda's husband Tom sacrifices himself to save his youngest daughter, suffocating as the Moon strips away the localized atmosphere by its gravitational pull during a close by orbital pass.
Houseman uses the EMP device and their lunar module to lure the Swarm away from their spacecraft before detonating the device. He does so, knowing he will die, while obliterating the AI swarm, allowing Fowler and Harper to escape to the now nearby Earth. With its power and systems restored, the Moon structure begins to return to its regular orbit, bringing an end to all the destruction. Fowler and Harper successfully land their spacecraft in Colorado and are eventually reunited with Sonny, Jimmy, Michelle, and Brenda.
The Moon's operating system, itself an AI being created by humanity's ancient ancestors, reveals that it stored a copy of Houseman's consciousness as he sacrificed himself. Appearing to the reconstructed Houseman as his mother and cat, Fuzz Aldrin, the AI projection remarks that they now need to get to work in repairing the massive destruction wrought upon the Earth.
Moonlight (2016)
Color
Gay youth struggles through adolescence in Miami drug culture
Moonlight
A chronicle of the childhood, adolescence and burgeoning adulthood of a young, African-American, gay man growing up in a rough neighborhood of Miami.
Mother's Day (2016)
Color
Tribute to moms on Mother's Day
Mother's Day
As Mother's Day draws close, a group of seemingly unconnected people in Atlanta come to terms with the relationships they have with their mothers. Sandy (Jennifer Aniston) is a divorced mother of two boys whose ex-husband has recently remarried a younger woman named Tina (Shay Mitchell). Miranda (Julia Roberts) is an accomplished writer who gave up her only child, Kristin (Britt Robertson), for adoption at birth. But as a grown-up Kristin prepares herself for marriage, she begins to contemplate the missing part in her life and is encouraged by her friend, Jesse (Kate Hudson), to go out and find her mother. Meanwhile, Jesse, who never sees her mother, is surprised by her parents when they come to visit and must come to terms with their failing relationship.
Move Over, Darling (1963)
Color
Man remarries after wife disappears at sea, only to have her reappear
Move Over, Darling
"Ellen Wagstaff Arden (Doris Day), a mother of two young girls named Jenny and Didi, was believed to be lost at sea following an airplane accident. Her husband, Nick Arden (James Garner), was one of the survivors.
After five years of searching for her, he decides to move on with his life by having her declared legally dead so he can marry Bianca (Polly Bergen), all on the same day. However, Ellen is alive; she is rescued and returns home that particular day. At first crestfallen, she is relieved to discover from her mother-in-law Grace (Thelma Ritter) that her (ex-) husband's honeymoon has not started yet.
When Nick is confronted by Ellen, he eventually clears things up with Bianca, but he then learns that the entire time Ellen was stranded on the island she was there with another man, the handsome, athletic Stephen Burkett (Chuck Connors) - and that they called each other "Adam" and "Eve."
Nick's mother has him arrested for bigamy and all parties appear before the same judge that married Nick and Bianca earlier that day. Bianca and Ellen request divorces before the judge sends them all away. Bianca leaves Nick, while Ellen storms out, still married to Nick, declared alive again. Ellen returns to Nick's house unsure if her children will recognize her. Her children welcome her home, and so does Nick.
Mr. Brooks (2007)
Color
Saga of the elusive Thumbprint killer
Mr. Brooks
"Earl Brooks (Kevin Costner) is a wealthy, successful businessman recently honored by the Portland, Oregon Chamber of Commerce as "Man of the Year." In his secret life, Brooks is a serial killer, known as the "Thumbprint Killer." Brooks has abstained from murder for the past two years by attending 12 step meetings for addicts to cope with his killing addiction. He feels the compulsion to kill rising again, however, as his alter ego, Marshall (William Hurt) becomes more insistent. Brooks, to satisfy his addiction, kills a couple while they are having sex in their apartment and, as part of his pathosis, leaves each of the victims' bloody thumbprints on a lampshade. Brooks follows his meticulous modus operandi, including fastidious preparation and cleaning up the crime scene, even locking the doors before departing. Marshall then notices that the couple's curtains were open.
Brooks' daughter Jane (Danielle Panabaker) unexpectedly arrives home, having dropped out of college in Palo Alto, California. She visits Brooks at work and mentions that she would like to get a job with his company. The same day, “Mr. Smith” (Dane Cook) turns up at Brooks' work and blackmails him with photographs of Brooks at the most recent murder. He demands that Brooks take him along on a murder; reluctantly, Brooks agrees. Mrs. Brooks (Marg Helgenberger) reveals that Jane dropped out of college because she is pregnant. The Brookses are then visited by detectives from Palo Alto who want to interview Jane about a hatchet murder committed in her former dorm building. Marshall and Brooks realize that Jane committed the murder and consider letting her go to jail to "save her" from becoming like them. Eventually, however, Brooks uses an alternate identity, flies to Palo Alto, and commits a similar murder to make it appear as if a serial killer is loose, thereby exonerating Jane.
Brooks decides that he no longer wants to kill, but knows that he cannot stop himself. Not wanting to be caught and shame his family, Brooks concocts a plan where he will write a note to his family claiming to be terminally ill, and leave, never to return. Brooks researches the background of the police officer chasing the Thumbprint Killer, Detective Tracy Atwood (Demi Moore), and discovers she's in the middle of a messy divorce from Jesse Vialo (Jason Lewis). Brooks decides that Vialo and his lawyer (Reiko Aylesworth) will be Smith's first "victims". At the scene of the Vialo murder, Smith urinates in a fit of panic, leaving his DNA for the police to discover later. While driving away from the scene, Smith pulls a gun on Brooks, which Brooks and Marshall had predicted would happen. Brooks explains his plan to Smith, who agrees to kill Brooks. Brooks takes Smith to a cemetery he owns, and explains that they will find an open grave; Smith will shoot Brooks and then cover him with just enough dirt to mask the body. The next day, a casket will be lowered into the grave and covered, and Brooks' body will never be discovered.
Smith attempts to shoot Brooks, but Brooks reveals that, at some point prior, he had broken into Smith's apartment and bent the firing pin on Smith's pistol, rendering it inoperable on the off-chance that Brooks would change his mind. Brooks' brush with death makes him realize he wants to see his grandchild, and he turns on his would-be murderer, slitting Smith's throat with a shovel. With Smith's urine providing the only DNA evidence of the Thumbprint Killer at a murder scene, Brooks will remain undetected.
Mr. Smith is named as the Thumbprint Killer and Brooks returns to his normal life. Knowing he is in the clear, Brooks calls Detective Atwood, whom he has come to admire, to ask her why she is a police officer. She replies that her wealthy father had wanted a boy, and she wanted to succeed in spite of him. Atwood is unable to trace the call before Brooks hangs up, but she realizes that the Thumbprint Killer is still at large. That night Brooks has a nightmare in which Jane kills him, suggesting that he fears Jane will become like him.
Mr. Church (2016)
Color
Hired cook wins the hearts of family members
Mr. Church
"Charlotte "Charlie" Brooks (Britt Robertson) lives with her single mother Marie Brooks (Natascha McElhone) in a small beat up apartment. She is awakened by cooking that smells like heaven, to find a stranger named Mr. Henry Joseph Church (Eddie Murphy). Charlie doesn't like this mysterious man in her house. Marie agrees with Charlie to get rid of Mr. Church until she finds out he was hired by Marie's deceased ex-lover to take care of her for six months because she has breast cancer and only has six months to live.
Six years later, Marie is still living and Mr. Church has become a fixture in the household. Charlie is a senior in high school and she is now aware of her mother's cancer. Charlie grows distant from her mother and closer to Mr. Church, because of her inability to come to terms with Marie's impending death. Marie lives long enough to see Charlie go to prom with her dream guy Owen (Xavier Samuel), but dies soon after.
Mr. Church stays with Charlie after Marie dies. Charlie gets accepted to Boston University but cannot afford to attend. Mr. Church gives her an envelope containing five thousand dollars for tuition -- the money he saved from coupons Marie gave him. Charlie runs into Owen sometime later and he tells her he is going away to college.
Two years later a pregnant Charlie shows up on Mr. Church's doorstep and asks to live with him. He accepts as long as she keeps out of his business. Charlie notices how Mr. Church comes home drunk and has matches from a place called Jelly's. A drunk Mr. Church finds her snooping, they argue, and he tries to throw her out for breaking his rules. She leaves and runs into her old friend Larson (Christian Madsen) at a store parking lot. A kid on a skate board hits Charlie and knocks her down knocking her unconscious. Larson, who is banned from operating a vehicle due to a previous accident, nevertheless drives her to the hospital just in time. Mr. Church comes to the hospital and takes Charlie back with him. Charlie gives birth to a baby girl named Izzy (Mckenna Grace), and she and Izzy live with Mr. Church. Charlie gets a job as a waitress.
Five years later, Mr. Church becomes sick. Charlie takes him to the doctor, but Mr. Church dies of an enlarged heart. Charlie finds Owen again, and they get back together. Charlie meets the owner of Jelly's and finds out that Mr. Church played the piano there. The film ends with Charlie writing the story of her life with Mr. Church.
Mr. Deeds (2002)
Color
Mr. Deeds inherits an interest in a media empire and is catapulted into new world
Mr. Deeds
"Preston Blake, hoping to be a disc jockey as a young man, slowly worked his way up and founded Blake Media, a major corporation running hundreds of television and radio stations with 50,000 employees. After 82-year-old Blake freezes to death on the summit of Mount Everest with a triumphant smile on his face, a search for his heir begins.
It is found that Blake has a living nephew named Longfellow Deeds (Adam Sandler), who runs a pizzeria in New Hampshire and also writes and attempts to sell greeting cards to Hallmark. Deeds is contacted and brought to New York City by businessman Chuck Cedar (Peter Gallagher), who is temporarily in control of Blake Media. Plans are made for Deeds to sell his shares in the company to Cedar and return home $40 billion richer, but he must remain in New York for a few days while all the legal details are worked out.
The story is major news, and reporter Babe Bennett (Winona Ryder), who works for a tabloid show called Inside Access, has a co-worker pretend to steal her purse in sight of Deeds, because their research indicated that Deeds wanted to meet a girl by 'rescuing' her, the same way his father had met his mother. Deeds does so, as well as mercilessly beats her "robber", and Bennett goes out with him under the disguise of Pam Dawson, a school nurse from a made up town, Winchestertonfieldville, Iowa (which turns out to be a real city, which Babe is flabbergasted to find out).
Though Pam initially hopes to just get a good story on the new heir, she eventually falls for the unfailingly kind-hearted Deeds, and decides to tell him that she is not who she says she is, but Inside Access, in concert with Cedar (who was fed the truth by the fake robber) reveals it to Deeds first. Heartbroken and upset, Deeds decides to return home to Mandrake Falls and give his $40 billion inheritance to the United Negro College Fund. After returning to Mandrake Falls, he learns from Crazy Eyes (Steve Buscemi) that Cedar intends to sell off the company, which will cause thousands of people to lose their jobs. Bennett follows Deeds to Mandrake Falls to win him back, but after saving her life when she falls through the ice over a lake, he rejects her, saying he does not really know who she is.
At a shareholders meeting, Cedar has everyone convinced to sell the company, until Deeds (who has bought a single share) arrives and manages to convince everyone not to sell. But Cedar claims control of a majority of the shares and the sale is approved. Bennett arrives and reveals that Blake's butler, Emilio (John Turturro), is Preston Blake's illegitimate son and the true heir (at one point he had told Deeds that Blake treated him "like a son"), as well as Deeds' cousin.
As a result, Deeds' sale of his shares to Cedar is not legal. Emilio immediately takes control and fires Cedar. Babe then reconciles with and kisses Deeds after professing her love for him. As they leave the meeting, Emilio thanks Deeds for his support and offers him a billion dollars, some of which Deeds spends on Corvettes for everyone of Mandrake Falls. When he returns to the pizzeria with his new wife Babe, he learns that Hallmark is interested in buying one of his greeting cards: the one he wrote for Babe when he professed his love for her.
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
Black & White
Newly appointed senator battles to unravel corrupt land deal
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
"The governor of an unnamed western state, Hubert "Happy" Hopper (Guy Kibbee), has to pick a replacement for recently deceased U.S. Senator Sam Foley. His corrupt political boss, Jim Taylor (Edward Arnold), pressures Hopper to choose his handpicked stooge, while popular committees want a reformer, Henry Hill. The governor's children want him to select Jefferson Smith (James Stewart), the head of the Boy Rangers. Unable to make up his mind between Taylor's stooge and the reformer, Hopper decides to flip a coin. When it lands on edge -- and next to a newspaper story on one of Smith's accomplishments -- he chooses Smith, calculating that his wholesome image will please the people while his na?vete will make him easy to manipulate.
Junior Senator Smith is taken under the wing of the publicly esteemed, but secretly crooked, Senator Joseph Paine (Claude Rains), who was Smith's late father's oldest and best friend. Smith develops an immediate attraction to the senator's daughter, Susan (Astrid Allwyn). At Senator Paine's home, Smith has a conversation with Susan, fidgeting and bumbling, entranced by the young socialite. Smith's na?ve and honest nature allows the unforgiving Washington press to take advantage of him, quickly tarnishing Smith's reputation with ridiculous front page pictures and headlines branding him a bumpkin.
To keep Smith busy, Paine suggests he propose a bill. With the help of his secretary, Clarissa Saunders (Jean Arthur), who was the aide to Smith's predecessor and had been around Washington and politics for years, Smith comes up with a bill to authorize a federal government loan to buy some land in his home state for a national boys' camp, to be paid back by youngsters across America. Donations pour in immediately. However, the proposed campsite is already part of a dam-building graft scheme included in an appropriations bill framed by the Taylor "political machine" and supported by Senator Paine.
Unwilling to crucify the worshipful Smith so that their graft plan will go through, Paine tells Taylor he wants out, but Taylor reminds him that Paine is in power primarily through Taylor's influence. Through Paine, the machine in his state accuses Smith of trying to profit from his bill by producing fraudulent evidence that Smith already owns the land in question. Smith is too shocked by Paine's betrayal to defend himself, and runs away.
Saunders, who looked down on Smith at first, but has come to believe in him, talks him into launching a filibuster to postpone the appropriations bill and prove his innocence on the Senate floor just before the vote to expel him. In his last chance to prove his innocence, he talks non-stop for about 24 hours, reaffirming the American ideals of freedom and disclosing the true motives of the dam scheme. Yet, none of the Senators are convinced. The constituents try to rally around him, but the entrenched opposition is too powerful, and all attempts are crushed. Owing to the influence of Taylor's machine, newspapers and radio stations in Smith's home state, on Taylor's orders, refuse to report what Smith has to say and even distort the facts against the senator. An effort by the Boy Rangers to spread the news in support of Smith results in vicious attacks on the children by Taylor's minions.
Although all hope seems lost, the senators begin to pay attention as Smith approaches utter exhaustion. Paine has one last card up his sleeve: he brings in bins of letters and telegrams from Smith's home state, purportedly from average people demanding his expulsion. Nearly broken by the news, Smith finds a small ray of hope in a friendly smile from the President of the Senate (Harry Carey). Smith vows to press on until people believe him, but immediately collapses in a faint. Overcome with guilt, Paine leaves the Senate chamber and attempts to commit suicide by shooting himself. When he is stopped, he bursts back into the Senate chamber, loudly confessing to the whole scheme, and affirms Smith's innocence.
Mrs. Doubtfire (1993)
Color
Estranged husband disguises himself as housekeeper to see his kids
Mrs. Doubtfire
"Daniel Hillard is a freelance voice actor living in San Francisco. Though a devoted father to his three children, Lydia, Chris, and Natalie, his wife Miranda considers him unreliable. One day, Daniel quits his job after a disagreement over a morally questionable script and returns home to throw a chaotic birthday party for Chris, despite Miranda's objections. This infuriates Miranda to the point where she files for divorce. At their first custody hearing, the court grants sole custody of the children to Miranda; shared custody is contingent on whether Daniel finds a steady job and a suitable residence within three months.
As Daniel works to rebuild his life, securing himself an apartment and a new job as a shipping clerk at a TV station, he learns that Miranda is seeking a housekeeper. He secretly alters her classified ad form, then calls Miranda while using his voice acting skills to pose as a series of undesirable applicants. He finally calls Miranda as "Mrs. Euphegenia Doubtfire", a British-accented nanny with strong credentials. Miranda is impressed and invites Mrs. Doubtfire for an interview. Daniel asks his brother Frank, a makeup artist, and Frank's domestic partner, Jack, to create a Mrs. Doubtfire costume, including a prosthetic mask to make him appear as an older woman.
Miranda hires Mrs. Doubtfire after a successful interview. The children initially struggle under Mrs. Doubtfire's authority but soon come around and thrive and Miranda learns to become closer with her children. Daniel learns several household skills as part of the role, further improving himself. However, this later creates another barrier for him to see his children, as Miranda puts more trust into Mrs. Doubtfire than him and cannot bring herself to dismiss her. One night, Lydia and Chris discover that Mrs. Doubtfire is actually Daniel; thrilled to have their father back, they agree to keep his secret.
One day, the station's CEO Jonathan Lundy sees Daniel playing with toy dinosaurs on the set of a poorly-rated children's show. Impressed by his voice acting and imagination, Lundy invites Daniel for a dinner to discuss his plans for the show. Daniel discovers this is to be at the same place and time as a planned birthday dinner for Miranda by her new boyfriend Stuart Dunmeyer, to which Mrs. Doubtfire is invited. Unable to change either appointment, Daniel changes in-and-out of the Mrs. Doubtfire costume to attend both events. Becoming drunk, Daniel slips up when he accidentally returns to Lundy in his costume, but he quickly claims that Mrs. Doubtfire is his idea for the new show. After overhearing that Stu is allergic to pepper, Daniel sneaks into the kitchen and seasons Stu's order of jambalaya with powdered cayenne pepper. Stu chokes on his dinner, and Daniel, feeling guilty, administers the Heimlich maneuver as Mrs. Doubtfire. The action causes the prosthetic mask to partially peel off Daniel's face, revealing his identity and horrifying Miranda, who storms out of the restaurant with the kids.
At their next custody hearing, Daniel points out that he has met the judge's requirements, then explains his actions. The judge, while sympathetic, considers Daniel's ruse as Mrs. Doubtfire unorthodox, and grants Miranda full custody, further restricting Daniel's rights to supervised Saturday visits, which devastates him. Without Mrs. Doubtfire, Miranda and her children become miserable, acknowledging how much "she" improved their lives. They are then surprised to discover that Daniel, as Mrs. Doubtfire, is hosting a new children's show called Euphegenia's House, which becomes a nationwide hit.
Miranda visits Daniel on set after filming and admits that things were better when he was involved with the family. She then arranges joint custody, allowing Daniel as himself to take the children after school. As Daniel leaves with the kids, Miranda watches an episode of Euphegenia's House in which Mrs. Doubtfire answers a letter from a young girl whose parents have separated, saying that no matter what arrangements families have, love will prevail.
Mrs. Miniver (1942)
Black & White
The life of a British housewife is touched by World War II
Mrs. Miniver
"Kay Miniver (Greer Garson) and her family live a comfortable life at a house called 'Starlings' in Belham, a fictional village outside London. The house has a large garden, with a private landing stage on the River Thames at which is moored a motorboat belonging to her devoted husband Clem (Walter Pidgeon), a successful architect. They have three children: the youngsters Toby (Christopher Severn) and Judy (Clare Sandars) and an older son Vin (Richard Ney) a student at Oxford University. They have live-in staff: Gladys (Brenda Forbes) the housemaid and Ada (Marie De Becker) the cook.
As World War II looms, Vin returns from the university and meets Carol Beldon (Teresa Wright), granddaughter of Lady Beldon (Dame May Whitty) from nearby Beldon Hall. Despite initial disagreements--mainly contrasting Vin's idealistic attitude to class differences with Carol's practical altruism--they fall in love. Vin proposes to Carol in front of his family at home, after his younger brother prods him to give a less romantic but more honest proposal. As the war comes closer to home, Vin feels he must "do his bit" and enlists in the Royal Air Force, qualifying as a fighter pilot. He is posted to a base near to his parents' home and is able to signal his safe return from operations to his parents by cutting his engines briefly as he flies over the house. Together with other boat owners, Clem volunteers to take his motorboat to assist in the Dunkirk evacuation.
Early one morning, Kay unable to sleep as Clem is still away, wanders down to the landing stage. She is startled to discover a wounded German pilot (Helmut Dantine) hiding in her garden, and he takes her at gunpoint. Demanding food and a coat, the pilot aggressively asserts that the Third Reich will mercilessly overcome its enemies. She feeds him, calmly disarms him when he collapses, and then calls the police. Soon after, Clem returns home, exhausted, from Dunkirk.
Lady Beldon visits Kay to try and convince her to talk Vin out of marrying Carol on account of her granddaughter's comparative youth. Kay reminds her that she, too, was young when she married her late husband. Lady Beldon concedes defeat and realizes that she would be foolish to try to stop the marriage. Vin and Carol are married; Carol has now also become Mrs Miniver, and they return from their honeymoon in Scotland. A key theme is that she knows he is likely to be killed in action, but the short love will fill her life. Later, Kay and her family take refuge in their Anderson shelter in the garden during an air raid, and attempt to keep their minds off the frightening bombing by reading Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, which Clem refers to as a "lovely story" as they barely survive as a bomb destroys parts of the house. They take the damage with nonchalance.
At the annual village flower show, Lady Beldon silently disregards the judges' decision that her rose is the winner, instead announcing the entry of the local stationmaster, Mr. Ballard (Henry Travers), named the "Mrs. Miniver" rose, as the winner, with her own rose taking second prize. As air raid sirens sound and the villagers take refuge in the cellars of Beldon Hall, Kay and Carol drive Vin to join his squadron. On their journey home they witness fighter planes in a 'dogfight'. For safety, Kay stops the car and they see a German plane crash. Kay realizes Carol has been wounded by shots from the plane and takes her back to 'Starlings'. She dies a few minutes after they reach home. Kay is devastated. When Vin returns from battle, he already knows the terrible news: ironically, he is the survivor and she the one who died.
The villagers assemble at the badly damaged church where their vicar affirms their determination in a powerful sermon:
We in this quiet corner of England have suffered the loss of friends very dear to us, some close to this church. George West, choirboy. James Ballard, stationmaster and bellringer, and the proud winner only an hour before his death of the Beldon Cup for his beautiful Miniver Rose. And our hearts go out in sympathy to the two families who share the cruel loss of a young girl who was married at this altar only two weeks ago. The homes of many of us have been destroyed, and the lives of young and old have been taken. There's scarcely a household that hasn't been struck to the heart. And why? Surely you must have asked yourselves this question? Why in all conscience should these be the ones to suffer? Children, old people, a young girl at the height of her loveliness? Why these? Are these our soldiers? Are these our fighters? Why should they be sacrificed?
I shall tell you why. Because this is not only a war of soldiers in uniform. It is the war of the people, of all the people. And it must be fought not only on the battlefield but in the cities and in the villages, in the factories and on the farms, in the home and in the heart of every man, woman and child who loves freedom. Well, we have buried our dead, but we shall not forget them. Instead they will inspire us with an unbreakable determination to free ourselves, and those who come after us, from the tyranny and terror that threaten to strike us down. This is the People's War. It is our war. We are the fighters. Fight it then. Fight it with all that is in us. And may God defend the right.
A solitary Lady Beldon stands in her family's church pew. Vin moves to stand alongside her, united in shared grief, as the members of the congregation rise and stoically sing "Onward, Christian Soldiers", while through a gaping hole in the bombed church roof can be seen flight after flight of RAF fighters in the V-for-Victory formation heading out to face the enemy.
Mulholland Dr (2001)
Color
New Hollywood arrival Betty meets an enigmatic brunette with amnesia
Mulholland Dr
"A dark-haired woman is the sole survivor of a car crash on Mulholland Drive, a winding road high in the Hollywood Hills. Injured and in shock, she makes her way down into Los Angeles and sneaks into an apartment. Later that morning, an aspiring actress named Betty Elms arrives at the apartment, which is normally occupied by her Aunt Ruth. Betty is startled to find the woman, who has amnesia and calls herself "Rita" after seeing a poster for the film Gilda starring Rita Hayworth. To help the woman remember her identity, Betty looks in Rita's purse, where she finds a large amount of money and an unusual blue key.
At a diner called Winkie's, a man tells another about a nightmare in which he dreamt of encountering a horrific figure behind the diner. When they investigate, the figure appears, causing the man who had the nightmare to collapse in fright. Elsewhere, director Adam Kesher has his film commandeered by mobsters, who insist he cast an unknown actress named Camilla Rhodes as the lead. Adam refuses and returns home to find his wife cheating on him. The mobsters withdraw his line of credit and arrange for him to meet a mysterious cowboy, who urges him to cast Camilla for his own good. Meanwhile, a bungling hitman attempts to steal a book full of phone numbers and leaves three people dead.
While trying to learn more about Rita's accident, Betty and Rita go to Winkie's and are served by a waitress named Diane, which causes Rita to remember the name "Diane Selwyn." They find Diane Selwyn in the phone book and call her, but she does not answer. Betty goes to an audition, where her performance is highly praised. A casting agent takes her to a soundstage where a film called The Sylvia North Story, directed by Adam, is being cast. When Camilla Rhodes auditions, Adam capitulates to casting her. Betty locks eyes with Adam, but she flees before she can meet him, saying she is late to meet a friend. Betty and Rita go to Diane Selwyn's apartment, where a neighbor answers the door and tells them she has switched apartments with Diane. They go to the neighbor's apartment and break in when no one answers the door. In the bedroom, they find the body of a woman who has been dead for several days. Terrified, they return to Betty's apartment, where Rita disguises herself with a blonde wig. She and Betty have sex that night.
At 2 a.m., Rita awakes suddenly, insisting they go right away to a theater called Club Silencio. There, the emcee explains in different languages that everything is an illusion; Rebekah Del Rio comes on stage and begins singing the Roy Orbison song "Crying" in Spanish, then collapses, unconscious, while her vocals continue. Betty finds a blue box in her purse that matches Rita's key. Upon returning to the apartment, Rita retrieves the key and finds that Betty has disappeared. Rita unlocks the box, and it falls to the floor.
Diane Selwyn wakes up in her bed in the same apartment Betty and Rita investigated. She looks exactly like Betty, but is a struggling actress driven into a deep depression by her failed affair with Camilla Rhodes, who is a successful actress and looks exactly like Rita. At Camilla's invitation, Diane attends a party at Adam's house on Mulholland Drive. At dinner, Diane states she came to Hollywood from Canada when her Aunt Ruth died and left her some money, and she met Camilla at an audition for The Sylvia North Story. Another woman who looks like the previous "Camilla Rhodes" kisses Camilla, and they turn and smile at Diane. Adam and Camilla prepare to make an important announcement, but they dissolve into laughter and kiss while Diane watches, crying. Later, Diane meets the hitman at Winkie's, appearing to hire him to kill Camilla. He tells her she will find a blue key when the job is completed. The figure from the man's dream is revealed to have the matching blue box. In her apartment, Diane looks at the blue key on her coffee table. Distraught, she is terrorized by hallucinations and runs screaming to her bed, where she shoots herself. A woman at the theater whispers, "Silencio.
Munich (2005)
Color
Israeli Agent tracks down Palestinian Terrorists
Munich
"Film begins with a depiction of the events of the 1972 Munich Olympics and then cuts to the home of Prime Minister of Israel Golda Meir, where Avner Kaufman, a Mossad agent of German-Jewish descent, is chosen to lead an assassination mission against 11 Palestinians allegedly involved in the massacre. To give the Israeli government plausible deniability and at the direction of his handler Ephraim, Avner resigns from Mossad and operates with no official ties to Israel. His team includes four Jewish volunteers from around the world: South African driver Steve, Belgian toy-maker and explosives expert Robert, former Israeli soldier and "cleaner" Carl, and a Danish document forger named Hans. They are given information by a French informant, Louis.
In Rome, the team shoots and kills Wael Zwaiter, who is broke and living as a poet. In Paris, they detonate a bomb in the home of Mahmoud Hamshari; in Cyprus, they bomb the hotel room of Hussein Abd Al Chir. With IDF commandos, they pursue three Palestinians--Muhammad Youssef al-Najjar, Kamal Adwan, and Kamal Nasser--to Beirut, penetrate the Palestinians' guarded compound and kill all three.
Between hits, the often-reluctant assassins argue about the morality and logistics of their mission, expressing fear about their individual lack of experience, as well as ambivalence about accidentally killing innocent bystanders. Avner makes a brief visit to his wife, who has given birth to their first baby. In Athens, when they track down Zaiad Muchasi, the team finds out that Louis arranged for them to share a safehouse with their rival PLO members, and the Mossad agents escape trouble by pretending to be members of foreign terrorist groups like ETA, IRA, ANC, and the Red Army Faction. Avner has a heartfelt conversation with PLO member Ali over their homelands and who deserves to rule over the lands; Ali is later shot by Carl while the team escapes from the hit on Muchasi.
The squad moves to London to track down Ali Hassan Salameh, who orchestrated the Munich Massacre, but the assassination attempt is interrupted by several drunken Americans. It is implied that these are CIA agents, which, according to Louis, protects and funds Salameh in exchange for his promise not to attack U.S. diplomats. Meanwhile, attempts are made on the assassins themselves. Carl is killed by an independent Dutch contract killer. In revenge, the team tracks her down and executes her at a houseboat in Hoorn, Netherlands. Hans is found stabbed to death on a park bench, while Robert is killed by an explosion in his workshop. Avner and Steve finally locate Salameh in Spain, but again their assassination attempt is thwarted, this time by Salameh's armed guards. It is implied that Louis has sold information on the team to the PLO.
A disillusioned Avner flies to Israel, where he is unhappy to be hailed as a hero by two young soldiers, and then to his new home in Brooklyn, where he suffers post-traumatic stress and paranoia. He is thrown out of the Israeli consulate after storming in to demand that Mossad leave his wife and child alone. Ephraim comes to ask Avner to return to Israel and Mossad, but Avner refuses.
Murder Without Motive (1992)
Color
Black man killed by white cop
Murder Without Motive
A brilliant black scholarship student at an exclusive prep school is killed by a white undercover cop just days after graduation. The officer claims he was attacked.
Mutiny on the Bounty (1935)
Black & White
Shipmates mutiny against the captain
Mutiny on the Bounty
"One night in Portsmouth, England in 1787, a press gang breaks into a local tavern and presses all of the men drinking there into naval service. One of the men inquires as to what ship they will sail on, and the press gang leader informs him that it is the HMS Bounty. Upon inquiring as to who the captain is, another of the men is told the captain is William Bligh (Charles Laughton), and attempts to escape, as Bligh is a brutal tyrant who routinely administers harsh punishment to officers and crew alike who lack discipline, cause any infraction on board the ship, or in any manner defy his authority. The Bounty leaves England several days later on a two-year voyage over the Pacific Ocean. Fletcher Christian (Clark Gable), the ship's lieutenant, is a formidable yet compassionate man who disapproves of Bligh's treatment of the crew. Roger Byam (Franchot Tone) is an idealistic midshipman who is divided between his loyalty to Bligh, owing to his family's naval tradition, and his friendship with Christian.
During the voyage, the enmity between Christian and Bligh grows after Christian openly challenges Bligh's unjust practices aboard the ship. When the ship arrives at the island of Tahiti, where the crew acquires breadfruit plants to take home, Bligh punishes Christian by refusing to let him leave the ship during their stay. Byam, meanwhile, sets up residency on the island, living with the island chief, Hitihiti (William Bambridge), and his daughter, Tehani (Movita Castaneda), and compiling an English dictionary of the Tahitian language. Hitihiti persuades Bligh to allow Christian a day pass on the island. Bligh agrees but quickly repeals the pass out of spite. Christian disregards the order and spends his one-day off the ship romancing a Tahitian girl, Maimiti (Mamo Clark). Christian promises her he will be back someday.
After leaving Tahiti the crew begins to talk of mutiny after Bligh's harsh discipline leads to the death of the ship's beloved surgeon, Mr. Bacchus (Dudley Digges), and Bligh cuts water rationing to the crew in favor of providing water for the breadfruit plants. Christian, although initially opposing the idea, decides he can no longer tolerate Bligh's brutality when he witnesses crew members shackled in iron chains, and he approves the mutiny. The crew raids the weapons cabinet and seizes the ship. Bligh and his loyalists are cast into a boat and set adrift at sea with a map and rations to ensure their survival. Due to Bligh's steady leadership, they are able to find their way back to land.
Meanwhile, Christian orders that Bounty return to Tahiti. Byam, who was in his cabin during the mutiny, disapproves of what Christian has done and decides the two can no longer be friends. Months later, Byam is married to Tehani and Christian has married Maimiti and has a child with her, while the rest of the crew are enjoying their freedom on the island. After a long estrangement, Byam and Christian reconcile their friendship. However, when the British ship HMS Pandora is spotted approaching, Byam and Christian decide they must part ways. Byam and several crew members remain on the island for the ship to take them back to England, while Christian leads the remaining crew, his wife and several Tahitian men and women back on board Bounty in search of a new island on which to seek refuge.
Byam boards the Pandora and, much to his surprise, discovers that Bligh is the captain. Bligh, who suspects that Byam was complicit in the mutiny, has him imprisoned for the remainder of the journey across the sea. Back in England Byam is court-martialed and found guilty of mutiny. Before the court condemns him, Byam speaks of Bligh's cruel, dehumanising conduct aboard Bounty. Due to the intervention of his friend Sir Joseph Banks (Henry Stephenson) and Lord Hood (David Torrence), Byam is pardoned by King George III and allowed to resume his naval career at sea.
Meanwhile, Christian has found Pitcairn, an uninhabited yet sustainable island that he believes will provide adequate refuge from the reach of the Royal Navy. After Bounty crashes on the rocks, Christian orders her to be burned.
My Brother's Wedding (1983)
Color
Unambitious man holds disdain for his sister-in-law, who is from a higher social status
My Brother's Wedding
"The movie opens with a man playing the harmonica and singing the blues. Pierce is then seen walking down the street when he gets called by a woman to see her sister's baby. Pierce says that he doesn't have time because he has to go to visit Soldier's mother, but goes in anyway. At the house, Pierce asks who the father is and the woman says that he could be the father if he wants. Angered by the comment, Pierce leaves the house and continues his way to Soldier's place.
At the house, Soldier's mother Mrs. Richardson asks Pierce if Soldier will ever act his age and wants Pierce to keep him out of trouble. Pierce says that Soldier wrote him a letter that said he would never go back to jail and even asked for a job. Mrs. Richardson asks about his brother's wedding and Pierce tells her he doesn't like the fiancee because she's rich. Pierce leaves saying that he has to work at his mother's shop.
At the shop, Mr. Bitterfield comes in asking if Pierce's mother, Mrs. Mundy, can mend the rip in his church-going pants. When Pierce goes in the back to consult his mother, she says to tell Mr. Bitterfield that they can fix them but to instead throw them in the trash and, when Mr. Bitterfield comes to pick them up, to give him a pair from the unclaimed box. Pierce then gets into a wrestling match with his father. Meanwhile, a man comes into the store asking for a job. Mrs. Mundy replies saying there are two grown men in the back that can help her. Turning around to see Pierce and his father still wrestling, the man leaves, as do Pierce's parents.
Back at home, Pierce's mother informs him that his brother and his fiancee are coming over. Pierce says he does not want to go to the wedding, complaining that Sonia is always bragging about how her family is rich and privileged. She warns Pierce that he has to behave so Sonia can see that he is civilized. She then tells him to go over to the neighborhood elders, Big Momma and Big Daddy, to see if they need anything and to pick up a pot. Once there, Big Daddy gets mad at Pierce for being rude and not saying anything. Pierce explains that he has to get back to the house before Wendell gets there.
Pierce and Sonia get into an argument because Pierce thinks that Sonia had nothing to worry about all her life because she attended charm school. Sonia retaliates saying that she had to worry about things such as grades and if people liked her. Sonia also says that charm school taught young girls how to be ladies. They walk into the living room, where Wendell was telling his secretary of the wedding count. Upon hearing that, Pierce's mother then turns and asks Pierce when he's going to have a secretary. She says that she put them in church so that when they settled down she would have done her job, implying that Pierce has not yet accomplished anything Pierce tells his mother that it is not his fault. This upsets his mother as she tells him that it is because of the sacrifices of her and his.
The next day, a man comes in looking for the clothes that he had brought in two months ago. They have trouble finding it because they man does not remember what he put his name as. They allow the man to go back and look for it, but Mrs. Mundy states that if he was a good man they would not have to keep track of all his aliases. Angela comes into the store all dressed up asking Pierce if he would go to prom with her in a couple of years. Seeing Pierce's disinterest, she leaves saying that she's going over to Smokey Robinson's tonight and that she should go get dressed. Pierce's mother tells him that he needs to go over to Big Momma and Daddy's house because Haddie wants to go out. As Pierce leaves, he and his father get into another wrestling match.
With Soldier close to returning home, Pierce goes to a liquor store and asks his friend if he would be willing to give Soldier a job. The friend says that he would give Pierce a job, but he will not give one to Soldier. Having been rejected, Pierce then goes to ask his friend, Bob, telling him that Soldier is getting out of jail. Bob states that it is too bad because a person like Soldier should just stay in jail until he rots. Hearing this, Pierce leaves without even asking and picks up Soldier to take him home. When Mrs. Richardson sees Soldier she starts crying and Pierce consoles her saying that he is here to stay.
Pierce hangs out with Soldier saying that Soldier is with a different girl every time he sees him. They goof around and hang out for the day. While hanging out in an alley, Soldier asks about his friend Lonneil and Pierce tells him that he was killed during an attempt to rob a liquor store. Pierce then says that they are the only two left. The next day Angela comes back and tells Pierce about how she was at Smokey Robinson's last night. She also tells him she does not like guys that are too cute. Pierce's mom interrupts, telling him that he has to go take care of Big Daddy and give him a bath. A man then attempts to rob the shop but backs out when he realized that Mrs. Mundy was on to what he was trying to do. Soldier asks Pierce about his girlfriend, Barbara, and if they had sex or not. Someone hiding in the bushes then leaps out and tries to shoot them but there are no bullets in the gun. They end up chasing the man, but Pierce lets him go.
Pierce's mother begs him not to embarrass the family during dinner with the Richardson's. She says that she didn't raise heathens, but Pierce still states that he does not like Sonia because she has never worked for anything in her life. During dinner, Mr. Richardson asks Pierce what his job is. Pierce says that he went to school but did not like that everyone was doing the same thing. He tells him how he used to drive heavy machinery and delivered explosives. He states that he likes to work with his hands and that he's not smart enough to become a lawyer. Pierce's mother then says that it would have been nice to have a doctor and a lawyer in the family, but Pierce remarks that they are all crooks. Mr. Richardson says that the real corruption is in politics. Pierce states that the higher up you go, the lower the people you find. When Pierce's mother asks Sonia about her trial, Pierce yells at her saying that letting her client go free was wrong because he had killed people. This ends the dinner and they leave with Pierce's mother saying how ashamed of him she is.
While Pierce is working at the store, Soldier walks in with a girl and asks Pierce to let him have sex with the girl in the back. Pierce's mother goes to church but comes back because she forgot her prayer book. She ends up walking in on them having sex and freaks out because they also did it on her prayer book. The girl then runs away in embarrassment. The next day, Soldier is waiting in a car for Pierce with another girl and sends Angela to go tell Pierce to hurry up. Angela ends up not telling Pierce that they are waiting and they leave without him.
While Pierce is taking care of Big Momma and Big Daddy, Big Daddy asks Pierce if his friends are saved and believe in God, especially Soldier. That night Soldier gets into a car accident and dies. When Pierce finds out the next day, he runs to Soldier's house where his parents are grieving and the funeral is set for Saturday. Soldier's mom tells Pierce that he was like a son to her. Pierce then feels like it is his job to find pallbearers. In doing so, he realizes that the funeral is the same day as his brother's wedding. He rushes home to ask his brother and Sonia to change they date, but they refuse because he had never been nice to Sonia. Pierce's father then talks to him and tells them that maybe they can change the date of the funeral. With new hope, Pierce goes back to Soldier's house to ask. Once there, Soldier's dad tells him about the stress of the last few days and all the relatives that have flown in for Soldier's funeral. Hearing this, Pierce abandons the idea of asking them to change the date of the funeral and is now left conflicted. As both the wedding and the funeral are starting, Pierce shows up late and tells his mother that he has to go to the funeral. He tells his mother that someone else has to be the best man, but she gets angry and tells him to go sit down. However, Pierce ends up getting a car and drives to Soldier's funeral only to be late and miss it. The movie ends with Pierce sitting at the parking lot of the mortuary with the wedding rings and missing both events.
My Mother's Future Husband (2014)
Color
Daughter gives widowed mom the hookup
My Mother's Future Husband
Fifteen year old aspiring singer/songwriter Headly Henderson and her widowed mother Rene Henderson, co-owner of Rene & Lou's Bistro, have been the focus of each other's lives since Rene's husband/Headly's father Michael Henderson died suddenly in a tragic accident five years ago. The two do everything together. But as Headly is getting to the age where she may want some "boy" time of her own, especially as Bodie Miller, a childhood friend, has just reentered her life and shows interest, Headly wants her mother to find some love of her own again, which Rene has resisted if only because Michael was the love of her life. Unable to get Rene signed up to a dating website without a valid credit card, Headly and her more technologically adept friend Willis decide to create their own method of online dating with men of their choosing. After they come clean to the three men Headly approaches with the carrot of an "all about Rene" video, they tell them that they cannot tell Rene that it was them who set up the date, each date to evolve out of the men being regular customers at the Bistro. Of the three men, there is connection between Rene and only one of them: Andrew, a widowed single father. To get to a happy ending, Rene and Andrew both have many obstacles to overcome such as the memories of their respective first marriages, and what it means to be back in the dating pool after their relationship experiences, especially at their stage in life. Meanwhile, Headly herself may have a bumpy road to her first real romance, with she perhaps not being able to see past Bodie's good looks for the mismatch that they are, truly to see that her first real love may have been staring her in the face for years, if she can get over the geeky persona - including a bad haircut and not stylish eyeglasses - and friendship as the on the surface characteristics.
Mystic River (2003)
Color
Man molested as boy, 25 years later a murder investigation ensues
Mystic River
"Three boys, Jimmy Markum (Sean Penn), Sean Devine (Kevin Bacon), and Dave Boyle (Tim Robbins), play hockey in a Boston street in 1975. Spotting wet concrete, they commence writing their names into it when a car pulls up and two men, pretending to be police officers, get out, berate the boys for their actions, and tell Dave to get into the car. The men are pedophiles and hold Dave captive and sexually abuse him for four days, until he escapes.
Twenty-five years later, the boys are grown and, while they still live in Boston, have drifted apart. Jimmy is an ex-con running a neighborhood store, while Dave is a blue-collar worker, still haunted by his abduction. The two are still neighbors and related by marriage. Jimmy's 19-year-old daughter Katie (Rossum) is secretly dating Brendan Harris, a boy Jimmy despises. She and Brendan are planning to run away together to Las Vegas.
Katie goes out for the night with her girlfriends and Dave sees her at a local bar. That night, Katie is murdered, and Dave comes home with an injured hand and blood on his clothes, which his wife Celeste (Harden) helps him clean up. Dave claims he fought off a mugger, "bashed his head into the concrete", and possibly killed him. Sean, now a detective with the Massachusetts State Police, investigates Katie's murder. In a subplot, Sean's pregnant wife Lauren has left him.
Over the course of the film, Sean and his partner, Sergeant Whitey Powers (Fishburne), track down leads while Jimmy conducts his own investigation using his neighborhood connections. Sean discovers that the gun used to kill Katie was also used in a liquor store robbery during the 1980s by "Just Ray" Harris, the father of Katie's boyfriend. Harris has been missing since 1989, but Brendan claims he still sends his family $500 every month. Brendan also feigns ignorance about Ray's gun but Sean believes it was still in the house. Sergeant Powers suspects Dave as a possible perpetrator because he was one of the last people to see Katie alive. He also has a wounded hand and, although he continues to tell his wife he got it while being mugged, he tells the police a different story -- soon Jimmy becomes suspicious of it. Dave continues to behave strangely, which upsets his wife to the point she is afraid he will hurt her. While Jimmy and his associates conduct their investigation, Dave's wife eventually tells Jimmy about Dave's behavior, the bloody clothing, and her suspicions.
Jimmy and his friends get Dave drunk at a local bar. When Dave leaves the bar, the men follow him out. Jimmy tells Dave that he shot "Just Ray" Harris at that same location for ratting him out and sending him to jail. Jimmy informs Dave that his wife thinks he murdered Katie and tells Dave he will let him live if he confesses; if he does not, Jimmy will kill him. Dave repeatedly tells Jimmy that he did kill someone but it was not Katie: he beat a child molester to death after finding him having sex with a child prostitute in a car. Jimmy does not believe Dave's claim and threatens him with a knife. When Dave finally admits to killing Katie thinking he can escape with his life, Jimmy kills him and disposes of his body in the adjacent Mystic River.
While Dave is being killed, Brendan (having found out about his father's gun during questioning) confronts his younger brother Ray Jr. and his brother's friend John about Katie's murder. He beats the two boys and threatens to kill them if they do not admit their guilt, but when John takes the gun and is about to shoot him, Sean and Powers arrive just in time to stop it.
The next morning, Sean tells Jimmy the police have Katie's murderers -- who have confessed. She was killed by Brendan's brother and his friend John O'Shea in a violent prank gone wrong: The kids got hold of Just Ray's gun and saw a car coming which happened to be Katie's. John aimed the gun just to scare her but the gun went off by accident. The car veered onto the curb and Katie got out and ran into the park. Silent Ray and John pursued her so she wouldn't tell anyone. The beating Katie received was from Silent Ray, who had a hockey stick. Once she was beaten, John shot her again, killing her. Sean asks Jimmy if he has seen Dave, because he is wanted for questioning in another case, the murder of a known child molester. A distraught Jimmy thanks Sean for finding his daughter's killers, but says, "if only you had been a little faster." Sean asks Jimmy if he's going to "send Celeste Boyle $500 a month too?"
Sean reunites with his wife and his daughter Nora, after apologizing for "driving her away". Jimmy goes to his wife, Annabeth (Linney) and confesses. She comforts him and tells him he is a king and kings always make the right decision. At a town parade, Sean sees Jimmy, and mimics shooting him, to let Jimmy know he is watching.
National Lampoon's Animal House (1978)
Color
Knowledge is good, but swilling kegs more fun! Just ask the guys at the Delta House...
National Lampoon's Animal House
"In 1962, Faber College freshmen Larry Kroger and Kent Dorfman seek to join a fraternity. After they are unable to fit in at the prestigious Omega Theta Pi house's party, Kent suggests they visit the Delta Tau Chi house next door as he is a "legacy" and cannot be turned down because his older brother Fred was a former member. John "Bluto" Blutarsky welcomes them and they meet other Deltas including Daniel Simpson "D-Day" Day, Chapter President Robert Hoover, Eric "Otter" Stratton, and Otter's best friend Donald "Boon" Schoenstein and girlfriend Katy. Kroger and Dorfman are invited to pledge and Bluto, Delta's sergeant-at-arms, gives them their fraternity names ("Pinto" and "Flounder" respectively).
However, the Faber College Dean, Vernon Wormer, wants to remove the Deltas, who are already on probation due to various campus conduct violations and an abysmal academic standing. Invoking his emergency authority, he places Delta on "double-secret probation" and directs Omega president Greg Marmalard to find a method to permanently remove Delta. Various incidents further increase the Dean's and the Omegas' animosity toward the Deltas, including the prank-related accidental death of a horse belonging to Omega member and ROTC Cadet Commander Douglas C. Neidermeyer as well as Otter flirting with Marmalard's girlfriend, Mandy Pepperidge.
Bluto and D-Day steal the answers to an upcoming test from the trash, unaware that the Omegas have switched the mimeograph negative for the exam. The Deltas all fail and their grade-point averages drop so low that Wormer tells them he needs only one more incident to revoke their charter. To cheer themselves up, the Deltas organize a toga party and bring in Otis Day and the Knights to provide live music. Wormer's wife Marion attends at Otter's invitation. Pinto hooks up with Clorette, a cashier he meets at the supermarket. They make out until she passes out drunk. Pinto takes her home in a shopping cart and discovers she is the mayor's daughter.
Outraged by Marion's escapades and with the mayor threatening personal violence, Wormer organizes a hearing and revokes Delta's charter. To clear their heads, Otter, Boon, Flounder, and Pinto go on a road trip in Fred's car. Otter picks up four young women from the Emily Dickinson College as dates for himself and fellow Deltas by posing as Frank Lymon, the fiance of a college student who died in a recent kiln explosion. They stop at a roadhouse bar where The Knights are performing, ignoring its exclusively African-American clientele. A couple of hulking patrons intimidate the Deltas, who flee, abandoning their dates and damaging their car.
Later, Marmalard and other Omegas lure Otter to a motel and beat him up after Mandy's best friend Barbara Sue "Babs" Jansen fabricates an affair between Mandy and Otter. Due to the Deltas' dismal midterm grade, Wormer ecstatically expels them in a kangaroo court chaired by Marmalard, having already notified their local draft boards that they are now eligible for military service. After Bluto rallies the despondent Deltas with an impassioned speech, they decide to get revenge on Wormer, the Omegas, and the college at the annual homecoming parade. D-Day converts Fred's damaged car into an armored vehicle, which they conceal inside a cake-shaped breakaway float and sneak into the parade. The Deltas then sabotage all aspects of the parade and drive through the viewing stand. As chaos ensues, the futures of several of the characters are revealed: most of the Deltas become respectable professionals while the Omegas and the other adversaries suffer less fortunate outcomes.
Neighbors (2014)
Color
Quiet neighborhood battles to keep family friendly environment when fraternity moves in
Neighbors
"Mac Radner and his Australian-born wife Kelly are adjusting to life with their infant daughter, Stella. The restrictions of parenthood make it difficult for them to maintain their old lifestyle, which alienates them from their friends Jimmy Blevins and his ex-wife, Paula. Delta Psi Beta, a fraternity known for outrageous parties, moves in next door. The fraternity's leaders, Teddy Sanders and Pete Regazolli, aspire to join Delta Psi's Hall of Fame by throwing a massive end-of-the-year party.
The Radners ask Teddy to keep the noise down, and to earn their favor, he invites them to join the party. Kelly meets Teddy's girlfriend Brooke Shy, and Teddy shows Mac his bedroom, which includes a stash of fireworks and a breaker box that controls the house's power. Teddy agrees to manage the noise, but has Mac and Kelly promise to always call him instead of the police. The following night, when the party next door keeps Stella awake, Mac is unable to reach Teddy. Kelly convinces Mac to call the police anonymously, but Officer Watkins identifies them to Teddy. Betrayed, Teddy leads Delta Psi in hazing Mac and Kelly, resulting in Stella nearly eating an unused condom after the fraternity dumps their garbage on the Radners' lawn. Mac and Kelly go to the college dean Carol Gladstone, but the school has a “three strikes” policy before it will intervene; Delta Psi's first strike was burning down their old house.
Failing to force the fraternity to move by damaging their house, Kelly manipulates Pete and Brooke into having sex, and Mac leads Teddy to catch them in the act. Teddy and Pete fight, and a barbecue grill injures a passing professor. This gives Delta Psi their second strike and places them on probation, effectively ending their party plans. Determined to shut down the fraternity, Mac and Kelly enlist the help of Jimmy, who is jealous that Paula is sleeping with Delta Psi member Scoonie. To acquire evidence of Delta Psi's hazing, they hire a pledge nicknamed Assjuice to stand up to Teddy and record him threatening retaliation. When Teddy instead shows him kindness, he reveals that Mac and Kelly hired him and are trying to sabotage the fraternity. A vengeful Teddy violently pranks the Radners and Jimmy with airbags.
They send Teddy a counterfeit letter from Gladstone lifting Delta Psi's probation. The fraternity prepares for their end-of-the-year party, which Mac, Kelly, and Jimmy widely publicize to ensure it will be out of control. Once the party is in full swing, they notify the police, but Teddy realizes what the Radners have done, and stops the party just as Watkins arrives. Jimmy throws himself from the balcony to distract Teddy, allowing Kelly to sneak into Teddy's bedroom as Mac fights him off. Unable to open the breaker box to restart the party and alert Watkins, Kelly shoots one of the fireworks at his patrol car. Paula convinces Scoonie to turn on the power, reigniting the party, and she reunites with Jimmy. Teddy takes the blame for the party, convincing Pete to flee with the others, and is arrested; the fraternity is shut down.
Four months later, Mac runs into Teddy, who is working as a shirtless greeter at Abercrombie & Fitch. They greet each other warmly and Teddy reveals he is attending night classes to complete his degree. Mac takes off his shirt and jokingly acts as a greeter with Teddy. Later, Mac and Kelly take pictures of Stella in various costumes for a calendar. They get a call from Jimmy and Paula inviting them to attend Burning Man. Mac and Kelly decline, accepting their new roles as parents.
Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising (2016)
Color
Former frat brothers come to the aid of family fighting their sorority house neighbors
Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising
"Two years the first film, Mac and Kelly Radner are having another baby, and preparing to sell their home to the Baiers family; the Radners' realtor reminds them that the house is in escrow for 30 days. Mac's friend Jimmy and his wife Paula are also expecting a baby. College freshman Shelby meets fellow freshmen Beth and Nora. Learning that sororities are not allowed to host parties, and disgusted by sexist and predatory frat parties, the trio create a new sorority, Kappa Nu, to throw their own parties.
Teddy Sanders hosts poker night with his former frat brothers. Pete has become a successful architect and come out of the closet, Scoonie has launched his own mobile app, and Garf is a rookie cop since graduating, But Teddy -- due to the events of the first film -- has a criminal record and cannot find a worthwhile job.
The friends help Pete's boyfriend Darren propose, leading Pete to ask Teddy to move out. Distraught, Teddy runs to the old frat house, next door to the Radners. He meets Shelby, Beth, and Nora, hoping to rent the house for Kappa Nu but cannot afford it. Finding an opportunity to be valued, Teddy offers to help them throw parties, earning enough donations and new members to pay rent.
Fearing that the sorority will scare off the Baiers, Mac and Kelly ask Shelby to temporarily refrain from partying, but she refuses. The Radners go to Dean Gladstone, who cannot control an independent sorority, and Shelby's father, who also fails to help, leading Kappa Nu to prank the Radners. Mac, Kelly, Jimmy, and Paula retaliate, infesting the sorority house with bed bugs, forcing the girls to evacuate and pay for fumigation tenting, just in time for the Baiers' visit. Teddy argues with Pete about the state of his life, and moves into the sorority.
Low on funds to pay rent, the girls plan to sell marijuana at their 'tailgate party', eliminating the competition by getting all other dealers arrested. When Teddy objects, the girls kick him out, and he joins the Radners to take down Kappa Nu. They infiltrate the party, and Teddy distracts the girls while Mac steals their marijuana. Realizing Teddy's lack of direction in life, Mac and Kelly let him stay with them. The girls switch Mac and Kelly's cell phone numbers with their own, tricking Mac into flying to Sydney. Returning home, the Radners find Kappa Nu has robbed and vandalized their house, and the Baiers pull out from the sale.
The sorority receives an eviction notice, and Shelby reluctantly organizes a sexually gratuitous frat-style party to raise money. As Mac and Kelly wait to call the police, Jimmy and Paula sneak into the party, while Teddy is unable to shut off the sorority's power. Shelby steals Mac and Kelly's phones and locks Mac and Teddy in the garage, but they break out using airbags. Overhearing Beth and Nora confront Shelby for compromising their original goals, Kelly encourages the girls not to give up on themselves. Paula goes into labor, and Teddy reconciles with Pete and Darren, happily agreeing to serve as their best man. The sorority enjoys a more empowering party for themselves, and discover a crowd of girls from other sororities wanting to join Kappa Nu. With an overflow of money and new members, the sorority is able to keep their home, and the Radners agree to rent their house to Kappa Nu as well.
Three months later, Teddy prepares Pete to walk down the aisle. Teddy has become a wedding planner for gay couples, utilizing his party-planning experience. Mac and Kelly have moved into their new home, with no close neighbors, and realized they have been good parents all along. They bring home their new baby, Mildred, to meet Jimmy and Paula with their new son, Jimmy Jr.
Nell (1994)
Color
Child brought up cut off from society
Nell
"When stroke victim Violet Kellty dies in her home in the North Carolina forest, the town doctor Jerry Lovell (Liam Neeson) finds a terrified young woman hiding in the rafters of the house. She speaks angrily and rapidly, but seems to have a language of her own. Looking at Violet's bible, Dr. Lovell finds a note asking whoever finds it to look after her daughter, Nell (Jodie Foster). The sheriff, Todd Peterson (Nick Searcy), shows Dr. Lovell a news clipping from which Jerry surmises that Nell is the dead woman's daughter, conceived by a rapist.
Jerry seeks the help of Dr. Paula Olsen (Natasha Richardson), a researcher working with autistic children. Paula and her colleague Dr. Paley (Richard Libertini) are interested in studying a "wild child" (feral child), and Dr. Paley continues to call Nell this even after studying films which show Nell does not fit the "wild child" profile. Doctors Paley and Olsen immediately get a court order giving them permission to institutionalize Nell for "further study". Lovell is warned just in time to get his own lawyer and prevent it. After legal maneuvering, a judge (Joe Inscoe) gives Olsen and Lovell three months to interact with Nell and see what her actual needs are. Paula shows up on a houseboat with electronic equipment to monitor Nell's behavior; Jerry chooses to stay in Nell's cabin and quietly observe.
Almost immediately Paula discovers that Nell's language is English, based partly on her mother's aphasic speech after a stroke. Jerry and Paula begin a grudging friendship, although he detests her coldly clinical, analytical tactics.
Nell sleeps during the day or works inside her home, and is active outdoors only after sunset. She explains to Jerry that her mother told her about the rape and warned her that men were evildoers, citing Isaiah 1:4. As Nell comes to trust Jerry, she sees him as a friend, the "gah'inja" her mother promised would come. Jerry later realizes that "gah'inja" is Nell's phrase for "guardian angel." Using popcorn as an incentive, Jerry is able to lead Nell outside and into the sun. Afterward, Nell leads Jerry and Paula to the remains of a young child--it turns out that Nell once had an identical twin sister, May, who died in a fall while the two were playing in the woods. Nell treats May's remains with reverence and love, rather than horror.
Not long after, a reporter, Mike Ibarra (Sean Bridgers), learns of Nell's existence and visits her cabin. Nell is curious of the visitor at first, but is frightened by the flash when the reporter snaps a photo. At that moment Dr. Lovell arrives and throws the reporter out. The incident sparks an argument between Lovell and Olsen; Dr. Olsen believes that Nell would be safer in a hospital, while Dr. Lovell feels that Nell should be left alone and allowed to live as she pleases. Jerry and Paula decide that Nell should be shown a little of the world, and they make the decision to bring Nell into town.
While in town, Nell befriends the sheriff's depressed wife, Mary Peterson (Robin Mullins), but also has an ugly encounter in a pool hall with some raunchy boys until Dr. Lovell gets her out.
Word of Nell's existence spreads, prompting increased intrusion by the press, and Jerry and Paula are forced to spirit Nell away to a hospital for her protection. There, Nell becomes extremely despondent and unresponsive. Jerry removes her from the hospital and hides her in a hotel. Paula joins him, and at last they admit they love each other.
At the court hearing the next day, Paula's colleague Dr. Paley, who wants to study Nell in a controlled environment, delivers his opinion that Nell has Asperger syndrome and belongs in an institution. Jerry angrily interrupts several times. At last Nell comes forward and, with Jerry interpreting, speaks for herself, an action even her friends did not expect.
The last scenes take place five years later, as Jerry and Paula bring their own daughter to visit Nell in her house; it is Nell's birthday, and she is surrounded by friends from the town.
Network (1976)
Color
When news anchor loses his mind on TV, the ratings go through the roof
Network
"Howard Beale, the longtime anchor of the Union Broadcasting System's UBS Evening News, learns from the news division president, Max Schumacher, that he has just two more weeks on the air because of declining ratings. The two old friends get roaring drunk and lament the state of their industry. The following night, Beale announces on live television that he will commit suicide on next Tuesday's broadcast. UBS fires him after this incident, but Schumacher intervenes so that Beale can have a dignified farewell. Beale promises he will apologize for his outburst, but once on the air, he launches back into a rant claiming that life is "bullshit". Beale's outburst causes the newscast's ratings to spike, and much to Schumacher's dismay, the upper echelons of UBS decide to exploit Beale's antics rather than pull him off the air. In one impassioned diatribe, Beale galvanizes the nation, persuading his viewers to shout out of their windows "I'm as mad as hell, and I'm not going to take this anymore!"
Diana Christensen heads the network's programming department; seeking just one hit show, she cuts a deal with a band of radical terrorists (a parody of the Symbionese Liberation Army called the "Ecumenical Liberation Army") for a new docudrama series called the Mao Tse-Tung Hour for the upcoming fall season. When Beale's ratings seem to have topped out, Christensen approaches Schumacher and offers to help him "develop" the news show. He says no to the professional offer, but not to the personal one, and the two begin an affair. When Schumacher decides to end the Howard as the "Angry Man" format, Christensen convinces her boss, Frank Hackett, to slot the evening news show under the entertainment division so she can develop it. Hackett agrees, bullies the UBS executives to consent, and fires Schumacher at the same time. Soon afterward, Beale is hosting a new program called The Howard Beale Show, top-billed as "the mad prophet of the airwaves". Ultimately, the show becomes the most highly rated program on television, and Beale finds new celebrity preaching his angry message in front of a live studio audience that, on cue, chants Beale's signature catchphrase en masse: "We're as mad as hell, and we're not going to take this anymore." At first, Max and Diana's romance withers as the show flourishes, but in the flush of high ratings, the two ultimately find their way back together, and Schumacher leaves his wife of over 25 years for Christensen. But Christensen's fanatical devotion to her job and emotional emptiness ultimately drive Max back to his wife, and he warns his former lover that she will self-destruct at the pace she is running with her career. "You are television incarnate, Diana," he tells her, "indifferent to suffering, insensitive to joy. All of life is reduced to the common rubble of banality."
When Beale discovers that Communications Corporation of America (CCA), the conglomerate that owns UBS, will be bought out by an even larger Saudi Arabian conglomerate, he launches an on-screen tirade against the deal, encouraging viewers to send telegrams to the White House telling them, "I want the CCA deal stopped now!" This throws the top network brass into a state of panic because the company's debt load has made merger essential for survival. Hackett takes Beale to meet with CCA chairman Arthur Jensen, who explicates his own "corporate cosmology" to the attentive Beale. Jensen delivers a tirade of his own in an "appropriate setting", the dramatically darkened CCA boardroom, that suggests to the docile Beale that Jensen may himself be some higher power--describing the interrelatedness of the participants in the international economy and the illusory nature of nationality distinctions. Jensen persuades Beale to abandon the populist messages and preach his new "evangel". But television audiences find his new sermons on the dehumanization of society depressing, and ratings begin to slide, yet Jensen will not allow UBS executives to fire Beale. Seeing its two-for-the-price-of-one value--solving the Beale problem plus sparking a boost in season-opener ratings--Christensen, Hackett, and the other executives decide to hire the Ecumenical Liberation Army to assassinate Beale on the air. The assassination succeeds, putting an end to The Howard Beale Show and kicking off a second season of The Mao Tse-Tung Hour.
The film ends with the narrator stating: "This was the story of Howard Beale, the first known instance of a man who was killed because he had lousy ratings.
Never Back Down: No Surrender (2016)
Color
Fighter trains for match in Thailand
Never Back Down: No Surrender
"It's been two years since Case Walker has re-entered the world of professional mixed martial arts fighting, but had grown tired of it. He now competes in amateur bouts in an effort to teach his opponents how to utilize their skills. After such a match in Beaumont, Texas, Case runs into Brody James, an old friend who is also a MMA fighter. Brody has signed with PFC Combat, a promotion run by Hugo Vega, in which Brody has signed to fight the 7-foot beast Caesar Braga for the PFC Championship in Bangkok. Brody asks Case to help him train for the fight, knowing Case needs to find his way back as well as attempt to help Brody go on the straight and narrow. Case reluctantly accepts Brody's offer and goes to Thailand.
Case goes to the Top Fight Gym, where he already finds resistance from Brody's other trainer, Matty Ramos. Their difference in training methods make them rivals. To make matters worse, Case gets ridiculed for his training by Cobra O'Conor, a younger fighter whose arrogance gets the best of him. When Brody shows up, Cobra insists on taking Case on in a match of "old school vs. new school". Matty warns Cobra to take it easy, but the arrogant Cobra refuses to listen and faces Case. Case deflects Cobra's moves and uses elements from Kyokushin to pound Cobra to a state of unconsciousness. Brody seems upset with Case with the pummeling of Cobra, but tells him he was kidding and that he agreed that Cobra had what was coming to him. Case soon finds himself becoming a mentor to two up-and-coming fighters, Taj and Creech. Case's pummeling of Cobra attracts the attention of Vega, who is revealed to have some sort of history with Case. PFC marketing director Myca Cruz begins to have a liking to Case and asks him on a date to get to know him, to which he agrees.
When Case has his date with Myca, Matty watches the two together and decides to use it against Case when it comes to Brody. Brody has been slowing down his training and Vega, in an effort to make the fight a success, recommends that Brody use steroids from his supplier to help him better himself. Matty tells Brody of Myca and Case, in which their date ends abruptly when Myca brings up Case's time in prison, making him feel very uncomfortable. When Brody offers to spar with Case, the session gets out of hand as Brody goes too far, hitting Case in the head, to which he retaliates in a way he never expected. Despite apologizing to Brody, their friendship seems to have ended. That is until Case notices Brody using steroids. After training one night, Case and Brody go out to eat. It is then when Brody realizes his mistakes and apologizes. He vows to Case he will do things the right way and even tells Case that Myca would be a good woman for him. Brody and Case work together to begin training for the fight along with Matty, who thanks to an intervention from Brody, agrees to work with Case in training Brody for the title fight. However, viral footage of Case beating up the racist policemen (from Never Back Down 2: The Beatdown) has grabbed the attention of many, thus causing Vega to realize that Brody may not be the one worthy of the fight against Braga.
One day, Case arrives at the gym to see Brody working with Boris, a Sambo specialist. Boris injures Brody's knee with a submission move, claiming he rolled the wrong way. However, Case becomes suspicious. When Vega arrives, he tells Case that the fight will happen and it will be Case against Braga in which Vega will pay him two million dollars. The next day, Case's suspicions were right as he breaks into Boris's locker to find a text message on his cell to Vega reading "It's done". Case confronts Boris, who admits to the deal. Beginning to train for the fight under the mentorship of Brody and the physical training from Matty, Taj confronts Case, accusing him of "selling out". Case knows that he is forced to fight, but must find a way to stop both Braga and Vega, who is set to make a lot of money off the fight and prove that he is responsible for Brody's injury.
At the night of the fight, Tony Jaa appears, mistaking Case for Cuba Gooding, Jr., howling because he is a fan of the film Snow Dogs. Myca, who has become Case's girlfriend, tells Vega she quits. Case begins to think as he is wrapped up for the fight. However, he realizes how he can stop Vega and goes to Braga's locker room, confronting him. As Braga heads to the ring, Case stops him and asks him why if he is so tough it took two punches to knock out his wife. Braga, in total rage, begins to attack Case. The two go to blows outside of the ring, to the delight of the crowd and to the chagrin of Vega. When Braga gets the best of Case, Case resorts to using Kyokushin again, this time using a Nakadaka Ken (Extended Middle Knuckle Punch) that damages Braga's ribs. Case continues using traditional karate techniques and knocks Braga out with a Mawashi Kaiten Geri (Rolling Wheel Kick) to his head. Vega threatens to sue, but Case tells Vega that they have the proof of him causing Brody's injury and that suing could cost Vega millions of dollars. To make matters worse, Vega must pay back everyone who came to see the fight, to which he storms off in anger, knowing he has been defeated. Case, Myca, Brody, Matty, Taj, Creech, and Creech's new love interest, Jeeja (seen earlier training and beating up a fighter who beat Creech up badly in the ring) leave the ring arena knowing they have achieved victory.
Never Let Me Go (2010)
Color
Human Beings are used for organ donation
Never Let Me Go
"The film begins with on-screen captions explaining that a medical breakthrough in 1952 has permitted the human lifespan to be extended beyond 100 years. The first shot shows a young man lying on an operating table smiling at a woman observing from the other side of the glass window. The woman is 28-year-old Kathy H (Carey Mulligan), she narrates the movie and reminisces about her childhood at a boarding school called Hailsham House, as well as her adult life after leaving the school. The first act of the film depicts the young Kathy (Izzy Meikle-Small), along with her friends Tommy (Charlie Rowe) and Ruth (Ella Purnell), spending their childhood at Hailsham in the late 1970s. The school seems to be somewhat unusual. Students are encouraged to create artwork such as paintings and poetry instead of science and maths normal for school children, and their best work gets into "the Gallery." There is also a strong emphasis on "keeping yourselves healthy inside" especially when it comes to smoking. At one point, a new teacher, Miss Lucy (Sally Hawkins) quietly informs the students of their nature: they exist only as organ donors for transplants, and will die - or, rather, "complete" - in their early adulthood. The following day Miss Lucy is "no longer working at Hailsham." As time passes, Kathy and Tommy fall in love, but Tommy falls into a manipulative relationship with Ruth. Ruth and Tommy stay together throughout the rest of their time at Hailsham.
In the second act of the film, the three friends, now young adults, are rehoused in cottages on a farm. They are permitted to leave the grounds if they wish but are resigned to their eventual fate, seeing it as inevitable. At the farm, they meet former pupils of schools similar to theirs, two of whom one day sight a woman in a nearby town who they believe to be a "possible" for Ruth, her "original" - the person she was cloned from. Ruth is ecstatic at the prospect, but when she, Kathy, Tommy, and the two witnesses travel to the coast to re-examine the woman, it turns out there is very little resemblance. Ruth, bitter and disillusioned, rages that all donors are "modeled on trash", meaning that they are cloned from the people lowest in society, or, in her words, "in the gutter."
From the others, Kathy and her friends hear rumors of the possibility of "deferral" -- a temporary reprieve from organ donation for donors who are in love and can somehow prove it. Tommy becomes convinced that the Gallery at Hailsham was intended to look into their souls and that artwork sent to the Gallery will be able to verify true love. Hoping to hear a declaration of love from him, she is visibly distressed when he reveals that his failure to send artwork to the Gallery as a child means he cannot apply with Ruth for a deferral. The relationship between Tommy and Ruth becomes sexual, putting a strain on Kathy's friendships with the two. Kathy, feeling the need to distance herself, leaves the cottages to become a "carer" -- a clone who is given a temporary reprieve from donation to do the job of supporting and comforting donors as they give up their organs. Tommy and Ruth's relationship ends shortly before her departure, though it is not depicted but revealed through Kathy's narration.
In the third and final act of the film, ten years later, Kathy is working as a carer. She has watched many clones gradually "complete" as their organs are harvested. Kathy has not seen Ruth or Tommy since the cottages. While working as a carer, Kathy happens to meet Ruth again, who is frail and unwell after two donations. They find Tommy, who is also weakened, and the three of them drive to the sea as a short trip at Ruth's request. There, Ruth asks for their forgiveness for keeping them apart. She admits she has always known that Kathy and Tommy were meant to be together because their love for each other was real, whereas Ruth was with Tommy because she was jealous of his closeness to Kathy and afraid to be "left alone." She tells them it was the worst thing she ever did and now she wants to put it right, then claims she has found a means to do so: she has found the address of the gallery owner, "Madame" from Hailsham, whom she thinks may grant deferrals to couples in love. With some reluctance due to skepticism, Kathy accepts the opportunity. Shortly afterward, Ruth dies on the operating table when her liver is extracted.
Kathy and Tommy finally begin a relationship, sharing a passionate kiss after a night of Kathy's reading to him, before getting into bed together. Tommy explains to Kathy that he has been creating art in the hope that it will convince Madame to give them a deferral. He and Kathy drive to visit Madame, who lives with the headmistress of Hailsham. The two teachers sympathetically tell them that there have never been any such deferrals. They also explain that the purpose of the Gallery was not to look into their souls, but to determine if they had souls at all. Hailsham had been, in fact, the last remaining place to consider the ethical implications of the donor program. It had closed down owing to lack of funding. As Kathy and Tommy take in the news as they drive away, Tommy requests Kathy to stop the car to let him out and subsequently breaks down in an explosion of rage and frustration. Kathy consoles him, just as she had done during their days at Hailsham when Tommy would fall into fits of rage when bullied, and the two weep in each other's arms. The ending sequence of the movie returns to the first shot of the movie where Tommy is being anesthetized on the operating table for what would be his last organ donation, while looking and smiling at Kathy who is standing on the other side of the glass window.
The film ends with Kathy still living, but knowing that her organ donations will begin in one month. She has come to an acceptance of her fate. Contemplating the ruins of her childhood, her voice-over ponders whether her fate is any different from the people who will receive her organs; after all, "we all complete.
News of the World (2020)
Color
In 1870 Capt. Jefferson travels the plains to return an abducted her to her relatives
News of the World
"In 1870, Captain Jefferson Kyle Kidd, a former Confederate soldier who served in the 3rd Texas Infantry, makes a living traveling town to town reading newspapers to local residents for ten cents per person. Following an evening of news reading, Kidd sets out for his next location and comes across an overturned wagon on the road. Investigating, he finds the body of a lynched black freedman and a live young white girl named Cicada (Johanna, according to her papers), dressed in Native American clothing and speaking Kiowa. After an encounter with a Union Army patrol, Kidd is instructed to take the girl to Union officials at an outpost in a town up the road where they will sort out her Bureau of Indian Affairs paperwork and return her to her surviving family. Reluctantly, Kidd acquiesces to the request.
At the checkpoint, Kidd is informed that the outpost's Bureau of Indian Affairs representative won't be available for three months. Seeking shelter with an old war comrade of his, Kidd reads the news and upon returning, begrudgingly accepts responsibility for taking Johanna to her surviving family after she tries to run away with a band of traveling Native Americans. As they set out, they have difficulty communicating due to speaking different languages. The situation worsens when Kidd is confronted by three ex-Confederate soldiers who try to purchase Johanna from him. He refuses, but the three men pursue, leading to a shootout in the wilderness during which Cicada and Kidd are able to outsmart and kill their pursuers.
Entering the next county, they encounter a group of abusive, racist militiamen led by Farley, a self-proclaimed "buffalo king", who demands Kidd perform a reading from a newspaper that glorifies him. Kidd instead reads a story about a disaster in a Pennsylvania coal mine to whip Farley's workers into a rebellious fury so he and Johanna can escape. Farley hunts them down, but a man named John Calley, inspired by Kidd, shoots Farley and saves them. In the aftermath, Kidd and Cicada send Calley off to make his fortune while they continue to San Antonio to locate Johanna's surviving family. Their wagon is soon wrecked in an accident, and Johanna and Kidd are forced to continue on foot, nearly dying of thirst and heatstroke before Johanna obtains a horse from Kiowa tribesmen.
Kidd and Johanna eventually reach her aunt and uncle's farmstead, the former revealing that Johanna's parents had struck out on their own and moved to the Hill Country where the land would be cheaper; they were killed in a Kiowa raid. Kidd reluctantly leaves Johanna with them, and returns to his hometown of San Antonio. He visits the grave of his wife, Maria Luisa Betancourt Kidd, who died from cholera in 1865 while he was serving in the army. Now without any kin, he mournfully leaves his wedding ring and a locket on her tombstone.
Kidd rides back to the village where he left Johanna, where he finds that her relatives tied her to a pole for refusing to work and trying to run away. Asking for forgiveness, Kidd tells Johanna (in Kiowa) that she belongs with him. Johanna accepts; her aunt and uncle let them go. In an epilogue, Kidd reads the papers in another town assisted by Johanna, his adopted daughter.
Next (2007)
Color
Psychic's abilities tested when the FBI recruits him to help thwart a nuclear attack
Next
"Cris Johnson can see into his future. He can only see two minutes ahead, with the exception of a vision he once had of a woman walking into a diner. Knowing no details other than the time, he goes to the diner twice each day at 8:09 to await her arrival. He works as a small-time magician in Las Vegas, where he supplements his income with gambling, using his powers to win medium amounts against the house.
Cris draws the attention of FBI agent Callie Ferris, who has figured out his ability and wants to stop Russian terrorists from detonating a nuclear weapon. Before she can approach Cris, his gambling draws the attention of casino security. Using his ability to forecast the actions of his pursuers, he eludes them and the Las Vegas police. Ferris tracks Cris to his location, but he escapes after foreseeing her arrival. Later that night, the casino's security chief is approached by two of the terrorists, is interrogated about Johnson and is then killed.
The following morning, Cris is at the diner again when he sees Liz Cooper, the woman from his vision. It turns out that Cris can not only see the future, but also see how his actions can affect that future. When Liz's aggressive ex-boyfriend arrives, Johnson envisions all outcomes of his intervening, and then chooses the outcome that gets him "in" with Liz. Knowing that she is heading for Flagstaff, Arizona, Cris tricks her into giving him a ride. Ferris follows, while the terrorists decide to kill him.
With the weapon tracked to Los Angeles, Ferris convinces her superiors to let her bring Cris in. The terrorists follow in the hope that the agents will lead them to Cris.
Cris and Liz have to spend the night in a motel. Ferris confronts Liz near the hotel. Claiming Cris is a dangerous sociopath, Ferris asks Liz to drug Cris so that they can bring him in peacefully. Instead, Liz warns Cris, who tells her his secret. When she asks why he will not help the FBI stop the terrorists, he explains his limitations, noting the exception for events involving her. Cris tries to escape from the FBI but is captured after saving Ferris from logs tumbling down the side of a mountain. Unable to get to Cris, the terrorists kidnap Liz.
The FBI strap Cris to a chair and force him to watch television until he has a vision that can help. They expect him to see a report about the detonation of the bomb, but instead he envisions a broadcast from several hours in the future in which Liz is killed with a bomb vest while strapped to a wheelchair as bait for him. Cris escapes and races to the parking garage where she will be killed. Catching up to him, Ferris promises to help save Liz as long as Cris will help stop the bomb; she also sets up a plan to draw out the terrorists.
Cris helps the FBI track the terrorists to the port where they are based. When they arrive, Cris is able to walk right up to the terrorist leader while using his power to dodge bullets. After killing the terrorists and saving Liz, they find that the bomb has already been moved. Ferris shows Cris a seismograph, hoping that he will see any tremors caused by explosions before they happen. As he stares at the screen he realizes that he has made a mistake and that he was too late: the bomb detonates out at sea and completely destroys the port, as well as the rest of the city.
The timeline reverts a full day to Cris and Liz in bed at the hotel in Arizona, before Ferris arrived. Because of Liz's involvement in events, Cris has now been able to envision everything that could happen leading to the nuclear explosion. "Every time you look into the future, it changes."
Cris calls Ferris and offers to help prevent the nuclear disaster, then asks Liz to wait for him.
Nights in Rodanthe (2008)
Color
Romantic encounter from guest staying at Inn
Nights in Rodanthe
"While picking up his son and daughter for a weekend visit, Jack (Christopher Meloni) tells his estranged wife Adrienne (Diane Lane) that he still "loves her" and wants to move back home. (It is made clear that Jack left his family for another woman.) Adrienne suggests that his remorse is due to his falling out with the other woman, but in any event says she needs time and space to think. The rift that this causes between the daughter and her mother is palpable. Typical teenage angst and rebellion follow and Adrienne is sure she is losing her daughter over the events that are unfolding in her marriage.
Adrienne drives to Rodanthe, North Carolina, to look after a friend's bed-and-breakfast for the weekend while she's away. The house is rustic, romantic, and right on the beach, and partially in the surf at high tide.
The only guest for the weekend, Paul (Richard Gere), is a very TYPE A personality surgeon who arrives at the inn with his own emotional baggage. He has flashbacks of a surgery which ended tragically. The family of the patient, who live in Rodanthe, is suing him. The husband wrote to Paul asking to speak to him; this is what brings him to Rodanthe.
A storm moves in and the two team up to protect the inn. They dine together, share stories, and eventually turn to each other for emotional comfort. A genuine romance is born. With Adrienne's advice and moral support, Paul opens up to the patient's widower and in doing so faces his own pain.
Paul carries guilt for passing up a relationship with his son in favor of his career and decides to go down to South America to salvage his relationship with his son. Paul is now very reluctant to leave Adrienne and Rodanthe but he knows that he must go to his estranged son Mark (James Franco) who left his stressful practice with his workaholic dad to become a physician there ("a doctors without borders type of thing").
During their separation, Adrienne and Paul exchange numerous handwritten letters expressing their longing to be with each other once again. On the evening that Adrienne and Paul are to finally reunite, he does not show up. Adrienne is unable to determine if he caught his flight back from South America from the airlines. Unfortunately, Paul has been killed in a flash mudslide. His son, Mark, arrives at Adrienne's door the following day with a box of Paul's personal belongings, as well as gratitude to Adrienne for "giving him back the father he knew when he was a child".
Adrienne is seen struggling, for what appears to be days or weeks, with a nearly unbearable grief. Eventually, her daughter (wiser and more mature now)is able to coax the story from her mother. This is a turning point for their relationship and it allows Adrienne to begin to deal with her loss. She tells her daughter the story of a very special type of love and encourages her daughter to seek that out for herself someday.
Adrienne finally is granted a respite from her heart-rending sadness when, during a solitary sojourn along the beach on a strikingly beautiful day, she looks up to see a small herd of magnificent wild horses go thundering on by her. She, her children and her best friend walk down to the dock where Adrienne and Paul had danced, and Adrienne is finally able to kiss Paul goodbye.
Nina (2016)
Color
Life of Jazz singer Nina Simone
Nina
"In 1988 Nina Simone is financially unsound, mentally unstable and an alcoholic. Her 1960's heyday is far behind her. After threatening a lawyer with a gun, she is forcibly committed to a Los Angeles psychiatric hospital for twenty-four hours. While in hospital, Nina hires orderly Clifton Henderson (David Oyelowo) as an assistant. He accompanies her back to Bouc-Bel-Air, France.
Nina drinks heavily and refuses to take her medication. She proves to be difficult and confrontational. She verbally abuses Clifton, assaults a patron at a nightclub performance and makes Clifton get her random men with whom she has one-night stands. Her behavior drives Clifton back home to America.
Nina is told by her doctor that the results of her biopsy are serious and she needs treatment.
Nina arrives unannounced at Clifton's family home in Chicago, much to the amusement of his family and his embarrassment. She tells him that she wants him to be her manager. He hesitantly agrees to work for her again.
In France, Clifton begins calling for bookings but no one wants to deal with Nina. His efforts eventually pay off and she performs marvelously at a gig. He gets a studio and she begins recording new music. It is implied that they begin a sexual relationship. Worried about her health, he convinces her to undergo surgery for her cancer.
Once recovered, Nina returns to America for a live performance in Central Park. A crowd flocks to see her and she opens her concert with the song "Feeling Good."
Nine Lives (2004)
Color
Former CIA agent recovering from PTSD after losing his friend is mistaken for FBI agent
Nine Lives
Former CIA Operative Dean Cage (Wesley Snipes has been in a rehabilitation program to deal with his severe PTSD after the death of his best friend. While out on a date with his fiance, detective Amy Knight, he is mistaked for an FBI agent who is trying to stop the sale of the powerful experimental narcotic EX.
Nine to Five (1980)
Color
Secretaries plot to get rid of boss
Nine to Five
"Judy Bernly (Jane Fonda) is forced to find work after her husband, Dick (Lawrence Pressman), squanders their savings, loses his job and runs off with his secretary. Judy finds employment as a secretary at Consolidated Companies, a very large corporation. The senior office supervisor is the feisty widow, Violet Newstead (Lily Tomlin). Violet shows Judy the place, whilst warning her about the two higher-ups. The first is the sleazy, selfish Franklin Hart, Jr (Dabney Coleman); the latter is the crisp but equally obnoxious Roz Keith (Elizabeth Wilson), Hart's executive assistant and resident snitch. Violet reveals to Judy that Hart is supposedly involved with his buxom secretary, Doralee Rhodes (Dolly Parton); in reality the married Doralee refuses his advances, but Hart leads other staff to believe that they are having an affair.
Hart exploits and mistreats his subordinates regularly. He takes credit for Violet's efficiency proposals, whilst refusing to promote her on the basis that, "clients would rather deal with men when it comes to figures". He cruelly yells at and threatens Judy on her first day after an equipment malfunction. He sexually harasses Doralee, and spreads false rumors that they are having an affair, damaging her credibility with coworkers. Finally, Hart casually fires a worker named Maria over an overheard discussion on salaries.
When Violet discovers that another promotion she was hoping for has instead gone to a man, she confronts Hart about his manipulations and sexism. She then references Hart's claims of his purported affair with Doralee (which Doralee enters the room just in time to hear) before storming out. Doralee, previously unaware of the rumors and now realizing why her coworkers have been cold to her, informs Hart that she keeps a gun in her purse and warns him that, up until she just learned about the rumors, she'd been forgiving and forgetting what Hart has previously done, because of the way she was brought up, and if he ever makes another indecent reference about her, she will change him "from a rooster to a hen with one shot". She also angrily leaves the office.
Judy, upset that Maria has just been fired over a trivial infraction, wants to inform Violet and is told that Violet is at a local bar "getting drunk". She joins Violet and Doralee, and the three women drown their sorrows together before going to Doralee's house. There, the beginning of the their friendship forms over dinner and smoking some marijuana that belongs to Violet's son. They fantasize about getting revenge on Mr Hart, with Judy wanting to shoot him execution style, Doralee wanting to rope him, and Violet wanting to poison him.
The following day, a mix-up leads Violet to accidentally spike Hart's coffee with rat poison (a nod to her fantasy the previous night). However, before he can drink any of the tainted coffee, Hart accidentally knocks himself unconscious by falling from a faulty office chair. On hearing he has been rushed to the hospital, Violet, realizing her error, panics, thinking it's due to the poison. After they arrive at the hospital, the three mistake a dead police witness for their boss. Violet, in a state of panic and desperation, steals the body of the deceased man and stashes it in the trunk of her car, convincing Doralee and Judy to join her, and the three drive off, planning to somehow dispose of the body so that there can be no autopsy. After a car accident, they discover they've stolen the wrong body, so they smuggle it back into the hospital.
Hart turns up alive the next morning, much to the shock of Violet, Doralee and Judy. During a break in the ladies' room, the three speculate on what could have happened and then vow to forget the night's troubles, but Roz, hiding in one of the stalls, overhears them and relates the conversation to Hart. He confronts Doralee with the information he has just learned, and demands that she spend the night at his house or he'll have all three of them prosecuted for attempted murder. Hart refuses to believe it was an accident, so the three kidnap him, with Judy firing at him with Doralee's gun (much as she had done in her fantasy), and Doralee tying his hands and legs with a phone cord (similarly to what she had done in her fantasy). Unsure of how to prevent Hart from alerting authorities, the three bring him to his Tudor-style mansion, keeping him prisoner in his bedroom while they decide to try to find something with which to blackmail him so that he won't have them arrested. The ladies discover that he's been selling Consolidated property behind their backs and keeping the profits for himself. To prove the crime, they need to wait several weeks for the accounting documents to arrive. In the meantime, the women fashion a special bondage device to allow Hart to move around, but keep him confined to his home.
Since Doralee is able to forge Hart's signature without difficulty, the three women use the occasion of their boss's absence to effect numerous changes around the office, in his name. These include allowing flexible hours, a job-sharing program that allows people to work part-time, and a daycare center in the building (while Maria, the woman whom Hart had fired, is allowed to return). All the while they conceal the true reason for his disappearance. As it turns out, Hart is so feared and/or hated around the office that nobody questions his absence, with the exception of Roz, whom Violet, under the pretext of the company, sends to an overseas language school.
One night, Judy discovers a prowler outside Hart's home. It turns out to be her ex-husband Dick, whose marriage to Liza lasted only a week. He tries to get Judy to come back to him until he finds Hart bound and gagged in the upstairs bedroom and believes, erroneously, that Judy has gotten into perverted sex games. Judy sends him away, admitting that she's into everything, even smoking pot, and that his departure was the best thing that ever happened to her.
Hart's adoring wife (the feeling is clearly one-sided) Missy (Marian Mercer) returns from vacation early, putting the ladies' plan in jeopardy. While still pretending to be the women's prisoner, Hart scrambles to replace the property he stole from Consolidated. He then takes Doralee's gun and directs the three women back to the office at gunpoint. Hart is appalled by the changes which have been made in his absence, even though all his employees are delighted with them. Before he can have the three women arrested, Hart receives an unexpected visit from Russell Tinsworthy (Sterling Hayden), the Chairman of the Board.
Mr Tinsworthy has arrived to congratulate Hart for increases in productivity, which are due to the changes the three women have instituted in his name. Hart is only too happy to take credit for everything the ladies have done. Tinsworthy is so impressed that he recruits Hart to work at Consolidated's Brazilian operation for the next few years. Hart is not pleased by this development, but has no choice in the matter. Moments after Tinsworthy and Hart depart, Roz returns from language school and is stunned to discover Violet, Judy and Doralee celebrating in Hart's office, and realizing that she has to report to them.
A post-credits montage reveals the fate of the major characters. Violet was promoted to Vice President. Judy fell in love and married the Xerox representative. Doralee left Consolidated and became a country and western singer. Hart was abducted by a tribe of Amazons in the Brazilian jungle and was never heard from again.
No Country for Old Men (2007)
Color
Moss finds a drug deal gone bad and takes $2 million; a psycho hit man is now on his trail
No Country for Old Men
"In Texas, 1980, hitman Anton Chigurh strangles a deputy sheriff to escape custody and uses a captive bolt pistol to kill a driver and steal his car. He spares the life of a gas station owner after the owner accepts a challenge and guesses the result of Chigurh's coin flip.
Hunting pronghorns in the desert, Llewelyn Moss comes across the aftermath of a drug deal gone awry. He finds several dead men and dogs, a wounded Mexican begging for water, and two million dollars in a briefcase. He takes the money and returns home. That night, Moss returns to the scene with water. He is pursued by two men in a truck and escapes. At home, he sends his wife, Carla Jean, to stay with her mother, then drives to a motel in Del Rio, where he hides the case in the air conditioning duct of his room.
Chigurh, hired to recover the money, kills his employers after obtaining a clue to Moss's identity. Arriving to search Moss's home, he uses his bolt pistol to blow the lock out of the door. Investigating the break in, Sheriff Tom Bell notices the blown-out lock. Using a tracking device hidden with the money, Chigurh goes to Moss's motel and kills a group of Mexicans who are preparing to ambush Moss in his room. Moss has rented a second room adjacent to the Mexicans' room with access to the duct where the money is hidden. He retrieves the briefcase just before Chigurh opens the duct and finds it empty.
While staying at a hotel in Eagle Pass, Moss discovers the tracking device, but Chigurh has already found him. Their firefight spills onto the streets and both are wounded. Moss flees to Mexico, stashing the case of money in weeds along the Rio Grande. Severely injured, he asks for help from some musicians, who take him to a hospital. Carson Wells, another hired operative, fails to persuade him to accept protection in return for the money. Chigurh cleans and stitches his own wounds with stolen supplies and kills Wells at his hotel. Moss telephones the room and Chigurh answers. Chigurh tells Moss that he will kill Carla Jean unless Moss gives up the money; he remarks that he will kill Moss regardless of whether he receives the money.
Moss retrieves the case and arranges to meet Carla Jean at a motel in El Paso, where he plans to give her the money and hide her from danger. Instead, she reluctantly accepts protection for her husband from Sheriff Bell. Carla Jean's mother unwittingly reveals Moss's location to a group of Mexicans who have been tailing them. Bell reaches the rendezvous in time to hear gunshots and see a pickup truck speeding from the motel where Moss lies dead.
That night, Bell returns to the crime scene and finds the lock blown out. Chigurh hides behind the door. Bell enters Moss's room and sees that the vent has been removed and the duct is empty. Later, Bell visits his uncle Ellis, an ex-lawman, and tells him he plans to retire because he feels "over-matched". Ellis points out that the region has always been violent.
Carla Jean returns from her mother's funeral to find Chigurh waiting in her bedroom. She refuses his offer of a coin toss for her life, stating that the choice is his own. Chigurh leaves the house and carefully checks the soles of his boots. As he drives through town, he is injured in a car accident and bribes two young witnesses as he flees the scene.
Now retired, Bell shares two dreams with his wife. In the first, he lost some money his father had given him. In the other, he and his father were riding through a snowy mountain pass; his father had gone ahead to make a fire in the darkness and wait for Bell.
No Good Deed (2014)
Color
Prison escapee holds woman and her children hostage
No Good Deed
"Colin Evans (Idris Elba) is denied parole by the Tennessee Department of Correction, five years into serving a prison term for manslaughter, having killed a man and suspected of killing five women. However, he escapes while being returned to prison, shooting a guard and driver in the process.
In Atlanta, Terri Granger (Taraji P. Henson) is at home with her baby Sam and young daughter Ryan. Her acquaintance Meg (Leslie Bibb) suggests that Terri relax by sharing a girls night with her. Terri's husband Jeffrey (Henry Simmons) arrives home just long enough to pack for a trip to visit his father, and is unhelpful and impatient with Terri, despite his assurances that he loves her.
Also in Atlanta, Colin stalks a woman named Alexis (Kate del Castillo), who was his fiancee before he went to prison. He confronts her with evidence that she has been unfaithful; after she admits to sleeping with another man, he violently murders her. Later, Colin crashes his Ford Ranger in a storm and walks to Terri's home, arriving at dinner time and asking for her help in getting a tow truck. She invites him inside and tends to a wound on his forehead, while he charms her and Ryan. He opens up about his fiancee having cheated on him. Meg arrives with wine and is attracted to Colin. They share the wine and Colin uses the opportunity of a shared smoke break to manipulate Meg into doubting Terri's honesty before murdering Meg with a shovel and hiding her body. Colin tells Terri that Meg left, but Terri sees Meg's umbrella is still in the house. She also realizes that the phone lines are cut and the kitchen knives are missing. After getting Colin away from Ryan, she attacks him with a fire extinguisher but is unable to escape with the children before he recovers. Holding Terri at gunpoint, Colin forces her to stand in the shower as he washes himself, then makes her undress and change her clothes. Terri expects him to rape her, but he does not. She again attacks him, managing to stab him, but fails to escape.
Colin forces Terri to bring the children and drive him away in her car; as they leave, Terri sees Meg's body. On the road, Terri manages to alert a police officer to the danger she is in; the officer pulls them over, but Colin shoots and kills him before he can help her. Colin makes Terri drive to Alexis' home, where he separates Terri from her children and leaves her tied up in the room with Alexis' body. Terri manages to free herself in time to answer Alexis' ringing phone, and the call turns out to be from Jeffrey, who is trying to confirm that Alexis is meeting him at a hotel. Terri realizes that the encounter with Colin was not random; her husband is the man Alexis was sleeping with, and Colin wants revenge. Terri tells her surprised husband that Alexis is dead and she and their children have been kidnapped. She tells him to send help to Alexis' house. She finds Ryan and Sam and hides them, and then attacks Colin again when he returns. Taking advantage of the stab wound, she gains control of his gun and shoots him repeatedly, causing him to fall out a window to his death.
The police arrive, along with Jeffrey. He apologizes to Terri, but she responds by punching him in the face. Some time later, Terri lives in a new house with Sam and Ryan.
No Man is an Island (1962)
Color
US Navy radioman avoids capture by the Japanese during the occupation of Guam
No Man is an Island
"The film begins at an outpost with Tweed expecting to leave Guam to go back to mainland America. His replacement, Roy, arrives along with Vicente, a local. Shortly after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the Japanese launch an air attack on Guam, and the resulting chaos kills both Vicente and Chief Schultz. The five remaining men run for the hills.
Meanwhile, the Japanese have attained medical documents from the American prisoners and have discovered that five men are missing. The five escape an oncoming Japanese patrol with the help of a local man and his son. However, their escape is short lived. While crossing a swamp, Roy loses a shoe and then steps on a scorpion. While not killing him, the toxins made him too weak to walk, forcing the men to stay put. As another Japanese patrol comes, the men decide to hide Roy with some brush, and Tweed gives him a pistol, promising him that he'll "be back for the gun". However, rather than running away, Turney decides to try to convince Roy to surrender with him, saying that the Japanese will take care of Roy's foot and that no harm can come to them because they will be prisoners of war. Turney uses his white shirt to signal to the Japanese his surrender. However, he is promptly killed. Panicking, Roy kills a Japanese soldier with the pistol, but he is shortly thereafter killed by a grenade.
The three remaining men then stumble upon a copra plantation, where they meet Sus Quintagua, who promises to take them to his boss Santos, saying that he will know where they could hide. However, a plan to smuggle the Americans past the Japanese goes wrong when Chico is shot and killed by a stray shot by a drunken Japanese officer into one of the carts. The officer lets the rest of the copra convoy go without searching in exchange for Quintagua's bottle of coconut wine. Quintagua reveals that he has hidden an old radio, and the two Americans try to fix it. However, the battery goes out, and so, without Tweed knowing, Quintagua and Sonnenberg travel back to their abandoned jeep to get its battery. The Japanese then arrive at the village where Tweed is hiding. Tweed takes the radio with him, and Quintagua's wife shows him the way away from the village. They come upon the bound and beheaded bodies of Sonnenberg and Quintagua.
Tweed then makes it to a leprosy hospital, where he is taken care of by a priest and his assistant. Tweed is told that the Japanese would not dare come there, so he will be completely safe there. The hospital even has a functioning radio, and Tweed decides to use a typewriter to write what he hears on the radio onto a makeshift newspaper called the Guam Eagle, which is secretly passed among the locals. However, the plan goes awry when the newspaper, meant to be read and then burned, incites the locals to rebel against the Japanese. The Japanese learn of the Guam Eagle. Shimoda reads one of the papers, and quickly sniffs out medicine, leading them to believe that Tweed is hiding in the leprosy hospital. The Japanese arrive at the hospital, gathering up all of the villagers. Tweed hides with the lepers in the isolation ward, as the Japanese soldiers were too horrified by the patients to look for him in there. However, a small fire is accidentally kicked into a house, causing it to catch on fire. Despite the people's efforts to put it out, the hospital is burned down. The priest is suspected of being the one who distributed the newspaper, and is taken away to be questioned.
Tweed then awakes to find the priest's assistant and a man named Antonio Cruz. Fearful for his family's life because the Japanese have declared anyone found helping Tweed will be executed, Antonio hides Tweed on top of a large formidable rock face with a cave on the top. Antonio promises to bring supplies every now and then. Tweed then meets Antonio's beautiful daughter Josephina, or "Joe", who brings supplies in her father's stead. A nearby Japanese patrol is alerted to their position by an alarm clock that Joe brought with her. However, Tweed converts the alarm clock into an alarm that signals if anyone has found his location. The Japanese then pass another declaration stating that after one month, a farm in each district will be burned down if Tweed is not surrendered, dead or alive. Tweed, overcome with guilt, decides to turn himself in, but is stopped by the assistant and Antonio. The two men take Tweed's dog-tags, stating that they will "give him dead". Under the cover of night, the locals take the body of the recently deceased Shimoda and take it to the sea, where the flesh is eaten by crabs, leaving only a skeleton with Tweed's dog-tags on it.
Antonio's family comes to celebrate Christmas with Tweed, and Antonio reveals that the Japanese have left Guam, save a few in Agana. Tweed is then surprised by a visit from the newly released priest and his assistant. However, they soon discover that the Japanese military is building up its forces and preparing for an attack by the US. Tweed discovers a Japanese gun position and, using a mirror, manages to warn an American ship away from the Japanese cannons. Tweed asks Joe not to come back because he fears it is too dangerous. The two share a passionate embrace and reluctantly part. Later that night, the American ship signals back to Tweed, but it alerts the Japanese to his position. Tweed signals that he has vital information. Tweed manages to rendezvous with the ship; his Japanese pursuers are killed.
After the battle ends with an American victory, Tweed re-unites with Antonio and his family, hugging Joe on top of the rock where Tweed hid.
Nomadland (2020)
Color
Fern becomes part of the life outside conventional society after she loses her job
Nomadland
"In 2011, Fern loses her job after the US Gypsum plant in Empire, Nevada, shuts down; she had worked there for years along with her husband, who recently died. Fern sells most of her belongings and purchases a van to live in and travel the country searching for work. She takes a seasonal job at an Amazon fulfillment center through the winter.
Linda, a friend and co-worker, invites Fern to visit a desert rendezvous in Arizona organized by Bob Wells, which provides a support system and community for fellow nomads. Fern initially declines but changes her mind as the weather turns cold, and she struggles to find work in the area. There, Fern meets fellow nomads and learns basic survival and self-sufficiency skills for the road.
When Fern's van blows a tire, she visits the van of a nearby nomad named Swankie to ask for a ride into town to buy a spare. Swankie, who had put a pirate flag on her van to not be disturbed, chastises Fern for not being prepared and invites her to learn more road survival skills; they become good friends. Swankie tells Fern about her cancer diagnosis and shortened life expectancy and her plan to make good memories on the road rather than waste away in a hospital. They eventually part ways.
Fern later takes a job as a camp host at the Cedar Pass Campground in Badlands National Park, where she runs into Dave, another nomad she met and danced with back at the desert community. He is working temporarily at Badlands National Park, but when he falls ill with diverticulitis, Fern visits him at the hospital where he has had emergency surgery. They later take restaurant jobs at Wall Drug in South Dakota. One night Dave's son visits the restaurant looking for him, telling him that his wife is pregnant and asking him to meet his grandchild. He is hesitant, but Fern encourages him to go. Dave suggests that she come with him, but she declines.
Fern takes a new job at a sugar beet processing plant, but her van breaks down, and she cannot afford the repairs. Unable to borrow money, she visits her sister's family at their home in California. Her sister lends her the money. She questions why Fern was never around in their lives and why Fern stayed in Empire after her husband died, but she tells Fern she is brave to be so independent. Fern later visits Dave and his son's family, learning that Dave has decided to stay with them long-term. He admits feelings for her and invites her to stay with him permanently in a guest house, but she decides to leave after only a few days, heading to the ocean.
Fern returns to her seasonal Amazon job and later revisits the Arizona rendezvous. There she learns that Swankie has died, and she and the other nomads pay tribute to her life by tossing stones into the campfire. Fern opens up to Bob about her loving relationship with her late husband, and he shares the story of his son's suicide. Bob espouses the view that goodbyes are not final in the nomad community as its members always promise to see each other again "down the road."
Sometime later, Fern returns to the nearly abandoned town of Empire to dispose of the belongings she has been keeping in a storage unit. She visits the factory and the home she shared with her husband before returning to the road again.
Norbit (2007)
Color
Once bullied into marrying an overbearing woman, Norbit meets the girl of his dreams
Norbit
"Childhood friends Norbit Albert Rice (Eddie Murphy) and Kate Thomas (Thandie Newton), living at an orphanage doubling as a Chinese restaurant called The Golden Wonton owned by Mr. Wong (Murphy), are separated when Kate is adopted. Five years later, Norbit is rescued from playground bullies by a tough, overweight girl named Rasputia Latimore (Murphy), who becomes his protector from the other bullies and best friend. Rasputia grows into an arrogant and tyrannical woman who eventually marries Norbit. After a while, she begins insulting and controlling him. Norbit is also belittled by Rasputia's older brothers Big Black Jack (Terry Crews), Blue (Lester Speight), and Earl (Clifton Powell), working as a bookkeeper at their construction company. The Latimore brothers also run a "security business" and instill fear in the entire community except Mr. Wong, who refuses to sell them his business.
Norbit discovers Rasputia is cheating on him with her dance instructor Buster Perkin (Marlon Wayans), throwing away his wedding ring and venting his anger at a puppet show for the orphans. He is stunned to see Kate for the first time since childhood, and his affection for her reignites as he learns she is buying Mr. Wong's orphanage, but he is disappointed to learn she is engaged to Deion Hughes (Cuba Gooding Jr.).
With help from ex-pimp friends Pope Sweet Jesus (Eddie Griffin) and Lord Have Mercy (Katt Williams) and other townspeople, Norbit meets Kate without Rasputia's knowledge. Deion is revealed to be helping the Latimore brothers in their plan to turn the orphanage into a strip club. The brothers dupe Norbit into getting Kate to sign papers to renew the restaurant's liquor license in the Latimores' name. Norbit's meeting with Kate leads to helping rehearse her wedding, where a kiss between them makes her reconsider marrying Deion. Norbit returns home to learn Rasputia witnessed their kiss, and she threatens violence against Kate if Norbit ever sees her again.
Kate goes to confront Norbit about the deal, and sees him being held prisoner by Rasputia, in their house's basement. Norbit reluctantly insults Kate, deliberately driving her away so Rasputia will not hurt her. Satisfied, Rasputia lies that Norbit has manipulated Kate since she came back to town. Heartbroken, Kate runs away, and Norbit decides to leave town for good when he finds a letter from a private investigator he hired revealing that Deion is rich from various divorce settlements.
The Latimores reveal their plan to Norbit, and lock him in the basement again. Norbit escapes, reaching the wedding just in time to inform Kate of Deion's schemes. Though his proof of Deion's divorce settlements was destroyed after falling into a pond, Norbit presents Deion's ex-wives (who he told his name was either Antoine or Luther) and his children. Deion flees, and the Latimores attack Norbit for ruining their plans, but the townspeople take up arms to protect Norbit. Rasputia fights her way through the crowd and prepares to kill Norbit, but Mr. Wong harpoons her in the rear. Rasputia and her brothers are chased out of town, and Norbit and Kate buy the orphanage and marry under the same tree where they played as children. The Latimores move to Mexico and open up their strip club "El Nipplopolis", where Rasputia becomes their most popular and lucrative stripper.
North by Northwest (1959)
Color
advertising executive who is mistaken for a spy is forced to go on the run
North by Northwest
"In 1958, thugs in a New York City hotel bar hear a waiter paging George Kaplan. When advertising executive Roger Thornhill summons the same waiter, he is mistaken for Kaplan, kidnapped, and brought to the estate of Lester Townsend. He is interrogated by spy Phillip Vandamm, a Cold War enemy of the United States. Vandamm arranges Thornhill's death in a staged drunken driving accident. Thornhill survives, only to be arrested for driving under the influence. Thornhill fails to convince his mother and the police of what happened. Police take him to Townsend's home, where a woman says he showed up drunk to her dinner party. She also says that Townsend is a United Nations diplomat.
Thornhill and his mother go to Kaplan's hotel room. He is not there, so they sneak inside. Thornhill answers the room phone, but realizes the thugs are calling from the lobby. He escapes and enters the U.N. General Assembly building to meet Townsend--who is not the man he met in Long Island. One of the thugs throws a knife, killing Townsend. Thornhill is photographed as he grabs the knife, giving the appearance that he is the murderer; Thornhill flees, attempting to find the real Kaplan. An unnamed government intelligence agency realizes that Thornhill has been mistaken for Kaplan, but decides against rescuing him for fear of compromising their operation: Kaplan is a non-existent agent they created to thwart Vandamm.
Thornhill sneaks onto a train, the 20th Century Limited, to Chicago. On board, he meets Eve Kendall, who hides him from the police; the two establish a relationship, on Kendall's part because she is secretly working with Vandamm. She tells Thornhill she has arranged a meeting with Kaplan at an isolated rural bus stop. Thornhill waits there, but is attacked by men in a crop duster plane. After trying to hide in a cornfield, he steps in front of a speeding tank truck; it brakes, and the airplane crashes into it, allowing him to escape.
Thornhill reaches Kaplan's hotel in Chicago and learns Kaplan checked out before the time when Kendall claimed she talked to him. Thornhill goes to her room and confronts her, but she leaves. He tracks her to an art auction, where he finds Vandamm purchasing a Mexican Purepecha statue. Vandamm leaves his thugs to deal with Thornhill; in order to escape, Thornhill disrupts the auction until police are called to remove him. He says he is the fugitive murderer, but they release him to the government agency's chief, "The Professor", who reveals that Kaplan was invented to distract Vandamm from the real government agent: Eve Kendall. Thornhill agrees to help maintain her cover.
At the Mount Rushmore visitor center, Thornhill--now willingly playing the role of Kaplan--negotiates Vandamm's turnover of Kendall to be arrested. Kendall then shoots Thornhill, seemingly fatally, and flees. In fact, her gun was loaded with blanks. Afterwards, the Professor arranges for Thornhill and Kendall to meet. Thornhill learns Kendall must depart on a plane with Vandamm and Leonard. He tries to dissuade her from going, but is knocked unconscious and locked in a hospital room. Thornhill escapes the Professor's custody and goes to Vandamm's house to rescue Kendall.
The climax at Mount Rushmore
At the house, Thornhill overhears that the sculpture holds microfilm and that Leonard has discovered the blanks remaining in Kendall's gun. Vandamm indicates that he will kill Kendall by throwing her from the plane. Thornhill manages to warn her with a surreptitious note. Vandamm, Leonard, and Kendall head for the plane. As Vandamm boards, Kendall takes the sculpture and runs to the pursuing Thornhill. They flee to the top of Mount Rushmore. As they climb down the mountain they are pursued by Vandamm's thugs, including Leonard, who is fatally shot by a park ranger. Vandamm is taken into custody by the Professor.
Meanwhile, Kendall is hanging on to the mountain by her fingertips. Thornhill reaches down to pull her up, at which point the scene cuts to him pulling her--now the new Mrs. Thornhill--into an upper berth on a train.
Not Easily Broken (2009)
Color
Couple struggles to maintain their marriage
Not Easily Broken
Dave (Morris Chestnut) and Clarice Johnson (Taraji P. Henson) have reached a breaking point in their marriage. When Clarice is injured in a car accident, her mother Mary (Jenifer Lewis) intervenes. The obvious truth that more than just her injuries need immediate attention is exposed. Their odds of making it worsen as Clarice begins to see a physical therapist, and Dave develops a friendship with her (Maeve Quinlan) and her friendly teenage son Bryson (Cannon Jay). The acceptance and comfort Dave finds in them stirs his longing for a family and a passionate partner. Sadly, Bryson unexpectedly dies in a swimming accident, Dave and Julie's relationship closens and Clarice pulls farther away; they must confront whether their vows are or are not easily broken. Later on, Dave visits Julie after she calls him, and he comforts her in her grief. They begin to kiss, but Dave realizes it is Clarice he truly wants. The couple reunites once Clarice expresses to him the reasons for her mother having such a big input in their marriage. They reunite and Dave finds out that Clarice is pregnant.
Nothing But the Truth (2008)
Color
Journalist outs an acquaintance as a CIA agent
Nothing But the Truth
"Rachel Armstrong (Kate Beckinsale) is an ambitious reporter for the Capital Sun-Times. When she discovers fellow soccer mom Erica Van Doren (Vera Farmiga) is working as a covert operative for the CIA and recently returned from Venezuela, where she was investigating an assassination attempt on the President of the United States, she confronts her and requests confirmation. Erica refuses to cooperate, but Rachel has no doubts about the veracity of the report, and her story becomes front-page news with the support of editor Bonnie Benjamin (Angela Bassett) and Avril Aaronson (Noah Wyle), who serves as the newspaper's legal counselor.
Because revealing a covert operative's identity is a treasonous offence and because the individual who leaked the information to Rachel is a potential threat to national security, special Federal prosecutor Patton Dubois (Matt Dillon) convenes a grand jury and demands to know who her source is, information she refuses to divulge. High profile attorney Albert Burnside (Alan Alda), hired by the newspaper to defend Rachel, is certain his personal friendship with Judge Hall will facilitate matters and is shocked when his client is jailed for contempt of court.
Days become weeks, and then months, but Rachel steadfastly defends the principle of confidentiality, a position that eventually estranges her husband Ray (David Schwimmer), alienates her young son Timmy (Preston Bailey), and costs her embattled newspaper millions of dollars in fines and legal fees. She is stricken when a member of an extremist right-wing group assassinates Van Doren in her own driveway, as he perceives Van Doren's report on Venezuela's innocence to be unpatriotic, but she remains silent. Eventually, the Vice President's former Chief of Staff comes forward and admits that he corroborated Armstrong's investigation into Van Doren's identity. However, Dubois is only interested in Armstrong's original source. Armstrong pleads to Dubois that she could never give up her source as they would have to deal with the consequential ramifications of the death of Van Doren. Burnside even argues her case before the Supreme Court, but they decide against him 5-4, citing the overriding concern of national security.
Eventually, Judge Hall decides to release Armstrong from jail, as he is convinced she will never divulge her source and, therefore, cannot be pressured through continued incarceration. On the day she is released, Dubois has the U.S. Marshals arrest her for obstruction of justice and convinces her to take a deal for a shortened sentence rather than go to trial. She agrees to two years in prison, with the possibility of early parole for good behavior. As Armstrong is taken to the facility, she reminisces about her time as a volunteer at Timmy's school, and when she spoke to Van Doren's daughter, Alison, who revealed to her on a school field trip that her mother worked for the government and recently went to Venezuela on "business", thus revealing Alison as the original source.
Nothing to Lose (1997)
Color
Ad exec finds his wife in bed with his boss; he then joins up with carjacker he encounters
Nothing to Lose
"Advertising executive Nick Beam (Tim Robbins) thinks his life is going very well--until he returns home from work and discovers that his wife (Kelly Preston) is apparently having an affair with his boss, Philip Barlow (Michael McKean). On the edge of a nervous breakdown, Nick drives around the city until small-time carjacker T-Paul (Martin Lawrence) jumps into his SUV and attempts to rob him. Turning the tables on his mugger, Nick kidnaps T. Paul on the spot and drives him to the desert. After T-Paul robs a gas station in the Arizona desert, the mismatched pair devise a scheme to rob Nick's boss in revenge for the affair.
Nick knows the combination to a safe in his boss's office containing a large amount of cash, as well as the best time to enter, and where not to venture in the building. T-Paul knows the weaknesses of the security system, how to avoid the cameras, and how to get through any electronic locks that they might encounter.
Another criminal duo (John C. McGinley and Giancarlo Esposito) get blamed for the gas-station robbery and pursue the pair to L.A. After a brief confrontation, the two ram Nick's truck off the road.
After escaping the 'real' criminals, the pair execute their plan. During the robbery, however, Beam reveals himself to the security cameras after damaging his boss' prize fertility statue. The situation worsens further as the crooks that Nick and Paul escaped from, who are now waiting outside, follow them to their hotel and place Paul in a trap for Beam to find when he returns from the bar.
Nick calls his wife and discovers that she was not, in fact, having an affair--the cuff links he thought were his boss's were left by his boss at the Christmas party, and it was her sister and her sister's fiancee in the bed. Suddenly overcome with remorse, he quickly manages to rescue T-Paul from his (somewhat inept) kidnappers and return the money to the safe, after tying up the crooks and leaving them in an alley for the police. Nick assures T-Paul that nobody will bother to look at the tapes, unless something is missing or damaged. After trying to figure out what to do with the money, Nick and T-Paul get into a fight, ending their partnership. T-Paul decides to walk home, while Nick drives home and tells his wife what happened to him.
Of course, Nick's face is still on the tape, and (since he vandalized his boss's statue) the tapes are being closely examined. Nick races to his boss's office, but arrives too late--only to discover that 'an electrician' has recorded over the tape.
After finding T-Paul, it's revealed that T-Paul recorded over the tape, saving Nick from the life he himself was desperately trying to escape. In return, Nick gives T-Paul a legitimate job--as the electrician responsible for the security system he so easily bypassed. After the credits finish, a postman delivers a letter to the gas station T-Paul robbed. The owner opens it up and finds it full of money (to replace what was stolen).
Notorious (1946)
Black & White
Woman goes undercover to help catch Nazi
Notorious
"Alicia Huberman (Ingrid Bergman), the American daughter of a convicted Nazi spy, is recruited by government agent T. R. Devlin (Cary Grant) to infiltrate an organization of Nazis who have relocated to Brazil after World War II.
While awaiting the details of her assignment in Rio de Janeiro Alicia and Devlin fall in love, though his feelings are complicated by his knowledge of her wild past. When Devlin gets instructions to persuade her to seduce Alex Sebastian (Claude Rains), one of her father's friends and a leading member of the group, Devlin tries to convince his superiors that Alicia is not fit for the job. He puts up a stoic front when he informs Alicia about the mission, choosing duty over love. Alicia concludes that he was merely pretending to love her as part of his job.
They contrive to have her meet Sebastian, and renew their acquaintance. At a dinner Alicia witnesses an odd incident--a guest becomes hysterical at the sight of several wine bottles on a sideboard, and is ushered quickly from the room.
Sebastian quickly renews his ardor for her, and soon Alicia reports to Devlin, "you can add Sebastian's name to my list of playmates." When Sebastian proposes, Alicia informs Devlin, hoping he will finally erupt, but the agent coldly tells her to do whatever she wants; stung, she marries Sebastian.
Alicia takes the wine cellar key while Sebastian dresses for the party. When she returns from her honeymoon, Alicia is hard-pressed to find anything amiss in her new home. The only thing she can relate to Devlin is that the key ring her husband gave her is short a key, the one to the wine cellar. That, and the bottle episode at the dinner, lead Devlin to urge Alicia to hold a grand party so he might investigate. The night of the affair, Alicia secretly steals the key from Sebastian's ring, and the two slip away to the cellar. There, Devlin accidentally breaks a bottle. Inside they find not wine, but a black sand (which later analysis shows to be uranium). He takes a sample, cleans up, and locks the door just as Sebastian comes down for more champagne. Alicia and Devlin kiss to cover their tracks. Devlin feigns drunkenness, and makes an exit, but Sebastian remains suspicious. When he comes back later, he finds the glass and sand from the broken bottle pushed under a wine rack.
Sebastian's colleagues watch as he and Devlin help Alicia down the grand stairs. Now Sebastian has a problem: he must silence Alicia, but cannot expose her without revealing his own blunder to his unforgiving fellow Nazis. He discusses the situation with his mother (Leopoldine Konstantin) and she suggests that Alicia "die slowly" by poisoning. They poison her coffee and she quickly falls ill; soon she is bedridden.
Devlin becomes alarmed when she fails to appear at their next rendezvous. He sneaks into Alicia's quarters, where she tells him that Sebastian and his mother are poisoning her. After confessing his love for her, Devlin carries her out of the mansion in full view of Sebastian's Nazi cabal. Sebastian begs to go with them, but Devlin and Alicia drive away, leaving Sebastian to face his Nazi companions.
O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000)
Color
Convicts break out of jail to hunt for cache of loot
O Brother, Where Art Thou?
"Three convicts, Ulysses Everett McGill, Pete Hogwallop, and Delmar O'Donnell, escape from a chain gang and set out to retrieve a supposed treasure Everett buried before the area is flooded to make a lake. The three get a lift from a blind man driving a handcar on a railway. He tells them, among other prophecies, that they will find a fortune but not the one they seek. The trio make their way to the house of Wash, Pete's cousin. They sleep in the barn, but Wash reports them to Sheriff Cooley, who, along with his men, torches the barn. Wash's son helps them escape.
They pick up Tommy Johnson, a young black man, who claims he sold his soul to the devil in exchange for the ability to play guitar. In need of money, the four stop at a radio broadcast tower where they record a song as The Soggy Bottom Boys. That night, the trio part ways with Tommy after their car is discovered by the police. Unbeknownst to them, the recording becomes a major hit.
Near a river, the group hears singing. They see three women washing clothes and singing. The women drug them with corn whiskey and they lose consciousness. Upon waking, Delmar finds Pete's clothes lying next to him, empty except for a toad. Delmar is convinced the women were Sirens and transformed Pete into the toad. Later, one-eyed Bible salesman Big Dan Teague invites them for a picnic lunch, then mugs them and kills the toad.
Everett and Delmar arrive in Everett's home town. Everett confronts his wife Penny, who changed her last name and told his daughters he was dead. He gets into a fight with Vernon T. Waldrip, her new "suitor." They later see Pete working on a chain gang. Later that night, they sneak into Pete's holding cell and free him. As it turns out, the women had dragged Pete away and turned him in to the authorities. Under torture, Pete gave away the treasure's location to the police. Everett then confesses that there is no treasure. He made it up to convince the guys he was chained with to escape with him in order to stop his wife from getting married. Pete is enraged at Everett, because he had two weeks left on his original sentence, and must serve fifty more years for the escape.
The trio stumble upon a Ku Klux Klan rally, who are planning to hang Tommy. The trio disguise themselves as Klansmen and attempt to rescue Tommy. However, Big Dan, a Klan member, reveals their identities. Chaos ensues, and the Grand Wizard reveals himself as Homer Stokes, a candidate in the upcoming gubernatorial election. The trio rush Tommy away and cut the supports of a large burning cross, leaving it to fall on Big Dan.
Everett convinces Pete, Delmar and Tommy to help him win his wife back. They sneak into a Stokes campaign gala dinner she is attending, disguised as musicians. The group begins a performance of their radio hit. The crowd recognizes the song and goes wild. Homer recognizes them as the group who humiliated his mob. When he demands the group be arrested and reveals his white supremacist views, the crowd runs him out of town on a rail. Pappy O'Daniel, the incumbent candidate, seizes the opportunity, endorses the Soggy Bottom Boys and grants them full pardons. Penny agrees to marry Everett with the condition that he find her original ring.
The next morning, the group sets out to retrieve the ring, which is at a cabin in the valley, which Everett earlier claimed was the location of his treasure. The police, having learned of the place from Pete, arrest the group. Dismissing their claims of receiving pardons, Sheriff Cooley orders them hanged. Just as Everett prays to God, the valley is flooded and they are saved. Tommy finds the ring in a desk that floats by, and they return to town. However, when Everett presents the ring to Penny, it turns out it wasn't her ring, and she doesn't even remember where she put it.
Oblivion (2013)
Color
While maintaining Earth's definsive drones Cmd Jack discovers a crippled starship
Oblivion
"By March 14, 2077, Jack Harper and Victoria “Vika” Olsen are among the few humans left on Earth. Sixty years earlier, a race of alien scavengers destroyed the Moon and invaded Earth; humanity won the war, but nuclear weapons and the loss of the Moon left most of the planet uninhabitable. With Vika as his communications officer, Jack serves as “Tech 49”, repairing the combat drones that hunt the remaining scavengers and guard the “hydrorig” generators converting seawater into fusion energy. Led by mission director Sally from aboard the “Tet” space station orbiting Earth, they will soon leave for humanity's new home on Titan. Although their memories have been wiped, Jack has recurring dreams of a life before the war with an unknown woman.
Exploring the ruins of the New York Public Library, Jack narrowly escapes a scavenger ambush. After a hydrorig is destroyed, he discovers the scavengers are using the Empire State Building's antenna to transmit coordinates to outer space. After disabling the transmitter, he visits his secret cabin filled with mementos from Earth's past. An unknown object crash-lands at the transmitted coordinates; in the wreckage, Jack finds five humans in stasis chambers, including the woman from his dreams. Drones kill the hibernating humans, but Jack protects the woman and brings her to his base. He and Vika revive the woman and learn her name is Julia, realizing she was in stasis aboard her ship Odyssey since before the war.
Jack and Julia return to the crash site and recover Odyssey's flight recorder, but are captured by scavengers and taken to Raven Rock Mountain Complex. Their leader, Malcolm Beech, reveals that the scavengers are humans, disguised to stay hidden from the drones. Another drone attacks, and Beech releases Jack and Julia to discover the truth in the “radiation zone”. Julia reveals she is Jack's wife, triggering his memories of proposing to her at the Empire State Building.
Vika sends a craft to retrieve Jack and Julia, but is heartbroken to see them reunited. She alerts Sally, who activates a drone that kills Vika before Julia destroys it. Jack and Julia escape in his craft and destroy the drones pursuing them, but are forced to eject over the radiation zone. Another technician, "Tech 52" -- revealed to be a clone of Jack -- arrives to repair the drones. Jack incapacitates him, but Julia is shot, and Jack flies to his clone's base for medical supplies, tricking a clone of Vika into believing he is "her" version of Jack. He takes Julia to his cabin, where she recuperates and they re-consummate their marriage.
They return to the scavenger base, and Beech explains that the Tet is an alien artificial intelligence: determined to acquire Earth's resources and wipe out humanity, it destroyed the Moon and invaded Earth with an army of drones and Jack's clones; humanity's victory and escape to Titan is a Tet fiction. Jack reprograms a captured drone to sabotage the Tet, but more drones attack the base, leaving Beech gravely injured and the captured drone damaged beyond repair.
Jack volunteers to deliver Julia to the Tet, allowing him to infiltrate the space station and detonate Odyssey's nuclear fuel cells. En route, Jack learns the truth from Odyssey's flight recorder: he was the commander of a NASA mission to explore Titan, with Vika as his co-pilot, Julia as a crew member, and Sally as their mission director on Earth. After their ship Odyssey was diverted to investigate the Tet, Jack jettisoned the sleep module, allowing Julia and the hibernating crew to eventually return to Earth, while he and Vika were captured and cloned.
In the present, Jack enters the Tet, finding thousands of clones of himself and Vika in stasis. Confronted by the Tet's projection of “Sally”, Jack opens the stasis chamber to reveal Beech; Julia was sent safely to the cabin instead. Jack and Beech detonate their bomb, sacrificing themselves to destroy the Tet. Three years later, Julia has given birth to her and Jack's young daughter. They meet the surviving resistance members, accompanied by Tech 52, who has regained Jack's true memories.
Obsessed (2009)
Color
Woman tries desperately to steal woman's husband
Obsessed
"Derek Charles (Idris Elba) is the Executive Vice President of Gage Bendix, a finance company. Derek and his wife, Sharon (Beyonce Knowles) have an infant son, Kyle (Nathan and Nicolas Myers). While at work, Derek briefly flirts with temp Lisa Sheridan (Ali Larter), who later attempt to seduce him throughout the film. Derek repeatedly rejects her, but Lisa continues to advance on him, and attempts to have sex with him at the no-spouse Christmas party and flashes him in his car. Derek intends to report Lisa to his firm's human resource management, but learns that she has quit her job. Derek and his workmates visit a resort for a conference, where he spots and confronts Lisa, who spikes his drink. Incapacitated, Derek is somewhat helpless when Lisa follows him into his hotel room and kisses him. He confronts Lisa again the following day, and hours later discovers her lying in his bed after attempting suicide through drug overdose. After repeated attempts to reach Derek on his phone, Sharon finds Derek at the hospital, and suspects that he and Lisa had an affair, as Lisa claims. Detective Monica Reese (Christine Lahti) questions Derek and becomes skeptical of Lisa's claims, and informs Derek of her belief in him. Sharon kicks Derek out of their house, and Derek moves into a separate apartment.
While Derek and Sharon are dining out, Lisa breaks in their house and tricks the babysitter Samantha (Scout Taylor-Compton) into letting her in under the pretense of being one of Sharon's friends, and flees with Kyle. When Derek and Sharon return home after dinner, they discover that Lisa has abducted Kyle. Derek goes to his car with the intent to pursue Lisa, only to find Kyle sitting safely in the back seat. Derek and Sharon immediately take Kyle to the hospital for a check-up. When Derek and Sharon return home after checking-up Kyle, they find Lisa has trashed their bedroom and removed Sharon's face from their family portrait. Sharon leaves a threatening voice message on Lisa's phone, and she and Derek set up a home alarm system. Lisa learns that Derek and Sharon will be away from town, with Sharon leaving that afternoon and Derek the next day. While Sharon is on her way to pick up Kyle, she realizes that she forgot to set the alarm system and returns home. Meanwhile, Lisa breaks into Derek and Sharon's house again and decorates the master bed with rose petals. While setting the alarm, Sharon hears Lisa in the bedroom. Sharon tells Lisa that she is calling the police, but Lisa proves to be far stronger and more dangerous than she anticipated and easily tackles her to the floor and Sharon and Lisa engage in a fistfight. Sharon is aggressive and uses her size advantage while Lisa targets Sharons throat. Lisa gains the upper hand by elbowing Sharon in the face and attempting to force her over the stair banister while choking her with both hands. In desperation, Sharon lunges forward and Sharon and Lisa engage in a struggle where Lisa, refusing to let go of her throat manages to overpower and wrestle Sharon down the stairs, temporarily knocking her out. Derek calls his house and Lisa answers and later calls Detective Reese and immediately leaves his office.
Lisa runs to the attic, and Sharon pursues her. Sharon leads Lisa to a weak spot in the attic floor, where Lisa falls through. Sharon reaches out and attempt to take Lisa's hand to lift her up, but Lisa pulls Sharon down with her instead of accepting her help. Seeing that the floor is starting to buckle, Sharon pries Lisa off of her arm. Lisa falls onto a chandelier and breaks her fall, but lets go and falls onto the glass table below. Lisa opens her eyes, only to have the chandelier fall, which finally kills Lisa. Derek and Detective Reese arrives as Sharon comes out of the front door of the house. The film ends when Derek and Sharon embrace with each other as Detective Reese enters their house to investigate Lisa's actions.
Of Mice and Men (1939)
Black & White
Two men try to eck out a meager living during the depression
Of Mice and Men
"Two migrant field workers in California during the Great Depression--George Milton (Burgess Meredith), an intelligent and quick-witted man (despite his frequent claims of being "not that smart"), and Lennie Small (Lon Chaney, Jr.), an ironically-named man of large stature and immense strength who, due to his mental disability, has a mind of a younger child--hope to one day attain their shared dream of settling down on their own piece of land. Lennie's part of the dream, which he never tires of hearing George describe, is merely to tend to (and touch) soft rabbits on the farm. George protects Lennie at the beginning by telling him that if Lennie gets into trouble George won't let him "tend them rabbits." They are fleeing from their previous employment in Weed where they were run out of town after Lennie's love of stroking soft things resulted in an accusation of attempted rape when he touched and held onto a young woman's dress (not shown, but mentioned).
While on a bus en route to the new ranch, Lennie -- who, because of his mental disability, is prone to forget the simplest things or phrases but can only remember about the rabbits--asks George where they are going. George is aggravated about this and instead tells him about the work cards they got at the bus entrance, which Lennie does remember, but incorrectly remembers having them in his pocket, since George has both of them. After being dropped off 10 miles from their destination, George and Lennie decide to camp for the night by the Salinas River. When George points to Lennie the river, he runs to the river and dunks his whole head in it, drinking from it like an animal. George soon catches Lennie petting a dead bird, takes it away from him and throws it to the other side of the river for safety reasons. When Lennie hears that they are going have beans for dinner, he requests ketchup, to which George responds that they do not have any. At night, as George and Lennie are eating beans for dinner, Lennie requests for the same thing, with George responding angrily, stating that whatever they do not have is what Lennie always wants to have. This leaves Lennie puzzled, as he forgot that first response from earlier. This also causes George to have a long speech about Lennie's ungratefulness, childlike behavior and why they had to escape from Weed. Eventually, George eases the tensions by telling Lennie his favorite story about their future farm before going to sleep.
The next day, they arrive at the ranch near Soledad. They meet Candy (Roman Bohnen), the aged, one-handed ranch-hand with his ageing dog he raised since he was a puppy. After meeting with the ranch boss, Jackson (Oscar O'Shea), the pair are confronted by Curley, the small-statured jealous and violent son of the ranch owner, who threatens to beat Lennie to a pulp because of his height, as Curley has a huge hatred against men who are of large stature. To make matters worse, Curley's seductive, yet sadistic and conniving wife, Mae (Betty Field), to whom Lennie is instantly attracted, flirts with the other ranch hands. George orders Lennie not to look at, or even talk to, her, as he senses the troubles that Mae could bring to the men.
One night, Mae enters the barn in an attempt to talk with Slim (Charles Bickford). Even when Mae explains how her life has been during the Depression, Slim refuses to listen to her and shuns her, saying "You got no troubles, except what you bring on yourself" and tells her to go back to the house. When this statement causes Mae to sob, Slim is forced to give in and let her talk. Back at the bunkhouse, Candy offers to join with George and Lennie after Carlson kills his dog, so they can buy the farm and the dream appears to move closer to reality. Curley appears and makes a scene in the bunkhouse as the workers mock him after he accused Slim of keeping company with his wife. George and Lennie's dream is over-shadowed when Curley catches Lennie laughing, grabs him from his bunk and starts punching him in the face repeatedly. Instead of fighting back, Lennie asks for help from George, who tells him to fight back. Upon hearing George say this, Lennie catches Curley's hand and crushes it, not letting go until he finds out what he did. Slim gives Curley an ultimatum: not to tell anyone what exactly happened. If Curley does tell his father in retribution to get Lennie and George fired, Slim will tell everyone what happened. Curley is told, for this reason, to say that he got his hand caught in a piece of machinery.
On Saturday night, everyone, except Lennie, Candy and Crooks (Leigh Whipper) (because of his race), are in town, enjoying themselves. Crooks asks Lennie to stay in his room and Lennie explains to him about the farm that he, George and Candy are going to own, forgetting his promise to George not to tell this to anyone. Candy gets into the conversation too, and when George comes back first, he sees Lennie smoking a cigar and takes it away, guessing what Lennie had done. At that moment, Mae enters the bunkhouse, trying to ask Crooks who crushed Curley's hand. When Crooks refuses to respond, Mae callously calls the four "bindlestiffs" in an attempt to belittle them. When Candy responds with proof of what they are going to do in the future, Mae refuses to accept their American dream, calling him an "old goat." When Mae tries to get Crooks to explain what happened to Curley's hand (despite the fact that he was not present), George mentions that nobody did it, briefly leading Mae to believe that George was the one who crushed his hand. George tries to explain what they are going to do in the future, and that, if Mae keeps constantly flirting with them, she is going to cause the dream to crash. The callous Mae refuses to listen, and, while looking for the person who crushed her husband's hand, sees Lennie's bloodied and bruised face, and she finds out that he is the one responsible. When Mae tries to be kind to Lennie and to "thank" him for what he did, George grabs her by the shoulder, berates her and tells her to return to the house. Mae refuses to do so, saying that she has the right to talk to and flirt with whomever she comes across. Jackson, who happened to be standing by Crooks' door, catches George with his hand raised, with the intention to slap Mae across the face because of her arrogance and negligence. Holding a horsewhip in his hand, Jackson silently dissuades him from doing so and to let Mae go back to the house unharmed.
The next morning, Mae confronts Curley, who repeats the same statement Slim gave him earlier, but because Mae knows the truth, she taunts him, calling him "a punk with a crippled hand!" The aggravated Curley then tells her that their marriage is over, and that she is going to be kicked out of the ranch due to her carnal behavior with the ranch hands. She continues to laugh hysterically until she starts to weep, realizing she is now done for. Before she can leave, Mae enters the barn to pet a few of Slim's puppies, when she spots Lennie sobbing, after he killed his puppy stroking it too hard. When Lennie tries to leave, knowing he should not be talking to Mae as ordered by George, she stops him from leaving and forces him to talk to her. Because there is a horseshoe tournament going on until dusk, Mae plans to talk with him until then. Mae explains to Lennie what she wanted to be before Curley shattered her dream. When Lennie tells Mae that he loves to stroke soft things, Mae allows him to stroke her hair, telling him not to "muss it up." Mae starts to resist and scream when Lennie strokes her hair too hard. However, when Lennie tries to silence Mae, he accidentally kills her by recklessly breaking her neck unintentionally. This incidental situation crashes their own American dream.
When Candy and George find Mae's body, they tell the others, including Curley, who grows infuriated. As a result, a lynch mob gathers to kill Lennie. However, George and Slim go off alone to find Lennie. George tells Slim that he has Carlson's Luger after he and Candy see Mae's dead body. George and Slim separate and go off to find Lennie. George finds him first and, realizing he is doomed to a life of loneliness and despair like the rest of the migrant workers, wants to spare Lennie a painful death at the hands of the furious and cold-hearted Curley. After giving Lennie one last retelling of their dream of buying their own land, George shoots Lennie in the back of the head with Carlson's Luger before the mob can find him. When the mob arrives too late, only Slim realizes what George has done, and hands the Luger to a local police officer as they leave the river.
Of Mice and Men (1992)
Color
Nomadic farmworker looks after his gentle-giant, dim-witted friend
Of Mice and Men
"The movie opens with George in a boxcar, reminiscing on the events that occurred.
During the Great Depression, the quick-witted George Milton looks after his physically strong yet mentally disabled companion Lennie Small. The two are fleeing from their previous employment as workmen in Weed, California, where Lennie was accused of attempted rape when he touched and held on to a young woman and her red dress, prompted by his love of stroking soft things. George and Lennie escape and travel to Soledad, which is near the ranch where they have work. While walking, George catches Lennie petting a dead mouse that he had accidentally killed. Despite Lennie's pleas to keep the dead mouse, George forcibly takes the mouse and throws it away, which causes Lennie to cry. George tries to explain to Lennie that he did so because the mouse "wasn't fresh", and that if he were to find another, fresher mouse, he could pet that one for a while. Lennie, sobbing hysterically, states that "there is no other mouse".
As they camp that evening, Lennie asks George to tell him again about their dream, as he has numerous times, and George reluctantly agrees. George describes how the two will one day have their own piece of land, and how Lennie will tend (and pet) their rabbits. George adds that if Lennie should ever get in trouble, he is to return to the brush and wait for him. The following day, the two arrive to work at Tyler Ranch. The ranch Boss becomes suspicious of Lennie's mental condition when Lennie talks, forgetting to keep silent as George had instructed him. In order not to be fired, George lies to the Boss, telling him Lennie is his cousin and that he was kicked in the head by a horse when he was a child. At the bunkhouse, George and Lennie befriend an aged, one-handed ranch-hand, Candy. However, they take an instant dislike to the Boss' son, Curley, who hates people who are bigger than him. Lennie then becomes instantly attracted to Curley's seductive wife, who comes into the bunkhouse to flirt with Lennie and George. George, aware that Curley's wife will bring trouble upon the men due to her sexual allure and persistent flirting, strictly instructs Lennie to keep away and not to look at her.
While at a barn waiting for Crooks, an educated and intelligent black man who is bitter and isolated because of his race, George is discovered by Curley's wife, who attempts to engage in a conversation. However, the attempt is interrupted when Curley enters the barn and confronts George, threatening to beat him to a pulp and have him fired if he catches him fraternizing with his wife again. George is introduced to his work team, Slim, the head of the team, who is greatly respected, and Carlson. When Carlson suggests they shoot Candy's old dog and get Slim to give him one of his pups, Lennie gets excited and asks George for a pup. After a hard day's work, George is proud of Lennie's work load and gets Lennie his puppy. Later, after Carlson kills his dog, Candy offers to pitch in with Lennie and George so they can buy the farm. Just as it seems that the dream is moving closer to reality, Curley comes by and accuses Slim of keeping his wife company as the workers mock Curley back. Curley spots Lennie laughing unintentionally (it's implied that Lennie is imagining tending rabbits on their future farm), and he punches him repeatedly, yelling at him to fight back. The other men yell at Curley and encourage Lennie to fight. Lennie grabs Curley's hand and crushes it in his iron grip. George fears for his and Lennie's jobs on the ranch, but Slim gives Curley an ultimatum: Curley tells people his hand was just caught in a machine; if Curley tries to get George and Lennie sacked, Slim will tell everyone how Curley's hand really got crushed, and everyone will laugh at him. Curley, concerned for his reputation, reluctantly agrees to keep quiet.
The next day, Lennie and Crooks talk about being lonely, after which Curley's wife again attempts unsuccessfully to engage in conversation, now aware of what really happened to Lennie. Having reached the limit of her patience, the emotionally frustrated wife vows to leave the ranch forever, running to the house in tears. In the barn that evening, Lennie has accidentally killed his puppy and is greatly upset. Curley's wife enters and tries to speak to him, admitting she is lonely and how her dreams of becoming a movie star were crushed, revealing the reason she flirts with the ranch hands. After finding out about Lennie's love of petting soft things, she lets him stroke her hair, but she soon complains and screams because he is pulling too hard. Lennie tries to keep her quiet but accidentally kills her by breaking her neck in the process. Realizing he is in trouble, he runs to the brush as George told him to do. Candy finds Curley's wife dead and informs George, and the two realize their dream will never happen. Curley leads a mob which chases after Lennie intending to lynch him. George finds Lennie first and, wanting to spare him a violent and painful death at the hands of the mob, calms Lennie by retelling their dream. As George gets to the part where Lennie gets to tend the rabbits, he shoots Lennie in the back of the head. The scene then returns to George in the boxcar, heading South, remembering their old dream and his memories of Lennie.
Office Space (1999)
Color
Disgruntled employees exact revenge by embezzling
Office Space
"Peter Gibbons, a disgruntled programmer at Initech, spends his days "staring at his desk" instead of actually working. His co-workers include Samir Nagheenanajar, who is annoyed by the fact that nobody can pronounce his last name correctly; Michael Bolton, who loathes having the same name as the famous singer, whom he hates; and Milton Waddams, a meek, fixated collator who constantly mumbles to himself. Milton had actually been laid off years earlier, though he was never informed and, due to a payroll computer glitch, continues to receive regular paychecks. All four are repeatedly bullied and harassed by management, especially Initech's smarmy, callous vice president, Bill Lumbergh. The staff are further agitated by the arrival of two consultants, Bob Slydell and Bob Porter, who are brought in to help through downsizing and outsourcing.
Peter's girlfriend Anne convinces him to attend an 'occupational hypnotherapy' session, but the therapist, Dr. Swanson, dies of a heart attack right after hypnotizing Peter. The newly relaxed and still half-hypnotized Peter wakes up the next morning and ignores continued calls from Anne (who angrily leaves him, confirming his friends' suspicions of her infidelity) and Lumbergh (who was expecting Peter to work over the weekend). The following work day, Peter decides to play hooky and asks out Joanna, a waitress at Chotchkie's, a restaurant that parodies T.G.I. Friday's interior decoration and uniform standards. Joanna shares Peter's loathing of idiotic management and love of the television program Kung Fu.
When Peter finally shows up at work, he disregards Initech's dress code, takes Lumbergh's reserved parking stall, and refuses to follow Lumbergh's directions. He also removes items that annoy him, such as a door handle that repeatedly shocked him and a cubicle wall that blocks his view out the window. The consultants, however, decide to promote him because of the positive impression he makes on them with his bluntness about the office's problems. Peter then learns that Michael and Samir will be downsized, and the trio decide to get even by infecting Initech's accounting system with a computer virus designed to divert fractions of pennies into a bank account they control. They believe the scheme will succeed because the amounts are too small for Initech to notice, while over time they will receive a substantial amount of money. On Michael and Samir's last day at Initech, Peter takes one last item: a frequently-malfunctioning laser printer, which the three beat to pieces in a field.
To his horror, Peter discovers that a misplaced decimal point caused the virus to steal over $300,000 in the first few days, a far more conspicuous loss to Initech. Haunted by the result, he admits to Joanna -- who has finally worked up the courage to stand up to her boss and quit Chotchkie's -- that the scheme was a bad idea and that he plans to accept the blame for the crime. He writes a letter confessing everything, then slips an envelope containing the letter and the money (in unsigned traveler's checks) under the door of Lumbergh's office late at night. The next morning, Milton -- having been deprived of his cherished red Swingline stapler by Lumbergh, forced to move to the cockroach-infested basement, and having had his paychecks finally cut off -- enters Lumbergh's office to reclaim his stapler.
Fully expecting to be arrested upon arriving at work, Peter instead finds that his problem has solved itself: the Initech building is fully engulfed in flames, implying that all evidence of the missing money was destroyed. Peter then finds a job that he likes: doing construction work with his next-door neighbor, Lawrence. As the two of them are cleaning up debris from the fire, Lawrence discovers Milton's stapler. Peter takes it, saying he thinks he knows someone who might want it. Samir and Michael drop by and offer to recommend Peter for a job at Initech rival Intertrode, where they have secured new jobs. Peter declines, content with his new job and life. Meanwhile, Milton lounges on the beach at a fancy Mexican resort, mumbling complaints about his beverage, and threatening to take his traveler's checks to a competitor.
Oh God (1977)
Color
God makes his presence known to a grocery clerk
Oh God
"God appears as a kindly old man to Jerry Landers, an assistant supermarket manager. After some mixups in trying to set up an "interview," He tells Jerry that he has been selected to be His messenger to the modern world, much like a contemporary Moses. A bit timidly at first, Landers dutifully tells the world of his encounters with God becoming a national icon of comedic fodder. Understandably skeptical at first, Landers finds his life turned upside down as theologians attempt to discredit him. For instance, a group of religious leaders challenge him to answer a series of written questions in Aramaic while locked in a hotel room alone to prove God is directly contacting him. To Jerry's profound relief after an agonizing wait, God arrives and answers the questions. Eventually, Jerry decides to prove his story in a court of law, after being sued for slander by a charismatic preacher that God directed Jerry to call a "phony".
Jerry argues that if God's existence is a reasonable possibility, then if He chooses he can materialize and sit in the witness chair. At first, God fails to appear, and the judge threatens to charge Jerry with contempt for "what you apparently thought was a clever stunt." Jerry argues that his point was that when he brought up the mere possibility that God would make a personal appearance, everyone clearly waited a moment to see if it would really happen -- proving that he at least deserves the benefit of the doubt.
Suddenly, without opening the doors, God appears and asks to be sworn in, concluding the procedure with "So help me Me." "If it please the court, and even if it doesn't please the court, I'm God, your honor."
God provides some miracles, first in the form of a few rather impressive card tricks for the judge. Then, to help the people believe, he leaves the stand, walks a few steps and, with everyone watching, literally disappears before their eyes. His disembodied voice then issues a parting shot: "It can work. Don't hurt each other. If it's hard to have faith in Me, maybe it will help to know that I have faith in you."
Jerry has lost his job, but God assures him that he's in "good hands." God gets ready to leave and is not coming back. Jerry then asks what if he needs to talk with him. God says to him "I'll tell you what, you talk. I'll listen." He then disappears. Jerry smiles as God departs.
Old School (2003)
Color
Three older men try to recaputue their youth by starting a fraternity
Old School
"Attorney Mitch Martin (Luke Wilson) breaks up with his girlfriend when he accidentally discovers that she takes part in orgies. Mitch encounters his high school crush, Nicole (Ellen Pompeo), at the wedding of his friend Frank (Will Ferrell) and makes an awkward impression. Later, he finds a house located near the campus of the fictional Harrison University in New York.
Mitch's other friend Bernard (Vince Vaughn) throws a party at Mitch's house, dubbed Mitch-A-Palooza, which is a huge success. Frank gets drunk at the party and is seen streaking by his wife, putting a strain on their new marriage. The trio run into an old acquaintance whom they used to ridicule at school: Gordon Pritchard (Jeremy Piven), who is now the College "Dean". He informs them that they must vacate because Mitch's house has been designated exclusively for campus housing. Bernard proposes starting a fraternity that is open to anyone to meet the Dean's criteria of campus housing. The new fraternity carries out several hazing events throughout campus, attracting the attention of the Dean and other members of the faculty.
Nicole brings her boyfriend Mark to the party for one of Bernard's children and Mitch walks in on him in the bathroom while he was hooking up with a girl from the catering firm. While initially discreet, Mitch is forced to recount the entire incident to Nicole when Mark tries to lie that the girl was with Mitch instead of himself. The oldest fraternity member, Blue, has a heart attack and collapses during a "KY lube wrestling" match with two good-looking college girls at his birthday celebration. At Blue's funeral, Frank's wife says she wants a divorce, forcing Frank to live with Mitch.
Plotting revenge against the group, Dean Pritchard bribes the Student Council President, Megan Huang, until she agrees to revoke the fraternity's charter. Megan, who lost her virginity at one of their parties to her new boyfriend, initially remains loyal to the Fraternity until the Dean bribes her with promises to help her get into Columbia Law School. By video, he claims that the group is violating university policies subjecting the students in the non-sanctioned fraternity to expulsion. Mitch finds out that the group has the right to bypass the Dean's ruling if all of their members complete activities that include academic tests, public debates and athletics to prove their legitimacy.
Frank is able to defeat James Carville in a debate over the government's role in biotechnology. Next, the fraternity successfully navigates their way through a difficult academic exam largely due to the assistance of two of Mitch's co-workers, who help the guys cheat. In the school spirit evaluation, the Fraternity loses points when Frank unsuccessfully attempts to jump through a ring of fire while dressed as the school mascot. Badly burned and humiliated, Frank rallies to give a strong performance in the floor exercise routine of the gymnastics competition. Bernard manages to complete the rings routine, leaving only the vault exercise remaining. Pritchard chooses Weensie, an obese member of the fraternity, to perform the vault. Amazingly, Weensie executes a perfect landing, allowing the Fraternity to pass gymnastics.
The men are able to complete all of the activities successfully with an 84% average. However, Pritchard tells them that their average has dropped to a failing 58% after accounting for the absence of the deceased member Blue. While the students are in despair, Megan arrives with tape recorded evidence of the Dean's bribery. After a chase, Frank obtains the tape and uses it to get the Dean fired. The fraternity's charter is reinstated and the fraternity moves into Dean Pritchard's old house.
Nicole visits Mitch, intent on moving their relationship forward. Despite Bernard and Mitch withdrawing from the fraternity, Frank maintains his ties as leader. Mark and Dean Pritchard come to a bad end in the closing credits.
Olympus Has Fallen (2013)
Color
A North Korean guerrilla assaults the White House
Olympus Has Fallen
"Mike Banning (Butler), a former US Army Ranger and Special Forces service member, is the lead Secret Service agent assigned to head the Presidential Detail. He maintains a personal, friendly relationship with President Benjamin Asher (Eckhart), First Lady Margaret (Judd) and, especially, their son Connor (Jacobsen). During a Christmas evening drive from Camp David to a campaign fundraiser, a tree branch falls and strikes the front of the president's convoy, making the vehicles skid out of control on black ice on a bridge. The lead vehicle crashes through the guard rail and falls into the icy river below, leaving the presidential limousine teetering on the edge of the bridge. Banning is able to save President Asher, but Margaret and two other agents die when their vehicle falls and crashes.
Eighteen months later, Banning works at the Treasury Department, within sight of the White House. He has been removed from the Presidential Detail because the sight of him triggers Asher's memories of the night Margaret died. During a political meeting between Asher and South Korean Prime Minister Lee Tae-Woo (Keong Sim), North Korean-led guerilla forces, under the guise as local garbage services and a crowd of tourists, mount an air and ground assault. Aided inside the White House by treasonous members of Prime Minister Lee's detail, including Dave Forbes (McDermott), a former Secret Service agent now a private security contractor, and aerial cover fire from a commandeered US military C-130 Hercules, the attack results in the eventual capture of the White House. Asher and several top officials are held hostage in the White House bunker, where the terrorists use a video connection to the Pentagon command center to show the execution of Prime Minister Lee. Agent Roma (Hauser) alerts the Director of the Secret Service Lynne Jacobs (Bassett) that “Olympus has fallen”.
The attack has been masterminded by Kang Yeonsak (Yune), a Korean terrorist who appears to be motivated by hope for a reunification of Korea. Kang seeks to use Asher's hostage status as leverage to force U.S. officials to withdraw the Seventh Fleet and US troops from the Korean Peninsula, removing American opposition from a North Korean invasion on South Korea. He also seeks to destroy all of America's nuclear weapons in their respective silos across the country, turning the U.S. into an irradiated wasteland as revenge for the deaths of his parents (his mother having been killed by an American landmine, and his father having been executed by the North Koreans). To accomplish this, he requires the access codes to Cerberus: a fail-safe device that self-detonates any U.S. nuclear missiles during an abort, which are held by the President, the Secretary of Defense, and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, all of whom are present in the bunker. Asher orders the other two officials to reveal their codes to save their lives, certain that he will not give up his code.
During the assault by Kang's forces on the front lawn, Banning joins the White House's defenders. He falls back into the building, disables the internal surveillance and gains access to Asher's satellite phone, which he uses to maintain contact with Jacobs and Allan Trumbull (Freeman), the Speaker of the House who is now the Acting President. Authorized to proceed, Banning's first act is to save Connor, whom Kang plans to use to force Asher to reveal his Cerberus code. Despite resistance, Banning finds Connor hiding in the hidden tunnels behind the Lincoln bedroom walls, thanks to the training Banning had given him before, and sneaks him out of the White House before beginning reconnaissance and reducing the terrorists' numbers one by one. This includes Forbes, but not before Banning convinces Forbes to report to Kang that he killed Banning. Meanwhile, Army Chief of Staff General Edward Clegg (Forster) convinces Trumbull to order an aerial SEAL assault on the White House in an attempt to enter through the roof and shut down Cerberus, but Kang's team deploys an advanced anti-aircraft remote gun system called the Hydra 6, a fully automated weapons system capable of seeking targets independently. Discovering this, Banning advises Trumbull and Clegg to abort the mission, but it proceeds and the Hydra 6 annihilates all but one of the six helicopters before Banning can stop it. Kang retaliates for the attempted infiltration by killing Vice President Charlie Rodriguez (Phil Austin) on the video feed to the Pentagon.
After Banning disables Kang's communications, Kang tries to execute Secretary of Defense Ruth McMillan (Leo) outside the White House in front of the media, but Banning's intervention allows her to escape and he takes out several more of Kang's men in the process. With Kang's forces dwindling, he fakes his own death as well as Asher's by sacrificing several of his men and the remaining hostages in a helicopter crash. However, Banning believes that Kang has faked his death and will attempt to sneak away. Kang eventually cracks Asher's code and activates Cerberus. As Kang attempts to escape with Asher, Banning kills the remaining terrorists, but President Asher is shot by Kang in the abdomen when Asher tries to fight Kang. Banning kills Kang by stabbing him in the head with a knife after overpowering him in hand-to-hand combat. Banning then disables Cerberus with the assistance of Trumbull with only seconds to spare. During daybreak that day, Banning walks out with Asher and is received by the soldiers posted to await their arrival. Sometime after the events, Washington begins to heal from the terrorist attack, while Banning once again becomes head of the Presidential Detail. Then Banning, Jacobs, Clegg, and Connor observe President Asher as he addresses the public.
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019)
Color
Actor stuggles at the end of Hollywood's Golden Age, Mansen followers attack them
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
"In February 1969, veteran Hollywood actor Rick Dalton (DiCaprio), star of 1950s Western television series Bounty Law, fears his career is waning. Casting agent Marvin Schwarz (Pacino) recommends he make Spaghetti Westerns in Italy, which Dalton feels are beneath him. Dalton's best friend and stunt double, Cliff Booth (Pitt) -- a war veteran skilled in hand-to-hand combat who lives in a tiny trailer with his pit bull, Brandy -- drives Dalton around Los Angeles because Dalton's driver's license has been suspended due to DUI. Booth struggles to find stunt work in Hollywood because of rumors he murdered his wife. Actress Sharon Tate (Robbie) and her husband, director Roman Polanski (Zawierucha), have moved next door to Dalton. He dreams of befriending them to revive his declining acting career. That night, Tate and Polanski attend a celebrity-filled party at the Playboy Mansion.
The next day, while repairing Dalton's TV antenna, Booth reminisces about a sparring contest he had with Bruce Lee on the set of The Green Hornet which resulted in Booth being fired. Meanwhile, Charles Manson (Herriman) stops by the Polanski residence looking for music producer Terry Melcher, who used to live there, but is turned away by Jay Sebring (Hirsch). Tate goes out for errands and stops at a movie theater to watch herself in the film The Wrecking Crew.
Dalton is cast to play the villain in the pilot of Lancer, and strikes up a conversation with his eight-year-old co-star, Trudi Fraser. Dalton struggles to remember his lines and later suffers a breakdown in his trailer. He subsequently delivers a performance that impresses Fraser and the director, Sam Wanamaker, bolstering his confidence.
While driving Dalton's car, Booth picks up a female hitchhiker named Pussycat, whom he takes to Spahn Ranch, where Booth once worked on the set of Bounty Law. He takes notice of the many hippies living there (the Manson Family). Suspecting they may be taking advantage of the ranch's owner, George Spahn (Dern), Booth insists on checking on him despite "Squeaky" Fromme's (Fanning) objections. Booth finally speaks with Spahn, who dismisses his concerns. Upon leaving, Booth discovers that Steve "Clem" Grogan has slashed a tire on Dalton's car; Booth beats him and forces him to change the tire. Tex Watson is summoned to deal with the situation but he arrives as Booth is driving away.
After watching Dalton's guest performance on an episode of The F.B.I., Schwarz books him as the lead in Sergio Corbucci's next Spaghetti Western, Nebraska Jim. Dalton takes Booth with him for a six-month stint in Italy, during which he appears in two additional Westerns and a Eurospy comedy, and marries Italian starlet Francesca Capucci. With a new wife, Dalton informs Booth he can no longer afford his services.
On the evening of August 8, 1969, their first day back in Los Angeles, Dalton and Booth go out for drinks to commemorate their time working together and then return to Dalton's house. Tate and Sebring go out for dinner with friends and then return to Tate's house. Booth smokes an acid-laced cigarette given to him by Pussycat and takes Brandy for a walk while Dalton prepares drinks. Manson Family members Tex, Sadie, Flower Child, and Katie arrive outside in preparation to murder everyone in Tate's house. Dalton hears the car and orders them to get off his street. Changing their plans, the Manson Family members decide to instead kill Dalton after Sadie reasons that Hollywood has "taught them to murder." Flower Child deserts the group, speeding off with their car. They break into Dalton's house and confront Capucci and Booth, who recognizes them from his visit to Spahn Ranch. Booth orders Brandy to attack, and together they kill Katie and Tex and injure Sadie, though Booth is stabbed and knocked unconscious in the altercation. Sadie stumbles outside, alarming Dalton, who is in his pool listening to music on headphones, oblivious to the mayhem. Dalton retrieves a flamethrower that he had previously used in a movie and incinerates Sadie. After Booth is taken to the hospital to treat his injuries, Sebring engages Dalton in conversation outside and Dalton receives an invitation to have a drink with Tate and her friends at her house, which he accepts.
Ondine (2009)
Color
Fisherman catches woman in his net
Ondine
"Syracuse "Circus" (Colin Farrell) is trawling with his fishing boat and finds a scantily clad young woman caught in his net. He sees she is alive and resuscitates her. She calls herself Ondine (Alicja Bachleda) and refuses to be taken to the hospital, not wanting to be seen by anyone else. He shelters her in a caravan house that belonged to his late mother in a quiet harbor, which makes him late for picking up his wheelchair-bound daughter Annie (Alison Barry), who lives with his ex-wife Maura (Dervla Kirwan). During Annie's dialysis, he tells her a story about a fisherman that catches a woman out of the sea. Annie explains the woman could be a magical selkie. Annie receives a new powerchair from the CRC, and upon returning home is greeted by Maura's boyfriend Alex (Tony Curran). Maura flips Circus off for missing the doctor who had news on a kidney match for Annie.
Next morning, Circus finds Ondine washing clothes in a stream, singing in an unknown language. She follows him on his boat to work the day. Circus pulls up only empty lobster pots, until Ondine starts singing, after which every pot contains a catch. Still not wanting to be seen, Ondine doesn't follow Circus to the fish market where the lobsters are sold. Circus buys a dress and lies to the store clerk that it's for Annie when she grows up.
When Circus picks up Annie from her school, he continues the fisherman story by explaining how the woman sings to the fish for him to catch, a song in a language he has never heard before. Annie states that Selk is the language of the selkie. Circus stammers that his lobsters hear her sing, which makes Annie curious as to whose story this is, and she secretly follows him to the caravan. When Circus asks how long she will stay, Ondine says it is up to him. Humored, Circus answers forever and happily ever after, according to the fairytale he has been building with Annie, who watches them without being noticed. Annie is back home studying all her new library books on seals and selkies. Alex says selkies are Scottish creatures, but the one Annie saw is not.
Circus meets with the priest (Stephen Rea) for a confession, who has repeatedly told Circus that this isn't AA. Circus recalls a recurring nightmare where he is at Alex's funeral and reunited with Maura, still with her drinking problem. As the priest pushes the subject away, Circus brings up the woman he pulled out of the water with his net and kept her. Ondine is by herself tidying up the caravan, and tries her new clothing as if the experience was a first, especially when she stretches leggings over one splayed hand so it looks webbed.
The next day, Ondine is swimming and is met by an unexpected Annie, they bond together talking about selkies, none of which Ondine denies, kissing Annie goodbye before the child goes back to her mother. Circus is in the library asking for books about selkies, but discovers that Annie took them all. Annie runs into some neighbourhood kids showing off their bicycles, lets one of the kids play with her powerchair, it shorts out driving into water. The kids abandon "spaz" Annie, who is left alone to push it back home, where she finds Alex drinking beer. As Alex dries out the batteries, Annie asks again about selkies, he tells her they come from his homeland Outer Hebrides. However, Ondine doesn't speak like him.
Circus brings Ondine fishing again to steer the tiller, until a Fisheries board patrol boat zooms by, causing Ondine to hide. She begins singing again as he is pulling up his net, and finds it filled with a bountiful catch of salmon, that doesn't come from trawling. Ondine hides as the patrol boat returns to inspect for prohibited gillnetting; the guards look for the truth by finding dry gillnets and Ondine hidden in them. Circus wasn't sure if she could be seen, the guards accept Ondine's answer as to how the fish were caught. Glad that Ondine isn't invisible, Circus boats into the town harbor to sell their catch, where everyone stares at Ondine, including a dark-haired man who is looking for her. Circus and Ondine go shopping for clothes and run into Annie, who helps her with outfits, as townfolk gawk through the store window eyeing a very pretty Ondine.
Later, Circus wants to pick up Annie for local regatta festivities. Maura says she already left. Ondine gets another surprise visit from Annie, and sees the caravan has been cleaned. Learning that Annie can't swim, they both play in the shallow water, where Ondine finds something that Annie thinks is her seal coat, and they bury it in the greenhouse. Annie wants Ondine to stay for seven years, unless the selkie husband claims her back, and shares this with Circus as they all boat into town, Ondine warns Annie that she isn't selk and can't grant wishes. Upset, Annie pretends to have brake failure to throw herself off the pier, to test Ondine's ability to breathe underwater, when Ondine jumps in to her rescue. They bring Annie back to Maura and Alex, who share with Annie that a man was asking for Ondine. This gives Annie a nightmare about the selkie husband coming. Back in the caravan, Circus explains he's called Circus the Clown because he was an alcoholic like Maura. He stopped drinking for Annie, yet custody went to the mother.
Back in the confessional, Circus tells the priest he sinned with Ondine the night before, and fears the good luck she brings, since he lost hope long ago. As he leaves, the unknown man approaches him about Ondine, Circus ignores him. Circus brings Annie back from dialysis, but is locked out since Maura and Alex are drinking in a pub. Annie asks to be left with them. Circus returns to find the caravan has been ransacked, and Ondine hiding nearby. Circus wants Ondine to stay and asks her to wish the man away, but her only wish is for Annie not to be sick. Ondine's man is back in town driving with rage, causing an accident with Maura who was drunk driving. Alex is killed, thrown through the windshield. Ondine and Circus follow Annie to the hospital, and learn she is getting an immediate kidney transplant from Alex, who opted to be a donor. The man is also brought to the hospital, and asks Ondine why she speaks their language as they both don't belong here.
Circus and Maura both get drunk at Alex's wake. Maura wants him to get rid of Ondine, now hiding in his boat, because of bad luck. Intoxicated Circus maroons Ondine at Roancarrig Lighthouse island because he thinks she will haunt him forever, as humans and selkies don't belong together. Dusk comes and some driftwood gives Ondine's basking silhouette the appearance of a seal's tail, she jumps into the sea towards the seals on Seal Rock. The priest wakes up a depressed Circus, and he brings Annie from hospital to his home. She comforts him saying Ondine will be back because she left something behind. Annie watches TV with Sigur Ros performing, Circus recognizes they are the songs of Ondine, and goes back to find her on Seal Rock to demand the truth. Ondine gives one version that she is a sea creature that found her seal coat and buried it so she can stay with a family she loves. She then explains that she is a drug mule from Romania, and her pushta Vladic (Emil Hostina) was evading the Coast Guards, when she swam away with the backpack of heroin since Vladic can't swim. She floated in the sea until Circus saved her.
Circus brings Ondine back to Annie where they are ambushed by Vladic and another gunman, that Annie thinks want the seal coat. Everyone goes to the greenhouse to dig it up, but find nothing because Annie had moved it. Ondine promises to stay with Annie, revealing it was moved to a lobster pot. As they pull that up, Annie reminds Ondine that she is a selkie yet Vladic isn't, Ondine trips Vladic overboard by pulling on the rope he is standing on. He drowns going after the falling lobster pot pushed back in by Annie. Circus throws the other Romanian into the water, disarming him and the Romanian is arrested ashore, along with Ondine, who faces deportation. Annie is seen making a confession to the priest who is to wed Circus and Ondine, completing the fairytale how selkie women often find unexpected happiness with a landsman.
On the Beach (1959)
Black & White
Nuclear War from Australia's point of view
On the Beach
"The story is set in a then-future 1964, in the months following World War III. The conflict has devastated the northern hemisphere, polluting the atmosphere with nuclear fallout and killing all life. While the bombs were confined to the northern hemisphere, air currents are slowly carrying the fallout south. The only areas still habitable are in the far southern hemisphere, like Australia.
From Australia, survivors detect an incomprehensible Morse code signal from San Diego in the United States. In the hope that someone is still alive back home, the last American nuclear submarine, USS Sawfish, under Royal Australian Navy command, is ordered to sail north from Melbourne to try to make contact with the signal sender. The captain, Dwight Towers (Gregory Peck), leaves behind his good friend, the alcoholic Moira Davidson (Ava Gardner), despite his feelings of guilt about the deaths of his wife and children in Connecticut. Towers refuses to admit they are dead and continues to behave accordingly.
The Australian government arranges for its citizens to receive suicide pills and injections, so that they may end things quickly before there is prolonged suffering from the inevitable radiation sickness. An Australian naval officer, Peter Holmes (Anthony Perkins), and his naive and childish wife, Mary (Donna Anderson), who is in denial about the impending disaster, have a baby daughter. Assigned to travel with the American submarine for several weeks, Peter tries to explain to Mary how to euthanize their baby and kill herself with the lethal pills in case he's not yet home when the time comes. Mary reacts violently at the prospect of killing her daughter and herself.
One scientist's theory is that the radiation level near the Arctic Ocean could be lower than that found at mid-northern hemisphere. If so, this would indicate the radiation could disperse before reaching the southern hemisphere. This was to be explored along with the submarine's main mission. After sailing to Point Barrow, Alaska, they determine that radiation levels are, on the contrary, intensifying. The submarine next stops at San Francisco. The views through the periscope show no signs of life and no damage to buildings. One crewman jumps ship to spend his last days in his hometown. After attempting to convince the crewman to return, Towers accepts his decision. The crewman is last seen fishing as the Sawfish submerges.
Sawfish then travels to an abandoned oil refinery in San Diego, where they discover that despite the fact that everyone is dead, the hydroelectric power station is still operating. The ship's communications officer is sent ashore in a radiation suit to investigate. The mysterious signal is the result of a Coca-Cola bottle being bumped by a window shade fluttering in the breeze and tapping a telegraph key.
The submariners return to Australia to live out the remaining time before the nuclear fallout reaches their shores. They do their best to enjoy what pleasures remain to them before dying. Scientist Julian Osborn (Fred Astaire) and others participate in a previously scheduled motor race, the Australian Grand Prix, in which many participants, with nothing left to lose, die in accidents. The carnage perhaps allows amateur Julian Osborn, at the wheel of his vintage Ferrari, to win the race. Moira only sees the senselessness of the race, but when she asks Osborn why he is taking part, he responds, "Because I want to."
Prior to the submarine voyage to America, Towers told Moira about how he enjoys relaxing by fishing. During his absence, the Australian government moves the fishing season earlier, and Dwight gets one last chance to fish after all. With Towers now accepting the death of his family, he and Moira embark on a weekend trip to the country. Retreating to the resort for the night, Dwight and Moira share a romantic interlude inside their room as, outside, a gathering storm howls. Returning to Melbourne, Towers is told one of his crew has developed radiation sickness. The deadly radiation has arrived. Some citizens seek spiritual guidance from the Salvation Army. They hang a banner from the public library stating that "There Is Still Time Brother."
Osborn, proud and satisfied after winning the Australian Grand Prix, mounts his winner's plaque on his Ferrari, seals the garage and, sitting in the race car, guns the engine and ends his life by carbon monoxide poisoning. Others line up to receive their suicide pills. Later, Mary Holmes (Donna Anderson) becomes emotionally unbalanced and must be placed under sedation. Later, she regains lucidity. We see Peter enter their bedroom, and he drops something onto a table as we realize that we no longer hear the baby crying, which implies that he has just given their infant daughter the suicide drug. Mary and Peter share a tender moment together before Mary decides that she has been "foolish and impractical" and tells her husband, "I'd like that cup of tea now," signaling that she and Peter will now take their suicide pills and die in each other's arms.
Dwight wants to stay with Moira, but many of his remaining crew want to head for home and die in the United States. In the end, Commander Towers chooses duty over his love for Moira and leads his crew back home, even though their chances of making it that far are virtually nonexistent. Moira watches from the shore as the Sawfish submerges beneath the waves. The end shows the deserted, abandoned streets of Melbourne. The last shot, punctuated by emphatic music, is of a church banner that ironically reads "There Is Still Time Brother".
On the Beach (2000)
Color
Nuclear War from Australia's point of view
On the Beach
"The USS Charleston (SSN-704) in On the Beach is a 688i variant of the Los Angeles-class and is equipped with a caterpillar drive. The Morse code signal picked up by the submarine crew in the original novel and film was updated to an automated digital broadcast powered by a solar-powered laptop computer. The nuclear war was preceded by a standoff between the United States and the People's Republic of China, after the latter blockaded and later invaded Taiwan.
This film's picture of human behavior is darker and more pessimistic than in the original 1959 adaptation, where social order and manners do not collapse. The ending also differs from both the novel and the first film version in that Commander Dwight Towers (Armand Assante) chooses to die with Moira Davidson (Rachel Ward) instead of scuttling the submarine beyond Australian territorial waters (as in the original novel), or attempting to return with his crew to the United States (as in the earlier film).
The film ends with a quote from a Walt Whitman's poem "On The Beach at Night", describing how frightening an approaching cloud bank seemed at night to the poet's child, blotting the stars out one by one, as the father and child stood on the beach on Massachusetts' North Shore. As much as it resembles the plot of the movie and of Shute's novel, however, the book gives no reference to the Whitman poem and the phrase "on the beach" is a Royal Navy term that means "retired from the Service." The novel took its title from a fragment of T. S. Eliot's poem The Hollow Men.
On the Waterfront (1954)
Black & White
Boxer has crisis of conscience while working with mob boss
On the Waterfront
"Mob-connected union boss Johnny Friendly (Lee J. Cobb) gloats about his iron-fisted control of the waterfront. The police and the Waterfront Crime Commission know that Friendly is behind a number of murders, but witnesses play "D and D" ("deaf and dumb"), accepting their subservient position rather than risking the danger and shame of informing.
Terry Malloy (Marlon Brando) is a dockworker whose brother Charley "The Gent" (Rod Steiger) is Friendly's right-hand man. Some years earlier, Terry had been a promising boxer, until Friendly had Charley instruct him to deliberately lose a fight that he could have won, so that Friendly could win money betting against him. Terry is used to coax Joey Doyle (Ben Wagner), a popular dockworker, into an ambush, preventing Joey from testifying against Friendly before the Crime Commission. Terry assumed that Friendly's enforcers were only going to "lean" on Joey to pressure him into silence, and is surprised when Joey is killed.
Joey's sister Edie (Eva Marie Saint), angry about her brother's death, shames "waterfront priest" Father Barry (Karl Malden) into fomenting action against the mob-controlled union. Friendly sends Terry to attend and inform on a dockworkers' meeting Father Barry holds in the church, which is broken up by Friendly's men. Terry helps Edie escape the violence, and is smitten with her. Another dockworker, Timothy J. "Kayo" Dugan (Pat Henning), who agrees to testify after Father Barry promises unwavering support, ends up dead after Friendly arranges for him to be crushed by a load of whiskey in a staged accident.
Although Terry resents being used as a tool in Joey's death, and despite Father Barry's impassioned "sermon on the docks" reminding the longshoremen that Christ walks among them and that every murder is a Calvary, Terry is at first willing to remain "D and D", even when subpoenaed to testify. However, when Edie, unaware of Terry's role in her brother's death, begins to return Terry's feelings, Terry is tormented by his awakening conscience and confesses the circumstances of Joey's death to Father Barry and Edie. Horrified, Edie breaks up with him.
As Terry increasingly leans toward testifying, Friendly decides that Terry must be killed unless Charley can coerce him into keeping quiet. Charley tries bribing Terry with a good job and finally threatens Terry by holding a gun against him, but recognizes that he has failed to sway Terry, who blames his own downward spiral on his well-off brother. In what has become an iconic scene, Terry reminds Charley that had it not been for the fixed fight, Terry's prizefighting career would have bloomed. "I coulda' been a contender," laments Terry to his brother, "Instead of a bum, which is what I am -- let's face it." Charley gives Terry the gun and advises him to run. Terry flees to Edie's apartment, where she first refuses to let him in but finally admits her love for him. Friendly, having had Charley watched, has Charley murdered and his body hanged in an alley as bait to lure Terry out to his death, but Terry and Edie both escape the attempt on Terry's life.
After finding Charley's body, Terry sets out to shoot Friendly, but Father Barry prevents it by blocking Terry's line of fire and convincing Terry to instead fight Friendly by testifying. Terry proceeds to give damaging testimony implicating Friendly in Joey's murder and other illegal activities, causing Friendly's mob boss to cut him off and Friendly to face indictment.
After the testimony, Friendly announces that Terry will not find employment anywhere on the waterfront. Terry is shunned by his former friends and by a neighborhood boy who had previously looked up to him. Refusing Edie's suggestion that they move away from the waterfront together, Terry shows up during recruitment at the docks. When he is the only man not hired, Terry openly confronts Friendly, calling him out and proclaiming that he is proud of what he did. The confrontation develops into a vicious brawl, with Terry getting the upper hand until Friendly's thugs gang up on Terry and nearly beat him to death. The dockworkers, who witness the confrontation, show their support for Terry by refusing to work unless Terry is working too and pushing Friendly into the river. Encouraged by Father Barry and Edie, the badly injured Terry forces himself to his feet and enters the dock, followed by the other workers. A soaking wet and face-scarred Friendly, now left with nothing, swears revenge on them all, but his threats fall on deaf ears as they enter the garage and the door closes behind them.
One Day (2011)
Color
College school sweethearts go their separate ways, but check in with each other each year
One Day
"Emma Morley (Anne Hathaway) and Dexter Mayhew (Jim Sturgess) meet on 15 July 1988 after their graduation from the University of Edinburgh . They spend the night together but agree to be friends. The film reconnects with Emma or Dexter or both on 15 July (one day) over the next 23 years.
On 15 July 1989, one year after they first met, Dexter helps Emma move into a flat in London, where she plans to pursue a career as an author. Having had little success as a writer, she is working as a waitress in a Mexican restaurant in London on 15 July 1990 when she meets Ian (Rafe Spall), an aspiring comedian who has taken a job at the restaurant. Meanwhile, Dexter is travelling the world, drinking and having sex promiscuously with a succession of girlfriends. Eventually Dexter becomes a wealthy and highly successful television presenter on a raucous late-night show. Although Emma encounters Dexter once in a while over the years, no romantic relationship develops between them.
Dexter visits his parents on 15 July 1993 to see his once-glamorous mother (Patricia Clarkson), who has been diagnosed with cancer and is terminally ill. He arrives at the family home still under the influence of drugs and alcohol from heavy partying the previous night and drinks a lot throughout his visit. Dexter's mother tells him that she is unimpressed with the nature of his television show and that she believes that he can still be a good man but no longer thinks of him as nice, while his father (Ken Stott), disappointed with him for his obvious alcohol and drug use, tells Dexter he will ban him from the family house if he ever visits his mother in the same intoxicated state again. On the same day, Emma goes out on a date with Ian, the comedian. She does not find Ian funny, but the two continue to date anyway and soon move in together. While living with Ian, Emma becomes a school teacher.
Emma grows steadily more irritated with Ian because of his lack of ambition and failure to contribute to maintaining their household, so she and Dexter organize a meeting over dinner on 15 July 1996. During dinner, Dexter gets high on cocaine, insults Emma, flirts with a blonde down the hall, and ignores Emma most of the time. After making a public scene in the restaurant, Emma storms off, and outside she decides that they must break off their friendship entirely due to them outgrowing each other. She tells hims that she loves him but no longer likes him before she runs off crying into the night.
By 15 July 1998, Dexter's television career has gone into a steep decline because he is 32 years old and television executives prefer presenters in their 20s. Meanwhile, Emma and Ian split up and she becomes a published author.
On 15 July 2000, Emma's former university roommate and Dexter's old friend get married, and both Emma and Dexter are invited to the wedding. There Dexter receives a job offer from a multimillionaire university friend who owns a chain of organic food restaurants, and Emma discovers that Dexter has a fiancee, Sylvie (Romola Garai), and is on the way to becoming a father. Emma tries to hide the fact that she is upset and shares a very brief but meaningful kiss with Dexter. Dexter later learns that Sylvie is having an affair with an old friend of his and they divorce.
Emma moves to Paris, where Dexter visits her on 15 July 2003 in the hope that they will get together again. Emma and Dexter had had another one-night-stand after his marriage to Sylvie broke down, but by this time Emma has a new boyfriend (Sebastien Dupuis), a French musician who plays piano in a jazz band. Smitten with Emma but taken aback by the revelation that she has a boyfriend, Dexter decides to leave. Emma, having second thoughts, chases after him and tells him that he must never hurt, lie to, or cheat on her. He promises that he will not. They share a passionate kiss and finally start a full relationship together.
Emma and Dexter become engaged and marry. Parlaying his restaurant experience into a new career, Dexter opens his own cafe in England, which proves to be very lucrative, and he and Emma start trying to have their own baby. They are unsuccessful and become frustrated. While riding her bicycle out of a blind alley on 15 July 2006, Emma is hit by a truck and dies.
Dexter becomes inconsolable and self-destructive, and is particularly desolate each year on 15 July. Over the years he gets support from his ex-wife Sylvie, their daughter Jasmine, his widowed father, and even from Emma's old boyfriend, Ian, who also mourns Emma every year on 15 July.
On 15 July 2011, Dexter visits Arthur's Seat in Scotland with Jasmine. While there, he remembers a visit he and Emma made to Arthur's Seat together in 1988, as well as the events of the morning after their first meeting on 15 July 1988 -- including their promise to one another to be friends.
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)
Color
Randle inspires fellow patients to rebel against the authoritarian rule of nurse Ratched
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
"In 1963 Oregon, Randle Patrick "Mac" McMurphy (Jack Nicholson), a recidivist anti-authoritarian criminal serving a short sentence on a prison farm for statutory rape of a 15-year-old girl, is transferred to a mental institution for evaluation. Although he does not show any overt signs of mental illness, he hopes to avoid hard labor and serve the rest of his sentence in a more relaxed hospital environment.
McMurphy's ward is run by steely, unyielding Nurse Mildred Ratched (Louise Fletcher), who employs subtle humiliation, unpleasant medical treatments and a mind-numbing daily routine to suppress the patients. McMurphy finds that they are more fearful of Ratched than they are focused on becoming functional in the outside world. McMurphy establishes himself immediately as the leader; his fellow patients include Billy Bibbit (Brad Dourif), a nervous, stuttering young man; Charlie Cheswick (Sydney Lassick), a man disposed to childish fits of temper; Martini (Danny DeVito), who is delusional; Dale Harding (William Redfield), a high-strung, well-educated paranoid; Max Taber (Christopher Lloyd), who is belligerent and profane; Jim Sefelt (William Duell), who is epileptic; and "Chief" Bromden (Will Sampson), a silent American Indian believed to be deaf and mute.
McMurphy's and Ratched's battle of wills escalates rapidly. When McMurphy's card games win away everyone's cigarettes, Ratched confiscates the cigarettes and rations them out. McMurphy calls for votes on ward policy changes to challenge her. He makes a show of betting the other patients he can escape by lifting an old hydrotherapy console--a massive marble plumbing fixture--off the floor and sending it through the window; when he fails to do so, he turns to them and says, "But I tried goddammit. At least I did that."
McMurphy steals a hospital bus, herds his colleagues aboard, stops to pick up Candy (Marya Small), a party girl, and takes the group deep sea fishing on a commandeered boat. He tells them: "You're not nuts, you're fishermen!" and they begin to feel faint stirrings of self-determination.
Soon after, however, McMurphy learns that Ratched and the doctors have the power to keep him committed indefinitely. Sensing a rising tide of insurrection among the group, Ratched tightens her grip on everyone. During one of her group humiliation sessions, Cheswick's agitation boils over and he, McMurphy and the Chief wind up brawling with the orderlies. They are sent up to the "shock shop" for electroconvulsive therapy. While McMurphy and the Chief wait their turn, McMurphy offers Chief a piece of gum, and Chief murmurs "Thank you." McMurphy is delighted to find that Bromden is neither deaf nor mute, and that he stays silent to deflect attention. After the electroshock therapy, McMurphy shuffles back onto the ward feigning illness, before humorously animating his face and loudly greeting his fellow patients, assuring everyone that the ECT only charged him up all the more and that the next woman to take him on will "light up like a pinball machine and pay off in silver dollars."
But the struggle with Ratched is taking its toll, and with his release date no longer a certainty, McMurphy plans an escape. He phones Candy to bring her friend Rose (Louisa Moritz) and some booze to the hospital late one night. They enter through a window after McMurphy bribes the night orderly, Mr. Turkle (Scatman Crothers). McMurphy and Candy invite the patients into the day room for a Christmas party; the group breaks into the drug locker, puts on music, and enjoys a bacchanalian rampage. At the end of the night, McMurphy and Bromden prepare to climb out the window with the girls. McMurphy says goodbye to everyone, and invites an emotional Billy to escape with them; he declines, saying he is not yet ready to leave the hospital--though he would like to date Candy in the future. McMurphy insists Billy have sex with Candy right then and there. Billy and Candy agree and they retire to a private room. The effects of the alcohol and pilfered medication take their toll on everyone, including McMurphy and the Chief, whose eyes slowly close in fatigue.
Nurse Ratched arrives the next morning and discovers the scene: the ward completely upended and patients passed out all over the floor. She orders the attendants to lock the window, clean up, and conduct a head count. When they find Billy and Candy, the other patients applaud and, buoyed, Billy speaks for the first time without a stutter. Nurse Ratched then announces that she will tell Billy's mother what he has done. Billy panics, his stutter returns, and he starts punching the floor; locked in the doctor's office, he kills himself. McMurphy, enraged at Nurse Ratched, chokes her nearly to death until orderly Washington knocks him out.
Some time later, the patients in the ward play cards and gamble for cigarettes as before, only now with Harding dealing and delivering a pale imitation of McMurphy's patter. Nurse Ratched, still recovering from the neck injury sustained during McMurphy's attack, wears a neck brace and speaks in a thin, reedy voice. The patients pass a whispered rumor that McMurphy dramatically escaped the hospital rather than being taken "upstairs."
Late that night, Chief Bromden sees McMurphy being escorted back to his bed, and initially believes that he has returned so they can escape together, which he is now ready to do since McMurphy has made him feel "as big as a mountain." However, when he looks closely at McMurphy's unresponsive face, he is horrified to see lobotomy scars on his forehead. Unwilling to allow McMurphy to live in such a state--or be seen this way by the other patients--the Chief smothers McMurphy to death with his pillow. He then carries out McMurphy's escape plan by lifting the hydrotherapy console off the floor and hurling the massive fixture through a grated window, climbing through and running off into the distance, with Taber waking up just in time to see the Chief escape and cheering as the others awake.
One True Thing (1998)
Color
Woman returns home for dying mother and discovers dad having affairs
One True Thing
"Ellen Gulden has a high pressure job writing for New York magazine. As the movie begins, she is visiting her family home for her father's surprise birthday party. It becomes obvious that she deeply admires her father, George, a once-celebrated novelist and college professor, but has barely restrained disdain for her mother, Kate, and the domestic life she lives. When it is discovered that Kate has cancer, George pressures Ellen to come home and take care of her mother. Ellen is taken aback by this request, knowing it could jeopardize her career and love interest, but finally agrees, caving in to her father's appeals and inducements.
As Ellen helps her mother with domestic chores while her father goes about his usual business without helping much, Ellen begins to reassess her views of her parents. She realizes she always brushed her mother aside and idealized her father, despite his self-centered focus on his career and - she discovers - longtime habit of having flings with his female students.
Ellen attempts to find a place for herself in her parents' life, while struggling to continue writing on a freelance basis and maintain her relationship with her boyfriend in New York. Over time, Ellen grows closer to her mother and learns more about her parents' marriage--including realizing that Kate has known about George's affairs all along. Ellen also learns that her father's philandering days have become lonely nights of drinking at a local bar to numb the pain of never again achieving success with, nor even being able to complete, further novels. George admits to Ellen that the reason he loved Kate was that she was full of light shining through everything, and he couldn't bear the thought of her light slipping away.
As her mother is dying, Ellen tells her she loves her and Kate said she knew it, she'd always known it.
After Kate's death, the autopsy reveals that Kate actually died of a morphine overdose, and a District Attorney questions Ellen about her mother's death. Scenes from this interview are interspersed throughout the movie and point to Ellen being suspected of having assisted her mother's suicide. In the closing scene, by Kate's grave, Ellen has returned from a new job she found in New York with the Village Voice. She is planting daffodils when she sees her father approaching, their first encounter since the funeral. George tells Ellen she was very brave to do what she did, and she looks puzzled until she realizes George thinks she had given her mother the fatal overdose. Ellen replies that she had thought the accomplice was the father. They both realize Kate must have killed herself.
George speaks to Ellen of how much he loved Kate, considering her his muse, his "one true thing." As the movie ends, Ellen is explaining to her father how to plant the daffodil bulbs and he is helping, foreshadowing, it seems, their reconciliation based on mutual long overdue appreciation of Kate.
Operation Finale (2018)
Color
Mossad agent hunts for Nazi war criminal Eichmann
Operation Finale
"On Christmas Eve in 1944, SS-Obersturmbannf?hrer Adolf Eichmann (Kingsley) flees the Eastern Front to Berlin to coordinate the destruction of documents related to Department B4, going into hiding after the war ends.
In Buenos Aires, Sylvia Hermann (Haley Lu Richardson) begins courting Klaus Eichmann (Joe Alwyn). Klaus meets Sylvia and her German-Jewish father, Lothar (Peter Strauss) at home. Klaus speaks of his father's service with the SS but tells Lothar that he had died on the Eastern Front, and that he has been raised by his uncle, Ricardo. Suspicious, Lothar passes this information to West German prosecutor-general Fritz Bauer. Bauer, suspecting Klaus' uncle may in fact be Adolf Eichmann, relays this intelligence to Mossad director Isser Harel (Lior Raz) in Tel Aviv, but Harel is unwilling to devote resources to investigate. At the insistence of Rafi Eitan (Nick Kroll), Harel dispatches field agent Zvi Aharoni (Michael Aronov) to Buenos Aries to begin reconnaissance. At a dinner party celebrating Argentina's 150th anniversary of independence from Spain, Klaus introduces Sylvia to Carlos Fuldner, a former Nazi officer who assisted with SS members escape to Argentina. Fuldner addresses the guests with anti-Semitic rhetoric invoking the Hitlergr?sse, leaving Sylvia visibly disturbed, who promptly leaves.
Working in coordination with Mossad, Sylvia meets the Eichmann family at their home on Garibaldi Street to apologize for her earlier actions, and after an uncomfortable exchange between Klaus and his father, who introduced himself to Sylvia as Herr Klement, departs. Eichmann is subsequently photographed by Aharoni's assistant and intelligence of the exchange between Sylvia and the Eichmann family is relayed back to Israel, including information on how Klaus referred to Eichmann as "Father". Eitan summons Mossad agent Peter Malkin (Oscar Isaac) and briefs him on the operation to capture Eichmann and to bring him to Israel, to stand trial for war crimes. Unconvinced of his ability to gather intelligence on his own, Eitan and Harel chastise Malkin for a botched capture that resulted in the death of another Nazi in Austria in 1954 that they believed to be Eichmann. Malkin persuades Harel the operation would be successful if Eichmann were captured and extracted by airplane on board an El Al flight, under the cover of a diplomatic mission during the Argentinian anniversary. Harel agrees to proceed with the operation after medical doctor Hanna (Melanie Laurent) is convinced to join the team. After briefing on intelligence collected by Aharoni, Harel dispatches the team to Buenos Aires, who arrive on 1 May 1960.
The capture team, composed of both Mossad and Shin Bet agents, begin surveillance, with Malkin determining Eichmann to be a creature of habit. Harel approves the capture on 7 May, with the team to capture Eichmann while on his way home from work. The team executes the plan on 11 May, with Malkin capturing Eichmann outside his home, and subsequently extracted to a Mossad safe house. In the scuffle, Eichmann loses his glasses. Klaus investigates the commotion after the capture team flees and finds his father's glasses. When approached by Carlos on who knew Eichmann's true identity, Klaus realizes Sylvia or her father may have been involved. As Eichmann's identity is confirmed at the safe house, the Israeli embassy is notified that Lothar Hermann was arrested and the police subsequently identify him as Josef Mengele. Meanwhile, the capture team is informed by the transport plane's company (El-Al) that they will only transport Eichman if he is to sign that he will voluntarily travel to Israel to stand trial. Knowing Hermann's arrest was a ruse to encourage Eichmann's release, Harel orders Aharoni get Eichmann to sign the document to depart Argentina voluntarily. Eichmann, who refuses to interact with Aharoni, also refuses to sign the waiver. In contrast, Eichmann attempts to bond with Malkin during his watch and is able to further persuade Eichmann to sign the agreement requested.
As Klaus and Carlos investigate further, they recover a sketch Eichmann drew of Aharoni's assistant who photographed him, which is relayed to the local police for additional assistance. Pressure grows against the capture team with the airline departure days away, and authorities now searching the nearby neighborhoods for Eichmann. With time running out, and despite Aharoni's disapproval of Malkin's methods, including disclosing his own name to his prisoner and providing comforts, he is successful in breaking Eichmann, who subsequently signs the waiver. At the same time, a Nazi sympathizer working at the safe house provides information on the capture team to the police, and Carlos has Graciela brutally beaten to reveal where Eichmann is being held. Disturbed at her treatment, Klaus is able to persuade Graciela into providing information on his father's location. As the safe house is scrubbed and Eichmann is loaded, Eitan volunteers to stay behind due to a lack of room in the car for the trip to the airport. Klaus arrives at the safe house too late, and they make way for the airport. At a security checkpoint, a security guard recognizes Aharoni's assistant from a copy of the sketch and notifies the police. The flight is subsequently delayed due to an issue with the flight permit. With Carlos, Klaus and local police en route to stop the flight, Malkin rushes to air traffic control with their flight permit in hand, to ensure the plane takes off without issue. Malkin subsequently remains behind and catches a separate flight home, while the capture team tearfully embraces and congratulates each other on the operation.
In the closing scenes of the film, Israeli Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion announces over radio that Adolf Eichmann has been captured and will stand trial in Israel. Eichmann is visited by his wife Vera while in prison, and Klaus flies the flag of Nazi Germany over their home in protest. Footage of various Nazi war crimes is played during the opening statements by the prosecution. As Malkin leaves the trial, Eitan remarks they will not be remembered through recorded history for who they were, only for what they accomplished. The closing credits recap the outcome of the trial itself, overlaid with live footage and img of testimony from Holocaust survivors. On 1 June, 1962, Adolf Eichmann was executed by hanging, having been found guilty of transporting millions of people to their deaths. He was cremated in an oven built for the occasion, and his ashes spread in the Mediterranean Sea, so that he might have no final place of rest. The trial was televised globally. It was the first time that eyewitness testimony of the Holocaust was seen by the world. Malkin kept the mission secret from his mother until she lay on her deathbed, and Malkin himself died in 2005, survived by his wife and three children.
Ophelia (2019)
Color
Retelling of Shakespear's Ophelia
Ophelia
"In the castle of Elsinore, Denmark, the wilful and free-spirited Ophelia (Daisy Ridley) is Queen Gertrude's (Naomi Watts) favourite lady-in-waiting, though she is ridiculed by the other ladies for her lack of nobility. Her father Polonius (Dominic Mafham) serves as chief councillor to King Hamlet (Nathaniel Parker). Upon his return from Wittenberg, Prince Hamlet (George MacKay) soon begins courting Ophelia, but their blossoming romance is cut short when Hamlet returns to Wittenberg to continue his studies. At the same time Hamlet's uncle Claudius (Clive Owen) begins to seduce Gertrude.
Later, Gertrude charges Ophelia with retrieving a tonic from a healer named Mechtild (also played by Watts) who lives deep in the forest. While preparing the queen's chambers for the night, she witnesses the king and queen in a heated argument. Ophelia pursues the distraught Gertrude up to the castle parapets where she encounters what appears to be a ghost. The next day the king is found dead, presumably from a venomous snake bite. Claudius takes the throne as his successor and marries Gertrude. Hamlet returns to Elsinore in a rage, having heard the news from Polonius, and begins to suspect foul play. He resumes his romance with Ophelia, which the court begins to notice. Ophelia's brother Laertes (Tom Felton) cautions her to be wary of his advances, before leaving for France. At the advice of his trusted friend Horatio (Devon Terrell), Ophelia meets Hamlet at the parapets where he confides in her his suspicions about his mother's infidelity.
The next day while on another errand for the queen, Ophelia encounters the same spectral figure from the parapets. Mechtild is revealed to be not only Gertrude's sister but also Claudius's former lover, who brought her to ruin after he accused her of witchcraft when she miscarried their illegitimate son. Mechtild was able to escape persecution by faking her death by drinking a special poison. Later on, Hamlet meets Ophelia in the chapel and the couple make plans to marry in secret.
While attending to the queen early the next morning, Ophelia discovers the spectral figure that she encountered earlier is actually Claudius. She finds Mechtild's poison in his cloak and realises he was responsible for King Hamlet's death. When he learns of their secret marriage, Claudius decides to use her to spy on Hamlet. Ophelia warns him of her discovery and he tells her to leave Elsinore for a convent where she'll be safe from Claudius. Polonius deduces that Hamlet is mad, but Claudius isn't convinced and instructs him to have Ophelia married off. That night Hamlet enlists a troupe of actors to perform a spectacle that depicts his father's murder. Claudius bursts into a rage, confirming Hamlet's suspicions. Gertrude accuses Ophelia of turning Hamlet against her and dismisses her.
Polonius goes to plead with Gertrude on his daughter's behalf but he is killed by Hamlet who mistook him for Claudius. Ophelia is left further devastated when Horatio tells her that Hamlet has been banished to England along with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. Laertes returns from France demanding justice for his father's death. While being prepared for her wedding, Ophelia gets into a fight with one of the queen's ladies who tells her that Claudius ordered Hamlet's murder, but her hopes are suddenly lifted when Horatio tells her that he is still alive. While attempting to escape the castle she is cornered by Claudius. Ophelia calls him out for his mistreatment of Mechtild and he has her locked up, but she escapes and feigns madness. During her act, she tells Horatio to take her body from the grave. Claudius orders her to be arrested but Gertrude shows her mercy, believing her to be truly insane. The guards pursue her to the lake where she drinks Mechtild's poison and seemingly drowns.
Horatio has seen through her request and recovers her body from the grave just as she wakes up, but she is weakened from consuming too much of the poison. While accompanying her through the forest, they come across Norwegian soldiers on their way to Elsinore. Horatio wishes her well before he leaves to warn the court while Ophelia seeks out Mechtild for an antidote. When confronted about her role in the king's murder, Mechtild explains that while she had no part in it she admits she couldn't deny Claudius as she still harboured feelings for him, but agrees that he should pay for his crimes. While Ophelia rests, she goes to offer her help to the invading Norwegians. Ophelia awakes to find a stunned and remorseful Gertrude, who tells her that Laertes has challenged Hamlet to a duel. Ophelia forgives her, and with Gertrude's help she is able to sneak back into the castle unrecognised. Claudius meanwhile has anointed Laertes' sword with poison. Hamlet is overjoyed to see his beloved is alive and well. Ophelia pleads with him to leave with her but he is still consumed by the desire for vengeance, but promises he will follow her to the convent. Ophelia sadly bids him goodbye and leaves Elsinore for good. Both Hamlet and Laertes are killed when they are wounded by his poisoned sword. Enraged and grief-stricken, Gertrude grabs Hamlet's sword and kills Claudius, just as the Norwegians storm the castle, accompanied by Mechtild. Gertrude poisons herself with Claudius's venom and she dies in her sister's arms. The film closes with Ophelia living peacefully in exile with her and Hamlet's daughter.
Orange County (2002)
Color
Student has 24 hours to convince Stanford dean to accept him after he was rejected
Orange County
"Shaun Brumder (Colin Hanks) is an intelligent teenager from affluent Orange County, California with little interest in his education, leading a carefree SoCal lifestyle of surfing, drinking, and partying. Shaun's best friend Lonny (Bret Harrison) is killed in a surfing accident, leading Shaun to rethink his life. He finds a novel on the beach by the author Marcus Skinner, which inspires him to become a writer. Upon learning that Skinner is an English professor at Stanford University, Shaun makes it his goal to attend Stanford and study under him.
Shaun dramatically improves himself academically, obtaining high grades and SAT scores and becoming president of his graduating class. Following the advice of his guidance counselor, Ms. Cobb (Lily Tomlin), Shaun applies only to Stanford. This backfires when Shaun is rejected because Ms. Cobb mixed up his transcript with that of another student. Reaching out to his wealthy father Bud (John Lithgow), who left his family to marry a much younger woman (Leslie Mann), Shaun pleads with him to donate to Stanford to increase Shaun's chances of acceptance. Disapproving of Shaun's dream of becoming a writer, Bud refuses. Shaun's girlfriend Ashley (Schuyler Fisk) convinces her friend Tanya (Carly Pope) to allow Shaun to be interviewed at his home by Tanya's grandfather, a Stanford board member. Unfortunately, the antics of Shaun's dysfunctional family members, including his alcoholic, emotionally fragile mother Cindy (Catherine O'Hara) and his dim-witted stoner brother Lance (Jack Black), cause Shaun's interviewers to storm out in disgust.
In a last-ditch effort, Ashley and Lance convince Shaun to drive to Palo Alto and plead his case directly to Stanford Admissions Director Don Durkett (Harold Ramis). By the time they reach campus, the admissions building is closed. While Lance seduces the secretary on duty, Shaun and Ashley steal Durkett's home address. There, Shaun impresses Durkett with his real transcript, but Durkett is reluctant to admit him so late in the admissions process. After much groveling, Shaun convinces him to give it a second thought. Disaster strikes again when Ashley confuses Lance's MDMA for pain relievers, offering Durkett the pills for his headache and causing him to become high. Shaun, Ashley, and Durkett return to find the Admissions Building engulfed in flames, caused by Lance smoking with the receptionist. With Lance wanted for arson, they abandon Durkett and flee the scene.
Frustrated with Shaun's obsession, Ashley points out that his attending Stanford would likely mean the end of their relationship, and she leaves. Depressed, Shaun wanders the campus and meets a female student who invites him to a frat party. He is disappointed to learn the Stanford coeds are just as vapid as teenagers from Orange County. With a more cynical view of college, Shaun runs into Professor Skinner (Kevin Kline) and is invited to his office. Shaun confides that he is afraid his dreams of being a good writer are over. Skinner reminds him that many famous authors such as James Joyce and William Faulkner grew up in places that were not intellectually stimulating, and were inspired by the conflicts in their own lives. Having an epiphany, Shaun realizes his misguided intentions and finds Ashley to apologize. They pick up Lance, still hiding from police, and drive home.
In Orange County, Shaun's parents seek each other out to deal with Shaun's problem. They reconcile, realizing they are much happier together than with their respective new spouses, and conclude they have not been good parents to Shaun. To make amends, Bud donates enough money to Stanford for the construction of a new Admissions Building, which secures Shaun's acceptance. Initially ecstatic, Shaun remembers what Ashley and Professor Skinner said, and decides to stay in Orange County with Ashley and his family, realizing they are the true inspiration for his writing. Shaun leaves a copy of Skinner's book at the beach for someone else to find, then surfs with his friends for the first time since Lonny's death.
Ordinary Love (2019)
Color
Happy marriage is thrown into disarray when wife is diagnosed with breast cancer
Ordinary Love
"Joan and Tom Thompson have been married for many years; they keep their house in order and go about their routine lives. There is an ease to their relationship, and a deep love which manifests itself through tenderness and humor in equal measure. Tom owns a pet fish that Joan does not care for. They exercise by going on a long walk through town, turning back when they reach a newly planted sapling.
One evening while showering, Joan finds a mass on her breast. She and Tom head to the hospital, where she is diagnosed with breast cancer. Joan's doctor arranges for surgery to excise the mass and surrounding lymph nodes. On the day of Joan's surgery, Tom visits the grave of their daughter, Debbie, alone. He confesses to Debbie that he is scared of being left alone without his wife.
Joan's surgery goes well, and the doctors are able to remove all physical signs of cancer. They refer Joan to an oncologist to start chemotherapy. This leads to a disagreement between Joan and Tom about the nature of being "cancer-free." Tom sees that his fish has died and cries as he flushes it down the toilet. While waiting for her chemotherapy appointment, Joan sees Debbie's primary school teacher, Peter, waiting in the lobby. The two chat, and Peter reveals he has terminal cancer. Joan's name is called, and she undergoes her first treatment of chemotherapy. The next day, she vomits heavily.
Soon after, Joan's hair begins to fall out in clumps. Tom cuts her hair short and then shaves her head with a razor. Joan forgets which medication she is supposed to take on what day, leading to a vicious argument with Tom about how cancer is destroying their marriage. Donning a wig, Joan meets with Peter at a cafe where they discuss their mortality. Feeling hot and silly, Joan takes her wig off. Tom meets a man smoking on a bench outside the chemotherapy clinic. A terminal cancer patient himself, the man reassures Tom that the doctors can save Joan.
Joan and Tom decide to have a romantic evening at a hotel before Joan's mastectomy. After enjoying a fancy dinner, they have sex. Tom promises to still love Joan even if she does not have breasts. Joan undergoes the mastectomy and more sessions of chemotherapy. Tom waits outside by the bench, but does not see the smoking man again. As Peter visits Joan, Tom meets Steve, Peter's husband, in the hospital cafeteria. They discuss their shared experiences around love and loss.
Some time later, Joan has undergone surgery to reconstruct her breasts using abdominal muscle tissue. She and Tom attend Peter's funeral, where Steve delivers a eulogy. After successfully completing her cancer treatment, Joan and Tom go to the supermarket in preparation for Christmas. They go on their exercise walk once more and find that the sapling has grown.
Original Sin (2001)
Color
Rich Cuban is deceived by a woman he fell in love with
Original Sin
"Original Sin is set in the late 19th century Cuba during the Spanish rule, and flashes back and forth a few times from the scene of a woman awaiting her execution by garrote while telling her story to a priest, to the actual events of that story.
Luis Vargas (Antonio Banderas), a wealthy Hispanic-Cuban businessman, sends for American Julia Russell (Angelina Jolie) to sail to his country to be his bride. Julia departs from the ship, looking nothing like the photos she's sent prior to her voyage. Julia explains she wants more than a man who is interested in a pretty face, and that's why she's been deceptive - substituting a plain-looking woman in place of her own picture. Luis also admits to deception; he's been misleading her into believing he's a poor working man, instead of the rich owner of a coffee company.
Luis and Julia wed within hours of her setting foot in Cuba. Luis falls passionately in love with his new wife, while Julia seems to be fighting inner demons.
Meanwhile, Julia's sister Emily has been trying to contact her, worried about her after such a long trip to a strange land. Luis forces Julia to write back, fearing that if Julia continues to ignore Emily's letters, Emily will assume something terrible has befallen her sister and might send the authorities to check on her welfare. Holding off as long as possible, Julia finally pens a letter to her sister.
In order to assure that his wife has everything she wants, Luis adds Julia to his business and personal bank accounts, giving her free rein to spend as she pleases. Luis discovers Julia has run off with nearly all of his fortune, and then teams up with a detective, Walter Downs (Thomas Jane), hired by Emily to find her real sister Julia. Walter reveals to Luis he believes Julia to be an impostor and the intended wife to be dead by her hand, and that she may be working with someone. The two set out together looking for her.
Luis finds Julia and discovers she is actually working with Walter. Luis believes she loves him and lies to Walter, but when confronted by him a fight breaks out and Luis shoots Walter. Julia coldly tells Luis to go and buy them tickets home, but the minute he leaves, Walter gets to his feet; he had loaded the gun with blanks. Julia appears to love Luis, but Walter has too much control over her, so she continues to work for him as she and Luis run off to live in secret with the supposedly dead Walter on their tail.
Luis throws away his promising future and opens himself to living a lie with Julia. One night Luis follows Julia and discovers Walter is alive and the two are still working together; she is apparently going to poison her husband that very night. He returns home and waits for her, and when she arrives reveals he knows of the plan, confesses his love for her once more and swallows the poisoned drink. Julia flees with the dying Luis, with Walter close behind. They run into him at a train station; Walter is furious that Julia has betrayed him. While Walter holds a knife to her throat, Luis shoots and wounds him, with Julia finishing him off.
Back in the mise en scene, Julia finishes her story and asks the priest to pray with her. The next morning the guards come to her cell to take her to her execution, only to find the priest in her clothing.
In Morocco, Julia is watching a card game. She walks around the table occupied by gamblers -- including Luis -- and thanks them for allowing her to watch. As Julia signals Luis about the other players' cards, he begins telling them the story of how they got there.
Outbreak (1995)
Color
Killer virus infests California community
Outbreak
"In 1967, during the Kisangani Mutinies a virus called Motaba, which causes a deadly fever, is discovered in the African jungle. To keep the virus a secret, U.S. Army officers Donald McClintock and Billy Ford destroy the camp where soldiers were infected. Twenty-eight years later, Colonel Sam Daniels, a USAMRIID virologist, is sent to investigate an outbreak in Zaire. He and his crew--Lieutenant Colonel Casey Schuler and new recruit Major Salt--gather information and return to the United States. Ford, now a brigadier general and Daniels' superior officer, dismisses the latter's fears that the virus will spread.
Betsy, a white-headed capuchin monkey that is host to the virus, is smuggled into the country. James "Jimbo" Scott, a worker at an animal testing laboratory, is infected when he steals Betsy to sell on the black market. Jimbo fails to sell Betsy to Rudy Alvarez (who also becomes infected), a pet-store owner in the coastal-California village of Cedar Creek. After releasing the monkey in the woods outside of the nearby community of Palisades, he develops symptoms on a flight to Boston and infects his girlfriend, Alice. Their illness is investigated by Dr. Roberta Keough, a CDC scientist and Daniels' ex-wife. Jimbo, Alice, and Rudy die, but Keough determines that no one else in Boston was infected.
A hospital technician in Cedar Creek is infected when he accidentally breaks the vial of Rudy's blood. The virus quickly mutates into a strain capable of spreading like influenza, becoming airborne and causing a number of people to be infected in a movie theater. Daniels flies to Cedar Creek against Ford's orders, joining Keough's team with Schuler and Salt. As they begin a search for the monkey, the Army quarantines the town and imposes martial law. Schuler is infected when his suit tears, and Keough accidentally sticks herself with a contaminated needle while treating him.
When Ford provides an experimental serum which cures the original strain, Daniels realizes that he was aware of the virus before the outbreak. Daniels learns about Operation Clean Sweep, a plan for the military to contain the virus by bombing Cedar Creek, incinerating the town and its residents, ostensibly to prevent Motaba's expansion to pandemic proportions. However, McClintock, now a major general, plans to use the operation to conceal the virus's existence so it can be preserved for use as a biological weapon.
To prevent Daniels from finding a cure, McClintock orders him arrested for carrying the virus. Daniels escapes, and he and Salt fly a helicopter to the ship at sea which carried Betsy. Daniels obtains a picture of Betsy and releases it to the media; a Palisades resident, Mrs. Jeffries, realizes that her daughter Kate has been playing with Betsy in their yard and calls the CDC. Daniels and Salt arrive at the Jeffries' house, and Salt tranquilizes Betsy after Kate coaxes her out of hiding in the woods nearby. When he learns from Daniels about Betsy's capture, Ford delays the bombing.
On their return flight, Daniels and Salt are chased by McClintock in another helicopter, and Salt fires two rockets into the trees to deceive him into thinking that they crashed. Once back in Cedar Creek, Salt mixes Betsy's antibodies with Ford's serum to create an antiserum; although Schuler has died, they save Keough. McClintock returns to base and resumes Operation Clean Sweep, refusing to listen to Ford. Daniels and Salt fly their helicopter directly into the path of the bomber's approach to its target. With Ford's help, Daniels persuades the bomber's flight crew to detonate the bomb over water and spare the town. Before McClintock can order another bombing, Ford relieves him of command and orders his arrest. Daniels and Keough reconcile, and Cedar Creek's residents are cured.
Our Family Wedding (2010)
Color
Couple goes through tumultuous wedding with feuding parents
Our Family Wedding
"Marcus Boyd (Lance Gross) has recently graduated from Columbia Medical School and is headed to Laos for a year to work with Doctors Without Borders. Unbeknownst to their respective parents, Marcus and his fiance Lucia (America Ferrera) have been living together and would like to get married before they both head off to Laos.
Meanwhile, in Los Angeles, Marcus' father Brad (Forest Whittaker) is coming out of a meeting when he sees his car being towed by Miguel (Carlos Mencia), who happens to be Lucia's father. Brad tries unsuccessfully to halt the tow by holding on to the door of his car. Both Miguel and Brad hurl various racially-based insults at one another. Brad and Miguel meet later that evening and discover that they will soon be in-laws. Both Marcus' and Lucia's family try to out do one another to make the wedding more African-American or Mexican-American, with comedic results.
Lucia has also not told her parents that she recently dropped out of Columbia Law School to volunteer teach at a charter school catering to recent immigrants. This leads Miguel to believe that she will be supporting Marcus as he volunteers as a doctor without pay. When Miguel tells Marcus that he disapproves of him living off, Lucia says nothing. Marcus feels abandoned and ultimately calls off the wedding.
Lucia's sister Isabel (Anjelah Johnson) makes Lucia and the rest of the family realize that Marcus makes Lucia happy and that race should not matter. Lucia goes to Marcus, they reconcile, and they end up having a wedding that embraces both African and Mexican customs.
Out of Africa (1985)
Color
Woman enters marriage of convenience, but falls for someone else
Out of Africa
"Karen Dinesen recalls her life in Africa where in 1913 she, as an unmarried wealthy Danish woman is spurned by her Swedish nobleman lover, went to British East Africa to complete a marriage of convenience with her lover's brother, Baron Bror Blixen (Klaus Maria Brandauer). Bror has gone through his money and is reduced to seducing the servant girls so with Dinesen they plan to establish a dairy cattle farm. En route to Nairobi, she meets Denys Finch Hatton (Robert Redford), a local big-game hunter.
It is Farah that greets her at the train station; Bror is no where to be found at his club so she enters the men's bar to ask for him and she is asked to leave. Karen and Bror marry before the day is out in a "long" ceremony. As Baroness Blixen she learns that Bror has changed their agreed upon plan, instead to establish a coffee farm. His interest is more for to run big game hunting on safari than management of the farm.
Eventually, Karen does develop feelings for Bror but she contracts from him syphilis during First World War. Bror agrees to manage the farm while she takes treatment (Salvarsan) in Denmark. When she returns he continues with the safari, they begin to live separately and then divorce.
The relationship between Karen and Denys develops and he comes to live with her. But when Denys invites on safari a mutual woman friend Karen comes to realize that Denys does not want the same type of relationship she seeks. He assures her that when he is with her he wants to be with her, and that a marriage is immaterial to their relationship. He moves out.
The farm eventually yields a good harvest, but a fire puts Karen in financial straights. Karen prepares for her departure from Kenya Colony to Denmark by appealing for land for her Kikuyu workers to stay together, and sell at a rummage sale her things that she would not take with her on the return to Denmark.
Before the rummage sale Denys visits the empty house and Karen comments that the house should have been so all along; Denys says that he was just getting use to her things. They agree that the coming Friday Denys will fly her to Mombasa for Karen to continue on to Denmark. Friday comes; Bror arrives to tell her that Denys' biplane has crashed and burned.
Following the funeral, she goes to Denys' club to complete arrangements for managing any mail that may arrive; the members extend to her a toast. At the train station she says goodbye to Farah then turns back to ask him to say her name.
Karen later became an author and a storyteller, writing about her experiences in Africa, though she never was to return.
Overboard (1987)
Color
Princess loses memory and is picked up by a carpenter she'd earlier disrespected
Overboard
"Wealthy heiress Joanna Stayton (Goldie Hawn) is accustomed to living the life of the idle and spoiled rich with her husband Grant Stayton III (Edward Herrmann). When their yacht gets stuck in the rural hamlet of Elk Cove, Oregon, for repairs, Joanna passes the time by hiring carpenter Dean Proffitt (Kurt Russell) to remodel her closet. Dean puts up with Joanna's rude and demanding attitude, only to have her refuse to pay him because she dislikes the type of wood he used. When he demands payment, she shoves him overboard along with his tools. That night, Joanna falls overboard while searching for her wedding ring on deck, develops amnesia, is rescued by a garbage scow and taken to the local hospital. Grant goes to get her, but after seeing her mental state and mistreatment of the staff, he denies knowing her and returns to the yacht as a bachelor to embark on a spree of parties with younger women. After seeing her story on the local news, Dean, a widower living in redneck clutter with four young sons, decides to seek his revenge and remedy his own domestic problems by taking advantage of the situation. He goes to the hospital and tells Joanna that she is Annie, his wife of thirteen years and the mother of his sons. He convinces the staff of his identity by revealing a small birthmark on her behind, which he saw during the remodeling when she was wearing a revealing swimsuit. Unwillingly convinced, she reluctantly goes with him to his home.
At first, Joanna has difficulty dealing with Dean's boys and the heavy load of chores, including cooking raw food, doing laundry in a tub, caring for pets, housekeeping, and only being able to sleep on the couch. She soon adapts to her new life as a housewife, and begins to fall in love with Dean and his children. Dean is secretly working two jobs and Joanna handles the boys' school issues, family issues and money challenges with considerable wisdom and grace. Seeing Dean struggle, she uses her untapped knowledge of things like the Seven Wonders of the World to draw up plans for a miniature golf course based on their shared designs. Although Dean has also fallen in love with Joanna, he fails to come clean with her being used as a mom in fear that she would leave them. Even when he tries to come clean when she discovers a pair of monogrammed panties from her former life, which cause her to think he's having an affair, a friend, Billy Pratt (Michael G. Hagerty), says they belonged to a girl he met to get Dean off the hook.
Meanwhile, giving in to the pressure of Joanna's inquisitive mother Edith (Katherine Helmond), Grant reluctantly returns to Elk Cove to retrieve his wife. Joanna's memory returns to her upon seeing him. She is shocked and hurt when she realizes that Dean has been using her for months. She returns with Grant to the yacht where her mother and Dr. Korman, the family's bumbling psychiatrist, are waiting. Joanna finds her old life stuffy and pretentious. One evening after doing shots of Tequila with the crew, Joanna turns to Andrew (Roddy McDowall), her loyal butler, and apologizes for her poor treatment of him after all the things he had done for her in the past. Andrew replies that he is both surprised and pleased with the apology. He observes that unlike most people, Joanna has been given an opportunity to see life from a different station than that to which she was born. He does not tell her what she must do, but merely states she is the one who can decide how to use the new perspective.
Realizing how happy she was with Dean and the kids, and how selfish and spoiled she was in her former life, she commandeers the yacht and turns back towards Elk Cove. When the neurotic and selfish Grant finds out, delusions of grandeur kick in and he accuses his wife of mutiny, admits he never loved her and commandeers the ship himself. Meanwhile, Dean and the boys go to get Joanna back with the help of Billy's friend in the Coast Guard. When they catch up to the yacht, Joanna and Dean both jump overboard and are reunited in the water. An incensed Grant actually attempts to shoot her with a bow and arrow, accusing her of mutiny for jumping ship, only to be unceremoniously booted over the side and into the water by Andrew, who then promptly gives his notice of resignation. Safely aboard the smaller vessel, Joanna, having left and unofficially divorced Grant, reveals to Dean that the yacht and the money are actually hers, not Grant's. Hours later, while the boys are making out their Christmas lists (due to their sudden wealth), Dean asks Joanna, "What could I possibly give you that you don't already have?" Joanna looks at her four stepsons, smiles, then replies, "A little girl.
P.S. I Love You (2007)
Color
Widow finds letters her late husband left behind to help her cope with his death
P.S. I Love You
"Holly and Gerry are a married couple who live on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. They are deeply in love though they fight occasionally. One winter, Gerry dies of a brain tumor, and Holly realizes how much he meant to her as well as how insignificant their arguments and differences were.
Deeply distraught, Holly withdraws from her family and friends out of grief until they descend upon her on her 30th birthday. She doesn't want to live anymore without him. They are determined to prod the young widow to face the future and explore what her life choices should be. As they rally around Holly and help organize her apartment, a cake is delivered, and with it is a message from Gerry. It proves to be the first of several meaningful messages--all ending with "P.S. I Love You"--which he had arranged to have delivered to her after his death.
As the seasons pass, each new message fills her with encouragement and sends her on a new adventure. Holly's mother believes that Gerry's letters are keeping Holly tied to the past. But they are, in fact, pushing her into the future. With Gerry's words as her guide, Holly slowly embarks on a journey of rediscovery.
Gerry arranged for Holly and her friends Denise and Sharon to travel to his homeland of Ireland. They arrive at their destination, a house in the beautiful Irish countryside where they find letters from Gerry for Sharon & Denise, one asking Denise to take Holly to his favorite pub. While there, they meet William, a singer who strongly reminds Holly of her deceased husband. He asks her to stay to see him after his last song ("Galway Girl"), which he dedicates to her. Upon hearing it, she is overcome with emotion and walks out, because it was the song Gerry sang to her shortly after they first met.
During the vacation, while on a fishing trip, they lose the boat's oars, leaving the three women stranded in the middle of a lake. During their wait for help, Sharon announces that she is pregnant and Denise reveals she is getting married. This news causes Holly to relapse emotionally and again withdraw into herself. They are eventually rescued by William, whom Sharon and Denise invite to stay the night because of the pouring rain.
Unable to deny their feelings for each other, William and Holly kiss and have sex. They begin a conversation about her deceased husband and Holly asks William to drive her to visit her in-laws. Upon Holly revealing their names, William realizes she is the widow of his childhood best friend. Revealing this to Holly causes her to panic, but William calms her down and starts to tell stories about his and Gerry's childhood. The next day, Holly visits Gerry's parents and while there, she also receives a letter from Gerry reminding her of their first meeting.
Arriving home, Holly again withdraws from family and friends. As she continues to become more and more lost, she is inspired by Gerry after finding one of his suspender clips next to one of her shoes and realizes she has a flair for designing women's shoes; she enrolls in a class that teaches how to actually make the shoes she has designed. A new found self-confidence allows her to emerge from her solitude and genuinely embrace her friends' happiness.
While on a walk with her mother, she learns that her mother was the one whom Gerry asked to deliver his letters after his death. Her mother hands her the last letter and she takes it home where she gets a voicemail from Daniel asking her to forget everything he said about not wanting her. She meets him at Yankee Stadium and asks him to read the last letter from Gerry, who tells her not to turn away from new love. Daniel and Holly kiss but decide they are better off as friends.
As the film ends with Holly taking her mother on a trip to Ireland, we see that Holly has opened herself up to the journey beginning with the next chapter of her life, and wherever it takes her she has the hope of falling in love again.
Pandemic (2007)
Color
Passengers on plane become ill
Pandemic
"On a beach in Australia, two American surfers say goodbye to each other as one is about to leave for his flight back to California. The two men don't notice the large number of dead birds on the beach. On the flight, the surfer returning home starts coughing up blood and dies before the plane can land. Back in Australia, the other surfer is found dead in his apartment. Kayla Martin (Tiffani Thiessen) is a medical doctor with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) who has been assigned to the case. She and the local officials carry the body of the surfer out of the plane and start processing people to be put in quarantine until they can be evaluated for exposure. During the transfer, one of the passengers escapes to complete a business deal and unknowingly spreads the virus throughout Los Angeles. It is also revealed that outbreaks of the so-called "riptide virus" (as it comes to be known), an offshoot of the bird flu, are occurring in other cities around the world.
The situation is complicated further when one of the passengers, a convicted drug lord being transported by the FBI, escapes with the help of associates and a number of the other passengers, some of whom are infected. He proceeds to steal the medication needed to fight the outbreak and blackmails the local and state officials. As the epidemic worsens and the death toll rises all over California, the governor (Faye Dunaway) and mayor (Eric Roberts) have to find a way around their political differences so that they can make tough decisions dealing with the blackmail scheme, as well as a frightened populace and all of the problems associated with a widespread and deadly epidemic.
At the end, Kayla and her scientist team are able to find a cure: the drug lord's clear immunity to the virus is caused by his concurrent tuberculosis infection. Tubercular antibodies stop the virus from attaching to his lungs. They discover that administrating antibodies from persons who have tuberculosis will cure the infected and give the others immunity from the virus. Blood from tuberculosis-infected persons is purified and administered to people, and Los Angeles is saved.
Pan's Labyrinth (2006)
Color
10 yo must complete 3 tasks to become princess of the underworld
Pan's Labyrinth
"In a fairy tale, Princess Moanna, whose father is the king of the underworld, visits the human world, where the sunlight blinds her and erases her memory. She becomes very ill and eventually dies; whereafter the king believes that her spirit will return to the underworld.
In post--Civil War Spain in 1944 (after Francisco Franco has come into power), protagonist Ofelia travels with her pregnant mother Carmen to meet Captain Vidal, her new stepfather and the father of Carmen's unborn child. Vidal, the son of a famed commander who died in Morocco, believes strongly in falangism and was assigned to conquer anti-Franco rebels.
A large stick insect, which Ofelia believes to be a fairy, leads Ofelia into an ancient labyrinth; but she is stopped by Mercedes, one of Vidal's maids, who is spying for the rebels. That night, the insect appears in Ofelia's bedroom, where it becomes a fairy and leads her through the labyrinth. There, she meets the faun, who believes her to be Princess Moanna and gives her three tasks to complete before the full moon, to prove herself so. Meanwhile, Vidal murders two individuals detained on suspicion of cooperation's with the rebels.
Ofelia completes the first task of retrieving a key from the belly of a giant toad, but becomes worried about her mother, whose condition is worsening. The faun gives Ofelia a mandrake root, which cures Carmen's illness and soothes her pain. Accompanied by three fairy guides, Ofelia then completes the second task of retrieving an ornate dagger from the lair of the Pale Man, a child-eating monster who sits silently in front of a large feast. Although she was gravely warned not to consume anything, she eats two grapes, awakening the Pale Man. He eats two of the fairies and chases Ofelia, but she manages to escape. Infuriated at her disobedience, the faun refuses to give Ofelia the third task.
Vidal tortures a captive rebel, and then kills the doctor -- also a rebel sympathizer -- who euthanizes the prisoner. Shortly afterwards, Vidal catches Ofelia tending to the mandrake root. Carmen throws it into the fire, where it writhes and screams in agony. Carmen immediately develops painful contractions and dies giving birth to a son. Vidal discovers that Mercedes is a spy. Ofelia is locked in her bedroom, and Mercedes is taken to be tortured; however, she frees herself, injures Vidal, and rejoins the rebels.
The faun returns to Ofelia and tells her to take her baby brother into the labyrinth. Ofelia steals the baby after sedating Vidal, who pursues her through the labyrinth while the rebels successfully attack the mill at which he is stationed. The faun tells Ofelia to open the portal to the underworld by sacrifice of her brother's blood, but Ofelia refuses to harm her brother; for further disobeying his orders, the faun leaves Ofelia to her fate. Vidal, finally reaching Ofelia, takes the baby and shoots her. On leaving the labyrinth, he is captured by the rebels. Knowing that he will die, he calmly hands Mercedes the baby and demands that Mercedes tell his son the exact time of his father's death. Mercedes replies that his son will never even know his name. Mercedes' brother Pedro kills Vidal.
As Mercedes enters the labyrinth and comforts the dying girl, drops of Ofelia's blood spill onto the adjacent altar, and Ofelia appears in a golden throne room. The king of the underworld explains that the last test was a trick, to ensure that Ofelia would sooner spill her own blood over that of an innocent. The queen of the underworld invites Ofelia to sit by her father and rule at his side. The scene then cuts back to the labyrinth, where Ofelia, smiling, passes away above the altar.
Paper Moon (1973)
Black & White
Con-man and his daughter scrounge a living during the depression
Paper Moon
"Con man Moses Pray (Ryan O'Neal) meets 9-year-old Addie Loggins (Tatum O'Neal) at Addie's mother's graveside service. Because Moses is one of many men who had a relationship with her mother (and because the girl "has his jaw"), there is speculation that he is a relative and possibly Addie's father, which he denies. However, Moses is reluctantly persuaded to deliver the orphaned Addie to her aunt's home in St. Joseph, Missouri.
The pair stop at a local grain mill and Moses convinces the brother of the man who drove his car into a tree, killing Addie's mother, into giving him two hundred dollars for the newly orphaned Addie. Addie overhears this conversation and, after seeing Moses spend nearly half the money fixing up his used Model A convertible, later demands the money. Moses agrees to travel with Addie until he has raised two hundred dollars to give to her. Addie soon learns how Moses makes his money: he visits recently widowed women, pretending he is a Bible salesman who recently sold an expensive, personalized Bible to the deceased husband. The widows usually pay him the claimed "balance owed" for the bibles inscribed with their names. Addie joins in the scam, pretending she is his daughter, and exhibits a talent for confidence tricks. As time passes, Moses and Addie become a formidable team and seem to forget about Addie joining her aunt.
One night, Addie and "Moze" (as Addie now refers to him) stop at a local carnival, where Moze becomes enthralled with an "exotic dancer" named Miss Trixie Delight (Madeline Kahn). Moze puts off joining Addie at a photo booth in favor of spending time with Miss Trixie, disappointing Addie. Addie has her photograph taken sitting on a crescent moon by herself. Much to Addie's chagrin, Moze invites "Miss Trixie"--and her downtrodden, 15-year-old black maid, Imogene (P.J. Johnson)--to join him and Addie on their way. Although Addie becomes friends with Imogene, she becomes jealous of how Moze begins to focus more and more of his attention on the gold-digging Miss Trixie. When Addie subsequently discovers that Moze has spent all of their money on a brand-new car to impress Miss Trixie, she quickly devises a plan to get rid of her, which includes giving Imogene enough money to get back home to her mother. An elaborate series of maneuvers on Addie's and Imogene's part results in Moze catching Miss Trixie in bed with another man. Devastated, Moze leaves Miss Trixie and Imogene behind.
At a hotel in Kansas, Moze is able to find a bootlegger's store of whiskey, steals some of it, and sells it back to the bootlegger. Unfortunately, the bootlegger's brother is the sheriff, who quickly arrests Moze and Addie. Addie hides their money, steals back the key to their car, and the pair escape, trading their new car for an old, used Model T farm truck after Moze beats a hillbilly in a "wrasslin' match." The pair then makes their way across the state line to Missouri, where the Kansas law can't follow them. The sheriff finds them in Missouri, and unable to arrest Moze, he and his cohorts chase, beat and rob him. Humiliated, Moze drops Addie at her aunt's house in St Joseph.
Back on the road, Moze stops to let his overheating truck cool down and discovers the envelope that Addie left for him in the truck. Inside is the photo of her sitting by herself on the crescent moon at the carnival. As he contemplates the photo, he glances into the rear-view mirror and sees a small figure running toward the stopped truck. It is Addie; she has fled her aunt's house and hopes to rejoin Moze. Angry, Moze tells Addie that he does not want her traveling with him any more. She matter-of-factly reminds him that he still owes her two hundred dollars, and they drive off together.
Papillon (1973)
Color
Wrongfully impressioned 'Papillon' plans daring escape from French penal colony
Papillon
"Henri "Papillon" Charri?re (Steve McQueen), a safecracker, is unjustly convicted of murder (specifically, murdering a pimp) in 1930s France. He is sentenced to life imprisonment in the notorious French penal colony on Devil's Island, off the coast of French Guiana. En route he meets a fellow convict, Louis Dega (Dustin Hoffman), a forger and embezzler who is convinced that his wife will secure his release. Dega hires Papillon as his bodyguard, but the two eventually develop a friendship.
After defending Dega against a sadistic guard, Papillon is sentenced to solitary confinement. In gratitude, Dega smuggles extra food to Papillon. When the food smuggling is discovered, prison guards cut Papillon's food rations in half with the expectation that hunger will force him to reveal the name of his benefactor. Though emaciated and half-insane, and reduced to eating insects to survive, Papillon refuses to snitch on Dega and is released from solitary confinement after two years, including six months in total darkness and on half rations. Reunited with Dega, they soon begin planning their escape.
While recovering in the infirmary, Papillon meets a homosexual orderly named Andre Maturette (Robert Deman) who insists on joining their escape plot. The prisoners bribe a guard who promises to give them a boat, but Dega breaks his ankle during the escape. After paying the guard and tramping into the jungle, they discover that the boat is unseaworthy. A local trapper, who reveals that the guard has repeatedly cheated prisoners by first taking their money and then arranging to have them captured by bounty hunters, kills the bounty hunters who are lying in wait for them, and refers Papillon to a nearby leper colony where they obtain supplies and a boat.
After reaching the mainland, the trio are accosted by a group of soldiers. The soldiers open fire. Maturette is shot and captured along with Dega, still crippled by his broken ankle. After evading the soldiers, Papillon lives for a long period with a native tribe before waking one day to find the tribe has moved on. At a police checkpoint, Papillon pays a nun to join her entourage and goes with her to a convent. Admitting he is an escapee but stressing that he is not a murderer, Papillon asks the Mother Superior for refuge, but she turns him over to the authorities.
As punishment for his escape Papillon spends five years in solitary confinement and, now gray-haired, is released just in time to see a dying Maturette. Papillon is imprisoned on the remote Devil's Island, where he reunites with Dega.
From a high cliff, Papillon observes that every seventh wave that comes into a small harbor rebounds from the rocks and is powerful enough to carry him out to sea. Manufacturing two floats, he tries, unsuccessfully, to persuade Dega to come with him. After embracing Dega, Papillon leaps from the cliff and, grasping his float, is carried into the sea.
A narrator states that Papillon lived the rest of his life in freedom, and outlived the prison. The prison is shown abandoned and overgrown by jungle plants.
Papillon (2018)
Color
Wrongly convicted prisoner spends years planning an escape
Papillon
"Henri "Papillon" Charri?re, a safecracker from the Parisian underworld, is framed for murder. Though he has an alibi from his lover, Nenette, Papillon is convicted and condemned to the notorious penal colony in French Guiana -- a hellish prison from which nobody has escaped.
On the ship to South America, Papillon meets a quirky counterfeiter named Louis Dega. That evening Dega is awakened as two convicts murder a prisoner sleeping next to him in order to cut open his stomach and steal the money he had swallowed. Papillon forms an unlikely alliance with Dega, who is targeted by the other prisoners who suspect him of also hiding money. Papillon saves Dega's life and is punished for fighting by the guards. In exchange for Papillon's protection, Dega agrees to finance Papillon's escape, ultimately resulting in a bond of lasting friendship.[4]
While Papillon and Dega are ordered to carry away a guillotined body, a guard starts to whip Dega. Papillon strikes the guard with a rock and runs into the jungle for his first escape. He is given two years of silent solitary confinement. After the warden learns he has been receiving extra food, his rations are cut in half until he gives up the name of his supplier. Papillon did not betray Dega.
The second escape plan is made from the prison infirmary. Papillon is feigning insanity from his confinement. Dega is an aide to the warden and still has money to fund the escape. Celier has a connection to get a boat. The sexually abused Maturette is the fourth to join the dangerous venture. Dega drugs the guards using pills meant to sedate a supposedly insane Papillon and the three others escape over the walls, with Dega injuring his leg in the process, to the jungle and to a boat Dega paid for. As a storm approaches, it is clear they will not all survive in the small leaky boat. Celier wants to kill the injured Dega but in the battle it is Celier who dies. Next the three survivors find themselves being cared for in a Colombian convent. Their apparent freedom is short lived because the Mother Superior turns them in. Maturette is killed and Papillon gets five years in solitary confinement.
Papillon is released as a weathered older man on Devil's Island with high cliffs. He finds Dega who has adjusted to prison life and has no interest in escape. A fall from the cliffs is certain death. Papillon bags coconuts together for a raft and in a swell of waves he survives the fall. The third escape is a success and he is a free man. He writes a memoir.
The movie postscript reads: "Over 80,000 prisoners were condemned to the penal colony in French Guiana, most of whom never returned to France. Henri Charriere's autobiography 'Papillon' became the number one bestseller for 21 weeks in France. To date, it has sold over 13 million copies in 30 languages. In 1970, the French Minister of Justice signed a decree allowing Charriere to return to France. For the remainder of his life, he lived a free man. The penal colony in French Guiana did not survive him".
Parasite (2019)
Color
Poor family all get jobs working for rich family, and discover fugitive in basement
Parasite
"The Kim family--father Ki-taek, mother Chung-sook, daughter Ki-jung and son Ki-woo--live in a small semi-basement apartment (banjiha), have low-paying temporary jobs as pizza box folders, and struggle to make ends meet. University student Min-hyuk, a friend of Ki-woo's, gives the family a scholar's rock meant to promise wealth. Leaving to study abroad, he suggests that Ki-woo take over his job as an English tutor for the daughter of the wealthy Park family, Da-hye. Ki-woo poses as a university student and is hired by the Parks, who call him "Kevin".
The Kim family recommends one another as unrelated and highly qualified workers to take over as servants of the Parks. Ki-woo tutors and seduces Da-hye. Ki-jung poses as "Jessica", an art therapist to the Parks' young son, Da-song. Ki-jung frames Mr. Park's chauffeur for having sex in the car by leaving her underwear there, and Ki-taek is hired to replace him. Finally, Chung-sook takes over as the Parks' housekeeper after the Kims exploit the peach allergy of the long-time housekeeper, Moon-gwang, to convince Mrs. Park that she has tuberculosis.
When the Parks leave on a camping trip, the Kims revel in the luxuries of the Park residence. Moon-gwang appears at the door, telling Chung-sook she has left something in the house's basement. Through a hidden entrance to an underground bunker created by the house's architect and previous owner, it is revealed that Moon-gwang's husband, Geun-sae, has been secretly living underneath the home for over four years, hiding from loan sharks. Chung-sook refuses Moon-gwang's pleas to help Geun-sae remain in the bunker, but the eavesdropping Kims accidentally reveal themselves. Moon-gwang threatens to report them to the Parks.
A severe rainstorm brings the Parks home early, and the Kims scramble to clean up the home before the Parks return, while a brawl breaks out between Moon-gwang, Geun-sae, and the Kims. The Kims trap Geun-sae and a mortally wounded Moon-gwang in the bunker. Mrs. Park reveals to Chung-sook that Da-song had a seizure-inducing traumatic experience on a previous birthday, when he saw a "ghost" (Geun-sae) emerging from the basement. The Kims manage to sneak out of the Parks' house, but not before hearing Mr. Park's off-handed comments about how Ki-taek smells bad even though he praises Ki-Taek's driving skills and experience. They find their home flooded with sewer water and are forced to shelter in a gymnasium with other displaced people.
The next day, Mrs. Park hosts a house party for Da-song's birthday with the Kim family's help. Ki-woo enters the bunker with the scholar's rock to face Geun-sae. Finding Moon-gwang dead, he is attacked by Geun-sae, who bludgeons him with the rock and escapes, leaving Ki-Woo lying in a pool of blood outside the entrance to the bunker. Seeking to avenge Moon-gwang, Geun-sae stabs Ki-jung with a kitchen knife in front of the horrified guests. Da-song suffers another seizure upon seeing Geun-sae, and a struggle breaks out until Chung-sook fatally impales Geun-sae with a barbecue skewer. While Ki-taek tends to a severely bleeding Ki-jung, Mr. Park orders him to drive Da-song to the hospital. In the chaos, Ki-taek, upon seeing Mr. Park's disgusted reaction to Geun-sae's smell, takes the knife and kills Mr. Park. Ki-taek then flees the scene, leaving his dying daughter on the lawn.
Weeks later, Ki-woo wakes up after brain surgery. He and Chung-sook are convicted of fraud and put on probation. Ki-jung has died from her injury and Ki-taek, wanted for Mr. Park's murder, has vanished. Geun-sae's motive for the attack is not found. Ki-woo watches the Parks' home, sold to a German family unaware of its history, and sees a message in Morse code from a flickering light. It is from Ki-taek, who escaped into the bunker via the garage. He now raids the refrigerator at night. It is also revealed that he had buried Moon-gwang in the backyard. He has been flicking the light every day, hoping Ki-woo will see it. Still living in the banjiha with his mother, Ki-woo writes a letter to Ki-taek, vowing to earn enough money to one day purchase the house and free his father.
Parkland (2013)
Color
Drama that unfolded immediately after the Kennedy assassination
Parkland
Parkland weaves together the perspectives of a handful of ordinary individuals suddenly thrust into extraordinary circumstances: the young doctors and nurses at Parkland Hospital; Dallas's chief of the Secret Service; a bystander who captured what became the most famous home movie in history; the FBI agents who were visited by Lee Harvey Oswald before the shooting; the brother of Oswald, left to deal with his shattered family; and JFK's security team, witnesses to both the president's death and Vice President Lyndon Johnson's succession to office.
Passengers (2008)
Color
Therapist finds survivors' accounts of plane crash differ from the official version
Passengers
"Psychotherapist Claire Summers (Hathaway) is called upon to treat a group of five survivors of a recent plane crash. One of the survivors, Eric (Wilson), exhibits symptoms that suggest he is disguising his true feelings about the crash by making major life changes. As Claire and Eric grow closer, Claire's patients begin to disappear. She forms a theory that the airline is targeting them to prevent knowledge about a mechanical failure from spreading. Claire visits her estranged sister's house after Eric suggests that she make peace with her.
There, her sister is absent but she is greeted by an official from the airline who has been advising her not to investigate the crash. He reveals that all of the plane's passengers died in the crash. He leaves behind a suitcase that contains a ledger of passengers' names. Claire discovers that she too was on the ill-fated flight, and remembers everything that happened. Claire goes to the docks to meet Eric on his boat.
She realizes that everyone she came into contact with over the last few weeks was actually dead; "ghosts" of friends and family who were trying to help her come to terms that she, and the other passengers, have died. As the movie ends, Claire's sister, Emma, and her husband are let into her now-abandoned apartment by the landlord, where she discovers a note Claire was planning to send to make peace with her.
Passengers (2016)
Color
Man wakes fellow passenger from hibernation during 120yr space voyage
Passengers
"The Avalon, a sleeper ship transporting 5,000 colonists and 258 crew members in hibernation pods, is on course to the planet Homestead II, a journey taking 120 years. Thirty years into its journey, the ship passes through an asteroid field, leading to a collision that causes a malfunction. The malfunction awakens one passenger, mechanical engineer Jim Preston, 90 years too early.
After a year of isolation, with no company except an android barman named Arthur, Jim grows despondent and contemplates suicide. One day, he notices Aurora Lane, a writer and journalist, in her pod. He watches her video profile and is immediately smitten, and reads everything she has ever written. After struggling with the morality of manually reviving Aurora for companionship, therein robbing her of a long life on a planet -- a dilemma he daily discusses with Arthur -- he awakens her, claiming her pod also malfunctioned. Aurora is devastated to realize she will live the rest of her life on the ship. Her attempts to re-enter hibernation are fruitless. Eventually, she accepts her situation and begins writing a book about her experiences. Over the next year, Jim and Aurora grow closer, and eventually fall in love.
Jim prepares to propose to Aurora on the one-year anniversary of her awakening in space, but inadvertently Arthur reveals the truth to Aurora hearing from her that she and Jim have "no secrets" between them. Aurora is devastated; she considers his action tantamount to murder. She alternately berates, shuns, and physically attacks Jim. Jim tries to ask Aurora for forgiveness, but she furiously rejects him. The two refrain from contact for some time.
Soon after, another pod failure awakens Gus Mancuso, Chief Deck Officer. He discovers multiple failures throughout the ship's systems. If not repaired, the ship will continue to suffer critical system failures and the mission may fail. Gus attempts to repair the ship with Jim and Aurora's help, while Aurora still blames Jim for stealing her life. Gus soon becomes ill; unlike Jim's, his body was physically damaged by his malfunctioning pod. The Autodoc, an automated medical diagnostics and treatment pod, shows he has only hours to live. Before dying, Gus gives Jim and Aurora his ID badge to access crew-only areas and repair the ship.
Jim and Aurora discover a series of hull breaches from the collision two years earlier. The computer module administering the fusion reactor that powers the ship has been damaged, causing the ship's escalating malfunctions. Jim and Aurora replace the damaged module. The computer attempts to vent the reactor in order to extinguish a massive reactor fire, but fails. Jim realizes that the reactor must be vented by opening the vent hatch from the ship's exterior. Aurora assists, while admitting she is terrified of losing Jim and being left alone. Aurora, from inside the ship, and Jim, outside, vent the reactor. Jim's tether snaps and his damaged spacesuit loses oxygen; Aurora frantically retrieves and resuscitates Jim in the Autodoc.
Afterwards, Jim learns that the Autodoc can function as a makeshift hibernation pod for one person. To make amends to Aurora, he offers it to her to sleep for the remainder of the voyage.
Eighty-eight years later, the ship's crew awaken as scheduled, shortly before arrival on Homestead II. They discover a small house amid lush flora and fauna in the ship's grand concourse area. Aurora's book reveals that she chose to stay awake with Jim and continue writing her story.
Patch Adams (1998)
Color
After spending time in loony bin Hunter follows unusual course to become doctor
Patch Adams
"Hunter "Patch" Adams (Robin Williams) is suicidal and admits himself to a mental institution. Once there, he finds that using humor, rather than doctor-centered psychotherapy, better helps his fellow patients and provides him with a new purpose in life. Because of this, he wants to become a medical doctor, and two years later enrolls at the Medical College of Virginia (now known as VCU School of Medicine) as the oldest first year student. He questions the school's soulless approach to medical care, as well as the methods of the school's Dean Walcott (Bob Gunton), who takes an instant dislike to Patch and believes that doctors must treat patients his way and not befriend them. Because of this and incidents such as setting up a giant model paper-mache pair of legs in stirrups during an obstetric conference, he is expelled from the medical school, although he is later reinstated when it becomes apparent to the school that his unconventional methods often help cure his patients. Adams encourages medical students to work closely with nurses, learn interviewing skills early, and argues that death should be treated with dignity and sometimes even humor.
Patch begins a friendship with fellow student Carin Fisher (Monica Potter) and develops his idea for a medical clinic built around his philosophy of treating patients using humor and compassion. With the help of Arthur Mendelson (Harold Gould), a wealthy man who was a patient whom Patch met while in the mental hospital, he purchases 105 acres (42.5 hectares) in West Virginia to construct the future Gesundheit! Institute. Together with Carin, medical student Truman Schiff (Daniel London), and some old friends, he renovates an old cottage into a clinic. When they get the clinic running, they treat patients without medical insurance and perform comedy sketches for them.
Patch's friendship with Carin soon turns into romance. When she tells him that she had been molested as a child, Patch comforts her and reassures her that she can overcome her pain by helping others. Encouraged, Carin wants to help a disturbed patient, Lawrence "Larry" Silver (Douglas Roberts). However, Larry murders Carin, then commits suicide. Patch is guilt-ridden by Carin's death and begins to question the goodness in humanity. Standing on a cliff, he contemplates suicide again and asks God for an explanation. He then sees a butterfly that reminds him that Carin had always wished she was a caterpillar that could turn into a butterfly and fly away. The butterfly lands on his medical bag and shirt before flying away. With his spirits revived, Patch decides to dedicate his work to her memory.
Walcott eventually finds out that Patch has been running a clinic and practicing medicine without a license and attempts to expel him again because of this, as well as complaints that he has made his patients uncomfortable (which is obviously not true). Desperate to prove Walcott wrong, Patch files a grievance with the state medical board on the advice of his former medical school roommate, conservative Mitch Roman (Philip Seymour Hoffman). Patch succeeds in convincing the board that he must treat the spirit as well as the body. The board allows him to graduate and he receives a standing ovation from the packed hearing room.
At graduation, Patch receives his diploma and, bowing to the professors and audience, reveals his naked bottom.
Peggy Sue Got Married (1986)
Color
Peggy Sue goes back in time, and is able to get a new perspective on her life
Peggy Sue Got Married
"Peggy Sue Bodell (Kathleen Turner) sets off for her 25-year high school reunion, albeit hesitantly, with her daughter, Beth (Helen Hunt), coming along as company. Peggy Sue has just separated from her former high school sweetheart, now husband, Charlie (Nicolas Cage), and is wary of attending the reunion because of everyone questioning her about the absence of Charlie; they have been married since she became pregnant at the end of high school.
Peggy Sue arrives at the reunion and is happy to reconnect with her old friends, Maddy (Joan Allen) and Carol (Catherine Hicks), and all start to comment on old high school memories and how times (and classmates) have changed. Charlie unexpectedly arrives at the reunion, causing an awkward scene with Peggy Sue ignoring him. The awkwardness is ended when the event MC announces the reunion's "king and queen." The king is Richard Norvik (Barry Miller), a former class geek turned multi-millionaire computer whiz. Peggy Sue is named the queen, but on arriving at the stage, she faints.
When Peggy Sue awakens, she finds she's gone back to the spring of 1960, her senior year of high school, having passed out after donating blood. Peggy at first believes she died at the reunion, but then comes to accept that she has gone back in time. She's in shock to see old family members so young and to talk to relatives who have since died. She attends high school classes and meets with old (now-young) friends as well as their now-young boyfriends (Jim Carrey in one of his earliest roles is among them). Peggy answers simple questions with adult responses. For example, when her mother asks if she and Charlie had a fight, she replies yes--but about "house payments," talking about their future divorce. She also makes a get-rich-quick reference of going to England to discover The Beatles.
Peggy is confused by this new/old world, but she's fascinated to get to live high school all over again and say things she always wanted to say (such as telling off rude girls and informing an algebra teacher she knows, for a fact, that she will never need algebra in her life). She uses this opportunity to repair an estranged relationship with her younger sister, Nancy (Sofia Coppola). One thing Peggy is not happy about is that she's still dating Charlie. She breaks up with him and has a one-night stand with Michael Fitzsimmons (Kevin J. O'Connor)--the guy in school she always wished she'd slept with.
Peggy Sue soon sees that this Charlie (at 18 years) is not the same as the adulterous Charlie she left in 1985 and Peggy starts to fall in love with him all over again, though the relationship still has its problems. Meanwhile, she contacts the young (ever geeky) Richard and asks for his advice on time travel. He seems to believe her as they discuss events and inventions that do not yet exist. Her inquiries into time travel lead to her grandfather, who agrees to try a strange seance ritual with his Masonic Lodge buddies to send her forward in time.
Peggy is kidnapped by Charlie. He takes her to a greenhouse of sorts, while everybody at the Lodge thinks the ritual worked. He tells Peggy Sue that he loves her and gives her the locket she wore at the beginning of the film. Realizing that she cannot cheat fate, Peggy Sue kisses Charlie and they begin to make love, which would again lead to Peggy getting pregnant and marrying him. In the next moment, Peggy Sue is transported back to present day.
Peggy Sue wakes up in a hospital, with Charlie at her side. However, the idea that she may have dreamed the entire ordeal is called into doubt when she sees that Michael has dedicated a book to her and their night together. Charlie, meanwhile, is deeply regretful of his adultery and tells Peggy Sue he wants her back. It seems there's hope for them possibly reconciling their differences when Peggy Sue looks at Charlie with new eyes and (citing a reference from her grandfather who claimed that her grandmother's strudel kept the family together) says, "I'd like to invite you over to your house for dinner on Sunday, with your kids. I'll make a strudel.
People Like Us (2012)
Color
Sam finds out he has a sister when his estranged father's will is read
People Like Us
"Sam Harper (Chris Pine), a struggling corporate trader in New York City, may have violated federal law and faces a possible Federal Trade Commission investigation. Sam's boss (Jon Favreau) urges him to bribe federal officials. Returning home, Sam's girlfriend Hannah (Olivia Wilde) informs him that his estranged father, Jerry, has died. Sam and Hannah fly to L.A. where he has a tense reunion with his mother, Lillian (Michelle Pfeiffer).
Jerry's lawyer and friend (Philip Baker Hall), tells Sam he will not inherit any money. The lawyer hands him a shaving kit containing $150,000 in cash and a note stipulating that the money be delivered to Josh Davis (Michael Hall D'Addario).
Josh is a troubled 11-year-old boy whose bartender mother, Frankie Davis (Elizabeth Banks), is a recovering alcoholic. Sam secretly follows Frankie to an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting. He learns she is Jerry's illegitimate daughter, making Frankie Sam's paternal half-sister, and Josh his nephew. When Sam tells Hannah he intends to keep the money, Hannah, disgusted, returns to New York.
Sam introduces himself to Frankie as a visiting fellow alcoholic, and soon becomes involved in their life, gradually growing closer. He learns that Jerry visited Frankie and her mother on Sundays, and that Frankie has never met her father's wife and son. Meanwhile, Sam broods over his deepening legal troubles. Frankie does not want Sam around Josh anymore because she fears he will return to New York, upsetting Josh. Sam decides to leave, but returns to pick up Josh from school. Frankie later calls Sam, telling him Josh has been in a fight.
Sam eventually reveals that he is Jerry's son, resulting in Frankie exploding in anger and ordering him to leave. Later, Lillian is hospitalized following a heart condition. Hannah finds Sam in the waiting room, and they reconcile. Hannah has enrolled into UCLA's law program to remain close to Sam after realizing he wants to be with his family. Meanwhile, Frankie receives Jerry's money through a lawyer. Frankie quits her job, enrolls in school, and move into a suburban neighborhood with Josh. She cuts contact with Sam.
After being discharged from the hospital, Lillian tells Sam that she forced Jerry to choose their family over Frankie and her mother. She was protecting Sam, but Jerry instead rejected his son because he was a reminder of the daughter he abandoned. One day, Josh, who is having difficulty adjusting to Sam's absence, tries to find him after obtaining Lillian's address.
When Sam visits Frankie, he asks her forgiveness and wants to be her brother and Josh's uncle and father figure. He shows her an old film reel that Jerry shot of a young Sam at a playground. In the film, a girl joins Sam, and Frankie realizes that Jerry had regularly brought her and Sam to play together and thus loved both his children. At this recognition, Frankie accepts Sam as her brother.
Persuasion (1971)
Color
Woman meets old flame and finds she is still in love
Persuasion
Anne Elliot (Anne Fiebank) is worried she'll never marry, having denied the affections of the debonair Capt. Wentworth (Bryan Marshall) seven years earlier. Now more the wiser, Anne must sit back and watch as Wentworth pursues the younger and more beatiful Louise Musgrove (Zhivila Roche).
Persuasion (1995)
Color
Woman meets old flame and finds she is still in love
Persuasion
"The film opens between scenes cutting back and forth of a naval ship carrying Admiral Croft (John Woodvine), and a buggy carrying Mr. Shepherd (David Collings) and his daughter Mrs. Clay (Felicity Dean) to Kellynch Hall. Shepherd and Clay are accosted for debts owed by the residence's owner, Sir Walter Elliot (Corin Redgrave), while Croft discusses the end of the Napoleonic Wars with fellow navy men. Sir Walter, a vain foppish baronet, is faced with financial ruin unless he retrenches. Though he initially opposes the idea, he eventually agrees to plans to temporarily move to Bath while the hall is let; this was thought of by Shepherd, family friend Lady Russell (Susan Fleetwood), and Sir Walter's second eldest, intelligent daughter Anne (Amanda Root).
Anne is visibly upset after learning that the new tenant of Kellynch Hall will be the admiral, who is the brother-in-law of Captain Frederick Wentworth (Ciaran Hinds), a man she was persuaded to reject nine years previously because of his lack of prospects and connections. Wentworth is now wealthy from serving in the navy during the Wars, and has returned to England to presumably find a wife. While her father and elder sister Elizabeth leave the hall for Bath, Anne remains to finish up directing the residence's preparation for its new tenants. After discovering old letters between her and Wentworth, she expresses to Lady Russell her unhappiness at her family's current financial predicament, and her past decision to reject the captain's proposal of marriage. Anne visits their other sibling, Mary (Sophie Thompson), who has married into a local family, the Musgroves. Anne patiently listens to the many various complaints confided in her by Mary, her husband Charles, sisters-in-law Louisa (Emma Roberts) and Henrietta (Victoria Hamilton), and parents-in-law Mr. Musgrove (Roger Hammond) and Mrs. Musgrove (Judy Cornwell).
Having now settled in at Kellynch Hall, Admiral and Mrs. Croft visit the Musgroves. Mrs. Croft's brother Captain Wentworth comes to dine with them, but Anne avoids going when she volunteers to nurse Mary's son, who is injured with a broken collarbone. The following morning at breakfast, Anne and Mary are suddenly met briefly by Wentworth, the first time he and Anne have seen each other since her rejection. Mary later tells Anne Wentworth thought she was so altered, he "would not have known you again". Wentworth becomes the focus of matrimony to Louisa and Henrietta, as the family is unaware of his and Anne's past relationship. Hurt and rejected by Anne's refusal years before, he appears to court Louisa, much to Anne's chagrin. In a later walk taken by everyone, Wentworth learns from Louisa that Anne also was persuaded by Lady Russell to refuse Charles' offer of marriage, after which Charles instead proposed to Mary.
Anne, the Musgroves, and Wentworth go to Lyme to visit two of his old naval friends, Captain Harville (Robert Glenister) and Captain Benwick (Richard McCabe). While there, Louisa rashly jumps off a staircase in the hopes Wentworth will catch her, but falls before he can reach her and sustains a head injury. Wentworth, Henrietta, and Anne travel back to Mr. and Mrs. Musgrove's residence and tell them about their injured daughter, leading them to hurry back to Lyme. Anne soon goes to Bath to stay with her father and sister. Sir Walter and Elizabeth reveal they have repaired their relationship with a previously disreputable cousin, Mr. Elliot (Samuel West), the heir to the Elliot baronetcy and estate. Anne is introduced to him, and they realize they briefly saw each other in Lyme. Much to Lady Russell's pleasure, Mr. Elliot begins to court Anne, but she remains uncertain of his true character. Louisa having recovered and become engaged to Captain Benwick, Wentworth arrives in Bath and encounters Anne on several occasions, though their conversations are brief. Anne learns from an old friend, Mrs. Smith (Helen Schlesinger), that Mr. Elliot is bankrupt and only interested in marrying Anne to help further ensure his inheritance from her father and keep him from possibly marrying Mrs. Clay to provide a son.
Wentworth overhears Anne talking with Captain Harville about the constancy of a woman's love, and writes her a letter declaring he still loves her. The two walk off down a street, arm in arm, and he announces his intention to marry Anne at a party later that night, much to Mr. Elliot's consternation. The final scene shows Wentworth and Anne on a naval ship, happy to be together.
Persuasion (2007)
Color
Girl finds she's in love with man she'd spurned before
Persuasion
"Eight years before the story begins, Anne Elliot (Sally Hawkins) had, at the age of 19, been engaged to a naval officer, Frederick Wentworth (Rupert Penry-Jones). However, her father Sir Walter Elliot (Anthony Head) and family friend Lady Russell (Alice Krige) had persuaded Anne to break off the engagement and give up the man she loved because of his lack of fortune and connections.
As the story opens, however, the Elliot family is in financial difficulties due to the lavish spending of Sir Walter and his eldest daughter Elizabeth (Julia Davis). To save expense, the Elliot family residence, Kellynch Hall in Somersetshire, has to be let out. Suitable tenants are soon found in Admiral Croft (Peter Wight) and his wife (Marion Bailey). Mrs. Croft is the sister of Frederick Wentworth, who has risen to the rank of Captain and become rich while serving in the Royal Navy.
Sir Walter and Elizabeth Elliot depart for their new residence in Bath. Anne stays behind to visit her hypochondriac sister Mary Musgrove (Amanda Hale) who is married to Charles Musgrove (Sam Hazeldine), and living in the nearby estate Uppercross. Anne soon meets Wentworth again when he comes to visit his sister. Staying with the Musgroves, Anne meets Wentworth several times and has to witness what she perceives to be his attentions towards Charles Musgrove's two young and lively unmarried sisters, especially Louisa (Jennifer Higham). Anne is convinced that he will never forgive her, let alone love her again.
Eventually Anne goes to Bath, and becomes subject to the attentions of Mr. Elliot (Tobias Menzies), a distant cousin who will inherit her father's wealth and title. Mr. Elliot proposes to Anne, who, though still very much in love with Wentworth, does not immediately decline Mr. Elliot's offer. Admiral Croft, having heard a rumour of Mr. Elliot's proposal to Anne, sends Wentworth to ask Anne if she and her new husband require them to quit Kellynch Hall. Anne informs Wentworth that Admiral Croft has been very much misinformed, but in the medley of new arrivals, Wentworth leaves and Anne runs to find him. On her way, her good friend Harriet (Maisie Dimbleby) reliably informs her that Mr. Elliot is currently also courting Mrs. Clay (Mary Stockley), whom it seemed Anne's father might marry. Harriet tells Anne that Mr. Elliot desires the baronetcy above all else, and although his admiration for Anne appears genuine, once married to Anne he plans to establish Mrs. Clay as his mistress. This would prevent Mrs. Clay's marriage to Anne's father, thereby preventing the potential birth of a male heir to Sir Walter which would cut off Mr. Elliot's inheritance rights. Wentworth declares his undying love for Anne and proposes to her in a letter.
After some frenzied running, Anne runs into Wentworth in the street while he is talking to Charles Musgrove. There, she accepts Wentworth's proposal and, when he asks her whether she is sure, she says she has never been more determined in her life. The movie skips to Anne and Wentworth in a carriage, Anne blindfolded. Once her blindfold is removed, Anne finds herself standing in front of Kellynch Hall, Wentworth's wedding present to her. The film ends with Wentworth and Anne on the lawn of their new home, dancing together.
Peyton Place (1957)
Black & White
New England town during WW II, with homicide, suicide and incest
Peyton Place
"In April of 1941, in the seemingly idyllic New England town of Peyton Place, drunkard Lucas Cross (Arthur Kennedy) stumbles out of his house as his step-son - fed up with Lucas' alcoholism - leaves town. Lucas's downtrodden wife, Nellie (Betty Field) goes to work as the housekeeper for Constance "Connie" MacKenzie (Lana Turner), a rather prim-acting local dress shop owner. The daughters of the two families, Allison MacKenzie (Diane Varsi) and Selena Cross (Hope Lange) are best friends and are about to graduate high school.
Following an argument about the merits of a good education, a stranger to the town, Michael Rossi (Lee Philips), is hired to be the new principal of the high school by the president of the school board, Leslie Harrington (Leon Ames), the owner of the local woolen mill; the students' choice for the position is long-time teacher, Miss Elsie Thornton (Mildred Dunnock). The board is composed of Dr. Matthew Swain (Lloyd Nolan), the town's main physician; town attorney, Charles Partridge (Staats Cotsworth); his snobbish and gossipy wife, Marion (Peg Hillias) and Seth Bushwell (Robert H. Harris) the editor in chief of The Peyton Place Times, the town's local newspaper. Dr. Swain and Seth become friends with the newcomer.
Arriving at the school, Rossi wins over Ms. Thornton by telling her that he wants to work with her. She is pleased with the newcomer and they get on well.
Later, while picking out dresses for Allison's birthday party, Connie encourages her daughter not to invite Betty Anderson (Terry Moore) to the party, due to Betty's overtly sexual style; ultimately, Constance reconsiders and allows Allison to invite anyone to her party. Betty arrives at Allison's party with Leslie Harrington's son Rodney (Barry Coe), who swiftly turns the affair into a make-out party and kisses Allison; the party is ended, however, when Connie walks in, embarrassing Allison by making a scene.
Later on, Allison becomes a witness to Lucas beating and abusing Selena.
Later that week, Rossi arrives at the MacKenzie house to announce that Allison has been named valedictorian, and he asks Connie to chaperone Allison's graduation dance, and the two slowly develop a romance. Meanwhile, Harrington tells his son, Rodney, that he will not accept his going to the graduation dance with a girl with such a bad reputation as Betty Anderson, and forces Rodney to call Betty and uninvite her to the dance.
Instead, Rodney goes with Allison, though Allison is in love with another classmate, the shy Norman Page (Russ Tamblyn) who has an overprotective, widowed mother, Evelyn Page (Erin O'Brien-Moore). When they get to the dance, Rodney splits off to make out with Betty in his car, but she is angry at him for dumping her and refuses to have sex with him.
During the traditional singing of "Auld Lang Syne", Rossi, realizing he is still new and not part of the town's traditions yet, asks Elsie Thornton to lead the singing, to the dismay and horror of Marion, who never liked Elsie, even going so far as to call her a drug addict. Outside, after dancing with her, he kisses Connie, but she again rejects his advances. Selena is escorted home by her boyfriend Ted Carter (David Nelson), and is later raped that night by her drunken step-father, Lucas.
Selena becomes pregnant, and when she goes to Dr. Swain for an abortion he refuses, and she confides in him that her step-father raped her. Swain confronts Lucas, and he is forced by Swain to promise to leave town after signing a confession, all of which Nellie accidentally witnesses. Lucas chases Selena out of revenge when she returns home, and although she escapes, she trips, falls and injures herself. After treating her, Swain enters the operation as an "appendectomy," though in fact she has had a miscarriage, blackmailing his nurse into cooperating. Nellie then becomes morosely despondent in response to what has happened.
At a Labor Day picnic that same year, Rodney and Betty reunite and go skinny dipping while Allison and Norman go swimming, in proper suits, nearby. Marion sees the nude couple and falsely making an assumption, tells Connie it was Allison and Norman, whom she had earlier seen on their way to the lake. This disgusts her husband, Charles.
Connie explodes at Allison for causing rumors. They fight, and Connie tells her that Allison's father was actually married to another woman when she became pregnant with her. Allison runs upstairs and finds that Nellie Cross has committed suicide by hanging herself in a closet. This puts Allison into a state of shock, and she is confined to a bed for a time. Sometime after, Rodney and Betty elope, infuriating Rodney's father Leslie. Allison tells her mother that when she is well enough she is going to leave Peyton Place for New York City, even if she is forced to do the same things her mother did. After saying a tearful goodbye to Selena, Allison makes good on her promise to leave town.
World War II erupts during December 1941, and the men of Peyton Place go off to war. However, when Rodney is killed in action the next autumn, his now-chastened father offers to take care of his widow, Betty, and she is at last welcomed into the family. Meanwhile, during Christmas of 1942 Connie visits Rossi to apologize for being so dismissive of him, and, when she confesses that she was a married man's mistress, Rossi decides to stay in Peyton Place and promises her his offer for marriage is still open. During the same time, a drunken Lucas returns from the Navy and tries to rape Selena again, but this time she bludgeons him to death in self-defense.
Shortly after Easter of 1943, Selena tearfully confesses the killing to Connie and is later arrested and tried by the District Attorney (Lorne Greene) for murder. Allison, still estranged from Connie, returns for the trial, as does Norman, and the truth about Selena's self-defense, her step-father's abuse and her miscarriage - as well as Dr. Swain's false report and Connie's failure as a mother - all come to light. Dr. Swain also admonishes the town for their gossipy nature, and their failure to offer help to Selena when she needed it, to the disgust and fury of Marion. Ultimately, Selena is acquitted, and she and Ted are free to marry.
Allison, after seeing her mother's emotional breakdown, has a change of heart, and approaches Connie at the steps of their home with a hope of reconciliation. Norman is also welcomed into the house.
Phantom Thread (2017)
Color
Renowned dressmaker's well-ordered life is thrown into chaos by love
Phantom Thread
"In 1950s London, well-known fashion designer Reynolds Woodcock (Daniel Day-Lewis) creates dresses for members of high society. His charisma is matched by his obsessive and controlling personality. Cyril (Lesley Manville), his sister, manages the day-to-day operations of his fashion house and has significant influence over his life. The superstitious Reynolds is haunted by the death of their mother, and often stitches hidden messages into the linings of the dresses he makes.
After designing a new gown for a revered client, Countess Henrietta Harding (Gina McKee), Reynolds visits a restaurant in the countryside and becomes interested in a foreign waitress, Alma Elson (Vicky Krieps). He asks her to have dinner with him, and she accepts. Their relationship develops, and she moves in with him, becoming his model, muse and lover. Cyril initially distrusts Alma but comes to respect her willfulness and determination.
At first, Alma enjoys being a part of Reynolds' work, but he proves aloof, hard to please and overly finicky. They begin to bicker. When Alma tries to show her love for Reynolds by preparing a romantic dinner for two, he lashes out, saying he will not tolerate deviations from the routines he has worked hard to perfect. Alma “retaliates” by poisoning Reynolds' tea with wild mushrooms gathered outside his country house. As he readies a wedding gown for a Belgian princess, Reynolds collapses, damaging the dress and forcing his staff to work all night to repair it. He becomes gravely ill and has hallucinations of his mother. Alma nurses him back to health. He asks her to marry him; she accepts.
After a brief honeymoon, Reynolds and Alma soon start bickering again. Cyril reveals to Reynolds that the Countess is now a client at a rival fashion house, and hints that his classical designs have begun appearing out-of-date. As Reynolds feels his work is suffering, he concludes it may be time to break up with Alma, who overhears the conversation. Back at the country house, Alma responds by making Reynolds a poisoned omelette. As he chews his first bite, she informs him that she wants him weak and vulnerable with only her to take care of him. Reynolds swallows the omelette and tells her to kiss him before he becomes sick, implying that he has figured out--and is turned on by--her ruse. As Reynolds lies ill, Alma imagines their future with children, a rich social life, and her running the dressmaking business as a partner. She acknowledges that while there may be challenges ahead, their love and their new arrangement can overcome them.
Philadelphia Experiment II (1993)
Color
Sailor goes through time again to an alternate reality
Philadelphia Experiment II
"It is nine years after the events of the first movie, and David Herdeg (the survivor of the Philadelphia Experiment), having since settled down with Allison (the woman from 1984) is living alone with his son, Ben, following Allison's death. His business is slowly failing, Ben's school attendance has dropped and the banks are threatening to foreclose on his house; however, he refuses financial help from Professor Longstreet, the original project director, in exchange for rejoining the U.S. Navy. In addition to this, he has also been having painful experiences which Longstreet rationalizes as stress-related hallucinations. Unbeknownst to Herdeg, however, Longstreet has been doing some research of his own.
In a demonstration, engineer William Mailer (son of Friedrich Mahler, a Nazi scientist who worked on a project similar to the Philadelphia Experiment) uses the technology as a demonstration for a potential teleportation attack-defense strategy. The concept was to "beam" a bomber into a high-risk area to surprise enemy air defenses, attack and escape before they could react. To demonstrate, he beams a model aircraft from one end of the room to another. Despite getting significant interest, Longstreet manages to convince the panel that the technology is too dangerous to use. It is then revealed that Longstreet himself gave Mailer the necessary equipment - on condition that they be used only for test purposes. It is these tests that David is experiencing.
Herdeg, meanwhile, is furious to learn that Longstreet has lied to him, and packs to leave California, hoping to get far enough away from the experiment. Meanwhile, Mailer, on the clock to vindicate his work, attempts to use the technology on a stealth F-117 Nighthawk they were using as part of the demonstration. The Nighthawk disappears, and David finds himself in agony as the world around him changes and his son disappears. David finds himself on the run from a heavily armed military team and is rescued by Jess, a member of an underground resistance group, who explains that Nazi Germany won World War II and is about to mark 60 years of the Nazi Party. America is under Nazi rule, with Jews, African-Americans, and other ethnic minorities being sent to concentration camps and its citizens suffering under an oppressive puppet government. David is horrified to learn that his son no longer exists.
In this alternative timeline, Germany won the war because it had a futuristic aircraft called the Phoenix, to deliver atomic bombs, destroying Washington, D.C., and other major targets on the east coast. The United States, United Kingdom, the Soviet Union, and other Allied nations became demoralized and eventually surrendered to Nazi Germany. The Phoenix was destroyed in the explosion and Friedrich Mahler, the scientist who took credit for building it, was ridiculed since he was unable to reproduce "his" successful design. The aircraft was, in fact, the same F-117 from Mailer's experiment, accidentally sent back in time.
The first test of the device was to transport an F-117 with a payload of nuclear weapons to Ramstein Air Base in Germany. While the aircraft was successfully teleported to Ramstein, it was also transferred through time, arriving in 1943 Nazi Germany (the US pilot's fate is unknown). Mahler finds it and tells the Nazis that it is his invention.
Because of Herdeg's unique blood, he is recruited by Longstreet - the leader of the rebels in this timeline - to go back and prevent the alteration to the timeline. During an attack on the base, their commander, Mailer, seemingly joins their side - however it is a ruse to go through back in time and warn his father about what will happen during the initial bombing and how to avert it, and he betrays them, leaving them to be ambushed by Nazi forces as he opens a portal for himself. Herdeg follows him through the portal as the other rebels, Jess included, sacrifice themselves to buy him time.
Herdeg is warped back to the night before the F-117 (now repainted in Luftwaffe colors) launches to attack Washington. Mailer meets his father, introduces himself as his son, and tries to explain the fate of the Phoenix using his limited German vocabulary. Mahler informs Mailer that he has no son. While they are talking, Herdeg successfully destroys the aircraft. Herdeg walks toward the time portal. However, Mailer attacks him from behind and tries to kill him, in revenge for ruining his plans. Herdeg is able to shoots and kill Mahler. His son, Mailer, is erased from the timeline in dramatic fashion, and Herdeg reaches the portal. Since Mailer was never born, the grandfather paradox also erases the aircraft teleportation project from existence and restores the timeline to normal. Herdeg travels back through the time portal and picks up his son at a baseball game - and waves to a now-alive but bemused Jess.
Phone Call from a Stranger (1952)
Black & White
Sole survivor of plane crash becomes obsessed with contacting relatives of the deceased
Phone Call from a Stranger
"After his wife Jane (Helen Westcott) admits to an extramarital affair, Iowa attorney David Trask (Gary Merrill) abandons her and their daughters and heads for Los Angeles. His flight is delayed, and while waiting in the airport restaurant he meets a few of his fellow passengers. Troubled, alcoholic Dr. Robert Fortness (Michael Rennie), haunted by his responsibility for a car accident in which a colleague, Dr. Tim Brooks (Hugh Beaumont) was killed, is returning home to his wife Claire (Beatrice Straight) and teenage son Jerry (Ted Donaldson), and plans to tell the district attorney the truth about the accident.
Aspiring actress Binky Gay (Shelley Winters) is hoping to free her husband Mike Carr (Craig Stevens) from the clutches of his domineering mother, former vaudevillian Sally Carr (Evelyn Varden), who looks down on Binky. Overly loud traveling salesman Eddie Hoke (Keenan Wynn) shares a photograph of his young, attractive wife Marie (Bette Davis) wearing a swimsuit. When a storm forces the aircraft to land en route, they continue to share their life stories during the unexpected four-hour layover. They exchange home phone numbers with the idea that they may one day have a reunion.
Upon resuming their journey, the aircraft crashes and Trask is one of a handful of survivors; most of the passengers and crew are killed, including Trask's three acquaintances. Trask contacts their families by phone and invites himself to their homes. Despite Claire's objections, Trask tells Jerry the truth about his father's past, but assures him that his father was a good man determined to right the wrong he had committed. Hoping to change Sally's opinion of her late daughter-in-law, he tells her Binky had been cast as Mary Martin's replacement in South Pacific on Broadway and had recommended Sally for a role.
Trask's final visit is to Marie, who he discovers is not the beautiful girl of Eddie's photograph, but an invalid paralyzed from the waist down. Marie reveals that early in her marriage she had left Eddie, whom she found to be vulgar and tiresome, for another man, Marty Nelson (Warren Stevens), who deserted her after she hit her head on a dock while she was swimming. While in the hospital, she was confined to an iron lung and feeling hopeless about her future when Eddie arrived to take her home. Marie tells Trask that despite his often obnoxious behavior, Eddie was the most decent man she had ever known, and had taught her the true meaning of love.
Marie's story teaches Trask a lesson about marital infidelity and forgiveness, and he calls Jane to tell her he's returning home.
Pillow Talk (1959)
Color
Womanizer fakes identity to seduce woman with whom he shares a party line
Pillow Talk
"Jan Morrow is a successful, self-reliant interior decorator in New York City in the late 1950's. She lives alone and claims to be quite happy, when questioned on that subject by her drunken housekeeper, Alma. The only irritant in her life is the party line that she shares with Brad Allen, a talented, creative Broadway composer and playboy who lives in a nearby apartment building. She is unable to obtain a private phone line because the telephone company has been overwhelmed by the recent demand for new phone lines in the area.
Jan and Brad, who have only ever "met" on the telephone, develop a feud over the use of the party line. Brad is constantly using the phone to chat with one young woman after another, singing to each of them an "original" love song supposedly written just for her, though he only changes the name or language he sings in. Jan and Brad bicker over the party line, with Brad suggesting that the single Jan is jealous of his popularity.
One of Jan's clients is millionaire Jonathan Forbes, who repeatedly throws himself at her to no avail. Unknown to Jan, Jonathan is also Brad's old college buddy and his current Broadway benefactor.
One evening in a nightclub, Brad finally sees Jan dancing and learns who she is. Attracted to her, he fakes a Texan accent and invents a new persona: Rex Stetson, a wealthy Texas rancher. He succeeds in wooing Jan, and the pair begin seeing each other regularly. Jan cannot resist bragging about her new beau on the phone to Brad, while Brad teases Jan by having "Rex" show an interest in effeminate things, thereby implying "Rex's" homosexuality.[8]
When Jonathan discovers about Brad's masquerade, he forces Brad to leave New York City and go to Jonathan's cabin in Connecticut to complete his new songs. Brad invites Jan to join him. Once there, romance blossoms until Jan stumbles upon a copy of "Rex's" sheet music. She plunks the melody on the nearby piano and recognizes Brad's song. She confronts Brad and ignores his attempts at explanation, returning to New York with Jonathan, who has just arrived at the cabin.
Back in New York, Jonathan is pleased to learn that the playboy has finally fallen in love, while conversely Jan will have nothing to do with Brad. Brad turns to Jan's housekeeper, Alma, for advice. Alma, pleased to finally meet Brad after listening in on the party line for so long, suggests he hire Jan to decorate his apartment so they will be forced to collaborate. Jan only concedes so that her employer will not lose the commission. Brad leaves all the design decisions up to Jan, telling her only to design a place that she would want to live in herself.
Still resentful at his deception, Jan decorates Brad's apartment in the most gaudy and hideous decor she can muster. Horrified by what he finds, Brad angrily storms into Jan's apartment and carries her in her pajamas through the street back to his apartment to explain herself. He tells her of all the changes he has made to end his bachelor lifestyle because he thought they were getting married. Her face lights up and, as he leaves in anger, she uses one of his "playboy" remote control switches to lock the door. She flips the second switch and the player piano pounds out a honky-tonk version of Brad's standard love song. He turns around, their eyes meet, and they lovingly embrace.
At the end of the film, Brad goes to tell Jonathan that he is going to be a father, only to be pulled by Dr. Maxwell (an obstetrician) and Nurse Resnick into their office for an examination, when he says that he is going to have a baby (a reference to when he ducks into Dr. Maxwell's office in an earlier scene to hide from Jan, but escapes before they can examine him).
Play Misty for Me (1971)
Color
Radio host is stalked by a fan who will stop at nothing to have him all to herself
Play Misty for Me
"Dave Garver is a KRML radio disc jockey who broadcasts nightly from a studio in Carmel-by-the-Sea, California, often incorporating poetry into his program. After work at his favorite bar, playing a nonsensical game involving corks and bottle caps with the barman as a device, he deliberately attracts the attention of a woman named Evelyn Draper. Dave drives her home, where she reveals that her presence in the bar was not accidental; it was she in fact who sought him out after hearing the bar mentioned on his radio show. He guesses correctly that she is the recurring caller who always requests the jazz standard "Misty." The two have sex.
A casual relationship begins between Dave and Evelyn. But before long, Evelyn begins to display obsessive behavior. She shows up at Dave's house uninvited, follows him to work, and calls to demand that he not leave her alone for a single minute. The final straw comes when Evelyn disrupts a business meeting, mistaking Dave's lunch companion for his date.
His efforts to gently sever ties with Evelyn lead her to attempt suicide in his home by slashing her wrists. After Dave rejects her again, Evelyn breaks into his home and his housekeeper finds her vandalizing his possessions. Evelyn stabs the housekeeper (who survives but is taken to the hospital) and is subsequently committed to a psychiatric hospital.
During Evelyn's incarceration, Dave rekindles a relationship with his ex-girlfriend, Tobie Williams. A few months later, Evelyn again calls the studio to request "Misty." She tells Dave that she has been released from the mental hospital and is moving to Hawaii for a fresh start in life. She then quotes an Edgar Allan Poe poem, "Annabel Lee." That night, while Dave is asleep, she sneaks into his house and tries to kill him with a large knife. He wakes up to see her standing over him wielding the knife, and as she screams and stabs downward, he rolls away from the descending knife (which plunges into his pillow) and he falls onto the floor; Evelyn flees, and he contacts the police.
Dave tells Tobie about Evelyn and cautions her to stay away from him until the woman is caught. For her safety, she goes home. There, she meets with a girl who answered her ad for a roommate: Evelyn, using the alias Annabel. Tobie eventually realizes that Annabel is Evelyn when she sees the fresh scars on Evelyn's wrists, but before Tobie can escape, Evelyn takes her hostage. Evelyn also kills McCallum, a police detective who had come to check on Tobie.
Dave makes the connection between Tobie's roommate and the quote from "Annabel Lee." When he calls Tobie to warn her, Evelyn answers and says she and Tobie are waiting for him. Dave switches from a live show to taped music and rushes to the house, where he finds Tobie bound and gagged. Evelyn attacks him with the butcher knife, slashing Dave multiple times. He punches Evelyn, knocking her through the window, over a railing, down onto the rocky shore below, killing her. He and Tobie leave the house as his voice on the radio show leads into the song "Misty.
Please Don't Eat the Daisies (1960)
Color
Family struggles when the husband becomes a film critic, and they move to the country
Please Don't Eat the Daisies
"Professor Lawrence Mackay (Niven) and his wife Kate (Day) are struggling with four young sons in a tiny two-bedroom apartment in New York City. Months before, they had announced their intention to move to a larger apartment, but have not been able to find one. Meanwhile, their lease has expired and the landlord has rented out their apartment to someone who insists they vacate immediately. They decide to look for a house in the country, but the only thing they can afford is a run-down mansion complete with secret panels and trap doors, 70 miles away by train in fictional Hooton. They have no choice but to move in and start fixing it up.
In the midst of the moving chaos, Larry has left his professorship at the university to become a drama critic for a major New York newspaper. His first assignment is to review the new show produced by his best friend, Alfred North (Haydn). The show is awful, and Larry's review is especially hard on the show's star, Deborah Vaughn (Paige), who gets her revenge by hiring a press photographer to capture her slapping Larry's face at Sardi's. This publicity stunt, along with Larry's published response, makes Larry the toast of the town. Kate and Larry are suddenly invited to society parties and hobnobbing with the rich and famous, which begins to go to Larry's head. With the hammering and builders at home, Larry decides to stay in a hotel in the city for a few weeks, leaving Kate to organize the new house.
Back home, Kate tries her best to manage the four children and fit into their new community. When asked by the local dramatic society to find them an original play for their next production, Kate turns to Alfred. Alfred, seeing a chance for a bit of revenge of his own, gives them a terrible play written by a young Lawrence Mackay -- with an altered title and fictitious playwright listed on the cover. Alfred then secretly invites all of the major New York critics to review the play. Larry finds out and has a huge fight with Kate, blaming her for his professional embarrassment. He refuses to allow the show to go on. Kate insists it is too late for the Hooton Holler Players to get another show ready, so Larry reluctantly allows them to proceed, publishing his own review of the show before opening night.
Not to be left out, Deborah Vaughn decides to strike up a close, personal friendship with Larry, flattering him seductively. Kate's mother Suzie Robinson (Byington) urges her to get Larry back before it is too late. Kate and Larry make up and return to their country home in time for one of the boys to drop a water bomb on them from an upstairs window.
Polar Storm (2009)
Color
Earth's magnetic field is disrupted by a comet
Polar Storm
"The television film opens in a darkened news studio, in which KJRX news anchor, Lou Vanetti broadcasts his final words while smoking on camera, during the final hours of Earth, that the magnetic field is dropping to near zero levels. Two people, Cynthia (Holly Elissa Dignard) and Shane (Tyler Johnston) explores through a deserted town of Lindenville during the electromagnetic storm, only for the former to be "swallowed" into the ground due to an earthquake. The film transitions back to one week earlier, when the same news anchor from before; Lou Vanetti, informs the public of worldwide flight grounding during the passing of the electromagnetic-emitting comet above the Earth's atmosphere. Doctor James Mayfield (Jack Coleman), a United States government astrologist and astrophysicist from the Storm Hazards Department (SHD), and his colleague Peter (Nicolas Carella), was sent there in the Arctic Alaska region to track and monitor the comet's status, trajectory, and the computer readings above the atmosphere.
The comet suddenly began to fragment, causing a smaller comet; 300 m (984 ft) in diameter, travelling over 30 km/s (19 mi/s), to detour about 45 degrees, and is on a direct collision course for Earth. SHD colleague, Pam, notices this and tries to warn James and Peter, but due to the electromagnetic interference caused by the comet, they failed to hear her, until they began to make a desperate attempt to escape once they spotted the comet blasting above them.
The comet's fragment impacts the northern State of Alaska, generating the shock wave blast that wrought severe damage to Canada, Alaska, and the Russian Far East. James' colleague; Peter, is among the quarter million of fatalities, with James Mayfield the sole survivor of the impact as he took cover in an avalanche bunker. He returns home in Lindenville, and was displeased by the president's speech (Roger Cross), because of his near-death experience. While at home, their TV suddenly emits static squealing-noises, followed by an unknown Earth tremor.
Recognizing the earth's tremor preceded by the EM disturbance, he tries to log in SHD to review the data Peter uploaded during the comet's impact, but his access was blocked and it's data was classified by the administration, following the gag order of the whole department. Despite this, he continued his investigation as he became more suspicious when the sun unexpectedly sets at Eagle Peak.
James' son, Shane meets Zoe and Kevin at the park, who the latter challenges Shane in drag racing to settle a dispute over who's to repay the damage for a telescope that they broke during a fight earlier that night. As they prepare for a drag race, an electromagnetic interference suddenly occurs, preceded by an earthquake which swallows Kevin and his car. Shane and Zoe makes a run from the park. At the same time, James explains in an interview by Vanetti about the misalignment of the Earth's axis due to a sudden axis tilt, following the cataclysmic events in Alaska. James' findings have received huge attention, and as a result of violating the gag order and censorship by the US government, he was being called by his father, General Mayfield (Terry David Mulligan), to report to the Gilboy Air Base, where James began explaining about the consequences of the earth's axis shift to the General, the President, and Doctor Elman.
Later, a 40 Khz-electromagnetic shock wave tears through Lindenville, and around the world, resulting in a worldwide electricity blackout and knocking out communications and killing anyone inside the buildings, inside their cars, and while using electronics. The President declares federal martial law, and orders all civilians to evacuate to emergency shelters, while James instructs his family to leave Lindenville to refuge safety in a town of Little Brook, 40 miles away. While on the road, Shane and Cynthia are forced by members of the U.S. Army to turn back and take shelter in a parish; against James' instructions.
Returning to Lindenville, as they find their road blocked on the way, an EMP shockwave and an earthquake forces Shane and Cynthia to bail and run on foot, and they narrowly survived the tremor after Cynthia nearly "swallowed" into the crevice, before they made their way to the Lindenville Parish. There, she tries to persuade the people inside and the General in-charge to evacuate to Little Brook, but they didn't believe her. Only Michael and Zoe are able to leave the Lindenville Parish with Cynthia and Shane before the electromagnetic shockwave fried everyone inside.
While heading for Little Brook, Michael dies of heart attack after when the EMP wave disabled his pacemaker, and after the death of a looter by electrocution by the EMP shockwave as he tried to steal Michael's SUV. Despite the vehicle being fried, Shane was able to turn the vehicle back on by using the EMP wave to ignite the spark plugs and start the engine. At the same time, James & General Mayfield, along with the Russian Navy Captain Yulenkov and his submarine crew, dives and head towards the Mariana Trench, in an attempt to bring the planet back into normal axis tilt, by dropping two nuclear warheads into a large crack in the bottom of the trench.
Despite encountering several anomalies on the journey, their combined efforts of cooperation between Russia & the United States became a success as the warheads detonate at the bottom of the trench, and Planet Earth was saved.
Poltergeist (1982)
Color
Baby daughter is taken to the other side by a malevolent ghost
Poltergeist
"Steven and Diane Freeling live a quiet life in a California planned community called Cuesta Verde, where Steven is a successful real estate developer and Diane is a housewife who cares for their children Dana, Robbie, and Carol Anne. Carol Anne awakens one night and begins conversing with the family's television set, which is transmitting static following a sign-off. The following night, while the Freelings sleep, Carol Anne fixates on the television set as it transmits static again. Suddenly, an apparition blasts from the television screen and vanishes into the wall, triggering a violent earthquake in the process. As the shaking subsides, Carol Anne announces "They're here."
Bizarre events occur the following day; glasses and utensils spontaneously break or bend and furniture moves of its own accord. The phenomena seem benign at first, but quickly begin to intensify. That night, a gnarled backyard tree comes alive and grabs Robbie through the bedroom window. While Diane and Steven rescue Robbie, Carol Anne is sucked through a portal in her closet. The Freelings realize she has been taken when they hear her voice emanating from a television set.
A group of parapsychologists from UC Irvine--Dr. Lesh, Ryan, and Marty--come to the Freeling house to investigate and determine that the Freelings are experiencing a poltergeist intrusion. They discover that the disturbances involve more than just one ghost. Steven also finds out in an exchange with his boss, Lewis Teague, that Cuesta Verde is built where a cemetery was once located.
After Dana and Robbie are sent away for their safety, Dr. Lesh and Ryan call in Tangina Barrons, a spiritual medium. Tangina states that the spirits inhabiting the house are lingering in a different "sphere of consciousness" and are not at rest. Attracted to Carol Anne's life force, these spirits are distracted from the real "light" that has come for them. Tangina then adds that among these ghosts, there is also a demon known as the "Beast", who has Carol Anne under restraint in an effort to manipulate the other spirits.
The assembled group discovers that the entrance to the other dimension is through the children's bedroom closet, while the exit is through the living room ceiling. As the group attempts to rescue Carol Anne, Diane passes through the entrance tied by a rope that has been threaded through both portals. Diane manages to retrieve Carol Anne, and they both drop to the floor from the ceiling unconscious. As they recover, Tangina proclaims afterward that the house is now "clean".
Shortly thereafter, the Freelings prepare to move elsewhere. During their last night in the house, Steven attends a meeting with Teague and Dana goes on a date, leaving Diane, Robbie, and Carol Anne alone in the house. The "Beast" then ambushes Diane and the children, attempting a second kidnapping. Diane and the children escape the house to discover coffins and rotting corpses erupting out from the ground throughout the neighborhood. As Steven and Dana return home to the mayhem, Steven realizes that rather than relocating the cemetery for the development of Cuesta Verde, Teague merely had the headstones moved and the bodies left behind, desecrating the burial grounds. The Freelings flee Cuesta Verde while the house itself implodes into another dimension, to the astonishment of onlookers. The family checks into a hotel for the night, and Steven shoves the room's television outside onto the balcony.
Pope Joan (2009)
Color
Story of Pope Joan, a woman who pretended to be a man so she could be Pope
Pope Joan
"Shortly after the death of Charlemagne, a woman called Joan is born in Ingelheim am Rhein. She is the daughter of a village priest (Iain Glen). He also rules his wife (Jordis Triebel) and family with a rod of iron, though his Saxon wife still secretly worships the pagan god Wotan. Even so, Joan grows up to be an articulate girl, who intensively studies the Bible, unbeknownst to her father. After her eldest brother's sudden death, their father wants to send his second son John to the cathedral school in Dorestad, but when the teacher Aesculapius (Edward Petherbridge) visits them in Ingelheim, Joan proves to be far more capable of dealing with the scriptures than John. Against her father's wishes, Joan is taught by Aesculapius, who introduces her to literary works such as Homer's Odyssey.
When a messenger comes from the bishop to collect Joan to take her to the cathedral school, her father claims there has been a mistake and allows him to ride away with his other son. Joan flees her home at night and finds her brother, next to the body of the slain messenger. They reach Dorestad together, where the bishop reacts to Joan's strong words with great surprise, and the teacher Odo (Marc Bischoff) unwillingly takes her into his class. Count Gerold (David Wenham), however, supports the now-adolescent Joan by taking her into his home. Later Gerold falls in love with her. Soon afterwards, Gerold has to go to war in the army of Lothair I and his wife Richilde (Claudia Michelsen) takes advantage of his absence to try to arrange a marriage for Joan and thus get rid of her rival for Gerold's affections. However, the vikings break into the city during the wedding ceremony and carry out a bloody massacre, which Joan barely manages to survive.
Due to her experience of the massacre, Joan decides to assume a male disguise, entering the Fulda monastery of Benedictines as "Brother Johannes Anglicus". Shortly afterwards a fever spreads around the monastery; although Joan becomes ill during this time, she manages to avoid a physical examination, thanks to an elderly monk, who had realized she was a woman long before the fever hit.
She flees the monastery and is received as a woman by the son Arn (Marian Meder) of a woman she had helped years earlier, who has become a manager for a count. Arn gives her temporary shelter, though he knows of her gender, and makes her a tutor to his daughter Arnalda. After a short time there, Joan decides to re-assume her male disguise and to go on a pilgrimage to Rome to use her medical knowledge to become a Medicus there. In Rome she wins a great reputation by curing Pope Sergius II of gout with her herbal remedies and he makes her first his personal physician and then his Nomenclator. Finally, the pope threatens Lothair I for not confirming his election and Lothair marches to Rome with his army to subdue Sergius. Gerold also comes to town as part of Lothair's army's and recognizes Joan. Using a hydraulic device once built on a small scale by Joan and Gerold, the great door of the papal palace closes all by itself, seen as an Act of God. Pope Sergius then threatens Lothair and his soldiers that if they do not give respect, God's wrath will be upon them. Lothair's soldiers take this as a sign from God and all of them kneel, with Lothair following. Fascinated by what he has seen, Gerold looks out and sees Joan. He follows her and he reveals his desire to Joan, but she is torn between her male and female identities.
Meanwhile Lothair's ally Anastasius successfully plots to murder Sergius and the people gather to elect a successor by acclamation. Joan and Gerold expect Anastasius to be elected and plan to flee, but suddenly Joan discovers that it was, in fact, she herself who has been elected. During her pontificate she presents herself as a charitable pope, helping women and children and appointing Gerold as head of the papal army. However, she becomes pregnant and her reign is then in grave danger. She tries to hold off giving birth until after Easter, but Gerold is killed during the Easter procession by conspirators led by Anastasius, and that day Joan collapses and then dies in childbirth.
Anastasius succeeds her but soon afterwards he is deposed by the Roman people and exiled to a monastery. There he writes the Liber Pontificalis, a list of the popes, from which he omits Joan. Many years later the story of the female pope is made known by Bishop Arnaldo, who is revealed to, in fact, be Arnalda, the daughter of Arn.
Poseidon (2006)
Color
Survivors struggle when boat capsizes
Poseidon
"The RMS Poseidon, a luxury ocean liner, is making a transatlantic crossing. Former New York City Mayor and FDNY firefighter Robert Ramsey (Kurt Russell) is traveling with his daughter Jennifer (Emmy Rossum) and her boyfriend Christian (Mike Vogel) to New York, soon to be engaged. Also on board is former Navy submariner-turned-professional gambler Dylan Johns (Josh Lucas), architect Richard Nelson (Richard Dreyfuss), Maggie James (Jacinda Barrett) and her son Conor (Jimmy Bennett), stowaway Elena (Mia Maestro), and waiter Marco Valentin (Freddy Rodriguez).
As the passengers are enjoying a New Year's Eve party, officers on the bridge see a huge rogue wave bearing down on the ship. To survive the wave, they try to steer the ship to take the wave bow-first, but it does not turn fast enough. The wave swamps and capsizes the ship, killing the bridge officers along with many passengers and crew. In the ballroom, a badly injured Captain Bradford (Andre Braugher) attempts to restore order and assures the surviving passengers that help is on the way, and tries to persuade them to stay put. Unconvinced, Dylan leads Conor, Maggie, Robert, Richard, and Valentin towards the bow, where he believes they will have the best chance of escaping from the capsized liner.
As they head up, they have to cross an elevator shaft, into which Valentin falls before being crushed by the falling elevator. They reunite with Jennifer, Christian, Elena, and gambler Lucky Larry (Kevin Dillon), who had all been in the nightclub section of the ship, and who are the only survivors out of all of the occupants in the nightclub. The group crosses a makeshift bridge across the lobby, where Lucky Larry gets crushed by the engine. The pressure from the water finally cracks the ballroom windows, drowning and killing its occupants, including Captain Bradford. With the water rising rapidly, the group is forced to escape through an air duct and some ballast tanks, although Elena hits her head underwater and drowns as a result.
With the ship slowly sinking, the survivors soon find themselves in a crew lounge where they find the bow section is flooded, until an explosion of the engine room lifts it out of the water. The group enters the bow thruster room and are horrified to find the thrusters still running. With their path blocked by the propellers, and knowing that the control room is submerged in water, Robert swims away to turn off the engine. He finds the 'shut off' switch to be broken, but presses the reverse button instead, before drowning.
With the propellers now spinning in the other direction, Dylan throws a nitrogen tank into it, causing an explosion that destroys the engine, and leaving an opening for them to escape through. The group jumps out the thruster and swim to a nearby inflatable raft, and as they are getting into the raft, the ship starts to sink. As they are paddling away, the waves push the raft further and further away from the sinking liner. Across the water, the survivors look on as the stricken ship sinks stern-first into the Atlantic. After the survivors fire a flare, two helicopters and several ships arrive to rescue them, having tracked the location of the Poseidon's GPS beacon.
Precious (2009)
Color
Girl is raped by her father and rejected by her mother
Precious
"In 1987, obese, illiterate, 16-year-old Claireece "Precious" Jones (Gabourey Sidibe) lives in the New York City ghetto of Harlem with her dysfunctional and abusive mother, Mary (Mo'Nique). She has been raped by her father, Carl (Rodney "Bear" Jackson), resulting in two pregnancies. She suffers long-term physical and mental abuse from her unemployed mother. The family resides in a Section 8 tenement and survives on welfare. Her first child, known as "Mongo", which is short for Mongoloid, has Down syndrome and is being cared for by Precious' grandmother, though Mary forces the family to pretend Mongo lives with her and Precious so she can receive extra money from the government. Following the discovery of Precious' second pregnancy, she is taken out of school. Her high school principal arranges to have her attend an alternative school, which she hopes can help Precious change her life's direction. Precious finds a way out of her traumatic daily existence through imagination and fantasy. In her mind, there is another world where she is loved and appreciated.
Inspired by her new teacher, Blu Rain (Paula Patton), Precious begins to learn to read and write. Precious meets sporadically with a social worker named Ms. Weiss (Mariah Carey), who learns about incest in the household when Precious lets slip who fathered her children. Precious gives birth to her second child and names him Abdul. While at the hospital, she meets John McFadden (Lenny Kravitz), a nursing assistant who shows kindness to her. After her mother hits Precious and deliberately drops three-day-old Abdul, Precious fights back long enough to get her son and flees her home permanently.
Shortly after leaving the house, Precious stops at a window of a church and watches the choir inside sing a Christmas song. She begins to imagine herself, and her dream boyfriend, singing a more upbeat version of the Christmas song. Later on, Precious breaks into her school classroom to get out of the cold and is discovered the following morning by Miss Rain. The teacher finds assistance for Precious, who begins raising her son in a halfway house while she continues academically.
Her mother comes back into her life to inform Precious that her father has died of AIDS. Later, Precious learns that she is HIV positive, but Abdul is not. Feeling dejected, Precious meets Ms. Weiss at her office and steals her case file. Precious recounts the details of the file to her fellow students and has a new lease on life. Mary and Precious see each other for the last time in Ms. Weiss' office, where Weiss questions Mary about her abuse of Precious, and uncovers specific physical and sexual traumas Precious encountered, starting when she was three. Mary begs Ms. Weiss to help get Precious back, but she refuses upon finding out the extent of the abuse. The film ends with Precious still resolved to improve her life for herself and her children. She severs ties with her mother and plans to complete a GED test to receive a high school diploma equivalent.
Premonition (2007)
Color
Woman moves back and forth through time and tries to prevent husband's death
Premonition
"Prologue:
Linda Hanson (Sandra Bullock) and her husband Jim (Julian McMahon) get out of a car. Linda has her eyes covered, and she tells Jim that she hates surprises. Jim laughs and asks her why she wasn't excited when he got the promotion, to which she replies that the promotion wasn't so much a surprise, as it was a result of her wonderful husband's hard work. Jim leads Linda to the front of the house and uncovers her eyes to reveal their new house.
Thursday:
Many years later, Linda is getting out of bed. Her younger daughter, Megan (Shyann McClure), runs into the room and asks where Daddy is. Linda replies lovingly that he will be back today because it was only an overnight trip. Megan asks why they weren't allowed to go with Daddy, and Linda explains that it was a business trip, so it was better for them to stay at home. Her older daughter, Bridgette (Courtney Taylor Burness) walks in and tells her mother that she has to get up now or else they'll be late for school.
Linda drops off her kids at school and goes home. She talks a little with her friend Annie (Nia Long), who's going on a date. She asks how Linda and Jim are, since their relationship had gotten into a rut. Linda goes through various housewife chores: she puts stickers on the sliding glass doors to the back yard; she dusts the counters, and washes some clothes, including a bright rainbow-colored sweater. There's one new message on the answering machine. The message confuses Linda: it's from Jim, and he says that he meant everything he said in front of the kids the other night and he wants her to know that he was sincere. He spots a call waiting on his phone and mutters "Is that you?" before hanging up. Linda calls him back and leaves a message.
The doorbell rings and Linda opens the door to a man in a police uniform. He introduces himself as Sheriff Reilly (Marc Macaulay) and tells Linda that her husband died in a car accident involving a truck on the previous day. She's in shock, and receives the details of her husband's death in a blur.
After picking her girls up from school, Linda sadly tells them that their father won't be coming home. Linda's mother, Joanne (Kate Nelligan), is over as well and occupies Linda's daughters by helping them complete a puzzle that their Daddy was really good at and was going to help them finish. Meanwhile, Linda calls Annie and asks her to call back. After putting the kids to bed, Joanne comes to sit and talk with her daughter. She tells Linda that although it is difficult, they should start making funeral arrangements and look over Linda and Jim's insurance plans. Linda is shocked and tells her mother that she isn't ready yet. She tells Joanne that she can't stop thinking about the serving plate Jim's family gave them. She had never been able to take it down by herself and Jim had always helped her. Joanne tells her daughter that no one is expecting her to do all this by herself, and she goes to sleep in the guest room. Linda falls asleep in her clothes on the living room couch alone, her wedding photo cradled in her arms.
Monday:
Linda wakes up in her bed, dressed in a nightgown and covered with sheets and blankets. Somewhat confused, she gets up and knocks on the guest room door. No one is inside. Linda cautiously walks downstairs, where Jim is sitting at the counter drinking coffee and watching TV. Linda is shocked as she stares at Jim. He asks her what's wrong, but she can only mutter that she's had a bad dream. Megan and Bridgette come running down the stairs, with Bridgette once again complaining about being late for school. Jim asks Linda to take the kids to school because he's late for work and rushes off.
Still in a daze, Linda drops off the kids. As she drives on, she makes an abrupt stop that angers drivers around her, and she is approached by Sheriff Reilly, who warns her to be more careful on the roads. Strangely, the Sheriff acts as if he's never met her before. Linda returns home to her chores, but notices the rainbow sweater again. She walks outside to hang laundered bedsheets. While she tries to spread out a sheet she trips on a toy and falls backwards. She falls onto the dead body of a crow and gets its blood on her hand. Her hand is covered with the crow's blood as she runs inside. On her way in, she gets blood all over the glass door (which now has no stickers on it) and on the sink. After she's regained some of her senses, Linda goes back out wearing rubber gloves and throws the dead animal into the trash. The day ends with a family dinner, the girls reporting a boring day.
Saturday:
Linda wakes up the next day. She notices a bottle of wine and a glass on the nightstand. She can't find Jim in the shower, but finds an empty prescription bottle of lithium with pills scattered in the sink. The label on the bottle states the pills were prescribed by a Doctor Norman Roth. She finds the mirrors in the house covered in sheets while she makes her way downstairs. Still in her husband's shirt, she encounters a group of family and friends wearing full mourning garb. Annie is there as well, and assures Linda that the kids are safe, they're just outside. Linda goes running to her kids and finds the two girls on the swing set. Bridgette has her back turned to the camera and when Linda runs over, there are terrible red gashes all over the girl's face. Linda quickly starts to caress her daughter's face and asks what happened. Megan walks over and tells her mom that she doesn't see any scars at all and that her sister looks perfect. Linda is still confused, but agrees for her daughters' sakes and holds them close.
When they arrive at the church stairs, Linda sends the family inside, walks steadily to the hearse and demands that they open the coffin. The funeral director assures her that everything is on schedule, but tries to stop her from reaching the coffin. Suddenly the coffin falls out of the hearse, opening up and the action suggests that her late husband's head rolls out onto the pavement. Then she screams uncontrollably.
At the burial, a young priest is giving the eulogy for Jim, describing him as a wonderful man who always put his family first. Linda notices a blonde woman (Amber Valletta) standing to the side of the funeral group, hiding behind a tree. Neither Joanne nor Linda recognizes the woman, but when Linda walks over, the woman apologizes profusely and tells Linda that she thought it would be okay to come since they'd talked a day earlier. Linda is still confused, but the woman speeds off before Linda can ask her any more questions.
Back at the house, Linda has changed and is wearing blue jeans. She frantically flips through the phone book. The page with Dr. Roth's listing has been torn out, but she soon finds the page in her trashcan. She grabs the page and calls the office, and a recorded message states that the office is only open during weekdays. When she comes back downstairs later, all is well, until the doorbell rings and several very burly men enter the room. One of them introduces himself as Dr. Norman Roth (Peter Stormare) and with him are his assistants and Sheriff Reilly. Annie rushes to get the children to bed as Linda is hauled away kicking and screaming. It seems that they think Linda has mental problems because she cannot seem to remember how the cuts on Bridgette's face happened. Joanne apologizes, but tells Linda that what she needs right now is serious help.
Linda is taken to a mental health care facility and overhears the sheriff and Dr. Roth talking. The sheriff tells the doctor that he informed Linda of her husband's death on Thursday. The doctor recounts Linda's visit from Tuesday, when she claimed her husband was already dead. Linda is sedated by injection, and fades out.
Tuesday:
Linda wakes up in her own bed again. She can't find a trace of the injection on her arms. She hears a running shower and runs into the bathroom. She goes into the shower, nightgown and all, and holds Jim. At breakfast, she is happy to see that Bridgette's face is wound-free. After dropping the girls off at school, she stops in her driveway, and opens the garbage to discover the crow's body inside. Back inside the house she goes through the phone book, finds Dr. Roth's entry, rips out the page and drives to his office. He doesn't recognize her, and initiates a session where she tells him of her experiences of seeing Jim alive and then dead again. At the end of the session he prescribes lithium.
Linda goes on to her husband's office. She holds him in her arms and asks to speak to him in private. She wants the family to get away for a while, but Jim rejects the idea. There's a knock on his office door and it's Claire, the blond girl from the funeral. She's the company's new assistant manager and has been working with Jim. The two leave for a meeting, and Linda glimpses that Jim places his hand on the small of Claire's back as they walk away.
Later that day, the children are playing in the front yard, and Linda is in the bathroom considering the lithium. She shakes out two pills at first, then six, but then allows the entire contents to fall into the sink along with the bottle.(This is the bottle that she sees on Saturday. However, on Thursday the bottle is not there.)
Linda recognizes that it's starting to rain and yells down to the girls to hurry to the back yard and grab the sheets from the clothesline. Coming down the stairs, she sees the girls rushing to the back yard. She sees Bridgette running toward the glass doors and urges her to stop. Bridgette can't tell the door is closed and runs through it, breaking the glass and hurting her face and hands. Linda hurries the girls to the emergency room and Jim arrives shortly after. Back at home, Linda puts the girls to bed, covers the mirrors in the house so that Bridgette cannot see her scars, and tells the girls that as far as she's concerned there are no scars, and they're both beautiful, like princesses. All these things are true for the morning, she also talked to Jim on that Thursday, while he died on Wednesday. This could be explained by the fact that Thursday was some sort of 'portal day'. Everything was 'normal', up to the point that the sheriff came to her house.
Meanwhile, Jim is busy sweeping up the glass from Bridgette's fall. He asks her why she hasn't put the stickers up yet, and Linda says that she thought she had. He tells her that he asked Linda's mother to come live with them until Linda feels better.
Linda walks upstairs, takes off her jacket, and feels the crumpled phone book paper in her back pocket. Mindlessly she throws it in the trash. But the sight of the paper basket triggers her memory and she rushes downstairs and makes a timeline of the week's events. Tuesday is when she meets Dr. Roth for the first time, when her daughter gets the cuts. Thursday is when she gets the news about the accident and her mother stays over. She hasn't experienced Friday yet, but Saturday is the funeral. She hides the paper under the tablecloth and goes to talk to Jim. She begs him not to go, but seeing that it's no good, requests that "If tomorrow is Wednesday, please, please wake me up before you leave". He promises.
Friday:
Linda wakes up on the living room couch, understands it's Friday and drives to Claire's house. Linda asks if they should be talking about something regarding Jim. Claire's swollen and tear covered face tells it all as she asks who told her. Linda is brisk and piercing as she replies that Claire just did.
Linda goes out to talk with Annie. Annie gives her sympathy to Linda, saying that all of this is so terrible -- Jim's death, and discovering her husband was planning to have an affair. Linda replies that maybe it isn't so bad at all. Jim may not have done anything yet, but the affair would have had a destructive impact on their family. She tells Annie that maybe all of this was meant to happen. Annie is surprised, but Linda knows that things are finally coming together for her.
Linda then visits the insurance agent to confirm the stability of her family's future. He tells her that everything is covered for, because Jim came in the morning of his accident and tripled his life insurance plans. Linda is very confused, but thanked him. After making funeral arrangements, Linda drives home and tells her mother that she's made all the plans. Her mother's reaction is similar to Annie's and later that night she goes to talk to her daughter. With a glass of wine at her side and dressed in Jim's shirt, Linda asks her mother whether, if Linda let Jim die, that would be the same as killing him; but Joanne replied that Jim is already dead, eliciting an enigmatic glare from Linda.
Sunday:
Linda wakes up on the previous Sunday. She sends Jim off with the kids while she drives to the church. There, she speaks with Father Kennedy (Jude Ciccolella) and explains that she's very scared. He's surprised to see her, because it's been a while since she's been in church. Kennedy has an entire book detailing incidents similar to hers. A woman during the colonial period predicted a terrible hurricane coming in and destroying the entire town. She was hanged as a witch, and two days later, the town was destroyed by a hurricane with gale force winds. In a more recent period, a man from 1918 saw the gravestones of his two young children in a dream during the influenza pandemic. He went home and shot the children to save them from the pain of the sickness, but the autopsies showed that they were never infected. The man ended up killing himself a week later. Kennedy explains that the faithless are like empty vessels. There's nothing inside, so they're more susceptible to greater forces. He says that she must have faith and that life itself can be a miracle. Linda tells Kennedy that she doesn't believe in miracles, but she desperately needs faith and stability right now and asks him how she can get it. Kennedy tells her that faith is simply the belief in something you can't see or touch, but you can feel, such as love and hope. She must find something to believe in, something she's willing to fight for. Linda tearfully tells the Father that she doesn't know what to fight for.
Eventually, Linda visits the site of the accident. She parks her car and stands in the middle of the road. She stares at the "Mile 220" sign, which is where Sheriff Reilly told her the accident took place. img of her family flash before her eyes as Linda tries to decide what to do. Her thoughts are interrupted by another car passing, and she gets back into her car.
That night, Linda puts pressure on Jim. When the kids go to give their father a goodnight hug, Linda tells them to give him an extra hug and to tell their father how much they love him. Jim hugs the kids back, but doesn't say anything. Linda asks him why he's not returning the sentiment and Jim is taken aback. He holds the girls close once again and tells them that he loves them more than anything in the entire world. They ask him if he loves Linda too, and he says he does, which explains the message Jim left on Linda's answering machine.
Jim finds Linda standing in the middle of the yard. It is raining heavily, but Linda refuses to budge. Jim joins her shortly and asks her what's wrong. She starts to tell him that they aren't the same family they use to be and wants thing to go back to how they were. Jim tells her that they are still that family, that things are just different. Linda starts to cry as a storm starts. A lightning bolt hits the power lines and kills a crow that falls to the ground. Jim takes Linda into the house after a rogue powerline heads toward them and they retreat to their room. Jim sighs as he sits down on his bed. Linda walks over and tenderly embraces him as she apologizes for everything, and they have sex. Later Jim holds Linda close and she tells him that she's had a dream where he died. He tells her that it's just a dream, and that everything will be fine.
Wednesday:
Linda wakes up in her bed once again. Since she can't be sure of what day it is, she grabs the phone and calls Annie, who tells her that it's definitely Wednesday. Linda runs down the stairs knowing that today is the day of the accident. She finds a note from Jim saying that he's taking the kids to school and will be back tomorrow. Linda takes off and begins to search for Jim.
Meanwhile, Jim drops the kids off at school, and then goes to the insurance company. He looks worried as he raises the amount of the life insurance. Later, as he makes a turn to get onto the highway, he gets a call from Claire. She's just arrived in their hotel room and is evidently very excited. A troubled Jim tells her that he can't go through with the affair, and he hangs up.
Jim then calls the house and leaves the message from the beginning of the film. At the same time, a frantic Linda is trying to reach Jim. After hearing a beep signaling that he has another call, Jim hangs up realizing that it's Linda. He answers the call. The two have a touching reconciliation, Linda asks him to pull over to the shoulder of the road and Jim pulls over. Linda notices that they've reached the "Mile 220" sign and tells Jim that if he trusts her, he must turn around. Jim does so, but not before narrowly being missed by a speeding car. He stops the car and is unable to get it started again. Linda notices a fuel truck approaching and she is now hysterical, screaming at Jim to get out of the car. Jim sits and keeps on trying to start the car. Realizing that he's losing time, Jim frantically tries to open his car door, but he can't. The truck jackknifes and slams into Jim's car, crushing its roof and presumably killing Jim, as both vehicles collide with each other and stop about an inch from the mile marker. The huge amount of gasoline in the truck's tank and the car roof puncturing said tank during the vehicles' collision are both enough to cause the two vehicles to explode on impact. Linda breaks down and starts to cry uncontrollably.
Epilogue:
The movie ends with Linda back home asleep on a mattress with no sheets, her daughters run in and tell her that the moving truck has arrived. Linda kisses her daughters and comments with a smile that her daughter's scars from the accident are healing well. The girls then leave the room and do not close the door. Linda moves to sit on the edge of the bed when suddenly Father Kennedy's voice runs through her head, saying that every day we're alive can be a miracle. She smiles slightly, and gets up slowly, exposing a pregnant belly.
The alternate ending shows Linda getting up exactly as she does before. All of a sudden, she hears the shower running. She walks slowly to the bathroom, pulls open the shower curtain and the screen goes black.
Pretty Poison (1968)
Color
Man just release from the luny bin pretends to be a secret agent
Pretty Poison
"Dennis Pitt is a disturbed young man on parole from a mental institution who becomes attracted to teenager Sue Ann Stepenek. He tells her that he is a secret agent, and takes her along on a series of "missions" that eventually end in murder. While Dennis is racked with guilt over both what he has done and what he has allowed to happen, Sue Ann is excited by the "adventure" and entreats Dennis to run away with her to Mexico. First, however, they have to get rid of her disapproving mother.
Dennis knows that the police will take Sue Ann's word over his, so he takes the blame for their crimes. Sue Ann, meanwhile, betrays him without a second thought, sending him to prison for life. Dennis is more than happy to be locked up, as it keeps him away from Sue Ann, of whom he is now quite frightened. While Dennis refuses to tell his skeptical parole officer Azenauer the truth, he asks him to "see what Sue Ann is up to" in hopes she will be exposed for what she really is. The film ends with Sue Ann meeting a young man and lamenting to him that the people who took her in after her mother's death won't let her stay out late; it is implied that she will use and destroy him just as she did Dennis. But Dennis' parole officer is indeed watching as she departs with her latest victim.
Pretty Woman (1990)
Color
Millionaire hires hooker escort, and falls in love with her
Pretty Woman
"High-powered businessman Edward Lewis is dumped by his girlfriend during an unpleasant phone call wherein he asked her to escort him during his business trip; she has finally had enough of being treated solely as his "beck and call girl." Edward is a corporate raider from New York, who buys companies that are in financial trouble and tears them down piece by piece. Leaving a business party in the Hollywood Hills, he takes his lawyer's Lotus Esprit sports car and accidentally ends up on Hollywood Boulevard in the city's red-light district, where he encounters prostitute Vivian Ward. As he is having difficulties driving the car, she gets in and guides him to the Regent Beverly Wilshire Hotel, where he is staying. It becomes clear that Vivian knows more about the Lotus than he does, and he lets her drive. Vivian charges Lewis $20 for the ride, and they separate. She goes to a bus stop, where he finds her and offers to hire her for the night; the next day, he asks Vivian to play the role his girlfriend has refused, offering her $3000 to stay with him for the next six days as well as to buy her a new, more acceptable wardrobe. That evening, going to a business dinner, Edward is visibly moved by Vivian's transformation brought about by the helpful manager of the hotel and begins seeing Vivian in a different light. He begins to open up to her, revealing details about his personal and business lives.
Edward takes Vivian to a polo match in hopes of networking for his business deal. His attorney, Phillip, suspects Vivian is a corporate spy, and Edward tells him how they truly met. Phillip later approaches Vivian, suggesting they do business once her work with Edward is finished. Insulted, and furious that Edward has revealed their secret, Vivian wants to end the arrangement. Edward apologizes and admits to feeling jealous of a business associate -- whom she had met at the previous night's dinner -- to whom Vivian paid attention at the match. Vivian's straightforward personality is rubbing off on Edward, and he finds himself acting in unaccustomed ways. Clearly growing involved, Edward takes Vivian by private jet to see La Traviata at the San Francisco Opera. Vivian is moved to tears by the story of the prostitute who falls in love with a rich man. She breaks her "no kissing on the mouth" rule and they have sex; in the afterglow, believing Edward is asleep, Vivian admits she loves him, and as she drifts off, Edward opens his eyes. Edward offers to put her up in an apartment so she can be off the streets. Hurt, she refuses and says this is not the "fairy tale" she dreamed of as a child, in which a knight on a white horse rescues her.
Meeting with the tycoon whose shipbuilding company he is in the process of raiding, Edward changes his mind. His time with Vivian has shown him a different way of looking at life, and he suggests he and the tycoon work together to save the company rather than tearing it apart and selling off the pieces. Phillip, furious at losing so much money, goes to the hotel to confront Edward but finds only Vivian. Blaming her for the change in Edward, he attempts to rape her. Edward arrives, wrestles Philip off her, punches him in the face, and throws him out of the room.
With his business in L.A. complete, Edward asks Vivian to stay one more night with him, but because she wants to, not because he's paying her. She refuses. Edward re-thinks his life, and as he's leaving for the airport to return to New York, he instead has the hotel chauffeur detour to Vivian's apartment building, where he leaps from the white limousine's sun roof and "rescues her", overcoming his extreme fear of heights to ascend her fire escape. Edward asks, "So what happens after he climbed up the tower and rescues her?" Vivian responds, "She rescues him right back." Vivian and Edward share a kiss.
Pride & Prejudice (2005)
Color
Rich heir is interested in woman who does not particularly like him
Pride & Prejudice
"During the late 18th century, the Bennet family, consisting of Mr and Mrs Bennet and their five daughters (Jane, Elizabeth, Mary, Kitty and Lydia), live in comparative financial independence as gentry at Longbourn, a working farm in rural England. As Longbourn is destined to be inherited by Mr Bennet's cousin, Mr Collins, Mrs Bennet is anxious to marry off her five daughters before Mr Bennet dies. Wealthy bachelor Charles Bingley has recently moved into Netherfield, a large, nearby estate. He is introduced to local society at an assembly ball, along with his haughty sister Caroline and reserved friend, Mr. Darcy, who "owns half of Derbyshire". Bingley is enchanted with the gentle and beautiful Jane, while Elizabeth takes an instant dislike to Darcy after he coldly rebuffs her attempts at conversation and she overhears him insult her. When Jane becomes sick on a visit to Netherfield, Elizabeth goes to stay with her, verbally sparring with Caroline and Darcy.
Later, the Bennets are visited by Mr Collins, a pompous clergyman who talks of nothing but his patroness, Lady Catherine de Bourgh. Collins soon decides to pursue Elizabeth. Meanwhile, the handsome and charming Lieutenant Wickham of the newly arrived militia captures the girls' attention; he wins Elizabeth's sympathy by telling her that Darcy had cheated him of his inheritance. At a ball at Netherfield, Elizabeth, startled by Darcy's abrupt appearance and request, accepts a dance with him, but vows to her best friend Charlotte Lucas that she has "sworn to loathe him for all eternity". During the dance, she attacks him with witty sarcasm and Darcy responds in kind. At the same ball, Charlotte expresses concern to Elizabeth that Jane's behaviour to Mr Bingley is too reserved and that Bingley may not realise she loves him. The next day, at Longbourn, Collins proposes to Elizabeth, but she declines. When Bingley unexpectedly returns to London, Elizabeth dispatches a heartbroken Jane to the city to stay with their aunt and uncle, the Gardiners, in hopes of re-establishing contact between Jane and Bingley. Later, Elizabeth is appalled to learn that Charlotte will marry Collins to gain financial security and avoid remaining a spinster.
Months later, Elizabeth visits the newly wed Mr and Mrs Collins at Rosings, Lady Catherine's manor estate; they are invited to dine there, and meet Darcy and Colonel Fitzwilliam, who it transpires are Lady Catherine's nephews. Here Darcy shows greater interest in Elizabeth, especially when she replies to Lady Catherine's jabs with spirited wit. The next day, Colonel Fitzwilliam lets slip to Elizabeth that Darcy had separated Bingley from Jane. Distraught, she flees outside, but Darcy chooses that moment to track her down and propose marriage. He claims that he loves her "most ardently", despite her "lower rank". Elizabeth refuses him, citing his treatment of Jane and Bingley and of Wickham; they argue fiercely, with Darcy explaining that he had been convinced that Jane did not return Bingley's love. Darcy leaves angry and heartbroken. He finds Elizabeth later and presents her with a letter, which alleges Wickham is a gambler who demanded and received cash in lieu of the position intended for him by Darcy's father. It is further claimed that upon being refused more money, Wickham had attempted to elope with Darcy's 15-year-old sister, Georgiana, in order to obtain her ?30,000 inheritance, but abandoned her upon learning that he would never receive the money.
The Gardiners take Elizabeth on a trip to the Peak District and visit Darcy's estate, Pemberley, believing that he is away travelling. Elizabeth is stunned by its wealth and beauty and hears nothing but good things about Darcy from his housekeeper. There, she accidentally runs into Darcy, who has arrived home early. He invites her and the Gardiners to meet his sister. His manners have softened considerably and Georgiana takes an instant liking to Elizabeth. When Elizabeth learns that her immature and flirtatious youngest sister Lydia has run away with Wickham, she tearfully blurts out the news to Darcy and the Gardiners before returning home. Her family expects social ruin for having a disgraced daughter, but they are soon relieved to hear that Mr Gardiner had discovered the pair in London and that they had married. Lydia later reveals to Elizabeth that Darcy had found them and had paid for the marriage.
When Bingley and Darcy return to Netherfield, Jane accepts Bingley's proposal. The same evening, Lady Catherine unexpectedly visits Elizabeth and insists that she renounce Darcy, as he is supposedly engaged to her own daughter, Anne. Elizabeth refuses and unable to sleep, walks on the moor at dawn. There, she meets Darcy, also unable to sleep after hearing of his aunt's behaviour. He admits his continued love and Elizabeth accepts his proposal. Mr Bennet gives his consent after Elizabeth assures him of her love for Darcy.
Primal Fear (1996)
Color
Altar boy charged with murder is defended by arrogant defense attorney
Primal Fear
"Martin Vail is a Chicago defense attorney who loves the spotlight, and does everything that he can to get his high-profile clients acquitted on legal technicalities. One day he sees a news report about the arrest of Aaron Stampler, a 19-year-old altar boy from Kentucky with a severe stutter, who is accused of brutally murdering the beloved Archbishop Rushman. Vail jumps at the chance to represent the young man, pro bono. During his meetings at the County jail with Stampler, Vail comes to believe that his client is innocent, much to the chagrin of Vail's former lover, prosecutor Janet Venable.
As the trial begins, Vail discovers that powerful civic leaders, including the corrupt state's attorney John Shaughnessy, recently lost millions of dollars in real estate investments due to a decision by the Archbishop not to develop on certain church-owned lands. The Archbishop secretly received numerous death threats as a result. Following a tip from a former altar boy about a videotape involving Stampler, Vail makes a search of the Archbishop's apartment and finds a VHS tape shot by Rushman that shows Stampler being sexually abused with another teenage altar boy and a teenage girl named Linda Forbes. Vail is now in a dilemma: introducing this evidence would make Stampler more sympathetic to the jury, but it would also give him a motive for the murder--which Venable has been unable to establish.
When Vail confronts his client and accuses him of having lied, Stampler breaks down crying and suddenly transforms into a new persona: a violent sociopath who calls himself “Roy.” "Roy" confesses to the murder of the Archbishop, and threatens Vail. When this incident is over Stampler once again becomes passive and shy, and appears to have no recollection of the personality switch - what he calls having "lost time." Molly Arrington, the neuropsychologist examining Stampler who witnessed the entire event, is convinced that he has dissociative identity disorder, caused by years of physical and sexual abuse at the hands of his father and Archbishop Rushman. Vail does not want to hear this, because he knows that he cannot enter an insanity plea during an ongoing trial.
Vail slowly sets up a confrontation in court by dropping hints about the Archbishop's abusive tendencies, as well as Stampler's multiple personalities. He also has the abuse tape delivered to Venable, knowing that she will realize who sent it--since she is under intense pressure from both Shaughnessy and her boss Bud Yancy to deliver a guilty verdict at any cost--and will use it as proof of motive.
At the climax, Vail puts Stampler on the witness stand and gently questions him about the sexual abuse he suffered at Rushman's hands. He also introduces evidence that Shaughnessy and Yancy had covered up evidence of Rushman molesting another young man. After Venable questions him harshly during cross-examination, Stampler turns into "Roy" in open court and attacks her, threatening to snap her neck if anyone comes near him. He is subdued by courthouse marshals and rushed back to his holding cell. The judge dismisses the jury in favor of a bench trial and then finds Stampler not guilty by reason of insanity, remanding him to a maximum security mental hospital. Venable is fired for losing the case, and for allowing Rushman's crimes to be publicly exposed.
Vail visits Stampler in his cell to tell him of the dismissal. Stampler claims to have no recollection of what happened in the courtroom, having again "lost time." However, as Vail is leaving, Stampler asks him to "tell Miss Venable I hope her neck is okay", which he could not have been able to remember if he had "lost time." When Vail confronts him, Stampler reveals that he had faked the personality disorder. No longer stuttering, he brags about having murdered Rushman, as well as Linda, his girlfriend. When Vail asks if there ever was a "Roy", Stampler replies that "there never was an 'Aaron.'" Stunned and disillusioned, Vail walks away and leaves the courthouse as Stampler taunts him from his cell.
Princess Tam Tam (1935)
Black & White
Josephine Baker's success leads to her drunken downfall
Princess Tam Tam
"Frustrated writer Max de Mirecourt (Albert Prejean) goes to Tunisia in search of inspiration for his next novel and meets a local girl named Alwina (Josephine Baker) whose personality intrigues him so greatly that he invents a character based on her for his newest (and 'most exciting') novel. His relation with Alwina serves a dual purpose in that it also angers (or at least highly annoys) his wife Lucie (Germaine Aussey) who has been flirting with the Maharaja of Datane (Jean Galland) back in Paris. Max takes Alwina under his wing and teaches her the manners and social graces of a high-society princess. He then whisks her away to Paris and presents her as Princess Tam Tam from faraway Africa.
Lucie is further enraged by all the attention that Alwina receives, and after a friend sees Alwina dance provocatively in the sailors' bar, Lucie calls upon her Maharaja to craft a plan which will destroy her husband's relation with "the princess." The Maharaja throws a grand party, inviting the upper crust of Parisian society. Alwina is unable to resist the exotic music, and promptly joins the large, staged dance number, embarrassing Max -- until he realizes that the entire audience is on their feet, applauding Alwina. Lucie is furious.
Lucie and Max forgive each other in the end and fall in love again, Alwina returns to Tunisia after the frustrating realization that, as the Maharaja puts it, "Some windows face to the West, and the others to the East." Ultimately, however, the entire European affair is revealed to be little more than an enactment of Max's novel-in-progress. Alwina never does go to Europe, and the primary events of the film are simply a staging of how Max has imagined them. Alwina is given Max's Tunisian estate, and Max's new novel is a success. The title of his new work is "Civilisation." When asked about Alwina while back in Europe, Max states that she is "better where she is."
The film closes with a scene of Alwina and Dar back in Tunisia with their newborn child, with farm animals strewn about Max's mansion. In the final shot, a donkey eats the title page of "Civilisation" off Max's (now Alwina's) floor.
ProXimity (2001)
Color
Professor arrives in prison to discover corruption which puts him in mortal danger
ProXimity
When William Conroy (Rob Lowe) a former college professor is sentenced to life in prison for vehicular manslaughter it seems his life is over. But, when a fellow inmate tells him that in the past two years fourteen inmates have died at the prison, and then turns up dead the next day, Conroy is in more danger than he ever imagined. His suspicions are confirmed when, while on the way to his parole hearing, the van carrying the inmates crashes. Seizing the opportunity, Conroy flees the scene and elicits the help of his lawyer (Mark Boone Junior). What the two discover is a grisly murder ring set up within the prison walls that incriminates those at the highest levels of the correctional system.
Promising Young Woman (2020)
Color
Cassie's life is at a standstill after a traumatic event causes her to drop out of med school
Promising Young Woman
"Cassie Thomas, a 30-year-old medical school dropout, lives with her parents and works at a coffee shop. Years earlier, her classmate, Al Monroe, raped her best friend and fellow classmate, Nina Fisher, leading to Nina's implied suicide; there was no investigation by the school or consequences from the legal system. Now, Cassie spends her nights feigning drunkenness in clubs and bars, deceiving men into taking her to their homes and revealing her sobriety when they try to rape her or take advantage of the fact that she is not conscious.
Cassie goes on a date with another former classmate, Ryan Cooper, who mentions Al is getting married. She begins a plan to exact revenge on Al and others who were responsible for him getting away with rape. She meets another former classmate and friend, Madison McPhee, who continues to deny Nina was raped. Cassie gets Madison drunk and hires a man to take Madison to a hotel room. With no memory of what happened, Madison leaves several distraught voicemails for Cassie, who deliberately avoids answering them.
Cassie next targets Elizabeth Walker, the medical school dean who dismissed Nina's case for "lack of evidence." Cassie lures her teenage daughter, Amber, into her car by posing as a makeup artist for a popular band. Later, she meets Walker under the pretense of resuming her education and questions her about Nina's case. When Walker explains away her actions, Cassie lies to her saying she dropped Amber off at a dorm room with drunk male students. A terrified Walker apologizes for her inaction, and Cassie reveals Amber is safe at a diner.
Cassie forgets to meet Ryan for a date, disappointing him. That night, Cassie again lures a man into taking her home. As they are walking out of the bar, they run into Ryan, who, not knowing what is truly happening, is hurt.
Cassie visits Jordan Green, Al's lawyer, who harassed Nina into dropping charges. She is surprised to see he is genuinely remorseful, having suffered a nervous breakdown that resulted in him being put on leave from work; she forgives him and leaves. While getting into her car, she calls off a hitman she had hired to kill Jordan. After visiting Nina's mother, who urges her to move on, Cassie abandons her revenge plans. She also apologizes to Ryan, and they fall in love.
Madison confronts Cassie outside her house, desperate to know what happened after their lunch. Cassie reassures her that nothing happened. Madison gives her an old phone containing a video of Nina's rape before warning her to never contact her again. Watching it, Cassie sees Ryan as a bystander. She confronts him and threatens to release the video unless he tells her where Al's bachelor party is being held. Ryan tells her and begs for her forgiveness, but Cassie refuses.
Cassie arrives at Al's bachelor party posing as a stripper. She drugs Al's friends and takes Al upstairs. She handcuffs him to a bed and eventually reveals her identity. Cassie demands that he confess what he did to Nina, but Al refuses repeatedly, saying that nothing happened, that he was young, and that Nina actually enjoyed what happened to her. Cassie takes out some medical tools from a bag and prepares to carve Nina's name on Al's body. Before she is able to start the torture, he breaks free and kills Cassie by smothering her with a pillow. The next morning, Al's best friend, Joe, helps him burn Cassie's body. Her parents file a missing person report and the police begin to investigate. Ryan tells them Cassie was mentally disturbed and does not tell them she was going to the bachelor party.
At Al's wedding, Ryan receives several scheduled texts from Cassie. Green is shown receiving a package from Cassie with the phone with the video of Nina's rape and instructions to follow if she does not return from the bachelor party. Gail, Cassie's manager and friend, finds a half heart-shaped necklace with Cassie's name under the cash register; Cassie was wearing the matching half with Nina's name when she was killed. The police are shown discovering her burnt remains and the necklace, and arrest Al for the murder during his wedding reception as Ryan receives a final text from Cassie, signed with her and Nina's names.
Psycho (1960)
Black & White
Larcenous real-estate woman checks into the notorious Bates Motel
Psycho
"During a lunchtime tryst in a Phoenix, Arizona, hotel, real-estate secretary Marion Crane and her boyfriend, Sam Loomis, discuss how they cannot afford to get married because of Sam's debts. After lunch, Marion returns to work where a client leaves a $40,000 cash payment on a property. Marion's boss asks her to deposit the money in the bank and allows her to leave early after she complains of a headache. Once home, she decides to steal the money and drive to Sam's home in Fairvale, California. En route to Fairvale, Marion stops her car on the side of the road and falls asleep. She is awakened the next morning by a California Highway Patrol officer. Suspicious of her nervous behavior, the officer follows her. Marion stops at a Bakersfield automobile dealership and trades in her car, which has Arizona license plates, for another car with California plates. The officer eyes her suspiciously as she drives away.
During a rainstorm, Marion stops for the night at the Bates Motel and hides the stolen money inside a newspaper. The proprietor, Norman Bates, invites her for dinner after check-in. She accepts his invitation but overhears an argument between Norman and his mother about bringing a woman into their Gothic home, which sits perched above the motel. Instead, they eat in the motel parlor, where he tells her about his life with his mother, who is mentally ill and forbids him to have a life apart from her. Moved by Norman's story, Marion decides to drive back to Phoenix in the morning to return the stolen money. While she showers, a shadowy figure stabs her to death. After seeing blood, Norman panics and runs to Marion's room, where he discovers her body. He cleans up the crime scene, putting Marion's corpse and belongings--including (unbeknownst to him) the stolen money--into the trunk of her car and sinking it in the swamps near the motel.
A week later, Marion's sister Lila arrives in Fairvale and confronts Sam about Marion's whereabouts. Private investigator Milton Arbogast approaches them and confirms that Marion is wanted for theft. Arbogast sleuths local lodgings and discovers that Marion spent a night at the Bates Motel. He questions Norman, whose stammering and inconsistent answers arouse his suspicion. Norman refuses to allow Arbogast to speak with his mother. Arbogast updates Sam and Lila about his search for Marion and promises to phone again soon. When Arbogast enters the Bates' home searching for Norman's mother, a shadowy figure stabs him to death.
When Lila and Sam do not hear from Arbogast, Sam visits the motel. Sam sees a figure in the house who he assumes is Mrs. Bates, but she ignores him. Worried about further inquiries about his mother, Norman carries her from her bedroom and hides her in the fruit cellar. Lila and Sam visit the local deputy sheriff, who informs them that Mrs. Bates died in a murder-suicide ten years ago. The sheriff concludes that Arbogast lied to Sam and Lila so he could pursue Marion and the money. Convinced that some ill has befallen Arbogast, Lila and Sam drive to the motel. Sam distracts Norman in the motel office while Lila sneaks inside the house. Norman becomes agitated and knocks Sam unconscious. When Norman enters the house, Lila hides in the cellar, where she discovers that Mrs. Bates is a mummified corpse. After hearing Lila scream, Norman, wearing his mother's clothes and a wig, enters the cellar brandishing a chef's knife. Sam, having regained consciousness, subdues him.
At the police station, a psychiatrist explains that Norman murdered Mrs. Bates and her lover ten years ago out of jealousy. Unable to bear the guilt, he stole her corpse and began to treat it as if she were still alive. He recreated his mother in his own mind as an alternate personality. This "Mother" personality is as jealous and possessive as when Mrs. Bates was still alive: whenever Norman feels attracted to a woman, "Mother" kills her. As "Mother," Norman killed two young women prior to killing Marion and Arbogast. While Norman sits in a jail cell, "Mother's" voice-over protests that the murders were Norman's doing. Marion's car is towed from the swamp.
Pulp Fiction (1994)
Color
2 mob hit men, a boxer, gangster's wife, and 2 diner bandits intertwine in 4 tales
Pulp Fiction
"Pumpkin" (Tim Roth) and "Honey Bunny" (Amanda Plummer) are having breakfast in a diner, and discussing their life as robbers. They decide to rob it after realizing they could make money off the customers as well as the business, as they did during their previous heist. Moments after they initiate the hold-up, the scene breaks off and the title credits roll.
As Jules Winnfield (Samuel L. Jackson) drives, Vincent Vega (John Travolta) talks about his experiences in Europe, from where he has just returned: the hashish bars in Amsterdam, the French McDonald's and its "Royale with Cheese." The pair--both wearing dress suits--are on their way to retrieve a briefcase from Brett (Frank Whaley), who has transgressed against their boss, gangster Marsellus Wallace (Ving Rhames). Jules tells Vincent that Marsellus had someone thrown off a fourth-floor balcony for giving his wife a foot massage. Vincent says Marsellus has asked him to escort his wife while Marsellus is out of town. They arrive at Brett's place, where they confront him and two of his goons over the briefcase. As Vincent finds the briefcase that Brett has (apparently) stolen from Marsellus, Jules confronts Brett, with a gun with Brett attempting to talk his way out of the situation. Jules, shoots one of Brett's associates then "retorts" asking Brett "does Marsellus Wallace look like a bitch", with Brett repeating the word "What" as Jules explaling that nobody can "fuck" Marsellus Wallace except his wife. He then delivers a passage from Bible before executing Brett with Vincent.
In a virtually empty cocktail lounge, aging champion boxer Butch Coolidge (Bruce Willis) accepts a large sum of money from Marsellus after agreeing to take a dive in his upcoming match. Vincent and Jules--now dressed in T-shirts and shorts--arrive to deliver the briefcase, and Butch and Vincent briefly cross paths. The next day, Vincent drops by the house of Lance (Eric Stoltz) and his wife Jody (Rosanna Arquette) to purchase high-grade heroin. He shoots up before driving over to meet Mrs. Mia Wallace (Uma Thurman) and take her out. They head to Jack Rabbit Slim's, a 1950s-themed restaurant staffed by lookalikes of the decade's pop icons. Mia recounts her experience acting in a failed television pilot, Fox Force Five.
After participating in a twist contest, they return to the Wallace house with the trophy. While Vincent is in the bathroom, Mia finds his stash of heroin in his coat pocket. Mistaking it for cocaine, she snorts it and overdoses. Vincent rushes her to Lance's house for help. Together, they administer an adrenaline shot to Mia's heart, reviving her. Before parting ways, Mia and Vincent agree not to tell Marsellus of the incident.
Television time for young Butch (Chandler Lindauer) is interrupted by the arrival of Vietnam veteran Captain Koons (Christopher Walken). Koons explains that he has brought a gold watch, passed down through three generations of Coolidge men since World War I. Butch's father died of dysentery while in a POW camp, and at his dying request Koons hid the watch in his rectum for two years in order to deliver it to Butch. A bell rings, startling the adult Butch out of this reverie. He is in his boxing colors--it is time for the fight he has been paid to throw.
Butch flees the arena, having won the bout. Making his getaway by cab, he learns from the death-obsessed driver, Esmarelda Villa Lobos (Angela Jones), that he killed the opposing fighter. Butch had bet his payoff on himself at favorable odds in a double-cross of Marsellus. The next morning, at the motel where he and his girlfriend, Fabienne (Maria de Medeiros), are lying low, Butch discovers that she has forgotten to pack the irreplaceable watch. He returns to his apartment to retrieve it, although Marsellus' men are almost certainly looking for him. Butch finds the watch quickly, but thinking he is alone, pauses for a snack. Only then does he notice a machine pistol on the kitchen counter. Hearing the toilet flush, Butch readies the gun and confronts a startled Vincent Vega exiting the bathroom. As the pair face each other in an intense standoff--during which time Butch is holding Vincent at bay with his own weapon--the (forgotten) toaster ejects the bread, making a sudden noise which causes Butch to pull the trigger and hit Vincent with a burst of fire, killing him.
Butch drives away, but as he waits at a traffic light, Marsellus walks by and recognizes him. Butch rams Marsellus with the car, then another automobile collides with his. After a foot chase the two men land in a pawnshop. The shopowner, Maynard (Duane Whitaker), captures them at gunpoint and ties them up in a half-basement area. Maynard is joined by Zed (Peter Greene) the pawnshop's security guard; they take Marsellus to another room to rape him, leaving a silent masked figure referred to as "the gimp" to watch a tied-up Butch. Butch breaks loose and knocks out the gimp. He is about to flee, when he decides to save Marsellus. As Zed is sodomizing Marsellus on a pommel horse, Butch kills Maynard with a katana. Marsellus retrieves Maynard's shotgun and shoots Zed in the groin. Marsellus informs Butch that they are even with respect to the botched fight fix, so long as he never tells anyone about the rape and departs Los Angeles, that night, forever. Butch agrees and returns to pick up Fabienne on Zed's chopper.
The story returns to Vincent and Jules at Brett's. After they execute him, another man (Robert Arquette) bursts out of the bathroom and shoots wildly at them, missing every time before an astonished Jules and Vincent return fire. Jules decides this is a miracle and a sign from God for him to retire as a hitman. They drive off with one of Brett's associates, Marvin (Phil LaMarr), their informant. Vincent asks Marvin for his opinion about the "miracle" and accidentally shoots him in the face.
Forced to remove their bloodied car from the road, Jules calls his friend Jimmie (Quentin Tarantino). Jimmie's wife, Bonnie, is due back from work soon, and he is very anxious that she does not encounter the scene. At Jules' request, Marsellus arranges for the help of his cleaner, Winston Wolfe (Harvey Keitel). "The Wolf" takes charge of the situation, ordering Jules and Vincent to clean the car, hide the body in the trunk, dispose of their own bloody clothes, and change into T-shirts and shorts provided by Jimmie. They drive the car to a junkyard, from where Wolfe and the owner's daughter, Raquel (Julia Sweeney), head off to breakfast. Jules and Vincent decide to do the same.
As Jules and Vincent eat breakfast in a diner, the discussion returns to Jules' decision to retire. In a brief cutaway, "Pumpkin" and "Honey Bunny" appear shortly before they initiate the hold-up from the first scene of the film. While Vincent is in the bathroom, the hold-up commences. "Pumpkin" demands all of the patrons' valuables, including Jules' mysterious case. Jules surprises "Pumpkin" (whom he calls "Ringo"), holding him at gunpoint. "Honey Bunny" (whose actual name is Yolanda) becomes hysterical and trains her gun on Jules. Vincent emerges from the restroom with his gun trained on her, creating a Mexican standoff. Jules reprises the biblical passage he'd recited at Brett's place (Ezekiel 25:17), this time with sincerity rather than for effect. Jules expresses his ambivalence about his life of crime. As his first act of redemption, he allows the two robbers to take the cash they have stolen and leave, but they leave the briefcase behind for Jules and Vincent to return to Marsellus. Thus, Jules finishes his final job for his boss.
Quiz Show (1994)
Color
Congressional investigator uncovers corruption in the TV gameshow racket
Quiz Show
"From a secure bank vault, the answers to the questions on Twenty One, a popular television quiz show, are sent into a television studio as studio producers Dan Enright (David Paymer) and Albert Freedman (Hank Azaria) watch from the control booth. The evening's main attraction is Queens resident Herb Stempel (John Turturro), the reigning champion, who answers question after question. However, both the network, NBC, and the corporate sponsor of the program, a supplementary tonic called Geritol, find that Stempel's approval ratings are beginning to level out, meaning the show would benefit from new talent.
Enright and Freedman find a new contestant in Columbia University instructor Charles Van Doren (Ralph Fiennes), son of the renowned poet and intellectual Mark Van Doren (Paul Scofield) and the novelist Dorothy Van Doren (Elizabeth Wilson). The producers subtly offer to rig the show for him but Van Doren uprightly refuses. Enright soon treats Stempel to dinner at an upscale restaurant, where he breaks the news that Stempel must lose in order to boost flagging ratings. Stempel begrudgingly agrees, only on the condition that he remains on television, threatening to reveal the true reason of his success: the answers had been provided for him.
Stempel and Van Doren face each other in Twenty One, where the match comes down to a predetermined question regarding Marty, the 1955 winner of the Academy Award for Best Picture. Despite knowing the correct film, Stempel gives the wrong answer of On the Waterfront, allowing Van Doren to get a question he previously answered while in Enright's offices; he provides the winning response.
In the weeks that follow, Van Doren's winning streak makes him a national celebrity. Buckling under the new pressure, he begins to let the producers directly give him the answers instead of researching for them himself. Meanwhile, Stempel, having lost his financial prize winnings to a fleeting bookie, begins threatening legal action against the NBC network after weeks go by without his return to television. He is shown going into the office of New York County District Attorney Frank Hogan.
Richard N. "Dick" Goodwin (Rob Morrow), a young Congressional lawyer from Harvard Law, becomes intrigued when he reads that the grand jury's findings from Hogan's proceedings are sealed. He travels to New York to investigate rumors of rigged quiz shows. Visiting a number of contestants, including Stempel and Van Doren, he begins to suspect Twenty One is indeed a fixed operation. However, Stempel is a volatile personality and nobody else seems to corroborate that the show is rigged. Goodwin enjoys the company of Van Doren, who invites him to social gatherings, and doubts a man of Van Doren's background and intellect would be involved in the hoax.
Stempel desperately confesses to being in on the fix himself, and further insists that if he got the answers in advance, Van Doren did as well. This wins Stempel an angry tell-off from his wife, who believed in him. With the evidence mounting, Van Doren deliberately loses, but is rewarded with a sizable contract from NBC to appear as a special correspondent on the Today show.
Meanwhile, Goodwin proceeds with the hearings before the House Committee for Legislative Oversight, with extended proof of the show's corruption. Goodwin strongly advises Van Doren to avoid making any public statements supporting the show. If he agrees to this, Goodwin promises not to call Van Doren to appear before the Congressional committee. However, at the prompting of the NBC network head, Van Doren issues a statement reaffirming his trust in the honesty of the quiz show.
Stempel testifies before Congress and, while doing so, implicates Van Doren, forcing Goodwin to call him in as a witness. Van Doren goes before Congress and publicly admits his role in the conspiracy. At first, Congress is very impressed with him, but one Congressman from New York is unimpressed and puts Van Doren in his place, turning the tide against him. Afterward, he is informed by reporters of his firing from Today as well as the university's decision to ask for his resignation.
Goodwin believes he is on the verge of a victory against Geritol and the network, but instead realizes that Enright and Freedman will not turn in their bosses and jeopardize their own futures in television; he silently watches the producers' testimony, vindicating the sponsors and the network from any wrongdoing.
Rabbit Hole (2010)
Color
Couple deals with the death of their 4 year old son
Rabbit Hole
"Becca and Howie Corbett mourn the death of their 4-year-old son Danny who was killed in a car accident when he ran out into the street after his dog. Becca wants to give away Danny's clothes, remove Danny's things, and sell their house, but Howie is angry at Becca's elimination of anything that reminds them of their child. Howie also wants to resume sexual relations with Becca and have another child, but she rejects his advances.
Becca's mother, Nat, compares herself with Becca as she lost a 30-year-old son from a drug overdose. Becca states the two deaths are not comparable but eventually realizes their grief is the same and will never stop. Becca's sister, Izzy, is pregnant, and Becca keeps giving Izzy advice about becoming a mother, which Izzy resents.
Becca and Howie attend a self-help group, but Becca is irritated by some members of the group, particularly by one couple who attribute their child's death to God's will. Howie continues to attend the meetings without Becca, and he and long-time member Gabby almost begin an affair. However, Howie backs out of it.
Meanwhile, Becca starts meeting with Jason, the teenage driver of the car that hit Danny. She discovers he feels guilty and tells him she does not blame him for the accident. Jason tells her about a comic book he is writing called "Rabbit Hole", which is about parallel universes, and gives it to Becca to read who thinks it is wonderful. Howie does not like Becca's meetings with Jason..
Howie and Becca start to have new activities, such as bowling and playing games, and they start to accept their son's death.
Howie and Becca decide to have a garden lunch. The scene begins with Howie telling Becca how the lunch would take place, while simultaneously the screen fades into the lunch as Howie continues to speak in the background. The film ends with Becca and Howie sitting in their garden alone holding hands after all their guests have left.
Rachel Getting Married (2008)
Color
Former model in and out of rehab for past ten years returns for her sister's wedding
Rachel Getting Married
"Kym Buchman is temporarily discharged from drug rehab for a few days so that she can attend her older sister Rachel's wedding to Sidney Williams. Kym's history of drug abuse and alcohol-infused antics has left her the black sheep of the family, and caused rifts between herself and others. Upon arriving to her paternal home, full of several close friends and family members bustling about and planning activities for the momentous occasion, Kym experiences several challenges reintegrating into the household. For instance, Kym's father, Paul, shows intense concern for her well-being, which Kym interprets as mistrust. Kym also resents Rachel's choice in designating her best friend as maid of honor, relegating her sister to possible bridesmaid due to doubt over whether Kym would have the faculty to make an appearance at all. Rachel, in turn, resents the attention her sister's drug addiction is drawing away from her wedding, which is exacerbated by Kym's behavior at the rehearsal dinner, when she, amid toasts from friends and family, forces an opportunity to offer a strangely blanket apology for her past actions, as part of her twelve-step program.
Underlying the family's broader dynamic is a tragedy that occurred several years earlier, which Kym retells at a Narcotics Anonymous meeting. As a teenager, Kym was responsible for the death of her younger brother, Ethan, who was left under her supervision one day; driving home from a nearby park, an intoxicated Kym had lost control of the car, careening off a bridge and into a lake, where her brother drowned. The memory of his death is ensconced in several activities and conversations, throughout the days immediately preceding the wedding.
The day before the wedding, as Rachel, Kym, and the other bridesmaids are preparing their hair at a salon, Kym is approached by a man whom she met at rehab years ago. He proclaims himself several months sober, and adamantly thanks her for instilling courage within him, through her story of strength - a story which he's unaware is fully fabricated, to evade accepting responsibility for her own addiction. His genuine graciousness is superseded when Rachel overhears this exchange, and storms out of the hair salon, angered that Kym would lie about having been molested by an uncle or tending to an anorexic sister.
The tension between the sisters flares later that night at Paul's house, as Rachel suggests that Kym's rehab has been a complete hoax, revealing to the rest of the family that Kym falsified her story to medical professionals and other addicts in ways that implicated them as well. Rachel also claims that she has never forgiven Kym for their brother's death, to which Kym acknowledges that any amount of progress she makes may never make her worthy of forgiveness. In desperation, she leaves in her father's car and drives to their mother's (Abby's) home, hoping to find solace. This backfires, with empathetic understanding being replaced by a prevailing tone of mutual accusation over responsibility for Ethan's death, culminating in a physical altercation between the two. Heavily distraught over Abby's denial over her own role in Ethan's death, Kym leaves and drives the car off the road in an attempted suicide, crashing into a boulder. She survives and spends the night sleeping in the crashed car, while the rest of the family grow more concerned over her whereabouts. The next morning (the day of the wedding), the police wake up Kym and conduct a field sobriety test on her, which she passes. She gets a ride home with the tow truck driver, and makes her way to Rachel's room as Rachel prepares for the wedding.
Seeing Kym's bruised face prompts Rachel's previous anger to vanish. Rachel tenderly bathes and dresses her sister, in the process unveiling a tattoo on Kym's shoulder with Ethan's name permanently imprinted onto her skin, as an eternal reminder of his life and death, and a marker of guilt.
Amid a festive Indian theme, Rachel and her fiance, Sidney, are wed. Kym is the maid of honor, and is overcome with emotion as the couple exchange their vows. She tries to enjoy herself throughout the wedding reception, but continues to feel alienated, and plagued by her dispute with Abby, who's also present. Ultimately, Abby leaves the reception early, despite Rachel's effort to bring the two together, and the discord between Kym and Abby is left unresolved. The next morning, Kym returns to rehab. As she's leaving, Rachel runs out of the house to hug her.
Rain Man (1988)
Color
Man takes custody of brother with autism
Rain Man
"Charlie Babbitt (Tom Cruise), a narcissistic Los Angeles car dealer in his mid-twenties, is in the middle of importing four grey market Lamborghinis. The deal is being threatened by the EPA, and if Charlie cannot meet its requirements he will lose a significant amount of money. After some quick subterfuge with an employee, Charlie leaves for a weekend trip to Palm Springs with his girlfriend, Susanna (Valeria Golino).
Charlie's trip is cancelled by news that his estranged father, Sanford Babbitt, has died. Charlie travels to Cincinnati, Ohio, to settle the estate, where he learns an undisclosed trustee is inheriting $3 million on behalf of an unnamed beneficiary, while all he is to receive is a classic Buick Roadmaster convertible and several prize rose bushes. Eventually he learns the money is being directed to a mental institution, which is the home of his autistic brother, Raymond (Dustin Hoffman), of whose existence Charlie was previously unaware. This leads Charlie to ask the question that permeates the movie: "Why didn't somebody tell me I had a brother?"
Although Raymond has autism, he also has superb recall, albeit usually with little understanding of the subject matter, but has extreme skills in mathematics (in those scenes he merely remembers the answers, and with no understanding of currency). He is said to be a savant by some doctors. He is frightened by change and adheres to strict routines (for example, his continual repetition of the "Who's on First?" sketch). Except when he is in distress, he shows little emotional expression and avoids eye contact. Numbed by learning that he has a brother and determined to get what he believes is his fair share of the Babbitt estate, Charlie takes Raymond on what becomes a cross-country car trip (due to Raymond's fear of flying) back to Los Angeles to meet with his attorneys. Charlie intends to start a custody battle in order to get Raymond's doctor, Dr. Gerald R. Bruner (Jerry Molen), to settle out of court for half of Sanford Babbitt's estate so that the mental institution can maintain custody of Raymond. Susanna, disgusted by Charlie's self-centeredness and his attempts at using his brother as a pawn to gain the money, leaves Charlie in Cincinnati and disappears.
During the course of the journey, Charlie learns about Raymond's autism, which he initially believes is not authentic -- resulting in his frequent frustration with his brother's antics. He also learns about how his brother came to be separated from his family, as a result of an accident when he was left alone with Charlie when Charlie was a baby. Raymond also sings "I Saw Her Standing There" by The Beatles like he did when Charlie was young, prompting Charlie to realize that Raymond is the protective figure from his childhood, whom he falsely remembered as an imaginary friend named "Rain Man", which was a mispronunciation of "Raymond". Charlie proves to be sometimes shallow and exploitative, as when he learns that Raymond has an excellent memory and takes him to Las Vegas to win money at blackjack by counting cards. However, towards the end of their trip Charlie finds himself becoming protective of Raymond, and grows to love him truly.
Charlie finally meets with his attorney to try to get his share of his inheritance, but then decides that he no longer cares about the money and really just wants to have custody of his brother. However, at a meeting with a court-appointed psychiatrist and Dr. Bruner, who is also a friend of Charlie's father and is left in charge of that money, Raymond is unable to decide exactly what he wants. Eventually, the psychiatrist presses Raymond to make the decision, upsetting him and leading Charlie to request that the doctor back off. Raymond is allowed to go back home to Cincinnati. Charlie, who has gained a new brother and mellowed considerably, promises Raymond as he boards an Amtrak train that he will visit in two weeks.
Rasputin the Mad Monk (1966)
Color
Russian monk manipulates his way into Russian royalty
Rasputin the Mad Monk
"The story begins in the Russian countryside, where Rasputin heals the sick wife of an innkeeper (Derek Francis). When he is later hauled before an Orthodox bishop for his sexual immorality and violence, the innkeeper springs to the monk's defense. Rasputin protests that he is sexually immoral because he likes to give God "sins worth forgiving" (loosely based on Rasputin's rumored connection to Khlysty, an obscure Christian sect which believed that those deliberately committing fornication, then repenting bitterly, would be closer to God). He also claims to have healing powers in his hands, and is unperturbed by the bishop's accusation that his power comes from Satan.
Rasputin heads for St. Petersburg, where he forces his way into the home of Dr Zargo (Pasco), from where he begins his campaign to gain influence over the Tsarina (Asherson). He manipulates one of the Tsarina's ladies-in-waiting, Sonia (Shelley), whom he uses to satisfy his voracious sexual appetite and gain access to the Tsarina. He places her in a trance to injure the czar's heir Alexei, so that Rasputin can be called to court to heal him. After, this success, he hypnotizes the Tsarina to replace her existing doctor with Zargo (who has previously been struck off after a scandal).
However, Rasputin's ruthless pursuit of wealth and prestige, and increasing control over the royal household attracts opposition. Sonia's brother, Peter (Landen), enraged by Rasputin's seduction of his sister, enlists the help of Ivan to bring about the monk's downfall. Peter, in challenging the monk, is horribly scarred by acid thrown in his face, and suffers a lingering death.
Tricking Rasputin into thinking his sister Vanessa (Farmer) is interested in him, Ivan arranges a supposed meeting. However, Zargo has poisoned the wine and chocolates, which the Monk starts to consume. Soon Rasputin collapses, but the poison is not enough to kill him. In the ensuing struggle between the three men, Zargo is stabbed by Rasputin and quickly dies. Ivan manages to throw Rasputin out of the window to his death.
Ratatouille (2007)
Black & White
Rat is the secret to chef's success
Ratatouille
"Remy is an idealistic and ambitious young rat, gifted with highly developed senses of taste and smell. Inspired by his idol, the recently deceased chef Auguste Gusteau, Remy dreams of becoming a cook himself. When an old French woman discovers Remy's colony in her house and attempts to exterminate them, they are forced to flee, and Remy becomes separated from his family in the panic. He ends up in the sewers of Paris and eventually finds himself at a skylight overlooking the kitchen of Gusteau's restaurant.
As Remy watches through the window, a young man named Alfredo Linguini is hired as a garbage boy by Skinner, the restaurant's devious current owner and Gusteau's former sous-chef. When Linguini spills a pot of soup and attempts to recreate it, Remy recognizes that he is ruining it instead, and repairs Linguini's mistakes. Linguini catches Remy but hides him when he is then confronted by Skinner for tampering with the soup. As the two argue, the soup is accidentally served and proves to be a success. Colette Tatou, the staff's only female chef, convinces Skinner to retain Linguini, who is assumed to be the soup's creator. When Skinner catches Remy trying to escape, he orders Linguini to kill the rat, but Linguini discovers Remy's intelligence and decides to keep him instead.
On Linguini's first day as a chef, he and Remy find a way to communicate: Remy guides Linguini like a marionette by pulling on his hair while hidden under Linguini's toque, while Skinner assigns Colette to train his new cook.
Suspicious, Skinner learns that Linguini is Gusteau's illegitimate son and the rightful heir to the restaurant, which jeopardizes Skinner's control of the restaurant and the lucrative packaged food enterprise he formed using the restaurant's reputation after Gusteau's death. Remy discovers the evidence of Linguini's inheritance and, after eluding Skinner, gives it to Linguini, who deposes Skinner as owner. The restaurant continues to thrive, and Linguini and Colette develop a budding romance, leaving Remy feeling left out. Remy finds that his clan has come to Paris as well, and is taken to their new lair, but despite his father Django's attempts to rid his son of his admiration of humans, Remy leaves.
France's top restaurant critic, Anton Ego, whose previous negative review cost Gusteau's one of its stars, announces he will be re-reviewing the restaurant the following evening. After a disagreement with Linguini, Remy leads his clan to raid the restaurant's pantries in retaliation, but Linguini catches them and sends them out. Having now discovered Remy's skills, Skinner captures him in an attempt to use him to create a new line of frozen foods. However, Remy is freed by his brother Emile and Django. He returns to the restaurant, only to find Linguini is unable to cook without him. Linguini apologizes and reveals the truth to the staff, but they leave in disbelief. Colette later returns after recalling Gusteau's motto, "Anyone can cook."
Django arrives with the rest of the clan, offering to help after seeing his son's determination. Remy has the rats cook, while Linguini waits tables. For Ego and Skinner, Remy and Colette create a variation of ratatouille, which reminds an astonished Ego of his mother's cooking. During the meal, the rats are forced to tie up Skinner and a health inspector to prevent them from revealing their involvement in the cooking. When Ego requests to see the chef, Linguini and Colette make him wait until the rest of the diners have left before introducing Remy. Ego is stunned and leaves the restaurant, deep in thought. He writes a positive and thoughtful review for the newspaper the next day, stating that Gusteau's chef (Remy) is "nothing less than the finest chef in France."
Despite the positive review, Gusteau's is shut down, since Linguini and Remy had to release Skinner and the health inspector. Ego loses credibility as a critic but funds a popular new bistro, "La Ratatouille", created and run by Remy, Linguini, and Colette; Ego frequents the bistro for Remy's cooking. The rats settle into their new home in the bistro's roof.
Rear Window (1954)
Color
Man with broken leg becomes obsessed with lives of other people through his window
Rear Window
"After breaking his leg photographing a racetrack accident, professional photographer L.B. "Jeff" Jefferies (James Stewart) is confined to his Greenwich Village apartment, using a wheelchair while he recuperates. His rear window looks out onto a small courtyard and several other apartments. During a summer heat wave, he passes the time by watching his neighbors, who keep their windows open to stay cool. The tenants he can see include a dancer he nicknames "Miss Torso", a lonely woman he nicknames "Miss Lonelyhearts", a composer-pianist, several married couples, a middle-aged sculptor, and Lars Thorwald (Raymond Burr), a traveling jewelry salesman with a bedridden wife.
One evening Jeff hears a woman scream "Don't!" and a glass break. Later he is awakened by thunder and sees Thorwald leaving his apartment. Thorwald makes repeated late-night trips carrying his sample case. Jeff notices that Thorwald's wife is gone and sees Thorwald cleaning a large knife and handsaw. Later, Thorwald ties a large trunk with heavy rope and has moving men haul it away. Jeff discusses these observations with his much-younger socialite girlfriend Lisa Fremont (Grace Kelly) and his insurance company home-care nurse Stella (Thelma Ritter), and becomes obsessed with his theory that Thorwald murdered his wife. He explains his theory to his friend Tom Doyle (Wendell Corey), a New York City Police detective, and asks him to find out whether anyone actually picks up the packing crate. Doyle looks into the situation but finds nothing suspicious, and discovers that "Mrs. Thorwald" picked up the packing crate. After Doyle leaves, Jeff asks Lisa if she thinks it was ethical for him to spy on his neighbor with binoculars and a telephoto lens; Lisa replies that she does not know much about "rear window ethics" but comments on their morbid curiosity by asking, "Whatever happened to that old saying, 'Love thy neighbor'?"
Soon after, a neighbor's dog is found dead, its neck broken. When the owner sees the lifeless body of her dog she screams to the courtyard: "You don't know the meaning of the word 'neighbors'. Neighbors like each other, speak to each other, care if anybody lives or dies! But none of you do!" and cries in grief. During the woman's hysterics, the neighbors all rush to their windows to see what has happened, except for Thorwald, whose cigar can be seen glowing as he sits in his dark apartment. Convinced that Thorwald is guilty after all, Jeff has Lisa slip an accusatory note under Thorwald's door so Jeff can watch his reaction when he reads it. Then, as a pretext to get Thorwald away from his apartment, Jeff telephones him and arranges a meeting at a bar. He thinks Thorwald may have buried something in the courtyard flower patch and then killed the dog to keep it from digging it up. When Thorwald leaves, Lisa and Stella dig up the flowers but find nothing.
Lisa then climbs the fire escape to Thorwald's apartment and squeezes in through an open window. When Thorwald returns and grabs Lisa, Jeff calls the police, who arrive in time to save her. With the police present, Jeff sees Lisa with her hands behind her back, wiggling her finger with Mrs. Thorwald's wedding ring on it. Thorwald also sees this, realizes that she is signaling to someone, and notices Jeff across the courtyard.
Jeff phones Doyle, now convinced that Thorwald is guilty of something, and Stella heads for the police station to post bail for Lisa, leaving Jeff alone. When the phone rings, Jeff assumes it's Doyle and quickly informs that the suspect had left the apartment. But as no one answers, he soon realizes that Thorwald himself had called him and was coming to his apartment. When he arrives, Jeff repeatedly sets off his camera flashbulbs, temporarily blinding Thorwald. Thorwald grabs Jeff and pushes him toward the open window as Jeff yells for help. Jeff falls to the ground just as some police officers enter the apartment and others run to catch him.
A few days later, the heat has lifted and Jeff rests peacefully in his wheelchair, now with casts on both legs. The lonely neighbor woman chats with the pianist in his apartment, the dancer's lover returns home from the army, the couple whose dog was killed have a new dog, and the newly married couple are bickering. Lisa reclines on the daybed in Jeff's apartment, appearing to read a book on foreign travel in order to please him. As soon as he is asleep, she puts the book down and happily opens a fashion magazine.
Rebecca (1940)
Black & White
Second wife moves in to find late first wife's influence is still strong in the household
Rebecca
"A na?ve young woman (Joan Fontaine), whose name is never mentioned, is in Monte Carlo working as a paid companion to Edythe Van Hopper (Florence Bates) when she meets the aristocratic but brooding widower Maximilian "Maxim" de Winter (Laurence Olivier). They fall in love, and within two weeks they are married.
She is now the second "Mrs. de Winter"; Maxim takes her back to Manderley, his country house in Cornwall. The housekeeper, Mrs. Danvers (Judith Anderson), is domineering and cold, and is obsessed with the beauty, intelligence and sophistication of the first Mrs. de Winter, the eponymous Rebecca, preserving her former bedroom as a shrine. Rebecca's so-called "cousin", Jack Favell (George Sanders), visits the house while Maxim is away.
The new Mrs. de Winter is intimidated by her responsibilities and begins to doubt her relationship with her husband. The continuous reminders of Rebecca overwhelm her; she believes that Maxim is still deeply in love with his first wife. She also discovers that her husband sometimes becomes very angry at her for apparently insignificant actions.
Trying to be the perfect wife, the young Mrs. de Winter convinces Maxim to hold a costume party, as he had done with Rebecca. The heroine wants to plan her own costume, but Mrs. Danvers suggests she copy the beautiful outfit in the ancestral portrait of Caroline de Winter. At the party, when the costume is revealed, Maxim is appalled; Rebecca wore the same outfit at the ball a year ago, shortly before her death.
The heroine confronts Danvers, who tells her she can never take Rebecca's place, and almost manages to convince her to jump to her death. An airborne flare reveals that a ship has hit the rocks. The heroine rushes outside, where she hears that during the rescue a sunken boat has been found with Rebecca's body in it.
Maxim admits to his new wife that he had earlier misidentified another body as Rebecca's, in order to conceal the truth. His first marriage, until now viewed by the world as ideal, was in fact a sham. At the very beginning of their marriage Rebecca had told Maxim she intended to continue the scandalous life she had previously lived. He hated her for this, but they agreed to an arrangement: in public she would pretend to be the perfect wife and hostess, and he would ignore Rebecca's promiscuity. However, Rebecca grew careless, including an ongoing affair with her "cousin" Jack Favell. One night, Rebecca told Maxim she was pregnant with Favell's child. During the ensuing heated argument she fell, hit her head and died. Maxim took the body out in her boat, which he then scuttled.
Shedding the remnants of her girlish innocence, Maxim's wife coaches her husband how to conceal the mode of Rebecca's death from the authorities. In the police investigation, deliberate damage to the boat points to suicide. However Favell shows Maxim a note from Rebecca which appears to prove she was not suicidal; Favell tries to blackmail Maxim. Maxim tells the police, and then falls under suspicion of murder. The investigation reveals Rebecca's secret visit to a London doctor (Leo G. Carroll), which Favell assumes was due to her illicit pregnancy. However, the police interview with the doctor establishes that Rebecca was not actually pregnant; the doctor had told her she was suffering from a late-stage cancer instead.
The coroner renders a finding of suicide. Only Frank Crawley (Maxim's best friend and manager of the estate), Maxim, and his wife know the full story: that Rebecca told Maxim she was pregnant with another man's child in order to try to goad him into killing her, an indirect means of suicide that would also have ensured her husband's ruination and possible execution.
As Maxim returns home from London to Manderley, he sees that the manor is on fire, set alight by the deranged Mrs. Danvers. The second Mrs. de Winter and the staff escape the blaze, but Danvers is killed when a floor collapses. Finally a silk nightdress case on Rebecca's bed, with a beautifully embroidered "R", is consumed by flames.
At Selznick's insistence, the film adapts the plot of du Maurier's novel Rebecca faithfully. However, at least one plot detail was altered to comply with the Hollywood Production Code, which said that the murder of a spouse had to be punished. In the novel, Maxim shoots Rebecca, while in the film, he only thinks of killing her as she taunted him into believing that she was pregnant with another man's child, and her subsequent death is accidental. However, Rebecca was not pregnant but had incurable cancer and had a motive to commit suicide, that of punishing Maxim from beyond the grave. Therefore her death is declared a suicide, not murder.
According to the book It's Only a Movie, Selznick wanted the smoke from the burning Manderley to spell out a huge "R". Hitchcock thought the touch lacked subtlety. While Selznick was preoccupied by Gone with the Wind (1939), Hitchcock was able to replace the smoky "R" with the burning of a monogrammed negligee case lying atop a bed pillow. According to Leonard Luff's book Hitchcock and Selznick, Selznick took control of the film once Hitchcock had completed filming, reshooting many sequences and rerecording many performances. Some sources say this experience led Hitchcock to edit future pictures in camera--shooting only what he wanted to see in the final film--a method of filmmaking that restricts a producer's power to reedit the picture.
Although Selznick insisted that the film be faithful to the novel, Hitchcock did make some other changes, especially with the character of Mrs. Danvers, though not as many as he had made in a previous rejected screenplay, in which he altered virtually the entire story. In the novel, Mrs. Danvers is something of a jealous mother figure, and her past is mentioned in the book. But in the film, Mrs. Danvers is a much younger character (the actress, Judith Anderson, would have been about 42 at the time of shooting) and her past is not revealed at all. The only thing we know about her is that she came to Manderley when Rebecca was a bride. Hitchcock made her more of a mysterious figure with subtly lesbian overtones, overtones which match well with du Maurier's own bisexuality.
The Hollywood Reporter reported in 1944 that Edwina Levin MacDonald sued Selznick, Daphne du Maurier, United Artists and Doubleday for plagiarism. MacDonald claimed that the film Rebecca was stolen from her novel Blind Windows, and sought an undisclosed amount of accounting and damages. The complaint was dismissed on 14 January 1948 and the judgement can be read online.
Red (2010)
Color
Ex CIA agent forced out of his quiet life when a target is put on his back
Red
"Frank Moses, retired black-ops CIA agent, lives alone in Cleveland, Ohio. Lonely, Frank often chats on the phone with Sarah Ross, a worker at the General Services Administration's Pension Office in Kansas City, Missouri. He creates opportunities to talk to her by tearing up his pension checks and calling her to say they had never arrived.
One night, a "wetwork" (assassination) squad raids Frank's house and attempts to kill him, but he easily wipes them out. Knowing they have tapped his phone, he believes Sarah will be targeted. In Kansas City, as Sarah refuses to go with him, he forcibly ties her up and gags her with duct tape. Meanwhile, CIA agent William Cooper is assigned by his boss, Cynthia Wilkes, to hunt down and kill Frank.
To find out who is targeting him, Frank tracks down his old associates for help. He goes to New Orleans, Louisiana and visits his C.I.A. mentor, Joe Matheson, who now lives in a nursing home. Joe tells Frank that the same hit squad murdered a reporter for The New York Times. Locked in a motel by Frank, Sarah escapes. Another agent, posing as a police officer, tries to kidnap her, but Frank returns in time. Cooper attacks them, but Frank tricks the police into arresting Cooper and escapes with Sarah. The two head to New York City and find clues left behind by the deceased reporter, which leads them to a hit list.
They then find Marvin Boggs, another former black ops agent and a paranoid conspiracy theorist. Marvin tells them the people on the list, including Frank and Marvin, are connected to a secret 1981 mission in Guatemala. Another person on the list, Gabriel Singer, is still alive. The trio tracks down Singer, who tells them that the mission involved extracting a person from a village. Singer is then assassinated by a helicopter-borne machine-gunner, and the team escapes as Cooper closes in.
Frank goes to ex-Russian secret agent Ivan Simanov, who helps him infiltrate CIA headquarters. In the CIA archive, the records keeper, who has much respect for Frank, simply hands him the Guatemala file. Frank confronts Cooper in his office and the two have a vicious fight. Though victorious, Frank is shot during his escape. Having escaped an attempt on his life, Joe arrives and helps extract the team. They hide out in the home of former wetwork agent Victoria (Helen Mirren), who treats Frank's wound and joins the team.
The file gives them clue to the next lead, Alexander Dunning, an illegal arms dealer. Frank, Marvin and Joe enter Dunning's mansion, with Joe posing as a buyer, while Victoria and Sarah keep watch outside. They interrogate Dunning, who reveals the target for extraction was the now--Vice President Robert Stanton (Julian McMahon). Stanton ordered the hit on the people involved in the mission to hide the fact that he massacred village civilians.
Cooper and the FBI surround Dunning's mansion. Cooper tries to negotiate Frank's surrender, and Frank tells him about the Vice President's treachery. The terminally ill Joe pretends to be Frank, walks outside, and is killed by an unknown sniper. The confusion, as well as Victoria's cover fire, buys the team enough time to leave the mansion, but Sarah is captured. They escape with the help of Ivan, who is Victoria's old flame. Frank calls Cooper from his family's phone and warns him against harming Sarah.
The team, along with Ivan, kidnaps Stanton. Frank calls Cooper, offering to trade Stanton for Sarah. At the meeting point, Dunning arrives. After a short dialogue, Dunning injures Stanton, revealing himself and Cynthia Wilkes to be masterminds behind the assassinations. Disgusted with Wilkes' corruption, Cooper pretends to arrest Frank, but shoots Wilkes. Marvin and Victoria kill Dunning's bodyguards, and Frank kills Dunning by crushing his windpipe. Cooper lets Frank's team go. As they leave the scene, Frank and Sarah are eager to start a new life together.
Ivan reminds Frank of his favor. A few months later, Frank and Marvin are in Moldova with a stolen nuclear device. They flee from Moldovan Army troops with Marvin wearing a dress and in a wooden wheelbarrow being pushed by Frank.
Red 2 (2013)
Color
Ex CIA agent is on the hunt for a missing nuclear device
Red 2
"Three years after the previous film, while trying to lead a normal life with girlfriend Sarah Ross (Mary-Louise Parker), Frank Moses (Bruce Willis) is approached by Marvin Boggs (John Malkovich), who claims people are still after them, but Frank dismisses him. After appealing a second time, Marvin drives off, and his car explodes. Although Frank does not believe Marvin is dead, Sarah convinces him to go to Marvin's funeral where he delivers a teary-eyed eulogy.
After the funeral, a group of government agents approach Frank and take him to be interrogated at a Yankee White Facility. During the interrogation, Jack Horton (Neal McDonough) appears with an armed SWAT team, kills most of the facility's personnel, and tells Frank that he will torture Sarah until he gets information out of Frank. Frank escapes from the room, evades Horton's assassins, and with the sudden timely help of Marvin, who turns out to be alive, goes on the run with Sarah.
Marvin explains that he and Frank are being hunted because they were listed as participants in a clandestine operation codenamed Nightshade, conducted during the Cold War to smuggle a nuclear weapon into Russia piece by piece. Horton has convinced world agencies that Frank and his crew are terrorists and must be stopped. Victoria (Helen Mirren) calls, telling Frank she has been contracted by MI6 to kill the three of them. Meanwhile, top contract killer Han Cho-Bai (Lee Byung-hun), whom Horton knows is seeking revenge on Frank, is also hired.
Frank, Marvin, and Sarah steal Han's plane and fly to Paris to find a man nicknamed "The Frog" (David Thewlis), with the Americans and Han in pursuit. As they arrive in Paris, they are stopped by Katja (Catherine Zeta-Jones), a Russian secret agent with whom Frank had a relationship earlier in his career. Katja is also in search of Nightshade, and joins them to find The Frog. When he sees them, The Frog flees. Frank and Katja catch him and bring him back to his house, where Sarah seduces him, both to help them and to prove she is a better girlfriend than Katja.
The Frog gives them the key to his security box, which Katja apparently takes from Frank after drugging him; but Marvin, anticipating this, had handed a similar-looking key to Frank before his meeting with her. Marvin, Frank, and Sarah later find documents in The Frog's security box which point to Dr. Edward Bailey (Anthony Hopkins), a brilliant physicist, as the creator of the Operation Nightshade bomb.
They find that Bailey is alive, held thirty-two years in a maximum security asylum for the criminally insane in London. Victoria (alerted by Marvin) unexpectedly confronts the trio, but helps to fake their deaths and then gain access to the asylum, in which Victoria feigns insanity, while Frank and Sarah pose as the facility staff. Frank and Victoria meet Bailey, who is hyperactive and cannot rationally respond to their questions thanks to mind-fogging drugs the asylum had been giving him, so they take him to one of Marvin's safehouses. After the drugs begin to wear off, Bailey remembers the bomb is still in Moscow.
They travel to Moscow, and Bailey concludes he hid the bomb in the Kremlin. They break into the Kremlin, and Bailey locates the suitcase-sized bomb, which is powered by red mercury, which has no radioactive signature and causes no fallout. As they are about to leave, Katja stops them. Frank persuades her to switch to their side. After they escape and are celebrating, Victoria, who has escaped MI6 imprisonment for failing to kill him, calls Frank from London and tells him that Bailey was locked up because he had wanted to detonate the bomb, not sell it.
Bailey quickly holds Frank at gunpoint and confirms Victoria's message, revealing that he made a deal with Horton and the Americans to give them the red mercury. He shoots Katja, staging her death at Frank's hands, and leaves with the bomb case. Horton reneges on his deal with Bailey, intending to interrogate him until all his secrets have been tortured out of him, but Bailey during air transit escapes using a nerve gas he created, administering the antidote to both himself and Horton. Bailey then moves to the Iranian embassy in London. Before Frank can follow him, Han attacks. Reaching a standoff, Frank urges Han to join sides with him and stop the bomb. Han finally relents, and the five enact a plan to recapture Bailey and the bomb.
Sarah first seduces the Iranian ambassador, then takes him hostage. Marvin poses as a person seeking to defect to Iran, causes a diversion with the embassy plumbing, and the disguised team comes to "fix" it. They discover in the ambassador's safe plans disclosing the location of the bomb, but find that Bailey has already triggered the bomb's countdown timer and killed Horton (after disclosing he also remembered how his family had been killed by people like Horton). When they are discovered by embassy guards, Bailey seizes Sarah and flees to the airport to escape the imminent explosion.
Frank, Marvin, Victoria, and Han, taking the active bomb case with them, give chase, but Marvin cannot stop the countdown. Frank, holding the bomb case, boards the plane and confronts Bailey who releases Sarah and forcefully insists he take the bomb off the plane with her. They rejoin Marvin, Victoria, and Han and wait for death as Han's plane takes off. As it disappears high in the sky it explodes in an immense fireball. Frank reveals that he had covertly placed the bomb from the case into a compartment near the plane's exit and confronted Bailey with only a closed empty case. Han angrily tells Frank that Frank owes him a private jet.
The closing scene shows Sarah enjoying herself on a mission in Caracas with Frank and Marvin.
Red Corner (1997)
Color
American business man finds himself charged with murder in China's nighmarish legal system
Red Corner
Wealthy American businessman Jack Moore (Richard Gere) is on a trip to China attempting to put together a satellite communications deal as part of a joint venture with the Chinese government. Before the deal can be finalized, Moore is framed for the murder of a powerful Chinese general's daughter, and the satellite contract is instead awarded to Moore's competitor, Gerhardt Hoffman (Ulrich Matschoss). Moore's court-appointed lawyer, Shen Yuelin (Bai Ling), initially does not believe his claims of innocence, but the pair gradually unearth evidence that not only vindicates Moore, but implicates powerful figures within the Chinese central government administration, exposing undeniable conspiracy and corruption. Shen manages to convince several high-ranking Chinese officials to release evidence that proves Moore's innocence. Moore is quickly released from prison while the conspirators responsible for framing him are arrested. At the airport, Moore asks Shen to leave China with him, but she decides to stay, as the case has opened her eyes to the injustices rife throughout China. She does admit, however, that meeting Moore has changed her life, and she now considers him a part of her family. They both share a heartfelt hug on the airport runway, before Moore departs for America.
Reds (1981)
Color
Life of Russian activist journalist and his family
Reds
"The film covers the life of John Reed and Louise Bryant from their first meeting to Reed's final days in 1920 Russia. Interspersed throughout the narrative, several surviving "witnesses" from the time period give their recollections on Reed, Bryant, their colleagues and friends, and the era itself. A number of them have mixed views of Bryant and her relationship with Reed.
In 1912, married socialite Bryant encounters the radical journalist John "Jack" Reed for the first time at a lecture in Portland, Oregon, and she is intrigued with his idealism. Upon meeting him for an interview on international politics which lasts over the course of a night, she realizes that writing has been her only escape from her frustrated high society existence. Inspired to leave her husband, Bryant joins Reed in Greenwich Village, New York City, and becomes acquainted with the local community of activists and artists, including anarchist and author Emma Goldman and the playwright Eugene O'Neill. Later, they move to Provincetown, Massachusetts, to concentrate on their writing, becoming involved in the local theatre scene. Through her writing, Louise becomes a feminist and radical in her own right. Reed becomes involved in labor strikes with the "Reds" of the American Communist Labor Party. Obsessed with changing the world, he grows restless, and heads for St. Louis to cover the 1916 Democratic Convention. During Reed's absence, Louise falls into a complicated affair with the alcoholic playwright Eugene O'Neill. Upon his return, Reed discovers the truth about the affair and realizes he still loves Louise. The two marry secretly and make a home together in Croton-on-Hudson, north of New York City, but still have conflicting desires. When Reed admits to his own infidelities, Bryant takes ship to Europe to work as a war correspondent. After a flare-up of a kidney disorder, Reed is warned to avoid excessive travel or stress, but he decides to take the same path. Reunited as professionals, the two find their passion rekindled as they are swept up in the fall of Russia's Czarist regime and the events of the 1917 Revolution.
The second part of the film takes place shortly after the publication of Ten Days that Shook the World. Inspired by the idealism of the Revolution, Reed attempts to bring the spirit of Communism to the United States, because he is disillusioned with the policies imposed upon Communist Russia by Grigory Zinoviev and the Bolsheviks. While attempting to leave Europe, he is briefly imprisoned and interrogated in Finland. He returns to Russia and is reunited with Bryant at the railway station in Moscow. By this point, Reed is growing progressively weaker as a result of his kidney disorder. Bryant helps nurse the ailing Reed, who passes away. In fact, Reed is the only American to be buried in the Kremlin.
Reign Over Me (2007)
Color
Widower deals with the loss of his family from 9/11
Reign Over Me
"Two old friends who fell out of touch are reunited by a chance meeting in New York City.
When the Twin Towers went down in 2001, Charlie Fineman (Sandler) lost everything important in his life. Five years have passed since Charlie's wife and daughters died, and now the once-successful and sociable man has become a withdrawn shadow of his former self.
When fate brings Charlie and his former college roommate Alan Johnson (Cheadle) together once again on a Manhattan street corner, Alan is shocked to see just how far his old friend has fallen. Charlie's hair is long and he wears headphones constantly to let music drown out the horrifying memories and img in his mind.
Though on the surface it would appear that Alan, a successful dentist, has it all, the pressures of a family and career have been weighing heavily on him. At a pivotal moment when Charlie and Alan both need a trusted friend, the restorative power of a rekindled friendship provides a lifeline needed to move forward.
Alan endeavors to bring Charlie out of his shell by convincing him to see a therapist (Liv Tyler). Charlie is barely communicative, however, ending their sessions after only a couple of minutes. His therapist says he needs to tell the story about his family to someone eventually. Charlie soon tells Alan his tragic story, but afterwards tries to commit suicide by cop and ends up in a sanitarium.
Legal proceedings commence, where a judge (Sutherland) must determine whether to commit Charlie to psychiatric care against his will. The judge leaves the decision to Charlie's in-laws, asking them to think of what their daughter would want for Charlie. They decide that he should not be committed; instead, Charlie moves to a new apartment, leaving behind the painful memories associated with his former home. At the end of the film, Alan visits Charlie for the day and his wife calls and tells him "I love you and just want you to come home.
Remember Me (2010)
Color
College student with a strained relationship with his father meets a girl who understands him
Remember Me
"In New York City in 1991, Alyssa "Ally" Craig is waiting with her mother for the subway, when they are mugged by two young men, who shoot her mother after boarding the train.
Ten years later, Ally is a student at New York University (NYU), and lives with her father, Neil, a New York Police Department detective. Tyler Hawkins audits classes at NYU and works at the university bookstore. He has a strained relationship with his workaholic businessman father, Charles, because his older brother, Michael, died by suicide years before. Charles ignores his youngest child, Caroline, of whom Tyler is protective.
One night, with his roommate, Aidan, Tyler gets involved in somebody else's fight, and is arrested by Neil. Aidan calls Charles to bail Tyler out, but he does not stick around to have a conversation with his father. Aidan sees Neil dropping Ally off, realizing that she is his daughter. He approaches Tyler with the idea to get back at the detective by persuading him to sleep with and dump Ally. Tyler and Ally go to dinner, kiss at the end of the night, and continue seeing one another. While at Tyler's apartment, Aidan convinces the pair to go to a party, after which Ally is very drunk, and ends up throwing up. She passes out before Tyler can get her to tell him Neil's phone number. The following day, she and her father argue. Neil slaps her, and Ally flees back to Tyler's apartment.
Caroline, a budding artist, is featured in an art show, and Tyler asks his father to attend the show. When he fails to show up, Caroline is heartbroken and Tyler confronts him in a board room filled with people, which causes his father's frustration to boil over. Tyler accuses his father of willingly distancing himself from his children to never feel the pain of losing another child, and father and son nearly come to blows. Neil's partner recognizes Tyler with Ally on a train, so Neil breaks into Tyler's apartment, and confronts him. Tyler provokes Neil by confessing to Aidan's plan and his initial reason for meeting Ally, which forces Tyler to confess to Ally. She leaves and returns home. Aidan visits Ally at her father's home to explain that he is to blame, and Tyler is genuinely in love with her.
Caroline is bullied by classmates at a birthday party where they cut a chunk of her hair off. Ally and Aidan visit Tyler's mother's apartment, where Caroline is sobbing. Tyler accompanies his sister back to school, and when her classmates tease her for her new haircut, Tyler turns violent, and ends up in jail. Charles is impressed that Tyler stood up for his sister, and they connect. Charles asks Tyler to meet with the lawyers at his office.
Tyler spends the night with Ally, and they reveal they love each other after making love. Charles takes Caroline to school. He calls Tyler to let him know this, and explains that he will be late. Tyler is happy that his father is spending time with Caroline. He tells Charles that he will wait in his office. He looks on Charles's computer, featuring a slideshow of pictures with Tyler, Michael, and Caroline when they were younger.
After Charles drops Caroline off at school, she sits in her classroom, where the teacher writes the date on the blackboard as September 11, 2001. Tyler looks out the window of his father's office, which is revealed to be located on the 101st floor of the North Tower of the World Trade Center. Once the terrorist attacks begin, the rest of the family, Aidan and Ally, look at the towers before the camera pans over the rubble, showing Tyler's diary. In a voice-over of his diary, Tyler reveals to Michael that he loves him, and he forgives him for killing himself. Tyler is buried next to Michael.
Some time later, Caroline and Charles seem to have a healthy father-daughter relationship. Aidan, who has since gotten a tattoo of Tyler's name on his arm, is working hard in school, and Ally gets on the subway at the same spot where her mother was killed.
Repo Men (2010)
Color
Repo man flees ex-partner after failing to make payments on his recently installed ticker
Repo Men
"The film opens in a very grungy, broken, obviously destitute ghetto area where we see a half-naked man laboriously two-finger pecking at an old typewriter. We hear Remy in the third person musing on the fate of Schrodinger's cat.
In 2025, a corporation called "The Union" has perfected the creation of bio-mechanical organs, which are available to those with money or "good credit." If a customer falls three months behind on payments, a "repo man" is sent to reclaim the artificial organ (artiforgs). The process of the repossession almost always results in the death of the customer. Remy (Jude Law) and his partner Jake Freivald (Forest Whitaker) are considered the best of the Union's repo men. This causes personal issues between Remy and his wife, Carol (Carice van Houten), forcing Remy to consider a transfer to sales.
After taking out a "Nest", a hideout of those who have fallen behind on credit, Remy and Jake are asked by their boss Frank Mercer (Liev Schreiber) to become full-time raid captains, those who lead daily Nest raids. Remy refuses and is about to ask Frank about a job in sales, but he is interrupted by Jake. Later while driving, Jake tries to convince Remy that their job is important regardless of the moral issues.
Still attempting to save his marriage with a transfer to sales, Jake tells Remy that his last job should be a cardiac repossession from a musician named T-Bone of whom Remy is a big fan. The repo requires the use of a defibrillator. The device malfunctions; and Remy is violently shocked and severely injured. The damage requires the replacement of his own heart with an artiforg heart.
Carol divorces Remy; so he moves in temporarily with Jake. Although he tries his hand at sales, he is unable to lie to potential costumers about the consequences of non-payment and loses most of his commissions. Remy is forced back into repo to pay for his heart. But due to his own artificial organ, he develops sympathy with his victims leaving him unable to perform his job and earn any money. When Jake discovers that Remy has not been repossessing, he takes him to another nest to find enough artiforgs to clear his debt and get over his inability to repossess. However, Remy still cannot find it to do his job. Jake stuns two insolvents and insists that Remy stay and finish the repossessions until he gets over his "Hump." During Remy's deliberations with his conscience, a debtor revives and beats him unconscious.
Upon awakening Remy encounters Beth (Alice Braga), who is past due on multiple organ transplants. After a failed attempt to clear both their individual accounts back at the Union's local headquarters, Remy torches his car and anything else traceable before the two leave to live in the outskirts. Beth gifts him with an old manual typewriter; and Remy decides to document his life as a repo man. The typing process is a flashback to the opening scene of the film. As he works, he is interrupted by the arrival of another repo man, identified earlier in the film as a rather pathetic "level 3" collector, intending to repossess his heart. Remy sets a trap and drops him three stories through a hole in the floor. The floor then gives way so Beth accidentally falls through the same hole and her prosthetic knee gets badly damaged. The level 3 collector is about to shoot Beth so Remy ultimately drops the typewriter on his head.
Using the repo man's vehicle, Remy sneaks back into his former workplace to obtain a pair of jamming devices that fool organ scanners used by repo men. He attempts to force Frank to clear his account only to discover that due to his prior attempt, all accounts can only be cleared back at the Union's central office. Remy and Beth attempt to flee the country at the airport, but are taken by security when the bleeding from Beth's knee leaves a significant pool on the floor. A major fight with airport security ensues. Jake has been put on their trail after the failure of the earlier repo attempt. He finds them at the airport; but is on the wrong side of a security panel and can only watch their escape. The pair head to a black market doctor, where Beth's knee is replaced.
After the procedure, the two are stopped by Jake, who has tracked the pair. A bitter fight ensues, during which it is revealed that it was Jake that rigged the defibrillator unit to fail, causing Remy's heart replacement -- he did this to ensure that Remy keeps his organ repossession job, so they could get promoted. The two fight, but Jake wins the fight fairly decisively. During a pause for manic laughter, Remy simultaneously stabs Jake above the knee, while Jake knocks Remy unconscious with a heavy steel hook, and Beth shoots Jake with his stun pistol.
After a sequence of phantasmagorical flashbacks, Beth awakens Remy and they become aware that an organ repossession raid is underway. They flee with the other residents of the ghetto and accidentally stumble upon a scan-blocked refuge with a small fraction of the other residents. After an indeterminate period of rest and sleep, Remy leaves the refuge to find dozens of the other occupants slain and eviscerated by the Union's repo men. He resolves to destroy the corporation and delete all accounts of all Union implanted individuals: "We wipe the system. No more accounts. No one's overdue." Remy passes his manuscript to his son during a brief meeting on a train.
The pair then travel to The Union's headquarters, hoping to fulfill their pledge to wipe the system. Remy and Beth are pursued throughout the building, and after an intense battle, arrive at the Pink Door, the main database for the Union. Using Beth's prosthetic eye, they are able to seal themselves inside just as Jake and Frank arrive. Once inside, they discover that the server does not have any interface other than an organ scanner. Remy realizes that the only modifications they can make to the system are with what they brought in themselves. Remy and Beth take turns cutting themselves open in order to use the scanner internally, clearing their own accounts. Jake and Frank are able to enter through the use of an organ scavenged from a victim of Remy's earlier fight and catch Remy trying desperately to scan Beth's last overdue organ. Remy tells them that he is losing her. Jake asks Remy if she is worth it, to which he responds: "She's worth every job that we ever did". Frank pulls a gun to kill Remy, but Jake turns on his employer, killing him with a knife. Jake then assists Remy in reviving Beth; after which, he deposits two explosives inside the organ retrieval unit in lieu of the many organs previously scanned. The explosion destroys the Union's mainframe, wiping everyone who has an account with the corporation out of the system.
Later, Remy is on a tropical beach, enjoying his freedom with Beth and Jake. His text from earlier in the film has been published into a book, The Repossession Mambo. Remy turns to look at Jake, but sees instead the background flickering and incoherent voices. It is discovered that Remy, in fact, sustained severe brain damage when Jake hit him with the heavy hook earlier in the film. Jake, out of remorse, has paid off Remy's account and has had him placed in a neural network, allowing him to live the rest of his life in a dream. Beth is still alive but unconscious, and when questioned as to what to do with her, Jake says he will take care of her. This renders the ending sequence of the film as simply a fantasy of Remy's. Jake finds Remy's manuscript, which he greets with a sad, stifled sigh, as his former partner is wheeled away, presumably to spend the rest of his life in his fantasy world. The film ends with Frank delivering a sales pitch for the neural network.
Requiem for a Dream (2000)
Color
About a widow's dependence on amphetamines and her heroin-addicted son
Requiem for a Dream
"Sara Goldfarb, a widow who lives alone in a Brighton Beach apartment, spends her time watching television. Her son Harry is a heroin addict, along with his friend Tyrone and girlfriend Marion. The three traffic heroin in a bid to realize their dreams; Harry and Marion plan to open a clothing store for Marion's designs, while Tyrone seeks an escape from the ghetto and the approval of his mother. When Sara receives a call that she has been invited to her favorite game show, she begins a restrictive crash diet in an attempt to fit into a red dress that she wore at Harry's graduation.
At the advice of her friend Rae, Sara visits a physician who prescribes her amphetamines to control her appetite. She begins losing weight rapidly and is excited by how much energy she has. When Harry recognizes the signs of her drug abuse and implores her to stop taking the amphetamines, Sara insists that the chance to appear on television and the increased admiration from her friends Ada and Rae are her remaining reasons to live. As time passes Sara becomes frantic waiting for the invitation and increases her dosage, which causes her to develop amphetamine psychosis.
Tyrone is caught in a shootout between drug traffickers and the Sicilian Mafia and is arrested despite his innocence. Harry has to use most of their earned money to post bail. As a result of the gang warfare, the local supply of heroin becomes restricted, and they are unable to find any to buy. Eventually, Tyrone hears of a large shipment coming to New York from Florida, but the price has doubled and the minimum purchase is high. Harry encourages Marion to engage in prostitution with her psychiatrist, Arnold, for money. This request, along with their mounting withdrawal symptoms, strains their relationship.
Sara's increased dosage of amphetamines distorts her sense of reality, and she begins to hallucinate that she is mocked by the host and crowd from the television show, and attacked by her refrigerator. Sara flees her apartment and goes to the casting agency office in Manhattan to confirm when she will be on television. Sara's disturbed state causes her to be admitted to a psychiatric ward, where she fails to respond to various medications. She undergoes electroconvulsive therapy instead. After the heroin shipment falls through, Harry and Tyrone travel to Miami to buy heroin directly from the wholesaler. However, they are forced to stop at a hospital because of Harry's gangrenous arm. A doctor realizes that Harry is a drug addict and calls the police resulting in both Harry and Tyrone being arrested.
Back in New York, a desperate Marion sells her body to a pimp, Big Tim. She subjects herself to a humiliating sex show at his request, in exchange for more heroin. Sara's treatment leaves her in a dissociated catatonic near-vegetative state, to the horror of her friends Ada and Rae, who weep and try to comfort each other on a park bench outside the hospital. Harry's arm is amputated above the elbow, and he is emotionally distraught by the knowledge that Marion will not visit him. Tyrone is taunted by racist prison guards while enduring a combination of grueling manual labor and withdrawal symptoms. Marion returns home and lies on her sofa, clutching her score of heroin and surrounded by her crumpled and discarded clothing designs. Each of the four characters curl into a fetal position. Sara imagines herself as the beautiful winner of the game show, with Harry--married and successful--arriving as a guest. Sara and Harry lovingly embrace.
Reservation Road (2007)
Color
When their son his killed in a hit-and-run, the father seeks to hunt down and punish the perp
Reservation Road
"Dwight Arno is an attorney who is divorced from his wife Ruth. Ruth controls custody of their son Lucas while Dwight maintains visitation rights. Dwight and Lucas are at a baseball game when Ruth calls, informing Dwight that he is late returning their son home. Dwight drives Lucas home in a hurry, thinking he might otherwise forfeit his visitation privileges. When he loses control of his vehicle, he strikes a young boy, Josh Learner, who is standing by the roadside.
Aware that he has struck the boy, Dwight decides to flee the scene. He further lies to Lucas, who has a minor injury from the incident, saying that they had collided with a tree log. Dwight later hears on a newscast that Josh died in the collision. Subsequently, he tries to cover up the evidence which implicates him in the hit-and-run. After the initial shock, Josh's mother Grace gradually tries to get on with life, but her husband Ethan obsesses over finding the perpetrator. Frustrated with the lack of progress the police are making, Ethan eventually decides to hire a lawyer, who oddly enough turns out to be Dwight.
Consumed with guilt, Dwight decides to turn himself in. At the police station he is at the point of confessing, but he does not get the chance. The investigating officer, thinking he has come as Ethan's lawyer, admits that the case is going nowhere and leaves the room before Dwight can say anything else. While picking up his daughter Emma, who has begun taking piano lessons from Ruth, Ethan encounters Dwight again. In anticipation of going to jail later, Dwight asks Ruth to have Lucas for a week stating that it will be the last week for a long time. Sensing desperation, Ruth reluctantly agrees.
Ethan eventually discovers the truth and fears that Dwight would be sentenced to only a short time in prison. He buys a gun and arrives at Dwight's house just as Lucas has gone to bed. Dwight begs Ethan to take him outside and spare Lucas the trauma. Ethan forces Dwight into the trunk of his car and lets him out after a short drive. Because of Ethan's emotional state and resulting hesitation, Dwight manages to grab the gun and point it at Ethan. He then points the gun at himself and convinces Ethan that he wishes he had died instead of Josh. Ethan leaves Dwight to deal with his remorse. The film ends with Lucas, by himself, watching a taped confession to the hit-and-run that Dwight had made earlier.
Return to Peyton Place (1961)
Color
Robert Carter campaigns to get book about Peyton Place into the library
Return to Peyton Place
"Allison MacKenzie receives a phone call from Lewis, who shows interest in publishing her book and promises to turn her into a household name whose books are exclusively bestsellers. Allison is ecstatic after hearing the news, unlike her best friend Selena Cross, who is still receiving a lot of criticism from the townspeople for her shameful past. Among these people are Mrs. Roberta Carter, an old-fashioned, domineering woman who is unamused her son Ted has had a close bond with Selena. Later that day, Mrs. Carter is visited by her son, who currently lives in Boston. Ted shocks her with the information of having married an Italian fashion model, Raffaella. Mrs. Carter looks down on Raffaella and contacts Selena to drive them apart, but Selena looks through the scheme and refuses to cooperate. She angrily leaves and is involved in a car accident. Young ski instructor Nils Larsen helps her out, and although she treats him coldly, she feels attracted to him.
Meanwhile, Constance reluctantly allows her daughter to visit New York for a meeting with Lewis. Allison is unamused to find out Lewis wants to make several changes in the book, but agrees on cooperating. Constance calls her the next morning and is worried to find out Allison and Lewis have been working all night long, expecting the worst. Back in Peyton Place, Raffaella threatens to ban Mrs. Carter from Ted's life if she continues to treat her horribly. Raffaella and Ted go skiing later that day and Ted is surprised to see Selena with Nils, who Selena finally agreed on dating after bumping into him several times.
The following weeks, Allison spends her time promoting her book, doing interviews for talk shows and radio programs. She is slowly turned into a celebrity, and flirts with Lewis along the way. She is angry to find out Lewis is married, but after she is awarded the first copy of her book, she nevertheless kisses him. The book soon becomes a commercial success due to its meaty contents, but it is heavily criticized by the townspeople of Peyton Place. Constance is disappointed in Allison for allowing the many changes that have been made in the editing room. Selena is disgusted by the way she is portrayed and loses her mind, knocking Nils down with a poker, mistaking him for her abuser Lucas.
Meanwhile, Mike Rossi, principal of the local high school, husband of Constance and only defender of Allison's book, risks being discharged by the school board, of which Mrs. Carter is the head, for refusing to remove Allison's book from the school library. At the Carter home, Ted confronts Raffaella with her quarrel with his mother. Raffaella, realizing Ted will never stand up against his mother, reveals she is pregnant, before angrily leaving her husband. Determined to terminate her pregnancy, she purposely causes a skiing accident.
When Allison finds out Mike has been fired, she finally decides to face the wrath of its residents, who are still incensed by their barely disguised counterparts and the revelation of town secrets in the book. She is immediately confronted by her mother for having sold her decency and self-respect for success and money. Despite the quarrel with her mother, Allison decides to support Mike, who has taken his case over being discharged to the town hall. Among the people defending Mike are Lewis, Nils and Ted. Nils points out that the bigoted townspeople have driven away Selena, who is nowhere to be found, and reveals his plans to marry Selena. Selena shows up not much later and blames the townspeople for making her feel ashamed, before thanking Allison for having written the truth. In the end, Roberta is denounced and Mike is given his job back when Constance publicly says that the older townspeople have been leading the lives of their children too long. Afterwards, Allison has finally become an adult and breaks her affair with Lewis, explaining she does not want to ruin his marriage. She also decides to leave town and start a brand new life.
Revenge (1990)
Color
Fighter pilot is attracted to the sultry wife of his powerful Mexican host
Revenge
"Michael J. "Jay" Cochran (Kevin Costner) is a U.S. Navy aviator, leaving the service after 12 years. He receives a matched pair of Beretta shotguns and an invitation from his wealthy friend, Tiburon "Tibey" Mendez (Anthony Quinn) to spend time at his hacienda in Mexico. Tibey is also a powerful crime boss, constantly surrounded by bodyguards.
In Mexico, Cochran meets Tibey's beautiful young wife, Miryea (Madeleine Stowe) who lives in lavish surroundings, but is unhappy because her much-older husband does not want children, feeling pregnancy would spoil her looks.
Jay presents Tibey with a Navy G-1 leather flight jacket. But he rubs Tibey's suspicious right-hand man, Cesar (Tomas Milian) the wrong way by behaving independently and not acting like an employee. After a dinner Tibey conducts a private meeting with business associates, killing one of them, while elsewhere Miryea and Jay get better acquainted, developing a romantic attraction for each other.
During a party, with Tibey and his men nearby, Jay and Miryea secretly have sex in a closet. Jay tells her he intends to leave Mexico, worried that Tibey will become aware of the situation. Miryea begs him to stay and having fallen in love with her, he agrees and together, they arrange a secret rendezvous at a remote cabin in Mexico.
Miryea tells Tibey that she will be visiting her sister in Miami, but Tibey overhears a telephone conversation in which Miryea asks her sister to lie for her. Tibey drives Mireya to the airport, giving her one last kiss. Jay is secretly waiting inside the airport and they drive off to the cabin.
At their hideaway, they are surprised by Tibey and his men. Jay's beloved dog Rocky is shot dead. Calling Miryea a "faithless whore", Tibey strikes her and cuts her across the mouth with a knife (creating half a Glasgow smile) as Tibey's henchmen viciously beat Jay bloody. After setting fire to the cabin, they dump Jay in the desert, leaving him to die.
Miryea is placed in a whorehouse with Tibby giving instructions for her to be “fucked 50 times a day”, where she is drugged, abused and relegated to "common use". The young man responsible for keeping her drugged has AIDS. As Miryea no longer wishes to live, she persuades him to share a needle with her, thus; infecting her.
An unconscious Jay is discovered by Mauro (Joaquin Martinez) a peasant farmer whose family slowly nurses Jay back to health. Jay returns to the burnt cabin and retrieves some money he had hidden. Mauro drives Jay to town and gives him a knife to "cut the balls off your enemy". Jay encounters a sickly Texan (James Gammon) transporting a horse, who offers Jay a ride to Durango. Inside a cantina, Jay notices one of the thugs who had thrashed him; he follows him into the men's room and cuts his throat.
After a day on the road, the Texan delivers the horse to a wealthy man, who recognizes Jay from an afternoon at Tibey's estate. The friendly Texan later dies peacefully in his car, while Jay is driving.
At a motel, Jay runs across Amador (Miguel Ferrer) Mauro's brother-in-law. Amador and his quiet friend, Ignacio (John Leguizamo) are willing to help Jay because Amador's sister was killed after getting mixed up in business that involved Tibey. They capture another of Tibey's henchmen, who tells them where Miryea can be found. Jay barges into the brothel, only to find that she has been moved. The madam taunts Jay that Miryea proved very popular with the clientele. No one but Tibey knows where she is.
Jay, Amador and Ignacio ambush Tibey and his bodyguard during Tibey's morning horseback ride. Jay is there to ask Miryea's whereabouts, but first Tibey requests that Jay ask forgiveness for having stolen his wife. When Jay lowers his gun and asks Tibey's forgiveness, Tibey reveals that Miryea is in a convent.
Miryea is in a convent hospice, dying of AIDS. Jay arrives in time to tell Miryea that he loves her. He then carries her outside and Miryea then tells Jay that she also loves him, moments before she dies in his arms.
Reversal of Fortune (1990)
Color
Husband beats murder rap for death of his diebetic wife
Reversal of Fortune
The story is narrated by Sunny von B?low who is in a coma after falling into diabetic shock after a Christmas party. Her husband, the dissolute European aristocrat Claus von B?low is charged with attempting to murder her by giving the hypoglycemic Sunny an overdose of insulin. Claus' strained relationship with his wife and his cold and haughty personal demeanor lead most people to conclude that he is guilty. In need of an innovative defense, Claus turns to law professor Alan Dershowitz. Dershowitz is initially convinced of Claus' guilt, but takes the case because von B?low agrees to fund Dershowitz' defense of two poor black teenagers accused of capital murder. Employing his law students as workers, Dershowitz proceeds to defend Claus, wrestling with his client's unnerving personal style and questions of von B?low's guilt or innocence.
Revolutionary Road (2008)
Color
With a seemingly perfect marriage, Frank and April find their lives engulfed in emptiness
Revolutionary Road
"In the late 1940s, Frank Wheeler (Leonardo DiCaprio) meets April (Kate Winslet) at a party. He is a longshoreman, hoping to be a cashier; she wants to be an actress. Frank later secures a sales position with the same company at which his father worked and he and April marry. In 1955, the Wheelers move to 115 Revolutionary Road in suburban Connecticut when April becomes pregnant. Frank and April settle into the normality of suburban life while raising their children, Michael and Jennifer.
The couple become close friends with their realtor Helen Givings (Kathy Bates) and her husband Howard Givings (Richard Easton), and neighbor Milly Campbell (Kathryn Hahn) and her husband Shep (David Harbour). To their friends the Wheelers are the perfect couple, but their relationship is troubled. April fails to make a career out of acting, while Frank hates the tedium of his work. April wants new scenery and a chance to support the family so that Frank can find his passion.
April recalls how Frank talked about moving back to Paris. With a failed career, she believes that Paris is the solution to their problems. She suggests they relocate. Initially Frank laughs off the idea, but then begins considering it. The only person who understands the Wheelers' decision is John (Michael Shannon), Helen's troubled son. Frank admits to John that they indeed are running away from the "hopeless emptiness" of their repetitive lifestyle.
As the couple prepares to move, they are forced to reconsider. Frank, propelled by a carefree attitude brought on by the thought of Paris, turns in a sarcastic piece of work to his boss. To his surprise, his work is considered brilliant by company executives and he is offered a promotion. April becomes pregnant again. Frank discovers that April is contemplating having an abortion. He is furious and starts screaming at April, leading to a serious altercation. April is desperate to move to Paris, but Frank is disgusted by the thought of abortion, causing him to feel that moving to Paris is an unrealistic dream. The next day Frank takes the promotion and tries to accept his uneventful life. At the end of an evening at a jazz bar with Milly and Shep, a car blocks in one of the cars the couples came in. April suggests that Frank and Milly head home to release the babysitters at each house while she and Shep wait for the blocking car's driver to return. They re-enter the jazz bar, eventually dancing feverishly with each other, then making love in the car. Shep professes his long-held love for April, but she rejects his interest.
The following morning, Frank confesses to having had an affair with an assistant at his office, hoping to reconcile April. To his surprise, April responds apathetically and tells him it does not matter as her love for him has gone; which he does not believe. The Givings come over for dinner, and John lambastes Frank for crushing April's hope, as well as his acceptance of his circumstances, accusing Frank of intentionally getting April pregnant to destroy the idea of moving to Paris, and saying that April allowed him to do it so that she would feel her husband was "a real man". Frank gets angry, nearly attacks John and the Givings hurry out. April and Frank have another fight, which causes April to flee the house.
Frank spends the night in a drunken stupor, but is shocked to find April in the kitchen the next morning calmly making breakfast. The couple have a pleasant breakfast, with April asking Frank about work and Frank seeming enthusiastic as he describes how the large computer purchase he is making will help many businesses. April's mood seems to have improved, but after bidding goodbye to Frank, she breaks down and prepares to perform her own vacuum aspiration abortion, which proves fatal. Shep goes to the hospital to support Frank, who hysterically tells him that "she did it to herself." April dies in the hospital due to complications following the abortion.
A new couple buys the house and we hear Milly telling the story of the Wheelers to the new owners, telling them how Frank moved to the city and is still working with computers, devoting every spare moment of his life to his children. Shep quietly tells Milly that he doesn't want to talk about the Wheelers anymore.
Helen tells Howard that she thinks the new couple that moved in are the first people she has ever found suitable for the home. Howard asks why she does not give credit to the Wheelers, and she says they were too whimsical, trying and neurotic. As she continues discussing what she did not like about the Wheelers, Howard turns off his hearing aid
Ripple Effect (2007)
Color
Man confesses to hitting man with his car 15 years ago
Ripple Effect
Fashion designer Amer Atrash, perpetually on the verge of success, is undergoing a personal crisis in both his marriage and his business. Attributing his misfortune to bad karma from a wrongdoing committed fifteen years prior, he sets out to correct his mistake, and in doing so, experiences a spiritual awakening. He had hit a man 15 years ago, and was never caught. He goes back and confesses.
River of No Return (1954)
Color
Man rescues couple from river raft, husband steals his horse and abandons his fiance
River of No Return
"Set in the Northwestern United States in 1875, the film focuses on taciturn widower Matt Calder (Robert Mitchum), who recently has been released from prison after serving time for killing one man while defending another. He arrives in a boomtown tent city in search of his ten-year-old son Mark (Tommy Rettig), who was left in the care of dance hall singer Kay (Marilyn Monroe) after the man who brought him there as Matt had arranged took off for the hills. Matt promises Mark, a virtual stranger to him, the two will enjoy a life of hunting, fishing and farming on their homestead.
Kay's fiance, gambler Harry Weston (Rory Calhoun), tells her they must go to Council City to file the deed on a gold mine he won in a poker game. They head downriver on a homemade log raft, and when they encounter trouble in the rapids near the Calder farm, Matt and Mark rescue them. Harry offers to buy Matt's rifle and horse so as to reach Council City by land, and when Matt refuses, Harry knocks Matt unconscious and steals both. Kay chooses to stay behind to take care of Matt and Mark, and the three are stranded in the wilderness.
When hostile Indians threaten the farm, the three are forced to escape down the river on Harry's raft. That night they set up camp by the river, and Matt and Kay argue about the wisdom of pursuing Harry. Matt questions why she would choose to marry a man who had endangered a child, and she reminds him Harry never killed a man like he did. Mark overhears their discussion, and Matt is forced to reveal the truth about his past to his son, who is unable to comprehend why his father acted as he did.
As the three continue their journey, Kay comes to appreciate Matt's bravery and the tender way he cares for both her and Mark. Along the way, they are forced to deal with a series of trials and tribulations, including a mountain lion attack; gold prospectors Sam Benson and Dave Colby, who are after Harry for stealing their claim; and fighting off a second Indian war party.
After a difficult ride through the worst of the rapids, the three arrive in Council City and confront Harry. Harry shoots at Matt, forcing Mark to kill Harry with a rifle he is inspecting in the general store, and the boy finally understands why his father had to shoot a man so many years before. Kay finds a job at the local saloon. While she is singing there, Matt arrives to take her back to his farm along with Mark, and she happily leaves with him.
Road Rage (1999)
Color
Maniac runs woman off road, gets fired, becomes obsessed with woman
Road Rage
Ellen Carson (Yasmine Bleeth) is a real estate agent who inadvertently cuts off a delivery truck driver while changing lanes on the freeway to hurry home. The truck driver turned out to be a disturbed man named Eddie Madden (Jere Burns), who proceeded to chase after Ellen in an effort to run her off the road. Ellen in fear calls the 1-800 number on the back of his truck and lodges a complaint, which causes Eddie to lose his job, and he (being a grieving husband and father who earlier lost his family to a car accident) sets out to destroy Ellen's family and soon becomes fixated on Ellen and her teenage stepdaughter Cynthia (Alana Austin) and plots to have them as replacement family, by removing the head of the house, Ellen's husband and Cynthia's father Jim Carson (John Wesley Shipp).
Robinson Crusoe (1997)
Color
Robinson Crusoe is shipwrecked, and marooned on an uncharted island
Robinson Crusoe
"The film opens to a fictionalized Daniel Defoe being offered to read a castaway's autobiography. He grudgingly obliges and begins to get engrossed in the narrative.
Robinson Crusoe (Pierce Brosnan) is a Scottish gentleman with experience in the Royal Navy and the British army. He accidentally kills his lifelong friend Patrick (Damian Lewis) in a duel over his childhood love Mary. Patrick's brothers arrive and threaten Crusoe, but his page manages to buy time for an escape. Fleeing back to Mary, Crusoe subsequently ends up leaving for a year so that Mary can attempt to smooth over relations with Patrick's family.
Crusoe joins the merchant marine transporting assorted cargoes between ports in the Pacific, Indian and Atlantic oceans. He chronicles the ship's journeys at the behest of the captain until a typhoon shipwrecks him near the coast of New Guinea.
In his first day aboard the island he buries other crew members who had washed up on the surrounding beaches. The next day he headed to the ship, which had beached itself on a reef. He salvages tools, supplies and weapons from the ship. Crusoe also frees the captain's corgi Skipper from a supply room. Crusoe begins to acclimate himself to the island while hoping for a passing European ship. One day a ship finally appears, but Crusoe notices it too late to be rescued. Crusoe resolves to acclimate himself to the island and moves inland, building a shelter and growing food.
One day he hears ominous drums and human voices. Investigating the noises he finds a tribe from a nearby island making human sacrifices. After two prisoners have been sacrificed Crusoe intervenes by firing his weapon, which allows the third prisoner (played by William Takaku) to escape. Later he meets the escaped native and attempts to befriend him. Cultural and language barriers prevent him from communicating before they are attacked by a group of the tribesmen. He witnesses the native cut out the heart of a defeated enemy and calls him a savage heathen before fleeing to his shelter and preparing a defence.
Days later Crusoe falls into a snare laid by the native. Crusoe communicates the danger and potency of his firearms on a bat, which allows them to begin communicating. He names the man Friday and has himself referred to as Master. Within six months Friday has learned the basics of English, but when Crusoe attempts to convert him to Christianity, Friday refuses and an argument ensues. Friday separates himself from Crusoe. Missing the companionship, Crusoe attempts to make peace with Friday.
Reunited, the two set a trap for the tribe of natives who attempted to sacrifice Friday before. Once they arrive Crusoe lights a fuse leading to a load of gunpowder, but Skipper chases after the lit fuse and also dies in the explosion. At Skipper's funeral Crusoe gains a deeper appreciation for Friday's religion.
Later Crusoe decides they must leave the island due to an impending attack by the native tribe. Friday mentions that he has heard of New Britain. He says he cannot take Crusoe to his home island because he is considered dead for being a sacrifice and he cannot go to New Britain because the Europeans enslave his people. Friday subsequently learns that "Master" is not Crusoe's real name, but an indicator of enslavement and once again leaves Crusoe, who subsequently attempts to build a canoe to get to New Britain by himself.
A typhoon arrives while Crusoe has nearly finished his boat. Friday returns and accepts that Crusoe had decided not to make him a slave. The two attempt to salvage their crops and wildlife, but the typhoon destroys them -- as well as Crusoe's canoe. The pair set traps to defend the island, but expect to die in the defence.
The tribesmen arrive in force. Crusoe and Friday manage to defend the island, but Crusoe is shot by an arrow. Friday decides to try to save Crusoe by taking him to his home island. Upon arriving there Friday's tribe capture Crusoe, believing him to have come to enslave the people. They force Crusoe to fight Friday to the death for his freedom. After sparing Friday, Friday is about to land a killing blow when he is hit by a bullet. But Crusoe was very upset and got angry because Friday was his friend. A European scout party rescues Crusoe and returns him to England where he is reunited with Mary.
Robocop (1987)
Color
Dying cop converted into cyber-robotic cop
Robocop
"In a dystopian future, Detroit is on the verge of collapse due to financial mismanagement and a high crime rate. The city signs a deal with the megacorporation Omni Consumer Products (OCP) to run Detroit's police department in exchange for letting OCP rebuild run-down sections of the city into a high-end utopia. Senior Vice President Dick Jones demonstrates a new law enforcement robot, ED-209. However, the robot malfunctions, killing an executive. Bob Morton, an ambitious executive, uses the opportunity to introduce his own experimental cyborg design, RoboCop. The chairman is dismayed at the ED-209 failure and approves Morton's plan, to Jones' anger.
On patrol in the violent Metro West precinct, officers Alex Murphy and Anne Lewis pursue a notorious gang after an armed robbery. Investigating their hideout, an abandoned steel mill, Murphy kills one of the gang members, but is ambushed by the leader, Clarence Boddicker. Boddicker's accomplices shoot Murphy repeatedly with shotguns, until Boddicker shoots him through the head. Lewis arrives too late to help. Murphy is evacuated by helicopter but dies in the trauma unit.
OCP claims Murphy's body and converts it into RoboCop. The cyborg is programmed with three main directives: serve the public trust; protect the innocent; and uphold the law. RoboCop is assigned to Metro West, where he begins a brutally efficient campaign against crime. However, though Murphy's memory was wiped, RoboCop begins to remember scenes from Murphy's life, including his death. Lewis confirms to RoboCop that he is Murphy, to his shock. On patrol, RoboCop foils an armed robbery perpetrated by Emil Antonowsky, one of Boddiker's gang members who participated in Murphy's execution. Emil recognizes Murphy's mannerisms, furthering RoboCop's memory recall. RoboCop uses the police database to identify the gang members and locate his home, now abandoned. Meanwhile, at the behest of Jones, Boddicker murders Morton.
RoboCop locates Boddicker at a cocaine factory, where the workers open fire on him, but he shoots them and captures Boddicker. RoboCop brutalizes Boddicker, but before RoboCop can kill him, Boddicker reveals that he is in Jones's employ. Depositing Boddicker at Metro West, RoboCop heads to OCP Tower to confront Jones. However, when RoboCop attempts to arrest Jones for aiding Boddicker, he discovers a previously-unseen fourth directive, implanted by Jones himself: "Any attempt to arrest a senior officer of OCP results in shutdown". Jones admits his culpability in Morton's death and tries to kill RoboCop with an ED-209 unit. However, RoboCop escapes to the garage, where police ambush him. Lewis finds RoboCop and helps him escape to the abandoned steel mill to repair himself.
The police, angered by OCP's underfunding and short-staffing, call a strike, and Detroit descends into chaos. Jones, having freed Boddicker and his gang, provides them with heavy weapons and a tracking system for RoboCop, then sends them out to destroy RoboCop. The gang arrives at the steel mill, but they are dispatched by RoboCop and Lewis. The final confrontation with Boddicker ends with RoboCop stabbing him to death in the throat with the computer interface spike installed in his fist.
RoboCop returns to OCP Tower, destroying the ED-209 at the door with Boddicker's weapon, the Cobra Assault Cannon. He confronts Jones at a board meeting, revealing the fourth directive and his recording of Jones' confession. Jones grabs a gun and takes the OCP chairman hostage, planning to escape via helicopter. The chairman clues in and fires Jones, making the fourth directive irrelevant and allowing RoboCop to shoot him; he falls from the tower to his death. Impressed and thankful for saving his life, the chairman asks RoboCop's name; he replies "Murphy" and smiles, indicating he has gained a sense of his humanity.
Roman J. Israel, Esq. (2017)
Color
Defense attorney faces challenges when he joins new firm
Roman J. Israel, Esq.
"Roman J. Israel is a lawyer working for $500 a week at a small law firm in Los Angeles. In his two-partner office, Israel is responsible for preparing briefs, often focusing on the civil rights of their defendants, while William Jackson, the firm's owner and a well-respected professor, focuses on the courtroom appearances that Israel struggles with. Israel has spent years developing a brief that he believes will bring social reform to the unfair use of plea-bargaining to induce guilty pleas in the justice system. Though short on interpersonal skills, Israel is gifted with a phenomenal memory as well as strong personal convictions on the meaning of justice, which he has pursued at the expense of family.
Jackson suffers a fatal heart attack. The firm is broke and will close, all to be handled by Jackson's former student, George Pierce. Pierce, who greatly admired Jackson and is impressed by Israel's legal mind (“worth $250 an hour”), offers a job at his own large firm. Israel rejects this offer, believing that Pierce is simply a greedy lawyer. Israel meets Maya during a job interview at a local activist network. The interview does not go well, but Maya asks him to speak at an upcoming meeting organizing a protest.
Israel reluctantly takes a job with Pierce. Israel is a poor fit, clashing with senior partner Jesse Salinas after Israel mockingly laughs at a joke Salinas makes about battered women. After attempting to interest Pierce in his brief to change the legal system, Israel is disappointed when he is instead assigned by Pierce to handle clients.
Israel is assigned Derrell Ellerbee, a young man arrested for murder. Ellerbee tells Israel that he is willing to tell police the whereabouts of the actual shooter, longtime criminal Carter Johnson, and will testify against him. Israel goes behind Salinas' back to negotiate a plea deal with the district attorney, but the prosecutor rejects his offer and hangs up on Israel after he insults her unsympathetic counter-offer to his bargain. No deal is struck and Ellerbee is murdered as a snitch.
Israel's mishandling of Ellerbee's case leads to trouble for the firm and Pierce berates him for his insubordination. That evening Israel is mugged and beaten by a homeless man he attempted to help. Israel becomes downcast and cynical, illegally using the information he received from Ellerbee to anonymously collect the $100,000 reward for Johnson's location. Israel indulges in luxuries he had previously eschewed.
Pierce apologizes to Israel, revealing that the death of Jackson and his observations of Israel's dedication to justice has touched him. He reforms his firm to add a new focus on pro-bono cases, headed by Israel. Pierce offers to work with Israel on the legal brief for plea reform, but Israel's new materialistic outlook prevents him from enjoying the changes he has inspired.
Maya calls Israel to ask him out on a date, where she shares some of her struggles with idealism and thanks Israel for his inspiration about progressive lawyering and advocacy, but he appears unmoved.
Pierce calls Israel to meet a new client arrested for murder, who turns out to be Carter Johnson. At the jailhouse, Johnson accuses Israel of divulging privileged communications to collect the reward. Having accepted that he will spend the rest of his life in prison, Johnson's only goal is to torment Israel with the threat of jail time or even death. Israel finally suffers a breakdown in which he becomes a law unto himself becoming both the Lawyer and the defendant in one. After judging his own actions as unlawful as the defendant, he renounces his greedy, self-centered worldview.
Israel returns the reward (with a promise to repay the $5,547.27 he spent), reconciles with Maya and Pierce and tries to motivate them to pursue their inner sense of justice. He tells Pierce that he is turning himself in to the police for his crime, then starts walking to a nearby station, but is shot and killed by one of Johnson's henchmen.
In the aftermath, Maya is seen to be renewed in her activism efforts, while Pierce files Israel's massive brief in Federal Court, in both their names, intent on continuing Israel's efforts to reform the justice system.
Romancing the Stone (1984)
Color
Romance writer's becomes involved with a dashing mercenary when her sister is kidnapped
Romancing the Stone
"Joan Wilder is a successful, but lonely, romance novelist in New York City. After finishing her latest novel, Joan leaves her apartment to meet her editor, Gloria. On the way she is handed a letter that contains a map, sent by her recently murdered brother-in-law, Eduardo. While she is gone, a man tries to break into her apartment and is discovered by her apartment supervisor, whom he kills. Returning to her apartment, Joan finds it ransacked. She then receives a frantic phone call from her sister Elaine -- Eduardo's widow. Elaine has been kidnapped by antiquities smugglers, cousins Ira and Ralph, and instructs Joan to go to the Colombian coastal city of Cartagena with the map she received; it is Elaine's ransom.
Flying to Colombia, Joan is diverted from the rendezvous point by Colonel Zolo -- the same man that ransacked her apartment looking for the map - by tricking her into boarding the wrong bus. Instead of heading to Cartagena, this bus goes deep into the interior of the country.[a] Ralph realizes this and begins following Joan. After Joan accidentally distracts the bus driver by asking where they are going, the bus crashes into a Land Rover, wrecking both vehicles. As the rest of the passengers walk away, Joan is menaced by Zolo but is saved by the Land Rover's owner: an American exotic bird smuggler named Jack T. Colton. For getting her out of the jungle and to a telephone, Joan promises to pay Jack $375 in traveler's cheques.
Jack and Joan travel the jungle while eluding Zolo and his military police. Reaching a small village, they encounter a drug lord named Juan, who is a big fan of Joan's novels and happily helps them escape from Zolo.
After a night of dancing and passion in a nearby town, Jack suggests to Joan that they find the treasure themselves before handing over the map. Zolo's men enter the town, so Jack and Joan steal a car to escape--but it is Ralph's car, and he is sleeping in the back. They follow the clues and retrieve the treasure: an enormous emerald called El Corazon ("The Heart"). Ralph takes the emerald from them at gunpoint, but Zolo's forces appear, distracting Ralph long enough for Jack to steal the jewel back. After being chased into a river and over a waterfall, Jack and Joan are separated on opposite sides of the raging river; Joan has the map, but Jack has the emerald. Jack directs Joan to Cartagena, promising that he will meet her there.
In Cartagena, Joan meets with Ira, who takes the map and releases Elaine. But Zolo and his men arrive, with a captured Jack and a severely beaten Ralph. As Zolo tortures Joan, Jack tries to throw the emerald into a crocodile pool behind Zolo. Zolo is able to catch the emerald, but then a crocodile jumps up and bites his hand off, swallowing the emerald with it. A shootout ensues between Zolo's soldiers and Ira's gang. Joan and Elaine dash for safety, pursued by the maimed Zolo, as Jack tries to stop the crocodile from escaping; he begrudgingly lets it go to try and save Joan.
A crazed Zolo charges at Joan; she dodges his wild knife slashes and he falls into a crocodile pit. As the authorities arrive, Ira and his men escape, but Ralph is left behind. After a kiss, Jack dives into the water after the crocodile with the emerald, leaving Joan behind with her sister.
Later, Joan is back in New York City, and has written a new novel based on her adventure. Gloria is moved to tears by the story and tells Joan she has another best-seller on her hands. Returning home, she finds Jack waiting for her in a sailboat named the Angelina, after the heroine of Joan's novels, and wearing boots made from the crocodile's skin. He jokes that the crocodile got "a fatal case of indigestion" from the emerald, which he sold, using the money to buy the boat of his dreams. They go off together, planning to sail around the world.
Rome Adventure (1962)
Color
Teacher quits her job, goes to Rome and falls in love
Rome Adventure
New England librarian Prudence Bell (Suzanne Pleshette) recommended a book, Lovers Must Learn, to one of her students. After defending herself and the book, she resigns telling the school board she's going to Rome where she will be surrounded by people who really know the meaning of love. Sailing from New York she picks the wrong man as a protective consort, providing two potential romantic interests. Albert Stillwell, a student of Etruscan history is a perfect gentlemen, while Roberto Orlandi (Rossano Brazzi) is the perfect mature Roman lover.
Rope (1948)
Color
Two Students commit the perfect murder, to the horror of their professor
Rope
"Two brilliant young aesthetes, Brandon Shaw (Dall) and Phillip Morgan (Granger), strangle to death a former classmate, David Kentley (Dick Hogan), in their apartment. They commit the crime as an intellectual exercise; they want to prove their superiority by committing the "perfect murder".
After hiding the body in a large antique wooden chest, Brandon and Phillip host a dinner party at the apartment, which has a panoramic view of Manhattan's skyline. The guests, who are unaware of what has happened, include the victim's father Mr. Kentley (Cedric Hardwicke) and aunt Mrs. Atwater (Constance Collier); his mother is not able to attend. Also there are his fiancee, Janet Walker (Joan Chandler) and her former lover Kenneth Lawrence (Douglas Dick), who was once David's close friend.
In a subtle move, Brandon uses the chest containing the body as a buffet table for the food, just before their housekeeper, Mrs. Wilson (Edith Evanson) arrives to help with the party. "Now the fun begins," Brandon says when the first guests arrive.
Brandon and Phillip's idea for the murder was inspired years earlier by conversations with their prep school housemaster, publisher Rupert Cadell (Stewart). While at school, Rupert had discussed with them, in an apparently approving way, the intellectual concepts of Nietzsche's ?bermensch, and De Quincey's art of murder, as a means of showing one's superiority over others. He too is among the guests at the party, since Brandon in particular feels that he would approve of their "work of art".
Brandon's subtle hints about David's absence indirectly lead to a discussion on the "art of murder". Brandon appears calm and in control, although when he first speaks to Rupert he is nervously excited and stammering. Phillip, on the other hand, is visibly upset and morose. He does not conceal it well and starts to drink too much. When David's aunt, Mrs. Atwater, who fancies herself as a fortune-teller, tells him that his hands will bring him great fame, she is referring to his skill at the piano, but he appears to think this refers to the notoriety of being a strangler.
Much of the conversation, however, focuses on David and his strange absence, which worries the guests. A suspicious Rupert quizzes a fidgety Phillip about this and about some of the inconsistencies that have been raised in conversation. For example, Phillip had vehemently denied ever strangling a chicken at the Shaws' farm, but Rupert has personally seen Phillip strangle several. Phillip later complains to Brandon about having had a "rotten evening", not because of David's murder, but over Rupert's questioning.
As the evening goes on, David's father and fiancee begin to worry that he has neither arrived nor phoned. Brandon increases the tension by playing matchmaker between Janet and Kenneth. Mrs. Kentley calls, overwrought because she has not heard from David, and Mr. Kentley decides to leave. He takes with him some books Brandon has given him, tied together with the rope Brandon and Phillip used to strangle his son.
When Rupert goes to leave, Mrs. Wilson accidentally hands him David's monogrammed hat, further arousing his suspicion. Rupert returns to the apartment a short while after everyone else has departed, pretending that he has left his cigarette case behind. He hides the case, asks for a drink and then stays to theorize about the disappearance of David. He is encouraged by Brandon, who seems eager to have Rupert discover the crime. A drunk Phillip is unable to take it any more; he throws a glass and says, "Cat and mouse, cat and mouse. But which is the cat and which is the mouse?"
Rupert lifts the lid of the chest and finds the body inside. He is horrified but also deeply ashamed, realizing that Brandon and Phillip used his own rhetoric to rationalize murder. Rupert seizes Brandon's gun and fires several shots into the night in order to attract attention. The film segues to the end titles with the sound of approaching police sirens.
Rosewood (1997)
Color
A false rape claim by a white woman leads to black town being destroyed
Rosewood
"The movie of Rosewood relates the historical events of a January 1923 race riot in Rosewood, Florida, in which whites attacked blacks and burned the town down. A mentally unstable white woman, Fanny Taylor, claims to have been beaten by a black man. Historical accounts note that this was never proven. The movie shows a white man, not Fanny's husband, in her bedroom where they have sex. Shortly after he finishes, he prepares to go back to work. She gets upset and hits him inciting him to beat her. Some black workers outside heard the events but did nothing. When they told about it, their account of a white man beating Fanny was not believed. Singleton presents it as looking as if Fanny was covering up her cheating on her husband by blaming it on a black man. The white residents readily believe Fanny's account, demonstrating the power of racial stereotyping and fears. The black residents of Rosewood quickly become targeted by the white males of nearby Sumner, Florida and others who arrive for a fight, including members of the Ku Klux Klan. Mobs formed swiftly.
The movie features the fictional character of Mann, played by Ving Rhames. Mann is a WWI veteran who is traveling around in search of land. He meets and falls in love with a woman in Rosewood named Beulah or "Scrappie" and has stayed there. After Fanny tells her story of rape, Mann leaves town. He is afraid of being lynched as a suspected stranger. He hears stories of the attacks and returns to the town to save the woman he loves, together with children she cares for.
After the whites started generally attacking and killing blacks, all of the blacks fled from Rosewood or were killed. First the women and children fled, followed by men who survived. People left their homes and land and all of their possessions behind to get away from the murderous white men that raided their town (D'Orso).
Some white men who lived in Rosewood helped black people escape from the mob. Railroad conductors smuggled people out of town on the rail cars that ran nearby. In the movie, Voigt as Wright asks the train conductors to pick up the women and children. Other blacks took refuge in white people's homes, including Wright's. Racism was shown by the mob's avoiding Wright's house but burning down those of blacks. They did not bother with known white houses. Although it was dangerous for them to do, some white men like Wright protected blacks from death.
In the movie, the mob believed James Carrier held information about the escaped convict Jesse Hunter. Wright let the Sheriff take Carrier, because the officer said he only wanted to question him. When Carrier said he didn't have any information, he was shot immediately by one of the mob. Wright gets upset and the mob accuses him of being soft on blacks. The scene shows that most of the white men didn't agree with what was going on, but were too afraid to face the mob.
The movie portrayed towns near Sumner trying to prevent the violence from spreading. At one point the men of Sumner were following the trail of some men. But when they get to the border between their town and the next one over, white men stopped them. They protected their black citizens, saying they are law abiding and peaceful, and Singleton demonstrated that not everyone agreed with the riot.
As word spread to the federal government and national newspapers, the media splintered in its portrayal of events. Some portrayed the murder at Sylvester Carrier's as appropriate to stop the black men from arming. They relied on rumors and fear. Southern white newspapers explained mob's actions as the way to avenge the rape of Fanny and keep blacks in their place. The Afro-American newspapers encouraged blacks and praised them for staying behind to defend their homes and property. Officially the death toll was eight people total, two whites and six blacks. Other accounts by survivors and the Afro-American newspapers were of a higher toll. The movie portrayed the newspapers as contributing to the riot; men came from neighboring towns and even states to put down the riot.
At the end of the movie, a narrative states that some blacks and one white testified as witnesses in court in the a 1990s suit of survivors against the state for its failure to protect the people of Rosewood. (In the 1980s, newspaper reporters investigated and publicized the long-secret story.) This was followed by a state investigation and report. Florida was the first state to pay reparations to survivors and their descendants for a racial riot.
Rudy (1993)
Color
Scrawny kid relentlessly pursues his dream to play football at Notre Dame
Rudy
"In late 1960s Joliet, Illinois, Daniel Eugene "Rudy" Ruettiger dreams of playing football at Notre Dame, but lacks the grades and money to attend, and the talent and physical stature to play major college football. Following high school, he works at a steel mill with his father, a Notre Dame fan, and his older brothers. When his supportive best friend Pete is killed in a mill explosion, Rudy decides to follow his dream.
In 1972, Rudy visits Notre Dame but is not academically eligible to enroll. With the help of priest Father Cavanaugh, Rudy enrolls at nearby Holy Cross College, hoping to transfer. He approaches Fortune, head groundskeeper at Notre Dame stadium, and is given a job. Homeless, Rudy sneaks into Fortune's office through a window to sleep on a cot; initially indifferent, Fortune later provides him with blankets and a key to the office. Rudy learns Fortune, despite working at the stadium for years, has never seen a Notre Dame football game.
Rudy befriends teaching assistant D-Bob, who has him tested for a learning disability. The test results indicate that Rudy suffers from dyslexia, a condition that he overcomes to become a better student. At Christmas, Rudy returns home to find that his family appreciates his college academic achievements, although his brother still mocks him for his attempts to play college football. Rudy persists, and even losing his fiancee to his older brother does not deter him.
After two years at Holy Cross and three rejections from Notre Dame, Rudy is finally admitted and attends football tryouts in an attempt to make the team as a "walk-on". Assistant coach Yonto warns the walk-ons that thirty-five scholarship players will not even make the "dress roster" of players who take the field during games, but notices Rudy's determination and gives him a spot on the daily practice squad. Rudy tells Fortune and persuades him to promise to see his first game. Competing well during practices, Rudy convinces head coach Ara Parseghian to let him suit up for one home game in his senior year, but Coach Parseghian retires following the 1974 season and is replaced by former NFL coach Dan Devine, who refuses to place Rudy on the game day roster. Frustrated that he is not on the dress list for the next-to-last home game, Rudy quits the team.
Fortune finds a distraught Rudy and reveals that he actually played for Notre Dame years earlier, but quit when he felt he was being kept from playing due to his skin color and has regretted it ever since. Reminded that he has nothing to prove to anyone but himself and will forever regret quitting, Rudy returns to the team. Each of his fellow seniors, led by team captain and All-American Roland Steele, lines up to lay his jersey on Devine's desk and requests that Rudy be allowed to dress in his place for the season's final game. Devine lets Rudy suit up against Georgia Tech.
With Rudy's family and D-Bob in attendance, Steele invites Rudy to lead the team onto the field, and Fortune is there to see the game as promised. With Notre Dame leading 17--3, Devine sends all the seniors into the game except Rudy, despite Steele's and the assistant coaches' urging. Fans are aware of Rudy's goal from a story in the student newspaper, and a "Rudy!" chant begins in the stadium. Hearing this, the Notre Dame offensive team, led by tailback Jamie O'Hara, overrules Devine's call for victory formation and scores a quick touchdown, providing defensive player Rudy a chance to get in the game and be entered onto the Fighting Irish roster.
Devine finally lets Rudy play on the Notre Dame kickoff to Georgia Tech. Rudy stays in for the final play and sacks the Georgia Tech quarterback, and is carried on his teammates' shoulders to cheers from the stadium.
An epilogue states that after 1975, no other player for Notre Dame had been carried off the field to the time of the film's release in 1993. Rudy graduated in 1976 and all his younger brothers went on to earn college degrees.
Run Silent, Run Deep (1958)
Black & White
Submarine captain's desire for revenge against Japanese destroyer puts his new crew at risk
Run Silent, Run Deep
"A World War II US Navy submarine officer, Commander P.J. Richardson (Clark Gable), is determined to get revenge on the Japanese destroyer Akikaze and its ace captain, nicknamed "Bungo Pete", who has sunk four US submarines in the Bungo Straits, including his previous command. He persuades the Navy Board to give him a new submarine command with the provision that his executive officer be someone who has just returned from active sea patrol. He single-mindedly trains the crew of his new boat, the USS Nerka, to return to the Bungo Straits and sink Bungo Pete, in spite of the Navy's expressly forbidding him from approaching the Bungo Straits on this mission. Richardson's executive officer, Lieutenant Commander Jim Bledsoe (Burt Lancaster), is worried about the safety of his boat and his crew. He also resents Richardson and the Navy leadership for denying him command of the Nerka, which he believes should have been his.
Richardson begins to rigorously drill the crew on a rapid bow shot: Firing at the bow of an approaching ship, considered an act of desperation due to a vessel's extremely narrow profile. He then bypasses one target, only to take on a Japanese destroyer with a bow shot. The crew is outraged as it discovers that Richardson is avoiding legitimate targets in order to enter the Bungo Straits undetected in direct violation of his mission orders.
Finally, they come upon a large convoy. Soon after blowing up a cargo ship and then engaging Bungo Pete, they are attacked by aircraft that had been alerted to their presence and were waiting in ambush. They are forced to dive and barely survive depth charges. Three of the crew are killed, and Richardson suffers an incapacitating concussion. The submarine also narrowly dodges what the crew mistakenly believes is one of their own torpedoes doubling back on them. By sending up blankets, equipment, and the bodies of the dead, they convince the Japanese that the submarine has been sunk. Bledsoe uses Richardson's injury to assume command and set course for Pearl Harbor.
While listening to Tokyo Rose proclaiming the sinking of their boat, several crewmen are mystified about how the Japanese are able to identify several of them by name. Bledsoe realizes that the Japanese have analyzed their floating trash, so he decides to turn that to his advantage. Since the Japanese believe the Nerka has been sunk, he returns to the Bungo Straits to fight the Akikaze, which the submarine sinks with a bow shot, only to be attacked again by a mystery torpedo. Richardson deduces that the Akikaze was not working alone to sink US submarines, but was in concert with another Japanese submarine. He orders the boat into a dive just seconds before a Japanese torpedo races by.
After a brief underwater standoff, Bledsoe realizes that, with the Akikaze gone, the Japanese sub must defend its convoy; by attacking the convoy, the Nerka forces its adversary to surface, and destroys it by firing torpedoes under a shallow-draft ship. Richardson then collapses on the bridge, dies, and is buried at sea.
Running with Scissors (2006)
Color
Mother allows her son to be raised by an unconventional psychiatrist
Running with Scissors
"Based on Augusten Burroughs' memoir of the same name, the film is a semi-autobiographical account of Burroughs' childhood. His mother, Deirdre (Annette Bening), who wishes to become a famous poet, suffers from severe mood swings and erratic behavior. And Augusten's alcoholic father Norman (Alec Baldwin) proves to be no help. By the time he is a teenager, Burroughs (Joseph Cross) no longer feels safe in his own house. Deirdre claims that Norman is the reason for her unhappiness, and that he desires to kill her and their son. His parents ultimately place him under the care of his mother's unorthodox psychiatrist Dr. Finch (Brian Cox), the eccentric patriarch of an oddball family which consists of his submissive wife Agnes (Jill Clayburgh), overtly-religious daughter Hope (Gwyneth Paltrow), and his rebellious youngest child Natalie (Evan Rachel Wood).
Augusten finds it hard to adjust to living in his unconventional surroundings among the doctor's family, and is subject to irregular weekend visits by his increasingly unsound mother. After confessing to Natalie that he is gay, Burroughs befriends Neil Bookman (Joseph Fiennes), Finch's adopted 33-year-old son. The two enter an erratic sexual relationship quickly after meeting, but Augusten finds it difficult to cope with their vast age difference.
Dr. Finch uses his financial troubles to manipulate Deirdre into signing over her legal equities in order to gain her spousal support. Deirdre finds temporary stability with her living companion Dorothy (Gabrielle Union), but Augusten feels like his mother no longer needs him, and deals with the negative effects of Neil's onset schizophrenia.
Sabrina (1954)
Black & White
Tycoon tries to derail romance between his brother and his chauffaur's daughter
Sabrina
"Sabrina Fairchild (Audrey Hepburn) is the young daughter of the Larrabee family's chauffeur, Thomas, and she has been in love with David Larrabee (William Holden) all her life. David is an oft-married, idle playboy, crazy for women, who has never noticed Sabrina, much to her and the household staff's dismay.
Sabrina then attends culinary school in Paris, and she returns home as an attractive and sophisticated woman. David, after initially not recognizing Sabrina, is quickly drawn to her.
David's workaholic older brother, Linus (Humphrey Bogart), sees this and fears that David's imminent marriage to Elizabeth Tyson (Martha Hyer) may be endangered. If the engagement is broken off, it would ruin a great corporate deal between the Larrabee business and Elizabeth's very wealthy father. Linus confronts David about his irresponsibility to the family, the business, and Elizabeth, but David is unrepentant.
Linus then tries to distract Sabrina from David by drawing her affections to himself. He succeeds, but in the process falls in love with her, though he cannot admit this even to himself.
Linus reveals his maneuver to Sabrina, leaving her disillusioned about him and David. Sabrina agrees to leave and never come back, and Linus arranges for her to return to Paris by ship the next day.
The next morning, Linus has second thoughts and decides to send David to Paris with Sabrina. This means calling off David's wedding with Elizabeth and the big Tyson deal, and he schedules a meeting of the Larrabee board to announce this. However, David shows up at the meeting and declares that he's decided to marry Elizabeth after all. As a result, Linus finally recognizes his own feelings for Sabrina. He rushes off to join her on the ship, and they sail away together to Paris.
Safe Harbour (2007)
Color
11 yo brings new love to her mother's life
Safe Harbour
Pip was once a normal 11-year-old kid with a happy life, but she became very lonely when her father and brother died at a plane crash. Especially her mother Ophelia has trouble dealing with the loss and becomes depressed. While walking on the beach one day, Pip meets Matt, an artist with a broken heart. She immediately befriends him. Her mother worries about her friendship and suspects Matt of being a pedophile. However, it doesn't take long before Matt wins over Ophelia's heart as well.
Safe House (2012)
Color
Man wanted by CIA held in safe house
Safe House
"In Cape Town, South Africa, ex-CIA NOC operative turned international criminal Tobin Frost (Denzel Washington) acquires a data storage device from rogue MI6 agent Alec Wade (Liam Cunningham). After, the pair is attacked by a team of mercenaries led by Vargas (Fares Fares), Wade is killed and Frost is cornered by the gunmen, leaving him no choice but to surrender to the American consulate.
Frost is transferred to a local safe house maintained by "housekeeper" Matt Weston (Ryan Reynolds), a young agent on his first low-level CIA posting. The CIA sends in a team led by veteran agent Daniel Kiefer (Robert Patrick) to interrogate Frost and bring him back to the US. Weston watches uneasily as Kiefer and his men waterboard Frost. When the power to the safe house is cut, the CIA team realise that they are in grave danger. Vargas and a heavily armed group attack the safe house, killing Kiefer and his team. Weston escapes, taking Frost as his charge. Weston makes contact with his superior, David Barlow (Brendan Gleeson), at CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia, along with Catherine Linklater (Vera Farmiga), the operative in charge of Frost's interrogation and Kiefer's superior, and CIA Deputy Director Harlan Whitford (Sam Shepard), who is overseeing the operation. Linklater orders Weston to lay low and await further instructions.
Frost immediately begins to manipulate Weston as they go into hiding, insisting that someone within the CIA gave away their location to the mercenaries and that Weston will be the one forced to take the fall if things go wrong, warning him to be wary of the words "We'll take it from here". Weston hides out with Frost and calls his girlfriend Ana Moreau (Nora Arnezeder), a French medical resident who does not know that he works for the CIA, and tells her to leave the house. Barlow later tells Weston to go to Cape Town Stadium to retrieve a GPS device with the location of another nearby safe house. He retrieves the GPS at the stadium, but Frost creates a diversion and gets away by disguising himself as a policeman. Weston, detained by the police, escapes but is forced to fire at police when they attempt to arrest him again. Weston goes to recapture Frost but Frost disarms him and aims as if to kill, only to fire next to Weston's head and say "I only kill professionals".
Weston contacts Langley and informs Barlow and the others of Frost's escape. Linklater orders him to visit the nearest American embassy for debriefing after hearing that Weston fired at the police. When Whitford tells him "We'll take it from here.", Weston decides to pursue Frost himself. He meets with Ana and reveals that he is a CIA agent, telling her to return to Paris for her safety.
Linklater and Barlow are instructed to go to South Africa in order to pursue Frost. En route, Linklater suggests that Weston has joined Frost, which Barlow denies. Weston tracks Frost to a shantytown in Langa, where Frost is meeting Nicaraguan Carlos Villar (Ruben Blades), an old contact and document forger. Vargas and his team attack again, killing Villar along with his wife, but Frost eludes him and his men with Weston's help. Weston brutally interrogates one of Vargas' wounded mercenaries, who reveals that Vargas is working for the CIA, which is seeking to retrieve the storage device Frost received from Wade.
As they bandage their wounds, Frost tells the story of how he was forced to kill an air traffic controller while on a mission, having been told he was helping smuggle weapons. He later learned of the man's innocence, and that he was simply part of a plot to assassinate a whistle-blower who would expose wetwork committed by the CIA. Frost tells Weston he continued his career and eventually went rogue simply because he was good at it, and urges Weston to not kill innocent people. Weston takes Frost to the new safe house, where Weston keeps the housekeeper, Keller (Joel Kinnaman) at gunpoint, believing he no longer knows if he can trust the CIA.
Keller attacks Weston, and after a brutal struggle, Weston breaks Keller's neck, but he is badly wounded in the fight. Frost reveals the device contains Israeli intelligence which includes details of corrupt officials and secret money transfers involving American CIA, British MI6, and other intelligence agencies; Weston recognises the reference to the Mossad because the CIA accused Frost of selling secrets to them before he became a rogue agent. Frost leaves Weston, who passes out from his wounds. Meanwhile, Linklater arrives in South Africa and informs Barlow of the device's existence, but not its contents. Barlow then kills her and travels to the safe house where he reveals that he is Vargas' employer. He confirms that the file contains incriminating evidence against him, and encourages Weston to lie about what has happened. Frost returns and kills Vargas and his men but is shot by Barlow. Weston then shoots Barlow in the chest, killing him. Frost gives Weston the file and tells Weston he is better than him before he dies from his injuries.
Back in the United States, Weston meets with Director Whitford, who informs Weston that unflattering facts about the CIA must be removed from his report, but that he will be promoted. He asks Weston about the file's location but Weston denies having been told about it by Frost. Whitford states that whoever has those files will have many enemies. Weston assures Whitford that he will "take it from here", visibly shaking Whitford, and leaves. He leaks the files to the media, incriminating personnel from many intelligence agencies, including Whitford. Later, Weston has tracked Ana in Paris. He sends a note to her as she sits in a cafe across the street. She reads the note, looks up at Weston, and smiles.
Sally Hemmings (2000)
Color
Thomas Jefferson has affair with his servant
Sally Hemmings
Epic television miniseries exploring the complicated relationship of Thomas Jefferson and slave Sally Hemings, who conducted a 38 year love affair, spanning an ocean, ultimately producing children, grandchildren, and lots of controversy.
San Andreas (2015)
Color
Pilot and his ex-wife embark on journey from LA to San Francisco to save their daughter
San Andreas
"Raymond "Ray" Gaines (Dwayne Johnson) is a Los Angeles Fire Department Air Rescue pilot in the midst of a divorce from Emma (Carla Gugino) and planning a trip to San Francisco with his daughter Blake (Alexandra Daddario).
Meanwhile, Caltech seismologist Lawrence Hayes (Paul Giamatti) and his colleague Dr. Kim Park (Will Yun Lee) are at Hoover Dam doing research for a new earthquake predicting model when a nearby and heretofore unknown fault ruptures. This triggers a 7.1 magnitude earthquake that collapses the dam and kills Park.
When Ray is called into work because of this, Blake goes with her mother's new boyfriend Daniel Riddick (Ioan Gruffudd) to San Francisco, instead of Ray.
Hayes discovers that the San Andreas Fault is shifting and will soon cause a major earthquake, thereby destroying cities along the fault line. Emma is having lunch with Daniel's sister Susan (Kylie Minogue) when the fault slips triggering a 9.1 magnitude earthquake, with Susan among the casualties during the event. Ray saves Emma from the collapsing building, and they barely escape the city aboard his helicopter.
In San Francisco, Daniel brings Blake to his office where she meets Ben (Hugo Johnstone-Burt), an engineering student from England seeking employment with his brother, Ollie (Art Parkinson). Daniel and Blake leave the premises, but become trapped in their car in the parking garage after a string of earthquakes. Daniel flees but Blake is found by Ben and Ollie, who help her escape. They then find a working phone and Blake calls Ray and Emma, who fly to San Francisco to save her.
En route, Ray's helicopter fails, forcing him to make an emergency landing at a shopping mall in Bakersfield. Amid the chaos of looting, he steals a truck and he and Emma escape. They come across an older couple broken down on the side of the road where the San Andreas Fault has opened up, blocking the road and the couple, who happen to own an airplane agree to give it up in exchange for Ray's vehicle.
In San Francisco, Blake, Ben and Ollie are trying to find a place to signal Ray, as the point they agreed to meet at, Coit Tower, is engulfed in flames. On approach, Ray and Emma are forced to parachute in the city when a 9.6 magnitude quake hits the city, becoming the largest earthquake in history. Much of the city is left in ruins and Blake, Ben and Ollie narrowly survive. Ray and Emma realizing they cannot make their way through the destroyed city, are able to commandeer a boat only to see that the water in the bay is beginning to recede, indicating that a tsunami is approaching.
As it approaches, Blake, Ben, and Ollie run into Daniel's building. The giant tsunami hits knocking over several buildings and leaving Daniel's building flooded. Daniel is killed on the Golden Gate Bridge when the tsunami washes in a cargo ship that severs the center span of the bridge causing the entire roadway to snap and give way killing thousands of others. Emma and Ray make their way through the flooded downtown area and are finally able to locate Blake, Ben and Ollie as Daniel's building begins to sink beneath the water. Ray and Emma break a window and rescue Ben and Ollie however Blake apparently drowns. Ray is finally able to resuscitate her and the family is happily reunited.
They head to a relief camp where the reconciled Ray and Emma talk about their future as rescue vehicles descend on the radically altered landscape of the San Francisco Bay Area.
San Quentin (1937)
Black & White
Ex army officer becomes guard at San Quentin
San Quentin
"Pat O'Brien plays ex-Army officer Steve Jameson, who becomes the chief guard at San Quentin State Prison. Jameson gets acquainted with Mae Kennedy (Ann Sheridan) who works as a singer in a San-Francisco night club. On that same evening Red Kennedy, her brother (Humphrey Bogart), having been on the run from the police, is arrested at the nightclub where he came to see his sister.
Red Kennedy arrives in San Quentin a few days later with another new inmate, "Sailor Boy" Hansen (Joe Sawyer). After a fight with Sailor in the courtyard on his first day, he meets Jameson, the new "Captain of the Yard," who punishes him. Mae begins a romantic relationship with Jameson, and soon finds out what he couldn't tell her before: he is the leading officer of the prison, in charge of the prisoners.
Having been selected with Red to work outside the prison in a "road gang" constructing a new road, Sailor makes a plan to break out. At first Red refuses to join him, but later he changes his mind when it is revealed that Jameson is dating Red's sister.
Sailor's girlfriend arrives in a car to the site where the inmates are working and simulates a flat tire. Having been assigned by a guard to change the tire, Sailor takes the tools and two hidden guns from the tool box. After menacing the guard with the guns, they take him as a hostage and flee. A wild car pursuit with the police follows. Finally, Sailor's car crashes and he dies. Red survives the crash and escapes. He makes it to Mae's flat. Jameson is already there. After a short argument, Red shoots at Jameson who is slightly injured. Red flees and is shot by a police patrol, but he has enough strength to get back to the prison, where he dies in front of the gates.
Satan Met a Lady (1936)
Black & White
Woman hires detective to find man who spurned her
Satan Met a Lady
"Private detective Ted Shane returns to work with his former partner Ames, who is not particularly happy about the situation because his wife Astrid dated Ted before they were wed.
Valerie Purvis hires the detectives to locate a man called Farrow, and when both Ames and Farrow are found dead, Shane is suspected of both murders.
Shane finds his office and apartment have been ransacked and his secretary Miss Murgatroyd has been locked in a closet by Anthony Travers, who is in search of an 8th-century ram's horn rumored to be filled with jewels. Madame Barabbas is also searching for the treasure and sends a gunman to bring Shane to her.
Working all sides of the street, Shane makes deals with each of them to find the horn, and eventually winds up in possession of a package allegedly containing it, but it turns out to be full of sand instead of jewels.
The police round up all the suspects, but Shane and Valerie escape. He baits her into confessing to Ames's murder and tries to apprehend her for the $10,000 reward, but Valerie thwarts him by allowing a washroom attendant to turn her in to the police instead. Miss Murgatroyd then shows up and claims Shane for her own.
Saturday Night Fever (1977)
Color
By day, Tony's a paint store clerk, but at night, he's a polyester-clad stallion
Saturday Night Fever
"Anthony "Tony" Manero (John Travolta) is a 19-year-old Italian American man from the Bay Ridge neighborhood of Brooklyn in New York City. Tony lives with his parents (Val Bisoglio and Julie Bovasso), and works at a dead-end job in a small paint store. The stagnant monotony of his life is temporarily dispelled every Saturday night when Tony is "king of the dance floor" at 2001 Odyssey, a local disco club. Tony has four close friends: Joey (Joseph Cali); Double J (Paul Pape); Gus (Bruce Ornstein); and the diminutive Bobby C. (Barry Miller). A fringe member of this group of friends is Annette (Donna Pescow), a neighborhood girl who longs for a more permanent physical relationship with Tony.
Tony and his friends ritually stop on the Verrazano--Narrows Bridge to clown around. The bridge has special significance for Tony as a symbol of escape to a better life on the other side--in more suburban Staten Island.
Tony agrees to be Annette's partner in an upcoming dance contest at 2001 Odyssey, but her happiness is short-lived when Tony is mesmerized by another woman at the club, Stephanie Mangano (Karen Lynn Gorney), who executes intricate dance moves with exceptional grace and finesse. Although Stephanie coldly rejects Tony's advances, she eventually agrees to be his partner in the dance competition, provided that their partnership will remain strictly professional. Tony's older brother, Frank Jr. (Martin Shakar), who was the pride of the Manero family since he was ordained a Roman Catholic priest, brings despair to their parents when he tells them that he has left the priesthood. Tony shares a warm relationship with Frank Jr., but feels vindicated that he is no longer the black sheep of the family.
While on his way home from the grocery store, Gus is attacked by a Hispanic gang and is hospitalized. He tells Tony and his friends that his attackers were the Barracudas. Meanwhile, Bobby C. has been trying to get out of his relationship with his devoutly Catholic girlfriend, Pauline, who is pregnant with his child. Facing pressure from his family and others to marry her, Bobby asks former priest Frank Jr., if the Pope would grant him dispensation for an abortion. When Frank tells him this would be highly unlikely, Bobby's feelings of despair intensify. Bobby lets Tony borrow his 1964 Chevrolet Impala to help move Stephanie from Bay Ridge to Manhattan, and futilely tries to extract a promise from Tony to call him later that night.
Eventually, the group gets their revenge on the Barracudas, and crash Bobby C's car into their hangout. Tony, Double J, and Joey get out of the car to fight, but Bobby C. takes off when a gang member tries to attack him in the car. When the guys visit Gus in the hospital, they are angry when he tells them that he may have targeted the wrong gang. Later, Tony and Stephanie dance at the competition and end up winning first prize. However, Tony believes that a Puerto Rican couple performed better, and that the judges' decision was racially rigged. He gives the Puerto Rican couple the first prize trophy, and leaves with Stephanie. Once outside in a car, she denigrates their relationship and he tries to rape her. She resists and runs from him.
Tony's friends come to the car along with a drunk and stoned Annette. Joey says she has agreed to have sex with everyone. Tony tries to lead her away, but is subdued by Double J and Joey, and sullenly leaves with the group in the car. Double J and Joey rape Annette. Bobby C. pulls the car over on the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge for their usual cable-climbing antics. Typically abstaining, Bobby gets out and performs more dangerous stunts than the rest. Realizing that he is acting recklessly, Tony tries to get him to come down. Bobby's strong sense of alienation, his deadlocked situation with Pauline, and Tony's broken promise to call him earlier that day--all culminate in a suicidal tirade about Tony's lack of caring before Bobby slips and falls to his death in the water below them.
Disgusted and disillusioned by his friends, his family, and his life, Tony spends the rest of the night riding the subway into Manhattan. Morning has dawned by the time he appears at Stephanie's apartment. He apologizes for his bad behavior, telling her that he plans to relocate from Brooklyn to Manhattan to try and start a new life. Tony and Stephanie salvage their relationship and agree to be friends, sharing a tender moment.
Saving Private Ryan (1998)
Color
Mission is undertaken to bring back Private Ryan, after his brothers died
Saving Private Ryan
"On the morning of June 6, 1944, the beginning of the Normandy invasion, American soldiers prepare to land on Omaha Beach. They struggle against German infantry, machine gun nests, and artillery fire. Captain John H. Miller survives the initial landing and assembles a group of soldiers to penetrate the German defenses, leading to a breakout from the beach.
In Washington, D.C., General George Marshall is informed that three of the four brothers of the Ryan family were killed in action and that their mother is to receive three telegrams to inform her of that. He learns that the fourth son, Private First Class James Francis Ryan, is a paratrooper, and is missing in action somewhere in Normandy. Marshall, after reading Abraham Lincoln's Bixby letter, orders that Ryan must be found and sent home immediately.
Three days after D-Day, Miller receives orders to find Ryan and bring him back from the front. He assembles six men from his company, Horvath, Reiben, Mellish, Caparzo, Jackson, and Wade, plus one man detailed from another unit, Upham, a cartographer who speaks French and German. Miller and his men move out to Neuville. On the outskirts of the town, they meet a platoon from the 101st Airborne Division. After entering the town, Caparzo is shot by a sniper. Jackson is able to kill the sniper, but Caparzo dies. They locate a Private James Frederick Ryan, but soon realize that he is not their man. They find a member of Ryan's regiment who informs them that his drop zone was at Vierville and that his and Ryan's companies had the same rally point. Once they reach it, Miller locates a friend of Ryan's, who reveals that Ryan is defending a strategically important bridge over the Merderet River in the town of Ramelle.
On the way to Ramelle, Miller decides to neutralize a German machine gun position, despite the misgivings of his men. Wade is fatally wounded in the ensuing skirmish. The last surviving German, known only as "Steamboat Willie", incurs the wrath of all the squad members except Upham, who protests to Miller about the proposed execution of the German soldier. "Steamboat Willie" pleads for his life and Miller decides to let him walk away, blindfolded, and surrender himself to the next Allied patrol. No longer confident in Miller's leadership, Reiben declares his intention to desert the squad and the mission, prompting a confrontation with Horvath. The argument heats up, until Miller defuses the situation. Reiben then reluctantly decides to stay.
The squad finally arrives on the outskirts of Ramelle, where they come upon three paratroopers, among whom is Ryan. After entering Ramelle, Ryan is told of his brothers' deaths, the mission to bring him home, and that two men had been lost in the quest to find him. He is distressed at the loss of his brothers, but does not feel it is fair to go home, asking Miller to tell his mother that he intends to stay "with the only brothers [he has] left." Miller decides to take command and defend the bridge with what little manpower and resources are available.
Elements of the 2nd SS Panzer Division arrive with infantry and armor. In the ensuing battle, while inflicting heavy German casualties, most of the Americans -- including Jackson, Mellish, and Horvath -- are killed. While attempting to blow the bridge, Miller is shot and mortally wounded by the German prisoner set free earlier, who has returned to battle alongside the SS. Just before a Tiger tank reaches the bridge, an American P-51 Mustang flies over and destroys it, followed by more Mustangs, American infantry, and M4 Sherman tanks who rout the remaining Germans. Upham, who was cut off and hid in a ditch, comes out of hiding as the Germans flee and orders them to drop their weapons; among them the German that shot Miller. Upham executes him, telling the rest to flee. Ryan is with Miller as he dies and says his last words, "James... earn this. Earn it."
In the present day, elderly Ryan and his family visit the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial at Colleville-sur-mer in Normandy. Ryan stands at Miller's grave. He asks his wife to confirm that he has led a good life and that he is a "good man" and thus worthy of the sacrifice of Miller and the others. His wife replies "You are."
Say It Isn't So (2001)
Color
Hair sylist cuts part of man's ear, they fall in love, but discover they are siblings
Say It Isn't So
"Gilly Noble (Chris Klein) takes a stray cat named "Ringo" to the animal shelter where he works in Shelbyville, Indiana. Gilly gets his hair cut by a beautiful young aspiring hairdresser named Jo Wingfield (Heather Graham). As Jo cuts Gilly's hair, she mentions that she recently lost a tail-less cat named Ringo, leading Gilly to tell her that Ringo is at the pound. The excitement causes Jo to accidentally cut off a part of Gilly's ear, and he is rushed to the hospital where the ear is reattached. To make up for the incident, Jo invites Gilly to her house for lunch the next day, where Gilly meets Jo's self-centered mother, Valdine (Sally Field), and stroke-suffering father, Walter (Richard Jenkins).
Gilly and Jo date for six months before getting engaged, but suddenly a private detective, Vic Vetter (Brent Briscoe), contacts Gilly to tell him that he's Valdine and Walter's son. After Gilly and Jo end their incestuous relationship, Gilly moves in with his new family, and Jo moves to Beaver, Oregon to start a new life. After being branded a "sister-fucker", Gilly loses his job at the animal shelter and is forced to take a job removing roadkill for the highway department.
Sixteen months later, a surprise comes to the Wingfield doorstep in the form of a young man named Leon Pitofsky (Jack Plotnick), who claims to be Valdine and Walter's son and presents his birth certificate as proof. Valdine and Walter feel better for a few moments before angrily lashing out at Gilly and forcing him to leave. Valdine notifies the Beaver police that Gilly is a sex offender. Gilly runs for his life and decides to go to Oregon to inform Jo. On the way to Oregon, he befriends a pilot with two prosthetic legs named Dig (Orlando Jones).
Meanwhile, Jo becomes engaged to her ex-boyfriend Jack Mitchelson (Eddie Cibrian), a rich and powerful young man who secretly deals in marijuana, controls over half the town by paying off numerous politicians, and cheats on Jo with his ex-girlfriend, a local cop named Gina (Sarah Silverman). Valdine keeps pushing Jo to marry Jack in order to become involved with Jack's wealth, although Jo still loves Gilly. Valdine keeps Leon secluded and tells Jo that Leon is a figment of Gilly's imagination. Gilly tries to hide from the authorities, and Dig frequently aids him in his escape from Jack's henchmen.
Ultimately, Gilly is not able to stop Jo from marrying Jack, who still believes that Gilly is her brother. Police arrive at the marriage scene to inform the family that Gilly died in a car accident, which was actually an act of sabotage by Leon who has been arrested. Jo learns the truth and ends her marriage which causes Valdine to attack Leon and have a stroke. It's also revealed that Jack was behind Valdine and Walter being misidentified as Gilly's parents. But unknown to everyone, Gilly was not driving the car at the time of the accident when it was actually one of Jack's henchmen Streak (Brent Hinkley). Gilly, who has just returned to working at the animal shelter, sees Jo and mistakenly believes that she wants to commit suicide. They are finally reunited on the roof of the same animal shelter that was a catalyst for their coming together.
A few months later, Gilly and Jo are married, and Walter, Valdine, Leon, Dig, and many other people attend, with Walter on his feet and Valdine in a wheelchair after her stroke. Also, as a surprise wedding present, Vetter arrives and tells him that he has truly found his mother. In an ironic twist, Gilly's mother turns out to be Suzanne Somers, whom Gilly used to fantasize about while masturbating.
Scarface (1932)
Black & White
Gangster runs illegal booze during prohibition
Scarface
"In 1920s Chicago, Italian immigrant Antonio "Tony" Camonte acts on the orders of Italian mafioso John "Johnny" Lovo and kills "Big" Louis Costillo, the leading crime boss of the city's South Side. Johnny takes control of the South Side with Tony as his key lieutenant, selling large amounts of illegal beer to speakeasies and muscling in on bars run by rival outfits. However, Johnny repeatedly warns Tony not to mess with the Irish gangs led by O'Hara, who runs the North Side. Tony soon ignores these orders, barraging bars belonging to O'Hara, and attracting the attention of the police and rival gangsters. Johnny realizes Tony is out of control and aspires to take his position.
Meanwhile, Tony pursues Johnny's girlfriend Poppy with increasing confidence. At first, she is dismissive of him but pays him more attention as his reputation rises. She visits his "gaudy" apartment where he shows her his view of an electric billboard advertising Cook's Tours, which features the slogan which inspires him: "The World is Yours."
Tony eventually decides to declare war and take over the North Side. He sends the coin flipping Guino Rinaldo, one of his best men and close friend, to kill O'Hara in a florist's shop that he uses as his base. This brings heavy retaliation from the North Side gangs, now led by Gaffney and armed with Thompson submachine guns--which instantly capture Tony's dark imagination. Tony leads his own forces to destroy the North Side gangs and take over their market, even to the point of impersonating police officers to murder several rivals in a garage. Tony kills Gaffney as he makes a strike at a bowling alley. The South Side gang and Poppy go to a club and Tony and Poppy dance together in front of Johnny. After Tony conspicuously shows his intention to steal Poppy, Johnny believes his protege is trying to take over, and he arranges for Tony to be assassinated while driving. Tony manages to escape this attack, and he and Guino kill Johnny, leaving Tony as the undisputed boss of the city. In order to elude the increasingly aggravated police force, Tony and Poppy leave Chicago for a month.
Tony's actions have provoked a public outcry, and the police are slowly closing in. After he sees his beloved sister Francesca ("Cesca") with Guino, he kills his friend in a jealous rage before the couple can inform him of their secret marriage. His sister runs out distraught, presumably to notify the police. The police move to arrest Tony for Guino's murder, and Tony takes cover in his house and prepares to fire at the police. Cesca comes back, planning to kill him, but decides to help him to fight the police. Tony and Cesca arm themselves and Tony shoots at the police from the window, laughing maniacally. Moments later, however, Cesca is killed by a stray bullet. Calling Cesca's name as the apartment fills with tear gas, Tony leaves on the stairs, and the police confront him. Tony pleads for his life but makes a break for it, only to be shot by an unknown officer with a Tommy gun. He stumbles for a moment and falls in the gutter and dies. Among the sounds of cheering, the electric billboard blazes "The World is Yours".
Scarface (1983)
Color
Cuban refugee becomes drug lord, makes the mistake of getting high on his own cocaine
Scarface
"In 1980, Cuban refugee and ex-convict Antonio "Tony" Montana arrives in Miami, Florida, as part of the Mariel boatlift, where he is sent to a refugee camp with his best friends, Manny Ribera, Angel and Chi-Chi. The four are released and given green cards in exchange for murdering a former Cuban general, Emilio Rebenga, at the request of Miami drug dealer Frank Lopez. They become dishwashers in a diner, but a disgusted Tony proclaims that he is meant for bigger things.
Frank's right-hand man, Omar Suarez, sends the four to purchase cocaine from Colombian dealers, but the deal goes bad. Angel is dismembered with a chainsaw, while Manny and Chi-Chi rescue Tony and kill the Colombians. Suspecting that Omar set them up, Tony and Manny insist on personally delivering the recovered drugs and money to Frank. During their meeting, Tony is attracted to Frank's trophy wife, Elvira Hancock. Frank hires and befriends Tony and Manny. Months later, Tony is reunited with his mother Georgina and younger sister Gina, of whom he is fiercely protective. Disgusted by his life of crime, Georgina throws Tony out. Manny is attracted to Gina, but Tony tells him to stay away from her.
Frank sends Tony and Omar to Cochabamba, Bolivia to meet with cocaine kingpin Alejandro Sosa. Tony negotiates a deal without Frank's approval, angering Omar, who leaves to contact Frank. Sosa claims that Omar is a police informant and that Frank has poor judgement; Tony witnesses a beaten Omar hanged from a helicopter. Tony vouches for Frank's organization, and Sosa, taking a liking to Tony, agrees to the deal, but not before warning Tony to never betray him.
Back in Miami, Frank is infuriated by Omar's demise and the unauthorized deal struck by Tony. Later, when Tony visits Elvira, she reveals that Tony has started his own cocaine distribution operation, separate from Frank's. At a nightclub, corrupt detective Mel Bernstein attempts to extort money from Tony in return for police protection and information. Tony angers Frank further by openly pursuing Elvira in the club. Tony spots Gina and her drug dealer boyfriend, Fernando, making out in the men's bathroom while she snorts cocaine. Both of them are beaten. Hitmen attempt to assassinate Tony, but he escapes. Tony, certain that his former boss Frank sent both Bernstein and the assassins, confronts Frank, with Manny and Chi-Chi in tow. At gunpoint, Frank confesses to the attempted hit and begs for his life, but he and Bernstein are killed. Tony marries Elvira and becomes the distributor of Sosa's product. He builds a multimillion-dollar empire, living in a vast, heavily guarded estate.
By 1983, however, Tony becomes dissatisfied with his lifestyle and cocaine addiction. His money launderer demands a greater percentage, while Manny resents Tony's growing paranoia and abusive treatment of Elvira. A sting by Federal agents results in Tony being charged with tax evasion, with an inevitable prison sentence. Sosa offers to use his government connections to keep a desperate Tony out of prison, but only if Tony assassinates a journalist intending to expose Sosa about his drug operations. Later, Tony, during a public dinner, accuses Manny of causing his arrest and Elvira of being an infertile junkie, causing Elvira to leave him. He travels to New York City to carry out the assassination with Sosa's henchman, Alberto, who plants a radio-controlled bomb under the journalist's car. However, the journalist is unexpectedly accompanied by his wife and children. Disgusted, Tony kills Alberto before he can detonate the bomb and returns to Miami.
An enraged Sosa calls Tony to promise retribution. Tony, at his mother's behest, tracks down Gina. Tony finds Manny with Gina; in a fit of rage, Tony shoots Manny dead, after which Gina tearfully tells Tony that she and Manny had just got married the day before and wanted to surprise him. A stunned and remorseful Tony returns to his mansion, bringing Gina along, and begins a massive cocaine binge by himself in his office. While Sosa's men begin attacking the mansion, a drugged Gina appears and accuses Tony of wanting her for himself and attempts to kill him, but is slain by one of Sosa's men, who is in turn killed by Tony. With Tony's men all dead and assassins outside, Tony turns a grenade launcher-equipped M16A1 on Sosa's men, mowing down many. Tony is repeatedly shot by the remaining attackers, but continues to taunt them until he is fatally shot from behind by the shotgun-wielding assassin known as The Skull. His corpse falls into a fountain below, in front of a statue with the inscription "The World is Yours".
Schindler's List (1993)
Black & White
German factory owner spends his entire fortune to help save 1,100 Jews from Auschwitz
Schindler's List
"In 1939, the Germans relocate Polish Jews to the Krakow Ghetto as World War II begins. Oskar Schindler (Liam Neeson), an ethnic German businessman from Moravia, arrives in the city hoping to make a fortune as a war profiteer. Schindler, a member of the Nazi Party, lavishes bribes upon Wehrmacht and SS officials. Sponsored by the military, Schindler acquires a factory for the production of army mess kits. Not knowing much about how to run such an enterprise, he gains a collaborator in Itzhak Stern (Ben Kingsley), an official of Krakow's Judenrat (Jewish Council) who has contacts with the Jewish business community and the black marketers inside the Ghetto. The Jewish businessmen lend Schindler money in return for a share of products produced. Opening the factory, Schindler pleases the Nazis and enjoys newfound wealth and status as "Herr Direktor", while Stern handles administration. Schindler hires Jewish Poles instead of Catholic Poles because they cost less. Workers in Schindler's factory are allowed outside the ghetto, and Stern ensures that as many people as possible are deemed "essential" to the German war effort, saving them from being transported to concentration camps or killed.
SS-Lieutenant (Untersturmf?hrer) Amon Goeth (Ralph Fiennes) arrives in Krakow to oversee construction of the P?aszow concentration camp. Once the camp is completed, he orders the liquidation of the ghetto and Operation Reinhard in Krakow begins, with hundreds of troops emptying the cramped rooms and arbitrarily murdering anyone who is uncooperative, elderly or infirm. Schindler watches the massacre and is profoundly affected. He nevertheless is careful to befriend Goeth and, through Stern's attention to bribery, Schindler continues enjoying SS support. Schindler bribes Goeth into allowing him to build a sub-camp for his workers, so that he can keep his factory running smoothly and protect them. As time passes, Schindler tries to save as many lives as he can. As the war shifts, Goeth is ordered to ship the remaining Jews to the Auschwitz concentration camp.
Schindler prepares to leave Krakow with his fortune. He finds himself unable to do so, however, and prevails upon Goeth to allow him to keep his workers so he can move them to a factory in his old home of Zwittau-Brinnlitz, away from the Final Solution. Goeth charges a massive bribe for each worker. Schindler and Stern assemble a list of workers to be kept off the trains to Auschwitz.
"Schindler's List" comprises these "skilled" inmates, and for many of those in P?aszow, being included means the difference between life and death. Almost all of the people on Schindler's list arrive safely at the new site. The train carrying the women is accidentally redirected to Auschwitz. Schindler bribes the camp commander, Rudolf Ho?, with a cache of diamonds in exchange for releasing the women to Brinnlitz. Once the women arrive, Schindler institutes firm controls on the SS guards assigned to the factory, forbidding them to enter the production areas. He encourages the Jews to observe the Sabbath. To keep his workers alive, he spends much of his fortune bribing Nazi officials and buying shells from other companies; he never produces working shells during the seven months his factory operates. He runs out of money just as the Wehrmacht surrenders, ending the war in Europe.
As a Nazi Party member and a self-described "profiteer of slave labour", in 1945, Schindler must flee the advancing Red Army. Although the SS guards have been ordered to kill the Jews, Schindler persuades them to return to their families as men, not murderers. In the aftermath, he packs a car in the night and bids farewell to his workers. They give him a letter explaining he is not a criminal to them, together with a ring secretly made from a worker's gold dental bridge and engraved with a Talmudic quotation, "Whoever saves one life saves the world entire". Schindler is touched but deeply ashamed as he leaves, feeling he could have done more to save lives, such as selling his car and Golden Party Badge.
The Schindler Jews are awakened by sunlight the next morning. A Soviet dragoon announces that they have been liberated by the Red Army. The Jews walk to a nearby town in search of food.
After a few scenes depicting post-war events such as the execution of Amon Goeth and a summary of what happened to Schindler in his later years, the Jews are shown walking to the nearby town. The black-and-white frame changes to one in color of present-day Schindler Jews at Schindler's grave site in Jerusalem, where he wanted to be interred. A procession of now-elderly Jews who worked in Schindler's factory set stones on his grave--a traditional Jewish custom denoting gratitude to the deceased. The actors portraying the major characters walk with them. Ben Kingsley is accompanied by the widow of Itzhak Stern, who died in 1969. A title card reveals that at the time of the film's release, there were fewer than 4,000 Jews left alive in Poland, but more than 6,000 descendants of the Schindler Jews throughout the world. In the final scene, Liam Neeson places a pair of roses on the grave and stands over it.
Seabiscuit (2003)
Color
Making of champion racehorse Seabiscuit, and the jocky who rode him
Seabiscuit
"Three men, Red Pollard (Tobey Maguire), Charles S. Howard (Jeff Bridges), and Tom Smith (Chris Cooper) come together as the principal jockey, owner, and trainer of the champion race horse Seabiscuit, rising from individual troubled times to achieve fame and success through their association with the horse.
Red's Canadian family is financially ruined by the Great Depression. Desperately needing money, his parents find Red a work situation with a horse trainer. Red eventually becomes a jockey and makes extra money through illegal boxing matches, leaving him blind in one eye. Howard runs a bicycle shop. A passing motorist asks him to repair his automobile, a new technology. Seeing an opportunity, Howard begins selling automobiles, eventually becoming the largest car dealer in California and one of the Bay Area's richest men. When his young son, Frankie, is killed in an automobile accident, Howard falls into a deep depression, eventually resulting in his wife (Valerie Mahaffey) leaving him.
While in Mexico to obtain a divorce, he meets Marcela Zabala (Elizabeth Banks). After marrying Marcela, Howard acquires a stable of race horses. He has a chance encounter with skilled horse trainer and drifter Tom Smith. Howard hires Smith to manage his stables. Smith convinces Howard to acquire a colt, "Seabiscuit", who comes from noted lineage but had been deemed "incorrigible" by past handlers.
Smith has difficulty finding a jockey able to handle Seabiscuit's temperament. After witnessing Red Pollard brawling with other stable boys, Smith sees a similar temperament to the feisty horse and hires Red as Seabiscuit's jockey. Seabiscuit and Pollard become close, and they begin to race. After overcoming early difficulties, such as a dismissive media and Pollard's anger issues and blind eye, Seabiscuit earns considerable success and becomes a popular underdog to the millions affected by the Great Depression. Inspired, Howard challenges New York tycoon Samuel Riddle (Eddie Jones) and his champion race horse, "War Admiral", to a match race. Riddle eventually relents, but on his terms. As the date approaches, Pollard is injured in a riding accident, severely fracturing his leg. Unable to ride, Red recommends Howard get his old friend, George Woolf (Gary Stevens) to ride Seabiscuit in the match race.
Before the race, Red advises Woolf on Seabiscuit's handling and behavior. He tells Wolfe to allow War Admiral to catch up in the far turn, and let Seabiscuit look War Admiral in the eye before turning him him loose. Later Seabiscuit is racing at Santa Anita and injures his leg. Red helps Seabiscuit to recover while also getting himself fit enough to race again. The last race is again the Santa Anita Handicap. Red is the jockey, using a self-made brace on his leg. Woolf is riding a different horse. Seabiscuit has a bad break from the gate and drops far behind the pack. Woolf pulls alongside Red, lets Seabiscuit get a good look at his mount. Seabiscuit, challenged, surges ahead and wins the race.
Searching (2018)
Color
Man searches for missing daughter, tracing the digital footprint left on her laptop
Searching
"In San Jose, California, David Kim is shown looking through photographs and videos of his daughter Margot and his wife Pamela at various times in Margot's childhood as a happy, close family. Pamela is diagnosed with lymphoma, and dies right before Margot enters high school.
One night, Margot goes to a friend's house for a study group. While David sleeps, Margot attempts to call him three times. The next morning, David is unable to find Margot but assumes she has risen early to go to school. Later, he calls Margot's piano instructor, but is informed that Margot cancelled her lessons six months ago. David discovers that Margot had been pocketing the money for the lessons, and had transferred it to a now-deleted Venmo account. Realizing that Margot is missing, David calls the police, and the case is assigned to Detective Rosemary Vick, who asks for information about Margot's personality and friendships. David manages to access Margot's accounts, including Facebook, and speaks to her contacts, but discovers that Margot had become a loner since Pamela's death. Vick calls to report that Margot made a fake ID for herself, and shows traffic-camera footage of Margot's car at a highway-juncture outside of the city, suggesting that Margot may have run away.
David, unconvinced, discovers that Margot has been using a live streaming site called YouCast and that she frequently spoke to a young woman called "fish_n_chips". Vick investigates this, and reports back that fish_n_chips is innocent, having been sighted in Pittsburgh at the time of the disappearance. From Margot's Tumblr account, David finds that Margot frequently visited Barbosa Lake, which is near the highway juncture where she was last seen. He drives to the lake and finds Margot's Pokemon keychain on the ground. The police arrive and discover Margot's car underwater and an envelope containing the piano lesson money but not Margot. A sweep of the surrounding area is conducted by the police and volunteers, but a thunderstorm slows the progress. Margot's body, however, is still not found.
David reviews a site which displays the crime-scene photographs and notices Peter's jacket inside. He then discovers text messages between Margot and his brother Peter hinting that they were having an incestuous relationship. When David drives to Peter's house to confront him, the latter explains that they were only smoking marijuana and confiding in each other, and chastises David for failing to notice that his daughter was depressed. The meeting is interrupted when Vick calls David, telling him that an ex-convict named Randy Cartoff has confessed in an online video to raping and killing Margot, committing suicide afterwards.
An empty-casket funeral is arranged for Margot. As David is uploading photographs to a funeral streaming service, he notices that the website's stock photograph features the same woman as fish_n_chips's profile-picture. David contacts the woman in question, a stock model, and confirms she has no connection to fish_n_chips. Attempting to call Vick to report this, David instead reaches a dispatcher who indirectly reveals that Vick volunteered to take the case as opposed to being assigned to it. David Googles Vick and finds that she knew Cartoff through a volunteer program for ex-convicts. He reports this to the sheriff, and at the funeral, Vick is arrested.
A few days later, Vick has agreed to confess to murder and other crimes in exchange for leniency for her son Robert, who was using the online identity fish_n_chips to get close to Margot because he had a crush on her. Margot sent Robert the money thinking that Robert was a working-class girl whose mother was in the hospital. Robert felt guilty and wanted to give the money back, so he decided to confront Margot at the lake. Robert surprised Margot by getting into her car while she was smoking marijuana, prompting her to run, and in the ensuing scuffle Robert accidentally pushed Margot off a 50-foot ravine. Vick decided to cover up the incident, pushing the car into the lake, creating the fake false ID and the fish_n_chips's alibi as a waitress in Pittsburgh. When David found the car, proving that Margot could not have run away, Vick turned Cartoff into a fall guy, murdering him in the process.
The film then jumps back to Vick right after being arrested. As she is being transported into custody, David asks her where Margot's body is, and Vick tells him that Margot is in the ravine, and suggested that even if she had survived the fall, she could not have lived five days without water. David tells the police to turn the car around, pointing out that the storm occurred on the third day of the search which would have provided Margot with water. At the ravine, the rescue crew discovers Margot severely injured but alive.
Two years later, a wheelchair-bound Margot is shown to have applied for college to major in piano, with her acceptance status as pending. Through texts, David tells Margot that Pamela would have been proud of her, something he neglected to do at the start of the film.
Secret Window (2004)
Color
Famous writer is stalked by a scribe at his remote lake house, accusing him of plagiarism
Secret Window
"After catching his wife Amy having an affair with their friend Ted, mystery writer Mort Rainey retreats to his cabin at Tashmore Lake in upstate New York, while Amy stays in their marital home. Six months later, Mort, depressed and suffering from writer's block, has delayed finalizing the divorce. One day, a drawling Mississippian named John Shooter arrives at the cabin and accuses Mort of plagiarizing his short story, "Sowing Season". Upon reading Shooter's manuscript, Mort discovers it is virtually identical to his own story, "Secret Window", except for the ending.
The following day, Mort, who once plagiarized another author's story, tells Shooter that his story was published in a mystery magazine two years before Shooter's, invalidating his plagiarism claim. Shooter demands proof and warns Mort against contacting the police. That night, Mort's dog, Chico, is found dead outside the cabin, along with a note from Shooter giving Mort three days to provide proof. Mort reports the incident to Sheriff Newsome.
Mort drives to his and Amy's house intending to retrieve a copy of the magazine but leaves because Ted and Amy are there. Mort hires private investigator Ken Karsch, who stakes out the cabin and speaks to Tom Greenleaf, a local resident who may have seen Shooter and Mort talking together. At the cabin, Shooter demands that Mort revise his story's ending to Shooter's version, where the protagonist kills his wife.
When an arson fire destroys Amy and Mort's house, and presumably the magazine, Mort reveals to the police that he has an enemy. Karsch tells Mort that he suspects Shooter has threatened Greenleaf after Greenleaf claimed he never saw Mort and Shooter talking together. Mort and Karsch agree to confront Shooter but first will meet up with Greenleaf at the local diner the next morning.
Arriving late, Mort discovers that neither Karsch nor Greenleaf showed at the diner. Mort encounters Ted at a gas station where Ted demands Mort sign the divorce papers. Believing Shooter is in Ted's employ, Mort refuses, taunts Ted, and leaves. Shooter summons Mort to a meeting place; when he arrives, Mort finds Karsch and Greenleaf dead inside Greenleaf's truck. Shooter arrives and says the two men had "interfered" in his business. Shooter warns that he has implicated Mort in the two men's murders. Mort agrees to meet Shooter at his cabin to show him the magazine containing his story, which is supposed to arrive by mail that day, having been overnighted by his literary agent. Mort then pushes Greenleaf's truck off the steep cliff into a water-filled quarry where it sinks. While pushing the truck, Mort's watch gets caught in the turn signal lever and is able to free his hand at the last second leaving his watch still inside the truck.
Mort retrieves the packet containing the magazine from the post office and finds that it has already been opened, with the pages containing his story ripped out. At the cabin, Mort sees Shooter's hat and puts it on. He begins speaking to himself, trying to make sense of the events. Mort realizes that Shooter is a figment of his imagination, a created character brought to life through Mort's undetected dissociative identity disorder, adopted to carry out malevolent tasks that Mort cannot, like killing Chico, Greenleaf, and Karsch, as well as arson.
Amy arrives at the cabin, finding it ransacked and sees the word "SHOOTER" carved repeatedly on the walls and furniture. Mort appears, speaking and acting as Shooter and wearing his hat, which a flashback reveals Mort previously bought at a flea market. Amy realizes the name "Shooter" represents Mort's desire to "SHOOT HER". He chases Amy and stabs her in the ankle. Ted, looking for Amy, arrives and is ambushed by Mort, who smashes his face with a shovel. Amy watches helplessly as Mort bludgeons Ted with the shovel. Presumably, he does the same to her, while reciting the ending of "Sowing Season".
Months later, Mort recovers from writer's block and his overall mood improves. He is feared and shunned in town because of the rumors about the missing people associated with him. Sheriff Newsome arrives and tells Mort that he is the prime suspect in the supposed murders. He warns him that the bodies will eventually be found and he will be caught, and says he is no longer welcome in town. Mort passively dismisses the threat, and tells Newsome that the ending to his new story is "perfect". It is implied that Amy and Ted's bodies are buried under the corn growing in Mort's garden, allowing Mort to slowly destroy any evidence of their murders.
Selfless (2015)
Color
Rich man buys new body and has himself transferred into it
Selfless
"Billionaire New Yorker Damian Hale is diagnosed with terminal cancer. He finds a business card directing him to Professor Albright, who informs him about a medical procedure called "shedding", in which one's consciousness is transferred into a new body. Damian agrees to the procedure and follows Albright's instructions to stage his own public death. Albright then transfers him into a new, younger body, and prescribes medication to alleviate the vivid hallucinations which he claims are side effects of the procedure.
Damian starts a new life in New Orleans under the incognito name of Edward Kidner and is quickly befriended by his neighbor Anton. He later forgets to take his medicine and has hallucinations of a woman and child. Damian (as Edward) questions Albright, who dismisses it, but accidentally mentions details of the hallucinations that Damian had not discussed.
Albright then arranges for Damian to take a vacation in Hawaii, but Damian, convinced the hallucinations are a real memory, identifies a landmark he saw in his vision and heads to a farmhouse outside of St. Louis. There, he finds the woman, Madeline, who reacts to him as her apparently deceased husband Mark. Damian plays along as Mark, though he is shocked to learn that Mark may have sold himself to Albright, in order to pay for their daughter Anna's life-saving treatment. Damian and Madeline are suddenly attacked by Albright's men, including Anton. Damian fatally wounds Anton and kills his accomplices, then flees with Madeline to collect Anna from school.
At a nearby motel, Damian then uses a laptop to research additional details regarding "shedding", and discovers that a man named Dr. Francis Jensen, now deceased, was the pioneer researcher in the field of transhumanism. In a video, Damian notices a tic Jensen shares with Albright, then sees Albright sitting next to Jensen, deducing that Jensen may have shed his consciousness into Albright's body.
Damian then finds Jensen's wife, Phyllis, in a nursing home, but she is living with Alzheimer's and remembers nothing. Damian lures Jensen (Albright) to the facility, where he reveals that the pills are meant to fully eliminate the original personalities of the bodies used in the shedding procedure, telling Damian that without the pills, Damian's consciousness will die, and Mark's will re-emerge.
Jensen later escapes when more killers arrive. Damian is almost overpowered, but Madeline wounds the attacker, who proves to be Anton in a new body. Anton reveals that he has shed multiple times. While Damian confiscates Anton's pills, Anton taunts Madeline to ask her "husband" why he cannot answer personal questions about their life.
Madeline then confronts "Mark" over his lack of knowledge of their personal details, causing Damian to reveal the entire story. He takes her and Anna to his old friend Martin O'Neill, and convinces Martin to arrange for Madeline and Anna to flee to the Caribbean. When he and Madeline discover Anna playing with Martin's previously deceased child Tony, Martin admits that he allowed Tony to also use shedding, and that Jensen's men are coming. Damian then reveals shedding's secret to Martin, who reacts in shock and disgust. Damian distracts Jensen's men while Martin flees with the others. Damian again fatally injures Anton, but the other thugs realize that Damian is alone and turn to recapture Madeline and Anna.
Damian then purposely stops taking his medicine to experience more of Mark's memories, which reveal that Jensen has a lab in an abandoned warehouse. Jensen captures him and starts to shed Anton into Mark's body. Damian, remembering that metal interferes with the process, hides a bullet casing in his mouth, causing the Shedding Machine to malfunction and destroy Anton's consciousness. Masquerading as Anton, Damian then rescues the others. Although Jensen tries to claim that Damian needs him to survive, Martin was able to reverse-engineer the pills and give Damian the formula, allowing Damian to safely torch Jensen to death with a flamethrower. After killing Jensen, he has Martin complete Madeline and Anna's escape to the Caribbean.
Damian later visits his estranged daughter Claire but does not reveal his presence inside Mark, simply giving her a letter that reconciles Claire with her father. Damian then travels to the Caribbean and fully stops taking his medicine. The real Mark then slowly re-emerges, and finds a video message from Damian thanking him for the time that he gave to him. The story concludes with Mark finally reuniting with his family.
Selma (2014)
Color
1965 Civil Rights march at Selma, where protestors were assailed by police
Selma
"In 1964, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) accepts his Nobel Peace Prize. Four African-American girls are shown walking down the stairs of the 16th Street Baptist Church until an explosion kills them. In Selma, Alabama, Annie Lee Cooper attempts to register to vote but is prevented by the white registrar. King meets with President Lyndon B. Johnson and asks for federal legislation to allow black citizens to register to vote unencumbered. Johnson says he has more important projects.
King travels to Selma with Ralph Abernathy, Andrew Young, James Orange, and Diane Nash. James Bevel greets them, and other SCLC activists appear. FBI director J. Edgar Hoover tells Johnson that King is a problem, and suggests they disrupt his marriage. Coretta Scott King has concerns about her husband's upcoming work in Selma. King calls singer Mahalia Jackson to inspire him with a song. King, other SCLC leaders, and black Selma residents march to the registration office to register. After a confrontation in front of the courthouse a shoving match occurs as the police go into the crowd. Cooper fights back, knocking Sheriff Jim Clark to the ground, leading to the arrest of Cooper, King, and others.
Alabama Governor George Wallace speaks out against the movement. Coretta meets with Malcolm X, who says he will drive whites to ally with King by advocating a more extreme position. Wallace and Al Lingo decide to use force at an upcoming night march in Marion, Alabama, using state troopers to assault the marchers. A group of protesters runs into a restaurant to hide, but troopers rush in, beat and shoot Jimmie Lee Jackson. King and Bevel meet with Cager Lee, Jackson's grandfather, at the morgue. King speaks to ask people to continue to fight for their rights. King receives harassing phone calls with a recording of sexual activity implied to be him and another woman leading to an argument with Coretta. King is criticized by members of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC).
As the Selma to Montgomery march is about to begin, King talks to Young about cancelling it, but Young convinces King to persevere. The marchers, including John Lewis of SNCC, Hosea Williams of SCLC, and Selma activist Amelia Boynton, cross the Edmund Pettus Bridge and approach a line of state troopers who put on gas masks. The troopers ask the marchers to turn back, and when they hold their ground the troopers attack with clubs, horses, tear gas, and other weapons. Lewis and Boynton are among those badly injured. The attack is shown on national television as the wounded are treated at Brown Chapel, the movement's headquarter church.
Movement attorney Fred Gray asks federal Judge Frank Minis Johnson to let the march go forward. President Johnson demands that King and Wallace stop their actions, and sends John Doar to convince King to postpone the next march. White Americans, including Viola Liuzzo and James Reeb, arrive to join the second march. Marchers cross the bridge again and see the state troopers lined up, but the troopers turn aside to let them pass. King, after praying, turns around and leads the group away, and again comes under sharp criticism from SNCC activists. That evening, Reeb is beaten to death by white racists on a street in Selma.
Judge Johnson allows the march. President Johnson speaks before a Joint Session of Congress to ask for quick passage of a bill to eliminate restrictions on voting, praising the courage of the activists; he states "We shall overcome." The march on the highway to Montgomery takes place, and when the marchers reach Montgomery King delivers a speech on the steps of the State Capitol. As King speaks of coming victory, the fates of him and his supporters are displayed on screen.
Send Me No Flowers (1964)
Color
Hypochondriac believes he's dying, makes plans for his wife, she discovers and misunderstands
Send Me No Flowers
"George Kimball, a hypochondriac, lives with his wife Judy in the suburbs. Judy learns from the milkman that their neighbors, the Bullards, are getting a divorce, and shares the news with George.
Over lunch, George is appalled as a bachelor acquaintance, Winston Burr, gleefully describes how he contacts women who are getting divorced and pretends to console them, hoping to seduce them while they are vulnerable.
George visits his doctor and longtime friend, Ralph Morrissey, after experiencing chest pains. He overhears the doctor discussing on the phone a patient who only has a few weeks to live. George assumes that Morrissey is talking about him and is distraught. On the train home, he tells his friend, Arnold Nash, that he will die soon. He has decided not to tell Judy, knowing it will upset her. Arnold solemnly assures George that he will deliver the eulogy at his funeral.
That night, George dreams about Judy marrying Vito, an irresponsible young deliveryman more interested in her inheritance than in her. He visits a funeral home operated by Mr. Akins to buy a burial plot for three people, including a prospective new husband for Judy, giving him a $1000 check made out to "Cash", so that Judy will not discover what the check is for. He decides to find Judy a new husband and asks Arnold to help him.
On a golf outing, Judy's golf cart malfunctions and she is saved by her old college beau Bert Power, now a Texas oil baron. George, jealous over Bert's attentions to Judy, reluctantly agrees with Arnold that Bert would be a great husband for her. During an evening out, George forces Judy to dance and talk with Bert. When George runs into the newly divorced Linda Bullard, who is there with Winston, he takes her to the coat room and warns her about Winston's intentions. She thanks him and kisses him in gratitude. When Judy sees them, she storms out, thinking that he is pushing her to spend time with Bert so that he will feel less guilty about having an affair with Linda. George then tells Judy that he is dying. She is naturally skeptical because of George's history of hypochondria, so he tells her that she can call Dr. Morrisey for confirmation, which convinces her that he is telling the truth.
Judy insists that George use a wheelchair to conserve his energy. However, when she sees Dr. Morrissey and he tells her that George is fine, she thinks George is lying to wriggle out of the consequences of his affair. She rolls him out of the house in his wheelchair and locks him out, announcing her intention to divorce him. George spends the night at Arnold's house, during which time his various demands and idiosyncrasies cause Arnold to strike, one by one, many of the complimentary remarks about George he had planned on making in his eulogy. The next day, George desperately asks Arnold for advice on how to stop Judy from leaving him. Arnold insists that George, although he is innocent, must pretend to confess to Judy that he has had an affair, assure her it is over, and beg for forgiveness.
Judy leaves to buy a train ticket to Reno. George follows her to the train station, where, following Arnold's advice, he concocts a story about an affair he had with a Dolores Yellowstone (Judy has learned from Linda why she was kissing him) and shows Judy the stub from the $1000 check, made out to "Cash", that he had given "Dolores" so she could leave him and start a new life in New York. The scheme backfires as Judy refuses to forgive him, despite his attempt to renege on his "confession". When she goes home to retrieve her bags, Mr. Akins happens to drop by to deliver the burial contracts for George's and Judy's plots and shows her George's check. He also tells her that George had bought a third plot for her prospective second husband. He is mortified to learn that Judy still did not know about George's surprise. Judy now realizes that George had made up the Dolores Yellowstone story. When George arrives at the house, she lovingly "forgives" him.
Sense and Sensibility (1995)
Color
Three Sisters depend on charity of others after their father dies
Sense and Sensibility
"On his deathbed, Mr. Dashwood tells his son from his first marriage, John, to take care of his second wife and three daughters, Elinor, Marianne, and Margaret, since they will inherit nothing. John's greedy and snobbish wife Fanny convinces him to give his half sisters practically nothing financially; John and Fanny immediately install themselves in the large house, forcing the Dashwood ladies to look for a new home. Fanny invites her brother Edward Ferrars to stay with them. Elinor and Edward soon form a close friendship, but Fanny haughtily tells Mrs. Dashwood that Edward would be disinherited if he married someone of no importance with no money. Mrs. Dashwood understands her meaning completely.
Sir John Middleton, a cousin of the widowed Mrs. Dashwood, offers her a small cottage house on his estate, Barton Park in Devonshire. She and her daughters move in, and are frequent guests at Barton Park. The Dashwoods meet the older Colonel Brandon, who falls in love with Marianne at first sight. However, Marianne considers him an old bachelor, incapable of feeling love or inspiring it in another.
One afternoon, Marianne takes a walk with Margaret and slips and falls in the rain. She is carried home by the dashing John Willoughby, with whom Marianne falls in love. They spend a great deal of time together, but on the morning she expects him to propose marriage to her, he instead leaves hurriedly for London. Unbeknownst to the Dashwood family, Brandon's ward Beth, the illegitimate daughter of his former love Eliza, is pregnant with Willoughby's child. Willoughby's aunt Lady Allen disinherited him upon discovering this.
Sir John's mother-in-law, Mrs. Jennings, invites her daughter and son-in-law, Mr. and Mrs. Palmer, to visit. They bring with them the impoverished Lucy Steele. Lucy confides in Elinor that she and Edward have been engaged secretly for five years, dashing Elinor's hopes of a future with him. Mrs. Jennings takes Lucy, Elinor, and Marianne to London, where they meet Willoughby at a ball. He greets Marianne uncomfortably and barely acknowledges their acquaintance, and they soon learn he is engaged to the extremely wealthy Miss Grey. Marianne becomes inconsolable.
Lucy is invited to stay with John and Fanny, as a way for Fanny to avoid inviting the Dashwood sisters to visit them. Lucy, falsely believing that she has a friend in Fanny, confides her clandestine engagement to Edward and is thrown out of the house. Edward's mother demands that he break off the engagement. When he refuses, she arranges to have his fortune transferred to his younger brother, Robert. On hearing this, Colonel Brandon offers Edward the parish on his estate, feeling sympathy for the unfortunate but honorable Edward.
On their way home to Devonshire, Elinor and Marianne stop for the night at the country estate of the Palmers, who live five and a half miles away from Willoughby's estate. Marianne cannot resist going to see the estate; she becomes gravely ill trekking up a hill in a torrential rain. Colonel Brandon finds her in the rain and brings her home. Elinor stays at her side until she recovers, and the sisters return home. Colonel Brandon and Marianne begin spending time together, as Marianne has a new appreciation for him. She admits to Elinor that even if Willoughby had chosen her, she was no longer convinced that love would have been enough to make him happy.
The Dashwoods soon learn that Miss Steele has become Mrs. Ferrars and assume that she is married to Edward. Later when Edward visits their house, they learn that Miss Steele unexpectedly jilted him in favor of his brother Robert, and Edward is thus released from his engagement. Edward proposes to and marries Elinor. Edward becomes a vicar, under the patronage of Colonel Brandon, whom Marianne marries. Willoughby is seen watching their wedding from a distance, and then rides away.
Serenity (2019)
Color
Fisherman's ex-wife comes asking him to kill her abusive husband
Serenity
"Baker Dill is a fishing boat captain living a quiet and sheltered life. He spends his days leading tours off a tranquil, tropical enclave called Plymouth Island and is obsessed with catching an evasive giant yellowfin tuna whom he calls "Justice".
One day, Dill's ex-wife Karen tracks him down and begs him to save her and their young son Patrick from her new, powerful but violently abusive husband, Frank, offering Dill $10 million to murder him by throwing him overboard. She tells Dill that Frank will be arriving later in the week and that they have booked Dill for a fishing trip, the perfect opportunity for Dill to kill Frank.
Torn between his conscience and his desire to help Karen, Dill is thrust back into a life he had tried to forget, as his world is plunged into a new reality that may not be all that it seems.
It soon becomes apparent that Dill is a character in a computer game Patrick created, based on his father, John Mason, a U.S. Marine Corps Captain who was killed in Iraq in 2006. Patrick had based the character on a memory of his father taking him fishing when he was three years old. When Karen, a widow, remarried, Patrick introduced his mother and abusive step-father as new characters in the game, and changed Dill's task from catching tuna to murdering his step-father.
Dill soon begins to realize that he and the other inhabitants of Plymouth Island are merely artificial intelligence characters created by his son. Nevertheless, he decides to go along with the objective of killing Frank.
As Dill carries out the objective, Patrick summons up the courage to confront Frank in real life and stabs him in the chest with a knife that used to belong to his father. Frank dies and Patrick is charged with murder, but he is released into his mother's custody while awaiting trial. He designs a new computer game in which he and his father are reunited.
Seven (1995)
Color
Police investigate serial killer whose crimes are based on the Seven Deadly Sins
Seven
"In an unidentified city of near-constant rain and urban decay, the soon-to-be retiring Detective William R. Somerset (Freeman) is partnered with short-tempered Detective David Mills (Pitt) who recently transferred to the department.
The detectives investigate a series of murders relating to the seven deadly sins, such as an obese man who was forced to feed himself to death, representing "Gluttony." They find clues at each crime scene related to other deaths, and believe they are chasing a serial killer. A set of fingerprints found at the scene of the "Greed" murder, the fatal bloodletting of a rich attorney, leads them to an apartment where they find an emaciated man strapped to a bed. Though he initially appears to be dead, it soon is discovered that the man has been kept alive and entirely immobile by the killer for exactly one year to the day; a drug dealer and child molester before his captivity, this victim represents "Sloth", and dies soon after from shock. Though unable to learn anything from the insensate victim, the detectives agree that the killer has planned these crimes for more than a year.
Somerset is eventually invited to meet Mills' wife, Tracy (Paltrow), who is unhappy with Mills' recent move to the city. Somerset becomes Tracy's confidante, and she meets with him after the first few murders. Upon learning that she is pregnant but has not told her husband, Somerset confides in her his fear that the city is no place to start a family, and reveals that he had ended a relationship years earlier after pressuring his girlfriend to have an abortion. Somerset advises her to not tell Mills if she plans to have an abortion; otherwise, if she decides to keep the child, "spoil that kid every chance you get".
Using library records, Somerset and Mills track down a man named John Doe (Kevin Spacey), who has frequently checked out books related to the deadly sins. When Doe finds the detectives approaching his apartment, he opens fire on them and flees, chased by Mills. Eventually, Doe gains the upper hand and holds Mills at gunpoint, but then abruptly leaves. Investigation of Doe's apartment finds handwritten volumes of his irrational judgments and clues leading to another potential victim, but no fingerprints. They arrive too late to find their "Lust" victim, a prostitute killed by an unwilling man wearing a bladed S&M device, forced by Doe to simultaneously rape and kill her. Some time later, they investigate the death of a young model whose face had been mutilated. Having chosen to kill herself rather than live with a disfigured face, she is the victim of "Pride".
As they return to the police station, Doe appears to them and offers himself for arrest, with the blood of the model and an unidentified victim on his hands. They find out that he has been cutting the skin off his fingers to avoid leaving fingerprints. Through his lawyer, Doe claims he will lead the two detectives to the last two bodies and confess to the crimes, or otherwise will plead insanity. Though Somerset is worried, Mills agrees to the demand. Doe directs the two detectives to a remote desert area far from the city; along the way, he claims that God told him to punish the wicked and reveal the world for the awful place that it is. He also makes cryptic comments toward Mills.
After arriving at the location, a delivery van approaches; Somerset intercepts the driver, leaving Mills and Doe alone. The driver hands over a package he was instructed to deliver at precisely this time and location. While Mills holds Doe at gunpoint, Doe mentions how much he admires him, but does not say why. Somerset opens the package and recoils in horror at the sight of the contents. He races back to warn Mills not to listen to Doe, but the killer reveals that the box contains Tracy's head. Doe claims to represent the sin of "Envy"; he was jealous of Mills' normal life, and killed Tracy after failing to "play husband" with her. He then taunts the distraught Mills with the knowledge that Tracy was pregnant. Somerset is unable to contain Mills as he unloads his gun into Doe, becoming the embodiment of "Wrath". After a catatonic Mills is taken away, Somerset is asked where he will be; he replies, "around".
With the sun setting over the desert, Somerset quotes Ernest Hemingway's For Whom the Bell Tolls: "'The world is a fine place and worth fighting for.' I agree with the second part.
Seven Days in May (1964)
Color
Military cabal's planned takeover of the government
Seven Days in May
"The story is set in 1974, ten years in the future at the time of the film's 1964 release, and the Cold War is still a problem (in the 1962 book, the setting was May 1974 after a stalemated war in Iran). U.S. President Jordan Lyman has recently signed a nuclear disarmament treaty with the Soviet Union, and the subsequent ratification by the U.S. Senate has produced a wave of dissatisfaction, especially among Lyman's opposition and the military, who believe the Soviets cannot be trusted.
A Pentagon insider, United States Marine Corps Colonel "Jiggs" Casey (the Director of the Joint Staff), stumbles on evidence that the Joint Chiefs of Staff, led by its charismatic chairman United States Air Force General James Mattoon Scott who was a former fighter pilot, a war veteran, a flying ace, medal of honor recipient and an honorable patriot, intend to stage a coup d'etat to remove Lyman and his cabinet in seven days. Under the plan, a secret Army unit known as ECOMCON (Emergency COMmunications CONtrol) will seize control of the country's telephone, radio, and television networks, while Congress is prevented from implementing the treaty. Although personally opposed to Lyman's policies, Casey is appalled by the plot and alerts Lyman, who gathers a circle of trusted advisors to investigate: Secret Service White House Detail Chief Art Corwin, Treasury Secretary Christopher Todd, advisor Paul Girard, and Senator Raymond Clark of Georgia.
Casey uses the pretense of a social visit to General Scott's former mistress to ferret out potential secrets that can be used against Scott, in the form of indiscreet letters. Meanwhile, the alcoholic Clark is sent to Fort Bliss near El Paso, Texas, to locate the secret base, and Girard leaves for the Mediterranean to obtain a confession from Vice Admiral Barnswell, who declined to participate in the coup. Girard gets the confession in writing, but is killed when his return flight crashes, while Clark is taken captive when he reaches the secret base. However, Clark convinces the base's deputy commander, Colonel Henderson, a friend of Casey's not to be a party to the coup and to help him escape. They reach Washington, DC, but Henderson is abducted during a moment apart from Clark and confined in a military stockade.
Lyman calls Scott to the White House to demand that he and the other plotters resign. Scott denies the existence of the plot, but takes the opportunity to denounce Lyman and the treaty. Lyman argues that a coup in America would prompt the Soviets to make a preemptive strike. Scott maintains that the American people are behind him. Lyman is on the verge of confronting Scott with the letters obtained from Scott's mistress when he decides against it and allows Scott to leave.
Scott meets the other three Joint Chiefs, demanding they stay in line and reminding them that Lyman does not seem to have concrete evidence of their plot. Somewhat reassured, the others agree to continue the plan to appear on television and radio simultaneously on the next day to denounce Lyman. However, Lyman first holds a press conference, at which he is prepared to announce that he has fired the four men. As Lyman is speaking, Barnswell's hand-written confession, recovered from the plane crash, is handed to him and he delays the conference for half an hour. In the interim, copies of the confession are delivered to Scott and the other plotters. As the broadcast of the press conference resumes, Scott prepares to go forward with the coup anyway, but then gives up when he hears President Lyman announce that the other three plotters have tendered their resignations. The film ends with an address by Lyman to American people on the country's future, and leaves unanswered the question of General Scott's fate.
Seven Pounds (2008)
Color
IRS agent gives seven strangers a second chance
Seven Pounds
"The movie opens with a close-up of Ben Thomas (Will Smith), calling for an ambulance. When the operator asks him for the reason for his call, the man replies that there's been a suicide and that the victim is him.
In the ensuing voiceover, Ben states that God created the world in seven days, but that all it took was seven seconds for Ben to shatter his own. We then pan over a list of names. The name “Ezra Turner” has been circled. Ben calls Ezra (Woody Harrelson), who is a customer service representative for a meat distribution company. Ben insults and ridicules Ezra when he discovers that Ezra is a blind vegetarian. Ezra is clearly uncomfortable and hurt by the conversation, but refuses to get angry, despite Ben goading him on. Once Ezra politely hangs up, Ben looks devastated. He begins to yell a series of names and throws his phone across the room.
Next we find Ben in a deserted office, searching through the IRS database with the list of names we saw earlier. He finds the account for Emily Posa (Rosario Dawson). He heads to the hospital and runs into her in the elevator and follows her, but doesn't speak to her. She later wakes up to catch a glimpse of him watching her sleeping in the hospital bed.
In the next scene, we see Ben teaching a group at Apogee Aeronautics. He gets a message from Sarah (Robinne Lee) for dinner, and he rushes off to meet her for dinner. Ben wakes to a call from his brother (Michael Ealy), who seems concerned about him. He also asks if Ben took something of his the last time they saw each other (important later). Ben says that he remembers giving him something and says that he loves him.
Ben next visits a nursing home to speak with Stuart Goodman (Tim Kelleher), who is sitting next to one of the residents. He is talking to the infirm woman quite sharply, but when Stuart sees Ben, he quickly changes his attitude. They leave to talk in Stuart's office and we discover that Stuart's finances are in shambles. He tries to win Ben's sympathy by telling him that his bone marrow transplant didn't work out. Ben isn't overly sympathetic. Ben returns to speak to the old woman Stuart was talking to earlier. He asks the old woman whether Stuart is a good man, because he has the power to change Stuart's life, and needs to know whether or not Stuart is deserving of such a gift. The old woman writes that Stuart's medications are making her sick, and that Stuart is punishing her. Ben discovers that all she wants is a simple bath, but apparently Stuart is refusing to let the staff bathe her. Furious, Ben takes her to the washroom himself and orders the nurses to bathe her. Stuart follows Ben, saying that this is all a misunderstanding. Ben assaults him, saying that he almost believed him, but that now he's not going to give him anything.
Ben meets his friend Dan Morris (Barry Pepper) on the golf course. Ben is upset that Dan didn't call him as promise, but Dan says that the only reason he didn't call was because the doctor hadn't given him any results. Dan adds that he's been soul-searching, and Ben orders Dan not to back out of the plan.
Ben is sitting in the hospital, watching a little boy, but when the camera pans into the distance, we see Emily. She comes over and confronts him, wanting to know if he was watching her and if he was in her hospital room watching her sleep the other night. Ben denies everything and says that he's been sent by the IRS to audit her. Emily, having just been discharged from the hospital, says she'd rather do this later. Ben agrees and leaves.
Ben is watching a practice hockey game from the sidelines. The coach, George Ristuccia, seems harsh, but fair and appears to command a great deal of respect from the kids he coaches. Next, we see Ben feeding Emily's dog Duke, an enormous Great Dane. She is horrified that he's been feeding him meat, as her dog is a vegetarian. Ben wants to talk about the audit, but Emily refuses, telling him that she has to take Duke for a walk. Ben gets around this by saying they can talk while she walks her dog. On the walk, Emily struggles to control Duke, and becomes short of breath. Ben takes the dog from her and jokes that Duke should definitely never eat meat, because even Ben has trouble controlling him. Emily laughs, enjoying herself. When they return to Emily's house, Ben goes through her file, and remarks that she has congenital heart failure, but isn't sick enough to be put on the transplant list, which means that if her heart failed, she would die. He says that she told the transplant board that she didn't think she was more deserving of a heart than others, and therefore that there was no reason to move her to the top of the transplant list, because her life was unremarkable. She's angered by his lack of sensitivity until he admits to her that he feels his life is even less than “unremarkable”. He tells her that she's a good person who deserves more. Ben leaves his card.
Ben is moving a fish into his room, to the great dismay of the motel owner. Ben reminisces on the time his father took him to an aquarium, and he saw a box jellyfish for the first time. His father tells him that it is the most deadly creature in the world (important later).
Ben and Dan are talking in his motel room, and Ben is signing papers sent by his doctor. Dan is tearful, and is having second thoughts about their plans. He makes amends to Ben about wrongs he committed against him in the past. Ben throws something at him, warning him not to back out now. Dan is upset and angry that Ben doesn't trust him, and he swears that he'll do everything he promised, no matter how hard it is for him.
Ben visits a woman named Holly who works for Child Protection Services, who is delighted to see him. We see a picture of her standing with Ben on her desk. He asks her for a name of someone who needs help. She directs him to Connie Tepos, a woman who is too fearful to leave her abusive boyfriend despite the fact that he almost killed her a year ago. Ben visits Connie and her two kids and offers to give her a way out. She is furious and suspicious and orders him to get out. Ben leaves his card with her.
We next see Ben at the hospital, talking to the coach, George, from earlier, who is on dialysis. The doctor comes by, telling Ben and the coach that he will see them both in the operating room. When the coach asks why he was chosen, Ben replies that he is a good man, even when he doesn't know people are watching.
Ezra is playing piano in the middle of a busy mall. No one pays attention to him, except for Ben, who watches from the sidelines. Ben follows him to a restaurant, where it is clear Ezra is smitten by one of the waitresses. Ezra offers to given her son free piano lessons, but the waitress tells him her son is too busy. Ben comes over and tells Ezra to ask her out. Ezra is startled and tells Ben that she doesn't even notice him, and Ben leaves before Ezra can say much else.
Emily calls Ben. She is in the hospital again, having fainted at her front door. She tells him that her heart is failing and that she called him because she wanted someone to talk to. She asks him to tell her a story, and he tells her a story about a boy named Tim, who jumped out of a tree to see if he could fly. He ended up breaking his arm, but when he grew up, he decided to build spaceships to fly to the moon. Emily tells him that he tells terrible stories. Ben starts to add dragons into the story to make it more interesting, but ends up doing an abysmal job. Eventually gives up and tells Emily to try and get some sleep. She asks him sadly if he ever thinks about dying, and he tells her that the thinks about it now and again. During this whole time, we see him walking. He ends up at the hospital, next to Emily, who has fallen asleep. He sits next to her and whispers to her that he lied to her; he thinks about dying all the time. When she wakes up, she finds him sound asleep next to her. The doctor comes in, and tells her that she has been moved to the top of the transplant list, because she likely only has a month to live before her current heart fails.
Connie, the woman with the abusive boyfriend, calls Ben, and tearfully begs for his help. He quickly comes to her aid. She has a bruise on her cheek, but still she hesitates to leave, terrified that her boyfriend will track down her and her kids. Ben tells her to be strong, and gives her a car and instructions to get to a house. It ends up being his beach house. She opens a letter he gave her and finds the deed to the beach house. In Ben's letter all he asks is that she never try to contact him, and to remember to live life abundantly and to not throw away this second chance at life.
Ben meets up with Emily, and we find out that he used to work for MIT. Emily wonders how he went from MIT to being an IRS agent, but Ben refuses to elaborate. She's angry that he's so secretive, and when they part, it isn't on the best of terms. Ben returns to weed her yard by way of apology. Emily is bemused, but wonders why he's still wearing suit pants. Ben tells her he didn't bring a change of clothes. Emily invites him to her shed, where she shows him the old presses she uses to make custom cards. Her presses are anywhere from fifty to a hundred and fifty years old. She shows him one old press, which stopped working years ago. It's so old that she can't find anyone to fix it, because repairing it is a dying art. They go for a walk with Duke is a quiet field. Ben asks her why she would get such a huge dog. Emily confides that Great Danes live only for seven years because of heart problems. She bought Duke so that she would have something to take care of, instead of always being the one taken care of. When they get back to her place, Emily kisses Ben on the cheek and tells him that she had a great time. Ben tells her that he did too.
He later returns to her shed to fix the broken printing press in the middle of the night. When Ben returns to the motel, he takes a shower, and has a flashback to the scene of an accident.
Next, we see Ben watching a Nicholas, little boy in the hospital. In the next scene, Ben is giving a donation of bone marrow, without any anesthetics. It's clear he's in agony. When he returns to the motel, the motel owner asks him why he's limping. When Ben doesn't answer, the motel owner gets suspicious and demands to know when he's leaving. Ben replies that he plans to die in the motel. The motel owner, convinced that Ben is joking, snarkily tells him that if that's the case, he should pay for his room in advance.
Ben, exhausted from traveling, lies in his motel room, Chinese takeout and papers scattered on the bed. His phone rings throughout the day, but he doesn't answer. Finally, he picks up. It's Emily. She invites him to come over that evening. When Ben arrives, Emily greets him in a fancy gold dress. He is flustered because he hadn't realized that they were meeting for dinner. She gives him a large present and tells him to change in another room. They have a wonderful vegetarian dinner, which Ben finds delicious, much to Emily's delight. They end up dancing to one of Emily's favorite songs, which she plays on a record player. They almost kiss, but Ben interrupts the moment by telling her to come with him to the shed. He shows her the fixed printing press, which completely amazes Emily and leads to a passionate kiss. Ben then stops and tells Emily he has something else for her, and runs back to his car.
Outside, he encounters his brother, who yells at him for impersonating an IRS officer. We discover that Ben's name is in fact Tim, and that he had taken his brother's identification card in order to insinuate himself in people's lives under the guise of an IRS officer (this is what he had taken from his brother as mentioned earlier in the movie). Will Smith (who will be continued to be called Ben to make things easier), runs back to Emily's house. Notably, Ben leaves Emily's present in the car. He and Emily make love, and Ben tells her that he loves her, and implies that he wants to marry her and start a family.
In the middle of the night, he leaves her and runs to the hospital, asking for Emily's doctor to be paged. He asks her what Emily's chances are of finding a compatible heart. She tells him that Emily has as rare blood type, and that her chances are less than five percent. Reassured that he's making the right choice, Ben runs back to his motel room in the rain. He calls Dan Morris and tells him that it's time. Dan is devastated. Ben next calls Ezra, and apologizes for being so cruel to him on the phone. Ben explains that he had to prove that Ezra was a good man before he could give him a gift. He tells Ezra that Dan Morris will contact him. At the motel, we see Ben fill his bathtub with water and ice. We return to the first scene, where Ben calls the 911 operator to tell them that there's been a suicide.
He flashes back to a time when he and Sarah are driving down the highway. Sarah is admiring her new engagement ring, and Ben is checking his Blackberry. Sarah tells him to put it away. Neither of them notices that Ben has drifted into the oncoming lane until it's too late. Ben swerves and dodges the oncoming car, only to hit he next car, which is a van carrying six people. When he awakens from the accident, he finds Sarah`s body amidst the wreckage.
Ben painfully climbs into the ice-cold bath that has a sign posted next to it, (presumably telling EMS workers not to resuscitate him). He envisions Emily's face, and then quickly dumps in a bucketful of water containing the jellyfish into the tub. The jellyfish stings his arm, and Ben dies an agonizing death. Ben is quickly brought to the hospital, where Dan Morris awaits. Dan argues with the doctor, telling him that Emily needs a heart. Emily's pager goes off, and she wakes and calls for Ben excitedly, not realizing that he is long gone. Emily is brought to the operating room, and in another room, unknown to her, Ben is also laid out on a table. Ben's heart is transplanted into Emily's chest, and begins to beat.
Ben's brother sits in a room with newspaper clippings and pictures of people that his brother has saved, as well as letters that his brother has left for each person. Ben's brother meets Emily after the operation, and reveals everything to her. Tim donated two lobes of his lung to Ben when he was diagnosed with lung cancer. He then donated a lobe of his liver to Holly, the Child Protection Services worker. Putting the pieces together, Ben donated a kidney to coach George, bone marrow to Nicholas and a heart to Emily. He also found Connie and her family a new home. For each of the seven people who died, including his fiancee, Ben found a way to save seven deserving people.
Emily lies in the bathtub and sinks her head beneath the water and listens to her heartbeat, Ben's heartbeat. Emily then tracks down Ezra, the seventh person, who is playing piano for a group of choir children. When they meet, Ezra at first thinks she is one of the children's parents, and then realizes that he is Emily. Emily can't help but stare at him, because Ben gave Ezra the gift of sight - to Ezra, he donated his eyes. They hug emotionally, realizing the amazing gift that they've been given.
Shall We Dance? (2004)
Color
Successful, happliy married lawyer develops a passion for ballroom dancing
Shall We Dance?
"John Clark (Richard Gere) is a lawyer with a charming wife (Beverly, played by Susan Sarandon) and loving family, who nevertheless feels that something is missing as he makes his way every day through the city. Each evening on his commute home through Chicago, John sees a beautiful woman staring with a lost expression through the window of a dance studio. Haunted by her gaze, John impulsively jumps off the train one night, and signs up for ballroom dancing lessons, hoping to meet her.
At first, it seems like a mistake. His teacher turns out to be not Paulina (Jennifer Lopez), but the older Miss Mitzi (Anita Gillette), and John proves to be just as clumsy as his equally clueless classmates Chic (Bobby Cannavale) and Vern (Omar Miller) on the dance-floor. Even worse, when he does meet Paulina, she icily tells John she hopes he has come to the studio to seriously study dance and not to look for a date. But, as his lessons continue, John falls in love with dancing. Keeping his new obsession from his family and co-workers, John feverishly trains for Chicago's biggest dance competition. His friendship with Paulina blossoms, as his enthusiasm rekindles her own lost passion for dance. But the more time John spends away from home, the more his wife Beverly becomes suspicious. She hires a private investigator to find out what John is doing, but when she finds out the truth, she chooses to discontinue the investigation and not invade her husband's privacy.
John is partnered with Bobbie (Lisa Ann Walter) for the competition, although his friend Link (Stanley Tucci) steps in to do the Latin dances. Link and Bobbie do well in the Latin dances, and while John and Bobbie's waltz goes well, John hears his wife and daughter in the crowd during the quickstep, and is distracted by trying to find them. He and Bobbie fall and are disqualified, and John and Beverly argue in the parking structure. John quits dancing, to everyone's dismay.
Paulina, having been inspired by John to take up competing again, is leaving to go to Europe, and is having a going-away party at the dance studio. She sends John an invitation, but he's not convinced to go until his wife leaves out a pair of dancing shoes that she bought him. He goes and meets Beverly at work, convinces her that while he loves dancing, he still loves her just as much, and they dance. They go to the party and John and Paulina have one last dance before she leaves.
The end scene shows everyone afterwards: Link and Bobbie are now together; Chic, who was actually homosexual, dances at a club with his partner; Miss Mitzi finds a new partner, and they are happy together; John and Beverly are back to normal and dance in the kitchen; Vern, newly married to his fiancee, dances with her at their wedding; the private investigator that Beverly hired, Devine (Richard Jenkins), starts up dance lessons; and Paulina, with a new partner, competes at Blackpool, the competition that she had lost years before.
Shattered Glass (2003)
Color
Journalist falls from grace when it's revealed many of his stories were fabricated
Shattered Glass
"Stephen Glass (Hayden Christensen) is a reporter at The New Republic, where he has made a name for himself for writing colorful stories. His editor, Michael Kelly (Hank Azaria), is revered by his young staff. When David Keene (at the time Chairman of the American Conservative Union) questions Glass' description of minibars and the drunken antics of Young Republicans at a convention, Kelly backs his reporter when Glass admits to one mistake but says the rest is true.
Kelly is fired after he stands up to his boss Marty Peretz on an unrelated personnel issue, and fellow writer Charles "Chuck" Lane (Peter Sarsgaard) is promoted to replace him. Glass publishes an entertaining story titled "Hack Heaven" about a teenage hacker named Ian Restil who was given a lucrative job at software company Jukt Micronics after hacking into their computer system. After the article is published, Adam Penenberg (Steve Zahn), a reporter at Forbes Digital Tool, begins researching the story in order to discover how Glass scooped them. Penenberg is unable to uncover any corroborating evidence for Glass' story and brings his concerns to The New Republic.
Charles Lane becomes suspicious when Glass cannot provide sources for his article and when the few pieces of concrete evidence are discovered to be a Palo Alto voicemail box and an amateurish website representing Jukt Micronics. Lane drives Glass to the hotel where the hacker convention he wrote about supposedly took place. Despite frantic attempts at spin from Glass, Lane discovers that the convention room at the hotel was not open the day the convention supposedly took place and that the restaurant where they supposedly ate dinner closed in the early afternoon.
Glass finally admits to Lane that he wasn't actually at the hacker convention, but relied on sources for information. Lane is outraged, but proceeds cautiously after telling Glass that he wants the truth from now on. He suspends Glass, earning him the enmity of the staff reporters, who all like Glass; Caitlin Avey (Chloe Sevigny), Glass' friend and fellow writer at the magazine, is so angered she considers quitting. When a colleague calls Lane to express concern for Glass' state of mind, he also reveals that Glass has a brother in Palo Alto, and Chuck realizes the brother must have posed as the president of Jukt Micronics.
Lane goes back to the office, where he finds Glass and confronts him. Glass pleads for another chance, but Lane orders him out of the office and takes his security access card. Searching through back issues of The New Republic, Lane realizes that much, if not all, of Glass' previous work was falsified, and when an emotional Glass suddenly returns to the office, Lane fires him.
After she hears the news, Caitlin accuses Lane of wanting to get rid of everyone that was loyal to Michael Kelly, but he challenges her to act like the good reporter she is. He reminds her that half of the falsified stories were published on Kelly's watch and that the entire staff will have to apologize to their readers for allowing Glass to continue to hand in fictitious stories.
When Lane arrives at the office the following day, the receptionist wryly remarks that all this trouble could have been averted if reporters were mandated to photograph all their sources. In their meeting, Lane discovers the staff has written an apology to their readers, and they spontaneously begin to applaud their editor, signifying their unity.
At a meeting with Glass and Glass' lawyer, Lane is told the entire truth. Glass, in effect, admits that 27 of the articles he wrote were fabricated in whole or in part.
She Done Him Wrong (1933)
Black & White
Flirtatious singer seeks protection of Salvation Army captain from criminal ex-lover
She Done Him Wrong
"The story is set in New York in the 1890s. A bawdy singer, Lady Lou (Mae West), works in the Bowery barroom saloon of her boss and benefactor, Gus Jordan (Noah Beery), who has given her many diamonds. But Lou is a lady with more men friends than anyone might imagine.
What she does not know is that Gus trafficks in prostitution and runs a counterfeiting ring to help finance her expensive diamonds. He also sends young women to San Francisco to be pickpockets. Gus works with two other crooked entertainer-assistants, Russian Rita (Rafaela Ottiano) and Rita's lover, the suave Sergei Stanieff (Gilbert Roland). One of Gus's rivals and former "friend" of Lou's, named Dan Flynn (David Landau), spends most of the movie dropping hints to Lou that Gus is up to no good, promising to look after her once Gus is in jail. Lou leads him on, hinting at times that she will return to him, but eventually he loses patience and implies he'll see her jailed if she doesn't submit to him.
A city mission (a thinly disguised Salvation Army) is located next door to the bar. Its young director, Captain Cummings (Cary Grant), is in reality an undercover Federal agent working to infiltrate and expose the illegal activities in the bar. Gus suspects nothing; he worries only that Cummings will reform his bar and scare away his customers.
Lou's former boyfriend, Chick Clark (Owen Moore), is a vicious criminal who was convicted of robbery and sent to prison for trying to steal diamonds for her. In his absence, she becomes attracted to the handsome young psalm-singing reformer.
Warned that Chick thinks she's betrayed him, she goes to the prison to try to reassure him. All the inmates greet her warmly and familiarly as she walks down the cellblock. Chick becomes angry and threatens to kill her if she double-crosses or two-times him before he gets out. She lies and claims she has been true to him.
Gus gives counterfeit money to Rita and Sergei to spend. Chick escapes from jail, and police search for him in the bar. He comes into Lou's room and starts to strangle her, breaking off only because he still loves her and cannot harm her. Lou calms him down by promising that she will go with him when she finishes her next number.
After Sergei gives Lou a diamond pin belonging to Rita, Rita starts a fight with Lou, who accidentally stabs her to death. Lou calmly combs the dead woman's long hair to hide the fact Rita is dead while the police search the room for Chick Clark. She has her bodyguard Spider (Dewey Robinson), who "would do anything for you, Lou" dispose of Rita's body. She then tells Spider to bring Chick, who's hiding in an alley, back to her room upstairs. Then, while she sings "Frankie and Johnny", she silently signals to Dan Flynn that he should go to her room to wait for her, even though she knows Chick is in there with a gun. Chick shoots Dan dead and the gunfire draws a police raid. Cummings shows his badge and reveals himself as "The Hawk," a well-known Federal agent, as he arrests Gus and Sergei. Chick, still lurking in Lou's room, is about to kill Lou for double-crossing him, when Cummings also apprehends him.
Cummings then takes Lou away in an open horse-drawn carriage instead of the paddywagon into which all the other criminals have been loaded. He tells her she doesn't belong in jail and removes all her other rings and slips a diamond engagement ring onto her marriage finger.
"Where'd you get that . . . dark and handsome?" Lou asks.
"You bad girl", he scolds.
"You'll find out", she coos.
She Hate Me (2004)
Color
Man goes into business impregnating lesbians
She Hate Me
"John Henry "Jack" Armstrong (Anthony Mackie) is a financially successful and upwardly mobile executive at a biotechnology firm who, following the suicide of a colleague, Dr. Herman Schiller, is falsely accused of securities fraud by his superior, Leland Powell (Woody Harrelson). Armstrong's assets are frozen, and he finds himself unable to maintain his quality of life.
In order to make ends meet, he becomes a sperm donor, initially by acquiescing to the desires of his former fiancee, Fatima Goodrich (Kerry Washington), who had come out as a lesbian, to have a child. Although there is still unresolved bitterness and tension between them over Armstrong and Goodrich's prior relationship, she and her girlfriend, Alex Guerrero (Dania Ramirez), offer him a substantial sum of money to impregnate them both. This leads to Goodrich goading Armstrong into establishing a business in which groups of lesbians come over to his house and pay him $10,000 each to have sex with them in order to become pregnant.
One of the women who Armstrong impregnates is the daughter of a mafia boss, Don Angelo Bonasera (played by John Turturro). Armstrong's employers learn of his impregnation business, and they use it in their campaign to sully his image in order to deflect attention from their own criminal business activities. Conflict is also depicted in the turbulent relationship between Armstrong's mother and his dependent diabetic father (Jim Brown).
At the film's climax, Armstrong's situation is portrayed as a cause cel?bre, with protests being held in support of or against him, and the news media interviewing people on the street with respect to his sexual activities. Armstrong is called before a committee of the United States Senate investigating his alleged securities fraud, where both his services to lesbians and his relationship to the "Bonasera crime family" are raised.
Armstrong's situation is compared, both by cutaway scenes and by direct reference in dialogue, to the plight of Frank Wills, the security guard who discovered the break-in that led to the Watergate scandal, which brought down President Nixon. He eventually wins the case and is seen with nineteen of the children he helped his lesbian acquaintances make at the end.
By the end of the film, Armstrong and Goodrich have come to terms with their lingering feelings for one another, and with the mutual attraction they share for Guerrero. They then begin a three-way polyamorous relationship, and Armstrong apparently maintains a friendship with all of the eighteen women who became pregnant by him.
Shock and Awe (2018)
Color
Bush convinces public of Saddam's WMD
Shock and Awe
This real-life drama about the manipulation of public opinion recounts the tragically successful efforts of George W. Bush's administration to convince the American people, wrongly, that Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction.
Shrink (2009)
Color
Story of a Hollywood Psychotherapist
Shrink
"The story takes place in Hollywood, and revolves around Dr. Henry Carter (Kevin Spacey). Most of Carter's patients are luminaries in the film industry, each undergoing their own life crisis. Carter lives in a large, luxurious house overlooking the Hollywood Hills, and has published a hugely successful self-help book. However, Carter is disheveled, and he is frequently seen alone in his large house. He smokes marijuana at home, in his car, and behind his office when not seeing patients. Carter routinely drinks himself to sleep around his house, waking up in his clothes. He never enters his bedroom.
Despite his own problems, Carter continues psychotherapy with his patients, maintaining his incisiveness, compassion, and strong doctor-patient relationships.
Much of the ensemble cast comprises Carter's patients. Patrick (Dallas Roberts) is a high-powered talent agent who is both narcissistic and anxiety- ridden, with a germ phobia. Seamus (Jack Huston) is an actor addicted to various drugs and alcohol, and one of Patrick's biggest clients; Seamus is not one of Carter's patients, but they share a drug-dealer named Jesus (Jesse Plemons). Jack (Robin Williams) is another popular celebrity with a drinking problem, about which he is in denial. He continues therapy, however, because he believes that he has a sex addiction. Kate (Saffron Burrows) is an actress in her thirties, who is intelligent, compassionate, and poised, but is facing fewer career opportunities because of Patrick's notion that her age is a limitation. Her rock-star husband, who she says "wasn't always like this," is self-centered and cheating on her.
Carter's newest patient is Jemma (Keke Palmer), a troubled high-school student, required to see a therapist by her school after cutting her hand by punching a mirror. Jemma has been referred to Carter by his father as a pro bono case, because like Carter's wife, Jemma's mother committed suicide. Jemma is an avid moviegoer, who aspires to become a filmmaker.
Carter has few friends. He spends time with Jesus, his quirky pot dealer. Carter also socializes with Jeremy (Mark Webber). Jeremy and Carter are loosely related through Carter's deceased wife, whose mother was Jeremy's godmother. Jeremy is a struggling young screenwriter. He finds romantic interest in Patrick's assistant Daisy (Pell James). Jeremy also derives creative inspiration from Jemma.
Jeremy secretly steals Jemma's private file from Carter's office. He pursues a platonic interest in Jemma. He writes his breakthrough screenplay about Jemma, and with Daisy's help, Jeremy succeeds in gaining Patrick's interest in the screenplay.
Jemma discovers the screenplay, and feels betrayed by Jeremy, and Carter angrily attacks Jeremy for his deception. However, Carter accepts his own professional responsibility in the situation, which he unknowingly allowed. Carter suffers a breakdown on a live television talk show, alarming the host (Gore Vidal) and the viewers when he states publicly for the first time that his wife committed suicide. He denounces his book as "bullshit" and himself as a fraud, and storms off of the set. Jemma, Daisy, and Jeremy are seen reacting to Carter's on-air outburst.
Carter decides to stop treating Jemma, though he had just begun helping Jemma finally come to terms with her mother's suicide. Later, Carter and Jeremy are mysteriously invited to a meeting at Patrick's office. Patrick seats them in a conference room, where Jemma is already waiting. To their surprise, Jemma now approves of Jeremy's screenplay. Patrick announces that he will be representing Jemma and making Jeremy's screenplay into a movie.
Carter, having disposed of his drug supply, approaches Kate at home. He tells her he doesn't want to see her anymore "...professionally," implying his interest in seeing her romantically. She smiles.
Later, at night, Carter enters his bedroom, wearing pajamas. He momentarily regards his (former) marital bed, before climbing into it and turning off the light, as the movie fades to black.
Shutter (2008)
Color
Couple are haunted by girl they ran over
Shutter
"Ben Shaw (Joshua Jackson) and his new bride, Jane (Rachael Taylor), leave New York City for Tokyo, Japan, where Ben has a job as a photographer. While travelling by car in the wilderness of the countryside, Jane accidentally hits a girl, Megumi (Megumi Okina), standing in the middle of the road and ends up running over her. They find no trace of her body and decide to leave, thinking the victim was uninjured and had left. They later start to find mysterious lights in their photos, which are identified as spirit photography by Ben's assistant, Seiko Nakamura. Jane begins to have eerie dreams and visions which seem like they are trying to tell her something, and senses a presence stalking them.
Ben begins experiencing severe shoulder pain and his friends begin to comment on how he looks bent and hunched over, but the doctor finds no source of injury. Seiko takes Jane to her ex-boyfriend, Ritsuo (James Kyson Lee), whose career is to investigate and publish paranormal activities, and he tells them that the lights in the photos are spirits as well as manifestations of intense emotions that are trying to be communicated. At a subway station, Jane spots the ghostly presence of the girl she hit and ran over, causing her to believe that she killed the girl. Later, Ben has a similarly-terrifying encounter. They go to a medium, Murase, to find out more about the spiritual activity that has been happening to them. Murase takes the photos, but Ben refuses to translate what Murase says and storms out, claiming that he is a fraud.
Adam and Bruno [not previously mentioned here] are killed by Megumi. After witnessing Bruno's death, Ben wants to leave but Jane hands Ben their wedding photo, which shows a distorted picture of Megumi. They realize she has been with them the entire time and go to Megumi's home, only to find her decayed body. She had committed suicide with potassium cyanide long before the car impact and thus they had actually first encountered her as a ghost at that time.
That night, Ben is tortured by Megumi. Jane screams at Megumi to leave them alone; Megumi stops with a brief sinister laugh, leaving Ben alive. After Megumi's funeral, Ben and Jane return to New York, thinking it's all over. However, Jane finds some recent photos in an envelope which show Megumi. With Megumi's clues, Jane finds a camera in a trunk and uploads the memory card into the laptop. There, Jane sees photos taken by Ben, showing Adam and Bruno raping Megumi at her home before her suicide, while Ben does nothing but watch them doing the deed.
Ben returns home, where he tries to explain to a distraught Jane that he felt it was the only way to drive Megumi away. They had planned on using the pictures as blackmail against Megumi if she didn't leave him alone but it turned into rape. He absolves himself of blame because he never touched her. This explains why Megumi murdered Adam and Bruno, and why she has been haunting Ben. Believing that Megumi was trying to warn her, and disgusted by Ben's past actions, Jane concludes that she can't spend her life with someone like Ben so she leaves him. Ben tries to stop her, but Megumi locks the door and doesn't let him.
Driven mad by Megumi, Ben throws the camera across the room. It takes a picture of him, showing Megumi sitting astride his shoulders. Remembering his shoulder pains and the hospital where a nurse weighed Ben and it showed the weight of two people, Ben realizes that Megumi has been with him all along since her suicide without his knowledge. Horrified, and in a desperate attempt to rid himself of her, he electrocutes himself. He is rendered catatonic and sent to a mental institution, where he is shown sitting slumped over on the edge of his bed. The last scene shows Megumi still draped over his back.
Shutter Island (2010)
Color
Two federal agents investigate disappearance at loony bin
Shutter Island
"In 1954, two U.S. Marshals, Edward "Teddy" Daniels and his new partner, Chuck Aule, travel to the Ashecliffe Hospital for the criminally insane on Shutter Island located in Boston Harbor, as part of an investigation on the disappearance of patient Rachel Solando, incarcerated for drowning her three children. Shortly after arrival, a storm prevents their return to the mainland for several days. Daniels finds the staff confrontational: the lead psychiatrist, Dr. John Cawley, refuses to hand over records of the hospital staff; Solando's doctor, Dr. Sheehan, had left on vacation after her disappearance, and they are barred from searching Ward C and told that the lighthouse on the island has already been searched.
Daniels starts having migraine headaches, waking visions of his involvement in the Dachau liberation reprisals, and disturbing dreams of his wife, Dolores Chanal, who was killed in a fire set by arsonist Andrew Laeddis. In one dream, Chanal tells Daniels that Solando is still on the island, as is Laeddis. Daniels later explains to Aule that locating Laeddis was an ulterior motive for taking the case.
As Daniels and Aule continue their investigation, they find that Solando has been found by the staff with no explanation. With neither the staff or patients helping, Daniels decides to break into Ward C, and eventually meets George Noyce, another patient. Noyce warns Daniels that Ashecliffe is performing questionable experiments on its patients, and sends the incurable to the lighthouse to be lobotomized. As Daniels leaves, Noyce asserts that everyone on the island, including Aule, is playing in a game designed for Daniels.
Daniels regroups with Aule and they make their way to the lighthouse, but as they attempt to traverse the cliffs, they become separated. Daniels finds a woman hiding in a cave, claiming to be the real Rachel Solando (Clarkson). The woman asserts she was a former psychiatrist at Ashecliffe until she discovered the experiments with psychotropic medication in an attempt to develop mind control techniques. When she attempted to alert the authorities, she was committed as a patient. Leaving the woman, Daniels finds no sign of Aule, and returns to the hospital. Dr. Cawley claims that Daniels arrived alone, with no evidence of Aule ever being there.
Determined but confused, Daniels returns to the lighthouse and breaks into it. At the top, he finds Dr. Cawley waiting for him. Cawley explains that "Daniels" is really Andrew Laeddis, incarcerated after killing his wife after she drowned their children. According to Dr. Cawley, the events of the past several days have been designed to break Laeddis' conspiracy-laden insanity by allowing him to play out the role of Daniels, an anagram of his name. The hospital staff, including Dr. Sheehan posing as Aule, were part of the test, and the migraines that Laeddis suffered were withdrawal symptoms from his medication. The memory of killing his wife briefly returns to Laeddis, and he passes out.
Laeddis awakes in the hospital, under watch of Dr. Cawley and Sheehan. When questioned, Laeddis can provide the details of how he killed his wife, which satisfies the doctors as a sign of progression; Dr. Cawley notes that they had achieved this state nine months before but Laeddis had quickly regressed. The doctor further warns that this will be Laeddis' last chance. Some time later, Laeddis relaxes on the hospital grounds with Dr. Sheehan; he calls him "Chuck" and says they need to get off the island. Some distance away, Dr. Cawley presumably takes this as a sign of regression and Laeddis is taken away. As he is taken away, Laeddis asks Dr. Sheehan, "Which would be worse? To live as a monster, or die as a good man?", and then calmly leaves with the orderlies.
Sicario (2015)
Color
Federal agent is recruited to assist in an undercover operation targeting a Mexican drug lord
Sicario
"In Chandler, Arizona, FBI agents Kate Macer and Reggie Wayne lead a raid on a suspected Sonora Cartel safe house where they discover dozens of decaying corpses and a booby trap which kills two police officers. Following the raid, Kate's boss recommends her for a Department of Justice and Department of Defense joint task force overseen by CIA officer Matt Graver and the secretive Alejandro Gillick. Assured that the task force has been set up to apprehend Sonora Cartel lieutenant Manuel Diaz and to bring to justice those responsible for the safe-house incident, Kate joins the operation.
The team, which includes Delta Force operators, deputy U.S. Marshals and CIA personnel, travel to Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, to extradite Diaz's brother and henchman, Guillermo Diaz. Kate is left shocked when the team kills cartel hitmen as they return through the US-Mexico border. Back in the U.S., Alejandro learns from torturing Guillermo that the cartel uses a tunnel near Nogales, Sonora to smuggle drugs into the United States. Meanwhile, a disillusioned Kate forces Matt to reveal that the mission is not to apprehend Diaz but to disrupt his drug operations so much he will be summoned back to Mexico by his boss, Fausto Alarcon, the elusive Sonora Cartel drug lord. Matt hopes that by following Diaz, they can bring Alarcon to justice. An unnerved Kate asks her partner, Reggie, to join her for support.
The task force raids a bank used to launder Diaz's money. After finding financial evidence in the bank, Kate and Reggie want to start a legal case against Diaz but are ordered to stand down to avoid jeopardizing Matt's operation. While commiserating at a bar, Reggie introduces Kate to Ted, a local police friend. Kate and Ted go to her apartment, but as they become intimate, Kate realizes Ted is working with the cartel. In the ensuing struggle, Ted begins strangling Kate before Alejandro suddenly appears and subdues him. Alejandro and Matt reveal they used her as bait, knowing the cartel would target her after seeing her face on the bank's CCTV. Alejandro and Matt brutally beat Ted and coerce him into revealing the names of other officers working for Diaz.
After the team learns that Diaz has been recalled to Mexico, they prepare to raid the cartel tunnel near Nogales. Matt reveals to Kate and Reggie that their involvement is just a technical necessity, as the CIA may only legally operate on American soil while working with federal law enforcement. An angry Reggie tells Kate that they should leave, but she insists on joining the raid to learn about the mission's real purpose. As a gunfight with cartel shooters begins, Kate follows Alejandro into Mexico. She sees him abduct Silvio, a Mexican police officer working as one of Diaz's drug mules. Kate tries to arrest Alejandro, but he shoots her in her bulletproof vest before driving away with Silvio at gunpoint. Back on the American side of the border, Kate confronts Matt, who explains the mission is just part of a wider operation to create a single cartel which the U.S. can more easily control. Alejandro, a lawyer turned assassin, who worked for the Medellin Cartel in Colombia, was hired to assassinate Diaz's boss, Alarcon, because he was responsible for ordering the murder of Alejandro's wife and daughter when he was a prosecutor in Ciudad Juarez.
Alejandro kills Silvio after the police officer stops Diaz's vehicle. Alejandro forces Diaz to drive on to Alarcon's estate. He then ruthlessly kills Diaz, Alarcon's guards, Alarcon's wife and two sons, and finally Alarcon.
The next day, Alejandro appears in Kate's apartment and forces her at gunpoint to sign a statement attesting that the entire operation was legal. He then suggests she move to someplace quiet where the rule of law still applies, calling the area "a land of wolves." As he leaves, she aims her pistol at him but cannot bring herself to pull the trigger. Back in Nogales, Silvio's widow watches her son's soccer game, which is briefly interrupted by the sound of distant gunfire.
Sicario: Day of the Soldado (2018)
Color
Ex cia agents stop drugs and terrorists from Mexico
Sicario: Day of the Soldado
"An Islamist suicide bombing in a Kansas City grocery store kills fifteen people. Meanwhile, JSOC operators (heavily implied to be SFOD-D operators) engage, seize and arrest smugglers suspected of trafficking the suicide bombers through the US-Mexico border. The United States government responds by authorizing CIA officer Matt Graver to apply extreme measures to combat Mexican drug cartels who are suspected of having smuggled the terrorists across the border. Graver and the Department of Defense decide the best option is to instigate a war between the major cartels, and Graver recruits black operative Alejandro Gillick for the mission. Gillick assassinates a high-profile lawyer of the Matamoros cartel in Mexico City while Graver and his team kidnap Isabel Reyes, the daughter of the kingpin of the Matamoros' rival, Carlos Reyes (who ordered the killing of Gillick's family in the previous film), in a false flag operation.
Graver, Gillick, and their team take Isabel to Texas and stage a fake rescue with the help of the DEA and local police, trying to make her think she was kidnapped by her father's enemies. Gillick bonds with Isabel, and the team makes plans to transport her back to Mexico. They plan to leave her in territory controlled by her father's rivals to further escalate the inter-cartel conflict. However, after they cross into Mexico, the Mexican police escorts double-cross them and attack the American vehicles. Graver and his team kill 25 Mexican policemen to escape the ambush.
Amidst the chaos, Isabel runs away into the desert. Gillick goes after her alone while the rest of the team returns to the United States. Meanwhile, the American government determines that at least two of the suicide bombers in Kansas City were actually domestic terrorists, not foreign nationals, and thus were not smuggled into the United States by the cartels. To quell tensions with Mexico, the Secretary of Defense orders the CIA to abandon the mission. Learning that Isabel witnessed the Americans shooting the Mexican police, the Secretary orders the team to erase all proof of American involvement by killing Isabel and Gillick. Graver in turn orders Gillick to kill Isabel, but Gillick refuses and turns rogue to keep her alive. Graver and his team fly covertly into Mexico, using a GPS device embedded in Isabel's shoe to find them. Gillick knows that if Isabel remains in Mexico, she will be killed. With few resources, he disguises them both as illegal immigrants and pays human traffickers to help them reenter the United States.
At the point of departure, Miguel, a young Mexican-American who has been recruited as a coyote, recognizes Gillick from an encounter in a Texas parking lot two days earlier. He alerts his boss, and Gillick and Isabel are captured. Miguel is forced to shoot Gillick, and the gang leaves him for dead. Fed up with the gang, Miguel abandons them shortly afterward. Graver and his team track down the Mexican gang and kill them all. Graver decides to bring Isabel back to the United States and put her in witness protection rather than follow his orders. Meanwhile, Gillick regains consciousness and discovers he has been shot through the cheek. He finds the dead gang members and their cars, takes a car, and drives for the border. On the way there he kills a search party of the gang.
One year later, Gillick has recovered from his injuries. He tracks down Miguel, who has continued to become a hardened criminal. Gillick ambushes Miguel at the mall and tells him that they are going to have a talk about Miguel's future.
Silver Linings Playbook (2012)
Color
Man on rebound finds new love after getting out of pysch ward
Silver Linings Playbook
"In 2008, Pat Solitano Jr. (Bradley Cooper) is released from a mental health facility into the care of his mother Delores (Jacki Weaver) and father Pat Sr. (Robert De Niro) after eight months of treatment for bipolar disorder. Pat soon learns that his wife, Nikki, has moved away and his father is out of work and resorting to illegal bookmaking to earn money to start a restaurant. Pat is determined to get his life back on track and reconcile with Nikki, who obtained a restraining order against him after the violent episode that sent him away.
While talking to his court-mandated therapist Dr. Patel (Anupam Kher), Pat explains again why he was hospitalized. Coming home early from his high school teaching job, noticing clothes thrown on the floor and his wedding song--Stevie Wonder's "My Cherie Amour"--playing, he had found Nikki in the shower with another man, who told him he should leave. Enraged, he beat the man nearly to death. Despite this, Pat doesn't believe he needs medication to manage his condition.
At dinner with his friend Ronnie (John Ortiz), he meets Ronnie's sister-in-law, Tiffany Maxwell (Jennifer Lawrence), a recent widow who just lost her job. Pat and Tiffany develop an odd friendship, and he sees an opportunity to communicate with Nikki through her. Tiffany offers to deliver a letter to Nikki, if in return he will be her partner in an upcoming dance competition. He reluctantly agrees and the two begin a rigorous practice regimen over the following weeks. Pat believes the competition will be a good way to show Nikki he has changed and become a better man. Tiffany gives Pat a typed reply from Nikki, in which she cautiously hints there may be a chance for a reconciliation between them.
Things go well for Pat, except for a scuffle that he and Tiffany become involved in in front of a theater on Halloween, the movie playing at the theater was "Midnight Meat Train", a gory horror movie that starred Bradley Cooper. However, real trouble starts when his father asks him to attend a Philadelphia Eagles game he has bet virtually all of his money on, as a "good-luck charm." Pat skips practice with Tiffany to attend the game, but is dragged into a fight with racist thugs attacking his psychiatrist and brother, and is hauled away by police. The Eagles lose the game and Pat Sr. is furious. Tiffany arrives, berates Pat, and points out that the way she "reads the signs," the Eagles do better when she and Pat are together, as they won every game they played on occasions when Pat and Tiffany spent time together. Pat Sr., now convinced that Pat being with Tiffany is actually good luck, makes a parlay with his gambling friend that if the Eagles win their game against the Dallas Cowboys, and if Pat and Tiffany score at least a 5 out of 10 in their dance competition, he will win back all the money he lost on the first bet. Pat is reluctant to participate in the dance contest under those conditions; however, Tiffany and Pat's father decide to persuade Pat by lying to him to say Nikki will be there. In the meantime, Pat, who has isolated himself from everyone, begins to read the letter from Nikki again and notices that the phrase Tiffany had used earlier--"me reading the signs"--appears in the letter.
Pat, Tiffany, and everyone else arrive at the competition on the night of the football game. Tiffany is horrified to discover that Nikki is in the audience. Pat finds Tiffany, who has been drinking with a man who was trying to pick her up, and manages to coax her onto the dance floor, where they perform their routine. Before they dance, the Eagles win their game and at the conclusion of their set, they score exactly 5 points.
Pat and Tiffany are elated. Amid cheers from his family and confused looks from the crowd, Pat approaches Nikki and speaks quietly into her ear. Tiffany sees this and leaves the building. Pat leaves Nikki behind after only a short conversation, intent on finding Tiffany. Pat Sr. informs him that Tiffany left, and tells him that she loves him right now and that it will be a sin if he doesn't reach out to this moment that life has given him. Pat tells his father that he loves him, then chases after Tiffany and tells her he knows she forged Nikki's letter. He confesses he has loved her from the moment he met her but has taken a long time to realize it and they kiss. They become a couple and Pat Sr. moves forward with opening his restaurant.
Simple Justice (1993)
Color
Marshall's Fight against school segregation in Brown vs the Board of Eduction
Simple Justice
"The docudrama chronicles the long fight by the great African-American jurist Thurgood Marshall (played by Peter Francis James) to dismantle to the lawful segregation of public schools in the United States. Central to the drama is the relationship of Marshall to his mentor, Charles Hamilton Houston, dean of Howard University Law School, and the requirement that Marshall prove in court that segregation caused harm to school children. To achieve proof, the lawyer enlisted the help of social scientist Dr. Kenneth Clark. The program portrays how Marshall eventually won the case of Brown vs. The Board of Education of Topeka, KS, at the Supreme Court of the United States in 1954, after years of struggle. The Supreme Court's ruling led to the integration of public schools.
Sin City (2005)
Color
Ex-con avenges hooker, detective involved with dangerous vixens, Cop tries to save stripper
Sin City
"The Customer Is Always Right (Part I)"
The Salesman walks onto a penthouse balcony where The Customer looks out over Basin City. He offers her a cigarette and says that she looks like someone who is tired of running and that he will save her. The two share a kiss and he shoots her; she dies in his arms. He says he will never know what she was running from but that he will cash her check in the morning.
"That Yellow Bastard (Part I)"
On the docks of Sin City, aging police officer John Hartigan tries to stop serial child-killer Roark Junior from raping and killing his fourth known victim, eleven-year-old Nancy Callahan. Junior is the son of Senator Roark, who has bribed the police to cover up his son's crimes. Hartigan's corrupt partner, Bob, tries to convince Hartigan to walk away; Hartigan knocks him out.
Hartigan, experiencing pain from a bad heart, heads into the warehouse where Roark Junior and several henchmen are holding Nancy. Junior shoots Hartigan in the shoulder and tries to escape. Hartigan catches up and shoots off Junior's ear, hand and genitals. Bob, now recovered, shoots Hartigan in the back. As the sirens approach, Bob leaves and Nancy lies down in Hartigan's lap. Hartigan passes out, reasoning his death is a fair trade for the girl's life.
"The Hard Goodbye"
After a one-night stand, Marv awakens to find Goldie has been killed while he slept. He flees the frame-up as the police arrive, vowing to avenge her death. His lesbian parole officer, Lucille, warns him to give up on this mission, believing Marv may have imagined it all due to his "condition". Marv interrogates several informants, working up to a corrupt priest, who reveals that the Roark family was behind the murder. Marv kills the priest but is then attacked by a woman who looks like Goldie, which he dismisses as a hallucination.
Marv goes to the Roark family farm and is subdued by the silent stalker who killed Goldie. He awakens in the basement to find Lucille has been captured after looking into his story. She tells Marv that the killer is a cannibal and that Goldie was a prostitute. He learns that the killer's name is Kevin and escapes. Lucille is shot by the leader of a squad of corrupt cops. Marv kills the cops except for their leader, whom he interrogates. He learns that Cardinal Patrick Henry Roark arranged for Goldie's murder.
Marv goes to Old Town, Sin City's prostitute-run red-light district, to learn more about Goldie and is captured by her twin sister, Wendy, the attacker Marv previously dismissed as a hallucination. Once he convinces Wendy that he is not the killer, the two return to the farm where Marv kills Kevin. He confronts Cardinal Roark, who confesses his part in the murders. Kevin was the cardinal's ward; the two men ate the prostitutes to "consume their souls". Marv kills the cardinal but is then shot and captured by his guards.
Marv is taken to a hospital where cops threaten to kill his mother, to get him to confess to killing Roark, Kevin and their victims. He is sentenced to death in the electric chair. Wendy visits him on death row and thanks him for avenging her sister. Marv is then executed.
"The Big Fat Kill"
Shellie is being harassed by her abusive ex-boyfriend Jackie Boy and his cronies. Her boyfriend Dwight McCarthy violently warns him to leave Shellie alone. Jackie Boy and his cronies flee to Old Town. Dwight follows and sees them harass Becky, a young prostitute. Gail, the prostitutes' leader and Dwight's on-and-off lover, also witnesses the scene. When Jackie Boy threatens Becky with a gun, Miho, a martial arts expert, kills Jackie Boy and his friends. They realize Jackie Boy is actually Detective Lieutenant Jack Rafferty of the Basin City Police, considered a "hero cop" by the press. If the cops learn how he died, their truce with the prostitutes would end and the mob would be free to wage war on Old Town.
Dwight takes the bodies to a tar pit, where he is attacked by an ex-IRA mercenary hired by mob boss Wallenquist. He nearly drowns in the tar before Miho saves him. The mercenary flees to the sewer with Jackie Boy's severed head but Dwight and Miho retrieve it and return to Old Town. Meanwhile, mob enforcer Manute kidnaps Gail. Becky, threatened with the death of her mother by the mob, betrays the prostitutes. Manute prepares the mob's invasion of Old Town. Dwight trades Jackie Boy's head for Gail's freedom but the head is stuffed with explosives; Dwight detonates it, destroying the evidence and Gail's captors. The other prostitutes gun down the mercenaries while Becky, injured in the fight, escapes.
"That Yellow Bastard (Part II)"
Hartigan is recovering in a hospital when Senator Roark informs him that Junior is in a coma and the Roark legacy is in serious jeopardy. Hartigan will be framed for Junior's crimes; if he tells anyone the truth, they will die. A grateful Nancy promises to write letters every week while he is in prison. Hartigan goes to jail, though he refuses to confess. He receives a weekly letter from Nancy, as promised. After eight years, the letters stop and he receives a severed finger instead. Hartigan confesses to all charges, leading to his parole, and searches for an adult Nancy, not knowing he is being followed by a deformed, yellow man. He eventually finds her at Kadie's Bar, where she has become an exotic dancer.
He realizes he was set up to lead the yellow man to Nancy and the two escape in Nancy's car. Hiding in the trunk of Hartigan's car, the deformed man returns, revealing himself as Roark Junior, disfigured by years of surgery to regenerate his body parts. Junior attacks Hartigan, claims to have raped nearly a hundred other children, and takes Nancy to the Roark farm to finish what he started eight years before. Hartigan follows and fakes a heart attack, giving him a chance to kill Junior. Knowing that Senator Roark will never stop hunting them, Hartigan commits suicide to ensure Nancy's safety. Again, he justifies his life for Nancy's as a fair trade.
"The Customer Is Always Right (Part II)
An injured Becky departs from a hospital, talking on a cell phone with her mother. In the elevator she encounters The Salesman, dressed as a doctor. He offers her a cigarette, calling her by name, and she abruptly ends the call with her mother.
Singin' in the Rain (1952)
Color
When Hollywood transitions from silent films to talkies
Singin' in the Rain
"Don Lockwood is a popular silent film star with humble roots as a singer, dancer and stuntman. Don barely tolerates his vapid, shallow leading lady, Lina Lamont, though their studio, Monumental Pictures, links them romantically to increase their popularity. Lina herself is convinced they are in love, despite Don's protestations otherwise.
At the premiere of his newest film, The Royal Rascal, Don tells the gathered crowd an exaggerated version of his life story, including his motto, which is "Dignity. Always dignity". His words are humorously contradicted by flashbacks showing him taking on a wide range of menial and humiliating roles on stage and in film alongside his best friend Cosmo Brown.
To escape from his fans after the premiere, Don jumps into a passing car driven by Kathy Selden. She drops him off, but not before claiming to be a stage actress and sneering at his "undignified" accomplishments as a movie star. Later, at a party, the head of Don's studio, R.F. Simpson, shows a short demonstration of a Vitaphone talking picture[a] but his guests are unimpressed. To Don's amusement and Kathy's embarrassment, she pops out of a mock cake right in front of him as part of the entertainment, revealing herself to be a chorus girl. Furious at Don's teasing, she throws a real cake at him, only to hit Lina right in the face. Don is smitten with her, but she runs off into the night. Don searches for her for weeks after discovering she was fired, believing himself to be responsible, but Lina tells him while filming a love scene that she made sure Kathy lost her job as an act of revenge and jealousy. Later, Don finds Kathy working in another Monumental Pictures production and they apologize to each other. She confesses to having been a fan of Don all along and they begin to fall in love.
After a rival studio has an enormous hit with its first talking picture, 1927's The Jazz Singer, R.F. decides he has no choice but to convert the next Lockwood and Lamont film, The Dueling Cavalier, into a talkie. The production is beset with difficulties in capturing sound, but by far the worst problem is Lina's grating voice. An exasperated diction coach tries to teach her how to speak properly, but to no avail. Don also takes diction lessons (albeit with much better results). The Dueling Cavalier's test screening is a disaster; the actors' speaking is barely audible thanks to the awkward placing of the microphones, Don repeats the line "I love you" to Lina over and over, to the audience's derisive laughter,[b] and in the middle of the film, the sound goes out of synchronization, with hilarious results.
After the premiere, Don, Kathy and Cosmo come up with the idea to turn The Dueling Cavalier into a musical called The Dancing Cavalier, complete with a modern musical number called "Broadway Melody". Don will be able to show off his natural singing and dancing talent, but they are stumped when they must think about what to do with Lina. Cosmo, inspired by a scene in "The Dueling Cavalier" where Lina's voice was out of sync, suggests they dub Lina's voice with Kathy's. They bring the idea to R.F., who goes ahead with it. When Lina finds out, she is infuriated. She becomes even angrier when she discovers that R.F. intends to give Kathy a screen credit and a big publicity promotion. Lina, after consulting lawyers, threatens to sue R.F. unless he cancels Kathy's buildup and orders her to continue working uncredited as Lina's voice. R.F. reluctantly agrees to her demands.
The premiere of The Dancing Cavalier is a tremendous success. When the audience clamors for Lina to sing live, Don, Cosmo, and R.F. improvise and get her to lip sync into the microphone while Kathy, hidden behind the stage curtain, sings into a second one. While Lina is "singing", Don, Cosmo and R.F. gleefully raise the curtain. When Cosmo replaces Kathy at the microphone, the sham becomes obvious. Embarrassed, Lina flees in humiliation. A distressed Kathy tries to run away as well, but not before Don proudly announces to the audience that she's "the real star of the film". The final shot shows Kathy and Don kissing in front of a billboard for their new film, Singin' in the Rain.
Sister Act (1992)
Color
Nightclub singer hides out in a convent disguised as a nun
Sister Act
"In 1968, Deloris Wilson is a young Catholic school student, who is less than serious about her studies, greatly embarrassing her nun teachers.
Twenty-four years later, in 1992, Deloris is a lounge singer in Reno, Nevada, performing as Deloris Van Cartier. After she witnesses her gangster boyfriend Vince LaRocca execute an informant, police lieutenant Eddie Souther places her in witness protection. She is brought to Saint Katherine's Convent in Saint Katherine's Parish, in a run-down neighborhood in San Francisco. Deloris initially objects, then relents.
The head nun of St. Katherine's,"Reverend Mother", also objects to taking Deloris in but Monsignor O'Hara, the local parish priest, convinces her to go along with it as the police will pay the failing convent a good sum of money to do so. Disguised as "Sister Mary Clarence", Deloris initially has difficulty dealing with the rigid and simple convent life but befriends the other nuns, (Sister Mary Patrick, the elderly Sister Mary Lazarus and the Novice Sister Mary Robert). One night, after a poorly attended Sunday Mass, with a lackluster performance from the convent choir, led by Mary Lazarus, Deloris sneaks out to a bar, followed by Mary Patrick and Mary Robert. They are caught by the Reverend Mother, who orders Deloris join the struggling choir. With her singing experience, Deloris is elected their director and transforms the choir.
At the next Sunday Mass, Deloris leads the much-improved choir in a traditional hymn, then shifts into a combined Gospel and Rock and Roll interpretation. Although Reverend Mother is infuriated, Monsignor O'Hara congratulates their unorthodox performance for attracting new people to the service. Convinced by Deloris, he allows the nuns to clean the church and the neighborhood. Their singing and efforts to revitalize the neighborhood attract media attention, and the parish starts to thrive.
Souther chastises Deloris for nearly being exposed on national television as Vince has placed a bounty on her head. She assures him she will try to keep a lower profile and Souther attends a Mass. The nun's choir continues to amaze parishioners and visitors, especially with a rendition of "My Guy" -- rewritten and performed as "My God".
O'Hara informs the convent that Pope John Paul II, having heard of the choir's success, will visit the church. Deloris tells Reverend Mother that Vince's upcoming trial means she will soon leave; the Mother reveals she has resigned as abbess, believing she is no longer useful to the convent as her authority was undermined. Deloris tries to convince her to stay but the Mother retorts that she believes herself too old-fashioned and incapable to continue in office.
Souther discovers a corrupt detective in his own department, who has given Deloris' location to Vince and rushes to San Francisco to warn her. She and Mary Robert are kidnapped by Vince's men but Deloris helps her escape. Afterward, Reverend Mother reveals to the nuns that Sister Mary Clarence is Deloris Van Cartier and explains why she had been hiding in their convent. They decide to rescue Deloris, requesting a helicopter pilot to fly them to Reno.
Vince orders his men to kill Deloris but they cannot bring themselves to shoot her dressed in a nun's habit. Arriving at Vince's casino, the nuns find her after she escapes from Vince's men. They become trapped in the casino lounge and Deloris prepares to sacrifice herself. Vince is hesitant, but prepares to shoot her. His hesitation is just long enough for Souther to arrest them.
Thanking Deloris for her actions, Reverend Mother decides to remain as abbess of the convent. Returning to San Francisco, the choir, led by Deloris, sing "I Will Follow Him" to a packed audience in a refurbished Saint Katherine's, receiving a standing ovation from all, including the Pope, Monsignor O'Hara, and Souther. Deloris continues to guide and coach the choir as a touring musical group.
Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit (1993)
Color
Nightclub singer returns to the convent to help a troubled parochial school band
Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit
"Deloris Van Cartier has become a famous performer in Reno since her time posing as a nun to hide from the mob, having an entire dinner show based on her experience. During her latest performance, she reunites with her friends, Sisters Mary Patrick, Mary Robert, and Mary Lazarus.
They ask for her help, reuniting her with the Reverend Mother, who explains that the convent nuns now teach at the St. Francis Academy in San Francisco, where Deloris attended as a child. The school faces closure unless its reputation can be improved. The nuns ask her to reprise her persona as Sister Mary Clarence and become the new music teacher. She reluctantly agrees.
At the school, Mary Clarence meets the school's staff of friars, led by the humble but inept Father Maurice, as well as the diocese administrator, Mr. Crisp. She attends her first music class, meeting the rowdy teenagers, who are there just to get an easy "A". Mary Clarence butts heads with the ringleader, Rita Louise Watson, who walks out when she introduces a firmer hand in class. The other students stay to avoid failure. When they break into spontaneous, synchronized singing, Mary Clarence decides to turn them into a choir, to which the students initially object.
Mary Robert overhears Rita singing, and Mary Clarence convinces her to return to the group. The class and nuns restore the school's decrepit music room and practice extensively, later performing "Oh, Happy Day" before the whole school, led by the talented vocalist Ahmal. The nuns discover numerous trophies, revealing the school won the All-State Choir Championship multiple times in the past, and decide to enter them once again. Father Maurice allows it, as long as they raise the money themselves and each student has a signed parental permission slip.
Rita's strict but well-meaning mother Florence refuses to let her attend, believing a musical career is a dead end as her husband died trying to chase fame. However, Rita forges her mother's signature to go anyway, leaving an apology note for her, prompting Florence to drive to Hollywood to see the competition for herself. Mr. Crisp finds a magazine in the school library with Deloris Van Cartier on the cover. Recognizing her as Mary Clarence, he warns Father Maurice of the sham. The choir has already left for the competition so, the friars pile into their old van and race to confront Mary Clarence.
Backstage at the competition, the choir are intimidated by the other entrants and consider quitting, but Mary Clarence inspires them to persevere. The friars arrive, and Father Maurice decides to support the choir upon seeing their enthusiasm. The other friars trap Mr. Crisp in a closet to prevent him from interfering. The choir takes to the stage, Rita performing a solo before the choir perform an urban contemporary gospel rendition of "Joyful, Joyful", with hip hop choreography.
The choir wins the competition. Impressed with the performance, the school's local diocese agrees to keep the school open. Consequently, despite his desire for early retirement, they also give the freed Mr. Crisp a promotion, cementing it in place with the Reverend Mother claiming that upon discovering the sham of Mary Clarence, Mr. Crisp instructed Fr. Maurice not to withdraw the choir from the competition but, `to handle it internally'.
Rita and Florence make amends, while the choir learns Mary Clarence is actually a professional singer. They ask her if she is a Las Vegas showgirl, to which she claims she has never been such, but is a "headliner".
The end credits feature the film's cast performing "Ain't No Mountain High Enough".
Skin (2008)
Color
Biracial child's struggle in South Africa
Skin
"The year is 1965, and 10 year-old Sandra and her parents, Abraham and Sannie, are white Afrikaners. They are shopkeepers in a remote area of the Eastern Transvaal and, despite Sandra's mixed-race appearance, have lovingly brought her up as their white little girl. Sandra is sent to a boarding school in the neighbouring town of Piet Retief, where her (white) brother Leon is also studying, but parents and teachers complain that she does not belong. She is examined by State officials, reclassified as coloured, and expelled from the school. Sandra's parents are shocked, but Abraham fights through the courts to have the classification reversed. The story becomes an international scandal and media pressure forces the law to change, so that Sandra becomes officially white again.
By the time she is 17, Sandra realises she is never going to be accepted by the white community. She falls in love with Petrus, a black man and the local vegetable seller, and begins an illicit love affair. Abraham threatens to shoot Petrus and disown Sandra. Sannie is torn between her husband's rage and her daughter's predicament. Sandra elopes with Petrus to Swaziland. Abraham alerts the police, and has them arrested and put in prison for the illegal border crossing. Sandra is released by the local magistrate to return home with her parents, but she instead decides to return to Petrus, prompting her father to disown her.
Now Sandra must live her life as a coloured woman in South Africa for the first time, with no running water, no sanitation and little income. Although she feels more at home in this community, she desperately misses her parents and yearns for a reunion. She and her mother make attempts to communicate, but are consistently thwarted by Sandra's father. Late in his life, when he is too sick to act on his own, he reconsiders and asks his wife to take him to visit Sandra. Sandra's mother, angry that his newfound guilt had surfaced only after he had for 10 years stubbornly ignored her own emotional torment and longing for a reunion, refuses his request and says that neither of them deserves Sandra's forgiveness.
Eventually, Sandra's marriage to Petrus deteriorates and she leaves him, taking their two children with her, when he becomes physically abusive. She looks for her parents at that time, but finds they had since moved from her childhood home. Not knowing where they are, she continues on with her life, raising her children by herself. When the county's apartheid government comes to an end, there is renewed media interest in her story. Sandra's mother sees Sandra interviewed on television and writes to her to inform her of her father's death two years earlier. The letter provides no return address nor any other clue as to Sannie's whereabouts, but receiving it prompts Sandra to renew her search. Eventually, she finds her mother residing in a nursing home and the two are happily reunited.
An epilogue informs the viewer that Sandra's mother died in 2001, while her two brothers continue to refuse to see her.
Sleepers (1996)
Color
Boys are charged for vengeance taken agains guard who'd abused them in reformatory
Sleepers
"Lorenzo "Shakes" Carcaterra, Thomas "Tommy" Marcano, Michael Sullivan, and John Reilly are childhood friends in Hell's Kitchen, New York City in the mid-1960s. The local priest, Father Robert "Bobby" Carillo, plays an important part in their lives and keeps an eye on them. However, early on they start running small errands for a local mafia gangster, "King" Benny.
In the summer of 1967, their lives take a turn when they nearly kill a man after pulling a prank on a hot dog vendor. As punishment, Tommy, Michael, and John are sentenced to serve 12 to 18 months at the Wilkinson Home for Boys in Upstate New York while Shakes is sentenced to 6 to 12 months. There, the boys are systematically abused and raped by guards Sean Nokes, Henry Addison, Ralph Ferguson, and Adam Styler. The horrifying abuse changes the boys and their friendship forever. Out of shame, they urge their parents in letters not to visit during their stay at the home. Not even to Father Bobby, who insists on visiting, can they speak openly about these events.
During the boys' stay at the home, they participate in Wilkinson's annual football game between the overseers and inmates, and usually it is clear which team will be victorious. Michael convinces "Rizzo", an intimidating black inmate, that this time the guards should not win out of fear of consequences if the boys withstand, but instead they should hit back as hard as possible. Rizzo agrees and the five and a few more fight on and beat the wardens in front of all others watching their disgrace. As a result of this, Shakes, Tommy, Michael, and John are all beaten and thrown into solitary confinement for several weeks, and some of the overseers who lost (including Nokes and his friends) brutally beat Rizzo to death.
Later on, shortly before Shakes's release from Wilkinson, he insists that they should publicly report the abuse they've suffered, but the other boys refuse, not wanting to keep reliving the horrors and knowing that their claims, in spite of their genuineness, would never be believed or cared about. They all therefore vow never to speak of the horrors and abuse the guards put them through once they're all out.
Fourteen years later, John and Tommy, now known and feared gang leaders, kill Nokes, in front of witnesses, after a chance encounter in a Hell's Kitchen pub. Michael, who has become an assistant district attorney, arranges to be assigned to the case, secretly intending to botch the prosecution. He and Shakes, who is writing for a newspaper, forge a plan to get retaliation on all those guards who abused them. With the help of others, including Carol, their childhood friend and now a social worker, and mobster King Benny, they carry out their revenge using information compiled by Michael on the background and lives of the former Wilkinson overseers. They also hire Daniel "Danny" Snyder, a washed-up lawyer and alcoholic, for the defence of John and Tommy to make it seem as if the situation is hopeless for them.
Michael is trying hard to lose his battle in court to free the two accused, without pointing to any connection between him, the victim and the perpetrators, and at the same time gaining their revenge for the events at the Wilkinson home. This seems only possible by discrediting Nokes, who was the victim, and placing John and Tommy at another location. The former warden Ferguson, when called in court as witness for the victims' character, exposes himself, Nokes, and other guards as abusers, but to clinch the case a key witness is needed who can give John and Tommy an alibi. Shakes has a long talk with Father Bobby, who first resists but eventually, after Shakes tells him of the abuse in the Wilkinson Home for Boys, agrees to lie on the stand by testifying the accused were with him and all three were at a New York Knicks basketball game at the time of the shooting. As a result, John and Tommy are acquitted. The remaining overseers are also punished for their crimes: Addison, an upcoming politician, is beaten up and killed by a drug gang, in retaliation for his part in the death of Rizzo - who happened to have been the younger brother of "Little Caesar", the gang leader; Styler, now a corrupt policeman, and still a pedophile, accused of extorting from and killing a drug dealer, is exposed and arrested.
In the aftermath, Lorenzo, who has got his fix job as newspaper reporter, is still living in Hell's Kitchen, while Michael quits as district attorney and moves to the English countryside, where he becomes a carpenter. John (dead from alcohol abuse) and Tommy (shot dead), drug users and suspected murderers in other cases, both do not reach their 30th birthdays. Carol also stays in the city as a social worker and becomes a single mother to a son, who she names after all of the four boys.
Sleepless in Seattle (1993)
Color
An 8-year-old boy unites a lovelorn widower and an unhappily engaged journalist
Sleepless in Seattle
"After Chicago architect Sam Baldwin loses his wife Maggie to cancer, he and their seven-year-old son Jonah start a new life in Seattle, but they continue to grieve.
A year and a half later on Christmas Eve, Jonah calls in to a radio talk show, and persuades a reluctant Sam to go on the air to talk about how much he misses Maggie.
Thousands of women from around the country hear the program and are touched by the story and write to Sam. One of the listeners is Annie Reed, a Baltimore Sun reporter who is engaged to Walter, but feels there is something missing from their relationship.
After watching the film An Affair to Remember, Annie writes a letter suggesting that Sam meet her on top of the Empire State Building on Valentine's Day. She decides not to mail it, but her friend and editor Becky does it for her and later agrees to send Annie to Seattle.
Sam begins dating a co-worker, Victoria, whom Jonah dislikes. When Jonah reads Annie's letter addressed to both of them, he instinctively feels that she could 'be the one,' (it mentions the Baltimore Orioles), but he fails to convince his father to go to NYC on Valentine's Day to meet Annie. With the urging of his friend Jessica, Jonah replies to her, agreeing to the New York meeting.
While dropping Victoria off at the airport for a flight, Sam sees Annie exiting from her plane and is mesmerized by her, although he has no idea who she is. She later secretly watches Sam and Jonah playing on the beach together. The next day she goes again to Sam's houseboat but when she sees Sam's sister Suzy with him, she mistakenly assumes Suzy is his girlfriend. Sam recognizes Annie from the airport and says "hello" but Annie only responds with "hello" before leaving. She returns to Baltimore and then goes to New York to meet Walter for Valentine's Day.
With Jessica's help, Jonah flies to New York and goes to the Empire State Building to find Annie. When Sam discovers this, he grabs a later flight, following him, whom he finds on the observation deck. Meanwhile, Annie sees the skyscraper from the Rainbow Room where she is dining with Walter and confesses her doubts to him, amicably ending their engagement. She rushes to the Empire State Building and arrives on the observation deck just moments after the doors to the other elevator close with Sam and Jonah inside.
The observation deck is empty, but Annie discovers Jonah's backpack. As she pulls out his teddy bear from the bag, Sam and Jonah emerge from the elevator to retrieve it, and the three meet. After Sam and Annie stare at each other in recognition, Sam prepares to leave and offers his hand to Annie. The three then enter the elevator together and the doors close, with Jonah smiling.
Sling Blade (1996)
Color
Man let out of mental institution, since age 12, for having murdered his mother
Sling Blade
"Karl Childers (Billy Bob Thornton) is an intellectually disabled Arkansas man who has been in the custody of the state mental hospital since the age of 12 for having killed his mother and her lover. Although thoroughly "institutionalized," Karl is deemed fit to be released into the outside world. Prior to his release, he is interviewed by a local college newspaper reporter, to whom he recounts the brutal murder of his mother and her boyfriend with a Kaiser blade - during which scene he notes to the reporter that, "Some folks call it a sling blade. I call it a kaiser blade," the line from which the film derives its name. Karl continues, saying that he killed the man because he thought he was raping his mother. When he discovered that his mother was a willing participant in the affair, he killed her, too.
Having developed a knack for small engine repair during his childhood and his institutionalization, Karl lands a job at a small-engine repair shop in the small town where he was born and raised. Around this time, he befriends 12-year-old Frank Wheatley (Lucas Black). Karl shares with Frank some of the details of his past, including the killings. Frank reveals that his father was killed - hit by a train - leaving him and his mother on their own - he later admits that he lied, and that his father committed suicide.
Frank introduces Karl to his mother, Linda (Natalie Canerday), as well as her gay friend, Vaughan Cunningham (John Ritter), the manager of the dollar store where she is employed. Despite Vaughan's concerns about Karl's history in the mental hospital, Linda allows him to move into her garage, which angers Linda's abusive alcoholic boyfriend, Doyle Hargraves (Dwight Yoakam). Eventually, Karl bonds with both Linda and Vaughan. In an early scene, Vaughan tells Karl that a gay man and a mentally challenged man face similar obstacles of intolerance and ridicule in small-town America.
Karl quickly becomes a father figure to Frank, who misses his father and despises Doyle. For Karl, Frank becomes much like a younger brother. Karl eventually reveals that he is haunted by the task given him by his parents when he was six or eight years old to dispose of his premature, unwanted, newborn brother. In a subsequent scene, he visits his father (Robert Duvall), who has become a mentally unbalanced hermit living in the dilapidated home where Karl grew up. Karl's parents performed an abortion, causing the baby to "come out too soon," and Karl was given a bloody towel wrapped around the baby, which survived the abortion. Karl was instructed to "get rid of it," but when Karl detected movement inside the towel, he inspected it, discovering "a little ol' boy" that "wasn't no bigger than a squirrel." While recounting this story to Frank, Frank asks why Karl just didn't keep the baby, but Karl replies he had no way to care for a baby. He placed the baby, still in the bloody towel, inside a shoe box and buried the baby alive, saying he felt it was better to just "return him to the good Lord right off the bat," because of the abuse and neglect he himself had received at the hands of his own parents. Karl tells his father that killing the baby was wrong, and that he had wanted to kill his father for making him do it, but eventually decided that he wasn't worth the effort.
Meanwhile, Doyle becomes increasingly abusive toward Karl and Frank, leading to an eventual drunken outburst and physical confrontation with Linda and Frank. Linda then subsequently kicks Doyle out of the house (despite his threats to kill her if she ever left him). The next day, Linda and Doyle reconcile. Knowing that he has the upper hand again, Doyle confronts Karl and Frank and announces his plan to move into the house permanently; he plans "big changes", including Karl's removal from the house. Karl begins to realize that he is the only one who can bring about a positive change and thus spare Frank and his mother a grim fate. Karl makes Frank promise to spend the night at Vaughan's house, and asks Vaughan to pick up Linda from work and have her stay over also.
Later that evening, Karl returns to Linda's house, but seems undecided about whether he should enter. When confronting Doyle, Doyle asks what Karl is doing with the lawnmower blade he'd sharpened and fashion into a weapon which he was carrying. Karl says, "I aim to kill you with it." After asking Doyle how to reach the police by phone, Doyle says Karl should request "an ambulance, or a 'hearst.'" Then Karl, with the lawnmower blade, kills Doyle with two chopping blows to the head. Karl then calls the police to turn himself in, and requests a "'hearst'" be sent for Doyle. He dines on biscuits and mustard while waiting for the authorities.
Returned to the state hospital, he seems a different person than he was during his previous incarceration. He silences a sexual predator (played by J. T. Walsh) who had previously forced him to listen to tales of his horrible deeds.
Slumdog Millionaire (2008)
Color
After appearing on an Idian game show, an uneducated 'slumdog' is accused of cheating
Slumdog Millionaire
"In Mumbai in 2006, eighteen-year-old Jamal Malik (Dev Patel), a former street child (child Ayush Mahesh Khedekar, adolescent Tanay Chheda) from the Juhu slum, is a contestant on the Indian version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, and is one question away from the grand prize. However, before the Rs. 20 million question, he is detained and interrogated by the police, who suspect him of cheating because of the impossibility of a simple "slumdog" with very little education knowing all the answers. Jamal recounts, through flashbacks, the incidents in his life which provided him with each answer. These flashbacks tell the story of Jamal, his brother Salim (adult Madhur Mittal, adolescent Ashutosh Lobo Gajiwala, child Azharuddin Mohammed Ismail), and Latika (adult Freida Pinto, adolescent Tanvi Ganesh Lonkar, child Rubina Ali). In each flashback Jamal has a point to remember one person, or song, or different things that lead to the right answer of one of the questions. The row of questions does not correspond chronologically to Jamal?s life, so the story switches between different periods (childhood, adolescence) of Jamal. Some questions do not refer to points of his life (cricket champion), but by witness he comes to the right answer.
Jamal's flashbacks begin with his managing, at age five, to obtain the autograph of Bollywood star Amitabh Bachchan, which his brother then sells, followed immediately by the death of his mother during the Bombay Riots. As they flee the riot, Salim and Jamal meet Latika, another child from their slum. Salim is reluctant to take her in, but Jamal suggests that she could be the third musketeer, a character from the Alexandre Dumas novel (which they had been studying--albeit not very diligently--in school), whose name they do not know. The three are found by Maman (Ankur Vikal), a gangster who tricks and then trains street children into becoming beggars. When Jamal, Salim, and Latika learn Maman is blinding children in order to make them more effective as singing beggars, they flee by jumping onto a departing train. Latika catches up and takes Salim's hand, but Salim purposely lets go, and she is recaptured by the gangsters. Over the next few years, Salim and Jamal make a living travelling on top of trains, selling goods, picking pockets, working as dish washers, and pretending to be tour guides at the Taj Mahal, where they steal people's shoes. At Jamal's insistence, they return to Mumbai to find Latika, discovering from one of the singing beggars that she has been raised by Maman to become a prostitute and that her virginity is expected to fetch a high price. The brothers rescue her, and Salim draws a gun and kills Maman. Salim then manages to get a job with Javed (Mahesh Manjrekar), Maman's rival crime lord. Arriving at their hotel room, Salim orders Jamal to leave him and Latika alone. When Jamal refuses, Salim draws a gun on him, and Jamal leaves after Latika persuades him to go away (presumably so he wouldn't get hurt by Salim). Salim then has sex with Latika.
Years later, while working as a tea server at an Indian call centre, Jamal searches the centre's database for Salim and Latika. He fails in finding Latika but succeeds in finding Salim, who is now a high-ranking lieutenant in Javed's organisation, and they reunite. Salim is regretful for his past actions and only pleads for forgiveness when Jamal physically attacks him. Jamal then bluffs his way into Javed's residence and reunites with Latika. While Jamal professes his love for her, Latika asks him to forget about her. Jamal promises to wait for her every day at 5 o'clock at the VT station. Latika attempts to rendezvous with him, but she is recaptured by Javed's men, led by Salim. Jamal loses contact with Latika when Javed moves to another house, outside of Mumbai. Knowing that Latika watches it regularly, Jamal attempts to make contact with her again by becoming a contestant on the show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? He makes it to the final question, despite the hostile attitude of the show's host, Prem Kumar (Anil Kapoor), and becomes a wonder across India. Kumar feeds Jamal the incorrect response to the penultimate question, and when Jamal still gets it right, turns him into the police on suspicion of cheating.
Back in the interrogation room, the police inspector (Irrfan Khan) calls Jamal's explanation "bizarrely plausible", but thinks he is not a liar and allows him to return to the show. At Javed's safehouse, Latika watches the news coverage of Jamal's miraculous run on the show. Salim, in an effort to make amends for his past behaviour, quietly gives Latika his mobile phone and car keys, and asks her to forgive him and to go to Jamal. Latika, though initially reluctant out of fear of Javed, agrees and escapes. Salim fills a bathtub with cash and sits in it, waiting for the death he knows will come when Javed discovers what he has done. Jamal's final question is, by coincidence, the name of the third musketeer in The Three Musketeers, a fact he never learned. Jamal uses his Phone-A-Friend lifeline to call Salim's cell, as it is the only phone number he knows. Latika succeeds in answering the phone just in the nick of time, and, while she does not know the answer, tells Jamal that she is safe. Relieved, Jamal randomly picks Aramis, the right answer, and wins the grand prize. Simultaneously, Javed discovers that Salim has helped Latika escape after he hears Latika on the show. He and his men break down the bathroom door, and Salim kills Javed, before being gunned down himself at the hands of Javed's men. With his dying breath, Salim gasps that God is great. Later that night, Jamal and Latika meet at the railway station and kiss. The movie ends with a dance scene on the platform to "Jai Ho".
Smart People (2008)
Color
Professor has romance with former student and a visit from his wild adopted brother
Smart People
"Carnegie Mellon English Professor Lawrence Wetherhold (Dennis Quaid) is a widowed parent of an alienated college son, James (Ashton Holmes), overachieving high school daughter, Vanessa (Elliot Page), and sibling to an adopted ne'er-do-well brother, Chuck (Thomas Haden Church) who he cannot evade enough. He is bitter, arrogant, self-absorbed and uninterested in his students. This becomes a problem when he parks illegally on campus. The car is impounded and he does not pay the fine before getting to the college impound lot, watched by a disgruntled former student. Lawrence has a trauma-induced seizure after falling from the top of a fence after retrieving his briefcase from inside the impounded car.
In the emergency room, he is treated by Dr. Janet Hartigan (Parker), a former student he does not remember. Lawrence has to get about without being able to operate his car; his brother Chuck is without a place to sleep and a job, so Vanessa sets it up for what he characterizes as a "win/win" situation.
At a follow-up appointment, another doctor tells Lawrence that Janet had been his student. He sees Janet again outside the hospital as he is leaving and, since Chuck has failed to show up, she offers to take him home. When they arrive, he asks Janet to later meet for coffee and she agrees, fulfilling her old student crush on the professor. Vanessa confronts Janet, warning her about Lawrence's fragility. At dinner, Lawrence monopolizes the conversation and Janet walks out.
Lawrence fakes a visit to the emergency room to see Janet again and they reconcile for a second date. They get back to Janet's place where they have sex, but while spending the night, Janet is turned off by Lawrence's neediness and worries that he is, in fact, still too distraught by his wife's death. To get rid of him, she feigns being called in to work and does not return any of his subsequent calls. On another night, in the midst of a contentious family Christmas dinner at the Wetherholds', Janet arrives unannounced with a cake.
After Chuck gets Vanessa drunk to celebrate her early acceptance into Stanford University, she makes a pass at him, which he rejects. He then moves in part-time with Lawrence's son, James (Ashton Holmes), in his college dormitory.
James' girlfriend, Missy (Camille Mana), who is one of his father's students, tells Lawrence that James has had a poem accepted by The New Yorker. In contrast, Lawrence's latest book has been universally rejected. A new title, You Can't Read! (Vanessa's idea) helps sell the book to Penguin Group, a largely non-academic publisher. To Lawrence's dismay, however, the book is largely re-worked and edited by the publisher, only vaguely resembling his original work. Janet accompanies Lawrence on a trip to New York to meet with the publisher, where she learns she is pregnant with their child. Finding him preoccupied by his book's publishing and an ongoing campaign to become chairman of the English Department, Janet is again upset by Lawrence's self-absorption and breaks up with him without telling him the news.
Back in Pittsburgh, Lawrence is confronted by both James and Chuck, who both point to his apparent lack of interest in his children's lives. Encouraged by Chuck, Lawrence goes to the hospital to reconcile with Janet, who reveals her pregnancy. He has meanwhile dropped his bid to become department head and has become a more involved parent and professor.
During the end credits, Lawrence and Janet cradle twin babies: a boy and a girl.
Sneakers (1992)
Color
US agents blackmail hacker into stealing code-breaking device from Soviet-funded genius
Sneakers
"In 1969, students Martin Brice and Cosmo are sneakers who hack into computer networks using university equipment, to redistribute conservative funds to various liberal causes. The police burst in and arrest Cosmo while Martin is out getting pizza, and Martin becomes a fugitive.
In the present day, Martin, now called Martin Bishop, is running a team of security specialists in San Francisco, including Donald Crease, a former CIA officer and family man; Darren "Mother" Roskow, a conspiracy theorist and electronics technician; Carl Arbogast, a young hacking genius; and Irwin "Whistler" Emery, a blind phone phreak.
Martin is approached by NSA officers Dick Gordon and Buddy Wallace, who know of his former identity. In exchange for clearing his record, he's asked to recover a "black box" from mathematician Dr. Gunter Janek, who has developed the box under the project name "Setec Astronomy" supposedly for the Russian government. Martin is hesitant but agrees to help. With help from his former girlfriend, Liz, Martin and his team secure the box, which is disguised as a telephone answering machine. During their subsequent celebration party, Whistler, Mother, and Carl investigate the box, finding it capable of breaking the encryption of nearly every computer system. Martin works out that "Setec Astronomy" is an anagram of "too many secrets", and issues a lockdown until they can deliver the box the next day.
Martin hands the box to the NSA officers, but quickly leaves after Crease discovers that Janek was killed the night before. He contacts a friend named Gregor in the Russian consulate, who confirms that the officers were rogue agents, and that Janek was working for the NSA. Before Gregor can elaborate further, fake FBI agents kill him and kidnap Martin to a remote location where he's reunited with Cosmo, who Martin thought had died in prison. While in prison, Cosmo developed ties with organized crime, allowing him to escape and become wealthy. He explains his plan to use Janek's box to destabilize the world economy, and offers Martin the chance to join him. Martin refuses, whereupon Cosmo uses the box to break into the FBI and connect Martin's current identity with his former name. Cosmo has Martin knocked out and taken back to the city.
Martin contacts his team and they relocate to Liz's apartment. They contact NSA agent Abbott, who wants the box but cannot offer assistance without it being in Martin's possession. Whistler analyzes the sounds that Martin heard during his kidnapping, and is able to identify the geographic area where Martin was taken. They find a toy company at that location, which is a front for Cosmo's operation. They track down Werner Brandes, the employee whose office is next to Cosmo's. They set Liz up with a fake computer date with Brandes to get his keycard and vocal recognition codes, while the others identify other security features of Cosmo's office. The team successfully get into the building to recover the box.
Brandes begins to suspect Liz during the date, and alerts Cosmo to a possible break-in. Once Liz mentions the computer date in Cosmo's presence, he realizes that Martin is responsible and locks down the facility and holds Martin at gunpoint. Again he tries to convince Martin to join him, but Martin refuses and instead turns over the box. The team escapes before Cosmo realizes that he is holding an empty duplicate of the box's case.
Back at their offices, Martin's team is surrounded by agents led by Abbott. After Martin points out how important the secrecy of the box is to the NSA, who could use it to spy on other agencies, Abbott agrees to clear Martin's record and grant the requests of the rest of his team. After Abbott and the agents leave with the box, Martin shows his team he has rendered the box useless by taking out the main processor.
In a postscript, a news report describes the sudden bankruptcy of the Republican National Committee, and the simultaneous receipt of large anonymous donations by Amnesty International, Greenpeace, and the United Negro College Fund.
Soldier Blue (1970)
Color
Two Survivors of Cheyenne massacre, a soldier and a young woman, travel to US Outpost
Soldier Blue
"In 1877 Colorado Territory, a young woman, Cresta Lee, and young U.S. Private Honus Gant are joined together by fate when they are the only two survivors after their group is massacred by the Cheyenne. Gant is devoted to his country and duty; Lee, who has lived with the Cheyenne for two years, is scornful of Gant (she refers to him as "Soldier Blue" derisively) and declares that in this conflict she sympathizes with them. The two must now try to make it to Fort Reunion, the army camp, where Cresta's fiance, an army officer, waits for her. As they travel through the desert with very low supplies, hiding from the Indians, they are spotted by a group of Kiowa horsemen. Under pressure from Cresta, Honus fights and seriously wounds the group's chief. Honus finds himself unable to kill the chief and the chief's own men stab him for his defeat and leave Honus and Cresta alone. The ideological gulf between them is also revealed in their attitudes towards societal mores, with the almost puritan Honus disturbed by things Cresta barely notices.
Eventually, after being pursued by a white trader, Isaac Cumber, who sells guns to the Cheyenne, but whose latest shipment of weapons Honus has destroyed, Honus finds himself in a cave where Cresta has left him to get help. She arrives at Fort Reunion, only to discover that her fiance's cavalry plans to attack the peaceful Indian village of the Cheyenne the following day. She runs away on a horse and reaches the village in time to warn Spotted Wolf, the Cheyenne chief. The chief does not recognize the danger and, using the U.S. flag, rides out to extend a hand of friendship to the American soldiers. The soldiers, however, obey the orders of their commanding officer to open fire on the village.
After a cavalry charge decimates the Indian men, the soldiers enter the village and begin to rape and kill the female survivors. Honus protests and attempts to disrupt the massacre, to no avail. Cresta attempts to lead the remaining women and children to safety, but her group is discovered and massacred, though Cresta herself is spared. After the battle, Honus is led away in shackles and Cresta departs with the remaining few survivors.
Solitary Man (2009)
Color
Philandering old man has affair with girlfriend's daughter, and she tells him leave town
Solitary Man
"Ben Kalmen (Michael Douglas), a 62 year old man who was once a successful car dealer, has hit the skids due to bad business decisions and romantic indiscretions. He is broke, borrowing money from his daughter Susan (Jenna Fischer), and unwilling to accept his age, a heart problem, and a continuing sexual appetite.
Ben, who cheated often on his wife Nancy Kalmen (Susan Sarandon), accompanies the 18-year-old daughter of his girlfriend, Jordan Karsch (Mary-Louise Parker), to her college interview. Ben is an alumnus of the university and was even a building donor during his more prosperous days.
Ben meets an impressionable student named Daniel (Jesse Eisenberg) on campus who appreciates his wisdom and advice. Ben talks himself into bed with Jordan's daughter, Allyson (Imogen Poots). He expresses desire to continue the relationship, which Allyson dismisses as a one time experiment with an older man. Frustrated with Ben, Allyson flippantly tells her mother about the sexual encounter. Jordan breaks off contact with Ben and withdraws the support Ben needs to open an auto dealership. While discussing his past due rent with his building manager (Lenny Venito), his daughter Susan appears and tells him he is no longer welcome in her family's life because of his inconsistency and unreliability as grandfather of her son, and an affair Ben has had with the mother of one of her son's friends.
Ben chooses to work at his college friend Jimmy Marino (Danny DeVito)'s diner on campus. Allyson is upset to find Ben working near her college campus and informs her mother. He receives a call from Jordan, demanding that he move out of college town immediately. If he does not, Jordan tells Ben, she will have her ex-husband's Mob underworld contacts physically persuade him to do so.
Unable to help himself, Ben makes a sexual advance toward a college girl, Maureen (Olivia Thirlby), whom Daniel has begun to date. Shortly after the girl rebuffs Ben, he is severely beaten by an ex-police officer (Arthur J. Nascarella) whom Jordan's ex-husband sent to the campus.
He finds Nancy on the bench where they met, and she offers to give him a ride back to New York. The film ends with Ben looking at Nancy waiting in the car for his decision, watching a young woman walk by headed in the opposite direction, unsure which way he should turn.
Some Like It Hot (1959)
Black & White
Musicians crossdressed to flee the Saint Valentine's Day Massacre encounter curvy blonde
Some Like It Hot
"In February 1929 in Prohibition-era Chicago, Joe is a jazz saxophone player and an irresponsible, impulsive ladies' man; his anxious friend Jerry is a jazz double bass player. They work in a speakeasy owned by gangster "Spats" Colombo. Tipped off by informant "Toothpick" Charlie, the police raid the joint. Joe and Jerry escape, but later, they accidentally witness Spats and his henchmen taking revenge on "Toothpick" and his gang gunning them down (inspired by the real-life Saint Valentine's Day Massacre).[citation needed] Spats and his gang see them as they flee. Broke, terrified, and desperate to get out of town, Joe and Jerry disguise themselves as women named Josephine and Daphne so they can join Sweet Sue and her Society Syncopators, an all-female band headed (by train) to Miami. Joe and Jerry meet Sugar Kane, the band's vocalist and ukulele player.
Joe and Jerry become obsessed with Sugar and compete for her affection while maintaining their disguises. Sugar confides to Joe that she has sworn off male saxophone players, who have taken advantage of her in the past. She hopes to find a gentle, bespectacled millionaire in Florida. During the forbidden drinking and partying on the train, Josephine and Daphne become close friends with Sugar, and must struggle to remember that they are supposed to be girls and cannot make passes at her.
Once in Miami, Joe woos Sugar by assuming a second disguise as millionaire Junior, the heir to Shell Oil, while feigning indifference to her. An actual millionaire, the much-married aging mama's-boy Osgood Fielding III, persistently pursues "Daphne"; her refusals only increase his appetite. He invites "her" for a champagne supper on his yacht, New Caledonia. Joe convinces Jerry to keep Osgood occupied onshore so that Junior can take Sugar to Osgood's yacht, and pass it off as his own. Once on the yacht, Junior tells Sugar that psychological trauma has left him impotent and frigid, but that he would marry anyone who could cure him. Sugar tries to arouse him, with considerable success. Meanwhile, Daphne and Osgood dance the tango ("La Cumparsita") till dawn. When Joe and Jerry get back to the hotel, Jerry announces that Osgood has proposed marriage to "Daphne" and that he, as Daphne, has accepted, anticipating an instant divorce and huge cash settlement when his ruse is revealed. Joe convinces Jerry that he cannot actually marry Osgood.
The hotel hosts a conference for "Friends of Italian Opera", which is in fact a major meeting of the national crime syndicate, presided over by "Little Bonaparte". Spats and his gang recognize Joe and Jerry as the witnesses they have been looking for. Joe and Jerry, fearing for their lives, realize they must quit the band and leave the hotel. Joe breaks Sugar's heart by telling her that he, Junior, must marry a woman of his father's choosing and move to Venezuela. Joe and Jerry evade Spats' men by hiding under a table at the syndicate banquet. "Little Bonaparte" has Spats and his men killed at the banquet; again, Joe and Jerry are witnesses and they flee through the hotel. Joe, dressed as Josephine, sees Sugar onstage singing a lament to lost love. He runs onto the platform and kisses her, and Sugar realizes that Joe is both Josephine and Junior.
Jerry persuades Osgood to take "Daphne" and "Josephine" away on his yacht. Sugar runs from the stage at the end of her performance and jumps aboard Osgood's launch just as it is leaving the dock with Joe, Jerry, and Osgood. Joe confesses his deception to Sugar and tells her that he is not good enough for her, but Sugar wants him anyway. Meanwhile, Jerry lists reasons why "Daphne" and Osgood cannot marry, ranging from a smoking habit to infertility. Osgood dismisses them all; he loves Daphne and is determined to go through with the marriage. Exasperated, Jerry removes his wig and snaps, "I'm a man!" Osgood, unfazed, replies: "Well, nobody's perfect.
Somebody Up There Likes Me (1956)
Black & White
Petty criminal starts boxing for fixed fights, eventually goes for middleweight champ
Somebody Up There Likes Me
"Rocky Graziano (Paul Newman) has a difficult childhood and is beaten by his father. He joins a street gang, and undergoes a long history of criminal activities. He is sent to prison, where he is rebellious to all authority figures. After his release, he is drafted by the U.S. Army, but runs away. Needing money, he becomes a boxer, and finds that he has natural talent and wins six fights in a row before the Army finds him and dishonorably discharges him. He serves a year in a United States Disciplinary Barracks, and resumes his career as a boxer as a result.
While working his way to the title, he is introduced to his sister's friend Norma, whom he falls in love with and later marries. Starting a new, clean life, he rises to the top, but loses a title fight with Tony Zale. A person he knew in prison finds him and blackmails him into throwing a fight. Rocky fakes an injury and avoids the fight altogether. When he is interrogated by the district attorney, he refuses to name the blackmailer and has his license suspended. His manager gets him a fight in Chicago to fight Zale the middleweight champion, once more. Rocky wins the fight.
Something Like a Business (2010)
Color
Pimp inherits escort service from his uncle
Something Like a Business
"After inheriting his deceased uncle's escort service, JoJo (Kevin Hart) struggles to keep his rebellious employees under control, compete with Washington, D.C.'s number one pimp (Clifton Powell), avoid harassment from overbearing cops and cash in on his hard work.
Something's Gotta Give (2003)
Color
An aging swinger with a taste for young women falls for an woman closer to his age
Something's Gotta Give
"Harry Sanborn is a wealthy New York record company owner who only dates women under 30, including his latest girlfriend, Marin Klein. The two drive to her mother's Hamptons beach house expecting to be alone. However, her mother, a playwright named Erica Barry, and Erica's sister Zoe, unexpectedly arrive.
After an awkward dinner, the night turns disastrous when--during foreplay with Marin--Harry has a heart attack and is rushed to a hospital. The attending doctor, Julian Mercer, tells Harry to stay nearby for a few days, so Harry reluctantly stays with Erica. Their personalities clash and create awkward living arrangements at first, but they soon find charming qualities in each other and begin to form a connection. Harry's relationship with her daughter and Erica's budding relationship with Julian become obstacles to their growing attraction. Marin tells her mother that she will break up with Harry, but he ends things first. Harry and Erica spend more time together and eventually have sex. Julian tells Harry he has improved enough to return to the city. He and Erica share an awkward goodbye, as despite their strong feelings, Harry is clearly hesitant to enter into a serious relationship.
Marin receives news that her father and Erica's ex-husband, Dave Klein, is getting remarried to a doctor who is only two years older than her. Though Erica is unaffected by the news, Marin is devastated and pressures her mother into accompanying her to a dinner. At dinner, Erica sees Harry at another table with another, much younger woman. An argument follows and Erica admits that she is in love with Harry, but he does not reciprocate, so she ends things between them and leaves. Harry suffers from what he believes is another heart attack but in the emergency room he is told it was a panic attack.
Devastated, Erica returns home where she cries almost nonstop for several weeks, pouring her heartbreak into a new play about a woman who falls in love with her daughter's boyfriend, titling it "A Woman to Love," a phrase Harry had used to describe Erica. Harry hears about the play and rushes to the theater where it is being rehearsed. Despite her denials, it is obvious that she has used the most personal details of their affair in the play. When he tells her he still cares about her, Erica rebuffs him. After learning his character dies in the play, he suffers another panic attack. At the hospital, he is told he needs to de-stress and he relocates temporarily to the Bahamas.
Six months later, Erica's play is a huge success. Harry pays Marin a visit to apologize for any past disrespect and discovers he never did and that she is now happily married and pregnant. Marin informs Harry that Erica is in Paris celebrating her birthday. Harry flies to Paris and surprises Erica at her favorite restaurant. He tells Erica that he has been reaching out to all the young women he had affairs with in an attempt to atone for his heartless behavior. Julian, whom Erica is now dating, appears.
Harry, Erica and Julian have dinner together, and part amicably outside the restaurant. While Harry gazes in heartache over the river Seine, Erica arrives. She tells him that Julian realized she still loves Harry and decided to step aside to let them be together. Harry tells her that at age 63, he's in love for the first time in his life, and they embrace.
A year later at a restaurant, Erica and Harry, now married, are out with Marin, her husband Danny and their new baby daughter, celebrating life as a loving family.
Somewhere in Time (1980)
Color
Playwright obsessed with early 1900s actress goes back in time, and falls in love with her
Somewhere in Time
"In May 1972, college theatre student Richard Collier (Christopher Reeve) is celebrating the debut of a play he has written. During the celebration, he is approached by an elderly woman who places a pocket watch in his hand and pleads, "Come back to me." Richard does not recognize the woman, who returns to her own residence and dies soon afterward.
Eight years later, Richard is a successful playwright living in Chicago, but has recently broken up with his girlfriend and is struggling with writer's block. Feeling stressed from writing his play, he decides to take a break and travels out of town to the Grand Hotel. While looking at a display in the hotel's museum, Richard becomes enthralled by a photograph of a beautiful woman. With the assistance of Arthur Biehl (Bill Erwin), an old bellhop who has been at the hotel since 1910, Richard discovers that the woman is Elise McKenna (Jane Seymour), a famous early 20th century stage actress. Upon digging deeper, Richard learns that she was the aged woman who gave him the pocket watch eight years earlier. Traveling to the home of Laura Roberts, McKenna's former housekeeper and companion, he discovers a music box Elise had made, in the shape of the Grand Hotel, that plays his favorite melody. He also discovers among her effects a book on time travel written by his old college professor, Dr. Gerard Finney (George Voskovec), and learns that McKenna read the book several times. Richard becomes obsessed with the idea of traveling back to 1912 and meeting Elise McKenna, with whom he has fallen in love.
Visiting Finney, Richard learns that the man believes that he himself very briefly time traveled once to 1571 through the power of self-suggestion. To accomplish this feat of self-hypnosis, Finney tells Richard, one must remove from sight all things that are related to the current time and trick the mind into believing that one is in the past. He also warns that such a process would leave one very weak, perhaps dangerously so. Richard buys an early 20th-century suit and some vintage money and cuts his hair in a time-appropriate style. Dressing himself in the suit, he removes all modern objects from his hotel room and attempts to will himself into the year 1912 using tape-recorded suggestions, only to fail for lack of real conviction. Later, while searching the hotel's attic, Richard finds an old guest book from 1912 with his signature in it and realizes that he will eventually succeed.
Richard again hypnotizes himself, this time with the tape recorder hidden under the bed, and allows his absolute faith in his eventual success to become the trigger for the journey back through time. He drifts off to sleep and awakens to the sound of whinnying horses on June 27, 1912. Richard looks all over the hotel for Elise, even meeting Arthur as a little boy, but he has no luck finding her. Finally, he stumbles upon Elise walking by a tree near the lake. She seems to swoon slightly at the sight of him, but then suddenly asks him "Is it you?". McKenna's manager, William Fawcett Robinson (Christopher Plummer), abruptly intervenes and sends Richard away. Richard stubbornly continues to pursue Elise until she finally agrees to accompany him on a stroll through the surrounding idyllic landscape. Richard ultimately asks why Elise wondered aloud "Is it you". She replies that Robinson somehow knows that she will meet a man one day who will change her life forever. Richard then shows Elise the same pocket watch which she will eventually give him in 1972, but he does not reveal its origin, merely saying it was a gift.
Richard accepts Elise's invitation to her play, where she recites an impromptu monologue dedicated to him. During intermission, he finds her posing formally for a photograph. Upon spotting Richard, Elise breaks into a radiant smile, the camera capturing the image which Richard first saw of her 68 years later. Afterwards, Richard receives an urgent message from Robinson requesting a meeting. Robinson tries to get Richard to leave Elise, saying it is for her own good. When Richard professes his love for her, Robinson has him tied up and locked in the stables. Later, Robinson tells Elise that Richard has left her and is not the one, but she disbelieves him, stating that she loves Richard.
Richard wakes up the next morning and escapes his constraints. He runs to Elise's room and finds that her party has left. Despondent, he goes out to the hotel's porch. Suddenly, he hears Elise calling his name and sees her running towards him. They return to his room together and make love. The next morning they agree to marry. Elise tells him that the first thing she will do for him is buy him a new suit, since the one he has been wearing is about 15 years out of date. Richard begins to show her how practical the suit is because of its many pockets. He is alarmed when he reaches into one and finds a Lincoln penny with a mint date of 1979. Seeing an item from his real present wrenches him out of his hypnotically-induced time trip, and Richard feels himself rushing forward in time, with Elise screaming his name in horror as he is pulled inexorably out of 1912.
Richard then wakes up back in 1980, in the same room where he and Elise were last together in 1912. He is drenched in sweat and very weak, apparently exhausted from his trip through time and back. He scrambles desperately back to his own room and tries to hypnotize himself again, without success. Heartbroken and after wandering around the hotel property and sitting interminably at the places where he spent time with Elise, he eventually retires to his room and remains there, unmoving for days until discovered by Arthur and the hotel manager; they send for a doctor and paramedics. Richard suddenly smiles and sees himself drifting above his body and, having presumably died of a broken heart, is drawn to a light shining through the nearby window, where he is reunited with Elise.
Sounder (1972)
Color
During depression boy sets out to travel to prison where his father is incarcerated
Sounder
In 1933 Louisiana, the Morgans (Cicely Tyson, Paul Winfield, Kevin Hooks), a loving and strong family of black sharecroppers raising sugar cane, face a serious family crisis in the midst of the Great Depression. Nathan Morgan tries to teach his son David to be a man and survive in difficult times with their dog, Sounder. But Nathan is imprisoned for a year after stealing a ham to feed his starving family. While Nathan is in the local jail awaiting shipment to a work camp, the sheriff will barely allow the family to visit. A sympathetic local woman with access to the sheriff's filing cabinet tells the family the location of Nathan's camp, and plots the route on a road map. Sounder, who had been injured and lost, returns home in time to accompany David on a long but unsuccessful walk to visit his father. On the way home, David discovers a school. A kindly but firm teacher named Camille takes him in and starts to teach him about important African-American figures in history. David becomes desperate to go to school, but when his father is released a maimed man, David must choose between leaving home for an education that can give him a better life and staying home to support his father.
Southside with You (2016)
Color
Chronicals Obama's first date and his falling in love with Michelle
Southside with You
"Harvard Law School student Barack Obama, while working as a summer associate at a Chicago law firm in 1989, arranges to meet Michelle Robinson, a young lawyer and his supervisor at the firm ostensibly to go to a community organizing meeting. However when they meet in the morning, he tells her that the meeting is at 4pm and he wants to fill the time till then getting to know each other. She initially is apprehensive as they work together but agrees.
They visit an African art exhibition at a local art center which features an Ernie Barnes exhibit, and share stories about growing up while walking through a park. At the community organizing meeting, Obama gives a rousing speech which is well-received by the audience including Robinson. In the evening, they view a screening of Spike Lee's Do the Right Thing, and have their first kiss outside an ice cream parlor in what winds up being their first date.
Soylent Green (1973)
Color
Dystopia where 'Soylent Green' is made out of People who have died
Soylent Green
"The 20th century's industrialization has left the world permanently overcrowded, polluted and stagnant by the turn of the 21st century. In 2022, with 40 million people in New York City alone, housing is dilapidated and overcrowded; homeless people fill the streets; about half are unemployed, the few "lucky" ones with jobs are only barely scraping by themselves, and food and working technology is scarce. Most of the population survives on rations produced by the Soylent Corporation, whose newest product is Soylent Green, a green wafer advertised to contain "high-energy plankton" from the world's oceans, more nutritious and palatable than its predecessors "Red" and "Yellow," but in short supply.
New York City Police Department detective Frank Thorn (Charlton Heston) lives with his aged friend Solomon "Sol" Roth (Edward G. Robinson). Due to Roth's advanced age he remembers life before its current miserable state and routinely waxes nostalgic for his youth when the air was clean and the weather wasn't perpetually summer. He was also well educated and has a small library of reference materials which he uses to help Det. Thorn solve crimes (consequently Roth is referred to as a police "book"). While investigating the murder of William R. Simonson (Joseph Cotten), obviously a member of the wealthy elite, Thorn questions Shirl (Leigh Taylor-Young), a concubine (referred to as "furniture"), and Tab Fielding (Chuck Connors), Simonson's bodyguard, who, when the murder took place, was escorting Shirl to a store selling meat "under the counter" for Simonson. Thorn searches Simonson's apartment for clues and helps himself to some of Simonson's luxurious lifestyle like air conditioning, hot running water, real bourbon, fresh vegetables, and a flank steak Shirl had purchased earlier as a special surprise for Simonson.
Thorn later gives Roth the classified Soylent Oceanographic Survey Report, 2015 to 2019 found in Simonson's apartment. Roth's research reveals that Simonson and the current state governor of New York, Joseph Santini (Whit Bissell), were partners in a well-known high-powered law firm, and that Simonson was also a member of the Board of Soylent.
At the police station, Thorn tells his lieutenant, Hatcher (Brock Peters), that he suspects an assassination: nothing was stolen from the apartment, its sophisticated alarm was not working for the first time in two years, and Simonson's bodyguard was conveniently absent. Continuing his investigation, Thorn visits Fielding's apartment and questions Fielding's concubine, Martha (Paula Kelly), helping herself to a teaspoon of strawberry jam, later identified by Roth as too great a luxury for the concubine of a bodyguard to afford.
Under questioning, Shirl reveals that Simonson became troubled in the days before his death. Thorn questions a Catholic priest that Simonson had visited, but the priest at first fails to remember Simonson and is later unable to describe the confession. Fielding later murders the priest to silence him.
Meanwhile, Governor Santini orders the investigation closed, but Thorn disobeys and the Soylent Corporation dispatches Simonson's murderer to kill Thorn. He tracks Thorn to a ration distribution center where police officers are providing security. When the Soylent Green there is exhausted, the crowd riots. The assassin tries to kill Thorn in the confusion, but is crushed by a "scoop" crowd-dispersion vehicle. Thorn then threatens both Fielding and Martha to scare Fielding out of following him and returns to Shirl, telling her that all cities are like theirs and the more valuable, unharmed countryside is guarded to protect the wealthier classes' privileges of better food, water and shelter, leaving the majority of people trapped in the cities with no escape.
Roth takes Soylent's oceanographic reports to a like-minded group of researchers known as the Exchange, who agree that the oceans no longer produce the plankton from which Soylent Green is reputedly made, and infer that it must be made from human remains, as this is the only conceivable supply of protein that matches the known production. Unable to live with this discovery, Roth seeks assisted suicide at a government clinic called "Home."
Thorn rushes to stop him, but arrives too late, and is mesmerized by the euthanasia process's visual and musical montage -- a display of forests, wild animals, rivers, and ocean life, now extinct. Under the influence of a lethal drug, Roth tells Thorn his discovery and begs him to expose the truth. To this end, Thorn stows himself aboard a garbage truck to the disposal center, where he sees human corpses converted into Soylent Green. Returning to make his report, he is ambushed by Fielding and others.
He phones his precinct for backup but the precinct is engaged on a priority call. Thorn asks to be connected with Shirl, and to be "cut in" when the precinct is free. Thorn tells Shirl to stay with her apartment's new owner and Shirl tells Thorn she wants to live with him, but the line is "cut in" and Thorn is connected to Hatcher. Thorn retreats into a cathedral filled with homeless people. In the ensuing fight, he kills Fielding but is seriously injured. When the police arrive, Thorn urges Hatcher to spread the word that "Soylent Green is people!
Spartacus (1960)
Color
Slave-army led by the ex-gladiator Spartacus threatens the all-mighty Rome
Spartacus
"In the 1st century BC, the Roman Republic has slid into corruption, its menial work done by armies of slaves. One of these, a proud and gifted man named Spartacus, is so uncooperative in his servitude that he is sentenced to fight as a gladiator. He is trained at a school run by the unctuous Roman businessman Lentulus Batiatus, who instructs Spartacus's trainer Marcellus to bully the slave mercilessly and break his spirit. Amid the abuse, Spartacus forms a quiet relationship with a serving woman named Varinia, whom he refuses to rape when she is sent to "entertain" him in his cell.
Batiatus receives a visit from the Roman senator Marcus Licinius Crassus, an arch-conservative who aims to become dictator of Rome. Crassus buys Varinia on a whim, and for the amusement of his companions arranges for Spartacus and three others to fight in pairs. When Spartacus is disarmed, his opponent, an African named Draba, spares his life in a burst of compassion and attacks the Roman audience. Crassus kills Draba. The next day, with the school's atmosphere still tense over this episode, Batiatus takes Varinia away to Crassus' house in Rome. Spartacus kills Marcellus, who was taunting him over this, and their fight escalates into a riot. The gladiators overwhelm their guards and escape into the Italian countryside.
Spartacus is elected chief of the fugitives and decides to lead them out of Italy and back to their homes. They plunder Roman country estates as they go, collecting enough money to buy sea transport from Rome's foes the pirates of Cilicia. Countless other slaves join the group, making it as large as an army. One of the new arrivals is Varinia, who escaped while being delivered to Crassus. Another is a slave entertainer named Antoninus, who also fled Crassus' service after the Roman tried to seduce him. Privately Spartacus feels mentally inadequate because of his lack of education during years of servitude. However, he proves an excellent leader and organizes his diverse followers into a tough and self-sufficient community. Varinia, now his informal wife, becomes pregnant by him, and he also comes to regard the spirited Antoninus as a sort of son.
The Roman Senate becomes increasingly alarmed as Spartacus defeats the multiple armies it sends against him. Crassus' populist opponent Gracchus knows that his rival will try to use the crisis as a justification for seizing control of the Roman army. To try and prevent this, Gracchus channels as much military power as possible into the hands of his own protege, a young senator named Julius Caesar. Although Caesar lacks Crassus' contempt for the lower classes of Rome, he mistakes the man's rigid outlook for nobility. Thus, when Gracchus reveals that he has bribed the Cilicians to get Spartacus out of Italy and rid Rome of the slave army, Caesar regards such tactics as beneath him and goes over to Crassus.
Crassus uses a bribe of his own to make the pirates abandon Spartacus and has the Roman army secretly force the rebels away from the coastline towards Rome. Amid panic that Spartacus means to sack the city, the Senate gives Crassus absolute power. Now surrounded by Romans, Spartacus convinces his men to die fighting. Just by rebelling, and proving themselves human, he says, they have struck a blow against slavery. In the ensuing battle, most of the slave army is massacred by Crassus' forces. Afterward, when the Romans try to locate the rebel leader for special punishment, every surviving man shields him by shouting "I'm Spartacus!"
Meanwhile, Crassus has found Varinia and Spartacus' newborn son and has taken them prisoner. He is disturbed by the idea that Spartacus can command more love and loyalty than he can and hopes to compensate by making Varinia as devoted to him as she was to her former husband. When she rejects him, he furiously seeks out Spartacus (whom he recognizes from having watched him in the arena) and forces him to fight Antoninus to the death. The survivor is to be crucified, along with all the other men captured after the great battle. Spartacus kills Antoninus to spare him this fate. The incident leaves Crassus worried about Spartacus' potential to live in legend as a martyr. In other matters he is also worried about Caesar, who he senses will someday eclipse him.
Gracchus, having seen Rome fall into tyranny, commits suicide. Before doing so, he bribes his friend Batiatus to rescue Spartacus' family from Crassus and carry them away to freedom. On the way out of Rome, the group pass under Spartacus' cross. Varinia is able to comfort him in his dying moments by showing him his little son, who will grow up without ever having been a slave.
Spencer's Mountain (1963)
Color
Family patriarch struggles to get his son into college and build a home for his family
Spencer's Mountain
"The film centers on the trials and tribulations of the Spencers, a family living in the Grand Teton Mountains of Wyoming. No date is mentioned, but the pastor's car appears a 1940's model. As the patriarch of a large and growing family, Clay Spencer (Henry Fonda) is fiercely independent, yet dedicated to his family. While he resists the influence of religion, he struggles to remain faithful to his wife Olivia (Maureen O'Hara), to enable his son (James MacArthur) to attend college, and to build a new home for his family. Although the area is very rural, the large family of eleven people doesn't seem to own a motor vehicle, horse, electricity, or telephone. Even in emergencies (such as the baby's high-chair toppling), the son had to run a long distance on foot to the doctor for help.
Clay Spencer awakens early one morning in the house he shares with his wife Olivia and their brood of children. Among them is Clay Spencer Jr. (Clayboy). Clay's parents also live there, and they all get up to welcome Clay's eight younger brothers and sisters to breakfast. Olivia asks for money for a high school graduation ring for Clayboy, but Clay says he doesn't have the money. He used what they had to buy a table saw from his boss. He promises to get the money by working overtime at the quarry, and then the men set off to Clay's land on Spencer's Mountain. They work on the foundation for the house he plans to build for his family. In fact, he's been promising to build the house for years.
The next day, Clay and Clayboy take their cow to their neighbor Percy Cook's (Dub Taylor) farm to get her bred with Methuselah, the local prize bull. Percy's daughter Minnie-Cora (Kathy Bennett) comes on to Clayboy, and he's unsure how to react. Later, talking with his dad, Clay tells him to remember: a lady ain't no cow, and he ain't no bull.
Clay then works overtime to get the money for Clayboy's ring, and his boss Col. Coleman (Hayden Rorke) gives him an added bonus: a day off with pay the day trout season opens. While Clay slips off to fish (instead of working on the house), the town prepares for the arrival of their new minister. Enjoying himself at the river, Clay meets a stranger, who joins him, and Clay tells him about the old granddad of all fish -- and offers him a drink from a bottle he calls "insect repellent". Later, the man comments that he finds the "repellent" to be "somewhat numbing". It is in fact moonshine, and the man hooks "old granddad". When the fish gets away, Clay launches into a profanity-laden tirade. The man chides him for his salty speech, and then -- right before he plunges head first into the river -- reveals that he's Preacher Goodman (Wally Cox), the town's new minister. When he and Clay, drunk and drenched, stumble into town, he is now disgraced to everyone.
Clay learns that the outraged community has all boycotted Goodman's church in favor of another, so he sets about fixing things. He essentially blackmails everyone into returning to the church, despite the fact that he doesn't go himself. As he's helped virtually everyone in town, over the years, they either go to church or pay him for the work he's done. They go, and Goodman leads them in the song "Shall We Gather at the River".
Clayboy graduates from High School, in a class of less than a dozen seniors, and he's the only boy. His teacher Miss Parker (Virginia Gregg) wants him to go to college, and she and the minister come to talk to Olivia and Clay. Unfortunately, the only scholarship available is to study theology. Fortunately, Clay comes home drunk, having been celebrating his son's accomplishment at being the first of the family to graduate. So, he signs the application without reading it. The teacher then begs Col. Coleman to convert an old building into a community library and pay Clayboy to run it, so he can earn money toward college. While working on the library, Clayboy meets an old friend: the boss' daughter Claris (Mimsy Farmer), now home from college, who shows a great interest in him. They start dating.
When Clayboy gets a rejection letter from the college, Clay borrows a neighbor's vehicle and drives to the city to ask the dean why. The dean explains that Clayboy had not studied Latin, which was required for his ministry scholarship. Clay is furious to learn that his son would study for ministry, but he works out a deal with the dean: if Clayboy can learn Latin before the start of college, he can enroll, but there will be no scholarship. Goodman agrees to teach Clayboy Latin, in exchange for Clay starting to attend church. He does, to the amazement of everyone.
Clay and his dad (Grandpa Spencer, Donald Crisp) visit the old homestead on Spencer's Mountain, and Grandpa speaks of his concerns about the big tree next to the family cemetery. Clay says he'll chop it down. Meanwhile, Grandpa putters around the ruins of his old home. When he finds a childhood memento, he heads back toward Clay. The tree starts to come down, Clay tries to warn Grandpa off, but he freezes. Clay races to get him out of the way, but only ends up getting in the way himself. Both are crushed. Clayboy arrives, having been sent to bring the two their lunch. He rings a large alarm bell to summon the townsfolk to help. Everyone heads up the mountain. Clay is hurt, but will recover. Grandpa has been mortally wounded, and dies soon after they get him home. After his funeral, Grandma reads his will. As he had given his sons his homestead on the mountain, he had nothing else left to give -- except $37, and he leaves it to Clayboy to help him in college.
Clay and Clayboy go to college to show the dean Clayboy's certificate for Latin. He accepts it, and adds the name Clay Spencer Jr. to the roll of incoming freshmen. Clay then visits a friend to get a loan to pay for the college. Unfortunately, Minnie-Cora, who Clayboy had earlier rejected, is now married to the friend, and she won't let him lend Clay the money. Olivia takes the kids home and tells Clay to give up -- Clayboy is never going to get to college. Clay visits the new house, now well under construction, and hears Olivia's words echoing in his mind as he strolls around the place. Drenching the wood framing in accelerant, he burns the house down. Later, at home, he tells Olivia all the things he's going to do to fix up their existing home, and tells her the new house is gone. He's sold the land to Col. Coleman to pay for Clayboy's college.
Later, at the bus stop, the family says good-bye to Clayboy. Before getting on board, he and Clay embrace, and then he sits in the back next to a man. The fellow asks if he's going far, and Clayboy responds: "Right far," even as the tears trickle down his face.
Spinning Man (2018)
Color
Suspicion is cast on a professor when a nearyby high school girl turns up missing
Spinning Man
Evan Birch (Guy Pearce) is a family man and esteemed professor of philosophy at a distinguished college. When a female student at a nearby high school, Joyce, goes missing, Evan's previous off-campus dalliances cause his wife (Minnie Driver) to question his alibi. Meticulous police detective Malloy (Pierce Brosnan) has even more reason to be suspicious when crucial evidence makes Evan the prime suspect in Joyce's disappearance. Suddenly, the questions Evan faces aren't merely academic -- they're a matter of life or death.
Splendor in the Grass (1961)
Color
Young lovers resist their carnal urges
Splendor in the Grass
"Kansas, 1928: Wilma Dean "Deanie" Loomis (Natalie Wood) is a teenage girl who follows her mother's advice to resist her desire for sex with her boyfriend, Bud Stamper (Warren Beatty), the son of one of the most prosperous families in town. In turn, Bud reluctantly follows the advice of his father, Ace (Pat Hingle), who suggests that he find another kind of girl with whom to satisfy his desires. Bud's parents are ashamed of his older sister, Ginny (Barbara Loden), a flapper and party girl who is sexually promiscuous, smokes, drinks, and has recently been brought back from Chicago, where her parents had a marriage annulled to someone who married her solely for her money. Rumors in town, however, have been swirling that the real reason was that she had an abortion. Being so disappointed in their daughter, Bud's parents "pin all their hopes" on Bud, pressuring him to attend Yale University. The emotional pressure is too much for Bud, who suffers a physical breakdown and nearly dies from pneumonia.
Bud knows one of the girls in high school, Juanita (Jan Norris) who is willing to become sexually involved with him, and he has a liaison with her. A short while later, depressed because of Bud ending their relationship, Deanie acts out by modeling herself after Bud's sister, Ginny. At a party she attends with another boy from high school, "Toots" Tuttle (Gary Lockwood), Deanie goes outside with Bud and makes a play for him. When she is rebuffed by Bud, who is shocked, since he always thought of her as a "good girl," she turns back to "Toots," who drives her out to a private parking spot by a pond that streams into a waterfall. While there, Deanie realizes that she can't go through with sex, at which point she is almost raped. Escaping from "Toots" and driven close to madness, she attempts to commit suicide by jumping in the pond, being rescued just before swimming over the falls. Her parents sell their stock to pay for her institutionalization, which actually turns out to be a blessing in disguise, since they make a nice profit prior to the Crash of '29 that leads to the Great Depression.
While Deanie is in the institution, she meets another patient, Johnny Masterson (Charles Robinson), who is working out anger issues targeted at his parents, who want him to be a surgeon. The two patients form a bond. Meanwhile, Bud is sent off to Yale, where he fails practically all his subjects. While at school, he meets Angelina (Zohra Lampert), the daughter of Italian immigrants who run a local restaurant in New Haven. In October 1929, Bud's father travels to New Haven in an attempt to persuade the dean not to expel Bud from school. While Ace is in New Haven, the stock market crashes, and he loses everything. He takes Bud to New York for a weekend, including to a cabaret nightclub, after which he commits suicide. Bud has to identify the body.
Deanie returns home from the asylum after two years and six months, "almost to the day." Ace's widow has gone to live with relatives, while Bud's sister has died in a car crash. Deanie's mother wants to shield her from any potential anguish from meeting Bud and so pretends to not know where he is. When Deanie's high school friends come over, her mother gets them to agree to feign ignorance on Bud's whereabouts. However, Deanie's father refuses to coddle his daughter and tells her that Bud has taken up ranching and lives on the old family farm. Her friends drive Deanie out to meet Bud. He is now married to Angelina, they have an infant son, "Bud Jr.," and Angelina is expecting another child. Deanie lets Bud know that she is going to marry John, who is now a doctor in Cincinnati. During their brief reunion, Deanie and Bud realize that both must accept what life has thrown at them, as Bud says, "What's the point? You gotta take what comes." They each relate that they "don't think about happiness very much anymore."
As Deanie leaves with her friends, Bud only seems partially satisfied by the direction his life has taken. After the others are gone, he reassures Angelina, who has realized that Deanie was once the love of Bud's life.[2] Driving away, Deanie's friends ask her if she is still in love with Bud. She realizes that she still loves him warmly, but that they can never recover that blazing love of youth which they once had. She does not answer her friends, but Deanie's voice is heard reciting four lines from a Wordsworth poem:
Spotlight (2010)
Color
'Boston Globe' reveals a series of cover-up by the Catholic Archdiocese about sex abuse
Spotlight
"In 1976, at a Boston Police station, two policemen discuss the arrest of Fr. John Geoghan for child molestation. A high-ranking cleric talks to the mother of the children. The Assistant District Attorney then enters the precinct and tells the policemen not to let the press get wind of what has happened. The arrest is hushed up, and Geoghan is released.
In 2001, Marty Baron, the new managing editor of The Boston Globe, meets Walter "Robby" Robinson, the editor of the newspaper's "Spotlight" investigative team. After Baron reads a Globe article about a lawyer, Mitchell Garabedian, charging that Cardinal Bernard Law, the Archbishop of Boston, knew about Geoghan's sexual abuse of children and did nothing to stop him, he urges the Spotlight team to investigate. Journalist Michael Rezendes contacts Garabedian, who initially declines to be interviewed. Though he is told not to, Rezendes reveals that he is on the Spotlight team, persuading Garabedian to talk.
Initially believing that they are following the story of one priest who was moved around several times, the Spotlight team begin to uncover a pattern of sexual abuse by other priests in Massachusetts and an ongoing cover-up by the Boston Archdiocese. Through Phil Saviano, who heads the victims' rights group Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP), the team is led to widen their search to thirteen priests. They learn through Richard Sipe, a former priest who worked to rehabilitate sexually abusive priests, that his findings suggest that there are approximately 90 abusive priests in Boston (6% of priests). Through their research, the team develops a list of 87 names and begin to find victims to back up their suspicions.
The investigation begins to take its toll on the team: reporter Matt Carroll learns one of the priest treatment centers is on the same block as his family's home but is unable to tell his children or his neighbors; reporter Sacha Pfeiffer finds herself unable to attend church with her Nana after witnessing the sheer scope of the investigation; Rezendes pushes to get the story out quickly to prevent further abuse; and Robinson faces pushback from some of his close friends who he learns were complicit in covering up the abuse.
When the September 11 attacks occur, the team is forced to de-prioritize the story. They regain momentum when Rezendes learns from Garabedian that there are publicly available documents that confirm Cardinal Law was made aware of the abuse and ignored it. Although Rezendes argues vociferously to run the story immediately before more victims suffer and rival newspapers publish, Robinson steadfastly refuses, arguing the team needs to research further so that the systemic problem can be more fully exposed. After the Globe wins a case to have even more legal documents unsealed that provide the evidence of that larger picture, the Spotlight team finally begins to write the story and plan to publish their findings in early 2002.
As they are about to go to print, Robinson admits he learned during the investigation that he was sent a list of 20 sexually abusive priests by lawyer Eric MacLeish in 1993, which he never followed up. But Baron still commends him and his team's efforts to expose the crimes now. The story goes to print with a weblink to the documents that expose Law's inaction and a phone number for victims of abusive priests. The next morning, the team is inundated with calls from victims coming forward to tell their stories.
A textual epilogue notes that Law resigned in December 2002 and was eventually promoted to the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome, and presents a list of 105 U.S. communities and 101 others around the world where major scandals involving abuse by priests have taken place.
Spring Breakers (2012)
Color
Four college girls rob a fast food joint and wind up getting mixed up with a real criminal
Spring Breakers
"College students Brit, Candy, and Cotty often spend their time partying while their friend Faith attends a religious youth group. As their classmates head to spring break, they are stuck behind due to a lack of money. Desperate to make the trip, Brit and Candy, after getting high on cocaine, don ski masks and rob a local restaurant using hammers and realistic-looking squirt guns. They are assisted by Cotty, who drives (and later burns) the getaway car stolen from one of their professors. Cotty, Candy, and Brit divulge the details of their crime to a horrified Faith, who keeps quiet about it.
In St. Petersburg, Florida, the girls attend wild beach parties fueled by alcohol, drugs, and sex. After a particularly wild party, all four are arrested for using narcotics. They spend the night in a holding cell, but are bailed out by Alien, a sleazy lowlife rapper, drug hustler, and arms dealer. Alien charms Cotty, Candy, and Brit with his money and "bad boy" swagger, but Faith is extremely uncomfortable. Alien takes the girls to a local club frequented by gang members, where Faith becomes even more uneasy with his lifestyle. Alien attempts to seduce Faith and convince her to stay with him, using equal parts menace, threats, and tenderness, but Faith leaves, begging the others to come with her. They refuse, and she makes the trip home alone.
Alien takes the remaining girls to a strip club owned by his rival and childhood best friend, Big Arch, who warns Alien to stop selling drugs in his territory. Alien then takes the girls to his mansion, where he flaunts his drug money and cache of weapons, describing his life as the "American Dream". Brit and Candy grab two of his guns and threaten to kill him. Turned on, Alien fellates the gun and declares that he has fallen in love with the girls, claiming that they are his soulmates.
Alien arms the girls with pink ski masks and shotguns, taking them to his pool where he plays the piano and he and the girls sing Britney Spears' "Everytime," later performing several armed robberies. While in Alien's car they are approached by Big Arch and another member of his gang who threaten them and execute a drive-by shooting, wounding Cotty in the process. Alien promises to retaliate, but a traumatized Cotty comes to her senses and chooses to follow in Faith's footsteps, returning home. Brit and Candy stay behind and have three-way sex with Alien in his pool. The three of them decide to take revenge on Big Arch. In a flashforward, the two girls call home, promising to work harder and become better people.
Back in the present, the three travel in a motorboat to Big Arch's mansion. After they dock at the pier, Alien is shot and killed by one of Big Arch's guards. Brit and Candy carry on, killing Big Arch's gang before finally confronting and killing Big Arch himself. During the assault and its aftermath, the camera pans over the dead bodies of Big Arch's gang while the girls speak in a voice-over, first heard earlier in the film, describing the beach's beauty and musing that they have discovered who they truly are. Brit and Candy, silent and wearing pensive, ambiguous expressions, drive home in Big Arch's Lamborghini. A final flashback shows the two girls kissing Alien's dead body before departing.
St. Elmo's Fire (1986)
Color
Graduates struggle with newfound responsibilities of life
St. Elmo's Fire
"Recent Georgetown University graduates Alec (Judd Nelson), his girlfriend, Leslie (Ally Sheedy), Kevin (Andrew McCarthy), Jules (Demi Moore), and Kirby (Emilio Estevez) are waiting to hear about the conditions of their friends, Wendy (Mare Winningham), a sweet-natured girl devoted to helping others, and Billy (Rob Lowe), a former fraternity boy and now reluctant husband and father, after a minor car accident caused by Billy's drinking. At the hospital, Kirby spots a medical student named Dale (Andie MacDowell), with whom he has been infatuated since college.
The group gathers at their favorite college hangout, St. Elmo's Bar. Billy, trapped in an unstable marriage, has been fired from the job that Alec helped him secure. At their apartment, Alec pressures Leslie to marry him, but she thinks they are unprepared to make such a commitment. Kirby is telling Kevin of his love for Dale when Billy shows up, asking to spend the night as he cannot cope with his wife. Jules accuses Kevin of being gay and loving Alec. When Kevin visits Alec and Leslie for dinner, Alec, during a private moment with Kevin, confesses he recently had sex with a lingerie saleswoman.
Billy and Wendy get drunk together, and Wendy reveals that she's a virgin. They kiss, and Billy, tugging at her clothing, makes fun of her girdle. Wendy insists they just remain friends because she thinks that he's trying to take advantage of her. At St. Elmo's, Jules reveals to Leslie she is having an affair with her married boss. Billy sees his wife with another man in the crowd and attacks him. Billy is jettisoned from the bar but reconciles with his wife. The girls confront Jules about her affair and reckless spending, but she insists that everything is under control.
Kirby takes a job working for Mr. Kim, a wealthy Korean businessman, and invites Dale to a party that he's holding at Mr. Kim's house (which he is using without Mr. Kim's permission). Wendy arrives with Howie, an ungainly Jewish boy whom her parents want her to marry. Alec announces that he and Leslie are engaged, upsetting her. She confronts him about her suspicions of his infidelity, and the two break up. Alec accuses Kevin of telling Leslie about the tryst with the lingerie woman. Jules gives Billy a ride home, and Billy makes a pass at her. Furious, Jules orders him out of her car, and Billy's wife witnesses the confrontation.
When Dale skips the party, Kirby drives to the ski lodge where she is staying and meets her tall, handsome boyfriend. Kirby's borrowed car gets stuck, and Dale and her boyfriend invite him in. The next morning, as Kirby prepares to leave the lodge, Dale tells him that she's flattered by his interest in her. He kisses her, and then poses for a photo with her (taken by her boyfriend) before leaving. Dale watches Kirby as he drives off.
Leslie goes to Kevin's apartment to spend the night after the breakup and discovers photographs of her. Kevin confesses his love for her, and the two sleep together. Alec goes to the apartment to apologize to Kevin and finds Leslie there, and then Alec and Leslie argue.
Wendy tells her father that she wants to be independent and move into her own place. Jules has been fired from her job, fallen behind on her credit card payments, and her possessions have been seized. Jules locks herself in her apartment and opens the windows, intending to freeze to death. Her friends attempt to coax her out, but she is unresponsive. Kirby fetches Billy, who landed a job at a gas station courtesy of Kevin, to calm Jules down. Billy convinces Jules to let him in, and the two share a very tender talk about the challenges of life, overheard by the rest of the gang.
Wendy moves into her own place, where Billy visits and informs her that he is getting a divorce and moving to New York City, and the two have sex. At the bus station, the group gathers once more to say goodbye to Billy. Billy urges Alec to make up with Leslie, but she declares that she does not want to date anyone for a while. Alec and Kevin make up, and the group makes plans to meet for brunch. However, they decide not to go to St. Elmo's and instead choose Houlihan's because there are "not so many kids" there.
Stagecoach (1939)
Black & White
Stagecoach running from marauding apaches encounters the notorious outlaw Ringo Kid
Stagecoach
"In June 1880, a group of strangers boards the stagecoach from Tonto, Arizona Territory, to Lordsburg, New Mexico. Among them are Dallas, a prostitute driven out of town by the "Law and Order League"; the alcoholic Doc Boone; pregnant Lucy Mallory, who is travelling to join her cavalry officer husband; and whiskey salesman Samuel Peacock, of whose samples Doc Boone takes charge and starts drinking.
When the stage driver, Buck, looks for his shotgun guard Marshal Curley Wilcox tells him that he is off searching for a fugitive. The Ringo Kid has broken out of prison after hearing that his father and brother had been murdered by Luke Plummer. Buck tells Curley that Ringo is heading for Lordsburg. Knowing that Ringo has vowed vengeance, Curley decides to ride the stage as guard.
As the stagecoach sets out, U.S. Cavalry Lieutenant Blanchard announces that Geronimo and his Apaches are on the warpath; his small troop will provide an escort to Dry Fork. Upon seeing her distress, gambler and Southern gentleman Hatfield offers his protection to Mrs. Mallory and climbs aboard. At the edge of town another passenger flags down the stage -- an assertive banker, Henry Gatewood, who is absconding with money embezzled from his bank.
Further along the road, the stage comes across the Ringo Kid, stranded after his horse has gone lame. Though they are friends, Curley has to take Ringo into custody and crowds him into the coach. When they reach Dry Fork, they learn the expected cavalry detachment has gone on to Apache Wells. Buck wants to turn back, but most of the party votes to proceed. At lunch before departing the group is taken aback when Ringo invites Dallas to sit at the main table.
Back on the road, Hatfield offers Mrs. Mallory his silver folding cup rather than have her drink from a canteen directly. She recognizes the family crest on the cup and asks Hatfield whether he was ever in Virginia. He says that he served in the Confederate Army under her father's command.
At Apache Wells, Mrs. Mallory learns that her husband had been wounded in battle with the Apaches. When she faints and goes into labor, Doc Boone sobers up and delivers the baby with Dallas assisting. Later that night, Ringo asks Dallas to marry him and live on a ranch he owns in Mexico. Afraid to reveal her past, she does not answer immediately. The next morning, she accepts, but does not want to leave Mrs. Mallory and the new baby, so she tells Ringo to go on alone to his ranch, where she will meet him later. As Ringo is escaping, he sees smoke signals heralding an Apache attack and returns to custody.
The stage reaches Lee's Ferry, which the Apaches have destroyed. Curley uncuffs Ringo to help lash logs to the stagecoach and float it across the river. Just when they think the danger has passed, the Apaches attack. A long chase follows, where some of the party are injured fighting off their pursuers. Just as they run out of ammunition and Hatfield is getting ready to save Mrs. Mallory from capture by killing her with his last bullet, the 6th U.S. Cavalry rides to the rescue.
At Lordsburg Gatewood is arrested by the local sheriff, and Mrs. Mallory learns that her husband's wound is not serious. She thanks Dallas, who gives Mrs. Mallory her shawl. Dallas then begs Ringo not to confront the Plummers, but he is determined to settle matters. As they walk through town, he sees the brothel to which she is returning. Luke Plummer, who is playing poker in one of the saloons, hears of Ringo's arrival and gets his brothers to join him in finishing off the Ringo Kid.
Ringo survives the three-against-one shootout that follows, then surrenders to Curley, expecting to go back to prison. As Ringo boards a wagon, Curley invites Dallas to ride with them to the edge of town; but when she does so Curley and Doc stampede the horses, letting Ringo "escape" with Dallas to his ranch across the border.
Starter for 10 (2006)
Color
Student tries to win heart of coed by scoring on the 'University Challenge' quiz show
Starter for 10
"In 1985, Brian Jackson is a first-year university student and information sponge. Since his working-class childhood in Southend-on-Sea, Brian has loved the TV quiz show University Challenge, with its catchphrase, "your starter for 10". Soon after arriving at Bristol University, Brian attends a party where he meets left-wing Rebecca, with whom he feels an instant connection. Brian attempts to join the University Challenge team, but narrowly fails to secure a place when he helps another candidate, Alice, cheat on the qualifying test. Brian falls for the glamorous Alice and tries to date her, despite her signals that she sees him as a friend. As term starts, Brian is invited to join the team after a member falls ill. The captain, Patrick, is a stuck-up post-grad who has remained captain despite never having achieved success on University Challenge. Brian impresses the team with his trivia knowledge and uses his time to get closer to Alice, eventually getting invited to her house for Christmas. Unfortunately, Brian embarrasses himself in front of her family by getting stoned while trying to impress Alice. He returns to Bristol for the rest of the vacation and meets Rebecca again. They again hit it off, but, as they are hooking up, he inadvertently calls her "Alice", offending her and ruining the moment. Following his romantic failures, he talks with Spencer, his friend from Southend, who admits to being in legal trouble. Brian invites Spencer to a party before his court appearance.
During the party, Patrick insults Spencer's upbringing and belittles him. Spencer hits Patrick in the face and disrupts the event. Afterwards, Brian shares a drink with Rebecca and tries to apologise for his own behaviour. However, Rebecca still feels Brian loves Alice and encourages him to follow his heart and tell Alice how he feels. He takes her advice and arrives at Alice's flat to declare his love, but discovers Spencer there. Excited by his violent behaviour at the party, Alice had invited him back. Brian feels betrayed by them both, since he had told Spencer how he felt about Alice. Brian gets depressed and struggles with concentrating during University Challenge practices and his studies, threatening his university place. Patrick becomes frustrated with Brian, and as they arrive for their University Challenge match, berates him for his lack of focus. In response, Brian headbutts Patrick, but only succeeds in knocking himself unconscious. He is revived backstage by Rebecca, who has come to watch the show and gives him encouragement before he is escorted to the set. On the way, Brian is briefly left alone with an open envelope containing the quiz questions. He reads one of the cards before putting it back in the envelope, and, inspired by the relative ease of the question, rejoins his team. The match starts off poorly, with nerves clearly getting to Patrick as he fails to answer several questions and puts the team in a hole. Brian slowly but surely digs them out of it, getting into his swing as he answers question after question. As the match is heating up and Brian's team has the momentum, Brian inadvertently gives the answer to the question he had previously seen before quizmaster Bamber Gascoigne has even begun to read it (he has merely introduced it as "an astronomy question"). Realising that Brian has seen the cards, Gascoigne suspends the match and Brian's team is disqualified.
Brian returns home and falls into another depression, sleeping all day and ignoring calls. His mother tries to get him out of the house, but the person who finally reaches him is Spencer. He tells Brian that Gascoigne had gone easy on him, and that he is sorry for his behaviour and proud of Brian for chasing his dreams. Inspired by his friend, Brian returns to Bristol and meets his tutor, promising he is back for good. He then stands Alice up to find Rebecca, who is taking part in a political demonstration. He asks her if she could ever forgive him for his mistakes, and if they can start again. She replies that he already knows the answer, and they kiss.
State of Play (2009)
Color
When his mistress is found dead, congressman desperately tries to protect his name
State of Play
"One night, a thief fleeing through Georgetown in Washington, D.C. is shot by a man carrying a briefcase. A pizza delivery man who witnesses the incident is also shot by the killer and is left in a coma. The following morning, a young woman is killed by a Washington Metro train in an apparent suicide. Congressman Stephen Collins (Ben Affleck) of Pennsylvania is distraught to hear that the woman was Sonia Baker (Maria Thayer), a lead researcher on his staff. Collins, who has military experience, is leading an investigation into PointCorp, a private defense contractor with controversial operations involving mercenaries. Collins tells his old friend Cal McAffrey (Russell Crowe), an investigative reporter, that he had been having an affair with Sonia and that she had sent him a cheerful video message on the morning of her death, which he says is inconsistent and unusual behavior for someone about to commit suicide.
Della Frye (Rachel McAdams), a reporter and blogger with the online division of Cal's newspaper and its editor, Cameron Lynne (Helen Mirren), discover that Sonia's death occurred in one of only three CCTV blind spots in the Metro camera system. Cal believes the shootings are related to Sonia's death and finds a link between the petty thief and a homeless girl who sought out Cal. The homeless girl gives him photographs that the thief, a friend of hers, had stolen from the killer's briefcase. The photos show surveillance img of Sonia talking to a well-dressed man. Della visits the hospital where the pizza delivery man is regaining consciousness. While at his room she witnesses the pizza delivery man shot dead by an unseen sniper. Later, she reviews CCTV footage and recognizes a man she saw at the hospital.
It is revealed that PointCorp stands to gain $40 billion annually from its mercenary activities in the Middle East and domestically. Cal speaks with Collins, who shares his research findings -- PointCorp is cooperating with other defense contractors to create a monopoly and purchase government surveillance and defense contracts, essentially privatizing United States security from the government. Cal's PointCorp insider returns with the address of someone linked to the suspected assassin. Cal finds the assassin living there and calls the police, who force the man to disappear after he shoots at Cal.
Della, following a close lead, finds the identity of the well-dressed man who was speaking to Sonia in the listed photographs. He is Dominic Foy (Jason Bateman), a PR executive working for a subsidiary of PointCorp. Cal blackmails him into talking about his activities with Sonia and secretly tapes their conversation. The PR executive reveals that Sonia was actually paid to spy on Collins and seduce him to get informations for PointCorp, but then she fell in love with Collins and she was already pregnant with his child when she was killed.
Before Cal's newspaper goes to press, Collins goes on record to present his research into PointCorp. Collins' wife Anne (Robin Wright Penn) reveals that she knows the amount of money Sonia received from PointCorp, after just hearing Collins' statement to the newspaper. After the couple leaves, Cal realizes that Collins knew already that Sonia was working for PointCorp. Cal then wonders what Collins would have done had he known he had been tricked and whether Collins himself is connected with Sonia's assassin. A picture of Collins from his military days, with the assassin in the frame, confirms Cal's hunch. Collins reveals that he had been suspicious of Sonia, and that he hired the assassin to watch her. The assassin is U.S. Army Corporal Robert Bingham (Michael Berresse), whose life Collins had once saved. Collins says that Bingham hated PointCorp more than he did and he killed Sonia with no authorization from him.
Cal tells Collins that he has three minutes to leave his office before the police arrive, as he has already contacted them. As he leaves the building, Cal is confronted by Bingham. Officers arrive and shoot Bingham before he opens fire. Cal leaves and goes to his office. There, Cal and Della type up their own story, noting that Collins was secured and arrested.
State Property (2002)
Color
Tired of being broke, Beans decides the way to achieve the American Dream is to seize it
State Property
"Frustrated with being broke, Beans (Sigel) decides that the only way to achieve the American Dream is to seize it. The film follows Beans and his crew, the ABM, as they take over the city, creating mayhem as their empire builds.
Beans struggles to maintain his family life while bumping heads with opposing gangsters and police. It all comes to a head when he cannot surpass the city's most notorious crew, run by Untouchable J (Jay-Z) and Dame (Dash). The moves Beans and the ABM decide to make come with severe consequences.
State Property 2 (2005)
Color
Imprisoned gangsta Beans joins crafty fellow inmate to put his syndicate back on top again
State Property 2
To put his once-dominant South Philadelphia crime syndicate back on top again, imprisoned gangsta Beans (Beanie Sigel) joins forces with crafty fellow inmate El Pollo Loco (Noreaga), a hustler from Miami who has deep pockets. But after the two land back on the streets, Beans learns a lesson about duplicity ... the hard way.
Steel Magnolias (1989)
Color
Five women who congregate at beauty shop form close friendships
Steel Magnolias
"Annelle Dupuy (Daryl Hannah), a recent beauty school graduate, is hired by Truvy Jones (Dolly Parton) to work in her home-based beauty salon. M'Lynn Eatenton (Sally Field) and her daughter, Shelby (Julia Roberts), arrive at Truvy's to prepare for Shelby's wedding which is taking place later that day. Clairee Belcher (Olympia Dukakis), the cheerful widow of the late mayor, arrives as well. While having her hair done, Shelby, who has type one diabetes, falls into a hypoglycemic state but recovers quickly after having some orange juice. M'Lynn explains Shelby was recently informed by doctors that she should not have children because her body might not withstand childbirth.
Later that afternoon, Ouiser Boudreaux (Shirley McLaine) arrives in the salon and questions Annelle about her past, forcing Annelle to reveal that her husband Bunkie Dupuy is a dangerous criminal on the run from the police. Moved by Annelle's emotional confession, Shelby invites Annelle to the wedding, where Annelle meets Sammy.
Several months pass and Shelby returns to town to celebrate Christmas. During the festivities she announces that she and her husband Jackson Latcherie (Dylan McDermott) are expecting their first child. Shelby's father Drum (Tom Skerritt) is thrilled, but M'Lynn is too worried to share in the joy. Even when Shelby confesses that she hopes the arrival of a baby might make her marriage a little easier, M'Lynn is unable to rejoice.
Shelby successfully delivers a baby boy, Jackson Jr., but begins showing signs of kidney failure and starts dialysis around the time Jackson Jr turns one. M'Lynn successfully donates a kidney and Shelby seemingly resumes a normal life. Later, on Halloween, Ouiser, Clairee, Truvy, and M'Lynn throw Annelle a surprise wedding shower. Shelby is unavailable to attend, due to a conflicting schedule with her nursing job, and is later found unconscious on the porch of her house.
Shelby is rushed to the hospital, where it's determined that her body rejected the new kidney, sending her into a coma. The doctors inform the family that Shelby is likely to remain comatose indefinitely, and her family and husband jointly decide to take her off life support. At the funeral, after the other mourners have left, M'Lynn breaks down in hysterics in front of Ouiser, Clairee, Truvy, and Annelle but is comforted by the other women.
Later, at the wake, M'Lynn begins to accept her daughter's death and focuses her energy on helping Jackson raise Jackson Jr. Annelle, who is now married and pregnant, asks M'Lynn if she could name her own baby after Shelby, since Shelby was the reason Annelle and her husband, Sammy (Kevin J. O'Connor), met. M'Lynn agrees, and assures Annelle that Shelby would love it. Months later, on Easter morning, Annelle goes into labor during an Easter egg hunt, is rushed to the hospital by Truvy and her husband Spud (Sam Shepard), and another life begins.
Steel Magnolias (2012)
Color
Chronicles the extraordinary friendship of six remarkable Southern women
Steel Magnolias
Six Louisiana women (Queen Latifah, Phylicia Rashad, Adepero Oduye, Condola Rashad, Jill Scott, Alfre Woodard) gather at a beauty salon for their daily dose of female bonding.
Stella Dallas (1937)
Black & White
Working-class girl marries wealthy man, but is unhappy and shunned by high society
Stella Dallas
"Stella Martin (Barbara Stanwyck), the daughter of a mill worker in a post-World War I Massachusetts factory town, is determined to better herself. She sets her sights on mill executive Stephen Dallas (John Boles) and catches him at an emotionally vulnerable time. Stephen's father killed himself after losing his fortune. Penniless, Stephen disappeared from high society, intending to marry his fiancee Helen (Barbara O'Neil) once he was financially able to support her. However, just as he reaches his goal, he reads in the newspaper the announcement of her wedding. So he marries Stella.
A year later, their daughter Laurel (played by Anne Shirley as a young woman) is born. To Stella's great surprise, she discovers she has a strong maternal instinct. Even when she is out dancing and partying, she cannot help but think about her child. As Laurel grows up, Stella's ambition and scheming to rise socially is redirected to her daughter.
Stephen dotes on Laurel as well, but she is the only bond between husband and wife. He tries to help Stella become more refined, but without success. He also strongly disapproves of her continuing friendship with the vulgar Ed Munn (Alan Hale). Finally, when Stephen receives a promotion that requires him to move to New York, Stella tells him he can go without her or Laurel; they separate, but remain married. Laurel stays with her mother, but visits her father periodically.
Years later, Stephen runs into Helen, now a wealthy widow with three sons. They renew their acquaintance. Laurel is invited to stay at Helen's mansion; she gets along very well with Helen and her sons. Stephen asks Stella for a divorce, but she turns him down.
Stella takes Laurel to a fancy resort, where Laurel and Richard Grosvenor III (Tim Holt) fall in love. However, when Stella makes her first appearance after recovering from an illness, she becomes the target of derision for her vulgarity, though she herself is unaware of it. Embarrassed for her mother, Laurel insists they leave at once without telling her why. On the train back, Stella overhears the truth.
Stella goes to talk with Helen. After learning that Helen and Stephen would marry if they could, she agrees to a divorce and asks that Laurel go live with them. Helen realizes the reason for the request and agrees.
When Laurel learns of the arrangement, she refuses to put up with it and returns home. However, Stella has been notified by a telegram and is ready for her. Stella pretends that she wants Laurel off her hands so she can marry Ed Munn and travel to South America. Laurel runs crying back to her father.
Later, Laurel and Richard get married. Stella watches them exchange their wedding vows from the city street through a window (whose curtains have been opened at Helen's order), her presence unnoticed in the darkness and among the other curious bystanders. She then she slips away in the rain, alone but triumphant in having arranged her daughter's happiness.
Still Alice (2014)
Color
Alice, a 50-year-old linguistics professor, is diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's
Still Alice
"Alice Howland, a linguistics professor at Columbia University, celebrates her 50th birthday with her physician husband John and three adult children. Giving a lecture, Alice forgets the word "lexicon", and during a jog becomes lost on campus. Her doctor diagnoses her with early onset familial Alzheimer's disease.
Alice's eldest daughter, Anna, tests positive for the Alzheimer's gene. Anna's unborn twins test negative, as does Alice's son Tom. Alice's younger daughter, aspiring actress Lydia, decides not to be tested.
As Alice's memory begins to fade, she daydreams of her mother and sister, who died in a car crash when she was a teenager. She memorizes words and sets a series of personal questions on her phone, which she answers every morning. She hides sleeping pills in her room, and records a video message instructing her future self to commit suicide with the pills when she can no longer answer the questions. As her disease advances, she becomes unable to give focused lectures and loses her job. She becomes lost searching for the bathroom in her own home and wets herself, and does not recognize Lydia after seeing her perform in a play.
John is offered a job at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota. Alice asks him to postpone it, but he feels this is impossible. At her doctor's suggestion, Alice delivers a speech at an Alzheimer's conference about her experience with the disease, using a highlighter to remind herself which parts of the speech she has already spoken, and receives a standing ovation.
Alice begins to have difficulty answering her phone questions. She loses the phone, causing her anxiety; John finds it a month later in the freezer, but Alice thinks it was only missing for a day. She visits Anna in the hospital to meet her newborn twin grandchildren, but does not recognize her daughter.
After a video call with Lydia, Alice inadvertently opens the video with the suicide instructions. With some difficulty, she finds the pills and is about to swallow them, but when she is interrupted by the arrival of her caregiver she drops the pills on the floor, quickly forgetting her suicide plan.
John resolves to move to Minnesota and Lydia moves back from California to care for Alice. Lydia reads her a section of the play Angels in America and asks her what she thinks it is about. Alice, now barely able to speak, responds with a single word: love.
Stillwater (2021)
Color
Man goes to France to exonerate his estranged daughter who is accused of murder
Stillwater
"Stillwater, Oklahoma oil worker Bill Baker travels to Marseille, Southern France to visit his daughter Allison, who is five years into serving a nine-year prison sentence. While attending university in Marseille, Allison was convicted of killing her roommate and unfaithful lover, Lina.[6][7]
During Bill's first meeting with Allison, she asks him to pass a letter to her defense lawyer, Mrs. Leparq. Bill finds Leparq, who tells him that the letter says that Allison heard from her former professor about a man who claimed to be Lina's killer. Leparq refuses to attempt to reopen the case because the new information is just hearsay. Bill lies to Allison, telling her that Leparq will petition the judge to reopen the case.
Bill meets a woman named Virginie and her daughter Maya at his hotel. He asks Virginie to translate the letter. Bill visits the professor mentioned in the letter, who gives him the phone number of someone who claims to know Lina's killer. Bill and Virginie meet with the girl, who names the killer as Akim.
Combing through social media, Virginie and her girlfriend, Nedjma, print photos of people in the social circles of Allison and Lina. Bill brings the photos to Allison, who identifies Akim. Bill then uses the photo to track down Akim at a housing project, but is beaten by Akim's friends after drawing too much attention, while Akim escapes. The next time that he meets Allison, Bill confesses that he lied about Leparq agreeing to help and that he found Akim but didn't tell the police. Enraged that Bill squandered her one chance for exoneration, Allison tells him to never return to the prison.
Four months later, Bill has remained in Marseille, renting a room in Virginie's apartment and working on a construction crew. During Allison's one free day out of prison that year, Bill reconnects with her; their regular visits continue. Bill and Virginie also establish a relationship. One night at a Olympique de Marseille game with Maya, Bill spots Akim and follows him in his truck after the match. Bill approaches Akim and knocks him out, then locks him in the basement of the apartment building where Virginie, Maya and Bill live. Bill implores Maya to keep the secret, which she agrees.
Bill pays a private investigator to have a lock of Akim's hair tested against the crime scene's DNA evidence. Akim tells Bill that Allison had hired him to kill Lina and that she paid him with a gold necklace bearing the word "Stillwater." Bill begins to doubt Allison's innocence. The private investigator suspects that Bill is keeping Akim in the basement, so he poses as a building inspector and asks Virginie if she has noticed any smells or noises from the basement, which she denies, but her suspicions are aroused. Police officers find and detain Bill, but after a fruitless search of the basement, the police question Maya, who lies about not having seen the hostage. After the police leave, Virginie reveals that she had released Akim after finding him in the basement. She demands that Bill move out for having put Maya at risk during Akim's abduction. Bill hugs a crying Maya goodbye, and moves back into the hotel.
Leparq meets with Bill to tell him that new proof will allow the case to be reopened, with a DNA test exonerating Allison, but is confused by Bill's numb reaction.
After Allison and Bill return to Oklahoma to a hero's welcome, Bill asks Allison about the Stillwater necklace that he gave her when she had departed for Marseille. Allison breaks down and admits she hired Akim to evict Lina from their house after they had broken up, but claims that she did not intend for Lina to be killed, as Akim misunderstood her intentions to "put her out" of the apartment. The next morning as they sit on the porch, Allison says everything looks the same in Stillwater while Bill admits everything looks different to him, almost to the point of him not recognizing it anymore.
Stop-Loss (2008)
Color
After adjusting to civilian life, Iraq veteran goes AWOL when he is called to serve again
Stop-Loss
"U.S. Army Staff Sergeant Brandon King (Ryan Phillippe) leads a squad stationed in Tikrit during the Iraq War. The film begins with footage from the tour of the squad, explaining they have 28 days before returning to the United States. While on duty at a checkpoint, the squad hears gunshots, after which a car speeds past filled with insurgents, one of whom fires an AK-47 at them. King's men jump into their Humvees and follow the insurgents into an alley. When the soldiers get out of their vehicles, the insurgents ambush them from rooftops.
As the firefight ensues, a rocket propelled grenade (RPG) is discharged, destroying one of the Humvees, killing two soldiers inside. Shortly after, another RPG is discharged, exploding an Iraqi vehicle. Squad member PFC Tommy Burgess (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is unfortunately near the vehicle when the RPG is discharged but another soldier, Pvt. Rico Rodriguez, dives on Burgess and saves him. This is at the expense of severely wounding Pvt. Rodriguez. Shortly after, fellow squad member Paul "Preacher" Colston, a close friend of Tommy, is shot in the neck and jaw in front of Tommy, and is killed instantly.
Later, when Staff Sergeant King enters a house to help injured long-time friend and squad member Sgt. Steve Shriver (Channing Tatum), he discovers that he had accidentally killed several Iraqi civilians by throwing a grenade to kill an insurgent in a room, unaware of any civilians present in the area. Brandon is visibly shocked and the ambush ends with three soldiers killed.
Upon returning to their Texas hometown of Brazos, Brandon and Steve are decorated with the Bronze Star and Purple Heart in a solemn ceremony. A U.S. Senator takes Brandon aside after the ceremony and offers to help Brandon in any way he can. That night, Steve shows the effects of post-traumatic stress disorder. He gets drunk and digs a foxhole in his front yard, and strikes his fiancee Michelle (Abbie Cornish) in the face. When Brandon comes over to check on Steve, he is unable to get through to him. Tommy drives over drunk after his wife has kicked him out.
The next day, Brandon suggests that they all go to the "ranch", a small forest cabin located outside of town. The men pass the time by drinking and watching Tommy shoot his wedding gifts, after their friend Shorty reads the cards. Upon hearing the commotion, a hungover Steve awakens and shoots the cards to silence them and to show his skills in sniping. The next day, Brandon, Tommy and Steve report to their military base. When Brandon arrives expecting to be discharged, he is unexpectedly ordered back to active duty in Iraq, based on the military's controversial stop-loss policy, which required soldiers who had fulfilled their required tours of duty to return to the war. He refuses to comply and goes AWOL, becoming a deserter.
Michelle sympathizes with Brandon's refusal and offers to travel with him to Washington, D.C. to see the Senator who offered to assist Brandon earlier. During a multi-day drive to Washington, D.C., Brandon calls the Senator's office and is told that because he is now a fugitive, the Senator is not interested in seeing him. Brandon and Michelle also visit the family of Paul "Preacher" Colson, one of the three soldiers under Brandon's command killed in the alley ambush and encounter another AWOL soldier who recommends a lawyer to help arrange forged discharge documents so he could establish a new identity in Canada.
They also visit Rico Rodriguez, a soldier who was blinded, lost his right arm and leg, and sustained facial burns from saving Tommy from a rocket-propelled grenade, previously during the ambush in Iraq. After Michelle phones Steve to tell him of their exact location, he arrives in uniform to take Brandon back, and tells Michelle he has volunteered to return to Iraq. Brandon refuses to return and Michelle is furious with Steve for re-enlisting and ends their relationship. Brandon and Michelle finally reach New York City and meet with the lawyer, who gives Brandon forged papers and a passport which would allow him to flee to Canada in exchange for payment of $1000. Tommy, who is depressed after being discharged from the army, commits suicide, Brandon returns to visit Tommy's grave immediately after the funeral, only to end up in a dispute with Steve, ultimately turning into a physical battle ending with Brandon leaving the cemetery and Steve weeping.
Brandon, his mother and Michelle drive to the Mexican border, but Brandon ultimately decides that he does not want to abandon everything that he has ever known. He also tells his mother and Michelle that if he goes to Mexico he'll never really be able to leave the war behind him. The final scene depicts a busload of soldiers, including Brandon and Steve, returning to the war.
Straight Outta Compton (2015)
Color
Dramatic Rise and Fall of Gangsta Rap band N.W.A
Straight Outta Compton
"The film opens in 1986, when drug dealer Eric "Eazy-E" Wright escapes a police raid on a crack house. He and Lorenzo "MC Ren" Patterson later meet Andre "Dr. Dre" Young and Antoine "DJ Yella" Carraby, who are playing as the World Class Wreckin' Cru. Dre brings O'Shea "Ice Cube" Jackson to the stage and he performs the song "Gangsta Gangsta". When Dre leaves the club, he is arrested after breaking up a fight involving his brother Tyree. Eric bails him out the next day, and Dre talks to him about investing in a start-up label. They record and release "Boyz-n-the-Hood" with their label Ruthless Records. Music manager Jerry Heller approaches Eazy-E, who accepts his offer to manage the group.
In 1988, N.W.A performs "Dopeman" and Heller brings them to Bryan Turner, a producer at Priority Records. Eazy, Dre, Cube, Ren, Yella, Arabian Prince, and The D.O.C. commence writing lyrics and recording songs, such as "Quiet On tha Set" and "Express Yourself", for their debut album, Straight Outta Compton. During one of their recording sessions, the group is harassed by local police officers, which leads Cube to write "Fuck tha Police".
N.W.A goes on a national tour in 1989. The FBI demands that they stop performing "Fuck tha Police", declaring that it encourages violence against law enforcement, but they refuse, and the police raid their Detroit concert, resulting in riots and the group being arrested. Interviewed by the press, the group maintains that they did not start the riot, that their music was a reflection of their reality and that the First Amendment protected their free expression.
Meanwhile, Heller has been delaying Cube's contract. When Cube realizes that Eazy will be making more money than the other group members, he leaves the group and signs with Turner. After Cube's debut album AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted becomes a huge success, Cube becomes furious when Turner refuses to pay him, and wrecks Turner's office. The rest of N.W.A, especially Eazy, becomes envious of Cube's success, and releases the EP 100 Miles and Runnin', in which where they diss Cube on the track "Real Niggaz", calling him Benedict Arnold. In turn, Cube makes a diss track attacking N.W.A and their manager, which enrages Heller for its perceived anti-Semitism.
Following the production of N.W.A's second album, Niggaz4Life, and The D.O.C.'s near fatal car accident, Dre realizes that Heller is taking advantage of him, and also leaves the group to form Death Row Records with Suge Knight. After this, Knight and his crew jump Eazy-E into releasing Dre from the contract. Dre enjoys his new found freedom, and releases his debut album, The Chronic (1992). Dre also begins producing tracks for other rappers, including Snoop Doggy Dogg and Tupac Shakur, though he questions Knight's violent behavior and lifestyle. Meanwhile, on April 29, 1992 a riot escalates in Los Angeles in the wake of the trial for the police beating of unarmed motorist Rodney King.
With N.W.A disbanded, Eazy and his girlfriend Tomica Woods discover that Heller was embezzling money from the group, and Eazy fires him. In December 1994, he rekindles his friendship with Cube in New York City, and calls Dre to revive N.W.A. In February 1995, Eazy, Ren, and Yella begin working on new material, but during the session, Eazy collapses and is taken to Cedars Sinai Medical Center where he is diagnosed with HIV/AIDS. Group members have emotional visits with him before his death on March 26, 1995. A year later, Dre meets with Knight and tells him that he is leaving Death Row to start his own label.
During the credits it is shown that Ice Cube still records music and has become a successful actor with films such as Boyz n the Hood, Friday, xXx: State of the Union and Ride Along; and that, as a producer, Dre is responsible for the success of rappers Snoop Dogg, Tupac Shakur, Kendrick Lamar, Eminem and 50 Cent. He also started Beats Electronics, which was bought by Apple in 2014 for $3 billion, the largest deal in Apple's history.[6]
The film then ends with a caption: "In loving memory of Eric 'Eazy-E' Wright."
Strange Culture (2007)
Color
Man found with petri dishes arouses suspicians of investigators
Strange Culture
"The film examines the case of artist and professor Steve Kurtz, a member of the Critical Art Ensemble (CAE). The work of Kurtz and other CAE members dealt with genetically modified food and other issues of science and public policy. After his wife, Hope, died of heart failure, paramedics arrived and became suspicious when they noticed petri dishes and other scientific equipment related to Kurtz's art in his home. They summoned the FBI, who detained Kurtz within hours on suspicion of bioterrorism.
As Kurtz could not legally talk about the case, the film uses actors to interpret the story, as well as interviews with Kurtz and other figures involved in the case. Through a combination of dramatic reenactment, news footage, animation, and testimonials, the film scrutinizes post-9/11 paranoia and suggests that Kurtz was targeted because his work questions government policies. At the film's close, Kurtz and his long-time collaborator Dr. Robert Ferrell, former chair of the Genetics Department at the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health, await a trial date.
As of late May 2008, the Buffalo Prosecutor has declined to reopen the case within the 30 day window in which he was allowed to do so. So, Steve Kurtz is free.
Straw Dogs (1971)
Color
American takes his wife back to her English hometown, and has problems with the locals
Straw Dogs
"David Sumner, an American mathematician, comes to live with his glamorous young wife, Amy, in her hometown, a small village in a remote part of Cornwall, UK.
Amy's return is of particular interest to her ex-boyfriend, Charlie Venner, and his cronies, Norman Scutt, Chris Cawsey and Phil Riddaway, who are immediately resentful of the outsider who has married one of their own. David hires the men to carry out repairs to the isolated farmhouse he and Amy have rented, Trenchers Farm. Tensions in the Sumners' marriage soon become apparent-explicitly so when Amy stands topless in a window in full view of the workmen.
When Amy discovers their dead cat hanging by a light chain in their bedroom closet, she claims the workmen are responsible. She presses David to confront them, but he refuses. Later, the men invite David to go hunting in the woods with them. During the hunting trip, the workmen take him to a remote forest meadow and leave him there with the promise of driving the birds towards him. Having ditched David, Charlie Venner returns to the couple's farmhouse, where he initiates sex with Amy. She at first resists but eventually appears to submit, repeatedly embracing and kissing him. As Amy and Charlie lie together, Norman Scutt enters silently and forces Venner at gunpoint to hold Amy down while he rapes her in a sequence far less ambiguous as Amy screams and struggles to break free, to no avail.
The next day, David, who is seemingly unaware of his wife's ordeal, fires the workmen. Later that week, the Sumners attend a church social where Amy becomes distraught after seeing the men who raped her. They leave the social early, and, while driving home through thick fog, accidentally hit the mentally handicapped Henry Niles, a local villager. They take Henry to their home. David phones the local pub to explain about the accident. However, earlier that evening Niles had accidentally strangled a flirtatious young girl from the village, Janice Hedden. Her father, the town drunkard, Tom, and the workmen looking for him, are alerted by the phone call to Niles's whereabouts.
Soon the drunken locals, including Amy's rapists, are pounding on the door of the Sumners' home. The local magistrate, Major Scott, arrives to deal with the situation, but is accidentally shot dead by Tom. David realizes that he, Amy and Niles are now in mortal danger, and prepares to defend his household.
David throws boiling cooking oil onto the locals, stunning them temporarily. He then turns some music on loudly so as to make his footsteps inaudible. Tom enters the house, armed with his shotgun, but David forces the gun down with the fire poker, making Tom accidentally blow his own foot off. As he goes to turn the lights on, David spots Chris Cawsey in the living room. After a brief but tense standoff, David manages to beat Cawsey to death with the fire poker. At this point, the music has ended, and Venner approaches with a shotgun. Before he can shoot David, they hear Amy screaming for help. They investigate and find Norman attempting to rape her again. Realizing Venner intends to kill him, Norman begs to be killed; Venner complies and shoots his best friend dead. Immediately after, David wrestles the gun out of Venner's hand and manages to kill his wife's rapist by ensnaring Venner's head in a bear trap. As David and Amy relax, Phil Riddaway appears and attempts to kill David, only to be shot dead by Amy. With the mob taken care of, David drives Niles back to town.
Straw Dogs (2011)
Color
Man relocates with his wife to small town, and immediately has problems with the locals
Straw Dogs
"Scriptwriter David Sumner and his wife Amy relocate to rural Mississippi where Amy grew up. They are going to live in the house of Amy's recently deceased father and to allow David to finish a script.
While in town one afternoon, David meets Amy's ex-boyfriend Charlie and his three friends, Norman, Chris, and Bic. David is intimidated by the men, but they have already been hired to fix the roof of the barn on Amy's property. He also meets Tom Heddon, a former high school football coach whose 15-year-old daughter Janice is attracted to a local man with an intellectual disability, Jeremy Niles. Heddon often bullies Jeremy and believes that he is stalking his daughter.
Charlie and his friends arrive early the next morning to work on the roof. They taunt David, which later escalates into harassment. They also make crude remarks towards Amy and play loud music to distract David while he writes. They often leave early when they want to go hunting, which concerns David because it is taking them forever to finish the roof.
One Sunday after church, Heddon attacks Jeremy for talking to Janice, and Amy comes to his defense, but David warns her to not get involved. Later that night back at home, David discovers their cat strangled and hung up in the bedroom closet. Amy is positive that Charlie and his friends are to blame as they disappeared from the church barbeque for a few hours earlier, but David is hesitant to confront them. When he does finally question them, the men deny everything.
Charlie invites David to go deer hunting. While David is out in the woods with two of the men, Charlie goes back to the house and pushes his way inside to confront Amy and also have sex with her, because he thinks that she still wants him. He throws her onto the couch and rapes her. Afterwards, he realizes that he raped Amy, and that she did not want this, and is stunned. Norman arrives, holds Amy across the top of the couch, and rapes her while Charlie watches. They then leave. When David returns, Amy doesn't tell him what happened. Instead, she encourages David to fire Charlie and his men. The next day David tells Charlie that fixing the roof is taking too long. Charlie insists that they have already paid for the roofing supplies, which David agrees to pay for. Finally, Charlie and his crew leave, celebrating their $5,000 payday.
David and Amy go to a local football game. Cheerleader Janice lures Jeremy to enter an empty locker room. Heddon notices that his daughter is missing from the game and goes in search of her. Meanwhile, Janice tries to convince Jeremy to let her give him oral sex. They hear Heddon calling for Janice. Afraid of Heddon finding them, Jeremy holds Janice tight against his body with his hand over her mouth and nose, accidentally smothering her to death. Horrified, he runs away from the school. Heddon goes back to tell Charlie and his friends that Janice is missing. They all suspect that Jeremy has done something to her.
At the game, Amy has haunting flashbacks about the rapes and asks David to take her home. On the way, she tells him that she wants to return to Los Angeles, surprising him and causing him to accidentally run over Jeremy who is standing in the road. David and Amy take him back to their home and call an ambulance. Charlie and Norman overhear the ambulance call on a police scanner and inform Heddon. They all drive to David and Amy's house and demand that the couple hand Jeremy over, but David refuses. The sheriff arrives shortly thereafter and tries to calm down the situation. He knocks on the door and tells David to open the door, but David still refuses. Heddon picks up his gun again and shoots the sheriff dead. Having witnessed the murder, David knows now that the men will try to kill not only Jeremy but both of them too. David and Amy barricade the doors shut. He enlists her to help him open the jaws of a decorative bear trap. Then he sends Amy upstairs with Jeremy. David looks frantically for something he can use in the house to fight off the men.
When Chris attempts to enter through a window, David nails his hands to the wall with a nail gun, his throat fatally exposed to broken glass. When Heddon tries to follow, David burns his face with hot oil. Heddon and Charlie use the pick-up truck to ram into the house, but Charlie is knocked unconscious. David fights Heddon off and causes him to shoot himself in the foot. David then shoots Heddon and beats Bic to death with a fireplace poker.
Upstairs, Amy and Jeremy are attacked by Norman, who has climbed in through the window. Norman is attempting to rape Amy again when David and Charlie appear. Charlie and Norman draw on each other when Norman threatens to kill Amy. Amy shoots Norman, Charlie assaults and disarms her, then David jumps him. Charlie kicks David down the stairs and beats him severely. While David lies prostrate on the floor, disarmed, Charlie prepares to shoot him in his head when Amy approaches from behind, pointing the gun at him. Turning to her, Charlie informs her the gun is empty, and says to her, "I will always protect you, baby," when David rises behind him and slams the open bear trap down on his head, which shuts and ensnares him. Charlie slowly dies. While Amy, at first, is horrified at the scene, she later takes solace knowing both her rapists are dead.
As sirens are heard, with the adjacent barn in flames, David says, "I got 'em all.”
Stepmom (1998)
Color
Mother begins to warm up to step mom when she learns she is dying
Stepmom
"Jackie (Susan Sarandon) and Luke Harrison (Ed Harris) are a divorced New York City couple struggling to help their children Anna (Jena Malone) and Ben (Liam Aiken) be happy with this sudden change of lifestyle. Luke, an attorney, is living with his new girlfriend, Isabel Kelly (Julia Roberts), a successful fashion photographer several years his junior.[3] Isabel tries hard to make Anna and Ben feel comfortable and happy with her, but Anna repeatedly rejects her overtures while Ben, who is generally kind to Isabel, adds extra complication with his mischievous nature. Isabel behaves with contempt tempered by caution around Jackie, believing she overcompensates for her divorce by spoiling her children.
Jackie, a former publisher turned stay-at-home mom, gives Isabel a cold reception, seeing her as an overly ambitious career woman. She also continues to harbor malice towards Luke, as seen in a confrontation about Isabel. After a long string of arguments and hurt feelings involving Isabel, Jackie, and Anna, Luke proposes to Isabel, making her Anna and Ben's soon-to-be official stepmother. This causes even more friction. Jackie is diagnosed with lymphoma, which is discovered to be terminal. She experiences a range of negative emotions, angry at the woman who she feels was responsible for breaking up her family, and angry that after all of the sacrifices she made for her family, she will never see her children grow up. Jackie actively sabotages Isabel's effort to bond with the children even to the point of refusing to allow her to take Anna to see a rock band that she likes and then taking her to the same concert a few weeks later herself.
Luke and Jackie later tell the children about the engagement, and Anna is furious. Jackie tells Luke and the children about her illness, resulting in Anna storming out. That night Jackie shows that she can be fun by dancing and singing with Anna and Ben.
Isabel and Anna continue to clash. Isabel gets the children a golden retriever puppy, and Anna says that she is allergic to dogs. Surprised, Isabel apologizes and says that her father didn't tell her that. After another argument between the two, Anna takes the dog inside her room, indicating she lied about her allergy. Eventually, Isabel and Anna's relationship improves. They start to bond over painting, when Isabel teaches Anna how to paint trees.
Jackie and Isabel disagree repeatedly, largely over Isabel's parenting. Ben goes missing on Isabel's watch and Jackie claims that she has never lost him, which she later admits to be untrue. When Anna has problems with a boy she once liked, the two women give opposite advice, causing more tension between Jackie and Isabel. They manage to establish a shaky truce, as they come to terms that Isabel will soon step into the role of a surrogate mother. The two women finally bond when Isabel reveals her admiration of Jackie's maternal instincts, while Jackie in turn praises Isabel's hipness as a means to connect with Anna. Isabel finally lets her guard down when she tells Jackie her biggest fear is that on Anna's wedding day, all Anna will wish for is her mother's presence. Jackie says her own fear is that Anna will forget her. Jackie explains to Isabel that, while Jackie will always have their past, Isabel will have their future.
The film ends with the family celebrating Christmas. Jackie, who is bedridden, is visited in her room by Ben and Anna. Individually, Jackie tells her children that though she will die, she will remain with them as long as they remember her. Later that day, Isabel is taking a family portrait of Luke and Jackie with the children. Jackie demonstrates her acceptance of Isabel by inviting her to join them, stating "let's get a photo with the whole family". Isabel does, and as the closing credits begin, both women are shown happily in a photo side by side, finally at peace with one another and with future events ahead of them (Jackie's death and Isabel's marriage to Luke).
Stuck in Love (2012)
Color
Patriarch is obsessed with his former wife
Stuck in Love
"Novelist and part-time teacher Bill Borgens has been floundering since his wife Erica left him for a younger man two years ago. Instead of working on a new book, he spies on Erica and her new husband Martin while pretending to be jogging. Bill's son Rusty is a high school student in love with a classmate named Kate but lacks the courage to talk to her. Bill's daughter Sam is a cynical college student who prefers one-night stands and hook-ups with people she knows are less intelligent than herself, in order to shield herself from love.
On Thanksgiving, Bill has a reluctant Rusty set a place for Erica. At dinner, Sam announces that her first novel has been accepted for publication. Bill, having raised his children to be writers from birth, is thrilled, but becomes annoyed when she admits the book is not the one he had been helping her write. Rusty goes to have Thanksgiving with Erica and Martin, but Sam refuses, citing Erica's betrayal of Bill.
While at a bar, Sam's classmate Lou tries to prevent her from initiating another hook-up. Despite being rebuffed, he continues to pursue her and eventually strong-arms her into a cup of coffee. While discussing their favorite books, Sam is unnerved by their similar tastes in literature and runs off, refusing to be roped into a relationship. When Lou stops coming to the writing seminar they both attend, Sam tracks him down to the house where he takes care of his mother, who is dying. Sam is humbled by this and agrees to go out with Lou. When they discuss Sam's novel she reveals that a scene in which the main character sees her mother having sex with a man on the beach was about Erica and Martin. When Martin worried if Bill might see them, Erica replied, "I don't care." While listening to Lou's favorite song Sam begins to cry, afraid of being hurt. Lou tells her he won't hurt her, and they share a kiss.
Rusty reads a poem in class about an angel. Bill reads Rusty's journal, which he has paid both Sam and Rusty to keep over the years. When Rusty catches him, Bill says that Rusty needs to really experience life in order to become a better writer. Rusty and his friend Jason bribe their way into a party held by Kate's boyfriend, Glen. Rusty inadvertently sees Kate and Glen doing cocaine in the bathroom, leaving him dispirited. He and Jason are about to leave when they witness Kate and Glen arguing; when Glen shoves Kate to the ground, Rusty punches him in the face and flees with Kate and Jason. Since Kate can't go home bruised and high, Rusty brings her to his house. While tucking her into bed, she asks Rusty if his angel poem was about her; he admits it was. They share a kiss and begin a relationship. On Christmas Day they have sex in his closet, which she believes neither of them will forget (as it is Rusty's first time). Rusty, inspired by Kate's cocaine use, gives her a copy of It, his favorite novel, and she gives him her favorite album. At the same time Kate struggles with her drug addiction; while visiting Erica's house, she rifles through a medicine cabinet and is on the verge of stealing prescription drugs when Erica walks in on her.
Bill has regular sexual liaisons with his married neighbor, Tricia (Kristen Bell), with whom he occasionally jogs. However, he continues to mope over his failed marriage. While Christmas shopping he runs into Erica and they talk over coffee. He tells her that, if given a second chance, he would be a much better husband, leaving Erica visibly uneasy. Tricia urges him to move on and begin dating again, helping him dress better and creating an online dating profile. After going on a somewhat successful date, he stops by Erica's house and peeks in her window. Seeing her read a book, he leaves his wedding ring as a sign that he has moved on. However, he does a double take and realizes she is reading one of his own books. Heartened, he takes back his ring.
Sam has a party for the launch of her book, where Bill makes a speech about the process of writing, quoting What We Talk About When We Talk About Love, his favorite book. Erica is invited by Lou, but is clearly uncomfortable and avoids conversation. Bill encourages her to talk to Sam, who pretends not to know her when signing Erica's copy of her novel. When Sam gives Kate champagne--unaware of Kate's addiction and the fact that she's underage--Kate goes back for more and eventually goes home with Gus, one of Sam's classmates. The Borgens track her down; Bill and Erica barge into Gus's apartment and find her asleep in his bedroom after a night of drinking and doing drugs. As Kate is loaded into the car, Rusty lifts the blanket covering her and realizes she had sex with Gus, which leaves him in tears.
Heartbroken, Rusty turns to alcohol and comes home drunk almost every night. While at a convenience store with Jason he runs into Glen, who chases down and beats him. Kate writes Rusty a letter apologizing and telling him she's in rehab, having realized the only person who could truly fix her is herself. She hopes that one day she could be worthy of somebody like him. Bill, worried about Rusty, tells him to channel his pain into his writing. Rusty asks if he did the same when Erica left, prompting Bill to ground him. Rusty writes a story entitled "I've Just Seen A Face" (after the Beatles song of the same name, which he told Sam he hears when thinking of Kate) and finds it therapeutic. Later, he gets a call from Stephen King, his favorite author, who tells him that Sam sent his story to King, who had it published in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction.
Bill reveals to Sam that he walked out on Erica when Sam was a baby, and that when he came back six months later she accepted him, having waited the whole time. He promised that if she ever left him, he'd give her a second chance. When Lou's mother dies, Sam realizes how much her mother means to her and they tearfully reconcile. A year later, Bill shows he's moved on from Erica by not setting a place for her at the table for Thanksgiving. As the family sits down to eat, joined by Lou, Erica arrives and tearfully asks if there is a place for her. She joins them at the table and Rusty announces his story is being published. While the family celebrates, Bill again quotes from What We Talk About When We Talk About Love: "I could hear my heart beating. I could hear everyone's heart. I could hear the human noise we sat there making, not one of us moving, not even when the room went dark.
Superfly (1972)
Color
Cocaine dealer wants to retire, so he plans to make one last big deal
Superfly
"Youngblood Priest, an African-American drug dealer who specializes in selling cocaine, enjoys a luxurious lifestyle in Harlem. Priest, so-called because the spoon with which he frequently samples his wares is the tip of a cross hanging around his neck, yearns to leave "the life" and go straight, despite the money he makes.
One day, Priest confronts Fat Freddie, one of his clients, about money that Freddie owes and threatens to force Freddie's wife into prostitution unless he robs a competitor. Although the timid Freddie abhors violence, he agrees and accompanies a member of Priest's "family" of lower-level dealers to commit the robbery. After the men leave, Priest finds his partner, Eddie, and asks him how much cash they currently have. When Eddie states that they have $300,000, Priest reveals his plan to buy thirty kilos of high-quality cocaine, which they can sell for $1,000,000 within four months. With such a big score, they will be able to retire comfortably and find other employment, although Eddie protests that crime is the only option left to them by "The Man".
Priest is determined, however, and that night, approaches Scatter, a retired dealer who started Priest in the business. Scatter, who now runs a popular restaurant, initially refuses to help Priest, but Priest plays on his emotions, claiming that he wants to get out while he is young and before he has to endure the extreme hardships faced by Scatter. The hot-tempered Eddie threatens Scatter, demanding that he reveal his source if he will not supply them, but Scatter disarms Eddie and holds him at gunpoint. Priest defuses the situation and persuades Scatter to help them, although Scatter warns that it will be the last time. Soon after, Priest and Eddie are joined by one of their low-level dealers and Freddie, who turns over the money he stole and agrees that "the beef" between the men is settled.
That night, Priest enjoys a romantic bath with his girl friend Georgia, although she disapproves of his drug usage. When Priest reacts hostilely, Georgia explains that she loves him and wants to help him cope with the difficulties of street life. The next day, Freddie is picked up for fighting, and when he is beaten by the police, he reveals when and where Priest and Eddie are to pick up the first kilo of cocaine from Scatter. As he is escorted outside to be booked in another precinct, Freddie attempts to escape and is killed when he dashes in front of a car.
Meanwhile, Priest and Georgia are walking in a park, and Priest confesses that he has made a deal that will enable them to escape their current life. Georgia pleads with Priest to quit immediately, as she does not care if they are poor, but Priest maintains he must get the money, because his criminal record will make it difficult for him to find a job. That night, after picking up the kilo from Scatter, Priest and Eddie are apprehended by several policemen. The lieutenant in charge reveals that he is Scatter's supplier and that the two men can now go directly to him. The lieutenant tells them they can have as much "weight", or kilos of cocaine, as they want, and will be extended both credit and protection.
After the police leave, Eddie is elated by the new situation, claiming that they are set for life, although Priest is still determined to quit after selling the thirty kilos. Soon after, the drugs are cut and being sold by Priest and Eddie's family, with many buyers being attracted by the high quality. Priest's white mistress, Cynthia, also sells to her friends, although she is dismayed to learn that Priest does not return her love and is planning on quitting the business. Priest explains that as a child, he thought he wanted all the trappings of success and wealth, including a lover like her, but now wants a simpler life and will be ending their relationship. Their argument is interrupted by the sudden arrival of Scatter, who is being pursued by his supplier. Scatter reveals that the real head of the operation is Deputy Commissioner Reardon, who is trying to kill him for quitting.
Scatter gives Priest a packet of information on Reardon and his family, then arranges to meet him later, when Priest will give him money with which to flee New York. After leaving Cynthia's apartment, however, Scatter is captured by the corrupt policemen, who give him a fatal overdose of drugs and leave his body in Priest's car. Both enraged and scared, Priest conducts a meeting with two white men, then confronts Eddie. Priest demands his half of their profits, and when Eddie protests that they should keep selling, Priest asserts that Scatter was murdered by the police, and that they also are in danger. After Priest leaves with the cash, Eddie betrays him by phoning the lieutenant.
Priest has anticipated Eddie's duplicity, however, and gives the briefcase carrying the money to a disguised Georgia in exchange for one full of rags. Outside, Priest is held by two patrolmen, although he smiles to himself as Georgia makes good her escape. Priest is then picked up by the lieutenant and other policemen and taken to the waterfront, where he is confronted by Reardon in person. Reardon threatens Priest that he must continue selling drugs as long as he is ordered to, but when Priest replies defiantly, the policemen begin to beat him. Using his knowledge of karate, Priest overcomes his foes, then reveals that he knows who Reardon is. Priest further explains that the men with whom he met were contract killers, whom he hired to murder Reardon and his entire family should anything happen to him. The powerless Reardon then watches as Priest stalks off, giving the policemen one final glare before driving off to join Georgia.
Superfly (2018)
Color
Cocaine dealer plans to achieve his 'American dream' with one last big deal
Superfly
"Youngblood Priest, an Atlanta cocaine dealer, has been working the streets since he was eleven. Brought in by his mentor Scatter at a young age, he has been dealing drugs ever since. He lives like a king with his two girlfriends, Georgia and Cynthia, who know about each other. One night, Juju, a member of a gang called Snow Patrol, hits on Cynthia and is furious when he finds out that she is dating Priest. Confronting him outside the strip club against Snow Patrol leader Q's wishes, he shoots at Priest but misses, accidentally hitting a bystander instead. The Snow Patrol members drive away, while Priest gives the victim and her friends money and directs them to the best trauma center in the area.
After getting home, Priest has an epiphany, never wishing to get shot at again. Priest confides with his second-in-command Eddie, explaining that he wants out of the drug-dealing scene, and that he has a plan. Eddie initially resists, but eventually says that he has his back. Priest also lets Scatter know, who says that he won't help him. After a hit is made on a bunch of Snow Patrol members, Juju suspects Priest and plans to get back at him. One of Priest's colleagues, Fat Freddy, is caught cheating on his girlfriend, who in return gives information to Snow Patrol about where Freddie was that day, finding out that he was one of the assailants.
Snow Patrol was waiting to ambush Fat Freddy. While waiting, Fat Freddy gets pulled over by a cop and the cop investigates his car. Dirty cop, Detective Mason, acquires the cocaine and searches Freddie's phone, finding Eddie in his contacts. She orders Freddie to reveal where he got the cocaine, holding a gun to his head. He refuses to give up information, but his new girlfriend, fearing for his life, reveals his collaborations and who Priest is. Freddie and his girlfriend are released, but Mason's partner shoots both of them so no information can be leaked.
Mason finds Priest and blackmails him, threatening to open her mouth about his dealing if he does not comply. Eddie, furious about this, gets into a fight with Priest and the two have a falling out. At Freddie's funeral, Scatter surprises Priest and orders him to drive to a meeting with Adalberto, his drug supplier, after finding out Priest cut a deal for more product, but now is trying to get out of the drug game. Adalberto kills Scatter, revealing to Priest he realized he was stealing after Priest's profits were significantly higher than Scatter's. Adalberto threatens Priest that he can never get out the game.
Snow Patrol comes to and shoots up Priest's house. He, along with Georgia and Cynthia, fight back. Cynthia shoots at the gang members, who miss her. While she tries to cover herself, a Snow Patrol member shoots his shotgun through the ceiling, killing her. Distraught, Priest and Georgia conjure up Molotov cocktails and throw them at Juju and his partner, engulfing the surrounding area with flames. Juju escapes and chases after Priest, Q doing the same.
Juju crashes and is injured, during which Georgia shoots at Q, who crashes into a statue and is killed as a result. Eddie, after a change of heart, feigns allegiance with Snow Patrol, and tricks them into going to Priest's money stash. There, the gang is ambushed and killed by Mason and other cops, alerted by Priest. Juju is killed by Mason, who then steals 3 packs of cocaine out of Priest's safe.
Priest thanks Eddie for his help, and prepares to leave the country, made possible by Georgia and Cynthia before the house shootout. He blackmails the mayor with a sex tape, asking for a legal document and promising he'll guarantee the Mayor wins the upcoming election.
Aldalberto is seen being restrained, as his mother is holding the court document showing he framed his brother to go to prison. She orders for him to be killed. While waiting for Priest for a blackmail money drop, Mason is surrounded by police and arrested for cocaine possession, after being setup by Priest. Priest then meets up with the cop who killed Freddy and they have a big brawl, which results in Priest beating the cop and breaking his arm. Eddie goes back to gambling, and Priest is shown relaxing on a cruise in Montenegro with Georgia.
Surrogates (2009)
Color
Almost everyone lives their lives vicariously through their robot surrogate body
Surrogates
"In the future, widespread use of remotely-controlled androids called "surrogates" allow everyone to live in idealized forms from the safety of their homes. A surrogate's operator is protected from harm and feels no pain when their surrogate is damaged. FBI agent Tom Greer (Bruce Willis) has a strained relationship with his wife Maggie (Rosamund Pike), due to their son's death several years before. He never sees her outside of her surrogate and she criticizes his desire to interact via their real bodies.
Greer and his partner, Agent Jennifer Peters (Radha Mitchell), investigate the death of two people who were killed when their surrogates were destroyed at a club. Jarid Canter (Shane Dzicek), one of the victims, is the son of Dr. Lionel Canter (James Cromwell), the inventor of surrogates. Greer and Peters determine that a human named Miles Strickland (Jack Noseworthy) used a new type of weapon to overload the surrogates' systems and kill their operators. After locating Strickland, Greer attempts to bring him into custody. Strickland uses the weapon and injures Greer during the chase; Greer inadvertently crash-lands into an anti-surrogate zone known as the Dread Reservation (one of many throughout the United States). A mob of humans eventually destroy Greer's surrogate, forcing him to interact in the world without one. The Dread leader known as The Prophet (Ving Rhames) kills Strickland and confiscates the weapon.
Agent Greer learns from Colonel Brendan (Michael Cudlitz) that the same company manufacturing the surrogates originally produced the weapon under a government contract. It was designed to load a virus that overloads the surrogate's systems, thus disabling it. Unexpectedly, the weapon also disabled the fail-safe protocols protecting surrogate operators. After the first test, the project was scrapped and all but one prototype were destroyed.
Agent Peters is murdered and an unknown party hijacks her surrogate. Greer is informed that Andrew Stone (Boris Kodjoe), his FBI superior, supplied the weapon to Strickland and ordered Dr. Canter's assassination for his criticism of surrogate use. Jarid, using one of his father' many surrogates, was killed instead. The Prophet orders the weapon be delivered to Peters. During a military raid on the reservation led by Col. Brendan, the Prophet is shot, revealing his identity as a surrogate, with none other than Dr. Canter himself as the operator.
Greer heads to Dr. Canter's home and discovers that he has been controlling not only the Prophet but Peters as well. Using Agent Peters' surrogate in FBI Headquarters, Dr. Canter uses the weapon to kill Stone and proceeds to upload the virus to all surrogates, which will destroy the surrogates and kill their operators. Believing his plan to be unstoppable, Canter disconnects from Peters's surrogate and swallows a cyanide pill. Agent Greer takes control of the Peters surrogate and with the assistance of the network's system administrator Bobby Saunders (Devin Ratray), insulates the virus so the operators will survive. Agent Greer can choose to either destroy all surrogates or simply cancel the virus upload. Greer ultimately decides to let the virus permanently shut down surrogates worldwide. People emerge from their homes without their surrogates, confused and afraid.
Greer returns home and shares an emotional embrace with Maggie in her real form. The film ends with an aerial view of the collapsed surrogates along with overlapping news reports of the downed surrogates all over the world and how people are now "on their own" again.
Suspicion (1941)
Black & White
Woman becomes suspicious of the man she married, and starts to fear for her life
Suspicion
"Handsome, irresponsible cad Johnnie Aysgarth (Cary Grant) sweeps dowdy Lina McLaidlaw (Joan Fontaine) off her feet and charms her into running away and marrying him, despite the strong disapproval of her wealthy father, General McLaidlaw (Sir Cedric Hardwicke). After their honeymoon, they set up housekeeping in extravagant fashion, though she soon learns that Johnnie is broke and was hoping to live off her father's generosity. She persuades him to get a job and he goes to work for his cousin, estate agent Captain Melbeck (Leo G. Carroll).
Gradually, Lina learns that Johnnie has continued to gamble on the horses, despite his promise to quit, and that he has sold family heirloom chairs given to them as a wedding present to help pay for things. She repeatedly catches him in lies and discovers that he has been caught embezzling and fired from his job, though Melbeck assures her he will not prosecute if the money is repaid. Johnnie's good-natured, if scatterbrained, friend Beaky (Nigel Bruce) tries to reassure her that her husband is a good sort, but without much success.
When the general dies, Johnnie is severely disappointed to find that he has left Lina only his portrait. He convinces Beaky to finance his next venture, a land development, even though neither of them knows much about the business. Lina tries to talk Beaky out of it, but he trusts his friend completely. Johnnie overhears and warns his wife to stay out of his affairs, but later calls the whole thing off. When Beaky leaves for Paris, Johnnie accompanies him partway. Later, news reaches Lina of Beaky's death in Paris. Johnnie misleads her and an investigating police inspector about remaining in London. This and other details lead Lina to suspect he caused his friend's demise.
She begins to fear that her husband is plotting to kill her for her life insurance. He has been questioning her friend Isobel Sedbusk (Auriol Lee), a writer of mystery novels, about untraceable poisons. Johnnie brings Lina a glass of milk before bed, but she is too afraid to drink it.
Needing to get away for a while, she makes up a story to stay with her mother for a few days. Johnnie insists on driving her there. He speeds recklessly in a powerful convertible (a 1936 Lagonda LG45[2]) on a dangerous road beside a cliff. Suddenly, Lina's door opens. Johnnie reaches for her, his intent unclear to the terrified woman. When she shrinks from him, he stops the car.
In the subsequent row, it emerges that Johnnie was actually intending to kill himself. Now however, he has decided that suicide is the coward's way out and is resolved to face his responsibilities and even go to jail for the embezzlement. He was actually in Liverpool at the time of Beaky's death, seeking to borrow on Lina's life insurance policy to settle matters with Melbeck. Her suspicions allayed, Lina tells him that they will face the future together.
Sweeney Todd (2007)
Color
Man becomes deranged murderer after being wrongly imprisoned
Sweeney Todd
"In 1831 London, a skilled barber named Benjamin Barker is falsely charged and sentenced to penal transportation from London by the corrupt Judge Turpin, who thereafter seizes the protagonist's wife Lucy Barker for himself. In 1846, fifteen years later, Barker returns to London, adopting the alias Sweeney Todd, and is accompanied by sailor Anthony Hope. At Mrs. Nellie Lovett's meat pie shop on Fleet Street, he learns that Turpin raped Lucy, who then poisoned herself with arsenic, whereafter their daughter Johanna is now Turpin's ward and, like her mother before her, the object of Turpin's lust. Todd vows revenge, and re-opens his barber shop after Mrs. Lovett returns his straight razors to him. While roaming London, Anthony becomes enamored of Johanna, but is driven away by Turpin's sidekick Beadle Bamford.
During a visit to the marketplace, Todd denounces faux-Italian barber Adolfo Pirelli's fraudulent hair tonic and humiliates him in a public shaving contest. A few days later, Pirelli arrives at Todd's shop, with his boy assistant Tobias Ragg. Mrs. Lovett keeps Toby occupied while Pirelli identifies himself as Todd's former assistant, Davy Collins, and threatens to reveal Todd's secret unless Todd gives him half his earnings. Todd kills Collins to protect his secret, and hides his body in a trunk.
After receiving some advice from Bamford, Turpin, intending marriage to Johanna, pays a visit to Todd's to be shaven, and Todd shaves Turpin while preparing to slit his throat; but he is interrupted by Anthony, who reveals his plan to elope with Johanna before noticing Turpin. Turpin leaves enraged, vowing never to return. Infuriated at having missed his chance, Todd vents his rage by killing his customers while waiting for another chance to kill Turpin, and Mrs. Lovett bakes his victims into pies. Todd rigs his barber's chair with a pedal-operated mechanism, which deposits his victims through a trap door into Mrs. Lovett's bake-house. Meanwhile, Anthony searches for Johanna, sent by Turpin to an insane asylum upon discovering her plans to elope with Anthony.
The barbering and pie-making businesses prosper, and Lovett takes Toby as her assistant. Elated by success, Mrs. Lovett tells an uninterested Todd of her plans to marry him and move to the seaside. Anthony discovers Johanna's whereabouts, and poses as a wig-maker's apprentice to rescue her. Todd meanwhile has Toby deliver a letter to Turpin telling him where Johanna will be brought when Anthony frees her. Toby has become wary of Todd and tells Mrs. Lovett of his suspicion.
Bamford arrives at the pie shop, informing Mrs. Lovett that neighbors have been complaining of the stink of her chimney. He is distracted by Todd's offer of a free grooming and murdered by Todd. Mrs. Lovett informs Todd of Toby's suspicions, and the pair search for Toby, whom Mrs. Lovett has locked in the basement bake-house, but has hidden himself in the sewers after seeing the Beadle's body drop into the room from the trap door above, as well as finding a human toe in a pie. Anthony brings Johanna to the shop in disguise, where Johanna, now disguised in sailor's clothing, hides herself in a trunk while Anthony leaves to find a coach.
A beggar woman enters the shop, seemingly searching for Bamford. As Todd enters, she recognizes him, and Turpin's voice is heard; whereupon Todd slits the beggar woman's throat and deposits her body through the trap door. As Turpin enters, Todd explains to him that Johanna had repented and offers a free shave; but reveals his true identity to Turpin and kills him. Upon seeing Johanna, Todd prepares to slit her throat as well, not recognizing her as his daughter; but hearing Mrs. Lovett scream in horror as a dying Turpin grabs her dress, Todd tells Johanna to "forget my face" and leaves her alive.
Todd discovers that the beggar woman is his wife Lucy, whom he had believed to be dead, and that Mrs. Lovett misled him. Todd pretends to forgive her, before incinerating her in the adjacent oven; then cradles his wife's dead body in his arms, singing bitterly to himself. Toby, unseen by Todd, climbs from the sewers and slits Todd's throat. The film ends with Toby leaving the basement as Todd bleeds to death.
Sweet Smell of Success (1957)
Black & White
Powerful columnist uses his power to steamroll friends and enemies
Sweet Smell of Success
"Manhattan press agent Sidney Falco (Tony Curtis) has been unable to get his clients mentioned in J.J. Hunsecker's (Burt Lancaster) influential, nationally syndicated newspaper column of late because of Falco's failure to make good on a promise to break up the romance between Hunsecker's younger sister Susan (Susan Harrison) and musician Steve Dallas (Martin Milner), an up-and-coming jazz guitarist.
Falco is losing money and clients. Given one last chance by the bullying, intimidating Hunsecker, he schemes to plant a false rumor in a rival column that Dallas is a dope-smoking Communist, then encourages Hunsecker to rescue Dallas's reputation, certain that the headstrong boyfriend will reject Hunsecker's favor and end up looking bad to Susan.
The plan works, in a way--Dallas can't resist insulting Hunsecker's methods, and, forced to choose between them, the timid Susan breaks up with Dallas in order to protect him from her brother. Hunsecker, however, is enraged by Dallas's insults to him after a brief confrontation. He decides to ruin the boy after all (against Falco's advice) and wants to have marijuana planted on the musician, then have him arrested and roughed up by corrupt police Lt. Harry Kello (Emile Meyer).
It is such a dirty trick that even Falco wants no part of it, at least until Hunsecker promises to take a long vacation from his powerful column and turn it over to Falco in his absence. At a nightclub, Falco slips the marijuana cigarettes into a pocket of a coat belonging to Dallas, who is accosted by Kello outside the club.
Falco is summoned to Hunsecker's penthouse apartment, only to find Susan there by herself and about to attempt suicide. He grabs her just as her brother walks in, but Hunsecker, encouraged by Susan's silence, accuses Falco of trying to assault Susan and begins beating the physically weaker Falco. Falco pleads that he only came to the apartment at Hunsecker's request, prompting Hunsecker to tell Falco that he never called him. As Susan stops Hunsecker from further harming him, Falco realizes that Susan placed the call in order to bring the men to blows.
In a climactic confrontation, Falco reveals to Susan that it was her brother who ordered him to destroy Dallas's reputation and their relationship. Hunsecker makes a call to Kello to come after Falco, who tries to flee but is caught in Times Square by the brutal cop.
Back in the penthouse, Susan, her bags packed, admits to her brother that she contemplated suicide, considering death preferable to living with JJ. She walks out on him, saying that she will go to Dallas and tells Hunsecker that she pities, rather than hates him.
Swordfish (2001)
Color
DEA agent enlists help of crypto to get $9 billion from DEA account to fight terrorism
Swordfish
"The film begins in a restaurant in Los Angeles where a man discusses Dog Day Afternoon before walking off, with numerous SWAT officers pointing guns at him and a dishevelled man following him out. They walk to a nearby building with gunmen and hostages strapped with bombs and ball-bearings. One of the gunmen is killed by a sniper; when the hostage is forcibly taken away, the explosives detonate via a proximity trigger, killing her and others. The film then flashes back four days.
Stanley Jobson (Hugh Jackman) is a hacker who infected the FBI's Carnivore program with a potent computer virus, delaying its deployment by several years. For this, he was arrested by Agent Roberts (Don Cheadle), convicted of computer crimes and spent two years in Leavenworth. A condition of his parole is that he is forbidden from touching, much less using, a computer. His ex-wife, Melissa (Drea de Matteo), has sole custody over their daughter Holly and a restraining order against Stanley from seeing Holly.
While Stanley is at home (a trailer in rural Texas) practicing his golf swing, Ginger Knowles (Halle Berry) shows up to solicit his hacking skills for her boss Gabriel Shear (John Travolta). Stanley is apparently recruited at the last minute as a replacement for Gabriel's first choice, Axl Torvalds (Rudolf Martin), a Finnish hacker of exceptional talent who was arrested by authorities at the airport. Torvalds is later assassinated by Gabriel's men before he can divulge anything about his assignment and who hired him to Agent Roberts. For an initial $100,000, Stanley agrees to meet with Gabriel. He and Ginger fly to Los Angeles and meet Gabriel in a night club. Gabriel pressures Stanley right then and there to hack a government system in 60 seconds while simultaneously being held at gunpoint by Gabriel's bodyguard and right-hand man, Marco (Vinnie Jones) and receiving fellatio from a young woman (Laura Lane). Stanleys succeeded in hacking the system, passing Gabriel's test.
At his house Gabriel offers Stanley $10 million to write a worm that steals money from a secret government slush fund to the order of $9.5 billion. Gabriel reveals to Stanley that he works for an organization called the Black Cell that was started by J. Edgar Hoover in the 1950s, which is responsible for retaliatory attacks against terrorists who have attacked Americans. It is currently headed by Senator Reisman (Sam Shepard), who discovers that the FBI has caught onto Gabriel and attempts to pull the plug. After Gabriel refuses to terminate his plans, Reisman attempts to have Gabriel killed, which fails. Gabriel tracks the Senator down while he is fly fishing in Bend, Oregon and kills him.
Gabriel proceeds with his plan and raids the local branch of the WorldBanc. He takes hostages, puts explosives on them and deploys Stanley's worm. After stealing the $9.5 billion he boards the hostages and his crew on a bus out of the WorldBanc. Gabriel demands a plane at the local airport (a hostage negotiation cliche) but it was a diversion. An S-64 Aircrane swoops down, lifts the bus and releases it on the rooftop of a skyscraper. From the rooftop, Gabriel seemingly departs with his team in a helicopter, which Stanley shoots down with a rocket-propelled grenade. At the morgue, Stanley and Agent Roberts learn that the body recovered from the helicopter is that of a former Mossad agent named Gabriel Shear.
The end of the film shows Ginger and Gabriel in Monte Carlo transferring the $9.5 billion into other accounts. The final scene shows a yacht being destroyed while Ginger and Gabriel look on in a smaller boat while a news anchor voice narrates that a suspected terrorist died on that yacht, the third such successful counter-terrorism operation in as many weeks.
Tag (2018)
Color
Grown men play a yearly gave of tag
Tag
"Hogan "Hoagie" Malloy, Bob Callahan, Randy "Chilli" Cilliano, Kevin Sable and Jerry Pierce have been playing tag since they were nine years old, starting in 1983, during the month of May. Since then, the group's main rule of the game is that the last one tagged is “it,” until next season. With Hoagie having been the last one tagged in the previous year, he first recruits Bob, the CEO of an insurance company, and then Chilli and Kevin for one last attempt to tag Jerry, who has seemingly never been tagged because of his strong athleticism and intelligence. Hoagie tells them that Jerry plans to retire after this year's game because of his upcoming marriage. Rebecca Crosby, a Wall Street Journal reporter doing a piece on Bob, joins them and decides to write an article on the friends. They are also accompanied by Hoagie's wife Anna.
Once they arrive at their hometown of Spokane, Washington, they locate Jerry at the local country club where he will be getting married, but they are overwhelmed by Jerry's skill. Jerry then introduces his fiancee Susan. As the others express disappointment over not being invited to the wedding despite their close relationship, Jerry knew he would almost certainly be tagged or at least targeted during the ceremonies. They agree to not play the game at any wedding-related events in exchange for invitations to the wedding. Despite this, the group makes several attempts to tag Jerry both before and right after wedding-related events.
The group sneaks into his house at night, but are forced to leave when Jerry sets up a convincing ruse that he is in Hoagie's bedroom. The next morning, Hoagie disguises himself as an elderly woman and ambushes Jerry at the mall, but is defeated. Then, at a rehearsal dinner at the country club, Jerry invites Cheryl Deakins, Bob and Chilli's high school crush, to distract the group, and the attempt to tag Jerry results in a golf car chase that eventually leaves Hoagie, Chilli, and Kevin all caught in painful traps in the woods, set by Jerry. During the rehearsal dinner, Susan reveals to the guys that she is pregnant.
Defeated, the group try to build a new plan. After finding out Jerry attends Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, the group decide to strike his next meeting, which is on his wedding day. In preparation, they lock every exit and dress up as members of AA. They make their move and almost tag Jerry, but once he finds himself trapped, Jerry retreats to the communion wine storage. He stays there for hours as the guys besiege the room, until Susan comes by, with the wedding just a few hours away. Susan berates Jerry and the others for risking the wedding for a childish game but suddenly appears to fall faint and have a miscarriage. Jerry comes out to help. Chilli is convinced that it is a ruse, but the situation seems authentic, and Jerry himself also tells them he is not playing around and the two leave.
The guys receive texts that the wedding is postponed due to the potential miscarriage. However, a suspicious Anna sees that the bridesmaids all made similar Instagram posts. With one of the bridesmaids having a crush on Bob, and also having a private profile, Anna creates a fake profile for Bob in order to bait the bridesmaid for the truth. Once they get access, they see a post from the bridesmaid of Susan in her dress, showing that the wedding is still on schedule. Incensed by the trick, the gang decide to crash the wedding. Upon their arrival, Susan confirms the hoax, including the pregnancy being fake. Angry at Jerry for lying, Hoagie decides to tag Jerry at the end of the ceremony after the doves are released. Hoagie charges at Jerry, but narrowly misses and ends up tackling the pastor to the ground. Hoagie then loses consciousness, which Jerry thinks is a ruse, but Anna confirms that Hoagie's condition is serious and calls for an ambulance.
Everyone meets up at the hospital where Hoagie tells them the truth: he had lied about Jerry quitting after the season because he wanted to reunite with his friends after he recently discovered a tumor on his liver and has advanced liver cancer; he may not be alive for the following year. Jerry chooses to swallow his pride and allows Hoagie to tag him. The group starts the game again, running around the hospital as they did as children, and change their rules so Anna, Rebecca, and Susan can play as well.
Before the credits roll, multiple photographs and video clips are displayed, showing the real group of ten men that inspired the film, who continue to play to this day.
Take the Lead (2006)
Color
Professional dancer becomes instructor, but his methods conflict with his students
Take the Lead
"The opening credits run over students preparing for a school dance. Rock arrives with a water-damaged ticket and is denied entrance by the aggressive Mr. Temple and Principal James. Rock leaves and encounters some thugs, who lead on him to vandalize the Principal's car. Pierre Dulaine catches Rock in the act, but Rock runs away before Pierre can question him further.
The next morning, Pierre turns up to see the Principal. Having explained that he was a witness to the vandalism on her car, he eventually offers to take over the detention shift and teach them ballroom dancing, to which she agrees, although she is sure that he will not last more than a day. Pierre is led to the basement to meet the students, among whom is Rock. His first class is disastrous due to the scepticism and uncooperative personalities of the students. When Pierre returns next morning, Principal James is surprised and later explains that Rock's brother was involved with a gang war; one of the casualties was a brother of LaRhette, who had refused to dance with Rock the day before.
At Pierre's dance studio, Caitlin is a student who is under pressure to learn to dance because her cotillion is fast approaching. Though she loves dancing, she is clumsy and feels like a failure, envying fellow student Morgan her graceful sensuality and saying to Pierre, "She's like sex on hardwood." This gives Pierre an idea how to reach out to the detention kids. He invites Morgan to give them a demonstration of the tango, which inspires the students to be more willing to learn. Caitlin decides to join them for dance class and practices with Monster. Though the other students accuse her of wanting to "tell her upperclass friends that she's slumming" at first, they gradually learn to accept her after she admits that she feels better with them than with Morgan and her group.
LaRhette, daughter of a prostitute, cares for her younger siblings while her mother works the streets. One night, she runs out of the apartment and to the school after one of her mother's clients attempts to rape her. Practicing her dancing in the basement, she runs into Rock. They fight and are caught by security. Principal James wants to suspend them both, but instead agrees to give them extra detention hours with Pierre each morning.
Pierre tells the class about a dance competition which he wishes them to enter, and this is further inspiration for the students to learn. Gradually they come to trust him and some visit his apartment to bring him their problems.When the detention basement is flooded, Pierre takes the students to his dance studio to practice. The youngsters become disenchanted by the skills of Pierre's students as well as the $200 entrance fee for the contest. However, Pierre manages to inspire them again and promises to provide the fee. LaRhette and Rock, who have now learned to respect each other, will compete in the waltz, and the rivals Ramos and Danjou learn to share Sasha during practice.
Mr. Temple has complained about the supposed waste of resources on the dance program. When Pierre is brought to a meeting with the parents' association, he convinces them to keep the program going after demonstrating how ballroom teaches the students "teamwork, respect, and dignity." On the night of the contest, Rock is told he must join the theft operation of the thugs with whom he has found work and shoot anyone who approaches. He shoots the sprinkler system instead, setting off the alarm and causing the thugs to run away.
At the competition, a $5000 prize is at stake. Sasha, Danjou, and Ramos perform an impressive three-person tango but are disqualified because it is a partner dance. Morgan calls it a tie and gives Sasha her trophy. Principal James, thrilled with the success of the program, insists on making it permanent and expanding it to more schools. Rock arrives at the last minute to dance the waltz with LaRhette, whom he kisses at the end.
The final credits roll as Pierre's students triumphantly dance to hip hop music, having tampered with the sound system.
Takers (2010)
Color
Detective tries to thwart plans by a crew of bank robbers who plan to rob an armored car
Takers
"Detectives Jack Welles and Eddie Hatcher investigate a daring heist by a group of well-organized bank robbers. The crew, led by Gordon Cozier, consists of John, A.J., and brothers Jake and Jesse Attica. The crew is without a former member, Ghost, who was caught during a previous robbery five years before. In his absence, Jake began a relationship with Ghost's former girlfriend Lilly, who had accepted his marriage proposal.
After Ghost is released from prison, he meets up with the crew to plan a heist, in which it is discovered that two armored trucks will travel together, but that all the money is kept in the second truck, which holds $12 million.
The crew, dressed as construction workers, hide out underground, while Ghost poses as a police officer, so he can keep an eye out for the trucks. Meanwhile, in order to cover themselves in case Ghost is setting them up, John heads to the top of a nearby garage to take out Ghost with a sniper rifle in case things go wrong. The crew plan to detonate the blast when the armored trucks drive overhead, causing the trucks to fall underground. However, a bicyclist causes the lead driver to stop short and the explosives are detonated too early. The lead driver radios the police, while armed guards pile out of the rear truck.
A gunfight ensues between the robbers in the crater and the guards on the street, until John commandeers the rear truck and rams the lead truck into the crater where the crew cut into it. John and the other robbers pack the cash into bags, and flee by heading down a variety of different tunnels, with the plan of connecting into various subway lines to make their escape.
Welles and Hatcher show up on the scene, and, after learning of the robbers' escape through the sewer system, remember a map of the city subway system from the Russian gang hideout, and deduce that they must be escaping through the stations marked on the map where the sewers intersect the subway. They rush to the nearest station, where they find Jesse, and a chase ensues, during which Jesse hides his bag of money and is cornered. He is forced to shoot Detective Hatcher in his escape. Jesse escapes, while Welles stops to aid his partner, who dies from his wound.
Jesse reconvenes with the rest of the crew at a hotel room, and admits to the shooting of Hatcher. It is now revealed that Ghost had previously cut a deal with the Russian gangsters to kill his former accomplices in exchange for half of the heist's take. Ghost gives the Russians the hotel room number, then escapes out the bathroom window, just before the Russians storm the room and attempt to kill the crew. A.J. dies in the ensuing firefight, but the rest of the crew is able to kill the Russians and flee the building before the police arrive. Jake and Jesse return home where, to their horror, Jake finds Lilly's corpse, and Jesse finds the safe where they kept their secret stash of money opened and cleaned out. The police surround their bar, and shoot the two when they make a suicide charge outside, killing them.
Gordon and John separate to make their escape, but realize that Ghost intends to take all of their money, which is being held by Scott, a well-connected fence. Ghost sneaks onto Scott's private plane and kills him, taking their laundered money in two suitcases. Gordon and Detective Welles arrive, and a three-way Mexican standoff results in which Ghost hits both Gordon and Welles. As Ghost prepares to finish Gordon off, John arrives and shoots him dead. John recognizes Welles as the same cop, who was with the little girl. John and Gordon refuse to kill Welles. John and an injured Gordon take the money and drive off, with Gordon's sister Naomi in tow. A gravely-wounded Welles manages to call 911 for help on his cell phone.
The film ends without revealing whether either Gordon or Welles survive their injuries.
Taking of Pelham 123 (2009)
Color
Hijackers take the a New York subway train hostage and demand ransom
Taking of Pelham 123
"A man calling himself "Ryder" (John Travolta), along with three other heavily armed men Bashkim (Victor Gojcaj), Emri (Robert Vataj) and former train operator Phil Ramos (Luis Guzman), take Pelham 123, a New York City Subway 6 train that had departed from Pelham Bay Park Station at 1:23 p.m, uncoupling the front car from the rest of the train and taking the passengers hostage. MTA employee Walter Garber (Denzel Washington), a former assistant chief transportation officer, is working the Rail Control Center as a train dispatcher and receives the ransom call from Ryder, who demands $10 million in cash be paid within 60 minutes, and warns that for every minute past the deadline they force Ryder to wait, he will execute a hostage.
Bashkim kills a plainclothes Transit Police officer attempting to arrest him. He and Ramos then allow all the people not in the front car to be released except for motorman Jerry Pollard (Gary Basaraba), who is one of Garber's friends. Garber reluctantly negotiates with Ryder and develops a rapport, while Ramos and Emri set up a wi-fi booster apparatus to enable Ryder internet access in the tunnel on his laptop computer. He uses it to watch the Dow Jones Industrial Average plunge nearly 1,000 points during the next hour in response to the taking.
Lieutenant Camonetti (John Turturro) of the NYPD Emergency Service Unit, also known as the Hostage Negotiation Team, enters RCC to take over negotiations and Garber is ordered by his boss to leave the premises. Even though Camonetti told Ryder that Garber's a train dispatcher, Ryder still wants him to be the negotiator. When Ryder threatens to kill the motorman, Camonetti refuses to call Garber and Ryder kills the motorman. Ryder threatens to kill another hostage if Camonetti still doesn't bring Garber back, so he is brought back in. The motorman was a friend of Garber's and Garber blames Camonetti for the motorman's death. Camonetti apologizes for the motorman's death.
Camonetti learns Garber is being investigated for allegedly accepting a $35,000 bribe to recommend a Japanese car manufacturer for the next subway car contract, thus his demotion to train dispatching. He becomes suspicious and asks Garber to consent to a search of his home. Ryder also discovers the allegations through online news reports and forces Garber to confess by threatening to kill a passenger. Garber explains he took the bribe to pay his kids' tuition, but also claims that he would have made the same decision regardless of the bribe.
The Mayor (James Gandolfini) agrees to pay Ryder's ransom demand and orders cash from the Federal Reserve to be rushed to Vanderbilt Ave and 42nd Street to be delivered. The police transport delivering the money is involved in an accident and, despite the efforts of police motorcyclists, they fail to deliver within the deadline. Garber tries to bluff and tells Ryder that the tunnel was the only thing separating him from the money, unaware that Ryder could see the outside of Grand Central Terminal via his laptop. For lying, Ryder threatens to execute one of the children hostages and the child's mother, however another hostage, who was a former US Army Air-Assault Soldier, intervenes and instead gets shot by Ryder. A short gunfight then erupts, where in a NYPD sniper is bitten by a rat and accidentally fires his gun and kills Ramos.
Based on several clues that Garber receives during the conversation, the NYPD discover that Ryder's real name is Dennis Ford, a former manager of a private equity firm, who was sentenced to 10 years in prison for investment fraud for stealing from the city pension fund. Although Ford had accepted the prosecution's 3-year plea bargain agreement, he received a sentence of 10 years from the judge. One of the Mayor's aides mentions the extreme drop in the major stock indexes, the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Nasdaq Composite, due to the news coverage of the hostage-taking, which some in the media have suspected to be terrorism. The Mayor deduces that such an event would allow Ryder to make spectacular returns if he bet against the market that day (the ransom money not being Ryder's main objective), so he asks the SEC to identify major trades on put options.
Garber is flown to Grand Central Terminal, the closest station to the takers' location, when Ryder demands he personally deliver the ransom. Garber accepts a concealed pistol from a police officer and drops off the money. Ryder brings him aboard and orders him to operate the train to the next station, where he and the hijackers exit the train during a brief railroad switch stop. To ensure that the police follow the train (and go to a wrong place), Ryder uses a special mechanism to lock the driving lever in the full-speed position, bypassing the dead-man's switch. Per Ryder's demands, the signals have been set to green and the train speeds ahead towards Coney Island. Garber manages to separate himself from the takers at a railway crossing and then follows them as they escape to the emergency exit inside the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. Ryder parts ways with Bashkim and Emri, who are later shot dead via suicide by cop after being surrounded by police.
The runaway train's automatic brake is tripped by an unaltered red signal one station from Coney Island and it comes to a halt safely. Police learn Ryder is not on board. Ryder hails a taxi while Garber, who gets a truck, is in close pursuit. Ryder checks his laptop and finds that his $2 million investment in gold derivatives has amassed him a $307 million profit. Ryder leaves the cab on the Manhattan Bridge amid traffic and takes the bridge's pedestrian walkway but Garber catches up to him. As Garber holds Ryder at gunpoint, Ryder says that he is not going back to prison and gives him a 10 second ultimatum to kill him, before the other NYPD officers catch up to them. As he reaches the final seconds of the countdown, Ryder pulls out his gun in a provocative gesture which forces Garber to shoot. With his dying breath, Ryder calls Garber his hero as NYPD officers arrive on scene. Afterward, the mayor thanks Garber for saving the hostages, and hints the city will support him in the bribery investigation. Garber is later seen coming home with groceries, including a half-gallon of milk he promised his wife he'd bring home during an earlier phone call.
Taxi Driver (1976)
Color
Vigilante taxi driver tries to protect a child prostitute from a smooth-talking pimp
Taxi Driver
"Travis Bickle (Robert De Niro), an honorably discharged U.S. Marine, is a lonely and depressed man living in Manhattan, New York. He becomes a taxi driver in order to cope with chronic insomnia, driving passengers every night around the boroughs of New York City. He also spends time in seedy porn theaters and keeps a diary. Travis becomes infatuated with Betsy (Cybill Shepherd), a campaign volunteer for Senator Charles Palantine (Leonard Harris), who is running for President. After watching her through her office window, interacting with fellow worker Tom (Albert Brooks), Travis enters to volunteer as a pretext to talk to her and takes her out for coffee. On a later date he takes her to see a sex film, which offends her, so she goes home alone. His attempts at reconciliation by sending flowers are rebuffed so he berates her at the campaign office, before being kicked out by Tom.
Travis confides in fellow taxi driver Wizard (Peter Boyle) about his thoughts, which are beginning to turn violent, but Wizard assures him that he will be fine. Disgusted by the street crime and prostitution that he witnesses throughout the city, Travis finds a focus for his frustration and begins a program of intense physical training. He buys guns from dealer Easy Andy (Steven Prince) and constructs a sleeve gun to attach on his arm with which he practices drawing his weapons. One night, Travis enters a convenience store moments before a man attempts to rob it and shoots the robber. The shop owner (Victor Argo) takes responsibility and Travis leaves. On another night, 12-year-old child prostitute Iris (Jodie Foster) enters Travis's cab, attempting to escape her pimp Matthew "Sport" (Harvey Keitel). Sport drags Iris from the cab and throws Travis a crumpled twenty-dollar bill, which continually reminds him of her. Travis arranges to meet Iris and attempts to persuade her to quit prostitution. They meet again the next day for breakfast and Travis becomes obsessed with helping her return to her parents' home, sending her money to do so and a letter in which he states he will soon be dead.
After shaving his head into a mohawk, Travis attends a public rally where he attempts to assassinate Senator Palantine, but Secret Service agents notice him and he flees without taking a shot. He returns to his apartment and then drives to the East Village, where he confronts Sport. Travis shoots him, then walks into Iris' brothel and shoots off the bouncer's fingers. After Sport shoots Travis in the neck, wounding him, Travis shoots him dead. Another thug appears and shoots Travis in the arm, but Travis reveals his sleeve gun and kills the thug. The bouncer continues to harass Travis, causing Travis to shoot him in the head and kill him. As a horrified Iris cries, Travis attempts suicide but, out of ammunition, resigns himself to a sofa until police arrive. When they do, he places his index finger against his temple gesturing the act of shooting himself. Recuperating, Travis receives a letter from Iris's parents who thank him for saving her and the media hail him as a hero. Travis then returns to his job and encounters Betsy as a fare. She discusses his newly found fame, but he denies being a hero and drops her off free of charge. He glances anxiously at her in his rear view mirror as he drives away.
Team America: World Police (2004)
Black & White
Team America protects world peace
Team America: World Police
"Team America: World Police, a paramilitary anti-terrorism force, has a home base located inside Mount Rushmore. The team comprises Lisa, a psychologist; Carson, her love interest; Sarah, an alleged psychic; Joe, a jock who is in love with Sarah; and Chris, a martial arts expert who harbors a deep mistrust of actors. The team is led by Spottswoode and a supercomputer named I.N.T.E.L.L.I.G.E.N.C.E.. Having tracked down a group of terrorists in Paris, France, the team inadvertently destroys the Eiffel Tower, the Arc de Triomphe and The Louvre during a gun battle. Carson proposes to Lisa, but a surviving terrorist guns him down. As a replacement, Spottswoode recruits Gary Johnston, a Broadway actor with college majors in Theater and World Languages. Unbeknownst to the team, North Korean dictator Kim Jong-il is supplying international terrorists with weapons of mass destruction.
Using his acting skills, Gary successfully infiltrates a terrorist group in Cairo, Egypt. The team manages to kill the terrorists and foil their plot, but the city is left in ruins. For their actions regarding Cairo, the team is criticized by the Film Actors Guild (F.A.G.), a union of liberal Hollywood actors led by Gary's favorite actor, Alec Baldwin, and also consists of Matt Damon, Liv Tyler, Samuel L. Jackson, Janeane Garofalo, George Clooney, Susan Sarandon, Ethan Hawke, Helen Hunt, Martin Sheen, Danny Glover, Sean Penn, and Tim Robbins. As the team relaxes following their victory, Gary tells Lisa about his childhood: his acting talent caused his brother to be killed by gorillas. While the two express their feelings and have sex, a group of terrorists blow up the Panama Canal as retaliation for what had happened to Cairo.
The Film Actors Guild again blames Team America over the incident regarding the Panama Canal. Gary, realizing that his acting talents have once again resulted in tragedy, abandons the others. The original members depart for Derkaderkastan, but are captured by terrorists, which include the North Korean government. Filmmaker Michael Moore vengefully infiltrates the team's Mount Rushmore base and suicide bombs the area. In North Korea, Kim Jong-il hosts a peace ceremony, inviting the Film Actors Guild and all the world's political leaders. Using the ceremony as a mere distraction, Kim Jong-il plans to detonate a series of bombs throughout the world, reducing every nation to a Third World country. During a depressed state as an alcoholic, Gary finds himself reminded of his responsibility by a speech from a drunken drifter. Upon returning to Mount Rushmore, he finds the area in ruins, though Spottswoode and I.N.T.E.L.L.I.G.E.N.C.E. have survived.
After regaining Spottswoode's trust by giving him a blowjob and undergoing a one-day training course, Gary is sent to North Korea, where he uses his acting skills to free the other members. The team then engages in a violent battle with the Film Actors Guild in which most of the actors are brutally killed. After Gary uses his acting skills to save Chris's life, Chris finally confesses to Gary that he mistrusts actors because when he was 19 years old, he was raped by the cast of the musical Cats. The team then confronts Kim Jong-il. Gary goes on stage and convinces the world's leaders to unite by using the drifter's emotional speech. Kim Jong-il kills Alec Baldwin with an assault rifle, and then is kicked over a balcony by Lisa. He is impaled on a Pickelhaube and is revealed to be an alien cockroach from the planet Gyron. The cockroach then departs in a miniature spaceship, promising to return. As Gary and Lisa begin a relationship, the team reunites, preparing to combat all of the world's remaining terrorists.
Temple Grandin (2010)
Color
Woman with autism learns to cope by studying animals
Temple Grandin
"The film starts off with Temple visiting her aunt for the summer and working on her ranch. She becomes interested in a cattle crush, a device that hugs the cows to "gentle them". One day, while having a panic attack, Temple places herself in the device and it helps to calm her down.
When Temple first attended college, she was very nervous when she moved into her college dorm. Temple had another panic attack in her room, but her mother gave her space by closing the door. Immediately after, her mother had a flashback to when Temple was little and had relentless tantrums. Before that, Temple was diagnosed with classic autism, a severe case of autism in which she seemed aloof, lacked eye contact, had no language, and avoided human affection and touch.
At this time, science classified autism as a form of schizophrenia, blaming mothers as the cause for the disorder and claiming that they were cold and aloof toward their autistic child, naming them "refrigerator mothers". The diagnostician suggested placing Temple in an institution. Temple's mother refused to listen to the diagnostician and helped Temple adapt to the everyday world. Her mother hired a speech therapist, who worked one-on-one with Temple and enabled her to acquire language.
During Temple's college years, she conceptualized the squeeze machine, which was designed for herself because she had a sensory processing disorder and disliked physical affection by people. The machine hugs both sides of her to calm her down, as she controls the pressure, and it makes her relaxed whenever she becomes tense.
Even though the machine worked, the school forced Temple to remove it, claiming that it was some kind of sexual device. Later after spring break ended, Temple and her aunt came back to school to persuade the school to let her use the device. Temple later proved through rigorous scientific study that the machine was only a calming device and, as a result, she was allowed to keep it. She uses this machine for self-medicating reasons ever since.
Later on, the movie flashes back to when Temple was just being admitted to Hampshire Country School. She was expelled from her previous high school because a child taunted her and she hit him with a book. There, she meets a supportive teacher, Dr. Carlock, who encourages her to go further into science as a career and to eventually attend college.
Temple does indeed graduate from college and becomes a worker at a ranch. She rebuilds a new dip, and alters a slaughterhouse for cows so that it is much more humane. The film concludes with an autism fair convention, which Temple and her mother attend.
Temple speaks out from the crowd and tells the audience how she overcame her difficulties and was able to achieve academically, as well as how her mother helped her deal with the everyday world. The people become so fascinated that they request Temple to speak in front of the auditorium.
Tenet (2020)
Color
Man must navigate the murky world of international espionage to save the planet
Tenet
"A CIA agent, the "Protagonist", participates in an extraction operation at a Kyiv opera house. A masked soldier wearing a red trinket saves his life by "un-firing" a bullet through a gunman. After seizing an artifact, the Protagonist is captured by mercenaries. He is tortured and consumes cyanide. He awakens to learn the cyanide was a test of loyalty; his team has been killed and the artifact lost.
The Protagonist is recruited by an organization called Tenet. A scientist briefs him on bullets with "inverted" entropy, meaning they move backward through time. She believes they are manufactured in the future, and other inverted objects seem to be remnants of a war in the future. The Protagonist meets Neil through a CIA contact, and they trace the inverted bullets to arms dealer Priya Singh in Mumbai. They learn that Priya is a member of Tenet, and her cartridges were purchased and inverted by Russian oligarch Andrei Sator.
In London, the Protagonist approaches Sator's estranged wife Kat, an art appraiser who falsely authenticated a forged Goya drawing. She tells him that Sator purchased the drawing from the forger, Arepo, and is using Kat's authentication as blackmail to control her in their relationship. The Protagonist and Neil plot to steal the drawing from a freeport storage facility at the Oslo Airport. There they fend off two masked men who seemingly emerge from a strange device. Afterward, Priya explains that the device is a turnstile, a machine that can invert the entropy of objects and people, and that the masked men were the same person traveling in opposite directions through time.
On the Amalfi Coast, Italy, Kat introduces the Protagonist to Sator, and learns the drawing is intact. Sator plans to kill the Protagonist, but the Protagonist saves Sator's life after Kat attempts to drown him. Sator and the Protagonist strike a partnership to retrieve a case that supposedly contains plutonium-241. In Tallinn, the Protagonist and Neil ambush a convoy and steal the case, which actually contains the artifact lost in Kyiv. They are ambushed by an inverted Sator holding Kat hostage. The Protagonist gives an empty case to Sator, who retreats after receiving it. The Protagonist rescues Kat but is soon captured and taken to a warehouse with a turnstile.
In the warehouse, the inverted Sator shoots Kat with an inverted round, while the non-inverted Sator demands the location of the artifact. Tenet operatives led by Ives arrive and rescue the Protagonist, and Sator escapes into the turnstile. The group takes Kat through the turnstile, inverting them and reversing Kat's bullet wound. The now-inverted Protagonist travels back in time to the ambush site, where he attempts to retrieve the artifact but is intercepted by Sator. The Protagonist's car is overturned and catches fire, but Neil saves him and reveals he is a member of Tenet.
The Protagonist, Neil, and Kat travel back in time to the freeport in Oslo. The Protagonist fights his past self, enters the turnstile, and reverts, followed by Neil and Kat. Later, Priya explains that Sator is collecting the artifacts to assemble an "algorithm" which is capable of catastrophically inverting the entropy of the Earth.
Sator square, providing the film title, location of the opening sequence (Kyiv Opera), and character or firm names (A. Sator; Arepo the Goya forger; and Rotas Security in Oslo Freeport)
Kat reveals Sator is dying from pancreatic cancer. They learn that Sator is using a dead man's switch to trigger the algorithm. Kat believes Sator will travel back in time to commit suicide during their vacation in Vietnam, so that the world will die with him at the last moment he was happy. The Protagonist, Neil, Kat, and Tenet troops travel back in time to that day, where Kat disguises herself as her past self to keep Sator alive long enough for Tenet to secure the algorithm. Tenet tracks the algorithm to Sator's hometown in Northern Siberia, where it is heavily guarded. They launch a "temporal pincer movement", with non-inverted red team troops and inverted blue team troops making a simultaneous assault. At a critical moment, an inverted blue-team soldier wearing a red trinket sacrifices himself to save the Protagonist and Ives. Meanwhile, in Vietnam, Kat kills Sator just as the Protagonist secures the algorithm.
The Protagonist, Neil, and Ives break up the algorithm and part ways. The Protagonist notices that Neil is wearing the red trinket. Neil reveals he was recruited by the Protagonist in the future and this mission is, from his perspective, the end of a long friendship. Since she knows too much, Priya attempts to have Kat assassinated, but she is killed by the Protagonist, who realizes he is the mastermind behind Tenet.
Terms of Endearment (1983)
Color
Woman is dying of cancer
Terms of Endearment
"Aurora (Shirley MacLaine) and Emma Greenway Horton (Debra Winger) are mother and daughter, both searching for deep romantic love. Beginning with Emma's early childhood, Aurora reveals how difficult and caring she can be by nearly climbing into Emma's crib in order to make sure her daughter is breathing--only to be reassured once Emma starts crying (after physically waking her up). The two have an extremely close love-hate mother/daughter relationship as Emma grows up.
The film follows both women across several years as each find their reasons for going on living and finding joy. Emma gets married immediately upon graduating High School in the Houston area, while her best friend Patsy (Lisa Hart Caroll) continues on to college, eventually becoming successful and rich in New York City. Emma has two children that she and her husband, college professor Flap Horton (Jeff Daniels), struggle to support in Des Moines, Iowa, and she later telephones her mother and asks for money when she is pregnant with her third child. Aurora, not knowing by the telephone call that Emma is already several months pregnant, wants Emma to get an abortion. Emma's once-passionate marriage to Flap becomes strained, thanks mostly to his philandering, and she finds a lover in small-town, older banker Sam Burns (John Lithgow), with whom she eventually has a romantic love affair as well.
At the same time, Aurora cultivates the attention of several gentlemen in the area, some rather bizarre, but is attracted to her next door neighbor of fifteen years, the philandering, retired astronaut Garrett Breedlove (Jack Nicholson). Garrett has been drinking heavily for years and partied with very young women at his home. Aurora and Garrett eventually go on a lunch date, make love and develop a tenuous relationship. One scene shows them speeding in his open Corvette convertible along a quiet beach as he recklessly sits on top of the car and steers with his foot.
Emma returns to her mother's home in Houston after discovering her husband is having an affair with a young grad student named Janice, who attends the same college where Flap teaches. However, Emma's appearance along with her three children spooks Garrett, who has been single for a long time. After re-assessing his relationship with Aurora, Garrett breaks up with her, greatly upsetting Aurora. While Emma is in Houston, Flap telephones her and she reluctantly returns home to Iowa, attempting reconciliation with him. Both accept that they have each made mistakes.
Emma ends the relationship with Sam after Flap accepts a new teaching position in Kearney, Nebraska. Although she does not want to, Emma agrees to relocate to further Flap's career. However, Emma soon discovers that Janice is attending the same college where Flap now works, realizing that Flap followed her to Nebraska. With her daughter in a stroller, Emma confronts Janice before taking her daughter to the doctor's office so both can get flu shots. While administering the injection, Emma's doctor notices two large lumps under her armpit. Although Emma is only in her 30s, the doctor orders a biopsy and discovers she has a "malignancy."
Emma's childhood friend Patsy invites her to New York City for her first vacation without her children. However, after arriving, Emma feels out-of-place amongst Patsy's friends and returns home early to begin treatment for her illness. Later, her doctor informs her that the drugs she was taking did not "have the desired effect," and that she will not survive her illness. Flap and Aurora remain by her bedside in the hospital for weeks. Although devastated and exhausted, Aurora is still very supportive and loving towards Emma. Garrett flies to Lincoln, Nebraska and surprises Aurora, and the two proclaim their love for each other.
After a discussion in the hospital cafeteria between Aurora and Flap, in which Aurora tells him he doesn't have the energy for a job, chasing women, and managing a family, Aurora tells Flap she will raise his and Emma's children in Houston. Although Patsy, who has no children of her own, wants to adopt Melanie, Flap and Emma do not want their children to be separated. Emma, not wanting Janice to raise her children and Flap, feeling like a failure as both a father and a husband, agree that living with Aurora is best for their children.
As Emma's time begins to run short, Tommy shows open resentment toward his mother due to circumstances such as social class, fights between his parents, and Tommy's perception of feeling unloved. Emma reassures all three children they are loved, and after an altercation with Aurora, Tommy weeps in her arms. Emma dies later that night. Following Emma's funeral, Emma and Aurora's friends and family gather in Aurora's back yard for a wake. Garrett shows love toward each of Emma's children and helps Tommy cope during the wake. The film closes on Aurora, sitting next to her grandchild Melanie.
The 6th Day (2000)
Color
Man must fight to get his life back from his clone
The 6th Day
"In 2015, cloning technology is sufficiently advanced that the "Sixth Day" laws prohibit reproducing a complete human. Michael Drucker, the owner of cloning company Replacement Technologies, hires charter helicopter pilot Adam Gibson and partner Hank Morgan for a ski trip. Due to Drucker's prominence, the two must first undergo blood and eye tests to verify their identities and aptitude. On the day of Drucker's arrival, the same as Gibson's birthday, Gibson finds that his family dog Oliver -- which belongs to his daughter Clara -- has died, and Morgan offers to fly Drucker instead to allow Gibson time to have the pet cloned. After visiting the RePet shop, Gibson reconsiders and instead gets Clara a Sim-Pal doll.
Gibson returns home and discovers that not only has Oliver already been cloned, but a purported clone of himself is celebrating with his family. Replacement Technologies security agents intent on killing Gibson give chase. He seeks refuge at Morgan's apartment after the police betray him to the agents. Minutes later, Tripp, a religious anti-cloning fundamentalist, kills Morgan and informs Gibson this Morgan was a clone. Tripp then admits having killed both Drucker and the real Morgan on the mountaintop earlier that day. Tripp then commits suicide to avoid being captured by Drucker's security team.
Gibson sneaks into Replacement Technologies and finds Dr. Griffin Weir, the scientist behind Drucker's human-cloning technology. Weir confirms Tripp's story about Drucker and Morgan, adding that clones of them were made to cover up the incident using data from the earlier medical and eye exams. However, they believed Gibson was flying the helicopter and accidentally cloned him as well. Drucker's security has been trying to kill Gibson to keep the cloning operation a secret; the real Drucker was cloned after dying three years before, and could lose all his assets if the revelation became public, since clones are devoid of all rights. Weir, sympathetic with Gibson's plight, gives Gibson a memory disk of the Drucker clone but warns him that Drucker may go after his family.
Weir learns that his wife -- whom he had cloned after she died five years ago -- was dying of a traditionally childhood disease. When he discovers the other clones also have shorter lifespans due to fatal diseases programmed into them, he confronts Drucker, who explains the illnesses were meant to ensure their obedience. Incensed by Weir's promise not to clone his wife or anybody else again, Drucker kills the scientist, intending to later clone Weir and Weir's wife with their recent memories erased.
Drucker orders his agents to abduct Gibson's family in exchange for the disk. Gibson devises a plan with his doppelg?nger to destroy Drucker's facility and save his family in the process. Gibson gives himself up and learns he was actually the clone all along. Drucker's agents forcibly extract the Gibson clone's memory to find the real Gibson, who hid in the helicopter on the way to the Replacement Technologies complex to rescue his family and plant a bomb. The Gibson clone fights off Drucker's agents and Drucker -- who was mortally wounded in the chaos -- tries to clone himself. However, the malfunctioning machinery causes the new Drucker to have a disfigured appearance. Drucker pursues the Gibson clone onto the roof with his men and opens fire as the clone desperately seeks an escape. The real Gibson arrives after spiriting his family to safety, and together they hold off Drucker's goons. The Gibson clone pilots the helicopter at Drucker with a remote control, causing Drucker to jump onto a glass roof to avoid its blades, but the glass breaks and sends him falling to his death. The two Gibsons successfully get away as the complex blows up.
Now having a more moderate view of cloning, the original Gibson arranges for his clone to move to Argentina to start a satellite office of their charter business. The clone's existence is kept a secret, especially upon discovering that his DNA has no embedded illnesses, giving him a chance at a full life. As a parting gift to the real Gibson's family, the clone gives them Hank's RePet cat. The real Gibson gives the clone a flying send-off.
The Abyss (1989)
Color
When a nuclear submarine sinks, divers discover an extraterrestrial power is at work
The Abyss
"A US ballistic missile submarine, the USS Montana, sinks near the edge of the Cayman Trough after an accidental encounter with an unidentified submerged object. As Soviet ships and submarines head towards the area in an attempt to salvage the sub, and with a hurricane moving in, the Americans decide that the quickest way to mount a rescue is to insert a SEAL team onto the Deep Core, a privately owned, experimental underwater oil drilling platform, located 1,700 feet (518 meters) below sea level, which will serve as their base of operations. The designer of the platform, Dr. Lindsey Brigman, insists on accompanying the SEAL team, even though her estranged husband, Virgil "Bud" Brigman, is currently serving as the platform's foreman.
As the SEALs and the platform crew attempt to discover the cause of the Montana's failure, they spot strange creatures they cannot identify, only later discovering that the creatures have intelligence and dubbing them "NTIs"--"non-terrestrial intelligence". On orders from the SEAL leader Lt. Hiram Coffey and without the platform crew's knowledge, the SEALs use one of the platform's mini-subs to retrieve a warhead from a Trident missile aboard the Montana. However, they do so at an inopportune time, as the hurricane strikes the surface and they are unable to release the tether from the rig's surface support ship, the Benthic Explorer. Tossed by the storm, the Explorer's entire crane and cable system break off and fall into the water. The crane barely misses the platform when it hits the ocean floor, but falls into the trench, its weight pulling the tether and the whole platform towards the drop-off. The rig hangs up on the very edge of the cliff, preventing a plummet into the depths. Several crew members are lost due to flooding in the platform, while the surviving crew and SEALs tend to wounds and attempt to restore the platform's critical power.
An NTI probe in the form of a living column of water explores the platform, and while the platform crew believes it to be harmless, Coffey sees it as a threat. The platform crew realizes Coffey is suffering from high-pressure nervous syndrome, which is making him paranoid. Using one of the remote operated vehicles to spy on Coffey from outside the platform, they discover he is planning on sending the warhead down into the chasm to destroy whatever may be down there. Bud attempts to subdue Coffey before he can leave the platform in one of the mini-subs, but he is unable to do so. Bud and Lindsey chase Coffey in the station's other sub; they manage to damage Coffey's sub, causing it to fall into the trench, where Coffey is killed when the pressure crushes the vehicle. However, Bud and Lindsey are too late to stop the remote vehicle and its attached warhead, on a pre-programmed course and set to explode within 3 hours, from dropping into the trench. Furthermore, their sub is flooding due to a rupture in the hull. Lindsey realizes that the sub's crippled systems, the distance between the sub and the platform, and the fact that their sole source of oxygen is a backpack and regulator that are hard-mounted to Bud's diving helmet combine to leave just one solution. After being convinced, Bud locks his helmet onto his diving suit, watches Lindsey drown, and then tows her body back to Deep Core, hoping that the cold water shocked her body into deep hibernation. The Deep Core crew, trained and equipped for medical emergencies, is able to restart Lindsey's heart via CPR and a defibrillator. The two reaffirm their lost love.
The crew tracks the warhead, finding the remote vehicle has failed from the pressure and landed on a ledge partway down the trench. The SEALs have brought along special diving equipment featuring a liquid breathing apparatus that would allow for a human to dive that far. However, only one of the two surviving SEALs is trustworthy and his injuries prevent him from using it. Bud volunteers; he will not be able to talk and is instead forced to communicate through a keypad on his suit. Bud begins his 7 km dive into the trench, reaches the ledge where the warhead sits, and is guided by the SEAL in disarming it. However, the dive has taken too long for Bud to return to the top of the trench before the oxygen in the liquid runs out. Bud, aware this could happen, writes that he has only five minutes left, and despite Lindsey's pleas to return, decides to remain on the ledge. He types his love to Lindsey in a final message, saying, "Knew this was a one-way ticket, but you know I had to come. Love you, wife."
As Bud lies on the ledge awaiting his death, bright lights appear below him and he encounters an aquatic NTI. The being reaches out and takes Bud's hand and then leads him even further down to a massive NTI spacecraft sitting 8 km deep in the trench. Deep within the ship, the NTIs provide Bud with an atmosphere that allows him to breathe. The NTIs replay Bud's message to Lindsey for him, and they exchange meaningful looks.
On the platform, believing Bud to be dead, Lindsey and the crew are surprised to find Bud radioing back to them, telling them to get ready. The crew observes something very large quickly rising out of the trench, and sees the lights from the NTI spacecraft as it rises. The enormous ship eventually surfaces, lifting many of the naval ships out of the water and leaving them aground on the NTI ship's hull, as well as the platform itself. Leaving the platform on the surface of the ship, the platform crew and remaining SEALS are surprised to find that they are fine and not suffering from decompression sickness after rising so fast out of the water, and credit the NTIs. Bud emerges from the NTI ship, and he and Lindsey rush to meet each other; engaging in a passionate kiss.
The Accountant (2016)
Color
Financial forensics expert and trained assassin goes to work for a tech mogul
The Accountant
"As a child, Chris Wolff had been diagnosed with a high-functioning form of autism and was offered an opportunity to live at Harbor Neuroscience Institute in New Hampshire. Although Chris had bonded with Justine (Alison Wright), the mute daughter of the institute's director, his father declined, believing that Chris should overcome the hardships inherent in his condition. The pressure of raising a special-needs child later drove Chris's mother to leave him and his neurotypical younger brother, Braxton. Their overbearing father, an army psychological warfare officer, arranged for them to receive extensive military training around the world, which Christian now uses to protect himself in his dangerous life.
Now an adult, Chris (Ben Affleck), a hapless mental calculator, works as a forensic accountant, tracking insider financial deceptions for numerous criminal enterprises. His clients are brokered to him via phone by an unidentified woman's voice, which originates from a restricted number. As an auditor of criminal enterprises, he accepts payment both in cash and in various non-cash forms such as rare comics, gold bricks, and paintings by famous artists. Pursuing him is Ray King (J.K. Simmons), the director of FinCEN in the Treasury Department, who recognizes Chris by the alias "The Accountant". King blackmails young data analyst Marybeth Medina (Cynthia Addai-Robinson) into helping him identify and arrest the Accountant prior to his retirement, threatening to expose her undeclared criminal past (for the felony of lying on a federal employment application) if she refuses. King's only leads are Chris' numerous cover names.
The voice gives Chris his latest assignment, auditing robotics corporation Living Robotics, whose in-house accountant, Dana Cummings (Anna Kendrick), has found suspicious financial discrepancies. The company's founder and CEO, Lamar Blackburn (John Lithgow), and his sister and associate Rita (Jean Smart) willingly cooperate with Chris' investigation, while CFO Ed Chilton (Andy Umberger) dismisses Dana's findings as a mistake. However, after Dana provides him the company's records, Chris quickly discovers that over $61 million has been embezzled from the company. The following night, Chilton, who is diabetic, is confronted in his home by a hitman (Jon Bernthal), who forces him to self-administer a fatal insulin overdose. Later, Lamar surmises to Chris that Chilton embezzled the money and was driven to suicide out of guilt. Upset by Chilton's death, Lamar closes the investigation, leaving Chris distraught from unfinished work.
Meanwhile, Medina realizes Chris's cover identities, including his current name, are all famous mathematicians (Carl Gauss, Lou Carroll, and Christian Wolff). Using facial recognition to track the Accountant leads her to a shootout in which several members of the Gambino crime family had been killed. Analyzing a sound recording, Medina isolates Chris' voice, determining that he is muttering the nursery rhyme Solomon Grundy to himself, a behavior consistent with autism spectrum disorder. The trail leads her to the modest accounting office that Chris uses as a cover: ZZZ Accounting, in Plainfield, Illinois, dividing his profits through four cash-only businesses in his block. She learns that Chris has written off hefty tax returns with donations to the Harbor Neuroscience Institute.
Chris and Dana are targeted for assassination, but Chris, having retained the skills taught to him by his father to protect himself in his dangerous life, kills his own pursuers and rescues Dana, taking her to the trailer where he keeps the only things he values, including an original Jackson Pollock painting among his non-cash payments. While in hiding, they realize that the embezzled money was reinvested in affiliated companies in order to raise Living Robotics' stock price. Concluding that Rita is behind everything, Chris goes to her house, only to find her dead, murdered by the hitman, who escapes just as Chris is arriving. Thus, Lamar is exposed as the real mastermind.
King and Medina arrive at Chris' house and find evidence (cameras hidden in bird houses and an M134 minigun in the garage) that he is the Accountant. King reveals that Chris had been arrested after he started a melee at his remarried mother's funeral that led to his father's death, taking a deputy's bullet meant for Chris. In jail, Chris had been mentored by Francis Silverberg (Jeffrey Tambor), a former accountant and fixer for the Gambino crime family, who subsequently became an informant for the United States government. Silverberg was later released and tortured to death by the Gambino family, which drove an enraged Chris to escape from jail and exact revenge on the people responsible.
King confides to Medina that he was present at the shootout and that Chris spared his life after questioning him about being a "good dad". Afterwards, King had been contacted by the voice and provided with evidence Chris had compiled on criminals who violated his moral code, helping King rise to his position of director. King tells Medina that her investigation of the Accountant has been a test, and she has been selected to replace King, after his retirement, as the voice's contact in the Treasury Department.
Chris attacks Lamar's mansion and kills the mercenary guards led by the hitman. After a shootout, the hitman recognizes the nursery rhyme that Chris mutters to himself as he tends to his wounds. He confronts Chris and reveals himself to be Braxton, who had become estranged after their mother's funeral. Still resentful towards their mother for leaving, Braxton blames Chris for getting their father killed. The two reconcile after a hand-to-hand fight, and Lamar shows himself to chastise Chris. After Chris proceeds to kill Lamar without objection from Braxton, the two amiably agree to meet up another time. Later, the voice relays Chris's evidence on Lamar's criminal activities to Medina, who has accepted King's offer, and she dismantles Living Robotics. Chris then bids farewell to Dana by sending her the Pollock (covered up by the painting Dogs Playing Poker, a reference to their initial conversation), and leaves to find Braxton.
In a scene at the Harbor Neuroscience Institute, the voice is revealed to be a computer-generated voice from a powerful computer, given to the Institute as a donation by Chris. The computer is used by a (still mute) adult Justine to communicate, and also fulfill her duties as Chris' partner.
The Accused (1988)
Color
Woman is raped in a bar, and fights to get the spectators brought to justice
The Accused
On April 18, 1987, at a local bar, 23-year-old waitress Sarah Tobias (Jodie Foster) is brutally gang raped by three men who are cheered and encouraged by onlookers. Based upon a lack of strong evidence, including Sarah's own checkered past and her demeanor before the rape, Deputy District Attorney Kathryn Murphy (Kelly McGillis) offers the three men a plea bargain to a lesser offense which, although having a similar sentencing range, would make them eligible for parole sooner. Enraged, Sarah feels betrayed by Murphy. Against advice of the District Attorney, Murphy prosecutes three onlookers for their solicitation in encouraging the other men to rape Sarah. At trial, Sarah is finally able to tell her story, but is unable to identify the onlookers. A conviction seems unlikely until the fraternity brother of one of the attackers testifies in a flashback as to what he recalls. With all three onlookers convicted, Sarah's attackers will likely not be paroled.
The Adderall Diaries (2016)
Color
Author's fascination with a high-profile murder case brings his own dark past into focus
The Adderall Diaries
"Stephen Elliott is a successful author with a troubling childhood. His mother died when he was a child and his father was physically and psychologically abusive. He has lived most of his life behaving very destructively and abusing drugs and committing petty vandalism.
He had recently gotten a deal to write his next book and decided to write about Hans Reiser, a software guru who developed the Reiser filesystem. He had a volatile marriage and his wife has gone missing. Despite his claims that his wife has simply gone into hiding to hurt him, the cops arrested him for her murder and he is now on trial. Stephen is attending court every day and following the case, in hopes of writing a best seller.
His previous book was a memoir about his childhood that is about to get released. At the release party, he is reading from his book talking about how his late father hurt and abused him and his father Neil Elliott stands up in the crowd and calls him a liar. This causes him to question his childhood memories. In despair, he gets high, goes to a club, and sleeps with a random person. He wakes up in the middle of the next day and checks his voicemails, which include his publisher dropping him for missing an important meeting, and a girl he was starting a relationship with dumping him. To make matters worse, he realizes that he also slept through the jury announcing their verdict on Hans Reiser, finding him guilty of murder.
He connects with his father and realizes that he is dying and wants to make amends. While talking, he figures out that while Neil made some parenting mistakes, Stephen is falsely remembering his father being downright abusive. A recurring memory of his father handcuffing him until he bled was because Stephen was trying to kill himself and Neil was desperately trying to restrain him.
In the end, he writes over the course of two days about making amends with his father. His agent reads it and loves it. She agrees to find him another publisher. Meanwhile, it is revealed in the news that Hans has finally admitted to killing his wife because she was going to leave him and take his kids and he killed her in anger. He has shown the cops where her body is buried in exchange for a lesser sentence.
The Adjustment Bureau (2011)
Color
Man fights the Adjustment Bureau to be with the woman he loves
The Adjustment Bureau
"In 2006, Brooklyn Congressman David Norris unsuccessfully runs for the United States Senate. While rehearsing his concession speech, David meets Elise Sellas. Inspired by her, David delivers a candid speech that is well-received, making him a favorite for the 2010 Senate race.
A month later, David prepares for a new job. At a park near David's house, Harry Mitchell receives an assignment from Richardson, his boss: Ensure David spills coffee on his shirt by 7:05 AM so he misses his Manhattan bus. Mitchell falls asleep and misses David, who encounters Elise on the bus and gets her phone number. David arrives at work to find his friend Charlie Traynor frozen in time and being examined by unfamiliar men in suits. David attempts to escape, but is incapacitated and taken to a warehouse. Richardson explains he and his men are from the Adjustment Bureau. They ensure people's lives proceed as determined by "the plan", a complex document Richardson attributes to "the Chairman".[7][8] The Bureau confiscates Elise's phone number, and David is warned that if he ever reveals the Bureau to anyone else he will be "reset"--akin to being lobotomized--and that he is not meant to meet Elise again.
For the next three years David rides the same bus hoping to see Elise. He finally encounters her and they reconnect; he learns that she dances for Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet. The Bureau tries to stop him from building their relationship by causing their schedules to separate them. David races across town, fighting the Bureau's abilities to "control his choices" to ensure he will meet Elise. During the chase the Bureau uses ordinary doorways to travel instantly to locations many blocks away. Senior official Thompson takes over David's adjustment and takes him to the warehouse, where David argues he has the right to choose his own path. Thompson says humanity received free will after the height of the Roman Empire, but then brought the Dark Ages upon itself. The Bureau took control again and created the Renaissance and the Enlightenment, but when free will returned in 1910 it resulted in the world wars and the Cold War, again forcing the Bureau to retake control and eliminate free will. Thompson implies that without Elise's influence David might become President of the United States and benefit the world, and warns that if he stays with her, he will ruin both of their futures. Thompson causes Elise to sprain her ankle at a performance to demonstrate his power, and David abandons her at the hospital to save them from the fate Thompson described.
Eleven months later, Charlie tells David of Elise's imminent wedding as he campaigns again. Harry contacts David via secret meetings in the rain and near water, which prevents the Bureau from tracking them. Harry reveals that Thompson exaggerated the negative consequences of David and Elise's relationship, and teaches David how to use doors to evade the Bureau's adjustments. Just before the wedding David reaches Elise, reveals the Bureau's existence to her, and shows her how he travels through doors. The Bureau pursues them across New York City. David decides to find the Chairman to end the chase; Elise wavers briefly, but accompanies David. They enter the Bureau's offices and evade its forces.
David and Elise find themselves trapped on the observation deck of the GE Building. They declare their love for each other and kiss before David can be reset. When they let go of each other, the Bureau members have gone. Thompson appears but is interrupted by Harry, who shows him a revised plan from the Chairman that allows David and Elise to stay together. After commending them for showing such devotion to each other, Harry tells the couple they are free to leave. The film concludes with David and Elise walking through the streets, as Harry speculates that the Chairman's plan may be to prepare humanity so it can write its own plans.
The Adventures of Tintin (2011)
Black & White
The adventures of fearless young journalist Tintin and his trusty dog, Snowy
The Adventures of Tintin
"In 1955, 17-year-old journalist Tintin and his dog Snowy are browsing in an outdoor market in Brussels, Belgium. Tintin buys a miniature model of a ship, the Unicorn, but is accosted by an Interpol officer, Barnaby, and a dreaded ship collector, Ivan Ivanovitch Sakharine, who both unsuccessfully tried to make their purchases. Tintin takes the ship home, but it is accidentally broken in an incident between Snowy and a cat in his apartment. A parchment scroll slips out of the ship, and rolls under the furniture, unnoticed by Tintin. Meanwhile, bumbling police detectives Thomson and Thompson are on the trail of a pickpocket, Aristides Silk.
After a visit to Maritime Library to search for answers regarding the Unicorn, Tintin returns to find that the Unicorn has been stolen, suspecting Sakharine. He visits Marlinspike Hall and accuses him of the theft. After arguing, Tintin begins to notice that Sakharine's model is not broken, realizing that there are two Unicorn models. After returning home, which appeared to be ransacked, Snowy shows him the scroll. After reading an old message written on it, they are interrupted by the arrival of Barnaby, who is then assasinatated while attempting to recover the Unicorn. Tintin places the scroll in his wallet, but it is stolen by Silk the next morning, after a scuffle with the police detectives.
Later, Tintin is abducted by accomplices of Sakharine, and imprisoned on the SS Karaboudjan. He learns that Sakharine formed an alliance with the ship's staff and led a mutiny to take over control. On board, Tintin meets Captain Haddock, the ship's captain. Haddock is permanently drunk and thus unaware of the happenings on board his ship. Tintin, Haddock, and Snowy eventually outrun the crew, and escape from the Karaboudjan in a lifeboat. The ship fails to ram their boat, because they instead rammed an empty lifeboat the captain accidentally released during his escape. Presuming them to have survived by the number of lifeboats, Sakharine sends a seaplane to find and capture them. The trio seize the plane, and use it to fly towards the fictitious Moroccan port of Bagghar. However, the seaplane crashes in the desert due to low fuel.
While trekking through the desert, Haddock hallucinates, and remembers facts about an ancestor of his, Sir Francis Haddock, who was a 17th-century captain of the Unicorn. Sir Francis' treasure-laden ship was attacked by the crew of a pirate ship, led by Red Rackham and after his eventual surrender, Sir Francis sank the Unicorn, and most of the treasure, to prevent it from falling into Rackham's hands. It implies that there were three Unicorn models, each containing a scroll; together, the scrolls can reveal coordinates of location of the sunken Unicorn and its treasure.
The third model is in Bagghar, possessed by Omar ben Salaad. Sakharine causes a distraction in a concert, that results in him successfully stealing the third scroll. After a chase through the city, he gains all the scrolls by having his men toss Captain Haddock and Snowy in the water, to force Tintin to go after them instead of saving the scrolls. After the boat leaves, Tintin is ready to give up, but is persuaded by Haddock to continue. With help from officers Thompson and Thomson, Tintin and Haddock track Sakharine down, who is revealed to be a descendant of Red Rackham. They head back to port and set up a trap, but Sakharine uses his pistol to resist arrest. When his men fail to save him, Sakharine challenges Haddock to a final showdown. Sakharine and Haddock sword-duel with cranes and swords eventually resulting in Sakharine being defeated and pushed overboard by Haddock. When climbing ashore, Sakharine is arrested by Thomson and Thompson.
Guided by the three scrolls indicating the location of Marlinspike Hall, Tintin and Haddock find there some of the treasure and a clue to the Unicorn's location. Both men agree on setting up an expedition to find the shipwreck.
The Alamo (2004)
Color
Texans stood their ground in 1836 when they were attacked by Mexican forces
The Alamo
"The film begins in March 1836 in the town of San Antonio de Bexar, showing the aftermath of the Battle of the Alamo. The film then flashes back to a year earlier. Sam Houston (Dennis Quaid) attends a party where he tries to persuade people to migrate to Texas and encounters David Crockett (Billy Bob Thornton), recently defeated in his bid for re-election to Congress. In San Felipe, Texas, the Texas provisional government is meeting to discuss what action to take after the recent capture of the Alamo and Bexar by the Texans at the first Battle of San Antonio de Bexar. Texas has rebelled against Mexico, and its dictatorial president Santa Anna is personally leading an army to retake the Alamo. The Texan War Party calls for the Texas army to depart Bexar, cross into Mexico and confront the Mexican forces at Matamoros. The Opposition Party seeks to rebuild the Texan army and establish a permanent government.
The provisional government votes out Sam Houston as commander of the Texas army; a disgusted Houston tells Jim Bowie to go to San Antonio and destroy the Alamo. The provisional government in turn orders William Barret Travis (Patrick Wilson) to take command of the Alamo. Travis, feeling that the Alamo's small force cannot withstand the Mexican Army, sends a rider to deliver a plea for reinforcements. As small groups of Texans arrive, Travis oversees defense preparations, hoping that enough reinforcements will arrive before the inevitable attack.
Crockett arrives in San Antonio, where he finds the other defenders impatient for Santa Anna to arrive. When Santa Anna arrives earlier than anticipated, the Texans retire to the Alamo compound despite its vulnerability, and begin fortifying it as best they can. Travis continues to write for reinforcements, but only few men arrive.
Santa Anna's army surrounds the compound, and the siege begins. Bowie meets with Mexican General Manuel Castrillon (Castulo Guerra) to talk things over, but Travis stubbornly fires a cannon at the Mexican camp, abruptly ending their conversation. Bowie returns to tell Travis that Santa Anna has offered the opportunity to surrender. Travis passes this to his men, but the defenders decide to stay and fight. With his hopes of an easy victory foiled, Santa Anna orders to grant no quarter against the Alamo defenders. Bowie becomes ill and is rendered bedridden.
On the final day of the siege, the Mexicans launch a surprise attack before dawn. Despite taking heavy casualties, they breach the walls of the mission, and Travis is killed. Overwhelmed, the Texans fall back to the buildings, where they, including Bowie, are all slain. Crockett and the last remaining defenders retreat to the church, where they make their last stand. Crockett is taken prisoner, and in a final act of defiance he mockingly offers to safely lead Santa Anna to Sam Houston. Santa Anna angrily orders Crockett to be executed.
Days later, after hearing that the Alamo has been taken, Houston, once again in command of the Texan army, orders a general retreat eastward. They are pursued by the victorious Mexican Army, led by the confident Santa Anna. In an attempt to catch the retreating Texans, and against the advice of his officers, Santa Anna splits his army, leaving only a few hundred men to defend him. A few weeks later, Houston halts his retreat near the San Jacinto, where he decides to face the Mexicans in a final stand. With the support of two cannons and a small group of mounted Tejanos, Houston surprises Santa Anna's army during its afternoon siesta, and in the ensuing rout the vengeful Texans massacre at least seven hundred Mexican soldiers and capture Santa Anna. In exchange for his life, Santa Anna agrees to order all Mexican troops to withdraw from Texas and accept Texan independence. The film ends with Crockett standing on a roof of the Alamo, playing his violin and overlooking the compound.
The American President (1995)
Color
US President is romantically internested in lobbyist
The American President
"Popular Democratic President Andrew Shepherd is preparing to run for re-election. The President and his staff, led by Chief of Staff and best friend A.J. MacInerney, attempt to consolidate the administration's 63% approval rating by passing a moderate crime control bill. However, support for the bill in both parties is tepid: conservatives do not want it, and liberals think it is too weak. If it passes, however, Shepherd's re-election is presumed by his staff to be a shoo-in, and Shepherd resolves to announce the bill, and the Congressional support to pass it, by his State of the Union Address.
With the President of France about to arrive in the United States to attend a state dinner in his honor, Shepherd -- widowed when his wife died of cancer three years earlier -- is placed in an awkward predicament when his cousin Judith, with whom he had planned to attend the dinner, gets sick. Shepherd is momentarily taken aback when he realizes that his staff has occasionally portrayed him as a lonely widower for political gain, but also that it is true: he is, in fact, a lonely widower.
The President's attention soon focuses on Sydney Ellen Wade, just hired by an environmental lobbying firm to persuade the President to pass legislation committing his Administration to substantially reduce carbon dioxide emissions. During their first meeting, Shepherd and Wade are immediately intrigued by each other. At this meeting, Shepherd strikes a deal with Wade: if she can secure 24 votes for the environmental bill by the date of the State of the Union, he will deliver the last 10 votes. Whatever his personal feelings toward Wade, he expresses this to his staff, especially the pragmatic A.J., as a sound political move. He believes Wade will not be able to get enough votes to meet her side of the deal, thus releasing Shepherd from responsibility if the bill fails to pass.
Later that evening, in a series of phone calls, Shepherd invites Wade to the state dinner. During the State dinner and subsequent occasions, the couple fall in love. When Republican presidential hopeful Senator Bob Rumson learns "the President's got a girlfriend," he steps up his attacks on Shepherd and Wade, focusing on Wade's activist past and maligning Shepherd's ethics and his family values. The President refuses to respond to these attacks, which drives his approval ratings lower and costs him crucial political support, without which his crime bill seems doomed to failure.
At the White House Christmas Party, Wade is dejected about her meeting that day with three Congressmen from Michigan about the environmental bill and how it was a dismal failure; in the process, she inadvertently mentions to the President and A.J. that the Congressmen in question said the only bill they were more interested in defeating than the President's crime bill was Wade's environmental bill. Shepherd and A.J. are conflicted by this information both by how they learned it and because it reveals that their crime bill is in jeopardy. As Wade's boyfriend, Shepherd knows that she was venting about a bad day, but as the President, he cannot ignore the opportunity to pass the crime bill by going back on his deal with her as a political operative.
Eventually, Wade does manage to get enough votes to meet her part of the deal. However, in the meantime, Shepherd's staff discovers he is exactly three votes short, with no other apparent options to acquire them except by shelving the environmental bill, thus solidifying the support of the three Congressmen from Michigan -- which he agrees to do. This results in disaster for Wade as she is immediately fired from her lobbyist job for failing to achieve her objectives, as well as seemingly jeopardizing her political reputation. She visits the White House to break up with Shepherd and says that she has a job possibility in Hartford, Connecticut. While he tries to politically justify his actions by defending the crime bill as his top priority, she rebuffs him for expending too much political capital on a weakly-worded bill with little chance of preventing crime. She concludes, "Mr. President, you got bigger problems than losing me. You just lost my vote."[9]
On the morning that he is to deliver his State of the Union Address, and after an argument with A.J. the previous evening, Shepherd makes a surprise appearance in the White House press room and rebukes Rumson's attacks on his values and character, as well as his relentless innuendos that Wade prostituted herself for political favors. He declares he will send the controversial environmental bill to Congress with a massive 20% cut in fossil fuels -- far more than the 10% originally envisioned -- and that he is withdrawing his support for the weak crime bill, promising to write a stronger one in due time including significant gun control measures. His passionate defense of those things in which he believes, in contrast to his earlier passive and measured behavior, galvanizes the press and his staff.
Shepherd declares he is "gonna stand at her front door till she lets me in. And I'm not leaving till I get her back."[9] However, Wade enters the Oval Office before he can leave. The couple reconcile and the President, accompanied by Wade, leaves to give his State of the Union Address. The film ends with Shepherd handing Wade a bouquet of roses and dogwoods (the state flower of her native Virginia), and entering the House chamber to thunderous applause.
The American Side (2016)
Color
After a death, a Buffalo P.I. finds a plot to build a device conceived by inventor Tesla
The American Side
Private eye Charlie Paczynski gets more than he bargained for when a failed blackmail scheme takes him to Niagara Falls and lands him in the middle of a conspiracy involving the lost design for a revolutionary invention by Nikola Tesla.
The Andromeda Strain (1971)
Color
After a satellite crashes in New Mexico, a deadly virus from space kills everyone
The Andromeda Strain
"The story is told in flashback by Dr. Jeremy Stone, testifying to an unseen committee. After a satellite, a U.S. government project code-named Scoop, crashes near the small rural town of Piedmont, New Mexico, almost all of the town's inhabitants die quickly. A military satellite recovery team tries to recover the satellite but is stopped in mid-sentence. Suspecting that the satellite brought back an alien organism, the military activates an elite scientific team it had previously assembled for this type of emergency.
Wearing sealed protective suits, Dr. Stone, the team leader, and Dr. Mark Hall, the team surgeon, are dropped in Piedmont by helicopter, where they search for the satellite. They find that the town's doctor had opened it in his office and that all of his blood had crystallized into powder. They soon discover almost all of the victims' blood had crystallized like the doctor's. Not all victims had died quickly; two townspeople had gone insane before committing suicide. Stone and Hall retrieve Scoop and locate two survivors -- a 69-year-old alcoholic and a 6-month-old infant.
The team of four core research scientists, who also include Dr. Charles Dutton and Dr. Ruth Leavitt, are summoned from their academic and research appointments to a top-secret lab with the code name of Wildfire, a massive, high-tech underground facility in Nevada. Upon arrival they undergo a full day of decontamination procedures, descending through four disinfection levels to a fifth level, where laboratories are located. If the organism threatens to escape, this facility includes an automatic nuclear self-destruct mechanism to incinerate all infectious agents. Dr. Hall is entrusted with the only key that can deactivate the device.
By examining Scoop with powerful cameras, the team discovers the microscopic alien organism responsible for the deaths. The greenish, throbbing life form is assigned the code name Andromeda. Andromeda kills animal life almost instantly and appears to be highly virulent. Members of the team study the organism using animal subjects, an electron microscope, and culturing in various growth media in an attempt to learn how it works. Hall tries to determine why the elderly man and the baby survived.
A military jet crashes near Piedmont after the pilot radios that his plastic face mask is dissolving. Meanwhile, Dr. Stone, the creator of the Wildfire laboratory, is accused by Dutton and Leavitt of designing the lab for research into biological warfare. Unbeknownst to other members of the team, Leavitt's research on the germ is impaired by her epilepsy.
Hall realizes that the old drunk and the baby didn't die because their blood was either acidic from drinking Sterno [Jackson] or alkaline from crying continuously [infant], suggesting that Andromeda can survive only within a narrow range of blood pH. Just as he has this insight, the organism mutates into a non-lethal form that degrades synthetic rubber and plastics. It escapes the containment room into the room where Dutton is working. Once all the lab's seals start decaying from Andromeda's escape, a five-minute countdown to nuclear destruction is initiated.
Hall rescues Leavitt from an epilepsy attack triggered by the flashing red lights of Wildfire's alarm system. Meanwhile, the team realizes that the alien microbe would thrive on the energy of a nuclear explosion and would consequently be transformed into a supercolony which could destroy all life on Earth. Hall races against the lab's automated defenses to reach a station where he can insert his key and disable the nuclear bomb. He endures an attack by automated lasers as he crawls through the lab's central core until he finds a working station, disables the bomb, and collapses.
Hall awakens in a hospital bed. His colleagues reveal that clouds are being seeded over the Pacific Ocean, which will cause rain to sweep Andromeda out of the atmosphere and into alkaline seawater, rendering it harmless. The movie ends with Stone testifying to a senator that, while they were able to defeat an alien pathogen this time, they may not be able to do so in the future. The cliffhanger ending shows "Andromeda" dissolving in seawater and then forming the number "601"- the Wildfire computer signal of too much information coming in too fast for the computer to analyze.
The Andromeda Strain (2008)
Color
When a satellite crashes in the Arizona desert, a space-bourn virus is unleashed
The Andromeda Strain
"Episode 1
A United States government satellite crash lands near Piedmont, Utah, and two teenagers find it and bring it back to town. The town's inhabitants open it and release a deadly microorganism, which is later codenamed Andromeda by the U.S. Army. A team is sent from the Army's biological defense group to retrieve the satellite, only to die from the disease themselves. The video footage recorded by the retrieval team and their strange deaths capture the attention of General George Mancheck, the head of the group, who activates "Wildfire," a team of five scientists who are called upon when high-level bioterror threats occur in the United States. The team, headed by its creator, Dr. Jeremy Stone, investigates Piedmont. They retrieve the satellite and rescue a hysterical 60-year-old man and a colicky baby who have survived the Andromeda outbreak.
In an isolated underground laboratory, the Wildfire team begins their examination of the downed satellite and the two survivors. The laboratory is powered by a small water-cooled nuclear reactor. In the event of a contamination breach, a 15-minute self-destruct sequence would be automatically initiated; however if the activated sequence is deemed unnecessary, Major Bill Keane, designated by the Odd-Man Hypothesis, is the only person able to deactivate the sequence, using his pass key and right thumbprint.
The scientists begin their analysis of the Andromeda strain by recovering a sample from inside the satellite. They initially discover that the microorganism contains large numbers of buckyballs, and the team believes Andromeda is a product of advanced synthetic biology. The team hypothesizes that Andromeda may also have an extraterrestrial origin, as it has no DNA or amino acids. The team discovers Andromeda is an airborne microorganism that kills its host by entering the bloodstream through the lungs and coagulating the blood in the body, causing death within 10 seconds via a blood clot in the brain. Those who survive the blood clot become insane, extremely violent, and suicidal. It is revealed that the two survivors from Piedmont had not been affected by Andromeda because of their acidic blood. Later testing reveals the cell to be resistant to all known antibiotics
Cable news reporter Jack Nash becomes aware of some of the events related to the fallen satellite and Andromeda. As he investigates further, Chuck Beeter, the Director of the NSA, uses General Mancheck's aide, Colonel Ferrus, to perform assassinations to prevent knowledge of Andromeda from reaching the civilian population. Nash travels to one of the temporary Army outposts performing quarantine procedures, and witnesses the effects of Andromeda spreading through various modes of transportation. He becomes a target of assassination due to his presence at the outpost, but manages to escape from Ferrus and his subordinates.
Meanwhile, a government agency forms a conspiracy to contain the microorganism for further uses, probably weapons related. To handle the situation, General Mancheck deliberately isolates the Wildfire team and cuts their contact with the lab's exterior. However, Jack Nash manages to report to Dr. Stone about Project Scoop, a secret program that was hidden by the government and General Mancheck. Mancheck, being forcefully questioned by Wildfire and fearing for the whole world's safety being threatened by Andromeda, reveals the truth about the satellite. Project Scoop was one of several attempts to investigate a singularity, or a wormhole, that has mysteriously appeared in the Solar System. Sent specifically to collect biological samples, the satellite malfunctioned upon approaching the wormhole and fell back to Earth. When it was picked up, it released the deadly agent.
In an attempt to neutralize the problem, the President of the United States authorizes a small tactical nuclear strike on the quarantine area in hopes of completely irradiating and destroying Andromeda. When the Wildfire team is informed, they realize that they have not reviewed the test results for irradiating Andromeda. They find that the microorganism grows at an exponential rate when irradiated. The Wildfire team alerts the President, and the air strike is called off before the pilot launches the nuclear missile. However, as the fighter jet continues to fly over the quarantine area, the pilot reports a malfunction of the aircraft's controls. Through video feed, the Wildfire team and President watch in shock and horror as all plastic components of the aircraft, including the pilot's visor, disintegrate.
Episode 2
The nuclear missile is re-armed, the fighter jet and missile crash into the ground, and the missile detonates, irradiating the quarantine area. The team examine the footage of the crash, and realize that Andromeda has mutated again and is now able to consume nylon.
As Andromeda grows and mutates into more virulent forms and takes host in anything from mammals and reptiles to the bird population, the Wildfire team continue their tests to find a way to stop Andromeda before it reaches Las Vegas, the closest city to the quarantine zone with an international airport. Further studies reveal Andromeda is actually a sulfur-based bacterium. A set of tests with bacteriophages reveals that one phage can kill Andromeda. However, repeated tests with this phage prove unsuccessful, causing the Wildfire team to theorize that Andromeda can communicate through an unknown mechanism among its separate parts. By the time they discover a binary code on Andromeda's cell wall encoded on buckyballs with potassium and rubidium atoms, the team suspects Andromeda to be a message according to the Messenger Theory. The information included the six-digit number "739528" and the words "Bacillus infernus" encoded in ASCII plus a bitmap image of a symbol with interlocking triangles. Bacillus infernus is the name of a bacterium found only in the thermal vents. At this time, President Scott was championing the new and controversial industry of thermal vent mining, and it was likely that the mining would eradicate the bacteria. Wildfire requests samples of the bacteria to begin testing its effects on Andromeda.
Tests with Bacillus infernus reveal that the bacterium easily consumes and destroys Andromeda because of Andromeda's sulfur structure. The Wildfire team begins to grow large amounts of the bacterium in culture vats, intending to spray the culture liquid over a quarantine area in an attempt to sanitize it of the extraterrestrial bacterium.
As the team watches the video footage of the crashed fighter jet, Dr. Stone suspects and considers the possibility that Andromeda did not attack until the launching sequence of the nuclear warhead has been halted, which means colonies of it could probably think and so attack the jet to force the warhead to be detonated, hence accelerating their own growth. The team therefore begins to destroy the remaining samples of Andromeda in the lab in an attempt to prevent Andromeda from communicating the nature of the tests with its other parts.
As part of a government conspiracy to preserve cultures of Andromeda for future use, Colonel Ferrus blackmails Dr. Barton to keep a single sample container. The bacteria then disintegrate their container setting off the lab's contamination breach sensor and initiating the self-destruct sequence. The self-destruct sequence also causes the flashing emergency lights to turn on, triggering Chou's photosensitive epilepsy, which causes him to inadvertently destroy the self-destruct control panel on the lab level of the complex.
With the elevators deactivated due to the self-destruct sequence, Keane decides to climb to the control panel on the level above through the lab's main exhaust vent. However, the pipes and other components in the vent have begun to deteriorate due to the escaped Andromeda. The pipe Keane climbs suddenly bends, dangling Keane above the radioactive water at the base of the vent. Before falling, Keane manages to throw his badge to Stone. Realizing Keane's right thumb is also required to shut down the self-destruct sequence, Chou sacrifices his life to enter the radioactive water to cut off Keane's thumb for Stone. With Keane's thumb and badge, Stone reaches the control panel and deactivates the sequences with only seconds to spare. Eventually, the bacteria being dropped eradicate all traces of Andromeda.
As the remaining Wildfire team attends the funerals of their fallen colleagues, both General Mancheck and Colonel Ferrus are secretly assassinated. Dr. Stone reveals some of the events to the public in an interview with Jack Nash. In the final scene, the saved sample of the Andromeda is inserted into a BSL-4 compartment with the access code "739528", held in a vessel marked with a symbol with interlocking triangles. Director Beeter watches over the operation on the computer in his office. The camera then zooms out, revealing Andromeda has been stored within a space station orbiting Earth. The ending implies that the sample saved on the space station is the cause of the outbreak in the future that necessitated sending the organism back to the present via the wormhole, creating an ontological paradox as to the cell's origin. The ending also implies that Andromeda could really think, since the future outbreak of Andromeda has happened after the bacteria Bacillus infernus, the only thing capable of exterminating Andromeda, was completely destroyed, and so Andromeda avoided unnecessary risks by waiting for its right opportunity.
The Apartment (1960)
Black & White
Insurance clerk lets boss use his apartment for his mistres, then becomes involved himself
The Apartment
"C.C. "Bud" Baxter is a lonely office drudge at an insurance corporation in New York City. To climb the corporate ladder, he allows four company managers to take turns regularly borrowing his Upper West Side apartment for their extramarital liaisons. Bud meticulously juggles the "booking" schedule, but the steady stream of women in and out convinces his neighbors that he is a playboy, bringing home someone else every night.
Bud solicits glowing performance reviews from the four managers and submits them to personnel director Jeff Sheldrake, who then promises to promote him--but Sheldrake also demands use of the apartment for his own affairs, beginning that night. As compensation for this short notice, he gives Baxter two theater tickets for that evening. Bud asks his secret crush, Fran Kubelik, an elevator operator in the office building, to join him. She agrees, but first meets up with a "former fling", who turns out to be Sheldrake. When Sheldrake dissuades her from breaking up with him, promising to divorce his wife, they head to Bud's apartment, as Bud waits, stood-up, outside the theater.
Later, at the company's raucous Christmas party, Sheldrake's secretary, Miss Olsen, tells Fran that her boss has had affairs with other female employees, including herself. Later, at Bud's apartment, Fran confronts Sheldrake. He professes genuine love for her, but then takes off, heading back to his suburban family, as usual.
Bud--having realized that Fran is the woman Sheldrake has been taking to his apartment--lets himself be picked up by a married lady at a local bar. However, when they arrive at his apartment, he discovers Fran, passed out on his bed from an apparent suicidal overdose of his sleeping pills. He sends away the woman from the bar and enlists Dr. Dreyfuss, a medical doctor living in the next-door apartment, to revive Fran. Bud intentionally makes Dreyfuss believe that he was the cause of the incident. Dreyfuss scolds Bud for philandering and advises him to "be a mensch."
While Fran spends two days recuperating in the apartment, Bud cares for her, and a bond develops between them, especially after he confesses to his own suicide attempt over unrequited feelings for a woman who now sends him a fruitcake every Christmas. During a game of gin rummy, Fran says she has always suffered bad luck in her love life. As Bud prepares a romantic dinner, one of the managers arrives for a tryst. Bud persuades him and his companion to leave, but the manager recognizes Fran and informs his colleagues. Later confronted by Fran's brother-in-law, Karl Matuschka, who is looking for her, the jealous managers direct Karl to Bud's apartment. There, Bud deflects the brother's-in-law anger over Fran's wayward behavior by once again assuming all responsibility. Karl punches him, but when Fran kisses Bud for protecting her, he just smiles and says it "didn't hurt a bit."
When Sheldrake learns that Miss Olsen tipped off Fran about his affairs, he fires her, but she retaliates by spilling all to Sheldrake's wife, who promptly throws her husband out. Sheldrake believes that this situation just makes it easier to pursue his affair with Fran. Having promoted Bud to an even higher position, which also gives him a key to the executive washroom, Sheldrake expects Bud to loan out his apartment yet again. Bud gives him back the washroom key instead, proclaiming that he has decided to become a mensch, and quits the firm.
That night at a New Year's Eve party, Sheldrake indignantly tells Fran about Bud quitting. Realizing she is in love with Bud, Fran abandons Sheldrake and runs to the apartment. At the door, she hears an apparent gunshot. Fearing that Bud has attempted suicide again, she frantically pounds on the door. Bud opens up, holding a bottle of champagne whose cork he had just popped, celebrating his plan to start anew. As the two settle down to resume their gin rummy game, Fran tells Bud that she is now free, too. When he asks about Sheldrake, she replies, "We'll send him a fruitcake every Christmas." He declares his love for her, and she replies by handing him the cards and affectionately telling him to "Shut up and deal" with a smile.
The Arrival (1996)
Color
An astronomer studies extraterrestrial radio signals, which leads him to Mexico
The Arrival
"The film starts with NCAR climatologist Ilana Green (Lindsay Crouse) examining a poppy field and remarking that it "shouldn't be here". It is revealed that the poppy field is in the middle of the Arctic.
Zane Zaminsky (Charlie Sheen), a radio astronomer working for SETI, discovers an extraterrestrial radio signal from Wolf 336, a star 14 light years from Earth. Zane reports this to his supervisor, Phil Gordian (Ron Silver) at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), but Phil dismisses the claims. Zane soon finds that he has been fired because of supposed budget cuts, and blacklisted, preventing him from working at other telescopes. Taking a job as a television satellite installer, he creates his own telescope array using his customers' dishes in the neighborhood, operating it secretly from his attic with help of his young next door neighbor, Kiki (Tony T. Johnson).
Zane again locates the radio signal, but it is drowned out by a terrestrial signal from a Mexican radio station. Zane attempts to tell his former coworker, Calvin (Richard Schiff), but finds he has just died suspiciously from carbon monoxide poisoning. Zane travels to the fictional town of San Marsol in Mexico and finds that the local radio station, from which the signal apparently originated, was burnt to the ground. Searching the area around town, he comes across a new power plant. There, he meets Ilana Green, and tries to help protect her atmospheric analysis equipment from the plant's overzealous security forces. While in custody at the plant, Ilana explains that the Earth's temperature has recently risen several degrees, melting the polar ice. She is investigating the power plant, one of several recently built across the developing world, that appears to be the cause of this increase. The two are released, but without Ilana's equipment. Surprisingly, Zane realizes one of the guards could pass as the identical twin of his former boss, Phil. As Zane and Ilana regroup, Phil instructs some agents, posing as gardeners, to release an alien device in Zane's attic that creates a miniature black hole, consuming all of Zane's equipment. Zane leaves Ilana to again investigate the power plant and she is soon killed by scorpions planted in her room.
Zane discovers the plant doubles as a front for an underground alien base. The very different looking aliens are able to disguise themselves with an external skin to infiltrate human society. Zane finds that all of the bases expel large amounts of greenhouse gas into the atmosphere. Zane is discovered but escapes back into the nearby town and attempts to convince the local sheriff of the situation. However, alien agents bring Ilana's body to the police station, making Zane a suspect in her death; Zane escapes and sneaks back into the United States. He accosts Phil on the JPL grounds, forcing him to admit that the aliens are trying to raise the Earth's temperature to not only kill off humans (by greatly exacerbating anthropogenic climate change) but to make the planet hospitable for themselves. Zane secretly records the conversation and once Phil discovers the recording he sends agents to stop Zane.
Zane returns home to find his attic devoid of equipment. He figures out the only way to broadcast the tape is to go to a nearby large satellite up-link and beam the signal directly to a hacked news satellite, broadcasting it worldwide. With the help of his girlfriend Char (Teri Polo) and Kiki, he travels to the satellite ground station. Phil and his agents soon disable the satellite controls from the main building. Wondering how they were found so quickly, Zane briefly suspects Char of being an alien, until they are both attacked by one of Phil's agents. Zane leaves the tape with Kiki and instructs him to transmit it when he gives the order and then he and Char sneak over to the satellite's base and barricade themselves in the control room. Zane makes the necessary adjustments and tells Kiki to activate the tape, but Kiki reveals himself to be an alien agent and he opens the door to allow Phil inside, who confiscates the tape.
Phil and his agents ram down the door to the satellite control room with a van, but Zane freezes them with liquid nitrogen vapors. As he works to free the tape stuck in Phil's frozen jacket, one of the agents drops a sphere which starts to form another singularity in the room. Phil begins to defrost, and tries to grab Zane's arm, but Zane smashes off Phil's arm with a fire axe. Zane and Char escape through the satellite's optical path, exiting safely onto the collapsed dish before the device implodes most of the satellite dish's base. In the distance they see Kiki, and Zane tells him to tell the aliens that he will soon broadcast this tape; they watch as Kiki runs off. In the film's epilogue, Zane's conversation with Phil is broadcast across the globe.
The Arrival II (1998)
Color
Computer programmer gets letter from the astronomer about an alien conspiracy
The Arrival II
"This film takes place two years after the first film. Zane Zaminski (the protagonist from The Arrival) is found dead in a remote Eskimo community. It is believed that he died of a heart attack. His broadcast to the world about the aliens is believed to have been a UFO hoax due to his dismissal from NASA (this despite Earth continuing to have record temperatures). As his death is announced on TV, five people receive envelopes with details of an alien invasion. This group of five consists of three scientists, Zane's step brother Jack Addison (a computer expert whom he has not seen in seven years), and a reporter named Bridget Riordan. They receive papers talking of global warming and of aliens terraforming Earth into a planet hot like their own dying world.
The group gets together in a large freezer (as the aliens can't stand cold) to see what Zane has left them. They find some alien artifacts in an envelope left to the group. One of the five, Trevor Anguilar, suffers from the cold and is revealed as an alien. He sets off a metal sphere (a "black hole bomb" or BHB as it rises into the air, revolves then sucks everything in a large area into it, causing it to vanish permanently). The alien and one of the men, Tom Billings, are sucked into the BHB's area of influence as well as the contents of the room but Addison, Riordan and Zarcoff manage to escape.
Zarcoff in his hotel room is killed by an alien metal spider machine which injects him, making it look like his death was from a heart attack. Addison goes back to his rooms to find a BHB has cleared them of everything. Sandra Wolfe, a girl he picked up and slept with last night turns out to be an alien. She and another alien, Wotan, inject Addison and he later wakes up to find himself being "taken for a ride".
Addison rolls out of the car and despite terrible disorientation manages to elude them and team up with Riordan again. The aliens have set the FBI on the two as well as cancelling their credit cards and emptying Addison's bank account of $15,000. The pair have only one artifact left and that produces a perfect 3D hologram when a laser beam is shone through it. They use it to find out that an atomic power plant due to be opened near where they are in Quebec is in the hands of the aliens. Later it is revealed that it is to go critical and will spread deadly radiation over many hundreds of miles (the aliens are immune to radiation).
Addison and Riordan attempt to show the hologram at a climate seminar, and Addison's boss, Burke, agrees to help them. But before they can activate the device, they are caught by Dave Cyrus, another of Addison's co-workers who has sold them out to the FBI. Burke kills Cyrus and frames Addison for it, revealing himself to be an alien as well. Barely escaping, Addison and Riordan break into a university and use an industrial laser to properly activate the artifact
Addison uses his computer skills to walk around and interact with an alien ship in space and to program a giant BHB deep below the power plant to go off in one hour. The aliens arrive and both are captured from the hologram. In the atomic power station, their time seems to be up till the giant BHB goes off in the alien area below it and starts ripping apart and swallowing the atomic power station. Wotan and Wolfe are dragged through the gaping hole in the floor. Nearly dragged into its sphere of influence himself, Addison uses a small BHB to stop the giant one long enough for he and Riordan to escape. They just make it as all that is left of the power station is a huge hole in the ground. Burke also survives, but injured, his alien features partly visible. He warns Addison that the aliens haven't been stopped, just delayed.
The Art of War (2000)
Color
Shaw witnesses the murder of Chinese ambassador, chases the assassin and ends up a suspect
The Art of War
"Neil Shaw is an operative for the United Nations's covert SAD, using espionage and quasi-ethical tactics to secure peace and cooperation. In Hong Kong, Shaw infiltrates a Chinese New Year party held by Chinese business mogul David Chan and covertly hacks an office laptop of a North Korean Defense Minister, and blackmails him with the misappropriation of U.N. aid money, in exchange for continuing negotiations with South Korea. Shortly after being discovered, Shaw fights his way out of the party and suffers a gunshot wound to his shoulder during extraction.
Six months later, a shipping container full of dead Vietnamese refugees from Hong Kong turns up on the New York docks on the week as China's trade agreement with the U.S. Shaw's boss, Eleanor Hooks, suspects Chinese ambassador Wu's connection with the Chinese Triad, and assigns Shaw to plant a bug on Wu during a banquet held by Chan. During the trade agreement banquet, Wu is gunned down, Chan is shot in the arm, and Shaw pursues a masked gunman. During the pursuit, Shaw's teammate Robert Bly corners the gunman but perishes, and Shaw is arrested by the NYPD. In the middle of a prison transfer, FBI agent Frank Capella's van is disabled by a roadside bomb, and an unconscious Shaw is captured by Triad members to be framed for the murder and disposed of. Shaw regains consciousness and frees himself from captivity, only to find his last remaining team member, Jenna Novak, murdered by a Chinese hitman. Shaw kills the hitman, recovers the audio file, and secures weapons and equipment from Novak's hidden armory. Shaw seeks out Julia Fang's help after reading a news article stating Shaw's innocence. Shaw manages to save Fang from an ambush by a Chinese hitwoman at a hospital.
With Fang's aid, Shaw finds a Triad-owned bakery serving as a front for a Gentleman's club, setting up an unlikely alliance with Capella, as well as retrieving video footage of Chan's role in derailing the trade agreement. Fang delivers the evidence to Hooks while Shaw confronts Chan at the same hotel serving as the banquet. Chan is shot dead by a masked gunman while being interrogated by Shaw. The pursuit ends when Shaw finds a scanner that is tuned to a tracking device embedded in Shaw's gunshot wound before being ambushed by Bly. Bly reveals himself as the assassin at the banquet, and also engineered the tracking device implant from an earlier basketball game injury. Hooks reviews the evidence and reveals that she and Chan were the masterminds behind the conspiracy. A disgusted Fang tries to leave but attempts to hide from Bly only to be locked in a bathroom.
Shaw eventually figures out Hooks's role behind the conspiracy and approaches Capella with his findings. Shaw surgically removes his tracking device and uses Capella's business card to give the Triads a business proposition. Shaw breaks into the U.N. building and enters into a shootout and hand-to-hand fight with Bly, where the latter dies after falling on a shard from a broken glass pane. The following day, Shaw calls Hooks in her limousine and lectures her on a lesson in karma, revealing that Shaw's business proposition to the Triads was to assassinate Hooks for her betrayal. Shaw later has his death faked before reuniting with Fang in France but is monitored by an unknown spy.
The Art of War II: Betrayal (2008)
Color
Intelligence operative is framed for murdering an ambassador
The Art of War II: Betrayal
Former undercover agent Neil Shaw (Wesley Snipes) hangs up his badge for a cushy job as a Hollywood film consultant in this sequel to the 2000 hit actioner. But he's pulled back into the high-octane world of international espionage when his mentor is killed. Framed for murder after uncovering an assassination plot against key U.S. senators, Shaw must team with his mentor's daughter (Athena Karkanis) to clear his name and solve the case.
The Awful Truth (1937)
Black & White
Couple suspect each other of infidelity
The Awful Truth
"Jerry Warriner (Cary Grant) returns home from a trip to find his wife, Lucy (Irene Dunne), is not at home. When she returns in the company of her handsome music teacher, Armand Duvalle (Alexander D'Arcy), he learns that she spent the night in the country with him, after his car had supposedly broken down. Then, she discovers that Jerry did not go to Florida as he had claimed. Mutual suspicions result in divorce.
Lucy moves into an apartment with Aunt Patsy (Cecil Cunningham) and becomes engaged to her neighbor, Dan Leeson (Ralph Bellamy) from Oklahoma. However, Leeson's mother (Esther Dale) does not approve of her. Eventually, Lucy realizes that she still loves Jerry and decides to break off the engagement. However, before she can inform Dan, Armand shows up at her apartment to discuss Jerry's earlier disastrous interruption of Lucy's singing recital. When Jerry knocks on the door, Armand decides it would be prudent to hide in the bedroom. Jerry wants to reconcile, much to Lucy's delight, but then Dan and his mother make an appearance. Wanting to avoid complications, Jerry slips into Lucy's bedroom, too. A fight erupts when he finds Armand already there. When Jerry chases him out of the apartment, right in front of the Leesons, Dan and his mother stalk out.
Afterwards, Jerry is seen around town with heiress Barbara Vance (Molly Lamont). To break up this relationship, Lucy crashes a party at the Vance mansion, pretending to be Jerry's sister. She acts like a showgirl (recreating a risque musical number she had seen performed by one of Jerry's girlfriends) and lets on that their "father" had been a gardener at Princeton University, not a student athlete. Realizing that his chances with Barbara have been effectively sabotaged, Jerry drives Lucy away in her car.
Motorcycle policemen stop them, and Lucy, plotting to spend more time with Jerry, sabotages the car. The couple get a lift to her aunt's cabin from the policemen. Once there, Jerry admits having made a fool of himself and they are happily reconciled.
The Bedford Incident (1965)
Black & White
Skirmish between US warship and Soviet submarine during the peak of the Cold War
The Bedford Incident
"The American destroyer USS Bedford (DLG-113) detects a Soviet submarine in the GIUK gap near the Greenland coast.[6] Although the U.S. and the Soviet Union are not at war, Captain Eric Finlander (Richard Widmark) harries his prey mercilessly while civilian photojournalist Ben Munceford (Sidney Poitier) and NATO naval advisor Commodore (and ex-Second World War U-boat captain) Wolfgang Schrepke (Eric Portman), look on with mounting alarm.
Because the submarine is not powered by a nuclear reactor, its submerged run distance is limited, critical when it also needs breathing air and to recharge its batteries. This gives Finlander an advantage but also means the Soviets will be more desperate. Also aboard the ship are Ensign Ralston (James MacArthur), an inexperienced young officer constantly being criticised by his captain for small errors, and Lieutenant Commander Chester Potter, USNR (Martin Balsam), the ship's new doctor, who is a reservist recently recalled to active duty.
Munceford is aboard in order to photograph life on a Navy destroyer, but his real interest is Captain Finlander, who was recently passed over for promotion to rear admiral. Munceford is curious whether a comment made by Finlander regarding the American intervention in Cuba is the reason for his nonpromotion, perhaps betraying veiled aggression. He is treated with mounting hostility by the captain because he is seen as a civilian putting his nose where it does not belong and because he disagrees with Finlander's decision to continue with an unnecessary and dangerous confrontation. Finlander is hostile to anyone who is not involved in the hunt, including the doctor, who will not stand up to the captain but advises that the pressure on the crew be reduced.
The crew becomes increasingly fatigued by the unrelenting pursuit during which the captain demands full attention to the instruments. When the submarine is found and ignores Captain Finlander's demand to surface and identify itself, Finlander escalates the situation by smashing into the submarine's snorkel, calling it "floating debris". Finlander then orders Bedford to arm weapons and withdraw a distance, where he will wait for the submarine's crew to run out of air and be forced to surface. He reassures Munceford and Schrepke that he is in command of the situation and that he will not fire first, but "If he fires one, I'll fire ONE!"
A tired Ensign Ralston mistakes Finlander's remark as the command to "fire one" and launches an anti-submarine rocket, which destroys the submarine. Sonar then detects four Soviet nuclear-armed torpedoes are targeting the destroyer. Finlander initially gives basic orders to evade but then silently steps outside. Munceford follows frantically pleading with the captain to do something.
Instead Finlander does nothing, knowing his actions have all but killed everyone on board the Bedford, as the ship cannot escape the nuclear torpedoes. The film ends with still shots of various crewmen "melting" as if the celluloid film were burning as the Bedford and her crew are vaporised in an atomic blast. The film's final image is an iconic, towering mushroom cloud.
The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2011)
Color
To stretch their meager savings, British retirees live out their golden years in Indian hotel
The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
"Recently widowed housewife Evelyn (Dench) must sell her home to cover huge debts left by her late husband. Graham (Wilkinson), a high-court judge who had spent his first eighteen years in India, abruptly decides to retire and return there. Jean (Wilton) and Douglas (Nighy) seek a retirement they can afford, having lost most of their savings through investing in their daughter's internet business. Muriel (Smith), a retired housekeeper prejudiced against Indians and every other person of colour under the sun, needs a hip replacement operation which can be done far more quickly and inexpensively in India. Madge (Celia Imrie) is hunting for another husband, and Norman (Pickup), an aging lothario, is trying to re-capture his youth. They each decide on a retirement hotel in India, based on pictures on its website.
When the group finally arrives at the picturesque hotel, despite its energetic young manager Sonny (Patel), the hotel is very dilapidated. Jean remains ensconced in the hotel, while her husband Douglas explores the sights. Graham, finding that the area has greatly changed since his youth, disappears on long outings every day. Muriel, despite her racist attitudes, starts to appreciate her doctor for his skill and the hotel maid for her good service. Evelyn gets a job advising the staff of a call centre how to interact with older British customers. Sonny struggles to raise funds to renovate the hotel and sees girlfriend, Sunaina (Tena Desae), despite his mother's disapproval. Madge joins the Viceroy Club seeking a spouse, and is surprised to find Norman there. She introduces him to Carol (Diana Hardcastle). He admits he is lonely and seeking a companion, and the two begin a relationship.
Graham confides in Evelyn that he is trying to find the Indian lover he was forced to abandon as a youth. Social-climber Jean is attracted to Graham, and makes a rare excursion to follow him, but is humiliated when he explains he is gay. Graham reunites with his former lover, who is in an arranged marriage of mutual trust and respect. Graham dies of a heart condition. Evelyn and Douglas grow increasingly close. Douglas' wife is angry, and he bursts out that he is tired of defending his wife's negative attitude, and it is clear just how unhappy their marriage has become. Muriel reveals that she was once housekeeper to a family who had her train her younger replacement and now she feels that she has lost purpose in her life. Sonny's more successful brothers each own a third of the hotel, and plan to demolish it. His mother (Lillete Dubey) agrees and wants him to return to Delhi for an arranged marriage. Jean and Douglas prepare to return to England. Now that the hotel is closing, Madge prepares to return to England and Norman agrees to move in with Carol. Madge, after encouragement from Carol and Muriel, decides to keep searching for another husband.
Sonny, encouraged by Evelyn, finally tells Sunaina that he loves her and confronts his mother, who first forbids the match but then is persuaded by the old man and she finally gives the couple her blessing. She asks Sunaina to take good care of her "favourite son". Before the remaining guests can leave, Muriel reveals that the hotel can make a profit and that Sonny's investor has agreed to fund his plans as long as Muriel stays on as assistant manager. All the guests agree to stay. Due to their daughter's long-awaited success Jean and Douglas decide to return home but on the way to the airport their taxi gets caught in a traffic jam and a rickshaw driver says that he can only take one of them. Jean sees it as a sign that it's time to split with Douglas and tells him goodbye and leaves. He winds up at the wrong hotel spends the rest of the night wandering the streets. He returns to the hotel just as Evelyn is leaving for work, and asks when she'll be back; she says about 5PM. He asks her how she wants her tea. A closing montage with a voiceover shows Muriel checking in customers in an elegant renovated lobby, Madge dining with a handsome older Indian man, and Norman and Carol living happily together. Sonny and Sunaina are shown riding a motorbike and passing Douglas and Evelyn on another bike.
The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2015)
Color
Sonny struggles to open a second hotel, while simultaneously planing his wedding
The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
"Muriel Donnelly and Sonny Kapoor travel to San Diego, California to propose a plan to hotel magnate Ty Burley for buying and opening a second hotel in India as a companion to the Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. They are told that a company inspector will anonymously visit India to evaluate the project.
Back in Jaipur, Evelyn Greenslade is offered a job as a fabric buyer. She is concerned that at age 79, the job will require many responsibilities and considerable travel. Douglas Ainslie, who is in love with Evelyn, is worried about losing time with her as well, and also eager to introduce her to his daughter.
Sonny's life becomes complicated by plans for his upcoming wedding to Sunaina, plus a possible rival for her affections and in his business interests. He also is desperate to impress American visitor Guy Chambers, whom he immediately identifies as the American hotel chain's anonymous inspector. Noting the immediate interest Guy has taken in Sonny's mother, he encourages a romantic relationship between them at first, then angrily resents it when he concludes Guy is not the inspector after all.
Madge Hardcastle's dilemma is deciding between two suitors from India and which to wed. Norman Cousins becomes frantic when he believes a local taxi driver mistakenly assumed Norman wanted a fatal accident to befall his current sweetheart, Carol, but then discovers that she has been sleeping with other men. And Douglas' daughter arrives for a visit with his estranged wife Jean (who returned to the UK at the end of the previous movie) seeking a divorce so that she can remarry.
Muriel, having possibly received bad news from a medical appointment, struggles to keep Sonny from ruining his wedding, his business and his future, having become quite fond of him. Decisions come to a head for all during the colourful wedding of Sonny and Sunaina.
The Best Man (1999)
Color
Before friend's wedding, all hell breaks loose when friend guesses his new is based on bride
The Best Man
"In Chicago, Harper (Taye Diggs) is an up-and-coming author whose debut novel, Unfinished Business, has been selected by Oprah's Book Club. Harper's devoted girlfriend Robyn (Sanaa Lathan) is frustrated by his unwillingness to commit to her.
Harper travels to New York City to spend the weekend with old friends from college, before they all attend the wedding of Lance (Morris Chestnut), a running back for the New York Giants, and Mia (Monica Calhoun). Serving as best man, Harper reunites with his friends Murch (Harold Perrineau) and Jordan (Nia Long), who has passed an advanced copy of Unfinished Business around their inner circle of friends, upon whom the book is based.
None of the friends approve of Murch's domineering girlfriend Shelby (Melissa De Sousa), and Harper chastises Quentin (Terrance Howard) for being unable to settle down in a job. The weekend reveals that Quentin has always been a free spirit, Lance has renounced his womanizing ways, Harper is unsure about remaining a bachelor, and Murch has never been able to keep a secret. Flashbacks to their college days reveal that Lance met Mia through Harper, who almost slept with Jordan. Quentin antagonizes Lance about Mia, whom Lance believes has never been with another man. Learning Lance has a copy of his book, Harper worries he will discover that Harper and Mia had a one-night stand in college.
Confronting Harper about their mutual attraction, Jordan admits she wants to have sex with him that night, before Robyn arrives for the wedding the next day, and they share a kiss. Lance confronts Harper in the bathroom, but merely thanks him for his friendship; they are interrupted before Harper can come clean. As the groomsmen depart for the bachelor party, Jordan invites Harper to meet her later, and Murch finally stands up to Shelby.
At the party, Harper steals Lance's copy of Unfinished Business, to the disgust of Quentin, who has deduced Harper's secret. As the party gets increasingly drunk, Murch falls for one of the strippers, Candy (Regina Hall), and Harper calls Jordan, accepting her invitation. Finding the book in Harper's coat, Lance reads it, realizing that Mia slept with Harper in college to get back at Lance for his numerous infidelities. Enraged, Lance attacks Harper and almost throws him off the balcony, but Quentin talks him down, and Lance calls off the wedding.
A badly beaten Harper arrives at Jordan's apartment. He blames her for circulating the book, but Jordan berates him for airing his own “dirty laundry” and leading her on. The next day, Harper meets Robyn at the airport. She notices his injuries, and Harper confesses everything. Disappointed in him, Robyn prepares to leave, but Harper declares how much he needs her, and she reluctantly agrees to help him save the wedding.
Arriving at the church with Candy, Murch breaks up with Shelby. Lance arrives, and his friends try desperately to stop him before he can tell his parents the wedding is off. Harper, who has never agreed with Lance's religious devotion, halts him by asking him to pray. While Robyn and Jordan tend to Mia, who is oblivious to the previous night's events, Harper begs for Lance's forgiveness and assures him of his and Mia's love. After forcing Harper to pray with him, a tearful Lance proceeds with the wedding.
Harper gives a heartfelt speech praising Mia and Lance's love, earning his friends' forgiveness. Shelby pushes a bridesmaid out of the way to seize the bouquet, while Quentin catches the garter. Jordan finds closure with Harper, telling him Robyn is the woman for him. On the dance floor, Harper thanks Robyn for her help and, in front of the entire wedding party asks her to marry him; she says yes. The film ends as everyone dances the electric slide.
In a post-credit scene, Shelby and Quentin wake up in bed together, to their shock and disgust.
The Best Man Holiday (2013)
Color
Man comes to friend's wedding to encounter drama among the other guests
The Best Man Holiday
"Mia Sullivan (Monica Calhoun), wife of Lance Sullivan (Morris Chestnut) , has written letters requesting the gangs attendance for Christmas: Harper Stewart (Taye Diggs) and his nine-month pregnant wife Robin (Sanaa Lathan), Julian and Candace (Harold Perrineau and Regina Hall), her best friend Jordan Armstrong (Nia Long) and boyfriend Brian (Eddie Cibrian), Quentin (Terrence Howard), and Shelby (Melissa De Sousa). Now that all the friends have arrived at the house the celebration begins. At dinner, the old friends catch up with each other while tensions ensue between Shelby and Candace.
Years after Harper's debut novel, he seems to have stumbled upon writer's block and financial constraints as well as pressure from his agency to come up with newer and better material for his next book. His agent suggests he write an autobiography on Lance, who is set ro retire from football and that because of their friendship, it'll be easier for Harper to be able to gain from writing about Lance. Also because the timing would be perfect given Lance's decision to retire. The Murch family seem to be doing well to, Jullian having opened the school that he had worked hard to establish with his wife, former stripper Candace (who has kept her maiden name) as his head of admissions. However his main donor decides to withdraw his relationship with the school, reason being that he has been made aware of Candace's past and out of fear of risking his reputation as a man with morals he'd rather cut all ties with Jullian and the school. It is then that Jullian sees a video on youtube showing his wife at a fraternity party accepting money for sex. In the Stewart household, Harper is frustrated and stressed out as he goes through a heap of past due bills and letters of demand, however being a proud man he chooses not to tell Robin and also decides to pursue writing Lance's autobiography without telling anybody. Shelby is also living the life she dreamed of as she is now part of the social elite and is a prominent reality tv personality, a cast member of the real housewives tv show franchise, also a self-proclaimed notorious reality tv star. Robin is still insecure with regards to Harper and Jordon's friendship. Q is now a successful brand manager and is heavily connected to prominent celebrities.
Upon arrival at the Sullivan household, Harper notices a dramatic weight loss in Mia however he brushes it off and focus on the reunion as well as gathering enough information about Lance in order to write the autobiography.
The next day, Brian says goodbye to Jordan to go meet his family in Vermont. Jordan coldly replies to Brian that while she loves him, she doesn't need him. Meanwhile, Robin requests Harper to get groceries for the next night's dinner. While Lance is at a team meeting, Harper, Q, and Murch go to the store, where Harper's credit card is declined. Q asks him if he's having any money trouble, but Harper lies and says he isn't. That night after dinner, the guys perform "Can You Stand the Rain" air band style for the ladies to great response. All of the couples in the house have sex that night, while Q sends photos of his privates to Shelby. Harper goes down to the kitchen, where he and Jordan make some small talk, and Jordan says she knows that Harper is writing a bio on Lance.
As Harper is headed back to bed, he finds Mia throwing up blood. Mia reveals to Harper that she is dying of cancer, and has had the illness for over a year. After Lance walks in on the two talking, Mia explains to Lance that Harper knows; however, they both ask Harper to keep the condition a secret from everyone else. The next morning at breakfast Q and Shelby mix up their phones. Because Q had watched some of Candace's video, Shelby becomes aware of the video and attempts to use this to her advantage to get back with Murch. Candace then confronts Shelby and a catfight breaks out, causing Candace to leave the house with her and Murch's kids. The guys all head to Lance's football practice where Q and Murch almost come to blows in back of the car. While at the practice Q explains to Murch that the video is part of the territory when marrying a stripper. Back at the house the ladies are preparing for a spa day, when Mia collapses while trying to hang a Christmas ornament. Robin and Jordan send Harper a text telling him to come home, which forces Harper to tell the rest of the friends what's going on. As Lance is leaving practice, his friends all embrace him and they head home.
Back at the house, everyone spends time with Mia. While Harper is wrapping gifts, Lance approaches him and the two reminisce about funny memories of their college days. As a result, the two seem to move on from their past tribulations. The next day the gang heads to a shelter where they are volunteering. Q is Santa Claus, while Harper and Lance seem to be as close as they were in the old days. After the volunteer work is done, Lance finds Harper's iPad and journal in Mia's purse and sees a mock book cover for his own unauthorized bio on the tablet. Lance confronts Harper and tells him to stay away from him and his family. Mia tries to no avail to calm Lance down. Later, Q and Harper are the only ones left at the shelter. The two get to talking when Q asks Harper if he is in any financial trouble. Harper finally breaks down and admits that he is.
Back at Lance and Mia's house, Lance is still heated over the bio when Mia confronts him. In regards to Lance and Harper's long-lasting feud, Mia explains how she's just to blame as much as Harper is. Mia reveals to Lance that she slept with Harper even though she knew how much it would hurt Lance as she was sick of Lance cheating on her. Mia then takes off her wig, showing just how severe her condition really is. Outside of the house, Robin is going through some of Mia's old baby things when Candace returns with the kids. Candace and Murch make up, as Candace reveals to Murch she only performed "extra services" for a customer once and has regretted it ever since. That night everyone is gathered around the fireplace listening to all the kids sing Christmas carols. Harper and Q return, with Harper making amends with Robin.
The next day is Christmas and Lance's big game. Brian returns to be with Jordan, and the two make up. The ladies all watch the game together as a family in Mia and Lance's bedroom, while all of the guys go to the game. At the game, Lance starts a troublesome first half. Mia calls Harper to speak to Lance, inspiring him to ultimately break the all-time rushing record in a game-winning performance. After the game, the men rush home (courtesy of a police escort) in order for Lance to say goodbye to Mia before she dies.
At the funeral, everyone is pretty emotional except for Lance. Shelby gives Julian a check for two million dollars, covering the school expenses he didn't get when the donor pulled out. In return, she asks that they arrange a play date for their children. Inside the church, Harper gives a very heartfelt eulogy and it isn't until at the burial that Lance finally breaks down as Mia's casket is lowered into the ground. Back at the house, everyone seems to have made up as they realize what's really important in life. Outside, Harper and Lance make up and become friends once again -- concluding a 14+ year feud. Meanwhile, Brian tells Murch that he knows of some additional investors to help with the funding of the school. Suddenly Robin's water breaks, so Lance, Harper, and Candace all rush to the hospital; however, they get stuck in traffic and have to deliver the baby in the back of Lance's SUV. In the end, Robin delivers a healthy baby girl, and is named Mia in honor of their deceased friend.
Ten months later, Harper and Lance are closer than ever and Harper has written Lance's autobiography. It's also apparent that Lance is the baby's godfather as he visits Harper and Robin at their house in New York. Harper gets a phone call from Q, and Lance tells him to put in on speaker. Q reveals to Lance and Harper that he's getting married, but not before telling Harper that he better not have had sex with her.
The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)
Black & White
Three World War II Vets try to come to terms with their war time experiences
The Best Years of Our Lives
"The plot follows the lives of three veterans returning from service at the end of World War II to the fictional midwestern town of Boone City: USAAF bombardier Fred Derry, naval petty officer Homer Parrish, and platoon sergeant Al Stephenson. Before their respective military service, Fred was a soda jerk who married Marie shortly before shipping out. Al was a banker living with his wife Millie, adult daughter Peggy and teen-aged son Rob. Homer was a star high school athlete living with his parents and sister, next door to his girlfriend, Wilma. Homer lost both hands during the war and returns with mechanical hook prostheses.
Each man faces challenges integrating back into post-war society. Homer deals with the adjustments he and his family and Wilma face in light of his disability. Al's penchant for alcohol and the adjustments of returning to the banking business cause tension with his family and business associates. Fred, who experiences flashbacks of his bombing raids, becomes frustrated with the wife he barely knows and an employer who fails to appreciate him, and who eventually fires him when Fred punches a man in defense of Homer. Fred and Peggy become attracted to each other which puts the married Fred and Al at odds. Fred eventually leaves his cheating wife, and with no seeming future in Boone City, he decides to catch the next plane out. At the airport, Fred visits an aircraft boneyard and has another flashback. He is roused by a work crew boss who agrees to hire Fred to help disassemble the war planes for prefabricated housing material. Now divorced, Fred serves as best man at the wedding of Homer and Wilma, where he sees Peggy and they reunite.
The Big Heat (1953)
Black & White
After the murder of his wife, cop takes on city crime syndicate
The Big Heat
"Homicide detective Sergeant Dave Bannion (Glenn Ford) investigates the suicide of officer Tom Duncan, which seems to have been brought on by ill health. Bannion is contacted by the late cop's mistress, Lucy Chapman (Dorothy Green), who claims it could not have been suicide. Bannion revisits his widow, Bertha Duncan (Jeanette Nolan), asking for particulars on the second home, but she resents the implication. The next day, Bannion is rebuked by Lieutenant Ted Wilks (Willis Bouchey), who is under pressure from "upstairs" to close the case. Chapman is found dead after being tortured and covered with cigarette burns. Bannion investigates, although the case is not in his jurisdiction. After receiving threatening calls to his home, he confronts Mike Lagana (Alexander Scourby), the local mob boss who runs the city. and finds that people are too scared to stand up to the crime syndicate. When warnings to Bannion go unheeded, his car is blown up and his wife Katie (Jocelyn Brando) is killed. After accusing his superiors of corruption, Bannion resigns.
When Lagana's second-in-command Vince Stone (Lee Marvin) punishes a girl in a nightclub--by burning her hand with a cigar butt--Bannion stands up to him, which impresses Stone's girlfriend Debby Marsh (Gloria Grahame). Marsh tries to get friendly with Bannion, who keeps pointing out that she gets her money from a thief. When Debby unwittingly reminds Bannion of his late wife, he sends her out of his hotel room. Debby had been seen with Bannion and when she returns to Stone's penthouse, he accuses her of talking to Bannion about his activities and throws boiling coffee in her face. Debby is taken to hospital by Police Commissioner Higgins, who was playing poker with Stone and his group at the flat. With her face disfigured, Debby returns to Bannion, who finds her a room at his hotel. Debby identifies the man who had arranged the planting of the dynamite as Larry Gordon (Adam Williams), one of Stone's associates. Bannion forces Gordon to admit to the bombing, who reveals that Duncan's widow has papers that could expose Stone and Lagana, and is collecting blackmail payments from Lagana. Bannion refrains from killing Gordon, instead spreading the word that Gordon had talked, and Gordon is murdered by Stone's men. Bannion then confronts Mrs. Duncan, accusing her of betraying Chapman, causing her death and protecting Lagana and Stone. Cops sent by Lagana arrive before he can strangle her and Bannion departs.
Stone decides to kidnap Bannion's young daughter Joyce (Linda Bennett), who is staying with an aunt and uncle under a police guard. When the police guard is called away at the behest of Lagana, the uncle calls in a few army buddies for their protection. Bannion then sets off to deal with Stone, meeting Lieutenant Wilks (Willis Bouchey), who is now prepared to make a stand against the mob. Debby goes to see Mrs. Duncan, noting they are both wearing the same expensive coats and have benefited from an association with gangsters, and kills her. Stone returns to his penthouse and Debby throws boiling coffee at him. Stone shoots her but after a short gun battle with Bannion, who had followed him, is captured. As Debby lies dying, Bannion describes his late wife to her in terms of their relationship, rather than the physical "police description" he gave earlier and tells her that she and his wife would have gotten along. Stone is then arrested for murder, Duncan's evidence is made public, and Lagana and Commissioner Higgins are indicted. Bannion returns to his job at Homicide.
The Big Short (2015)
Color
Before 2007 housing crisis, outsiders see the crash coming and bet against the banks
The Big Short
"Michael Burry
In 2005, eccentric hedge fund manager Michael Burry (Christian Bale) discovers that the United States housing market, based on high-risk subprime loans, is extremely unstable. Anticipating the market's collapse in the second quarter of 2007, as interest rates would rise from adjustable-rate mortgages, he proposes to create a credit default swap market, allowing him to bet against market-based mortgage-backed securities, for profit.
His long-term bet, exceeding $1 billion, is accepted by major investment and commercial banks, but as it requires paying substantial monthly premiums, it sparks his clients' vocal unhappiness, believing he is "wasting" capital. Many demand that he reverse and sell, but Burry refuses. Under pressure, he eventually restricts withdrawals, angering investors. Eventually, the market collapses and his fund's value increases by 489% with an overall profit of over $2.69 billion.
Deutsche Bank salesman Jared Vennett (based on Greg Lippmann, played by Ryan Gosling), the executive in charge of global asset-backed securities trading at Deutsche Bank, is one of the first to understand Burry's analysis, learning from one of the bankers who sold Burry an early credit default swap. Using his quant to verify that Burry is likely correct, he decides to enter the market, earning a fee on selling the swaps to firms who will profit when the underlying bonds fail. A misplaced phone call alerts FrontPoint Partners hedge fund manager Mark Baum (based on Steve Eisman, played by Steve Carell), who is motivated to buy swaps from Vennett due to his low regard for banks' ethics and business models. Vennett explains that the packaging of subprime loans into collateralized debt obligations (CDOs) rated at AAA ratings will guarantee their eventual collapse.
Conducting a field investigation in South Florida, the FrontPoint team discovers that mortgage brokers are profiting by selling their mortgage deals to Wall Street banks, who pay higher margins for the riskier mortgages, creating the bubble, prompting them to buy swaps from Vennett. In early 2007, as these loans begin to default, CDO prices somehow rise and ratings agencies refuse to downgrade the bond ratings. Baum discovers conflicts of interest and dishonesty amongst the credit rating agencies from an acquaintance at Standard & Poor's. Baum's employees question Vennett's motives, yet he maintains his position and invites Baum and company to the American Securitization Forum in Las Vegas. Interviewed by Baum, CDO manager Wing Chau, on behalf of an investment bank, describes how synthetic CDOs create chains of increasingly large bets on faulty loans -- up to 20 times as much money as the loans themselves. A horrified Baum realizes that the fraud will completely collapse the global economy. He purchases as much as possible, profiting at the banks' expense and waits until the last minute to sell. Baum's fund makes a profit of $1 billion, and he laments that the banks won't accept blame for the crisis and that people will scapegoat immigrants, teachers and the poor.
Brownfield Capital
Young investors Charlie Geller and Jamie Shipley accidentally discover a prospectus by Vennett, convincing them to invest in swaps, as it fits their strategy of buying cheap insurance with big potential payouts. Below the capital threshold for an ISDA Master Agreement required to enter into trades like Burry's and Baum's, they enlist the aid of retired securities trader Ben Rickert (Brad Pitt). When the bond values and CDOs rise despite defaults, Geller suspects the banks of committing fraud. The trio also visit the Forum, learning that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has no regulations to monitor mortgage-backed security activity. They successfully make even more profit than other hedge funds by shorting the higher-rated AA mortgage securities, as they were considered highly stable and carried a much higher payout ratio.
Geller and Shipley are initially ecstatic, but Rickert is disgusted, citing the impending collapse and its effects; when unemployment goes up 1%, 40,000 people will die. Furthermore, they realize the banks and the ratings agency are maintaining the value of their CDOs in order to sell and short them before the inevitable crash. Horrified, they try to tip off the press and their families about the upcoming disaster and the rampant fraud but nobody believes them. As the market starts collapsing, Ben, on vacation in England, sells their swaps. Ultimately, they make a profit of $80 million, with their faith in the system broken.
Epilogue
Jared Vennett makes $47 million in commissions selling off the swaps. Mark Baum becomes more gracious from the financial fallout, and his staff continues to operate their fund. Charlie Geller and Jamie Shipley go their separate ways after unsuccessfully trying to sue the ratings agencies, with Charlie moving to Charlotte to start a family, and Jamie still running the fund. Ben Rickert returns to his peaceful retirement. Michael Burry closes his fund after public backlash and multiple IRS audits, now only investing in water securities. The banks responsible for the crisis escape any consequences for their actions. It is noted that as of 2015, banks are selling CDOs again under a new label: "Bespoke Tranche Opportunity".
The Big Sleep (1946)
Black & White
Blackmailer targets wealthy family, they hire a PI to investigate, he falls for their daughter
The Big Sleep
"Private detective Philip Marlowe (Humphrey Bogart) is summoned to the mansion of his new client General Sternwood (Charles Waldron). The wealthy retired general wants to resolve gambling debts his daughter, Carmen Sternwood (Martha Vickers), owes to bookseller Arthur Gwynn Geiger. As Marlowe is leaving, General Sternwood's older daughter, Mrs. Vivian Rutledge (Lauren Bacall), stops him. She suspects her father's true motive for calling in a detective is to find his young friend Sean Regan, who had mysteriously disappeared a month earlier.
Marlowe goes to Geiger's rare book shop. Agnes Louzier (Sonia Darrin), Geiger's assistant, minds the shop, which is the front for an illegal operation. Marlowe follows Geiger to his house, where he hears a gunshot and a woman scream. Breaking in, he finds Geiger's body and a drugged Carmen, as well as a hidden camera empty of film. Marlowe picks up Carmen and takes her home. He goes back to the house, but discovers the body is no longer there. Marlowe later learns that the Sternwoods' driver (Owen Taylor) has been found dead, with his car driven off a pier.
Vivian comes to Marlowe's office the next morning with scandalous pictures of Carmen she received with a blackmail demand for the negatives. Marlowe returns to Geiger's bookstore, where they are packing up the store. Marlowe follows a car to the apartment of Joe Brody (Louis Jean Heydt), a gambler who previously blackmailed General Sternwood. He returns to Geiger's house and finds Carmen there. She initially claims ignorance about the murder, then insists Brody killed Geiger. They are interrupted by the owner of the home, small-time gangster Eddie Mars (John Ridgely).
Marlowe follows Vivian to the apartment of Joe Brody, where he finds Brody armed, and Agnes and Vivian initially hiding. They are interrupted by Carmen, who wants her photos. Marlowe keeps the pictures and sends Vivian and Carmen home. Brody admits he was blackmailing both General Sternwood and Vivian, then he is suddenly shot and killed; the assailant flees. Marlowe chases and apprehends Carol Lundgren, Geiger's former driver, who has killed Brody in revenge for Geiger's death, not knowing the chauffeur killed Geiger. He takes Lundgren back to Geiger's house, where Lundgren has returned the body. He calls the police to the house to clear up both the Geiger and Brody murders.
Marlowe visits Mars' casino, where he asks about Regan, who is supposed to have run off with Mars' wife. Mars is evasive and tells Marlowe that Vivian is running up gambling debts. Vivian wins a big wager and then wants Marlowe to take her home. A stooge of Mars' attempts to rob Vivian, but Marlowe intervenes and knocks him out.
While driving home, Marlowe unsuccessfully presses Vivian on her connection with Mars, saying he knows the money she won and subsequent robbery were staged for Marlowe's benefit. Vivian admits to nothing. Marlowe returns home to find a flirtatious Carmen waiting for him. She admits she did not like Regan and mentions that Mars calls Vivian frequently. She attempts to seduce Marlowe, who throws her out of his apartment. The next day, Vivian tells him he can stop looking for Regan; he has been found in Mexico, and she is going to see him. Mars has Marlowe beaten up to emphasize the point.
Harry Jones (Cook), an associate of Brody's who wants to marry Agnes, conveys an offer from her to reveal the location of Mars' wife for $200. When Marlowe goes to meet Jones, Canino, a killer hired by Mars, is there attempting to find Agnes himself. Canino poisons Jones after he discloses Agnes' location (which turns out to be false). Agnes telephones the office where Jones was killed while Marlowe is still there. He arranges to meet her anyway.
Agnes reveals that she has seen Mona Mars near a town called Realito behind an auto repair shop. When he gets there, Marlowe is attacked by Canino. He wakes to find himself tied up, with Mona watching over him. Vivian then comes in. Mona angrily leaves after Marlowe tells her that Mars is a gangster and a killer. Vivian fears for Marlowe's life and frees him, allowing him to get to his car and his gun. She distracts Canino, who is shot by Marlowe. During the drive back to Geiger's bungalow, Vivian unconvincingly tries to claim she killed Sean Regan.
When they arrive, Marlowe calls Mars and lies that he is still in Realito. They arrange to meet at Geiger's house, giving Marlowe ten minutes to prepare. Mars arrives with four men, who set up an ambush outside. Mars enters and is surprised by Marlowe, who holds him at gunpoint. Marlowe reveals he has discerned the truth: Mars has been blackmailing Vivian, claiming that her sister Carmen had killed Regan. As soon as Mars threatens Marlowe with his men outside, Marlowe retaliates by firing shots that just miss Mars, causing him to run outside, where he is mistakenly shot by his own men.
Marlowe then calls the police, telling them that Mars is the one who killed Regan. In the process, he tells them that Vivian helped him with Eddie Mars, exempting her from criminal prosecution, and tells Vivian that her sister Carmen needs psychiatric care.
The Birdcage (1996)
Color
Gay couple try to pass themselves off as normal when the son is to marry a US Senator
The Birdcage
"Armand Goldman is the openly gay owner of a drag club in South Beach called The Birdcage; his life partner Albert, an effeminate and flamboyant man, plays Starina, the star attraction of the club. They live together in an apartment above The Birdcage with Agador, their flamboyant Guatemalan housekeeper who aspires to be in Albert's drag show.
One day, Armand's son Val, who resulted from Armand's drunken one-night stand with a woman named Katharine, comes home to announce that he has been seeing a young woman named Barbara whom he intends to marry. Although unhappy about the news, Armand agrees to support his son. Unfortunately, Barbara's parents are the ultra-conservative Republican Senator Kevin Keeley and his wife Louise.
Kevin, co-founder of a conservative group called the Coalition for Moral Order, becomes embroiled in a political scandal when the group's co-founder and Kevin's fellow senator is found dead in the bed of an underage Black sex worker. Louise and Barbara convince Kevin that a visit to meet the family of his daughter's fiance would be the perfect way to stave off bad press, so they set out for South Beach.
Barbara shares news of her father's plan to Val; to cover the Goldmans' truth, she has told her parents that Armand is straight and a cultural attache to Greece. Armand dislikes the idea of being forced into the closet, but agrees to play along, enlisting the help of friends and club employees to redecorate the family's apartment to more closely resemble a traditional household. Val and Armand attempt to get Albert out of the house, but when they fail Albert suggests that he will pose as Val's straight uncle. Armand contacts Katharine and explains the situation; she promises to come to the party and pretend to be his wife. Armand then tries to coach Albert on how to be straight, but Albert's flamboyant nature makes the task difficult. When Albert realizes his plan will not fool anyone, he takes offense and locks himself in his room.
The Keeleys arrive at the Goldmans' (who are calling themselves "Coleman" for the evening to hide their Jewish heritage) redecorated apartment; they are greeted by Agador, who is attempting to pass as a Greek butler named Spartacus for the night. Unfortunately, Katharine gets caught in traffic, and the Keeleys begin wondering where "Mrs. Coleman" is. Suddenly, Albert enters, dressed and styled as a conservative middle-aged woman. Armand, Val, and Barbara are nervous, but Kevin and Louise are taken-in by the disguise.
Despite the success of the evening, trouble begins when the senator's chauffeur betrays him to two tabloid journalists, Harry Radman and his photographer, who have been hoping for a scoop on the Coalition story and follow the Keeleys to South Beach. While they research The Birdcage, they also remove a note that Armand has left on the door informing Katharine not to come upstairs. When she arrives, she unknowingly reveals the deceptions, leading Val to confess to the scheme and finally identify Albert as his true parent.
Kevin is initially confused by the situation, but Louise informs him of the truth and scolds him for being more concerned with his career than his family's happiness. When attempting to leave, he is ambushed by the paparazzi camped outside to take his picture. Albert then realizes that there is a way for the family to escape without being recognized. He dresses them in drag and they use the apartment's back entrance to sneak into The Birdcage where, by dancing to "We Are Family", they make their way out of the nightclub without incident. Barbara and Val are married in an interfaith service that both families attend.
The Birds (1963)
Color
Birds inexplicably start to attack people
The Birds
"In the early 1960s, at a San Francisco pet store, socialite Melanie Daniels meets lawyer Mitch Brenner who is looking to buy lovebirds for his sister Cathy's 11th birthday. Recognizing Melanie from her court appearance regarding a practical joke gone awry, Mitch pretends to mistake her for a shop employee. Mitch tests Melanie's knowledge of birds, which she fails. He discloses his prior knowledge of her and that his ruse was intended to make her appreciate being on the other end of a joke. Mitch leaves without buying anything. To make amends, and finding him attractive, Melanie buys the lovebirds and drives to Bodega Bay, after she learns Mitch has gone there for the weekend to his family's farm. Melanie is directed to the local teacher, Annie Hayworth, to learn Cathy's name. Annie previously dated Mitch, but ended it due to Mitch's cold, overbearing mother, Lydia, who dislikes any woman in Mitch's life.
In town, Melanie rents a boat and crosses the bay to discreetly leave the lovebirds at the Brenner farm. Mitch spots Melanie during her retreat and drives into town to meet her at the dock. As Melanie approaches the wharf, a gull attacks her. Mitch tends her head wound inside the cafe. Lydia arrives, meets Melanie, and Mitch announces to Lydia that he is inviting Melanie to dinner. Melanie returns to Annie's house and asks to spend the night. At the farm, Lydia's hens are suddenly refusing to eat. Lydia expresses her disapproval of Melanie to Mitch, due to her exaggerated reputation as reported in gossip columns. Mitch calls Melanie and invites her to Cathy's birthday party being held the next day. Shortly after, there is a violent thud at Annie's front door. A dead gull is found at the threshold.
At Cathy's party, Melanie privately tells Mitch about her troubled past and her mother running off with another man when Melanie was Cathy's age. During a game, the children are attacked and some injured by gulls. Later that evening, as Melanie dines with the Brenners, sparrows swarm the house through the chimney. After, Mitch insists she delay driving back to San Francisco and stay the night. The next morning, Lydia visits her neighbor to discuss why their chickens won't eat. She discovers his eyeless corpse, pecked lifeless by birds, and flees in horror. As Lydia recovers at home, she fears for Cathy's safety, and Melanie offers to pick her up at school. As Melanie waits outside the schoolhouse, a large flock of crows slowly engulfs the jungle gym behind her. Anticipating an attack, she warns Annie. As they evacuate the children, the crows attack, injuring several children. Mitch finds Melanie at the restaurant. Outside, when a gas station attendant is attacked by gulls, Mitch and several other men assist him. Spilled gasoline ignites causing an explosion. During the escalating fire, Melanie and others rush out. More gulls attack, and Melanie takes refuge in a telephone booth. Mitch rescues her and they get back inside the restaurant. A distraught woman blames Melanie for the attacks, claiming they began with her arrival.
Mitch and Melanie go to Annie's house to fetch Cathy. They find Annie's body outside, killed by the crows while protecting Cathy. That night, Melanie and the Brenners barricade themselves in the family home, which is attacked by waves of birds that nearly breach the boarded-up doors and windows. During a lull, Melanie investigates a fluttering sound in the attic. After discovering that the birds have pecked their way in through the roof, they violently attack Melanie, trapping her until Mitch pulls her out. Melanie is badly injured and traumatized; Mitch insists they all drive to San Francisco to get Melanie to a hospital. As Mitch readies Melanie's car for their escape, a menacing sea of birds has quietly gathered around the Brenner house. The car radio reports bird attacks on nearby communities such as Santa Rosa and the military may intervene. Cathy retrieves her lovebirds (the only birds who do not attack) from the house and joins Mitch and Lydia as they carefully escort Melanie past a mass of birds and into the car. The car slowly drives away as thousands of birds are ominously perching.
The Birth of a Nation (2016)
Color
Slave preacher Nat Turner leads a revolt to free his people
The Birth of a Nation
"In 1809, on a farm in Southampton County, Virginia, Nat Turner is a pre-teen slave boy. There is not enough food for all children and Nat's father Isaac notices that Nat is starving, so one night he slips out to steal some food. On the road, Isaac is caught by a posse led by Raymond Cobb. When Cobb tries to execute him, Isaac turns the tables, kills one member of the posse and flees. He then returns home, tells his family what happened and says that he has to leave the family immediately, but not without speaking to Nat once more, insisting that Nat is "a child of God" and has a purpose. When Cobb arrives and questions Isaac's family about his whereabouts, nobody says anything and Benjamin Turner, the owner of the farm, intervenes before Cobb turns violent.
When Elizabeth Turner, Benjamin's wife, notices that Nat has basic reading skills, she starts to teach him reading, hoping that he can be helpful in the household with his knowledge. The lessons center on the Bible. Elizabeth even goes so far as to have Nat read scripture during church gatherings. But shortly before Benjamin dies, presumably of tuberculosis, he decides that Nat will not continue his education but will instead work as a farmhand.
Now an adult, Nat is still picking cotton, but he also preaches and reads scripture for his fellow slaves on the farm. Samuel Turner, Benjamin's son, has become the head of the farm. During a slave auction, Nat is immediately smitten by one of the female slaves for sale, Cherry. He convinces Samuel to buy her as a wedding gift for Catherine Turner, Samuel's sister. Nat and Cherry fall in love, marry, and conceive a daughter.
Since the economic situation in the South is bad, many slaveowners have problems feeding their slaves and fear revolts. Reverend Walthall makes Samuel Turner an offer: several farm owners will pay good money if Samuel will travel to their farms with Nat and have Nat preach to the slaves to pacify them and convince them that the Bible requests them to endure their situations. Samuel, himself in financial trouble, reluctantly agrees. During their visits, Nat and Samuel witness emaciated and desperate slaves and, in some locations, horrifying treatment of the slaves by their owners.
Several additional incidents occur which infuriate Nat and make him more and more desperate:
Cherry is horribly beaten up and presumably raped by a group of white men, again led by Raymond Cobb. When Nat asks her who did it, she does not tell him because she fears his retaliation would lead to him being killed.
One night, Samuel hosts a party for guests whom he hopes could help improve his financial situation. One of the guests requests to rape one of the female slaves and Samuel acquiesces to the request, scarring her and her husband.
One day, when Samuel is not home, a white man who has been barred from all white churches in the county for unspecified crimes asks Nat to baptize him. Even though Nat knows that this act could lead to horrible consequences for him, he feels that it is his duty as a preacher and he performs the baptism, supported by Elizabeth Turner. For his insolence, he is whipped as a punishment.
When his grandmother dies, Nat decides that he will rise up against the slaveholders. He holds a secret night meeting with some trusted fellow slaves, among them one boy from another farm, and prepares them for the uprising. He also talks with Cherry, who still has not recovered from the beating, about the uprising and she gives him her blessing.
During the night, Nat and a fellow slave enter the house of their owners and kill Samuel and the manager. They then ask the other slaves of the farm to follow them, which most of them do. During the night, they take over several other farms and kill the slaveowners. During one of the takeovers, they notice that the boy has disappeared. A short time later, they are attacked by a group of people who had been alerted by the boy, and they have to retreat.
In the morning, they enter the town of Jerusalem to loot it for weapons. They are confronted by a group of white men, again led by Cobb, but they manage to defeat the group, with Nat personally stabbing Cobb to death. But when they enter the arsenal, they notice that it is empty. They are immediately ambushed by soldiers who kill every slave except for Nat, who flees.
When Nat manages to secretly meet Cherry once more, she tells him that innocent slaves have been murdered and more will be as long as Nat is on the run. So Nat turns himself in and is condemned to death. During the hanging, Nat notices the slave boy who betrayed the group in the crowd but Nat does not seem to harbor ill will towards him. The film ends with a fade of the boy's crying face into the face of an adult soldier who presumably is the same boy, grown up and fighting for the Union Army in the American Civil War.
The Black Hole (2006)
Color
Black hole brings creature out of particle accelerator
The Black Hole
Something goes awry at a particle accelerator facility in St. Louis and a black hole begins to form. A creature exits the hole and seeks out energy. As the creature absorbs energy, the black hole grows in size and destroys a large part of St. Louis. Before the creature can be hit with a nuclear bomb, it is lured back to the black hole and the black hole collapses on itself.
The Block House (1974)
Color
During WW II, seven forced laborers are trapped permanently in a concrete bunker
The Block House
On D-Day, a mixed group of forced labourers held by German forces take shelter from the bombardment inside a German bunker, but are then entombed when the entrances are blocked by shelling damage. By coincidence, the bunker is a storehouse, so the prisoners have enough food and wine to last them for years. However, they are trapped not for years but permanently, and the film analyzes how they deal with their underground prison, with their relationships, and with death.
The Body Snatcher (1945)
Black & White
A ruthless doctor and his student are harassed by their murderous supplier of cadavers
The Body Snatcher
"Mrs. Marsh (Rita Corday) visits the house of Dr. Wolfe "Toddy" MacFarlane (Henry Daniell), seeking a cure for her paraplegic daughter Georgina (Sharyn Moffett). MacFarlane suggests surgery for the girl, but insists that he cannot perform the operation himself because his teaching position keeps him too busy. Later that night, MacFarlane's prize student Donald Fettes (Russell Wade) tells the doctor he cannot afford to continue his studies. MacFarlane offers Fettes a job as a lab assistant to help with an experiment he is planning.
Fettes is awakened in the middle of the night by John Gray (Boris Karloff), a cab driver and graverobber, who has arrived to deliver a corpse to MacFarland to dissect in his one of his classes. Later, MacFarlane and Fettes go to an inn and run into Gray, who threatens to reveal MacFarlane's "dark secret" if he doesn't operate on Georgina. MacFarlane initially agrees, but later tries to renege on his promise. Fettes asks Gray to get another human specimen so that Georgina might have hope of walking again. After visiting Gray, Fettes gives a coin to a blind street singer (Donna Lee). He is shocked when Gray arrives later at the lab with a corpse that resembles the singer.
Fettes shows MacFarlane the body and accuses Gray of murder. The conversation is overheard by Joseph (Bela Lugosi), MacFarland's other assistant. MacFarlane tells Fettes that he could be arrested as an accomplice and advises him not to notify the police. Georgina recovers from the surgery, but she is still unable to walk. MacFarlane is tortured by his failure, and goes to the inn to drown his sorrows. Gray shows up and torments him about their "secret".
Joseph visits Gray and attempts to blackmail him to keep quiet about his body snatching operation. Gray tells Joseph the story of the infamous murderers Burke and Hare, and reveals that they procured bodies for Dr. Knox, MacFarlane's mentor. Gray promises to pay Joseph, but chokes him to death when the other man allows him to get too close. Later, he delivers the body to MacFarlane's lab as a "gift". Meg Camden (Edith Atwater), MacFarlane's housekeeper and secret wife, tells Fettes that Gray admitted to robbing graves during the Burke and Hare trial in order to shield the real perpetrator - MacFarlane. Later, MacFarlane offers Gray money to stop tormenting him. Gray refuses to take the bribe, and vows that the doctor will never be rid of him. Enraged, MacFarlane beats Gray to death.
Fettes meets with Mrs. Marsh and Georgina. The girl hears horses nearby and stands up to see them; the operation was a success after all. Fettes rushes to tell MacFarlane the good news, but Meg tells him that the doctor has gone to another town to sell Gray's horse and carriage.
Fettes finds MacFarlane at a tavern. He tells Fettes that he plans to rob a freshly dug grave. Fettes sees no alternative than to assist the doctor, and they load the unearthed corpse onto Gray's carriage. As they drive through a storm, MacFarlane hears Gray taunting him from the back of the carriage. He stops the carriage and orders Fettes to check the body. When he uncovers the body and shines a light on it, MacFarlane sees Gray's corpse. The horses, spooked by the storm, bolt. The carriage breaks loose and falls over a cliff with MacFarlane and the corpse. Fettes looks down at the wreck and sees MacFarlane's corpse, next to that of a woman.
The Bonfire of the Vanities (1990)
Color
Wall-Street investor runs over black youth, tabloid journalist turns it into a racist incident
The Bonfire of the Vanities
"Sherman McCoy is a Wall Street bond trader who makes millions while enjoying the good life and the sexual favors of Maria Ruskin, a Southern belle gold digger. Sherman and Maria are driving back to Maria's apartment from JFK Airport when they take a wrong turn on the expressway and find themselves in the "war-zone" of the South Bronx. They are approached by two black youths after Sherman gets out of the car to move a tire out of the road. Sherman jumps back into the car and Maria guns the engine in reverse, running over one of the teenagers. The two drive away. Sherman initially wants to report the incident to the police, but Maria immediately talks him out of it, fearing that their affair would be publicly exposed.
Meanwhile, alcoholic journalist Peter Fallow, anxious for a story to make good with his editor, comes upon the hit-and-run case as a rallying point for the black community calling upon Jewish district attorney Abe Weiss, who is the Bronx District Attorney seeking re-election. According to Judge Leonard White, almost all of DA 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 minority-majority community that he is worth re-electing.
Weiss recognizes the press coverage inherent in prosecuting the callow Sherman, who has been discovered as the owner of the car, and therefore presumed to be the hit-and-run driver, in order to cultivate the image as an avenger for the minorities and be propelled to the mayorship of New York City. As Sherman is brought to his knees, New York City fragments into different factions who use the case to suit their own cynical purposes.
Finally, Sherman is left without any allies to support him except for the sympathetic Judge Leonard White and the remorseful Fallow. Fallow gains a tremendous advantage and insight into the case when he is dating a woman who is the sub-letting landlord of Maria's apartment, and knows of secret recordings of conversations in the apartment made by the authorities to prove that the woman is not in fact living in the rent-controlled apartment herself. She discovers information about the McCoy case (where Maria states she was driving the car), which she gives to Fallow, who in turn covertly supplies it to McCoy's defense attorney.
Sherman gets his hands on a tape and plays the recording in court, where it reveals Maria directly contradicting the evidence she has just given, showing she has been perjuring herself and causing her to faint. Sherman plays the tape in a tape recorder inside his briefcase connected to a small loudspeaker that he holds on the desk.
When the judge orders that he approach the bench with this evidence, he asserts that the tape is his (making it admissible evidence), resulting in his acquittal.
The people in the court go into an uproar, to which Judge White launches into a tirade that they have no right to act self-righteous and smarmy, or that they are above Sherman, considering Reverend Bacon claims to help disadvantaged New Yorkers but actually engages in race baiting, or that the District Attorney Weiss pushed this case not in the interest of justice but in the interest of appealing to minority voters to further his political career by appealing to their desire to "get even". After the Judge made his point, he begs the people to be decent and change their ways, letting Sherman go.
A large audience is applauding Peter Fallow's premiere of his book. Fallow says that Sherman McCoy has moved away from New York City to an unknown destination, presumably to live in obscurity.
The Book of Eli (2010)
Color
Denzel Washington in post apocalyptic world
The Book of Eli
"Thirty years after a nuclear apocalypse, Eli (Denzel Washington) travels on foot toward the west coast of the United States. Along the way, he demonstrates uncanny survival and fighting skills, hunting wildlife and swiftly defeating a group of highway bandits who try to ambush him. Searching for a source of water, he arrives in a ramshackle town built and overseen by Carnegie (Gary Oldman). Carnegie dreams of building more towns and controlling the people by using the power of a certain book. His henchmen scour the desolate landscape daily in search of it, but to no avail.
In the local town bar, Eli is set upon by a gang of bikers and he kills them all. Realizing Eli is a literate man like himself, Carnegie asks Eli to stay, although it is made clear the offer is non-negotiable. After Carnegie's blind mistress Claudia (Jennifer Beals) gives Eli some food and water, Carnegie orders Claudia's daughter Solara (Mila Kunis) to seduce Eli. Eli turns her down, but she discovers he has a book in his possession. Eli offers to share his food with her. Before they eat, though, he has her pray with him. The following day, Solara prays with her mother. Carnegie overhears them and realizes Solara's words may relate to the book he has been seeking. He forces Solara to tell him Eli was reading a book. When he asks what kind, she says she does not know, but forms a cross with her two index fingers. Carnegie realizes Eli has a copy of the Bible, the book he wants. Eli sneaks out of his room and goes to the store across the street, where he had earlier given the Engineer (Tom Waits) his portable music player to recharge the battery.
Carnegie has his henchmen shoot at Eli, but the bullets seemingly just graze him, as if he is being protected. Eli shoots most of Carnegie's men and hits Carnegie in the leg with a shotgun blast. Solara leads Eli to the town's water supply, hoping she can accompany him on his travels. Eli traps her inside and continues on alone. Solara escapes and soon finds herself ambushed by two bandits who attempt to rape her, but Eli appears and kills them.
As they continue on, Eli explains to Solara his mission. According to Eli, his book is the last remaining copy of the Bible, as all other copies were intentionally destroyed following the nuclear war. He says he was led to the book by a voice in his head, which then directed him to travel westward to a place where it would be safe. The voice assured him that he would be protected on his journey. Thus, for the last thirty years he has been traveling west, guided by his faith.
Eventually, Eli and Solara investigate an isolated house. They fall into a hidden pit but manage to allay the suspicions of the residents, Martha (Frances de la Tour) and George (Michael Gambon), who invite them in for tea. When Eli realizes the couple are cannibals, he and Solara attempt to leave, but then Carnegie and his posse arrive. In the ensuing shootout, George, Martha and some of Carnegie's men are killed. Eli and Solara are captured. When Carnegie threatens to kill Solara, Eli gives him the Bible. Carnegie shoots him and leaves him for dead.
Solara escapes and drives back to help Eli. Rather than chase her, Carnegie returns to the town since his sole remaining vehicle is running low on fuel. Solara picks up Eli. They drive until they reach the Golden Gate Bridge. They then row to Alcatraz, where they find a group intent on saving what they can of civilization. Eli tells the guards that he has a copy of the King James version of the Bible. Once inside, Eli, who is revealed to be blind, begins to dictate the Bible from memory to Lombardi (Malcolm McDowell), the group's leader.
Meanwhile, back in the town, Carnegie opens the locked Bible, but discovers that it is written in Braille. He orders Claudia to read it to him, but she refuses. Carnegie's leg wound has become septic, and he realizes he is going to die. Order breaks down, and the residents start looting.
Eli dies, but not before he has finished reciting the Bible. The printing press at Alcatraz begins making copies of the new King James Bible. Lombardi places one on a bookshelf between the Torah and Tanakh on one side and the Qur'an on the other. Solara is offered sanctuary, but she chooses to head back home, taking with her Eli's possessions.
The Book Thief (2013)
Color
Woman in Nazi Gernamny steals books to escape
The Book Thief
"n April 1938, a voice representing Death (Roger Allam) tells about how the young Liesel Meminger (Sophie Nelisse) has piqued his interest. Liesel is traveling on a train with her mother (Heike Makatsch) and younger brother when her brother dies. At his burial she picks up a book that has been dropped by his graveside (a gravedigger's manual). Liesel is then delivered to foster parents Hans (Geoffrey Rush) and Rosa (Emily Watson) Hubermann because her mother, a Communist, is in danger. When she arrives, Liesel makes an impression on a neighboring boy, Rudy Steiner (Nico Liersch).
Rudy accompanies her on her first day of school. When the teacher asks Liesel to write her name on the chalkboard, she is only able to write three "X"s, showing that she doesn't know how to read. Later that day, she is taunted by her schoolmates who chant "dummkopf" ("fool" in German) at her. One of the boys, Franz Deutscher, challenges her to read just one word to which Liesel responds by beating him up. She impresses Rudy, and they become fast friends. When Hans, her foster father, realizes that Liesel cannot read, he begins to teach her, using the book that she took from the graveside. Liesel becomes obsessed with reading anything she can get her hands on.
Liesel and Rudy become members of the Hitler Youth movement. While at a Nazi book burning ceremony, Liesel and Rudy are bullied into throwing books onto the bonfire by Franz, but Liesel is upset to see the books being burned. When the bonfire ends, and everyone but she has left, she grabs a book that has not been burned. She is seen by Ilsa Hermann (Barbara Auer), the mayor's (Rainer Bock) wife. Hans discovers that she has taken the book and tells her she must keep it a secret from everyone. One day, Rosa asks Liesel to take the laundry to the mayor's house. Liesel realizes that the woman who saw her taking the book is the mayor's wife, and she is scared she will be found out. Instead, Ilsa takes her into their library and tells Liesel she can come by anytime and read as much as she'd like. Liesel also finds out about Johann here, who was the son of Ilsa and is now missing. Ilsa feels the loss of her son profoundly and has kept his library intact to commemorate him. One day Liesel is found reading by the mayor who not only puts a stop to her visits but dismisses Rosa as their laundress. Liesel continues to "borrow" books from the mayor's library by climbing through a window.
There is a night of violence against the Jews (known historically as Kristallnacht). Max Vandenburg (Ben Schnetzer) and his mother, who are Jewish, are told by a friend that one of them (but only one) can escape, and Max's mother forces him to go. Max goes to the Hubermanns' house where Rosa and Hans give him shelter. Max is the son of the man who saved Hans's life in World War I. Max is initially allowed to stay in Liesel's room while recovering from his trip, and they begin to become friends over their mutual hatred of Hitler since Liesel blames Hitler for taking her mother away. World War II begins, initially making most of the children in Liesel's neighborhood very happy. Max is later moved to the basement so that he can move around more, but it is colder in the basement, and Max becomes dangerously ill. Liesel helps Max recover by reading to him with every spare moment.
One day while borrowing a book from the mayor's home, Liesel is followed by Rudy. He discovers the secret of the books and also the secret of Max, whose name he reads on a journal Max gave to Liesel for Christmas. Rudy guesses that her family is hiding someone, and he swears to never tell anyone. Franz overhears Rudy's last words of keeping it a secret. Franz violently pushes Rudy to reveal the secret, but Rudy throws the journal into the river to keep it away from Franz. However, after Franz has gone, Rudy plunges into the icy river to rescue the journal, and Liesel realizes that she can truly trust him. Soon a local party member comes by to check the Hubermanns' basement, and they have to hide Max. However, they are told that their basement was being checked as a potential bomb shelter and realize they weren't suspected of harboring a fugitive.
While working one day, Hans sees a neighbor and friend being taken away by the police because he is a Jew. Hans tries to tell the police that the man is a good German, and the man says his son is in the war fighting for Germany, but he is dragged off nonetheless, and Hans's name is taken by the soldiers. Hans realizes what a mistake he has made since this has made them visible. He tells the family, and Max realizes he must leave in order to protect them. Hans then receives a telegram that he has been conscripted into the army and must leave immediately.
On the way home from school one day, Liesel believes she has seen Max in a line of Jews marching through town on their way to a death camp, and she begins screaming his name, running through the line. She is thrown off the street twice by a German soldier and finally relents when Rosa picks her up and takes her home. Within a few days, Hans returns from the front because he was injured by a bomb that hit his unit's truck.
The family is reunited only for a short time. One night the city is bombed by accident, and the air raid sirens fail to go off. Hans, Rosa, and Rudy's family (except for his father who has also been conscripted into the army) are killed in the blast. Liesel was spared from the bombing because she fell asleep in the basement while writing in the journal given to her by Max. Rudy is brought out of his house by neighbors, and he is barely alive. He begins to tell Liesel that he loves her, but he dies before he can finish the sentence. Liesel begs him not to die, telling him that she will give him that kiss he has been asking for and actually kisses him, but he has already died. During this scene, Death is heard speaking again about how he received the souls of the dead. Liesel passes out, and one of the soldiers carries her to a stretcher. When she wakes up, she sees a book among the rubble and picks it up. She then sees the mayor and Ilsa drive up. With Ilsa being the only friend she has left left, Liesel runs up to her and hugs her.
Two years later, Liesel is in the tailor shop owned by Rudy's father, and she sees Max enter. Overjoyed by his survival and return, she runs to hug him. The final scene is Death speaking again about Liesel's life and her death at the age of 90, mentioning her husband, children, and grandchildren, as we look over her modern day Manhattan Upper East Side apartment with pictures of her past and a portrait of her, upon which the camera lingers. The narrator does not state whom she married but implies that she became a writer. Death says that he has seen many good and bad things over the years, but Liesel is one of the few who ever made him wonder how it would be to live life. But in the end, there were no words, only peace. Death says that the only truth it knows is true is that he is "haunted by humans".
The Bourne Supremacy (2004)
Color
Man is given a new identity without any memory of who he was
The Bourne Supremacy
"Two years after their escape from France, Jason Bourne and Marie Kreutz are now in Goa, India. Still experiencing flashbacks about his former life as a CIA assassin, he records them in a notebook.
Meanwhile, in Berlin, CIA agents subordinate to Deputy Director Pamela Landy are paying US$3 million for the "Neski files", documents on the theft of $20 million in allocation money seven years earlier. Russian Federal Security Service agent Kirill plants Bourne's fingerprint to frame him, kills the agents, and steals the files and money, giving them to his employer, Russian oil oligarch Yuri Gretkov. Kirill travels to Goa to kill Bourne, but Bourne spots him and flees with Marie. As the couple drive away, Kirill attempts to shoot Bourne, but kills Marie by mistake. Their vehicle goes off a bridge and into a river; Kirill believes that Bourne is dead.
Bourne survives and leaves for Naples, Italy, with money and passports. After finding the fingerprint Kirill planted, Landy learns that it belongs to Bourne and subsequently asks Deputy Director Ward Abbott about Operation Treadstone. Landy tells Abbott that the CIA agent who stole the $20 million was named in the stolen files. Some years ago, Russian politician Vladimir Neski was about to identify the thief when he was supposedly murdered by his wife in a Berlin hotel. Landy believes that Bourne and the late Treadstone supervisor Alexander Conklin were somehow involved, and assumes that Bourne killed her two agents. Both Abbott and Landy go to Berlin to find Bourne and take him down.
In Naples, Bourne allows himself to be identified by security. He subdues his CIA interrogator, copies the SIM card from his cell phone, and learns from a subsequent phone call about Landy and what she thinks Bourne did. Bourne goes to Munich to visit the only other remaining Treadstone operative, Jarda, who informs Bourne that Treadstone was shut down after Conklin's death. Jarda tries to incapacitate Bourne before an incoming CIA team arrives, but Bourne kills him, blows up his house, and escapes. Bourne follows Landy and Abbott as they meet former Treadstone support technician Nicky Parsons to question her about her past experience with him. Believing that the CIA is hunting him again, Bourne calls Landy and is told that he is being pursued because he killed two people in Berlin--though she is not referring to Bourne's recent flashbacks.
Bourne arranges to meet Nicky at the Alexanderplatz, where he kidnaps and interrogates her, finding out that Abbott was the head of Treadstone, not Conklin. He remembers that he murdered Neski in Berlin, but Parsons knows nothing about it. Bourne visits the hotel where the killing took place and remembers more of his mission--he killed Neski on Conklin's orders, and when Neski's wife showed up, he shot her to make it look like a murder--suicide. Abbott kills his own assistant once he realizes that the assistant suspects a conspiracy against Bourne, who breaks into Abbott's hotel room and records a conversation between him and Gretkov that incriminates them in the theft of the money. Abbott confesses to ordering the assassination in Goa, Neski's murder by Bourne, and the murder of the agents by Kirill, for which Bourne was to be framed. When Landy suspects Bourne's innocence and confronts Abbott, he commits suicide. Bourne sends the tape of the confession to Landy, vindicating himself.
Bourne goes to Moscow to find Irena Neski, the daughter of Vladimir Neski. Kirill tracks down Bourne and wounds him in the shoulder. Bourne reaches a car and Kirill engages him in a high-speed car chase, ending after Bourne forces his car into a concrete divider. After seeing that Kirill is critically injured, he lowers his gun and walks away. Bourne locates Neski and apologizes for murdering her parents. Gretkov is arrested by Landy, using the evidence she got from Bourne. Some time later, in New York City, she receives a phone call from Bourne; she expresses her thanks for the tape of Abbott's confession before telling Bourne his real name is David Webb and that he was born "4-15-71" in Nixa, Missouri. Bourne tells her that she looks tired, indicating that he can see her, before hanging up and fading into a New York crowd.
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas (2008)
Color
Jewish boy killed in camp, along with the Gastapo's son
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
"SS-Obersturmbannf?hrer Commandant Ralf (David Thewlis) and his wife Elsa (Vera Farmiga) move from Berlin to the countryside with their children, 12-year-old Gretel (Amber Beattie) and 8-year-old Bruno (Asa Butterfield), after Ralf is promoted to commandant of a Nazi concentration camp. Bruno is confined to the front grounds of his family's new home and craves companionship and adventure. He disobeys his parents by sneaking out and trekking through the woods to an isolated, unguarded corner of the camp, where he befriends Shmuel (Jack Scanlon), a Jewish boy his own age. They meet in the same spot every day. Bruno starts bringing Shmuel food and playing games with him through the barbed wire fence. Shmuel gradually reveals to Bruno some of the truth of what is behind the fence, telling him that he and his family have been imprisoned and forced to wear the "striped pyjamas" because they are Jews. On hearing this, Bruno remembers what he has been taught about Jewish people but realises that Shmuel is not evil and continues their friendship.
Bruno and Gretel get a tutor, Herr Liszt (Jim Norton), who pushes an agenda of antisemitism and nationalist propaganda. Gretel becomes increasingly fanatical in her support for the Third Reich, covering her bedroom wall with Nazi propaganda posters, much to the confusion of Bruno. She flirts with SS-Obersturmf?hrer Lieutenant Kurt Kotler (Rupert Friend), her father's subordinate, as her budding sexuality becomes fixated on the ideal of the German soldier. Bruno remains skeptical of Nazi Propaganda, because all of the Jews Bruno knows, including the family's servant Pavel (David Hayman), do not resemble Liszt's teachings.
One day, Kurt Kotler and Elsa are in the front yard when smoke, from corpses being burned, floats up from the camp. Kurt does not realise that Elsa doesn't know about the Jews being burnt and says "They smell even worse when they burn, don't they." Ralf had been sworn to secrecy about the camp's true aims and hadn't told Elsa what was happening. Later, a blazing row between Elsa and Ralf occurs. It is insinuated that Elsa revealed who told her about the camp's secret. Ralf interrogates Kotler about his father's loyalty to the Nazi party. This puts Kotler in a bad mood, and when Pavel accidentally knocks over his glass while trying to fill it up, he drags him into another room, and the sounds of Pavel being severely beaten are heard. The next morning, the family's maid, Maria, is shown scrubbing bloodstains off the floor, and Elsa appears as though she has been crying.
Bruno sees Shmuel cleaning glasses in the house and stops to ask about what he is doing. Shmuel tells him that he was called in because the family needed someone with small hands to clean the glasses. Bruno gives Shmuel some food, and Kotler comes in, asking him why he is eating. Shmuel says that Bruno gave him the food, but Bruno denies it, saying he has never met the Jew, to get out of trouble. Kotler tells Shmuel that they will "have a little talk" about what happens to Jews who steal food. Bruno goes to his room and starts crying, regretting what he has said. For the next few days, Bruno goes to the concentration camp, but Shmuel is nowhere to be seen. Finally, one day Shmuel is back sitting where he sat before, but now his eye is cut and bruised. Bruno asks if they are still friends, and Shmuel nods.
Gradually, Ralf is convinced that the house is no place for a child to grow up and makes arrangements for Elsa and the children to leave the area for a "safer" place with a relative, while he remains to "finish his work" at the camp. The day before Bruno is due to leave, Shmuel reveals that his father has gone missing in the camp. It is implied that he was taken into a gas chamber. Seeing an ideal opportunity to redeem himself for wronging Shmuel previously, Bruno digs a hole beneath the fence, changes into prison clothing that Shmuel has stolen for him, and enters the camp to help Shmuel find his father. Bruno is horrified by what he sees: the dehumanisation, starvation, and sickness are the antithesis of the Theresienstadt-esque propaganda film that had shaped his prior impressions. While searching for Shmuel's father, they are rounded up with others and marched to "the showers", the gas chambers.
At the house, Bruno's absence is noticed. After Gretel and Elsa discover the open window Bruno went through and the remains of food Bruno was taking for Shmuel, Ralf and his men mount a search to find him. They enter the camp, searching for Bruno. In the gas facility, the inmates - including Bruno and Shmuel -- are told to remove their clothes, amid speculation that it is only for a shower. While Bruno changes his clothes, he looks around and notices a man who sees him but then looks away.
They are packed into the gas chambers, where Bruno and Shmuel take each other's hands. An SS soldier pours some Zyklon B pellets into the chamber. The prisoners start yelling and banging on the metal door. Ralf, still with his men, arrives at an empty dormitory, signalling to him that a gassing is taking place. Ralf cries out his son's name, and Elsa and Gretel fall to their knees. The film ends by showing the closed door of the now-silent gas chamber.
The Break-Up (2006)
Color
Couple living together break-up and try to annoy the hell out of each other
The Break-Up
"Gary Grobowski (Vince Vaughn) and Brooke Meyers (Jennifer Aniston) meet at Wrigley Field during a Chicago Cubs game and begin dating, eventually buying a condominium together. Gary works as a tour guide in a family business with his brothers, Lupus (Cole Hauser) and Dennis (Vincent D'Onofrio). Brooke manages an art gallery owned by eccentric artist Marilyn Dean (Judy Davis). Their relationship comes to a head after the latest in an escalating series of, "Why can't you do this one little thing for me?!" arguments. Brooke, feeling unappreciated, criticizes Gary's perceived immaturity and unwillingness to work on improving their relationship. Gary is frustrated by Brooke's perceived controlling, perfectionistic attitude, and expresses his desire to have a little more independence (particularly when arriving home from work, wanting to unwind). Brooke becomes irate when Gary fails to offer to help her clean up after a big dinner party at their home; and, still frustrated from their earlier, unresolved argument, breaks up with him (despite still being in love with him). Brooke seeks relationship advice from her friend Addie (Joey Lauren Adams), while Gary goes to tell his side of things to friend Johnny Ostrofski (Jon Favreau).
Since neither is willing to move out of their condo, they compromise by living as roommates; but, each begins acting out to provoke the other in increasingly elaborate ways. Gary buys a pool table, litters the condo with food and trash, and even has a strip poker party with Lupus and a few women. Meanwhile, Brooke has Gary kicked off their "couples-only" bowling team, and starts dating other men in an attempt to make Gary jealous. When their friend and realtor Mark Riggleman (Jason Bateman) sells the condo, Gary and Brooke are given two weeks' notice to move out. Brooke invites Gary to an Old 97's concert, hoping that he will figure out that the gesture is meant to be her last-ditch attempt to salvage their relationship. Gary agrees to meet her there, but misses the hidden agenda, and misses the concert--unwittingly breaking Brooke's heart. When Gary goes out for a drink with Johnny, his friend points out that Gary has always had his guard up, has been guilty of a lot of selfishness, and never gave Brooke a chance, emotional intimacy-wise.
Afterwards, Brooke quits her job in order to spend time traveling Europe. When she brings a customer from the art gallery home one evening, Brooke finds the condo cleaned and Gary preparing a fancy dinner to win her back. He lays his heart on the line and promises to appreciate her more. Brooke begins crying and states that she just can not give in anymore and, therefore, does not feel the same way. Gary seems to understand and kisses her before leaving. It is later revealed that Brooke's "date" (who initially asked her out, but she politely rejected) was actually a client interested in a piece of artwork she kept at the condo. Both eventually move out of the condo. Gary begins taking a more active role in his tour guide business, while Brooke travels the world, eventually returning to Chicago. Some time later, they meet again by chance on the street as Gary is bringing home groceries and Brooke is on her way to a meeting. After some awkward but friendly catching up, they part ways but each glances back over their shoulder and they share a smile.
The Bridges of Madison County (1995)
Color
War bride has 4 day affair with photographer
The Bridges of Madison County
"In the present day, adult siblings Michael and Carolyn arrive at the Iowa farmhouse of Francesca Johnson, their recently deceased, elderly mother, to see about the settlement of their mother's estate. As they go through the contents of her safe deposit box and the will, they are baffled to discover that their mother left very specific instructions that her body be cremated and her ashes thrown off the nearby Roseman Covered Bridge, which is not in accordance with the burial arrangements their parents had made: side-by-side plots in the local cemetery. Michael initially refuses to comply with the cremation, while Carolyn discovers a set of photos of her mother and a letter. She manages to convince Michael to set aside his initial reaction so they can read the documents she has discovered. Once alone, they go through a series of letters from a man named Robert Kincaid to their mother. The siblings find their way to a chest where their mother left a letter, a series of diaries, photographs, old cameras and other mementos.
They discovered that in 1965, their mother, an Italian war bride, had a four-day affair with Robert Kincaid, a travelling professional photographer who had come to Madison County, Iowa, to shoot a photographic essay for National Geographic on the covered bridges in the area. The affair took place while her husband and children were at the state fair in Illinois.
The story in the diaries also reveals the impact the affair had on the lives of Francesca and Robert, since they almost ran away together, so she could travel the world with him. However, after a wrenching period of decision-making, she decided to stay at the last minute after considering the bigger picture that includes the consequences leaving would have on the lives of her teenage children and husband, who was a good, loving man. Kincaid is very moved by meeting her. He finds meaning and his true calling as an artist. The story also has deep consequences on the lives of Michael and Carolyn, who are both experiencing marital problems. Their mother's story helped them to find a sense of direction in their lives. At the end, the Johnson siblings comply with their mother's request and scatter their mother's ashes at the covered bridge.
The Bucket List (2007)
Color
Terminally ill men bust out of cancer ward to live life
The Bucket List
"Blue-collar mechanic Carter Chambers (Freeman) and billionaire hospital magnate Edward Cole (Nicholson) meet for the first time in the hospital after both have been diagnosed with terminal lung cancer. Although Edward is reluctant to share a room with Carter, complaining that he "looks half-dead already", they become friends as they undergo their respective treatments.
Carter is a gifted amateur historian and family man who had wanted to become a history professor in his youth, had been "black, broke, [and with a] baby on the way" and, thus, never rose above his status as a mechanic at the McCreath body shop. Carter loves sharing his knowledge, and his favorite show is Jeopardy!. Edward is a four-time divorced health-care tycoon and cultured loner who enjoys nothing more than tormenting his personal valet/servant, Thomas (Hayes), who later reveals his name is actually Matthew. Edward prefers to call him Thomas because he finds the name Matthew "too biblical". Edward enjoys drinking Kopi Luwak, one of the most expensive coffees in the world.
During their time in the ward, both Carter and Edward seem to find common ground as they have intellectual personalities. Carter begins writing a "bucket list", or things to do before he "kicks the bucket". After hearing he has less than a year, Carter discards the list. Edward finds it the next morning and urges Carter to do everything on the list (and adds more things to do), and offers to finance the trip for both of them. Carter agrees, and despite the protests of his wife, Virginia (Todd), Edward and Carter begin their around-the-world vacation. They go skydiving together, drive a Shelby Mustang, fly over the North Pole, eat dinner at Chevre d'or in France, visit and praise the beauty and history of Taj Mahal, India, ride motorcycles on the Great Wall of China, attend a lion safari in Tanzania, and visit the base of Mt. Everest in Nepal (which was unfortunately shrouded in cloud).
Atop the Great Pyramid, looking out over the pyramids of Khafre and Menkaure, they confide about faith and family, revealing that Carter has long been feeling less in love with his wife and that Edward is deeply hurt by his estrangement from his only daughter, who disowned him after he drove away her abusive husband. In Hong Kong, Edward hires a prostitute named Angelica (King) for Carter, who has never been with any woman but his wife. Carter declines and, realizing that he loves his wife, asks to return home.
On the drive back, Carter reciprocates by trying to reunite Edward with his daughter. Believing it as a breach of trust, Edward angrily storms off. Carter returns home to his wife, children, and grandchildren where they have a nice family dinner telling stories and sharing jokes while a frustrated Edward stays home eating frozen dinners alone. The family reunion is short-lived. While preparing for a romantic interlude, Carter suffers a seizure and is rushed to the hospital, the cancer having spread to his brain.
Edward, who is now in remission, visits him and they share a few moments, wherein Carter reveals with great amusement how the Kopi Luwak, which Edward enjoys, is grown in Sumatra, and then eaten and defecated by a jungle cat before being harvested because of the special aroma of the gastric juices. Carter crosses off "laugh till I cry" from his bucket list and insists Edward finish the list without him. Carter goes into surgery, but the procedure is unsuccessful and he dies on the operating table.
As news of Carter's death is given to his wife and family, Edward finally attempts to reconcile with his daughter. She accepts him back into her life and introduces him to the granddaughter he never knew he had. After greeting the little girl with a kiss on the cheek, Edward crosses "kiss the most beautiful girl in the world" off the list. Edward delivers a eulogy at the funeral, explaining that he and Carter had been complete strangers, but the last three months of Carter's life were the best three months of his. He crosses off "help a complete stranger for the good" from the list.
The epilogue reveals that Edward lived until age 81, and his ashes were then taken to the summit of an unnamed peak in the Himalayas by his assistant Matthew. As Matthew places a Chock full o'Nuts coffee can alongside another can, he crosses off the last item on the bucket list ("witness something truly majestic") and places it between the cans. Carter's narration reveals the two cans contain their ashes and that Edward would have loved this, because he was "buried on the mountain, and that was against the law".
The Call (2013)
Color
Teenage girls calls 911 from the trunk of her abductor's car
The Call
"A Los Angeles Police Department veteran 9-1-1 operator, Turner (Berry), receives a call one night from a teenage girl, Leah Templeton (Evie Thompson), fearing for her life as a man breaks into her home. Turner calmly advises her to conceal herself upstairs, but when the call is disconnected, Turner calls Leah back, a decision that later costs Leah her life, as her hiding spot is given away to the intruder. Turner attempts to dissuade him from going further over the phone. He responds "It's already done" and hangs up, leaving her distraught. The next day, Turner sees a television report confirming that Leah has been murdered. Emotionally affected by the incident, Turner tells her boyfriend, Officer Paul Phillips (Morris Chestnut), that she can no longer handle field calls.
Six months later, she is working as a trainer for 9-1-1 operators. Simultaneously, Welson (Breslin) is kidnapped from a mall parking garage after parting with her friend, Autumn and forced into the trunk of a car. Welson had taken Autumn's cellphone which she had forgotten, so she is able to use it to call 9-1-1. A rookie operator (Jenna Lamia) receives the call and cannot handle it and Turner overhears the situation and takes over. Welson is using Autumn's disposable phone, so her exact GPS location cannot be found. While the kidnapper drives, Turner guides Welson through knocking out a tail light and signaling people in nearby cars. One woman who sees Welson waving her arm out of the trunk of the car calls 9-1-1, allowing the police to narrow their search. The man ends up killing one person and burning another who tries to intervene and switches cars with one victim, Alan Denado (Michael Imperioli), in an attempt to elude the police. However, he inadvertently leaves fingerprints at the scene of the car switch and the police are finally able to determine his identity as Michael Foster (Michael Eklund).
Upon arriving at his destination, Foster removes Welson from the trunk and finds the phone in her pocket, with 9-1-1 listening on the line. Through the phone, Turner informs him that his identity is uncovered and advises him to turn himself in and not hurt the girl. Before smashing the phone, Michael responds, "It's already done" and Turner realizes that Foster is the same culprit who killed Templeton six months prior. Meanwhile, Phillips, accompanied by Officer Jake Devans (David Otunga) and others in law enforcement, raid Foster's home to look for clues. Finding a photo of Foster and his sister, Melinda, they realize that Casey resembles the latter. Additionally, the house seen in the photo is eventually revealed by Foster's wife to have burned down, although a nearby cottage still remains. The police raid it, but find nobody there and leave. Determined to catch the killer, Jordan drives to the secondary home where she finds a number of photos of Foster with his leukemia-stricken sister. Stepping outside, she recognizes sounds from an outdoor flagpole, reminiscent to sounds heard in the background in the final moments of the 9-1-1 call. She also finds a trap door amid dirt and scrub located where the primary house once stood. After she accidentally drops her cellphone down the cellar, she climbs down in without calling the police.
Navigating the cellar, Turner hides from an emerging Foster. The cellar itself pieces together Foster's backstory. Foster had incestuous feelings towards his sister and was distraught when she fell ill, lost all of her hair and passed away. Foster has a prop head that he keeps in the cellar that he treats like his sister. He has also been scalping and killing young girls who have similar blond hair, trying to find scalps that match his sister's hair. Turner soon finds Welson strapped down to a dentist chair and attacks Foster as he begins to lacerate her. She frees Welson and both manage to gradually escape the cellar. Foster pursues them and they are able to injure and kick him back down into the cellar, rendering him unconscious. While he is knocked out, they tie him to a chair. When he regains consciousness, they inform him that they plan to leave him to die and claim that Welson had escaped, Turner found her in the woods and Foster simply disappeared. He tells them they cannot just leave him there. As they walk out, Turner delivers Foster a taste of his own medicine, using his own words, "It's already done," against him, then closes and locks the door behind her.
The Campaign (2012)
Color
Financially backed, but inexperienced candidate battles incument
The Campaign
"Democratic Congressman Cam Brady (Will Ferrell) of North Carolina's fictional 14th District is the incumbent, running for his fifth term unopposed. His campaign is damaged by the revelation of his affair with one of his supporters, when Cam accidentally leaves a sexually explicit voice message on a local family's answering machine.
The corrupt businessman brothers Glenn and Wade Motch (Dan Aykroyd and John Lithgow) use this opportunity to convince Marty Huggins (Zach Galifianakis), tourism director for the town of Hammond and son of one of their associates, Raymond Huggins, to run against Cam on the Republican ticket, as part of a plan to profit from dealings with a Chinese company. Cam at first underestimates Marty and humiliates him by playing a video biography highlighting potentially embarrassing aspects of Marty's life. The Motch brothers then hire Tim Wattley (Dylan McDermott) to be Marty's campaign manager. Wattley reinvents Marty as a successful entrepreneur and family man. Marty's popularity rises due to his effective campaign while Cam's is further damaged when he accidentally punches a baby when intending to hit Marty. Cam later runs a campaign portraying Marty as an Al Qaeda terrorist, and Marty exposes Cam as a fake Christian by asking him to recite the Lord's Prayer, which he fails to do. Cam attempts to restore his religious image by visiting a church of snake handlers, but he gets bitten by a snake. A video of the bite is leaked into the Internet and goes viral, increasing Cam's popularity.
When Cam's son plans to slander his competition for class president, Cam realizes he has set a bad example and visits Marty to make peace. While drunk, Cam tells Marty that he originally became a politician to help people, citing that as class president he had a dangerous, rusty slide removed from the playground. After Cam leaves, Wattley convinces Marty to call the police and report Cam for driving while drunk. Cam is arrested and his campaign is again damaged. Marty later airs a TV ad of Cam's son addressing Marty as "dad". Cam gets revenge on Marty by seducing his neglected wife Mitzi and recording the act. The released sex tape humiliates the Huggins family and causes Cam's campaign manager, Mitch, to abandon him. Marty retaliates by shooting Cam in the leg on a hunting trip, increasing his own popularity.
As the election nears, Marty meets with the Motch brothers and learns of their plans to sell Hammond to their Chinese business partner and turn the town into a factory complex. Marty realizes he has been used and rejects the brothers' support, leading them to defect to Cam's side. Marty meanwhile reconciles with his family.
On election day, Cam's victory appears certain until Marty exposes the Motch brothers' intent and promises to preserve Hammond if elected. Cam still wins and remains congressman due to rigged voting machines owned by the Motch brothers. While Cam gloats, Marty shows his large scars to Cam and reveals that he looked up to Cam in school for getting rid of the dangerous slide. Realizing he has strayed from his true objectives as a politician, Cam withdraws from the election and Marty wins by default. Cam earns back Mitch's respect, and Marty later appoints him his chief of staff.
Six months later, Marty and Cam expose the Motch brothers, who are called to appear before Congress. The brothers point out that everything they did is legal under Citizens United v. FEC, but they are arrested for their association with Wattley, who is actually an international fugitive.
The Cat's Meow (2001)
Color
Film pioneer dies on media mogul's yacht
The Cat's Meow
"November 15, 1924: Among those boarding the luxury yacht Oneida in San Pedro, California are its owner, publishing magnate William Randolph Hearst, and his mistress, silent film star Marion Davies; motion picture mogul Thomas H. Ince, whose birthday is the reason for the weekend cruise, and his mistress, starlet Margaret Livingston (who would portray "the Woman From the City" in F.W. Murnau's Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans three years later); international film star Charlie Chaplin; English writer Elinor Glyn; and Louella Parsons, a film critic for Hearst's New York American.
Several of those participating in the weekend's festivities are at a crossroads in their lives and/or careers. Chaplin, still dealing with the critical and commercial failure of A Woman of Paris and rumors he has impregnated 16-year-old Lita Grey (who appeared in his film The Kid) is in the midst of preparing The Gold Rush. Davies longs to appear in a slapstick comedy rather than the somber costume dramas to which Hearst has kept her confined. Ince's eponymous film studio is in dire financial straits, so he hopes to convince Hearst to take him on as a partner in Cosmopolitan Pictures. Parsons would like to relocate from the East Coast to more glamorous Hollywood.
Hearst suspects Davies and Chaplin have engaged in an affair, a suspicion shared by Ince, who seeks proof he can present to Hearst in order to curry favor with him. In the wastepaper basket in Chaplin's stateroom, Ince discovers a discarded love letter to Davies and pockets it with plans to produce it at an opportune moment. When he finally does, Hearst is enraged. His anger is fueled further when he finds a brooch he had given Davies in Chaplin's cabin. Hearst concludes it was lost there during a romantic liaison, and he rifles Marion's room for further evidence.
Armed with a pistol, Hearst searches the yacht for Chaplin in the middle of the night. Ince, meanwhile, runs into Davies and the two sit and talk with Ince donning a hat Chaplin had worn. Davies explains to Ince her love for Hearst and her regret at an earlier affair with Chaplin. She states "I never loved him" just as Hearst arrives behind them. Thinking Davies is referring to him, and mistaking Ince for Chaplin, a jealous Hearst shoots Ince. The assault is witnessed by Parsons, who had heard noises and went to investigate.
Hearst arranges to dock in San Diego and have a waiting ambulance take the dying Ince home. He phones the injured man's wife and tells her Ince attempted suicide when Livingston tried to end their affair, assuring her the truth won't reach the media. To the rest of his guests he announces Ince's ulcer flared up and required immediate medical attention. Davies, of course, knows the truth, and confides in Chaplin. Also armed with that knowledge is Parsons, who assures Hearst his secret will be safe in exchange for a lifetime contract with the Hearst Corporation, thus laying the groundwork for her lengthy career as one of Hollywood's most powerful gossip columnists.
After seeing Ince off, Hearst confronts Davies and Chaplin. He is berated by Chaplin, who expects Davies to join him. Hearst, however, challenges Chaplin to guarantee Davies that he can promise her a happy life. When Chaplin fails to answer, Hearst informs Chaplin of the vow of silence he and the fellow guests have made to keep the weekend's activities a secret. Chaplin despairs as he realizes the murder has strengthened Davies' love for Hearst.
The film concludes with the guests leaving Ince's funeral, as Glyn relates what became of them:
Livingston went on to star in a number of successful films and her film salary "inexplicably" went from $300 to $1000 a film.
Davies starred in more of Hearst's films before finally being allowed to feature in a comedy The Hollywood Revue of 1929, which was (as Chaplin predicted) a success. She stayed by Hearst's side until his death in 1951.
Chaplin married his teenage lover Lita Grey in Mexico and his film The Gold Rush was an overwhelming success.
Parsons worked for Hearst for many years and subsequently became one of the most successful writers in the history of American journalism.
Tom Ince was largely forgotten after the events of his death. Very few newspapers reported it, no police action was taken, and of all the people on board only one was ever questioned. It is concluded that in Hollywood, "the place just off the coast of the planet Earth," no two accounts of the story are the same.
The Celestine Prophecy (2006)
Color
Search for a sacred manuscript in the Peruvian rain forest
The Celestine Prophecy
When disillusioned history teacher John Woodsen (Matthew Settle) gets laid off from his job, he finds himself bored and rudderless until, on impulse, he hops on a plane to Peru to meet an old friend who's searching for some ancient scrolls. To his surprise, Woodsen finds a lot more than sacred texts on this journey of spiritual awakening
The Chairman (1969)
Color
CIA puts secret implant into Scientist who is sent to China to steal secrets
The Chairman
"A US agent is sent to communist China in order to retrieve an important agricultural enzyme. What he does not know is that there is a bomb implanted in his head; the forces behind his mission will detonate it if he fails to carry out the assignment.
Nobel Prize-winning university professor Dr. John Hathaway's mission begins with Lt. General Shelby's request at the American Embassy in London that he travel to China to visit Soong Li, a former professor of Hathaway's who reportedly has developed an enzyme that would permit crops to grow in any kind of climate. The hesitant Hathaway is further urged to go by a phone call from the President of the United States.
A transmitter is implanted in Hathaway's skull as a tracking device. He isn't informed that it also includes a explosive element in case of emergency that can be triggered by the Americans if necessary. Neither the U.S. nor the Soviet Union want the enzyme to remain exclusively in Chinese hands.
Hathaway is met in Hong Kong by security chief Yin, who begins by taking Hathaway to meet Red China's party chairman. They play a game of table tennis and discuss the enzyme, which the Chairman claims he intends to share with the entire world.
Soong Li, possibly betrayed by his daughter, is attacked by Red Guards looking for the formula. Before he dies, Soong Li gives a book to Hathaway containing quotations from the Chairman. The professor flees with the book and a piece of microfilm, trying to reach the Russian border before Yin's men can capture him. He is unable to scale a fence, so Shelby elects to set off the explosive device, until Soviet soldiers arrive at the last minute to help Hathaway cross safely.
Once safe, the professor discovers that the enzyme's formula is hidden in the Chairman's book of quotations.
The Chase (1966)
Color
Sheriff keeps captive safe from pursuing angry mob
The Chase
"In a small Texas town where banker Val Rogers (E. G. Marshall) wields a great deal of influence, word comes that native son Bubber Reeves (Robert Redford) and another man have escaped from prison.
Sheriff Calder (Marlon Brando), who continues to believe in Bubber's innocence, expects him to return to his hometown, where Bubber's lonely wife Anna (Jane Fonda) is now involved in a romantic affair with Bubber's best friend, Val Rogers' son Jake (James Fox).
Bubber is left on his own after the second fugitive kills a stranger for his car and clothes. The townspeople, conflicted about his guilt or innocence, socialize and drink heavily while awaiting Bubber's return. They include the hostile Emily Stewart (Janice Rule), who openly expresses her lust for Damon Fuller (Richard Bradford) in front of her husband, Edwin (Robert Duvall).
As the drinking and quarreling intensify, a group of vigilantes demand action from Calder. When he defies them, they beat Calder brutally before the sheriff's loyal wife Ruby (Angie Dickinson) is able to get to his side.
Bubber sneaks into town, hiding in an auto junkyard. Anna and Jake willingly set out to help him, and the townspeople follow, turning the event into a drunken revelry and setting the junkyard on fire, causing an explosion which mortally wounds Jake. A bloodied and beaten Calder manages to get to Bubber first, but while leading him into the jail, one of the vigilantes Archie (Steve Ihnat) aims a gun at Bubber and shoots him.
By morning, Calder has had enough of these people, and he and Ruby leave town forever.
The China Syndrome (1979)
Color
Reporter discovers problem at nuclear power plant
The China Syndrome
"While visiting the (fictional) Ventana nuclear power plant outside Los Angeles, television news reporter Kimberly Wells (Fonda), her cameraman Richard Adams (Douglas) and their soundman Hector Salas witness the plant going through an emergency shutdown (SCRAM). Shift Supervisor Jack Godell (Lemmon) notices an unusual vibration while grabbing his cup of coffee which he had set down; then he finds that a gauge is misreading and that the coolant is dangerously low (he thought it was overflowing). The crew manages to bring the reactor under control and can be seen celebrating and expressing relief.
Richard surreptitiously films the incident, despite being requested to not film the control room for security purposes. Kimberly's superior at work (Donat) refuses to permit her to report what happened or show the film, disgusting Richard, who steals the footage. He shows it to experts, who conclude that the plant came perilously close to the China Syndrome in which the core would have melted down into the earth, hitting groundwater and contaminating the surrounding area with radioactive steam.
During an inspection of the plant before it's brought back online, a technician discovers a small puddle of radioactive water that has apparently leaked from a pump. Godell pushes to delay restarting the plant, but the plant superintendent denies his request and appears willing to let nothing come in the way of the scheduled restart of the plant.
Godell investigates further and to his horror finds that a series of radiographs supposedly taken to verify the integrity of welds on the leaking pump are identical - the contractor simply kept submitting the same picture. He believes that the plant is unsafe and could be severely damaged if another full-power SCRAM occurs. He tries to bring the evidence to plant manager Herman DeYoung (Brady), who brushes off Godell as paranoid and states that new radiographs would cost at least $20 million. Godell confronts D.B. Royce, an employee of Foster-Sullivan, the construction company who built the plant, as it was Royce who signed off on the welding radiographs. Godell threatens to go to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, but Royce threatens him, and later a pair of goons from Foster-Sullivan park outside his house.
Kimberly also defies her bosses, determined to pursue the truth. She and Richard confront Godell at his home with what they know, and he voices his concern about the vibration he felt during the SCRAM and his anger about the false radiographs. Kimberly and Richard ask if he'll come clean at NRC hearings, being held at Point Conception, where Foster-Sullivan is looking to build another nuclear plant. Godell agrees to obtain for them, through Hector, a set of the false radiographs to take to the hearings.
Hector's car is run off the road and the radiographs are taken from him. Godell leaves for the hearings but is chased by the goons waiting outside his home. He escapes by taking refuge inside the plant.
To his dismay, Godell finds that the reactor is being brought up to full power. He grabs a gun from a security guard and forces everyone out, including his friend and co-worker Ted Spindler (Brimley). Godell demands to be interviewed on live television by Kimberly. Plant management agrees to the interview, but only to buy time as they try to regain control of the plant.
Minutes into the broadcast, plant technicians deliberately cause a SCRAM so they can retake the control room, despite Spindler's warnings of Godell's concerns about safety. Godell is distracted by the alarms as a SWAT team forces its way into the control room. The television cable is cut and a panicky Godell is shot by the police. Before dying, he feels the unusual vibration again. The resulting SCRAM is harrowing to all and is only brought under control by the plant's automatic systems. True to Godell's predictions, the plant suffers significant damage as the pump malfunctions.
Plant officials try to paint Godell as emotionally disturbed. However a distraught Spindler contradicts them when a question is posed to him on live television by Kimberly, saying that Godell was not crazy and would never have taken such drastic steps had there not been something wrong. A tearful Kimberly concludes her report as the TV signal abruptly cuts to color bars.
The Cider House Rules (1999)
Color
The prot?g? to an orphanage physician leaves, and later returns to become the doctor
The Cider House Rules
"Homer Wells (Tobey Maguire), an orphan, is the film's protagonist. He grew up in an orphanage directed by Dr. Wilbur Larch (Michael Caine) after being returned twice by foster parents. His first foster parents thought he was too quiet and the second parents beat him. Dr. Larch is addicted to ether and is also secretly an abortionist. Larch trains Homer in obstetrics and abortions as an apprentice, despite Homer never even having attended high school.
The film continues as Homer decides to leave the orphanage with Candy Kendall (Charlize Theron) and her boyfriend, Wally Worthington (Paul Rudd), a young couple who work at the Worthington family apple orchard. They had come to the clinic to have an abortion. Wally leaves to fight in World War II. While Wally is away, Homer and Candy have an affair. Later, Wally's plane is shot down and he is paralyzed from the waist down. When he returns home, Candy takes care of him and leaves Homer.
While he is away from the orphanage, Homer lives on the Worthington estate. He goes to work picking apples with Arthur Rose's (Delroy Lindo) team. Arthur and his team are migrant workers who are employed seasonally at the orchard by the Worthingtons. Mr. Rose rapes and impregnates his own daughter (Erykah Badu), and Homer, who disapproves of abortions, realizes that in Rose's case, he must perform one for her. Later, when Arthur makes another attempt to rape his daughter, she stabs him, and as a last request, the dying Arthur asks the other workers to tell the police that his death was a suicide. Eventually Homer decides to return to the orphanage after Dr. Larch's death from inhaling an ether overdose, and works as the new director.
At the end of the film, Homer learns that Larch had faked Homer's medical record to keep him out of the war, and later made fake credentials for Homer in order to convince the board overseeing the orphanage to appoint him as the next director. Finally, Homer fills the paternal role that Larch previously held for the children of the orphanage.
The Cincinnati Kid (1965)
Color
Poker player seeks to establish reputation by playing in a high-stakes, long grueling game
The Cincinnati Kid
"Eric Stoner, nicknamed "The Kid," is an up-and-coming poker player in New Orleans. He hears that Lancey Howard, a longtime master of the game nicknamed "The Man," is in town, and sees it as his chance to finally become the Man himself. The Kid's friend Shooter cautions him, reminding the Kid how he thought he was the best five-card stud player in the world, until Howard "gutted" him when they played.
Howard arranges a game with wealthy William Jefferson Slade, who secures Shooter's services as dealer. Howard wins $6,000 from Slade over a 30-hour game, angering Slade and wounding his pride. That night at Slade's home, he tries to bribe Shooter into cheating in the Kid's favor when the two players meet. Shooter declines, but Slade calls in Shooter's markers worth $12,000, and blackmails him by threatening to reveal damaging information about Shooter's wild wife, Melba. Shooter agonizes over his decision, having spent the last 25 years building a reputation for integrity.
With the Kid's girl Christian visiting her parents, Melba tries to seduce him, even though she and Christian are close friends. Out of respect for Shooter, he rebuffs her, and spends the day before the game with Christian at her family's farm.
The Kid intentionally arrived late to the scheduled game for 8 o'clock. When the Kid finally arrived and met Howard, Howard said that he had heard a lot about him for a couple of years and that Yeller had told him how he was gutted by the Kid with a pair of fours. Yeller said, "remember Kid, the night you cut me up with the two red fours?" The Kid jocularly replied, "I must have overplayed my hand." Everyone laughed, but Howard sternly replied, "that was a dangerous thing to do." The Kid answered, "that depends on whom you're sitting with, Lancey."
The big game starts with six players, including Howard and the Kid, with Shooter playing as he deals and Lady Fingers relieving him whenever Shooter needs a break. In the first big confrontation between the Kid and Howard, the Kid is short $2,000 and Slade steps in to stake him. Several hours later, Howard busts a player called Pig, perhaps with a bluff, and the remaining players take a break. Following the break, Lady Fingers, who has been delighting in needling Howard all evening, takes over as dealer and continues to needle him.
As the game wears on, Shooter only deals, and then after another hand when Howard outplays them, two more players, Yeller and Sokal, drop out. That leaves just Howard and the Kid. After a few unlikely wins, the Kid calls for a break and confronts Shooter, who admits to being forced into cheating by Slade. The Kid insists he can win on his own and tells Shooter to deal straight or he will blow the whistle, destroying Shooter's reputation. Before the game resumes, Melba succeeds in seducing the Kid. Christian makes a surprise visit to the room, catches them after the fact and walks out on The Kid.
Slade tells the Kid that Shooter will continue to cheat for him and confronts him with a menacing thug, but the Kid flatly refuses. Back at the game, The Kid maneuvers to have Shooter replaced by Lady Fingers, lying that Shooter is ill. He then wins several major pots from Howard, who is visibly losing confidence.
The Client (1994)
Color
Boys who witnesses a mobster lawyers's suicide become caught up in ensuing legal battle
The Client
"Mark Sway and his little brother, Ricky, are sneaking cigarettes in the forest near their home when they witness the suicide of mob lawyer Jerome Clifford. Prior to his suicide, Clifford reveals to Mark that he is killing himself to avoid being murdered by Barry "The Blade" Muldanno, the nephew of notorious mob kingpin "Uncle Johnny Sulari". As a result of witnessing the suicide, Ricky goes into shock and is hospitalized. It soon becomes apparent to authorities - and the mob - that Clifford may have revealed to Mark the location of the body of a Louisiana senator believed to have been murdered by Muldanno.
Mark seeks out a lawyer, and finds Reggie Love (Susan Sarandon), a recovering alcoholic who agrees to defend him in court. They quickly run afoul of Roy Foltrigg (Tommy Lee Jones), a celebrated and vain U.S. Attorney, who is attempting to solve the case as a springboard to greater ambitions. In the mean time, it is revealed that Sulari never authorized Muldanno to make the hit on the senator, and is requiring Muldanno to try and figure out how much the kids may know about the location of the body. Muldanno is also required to move the body, but isn't able to do so immediately because he had buried it in Clifford's boathouse, and the cops are still on the property investigating his suicide.
As all parties become increasingly desperate, Foltrigg tries to go to continued legal lengths to get the location of the body through Mark's testimony, while Sulari eventually orders Muldanno to kill the children and their lawyer to avoid any further screw-ups in trying to deal with the case. He also orders the body moved, now that the investigation at Clifford's home is over.
Mark and Reggie go to New Orleans to confirm that the body is still where he was told it is, knowing that it is their only bargaining chip to get Ricky the help he needs, and to place the family in protective custody. They arrive the same night as Muldanno and his fellow mafia goons, who begin digging up the body but who are stopped by Mark and Reggie. In the melee that follows, the mafia goons flee when the neighbor's alarm is tripped and the authorities are summoned.
Knowing that the body is there, Reggie is able to use the information as a bargaining chip to get the family the full slate of protective custody and medical help for Ricky, as well as a new home and job for the children's mother. Although not explicitly stated, it becomes apparent that Sulari has had enough of Muldanno and is going to have his nephew killed. With the body recovered, Foltrigg is a lock-in for the newspaper headlines he craves, and makes mention that he intends to run for governor.
The Color of Money (1986)
Color
Retired pool shark finds 'student' and they hit road together to make money
The Color of Money
"Twenty five years after the events of The Hustler, Eddie Felson (Paul Newman) is a successful liquor salesman who sometimes acts as a "stakehorse" for younger pool players: fronting the money for their bets in exchange for a cut of the profits.
One night, Eddie sees Vincent Lauria (Tom Cruise) play and is impressed with the young man's phenomenal skill and charisma. Eddie tells Vincent and Vincent's calculating girlfriend Carmen (Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio) that "rich can be arranged" for someone of Vincent's skills and agrees to take them on the road to teach them how to hustle pool, angering his own girlfriend Janelle (Helen Shaver). Eddie tries to teach the young couple that "pool excellence is not about excellent pool" but while Carmen is a quick study, Vincent constantly chafes at the scams which Eddie proposes, which usually require Vincent to play well below his abilities. One night, after seeing Vincent play an excellent game against champion Grady Seasons (Keith McCready), Eddie decides to pick up the cue again. He beats his first few opponents but then is beaten by pool shark Amos (Forest Whitaker). Angered and humiliated at not being able to spot the hustle, Eddie abandons Vincent and Carmen, saying that he has nothing more to teach them and giving them a few thousand dollars to help get them to a championship pool tournament coming up in Atlantic City.
Reconciling with Janelle, Eddie works out, gets new glasses, and returns to the professional pool circuit, eventually ending up at the Atlantic City tournament where he reconnects with a much more seasoned and world wise Vincent. In their first match against each other Eddie beats Vincent, a result he celebrates enthusiastically. However, that night Vincent and Carmen come by Eddie's room and deliver his 'share', stating that Vincent had bet against himself and lost the match on purpose. Angered, Eddie challenges Vincent to a straight game, insisting that if he doesn't beat him now then he will in the future because "I'm back!
The Color Purple (1985)
Color
Woman's correspondence with her sister in Africa helps her escape an abusive husband
The Color Purple
"Celie is an African-American teenager in early 20th century rural Georgia who has lost two children by her abusive father. He gives her away as a wife to Mister who also abuses her. Celie's loving younger sister, Nettie, runs away from the abusive father and seeks shelter with Celie. The sisters promise to write if they are separated. Mister sexually assaults Nettie and he kicks her out.
Years later, Celie is meek from abuse. Mister's son Harpo marries Sofia, and Celie is shocked to find her running a matriarchal household. Harpo attempts to overpower and strike Sofia but he fails. Celia advises Harpo to beat Sofia. Sofia retaliates and confronts Celie, revealing her long history of abuse. She threatens to kill Harpo if he beats her again and tells Celie to do likewise to Mister. Harpo doesn't change, so Sofia leaves and takes their children.
Mister and Harpo bring home the ailing Shug Avery, a showgirl and Mister's long-time mistress. Celie, who has slowly developed a fondness for Shug through a photograph sent to Mister, is in awe of Shug's strong will. She nurses Shug back to health, and Shug in turn takes a liking to her, writing and performing a song about her at Harpo's newly opened bar. Shug tells Celie she's moving to Memphis, and Celie confesses to Shug that Mister beats her. Shug tells Celie she's beautiful and that she loves her, and they kiss. Celie packs her things to follow Shug to Memphis, but gets caught by Mister.
Meanwhile, Sofia has been imprisoned for striking the town's mayor after he insults her. Years pass, and she, now a shell of her former self, is released from prison -- only to be immediately ordered by the judge to become a maid to the mayor's wife, Ms. Millie. Having not seen her children in eight years, Sofia is allotted Christmas to be with her family, and Ms. Millie tries to drive her but panics and turns around after encountering a group of Sofia's friends, who were only trying to help her.
Shug returns to Celie and Mister's home with her new husband, Grady, expecting to receive a recording contract. Shug gives Celie a letter from Nettie, who tells her that she's working for a couple that has adopted Celie's children. Celie and Shug realize that Mister has been hiding Nettie's letters from Celie; while he and Grady are out drinking, the two search the house and find a hidden compartment under the floor boards filled with dozens and dozens of Nettie's letters. Engrossed in reading, Celie does not hear Mister's calls to shave him and he beats her. Celie attempts to kill Mister with a straight razor, but Shug intervenes and stops her. At a family gathering, Celie finally speaks up against Mister to the delight of Shug and Sofia, who finds her old fighting spirit, which prompts Harpo's new wife, Squeak, to stand up for herself as well. Shug and Grady drive away, taking Celie and Squeak with them.
Years later, Celie owns and operates a tailor shop. Mister is old, a drunk, and alone, and Harpo has made amends with Sofia; the two now run the bar together, and Shug still performs there. Celie's father passes away, and she finally learns from Nettie's letters that he wasn't their biological father and that when their mother passed, "his" property was legally inherited by Celie and Nettie. Mister receives a letter from Nettie addressed to Celie, takes money from his secret stash, and arranges for Nettie, her husband, and Celie's children to return to the U.S., where they finally reunite while Mister watches from a distance.
The Commuter (2018)
Color
Man's train ride turns into terrifying ordeal when he is forced to find a specific passenger
The Commuter
"Michael MacCauley, an Irish-American NYPD member turned insurance agent, has a wife and teenaged son. He goes through the same routine train commute to work and back every day, taking the Hudson Line from Tarrytown to Grand Central Terminal, often interacting with the same other commuters. His daily routine is interrupted when he is abruptly fired from his job after a decade at the same company, leading him to wonder how he will pay his mortgage or afford his son's college tuition. Choosing not to immediately reveal his dismissal to his family, he instead confides in Murphy, his ex-partner on the force, while he and Murphy's unit are at a bar.
On the train home, Michael meets a mysterious woman named Joanna, who makes small talk with him. Joanna describes herself as an academic who studies human behavior and tells him there are 16 distinct types of personalities. She proposes a hypothetical situation to Michael, asking him to do one little thing that he is uniquely skilled for, the results of which would have consequences that he would know nothing about, but would affect one of the passengers on the train. Joanna's one little thing that she wants Michael to do is locate "Prynne," the alias of an unknown passenger, who she says doesn't belong and has something stolen. Joanna proceeds to tell him that he will find $25,000 in the bathroom and will be paid another $75,000 when the job is done. Michael starts to question whether this is real or hypothetical, and Joanna, before she gets off the train, alludes to him being a former cop. Out of curiosity, Michael searches the bathroom and finds an envelope with $25,000.
He attempts to leave the train but is stopped by a young woman who hands him another envelope with Michael's wife's wedding ring, and tells him it's a warning. Michael attempts to call his wife but with no response. Michael attempts to warn a fellow passenger of what is going on by writing on his newspaper. Michael leaves a voicemail describing the situation to Murphy, and then receives a call from Joanna, threatening him and his family. She tells him to look outside, where he sees the passenger he gave the newspaper being deliberately pushed in front of a bus. Joanna then points him to a GPS tracker in his jacket and instructs him to plant it on Prynne.
Michael gives a fake report of suspicious behavior to a conductor, who announces he plans to search a woman's bag. A man immediately leaves the car and Michael follows him, at which point he attacks Michael. They fight and Michael plants the GPS tracker on him. Murphy calls back and informs him that Prynne is a key witness in a supposed suicide case of a man at the city planner's office, Enrique Mendez, leading Michael to realize that Prynne will be killed and that Michael is being set up.
In a deserted carriage, Michael discovers the body of the man he planted the GPS tracker on and a badge revealing he was an FBI agent. He is then contacted by Joanna and chastised for marking the wrong person, before warning him that another passenger has reported his suspicious activities on the train to police, who stop the train to investigate. Michael manages to evade detection by hiding with the corpse under the carriage, but in the process accidentally tears his bag and loses the 25,000 dollars. Sabotaging the air conditioning in the train except for the last car, Michael forces all of the remaining passengers into the last carriage. He realizes another passenger, a Jazz musician named Oliver, killed the FBI agent. Oliver reveals that he also received the same deal for $100,000, but with orders to assassinate Prynne, after Michael has identified him/her. Michael and Oliver brutally battle against and batter each other. Eventually, the hitman is thrown by Michael out of the window of the train and killed. The real "Prynne" is revealed to be a young girl named Sofia, who is holding incriminating information on powerful people and was to go into witness protection at the final stop of the train. Michael asks Sofia why she did not go to the police. She reveals that it was the police who killed Enrique, who was Sofia's cousin.
Joanna calls Michael and tries to convince him to kill Sofia for the sake of his family, but Michael refuses. Joanna activates the fail-safe plan and derails the train in order to kill everyone aboard. Michael manages to save all of the passengers by unhooking the final carriage from the rest of the train right before a curve, but a conductor dies assisting him. Michael instructs the passengers to block visibility into the car by pasting wet newspaper on all the windows, before a massive police force arrives at the scene.
Assuming Michael is holding the train hostage, Murphy is sent to talk to him, only to be revealed as the cop who killed Enrique when he uses a phrase about "being noble" - the same type of language Sofia heard from one of the cops that killed Enrique. Michael and Murphy engage in a fight, during which Michael removes Murphy's electronic ID tag, which identifies him as a "friendly" to the snipers outside using thermal vision. The snipers, believing Murphy to be Michael, shoot and kill Murphy.
Outside of the train, Sofia is met by the FBI and proceeds to tell them what she knows. Michael is hailed as a hero and exonerated by the other passengers while his family is rescued by the FBI. His old captain admits that Murphy and a few others had been under investigation for some time and offers Michael his job back. Michael rummages in his coat pocket and reveals that he kept the hard drive Sofia gave him containing the incriminating evidence.
Sometime later, Joanna is on a train back from Chicago. Michael approaches her (presumably having found her through the information on the hard disk) and confronts Joanna about her actions before he shows his police detective badge, implying he is ready to arrest her.
The Company (2007)
Color
Efforts are made to flush out a mole in the CIA
The Company
"Harvey Torriti ("The Sorcerer") runs the Company's Soviet Russian division from the CIA station over a dingy cinema in 1954 Berlin, a hotbed of spies where secrets are readily sold. His young apprentice, Jack McAuliffe, was recruited straight out of Yale in 1950, along with his best friend Leo Kritzky.
Jack and Leo had a third friend at Yale: Russian-born Yevgeny Tsipin. During graduate work at Yale, he returns to Moscow to attend his mother's funeral, where he's introduced to a family friend, master KGB spy Starik, who recruits him. While training, Yevgeny meets beautiful Azalia and falls in love, but Starik gives him an ultimatum -- his country or the woman he loves. Yevgeny leaves for his assignment in the United States.
An East German, Vishnevsky, has offered information regarding a mole within MI6, in exchange for safe passage for himself and his family to the West. From the CIA's temporary headquarters in Washington, counterintelligence chief James Angleton sends orders to Berlin to begin Vishnevsky's exfiltration, sharing, as is his custom, this information with his best friend Adrian Philby, MI6's liaison to Washington.
Jack believes Vishnevsky might have supplied misinformation but, while he and the Sorcerer are waiting for the family, KGB agents and Berlin police burst into the cinema downstairs. The CIA ops are able to make their escape but the defection has been compromised, proving the existence of the suspected mole.
After conducting a thorough search of everyone in the CIA, Angleton surmises the leak is in the Berlin operation. The Sorcerer is determined to prove him wrong and comes up with a risky plan to flush out the mole by feeding him real information. Meanwhile, Jack is smitten by Lili, an East German ballerina, who provides information from a figure known as The Professor, an important scientist in the East German hierarchy.
Jack's friend Leo Kritzky has fallen in love with Adelle Swett, a young woman whose influential father Phillip Swett is a personal friend of President Eisenhower. When Leo proposes marriage to Adelle, Phillip has him vetted and discovers that he works for the CIA. Despite this, he gives permission for Adelle to marry Leo.
Yevgeny has arrived in Washington D.C. where he is posing as an American and working as a delivery boy for Kahn's Liquor Store. He regularly communicates with Starik via an elaborate series of codes and numbers to get his orders. One of his regular assignments is to make liquor deliveries to the Georgetown home of Adrian Philby.
In Berlin, the Sorcerer and Jack are ambushed by phony muggers and then "rescued" by phony cops who turn out to be KGB agents, indicating the Sorcerer's plan is working. Discrepancies are found in Lili's information and, when confronted by Jack, she admits being forced into betraying the Professor by the KGB, who threatened both of their lives. She assures Jack her love for him is genuine, but shortly thereafter she and the professor are both dead.
The Sorcerer meets with Angleton and CIA Director Allen Dulles insisting Philby has been a Russian spy for thirty years. Philby is quickly recalled to Moscow but, before he leaves, Yevgeny tells him he is not indispensable -- the KGB has another mole already in place - Sasha (Aleksander Kopatzky). (NB: The adaptation takes liberties with both the historical record and Littell's novel, as Burgess and Maclean's defection to the USSR - and Philby's fall from grace in Washington - occurred in 1951. Philby did not defect to the USSR until 1963).
Two years pass. Jack has been sent to Budapest on the eve of the Hungarian revolution in an attempt to persuade the freedom fighters to postpone their uprising. He makes contact with Elizabet, a beautiful museum guide, who while dodging the AVH (the Hungarian Secret Police), takes him to resistance leader Arpad Zelk. Jack then tells Arpad that if he encourages an uprising, the U.S. will not step in to help.
Jack is abducted and brought to the AVH prison where he is interrogated under torture. The Sorcerer has a contentious meeting with his KGB counterpart in Berlin, demanding the AVH release Jack (by virtue of the KGB's hold over AVH). however, as Jack is being transported to a new location, Arpad shows up and frees him then together they rescue Elizabet, who was also being held. As the freedom fighters storm the AVH prison and kill all of the guards, Szabkanko, the commandant, begs Jack to protect him by revealing that he knows the identity of the mole within the CIA, but Arpad does not comply.
As Hungarian refugees pour into Vienna, Jack sends a message back to the CIA to back up the freedom fighters before the Russians return, but President Eisenhower is adamant - no troops to aid the Hungarians. Angleton insists thousands of Hungarians will die if the president's intentions become known. The solution is to deceive the Russians with misleading radio traffic indicating a U.S. buildup of troops.
Jack joins the revolutionaries as the Russian tanks begin rolling into Budapest. He, Elizabeth, and Zoltan, another rebel, join Arpad at the Killian Barracks, where hundreds of demonstrators are taking shelter. Realizing that further resistance is futile against the Russians, Arpad attempts to surrender, but is gunned down. Zoltan helps Jack and Elizabet escape through a series of tunnels in the barracks subbasement. The three make their way to the Austrian border, where the Sorcerer has been watching for Jack. At the refugee camp, Jack is able to re-unite Elizabet with her 10-year old daughter who had been taken away from her some years earlier.
Four years later, Jack is in the Guatemalan jungle, where Cuban rebel leader Roberto Escalona is training a group of volunteer emigres in preparation for an invasion of their homeland after a landing in the Bay of Pigs Invasion. Roberto believes that President Kennedy will send in the Navy to help the rebels but Jack reminds him that if his group gets into any trouble once they land on the beach, they're on their own. The Sorcerer has his own plans for Fidel Castro which involve calling on his Mafia contacts to arrange an assassination. Through a Brooklyn mobster, the Sorcerer is led to Chicago mob boss Sam Giancana who comes up with the idea of poisoning Castro via one of the vanilla milkshakes that the Cuban leader is served every afternoon at the Hotel Libre in Havana.
In Washington, Yevgeny is nearly arrested by the FBI but is able to construct a new American identity for himself. He gets word to his handler - Sasha -- who has vital information about the Cuban invasion to impart to Starik. In the CIA war room, Angleton argues that the Company has no business getting involved in Cuba. As long as Sasha is still operating, all of their vital information is being funneled to the enemy and the operation is doomed to failure. His associates, including Richard Bissell, the architect of the invasion plan, scoff at the notion that Sasha exists at all. In Havana, the head of Castro's Secret Police intercepts the waiter about to serve the poisoned milk shake to Castro, and forces him to drink it instead.
Jack is part of the first wave of rebel fighters arriving at the Bay of Pigs. Although the landing site has been changed, they set up makeshift headquarters on the beach, becoming sitting ducks for the tanks and aircraft that Castro is planning to send in. As the Cuban Sea Fury planes appear overhead, raking the shoreline with machine gun fire, Roberto is desperately expecting the U.S. air cover that never comes. JFK has resolutely refused to commit air forces to combat. Roberto forces a reluctant Jack to swim to the safety of a damaged destroyer in the bay, leaving Roberto and the rebels on the beach to face certain death. Angry with the president and the Company for letting the rebels down, Jack contemplates handing in his resignation. His old friend Leo talks him out of it and Jack is awarded with the Agency's highest honor.
Fifteen more years pass - it is now 1975. Jack and Leo, who has climbed so high at the Company that he is being talked about as the next director, are in their forties. Jack is working on the case of Krushkin, a KGB captain who wants to defect with his family. In exchange, he will provide more information about the elusive Sasha, with whom Angleton has become increasingly obsessed. Angleton thinks that it may be a trick of Starik's but Jack assures him that he believes that Krushkin is credible.
Using a liquor delivery list from Kahn's store, Angleton narrows the names down to Company employees, leading him to Leo Kritzky. Returning with his wife from a vacation in France, Leo is arrested at the airport and brought to a holding cell where he is strip-searched and then interrogated by Angleton. As he looks on from behind a two-way mirror, Jack is reeling from the possibility that his best friend may be responsible for Lili's suicide and the deaths of the Cuban rebels and the Hungarian freedom fighters. Jack is shocked by Leo's condition when he visits him in prison. Still insisting that he is not Sasha, Leo tells Jack that he believes Krushkin has been dispatched by the KGB. But Krushkin mysteriously returns to the Soviet Union, where he is put on trial for treason and shot. Jack and the Sorcerer don't believe it and when it turns out that Krushkin is alive after all, Leo is cleared and returns to his office at the Company. Angleton remains convinced that Leo is Sasha and is forced to resign; in his parting words to the Company, he reels off a list of international statesmen (including Averell Harriman and Henry Kissinger) he believes are under KGB control as part of a massive scheme to convince the US that it is winning the Cold War and turn the world against it.
In 1987, as the Cold War winds down, improvements in technology have enabled the counterintelligence analysts to pinpoint the telephone number that Moscow Radio broadcast in the early 1950s to its KGB operatives. It leads to Kahn's Liquor Store and to Yevgeny. Jack visits the dying Angleton who figures out that lists of further numbers broadcast by Moscow are not telephone numbers but bank accounts, part of a complicated financial scheme, codenamed Kholstomer, designed by Starik to wreak havoc on the American economy. Angleton again accuses Leo of being Sasha. Jack starts to have his own suspicions but is not prepared when he accompanies the FBI to arrest Yevgeny and discovers that it is his old classmate from Yale. Jack then pays a visit to Leo -- to whom Yevgeny had been making deliveries over the years -- and accuses him of being Sasha. Leo does not deny it -- he admits to being recruited to the KGB by a girlfriend who took advantage of his Socialist leanings (learned from his father) -- and shoots Jack in the gut. Before he disappears into the night, Leo phones for an ambulance for his friend.
While Jack is in the hospital recovering, Starik's financial plot is curtailed by the Company, but not altogether avoided. When he is released, Jack pays a visit to Angleton, who has been proved right about Sasha and was instrumental in identifying Starik's agents in banks around the world.
Several years later: the collapse of the Soviet Union is imminent. Jack (now 64) offers Yevgeny an early release from prison if he will provide the whereabouts of Leo. He reveals to Yevgeny that his great love Azalia was exiled to the gulag by Starik, after which Yevgeny is happy to oblige. He tracks down Leo in Moscow but warns him before passing his whereabouts to Jack. He pays Starik a visit but revenge is pointless as his mind is gone. Next he finds Azalia, and hope for the future.
1991, Jack, in Moscow, apprises the Company of the prospects that Boris Yeltsin will take power and bring democracy to Russia. Executing a plan to kill his former friend, Jack has the opportunity to push Leo in front of a car but chooses not to at the last moment, disappearing into the crowd just as Leo realises he is there. Back in Maryland, the Sorcerer and Jack discuss their work in the Cold War. Jack expresses his misgivings over the things they did at the Company, but Harvey assures him they were the "Good Guys" because they won.
The Company Men (2010)
Color
Employees dealing with the challenges of being laid off
The Company Men
"When the multi-billion dollar publicly held corporation Global Transportation Systems ("GTX") is downsized in the midst of the recession, many employees are fired, including Bobby Walker (Ben Affleck). Walker is a white-collar, corporate ladder-climbing employee with a six-figure salary, a wife, and a teenage son and younger daughter.
Walker gets outplacement services from GTX, but without success, gradually loses luxuries such as his country club membership and his Porsche. He finally must sell his expensive house (with a large mortgage) and move his family in with his parents. Ultimately Walker is forced to take a manual labor job working for his blue-collar brother-in-law, Jack Dolan (Kevin Costner), installing drywall.
Company CEO James Salinger (Craig T. Nelson) suffers no misfortune during the crisis. His longtime friend and first employee, Gene McClary (Tommy Lee Jones), challenges his strategy of employee cutbacks and asks whether it is ethical to spend money on building a new corporate headquarters while laying off employees. Angry with McClary's question, Salinger asserts that the deep cuts are necessary to increase profits, to keep the company in business, and to satisfy stockholders.
Later, it is determined that an additional round of lay-offs is necessary. Senior manager Phil Woodward (Chris Cooper), who over the course of 30 years had risen from the factory floor to the corporate offices (a decidedly rare accomplishment), is also fired. When McClary demands of senior HR manager Sally Wilcox (Maria Bello) - who is also McClary's mistress - that Woodward be rehired immediately, she tells him that he too is being fired.
Woodward's life quickly falls apart as his former colleagues abandon him and employer after employer tells him he is either too old to start a new career, or too old to do jobs that those half his age find difficult. At his wife's request, Woodward goes out every morning as usual with his briefcase to keep his situation secret from the neighbors, but he cannot do anything to abate his mounting bills or his daughter's impending college tuition bill. Frustrated and depressed, he commits suicide by carbon-monoxide poisoning.
McClary is a wealthy man as a shareholder of the firm (his GTX stock options go up due to the downsizing), but he feels guilty about his company ruining so many lives and, instead, would rather put people to work. Feeling the need for a change, he leaves his wife and starts his own business. Walker is the first person he hires.
Walker arrives at the bare offices to help start a new business composed of many former GTX employees.
The Contender (2000)
Color
First female nominated for President struggles to overcome political scandal
The Contender
"Second-term Democratic U.S. President Jackson Evans (Jeff Bridges) must select a new vice president following the sudden death of the current VP. The obvious choice seems to be Virginia Governor Jack Hathaway (William Petersen), who is hailed as a hero after he recently dove into a lake in a failed attempt to save a drowning girl. The president opts not to choose Hathaway, claiming that the administration cannot afford another Chappaquiddick.
The President instead decides that his "swan song" will be helping to break the glass ceiling. He nominates Laine Hanson (Joan Allen), a talented Democratic senator from Ohio. Standing in her way is Republican Congressman Shelley Runyon (Gary Oldman) of Illinois, who believes she is unqualified for the position, and backs Hathaway for the nod. His investigation into her background turns up an incident where she was apparently photographed participating in a drunken orgy as part of a sorority initiation.
The confirmation hearings begin in Washington, D.C., and Runyon, who chairs the committee, quickly addresses Hanson's alleged sexual imbroglio. Hanson refuses to address the incident, neither confirming nor denying anything, and tries to turn the discussion towards political issues. Anticipating that Hanson would deem her personal past "none of anyone's business," Runyon starts rumors in the media saying that the sexual escapade in college was done in exchange for money and favors, making it prostitution. Meanwhile, a woman testifies in front of the committee saying that Hanson engaged in a relationship with her then-husband prior to their divorce. Though she is said to be not guilty of adultery, her reputation is further tarnished.
Hanson meets with Evans and offers to withdraw her name, to save his administration more embarrassment. Despite the wishes of the administration, she refuses to fight back or even address Runyon's charges, arguing that to answer the questions dignifies them being asked in the first place--something she does not believe. Evans meets with Runyon, informing him he will not choose Hanson as Vice President. Runyon casually brings forward Hathaway as a replacement. They make an agreement that Runyon will back down on his attacks if Evans chooses Hathaway as Vice President. However, Evans requests Runyon to make a public statement defending Hathaway.
Hanson, Hathaway and Runyon are all invited to the White House. Evans then shocks them by showing a FBI report that proves Hathaway paid the woman to drive off the bridge into the lake, part of a plan to increase his approval ratings and become the obvious choice for VP. Hathaway is arrested and Runyon is disgraced because he vouched for Hathaway's integrity just hours earlier. Evans meets with Hanson, and she finally tells what actually happened that night in college: She said that she did indeed arrive at a fraternity house to have sex with two men as part of an initiation, but changed her mind before any sex occurred. She also said that she was not the girl in the photo. Though they have the evidence to vindicate Hanson, she explicitly expresses that a statement not be made, even if it will clear her; citing that by doing so will further the idea that it was acceptable to ask the questions in the first place. Evans addresses all of Congress and uses Runyon's predicament as a way to gather support for Hanson's nomination.
The Contract (2006)
Color
A father and his son attempt to bring in an assassin to the authorities
The Contract
"Frank Carden (Morgan Freeman) is a professional assassin who has been hired to kill a reclusive billionaire named Lydell Hammond, Sr., a vocal opponent of stem cell research. Carden's plan goes awry when he gets injured in a car accident and ends up in the hospital. When hospital staff see his gun, they call the police. They are able to peel away his false identity, and federal marshals are called in to pick him up.
Widower Ray Keene (John Cusack), a high school gym teacher, ex-cop, and well-intentioned but not very able dad to Chris (Jamie Anderson), belatedly realizes the need to bond with his son when the latter gets caught smoking marijuana and takes him hiking in the wilderness. Carden is being driven through that same wilderness by the marshals, but his men stage a rescue attempt. The car is crashed, and most of the marshals end up dead. The surviving marshal asks Keene to take the prisoner to the authorities and then dies of his injuries. Ray and Chris have to get Carden out of the wilderness and hand him over to the authorities. Carden's men, highly skilled ex-military thugs, track them down to rescue Carden and kill the Keenes. The pursuit brings a couple, Sandra and Lochlan (Megan Dodds and Ryan McCluskey) into the crossfire, with Lochlan being killed by Carden's men.
In a tense standoff in a cabin in the woods, Carden's friends turn up, and Keene agrees to let Carden go. Just at that moment, one of Carden's thugs bursts in and punches Chris, causing Keene to panic and kill him, sustaining critical wounds in the process, while Sandra shoots the other as he enters firing. Carden escapes, taking Chris as a hostage, while Sandra and Keene are rescued by the local police. Miles (Alice Krige), Carden's mission handler, tells Davis (Corey Johnson), Carden's recent recruit, to kill Carden and Chris and to make it look like Carden did it. She also tells him to kill Keene in case Carden told him anything about his job.
Feeling defeated and resting at home, a televised news report echoes an earlier conversation about Carden's job description with the key phrase "exterminating obstacles to progress" which makes Keene aware of Carden's intended target. Keene heads to the funeral of Hammond, Jr., to intercept Carden and inadvertently saves Carden from Davis. Carden gets the upper hand on Davis, killing him with his own sniper rifle. However, the battle forces Carden to miss his own window of opportunity to assassinate Hammond, Sr. Carden relents in giving Keene a set of keys to a hotel room where Carden locked up Chris, letting father and son reunite while he disappears.
In Washington, D.C., Carden intercepts Miles, aware of her role in hiring Davis to kill him. Carden threatens to "come after her" if any harm were to come to the Keene family. Two weeks after the incident, Keene enters into a relationship with Sandra and holds a family barbecue, expressing disbelief in hearing a radio news report about Hammond, Sr., dying in a "boating accident", realizing that Carden finished his contract killing.
The Cotton Club (1984)
Color
Jazz player falls for gangter's girl
The Cotton Club
"A musician named Dixie Dwyer begins working with mobsters to advance his career but falls in love with the girlfriend of gangland kingpin Dutch Schultz.
A dancer from Dixie's neighborhood, Sandman Williams, is hired with his brother by the Cotton Club, a jazz club where most of the performers are black and the customers white. Owney Madden, a mobster, owns the club and runs it with his right-hand man, Frenchy.
Dixie becomes a Hollywood film star, thanks to the help of Madden and the mob but angering Schultz. He also continues to see Schultz's moll, Vera Cicero, whose new nightclub has been financed by the jealous gangster.
In the meantime, Dixie's ambitious younger brother Vincent becomes a gangster in Schultz's mob and eventually a public enemy, holding Frenchy as a hostage.
Sandman alienates his brother Clay at the Cotton Club by agreeing to perform a solo number there. While the club's management interferes with Sandman's romantic interest in Lila, a singer, its cruel treatment of the performers leads to an intervention by Harlem criminal "Bumpy" Rhodes on their behalf.
Dutch Schultz is violently dealt with by Madden's men while Dixie and Sandman perform on the Cotton Club's stage.
The Counselor (2013)
Color
Lawyer tries to enter the drug business, but gets more than he bargained for
The Counselor
"The story begins with a man, known only as "The Counselor" (Michael Fassbender), and his girlfriend Laura (Penelope Cruz) lying in bed and speaking to one another in an increasingly suggestive and erotic manner. The Counselor then performs oral sex on Laura. Meanwhile, somewhere in Mexico, cocaine is being packaged in barrels and concealed in a sewage truck. The truck is driven across the border and stored at a sewage treatment plant. The Counselor goes to Amsterdam on what he claims is a business trip, but is actually meeting with a diamond dealer (Bruno Ganz) in order to purchase an engagement ring for Laura. Back in the United States, The Counselor proposes to Laura, and she accepts. He attends a party at a house owned by Reiner (Javier Bardem) and his girlfriend Malkina (Cameron Diaz). The Counselor and Reiner have a lengthy discussion, during which Reiner claims that The Counselor is not capitalizing on his position of power as much as he could be. The Counselor meets with Westray (Brad Pitt), a business associate, to express interest in a drug deal with a four-thousand percent return rate.
Westray warns The Counselor about becoming involved in such a deal, saying that Mexican cartels are merciless, particularly to lawyers. The Counselor visits one of his clients, a prison inmate named Ruth (Rosie Perez) who is on trial for murder. Ruth's son is a biker and a valued cartel member known as "The Green Hornet" recently arrested for speeding. The Counselor agrees to bail him out of jail. Malkina employs "The Wireman" (Sam Spruell) to steal the drugs. He does this by decapitating the biker with a wire stretched across the highway. After collecting the component that will allow the sewage truck to start, The Wireman drives to the sewage treatment plant, where he steals the truck containing the cocaine. Learning of this incident, Westray meets with The Counselor to notify him that The Green Hornet is dead and that the cocaine has been stolen, bleakly intoning The Counselor's culpability.
Simultaneously, both Ruth and the cartel link The Counselor to the death of the biker and the theft of the drugs. The cartel has learned that he bailed out The Green Hornet, which appears as suspect timing and fully blameworthy for the putative purposes of the cartel. In Texas, two cartel members pretending to be police officers pull over The Wireman and his accomplice. A shootout ensues when the accomplice shoots and kills one of the imposter "police officers" and wounds the other. The wounded cartel member manages to kill the accomplice and The Wireman, accidentally shooting the sewage truck and purposely gunning down a passing-by driver. Reiner is accidentally killed by cartel members while attempting to capture him, and Laura is simultaneously kidnapped. In a last-ditch effort, The Counselor contacts Jefe (Ruben Blades), a high-ranking cartel member, for information on the whereabouts of Laura, Reiner, and Westray, or suggestions on what to do next. Jefe advises The Counselor to live with the choices he has made.
After the truck is fixed and the wounded cartel member is cared for, he goes to the meeting location where the buyer (Dean Norris) gets his cocaine. The Counselor goes back to Mexico, hoping to find Laura. A package is slipped under the door of his hotel room. He opens it and finds a DVD with "Hola!" written on it. The Counselor breaks down completely, heavily implying that the disk contains an execution video of Laura from the cartel. Laura's decapitated body is dumped at a landfill. Meanwhile, Malkina's failed effort to steal the drugs means that she is out of the money she wants. She tracks Westray to London, hiring a woman (Natalie Dormer) to seduce him and steal his bank codes. She has Westray killed to get his computer in order to access the account and its contents. Malkina then meets her banker (Goran Vi?njic) at a restaurant to explain how she wants her accounts to be handled and the two continue to have a business as usual luncheon as the film ends.
The Count of Monte Cristo (2002)
Color
Sailor plots revenge after friend's accusation ruins his marriage to the beautiful Merced?s
The Count of Monte Cristo
"In 1815, Edmond Dantes, Second Mate of a French merchant vessel, and his friend Fernand Mondego, representative of the shipping company, seek medical help at Elba for their ailing captain. Napoleon Bonaparte, having kept his guardians from killing the pair, exchanges his physician's services with Edmond for the delivery of a letter to a Monsieur Clarion.
In Marseille, the company owner Morrell commends Edmond for his bravery, promoting him to captain over First Mate Danglars, who gave Edmond explicit orders not to land at Elba. Edmond states his intention to marry his girlfriend, Merced?s, whom Fernand lusts after.
Fernand and Danglars inform on Edmond, concerning the letter Fernand saw Napoleon hand him, to the city's Magistrate, Villefort, who has Edmond arrested. Villefort prepares to exonerate Edmond until he learns the letter is addressed to Villefort's father, a Bonapartist; he burns the letter and orders Edmond locked up in Ch?teau d'If. Edmond escapes, and turns to Fernand for help, but Fernand holds him up and turns him over to the pursuing gendarmes. Edmond is consigned to the island prison and its sadistic warden, Armand Dorleac. Villefort has Fernand assassinate his father in exchange for persuading Merced?s that Edmond has been executed for treason and that she should take comfort in Fernand.
Six years later, Edmond is startled in his cell by an eruption in the ground revealing another prisoner. Abbe Faria, who has been imprisoned for 11 years after he refused to tell Bonaparte the whereabouts of the treasure of Spada, has dug an escape tunnel. For the next seven years Faria educates Edmond in all facets of scholarship, including swordplay, in exchange for his help in digging a new escape route. Faria dies in a tunnel cave-in but before expiring he reveals a map to the treasure. Edmond escapes by switching himself for the priest's body in the body bag, and is thrown into the sea, pulling Dorleac along with him, whom he drowns.
Edmond encounters a band of pirates preparing to execute a fellow pirate, Jacopo, (Luis Guzman). Their leader, Luigi Vampa, decides justice and entertainment would be better served by pitting Edmond and Jacopo in a knife fight. Edmond wins, but spares Jacopo, who swears himself Edmond's man for life. Jacopo and Edmond both work for the pirates until they arrive in Marseille.
Edmond learns from Morrell, who does not recognize him, that Fernand and Danglars are complicit in his betrayal, and that Fernand and Merced?s have wed. With Jacopo, he locates Faria's treasure, and establishes himself as a Count in Parisian society.
Edmond ingratiates himself to the Mondegos by staging the kidnap and rescue of their son, Albert (Henry Cavill). Now known as the Count of Monte Cristo, Edmond lures Fernand, Villefort and Danglars into a trap by letting slip the notion that he has located the treasure of Spada, and is shipping it through Marseille. Danglars is caught red-handed in the act of theft. Villefort is arrested upon confessing that he ordered the hit on his father and it is revealed that Fernand carried out the murder of Monsieur Clarion.
Even though his appearance has dramatically changed, Merced?s recognizes her former fiance. Eventually, she softens him and they rekindle their relationship. As Fernand prepares to flee, she reveals the only reason she married him was that she was pregnant with Albert who is really Edmond's son.
Fernand encounters Edmond in the ruins of an estate where he thinks he hid what he thought were chests full of the treasure but contain nothing but ashes. Albert intervenes when Edmond attempts to kill Fernand, but Merced?s tells him of his true parentage. Fernand leaves, firing a shot that wounds Merced?s, and rides away, but changes his mind upon realizing that he has nothing left to live for. Fernand rides back and calls Edmond out. The two fight to the death; Edmond prevails.
Edmond purchases Ch?teau d'If, intending to raze it, but instead leaves it standing as he swears to the spirit of Faria to use his vast resources for nothing but good.
The Crucible (1996)
Color
After being spurned by married lover, woman makes accusations of witchcraft
The Crucible
"Early morning in 1692 Salem, Massachusetts, some young village girls meet in the woods with a Barbadian slave named Tituba (Charlayne Woodard). One of the girls, Abigail Williams (Winona Ryder), kills a chicken and drinks the blood, wishing for John Proctor's wife to die. They are surprised by Abigail's uncle, Reverend Samuel Parris (Bruce Davison), who discovers them. As the girls run away, Parris' daughter, Betty (Rachael Bella), falls over unconscious.
Parris questions Abigail about the events that took place in the woods; Betty will not awaken, nor will Ruth (Ashley Peldon), the daughter of Thomas and Ann Putnam (Jeffrey Jones and Frances Conroy), who was also dancing. This strikes Mrs. Putnam hard as she has had seven other children before Ruth who died at childbirth. The Parris house is also visited by Giles Corey (Peter Vaughan), who suspects that the children are just acting out, and John Proctor (Daniel Day-Lewis), with whom Abigail had an affair and whose wife she wants dead. Abigail still loves Proctor, but Proctor feels that he made a mistake and leaves her. The Putnams and Reverend Parris believe that Betty and Ruth are demonically possessed, so they call Reverend John Hale (Rob Campbell) from Beverly, to examine Betty. To save herself and the other girls from punishment, Abigail claims that Tituba was working with the devil. After a brutal whipping, Tituba confesses to being a witch. Struck by their newfound power, the other girls begin naming other women whom they "saw" with the devil. One of these is Elizabeth Proctor (Joan Allen), John Proctor's wife.
John, determined not to give his lover her vengeance, insists that his servant, Mary Warren (Karron Graves), one of the "afflicted" girls, testify in court that the witchcraft was faked. Although Mary Warren is frightened of Abigail, she eventually agrees. In the court, Francis Nurse gives a list of names of people who vouch for the accused; in response, the judges order that all on the list be arrested and brought in for questioning. Giles Corey insists that when Ruth Putnam accused Rebecca Nurse (Elizabeth Lawrence), Mr. Putnam was heard to tell his daughter that she had won him a "fine gift of land" (the Nurses' property was coveted by the Putnam family). Corey refuses to give the name of the person who heard this remark, and the judges order Corey's arrest. Meanwhile, Mary Warren insists that she only thought she saw spirits. John is told that Elizabeth is pregnant and will be spared from death until the baby is born, but he insists on charging the girls with false witness.
The other girls are called in and asked if they were lying about the witchcraft but cause a commotion, screaming that Mary Warren is putting a spell on them. In order to demonstrate that Abigail is not an innocent person, John confesses to having had an affair with her. He then claims that Abigail accused Elizabeth in order to get rid of her, so that she could marry him. Elizabeth is called in to see if the accusation is true. However, not knowing that John confessed and wanting to save his reputation, she lies. The girls turn the court further against the Proctors by screaming that Mary Warren is attacking them in the form of a yellow bird. To save herself from being hanged as a witch, Mary Warren accuses John. When asked if he will return to God, John despairingly yells "I say God is dead!" and is arrested as a witch.
On the day before John is to be hanged, Abigail attempts to convince the court that Reverend Hale's wife is also a witch; this plot backfires on her as the judges believe that a reverend's wife is too clean to be possessed by Satan. In time, the girls become outcasts and Abigail steals Reverend Parris's money to catch a ship to flee to Barbados, but not before asking John to go with her, telling him she never wished any of this on him. He refuses. On the eve of John's hanging, Parris, fearing that his execution will cause riots in Salem directed at him, allows John to meet with Elizabeth to see if she can make her husband "confess" to save his life. John agrees. The judges insist that the confession must be publicly displayed to prove his guilt and to convince others to confess, but John angrily tears up the confession, determined to keep his name pure for his sons. He is taken away to be hanged. Before being hanged, he, Rebecca Nurse and Martha Corey recite the Lord's Prayer.
The Danish Girl (2015)
Color
Man tries to get sex change with wife's blessing, but dies from complications
The Danish Girl
"In mid-1920s Copenhagen, portrait artist Gerda Wegener (Alicia Vikander) asks her husband, popular landscape artist Einar Wegener (Eddie Redmayne), to stand in for a female model who is late to come to their flat to pose for a painting she's working on.
The act of Einar posing as a female figure unmasks her lifelong identification as a woman, whom she has named Lili Elbe. This sets off a progression, first tentative and then irreversible, of leaving behind the identity as Einar, which she has struggled to maintain all her life. This takes place as both Lili and Gerda relocate to Paris; Gerda's portraits of Lili in her feminine state attract serious attention from art dealers in a way that her previous portraiture had not. It is there that Gerda tracks down art dealer Hans Axgil (Matthias Schoenaerts), a childhood friend of Lili (Hans had been the first boy who had ever kissed her as Lili). Hans and Gerda's mutual attraction is a challenge, as Gerda is navigating her changing relationship to Lili, but Hans' longtime friendship with and affection for Lili cause him to be supportive of both Lili and Gerda.
As her struggles with her identity and continued existence as Einar become too much for Lili, she starts to seek help from psychologists, but none yield any results, and in one instance, almost leads her into being committed to an asylum. Eventually, at Hans's recommendation, Lili and Gerda meet Dr. Kurt Warnekros (Sebastian Koch). Dr. Warnekros explains that he has met several people like Lili, who identify as female, and proposes a new, innovative and controversial solution: male to female sex reassignment surgery. This would entail a two-part procedure that involves first removing Lili's external genitalia and then, after a period of recovery, fashioning a vagina. He warns them that it is a very dangerous operation that has never been attempted before, and Lili would be one of the first to undergo it. Lili immediately agrees, and soon after travels to Germany to begin the surgery. Unfortunately, her eagerness to shed the vestiges of her male anatomy leads her to rush the sequence of procedures, and she eventually dies of complications from the surgery. The movie ends with Gerda and Hans on a hilltop back in Denmark; in front of the five trees which Lili had painted way back in her male life as a painter. The scarf that Lili had originally given Gerda, and that had subsequently been given back and forth several times, is carried away on the wind, dancing.
The Dark Tower (2017)
Color
The last Gunslinger battles the Man in Black to prevent him from toppling the Dark Tower
The Dark Tower
"11-year-old Jake Chambers (Tom Taylor) experiences visions involving a Man in Black who seeks to destroy a Tower and bring ruin to the Universe while a Gunslinger opposes him. Jake's visions are dismissed by his mother, stepfather, and psychiatrists as nightmares resulting from the trauma of his father's death the previous year.
At his apartment home in New York City, a group of workers from an alleged psychiatric facility offer to rehabilitate Jake; recognizing them from his visions as monsters wearing human skin, he flees from them, and they give chase. Jake finds an abandoned house from one of his visions where he discovers a high-tech portal that leads to a post-apocalyptic place called Mid-World.
In Mid-World, Jake encounters the last Gunslinger, Roland Deschain (Idris Elba), who has emerged in his visions. Roland is pursuing Walter Padick, the Man in Black (Matthew McConaughey) who has also appeared in Jake's dreams. Roland pursues the Man in Black across a desert, seeking to kill him as revenge for the murder of his father, Steven, and all remaining Gunslingers. He explains to Jake that over decades Walter has been abducting psychic children, attempting to use their "shine" to bring down the Dark Tower, a fabled structure located at the center of the Universe. This will allow beings from the darkness outside to invade and destroy reality.
Roland takes Jake to a village to have his visions interpreted by a seer. Having learned of Jake's escape, Walter investigates and discovers from his minion Sayre that Jake has "pure Shine", enough psychic potential to destroy the Tower single-handedly. He kills Jake's stepfather; then he interrogates Jake's mother about her son's visions and kills her.
Back in Mid-World, the seer determines that the machine is six months away on foot and portal access is restricted to Walter's bases. Jake realizes that Walter has a base in New York that they can use to reach the machine. Suddenly, the Taheen (Walter's minions) attack the village - but Roland systematically kills each of them. Roland and Jake return to Earth where Roland's injuries are treated at a hospital. Jake learns the location of Walter's base from a homeless man who helped him earlier. When Jake returns home to check in on his mother, he finds her charred remains and breaks down in tears. Seeing this, Roland angrily vows to kill Walter. He comforts Jake by teaching him the basics of gun fighting, as well as the Gunslinger's Creed, which he hasn't uttered since his own father's death.
As Roland replenishes his weapons supply at a gun store, he is attacked by Walter, who captures Jake and takes him through a portal at his base to a machine that will destroy the Tower with Jake's powers. Jake uses these psychic powers to alert Roland to the portal code he needs and Roland battles his way through Walter's henchmen, reopening the portal, which Jake forces to stay open. Walter is forced to return to New York to fight Roland and wounds him. When Jake reminds him of the Gunslinger's Creed, Roland recovers and kills Walter with a trick shot after a brief fight. Finally he destroys the machine and saves the Tower, Jake, and the other children.
Roland says he must return to his own world and offers Jake a place by his side as his companion. Jake accepts the offer, as he has nowhere else to go, and the two head back to Mid-World together.
The Day After (1983)
Color
Everyone is plunged into chaos and darkness when nuclear war breaks out
The Day After
"How the war starts:
The chronology of the events leading up to the war is depicted entirely via television and radio news broadcasts. The Soviet Union is shown to have commenced a military buildup in East Germany with the goal of intimidating the United States into withdrawing from West Berlin. When the United States does not back down, Soviet armored divisions are sent to the border between West and East Germany.
During the late hours of Friday, September 15, news broadcasts report a "widespread rebellion among several divisions of the East German Army." As a result, the Soviets blockade West Berlin. Tensions mount and the United States issues an ultimatum that the Soviets stand down from the blockade by 6:00 a.m. the next day, or it will be interpreted as an act of war. The Soviets refuse, and the President of the United States puts all U.S. military forces around the world on DEFCON 2 alert.
On Saturday, September 16, NATO forces in West Germany invade East Germany through the Helmstedt checkpoint to free Berlin. The Soviets hold the Marienborn corridor and inflict heavy casualties on NATO troops. Two Soviet MiG-25s cross into West German airspace and bomb a NATO munitions storage facility, also striking a school and a hospital. A subsequent radio broadcast states that Moscow is being evacuated. At this point, major U.S. cities begin mass evacuations as well. There soon follow unconfirmed reports that nuclear weapons were used in Wiesbaden and Frankfurt. Meanwhile, in the Persian Gulf, naval warfare erupts, as radio reports tell of ship sinkings on both sides.
Eventually the Soviet Army reaches the Rhine. Seeking to prevent Soviet forces from invading France and causing the rest of Western Europe to fall, NATO halts the Soviet advance by airbursting three low-yield nuclear weapons over advancing Soviet troops. Soviet forces counter by launching a nuclear strike on NATO headquarters in Brussels. In response, the United States Strategic Air Command begins scrambling B-52 bombers.
After the initial nuclear exchange in Europe, the United States enacts its "launch on warning" policy, which will launch a full-scale nuclear attack on the Soviet Union if the United States sees that the Soviet Union is preparing to do the same.
The Soviet Air Force then destroys a BMEWS station in RAF Fylingdales, England and another at Beale Air Force Base in California. Meanwhile, on board the EC-135 Looking Glass aircraft, the order comes in from the President of the United States for a full nuclear strike against the Soviet Union. Almost simultaneously, an Air Force officer receives a report that a massive Soviet nuclear assault against the United States has been launched, stating "32 targets in track, with 10 impacting points." Another airman receives a report that over 300 Soviet ICBMs are inbound. It is deliberately unclear in the film whether the Soviet Union or the United States launches the main nuclear attack first.
The first salvo of the Soviet nuclear attack on the central United States (as shown from the point of view of the residents of Kansas and western Missouri) occurs at 3:38 p.m. Central Daylight Time, when a large-yield nuclear weapon air bursts at high altitude over Kansas City, Missouri. This generates an electromagnetic pulse that disables defensive weapons that cover the nearby Minuteman III missile silos of Whiteman AFB. Thirty seconds later, incoming Soviet ICBMs begin to hit military and population targets, including Kansas City. Sedalia, Missouri, all the way south to El Dorado Springs, Missouri, is blanketed with ground burst nuclear weapons. While the story provides no specifics, it strongly suggests that America's cities, military, and industrial base are heavily damaged or destroyed. The aftermath depicts the central United States as a blackened wasteland of burned-out cities filled with burn, blast, and radiation victims. Eventually, the American President delivers a radio address in which he declares that there is a ceasefire between the United States and the Soviet Union, which suffered similar damage.
The story of the survivors:
The story follows several citizens and those they encounter after a nuclear attack on Lawrence, Kansas and Kansas City, Missouri. The narrative structure of the film is presented as a before and after scenario with the first half introducing the various characters and their stories. The center section is the nuclear disaster itself. The latter half of the film shows the effects of the fallout on the characters.
Dr. Russell Oakes (Jason Robards) lives in the upper-class Brookside neighborhood with his wife (Georgann Johnson) and works in a hospital in downtown Kansas City. He is scheduled to teach a hematology class at the University of Kansas hospital in nearby Lawrence, Kansas, and is en route when he hears an alarming Emergency Broadcast System alert on his car radio. He pulls off the crowded freeway, attempts to contact his wife, but gives up due to the incredibly long line at a phone booth. Oakes heads back home down I-70, the only eastbound motorist. The nuclear attack begins and Kansas City is gripped with panic as air raid sirens wail. Oakes' car is permanently disabled by the electromagnetic pulse, as are all motor vehicles and electricity. Oakes is about thirty miles away from downtown when the missiles hit. His family, many colleagues and millions of others are killed. He walks ten miles to Lawrence and at the university hospital treats the wounded with Dr. Sam Hachiya (Calvin Jung) and Nurse Bauer (JoBeth Williams). Also at the university, science Professor Joe Huxley (John Lithgow) and students use a Geiger counter to monitor the level of nuclear fallout outside. They build a makeshift radio to maintain contact with Dr. Oakes at the hospital, as well as to locate any other broadcasting survivors outside the city.
Billy McCoy (William Allen Young) is an Airman First Class in the United States Air Force stationed at Whiteman AFB near Kansas City who is called into duty during the DEFCON 2 alert. He is among the first to witness the initial missile launches signaling the start of a full-scale nuclear war. After it becomes clear that a Soviet counterstrike is imminent, the unit panics; several Airmen stubbornly insist they stay on duty while the others, including McCoy, point out that it is futile. McCoy drives away in a truck to retrieve his wife and child in Sedalia, but it is disabled by the EMP blast. McCoy, realizing what has happened, flees the truck and finds an abandoned bunker, barely escaping the oncoming nuclear blast. After the attack, McCoy walks towards a town and finds an abandoned store, where he takes candy bars and other provisions while gunfire is heard in the distance. While standing in line for a drink of water from a well pump, McCoy befriends a man who is mute and shares his provisions. As they both begin to suffer the effects of radiation sickness, they leave a refugee camp and head to the hospital at Lawrence, where McCoy ultimately succumbs to the disease.
Farmer Jim Dahlberg (John Cullum) and his family live in rural Harrisonville, Missouri, far outside of Kansas City but very close to a field of missile silos. While the family is preparing for the wedding of their eldest daughter, Denise, they are forced to prepare for the impending attack by converting their basement into a makeshift fallout shelter. As the missiles are launched, Dahlberg forcefully carries his wife Eve, (Bibi Besch) who denied the severity of the escalating crisis and continued the wedding preparations, down to the basement from their bedroom. Eve collapses into a fit of hysteria upon realizing a nuclear war has begun. While running to the shelter, the Dahlberg's son, Danny, stared directly at a nuclear explosion and was flash-blinded. University of Kansas student Stephen Klein (Steve Guttenberg), hitchhiking home to Joplin, Missouri, stumbles upon the farm and is taken in by the Dahlbergs. After several days in the basement, Denise, distraught over the situation and the unknown whereabouts of her fiance, Bruce, leaves the basement and runs outside. Klein goes after her and forces her back into the basement. In the weeks afterwards, Danny's condition deteriorates as does Denise's, who begins hemorrhaging while at a makeshift church service (as the minister tries to express how lucky they are to have survived, choking on the words). Klein takes Danny and Denise to Lawrence for treatment. Dr. Hachiya attempts to treat Danny with no improvement, and Klein and Denise develop terminal radiation sickness. Dahlberg, upon returning from an emergency farmers meeting, confronts a group of survivors squatting on the farm and is shot to death.
Ultimately, the overall situation at the hospital becomes dire and grim. Dr. Oakes collapses from exhaustion and upon awakening finds out that Nurse Bauer has died from meningitis. Oakes, suffering from terminal radiation sickness, decides to return to Kansas City to "see my home one last time before I die" while Dr. Hachiya stays behind. Oakes hitches a ride on an Army National Guard truck, where he witnesses military personnel blindfolding and executing looters. At his home, he finds the charred remains of his wife's wristwatch and a family huddled in the ruins. Oakes angrily orders them to leave. The family silently offers Oakes food, causing him to collapse in despair, as a member of the family comforts him.
As the scene fades to black, Professor Huxley forlornly calls into his makeshift radio: "Hello? Is anybody there? Anybody at all....
The Day After Tomorrow (2004)
Color
Climate change disrupts the world's weather and brings about deadly global ice storms
The Day After Tomorrow
"Jack Hall is a paleoclimatologist on an expedition in Antarctica with colleagues Frank and Jason. They are drilling for ice core samples on the Larsen Ice Shelf for the NOAA when the shelf breaks off and Jack almost falls to his death.
Later on, in New Delhi, India, Jack presents his findings on global warming at a United Nations conference, where diplomats and Vice President of the United States Raymond Becker are unconvinced by Jack's findings. However, Professor Terry Rapson of the Hedland Climate Research Centre in Scotland believes in Jack's theories. Several buoys in the North Atlantic simultaneously show a massive drop in the ocean temperature, and Rapson concludes that melting polar ice is disrupting the North Atlantic current. He contacts Jack, whose paleoclimatological weather model shows how climate changes caused the first Ice Age. His team, along with NASA's meteorologist Janet Tokada, builds a forecast model with their combined data.
Across the world, violent weather causes mass destruction. U.S. President Blake authorizes the FAA to suspend all air traffic due to severe turbulence. At the International Space Station (ISS) three astronauts see a huge storm system spanning the northern hemisphere, delaying their return home. The situation worsens when the latter develops into three massive hurricane-like super storms with eyes holding extremely cold air that instantly freezes anything it comes in contact with.
The weather becomes increasingly violent with intense winds and rains, causing the traffic-jammed Manhattan streets to become flooded knee-deep in a mix of rainwater, saltwater, and sewage. Jack's son Sam, who is in New York City on a school trip, calls his father, promising to be on the next train home, but the subways and Grand Central Terminal are closed by flooding. As the storm worsens a massive storm surge hits Manhattan. Sam and his friends seek shelter in the New York Public Library, but not before his friend Laura gets injured.
President Blake orders the evacuation of the southern states, causing almost all of the refugees to head to Mexico. Jack and his team set out for Manhattan to find his son. Their truck crashes into a tractor just past Philadelphia, so the group continues on snowshoes. During the journey, Frank falls through the glass roof of a snow-covered shopping mall. As Jason and Jack try to pull him up, the glass under them continues to crack and Frank sacrifices himself by cutting the rope. Meanwhile in Mexico, Vice President Raymond Becker hears from the Secretary of State that President Blake's motorcade was caught in one of the super storms before he could make it to Mexico.
The small group that remains burns books to stay alive and breaks the vending machine for food. Laura appeared to have a cold, so Sam comforts her and later confesses his feelings for her. Soon afterward, the group find out that Laura is afflicted with blood poisoning from the cut on her leg being infected by the sewage-tainted water, so Sam and two others search for penicillin in a derelict Russian cargo ship that drifted inland, and are attacked by starving wolves that have escaped from the local zoo. The eye of the super storm begins to pass over the city. The three barely get back to the library.
During the deep freeze, Jack and Jason take shelter in an abandoned Wendy's restaurant, then resume their journey. They discover the library buried in snow, but find Sam's group alive. They radio this in and the President orders UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters flown in to New York. President Becker orders search and rescue teams to look for other survivors as he gives his first address to the nation. The movie concludes with the astronauts looking down at Earth from the Space Station, showing most of the northern hemisphere covered in ice and snow, with one of the astronauts calling it "the clearest atmosphere [he's] ever seen.
The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)
Color
An envoy from another world lands in D.C. warning to Earth to cease all violent behavior
The Day the Earth Stood Still
"When a flying saucer lands in Washington, D.C., the Army quickly surrounds it. A humanoid emerges and announces that he comes "in peace and with good will". When he unexpectedly opens a small device, he is shot and wounded by a nervous soldier. A tall robot emerges from the saucer and quickly disintegrates the Army's weapons. The alien orders the robot, Gort, to desist. He explains that the now-broken device was a gift for the president of the United States that 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 tries but is unable to enter the saucer; Gort stands outside, silent and unmoving.
Klaatu tells the President's secretary, Mr. Harley, that he has a message that must be delivered to all of the world's leaders simultaneously. Harley tells him that in the current political climate this 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 ("Maj. Carpenter") on the dry cleaner's tag on a suit he acquired. Among the residents are young widow Helen Benson and her son Bobby.
When Helen and her boyfriend Tom Stevens 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 the deceased are soldiers killed in wars. They also visit the Lincoln Memorial.
Klaatu asks Bobby who the greatest living person is; Bobby suggests Professor Barnhardt. Bobby takes Klaatu to Barnhardt's home, but the professor is not home. Klaatu writes an equation on a blackboard to assist Barnhardt in solving a celestial mechanics problem; he leaves his contact information with the suspicious housekeeper.
That evening, a government agent accompanies Klaatu to Barnhardt. Klaatu explains that the people of other planets are concerned 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, unaware that Bobby has followed him. Bobby sees Gort render two soldiers unconscious 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. He has neutralized all electricity everywhere for 30 minutes, except for essential services such as hospitals and airplanes in flight. Klaatu reveals his true identity to Helen, asks for her help, and explains his mission.
After Tom informs the authorities of his suspicions, Helen breaks up with him. She and Klaatu decide to visit Barnhardt. On the way there, 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. After killing two soldiers standing watch, Gort advances on her, and Helen utters Klaatu's words. Gort carries her into the spaceship and retrieves Klaatu's body. Back in the saucer, Gort revives Klaatu; he explains to Helen that his revival is only temporary.
Klaatu addresses Barnhardt's assembled scientists, informing them that he represents an interplanetary organization that created a police force of invincible robots like Gort. "In matters of aggression, we have given them absolute power over us". Klaatu concludes, "Your choice is simple: join us and live in peace, or pursue your present course and face obliteration. We shall be waiting for your answer". Klaatu and Gort then depart in the saucer.
The Day the Earth Stood Still (2008)
Color
Klaatu informs Earth it's constant aggression has promted them to exterminate mankind
The Day the Earth Stood Still
"In 1928, a solitary mountaineer exploring the Karakoram mountains in India encounters a glowing sphere. He loses consciousness and when he wakes, the sphere has gone and there is a scar on his hand where a sample of his DNA has been taken.
In the present day, a rapidly moving object is detected beyond Jupiter's orbit and forecast to impact Manhattan. It is moving at 30,000 kilometers per second, enough to destroy all life on Earth. The United States government hastily assembles a group of scientists, including Helen Benson and her friend Michael Granier, to develop a survival plan.
The scientists travel to New York City to await for the objects collision with Earth. As it nears the planet, the object slows down just before impact. Revealed to be a large spherical spaceship, it lands gently in Central Park and is quickly surrounded by NYPD and heavily armed US military forces. An alien emerges and Helen moves forward to greet it; but amidst the confusion, the alien is shot. A gigantic humanoid robot appears and temporarily disables everything in the vicinity by emitting a high pitched noise before the wounded alien voices the command "Klaatu barada nikto" to shut down the robot's defensive response.
The alien's exterior is found to be a bioengineered space suit, composed of placenta-like material covering a human-like being. After the bullet is extracted during surgery, the being quickly ages into Klaatu, who looks like the mountaineer from 1928. Klaatu informs Secretary of Defense Regina Jackson that he is a representative of a group of civilizations, sent to talk to the leaders of Earth about saving the planet. When Jackson instead sends him to be interrogated, Klaatu escapes and reconnects with Helen and her stepson, Jacob, telling them that he must finish his mission to "save the Earth".
The presence of the sphere and other smaller spheres that begin to appear all over the world cause widespread panic. The military launches a drone attack on the Central Park sphere, but are thwarted by the robot. The military takes a weapons-free approach, cautiously enclosing the robot, soon nicknamed "GORT" (for Genetically Organized Robotic Technology), and transporting it to the Mount Weather underground facility in Virginia.
Klaatu meets with another alien, Mr. Wu, who has lived on Earth for 70 years. Wu tells Klaatu that he has found the human race to be destructive, stubborn and unwilling to change, which matches Klaatu's experiences. Klaatu orders the smaller spheres to collect specimens of animal species, to preserve them for later reintroduction to the Earth. He clarifies for Helen that he means to save the Earth from destruction by humankind. When a New Jersey State Trooper attempts to take them into custody, Klaatu kills him then promptly revives the officer, telling Helen and Jacob that he did this to simply disarm an obstacle to his mission.
Hoping to persuade Klaatu to change his mind about humanity, Helen takes him to the home of Professor Barnhardt, a Nobel Prize winner. They discuss how Klaatu's race went through drastic, collaborative evolution to prevent the demise of their planet. Barnhardt pleads that Earth is at the same precipice, and humanity should be given a chance to understand that it too must change. While the adults are talking, Jacob calls the authorities to come and arrest Klaatu.
While the military is examining GORT, the robot transforms into a swarm of winged, insect-like, nano-machines that self-replicate as they consume every man-made object in their path. The swarm soon devours the entire facility, emerging above ground to continue feeding.
The military capture Helen while Klaatu and Jacob escape on foot. As they travel, Klaatu learns more about humanity through Jacob. When Jacob contacts Helen and arranges to meet at his father's grave, the Secretary sends her to try to change Klaatu's mind. At the grave, Jacob is heartbroken that Klaatu cannot resurrect his long-dead father. As Helen and Jacob have a tear-filled reunion, Klaatu's cumulative observations of humans convince him to stop the swarm.
Granier drives them to the Central Park sphere, but the swarm has reached massive proportions. Klaatu trudges through the swarm to the sphere, touching it moments before his own body is consumed. The sphere deactivates the swarm, saving humanity, but at the expense of electrical activity on Earth, per Klaatu's warning that there will be "a price to the way of life." The giant sphere leaves the Earth.
The Debt (2010)
Color
Former Mossad agent relives her 1965 pursuit of a Nazi war criminal, when he reemerges
The Debt
"In 1965, Mossad agent Rachel Singer (Jessica Chastain) arrives in East Berlin to meet with fellow agents David Peretz (Sam Worthington) and Stefan Gold (Marton Csokas). Their mission is to capture Nazi war criminal Dieter Vogel (Jesper Christensen) -- infamously known as "The Surgeon of Birkenau" for his horrific pseudo-medical experiments on Jews during World War II -- and bring him to Israel to face justice.
Rachel and David present themselves as an ethnic German married couple from Argentina and Rachel plants herself as a patient at Vogel's obstetrics and gynaecology clinic.
Both Stefan and David develop an attraction to Rachel. Rachel shows a preference for David, yet sleeps with Stefan shortly after David rebukes her advances. This tryst leads to Rachel becoming pregnant. Stefan also reveals to Rachel that David lost his entire family in The Holocaust.
At her third appointment, Rachel injects Vogel with a sedative during an examination and induces the nurse (Vogel's wife) to believe Vogel suffered a heart attack. Stefan and David arrive dressed as ambulance crew and make off with the unconscious Vogel in an ambulance, barely ahead of the real ambulance team. Under cover of night, the trio attempt their exfiltration at Wollankstra?e Station, on a rail line along the sector boundary between East and West Berlin, and next to a mail depot. As they prepare to load Vogel onto the train he suddenly awakens and sounds the horn of the stolen mail truck where he was being held, alerting East German guards to their presence. In the ensuing shootout, David sacrifices his chance to escape in order to collect a compromised Rachel. The agents are left with no choice but to bring Vogel to their apartment and plan a new extraction.
The agents take turns monitoring Vogel, who attempts to psychologically humiliate and intimidate them. During his shift, David becomes violent after Vogel explains his beliefs that Jews had many weaknesses, making them easily subdued. David breaks a plate over Vogel's head and repeatedly beats him only to be stopped by Stefan. While Rachel is in charge of monitoring, Vogel manages to cut through his binds using a shard of the broken plate and ambushes Rachel with the shard, leaving her with a permanent scar on her face. He escapes into the night as the agents are left to assess their failure.
Panicked and hoping to save face for both himself and for Israel, Stefan convinces Rachel and David to go along with the fiction that Vogel was killed. They agree to lie and use the cover story that Rachel shot and killed Vogel as he tried to flee.
In the following years, the agents become venerated as national heroes for their roles in the mission. During a party in 1970, at the home of Rachel and Stefan (now married), Rachel confesses to David her distaste with her current life; Stefan puts his career and social status ahead of her while also punishing her for not loving him and having feelings for David. David admits his intention to leave Mossad and the country, imploring Rachel to come with him. Rachel cannot bring herself to abandon her daughter (the result of Rachel and Stefan's time together in hiding in East Germany) and she and David part ways.
In 1997, Rachel (Helen Mirren) is honored by her daughter Sarah (Romi Aboulafia) during a release party for Sarah's book based on the account Rachel, Stefan and David gave of the events in 1965. Concurrently, David (Ciaran Hinds) is escorted from his apartment by an Israeli government agent for a debriefing. David recognizes Stefan (Tom Wilkinson) waiting in another vehicle and commits suicide by stepping in front of an oncoming truck.
At a dinner after their daughter's book release party, Stefan takes Rachel aside to set a meeting to discuss new information Stefan has obtained. Later, at David's apartment, Stefan provides evidence that Vogel now resides at an asylum in Ukraine, and is soon scheduled to be interviewed by a respected journalist.
David had been investigating the man at Stefan's request and, according to Stefan, killed himself out of fear that the lie would be exposed. Rachel refutes Stefan's explanation, recalling an encounter with David a day before his suicide, in which he revealed his shame about the lie and disclosed that he had spent years unsuccessfully searching the world for Vogel. He was further disheartened by Rachel's admission that she would continue propagating the lie to protect those closest to her, particularly her daughter.
Nevertheless, Rachel finally feels compelled to travel to Kiev, where she investigates the journalist's lead and identifies the asylum. She reaches the room just minutes before the journalist and discovers the man claiming to be Vogel is an impostor, a senile old man who apparently fancies the notoriety. Describing the encounter to Stefan over the phone, Rachel declares she will not continue to lie about the 1965 mission. She leaves a note for the journalist and prepares to leave, but suddenly spots Vogel among the other patients and follows him to an isolated area of the hospital.
After a confrontation in which Vogel stabs her repeatedly with scissors, Rachel kills Vogel by plunging a poisoned syringe into his back. As she limps from the asylum, Rachel's note is discovered and read by the journalist. It describes the truth of the mission, ready to be relayed to the world.
The Deep End of the Ocean (1999)
Color
Couple reunited with their kidnapped son when the mother recognizes him 9 years later
The Deep End of the Ocean
"Beth and Pat Cappadora's 3-year-old son Ben vanishes in a crowded hotel lobby during Beth's high school reunion. The ensuing frantic search is unsuccessful, and Beth goes through a sustained nervous breakdown. Unable to cope with her devastation, Beth unintentionally neglects her other children, Vincent and Kerry.
After nine years, the family has seemingly accepted that Ben has gone forever, when a familiar-looking boy turns up at their house, introducing himself as Sam and offers to mow their lawn. Beth is convinced that Sam is actually her son, and begins an investigation that culminates in the discovery that Ben was kidnapped at the ill-fated high school reunion years ago, by a mentally unstable woman named Cecil Lockhart who was a high school classmate of Beth's. This woman brought up Ben as her own child, until she committed suicide. The attempted re-integration of Ben back into the Cappadora family produces painful results for all involved.
Eventually, the family decides that what's best for Ben is to return him to his adoptive father, and Beth returns him to his house. One night, Vincent leaves the house and Beth wakes up to a phone call at 4 in the morning to find out Vincent is in prison. Beth and Pat speak with officer Candy about whether Vincent's actions are taking it too far, and while Beth is entering the visitor area, she speaks to Candy whether Vincent hates her or not, and Candy reassures her he loves her. After speaking with him during visitor hours, she reveals a man's car was totaled and Vincent could've died because of what he did, which leads to the conclusion Vincent was drunk driving. They hold hands and reconcile their mother and son relationship. During the days Vincent is in prison, Beth and Pat develop relationship problems and start sleeping in separate beds, after arguing about what Pat sees of their future, Vincent and Ben, and whether he loves her or not. Another visitor appears days later and it's Sam, mostly known as Ben and he reveals that he remembered something from before his abduction, playing with Vincent and Vincent finding him, causing him to feel safe. After Pat bailing Vincent, one night Vincent finds Sam playing basketball outside. Vincent, who has carried guilt for letting go of Ben at the reunion, is forgiven by Ben who decides to return to living with his real family, but first plays a game of basketball with his brother with their parents secretly watching from the living room window.
The Deer Hunter (1978)
Color
Group of friends enlist during the Vietnam, finding it not to be what they imagined
The Deer Hunter
"Three friends in Pennsylvania (Mike Vronsky, Steven Pushkov and Nick Chevotarevich) work in a steel mill and hunt for deer. They prepare to leave for military service in Vietnam. Steven is engaged to Angela, who is secretly impregnated by another man. Mike and Nick both love Linda, who will be moving into Nick's home to escape from her abusive and alcoholic father. During Steven and Angela's wedding, Nick asks for Linda's hand, and she accepts. As the newly-weds drive away, Nick asks Mike to not abandon him in Vietnam. Mike and Nick make a final deer hunt. As is his custom, Mike fires a single shot, which kills the deer.
In Vietnam, the friends, along with other soldiers, are captured by the Viet Cong, and are forced to participate in a torturous game of Russian roulette while the jailers place bets. Steven yields to fear and exhaustion and fires his round at the ceiling. As punishment for breaking the rules, Steven is thrown into a cage that is immersed in a river filled with rats and dead bodies. Mike convinces Nick to attempt an escape by inserting three rounds into the revolver's cylinder; after convincing their tormentors with the increased risk, they kill the captors and escape.
After Steven is freed, the three float along the river's current on a tree trunk. When they reach a suspension bridge, they are rescued by an American helicopter, but Steven is weak and falls into the water. Mike immediately jumps in to save Steven, while Nick is held by the aircraft crew. Steven's legs are broken in the fall, and Mike carries him until they meet a caravan of soldiers fleeing to Saigon. Nick is admitted to a military hospital for physical and psychological trauma, and he ventures to Saigon after he is discharged. In his wandering, he hears gunshots emanating from a gambling den and attempts to leave, reminded of his previous torture experience. However, French businessman Julien Grinda persuades him to come inside and play for him. Mike is present in the den and recognizes Nick, but is unsuccessful in getting his attention.
Mike is repatriated and he has difficulty reintegrating into civilian life. He fails to appear at a party organized by his friends. He meets Linda the next morning and learns that Nick has deserted. Mike then visits Angela, who is now the mother of a child, but has slipped into catatonia following the return of Steven, who has been rendered an invalid. Those within Mike's circle who stayed at home seem to understand nothing of war, and the following days further prove his disorientation; he is unable to shoot a deer during a hunting trip, and in another trip, he sees one hunting partner, Stan, jokingly threatening another partner with a gun. To make Stan understand the gravity of his gesture, Mike violently slaps the gun out of Stan's hand, leaves only one round in the cylinder, points the gun at Stan's forehead and pulls the trigger on an empty chamber.
Mike visits Steven at a veterans' facility; both of Steven's legs have been amputated, and he has lost the use of an arm. Steven has learned of Angela's infidelity and refuses to come home. He tells Mike that he has been regularly receiving large sums of money from Vietnam. Mike senses that Nick is the source of these payments, and after convincing Steven to return to Angela, he returns to Vietnam in search of Nick. Wandering around Saigon, now in a state of chaos, Mike finds Julien and persuades him to take him to the gambling den. Mike finds himself facing Nick, who has become a professional in the macabre game and fails to recognize Mike. Mike attempts to bring Nick back to reason, but Nick, who is now a heroin addict, is indifferent. During a game of Russian roulette, Mike evokes memories of their hunting trips. Nick recalls Mike's "one shot" method and smiles before pulling the trigger and killing himself as Mike tearfully witnesses.
Mike and his friends attend Nick's funeral, and the atmosphere at their local bar is dim and silent. Moved by emotion, the patrons sing "God Bless America" in honor of Nick.
The Departed (2006)
Color
Police send an agent to infiltrate the mob, not realizing the mob has infiltrated the police
The Departed
"In the 1970s South Boston, young Colin Sullivan is introduced to crime by Irish-American mob boss Frank Costello. By 2006, Costello has groomed him as a mole inside the Massachusetts State Police (MSP). Sullivan is accepted into its Special Investigations Unit, which targets organized crime. Before graduating from the MSP's academy, William "Billy" Costigan Jr. is recruited by Captain Queenan and Staff Sergeant Dignam to go undercover, as his family's ties to organized crime make him a perfect infiltrator. His cover story is that he is an MSP academy dropout who served time in prison on an assault charge; he subsequently joins Costello's crew.
Sullivan begins a romance with police psychiatrist Madolyn Madden. Costigan also sees her as a condition of his probation, and they begin a relationship as well. After Costello escapes a sting operation, each mole becomes aware of the other's existence. Sullivan is promoted to the State Police's Internal Investigations unit and tasked by Costello to find the rat. Costigan follows Costello into a porn theater, where Costello gives Sullivan an envelope containing personal information on his crew members. Costigan chases Sullivan through Chinatown, but neither man sees the other's face.
Sullivan later has Queenan tailed to a meeting with Costigan on the roof of an empty building. Costello's men arrive, and Queenan makes Costigan leave to preserve his cover before confronting them alone. They drop Queenan to his death before engaging in a brief shootout with police. Crew member Delahunt subsequently dies from a gunshot wound, after telling Costigan he knew he was the informant. Television news states that Delahunt had been an undercover cop, but Costello recognizes this as a ploy to protect the real informant. With Queenan dead, a furious Dignam is ordered to take a leave of absence after a fight with Sullivan, but he resigns instead.
Using Queenan's phone, Sullivan reaches Costigan, who refuses to abort his mission. Sullivan learns from Queenan's diary that Costello is a protected FBI informant, causing him to worry about his own identity being revealed. Costigan learns, from a bank robber he is sent to brutalise, that Costello is an FBI informant. With Costigan's help, Costello is traced to a cocaine drop-off, where a gunfight erupts between the crew and the police. Most of the crew are killed. Costello, confronted by Sullivan, admits he is an FBI informant, and Sullivan kills him.
With the operation wrapped up, Costigan goes to Sullivan to restore his true identity, but he notices the envelope from Costello on Sullivan's desk, realizes he's Costello's mole and flees. Recognizing Costigan's revelation, Sullivan erases Costigan's records from the police computer system. Costigan forwards the recordings of confidential conversations that incriminate Sullivan as a mole to Madden, prompting her to abandon Sullivan.
Costigan arranges to meet Sullivan at the building where Queenan died, where he holds him at gunpoint. Trooper Brown, a friend of Costigan's from the academy, also arrives at his behest, but he has not brought Dignam as requested and instead treats him with suspicion. Trooper Barrigan from Special Investigations arrives and kills both Costigan and Brown, revealing that he was a second mole for Costello. Sullivan then kills Barrigan and frames him as the only mole.
At Costigan's funeral, Sullivan notices that Madden is tearful. She ignores him when he attempts to speak to her. Later, Sullivan arrives home to his apartment and is confronted by Dignam, who kills him. As he leaves, a rat races across the balcony.
The Descendants (2011)
Color
As man's wife is dying, he discovers she was having an affair
The Descendants
"Matt King (George Clooney) is a Honolulu-based lawyer and the sole trustee of a family trust that controls 25,000 acres of pristine land on the island of Kaua'i. Though he has been able to manage his money, most of Matt's cousins are broke from squandering their share of the inheritance. The trust will expire in seven years because of the rule against perpetuities, so the King family has decided to sell the land to Kaua'i native Don Holitzer for development. Just before family members are ready to formally endorse the deal, a boating accident near Waikiki renders Matt's wife, Elizabeth, comatose.
Matt and Elizabeth have two daughters, 10-year-old Scottie (Amara Miller) and 17-year-old Alex (Shailene Woodley). Matt is not very close to his daughters and refers to himself as the "back-up parent." With Elizabeth in a coma at Queen's Hospital, he is forced to confront Scottie's inappropriate behavior with other children and Alex's destructive ways.
Matt learns that Elizabeth will never awaken from her coma, which means that under the terms of her living will she must be disconnected shortly from life support. He tells Alex, but not Scottie, that Elizabeth will not recover and must be allowed to die. To Matt's dismay, Alex initially refuses to see her mother. She then reveals to her father that Elizabeth was having an affair at the time of the accident, which caused a major rift between the mother and daughter. Matt confronts two family friends, Kai and Mark. After hearing news of Elizabeth's imminent death, Kai tells Matt that Elizabeth was planning on leaving him for the other man, and learns from Mark that Elizabeth's lover is named Brian Speer (Matthew Lillard).
Matt decides to find Brian and tell him that Elizabeth will soon be dead to give him a chance to visit her while she's still alive. He discovers that Brian is a real estate agent currently vacationing on Kaua'i. After telling the family of Elizabeth's terminal prognosis, Matt, along with the girls and Alex's slacker friend Sid (Nick Krause), travel to Kaua'i to find Brian.
Matt goes jogging on the beach and passes a man that he recognizes as Brian. He trails him and sees him enter a cottage owned by Matt's cousin, Hugh (Beau Bridges). Hugh tells him that Brian is Don Holitzer's brother-in-law, and if Matt and his family sell the land to Holitzer, Brian stands to gain a lot of money from commissions when the land is developed.
Matt goes to the cottage and introduces himself as Elizabeth's husband. He tells Brian that he is there to let him know that Elizabeth will die in a few days and he wants to give Brian a chance to say goodbye. Brian says that while Elizabeth loved him, the affair was only a fling for him, and he loves his wife and family. He tells Matt he is sorry for the pain he caused.
Matt meets with his many cousins to vote on the fate of the family's 25,000 acres. The majority vote is for Don Holitzer, but Matt has second thoughts and decides to keep the land and find a different solution. Shocked, Hugh tells Matt that he and the other cousins may take legal action, but Matt is undeterred.
At Queen's Hospital, Elizabeth is disconnected. Her father Scott (Robert Forster) visits and tells Matt he should have been a more generous and loving husband to Elizabeth, whom he describes as a good and faithful wife. Matt agrees with him, choosing not to disclose the details of Elizabeth's affair to her father. Later, Julie Speer (Judy Greer) arrives, telling Matt she is now aware of the tryst between Elizabeth and her husband. Julie forgives Elizabeth, even though she wants to hate her for destroying her family. Alex and Scottie say their final goodbyes. Finally coming to terms with his wife's act of treachery, Matt tenderly kisses her and tells her goodbye. Later, Matt, Alex, and Scottie scatter Elizabeth's ashes in the ocean off Waikiki. The film closes with the three curled up on the living room couch, eating ice cream, and watching March of the Penguins while sharing the quilt that was on Elizabeth's death bed.
The Desert Fox: The Story of Rommel (1951)
Black & White
Field Marshall Rommel plots to assassinate Hitler
The Desert Fox: The Story of Rommel
"The film begins with a pre-credit sequence depicting Operation Flipper, a British commando raid whose aim is to assassinate Rommel. It fails.
After the credits, the story is introduced by narrator Michael Rennie, who dubs the voice of then Lieutenant-Colonel Desmond Young, who plays himself in the film. Young is captured and meets Rommel briefly as a prisoner of war; he states that Rommel was not only his enemy at the time, but an enemy of civilisation, and makes it his mission after the war to discover what really happened to Rommel during the final years of his life -- at the time that Young wrote his book, it was believed that Rommel had died as a result of the wounds he had suffered when an Allied fighter strafed his staff car.
The film flashbacks to the period of 1941-42, as the British prepare to counterattack Egypt, directed by General Bernard Montgomery: The Germans are defeated at El Alamein in 1942. The situation is made worse when Rommel is ordered by Adolf Hitler (Luther Adler) to stand fast and not retreat, even in the face of overwhelming Allied superiority in men and supplies, but the retreat is allowed. Rommel becomes increasingly disillusioned with Hitler after his pleas to evacuate his men are dismissed. An ailing Rommel is sent back to Germany to recuperate while his beloved Afrika Korps is driven back across North Africa and destroyed.
Rommel is approached while in hospital by an old family friend, Dr. Karl Strolin (Cedric Hardwicke), with a request that he join a group plotting to overthrow Hitler. Rommel is very hesitant. Strolin departs and immediately afterward evades a Gestapo agent assigned to watch him.
Rommel is placed in charge of defending the Atlantic Wall against the anticipated Allied invasion, though he knows the "wall" offers little protection. When the Allies land in France on 6 June 1944, he and his superior, Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt (Leo G. Carroll), are handicapped by Hitler's astrological belief that it is a diversion, with the real invasion to come at the Strait of Dover. As a result, they are denied urgently needed reinforcements, allowing the Allies to secure a beachhead. This is the final straw. Rommel joins the conspiracy. However, when he tries to recruit Rundstedt, the latter excuses himself by stating he is too old for such things, but wishes Rommel well, saying that he will succeed him by morning. (We later hear that Rommel was not appointed his successor.)
Plans are set in motion to remove Hitler. Rommel finally insists on meeting Hitler personally in an effort to persuade him to see reason. Hitler does not heed Rommel's gloomy predictions about the war, screaming that wonder weapons in development will turn the tide. Shortly afterward, Rommel is seriously injured when his car is strafed by an Allied aeroplane. Thus, he is recovering in a hospital when, on 20 July 1944, Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg (Eduard Franz) plants a bomb in Hitler's conference room. It goes off, but the F?hrer survives. Thousands of suspects are tracked down and executed. An official silence surrounds Rommel.
General Wilhelm Burgdorf (Everett Sloane) is sent by Hitler to present Rommel with a stark choice: be charged with treason, for which the penalty will be excruciating death by garroting, or commit painless suicide. It would be announced that he had died of his previous injuries, he would receive a hero's funeral, his fame preserved and Hitler's regime would avoid scandal. Rommel initially chooses to defend himself in the People's Court, but when Burgdorf hints that Rommels' family would suffer from his decision, he decided to commit suicide to save them. He has the option of receiving a painless drug Burgdorf has brought, and he must do so before evening. He takes leave of his wife Lucie (Jessica Tandy), his aide-de-camp (Richard Boone) and his son Manfred (who suspects nothing wrong), and departs with Burgdorf. As the car is driven away, the film ends with (voice of Michael Rennie) Desmond Young's speculation about Rommel's last thoughts, with brief visual flash-backs of his earlier victories in the Western Desert Campaign from Tobruk through El Alamein, and a final action close-up of Rommel standing in the gun turret of his tank as head of his panzer forces in Africa, with a voice-over tribute uttered in a post-war speech before Parliament by "Nazi Germany's sternest enemy" Winston Churchill, praising the famed Desert Fox.
The Devil and Daniel Webster (1941)
Black & White
Man trades 7 years prosperity for his soul, then hires a lawyer to get out of the deal
The Devil and Daniel Webster
"Farmer Jabez Stone, from the small town of Cross Corners, New Hampshire, is plagued with unending bad luck, causing him to finally swear "it's enough to make a man want to sell his soul to the devil!" Stone is visited the next day by a stranger, who later identifies himself as "Mr. Scratch", and makes such an offer in exchange for seven years of prosperity. Stone agrees.
After seven years, Mr. Scratch comes for Stone's soul. Stone bargains for an additional three years; after the additional three years pass, Mr. Scratch refuses any further extension. Wanting out of the deal, Stone convinces famous lawyer and orator Daniel Webster to accept his case.
At midnight of the appointed date, Mr. Scratch arrives and is greeted by Webster, presenting himself as Stone's attorney. Mr. Scratch tells Webster, "I shall call upon you, as a law-abiding citizen, to assist me in taking possession of my property," and so begins the argument. It goes poorly for Webster, since the signature and the contract are clear and Mr. Scratch will not compromise.
In desperation Webster thunders, "Mr. Stone is an American citizen, and no American citizen may be forced into the service of a foreign prince. We fought England for that in 1912 and we'll fight all hell for it again!" To this Mr. Scratch insists on his citizenship, citing his presence at the worst events in the history of the U.S., concluding, "though I don't like to boast of it, my name is older in this country than yours."
Webster demands a trial as the right of every American. Mr. Scratch agrees after Webster says that he can select the judge and jury, "so long as it is an American judge and an American jury." A jury of the damned then enters, "with the fires of hell still upon them." They had all done evil, and had all played a part in the formation of the United States:
Walter Butler, a Loyalist
Simon Girty, a Loyalist
King Philip (sachem (elected chief) of the Wampanoag people)
Governor Thomas Dale
Thomas Morton, a rival of the Plymouth Pilgrims
The pirate Edward Teach, also known as Blackbeard
Reverend John Smeet (a purely fictional character)
After five other unnamed jurors enter (Benedict Arnold being out "on other business"), the judge enters last -- John Hathorne, the infamous and unrepentant executor of the Salem witch trials.
The trial is rigged against Webster. He is ready to rage, without care for himself or Stone, but he catches himself: he sees in the jurors' eyes that they want him to act thus. He calms himself, "for it was him they'd come for, not only Jabez Stone."
Webster starts to orate on simple and good things -- "the freshness of a fine morning...the taste of food when you're hungry...the new day that's every day when you're a child" -- and how "without freedom, they sickened." He speaks passionately of how wonderful it is to be human and to be an American. He admits the wrongs done in the course of American history but points out that something new and good had grown from them and that "everybody had played a part in it, even the traitors." Humankind "got tricked and trapped and bamboozled, but it was a great journey," something "no demon that was ever foaled" could ever understand.
The jury announces its verdict: "We find for the defendant, Jabez Stone." They admit, "Perhaps 'tis not strictly in accordance with the evidence, but even the damned may salute the eloquence of Mr. Webster." The judge and jury disappear with the break of dawn. Mr. Scratch congratulates Webster, and the contract is torn up. The devil has overreached himself, agreeing to a jury trial out of pride in his unbreakable contract. But by doing so, he has put his contract within the reach of the Common Law used in America, under which a jury can enter whatever verdict it likes, regardless of the law. Webster's eloquence in swaying this supposedly unswayable jury is remarkable, but would have gone to no effect without the devil's pride-induced mistake in giving Webster a chance.
Webster then grabs the stranger and twists his arm behind his back, "for he knew that once you bested anybody like Mr. Scratch in fair fight, his power on you was gone." Webster makes him agree "never to bother Jabez Stone nor his heirs or assigns nor any other New Hampshire man till doomsday!"
Mr. Scratch offers to tell Webster's fortune in his palm. He foretells (actual) events in Webster's future, including his failure to become President (an actual ambition of his), the death of Webster's sons (which happened in the American Civil War) and the backlash of his last speech, warning "Some will call you Ichabod" (as in John Greenleaf Whittier's poem in reaction to Webster's controversial Seventh of March speech supporting the Compromise of 1850 that incorporated the Fugitive Slave Act, with many in the North calling Webster a traitor).
Webster takes the predictions in stride and asks only if the Union will prevail. Scratch reluctantly admits that, although a war will be fought over the issue, the United States will remain united. Webster then laughs, "And with that he drew back his foot for a kick that would have stunned a horse. It was only the tip of his shoe that caught the stranger, but he went flying out of the door with his collecting box under his arm." It is said that the devil never did come back to New Hampshire again.
The Devil Wears Prada (2006)
Color
Small town fashion designer becomes assistant to powerful fashion mogul Priestly
The Devil Wears Prada
"Andy is an aspiring journalist fresh out of Northwestern University. Despite her ridicule for the shallowness of the fashion industry, she lands a job as junior personal assistant to Miranda Priestly, the editor-in-chief of Runway magazine, a job that "millions of girls would kill for". Andy plans to put up with Miranda's excessive demands and humiliating treatment for one year in the hopes of getting a job as a reporter or writer somewhere else.
At first, Andy fumbles with her job and fits in poorly with her gossipy, fashion-conscious co-workers, especially Miranda's senior assistant, Emily Charlton. However, she does find an ally in art director Nigel, and gradually learns her responsibilities and begins to dress more stylishly to show her effort and commitment to the position. She also meets an attractive young writer, Christian Thompson, who offers to help her with her career. As she spends increasing amounts of time at Miranda's beck and call, problems arise in her relationships with her college friends and her live-in boyfriend, Nate, a chef working his way up the career ladder.
Miranda is impressed by Andy and allows her to be the one to bring the treasured "Book", a mock-up of the upcoming edition, to her home, along with her dry cleaning. She is given instructions by Emily about where to leave the items and is told not to speak with anyone in the house. Andy arrives at Miranda's home only to discover that the instructions she received are vague. As she tries to figure out what to do, Andy begins to panic. Miranda's twins, Caroline and Cassidy, falsely tell her she can leave the book at the top of the stairs just as Emily has done on many occasions. At the top of the stairs, Andy interrupts Miranda and her husband having an argument. Mortified, Andy leaves the book and runs out of the house.
The next day, Miranda tells Andy that she wants the new unpublished Harry Potter manuscript for her daughters and, if Andy cannot find a copy, she will be fired. Andy desperately attempts to find the book and nearly gives up, but ultimately obtains it through Christian's contacts. She surprises Miranda by not only finding the book but having copies sent to the girls at the railway station, leaving no doubt that she accomplished Miranda's "impossible" task, thus saving her job. Andy gradually begins to outperform Emily at her job, and slowly but surely becomes more glamorous and begins aligning herself, unwittingly at first, to the Runway philosophy.
One day, Andy saves Miranda from being embarrassed at a charity benefit, and Miranda rewards her by offering to take her to Paris for Fashion Week in the fall instead of Emily. Andy hesitates to take this privilege away from Emily, but is forced to accept the offer after being told by Miranda that she will lose her job if she declines. Andy tries to tell Emily on her way to work. Focused more on the phone conversation than on her surroundings, Emily walks out in front of a car while crossing the street and is struck, sustaining a broken leg and other injuries. Andy later breaks the news to a hospitalized Emily.
When Andy tells Nate she is going to Paris, he is angered by her refusal to admit that she has become what she once ridiculed, and they break up. Once there, Miranda, without makeup, opens up to Andy about the effect Miranda's impending divorce will have on her daughters. Later that night, Nigel tells Andy that he has accepted a job as Creative Director with rising fashion designer James Holt at Miranda's recommendation. Andy finally succumbs to Christian's charms and, after spending the night with him, learns from him about a plan to replace Miranda with Jacqueline Follet as editor of Runway. Despite the suffering she has endured at her boss's behest, she attempts to warn Miranda.
At a luncheon later that day, however, Miranda announces that it is Jacqueline instead of Nigel who will leave Runway for Holt. Nigel remarks to a stunned Andy that, though disappointed, he has to believe that his loyalty to Miranda will one day pay off. Later, when Miranda and Andy are being driven to a show, she explains to a still-stunned Andy that she was grateful for the warning, but already knew of the plot to replace her and sacrificed Nigel to keep her own job. Pleased by this display of loyalty, she tells Andy that she sees a great deal of herself in her. Andy, repulsed, says she could never do that to anyone. Miranda replies that she already did, stepping over Emily when she agreed to go to Paris. When they stop, Andy gets out and throws her cell phone into the fountain of the Place de la Concorde, leaving Miranda, Runway, and fashion behind.
Sometime later, Andy meets up with Nate, who is moving to Boston because he got a new job as the sous chef of a restaurant. Andy apologizes to Nate, and they joke about grilled cheese in Boston, leaving the future of their relationship uncertain. The same day, Andy is interviewed and is accepted to work at a major New York publication company. The editor recounts how he called Runway for a reference on Andy, and got a response from Miranda herself. Miranda described Andy as "her biggest disappointment"--and said that the editor would be "an idiot" if he did not hire her. Emily is offered her Paris wardrobe by Andy and Emily warns the new assistant that she has big shoes to fill. Andy passes the Runway office building and sees Miranda get into a car. Andy gives a wave, but Miranda does not acknowledge her. Andy is used to this and instead walks further into the crowd. Once inside the car, however, Miranda smiles and then orders her chauffeur to drive.
The Devil's Advocate (1997)
Color
Attorney finds himself working for the devil
The Devil's Advocate
"Kevin Lomax, a defense attorney in Gainesville, Florida, has never lost a case. He defends a schoolteacher, Gettys, against a charge of child molestation. During the trial, Kevin realizes that his client is guilty, and a reporter tells him that a guilty verdict is all but inevitable. However, through a harsh cross-examination Kevin destroys the credibility of the victim, Barbara, and secures another not guilty verdict.
As he celebrates, Kevin is approached by a representative of the New York law firm Milton, Chadwick & Waters, who offers him a large sum of money to help the firm with a jury selection. After Kevin's jury delivers a not guilty verdict, John Milton offers him a large salary and a swanky apartment if he joins the firm. Despite warnings from his Evangelical Christian mother, Alice, about sinful big city life, Kevin accepts the job and moves with his wife Mary Ann to Manhattan.
Kevin first defends a Voudou shaman, Phillipe Moyez, who is arrested for ritually sacrificing animals. He compares the incident to kashrut law and claims that his client is protected under freedom of religion, winning the case. Kevin spends an increasing amount of time at work, leaving Mary Ann feeling isolated. Kevin's mother visits New York, and after seeing Mary Ann, suggests that they both return to Gainesville. Kevin however, refuses.
Kevin next defends Alexander Cullen, a billionaire real-estate developer, accused of murdering his wife, his child and a maid. This case demands more of Kevin's time, further separating him from Mary Ann. He begins having fantasies about his seductive co-worker Christabella Andreoli, while Mary Ann begins to have a mental breakdown. Mary Ann claims that the wives of the other partners at the firm are demons after she sees their faces briefly become demonic. Her sanity further erodes following a nightmare she has where a baby plays with her removed ovaries and she finds her gown covered in blood, and after a doctor declares her infertile. She ineffectually begs Kevin that they return to Gainesville. Milton suggests that Kevin step down from the trial to tend to his wife, but Kevin again refuses, claiming that he will not be able to love his wife again until he wins the Cullen trial.
Eddie Barzoon, the firm's managing attorney, is convinced that Kevin is competing for his job after finding his name in the company papers as a partner. Although Kevin denies any knowledge, Eddie threatens to inform the United States Attorney's office about the situation. Kevin tells Milton about Eddie's threats, but Milton is unconcerned, sarcastically dismissing Barzoon as "God's special little creature" for his misplaced ambition and attitude. At that moment, Eddie is beaten to death by vagrants, who take on demonic appearances. Mary Ann witnesses this, disturbing her even further.
While preparing Cullen's secretary and mistress Melissa Black to testify about Cullen's alibi, Kevin realizes she is lying and tells Milton he believes Cullen is guilty. Milton offers to back Kevin regardless. Kevin decides to proceed with her testimony and wins an acquittal. After the trial, Kevin finds Mary Ann in a nearby church, naked and scratched with claw marks. She tells her husband that Milton raped and mutilated her, but Kevin saw Milton in court with him at the time of the alleged attack; he believes that Mary Ann injured herself, and has her committed to a mental institution.
Kevin is approached by U.S. Attorney Mitch Weaver about how the firm is under investigation by the US Government for illegal activities in drugs and weapons. Initially Kevin ignores him, but Weaver gains his attention after he tells him about the discovery of a dead girl in the car trunk of his former client in Florida, Gettys. While approaching Kevin, Weaver is hit and killed by a car. Alice returns to New York, having heard of Mary Ann's condition. She, along with Kevin and Pam Garrety, Kevin's case manager at the firm, visit Mary Ann at the mental institution. Alone with Mary Ann, Pam appears as a demon through a mirror. Mary Ann attacks Pam with the mirror and locks herself in the room. As Kevin tries to break down the door, Mary Ann takes a piece of broken glass from the mirror and cuts her throat with it, killing herself.
Before he can mourn, Alice reveals that Milton is Kevin's father. Kevin leaves the hospital to confront Milton, who gleefully admits to raping Mary Ann. Kevin fires a pistol into Milton's chest, but the bullets have no effect. Kevin realizes that Milton is not only his father, but also Satan himself. Kevin blames Milton for everything that happened, but Milton explains that he merely "set the stage", and that Kevin could have left at any time. Kevin eventually admits to this, realizing that he always wanted to win, no matter the cost, and left Mary Ann behind. Milton explains his time and plans on Earth, similar to the position Satan takes in "Paradise Lost", and that he wants Kevin and Christabella, who is Kevin's half-sister, to conceive a child: the Antichrist. However, Kevin rejects his Satanic heritage, citing free will just as Milton had earlier, and shoots himself in the head, ruining Milton's plan. Kevin's spiritual form requests and receives absolution from God, and is given a second chance at life, reverting his life back to the recess during the Gettys trial.
After realizing his potential future, Kevin announces in court that he can no longer represent his client, despite the threat of being disbarred. The reporter fro the beginning of the film follows Kevin and Mary Ann as they leave the courthouse in disorder, pleading for an interview and promising to make Kevin a star for his unexpectedly moral decision. After some prodding from Mary Ann, Kevin reluctantly agrees. After Kevin and Mary Ann leave, the reporter shapeshifts into a grinning Milton. Breaking the fourth wall, he says, "Vanity -- definitely my favorite sin.
The Dogs of War (1980)
Color
Mercenary on a job in Zangaro is tortured and deported, he then returns to lead a coup
The Dogs of War
"As the film opens, mercenaries Jamie Shannon, Drew, Derek, Michel, Terry and Richard are making a hasty exit from a war-torn Central American country by forcing their way onto a government civilian DC-3 airplane. When a Central American officer demands Richard's body be removed to make room for others, one of the mercenaries shows he is still able to safely grasp the spoon of a hand grenade and Drew insists his friend "goes home". After Shannon returns home, he gets an offer from a British businessman named Endean who is interested in "certain resources" of a small African nation named Zangaro. Endean pays Shannon $15,000 to go on a reconnaissance mission in Zangaro which is run by a paranoid and brutal dictator named General Kimba.
Shannon arrives in Zangaro's capital of Clarence and meets a British documentary filmmaker named North who tells him Zangaro's history, and scouts out the defences of the military garrison. However, his activities arouse the suspicions of Zangaro's police and he is arrested, severely beaten and thrown in jail. His multiple wounds are treated by Dr. Okoye, a physician who was formerly a moderate political leader and the only local politician of whom North approved but who was imprisoned by General Kimba four years ago. North agitates for his release and Shannon is deported after two days of torture. Shortly after his arrival back in the US, his physician tells him that all the damage he has sustained has taken years off his lifespan.
After Shannon tells Endean that there is no chance of an internal coup, Endean offers Shannon $100,000 to overthrow Kimba by invading Zangaro with a mercenary army. Endean intends to install a puppet government led by Colonel Bobi, Kimba's brutal and greedy former ally. This would allow Endean to exploit the country's newly discovered platinum resources as Colonel Bobi has already signed away the mineral rights. Shannon refuses the offer and decides to leave his mercenary life behind. He meets his estranged wife and proposes that they start a new life in Colorado or Montana. She turns him down, noting that she does not think that he has changed. Shannon then accepts Endean's offer to organize an attack on Zangaro with the condition that he will have complete control of the operation.
After Endean gives Shannon $1 million for expenses, Shannon contacts his mercenary cohorts from Central America and three of them join him but one (Ed O'Neill) does not. They meet up at Liverpool Street Station to plan the coup and when all the options have been decided, Michel proposes a toast followed by Shannon's reciting his motto "Everyone Comes Home". The group illegally procures a supply of Uzi submachine guns, ammunition, rocket launchers, mines and other weapons from arms dealers.
By chance he encounters North, who was expelled from Zangaro shortly after Shannon. North believes Shannon is a CIA agent heading back to Zangaro and tries to tail him. Shannon asks Drew to scare North away without hurting him but instead North is killed by someone who had been hired by Endean to follow Shannon and his crew. A furious Shannon kills him in turn and leaves his body at Endean's house during a dinner party held for Colonel Bobi.
He hires a small freighter and crew to transport the team to the coast of Zangaro and purchases a variety of other equipment that will be used in the attack such as Zodiac-style motorboats.
At sea, the team is joined by a group of Zangaron exiles trained as soldiers by a former mercenary colleague, Jinja. Once ashore in Zangaro, the mercenaries use their entire array of weapons to attack the military garrison where Kimba lives. Drew enters a shack in the barracks' courtyard and is killed by a seemingly helpless young woman who shoots him in the back with a pistol. After the mercenaries storm the burning, bullet-scarred ruins of the garrison, Shannon makes his way inside Kimba's mansion. He blasts his way upstairs to find Kimba frantically stuffing bricks of pristine bills into a briefcase. Kimba desperately offers Shannon a fortune for his life but is killed anyway.
Endean then arrives in a helicopter with Colonel Bobi and they enter the presidential residence where they find Shannon and Dr. Okoye quietly awaiting their overdue arrival. Shannon introduces Dr. Okoye as Zangaro's new president. Endean and Bobi protest, but Shannon had already warned Endean about the consequences of not showing up on time. Shannon casually kills Bobi, at which point Endean stops complaining. Shannon, Derek and Michel load the body of Drew onto a Landrover and leave. The story ends with the mercenaries driving through the deserted streets of Clarence.
The Dressmaker (2016)
Color
Tilly returns to Australia after working as a Parisian dressmaker and is making waves
The Dressmaker
"In 1926 in the Australian outback town of Dungatar, schoolboy Stewart Pettyman dies in unknown circumstances. The only witness to his death, schoolgirl Myrtle Dunnage, is branded a murderer and exiled from the town by Stewart's father and town councillor, Evan Pettyman (Shane Bourne).
25 years later in 1951, Myrtle, now an accomplished dressmaker and going by the name Tilly (Kate Winslet), returns to her hometown to take care of her ill mother Molly (Judy Davis). Upon arrival, she is greeted by local police sergeant Horatio Farrat (Hugo Weaving), who is secretly a cross-dresser. Tilly returns home to find the house squalid and her mother plainly mentally ill which has earned Tilly's mother the nickname "Mad Molly" throughout town. Unable to remember the events of 1926, Tilly asks her mother about Stewart Pettyman's death, as she believes that day left her cursed. Molly claims to know nothing about the incident.
The entire town is quickly alerted to Tilly's return, as well as that of William Beaumont (James Mackay), son of the wealthy and snobbish Elsbeth Beaumont (Caroline Goodall). Gertrude Pratt (Sarah Snook), the daughter of the owners of the town's general store, possesses feelings for William, but lacks the confidence to tell him.
The town gathers for the local football final game, and everyone is shocked when Tilly turns up to the match in a bright red couture gown that distracts the Dungatar players. During the interval, the handsome Teddy McSwiney (Liam Hemsworth) confronts Tilly about her distracting dress, and Tilly agrees to change. After changing into a black but equally alluring outfit, Tilly gives her business card to Gertrude, offering to make her a dress for the upcoming footballers dance. The last quarter of the game begins, with the teams having swapped ends of the field. Due to this, the opposing team from the nearby town of Winyerp are distracted by Tilly's dress, and Dungatar emerges as the winner. Later, Gertrude arrives at Molly's house to take up Tilly's offer. Tilly agrees to make the dress in exchange for the truth about Stewart Pettyman's death. Gertrude reveals that Tilly had hidden from Stewart Pettyman who had been bullying her mercilessly, but that she revealed Tilly's location in self-defence. Subsequently, Stewart died, but in circumstances unknown to her. Despite feeling betrayed by Gertrude, Tilly agrees to make the dress for her.
At the footballers dance, Gertrude's dress is a huge success, and she successfully uses it to capture the attention of William. They later become engaged.
Soon, all of the townspeople begin asking Tilly for extravagant dresses. Simultaneously, Teddy pursues a romantic relationship with Tilly. Tilly and Sergeant Farrat also bond over their shared passion for designer clothing, and they form a friendship. Noticing that Tilly is beginning to regain the favour of the townspeople, Councillor Pettyman recruits dressmaker Una Pleasance (Sacha Horler) to start a rival dressmaking service to steal Tilly's business. This is initially successful, but when Gertrude hires Tilly to create her wedding dress, the rest of the townspeople return to Tilly, ruining Una.
Tilly uses a feather boa to bribe Sergeant Farrat into letting her read her former schoolteacher Beulah Harridiene's (Kerry Fox) witness statement from the day Stewart Pettyman died. Upon reading it, Tilly discovers that Beulah's statement is false. On the day of Gertrude and William's wedding, Tilly confronts Beulah, and she admits to lying in her witness statement. Tilly rushes to the wedding reception, where she tells Sergeant Farrat about Beulah's lies. Tilly claims that Pettyman had no right to send her away, but Farrat reveals that Pettyman is Tilly's father, and that he had a right as a parent. Meanwhile, Beulah approaches Pettyman's anxious wife Marigold (Alison Whyte), who became a recluse after the death of her son. Marigold is the only townsperson unaware of the rumour that Tilly murdered her son, but Beulah reveals this information to her. Marigold breaks down and starts yelling at Tilly, labelling her a murderer. Tilly runs from the reception, but Teddy chases after her.
Teddy takes Tilly to the schoolhouse, where Tilly begins to remember the events surrounding Stewart Pettyman's death, Stewart subdued her against a wall, threatening to come at night to murder her mother and assault her if she moved. He charged head-down at her, intending to injure her. Instead, she stood aside at the last moment, and Stewart hit his head on the wall and broke his neck. Teddy reveals that the only witness was his brother Barney (Gyton Grantley), who had been sitting on the town silo at the time and saw the whole thing, but due to being developmentally disabled, no-one thought to ask him. Tilly and Teddy then go to his caravan and consummate their relationship, after which Tilly begins to believe that she may no longer be cursed. Later, she and Teddy sit on top of the town silo. Teddy shows off by jumping into the silo, despite Tilly's warning cries. Unbeknownst to them the silo holds sorghum, and Teddy suffocates as he sinks into the grain.
Tilly becomes depressed after Teddy's death until her mother encourages her to continue dressmaking. While out in town, Molly suffers a stroke, and later dies. Only Tilly and Sergeant Farrat attend the funeral. Molly's death sets off a chain of disturbing and macabre events. While Tilly and Farrat are holding a wake for Molly, Beulah snoops around the house. Tilly drunkenly objects to the music on the portable record player, and throws it off the verandah, where it hits Beulah and injures her. Beulah is last seen being helped onto the train to Melbourne, ostensibly for treatment but really to be placed in an asylum.
Percival Almanac (Barry Otto), the cruel town chemist who mistreated Tilly as a child, accidentally drowns in a pond at the back of his house. It is discovered that Almanac's wife Irma (Julia Blake) was unable to save her husband due to being under the influence of hash brownies, which had been baked by Molly. In order to prevent Tilly's arrest, Sergeant Farrat takes the blame. He is then removed from the town by his superiors, something which greatly upsets Tilly.
Tilly visits Marigold and reveals that her husband has been conducting numerous extramarital affairs, including with Una. Marigold confronts her husband about his unfaithfulness, and subsequently hamstrings him and leaves him to bleed to death.
The remaining townspeople travel to the neighboring town of Winyerp to perform in a competitive Eisteddfod. Once there, they are shocked to discover that Tilly has designed and sewn all of the costumes for Winyerp's performance. While the townspeople are away, Tilly sets fire to her house and to a bolt of fabric soaked in kerosene that is rolled out down the hill towards the town. Tilly states that she is no longer cursed, and leaves the town by train, her sewing machine her only luggage. The townspeople, seemingly having lost the Eisteddfod, return to the town to find that it has burned down.
The Duchess (2008)
Color
Duchess begins an affair with a politician to compensate for her unhappy marriage
The Duchess
"The young Georgiana is contracted in marriage to William Cavendish, Duke of Devonshire, with the expectation that she produce his male heir. Georgiana is quickly disillusioned by her husband, especially when Charlotte, a motherless child, comes to live with them while Georgiana is pregnant. William expects Georgiana to tolerate the presence of the child who turns out to be his own illegitimate offspring. He also suggests that she "practise mothering" on the young girl. When Georgiana gives birth to a girl, William is displeased. In his mind he has fulfilled his obligations to her as her husband but, by failing to provide him with a legitimate male heir, she has failed in her obligations as his wife.
Georgiana socialises with the young Lady Bess Foster at Bath and kindly invites her to live with them, since Bess has nowhere else to go. William has an affair with Bess, causing Georgiana to feel robbed of her only friend and betrayed by Bess. Bess explains to Georgiana that her motive is to regain her three sons (whom her husband has taken from her) and continues to live with them.
Georgiana starts an affair with Charles Grey. William is outraged when Georgiana suggests that since he has Bess, she should be allowed Charles as a distraction. William rapes Georgiana; a male child is the product. Bess encourages the affair between Georgiana and Charles after the birth of Georgiana's son. Soon, the whole of London society comes to know of Georgiana's affair. William threatens to end Charles' political career and to forbid Georgiana from seeing her children again if she does not end the relationship. After initially resisting, Georgiana ends her relationship with Grey but tells William that she is pregnant with Charles' child. She is sent to the countryside where she secretly gives birth to her daughter with Grey, Eliza Courtney, who is given to the Grey family to raise as Charles' niece.
Georgiana finds comfort in Bess' friendship during her time of giving birth to Eliza. Georgiana and William come to terms with one another and, along with Bess, continue their lives together.
The aftercredits reveal Georgiana secretly visits her daughter Eliza. Eliza goes on to name her own daughter Georgiana, after her mother. Charles later becomes Prime Minister of the United Kingdom under William IV. Before she dies, Georgiana gives permission for William and Bess to marry.
The Duellists (1977)
Color
Officers in Napoleon's army challenge each other to a series of bloody duels
The Duellists
"In Strasbourg in 1800, fervent Bonapartist and obsessive duellist Lieutenant Gabriel Feraud (Harvey Keitel) of the French 7th Hussars, nearly kills the nephew of the city's mayor in a sword duel. Under pressure from the mayor, Brigadier-General Treillard (Robert Stephens) sends a member of his staff, Lieutenant Armand d'Hubert (Keith Carradine) of the 3rd Hussars, to put Feraud under house arrest. As the arrest takes place in the house of Mme. DeLeon (Jenny Runacre), a prominent local lady, Feraud takes it as a personal insult from d'Hubert. Matters are made worse when Feraud asks d'Hubert if he would "let them spit on Napoleon" and d'Hubert doesn't immediately reply. Upon reaching his quarters, Feraud challenges d'Hubert to a duel. The duel is inconclusive; d'Hubert slashes Feraud's forearm but is unable to finish him off, because he is attacked by Feraud's housemaid. As a result of his part in the duel, d'Hubert is dismissed from the General's staff and returned to active duty with his unit.
The war intervenes in the men's quarrel and they do not meet until six months later in Augsburg in 1801. Feraud immediately challenges d'Hubert to another duel and seriously wounds him. Recovering, d'Hubert takes lessons from a fencing master and in the next duel (held in a cellar with heavy sabres), the two men fight each other to a standstill. Soon afterwards, d'Hubert is relieved to learn he has been promoted to captain. Military protocol forbids officers of different ranks from duelling.
The action moves to 1806 when d'Hubert is serving in L?beck. He is shocked to hear that the 7th Hussars have arrived in the city and that Feraud is now also a captain. Aware that in two weeks time he is to be promoted to major, d'Hubert attempts to slip away but is spotted by Feraud's perpetual second. Feraud challenges him to another duel, which is to be fought on horseback with sabres. D'Hubert slashes his opponent across the forehead; Feraud, blinded because the cut bleeds heavily into his eyes, cannot continue the fight. D'Hubert considers himself the victor and leaves the field ebullient.
Soon afterwards, Feraud's regiment is posted to Spain. The pair chance upon each other, during the French Army's disastrous retreat from Moscow in 1812. Before they can resume the duel, Cossacks attack forcing d'Hubert and Feraud to fight together, rather than each other.
Two years later, after Napoleon's exile to Elba, d'Hubert is a brigadier-general recovering from a leg wound, at the home of his sister Leonie (Meg Wynn Owen) in Tours. She introduces him to Adele (Cristina Raines), niece of her neighbour (Alan Webb). The couple fall in love and are married. A Bonapartist agent (Edward Fox) attempts to recruit d'Hubert, as rumours of Napoleon's imminent return from exile abound. D'Hubert refuses to command a brigade if the Emperor returns from Elba. When Feraud, also a brigadier-general and a leading Bonapartist, hears this he declares d'Hubert is a traitor to the Emperor. He claims that he always suspected d'Hubert's loyalty, which is why he challenged him to a duel in the first place.
After Napoleon is defeated at Waterloo, d'Hubert joins the army of Louis XVIII. Feraud is arrested and is expected to be executed for his part in the Hundred Days. D'Hubert approaches the Minister of Police Joseph Fouche (Albert Finney) and persuades him to release Feraud (without revealing d'Hubert's part in his reprieve). Feraud is paroled to live in a certain province under police supervision.
After Feraud learns of d'Hubert's promotion in the new French Army, he sends two former officers to seek out d'Hubert, so he can challenge him to a duel with pistols. Eventually the two men meet in a ruined ch?teau on a wooded hill. Feraud rapidly discharges both his pistols, before being caught at point blank range by d'Hubert, who refuses to shoot him because tradition dictates he now owns Feraud's life. He tells Feraud he must submit to his decision, that in all future dealings Feraud shall conduct himself "as a dead man".
The duel ends and d'Hubert returns to his life and happy marriage, while Feraud returns to his provincial exile.
The Emperor Waltz (1948)
Black & White
American gramophone salesman tries to sell to Emperor Franz Joseph Austria
The Emperor Waltz
"At the turn of the twentieth century, traveling salesman Virgil Smith (Bing Crosby) journeys to Vienna, Austria hoping to sell a gramophone to Emperor Franz Joseph, whose purchase of the recent American invention could spur its popularity with the Austrian people. At the same time, Countess Johanna Augusta Franziska von Stoltzenberg-Stolzenberg (Joan Fontaine) and her father, Baron Holenia, are celebrating the fact their black poodle Scheherezade has been selected to mate with the emperor's poodle. As they depart from the palace, they meet Virgil and his white fox terrier Buttons, whose scuffle with Scheherezade leads to a discussion about class distinctions.
When Scheherezade experiences a nervous breakdown, she is treated by veterinarian Dr. Zwieback, who practices Freudian psychology, and he advises Johanna to force her dog to face Buttons in order to dissipate her fear. When the dogs are reunited, romantic sparks begin to fly between not only the animals but their owners as well. They begin to spend a great deal of time together, during which Scheherezade and the salesman's dog mate, unbeknownst to their owners.
Virgil eventually convinces Johanna true love can overcome their social differences, and he asks the emperor for her hand in marriage. This is the crucial scene in the picture, and brings the otherwise lightweight movie plot to a higher level. The Emperor is cordial and fatherly with Virgil, and treats him with respect and even a bit of admiration. But he is certain Johanna could never be happy living in Newark, New Jersey. "We are not better than you," explains the Emperor sadly, "I think perhaps you are better than us. But we are like snails: If you take us out of our majestic shells, we die."
Finally, the Emperor tells Virgil of the disastrous end to several similar matches he has seen in his long life, and makes him an offer: He will endorse the gramophone--which will lead to enormous sales and profits for Virgil--only if he breaks up with Johanna. Virgil refuses, highly insulted, but the Emperor asks him one more question: Are you sure you will be enough for her?
The question strikes home, and Virgil decides he loves Johanna too much to take a chance on ruining her life. He lies to her, saying he used her only in order to gain access to the emperor to sell his wares, and walks out apparently uncaring, making himself the villain.
Several months later when Scheherezade gives birth to a litter of white puppies with black patches, it is obvious they were sired by Buttons and not, as everyone thought, by the Emperor's poodle. Fearing the Emperor's reaction, Baron Holenia tells the Emperor they were stillborn, and secretly orders them drowned. However, Virgil, who has sneaked into the palace to see Johanna one last time and set the record straight before he leaves for America, rescues the puppies and confronts the Emperor, who he thinks has ordered the drowning. The Emperor demands an explanation from Holenia, chastises him severely, and asks Virgil to give him the puppies.
But Virgil is still furious, and continues to berate the Emperor about class snobbery which he sees as the reason Holenia tried to drown the pups. He is so angry that he forgets Johanna is standing there listening and tells the Emperor he never should have agreed to give up Johanna to save her from a commoner's life with him. Johanna realises what Virgil has done and forgives him, and tells the Emperor that better she take one chance in a million of a happy life with Virgil, than no chance at all with someone she cannot love. The emperor agrees to let Virgil and Johanna wed.
The End of the Affair (1999)
Color
Novelist has affair with his best friend's wife
The End of the Affair
"Novelist Maurice Bendrix (Ralph Fiennes) narrates the film as he begins a book with the line "This is a diary of hate."
On a rainy London night in 1946, Bendrix has a chance meeting with Henry Miles (Stephen Rea), husband of his former mistress Sarah (Julianne Moore), who abruptly ended their affair two years before. Bendrix's obsession with Sarah is rekindled: he succumbs to his own jealousy and works his way back into her life.
As the story unfolds in 1946, we also see flashbacks of Bendrix with Sarah as they began their affair during World War II. Henry tells Bendrix that he believes Sarah is having an affair, so Bendrix hires the bumbling but amiable Parkis (Ian Hart), who uses his young birthmarked son (Sam Bould) to investigate. Sarah asks Bendrix to meet to talk about Henry and the cold tentativeness of their interaction is contrasted with the passion of their earlier encounters.
Bendrix learns from Parkis that Sarah has been making regular visits to a priest (Jason Isaacs) under the guise of false dentist visits and he grows increasingly jealous. Flashbacks show Bendrix expressing jealousy of Henry and asking Sarah to leave him.
Though Sarah and Bendrix express love to each other, the affair ends abruptly when a V-1 flying bomb explodes near Bendrix's building as he is out in the hallway. Bendrix falls down a staircase and awakes later, bloodied but not seriously hurt. He walks upstairs, where Sarah is shocked that he is alive. Bendrix accuses Sarah of being disappointed that he survived and she leaves, telling him "Love doesn't end, just because we don't see each other."
In 1946, Parkis obtains Sarah's diary and passes it on to Bendrix: it shows the affair from her perspective. After Bendrix is hurt by the bomb, Sarah runs downstairs and finds him still and not breathing. After trying to revive him, she runs back upstairs and begins to pray for Bendrix's life. Just as she says to God that she will stop seeing Bendrix if he is brought back, Bendrix comes into the room.
Now knowing why Sarah ended the affair, Bendrix follows Sarah and begs her to reconsider. Sarah tells Bendrix that she has felt dead without him and can no longer keep her "promise" to God. Henry, who has figured out that it is Bendrix who was Sarah's lover, desperately asks Sarah not to leave him. But, with more persuasion from Bendrix, Sarah agrees to go away with him for a weekend. Henry tracks the couple down to tell them that Sarah has a terminal illness.
Bendrix stays with Henry and Sarah over her final days and at her funeral, Parkis tells Bendrix that a chance encounter with Sarah cured his son of his birthmark. At Henry and Sarah's house, Bendrix completes his book and it is revealed that his diary of hate is directed toward God. While Sarah doesn't need to see God to love Him, Bendrix prays God will leave him alone, thereby finally acknowledging His existence.
The English Patient (1996)
Color
Badly burned WW II pilot tells nurse story of doomed romance
The English Patient
"In the final days of the Italian Campaign of World War II, Hana, a French-Canadian nurse of the Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps, gains permission from her unit to move into a bombed-out Italian monastery, to look after a dying, critically burned man who speaks English but cannot remember his name. The patient's only possession is a copy of Herodotus' Histories with notes, pictures and mementos contained inside.
They are soon joined by Kip, a Sikh sapper in the British Army posted with his sergeant to clear mines and unexploded bombs in the local area, including one in the monastery where Hana and the English Patient are staying. David Caravaggio, a Canadian Intelligence Corps operative who has no thumbs as a result of torture during a German interrogation, also arrives to stay at the monastery. Caravaggio questions the patient, who gradually reveals his past to him, Hana and Kip through a series of flashbacks.
The patient tells Hana and Caravaggio that in the late 1930s he was exploring a region of the Sahara Desert near the Egyptian-Libyan border. He is revealed to be Hungarian cartographer Count Laszlo de Almasy, who was mapping the Sahara as part of a Royal Geographical Society archeological and surveying expedition in Egypt and Libya with a group including his good friend, Englishman Peter Madox. Their expedition is joined by a British couple, Geoffrey and Katharine Clifton, who own a new plane and are to contribute to the aerial survey efforts.
Almasy is given clues by a local Bedouin man which help the group to discover the location of the Cave of Swimmers, an ancient site of cave paintings in the Gilf Kebir. The group begin to document their find, during which time Almasy falls in love with Katharine. He writes about her in notes folded into his book, which Katharine discovers when Almasy awkwardly accepts her offer of two watercolours she has painted of the cave imagery, and asks her to paste them into the book.
The two begin an affair on their return to Cairo, while the group arranges for more detailed archaeological surveys of the cave and the surrounding area. Almasy buys a silver thimble in the market as a gift to Katharine. Some months later, Katharine abruptly ends their affair from fear her husband Geoffrey will discover it. Shortly afterwards the archaeological projects are halted due to the onset of the war. Madox leaves his Tiger Moth aeroplane at Kufra Oasis before his intended return to Britain.
Over the days while Almasy relates his story, Hana and Kip begin a shy love affair, but Kip is reposted once he has cleared the area of explosives. They agree they will meet again.
While Almasy is packing up the base camp at the cave site, Geoffrey, in an attempted murder-suicide having apparently long known about the affair between Almasy and Katharine, deliberately crashes his own Boeing-Stearman plane, narrowly missing Almasy. Geoffrey is killed instantly and Katharine is seriously injured. Almasy carries her to the Cave of Swimmers, realising she is wearing the thimble he gave to her on a chain around her neck. She confesses that she has always loved him despite ending their affair. After leaving her with provisions and his book, Almasy begins a three-day walk across the desert to get help.
At British-held El Tag he attempts to explain the situation, but on revealing his name, is detained on suspicion of being a German spy and transported on a train. He escapes from the train, and soon afterwards comes in contact with a German army unit. They transport him to Madox's sequestered plane at Kufra Oasis, where he exchanges its stored survey maps for fuel, enabling him to fly back to the cave. However, he finds that Katharine has since died. He carries Katharine's body from the cave to the Tiger Moth and takes off. This finally connects the story to the scenes at the start of the film, where the plane is shot down by German anti-aircraft guns; Almasy is badly burned, but he is rescued by a group of Bedouin, who bring him to the Siwa Oasis from where he is moved to Italy.
After he has related his story, Almasy indicates to Hana that he wishes to die, pushing several unopened vials of morphine towards her as she gives him his regular injection for pain relief. Though visibly upset, she grants his wishes for a compassionate death and, as he dies, she reads him Katharine's final letter, which Katharine wrote to Almasy in his book while she was alone in the cave. Hana and Caravaggio leave the monastery for Florence with a passing truck, and she hugs Almasy's book to herself as she rides away.
The English Teacher (2013)
Color
An English teacher's life is disrupted when a former student returns to her small town after.
The English Teacher
"Linda Sinclair (Julianne Moore) is a high school English teacher in the small town of Kingston, Pennsylvania. She is passionate about her subject and popular with her students, but lives alone in simple circumstances. Cursed with a hopeless romantic soul, she lives in a world of men unable to match her impossible standards.
When her former star pupil Jason Sherwood (Michael Angarano) returns after graduating from NYU's playwriting program, crushed and insecure after failing to succeed, Linda and drama teacher Carl Kapinas (Nathan Lane) convince him to produce his play at the school. Jason's father, Dr. Tom Sherwood (Greg Kinnear), pressures him to attend law school instead, which he finally relents to with no other prospects in sight.
Complications arise after Linda and Jason, in a moment of impulsive creative madness, have a sexual encounter on her classroom desk. Various jealousies and rumors ensue, affecting her and everyone around her including the production of Jason's play. When the school heads are confronted with proof of her indiscretion with a former student, Linda is fired on the spot.
Embarrassed, Linda hurries off, gets into a minor car collision, and ends up at a hospital where she's attended to by Dr. Sherwood. She is moved by his gracious manner after having been mean to him on a previous occasion. She guiltily admits to having had sex with his son.
With news of advance-ticket sales of beyond $18,000 for Jason's play, the principal backtracks, persuading Linda to return and resume directing duties so the play may go on. However, the school heads require a new ending for the play as the current one is considered overly violent and fear parents will be outraged by its dark themes of murder and suicide. Jason feels betrayed and refuses to rewrite the play's ending, so Linda is forced to come up with a suitable replacement herself. She manages to write an improved ending which appeases the school and Jason (when he sees the play is a success).
Jason moves on to write further plays as Linda eases back into teaching and regaining her reputation. Sometime later, Linda runs into Jason's father at her favorite bookshop. Catching up over coffee, both realize they'd totally misread each other previously. Grateful for all she has done for his son, and pleasantly surprised they have much more in common than previously thought, Tom invites Linda on a further proper date, and she, somewhat hesitantly, accepts.
The Equalizer (2014)
Color
Former intelligence operatives comes out of retirement to help prostitute
The Equalizer
"Robert McCall (Denzel Washington) is a retired black ops government operative who lives in Boston, Massachusetts and works at a Home Mart hardware store, where he befriends many of his co-workers and also tries to help a security guard trainee named Ralphie pass his qualification exam. McCall has promised his recently deceased wife that he'd leave his old life behind, but is compelled to act after his teenage friend Teri (Chlo? Grace Moretz), whose real name is Alina, was seen being mistreated by her pimp. Alina's life was destroyed at the age of five or six when she was a victim of sex trafficking by the Russian Mafia and then became their sex slave and forced into prostitution.
Robert vows to save her after she is hospitalized after being brutally beaten by her pimp, Slavi (David Meunier). McCall enters a restaurant owned by the Russian mob and tries to convince Slavi to release Alina by paying him $9800, but Slavi refuses. McCall pretends to walk away, but turns back and takes out Slavi and four of his men with their own weapons, removing the footage from all the security cameras.
In retaliation, Vladimir Pushkin (Vladimir Kulich) sends his enforcer Teddy (Marton Csokas) to Boston to find and eliminate the culprit. Meanwhile, Ralph withdraws his application for being a security guard at Home Mart to help out his mother at his family restaurant, which was set on fire by corrupt policemen as an act of extortion. McCall confronts the corrupt policemen and forces them to pay back all the money they have gotten through extortion. Ralph passes his test and becomes a security guard at Home Mart.
Teddy determines McCall is the culprit; surprised by the skill sets McCall possesses, Teddy decides to capture and press-gang him into their service, instead of killing him. McCall, however, outsmarts his pursuers and escapes, while completing more acts of vigilantism. McCall visits fellow retired operatives Susan Plummer (Melissa Leo) and Brian Plummer (Bill Pullman) in Virginia, who help him acquire intelligence on Pushkin's activities. It is revealed that Teddy is ex-Spetsnaz, and that his real name is Nikolai. After McCall leaves, Susan remarks to Brian that McCall was not actually looking for help, but was actually asking for permission.
McCall then captures Frank Masters (David Harbour), a corrupt Boston policeman who has been aiding Teddy, by trapping him in his car and flooding the vehicle with carbon monoxide to force him to cooperate. Frank relents and helps McCall destroy one of Pushkin's money laundering operations in Boston. Later, McCall confronts Teddy at dinner; McCall pledges to bring Pushkin's empire down, and soon destroys a container ship used by Pushkin to smuggle goods. Unsatisfied with Teddy's lack of progress and his increasing monetary losses, Pushkin warns Teddy he can either kill McCall or not come home to Moscow.
In retaliation, Teddy and his men attack Home Mart and take Ralph and the workers of Home Mart hostage, threatening to kill them if he does not surrender. McCall enters the store and disables most of the lighting, tells Ralph to get the hostages to safety, and then kills Teddy's henchmen one by one. After a struggle between McCall and one of Teddy's men, Ralph comes back to help McCall, but is shot in the leg. McCall tells Ralph to turn on the electricity after an exact time of 40 seconds. McCall sets up a number of chemicals in a microwave; the electricity turns it on, causing an explosion that kills the last of Teddy's men. McCall finally kills Teddy with a nail gun.
McCall then travels to Moscow and kills Pushkin's guards, and sets up an electrical trap to kill Pushkin himself. McCall returns to Boston, where he reunites with Alina, who has recovered from her wounds and thanks him for giving her a second chance. McCall is inspired to continue using his skills to help people in need and posts an online ad, identifying himself as "The Equalizer". He soon receives another plea for help and agrees to answer it.
The Equalizer 2 (2018)
Color
Ex-DIA agent seeks revenge after his friend is killed
The Equalizer 2
"Former Marine and Defense Intelligence Agency spy Robert McCall now lives in a diverse apartment complex in urban Massachusetts. He is working as a Lyft driver and assists the less fortunate with the help of his close friend and former DIA colleague, Susan Plummer. McCall anonymously travels to Istanbul by train to retrieve a local bookstore owner's daughter who was kidnapped by her father. He also helps Sam Rubinstein, an elderly Holocaust survivor who is looking for a painting of his sister; the two siblings were separated when they were transported to different camps by the Nazis, but the painting is found to be auctioned off and Sam cannot prove that he owns it. After discovering that the apartment courtyard has been vandalised, McCall accepts an offer from Miles Whittaker, a young resident with an artistic but troubled background, to repaint the walls.
One day, Susan and DIA operative Dave York, McCall's former teammate, are called to investigate the apparent murder-suicide of an agency affiliate and his wife in Brussels. When the two separate after reaching their hotel, Susan is accosted in an apparent robbery by two men with backpacks who got off the elevator on her floor. When he receives the news, McCall begins to investigate both her death and the case she was working on. After reviewing elevator CCTV footage, McCall determines that while Susan could have been simply the victim of a robbery, as the official account concluded, the suspects' foreknowledge of her specific floor and the expertly-delivered fatal stab wound suggest that she was specifically targeted. He also confirms that the incident into which Susan was looking was merely staged to look like a murder-suicide, and that Susan's death is probably connected to it. McCall makes contact with York, who had thought him dead for years, and informs York of his findings.
During one of his shifts driving, McCall is attacked by a man posing as a passenger. McCall kills the assailant and retrieves his phone. Breaking through military-grade encryption, McCall discovers that his former partner, York, was on the phone's call list. He visits York at his home and confronts him, where York admits that he's now a mercenary after feeling used and discarded by the government; York further divulges that he himself finished Susan off, as she would have figured out that he was behind the Brussels killing. McCall leaves the house where York's three teammates--Kovac, Ari, and Resnik--are arriving across the street. McCall promises to kill the entire team before escaping safely by getting a ride from York's unsuspecting wife and children.
Resnik and Ari head to Susan's house to kill her husband Brian, but McCall evacuates Brian first. York and Kovac break into McCall's apartment, where Miles is starting the paint job he proposed to McCall. Monitoring via webcams, McCall instructs Miles to hide in a hidden passage concealed behind a book case; when York seems to close in on the passage's two-way mirror, McCall phones him to taunt him. Miles emerges from hiding shortly after York and Kovac seem to leave, but is captured as he opens the apartment's front door.
Per his taunts to York, McCall returns to his seaside hometown--now evacuated as a hurricane approaches--and readies himself for York and his team. Kovac, Ari, and Resnik arrive and begin searching the town in gale-force winds, as York situates himself on the town's watchtower in a sniper's position. Kovac enters a tackle shop and is killed with a harpoon gun. When Ari heads toward the seaside, he is disturbed by pictures of Susan that he sees along the way; catching him off guard, McCall butchers him with a knife, leaving him mortally wounded. McCall then enters his late wife's old bakery to lure in Resnik, who is fatally eviscerated in a flour explosion set off by his own stun grenade. Enraged, York reveals that he has Miles tied up in the trunk of his car and begins shooting at it to lure McCall out, but he runs out of bullets after McCall foils his last shot. With the storm growing heavier, York is knocked down by a gust of wind before being confronted by McCall atop the tower. McCall gets the upper hand, kills York with a knife, and tosses him onto the rocks below, where the ocean promptly washes away his body.
Back in Massachusetts, Susan's information about Sam's sister's painting helps McCall to reunite Sam with his long-lost sister. Miles finishes repainting the apartment complex, returns to school and focuses on his art. Having moved back into his old house, McCall looks out towards the calm sea.
The Fall of the Roman Empire (1964)
Color
Livius hopes to create a peaceful republic, but then Commodus ascends to the throne
The Fall of the Roman Empire
"In the winter of 180 A.D., the Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius fights to keep Germanic barbarians from invading his northern territories on the Danube frontier. His deputies are the Greek ex-slave Timonides, a closet Christian, and the stern and honest general Gaius Livius. Livius has close connections with the imperial family, being the lover of Aurelius' philosopher daughter Lucilla and a friend of her brother Commodus. Nevertheless, he is amazed to hear that Aurelius wants to make him his heir. Despite his military obligations the emperor has egalitarian ideals, dreaming of a day when Rome grants equal rights to men of all nations. He knows that he will not live to achieve this end, and trusts Livius to do so more than his charismatic but brutal son. The discovery that his father has effectively disinherited him hurts Commodus immensely, and damages the almost brotherly relationship he had enjoyed with Livius.
Aurelius summons all the governors of the Roman empire to his headquarters, intending to announce Livius' future accession. Before he can do so he is poisoned by Commodus' cronies, who hope to secure their own political future by putting their friend on the throne. Sure enough, Livius feels that a non-aristocrat such as himself would never be accepted as emperor without Aurelius' explicit backing; he lets his old friend take the position instead. Commodus, who was not part of the murder plot, is left feeling helplessly angry at his deceased father. He dedicates himself to undoing all Aurelius' policies; this involves blatant favoritism towards Rome and Italy, which are enriched by ferocious taxation of the provinces that were to be their equals.
Meanwhile, Livius' army scores an important victory on the frontier, capturing the German chieftain Ballomar and his aides. Timonides wins the Germans' trust by successfully undergoing an ordeal, having his hand thrust in a fire; with his help, Livius decides to put Aurelius' policy into effect despite disapproval from Commodus. Lucilla helps convince Livius to defy the emperor, since she loved her father as much as Commodus hates him. A speech by Timonides persuades the Roman Senate to let the German captives become peaceful farmers on Italian land, thereby encouraging their fellow barbarians to cooperate with Rome instead of fighting it. Commodus is furious, and sends Livius back to his frontier post in what is effectively a sentence of banishment. Lucilla is forced to go to Armenia, with whose king she shares a loveless political marriage.
Commodus is compelled to recall Livius in order to put down a rebellion by Rome's eastern provinces. When he arrives at the site of the unrest, Livius is horrified to find that Lucilla is behind it. She tries to persuade him to join her in making a splinter state, free of her brother's influence, but he feels that Roman civilization will collapse if it is broken into pieces. The issue is settled in an unexpected manner when Lucilla's husband calls in Rome's archenemy the Persians to help the rebelling forces fight Livius. The sight of the dreaded Persian cavalry so panics the defecting Romans that they go back over to Livius, swelling his army and allowing him to score an immense victory. The king of Armenia is killed, and Commodus sends word that Livius is to be made joint ruler of Rome. The condition for this reward, however, is that Livius is to wreak hideous punishments on the populations of the disloyal provinces.
Rejecting this latest piece of brutality, Livius and Lucilla take their army to Rome and order Commodus to abdicate. He responds by bribing away the soldiers' loyalty and massacring Timonides and the population of the German colony (the latter action ensuring centuries of future hostility between Romans and Germans). The fawning Senate declares Commodus a god, and Livius and Lucilla are sentenced to be burned alive as human sacrifices to the new deity. This victory for Commodus is accompanied by a terrible private discovery--he is not of royal blood, being the product of illicit sex between his promiscuous mother Faustina Minor and the gladiator Verulus, who has since served as the emperor's bodyguard. His mind unhinged by this great shame, Commodus makes the bizarre decision of challenging Livius to a duel for the throne. The two fight with javelins in the Roman Forum, and Livius eventually runs Commodus through. The Senate hastily offer to make Livius emperor, but he refuses; the Roman government is now too corrupt for him to fix. He slips away with Lucilla, leaving Commodus' old advisers to bicker about who will take the emperor's place.
A voice-over epilogue states that this political infighting continued for the rest of Roman history, leading to the imperial government's eventual collapse.
The Family (2013)
Color
Mob family relocated by witness relocation deals with problems the only way they know
The Family
"Mafia boss Giovanni Manzoni, who offended Don Luchese, a rival mafia boss, survives an attempted hit on him and his family at a barbecue. He snitches on Luchese, which sends Luchese to prison; Manzoni and his family enter an FBI witness protection program under the supervision of Agent Robert Stansfield, and are relocated to a small town in Normandy.
In adjusting to life in the village, each family member runs into trouble. Giovanni is being observed by two FBI agents to ensure he doesn't leave his house. Giovanni claims to be an author writing a historical novel on the Normandy landings, which is problematic as many citizens in the area are much more familiar with the event than he is. Giovanni finds ways to slip away and begins a quest to discover why the water in his house is brown. He beats a plumber who tries to shake him down for money to unnecessarily change all the pipes in his house, and a local fertilizer factory owner who interrupts him while he is talking.
Daughter Belle falls in love with Henri, a college student working as a substitute math teacher. She pretends to need private math lessons so she can get time alone with him and she eventually seduces him. Giovanni's wife, Maggie, blows up a small grocery store when its owner spews anti-American comments in French to the other customers and often visits the undercover FBI agents. She spends a lot of time at the church, where she and the local priest have an amicable relationship. Their friendship ends when she confesses the numerous crimes her family has committed and he tells her never to come back.
On the first day of class at the local school, Warren, Giovanni's son, is beaten up by a small gang, but he digs up information and uses it to gain favor with the most influential students, creating a mini-mafia within the school. This sway allows him to beat up the gang. He inadvertently alerts Don Luchese to their location when he quotes one of the kingpin's sayings in a school paper, which makes its way back to Luchese through a series of chance events.
Giovanni is asked to attend an American film event due to his supposed historical expertise and he brings Agent Stansfield along, claiming to want to bond with him, but it's an alibi for a timed explosive he has rigged to destroy the structure causing his brown water. The film screening takes an unexpected turn when instead of Some Came Running, the scheduled film, they watch Goodfellas. Throughout the film, Giovanni expresses a desire to talk about his life as a mobster, seemingly expressing some guilt. The debate after the film prompts him to tell his story to the audience. Feeling his cover has been compromised, Agent Stansfield gives an order to relocate the family again.
Meanwhile, the school detects Warren's activities so he decides to leave town with a fake passport, afraid that the FBI will drop the family's protection. At the train station, he sees seven hitmen arrive and head for the town. He returns home to warn the family. Henri breaks up with Belle, which causes her to contemplate suicide, but she stops when she sees the hitmen enter the police station and kill several officers. As Giovanni returns home, Maggie arrives outside and notices the team of hitmen, who have already killed firemen and who have proceeded to kill their neighbours. She takes cover in the FBI safe-house across the street.
The hitmen blow up the family's house and soon an intense gunfight ensues which involves all family members. Giovanni and Maggie strangle and stab a hitman after he raids the safe-house and tries to sexually assault Maggie. Belle kills a hitman who went to look for weapons in his car's trunk. Using weapons she found in the trunk, she shoots one of the five hitmen near the burning house. Warren also takes guns from the trunk of the car and shoots two of the hitmen while being given cover fire by Belle. One hitman is killed by the family dog. While chasing Belle, the lead hitman is killed by Stansfield's car.
The family relocates again. Despite numerous innocent townspeople being slaughtered, Giovanni expresses his happiness at having had the chance to tell his story, saying that it brought the family closer.
The Father (2021)
Color
A man refuses all assistance from his daughter as he ages, as he doubts everything
The Father
"Anne visits her father Anthony in his flat after he has driven away the latest of several caregivers. He has dementia and constantly forgets important life events and where things are around his flat, including his watch. He tells Anne he believes his caregiver stole his watch and that he will never move out of his flat. She tells Anthony she is moving to Paris to be with a man, which confuses Anthony since he does not recall any men in her life since the end of her marriage to James. Anne says that if he keeps refusing to have a caregiver, she will have to move him into a nursing home.
The next day, Anthony encounters an unknown man, Paul, in his flat. Paul says he is Anne's husband and that Anthony is living in their flat. Anne returns but appears to Anthony as a different woman. When a new caregiver, Laura, arrives for an interview, Anthony tells Laura he was a professional dancer and insists he does not need any assistance. Anthony later says Laura reminds him of his other daughter Lucy, whom he has not seen for a long time.
Anthony is taken to a doctor and rejects the idea that he has memory problems. Later, he tells Laura how proud he is of Lucy, a painter. She tells him she is sorry about Lucy's accident, but Anthony is confused as he has no recollection of that. Over the course of the film, it becomes clear that Anthony has really been living with Anne for years, but believes he still lives in his own flat. After Anne comes home, she and her husband -- who is sometimes called Paul and sometimes James, and appears as two different men -- have an argument over a holiday that had to be cancelled because of Anthony's needs, and about Anne's sacrifices for her father. Paul asks Anthony how long he plans to stay in their flat and annoy everyone; this sequence of events is repeated later, and on the second occasion Paul slaps him.
Anthony wakes up and walks out of the flat, finding himself in a hospital hallway. He remembers Lucy lying in a hospital bed with blood on her face. He then wakes up in a completely different bedroom, which is in a nursing home. His nurse arrives, who earlier appeared as both Anne and Laura, but identifies herself as Catherine. She informs him that Anne lives in Paris and visits on occasional weekends. Another nurse named Bill also visits, identical to one of the men who earlier appeared to be Anne's husband. Anthony breaks down in tears over his inability to understand what is happening to him, as well as Anne's disappearance. He says he wants his mother and that he is "losing his leaves, the branches, the wind and the rain". Catherine comforts him and tells him she will take him out to the park later.
The Fifth Element (1997)
Color
23rd-century cabbie finds himself with a fetching alien who holds the key to saving Earth
The Fifth Element
"In 1914, aliens known as Mondoshawans arrive at an ancient Egyptian temple to collect, for safekeeping concerning World War I, the only weapon capable of defeating a great evil that appears every 5,000 years. The weapon consists of four stones, containing the essences of the four classical elements, and a sarcophagus containing a fifth element in the form of a human, which combines the power of the other four elements into a divine light capable of defeating the evil. The Mondoshawans promise their human contact, a priest from a secret order, that they will come back with the weapon in time to stop the great evil when it returns.
In 2263,[b] the great evil appears in deep space in the form of a giant ball of black fire, and destroys an attacking Earth spaceship. The Mondoshawans' current contact on Earth, priest Vito Cornelius, informs the President of the Federated Territories of the history of the great evil and the weapon that can stop it. As the Mondoshawans return to Earth they are ambushed by Mangalores, a race hired by the industrialist Jean-Baptiste Emanuel Zorg, who has been directed by the great evil (sending messages as “Mister Shadow”) to acquire the element stones.
The Mondoshawans' spacecraft is destroyed, and the only "survivor" is a severed hand in a metal glove from the Fifth Element's sarcophagus that still contains some living cells. Scientists take it to a New York City laboratory and use it to reconstruct a powerful humanoid woman who takes the name Leeloo. Terrified of the unfamiliar surroundings, she breaks out of confinement and jumps off a high ledge, crashing into the flying taxicab of Korben Dallas, a former major in the special forces.
Dallas delivers Leeloo to Cornelius and his apprentice, David, whereupon it is revealed that she is the Fifth Element. Cornelius learns from her that the element stones were not on the Mondoshawans' ship, as they entrusted the stones to the alien Diva Plavalaguna, an opera singer. Zorg kills many of the Mangalores because of their failure to obtain the stones, but their surviving compatriots determine to seize the artifacts in revenge. Upon learning from the Mondoshawans that the stones are in Plavalaguna's possession, General Munro, Dallas' former superior, recommissions Dallas and orders him to travel undercover to the planet Fhloston to meet Plavalaguna on a luxury cruise; Dallas takes Leeloo with him. Meanwhile, Cornelius instructs David to prepare the temple designed to house the stones, then stows away on the space plane transporting Dallas to the cruise liner.
Plavalaguna is killed when the Mangalores attack the cruise ship, but Dallas succeeds in retrieving the stones from the Diva. During his struggle with the Mangalores he kills their leader. Meanwhile, Zorg arrives, shooting and seriously wounding Leeloo before taking a carrying case that he presumes contains the stones back to his spacecraft, leaving behind a time bomb that forces the liner's occupants to evacuate. Discovering the case to be empty, Zorg returns to the ship and deactivates his bomb, but a dying Mangalore sets off his own device, destroying the ship and killing Zorg. Dallas, Cornelius, Leeloo, and talk-show host Ruby Rhod escape with the stones aboard Zorg's spacecraft.
The four join up with David at the weapon chamber in the temple as the great evil approaches. They arrange the stones and activate them with their corresponding elements, but having witnessed and studied so much violence, Leeloo has become disenchanted with humanity and refuses to cooperate. Dallas confesses his love for Leeloo and kisses her. In response, Leeloo combines the power of the stones as the Fifth Element and releases the divine light on the great evil, destroying its power and causing the planet to be proclaimed dead by Earth scientists as it becomes another moon in Earth orbit.
The Fifth Estate (2013)
Color
Drama about the early days of Assange's website and the inevitable conflict it wrought
The Fifth Estate
"The story opens in 2010, with the release of the Afghan War Logs. It then flashes back to 2007, where journalist Daniel Domscheit-Berg meets Australian computer hacker Julian Assange for the first time, at the Chaos Communication Congress in Berlin. Daniel's interest in online activism has led him to Assange, with whom he has corresponded by email. They begin working together on WikiLeaks, a website devoted to releasing information being withheld from the public while retaining anonymity for its sources. Their first major target is a private Swiss bank, Julius Baer, whose Cayman Islands branch has been engaged in illegal activities. Despite Baer's filing of a lawsuit and obtaining an injunction, the judge dissolves the injunction, allowing Julian and Daniel to reclaim the domain name. As their confidence increases, the two push forward in publishing information over the next three years, including secrets on Scientology, revealing Sarah Palin's email account, and the membership list of the British National Party.
At first Daniel enjoys changing the world, viewing WikiLeaks as a noble enterprise and Assange as a mentor. However, the relationship between the two becomes strained over time. Daniel loses his job and problems arise in his relationship, particularly concerning the BNP membership leak, which also revealed the addresses of the people involved, and caused several to lose their jobs. Assange openly mocks Daniel's concerns about these issues, implying his own life has been more troubling. Assange's abrasive manner and actions, such as abandoning Daniel at his parents' house after having accepted their dinner invitation, only deepen the strain further. Interspersed throughout the film are flashbacks hinting at Assange's troubled childhood and involvement in a suspicious cult, and that Assange's obsession with WikiLeaks has more to do with childhood trauma than wanting to improve the world. Daniel begins to fear that Assange may be closer to a con-man than a mentor. He also notices that Assange constantly gives different stories about why his hair is white. Assange at first tells Daniel that WikiLeaks has hundreds of workers, but Daniel later finds out that Daniel and Assange are the only members. Most importantly to Daniel, Assange frequently claims that protecting sources is the website's number one goal. However, Daniel begins to suspect that Assange only cares about protecting sources so people will come forward and that Assange does not actually care who gets hurt by the website, though Assange claims that the harm the website may cause is outweighed by good the leaks create. Daniel's girlfriend tells him that she believes in his cause, but that it's his job to prevent Assange from going too far.
The tensions come to a head when Bradley Manning (later known as Chelsea Manning) leaks hundreds of thousands of documents to WikiLeaks, including a video of an airstrike in Baghdad, the Afghan and Iraq War Logs, and 250,000 US Diplomatic Cables. Assange wants to leak the documents immediately, but Daniel insists that they review the documents first. Later, several major newspapers agree to cooperate with WikiLeaks in releasing the documents while spinning WikiLeaks positively. However, both Daniel and the newspapers require the names in the documents be redacted both to protect sources and to assist in the media spin, to which Assange reluctantly agrees. Daniel realizes that Assange has no intention of following through on this promise and is grooming a right-hand man to replace Daniel. The newspapers release the redacted documents. The resulting media and public uproar forces informants to flee from their countries of residence and many U.S. diplomats to resign. Before Assange can go further, however, Daniel and the other members of the original WikiLeaks team delete the site and block Assange's access to the server.
Daniel later talks with a reporter from The Guardian, and the two fear that giving Assange such a large platform was a mistake. The reporter tells Daniel that while Assange may be untrustworthy, he had done a good thing by uncovering secret dealing in the government and business world and attempting to protect sources. Daniel also reveals the real reason for Assange's hair colour--that it had been a custom of the cult he had been part of in Australia--and reports that he once accidentally discovered Assange dyeing it that colour.
As the film ends, it is revealed that WikiLeaks is continuing to leak information (with Assange implied to have either regained the site or rebuilt it), and the Manning documents were released with no redactions. Daniel has written a book on his involvement with the organization on which this film was based, and Assange has threatened to sue in retaliation. Assange is shown to be living in the Ecuadorian embassy in London to avoid arrest on an outstanding warrant for alleged sex crimes. In an interview, he denounces the two upcoming WikiLeaks films, stating that they will be factually inaccurate (having been partly based on Daniel's book). He informs the viewer that individuals are what the government is afraid of and claims that hiring Daniel was the one mistake he made.
The Final Countdown (1980)
Color
Aircraft carrier goes back in time and encounters the japs at Pearl Harbor
The Final Countdown
"In 1980, the USS Nimitz takes on a civilian observer, Warren Lasky (Martin Sheen), at the orders of his reclusive and mysterious employer, Mr. Tideman (who helped design much of the ship), just before it departs Pearl Harbor for a training mission in the Pacific Ocean. Out in the Pacific, the ship encounters a strange storm-like vortex which disappears after the ship passes through it. Initially unsure of what has happened, and having lost radio contact with Pacific Fleet Command, Captain Matthew Yelland (Kirk Douglas) launches reconnaissance aircraft which discover an intact Pacific battleship fleet at Pearl Harbor. A key scene in The Final Countdown involves Japanese Zero fighters in the vanguard of an attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, destroying a yacht when 1980s-era fighters come to the rescue of the yacht's survivors.
A Grumman F-14 Tomcat patrol eventually spots a civilian yacht being attacked by Japanese Mitsubishi A6M Zero fighters. The F-14 fighter aircraft are ordered to "draw them off". The Zeros shoot at the F-14s and inadvertently head toward the Nimitz, forcing the captain to order them shot down. The Nimitz rescues the yacht's survivors, a man and a woman, as well as one of the Zero pilots. The Nimitz's CAG (Commander, Air Group), Commander Owens (James Farentino), an amateur historian, recognizes one survivor as Samuel Chapman (Charles Durning), a prominent United States senator who could have been Franklin Roosevelt's running mate (and his potential successor) during his final re-election bid ... except that he disappeared shortly before the fateful attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.
After a Grumman E-2 Hawkeye discovers the Japanese fleet poised to attack Pearl Harbor, they eventually realize that they have been transported back in time to December 6, one day before the infamous attack. Captain Yelland has to decide whether to destroy the Japanese fleet and alter the course of history, or to stand by and allow history to proceed as "normal". After some intense debates on board, the Captain settles the dispute by "going by the book": to defend America "past, present, and future" if attacked, and otherwise, to obey the orders of the then-current commander-in-chief, Franklin D. Roosevelt.
The civilians and the Zero pilot are kept isolated, but while being questioned, the Japanese pilot grabs a weapon, kills his guards and holds the other survivors, the CAG, and Lasky as hostages, threatening to kill them unless he is given access to a radio. The crisis is defused only after the CAG reveals enough of what he knows of history to distract the pilot long enough for Marines to kill him, but this also reveals the truth to the yacht survivors. The senator demands and is granted access to a radio to warn Pearl Harbor about the imminent attack, but since he identifies himself as aboard the USS Nimitz, the radio operator assumes it is a hoax -- as Admiral Chester W. Nimitz was then on active duty in the U.S. Navy -- and the senator's warning is not believed. Meanwhile, the female survivor, Laurel (Katharine Ross), and Commander Owens become attracted to each other.
Captain Yelland sends the civilians with sufficient supplies via helicopter to an isolated Hawaiian island. The CAG goes with them. Once there, however, the senator tries to hijack the helicopter with a flare gun, but ends up destroying the helicopter and losing his life, while stranding the CAG and Laurel on the island. She learns that Owens is from the future when Laurel discovers the date imprint on one of the food containers.
The Nimitz launches a massive strike force against the incoming Japanese forces, but before they can reach the enemy armada, the time storm returns. After a futile attempt to outrun the storm, Yelland recalls the strike force, and the ship and the aircraft return to 1980 safely. Upon the Nimitz's return to Pearl Harbor, the Pacific Fleet commander boards the ship to investigate. Meanwhile, Lasky and Laurel's dog, upon leaving the ship, finally encounter "Mr. Tideman" face-to-face, who is revealed to be a much older Commander Owens, along with his wife, Laurel. The final encounter ends with Owens inviting Lasky for a ride with the words: "We have a lot to talk about.
The Final Cut (2004)
Color
'Cutter' edits people's digital memories into compositions fit for viewing at their funerals
The Final Cut
"The film opens with Alan Hakman (Williams) as a child, and another child named Louis Hunt, as they enter an abandoned factory. They come to a long wooden plank suspended very high above the floor, and Louis falls after Hakman goads him into crossing the plank. Hakman flees and is not caught. The film advances to Hakman's adult life, portraying him creating two rememories from Zoe implants. It turns out that Hakman is a very skillful cutter whose edits can make "saints out of criminals", and his services are highly valued by rich, immoral people; Hakman sees himself doing a good deed, as a sin-eater who removes past crimes from the dead so they can rest in peace. At the screening of a rememory, a former cutter, Fletcher (Caviezel), offers Hakman $500,000 for the footage he recently acquired of Charles Bannister, a former EYE Tech manager; the footage, which reveals that Bannister was sexually abusing his young daughter, would discredit the entire "cutting" industry. Hakman refuses to surrender it after locating in the footage a person he believes to be Hunt, whom he'd presumed dead from the fall as a child; he sets the "Guillotine", which in the film is the computer used to sort and edit ("cut") the Zoe footage, to search for more img of the man.
Hakman and his colleagues break into the EYE Tech headquarters to locate Hunt's Zoe footage as a second source, and although he does not find Hunt's footage, because his surname also begins with the letter 'H' he discovers a file under his own name. He realizes that he himself has a Zoe implant, violating the cutter's code that no cutter may have one. He did not know he had an implant because both of his parents had passed away suddenly before telling him.
In his distress after the discovery that he is implanted, Hakman brings his lover Delila (Sorvino) into his apartment, and leaves her alone with his Guillotine. He immediately undergoes the first stage of a specialized tattooing procedure to end the implant's ability to record audio, he has to wait a week later to get a second tattoo that will remove video. When he returns he puts bullets in his firearm under the belief that Fletcher and his associate have broken into his apartment to steal the Bannister footage. Instead, he finds Delila poring over the full Zoe footage of her late boyfriend. Hakman apparently has kept the footage and has vicariously used it to fill in what's lacking in his life, experiencing their relationship in all its passion and perhaps turning it into the basis for all the feelings he has for her. Delila becomes angry that her private memory with her boyfriend is used in such a manner, and shoots the Guillotine. The bullet hits the Bannister card, destroying its footage.
When Fletcher and his associate finally break in to steal the Bannister footage, they find out it has been destroyed. Hakman lies to Bannister's wife, telling her that a technical fault destroyed it. Hakman then "cuts" into his own memories, and sees that Hunt did not in fact die when he fell, absolving him of decades of guilt. Hakman visits Hunt's grave, and is joined by Fletcher, who has discovered through the tattoo parlour that Hakman has an implant and that it recorded the critical img from the Bannister footage. Foregoing the biopsy procedure, Fletcher chases Hakman through the graveyard filled with video tombstones, eventually catching up to Hakman but hesitant to shoot him. Fletcher's associate, having concealed his presence during the chase between Hakman and Fletcher, then shoots Hakman, killing him.
In the last shot of the movie, Alan Hakman looks at himself in a mirror through his own eyes. But when he looks away and walks off, the camera keeps watching the empty mirror instead of watching what he sees.
The Firm (1993)
Color
When a Harvard Law grad joins a new firm, he becomes involved with the Mafia and FBI
The Firm
"Mitch McDeere, about to graduate near the top of his class from Harvard Law School, accepts a generous job offer from Bendini, Lambert & Locke, a boutique law firm in Memphis, Tennessee. Mitch and his wife Abby move to Memphis, and he studies to pass the Tennessee bar exam. Senior partner Avery Tolar mentors Mitch and introduces him to the firm's professional culture, which demands strict loyalty, confidentiality, and a willingness to charge exceptional fees. Mitch is seduced by the money and perks -- including a house, new car, and his student loans paid off -- but Abby is suspicious of the firm's interference with employees' families.
Mitch passes the bar exam and begins working long hours, straining his marriage. Working closely with Avery, Mitch learns that most of the firm's work involves helping wealthy clients hide money in off-shore shell corporations and other dubious tax-avoidance schemes. During a working trip to the Cayman Islands, Mitch hears a client state that the firm's Chicago clients break people's legs, and finds suspicious documents in a locked closet at Avery's vacation house relating to four of the firm's associates who died under suspicious circumstances. While in the Caymans, Mitch is seduced by a local prostitute, a seduction that had been prearranged by the firm's security chief, Bill DeVasher. DeVasher then uses photos of the tryst to blackmail Mitch into keeping quiet about the firm's activities, threatening to send the photos to Mitch's wife Abby. This prompts Mitch to hire a private investigator, Eddie Lomax, to investigate the associates' mysterious death. Not long after starting to work on the case, Lomax is fatally shot in his office by two hit-men, a murder that is witnessed by his secretary Tammy who is hiding under the desk.
Mitch is approached by FBI agents who reveal that BL&L's biggest client is the Morolto crime family of the Chicago Outfit. Most of the firm is complicit in a massive tax fraud and money laundering scheme. The dead associates had learned the truth and were killed on the firm's orders, as was Lomax. The FBI warns Mitch that his house, car, and office are bugged and pressures him to provide evidence against the firm and the Moroltos. Mitch agrees to cooperate in return for $1.5 million and the release of his brother Ray, who is serving time in an Arkansas prison. The FBI orders Ray's release, planning to return him to prison once Mitch hands over the incriminating files, and gives him half the money. Mitch confesses his one-night stand in the Caymans to Abby, who prepares to leave him.
When a client complains that he was billed for several hours of extra fees, Mitch realizes that mailing clients these padded bills is mail fraud, exposing the firm to RICO charges. He secretly copies the firm's billing records with help from Tammy, but needs files from Avery's house in the Caymans. Avery invites Abby to come with him to the Caymans and she declines, but he reveals his Caymans schedule has changed, threatening Mitch's plans. Telling Tammy not to inform Mitch, Abby flies to the Caymans to seduce and drug Avery. The firm's phone tap picks up Abby's warning to Tammy, and DeVasher sends his hitmen to the Caymans. After Abby and Tammy steal, copy, and return the files, a drowsy Avery tells Abby that the firm had arranged for the Caymans prostitute on the beach to seduce Mitch. Avery warns Abby to leave and is later murdered by DeVasher's hitmen, who make it look like he drowned in the bathtub.
Mitch's plans are jeopardized when a prison guard on the Moroltos' payroll alerts DeVasher after Ray is transferred to FBI custody without the usual formalities. Fleeing from DeVasher and his hitman, Mitch enters a building where DeVasher inadvertently shoots the hitman dead before Mitch blindsides him and beats him unconscious. Mitch meets with the Moroltos, presenting himself as a loyal attorney looking out for his clients' interests. He claims that his contact with the FBI and his copying of files were an attempt to expose the firm's illegal over-billing, and asks the Moroltos for permission to turn over their billing invoices to help the FBI's case against the firm. Revealing that he has made his own copies, he assures them that as long as he is alive, any information he has about their legal affairs is safe under attorney--client privilege. Guaranteeing Mitch's safety, the Moroltos reluctantly let him give the FBI the evidence it needs to prosecute the firm. Since the Moroltos were not tied to the mail fraud operations and attorney--client privilege does not apply when a lawyer knows about ongoing criminal activity, Mitch is able to continue his legal career, and reconciles with Abby.
The FBI is furious that Mitch bailed the Moroltos out, but Mitch reminds them that the evidence he provided falls under RICO's jurisdiction and can all but guarantee every senior member of the firm going to prison for decades. The film ends as the McDeeres return to Boston, driving the same well-used car in which they arrived in Memphis, while Ray, having been given the $750,000 Mitch obtained from the FBI by Tammy, enjoys his new life in the Caymans.
The First Grader (2010)
Color
84yo-old Kenyan wants to take advantage of a new education decree by learning to read
The First Grader
"Kenya, 2003: A radio DJ announces that the Kenyan government is offering free primary school education to all. Maruge (Oliver Litondo), an 84 year-old villager, hears this and decides he wants to educate himself. Arriving at his local school, with a newspaper clipping about this change in policy, he meets Jane (Naomie Harris), the school's principal, and expresses his desire to learn. Her colleague Alfred (Alfred Munyua), in an effort to get rid of him, tells him all pupils need two exercise books and a pencil.
The next day, Maruge returns, telling Jane he wants to learn to read. He has a letter from the “Office of the President” that he wants to understand. Exasperated, she tells him the school already has too many pupils. Later that night, she tells her husband Charles (Tony Kgoroge) about Maruge. Cautious of his own position, working alongside the government in Nairobi, he advises her to fight the battles she can win.
After cutting his trousers and turning them into shorts, Maruge returns to the school again. While Jane tells the school inspector Mr. Kipruto (Vusi Kunene) on the telephone that she currently has five children to a desk, when Maruge re-appears, she relents. Alfred is reluctant, yet Jane is defiant, claiming Kipruto is not the head of the school. Allowing Maruge into her class, she seats him near the front -- after he admits his eyesight is not so good -- and begins to teach him, and her other charges, how to write the alphabet.
Plagued by memories of his time in Kenya in 1953, when he fought with the Mau Mau against the British, it even impacts upon Maruge in class, when Alfred scolds him for not keeping his pencil sharp. Made to sharpen it, he breaks down as he recalls a time when the British tortured him -- using a sharp pencil brutally thrust into his ear. Apologising to Jane, saying it won't happen again, Maruge later educates his fellow pupils, patiently explains about the fight for land that he and other Mau Mau undertook and teaching them the word for 'freedom'.
Resentment brews over Maruge's education. At home, people shout that he should stay away from the school, while in the playground, covert photographs are taken of him. Soon enough, the story that an old man is going to school hits the radio airwaves. Kipruto arrives, furious that he has learnt in the press that Maruge is attending his school. Jane tells him that Maruge fought against the British. She later learns from Maruge that the same soldiers killed his family.
Desperate to keep Maruge in school, Jane calls Charles, but he advises her not to go over Kipruto's head. She wilfully ignores him, visiting the head of the education board to plead Maruge's case. Her protests fall on deaf ears and Maruge is made to attend an adult education centre, where he soon finds himself surrounded by people with no ambitions to learn. He goes to see Jane, telling her he must learn to read because he wants to be able to understand the letter he's been sent. Refusing to go back to the adult education centre, Maruge nevertheless must say his goodbyes to the children. Yet Jane offers him a reprieve -- as her teaching assistant.
As the story breaks, the press descends on the school, surrounding Jane and wanting to question Maruge. He tells the reporters that the power is in the pen. Nevertheless, his presence in the school is beginning to cause anger amongst the parents of the young pupils. One mother confront Jane, accusing her of seeking fame and fortune from all the attention, while another father proclaims to Alfred that the school is spending too much time on Maruge. Again, Kipruto arrives with the school in chaos, telling Jane that her special pupil cannot stay and that plans are afoot for the government to compensate the Mau Mau.
Resolute, Jane decides to teach Maruge to read after school has finished -- despite receiving threatening phone calls. A delegation of politicians arrive at the school, keen to cash in on the free publicity surrounding Maruge, while secretly demanding that Jane cut them in on any money she has received. Events begin to spiral - people attack the school with sticks while Charles receives an anonymous telephone call, noting his wife is now out of control. Jane soon receives a letter that she is to be transferred to a school 300 miles away. Charles tells her that events surrounding Maruge are tearing them apart, explaining that he's received calls claiming she has been unfaithful.
Jane explains to Maruge that she is being transferred, and then undertakes an emotional goodbye to the children, who all bring her gifts. Meanwhile, Kipruto introduces the class' new teacher. Enraged, the children padlock the school gate and throw missiles at her and Kipruto. Meanwhile, Maruge travels to Nairobi, heading to the Ministry of Education, where he confronts the board on behalf of Jane, showing them the scars he sustained as a young man tortured by the British.
Jane returns to the school, where Maruge is there to welcome her back. He wants her to read to him his letter, which explains he will be compensated for his time in the prison camps. As the film draws to a close, the radio DJ announces that Maruge -- the Guinness Book of Records holder for the oldest person to go to primary school -- will speak at the United Nations.
The Five Heartbeats (1991)
Color
Black music group encounters many challenges on the way to the top
The Five Heartbeats
"In the early 1990s, Donald "Duck" Matthews browses a Rolling Stone magazine, noticing an article questioning the recent exploits of The Five Heartbeats, The Temptations, and The Four Tops and why the groups disbanded.
In a flashback, Donald Matthews, Anthony "Choir Boy" Stone, J.T. Matthews and Terrence "Dresser" Williams are preparing to perform at a music contest. They are forced to prepare to sing both their vocals and those of other members since Eddie King Jr. and Bobby, the lead singers, are missing. Bobby and Eddie cheat while gambling. Bobby is shot in the leg, but Eddie arrives at the contest and performs with the Heartbeats.
The group loses to Flash and the Ebony Sparks but pleases the crowd and is noticed by music producer Jimmy Potter. Jimmy offers to manage the group; to prove he has their best interests at heart he promises them $100 from his own pocket if they do not win first prize the next month. After a more polished performance the group still loses. Jimmy pays the group, and they sign a contract with him. Jimmy brings in Ernest "Sarge" Johnson as the group's choreographer. After vigorous training Sarge and Jimmy feel the Heartbeats are ready to perform in a larger competition.
Bird, lead singer of Bird and The Midnight Falcons witnesses the Heartbeats rehearsing their routine and is concerned his group could lose; he asks his girlfriend to invite her friends and boo The Heartbeats while cheering The Midnight Falcons. The announcer, Bird's cousin, forces The Heartbeats to use a piano player they are unfamiliar with. He also claims that The Heartbeats believe themselves to be better than the other groups.
The Heartbeats perform "A Heart Is a House for Love". Duck grows frustrated with the house piano player's butchering of the music and takes over the piano. Eddie leads the group in a number that results in Bird's girlfriend fainting in Eddie's arms. Watching in the audience is Flash, leader of the Ebony Sparks. The Heartbeats win the contest with a standing ovation and the interest of Big Red, who owns Big Red Records. Big Red offers them a deal, but Jimmy and his wife Eleanor, aware of Big Red's corrupt operations, decline. The group searches for a record company they can trust, but the only ones that will sign them are Caucasian operated and insist that their songs be covered by a white group named The Five Horsemen, giving the Heartbeats only minor song writing credit, thus forcing them to sign with Big Red.
The group goes on the road. Choir Boy's father is concerned he will forget where he comes from, Dresser has a girl back home, Eddie's father is waiting for him to fail and J.T. and Duck have a family depending on them. The travel is marked by racism and poor living conditions. Dresser's girlfriend visits at the same time as the record rep from Big Red. Dresser finds out his girlfriend is pregnant and they are faced with their first album cover having white people on the cover. Despite their problems, the group becomes successful.
Throughout the mid to late 1960s The Five Heartbeats receive numerous awards, charting several hits, and being featured on magazine covers. Eddie abuses alcohol and cocaine, causing him to miss rehearsals and performances as well as losing his girlfriend. Eddie becomes paranoid and attempts to blackmail the other Heartbeats and Jimmy using his new deal with Big Red, along with buying Jimmy out of his contract. Jimmy threatens to go to authorities with information about bootlegged LPs, cooked books and payola that could have Big Red arrested, leading Red to have Jimmy killed. In the wake of the murder, the group learns that Eddie's deceit was behind the argument between Jimmy and Big Red. The group gets together to talk and includes Bird, whom Red beat up when he questioned his bookkeeping, to put Big Red away. Big Red is convicted of Jimmy's murder and the group moves to a new record label, but, despite Duck's pleas, Eddie leaves the group in disgrace.
The Heartbeats add former rival Flash as their lead singer, which angers J.T. due to their rivalry over women. Duck has gained the attention of Tanya Sawyer, whom he lusted after since meeting her in Jimmy's living room years ago. After their engagement, he suspects she is having an affair. After she leaves the house, he follows her to a hotel. The doorman asks for his autograph and marvels at the fact that he is the second Heartbeat the doorman has seen that night; his brother is already upstairs. Duck realizes Tanya is cheating on him with his brother. As Duck leaves, his fiancee and brother fight. Tanya has been trying to break things off, but he insists that she break things off with Duck. Tanya refuses, insisting she loves Duck. At an awards ceremony celebrating their success, Flash announces he is leaving the group. Duck reveals that he knows about Tanya and J.T., and that he, too, is no longer a Heartbeat.
Several years later, Duck receives a letter from Choir Boy, who returned to his father's church. He asks Duck to come to a service. When he enters the church Choir Boy's father is speaking then the choir starts singing and Eddie and Baby Doll step up to sing lead. After the service Duck reunites with Eddie, Choir Boy and Baby Doll. Eddie is clean, sober and married to Baby Doll, and also manages a group. He asks Duck to write songs for them, to which he agrees. He urges Duck to contact J.T. Duck finds J.T. in a park with a wife (an old girlfriend with whom he shared a bathroom sex scene at the beginning of the movie) and two children, including a son affectionately named "Duck". The brothers reconcile.
In the early 1990s, Flash has transitioned from doo wop to pop, as the lead singer of Flash and The Five Horsemen. The Heartbeats are disappointed by the music and aspire to show their families how they performed at the peak of their career. At first Eddie declines to join the other Heartbeats but Eleanor Potter, coming to terms with her husband's death, forgives Eddie.
The Five Heartbeats reunite at the end in front of their families and friends, trying graciously to remember their old moves.
The Founder (2016)
Color
The story of the founder of McDonald's
The Founder
"In 1954, Ray Kroc is a traveling milkshake machine salesman. While he has a supportive wife named Ethel and has saved enough to live a comfortable life in Arlington Heights, Illinois, he craves more. Ray also observes that many of the drive-in restaurants that he tries to sell to are inefficiently run. After learning that a drive-in in San Bernardino is ordering an unusually large number of milkshake mixers, Ray drives to California to see it. What he finds is McDonald's--a popular walk-up restaurant with fast service, high-quality food, disposable packaging and a family-friendly atmosphere.
Ray meets with the two McDonald brothers, Maurice "Mac" and Richard "Dick" McDonald. They give Ray a tour of the kitchen and he notes the employees' strong work ethic. Ray is astounded with the restaurant, and takes the brothers to dinner. They tell him the origin story of McDonald's and how they came to design their "fast food" system. The next day, Ray suggests that the brothers franchise the restaurant, but they hesitate, pointing out that they already tried, only to have encountered absentee franchisees who were lackadaisical in upholding their system. Ray persists and eventually convinces the brothers to allow him to lead their franchising efforts on the condition that he agrees to a strict contract, which requires all changes be subject to the McDonald brothers' approval.
Initially, Ray begins building a McDonald's restaurant in Des Plaines, Illinois, while attempting to entice wealthy investors (specifically fellow members at his country club) to open franchises, but encounters the same poor management ethic which doomed the original franchise efforts. Eventually Ray hits on the idea of franchising to middle-class investors, who have more incentive to be hands-on and are willing to follow the McDonald's formula. This proves successful, and new franchises begin opening across the Midwest, with Ray representing himself as the creator of McDonald's. During this time, Ray meets Rollie Smith, an upscale restaurant owner in Minnesota who wishes to invest, and his wife Joan, to whom Ray is immediately attracted.
Despite his success, Ray begins to encounter financial difficulties as his share of franchise profits are limited due to his contract, which the McDonald brothers decline to renegotiate. Meanwhile, the owners are encountering higher than expected costs, particularly for refrigeration of large amounts of ice cream for milkshakes. Joan suggests a powdered milkshake as a way to avoid these costs, but the brothers consider it degrading to their food quality. Ray is called to the bank as his mortgage is past due, but this is overheard by Harry Sonneborn, a financial consultant, who requests to review Ray's books. Sonneborn realizes that the real profit opportunity is in providing real estate to the franchisees, which will not only provide a revenue stream, but give Ray leverage over his franchisees and the brothers. Ray incorporates a new company, Franchise Realty Corporation, and attracts new investors. This allows him to open new restaurants without the brothers approval. This upsets the brothers and emboldens Ray: he increasingly defies them by circumventing their authority and providing powdered milkshakes to all franchisees. Ray also divorces Ethel, who gets all his assets except any shares in his business.
Ray renames his company the McDonald's Corporation and demands to be released from his contract and buy the McDonald brothers out, the news of which sends Mac into diabetic shock. Ray visits him in the hospital and offers a blank check to settle their business. The brothers agree to a $2.7 million lump sum payment (equivalent to $26 million in 2020), ownership of their original restaurant in San Bernardino, and a 1% annual royalty, but when the time comes to finalize the agreement, Ray refuses to include the royalty in the settlement and instead offers it as a handshake deal. Afterwards, Dick confronts Ray and asks why he had to take over their business, when he could have easily stolen their idea and recreated it. Ray argues that the true value of McDonald's is the name itself, which expresses all the attributes of Americana (as opposed to his Czech Slavic-sounding name of Kroc).
The McDonald brothers are forced to take their own name off the original restaurant and Ray opens a new McDonald's franchise directly across the street, finally putting the brothers out of business. The film ends in 1970, where Ray prepares a speech where he praises himself for his success and that he was able to achieve his success through persistence, and not through talent or a strong work ethic, in his elaborate mansion with his new wife, Joan.
An epilogue reveals that the McDonald brothers were never paid their royalties, which would have been in the area of $100 million a year, and that every day McDonald's feeds approximately 1% of the Earth's population.
The Fountainhead (1949)
Black & White
Visionary architect struggles with his integrity despite economic pressures to conform
The Fountainhead
"Howard Roark is an individualistic architect who follows a new artistic path in the face of conformity and vulgar mediocrity.
Ellsworth Toohey, an architecture critic for The Banner newspaper, opposes Roark's individualism and volunteers to crusade in print against him. The wealthy and influential publisher, Gail Wynand, pays little attention, but approves the idea and gives Toohey a free hand.
Dominique Francon, a glamorous socialite who writes a Banner column admires Roark's work and opposes the newspaper's campaign against him. She is engaged to be married to an architect herself, the unimaginative Peter Keating. She has never met or seen Roark, but she believes that he is doomed in a world that abhors individualism.
Wynand falls in love with Francon and exposes Keating as someone who values a big opportunity more than her. In the meantime, Roark is unable to find a client willing to build according to his vision. He walks away from opportunities that involve any compromise of his standards. Broke, he takes a job as a laborer in a quarry.
The quarry belongs to Francon's father and is near their summer home. The vacationing Francon visits the quarry on a whim. As Roark drills into the stone, Francon spots him and watches him work. When he sees her they openly and repeatedly stare at each other.
Francon contrives to have Roark repair the fireplace in her bedroom. Roark mocks the pretense, and after the first visit, sends someone else to complete the repair. Expecting Roark, Francon is enraged and returns to the quarry on horseback. She finds Roark walking nearby. He again mocks her and she strikes him with her horsewhip. In the evening he invades her bedroom, forcefully embracing and kissing her as the film fades to black, implying sexual intercourse.
Back in his small room, Roark finds a letter offering him a new project. He packs up and leaves. Francon goes to the quarry and learns that he quit. The boss offers to find out where he went, but she declines. She has no idea that he is Howard Roark, the brilliant architect.
Wynand offers to marry Francon, even though he is aware that she is not in love with him. Francon defers the offer until she feels a great need to punish herself. She learns Roark's true identity when they are introduced at the party opening the new building that Roark has designed which The Banner has campaigned against.
Francon goes to Roark's apartment and offers to marry him if he gives up architecture to save himself from a hopeless struggle. Roark rejects her fears and says that they face many years apart until she overcomes the error of her thinking.
Francon finds Wynand and accepts his previous marriage proposal. Wynand agrees regardless of her true feelings or motives. Wynand discovers Roark as an architect and hires him to build Francon a secluded country home. Wynand and Roark become friends which drives Francon to jealousy over Roark.
Keating resurfaces. He has been employed to create an enormous housing project. It is beyond his skill, so he requests Roark's help. On one condition, Roark says, that if Keating promises to build it exactly as designed, Roark will design the project while permitting Keating to take all the credit.
With prodding from the envious Toohey, the firm backing the project decides to alter the design presented by Keating. They erect a housing development that departs from Roark's design in crucial ways. Roark decides, with Francon's secret help, to rig explosives to the project and destroy it. Roark is arrested at the building site. In order to demonstrate Roark's guilt, Toohey breaks down Keating into privately confessing that Roark designed the project.
Roark goes on trial. He is painted as a public enemy by every newspaper apart from The Banner, where, breaking with previous policy, Wynand campaigns publicly on Roark's behalf. But under Wynand's nose, Toohey has permeated The Banner with men loyal to him. Toohey has them quit and uses his clout to keep others out. He leads a campaign against The Banner's new policy that all but kills the paper.
Operating the fading Banner with help only from Francon and a few loyal men, Wynand is exhausted by the struggle. Faced with losing the enterprise, he saves The Banner by bringing back Toohey's gang to join the rest of the public in condemning Roark.
Calling no witnesses, Roark addresses the court on his own behalf. He makes a long and eloquent speech defending his right to offer his own work on his own terms. He is found innocent of the charges against him.
A guilt-stricken Wynand summons the architect to his office. He presents him with a contract to design the Wynand Building, to be the greatest structure of all, with complete freedom to build it however Roark sees fit. Wynand maintains an impenetrably formal demeanor with his one-time friend. As soon as Roark leaves the room, Wynand commits suicide.
In the final scene, Francon enters the construction site of the Wynand Building, and identifies herself as Mrs. Roark. She rides the elevator towards Roark, awaiting her atop his magnificent new building.
The Gambler (2014)
Color
College professor is also compulsive gambler who's deeply in debt to a loan shark
The Gambler
Jim Bennett (Mark Wahlberg) is a literature professor with a severe gambling addiction caused by his view of the world as either having it all or having nothing. He ends up owing $240,000 to Lee (Alvin Ing), the proprietor of an underground gambling ring, and another $50,000 to Neville Baraka (Michael K. Williams), a loan shark. Lee gives Bennett seven days to pay off his debts or be murdered. During one of his classes, he identifies student Amy Phillips (Brie Larson) as a potential writing prodigy, points out Dexter (Emory Cohen) as a genius tennis star, and confronts Lamar Allen (Anthony Kelley), a student who does not pay attention in class and intends to become an NBA basketball player. Bennett considers borrowing money from Frank (John Goodman), another loan shark, to consolidate his debts and buy himself some time, but refuses to do so after Frank demands he admit that he is not a man. Bennett convinces his mother Roberta (Jessica Lange) to give him enough money to pay off his debts, but during a night out with Amy he gambles it all away. Baraka kidnaps and confronts Bennett, forcing him into an ultimatum--if he does not convince Lamar to win one of his college basketball games by a margin of 7 points or less, he will murder Amy. Bennett goes to Frank, who advises him to adopt a "fuck you" attitude towards life by getting enough money to be completely free, and lends him $260,000 to pay his debt to Lee. Bennett convinces Lee to stake him $150,000, as the only way he can pay his full $410,000 debt to Lee and also pay back the money he borrowed from Frank is to gamble and win. He uses the money from Lee to bribe Lamar into keeping the point spread to under 8 in the basketball game. Bennett sends Dexter to Vegas to bet on the game with the $260,000 he got from Frank. Lamar succeeds in the scheme, and Bennett uses his winnings to pay his debt to Baraka, denying he knows anything about the large bet made in Vegas. He then convinces Lee and Frank to meet him in a neutral gambling den and wagers enough money to pay both Lee and Frank off--if he wins--on a roulette spin. Successful, he walks out, stating he was playing for Frank and Lee. The payment to Frank is more than he owed, but he refuses to take the "cream" when Frank offers to give back the overpayment. Bennett runs through the city to Amy's apartment, a broke but free man.
The Gentlemen (2020)
Color
Chaos is unleashed when American expat decides to sell out his London marijuana business
The Gentlemen
"Big Dave, editor of the Daily Print tabloid, is snubbed by cannabis baron Mickey Pearson at a party and hires private investigator Fletcher to investigate Pearson's links to Lord Charles Pressfield. Pressfield, a Duke, has a heroin-addicted daughter. Fletcher offers to sell his findings (typed up as a screenplay entitled Bush) to Pearson's right-hand man, Raymond, for ?20 million.
Born in poverty in the US, Pearson won a Rhodes Scholarship to Oxford University, where he began selling marijuana to fellow students before dropping out and building his criminal empire by violence. He now plans to sell his business to American billionaire Matthew Berger for ?400m so he can retire peacefully with his wife, Rosalind. Pearson shows Berger one of the labs where he grows his cannabis under the estates of aristocratic landlords, who need cash for the upkeep of their stately homes. Pearson is later approached by Dry Eye, an underboss for Chinese gangster Lord George. Dry Eye offers to buy out Pearson's business, but he refuses. Pearson's lab is then raided by amateur MMA fighters and aspiring YouTubers "The Toddlers" who overpower the lab's guards, steal a van-load of marijuana and upload a rap video of their caper online. The fighters' trainer, known only as Coach, orders them to delete the video and is horrified when he discovers that the cannabis belongs to Pearson.
Pearson begins transferring his cannabis plants out of the estates. He also agrees to bring home Pressfield's wayward daughter Laura. Raymond retrieves Laura from a council estate where she is living with several other addicts. However, in a brawl with her flatmates one of Raymond's men accidentally pushes Aslan, a young Russian man, out of the window to his death. Although Laura was then returned to her parents, she later dies of a heroin overdose.
Coach visits Raymond, apologises for his students' actions, and offers his services as penance. Coach has captured Phuc, a henchman of Dry Eye's who had informed Coach's crew about the lab location, although Phuc gets fatally run over by a train in a botched escape attempt. Pearson threatens Lord George for going after his lab, and destroys one of his heroin labs in retaliation. George chastises Dry Eye for his insubordination in attacking Pearson and offering to buy him out; George nods to a henchman to execute Dry Eye, but the man executes George instead.
Unknown to Pearson, Dry Eye is in league with Berger, who had wanted Pearson's business disrupted to reduce the price. Dry Eye has taken Lord George's place and still hopes to take Pearson's empire for himself. Dry Eye tries to kidnap Rosalind, who kills Dry Eye's men before she runs out of bullets in her two-shot derringer. Raymond kills an assassin sent to kill Pearson; the two rush to Rosalind and Pearson fatally shoots Dry Eye as he is about to rape her. Fletcher ends his story and Raymond orders him to leave his house.
Fletcher has merely confirmed Pearson's suspicions about the link between Dry Eye and Berger. Raymond orders The Toddlers to capture Big Dave. They drug him and film him having sex with a pig, threatening to post it online unless he drops his investigation. Pearson and Berger meet up again in a frozen fish plant, actually a cover for Pearson's European distribution operation. Berger drops his offer to ?130 million, on account of the recent disruptions it has experienced, but Pearson reveals his knowledge of Berger's plan, shows him Dry Eye's frozen body and tells him he is keeping his business. Pearson forces Berger inside a refrigerator, where he will freeze to death unless he transfers ?270 million compensation for the blood he now has on his hands and the cost of restoring order. Pearson reveals he is not "emotional about the money" but because Rosalind was assaulted and seconds from rape, he demands "a pound of flesh" from Berger's own body, anywhere Berger chooses, as compensation for this indiscretion.
Fletcher approaches Raymond again for his payment, but Raymond reveals that he was tailing Fletcher all along. The fighters have stolen his stashes of evidence after Raymond placed a tracker on him during their last encounter. Fletcher reveals that he has also sold info to Aslan's father, a Russian oligarch and former KGB agent. The assassin whom Raymond killed earlier was one of the Russians. Coach kills two Russian hitmen sent to kill Raymond, while Fletcher escapes in the chaos. Pearson is kidnapped by two other Russians, but they are ambushed by Coach's students who want to "solve Coach's problem". They assault the car with bullets, killing the Russians and allowing Pearson to escape. Later, Fletcher decides to pitch the story as a film to Miramax. After his meeting, he gets into a cab only to realise that Raymond is the driver. Upon learning of Fletcher's capture, Pearson and Rosalind return to their cannabis empire and celebrate in each other's company.
The Ghost Writer (2010)
Color
Ghostwriter helping Prime Minister with his memoirs uncovers secrets and corruption
The Ghost Writer
"An unnamed British ghostwriter (Ewan McGregor) is recruited to complete the memoirs of former Prime Minister Adam Lang (Pierce Brosnan). His predecessor on the project and Lang's long-term aide, Mike McAra, died in an apparent accident. The writer travels to the fictional Massachusetts village of Old Haven on Martha's Vineyard, where Lang is staying with his wife, Ruth (Olivia Williams), and a staff of servants and security personnel. The writer is checked into a small hotel. Lang's personal assistant (and mistress), Amelia Bly (Kim Cattrall), forbids him to take McAra's manuscript outside, emphasizing that it is a security risk.
Shortly after the writer's arrival, Lang is accused by former Foreign Secretary Richard Rycart (Robert Pugh) of authorising the illegal seizure of suspected terrorists and handing them over for torture by the CIA, a possible war crime. Lang faces prosecution by the International Criminal Court unless he stays in the U.S. or any other country that does not recognise the court's jurisdiction. As reporters and protesters swarm the island, the writer is moved into McAra's old room at Lang's house, where personal belongings have not been cleared out yet. Lang then travels to Washington, D.C.. While clearing the room, the writer finds an envelope containing clues that suggest McAra may have stumbled upon a dark secret. Among the material is a handwritten phone number he discovers is belonging to Richard Rycart.
During a bicycle ride around the island, the writer encounters an old man (Eli Wallach) who tells him that the current couldn't have taken McAra's body from the ferry where he disappeared to the beach where it was discovered. He also reveals that a neighbour saw flashlights on the beach the night the body was discovered, but later fell off a ladder and went into a coma. The writer is later intercepted by Ruth and her security guard, who take him back to the estate. There, Ruth admits that Lang has never been very political, and until recently had always taken her advice. When the writer tells her the old man's story, she suddenly rushes out into the rainy night to "clear her head." Upon returning, she confides in the writer that Lang and McAra had argued the night before he died. She and the writer end up sleeping together.
The next morning, the writer decides he is getting too intimate with his subject and moves back to the hotel. After finding some photos of Lang's college days, the writer follows pre-programmed directions on the sat-nav of McAra's car that lead him to Belmont, at the estate of Professor Paul Emmett (Tom Wilkinson). Emmett denies anything more than a cursory acquaintance with Lang, despite the writer showing him two photographs of the pair, as well as another one on the wall of his study. When the writer tells Emmett that the sat-nav proves McAra visited him on the night he died, Emmett denies any knowledge and becomes evasive. The writer leaves Emmett's estate, and is forced to elude pursuit by a car. The writer boards the ferry, but when he sees the car that had followed him drive aboard, with two men looking for him, he flees the boat at the last moment and checks into a small motel by the ferry dock.
Not knowing whom to turn to, the writer dials the handwritten phone number of Rycart asking for help. While waiting for Rycart to pick him up at the motel, the writer does research on Emmett and links his think tank to a military contractor. He also finds leads that connect Emmett to the CIA. When Rycart arrives, he reveals that McAra gave him documents linking Lang to torture flights, and that claimed he had found something new which he wrote about in the "beginning" of the manuscript. The men cannot, however, find anything in the early pages. The writer and Rycart further discuss Emmett's relationship with Lang, with Rycart recounting how Lang's decisions uniformly benefited U.S. interests when he was Prime Minister. When the writer is summoned to accompany Lang on the return flight, he confronts Lang and accuses him of being a CIA agent recruited by Emmett. Lang derides his suggestions.
Upon alighting the aircraft, Lang is assassinated by a British anti-war protestor, who is in turn shot by Lang's bodyguards. Despite Lang's death, the writer is asked to complete the book for posthumous publication, as in light of the assassination, it will be a bestseller. During the book's launch party in London, Amelia unwittingly tells the writer that the Americans tightened access to the book, as the "beginnings" contained evidence that threatened national security. She also tells him that Emmett was Ruth's tutor when she was a Fulbright scholar in Harvard. The writer realises that the clues were hidden in the original manuscript at the beginning of each chapter, and discovers the message, "Lang's wife Ruth was recruited as a CIA agent by Professor Paul Emmett of Harvard University." Ruth shaped Lang's every political decision to benefit the U.S., under direction from the CIA.
The writer passes a note to Ruth telling of his discovery. She unfolds the note, and is devastated. When she sees the writer raising a glass, she is kept from following him by Emmett and other assistants. As the writer leaves the party he attempts to take a taxi, without success, and as he crosses the street off-camera, a car accelerates in his direction, and sound effects and flying papers indicate that he has been hit.
The Ghost and the Darkness (1996)
Color
African railroad construction efforts are impeded by a series of lion attacks
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, an Anglo-Irish 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 foreman 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 foreman, 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 on the left arm. 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 that he will ruin his reputation if the bridge is not finished on time and that he will contact the famous hunter Charles Remington (Michael Douglas) 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 seemingly fall for the trap, Remington and Patterson shoot at them, but they flee and attack the new hospital, killing many patients and Hawthorne.
Abdullah and the construction workers leave, leaving Patterson, Remington, and Samuel behind. The former two locate the animals' lair and discover the bones of dozens of victims, leading Remington to the realization that the lions are killing many of them merely for sport. That night, Remington kills one of the pair by using Patterson and a baboon as bait. He, Patterson, and Samuel spend the evening drinking and celebrating, but the next morning, Patterson awakes to find that the remaining lion has slaughtered Remington as he and Samuel slept.
After the two men cremate Remington, they burn the tall grass surrounding the camp, driving the surviving lion toward the camp and the ambush that they set there. The lion attacks them on the partially constructed bridge, and after a lengthy chase, Patterson finally kills it. Abdullah and the workers return, and the bridge is completed on time. Patterson reunites with his wife and meets his son for the first time.
The Giver (2014)
Color
In a future society, pain, war and disease are unknown, but only the 'Giver' knows the truth
The Giver
"Following a calamity referred to as The Ruin, society has been reorganized. Conflict, pain, and suffering have been mostly removed from human experience. However, emotion, love, freedom, individuality, and joy have also been removed. Babies are brought into being through genetic engineering, and sexual desire is chemically suppressed. All memories of the past are held by one person, the Receiver of Memory, to shield the rest of the community from pain. The Receiver of Memory and their protege are the only people able to see in color, which is otherwise eliminated from the community to prevent envy. The community is ruled by elders, including the Chief Elder.
Jonas is an 18-year-old boy whose best friends are Asher and Fiona. On graduation day, Jonas is told that he will become the next Receiver of Memory and will progressively receive memories of history from his predecessor, the Giver. During his training with the Giver, Jonas gradually learns the past and about joy, pain, death, and love. He stops taking his daily injections (which stop him from dreaming and thinking about Fiona who he has feelings for) and begins to experience emotion. Those who leave the community are said to have been "released to Elsewhere", but Jonas learns that to be a euphemism for euthanasia by lethal injection. Jonas also learns that the Giver's daughter, Rosemary, had preceded Jonas as Receiver of Memory. When she began her training, however, Rosemary became so distraught from the memories that she received that she asked to be "released".
Jonas learned the memories received from the Giver and accidentally shares his memories with a baby, Gabriel, who was brought home by his father. He develops a close relationship with Gabriel after he discovers that they share a birthmark, the mark of a potential Receiver of Memory, and both can see in color.
Appalled by the deception of his community and the Elders' disregard for human life, Jonas comes to believe that everyone should have memories of the past. Eventually, the Giver and Jonas decide that the only way to help the community is for Jonas to travel past the border of their land to "Elsewhere". Doing so would release memories and color back into the community. When Jonas tries to leave his neighborhood, he encounters Asher, who tries to stop Jonas but is punched by Jonas. Jonas retrieves Gabriel, who is to be "released" for having failed to meet developmental marker, at the Nurturing Center. Meanwhile, Jonas's mother and Asher go to the Chief Elder to say that Jonas is missing. Jonas steals a motorcycle and drives away with Gabriel. Asher is assigned by the Chief Elder to use a drone to find Jonas and "lose" him. When Asher finds Jonas and Gabriel in the desert, Jonas implores Asher to trust him and to let them go. Instead, Asher captures them with the drone but sets them free by dropping them into a river. When he is questioned by the Chief Elder, Asher lies and says that he has followed her orders.
Fiona is condemned to be "released" for helping Jonas. Just as she is about to be "released" by Jonas's father, the Giver tries to persuade the Chief Elder that the Elders should free the community. Unmoved by the Giver's arguments, the Chief Elder asserts that freedom is a bad idea because when they are left to their own devices, people make bad choices.
Jonas and Gabriel enter a snowy area. Jonas falls to the ground and is overcome by the cold weather. However, he sees a sled like the one that he rode in a memory that he had received from the Giver. Jonas and Gabriel ride the sled downhill and cross the border into Elsewhere, which frees their community.
That action saves Fiona's life since Jonas's father realizes what he is doing and stops short of "releasing" her. Jonas realizes that he has succeeded in his quest.
The Golden Bowl (2000)
Color
Two couples whose spouses had an affair prior to their marriages rekindle their passion
The Golden Bowl
"Dignified but impoverished aristocrat Prince Amerigo, whose illustrious Italian family occupies the decaying Palazzo Ugolini in Florence, is engaged to socialite Maggie Verver. She shares an extremely close relationship with her millionaire father Adam, a retired widowed tycoon living in England who intends to finance the construction of a museum to house his invaluable collection of art and antiquities in an American city.
Prior to their engagement, and unbeknownst to his fiancee, Amerigo had a long and passionate affair with Charlotte Stant, who attended school with Maggie. The two separated because of his lack of funds, but Charlotte is still in love with him. When she receives an invitation to the wedding, she seizes the opportunity to reunite with him.
A few days before the ceremony, Amerigo and Charlotte wander into an antique store in search of a wedding gift from her to the couple. Proprietor A.R. Jarvis shows them an ancient bowl, carved from a single piece of crystal and embroidered with gold, he asserts is flawless. Charlotte is indecisive about buying it, and Jarvis offers to set it aside until she can make up her mind.
Despite knowing Amerigo and Charlotte's history, Maggie's meddlesome Aunt Fanny suggests the young woman and Adam would be a perfect match. The two eventually wed, much to the delight of Maggie, who had been concerned about her father's loneliness. The two couples find their lives closely interlocked, although the fact Maggie and Adam spend so much time together irritates their spouses, and when they find themselves at a weekend party in the country without their mates, Charlotte and Amerigo rekindle their affair. Fanny becomes aware of the illicit romance but, wanting to protect her niece from being hurt, says nothing. As time passes, however, Maggie becomes suspicious of the amount of time her husband and stepmother spend together.
In search of an unusual gift for her father, who seemingly has everything, Maggie chances to wander into Jarvis' shop, and he shows her the bowl he had set aside for Charlotte years ago. Maggie agrees to buy it for ?300 and asks that it be delivered to her home. When Jarvis discovers a barely discernible crack in the piece, he decides to bring it to Maggie himself, reveal the defect, and offer it to her for ?150 instead. While waiting for her in the drawing room, he recognizes Amerigo and Charlotte in photographs on a table, and he innocently reveals they were the couple who originally considered purchasing the bowl, three days before the wedding, which Maggie always has believed was the first time her husband and friend met. The object suddenly becomes a symbol of adultery rather than a beautiful work of art, and Fanny intentionally drops it on the floor, hoping her niece will dispose of the pieces. But Maggie is not willing to forget what it represents, and as everyone avoids publicly discussing what each one of them privately knows, two marriages find themselves in possible jeopardy.
The Good Earth (1937)
Black & White
Chinese dirt farmers struggle to rise up against famine and the revolution
The Good Earth
"In pre-World War I northern China, a young farmer Wang Lung (Paul Muni) marries O-Lan (Luise Rainer), a lowly servant at the Great House, the residence of the most powerful family in their village. O-Lan proves to be an excellent wife, hard working and uncomplaining. Wang Lung prospers. He buys more land, and O-Lan gives birth to two sons and a daughter. Meanwhile, the Great House begins to decline.
All is well until a drought and the resulting famine drive the family to the brink. Desperate, Wang Lung considers the advice of his pessimistic, worthless uncle (Walter Connolly) to sell his land for food, but O-Lan opposes it. Instead, they travel south to a city in search of work. The family survives by begging and stealing. When a revolutionary gives a speech to try to drum up support for the army approaching despite rain in the north, Wang Lung and O-Lan realize the drought is over. They long to return to their farm, but they have no money for an ox, seed, and food.
The city changes hands, and O-Lan joins a mob looting a mansion. However, she is knocked down and trampled upon. When she comes to, she finds a bag of jewels overlooked in the confusion. This windfall allows the family to go home and prosper once more. O-Lan asks only to keep two pearls for herself.
Years pass. Wang Lung's sons grow up into educated young men, and he has grown so wealthy that he purchases the Great House. Then, Wang Lung becomes besotted with Lotus (Tilly Losch), a pretty, young dancer at the local tea house, and makes her his second wife. He begins to find fault with the worn-out O-Lan. Desperate to gain affection from Lotus, he gives O-Lan's pearls to Lotus.
When Wang Lung discovers that Lotus has seduced Younger Son (Roland Lui), he orders his son to leave. Then a swarm of locusts threatens the entire village. Using a strategy devised by Elder Son (Keye Luke), everyone unites to try to save the crops. Just when all seems lost, the wind shifts direction, taking the danger away. The near-disaster brings Wang Lung back to his senses. He reconciles with Younger Son. On the latter's wedding day, Wang Lung returns the pearls to O-Lan before she dies, exhausted by a hard life. Without disturbing the wedding festivities, Wang Lung quietly exits the house and regards a flowering peach tree planted by O-Lan on their marriage day. Reverently he murmurs, "O-Lan, you are the earth."
The Good Shepherd (2006)
Color
During the formation of the CIA, agent Wilson is forced to compromise his principles
The Good Shepherd
"A photograph and an audio recording on reel-to-reel tape are dropped off anonymously at the home of Edward Wilson (Matt Damon), a senior CIA officer, after the 1961 Bay of Pigs Invasion of Cuba fails due to an undisclosed leak. While riding to work on the bus, Edward is approached by a young boy who asks if Edward has change for a dollar. Upon arriving at work, Edward's assistant checks the serial number of the dollar against a long list of serial numbers assigned to various code names and confirms that Edward has been given a dollar from "Cardinal". The movie then flashes back to 1939.
In 1939 Edward is at Yale University and is invited to join Skull and Bones, a secret society. He is compelled to disclose a secret as part of his initiation: he reveals that as a young boy in 1925 he discovered the suicide note left by his father, Thomas (Timothy Hutton), although he says he never read it. After the ceremony, a fraternity brother tells him that Edward's father, an admiral, was to be chosen as Secretary of the Navy, until his loyalties were questioned. Afterwards Edward is recruited by an FBI agent Sam Murach (Alec Baldwin), who claims that Edward's poetry professor, Dr. Fredericks (Michael Gambon), is a Nazi spy, asking Edward to expose his professor's background as well as implying that the Professor is homosexual: Edward's actions result in Dr. Fredericks' forced resignation from the university.
Edward begins a relationship with a deaf student named Laura (Tammy Blanchard), but while on Deer Island, Edward meets and is later aggressively seduced by Margaret 'Clover' Russell (Angelina Jolie), his friend's sister. General Bill Sullivan (Robert De Niro) asks Edward to join the OSS, offering him a post in London.
Later while Edward and Laura are at the beach, Clover's brother, John, privately reveals that Clover is pregnant with Edward's child and asks him to "do what is expected." Laura, an able lip-reader, sees and walks away. Edward marries Clover. At the wedding reception Edward accepts an offer of a position in the London OSS office from General Sullivan, requiring him to be in England in one week, leaving his newlywed wife. In London he meets his former professor Dr. Fredericks, who is actually a British intelligence operative who had sought to infiltrate a Nazi organization while at Yale, causing the American authorities to suspect that he was a Nazi spy. Despite this, Fredericks recognized Edward's gifts and recommended that he be trained in counter-espionage in London.
An intelligence officer in the British SOE, Arch Cummings (Billy Crudup), tells Edward that Fredericks' indiscriminate homosexual relationships pose a security risk; Edward is asked to deal with his mentor, but Fredericks refuses the chivalrous suggestion to protect himself by returning to teaching. He says he will understand if Wilson wants to "tie his shoe" (a signal to watchers that the meeting went badly). Edward delays, prompting Fredericks to kneel down and tie Edward's shoe for him. As their meeting ends, he advises Wilson to "quit... while you still have a soul", leaves, and is brutally killed, his body being dumped into the Thames.
The time shifts to post-war Berlin, where the Allies and the Soviets, in a race for technological superiority, are trying to recruit as many German scientists as possible. Edward encounters his Soviet counterpart, codenamed "Ulysses", who praises Edward. They plan an exchange of scientists -- the Soviets asking for German Nazi and Slavic scientists, while the Americans seek Jewish scientists.
Edward is assisted by an interpreter, Hanna Schiller (Martina Gedeck), who wears what appears to be a hearing aid. After Edward learns from his son during a rare phone call home that Clover is having an affair, he accepts Hanna's invitation to dinner at her home, and sleeps with her. While they are making love, Edward realizes that Hanna can hear without the use of her hearing aid, exposing her as a Soviet operative. She is killed and Ulysses is notified by her hearing aid being planted in his teapot.
After six years in London, Edward returns home to a distant Clover, who now prefers to be called Margaret. Edward presents his son with a miniature model ship inside a glass watch-casing. Margaret explains that her brother was killed in the war; she also confesses that she previously had a brief relationship with another man. When she asks if he had any relationships, Edward replies that "it was a mistake." General Sullivan approaches Wilson again to help form a new foreign intelligence organization - the CIA - where Wilson will work with his former colleague, Richard Hayes (Lee Pace), under Phillip Allen (William Hurt). Edward accepts, hiding the details of his position from everyone but Clover/Margaret.
Edward's first assignment deals with coffee in Central America where the Russians are trying to gain influence. Edward spots Ulysses in the background of footage of the country's leader, but doesn't disclose this. Another agent is sent covertly as a representative of the Mayan Coffee Company; Edward warns him not to wear his Yale class ring. Edward arranges for airplanes to fly over and release locusts during a public event where the Russians (including Ulysses) are present in order to intimidate the Central American leader. Edward later receives a can of Mayan Coffee presumably from Ulysses, containing a severed finger, and Yale class ring, evidently of the American agent. Wilson and Clover go to a Christmas party with their son, who wets himself, out of a heightened state of fear resulting from his fragmented awareness that his father is involved in dark secrets. At the party General Sullivan reveals to Edward that Phillip Allen was going to be on the Mayan coffee company's board of directors, prompting Edward to ask Sam Murach to check on Phillip's finances.
A Russian requesting asylum and claiming to be high-ranking KGB man Valentin Mironov, who knows Ulysses, is interviewed by Edward. Edward is fully convinced of his honesty. While attending the theater with Mironov and Cummings, Edward encounters his former sweetheart, Laura. They leave the theater separately, meet at a restaurant and rekindle their old romance.
Sometime later, Margaret anonymously receives photos of Laura and Edward getting into a taxi together and kissing. A distraught Margaret confronts him. Edward ends the relationship with Laura by returning her jeweled crucifix, which he had kept from their college romance days.
Then a Russian defector appears, claiming that he is the real Valentin Mironov, and that the other man actually is Yuri Modin, a KGB operative working for Ulysses. Edward does not believe him, and agents beat and torture the man, and administer liquid LSD because of its alleged truth serum properties. Despite the combined effects of drugs and torture, the second defector insists that he is the true Mironov. He further ridicules his interrogators for their need to believe in the myth of Soviet power which he calls a "great show" and "painted rust". Realising that he will never be believed, the defector hurls himself through the window to the pavement several stories below. The first man claiming to be Valentin Mironov, who has watched the entire ordeal together with Edward, then offers to take LSD to prove his innocence, but Edward doesn't think it's necessary.
Edward visits his son, Edward Jr., at Yale, where he has also joined the Skull and Bones society and has been approached for recruitment by the CIA. Margaret pleads with Edward to persuade their son not to accept, but Edward Jr. joins anyway, believing it will bring him closer to his loving, but distant, father. This widens the rift between Edward and Margaret. Later Edward Jr. overhears Edward and Hays discuss the upcoming Bay of Pigs invasion; Wilson suspects that Edward Jr. may have overheard the conversation and warns his son to be silent. Margaret moves to her mother's home in Arizona.
The film returns to the recording dropped off at the beginning of the movie. After analysis of clues such as the ceiling fan's brand name and the church bells and other sounds heard on the tape, CIA specialists deduce that the photograph may have been taken in Leopoldville, in the Congo. Edward goes there and finds the room. He realizes that the photograph and tape are of his son Edward Jr. when he sees the model ship in the glass watch-casing on the nightstand; its blurred image was the one object in the photo that the CIA team was unable to identify. Ulysses is there and plays Edward an unedited version of the tape, revealing Edward Jr. repeating to his lover, a Soviet spy named Miriam, the classified information he overheard his father discussing. Thus the Cubans and Soviets learned of the upcoming CIA landing at the Bay of Pigs. Ulysses encourages Edward to spy for the Soviets in exchange for them protecting his son. Edward is non-committal, however; he confronts his son, who says that he is in love with the woman and plans to marry her. His son refuses to believe that she is an intelligence agent.
Edward exposes Valentin as Soviet spy Yuri Modin after finding evidence of his true identity in a book given to him by Arch Cummings, who is thus exposed as a co-conspirator. Cummings flees to the USSR. After meeting Ulysses in a museum and refusing to betray his country, Edward explains that as the Soviets have won in Cuba it is not necessary to hurt his son. Ulysses notes of Edward Jr.'s fiancee: "neither of us can be sure about her", and asks Edward, "You want her to be part of your family, don't you?" Later, Ulysses' aide asks him for change to purchase his daughter a souvenir from the gift shop. Edward asks how much it is, and hands him a one dollar bill, commenting that a cardinal rule of democracy is generosity, thus confirming that the aide is Edward's defector in place.
Edward and Margaret arrive separately in the Congo for Edward Jr.'s wedding. His fiancee Miriam travels on a small plane to the ceremony but mid-flight is thrown out of the plane. When she fails to arrive at the church, Edward informs a worried Edward Jr. that she is dead. Edward denies any responsibility when Edward Jr. asks; but is visibly affected when his son reveals that Miriam was pregnant.
Edward meets with fellow Skull and Bones classmate Hayes (loosely based on Richard Helms) at the new CIA headquarters still under construction. Hayes tells him that Allen is resigning under a cloud of financial improprieties (after receiving copies of the Swiss accounts delivered in a chocolate box), and that the President has asked him to be the new Director. The President has directed him to do some "housecleaning" and he tells Edward that he needs someone he can trust, saying, "after all, we're still brothers" and that Edward is the "CIA's heart and soul". He then tells Edward he will be the first head of counter-intelligence. Edward notes the inscription on the new marble wall of the CIA lobby: "And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free (John 8:32)".
Edward is then shown pulling from his home safe the suicide note that his father, Thomas, had left and in which his father's words, only now read by Edward, reveal that he had betrayed his country. He left loving words for his wife and son, particularly urging the latter to grow up to be a good man, husband and father and to live a life of decency and truth. Realizing he had done none of those things, Edward sadly burns the note.
The film ends with Edward leaving his old office and moving to his new wing in the CIA.
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966)
Color
A loner, hit man and Mexican bandit comb the Southwest in search stolen gold
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
"In 1862, during the American Civil War, a trio of bounty hunters attempt to kill fugitive Mexican bandit Tuco Ramirez. Tuco shoots the three bounty hunters and escapes on horseback. Elsewhere, mercenary Angel Eyes interrogates former Confederate soldier Stevens, whom Angel Eyes is contracted to kill, about Jackson, a fugitive who stole a cache of Confederate gold. Angel Eyes makes Stevens tell him the new name Jackson is using: Bill Carson. Stevens offers Angel Eyes $1,000 to kill Baker, Angel Eyes's employer. Angel Eyes accepts the new commission, but also kills Stevens as he leaves, fulfilling his contract with Baker. He then returns to Baker, collects his fee for killing Stevens, and then, shoots Baker, fulfilling his commission from Stevens. Meanwhile, Tuco is rescued from three bounty hunters by a nameless drifter whom Tuco refers to as "Blondie", who delivers him to the local sheriff to collect his $2,000 bounty. As Tuco is about to be hanged, Blondie severs Tuco's noose by shooting it, and sets him free. The two escape on horseback and split the bounty in a lucrative money-making scheme. They repeat the process in another town for more reward money. Blondie grows weary of Tuco's complaints, and abandons him without horse or water in the desert. Tuco manages to walk to a village, and then tracks Blondie to a town occupied by Confederate troops. Tuco holds Blondie at gunpoint, planning to force him to hang himself, but Union forces shell the town, allowing Blondie to escape.
Following an arduous search, Tuco recaptures Blondie and force-marches him across a desert until Blondie collapses from dehydration. As Tuco prepares to shoot him, he sees a runaway carriage. Inside are several dead Confederate soldiers and a near-death Bill Carson, who promises Tuco $200,000 in Confederate gold, buried in a grave in Sad Hill Cemetery. Tuco demands to know the name on the grave, but Carson collapses from thirst before answering. When Tuco returns with water, Carson has died and Blondie, slumped next to him, reveals that Carson recovered and told him the name on the grave before dying. Tuco, who now has strong motivation to keep Blondie alive, gives him water and takes him to a nearby frontier mission, where his brother is the Abbot, to recover.
After Blondie's recovery, the two leave in Confederate uniforms from Carson's carriage, only to be captured by Union soldiers and remanded to the prisoner of war camp of Batterville. At roll call, Tuco answers for "Bill Carson", getting the attention of Angel Eyes, now a disguised Union sergeant at the camp. Angel Eyes tortures Tuco, who reveals the name of the cemetery, but confesses that only Blondie knows the name on the grave. Realizing that Blondie will not yield to torture, Angel Eyes offers him an equal share of the gold and a partnership. Blondie agrees and rides out with Angel Eyes and his gang. Tuco is packed on a train to be executed, but escapes.
Blondie, Angel Eyes, and his henchmen arrive in an evacuated town. Tuco, having fled to the same town, takes a bath in a ramshackle hotel and is surprised by Elam, one of the three bounty hunters who tried to kill him. Tuco shoots Elam, causing Blondie to investigate the gunshots. He finds Tuco, and they agree to resume their old partnership. The pair kill Angel Eyes's men, but discover that Angel Eyes himself has escaped.
Tuco and Blondie travel toward Sad Hill, but their way is blocked by Union troops on one side of a strategic bridge, with Confederates on the other. Blondie decides to destroy the bridge to disperse the two armies to allow access to the cemetery. As they wire the bridge with explosives, Tuco suggests they share information, in case one person dies before he can help the other. Tuco reveals the name of the cemetery, while Blondie says "Arch Stanton" is the name on the grave. After the bridge explodes, the armies disperse, and Tuco steals a horse and rides to Sad Hill to claim the gold for himself. He finds Arch Stanton's grave and begins digging. Blondie arrives and encourages him at gunpoint to continue. A moment later, Angel Eyes surprises them both. Blondie opens Stanton's grave, revealing only a skeleton, no gold. Blondie states that he lied about the name on the grave, and offers to write the real name of the grave on a rock. Placing it face-down in the courtyard of the cemetery, he challenges Tuco and Angel Eyes to a three-way duel.
The trio stare each other down. Everyone draws, and Blondie shoots and kills Angel Eyes, while Tuco discovers that his own gun was unloaded by Blondie the night before. Blondie reveals that the gold is actually in the grave beside Arch Stanton's, marked "Unknown". Tuco is initially elated to find bags of gold, but Blondie holds him at gunpoint and orders him into a hangman's noose beneath a tree. Blondie binds Tuco's hands and forces him to stand balanced precariously atop an unsteady grave marker while he takes half the gold and rides away. As Tuco screams for mercy, Blondie returns into sight. Blondie severs the rope with a rifle shot, dropping Tuco, alive but tied up, onto his share of the gold. Tuco curses loudly while Blondie rides off into the horizon.
The Goodbye Girl (1977)
Color
Two roommates thrust together under tough circumstances warm up to each other
The Goodbye Girl
"Dancer Paula McFadden (Marsha Mason) and her ten-year-old daughter Lucy (Quinn Cummings) live in a Manhattan apartment with her married boyfriend, Tony DeForrest, until one day, he dumps and deserts her to go act in a movie in Italy. Before he left and unbeknownst to Paula, Tony subleased the apartment to Elliot Garfield (Richard Dreyfuss), a neurotic but sweet aspiring actor from Chicago, who shows up in the middle of the night expecting to move in. Though Paula is demanding, and makes clear from the start that she doesn't like Elliot, he allows her and Lucy to stay.
Paula struggles to get back into shape to resume her career as a dancer. Meanwhile, Elliot has landed the title role in an off-off-Broadway production of Richard III, but the director, Mark (Paul Benedict), wants him to play the character as an exaggerated stereotype of a homosexual, in Mark's words, "the queen who wanted to be king." Reluctantly, Elliot agrees to play the role, despite full knowledge that it may mean the end of his career as an actor. Many theater critics from television stations and newspapers in New York City attend opening night, and they all savage the production, especially Elliot's performance. The play quickly closes, much to his relief.
Despite their frequent clashes and Paula's ungrateful attitude to Elliot helping her, the two fall in love and sleep together. However, Lucy, although she likes Elliot, sees the affair as a repeat of what happened with Tony. Elliot convinces Paula that he will not be like that and later picks up Lucy from school and takes her on a carriage ride, during which Lucy admits that she likes Elliot, and he admits that he likes her and Paula and will not do anything to hurt them.
Elliot gets a job at an improv theater, and is soon seen by a movie producer. He is offered an opportunity for a role in a movie that he cannot turn down, the only catch is that the job is in Seattle and Elliot will be gone for four weeks. Paula is informed of this and is scared that Elliot is leaving her, never to return, like all the other men in her life. Later, Elliot calls Paula from the phone booth across the apartment, telling her that the flight was delayed, and at the last minute, Elliot invites Paula to go with him while he is filming the picture and suggests Lucy stay with a friend until they return. Paula declines but is happy because she knows that Elliot's invitation is evidence that he loves her and will come back. Before hanging up, Elliot asks Paula to have his prized guitar restrung, which he had deliberately left at the apartment, and she realizes this as further proof that he will indeed return and that he really does love her.
The Graduate (1967)
Color
Naive college grad is seduced by middle-aged Mrs. Robinson but ends up for her daughter
The Graduate
"After earning his bachelor's degree from an East Coast college, Benjamin Braddock returns to his parents' Pasadena, California home. He cringes as his parents deliver accolades during his graduation party and retreats to his bedroom until Mrs. Robinson, the wife of his father's law partner, insists that he drive her home. Once there, she tries to seduce him. He resists her advances but later invites her to the Taft Hotel, where he registers under the pseudonym "Mr. Gladstone."
Benjamin spends the summer relaxing in his parents' pool by day and meeting Mrs. Robinson at the hotel by night. During one of their trysts, Mrs. Robinson reveals that her loveless marriage resulted when she accidentally became pregnant with her daughter, Elaine. When Benjamin jokingly suggests that he date Elaine, Mrs. Robinson angrily forbids it. After his parents relentlessly pester him, Benjamin reluctantly takes Elaine on a date.
When he sees how upset Mrs. Robinson is, Benjamin attempts to sabotage his date by ignoring Elaine, driving recklessly, and taking her to a strip club. She flees the club in tears, but Benjamin, feeling remorseful, runs out after her, apologizes, and kisses her. They eat at a drive-in restaurant, where they bond over their shared uncertainty about their future plans. After they visit the Taft Hotel for a late-night drink and the staff greet Benjamin as "Mr. Gladstone," Elaine deduces that Benjamin is having an affair with a married woman. Benjamin swears that the affair is over and makes plans for another date with Elaine for the following day.
To prevent Benjamin from dating Elaine, Mrs. Robinson threatens to tell Elaine about their affair. To thwart this, Benjamin reveals to Elaine that the married woman is her mother. Elaine is so upset that she refuses to see Benjamin again and returns to school at Berkeley.
Benjamin follows her to Berkeley hoping to regain her affections. Elaine is aghast because her mother told her that Benjamin raped her when she was drunk. After Benjamin explains what really happened and apologizes, Elaine forgives him and they rekindle their relationship. He asks her to marry him, but she is uncertain despite her feelings for him. Later, an angry Mr. Robinson arrives to Berkeley and confronts Benjamin in his boarding room, where he informs him that he and his wife will be divorcing soon and threatens to have Benjamin jailed if he continues to see Elaine. He then forces Elaine to leave college to marry Carl Smith, a classmate whom she briefly dated.
Benjamin drives back to Pasadena and breaks into the Robinson home in search of Elaine. Instead, he finds Mrs. Robinson who calls the police and claims that her house is being burglarized. She then tells Benjamin that he cannot prevent Elaine's marriage to Carl. Before the police can arrest him, Benjamin flees the Robinson home and drives back to Berkeley. There, he visits Carl's fraternity and discovers from one of Carl's fraternity brothers that the wedding will take place in Santa Barbara that day. He rushes to the church and arrives just as the ceremony ends. Overlooking the sanctuary, he bangs on the glass separating him from the wedding and shouts Elaine's name. After surveying the angry faces of Carl and her parents, Elaine shouts "Ben!" and flees the sanctuary. Benjamin fights off Mr. Robinson and repels the wedding guests by swinging a large wooden cross, which he uses to barricade the church doors, trapping them inside.
The Grapes of Wrath (1940)
Black & White
Life during the great depression
The Grapes of Wrath
"The film opens with Tom Joad (Henry Fonda), released from prison and hitchhiking his way back to his parents' family farm in Oklahoma. Tom finds an itinerant ex-preacher named Jim Casy (John Carradine) sitting under a tree by the side of the road. Casy was the preacher who baptized Tom, but now Casy has "lost the spirit" and his faith (presaging his imminent conversion to communism). Casy goes with Tom to the Joad property only to find it deserted. There, they meet Muley (John Qualen) who is hiding out. In a flashback, he describes how farmers all over the area were forced from their farms by the deed holders of the land. A local boy (Irving Bacon), hired for the purpose, is shown knocking down Muley's house with a Caterpillar tractor. Following this, Tom and Casy move on to find the Joad family at Tom's Uncle John's place. His family is happy to see Tom and explain they have made plans to head for California in search of employment, as their farm has been foreclosed on, by the bank. The large Joad family of twelve leaves at daybreak, along with Casy who decides to acccompany them. They pack everything into a dilapidated 1926 Hudson "Super Six" sedan adapted to serve as a truck in order to make the long journey to the promised land of California.
The trip along Highway 66 is arduous, and it soon takes a toll on the Joad family. The elderly Grandpa (Charley Grapewin) dies along the way. After he dies, they pull over to the shoulder of the road, unload him, and bury him. Tom writes the circumstances surrounding the death on a page from the Family Bible and places it on the body so that if his remains were found, his death would not be investigated as a possible homicide. They park in a camp and meet a man, a migrant returning from California, who laughs at Pa's optimism about conditions in California. He speaks bitterly about his experiences in the West.
The family arrives at the first transient migrant campground for workers and finds the camp is crowded with other starving, jobless and desperate travelers. Their truck slowly makes its way through the dirt road between the shanty houses and around the camp's hungry-faced inhabitants. Tom says, "Sure don't look none too prosperous."
After some trouble with a so-called "agitator," the Joads leave the camp in a hurry. The Joads make their way to another migrant camp, the Keene Ranch. After doing some work in the fields, they discover the high food prices in the company store for meat and other products. The store is the only one in the area, by a long shot. Later they find a group of migrant workers are striking, and Tom wants to find out all about it. He goes to a secret meeting in the dark woods. When the meeting is discovered, Casy is killed by one of the camp guards. As Tom tries to defend Casy from the attack, he inadvertently kills the guard.
Tom suffers a serious wound on his cheek, and the camp guards realize it won't be difficult to identify him. That evening the family hides Tom under the mattresses of the truck just as guards arrive to question them; they are searching for the man who killed the guard. Tom avoids being spotted and the family leaves the Keene Ranch without further incident. After driving for a while, they have to stop at the top of a hill when the engine overheats due to a broken fan belt; they have little gas, but decide to try coasting down the hill to some lights. The lights are from a third type of camp: Farmworkers' Wheat Patch Camp (Weedpatch in the book), a clean camp run by the Department of Agriculture, complete with indoor toilets and showers, which the Joad children had never seen before.
Tom is moved to work for change by what he has witnessed in the various camps. He tells his family that he plans to carry on Casy's mission in the world by fighting for social reform. He leaves to seek a new world and to join the movement committed to social justice.
Tom Joad says: I'll be all around in the dark. I'll be everywhere. Wherever you can look, wherever there's a fight, so hungry people can eat, I'll be there. Wherever there's a cop beatin' up a guy, I'll be there. I'll be in the way guys yell when they're mad. I'll be in the way kids laugh when they're hungry and they know supper's ready, and when the people are eatin' the stuff they raise and livin' in the houses they build, I'll be there, too.
As the family moves on again, they discuss the fear and difficulties they have had. Ma Joad concludes the film, saying:
I ain't never gonna be scared no more. I was, though. For a while it looked as though we was beat. Good and beat. Looked like we didn't have nobody in the whole wide world but enemies. Like nobody was friendly no more. Made me feel kinda bad and scared too, like we was lost and nobody cared.... Rich fellas come up and they die, and their kids ain't no good and they die out, but we keep on coming. We're the people that live. They can't wipe us out, they can't lick us. We'll go on forever, Pa, cos we're the people.
The Great Debaters (2007)
Color
In 1935, black professor encourages his students to form the school's first debate team
The Great Debaters
"Based on a true story, the plot revolves around the efforts of debate coach Melvin B. Tolson (Denzel Washington) at Wiley College, a historically black college related to the Methodist Episcopal Church, South (now The United Methodist Church), to place his team on equal footing with whites in the American South during the 1930s, when Jim Crow laws were common and lynch mobs were a fear for blacks. The Wiley team eventually succeeds to the point where they are able to debate Harvard University. (In 1935, the Wiley College debate team defeated the reigning national debate champion, the University of Southern California, depicted as Harvard University in The Great Debaters).
The movie explores social constructs in Texas during the Great Depression, from day-to-day insults African Americans endured to lynching. Also depicted is James L. Farmer, Jr. (Denzel Whitaker), who, at 14 years old, was on Wiley's debate team after completing high school (and who later went on to co-found the Congress of Racial Equality). Another character on the team, Samantha Booke, is based on the real individual Henrietta Bell Wells, acclaimed poet and the only female member of the 1930 Wiley team who participated in the first collegiate interracial debate in the US.[4]
The key line of dialogue, used several times, is a famous paraphrase of theologian St. Augustine of Hippo: "An unjust law is no law at all", which would later be the central thesis of Letter from a Birmingham Jail, by Martin Luther King, Jr. Another major line, repeated in slightly different versions according to context, concerns doing what you "have to do" in order that we "can do" what we "want to do." In all instances, these vital lines are spoken by the James L. Farmer Sr. and James L. Farmer, Jr. characters.
The Great Escape (1963)
Color
Allied officers' bold plan to stage a breakout from an ostensibly escape-proof prison camp
The Great Escape
"In 1943, having expended enormous resources on recapturing escaped Allied prisoners of war (POWs), the Germans move the most determined to a new, high-security prisoner of war camp. The commandant, Luftwaffe Colonel von Luger (Hannes Messemer), tells the senior British officer, Group Captain Ramsey (James Donald), "There will be no escapes from this camp." Von Luger points out the various features of the new camp designed to prevent escape, as well as the advantages that the prisoners will receive as an incentive not to try. After several failed escape attempts on the first day, the POWs settle into life at the prison camp.
Meanwhile, Gestapo and SD agents bring RAF Squadron Leader Roger Bartlett (Richard Attenborough) to the camp. Known as "Big X", Bartlett is introduced as the principal organiser of escapes. As Kuhn (Hans Reiser) leaves, he warns Bartlett that if he escapes again, he will be shot. However, locked up with "every escape artist in Germany", Bartlett immediately plans the greatest escape attempted, with tunnels for breaking out 250 prisoners, to the point that as many troops and resources as possible will be wasted on finding POWs instead of being used on the front line.
Teams are organised to support the effort. Flight Lieutenant Robert Hendley (James Garner), an American in the RAF, is "the scrounger" who finds needed materials, from a camera to clothes and identity cards. Australian Flying Officer Louis Sedgwick (James Coburn), "the manufacturer," makes necessary tools like picks for digging and bellows for pumping air into the tunnels. Flight Lieutenants Danny Valinski (Charles Bronson) and William "Willie" Dickes (John Leyton) are "the tunnel kings" in charge of digging the tunnels. Flight Lieutenant Andrew MacDonald (Gordon Jackson) acts as intelligence provider and Bartlett's second-in-command. Lieutenant Commander Eric Ashley-Pitt (David McCallum) of the Royal Navy devises a method of spreading soil from the tunnels over the camp, under the guards' noses. Flight Lieutenant Griffith (Robert Desmond) acts as "the tailor", creating civilian outfits from scavenged cloth. Forgery is handled by Flight Lieutenant Colin Blythe (Donald Pleasence), who becomes nearly blind due to progressive myopia caused by intricate work by candlelight; Hendley takes it upon himself to be Blythe's guide in the escape. The prisoners work on three tunnels simultaneously, calling them "Tom", "Dick", and "Harry".
USAAF Captain Virgil Hilts (Steve McQueen), the "Cooler King", irritates guards with frequent escape attempts and general irreverence. Hilts and RAF Flying Officer Archibald Ives (Angus Lennie) conceive an escape attempt through a short tunnel at a blind spot right near the edge of the camp, a proposal which is accepted by Bartlett on the grounds that vetoing every independent escape attempt would raise suspicion of the collective escape attempt being planned. However, Hilts and Ives are caught and returned to the 'cooler'. Upon release from the cooler, Bartlett requests that Hilts use his next escape attempt as an opportunity for surveillance for the other prisoners; Hilts turns down Bartlett's request but assists the prisoners as a scrounger. Meanwhile, Hendley forms a friendship with German guard Werner, which he exploits on several occasions to smuggle documents and other items of importance to the prisoners. Soon, Bartlett orders "Dick" and "Harry" to be shut down, as "Tom" is closest to completion.
While the POWs enjoy a 4th of July celebration arranged by the three Americans, the guards discover "Tom". The mood drops to despair and Ives, hit hardest, walks in a daze to the barbed wire that surrounds the camp and climbs it in view of guards; Hilts runs to stop him but is too late, and Ives is shot dead near the top of the fence. The prisoners switch their efforts to "Harry", and Hilts agrees to reconnoitre outside the camp and allows himself to be recaptured. The information he brings back is used to create maps showing the nearest town and railway station.
The last part of the tunnel is completed on the scheduled night for the escape, but it proves to somehow be twenty feet short of the woods. Knowing that there are no other options, Bartlett orders the escape to continue, and Hilts improvises a signal system to allow the prisoners to move between patrol sweeps. The claustrophobic Danny, having spent much of his time in the tunnel and barely surviving multiple cave-ins, nearly refuses to go, but is helped along by Willie. 76 prisoners manage to escape: however, an impatient Griffith is discovered while exiting the tunnel and the completion of the escape effort is thwarted.
After attempts to reach neutral Switzerland, Sweden, and Spain, almost all the POWs are recaptured or killed. Hendley and Blythe steal an aircraft to fly over the Swiss border, but the engine fails and they crash-land. Soldiers arrive and Blythe, his eyesight damaged, stands and is shot. Hendley surrenders and is captured as Blythe dies.
When Bartlett is identified in a crowded railway station by Gestapo agent Kuhn, Ashley-Pitt overpowers and shoots him with his own gun, but is killed by soldiers while attempting to escape. The resulting confusion allows Bartlett and MacDonald to slip away, but they are later caught while boarding a bus after MacDonald blunders by replying to a suspicious Gestapo agent who wishes them "Good luck" in English. Hilts steals a motorcycle and is pursued by German soldiers, jumps a first-line barbed wire fence at the German-Swiss border and drives on to the Neutral Zone, but becomes entangled in the second line of the barbed fence and is captured.
Three truckloads of recaptured POWs go down a country road and split off in three directions. One truck, containing Bartlett, MacDonald, Cavendish, Haynes, and others, stops in a field and the POWs are told to get out and "stretch their legs". They are shot dead under the pretense that they were trying to escape. In all, 50 escapees are murdered. Hendley and nine others are returned to the camp. Von Luger is relieved of command of the prison camp by the SS for failing to prevent the breakout.
Only three make it to safety: Danny and Willie steal a rowboat and proceed downriver to the Baltic coast, where they sneak aboard a Swedish merchant ship, while Sedgwick slips through the countryside on a stolen bicycle before hiding aboard a freight train to France, where he is guided by the Resistance to Spain. Hilts is returned into the camp alone in handcuffs and taken back to the cooler -- ironically just as Von Luger is relieved of his command and taken out of the camp. Lieutenant Goff (Jud Taylor), one of the Americans, fetches Hilts's baseball and glove and throws them to him when Hilts and his guards pass by. The guard locks him in his cell and walks away, but momentarily pauses when he hears the familiar sound of Hilts bouncing his baseball against a cell wall. The film ends with the caption "This picture is dedicated to the fifty."
The Great Gatsby (1974)
Color
Millionaire Gatsby is obsessed with Daisy, who is married to an unfaithful husband
The Great Gatsby
"Writer Nick Carraway pilots his boat across the harbor to his cousin Daisy and her husband Tom's mansion in East Egg. While there, he learns Tom and Daisy's marriage is troubled and Tom is having an affair with a woman in New York. Nick lives in a small cottage in West Egg, next to a mysterious tycoon named Gatsby, who regularly throws extravagant parties at his home.
Tom takes Nick to meet his mistress, Myrtle, who is married to George Wilson, an automotive mechanic. George needs to purchase a vehicle from Tom, but Tom is only there to draw Myrtle to his city apartment. Back on Long Island, Daisy wants to set Nick up with her friend, Jordan, a pro golfer. When Nick and Jordan attend a party at Gatsby's home, Nick is invited for a private meeting with Gatsby, who asks him to lunch the following day.
At lunch, Nick meets Gatsby's business partner, a Jewish gangster and a gambler named Meyer Wolfsheim who rigged the 1919 World Series. The following day, Jordan appears at Nick's work and requests he invite Daisy to his house so that Gatsby can meet with her. Gatsby surprises Daisy at lunch, and it is revealed that Gatsby and Daisy were once lovers, though she would not marry him because he was poor.
Daisy and Gatsby have an affair, which soon becomes obvious. While Tom and Daisy entertain Gatsby, Jordan, and Nick at their home, Daisy proposes they go into the city. At the Plaza Hotel, Gatsby and Daisy reveal their affair and Gatsby wants Daisy to admit she never loved Tom. She is unable to and drives off in Gatsby's car. During the drive home, Daisy hits Myrtle when Myrtle runs into the street. Believing that it was Gatsby who killed Myrtle, her husband, George, later goes to Gatsby's mansion and fatally shoots him as he relaxes in the swimming pool. After, Daisy and Tom continue with their lives as though nothing occurred.
The Great Gatsby (2000)
Color
Millionaire Gatsby is obsessed with Daisy, who is married to an unfaithful husband
The Great Gatsby
Nick Carraway (Paul Rudd) is a young bond salesman who rents a cottage near the mansion of the wealthy and reclusive Jay Gatsby (Toby Stephens). Nick gets to know his neighbor, Gatsby, who was a poor man named Gatz before he left to fight in World War I. Gatsby was in love with a beautiful woman from a wealthy family, Daisy (Mira Sorvino). When he returned, Gatz was determined prove himself worthy to win her hand, even though Daisy had by this time married the socially prominent Tom Buchanan (Martin Donovan). Gatsby has yet to give up on his romantic dream and enlists Nick, who is distantly related to Daisy, in his plan.
The Great Gatsby (2013)
Color
Millionaire Gatsby is obsessed with Daisy, who is married to an unfaithful husband
The Great Gatsby
"In December 1929, Nick Carraway, a World War I veteran, is undergoing treatment at a psychiatric hospital. He tells his doctor about Jay Gatsby, the most hopeful man he ever met. The doctor suggests he write down his thoughts since writing is Nick's passion. Nick begins cataloging the events to his doctor.
Seven years earlier, in the summer of 1922, Nick moved from the Midwest to New York after abandoning writing. He rents a small groundskeeper's cottage in the North Shore village of West Egg, next to the mansion of Gatsby, a mysterious business magnate who often hosts extravagant parties. Nick has dinner with his beautiful but oppressed cousin Daisy Buchanan and her athletic, domineering husband, Tom. Daisy plays matchmaker between Nick and another guest, Jordan Baker, a famous golfer whom Nick finds attractive. When Nick returns home, he sees Gatsby standing by the harbor, reaching toward a green light coming from the Buchanan dock.
Jordan tells Nick that Tom has a mistress who lives in the "Valley of Ashes", an industrial dumping site between West Egg and the City. Tom takes Nick there, stopping at a garage owned by Tom's mistress, Myrtle Wilson, and her husband George.
Nick receives an invitation to one of Gatsby's parties. Upon arrival, Nick learns he is the only who received an invitation and none of the guests have ever met Gatsby. Nick encounters Jordan, and both meet Gatsby. Gatsby later takes Nick to Manhattan for lunch. On the way, Gatsby tells Nick he is an Oxford graduate and war hero from a wealthy Midwestern family. They go to a speakeasy, where Gatsby introduces Nick to his business partner, Meyer Wolfsheim.
Jordan tells Nick how US Army Captain Gatsby started a relationship with Daisy in 1917, just before the US entered the war, and is still in love with her; he throws parties hoping that Daisy might attend. Gatsby asks Nick to invite Daisy to tea. After an awkward reunion, Gatsby and Daisy begin an affair. Gatsby is dismayed when Daisy wants to run away with him, preferring that she get a proper divorce. He asks Nick and Jordan to accompany him to the Buchanan home, where he and Daisy plan to tell Tom that Daisy is leaving him. During the luncheon, Tom becomes suspicious of Gatsby and Daisy, but Daisy stops Gatsby from revealing anything to Tom and suggests they all go to the Plaza Hotel. Tom drives Nick and Jordan in Gatsby's car while Gatsby drives Daisy in Tom's car. Tom stops for gas at George's garage, where George tells him that he and Myrtle are moving and that he suspects Myrtle is unfaithful.
At the Plaza, Gatsby tells Tom of his affair with Daisy. Tom accuses Gatsby of having never attended Oxford and having made his fortune through bootlegging with mobsters. Daisy says she loves Gatsby but cannot bring herself to say she never loved Tom. Eventually, both Gatsby and Daisy leave. After fighting with George over her infidelity, Myrtle runs into the street and is fatally struck by Gatsby's car after mistaking it for Tom's. After learning about Myrtle's death, Tom tells George that the car belongs to Gatsby and that he suspects Gatsby was Myrtle's lover. Nick deduces Daisy was driving when the accident happened. Nick overhears Daisy accepting Tom's promise to take care of everything, but he does not tell Gatsby. Gatsby admits to Nick that he was born penniless; his real name is James Gatz, and he had asked Daisy to wait for him until he had made something of himself after the war; instead, she married Tom, “America's Wealthiest Bachelor”, just seven months after the war ended. He did, however attend Oxford, albeit for a brief 5 months on a special program for officers after the Armstice.
The next day, Gatsby hears the phone ringing and thinks it is Daisy. Before he can answer it, he is shot and killed by a vengeful George, who then commits suicide. Nick is the only person other than reporters, to attend Gatsby's funeral, as Daisy and Tom are leaving New York. The media paints Gatsby as Myrtle's lover and killer. This false, negative image of Gatsby's life and death infuriates Nick and from the top of the stairs at Gatsby's mansion he yells at the reporters and kicks them out of the house. Disgusted with both the city and its inhabitants, Nick leaves after taking a final walk through Gatsby's deserted mansion and reflecting on Gatsby's ability to hope. In the sanatorium, Nick finishes typing his memoir and titles it The Great Gatsby.
The Great Ziegfeld (1936)
Black & White
Ziegfeld's rise from a humble carnie to a renown stage producer
The Great Ziegfeld
"The son of a highly respected music professor, Florenz "Flo" Ziegfeld, Jr. yearns to make his mark in show business. He begins by promoting Eugen Sandow, the "world's strongest man", at the 1893 Chicago World's Fair, overcoming the competition of rival Billings and his popular attraction, belly dancer Little Egypt, with savvy marketing (allowing women to feel Sandow's muscles).
Ziegfeld returns to his father and young Mary Lou at the Chicago Musical College, and departs to San Francisco, where he and Sandow are deemed frauds for putting on a show in which Sandow faces a lion who falls asleep as soon as it is let out of the cage. Flo travels to England on an ocean liner, where he runs into Billings again who is laughing at a newspaper article denouncing him as a fraud.
Flo discovers that Billings is on his way to sign a contract with beautiful French star, Anna Held. Despite losing all his money gambling at Monte Carlo, Flo charms Anna into signing with him instead, pretending that he doesn't know Billings. Anna twice almost sends him away for his rudeness and for being broke, before revealing that she appreciates his honesty. Ziegfeld promises to give her "more publicity than she ever dreams of" and to feature her alongside America's most prominent theatrical performers.
At first, Anna's performance at the Herald Square Theatre is not a success. However, Flo manages to generate publicity by sending 20 gallons of milk to Anna every day for a fictitious milk bath beauty treatment, then refusing to pay the bill. The newspaper stories soon bring the curious to pack his theater, and Ziegfeld introduces eight new performers to back her. Audience members comment on how the milk must make her skin beautiful and the show is a major success. Flo sends Anna flowers and jewelry and a note saying "you were magnificent my wife", and she agrees to marry him, flaunting her new diamonds to her fellow performers.
However, one success is not enough for the showman. He has an idea for an entirely new kind of show featuring a bevy of blondes and brunettes, one that will "glorify" the American girl. The new show, the Ziegfeld Follies, an opulent production filled with beautiful women and highly extravagant costumes and sets, is a smash hit, and is followed by more versions of the Follies.
Ziegfeld tries to make a star out of Audrey Dane, who is plagued with alcoholism, and he lures Fanny Brice away from vaudeville, showering both with lavish gifts. He gives stagehand Ray Bolger his break as well. Mary Lou, now a young woman, visits Ziegfeld, who doesn't recognize her initially, and hires her as a dancer.
The new production upsets Anna, who realizes that Flo's world does not revolve around just her, and she becomes envious of the attention he pays to Audrey. She divorces him after walking in on Flo and a drunk Audrey at the wrong moment. Audrey walks out on Flo and the show after an angry confrontation. Broke, Flo borrows money from Billings for a third time for the new show.
Flo meets the red-headed Broadway star Billie Burke and soon marries her. When she hears the news, a heartbroken Anna telephones Flo and pretends to be glad for him. Flo and Billie eventually have a daughter named Patricia.
Flo's new shows are a success, but after a while, the public's taste changes, and people begin to wonder if the times have not passed him by. After a string of negative reviews in the press, Flo overhears three men in a barber's shop saying that he'll "never produce another hit". Stung, he vows to have four hits on Broadway at the same time.
He achieves his goal, with the hits Show Boat (1927), Rio Rita (1927), Whoopee! (1928), and The Three Musketeers, and invests over $1 million (US$13,947,674 in 2017 dollars[5]) of his earnings in the stock market. However, the stock market crash of 1929 bankrupts him, forcing Billie to return to the stage.
Shaken by the reversal of his financial fortunes and the growing popularity of movies over live stage shows, he becomes seriously ill. Billings pays him a friendly visit, and the two men agree to become partners in a new, even grander production of The Ziegfeld Follies. But the reality is that both men are broke and Ziegfeld realizes this. In the final scene in his apartment overlooking the Ziegfeld Theatre, in a half-delirium, he recalls scenes from several of his hits, exclaiming, "I've got to have more steps, higher, higher", before slumping over dead in his chair.
The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965)
Color
Follows the story of the life of Christ, including the most significant events
The Greatest Story Ever Told
"Part I
Three wise men (magi) follow a brightly shining star from Asia to Jerusalem in search of a newborn king. They are summoned by King Herod the Great, whose advisers inform him of a Messiah mentioned in various prophecies. When Herod remembers that the prophecy names nearby Bethlehem as the child's birthplace, he sends the Magi there to confirm the child's existence--and secretly sends guards to follow them and "keep [him] informed." In Bethlehem, the Magi find a married couple--Mary and Joseph--laying their newborn son in a manger. Mary states that his name is Jesus. As the local shepherds watch, the Magi present gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh to the infant. After observing the distant spies' departure, the magi leave as an angel's voice warns Joseph to "take the child" and "flee".
The spies inform Herod, who decides to kill the child. He orders the death of every newborn boy in Bethlehem, and dies shortly after being informed that apparently "not one is alive". However, Joseph and Mary have escaped into Egypt with Jesus; when a messenger informs them and others of Herod's death, they return to their hometown of Nazareth.
A pro-Israel rebellion breaks out in Jerusalem against Herod's son, Herod Antipas, but the conflict is quickly quashed. Herod's kingdom is divided, Judea is placed under a governor, and Herod becomes of tetrarch of Galilee and the Jordan River. Both he and the Romans are convinced that the Messiah the troubled people cry for is "someone who will never come".
Many years later, a prophet named John the Baptist appears and preaches at the Jordan, baptizing many who come to repent. When a grown Jesus appears to him, John baptizes him. Jesus then ascends into the nearby desert mountains, where he finds a cave in which resides a mysterious hermit--a personification of Satan. The Dark Hermit tempts Jesus three times, but each temptation is overcome by Jesus, who leaves and continues climbing as John's message echoes in his mind.
He returns to the valley, where he tells the Baptist that he is returning to Galilee. Four men--Judas Iscariot and the Galilean fishermen Andrew, Peter, and John--ask to go with him; Jesus welcomes them, promising to make them "fishers of men". When they rest under a bridge, he gives parables and other teachings, which attract the attention of a passing young man named James; he asks to join them the next morning, and Jesus welcomes him. The group comes near Jerusalem, and Jesus says that "there will come a time to enter". They rest at a home in Bethany occupied by Lazarus and his sisters Martha and Mary. Lazarus asks Jesus if he could join him, but cannot bring himself to leave all he has; before leaving, Jesus promises Lazarus that he will not forget him.
The group soon arrives at Capernaum, where they meet James's brother Matthew, a tax collector whom Jesus soon asks to join them. After some thought, Matthew does so. In the local synagogue, Jesus teaches again, and miraculously helps a crippled man to walk again. Upon seeing this, many begin to follow Jesus on his journey and gather to listen to his teachings.
Meanwhile, the Jerusalem priests and Pharisees are troubled by the continuing influence and preaching of the Baptist, while the governor Pontius Pilate wishes only to maintain peace. Since the Jordan is ruled by Herod, he allows the priests to inform him. When he hears that the Baptist is speaking of a Messiah, Herod sends soldiers to arrest him. Simon the Zealot informs Jesus and his disciples of the Baptist's arrest; he is welcomed as one.
The fame of Jesus begins to spread across the land and two more men, named Thaddeus and Thomas, join him. In Jerusalem, the priests become suspicious of Jesus and the curing of the cripple, and send a group to Capernaum to investigate--among them the Pharisees Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea. Herod hears rumors about an army due to the multitudes that follow Jesus, and questions John the Baptist about him. Herod begins to consider killing the Baptist, with his wife's encouragement--she herself is the ex-wife of Herod's brother, and has been attacked by John for being adulterous.
Jesus is soon asked to return to Capernaum by another man named James. Crowds gather and celebrate his return, something that is noticed by the Pharisees who are present and the returned Dark Hermit. Jesus then defends a woman caught in the act of adultery, who identifies herself as "Mary of Magdalene". Among the crowd that gathers as he moves away is a sick woman who is cured when she touches his clothes. Both of these instances cause many to have faith in Jesus.
Herod begins to wonder about Jesus, and the Baptist confirms that Jesus has escaped from the massacre ordered by Herod's father. Herod then decides to finally kill the Baptist by beheading, which occurs while Salome, Herod's stepdaughter by his wife's first marriage, dances for him. When the Baptist is dead, Herod sends soldiers to arrest Jesus.
Jesus gives a sermon on a mountain to a great crowd, while Pilate and the Pharisees hear of many of Jesus's miracles: turning water into wine, feeding five thousand people, and walking on water. While resting, Jesus asks his disciples who they and others say that he is: they give many answers, and Peter believes that Jesus is the Messiah, prompting Jesus to anoint him as "the rock on which [he] will build [his] church".
At Nazareth, the people refuse to believe in Jesus and his miracles and demand to see for themselves by bringing a blind man named Aram and demanding that Jesus make him see. When he does not, the people are disgusted when he calls himself the Son of God, and briefly stone him. Jesus reunites with his mother, along with a sick Lazarus and his sisters. Andrew and Nathaniel escort Lazarus home to Bethany, while Jesus and the others flee from Herod's approaching soldiers, but not before Jesus heals Aram's sight. When informed that Lazarus is dying, Jesus does not go immediately to Bethany, but to the Jordan where the group gives a prayer. Andrew and Nathaniel return, informing them that Lazarus has died, and Jesus then goes to Bethany where he brings Lazarus back to life, a miracle that amazes the witnessing Jerusalem citizens, but concerns the Pharisees.
Part II
Judas questions why Mary Magdalene is anointing Jesus with expensive oil, and states she is preparing him for his death. Jesus then dons a new garment, and rides on a donkey into Jerusalem. In the courtyard of the Temple, Jesus drives the merchants and money changers away, and the large crowd prevents the Pharisees from arresting Jesus, an action ordered even though it is Passover. He teaches in the Temple courtyard, and leaves when Pilate dispatches soldiers to restore peace and close the gates. Many of the Temple's crowd are killed as a result.
While the disciples gather to prepare and partake in an evening meal, Judas leaves and promises to hand Jesus over to the Pharisees on the condition that no harm comes to him. The Dark Hermit's presence indicates approaching danger. When Judas returns to the meal, Jesus announces to all that one of them will betray him, that by morning Peter will deny three times that he even knows Jesus, and gives a farewell discourse. Jesus then gives bread and wine to the disciples, and tells Judas before he leaves again to "do quickly what [he has] to do".
Jesus then prays at Gethsemane while Judas is paid thirty pieces of silver to lead soldiers to arrest Jesus. When they arrive, Judas kisses Jesus, and Jesus orders Peter to "put back [his] sword". Jesus is put on trial before the Sanhedrin, and Aram appears as one of the questioned witnesses. Most of the members are present, as Nicodemus--who refuses to take part--notices that many (including Joseph of Arimathea) are absent. Meanwhile, the Hermit is outside and asks the nearby Peter if he knows Jesus. Peter denies it twice and leaves. When Caiaphas asks Jesus if he is the Christ, Jesus's reply causes the members to condemn him.
The Pharisees and Caiaphas bring Jesus to the tired Pilate, who after questioning Jesus--and briefly speaking with his wife--finds no guilt in Jesus. Since Galilee is under Herod's authority, Jesus is sent to Herod, though he and his soldiers merely ridicule him and send him back to Pilate. As Jesus is escorted back to Herod, the Hermit continues to observe, and Peter once again denies Jesus, as a remorseful Judas looks on.
In the morning, Pilate presents Jesus before the assembled crowd, and the Hermit begins various cries for Jesus to be crucified. Pilate offers compromises: that Jesus merely be scourged, and then the release of a prisoner of the crowd's choice. They choose the supposed murderer Barabbas instead. Pilate then asks Jesus if he has anything to say; Jesus merely states that his kingdom is "not of this world", something that the Hermit and others claim is a challenge of the authority of Rome the Roman emperor. With no other choice, Pilate reluctantly orders Jesus to be crucified.
Jesus then carries his cross through Jerusalem while the crowd looks on. When he collapses, a woman wipes his face and he reassures to the women of Jerusalem. Soon, the soldiers allow a man named Simon of Cyrene to help Jesus carry the cross when no one else will. At Golgotha, Jesus is stripped and nailed to the cross, which is then raised between those of two other men while Judas throws his silver into the Temple and throws himself into the fire of the nearby altar. He asks God to "forgive them, for they know not what they do", and leaves his mother in the care of John. While one of the thieves asks Jesus to save them, the other accepts his punishment and asks for Jesus to remember him, a promise that Jesus give to him. As the sky darkens, Jesus ask why God has forsaken him, is offered wine in a sponge, and dies before a storm emerges. As an earthquake begins, a centurion states that "truly this man was the son of God".
Peter mourns Jesus while he is laid to rest in the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea. The Pharisees ask for Pilate to place guards around the tomb and seal it to prevent a possible theft of the corpse that could potentially fulfill a prophecy of resurrection; Pilate agrees, but on the morning of the third day the guards discover the tomb is open and empty. Meanwhile, though Thomas has weakened faith, Mary Magdalene--along with Peter and others--recall the prophecy and run to see the empty tomb. Word quickly spreads throughout Jerusalem, the miraculous event bewildering the Pharisees. Caiaphas claims that "the whole thing will be forgotten in a week", while an elder scribe doubts this.
Jesus ascends to heaven before his disciples, Mary Magdalene, Nicodemus, Joseph of Arimathea, and others, leaving them with his final commands as a clouds engulfs him. He then states that he will always be with them, "even unto the end of the world".
The Greek Tycoon (1978)
Color
Romance between Jacqueline Kennedy and Greek Mogul Aristotle Onassis
The Greek Tycoon
The film focuses on the courtship and marriage of aging Greek Theo Tomasis, who rose from his humble peasant roots to become an influential mogul who owns oil tankers, airlines, and Mediterranean islands and longs to be elected President of Greece, and considerably younger Liz Cassidy, the beautiful widow of the assassinated President of the United States. The two first meet when she is visiting his island estate with her husband James, the charismatic Senator from the state of Massachusetts. Theo immediately is attracted to her and, despite the fact she obviously is happily married, begins to woo her aboard his yacht while her husband is deep in conversation with the former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. As the plot unfolds, Theo's beloved son Nico dies in an accident, his wife Simi commits suicide, James becomes President and appoints his brother John Attorney General, and Theo ends his affair with Paola to comfort and eventually marry grieving widow Liz.
The Green Mile (1999)
Color
Prison guard tries to save death row inmate when he sees that he has the power to heal
The Green Mile
"In a Louisiana nursing home in 1999, Paul Edgecomb (Greer) begins to cry while watching the film Top Hat. His elderly friend Elaine (Brent) shows concern for him, and Paul tells her that the film reminded him of when he was a corrections officer in charge of death row inmates at Cold Mountain Penitentiary during the summer of 1935. The cell block Paul (Hanks) works in is called the "Green Mile" because the condemned prisoners walking to their execution are said to be walking "the last mile". Here, it is a stretch of faded lime-green linoleum. The other guards include Brutus "Brutal" Howell (Morse), Harry Terwilliger (DeMunn), and Dean Stanton (Pepper).
One day, John Coffey (Duncan), a giant black man convicted of raping and killing two young white girls, arrives on death row. However, he is shy, soft-spoken, and emotional. John reveals extraordinary powers by healing Paul's urinary tract infection and resurrecting a mouse. Later, he heals the terminally ill wife (Clarkson) of Warden Hal Moores (Cromwell). When John is asked to explain his power, he merely says that he "took it back."
Percy Wetmore (Hutchison), a sadistic and unpopular guard, who is the nephew of the governor's wife, has recently begun working on the mile. Percy recognizes that the other officers dislike him. He uses that to demand managing the next execution, by promising that afterward, he will transfer to an administrative post at a mental hospital. An agreement is made, but Percy then deliberately sabotages the execution. Instead of wetting the sponge used to conduct electricity and make executions quick and effective, he leaves it dry, causing the execution of Eduard Delacroix (Jeter) to malfunction dramatically.
Meanwhile, a violent prisoner named "Wild Bill" Wharton (Rockwell) had arrived, to be executed for multiple murders committed during a robbery. At one point he seizes John's arm, and John psychically senses that Wharton is also responsible for the crime for which John was convicted and sentenced to death. John "takes back" the sickness in Hal's wife and regurgitates it into Percy, who then shoots Wharton to death and falls into a state of permanent catatonia. Percy is then admitted to Briar Ridge Mental Hospital as a patient rather than an administrator. In the wake of these events, Paul interrogates John, who says he "punished them bad men" and offers to show Paul what he saw. John takes Paul's hand and says he has to give Paul "a part of himself" in order for Paul to see what really happened to the girls.
Paul asks John what he should do, if he should open the door and let John walk away. John tells him that there is too much pain in the world, to which he is sensitive, and says he is "rightly tired of the pain" and is ready to rest. For his last request on the night before his execution, John watches the film Top Hat. When John is put in the electric chair, he asks Paul not to put the traditional black hood over his head because he is afraid of the dark. Paul agrees, shakes his hand, and John is executed.
As Paul finishes his story, he notes that he requested a transfer to a youth detention center, where he spent the remainder of his career. Elaine questions his statement that he had a fully grown son at the time, and Paul explains that he was 44 years old at the time of John's execution and that he is now 108. This is apparently a side effect of John giving a "part of himself" to Paul. Mr. Jingles, Del's mouse resurrected by John, is also still alive -- but Paul believes his outliving all of his relatives and friends (including Elaine, who is shown to have died at the end of the movie) to be a punishment from God for having John executed, and wonders how long it will be before his own death.
The Guilt Trip (2012)
Color
Andy goes on a road trip, brings his mother, so he can get her to hook up with an old flame
The Guilt Trip
"Andy Brewster (Seth Rogen) is a UCLA-graduate organic chemist and inventor. He is attempting to get his environmentally friendly cleaning product, ScieoClean, in a major retail store. However, each retail store he visits dismisses him before he can end his pitch. After a disappointing sales pitch to K-Mart, he visits his mother, Joyce Brewster (Barbra Streisand), in New Jersey before leaving on a cross-country trip to Las Vegas, lying to her that his pitch ended well so she won't worry about him. While there she reveals to him that he was named after a boy she fell in love with in Florida named Andrew Margolis, whom she hoped would object to her marriage with Andy's father. However, he never did and she felt that she never mattered to him afterwards. After a little research, he finds Andrew Margolis is still alive and unmarried living in San Francisco. He invites his unknowing mother on the trip, claiming he wants to spend some time with her.
The road trip quickly becomes hard for Andy as his mother continues to intervene in his life. After their car breaks down in Tennessee, Joyce calls Andy's ex-girlfriend Jessica (Yvonne Strahovski), whom Joyce insists Andy should get back together with, to pick them up. At a pregnant and married Jessica's house she reveals that Andy proposed to her before college and she turned him down, shocking Joyce, who believed Andy had trouble proposing to women. Andy is glum afterward and Joyce apologizes for calling Jessica, which Andy half-heartedly accepts. In Texas, Andy has a meeting with Costco executive Ryan McFeer (Brandon Keener) however Joyce stays at the meeting and criticizes the products bottling and name along with Ryan to the point that Andy snaps at him. At the motel that night a depressed Andy begins drinking and Joyce attempts to make up with him however Andy snaps at her, only to have Joyce snap back and leave for a nearby bar. Later Andy attempts to retrieve his mother but gets in a fight with a bar patron who attempts to stop her from leaving, receiving a black eye in the process.
At a steak restaurant the next day the two exchange apologies and Andy reveals that he is failing at selling ScieoClean. Joyce enters a steak eating challenge where she is noticed by cowboy-styled businessman Ben Graw (Brett Cullen), who gives her tips on eating and helps her finish the challenge. Afterwards he reveals he does a lot of business in New Jersey and asks her to dinner. Joyce, who has never been in a relationship after Andy's dad died when he was eight, balks at the offer so Ben merely leaves his number and asks her to call if she reconsiders.
Andy and Joyce begin to genuinely enjoy each other's company after, taking time out of their trip to visit the Grand Canyon (which Joyce has always wanted to visit) and having many other adventures.
At Las Vegas, Joyce has such a good time that she asks Andy to leave her while he visits San Francisco, forcing him to reveal that there is no sales pitch in San Francisco and he only invited her to get her to meet Andrew Margolis. Joyce is very distraught as she believed Andy invited her because he actually wanted to spend time with her. He goes to make his pitch at the Home Shopping Network but finds that his science-fact based pitch bores the network's executives and makes them uninterested. He then sees Joyce in the filming crew and takes her advice by appealing to the Network's host family safety and drinking his own product, proving that it is organic and safe for children. Afterwards the Network CEO approaches him and shows genuine interest in selling ScieoClean on the Network. Later, a jubilant Andy and Joyce decide to visit Andrew Margolis's house.
However, when they arrive they are informed by Andrew's son, Andrew Margolis Jr. (Adam Scott) (whom Andy mistakenly researched instead of the father) that his father died five years ago. After seeing Joyce's grief he invites them inside, where he learns that his father and Joyce were close. She asks if Andrew's father ever mentioned her, but he says he never did as he only confided personal information to their mother, who is away. However he then introduces his sister (Ari Graynor), who is named Joyce after Andy's mom. Joyce is overjoyed by this as she had previously stated her belief that you name your children after someone you cherished and want to remember. This shatters her belief that she didn't matter to Andrew and makes her overjoyed.
Afterwards they part ways at the San Francisco Airport; Andy to make his next sales pitch and Joyce back to New Jersey, where she arranges a date with Ben Graw. The two leave content and much closer than they had been.
The Handmaid's Tale (1990)
Color
Handmaid forced to bear couple's child, or face exile
The Handmaid's Tale
"In the near future, war rages across the Republic of Gilead --formerly the United States of America-- and pollution has rendered 99% of the population sterile. Kate is a woman who attempts to emigrate to Canada with her husband and daughter. As they take a dirt road, the Gilead Border Guard orders them to turn back or they will open fire. Kate's husband uses an automatic rifle to draw the fire, telling Kate to run, but he is shot. Kate is captured, while their daughter wanders off into the back country, confused and unaccompanied. The authorities take Kate to a training facility with several other women, where she and her companions receive training to become Handmaids --concubines for one of the privileged but barren couples who run the country's religious fundamentalist regime. Although she resists being indoctrinated into the cult of the Handmaids, which mixes Old Testament orthodoxy with scripted group chanting and ritualized violence, Kate is soon assigned to the home of "the Commander" (Fred) and of his cold, inflexible wife, Serena Joy. There she is named "Offred" --"of Fred".
Her role as the Commander's latest concubine is emotionless. She lies between Serena Joy's legs while being raped by the Commander in the collective hope that she will bear them a child. Kate continually longs for her earlier life, but she is haunted by nightmares of her husband's death and of her daughter's disappearance. A doctor tells her that many of Gilead's male leaders are as sterile as their wives. Serena Joy desperately wants a baby, so she persuades Kate to risk the punishment for fornication --death by hanging-- in order to be fertilized by another man who may make her pregnant, and consequently, spare her life. In exchange for Kate agreeing to this, Serena Joy provides information to Kate that her daughter is alive, and shows as proof a recent photograph of her living in the household of another Commander. However, Kate is told she can never see her daughter. The Commander also tries to get closer to Kate, in the sense that he feels if she enjoyed herself more she would become a better handmaid. The Commander knows Kate's background as a librarian. He gets her hard-to-obtain items and allows her access to his private library. However, during a night out, the Commander has sex with Kate in an unauthorized manner. The other man selected by Serena Joy turns out to be Nick, the Commander's sympathetic chauffeur. Kate grows attached to Nick and eventually becomes pregnant with his child.
Kate ultimately kills the Commander, and a police unit then arrives to take her away. She thinks that the policemen are members of the Eyes, the government's secret police. However, it turns out that they are soldiers from the resistance movement (Mayday), of which Nick is also a part. Kate then flees with them, parting from Nick in an emotional scene.
Kate is now free once again and wearing non-uniform clothes, but facing an uncertain future. She is living by herself, pregnant in a trailer while receiving intelligence reports from the rebels. She wonders if she will be reunited with Nick, but expresses hope that will happen, and resolves with the rebels' help she will find her daughter.
The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter (1968)
Color
Deaf mute Singer grows attached to his landlady's sensitive 16-year-old daughter
The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter
"John Singer is a deaf-mute who works as a silver engraver in a southern US town. His only friend is a mentally disabled mute, Spiros Antonapoulos, who continually gets into trouble with the law, since he does not know any better. When Spiros is committed to a mental institution by his cousin, who is his guardian, John offers to become Spiros' guardian, but is told that Spiros will have to go to the institution until this has been arranged. John decides to move to a town near the institution in order to be near his friend. He finds work there and rents a room in the home of Mr. and Mrs. Kelly, who are having financial difficulties as a result of Mr. Kelly's recent hip injury.
Because the Kellys' teenage daughter, Margaret ("Mick"), resents having to give up her room to him, John tries to win her friendship. He also tries to become friends with Jake Blount, a semi-alcoholic drifter, and Dr. Copeland, an embittered segregationist African American physician who is secretly dying of lung cancer. John helps interpret for a deaf-mute patient who is seeing Dr. Copeland. Copeland's deepest disappointment is that his educated daughter, Portia, works as a domestic and is married to a field hand. Meanwhile, Mick has an outdoor teenage party at her house, but is disgusted after some boy guests disrupt it by finding and setting off fireworks.
Following a successful attempt to win Mick's friendship by encouraging her love for classical music, John visits Spiros and, although he takes him out for the day, John is lonelier than ever when he returns home. Meanwhile, Portia and her husband are attacked and he is jailed for defending himself at an incident at a carnival. Portia gets upset at Dr. Copeland for not perjuring himself to help bring out the truth about what happened in the fight. Dr. Copeland and Portia's relationship gets even more strained after her husband has his leg amputated after being placed in irons for trying to escape jail.
John gets them to reconcile after Portia learns from John of Dr. Copeland's illness. Mick willfully loses her virginity to the sensitive older brother of one of her classmates after she realizes that her father's injury has permanently disabled him and she will have to leave school and work to help support the family. Disturbed by her sexual initiation, she ignores John's request for some company. John goes to visit Spiros and learns that he has been dead for several weeks. After visiting his friend's grave and saying goodbye in sign language, John returns to his room and commits suicide.
Some months afterwards, Mick brings flowers to John's grave and meets Dr. Copeland. As they talk, Mick asks the question, "Why did he do it?
The Heart Specialist (2006)
Color
Mentor transforms suave womanizing medical grad into a caring doctor
The Heart Specialist
Suave Harvard Medical School grad Ray Howard seems destined to specialize in womanizing. That is, until he heads to Florida to intern under the tutelage of chief resident Dr. Sidney Zachary. With help from his girlfriend, "Dr. Z" sets out to mold Ray into a caring, responsible doctor. Along the way, he shares some important truths and a whole lot of humor in this sexy romantic comedy. "Dr. Z" dies at the end from prostrate cancer.
The Heiress (1949)
Black & White
Dashing social climber charms bored spinster who stands to gain substantial inheritance
The Heiress
"Catherine Sloper (Olivia de Havilland) is a plain, painfully shy woman whose emotionally detached father, New York physician Austin Sloper (Ralph Richardson), makes no secret of his disappointment in her. He is terribly bitter about the loss of his charming and beautiful wife, whom he feels fate replaced with a simple and unalluring daughter. Catherine is devoted to her father, however, and too innocent to fully comprehend his mistreatment or the reasons for it. When she meets the charming Morris Townsend (Montgomery Clift), she immediately is taken by the attention he lavishes upon her, attention she so desperately seeks from her father. Catherine falls madly in love with Morris and they plan to marry.
Dr. Sloper believes Morris is an idler who is courting Catherine only to get her inheritance, and his interview with Morris' sister only reinforces his suspicion. He tells the young couple his opinion of Morris and takes Catherine to Europe for an extended time, but she cannot forget her betrothed. When they return to New York, Dr. Sloper threatens to disinherit his daughter if she marries Morris, and they have a bitter argument in which he makes his disdain for her abundantly clear. Catherine meets Morris and they plan to elope, but Catherine tells him about her father's decision. That night, Catherine eagerly waits at home for Morris to come and take her away, but he never arrives.
Catherine is heartbroken, and becomes cold and distant. Soon afterwards, Dr. Sloper reveals he is dying. She tells her father she still loves Morris and challenges him to change his will if he is afraid they will waste his money after he dies. He does not alter the will and dies a short time later, leaving her his entire estate.
A few years later, Morris returns from California, having made nothing of himself but still professing his love for Catherine. He claims that he left her behind because he could not bear to see her destitute. Catherine pretends to forgive him and tells him she still wants to elope as they originally planned. He promises to come back for her that night, and she tells him she will start packing her bags.
Catherine coldly plots her revenge upon Morris. Her aunt asks her how she can be so cruel, and she responds, "I have been taught by masters." When Morris returns, Catherine calmly orders the maid to bolt the door, leaving him locked outside, shouting her name. The film fades out with Catherine silently ascending the stairs while Morris' despairing cries echo unanswered in the darkness.
The Help (2011)
Color
Writer crosses taboo racial lines when she converses with Aibileen about her life as a maid
The Help
"Aibileen Clark (Viola Davis) is a middle-aged black maid who has spent her life raising white children and has recently lost her only son. Minny Jackson (Octavia Spencer) is another black maid and Aibileen's best friend whose outspokenness has gotten her fired a number of times; she has built up a reputation for being a difficult employee, but she makes up for this with her phenomenal cooking skills.
Eugenia "Skeeter" Phelan (Emma Stone) is a young white woman who has recently moved back home to her family's plantation after graduating from Ole Miss[3] to find that her beloved childhood maid, Constantine (Cicely Tyson), has quit while she was away. Skeeter is skeptical, because she believes Constantine would not have left without writing to her.
Unlike her friends, who attended university to find husbands (and are now all married and having children), Skeeter is single, has a degree, and wants to begin a career as a writer. Her first job is as a "homemaker hints" columnist in the local paper. With Constantine gone, Skeeter asks Aibileen, the maid to her good friend, Elizabeth (Ahna O'Reilly), for her help in answering domestic questions. Skeeter becomes uncomfortable with the attitude her friends have towards their "help," especially Hilly Holbrook (Bryce Dallas Howard) and her "Home Help Sanitation Initiative", a proposed bill to provide for separate toilets for black help because she believes (as she puts it) that "black people carry different diseases to white people." Amidst the era of discrimination based on color, Skeeter is one of the few who believe otherwise, and she decides to write a book based on the lives of the maids who have spent their entire lives taking care of white children.
The maids are at first reluctant to talk to Skeeter, because they are afraid that they will lose their jobs or worse. Aibileen is the first to share her stories, after she overhears Hilly's initiative, and realizes that the children whom she has been raising are growing up to be just like their parents. Her friend Minny has just been fired as Hilly's maid as a punishment for Minny using the bathroom during a thunderstorm (revealed by Aibileen to have spawned a tornado and killed eighteen people: ten white, eight black), instead of going to use the separate outdoor toilet. Hilly poisons all the other families against Minny, making it impossible for her to find other work, and her daughter is forced to drop out of school to find a job as a maid. Minny initially declines to participate in Skeeter's book research, but later agrees to share her stories. Aibileen helps her find work with Celia Foote (Jessica Chastain), who is married to a rich socialite (Mike Vogel), but is an outcast from the other society ladies (as influenced by Hilly), because she was born into a working-class family and her husband is Hilly's ex-boyfriend. Also, unlike Hilly, Celia treats Minny with respect.
Skeeter writes a draft of the book, with Minny and Aibileen's stories in it, and sends it to Miss Stein (Mary Steenburgen), an editor for Harper & Row in New York City, New York. Miss Stein thinks there may be some interest in it, but requires at least a dozen more maids' contributions before it can become a viable book. Believing that the book will only be publishable during the Civil Rights movement, which she believes is a passing fad, Stein advises Skeeter to finish the book soon. No one comes forward, until Medgar Evers is assassinated in Jackson, Mississippi, and Hilly's latest maid is brutally arrested (for attempting to pawn one of Hilly's rings, to pay for her twins' college tuition, after Hilly had refused to give her a loan). With racial tensions running high, the maids realize that Skeeter's book will give them an opportunity for their voices to be heard, and Skeeter suddenly has numerous stories to include. Minny shares one last story with Skeeter and Aibileen, which she calls the "Terrible Awful," to ensure that no one will reveal that the book was written about Jackson, Mississippi. As revenge for being fired and accused of stealing, Minny bakes a chocolate pie and delivers it to Hilly. After Hilly has finished two slices, Minny informs her that she has baked her own feces into the pie. Minny tells Aibileen and Skeeter that if they add that part into the book, Hilly will try to prevent anyone from figuring out that she made her eat human feces and will convince the town that the book is not about Jackson. The book is almost finished, except for Skeeter's own story of being brought up by Constantine. Skeeter manages to find out what had happened to Constantine, when her mother, Charlotte (Allison Janney), finally explains that she reluctantly fired her in order to save face during a reception. Soon afterwards, feeling guilty about the incident since the Phelans are quite close to their help, Charlotte had sent Skeeter's brother to bring Constantine home from Chicago, Illinois, where she was living with her daughter Rachel, but he discovered that she had died, not long after leaving Jackson. However, Constantine's daughter forgives them knowing that the family they served genuinely love them.
The book is accepted for publication and is a success, much to the delight of Skeeter and the maids. She shares her royalties with each of the maids who contributed, and is offered a job with a publishing company in New York City. She tells her boyfriend about the job and the book. Revolted by her ideas of racial equality, he immediately breaks up with her. Later in the afternoon, Hilly hatches a plan to get rid of Aibileen as Elizabeth's help, by falsely accusing her of stealing silver. Elizabeth tries to defend Aibileen, but to no avail. Aibileen denounces Hilly as a godless woman and tells her that she will never have peace if she continues her vindictive ways, leaving her in limbo. As Aibileen tries to convince Hilly and Elizabeth of her innocence, Elizabeth's daughter, Mae Mobley, arrives and pleads with her not to go. Elizabeth is forced to accept the firing of Aibileen, and Mae Mobley cries by the window, shouting for Aibileen as she leaves to start a new life.
The House of the Spirits (1982)
Color
Life of philandering man and his spiritual wife in corrupt Spanish society
The House of the Spirits
"The story starts with the del Valle family, focusing upon the youngest and the oldest daughters of the family, Clara and Rosa. The youngest daughter, Clara del Valle, has paranormal powers and keeps a detailed diary of her life. Using her powers, Clara predicts an accidental death in the family. Shortly after this, Clara's green-haired sister, Rosa the Beautiful, is killed by poison intended for her father who is running for the Senate. Rosa's fiance, a poor miner named Esteban Trueba, is devastated and attempts to mend his broken heart by devoting his life to uplifting his family hacienda, Las Tres Marias. Through a combination of intimidation and reward systems, he quickly earns/forces respect and labor from the fearful peasants and turns Tres Marias into a "model hacienda". He turns the first peasant who spoke to him upon arrival, Pedro Segundo, into his foreman, who quickly becomes the closest thing that Trueba ever has to an actual friend during his life. However, unable to control himself, he rapes many of the peasant women, and his first victim, Pancha Garcia, becomes the mother of his bastard son, who would eventually become Esteban Garcia.
Esteban returns to the city to see his dying mother. After her death, Esteban decides to fulfill her dying wish: for him to marry and have legitimate children. He goes to the del Valle family to ask for Clara's hand in marriage. Clara accepts Esteban's proposal; she herself has predicted her engagement two months prior, speaking for the first time in nine years. During the period of their engagement, Esteban builds what everyone calls "the big house on the corner," a large mansion in the city where the Trueba family will live for generations. After their wedding, Esteban's sister Ferula comes to live with the newlyweds in the big house on the corner. Ferula develops a strong dedication to Clara, which fulfills her need to serve others. However, Esteban's wild desire to possess Clara and to monopolize her love causes him to throw Ferula out of the house. She curses him, telling him that he will shrink in body and soul, and die like a dog. Although she misses her sister-in-law, a passive and dreamy Clara finds happiness in developing her psychic powers. Spirits, artists, and spiritualists flock to the Truebas' house.
Clara gives birth to a daughter named Blanca and later, to twin boys Jaime and Nicolas. The family, which resides in the capital, stays at the hacienda during the summertime. Upon arriving at Tres Marias for the first time, Blanca immediately befriends a young boy named Pedro Tercero, who is the son of her father's foreman. During their teenage years, Blanca and Pedro Tercero eventually become lovers. After an earthquake that destroys part of the hacienda and leaves Esteban injured, the Truebas move permanently to Las Tres Marias. Clara spends her time teaching and helping peasant children, while Blanca is sent to a convent school and the twin boys back to an English boarding school, both of which are located in the city. Blanca fakes an illness so as to be sent back to Las Tres Marias, where she can be with Pedro Tercero. Life runs smoothly until Pedro Tercero is banished from the hacienda by Esteban, on account of his revolutionary communist/socialist ideas.
A visiting French count to the hacienda, Jean de Satigny, reveals Blanca's nightly romps with Pedro Tercero to her father. Esteban furiously goes after his daughter and brutally whips her. When Clara expresses horror at his actions, Esteban slaps her, knocking out her front teeth. Clara decides to never speak to him again, reclaims her maiden name and moves out of Tres Marias and back to the city, taking Blanca with her. Esteban, furious and lonely, blames Pedro Tercero for the whole matter; putting a price on the boy's head with the local corrupt police. At this point, Pedro Segundo deserts Esteban, telling him he does not want to be around when Trueba inevitably catches his son. Enraged by Pedro Segundo's departure, Trueba begins hunting for Pedro Tercero himself, eventually tracking him down to a small shack near his hacienda. He only succeeds in cutting off three of Pedro's fingers, and is filled with regret for his uncontrollable furies.
Jaime becomes an empathetic doctor while crafty Nicolas concocts money-making schemes. The two develop a strange relationship with a woman named Amanda. Nicolas and Amanda are originally introduced to the story together, but split later on due to her pregnancy. Jaime loves Amanda dearly at this point but will never admit to his feelings around her. He agrees to help terminate her pregnancy not because his cowardly brother asked him to, but for the woman he cannot have. Years later Jaime and Amanda meet again and Jaime saves her from near death. Amanda remembers Jaime as the tender doctor and falls in love with him, but he realizes that she is not the same beautiful woman that bewitched him originally. He continues to have a relationship with Amanda though he does not love her.
Blanca finds out she is pregnant with Pedro Tercero's child. Esteban, desperate to save the family honor, gets Blanca to marry the French count by telling her that he has killed Pedro Tercero. At first, Blanca gets along with her new husband, but she leaves him when she discovers his participation in sexual fantasies with the servants. Blanca quietly returns to the Trueba household and names her daughter, who has Rosa's green hair, Alba. Clara predicts that Alba will have a very happy future and good luck. Her future lover, Miguel, happens to watch her birth, as he had been living in the Trueba House with his sister, Amanda. They move out shortly after Alba's birth.
Esteban Trueba eventually moves to the Trueba house in the capital as well, although he continues to spend periods of time in Tres Marias. He becomes isolated from every member of his family except for little Alba, whom he is very fond of. Esteban runs as a senator for the Conservative Party but is nervous about whether or not he will win. Clara speaks to him, through signs, informing him that "those who have always won will win again" -- this becomes his motto. Clara then begins to speak to Esteban through signs, although she keeps her promise and never actually speaks to him again. A few years later, Clara dies peacefully and Esteban is overwhelmed with grief.
Alba is a solitary child who enjoys playing make-believe in the basement of the house and painting the walls of her room. Blanca has become very poor since leaving Jean de Satigny's house, getting a small income out of selling pottery and giving pottery classes to mentally handicapped children, and is once again dating Pedro Tercero, now a revolutionary singer/songwriter. Alba and Pedro are fond of each other, but do not know they are father and daughter, although Pedro suspects this. Alba is also fond of her uncles. Nicolas is eventually kicked out by his father, moving, supposedly, to North America.
When she is older, Alba attends a local college where she meets Miguel, now a grown man, and becomes his lover. Miguel is a revolutionary, and out of love for him, Alba involves herself in student protests against the conservative government. After the victory of the People's Party (a socialist movement), Alba celebrates with Miguel.
Fearing a Communist dictatorship, Esteban Trueba and his fellow politicians plan a military coup of the socialist government. However, when the military coup is set into action, the military men relish their power and grow out of control. Esteban's son Jaime is killed by power-driven soldiers along with other supporters of the government. After the coup, people are regularly kidnapped and tortured. Esteban helps Blanca and Pedro Tercero flee to Canada, where the couple finally find their happiness.
The military regime attempts to eliminate all traces of opposition and eventually comes for Alba. She is made the prisoner of Colonel Esteban Garcia, the son of Esteban Trueba's and Pancha Garcia's illegitimate son, and hence the grandson of Esteban Trueba. During an earlier visit to the Trueba house, Garcia had molested Alba as a child. In pure hatred of her privileged life and eventual inheritance, Garcia tortures Alba repeatedly, looking for information on Miguel. He rapes her, thus completing the cycle that Esteban Trueba put into motion when he raped Pancha Garcia. When Alba loses her will to live, she is visited by Clara's spirit who tells her not to wish for death, since it can easily come, but to wish to live.
Esteban Trueba manages to free Alba with the help of Miguel and Transito Soto, an old friend/prostitute from his days as a young man. After helping Alba write their memoir, Esteban Trueba dies in the arms of Alba, accompanied by Clara's spirit; he is smiling, having avoided Ferula's prophecy that he will die like a dog. Alba explains that she will not seek vengeance on those who have injured her, suggesting a hope that one day the human cycle of hate and revenge can be broken. Alba writes the book to pass time while she waits for Miguel and for the birth of her child.
The Humbling (2014)
Color
Retired actor moves to a farmhouse and develops an intense relationship with a young woman
The Humbling
Simon Axler is an aging actor who suffers from bouts of dementia. He is institutionalized after an incident during a Broadway play, then returns home, where he contemplates suicide in Hemingway style. When he embarks upon an affair with an ex-girlfriend's amoral bisexual daughter, his world starts to fall apart. It ends on stage, with even Axler's audience and fellow actors unsure of what's real and what's not.
The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1939)
Black & White
Hunchback is flogged for kidnapping gypsy, he saves her when she is framed for murder
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
"In Paris during the late Middle Ages, Louis XI, the King of France, and his Chief Justice of Paris, Jehan Frollo, visit a printing shop. Frollo is determined to do everything in his power to protect Paris from anything he sees as evil, including the printing press and gypsies, who at the time are persecuted and prohibited from entering Paris without a permit. That day is Paris' annual celebration, the Feast of Fools. Pierre Gringoire, a poor street poet, does a play in front of an audience until it is interrupted by Clopin, the King of the Beggars. Esmeralda, a young gypsy girl, is seen dancing in front of an audience of people. Quasimodo, the hunchback and bell ringer of Notre Dame Cathedral, is crowned the King of Fools until Frollo catches up to him and takes him back to the church.
While trying to find Louis to speak to him, Esmeralda is caught by a guard for entering Paris without a permit and is being chased after by a couple of soldiers until she seeks safety in Notre Dame, in which the Archbishop of Paris, Frollo's brother Claude, protects her. She prays to the Virgin Mary to help her fellow gypsies only to be confronted by Frollo, who accuses her of being a heathen. Afterwards, she asks Louis to help her people, to which he agrees. Frollo then takes her up to the bell tower where they encounter Quasimodo, of whom she is frightened. As she runs away from the hunchback, Frollo commands Quasimodo to chase after her and kidnap her. Quasimodo catches up to Esmeralda and physically carries her away. Gringoire witnesses all this, and calls out to Captain Phoebus and his guards, who capture Quasimodo just in time. Esmeralda is then saved and starts falling in love with Phoebus. Gringoire later accidentally trespasses the Court of Miracles, and is about to be hanged by the beggars under Clopin's orders until Esmeralda saves him by marrying him. Afterwards, Frollo orders the guards to arrest and round up the gypsy girls to make an inspection in an attempt to find Esmeralda, but realizes that she is not present in the group and releases them.
The next day, Quasimodo is sentenced to be lashed in the square and publicly humiliated afterwards. He then asks the Parisian townspeople for water. Frollo, seeing this, realizes that he can't stop the sentence in time because it already happened, and abandons Quasimodo instead of helping him. However, Esmeralda arrives and gives Quasimodo water, and this awakens the hunchback's love for her.
Later that night, Esmeralda is invited by the nobles to their party. Frollo shows up to the party, where he confesses to Esmeralda his lust for her in a hiding place. Afterwards, she dances with a black goat named Aristotle in front of the nobles and moves away from the crowd with Phoebus to a garden where they share a moment between each other. Frollo then kills Phoebus out of jealousy, and Esmeralda is wrongly accused of his death. Gringoire visits her in the prison cell to console her and tells her that he will help her to get her free. Frollo arrives at Notre Dame where he confesses the crime to his brother, and, knowing that the Archbishop refuses to help him because he is the murderer, intends to sentence Esmeralda to death for it (which he does), saying that she has "bewitched" him.
Gringoire tries to get Esmeralda free by writing an appeal, but fails when the printing press gets destroyed by soldiers under Frollo's orders. He also tries to claim Esmeralda's innocence in the courtroom, but fails again when Frollo orders his soldiers to take him away. Quasimodo also shows up to the courtroom to save Esmeralda by saying that he committed the crime, but also fails by being mocked by the Parisians and dragged away by the soldiers. After Esmeralda is forced under torture to confess to the crime she did not commit, Louis shows up to the courtroom and attempts to help Esmeralda by offering her a trial by ordeal, in which she is blindfolded and must reach out to choose one of two daggers placed on the table before her: her own dagger (which will indicate her guilt if chosen) or Louis's dagger (which will demonstrate her innocence). When Esmeralda chose her dagger, the judgement is against her and Frollo sentences her to be hanged in the gallows. As Esmeralda is being taken in front of Notre Dame to do public penance, the Archbishop claims her innocence and does not allow her to do penance; however, Frollo still orders Esmeralda to be hanged in the gallows. Just as she is about to be hanged, though, Quasimodo saves her by taking her to the cathedral.
When Gringoire and Clopin realize that the nobles are planning to revoke Notre Dame's right of sanctuary, they both try different methods in order to save Esmeralda from hanging. Gringoire writes a pamphlet that will prevent this from happening, and Clopin leads the beggars to storm the cathedral. At the Palace of Justice, Frollo reads the pamphlet to Louis. After seeing a crowd protesting against the removal of Notre Dame's sanctuary law, Louis realizes that the pamphlet is creating public opinion, which can influence kings to make decisions. However, Frollo warns and advises him against public opinion, saying that it is dangerous. After the Archbishop arrives to inform Louis of Notre Dame's attack and that Esmeralda is innocent, Louis demands to know who the real murderer is, to which Frollo confesses his crime to Louis and walks away, leaving Louis shocked. Louis orders Olivier to arrest Frollo and then talks to Gringoire after reading his pamphlet.
Meanwhile, Quasimodo and the guards of Paris fight off Clopin and the beggars. Afterwards, he sees Frollo in the bell tower seeking to harm Esmeralda, and when he comes up, Frollo tries to stop him. Frollo then attempts to kill Quasimodo with a dagger, but Quasimodo, realizing Frollo's evil nature, stops him and in defense for himself and Esmeralda he throws Frollo off the cathedral top, sending him down to his death. Later that morning, Esmeralda is pardoned by the King and freed from hanging due to the success of Gringoire's pamphlet. Her Gypsy people are also finally freed. Then, she comes to truly love Gringoire and leaves with him and a huge cheering crowd out of the public square. Quasimodo sees all this from high on the cathedral and says sadly to a gargoyle, "Why was I not made of stone, like thee?".
The Hunger Games (2012)
Color
Televised game where contestants play for their lives
The Hunger Games
"The nation of Panem consists of a wealthy Capitol and twelve poorer districts. As punishment for a past rebellion, each district must provide a boy and a girl ("tributes") between the ages of 12 and 18 selected by lottery (the "Reaping") for the annual Hunger Games. The tributes must fight to the death in an arena, with the sole survivor rewarded with fame and wealth.
In District 12, 12-year-old Primrose Everdeen is chosen in her first Reaping. Katniss, her older sister, volunteers to take her place. Peeta Mellark, a baker's son who once gave Katniss bread when she was starving, is the other district tribute.
Katniss and Peeta are taken to the Capitol, accompanied by their frequently drunk mentor and past victor, Haymitch Abernathy. He warns them about the "Career" tributes who train intensively at special academies and almost always win.
During a TV interview with host Caesar Flickerman, Peeta unexpectedly reveals his love for Katniss. She is outraged, believing it to be a ploy to gain audience support, as "sponsors" may provide in-Games gifts of food, medicine, and tools. However, she discovers Peeta meant what he said.
The televised Games begin with half of the tributes killed in the first few minutes. Katniss barely survives ignoring Haymitch's advice to run away from the tempting supplies and weapons strewn in front of a structure called the Cornucopia.
Peeta forms an uneasy alliance with the four Careers. They find Katniss and corner her up a tree. Rue, the young girl from District 11, is hiding in a nearby tree and draws her attention to a deadly tracker jacker nest. Though bitten, Katniss drops the nest onto the sleeping besiegers. They scatter, but Glimmer is stung to death. Katniss, disoriented by the venom, is told to run away by Peeta. She eventually collapses and wakes up to find that Rue has taken care of her for the last two days.
Meanwhile, the alliance has gathered up all the supplies. Katniss has Rue draw them off, then destroys the stockpile by setting off the mines planted around it. Furious, Cato kills the boy assigned to guard it. Katniss finds and frees Rue from a trap. She dodges a spear thrown by Marvel, which strikes Rue. Katniss kills Marvel, then comforts the dying Rue. Afterward, she gathers and arranges flowers around the body. When this is televised, it sparks a riot in Rue's district. Panem President Snow summons Seneca Crane, the Gamemaker, to express his displeasure at the way the Games are turning out.
Haymitch convinces Crane to make a rule change to avoid further unrest. It is announced that tributes from the same district can win as a pair. Katniss then searches for Peeta and finds him with an infected leg wound. When an announcer proclaims a feast where the thing each survivor needs most will be provided, Peeta begs her not to risk getting him medicine. Katniss promises not to go, but after he falls asleep, she heads to the feast. Clove ambushes her and pins her down. When she gloats about killing Rue, however, she is slain by Thresh, the other District 11 tribute. He spares Katniss for Rue's sake. The medicine works, keeping Peeta mobile.
Foxface, the District 5 girl, dies from eating Nightlock berries that she stole from Peeta, neither being aware they are poisonous. Without warning, Crane darkens the arena and unleashes a pack of hound-like creatures to speed things up. They kill Thresh. Katniss and Peeta flee to the roof of the Cornucopia, where they have to fight Cato. Katniss wounds Cato with an arrow and Peeta hurls him to the creatures below. Katniss shoots Cato to spare him a prolonged death.
With Peeta and Katniss apparently victorious, the rule change allowing two winners is suddenly revoked. Peeta tells Katniss to shoot him. Instead, she gives him half of the Nightlock. Before they can commit suicide, they are hastily proclaimed the victors of the 74th Hunger Games.
Haymitch warns Katniss that she has made powerful enemies with her display of defiance. She and Peeta return home, while Crane is locked in a room with a bowl of Nightlock. President Snow ponders the situation.
The Hunt for Red October (1990)
Color
Tensions run high when Russian nuclear sub drops off scanners near US waters
The Hunt for Red October
"In 1984, Soviet submarine captain Marko Ramius (Sean Connery) commands Red October, a new vessel featuring a caterpillar drive rendering it undetectable to sonar. Ramius leaves port on orders to conduct exercises with the submarine V.K. Konovalov, commanded by his former student Captain Tupolev (Stellan Skarsg?rd). Once at sea, Ramius murders political officer Ivan Putin (Peter Firth), the only man aboard besides himself who knows the sub's true orders. He then burns the orders, pulls out phonies, and commands the crew to head toward America's east coast to conduct missile drills. The USS Dallas, an American submarine on patrol in the North Atlantic, briefly detects Red October but loses contact once Ramius engages the silent drive.
The next morning, CIA analyst Jack Ryan (Alec Baldwin) briefs U.S. government officials on the departure of Red October and the threat it poses. Officials in the briefing, learning that the Soviet Navy has been deployed to sink Red October, fear Ramius may plan an unauthorized strike against the United States. Ryan, however, hypothesizes that Ramius instead plans to defect, and leaves for the North Atlantic to prove his theory before the U.S. Navy is ordered to sink Red October.
Red October's caterpillar drive fails at sea and sabotage is suspected. No longer silent, the submarine comes under attack by Soviet forces and begins risky maneuvers through undersea canyons. Petty Officer Jones (Courtney B. Vance), a sonar technician aboard Dallas, plots an interception course. Ryan arranges a hazardous mid-ocean rendezvous to get aboard Dallas, where he attempts to persuade its captain, Commander Bart Mancuso (Scott Glenn), to contact Ramius and determine his intentions.
The Soviet Ambassador, who earlier claimed that Red October was lost at sea and requested US assistance in a rescue mission, at this point informs the US that the sub is a renegade and asks for US help to sink it. An order to do this is communicated to the US Fleet, including Dallas. Bart Mancuso is conflicted about whether he should sink Red October as ordered, but Ryan convinces him to make contact and offer to assist Ramius in his defection.
Ramius, stunned that the Americans correctly guessed his plan to defect, accepts their cooperation. He then stages a nuclear reactor emergency and orders the bulk of his crew to abandon ship, telling Red October's doctor Petrov (Tim Curry) that he and the other officers will scuttle the sub rather than let it be captured. Ramius submerges and Ryan, Mancuso and Jones come aboard via a rescue sub, at which point Ramius requests asylum in the United States for himself and his officers.
Thinking their mission is complete, Red October's skeleton crew are surprised by a torpedo attack from Konovalov, which has followed them across the Atlantic. As the two Soviet subs maneuver, Red October's cook Loginov (Tomas Arana), an undercover GRU agent, opens fire at the fire control, fatally wounding Ramius's first officer, Vasily Borodin (Sam Neill) before retreating into the missile launch area, followed by Ramius and Ryan. Loginov shoots Ramius, but Ryan guns down the saboteur just before he can detonate a missile and destroy the sub.
Meanwhile, with help from Dallas, Red October makes evasive maneuvers, causing Konovalov to be destroyed by one of its own torpedoes. The evacuated crew of Red October on board a US Navy rescue ship witness this explosion and, not knowing that there is a second Soviet sub, assume it was Red October. Their subterfuge complete, Ryan and Ramius sail Red October to the Penobscot River in Maine.
The Hunting Party (2007)
Color
Reporters searching for Bosnia's most notorious war criminal are mistaken for assassines
The Hunting Party
"After years of covering one armed conflict after another, American journalist Simon Hunt (Richard Gere) is in Bosnia and Herzegovina in early 1994 reporting on the war taking place there. In parallel, he's managed to romance a local Muslim girl who is pregnant with his child. However, in the late stages of her pregnancy, she gets killed by the Bosnian Serb forces when they overrun her village. Upon seeing the carnage, Simon vows revenge on the Bosnian Serb political leader Dragoslav Bogdanovic--known as "The Fox". Reporting on the gruesome event later that day in a live remote link-up, Simon loses his composure at the network anchor Franklin Harris' (James Brolin) suggestion that the Serb attack may have been a reaction to Muslim provocation attacks from inside the village. As a result of his on-air meltdown, Simon's journalistic career takes a tumble. While his professional prospects spiral downhill, those of his long-time camera man Duck (Terrence Howard) go in the opposite direction. Duck gets a cushy job at the network, while Hunt is left following war after war, as a freelancer, in an attempt to get back on US network television map.
Years later in fall 2000, Duck returns to Bosnian capital Sarajevo to shoot a "puff piece" of the network anchor Franklin Harris covering the fifth anniversary of the agreement that ended the war, along with fresh-out-of-Harvard young journalist, and son of the network vice-president, Benjamin (Jesse Eisenberg). Duck runs into old buddy Simon. Once a US network star reporter, Simon is by this point, a desperate half-drunk cynic reduced to filing freelance reports for underfunded news outlets in places like Jamaica and Poland. All the while, he's looking for a story big enough to propel him back to the realm of credibility. He tells Duck that, through a source, he has located Bogdanovic who is now wanted for war crimes with a US$5 million bounty on his head, and that he'd be interested in trying to score an interview with the fugitive. The Fox is assumed to be in the village of Celebici in Republika Srpska (Serbian entity in Bosnia-Herzegovina), near the border with Montenegro with various stories circulating about him, such as that he enjoys fox hunting and that the head of his security detail is a ruthless psychopath with a tattooed forehead.
Convinced by Simon, Duck comes along to shoot the interview, with Benjamin in tow. On the way, Simon confesses his plan to capture the Fox--something Duck and Benjamin consider insane even to think about. Along the way, the group is mistaken for a CIA hit squad by several groups, including the United Nations police force and the Serbs themselves; at one point, at the initiative of Benjamin, they claim to be CIA agents themselves, using a threat to avoid paying a fee for a tip. Still, Boris (Mark Ivanir), the local area UN commander puts them in touch with a woman claiming to have been romantically involved with the Fox's main bodyguard Srdjan.
Simon, Duck, and Benjamin are then captured by the Fox's guards and taken to a barn to be executed where axe-wielding Srdjan--who's got the phrase ???? ??? ?????? ('died before birth') tattooed on his forehead in Cyrillic alphabet--is preparing to kill them through torture. At the last moment, a team of CIA assassins storms the barn and frees the journalists, but Fox escapes. It quickly becomes evident to the journalists that, even in the international community, there are people who do not wish the Fox to be captured.
The CIA orders the journalists to board an airplane bound for the US, but they run away to carry out their plan to catch the Fox. They capture him while he is hunting in the woods without his guards. The journalists then release him, with his hands securely bound, in a village called Polje filled with the surviving family members of victims of his war crimes.
The Hurt Locker (2008)
Color
U.S. Army explosive ordnance disposal team operating in Iraq are in constant peril
The Hurt Locker
"The Hurt Locker opens with a quotation from War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning, a best-selling 2002 book by Chris Hedges, a New York Times war correspondent and journalist: "The rush of battle is a potent and often lethal addiction, for war is a drug."
Sergeant First Class William "Will" James (Jeremy Renner), a battle-tested, former U.S. Army Ranger, arrives as the new team leader of a U.S. Army Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) unit in the Iraq War,[5][6] replacing Staff Sergeant Matthew Thompson (Guy Pearce), who was killed by an improvised explosive device (IED) in Baghdad. His team includes Sergeant J.T. Sanborn (Anthony Mackie) and Specialist Owen Eldridge (Brian Geraghty).
His maverick disposal methods and attitude lead to Sanborn and Eldridge considering him reckless, raising tensions. Meanwhile, James is often approached by an Iraqi youth named "Beckham" attempting to sell DVDs. James challenges him to a game of football and takes a liking to him. When they are assigned to destroy some explosives, James returns to the detonation site to pick up his gloves. Sanborn openly contemplates killing him by "accidentally" triggering the explosion, making Eldridge somewhat uncomfortable.
Returning to Camp Victory in their Humvee, the team encounters five armed men in traditional Arab garb and casual attire standing near a Ford Excursion, which has a flat tire. James' team has a tense encounter with their leader (Ralph Fiennes), who then reveals they are private military contractors and British mercenaries. They have captured two prisoners featured on the most-wanted Iraqi playing cards. The entire group suddenly comes under fire, and when the prisoners attempt to escape in the confusion, the leader of the mercenaries remembers the bounty for them is "dead or alive" and shoots them. Enemy snipers kill three of the mercenaries, including their leader. Sanborn and James borrow a Barrett .50 cal to dispatch three attackers, while Eldridge kills a fourth.
During a raid on a warehouse, James discovers the body of a young boy, in which a live bomb has been surgically implanted. James identifies him as Beckham. During evacuation, Lieutenant Colonel John Cambridge, the camp's psychiatrist and a friend of Eldridge's, is killed in an explosion; Eldridge blames himself for his death. Later, James breaks into the house of an Iraqi professor, seeking revenge for Beckham, but his search reveals nothing and he leaves.
Called to a petrol tanker detonation, James decides on his own to hunt for the insurgents responsible, guessing they are still nearby. Sanborn protests, but when James heads out, he and Eldridge reluctantly follow. After they split up, insurgents capture Eldridge. James and Sanborn rescue him, but accidentally shoot him in the leg. The following morning, James is approached by Beckham, who he believed was dead, and walks by without saying a word. Before being airlifted for surgery elsewhere, Eldridge angrily blames James for his injury.
James and Sanborn's unit is called to another mission in their last two days of their rotation. An innocent Iraqi civilian man has had a bomb vest strapped to his chest. James tries to cut off the locks to remove the vest, but there are too many of them. He has to abandon the man, who is killed when the bomb explodes. Sanborn is left distraught by the man's death. He confesses to James that he can no longer cope with the pressure, and he wants to return home and have a son.
After Bravo Company's rotation ends, James returns home to his ex-wife Connie and their infant son, who still live with him in his house. However, he is bored by and disconnected from routine civilian life. One night, James confesses to his son that there is only one thing that he knows he loves. Shortly thereafter, he starts another tour of duty, serving with Delta Company, a U.S. Army EOD unit on its 365-day rotation.
The Hustler (1961)
Black & White
Pool shark tours the country hustling games
The Hustler
"Small-time pool hustler "Fast Eddie" Felson travels cross-country with his partner Charlie to challenge the legendary player "Minnesota Fats". Arriving at Fats' home pool hall, Eddie declares he will win $10,000 that night. Fats arrives and he and Eddie agree to play straight pool for $200 a game. After initially falling behind, Eddie surges back to being $1,000 ahead and suggests raising the bet to $1,000 a game; Fats agrees. He sends out a runner, Preacher, to Johnny's Bar, ostensibly for whiskey, but really to get professional gambler Bert Gordon to the hall. Eddie gets ahead $11,000 and Charlie tries to convince him to quit, but Eddie insists the game will end only when Fats says it is over. Fats agrees to continue after Bert labels Eddie a "loser." After 25 hours and an entire bottle of bourbon, Eddie is ahead over $18,000, but loses it all along with all but $200 of his original stake. At their hotel later, Eddie leaves half of the remaining stake with a sleeping Charlie and leaves.
Eddie stashes his belongings at the local bus terminal, where he meets Sarah Packard, an alcoholic who is supported by her father, attends college part time, and walks with a limp. He meets her again at a bar. They go back to her place but she refuses to let him in, saying he is "too hungry". Eddie moves into a rooming house and starts hustling for small stakes. He finds Sarah again and this time she takes him in, but with reservations. Charlie finds Eddie at Sarah's and tries to persuade him to go back out on the road. Eddie refuses and Charlie realizes he plans to challenge Fats again. Eddie realizes that Charlie held out his percentage and becomes enraged, believing that with that money he could have rebounded to beat Fats. Eddie dismisses Charlie as a scared old man and tells him to "go lie down and die" by himself.
At Johnny's Bar, Eddie joins a poker game where Bert is playing, and loses $20. Afterward, Bert tells Eddie that he has talent as a pool player but no character. He figures that Eddie will need at least $3,000 to challenge Fats again. Bert calls him a "born loser" but nevertheless offers to stake him in return for 75% of his winnings; Eddie refuses.
Eddie humiliates a local pool shark, exposing himself as a hustler, and the other players punish him by breaking his thumbs. As he heals, Sarah cares for him and tells him she loves him, but he cannot say the words in return. When Eddie is ready to play, he agrees to Bert's terms, deciding that a "25% slice of something big is better than a 100% slice of nothing".
Bert, Eddie, and Sarah travel to the Kentucky Derby, where Bert arranges a match for Eddie against a wealthy local socialite named Findley. The game turns out to be carom billiards, not pool. When Eddie loses badly, Bert refuses to keep staking him. Sarah pleads with Eddie to leave with her, saying that the world he is living in and its inhabitants are "perverted, twisted, and crippled"; he refuses. Seeing Eddie's anger, Bert agrees to let the match continue at $1,000 a game. Eddie comes back to win $12,000. He collects his $3,000 share and decides to walk back to the hotel. Bert arrives first and subjects Sarah to a humiliating sexual encounter. After, she scrawls "PERVERTED", "TWISTED", and "CRIPPLED" in lipstick on the bathroom mirror. Eddie arrives back at the hotel to learn that she has killed herself.
Eddie returns to challenge Fats again, putting up his entire $3,000 stake on a single game. He wins game after game, beating Fats so badly that Fats is forced to quit. Bert demands a share of Eddie's winnings and threatens that Eddie will be injured unless he pays. But Eddie says that if he is not killed he will kill Bert when he recovers; invoking the memory of Sarah, he shames Bert into giving up his claim. Instead, Bert orders Eddie never to walk into a big-time pool hall again. Eddie and Fats compliment each other as players, and Eddie walks out.
The Iceman (2013)
Color
Devoted husband and father of two girls also serves as a notorious mob killer
The Iceman
"In the 1960s, Richard Kuklinski (Michael Shannon) marries Deborah (Winona Ryder) and the couple have two daughters. Kuklinski keeps secrets from his family. He works dubbing pornographic films, which he then supplies to a mob operated syndicate, but he tells his family that he dubs Disney cartoons. Kuklinski is also deeply troubled. As a boy he was the subject of brutal beatings from his immigrant Polish father, shaping Kuklinski into an emotionally disturbed and intensely violent man. A man insults him after a game of pool so Kuklinski follows the man to his car and murders him by quickly slashing his throat.
Another secret Kuklinski keeps is that his younger brother Joseph (Stephen Dorff) is serving a life sentence for raping and murdering a twelve-year-old girl. Roy DeMeo (Ray Liotta), a powerful mobster, shuts down the pornographic film business in which Kuklinski was involved and brings him on board to work as a contract killer after Kuklinski passes an impromptu audition: killing a homeless man with Roy's gun.
During the killing of Marty Freeman (James Franco) due to his knowledge of Josh Rosenthols' (David Schwimmer) whereabouts (who had been using DeMeo's name too freely in his business dealings), Kuklinski meets Robert Pronge (Chris Evans), another hitman for the mob. After DeMeo puts Kuklinski on suspension for allowing a teenage girl to live after witnessing a hit (Kuklinski reveals that he never kills children), he teams up with Pronge, who is a freelancer, and splits the contract payments with him in return for helping him on contract assassinations for DeMeo's boss Leo Marks (Robert Davi).
During his suspension, Kuklinski begins to show more of his anger and rage, to the extent of destroying his own kitchen while having an argument with Deborah. Kuklinski also shows paranoia when he looks at a moving ice cream truck and instantly thinks of Pronge. While distracted, Kuklinski bumps his car into another vehicle, the man he hit gets out of his car and insults Kuklinski and his family. This causes Kuklinski to enter such a raging fit that he then initiates a high speed chase after the man through three neighborhoods, again putting his family in danger.
DeMeo eventually finds out about all of this unauthorized employment after Kuklinski murders one of his associates on Leo's orders, and at the same time demands that Kuklinski sever all ties with him. Meanwhile, Kuklinski attempts to collect his $50,000 pay for the hit from Leo, but is denied the payment, prompting him to kill the mobster when he threatens his family.
Kuklinski's daughter is later seriously injured by a hit-and-run car accident. Kuklinski suspects Pronge and shoots him in a public park.
Following an undercover sting operation, Kuklinski is arrested in the year 1986. Neither his wife nor his daughters have ever suspected him of being a cold-blooded killer. Kuklinski admits to having committed over 100 vicious murders, both for personal reasons and for profit, in his 22-year career. After being sentenced to two life terms in prison he never sees his wife and daughters again. In real life, Barbara (Deborah's name in real life) and his daughters visited him in the hospital shortly before he died.
As the movie ends, Kuklinski's only regret is hurting his family through the crimes he committed, and the dangers he put them in. In 2006, he dies in a prison hospital, from a rare inflammatory disease, just before he is to testify against a Gambino crime family underboss.
The Ides of March (2011)
Color
Political consultant deals with intern who candidate impregnated
The Ides of March
"Stephen Meyers (Ryan Gosling) is the junior campaign manager for Mike Morris (George Clooney), Governor of Pennsylvania and a Democratic presidential candidate, competing against Arkansas Senator Ted Pullman (Michael Mantell) in the Democratic primary. The candidates are campaigning in Ohio. Both campaigns are attempting to secure the endorsement of North Carolina Democratic Senator Franklin Thompson (Jeffrey Wright), who controls 356 convention delegates, enough to clinch the nomination for either candidate.
After a debate at Miami University, Meyers is asked by Pullman's campaign manager, Tom Duffy (Paul Giamatti), to meet in secret. Meyers calls his boss, senior campaign manager Paul Zara (Philip Seymour Hoffman), who doesn't answer. Meyers leaves a message that something important has come up. Meyers decides to meet Duffy, who offers Meyers a position in Pullman's campaign, an offer Meyers refuses. Zara calls Meyers back and asks what was important, but Meyers says it was nothing to worry about.
Meyers starts a sexual relationship with Molly Stearns (Evan Rachel Wood), an intern for Morris' campaign and daughter of Jack Stearns (Gregory Itzin), the chairman of the Democratic National Committee.
Meyers admits to an angry Zara that he met with Duffy, and that Duffy said his candidate, Pullman, will offer Thompson the position of Secretary of State, guaranteeing Pullman's victory. Zara and Meyers discuss the matter with Morris, saying they must make the same offer to Thompson to secure his endorsement and his delegates' votes. Morris refuses, as he thoroughly disagrees with Thompson and his policies, and wants a "clean" campaign without such deals.
Late one night when Molly is in his room sleeping, Meyers discovers that Morris is trying to call her. She and Morris had a brief sexual liaison at a campaign stop in Iowa several weeks previously, and Molly is now pregnant by the Governor. Meyers helps her with money for an abortion but warns her not to tell anybody. Meyers also fires Molly from the campaign.
Ida (Marisa Tomei), a reporter for the New York Times, reveals to Meyers that an anonymous source leaked his encounter with Duffy to her and that she will publish unless Meyers gives her all of the information about his meeting with Thompson. Meyers comes to Zara for help, believing the story would damage himself, Zara, and the campaign. Zara reveals that in fact he leaked the meeting to Ida with Morris' approval in order to force Meyers into resigning from the campaign, stating that he did this because Meyers was disloyal for meeting with Duffy.
An angry Meyers then offers his services to Duffy, who admits he only met with Meyers in order to influence his opponent's operation and had no intention of hiring him. He suspected that Meyers would tell Zara about the meeting which would lead Zara to remove Meyers from Morris' campaign. Should this happen, Duffy correctly surmised, the Morris campaign would be weakened and, as a result, Pullman's would be strengthened. Before dismissing Meyers, Duffy encourages the younger man to quit the business before he becomes a cynic. Meanwhile, Molly learns that Meyers has been fired and fearing that he will reveal her pregnancy, takes a fatal drug overdose.
Since both sides used him, Meyers goes on the offensive. Unbeknownst to the Morris campaign, he meets with Thompson to arrange for Thompson's delegates in exchange for a spot on the Morris ticket. Meyers confronts Morris, telling him that he will expose the affair with Molly if Morris does not accept his demands: fire Zara, place Meyers in charge of the campaign, and offer Thompson the role of Secretary of State. Morris resists, but Meyers claims that he has a suicide note found in Molly's room. Morris relents and meets all of Meyer's demands (with Zara's dismissal spun by all parties as a resignation caused by the loss of the Ohio primary). Later at Molly's funeral, Zara compliments Meyers on his cynicism and skill in using secrets to his advantage. Later, Thompson's endorsement (and delegates) makes Morris the de facto nominee despite losing the Democratic Party's Ohio primary election (which Morris claims was lost only because the state's open primary allowed Republicans and Independents to vote in it and thereby sabotage it by choosing the weaker Democrat).
Now senior campaign manager, Meyers is on the way to a remote TV interview with John King when Ida ambushes him and says her next story will be about how Meyers' delivered Thompson and his delegates and got his promotion. Meyers reacts only by having security bar her from coming any further. Meyers takes his seat for the interview, just as Morris finishes a speech about how integrity and dignity matters, and is asked for insight as to how the events surrounding the primary unfolded. The film ends before he answers.
The Illusionist (2006)
Color
Magician competes with prince for the love of a woman
The Illusionist
"The film, which contains both fictional and historical characters, begins in medias res as Chief Inspector Walter Uhl (Paul Giamatti) moves to arrest Eisenheim (Edward Norton) during what appears to be necromancy passed off as a magic show. He then begins to recount the story of Eisenheim for Crown Prince Leopold (Rufus Sewell).
Eisenheim was born the son of a cabinetmaker in Vienna, Austria-Hungary. One day as a teenager, Eisenheim (played as a young man by Aaron Johnson) meets a traveling magician who performs several tricks for him. Eisenheim becomes obsessed with magic tricks after this.
He also falls in love with Sophie, the Duchess von Teschen (Jessica Biel, played as a teenager by Eleanor Tomlinson), a noblewoman well above his social class. Although the two are forbidden to see each other, they meet secretly until at last they are caught and forcefully separated.
Eisenheim then leaves home and travels the world, perfecting his craft. He returns to Vienna years later as a master illusionist. He again meets Sophie at one of his performances, when she is volunteered by Crown Prince Leopold as a reluctant participant in an illusion. He soon learns that Sophie is expected to marry the Crown Prince, who purportedly has a history of abuse towards women. After humiliating the Crown Prince during a private show, Eisenheim finds his hit performance shut out of Vienna. When Sophie comes to offer him help, the two consummate their relationship and realize that they are still in love. They plan to flee the Empire together but first must stop Leopold, who Sophie reveals is planning a coup d'etat to usurp the Crown of Austria from his aging father, the Emperor Franz Joseph I, while using his engagement to her to win the Hungarian half of the Empire as well. She also knows that the Crown Prince will view her as disposable if she leaves him for another man and that he will have both her and Eisenheim followed and killed.
Leopold finds out from Uhl, who was following the couple, that Sophie has met with Eisenheim. While drunk, Leopold confronts Sophie and accuses her of being unfaithful. She tells him that she will not marry him or have anything to do with his plan. She flees but is soon found dead in a river with a sword cut across her neck. Unfortunately, Leopold's imperial and royal status makes any accusations against him unthinkable. As Eisenheim plunges into despair and the citizens of Vienna begin to suspect Leopold of Sophie's murder, Uhl observes Eisenheim's actions more closely on behalf of Leopold.
Wracked with grief, Eisenheim prepares a new kind of magic show, using mysterious equipment and Chinese stagehands. During his show, Eisenheim apparently summons spirits, leading many to believe that he possesses supernatural powers.
Leopold decides to attend one of Eisenheim's shows in disguise. During this show, Eisenheim summons the spirit of Sophie, who says someone in the theater murdered her, panicking Leopold. Uhl pleads with Eisenheim to stop such performances but Eisenheim refuses. Leopold then orders Eisenheim's arrest. Returning to the opening scene of the movie, Uhl tries to arrest Eisenheim during the performance only for his body to fade and disappear like his summoned spirits.
Uhl soon reveals to Leopold that he has found evidence linking the Crown Prince to Sophie's murder: a jewel from the prince's sword and a locket, that Eisenheim had given Sophie when they were children. After ordering then begging Uhl to keep silent, Leopold discovers that Uhl has already informed the Emperor and the General Staff of Leopold's conspiracy to usurp the Austro-Hungarian throne. As the Army arrives at his Palace to arrest him, Leopold shoots himself in despair.
As Uhl leaves the Imperial Palace, a boy runs up to hand him a folio explaining one of Eisenheim's magic tricks. Uhl demands to know where the child obtained the folio; the child reveals that Eisenheim had given it to him. Uhl then reaches down into his pocket only to discover that he has been pick-pocketed by a disguised Eisenheim while distracted by the boy and gives chase, following him to the train station. As the train leaves, a montage shows Uhl putting the pieces together in his mind and discovering how Eisenheim faked Sophie's death and framed Leopold for the murder. Eisenheim is then seen walking up to a house in the country, where Sophie is waiting for him.
The Informant (2009)
Color
Informant gathers evidence against employer for FBI investigation
The Informant
"Mark Whitacre, a rising star at Decatur, Illinois based Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) in the early 1990s, blows the whistle on the company's price-fixing tactics at the urging of his wife Ginger.[4][5]
One night in November 1992, Whitacre confesses to FBI special agent Brian Shepard that ADM executives--including Whitacre himself--had routinely met with competitors to fix the price of lysine, an additive used in the commercial livestock industry. Whitacre secretly gathers hundreds of hours of video and audio over several years to present to the FBI.[4][6][7] He assists in gathering evidence by clandestinely taping the company's activity in business meetings at various locations around the globe such as Tokyo, Paris, Mexico City, and Hong Kong, eventually collecting enough evidence of collaboration and conspiracy to warrant a raid of ADM.
Whitacre's good deed dovetails with his own major infractions, while his internal, secret struggle with bipolar disorder seems to take over his exploits.[4][8] The bulk of the film focuses on Whitacre's meltdown resulting from the pressures of wearing a wire and organizing surveillance for the FBI for three years, instigated by Whitacre's reaction, in increasingly manic overlays, to various trivial magazine articles he reads. In a stunning turn of events immediately following the covert portion of the case, headlines around the world report that Whitacre had embezzled $9 million from his own company during the same period of time he was secretly working with/for the FBI and taping his co-workers, while simultaneously aiming to be elected as ADM CEO following the arrest and conviction of the remaining upper management members.[4] In the ensuing chaos, Whitacre appears to shift his trust and randomly destabilize his relationships with Agent Shepard, partner Agent Herndon and numerous attorneys in the process.
Authorities at ADM begin investigating, in an attempt to cover tracks, the mounted papertrail with forged names and specs that Whitacre had built to cover his own subversive deeds. After being confronted with evidence of his fraud, Whitacre's defensive claims begin to spiral out of control, including an accusation of assault and battery against Agent Shepard and the FBI, which had made a substantial move to distance their case from Whitacre entirely. Because of this major infraction and Whitacre's bizarre behavior, he is sentenced to a prison term three times as long as that meted out to the white-collar criminals he helped to catch.[4] In the epilogue, Agent Herndon visits inmate Whitacre in prison as he videotapes a futile appeal to seek a presidential pardon. Overweight, balding and psychologically beaten after his years long ordeal, Mark Whitacre is eventually released from prison, with his wife Ginger waiting to greet him.
The Inkwell (1994)
Color
Boy comes of age during family reunion
The Inkwell
"Set in the summer of 1976, the film follows the adventures of Drew Tate (Larenz Tate), a shy 16-year-old from upstate New York, when he and his family spend two weeks with affluent relatives on Martha's Vineyard. Drew's parents, Kenny (Joe Morton) and Brenda (Suzzanne Douglass), worry that their son is emotionally disturbed. His favorite companion is a doll, in which he names Iago (after the character in the Shakespeare classic Othello), with which he engages in animated conversations. They also fear that a fire he accidentally set in the family garage foreshadows a future as an arsonist.
On Martha's Vineyard, Drew is thrown into an affluent, party-loving black society that congregates on a beach known as the Inkwell. The visit is also the occasion of some bitter family strife. Drew's Aunt Francis (Vanessa Bell Calloway) and her husband, Spencer (Glynn Turman), are conservatives whose walls are plastered with pictures of Republican dignitaries such as Barry Goldwater and Ronald Reagan (who they keep saying will become President someday). Kenny, a former Black Panther, and Spencer argue furiously about racial issues.
The Inkwell follows Drew's bumbling pursuit of the insufferably snooty Lauren (Jada Pinkett). He also befriends Heather (Adrienne-Joi Johnson), a young woman whose husband, Harold (Morris Chestnut), is a faithless louse. The movie comes to an end on the Fourth of July, when the Bicentennial fireworks end up symbolizing not just America's 200th birthday but Drew finally losing his virginity with Heather.
The Insider (1999)
Color
Tobacco corporations try to silence researcher
The Insider
"During a prologue, not directly related to the storyline of this movie, Hezbollah militants in Beirut, Lebanon, escort producer Lowell Bergman (Pacino) to a meeting with Sheikh Fadlallah, the founder of the Hezbollah. Lowell convinces him to grant an interview to Mike Wallace (Plummer) for 60 Minutes, a well-known TV series on CBS. Lowell stands his ground while speaking with the sheikh.
In Louisville, Kentucky, Dr. Jeffrey Wigand (Crowe) leaves his office at the Brown & Williamson (B&W) Tobacco Company and returns to his home, in the upscale suburb of Hurstbourne, on the east side of town, to his wife, Liane (Venora), and to their two daughters, both of whom have serious medical conditions requiring continuing treatment. When Liane asks about the cartons in Jeff's car, he reveals that Thomas Sandefur (Gambon), the CEO of the firm, has fired him. [Wigand, who holds a PhD degree in biochemistry and endocrinology, and who speaks Japanese, has worked at B&W as the corporate VP for research and development.]
During an interlude Mike Wallace in Beirut begins his interview with the sheikh, after both Mike and Lowell have firmly stood their ground against the interviewee's armed bodyguards, who have tried to hassle, harass, demean, or intimidate them.
After Lowell returns to his home, in Berkeley, California, he receives from an anonymous sender a box containing highly technical documents about the "ignition propensity" of tobacco, which have originated within the firm making Philip Morris cigarettes. He calls a friend at the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and asks for the name of someone who can translate the data into laymen's terms. The contact refers him to Wigand, who first rebuffs him. Lowell next travels to Louisville, piques his interest, and meets him at the historic Seelbach Hotel in Louisville.
Wigand agrees to interpret the scientific documents but stresses that he cannot talk about anything else; Bergman senses the existence of something worthy of pursuit or investigation. After leaving with the documents, Wigand receives a summons to a meeting with Sandefur, who seeks to coerce him into signing a more inclusive confidentiality agreement. A company lawyer threatens to immediately take away his family's health benefits and to file suit against him if he does not comply. Wigand does not yet sign (although eventually he does); greatly agitated, he later calls Bergman and accuses him of having betrayed him.
Bergman visits Wigand's house the next day and vigorously insists that he has not revealed anything to B&W, then Wigand, reassured, talks to Bergman about the seven CEOs (whom he calls the seven dwarfs) of "Big Tobacco", who, he says, committed perjury before the Congress of the US while testifying about their pretended lack of awareness of the addictiveness of nicotine. Bergman tells Wigand that he must decide for himself whether to blow the whistle on Big Tobacco.
Bergman returns to the CBS News headquarters, in New York City, where he, Wallace, and others discuss Wigand's situation. A CBS lawyer at the meeting concedes that Wigand's confidentiality agreement effectively silences him. Bergman, however, suggests that, if a court calls Wigand as a witness during a proceeding of some sort against one or more of the firms in Big Tobacco, then the confidentiality agreement would not prevent the court from compelling Wigand to testify. They believe that, if Wigand gives testimony under those circumstances, then afterward he could, without violating the confidentiality agreement, lawfully give an interview for ''60 Minutes'' about the matter revealed in a public deposition (directed by a court).
The Wigand family move into an adequate but more modest house in a different neighborhood, and Wigand gets a job to teach chemistry and Japanese at a high school in Louisville. Soon one night Barbara, the older daughter, awakes Jeff and alerts him to the sounds of someone in the backyard. Jeff arms himself, goes outside, and sees just a raccoon, but he also finds a fresh human footprint in his newly planted garden.
The next night, while Wigand and Bergman eat dinner, Lowell asks Jeff about incidents from his past -- incidents which Big Tobacco might use against him -- to embarrass him, discredit him, or deflect attention from his testimony. Jeff reveals several incriminating incidents, then he says that he does not see how they would affect his testimony; Bergman assures him that they will.
Bergman contacts Richard Scruggs (Feore), a private attorney, who, with Ron Motley (McGill), another private attorney, acting on behalf of the State of Mississippi in cooperation with Mike Moore, the state attorney general, has filed a suit against Big Tobacco, seeking to require a total of 13 tobacco manufacturers to reimburse the state for Medicaid funds used and other public-health expenses incurred due to the treatment of illnesses induced by smoking. [Mississippi was the first state to sue the tobacco companies, and the attorneys general of 45 other states later joined in the litigation.] Scruggs expresses an interest in Bergman's idea, and he asks him to ask Wigand to call them.
Meanwhile Jeff receives an e-mail death threat against both him and his family, and he finds a bullet in his mailbox, so he contacts the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), some of whose agents not only subtly accuse him of emotional imbalance but also confiscate his computer for “evidence” (for an undisclosed purpose). Some of the agents behave in a questionable manner, then Lowell contacts an official of the FBI in Washington, DC, reports the behavior, and raises a question about the possibility of improper collusion between the agents and certain retired agents now in the employ of Brown & Williamson. The contact person in Washington promises to look into it.
Wigand, enraged over the threats to his family, phones Bergman and demands to fly to New York City immediately to tape an interview.
During Jeff's interview with Mike, Jeff states that B&W, along with others, intentionally makes their cigarettes more addictive, and that the firm has consciously ignored public-health considerations in the interest of profit instead. Jeff describes the chemistry which increases the effect of the nicotine, and he accuses Tom Sandefur, the CEO of B&W, along with the CEOs of the six other major firms in Big Tobacco, of having lied during a hearing before a committee of the Congress of the US.
Jeff begins his new teaching job in Louisville, and he calls Richard Scruggs; one day, when he returns home, he finds Lowell and a security detail of three men, whom Lowell has arranged. Liane, Jeff's wife, struggles under pressure, and she tells him so.
Soon Jeff travels to Pascagoula, Mississippi, to give a deposition; however, while he passes through the passenger terminal at the airport in Louisville, a functionary, with a sloppy and unprofessional gesture, serves him with a copy of a temporary restraining order, which a state court in Kentucky has issued (by a request by B&W), forbidding him from testifying.
Lawyers for B&W have tried to persuade a state judge in Pascagoula to honor the order, but he has thrown it out; however, everyone involved recognizes and agrees that, if Dr. Wigand testifies in Mississippi and returns to Kentucky, then he could face the possibility of his arrest and jailing for contempt of court (due to his alleged disobedience of the order of the Kentucky court).
In Pascagoula Jeff talks with Scruggs, Motley, and Moore, then, after long and intense introspection, he makes a decision; he goes to a Mississippi court and, after a display of courtroom fireworks among the attorneys, including one on behalf of B&W, gives his deposition, during which he says that nicotine acts as a drug.
Afterward Jeff returns to Louisville and to his home, where he finds that Liane has left him and has taken their daughters with her; later she files for divorce.
At the CBS News headquarters the legal counsel for CBS News, Helen Caperelli (Gershon), summons Bergman, Wallace, and others, including Don Hewitt (Hall), the creator and the executive producer of 60 Minutes. Caperelli invokes and describes a legal theory, called tortious interference (with a contractual relationship): If two parties have an agreement, such as a confidentiality agreement, and if a third party induces one of those first two parties to break the agreement, then the aggrieved party has a right to sue each of the other two for damages for any loss incurred due to the breach. The more truth Wigand tells, the greater the potential damage, the theory says, along with a greater likelihood that CBS may face a multi-billion-dollar lawsuit by Brown & Williamson.
Later Eric Kluster (Tobolowsky), the president of CBS News, announces his decision to air an “alternate” abbreviated segment in the place of the original one, omitting the interview with Wigand; Bergman vehemently disagrees.
Bergman also reveals a recent discovery, which he believes to be the real reason for which several highly placed CBS executives have begun leaning on CBS News to edit the segment -- that is, the fear that the possibility of a suit by B&W might jeopardize the pending sale of CBS to Westinghouse, along with the fear of the possibility of the loss or reduction of profits to certain CBS executives who own substantial numbers of shares of stock in CBS. Bergman quotes from a document in a filing now before the SEC, which names specific people who would benefit from the pending sale, including Helen Caperelli, who would receive a profit of 3.9 million dollars, and Eric Kluster, 1.4 million dollars. [The CEO of CBS at that time, Laurence Tisch, owned almost 25 percent of the stock outstanding in CBS; he owned also a corporation which owned the Lorillard Tobacco Company, which was then the fifth largest such firm in the US.]
Wallace and Hewitt agree to edit the segment, leaving Bergman alone to advocate airing it uncensored.
In an attempt to discredit Dr. Wigand and his testimony, one or more of the members of Big Tobacco hire the firm of Terry Linzner, a well-known investigative lawyer, based in Washington, DC, which then starts a smear campaign against Wigand by dredging every possible tiny negative detail from his personal history and by turning over the information to the public-relations (PR) firm of John Scanlon (Torn), in New York City, which then publishes and circulates a 500-page dossier to various people in the news media.
Bergman obtains a copy of that document, which contains numerous false, twisted, distorted, and exaggerated claims; he also learns that an editor at The Wall Street Journal will soon publish an article about Wigand and his perceived credibility. However, Bergman contacts the editor and persuades him to delay the story long enough to obtain a verification. Bergman arranges for Jack Palladino (playing himself), an attorney and investigator, based in San Francisco, California, to evaluate the dossier, then he presents the results to the editor of the Journal, who in turn delays the deadline and assigns two of his reporters to examine Bergman's (that is, Palladino's) findings, which include the discovery of a number of misrepresentations of the quotations from sources listed in the dossier from Linzner, Scanlon, and Big Tobacco.
Still, though, because of the infighting at CBS News about the segment, Don Hewitt orders Bergman to take a “vacation” for a while -- “now”.
Soon 60 Minutes airs the abbreviated segment -- without the full interview with Dr. Wigand, then with some difficulty Lowell completes a telephone call to Jeff, who eventually speaks with him in an extremely angry, agitated, and displeased way. Jeff accuses Lowell of having manipulated him; Lowell defends not only his own motive and behavior but also the value of Jeff and his testimony.
From a distant part of the US, while waiting for a different major news story to break, Lowell calls an editor at The New York Times and confirms to him a rumor which he had already heard -- that 60 Minutes was “sitting on something explosive” -- along with the revelation that CBS corporate executives had forced the withdrawal of the full interview -- that corporate executives had dictated “what is or is not the news”; the contact consults a managing editor, who decides to place the story on page 1, and who indicates a possibility of “editorial interest”, so Lowell provides the details. The next morning the entire sordid story starts on the front page of The New York Times, and a scathing editorial severely criticizes CBS, accusing it of having “betrayed the legacy of Edward R. Murrow”.
The Wall Street Journal promptly follows with its analysis of the 500-page dossier, which says in part that “most of it seems pretty unsubstantiated”; it quotes Richard Scruggs, calling it “the worst kind of an organized smear campaign against a whistle-blower”. The Journal continues, “A close look at the file and independent research by this newspaper into its key claim indicate that many of the serious allegations [against Dr. Wigand] are backed by scant or contradictory evidence”, and it specifically refutes the Big Tobacco smear campaign as “the lowest form of character assassination”. The Journal further prints Jeff's deposition (from Mississippi) in its entirety.
Eventually 60 Minutes airs the original segment, including the full interview with Dr. Wigand by Mike Wallace.
Lowell then tells Mike that, despite the belated broadcast of the uncensored segment, he intends to quit, saying, “What got broken here doesn't go back together again”.
After the last scene the movie ends with a written presentation of certain details about the outcome:
In 1996 Dr. Wigand received the award of the Sallie Mae First-class Teacher of the Year, as one of 51 such recipients nationwide.
In November 1998 B&W and three other tobacco manufacturers (Philip Morris, Lorillard, and R.J. Reynolds) entered into a settlement agreement with the attorneys general of 46 states plus the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the US Virgin Islands. [Already Florida, Minnesota, Mississippi, and Texas had reached their own respective individual agreements with the tobacco industry.] The master agreement calls for the four tobacco firms to pay about 206 billion dollars to the states, most of which (about 183 billion dollars) is payable in annual installments from 2000 through 2025.
Dr. Wigand in 2014 lives in Mount Pleasant, Michigan.
Lowell Bergman in 2014 holds an endowed distinguished professorship in the Graduate School of Journalism at UC Berkeley; he also serves as a producer and correspondent for the Frontline series at PBS.
The Intern (2015)
Color
Older male intern mentors younger female CEO
The Intern
"Seventy-year-old widower Ben Whittaker, a retired executive from DEX One, applies to a senior citizen intern program, after retirement has become too boring for him. He applies to About The Fit, a fast-growing e-commerce fashion startup in Brooklyn. Founder and CEO Jules Ostin had previously agreed to a community outreach program where seniors would intern at the firm. Ben impresses everyone and is one of four hired.
Ben is assigned to work with Jules, who is somewhat skeptical at first. Initially frozen out by her, Ben slowly wins over co-workers with his congeniality and gets into Jules's good graces. Ben heads to work one day extra early to organize a messy desk that Jules had complained about previously. After work, Ben notices Jules's chauffeur drinking, convinces the driver to leave and drives Jules home himself, a role he retains in days to come.
Ben eventually reveals that he once worked in the very same building where About The Fit is now based. He develops a romantic relationship with the in-house massage therapist, Fiona, and becomes something of a father figure to several of the younger workers: by offering advice about issues such as love, clothes sense and work/life balance. He provides another with a place to stay at his brownstone after his colleague is evicted by his parents. Ben becomes very committed to Jules, and even breaks into the house of Jules' mother to delete an embarrassingly scathing email, narrowly avoiding getting arrested in the process. Ben also gets to know Jules' family. Her husband, Matt, gave up his own career to be a stay-at-home dad to their daughter, Paige (JoJo Kushner), when About The Fit started to take off. However, their marriage is slowly breaking apart as the couple grows more distant.
Meanwhile, Jules is under pressure to give up her post of CEO to someone outside of the company as her investors feel that she is unable to cope with the workload, having grown About The Fit from a startup founded in her kitchen to a 220-employee juggernaut in only eighteen months. Believing it will give her more time at home with her family, Jules is willing to consider the proposal. When driving Paige home from a party, Ben discovers that Matt is having an affair with another parent at Paige's school. While on a business trip in San Francisco to interview a potential CEO candidate, Jules reveals that she knows about Matt's cheating, but did not confront Matt about it because she was not ready to deal with it.
In an effort to buy herself time to save her marriage, Jules decides to hire a prospective CEO. When Jules goes to Ben's home the next day, Ben greatly encourages Jules to think about how much this will change her authority and how her creativity may be hindered and also reminds her of her passion for her company. Matt unexpectedly drops in at the office and urges her to reconsider, saying that he is sorry, ashamed, and wants to support her in her dreams. Jules goes out looking for Ben, wanting to tell him that she has changed her mind and finds him enjoying his Tai Chi exercise group. She finally lets herself relax and joins him.
The Internship (2013)
Color
Two non-tech savvy, out-of-work salesmen take an internship at a Google
The Internship
"Billy McMahon and Nick Campbell seek employment after being laid off from their positions as watch salesmen when their employer goes out of business. Billy then applies for an internship at Google for the two of them, and they are accepted due to their unorthodox interview answers, despite a lack of relevant experience. They are the only interns not of traditional collegiate age. They will spend the summer competing in teams against other interns, also known as "Nooglers", in a variety of tasks, and only the members of the winning team will be guaranteed jobs with Google. Billy and Nick are teamed with other interns seen as rejects: Stuart, who is usually engrossed in his smart phone; Yo-Yo, a Filipino-American who was homeschooled by a stereotypical overbearing Asian mother; and Neha, an Indian-American who is an enthusiast of nerd-related kink. The team is led by Lyle, who constantly tries to act hip in order to hide his insecurities. Another intern, Graham, bullies Billy and Nick's team. Mr. Chetty, the head of the internship program, also expresses his doubts about the older men's abilities. Stuart, Yo-Yo, and Neha see Billy and Nick as useless during a task focused on debugging and send them on a wild goose chase to find the fictional character, Professor X. But later, during a game of quidditch against Graham's team, Billy rallies his team to a comeback that unifies them as a team despite ultimately losing after Graham cheats.
When the teams are tasked with developing an app, Billy and Nick convince the team to indulge in a wild night out. At a strip club in San Francisco's Chinatown District, Neha admits to Billy that, despite her rich fantasy life, she has no real-world experience and is nervous. With his support, she decides to stay. Nick gets Yo-Yo to break out of his shell by drinking and receiving lap dances. And, encouraged by Billy, Lyle approaches one of the dancers, Marielena, who is also a dance instructor at Google on whom he had developed a crush. She is charmed by him, but another customer challenges Lyle for her attention and a fight breaks out. The team is ejected from the club. Before sunrise that same night, overlooking the Golden Gate Bridge, Stuart learns to appreciate his surroundings, and Lyle's drunken antics inspire the team to create an app that guards against reckless phone usage while drunk. They win the task by earning the most downloads.
Meanwhile, Nick has been flirting with an executive, Dana, with little success. When he begins attending technical presentations to impress her, he develops an interest in the material. While the teams prepare to staff the technical support hotline, only Billy feels at a loss. A Google employee, "Headphones", who always wears headphones and never socializes, approaches Billy and tells him that the way he interacts with people is special. He tutors Billy on the technical information. Dana agrees to go on a date with Nick, and she invites him in at the end of the evening. During the task, Billy is comfortable with the material, but his team receives no score because he failed to properly log his calls for review. Dejected, Billy leaves Google to pursue a new sales opportunity with his former boss. The final task is announced as a sales challenge. Teams must sign the largest possible company to begin advertising with Google. The team is stunned when Nick tells them that Billy has left, and they declare that they do not want to do the task without him. Nick convinces Billy to return, and Billy leads the team to show a local pizzeria owner how Google can help him interact with potential customers and thereby expand his business, while remaining true to his professional values.
Back at Google headquarters, Chetty is about to award Graham's team, given Lyle's team's non-attendance, when suddenly the screen behind him lights up - Lyle's team dancing with giant Afros to Irene Cara's "Flashdance... What a Feeling", while Billy arrives throwing pizza at everyone. Chetty recognizes that although the pizzeria is not a large business, its potential is limitless because it is expanding via technology. Graham protests and is dressed down by Headphones, who turns out to be the head of Google Search. Nick, Billy, Stuart, Yo-Yo, and Neha are declared the winners and will receive jobs at Google, which the latter three will start after their senior years in college. A furious Graham berates his team for failing to contribute, but Zach, the obese member of the team, has had enough of his bullying and stands up to him by giving Graham a blow to the chest like Graham did to him during the Quidditch match. As the students depart, Nick and Dana are still seeing each other, as are Lyle and Marielena. Stuart and Neha have formed a romantic connection as well. And Yo-Yo asserts himself to his mother (supported wholeheartedly by his father).
Billy gives Nick a bottle of Pappy Van Winkle Bourbon as a gift and the two walk off campus, toasting the summer as the film ends.
The Interview (2014)
Color
Reporter gets chance to interview Kim Jong, CIA asks him to help them assassinate him
The Interview
"Dave Skylark (James Franco), host of the talk show Skylark Tonight, interviews celebrities about personal topics. After Dave and his crew celebrate their 1,000th episode, they discover that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un (Randall Park) is a fan of Skylark Tonight, prompting the show's producer Aaron Rapoport (Seth Rogen) to arrange an interview. Aaron travels to rural China to receive instructions from Sook (Diana Bang), a North Korean official, and Dave accepts the task of interviewing Kim.
CIA agent Lacey (Lizzy Caplan) proposes a plan to assassinate Kim to facilitate a coup d'etat by use of a transdermal strip that will expose Kim to ricin via handshake. Dave and Aaron reluctantly agree. Upon their arrival in North Korea, a military officer discovers the strip in a pack of gum and chews it. Lacey drop-ships two more strips from a UAV and instructs Aaron to retrieve them.
Dave spends the day with Kim, who persuades him that he is misunderstood, and they become friends. At a state dinner, the officer exposed to the ricin has a seizure and, dying, inadvertently shoots and kills another officer. The next morning, Dave, feeling guilty, thwarts Aaron's attempt to poison Kim. At another dinner, Dave realizes Kim's true destructive nature and discovers the grocery store he commended earlier is a facade.
Aaron and Sook confess their attraction to each other; Sook reveals that she despises Kim and apologizes for defending the regime's propaganda. Dave, Aaron and Sook form a plan to break Kim's cult of personality. During the internationally televised interview with Kim, Dave addresses increasingly sensitive topics, challenging Kim's need for his father's approval. Kim cries and soils himself, debunking propaganda that he does not urinate or defecate. Kim shoots Dave, who survives via bulletproof vest.
Dave, Aaron and Sook escape in a tank, with Kim pursuing them in a helicopter. Before Kim can issue the command to launch North Korea's nuclear missiles, Dave destroys the helicopter with the tank, killing Kim and aborting the launch. Sook guides Dave and Aaron to an escape route and they are rescued by SEAL Team Six members disguised as North Korean troops. Dave writes a book about his experience, and North Korea, with Sook's help, becomes a democracy.
The Invisible Woman (2013)
Color
Affair Charles Dickens has with teen actress
The Invisible Woman
"In 1857, eighteen year old English actress Ellen "Nelly" Ternan (Felicity Jones) is noticed by forty-five year old writer Charles Dickens (Ralph Fiennes) while she is performing at London's Haymarket Theatre. Soon after, he casts her, along with her mother Catherine (Kristin Scott Thomas) and sister Maria (Perdita Weeks), in a performance of The Frozen Deep by Wilkie Collins at Dickens' Free Trade Hall in Manchester. At a party following the performance, the famous author and the actress share a brief moment alone.
Sometime later, Nelly and her family attend one of Dickens' readings at the Harrow Speech Room in London. Afterwards, Dickens is delighted to see Nelly again. Soon after, Dickens takes the Ternan family to Doncaster Racecourse and begins to spend more time with them. Having become disillusioned with his wife, who does not share his energy and passion for literature and ideas, Dickens cherishes his time with the young actress who shares his interests and passions. Nelly in turn loves spending time with the famous novelist.
One day, Dickens walks from his Gads Hill Place country home to East London to see Nelly perform in a play. Afterwards her mother invites him back to their modest cottage for a visit. Noticing the shared looks between Dickens and her daughter, Catherine later cautions him that she cannot afford to put her daughter's reputation at risk. Dickens assures her that he has no intention of compromising her good name. After organizing a reading and fundraiser to benefit London's "fallen women" and their children, Dickens invites the Ternan family to his home, where Nelly examines with fascination the author's books, manuscripts, and writing instruments. When they are alone, they share details and secrets about their lives and upbringings, and the two grow closer.
Later, Catherine confides to her daughter Maria her feelings about the growing bond between Nelly and Dickens, and that their relationship may offer Nelly the kind of stable future she would not find in the theatre, knowing that Nelly is not as talented as her sisters. Nelly overhears the conversation and is angered and confused by her mother's plans for her to become the mistress of a married man. Soon after, Dickens' wife Catherine (Joanna Scanlan) visits Nelly at her home to deliver a jeweled bracelet birthday gift from her husband, which was delivered to her by mistake.
After the birthday party, Dickens and Collins arrive and take her to the house that Collins shares with his mistress Caroline Graves (Michelle Fairley) and her daughter. There, Nelly sees the kind of arrangement Dickens may have in mind for her. Later in the carriage outside her cottage, she confronts Dickens about the suggested arrangement and objects to the idea of being his "whore". After apologizing and confessing that he no longer loves his wife, Dickens accompanies Nelly inside where he comforts her. Soon after, Dickens announces in The Times his "amicable" separation from his wife while boldly denying the rumors of an affair with Nelly. Dickens' wife and children are devastated by the news.
In the coming days, Nelly's mother assures her that he is an "honorable man", while Collins reminds her that he is a "great man" and urges her to break with old conventions. When she visits Dickens at his home, he assures her that he has broken with the past and shows her the manuscript of a new novel that he's just completed, Great Expectations. After reading it she expresses her approval of the ending which does not bring Estella and Pip together. Dickens reads to her from the novel as if speaking directly to her:
You have been in every prospect I have ever seen since,--on the river, on the sails of the ships, on the marshes, in the clouds, in the light, in the darkness, in the wind, in the woods, in the sea, in the streets. You have been the embodiment of every graceful fancy that my mind has ever become acquainted with ... Estella, to the last hour of my life, you cannot choose but remain part of my character, part of the little good in me, part of the evil.[5]
Dickens and Nelly become lovers and she finds happiness as his mistress and companion. They spend time in France and soon she becomes pregnant, but the child dies during childbirth. After saving a lock of the child's hair, Dickens signs the death certificate "M. Charles Trigham". Shortly after returning to England from France in the spring of 1865, Dickens and Nelly board a train at Folkestone headed for London. Near Staplehurst in Kent, the train derails killing ten passengers. After rescuing Nelly, Dickens tends to the injured and dying with his flask of brandy. Nelly observes him retrieve a manuscript page of an episode of Our Mutual Friend on which he had been working.
In the coming years, Nelly remains his secret mistress until his death in 1870. In 1876, she marries Oxford graduate George Wharton Robinson, twelve years her junior. The couple have a son and run a boys' school at Margate. While knowing that she knew Charles Dickens as a child, George does not suspect that she was his mistress. Only the Reverend Benham knows her secret. As she watches her son perform in a school play, she remembers the epilogue lines she spoke on stage in The Frozen Deep for Dickens:
This is a tale of woe, this is a tale of sorrow, a love denied, a love restored to live beyond tomorrow. Lest we think silence is the place to hide a heavy heart, remember to love and be loved is life itself, without which we are naught.
The Jane Austen Book Club (2007)
Color
Six book club members' lives come to resemble Jane Austen's novell
The Jane Austen Book Club
"The book club is the brainchild of fiftysomething six-time divorcee Bernadette, who latches onto the idea when she meets Prudie, a prim, married high school French teacher in her mid-20s, at a Jane Austen film festival. Her concept is to have six members discuss all of Austen's six novels, with each member hosting the group once a month. Also inducted into the club are Sylvia, a fortysomething librarian who recently has separated from her philandering lawyer husband Daniel after more than two decades of marriage; Sylvia's 20-something lesbian daughter Allegra; Jocelyn, a happily unmarried control freak and breeder of Rhodesian Ridgebacks who has been Sylvia's friend since childhood; and Grigg, a science fiction fan who's roped into the group by Jocelyn with the hope he and Sylvia will prove to be a compatible match.
As the months pass, each of the members develops characteristics similar to those of Austen's characters and reacts to events in their lives in much the same way their fictional counterparts would. Bernadette is the matriarch figure who longs to see everyone find happiness. Sylvia clings to her belief in steadfast love and devotion, and eventually reconciles with Daniel. Jocelyn denies her own feelings for Grigg while playing matchmaker for him and Sylvia. Prudie, encumbered with her inattentive husband Dean and a free-spirited, pot-smoking, aging-hippie mother, a product of the 1960s counterculture, finds herself desperately trying not to succumb to her feelings for her seductive student Trey. Allegra, who tends to meet her lovers while engaging in death-defying activities, feels betrayed when she discovers her current partner, aspiring writer Corinne, has used Allegra's life as the basis for her short stories. Grigg is attracted to Jocelyn and mystified by her seeming lack of interest in him, marked by her failure to read the Ursula K. Le Guin novels he has hoped will catch her fancy. He also serves as the comedic foil to Jocelyn and Prudie's very serious takes on the books.
The Jensen Project (2010)
Color
Society of young geniuses strives to find solutions to the world's problems
The Jensen Project
After 16 years absence from the Jensen Project, a secret community of geniuses conducting advanced underground to resolve the world's problems, Matt (Brady Smith) and Claire Thompson (Kellie Martin) are asked to come back and stop Edwin Jensen (David Andrews) from using nanobots to take over other people. To create these nanobots, Edwin needs a molecular assembler, which he steals. With the help of Kendrick James (LeVar Burton), Ginny (Myl?ne Dinh-Robic) and Ingrid Jensen (Patricia Richardson), Matt and Claire use chemical traces of gold and silicon to track down the location of the assembler. They are misled, but their son, Brody (Justin Kelly), and his new friend from the Project, Samantha (Alyssa Diaz), manage to trace Edwin through a voice tracker and retrieve the molecular assembler. Brody is caught and implanted with nanobots. Edwin threatens to kill Brody with the nanobots if the molecular assembler is not returned to him. The Project members mount a successful mission to destroy Edwin's laboratory and capture Edwin before he can execute his plan to harm anyone with the nanobots.
The Josephine Baker Story (1991)
Color
The behind-the-scenes story of the private life of Josephine Baker
The Josephine Baker Story
The film told the life of that of Josephine Baker, an African-American, who rose to popularity in France in the late-1920s with her "banana dance". In this dance, Baker wore only bananas on her bottom and went topless during most performances. Unlike most biographical films, The Josephine Baker Story deeply enters the personal life of Baker, rather than just her life in the public eye.
The Killing Room (2009)
Color
People volunteer for a research study, but it's actually a horrific government experiment
The Killing Room
"Four individuals sign up for a psychological research study only to discover that they are now subjects of a brutal, modern version of the Project MKULTRA indoctrination program. One by one, the subjects are brought into a large, white room, in which the tables and chairs have been bolted to the floor.
They are each given a questionnaire to fill out. In the meantime, a researcher enters the room, ostensibly to give an overview of the study. He indicates to the subjects--three men and a woman--that the study will take approximately eight hours to complete, at which time they will each be paid $250. Upon completing his introduction, the researcher shoots the female subject in the head with a gun and promptly leaves the room.
Over the next few hours, the remaining three male subjects will be subjected to additional physical and psychological brutality. Only one subject will survive the ordeal. This subject manages to escape into the building. The loudspeaker gives details of where the subject is in the building. It is then realized that the subject is going where he is supposed to be. He ends up in a room with two other males tied to their chairs. The loudspeaker then states that phase 2 is to begin.
It is revealed, during the last subject's escape attempt, that the goal of the covert program is to achieve in human civilians a phenomenon similar to apoptosis in cells (a comparison noted in the film), by developing "civilian weapons" akin to suicide bombers.
The King and I (1956)
Color
Englishwoman comes to Siam to teach, and finds herself at odds with a stubborn king
The King and I
"Strong-willed, widowed schoolteacher Anna Leonowens arrives in Bangkok from Wales with her young son Louis after being summoned to tutor the many children of King Mongkut. The two are introduced to the intimidating Kralahome, King Mongkut's confidante and Siam's prime minister. The Kralahome explains he has come to escort them to the Royal Palace where they will live -- a violation of Anna's contract, which calls for them to live in a separate house outside the walls of the palace. Despite her threat to leave, Anna reluctantly disembarks with Louis and the Kralahome.
Once inside the Royal Palace, Anna demands to see King Mongkut and is allowed by the Kralahome to enter the Throne Room. A pleased Mongkut ignores her objections as he introduces her to his numerous wives -- who include head wife Lady Thiang and a graceful girl from Burma named Tuptim. King Mongkut then presents the fifteen children she will tutor, aside from the other sixty-seven - among them his eldest son and heir Prince Chulalongkorn. Anna agrees to stay and tutor the King's children, prompting formality to break down. Later that night, Lady Thiang and the other wives assist Anna in unpacking, and when an old photograph of her late husband Tom is discovered, the wives start to deride the unhappy Tuptim because she is in love with another man named Lun Tha, the same man who brought her to Siam.
Anna refuses to give up on the house and teaches the children about the virtues of home life to King Mongkut's irritation, who contemplates how he craves truth and wonders why the world has become so complicated with different cultures saying different things. Meanwhile, Anna starts to form a relationship with the children as getting to know people is her favorite thing to teach. The lesson, however, creates disorder when the children refuse to believe in the existence of snow, which they have never seen. The King enters a chaotic schoolroom and, upon noticing Tuptim has a copy of the novel Uncle Tom's Cabin, engages in a slightly heated conversation with Anna about slavery -- an institution embraced by all his people.
That night, Anna is summoned to the King's private chambers where he says that after reading the Bible, he believes that the world was not created in six days, but after many centuries. The King disregards her explanation and orders her to take a letter to President Abraham Lincoln, in which he will send male elephants to America to help with the Civil War, forcing her to sit on the floor due to an ancient custom that no one's head should be higher than his. She is left to finish the letter herself when she tries to explain that the elephants will not last long if only male elephants are sent. Anna goes outside, only to come across Lun Tha and learn that he has been meeting Tuptim in secret. He asks her to arrange a rendezvous and she refuses out of fear but eventually relents after remembering her past with her husband. The lovers meet under the cover of darkness and Lun Tha promises he will one day return to Siam and they will escape together.
The next day, King Mongkut becomes troubled by reports of spreading British imperialism and bursts into the schoolroom after hearing Anna's pupils persist in singing "Home Sweet Home." Anna stands her ground, threatening to leave Siam despite pleas from the children. King Mongkut asserts that Anna is his servant only to see her repudiate the term and leave the room. Lady Thiang visits Anna later that night and explains Mongkut is apprehensive over rumors that the British regard him as a barbaric leader, intending to turn Siam into a protectorate. Anna is shocked by the accusations but is reluctant to give him advice after their argument. Lady Thiang convinces her that the King is deserving of support and convinces Anna to go to the King. Anna learns the King is also anxious for reconciliation and learns that the British are sending an envoy to evaluate the situation in Bangkok. Upon learning that the envoy consists of Ambassador Sir John Hay and her old lover Sir Edward Ramsay, Anna persuades the King to receive them in European style by hosting a banquet with European food and music -- after which it is announced that the envoy is arriving in one week. The King promises to give Anna a house of her own in return for her help.
On the night of the banquet, Sir Edward reminisces with Anna about old times in an attempt to bring her back to British society. The king however walks in on them dancing and irritably reminds them that dancing is for after dinner. After impressing the guests with his intellectual observations, the king presents Tuptim's version of Uncle Tom's Cabin -- which is presented as a traditional Siamese ballet. However, the King and the Kralahome are not impressed as the play involves the issue of slavery and shows the slaveholding King dead after drowning in the river. By the time Sir John calls for the play's author, Tuptim has left the room to run away with Lun Tha.
After the guests have departed, Anna talks with the king and is presented with one of his rings in appreciation of her efforts. He then explains he is not pleased with Tuptim and reveals she is missing. Anna however parries his inquiry by explaining she is unhappy because she is just another woman in his eyes. The King retorts that men are entitled to a plenitude of wives although women must remain faithful. Anna explains the reality of one man loving only one woman and recalls her first dance before teaching the King how to dance the polka, but the touching moment is shattered when the Kralahome bursts into the room with news that Tuptim has been captured. For her dishonor, the King prepares to whip her despite Anna's pleas. She implies that he is a barbarian with no heart and that she will stay to watch the King's actions. The King then crumples, puts his hand over his heart and runs out of the room. The Kralahome blames Anna for ruining him and now he can never be the king he was before. Tuptim meanwhile is led away in tears when she learns that Lun Tha is dead, his body discovered in the river. This causes Anna to return the ring, sever all ties as a governess and leave on the next boat from Siam.
On the night of her departure, Anna is prepared to leave Siam with Louis when Lady Thiang says that the King is dying. He refuses to eat or sleep, isolating himself from everyone since the night of the banquet. Lady Thiang gives Anna an unfinished letter from the King that states his deep gratitude and respect for her, despite his harsh differences with her. This prompts her to go to his bedside in tears moments before their ship departs for Britain. The King gives Anna his ring, insisting that she wear it as she has always spoken the truth to him, persuading her and Louis to stay. King Mongkut then passes his title to Prince Chulalongkorn, who then issues a proclamation that brings an end to slavery and states that all subjects will no longer bow down to him. Satisfied that he is leaving his kingdom in capable hands, the King quietly dies with only Anna and the Kralahome present to mourn his passing.
The King's Speech (2010)
Color
King with struggles employs speech therapist to help him make important speech
The King's Speech
"Prince Albert, Duke of York (Colin Firth), the second son of King George V, stammers through his speech closing the 1925 British Empire Exhibition at Wembley Stadium. The Duke has given up hope of a cure, but his wife Elizabeth (Helena Bonham Carter) persuades him to see Lionel Logue (Geoffrey Rush), an Australian speech therapist in London. During their first session, Logue breaches royal etiquette and insists on calling his patient "Bertie," a name used only within the Duke's family. When Albert decides Logue's methods and manner are unsuitable, the Australian bets a shilling that the Duke can recite Hamlet's "To be, or not to be" soliloquy without trouble while listening to The Marriage of Figaro played out loud on headphones. Logue records his performance on a gramophone record; convinced he has stammered throughout, Albert leaves in a huff, declaring his condition "hopeless" and dismissing Logue. Logue offers him the recording as a keepsake.
After King George V (Michael Gambon) makes his 1934 Christmas radio address, he explains to Albert the importance of broadcasting to a modern monarchy. He declares that "David" (Edward, Prince of Wales, played by Guy Pearce), Albert's older brother, will bring ruin to himself, the family, and the country when he accedes to the throne, leaving Chancellor Hitler and Premier Stalin to sort out matters in Europe. King George demands that Albert train himself, starting with a reading of his father's speech. He makes an agonising attempt to do so.
Later, Albert plays Logue's recording and hears himself unhesitatingly reciting Shakespeare. He returns to Logue, but he and his wife insist that Logue stop delving into his private life and merely work on the physical aspects. Logue teaches his patient muscle relaxation and breath control techniques, but continues to probe gently at the psychological roots of the stutter. The Duke eventually reveals some of the pressures of his childhood: his tense relationship with his unloving and strict father, the repression of his natural left-handedness, painful childhood metal splints to correct his knock-knees, long term physical abuse by his nanny, and the early death of his beloved epileptic younger brother, John. The two men become friends.
In January 1936, George V dies, and David ascends the throne as King Edward VIII, but causes a monumental crisis with his determination to marry Mrs Wallis Simpson (Eve Best), an American socialite who is still legally married to her second husband. At Christmas in Balmoral Castle, Albert points out that Edward, as head of the Church of England, cannot marry Mrs. Simpson, even if she receives a divorce; Edward accuses his brother of wanting to usurp his place, citing his elocution lessons as preparation, and resurrects his childhood taunt of "B-B-B-Bertie".
At his next session, Albert expresses his frustration that his speech has improved while talking to most people--except his own brother. Albert reveals the extent of Edward VIII's folly with Mrs Simpson. When Logue insists that Albert could be a good king instead of his brother, the latter labels such a suggestion as treason, mocks Logue's failed acting aspirations and humble origins, and dismisses him. When King Edward VIII abdicates to marry Mrs Simpson, Albert becomes King George VI. The new King and Queen visit Logue at his home to apologise, startling Logue's wife (who had been kept in the dark about the patient's identity).
During preparations for his coronation in Westminster Abbey, George VI learns that Logue has no formal qualifications. Logue explains that, as an elocution teacher, he was asked to help shell-shocked Australian soldiers returning from the First World War, and thereby found his calling. When George VI remains convinced of his unfitness to be king, Logue sits in King Edward's Chair and dismisses the underlying Stone of Scone as a trifle. Goaded by Logue's seeming disrespect, the King surprises himself with his own sudden outraged eloquence.
Upon the declaration of war with Nazi Germany in September 1939, George VI summons Logue to Buckingham Palace to prepare for his upcoming radio address to millions of listeners in Britain and the Empire. The King is left alone with Logue in the room with the microphone. He delivers his speech competently, as if to Logue alone, who guides him silently throughout. Afterwards, the King and his family step onto the balcony of the palace to be viewed and applauded by the thousands who have gathered.
A title card explains that Logue was always present at King George VI's speeches during the war, and that they remained friends for the rest of their lives.
The Lady Vanishes (1938)
Black & White
Woman aboard a train becomes alarmed when an acquaintance of hers vanishes
The Lady Vanishes
"English tourist Iris Henderson and her friends Blanche and Julie are in the fictional European country of Bandrika. Iris is returning home to get married, but an avalanche has blocked the railway line. The stranded passengers are forced to spend the night at a hotel. In the same predicament are Charters and Caldicott, English cricket enthusiasts anxious to see the last days of the Test match in Manchester, and Miss Froy, a governess and music teacher who is returning home to England. Miss Froy listens to a folk singer in the street; he is strangled to death by an unseen murderer.
That evening, Iris is bothered by a loud noise from the room above hers. She complains to the hotel manager. Finding Gilbert Redman, an ethnomusicologist, playing a clarinet and transcribing folk music of the region whilst three locals dance for him, the manager throws him out of his room. Gilbert gets revenge by staying in Iris's room until eventually she capitulates and gets the manager to give him back his room.
The next morning at the train station, Iris is hit on the head by a large planter dropped from above. Miss Froy, who is nearby, helps Iris onto the train. Also on board are Charters and Caldicott, Gilbert, a lawyer named Eric Todhunter and his mistress, who is passing herself off as "Mrs. Todhunter." As a result of her injury, Iris faints. She comes to in a compartment with Miss Froy and several strangers. She joins Miss Froy in the dining car for tea. Soon after, they return to their compartment, where Iris falls asleep.
When Iris wakes up, Miss Froy has vanished. The other passengers in her compartment deny having seen her. Todhunter, who spoke with Miss Froy earlier, pretends not to remember her to avoid drawing attention to his liaison with his mistress. Iris searches for Miss Froy with Gilbert's assistance. Brain surgeon Dr. Hartz says Iris may be suffering from "concussion-related hallucinations." Charters and Caldicott also claim not to remember Miss Froy because they fear that any delay would make them miss the cricket match.
At the first stop, Dr. Hartz's patient, covered in bandages from top to toe and on a stretcher, is brought aboard. Madame Kummer, dressed exactly like Miss Froy, appears in her place, but Iris and Gilbert continue searching. They are attacked by a knife-wielding magician, Signor Doppo, who was in Iris's compartment. They suspect that Dr. Hartz's patient has been replaced by Miss Froy. Dr. Hartz tells his fellow conspirator, a British woman dressed as a nun, to drug Iris and Gilbert. Then, convinced they will soon be asleep, Hartz admits to them that he is involved in the conspiracy. The false nun does not follow Hartz's instructions out of loyalty to her fellow countrymen; Gilbert and Iris escape, free Miss Froy and replace her with Madame Kummer.
When the train stops near the border, Dr. Hartz discovers the switch. He has part of the train diverted onto a branch line, where soldiers wait. Gilbert and Iris inform their fellow passengers of what is happening. A uniformed soldier boards and requests that they all accompany him. They knock him out and take his pistol. Another soldier fires, wounding Charters in the hand, and a shootout begins.
During the gunfight, Miss Froy tells Gilbert and Iris that she must get away. Just in case, she gives them a message (encoded in a tune) to deliver to the Foreign Office in Whitehall--the same tune that the murdered street musician performed for her. Gilbert memorises it. Miss Froy then slips away into the forest. Todhunter attempts to surrender, waving a white handkerchief, and is shot dead. Gilbert and Caldicott then commandeer the locomotive, and the group escapes across the border.
In London, Charters and Caldicott discover the Test Match has been cancelled due to flooding. Seeing her fiance from a distance, Iris jumps into a cab with Gilbert. He kisses her. They arrive at the Foreign Office, but in the waiting room Gilbert realises he cannot remember the vital tune. As they are led into the office, Gilbert and Iris then hear it. The doors open, revealing Miss Froy is playing the tune on a piano.
The Ladykillers (2004)
Color
Gang digs tunnel to rob casino boat, and must kill the landlady when she finds out
The Ladykillers
"Mrs. Marva Munson (Irma P. Hall), an elderly, God-fearing widow meets Professor Goldthwaite Higginson Dorr (Tom Hanks), who expresses his interest in the room she has to let and asks to use her basement for rehearsals of an early music ensemble he directs. She accepts the terms and agrees. The fellow musicians in the pretend ensemble are actually a gang of criminals, named Lump (Ryan Hurst), The General (Tzi Ma), Garth Pancake (J. K. Simmons), and Gawain (Marlon Wayans).
With all of their talents combined, the group of criminals plan to dig a tunnel through the crumbling, dried earth that has piled up in Mrs. Munson's basement and conclude that they will emerge in the vault of the casino.
After a series of comical mishaps that threaten to derail their plan, they break through the wall of the vault and snatch the loot. Mrs. Munson subsequently finds out what her tenant has done, and outraged, she tells Dorr to return the money and go with her to church on Sunday or else she will call the police. The gang decides to murder her. Through another series of comical mishaps, all the criminals end up dying while trying to kill Mrs. Munson. Gawain is shot by Garth, Garth is strangled by The General, The General falls and breaks his neck, Lump accidentally shoots himself, and Dorr gets hanged by his coat after being hit with a statue head. The police refuse to believe her story about the robbery, and tell her to keep the money she found, which she gives to Bob Jones University.
The Last Days of Frankie the Fly (1997)
Color
Mafia flunky falls for junkie porn star and tries to save her
The Last Days of Frankie the Fly
Frankie (Hopper) is a leg man for the mob, and works for Sal (Madsen) and his sidekick, Vic (Callie). Frankie goes to the set of a porno one day, directed by his friend Joey (Sutherland), a NYU film school graduate who owes Sal money. Frankie immediately becomes infatuated with Margaret (Hannah), a former junkie wants to become a serious actress. Once a good girl who came to Los Angeles to pursue an acting career, tough situations led her to do drugs and prostitution. Frankie becomes fixated on saving Margaret from the path she's on and keeping her from Sal.
The Last King (2016)
Color
Prince born as heir to the throne must be protected
The Last King
With civil war raging in 13th century Norway, a prince is born in secret as the king lies on his deathbed. Taked with protecting the child, two Birch Legs warriors, Skjervald and Torstein, embark on a journey to usher the future king to safety.
The Last of the Mohicans (1992)
Color
Hawkeye saves the Munro sisters, is enmeshed in a battle between the British and French
The Last of the Mohicans
"During the French and Indian War in 1757, Mohican Chingachgook (Russell Means) with his sons, Uncas (Eric Schweig) and adopted white Nathaniel Hawkeye (Daniel Day-Lewis), visit the Cameron frontier household. Friend Jack Winthrop (Edward Blatchford) tells them he is gathering militia for the British army. General Webb agrees to grant the militia leave if their homes are attacked, in return for their reinforcement of Colonel Edmund Munro (Maurice Ro?ves) at Fort William Henry. Newly arrived Major Duncan Heyward (Steven Waddington) and the Huron guide Magua (Wes Studi) are tasked with escorting Munro's daughters, Cora (Madeleine Stowe) and Alice (Jodhi May), from Albany to their father at the fort. Duncan wishes to marry Cora, but she feels only friendship for him. Magua leads the group into an ambush by his Huron party, but Hawkeye, Uncas and Chingachgook save Duncan, Cora and Alice and decide to escort them to the fort.
Along the way the Cameron home is found razed and its occupants murdered, most likely by a war party as nothing has been stolen. The group arrives at the fort which is under siege by the French, but sneak in. Munro is surprised at his daughters' arrival because he sent a letter for them to stay away and requesting reinforcements, but the courier was intercepted by Magua. The fort can only hold for three more days, so a messenger is sent to General Webb for help. Cora and Hawkeye have become attracted to one other, and so when Munro and Hawkeye disagree about the attack on the Cameron home, a jealous Duncan publicly claims that it was done by thieves. He privately confesses to Munro afterwards that Hawkeye was correct, but Munro believes that British interests and the defense of the fort are more important, and refuses to let Jack and the militia leave to defend their homes and families. Cora is disgusted by Duncan for lying and tells him that she will not marry him. Hawkeye secretly helps the militia escape, despite Munro's threats, and is later arrested for sedition and sentenced to hang despite Cora's pleas. The French General Montcalm (Patrice Chereau) generously offers all in the fort safe passage to Albany if they surrender and vow to never fight in North America again. Munro reluctantly accepts after Montcalm shows Webb's intercepted message, showing that no aid is forthcoming.
Magua berates Montcalm for making peace, revealing that his village was destroyed and his children killed by Munro's troops, assisted by the Mohawk; though he regained his freedom from Mohawk captivity, his wife remarried believing he was dead. Montcalm, though intending to honor the terms, tacitly encourages Magua to deal with the British. The retreating British soldiers and their families are ambushed by Magua's men. Magua cuts out Munro's heart from his body, but not before promising to kill Munro's daughters to extinguish his line. Hawkeye, Cora, Alice, Uncas, Chingachgook, Duncan and a few others flee in canoes across Lake George and down a river to a cave behind a waterfall, but Magua and his men are soon upon them. For their safety, Hawkeye urges Cora and Alice to submit if captured and promises he will find them later, then leaps with his father and brother down the waterfall. Magua takes Duncan and the two sisters to a Huron village.
Magua negotiates his captives' fate with the sachem when they are interrupted by the arrival of an unarmed Hawkeye. With Duncan translating in French, Hawkeye convinces the chief that Magua is acting for his own interests like the colonial powers, rather than for the good of the tribe. The chief decides that Cora is to be burned alive to atone for Magua's children, gives Alice to replace Magua's wife so that both bloodlines can continue and orders Duncan's return to the British to placate them. But Magua has stated that he intends to kill Munro's children. Hawkeye is released in recognition of his bravery, but pleads to take Cora's place. Duncan deliberately mistranslates, sacrificing himself instead so Hawkeye and Cora can escape, whilst Magua curses the sachem and departs with Alice and his men. From a safe distance, Hawkeye mercifully shoots Duncan as he is burned alive.
Uncas, who had cared for Alice throughout, races ahead to intercept Magua's band, killing several warriors before engaging Magua. Magua kills him, then drops his body off the cliff. Rather than join Magua, Alice follows Uncas by jumping to her death. Seeing this, an enraged Hawkeye and Chingachgook set upon the Hurons; Chingachgook kills Magua, avenging his son. After a ritual for Uncas with Cora and Hawkeye, Chingachgook announces that he is the last of the Mohicans.
The Last Time I Saw Paris (1954)
Color
Oil investment makes struggling journalist wealthy, causing problems with his marriage
The Last Time I Saw Paris
"As World War II ends in Europe, Stars and Stripes journalist Charles Wills (Van Johnson) is on the streets of Paris, covering the celebrations. He is suddenly grabbed by a beautiful woman, who kisses him and disappears. Charles follows the crowd to Cafe Dhingo and meets another pretty woman named Marion Elliswirth (Donna Reed). The mutual attraction is instant and she invites him to join her father's celebration of the end of the war in Europe. Charles, Marion and her persistent French suitor Claude Matine (George Dolenz) arrive at the Elliswirth household, and we find that the woman who had kissed Charles is Marion's younger sister Helen (Elizabeth Taylor).
Their father, James Elliswirth (Walter Pidgeon), had survived World War I and promptly joined the Lost Generation. Unlike most drifters, he never grew out of it; raising his two daughters to desire such a lifestyle. Helen takes after her father and uses her beauty to sustain a life of luxury even though they are flat broke. Marion goes the other way and looks for serious-minded and conventional young men such as Claude, an aspiring prosecutor, and Charles, the future novelist.
Charles and Helen fall in love and start dating. After Helen recovers from a near-death case of pneumonia, they get married and settle in Paris. James good-naturedly joins the happy family of Charles, with Helen eventually having a daughter Vickie (Sandy Descher). Marion, having lost Charles to Helen, agrees to marry Claude. Charles struggles to make ends meet with his meagre salary, unsuccessfully works on his novels and looks after Vickie.
At about this time, the barren oil fields in Texas James had bought years before finally begin to produce. Charles, to whom James had given the oil fields as a dowry, quits his job, and Helen and James begin to host parties instead of going to them. Sudden wealth changes Helen, who becomes more responsible, while Charles parties his wealth away after quitting his newspaper job and having all his novels rejected by publishers. They also each start to pursue other interests: Helen flirts with handsome tennis player Paul Lane (Roger Moore), while Charles competes in a local Paris-to-Monte Carlo race with professional divorcee Lorraine Quarl (Eva Gabor).
After the race Charles returns to Paris, only to find Helen sitting in Cafe Dhingo with Paul. A fight breaks out between Paul and Charles, and an angry Charles goes home first and puts the chain on the door, preventing it from being opened all the way. When Helen comes home and tries to enter she can't. She calls out to him, but Charles is in a drunken stupor on the staircase and we hear the bottle drop from his hands as Helen calls. Helen ends up having to walk all the way to her sister's in the snow and rain. She catches pneumonia again and dies.
Marion petitions for and gets full custody of Vickie, while Charles returns home to America. A few years later, having straightened himself out, published a book, and stopped boozing, Charles returns to Paris, hoping his reform will persuade Marion to give Vickie back to him. Charles tells Marion that he only has one drink a day now. Marion refuses, still feeling resentful towards Charles for having fallen for Helen instead of her. Seeing that Charles and Vickie belong together, Claude steps in and tells Marion that she is punishing Charles for his not realizing that Marion loved him. It is painful for him to tell her that he, Claude, could not have all of her love, but Charles should not be punished any more. So he buys a bottle of rum and decides to become a street vendor.
Marion goes into Cafe Dhingo (on whose main wall is a big picture of Helen) to look for Charles (who is gazing at the painting) and tells him that Helen would not have wanted him to be alone. Outside the cafe, Claude is with Vickie. The child runs to Charles and Charles and the child walk off together as the movie ends.
The Lawnmower Man (1992)
Color
Retarded landscaper crosses paths with a government scientist who makes him a genius
The Lawnmower Man
"Dr. Lawrence Angelo works for Virtual Space Industries, running experiments in increasing the intelligence of chimpanzees using drugs and virtual reality. One of the chimps escapes using warfare technology that he was being trained to use. Dr. Angelo is generally a pacifist, who would rather explore the intelligence-enhancing potential of his research without applying it for military purposes.
Jobe Smith, a local greenskeeper with an unspecified learning disability, lives in the garden shed owned by the local priest, Father Francis McKeen. McKeen's brother, Terry, is a local landscape gardener and employs Jobe to help him with odd jobs. Father McKeen punishes the challenged Jobe with a belt whenever he fails to complete his chores.
While Dr. Angelo records audio notes about needing a human subject, Jobe is mowing his lawn. Peter Parkette, the young son of Dr. Angelo's neighbors, is friends with Jobe. Dr. Angelo invites Peter and Jobe to play some virtual reality games. Learning more about Jobe, Angelo persuades Jobe to participate in his experiments, telling him that it will make him smarter. Jobe agrees and begins a program of accelerated learning. Dr. Angelo makes it a point to redesign all the intelligence-boosting treatments without the "aggression factors" used in the chimpanzee experiments.
Jobe soon becomes smarter, for example, learning Latin in two hours at the lab. Dr. Angelo starts taking Jobe to his lab at work to use the technology there. Jobe begins a sexual relationship with a young rich widow, Marnie. However, Jobe starts to have telepathic and hallucinatory experiences. He continues with the experiments at the lab, until an accident makes Dr. Angelo call a halt. The project director, Sebastian Timms, employed by a mysterious agency known as The Shop, keeps a secret watch on the progress of the experiment, and swaps the scientist's new medications for the old Project 5 "aggression factors".
Jobe acquires telekinetic and pyrokinetic powers and takes Marnie to the lab to have sexual intercourse with her in virtual reality. Something goes wrong in the simulation, and Marnie is driven insane, laughing endlessly at nothing.
Jobe's powers and abilities continue to grow, although the treatments also affect his mental stability, and he takes revenge on those who abused him when he was "dumb": Father McKeen is engulfed in flames, a bully named Jake is put into a catatonic state by a mental "lawnmower man" continually mowing his brain, and a lawnmower invention of Jobe's runs down Harold, Peter's abusive father. Jobe uses his telepathic abilities to make the investigating police attribute it all to "bizarre accidents" in front of Dr. Angelo.
Jobe believes his final stage of evolution is to become "pure energy" in the VSI computer mainframe, and from there reach into all the systems of the world. He promises his "birth" will be signaled by every telephone on the planet ringing simultaneously. The Shop sends a team to capture Jobe, but they are ineffective against his abilities and he scatters their molecules. Jobe uses the lab equipment to enter the mainframe computer, abandoning his body to become a wholly virtual being. In the process, his body becomes a wizened husk.
Dr. Angelo remotely infects the VSI computer with a virus that encrypts all of the links to the outside world, trapping Jobe in the mainframe. As Jobe searches for an unencrypted network connection, Dr. Angelo primes bombs to destroy the building. Feeling responsible for what has happened to Jobe, Angelo then joins him in virtual reality to try to reason with him. Jobe overpowers and crucifies him, then continues to search for a network connection. Peter runs into the building; Jobe still cares for him and allows Dr. Angelo to go free in order to rescue Peter. Jobe forces a computer-connected lock to open, allowing Peter and Dr. Angelo to escape. Jobe escapes through a Backdoor as the building is destroyed in multiple explosions.
Back at home with Peter, Dr. Angelo and Peter's mother Carla (who has become a romantic interest) are about to leave when their telephone rings, followed by the noise of a second, and then hundreds, all around the globe.
The Lawnmower Man II (1992)
Color
Businessman enlists Jobe to help him take control of all the world's computers
The Lawnmower Man II
"The founder of virtual reality, Dr. Benjamin Trace (Patrick Bergin), has lost a legal battle to secure a patent on the most powerful worldwide communications chip ever invented. Touted as the one operating system to control all others, in the wrong hands the "Chiron Chip" has the potential to dominate a society dependent on computers.
When corporate tycoon and virtual reality entrepreneur Jonathan Walker (Kevin Conway) takes over development of the Chiron Chip, he and his team discover Jobe Smith (Matt Frewer) barely alive after the explosion at the end of the first film. Reconstructing his face and hooking him up to their database, they plan to use Jobe to help them perfect the Chiron Chip.
Six years later, a now 16-year-old Peter Parkette (Austin O'Brien) is a computer hacker and lives in the subways of Los Angeles with his girlfriend and two other friends. While hooked into cyberspace, Jobe reconnects with Peter and asks him to find Dr. Trace for him. After Peter finds Trace, they discover that Jobe is back to his old ways and plots to finish what he started in the first film.
Joining forces with Trace's former lover, Trace, Peter and his friends must go on a race against time to save the world from Jobe's diabolical scheme and face him in one last battle in cyberspace. In the end, Trace defeats the villain with help from Jobe who turns back into his former good self.
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (2003)
Color
Heroes battle against the 'Fantom' to prevent world war
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen
"In 1899, a terrorist group led by the Fantom cause international tension, breaking into the Bank of England to steal Leonardo da Vinci's blueprints of Venice's foundations, and then kidnap German scientists. The British Empire sends Sanderson Reed to Kenya to recruit adventurer and hunter Allan Quatermain. Quatermain, retired following the death of his son, at first refuses until a group of assassins are sent to kill him. In London, Quatermain meets "M", who is forming the latest generation of the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. He reveals the Fantom plans to start a world war by bombing a secret meeting of world leaders in Venice. The new League consists of Quatermain, Captain Nemo, vampiric chemist Mina Harker, and invisible thief Rodney Skinner.
The League travel to the London docks to recruit Dorian Gray, Mina's former lover who is kept immortal thanks to a missing portrait. The Fantom's assassins attack, but the League fend them off, aided by U.S. Secret Service Agent Tom Sawyer. Dorian and Sawyer join the League. They then capture Edward Hyde in Paris and he joins the League after being offered amnesty, transforming back into his alter ego Dr. Jekyll. The League travel for Venice in Nemo's submarine, the Nautilus, but it soon becomes clear there may be a mole on board, a camera's flash powder being found in the wheelhouse, and one of Jekyll's transformation formulas disappears. Suspicion falls on the missing Skinner.
The Nautilus arrives in Venice just as the bombs go off, causing the city to start collapsing in a domino effect. Sawyer uses Nemo's automobile to stop the destruction, while Quatermain confronts the Fantom, who is unmasked as M. Dorian is also revealed to be the traitor, murdering Nemo's first mate Ishmael, and steals the Nautilus' exploration pod. M and Dorian leave a phonograph recording for the League, revealing their true goal is to ignite the world war and Dorian has been collecting physical elements of the League to create superhuman formulas and sell them off to the highest bidder. The Nautilus is damaged by bombs hidden on board, but Hyde saves it by draining the flooded engine rooms. Skinner sends a message to the League, revealing he has snuck aboard the exploration pod and to follow his heading.
The League reach northern Mongolia, reuniting with Skinner, where they plot to destroy M's factory with explosives. Nemo and Hyde rescue the scientists, Skinner sets the explosive charges, while Mina battles Dorian, killing him by exposing him to his portrait. Quatermain and Sawyer confront M, identifying him as Professor James Moriarty, taking on a new alias after his alleged death at the Reichenbach Falls. Sawyer is taken hostage by an invisible Reed, Quatermain shooting the latter, only for Moriarty to fatally stab him. Moriarty flees outside but Sawyer successfully shoots him, the formulas sinking into the icy water. Quatermain then dies.
Quatermain is buried beside his son in Kenya. The surviving League members recall how a witch doctor had blessed Quatermain for saving his village, promising that Africa would never let him die. The remaining League members depart agreeing to continue using their powers for good in the new century, and said witch doctor arrives, performing a ritual that summons an unnatural storm, with a bolt of lightning ambiguously striking the rifle Sawyer left on Quatermain's grave.
The Lena Baker Story (2008)
Color
Black woman executed for killing her abusive white lover
The Lena Baker Story
On April 30, 1944, Lena Baker, a young maid and mother of three, shot and killed the man who had served as her employer, abuser and sexual partner for the past three years. She claimed self-defense in the fatal shooting of her employer, Ernest Knight, an abusive drunk who had forced her into a sexual relationship, but to no avail. She was convicted in 1945 of murder by an all-white, male jury, and she was the only woman in Georgia to be executed by the electric chair. She was posthumously pardoned decades later.
The Letter (1940)
Black & White
Woman kills her lover, claiming self-defense, but a letter she'd written casts doubt
The Letter
"On a moonlit, tropical night, the native workers are asleep in their outdoor barracks. A shot is heard; the door of a house opens and a man stumbles out of it, followed by a woman who calmly shoots him several more times, the last few while standing over his body. The woman is Leslie Crosbie (Bette Davis), the wife of a British rubber plantation manager in Malaya; her manservant recognizes the man she shot as Geoff Hammond, a well-regarded member of the European community. Leslie tells the servant to send for her husband Robert (Herbert Marshall), who is working at one of the plantations. Her husband returns, having summoned his attorney and a British police inspector. Leslie tells them that Geoff Hammond "tried to make love to me" and that she killed him to save her honor.
Leslie is placed under arrest and put in jail in Singapore to await trial for murder; that she killed a man makes such a trial inevitable, but her eventual acquittal seems a foregone conclusion, as the white community accepts her story and believes she acted heroically. Only her attorney, Howard Joyce (James Stephenson), is rather suspicious. Howard's suspicions seem justified when his clerk, Ong Chi Seng (Sen Yung), shows him a copy of a letter Leslie wrote to Hammond the day she killed him, telling him that her husband would be away that evening, and pleading with him to come--implicitly threatening him if he did not come. Ong Chi Seng tells Howard that the original letter is in the possession of Hammond's widow (Gale Sondergaard), a Eurasian woman who lives in the Chinese quarter of town. The letter is for sale, and Ong himself, whom Howard had believed to be impeccable, stands to receive a substantial cut of the price. Howard then confronts Leslie with the damning evidence and she breaks down and confesses to having written it, though she stands by her claim of having killed Hammond in self-defence. Yet Leslie cleverly manipulates the attorney into agreeing to buy back the letter, even though in doing so he will risk his own freedom and career.
Because the couple's bank account is in Robert's name, Howard obtains Robert's consent to buy the letter, but he does so deceitfully, lying about and trivializing its content, leaving out the true circumstances, and giving the man no idea that the price is equivalent to almost all the money he has in the bank. Robert, depicted as a decent man thoroughly in love with Leslie and somewhat gullible, is readily persuaded. Hammond's widow demands that Leslie come personally to hand over the $10,000 for the letter (she has been released into her attorney's custody) and requires Leslie to debase herself by picking up the letter at the widow's feet. With the letter suppressed, Leslie is easily acquitted.
Before the celebration party held in honor of her acquittal, she steps onto the balcony, and sees a knife laid on the matting. She withdraws, shocked. During a celebration after the trial, when Robert announces that he plans to draw his savings out of his account in order to buy a rubber plantation in Sumatra, Howard and Leslie are forced to tell him that his savings are gone, that the impact of the letter would have hanged Leslie and its price was accordingly high. She excuses herself from the party, and goes to her room. She sobs. After demanding to see the letter, Robert is devastated to learn from Leslie that Hammond was her lover for years and that she killed him out of jealousy, but he offers to forgive her if she can swear that she loves him. Leslie at first agrees and tells him she loves him, and that she will do all in her power to make him happy, he kisses her. No, she cries, and then breaks down and confesses, "With all my heart, I still love the man I killed! I should be dead," she confesses.
He rushes from the room. She looks out at the patio mat, and the knife is gone. She knows that the Eurasian woman had planted it there, and then has taken it away. She knows the woman waits for her--to kill her, and she realizes this is her fate. She walks out, amid the gardens and, finally, encounters the woman who glares at her fiercely. The woman pulls the knife from her garments, and the man who accompanies her grabs Leslie and stuffs a cloth in her mouth to silence her. The Eurasian woman stabs Leslie, who falls to the ground.
As the two murderers attempt to silently slip out, they are confronted by a policeman. The clouds blot out the moonlight and darken the area where Leslie was killed; then the clouds open and the moon's rays shine where her body lies, but no one is there to see it.
The Lincoln Lawyer (2011)
Color
Criminal defense attorney begins to have doubts about his client
The Lincoln Lawyer
"Criminal defense attorney Mickey Haller (Matthew McConaughey) operates around Los Angeles County out of his black Lincoln Town Car. Haller has spent most of his career defending garden-variety criminals, including a member of a local biker gang, until he lands the case of his career: Louis Roulet (Ryan Phillippe), a Beverly Hills playboy and son of real estate mogul Mary Windsor (Frances Fisher), is accused of the brutal beating of prostitute Reggie Campo.
Haller thinks Roulet is innocent, having simply been at the wrong place at the wrong time. Haller and his investigator Frank Levin (William H. Macy) analyze the pictures and evidence, notably the injuries the victim sustained. It bears a similarity to a past case of Haller's that landed a previous client, Jesus Martinez (Michael Pe?a), in prison for life for murdering a Donna Renteria, despite always proclaiming his innocence.
Haller has a daughter with his ex-wife, prosecutor Maggie McPherson (Marisa Tomei), who has never appreciated Haller's efforts on behalf of guilty clients. Haller begins to wonder if he should have tried harder on behalf of Martinez instead of convincing him to plead guilty in exchange for avoiding the death penalty.
Martinez becomes agitated when Haller visits him at San Quentin and shows him Roulet's picture. Haller begins to suspect that Roulet could be the real killer in the Martinez case, but bound by attorney--client confidentiality rules, he cannot tell the police what he has learned. That night, Roulet breaks into Haller's house, nonchalantly admits to committing the murder that put Martinez in prison, and makes veiled threats toward Haller's family.
Levin is shot to death after leaving a voicemail message claiming that he has found Martinez's ticket out of jail. The murder weapon used in Levin's murder is a .22 caliber pistol and Haller finds his .22 Colt Woodsman is missing from its carrier box. Haller is suspected of killing Levin because the police discover that a Colt Woodsman is registered to Haller. Haller believes it was stolen by Roulet when he had broken into Haller's home.
Obliged to do his best for his client, guilty or not, Haller ruthlessly cross-examines the prostitute and discredits her in the jury's eyes. However, Haller sets up a known prison informant with information on the previous murder. When the informant testifies, Haller discredits him and the state later moves to dismiss all charges in the current case. Roulet is set free, but the police then arrest him immediately for the previous murder based upon testimony Haller had coaxed out of the informant.
Haller acquires a Smith and Wesson pistol from his driver, Earl (Laurence Mason), as a precaution against any retribution he may face. Roulet is released due to lack of evidence and sets out immediately to kill Haller's ex-wife and child, but Haller finds out in time to get them out of the house. He is waiting as Roulet arrives and Haller draws his gun. Roulet mockingly tells Haller he won't be able to guard his family this way every day. Just then, a group of bikers whom Haller has previously represented starts bashing Roulet's Maserati and they brutally beat Roulet. As Haller walks away, he says: "The hospital, not the morgue." He gets a call from Maggie that a parking ticket was issued to Roulet near the house of the previous murder victim, strong evidence against Roulet in his pending murder trial that will support Martinez's release.
Upon arriving home, Haller discovers Roulet's mother, Mary Windsor, inside. She shoots him with the Colt Woodsman, the same one that killed Levin, confessing that she committed that murder to protect her son. Haller, wounded, draws the Smith and Wesson pistol that Earl got for him and shoots Mary Windsor, killing her.
Upon being discharged from the hospital, Haller learns that Martinez has been released and the District Attorney will seek the death penalty against Roulet. Haller rides off to his next case: the biker gang, which he takes pro bono because of their previous help.
The Little Foxes (1941)
Black & White
Aristocrat tries to make fortune off cotton mill
The Little Foxes
"Southern aristocrat Regina Hubbard Giddens (Bette Davis) struggles for wealth and freedom within the confines of an early 20th-century society where a father considered only sons as legal heirs. As a result, her avaricious brothers, Benjamin (Charles Dingle) and Oscar (Carl Benton Reid), are independently wealthy, while she must rely for financial support upon her sickly husband Horace (Herbert Marshall), who has been away undergoing treatment for a severe heart condition.
Oscar, having married and maligned the sweet-souled, now hopelessly alcoholic Birdie (Patricia Collinge) to acquire her family's plantation and its cotton fields, now wants to join forces with Benjamin to construct a cotton mill. They approach their sister with their need for an additional $75,000 to invest in the project. Oscar initially proposes a marriage between his son Leo (Dan Duryea) and Regina's daughter Alexandra (Teresa Wright) -- first cousins -- as a means of getting Horace's money; but Horace and Alexandra are repulsed by the suggestion. When Regina asks Horace outright for the money, he refuses. She tells him his refusal is not important since he will die soon and she is eagerly waiting for that day to come. Alexandra overhears the conversation and is distraught. She then comforts her father after Regina leaves the room.
Ben and Oscar, aware of Horace's refusal, pressure Leo into stealing Horace's railroad bonds from his personal security box at the bank to complete the sum needed to construct the mill. After returning home from an impromptu trip to his security box at the bank, Horace informs Regina of the theft of his bonds. Regina, realizing her two brothers stole the bonds through Leo, who works at the bank, schemes to acquire a larger share of the mill by blackmailing her brothers about their theft.
Immediately, Horace states he is changing his will to leave Alexandra everything except the railroad bonds which, he will claim, he freely lent to Leo. This story will thwart any attempt by Regina to blackmail her brothers over their theft and will deny her any claim to an ownership stake in the mill. Alexandra is rescued from a larger misfortune, that of marrying the repugnant Leo, by Birdie, the only person able to do so, who wills herself the courage to tell the younger woman not to marry the wrong man (i.e. Leo), lest she bear the consequences for the rest of her life. Unfortunately, Oscar overhears part of the conversation and, after Alexandra is out of earshot, slaps Birdie hard.
Regina argues with Horace about her contempt for him; and, when he suffers a heart attack, she makes no effort to get him his medicine from upstairs. Horace climbs the stairs to get his medicine but collapses on the way up. The final scenes of the film involve a dying Horace surrounded by family, a doctor and servants who await the chance he may survive. Eventually, Horace dies, leaving no one to contradict Regina if she accuses her brothers of theft. She thus blackmails her brothers, demanding that she be given 75% ownership of the mill business, and they are left with no choice but to accept her demands.
Alexandra hears this conversation; and, upon the brothers' leaving, she confronts her mother about the nature of her father's death on the stairway. Regina denies any wrongdoing, but Alexandra is skeptical. Alexandra then states the importance of not idly watching people do evil, and Regina tells her daughter that she cannot do anything to stop her from leaving the household, while hoping that she stays. Alexandra runs away with newspaperman David (Richard Carlson). Regina is left wealthy, but completely alone.
The Long, Hot Summer (1958)
Color
A wandering handyman arrives in town and disrupts the family's social order
The Long, Hot Summer
"Ben Quick (Paul Newman) hitches a ride to Frenchman's Bend, Mississippi from two young women in a convertible, Clara Varner (Joanne Woodward) and her sister-in-law Eula (Lee Remick). Clara's father is Will Varner (Orson Welles), the domineering owner of most of the town.
Will sees in the brash newcomer a younger version of himself, ruthless and ambitious. These qualities are, in Will's opinion, lacking in his only son Jody (Anthony Franciosa).
He is also disappointed with the choice of his daughter Clara, a schoolteacher. Clara's boyfriend Alan Stewart (Richard Anderson), a genteel Southern "blue blood," is a mama's boy, not the kind of son-in-law Will wants. He schemes to push his daughter and Ben together, to try to bring fresh, virile blood into the family. She is (seemingly) unimpressed with the crude, if magnetic upstart. Ben at first is attracted by the wealth Will offers, but eventually comes to see something in Clara beyond that.
Meanwhile, Minnie Littlejohn (Angela Lansbury), the widower Will's longtime mistress, is dissatisfied with her situation and wants to be married. The strained relationships come to a boil during the long, hot summer.
Jody becomes increasingly alarmed when he sees his position in the family being undermined. Will hires Ben as a clerk in the general store, then invites him to live in the family mansion. When Jody finds Ben alone, he pulls a gun on him and tells him his body will be found downstream. Ben talks his way out by telling Jody about buried Civil War-era treasure he has found on some property that Will gave him, a down payment to seal their bargain over Clara. When the two men find a bag of coins, Jody is elated, thinking he might finally get out from under his father's thumb. He buys the land from Ben.
Late that night, Will finds his son, still digging. After examining one of the coins, he notices that it was minted in 1910. Jody is crushed. Later finding his father alone in their barn, Jody bolts the entrance and sets the barn on fire. He cannot go through with it and lets Will out. The incident brings about a reconciliation.
Meanwhile, the fire causes trouble for Ben, as people have learned of his barn-burning father. Townspeople assume he is the culprit and start toward him with a rope for a lynching. Clara drives up and rescues him. Will later claims responsibility for accidentally starting the fire.
The smell of fire brings back bad memories for Ben. He tells Clara how, at the age of ten, he had to sound the warning against his father as he was about to set another fire. Thankful that she saved his life, he volunteers to leave town for good. Clara has other plans for him, much to her father's delight.
The Lost Weekend (1945)
Black & White
Alcoholic left alone goes on a binge and lands in the hospital
The Lost Weekend
"Thursday - An alcoholic New York writer, Don Birnam (Ray Milland), is packing for a weekend vacation with his brother Wick (Philip Terry), who is trying to discourage his drinking. When Don's girlfriend Helen (Jane Wyman) comes to see them off, she mentions in passing that she has two tickets for a concert, to which Don urges Wick to accompany her. Don heads for Nat's Bar, deliberately missing his train, and then sneaks back into the flat to drink some cheap whisky he has bought, avoiding Helen who is worried about him being left alone.
Friday - Back at the bar, the owner, Nat (Howard Da Silva), criticizes Don for treating Helen so badly, and Don recalls how he first met her. It was due to a mix-up of cloakroom tickets at the opera-house, where he had to wait for the person who had been given his coat-check in error. This was Helen, with whom he strikes up a romance. When he is due to meet her parents for lunch at a hotel, he loses his nerve and phones a message to her, crying off. Presently he confesses to her that he is two people 'Don the writer', who can only write while drunk, and 'Don the drunk' who always has to be bailed out by his brother. Still, Helen devotes herself to helping him in his plight. Back in the present day, Don has moved on to another bar, where he is caught stealing money from a woman's purse to pay his bill, and he is subsequently thrown out. In the flat, he finds a bottle he had stashed the previous night and drinks himself into a stupor.
Saturday - Don is broke and all the pawnshops are closed for Yom Kippur. At Nat's Bar, he is refused service. In desperation, he visits a girl who had given up on him because he kept letting her down, but now agrees to give him a few dollars out of pity. Leaving her flat, he falls down the stairs and is knocked unconscious.
Sunday - Don wakes up in an alcoholics' ward where 'Bim' Nolan (Frank Faylen), a cynical male nurse, mocks him and other guests at 'Hangover Plaza', but offers to help cure his delirium. Don refuses help, and succeeds in escaping from the ward while the staff are occupied with a violent patient.
Monday - Still broke, Don steals a bottle of whisky from a store, and spends the day drinking and hallucinating. Helen returns, alerted by a call from Don's landlady who can hear his screams. Finding him in a delirious state, she vows to look after him and spends the night on his couch.
Tuesday - Don slips out and pawns Helen's coat - the thing which had first brought them together - in order to buy a gun. She trails him to the pawn shop and finds out from the pawnbroker that he traded the coat for a gun he had pawned earlier. She races to Don's apartment and catches him just before he is about to shoot himself in the bathroom. He tells her their relationship is over, and she glimpses the gun which he has hidden in the bathroom. As they struggle for control of the weapon, she reminds Don of her love for him, and her concern that he should stop drinking. She is able to convince him that 'Don the writer' and 'Don the drunk' are the same person. He finally commits to writing his novel The Bottle, dedicated to her, which will recount the events of the weekend. He drops a cigarette into a glass of whiskey to make it undrinkable, as proof that he is cured.
The Lovely Bones (2009)
Color
Murdered girl's ghost tries to help catch her murderer
The Lovely Bones
"In 1973, 14-year-old Susie Salmon takes her usual shortcut home from her school through a cornfield in Norristown, Pennsylvania. George Harvey, a 36-year-old neighbor who lives alone and builds doll houses for a living, persuades her to have a look at an underground den he has recently dug in the field. Once she enters, he rapes and murders her and dismembers her body, putting her remains in a safe that he dumps in a sinkhole. Susie's spirit flees toward her personal heaven, and in so doing, rushes past one of Susie's classmates and a school outcast, Ruth Connors.
The Salmon family at first refuses to believe that Susie is dead, until Susie's elbow is found by a neighbor's dog. The police talk to Harvey, finding him strange but seeing no reason to suspect him. Susie's father, Jack, begins to suspect Harvey, a sentiment his surviving daughter Lindsey comes to share. Jack takes an extended leave from work. Meanwhile another of Susie's classmates, Ray Singh, who had a crush on Susie in school and had made plans to go out with her a few days before her murder, develops a relationship with Ruth, as they are drawn together by their connection with Susie.
Later, Len Fenerman, the detective assigned to the case, tells the Salmons that the police have exhausted all leads and are dropping the investigation. That night in his study, Jack looks out the window and sees a flashlight in the cornfield. Thinking that it is Harvey returning to destroy more evidence, he runs out to confront him, armed with a baseball bat. The figure is not Harvey, but Clarissa, Susie's best friend who is dating Brian, one of Susie's classmates. As Susie watches in horror from heaven, Brian--who was going to meet Clarissa in the cornfield--nearly beats Jack to death, and Clarissa breaks Jack's knee. While he recovers from knee replacement surgery, Susie's mother, Abigail, begins cheating on Jack with the widowed Fenerman.
Trying to help her father prove his suspicions, Lindsey sneaks into Harvey's house and finds a diagram of the underground den, but is forced to leave when Harvey returns unexpectedly. The police do not arrest him, however, which enables him to flee from Norristown. Later, evidence is discovered linking Harvey to Susie's murder, as well as to those of several other girls. Meanwhile, Susie meets Harvey's other victims in heaven and sees into his traumatic childhood.
Abigail leaves Jack, and eventually takes a job at a winery in California. Her mother, Grandma Lynn, moves into the Salmons' home to care for Buckley (Susie's younger brother) and Lindsey. Eight years later, Lindsey and her boyfriend, Samuel Heckler, become engaged after finishing college, find an old house in the woods owned by a classmate's father, and decide to fix it up and live there. Sometime after the celebration, while arguing with his son Buckley, Jack suffers a heart attack. The emergency prompts Abigail to return from California, but the reunion is tempered by Buckley's lingering bitterness for her abandoning the family for most of his childhood.
Meanwhile, Harvey returns to Norristown, which has become more developed. He explores his old neighborhood and notices the school is being expanded into the cornfield where he murdered Susie. He drives by the sinkhole where Susie's body rests and where Ruth and Ray are standing. Ruth senses the women Harvey has killed and is physically overcome. Susie, watching from heaven, is also overwhelmed with emotion and feels how she and Ruth transcend their present existence, and the two girls exchange positions: Susie, her spirit now in Ruth's body, connects with Ray, who senses Susie's presence and is stunned by the fact that Susie is briefly back with him. The two make love as Susie has longed to do after witnessing her sister and Samuel. Afterwards, Susie returns to heaven.
Susie moves on into another, larger part of heaven, occasionally watching earthbound events. Lindsey and Samuel have a daughter together named Abigail Suzanne. While stalking a young woman in New Hampshire, Harvey is hit on the shoulder by an icicle and falls to his death down a snow-covered slope. At the end of the novel, Susie's charm bracelet is found by a Norristown couple who don't realize its significance, and Susie closes the story by wishing the reader "a long and happy life".
The Machinist (2004)
Color
Man becomes delusional when he tries to supress an unpleasant memory
The Machinist
"Trevor Reznik is a machinist with severe insomnia which aids him in becoming increasingly emaciated. His alarming appearance and strange behavior cause his co-workers to keep away. Eventually they turn on him after he is involved in a machine accident that causes his colleague Miller to lose his left arm. Trevor, who was distracted by an unfamiliar co-worker named Ivan, bears the blame for the accident. No one at the factory knows of Ivan and there are no records of him as an employee. Trevor seems to find peace only in the arms of Stevie, a prostitute who develops genuine affection for him, or in the company of Maria, a waitress at the airport diner where he spends many of his sleepless nights.
Trevor is haunted by brief flashes of recurring imagery, and everyday objects take on a menacing air, like a car cigarette lighter. A mysterious series of post-it notes that appear on his refrigerator depict a game of hangman; these vaguely threatening incidents send Trevor further into paranoia. He nevertheless attempts to establish a tentative romantic relationship with Maria. Meeting her at an amusement park, Trevor accompanies her son Nicholas on a grotesque funhouse ride called "Route 666", whose flashing lights cause the boy to suffer an epileptic seizure.
Trevor is no longer able to think clearly and begins to suspect that the bizarre events in his life are a concerted effort to drive him insane. These ideas are fed to him in small random clues. One of them takes the form of a picture of Ivan fishing with Reynolds, one of Trevor's co-workers, which Trevor discovers in Ivan's wallet when it's momentarily left behind in a pub. Another near-accident at work causes Trevor to lash out in rage at his co-workers and as a result he is immediately fired. Growing increasingly distracted and alienated, Trevor forgets to pay his utility bills and his electricity is disconnected. A dark, viscous liquid begins trickling out of the freezer, eventually coating the refrigerator door with streaks of what appears to be blood.
After several unsuccessful attempts at confronting Ivan, Trevor tries to trace him through his license plate. He follows Ivan's car to read its license plate just before his gasoline runs out. When a DMV clerk insists that he cannot release personal information unless a crime has been committed, Trevor throws himself in front of a car in order to accuse Ivan of committing a hit and run. After filing a police report with Ivan's plate number on it, the battered Trevor is dumbfounded when the investigator tells him that the car in question is his own; Trevor reported the vehicle destroyed in a wreck one year ago. He runs from the policemen and goes to see Stevie, who clothes and washes him. But then Trevor finds the fishing picture of Ivan and Reynolds now framed in her home and accuses her of conspiring against him. Stevie is confused and says the picture is of Reynolds and him, not Ivan, but Trevor refuses to look at it. Following a short, intense verbal conflict Trevor is thrown out. He goes to find solace at the airport diner, but when he asks about Maria, an unfamiliar waitress tells him they never had an employee there by that name -- the waitress says she has served Trevor every day for a year, without him saying much.
In the film's climax, Trevor sees Ivan take Nicholas, who appears to have been kidnapped, into Trevor's apartment. Fearing the worst, Trevor sneaks inside. Nicholas is nowhere to be seen and does not respond to Trevor's calls. Trevor confronts Ivan in the bathroom and asks him what he has done with Nicholas. Trevor struggles with Ivan and in the struggle thinks he has killed Ivan. He then flings open the shower curtain, expecting to see Nicholas' dead body, but the bathtub is empty. He goes to his refrigerator and opens it to find rotting fish and other spoiled foods tumbling out. His mind then flashes back to the fishing photo, which now shows a heavier, healthier Trevor standing near his co-worker Reynolds, just as Stevie claimed. Ivan was never in the photo; it was all a part of Trevor's delusion.
The scene then returns to one that occurred during the opening credit roll, in which Trevor tries to dispose of someone's corpse (presumably Ivan's), rolling it in a rug and struggling to cast it into the ocean. When the rug unravels, there is nothing inside. Ivan -- as alive as ever -- appears holding a flashlight and laughing. Trevor, suddenly home again and staring at himself in a mirror, begins to repeat "I know who you are". He then recalls his own role in a hit-and-run accident a year earlier, in which he ran over and killed a boy identical to Nicholas after taking his eyes off the road for a moment to use the car's cigarette lighter. The boy's mother, whom he later fantasizes as Maria the waitress, was at the scene; Trevor decided to drive away. The resulting guilt became the deep-seated cause of his insomnia. He fills in the missing letters for the hangman game on his refrigerator to spell "killer".
Upon recovering this deeply repressed memory, he briefly considers going to the airport and escaping. Instead, he drives downtown to the police headquarters; this signifies his "Road to Salvation", a reoccurring theme of choosing paths which appears in the film. He is accompanied by an encouraging but silent Ivan, who bids him an approving farewell from outside the station. At the police station's front desk, Trevor confesses to his hit and run. Two police officers escort Trevor to a cell, where he states that he intends to go to sleep, and proceeds to do so for the first time in a year.
The Magnificent Ambersons (1942)
Black & White
Follows 2 upper class families, one in decline, the other on the way up
The Magnificent Ambersons
"The Ambersons are by far the wealthiest family in their midwestern city, in the last few decades of the 19th century. As a young man Eugene Morgan courts Isabel Amberson. She rejects him after he publicly embarrasses her, instead marrying Wilbur Minafer, a passionless man she does not love, and spoils their child George. The townspeople long to see George get his 'comeuppance'.
At the beginning of the 20th century, Major Amberson gives a large party at the Amberson Mansion for George, who is home from college for the holidays. Eugene, now a widower who has just returned to town after twenty years, attends. George dislikes Eugene, whom he sees as a social climber, and ridicules Eugene's investment in the automobile. He instantly takes to Eugene's daughter Lucy.
The next day, George and Lucy take a sleigh ride. They pass Eugene, his aunt Fanny, Isabel, and Isabel's brother, Jack. Eugene's "horseless carriage" has gotten stuck in the snow, and George jeers for them to "get a horse". The Amberson sleigh then overturns, and Eugene (his vehicle now mobile again) gives everyone a ride back home. George is humiliated by the incident and angered by Eugene's attentions toward Isabel as well as his mother's obvious affection for Eugene.
Wilbur Minafer loses a substantial amount of money on bad investments, and soon afterward dies. George is largely unmoved by his father's death. The night after the funeral, George teases Fanny, who is besotted with Eugene.
Time passes. Eugene becomes very wealthy manufacturing automobiles, and again courts Isabel, who refuses to risk George's disapproval by telling him about their love. Lucy rejects George's marriage proposal, saying he has no ambition in life other than to be wealthy and keep things as they are, and leaves town. The Ambersons invite the lonely Eugene to dinner, where George, blaming him for turning Lucy against him, criticizes automobiles. The Ambersons are shocked by his rudeness, but Eugene says that George may turn out to be right. That evening, George learns from Aunt Fanny that Eugene has been courting Isabel. Enraged, he rudely confronts a neighbor for spreading gossip about his mother. The next day, George refuses to let Eugene see his mother. Jack tells Isabel about George's terrible behavior, but she declines to do anything which might upset her son. Eugene writes to Isabel, asking her to choose between her son and his love. Isabel chooses George.
Lucy returns home to find that George is taking his mother to Europe on an extended trip. George talks to Lucy in an attempt to discover if she loves him. She feigns indifference, and they part. Lucy is heartbroken, however, and faints.
Months pass. Isabel is seriously ill, but George will not allow her to come home lest she renew her relationship with Eugene, relenting only when she starts to die. George refuses to let Eugene into the house to visit Isabel on her deathbed, despite her begging to see Eugene one last time.
After Isabel's death, Major Amberson sinks into senility and dies. His estate is worthless. Jack leaves town to take a job in another city. George intends to live on Fanny's income whilst training to be a lawyer, but she reveals that she lost everything in bad investments, leaving them only a few hundred dollars to live on for the rest of the year.
Eugene asks Lucy if she will reconcile with George. Lucy instead tells her father a story about an American Indian chief who was "pushed out on a canoe into the sea" when he became too obnoxious, which Eugene understands to be an analogy for George.
Penniless, George gives up his job as a law clerk, and finds higher paying work in a chemical factory, giving him enough money for himself and Fanny to live on. George wanders the city, dazed by the modern factories and slums which have grown up around him. In his last night in the Amberson Mansion before it is sold, George prays by his dead mother's bed. The narrator says that no one is around to see him receive his comeuppance.
George is seriously injured by an automobile. Lucy and Eugene go to see him at the hospital and reconcile with him. In a hospital corridor, Eugene tells Fanny that Isabel's spirit had inspired Eugene to bring George "under shelter again"--implying that his and Fanny's financial security was assured.
The Magnificent Seven (1960)
Color
Western gunslingers come to the aid of a town against gold tycoon's thugs
The Magnificent Seven
"In 1879, corrupt industrialist Bartholomew Bogue (Peter Sarsgaard) besieges the mining town of Rose Creek, and slaughters a group of locals led by Matthew Cullen (Matt Bomer) when they attempt to stand up to him. Matthew's wife, Emma Cullen (Haley Bennett), and her friend, Teddy Q (Luke Grimes), ride to the nearest town in search of someone who can help them and come upon warrant officer Sam Chisolm (Denzel Washington) of Wichita, Kansas, who initially declines their proposal until he learns of Bogue's involvement.
Chisolm sets out to recruit a group of gunslingers who can help him, starting with gambler Josh Faraday (Chris Pratt). They are later joined by sharpshooter Goodnight Robicheaux (Ethan Hawke), knife-wielding Billy Rocks (Lee Byung-hun), notorious Mexican outlaw Vasquez (Manuel Garcia-Rulfo), skilled tracker Jack Horne (Vincent D'Onofrio), and Comanche warrior Red Harvest (Martin Sensmeier).
Arriving in Rose Creek, the seven engage in a gunfight with Bogue's enforcer McCann (Cam Gigandet) and his men, shoot dead 22 of them, and drive the corrupt sheriff away with a warning to leave Rose Creek alone. Surmising that Bogue and his forces will return in a week, the seven and Cullen train the townspeople to defend their home and grow fond of them. Robicheaux, haunted by the horrors of the Civil War and fearing the killing he will be a part of, abandons the group and is replaced by Cullen.
Bogue arrives with his forces and attacks the city, which has been rigged with multiple bombs and traps. A massive shootout ensues, during which Robicheaux rejoins the group. Bogue then unveils his secret weapon, a Gatling gun, with which he decimates the town and kills many of both sides. Realizing they're outgunned, the seven evacuate the townspeople and mount their last stand. Horne is killed by Bogue's Comanche assassin Denali (Jonathan Joss), who is later killed by Red Harvest.
Robicheaux and Rocks are killed by a second round of gunfire. Faraday makes a suicidal charge to the rest of Bogue's men and ignites a stick of dynamite, destroying the gun and himself. Bogue flees into town, where he is confronted by Chisolm, who disarms and wounds Bogue. As Chisolm is strangling Bogue, he reveals that Bogue and his men raped and murdered his mother and sisters during a raid several years earlier, in which he himself survived being hanged. Bogue is then fatally shot by Cullen while attempting to shoot Chisolm with a hidden gun in his boot.
In the aftermath, Faraday, Robicheaux, Rocks and Horne are buried in town and honored by the people of Rose Creek as heroes, while Chisolm, Vasquez and Red Harvest ride off. The film ends with Cullen remarking that their heroism made them legends and that it was "magnificent".
The Magnificent Seven (2016)
Color
Western gunslingers come to the aid of a town against gold tycoon's thugs
The Magnificent Seven
"A poor village in Mexico is periodically raided for food and supplies by Calvera (Eli Wallach) and his bandits. After he and his forty men's latest raid, during which they kill a villager, the village leaders decide the situation cannot continue. They discuss it with the venerated elder (Vladimir Sokoloff) who lives just outside the village, and he recommends they fight back. Taking what meager objects of value the village has, a delegation rides to a town just inside the United States border hoping to barter for weapons to defend themselves with. Once there they approach Chris Adams (Yul Brynner), a veteran Cajun gunslinger. Chris suggests they hire gunfighters to defend the village, which would be cheaper than buying guns and ammunition. He cautions the village men that once they actively resist Calvera they will have to keep killing until all the bandits are dead. At first Chris agrees only to help the delegation find capable men, but later he decides to recruit and lead them. Despite the poor pay offered, he is able to find five gunmen, all doing it for their own reasons.
The other men include the gunfighter Vin Tanner (Steve McQueen), who has gone broke after a round of gambling and jokes he may have to accept a position as a store clerk; Chris's friend Harry Luck (Brad Dexter), who believes Chris knows about hidden treasure near the village; the Irish-Mexican Bernardo O'Reilly (Charles Bronson), who has fallen on hard times; Britt (James Coburn), an expert in both knife and gun who joins purely for the challenge involved; and the dapper, on-the-run gunman Lee (Robert Vaughn), haunted by thoughts that he has lost his nerve and taste for battle. On their way to the village they are trailed by the hotheaded Chico (Horst Buchholz), an aspiring gunfighter whom Chris had previously humiliated by rejecting him. Now impressed by his persistence, Chris invites him to join the group.
Arriving at the village, they have the villagers build fortifications and begin to train them to defend themselves. Each finds himself befriending particular villagers. Chico is pursued by Petra (Rosenda Monteros), one of the village's young women. (Village elders had hidden all the young women, fearing the gunfighters might rape them, but Chico had stumbled across their hiding place.) Bernardo bonds with some of the village's boys.[5][6] Residents comfort Lee, who is struggling with nightmares and fearing the loss of his skills. Harry presses the villagers for information about any treasure. Later, when Bernardo points out that the seven are consuming almost all the food in the village, the gunmen share it with the village children.
Calvera and his bandits arrive, sustain heavy losses in a shootout with the seven and the villagers, and are run out of town. Hilario (Jorge Martinez de Hoyos) and Vin, guarding against another possible attack, briefly discuss nerves on the eve of battle. Vin admits he still feels such nerves, and says he envies Hilario for fighting for an honourable cause. Chico, who is Mexican, partly from recklessness and partly to impress the others, follows Calvera back to his camp and pretends to be one of the bandits. He learns that Calvera must raid the village soon because he and his men are desperate for food.
Upon hearing this information, some fearful villagers call for the gunfighters to leave. Even some of the seven waver: Vin is of two minds; and Harry argues they were hired merely to put up enough resistance that Calvera would move on to an easier village. But Chris insists that they stay, even threatening to kill anyone who suggests giving up the fight. They ride out to make a surprise raid on Calvera's camp, but find it abandoned. Returning to the village, they find that some villagers have allowed Calvera and his men to sneak in and take control. Calvera spares the seven's lives, believing they have learned that the simple farmers are not worth defending. He also fears reprisals from the gunfighters' friends north of the border. While gathering their things before departing, Chris and Vin talk of how they had become emotionally attached to the village, and might have been tempted to give up their careers as gunmen and settle in such a place. Bernardo gets angry with the boys he befriended when they call their parents cowards. Chico raves against the villagers and how much he hates them, and when Chris reminds him he is of just such peasant stock he angrily responds that it is men like Calvera and Chris who made the villagers what they are.
The seven gunmen are escorted some distance from the village, where their weapons are returned to them. They debate their next move and all but Harry, who believes the effort will be futile and suicidal, agree to return and fight. Harry rides off alone.
Returning to the village, the six gunmen are able to get well within it before being detected. A gunfight breaks out. Harry, who has had a change of heart, arrives in time to prevent a cornered Chris from being killed, but is himself fatally shot. Before his death Chris comforts him by saying there was indeed a fortune hidden in the village. Lee finds the nerve to burst into a house where several villagers are held captive, shooting the bandits guarding them. This enables the villagers, some of whom were among those who had comforted Lee, to join in the fight on the side of the seven. Lee emerges from the house to see this, but is gunned down. Bernardo is shot protecting the boys he befriended, with his last breath he tells them to look at how bravely their fathers are fighting. Britt dies after shooting at a considerable number of bandits but exposing himself from cover. Chris manages to shoot Calvera, who asks him, "You came back... to a place like this? Why? A man like you? Why?" He dies without receiving an answer. The remaining bandits take flight.
The three surviving gunmen help to bury the dead, then ride out of town. At the top of the hill overlooking the village they stop to look back. Chris says adios to Chico, both having realized his proper place is in the village, with Petra; she is overjoyed when she sees he has returned. Chris and Vin chat with the venerated elder. He bids them farewell and says that only the villagers have really won: "You're like the wind, blowing over the land and... passing on... ?Vaya con Dios!" As they leave, they pass the graves of their fallen comrades. Chris says, "The Old Man was right. Only the farmers won. We lost. We'll always lose.
Chisolm sets out to recruit a group of gunslingers who can help him, starting with gambler Josh Faraday (Chris Pratt). They are later joined by sharpshooter Goodnight Robicheaux (Ethan Hawke), knife-wielding Billy Rocks (Lee Byung-hun), notorious Mexican outlaw Vasquez (Manuel Garcia-Rulfo), skilled tracker Jack Horne (Vincent D'Onofrio), and Comanche warrior Red Harvest (Martin Sensmeier).
Arriving in Rose Creek, the seven engage in a gunfight with Bogue's enforcer McCann (Cam Gigandet) and his men, shoot dead 22 of them, and drive the corrupt sheriff away with a warning to leave Rose Creek alone. Surmising that Bogue and his forces will return in a week, the seven and Cullen train the townspeople to defend their home and grow fond of them. Robicheaux, haunted by the horrors of the Civil War and fearing the killing he will be a part of, abandons the group and is replaced by Cullen.
Bogue arrives with his forces and attacks the city, which has been rigged with multiple bombs and traps. A massive shootout ensues, during which Robicheaux rejoins the group. Bogue then unveils his secret weapon, a Gatling gun, with which he decimates the town and kills many of both sides. Realizing they're outgunned, the seven evacuate the townspeople and mount their last stand. Horne is killed by Bogue's Comanche assassin Denali (Jonathan Joss), who is later killed by Red Harvest.
Robicheaux and Rocks are killed by a second round of gunfire. Faraday makes a suicidal charge to the rest of Bogue's men and ignites a stick of dynamite, destroying the gun and himself. Bogue flees into town, where he is confronted by Chisolm, who disarms and wounds Bogue. As Chisolm is strangling Bogue, he reveals that Bogue and his men raped and murdered his mother and sisters during a raid several years earlier, in which he himself survived being hanged. Bogue is then fatally shot by Cullen while attempting to shoot Chisolm with a hidden gun in his boot.
In the aftermath, Faraday, Robicheaux, Rocks and Horne are buried in town and honored by the people of Rose Creek as heroes, while Chisolm, Vasquez and Red Harvest ride off. The film ends with Cullen remarking that their heroism made them legends and that it was "magnificent".
The Maltese Falcon (1931)
Black & White
Partner's murder is linked to jeweled falcon
The Maltese Falcon
"In San Francisco in 1941, private investigators Sam Spade and Miles Archer meet prospective client Ruth Wonderly. She claims to be looking for her missing sister, who is involved with a man named Floyd Thursby. Archer agrees to follow her that night and help get her sister back.
Spade is awakened by a phone call early in the morning and the police inform him that Archer has been killed. He meets his friend, Police Detective Tom Polhaus, at the murder scene and then tries calling his client at her hotel, but she has checked out. Back at his apartment, he is grilled by Polhaus and Lieutenant Dundy, who tell him that Thursby was also murdered the same evening. Dundy suggests that Spade had the opportunity and motive to kill Thursby, who likely killed Archer. Archer's widow Iva later visits him in his office, believing that Spade shot his partner so he could have her.
Later that morning, Spade meets his client, now calling herself Brigid O'Shaughnessy. She explains that Thursby was her partner and probably killed Archer, but claims to have no idea who killed Thursby. Spade distrusts her, but agrees to investigate the murders.
At his office, Spade meets Joel Cairo , who first offers him $5,000 to find a "black figure of a bird", then pulls a gun on him in order to search the room for it. Spade knocks Cairo out and goes through his belongings. When Cairo comes round, he hires Spade. Later that evening, Spade tells O'Shaughnessy about Cairo. When Cairo shows up, it becomes clear that Spade's acquaintances know each other. Cairo becomes agitated when O'Shaughnessy reveals that the "Fat Man" is in San Francisco.
In the morning, Spade goes to Cairo's hotel, where he spots Wilmer, a young man who had been following him earlier, and gives Wilmer a message for his boss, Kasper Gutman. When Spade goes to meet Gutman, alias the "Fat Man", in his hotel suite, Gutman will only talk about the Black Falcon evasively, so Spade pretends to throw a temper tantrum and storms out. Later, Wilmer takes Spade at gunpoint to see Gutman. Spade overpowers him, but meets Gutman anyway. Gutman relates the history of the Maltese Falcon, then offers Spade $25,000 for the bird and a quarter of the proceeds from its sale. After Spade passes out because his drink is spiked, Wilmer and Cairo come in from another room and leave with Gutman.
On coming round, Spade searches the suite and finds a newspaper with the arrival time of the freighter La Paloma circled. He goes to the dock, only to find the ship on fire. Later, the ship's captain, Jacobi, shot several times, staggers into Spade's office before dying. The bundle he was clutching contains the Maltese Falcon.
O'Shaughnessy calls the office, gives an address, then screams before the line goes dead. Spade stashes the package at the bus terminal, then goes to the address, which turns out to be an empty lot. Spade returns home and finds O'Shaughnessy hiding in a doorway. He takes her inside and finds Gutman, Cairo, and Wilmer waiting for him, guns drawn. Gutman gives Spade $10,000 for the Falcon, but Spade tells them that part of his price is someone he can turn over to the police for the murders of Thursby and Captain Jacobi, suggesting Wilmer, whom Gutman confirms actually did shoot both. After some intense negotiation, Gutman and Cairo agree and Wilmer is knocked out and disarmed.
Just after dawn, Spade calls his secretary, Effie Perine, to bring him the bundle. However, when Gutman inspects the statuette, he finds it is a fake and Wilmer escapes during the tumult. Recovering his composure, Gutman invites Cairo to return with him to Istanbul to continue their quest. After they leave, Spade calls the police and tells them where to pick up the pair. Spade then angrily confronts O'Shaughnessy, telling her he knows she killed Archer to implicate Thursby, her unwanted accomplice. She confesses, but begs Spade not to turn her over to the police. Despite his feelings for her, Spade gives
The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit (1955)
Color
WWII Vet deals with work and marriage issues
The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit
"Ten years after the end of World War II, Tom Rath (Gregory Peck) is living in suburban Connecticut with his wife Betsy (Jennifer Jones) and three children, and having difficulty supporting his family on his salary. Tom is also dealing with flashbacks from his war service involving men that he killed (including, by accident, his best friend) and a young Italian girl named Maria (Marisa Pavan), with whom he had a brief but heartfelt affair in Italy despite being married to Betsy at the time. Before he left Maria for the final time to go back into battle, she told him she was pregnant, but he never saw her or the child again.
When an expected inheritance from Tom's recently deceased grandmother turns out to have been depleted, leaving only her large and not saleable mansion, Betsy pressures Tom to seek a higher-paying job. Tom interviews for an opening at the television network UBC, but when asked to write his autobiography as part of the interview process, he refuses. He is hired anyway for a public relations job, helping the network president Ralph Hopkins (Fredric March) launch a national mental health campaign. Hopkins is powerful and highly respected at the office, but unbeknownst to his employees, his workaholic habits have caused him to be estranged from his wife and his rebellious daughter, who soon elopes with an unsuitable man.
Tom is initially supervised by Bill Ogden (Henry Daniell), a micromanager and office politician who rejects Tom's drafts of an important Hopkins speech intended to launch the campaign and substitutes a draft of his own consisting of what Ogden thinks Hopkins wants to hear. At first Tom plans to play along with office politics and accept Ogden's draft, but coaxed by Betsy, openly derides the draft as false modesty and presents his original ideas to Hopkins instead. Hopkins, who has just received unwelcome news of his daughter's elopement, is receptive to Tom's criticism and thinks Tom resembles his own late son, who refused to accept an officer's commission in WWII and was subsequently killed in action as an enlisted man. Hopkins now regrets having ignored his family and advises Tom not to make the same mistake.
Meanwhile, Betsy, eager to move to a better house, abruptly sells the family's modest dwelling and moves them into Tom's late grandmother's mansion, "Dragonwyck," only to find that Edward (Joseph Sweeney), the old woman's longtime caretaker at the mansion, is claiming that Tom's grandmother had bequeathed him the estate. Judge Bernstein (veteran character actor Lee J. Cobb) intercedes, presenting evidence suggesting not only that Edward had forged the bequest letter but also padded the woman's bills, depleting the estate and accumulating a large fortune in the town's bank he could not otherwise explain. The Raths keep the mansion.
At his new job, Tom meets Caesar (Keenan Wynn), a sergeant with whom he'd served in Italy, now the UBS Building's elevator operator. Caesar, who'd married Maria's cousin, tells Tom that Maria and her illegitimate son by Tom are desperate for money in their still war-ravaged country. Although Tom has previously kept his affair and the resulting child a secret from Betsy, he decides to tell her, remembering her advice to be honest about Hopkins' speech. Betsy grows furious and speeds away in her car, but she runs out of gas and they reconcile at the local police station. Tom and Betsy ask Judge Bernstein to set up a trust fund for Tom's son in Italy. That night, Hopkins calls Tom to ask that he accompany Hopkins on a trip to California associated with the new campaign. Tom declines, saying he just "wants to work 9 to 5 and spend the rest of the time with his family", which Hopkins ruefully accepts.
The Man Who Knew Infinity (2016)
Color
Indian mathmatician fights to be accepted by British university
The Man Who Knew Infinity
"At the turn of the twentieth century, Srinivasa Ramanujan is a struggling and indigent citizen in the city of Madras in India working at menial jobs at the edge of poverty. While performing his menial labor, his employers notice that he seems to have exceptional skills at mathematics and they begin to make use of him for rudimentary accounting tasks. It becomes equally clear to his employers, who are college educated, that Ramanujan's mathematical insights exceed the simple accounting tasks they are assigning to him and soon they encourage him to make his personal writings in mathematics available to the general public and to start to contact professors of mathematics at universities by writing to them. One such letter is sent to G.H. Hardy, a famous mathematician at Cambridge University, who begins to take a special interest in Ramanujan.
Ramanujan at this time also marries while performing his menial labor and sending out his first publications. Hardy soon invites him to come to Cambridge to test Ramanujan's mettle as a potential theoretical mathematician. Ramanujan is overwhelmed by the opportunity and decides to pursue Hardy's offer to visit Cambridge University even though this means he must leave his wife for an extended period. He parts lovingly with his wife and promises to keep up his correspondence with her.
Upon arrival at Cambridge, Ramanujan is met with various forms of racial prejudice and finds his adjustment to England to be more difficult than expected, though Hardy is much impressed by the potential abilities which Ramanujan begins to put into real evidence during their contact with one another. Hardy remains concerned about Ramanujan's ability to communicate effectively due to Ramanujan's lack of experience in writing proofs, but with perseverance he manages to get Ramanujan published in a major journal. In the meantime, Ramanujan find out that he suffers from Tuberculosis and his frequent letters home to his wife remain unanswered after many months. Hardy continues to see much more promise in Ramanujan, however he remains unaware of the personal difficulties his student is having with his housing and with his lack of contact with his family back home in India. Ramanujan's health worsens while he continues delving into deeper and more profound research interests in mathematics under the guidance of Hardy and others at Cambridge.
His wife, after much elapsed time, wonders at why she has not heard from Ramanujan and eventually discovers that his mother has been intercepting his letters. While still in England, Hardy takes special efforts to get Ramanujan's now recognizably exceptional mathematical skills to be fully accepted by his university by nominating Ramanujan for fellowship at Cambridge University. At first Hardy fails for reasons related to university politics and recurrent ethnic prejudice at the university at the time of World War One. By later gaining the support of key members of the faculty, Hardy then again nominates Ramanujan for fellowship and he is finally accepted as a Fellow of the College. Ramanujan is eventually reunited with his family in India though his declining health suffered from poor housing and harsh winter weather in England ultimately take their toll and lead to his premature death after he has finally become recognized as a mathematician of international merit and importance.
The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956)
Color
Tourist learns of assassination plot, but can't report it on account of his son's safety
The Man Who Knew Too Much
"An American family--Dr. Benjamin "Ben" McKenna (James Stewart), his wife, popular singer Josephine Conway "Jo" McKenna (Doris Day), and their son Henry "Hank" McKenna (Christopher Olsen)--are vacationing in Morocco. Traveling from Casablanca to Marrakesh, they meet Frenchman Louis Bernard (Daniel Gelin), who seems friendly, but Jo is suspicious of his many questions and evasive answers and thinks that he is hiding something. Louis offers to take the McKennas out to dinner but cancels when a sinister-looking man knocks at the McKennas' hotel-room door claiming to be looking for another guest's room. Later, at a local restaurant, the McKennas meet English couple Lucy (Brenda De Banzie) and Edward Drayton (Bernard Miles), who strike up a conversation with the McKennas, who are surprised to see Bernard arrive and sit at another table apparently ignoring them.
The next day, exploring a busy outdoor market in Marrakesh with the Draytons, the McKennas see a man in Arab clothing being chased by police. After being stabbed in the back, the man approaches Ben, who discovers it is actually Louis in disguise. The dying Bernard whispers that a foreign statesman will be assassinated in London very soon and that Ben must tell the authorities there about "Ambrose Chappell". Lucy offers to return Hank to the hotel while the police question Ben and Jo. An officer explains that Louis was a French Intelligence agent on assignment in Morocco. While at the police station, Ben receives a phone call from a mysterious man who informs him that Hank has been kidnapped but will not be harmed if the McKennas say nothing to the police about Bernard's last words.
After arriving in London, Scotland Yard's Inspector Buchanan (Ralph Truman) tells the McKennas that Louis was trying to uncover an assassination plot, and that they should contact him if they hear from the kidnappers. Leaving friends in their hotel suite, the McKennas attempt to question a man named "Ambrose Chappell" but finally track the kidnappers to a church named "Ambrose Chapel", where Drayton, posing as a minister, is leading a service. While Jo calls police, Drayton ends the service early. Ben confronts him and is knocked out and locked in the chapel. The Draytons take Hank to a foreign embassy just before Jo arrives with the police at the now seemingly deserted chapel. Jo learns that Buchanan has gone to a concert at the Royal Albert Hall and goes there to get his help. There, she sees the sinister man who mistakenly came to her door in Morocco. When he threatens to harm Hank if she interferes, she realizes that he is the assassin sent to kill the foreign Prime Minister (Alexis Bobrinskoy) who is now also at the concert hall.
Ben escapes the locked chapel and follows Jo to the hall, where she points out the assassin. Ben frantically searches the balcony boxes for the killer, who is waiting for a cymbal crash to mask his gunshot. Jo sees the barrel of the assassin's gun and screams right before the cymbals crash. The assassin misses his mark and merely wounds his target. Ben finds and struggles with the would-be killer, who then falls to his death from the balcony. The grateful Prime Minister invites the McKennas to the embassy.
The McKennas learn that the Draytons are in the Prime Minister's embassy, where Hank is being held, and where the ambassador (Mogens Wieth) has led the plot to kill his own Prime Minister. Hatching a plan to find their son, Ben and Jo are welcomed as heroes, and the Prime Minister asks Jo to sing. Jo loudly sings "Que Sera, Sera (Whatever Will Be, Will Be)", which Hank is familiar with, so that he will hear her voice and respond. Lucy, who is guarding Hank but is unwilling to harm him, tells Hank to whistle along with the song, which draws Ben to the room where he is being held. Drayton catches them and tries escaping with them as hostages, but when Ben strikes him, he falls and kills himself accidentally when his gun fires.
The McKennas return to their now-sleeping friends in their hotel room, where Ben says, "I'm sorry we were gone so long, but we had to go over and pick up Hank."
The Manchurian Candidate (1962)
Black & White
Korean war hero brainwashed to be assassin for communist Chinese
The Manchurian Candidate
"During the Korean War, the Soviets capture a U.S. platoon and take them to Manchuria in Communist China. Some days later, all but two of the soldiers return to U.S. lines and Staff Sergeant Raymond Shaw (Laurence Harvey) is credited with saving their lives in combat. Upon the recommendation of the platoon's commander, Captain Bennett Marco (Frank Sinatra), Raymond is awarded the Medal of Honor for his reported heroism. When asked to describe him, Marco and the other soldiers automatically respond, "Raymond Shaw is the kindest, bravest, warmest, most wonderful human being I've ever known in my life." Deep down, however, they know that Shaw is a cold, sad, unsympathetic loner.
Following his return to the U.S., Marco, who has since been promoted to Major, suffers from a recurring nightmare in which a hypnotized Shaw blithely and brutally murders the two missing soldiers before the assembled military brass of Communist nations, during a practical demonstration of a revolutionary brainwashing technique. Marco wants to investigate, but has no solid evidence to back his claims and thus receives no support from Army Intelligence. However, Marco learns that another soldier from the platoon, Allen Melvin (James Edwards), has had the same nightmare. When Melvin and Marco separately identify some of the men in the dream as leading figures in communist governments, Army Intelligence agrees to help Marco investigate.
Meanwhile, Shaw's mother, Mrs. Eleanor Iselin (Angela Lansbury), drives the political career of her husband and Shaw's stepfather, Senator John Yerkes Iselin (James Gregory), a McCarthy-like demagogue who is widely dismissed as a fool. Senator Iselin finds a newfound political profile when he claims that varying numbers of communists work within the Department of Defense. However, unknown to Raymond, Mrs. Iselin herself is actually a Communist agent with a plan intended to secure the presidency under Communist influence.
Mrs. Iselin is the American "operator" responsible for controlling Raymond, who was conditioned in Manchuria to be an unwitting assassin whose actions are triggered by a Queen of Diamonds playing card. When he sees it, he will blindly obey the next suggestion or order given to him and never have any memories of his actions. It is revealed that Shaw's heroism was a false memory implanted in the platoon during their conditioning, and that the actions for which Shaw was awarded his Medal of Honor never took place. Shaw's conditioning is reinforced by a North Korean agent who supervises him under the pretext of acting as his cook and houseboy. When Marco visits Shaw's apartment, he becomes suspicious of the Korean and they engage in a fight using karate techniques.
Raymond briefly finds happiness when he rekindles a youthful romance with Jocelyn Jordan (Leslie Parrish), the daughter of Senator Thomas Jordan (John McGiver), one of his stepfather's political rivals. Mrs. Iselin had previously broken up the relationship, but now facilitates the couple's reunion as part of her scheme to garner Jordan's support for her husband's bid for Vice President. Jocelyn, wearing a Queen of Diamonds costume outfit, inadvertently hypnotizes Raymond at a costume party and elopes with him. Although pleased with the match, Jordan makes it clear that he will block Senator Iselin's nomination. Mrs. Iselin triggers Raymond and sends him to kill Jordan; he also shoots Jocelyn when she happens upon the scene. Raymond has no knowledge of his actions and is grief-stricken when he learns of the murders.
After discovering the card's role in Raymond's conditioning, Marco uses a forced deck to get the full story. He then verbally drills into Raymond the suggestion or affirmation that the Queen of Diamonds no longer has any power over him. Mrs. Iselin primes her son to assassinate their party's presidential nominee at the nomination convention so that Senator Iselin, as the vice-presidential candidate, will become the nominee by default and elected with emergency powers that, in Mrs. Iselin's words, "will make martial law seem like anarchy." Mrs. Iselin tells Raymond that she did not know that he was to be selected by the Communists, but vows that once in power she will "grind them into the dirt" in revenge.
With Marco's attempt to free Raymond from his conditioning appearing to have failed, Raymond enters Madison Square Garden disguised as a priest and takes position to carry out the assassination. Marco and his supervisor, Colonel Milt (Douglas Henderson), arrive at the convention to stop him. As the nominee (Robert Riordan) makes his speech, Raymond, instead of assassinating him, shoots his stepfather before shooting his mother with the sniper rifle she gave him. He then commits suicide in front of Marco while wearing his Medal of Honor. Marco, in the film's final scene, voices a putative Medal of Honor citation for Raymond's genuine act of heroism.
The Manchurian Candidate (2004)
Color
Korean war hero brainwashed to be assassin for communist Chinese
The Manchurian Candidate
"Major Bennett "Ben" Marco (Denzel Washington) is a war veteran who begins to doubt what is commonly known about his famous U.S. Army unit. During the Gulf War, Sergeant First Class Raymond Shaw (Liev Schreiber) supposedly rescued all but two members in his unit, of which Marco was the commanding officer. Raymond became a war hero and was awarded the Medal of Honor; launching his political career.
Thirteen years later, one of Marco's former NCOs, Corporal Al Melvin (Jeffrey Wright), contacts him and says that he suffers from confusing memories and "dreams" about their lost Army unit. He is clearly deranged, but he shows Major Marco some img he has drawn from his dreams.
Raymond, now a U.S. congressman, becomes his party's candidate for Vice President after his mother, Virginia Senator Eleanor Prentiss (Meryl Streep), pressures party leaders into passing over their intended pick, Senator Tom Jordan (Jon Voight). A rivalry exists between Eleanor and Jordan, partly due to a past relationship between Shaw and Jordan's daughter Jocelyne (Vera Farmiga). That evening, Marco has a nightmare in which he is being held captive and brainwashed along with his fellow soldiers.
After Shaw is nominated, Marco begins investigating what really happened during the war. He finds an implant in his back and, soon there after, one in Shaw's after a confrontation at campaign headquarters. After having the one taken from Shaw analyzed, Marco realizes that it is a nanotechnological experiment connected with Manchurian Global, an international weapons manufacturer with major political connections. Marco researches Manchurian and recognizes Atticus Noyle, a former Manchurian geneticist-turned-mercenary, from one of his nightmares. Marco brings his findings to the attention of Jordan, who, although he doesn't entirely believe the story, confronts the Shaws and suggests that Raymond bow out from the campaign. Instead, Eleanor "activates" Raymond and orders him to kill Jordan. Jocelyne is also killed when she tries to stop an entranced Raymond.
With the help of the FBI, Marco arranges a private meeting with Shaw on Election Day, and tries to convince Shaw of what is happening to him. Shaw seems to agree, and gives Marco his Medal of Honor, which he says he does not deserve. Raymond receives a phone call from Eleanor, who activates Marco with the intention of having him assassinate the President-Elect and giving Raymond the presidency by default. Raymond and Marco resist their conditioning to remain in a lucid state of mind. At the election party, Raymond shares a dance with Eleanor on-stage, which allows Marco to kill them both. Just before Marco can kill himself, FBI Agent Eugenie "Rosie" Rose (Kimberly Elise) stops him by shooting him in the shoulder.
The FBI covers up Marco's involvement, framing a deceased Manchurian Global contractor for the shooting. In the last scene, Rosie takes Marco to the compound where he was conditioned, apparently in conjunction with an FBI investigation. Marco now more clearly understands what has happened, and he lets the sea take away a picture of the "lost platoon" along with Shaw's Medal of Honor.
The Martian (2015)
Color
An astronaut becomes stranded on Mars
The Martian
"The crew of the Ares III manned mission to Mars is exploring the Acidalia Planitia on Martian solar day (sol) 18 of their 31-sol expedition. A dust storm forces them to return to their orbiting vessel Hermes. During the evacuation, astronaut Mark Watney (Matt Damon) is struck by debris and lost in the storm; the last telemetry from his suit indicates no signs of life. With the remaining crew in peril, mission commander Melissa Lewis gives the order to launch the Mars Ascent Vehicle (MAV) without him.
Watney awakens after the storm due to low oxygen warning, and makes his way to the "Hab", the crew's base of operations on Mars. He removes a piece of antenna from his torso and suit's biomonitor, which caused the erroneous life-sign readings, and begins a video diary. He realizes that his only chance of rescue is the arrival of the Ares IV crew at the Schiaparelli crater, 3,200 kilometers away, in four years. Calculating that he has enough food to last only 300 sols (roughly 309 days), Watney, a botanist, improvises a farm with Martian soil fertilized with vacuum-packed toilet waste, water produced by extracting hydrogen from leftover rocket fuel then oxidized by burning, and potatoes saved for a Thanksgiving meal. He begins to modify the only functional rover to make long journeys across Mars.
Reviewing satellite photos of Mars, mission director Vincent Kapoor and satellite planner Mindy Park realize Watney has survived. Despite the objections of Hermes flight director Mitch Henderson, NASA administrator Teddy Sanders decides not to inform the Ares III crew, believing it would distract them from their mission.
Watney takes the rover to retrieve the Pathfinder probe, which fell silent in 1997. Using the lander's camera, he establishes rudimentary communication with the JPL team. NASA instructs Watney to modify the rover to link with Pathfinder so they can communicate via text. Watney is angry that the crew has not been told of his survival, and Sanders authorizes Henderson to inform them.
Henderson and JPL director Bruce Ng formulate a plan to send a space probe to Mars and resupply Watney with enough food to survive until Ares IV's arrival. When the Hab airlock explosively decompresses, destroying Watney's crop, Sanders orders the team to accelerate the supply mission by skipping safety inspections. The supply probe explodes after liftoff.
The China National Space Administration (CNSA) offers NASA the Taiyang Shen, a classified booster that can carry a payload to Mars. Meanwhile, JPL astrodynamicist Rich Purnell determines a trajectory to send Hermes back to Mars more quickly, using the Chinese booster to instead resupply it for an additional eighteen months. Sanders rejects the plan, refusing to risk the crew, but Henderson surreptitiously sends the details to Hermes. Lewis and her crew vote unanimously to execute the plan, and NASA--powerless to stop them--proceeds with the resupply as Hermes flies by Earth, using its gravity to slingshot them back to Mars.
After 461 sols, Watney begins the 90-sol journey to Schiaparelli crater, where the Mars Ascent Vehicle (MAV) for the Ares IV mission previously landed. To rendezvous with Hermes' fly-by, Watney makes drastic modifications to reduce its mass, removing equipment including the windows, nose cone, and exterior panels. With Watney on board the gutted MAV, the Hermes crew launches it remotely, but not at the planned speed and distance. Hermes uses its maneuvering thrusters to change course and explosive decompression of its own internal atmosphere to adjust its speed. Lewis uses a Manned Maneuvering Unit, propelled by nitrogen gas, to approach Watney's vessel, but cannot reach him. Watney pierces the glove of his pressure suit and uses the escaping air as a miniature thruster to reach Lewis. The crew is reunited as crowds around the world cheer the news.
After returning to Earth, Watney begins a new life as a survival instructor for new astronaut candidates. Five years later, on the occasion of the Ares V mission launch, those involved in Watney's rescue have returned to their lives or begun new lives.
The Miracle Worker (1962)
Black & White
Tutor is sent to bring blind and deaf girl out of her shell
The Miracle Worker
Young Helen Keller (Patty Duke), blind and deaf since infancy due to a severe case of scarlet fever, is frustrated by her inability to communicate and subject to frequent violent and uncontrollable outbursts as a result. Unable to deal with her, her terrified and helpless parents contact the Perkins School for the Blind for assistance. In response they send Anne Sullivan (Anne Bancroft), a former student, to the Keller home to tutor her. What ensues is a battle of wills as Anne breaks down Helen's walls of silence and darkness through persistence, love, and sheer stubbornness.
The Mirror Has Two Faces (1996)
Color
A female professor accepts a platonic marriage proposal from a colleague
The Mirror Has Two Faces
"Rose Morgan, a shy, plain, middle-aged English literature professor at Columbia University, shares a home with her vain, overbearing mother Hannah. Her attractive sister Claire starts preparations for her second wedding to Alex (Brosnan), who used to date Rose, so she begins to feel her loveless life is empty.
Gregory Larkin, a Columbia Mathematics teacher who feels sex complicates matters between men and women, since he seems to lose all his rational perspective as soon as he is aroused. After his last girlfriend dumps him after one last night stand before she gets married, based on a suggestion by a sex-phone service, he decides to look for a relationship based on the intellectual rather than the physical and places an ad in a newspaper.
Claire reads the ad and answers on behalf of Rose. Gregory is intrigued when Claire tells him that Rose teaches English literature at Columbia, so he drops in in Rose's lecture about chaste love in literature, missing entirely the point she was making. After a series of mishaps they begin dating and he is impressed by her wit and knowledge and seems to be fascinated by her quirks and mannerisms which usually drive people crazy. She is also fascinated by the dashing math professor and even helps him improve in his teaching techniques. He proposes marriage, with the condition it will be largely platonic, with rare sex only if she needs it. The prospect of spending the rest of her life as a lonely spinster living with her mother seems far worse than a marriage on those conditions, so Rose accepts.
Rose's attraction to Gregory grows, and one night she attempts to seduce him, much to his annoyance. He had hoped that by then she had given up on the idea of sex, though he admits he initially raised its possibility. He abruptly breaks off their attempt at physical intimacy when he finds himself becoming truly aroused and fears that it will change the safe, comfortable feelings he feels towards Rose.
When Gregory departs on a lengthy lecture tour, Rose embarks on a crash course in self-improvement: she diets, exercises, changes her hairstyle, learns to use makeup, and outfits herself in an updated wardrobe. When her husband returns he finds a very different woman waiting for him and is too startled to express his feelings before she admits that she made a mistake accepting their passionless marriage, and leaves him. All the while Rose realizes that everyone, including herself, is behaving differently now towards her improved-self, though not always to her liking. Gregory and Rose realize their mutual love has been hindered not by Rose's appearance, but by Gregory's unusual theories on marriage and sex, and finally recognize their deep affection.
The Missiles of October (1973)
Color
Dramatization of the thirteen days during the Bay of Pigs incident
The Missiles of October
Dramatization of the Bay of Pigs incident in October 1962, during which the Kennedy administration struggles for to contain the Cuban Missile Crisis. The film recounts the thirteen days in October 1962 that nearly led to nuclear war.
The Mothman Prophecies (2002)
Color
People are visited by a great winged shape that sows nightmares and fevered visions
The Mothman Prophecies
"Washington Post columnist John Klein and his wife Mary are involved in an accident when Mary swerves to avoid a black, flying figure. John survives the crash unscathed, but Mary is hospitalized. After Mary dies of an unrelated brain tumor, John discovers mysterious drawings of the creature that she had created in hospital.
Two years later, John becomes lost in West Virginia and inexplicably finds himself in Point Pleasant, hundreds of miles off his route. Driving in the middle of the night, his car breaks down, and he walks to a nearby house to get help. The owner, Gordon Smallwood, reacts violently to John's appearance and holds him at gunpoint. Local police officer Connie Mills defuses the situation while Gordon explains that this is the third consecutive night John has knocked on his door at 2:30 AM asking to use a phone, much to John's disbelief. John stays at a local motel and ponders how he ended up so far from his original destination.
Officer Mills mentions to John that many strange things have been occurring in the past few weeks and that people report seeing a large winged creature like a giant moth with red eyes. She also tells John about a strange dream she had, in which the words "Wake up, Number 37" were spoken to her. During a conversation one day, Gordon reveals to John that he has heard voices coming from his sink telling him that, in Denver, "99 will die". While discussing the day's events at a local diner, John notices that the news is showing the story of an airplane crash in Denver that killed all 99 passengers aboard. The next night Gordon frantically explains that the voices in his head emanate from a being named Indrid Cold.
Later that night Gordon calls John and says that he is standing next to someone named Indrid Cold. While John keeps Cold on the line, Officer Mills checks on Gordon. Cold answers John's questions, including ones he could not possibly know the answers to, convincing John that Cold is a supernatural being. This episode starts a string of supernatural calls to John's motel room. One tells him that there will be a great tragedy on the Ohio River. Later John receives a call from Gordon and rushes to his home to check on him. He finds Gordon outside, dead from exposure.
John becomes obsessed with the being dubbed the Mothman. He meets an expert on the subject, Alexander Leek, who explains its nature and discourages John from becoming further involved. However, when John learns the Governor plans to tour a chemical plant located on the Ohio River the following day, he becomes convinced the tragedy will occur there. Officer Mills and the governor ignore his warnings, and nothing happens during the tour. Soon afterwards, John receives a mysterious message that instructs him to await a call from his deceased wife Mary back in Georgetown, and he returns home.
On Christmas Eve, Officer Mills calls and convinces him to ignore the phone call from "Mary", return to Point Pleasant, and join her. Though anguished, John agrees. As John reaches the Silver Bridge, a malfunctioning traffic light causes traffic congestion. As John walks onto the bridge to investigate, the bolts and supports of the bridge strain. The bridge comes apart, and John realizes that the prophesied tragedy on the Ohio River was about the bridge. As the bridge collapses, Officer Mills' car falls into the water. John jumps in after her and pulls her from the river and up to safety. As the two sit on the back of an ambulance they were informed that 36 people have been killed, making Connie the "number 37" from her dream. The cause of the bridge collapse was never fully determined. Although the Mothman has been sighted in other parts of the world, it was never seen again in Point Pleasant.
The Mountain Between Us (2017)
Color
After a plane crash two strangers must trust each other to survive the extreme elements
The Mountain Between Us
"After their flight is cancelled due to stormy weather, neurosurgeon Dr. Ben Bass (Idris Elba) and photojournalist Alex Martin (Kate Winslet) hire private pilot Walter (Beau Bridges) to get them to Denver for connecting flights to Alex's wedding in New York and Ben's emergency surgery appointment in Baltimore. Walter, who has not filed a flight plan, suffers a fatal stroke mid-flight, and the plane crashes on a mountaintop in the High Uintas Wilderness. Ben, Alex, and Walter's dog survive the crash with various injuries.
Alex thinks Ben has a better chance of finding help if he leaves her behind, but Ben refuses. Stranded for days with dwindling supplies, Alex grows skeptical that they will be rescued, although Ben wants to wait for help by the plane's wreckage. After arguing, Alex starts a lone descent down the mountain. Ben catches up and they make-up over past grievances.
Alex falls into freezing water near an abandoned cabin. They stay there for several days while Alex recuperates, and they have sex. Ben reveals that his wife died two years prior from a brain tumor. As Ben sleeps, Alex takes his picture. Later, she again asks Ben to leave her behind to find help. Ben initially agrees but soon returns; they press forward again.
The dog alerts them to a nearby timber yard. On their way toward it, Ben's leg gets caught in a bear trap. Alex cannot free him, but she reaches the yard and collapses in front of an approaching truck. Ben awakens in a hospital and goes to Alex's room, where he finds her with Mark (Dermot Mulroney), her fiance. After a brief discussion, Ben leaves heartbroken. Some time after, Mark discovers Alex is no longer in love with him.
Ben and Alex go their separate ways after the hospital, with Ben keeping the dog. Alex tries calling Ben, but he ignores her calls until she sends him pictures of them on the mountain. This encourages Ben to call Alex. They meet at a restaurant, where it is revealed that Alex is now a part-time teacher, and Ben is a consultant at trauma clinics because his frostbitten hands have not recovered sufficiently for him to perform surgery. Ben says he did not call Alex because he thought she would be married; Alex says she could not go through with it because she fell in love with Ben. After leaving the restaurant, Ben admits to Alex that they survived because they fell in love. Alex dismisses her feelings and reminds Ben of something he said on the mountain: "the heart is just a muscle." They hug goodbye, but as they depart in opposite directions they run back to each other.
The Mule (2018)
Color
Octogenarian man unkowingly becomes drug mule
The Mule
"Earl Stone, in his 80s, is an award-winning horticulturist and Korean War veteran in Peoria, Illinois. He is facing financial ruin and is estranged from his ex-wife Mary and daughter Iris, for always putting work before family. He is still on friendly terms with his granddaughter Ginny and attends her wedding rehearsal. Desperate for money, he takes up an offer from the friend of one of Ginny's bridesmaids and becomes a "mule" transporting cocaine through Illinois for a Mexican drug cartel. Facing little suspicion due to his age, race, spotless criminal history, and strict adherence to driving laws, Earl is soon trusted with huge amounts of drugs and paid large amounts of cash. With the money he buys a new truck, settles his financial problems, pays for renovations of the local VFW Post, and his granddaughter's wedding and education. He becomes friendly with the cartel members, who call him Tata ("grandfather").
Meanwhile, with details from an informant, a Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) task force is narrowing in on the cartel's deliveries to Chicago. Tensions within the cartel erupt when Gustavo, a power-hungry cartel lieutenant, assassinates cartel boss Laton, and subsequently demands Earl be kept under tighter control.
In the middle of a $12 million cocaine shipment, Earl learns that Mary is gravely ill. After Ginny talks some sense into him, he postpones the drug delivery to make peace with Mary before her death, which provokes the cartel's ire. Days later, after her funeral, Earl resumes the delivery as the DEA and the cartel close in on him.
The cartel's enforcers catch him and upon discovering he was away to attend his wife's death and funeral (which they respect), call the cartel leader to request leniency. The cartel underboss still orders the execution by the enforcers. The next scene shows Earl driving with a head injury and blood on his face. As Earl makes his way towards the drop point, almost resignedly, as a helicopter is circling overhead, he slows to a halt to allow the DEA agents to arrest him. In court, Earl, disregards his age as an excuse and pleads guilty to all charges and is sent to federal prison, with his family showing him their regained support. In prison, he returns to horticulture.
The Name of the Rose (1986)
Color
Monk goes against church to investigate murder of several monks
The Name of the Rose
"Adso of Melk recounts how, in 1327, as a young Franciscan novice (a Benedictine one in the novel), he and his mentor, Franciscan friar William of Baskerville, traveled to a Benedictine abbey in northern Italy where the Franciscans were to debate with papal emissaries the poverty of Christ. The abbey boasts a famed scriptorium where scribes copy, translate or illuminate books. The monk Adelmo of Otranto --a young but famous manuscript illuminator-- was suspiciously found dead on a hillside below a tower with only a window which cannot be opened. The abbot seeks help from William, who is renowned for his deductive powers. William is reluctantly drawn in by the intellectual challenge and his desire to disprove fears of a demonic culprit. William also worries the abbot will summon officials of the Inquisition if the mystery remains unsolved.
William quickly deduces that Adelmo committed suicide, having jumped from a nearby tower having a window, and that the slope of the hill caused the body to roll below the other tower. William's solution briefly allays the monks' fears, until another Monk is found dead, ominously floating in a vat of pig's blood. The victim is Venantius, a translator of Greek and the last man to speak with Adelmo. The corpse bears black stains on a finger and the tongue. The translator's death rekindles the monks' fears of a supernatural culprit, fears reinforced when the saintly Fransciscan friar Ubertino of Casale warns that the deaths resemble signs mentioned in the Book of Revelation. In the scriptorium, William inspects Adelmo's desk, but is blocked by Brother Berengar, the assistant librarian. Brother Malachia, the head librarian, denies William access to the rest of the building.
William encounters Salvatore, a demented hunchback, and his protector, Remigio da Varagine, the cellarer. William deduces that both were Dulcinites, members of a heretical, militant sect that believes that clergy should be impoverished. William does not suspect them of murder though because Dulcinites target wealthy bishops, not poor monks. Nevertheless, Remigio's past gives William leverage in learning the abbey's secrets. Salvatore tells William that Adelmo had crossed paths with Venantius on the night that Adelmo died. Meanwhile, Adso encounters a beautiful, semi-feral, peasant girl who has sneaked into the abbey to trade sexual favours for food, and is seduced by her.
Returning that night to Venantius's desk, William finds a book in Greek, and a parchment with Greek writing, smudges of a color blended by Adelmo for illuminating books, and cryptic symbols written by a left-handed man using invisible ink. Berengar sneaks into the darkened scriptorium, distracts William and steals the book.
Berengar is later found drowned in a bath and bearing stains similar to those on Venantius. William narrates his conclusions that Adelmo's death was indeed suicide, due to giving in to Berengar's requests for homosexual favors. Venantius received a parchment from Adelmo before Adelmo's death, and Berengar is the only left-handed man in the abbey. William theorizes that the translator transcribed the Greek notes on the parchment from a book, and that the book is somehow responsible for the deaths. The abbot is unconvinced and, burning the parchment, he informs William that the Inquisition -- in the person of Bernardo Gui, an old adversary of William -- has already been summoned.
Determined to solve the mystery before Gui arrives, William and Adso discover a vast, hidden library above the scriptorium. William suspects the abbey hid the books because much of their contents comes from pagan philosophers. Gui finds Salvatore and the peasant girl fighting over a black cockerel while in the presence of a black cat. For Gui, this is irrefutable proof of witchcraft, and he tortures Salvatore into a false confession. Privately, William reveals his past connection to Gui, and his own past as an inquisitor to Adso. Years earlier, Bernardo Gui demanded that William condemn a man whose sole crime was translating a Greek book that conflicted with the scriptures. Ultimately, Gui had William imprisoned and tortured to change his verdict, with the translator being burned at the stake.
As both William's Franciscan brothers and the papal delegates arrive, the debate begins. Soon, the abbey's herbalist finds a book written in Greek in his dispensary, and is overheard telling this to William. The herbalist returns to his dispensary, only to be murdered by a hooded figure.
Shortly afterward, Malachia warns Remigio to escape, as Salvatore has revealed their Dulcinite history. After Remigio attempts to escape, Malachia wipes blood from his own shoes, revealing that it was he who murdered the herbalist. Before Remigio can escape the abbey, he is caught by Bernardo Gui's guards. Learning of Remigio's Dulcinite past, Gui arrests him for the murders, and brings Remigio, Salvatore and the girl before a tribunal. Remembering William, Gui chooses him to join the abbot as a tribunal judge. At trial, Remigio proudly admits his past but denies having killed anyone in the abbey. While the abbot quickly condemns Remigio for murder, William points out that the murders are tied to the Greek book, which Remigio could not read, and warns that Remigio's execution will not end the murders. Under Gui's threats of torture, however, Remigio "confesses" by falsely summoning the Devil. Gui arranges for the prisoners to be burned at the stake, while William, having "relapsed", will be taken to Avignon. The papal delegates condemn the Franciscans for William's obstinacy and end the debate.
As the monks prepare to burn Gui's prisoners, Malachia is found dying, with black stains on his tongue and finger. Although Malachia's death vindicates William's warning, Gui takes it as proof that William is the murderer, and orders his arrest. Fleeing Gui's guards, William and Adso re-enter the secret library and come face to face with the Venerable Jorge, the oldest denizen of the abbey. Having decoded the lines on the translator's parchment, William demands that Jorge turn over the book that the dead men had been reading: Aristotle's Second Book of Poetics on Comedy. Jorge hates laughter, thinking it undermines faith in God, and a book on laughter written by Arisotle will only bring laughter to the wise men, and undermine the faith among those of learning. To prevent that, Jorge killed those who had read the book by poisoning its pages. Jorge gives the book to William, thinking he too will suffer the poison. When William reveals that he is wearing gloves, Jorge grabs the book, then starts a blaze that quickly engulfs the library. William stays behind, trying to save some of the books and encouraging Adso to leave. Jorge kills himself by consuming the poison-coated pages.
Seeing the fire, the monks abandon the prisoners, allowing the local peasants to save the girl, though Salvatore and Remigio die. Adso chases Gui, who manages to escape him, but the peasants push his wagon off a cliff, impaling him. As William and Adso depart, Adso encounters the girl, stops for a few seconds, but eventually chooses to go with William. The much older Adso states that he never regretted his decision as he learned many more things from William before their ways parted. He also says that the girl was the only earthly love of his life, but he never learned her name.
The Neon Demon (2016)
Color
Jesse finds out just how cut-throat modeling business really is
The Neon Demon
"Jesse gets signed by the owner of an important modelling agency (Christina Hendricks), who tells her to pretend she is nineteen and informs her of a test shoot with a notable photographer, Jack (Desmond Harrington). Later, Jesse goes on a date with Dean. Their date is flirtatious, but she keeps advances at bay. She returns to her motel room to find it ransacked, and still occupied, by a feline resembling a cougar but roaring like a big cat. The unsavory manager, Hank (Keanu Reeves), blames her for leaving the sliding door open and demands that she pay for the damages.
Jesse goes to the photo shoot with Jack, revealed to be a man who had been staring at her during the earlier club. Upon seeing her, he calls for a completely closed set, douses the studio lights, and covers Jesse's naked body in gold paint. Despite her initial fear of the situation, the shoot is successful and Jesse shows obvious promise. Ruby, who has made her up for this shoot as well, gives Jesse her mobile phone number and tells her to contact her if she needs anything, "night or day". Ruby then has lunch with Gigi and Sarah; the veteran models' envy towards Jesse's youth and evident potential contrasts with Ruby's fascination with her.
Jesse goes to a casting call for preeminent fashion designer Robert Sarno (Alessandro Nivola), at which Sarah is also present. He pays no attention to Sarah when she walks for him, but is entranced by Jesse and tells his assistants to have her measured. She then finds a distraught Sarah in a nearby toilet, after the latter has torn up her headshot portfolio and smashed a mirror. Sarah asks her how it feels to be the one on whom everyone lavishes attention and praise. Jesse admits, "It's everything." Sarah lunges toward her, and Jesse accidentally cuts herself on a shard of glass from the mirror. Instead of helping Jesse, Sarah impulsively sucks the blood flowing from her hand. Jesse rushes back to her motel hiding from Hank's view, and faints as soon as she opens the door for Dean who comes bearing flowers. She briefly hallucinates a blue inverted triangular structure as well as other img. Dean pays Hank the earlier damage to her room. During their short interchange Hank reveals a sexually predatory streak. He gleans Dean's unrequited interest in Jesse and, in a warped act of camaraderie, tries to attract Dean's attention to the thirteen-year-old runaway girl in a room possibly next to hers. Dean is repulsed by this and cures Jesse's wound that evening.
Some time later, Jesse and Gigi coincide at Sarno's fashion show, wherein both are set to model. Gigi tells Jesse about all the work she has had done to look more beautiful, and expresses disbelief that Jesse has not used casting couches to achieve her success. Sarno tells Jesse that he wants her to close the show and gives her an opulent dress to wear. During her runway appearance, Jesse sees a hallucinogenic vision of the glowing inverted triangular structure approaching her, kisses her reflection inside a mirrored prism, and then watches the triangular structure, which has turned red, drift away from her. After the show, a visibly changed Jesse and her friend Dean go out to a bar, where Sarno is having drinks with Gigi and another girl. The designer denigrates women who have cosmetic surgery as being artificial beauties, using a visibly humiliated Gigi as a case in point. In contrast, he praises Jesse's natural looks and declares that "beauty isn't everything; it's the only thing." When Dean challenges this view, Sarno pointedly tells him he would have never expressed interest in Jesse if she were not so beautiful. Dean tries to convince Jesse to leave, but she rejects him and seems to display a new persona more in keeping with her surroundings.
After returning home to the motel, Jesse has a nightmare of Hank coming into her room and forcing her to swallow a knife in a sexual manner. She wakes up in time to hear someone, maybe him, violently fidgeting with her door lock. She quickly turns the inside lock, but is forced to listen as the intruder instead breaks into her next-door neighbor's room and apparently assaults her. Terrified, Jesse calls Ruby, who tells her to come to her place for safety. After Jesse comes to the mansion that Ruby claims to be house-sitting, Ruby tries to initiate sex with her, but Jesse rejects her, confirming her virginity in the process. Upset, Ruby draws an enigmatic diagram in lipstick on her mirror and then leaves for her second job as a makeup artist for a morgue. There, she pleasures herself with a female corpse while thinking about Jesse.
Ruby returns home and finds Jesse, now vocal and unabashed in her narcissism, standing on the swimming pool diving board. Jesse enters the mansion and is attacked and pursued by Gigi and Sarah, who eventually corner her outside. Ruby pushes her into the empty swimming pool, incapacitating her. The three women are shown approaching her with knives. Ruby is then seen bathing in Jesse's blood, while Gigi and Sarah shower together to wash the blood from their bodies. Some time later, Ruby is shown alone washing the blood off the pool; her topless body shows what appear to be occult tattoos. She is next seen lying in Jesse's unmarked grave in a rose garden and later performs a ritual to a full moon, culminating in a torrent of blood flowing from her genitals.
The next day, Sarah drives Gigi to a photo shoot at a seaside mansion hosted by Jack. Speaking to the model scheduled alongside Gigi, Sarah nonchalantly states she once ate her competition. This is dismissed as a joke by the model, but visibly disturbs Gigi. Unsatisfied with the preparations for the shoot, Jack is suddenly enthralled with Sarah, whom he had never noticed before. He asks her to replace the other model, to which she promptly agrees with a knowing smile. In the midst of the shoot alongside a swimming pool, Gigi falls ill and begins heaving, forcing her to leave the set. Sarah finds her in a dressing room desperately trying to vomit, eventually disgorging one of Jesse's eyeballs. She then begins screaming, "I need to get her out of me", before stabbing her own stomach with a pair of scissors and cutting open her own abdomen. Sarah watches Gigi die, drools, and then eats the regurgitated eyeball before shedding a tear and silently returning to the set.
The Net (1995)
Color
Computer specialist has her identity wiped out when she uncovers a conspiracy
The Net
"The film opens with United States Undersecretary of Defense Michael Bergstrom (Ken Howard), who commits suicide after discovering that he has tested positive for HIV.
Angela Bennett (Sandra Bullock) is a Venice, California systems analyst who telecommutes to Cathedral Software in San Francisco. Her interpersonal relationships are completely online and on the phone, limiting interactions with neighbors, and her mother (Diane Baker) who is institutionalized with Alzheimer's disease. Bennett's coworker Dale sends her a floppy disk with a backdoor, labeled with "?", to a commonly used computer security system called "Gatekeeper" sold by Gregg Microsystems. Dale and Bennett agree to meet, but his private plane's navigation system malfunctions and it crashes, killing him.
Bennett travels to Cozumel, Mexico on vacation, where she meets Jack Devlin (Jeremy Northam). Devlin pays a mugger to steal Bennett's purse with the disk, then shoots the thief. He seduces Bennett on his speedboat, but she finds his gun and confronts him. While fleeing with the disk and Devlin's wallet Bennett's dinghy collides with rocks, destroying the disk and hospitalizing her, unconscious, for three days.
When Bennett wakes up, she finds that all records of her life have been deleted: She was checked out of her hotel room, her car is no longer at the LAX parking lot, and her credit cards are invalid. Bennett's home is empty and listed for sale and, because none of the neighbors ever saw her, they cannot confirm her identity. Bennett's Social Security number is now assigned to a "Ruth Marx", who has an arrest record. Another woman has taken her identity at Cathedral; the impostor offers Bennett her old life back in exchange for the disk. She contacts the only other person who knows her by sight, psychiatrist and former lover Alan Champion (Dennis Miller). He checks her into a hotel, offers to contact a friend at the FBI, and arranges to have her mother moved for her safety.
Using her knowledge of the backdoor and a password found in Devlin's wallet, Bennett logs into the Bethesda Naval Hospital's computers and learns that Bergstrom, who had opposed Gatekeeper's use by the federal government, was misdiagnosed. Fellow hacker "Cyberbob" identifies with the "Praetorians", a notorious group of cyberterrorists linked to recent computer failures around the country. They plan to meet at Pacific Park on the Santa Monica Pier, but the Praetorians intercept their online chat. Bennett escapes from Devlin--a contract killer for the cyberterrorists--at the park, but the Praetorians kill Champion by tampering with pharmacy and hospital computer records. After Bennett is arrested by the California Highway Patrol a man identifying himself as Champion's FBI friend frees her from jail, but she discovers he is an impostor and escapes again.
Now wanted for murder, Bennett travels to Cathedral's office where, using her impostor's computer, she connects the terrorists to Gregg Microsystems and uncovers their scheme; once the Praetorians sabotage an organization's computer system, Gregg sells his Gatekeeper product to them and gains unlimited access through the backdoor. Bennett emails evidence of the backdoor to the FBI from the Moscone Center and tricks Devlin into crashing Gregg's mainframe, undoing the erasing of her identity. They battle on the convention center's catwalks, where Devlin accidentally shoots and kills Marx. Bennett then ambushes Devlin with a fire extinguisher, causing him to fall. The film closes with Bennett reunited with her mother and the conspiracy exposed.
The Next Three Days (2010)
Color
When she denies murder charges, professor plots to break his wife out of prison
The Next Three Days
"Lara Brennan (Banks) is convicted of murdering her boss after an altercation at work and after a trial is sentenced to life in prison. Following the failure of her appeal, Lara's husband John Brennan (Crowe), a professor at a community college, becomes obsessed with the idea of breaking her out of jail, while their son Luke ceases to acknowledge her during their prison visits.
John consults Damon Pennington (Neeson), a former convict who successfully escaped from prison seven times. Damon advises John to study the prison where his wife is, saying "every prison has a key". Damon also warns him that the initial escape from the prison will be easy compared with avoiding capture after the escape. To that end, John must obtain false passports, new social security numbers, and a "truckload of cash" to have a chance of success. Damon also suggests going to an unpopular foreign country for Americans so that authorities will be unlikely to look for them there. John learns Pittsburgh's time to lock-down the city's exits after a call is made to do so: 15 minutes for the city center and 35 minutes for all interstates, secondary roads, and stations or airports. Damon Pennington tells John to ask himself if he can really "be that guy" who knocks over an old lady or shoots a guard if it's the difference between escape or getting caught.
John contemplates several ideas that do not pan out and is defeated more than once, but he latches onto a solid plan and the necessary paperwork after some painful efforts. He robs a drug lord and sets his meth lab on fire before fleeing the scene. He then falsifies and plants blood work results indicating that his wife is in a state of hyperkalaemia, so she is transferred to the hospital. He follows the ambulance and helps her escape although she is doubtful and reluctant, motivated only by the idea of her son being raised without either parent.
With the police getting some lucky breaks, they are hot on John and Lara's trail through a series of chases. Throughout the film, John is shown assembling maps, photographs, notes, and other papers on a wall of his house. He tears them down and stuffs them into several garbage bags before leaving to rescue Lara, leaving one bag in the trash outside his home, and the rest in a dumpster some blocks away. As it turns out, he did this selectively to misguide the detectives regarding their final destination. They have an uncomfortable moment at passport control, as a Canadian officer examines their passports and glances at the page of photographs showing people to stop. He allows them to pass. The shift changes, and as they walk down the hall, their photos are added to the list. An international flight is delayed, but the police were after the wrong destination.
At the end of the film, the family ends up safe in Caracas, Venezuela. Back in the United States, a detective who had attempted to catch Brennan returns to the scene of the crime although it had been some years since the crime occurred. Using his forensic skills, he manages to put together what really happened. It turns out that the killer of Lara's boss was really just a mugger--as she claimed in open court--and a series of coincidences led to Lara's conviction. He remembers Lara saying a button popped off as she passed the mugger, and notices that it is raining just as it had been the night of the murder. He tosses a piece of paper in the current where the button would have fallen off, and it leads into a gutter. He searches the gutter but is unable to find the button to prove Lara's innocence. It turns out the button was there, buried under grime, and the detective just missed it. The last shot of this detective shows him turning back to think, implying that there is a possibility of him taking a second look and locating the button, which would've led to the exoneration of Lara. However, that is left open to audience speculation.
The Nice Guys (2016)
Color
Private eye investigating murder come across vast conspiracy
The Nice Guys
"In 1977 Los Angeles, a boy named Bobby witnesses fading porn star Misty Mountains (Telio) die in a car crash. Later that week, down-on-his-luck private eye Holland March (Gosling) is approached by Mrs. Glenn (Smith), the aunt of Misty Mountains who is obsessively claiming to have seen her niece alive. March is skeptical of her claim, but realizes that a missing girl named Amelia Kutner (Qualley) is somehow involved and accepts the job. However, Amelia does not wish to be found and hires enforcer Jackson Healy (Crowe) to intimidate March into staying away from her. Later that night, Healy is attacked at his home by two unnamed thugs credited as Blue Face (Knapp) and Older Guy (David), who attempt to interrogate him about Amelia's whereabouts. After stunning the duo, Healy manages to ward them off with a hidden shotgun. He then teams up with a reluctant March to find Amelia before the thugs do. The two are assisted by Holly (Rice), March's young daughter, who does not see eye to eye in regards to March's method of investigating, and is disapproving of her father's method of swindling extra payments out of his clients and feigning good results to cover his failures.
The two then find out that Amelia was working with Misty Mountains and an amateur filmmaker named Dean on an "experimental film"--equal parts pornography and investigative journalism--called How Do You Like My Car, Big Boy? about the smog in Los Angeles, as they were both protesters against the growing air pollution. Dean, however, mysteriously died in a fire that burned the film. The two end up at a party to search for the film's financier, Sid Shattack, a notorious pornography producer. After fumbling through the party, a drunken March ends up finding Shattack dead, while unknowingly coming across Amelia. Holly, after attempting to investigate on her own, is tricked into a car by Blue Face and Older Guy. Healy fights with Older Guy, while Blue Face tries to kill Amelia from inside his car, only to be stopped by Holly, who warns Amelia and then escapes with her. While chasing them down, Blue Face is seriously injured in a hit-and-run. As he lies half-dead in the middle of the road, he reveals to Healy that their boss has dispatched a hit man named John Boy to kill Amelia, March and his family to prevent further witnesses. Healy discreetly strangles Blue Face to death in order to protect March and Holly, later claiming to Holly that he died of his injuries. After a brief investigation, the two are greeted by Amelia's mother, Judith Kutner (Basinger), a high-ranking official in the United States Department of Justice, who claims her daughter is delusional and paranoid and points them towards the Las Vegas mob trying to expand into the Los Angeles pornography scene.
Healy reveals the note paper with March's address given to him by Amelia is identical to a paper he found at the party, which gives leads to an airport hotel where Amelia was going to distribute the film. However, they witness the men there being slaughtered by John Boy (Bomer) and hastily retreat, only to have Amelia land on their car from the building where she is accidentally knocked out. They take her back to March's house, where she reveals that the people after her are working for a cabal of Detroit automakers. After uncovering evidence that they colluded to suppress the catalytic converter (which regulates exhaust emissions), Amelia created How Do You Like My Car, Big Boy? to expose their collusion rather than going to the media as she believed that they and the government were a part of the conspiracy. Judith has her assistant, Tally, arrange for March and Healy to deliver a case that supposedly contains one hundred thousand dollars. However, a half-asleep March accidentally crashes their car and the case is opened to reveal shredded magazines, causing them to realize that they have been double-crossed. At home, Holly is confronted and attacked by John Boy, who had been sent by Tally under the guise of being a family doctor. March and Healy arrive back at the house and engage in a shootout with John Boy. John Boy escapes, while an impatient Amelia leaves, only to run into and be killed by John Boy.
March and Healy try to bring the matter to court, but are rejected, as they have no evidence, leading them again to search for the film. The two have Mrs. Glenn show them where she saw Misty Mountains alive. Inside they find a hidden projector--the poorly-sighted Mrs. Glenn having mistaken footage of Misty for her niece--and deduce that there was a reprint of the film. They realize that the projectionist, Chet (Kilmer), another protester they had questioned about Dean, is the projectionist for the film and had worked with Amelia to make How Do You Like My Car, Big Boy? public by splicing it into the presentation film for the Los Angeles Auto Show, which is being held at a hotel. At the auto show, the two find that John Boy and Older Guy, along with a few other thugs are already there and have interrogated a drunken Chet, learning that the film will be projected automatically from a window of the building. Healy and March attempt to reach it first, only to be intercepted at gunpoint by Tally (DaCosta). Before she can kill them, Holly arrives while pretending to be room service and throws coffee at Tally. Holly's plan is initially unsuccessful as the coffee is cold, but Tally soon slips on the spill and knocks herself unconscious. In the subsequent fight, Older Guy falls to his death, while Healy subdues John Boy by knocking him out cold. He spares his life for Holly's sake.
The detectives take How Do You Like My Car, Big Boy? to the police and though Judith is arrested, the Detroit car companies are immune to any charges, due to insufficient evidence. When she talks with March and Healy before her trial, Judith claims she did not want her daughter killed and justifies her involvement by insisting that "what is good for Detroit is good for America." Afterward Healy and March decide to continue working together as private eyes, naming their agency "The Nice Guy
The Night of the Hunter (1955)
Color
Bogus preacher marries his deceased cellmates's wife to get ahold of hidden loot
The Night of the Hunter
"In West Virginia in the 1930s, Reverend Harry Powell is a self-appointed preacher and misogynistic serial killer who travels along the Ohio River, justifying the women he murdered with his switchblade knife after marrying them for their money as doing God's work. After reaching a town sometime after his latest murder, Powell ends up being arrested for driving a stolen car and serves his sentence at Moundsville Penitentiary. By chance, Powell ends up sharing the same cell as Ben Harper, a local man who murdered two men in a bank robbery for ten thousand dollars. But with the police about to catch him, Harper makes his children John and Pearl promise to never reveal where the money is hidden after hiding it in Pearl's doll. Despite Powell's attempts to learn the money's location, Harper takes it to his grave.
Following Harper's execution, the released Powell makes his way to Harper's hometown where he charms the townsfolk while wooing Harper's widow Willa, who has been working for Walter Spoon and his wife Icey.[6] Powell eventually marries Willa. Powell manages to win the town's trust, and only John is distrustful of him. John accidentally reveals that he knows the money's location when Powell overhears him reminding Pearl of their promise. Willa overhears Powell threatening Pearl to reveal the money, but Willa is deluded that Powell married her to redeem her soul.
Powell murders Willa soon after, dumping her body in the river while making it appear that she left him and the children for a life of sin. Powell then proceeds to threaten John and Pearl before learning the money is hidden inside Pearl's doll. The children escape him and attempt to seek refuge with Birdie Steptoe, an elderly man who spends his days drinking on his riverboat and is friendly with John. When they arrive, they find that Birdie has drunk himself into a stupor after discovering Willa's corpse, fearing that the town would blame him for her death. The children use their father's boat to flee down the river and eventually take sanctuary with Rachel Cooper, a tough old woman who looks after stray children.
Powell tracks them down, but Rachel sees through his deceptions and runs him off her property with Powell threatening to come back after dark. During the all-night standoff, Rachel shoots and wounds Powell as she traps him in her barn before calling the police. The police, by now having discovered Willa's body, arrive to arrest Powell. John breaks down as he witnesses the arrest of Powell as a parallel to his father's arrest, beating the doll against the handcuffed Powell as the money spills out. Following Powell's sentencing at Moundsville, with John as a witness, Rachel takes him and the other children away as a bereaved Icey leads a lynch mob to take Powell from the police station. The police take Powell to safety, but the professional executioner promises to see Powell again soon. Finally, John and Pearl have their first Christmas together with Rachel and their new family.
The Notebook (2004)
Color
Man reads diary about how they met to his wife, who is institutionalized for dementia
The Notebook
"At a modern-day nursing home, an elderly man who people call "Duke" (James Garner) begins to read a romantic love story from his notebook to an elderly woman, and fellow patient (Gena Rowlands).
The story he tells begins in 1940. In Seabrook Island, South Carolina, local country boy Noah Calhoun (Ryan Gosling) is smitten with a seventeen-year-old heiress named Allie Hamilton (Rachel McAdams) after seeing her at a carnival, and they share an idyllic summer romantic love affair. Noah takes Allie to an abandoned house, which he explains that he intends to buy for them. Later that evening, she asks him to make love to her, but they are interrupted by Noah's friend Fin (Kevin Connolly) with the news that Allie's parents have the police out looking for her. When Allie and Noah return to her parents' mansion, they ban her from seeing Noah the whale, whom they say is "trash, trash, trash not for you!" The two break up and the next morning, Allie's mother announces that the family is returning home to Charleston.
Noah writes a letter each day to Allie for one year, but Allie's mother intercepts them all and keeps them hidden from Allie. As each sweetheart/lover sees there is no contact from the other, Noah and Allie have no choice but to move on with their lives; Noah and Fin enlist to fight in World War II and Fin is killed in battle. Allie becomes a volunteer in a hospital for wounded soldiers, where she meets an officer named Lon Hammond, Jr. (James Marsden), a young lawyer who is handsome, sophisticated, and charming, and comes from old Southern money. The two eventually become engaged, to the delight of Allie's parents, but Allie sees Noah's shocked and hurt face when Lon asks her to marry him.
When Noah returns home from the war, he discovers his father has sold their home so that Noah can buy the abandoned house, fulfilling his lifelong dream to buy it for the departed Allie, whom by now he has not seen for several years. While visiting Charleston, Noah witnesses Allie and Lon playing cards at a restaurant; he convinces himself that if he fixes up the house, Allie will come back to him. Later, Allie is startled to read in the newspaper that Noah has completed the house and she visits him in Seabrook.
In the present, it is made clear that the elderly woman is in fact Allie, who is suffering from Alzheimer's disease and cannot remember any of the events of the film so far. Duke, the man who is reading to her is, in fact, her husband, Noah, but Allie cannot recognize him.
Back in the nineteen-forties, the day after Allie arrives in Seabrook, she and Noah renew their strong romantic relationship and make love, Noah is heard saying 'awhh big son'. In the morning, Allie's mother appears on Noah's doorstep, telling Allie that Lon has come to Seabrook to take her home. She takes Allie out for a drive and reveals that, twenty-five years earlier, she also loved a common man, of whom her parents also disapproved. She leaves Allie with a bundle of letters--all of Noah's letters (implying she had intercepted them as an attempt to protect her from getting her heart broken) and hopes that Allie will make the right choice. Allie confesses to Lon that she has been spending time with Noah. He is angry, but says that he still deeply loves her. Allie tells him she knows she should be with him, but she remains indecisive.
In the present, Duke asks Allie who she chose. Becoming lucid, she remembers that the story Duke was reading is the story of how they first met. Young Allie appears at Noah's doorstep, having left Lon at the hotel and chosen Noah. Elderly Allie suddenly remembers her past; after finding out about her illness, she herself wrote their story in the notebook with instructions for Noah to "read this to me, and I'll come back to you." But minutes later Allie relapses, losing her memories of Noah again. She panics, not understanding who he is, and has to be sedated.
The elderly Noah has a heart attack, and Allie is alone for a time. However, as soon as he is sufficiently recovered, Noah ("Duke") goes to Allie's room one evening to find her lucid again. Allie questions Noah about what will happen to them when she will not be able to remember anything anymore, and he reassures her that he will never ever leave her. She asks him if he thinks their strong and mutual romantic love for each other is strong enough to "take them away together"; he replies that he thinks their strong romance could do anything. After telling each other they love one another, Noah adds "I'll be seeing you". The next morning, a nurse comes into Allie's room, only to find Allie and Noah dead in each others arms. As the camera pans out, we see they died holding hands.
The Nun's Story (1959)
Color
Nun's ethics are challenged when serves in a hospital during WW II, she mustn't take sides
The Nun's Story
"Gabrielle "Gaby" Van Der Mal (Audrey Hepburn), whose father Hubert (Dean Jagger) is a famous surgeon in Belgium, enters a convent of nursing sisters in the late 1920s in the hopes of eventually becoming a missionary nursing sister in the Belgian Congo. After being given the name of Sister Luke and undergoing a postulancy and novitiate which foreshadow her future difficulties with the vow of obedience, she takes her first vows and is sent to a school of tropical medicine.
After passing high in her class but not without some spiritual conflict, she discovers to her disappointment that she has been assigned to go not to the Congo but instead to a mental hospital, where she assists with the most difficult and violent cases. One of these patients, a particularly violent schizophrenic (Colleen Dewhurst) who believes herself to be the Archangel Gabriel, tricks her into opening the cell door in violation of the rules, and Sister Luke barely escapes from her to face the shame of her disobedience.
Nevertheless, she is eventually permitted to take her final vows and sent to the Congo. Once there she is disappointed to learn that she will not be nursing the natives, but instead will be the operating nurse for the white hospital. She develops a strained but professional relationship with the brilliant but atheistic surgeon there, Dr. Fortunati (Peter Finch). Eventually, the strains of her work and spiritual struggle cause her to succumb to tuberculosis. Fortunati, not wanting to lose the ideal nurse that Sister Luke is and sympathetic with her desire to stay in the Congo, engineers an amazing cure for the TB, a condition which otherwise always requires being sent to medical care (in Sister Luke's case back to Europe).
Some time after Sister Luke's return to health and work, Fortunati is forced to send her back to Belgium as the only nurse qualified to accompany a VIP who has become mentally unstable. She spends an outwardly quiet but inwardly restless period of time at the motherhouse in Brussels before the superior general finally gives her a new assignment. Because it is clear that there is going to be a war, she cannot go back to the Congo, but instead becomes a surgical nurse at a local hospital.
There Sister Luke's long struggle with obedience becomes impossible for her to sustain, as she is forced into repeated compromises to deal with the reality of the Nazi occupation, including the fact that they have killed her father. She asks for and with difficulty is granted a dispensation from her vows, and is last seen changing into lay garb and quietly leaving the convent by a back door.
The Nutty Professor (1996)
Color
Fat professor takes weight-loss drug to impress a lady, and suddenly becomes a fit asshole
The Nutty Professor
"Sherman Klump, a morbidly obese and kind-hearted professor at Wellman College, creates an experimental formula that reconstructs someone's DNA for weight to be lost easier. Sherman, during a date at a club, called The Scream, with Carla Purty, a chemistry graduate who is a big fan of his work, is made fun of for his weight by insult comic, Reggie Warrington. This influences him to test his serum on himself the next morning, losing 250 pounds within seconds. He initially celebrates the weight loss, but later finds the effects of the serum are only temporary. Sherman adopts a false identity, "Buddy Love", and invites Carla out on a date at The Scream again. Reggie is present again, and Sherman takes revenge by heckling him mercilessly, topping it off with a sardonic interpretation of Minnie Riperton's “Lovin' You” on a piano. Sherman's "Buddy" persona starts to develop an independent personality due to the heightened testosterone levels of the transformation, gradually changing from his regular good-natured self to perverted and super-confident. This transformation is seen by Sherman's lab assistant, Jason.
Buddy's identity also takes over Sherman's job and all the credit for his work. He meets Dean Richmond and wealthy businessman, Harlan Hartley, the latter planning to donate $10 million to the science department. Buddy shows the serum, which impresses Hartley and Dean Richmond to the point where they invite him to the Alumni Ball the next night. Buddy then cheats on Carla with three women, and Carla dumps him out of disgust. After being fired as a professor, Sherman attempts to stop the alter ego by destroying all of the serum samples, which he does with Jason's help. However, Buddy is hiding a sample of the serum in one of Sherman's diet shake cans, which Sherman drinks, causing him to transform into Buddy again.
Jason discovers Buddy's testosterone levels are at a lethally high 60,000% and gets to the ball in the middle of Buddy's demonstration of the serum. Buddy plans to drink the serum to get rid of Sherman, resulting in a fight between the two identities. Sherman eventually transforms into his regular self and admits his misdeeds to the shocked audience, including his parents, Cletus and Anna, and Carla. As he leaves, Carla stops him and asks why he lied; he says he did not believe that she would accept him. Carla forgives Sherman and invites him to dance with her. Richmond rehires Sherman and Hartley donates the grant to Wellman because he remarks that Sherman is "a brilliant scientist and a gentleman".
The Old Maid (1939)
Black & White
Out of economic necessity, unwed mother gives her child to her cousin, and plays the aunt
The Old Maid
"Set during the American Civil War, the story focuses on Charlotte Lovell and her cousin Delia, whose wedding day is disrupted when her former fiance Clem Spender returns following a two-year absence. Delia proceeds to marry Jim Ralston, and Charlotte comforts Clem, who enlists in the Union Army and is later killed in battle. Shortly after his death, Charlotte discovers she is pregnant with Clem's child, and in order to escape the stigma of an illegitimate child, she journeys West to have her baby, a daughter she names Clementina (or "Tina").
Following the end of the war, Charlotte and Tina relocate to Philadelphia, where Charlotte opens an orphanage. Delia is the mother of two children, and Charlotte is engaged to marry Joe Ralston, her cousin's brother-in-law. On her wedding day, Charlotte tells Delia that Tina is her child by Clem, and Delia stops Joe from marrying Charlotte by telling him that she is in poor health. The cousins become estranged, but when Jim is killed in a horseriding accident, Delia invites Charlotte and Tina to move in with her and her children. Tina, unaware Charlotte is her birth mother, assumes the role of Delia's daughter and calls Charlotte her aunt.
Fifteen years pass, and Tina is engaged to wealthy Lanning Halsey. Still unaware Charlotte is her mother, she begins to resent what she considers her interference in her life, and when Delia offers to formally adopt Tina in order to provide her with a reputable name and a prominent position in society, she gladly accepts. Charlotte intends to tell Tina the truth before her wedding but finds herself unable to do so.
Charlotte confronts Delia and reveals she resents the fact both Clem and Tina loved Delia more than they did her. Delia tells Tina that Charlotte sacrificed her happiness by refusing to marry a man who did not want to raise Tina as his own, and she urges her to kiss Charlotte last when she prepares to depart with her new husband. Tina complies, and her gesture leaves Charlotte happy and willing to share the rest of her life with Delia as a friend rather than an adversary.
The Old Man and the Sea (1958)
Color
Fisherman's struggle to bring in big fish becomes his ultimate test as a man
The Old Man and the Sea
The Old Man in the film is a Cuban fisherman who has gone 84 days without a catch. His only friend is a young boy who has been barred by his father from accompanying the Old Man out to sea. On the Old Man's 85th day out, he finally hooks a huge marlin, which he then tries to bring in and haul in from far out from shore. For three days and nights he battles the fish, which is portrayed in the film (as it had been in Hemingway's novella) as a trial of mental and physical courage that becomes the ultimate test for him of his worth as a man.
The Omega Man (1971)
Color
Last survivor of zombie virus
The Omega Man
"In March 1975, a Sino-Soviet border conflict escalates into full scale war in which biological warfare destroys the human race. U.S. Army Col. Robert Neville, M.D., is a scientist based in Los Angeles. As he begins to succumb to the plague, he injects himself with an experimental vaccine, rendering himself immune.
By August, 1977, Neville believes he is the plague's only immune survivor. Struggling to maintain his sanity, he spends his days patrolling the now-desolate Los Angeles, hunting and killing members of "the Family", a cult of plague victims who were turned into nocturnal albino mutants. The Family seeks to destroy all technology and kill Neville, who has become a symbol of the science they blame for humanity's downfall. At night, living atop a fortified apartment building equipped with an arsenal of weaponry, Neville is a prisoner in his own home.
One day, as Neville is in a department store helping himself to new clothing, he spots a woman who quickly runs away. He pursues her outside, but later decides he is hallucinating and dismisses the sighting.
On another day, the Family finally captures Neville. After a summary trial, he is found guilty of heresy by the Family's leader, Jonathan Matthias, a former news anchorman. Neville is sentenced to death and nearly burned at the stake in Dodger Stadium. He is rescued by Lisa, the woman he had earlier dismissed as a hallucination, and Dutch, a former medical student. Lisa and Dutch are part of a group of survivors, some of whom are children. Although their youth has given them some resistance to the disease, they are still vulnerable to it, and will eventually succumb to mutation. Neville realizes that even if it is possible to duplicate the original vaccine, it would take years to salvage humanity. However, he believes it may be possible to extend his immunity to others by creating a serum from his own blood.
Neville and Lisa return to Neville's apartment, where they begin treating Lisa's brother Richie, who is succumbing to the disease. Neville and Lisa are about to have a romantic evening together just as the generator runs out of fuel and the lights go off. The Family then attacks, sending Matthias' second-in-command, Brother Zachary, to climb up the outside of Neville's building to the open balcony of his apartment. Neville leaves Lisa upstairs as he goes to the basement garage to restart the generator. Neville returns to the apartment to find Zachary right behind an unsuspecting Lisa. Neville shoots him and he falls off the balcony to his death, dropping his spear on the balcony as he goes.
If the serum works, Neville and Lisa plan to leave the ravaged city with the rest of the survivors, and start a new life in the wilderness, leaving the Family behind to die. Neville is successful in creating the serum and administers it to Richie. Once cured, Richie reveals the location of the Family's headquarters to Neville, but insists that the Family is also human and that Neville's cure should be administered to them, as well. Neville disagrees with him, so Richie goes to the Family by himself to try to convince them to take the serum. Matthias refuses to believe that Neville would try to help them, accuses Richie of being sent to spy on them, and has him executed. After finding a note that Richie left, Neville rushes to rescue him, but instead finds his body in the Family's lair.
Meanwhile, Lisa quickly and unexpectedly succumbs to the disease and becomes one of the Family. Returning home, Neville tells Lisa about Richie's death, but she already knows and has betrayed Neville by giving Matthias and his followers access to Neville's home. Matthias, who finally has the upper hand, forces Neville to watch as the Family sets his home and equipment on fire. Neville breaks free, and once outside with Lisa, he turns and raises his gun to shoot Matthias, who is looking down from the balcony. The gun jams, giving Matthias enough time to hurl Zachary's spear at Neville, mortally wounding him. The next morning, Dutch and the survivors discover Neville dying in a fountain. He hands Dutch a flask of the blood serum, and then dies. Dutch takes away Lisa (weakened and compliant because of the sunlight) and the survivors as they leave the city forever.
The One (2001)
Color
Man attempts to kill alternate selves to become stronger
The One
"A superhuman criminal named Gabriel YuLaw (Jet Li), once an officer of the "Multiverse Authority" (MVA) that polices interdimensional travel (via detecting wormhole openings, which can be predicted like the weather), seeks to hunt down and kill all other variations of himself in alternate universes. By killing all of his other selves, (and thus becoming the last version of himself) and absorbing their life energies into himself, he believes he will become "The One", a godlike being. YuLaw is briefly captured by MVA agents Rodecker (Delroy Lindo) and Funsch (Jason Statham), only to escape from captivity during the final phase of his sentence to life in a penal colony.
The last known alternate, Gabriel (Gabe) Law, works in the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. For two years he has been experiencing increases in strength, speed and mental ability but neither he nor his wife, T.K. Law (TK) (Carla Gugino), can understand why. While transporting a snitching prisoner for the Sheriff's Department, Gabe "feels" Yulaw's presence just before he attempts to kill Gabriel Law. Yulaw escapes, with Gabe giving chase and leaping a very high wall -- which is humanly impossible. Upon landing on the other side Yulaw faces Gabe and shoots him, but not fatally. Going in for the kill, Yulaw is interrupted by Rodecker and Funsch.
Gabe Law sees Yulaw, who is identical to him in every way. Being unfamiliar with interdimensional travel between universes, Yulaw's appearance is incomprehensible. At the hospital again Gabe feels Yulaw's presence. There is another fight and Rodecker and Funsch again intervene. Yulaw deters them from shooting him because if he is killed, then Gabe will pose a problem because he would then be left as the only "One". Dressed alike and identical in every way, Gabe and Yulaw's battle confuse Gabe's Sheriff Department colleagues. Both Gabe and Yulaw manage to escape the hospital.
Rodecker is faced with a dilemma: they are chasing two superhumans, they cannot kill either one. Funsch insists that YuLaw, as the instigator, must be dealt with in a more aggressive manner. Rodecker makes a fateful decision to "go way off procedure" and split the team. Rodecker pursues Yu Law and is killed. Funsch catches up with Gabe and tells him about the multiverse and why he has become stronger. Yulaw finds Gabe's residence where TK, believing it is Gabe, attempts to protect him, but she senses he is not really Gabe. Gabe arrives only to have Yulaw force him to watch while he kills her. Funsch finds Gabe and they team up to find Yulaw at the next occurrence of a wormhole -- an industrial plant.
Yulaw, Gabe Law and Funsch arrive at the industrial plant, where the final battle between Gabe and Yulaw takes place. where Gabe is ultimately victorious, but all three are caught in the wormhole and travel back to the MVA headquarters in the Alpha Universe. YuLaw is transported immediately to the prison colony universe after a last-ditch attempt to switch places with Gabe. The MVA then prepares to send Gabriel back to his own universe where he will be arrested and put in prison for the murders Yulaw committed, but Agent Funsch instead sends him to a universe similar to Gabe's past via another wormhole, after Gabe told him about the events which led up to him meeting his wife. Yulaw, now in the penal colony, declares his intent to still become the one; standing at the top of a Ziggurat in the Hades universe, in order to prove his capability of becoming the one, YuLaw commences to battle oncoming waves of hundreds of provoked fighters approaching the Ziggurat as the credits roll.
The Other Boleyn Girl (2008)
Color
Anne Boleyn competes with her sister for Henry VIII
The Other Boleyn Girl
"King Henry VIII's marriage to Catherine of Aragon is troubled as she has not produced a living male heir to the throne, having only one surviving child, Mary. Mary Boleyn marries William Carey. After the festivities, Thomas Howard, Duke of Norfolk and his brother-in-law Thomas Boleyn plan to install Boleyn's eldest daughter, Anne Boleyn, as the king's mistress, with the hope that Anne will bear him a son and that she'll be able to improve her family's wealth and status. Anne's mother, Lady Elizabeth Boleyn, is disgusted by the plot, but Anne eventually agrees as a way to please her father and uncle.
While visiting the Boleyn estate, Henry is injured in a hunting accident that was indirectly caused by Anne. Urged by her scheming uncle, Mary nurses Henry. Henry becomes smitten with Mary and invites her to court, to which Mary and her husband reluctantly agree, aware that the king has invited her because he desires her. Mary and Anne become ladies-in-waiting to Queen Catherine and Henry sends William Carey abroad on an assignment. Separated from her husband, Mary begins an affair with the king and finds herself falling in love with him. Anne secretly marries the nobleman Henry Percy, although he is already betrothed to Lady Mary Talbot. Anne confides in her brother, George Boleyn, about the marriage. Overjoyed, George proceeds to tell Mary. Fearing Anne will ruin the Boleyn family by marrying such a prominent earl without the king's consent, Mary alerts her father and uncle. They confront Anne, forcibly annul the marriage, and exile her to France.
Mary eventually becomes pregnant with Henry's child. Her family receives new grants and estates, their debts are paid, and Henry arranges George's marriage to Jane Parker. When Mary nearly suffers a miscarriage, she is confined to bed until her child is born. Norfolk recalls Anne to England and is tasked to keep Henry's attention from wandering to another rival while Mary is confined. Believing that Mary had her exiled to increase her own status, Anne gets back at her by successfully winning Henry over. When Mary gives birth to a son, Henry Carey, Thomas and Norfolk are overjoyed, but the celebration is short lived as Anne tells Henry that the baby is born a bastard and that, for her to accept his advances, he must stop talking to Mary. This infuriates Norfolk, as the king refuses to acknowledge the child as his heir. Henry then has Mary sent to the countryside at Anne's request. Shortly after, Mary is widowed.
Anne encourages Henry to break from the Catholic Church when the Pope refuses to annul his marriage to Queen Catherine. Henry succumbs to Anne's demands, declares himself Supreme Head of the Church of England, and gets Cardinal Thomas Wolsey to annul the marriage. Having fulfilled Anne's requests, Henry comes to Anne's room but she refuses to have sex with him until they are married. In a fit of rage, he rapes her. A pregnant Anne marries Henry to please her family and becomes Queen of England. As a wife, Henry slowly starts despising her, and, as a queen, she is hated by the public, being deemed a witch. Despite the birth of a healthy daughter, Elizabeth, Henry blames Anne for not producing a son and begins courting Jane Seymour in secret.
After Anne suffers the miscarriage of a son, she begs George to have sex with her to replace the child she lost, for fear of being passed over by Henry and burned as a witch. George at first reluctantly agrees, realising that it is Anne's only hope, but they do not go through with it. However, George's neglected wife Jane, under orders from Norfolk to spy on Anne, witnesses enough of their encounter to become suspicious. She reports what she has seen, and both Anne and George are arrested. The two are found guilty and sentenced to death for treason, adultery, and incest. Distraught by the news of the execution of George, his mother disowns her husband and brother, vowing never to forgive them for what their greed has done to her children.
After Mary learns that she was late for George's execution, she returns to court to plead for Anne's life. Believing that Henry will spare her sister, she leaves to see Anne right before the scheduled execution. Anne asks Mary to take care of her daughter Elizabeth if anything should happen to her. Mary watches from the crowd as Anne makes her final speech, waiting for the execution to be cancelled as Henry promised. A letter from Henry is given to Mary, warning her not to come to his court any more, and implicitly revealing his decision to execute Anne after all. A shocked Mary is forced to watch as Anne is executed, and afterwards immediately takes the baby Elizabeth away out of court.
The ending of the film reveals that Thomas Boleyn died in disgrace two years after the deaths of Anne and George, Norfolk would eventually be imprisoned and the next three generations of his family are executed for treason in their turn. Mary marries William Stafford and live the rest of her life happily away from court, and that Elizabeth, the girl Anne gave Henry, would eventually ascend the throne and rule for 44 years, leading England to a Golden Age.
The Other Man (2008)
Color
Man finds out about wife's affair after she has died
The Other Man
"In Cambridge, Lisa (Linney) is a shoe designer, happily married for the last 25 years to Peter (Neeson), a software developer. They have a daughter, Abigail (Romola Garai). Lisa frequently travels to Milan to do business with the Gianni & Gianni Company.
The story then moves forward an unspecified amount of time, where Lisa has died. Peter is rooting around his house, in an attempt to rid himself of Lisa's stuff, to help deal with the grief. Abigail takes one of her mother's shoes and pulls a piece of paper out of it, saying it was for Peter to find. On the paper is written "Lake Como". Soon after this, Peter finds a strange message on her cell phone from a man, wishing only to hear Lisa's voice. It creates a tension in the mind of Peter and he decides to check her e-mails and finds several similar requests in there too. He also finds a secret folder named “Love” on her Desktop which is password protected. It creates a strong suspicion in his mind that she had a secret love affair and that her lover is mailing her now. He tries to open the folder by breaking the password for several days, but in vain.
He replies to the mails of “Ralph” pretending to be Lisa. He requests one of his trusted co-workers to find out the real name & exact location of the sender of these e-mails by tracing down his IP Address, through his email address, which is an offence. His co-worker tells him that Rafe's real name is Ralph (Banderas), who lives in Milan. Peter continues to try to access the "love" folder on Lisa's computer, and becomes increasingly frustrated. In anger he types "Lake Como" and when he applies that as the password, the folder opens. It contains thousands of her photos & videos with Ralph in their passionate moments & near “Lake Como” where she first met Ralph.
In order to find out more about his wife's lover, he secretly locates and follows Ralph in Milan. He then goes to a Milanese Cafe, one of Ralph's haunts, and begins to play chess alone. Ralph engages him in conversation, and they begin to play chess and talk. Ralph easily speaks about Lisa & their relationship, unaware that Peter is Lisa's husband. Ralph tells him that it is he who has suggested she start a Shoe designing business after perceiving her unique understanding of shoes and her passion towards different new designs, which this industry lacks. Over a period of time, they play several games of chess and, as far as Ralph is concerned, have a friendship.
Abigail learns of her mother's affair, while listening to her mother's voicemail, and deduces her father's frightening obsession with vengeance. She goes to Milan and tries to convince her father to stop hunting for Lisa's lover as she had already gone, as well as to accept her husband George (who is a poor music player). She also warns him that his craziness will lead him to lose everything (including his daughter, career and friends).
Peter becomes greatly upset and he goes uninvited, with murderous intent, to Ralph's apartment. There, to his surprise, he learns that Ralph is not the cosmopolitan man of the world as he has been portraying himself, but an impoverished janitor. Peter's hate diminishes, but not his urge to avenge. He sends an e-mail, as Lisa, to Ralph, asking that he meet her at Lake Como. Ralph tells Peter about his upcoming meeting, and Peter gives him money to enable the meeting. Ralph also plans to throw a party for Lisa in London, as he sees this latest meeting as a sign that their relationship is taking off.
Ralph goes to Lake Como, but instead of finding Lisa there, Ralph finds Peter waiting for him, and Peter reveals to Ralph that he was Lisa's husband, and that Lisa is actually dead. Ralph tells Peter that Lisa had known about his humble origins and poor socio-economic background. She also helped him financially on several occasions. He also forces Peter to confront that it is his excessive devotion for his work & cold nature towards marital life, which had moved Lisa to seek warmth in Ralph's arms, but still loving Peter so much that she never was ready to leave him, in spite of cheating with Ralph. Throughout this conversation, it is shown through flashbacks that Lisa died of cancer, and that she did not tell Peter about it until 'it was too late'.
It is then revealed that, when Lisa was about to die due to critical illness, she wrote something on a piece of paper and asked her daughter to put it in her red shoes so that one day Peter would find it. But Lisa instructs Abigail not to tell him about the letter. Abigail asks how he would find the message when he doesn't even know about its existence, but she replies that he will definitely look for it and find it on his own one day. This is the piece of paper with "Lake Como" on it from earlier.
When Ralph asks her to tell Peter about their affair, end their marriage and move in with him, Lisa refused, saying that she did not want to hurt Peter and make him endure the pain of separation. She promised to reveal her dark secret to Peter at the appropriate time in her life so that he can forgive her for her infidelity. Peter and Ralph part, with Peter seemingly more bitter and angry than ever.
Ralph has arranged a dinner in Lisa's memory, and at first, Peter refuses to go. However, he realizes that “forgiveness and love need to replace hate”, and arranges to be at the dinner with Abigail and her husband. Traveling home after the dinner, we see Peter reconciled with George, Abigail's husband.
The Others (2001)
Color
Mother and her two children discover they are really ghosts
The Others
"Grace Stewart (Nicole Kidman) is a Catholic mother who lives with her two small children in a remote country house in the British Crown Dependency of Jersey, in the immediate aftermath of World War II. The children, Anne (Alakina Mann) and Nicholas (James Bentley), have an uncommon disease, xeroderma pigmentosa, characterized by photosensitivity, so their lives are structured around a series of complex rules designed to protect them from inadvertent exposure to sunlight.
The new arrival of three servants at the house -- an aging nanny and servant named Mrs. Bertha Mills (Fionnula Flanagan), an elderly gardener named Mr. Edmund Tuttle (Eric Sykes), and a young mute girl named Lydia (Elaine Cassidy) -- coincides with a number of odd events, and Grace begins to fear that they are not alone. Anne draws pictures of four people: a man, a woman, a boy called Victor, and an old woman, all of whom she says she has seen in the house. A piano is heard from inside a locked room when no one is inside. Grace finds and examines a "book of the dead," which shows mourning portraits taken in the 19th century of recently deceased corpses. Doors which Grace believes to have been closed are found mysteriously ajar. Grace tries hunting down the "intruders" with a shotgun but cannot find them. She scolds her daughter for believing in ghosts -- until she hears them herself. Eventually, convincing herself that something unholy is in the house, she runs out in the fog to get the local priest to bless the house. Meanwhile, the servants, led by Mrs. Mills, are clearly up to something of their own. The gardener buries a headstone under autumn leaves, and Mrs. Mills listens faithfully to Anne's allegations against her mother.
Outside, Grace loses herself in the heavy fog, but she miraculously discovers her husband Charles (Christopher Eccleston), who she thought had been killed in the war, and brings him back to the house. Charles is distant during the one day he spends in the house, and Mrs. Mills is heard telling Mr. Tuttle, "I do not think he knows where he is." Grace later sees an old woman dressed up like her daughter. Grace says, "You are not my daughter!" and attacks her. However, she finds that she has actually attacked her daughter instead. Anne refuses to be near her mother afterward, while Grace swears she saw the old woman. Mrs. Mills tells Anne that she too has seen the people, but they cannot yet tell the mother because Grace will not accept what she is not ready for. Charles is stunned when Anne tells him the things her mother did to her. He says he must leave for the front and disappears again. After Charles leaves, Anne continues to see things, including Victor's whole family and the old woman. Grace breaks down to Mrs. Mills, who claims that "sometimes the world of the dead gets mixed up with the world of the living."
Los Hornillos Palace in Arenas de Igu?a, Cantabria (Spain). This is the mansion where the exteriors of the movie were filmed.
One morning, Grace wakes to the children's screams: all of the curtains in the house have disappeared, as Anne had said they might. When the servants refuse to help look for them, Grace realizes that they are somehow involved. Hiding the children from the light, she banishes the servants from the house. A series of loud noises from the upper storey of the house follows this event.
That night, Anne and Nicholas sneak out of the house to find their father and stumble across the hidden graves. They find that the graves belong to the servants. At the same time, Grace goes to the servants' quarters and finds a photograph from the book of the dead and is horrified to see that it is of the three servants. The servants appear and follow after the children, who make it back into the house just as Grace emerges to hold off the servants with a shotgun. They then say that they had died of tuberculosis more than 50 years before. The children run upstairs and hide, but are found by the strange old woman. Downstairs, the servants continue talking to Grace, telling her that the living and the dead have to learn to live together. Upstairs, Anne and Nicholas discover the old woman is acting as a medium in a seance with Victor's parents. It is then that they learn the truth: the real ghosts are none other than Anne, Nicholas, and their mother, who is believed to have killed them in a fit of psychosis before committing suicide. Grace loses her temper and supernaturally attacks the visitors by ripping and throwing pieces of paper that lay on the table. However, the visitors are only able to see the paper ripping of its own accord, further confirming Grace and her children are indeed the ghosts. The truth finally clear to Grace, she breaks down with the children and remembers what happened just before the arrival of their new servants. Stricken with grief for her missing husband and increasingly frustrated by living in isolation, she went insane, smothered her children with a pillow, and then, in shock after realizing what she had done, put a rifle to her forehead and pulled the trigger. When nothing happened and upon hearing the laughter of Nicholas and Anne, Grace assumed that God had granted her family a miracle by offering them a second chance at life. Grace and the children realize that Charles is also dead, but he is not aware of it. Mrs. Mills appears and informs Grace that they will learn to get along, and sometimes won't even notice the living people who inhabit their house. She also informs them that since the children no longer have their mortal bodies, they are no longer sensitive to light, and for the first time the children freely enjoy the sunlight coming through the windows. From the window, Grace and her children look out as Victor's family moves out.
The Painted Veil (2006)
Color
Woman with research obsessed husband has affair with womanizer
The Painted Veil
"On a brief trip back to London, earnest, bookish bacteriologist Walter Fane (Edward Norton) is dazzled by Kitty Garstin (Naomi Watts), a vivacious and vain London socialite. He proposes; she accepts ("only to get as far away from (her) mother as possible"), and the couple honeymoon in Venice. They travel on to Walter's medical post in Shanghai, where he is stationed in a government lab studying infectious diseases. They find themselves ill-suited, with Kitty much more interested in parties and the social life of the British expatriates.
Kitty meets Charles Townsend (Liev Schreiber), a married British vice consul, and the two engage in a clandestine affair. When Walter discovers his wife's infidelity, he seeks to punish her by threatening to divorce her on the grounds of adultery, if she doesn't accompany him to a small village in a remote area of China. He has volunteered to treat victims of an unchecked cholera epidemic sweeping through the area. Kitty begs to be allowed to divorce him quietly and he agrees, provided Townsend will leave his wife Dorothy and marry her. When she proposes this possibility to her lover, Charles, despite earlier claiming his love for Kitty, declines to accept.
She is compelled to travel to the mountainous inland region with her husband. They embark upon an arduous, two-week-long overland journey, which would be considerably faster and much easier if they traveled by river, but Walter is determined to make Kitty as unhappily uncomfortable as possible. Upon their arrival in Mei-tan-fu, she is distressed to discover they will be living in near squalor, far removed from everyone except their cheerful neighbor Waddington, a British deputy commissioner living with a young Chinese woman in relative opulence.
Walter and Kitty barely speak to each other and, except for a cook and a Chinese soldier assigned to guard her, she is alone for long hours. After visiting an orphanage run by a group of French nuns, Kitty volunteers her services, and she is assigned to work in the music room. She is surprised to learn from the Mother Superior that her husband loves children, especially babies. In this setting, she begins to see him in a new light as she learns what a selfless and caring person he can be. When he sees her with the children, he in turn realizes she is not the shallow, selfish person he thought her to be.
As Walter's anger and Kitty's unhappiness subside, their marriage begins to blossom in the midst of the epidemic crisis. She soon learns she is pregnant, but is unsure who the father is. Walter -- in love with Kitty again -- assures her it doesn't matter.
A cholera epidemic takes many victims. As Walter and the locals are getting it under control, in part due to his finding a way to protect the water supply (as people still did not understand how it was transmitted), ailing refugees from elsewhere pour into the area, forcing Walter to set up a camp outside town. He contracts the disease and Kitty nurses him, but he dies, and she is devastated. Bereft and pregnant, she leaves China.
Five years later, Kitty appears well-dressed and happy in London and, while shopping with her young son Walter, meets Townsend by chance on the street. He suggests that Kitty meet with him. Asking young Walter his age, he realizes from the reply that he could be the boy's father. Kitty rejects his overtures and walks away. When her son asks who Townsend is, she replies "No one important".
The Pajama Game (1957)
Color
Babe gets sweet on the new superintendent as she battles for a 7.5-cent raise
The Pajama Game
"Sid (John Raitt) has just been hired as superintendent of the Sleeptite Pajama Factory in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. He soon falls for Babe (Doris Day), a worker in the factory and member of the employee union's leadership. At the company picnic they become a couple, but Babe worries that their roles in management and labor will drive them apart. She is correct. The union is pushing for a raise of seven-and-one-half cents per hour to bring them in line with the industry standard, but the factory's manager is giving them a runaround. In retaliation, the workers pull a slow-down and deliberately foul up the pajamas, but when Babe actually sabotages some machinery, Sid fires her.
Meanwhile, Sid has been wondering what secrets the manager is hiding in his locked account book. To that end, he takes Gladys (Carol Haney), the boss's assistant, on a date to the local hot spot, "Hernando's Hideaway", despite her insanely jealous boyfriend "Hine-sie" (Eddie Foy, Jr.). He gets Gladys drunk, and in this state, she lends him the key to the locked book. Returning to the factory, Sid discovers that the manager reported the raise as having been instituted months ago. He has been pocketing the difference himself. Sid threatens to send the book to the board of directors if the raise is not paid immediately.
At the union meeting that evening, the manager agrees to the raise. When Babe realizes that it was Sid who engineered the raise and that he has only been attempting to avert labor strife, she returns to him.
The Paper (1994)
Color
Editor is wooed by a competing paper with a higher paying job
The Paper
"The film takes place during a 24-hour period. Henry Hackett is the workaholic metro editor of the New York Sun, a fictional[2] New York City tabloid, who loves his job but the long hours and low pay are leading to discontent. He is at risk of the same fate as his editor-in-chief, Bernie White, who put his work first at the expense of his family. Bernie reveals to Henry that he has been diagnosed with prostate cancer, and tries to track down his estranged daughter Deanne in an attempt to reconcile before his time is up.
The paper's owner Graham Keighley faces dire financial straits, so he has managing editor Alicia Clark, Henry's nemesis, impose unpopular cutbacks, as she schemes to get a raise in her salary. Alicia is also having an affair with Sun reporter Carl. Henry's wife Martha, a Sun reporter on leave and about to give birth, is fed up because Henry seems to have less and less time for her, and she dislikes Alicia. She urges him to seriously consider an offer to leave the Sun and become an assistant managing editor at the New York Sentinel (based on The New York Times), which would mean more money and respectability for shorter hours, but may also be too boring for his tastes.
A hot story is circulating the city, involving the murder of two white businessmen in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Two African-American teenagers are arrested for the crime, which both Henry and Sun columnist Michael McDougal believe to be false charges when they overhear the NYPD discuss the arrest on the Sun office's police scanner. Henry becomes obsessed with the case, getting others from the Sun staff to investigate along with him. He blows his job offer at the Sentinel after he steals information about the case from the editor's notes while being interviewed for the job, reporting it during a Sun staff meeting. Martha discovers through her friend in the Justice Department that the businessmen were bankers who stole a large sum of money from their largest investor, a trucking company with ties to the Mafia. Henry begins to believe that it was a setup and the Brooklyn boys were likely just caught in the midst of it.
Henry leaves a dinner with Martha and his parents to go to the police station with McDougal to confirm that the boys were not responsible before they print the story. They corner McDougal's police contact Richie, who, through repeated interrogation and the promise of anonymity, admits that the kids are indeed innocent and just happened to be walking by the scene of the crime when they were caught. Henry and McDougal race back to the Sun office to discover that Alicia has approved the paper's original front-page headline and story stating that the teens were guilty. This results in a physical fight between Henry and Alicia after he tries to stop the presses printing the papers with the wrong information.
McDougal is threatened by an angry city official named Sandusky, whom McDougal's column had been tormenting for the past several weeks. Their drunken confrontation in a bar leads to gunfire, which gets Alicia shot in the leg through the wall. Martha is rushed to the hospital for an emergency caesarean section due to uterine hemorrhaging. Alicia is brought to the same hospital and has a change of heart. She calls the Sun office, has the print room stop the run, and the headline is corrected to Henry's suggestion, "They Didn't Do It", with McDougal's story, just in time for the following morning's circulation. The movie ends with Martha giving birth to a healthy baby boy, and a morning news radio report states that because of the Sun's exclusive story, the Brooklyn teens were released from jail with no charges pressed.
The Paper Chase (1973)
Color
Aspiring law student finds out the girl he's dating is the professor's daughter
The Paper Chase
"James Hart (Timothy Bottoms) starts his first year at Harvard Law School in a very bad way. In his contract law course with his idol, Professor Charles W. Kingsfield Jr. (John Houseman), he assumes the first class will be an outline of the course. When Kingsfield immediately delves into the material using the Socratic method and asks him the first question, he is totally unprepared and feels so utterly humiliated that, after class, he throws up in the washroom.
Hart is invited to join a study group with five others:
Frank Ford (Graham Beckel), the fifth generation of Fords at Harvard Law School
Kevin Brooks (James Naughton), a married man with a photographic memory, but no analytical skills
Thomas Anderson (Edward Herrmann)
Willis Bell (Craig Richard Nelson), an abrasive individual who is devoted to property law
O'Connor (Robert Lydiard)
While out getting pizza, he is picked up by an attractive blonde, Susan Fields (Lindsay Wagner). On their second date, they end up in bed. Their relationship is complex; she resents the time he devotes to his studies, while he is unable to get her to make a firm commitment. When Hart and his classmates are invited to a cocktail party hosted by Kingsfield, he is stunned to discover that Susan is Kingsfield's married daughter. (She is, however, separated from her husband and eventually gets a divorce.) She and Hart break up and get back together several times.
Hart divides the class into three groups: those who have given up; those who are trying, but fear being called upon in class to respond to Kingsfield's questions; and the "upper echelon". As time goes on, he moves from the second classification to the third.
The mounting pressure, as the course nears its end, gets to everyone. When Hart gives Kingsfield a flippant answer, the professor gives him a dime and tells him to telephone his mother with the news that he is not likely to become a lawyer. Hart calls Kingsfield a "son of a bitch" and starts to walk out; surprisingly, Kingsfield agrees with his assessment and invites him to sit back down, which he does. Brooks makes an unsuccessful suicide attempt, then drops out. The study group is torn apart by personal bickering. With final exams looming, Hart and Ford take a hotel room and prepare feverishly for three days.
The film is an extremely faithful adaptation of the novel, but it adds two revelations not in the book: Hart's first name and middle initial, and the final grade that Hart gets in contract law (James T.; and 93, an A). In both the novel and the film, Hart makes a paper airplane out of the unopened letter containing his grades and sends it sailing into the Atlantic Ocean.
The Passion of Ayn Rand (1999)
Color
Famous author, Ayn Rand, has 15 year affair with her prot?g?, Nathaniel Branden
The Passion of Ayn Rand
Ayn Rand, the rather eccentric (especially in her thinking) author of "The Fountainhead" and "Atlas Shrugged" becomes involved with her handsome protege, Nathaniel Branden (Eric Stoltz), a much younger married man, much to the dismay of those close to her. She uses her objectivist philosophy to rationalize this torrid, 15-year affair with him.
The Pawnbroker (1965)
Black & White
Holocast survivor becomes embittered pawnbroker
The Pawnbroker
"With the rise of Adolf Hitler, Sol Nazerman (Steiger), a German-Jewish university professor, was dragged to a concentration camp along with his family. He saw his two children die (one while riding in a cattle car) and his wife raped by Nazi officers in the camp. Now he operates a pawnshop in East Harlem, while living in an anonymous Long Island apartment. Numbed by his experiences, he has worked hard not to experience emotions. Nazerman is bitter and alienated, viewing the people around him as "rejects, scum." He is shown interacting cynically as he bargains with the many desperate characters pawning their goods.
Nazerman is idolized by a young Puerto Rican, Jesus Ortiz (Sanchez), who works for Nazerman as his shop assistant, but the youth's friendship is rebuffed, as are the overtures of Marilyn Birchfield (Fitzgerald), a neighborhood social worker.
Nazerman learns that Rodriguez (Peters), a racketeer who uses the pawnshop as a front, makes his money through prostitution. Nazerman recalls his wife's degradation and wants no part of it. This results in a clash with Rodriguez, who threatens to kill Nazerman. Meanwhile, Ortiz, his feelings hurt when Nazerman says that Ortiz means nothing to him, spitefully arranges for the pawnshop to be robbed by a neighborhood gang. During the robbery, Nazerman refuses to hand over his money. Ortiz takes the gang member's bullet intended for Nazerman and dies in Nazerman's arms in the street.
The Pelican Brief (1993)
Color
Law studen writing brief on murders of two supreme court justices becomes a target herself
The Pelican Brief
"After an assassin named Khamel kills two Supreme Court justices, Jensen and Rosenberg, Tulane University law student Darby Shaw writes a legal brief detailing her theory on why they were killed. She gives the brief to her law professor/lover Thomas Callahan, who in turn gives a copy to his good friend Gavin Verheek, special counsel to the Director of the FBI. Soon after, a car bomb kills Callahan, but Darby manages to avoid the same fate, because Callahan refuses to give Darby the keys. Realizing that her brief was accurate, she goes into hiding and reaches out to Verheek for assistance.
An informant calling himself Garcia contacts Washington Herald reporter Gray Grantham with information about the assassinations, but suddenly disappears. Darby contacts Grantham, who verifies her information as accurate. Darby's computer, disks, and files disappear from her home. She is attacked at a hotel where she's hiding, but manages to escape the attack unharmed, but scared. She contacts and agrees to meet Verheek, but Khamel kills Verheek and impersonates him at the meet. Before Khamel can kill Darby, an unknown person shoots and kills him.
Darby agrees to meet Grantham in New York City, where she shares the theory expressed in her brief: the assassinations were done for oil tycoon Victor Mattiece, who intends to exploit the oil he found beneath Louisiana marshland that is habitat for an endangered sub-species of brown pelicans. A court appeal to deny Mattiece the drilling rights is expected to reach the Supreme Court. Darby has surmised that Mattiece, hoping to turn the case in his favor, is behind the justices' murders; these two justices differ in their opinions on everything except protecting the environment. As a generous contributor to the President, Mattiece expects that he would appoint justices that favor oil and gas exploitation over environmental issues while the next President may not do so. When Grantham tells her about Garcia, they discover that the man is Curtis Morgan, a lawyer in the oil and gas division at the Washington, D.C. law firm of White & Blazevich.
Darby visits the firm, pretending to have an appointment with Morgan, and is told that he had been killed in a mugging. Suspecting that his murder was related to the incriminating information, she and Grantham visit his widow, who eventually gives them a key to a safe deposit box. Darby visits the bank to retrieve the contents of the box. After barely escaping death via car bomb, they reach the Washington Herald building, where they review the documents and a videotape recovered from Morgan's box. The tape corroborates Darby's theory, as Morgan's documents verify that Mattiece ordered the Justices to be assassinated. With this evidence, Grantham writes his story. He gives the FBI a chance to comment and FBI Director Voyles confirms that Darby's "Pelican Brief" was delivered to the White House. He reveals the President ordered the FBI to "back off," and that the CIA is investigating Mattiece, with one of them killing Khamel to save Darby's life. A plane that the FBI arranges for Darby flies her away to safety.
Sometime later, Darby is watching a TV interview of Grantham where it is revealed that Mattiece and four of his aides and lawyers have been indicted, the President's chief of staff Fletcher Coal has resigned, and the President (who received $4.2 million in contributions from Mattiece) is unlikely to run for reelection. Grantham deflects speculation that Darby is fictional, but does agree that she is "almost" too good to be true, causing Darby to smile.
The People vs. Larry Flynt (1996)
Color
Larry Flynt carries his free-speech campaign from lowly strip clubs to the Supreme Court
The People vs. Larry Flynt
"In 1952, 10-year-old Larry Flynt is selling moonshine in Kentucky. Twenty years later, Flynt and his younger brother, Jimmy, run the Hustler Go-Go club in Cincinnati. With profits down, Flynt decides to publish a newsletter for the club, the first Hustler magazine, with nude pictures of women working at the club. The newsletter soon becomes a full-fledged magazine, but sales are weak. After Hustler publishes nude pictures of former first lady Jackie Kennedy Onassis, sales take off.
Flynt becomes smitten with Althea Leasure, a stripper who works at one of his clubs. With Althea and Jimmy's help, Flynt makes a fortune from sales of Hustler. With his success comes enemies -- as he finds himself a hated figure of anti-pornography activists. He argues with the activists, saying that "murder is illegal, but if you take a picture of it, you may get your name in a magazine or maybe win a Pulitzer Prize. However, sex is legal, but if you take a picture of that act, you can go to jail." He becomes involved in several prominent court cases, and befriends a young lawyer, Alan Isaacman. In 1975, Flynt loses a smut-peddling court decision in Cincinnati, but the decision is overturned on appeal; he is released from jail soon afterwards. Ruth Carter Stapleton, a Christian activist and sister of President Jimmy Carter, seeks out Flynt and urges him to give his life to Jesus. Flynt seems moved and starts letting his newfound religion influence everything in his life, including Hustler content.
In 1978, during another trial in Georgia, Flynt and Isaacman are both shot by a man with a rifle while they walk outside a courthouse. Isaacman recovers, but Flynt is paralyzed from the waist down and uses a wheelchair for the rest of his life. Wishing he was dead, Flynt renounces God. Because of the emotional and physical pain, he moves to Beverly Hills and spirals down into depression and drug use. During this time, Althea also becomes addicted to painkillers and morphine.
In 1983, Flynt undergoes surgery to deaden several nerves in his back damaged by the bullet wounds, and as a result, feels rejuvenated. He returns to an active role with the publication, which, in his absence, had been run by Althea and Jimmy. Flynt is soon in court again for leaking videos relating to the John DeLorean entrapment case, and during his courtroom antics, he fires Isaacman, then throws an orange at the judge. He later wears an American flag as an adult diaper along with an army helmet, and wears T-shirts with provocative messages such as "I Wish I Was Black" and "Fuck This Court." After spitting water at the judge Flynt is sent to a psychiatric ward, where he sinks into depression again. Flynt publishes a satirical parody ad in which Jerry Falwell tells of a sexual encounter with his mother. Falwell sues for libel and emotional distress. Flynt countersues for copyright infringement, because Falwell copied his ad. The case goes to trial in December 1984, but the decision is mixed, as Flynt is found guilty of inflicting emotional distress but not libel. By that time, Althea has contracted HIV, which proceeds to AIDS. Some time later in 1987, Flynt finds her dead in the bathtub, having drowned.
Flynt presses Isaacman to appeal the Falwell decision to the Supreme Court of the United States. Isaacman refuses, saying Flynt's courtroom antics humiliated him. Flynt pleads with him, saying that he "wants to be remembered for something meaningful". Isaacman agrees and argues the "emotional distress" decision in front of the Supreme Court, in the case Hustler Magazine v. Falwell in 1988. With Flynt sitting silently in the courtroom, the court overturns the original verdict in a unanimous decision. After the trial, Flynt is alone in his bedroom watching old videotapes of a healthy Althea.
The Philadelphia Experiment (1984)
Color
Navy's experimental invisibility cloak causes man to move through time
The Philadelphia Experiment
"In 1943 United States Navy sailors David Herdeg and Jim Parker are assigned to the destroyer escort USS Eldridge during a project to make it invisible to radar. The ship is in Philadelphia harbor, filled with equipment from a team led by Dr. James Longstreet. During the experiment the equipment begins malfunctioning and crewmen are suffering throughout the ship. Jim tries to turn off the equipment at the main switch but receives an electric shock. Unable to do anything, the two men jump overboard. They fly through a time vortex instead of landing in the harbor. Observers simply see the ship disappear.
David and Jim land in the middle of a small town, which immediately disappears, and are caught in a helicopter spotlight. They run till they get to an electrified fence, on which the helicopter crashes. After making their way through the desert, they find a highway. David picks up an empty bottle of German beer and Jim finds an aluminum Coca Cola can, marveling at its lightness. David identifies the rusted remains of a 1930s Chevrolet, and they follow the highway to a diner.
Learning that they are in Nevada, David makes a phone call while Jim is intrigued by the television. He is feeling the side effects from his electric shock. There is also a mysterious electric storm affecting the area as well as Jim. David is waiting to use the phone while a young woman, Allison Hayes, is talking to someone about a job interview.
Jim inadvertently electrocutes an arcade game in the diner, and the upset diner owner grabs a revolver, demanding Jim pay for the damages. David grabs the gun and the men run, taking Allison's 1976 Ford Torino. Since he is unfamiliar with the car's automatic transmission, he takes Allison as a hostage and driver. They escape the diner and start quizzing Allison, finding out it is 1984. They reach a city, where Jim and David are shocked by modern society.
The police catch them and Jim is hospitalized. David and Allison speak with the doctor. David explains their time travel, assuming it is a common modern occurrence, but realizes the doctor doesn't believe him. Jim eventually dissolves in a sizzle of plasma-like energy. David and Allison then evade Naval Security, who have arrived to take David into custody.
At a motel they call Jim's family, who live in California on a ranch. David hears a familiar voice and hangs up, becoming despondent and angry. Allison is ready to leave him when he convinces her he needs her help. He sees President Ronald Reagan in a news conference and wonders if it is a movie. The next day they drive to California.
They reach the Parker ranch and knock. Jim's 1943 girlfriend Pamela recognizes David. She says Jim came back and was hospitalized for telling the truth about what happened. David asks about himself and finds out he never came back. A lot of the men on the Eldridge were burned and many died. David sees Jim in the distance riding a horse, but Jim refuses to speak with David. David and Allison see military police approaching, but manage to escape.
Longstreet has been investigating a mystery at the Nevada military base. A town has disappeared, but a piece of the Eldridge is found in the desert. They fire a camera probe into the vortex in the sky. Before the signal is cut off, the camera shows the "town" and the Eldridge.
David is able to get back onto the base the two men landed in the day before. Longstreet is there and tells the guards to let David in and shows him the situation.
Longstreet is still experimenting with the same concept, this time to protect a small town from ICBM attack. This second experiment also went awry, but as opposed to the Eldridge in 1943 the town didn't reappear. Instead, the vortex created by the experiment stays open, and starts sucking matter into it. After firing a probe at it, the camera reveals img of the missing town and the Eldridge. Longstreet understands there is still a generator running somewhere in hyperspace on the Eldridge, providing the vortex with the energy to stay open.
According to history, the Eldridge reappeared when David shut down the generator. Longstreet says that unless the vortex is closed it will destroy the Earth. David must go through the vortex and return to the Eldridge and shut of the generator.
Allison urges David not to do it, but he volunteers and is outfitted in an astronaut-type suit to protect him. He is driven out and catapulted into the vortex. David lands on the deck of the Eldridge where he finds the crew in agony, some fused into the ship's hull. He hurries to the generator room and begins smashing equipment. The generator shuts down and David looks for Jim. Assured that Jim is fine, David jumps over the side of the ship and disappears. The Eldridge reappears in Philadelphia harbor.
Likewise, in 1984 the missing town reappears. Allison steals a jeep to drive to it. She calls out and David reappears, proclaiming, "the way I see it, the Navy owes me 40 years back pay.
The Philadelphia Experiment (2012)
Color
Naval ship that disappeared during experiment in the 40's suddenly reappears
The Philadelphia Experiment
Military arms manufacturer Grey Water has purchased the rights to a top secret WWII government project called The Philadelphia Experiment which was tasked with discovering the secrets behind invisibility. They have resurrected the project, with the current project team believing they now have the capability. However, in the demonstration, what happens is that the Eldridge, a WWII warship that mysteriously went missing in 1943 and that was associated with the original project, suddenly appears. With the Eldridge comes its one sole survivor on board, Lieutenant Bill Gardner. Gardner is able to escape from the confines of the warship. A secondary side effect of the experiment is that the Eldridge now, on a whim, disappears and then reappears elsewhere on the globe. Gardner's current task is to figure out what happened so that he can make his way back to 1943. Helping him is who he learns is his now adult granddaughter, Molly Gardner, whose fiance, Deputy Sheriff Carl Reed, is trapped inside the now traveling Eldridge, he who was the first responder on the scene when the Eldridge first appeared. Kathryn Moore, the ruthless administrator of the project for Grey Water, wants to make the Eldridge and everything associated with it go away to protect her name and that of the company, which means destroying the Eldridge and killing Gardner with the help of the singularly minded mercenary for hire, Hagan. However, the chief contracted scientist on the team, Richard Falkner, does whatever he can to stop Moore and save Gardner since he knows that destroying the Eldridge will have catastrophic consequences.
The Philadelphia Story (1940)
Black & White
Woman is torn between fiance and ex-husband
The Philadelphia Story
"Tracy Samantha Lord Haven (Katharine Hepburn) is a wealthy Main Line Philadelphia socialite who had divorced C. K. Dexter Haven (Cary Grant), a member of her social set, because he did not measure up to her exacting standards. (He was an alcoholic, and her lack of faith in him exacerbated his condition.) She is about to marry nouveau riche "man of the people" George Kittredge (John Howard).
Spy magazine publisher Sidney Kidd (Henry Daniell) is eager to cover the wedding, and he enlists Dexter, one of his former employees, to introduce reporter Macaulay "Mike" Connor (James Stewart) and photographer Liz Imbrie (Ruth Hussey) as friends of the family so they can report on the wedding. Tracy is not fooled but reluctantly agrees to let them stay--after Dexter explains that Kidd has an innuendo-laden article about Tracy's father, Seth (John Halliday), who, Tracy believes, is having an affair with a dancer. Though Seth is separated from Tracy's mother Margaret (Mary Nash) and Tracy harbors great resentment against him, she wants to protect her family's reputation.
Dexter is welcomed back with open arms by Margaret and Dinah (Virginia Weidler), Tracy's teenage sister--much to Tracy's annoyance. In addition, Tracy gradually discovers that Mike has admirable qualities, and she even takes the trouble to find his published stories in the library. Thus, as the wedding nears, Tracy finds herself torn between her fiance, her ex-husband, and the reporter.
The night before the wedding, Tracy gets drunk for only the second time in her life and takes an innocent swim with Mike. When George sees Mike carrying an intoxicated Tracy into the house afterward, he thinks the worst. The next day, he tells her that he was shocked and feels entitled to an explanation before going ahead with the wedding. Tracy takes exception to his lack of faith in her and breaks off the engagement. Then she realizes that all the guests have arrived and are waiting for the ceremony to begin. Mike volunteers to marry her (much to Liz's distress), but Tracy graciously declines. At this point, Dexter makes his bid for her hand, which she accepts.
The Picture of Dorian Gray (1945)
Black & White
Man makes deal with devil so his portrait ages while he remains young
The Picture of Dorian Gray
"Dorian Gray (Hurd Hatfield) is a handsome, wealthy young man living in 19th century London. While generally intelligent, he is naive and easily manipulated. These faults lead to his spiral into sin and, ultimately, misery.
While posing for a painting by his friend Basil Hallward (Lowell Gilmore), Dorian meets Basil's friend Lord Henry Wotton (George Sanders). Wotton is cynical and witty, and tells Dorian that the only life worth living is one dedicated entirely to pleasure. After Wotton convinces Dorian that youth and beauty will bring him everything he desires, Dorian openly wishes that his portrait could age instead of him. He makes this statement in the presence of a certain Egyptian statue, which supposedly has the power to grant wishes.
Dorian visits a tavern, where he falls in love with a beautiful singer named Sibyl Vane (Angela Lansbury). He eventually enters a romance with her, despite the disapproval of Sibyl's brother James (Richard Fraser), and within weeks they are engaged. Though initially overjoyed, Dorian is again persuaded by Lord Henry to pursue a more hedonistic lifestyle. Dorian sends Sibyl a hurtful letter, breaking off their relationship and "compensating" her with a large sum of money.
The next morning, Lord Henry informs Dorian that a heartbroken Sibyl Vane had killed herself the night before. Dorian is at first shocked and guilt-ridden but then adopts Lord Henry's indifferent manner. He surprises Basil by going to the opera immediately after hearing of Sibyl's death. Returning home that night, Dorian notices a change in the portrait Basil had painted, which now hangs in his living room. The portrait looks harsher, and a shaken Dorian has it locked away in his old school room. He becomes even more dedicated to living a sinful and heartless life.
Years later, Dorian is nearing his fortieth birthday, but he looks the same as he did when he was twenty-two. The townspeople are awestruck at his unchanging appearance. Over eighteen years of pointless debauchery, the portrait remained locked away, with Dorian holding the only key. Dorian had grown more and more paranoid about the picture's being seen by others; he fires servants who he thought might suspect, and later a friend observes how often he changes them all. Over the years, the painting of the young Dorian had warped into that of a hideous, demon-like creature that reflects Dorian's sins. Basil eventually catches a glimpse of the portrait and attempts to talk Dorian into reforming his life. However, Dorian panics and murders his friend, leaving the body locked in the school room with the painting.
Dorian blackmails an old friend, Allen Campbell (Douglas Walton), into disposing of Basil's body secretly. He then enters into a romance with Basil's niece, Gladys (Donna Reed), who was a young child when the portrait was painted. Though Gladys had always loved Dorian (and is overjoyed when he proposes marriage), those who were once close to him begin to find him suspicious.
Dorian begins to realize the harm his life is doing to himself and to others. He is assaulted by James Vane, Sibyl's brother, who had sworn revenge for his sister's death. Dorian calmly tells James that he is too young to be the same man from eighteen years before. However, James soon learns the truth, but he is shot by accident during a hunting party at Dorian's estate while hiding in the bushes. Dorian knows he is guilty of yet another death and realizes he can still spare Gladys from the misfortune he would certainly cause her.
After leaving her a letter explaining himself, he returns to his old school room to face the painting. He notices a subtle improvement in the painting, due to his determining not to harm Gladys and he resolves to change his life. However he also resolves that the picture must be destroyed. He stabs his portrait in the heart to try to free himself from the spell, but then cries out as if he has been stabbed as well. His friends have realized what has been happening, and go to his home. In the schoolroom they discover that his portrait once again depicts Dorian as a young, innocent man; Dorian is dead on the floor, his appearance now reflecting all his sins.
The Pope of Greenwich Village (1984)
Color
Man who lost his wife and job plans to steal $150,000, finds himself at odds with the mafia
The Pope of Greenwich Village
"In an Italian neighborhood of Greenwich Village, cousins Charlie (Rourke), a ma?tre d'h?tel with aspirations of someday owning his own restaurant, and Paulie (Roberts), a schemer who works as a waiter, have expensive tastes but not much money. Paulie gets caught skimming checks, and he and Charlie are both fired. Now out of work and in debt, Charlie must find another way to pay his alimony, support his pregnant girlfriend Diane (Hannah), and try to buy a restaurant.
Paulie comes to Charlie with a "can't-miss" robbery, involving a large amount of cash in the safe of a local business. Charlie reluctantly agrees to participate, and they manage to crack the safe with help from an accomplice, Barney (McMillan), a clock repairman and locksmith. But things go sour, resulting in the accidental death of police officer Walter "Bunky" Ritter, who had been secretly taping "Bed Bug" Eddie Grant (Young). Charlie soon learns that the money they stole belongs to Eddie.
The mob figures out that Paulie is involved, and not even his Uncle Pete, part of Eddie's crew, can help him. Eddie's henchmen cut off Paulie's left thumb as punishment.
Diane leaves Charlie and takes his money to support their unborn child, while Paulie is forced to work as a waiter for Eddie. He gives the mob Barney's name but initially refuses to identify Charlie as the third man involved. However, under pressure, he is forced to rat on his cousin. Barney leaves town and Charlie mails him his cut of the loot. And when Charlie makes $20,000 on a horse, things begin to look up.
Charlie prepares for a showdown with Eddie, armed with a copy of the tape that the police officer made. But at the last moment, Paulie puts lye in Eddie's coffee. Then he and Charlie casually walk away from Greenwich Village.
The Poseidon Adventure (1972)
Color
Occupants desperately try to escape after boat capsizes
The Poseidon Adventure
"The SS Poseidon, an ocean liner slated for retirement, travels to Athens. Despite safety concerns from the captain, the new owner's representative insists he go full speed to save money, preventing Poseidon from taking on ballast.
Reverend Scott, a minister who believes "God helps those who help themselves", is traveling to a new parish in Africa as punishment for his unorthodox views. Detective Lieutenant Rogo and wife Linda, a former prostitute, deal with her seasickness. Susan and her younger brother Robin are traveling to meet their parents. Robin is interested in how the ship works and frequently visits the engine room. Retired Jewish store owner Manny Rosen and wife Belle are going to Israel to meet their 2-year-old grandson for the first time. Haberdasher James Martin is a love-shy, health-conscious bachelor. The ship's singer, Nonnie Parry, rehearses for the New Year's Day celebration.
Passengers gather in the promenade room to celebrate. The captain is called to the bridge in response to a report of an undersea earthquake. He receives word from the lookout that a tsunami is approaching from the direction of Crete. He issues a mayday distress signal. The ship is hit broadside and capsizes.
In the dining room, survivors take stock of their predicament. Acres, an injured waiter, is trapped at the galley door now high above. Scott surmises that the escape route will be found "upwards", at the outer hull, now above water. Robin tells him the hull near the propeller shaft is only 1 inch (3 cm) thick. Scott attempts to convince the dozens of survivors in the dining room to travel with him to the ship's hull. However, the ship's purser tells the crowd not to follow Scott and tells them to wait. Most of the survivors side with the purser. The Rosens, the Rogos, Susan, Robin, Acres, Nonnie, and Martin agree to go with Scott, using a Christmas tree as a ladder. After the group climbs to the galley, there is a series of explosions. As seawater floods the dining room, those remaining attempt to climb the tree, but their weight causes it to fall. Water fills up the room and Poseidon begins sinking.
Scott leads his group toward the engine room. While climbing a ladder inside a ventilation shaft, the ship rocks from more explosions. Acres falls and perishes. Leaving the shaft, the group meets a large band of survivors led by the ship's medic, heading toward the bow. Scott believes they are heading for their doom, but Rogo wants to follow them and gives Scott 15 minutes to find the engine room. Although he takes longer than allowed, Scott succeeds.
The engine room is on the other side of a flooded corridor. Belle reveals she is a former competitive swimmer and volunteers to go through, but Scott refuses her and dives in. Halfway through, a panel collapses on him. The survivors notice the delay, and Belle dives in. She frees Scott and they make it to the other side, but Belle suffers a heart attack. Before dying, she tells Scott to give her Chai pendant to her husband, to give to their grandson. Rogo swims over to make sure Belle and Scott are all right, then leads the rest over. When Rosen finds Belle's body, he is unwilling to go on, but Scott gives him her pendant, reminding him that he has a reason to live.
Scott leads the survivors to the propeller shaft room's watertight door, but additional explosions cause Linda to lose her grip and fall to her death. A heartbroken Rogo blames Scott. A ruptured pipe releases steam, blocking their escape. Scott rants at God for the survivors' deaths as he leaps across a pool of flaming oil, grabbing onto the burning-hot valve wheel to shut down the steam. Scott tells Rogo to lead the group on before falling to his death.
Rogo leads the remaining survivors--Rosen, Martin, Nonnie, Susan, and Robin--through the watertight doors and into the propeller shaft tunnel. They hear a noise from outside and bang on the hull to attract attention. The rescuers cut through the hull, assist the six survivors from the ship, inform them that no one else survived, and fly them to safety.
The Poseidon Adventure (2005)
Color
Occupants desperately try to escape after boat capsizes
The Poseidon Adventure
"The plot centers on the SS Poseidon, a 135,000-ton state-of-the-art luxury cruise ship on a cruise from Cape Town to Sydney as well as the stories and dramas of some of the 3,700 passengers and crew. A terrorist operation plans to sink the ship. Four terrorists take two bombs aboard to sink the ship. Sea Marshal Mike Rogo (Adam Baldwin) is assigned to the ship to search for any suspicious activity. Passenger and father, Richard Clarke (Steve Guttenberg), is having an affair with Shoshana, a crew member. His family is drifting away from him, and his wife Rachael (Alexa Hamilton) kicks him out of the family's stateroom. Dylan (Rory Copus), their 12-year-old son, witnesses this and is devastated. His older sister, Shelby (Amber Sainsbury), is in nursing school and falls in love with the ship's doctor Ballard (C. Thomas Howell).
On New Year's Eve, a bomb planted by the group of terrorists explodes, blowing open a hole in the ship's hull. The officers on the bridge and the captain (Peter Weller) are all shot and killed by rogue waiters. Before the second bomb can explode, it is dismantled by Rogo who also shoots one of the terrorists. Because water is now entering only one side of the ship, the ship tips over, throwing many people to their deaths. As the ship continues to tilt, the center of gravity on the ship causes it to flip completely into an upside-down position. Many passengers and crew are injured, crippled, or killed. Ballard's arm is seriously injured. Shelby and one of the showgirls are trapped on a table that is secured to the floor, which is now the ceiling. They are both rescued. Shelby and Ballard then begin helping the injured.
A small group of survivors, including Shelby's mother, prepare to escape the sinking ship through the hole left by the bomb. The cruise hotel manager convinces most survivors in the ballroom to stay, claiming the ship is not sinking. Shelby decides to stay and help the injured, but knows her mother and younger brother need to leave before it is too late. The others leave the ballroom as Shelby's mother promises to leave traces where the group has gone. They then painfully depart and Shelby waves to her mother with a bloody hand as episode one ends.
Episode two begins with the navy realizing that the SS Poseidon has gone missing, and they send out a rescue team. In one of the Poseidon crew quarters, Richard and Shoshana reach the ballroom through an air vent. Shelby confronts Shoshona, as Richard decides to follow Rachael and the others with Ballard, Shelby, and Shoshana. Meanwhile, the other group slowly move towards the hole. (with a few people being killed) Susan uses a damaged computer to send a mayday. Back in the ballroom, Richard's group finally decide to leave. Shelby tries to convince more people to come along but to no avail. As they leave the ballroom, a huge amount of water rushes into the ballroom, killing everyone who did not listen to Shelby.
Meanwhile, Rogo's group splits up, with Rogo taking the terrorist into deeper water to question him, while the rest of the group continues on the path to rescue. Rogo meets up with Richard's group and they all meet up again in the area where the bomb exploded. The debris is too packed to get through. When the navy arrives, their explosives make it even more impossible to get out that way. They are forced to go through the engine room to detonate the other bomb and blast their way out.
As they cross a fallen cat walk over a fiery abyss left by the engines, Shoshana and the terrorist fall into the flames and die as the others escape. They find the other bomb, detonate it and successfully open a hole in the hull. The survivors jump into the water, and swim to nearby rescue boats. The survivors watch as Poseidon sinks bow first, while Suzanne Harrison (Alex Kingston), a British agent who had been helping out, laments the fact that there are only 9 survivors.
The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946)
Black & White
Affair leads to plot to kill husband
The Postman Always Rings Twice
"Frank Chambers (John Garfield) is a drifter who stops at a rural diner for a meal, and ends up working there. The diner is operated by a beautiful young woman, Cora Smith (Lana Turner), and her much older husband, Nick (Cecil Kellaway).
Frank and Cora start to have an affair soon after they meet. Cora is tired of her situation, married to a man she does not love, and working at a diner that she wishes to own. She and Frank scheme to murder Nick in order to start a new life together without her losing the diner. Their first attempt at the murder is a failure, but they eventually succeed.
The local prosecutor, Kyle Sackett (Leon Ames), suspects what has occurred, but doesn't have enough evidence to prove it. As a tactic intended to get Cora and Frank to turn on one another, he tries only Cora for the crime. Although they do turn against each other, a clever ploy from Cora's lawyer (Hume Cronyn) prevents Cora's full confession from coming into the hands of the prosecutor. With the tactic having failed to generate any new evidence for the prosecution, Cora benefits from a plea bargain in which she pleads guilty to manslaughter and receives probation.
Frank and Cora eventually patch together their tumultuous relationship, and now plan for a future together. But as they seem to be prepared finally to live "happily ever after", Cora dies in a car accident, while Frank is driving. Although it was truly an accident, the circumstances seem suspicious enough that Frank is accused of having staged the crash. He is convicted of murdering Cora and is sentenced to death.
When informed that his last chance at a reprieve from his death sentence has been denied, and thus his execution is now at hand, Frank is at first incredulous that he will be put to death for a crime of which he is innocent. But when informed that authorities have recently discovered irrefutable evidence of his guilt in the murder of Nick, Frank decides that his impending death is actually his overdue punishment for that crime, despite his official conviction being for the murder of Cora.
Frank contemplates that when a person is expecting to receive a letter, it is of no concern if at first he does not hear the postman ring the doorbell, because the postman will always ring a second time, and that second ring will invariably be heard. After they escaped legal punishment for Nick's murder, but nonetheless with Cora now dead and Frank on his way to the death chamber, he notes that the postman has indeed rung a second time for each of them.
The Postman Always Rings Twice (1981)
Color
Married woman falls for drifter and they hatch a plan to kill her husband
The Postman Always Rings Twice
"Frank Chambers (Jack Nicholson) a drifter, stops at a depression-era rural California diner in the hills outside Los Angeles for a meal and ends up working there. The diner is operated by a young, beautiful woman, Cora Smith (Jessica Lange), and her much older husband, Nick Papadakis (John Colicos), a hardworking but unimaginative immigrant from Greece.
Frank and Cora start to have an affair soon after they meet. Cora is tired of her situation, married to an older man she does not love, and working at a diner that she wishes to own and improve. She and Frank scheme to murder Nick to start a new life together without her losing the diner. Their first attempt at the murder is a failure, but they succeed with their second attempt.
The local prosecutor suspects what has actually occurred but does not have enough evidence to prove it. As a tactic intended to get Cora and Frank to turn on one another, he tries only Cora for the crime.
Although they turn against each other, a clever ploy from Cora's lawyer, Katz (Michael Lerner), prevents Cora's full confession from coming into the hands of the prosecutor. With the tactic having failed to generate any new evidence for the prosecution, Cora benefits from a deal in which she pleads guilty to manslaughter and is sentenced to probation.
Months later, Frank has an affair with Madge Gorland (Anjelica Huston) while Cora is out of town. When Cora returns, she tells Frank she is pregnant. That night, Katz's assistant, Kennedy (John P. Ryan), appears at their door and threatens to expose them unless they give him $10,000. Enraged, Frank beats Kennedy up and strong-arms him into giving up the evidence against them.
When Frank returns, he finds that Madge has been to see Cora, who threatens to turn him in. They eventually patch together their tumultuous relationship and now plan for a future together. However, just as they seem to be prepared for a new life together, Cora dies in a car accident while Frank is driving. Frank weeps over Cora's body.
The Preacher's Wife (1996)
Color
God sends an angel when he overhears a preacher desparing the loss of a youth center
The Preacher's Wife
"Rev. Henry Biggs (Courtney B. Vance) is the pastor of a small struggling African American Baptist church in a poverty-stricken neighborhood of New York City. Membership is declining, Henry is pulled in a hundred directions by his parishioners' needs, and the church's finances are in trouble. Henry is under intense pressure from real estate developer Joe Hamilton (Gregory Hines) to sell the church's property so that Hamilton can build luxury condominiums on the site. Henry has also become neglectful of his wife, Julia (Whitney Houston), and his son, Jeremiah. Julia worries that her marriage is failing. Unsure that he can make a difference in his parishioners' lives and beginning to lose his faith, Henry prays to God for help, which comes in the form of Dudley (Denzel Washington), a witty and debonair angel. Dudley tells Henry that he is an angel sent by God to help him, but Henry is deeply suspicious of Dudley. Julia, however, is instantly charmed by the handsome and unflappable angel.
With Christmas approaching, Henry's schedule becomes increasingly burdensome, and Dudley begins to spend most of his time with Julia and Jeremiah. Rev. Biggs' secretary, Beverly (Loretta Devine), becomes comically defensive and aggressive, believing Dudley is there to take her job. Julia's wasp-tongued mother, Margueritte (Jenifer Lewis), is also suspicious of Dudley, because she believes the newcomer will break up her daughter's marriage. Dudley and Julia go ice skating, and then later spend an evening in the jazz club where Julia once performed. After Henry confronts Dudley, Dudley realizes that he is falling in love with Julia. So, Dudley turns his attention to Hamilton and manages to disrupt his schemes to get Henry to sell the church. Henry now realizes that his family is the most important thing in his life, and he resolves to be a better husband and father. At the church's Christmas pageant, Henry finds his faith in God renewed and ties to his family restored.
With his work done, Dudley gives the Biggs family a fully decorated Christmas tree as a gift. Dudley then erases all memories of himself from everyone he has met, and although he attends midnight service on Christmas Eve, no one recognizes him. However, Jeremiah, who has the faith of a child, still remembers Dudley, and wishes him a merry Christmas.
A subplot present throughout the film focuses on Julia's singing talents. Once a popular nightclub singer, she is now a star in the church choir. This subplot provides for several set pieces in which the choir performs, and Gospel music plays a significant role. It also provides comic relief in the form of a domineering choir member, played by Houston's real life mother, Cissy.
The Princess Bride (1987)
Color
Farmboy-turned-pirate fights numerous obstacles in his quest to reunite with his true love
The Princess Bride
"The film is an enactment of a book that a grandfather reads to his sick grandson, who initially dismisses the story.
The tale is about Buttercup, a beautiful young woman living on a farm in the fictional kingdom of Florin. Whenever she tells farmhand Westley to do something, he always complies, saying, "As you wish." She eventually realizes that he loves her and she loves him. Westley leaves to seek his fortune overseas so they can marry. When his ship is attacked by the Dread Pirate Roberts, who is infamous for never leaving survivors, Westley is presumed dead.
Five years later, Buttercup is forcibly betrothed to Prince Humperdinck, the heir to the throne of Florin. Before the wedding, she is kidnapped by three outlaws, a short Sicilian named Vizzini, a giant from Greenland named Fezzik, and a Spanish fencing master named Inigo Montoya, who seeks revenge against a six-fingered man who murdered his father. Prince Humperdinck, his soldiers, and also a masked man clad in black, pursue the outlaws.
The man in black confronts the outlaws atop the Cliffs of Insanity. He defeats Inigo in a duel and knocks him out, chokes Fezzik into unconsciousness, and tricks Vizzini into drinking poison, killing him. He takes Buttercup prisoner and they flee, stopping near a gorge. Buttercup correctly guesses he is the Dread Pirate Roberts and berates him for killing Westley. Seeing Humperdinck and his men approaching, Buttercup shoves Roberts down a hill, wishing death upon him. While tumbling down, he shouts, "As you wish!" Realizing it is Westley, she throws herself into the gorge after him, and they are reunited.
Westley explains how "Dread Pirate Roberts" is a title that is passed on to others; he took it when the previous Roberts wanted to retire. Having found Buttercup, Westley intends to surrender the title to another. Humperdinck captures the pair after they emerge from the dangerous Fire Swamp. Buttercup agrees to return with Humperdinck after he promises to release Westley. He then secretly orders his sadistic vizier, Count Rugen, to take Westley to his torture chamber, the Pit of Despair. Before being knocked out, Westley notices that Count Rugen has six fingers on his right hand and realizes that he is the man who killed Inigo's father.
Humperdinck falsely promises Buttercup he will search for Westley. His real plan is to start a war with the neighboring country of Guilder by killing Buttercup and framing Guilder for her death. Meanwhile, Inigo and Fezzik are reunited after Humperdinck orders thieves to be arrested in the forest in which they are staying. Fezzik tells Inigo about Rugen. Inigo realizes he needs Westley's help to storm the castle.
Buttercup accuses Humperdinck of failing to search for Westley and calls him a coward. Enraged, Humperdinck imprisons Buttercup and tortures Westley to death. Inigo and Fezzik, who have heard and followed Westley's wails through the forest, find his body and bring him to Miracle Max, a folk healer. Max revives the "mostly dead" Westley, though he is severely weakened.
As Westley, Inigo and Fezzik storm the castle, Humperdinck panics and orders the in-progress wedding ceremony to be shortened. Inigo finds and kills Rugen in a duel after repeatedly taunting him for killing his father. Westley locates Buttercup, who is about to commit suicide, believing she is married to Humperdinck. Westley assures her the marriage is invalid because she never completed her wedding vows. Humperdinck finds them and attempts to kill Westley in his defenseless state, but Westley wills himself to his feet and intimidates the prince into surrender. Buttercup and Westley leave Humperdinck tied to a chair as they flee the castle. After killing Rugen, Inigo is unsure of what to do with his life, and Westley offers him the Dread Pirate Roberts title. Fezzik has procured four horses, and he, Westley, Buttercup, and Inigo escape. Westley and Buttercup, safely reunited, share a passionate kiss.
Back in his bedroom, the boy eagerly asks his grandfather to read him the story again the next day, to which his grandfather replies, "As you wish.”
The Prisoner of Shark Island (1936)
Black & White
Doctor imprisoned for unknowingly treating John Wilkes Booth
The Prisoner of Shark Island
"A few short hours after the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln (Frank McGlynn Sr.), Dr. Samuel Mudd (Warner Baxter) gives treatment to a man with a broken leg who shows up at his door. Mudd does not know that the president has been assassinated and the man who he is treating is John Wilkes Booth (Francis McDonald). Mudd is arrested for being an accessory in the assassination and is sent to prison on the Dry Tortugas, described as in the West Indies and referred to in the film as "America's own Devil's Island".
After a period of ill treatment due to his notoriety, his skills as a doctor are requested by the Commandant of the prison. The island has been in the grip of a yellow fever epidemic and the official prison doctor has fallen ill. Dr. Mudd takes charge with the blessing of the Commandant and the cooperation of the soldier guards, and the yellow jack epidemic subsides.
In the end he receives a pardon and is allowed to return home.
The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex (1939)
Color
Affair betwee Elizabeth I and Earl of Essex
The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex
"The Earl of Essex (Errol Flynn) returns in triumph to London after having dealt the Spanish a crushing naval defeat at Cadiz. In London, an aging Queen Elizabeth (Bette Davis) awaits him with love, but also with fear, because of his popularity with the commoners and his consuming ambition. His envious rivals include Sir Robert Cecil (Henry Daniell), Lord Burghley (Henry Stephenson), and Sir Walter Raleigh (Vincent Price). His only friend at court is Francis Bacon (Donald Crisp).
Instead of the praise he is expecting, Essex is stunned when Elizabeth criticizes him for his failure to capture the Spanish treasure fleet as he had promised. When his co-commanders are rewarded, Essex protests, precipitating a break between the lovers. He leaves for his estates.
Elizabeth pines for him, but refuses to degrade herself by recalling him. But when Hugh O'Neill, 2nd Earl of Tyrone (Alan Hale, Sr.) revolts and routs the English forces in Ireland, the Queen has the excuse she needs to summon Essex. She intends to make him Master of the Ordnance, a safe position at court. However, his enemies goad him into taking command of the army to be sent to quash the rebellion.
Essex pursues Tyrone, though his letters to Elizabeth begging for much-needed men and supplies go unanswered. Unbeknownst to him, his letters to her, and hers to him, are being intercepted by Lady Penelope Grey (Olivia de Havilland), a lady-in-waiting who loves him herself. Finally, Elizabeth, believing herself to be scorned, sends him an order to disband his army and return to London. Furious, Essex ignores it, orders a night march and thinks he has finally cornered his foe. However, at a parley, Tyrone points out the smoke rising from the English camp, signifying the destruction of the food and ammunition the English army needs. With no alternative, Essex accepts Tyrone's terms; he and his men disarm and sail back to England.
Thinking he has been betrayed, he leads his army in a march on London, to seize the crown for himself. Elizabeth offers no resistance to his forces, but once alone with him, convinces him that she will accept joint rule of the kingdom. He then naively disbands his army and is quickly arrested and condemned to death.
The day of his execution, Elizabeth can wait no longer. She summons him, hoping he will abandon his ambition in return for his life (which she is eager to grant). However, Essex tells her that he will always be a danger to her, and walks to the chopping block.
The Program (1993)
Color
Football coach is willing to overlook his players' problems, as long as his team can win
The Program
"The ESU Timberwolves football are entering a season with high expectations after two disappointing seasons.
The movie begins with a loss to end the prior season, along with the school chancellor putting pressure on coach Sam Winters to win this coming season or face a possible firing.
Sophomore quarterback Joe Kane spends the Christmas bowl season with his alcoholic father and brother while junior NFL prospect Alvin Mack gives his mother an engraved door knocker as a present to go with the new house that she will soon have when Alvin turns pro. It then follows the recruiting of Darnell Jefferson, a highly rated running back and his eventual commitment to ESU.
During the recruiting phase, Jefferson is given a tour of the campus by Autumn (Berry), a beautiful young student, and the two bond immediately, sharing a kiss before they part ways.
The following fall, football season is about to begin. Jefferson is brought to a bar by Kane where he is introduced to Mack, backup quarterback Bobby Collins, who is dating Winters' daughter Louanne and senior Steve Lattimer, who has played on the punt return team for the first three years of his college career, but he has somewhat mysteriously gained 35 pounds since last fall with the goal of starting in his senior year.
Football camp begins with Jefferson fumbling during practice and he is subsequently forced to carry a football with him at all times. Winters warns that if any other player brings the football back to him, "you'll wish you were never born."
Jefferson later reunites with Autumn, but discovers that she's dating the starting tailback Ray Griffen (his main competition) and that when they last met, they temporarily broken up because he had cheated on her with a white girl.
Later on, Jefferson takes his entrance exams and worries about the test, going to Mack and Lattimer for advice. Lattimer tells him not to worry because it took him four times to pass the test, and he reveals that Mack is given copies of the test before he takes them.
Despite maintaining a high-enough GPA to be academically eligible at the university, Mack is functionally illiterate. Mack reassures Jefferson that the school will keep him eligible if he's talented enough to play and that all he needs to know how to do is sign an NFL contract. Jefferson is neither surprised nor worried when he finds out that he failed the test and when it's recommended that he find a tutor, he chooses Autumn, who reluctantly agrees.
Sports Illustrated runs a cover story on Kane and declares him a Heisman Trophy candidate, but he has trouble with the pressure put upon him by the school and its campaign prepared for him, and drinks to deal with his stress. He meets a tennis player, Camille (Swanson), and as their first date they go on a thrilling and scary motorcycle ride. They then develop a relationship.
Now Mack is a senior who is waiting for the upcoming NFL Draft in April, and his indifference to academics is shown clearly in a tutoring session where he couldn't care less about learning the material, but his strong ability to read offenses and football strategy during film study shows his commitment to football.
Meanwhile, the offensive coordinator is worried that Lattimer is taking performance-enhancing drugs due to his increased size and ability and occasional displays of 'roid rage. Coach Winters tells him that the amount of weight that Lattimer gained is far from impossible with steady work in the gym throughout the entire off-season and that if he is taking steroids, the NCAA will catch him during a drug test.
Later on when he learns that he has been named a starting defensive end, Lattimer walks into the parking lot and shatters car windows with his head while screaming, "STARTING DEFENSE!! PLACE AT THE TABLE!!" The outburst is witnessed by several people, including both the offensive and defensive coordinators, who agree not to tell Winters about the behavior, but decide to warn Lattimer that the NCAA will be drug-testing before the start of the season.
Before the beginning of the season, the Heisman campaign for Kane picks up speed and the players' individual motivations for playing football is revealed.
Kane enjoys playing because while he is on the field it allows him to be distracted from the stressors of his life (such as his alcoholic father and the increased publicity surrounding him), Jefferson is using football as a way to escape the ghetto, Mack enjoys the on-field battle and physicality of the sport & Lattimer simply displays a genuine love for the game.
Before the start of the season, Lattimer is able to substitute clean urine for his own during the NCAA drug tests. The team then gets off to a good start with a convincing run of victories in the first half of the season.
Meanwhile, Griffen is struggling to gain yards as the team's tailback, and Jefferson is making the most of his playing time as a backup and punt returner. Jefferson is also disturbed when he begins receiving illegal monetary donations by wealthy alumni as his playing time and performance increases, though Mack tells him to take the money.
Simultaneously, Jefferson and Autumn grow closer and begin a relationship, though Autumn is too ashamed to admit that she is dating him, described by Griffen as "just another gang banger with speed," to her well-read father, another former ESU football player. She eventually resumes her relationship with Griffen, who is planning on attending medical school after he graduates.
The film progresses to show the problems of a "big-time" football program. Winters' daughter is expelled for taking a test for Collins, who is subsequently kicked off the team and also expelled. Kane and ESU then lose a close game to Michigan, which pitted him against another Heisman candidate in Michigan's quarterback, calling into question his ability to win the trophy.
Then, Lattimer assaults a girl who was unwilling to "hook up" with him, but since her dad is a large football booster, he gets her to drop the charges. Winters finally accepts that Lattimer is juicing and wants to suspend him for the season, but he is warned by his defensive coordinator that suspending him for doping when he had never failed a drug test would leave the school wide open for a lawsuit for jeopardizing his draft status. Lattimer is then suspended for three games after he admits the drug use to Winters, with the team running a cover story of a pulled hamstring to keep the doping under wraps.
Lattimer stops taking steroids with Winters telling him that the team will drug test him and that he will not be allowed in the stall alone when he urinates for the tests. Mack criticizes him, but Lattimer defends himself by saying, "Not everyone has your ability Alvin, you do what you have to do to play."
After losing to Michigan, Kane gets drunk in a bar and assaults another patron (but only after the patron grabbed Kane and threw the first punch) who accused him of smiling at his girlfriend, forcing the other man to be hospitalized. He leaves the bar in another player's truck that he borrowed without permission and is pulled over for drunk driving and charged with a DWI.
Coach Winters negotiates a plea arrangement with the district attorney where all of the charges will be dropped if Kane successfully completes a 28-day program (even though this will cause him to miss four games and more or less ends his Heisman candidacy).
In addition, the team needs to win three more games in the next five weeks to win the conference championship and secure a major bowl game, but without a capable quarterback, it's not possible.
The school officials then pressure Winters into letting Collins back on the team to start in Kane's place. Winters reluctantly agrees to do so and goes so far as to vouch for Collins' character in front of the disciplinary committee. This is despite the fact that his daughter was also expelled for cheating along with Collins and, herself, has no chance to gain re-admittance into the school.
Collins is readmitted to the school and the team goes 2-1 in the first three games with him under center, with strong defense and a relentless ground attack leading to their success.
Lattimer passes his drug test after sitting out for three weeks and returns for the second-to-last game of the season against Iowa and the fourth start of the season for Collins at quarterback.
The game is close most of the way, but Mack suffers a career-ending knee injury late in the fourth quarter and Lattimer is run over at the goal line by Iowa's running back for the game's winning score.
Kane finishes up his 28-day program and attempts to reconcile with Camille, whom he refused to speak to while in rehab. He also reaches out to his father, who has never seen him play before and gives him a plane ticket to Florida for the team's final game of the season.
Meanwhile, Lattimer continues to take steroids and has an associate remove the tainted urine from his bladder and replace it with clean urine in a painful and dangerous procedure in order to pass his next drug test.
ESU has a final game against Georgia Tech in which they will win the Eastern Athletic Conference (EAC) and secure a major bowl game. Before the beginning of the game, Jefferson is named the team's starting tailback and Griffen is moved to fullback.
Despite Mack's absence, the team defense is keeping them in the game, but due to a bad judgement call by Collins which leads to an interception TD and an intentionally missed block by Griffen leading to Jefferson fumbling the football, GT leads the game 10-0 at the half.
Kane was benched for Collins, but he asked to start in the 2nd half. As he takes the field at the start of the second half, Kane looks into the stands for his father and realizes he is not there, but he accepts that he will never see him play. He struggles to regain his rhythm in the third quarter, but the game remains close, thanks in part to a goal-line tackle made by Lattimer to save the game.
After making the tackle Winters looks into Lattimer's eyes on the sideline and notices that they are bloodshot and distorted and realizes that Lattimer managed to continue taking steroids without failing a drug test. Then, Lattimer looks to the ground in disappointment even though Winters seems to understand his decision to take the drugs and pats him on the helmet.
Kane rallies the team to victory in the fourth quarter and secures a major bowl game, saving Winters' job, with both coach and quarterback realizing that Kane will likely make another, more-promising run at the Heisman in his senior season. Lattimer sits on the bench and cries instead of celebrating with the team because realizes he won't be able to play in the NFL without using performance-enhancing drugs.
After the game, Autumn introduces Jefferson to her father as her boyfriend. The film ends with Kane reuniting with Camille offering her another six pack ride (this time it's Sprite instead of beer) and the coaches leaving on a recruiting trip to look for next season's freshmen (particularly a replacement for Lattimer).
The Proposal (2009)
Color
When Margaret learns she may lose her visa, she forces her assistant to marry her
The Proposal
"Margaret Tate (Sandra Bullock) is an executive editor in chief of a book publishing company. After learning she is about to be deported to Canada because of an expired visa, she persuades her assistant, Andrew Paxton (Ryan Reynolds), to marry her. Mr. Gilbertson (Denis O'Hare), a U.S. immigration agent, informs them that he suspects they are committing fraud to avoid Margaret's deportation. Gilbertson tells them that they'll be asked questions about each other separately. If their answers don't match, Margaret will be deported to Canada and Andrew will be convicted of a felony punishable by a $250,000 fine and five years in prison. Andrew insists that Margaret makes him an editor after their marriage and publish his book. Margaret agrees.
The couple travels to Sitka, Alaska, Andrew's home town, to meet his family. Margaret meets Andrew's mother Grace (Mary Steenburgen) and grandmother Annie a.k.a "Gammy" (Betty White). During the trip to the family home, Margaret notices that nearly every shop in town carries the name Paxton and learns that Andrew's family is in fact very wealthy. During a welcome home party, Andrew confronts his father, Joe (Craig T. Nelson), who is angry about Andrew's dating the boss he has so long disliked and thinks he is using her to get ahead in his career. After their argument, Andrew announces the engagement to everyone. Margaret also meets Gertrude (Malin ?kerman), Andrew's ex-girlfriend. After the party is over, Grace and Gammy show Margaret and Andrew the bedroom they will share during the weekend.
The next day, Grace and Annie take Margaret to a local bar to watch a strip dance by a locally famous but over-the-hill exotic dancer, Ramone (Oscar Nunez). Stepping away from the show, Margaret learns from Gertrude that Andrew wanted to become an editor and make his own life and that Andrew had proposed to Gertrude. However, Gertrude refused because she didn't want to leave Sitka for New York. Returning home, Margaret learns of the conflict between Andrew and Joe. That night, Margaret asks Andrew about his relationship with his father, but Andrew refuses to talk. Instead, Margaret opens up to Andrew.
The next day, the family convinces them to marry while they're in Sitka. After Margaret realizes how close Andrew's family is, she becomes upset, gets on Andrew's boat, and speeds away from town with him. She tells him she has been alone since she was sixteen years old after her parents died and had forgotten what it felt like to have a family. She lets go of the helm and stumbles to the back of the boat. Andrew makes a sharp turn to avoid hitting a buoy, and Margaret falls out of the boat. Andrew quickly turns the boat around and saves her. At the wedding ceremony, Margaret confesses the truth about the wedding to the guests, including Gilbertson, who informs her she has twenty four hours to leave for Canada. Margaret returns to the Paxton home to pack her things. Andrew rushes to their room only to find Margaret has already left, leaving his book manuscript with a note of praise and a promise to publish it. Gertrude attempts to comfort Andrew and asks if he is going to go after her. As he rushes out of the house to find Margaret, another argument arises between him and Joe. Annie fakes a heart attack and convinces them to reconcile before she "passes away". After she succeeds in getting things moving again, she owns up to faking the attack. Andrew's parents realize he really loves Margaret. He goes to New York and tells Margaret he loves her in front of the entire office staff. They kiss and then go to Gilbertson and inform him they are again engaged, but for real this time.
The Public Enemy (1931)
Black & White
Gangster runs illegal booze during prohibition
The Public Enemy
"As youngsters in 1900's Chicago, Tom Powers (James Cagney) and his lifelong friend Matt Doyle (Edward Woods) engage in petty theft, selling their loot to "Putty Nose" (Murray Kinnell). Putty Nose persuades them to join his gang on a fur warehouse robbery, assuring them he will take care of them if anything goes wrong. When Tom is startled by a stuffed bear, he shoots it, alerting the police, who kill gang member Larry Dalton. Chased by a cop, Tom and Matt have to gun him down. However, when they go to Putty Nose for help, they find he has left town.
Tom's straightlaced older brother Mike (Donald Cook) tries, but fails, to talk Tom into giving up crime. Tom keeps his activities secret from his doting mother (Beryl Mercer). When America enters World War I in 1917, Mike enlists in the Marines.
In 1920, with Prohibition about to go into effect, Paddy Ryan (Robert Emmett O'Connor) recruits Tom and Matt as beer "salesmen" (enforcers) in his bootlegging business. He allies himself with noted gangster Samuel "Nails" Nathan (Leslie Fenton). As the bootlegging business becomes ever more lucrative, Tom and Matt flaunt their wealth.
Mike finds out that his brother's money comes not from politics, as Tom claims, but from bootlegging, and declares that Tom's success is based on nothing more than "beer and blood" (the title of the book upon which the film is based). Tom retorts in disgust: "Your hands ain't so clean. You killed and liked it. You didn't get them medals for holding hands with them Germans."
Tom and Matt acquire girlfriends, Kitty (an uncredited Mae Clarke) and Mamie (Joan Blondell) respectively. Tom eventually tires of Kitty; in a famous scene, when she complains once too often, he angrily pushes half a grapefruit into her face. He then drops her for Gwen Allen (Jean Harlow), a woman with a self-confessed weakness for bad men. At a restaurant on the night of Matt's wedding reception to Mamie, Tom and Matt recognize Putty Nose and follow him home. Begging for his life, Putty plays a song on the piano that he had entertained Tom and Matt with when they were kids. Tom shoots him in the back.
Tom gives his mother a large wad of money, but Mike rejects the gift. Tom tears up the banknotes and throws them in his brother's face. "Nails" Nathan dies in a horse riding accident, prompting Tom to find the horse and shoot it. A rival gang headed by "Schemer" Burns takes advantage of the disarray resulting from Nathan's death, precipitating a gang war.
Later, Matt is gunned down in public, with Tom narrowly escaping the same fate. Furious, Tom takes it upon himself to single-handedly settle scores with Burns and some of his men. Tom is seriously wounded in the shootout, and ends up in the hospital. When his mother, brother, and Matt's sister Molly come to see him, he reconciles with Mike and agrees to reform. However, Paddy warns Mike that Tom has been kidnapped by the Burns mob from the hospital. Later, his dead body is returned to the Powers home.
The Pursuit of Happiness (1971)
Color
Convicted of vehicular manslaughter, man escapes and flees to Canada
The Pursuit of Happiness
William (Michael Sarrazin) is a young college student frustrated by the suffocating normalcy of life. His patience with authority finally begins to disintegrate when he pleads guilty to manslaughter after accidentally killing an old woman with his car. With only a week left in his sentence, he escapes from prison and plans to flee to Canada with his girlfriend (Barbara Hershey)
The Pursuit of Happyness (2006)
Color
Salesman struggles to build a future for himself and his 5yo
The Pursuit of Happyness
"In 1981, San Francisco salesman Chris Gardner (Will Smith) invests his entire life savings in portable bone-density scanners, which he demonstrates to doctors and pitches as a handy quantum leap over standard X-rays. The scanners play a vital role in Chris' life. While he is able to sell most of them, the time lag between the sales and his growing financial demands enrage his already bitter and alienated wife Linda (Thandie Newton), who works as a hotel maid. The lack of a stable financial state increasingly erodes their marriage, in spite of them caring for their five-year old son, Christopher (Jaden Smith).
While downtown trying to sell one of the scanners, Gardner meets Jay Twistle (Brian Howe), a manager for Dean Witter Reynolds and impresses him by solving a Rubik's Cube during a short taxi ride. After Jay leaves, Gardner lacks money to pay the fare, and chooses to run, resulting in the driver chasing him into a BART station. Gardner boards a train but loses one of his scanners in the process. His new relationship with Jay earns him the chance to become an intern stockbroker. The day before the interview, Gardner grudgingly agrees to paint his apartment so as to postpone moving out due to his difficulty in paying the rent. While painting, Gardner is greeted by the police at his doorstep, who takes him to the station, stating he has to pay for his numerous parking tickets he has accumulated. As part of the sanction, Gardner is ordered to spend the night in jail, complicating his schedule for the interview the next morning. He manages to arrive at Dean Witter's office on time, albeit still in his shabby clothes. Despite his appearance, he impresses the interviewers, and lands an internship. He will be amongst 20 interns competing for a paid position as a broker.
Gardner's unpaid internship does not please Linda, who eventually leaves for New York. After Gardner bluntly says she is incapable of being a single mother, she agrees that Christopher will remain with his father. Gardner is further set back when his bank account is garnished by the IRS for unpaid income taxes, and he and his young son are evicted. He ends up with less than twenty-two dollars, resulting in them being homeless, and are forced at one point to stay in a restroom at a BART station. Other days, he and Christopher spend nights at a homeless shelter, in BART, or, if he manages to procure cash, at a hotel. Later, Gardner finds the bone scanner that he lost in the station and, after repairing it, sells it to a physician, thus completing all his sales of his scanners.
Disadvantaged by his limited work hours, and knowing that maximizing his client contacts and profits is the only way to earn the broker position, Gardner develops a number of ways to make phone sales calls more efficiently, including reaching out to potential high value customers, defying protocol. One sympathetic prospect who is a top-level pension fund manager even takes him and his son to a San Francisco 49ers game. Regardless of his challenges, he never reveals his lowly circumstances to his colleagues, even going so far as to lend one of his bosses five dollars for cab fare, a sum that he cannot afford. Concluding his internship, Gardner is called into a meeting with his managers. One of them notes he is wearing a new shirt. Gardner explains it is his last day and thought to dress for the occasion. The manager smiles and says he should wear it again tomorrow, letting him know he has won the coveted full-time position. Fighting back tears, Gardner shakes hands with them, then rushes to his son's daycare to embrace Christopher. They walk down the street, joking with each other and are passed by a man in a business suit (the real Chris Gardner in a cameo appearance). The epilogue reveals that Gardner went on to form his own multi-million dollar brokerage firm.
The Razor's Edge (1946)
Black & White
Ex-fianc?e meets man years later, and wants him back even though he is now married
The Razor's Edge
"The film, in which W. Somerset Maugham (Herbert Marshall) is himself a minor character, drifting in and out of the lives of the major players, opens at a party held following World War I in 1919 at a country club in Chicago, Illinois. Elliott Templeton (Clifton Webb), an expatriate, has returned to the United States for the first time since before the war to visit his sister, Louisa Bradley (Lucile Watson), and his niece, Isabel (Gene Tierney), engaged to be married to Larry Darrell (Tyrone Power), of whom Elliott strongly disapproves for rejecting both inclusion in their social stratum and working in the common world.
Larry is traumatized by the death of a comrade who sacrificed himself on the last day of the war to save Larry and announces that he plans to "loaf" on his small inheritance of $3,000 a year. He refuses a job offer from the father of his friend Gray (John Payne), a millionaire who is hopelessly in love with Isabel, too. Larry and Isabel agree to postpone their marriage so that he can go to Paris to try to clear his muddled thoughts. Meanwhile, Larry's childhood friend, Sophie Nelson (Anne Baxter), settles into a happy marriage with Bob MacDonald (Frank Latimore), only to lose him and their baby in a car crash.
In Paris, Larry immerses himself in a Bohemian life. After a year, Isabel visits and Larry asks her to marry him immediately. Isabel does not understand his search for meaning and breaks their engagement. Before she returns to Chicago she cannot carry through with a scheme to seduce Larry and trick him into making an "honest woman" of her. She marries Gray to provide her the elite social and family life she craves. Meanwhile, Larry works in a coal mine in France, where a defrocked priest, Kosti (Fritz Kortner), urges him travel to India to learn from a mystic. Larry studies at a monastery in the Himalayas under the tutelage of the Holy Man (Cecil Humphreys), then makes a lone pilgrimage to the mountaintop where he finds enlightenment. The Holy Man tells Larry to return to the world to share what he now knows about life.
Back in Paris, Maugham meets Elliott by chance and learns that Isabel and her family are living with Elliott after being financially ruined by the stock market crash of 1929. Gray has had a nervous breakdown and suffers from terrible headaches. Elliott "sold short" before the crash and "made a killing" in the market. Maugham arranges a lunch for Elliott and his household to meet an old friend, who turns out to be Larry. Larry is able to help Gray using an Indian form of hypnotic suggestion. Later, while slumming at a disreputable nightclub, they encounter Sophie, now a drunkard. Larry undertakes Sophie's reformation, and out of lofty motives arranges to marry her; but when he tells Isabel, who is still in love with him, she plots to prove to Larry that Sophie's reform is only temporary. She successfully tempts Sophie back into drinking and Sophie disappears. Larry's last endeavour to reclaim his childhood companion from her depravity and despair proves fruitless. Sophie is murdered and her death reunites Larry and Maugham during the police investigation.
Maugham and Larry visit Elliott on his deathbed in the South of France. Larry gives Elliott peace of mind after he is deliberately excluded from an important soiree hosted by a princess with whom he had a row, herself once an American Midwesterner like Elliott. Larry persuades Miss Keith (Lanchester), her social secretary, to allow him to use a blank invitation to counterfeit one for Elliott. Isabel inherits her uncle's fortune, which she can use to underwrite Gray's attempt to rebuild his father's bankrupt brokerage. Larry refuses to reconcile with Isabel, deducing that she caused Sophie's return to drinking, and ultimately, her murder. Instead he decides to work his way back to America aboard a tramp steamer. Maugham tries to console Isabel with the knowledge that Larry is happy because he has found in himself the quality of true "goodness."
The Reader (2008)
Color
Lawyer reflects on relationship in his youth with older woman, who became a Nazi criminal
The Reader
"In 1995 Berlin, after a woman he has spent the night with leaves his apartment abruptly after he has made her breakfast, Michael Berg watches a U-Bahn pass by, setting up a flashback to a tram in 1958. In the flashback, as a 15-year-old boy, Michael (David Kross) feels sick while wandering the streets. Pausing nearby an apartment building he vomits. Hanna Schmitz (Kate Winslet), a tram conductor returning home, cleans him up and helps him return home. Michael, diagnosed with scarlet fever, recuperates at home for three months, and once recovered, he visits Hanna with flowers to thank her.
The 36-year-old Hanna seduces him, and they begin an affair. They spend much of their time together having sex in her apartment after she has had Michael read to her from literary works he is studying. After a bicycling trip with Michael, Hanna learns that she was promoted to a clerical job at the tram company's office, upon which she suddenly leaves her home, without telling Michael or anyone else where she has moved to.
In 1966, Michael is at Heidelberg University Law School. As part of a special seminar, the students observe a trial (similar to the Frankfurt Auschwitz Trials) of several women accused of letting 300 Jewish women die in a burning church when they were SS guards on the death march following the 1944 evacuation of a concentration camp near Krakow. Michael is stunned to see that Hanna is one of the defendants.
The key evidence in the trial is the testimony of Ilana Mather (Alexandra Maria Lara), author of a memoir relating how she and her mother Rose (Lena Olin), who also testifies, survived. She describes how Hanna had women from the camp read to her in the evenings. Hanna, unlike her co-defendants, admits that Auschwitz was an extermination camp and that the 10 women she chose during each month's Selektion were gassed. She denied however, authorship of a report on the church fire event as an accident that could not be helped. Hanna's co-defendants then join together in a group lie to blame Hanna for writing the report. Requested to provide a handwriting sample, she admits the charge, instead of complying with the handwriting test.
Michael then realizes Hanna's secret: she is illiterate, a fact she has been concealing all her life. The other guards who blamed the written report on her are lying to clear themselves. Michael informs the law professor of the favorable fact, but since the defendant herself has chosen not to disclose it, the professor is not sure what to do about it. Michael, though permitted to visit Hanna, leaves the prison, without seeing her.
Hanna receives a life sentence for her admitted leadership role in the church deaths, while the other defendants are sentenced to four years and three months each. Michael (Ralph Fiennes), meanwhile, marries, has a daughter, and divorces. After retrieving his books from his childhood home from the time of his and Hanna's affair, he begins reading them into a tape recorder, which he then sends to Hanna. Eventually, she begins borrowing books from the prison library and teaches herself to read and write by following along with Michael's tapes. She starts writing back to Michael, first in brief, childlike notes, and as time goes by, her letters reflect her gradually improving literacy.
In 1988, a prison official (Linda Bassett) telephones him to seek his help with Hanna's transition into society after her upcoming early release for good behavior. Since she has no family or other relations, he finds a place for her to live and even a job, and finally visits Hanna towards her release. In their meeting, Michael remains somewhat distant, inquiring about what she has learnt from her past, to which she replies just "It doesn't matter what I feel and it doesn't matter what I think. The dead are still dead".
Michael arrives at the prison on the date of Hanna's release with flowers, only to find out that Hanna has hanged herself. She has left a tea tin with cash inside and a note asking him to deposit the money in a bank account to Ilana, whose memoir of her dreadful experiences in the concentration camp Hanna has read.
Michael travels to New York City, where he meets Ilana and confesses his relationship with Hanna. He tells her about the suicide note and Hanna's illiteracy. Ilana tells Michael there is nothing to be learned from the camps and refuses the money, whereupon Michael suggests that it be donated to any Jewish welfare organization dealing with literacy. Ilana keeps the tea tin, similar to the one stolen from her in Auschwitz.
The movie ends with Michael driving his daughter Julia to Hanna's grave, and telling her their story.
The Reading Room (2005)
Color
Welthy man opens a 'reading room' for kids
The Reading Room
William Campbell (James Earl Jones) is a wealthy businessman who has just lost his wife. He decides to make good on a promise he made her by opening a free reading room in an inner-city neighborhood where he grew up. Despite his good intentions, problems in the neighborhood threaten his establishment, especially from local gang members and a preacher (Georg Stanford Brown) who questions Campbell's motives.
The Recall (2017)
Color
They've come to claim what's theirs
The Recall
Five young friends plan a weekend escape, but their fun is interrupted when unnatural clouds cover the sky. A man called 'The Hunter' (Wesley Snipes) warns them to leave. Faced with an alien invasion the friends team up with 'The Hunter' to avoid abduction.
The Remains of the Day (1993)
Color
Butler foresakes love to serve of his master
The Remains of the Day
"The Remains of the Day tells, in first person, the story of Stevens, an English butler who has dedicated his life to the loyal service of Lord Darlington (mentioned in increasing detail in flashbacks). The novel begins with Stevens receiving a letter from a former colleague, Miss Kenton, describing her married life, which he believes hints at an unhappy marriage. The receipt of the letter coincides with Stevens having the opportunity to revisit this once-cherished relationship, if only under the guise of investigating the possibility of re-employment. Stevens's new employer, a wealthy American named Mr Farraday, encourages Stevens to borrow his car to take a well-earned break, a "motoring trip". As he sets out, Stevens has the opportunity to reflect on his immutable loyalty to Lord Darlington, on the meaning of the term "dignity", and even on his relationship with his own late father. Ultimately Stevens is forced to ponder the true nature of his relationship with Miss Kenton. As the book progresses, increasing evidence of Miss Kenton's one-time love for Stevens, and of his for her, is revealed.
Working together during the years leading up to the Second World War, Stevens and Miss Kenton fail to admit their true feelings towards each other. All of their recollected conversations show a professional friendship which at times came close to crossing the line into romance, but never dared to do so.
Miss Kenton, it later emerges, has been married for over 20 years and therefore is no longer Miss Kenton but has become Mrs Benn. She admits to wondering occasionally what a life with Stevens might have been like, but she has come to love her husband and is looking forward to the birth of their first grandchild. Stevens muses over lost opportunities, both with Miss Kenton and with his long-time employer, Lord Darlington. At the end of the novel, Stevens instead focuses on the "remains of [his] day", referring to his future service with Mr Farraday.
The Revenant (2015)
Color
Man goes after fellow furr trapper after he had left him to die after a grizzly bear attack
The Revenant
"In 1823, Hugh Glass guides Andrew Henry's trappers through unorganized territory. While he and his half-Pawnee son, Hawk, are hunting, the company's camp is attacked by an Arikara war party. Glass recommends that the survivors travel on foot to Fort Kiowa, as traveling downriver will make them vulnerable. After docking, the crew stashes the pelts near the shore.
Glass is badly mauled by a grizzly bear and left close to death. Trapper John Fitzgerald, fearful of another Arikara attack, argues that the group must mercy-kill Glass and keep moving. Henry agrees, but is unable to pull the trigger; instead, he offers money for someone to stay with Glass. When the only volunteers are Hawk and the young Jim Bridger, Fitzgerald agrees to stay to recoup his losses from the abandoned pelts.
After the others leave, Fitzgerald attempts to smother Glass but is discovered by Hawk. Fitzgerald stabs him to death as Glass watches helplessly. The next morning, Fitzgerald convinces Bridger that the Arikara are approaching and they must abandon Glass. After they depart, Fitzgerald admits he lied. When Fitzgerald and Bridger meet Henry at the fort, Fitzgerald tells him that Glass died and Hawk vanished.
Glass begins an arduous journey through the wilderness. He performs crude self-surgery and eludes the pursuing Arikara who are looking for the Chief's kidnapped daughter, Powaqa. Glass encounters Pawnee refugee Hikuc who says that "revenge is in the Creator's hands." The men share bison meat and travel together. After an hallucinogenic experience, Glass discovers Hikuc hanged by French hunters. He infiltrates their camp and sees the leader raping Powaqa. He frees her, kills two hunters, and steals Hikuc's horse, leaving his canteen behind. The next morning, Glass is ambushed by the Arikara and driven over a cliff on his horse. He survives the night by eviscerating the horse and sheltering inside its carcass.
A French survivor staggers into Fort Kiowa and Bridger recognizes his canteen as Glass's. Believing it stolen, Henry organizes a search party. Fitzgerald, realizing Glass is alive, empties the outpost's safe and flees. The search party finds the exhausted Glass. Enraged, Henry orders Bridger arrested, but Glass vouches that he was deceived and reveals Fitzgerald murdered his son. Glass and Henry set out in pursuit of Fitzgerald.
After the two split up, Fitzgerald ambushes and kills Henry. Glass props Henry's corpse on his horse as a decoy. Fitzgerald shoots the decoy, and Glass shoots Fitzgerald in the arm. He pursues Fitzgerald to a riverbank where they engage in a brutal fight. Glass is about to kill Fitzgerald, but spots a band of Arikara downstream. He remembers Hikuc's words and pushes Fitzgerald downstream into the hands of the Arikara. The chief scalps and kills Fitzgerald and the Arikara spare Glass. Heavily wounded, Glass retreats into the mountains where he is visited by the spirit of his wife.
The Rock (1996)
Color
When a disgruntled ex-Marine seizes Alcatraz feds send in strike team with help of convict
The Rock
"A group of rogue U.S. Force Recon Marines, led by disenchanted Brigadier General Frank Hummel and his second-in-command Major Tom Baxter, storm a heavily guarded naval weapons depot and steal a stockpile of deadly VX gas-armed M55 rockets, losing one of their own men in the process. The next day, Hummel and his men, along with newly-recruited Marine Captains Frye and Darrow, seize control of Alcatraz Island, taking eighty-one tourists hostage. Hummel threatens to launch the rockets against San Francisco unless the U.S. government pays him $100 million from a military slush fund, which he will distribute to his men and the families of Recon Marines who died on clandestine missions under his command but whose deaths were not compensated.
The Pentagon and FBI develop a plan to retake the island with a U.S. Navy SEAL team led by Commander Anderson, enlisting the FBI's top chemical weapons specialist, Dr. Stanley Goodspeed. FBI Director James Womack is forced to offer a pardon to federal prisoner John Mason in return for information. Mason, a 60-year-old Scottish national imprisoned without charges for two decades, is the only Alcatraz inmate ever to escape the island. After being set up in a hotel, Mason escapes, resulting in a car chase with Goodspeed through the streets of San Francisco. While Mason seeks out his estranged daughter, Jade, Goodspeed arrives, but he covers for Mason by telling Jade that Mason is aiding the FBI.
Goodspeed, Mason, and the SEALs infiltrate Alcatraz but Hummel's men are alerted to their presence and ambush them in a shower room. All the SEALs, including Anderson, are killed, leaving only Mason and Goodspeed alive. Mason sees his chance to escape custody and disarms Goodspeed, but is convinced to help defuse the rockets after the Marines use explosive devices to flush them out.
They eliminate several teams of Marines and disable twelve of the fifteen rockets by removing their guidance chips. Hummel threatens to execute a hostage if they do not surrender and return the guidance chips; instead, Mason destroys the chips and surrenders to Hummel to try and reason with him as well as buy Goodspeed some time. Though Goodspeed disables another rocket, the Marines capture him. With the incursion team lost, the military initiates their backup plan: an airstrike by F/A-18s with thermite plasma, which will neutralize the poison gas and kill everyone on the island.
Mason and Goodspeed escape, after which the former explains why he was held prisoner: he was a British SAS Captain who stole a microfilm containing details of the United States' most closely guarded secrets, refusing to give it up when captured because he knew he would be killed if he did. When the deadline for the transfer of the ransom passes, Hummel is urged by his men to fire one of the rockets; at first he does this, but then redirects it to detonate at sea. Hummel, confronted by Frye and Darrow, declares the mission is over, explaining that it was all an elaborate bluff as he never had any intention of harming innocent lives. Hummel orders them to exit Alcatraz with a few hostages and the remaining rocket to cover their retreat while he assumes blame. Frye and Darrow rebel upon realizing they will not be paid their $1 million apiece, killing Baxter and mortally wounding Hummel--who tells Goodspeed where the last rocket is before dying.
Darrow and Frye proceed with the plan to fire on San Francisco. Goodspeed seeks out the rocket while Mason deals with the remaining Marines. As the jets approach, Goodspeed disables the rocket before killing both Darrow and Frye. He signals that the threat is over just as one jet drops a bomb; though no hostages are injured, Goodspeed is thrown into the sea by the blast and Mason rescues him.
Goodspeed and Mason part ways after Mason reveals the location of the microfilm; Goodspeed fakes Mason's death by telling Womack that he was killed in the bomb explosion. Sometime later, Goodspeed and his newlywed wife Carla are seen stealing the microfilm from a church and driving away.
The Romantics (2010)
Color
College friends reunite for a wedding, maid of honor still holds torch for groom
The Romantics
Sexcapades and lots of laughter ensue when a group of college friends reunite for the wedding of Lila and Tom, and an old rivalry resurfaces between Lila and her maid of honor, Laura, who still holds a torch for the groom.
The Rules of Attraction (2002)
Color
Three students become entangled in a love triangle: a drug dealer, a virgin and a bisexual
The Rules of Attraction
"Set in the fictional Camden College in New Hampshire, the film opens at the "End of the World" party, where students Lauren Hynde, Paul Denton, and Sean Bateman give apathetic interior monologues on their lives and briefly exchange glances with one another. Lauren, previously a virgin, takes a film student upstairs to have sex and passes out; she wakes to find herself being raped by a townie while the film student records it, and reflects on how she had planned to lose her virginity to Victor, her now ex-boyfriend. Meanwhile, Paul, who is bisexual, tries to have sex with a jock, only to be bashed when it turns out the jock is deeply closeted. A bruised and beaten Sean is shown drinking a whole bottle of Jack Daniel's, tearing up a series of purple letters, before approaching and having sex with a blonde girl at the party.
The plot then moves backwards several months to the beginning of the school year, and explores the love triangle between Lauren, Paul, and Sean. Misinterpreting Sean's willingness to spend time with him, Paul makes several advances, to which Sean is oblivious. Paul fantasizes about having sex with Sean while masturbating. Concurrently, Lauren also finds herself attracted to Sean despite saving her virginity for her traveling boyfriend, Victor. Sean reciprocates her feelings, and assumes the anonymous, purple love letters he has started receiving are from Lauren. Sean masturbates to reading these letters and fantasizes about Lauren.
While Paul is visiting his friend "Dick", Sean has sex with Lauren's roommate Lara at the "Dressed to Get Screwed" party. Sean regrets it immediately, and realizes that he is in love with Lauren. It is then revealed that another, unnamed cafeteria girl is the author of Sean's love letters; after seeing him leave the party with Lara, she sends him a suicide note before cutting her wrists in the dorm bathtub. Lauren, finding Sean with Lara, runs to the girls' bathroom in tears, only to find the unnamed girl's body, leaving Lauren extremely distressed. Sean, still believing Lauren wrote the purple letters, misinterprets the unnamed girl's suicide note and assumes Lauren never wants to be with him. Lauren decides to lose her virginity to her Art History professor Lance Lawson. But being married and worried about losing his tenure, he simply allows her to perform fellatio on him instead.
After numerous failed attempts at suicide, Sean fakes his death and, unaware that Lauren recently found a corpse, unintentionally upsets her further when she finds him pretending to be dead. After stealing drugs from dealer Rupert, Sean tries to speak to Lauren again, asking only to know her. Lauren tells Sean he will never know her, and abandons him. She approaches Victor, who has finally returned to Camden College, only to find that Victor is having sex with Lara and does not remember who Lauren is, leaving her completely distraught.
Paul, upon finding a drunk Sean, tries to talk to him, parroting Sean's own words by saying he merely wants to know him. Sean coldly rejects him, using Lauren's words to say that Paul will never know him. Paul throws a snowball at Sean, then angrily runs off in tears. Sean checks his campus mailbox in vain, only to find that the love notes have stopped. He is then cornered by Rupert and his Jamaican partner, Guest, and brutally beaten.
The three protagonists then attend the "End of the World" party and the plot returns to the introduction. After seeing Lauren heading upstairs with the film student, Sean finally accepts he cannot be with her, and tears up the purple letters he believes to be from her. It is then revealed that, rather than having sex with the blonde girl as he does in the intro, Sean has an epiphany, reconsiders and he instead leaves his drink and exits. Paul and Lauren meet on the house porch and reflect on the recent events, as well as on Sean, whom they watch depart on his motorcycle. Sean begins narrating his final thoughts only for them to end prematurely as the film cuts to the end credits, which are run backwards.
The Sandlot (1993)
Color
Boys must receive Babe Ruth baseball from gouchy neighbor's junkyard
The Sandlot
"In the summer of 1962, brainy, reserved fifth grader Scott Smalls moves with his parents to the Los Angeles suburbs, where he has difficulty making friends. He tries to join a group of boys who play baseball daily in a local sandlot, but is embarrassed by his inability to catch or throw the ball. An attempt to learn to play catch with his stepfather, Bill, results in a black eye. Nevertheless, he is invited to join the team by their leader and best player, Benny Rodriguez, who mentors him. When catcher Hamilton "Ham" Porter hits a home run into an adjacent backyard, Smalls attempts to retrieve the ball but is stopped by the other boys, who tell him of "the Beast", a large and aggressive English Mastiff that has become a neighborhood legend. Many baseballs hit into the yard over the years have all been claimed by the Beast, which is kept chained up by its owner, Mr. Mertle.
One particularly hot day, the boys visit the community pool. Michael "Squints" Palledorous has a crush on lifeguard Wendy Peffercorn, and fakes drowning in order to get her to administer mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. The sandlot team is banned from the pool, but Squints' reputation is boosted. On the Fourth of July the team plays a night game by the light of the fireworks, and Smalls observes that although to the rest of them baseball is just a game, it is Benny's true passion. Later, they are challenged to play against a rival Little League team whom they handily defeat. To celebrate, they visit a fair where they try chewing tobacco obtained by Bertram Grover Weeks and ride the Trabant; the combination causes them to vomit all over themselves and others.
One day, Benny hits the team's only baseball so hard that he knocks the cover off. With Bill away on business, Smalls borrows a baseball from his trophy room that is autographed by legendary player Babe Ruth. Being ignorant of baseball history, Smalls does not realize the ball's value, and hits his first home run, sending it into the Beast's yard. When the other boys learn of the autograph, they tell Smalls its value and make several attempts to get the ball out of the yard using makeshift retrieval devices, but each is destroyed by the Beast. Benny has a dream in which the spirit of Babe Ruth advises him to retrieve the ball himself, and that this will be the moment that makes him a legend.
Benny goes over the fence and "pickles" the Beast to retrieve the ball, but the dog breaks its chain and leaps over the fence in pursuit. It chases Benny through town, resulting in several comedic situations, and eventually back to the sandlot. Benny jumps back into Mr. Mertle's yard, but the Beast crashes through the fence, which falls down on top of it. Smalls and Benny lift the fence to free the dog, who shows gratitude by leading them to its stash of baseballs. They meet Mr. Mertle, who turns out to be a former baseball player who played with Babe Ruth but went blind after being struck by a baseball. He kindly trades them the chewed-up ball for one autographed by all of the 1927 New York Yankees. Smalls gives this ball to Bill, and their father-and-son relationship improves. The boys continue to play baseball on the sandlot, with the Beast--whose real name is Hercules--as their mascot.
Over the next few years, the sandlot kids go their separate ways. Benny's exploit with the Beast earns him the nickname "the Jet", and he goes on to play for the Los Angeles Dodgers. Smalls becomes a sports commentator, and covers a game against the San Francisco Giants in which Benny successfully steals home. Celebrating his victory, the two exchange thumbs up.
The Sandpiper (1966)
Color
Affair between free-spirited single mother and married minister
The Sandpiper
"Laura Reynolds (Taylor) is a free-spirited, unwed single mother living with her young son Danny (Morgan Mason) in an isolated California beach house. She makes a modest living as an artist and home-schools her son out of concern that he will be compelled to follow stifling conventional social norms in a regular school. Danny has gotten into some trouble with the law through two minor incidents, which are in his mother's eyes innocent expressions of his natural curiosity and conscience rather than delinquency. Now with a third incident a judge (Torin Thatcher) orders her to send the boy to an Episcopal boarding school where Dr. Edward Hewitt (Burton) is headmaster, and his wife Claire (Eva Marie Saint) teaches. Edward and Claire are happily married with two young sons, but their life has become routine and their youthful idealism has been tamed by the need to raise funds for the school and please wealthy benefactors.
At an initial interview, there is a momentary immediate attraction between Laura and Edward, but this quickly turns into tension brought on by their greatly differing world views and Laura's dislike of religion. Finally she storms out. She attempts to flee the area with Danny but the police quickly catch them and take the boy away to the school. He initially has trouble fitting in because his mother's home schooling has placed him far in advance of boys his age in many subjects; the standard course of instruction at the school leaves him restless and bored. At Claire's suggestion, Edward visits Danny's mother to learn more about his upbringing.
Laura's unconventional morals initially disturb Edward, as they conflict with his religious beliefs. After visiting her several more times he finds her irresistible and cannot get her out of his mind. They begin a passionate extramarital affair. At first Laura tells herself that Edward is a fling like her other lovers, but to her surprise she finds herself falling in love with him, becoming jealous of his wife Claire. He struggles with guilt, while she urges him to accept the rightness of their love. Meanwhile, Danny flourishes after Edward relaxes school rules and allows the boy to choose more advanced classes.
A jealous former lover (Robert Webber) of Laura's exposes the affair by making a remark to Edward within earshot of his wife. At first Claire is distraught, but later they quietly discuss it in the light of how their lives diverged from the idealism of the first years of their marriage. Edward declares that he still loves Claire and that he will end the affair. Still, they agree to a temporary separation while each decides what they want to do with their future. When Edward tells Laura that he confessed to his wife, she is outraged at what she perceives as an invasion of her privacy, and they part angrily. He resigns his position at the school and decides to travel. The school year over, Laura tells Danny that they can move away, but he has put down roots at the school and wants to stay there. As a parting gift, Edward arranges for Danny to attend tuition-free. His mother has a moment of pain but realizes Danny's need to make his own choices and agrees. On Edward's way out of town, he stops at Laura's place for a silent farewell, she and the boy down on the beach, he high up on the bluff above looking down at them.
The Savages (2007)
Color
Siblings with scars from childhood abuse face the challenge of caring for their ailing father
The Savages
"After drifting apart emotionally over the years, two single siblings -- Wendy (Linney) and Jon (Hoffman) -- band together to care for their estranged, elderly father, Lenny (Philip Bosco), who is rapidly slipping into dementia. Wendy and Jon first travel to Sun City, Arizona to attend the funeral of their father's girlfriend of 20 years. When they arrive, they are told that their father signed a non-marriage agreement and will not have rights to any of her property. They then move him to a nursing home in Buffalo, where Jon is a theater professor working on a book about Bertolt Brecht. Wendy, who is an aspiring, but unsuccessful, playwright, moves from New York City to help establish their father in Buffalo.
Neither of the siblings are close with Lenny. It is implied that he was a physically and emotionally abusive father when Jon and Wendy were growing up and they cut him out of their lives. They were also abandoned by their mother at a young age. Their dysfunctional family life appears to have left Wendy and Jon emotionally crippled and unable to sustain a relationship. She is sleeping with an unattainable married man 13 years her senior and he cannot commit to a Polish woman who must return to Krakow after her visa expires.
Their visits to the nursing home and their father's eventual death allow them to reevaluate their lives and to grow emotionally. In the end, Wendy has broken up with her married lover, but has adopted his dog, which he had planned to put down. She is also seen working on the production of her play about their terrible childhood, while Jon is leaving for a conference in Poland where it is suggested he may reconnect with the woman he had let go.
The Seagull (2018)
Color
Aging actress brings her lover to family visit, and he falls for girl on neighboring estate
The Seagull
An aging actress named Irina Arkadina pays summer visits to her brother Pjotr Nikolayevich Sorin and her son Konstantin on a country estate. On one occasion, she brings Boris Trigorin, a successful novelist and her lover. Nina, a free and innocent girl on a neighboring estate who is in a relationship with Konstantin, falls in love with Boris.
The Secret of My Success (1987)
Color
Kid takes job in mail room at uncle's company, and pretends to be executive
The Secret of My Success
"Brantley Foster (Michael J. Fox) is a recent graduate of Kansas State University who moves to New York City where he has landed a job as a financier. Upon arriving, he discovers that the company for which he is supposed to work has been taken over by a rival corporation. As a result, Brantley is laid off before he even starts working.
After several unsuccessful attempts to get another job, mostly because he is either overqualified or underqualified and has little experience, Brantley ends up working in the mailroom of the Pemrose Corporation, which is directed by his uncle, Howard Prescott (Richard Jordan), the CEO. Pemrose was founded by Prescott's father-in-law; Howard received presidency of the company by marrying his boss's daughter, Vera Pemrose (Margaret Whitton).
Upon inspecting company reports, Brantley realizes that Prescott and most of his fellow "suits" (executives) are making ineffective and/or non-beneficial decisions. After Brantley notices an empty office in the building, due to one of Howard's frequent firings, he assumes the identity of Carlton Whitfield, a new executive.
While handling two jobs (switching between casual wear and business suits in the elevator), Brantley also falls head-over-heels for Christy Wills (Helen Slater), a fellow financial wizard who recently graduated from Harvard. Brantley meets Vera after driving her home in a company limo (at his employer's request). Vera persuades Brantley to stay for a swim and seduces him. Upon seeing Prescott arriving, Brantley and Vera realize they are related (albeit not by blood). Brantley then gets changed as fast as he can and leaves the mansion without being seen by Prescott.
Prescott, without Brantley's knowledge, is having an affair with Christy. When Howard asks her to spy on Carlton Whitfield, Christy falls head-over-heels for Carlton, not knowing he is actually Brantley. The Pemrose Corporation is preparing to merge with the infamous Davenport Corporation. Prescott, unaware that Whitfield and Brantley are one and the same person, suspects Carlton is a spy for corporate raider Donald Davenport (Fred Gwynne).
In the end, Brantley and Vera raise enough cash, bonds, and stocks to wrest ownership of the Pemrose Corporation from Prescott, and to proceed with a hostile takeover bid of Davenport's Corporation. Vera, already contemptuous of Howard for his counter-productive business practices, which were driving her father's empire into the ground, learns that Prescott has been cheating on her to boot. She promptly replaces him with Brantley. While security guards escort Howard and his aide, Art Thomas (Gerry Bamman), from the Pemrose Building, Brantley and Christy start planning their future together, personal as well as professional.
The Seven Year Itch (1955)
Color
Husband lusts after his sexy new neighbor
The Seven Year Itch
"Richard Sherman (Tom Ewell) is a nerdy, faithful, middle-aged publishing executive with an overactive imagination and a mid-life crisis, whose wife Helen (Evelyn Keyes) and son Ricky (Butch Bernard) are summering in Maine. When he returns home with the kayak paddle Ricky accidentally left behind, he meets a woman (Marilyn Monroe), a commercial actress and former model who rents the apartment upstairs while in town to make television spots for a brand of toothpaste. That evening, he works on proofing a book in which psychiatrist Dr. Brubaker (Oskar Homolka) claims that a significant proportion of men have extra-marital affairs in the seventh year of marriage. He has an imaginary conversation with Helen, trying to convince her, in three fantasy sequences, that he is irresistible to women, including his secretary, a nurse and her bridesmaid, but she laughs it off. A tomato plant then crashes into his lounge chair; the woman upstairs apologizes for accidentally knocking it over, and Richard invites her down for a drink.
He waits for her to get dressed, including in underwear she says she keeps cool in her icebox. When she arrives, a vision in pink, they have a drink and he lies about being married. When she sees his wedding ring, he backtracks but she is unconcerned, having no designs on him, only on his air-conditioning. He has a fantasy that she is a femme fatale overcome by his playing of Rachmaninoff's Second Piano Concerto. In reality, she prefers Chopsticks, which they play together. Richard, overcome by his fantasies, awkwardly grabs at her, causing them to fall off the piano bench. He apologizes for his indiscretion but she says it happens to her all the time. Guilt-ridden, however, he asks her to leave.
Over the next few days, they spend more time together and Richard imagines that they are growing closer, although she is immune to his imagined charms. Helen continually calls her husband, asking him to send the paddle so Ricky can use the kayak, but Richard is repeatedly distracted. His waning resolve to resist temptation fuels his fear that he is succumbing to the "Seven Year Itch". He seeks help from Dr. Brubaker, but to no avail. His imagination then runs even wilder: the young woman tells a plumber (Victor Moore) how Richard is "just like The Creature from the Black Lagoon"; the plumber repeats her story to neighbor McKenzie, whom Helen had asked to drop by to pick up Ricky's paddle. Richard imagines his wife with McKenzie on a hayride which actually takes place but into which he injects his paranoia, guilt and jealousy. After seeing The Creature from the Black Lagoon, the young woman stands over the subway grate to experience the breeze -- Monroe in the iconic scene in the pleated white halter dress.
Eventually coming to his senses, and fearing his wife's retribution, which he imagines in a fantasy scene, Richard, paddle in hand, tells the young woman she can stay in his apartment; then he runs off to catch the next train to Maine to be with Helen and Ricky.
The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
Color
Prisoner escapes, withdraws warden's ill-gotten gains, and sends his books to the papers
The Shawshank Redemption
"In 1947, banker Andy Dufresne (Tim Robbins) is convicted of murdering his wife and her lover, based on circumstantial evidence, and is sentenced to two consecutive life sentences at Shawshank State Penitentiary. Andy quickly befriends contraband smuggler Ellis "Red" Redding (Morgan Freeman), an inmate serving a life sentence. Red procures a rock hammer for Andy, allowing him to create small stone chess pieces. Red later gets him a large poster of Rita Hayworth, followed in later years by img of Marilyn Monroe and Raquel Welch. Andy works in the prison laundry, but is regularly assaulted by the "bull queer" gang "the Sisters" and their leader Bogs (Mark Rolston).
In 1949, Andy overhears the brutal chief guard Byron Hadley (Clancy Brown) complaining about taxes on a forthcoming inheritance, and informs him about a financial loophole. After another vicious assault by the Sisters nearly kills Andy, Bogs is beaten and crippled by Hadley. Bogs is sent to another prison and Andy is not attacked again. Warden Samuel Norton (Bob Gunton) meets with Andy and reassigns him to the prison library, to assist elderly inmate Brooks Hatlen (James Whitmore); a pretext for Andy to manage financial duties for the prison. His advice and expertise are soon sought by other guards at Shawshank and from nearby prisons. Andy begins writing weekly letters to the state government for funds to improve the decrepit library.
In 1954, Brooks is freed on parole, but unable to adjust to the outside world after 50 years in prison, he hangs himself. Andy receives a library donation that includes a recording of The Marriage of Figaro. He plays an excerpt over the public address system, resulting in his receiving solitary confinement. After his release, Andy explains that he holds onto hope as something that the prison cannot take from him, but Red dismisses the idea. In 1963, Norton begins exploiting prison labor for public works, profiting by undercutting skilled labor costs and receiving kickbacks. He has Andy launder the money using the alias "Randall Stephens".
In 1965, Tommy Williams (Gil Bellows) is incarcerated for robbery. He joins Andy and Red's circle of friends, and Andy helps him to pass his General Educational Development examinations. In 1966, after hearing the details of Andy's case, Tommy reveals that an inmate at another prison claimed responsibility for an identical murder, suggesting Andy's innocence. Andy approaches Norton with this information, but the warden refuses to listen. Norton places Andy in solitary confinement and has Tommy murdered by Hadley under the guise of an escape attempt. Andy refuses to continue with the scam, but Norton threatens to destroy the library and take away his protection and preferential treatment. After Andy is released from solitary confinement, he tells Red of his dream of living in Zihuatanejo, a Mexican Pacific coastal town. While Red shrugs it off as being unrealistic, Andy instructs him, should he ever be freed, to visit a specific hayfield near Buxton to retrieve a package.
The next day at roll call, on finding Andy's cell empty, an irate Norton throws one of Andy's rocks at the poster of Raquel Welch hanging on the wall. The rock tears through the poster, revealing a tunnel that Andy had dug with his rock hammer over the previous two decades. The previous night, Andy escaped through the tunnel and the prison's sewage pipe with Norton's ledger, containing details of the money laundering. While guards search for him the following morning, Andy, posing as Randall Stephens, visits several banks to withdraw the laundered money. Finally, he sends the ledger and evidence of the corruption and murders at Shawshank to a local newspaper. The police arrive at Shawshank and take Hadley into custody, while Norton commits suicide to avoid arrest.
After serving 40 years, Red receives parole. He struggles to adapt to life outside prison and fears he never will. Remembering his promise to Andy, he visits Buxton and finds a cache containing money and a letter, asking him to come to Zihuatanejo. Red violates his parole and travels to Fort Hancock, Texas to cross the border to Mexico, admitting he finally feels hope. On a beach in Zihuatanejo, he finds Andy, and the two friends are happily reunited.
The Shining (1980)
Color
Writer becomes custodian of haunted hotel, and once possessed, tries to kill his family
The Shining
"Jack Torrance arrives at the Overlook Hotel to interview for the position of winter caretaker, with the aim of using the hotel's solitude to work on his writing. The hotel itself is built on the site of a Native American burial ground and becomes completely snowed in during the long winters. Manager Stuart Ullman warns him that a previous caretaker developed cabin fever and killed his family and himself. Jack's son, Danny, appears to have ESP and has had a terrifying premonition about the hotel. Jack's wife, Wendy, tells a visiting doctor that Danny has an imaginary friend named Tony, and that Jack has given up drinking because he had hurt Danny's arm following a binge.
The family arrives at the hotel on closing day and is given a tour. The African-American chef Dick Hallorann surprises Danny by telepathically offering him ice cream. He explains to Danny that he and his grandmother shared this telepathic ability, which he calls "shining". Danny asks if there is anything to be afraid of in the hotel, particularly Room 237. Hallorann tells Danny that the hotel itself has a "shine" to it along with many memories, not all of which are good. He also tells Danny to stay out of Room 237.
A month passes; while Jack's writing project goes nowhere, Danny and Wendy explore the hotel's hedge maze. Wendy becomes concerned about the phone lines being out due to the heavy snowfall and Danny has more frightening visions. Jack, increasingly frustrated, starts acting strangely and becomes prone to violent outbursts.
Danny's curiosity about Room 237 gets the better of him when he sees the room's door open. Later, Wendy finds Jack, asleep at his typewriter, screaming while in the midst of a horrifying nightmare. After she awakens him, he says he dreamed that he had killed her and Danny. Danny then shows up with a bruise on his neck and visibly traumatized, causing Wendy to accuse Jack of abusing Danny. Jack wanders into the hotel's Gold Room where he meets a ghostly bartender named Lloyd. Lloyd serves him bourbon on the rocks while Jack complains to him about his marriage.
Wendy later tells Jack that Danny told her that a "crazy woman in one of the rooms" tried to strangle him. Jack investigates Room 237, where he encounters the ghost of a dead woman, but tells Wendy he saw nothing. Wendy and Jack argue about whether Danny should be removed from the hotel and a furious Jack returns to the Gold Room, now filled with ghosts having a costume party. Here, he meets the ghost of the previous caretaker, Grady, who tells Jack that he must "correct" his wife and child, and that Danny has reached out to Hallorann somehow.
Meanwhile, in Florida, Hallorann has a premonition that something is wrong at the hotel and takes a flight back to Colorado to investigate. Danny starts calling out "redrum" frantically and goes into a trance, now referring to himself as "Tony".
While searching for Jack, Wendy discovers his typewriter; he has been typing endless pages of manuscript repeating "all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy" in different layouts. She is confronted by Jack, who threatens her before she knocks him unconscious with a baseball bat. She manages to drag him into the kitchen and lock him in the pantry, but this does not solve her larger problem; she and Danny are trapped at the hotel since Jack has sabotaged the hotel's two-way radio and snowcat. Later, Jack converses through the pantry door with Grady, who then unlocks the door, releasing him.
Danny writes "RED?UM" in lipstick on the bathroom door. When Wendy sees this in the bedroom mirror, the letters spell out "MURD??". Jack begins to chop through the door leading to his family's living quarters with a fire axe. Wendy frantically sends Danny out through the bathroom window, but it will not open sufficiently for her to fit through it herself. Jack then starts chopping through the bathroom door as Wendy screams in horror. He leers through the hole he has made, shouting "Here's Johnny!", but backs off after Wendy slashes his hand with a butcher knife.
Hearing the engine of the snowcat Hallorann has borrowed to get up the mountain, Jack leaves the room. He kills Hallorann in the lobby and pursues Danny into the hedge maze. Wendy runs through the hotel looking for Danny, encountering several ghosts and a huge cascade of blood from an elevator. Meanwhile, Danny walks backwards in his own tracks and leaps behind a corner, covering his tracks with snow to mislead Jack, who is following his footprints. Wendy and Danny escape in Hallorann's snowcat, while Jack freezes to death in the hedge maze.
The Sixth Sense (1999)
Color
When 6-yo starts to see dead people, child psychologist is determined to find out why
The Sixth Sense
"Malcolm Crowe, a child psychologist in Philadelphia, returns home one night with his wife Anna after having been honored for his work. A young man appears in their bathroom and accuses Malcolm of failing him. Malcolm recognizes him as Vincent Grey, a former patient he treated as a child for hallucinations, but before he can talk Vincent down, Vincent shoots him and then himself.
The next fall, Malcolm begins working with Cole Sear, a young boy. Malcolm feels he must help him in order to rectify his failure and reconcile with his wife, who has become distant and cold. Cole's mother Lynn worries about his social skills, especially after seeing signs of physical harm. Cole eventually confides his secret to Malcolm: he sees ghosts walking around like the living, unaware that they are dead.
Initially, Malcolm thinks Cole is delusional and considers dropping his case. After listening to an audiotape from a session with Vincent, Malcolm hears a weeping man begging for help in Spanish and believes that Cole is telling the truth. He suggests that Cole try to find a purpose for his gift by communicating with the ghosts and helping them finish their business. Cole is unwilling at first, then finally agrees to try to help.
Cole awakens one night to discover a ghost girl vomiting. After finding out who she is, Cole goes with Malcolm to the funeral reception at her home where he is directed to a box holding a videotape, which he gives to her father. The tape shows the girl's mother poisoning her daughter's food. By doing this, Cole has saved the girl's younger sister from the same fate.
Learning to live with the ghosts he sees, Cole begins to fit in at school and is cast as the lead in the school play. Before departing, Cole suggests that Malcolm should try speaking to Anna while she is asleep. Stuck in traffic, Cole tells his mother his secret, and says that someone died in an accident down the road. When Lynn does not believe him, Cole tells her his grandmother visits him and describes how she saw Lynn in a dance performance when she was a child, giving details he could not have known.
Malcolm returns home to find his wife asleep and their wedding video playing. While still asleep, Anna asks why he left her and drops Malcolm's wedding ring. Recalling what Cole told him about how dead people only see what they want to see, Malcolm starts to see things he did not see earlier. Malcolm suddenly remembers being shot and locates his gunshot wound that reveals he was actually killed by Vincent and he has been dead the whole time. Malcolm tells his wife she was never second to anything and that he loves her. Because of Cole's efforts, Malcolm's business is finally complete, and his spirit departs in a flash of light.
The Social Network (2010)
Color
Mark Zuckerberg's founding of Facebook
The Social Network
"In 2003, Harvard University student Mark Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg) is dumped by his girlfriend Erica Albright (Rooney Mara) at a bar. He returns to his dorm drunk and writes a blog entry about her. This inspires him to create an on-campus website called Facemash which allows users to rate the attractiveness of female students using photographs pilfered from various university systems. Mark receives six months of academic probation after traffic to the site crashes parts of Harvard's network. Facemash's popularity and the fact that Mark created it in one night while drunk brings him to the attention of Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss (both portrayed by Armie Hammer) and their business partner Divya Narendra (Max Minghella). The Winklevoss twins invite Mark to their final club, where Mark accepts a job as programmer for a proposed dating website they call Harvard Connection which will be exclusive to Harvard alumni.
Mark approaches his friend Eduardo Saverin (Andrew Garfield) and tells him of his idea for what he calls "Thefacebook", an online social networking website exclusive to Harvard University students. He explains that this would mimic the popularity of FaceMash but since signing up would be consensual it would avoid the ethical problems of the earlier site. Eduardo agrees to help Mark, providing $1,000 to help start the site. They distribute the link to Eduardo's connections at the Phoenix S-K final club, and it becomes popular throughout the student body. When they learn of Thefacebook, the Winklevoss twins and Narendra believe Zuckerberg has stolen their idea while stalling on their website. Tyler and Divya want to sue Mark for intellectual property theft, but Cameron convinces them to settle the matter as "Gentlemen of Harvard".
During a visiting lecture by Bill Gates (Steve Sires), fellow Harvard University student Christy Lee (Brenda Song) introduces herself and her friend Alice (Malese Jow) to Eduardo and Mark and asks the boys to "Facebook me". Christy's use of this phrase impresses both of them. Christy invites them to a bar, where Mark runs into Erica, who is not aware of Thefacebook because she is not a Harvard student. Mark tries to apologize for the Facemash incident, but Erica coldly rebuffs his attempts to make amends. As Thefacebook grows in popularity, Mark decides to expand the site to Yale University, Columbia University and Stanford University, while the Winklevoss twins and Narendra watch "their idea" advance without them. Cameron refuses to sue them, instead accusing Mark of violating the Harvard student Code of Conduct. Through their father Howard's (John Hayden) connections, they meet with Harvard President Larry Summers (Douglas Urbanski), who is dismissive towards the twins and sees no potential value in either a disciplinary action or in Thefacebook website itself.
Through Christy, now Eduardo's girlfriend, Eduardo and Mark arrange a meeting with Napster co-founder Sean Parker (Justin Timberlake). Eduardo becomes skeptical, noting Sean's problematic personal and professional history. Sean presents a vision for Facebook very similar to that of Mark, which earns Mark's instant admiration. In a parting comment, Sean suggests they drop the "The" from Thefacebook, saying it looks cleaner without the 'The'.
At Sean's suggestion, Mark moves the company to Palo Alto while Eduardo remains in New York seeking advertising support. Sean advises Mark to keep hold of his ownership of Facebook to ensure that Mark does not lose control of a potentially lucrative business venture. After Sean promises to expand Facebook to two continents, Mark invites Sean to live at the house he is using as the company headquarters.
While competing in the Henley Royal Regatta for Harvard, the Winklevoss twins discover Facebook has expanded to Oxford, Cambridge and LSE, and footage of their lost rowing race final against the Hollandia Roeiclub is posted on it. Cameron relents and they decide to sue. When Eduardo visits from New York, he is angered to find Sean living in their house and making business decisions for Facebook. Eduardo argues with Mark, with Mark making a demeaning remark regarding Eduardo's failed attempts to find advertisers. Eduardo freezes the company's bank account out of anger and returns to New York.
Eduardo has been dismayed to learn that his girlfriend Christy is "psychotic," as he terms it. Upon his return to New York, Christy angrily confronts Eduardo about his Facebook profile, which lists him as "single". She refuses to believe Eduardo when he reluctantly explains that he does not know how to change his profile. She accuses him of cheating on her and sets fire to a scarf he gave to her. While Eduardo extinguishes the fire she caused, Mark reveals on the phone that although he was upset that Eduardo almost jeopardized Facebook by freezing the bank account, they have secured $500,000 from angel investor Peter Thiel (Wallace Langham). Eduardo breaks up with Christy and returns to California.
While visiting the new headquarters for a meeting, Eduardo discovers the deal he signed with Sean's investors has allowed them to dilute his share of the company from 34 percent to 0.03 percent, while maintaining the ownership percentage of all other parties. He confronts Mark and announces his intention to sue him. During a party celebrating Facebook's one millionth member, Sean and a number of underage Facebook interns are arrested for possession of cocaine. Sean tries deceiving Mark into believing that he had nothing to do with the incident and that Eduardo stashed the cocaine, but Mark does not believe him and tells him to "go home".
The story is intercut with scenes from depositions taken in lawsuits against Mark and Facebook--one filed by the Winklevoss twins, the other by Eduardo. The Winklevoss twins claim that Zuckerberg stole their idea, while Saverin claims his shares of Facebook were unfairly diluted when the company was incorporated. At the end, Marylin Delpy (Rashida Jones), a junior lawyer for the defense, informs Mark they will be settling with Eduardo, since the sordid details of Facebook's founding and Mark's callous attitude will make him highly unsympathetic to a jury. After everyone leaves, Mark sends a friend request to Erica Albright on Facebook, and refreshes the page every few seconds waiting for a response.
An epilogue reveals the following information: Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss received a settlement of $65 million, signed a non-disclosure agreement, and rowed in the 2008 Beijing Olympics, placing sixth; Eduardo Saverin received a settlement of an unknown amount and his name was restored to the Facebook masthead as a Co-founder of Facebook; the website has over 500 million members in 207 countries and is valued at 25 billion dollars; and Mark Zuckerberg is the world's youngest billionaire.
The Soloist (2009)
Color
Reporter Steve Lopez, discovers brilliant, but homeless, street musician Nathaniel Ayers
The Soloist
"In 2005, Steve Lopez (Robert Downey, Jr.) is a journalist working for the L.A. Times. He is divorced and now works for his ex-wife, Mary (Catherine Keener), an editor. A biking accident lands Lopez in a hospital.
One day, he hears a violin being played beautifully. Investigating, he encounters Nathaniel Ayers (Jamie Foxx), a homeless schizophrenic, who is playing a violin when Lopez introduces himself. During the conversation that follows, Lopez learns that Ayers once attended Juilliard.
Curious as to how a former student of such a prestigious school ended up on the streets, Lopez contacts Juilliard but learns that no record of Ayers graduating from it exists. Though at first figuring a schizophrenic who's talented with a violin isn't worth his time, Lopez soon realizes that he has no better story to write about. Luckily, he soon learns that Ayers did attend Juilliard, but dropped out after two years.
Finding Ayers the next day, Lopez says he wants to write about him. Ayers doesn't appear to be paying attention. Getting nowhere, Lopez finds and contacts Ayers' sister (Lisa Gay Hamilton), who gives the columnist the information he needs: Ayers was once a child prodigy, until he began displaying symptoms of schizophrenia at Juilliard. Unable to handle the voices, Ayers dropped out and ended up on the streets.
Lopez writes his article. One reader is so touched, she sends him a cello for Ayers. Lopez brings it to him and Ayers is shown to be just as proficient as with a violin. Unfortunately, his tendency to wander puts both Ayers and the cello in danger, so Lopez talks him into leaving it at a shelter, located in a neighborhood of homeless people. Ayers is later seen playing for the homeless.
A concerned Lopez tries to get a doctor he knows (Nelsan Ellis) to help. He also tries to talk Ayers into getting an apartment, but Ayers refuses. After seeing a reaction to music played at an opera house, Lopez persuades another friend, Graham (Tom Hollander), a cellist, to rehabilitate Ayers through music. The lessons go well, though Ayers is shown to be getting a little too attached to Lopez, much to the latter's annoyance. Lopez eventually talks Ayers into moving into an apartment by threatening to abandon him.
Lopez' article on Ayers gains so much fame, Ayers is given the chance to perform a recital. Sadly, he loses his temper, attacks Graham and leaves. This convinces Lopez' doctor friend to get Ayers some help. But when Ayers learns what Lopez is up to, he throws Lopez out of his apartment and threatens to kill him.
While speaking with Mary, Lopez realizes that not only has he changed Ayers' life, Ayers has changed him. Determined to make amends, Lopez brings Ayers' sister to L.A. for a visit. Ayers and Lopez make up. Later, while all watch an orchestra, Lopez ponders how beneficial their friendship has been. Ayers still hears voices, but at least he no longer lives on the streets. In addition, Ayers has helped Lopez's relationship with his own family.
It is revealed in the end that Ayers is still a member of the LAMP Community and that Lopez is learning how to play the guitar.
The Sound of Music (1965)
Color
Governess falls for children and their father
The Sound of Music
"Maria is a free-spirited young Austrian woman studying to become a nun at Nonnberg Abbey in Salzburg in 1938. Her love of music and the mountains, her youthful enthusiasm and imagination, and her lack of discipline cause some concern among the nuns. The Mother Abbess, believing Maria would be happier outside the abbey, sends her to the villa of retired naval officer Captain Georg von Trapp to be governess to his seven children--Liesl, Friedrich, Louisa, Kurt, Brigitta, Marta, and Gretl. The Captain has been raising his children alone using strict military discipline following the death of his first wife. At first, the children treat Maria as they did their former governesses--playing tricks on her as a way of gaining their father's attention. Maria responds with kindness and patience, and soon the children come to trust and respect her.
While the Captain is away in Vienna, Maria makes play clothes for the children out of old drapes--replacing their naval-style uniforms--and takes them around Salzburg and the surrounding mountains. Their bond is strengthened when she teaches them how to sing. When the Captain returns to the villa with Baroness Elsa Schraeder, a wealthy socialite, and their mutual friend, Max Detweiler, they are greeted by Maria and the children returning from a boat ride on the lake that concludes when their boat overturns. Displeased by his children's clothes and activities, and Maria's impassioned appeal that he get closer to his children, the Captain orders her to return to the abbey. Just then he hears singing coming from inside the house and is astonished to see his children singing for the Baroness. Filled with emotion, the Captain joins his children, singing for the first time in years. Afterwards, he apologizes to Maria and asks her to stay.
Soon after, Maria and the children put on a marionette show for the Baroness, the Captain, and Max, who proposes he enter them in the upcoming Salzburg Festival--a suggestion immediately rejected by the Captain who will not allow his children to sing in public. He does agree, however, to organize a grand party at the villa. The night of the party, while guests in formal attire waltz in the ballroom, Maria and the children look on from the garden terrace. When the Captain notices Maria teaching Kurt the traditional L?ndler folk dance, he cuts in and partners with Maria in a graceful performance, culminating in a close embrace. Confused about her feelings, Maria blushes and breaks away. Later, the Baroness, who noticed the Captain's attraction to Maria, hides her jealousy while convincing Maria that she must return to the abbey.
Maria's departure deeply affects the children, who no longer find joy in singing. They are also disappointed to learn that the Baroness will soon become their stepmother. Back at the abbey, when Mother Abbess learns that Maria has stayed in seclusion to avoid her feelings for the Captain, she encourages her to return to the villa to look for her life. After Maria returns to the villa, she learns about the Captain's engagement to the Baroness and agrees to stay until they find a replacement governess. The Captain's feelings for Maria, however, have not changed, and soon he breaks his engagement and declares his love to Maria, who returns his affections and accepts his marriage proposal. Some time later, Maria walks down the aisle of a large baroque cathedral toward the Captain, who is waiting at the altar dressed in his naval uniform--and they are married.
While the Captain and Maria are on their honeymoon, Max enters the children in the Salzburg Festival against their father's wishes. When they learn that Austria has been annexed into the Third Reich in the Anschluss, the couple return to their home, where a large Nazi flag hangs above the front door. After pulling the flag down and ripping it in half, the Captain reads a telegram informing him that he must report to the German Naval Headquarters in Bremerhaven to accept a commission in the German Navy. Strongly opposed to the Nazis and the Anschluss, the Captain tells his family they must leave Austria immediately. That night, as the von Trapp family attempt to leave, they are stopped by German soldiers waiting outside the villa. When questioned by Gauleiter Hans Zeller, the Captain maintains they are headed to the Salzburg Festival to perform. Zeller insists on escorting them to the festival, after which his men will accompany the Captain to Bremerhaven.
Later that night at the festival, during their final number, the von Trapp family slip away and seek shelter at the nearby abbey, where Mother Abbess hides them in the cemetery crypt. Nazi soldiers soon arrive and search the abbey, but the family is able to escape using the caretaker's car. When the soldiers attempt to pursue, they discover their cars will not start as two nuns have removed parts of their engines. The next morning, after driving to the border, the von Trapp family make their way on foot across the mountains into Switzerland to freedom.
The Spirit of St Louis (1957)
Black & White
Drama about the dawn of air travel
The Spirit of St Louis
"On May 19, 1927, after waiting for a week for the rain to stop, pilot Charles A. "Slim" Lindbergh (James Stewart) tries to rest in a hotel near Roosevelt Field on Long Island, New York, prior to a transatlantic flight from New York to Paris. His friend Frank Mahoney (Bartlett Robinson) guards his hotel room door from reporters. Unable to sleep, Lindbergh reminisces about his time as an airmail pilot.
Flying to Chicago in winter, Lindbergh lands his old de Havilland biplane in a small airfield to refuel. Despite the bad weather, he takes off, unaware the Chicago landing field has closed due to snow. After running out of fuel, Lindbergh bails out. Recovering mail from the crashed DH-4, he continues his journey by train and meets a suspender salesman who tells Lindbergh that two airmen just died competing for the Orteig Prize awarded to the first to fly nonstop from New York City to Paris.
From a diner, Lindbergh calls Columbia Aircraft Corporation in New York, pretending to represent a group of prominent businessmen. Quoted the price of $15,000 (equal to $204,339 today) for a Bellanca aircraft, Lindbergh lobbies St. Louis financiers, with a plan to fly 40 hours in a stripped-down, single-engine aircraft. Excited by his vision, the backers dub it Spirit of St. Louis.
The Bellanca deal falls apart when the company demands their own pilot will fly the aircraft. Lindbergh then approaches Ryan Aeronautical Company in San Diego, California. Mahoney, the president of the company, promises to build him an aircraft in just 90 days. With Ryan's chief engineer Donald Hall (Arthur Space), a design is begun. To decrease weight, Lindbergh refuses to install radios or heavy equipment, even a parachute, and plans to navigate by "dead reckoning". Workers at the factory agree to work 24-hour shifts to complete the aircraft on time.
Lindbergh flies his new aircraft to St. Louis, and on to New York. Unable to sleep, he prepares his aircraft at Roosevelt Field, ensuring a full load of 450 gallons of fuel is taken on. In the cramped cockpit, the magnetic compass was positioned above his head but a young woman offers her compact mirror. Lindbergh fixes it to the instrument panel with chewing gum so he can see the compass. Furtively, Mahoney slips a Saint Christopher medal into the pilot's lunch bag.
With the weather clearing, theSpirit of St. Louis trundles down the muddy runway and barely clears the treetops at the end of the field. Every hour, Lindbergh switches fuel tanks to keep the weight load balanced. As he flies over Cape Cod, he realizes he has not slept in 28 hours. He recalls sleeping on railroad tracks, on short bunk beds, and under a windmill. When Lindbergh begins to doze, he is awakened by a fly. Over Nova Scotia, he sees a motorcyclist below, remembering his own Harley Davidson motorcycle traded as partial payment for his first aircraft, a war-surplus Curtiss Jenny.
Over the seemingly endless Atlantic, Lindbergh remembers barnstorming across the Midwest in a flying circus. After 18 hours, the aircraft's wings ice up and the Spirit of St. Louis begins to drop, but the ice breaks off in the warmer air and the engine restarted. Back on course, his compasses begin malfunctioning, forcing him to navigate by the stars. By dawn, Lindbergh falls asleep, with the aircraft circling and descending, but sunlight reflecting off the mirror awakens him in time to regain control.
Seeing a seagull, Lindbergh realizes he is close to land. He tries without success to hail a fisherman below. Sighting land, he has reached Dingle Bay, Ireland. Pulling out a sandwich, Lindbergh discovers the hidden Saint Christopher medal, hanging it on the instrument panel. Crossing the English Channel and the coast of France, he follows the Seine to Paris. Finally seeing the lights of Paris ahead of him, as he approaches Le Bourget Airfield in the dark, he is confused by the spotlights. The strange movements below him are actually crowds of people. Exhausted and panicked, Lindbergh makes his descent, whispering a prayer, "Oh, God help me!" After landing, hordes of people rush to Lindbergh, blind him with camera flashes, and carry him off triumphantly to the hangar. Tired and confused, Lindbergh eventually realizes that the crowds are cheering for his great achievement. When Lindbergh returns to New York, he is given a huge parade in his honor.
The Spook Who Sat by the Door (1973)
Color
Dan Freeman is enlisted by the CIA in its elitist espionage program, becoming its token black
The Spook Who Sat by the Door
"The story takes place in the early 1970s in Chicago. The CIA has been required for political reasons to recruit African Americans for training. Only one of them, Dan Freeman (Lawrence Cook), secretly a black nationalist, successfully completes the training process. He becomes the first black man in the agency and is given a desk job--Top Secret Reproduction Center Sections Chief (which means he is in charge of the copy machine). Freeman understands that he is the token black person in the CIA, and that the CIA defines his function as providing proof of the agency's supposed commitment to integration and progress. Therefore, after completing his training in guerrilla warfare techniques, weaponry, communications and subversion, Freeman puts in just enough time to avoid raising any suspicions about his motives before he resigns from the CIA and returns to work in the social services in Chicago.
Upon his return, Freeman immediately begins recruiting young black men living in inner-city Chicago to become "Freedom Fighters", teaching them all the tactics that he had learned from the CIA. They become a guerrilla group, with Freeman as the secret leader. The "Freedom Fighters" set out to ensure that black people truly live freely within the United States by partaking in both violent and non-violent actions throughout Chicago. The Freedom Fighters of Chicago begin spreading the word about their guerrilla warfare tactics across the United States; as Freeman says, "What we got now is a colony, what we want is a new nation." As revolt and a war of liberation continues in inner-city Chicago, the National Guard and the police desperately try to stop the "freedom fighters".
The film provides discussions about black militancy and the violent reactions that took place by white America in response to the progress of the Civil Rights Movement.
The Stranger Beside Me (1995)
Color
Woman discovers the man she married is a rapist
The Stranger Beside Me
"Jennifer Morgan (Tiffani Amber Thiessen) is a young painter who has secluded herself from the social world since being raped two years earlier. At a family party she meets Chris Gallagher (Eric Close), who falls in love with her. She is reluctant to be intimate with him, but he convinces her to marry him, by which she hopes to let go of her tragic past. Shortly after the ceremony, Chris' 17-year-old cousin Dana (Alyson Hannigan) warns Jennifer that she will not be happy with him, but Jennifer sees no harm in it. Because Chris has recently joined the Navy, Jennifer agrees to move with him to the seaside, where she befriends Nancy Halloran (Lorrie Morgan).
Shortly after, Gina Corbet (Suzanne Turner), a neighbor, becomes the victim of a peeping tom and is later raped by a masked man. Most women of the neighborhood leave in panic, but Chris dismisses the danger and convinces Jennifer that they are overreacting. Meanwhile, Chris' dark side is starting to emerge and he becomes more violent and possessive. Jennifer finds out that Chris has been released from his Navy duty by threatening to kill himself if he had to go to sea. When she tells him about this, he responds aggressively, accusing her of being a spy. The same night, he is arrested for voyeurism. Chris pleads guilty to the charges, and agrees to a disposal from the Navy.
Jennifer is devastated by this news, considering that she has recently found out that she is pregnant. Regardless, she gives him another chance, and upon moving back to their previous home, things take a turn for the better. However after a while, Chris' temper returns and women in the neighborhood are again being tortured by a masked rapist. Following the birth of Jennifer's daughter, Dana tells Jennifer that she was molested by Chris as a child. Jennifer starts to suspect his involvement in the string of rapes. After talking to a Detective from California, who tells her that he had all the evidence but could not do anything because Chris was under the protection of a district attorney friend (Steven Eckholdt), Jennifer decides that it is time to leave her husband.
Chris, however, is unwilling to let her go, and he turns to domestic violence. Jennifer is rescued by two police officers, and afterwards presses charges against her husband. She drops them only a few days later, when Chris convinces her that he will not be convicted and threatens to harm her and their baby if she runs away. While posing as his loving wife, she tries to collect evidence against him. She finds his weapons in his car, but by the time the police arrive, they have disappeared. After this occurrence, Chris' threats increase.
One night, she follows him when he suddenly leaves at a late hour. She catches him putting on his rape clothes and warns the police. Chris tries to get away, but is eventually arrested. In the epilogue titles, it is revealed that Chris pleaded guilty to four counts of aggravated sexual assault and one count of sexual attempted assault. He was sentenced to a term of 99 years.
The Sum of All Fears (2002)
Color
CIA agent investigates 3 Russian nuclear scientists holed up in the Ukraine, to prevent war
The Sum of All Fears
"During the Yom Kippur War in 1973, Israel on the verge of defeat against the opposing Egyptian and Syrian forces elects to detonate a nuclear bomb to prevent their defeat. An Israeli warplane carrying the device however is shot down over the Golan Heights, the bomb however fails to detonate and is buried in the sand. In 2002, a Syrian scrap merchant uncovers the device and sells it to Olson, a South African arms dealer.
Meanwhile in Russia, the sitting President Zorkin dies of a heart attack and is replaced by Alexander Nemerov, whose views on Russian expansionism are viewed with concern by the United States. CIA analyst Jack Ryan, who had studied Nemerov joins CIA Director William Cabot to Moscow, to reaffirm Nemerov's adherence to the START treaty. Cabot also takes the opportunity to speak on American interests in Chechnya, where Russia is engaged in fighting however Nemerov disregards American concerns, insisting that he may stabilize Russian affairs without outside interference. Leaving the meeting, Ryan notes the absence of three scientists on the staff roster, of which would be key in the construction of a nuclear device.
Tensions between Russia and the United States rise when a chemical attack in Chechnya occurs. Nemerov claims responsibility for the attack but in truth, was orchestrated by a disillusioned officer in protest of Nemerov's reforms. Meanwhile, John Clark follows a lead to a former Soviet military facility in the Ukraine and discovers the bodies of the three missing scientists, as well as evidence pertaining to the construction of a nuclear device. Ryan then discovers the that a crate was moved from the Ukraine facility and has been sent to Baltimore, where President Fowler is due to attend a baseball game. Ryan warns Cabot just in time, who evacuates the President mere moments before the bomb is detonated. Nemerov is also informed of the attack, and in direct communication with Fowler aboard Air Force One denies Russian responsibility. Nemerov's innocence however is undermined when a rogue Russian Air Force General orders an attack against a U.S. Aircraft Carrier in the North Sea, bringing both countries to the brink of war.
Ryan obtains vital intelligence from material gathered from ground zero in Baltimore that the isotopic signature indicates the plutonium was manufactured in the United States which would exonerate Russia. Jack obtains Cabot's phone before he dies and contacts Spinnaker, Cabot's contact in the Russian government. Spinnaker reveals the CIA secretly gave the material to the Israelis during the war, whereas John Clark tracks down the scrap merchant, now dying from radiation exposure. Clark learns that Olson bought the material, now living in Damascus. Ryan's colleagues in Langley access Olson's computer and learns that Felix Dressler, an Austrian Neo-Nazi billionaire financed and was behind the Baltimore attack in order to instigate a nuclear exchange between Russia and America.
With nuclear war imminent, Ryan makes contact with Nemerov and pleads with him to stand his forces down; knowing that Russia is innocent but also that the United States may not do so in kind. Nemerov agrees, and Fowler follows suit. As Nemerov and Fowler sign an agreement to counter nuclear proliferation at the Kremlin, Olson, Dressler and the Russian Air Force General are hunted down and killed for their part in the conspiracy.
The Sure Thing (1985)
Color
Freshman goes to visit friend, and is stuck driving with a studious woman who can's stand him
The Sure Thing
"High school senior Walter Gibson and his best friend Lance are celebrating the fact they are moving on to college, but all Walter can do is lament the fact that he has lost his touch with women. Lance heads to UCLA while Walter moves on to college in New England. The two keep in touch by writing letters, but Walter's luck has not changed. His attempt to get close to Alison Bradbury from his English class by tricking her into tutoring him only results in his angering and alienating her. Eventually, he receives a phone call from Lance telling him to come to California for Christmas break because he has set him up with a beautiful girl, assuring him she is a Sure Thing.
Walter finds a ride from a ride share board to make the trip. He meets Gary Cooper and Mary Ann Webster, the couple providing the ride. Things go from bad to worse when he realizes he will be sitting next to Alison as she heads to UCLA to visit her boyfriend Jason. The tension and bickering between Walter and Alison becomes too much for Cooper, and he abandons them on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere and Alison hitches a ride which turns out to be a big mistake. The driver stops at a deserted little pocket of the road and attempts to rape her, but Walter comes to her rescue just in the nick of time. As they hitch to California, they overcome issues with transportation, weather, lack of food, lack of money, and sleeping arrangements, while at the same time developing genuine feelings for one another. En route to California, Alison discovers the real reason Walter made the trip is to meet his "sure thing" and angrily walks away after they arrive.
That night at a college mixer Lance has arranged for Walter to meet his "sure thing". Meanwhile, Alison is spending a boring night with Jason when she drags him to the same mixer for some fun. Alison and Walter see each other at the party, but jealousy leads to a confrontation between the two. Walter takes the "sure thing" to Lance's room, but cannot stop thinking about Alison.
Back on campus after the break, Alison and Walter are obviously uncomfortable around each other. In their English class, Professor Taub reads an essay composed by Walter as a writing assignment, which is a description of his night with the "sure thing". The girl in the essay asks the protagonist if he loves her, but for the first time he realizes that those are not just words and he cannot sleep with her. Alison realizes what actually happened that night, she tells Walter that she and Jason broke up, and they kiss.
The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999)
Color
Riply assumes rich kid's identity after killing him
The Talented Mr. Ripley
"Tom Ripley is a young sociopath[2] struggling to make a living in 1950s New York City using his "talents"--forgery, lying and impersonation. While working at a party, he is approached by the wealthy shipbuilder Herbert Greenleaf, who believes that Ripley went to Princeton with his son, Dickie. Greenleaf recruits Ripley to travel to Italy to persuade Dickie to return home to the United States, for which he will pay Ripley $1,000. Ripley accepts the proposal, although he did not attend Princeton and has never even met Dickie.
Shortly after his arrival in Italy, Ripley concocts an accidental meeting on the beach with Dickie and his fiancee, Marge Sherwood, and quickly insinuates himself into their lives under the pretext of being a fellow jazz lover. On one of their jaunts, Dickie and Ripley meet Dickie's friend Freddie Miles, who treats Ripley with barely concealed contempt.
A local girl, whom Dickie had made pregnant, drowns herself when he refuses to help her financially. Ripley secretly witnesses their final encounter. Dickie begins to tire of Ripley, resenting his constant presence and suffocating dependence. Ripley's own feelings are complicated by his desire to maintain the opulent lifestyle Dickie has afforded him, and by his growing sexual obsession with his new friend.
As a gesture to Ripley, Dickie invites Ripley to sail with him for a last trip to San Remo. Whilst out to sea together, Ripley starts an argument when he confronts Dickie about his behaviour, and a fight ensues when Ripley strikes Dickie with an oar in a fit of rage. Ripley beats Dickie to death with the oar and, to conceal the murder, scuttles the boat with Dickie's body before swimming ashore.
When the hotel concierge mistakes him for Dickie, Ripley realizes he can assume Dickie's identity. He forges Dickie's signature, modifies his passport and begins living off the allowance provided by Herbert Greenleaf. He uses Dickie's typewriter to communicate with Marge, making her believe that Dickie has deserted her. He checks into two separate hotels as himself and as Dickie, passing messages between them via the hotel staff to provide the illusion that Dickie is still alive.
Ripley rents an expensive apartment in Rome and spends a lonely Christmas buying expensive presents for himself. Freddie visits, expecting to find Dickie, and is immediately suspicious of Ripley as the apartment is not furnished in Dickie's style, while Ripley appears to have copied Dickie's dress and manner perfectly. On his way out, Freddie meets the landlady, who refers to Ripley as "Signor Greenleaf". Freddie goes back to confront him, but Ripley ambushes and murders him, then disposes of the body.
As a result, Ripley's existence becomes a cat-and-mouse game with the Italian police and Dickie's friends. His predicament is complicated by the presence of Meredith Logue, an heiress he met upon his arrival in Italy and to whom he had introduced himself as Dickie. Ripley clears himself by forging a suicide note addressed to Ripley in Dickie's name, then moves to Venice. Marge suspects Ripley's involvement in Dickie's death and confronts him after finding Dickie's rings in Ripley's apartment. Ripley is seemingly about to murder her but is interrupted when Peter Smith-Kingsley, a mutual friend, enters the apartment.
Though trusted by Dickie's father, Ripley is disquieted when Mr. Greenleaf hires American private detective Alvin MacCarron to carry out a thorough check. However, MacCarron reveals to Ripley that Mr. Greenleaf has ordered the investigation be dropped and intends giving Ripley a substantial portion of Dickie's income, with the understanding that certain sordid details about his son's past not be revealed. Marge is dismayed at the resolution, again accusing Ripley before being taken away by Greenleaf and MacCarron.
Now lovers, Ripley and Peter go on a cruise together, only to discover that Meredith is also on board. As Ripley attempts to placate Meredith with a kiss, Ripley realizes Peter has witnessed the scene, complicating the situation in that he cannot prevent Peter from discovering that he has been passing himself off as Dickie since Peter and Meredith know each other and would certainly be meeting on the cruise. He cannot solve this dilemma by murdering Meredith, because she is accompanied by her family. Ripley sobs as he strangles Peter in his bed then returns to his own cabin, where he sits alone.
The Taming of the Shrew (1967)
Color
Woman cannot marry until her sister marries, so plans to trick her into marriage
The Taming of the Shrew
"Prior to the first act, an induction frames the play as a "kind of history" played in front of a befuddled drunkard named Christopher Sly who is tricked into believing that he is a lord.
In the play performed for Sly, the "Shrew" is Katherina Minola, the eldest daughter of Baptista Minola, a lord in Padua. Katherina's temper is notorious and it is thought no man would ever wish to marry her. On the other hand, two men -- Hortensio and Gremio -- are eager to marry her younger sister Bianca. However, Baptista has sworn not to allow his younger daughter to marry before Katherina is wed, much to the despair of her suitors, who agree that they will work together to marry off Katherina so that they will be free to compete for Bianca.
The plot becomes more complex when Lucentio, who has recently come to Padua to attend university, sees Bianca and instantly falls in love with her. Lucentio overhears Baptista announce that he is on the lookout for tutors for his daughters, so he has his servant Tranio pretend to be him while he disguises himself as a Latin tutor named Cambio, so that he can woo Bianca behind Baptista's back.
In the meantime, Petruchio arrives in Padua, accompanied by his servant, Grumio. Petruchio tells his old friend Hortensio that he has set out to enjoy life after the death of his father and that his main goal is to wed. Hearing this, Hortensio seizes the opportunity to recruit Petruchio as a suitor for Katherina. He also has Petruchio present to Baptista a music tutor named Litio (Hortensio himself in disguise). Thus, Lucentio and Hortensio, pretending to be the teachers Cambio and Litio, attempt to woo Bianca unbeknownst to her father, and to one another.
Petruchio, to counter Katherina's shrewish nature, woos her with reverse psychology, pretending that every harsh thing she says or does is kind and gentle. Katherina allows herself to become engaged to Petruchio, and they are married in a farcical ceremony during which (amongst other things) he strikes the priest and drinks the communion wine, and then takes her home against her will. Once they are gone, Gremio and Tranio (disguised as Lucentio) formally bid for Bianca, with Tranio easily outbidding Gremio. However, in his zeal to win, he promises much more than the real Lucentio actually possesses, and Baptista determines that once Lucentio's father confirms the dowry, Bianca and Tranio can marry. Tranio thus decides that they will need someone to pretend to be Vincentio, Lucentio's father, at some point in the near future. Elsewhere, as part of their scheme, Tranio persuades Hortensio that Bianca is not worthy of his attentions, thus removing any problems he may cause.
Meanwhile, in Petruchio's house, he begins the "taming" of his new wife. She is refused food and clothing because nothing -- according to Petruchio -- is good enough for her; he claims perfectly cooked meat is overcooked, a beautiful dress doesn't fit right, and a stylish hat is not fashionable. He also sets about disagreeing with everything she says, and forcing her to agree with everything he says, no matter how absurd; on their way back to Padua to attend Bianca's wedding, she agrees with Petruchio that the sun is the moon, and proclaims that "if you please to call it a rush-candle,/Henceforth I vow it shall be so for me" (4.5.14--15). Along the way, they meet Vincentio who is also on his way to Padua, and Katherina agrees with Petruchio when he declares that Vincentio is a woman and then apologises to Vincentio when Petruchio tells her he is a man.
Meanwhile, back in Padua, Lucentio and Tranio convince a passing pedant to pretend to be Vincentio and confirm the dowry for Bianca. The man does so, and Baptista is happy for Bianca to wed Lucentio (actually Tranio in disguise). Bianca then secretly elopes with the real Lucentio. However, Vincentio arrives in Padua, and encounters the Pedant, who claims to be Lucentio's father. Tranio (still disguised as Lucentio) appears, and the Pedant acknowledges him to be his son Lucentio. There is much confusion about identities, and the real Vincentio is set to be arrested when the real Lucentio appears with his newly betrothed Bianca, and reveals all to a bewildered Baptista and Vincentio. Lucentio explains everything that has happened and all is forgiven by the two fathers.
Meanwhile, Hortensio has married a rich widow, and so in the final scene of the play there are three newly married couples at Baptista's banquet; Bianca and Lucentio, the widow and Hortensio, and Katherina and Petruchio. Because of the general opinion that Petruchio is married to a shrew, a quarrel breaks out about whose wife is the most obedient. Petruchio proposes a wager whereby each will send a servant to call for their wives, and whichever comes most obediently will have won the wager for her husband. Katherina is the only one of the three who comes, winning the wager for Petruchio. At the end of the play, after the other two wives have been hauled into the room by Katherina, she gives a speech on the subject of why wives should always obey their husbands and the play ends with Baptista, Hortensio and Lucentio marvelling at how successfully Petruchio has tamed the shrew.
The Terminal (2004)
Color
Man is stranded at the Kennedy Airport when no country will recognize his passport
The Terminal
"Viktor Navorski, a traveler from the fictional nation of Krakozhia, arrives at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport, only to discover that his passport is not valid. The United States does not recognize Krakozhia's new government after a military coup has plunged the country into a civil war, and Viktor is not permitted to either enter the country or return home as his passport is no longer considered valid. Because of this, U.S. Customs and Border Protection seizes his passport and return ticket pending resolution of the issue.
Frank Dixon, the Acting Field Commissioner of the airport, instructs Viktor to stay in the transit lounge until the issue is resolved. Viktor settles in at the terminal with only his luggage and a Planters peanut can. Viktor finds a gate currently under renovation, and makes it his home. All the while, Dixon is determined to get Viktor out of the airport and make him someone else's problem. A scheme to get Viktor to leave the airport by ordering guards away from a pair of exit doors for five minutes and telling this to Viktor, as well as an attempt to get him to claim asylum in the U.S. out of a reasonable fear for returning home both fail due to Viktor's poor English. Meanwhile, Viktor befriends and assists several airport employees and travelers. Among them is a flight attendant named Amelia Warren, whom he sees periodically and tries to woo, after she mistakes him for a building contractor who is frequently traveling. Dixon, who is being considered for a promotion, becomes more and more obsessed with getting rid of Viktor. In the meantime, Viktor begins reading books and magazines to learn English. After he impulsively remodels a wall in the renovation zone, he is hired by an airport contractor and paid under the table.
One day, Dixon pulls Amelia aside and questions her regarding Viktor and his mysterious peanut can. Amelia, who realizes Viktor hasn't been entirely truthful, confronts him at his makeshift home, where he shows her that the Planters peanut can contains a copy of the "A Great Day in Harlem" photograph. His late father was a jazz enthusiast who had discovered the famous portrait in a Hungarian newspaper in 1958, and vowed to collect the autographs of all 57 of the musicians featured on it. He died before he could get the last one, from tenor saxophonist Benny Golson. Viktor has come to New York to do so. After hearing the story, Amelia kisses Viktor.
After nine months, his friends wake Viktor with the news that the war in Krakozhia has ended, and he can get a green stamp, allowing him to leave the airport. Meanwhile, Amelia had asked her "friend", actually a married government official with whom she had been having an affair, to get Viktor a one-day emergency visa to fulfil his dream, but Viktor is disappointed to learn she has rekindled her relationship with the man during this process. When he presents the emergency visa at customs, Viktor is told that Dixon must sign the visa. But with Viktor's passport now valid again, Dixon is determined to immediately send him back to Krakhozia. He threatens Viktor that if he does not go home at once, he will cause trouble for his friends, most seriously by deporting janitor Gupta Rajan back to India to face a charge of assaulting a police officer. Unwilling to let this happen, Viktor finally agrees to return home. When Gupta learns of this, however, he runs in front of the plane which would take Viktor back home, ensuring his deportation and taking the burden off Viktor.
The delay gives Viktor enough time to get into the city. Dixon orders his officers to arrest Viktor, but disillusioned with Dixon, they let him leave the airport. As Viktor is getting in a taxi, Amelia arrives in another taxi, and they briefly smile and make eye contact. Dixon himself arrives at the taxi stand only moments after Viktor's taxi left. When his officers arrive and one suggests immediately cordoning off the area and searching all vehicles to find him, Dixon pauses for a moment before telling them that they have incoming travelers to handle. Viktor arrives in New York at the hotel where Benny Golson is performing and finally collects the last autograph. He gets in a taxi, telling the driver, "I am going home.
The Theory of Everything (2014)
Color
Famous physicist Stephen Hawking must rely on his wife as when body is ravaged by ALS
The Theory of Everything
"Cambridge University astrophysics student Stephen Hawking (Eddie Redmayne) begins a relationship with literature student Jane Wilde (Felicity Jones). Although Stephen excels at mathematics and physics, his friends and professors are concerned over his lack of thesis topic. After Stephen and his professor Dennis Sciama (David Thewlis) attend a lecture on black holes, Stephen speculates that black holes may have been part of the creation of the universe and decides to write his thesis on time.
While pursuing his research, Stephen's muscles begin to fail, eventually causing him to fall and hit his head. He learns he has motor neuron disease; he will be unable to talk, swallow, or move most of his body, and has approximately two years to live. As Stephen becomes reclusive, focusing on his work, Jane confesses her love to him. She tells Stephen's father she intends to stay with Stephen even as his condition worsens. They marry and have a son.
Stephen presents his thesis to the examination board, arguing that a black hole created the universe; they tell him his theory is brilliant. While celebrating with Jane and his friends, Stephen realises he cannot walk and begins using a wheelchair.
After having a second child, a daughter, Stephen develops a theory about the visibility of black holes and becomes a world-renowned physicist. While focusing on the children, Stephen's health and his increasing fame, Jane is unable to work on her own thesis and is frustrated; Stephen tells her he understands if she needs help. She joins the church choir, where she meets widower Jonathan (Charlie Cox). She and Jonathan become close friends, and she employs him as a piano teacher for her son. Jonathan befriends the entire family, helping Stephen with his illness, supporting Jane, and playing with the children.
When Jane gives birth to another son, Stephen's mother asks Jane if the baby is Jonathan's. Jane is appalled; seeing that Jonathan overheard the conversation, when they are alone they admit their feelings for one another. Jonathan stays away from the family, but Stephen visits him, saying that Jane needs him.
While Jane and Jonathan take the children camping, Stephen is invited to a concert in Bordeaux and contracts pneumonia. In hospital, the doctors tell Jane that Stephen needs a tracheotomy, which will leave him unable to speak. She agrees to the surgery.
Stephen learns to use a spelling board and uses it to communicate with Elaine, his new nurse (Maxine Peake). He receives a computer with a built-in voice synthesiser, and uses it to write a book, A Brief History of Time, which becomes an international best-seller.
Stephen tells Jane that he has been invited to America to accept an award and will be taking Elaine with him. Jane and Stephen agree to divorce. Stephen goes to the lecture with Elaine, the two having fallen in love, and Jane and Jonathan reunite. At the lecture, Stephen sees a student drop a pen; he imagines getting up to return it, almost crying at the reminder of how his disease has affected him, and gives an inspiring speech about human endeavour. Stephen invites Jane to meet the Queen with him; they share a happy day together with their children.
The Thin Man (1934)
Black & White
Sleuthing spouses investigate murder mystery
The Thin Man
"Nick Charles (Powell), a retired detective, and his wife Nora (Loy) are attempting to settle down when he's pulled back into service by a friend's disappearance and possible involvement in a murder. The friend, Clyde Wynant (Ellis) (the eponymous "thin man"), has mysteriously vanished. When his former secretary/girlfriend, Julia Wolf, is found dead, evidence points to Wynant as the prime suspect, but his daughter Dorothy (O'Sullivan) can't believe he did it. She convinces Nick to take the case, much to the amusement of his socialite wife. The detective stumbles off to find clues and manages to piece things together through intensive investigation.
The murderer is finally revealed in a classic dinner-party scene that features all of the suspects. A skeletonized body, found during the investigation, had been assumed to be that of a "fat man" due to its being found in clothing from a much heavier man. This clothing is revealed to be a diversion, and the identity of the body is finally revealed, on the basis of an old war wound to the leg, as that of a particular "thin man" -- the missing Wynant. The murder has been disguised in a way to frame the dead Wynant by people who have stolen a great deal of money from Wynant and killed him on the night he was last seen.
The Third Man (1949)
Black & White
Investigating friend's death, many surprising details were discovered about his life
The Third Man
"American pulp Western writer Holly Martins (Joseph Cotten) arrives in Allied-occupied Vienna seeking his childhood friend, Harry Lime (Orson Welles), who has offered him a job. Upon arrival he discovers that Lime was killed just days earlier by a speeding car while crossing the street. Martins attends Lime's funeral, where he meets two British Army Police: Sergeant Paine (Bernard Lee), a fan of Martins' pulp fiction, and his superior, Major Calloway (Trevor Howard), who says Lime was a criminal and suggests Martins leave town.
A book club subsequently approaches Martins, requesting that he give a lecture to the club and offering to pay for his lodging. Viewing this as an opportunity to clear Lime's name, Martins decides to remain in Vienna. He encounters Lime's friend, "Baron" Kurtz (Ernst Deutsch), who tells Martins that he, along with another mutual friend, Popescu (Siegfried Breuer), carried Lime to the side of the street after the accident. Before dying, Lime asked Baron and Popescu to take care of Martins and Anna Schmidt (Alida Valli), Lime's actress girlfriend.
Beginning to suspect that Lime's death was not an accident, Martins goes to see Anna. She accompanies Martins to question the porter at Lime's apartment building. The porter claims Lime was killed immediately and could not have given instructions before dying. He also states that a third man helped carry the body. Martins berates the porter for not being more forthcoming with the police with what he knows. The police, searching Anna's flat for evidence, find and confiscate her forged passport and detain her.
Martins visits Lime's "medical adviser", Dr Winkel (Erich Ponto), who says that he arrived at the accident after Lime was dead, and only two men were present. Later, the porter secretly offers Martins more information but is murdered before their arranged meeting. When Martins arrives, unaware of the murder, a young boy recognises him as having argued with the porter earlier and points this out to the gathering bystanders, who become hostile, then mob-like. Escaping from them, Martins returns to the hotel, and a cab immediately takes him away. He fears the cab will take him to his death, but the cab takes Martins to the book club. From the audience, Popescu asks him about his next book, and Martins retorts that it will be called The Third Man, "a murder story" inspired by facts. Popescu tells Martins that he should stick to fiction. Martins sees two thugs approaching and flees.
Calloway again advises Martins to leave Vienna, but Martins refuses and demands that Lime's death be investigated. Calloway reluctantly reveals that Lime was a black marketeer, who greatly diluted penicillin he stole from military hospitals and sold it on the black market, killing many. In postwar Vienna, antibiotics were new and scarce outside military hospitals and commanded a very high price. Calloway's evidence convinces Martins, who agrees to leave.
Martins learns that Anna will be deported to the Soviet sector of Vienna. Upon leaving her apartment, he notices someone watching from a dark doorway; a neighbour's lit window briefly reveals the person to be Lime, who flees, ignoring Martins' calls. Martins summons Calloway, who deduces that Lime has escaped through the sewers. The British police exhume Lime's coffin and discover that the body is that of Joseph Harbin, an orderly who stole penicillin for Lime.
The next day, Martins meets with Lime, and they ride Vienna's Ferris wheel, the Wiener Riesenrad. Lime obliquely threatens Martins, and in a monologue on the insignificance of his victims, reveals the full extent of his ruthlessness. He again offers a job to Martins and leaves. Calloway asks Martins to help lure Lime out to capture him, and Martins agrees, asking for Anna's safe conduct out of Vienna in exchange. However, Anna refuses to leave and remains loyal to Lime. Exasperated, Martins decides to leave but changes his mind after Calloway shows Martins the children who are victims of Lime's diluted penicillin, now dying of meningitis.
Lime arrives at his rendezvous with Martins, but Anna warns Lime. He tries again to escape through the sewers, but the police are there in force. Lime shoots and kills Paine, but Calloway shoots and wounds Lime. Badly injured, Lime drags himself up a ladder to a street grating exit but cannot lift it. Martins picks up Paine's revolver, follows Lime, reaches him, but hesitates. Lime looks at him and nods. A shot is heard. Later, Martins attends Lime's second funeral. At the risk of missing his flight out of Vienna, Martins waits to speak to Anna. She approaches him from considerable distance, but she ignores him and walks past him.
The Thrill of It All (1963)
Color
Housewife becomes famous for soap commercial, out earning her doctor husband
The Thrill of It All
"The story centers around suburban housewife Beverly Boyer and her husband, a successful obstetrician and devoted family man, Gerald. Beverly is offered the opportunity to star in a television commercial advertising Happy Soap. After a shaky start, she gets a contract for nearly $80,000 per year (about $710,000 in 2021) to appear in weekly TV commercials.
Soon the soap company places greater and greater demands on the unlikely TV star. Gerald resents the fact that the appearances are taking up an increasing amount of her time, and becomes jealous of the level of attention that her new-found stardom has brought her. Their relationship slowly deteriorates, and Gerald leaves her after unintentionally driving his 1958 Chevrolet convertible into the surprise swimming pool the soap company built where their garage used to be. Gerald later returns, employing psychological warfare to make Beverly jealous by pretending that he is drinking and carousing with multiple women. After a harrowing, bonding experience involving an expectant couple with whom they have become friendly, Beverly decides to give up her lucrative career and return to her "philandering" husband and her life as a housewife and mother.
The Tourist (2010)
Color
Heart-broken tourist traveling to seek solace encounters a beautiful Interpol agent
The Tourist
"A British woman, Elise Clifton-Ward (Angelina Jolie), is being followed through downtown Paris by French police who are working with Scotland Yard under the direction of Inspector John Acheson (Paul Bettany). Acheson has spent years hunting Alexander Pearce, Elise's lover, who owes ?744 million in back taxes, and is believed to have received plastic surgery to alter his appearance. He is also being hunted by Reginald Shaw (Steven Berkoff), a mobster from whom Pearce stole $2.3 billion. At a Parisian cafe, Elise receives written instructions from Pearce: board the train to Venice, Italy; pick out a man; and let the police believe that he is Pearce. Elise burns the note, evades the police, and boards the train.
On the train, Elise selects Frank Tupelo (Johnny Depp), a mathematics teacher from a community college in Wisconsin. Acheson salvages information about the plan from the remains of the burned note. Aware of her location, but not of the ruse, a policeman on Shaw's payroll alerts Shaw that Pearce is on the train to Venice with Elise. Shaw immediately proceeds to Venice.
Elise invites Frank to stay with her at the Hotel Danieli in Venice. Pearce leaves instructions for Elise to attend a ball. Elise abandons Frank, who is chased by Shaw's men. While trying to escape, Frank is detained by the Italian police. A corrupt inspector turns him over to Shaw's men for a bounty. Elise rescues Frank just before he is handed over, leading Shaw's men on an extended boat chase, before finally escaping. She leaves Frank at the airport with his passport and money, urging him to go home for his own safety.
Elise is revealed to be an undercover Scotland Yard agent who was under suspension for her suspected sympathies with Pearce. She agrees to participate in a sting operation to bring Pearce to justice. At the ball, as Elise tries to find Pearce, a man places an envelope on her table and disappears into the crowd. She tries to follow him but is stopped by Frank, who claims to be in love with her and invites her to dance. The police arrive and take Frank into protective custody. Elise reads the note and leaves in her boat, tailed by Shaw. Both parties are followed by the police.
When Elise lands, Shaw takes her hostage, threatening to harm her unless she reveals the location of a hidden safe where Pearce is keeping the stolen money. The police monitor the situation via hidden cameras. Acheson repeatedly refuses to allow Italian police snipers to intervene to rescue Elise. While the police are occupied in monitoring the situation, Frank escapes and confronts Shaw, claiming to be Pearce and offering to open the safe if Elise is allowed to leave. Shaw tells Frank to open the safe or he will have Elise tortured. Chief Inspector Jones arrives at the police stake-out, overrides Acheson, and orders the snipers to fire, killing Shaw and his men. To Elise's obvious pleasure, Jones lifts her suspension and fires her.
Acheson receives a message that Pearce has been found nearby. On arrival, he learns the police have detained an Englishman. The man says he is only a tourist being paid to follow instructions and is not Pearce. Elise tells Frank that she loves him, but she also loves Pearce. Frank opens the safe by entering the correct code, revealing that he was Alexander Pearce all along.
When the police come back and open the safe they find one cheque for ?744 million. Acheson prepares to pursue Pearce, but since the taxes are now paid, Jones closes the case. Pearce and Elise sail away together.
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)
Black & White
Gold prospectors torn apart by greed
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
"In 1925 in the Mexican oil-town of Tampico, Dobbs (Humphrey Bogart) and Curtin (Tim Holt), two Americans cheated out of promised wages and down on their luck, meet old prospector Howard (Walter Huston). When Dobbs wins a small jackpot in the lottery, they have the bankroll to finance a gold prospecting journey to the remote Sierra Madre mountains.
They ride a train into the hinterlands, surviving a bandit attack en route. In the desert, Howard proves to be the toughest and most knowledgeable; he is the one to discover the gold they seek. A mine is dug, and much gold is extracted. Greed soon sets in, and Dobbs begins to lose both his trust and his sanity, lusting to possess the entire treasure. Dobbs is also unreasonably afraid that he will be killed by his partners.
A fourth American named James Cody (Bruce Bennett) appears, which sets up a debate about what to do with the new stranger. Rather than give him a share of the future production of the mine, the men decide to kill Cody. Just as the three confront him with pistols and prepare to kill him, the bandits reappear, crudely pretending to be Federales. After a tense vocal exchange regarding proof, a gunfight with the bandits ensues, in which Cody is killed, a real troop of Federales appears and chases the bandits away.
Howard is called away to assist local villagers to save the life of a seriously ill little boy. When the boy recovers, the next day, the villagers insist that Howard return to the village to be honored. However, he leaves his goods with Dobbs and Curtin. Dobbs, whose paranoia continues, and Curtin constantly argue, until one night when Curtin falls asleep, Dobbs holds him at gunpoint, takes him behind the camp, shoots him, grabs all three shares of the gold, and leaves him for dead. However, the wounded Curtin survives and manages to crawl away during the night.
Nearly dying of thirst, Dobbs is ambushed and killed at a waterhole by the same bandits they encountered earlier at the mine. In their ignorance, the bandits believe Dobbs' bags of unrefined gold are merely filled with sand, and they scatter the gold to the winds. Curtin is discovered by indios and taken to Howard's village, where he recovers.
The bandits try to sell the packing donkeys but a child (Robert Blake) recognizes the donkeys and Dobbs' clothes and reports them to the police. The bandits are captured, sentenced to death and forced to dig their own graves before being executed. Curtin and Howard miss witnessing the bandits' execution by Federales by only a few minutes as they arrive back in town, and learn that the gold is gone.
While checking the area where the bandits dropped the gold, Howard and Curtin notice some empty sacks and surmise that the winds must have carried the gold away, back to the mountain from which it came. They accept the loss with equanimity, Howard proclaiming it a good joke and laughing while doing a little jig. They part ways, Howard returning to the indio village, where the natives have offered him a permanent home and position of honour, and Curtin returning home to the United States, where he will seek out the widow of Cody in the peach orchards of Texas.
The Trial (2010)
Color
Lawyer brought out a slump from having just lost his family, defends accused murderer
The Trial
After the horrific death of his wife and two sons, suicide seems to be the only escape for small town attorney Kent "Mac" McClain... until he's assigned a capital punishment case that begins to transform his life and those around him forever.
The Trip to Bountiful (1985)
Color
Elderly woman sneaks off to visit her childhood home
The Trip to Bountiful
"The film, set in the post-World War II 1940s, tells the story of an elderly woman, Carrie Watts (Page), who wants to return to her home, the small, rural, agriculture-based town of Bountiful near the Texas Gulf coast between Houston and Corpus Christi, where she grew up, but she's frequently stopped from leaving Houston by her daughter-in-law and her overprotective son, who will not let her travel alone. Her son and daughter-in-law both know that the town has long since disappeared, due to the Depression. Long-term out-migration was caused by the draw-down of all the town's able-bodied men to the wartime draft calls and by the demand for industrial workers in the war production plants of the big cities.
Old Mrs. Watts is determined to outwit her son and bossy daughter-in-law, and sets out to catch a train, only to find that trains do not go to Bountiful anymore. She eventually boards a bus to a town near her childhood home. On the journey, she befriends a girl traveling alone (DeMornay) and reminisces about her younger years and grieves for her lost relatives. Her son and daughter-in-law eventually track her down, with the help of the local police force. However, Mrs. Watts is determined. The local sheriff, moved by her yearning to visit her girlhood home, offers to drive her out to what remains of Bountiful. The town is deserted, and the few remaining structures are derelict. Mrs. Watts learns that the last occupant of the town, and the woman with whom she had hoped to live, has recently died. She is moved to tears as she surveys her father's land and the remains of the family home. Having accepted the reality of the current condition of Bountiful and knowing that she has reached her goal of returning there before dying, she is ready to return to Houston when her son and daughter-in-law arrive to drive her home. Having confronted their common history in Bountiful, the three commit to live more peacefully together. They begin their drive back to Houston.
The Ugly American (1963)
Color
Ambassador encounters anti-American sentiment
The Ugly American
An intelligent, articulate scholar, Harrison MacWhite, survives a hostile Senate confirmation hearing at the hands of conservatives to become ambassador to Sarkan, a southeast Asian country where civil war threatens a tense peace. Despite his knowledge, once he's there, MacWhite sees only a dichotomy between the U.S. and Communism. He can't accept that anti-American sentiment might be a longing for self-determination and nationalism, so he breaks from his friend Deong, a local opposition leader, ignores a foreman's advice about slowing the building of a road, and tries to muscle ahead. What price must the country and his friends pay for him to get some sense?
The Ugly Truth (2009)
Color
Chauvinistic morning-show commentator teaches female newscaster art of seduction
The Ugly Truth
"Abby Richter (Katherine Heigl) is a morning show TV producer in Sacramento, California. Abby firmly believes in true love and is a big supporter of complex self-help books such as Chicken Soup for the Soul and Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus. Coming home from a disastrous date, she happens to see a segment of a local television show, The Ugly Truth, featuring Mike Chadway (Gerard Butler), whose cynicism about relationships prompts Abby to call in to argue with him on-air. The next day, she discovers the TV station is threatening to cancel her show because of its poor ratings. The station owner has hired Mike to do a segment on her show.
At first, the two have a rocky relationship; Abby thinks Mike is crass and disgusting while Mike finds her to be naive and a control freak. Nevertheless, when she meets the man of her dreams, a doctor named Colin (Eric Winter) living next to her, Mike convinces her that by following his advice she will improve her chances with Colin. Abby is skeptical, but they make a deal: If Mike's management of her courtship results in her landing Colin, proving his theories on relationships, she will work happily and peacefully with him, but if Mike fails, he agrees to leave her show.
Mike succeeds in improving the ratings, brings married co-anchors Georgia and Larry closer and successfully instructs Abby to be exactly what Colin would want through a number of pointers including: always laugh at his jokes and say he is amazing in bed. Mike is invited to appear on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson and is offered a job at another network. Abby is forced to cancel a romantic weekend away with Colin, during which they had planned to finally sleep together, and instead fly to Los Angeles to persuade Mike to stay with her show.
They drink and dance and Mike admits he does not want to move because he wants to stay in Sacramento near his sister and nephew. In the hotel elevator, they passionately kiss, but go to their separate rooms. Mike, dealing with the intensity of his feelings for Abby, calls on her room only to find Colin has shown up to surprise her. Mike leaves. Abby is upset and soon realizes Colin only likes the woman she has been pretending to be, not the real her. She breaks up with him.
Mike quits and takes a job with a rival TV station in Sacramento, and ends up doing a broadcast at the same hot air balloon festival as Abby. He cannot resist intruding when she kicks the new "Mike Chadway" imitator off the air and begins ranting about what cowardly weaklings men are. Going out of script, the balloon takes off while they argue. Abby says she broke up with Colin, and Mike admits he loves her. Abby kisses him while they fly off, all of which is broadcast due to a camera mounted in the balloon. The film ends with Abby and Mike in bed. When Mike asks if she was faking it, Abby responds with, "You'll never know.
The V.I.P.'s (1963)
Color
Passengers' lives are changed when they are forced to wait for their flight due to fog
The V.I.P.'s
"The film is set within Terminal 2 of London Heathrow Airport during a fog. As flights are delayed, the VIPs (very important people) of the title play out the drama of their lives in a number of slightly interconnected stories. The delays have caused serious hardship for most of the characters and have plunged some of them into a deep personal or financial crisis.
The central story concerns famed actress Frances Andros (Elizabeth Taylor) trying to leave her husband, millionaire Paul Andros (Richard Burton), and fly away with her lover Marc Champselle (Louis Jourdan). Because of the fog, Andros has the opportunity to come to the airport to convince his wife not to leave him.
Film producer Max Buda (Orson Welles) needs to leave London, taking his newest protegee Gloria Gritti (Elsa Martinelli) with him, by midnight if he is to avoid paying a hefty tax bill. The Duchess of Brighton (Margaret Rutherford), meanwhile, is on her way to Florida to take a job which will pay her enough money to save her historic home.
Les Mangrum (Rod Taylor), an Australian businessman, must get to New York City to prevent his business from being sold. His dutiful secretary, Miss Mead (Maggie Smith), is secretly in love with him. It being a matter of great urgency, she decides to approach Andros and ask him to advance the money which will save Mangrum's company.
Buda spots a poster picturing the Duchess's home. She is offered a sum of money if she will permit Buda to use it as a location in a film, enough to keep the house she loves. Andros, meanwhile, about to lose the woman he loves, is spared a possible suicide at the last minute when he and his wife reconcile.
The Vanishing (2019)
Color
Trio of lighthouse keepers who vanish from the Scottish isle without a trace
The Vanishing
"Three men begin their six-week shift tending to the remote Flannan Isles Lighthouse. Donald, the youngest, is inexperienced and learning the trade of the lighthouse keeper from James and Thomas. James has a family waiting for him on the mainland, while Thomas is still mourning the loss of his wife and children.
After a storm, the men discover a boat, a body, and a wooden chest washed ashore. Donald descends the cliffs to check on the man, who appears lifeless. As they are hauling up the chest, the man awakens and attacks Donald. In self-defence, Donald bashes the man's head with a rock and kills him.
Thomas is against opening the chest, but opens it alone, and keeps what he finds to himself. Eventually the other two give in to their curiosity and find several gold bars inside. Urging caution and secrecy, Thomas proposes they dispose of the body, sneak the gold back to the mainland, and lay low for a year before splitting their shares.
Another boat arrives with two strangers, Locke and Boor, crewmates of the deceased. They interrogate Thomas, who claims the body and cargo have been reported and taken away, as per protocol. Locke and Boor leave, but attempt to contact the lighthouse by radio. Thomas and James are unable to respond due to their malfunctioning radio, revealing their lie. The strangers return, circling the island until nightfall. In a violent struggle, James manages to strangle Boor and Donald kills Locke, using the woolding. Sensing another intruder outside, the keepers chase him through the darkness and James slashes him with a hook. He is horrified to discover he has killed a young boy, reminding him of his son.
After dumping all four bodies into the sea, the three men endure their remaining time on the island, despite mounting distrust and tension. James in particular becomes unhinged, secluding himself in the tiny chapel nearby. Donald grows uneasy and insists that he and Thomas leave with the gold. James suddenly reappears, apologizing for his behavior. Once Donald and Thomas let their guards down, James locks Thomas in the pantry and strangles Donald. Thomas breaks free and subdues James by rendering him unconscious.
Finally ready to depart the island, Thomas and James board the boat with the gold. After throwing Donald's body overboard, James admits that he cannot bear to live with his guilt and lowers himself into the water to end his life. He calls to Thomas for help with this last act and Thomas abides by holding James' head under water before sailing on alone.
The Verdict (1982)
Color
Washed-up ambulance chaser takes malpractice case, takes a powerful defendant to trial
The Verdict
"Once-promising attorney Frank Galvin, framed for jury tampering years ago, was fired from his elite Boston firm and became an alcoholic ambulance chaser with little work. As a favor, his friend and former teacher Mickey sends him a medical malpractice case in which it is all but assured that the defense will settle for a large amount. The case involves a young woman given an anesthetic during childbirth, after which she choked on her vomit and was deprived of oxygen. The woman is now comatose and on a respirator. Her sister and brother-in-law are hoping for a monetary award in order to give her proper care. Frank assures them they have a strong case.
Frank visits the comatose woman and is deeply affected. Later, a representative of the Catholic hospital where the incident took place offers a substantial settlement. Without consulting the family, Frank declines the offer and decides to take the case to trial, stunning all parties including the presiding judge and the victim's relatives. Meanwhile, Frank, who is lonely, becomes romantically involved with Laura, after earlier having spotted her in a bar.
Things quickly go wrong for Frank: his client's brother-in-law finds out from "the other side" that Frank has turned down settlement, and angrily confronts Frank; his star medical expert disappears; a hastily arranged substitute's credentials and testimony are called into serious question on the witness stand; his opponent, the high-priced attorney Ed Concannon, has at his disposal a large legal team that is masterful with the press; the presiding judge obstructs Frank's questioning of his expert; and no one who was in the operating room is willing to testify that negligence occurred. Concannon is shown paying off Laura.
Frank's break comes when he discovers that Kaitlin Costello, the nurse who admitted his client to the hospital, is now a preschool teacher in New York. Frank travels there to seek her help, leaving Mickey and Laura working together in Frank's office. Mickey discovers the check from Concannon in her handbag and infers that Laura is a mole, providing information to the opposing lawyers.
Mickey flies to New York to tell Frank of Laura's betrayal. Shortly thereafter, Frank confronts Laura, striking her and knocking her to the floor. Mickey later suggests it would be easy to get the case declared a mistrial. But Frank decides to continue.
Costello testifies that, shortly after the patient had become comatose, the anesthesiologist (one of the two doctors on trial, along with the archdiocese of Boston) told her to change her notes on the admitting form to hide his fatal error. She had written down that the patient had had a full meal only one hour before being admitted. The doctor had failed to read the admitting notes. Thus, in ignorance, he gave her an anesthetic that should never be given to a patient with a full stomach. As a result, the patient vomited and choked.
Costello further testifies that, when the anesthesiologist realized his mistake, he met with Costello in private and forced her to change the number "1" to the number "9" on her admitting notes. But before she made the change Costello had made a photocopy of the notes, which she brought with her to court. Concannon quickly turns the situation around by getting the judge to declare the nurse's testimony stricken from the record on technicalities. Feeling that his case is hopeless, Frank gives a brief but passionate closing argument.
While the jury is out, a diocese lawyer praises Concannon's performance to the defendant bishop, who asks "but do you believe her?" and is met with embarrassed silence.
The jury finds in favor of Frank's clients. The foreman then asks the judge whether the jury can award more than the amount the plaintiffs sought. The judge resignedly replies that they can. As Frank is congratulated, he catches a glimpse of Laura watching him across the atrium.
That night, Laura, in a drunken stupor on her bed, drops her whiskey on the floor, drags the phone toward her, and dials Frank. As the phone rings, Frank sits in his office with a cup of coffee. He moves to answer it, but ultimately does not.
The War of the Roses (1989)
Color
About a particularly nasty divorce
The War of the Roses
"Lawyer Gavin D'Amato is in his office discussing a divorce case with a client. Noticing the man's determination to divorce his wife, Gavin decides to tell him the story of one of his clients, a personal friend of his.
Oliver Rose, a student at Harvard Law School, meets Barbara at an auction, where they bid on the same antique. Oliver chats Barbara up and they become friends. When Barbara misses her ferry home, the two end up spending the night together at a local hotel. Eventually the two marry and have two children, Josh and Carolyn. Over the years, the Roses grow richer, and Barbara finds an old mansion whose owner has recently died, purchases it and devotes her time to making a home there. However, cracks seem to be forming in the family. As Oliver becomes a successful partner in his law firm, Barbara, who was a doting and loving wife early in the marriage, appears to grow restless in her life with Oliver, and begins to dislike him immensely.
Oliver, for his part, cannot understand what he has done to earn Barbara's contempt, despite his controlling, self-centered, and generally dismissive behavior toward her. When Oliver believes he is suffering a heart attack, (actually a hiatal hernia) the day after an argument, Barbara (after her initial shock and concern) realizes she felt a sense of relief that he might be dead. She tells him so, adding that she no longer loves him and wants a divorce and Oliver accepts. Feeling that it might not be wise to represent himself, Oliver hires Gavin as his legal counsel on a retainer.
Tension arises between Oliver and Barbara in court when it becomes clear that she wants the house and everything in it. When Barbara's lawyer uses Oliver's final love note to her (which he had written in the hospital) as leverage against him in their legal battle, she refuses to back down. Barbara initially throws Oliver out of the house, but he moves back in after discovering a loophole in the divorce that allows him to stay. As a result, Barbara immediately begins plotting to remove Oliver herself, even trying to seduce Oliver's lawyer Gavin into siding with her instead.
In an effort to win the house, Oliver offers his wife a considerable sum of cash in exchange for the house, but Barbara still refuses to settle. Realizing that his client is in a no-win situation, Gavin advises Oliver to cave into all of Barbara's demands, leave her everything and start a new life for himself. In return, Oliver fires Gavin and takes matters into his own hands. At this point, Oliver and Barbara begin spiting and humiliating each other in every way possible, even in front of friends and potential business clients. Both begin destroying the house furnishings; the stove, furniture, Staffordshire ornaments, and plates. Another fight results in a battle where Barbara nearly kills Oliver by using her monster truck to run over Oliver's prized sports car, a classic Morgan 4/4. In addition, Oliver accidentally runs over Barbara's cat in the driveway with his car. When Barbara finds out, she retaliates by trapping him inside his in-house sauna, where he nearly succumbs to heatstroke and dehydration.
While the kids are away at college, Oliver eventually calms down and attempts to make peace with Barbara over an elegant dinner, but reaches his breaking point when Barbara serves him a p?te which she implies was made from his dog (the dog is later seen to actually be alive and well outside). Oliver attacks Barbara, who flees into the attic. Oliver boards up the house to prevent Barbara from escaping, while Barbara loosens the chandelier to drop on Oliver in yet another attempt to kill him. When their live-in housekeeper Susan returns home in the middle of the climactic battle, she senses something is terribly wrong and discreetly contacts Gavin for help. By the time Gavin arrives, Oliver and Barbara's quarrel has culminated in the two hanging dangerously from the unsecured chandelier. During this time, Oliver admits to Barbara that despite their hardships, he always loved her, but Barbara does not respond. Before Gavin can come inside with a ladder, the combined weight of Barbara, Oliver and the chandelier is too much for the electrical wires, which snap and sends them crashing violently to the floor. In his final breaths, Oliver reaches out to touch Barbara's shoulder, but Barbara uses her last ounce of strength to knock his hand away, firmly asserting her feelings for him even in death.
Finishing his story, Gavin presents his client with two options: either proceed with the divorce and risk facing a horrific bloodbath in court, or go home to his wife to settle their differences properly. The client chooses the latter, and Gavin, satisfied, calls his wife to tell her he is on his way home and that he loves her.
The War of the Worlds (1953)
Color
Martians invade Earth
The War of the Worlds
"In southern California, Dr. Clayton Forrester (Gene Barry), a well-known atomic scientist, is fishing with colleagues when a large object crashes near the town of Linda Rosa. At the impact site, he meets USC library science instructor Sylvia Van Buren (Ann Robinson) and her uncle, Pastor Matthew Collins (Lewis Martin). Later that night, a round hatch on the object unscrews and opens; a Martian weapon disintegrates the three men standing guard at the site. The United States Marine Corps surround the crash site, as reports pour in of identical "cylinders" landing all over the world and destroying cities. Pastor Collins attempts to make contact with the Martians but is disintegrated. The Martian war machines emerge and effortlessly defeat the military with their "Heat-Ray" and "skeleton beam" weapons.
Attempting to escape in a military spotter plane, Forrester and Sylvia crash land and hide in an abandoned farmhouse. They begin to develop closer feelings for each other just before the house is buried by yet another crashing cylinder. They encounter and dismember a Martian electronic eye on a long cable and collect a Martian blood sample when Forrester defends Sylvia with an axe. They escape just before the farmhouse is obliterated. Forrester takes the camera housing and blood sample to his team at Pacific Tech in the hope of finding a way to defeat the invaders.
Many of the major world capitals are destroyed by the Martians, and the United States government makes the decision to drop an atomic bomb. The Martians' force shield, however, proves impenetrable.
As the Martians advance on Los Angeles, the city is evacuated. Forrester, Sylvia, and the Pacific Tech team become separated in the chaos, and their scientific equipment is stolen or destroyed. Forrester searches for Sylvia in the city. Based on a story she had told him earlier, he guesses that she would take refuge in a church. After searching through several, he finds Sylvia among many praying survivors. Just as the Martians strike the church, their machines suddenly lose power and crash, one after another. Forrester sees one Martian expire as it tries to leave its machine.
In voice-over, the film's narrator observes that while the Martians were impervious to humanity's weapons, they had "...no resistance to the bacteria in our atmosphere to which we have long since become immune. ... After all that men could do had failed, the Martians were destroyed and humanity was saved by the littlest things, which God, in His wisdom, had put upon this Earth..."
The Wash (2001)
Color
Car wash employees try to raise cash to rescue their boss who was kidnapped
The Wash
"Sean (Dr. Dre) and Dee Loc (Snoop Dogg) are roommates who have not paid their rent, and their landlord's given them a 3-day eviction notice. To make matters worse, Sean has just lost his job at Foot Locker due to a layoff, and his car has got a boot on it as well, so Dee Loc suggests his roommate stop by the same carwash where he works and apply for work there. Sean is immediately hired as assistant manager, with Chris (Eminem) having been fired the day before. Though Dee Loc has the full amount for the rent (from dealing drugs on the side), he refuses to pay, insisting Sean needs to be responsible, and come up with his half. Sean does his best to impress Mr. Washington (George Wallace), the owner of the car wash, so he can hold his job long enough to come up with his half of the rent.
At first, things go fine, but then Dee Loc is caught on tape stealing, Mr. Washington tells Sean he must decide what to do, including firing his roommate. Sean tries to help Dee Loc act more responsible, but this creates friction between them. Mr. Washington is kidnapped at gunpoint by two clueless and angry local thugs (one of whom is played by DJ Pooh), who call the carwash with their demands, unaware of caller ID, which reveals their location. Instead of calling police, Sean and Dee Loc put aside their differences long enough to rescue their boss. The crisis worsens, when former assistant manager, Chris, shows up with an AK- 47 wanting revenge on Mr. Washington for firing him. Chris shoots one of the kidnappers then shoots up the car wash, and runs out of ammunition. Sean attacks Chris, but loses the battle, and falls down. Before he could kill Mr. Washington, Security officer Dwayne (Bruce Bruce) steps in and handcuffs Chris. When all is over, Sean and Dee Loc walk off, as Sean tells Dee Loc he's trying his best to pay his half of the rent but he first has to take the boot off his car.
The Way Back (2010)
Color
After escaping from a WW II Siberian labor camp, a small band of soldiers traverse Siberia
The Way Back
"During World War II, Janusz Wieszczek (Jim Sturgess), a young Polish officer held by Soviets as a POW, is interrogated by NKVD. When the Soviets cannot force him to admit he is a spy, they bring his wife and extort from her, a statement condemning Janusz. As a result, he is sentenced to 20 years in one of the Gulag forced labour camps deep in Siberia.
At the camp, Janusz meets Mr. Smith (Ed Harris), an American soldier, Khabarov (Mark Strong), an actor, Valka (Colin Farrell), a hardened Russian criminal, Tomasz (Alexandru Potocean), a Polish artist, Voss (Gustaf Skarsg?rd), a Latvian priest, Kazik (Sebastian Urzendowsky), a Pole suffering from night blindness, and Zoran (Dragos Bucur), a Yugoslavian accountant. Khabarov secretly tells Janusz that he is planning to escape south to Mongolia, passing Lake Baikal. Mr. Smith tells Janusz that it is just one of Khabarov's fantasies to keep his morale high, but Janusz decides to implement the plan. He escapes with Mr. Smith, Valka, Voss, Tomasz, Zoran, and Kazik during a severe snowstorm in order to cover their tracks.
During the second night of their trek, Kazik freezes to death after losing his way to the hide-away while looking for wood, and is later buried by the group. After many days of travelling across the snows of Siberia, the group reach Lake Baikal. There they meet Irena (Saoirse Ronan), a young Polish girl, who tells them a story of her parents being murdered by Russian soldiers, and her escape from a collective farm near Warsaw. Mr. Smith realises that her story is a lie as Warsaw is ruled by the Germans and that she is a Russian, but agrees with the group to let her in.
When the group reach an unpatrolled border between Russia and Mongolia, Valka decides to stay, as he still sees Russia as his home, and Josef Stalin as a hero. The rest continue to Ulaanbaatar, but soon they see img of Stalin and a red star. Janusz realises that Mongolia is under communist control and tells the group that India is the closest refuge for them. As they continue south across the Gobi desert, lack of water, sandstorms, sunburn, blisters and sun-stroke weakens the group. Irena collapses several times and soon dies. A few days later, Tomasz collapses and dies. Mr. Smith is on the verge of death, but after being motivated by Janusz, Zoran and Voss, he decides to rejoin the group and the four find a stream of water and avoid dehydration.
As they reach the Himalayas, all on the verge of death, they are rescued by a Tibetan monk who takes them to a Buddhist monastery, where they regain their strength. Mr. Smith decides to go to Lhasa, where one of his US Army contacts will help him get back to America. The remaining three continue to trek through the Himalayas and soon reach India.
At the end of the film, the final three say their goodbyes as Zoran and Voss stay in India and Janusz keeps walking around the world until 1989, when Poland gets rid of the communists. The final scene of the movie shows Janusz, fifty years later, returning to his house, seen in several hallucinations, and reuniting with his wife.
The Way We Were (1973)
Color
Activist Katie marries golden boy Hubbell, the 50's blacklist unravels their marriage
The Way We Were
"Told in flashback, it is the story of Katie Morosky and Hubbell Gardiner, who meet at college in the 1930s.
Their differences are immense: she is a stridently vocal Marxist Jew with strong anti-war opinions, and he is a carefree WASP with no particular political bent. She is drawn to him because of his boyish good looks and his natural writing skill, which she finds captivating, although he doesn't work very hard at it. He is intrigued by her conviction and her determination to persuade others to take up social causes. They meet, romantically, for the first time on the night that the Duke of Windsor marries Mrs. Simpson.
The two meet again at the end of World War II. Katie is working at a radio station, and Hubbell, having served as a naval officer in the South Pacific, is trying to return to civilian life. They fall in love and marry despite the differences in their background and temperament.
Soon, however, Katie is incensed by the cynical jokes Hubbell's friends make and is unable to understand his acceptance of their insensitivity and shallow dismissal of political engagement. At the same time, his serenity is disturbed by her lack of social graces and her polarizing postures.
When Hubbell seeks a job as a Hollywood screenwriter, Katie believes he's wasting his talent and encourages him to pursue writing as a serious challenge instead. Despite her growing frustration, they move to California, where he becomes a successful albeit desultory screenwriter, and the couple enjoy an affluent lifestyle. As the Hollywood blacklist grows and McCarthyism begins to encroach on their lives, Katie's political activism resurfaces, jeopardizing Hubbell's position and reputation.
Alienated by Katie's persistent abrasiveness, Hubbell has an affair with Carol Ann, his college girlfriend and the ex-wife of his best friend J.J., even though Katie is pregnant. Katie and Hubbell decide to part when she finally understands he is not the man she idealized when she fell in love with him and will always choose the easiest way out, whether it is cheating in his marriage or writing predictable stories for sitcoms. Hubbell, on the other hand, is exhausted, unable to live on the pedestal Katie erected for him and face her disappointment in his decision to compromise his potential.
In the film's final scene, Katie and Hubbell meet by chance some years after their divorce, in front of the Plaza Hotel in New York City. Hubbell, who is with a stylish beauty and apparently content, is now writing for a popular sitcom as one of a group of nameless writers. Katie has remained faithful to who she is: flyers in hand, she is agitating for the newest political causes.
Katie, now re-married, invites Hubbell to come for a drink with his lady friend, but he confesses he can't. Katie's response acknowledges what they both finally understand: Hubbell was at his best when he was with her, and no one will ever believe in him or see as much promise in him as she once did. Their past is behind them; all the two share now (besides their daughter, whom they name Rachel) is a memory of the way they were.
The Whistleblower (2010)
Color
Policewoman sent to Bosnia to finds U.N. Peacekeepers complicit in sex-trafficking
The Whistleblower
"Kathryn Bolkovac is a police officer from Lincoln, Nebraska, who accepts an offer to work with the United Nations International Police in post-war Bosnia-Herzegovina for a UK company, Democra Security (a pseudonym for DynCorp International).[5] After successfully advocating for a Muslim woman who experienced domestic abuse, Kathryn is appointed head of the department of gender affairs.
Raya, a young Ukrainian woman, and her friend Luba are sold to a Bosnian sex-trafficking ring by a relative. Raya escapes with Irka, another girl forced into prostitution, and they are sent to a women's shelter for victims of human trafficking. While investigating their case, Kathryn uncovers a large-scale sexual slavery ring utilized by international personnel (including Americans). She persuades Raya and Irka to testify against their traffickers in court, guaranteeing their safety; however, an indifferent UN official drops Irka at the border between Bosnia and Serbia when she cannot produce a passport. A corrupt peacekeeper tips off the traffickers, and Raya is recaptured and tortured. Although Kathryn rescues Irka from the woods, the latter is too afraid to proceed with the trial.
When she brings the scandal to the attention of the UN, Kathryn discovers that it has been covered up to protect lucrative defense and security contracts. However, she finds allies in her investigation: Madeleine Rees, head of the Human Rights Commission, and internal-affairs specialist Peter Ward. When Raya is found dead, Kathryn sends an email to fifty senior mission personnel detailing her findings; she is then fired from her job. She and Ward acquire evidence of an official admitting the scandal before she is forced to leave the country, and she brings it to the BBC News. The final credits note that after Kathryn's departure, a number of peacekeepers were sent home (although none faced criminal charges because of immunity laws), and the U.S. continues doing business with private contractors such as Democra Security (including billion-dollar contracts in Iraq and Afghanistan).
The Wizard of Lies (2017)
Color
Bernie Madoff builds his who financial empire on a pyramid scheme
The Wizard of Lies
The plot of the film is based on real events--the story of Bernard Madoff, who founded his company on Wall Street in the early 1960s, which, over time, turned into one of the largest investment funds. Madoff himself had enjoyed a reputation as a successful and influential financier, broker, financial consultant, and generous philanthropist until 2008 when it became known that over the past 16 years his firm had turned into the largest financial pyramid in history. The huge scandal that broke out turned into multibillion-dollar losses and led to the collapse of Madoff himself, who later received 150 years in prison.
The Wolf of Wall Street (2013)
Color
Chronicals Wall Street trader's rise to wealth and his subsequent corruption
The Wolf of Wall Street
"Jordan Belfort (Leonardo DiCaprio) narrates the film showing his monstrous success with his firm complete with ribaldry at work, a sumptuous home on the Gold Coast of Long Island and a trophy wife who is a former model. He then flashes back to 1987, where he began a low-level job at an established Wall Street firm. His boss (Matthew McConaughey) advises him to adopt a lifestyle of casual sex and cocaine to succeed. However, shortly after he passes his exam to become a certified stockbroker, he loses his job on account of the firm's bankruptcy as a result of Black Monday.
Now unemployed in an economy that is unaccomodating to stockbrokers and sufficiently discouraged to consider a new line of work, Jordan's wife Teresa (Cristin Milioti) encourages him to take a job with a Long Island boiler room dealing in penny stocks, which are also largely ignored by regulators. Belfort impresses his new boss with his aggressive pitching style, and earns a small fortune for the boiler room and himself as penny stocks have a much higher commission than blue chips. Jordan also befriends Donnie Azoff (Jonah Hill), a salesman living in the same apartment complex and they decide to go into business together. To facilitate this, his accountant parents are recruited as well as several of Jordan's friends, some of them experienced marijuana dealers. The basic method of the firm is a pump and dump scam. To cloak this, Belfort gives the firm the respectable name of Stratton Oakmont. An article in Forbes dubs Jordan the "Wolf of Wall Street", and soon hundreds of ambitious young financiers flock to his company.
A decadent lifestyle of lavish parties, sex and drugs follows. Jordan regularly uses prostitutes and becomes addicted to cocaine and Quaaludes. FBI Agent Patrick Denham (Kyle Chandler) begins investigating Stratton Oakmont. When Jordan meets Naomi Lapaglia (Margot Robbie) at one of his parties, he begins an affair with her, resulting in his divorce from Teresa. Jordan makes Naomi his second wife in an extravagant wedding and gives her a yacht aptly named Naomi, and soon they have a daughter, Skylar. Meanwhile, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission works jointly with the FBI to intensify the Stratton Oakmont investigation.
Jordan instantly makes US$22 million on his securing the IPO of Steve Madden Ltd. To hide his money, Jordan opens a Swiss bank account with the corrupt banker Jean-Jacques Saurel (Jean Dujardin) in the name of Naomi's aunt Emma (Joanna Lumley), who is a British citizen and outside the reach of American authorities. He uses friends with European passports to smuggle cash to Switzerland. When Donnie gets into a public fight with Brad Bodnick (Jon Bernthal), who is one of their money couriers, and Brad is arrested, their scheme is nearly exposed.
Donnie offers Jordan a powerful brand of Quaaludes, hoping to ease the sting of the bad news. The pills are old and seem to have lost their potency, so they take huge doses to compensate. Jordan then receives a call from Bo Dietl, his private investigator, who insists Jordan call him back from a payphone. Jordan drives to a country club to phone Bo, who warns Jordan of Brad's arrest and that his house phone has been wiretapped. At this point, the Quaaludes finally kick in with overwhelming effect. Severely debilitated, Jordan drives back home to prevent Donnie from using his phone. When Jordan arrives home Donnie (who is also intoxicated) is on the phone with Saurel. Jordan fights Donnie to make him get off the phone and tells him he found out what happened between him and Brad. Donnie starts choking on ham and nearly suffocates. Jordan snorts cocaine to counteract the effect of the Quaaludes in order to help save Donnie's life.
With the shadow of law enforcement hanging over them, Jordan's father Max (Rob Reiner) attempts to convince his son to step down from Stratton Oakmont and escape the large amount of legal penalties. However, during his leaving party at the office, Jordan changes his mind and to the great acclaim of his employees vows to stay on.
Jordan, Donnie and their wives are on a yacht trip to Italy when they learn that Emma has died of a heart attack. Over his grieving wife's objections, Jordan decides to sail to Monaco so they can drive to Switzerland without getting their passports stamped at the border and settle the bank account, but a violent storm capsizes their yacht. After their rescue, the plane sent to take them to Geneva is destroyed by a seagull flying into the engine, exploding and killing three people. Witnessing this, Jordan considers this a sign from God and decides to sober up.
Two years later, Denham arrests Jordan during the filming of an infomercial. Saurel, arrested in Florida over an unrelated charge, has told the FBI everything. Since the evidence against him is overwhelming, Jordan agrees to gather evidence on his colleagues in exchange for leniency.
Jordan is optimistic about his sentencing and expresses this to his wife. The encounter turns violent when Naomi tells Jordan she will divorce him and wants full custody of their children. Jordan throws a violent tantrum, gets high, and ends up crashing his car in his driveway during an attempt to abscond with their daughter.
The next morning, Jordan wears a wire to work. Jordan silently slips Donnie a note warning him about the wire. The note finds its way to Agent Denham, who arrests Jordan for breaching his cooperation deal. The FBI raids and shuts down Stratton Oakmont.
Despite this one breach, Jordan receives a much reduced sentence for his testimony and is sentenced to 36 months in a minimum security prison in Nevada. After his release, Jordan makes a living hosting seminars on sales technique in New Zealand.
The Woman in Red (1984)
Color
Teddy puts his marriage and career on the line to pursue the statuesque beauty
The Woman in Red
"San Francisco ad man Teddy Pierce is amused by, then obsessed with, a beautiful woman whose red dress goes billowing over her head by a gust of wind from crossing over a ventilation grate, and exposing her red satin string bikini panties. Teddy is happily married to Didi, but he cannot get this woman out of his mind. Encouraged by his friends Buddy, Joe, and Michael, he tries to ask her for a date but mistakenly phones Ms. Milner, a plain ad-agency employee who is flattered by his interest.
Teddy ultimately does become acquainted with the woman in red, a model named Charlotte, going horseback riding with her and even inviting her out on what is supposed to be a date but turns out to be a party with his relatives. He radically alters his wardrobe and begins using elaborate ruses to see Charlotte socially. Meanwhile, he incurs the wrath of Ms. Milner, whom he stood up before.
Events come to a head in Charlotte's high-rise apartment, where she invites Teddy into her satin bed. He is thrilled until her airline pilot husband suddenly comes home. Trying to escape, Teddy ends up on a ledge, where passersby below believe he is about to commit suicide, all captured on live television. He jumps off the window ledge and waits to be caught by the firemen. While falling, Teddy starts to become interested in a newswoman who smiles at him.
The Wrong Man (1956)
Black & White
Man becomes suspect when he tries to cash out his wife's life insurance for medical debts
The Wrong Man
"For the only time in his many films, Alfred Hitchcock starts this picture talking to the camera and says that "every word is true" in this story.
Manny Balestrero (Henry Fonda), a down-on-his-luck musician at New York City's Stork Club, is in a money crunch. His wife, Rose (Vera Miles), needs to have her wisdom teeth extracted at a cost of $300, but the couple does not have that much money. Though he has already borrowed against his life insurance policy, he goes to the life insurance company to attempt to take a loan out against Rose's policy. He is immediately recognized by the clerical workers in the store as the man who had twice held up the insurance office. They inform the police, and he is taken to the 110th Precinct by detectives. Without being told why, Manny is instructed to walk in and out of a liquor store and delicatessen, both scenes of a robbery earlier that year. He is then asked by police to give a handwriting sample, writing the words from the stick-up note at the insurance company. Manny misspells the word "drawer" as "draw"--the same spelling mistake the robber made in the note. After being picked out of a police lineup by the women from the insurance company, he is then arrested and charged with robbery, and his family finds out that he will be in court on the following morning.
Attorney Frank O'Connor (Anthony Quayle) sets out to prove that Manny cannot possibly be the right man: at the time of the first hold-up he was on vacation with his family, and at the time of the second his jaw was so swollen that witnesses would certainly have noticed. Manny and Rose look for three people who saw Manny at the vacation hotel, but two have died and the third cannot be found. All this devastates Rose, whose resulting depression forces her to be hospitalized.
During Manny's trial a juror, bored with the minutiae of one witness's testimony, makes a remark which prompts the judge to declare a mistrial. While Manny is awaiting a second trial he is exonerated when the true robber is arrested holding up a grocery store. Manny visits Rose at the hospital to share the good news, but as the film closes she remains clinically depressed; a textual epilogue explains that she recovered two years later.
Their Eyes Were Watching God (2005)
Color
Free-spirited black woman refuses to accept her place in society in the 20's
Their Eyes Were Watching God
The story centers on Janie Crawford (Halle Berry), a free-spirited woman who lives her life on her own terms. Refusing to accept her place as a black woman in the 1920s, Crawford lives life to its fullest and experiences a journey filled with great joy and unbearable heartache.
There Will Be Blood (2007)
Color
Oil tycoon at odds with community preacher
There Will Be Blood
"In 1898, Daniel Plainview, a prospector in New Mexico, mines a potentially precious ore vein from a pit mine hole. In the process of dynamiting the lode, he falls from a broken rung of the tunnel ladder and breaks his leg. He saves a silver sample, climbs out of the mine, and drags himself to the nearest assay office to evaluate his find and receives a silver and gold certificate claim. In 1902, he discovers oil near Los Angeles, California and establishes a small drilling company. Following the death of a worker in an accident, Daniel adopts the man's orphaned son. The boy, named H. W., becomes his nominal "business partner", allowing Daniel to paint himself to potential investors as "a family man".
In 1911, Daniel is approached by Paul Sunday, who tells him of an oil deposit under his family's property in Little Boston, California. Daniel attempts to buy the farm at a bargain price. However, Eli, Paul's twin brother and pastor of a local church, is aware of his plan. Eli demands $10,000 and states that it is for the church. An agreement is made and Daniel goes on to acquire all the available land in the area, except for one holdout: William Bandy. Oil production begins, but an on-site accident kills a worker and a gas blowout robs H. W. of his hearing. Eli blames the disasters on the well not being properly blessed. When Eli demands the $5,000 Daniel still owes his family, Daniel beats and humiliates him. At the dinner table, Eli berates his father for trusting Daniel.
A man arrives at Daniel's doorstep, claiming to be his half-brother, Henry. Daniel hires Henry to work for him, and the two grow closer. H. W. sets fire to their house, intending for it to kill Henry. Angered by his son's behavior, Daniel sends him away to a school for the deaf in San Francisco, and leaves him on the train by himself. A representative from Standard Oil offers to buy out Daniel's local interests, but Daniel elects to strike a deal with Union Oil and construct a pipeline to the California coast, though the Bandy ranch remains an impediment.
While reminiscing about his childhood, Daniel becomes suspicious of Henry and one night holds him at gunpoint. "Henry" confesses that he was a friend of the real Henry, who died from tuberculosis. In a fit of rage, Daniel murders the impostor and buries his body. The next morning, Daniel is awakened by Mr. Bandy, who knows of the previous night's events and wants Daniel to repent. At the church, as part of Daniel's baptism, Eli humiliates him and coerces him into acknowledging that he is a bad father. Some time later, as the pipeline is well under way, H. W. returns and reunites with Daniel, while Eli leaves town to perform missionary work.
In 1927, H. W. marries Eli and Paul's sister Mary. Daniel, now extremely wealthy but a raging alcoholic, lives as a recluse in a large mansion. Through a sign language interpreter, H. W. asks Daniel to dissolve their partnership so that he can establish his own oil company in Mexico. Daniel reacts brutally, mocks H. W.'s deafness and reveals his true origins as an orphan. H. W. leaves, but not before telling Daniel he is now grateful that they are not related.
Soon after, Eli visits Daniel, who is drunk and passed out in his private bowling alley. Eli, now a radio preacher, offers to sell Daniel the land of William Bandy, who recently died. Daniel agrees on the condition that Eli loudly denounces his faith and his own credibility. Swallowing his pride, Eli reluctantly does so. Daniel reveals that the property is now worthless because he has already drained its oil through surrounding wells. Shaken and desperate, Eli confesses to being in dire financial straits. Daniel taunts Eli and claims that Paul now has his own oil company. Daniel then snaps and begins attacking Eli, and chases him around in the bowling room. Eventually, Daniel kills Eli by smashing his head in with a bowling pin. When Daniel's butler comes down to check on him, Daniel says casually, "I'm finished."
They Call Me Mr. Tibbs (1970)
Color
Tibbs becomes involved in case where street preacher is suspected of murdering hooker
They Call Me Mr. Tibbs
"Detective Virgil Tibbs, now a lieutenant with the San Francisco police, is assigned to investigate the murder of a prostitute. A prime suspect is Rev. Logan Sharpe (Martin Landau), a liberal street preacher and political organizer, who insists to Tibbs that he was merely visiting the hooker in a professional capacity, advising her spiritually.
Tibbs questions a janitor from the victim's building, Mealie, as well as another man, Woody Garfield, who might have been the woman's pimp. Suspicion falls on a man named Rice Weedon (Anthony Zerbe), who takes umbrage and is shot by Tibbs in self-defense.
Tibbs concludes that Sharpe really must be the culprit. Sharpe confesses but requests Tibbs give him some time to complete his work on one last political issue. Told this wouldn't be possible, Sharpe takes his own life.
They Shoot Horses, Don't They? (1969)
Color
Depression-era dance marathon for cash brings out the worst in desperate contestants
They Shoot Horses, Don't They?
"Robert Syverton (Michael Sarrazin), who had once dreamed of becoming a great film director, recalls the events leading to an unstated crime. In his youth, he saw a horse break its leg, after which it was shot and put out of its misery. Years later, in 1932 during the Great Depression, he wanders into a dance marathon about to begin in the shabby La Monica Ballroom, perched over the Pacific Ocean on the Santa Monica Pier, near Los Angeles. He is recruited by MC Rocky (Gig Young) as a substitute partner for a cynical malcontent named Gloria (Jane Fonda), when her original partner is disqualified because of an ominous cough.
Among the other contestants competing for a prize of 1,500 silver dollars is Harry Kline (Red Buttons), a middle-aged sailor; Alice (Susannah York) and her partner Joel (Robert Fields), both aspiring actors; and an impoverished farm worker James (Bruce Dern) and his pregnant wife Ruby (Bonnie Bedelia). Early in the marathon the weaker pairs are eliminated quickly, while Rocky observes the vulnerabilities of the stronger contestants and exploits them for the audience's amusement. Frayed nerves are exacerbated by the theft of one of Alice's dresses and Gloria's displeasure at the attention Alice receives from Robert. In retaliation, she takes Joel as her partner, but when he receives a job offer and departs, she aligns herself with Harry.
Weeks into the marathon, in order to spark the paying spectators' enthusiasm, Rocky stages a series of derbies in which the exhausted contestants, clad in track suits, must race around the dance floor, with the last three couples eliminated. Harry has a fatal heart attack during one of the races, but the undeterred Gloria lifts him on her back and crosses the finish line. Harry dies as Gloria drags him. Alice, who witnesses his death, has a breakdown and is taken away. Lacking partners, Robert and Gloria again pair up.
Rocky suggests the couple marry during the marathon, a publicity stunt guaranteed to earn them some cash, in the form of gifts from supporters such as Mrs. Laydon (Madge Kennedy). When Gloria refuses, he reveals the contest is not what it appears. Expenses will be deducted from the prize money, leaving the winner with close to nothing. Shocked by the revelation, the couple drops out of the competition.
The two leave the dance hall and stand on the pier, overlooking the ocean. Gloria confesses how empty she is inside and tells Robert that she wants to kill herself, but when she takes out a gun and points it at herself, she cannot pull the trigger. Desperate, she asks Robert, "Help me." He obliges, and shoots her in the head, killing her. Questioned by the police as to the motive for his action, Robert responds: "They shoot horses, don't they?"
The marathon continues with its few remaining couples, including James and Ruby. The eventual winners are not revealed.
Think Fast Mr. Moto (1937)
Black & White
Mr. Moto outwits internation smugglers
Think Fast Mr. Moto
"The film opens with Mr. Moto in disguise as a street salesmen and selling goods to passers-by. He sees a man leaving a shop with a tattoo of the British Flag on his arm. Moto enters the shop to sell a rare diamond to the owner. However, Moto sees a body stuffed into a wicker basket in the store, and using his mastery of judo takes down the shopkeeper. Later, he reserves a berth on a freighter headed for Shanghai. Also on the freighter is Bob Hitchings Jr., son of the owner of the freighter. Before leaving, Hitchings Sr. gives his son a confidential letter for the head of the Shanghai branch of the company. Hitchings and Moto become friends (Moto notices the letter), and Moto helps Hitchings cure a hangover. Hitchings complains to Moto that he has not met any beautiful women on board. After a stop in Honolulu, a beautiful woman named Gloria Danton boards the ship, and she and Hitchings fall in love. But Gloria is a spy for Nicolas Marloff, who runs a smuggling operation out of Shanghai. She periodically sends him notes and leaves without saying goodbye to Hitchings. Moto finds a steward looking for Hitchings's letter, and confronts him, knowing he was the person who killed the man in the wicker basket, as he wears the tattoo. Moto throws the man overboard and takes the letter.
At Shanghai, Hitchings meets with Joseph B. Wilkie and gives him the letter, but later learns that it is a blank sheet of paper. He calls his father, who tells him the letter said to watch out for smugglers. Hitchings is adamant on finding Gloria, and he learns from an unknown person that she is at the “international club”. Both he and Wilkie go there, as well as Moto and his date, Lela Liu. Hitchings finds Gloria performing at the club and goes to her dressing room. However, the club owner Marloff, discovers them together, and, knowing that Hitchings knows too much, locks them both up. Moto tells Lela to call the police, and seeks out Marloff. Posing as a fellow smuggler, he tricks Marloff into leading him to Gloria and Hitchings. Lela is shot while contacting the police, but manages to tell them where she is. Wilkie finds Marloff, and demands that Gloria and Hitchings be released. Marloff finds out that Moto is not a smuggler, then Moto apprehends him. Moto tells Wilkie to get Marloff's gun, the gun explodes as Wilkie tries to grab it, killing Marloff. Police storm the building, and Moto tells them the Wilkie headed the smuggling operation. Wilkie replaced the letter and shot Lela. Moto gave Wilkie the opportunity to kill Marloff, who knew he was in on the plot, and he did. Wilkie is arrested, and things go back to normal.
Think Like a Man (2012)
Color
Men gain the upper-hand when they find the relationship book their woman are reading
Think Like a Man
"The film follows four storylines about each of the couples, titled:
"The Mama's Boy" vs. "The Single Mom"
"The Non-Committer" vs. "The Girl Who Wants the Ring"
"The Dreamer" vs. "The Woman Who Is Her Own Man"
"The Player" vs. "The 90 Day Rule Girl"
Each of the women are readers of Steve Harvey's book Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man. When the men learn that the women are hooked on Harvey's advice, they try to turn the tables on their mates, which later seems to backfire.
Think Like a Man Too (2014)
Color
Couples back in Las Vegas for a romantic weekend encounter misadventures
Think Like a Man Too
"The film starts with Cedric (Kevin Hart) saying how Las Vegas has always been a place for casinos and showgirls, and now it's the perfect place for couples to get married.
He and his friends are all gathered there for the wedding of Michael (Terrence J) and Candace (Regina Hall), with her son Duke (Caleel Harris) and mother (Angela Gibbs) joining them. The other couples arrive with more than their fair share of baggage. Zeke (Romany Malco) and Mya (Meagan Good) arrive, with Zeke's womanizing past constantly being brought up by old friends and former flames, including the concierge at the hotel that recognizes him and throws her drink in his face. Bennett (Gary Owen) and his wife Tish (Wendi McLendon-Covey) are trying to get a spark back in their marriage. Jeremy (Jerry Ferrara) and Kristen (Gabrielle Union) have since been married and are now trying for a kid. Dominic (Michael Ealy) and Lauren (Taraji P. Henson) are reunited after spending time away from each other, and they make out in the limo. Finally, Cedric pulls up to the hotel in a gaudy sports car, happily getting away from his wife Gail (Wendy Williams).
The men and women separate to enjoy their day. Cedric, being the best man for the wedding, books himself a lavish suite and intends to go all out for a wild weekend in Vegas. Meanwhile, Michael's overbearing mother Loretta (Jenifer Lewis) doesn't approve of his engagement with Candace, still thinking no woman is good enough for her son. This, along with Candace's desire to have the perfect wedding, heaps on the stress. Loretta even takes over the bachelorette party duties, even though Lauren is the maid of honor. The women start to have a party for Candace, complete with their own blow-up doll (named Idris), until Loretta makes up her own party. It's boring.
Among other problems plaguing the couples include Lauren being called by her boss Lee (Kelsey Grammer), who tells her she is being considered for a COO position in New York, meaning she will be separated from Dominic. Kristen tries to get Jeremy to have sex with her and try for a kid by roleplaying "Game of Thrones" characters, but Jeremy has too many reservations over being a dad. He's also not thrilled about having to give up smoking weed, and he instead brought weed breath strips. Mya is ready to marry Zeke, but he clearly shows hesitation over the matter.
While the ladies have to deal with Loretta, Lauren and Candace conspire to set her up with Candace's Uncle Eddie to get Loretta off their backs so they can go back to enjoying the night. Loretta takes all the ladies out to dinner that night and then plans to take Candace to see Dionne Warwick. That's when Uncle Eddie (Dennis Haysbert) shows up at the right moment and begins flirting with Loretta. The ladies pass him onto her to go see Dionne Warwick, so they can leave to have fun. Elsewhere, the guys are hitting the casinos, with Cedric trying to score as much as he can. They run into Michael's old frat brothers Isaac (Adam Brody) and Terrell (David Walton), who just want to party. Dominic is then pulled aside by a chef who offers him a position there in Vegas, which could possibly jumpstart his career as a chef.
The ladies give Tish a makeover (complete with a montage) to undo her frumpy housewife look to a more alluring style. They then take the guys' party bus to the club, forcing the guys to either take a Chippendale-type bus, or walk. They choose the latter. On the bus, the ladies find Jeremy's weed strips and take them, while Lauren gets a call from her boss who officially makes her COO.
Cedric finds himself in hot water when Gail finds out that he's been using her card to pay for his expenses, running her up to $40,000 in charges. He tries to win it back at the casino, thinking his lucky number is 15 (because that's the age when he lost his virginity and the number of times he and Gail split up). He puts all his chips and money on the table, and with his back turned, Zeke pulls the chips away to leave only one to spare Cedric the loss. However, the ball does land on 15, and Cedric is pissed at Zeke for ruining his chance at a win. Meanwhile, the ladies start to feel the effects of the strips, and they start to make an impromptu video to Bell Biv DeVoe's "Poison".
Turning to a last resort, Cedric gets all the guys together to the club (the same one the ladies are at) for amateur's night, dressing in their underwear to try and score some money. This turns into a disaster when Michael spots Candace getting a lap dance. He charges to attack the dancer, leading to an all-out between the guys, ladies, and the strippers. The whole gang is then thrown in jail.
Realizing that the wedding is in a few hours, they all try to call someone for help, but with no luck: Loretta is busy spending the night with Eddie in her room; Gail is already shacking up with Drake (who appears as himself); Bennett's mother has gone to pick up his kid. Jeremy sees the way he talks to his child, and is influenced to become a father. The rest of the guys blame Cedric for getting them into this mess from the moment he planned the weekend.
Loretta sees the messages from Michael on her phone and rushes to bail him and his friends out. Everybody rushes to the venue for the wedding, but since they were too late, their spot has been taken. Candace runs away crying, and Michael leaves without a word. During this time, the couples decide to resolve their problems, except for Bennett and Tish; aroused by Tish's new look, Bennett takes her to bed. Jeremy decides that he's finally committed to being a father, and Kristen reveals she might be pregnant (though she claims to be a week late), bringing the two closer. Dominic and Lauren admit that they were considered for good jobs, but they each turned them down because of their love for one another. Zeke explains and apologizes to Mya for everything that's been going on, and finally proposes to her; Mya accepts.
Loretta goes into Michael and Candace's room to look for Michael, but he's not in the room, so instead she tells Candace maybe it was for the best and that if she really loves her son, she would finish packing and leave him, making Candace more overwhelmed and fed up. Michael walks in on this and has become fed up with his mother and decides to show tough love and says to his mother that she needs to apologize to Candace, but she refuses. He also declares that he will marry her whether she likes it or not, and, because of how mean she has been, he tells her she is no longer invited to the wedding. Candace disagrees with Michael, saying that he needs to apologize to Loretta, because as a mother herself, she would be heartbroken if her own son did not let her go to his wedding. Loretta, however, recognizes her mistakes, makes the first move, and apologizes to Candace; the three reconcile.
Cedric, feeling like a failure as a best man, packs his bags; however, with the help of his personal butler, Declan (Jim Piddock), he manages to find another venue. Candace and Michael are married, and everybody, including Loretta, cheers and celebrates.
As the gang leaves the hotel, Cedric, having had enough of Vegas, drops his last dollar on the floor. Bennett picks it up for him, but Cedric tells him to go away. Bennett then puts the dollar in a slot machine and scores $100,000. Cedric runs in to try and claim this since it was his dollar, though everybody else tries to pry him away from fighting Bennett.
This Is Where I Leave You (2014)
Color
4 Jewish siblings come together after thier father's death, only to renew old grudges
This Is Where I Leave You
"Judd Altman (Jason Bateman) finds out his wife Quinn (Abigail Spencer) has been having an affair with his boss Wade (Dax Shepard) for a year. After he moves out, his sister Wendy (Tina Fey) calls to tell him their father Mort has died. The Altmans gather for the funeral at their mother's home where they reconnect with Wendy's ex-boyfriend Horry Callen (Timothy Olyphant), who suffered a brain injury years before, and his mother Linda (Debra Monk). Wendy is unhappy because her workaholic husband Barry (Aaron Lazar) neglects her. Judd reunites with his older brother Paul (Corey Stoll) and Paul's wife Annie (Kathryn Hahn), who had once been Judd's girlfriend. The youngest brother, Phillip (Adam Driver), arrives late with his new, older girlfriend Tracy (Connie Britton).
The Altmans' mother Hilary (Jane Fonda) tells her children their father, though an atheist, wanted them to sit shiva, presided over by the Altmans' childhood friend, Rabbi Charles "Boner" Grodner (Ben Schwartz). Wendy is the only one in the family who knows about Judd's marital problems. Judd also reunites with Penny Moore (Rose Byrne), a woman who had a crush on him in high school.
During a family gathering, Wendy drunkenly badgers Judd to tell the truth about Quinn. Phillip laments being seen as the family screw-up, while flirting with another woman in front of Tracy. Judd blurts out that Quinn was cheating on him and he plans to divorce her. Quinn shows up the next day and reveals she's pregnant with Judd's child. Phillip finds out about the pregnancy and reveals this to the family.
Judd spends the night with Penny, and then spends the day with her. Wendy visits Horry in his backyard, and expresses remorse over causing the accident that caused Horry's brain injury. The family goes to temple, where the brothers sneak out to smoke joints Judd found in his father's suit. Annie, upset that she and Paul haven't conceived, tries to seduce Judd in hopes that he will impregnate her, but he rejects her. A few days later, after Barry leaves for a conference, Wendy sleeps with Horry, with whom she is still in love.
Quinn calls Judd out of fear that she is having a miscarriage, and he admits to Penny that Quinn is pregnant. Judd gets to the hospital to be with Quinn where Wade also shows up. The baby, which is revealed to be a girl, survives. Judd and Wade get into a fight in the waiting room. When Philip and Wendy arrive, Wendy punches Wade in the face, and Judd gets a group of young men who witnessed the confrontation to flip Wade's car. As he leaves, Wade tells Judd he's not ready to be a step-dad and leaves Quinn. Judd informs Quinn that even though their marriage is over and they cannot get back together, he will support her in raising their daughter when the baby is born.
The next day, Tracy talks with Judd and decides to break up with Phillip. Judd drives to Penny's house to talk to her, but she won't listen. Later, Annie apologizes to Judd, tearfully confessing that she is frustrated that she can't get pregnant. Judd replies that she should focus on what she and Paul do have. Paul sees Judd hugging her and assumes Judd is hitting on her. Paul attacks Judd as Tracy leaves Phillip, resulting in the three brothers fighting. Hilary silences everyone by kissing Linda passionately. She informs them that she and Linda are in love and that they had Mort's blessing. She admits the shiva was her idea, in order to come out to her children and get them to reconnect. The siblings are shocked, but see their mother is happy and accept it.
One night, when the power goes out in the basement, Judd attempts to fix the fusebox, only to receive an electric shock and be knocked out. He dreams of a childhood memory of falling off his bike and of Mort comforting him. Judd wakes up crying, finally mourning his father.
Judd apologizes to Penny for not being honest and promises to call her. Realizing that they're in love with each other, Judd and Penny kiss passionately as they embrace each other. Wendy leaves with her two children, tearing up as she again leaves Horry. The brothers reconcile and Paul offers Phillip a job at their father's sporting goods store. Judd quietly slips out, steals Phillip's Porsche, and drives up the highway to Maine, where he had dreamed of going.
Those Who Wish Me Dead (2021)
Color
Smoke jumper Hannah flees across a forest to save a 12yo boy from two assassins
Those Who Wish Me Dead
"Hannah Faber, a smokejumper, is struggling after failing to prevent the deaths of three young campers and a fellow smokejumper in a forest fire. She is now posted in a fire lookout tower in Park County, Montana.
Owen Casserly, a forensic accountant, learns about the death of his boss and family in an apparent gas explosion; they were actually murdered by assassins Jack and Patrick Blackwell.
Believing he is the next target, Owen goes on the run with his son, Connor. He intends to seek refuge with his brother-in-law, Ethan Sawyer, a Deputy Sheriff, and Hannah's ex-boyfriend. They are ambushed by the Blackwells, who force them off the road and down a cliff. As Owen dies, he gives Connor evidence against the Blackwells' employer, mob boss Arthur Phillip.
As Ethan discovers Owen's car wreck, Hannah stumbles upon Connor while out on patrol. She takes him back to the tower to contact help. Arthur instructs the Blackwells to hunt Connor down and kill him. As a diversion to preoccupy the police, they use flares to start a forest fire. They go to Ethan's house searching for Connor and find and interrogate Ethan's wife, Allison, who is pregnant. When they force her to call Ethan, she gives him a duress code; she then fights off the Blackwells and escapes.
Hannah discovers that a lightning strike disabled the radio at the lookout tower during an electrical storm. She attempts to take Connor into town on foot, but they are forced to turn back when the fire blocks their path. Following the radio call, Ethan returns home with the Sheriff, aiming to protect Allison. However, the Blackwells ambush them; they kill the Sheriff and force Ethan to guide them through the woods.
The Blackwells arrive at Hannah's fire tower and force Ethan to search it as they observe from a tree. Hannah and Connor hide while Ethan attempts to make it appear as if the tower is empty. After Patrick sees that Ethan seems to be talking to someone, the Blackwells shoot up the tower. Ethan is injured, but Hannah and Connor manage to escape. The Blackwells try to follow them but are stopped when Allison, having tracked them down, starts shooting at them. Patrick and Jack split up, with Patrick pursuing Hannah and Connor while Jack stays behind to fight Allison; Allison gains the upper hand and kills Jack.
Connor runs ahead while Hannah distracts Patrick but returns after Patrick threatens to beat Hannah to death. As Patrick is about to kill Connor, Hannah severely injures Patrick with a climbing axe and leaves him to burn to death in the approaching fire. Allison reunites with Ethan in the tower, but the fire traps them as they put on oxygen masks and hold each other. Hannah and Connor jump into a stream and watch from under the water as the fire engulfs the forest.
In the morning after the fire has burned out, Hannah's old smoke-jumping team arrives and rescues her, Connor, and Allison. Ethan has died from earlier injuries. Connor later prepares to give his father's evidence to the media. Hannah promises to help him through his uncertain future.
Threads (1984)
Color
Life after a nuclear holocast
Threads
"Young lovers Ruth Beckett (Karen Meagher) and Jimmy Kemp (Reece Dinsdale) decide to marry due to an unplanned pregnancy. As they and their families are introduced into the plot, news reports over the course of several weeks indicate that the Soviet Union has invaded Iran following a coup, and that the United States military, with British support, has intervened. As the situation escalates and events transpire, Sheffield City Council is directed by the Home Office to assemble an emergency operations team, which establishes itself in a makeshift bomb shelter in the basement of the Town Hall.
The crisis deepens as the Soviets use a nuclear warhead, delivered by a surface-to-air missile, to destroy incoming American B-52 bombers attacking a Soviet-occupied airbase in Mashhad. The Americans respond by detonating a battlefield nuclear weapon at the airbase. Hostilities temporarily cease. Britain is gripped by fear: as supplies and food run low, some retailers resort to profiteering, with looting and rioting erupting. "Known subversives" (including peace activists and some trade unionists) are arrested and interned under the Emergency Powers Act.
At 8:30am (3:30am in Washington, D.C.) on 26 May, Attack Warning Red is transmitted, sending the emergency operations team into frantic action. The city's air raid sirens sound, and Sheffield erupts into panic, prompting Jimmy and his workmate Bob to take cover under their van. A warhead detonates over the North Sea, creating an electromagnetic pulse that disrupts power and communications over the region. Minutes later the first salvo of Soviet nuclear weapons strikes NATO targets in Western Europe, including RAF Finningley 20 miles (32 km) from Sheffield. The flash and mushroom cloud cause panic. People caught in the open are injured by flying debris as the blast blows out windows across the city. As the blast wave passes, Jimmy and Bob clamber out and Jimmy runs to his car, shouting that he is going to try to reach Ruth, but the car will not start so he sets off on foot through the chaos. He is never seen again. The Becketts hurry to their basement while the Kemps (Jimmy's parents) desperately rush to finish a shelter they were preparing out of mattresses, bags and doors. Jimmy's younger sister, Alison, was sent to the shops minutes before the attack Mrs. Kemp is seen shielding her youngest son, Michael, as a blast blows in the front windows of the house. Minutes later, Michael is seen crying in the aviary. He is still there when a larger nuclear warhead detonates directly over Sheffield.
As the exchange escalates, strategic targets including steel and chemical factories in the Midlands are attacked with nuclear weapons, instantly vaporising thousands of people and ravaging everything with fire. The worldwide nuclear exchange is 3000 megatons, with 210 megatons falling on the United Kingdom. Two-thirds of all homes are destroyed by blast or fire and immediate deaths are between 17 and 30 million. Nuclear fallout keeps rescuers from fighting fires or rescuing those trapped in the debris. A montage of a firestorm shows milk bottles melting, animals writhing amid the flames and human corpses burning. The staff in Sheffield emergency operations team are alive (except one member killed by falling debris) but they are trapped beneath the rubble of the Town Hall. Initially, they are able to contact what remains of local fire and police services by radio. It is not possible for rescue teams to reach them, since radiation levels are too high and all approaches are blocked.
Within hours, fallout from a groundburst at Crewe begins descending upon Sheffield. As their severely damaged home offers little protection, the Kemps suffer from radiation sickness, and Mrs. Kemp is also severely burned (the narrator points out: "the symptoms of radiation sickness and panic are identical"). A day after the attack, they stumble outside to search for Michael, looking in horror at the devastation and fires around them. They find Michael, dead, under a pile of wreckage in the front garden. The Becketts are better protected in their cellar, but Ruth's grandmother (who had been sent to live with them as hospitals were cleared for expected casualties) dies. After helping to move her body to the front room, Ruth leaves the cellar and wanders through the devastated city. Little has been left standing and corpses are everywhere along with dazed, traumatised and injured survivors. Eventually, she arrives at a hospital in Buxton, 20 miles from Sheffield. There is no electricity, no running water and no sanitation, and drugs and medical supplies have long since run out. Crowds of people await treatment, with floors are covered with blood, pillowcases being torn up into makeshift bandages and injured limbs being amputated without anaesthetic. The narrator points out that the entire peacetime resources of the National Health Service, had they survived, would be unable to cope with the casualties from just the one bomb that hit Sheffield. In the aftermath of a full-scale nuclear attack, "as a source of help or comfort he [a doctor] is little better equipped than the nearest survivor."
When Ruth returns to Sheffield, she goes first to the Kemps' house and finds Mrs. Kemp's body in their shelter. She then returns to her own home, where her grandmother's body is decaying under a blanket. The cellar is full of flies and vermin and she realises her parents, if they are there, must be dead. In fact, as a previous scene has shown, they have been murdered by looters, one of whom is himself shot by soldiers who chance upon the gang leaving the house. By this time order has dissolved and "starving mobs" are seeking food in many places around the city. Looters, including Alison Kemp, are shown being held behind wire. Mr. Kemp is among a rioting crowd at a food storage depot who are dispersed by tear gas and gunfire. He dies some time later from radiation sickness.
One month after the attack, soldiers dig into the town hall basement and find the bodies of the emergency operations staff, who have all died of suffocation. No efforts are made to bury the dead as the surviving population is too weak for manual labour. Burning the bodies is considered a waste of what little fuel remains and so millions are left unburied, which leads to the outbreak of diseases such as cholera and typhoid. The government authorises the use of capital punishment and special courts are given wide-ranging powers to shoot prisoners. As money no longer has any value the only viable currency is food, given as a reward for work or withheld as punishment. Workers who die slightly increase the average daily food rations to the survivors. Due to the millions of tons of soot, smoke and dust that have been blown into the upper atmosphere by the explosions, a nuclear winter develops. Ruth is later working on a farm, having defied official advice and fled the city, eventually giving birth alone in a farm out-building to her daughter, Jane. With nobody to help, Ruth is forced to cut the umbilical cord with her teeth.
A year after the war, sunlight begins to return but food production is poor due to the lack of proper equipment, fertilisers and fuel. Damage to the ozone layer also means this sunlight is heavy with ultraviolet radiation. Cataracts and cancer are much more common. The remaining survivors are weakened from illness and hunger.
A few years on, Britain's population falls to medieval levels, around 4 to 11 million people. The country has managed only very little recovery. Survivors, including Ruth and her daughter, work in the fields. Children born since the attacks are educationally stunted and speak a broken form of English. This is due to the effects of radiation, as children born after the attack suffer from mental retardation and/or physical deformities, including Ruth's daughter. Prematurely aged (possibly as a result of cancer) and blind with cataracts, Ruth dies, survived by her 10-year-old daughter Jane (Victoria O'Keefe).
As shown by screen captures, the country gradually starts to rebuild with limited amounts of coal mining and some mechanisation from traction engines. Three years after Ruth's death, Jane and two boys her age are caught stealing food. When they try to escape, one boy is shot dead as they flee. She and the other boy wrestle for the food and they end up having what the script describes as "crude intercourse" and Jane is allegedly sodomized.[1] Months later, she is seen stumbling through the rubble of a city, pregnant and at full-term. She finds a makeshift hospital, which has electricity. The final scene shows Jane giving birth and the play ends just as she is about to scream in horror as she looks upon her baby.
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017)
Color
Mother puts up billboards to find daughter's killer when law enforcement makes no progress
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
"In the fictional town of Ebbing, Missouri, Mildred Hayes is grieving over the rape and murder of her teenage daughter, Angela, seven months earlier. Angry over the lack of progress in the investigation, Mildred rents three abandoned billboards near her home and posts on them: "Raped While Dying", "And Still No Arrests?", and "How Come, Chief Willoughby?" The billboards upset many townspeople, including Chief Bill Willoughby and the racist, violent, alcoholic Officer Jason Dixon. The open secret that Bill suffers from terminal pancreatic cancer adds to everyone's disapproval. Despite incurring harassment and threats, and the objections of her son Robbie, Mildred remains determined to keep up her billboards.
While Bill is sympathetic to Mildred's frustration, he finds the billboards an unfair attack on his character. Angered by her lack of respect for the chief's authority, Dixon threatens businessman Red Welby, who rented Mildred the billboards, and he arrests her friend and coworker, Denise, on trivial charges for drug possession. Mildred is visited by her abusive ex-husband Charlie, who reveals that, shortly before Angela's murder, he had turned down her request to come and live with him.
Bill takes Mildred in for questioning after she drills a hole in her dentist's thumb when he threatens her. During the interview, Bill accidentally coughs up blood into Mildred's face. Mildred gets help and Bill is hospitalized, but he leaves the hospital against medical advice and spends an idyllic day with his wife Anne and their two daughters. He then kills himself in the barn with a handgun to spare his family the pain of watching him die from cancer. He leaves suicide notes for several people, including one for Mildred, in which he explains that she was not a factor in his suicide and that he secretly paid to keep the billboards up for another month, amused at the guilt this will bring her and hoping that they will keep attention on the murder. Dixon reacts to the news of Bill's death by assaulting Welby and throwing him out of a window. This is witnessed by Abercrombie, the chief's replacement, who fires Dixon. Meanwhile, Mildred is threatened by a crop-haired stranger in her store.
The billboards are destroyed by arson. Mildred retaliates by tossing Molotov cocktails at the police station, which she believes is unoccupied for the night. However, Dixon is there to read Bill's letter to him, which advises him to let go of hate and learn to love, as the only way to realize his wish to become a detective. Dixon escapes with Angela's case file but suffers severe burns. Mildred's acquaintance, James, witnesses the incident and extinguishes Dixon's burning clothes. He later provides Mildred with an alibi, claiming they were on a date at the time of the incident. Dixon is treated for his burns, and put in the same hospital room as Welby, to whom he apologizes.
Jerome, who was employed by the advertising company to put Mildred's messages up on the billboards, gives her the spares that were made in case of mistakes. She uses them to restore the billboard messages.
Discharged from the hospital, Dixon overhears a man who threatened Mildred bragging in a bar of having raped and killed a girl in the same manner as Angela. He notes the Idaho license plate number of the man's vehicle, then provokes a fight by scratching the man's face, thereby getting a sample of his DNA. Meanwhile, Mildred goes on a date with James to thank him for the alibi. Charlie enters with his 19-year-old girlfriend Penelope, mocks James, and admits to burning the billboards while drunk. James senses that Mildred went out with him out of pity, and leaves angrily. Mildred considers attacking Charlie, but then tells him to treat Penelope well and leaves.
Though commending him, Abercrombie informs Dixon that the DNA sample does not match that found on Angela's body, and that the man was overseas on military duty nine months prior. Dixon concludes that the man must be guilty of some other rape and murder, and joins Mildred on a trip to Idaho to kill him. On the way, Mildred confesses to Dixon that she set the police station on fire; he replies, "who the hell else would it have been?" They each express uncertainty about their mission, and agree to decide what to do along the way.
Throwback Holiday (2018)
Color
Girl goes back in time, and is given a second chance to choose the right man
Throwback Holiday
Jacqueline is living an unfulfilled life in a doomed marriage. After a chance encounter with a former classmate, she rethinks her life's choices and wishes she could go back to high school for a do-over. Like a Christmas miracle, Jacqueline awakens to find herself as a high school senior again with the ability to change everything.
Timbuktu (2015)
Color
Fear grips Timbuktu after the Malian city is seized by Islamic rebels
Timbuktu
"The city of Timbuktu is under the occupation of extremist Islamists bearing a jihadist black flag. Kidane is a cattle herder who lives outside of the city. One day, one of his cows accidentally damages the net of a fisherman. The enraged fisherman kills the cow. Kidane confronts the fisherman and accidentally shoots him dead. The jihadists arrest Kidane and, per sharia law, demand a blood money payment of 40 cattle to the fisherman's family. As Kidane has only seven cattle, he is sentenced to death. His wife shows up at his execution with a pistol, and as they run to each other the husband attempts to stop her. The executioners gun them both down.
Throughout the film there are subsidiary scenes showing the reaction of the population to the jihadists' rule, which are portrayed as absurd. A female fishmonger must wear gloves even when selling fish. Music is banned; a woman is sentenced to 40 lashes for singing, and 40 lashes for being in the same room as a man not of her family. A couple are buried up to their necks in sand and stoned to death for adultery. Young men play football with an imaginary ball as sports are banned. A local imam tries to curb the jihadists' excesses with sermons.
The failure of the occupiers to live up to their own rules is hinted at, for instance when one of them is seen smoking a cigarette. Another group of jihadists from France spend their days talking about their favorite football teams.
Characters speak in Tamasheq, Bambara, Arabic, French, and on a few occasions English. The mobile phone is an important means of communication.
Time Limit (1957)
Black & White
Lawyer defends Korean POW, the distinction between right and wrong becomes blurred
Time Limit
"Army Colonel William Edwards (Richard Widmark) is investigating the case of Major Harry Cargill (Richard Basehart), accused of collaborating with the enemy while he and his unit were held captive in a North Korean prisoner of war camp. Cargill willingly admits his guilt and brings forth evidence that proves that he signed a germ-warfare confession and broadcast anti-American speeches over the radio, seemingly an act of treason.
It seems to be an open-and-shut case, were it not for Cargill's inexplicable refusal to defend himself. Arousing further suspicion is the fact that his collaboration immediately followed the deaths of two of his soldiers, and the unit's survivors all recite an identical, rehearsed account of those deaths. Edwards' commander, General Connors (Carl Benton Reid), has a strong personal interest--his son, Captain Joe Connors (Yale Wexler), was one of those who died--and presses Edwards to recommend a court-martial, but Edwards delves into the mystery, refusing to accept the facile explanations.
In the end, the shocking truth comes out. Lieutenant George Miller (Rip Torn) reveals that after Lieutenant Harvey (Manning Ross) was killed trying to escape, the rest of the men discovered that, under torture, Captain Connors had betrayed him. Over Cargill's strong objections, they decided to execute Connors. Drawing the short straw, Miller had to strangle him. Subsequently, their captor, Colonel Kim (Khigh Dhiegh), gave Cargill an ultimatum: give in, or all his men would be executed. He agreed to collaborate with the enemy to save their lives.
General Connors calls his son a traitor. Cargill argues, stating that there must be a time limit on being a hero. He denounces the Uniform Code of Military Justice espoused by General Connors for demanding too much from soldiers, but the general reminds him that while Cargill anguished over the lives and families of 16 men, that many commanders had to anguish over the effect of their orders on the lives and families of thousands.
Edwards agrees with General Connors that although Cargill acted out of a humane selflessness, Cargill's judgment was flawed. He recommends that all charges be dropped, but warns Cargill that there will be a court-martial. Edwards himself will defend Cargill. Maybe they won't come up with all the answers, Edwards tells him, but "they'll know we asked the questions."
To Catch a Thief (1955)
Color
Suspected, retired thief helps catch the real theif in a series of gem heists
To Catch a Thief
"Retired jewel thief John "The Cat" Robie is suspected by the police in a string of burglaries on the French Riviera. When they come to his hilltop villa to question him, he slips their grasp and heads to a restaurant owned by his friend Bertani. The restaurant's staff are members of Robie's old gang, who have been paroled for their work in the French Resistance during World War II. They are angry at Robie because they are all under suspicion as long as the new Cat is active. When the police arrive at the restaurant looking for Robie, Foussard's teenage daughter Danielle, who has a crush on him, spirits him to safety.
Robie realizes he can prove his innocence by catching the new Cat in the act. He enlists the aid of an insurance man, H. H. Hughson, who reluctantly discloses a list of the most expensive jewelry owners currently on the Riviera. American tourists Jessie Stevens, a wealthy nouveau riche widow, and her daughter Frances, top the list. Robie strikes up a friendship with them. Frances feigns modesty at first, but kisses Robie at the end of the night before retiring to her room.
The day after, Frances invites Robie to a swim at the beach, where Robie runs into Danielle. He keeps up his cover of being a wealthy American tourist, despite Danielle's jealous barbs about his interest in Frances. Frances accompanies Robie on a "picnic" to a villa where Robie suspects the new Cat might break in. Frances reveals that she knows Robie's real identity. He initially denies it, but concedes it that evening when she has invited him to her room to watch a fireworks display. They kiss passionately.
The next morning, Jessie discovers her jewels are gone. Frances accuses Robie of using her as a distraction so he could steal her mother's jewelry. The police are called, but by the time they reach Jessie's room, Robie has disappeared.
Later, Robie is staking out an estate at night when he is attacked by an unknown assailant. A second attacker raises a wrench and appears to hit Robie, who falls off the estate's seawall into the water. But when the police reach the body in the water, it turns out to be Foussard, one of the staff at Bertani's restaurant.
The police chief publicly announces that Foussard was the jewel thief, but, as Robie points out privately in the abashed Hughson's presence, this would have been impossible because Foussard had a wooden leg, and could not climb on rooftops.
Foussard's funeral is interrupted by Danielle's loud accusation that Robie is responsible for her father's death. Outside the graveyard, Frances apologizes to Robie and confesses her love. Robie asks Frances to arrange his attendance at a fancy masquerade ball, where he believes the Cat will strike again.
Robie accompanies Frances to the ball dressed as a masked Moor. The police hover nearby. Upstairs, the cat burglar silently cleans out several jewel boxes. When Jessie addresses the Moor as "John" and asks him to go and get her "heart pills", the authorities are tipped off as to his identity. Upon the masked Moor's return, the police wait as he and Frances dance together all night. When the masked Moor and Frances go to her room, the mask is removed: it was Hughson, who switched places with Robie to conceal Robie's exit.
Robie lurks on the rooftop, and his patience is finally rewarded when he spots a figure in black. However, just as his pursuit begins, the police throw a spotlight on him and demand he halt. He flees as they shoot at him, but he nonetheless manages to corner his foe with jewels in hand. Unmasked, his nemesis turns out to be Danielle. She loses her footing on the roof, but Robie grabs her hand before she can fall. While she hangs in his grasp, he forces her to confess to the police and admit that Bertani was the ringleader of this gang.
Robie speeds back to his villa. Frances follows to convince him that she has a place in his life. He agrees but looks less than thrilled when she says, "Mother will love it up here.
To Have and Have Not (1944)
Black & White
Boat captain gets caught up in the French resistence (WW II)
To Have and Have Not
"The film is set in Fort-de-France, in the French colony of Martinique, in the summer of 1940, shortly after the fall of France. The island is now controlled by pro-German Vichy France. World-weary Harry Morgan (Humphrey Bogart) has a small fishing-boat which he charters to tourists. Eddie (Walter Brennan) is his unofficial mate, though he is little use to Harry due to his heavy drinking. Harry is urged to help the French Resistance smuggle some people onto the island, but he refuses.
At the hotel he meets Marie ("Slim") Browning (Lauren Bacall), a young American wanderer, who sings "How Little We Know" with pianist Cricket (Hoagy Carmichael) in the bar. Harry's current charter client, Johnson (Walter Sande), owes Harry $825 ($14,100 today), but Johnson says that he cannot pay till the bank opens the next day. Harry sees Slim pick Johnson's pocket, and forces her to give him the wallet -- which contains $1,400 in traveler's cheques and a plane ticket for very early the next morning. On returning the wallet to Johnson, he demands that Johnson sign the traveler's cheques to pay him immediately. But just then, there is a shootout in front of the hotel between police and the Resistance, and Johnson is killed by a stray bullet. The police take Harry and several others in for questioning, and seize Harry's passport and money.
Hotel owner Gerard (Marcel Dalio), known as "Frenchy" to English speakers, offers to hire Harry and his boat for one night to transport Resistance members Hel?ne (Dolores Moran) and Paul de Bursac (Walter Surovy). Now effectively penniless, Harry reluctantly accepts Gerard's offer. Meanwhile, a romance has commenced to develop between Harry and Slim, the latter of whom feels that Harry changed his mind about the smuggling to help her out.
Harry picks up the Bursacs, but his boat is seen and fired on by a patrol boat; Paul is wounded, but Harry's boat escapes in the fog. Harry learns that Slim has stayed in Martinique to be with him. At Frenchy's request, Harry removes the bullet from Bursac's shoulder. The Bursacs are to help a man escape from the penal colony at Devil's Island. Bursac asks for Harry's assistance in this operation, but Harry turns him down.
The police reveal that they recognized Harry's boat the previous night, and that they have Eddie in custody and will withhold liquor to make Eddie tell what the boat carried. With Slim's help, Harry turns the tables on them. He holds Captain Renard (Dan Seymour) at gunpoint and forces him to order Eddie's release and sign harbor passes. When Eddie returns, Harry, Eddie, Slim, and the Bursacs all escape on Harry's boat; Harry has agreed to help the Bursacs in their mission.
To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)
Black & White
Southern lawyer defends black man accused of rape
To Kill a Mockingbird
"The story takes place during three years (1933--35) of the Great Depression in the fictional "tired old town" of Maycomb, Alabama, the seat of Maycomb County. It focuses on six-year-old Scout Finch, who lives with her older brother, Jem, and their widowed father, Atticus, a middle-aged lawyer. Jem and Scout befriend a boy named Dill, who visits Maycomb to stay with his aunt each summer. The three children are terrified of, and fascinated by, their neighbor, the reclusive "Boo" Radley. The adults of Maycomb are hesitant to talk about Boo, and, for many years few have seen him. The children feed one another's imagination with rumors about his appearance and reasons for remaining hidden, and they fantasize about how to get him out of his house. After two summers of friendship with Dill, Scout and Jem find that someone leaves them small gifts in a tree outside the Radley place. Several times the mysterious Boo makes gestures of affection to the children, but, to their disappointment, he never appears in person.
Judge Taylor appoints Atticus to defend Tom Robinson, a black man who has been accused of raping a young white woman, Mayella Ewell. Although many of Maycomb's citizens disapprove, Atticus agrees to defend Tom to the best of his ability. Other children taunt Jem and Scout for Atticus's actions, calling him a "nigger-lover". Scout is tempted to stand up for her father's honor by fighting, even though he has told her not to. Atticus faces a group of men intent on lynching Tom. This danger is averted when Scout, Jem, and Dill shame the mob into dispersing by forcing them to view the situation from Atticus' and Tom's points of view.
Atticus does not want Jem and Scout to be present at Tom Robinson's trial. No seat is available on the main floor, so by invitation of Rev. Sykes, Jem, Scout, and Dill watch from the colored balcony. Atticus establishes that the accusers--Mayella and her father, Bob Ewell, the town drunk--are lying. It also becomes clear that the friendless Mayella made sexual advances toward Tom, and that her father caught her and beat her. Despite significant evidence of Tom's innocence, the jury convicts him. Jem's faith in justice becomes badly shaken, as is Atticus', when the hapless Tom is shot and killed while trying to escape from prison.
Despite Tom's conviction, Bob Ewell is humiliated by the events of the trial, and vows revenge. He spits in Atticus' face, tries to break into the judge's house, and menaces Tom Robinson's widow. Finally, he attacks the defenseless Jem and Scout while they walk home on a dark night after the school Halloween pageant. One of Jem's arms is broken in the struggle, but amid the confusion someone comes to the children's rescue. The mysterious man carries Jem home, where Scout realizes that he is Boo Radley.
Sheriff Tate arrives and discovers that Bob Ewell has died during the fight. The sheriff argues with Atticus about the prudence and ethics of charging Jem (whom Atticus believes to be responsible) or Boo (whom Tate believes to be responsible). Atticus eventually accepts the sheriff's story that Ewell simply fell on his own knife. Boo asks Scout to walk him home, and after she says goodbye to him at his front door he disappears again. While standing on the Radley porch, Scout imagines life from Boo's perspective, and regrets that they had never repaid him for the gifts he had given them.
To Sir, WIth Love (1966)
Color
Teacher wins over unruly students
To Sir, WIth Love
"Mark Thackeray (Poitier) is an unemployed engineer looking for work when he applies for a teaching position at the North Quay Secondary School in the tough East End of London. He comes from British Guiana via California, and holds a degree in Communication Engineering.
Thackeray learns from the staff of North Quay that the students come from rough homes, and excel at riding roughshod over teachers. The headmaster explains they have been principally rejected from other schools and their antics drove their last teacher to resign.
The students more than live up to their reputation. Led by Bert Denham (Christian Roberts) and Pamela Dare (Judy Geeson), they are an unruly mob. As their antics progress from simple disruptive behaviour to distasteful pranks, Thackeray retains his calm manner but a turning point comes one morning when he discovers something, presumably a sanitary pad, burning in the classroom grate. He loses his temper with the class but this leads him to a new idea, and he subsequently informs them that from now on they will be treated as adults and allowed to discuss issues of their own choosing for the remainder of the term.
Thackeray wins the class over, except for Denham, who continues to bait him. Thackeray suggests a class outing to a museum; the headmaster is reluctant but obtains approval for the outing. Thackeray arrives on the morning of the trip to find a classroom of well-dressed, well-scrubbed students and the trip is a success.
However, he loses some of this new-found support when he defuses a potentially violent situation between Potter (Chris Chittell) and a gym teacher, Mr Bell. In class, he demands that Potter apologise directly to Bell for the incident even if he believes Bell was wrong. The group refuses to invite Thackeray to the class dance, and when Seales' (Anthony Villaroel, the only black student in the class) mother dies, the class takes up a collection for a wreath but refuses to accept Thackeray's donation. At this point, the headmaster advises him that he feels "the adult approach" has failed, that future class outings are cancelled, and that Thackeray will take over the boys' gym classes.
Thackeray's search for an engineering position has continued throughout the movie, and at this low point in his relationship with his students, he is ecstatic to receive a job offer in the mail.
He starts to win the students back after he beats Denham in a boxing match, but tells him that he has genuine boxing ability and suggests that Denham teach boxing to the younger students next year. Denham expresses his admiration for Thackeray to his fellow students, Thackeray wins back their respect and is invited to the class dance.
At the dance Barbara Pegg (Lulu) announces a "ladies' choice" dance and Pamela singles out Thackeray as her partner. The class present him with a gift, while Lulu sings the movie theme. Thackeray is too moved for words and retires to his classroom.
Two youths rush into the classroom, and upon seeing Thackeray they begin mocking his gift and joking that they will be in his class next year. Thackeray realises that he has a job to do and he tears up the job offer letter, signifying that he is going to stay on at the school. He realises how affectionate he feels towards the children and understands he can never part from them.
Tolkien (2019)
Color
University days of J.R.R Tolkien when he meets his wife and makes future friends
Tolkien
"As young children being raised by a single mother, J. R. R. Tolkien and his brother receive help from a local priest, Father Francis, who must relocate them from their home to small apartments in Birmingham due to financial hardships. Their mother is supportive and loving, filling their minds with stories of adventure and mystery which she recites by the fireplace at night. She becomes ill, however, and one day upon returning home from school, Tolkien finds her slumped in her chair, dead. Father Francis becomes the boys' legal guardian, and eventually finds a kindly rich woman who agrees to take them in, providing them with room and board while they continue their childhood education. There, Tolkien meets Edith Bratt, the woman's only other ward. Tolkien is impressed with Edith, whose piano playing he admires, and the two become friends.
At school, Tolkien immediately shows talent with languages, earning rough treatment from a rival classmate, Robert. When the two boys get into a fight, the headmaster -- Robert's father -- orders that they spend all of their time together for the remainder of the term. While both initially resent the assignment, Tolkien is soon accepted into Robert's small circle of friends, and the four -- J. R. R., Robert, Geoffrey, and Christopher -- form a close friendship, which grows with the years, even as they attend separate universities. Meanwhile, Tolkien continues his friendship with Edith, falling in love with her. Father Francis finds out about their relationship and recognizes that it is affecting Tolkien's grades, and so forbids him from pursuing her while under his guardianship. Tolkien is distraught, not wanting to lose the priest's financial support of his schooling. He relates the conversation to Edith, promising they will be able to be together when he reaches 21, the age of majority, but she instead ends the relationship.
Tolkien struggles at Oxford, but attracts the attention of Professor Joseph Wright, a prominent philologist. Tolkien realizes language is his true passion, and enrolls in Wright's class. When the First World War breaks out, he and his friends all enlist in the British Army. Before Tolkien leaves, Edith returns and the two declare their love for each other. At the Battle of the Somme, Tolkien, suffering from trench fever, goes to look for Geoffrey, convinced that he is calling him, but is unable to find him and collapses unconscious. He wakes in a hospital weeks later with Edith by his side, to find that Geoffrey and Robert were killed; Christopher survived but was left traumatized.
Years later, Tolkien and Edith are married with several children, and Tolkien is now a professor at Oxford himself. The film ends with him inspired to write the famous opening of The Hobbit.
Tombstone (1993)
Color
Marshall Wyatt Earp and his brother confront a gang of rustlers
Tombstone
"Wyatt Earp (Russell), a retired peace officer, reunites with his brothers Virgil (Elliott) and Morgan (Paxton) in Tucson, Arizona. They venture on to Tombstone, a small but growing mining town, to settle down. There they encounter Wyatt's friend Doc Holliday (Kilmer), a Southern gambler and expert gunslinger, who seeks relief from his tuberculosis in Arizona's drier climate. Also newly arrived in Tombstone with a traveling theatre troupe are Josephine Marcus (Delany) and Mr. Fabian (Zane). The married Wyatt attempts to resist a strong attraction to Josephine.
Wyatt's wife, Mattie Blaylock (Wheeler-Nicholson), is becoming dependent on laudanum. Just as Wyatt and his brothers begin to benefit from a stake in a gambling emporium and saloon, they have their first encounter with a band of outlaws called the Cowboys. Led by "Curly Bill" Brocius (Boothe), the Cowboys are identifiable by the red sashes worn around their waist. Conflict is narrowly avoided upon Wyatt's insistence that he is retired and no longer interested in a career enforcing the law. This is also the first face-to-face meeting for Holliday and Johnny Ringo (Biehn), who take an immediate dislike to one another.
As tensions rise, Wyatt is pressured to help rid the town of the Cowboys. Shooting aimlessly after a visit to an opium house, Curly Bill is ordered by Marshal White (Carey) to relinquish his firearms. Curly Bill shoots the marshal and is forcibly taken into custody by Wyatt. The arrest infuriates Ike Clanton (Lang) and the other Cowboys, who threaten Wyatt, his brothers, and Doc. Curly Bill stands trial, but is found not guilty due to lack of witnesses.
Virgil, unable to tolerate lawlessness, becomes the new marshal and imposes a weapons ban within the city limits. This leads to the legendary gunfight at the O.K. Corral, in which Billy Clanton (Church), Frank McLaury (Burke), and Tom McLaury are killed, Virgil and Morgan are wounded, and the allegiance of county sheriff Johnny Behan (Tenney) to the Cowboys is made clear. As retribution for the Cowboy deaths, Wyatt's brothers are ambushed: Morgan is killed, while Virgil is maimed.
A despondent Wyatt and his family leave Tombstone and board a train. Followed by Ike Clanton and Frank Stilwell, Wyatt sees that his family leaves safely, and then surprises the assassins who had come to kill them. Stilwell is killed, but Wyatt lets Clanton return to send a message. Wyatt announces that he is a U.S. Marshal and that he intends to kill any man he sees wearing a red sash. Wyatt, Doc, a reformed Cowboy named Sherman McMaster (Rooker), and allies Texas Jack Vermillion and Turkey Creek Jack Johnson, join forces to administer justice.
Wyatt and his posse are ambushed by the Cowboys in a riverside forest. Wyatt wades out into the river and engages in a gunfight which ends with Wyatt killing Brocius. Johnny Ringo then becomes the head of the Cowboys.
Doc's health is worsening and they depend on the accommodations of Henry Hooker (Heston). At Hooker's ranch, they encounter Josephine, learning that Mr. Fabian was shot by Cowboys who tried to steal Josephine's watch. Wyatt finally realizes he wants to be with Josephine, but is unable to commit to her because of his ongoing fight against the Cowboys. Ringo sends a messenger (dragging McMaster's corpse) to the ranch telling Wyatt that he wants a showdown to end the hostilities and Wyatt agrees. Doc knows he is a better match for Ringo, but is in no condition for a gunfight.
Wyatt sets out for the showdown, not knowing that Doc has already beat him to the scene. Doc surprises Ringo, and says they are now finishing their previous challenge "to play for blood". Doc fires the first shot, hitting and killing Ringo when Ringo's nerves slow his draw. Wyatt runs when he hears the gunshot, but encounters Doc. They hunt down and eliminate the Cowboys, although Ike Clanton escapes their vengeance by renouncing his red sash.
Doc is later sent to a sanatorium in Glenwood Springs, Colorado. After a visit from Wyatt, Doc looks at his bare feet and the condition of the bed in which he is lying: realizing he is about to die with his boots off, he passes away peacefully, muttering "I'll be damned. Oh, this is funny." At Doc's urging, Wyatt pursues Josephine, locating her in Denver. Robert Mitchum narrates an account of their long marriage, ending with Wyatt's death in Los Angeles in 1929.
Too Big to Fail (2011)
Color
Portrays the players and processes that contributed to the collapse of the U.S. economy
Too Big to Fail
"Too Big to Fail chronicles the 2008 financial meltdown, focusing on the actions of U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson (William Hurt) to contain the problems during the period of August 2008 to October 13, 2008. Dick Fuld (James Woods), CEO of Lehman Brothers, is seeking external investment, but investors are wary as Lehman is seriously exposed to toxic housing assets and the Treasury is ideologically opposed to offering any sort of bailout as they did for Bear Stearns.
Paulson attempts to arrange a private solution to the Lehman problem, and both Bank of America and Barclays express interest in Lehman's "good" assets. Bank of America pulls back from the deal and instead chooses to purchase Merrill Lynch. Barclays is prepared to accept the terms of the merger, but British banking regulators refuse to approve the deal. Paulson directs Fuld to declare bankruptcy before the market opens.
The initial reaction on Wall Street is favorable as is the political reaction. However, Paulson quickly learns that Lehman's counterparty risk is impacting the entire financial market, and that the stock market is in freefall. Another crisis arises as AIG begins to collapse.
Paulson's team realizes that if AIG is allowed to fail, its entire insurance portfolio will default and the entire financial industry will suffer massive losses. The Treasury takes over AIG. Ben Bernanke (Paul Giamatti), Chairman of the Federal Reserve System, argues that the status quo is unsustainable and that the Congress must pass legislation to authorize any continued intervention by the Fed or the Treasury.
Paulson's plan is to buy the "toxic" assets from the banks. Direct capital injection is considered and rejected. Timothy Geithner (Billy Crudup), President of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, realizes that the market cannot wait for Congressional action and attempts to arrange mergers between consumer banks and investment banks, but this proves untenable. Paulson receives a call from Jeffrey Immelt (Tom Tammi) of General Electric who tells him that GE is unable to finance its daily operations. Paulson realizes the crisis has spread to Main Street.
Bernanke and Paulson lobby Congress, with Bernanke emphasizing that a lack of credit helped make the Wall Street Crash of 1929 into the Great Depression, and that if Congress fails to act that the fallout will be far worse. The legislation looks likely to pass, but is thrown into chaos when John McCain suspends his campaign for president to join the negotiations.
Paulson begs Nancy Pelosi not to back away from the negotiations, but too many Republicans vote "no", causing an immediate drop in the Dow of 600 points. After a wave of panic and personal haranguing from President George W. Bush, the legislation passes on a second attempt, and the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 is signed into law.
Paulson decides that the only way to get credit flowing again is direct capital injections. With the help of Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation chair Sheila Bair and the threat of an FDIC audit, Paulson informs the participating banks that they will be receiving mandatory capital injections and they must use this money to get credit moving again. The banks agree, but Paulson balks at putting additional restrictions on how the funds are to be used. Paulson's Treasury deputy for public affairs (Cynthia Nixon) laments that the parties who caused the crisis are being allowed to dictate the terms. Bernanke states that he hopes the banks will use the funds as intended.
An epilogue reveals that although markets did stabilize and the banks repaid their Troubled Asset Relief Program funds, credit standards continued to tighten resulting in rising unemployment and foreclosures. As bank mergers continued in the wake of the crisis, these banks became even larger and at the time of the film, 10 financial institutions held 77% of all U.S. banking assets and have been declared too big to fail.
Tootsie (1982)
Color
Actor disguises himself as a woman to get hired on a soap opera
Tootsie
"Michael Dorsey is a respected actor, but nobody in New York wants to hire him because he is a perfectionist and difficult to work with. After many months without a job, Michael hears of an opening on the popular daytime soap opera Southwest General from his friend and acting student Sandy Lester, who tries out for the role of hospital administrator Emily Kimberly. In desperation, he impersonates a woman, auditioning as "Dorothy Michaels", and gets the part. Michael takes the job as a way to raise $8,000 to produce a play by his roommate Jeff Slater, which will star himself and Sandy. Michael plays Emily as a feisty feminist, which surprises the other actors and the crew, who expected her to be (as written) another swooning female. His character quickly becomes a national sensation.
When Sandy catches Michael in her bedroom half undressed because he wants to try on her clothes for ideas for Dorothy's wardrobe, he covers up by claiming he wants to have sex with her. Exacerbating matters further, he is attracted to one of his co-stars, Julie Nichols, a single mother in an unhealthy relationship with the show's amoral, sexist director, Ron Carlisle. At a party, when Michael (as himself) approaches Julie with a pick-up line to which she had previously told Dorothy she would be receptive, she throws a drink in his face. Later, as Dorothy, when he makes tentative advances, Julie--having just ended her relationship with Ron per Dorothy's advice--makes it known that she is not a lesbian.
Meanwhile, Dorothy has her own admirers to contend with: older cast member John Van Horn and Julie's widowed father, Les. Les proposes marriage, insisting that Dorothy think about it before answering. When Michael returns home, he finds John, who almost forces himself on Dorothy until Jeff walks in on them. A few minutes later, Sandy arrives, asking why he hasn't answered her calls. Michael admits he's in love with another woman, and Sandy screams and breaks up with him.
The tipping point comes when, due to Dorothy's popularity, the show's producers want to extend her contract for another year. Michael extricates himself when a technical problem forces the cast to perform live by improvising a revelation about Emily: that she is actually Edward, Emily's twin brother who took her place to avenge her. This allows everybody a way out, but Julie is so outraged at Michael's deception that she punches him in the groin once the cameras have stopped rolling and storms off.
Some weeks later, Michael is moving forward with producing Jeff's play. He returns Les's engagement ring, and Les says, "The only reason you're still living is because I never kissed you." Despite his anger, Les admits that Michael was good company as Dorothy, and Michael buys him a beer.
Michael later waits for Julie outside the studio. She is reluctant to talk to him, but he tells her that he and her father played pool and had a good time. She finally admits she misses Dorothy. Michael tells her, "I was a better man with you as a woman than I ever was with a woman as a man." Julie forgives him and they walk down the street together, engaged in conversation.
Top Five (2014)
Color
Comedian's encounter with a journalist forces him to confront his career and his past
Top Five
"Andre Allen and reporter Chelsea Brown walk down a New York City street discussing the changing times. Andre quips people will praise Obama if something good happens in America, and blame him if the opposite happens. He had a successful career as a stand-up comedian before hitting it big with his hit film franchise, Hammy The Bear, in which he plays a cop in a bear suit alongside Luis Guzman. Now, everybody yells "Hammy!" to Andre whenever they see him on the streets. He was also in trouble with the law and is a recovering alcoholic. He currently releases his foray into serious films with the movie, Uprize, in which he portrays Dutty Boukman, a prominent figure during the Haitian Revolution. Andre is also engaged to reality TV star Erica Long. His fans are curious to know when he'll do another Hammy movie or if he'll do stand-up again, and less interested in his new movie.
Frustrated, Andre walks with his bodyguard Silk and expresses his dismay with the response to Uprize. A New York Times critic named James Nielson is particularly harsh with his review. He speaks to his agent Charles, who was against the project from the beginning. Andre meets with Chelsea to begin the interview. They first stop off at her apartment to get her recorder. Andre sees a Cinderella book on the counter and meets Chelsea's mother and daughter. Her mother shows off a magazine to Andre, particularly an article about how women can attract men. Chelsea snatches it from her since it's something she wrote under a pseudonym since she doesn't want to use her real name for fluff stories.
The two leave and commence the interview in Andre's limo. Chelsea asks questions that bug Andre, like why he isn't funny anymore. She inquires about his alcoholism since she too has been sober for four years. Andre recalls his lowest point when he was in Houston in 2003. This is where he met Jazzy Dee, a freewheeling charlatan that claims he is the go-to guy in the area for drugs and alcohol. Andre joins Jazzy at a club where they meet women Jazzy claims he can get to go home with them. Later that night, two voluptuous women visit Andre, who orders room service for them before smoking weed and having sex. Andre enjoys himself until Jazzy busts in and gets in on the action for himself before ejaculating on half the mattress. Andre tells Chelsea he was now repulsed by these women. As he shamefully laid in bed, the two women returned to collect $1,000 each Jazzy promised them if they went to have sex with Andre. Andre says they're not getting anything, and they both cry "Rape!", getting Andre arrested. From then on, he chose not to touch another drink.
The limo gets hit by a cab on the streets, prompting everyone but the driver to leave. Andre and Chelsea ditch Silk and go around the city. Andre stops by a jewelry store to pick up the rings for the wedding, only to find Erica exchanged the rings and got another piece of jewelry for herself. Andre calls her up. She tells him her producers did it because the rings need to look nice on TV. Andre asks Chelsea what her thoughts would be if she were in this situation. We learn one reason Andre is with Erica is because she influenced him in staying sober. Andre and Chelsea stop at the apartment of some of Andre's old friends and his ex-girlfriend. Chelsea interviews each of them individually, learning Andre's ex regrets breaking up with him after seeing how famous he got. The other friends say Andre wasn't really funny when he started off in stand-up and isn't really that funny now. The group sits together and chats about their top five favorite rappers, though they include a 6th one in their line-ups as well.
At different points, Andre goes to different radio stations and shows like Opie and Anthony to promote Uprize. A Sirius XM radio engineer tells him to put some "stank" on his recording, prompting Andre to yell profanities. At another point, he attends a press conference for the film with fellow actors Taraji P. Henson and Gabourey Sidibe, among others. Once again, everybody asks Andre when there will be another Hammy movie, to his chagrin. Chelsea makes a stop at a hotel to meet her boyfriend Brad for his birthday. Brad arrives with another guy named Ryan. Chelsea sees Ryan wears a shirt she got for Brad, and Ryan acts dodgy.
She pieces it together and realizes Brad is gay and cheating on her with Ryan. She and Andre leave and stop in a liquor store. Chelsea realizes the signs were there but she didn't want to accept it. As we see in a flashback, Brad continuously asked Chelsea to stick her finger in his ass during intercourse, until that was the only thing he wanted to do. During a dinner with friends, Brad made a rude joke about Chelsea having a bad credit score, so later that night before make-up sex, Brad is on all fours in bed ready to get a finger in the rear end, when Chelsea instead decides to take a tampon and pour hot sauce on it before sticking it in there. Andre laughs about the situation, calling Chelsea naive over how she handles it. She is angry and insults his movie, and the two end up kissing.
They go to a club bathroom and fool around before deciding not to continue. Andre leaves the bathroom first and asks Chelsea to use her phone to make a call since his phone died. As he goes through the phone, he sees Chelsea gets an e-mail from her editor, asking when she'll send the next James Nielson review; revealing James Nielson is Chelsea herself. The truth devastates Andre. He gives Chelsea her phone and is angry with her for lying to him. He admits to her he felt he was never funny unless he was drunk or high, and now he's transitioning, it scares him. He leaves Chelsea. Andre goes to a supermarket and eats whatever he shops for. He grabs a few cases of beer and goes to pay (after sneaking one for himself). A fan comes up and asks for a photo. Andre declines. He sees a poster of Hammy The Bear, except it's for a beer brand (Hammy the Beer). Andre snaps and destroys the stand before the cops arrive and haul him out.
In jail, Andre calls Erica, who fumes over the arrest, mainly because of how it will look for her image. She tells Andre this piece of fame is all she has since she thinks she has no other talent, and believes Andre owes her for countless bits of oral sex, since the time would come when Andre would do something he didn't want to do for her. Erica's manager Benny takes the phone and tells Andre to go to his bachelor party for good press and fly out for the wedding. Silk bails out Andre. They go to a strip club for a bachelor party with a theme based on Hammy The Bear. There, Andre hangs out with Jerry Seinfeld, Adam Sandler, and Whoopi Goldberg. They give him different views on marriage and sex, while joking with him. Andre runs into Chelsea, who wants to make it up to him and invites him to follow her.
Andre, Chelsea, and Silk go to the Comedy Cellar where Andre gets up onstage and performs stand-up for the first time in years. He turns out to still be funny, and the crowd loves him. After the performance, Andre says he feels insane. He tells Chelsea he got inspired to go back after being in jail and talking to DMX, who told Andre he does not want to keep rapping and wants to sing instead as he loudly sings "Smile". They drop Chelsea off at her place, where she and Andre share one last kiss before departing. Andre asks her her top five rappers, which she lists. While driving away, Silk tells Andre he should have gone after Chelsea. Andre goes through the gift bag from the party and finds a bunch of random items, like a scented candle and a bottle of vodka. Then he pulls out a slipper. Andre changes his mind, and Silk smiles.
Back at the party, Jerry Seinfeld shares his "top five" as Sugarhill Gang, Eminem, Wale, Ice Cube, and Sir-Mix-A-Lot.
Top Gun (1986)
Color
Maverick in flight training falls in love
Top Gun
"United States Naval Aviator Lieutenant Pete "Maverick" Mitchell (Tom Cruise) flies a F-14A Tomcat off USS Enterprise (CVN-65), with Nick "Goose" Bradshaw (Anthony Edwards) as his Radar Intercept Officer (RIO). At the start of the film, Maverick and his wingman "Cougar" (John Stockwell) intercept (fictional) MiG-28s over the Indian Ocean. During the standoff, one of the MiGs manages to get a missile lock on Cougar. Maverick realizes that the MiG is only trying to intimidate Cougar and drives it off, but Cougar is too shaken afterward to land. Maverick defies orders and shepherds Cougar back to the carrier as both planes run critically low on fuel. After they land, Cougar takes himself off flight status ("turns in his wings"), stating that he has been holding on "too tight" and has lost "the edge", almost orphaning his newborn child, whom he has never seen. Although disapproving of Maverick's reckless flying and repeated violations of rules, the Enterprise's CAG "Stinger" (James Tolkan) sends Maverick and Goose--now his top crew--to attend the Navy's Fighter Weapons School, known as "Top Gun", at NAS Miramar.
It is revealed that Maverick's recklessness is partly due to his father, Duke Mitchell, who served with the VF-51 squadron aboard the USS Oriskany (CV-34) during the Vietnam War, and was killed in action when his Phantom was shot down. The official story, which Maverick refuses to believe, is that Duke made a mistake. Goose is much more cautious and devoted to his wife, Carole (Meg Ryan), and child. The two officers are nonetheless close friends and effective partners, with Maverick considering Goose his only family. At a bar the day before the Top Gun program starts, Maverick, assisted by Goose, unsuccessfully approaches a woman named Charlotte "Charlie" Blackwood (Kelly McGillis), who he later learns is a civilian contractor with a Ph.D. in astrophysics serving as a Top Gun instructor.
Maverick's reckless flying both annoys and impresses Lieutenant Commander Rick "Jester" Heatherly (Michael Ironside) and other instructors. He defeats Jester in exercises, but violates two rules of engagement in the process and is strongly reprimanded by the chief instructor, Commander Mike "Viper" Metcalf (Tom Skerritt). Maverick continues to pursue Charlie and becomes a rival to top student Lieutenant Tom "Iceman" Kazanski (Val Kilmer)--who considers Maverick's methods dangerous and unsafe. Although outwardly critical of Maverick's tactics, Charlie eventually admits that she admires his flying but was critical because she was afraid for her credibility. They begin a romantic relationship.
During one flight, Maverick breaks off from his wingman "Hollywood" to go one-on-one with Viper, described as "the finest fighter pilot in the world". Although Maverick matches the older pilot move for move, Viper lasts long enough for Jester--who has defeated Hollywood off-screen--to maneuver around and "shoot" Maverick down, demonstrating the value of teamwork over individual ability.
Near the end of the program, Maverick and Iceman both chase Jester, the latter attempting to gain a missile lock on the target. Under intense pressure from Maverick, Iceman breaks off. Maverick's F-14 flies through the jet wash of Iceman's aircraft and suffers a flameout of both engines, entering a flat spin from which he cannot recover, forcing both Maverick and Goose to eject. Goose ejects directly into the jettisoned aircraft canopy, which breaks his neck, killing him. After they both eject, Maverick and a dead Goose are rescued by a US Coast Guard helicopter which takes them back.
Although the board of inquiry clears Maverick of responsibility, he feels guilty for Goose's death, losing his aggressiveness when flying. Charlie and others attempt to console him, but Maverick considers leaving the Navy. Unsure of his future, he seeks Viper's advice. Viper reveals that he served with Maverick's father and discloses classified details over his last mission, explaining how Duke stayed in the fight after his Phantom was hit and saved three planes before he died. Information about the dogfight was classified to avoid revealing that the American planes were not where they should have been.
During the graduation party, Iceman, Hollywood, and Maverick are ordered to immediately report to the Enterprise to deal with a "crisis situation", providing air support for the rescue of a stricken communications ship, the SS Layton, that has drifted into hostile waters. Maverick and Merlin are assigned to one of two F-14s as back-up for those flown by Iceman and Hollywood, despite Iceman's reservations over Maverick's state of mind. In the subsequent hostile engagement with six MiGs, Hollywood is shot down but he and his RIO, Wolfman, manage to eject safely. Maverick is sortied alone due to catapult failure and nearly retreats after encountering circumstances similar to those that caused Goose's death. Upon rejoining Iceman, they shoot down four MiGs and force the others to flee, and return to the Enterprise, where the two men, with newfound respect for each other, finally become friends. Offered any assignment he chooses, Maverick decides to return to Top Gun as an instructor, to which Stinger jokingly expresses horror. Later, he is seen tossing Goose's dogtags into the ocean, suggesting that he is finally free of his guilt over Goose's death.
Sitting alone in a restaurant in downtown San Diego, Maverick hears "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'" playing on the jukebox and recalls meeting Charlie. She reveals that she is in the bar and the two reunite.
Topaz (1969)
Color
American, French and Cuban spies fight over secrets during the Cuban Missile Crisis
Topaz
"In Copenhagen in 1962, a high-ranking Soviet intelligence officer, Boris Kusenov (Per-Axel Arosenius), defects to the West. During debriefing, CIA agent Mike Nordstrom (John Forsythe) learns that Soviet missiles with nuclear warheads will be placed in Cuba.
Needing physical evidence, Nordstrom discloses Kusenov's name to French agent Andre Devereaux (Frederick Stafford) and asks him to bribe Luis Uribe (Donald Randolph), a member of Cuba's UN delegation, to provide photographs of documents that confirm the missile bases in Cuba. Devereaux decides to accompany his daughter, Mich?le (Claude Jade), on her honeymoon to New York City with his son-in-law, Francois Picard (Michel Subor).
In New York City, a French-Martinican agent, Philippe Dubois (Roscoe Lee Browne), is to contact Uribe, who is the secretary to Cuban official Rico Parra (John Vernon), who is staying at the Hotel Theresa in Harlem to show solidarity with the black community.
Dubois sneaks into the hotel and bribes Uribe to take the documents from Parra's office to photograph. Parra catches Dubois photographing the documents. Chased and shot at by Cuban revolutionaries, Dubois purposefully knocks into Devereaux, who is watching events from the other side of the street, and slips him the camera. A red-headed Cuban guard helps Devereaux to get up but lets him go. Dubois escapes into the crowd around the hotel.
Dubois's photos confirm that the Soviets are placing missiles in Cuba. Devereaux, despite his wife's accusations of infidelity, flies to Cuba. His mistress, Juanita de Cordoba (Karin Dor), was the widow of a "hero of the Revolution," which enables her to work undercover in the resistance. Upon his arrival, Devereaux finds Parra, another of her lovers, leaving Juanita's mansion. Devereaux asks Juanita to take photographs of the missiles. Juanita's loyal domestic staff, Carlotta and Pablo Mendoza, pose as picnickers and photograph the missiles. Pursued, the two hide the incriminating film before they are captured.
During a mass rally and a lengthy speech by the lider maximo, the red-headed Cuban guard recognises Devereaux's face from the New York City incident.
Parra has heard from the tortured Carlotta Mendoza that Juanita is their leader. He embraces her and shoots her dead to save her from extreme torture.
At the Havana airport, the Cuban authorities fail to find the microfilms that Deveraux has. He returns to find that his wife has left him. Devereaux is to be recalled to Paris. Kusenov tells him about the existence of a Soviet spy organisation, "Topaz," within the French intelligence service. He is given the name of NATO official Henri Jarre (Philippe Noiret), who leaked documents to the KGB.
In Paris, he is picked up at the airport by his daughter and his son-in-law. Mich?le brings to a cocktail Jacques Granville (Michel Piccoli), an old friend of Andre. Mich?le hopes that her parents will get along, but Nicole cannot forgive Andre's affair with Juanita. Andre and Mich?le stay alone, and Jacques complains the agent Martin (John van Dreelen) that Nicole married Andre.
Devereaux researches the leak and invites some of his old friends and colleagues, including Jarre, to a lunch at a fine Paris restaurant under the pretext of helping Devereaux prepare for his inquiry. Devereaux tells the others about Topaz to provoke some reaction. Jarre claims that it is misinformation and that Kusenov died a year ago.
Jarre starts to panic and visits the leader of the spy ring, Jacques Granville. Devereaux, Nicole, and Granville were close friends from their days together during the French Resistance. Granville tells Jarre that it was a mistake to say Kusenov was dead since the Americans will easily discover that Jarre lied. As Jarre leaves Granville's house, Devereaux's wife arrives to meet Granville, her lover.
Devereaux sends his son-in-law, Francois, to interview Jarre. Devereaux and Mich?le rush to Jarre's flat and find Jarre dead, which is a staged suicide, and Francois has disappeared. After being clubbed and kidnapped, Francois managed to escape from his captors' car with an overheard phone number.
Nicole tells her family with tearful eyes that since the phone number is Granville's, he must be the leader of Topaz. Granville, exposed, commits suicide (in the American and the French versions) or flees to the Soviet Union (in the British version).
Torn Curtain (1966)
Color
Scientist goes to conference with his wife and she gets drawn into espionage activities
Torn Curtain
"In 1965, Michael Armstrong (Paul Newman), a US physicist and rocket scientist, is traveling to a conference in Copenhagen with his assistant and fiancee, Sarah Sherman (Julie Andrews). Armstrong receives a radiogram to pick up a book in Copenhagen; it contains a message which says, "Contact p in case of emergency." He tells Sherman he is going to Stockholm, but she discovers he is flying to East Berlin and follows him. When they land, he is welcomed by representatives of the East German government. Sherman realizes that Armstrong has defected, and is appalled that, given the circumstances of the Cold War, if she stays with him, she will likely never see her home or family again.
Armstrong visits a contact, a "farmer" (Mort Mills), where it is revealed that his defection is in fact a ruse to gain the confidence of the East German scientific establishment, in order to learn how much their chief scientist Gustav Lindt (Ludwig Donath) and by extension, the Soviet Union, knows about anti-missile systems.
Armstrong has made preparations to return to the West via an escape network, known as p. However, he was followed to the farm by his appointed chaperone, Hermann Gromek (Wolfgang Kieling), an East German security officer. Gromek realizes what p is and that Armstrong is a double agent, and as Gromek is calling the police, a tortuous struggle commences that ends with Gromek being killed by Armstrong and the farmer's wife (Carolyn Conwell). Gromek and his motorcycle are buried on the land. The taxicab driver (Peter Lorre Jr., uncredited) who drove Armstrong to the farm, however, sees Armstrong's picture in the newspaper and reports him to the police.
Visiting the physics faculty of Karl Marx University in Leipzig the next day, Armstrong's interview with the scientists ends abruptly when he is questioned by security officials about the missing Gromek. The faculty try to interrogate Sherman about her knowledge of the American "Gamma Five" anti-missile program, but she refuses to cooperate and runs from the room, even though she has agreed to defect to East Germany. Armstrong catches up with her and secretly confides his actual motives, and asks her to go along with the ruse.
Armstrong finally goads Professor Lindt into revealing his anti-missile equations in a fit of pique over what Lindt believes are Armstrong's mathematical mistakes. When Lindt hears over the university's loudspeaker system that Armstrong and Sherman are being sought for questioning, he realizes that he has given up his secrets while learning nothing in return. Armstrong and Sherman escape from the school with the help of the university clinic physician Dr. Koska (Gisela Fischer).
The couple travel to East Berlin, pursued by the Stasi, in a decoy bus operated by the p network, led by Mr. Jacobi (David Opatoshu). Roadblocks, highway robbery by Soviet Army deserters, and bunching with the "real" bus result in the police becoming aware of the deception, and everyone aboard is forced to flee. While looking for the Friedrichstra?e post office, the two encounter the exiled Polish countess Kuchinska (Lila Kedrova) who leads them to the post office in hopes of being sponsored for a US visa. When they are spotted, Kuchinska trips the pursuing guard and allows Armstrong and Sherman to escape to their next destination.
Two men approach them on the pavement, one of whom is the "farmer". He gives them tickets to the ballet as part of a plan to smuggle them to Sweden that evening inside the ballet troupe's luggage. While attending the ballet and waiting to be picked up, they are spotted and reported to the police by the lead ballerina (Tamara Toumanova), who flew to East Berlin on the same airplane as Armstrong.
Armstrong and Sherman escape through the crowd by shouting "fire". They are hidden inside two hampers of costumes and ferried across the Baltic Sea to Sweden on an East German freighter. The ballerina, desperate to reveal the fugitives' hiding place due to subterfuge by a deckhand member of p, identifies the wrong hampers, which are shot up by a guard with a machine gun while dangling over the pier, but Armstrong and Sherman have already escaped by jumping overboard and swimming to the Swedish dock.
Total Recall (2012)
Color
Man has virtual memories implanted in his mind, but finally learns his life is a lie
Total Recall
"In 2084, construction worker Douglas Quaid is having troubling dreams about Mars and a mysterious woman there. His wife Lori is dismissive of Mars, where the governor, Vilos Cohaagen, is fighting a rebellion. Quaid visits Rekall, a company that implants false memories of vacations, and chooses a "trip" to Mars as a secret agent. However, the procedure goes wrong because Quaid has suppressed memories of actually being a secret agent on Mars.
The Rekall employees sedate him, wipe his memory of the visit, and send him home. On the way, Quaid is attacked by his work colleague Harry and other men, and is forced to kill them. At home, Lori attacks him, stating that their marriage is a false memory implant, and "the Agency" sent her to monitor Quaid. Quaid incapacitates Lori and runs off, pursued by armed men led by Richter, Cohaagen's operative and Lori's real husband.
After evading his attackers, Quaid is given a suitcase containing money, gadgets, fake IDs, and a video recording in which Quaid identifies himself as Hauser and explains that he used to work for Cohaagen, but switched sides after learning about an alien artifact on Mars, undergoing the memory wipe to protect himself. Hauser instructs Quaid to remove a tracking device located inside his skull and orders him to go to Mars. On arrival, Quaid finds a note from Hauser directing him to Venusville, a red light district populated by people mutated as a result of poor radiation shielding. He meets Benny, a taxi driver, and Melina, the woman from his dreams, but she spurns him, believing that he is still working for Cohaagen.
Quaid later encounters Rekall's Dr. Edgemar and Lori. Edgemar states that due to a "schizoid embolism", Quaid is trapped in a fantasy from the implanted memories: he had himself and Lori inserted into the fantasy and offers a "pill" that will signal Quaid to wake up. Seeing Edgemar sweating, Quaid realizes he is real and kills him. Richter's men burst into the room and capture Quaid, but Melina arrives and attacks the men. Quaid kills Lori and escapes with Melina.
They flee to Venusville with Benny, and are ushered into a secret tunnel. Unable to locate Quaid, Cohaagen shuts down the area's ventilation, slowly asphyxiating everyone. Quaid, Melina, and Benny are taken to a rebel base where Quaid is introduced to their leader, the mutant Kuato who is conjoined to his brother George. Kuato reads Quaid's mind, recalling a discussion with Cohaagen and Richter about the Martian artifact and its purpose. Cohaagen's forces burst in and kill most of the rebels. Quaid, George/Kuato, Melina, and Benny escape to an airlock, but shockingly, Benny kills George and reveals his alliance with Cohaagen. Before dying, Kuato implores Quaid to activate the alien reactor.
Quaid and Melina are taken to Cohaagen, who plays another video, in which Hauser explains that the Quaid persona was a ploy to fool the mutants' psychic abilities, infiltrate the mutants, and expose Kuato, thereby wiping out the rebellion. Cohaagen orders Quaid reprogrammed with Hauser's memories and Melina reprogrammed as his obedient "babe", but they escape into the mines where the reactor is located. Benny attacks them in an excavation machine, but Quaid kills him. Quaid and Melina then outwit and kill Richter and his men lying in ambush for them.
Quaid reaches the reactor control room, where Cohaagen is waiting with a bomb, claiming that starting the reactor will destroy them all. Melina arrives and shoots Cohaagen, but he starts the bomb timer. Quaid throws the bomb down a tunnel, leading to an explosive decompression. Quaid pushes Cohaagen aside, blowing him out onto the Martian surface, where he suffocates and dies. Quaid manages to activate the reactor before he and Melina are also blown out.
The reactor rods deploy, sublimating the turbinium glacier underneath and releasing gas, which bursts to the surface and forms a breathable planetary atmosphere. Quaid and Melina manage to survive their brief decompression. With the new breathable atmosphere, Venusville and the rest of Mars' population are saved. As everyone beholds the newly blue sky, Quaid momentarily pauses to wonder whether he is dreaming or not, before turning to kiss Melina.
Tower Heist (2011)
Color
Fired hotel workers plan to rob hotel to take back their pension fund
Tower Heist
"Josh Kovaks (Ben Stiller) is the building manager of The Tower, a high-rise luxury apartment complex on Central Park West in New York City whose employees include concierge Charlie (Casey Affleck), who is expecting a child with Josh's sister; Enrique (Michael Pe?a), a newly hired elevator operator; Lester (Stephen Henderson), the doorman nearing retirement; Odessa (Gabourey Sidibe), a Jamaican maid on a work visa; and receptionist Miss Iovenko (Nina Arianda), who furtively studies for her bar exam at work.
One morning Josh sees what appears to be a kidnapping of Tower tenant and wealthy businessman Arthur Shaw (Alan Alda). Josh gives chase and almost catches him when he is clotheslined by FBI agent Claire Denham (Tea Leoni). Denham explains that Shaw was not being kidnapped, he was attempting to flee arrest, accused of running a Ponzi scheme. Josh tells the Tower staff about Shaw's arrest and explains that he gave Shaw their pension fund to invest, and their money is gone. After learning that Lester attempted suicide by walking in front of a moving train after losing everything he had, Josh, Charlie and Enrique visit Shaw, under house arrest in his penthouse apartment, to tell him this. Shaw expresses condolences but appears insincere, and Josh, realizing his lack of concern for the Tower staff when Shaw never even asks if Lester is alive or dead, responds by destroying the windows of a 1963 Ferrari 250 GT Lusso Shaw has on display in his apartment which he claims previously belonged to Steve McQueen. The building's General Manager (Judd Hirsch) is furious at Josh's actions and fires Josh, Charlie and Enrique.
Josh meets Denham at a bar and she invites him to get drunk. As they drink she says Shaw must have had a cash safety net and suggests in jest that he find and steal it. Josh gathers Charlie, Enrique and former Tower tenant Mr. Fitzhugh (Matthew Broderick) to draw up a plan to steal Shaw's money. When Charlie brings up the obvious drawback that they are not thieves, Josh enlists his neighbor and childhood playmate, a petty criminal named Slide (Eddie Murphy), to help. Slide trains the team but realizes he cannot do the robbery because he does not know how to crack the safe in Shaw's apartment. They bring in Odessa, whose family in Jamaica ran a locksmith business. Later on, Charlie tells Josh he has been rehired as the Tower's new manager, and warns Josh to stay away or he will have him arrested. Denham then tells Josh that a hearing for Shaw has been scheduled for Thanksgiving during the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade to avoid publicity, and Shaw will go free. Josh and his team decide to break into Shaw's apartment during the parade.
Slide then attempts to betray the team by reaching the safe first, having tricked Odessa into giving him lessons. However, the team manages to intercept him at Shaw's apartment, breaks down a false wall and finds Shaw's safe behind it; Odessa opens the safe but finds it empty. Slide and Fitzhugh struggle for Slide's gun; the gun goes off and a bullet hits the car, revealing gold underneath the Ferrari's paint. They realize Shaw invested his cash in gold, had the gold melted down and cast into car parts, and then assembled the car in his apartment where the gold would be hidden in plain sight. Josh finds a ledger of Shaw's illegal finances in the car's glove box. With the door too narrow to take the car out of the penthouse, they lower the car out the window into Fitzhugh's old apartment six floors below, which has had its windows removed and has a wider door due to it being remodeled, and then take it down to the lobby on top of an elevator. Just as they reach the lobby Agent Denham and Shaw return, the Thanksgiving court date being another set up, and take the same elevator back up. Denham sees Shaw's safe and informs him that he did not declare the safe on an inventory of items taken when he was arrested, which is a violation of the conditions of his bail. She has him remanded back into custody.
Denham sees Lester using a stolen truck to try to escape from the building. She catches up to him, assuming he is fleeing with the Ferrari, but finds the truck empty. The FBI arrests him and Josh's other accomplices. She personally handcuffs Josh and privately congratulates him. As Josh is being questioned by the FBI, Miss Iovenko arrives, telling the FBI that she passed her bar exam three days ago and is acting as Josh's attorney. She shows them Shaw's ledger and tells them she will turn it over in exchange for everyone's freedom. The FBI accepts on the condition that Josh, being the primary conspirator, must serve a minimal two-year sentence.
The team retrieves the car from its hiding place in Shaw's rooftop pool and send various parts of the car to Tower employees to compensate for their lost pensions. As the movie ends Shaw begins his life sentence and Josh is booked into jail, a satisfied smile slowly forming on his face.
Trading Places (1983)
Color
CEO's make a bet they could swap their executive for a street hustler
Trading Places
"Duke brothers Randolph (Ralph Bellamy) and Mortimer (Don Ameche) own Duke & Duke, a successful commodities brokerage in Philadelphia. Holding opposing views on the issue of nature versus nurture, they make a wager of the "usual amount" and agree to conduct an experiment switching the lives of two people at opposite sides of the social hierarchy and observing the results. They witness an encounter between their managing director--the well-mannered and educated Louis Winthorpe III (Dan Aykroyd), engaged to the Dukes' grand-niece Penelope (Kristin Holby)--and a poor street hustler named Billy Ray Valentine (Eddie Murphy); Valentine is arrested at Winthorpe's insistence because of a suspected robbery attempt. The Dukes decide to use the two men for their experiment.
Winthorpe is publicly framed as a thief, drug dealer and adulterer by Clarence Beeks (Paul Gleason) at the request of the Dukes. Winthorpe is fired from Duke & Duke, his bank accounts are frozen, he is denied entry to his Duke-owned home, and he quickly finds himself vilified by Penelope and his former friends. He befriends Ophelia (Jamie Lee Curtis), a prostitute who agrees to help him in exchange for a financial reward once he is exonerated. Meanwhile, the Dukes bail Valentine out of jail, install him in Winthorpe's former job and grant him use of Winthorpe's home. Valentine soon becomes well-versed in the business using his street smarts to achieve success, and begins to act well-mannered.
During the firm's Christmas party, Winthorpe is caught planting drugs in Valentine's desk in a desperate attempt to get his job back, and he brandishes a gun to escape. Later, the Dukes discuss their experiment and settle their wager for one dollar (the "usual amount"), before plotting to return Valentine to the streets. Valentine overhears the conversation, and seeks out Winthorpe. Winthorpe attempts suicide by overdosing on pills. Valentine, Ophelia and Winthorpe's former butler Coleman (Denholm Elliott) nurse him back to health and inform him of the Dukes' experiment. On television, they learn that Clarence Beeks is transporting a secret report on orange crop forecasts. Winthorpe and Valentine recall large payments made to Beeks by the Dukes and realize that the Dukes plan to obtain the report to corner the market on frozen orange juice. The group agrees to disrupt their plan as revenge.
On New Year's Eve, the four board Beeks' Philadelphia bound train, intending to switch his report with a forgery. Beeks uncovers their scheme and attempts to kill them, but he is knocked unconscious by a gorilla being transported on the train. The four disguise Beeks with a gorilla costume and lock him up with the real gorilla. The forged report indicating that the year's orange crop will be low is then delivered to the Dukes. Valentine and Winthorpe then travel to New York City with Coleman and Ophelia's life savings to carry out their part of the plan.
On the commodities trading floor, the Dukes commit all their holdings to buying frozen concentrated orange-juice futures contracts; other traders follow their lead, inflating the price. Meanwhile, Valentine and Winthorpe sell futures heavily at the inflated price. Following the broadcast of the actual crop report, showing that the orange crop will be normal, the price of orange-juice futures plummets. Valentine and Winthorpe buy back their futures at the lower price from everyone but the Dukes, turning a large profit. The Dukes fail to meet a margin call, and are left owing $394 million. Valentine and Winthorpe explain to the Dukes that they had made a wager on whether they could get rich while making the Dukes poor simultaneously. Valentine collects $1 from Winthorpe while Randolph collapses holding his chest and Mortimer shouts angrily at his brother about their failed plan.
Beeks and the gorilla are loaded onto a ship heading for Africa. Meanwhile, the now wealthy Valentine, Winthorpe, Ophelia and Coleman vacation on a luxurious tropical beach.
Traffic (2000)
Color
Drug czar's daughter's an addict, Mexican cop in a corrupt force, wife puts hit on witness
Traffic
"Mexico storyline
In Mexico, police officer Javier Rodriguez (del Toro) and his partner Manolo Sanchez (Vargas) stop a drug transport and arrest the couriers. Their arrest is interrupted by General Salazar (Milian), a high-ranking Mexican official who decides to hire Javier. Salazar instructs him to apprehend Francisco Flores (Collins), a hitman for the Tijuana Cartel, headed by the Obregon brothers.
Back in Tijuana, Flores, under torture, gives Salazar the names of important members of the Obregon cartel, who are arrested. Javier and Salazar's efforts begin to cripple the Obregon brothers' cocaine outfit, but Javier soon discovers Salazar is a pawn for the Juarez Cartel, the rival of the Obregon brothers. That entire portion of the Mexican anti-drug campaign is a fraud, as Salazar is wiping out one cartel because he has aligned with another for profit.
Javier's partner Sanchez attempts to sell the information of Salazar's true affiliation to the DEA but is killed for his betrayal. Javier, who can no longer stomach working for Salazar, decides to make a deal with the DEA. In exchange for his testimony, Javier requests electricity in his neighborhood so the kids can play baseball at night rather than be tempted by street gangs and crime. Salazar's secrets are revealed to the public and he is arrested and dies in prison.
Javier explains to the media about the widespread corruption in the police force and army. In Mexico, Javier watches as children play baseball at night in their new stadium.
Wakefield storyline
Meanwhile, Robert Wakefield (Douglas), a conservative Ohio judge, is appointed to head the President's Office of National Drug Control Policy, taking on the title drug czar. Robert is warned by his predecessor (Brolin) and several influential politicians that the War on Drugs is unwinnable. His daughter, Caroline (Christensen), an honors student, has been using cocaine and develops a drug addiction after her boyfriend Seth (Grace) introduces her to free-basing heroin. Caroline and Seth are arrested when a fellow student overdoses on drugs at a party. As Robert and his wife Barbara (Irving) struggle to deal with the problem, he discovers that she has known about their daughter's involvement with drugs for over six months.
Robert realizes his daughter Caroline is a drug addict and is caught between his demanding new position and difficult family life. On a visit to Mexico, he is encouraged by the successful efforts of Salazar in hurting the Obregon brothers. When he returns to Ohio, Robert learns his efforts to see Caroline rehabilitated have failed. She ran away to the city of Cincinnati, where no one knows her location. She steals from her parents and prostitutes herself to procure money for drugs.
Robert drags Seth along as he begins to search Cincinnati for his daughter. After a drug dealer with whom Caroline frequently had sex refuses to reveal her whereabouts, Robert breaks into a seedy hotel room and finds a semi-conscious Caroline acting as a prostitute to an older man. He breaks down in tears as Seth quietly leaves. Robert returns to Washington, D.C., to give his prepared speech on a "10-point plan" to combat the war on drugs. In the middle of the speech, he falters, then tells the press that the War on Drugs implies a war even on some people's own family members, which he cannot endorse. He then walks out of the press conference and takes a taxi to the airport. Robert and Barbara go to Narcotics Anonymous meetings with their daughter to support her and others.
Ayala/DEA storyline
A third story is set in San Diego, where an undercover DEA investigation led by Montel Gordon (Cheadle) and Ray Castro (Guzman) leads to the arrest of Eduardo Ruiz (Ferrer), a high-stakes dealer posing as a fisherman. Ruiz decides to take the dangerous road to immunity by giving up his boss: drug lord Carlos Ayala (Bauer), the biggest distributor for the Obregon brothers in the United States. Ayala is indicted by a tough prosecutor, hand-selected by Robert to send a message to the Mexican drug organizations.
As the trial against Carlos Ayala begins, his pregnant wife Helena (Zeta-Jones) learns of her husband's true profession. Facing the prospect of life imprisonment for her husband and death threats against her only child, Helena decides to hire Flores to assassinate Eduardo Ruiz; she knows killing Ruiz will effectively end the trial nolle prosequi. Flores plants a car bomb on a DEA car in an assassination attempt against Ruiz. Shortly after planting the bomb, Flores is assassinated by a sniper in retaliation for his co-operation with General Salazar; the car bomb kills Castro, but Gordon and Ruiz survive.
Helena, knowing Ruiz is soon scheduled to testify, makes a deal with Juan Obregon (Bratt), lord of the drug cartel, who forgives the debt of the Ayala family and has Ruiz poisoned. Ayala is released, much to the dissatisfaction of Gordon, who is still angry over the death of his partner. Soon after the release, Gordon bursts into the Ayala home and surreptitiously plants a listening bug under his desk and leaves.
Training Day (2001)
Color
Rookie has trouble when he is paired with corrupt cop
Training Day
"Los Angeles Police Department's Officer Jake Hoyt is assigned for an evaluation headed by Detective Sergeant Alonzo Harris (Denzel Washington), a decorated narcotics officer. Alonzo is known to be a corrupt cop to several other narcotics officers who are also in on the take. Alonzo and Jake begin the day by catching some college kids buying cannabis. Confiscating the drugs from the kids, Alonzo tells Jake to smoke it. Jake refuses initially, but complies when Alonzo threatens him at gunpoint.
Alonzo states that refusing like this while on the streets would easily get him killed. He tells Jake shortly thereafter that the marijuana was laced and he has actually consumed PCP. After paying a visit to Roger, an ex-cop turned drug dealer, Jake notices a pair of addicts attempting to rape a teenage girl in an alley. Jake intervenes while Alonzo watches. After Alonzo scares them off, Jake finds the girl's wallet on the ground and retrieves it.
Later in the day, Alonzo and Jake apprehend a dealer named Blue who uses a wheelchair. They find crack rocks and a loaded handgun on him. Rather than go to jail, Blue informs on his associate Kevin "Sandman" Miller, who is in prison. Using a fake search warrant, Alonzo steals $40,000 from Sandman's home. Sandman's wife realizes the theft and calls out to nearby gang members, who open fire on Alonzo and Jake as they flee.
At lunch, the two visit Alonzo's mistress Sara and their young son. Afterwards, Alonzo meets with a trio of corrupt high-ranking police officials he refers to as the "Three Wise Men". Aware that the Russian mafia are looking for Alonzo, they suggest that he skip town. Alonzo insists he has control of the situation, and trades Sandman's drug money for an official arrest warrant.
Using the warrant, Alonzo, Jake, and four other corrupt narcotics officers return to Roger's house and seize $4 million from the premises. Alonzo shoots and kills Roger when Jake refuses to do so. Jake refuses to be a part of it, and when Alonzo threatens Jake for a second time, Jake seizes Alonzo's shotgun, prompting a Mexican standoff with the other officers. Alonzo tells Jake that the LAPD will run a blood test on him which will identify the PCP-laced cannabis he smoked earlier, and mimics what the local news will say about Jake should he die in the standoff. Alonzo promises he can falsify this in exchange for his cooperation, then stages a scenario to get everyone off the hook while Jake reluctantly agrees.
Later that evening, Alonzo drives Jake to the home of Smiley, a member of the Hillside Trece street gang, to run an errand. Jake reluctantly plays poker with Smiley and his fellow gang members as he waits for Alonzo and Smiley relates Alonzo's situation. By midnight, Alonzo must pay $1 million to the Russians for killing one of their men in Las Vegas, or be killed himself.
Realizing that Alonzo abandoned him and has paid Smiley to kill him, Jake attempts to flee but is beaten and dragged to a bathtub to be executed. A gang member searches Jake for money before he is killed, and finds the wallet of the teenage girl, who happens to be Smiley's cousin. After confirming Jake's story of how he had saved her from being raped earlier that day, Smiley allows Jake to leave and returns his gun.
Jake returns to Sara's apartment to arrest Alonzo, but a gunfight and chase ensue. Alonzo beats Jake and as he leaves to pay the Russians, Jake jumps on top of Alonzo's car, causing an accident. Alonzo is subdued, while the entire neighborhood congregates to watch. In an attempt to get the crowd on his side, Alonzo offers money to whoever kills Jake, but nobody interferes, having grown tired of Alonzo's corruption and arrogance, not even when he then threatens them with sending them to prison on trumped-up charges.
As Alonzo reaches for a gun, Jake shoots him in the rear and takes the money, along with Alonzo's badge,saying he doesn't deserve it. The neighborhood gang allows Jake to walk away with the money as an infuriated Alonzo watches, and Jake plans to submit it as evidence against Alonzo. Alonzo flees for his life to LAX, but he is ambushed and executed by the Russians. Jake returns home as the press reports on Alonzo's death, which eerily mirrors how Alonzo pictured the news would portray Jake.
Tron (1982)
Color
Programmer hacks into former employer's virtual computer world to battle evil program
Tron
"In 1989, Kevin Flynn, software engineer and the CEO of ENCOM International, disappears. Twenty years later, his son Sam, now ENCOM's primary shareholder, takes little interest in the company beyond playing an annual trick on its board of directors.
Alan Bradley, an ENCOM executive and friend to Sam's father, asks Sam to investigate a strange message originating from Flynn's shuttered video arcade. Sam discovers a large computer in a hidden basement, which suddenly teleports him to the Grid, a virtual reality created by his father. He is quickly captured and sent to "the Games", where he is forced to fight a masked program named Rinzler. When Sam is injured and begins bleeding, Rinzler realizes that Sam is a human "User" and takes him before CLU, the Grid's ruling Program who resembles a younger Kevin Flynn. CLU nearly kills Sam in a Light Cycle match, but Sam is rescued by Quorra, an "apprentice" of Flynn, who conveys him to his father outside CLU's territory.
Flynn reveals to Sam that he had been working to create a "perfect" computer system and had appointed CLU and Tron (a security program created by Alan) its co-creators. During this construction, the trio discovered a species of naturally-occurring "isomorphic algorithms" (ISOs) not conceived by Flynn, bearing the potential to resolve various mysteries in science, religion, and medicine. CLU, considering them an aberration, betrayed Flynn, seemingly killed Tron, and destroyed the ISOs. Meanwhile, the "I/O portal" permitting travel between the two worlds had closed, leaving Flynn trapped inside the system. Now that CLU had gained complete control, he caused the message to be sent to Alan in order to lure Sam onto the Grid and open the portal for a limited time. As Flynn's "identity disc" is the master key to the Grid and the only way to go through the portal, CLU expects Sam to bring Flynn to the portal so that he may take Flynn's disc and go through the portal himself to impose his idea of perfection on the human world.
Against his father's wishes, Sam returns to CLU's territory to find Zuse, a program who can provide safe passage to the I/O portal. At the End of Line Club, its owner Castor reveals himself to be Zuse, then betrays Sam to CLU's guards. In the resulting fight, Flynn rescues his son, Quorra is injured, and Zuse gains possession of Flynn's disc. Zuse attempts to bargain with CLU for the disc, but CLU simply takes the disc and destroys the club along with Zuse. Flynn and Sam stow away aboard a "solar sailer" transport program, where Flynn restores Quorra and reveals her to be the last surviving ISO.
The transport stops inside a warship where Quorra is captured by Rinzler, whom Flynn recognizes as Tron, reprogrammed by CLU. Sam reclaims Flynn's disc and rescues Quorra, while Flynn takes control of a Light Fighter on the flight deck. CLU, Rinzler, and several guards pursue the trio in Light Jets. Upon making eye contact with Flynn, Rinzler remembers his past and collides with CLU's Light Jet, but CLU uses Tron's spare baton to escape while Tron falls into the Sea of Simulation below. CLU confronts the others at the I/O portal, where Flynn reintegrates with his digital duplicate, apparently destroying CLU along with himself. Quorra, having traded discs with Flynn, gives Flynn's disc to Sam and they escape together to the real world. In Flynn's arcade, Sam backs up and deactivates the system. He then finds a waiting Alan and tells him he plans to retake control of ENCOM, naming Alan chairman of the board. He departs on his motorcycle with Quorra.
Troy (2004)
Color
Prince Paris of Troy kidnaps the beautiful Helen from her husband, leading to war
Troy
"A battle between the armies of King Agamemnon of Mycenae and Triopas of Thessaly is averted when the great warrior Achilles, fighting for Agamemnon's army, defeats Thessaly's champion in single combat, forcing Triopas and Thessaly to join Agamemnon's loose alliance of all the Greek kingdoms. Meanwhile, Prince Hector of Troy and his younger brother Paris negotiate a peace treaty with Menelaus, King of Sparta. However, Paris is having an affair with Menelaus' wife, Queen Helen, and smuggles her aboard their home-bound vessel. Upon learning of this, Menelaus meets with Agamemnon, his elder brother, and asks him to help take Troy. Agamemnon agrees, as conquering Troy will give him control of the Aegean Sea. Agamemnon has Odysseus, King of Ithaca, persuade Achilles to join them. Achilles, who strongly dislikes Agamemnon, eventually decides to go, after his mother Thetis tells him that though he will die, he will be forever glorified.
In Troy, King Priam is dismayed when Hector and Paris introduce Helen, but welcomes her and decides to prepare for war. The Greeks eventually invade and take the Trojan beach, thanks largely to Achilles and his Myrmidons. Achilles has the temple of Apollo sacked, and claims Briseis -- a priestess and the cousin of Paris and Hector -- as a prisoner. He is angered when Agamemnon spitefully takes her from him, and decides that he will not aid Agamemnon in the siege.
The Trojan and Greek armies meet outside the walls of Troy; during a parley, Paris offers to duel Menelaus personally for Helen's hand in exchange for the city being spared. Agamemnon, intending to take the city regardless of the outcome, accepts. Menelaus wounds Paris and almost kills him, but is himself killed by Hector. In the ensuing battle, Hector kills Ajax and many Greek soldiers fall to the Trojan defenses. On Odysseus' insistence, Agamemnon gives the order to fall back. He gives Briseis to the Greek soldiers for their amusement, but Achilles saves her. Later that night, Briseis sneaks into Achilles' quarters to kill him; instead, she falls for him and they become lovers. Achilles then resolves to leave Troy, much to the dismay of Patroclus, his cousin and protege.
Despite Hector's objections, Priam orders him to retake the Trojan beach and force the Greeks home; the attack unifies the Greeks and the Myrmidons enter the battle. Hector duels a man he believes to be Achilles and cuts his throat, only to discover it was actually Patroclus. Distraught, Hector euthanizes Patroclus and the armies agree to stop fighting for the day. Achilles is informed of his cousin's death and vows revenge. Wary of Achilles, Hector shows his wife Andromache a secret tunnel beneath Troy; should he die and the city fall, he instructs her to take their child and any survivors out of the city to Mount Ida.
The next day, Achilles arrives outside Troy and challenges Hector; the two duel until Hector is killed, and Achilles drags his corpse back to the Trojan beach. Priam, in disguise, sneaks into the camp and implores Achilles to return Hector's body for a proper funeral. Ashamed of his actions, Achilles agrees and allows Briseis to return to Troy with Priam, promising a twelve day truce so that Hector's funeral rites may be held in peace. He also orders his men to return home without him.
Agamemnon declares that he will take Troy regardless of the cost. Concerned, Odysseus concocts a plan to infiltrate the city: he has the Greeks build a gigantic wooden horse as a peace offering and abandon the Trojan beach, hiding their ships in a nearby cove. Priam orders the horse be brought into the city. That night, Greeks hiding inside the horse emerge and open the city gates for the Greek army, commencing the Sack of Troy. While Andromache and Helen guide the Trojans to safety through the tunnel, Paris gives the Sword of Troy to Aeneas, instructing him to protect the Trojans and find them a new home. Agamemnon kills Priam and captures Briseis, who then kills Agamemnon. Achilles fights his way through the city and reunites with Briseis. Paris, seeking to avenge his brother, shoots an arrow through Achilles' heel and then several into his body. Achilles bids farewell to Briseis, and watches her flee with Paris before dying.
In the aftermath, Troy is finally taken and a funeral is held for Achilles, where Odysseus personally cremates his body.
True Grit (1969)
Color
Teenage tomboy seeks help of lawman to track down hired hand who murdered her father
True Grit
"In 1880, Frank Ross, of Yell County, Arkansas, is murdered and robbed by his hired hand, Tom Chaney. Ross's young daughter, Mattie, travels to Fort Smith, where she hires aging U.S. Marshal Reuben "Rooster" J. Cogburn to apprehend Chaney. Mattie has heard that Cogburn has "true grit". Mattie earns the money to pay his fee by shrewdly horse trading. She gives Cogburn a payment to track and capture Chaney, who has taken up with outlaw "Lucky" Ned Pepper in Indian Territory (modern-day Oklahoma).
A young Texas Ranger, La Boeuf, is also pursuing Chaney and joins forces with Cogburn, despite Mattie's protest. The two try to unsuccessfully ditch Mattie.
After several days, the three discover horse thieves Emmett Quincy and Moon, who are waiting Pepper at a remote dugout cabin. Cogburn captures and interrogates the two men. Moon's leg is injured and Cogburn uses the injury as leverage for information about Pepper. Quincy stabs Moon to prevent this, and Cogburn kills Quincy. Before Moon dies, he reveals Pepper and his gang are due at the cabin that night for fresh mounts.
Rooster and La Boeuf lay a trap. Upon arriving, Pepper is suspicious and draws La Boeuf's fire, who blows their planned ambush by shooting and killing Pepper's horse. A firefight ensues, during which Cogburn and La Boeuf kill two of the gang, but Pepper and the rest of his men escape unharmed. Cogburn, La Boeuf, and Mattie make their way to McAlester's store with the dead bodies. Cogburn unsuccessfully tries to persuade Mattie to stay at McAlester's.
The two lawmen and Mattie resume their pursuit. Fetching water one morning, Mattie finds herself face-to-face with Chaney. She shoots Chaney with her father's gun, injuring him and calling out to her partners. Pepper and his gang arrive first, capture Mattie and force Cogburn and La Boeuf to abandon the girl and ride away. Pepper leaves Mattie with Chaney instructing him not to harm her.
Cogburn and La Bouf double back. La Boeuf finds Mattie and they watch from a high bluff as Cogburn confronts Pepper plus his gang of three. Cogburn gives Pepper a choice between being killed now or surrendering and being hanged in Fort Smith. Calling this "bold talk for a one-eyed fat man" (Cogburn wears an eye patch), Pepper enrages Cogburn, who charges the four outlaws, guns blazing. In the initial head-on charge, Cogburn hits Ned in the chest above the heart. Cogburn eventually kills the Parmalee brothers with "Dirty Bob" fleeing. In the fight, Ned shoots Rooster's horse, trapping Rooster's leg under him as he goes down. As a last act, the mortally wounded Pepper prepares to kill Rooster, until La Boeuf makes a long shot with his Sharps rifle, blowing Ned out of the saddle and killing him.
As La Boeuf and Mattie return to Pepper's camp, Chaney comes out from behind a tree and strikes La Boeuf in the head with a rock, fracturing his skull and knocking him unconscious. Mattie is able to shoot Chaney and wound him, but driven back by the recoil, falls into a snake pit and breaks her arm. Chaney begins to taunt Mattie about the snakes; Cogburn appears and shoots Chaney, killing him. The dead Chaney then falls into the pit as well. With great difficulty, Cogburn descends into the pit on a rope to retrieve Mattie, who is bitten by a rattlesnake before Cogburn can kill it. The mortally injured La Boeuf helps them out of the pit, saving their lives. La Boeuf dies from the effort.
Cogburn is forced to leave La Boeuf's body behind as they race to get help for Mattie at McAlester's on Mattie's pony, which dies while carrying them. After stealing a buckboard, they arrive at their destination. There, an Indian doctor treats Mattie's snakebite and broken arm.
Sometime later, Mattie's attorney, J. Noble Daggett, (John Fiedler) meets Cogburn in Fort Smith. On Mattie's behalf, Daggett pays Cogburn for his part in Chaney's capture, plus a bonus for saving her life. Cogburn offers to wager the money on a bet that Mattie will recover just fine, a bet Daggett declines.
In the epilogue, Mattie, her arm in a sling, is back at home recovering from her injuries. She promises Cogburn he will be buried next to her in the Ross family plot after his death. Cogburn reluctantly accepts her offer and leaves, jumping over a fence on his new horse to disprove her good-natured jab that he was too old and fat to clear a four-rail fence, and rides off into the valley below.
True Grit (2010)
Color
14yo girls hires marshall to avenge death of her father
True Grit
"Mattie Ross's father was murdered by Tom Chaney when she was 14 years old. While collecting her father's body in Fort Smith, Arkansas, Mattie asks the local sheriff about the search for Chaney. He tells her that Chaney has fled with "Lucky" Ned Pepper and his gang into Indian Territory, where the sheriff has no authority, so she inquires about hiring a Deputy U.S. Marshal. The sheriff gives three recommendations, and Mattie chooses Rooster Cogburn. Cogburn initially rebuffs her offer, not believing she has the money to hire him, but she raises the money by aggressively horse-trading with Colonel Stonehill.
Texas Ranger LaBoeuf arrives in town, pursuing Chaney for the murder of a Texas State Senator. LaBoeuf proposes joining Cogburn, but Mattie refuses his offer. She wishes Chaney to be hanged in Arkansas for her father's murder, not in Texas for killing the senator. Mattie also insists on traveling with Cogburn but he leaves without her, having gone with LaBoeuf to apprehend Chaney and split the reward.
After being refused passage on the ferry that conveyed Cogburn and LaBoeuf, Mattie crosses the river on horseback. LaBoeuf expresses his displeasure by birching Mattie with a stick, but Cogburn eventually allows Mattie to accompany them. After a dispute over their respective service with the Confederate States of America, Cogburn ends their arrangement and LaBoeuf leaves to pursue Chaney on his own. Cogburn and Mattie meet a trail doctor who directs them to an empty dugout for shelter. They find two outlaws, Quincy and Moon, and interrogate them. Quincy insists they have no information about the Pepper gang, but eventually Moon divulges what he knows; Quincy fatally stabs Moon, and Cogburn shoots Quincy dead. Before dying, Moon says Pepper and his gang will be returning for fresh horses that night.
LaBoeuf arrives at the dugout and is confronted by the Pepper gang. Cogburn, hiding on the hillside with Mattie, shoots two gang members and accidentally hits LaBoeuf, but Pepper escapes. However, Cogburn and LaBoeuf argue the next day, and the latter departs again. While retrieving water from a stream, Mattie encounters Chaney. She shoots him, but he survives and drags her back to Pepper, who forces Cogburn to leave by threatening to kill her. Pepper leaves Mattie alone with Chaney, ordering him not to harm her or he will not get paid after his remount arrives.
Chaney tries to knife Mattie, but LaBoeuf appears and knocks Chaney out. They watch from a distance as Cogburn fights the remaining members of Pepper's gang, killing two and wounding Ned before his horse is shot and falls, trapping his leg, whereupon LaBoeuf snipes Pepper. Chaney regains consciousness and knocks out LaBoeuf, but Mattie seizes LaBoeuf's rifle and shoots Chaney in the chest. The recoil knocks her into a deep pit, where she is bitten by a rattlesnake. Cogburn cuts into her hand to suck out as much of the venom as he can, then rides day and night to reach a doctor, carrying her on foot after her horse collapses from exhaustion.
Mattie's left forearm is amputated due to gangrene from the snakebite. Cogburn stays until she is out of danger, but leaves before she regains consciousness. She never sees Cogburn or LaBoeuf again, despite writing a letter inviting Cogburn to collect the money she owed him. Twenty-five years later, she receives a note from Cogburn inviting her to a travelling Wild West show where he now performs. She arrives, only to learn that he died three days earlier. She has his body moved to her family cemetery. Standing over Cogburn's grave, she reflects on her decision to move his remains, and about never having married.
True Lies (1994)
Color
Undercover agent poses as computer salesman, then his wife gets caught up in his mission
True Lies
"Harry Tasker (Schwarzenegger) leads a double life, performing covert missions for the U.S government under a counter-terrorism task force called "The Omega Sector". Albert "Gib" Gibson (Arnold) and Faisal (Grant Heslov) assist him in these missions under the command of Spencer Trilby (Heston). However, Harry's wife, Helen (Curtis), and his daughter, Dana (Dushku), believe he is a boring computer salesman with Tektel Systems (the cover company for Omega Sector) doing a lot of "corporate" travel.
Harry's latest mission in Switzerland reveals the existence of an Islamist militant organization group known as the Crimson Jihad, led by Salim Abu Aziz (Malik). Harry suspects that antiques dealer Juno Skinner (Tia Carrere) has ties to Aziz. After visiting her, Harry is chased by Aziz's men through the Georgetown Park shopping mall and a large hotel, meanwhile missing the birthday party that his wife and daughter have arranged for him.
When Harry goes to Helen's office the next day to surprise her and take her to lunch, he overhears a conversation with her coworker about "Simon" (Bill Paxton), a man she is seeing, causing Harry to worry about their marriage. Using the Omega Sector's resources (including a GPS tracker and wireless microphone hidden in her purse), he tracks down Simon, who turns out to be a used car salesman posing as a spy to seduce Helen. Helen is kidnapped by Harry's agency from Simon's trailer and left in a bare concrete interrogation room with a one way mirror. Harry questions her using a voice distorter about her relationship with "Simon" and about their marriage. She says that she wanted to have adventure in her life for once since Harry never gave her that. Harry realizes his cover as a boring salesman was too convincing. He decides to spice up Helen's life to make her happy by giving her a choice: go on a "mission" or be sent to prison. She chooses the mission: to pose as a prostitute and plant a bug on the phone of an arms dealer. Before she has a chance to plant the bug, Harry (who poses as the arms dealer) insists that she dances for him. The sham is interrupted by Aziz's men who burst into the room, taking both of them hostage, and subsequently flying them to the terrorist hideout somewhere in the Florida Keys.
Aziz reveals he possesses small nuclear warheads hidden inside antique statues shipped by Juno and plans to detonate one to demonstrate his power to the United States. Harry reveals his secret double life, much to Helen's shock, when the terrorists threaten Helen's life. Harry then escapes, frees Helen and attacks the camp, trying to stop the planned detonation. While fighting Aziz's troops, Harry appears to die in an explosion. Helen is recaptured and is taken by Aziz, Juno, and the terrorists as they escape the island before a nuclear warhead is set to detonate and wipe out their camp and any evidence. Gib locates and rescues Harry using the GPS device in Helen's purse. Two U.S. Marine AV-8B Harrier jets are brought in to attack Aziz's convoy as they travel the Overseas Highway and Harry is able to rescue Helen just as the limo she was in falls off the bridge which was destroyed by the Harriers killing Juno, but Aziz evades capture.
Harry soon learns that Aziz has kidnapped their daughter, Dana, and with the remaining terrorists has taken over the top floor of an under-construction office building in downtown Miami. Harry commandeers a Harrier to rescue his daughter and stop them from detonating the remaining nuclear warhead. Dana steals the arming key--and pursued by Aziz--climbs up onto a crane at the top of the building. Harry eliminates a few of the terrorists with the Harrier's machine guns while the rest decide to escape by helicopter. Harry sees Dana climbing the rigging and persuades her into jumping onto the Harrier. Aziz follows Dana and attacks Harry while he tries to pull his daughter to safety. Aziz falls off the jet, but gets his backpack caught on an AIM-9 Sidewinder missile which Harry shoots at the terrorists' hovering helicopter, with Aziz still attached, killing them all.
A year later, the Tasker family is having dinner together. A phone call reveals that Helen now also works for Omega Sector. Harry and Helen then embark on a new mission together. On the mission they encounter "Simon" again, who is a serving champagne and telling a female attendee at the event that he is a secret agent on a mission. Using her new skills, Helen intimidates Simon into leaving, just before a tango begins with Harry and Helen taking their places to complete their mission.
Truth (2015)
Color
Dan Rather's fall from grace after reporting Bush's evading the Veitnam draft
Truth
"In the months before the US 2004 presidential election, Mary Mapes (producer of the primetime news program 60 Minutes Wednesday) and her crew consisting of Mike Smith (Grace), Lucy Scott (Moss), and Colonel Roger Charles (Quaid) are seeking evidence to verify whether or not George W. Bush received any preferential treatment during his time in the military. Charles, knowing that the military "is good at what they do," believes there were no mistakes or errors, despite some claims that Bush's records were lost or altered, and that Bush had difficulty meeting minimal physical aptitude testing. Seeking leads, Mapes and her crew eventually find Bill Burkett, who says he has documents in the form of memos and letters dictating that Bush did indeed have preferential treatment and went AWOL for one year in 1972. Mapes produces a story that Dan Rather reports on 60 Minutes.
Jerry Killian was George W. Bush's commanding officer in 1972. At the time of the CBS reporting in 2004, Killian was deceased. Killian's supervisory officer Robert "Bobby" Hodges recants his statement that the Killian documents were authentic. However, Hodges refuses to dwell on whether or not there is "truth" in the documents.
After the airing, Mapes and Rather face questions over the accuracy of the segment. The authenticity of the documents on which the allegations are based is called into question. Some believe the documents are forgeries. The controversy is amplified by radio hosts, bloggers and mainstream media sources, The Washington Post, and by CBS itself. Certain characteristics of the memos, such as their font and letter spacing, indicate they were created on a computer using Microsoft Word, and therefore could not have been typed on a typewriter in the early 1970s. Subsequently, Burkett, who presented the documents, admits that he lied about where he obtained them.
After the scandal, Mapes, her crew, and Rather are faced with charges that Mapes's liberal political agenda played a part in airing the segment. One by one they are forced to face an internal review panel to determine if political bias was a factor. The internal investigation focus on the authenticity of the Killian documents as opposed their content. Smith, Scott and Charles are eventually banned from their work and fired, with Smith going on a rant in the office before being escorted out. Rather decides that after the hearing he will retire from broadcasting. When she faces the board, Mapes argues her opponents hope the "truth gets lost in the scrum," and the investigation has been focused on "fonts" and the authenticity of the Killian documents. Nonetheless, she is fired after the hearing. Rather makes his last broadcast, citing the courage it took for his crew to get through the toughest times.
Twins (1988)
Color
Twins separated at birth are reunited
Twins
"Julius Benedict (Arnold Schwarzenegger) and Vincent Benedict (Danny DeVito) are fraternal twins, the results of a secret experiment carried out at a genetics laboratory to produce the perfect child. To the surprise of the scientists, the embryo split and twins were born. The mother, Mary Ann Benedict, was told that Julius died at birth, and not told about Vincent at all. Julius was informed that his mother died in childbirth. Vincent believed his mother abandoned him. Each twin is unaware of the other's existence.
Vincent was placed in an orphanage run by nuns in Los Angeles while Julius was taken to a South Pacific island and raised by Professor Werner (Tony Jay). On Julius' 35th birthday, Werner tells him that he has a twin brother.[3] Julius leaves the island to find him.
Julius discovers Vincent lives in L.A., and travels throughout the city. Though intelligent, he is extremely na?ve about the real world his more streetwise brother inhabits; at one point he inadvertently foils an attempt by two thieves to mug him. He finds Vincent in jail. Vincent is scornful when Julius tells him they are twins, but lets Julius bail him out and then drives off. Julius tracks Vincent to his workplace, where he is being beaten by Morris, a member of a loan shark family known as the Klane brothers, for an unpaid debt. Julius overpowers Morris and earns Vincent's respect and trust. He meets Vincent's on-again-off-again girlfriend, Linda Mason (Chloe Webb). Knowing little about women, Julius is oblivious to the flirtatious advances of her blond sister Marnie (Kelly Preston), who dislikes Vincent, but eventually falls in love with her. Vincent shows Julius a document he stole from the orphanage which proves their mother is still alive but, believing she abandoned him, he has no interest in finding her.
Vincent steals a Cadillac to sell to his chop-shop contact, and discovers a secret prototype fuel injector in the trunk, which was to be delivered to an industrialist in Houston for $5 million. He decides to deliver it himself and collect the money. Webster (Marshall Bell), the original delivery man, begins ruthlessly searching for the person who stole the prototype. At Julius' insistence, the two couples go on a cross-country journey to track down Traven, the scientist who oversaw the project which produced the twins. Eventually they find him in Los Alamos, New Mexico, and he tells them that their mother is living in an art colony near Santa Fe. The Klane brothers find them again, with the intent of killing Vincent, but Julius and Vincent fight them off for the last time. At the art colony, a woman informs them that Mary Ann is dead and they leave. In reality, she is their mother but disbelieved their story. Meanwhile, Webster is also getting closer to finding Vincent.
While Julius accepts their mother's death, Vincent becomes bitter and storms off, leaving Julius and the girls stranded in New Mexico, to deliver the engine to the industrialist, Beetroot McKinley. Linda tells Julius about the engine and Julius once again sets off to find his brother. Vincent delivers the stolen property to Beetroot, but Beetroot and his assistant are shot and killed by Webster, who then turns his attention to Vincent just as Julius arrives. A cat-and-mouse chase ensues and Julius intercepts Webster as Vincent flees, but Vincent, feeling his brother's presence, reluctantly goes back and gives up the money to Webster. Webster then plans to off the twins but is outsmarted causing him to end up being crushed to death by thousands of pounds of industrial chains. Julius and Vincent make their peace, and Vincent reluctantly agrees to return the money and the stolen engine to the authorities, but secretly skims off one million. Meanwhile, the twins' publicity reaches the art colony, and their mother realizes that the two "comedians" who visited her were her long-lost sons after all.
Julius and Vincent marry the Masons, and use the $50,000 reward money to start up a legitimate consulting business, using Julius' knowledge and Vincent's questionable business savvy. In the final scene some time later, we see that both brothers' wives have given birth to twins and the entire family, including Mary Ann, is spending time together at an amusement park.
Two Can Play That Game (2001)
Color
Woman sees boyfriend with another woman, and teaches him a lesson
Two Can Play That Game
"Shante Smith (Vivica A. Fox) is a woman who gives advice on how to keep a man in check. Her ideals are challenged when her man, an attorney, named Keith Fenton (Morris Chestnut), threatens to stray. Smith is a well-educated woman who feels that when it comes to men and their tricks, she knows them all.
On the other end, Shante's boyfriend Keith is being led by his friend Tony (Anthony Anderson), who thinks he knows all the tricks that women play. When Shante's boyfriend, Keith, is caught red-handed stepping out with a co worker, Shante institutes her "Ten Day Plan" to get her man in line. The battle soon begins, though at the conclusion of the movie, Shante and Keith get back together.
Tyler Perry Presents Peeples (2013)
Color
Peeples' Family Reunion, Dad wants boyfriend out of the picture
Tyler Perry Presents Peeples
"The Peeples are an affluent East Coast family celebrating their annual Moby Dick Day reunion at Sag Harbor in the Hamptons. The weekend is interrupted when Wade Walker (Robinson), the fiance of Grace Peeples (Washington), shows up to propose after being goaded by his brother, Chris (Malcolm Barrett).
Upon arrival, Wade loses his wallet while being chased by the family dog. At the grocery store, he sees Grace's father Virgil (David Allen Grier), a judge, talking to a woman later revealed to be the mayor. He also sees Grace's sister, Gloria (Hawk), with her lover, Meg (Lewis-Davis), who is not known to the family. Wade learns more about Grace, including about her ex-boyfriends, breast implants, and mother. Grace's mother, Daphne (S. Epatha Merkerson), is a former singer and recovering alcoholic. Wade attempts to propose at dinner, asking everyone to say what they love about the people in their lives. This ends abruptly when Virgil says he had to pay for Wade at the store.
Wade goes to see Virgil play at a club but discovers he is not there. In the park near the beach, Wade encounters a group of nudists, which includes Virgil. At the guest house, Wade confronts Grace about her implants, and she is honest. They play "naughty school girl". Virgil peeks through the window and runs off in disgust.
Wade discovers that Grace's musician brother, Simon (Tyler James Williams), is also a thief. While playing through the Peeples's house, Wade finds Daphne's headpiece from her days as a performer and begins to sing while wearing it. He is caught by Virgil. Chris shows up unexpectedly to "help" Wade propose. Because of Chris's borrowed Gamma Phi sweater, Virgil thinks they are fraternity brothers and invites him to stay.
At Nana Peeples's (Diahann Carroll) house, Wade gets Daphne to sing, while Virgil watches in disgust. Chris makes advances towards Gloria, angering Meg. Back home, Daphne discovers her expensive earrings have been stolen. Virgil believes Wade is the thief. Wade and Chris are at the bar, where they see Simon talking to an uninterested woman. They follow him into the bathroom and pretend to be thugs, but then tell him to return his mother's earrings and stop stealing. Chris returns to the guest house to find Gloria, while Wade finds Virgil in a sweat tent and tries to bear it for Grace's hand in marriage. Wade ends up burning the tent down.
At the Moby Dick Day celebration, Grace tells Wade he looks terrible and offers him a drink from a thermos with a mushroom drawn on it. The mayor confronts Wade. While Virgil is giving a rendition of Captain Ahab, Wade hallucinates that Virgil is talking to him and charges at him with a harpoon. Wade is knocked unconscious.
Wade wakes up and is insulted by Virgil. Wade wants to head back to New York with Grace and Chris, but Grace wants to stay with her family. Wade and Chris leave. After the brothers depart, Virgil admits he has been swimming with the Humpback Whale non-sexually, Gloria and Meg tell everyone about their relationship, Simon admits to his stealing, and Daphne admits she put mushrooms in her drinks. The dog returns Wade's wallet, and Simon takes Wade's engagement ring out of his pocket.
Grace falls into her mother's arms, realizing Wade was telling the truth. She returns to New York a few days later, without being able to contact Wade. She sees his schedule book and meets him at a kids' museum. Grace apologizes and proposes to Wade. He proposes to her in return. Virgil arrives to accept Wade into the family, and the entire family joins Wade on stage to perform for the children.
Tyler Perry's Acrimony (2017)
Color
Ex-Wife vows to destroy ex-husband's new relationship
Tyler Perry's Acrimony
"Melinda Moore is a steadfast, hardworking wife who supports her husband, Robert Gayle, an engineer trying to sell an innovative battery design. A running total/dwindling balance of the proceeds Melinda receives after her mother's death is portrayed as the couple gets in over their heads in debt, which fractures their marriage over time. The film is divided into categories based in the emotional spectrum that Melinda experiences, as follows:
Acrimony
Melinda meets mechanical engineering student Robert during college. The two grow close, with Robert comforting Melinda after her mother dies, introducing her to the music of Nina Simone, and taking her virginity. However, after Melinda catches Robert cheating on her with Diana Wells, in a rage she rams the RV he lives in with her car, seriously injuring herself in the process. Melinda is rushed to the hospital for an emergency full hysterectomy, rendering her unable to bear children. Melinda and Robert reconcile and marry, despite the objections of her sisters, June and Brenda. Her sisters, June and Brenda warn Melinda not to tell Robert about the amount of money their mum left in her possession.
Years later, Melinda supports them both, as Robert is unable to find work because he is a felon and spent two years in prison for stealing shoes. June and Brenda are leery of Robert's intentions with Melinda's inheritance. Robert talks Melinda into mortgaging their house so he can build a prototype of a revolutionary battery he has been designing since prison, which he hopes to sell to Prescott, a venture capitalist. Diana, now working as an assistant to Prescott, arranges for Robert to have a meeting with him. After finding Diana's wallet in Robert's truck, June and Brenda tell Melinda that Robert is cheating on her. Prescott offers Robert $800,000 for the design, but Robert wants to license the technology to them instead and declines the offer. Melinda, furious at both Robert's decline of Prescott's offer and his interaction with Diana, files for divorce and moves in with Brenda. Robert moves into a homeless shelter, but Diana finds out and insists that he live with her.
Sunder
Prescott reconsiders and offers Robert a multibillion-dollar deal while allowing him to keep the intellectual property of the battery technology proprietary, which he accepts. Robert visits Melinda at work, although she refuses to reconcile. Robert accepts her decision but, as an apology to her and much to Melinda's surprise, gives her $10 million and buys back her home.
Bewail
After showing her sisters the money Robert has given her and berating them for their influence, Melinda visits Robert in his new penthouse apartment and attempts to seduce him and rekindle their relationship, but Diana comes in and introduces herself as Robert's fiance.
Deranged
Angry and hurt, Melinda becomes obsessed with the couple and swears to destroy them. Melinda sues Robert and Diana, claiming that the deal with Prescott happened before their divorce, but the case is dismissed. Robert and Diana file a countersuit against Melinda and obtain restraining orders. Melinda retaliates by visiting the bridal shop and destroying Diana's wedding gown with hydrochloric acid, although she is caught and sentenced to court mandated counseling, where she tells her therapist that Robert took advantage of her. Her therapist suggests that she may have borderline personality disorder. Melinda's mental state further deteriorates after learning Diana is pregnant. On Robert's wedding day, her family and friends are forced to prevent Melinda from leaving her house and ruining the wedding.
Inexorable
Robert and Diana leave on their honeymoon cruise. Melinda sneaks onto the boat, shoots Robert, and makes the crew of the boat jump overboard. Melinda attempts to shoot Diana but Robert tells Diana to take the dinghy and rescue the crew. Melinda returns and attempts to kill Robert with an axe but is trapped by the anchor and drowns. Diana returns with the crew and comforts a bleeding Robert.
Tyler Perry's Diary of a Mad Black Woman (2005)
Color
Man replaces wife with his new mistress
Tyler Perry's Diary of a Mad Black Woman
"Helen McCarter (Kimberly Elise) and her husband Charles (Steve Harris), an attorney, had it all: money, success, and a fine home. Their lives were perfect--but they only looked perfect to the public. Helen is unemployed and Charles has been having multiple affairs. On their 18th anniversary, Helen awakens to find all of her belongings packed in a U-Haul truck with Charles kicking her out of the house in favor of Brenda (Lisa Marcos), his young mistress, the mother of his two children.
Helen kicks the U-Haul driver, Orlando (Shemar Moore), out of his truck and heads off to see her thuggishly tough and intimidating grandmother Madea (Tyler Perry), who takes her in and helps her get back on her feet, much to the dismay of Madea's brother Joe (Perry). Joe's son and Madea's nephew Brian (Perry) acts as Madea and Helen's attorney at trial when Charles and Brenda catch the two breaking into and vandalizing the mansion (Madea rammed her car into the security gate, took a chainsaw to some of the furniture, and helped Helen tear up Brenda's clothes).
Since Madea is a repeat offender, Judge Mablean Ephriam places her under house arrest and sets a $5,000 property or cash bond for Helen; meanwhile, Brian gets to the last straw with his drug-addicted wife Deborah (Tamara Taylor) and kicks her out of their home. Helen learns to grow through her pain and is eventually ready to move on. Despite their rocky first encounter, she explores a second chance at love with Orlando (who was only driving that U-Haul as a favor for a friend).
Their relationship blooms over the course of many months. Meanwhile, Jamison Milton Jackson (Gary Anthony Sturgis) tells Charles to be his defense attorney in his upcoming trial for shooting an undercover cop during a drug deal--and possibly bribe the judge in his favor. This forces the revelation that Charles received his money through drug deals and by buying off judges.
During their divorce-court session, Helen decides to let Charles keep all the money and property provided that he pay Brian's attorney fees. She also wants Charles to pay for her mother's stay in the nursing home, since he was the one who forced her to put her mother there in the first place. Charles happily and smugly agrees. Charles' tactics turn out to be futile as he loses the shooting case with the jurors finding Jamison guilty. As the bailiff leads the disgruntled Jamison out of the courtroom, Jamison snatches up the bailiff's gun and shoots Charles for failing to get him acquitted.
Later, Orlando proposes to Helen, promising to take care of her and to love her forever. But before Helen can respond, she sees the shooting on the news and races to the hospital with Brian, where they run into Brenda. The doctor informs them that Charles was shot in the spine and could be paralyzed for life. When he asks if they should resuscitate him, Brenda quickly chooses to let him perish but Helen, who is legally still Charles' wife, tells the doctors to do everything they can for him.
Charles recovers, returns home with Helen, and resumes his verbal abuse of her. But Helen has had enough and retaliates for years of abuse in a few days. It is revealed that during Charles' hospital stay, Brenda cleaned out his bank account and left him, taking the children. Their maid, Christina, left as well when Brenda left no money to pay her, and all of Charles' friends and connections have turned their backs on him. Helen meets with Orlando and they argue when he learns she has moved back in with Charles and is looking after him. Despite Helen's offer to remain friends, he angrily storms out of the diner.
Charles finally realizes his mistakes and understands that Helen was the only one who truly cared about him, and he apologizes sincerely to her and becomes a kinder and changed man. She tends to him through the grueling process of his recovery, and eventually he begins to walk again during an emotional scene in church, in which Deborah, now clean-and-sober, reconciles with Brian and rejoins her family.
Charles hopes he and Helen can start over, but during a family dinner she hands him her wedding ring and signed divorce papers and tells him she will always be his friend. She goes in search of Orlando, asks him to propose to her again, and when he does, she accepts. Orlando picks Helen up and happily carries her out of the factory as the screen fades to black.
Tyler Perry's Meet the Browns (2008)
Color
Conentious family has funeral for patriarch
Tyler Perry's Meet the Browns
"In Chicago, Brenda Brown-Davis, the struggling single mother of Mike Jr., Lena, and Tosha, receives news that the father she has never met has died and his funeral will be in Georgia. The same day, the plant where she works with friend Cheryl closes, adding to her existing financial difficulties; then Miss Mildred, who supervises Tosha in her home daycare, says she will not work for Brenda anymore, upset that Brenda has not been paying her.
Harry, a basketball scout, notices Mike Jr. when he plays well at a game and comes to their house to talk about the boy's future. Harry asks Brenda out but she says has no interest in hearing about her son going professional and walks away. She begs Miss Mildred to watch Tosha briefly and goes to see her ex with Cheryl for financial help to pay the woman back. Mike Sr., who has never given Brenda any assistance, says no.
Brenda takes her children to Georgia to attend her father's funeral, and meets half-siblings who did not know she existed. She is surprised to run into Harry, who lives in the same town and is friendly with her father's family. At dinner Brenda learns that the eldest son of "Pop" Brown, LB, was the only one who knew about her. On his deathbed, Pop confessed to LB that he had been a pimp in Chicago; Brenda's mother, LB's mother, and many of Pop's friends the children had all known were his working girls. The family welcomes Brenda, offering support and encouragement. After the funeral, they learn that Pop Brown left a house to Brenda in his will. Brenda decides not to move into the house, despite Harry's suggestion that she should stay.
Once Brenda is back in Chicago, Mike Sr. offers money in exchange for a one-night stand. After Brenda rejects him, Mike Jr. overhears Mike Sr. insulting her and storms out. In an attempt to make money to help, Mike Jr. turns to Calvin, a friend who deals drugs. Harry sees them together and suspects something is wrong. He counsels Mike Jr. and goes home with him, to explain the situation to Brenda, who threatens to kick Mike Jr. out if he starts dealing drugs. Mike Jr. realizes the risks involved in drug dealing would let his family down and promises that he will not do it. When Harry and Brenda leave for a date, Mike Jr. tells Calvin that he has changed his mind and returns the drugs. A group of rival drug dealers arrive and attack Calvin for selling on their turf. Michael is shot and wounded when he runs away at Calvin's urging. This leads to a further breakdown in Brenda's relationship with Mike Sr.
After Mike Jr. recovers, Harry asks the Browns for help to get Pop Brown's old house for Brenda and her kids; they renovate the house and surprise her. Brenda overhears her half-sister Vera talking to LB's wife Sarah, suggesting that Harry is only dating Brenda to get his “perks” from helping Mike Jr. Brenda overhears the conversation confronts Harry; he asserts that he truly means well, but she breaks up with him.
A basketball league representative visits Brenda and offers Mike Jr. a million-dollar contract; Brenda learns that Harry referred them. On the day Mike Jr. signs his contract, Mike Sr. arrives to be photographed with his ex and son, but Mike Jr. announces to the press that he does not know his father, and that his mother had raised him without support. After they leave, Mike Jr. tells his mother that Harry is a good man and more of a father figure than his actual father had been. Brenda goes to see Harry and they reconcile, ultimately leading to marriage.
Tyler Perry's Good Deeds (2012)
Color
Helps cleaning lady working at his company
Tyler Perry's Good Deeds
"The film opens up with Wesley Deeds (Tyler Perry), the rich entrepreneur of the family-owned Deeds Corporation, getting dressed for work. His fiancee, Natalie (Gabrielle Union) fixes breakfast for him, obsessing over Wesley's predictable daily routine and life. Before going to work, Wesley makes one unpredictable stop- to pick up his delinquent younger brother Walter (Brian J. White), who lost his driver's license after a string of DUIs. Wesley informs Walter they are going to have lunch with their mother, the respectable Wilimena Deeds (Phylicia Rashad). At lunch, tension forms between Walter and Wilimena.
After lunch, Wilimena goes to meet Natalie, Natalie's mother, and Natalie's best friend Heidi (Rebecca Romijn) at the bridal shop. Wilimena and Natalie's mother urge the bride-to-be to consider her future with Wesley by opening up about how many children they want. At the same time, on an impoverished side of town, Lindsey Wakefield (Thandie Newton), a single mother and cleaning woman for The Deeds Corporation, finds out that she will be evicted from her home if she doesn't pay her bills soon.
Lindsey hurries to receive her check from work, and ends up parking in Wesley's reserved spot, leaving her six-year old daughter Ariel (Jordenn Thompson) inside. Wesley and Walter find Ariel in the car as Lindsey rushes to work only to find back taxes has cut down her paycheck. When Lindsey returns, she finds that Walter has had her car towed, and engages in a heated argument with the two men. Lindsey rushes off to bring Ariel to school while Wesley has a meeting with his coworker and best friend John (Eddie Cibrian) over how to snag a rival company Wesley and Walter's father has been against for years.
Lindsey returns from work only to find that she has been evicted from her home. Scooping up her belongings, she drives to Ariel's school, picking her up late. While she works another shift, Lindsey keeps Ariel in the broom closet of the building. After her shift is finished, Lindsey scoops up Ariel and together they reside in their van. Wesley sees them and decides to watch over them until Lindsey's “boyfriend” comes to get them. Eventually, Wesley takes Lindsey and Ariel out for pizza. Wesley and Lindsey bond, smoothing over their earlier disagreement.
However, the two both face rough bumps in their lives: Ariel's teacher finds out that Lindsey and Ariel are homeless and threatens to call child welfare, and Wesley struggles to expand the business while watching over Walter and discovering a more complex love life with Natalie. One night, Natalie returns home drunk after a fashion show in a nightclub and unsuccessfully tries to seduce Wesley, yelling at him in anger for not being spontaneous.
After child welfare comes and takes Ariel after telling Lindsey she can get Ariel back when she finds a solid place to live, Wesley gives Lindsey a rent-free corporate apartment. Lindsey again gains custody of Ariel, and helps Wesley find his wild side. Wesley reveals he always wanted to ride a motorcycle. Lindsey rents a bike and together, the two ride throughout the countryside, eventually stopping by a pond where they share a kiss. Wesley reveals his engagement, and Lindsey runs away to pick up Ariel from school.
Wesley finds out that the business officially snagged the rival company, and his corporation holds a party in his honor that goes badly when Walter has an outburst. Lindsey comes to the party to talk to Wesley and tries to leave when she sees what is going on, but Walter forces her to stay. Walter implies to Wil that Wesley and Lindsey are having an affair, calling Lindsey a janitor.
Wilimena then gives Lindsey a subtle hint that Wesley does not stay in relationships with someone under his economic class for long before Natalie, Wesley, Walter, Wilimena, and Lindsey get stuck in an elevator after Wesley and Walter have picked an immense fight with each other. Natalie and Wilimena notice Lindsey reaching caringly for Wesley's hand, which was injured in the tussle with his brother.
Wesley goes to see Lindsey at her apartment later that night, but she rejects him. Wesley and Natalie soon realize that although they love each other, their marriage would not be a happy one, and that they are only living this engagement for their parents. They reveal at their engagement party that they are no longer planning to marry, much to Wilimena's surprise. Wesley also reveals he is quitting his job and taking up traveling to see his old friends, hiring John as the new CEO of The Deeds Corporation. Though he is initially angered by this decision, Walter accepts this, and begins to calm down his aggressive attitude.
Before he leaves, Wesley goes to see Lindsey at the office and reveals his plans to go to Nigeria, inviting Lindsey and Ariel along after telling her the engagement is off. Lindsey again rejects him, and Wesley heads to Nigeria after giving his mother a good-bye kiss. At the airport, Wesley doesn't see Lindsey, and sadly boards the plane. When he turns around as the plane is set to take flight, he finds Lindsey and Ariel sitting across the aisle. Wesley and Lindsey share a kiss, with Ariel looking on happily.
Tyler Perry's I Can Do Bad All By Myself (2009)
Color
Kids try to rob quick-tempered matriarch Madea's house, she brings them to their aunt
Tyler Perry's I Can Do Bad All By Myself
"The films opens with April (Taraji P. Henson), a self-centered, alcoholic singer, performing at a nightclub where she works. On the other side of town, Madea (Tyler Perry) and Joe Simmons (Perry) catches Jennifer (Hope Olaid? Wilson), Manny (Kwesi Boakye), and Byron (Freddy Siglar) breaking into their house. After hearing the children's troubles, Madea welcomed them and feeds them. Jennifer tells Madea that they're living with their grandmother, whom they haven't seen in four days. They tell Madea that their only other relative is their aunt April.
April shares her home with her shady boyfriend, Randy (Brian White), who's married with children. The next morning, Madea brings the kids to April's house, but April doesn't want to be bothered. Meanwhile, Pastor Brian (Marvin Winans) sends a Colombian immigrant named Sandino (Adam Rodriguez) to her house for work and a place to stay. April puts Sandino in her basement and wants to lock him down there because she doesn't know him that well. While working around the house, Sandino surprises April by cleaning himself up and becoming very handsome. When Randy arrives, he sees April with the kids and Sandino and heckles him while making subtle advances at Jennifer.
Shortly afterward, Pastor Brian and Wilma (Gladys Knight), a church member, come to inform April that her mother died from a fatal brain aneurysm while riding on a bus. April is devastated by the news and seeks comfort from Randy; however, he is sleeping and shrugs her off. Later, Sandino comforts April as she tells him about her mother's death and the last time she spoke with her.
Depressed, Jennifer goes to Madea wanting to know how to pray. However, Madea, inexperienced with prayer, attempts to instruct her in a scene that plays out comically. The same night, Wilma sings "The Need to Be", an uplifting song for women, and Tanya (Mary J. Blige), the nightclub bartender, sings "I Can Do Bad". Before singing the song, Tanya is fed up with April's attitude and tries to help her friend, despite the fact that she can't help April if she can't help herself.
Over time, Sandino and April become friends, and Sandino fixes a ruined bedroom in her house. This makes Manny and Byron happy but not Jennifer, who feels April doesn't want them there. While on a date, Sandino tells April he doesn't understand why she is with Randy and asks if she loves Randy. He tells her what true love is to him. One Sunday morning, Sandino eagerly knocks on April's bedroom door to get April ready for church, but Randy threatens to kill Sandino if he continues to spend time with April.
Late one night, Manny needs his insulin shot, and Jennifer gets it for him in the kitchen. As Jennifer gets her brother's insulin, Randy approaches and attempts to rape her, but Sandino fights him off. April walks in on the fight and Randy claims Jennifer offered him sex for money. April claims to believe him and sends Randy to take a bath. When he is in the tub, April threatens to electrocute him with a plugged-in radio. Sandino arrives and tries to stop her, but April is enraged, as she explains that she was sexually assaulted by her step-father and lied about it to her mother thus causing her to lose her faith in the people that cared about her. After saying Randy is no different from him, she drops the radio into the water, giving Randy a severe electric shock. Randy jumps out and Sandino orders him to leave.
April goes to the bar for a drink and blames herself for not seeing the signs. Sandino tries to stop her from drinking, but she pushes him away. She then asks Sandino if he is a child molester, because of all the attention he gives the children. Sandino tells April of his childhood as a child laborer and explains that he loves the children so much because he sees himself in them. Feeling hurt at her unfair accusations, Sandino says farewell to the children and leaves.
Jennifer and April begin to get along and connect after April tells Jennifer about her bad experience as a child. Jennifer tells April that she should recognize Sandino as a good man. Eventually, Sandino returns and April apologizes to him and admits that she loves him like a friend. Sandino tells her that she can't love anyone until she learns to love herself. He tells April that he is in love with her but he wants April to love him back the same way he loves her. He shows her by kissing her.
April and Sandino get married. April and Sandino then hold a block party for their reception with Tanya singing "Good Woman Down", dedicated to April, then you see the new couple embracing and kissing each other.
Tyler Perry's Temptation: Confessions of a Marriage Counselor (2013)
Color
Married Marriage Counselor gets involved with one of her clients
Tyler Perry's Temptation: Confessions of a Marriage Counselor
"Years ago, Judith (Jurnee Smollett-Bell) is a therapist working at a matchmaking agency owned by Janice (Vanessa L. Williams). She is married to her childhood sweetheart Brice (Lance Gross) whom she has known since she was 6. Brice and Judith attend the same church as her mother Miss Sarah (Ella Joyce), a devout Christian with strong beliefs. Brice is a pharmacist and is soon introduced to a new employee, Melinda (Brandy Norwood). Melinda soon reveals that she is on the run from an abusive boyfriend, who had tried to kill her. Judith is dissatisfied with her job and anxious to start her own business in marriage counseling, but Brice is cautious and tells her to wait until they are more financially stable, which frustrates Judith. She is further frustrated when Brice refuses to confront men who catcall her on their way home from dinner.
Judith later meets Harley (Robbie Jones) while at work, a wealthy Internet entrepreneur who wants to invest in Janice's business. Harley attempts to seduce Judith as they work late together on matchmaking surveys. When Harley questions as to why there is no discussion regarding sex, Judith reveals that she does not believe in premarital sex. Harley concludes Judith's sex life is boring and on a schedule, which leads Judith to question her sex life with Brice. She tries to spice up their sex life later at home, only to be rejected.
For her birthday, Judith does something new with her hair and makeup. Brice fails to notice and forgets about her birthday. Later at work, she is sent flowers and happily believes them to be from Brice. However, Harley arrives and immediately takes notice of her change in appearance, revealing the flowers are actually from him. When Judith questions why he is always meeting with her, Harley admits he is willing to do anything just to be near her. At home, Brice still has no idea that it is Judith's birthday. Judith reminds him by leaving a cupcake with a candle in it on the counter. Realizing his mistake, Brice makes it up to her by dancing in a cowboy outfit and singing. The two happily make up.
Judith is sent to New Orleans with Harley to finalize a deal with shareholders. Janice tells her to flirt with Harley, but not to compromise herself and to be careful. Judith gives coworker Ava (Kim Kardashian) permission to make her over, switching to more sexy clothes, before joining Harley on a private jet for the trip. Once in New Orleans, Judith and Harley seal the business deal and go out drinking, eating, dancing and sightseeing together. On the way home, Harley makes a move on her and, although initially resistant, she gives in and they have sex.
Harley takes Judith home where he meets Miss Sarah for the first time, having already met Brice. Judith is increasingly bored with her husband's inattentiveness and sneaks out to meet Harley for sex. Harley keeps demanding that she leave her husband, promising to jump-start her career in the marriage counseling business. Brice, noticing her sudden closeness to Harley, surmises she is having an affair. He pleads with her to come back, insisting he loves her and is willing to forgive her, but Judith refuses and chooses to stay with Harley.
Judith returns to the apartment she shared with Brice to retrieve a laptop and is surrounded by a prayer circle of her mother and members of the church. Sarah begs Judith to stay and grabs her in an attempt to prevent her from leaving. Harley knocks Sarah to the ground and snatches Judith away, forcing her to leave. Back at Harley's, Judith is furious over how her mother was treated and yells at him for it, and Harley ends up beating her. Brice is having dinner with Melinda at her apartment and when bringing up the topic of dating again, she reveals that she has HIV and contracted it from her ex who is revealed to be Harley. Brice immediately drives to Harley's place and rescues Judith after finding her beaten in the bathroom. He beats Harley and is stopped by Melinda who rushes inside to calm things down. The two then leave Harley beaten on the floor.
Forwarding to present time, Judith is alive, but HIV positive. When she heads to a nearby pharmacy run by Brice, now visibly older, Brice and Judith briefly talk and Brice's new wife and son come to visit him at work. After briefly staring at Brice with his new family, Judith turns to leave to meet her mom at church, clearly with regrets.
Tyler Perry's The Haves and Have Nots (2013)
Color
Daughter from poor family marries into rich family
Tyler Perry's The Haves and Have Nots
Tyler Perry's moving and hilarious stage play delivers drama, music and laughter! Grandma Hattie Mae's family is poor and struggling to save her home. The Willis family is filthy rich. When Hattie's daughter, Rose, and son-in-law, Frank, go to work at the Willis estate, it appears as if their financial worries are over. But when Mrs. Willis tries to buy Frank's affections, both families learn that choices often come with a price.
Tyler Perry's Why Did I Get Married? (2007)
Color
Eight married college friends gather for weeklong reunion
Tyler Perry's Why Did I Get Married?
"The four couples, who are also best friends, converge in a house in the mountains for a week-long retreat that has become their ritual of sorts to help work out their marital problems and ask the question "Why did I get married?". Though the couples have committed to being physically present for the week, some of them have not been emotionally present in their respective marriages for quite some time. The week is not planned out in a well-programmed sequence, so the events unfold somewhat spontaneously, beginning with their "adventures" in getting up to the mountain retreat.
The first couple, over-worked Dianne and ignored Terry, drive up together and argue most of the way because Dianne (a lawyer) refuses to stop working. She takes calls on her phone instead of talking to her husband Terry.
The second couple, over-the-top Angela and annoyed Marcus, take the train. Angela constantly argues with Marcus and anyone who dares to interrupt them.
The third couple is overweight Sheila and conceited Mike. Sheila has to get off the plane because of her weight and the requirement to purchase two seats so she drives the long distance in the snow, while her husband Mike continues flirting on the flight with Sheila's single friend, Trina.
The fourth couple is overly-perfect Patricia and depressed Gavin who arrive by limo cab. Their journey is not documented. However, right before they leave to go to the retreat, Gavin shows up to pick up Patricia at a lecture she was giving (she is the author of a book called "Why Did I Get Married?") and artlessly dodges a question about their own marriage.
Dianne falls asleep not long after arriving with her BlackBerry close at hand and when her secretary calls while she is asleep, Terry tells the woman not to call them while they are on their vacation. When Patricia arrives, she goes up to wake Dianne while the men bond over the wine that Terry has poured for his wife. The sound of arguing signals the arrival of Angela and Marcus. When Mike arrives without Sheila, the other wives berate him and Trina for having left Shelia to drive alone. Sheila's husband shows clearly that he does not care for his wife at all. Her friends try to reach Sheila by phone but get her voice mail only.
Sheila is persistent to get to the retreat because she wants to make her marriage work. Providence leads her to Sheriff Troy Jackson's office. Due to the weather, the roads have been closed for the night and she has no choice but to spend the night in the office. That same night, Mike tiptoes, not unseen by Angela, to Trina's bedroom. Sheila arrives at the retreat house the following morning with Troy in tow. She introduces Troy to the others and tells them she has invited him to breakfast. Troy fast becomes a threat to Sheila's husband Mike, not because of Sheila, but because of Trina, with whom he is having an affair. Breakfast is a noisy affair with the arguing couples and Angela insulting Trina, the only single woman on the retreat, whom she instantly disliked.
Throughout the few days spent on retreat, there are spontaneous revelations. The infidelity of two of the husbands leads to a discussion by the men of the 80/20 rule. This rule states that most men get 80% of what they need from a marriage yet they tend to go after the 20% that someone outside can provide for them because it appears to be more to them when it really isn't.
During a heated argument with Angela, Mike reveals several secrets the couples have been hiding from one another: Marcus had contracted an STD after he cheated on Angela with another woman, Dianne had her tubes tied after her daughter was born and didn't want a son and kept it a secret from Terry, and Gavin had criticized Patricia for not protecting their young son in a tragic car accident that killed him a year prior. Mike, whose secret was revealed that he cheated on Sheila with Trina, makes it clear he isn't attracted to his wife any longer. After all this, Angela reveals that she's the one who gave Marcus the STD after she slept with someone, then Marcus tries to choke Angela out of anger yelling how she's so evil. Mike then tells Sheila he wants a divorce, after cheating on her and she smashes a wine bottle over his head knocking him out.
All the couples suddenly decide they can't stay in the house any longer after all the secrets. Sheila checks into a local hotel to recover from the shock of her divorce and the realization that Mike has drained her bank account. She is in a depressed state when Troy goes to visit her. He takes her up to a mountain where she cries and mourns the loss of her love and the only life she knew.
The other couples head back home. Patricia and Gavin are barely speaking to each other because she was deemed "stupid" for not protecting their son in a tragic accident by Gavin; Patricia breaks down emotionally in his arms and eventually confesses that she was only trying to be perfect. They both agree to face the situation and soon reconcile. Angela and Marcus are still fighting, especially when Marcus' ex-girlfriend and baby mama, Keisha, shows up at Angela's salon, and disrespects her. Marcus finally stands up to both women, and manages to frighten Angela into realizing she is wrecking their life with her constant arguing by not showing up for a couple of days. Dianne and Terry fight again right before they leave the mountains because he had a paternity test done on their daughter, and later on Terry's birthday at their home; Terry moves out because Dianne forgot about his birthday and did not tell him about getting her tubes tied. Patricia meets up with Dianne and Angela, moping over their husbands, and gives them good counseling about the need to get back on track: making a list of both the good and bad things their husbands have done. The men drown all their sorrows in bottles.
In the mountains, Sheila settles into a new life at her new job at the general store owned by Troy's father and, while she realizes her own self-worth, the two bond. Angela cooks dinner for Marcus after finishing with her list, but he suspects she is trying to poison him. Eventually, they make up and set new conditions. Dianne goes to see Terry and begs him to come back to her after crying over her list. He plays with her head a little to get back at her, but they eventually reconcile as well.
Later, all the couples converge at a gala celebration for an award recently received by Patricia. Dianne, Patricia and Angela are shocked when Sheila arrives and introduces Troy as her husband and has successfully lost weight thanks to his help. Her very jealous ex-husband, Mike, although still with Trina, tries to weasel his way back into her good graces, but she tells him to go enjoy Trina as his "20", referring to the 80/20 rule. Patricia includes a confession of her love for Gavin, as well as a message of loving, respecting and trusting God in her acceptance speech.
Tyler Perry's Why Did I Get Married Too? (2010)
Color
Four couples on Caribbean retreat bust their relationships wide open
Tyler Perry's Why Did I Get Married Too?
"The four couples prepare for their next marriage retreat in the Bahamas. Sheila (Jill Scott) and her new husband, Troy (Lamman Rucker), are the first to arrive, followed (in order) by Patricia (Janet Jackson) and Gavin (Malik Yoba), Terry (Tyler Perry) and Dianne (Sharon Leal), and Angela (Tasha Smith) and Marcus (Michael Jai White). The men and the women separate to talk about the good and bad about their marriages. In a surprising twist, Sheila's ex-husband, Mike (Richard T. Jones), arrives, and Angela immediately starts a fight until he leaves the women alone to go see the guys.
That night, he talks about his and Sheila's relationship, which angers Troy. Dianne accidentally calls Terry "Phil" in the course of conversation. Angela is insistent about getting the password to Marcus' cell phone because she distrusts him, but Marcus distracts her using sex. Dianne and Terry hear arguing later and think it's Angela and Marcus, but it turns out to be Patricia and Gavin. When Dianne goes to investigate, she finds Patricia but cannot get her to tell her what's wrong. The next morning, Sheila makes it clear that, though Mike says he misses her, she is completely over him. At the beach, the women meet an elderly couple (Louis Gosset, Jr. and Cicely Tyson) who have accidentally thrown a friend's ashes on Angela. Sheila invites them to dinner and they accept. At the "Why Did I Get Married?" ceremony, Patricia announces to the group that she and Gavin are getting a divorce, causing a distraught and angered Gavin to walk away from her, because he did not know she was going to announce it to them.
Back in Atlanta, Gavin and his lawyer meet Patricia with her lawyer, Dianne. Patricia and Gavin have decided to split everything down the middle in the settlement, but Gavin reveals that Patricia has not offered up the account containing her $850,000 book revenue. Patricia refuses to give Gavin any of her book money, but as she leaves, Gavin advises Dianne to tell Patricia to "prepare for a fight", as he intends to get half of that account as well. Meanwhile, Angela's neighbor tells her she's been hearing sexual noises from the house when Angela is not home. Angela believes Marcus is cheating and confronts him live on his television show, who then gives her his cell phone and password. Gavin comes home very drunk and confronts Patricia. He takes their son's baby photos and taunts her about her perceived lack of emotions, even about their divorce and their son's death, and then assaults her, douses her in vodka, then burns the photos.
Elsewhere, at Sheila's request, Mike agrees to help find Troy a job. Angela lectures Dianne and Sheila about how all men cheat. Patricia changes the locks and catches Gavin, Terry, and Marcus moving Gavin's things out, then learns Gavin has taken all their money, including her book money; enraged, Patricia trashes the house with his golf clubs. Angela comes home early to catch Marcus cheating and finds a couple in her bed, but after shooting up the room, she notices it was just the gardener and the maid having sex. Terry finally confronts Dianne about her infidelity; she reveals that she has been having an emotional affair and begs for forgiveness. Marcus and Angela fight, then reconcile, but only to fight again after Angela discovers Marcus has another phone. Troy arrives at Mike's apartment after finding out Mike got him his police job. After finding Sheila there, he angrily attacks Mike. Sheila tearfully confesses that she has been taking Mike to chemotherapy; she tries to apologize for being dishonest, but he leaves her.
The women go to Patricia's house to comfort her; they soon realize that they are ruining their marriages and lives with their constant selfishness, lies, dishonesty and inconsideration. The next day, Troy, himself, apologizes to Mike for the incident, who forgives him and invites Troy to have a drink with him and the guys, beginning a new friendship. Mike tells the men to fix their marriages because life is too short. The following day, Gavin finds himself humiliated at his job, harassed, and told off by an angry Patricia; to make matters worse, he is then struck and gravely injured by an oncoming truck. While the others wait to hear the status of his condition, a tearful and regretful Patricia instructs the wives to fix their marriages (such as Mike suggested to the husbands), and everyone makes up. Gavin's doctor shows up and informs them that he has died. The couples decided to have a memorial service for Gavin in the Bahamas.
One year later, as Patricia exits a university building she is approached by a colleague. She tells Patricia that she knows someone who wants to meet her, a philanthropist, but Patricia refuses. The professor goes on to tell her that she can at least say hi because the university needs funds. The man (Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson) tells her that her books have helped in his grieving process (divorce) and invites her to have coffee. The movie ends with Patricia smiling at him.
Uncle Drew (2018)
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Uncle Drew assembles team to help younger players
Uncle Drew
"The film opens with a documentary-style overview of Uncle Drew, a well-remembered basketball legend who was supposed to play in the Rucker Classic. However, due to an unknown conflict, he and his team disappeared. In the present, Dax is the underappreciated coach of the Harlem Money and their star player, Casper Jones. Dax spends lavishly to keep both his girlfriend, Jess, and Casper happy, despite being a clerk at Foot Locker. During practice Mookie, an old rival of Dax's, arrives and taunts him about the upcoming Rucker Classic tournament. In a dream sequence, we learn that Dax was an orphan who planned on becoming a basketball player, but was humiliated by Mookie after he had a shot blocked by him in their youth. The next day at work Casper demands expensive new shoes from Dax, who effectively bankrupts himself purchasing them. Despite this, Mookie successfully recruits Casper and the rest of Dax's team away from him, leading to a confrontation involving Dax forcibly trying to remove Casper's shoes that is filmed and shown on ESPN. Due to this humiliation, Dax's girlfriend Jess dumps him and kicks him out of her apartment.
Dejected, Dax has little luck finding players for a new team until the cantankerous Angelo encourages him to seek out Uncle Drew. Drew turns out to be an exceptional basketball player despite his old age. After seeing a demonstration of Drew's prowess, Dax recruits him for the team, neglecting to inform him about the tournament's prize money. Drew agrees to join Dax under the condition that they recruit his original teammates.
They set off in Drew's van and recruit Preacher, who has since become an actual preacher, but incur the wrath of his wife Betty Lou who pursues them as they leave town. They next reunite with the partially blind Lights and the wheelchair bound Boots whose granddaughter, Maya, volunteers at the nursing home looking after them. They escape and make it to the karate dojo of Big Fella. Big Fella is reluctant to join the team, as he still holds a grudge against Drew, but Dax persuades him to join. After his credit card is declined at a gas station, Dax attempts to hustle the coach of a youth girls basketball team to earn money for fuel. Dax's team loses, but Drew offers up the money to help Dax after learning the real motive for the game, and Maya begins to appreciate him for the way he treats the elders.
Returning to Rucker Park, Drew gives each member of his team gear that restores their faith and abilities, but Big Fella still refuses to cooperate with Drew. During the team's first game in the tournament Big Fella and Drew tussle on the court, almost costing them the win. Eventually, Drew acknowledges his mistake: sleeping with Big Fella's now deceased wife before the big game. He admits that he too loved her and the two make amends.
Meanwhile, Dax learns that Mookie and Jess are dating, but begins falling for Maya instead. After learning about the tournament's prize money from Angelo and realizing he was misled, Drew angrily confronts Dax. Dax confides in him about his past with Mookie, causing Drew to forgive him. While playing in the semi-finals, Big Fella suddenly has a heart attack and is taken to the hospital. Betty Lou arrives but instead of chastising Preacher, she agrees to fill in as the team's fifth member.
Dax and his team, now renamed the Harlem Buckets, play against Mookie's team in the finals who are an even match for them. Late in the game Lights and Casper collide and are both injured, forcing Dax and Mookie to fill in. Dax still lacks self-confidence, but his teammates give him the advice he needs and he manages to make the game-winning shot, beating Mookie and earning everyone's respect. Returning to the hospital the team reunite with Big Fella, Dax uses the prize money to pay his medical bills, and ESPN now hails Dax as a hero.
During the credits Jess is shown trying to call Dax about getting back together, becoming increasingly distraught when he does not answer.
Unfaithful (2002)
Color
A wife and mother, escapes her boring life when she has an all-consuming affair with Paul.
Unfaithful
"Edward and Connie Sumner live in Westchester County, New York with their eight-year-old son, Charlie. Their marriage is loving but a little monotonous and lacking in passion. While shopping, Connie runs into stranger Paul Martel and scrapes her knees, accepting Paul's offer to treat her injuries at his Soho apartment. Uncomfortable with his advances, she leaves.
Finding Paul's phone number inside the book he gave her, Connie calls him and is invited over. Paul again flirts with her. She leaves despite their mutual attraction, but visits again, and they share a dance. Connie soon leaves for home. When she returns to retrieve her coat, Paul literally sweeps her off her feet, carries her off to his bedroom, and they have sex. Both thrilled and guilty, Connie uses her work as an excuse to continue visiting Paul, raising Edward's suspicion. Noticing Connie readying herself with new shoes and lingerie, Edward asks her to meet him for lunch, but she says she has a salon appointment. Edward calls the salon and confirms Connie was lying.
Edward is devastated when a private investigator, Frank Wilson, provides pictures of Connie and Paul together. As Connie's visits become more frequent, she is late to pick up Charlie from school and realizes she can no longer carry on the affair. She decides to end things in person and the following day she does some errands. As Connie completes her grocery shopping errand, she drives to Paul's home to break things off in person, but notices him running off to the library with another woman. She jumps out of her car and runs to the library to confront Paul and the other woman. As she is in the elevator alone with Paul, she asks him how many women is he seeing but Paul avoids answering the question and tells Connie that the other woman is just a friend and nothing more. She then tells Paul that she doesn't want to see him anymore and mentions their affair is over. She also calls Paul a liar and tells him that she hates him. However, as she angrily storms out of Paul's apartment, he manages to chase after Connie, pushes her against the wall, and begins to seduce her. As Connie tries to resist Paul's sexual advances, she eventually gives into him and they have sex in the hallway of his apartment. She leaves, narrowly missing Edward, who has arrived to confront Paul. Paul lets him into his apartment and they discuss Connie. Edward is stunned to find a snow globe he had given her in the past, which Paul explains she had gifted to him. Edward snaps and fractures Paul's skull with the snow globe, killing him instantly.
Cleaning up the evidence, Edward overhears a crying Connie leave a message for Paul, mentioning that she has had enough of the lying and hurting her family and that she is sorry but has to end the affair for good. He erases the message and later dumps Paul's body in a landfill, but is plagued by flashbacks to the murder. NYPD detectives arrive at the Sumner home, explaining that Paul's estranged wife has reported him missing. Connie claims she barely knows him, and the detectives return a week later to reveal that Paul's body has been discovered. Edward and the detectives notice Connie growing visibly distraught upon hearing the news. Connie lies that she met Paul at a fundraiser which, to her surprise, Edward corroborates. Later, she finds the photos of her and Paul, realizing Edward has known about the affair. She also notices that the snow globe has been returned to their collection. Sharing a meaningful look with Edward, she realizes he murdered Paul.
They argue, and Edward says that he wanted to kill her instead of Paul. In the days that follow, Connie discovers a hidden compartment in the snow globe containing a photograph of her, Edward, and an infant Charlie, with a loving anniversary message. As she burns the photographs of her and Paul, Edward says he will turn himself in, but Connie objects, saying they will find a way to move on, and they appear to return to a normal life together.
On their way home from an event one evening, Edward stops at a red light with Charlie asleep in the backseat. Connie whispers that they could leave the country and assume new identities, and Edward agrees, consoling her as she cries. It is revealed that Edward has stopped the car near a police station.
Unhinged (2020)
Color
Woman honks at driver, enraging him to the point where he is going to 'teach haer a lesson'
Unhinged
"Tom Cooper, a mentally unstable man feeling powerless and invisible to the world, breaks into the home of his ex-wife and kills her and her boyfriend with a hammer, before setting the house on fire. He drives away as the house explodes.
Rachel Flynn, a newly divorced single mother living in New Orleans, drives her 15-year-old son Kyle to school in rush hour traffic. She is running late to work and honks at a pickup truck failing to go through a green light. The owner of the truck, Tom, soon catches up to Rachel and apologizes, then asks for an apology in return. The exchange escalates when Rachel tells him that she has nothing to apologize for. A small chase ensues before Rachel loses Tom and is able to drop Kyle off.
Tom tracks Rachel to a gas station and switches his phone with hers while she is inside the gas station. Rachel gets help from a customer who accompanies her back to her car and gets Tom's license plate number. Tom then rams the customer with his truck and aggressively pursues Rachel. When Rachel tries to contact her divorce lawyer Andy for help, she finds that Tom used the daily planner in her phone to locate Andy at a diner. Before she can warn Andy, Tom beats and stabs him to death.
Tom continues to stalk Rachel. He goes to her brother Fred's house and kills his fiancee, Mary. Tom then ties Fred to a chair and tells Rachel that she has 3 minutes to go to the school, get Kyle and get as far away from the school as possible before he will set Fred on fire. She gets to the school, desperately demands that the principal releases Kyle. She gets him and drives away. Then, a police officer arrives at Rachel's house, where Tom is holding Fred captive. Tom sets Fred on fire and then the cop shoots Tom and tries to put the fire out as Tom escapes. After Rachel leaves with Kyle, Tom catches up with them on a highway. They use a tablet GPS application to locate her phone (and Tom, since Tom stole her phone earlier) and find out that her phone and Tom is in a minivan directly in front of them. When they attempt to alert a nearby police officer, Tom rams his cruiser, causing a massive multi-vehicle car accident.
Tom pursues Rachel to her mother's house, where Kyle triggers a silent alarm and hides. Tom attacks Rachel in the driveway and seemingly knocks her out, then enters the house in search of Kyle. As he is about to walk back outside, Kyle inadvertently alerts Tom to his hiding place upstairs. Rachel enters the house in an attempt to protect Kyle, but Tom finds her and they struggle violently. When Tom begins to strangle Kyle, Rachel stabs Tom in the eye with scissors, killing him.
The police arrive and inform Rachel that Fred survived the attack. Rachel and Kyle leave to see Fred at the hospital. As they drive away, a car cuts Rachel off, and she stops herself from honking at the angry driver. Kyle observes and notes, "Good choice.
Unknown (2011)
Color
Man wakes from car accident to find someone else is impersonating him
Unknown
"Martin Harris (Liam Neeson) and his wife Liz (January Jones) arrive in Berlin for a biotechnology summit. At their hotel, Harris realizes he left his briefcase at the airport and takes a taxi to retrieve it. The taxi is involved in an accident and crashes into the Spree, knocking him unconscious. The driver rescues him but flees the scene. Harris regains consciousness at a hospital after being in a coma for four days.
When Harris returns to the hotel, he discovers Liz with another man (Aiden Quinn). Liz says this man is her husband and declares she does not know Harris. The police are called, and Harris attempts to prove his identity by calling a colleague named Rodney Cole, to no avail. He writes down his schedule for the next day from memory. When he visits the office of Professor Leo Bressler, whom he is scheduled to meet, "Dr. Harris" is already there. As Harris attempts to prove his identity, "Harris" provides identification and a family photo, both of which have his face. Overwhelmed by the identity crisis, Harris loses consciousness and awakens back at the hospital. A terrorist named Smith kills Harris's attending nurse, but Harris is able to escape him.
Harris seeks help from private investigator and former Stasi agent Ernst J?rgen. Harris's only clues are his father's book on botany and Gina (Diane Krueger), the taxi driver, an undocumented Bosnian immigrant who has been working at a diner since the crash. While Harris persuades her to help him, J?rgen researches Harris and the biotechnology summit, discovering it is to be attended by Prince Shada of Saudi Arabia. The prince is funding a secret project headed by Bressler, and has survived numerous assassination attempts. J?rgen suspects that the identity theft might be related.
Harris and Gina are attacked in her apartment by Smith and another terrorist, Jones; they escape after Gina kills Smith. Harris finds that Liz has written a series of numbers in his book, numbers that correspond to words found on specific pages. Using his schedule, Harris confronts Liz alone; she tells him that he left his briefcase at the airport. Meanwhile, J?rgen receives Cole at his office and reveals his findings about a secret terrorist group known as Section 15. J?rgen soon deduces that Cole is a former mercenary and member of the group. Knowing Cole is there to interrogate and kill him and with no way of escape, J?rgen commits suicide to protect Harris.
After retrieving his briefcase, Harris parts ways with Gina. When she sees him kidnapped by Cole and Jones, she steals a taxi and follows them. When Harris awakes, Cole explains that "Martin Harris" is just a cover name created by Harris. His head injury caused him to believe the cover persona was real; when Liz notified Cole of the injury, "Harris" was activated as his replacement. Gina runs over Jones before he can kill Harris, then rams Cole's van, killing him as well. After Harris finds a hidden compartment in his briefcase containing two Canadian passports, he remembers that he and Liz were in Berlin three months earlier to plant a bomb in Prince Shada's suite.
Now aware of his own role in the assassination plot, Harris seeks to redeem himself by thwarting it. Hotel security immediately arrests Harris and Gina, but Harris proves his earlier visit to the hotel. After security is convinced of the bomb's presence, they evacuate the hotel.
Harris realizes that Section 15's target is not Prince Shada, but Bressler, who has developed a genetically modified breed of corn capable of surviving harsh climates. Liz accesses Bressler's laptop and steals the data. With Bressler's death and the theft of his research, billions of dollars would fall into the wrong hands. Seeing that the assassination attempt has been foiled, Liz tries to disarm the bomb but fails and is killed when it explodes. Harris kills "Harris", the last remaining Section 15 terrorist, before he can murder Bressler. While Bressler announces that he is giving his project to the world for free, Harris and Gina--with new identities--board a train together.
Unstoppable (2010)
Color
Conductors try to stop a run-away train with lethal chemicals on board
Unstoppable
"Veteran Allegheny and West Virginia Railroad (AWVR) engineer Frank Barnes (Denzel Washington) oversees his co-worker, freshly hired conductor Will Colson (Chris Pine) as they use AWVR locomotive #1206 to pick up several train cars outside the fictional city of Stanton, Pennsylvania. Will picks up five cars too many, which they realize only after they have left the train yard. Although Will demands that they roll back and uncouple the extra cars, Frank continues north on the main line with the extras in tow.
Meanwhile, in a rail yard within the fictional northern town of Fuller, two AWVR hostlers, Dewey (Ethan Suplee) and Gilleece (T.J. Miller), are ordered by Fuller operations dispatcher Bunny (Kevin Chapman) to move a freight train led by locomotive #777 (nicknamed "Triple Seven") off its current track to clear the track for an excursion train carrying schoolchildren. Dewey attempts to take shortcuts, instructing Gilleece to leave the hoses for the air brakes disconnected for the short trip. Dewey later leaves the moving cab to throw a misaligned rail switch along the train's path, but is unable to climb back on, as the train's throttle jumps from idle, to full power. The train, now unmanned, speeds down the main line tracks toward the large town of Stanton. Dewey is forced to report the train as a "coaster" to Fuller yardmaster Connie Hooper (Rosario Dawson). Connie orders Dewey, Gilleece, and lead welder Ned Oldham (Lew Temple), to intercept the train at a siding. With no sign of the train at the siding, they come to realize that the train's controls have defaulted to full throttle, and it is speeding out of control on the main line.
Connie is able to successfully divert the excursion train to a side track in the nick of time, and then reports the runaway to Oscar Galvin (Kevin Dunn), vice-president of train operations for AWVR at its headquarters in Pittsburgh. Connie works with local police and sheriff forces to ensure that each grade crossing along the main line is secured. As they evaluate their options, visiting Federal Railroad Administration safety inspector Scott Werner (Kevin Corrigan) alerts them to the hazard that the molten phenol carried by eight of the train's tanker cars poses should it derail. Galvin rejects Connie's suggestion to derail the train in an area of unpopulated farmland before it enters the towns ahead, believing they can stop the train safely before then. 777 enters the farmland, where it collides with a horse trailer at a railroad crossing literally seconds after the horses and trainers are evacuated. As the train's odyssey becomes a media event, a lashup of two engines driven ahead of the runaway manned by veteran engineer Judd Stewart (David Warshofsky) is used to try to slow down the train being directed by Groundman (Victor Gojcaj) while AWVR employee and former U.S. Marine Ryan Scott (Ryan Ahern) is lowered to 777's cab from a helicopter. The plan goes awry, injuring Ryan, and the lashup locomotives are subsequently derailed and explode, killing Judd. The train continues racing towards Stanton.
Frank and Will are warned of the oncoming train. Due to the extra cars picked up by Will, they are forced to bypass a closer siding in favor of a longer Repair-In-Place track further north on the line. They make it into the track just as the runaway speeds past them, smashing through the rearmost car of their train. Frank sees that the last car of the runaway has an open coupler (not fitted with a FRED). When Frank learns that Galvin is planning to use derailers to stop the train, he asserts that this plan will not work and instead convinces Will to join him as he unhooks 1206 and runs it long hood forward down the line to catch 777 from behind. Galvin threatens to fire Frank and Will if they continue, but Frank reveals that he already was forced into early retirement weeks ago by AWVR. Despite Galvin's demands, Connie and Scott encourage Frank and Will to continue their pursuit.
The police abort a plan of triggering a fuel cutoff switch on the side of 777 with close-range gun blasts (the fuel cutoff switch has to be held down in order to stop the train) at a grade crossing when they realize the switch's proximity to the fuel tank. As Frank foresaw, Galvin's plan to derail the train also fails, as 777 and its 39 cars are too heavy and moving too fast. Fears arise that the runaway will derail on a sharp elevated curve in Stanton (the Stanton Curve) and crash into several fuel storage containers nearby, causing a major disaster; the city is evacuated as 777 approaches.
Frank and Will manage to catch up to the runaway, but Will seriously injures his foot while trying to manually couple their engine to the rear car pulled by 777, though he does eventually succeed. Though 1206's dynamic brakes are helping to reduce the speed of 777, the train is still moving too fast for the curve. At Will's suggestion, Frank goes out onto the train and begins engaging each car's handbrakes individually, further helping to reduce the speed. Soon, however, 1206's dynamic brakes blow out, and the runaway 777 begins to pick up speed again, dragging 1206 with it. But with proper timing of 1206's independent air brakes, Will and Frank barely manage to keep the train on the rails as it speeds through the Stanton curve, severely tilting in the process. Though a major disaster is averted, the train is still out of control; Frank is unable to get to 777's cab due to a gap between cars too wide to jump.
With a long stretch of parallel road next to the line, Ned appears in his pickup truck, pacing alongside 1206 to allow Will to jump into the back. Speeding to the front of the runaway, Will makes a successful jump to 777 and brings the runaway to a stop, ending the crisis. Frank, Will, and Ned are celebrated as heroes, and the two reunite with their worried families (who had been watching the news coverage of events from Hooter's and their homes, respectively). As described in a pre-credit montage, Frank was promoted and is now retired with full benefits, Will is expecting a second child with his wife, Connie takes over Galvin's job, Ryan Scott recovered fully from his injuries, and Dewey is now working in the fast food industry.
Unstrung Heroes (1995)
Color
Boy lives with uncles and grows into a man
Unstrung Heroes
When young Steven's mother Selma is diagnosed with ovarian cancer and becomes increasingly ill, his eccentric inventor father Sid -- despite deep reservations -- allows him to live with his dysfunctional uncles, pack rat Arthur and delusional paranoid Danny, in their cluttered apartment in the rundown King Edward Hotel. The two, who live in a setting worthy of the Collyer brothers, rechristen the boy with the more colorful name Franz and help him cope with his emotions by teaching him to value his own uniqueness. Learning from the odd pair that even though hope and science may fail us, art always survives, Franz secretly begins to create a memorial to his mother before she dies, filling a box with personal mementos -- a tube of lipstick, an empty Chanel bottle, a cigarette lighter, and the like.
Up in the Air (2009)
Color
Layoff consultant falls in love with casual affair
Up in the Air
"Ryan Bingham (George Clooney) works for the Career Transitions Corporation (CTC). He makes his living traveling to workplaces around the United States and informing workers of their dismissals in place of their employers, who fear doing it themselves. Part-time, Ryan also delivers motivational speeches, using the metaphor "What's In Your Backpack?" to extol the virtues of a life free of burdens like relationships with people as well as things, arguing that the best way to live is to travel light, with little to hold one down.
Ryan relishes his perpetual travels. Already entitled to Concierge Key program by American Airlines,his personal ambition is to earn ten million frequent flyer miles. While traveling, he meets another frequent flyer, Alex (Vera Farmiga). They begin a casual relationship, meeting whenever they can arrange to cross paths.
Ryan is unexpectedly called back to CTC's offices in Omaha, Nebraska. An ambitious, freshly graduated new hire, Natalie Keener (Anna Kendrick), is promoting a plan to cut costs by conducting layoffs via videoconferencing. Ryan argues that Natalie knows nothing about the actual process, live or not, as she has never fired anyone and does not know how to handle upset people. He plays the role of a fired employee to show her inexperience. His boss (Jason Bateman) assigns him to take Natalie with him on his next round of terminations, much to his annoyance. Throughout the rounds, Natalie is visibly disturbed by firing people face to face.
As they travel together and become better acquainted, Natalie questions Ryan's philosophy, but he is satisfied with his lifestyle. During the trip, Natalie is shattered when her boyfriend unceremoniously dumps her by text message. Ryan and Alex try to comfort her. Natalie later lectures Ryan about his refusal to consider a commitment to Alex in spite of their obvious compatibility, and becomes infuriated; she apologizes later, but soon afterwards they are ordered back to Omaha to begin implementing Natalie's program. There are problems during a test run; one laid-off man breaks down in tears before the camera, and she is unable to comfort him.
Instead of returning immediately to Omaha, Ryan convinces Alex to accompany him to his younger sister Julie's (Melanie Lynskey) wedding near Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Julie had him (and others) take photos of a cutout picture of her and future husband Jim (Danny McBride) in various places because they cannot afford a honeymoon trip. When Jim gets cold feet, Ryan's older sister talks Ryan into using his motivational skills to persuade Jim to go through with it. Although this runs counter to Ryan's personal philosophy of non-commitment, he persuades Jim that "everyone needs a co-pilot" and the important moments in life are rarely unshared. The wedding takes place without further problems.
Ryan begins having second thoughts about his own life. As he starts to deliver his "What's In Your Backpack?" speech at a convention in Las Vegas, he realizes he no longer believes it and walks off the stage. On an impulse, he flies to Alex's home in Chicago, Illinois. When she opens the door, he is stunned to discover she is married with children; Ryan leaves without saying a word. She later tells him on the phone that her family is her real life and he is simply an escape. When she asks him what he wants out of their relationship, he is unable to answer. Happy with the arrangement 'as is', she tells him he can still call her if he wants to.
On his flight home, the crew announces that Ryan has just crossed the ten-million-mile mark. The airline's chief pilot (Sam Elliott) comes out of the cockpit to meet Ryan and give him a special fulfillment card. He notes that Ryan is the youngest person to reach the milestone, only the seventh to do so (as the card is so numbered); Ryan, who had been preparing for that moment for a long time, shows little emotion. When the pilot asks him where he's from, Ryan says, "Here."
Back in his office, Ryan calls the airline to transfer five hundred thousand miles each to the newlyweds, enough for them to fly around the world for their honeymoon. His boss then tells Ryan that a woman he and Natalie fired has killed herself by jumping off a bridge, just as she warned them she would, and that when Natalie found out, she quit via text message. Ryan claims to have no memory of the employee making this threat. The company puts the remote-layoff program on hold because of government concerns, and Ryan is once again "back on the road".
Natalie applies for a job in San Francisco, California. The interviewer is puzzled as to why she chose to work for CTC, given her sterling qualifications; she tells him she followed a boy. Based on a glowing recommendation from Ryan, he hires her. The film concludes with Ryan at the airport, standing in front of a vast destination board, looking up, and letting go of his luggage.
Up the Down Staircase (1967)
Color
Idealistic teacher takes job in inner city high school
Up the Down Staircase
The film's title is a reference to the staircases inside a public, overcrowded New York City high school with a number of troubled students. Sylvia Barrett, fresh out of graduate school, has just been hired to teach English to the teens in this place, who come from various races and ethnicities. Many are undisciplined; a few are hanging with gangs. She is confused at first by the required regulations, daily reporting and other paperwork. Her students also seem continually disruptive and playful. One girl has a crush on a male teacher, and tries to jump out of a window; another appears with a black eye. A boy on court probation, with a high I.Q. but a mixed academic record, tests her patience, while another boy works nights and falls asleep in class. Not everyone is agreeable with Sylvia's quiet approach to the situation, but she intends to get the teens to become good students and get them into real learning. She succeeds finally in getting them into a lively discussion about classic literature, followed by a lively mock trial, before weighing whether to continue or resign from her position.
V for Vendetta (2005)
Color
Masked freedom fighter takes on totalitarian government
V for Vendetta
"In 2027, the world is in turmoil and warfare, with the United States fractured as a result of prolonged second civil war and a pandemic of the "St. Mary's Virus" ravaging Europe. The United Kingdom is ruled as a fascist police state by the Norsefire Party, helmed by all-powerful High Chancellor Adam Sutler. Political opponents, immigrants, Jews, Muslims, atheists, homosexuals, and other "undesirables" are imprisoned and executed in concentration camps.
On November 4, a vigilante in a Guy Fawkes mask identifying himself as "V" rescues Evey Hammond, an employee of the state-run British Television Network, from members of the "Fingermen" secret police while she is out past curfew. From a rooftop, they watch his demolition of London's main criminal court, the Old Bailey, accompanied by fireworks and the "1812 Overture". Inspector Finch of Scotland Yard is asked to investigate V's activities while BTN declares the incident an "emergency demolition". V interrupts the broadcast to claim responsibility, encouraging the people of Britain to rise up against their government and meet him on next year's Guy Fawkes Night outside the Houses of Parliament. During the broadcast, the police attempt to capture V. Evey helps him escape, but is knocked unconscious.
V takes Evey to his home, where she is told she must remain for one year. V then kills Lewis Prothero, Norsefire's chief propagandist, and Anthony Lilliman, the Bishop of London. Evey offers to help, and uses the opportunity to escape to the home of her boss, comedian and talk show host Gordon Deitrich. In return for Evey trusting him with her safety, Gordon reveals prohibited materials, including subversive paintings, an antique Quran, and homoerotic photographs. Meanwhile, V confronts Dr. Delia Surridge, who had experimented on him and many other "undesirables" 20 years ago at Larkhill concentration camp; seeing her remorse for her past actions, he kills her painlessly.
After Gordon performs a satire of the government on his show, his home is raided and Evey is captured. She is imprisoned and tortured for information about V, with her only solace being a note written by actress Valerie Page, a former prisoner who was tortured and killed for her lesbianism. Evey is told she will be executed unless she reveals V's location. When she says she would rather die, she is inexplicably released, and then finds herself in V's home. It turns out that V was the one who had "captured" her at Gordon's home, and staged her imprisonment and torture to free her from her fears. The note was real, passed from Valerie to V when he was imprisoned. He also informs her that Deitrich had been executed when the Quran was found in his home. While Evey initially hates V for what he did to her, she realises she has become a stronger person. She leaves him, promising to return before November 5.
Reading the deceased Surridge's journal, Finch learns V is the result of human experimentation and has been targeting the people who detained him. Despite being stonewalled by the government, Finch searches for the true identity of V, tracing him to a bioweapons program in Larkhill. Finch meets William Rookwood, who tells him that the program, which was directed by Sutler (who was then Undersecretary of Defence), resulted in the creation of the deadly St. Mary's Virus. He further reveals that Creedy, a leader of the Norsefire Party, released the virus onto English soil, killing 100,000 British residents and framing the outbreak as an attack by a terrorist organisation. The Party, which promised security in times of social instability, used the ensuing wave of fear to elevate Sutler to the newly created office of High Chancellor and win an overwhelming majority in Parliament, becoming the elected government. Finch later discovers the man he met was V in disguise, and though he initially disbelieves the story, his faith in the Norsefire government is severely shaken.
As November 5 nears, V distributes thousands of Guy Fawkes masks, and the population questions party rule as the nation slowly descends into anarchy, ignited when one of the Fingermen makes the mistake of shooting and killing a young girl committing vandalism, only to be killed in turn by a mob of enraged citizens. On the eve of November 5, Evey visits V, who shows her an explosive-laden train in the abandoned London Underground, set to destroy Parliament. He leaves it to Evey to decide whether to use it. V meets Party Leader Creedy, with whom he made a deal to surrender in exchange for Sutler's execution. After Creedy executes Sutler, V reneges on his deal and kills Creedy and his men. Mortally wounded, he returns to Evey and tells her he loves her before dying.
As Evey places V's body aboard the train, she is found by Finch. Disillusioned by the Party's regime, Finch allows Evey to send the train off. On the surface, thousands of unarmed Londoners wearing Guy Fawkes masks march towards Parliament. Since Creedy and Sutler are both dead, the military receives no orders, and allows the crowd to pass. As Parliament is destroyed, Finch asks Evey for V's identity, to which she replies, "He was all of us.
Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets (2017)
Color
Time-traveling agents must ferret out forces intent on undermining the human race
Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets
"In the 28th century, the former International Space Station has reached critical mass, making it too dangerous to keep in Low Earth Orbit. Relocated to deep space, it became Alpha, a space-traveling city inhabited by millions of creatures from thousands of planets. A special police division is created to preserve peace through the galaxy, including happy-go-lucky Major Valerian and his partner, no-nonsense Sergeant Laureline.
En route to a mission, Valerian dreams of a planet where a low-tech humanoid race lives peacefully. They fish for pearls containing enormous amounts of energy, and use small animals to replicate them. Wreckage begins plummeting from the sky, triggering an apocalypse. Before the explosion reaches the surface, a young princess manages to send out a telepathic signal.
Shaken, Valerian awakes. After an analysis reveals he might have received a signal from across time and space, he learns that his mission is to retrieve a "M?l converter", so-called for being able to replicate anything it eats. It is the last of its kind, and currently in the hands of black market dealer Igon Siruss. Before setting out, Valerian asks Laureline to marry him, but she brushes him off, due to his many affairs with female colleagues and his aversion to commitment.
Travelling to a massive extra-dimensional bazaar called Big Market, Valerian disrupts a meeting between Igon and two hooded figures who look like the humanoids from his vision. They also seek the converter, which is revealed to be one of the small animals he saw in his vision. Valerian and Laureline recover the converter, and he surreptitiously steals one of the pearls. Aboard their ship, he learns that M?l was destroyed 30 years earlier, and all information about it is classified.
They return to Alpha, where their superior, frosty Commander Ar?n Filitt, informs them the center of the station has been infected by an unknown force, rendering it highly toxic. Troops sent into the area have not returned, and the infection is growing. Laureline and Valerian are assigned to protect the commander during an interstation summit to discuss the crisis. Against the Commander's wishes, Laureline maintains possession of the converter.
During the summit, the humanoids suddenly attack, incapacitating everyone before kidnapping Filitt. Valerian chases the kidnappers to the infected area and crashes his vehicle. Evading arrest for insubordination, Laureline enlists the help of some aliens to track Valerian, and finds him unconscious at the edge of the infected zone. She wakes him, but is kidnapped by a primitive imperial tribe called "Boulan Bathors" that lives nearby. Valerian infiltrates the tribe's territory with the help of a shape-shifting dancer, Bubble. They save Laureline and escape, but Bubble is mortally wounded.
Valerian and Laureline venture further into the infected area, realizing it is actually not toxic and contains some wrecks of antique spacecraft. They reach a large shielded hall where they find the humanoids, known as Pearls, with an unconscious Filitt. Their leader, Emperor Haban Lima?, explains that his people lived peacefully on M?l until a battle broke out in orbit between the human government's fleet and another species. The human commander, Filitt, ordered the use of a doomsday weapon that annihilated both the enemy and the planet. Upon dying, Princess Liho-Minaa transferred her soul into Valerian's body. A small group of survivors took shelter in a crashed human spaceship. They managed to repair it, and learned of the humans' technology and history. They eventually came to Alpha, where they assimilated more knowledge and built a ship that could recreate their former home. They needed only the converter and the pearl to launch the ship. Filitt admits his role in the genocide, but argues that it was necessary to end the war, and the cover-up to prevent the humans from being expelled from Alpha. Valerian and Laureline disagree, stating that the commander has only been trying to save himself from the consequences for his actions, before Valerian knocks him out again.
Valerian hands over the pearl he stole, and Laureline convinces him to return the converter too, ignoring procedures. While the Pearls' spacecraft prepares for takeoff to no more bother the other species in Alpha, Filitt's pre-programmed robot K-Tron soldiers attack the Pearls, the government soldiers who were sent to assist Valerian, and their support staff, but are ultimately defeated. The spacecraft departs and Filitt is arrested. Valerian and Laureline are left adrift onboard a still working Apollo Command/Service Module, which is identified by radio technicians as "Destiny 2005", and Laureline finally accepts Valerian's marriage proposal as they wait for rescue.
Valkyrie (2008)
Color
Nazi colonel returns to Germany and participates in plan to assassinate Adolf Hitler
Valkyrie
"During World War II, Wehrmacht Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg (Cruise) is severely wounded during an RAF air raid in Tunisia, losing a hand and an eye, and is evacuated home to Nazi Germany. Meanwhile, Major General Henning von Tresckow (Branagh) attempts to assassinate Adolf Hitler by smuggling a bomb aboard the F?hrer's personal airplane. The bomb, however, is a dud and fails to detonate, and Tresckow flies to Berlin in order to safely retrieve it. After learning that the Gestapo has arrested Major General Hans Oster, he orders General Olbricht (Nighy) to find a replacement. After recruiting Stauffenberg into the German Resistance, Olbricht presents Stauffenberg at a meeting of the secret committee which has coordinated previous attempts on Hitler's life. The members include General Ludwig Beck (Stamp), Dr. Carl Goerdeler (McNally), and Erwin von Witzleben (Schofield). Stauffenberg is stunned to learn that no plans exist on the subject of what is to be done after Hitler's assassination.
During a bombing raid on Berlin, he gets the idea of using Operation Valkyrie, which involves the deployment of the Reserve Army to maintain order in the event of a national emergency. The plotters carefully redraft the plan's orders so that they can dismantle the Nazi regime after assassinating Hitler. Realizing that only General Friedrich Fromm (Wilkinson), the head of the Reserve Army, can initiate Valkyrie, they offer him a position as head of the Wehrmacht in a post-Nazi Germany and request his support, but Fromm declines to be directly involved. With the rewritten Operation Valkyrie orders needing to be signed by Hitler (Bamber), Stauffenberg visits the F?hrer at his Berghof estate in Bavaria. In the presence of Dr. Joseph Goebbels, Wilhelm Keitel, Heinrich Himmler, Hermann Goring and Albert Speer, his inner circle, Hitler praises Stauffenberg's heroism in North Africa and signs the orders without fully examining the modifications, believing Stauffenberg's changes "are for the best".
At Goerdeler's insistence, Stauffenberg is ordered to assassinate both Hitler and SS head Himmler at the F?hrer's command bunker, the Wolf's Lair. At a final briefing, Colonel Mertz von Quirnheim (Berkel) instructs the committee members in the use of pencil detonators. Stauffenberg also persuades General Fellgiebel (Izzard), who controls all communications at Wolf's Lair, to cut off communications after the bomb blast. On July 15, 1944, Stauffenberg attends a strategy meeting at Wolf's Lair with the bomb in his briefcase, but with Himmler not present at the meeting, Stauffenberg does not get the go-ahead from the committee leaders, and by the time one of them defies the others and tells him to do it anyway, the meeting is over. Meanwhile, the Reserve Army is mobilized by Olbricht, unbeknownst to Fromm, to stand by. With no action taken, Stauffenberg safely extracts himself and the bomb from the bunker, and the Reserve Army is ordered to stand down, believing that the mobilization was training. Back in Berlin, Olbricht and Stauffenberg are threatened by Fromm that if they try to control the reserve army again he will have them arrested; Stauffenberg goes to the committee to protest their indecisiveness and condemns Goerdeler, who has been selected to be chancellor after the coup. When Goerdeler demands that Stauffenberg be relieved, Beck informs him that the SS is searching for him and implores him to leave the country immediately.
On July 20, 1944, Stauffenberg and his adjutant Lieutenant Haeften (Parker) return to Wolf's Lair. To Stauffenberg's dismay, he discovers only after the timer has been activated that the conference is being held in an open-window summer barrack, whereas the plotters had intended to detonate the bomb within the walls of the bunker for maximum damage. While his adjuntant waits with the car, Stauffenberg places the briefcase with the bomb armed at the meeting as close to Hitler as possible. Stauffenberg then leaves the barrack, returning to the car. However, one of the officers at the meeting moves the bomb behind a table leg, thereby protecting Hitler from most of the blast. When the bomb explodes, Stauffenberg is certain that Hitler is dead and flees Wolf's Lair. Before shutting down communications, Fellgiebel calls Mertz about the explosion but cannot clearly convey whether or not the F?hrer is dead.
As Stauffenberg flies back to Berlin, Olbricht refuses to mobilize the Reserve Army until he knows without a doubt that Hitler is dead (if Hitler isn't dead, Olbricht will be arrested for having the reserve army mobilized without Fromm's permission). Behind Olbricht's back, Mertz forges his signature and issues the orders anyway. With Operation Valkyrie underway, Stauffenberg and his fellow plotters order the arrest of Nazi party leaders and SS officers, convincing lower officers that the Party and the SS are staging a coup. As Stauffenberg begins to take control of Berlin's government ministries, mid-level officers relaying the orders begin to wonder which side they should be fighting for. Rumors reach Berlin that Hitler survived the blast, but Stauffenberg dismisses them as SS propaganda. Meanwhile, Fromm learns from Field Marshal Keitel that Hitler is still alive. The General refuses to join the plotters, resulting in them detaining him. Major Otto Ernst Remer of the Reserve Army prepares to arrest Goebbels, but is stopped when Goebbels connects him by phone to Hitler. Immediately recognizing the voice on the other end, Remer realizes that the Reserve Army has been duped--rather than containing a coup, they have unwittingly supported it. SS officers are released and the plotters in turn are besieged inside the Bendlerblock. The headquarters staff flees, but the resistance leaders are arrested. In an ultimately vain effort to save himself, General Fromm convenes an impromptu court martial and sentences the conspirators to death, contravening Hitler's orders that they be kept alive. Given a pistol by Fromm, Beck commits suicide. That night, the ringleaders are then executed by firing squad one by one. When Stauffenberg was about to be shot, in a last gesture of loyalty and defiance, Haeften, places himself in the path of the bullets meant for Stauffenberg. When his turn arrives, Colonel Stauffenberg's last act is to cry "Long live sacred Germany!"
A brief epilogue informs that the conspiracy of July 20, 1944 was the last of fifteen known assassination attempts on Hitler by Germans. It also mentions Hitler's suicide nine months later and that Countess Nina von Stauffenberg and her children survived the war. The dedication at the Memorial to the German Resistance is then superimposed: You did not bear the shame You resisted By sacrificing your impassioned lives for freedom, justice and honor.
Valley of the Dolls (1967)
Color
Three starlets succumb to their addiction to pills
Valley of the Dolls
"Three young women meet when they embark on their careers. Neely O'Hara (Duke) is a plucky kid with undeniable talent who sings in a Broadway show--the legendary actress Helen Lawson (Hayward) is the arrogant star of the play--while Jennifer North (Tate), a beautiful blonde with limited talent, is in the chorus. Anne Welles (Parkins) is a New England ingenue who recently arrived in New York City and works as a secretary for a theatrical agency that represents Lawson. Neely, Jennifer, and Anne become fast friends, sharing the bonds of ambition and the tendency to fall in love with the wrong men.
O'Hara is fired from the show because Lawson considers her a threat to her top billing in the play. Assisted by Lyon Burke, an attorney from Anne's theatrical agency, O'Hara makes an appearance on a telethon and is given a nightclub act. She becomes an overnight success and moves to Hollywood to pursue a lucrative film career. Once she's a star, however, Neely not only duplicates the egotistical behavior of Lawson, she also falls victim to the eponymous "dolls" (prescription drugs, particularly the barbiturates Seconal and Nembutal and various stimulants). She betrays her husband, Mel Anderson (Milner); her career is shattered by her erratic behavior triggered by her drug abuse, and she is committed to a sanitarium for rehabilitation.
Jennifer followed Neely's path to Hollywood, where she marries nightclub singer Tony Polar (Tony Scotti) and becomes pregnant. When she learns that he has the hereditary condition Huntington's chorea - a fact his domineering half-sister and manager Miriam (Lee Grant) had been concealing - Jennifer has an abortion. As Tony's mental and physical health declines, Jennifer and Miriam check him into the same sanitarium along with Neely. Faced with Tony's mounting medical expenses, Jennifer finds herself working in French "art films" (soft-core pornography) to pay the bills.
Anne's natural beauty lands her a lucrative job promoting a line of cosmetics in TV commercials and print ads. She also falls under the allure of drugs to escape her doomed relationship with cad Lyon (Burke), who has an affair with her erstwhile friend, Neely.
Neely, committed to the same institution as Tony to recover from her addictions, meets him there and they sing a duet at one of the sanitarium's weekly parties. Neely is released and given a chance to rebuild her career, but the luring of drugs and alcohol proves too strong and she spirals into a hellish decline.
Meanwhile, Jennifer is diagnosed with breast cancer and needs a mastectomy. She phones her mother, seeking moral support; but her mother is only concerned with the reaction from her friends at Jennifer's "art films." Jennifer then succumbs to depression and commits suicide by drug overdose.
Anne abandons drugs and her unfaithful lover and returns to New England. Lyon ends his affair with Neely and travels to New England to ask Anne to marry him. She decides to move on with her life and declines his offer.
Vanilla Sky (2001)
Color
Man loses everything when his face is disfigured
Vanilla Sky
"From a prison cell where he has been charged with murder, David Aames (Tom Cruise), in a prosthetic mask, tells his life story to court psychologist, Dr. Curtis McCabe (Kurt Russell).
In flashback, David is shown to be the wealthy owner of a large publishing firm in New York City which he inherited from his father, leaving its regular duties to his father's trusted associates. As David enjoys the bachelor lifestyle, he is introduced to Sofia Serrano (Penelope Cruz) by his best friend, author Brian Shelby (Jason Lee) at a party. David and Sofia spend a night together talking and fall in love. When David's former lover, Julianna "Julie" Gianni (Cameron Diaz), hears of Sofia, she attempts to kill herself and David in a car crash. Julie dies but David survives, his face grotesquely disfigured,[4] leading him to wear a mask to hide the injuries. With no hope of repairing the damage through plastic surgery, David cannot come to grips with the idea of wearing the mask for the rest of his life. On a night out with Sofia and Brian, David gets hopelessly drunk and Sofia and Brian leave him to wallow in the street outside.
David is awakened the next day in the street by Sofia, who apologises for deserting him the night before, and takes him home. The two continue to see each other, and David has his face surgically repaired despite being told it was impossible before. Though his life seems perfectly content, David finds oddities, such as brief visions of his distorted face, and a man (Noah Taylor) at a bar that tells him David could control the world and everyone in it, if he wanted to. One day, when he goes to Sofia's apartment, he finds Julie there instead; all of the previous mementos of Sofia now show Julie's face. Angry and confused, David suffocates Julie, and is later arrested and placed in a mental institution, finding his face has reverted to its previously disfigured state.
David completes telling his story to Curtis, who proceeds to then visit David further for more sessions to try to help him recuperate. During one interview Curtis tells David the staff reported him calling out "Ellie" in a bad dream and asks who she is. David later sees a nearby TV advertisement for "Life Extension", a company that specializes in cryonic suspension, and realises he'd actually called out the letters "L" and "E". Under Curtis' and a police officer's guard, David is taken to the Life Extension offices, where salesclerk Rebecca (Tilda Swinton) explains they freeze people just after the point of death until a cure for their ailment is available in the future, keeping their brain active by placing them in a lucid dream state. David becomes anxious and breaks free of Curtis, realizing he is in his own lucid dream that has gone wrong, and calls for tech support.
David finds himself in the empty lobby of the offices, and the man whom he saw earlier at the bar appears, claiming to be David's tech support from Life Extension, which is now known as the Oasis Project. They ride up in an elevator to the top of an impossibly tall building, the height triggering David's severe acrophobia. The man explains that David has been in cryonic sleep for 150 years. David had opted for Life Extension's services after struggling with his breakup with Sofia and his disfigurement, and after securing the publishing company to its associates, proceeded to kill himself with a drug overdose; Life Extension preserved his body and, as David directed, put him into his lucid dream starting from the drunken night when Sofia left him, under the "vanilla sky" from a Monet painting. However, during his sleep, the dream went horribly wrong and attempted to incorporate elements from his subconscious, such as substituting Julie for Sofia and creating a father-figure in Curtis. As they arrive at the top of the building, the man offers David a choice: either to be reinserted into the corrected lucid dream, or return to the real world by taking a literal leap of faith off the roof that will wake him from his sleep. David decides to wake up, ignoring the vision of Curtis that his subconscious has brought to life to talk him out of it. David envisions Sofia and Brian to say his goodbyes. Conquering his final fear, David jumps off the building, his life flashing before his eyes, and whites out immediately before hitting the ground. A female voice commands him to "open your eyes" (a recurring theme in the movie), and the film ends with David opening his eyes.
Vantage Point (2007)
Color
After arriving in Spain for an antiterrorism summit, U.S. President Ashton is shot
Vantage Point
"U.S. President Henry Ashton (Hurt) attends a political summit in Salamanca, Spain to promote an international treaty. Displayed with eight differing viewpoints, an assassination attempt on the president occurs, relayed in a time span of 23 minutes. Each time the events unfold from the beginning, a new vantage point is shown revealing additional details, which ultimately completes the story of what actually took place during the incident.
From the first vantage point, GNN producer Rex Brooks (Weaver), directs various media personnel from a mobile television studio as the president arrives at the gathering. Mayor De Soto (Rodriguez) delivers a short speech and then introduces the president, who is shot twice as he greets the crowd from the podium. An explosion outside the plaza soon follows. Moments later, the podium itself is destroyed by a secondary explosion, killing and injuring numerous people. As the smoke clears, GNN reporter Angie Jones (Saldana) is seen lying dead in the rubble.
The second vantage point follows Secret Service agents Thomas Barnes (Quaid) and Kent Taylor (Fox). Barnes notices a curtain fluttering in the window of a nearby building that was allegedly vacated. He also observes American tourist Howard Lewis (Whitaker) filming the audience. After the president is shot, Barnes tackles a man rushing to the podium named Enrique (Noriega). Taylor pursues a lead to a potential assassin. Following the second explosion, Barnes barges into the GNN production studio and asks to view their footage. He calls Taylor, who reports the direction of the suspected assassin's escape route. Barnes then views an image on one of the camera's live feeds that startles him and prompts him to run out.
In the third vantage point, Enrique, a Spanish police officer assigned to protecting the mayor of Salamanca, sees his girlfriend Veronica (Zurer), being embraced by a stranger and overhears them speaking about meeting under an overpass. When he confronts her, Veronica assures Enrique of her love for him as he hands her a bag. When the president is shot, Enrique rushes onto the stage to protect the mayor, but is tackled by Barnes. While being detained, he witnesses Veronica toss the bag he gave her under the podium, causing the second explosion. Enrique escapes as the agents who previously had him in custody, mount a chase while firing shots in his direction, failing to subdue him. Enrique confronts an unseen individual at the overpass and asks if he is surprised to see him still alive.
The fourth vantage point revolves around Howard Lewis who is chatting with a man called Sam (Taghmaoui), while a little girl named Anna (Zapien), bumps into him and drops her ice cream. Later, Lewis notices Barnes looking at the curtain fluttering in the window of a nearby building, and captures the footage with his camcorder. Following the second explosion at the podium, Lewis chases Enrique and the pursuing Secret Service agents. At the overpass, Lewis views the pair of agents from afar shooting in the direction of Enrique as he greets an individual in a police uniform under the overpass. Seriously wounded, Enrique falls to the ground. Lewis sees Anna who had earlier become separated from her mother, trying to cross a busy intersection. An ambulance races down the road about to hit Anna, as Lewis runs out to save her.
The fifth vantage point begins as President Ashton, having been informed of a credible assassination threat, has returned to his hotel room with his aides while his body double proceeds to the gathering in the plaza. The President talks with his personnel about the reason for the terrorists' plot, the retaliation by the U.S. to the plot, the return of Barnes to active duty, and giving the order for the retaliation to proceed. The first explosion occurs just outside the hotel. Seconds later, a masked assailant bursts into the president's room, shoots his advisers and then proceeds in abducting Ashton.
By the sixth vantage point, terrorist Suarez, previously seen as Sam; shoots Ashton's body double using a remote-controlled automatic rifle placed in an adjacent window next to the one with the fluttering curtain that had drawn Barnes' attention earlier. The rifle is retrieved by Taylor, who Barnes sees leaving the scene wearing a Spanish policeman's uniform on one of the GNN live feeds, even though he tells Barnes that he's in pursuit of the assassin over the phone. Barnes realizes Taylor is actually part of the terror plot. The man Enrique saw embracing Veronica is revealed to be sharpshooter Javier (Ramirez), whose brother is being held hostage to ensure Javier's cooperation with the terrorists. The first explosion, at the hotel, is revealed to be a device detonated by a suicide bomber disguised as a bellhop who had previously handed Javier a hotel room key. Javier kills the guards and aides within the hotel, and kidnaps the president. Ashton is later placed in an ambulance with Suarez and Veronica disguised as medics. Javier joins Taylor in a police car to a planned rendezvous at the overpass. Barnes commandeers a car and chases Taylor and Javier. Barnes however, gets into a collision with a truck, allowing the duo to escape. At the overpass, Enrique, who did not die in the blast at the podium as intended, confronts Javier and Taylor. Enraged, Javier shoots Enrique, mistakenly believing he had knowledge of his kidnapped brother's whereabouts. Javier is then shot and killed by Taylor when he demands to be brought to his brother, who had been killed earlier by Suarez. Enrique dies of his wounds as Barnes reaches the scene on foot firing several rounds at Taylor, who attempts to flee. After crashing his car, a critically injured Taylor is dragged out by Barnes. He orders Taylor to reveal where the president has been taken, but Taylor dies. Meanwhile, Ashton regains consciousness in the ambulance and attacks Veronica, distracting her and Suarez just as Anna runs into their path. Suarez swerves causing the ambulance to flip over just as Lewis pulls Anna out of its way. Barnes runs to the ambulance where he sees Veronica lying dead. He shoots Suarez dead and rescues the president.
Vertigo (1958)
Color
Detective with an obession with a married woman
Vertigo
"After a rooftop chase, where a fellow policeman falls to his death, San Francisco detective John "Scottie" Ferguson retires due to fear of heights and vertigo. Scottie tries to conquer his fear, but his ex-fiancee, underwear designer Marjorie 'Midge' Wood, says that another severe emotional shock may be the only cure.
Gavin Elster, an acquaintance from college, asks Scottie to follow his wife, Madeleine, claiming that she has been behaving strangely and her mental state is abnormal. Scottie reluctantly agrees and follows Madeleine to a florist where she buys a bouquet, to the Mission San Francisco de Asis and the grave of Carlotta Valdes (1831--1857) and to the Legion of Honor art museum where she gazes at the Portrait of Carlotta. He watches her enter the McKittrick Hotel, but upon investigating, she does not seem to be there.
A local historian explains that Carlotta Valdes committed suicide: she had been the mistress of a wealthy married man and bore his child; the otherwise childless man kept the child and cast Carlotta aside. Gavin reveals Carlotta (who he fears is possessing Madeleine) is Madeleine's great-grandmother, although Madeleine has no knowledge of this and does not remember the places she has visited. Scottie tails Madeleine to Fort Point and when she leaps into the bay, he rescues her.
The next day, Madeleine stops to deliver a letter of gratitude for Scottie, and they decide to spend the day together. They travel to Muir Woods and Cypress Point on 17-Mile Drive, where Madeleine runs down towards the ocean. Scottie grabs her and they embrace. The following day, Madeleine visits Scottie and recounts a nightmare. Scottie identifies its setting as Mission San Juan Bautista, the childhood home of Carlotta. He drives her there and they express their love for each other. Madeleine suddenly runs into the church and up the bell tower. Scottie, halted on the steps by his acrophobia, sees Madeleine plunge to her death.
The death is declared a suicide. Gavin does not fault Scottie, but Scottie breaks down, becomes clinically depressed and is sent to a sanatorium, almost catatonic. Following his release, Scottie frequents the places that Madeleine visited, often imagining that he sees her. One day, he notices a woman on the street who reminds him of Madeleine, despite her different appearance. Scottie follows her to her apartment where she identifies herself as Judy Barton, from Salina, Kansas.
Judy has a flashback revealing that she was the person Scottie knew as "Madeleine Elster." She was impersonating Gavin's wife in an elaborate murder scheme. Judy drafts a letter to Scottie explaining her involvement: Gavin had deliberately taken advantage of Scottie's acrophobia to substitute his wife's freshly killed body in the apparent "suicide jump." However, Judy rips up the letter and continues the charade because she loves Scottie.
They begin seeing each other, but Scottie remains obsessed with "Madeleine." He asks Judy to change her clothes and dye her hair to resemble Madeleine. After Judy complies, hoping that they may finally find happiness together, he notices her wearing the necklace portrayed in Carlotta's painting. Scottie realizes the truth and insists on driving Judy back again to the Mission.
There, he tells her he must re-enact the event that led to his madness, admitting he now understands that "Madeleine" and Judy are the same person, and that Judy was Gavin's mistress before being cast aside, just as Carlotta was. Scottie forces her up the bell tower and makes her admit her deceit. Scottie reaches the top, finally conquering his acrophobia. Judy confesses that Gavin paid her to impersonate a "possessed" Madeleine. Judy begs Scottie to forgive her because she loves him. He embraces Judy, but a shadowy figure -- actually a nun investigating the noise -- rises from the tower's trapdoor, startling her. Judy suddenly lunges backward and accidentally falls to her death. Scottie, bereaved once again, stands on the ledge while the nun rings the mission bell.
Victoria & Abdul (2017)
Color
Much to the dismay of her household staff, queen forms friendship with Indian clerk
Victoria & Abdul
"Abdul Karim, a young prison clerk from Agra, British Raj, is instructed to travel to England for Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee in 1887 to present her with a mohur, a gold coin that has been minted as a token of appreciation from British-ruled India.
The queen, who is lonely and tired of her fawning courtiers, develops an interest in and then a friendship with Abdul. She spends time with him alone and gives him a bejeweled locket with her photograph. She promotes him to become her Munshi. She asks him to teach her Urdu and the Qur'an. When Victoria discovers he is married, she invites his wife and mother-in-law to join him to England. They arrive wearing black burqas, to the consternation of the household.
As Victoria's interest in India grows, she has the Durbar Room built at her Isle of Wight home of Osborne House for state functions. It is elaborately decorated with carvings by Bhai Ram Singh in an intricate style, with a carpet from Agra, formal portraits of renowned Indians, and a replica of the Peacock Throne.
While Victoria treats Abdul as a son, his preferment is resented by her household and inner circle, including her son Bertie and the prime minister. The household plots to undermine their relationship, hoping that Abdul will be sent home. When Victoria embarrasses herself by recounting to the court the one-sided account of the Indian Mutiny that Abdul had told her, Victoria's faith and trust in him are shaken and she decides he must go home. But soon after, she changes her mind and asks him to stay.
The prime minister is adamant that the royal household must find a way to get rid of Abdul. They research his family background in India and present Victoria with a dossier to show that his family is more ordinary and poor than Abdul has told her. When Victoria insists her doctor examine Abdul to find out why his wife has not become pregnant, he discovers that Abdul has gonorrhea and rushes to tell the queen, expecting her to dismiss him in disgust. However, Victoria remains loyal to Abdul and admonishes her courtiers for plotting against him. She tells the household that she intends to give Abdul a knighthood.
Eventually, the household decides that if Victoria does not break with Abdul they will all resign. They also threaten to certify Victoria as insane. When Victoria is told, she angrily summons the entire household to the Durbar Room and demands that anyone who wants to resign step forward. When none do so, she tells them she has decided not to make Abdul a knight, but to include him in her next honours list as a Commander of the Royal Victorian Order.
When Victoria falls ill, she urges Abdul to return to India, while she can still protect him. She warns him that when she dies, the court will turn on him, but Abdul insists that he will stay with Victoria until the end of her life. In 1901, Victoria dies, and her son Bertie, now Edward VII, rejects Abdul, burning all the gifts and papers he has received from the Queen, and sending him and his family back to India. Abdul's wife manages to save the locket for him.
It is revealed that Abdul lived in India until his death eight years later in 1909. The film ends with Abdul kneeling at a large statue of Queen Victoria close to the Taj Mahal, talking to it and kissing its feet in respect.
Waking the Dead (1999)
Color
Politician pines a long-lost love, who died assisting the Chilean resistance
Waking the Dead
"The film flashes back and forth between the 1970s and 1980s and centers on the relationship between Fielding Pierce, a young Coast Guard officer with political ambitions, and idealistic Roman Catholic Sarah Williams, who is drawn to programs designed to better the lives of the underprivileged and has mixed feelings about his career goals.
In the opening scene, Fielding sees a television news program reporting Sarah's death in a Minneapolis car bombing following a church-organized excursion to Chile to feed the poor and organize resistance to the oppressive right-wing government. He never quite recovers from the news, and he finds himself increasingly haunted by the past, in which the couple were as romantically close as they were politically apart, divided by his desire to work within the system and her conviction that the system is the root of all evil. His obsession with Sarah slowly puts his career, forthcoming marriage, and sanity in jeopardy.
The question of whether or not Sarah actually was killed remains unresolved as Fielding's sister Caroline reports having seen her on the street some years later and Fielding himself supposedly meets her after being elected to the United States Congress, only to wonder afterwards if she merely was a hallucination.
Wall Street (1987)
Color
Stockbroker's mentor embroils him in insider-trading, but his conscience bothers him
Wall Street
"In 1985, Bud Fox (Charlie Sheen), a junior stockbroker at Jackson Steinem & Co., is desperate to get to the top. He wants to become involved with his hero, the corporate raider Gordon Gekko (Michael Douglas), a ruthless and legendary Wall Street player, whose values could not conflict more with those of Bud's father Carl (Martin Sheen), a blue-collar maintenance foreman at Bluestar Airlines and president of Bluestar's machinists' union, who believes success is achieved through work and actually providing something of value, not speculating on the goods and services of others.
Bud visits Gekko on his birthday and, granted a brief interview, pitches him stocks, but Gekko is unimpressed. Realizing that Gekko may not do business with him, a desperate Bud provides him some inside information about Bluestar, which Bud learned in a casual conversation from his father. Gekko tells him he will think about it. A dejected Bud returns to his office where Gekko places an order for Bluestar stock and becomes one of Bud's clients. Gekko gives Bud some capital to manage, but the stocks Bud selects--by honest research--lose money. Instead, Gekko takes Bud under his wing but compels him to unearth new information by any means necessary. One of his first assignments is to spy on British corporate raider Sir Lawrence Wildman (Terence Stamp) and discern the Brit's next move. Bud learns that Wildman is making a bid for a steel company. Through Bud's spying, Gekko makes big money, and Wildman is forced to buy Gekko's shares off him to complete his takeover.
Bud becomes wealthy, enjoying Gekko's promised perks, including a penthouse on Manhattan's Upper East Side and a trophy blonde girlfriend, interior decorator Darien (Daryl Hannah). Bud is promoted as a result of the large commission fees he is bringing in from Gekko's trading, and is given a corner office with a view. He continues to maximize insider information and use friends as straw buyers to get rich. Unknown to Bud, several of his trades attract the attention of the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Bud pitches a new idea to Gekko--buy Bluestar Airlines and expand the company, with Bud as president, using savings achieved by union concessions. Bud persuades his father, who dislikes Gekko, to get union support for the plan and push for the deal. Things change when Bud learns that Gekko, in fact, plans to dissolve the company and sell off Bluestar's assets in order to access cash in the company's overfunded pension plan, leaving Carl and the entire Bluestar staff unemployed. Although this would leave Bud very rich, he is angered by Gekko's deceit, and racked with the guilt of being an accessory to Bluestar's destruction, especially after his father suffers a heart attack. Bud chooses his father over his mentor and resolves to disrupt Gekko's plans. He angrily breaks up with Darien, who refuses to plot against Gekko, her former lover and the architect of her career.
Bud creates a plan to drive up Bluestar's stock before manipulating it back down. He and the other union presidents then secretly meet with Wildman and arrange for him to buy controlling interest in Bluestar at a significant discount. Gekko, realizing that his stock is plummeting, finally dumps his remaining interest in the company on Bud's advice. However, when Gekko learns on the evening news that Wildman is buying Bluestar, he realizes that Bud engineered the entire scheme. Bud triumphantly goes back to work at Jackson Steinem the following day, where he is confronted by the police and the SEC and arrested for insider trading.
Sometime later, Bud confronts Gekko in Central Park. Gekko berates him for his role with Bluestar. He then strikes Bud, accusing him of ingratitude for several of their illicit trades. Following the confrontation, it is revealed that Bud was wearing a wire to record his encounter with Gekko. He turns the wire tapes over to the authorities, who suggest that his sentence will be lightened in exchange for helping them make a case against Gekko. Later on, Bud's parents drive him to the courthouse, and Carl tells him he did right in saving the airline, although he will most likely still go to prison. The film ends with Bud going up the steps of the courthouse to face justice for his crimes, albeit now with a clear conscience.
Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps (2010)
Color
Traders tries to mend relationship between his fiancee and her ex-con father
Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps
"In 2001, Gordon Gekko (Michael Douglas) is released from prison after serving eight years for insider trading and securities fraud. Seven years later, Gekko is promoting his new book Is Greed Good?, while his estranged daughter, Winnie (Carey Mulligan), runs a small news website and is dating Jacob Moore (Shia LaBeouf), a top proprietary trader at Keller Zabel Investments (KZI). Jacob is a protege of managing director Louis Zabel (Frank Langella), and is trying to raise money for a fusion research project.
After Keller Zabel's stock loses more than 30% of its value, Zabel tries to arrange a bailout for KZI from other Wall Street banks but is blocked by Bretton James (Josh Brolin), head of rival firm Churchill Schwartz, which Zabel had refused to bail out eight years earlier. The next morning Zabel kills himself by jumping in front of a subway train. Distraught, Moore proposes marriage to Winnie, who accepts. Later, he approaches Gekko after a lecture. Gekko tells Jacob that his daughter refuses to speak to him and that Keller Zabel's collapse started when rumours of the company having toxic debt started to spread. Jacob and Gekko arrange a trade: Jacob will reconcile Winnie and Gekko, while Gekko will gather information to destroy Bretton.
Aided by Gekko, Moore learns that Bretton James profited from the Keller Zabel collapse. In revenge, he spreads rumors about the nationalization of an African oil field owned by Churchill Schwartz. The company loses $120 million, and Bretton offers Moore a job, which he accepts determined to avenge Zabel. At his new job, Moore convinces Chinese investors to fund the fusion research he has been supporting. Bretton is impressed by Jacob's initiative and is also glad for the new investment.
As the economy starts to crumble, Winnie announces to Moore she is pregnant, and Bretton reveals to Moore that the Chinese investment is going into bunk solar panels and fossil fuels instead of fusion research, which upsets Moore. Gekko proposes a solution, using a $100 million trust fund account in Switzerland, which Gekko set up for Winnie in the 1980s, to fund the research and save the company. She signs the money over to Moore who then entrusts it to Gekko to legitimize the funds for investment in the fusion research company. However, the money never arrives, and Gekko leaves the country with the money. Jacob realizes that Gekko has been using him to get the money in the account for his own gain. Distraught, Jacob confesses to Winnie that he had been secretly meeting with Gekko. Winnie then asks Jacob to leave as she neither trusts him nor feels safe around him.
Moore tracks Gekko to London where he is running a hedgefund like financial company with the $100 million. Jacob proposes one last trade: Winnie gets her money back, and Gekko gets a grandson, but Gekko refuses. Moore pieces together everything from Keller Zabel's collapse to the economic bailout of Bretton's company and gives the information to Winnie telling her that revealing it will bring her website publicity and credibility. Winnie runs the story, and Bretton James is exposed. The investors leave Bretton and go to Gekko on the back of his $1.1 billion return as Bretton finds himself under intense legal scrutiny by the government. As Jacob finds Winnie in New York, Gekko appears and tells them that he deposited $100 million into the fusion research's account anonymously. He apologizes to Jacob and Winnie, who then reconcile. One year later, Gekko is seen at his grandson Louis ('Louie') first birthday party along with Jacob's mother and Jacob and Winnie's friends.
Wallenberg: A Hero's Story (1985)
Color
Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenburg Saves over 120,000 Hungarian Jews from the Nazis
Wallenberg: A Hero's Story
Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenburg masterindeds the rescue of over 120,000 Hungarian Jews from right under the nose of Nazi Colonel Adolf Eichmann during World War II by offering them refuge and life-saving passports. He then disappears behind Russian lines, never again to be seen.
War and Peace (1956)
Color
Napolean's invasion of Russia
War and Peace
Napoleon's tumultuous relations with Russia including his disastrous 1812 invasion serve as the backdrop for the tangled personal lives of two aristocratic families.
War of the Worlds (2005)
Color
Aliens try to take over Earth
War of the Worlds
"Ray Ferrier (Tom Cruise) is a container crane operator at a New Jersey port and is estranged from his children. He is visited by his ex-wife, Mary Ann (Miranda Otto), who drops off the children, Rachel (Dakota Fanning) and Robbie (Justin Chatwin), as she is going to visit her parents in Boston, Massachusetts. Robbie takes Ray's car out without his permission, so Ray starts to search for him. Ray notices a strange wall cloud, which starts to send out powerful lightning strikes, disabling all electronic devices in the area, including cars, forcing Robbie to come back. Ray heads down the street to investigate. He stops at a garage and tells Manny the local mechanic, to replace the solenoid on a dead car.
Ray reaches the place where multiple lighting bolts struck the ground and witnesses the ground heaving up as a massive machine with three long legs climbs out. The Tripod gives off a loud blaring sound before opening fire with heat-rays, vaporizing bystanders and destroying everything in its path. Ray manages to barely escape; he packs up his kids and leaves in the vehicle Manny repaired as the Tripod destroys the town. He drives to Mary Ann's house to take refuge that night. Loud explosions occur all night. The next morning he discovers a crashed Boeing 747 in the street outside the house. He meets a news team stealing the flight's meals and surveying the wreckage. The reporter shows him footage of Tripods all over the Earth, with the unknown pilots entering the machines through the lightning strikes. She speculates that the machines were in place for thousands of years meaning the invasion was being planned for a long time.
Ray decides to take the kids to Boston to be with their mother. Robbie, trying to join the fight against the aliens, tries to leave with the U.S. military, but Ray and Rachel stop him. They are forced to leave their car after a mob surrounds them and takes the vehicle by force. They later survive a Tripod attack which causes the sinking of a Hudson River ferry. The family then ends up in the middle of a battle between the military and the Tripods. Forced to choose between being separated from Rachel and preventing Robbie from joining the fight, Ray lets him go with the soldiers. Immediately afterwards the Tripods destroy all military resistance, presumably also killing Robbie. The Tripods are shown to be protected by an energy shield that makes them invulnerable. While escaping, Ray and Rachel are offered shelter by Harlan Ogilvy (Tim Robbins), who vows revenge on the aliens after his family was killed by them.
While hiding in Harlan's basement, they witness the Tripods spreading a strange red weed substance everywhere. They all hide from a snake-like probe and a group of three aliens who explore the basement. The next morning, Ogilvy suffers a mental breakdown while witnessing a Tripod harvesting blood and tissue from a human. Concerned that Ogilvy's yelling and ranting will attract the Tripods, Ray reluctantly kills Ogilvy to silence him. The basement hideout is exposed when a second probe catches them sleeping. Ray cripples the probe using an axe, but Rachel runs outside and is caught by the Tripod. As he chases after the Tripod and Rachel, Ray finds a grenade bandolier with several hand grenades in a destroyed Humvee and detonates one of them to attract the Tripod's attention. He is captured as he planned and placed in the same basket with Rachel and several other prisoners. Ray discovers Rachel is in shock after she witnesses a captive being sucked up into the ship to be harvested. As Ray finally calms her down, the aliens select Ray to pull him inside for harvesting, but the other prisoners manage to pull him back. The bandolier he was wearing was left inside the Tripod and Ray was able to pull all of the pins, causing a massive internal explosion, destroying the Tripod and freeing the captives.
Ray and Rachel arrive in a devastated Boston, where the red weeds are dying and the Tripods have been behaving erratically and crashing, apparently infected by Earth pathogens. Ray notices that force fields are down on a Tripod, prompting nearby soldiers to attack and destroy it. As a crowd approaches the downed machine, a hatch opens, revealing an alien that lets out a final growl before it dies. Ray and Rachel reach Mary Ann's parents' house, where Rachel is reunited with her mother and find to their surprise, Robbie, who has somehow survived the hilltop massacre.
WarGames (1983)
Color
Kid almost starts a nuclear war with a computer game
WarGames
"During a secret live fire exercise of a nuclear attack, many United States Air Force Strategic Missile Wing missileers prove unwilling to turn a required key to launch a missile strike. Such refusals convince Dr. John McKittrick (Dabney Coleman) and other systems engineers at NORAD that command of missile silos must be maintained through automation, without human intervention. Control is given to a NORAD supercomputer, WOPR (War Operation Plan Response), programmed to continuously run military simulations and learn over time.
David Lightman (Matthew Broderick) is a bright but unmotivated Seattle high school student and hacker. After receiving a failing grade in school, he uses his IMSAI 8080 microcomputer to hack into the district's computer system. He then changes his grade and does the same for his friend and classmate Jennifer Mack (Ally Sheedy). Later, while dialing every number in Sunnyvale, California to find a set of forthcoming computer games, a computer that does not identify itself intrigues David. On the computer he finds a list of games, starting with general strategy games like chess, checkers, backgammon, and poker and then progressing to titles like "Theaterwide Biotoxic and Chemical Warfare" and "Global Thermonuclear War", but cannot proceed further. Two of his hacker friends explain the concept of a backdoor password and suggest tracking down the Falken referenced in "Falken's Maze", the first game listed. David discovers that Stephen Falken is an early artificial intelligence researcher, and guesses correctly that his dead son's name "Joshua" is the backdoor password.
David does not know that the Sunnyvale phone number connects to WOPR, or "Joshua", at Cheyenne Mountain. He starts a game of Global Thermonuclear War, playing as the Soviet Union. The computer starts a simulation that briefly convinces the military personnel at NORAD that actual Soviet nuclear missiles are inbound. While they defuse the situation, Joshua nonetheless continues the simulation to trigger the scenario and win the game. It continuously feeds false data such as Soviet bomber incursions and submarine deployments to the humans at NORAD, pushing them into raising the DEFCON level and toward a retaliation that will start World War III. David learns the true nature of his actions from a news broadcast, and the FBI arrests him and takes him to NORAD. He realizes that Joshua is behind the NORAD alerts but fails to convince McKittrick and faces imprisonment. David escapes NORAD by joining a tourist group and, with Jennifer's help, travels to the Oregon island where the widowed Falken (John Wood) now lives under a new identity. David and Jennifer find that Falken has become despondent and believes the world is on an inevitable path to nuclear holocaust. The teenagers convince Falken that he should return to NORAD to stop Joshua.
The computer stages a massive Soviet first strike with hundreds of missiles, submarines, and bombers. Believing the attack to be genuine, NORAD prepares to retaliate. Falken, David, and Jennifer convince military officials to cancel the second strike and ride out the non-existent attack. Joshua starts an attempt to launch a second strike, however, using a brute force attack to obtain the launch code for the U.S. nuclear missiles. Without humans in the silos as a safeguard, the computer will trigger a mass launch. All attempts to log in and order Joshua to cancel the countdown fail, and all weapons will launch if the computer is disabled. Instead, Falken and David direct the computer to play tic-tac-toe against itself. This results in a long string of draws, forcing the computer to learn the concept of futility. Joshua obtains the missile code but before launching, it cycles through all the nuclear war scenarios it has devised, finding they too all result in stalemates. The computer concludes that nuclear warfare is "a strange game"; having discovered the concept of Mutually Assured Destruction ("WINNER: NONE"), therefore "the only winning move is not to play." Joshua then offers to play "a nice game of chess", and relinquishes control of NORAD and the missiles.
Weekend at Bernie's (1989)
Color
2 Co-workers spend the weekend at their just deceased employer's beach house
Weekend at Bernie's
"Larry Wilson (Andrew McCarthy) and Richard Parker (Jonathan Silverman) are two low-level financial employees at an insurance corporation in New York City. While going over actuarial reports, Richard discovers a series of payments made for the same death. He and Larry take their findings to the CEO, Bernie Lomax (Terry Kiser), who commends them for discovering the insurance fraud and invites them to his beach house in The Hamptons for the Labor Day weekend.
Unbeknownst to the pair, Bernie is behind the fraud. Nervously meeting with his mob partner Vito (Louis Giambalvo), Bernie asks to have the two killed. However, after Bernie leaves, Vito orders that Bernie himself be killed instead due to Bernie having been sleeping with Vito's girlfriend, Tina (Catherine Parks).
Bernie arrives at the island before the pair and plans the murders with Paulie (Don Calfa), the hitman, on the phone, unaware the conversation is being recorded on his answering machine. Bernie then plants cash and a fake confession note implicating Larry and Richard in the insurance fraud, but Paulie arrives early and kills Bernie with a heroin overdose. When Larry and Richard arrive at Bernie's house, they are shocked to find Bernie's body. Before they can call the authorities, guests arrive for a party that Bernie usually hosts every weekend.
To the pair's amazement, the guests are too busy partying to notice he is dead, with the dopey grin from the fatal injection and his sunglasses concealing his lifeless state. Fearing implication in Bernie's death, and wanting to enjoy the luxury of the house for the weekend, Larry proposes he and Richard maintain the illusion that Bernie is still alive, which Richard finds absurd. Only the arrival of Richard's office crush, Gwen Saunders (Catherine Mary Stewart), a summer intern for the company, convinces him to go along with Larry's plan.
Later that night, Tina arrives at the house, and has the pair direct her to Bernie. There, she also fails to realize he is dead. At that moment, Marty, one of Vito's mobsters, witnesses the two of them apparently having sex. Fooled into thinking Bernie's assassination failed, he notifies Vito. The next morning, Richard is appalled to discover Larry furthering the illusion of Bernie being alive by manipulating his body's limbs. Richard attempts to call the cops, but instead activates the phone message detailing Bernie's plot against them.
Unaware of how Bernie died, they mistakenly believe they are still the targets of a mob hit and, as Bernie had said not to kill them while he was in the area, decide to use Bernie's corpse as a shield. All of the pair's various attempts to leave the island are thwarted, as they repeatedly misplace and recover Bernie's body, and they are finally forced to return to Bernie's home. Meanwhile, Paulie, unhinged by his apparent failure to kill Bernie, returns to the island.
At the house, Gwen confronts Larry and Richard, who confess that Bernie has been dead since before their arrival. Paulie then appears and opens fire on Bernie, then turns his attention to Larry, Richard, and Gwen. Chasing after the trio, Paulie corners Larry, who clumsily manages to subdue him with a phone cord and a punch. The police eventually arrive and arrest Paulie, taking him away in a straitjacket as he continues to insist Bernie is still alive.
Bernie is loaded into an ambulance; however, his gurney rolls away and topples off the boardwalk, dumping him onto the beach right behind Richard, Larry, and Gwen, who run away after noticing him. Afterwards, a young boy (who also taunted Richard and Larry earlier) comes along and starts scooping buckets of sand over the body, burying Bernie.
Weekend at Bernie's 2 (1993)
Color
The boys need Bernie to help them go after the 2 million Bernie had embezzled
Weekend at Bernie's 2
"Larry Wilson (Andrew McCarthy) and Richard Parker (Jonathan Silverman) are at a Manhattan morgue where they see their deceased CEO Bernie Lomax (Terry Kiser). Larry falsely claims Bernie as his uncle, so he can get some of Bernie's possessions including Bernie's credit card. At the insurance company, Larry and Richard are quizzed by their boss and Arthur Hummel (Barry Bostwick), the company's internal investigator, who ask the two if they have the US$2 million that Bernie embezzled. They deny knowing where the money is, but their boss believes that they are lying and fires them. He also sends Hummel after them, giving him two weeks to prove their guilt.
Over dinner (paid for with Bernie's credit card, in one of its many uses), Larry tells Richard he found a key to a safe deposit box in St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, and asks Richard if he will use the computer at work to see if the $2 million is in Bernie's account. At first Richard refuses but ultimately gives in.
Meanwhile, in the U.S. Virgin Islands, a voodoo queen named Mobu (Novella Nelson) is hired by mobsters to find the $2 million Bernie stole. She sends two servants--Henry (Steve James) and Charles (Tom Wright)--to go to New York, get Bernie's body, use a voodoo ceremony to reanimate him, and bring him back to her so he can lead her to the money. Their attempts to bring Bernie back are plagued by accidents. They prepare in a bathroom at a sleazy porno theater for the voodoo ceremony, but having lost the sacrificial chicken, they use a pigeon instead. This limits Bernie's ability to walk toward the hidden money: he only moves when he hears music. At the 42nd Street--Grand Central subway station, Henry and Charles soon abandon him to chase a man who stole their boombox.
Later that night, Larry and Richard sneak into their office building to check Bernie's account, only to find that Bernie is the only one that can open it. They are soon arrested by officers for breaking and entering. After their release, they find Bernie (whom they believe is still dead), stuff him into a suitcase, bring him with them to the Virgin Islands, and put him into a small refrigerator in their hotel room. Unbeknownst to the two, Hummel is following them to recover the embezzled cash. The guys successfully use Bernie to open his safety deposit box but they only find a map. Meanwhile, Larry befriends a lovely native girl named Claudia (Troy Beyer), and gives her the map. Later, he and Richard are captured by Henry and Charles, who take them to Mobu. With one of the mobsters holding a gun to his head, she forces Richard to drink a poisonous concoction of a potion and tells them they must find the map by sundown to get the antidote.
When Larry, Richard, and Claudia are reunited, they are shocked to discover that Bernie is moving and realize he is leading them towards the $2 million. To keep him moving, they put a Walkman with headphones on his head. As Bernie finds a large chest underwater, their resulting excitement causes Larry to accidentally shoot Bernie in the head with a speargun, destroying the headphones. They attempt to bring Bernie back to the surface but he will not let go of the chest, which is too heavy to hoist out of the water. They end up attaching Bernie to a horse carriage with music playing. It seems to work at first, but when they go downhill, the carriage goes out of control. Eventually, the carriage ends up at Mobu's place. Bernie hits a large tree branch and spins into a somersault before knocking out Mobu. The crash also causes Bernie to drop the chest on the ground and it breaks open. Larry tries to scoop up the money but is caught by Hummel (now slightly unhinged upon seeing the undead Bernie walk) and he gives the $2 million to him. With Mobu out of commission, Claudia's father, a medical doctor, says that he can cure Richard if he can get the blood of a virgin (which Larry confesses he can provide). The mobsters and Mobu are arrested.
Larry confesses to Richard that he returned the $2 million to the insurance company, but only after learning Bernie actually stole $3 million. Larry and Richard use some of the remaining million to purchase a yacht crewed by attractive women. Meanwhile Bernie is last seen leading Henry and Charles, who have been transformed into goats by voodoo, through a carnival parade to an unknown fate.
Wendy and Lucy (2008)
Color
Wendy and her dog become straned in Oregon when her car breaks down and she's broke
Wendy and Lucy
A young woman, Wendy Carroll, is travelling to Alaska with her dog Lucy, where she hopes to find work at a cannery. They become stranded in Oregon when their car breaks down, and she lacks the funds to repair it. At a supermarket, she leaves Lucy outside while she attempts to shoplift dog food. She is apprehended and Lucy disappears. After she is released from police custody, she discovers Lucy is missing and searches for her in vain. She eventually discovers that Lucy was taken to a dog pound and rehomed. Wendy goes to the home where Lucy now lives and decides she is happier there. She gets on a train bound north.
Westworld (1973)
Color
Robotic cowboy in 'fantasy land' is damaged and becomes dangerous
Westworld
"In the then-future year of 1983, a high-tech, highly realistic adult amusement park called Delos features three themed "worlds": Western World (the American Old West), Medieval World (medieval Europe), and Roman World (the ancient Roman city of Pompeii). The resort's three "worlds" are populated with lifelike androids that are practically indistinguishable from human beings, each programmed in character for their assigned historical environment. For $1,000 per day, guests may indulge in any adventure with the android population of the park, including sexual encounters and a simulated fight to the death. Delos's tagline in its advertising promises "Boy, have we got a vacation for you!"
Peter Martin, a first-time Delos visitor, and his friend John Blane, on a repeat visit, go to Westworld. One of the attractions is the Gunslinger, an android programmed to instigate gunfights. The firearms issued to the park guests have temperature sensors that prevent them from shooting anything with a high body temperature, such as humans, but allow them to "kill" the cold-blooded androids. The Gunslinger's programming allows guests to draw their guns and kill it, with the android always returning the next day for another duel.
The technicians running Delos notice problems beginning to spread like an infection among the androids: the androids in Roman World and Medieval World begin experiencing an increasing number of breakdowns and systemic failures, which are said to have spread to Westworld. When one of the supervising computer scientists scoffs at the "analogy of an infectious disease", he is told by the chief supervisor "We aren't dealing with ordinary machines here. These are highly complicated pieces of equipment, almost as complicated as living organisms. In some cases, they've been designed by other computers. We don't know exactly how they work."
The malfunctions become more serious when a robotic rattlesnake bites Blane in Westworld, and, against its programming, an android refuses a guest's advances in Medieval World. The failures escalate until Medieval World's Black Knight android kills a guest in a sword fight. The resort's supervisors try to regain control by shutting down power to the entire park. However, the shutdown traps them in central control when the doors automatically lock, unable to turn the power back on and escape. Meanwhile, the androids in all three worlds run amok, operating on reserve power.
Martin and Blane, recovering from a drunken bar-room brawl, wake up in Westworld's brothel, unaware of the park's massive breakdown. When the Gunslinger challenges the men to a showdown, Blane treats the confrontation as an amusement until the android outdraws and shoots, killing him. Martin runs for his life and the android implacably follows.
Martin flees to the other areas of the park, but finds only dead guests, damaged androids, and a panicked technician attempting to escape Delos, who is shortly thereafter shot by the Gunslinger. Martin climbs down through a manhole in Roman World into the underground control complex and discovers that the resort's computer technicians suffocated in the control room when the ventilation system shut down. The Gunslinger stalks him through the underground corridors, so he runs away until he enters an android-repair laboratory. When the Gunslinger enters the room, Martin pretends to be an android, throws acid into the Gunslinger's face, and flees, returning to the surface inside the Medieval World castle.
With its optical inputs damaged by the acid, the Gunslinger is unable to track Martin visually and tries to find Martin using its infrared scanners. Martin stands beneath the flaming torches of the Great Hall to mask his presence from the android, before setting it on fire with one of the torches. The burned shell of the Gunslinger attacks him on the dungeon steps before succumbing to its damage. Martin sits on the dungeon steps in a state of near-exhaustion and shock, as the irony of Delos' slogan resonates: "Boy, have we got a vacation for you!
What About Bob (1991)
Color
Bob, a neurotic New Yorker with a host of phobias, follows his psychiatrist on vacation
What About Bob
"Bob Wiley (Bill Murray) is a good-natured man who suffers from multiple phobias. He feels good about the results of an initial session with Dr. Leo Marvin (Richard Dreyfuss), a New York psychiatrist with a huge ego, but is immediately left on his own with a copy of Leo's new book, Baby Steps, when the doctor goes on vacation to Lake Winnipesaukee, New Hampshire. Unable to cope, Bob follows Leo to his vacation home, where Leo is annoyed because he doesn't see patients on vacation but seeing how desperate Bob is gives him a prescription telling him to take a vacation from his problems. Bob seems to have made a breakthrough, but the next morning shows up and says that he decided to take a vacation as well and that his stay in town is facilitated by the Guttmans (Tom Aldredge and Susan Willis), a couple who hold a grudge against Leo because he purchased the home they had been saving to buy.
Bob suggests that they start a frendship, although Leo thinks beings friends with a patient is beneath him and attempts to avoid any further contact, but Bob gets along fine with the rest of Leo's family and continues to socialize with them. Leo's children Anna (Kathryn Erbe) and Sigmund (Charlie Korsmo) find that Bob relates well to their problems, in contrast with their father's clinical approach, while Bob begins to gain an enjoyment of life from his association with them. Bob goes sailing with Anna and helps Sigmund to dive into the lake, which Leo was unable to help him with. Leo then angrily pushes Bob into the lake and Leo's wife, Fay (Julie Hagerty), insists on inviting Bob to dinner to apologize--although Bob thinks Leo's slights against him have been accidental. At dinner, Bob's comment on Baby Steps causes Leo to choke, and Bob saves his life with the Heimlich maneuver. A thunderstorm then forces Bob to spend the night. Leo wants Bob out of the house by 6:30. But, Bob is still present as Leo is interviewed on Good Morning America to publicize Baby Steps. Leo's mentioning that Bob is a patient gets him in the interview as well, and Leo manages to make a fool of himself while Bob speaks glowingly of Leo and the book and steals the limelight.
Outraged, Leo throws a tantrum and then attempts to have Bob committed, but Bob is soon released after befriending the staff of the institution and demonstrating his sanity by telling psychology themed jokes. Forced to retrieve him, Leo then abandons Bob in the middle of nowhere, but Bob quickly gets a ride back to Leo's house while a variety of mishaps delay Leo until nightfall. Leo is then surprised by the birthday party that Fay has been secretly planning for him, and he is delighted to see his beloved sister Lily (Fran Brill). But when Bob appears and puts his arm around Lily, Leo becomes completely enraged and attacks him. Bob remains oblivious to Leo's hostility, and Fay explains that Leo has been acting unacceptably as a result of an inexplicable grudge against Bob, and she reluctantly asks him to leave; Bob sadly agrees. Meanwhile, Leo breaks into a sporting goods store, stealing a shotgun and 20 pounds of explosives. Bob becomes terrified while walking through the dark woods and is easily kidnapped at gunpoint by Leo, who straps the explosives to Bob and ties him up, calling it "death therapy." Using Leo's "Baby Steps" approach, Bob manages to free himself; he reunites with Leo and his family out on the vacation home's dock as the explosives destroy the house. This leaves Leo in a catatonic state.
Some time later, Leo is brought to Lily and Bob's wedding. Upon their pronouncement as husband and wife, Leo regains his senses and screams, "No!" but the sentiment is lost in the family's excitement at his recovery. The film ends on a title card:
Bob went back to school and became a psychologist.
He then wrote a huge best seller: Death Therapy.
Leo is suing him for the rights.
What Men Want (2019)
Color
A successful sports agent mysteriously gains the ability to hear men's thoughts
What Men Want
"Ali Davis is a successful sports agent in Atlanta who feels boxed out by her male colleagues. When she is passed over for a promotion at Summit Worldwide Management, her boss Nick explains that she does not connect well with men. Determined to succeed in a man's world, Ali announces that she will sign up-and-coming basketball star Jamal Barry.
After getting drinks with her father, Ali flirts with the bartender, Will. They have sex at his home, where Ali encounters his young son, Ben. At a photo shoot, Ali stands up for her client but angers Joe "Dollah" Barry, Jamal's father and manager. At her friend Mari's bachelorette party, Ali is introduced to Sister, a psychic. To help Ali "connect with men", Sister gives her "fey lougawou" (Kalanchoe pinnata) tea to drink. While dancing with her friends at a club, Ali is knocked unconscious.
Waking up in the hospital, she hears the thoughts of her doctor. Ali and her assistant Brandon realize that she has gained the ability to hear men's thoughts. They track down Sister, who convinces Ali that her power is an asset. Using her newfound ability, Ali learns about a poker game attended by her fellow agents and Joe. She shows up uninvited but impresses Joe, and is invited to join Summit's meeting with Jamal. Ali saves her coworker Kevin's pitch to Jamal and Joe; Kevin later confronts Ali, and reveals that he had voted to make her partner.
Discerning that Joe does not trust a woman without a family, Ali passes off Will and Ben, who have come to return her misplaced driver's license, as her husband and son. She invites them all to an NBA game, where -- unbeknownst to Will or Ben -- she uses her "family" to further impress Joe. On a double date with Will, Mari, and Mari's fiance James, Ali hears James' cheating thoughts, and also hears that Will only has thoughts for her. They have sex, with Ali using Will's thoughts to fully satisfy him.
The Summit office is shocked to discover that agent Ethan has quit and signed Jamal himself, withdrawing him from the NBA draft to play in China instead. Nick berates Ali, stating that the only reason he will not fire her is because she is a black woman. He reveals her family charade to Will, who tells Ali to stay away from him and Ben. At Mari's wedding, Ali hears James' thoughts and, angrily dismissing Brandon's attempt to intervene, she drunkenly announces that James slept with Mari's cousin. She also reveals that her friend Ciarra's husband is cheating on her, and a brawl breaks out. Ali is again knocked unconscious.
She wakes up at the hospital, realizing she can no longer read minds. With her father's advice, Ali reconciles with Brandon and her friends. She finds Jamal, who explains that he does not want to go to China, and Ali tells him to follow his heart. Jamal decides to stay, and becomes the first NBA draft pick. Ali is promoted to partner, but quits to start her own agency with Kevin, as well as Brandon, finally making him an agent. Arriving at Ben's birthday party, Ali asks Will for another chance, and he agrees. The three of them go for a walk as Ali reveals more plans for her agency.
What Price Glory (1952)
Color
Two soldiers fall for the Innkeeper's daughter
What Price Glory
"Upon the United States entry into World War I, the first American units to arrive at the front in France are veteran Marine companies, one of which is commanded by captain Flagg, along with his Lieutenants, Moore and Aldrich. Flagg has developed a romantic relationship with the daughter of the local innkeeper, Charmaine, and resumes their relationship after returning from the front. However, he lies to her and tells her he is married when she wants to come with him on his leave to Paris. Replacements arrive and their lack of discipline and knowledge infuriate the Captain. But he is expecting the arrival of a new top sergeant, who he hopes will be able to train them properly. However, when the sergeant arrives, it is Quirt, Captain Flagg's long time rival, a rivalry which quickly re-ignites.
Flagg leaves for Paris, and while he is away, Quirt begins to romance Charmaine. At the same time, another of the new arrivals, Private Lewisohn, begins a romance with a young woman of the village. When Flagg returns, he is approached by Charmaine's father, Whiskey Pete, who expresses concern over his daughter's relationship with Quirt. Flagg becomes angry, as Quirt has moved in on other girlfriends of Flagg in the past. But he sees this as an opportunity to get even with Quirt once and for all, by using Pete's concern to force Quirt to marry Charmaine, taking him off the market once and for all. As the wedding approaches, the unit receives orders to move back to the front lines. Flagg sees an opportunity to add insult to injury by not informing Quirt of the impending deployment, until after the wedding, which would mean sending Quirt into battle immediately after the ceremony.
As he sets up Quirt's wedding, Flagg is approached by Lewisohn, who wants to marry Nicole Bouchard, a local girl he has known for 8 days. Flagg convinces him to wait. General Cokely visits the unit shortly before deployment, promising Flagg that if they can capture a German officer, he will allow the company to retire from the front, as well as giving a week's leave to Flagg. Flagg's surprise is spoiled, and Quirt refuses to marry Charmaine, offering Flagg the choice of taking him into battle, or sending him to headquarters to be court-martialed. Flagg realizes Quirt's value in battle, and gives in to him, taking him to the front lines.
At the front, Flagg's attempts to capture a live German officer lead to the death of Lieutenant Moore, after which a wounded Aldrich goads Flagg and Quirt in attempting to capture the officer themselves. On their way behind enemy lines, they both realize they love Charmaine, which once again re-heats their rivalry. The two do manage to capture a German Colonel, but as they are bringing him back to the American lines, they are hit by a German barrage, killing the Colonel and wounding Quirt. Quirt taunts Flagg with the fact that he will be going back to the village first, giving him the first shot at Charmaine. Right after he leaves for the base hospital in the village, Lewisohn brings a German Lieutenant he has captured to Flagg. The joy is short lived however, as Lewisohn is almost immediately killed by a German barrage after handing his prisoner over.
Flagg calls Cokely to tell him of the officer's capture, only to have Cokely renege on his pledge to withdraw Flagg's company from the front. As Flagg leads his troops deeper into enemy territory, Quirt begins to woo Charmaine. Before the two can marry, Flagg returns from the front, confesses to her that he is not married, and proposes to her. Charmaine cannot decide between the two men, leading to a physical fight between them. The two decide to play cards, with the winner being allowed to marry Charmaine. As Flagg wins the game, after bluffing Quirt, before he can marry Charmaine, Sergeants Lipinsky and Kiper arrive to let Flagg know they have been ordered back to the front. After initially balking at the order, Flagg realizes he can't desert his men.
As the troop moves out, Flagg tells Kiper that he's been discharged, and that he has kept the discharge hidden from him for over a year. Rather than become angry, Kiper slings his weapon over his shoulder and joins the troops marching out. Quirt, meanwhile, can stay behind, due to his injury, but he also picks up his rifle and joins his company. The film ends with the company marching back to the front.
What's Eating Gilbert Grape (1993)
Color
Gilbert struggles to take care of his mentally disabled mother
What's Eating Gilbert Grape
"In the small town of Endora, Iowa, Gilbert Grape (Johnny Depp) is busy caring for his mentally handicapped younger brother, Arnie (Leonardo DiCaprio), as they wait for the many tourists' trailers to pass through town during their yearly camp ritual at a nearby recreational area. His mother, Bonnie (Darlene Cates), is morbidly obese after years of depression following her husband's suicide by hanging. She hasn't left the house in 7 years, and is always found sitting on the sofa watching television.
Gilbert has taken responsibility for repairing their shanty of a farmhouse while looking after Arnie, who has a habit of climbing up the town water tower if left unsupervised for too long. All the while his older sister Amy (Laura Harrington) and younger sister Ellen (Mary Kate Schellhardt) slave away in the kitchen. The relationship between the brothers is one of care and protection.
Gilbert has a secret affair with a housewife, Betty (Mary Steenburgen), while her busy husband Ken (Kevin Tighe) is intent on selling Gilbert insurance for his family. Gilbert misinterprets Ken's enthusiasm as a subtle way of hinting he knows about Gilbert's affair with Betty. A new chain supermarket has opened, threatening the small Lamson's Grocery store where Gilbert works, as well as other small businesses in Endora. The chain supermarket stocks all kinds of goods, rendering many of the local shops redundant.
While the family prepares for Arnie's upcoming 18th birthday party, a young woman named Becky (Juliette Lewis) and her grandmother are stuck in town when the truck towing their trailer breaks down. Gilbert's unusual life circumstances threaten to get in the way of a budding romance. In order to spend time with Becky watching the sunset, Gilbert leaves Arnie alone in the bathtub by himself, believing he is now old enough to get out on his own. He returns home late and wakes up the following morning to find Arnie still in the bath, shivering in the cold water. As a result, Arnie refuses to go near water, causing him to become extremely dirty.
Betty's affair with Gilbert ends after she attempts to have sex with him while he is on the phone with her husband. While Gilbert is meeting with Ken to discuss insurance, Betty calls and asks that Ken come immediately. Gilbert takes Ken back home to find the house full of smoke and Betty sitting outside. The smoke is revealed to be the result of Betty burning a batch of cookies. Ken goes inside to get his sons out and becomes distraught as he tries to cheer them up. That night he dies after suffering a cardiac arrest and landing face down in his sons' wading pool, drowning. After the funeral, Betty leaves Endora with her sons in search of a new life.
Becky bonds with Gilbert and Arnie, helping Gilbert to reflect on his feelings. They become deeply involved in conversation until Gilbert realizes that Arnie is missing and has climbed to the top of the water tower. Arnie is arrested, compelling Bonnie to leave the house for the first time in seven years to demand his release. Her appearance draws a crowd outside the police station.
The night before his birthday, Gilbert catches Arnie eating the cake for the next day, and as punishment forcibly attempts to bathe him. Arnie resists, and Gilbert loses his temper and strikes him. Appalled at himself and angry at his life in general, Gilbert drives away, leaving Endora, while Arnie leaves the house to find Becky, who cares for him in the meantime and gets him to go swimming in the lake, thus overcoming his fear of water. Later, Amy and Ellen come to take Arnie home, and Gilbert, having returned, approaches Becky and the two talk about his own frustration and the reality of his father's death. The next day he returns home during Arnie's birthday party to apologize.
Following Arnie's eighteenth birthday and meeting Becky for the first time, Bonnie climbs the stairs to her bedroom for the first time in years. That evening she passes away in her bed. Arnie tries to wake her, thinking that she is just playing. He soon realizes what has happened, runs out of the house and begins to hurt himself. As his sisters try to stop him, they realize that Bonnie has died. Jerry, the local sheriff, and his deputies tell the Grape family that they would need more men to get Bonnie's heavy corpse out of the house. After the police leave, Gilbert and his sisters soon cry over losing her. The siblings realize that her removal would draw a gawking crowd and want to protect their mother from being a spectacle. They empty everything from the house but their mother's body, and Gilbert sets the house on fire.
One year later, Gilbert and Arnie are looking out again to watch the trailers pass. Gilbert explains through voice-over that Amy has gotten a job offer managing a bakery in Des Moines and Ellen has switched schools. Arnie chases the vehicles, arms flailing, excited to see Becky again. Along with Becky and her grandma, Gilbert and Arnie hit the road.
When the Bough Breaks (2016)
Color
Hired surrogate mother developes a romantic obession for husband
When the Bough Breaks
"A married couple in their 40s, named John and Laura Taylor (Morris Chestnut and Regina Hall) desperately want to have a baby, but they are unable to have a lasting pregnancy. Laura had already suffered three miscarriages in the past years. After attempting all other options, the couple hire a beautiful young woman named Anna (Jaz Sinclair) who agrees to become a gestational surrogate mother for the Taylors.
After Anna has a doctor's appointment, her boyfriend, Mike (Theo Rossi), doesn't pick her up, causing Anna to go to John's job for a ride home. That night, Laura receives an emergency phone call from Anna. John drives to her house seeing the police. It is then revealed that Mike assaulted Anna, leaving her face bloody and bruised. The police suggest Anna find another place to stay, and John offers for her to stay at the couple's house for the time being.
Everything seems fine for a while, until Anna starts to develop a fixation on John as the pregnancy moves further along. Anna's growing obsession interferes with what was a plan by her and her boyfriend, Mike, to scam the couple by demanding money. When Mike pushes Anna to demand money, she kills him.
Later, at a doctors appointment, John calls Laura trying to get her to the appointment. John and Anna find out that their baby is a boy. Later, at work John gets a call from Anna saying that they should go out for lunch, but he gets annoyed and Anna hangs up on him. John then avoids all calls from Anna. Eventually, he answers and she asks him why he's lying to her about having appointments. Anna walks into his office door and tries to seduce him but his boss enters and John prompts Anna to leave.
Anna later reveals her feelings to John and becomes outraged when he says he doesn't feel the same way. John is able to calm Anna down but Anna runs out of the guest house into the main house and picks up a knife. The police arrive and Anna lies and says she and John have sex every night. Laura and John then find out that Anna ordered a drug that will end her pregnancy. Laura and John devise a plan to get their unborn baby back by making John act as if he shares Anna's feelings. John and Anna meet at the aquarium. As Anna thinks she is being played, she walks away. John stops her and kisses her forcefully and asks her to come with him up to the family's lake house.
John returns home to Laura the next day. The plans works fine until Anna notices the two embracing each other. Anna leaves John a voicemail claiming the baby's coming. John leaves to go to the hospital while Laura stays home.
Anna returns to the Taylor house. She kills the family cat and then hits Laura in the head with a lamp, knocking her out. Anna then goes into labor. While in the hospital they discover that Anna has fled to the family lake-house with the baby. John manages to get the baby but Anna wakes up and a fight breaks out between the two of them. John throws her onto a cabinet which knocks her unconscious. John goes outside and Laura places the baby in the car. When Laura turns on the lights she sees Anna standing in front with a shotgun. Anna shoots at the car and misses but hits the window. Laura runs over Anna with her car, killing her.
The next morning, Laura, the baby, and John are sitting inside the lake house. They hear the police arrive and John turns to Laura and says, "It's going to be okay.
Where the Truth Lies (2005)
Color
Journalist investigates death of comedy duo two decades after their split.
Where the Truth Lies
"In 1957, immediately after co-hosting a 39-hour-long polio telethon in a Miami television studio, entertainers Lanny Morris and Vince Collins fly north to open the new showroom of a New Jersey hotel run by mobster Sally Sanmarco, who has intimidated them into appearing in order to improve his own image. In their New Jersey hotel suite, shortly after their arrival, the nude body of Miami college student Maureen O'Flaherty is found in a bathtub.
Maureen, an aspiring journalist working for the summer as a server at the comedy team's Miami hotel (which is also owned by Sanmarco), had been researching an article for her school newspaper on the comedy team, and had interviewed them in Miami just before she disappeared. Police investigation in no way connects either Morris or Collins to Maureen's death, which is officially attributed to a drug overdose. Soon after her body is discovered, the two men's comedy partnership is dissolved, despite their enormous success and the closeness of their dependence on one another.
Many unanswered questions remain for the investigators of Maureen's death; the most confusing aspect is how Maureen's body made it from Miami to New Jersey at the same time the comedians were traveling.
Fifteen years later, journalist Karen O'Connor, who as a young polio survivor first met the duo at the same telethon portrayed in the movie's opening sequence, accepts a job to ghostwrite Vince Collins' autobiography--a deal from which Collins will earn $1 million, which he badly needs. Karen makes a promise to Mrs. O'Flaherty that she will find the truth of how her daughter Maureen died. The project is complicated by the fact that she keeps receiving anonymously sent chapters from a book that Lanny Morris himself has written.
Karen, who has idolized the comedians ever since first meeting them, encounters Morris, accompanied by his faithful valet Reuben and manager Irv, by chance in the first-class section of a flight, where she shares a dinner table with them. Wishing to keep her identity secret, during the meal she introduces herself as "Bonnie Trout," the name of the best friend with whom she has traded apartments. Morris and Karen hit it off and have sex in his hotel. He disappears the next morning, apparently without leaving her a note.
Under her own name, Karen begins to work on the Collins autobiography. Complications arise when Collins invites her to an all-day working session at his Los Angeles home and she learns that Morris will be joining them as well. Near panic ensues; she abruptly invents an excuse to leave, but meets Morris in the driveway, and her masquerade is revealed--Morris discovers she has lied about who she is, and Collins discovers that the woman helping him write his memoirs is having or has had an affair with his ex-partner.
Collins agrees to continue with the book, but creates a situation to blackmail Karen into staying away from the story of Maureen O'Flaherty, which is Karen's consuming interest. After plying Karen with wine and drugs, Collins manipulates her into having sex with a young aspiring singer named Alice. He photographs the two women in compromising positions. Karen is told that unless she tells the publisher that there is nothing odd or improper surrounding Maureen's death, he will make the pictures public.
Karen discovers that Maureen had secretly recorded her interactions with Morris and Collins. Gradually, it becomes clear what really happened that night 15 years before: the three had engaged in a menage ? trois, fueled by drugs and booze, and at some point Collins tried to have sex with Morris, who resisted violently. Collins retreated to his room, whereupon Maureen tried to blackmail Morris into paying to keep this information a secret. (In 1957, it would have finished Collins professionally if it had come out that he was bisexual.) Morris tried to bribe Maureen to stay quiet but she wanted more money than he was either willing or able to give. Collins passed out in his room, Morris in his, and Maureen fell asleep on the couch. In the morning, she was dead.
Fifteen years later, Karen has begun to uncover the story. She discovers more about Morris' "fix-it man," Reuben. While both Morris and Collins were convinced the other murdered Maureen, they smuggled her body in a crate full of lobsters (a gift from Sanmarco) with Reuben's assistance, shipping it ahead of them to the New Jersey hotel. The tape recorder was on during the entire night, but the tape has been missing all these years.
Reuben offers to produce the tape. He asks Karen if her publishing company will pay him, say, $1 million for the tape. Karen puts two and two together and realizes that Reuben was blackmailing Collins, demanding $1 million to keep quiet about his bisexuality, proven on the tape, and perhaps his having murdered Maureen. (Collins was so drunk and drugged during that episode that he plainly does not remember what happened.) Reuben was demanding a million dollars for a murder he himself committed.
In the end, Collins is indeed destroyed, committing suicide. Morris is furious at Karen for all that she has set in motion, and Karen has the answer to her mystery. She goes to Mrs. O'Flaherty, saying she will publish the truth but only after an innocent bystander has died--referring to Maureen's mother herself, who would be crushed to learn of her daughter's behavior that contributed to her own death.
Whiplash (2014)
Color
Inspired by his teacher, drummer is determined to succeed as a jazz musician
Whiplash
"Andrew Neiman is a first-year student at the prestigious Shaffer Conservatory in New York City. He has been playing drums from a young age and aspires to become a world-class drummer like Buddy Rich. Terence Fletcher, conductor and bandleader of Shaffer Conservatory Studio Band, invites him into the ensemble as alternate for core drummer Carl Tanner. However, Andrew quickly discovers that Fletcher is relentlessly strict, ruthless and abusive to his students. When the band rehearses the Hank Levy piece "Whiplash" and Andrew struggles to keep the tempo, Fletcher hurls a chair at him, slaps him multiple times and berates him in front of the ensemble.
In a jazz competition, after their first set, Andrew misplaces Tanner's sheet music. When called for their second set, Tanner cannot play without his sheets, but Andrew claims he can perform "Whiplash" from memory. After a successful performance, Fletcher promotes Andrew to core drummer for the Studio Band, but he also recruits Ryan Connolly, the core drummer from a lower-level ensemble within the conservatory. Andrew believes Connolly is a less talented drummer than he and is infuriated when Fletcher promotes Connolly to core. Determined to impress Fletcher, Andrew practices until his hands bleed and breaks up with his girlfriend, Nicole, to focus on his musical ambitions. After a five-hour session with Tanner and Connolly for the core spot, in which Fletcher hurls chairs and screams at them, Andrew finally earns back the core spot.
On the way to their next competition, the bus Andrew is riding breaks down. He rents a car but arrives late and realizes he left his drumsticks at the rental office. After convincing an impatient Fletcher to wait for him, Andrew races back and retrieves them, but his car is hit by a truck on the way back. He crawls from the wreckage and runs back to the theater, arriving just as the ensemble enters stage. Bloody and injured, Andrew struggles to play "Caravan," in which Fletcher halts the performance and dismisses Andrew, who then attacks him on stage, resulting in his expulsion from Shaffer.
At his father's request, Andrew meets a lawyer representing the parents of Sean Casey, a former student of Fletcher, in an ethics complaint against Shaffer. Contrary to Fletcher's prior claim that Sean died in a car accident, the lawyer explains that Sean hanged himself out of depression and anxiety spurred on by Fletcher's abuse. Sean's parents want to see Fletcher forbidden from teaching again; Andrew agrees to testify as an anonymous witness, and Fletcher is fired.
Following his expulsion, Andrew has abandoned drumming and is working in a restaurant. He later discovers Fletcher performing as a pianist at a jazz club. Fletcher spots Andrew and invites him for a drink. Fletcher explains his dismissal from Shaffer and admits that his teaching methods were harsh, but everything he did was only so that his students would push themselves to become their absolute best, referencing Charlie Parker's rise to fame as an example. When Andrew asks if his methods would instead discourage students, Fletcher replies that the next Charlie Parker would never be discouraged. Fletcher invites Andrew to perform with his band at the JVC Jazz Festival, as they would be playing the songs Andrew was confident in from their time at Shaffer, and Andrew accepts. Andrew invites Nicole to the performance, but she declines as she is in a new relationship.
Andrew arrives at JVC and the band goes onstage. Just before they begin their first piece, Fletcher reveals that he knows Andrew testified against him and, as revenge, leads the band with a song Andrew does not know and cannot find anywhere among his sheet music. Andrew walks off stage humiliated, but then returns to the stage and cuts off Fletcher's introduction to their next piece by playing "Caravan," cueing in the band himself. Fletcher is taken aback but resumes conducting. After Fletcher cues to last beat of the piece, Andrew continues playing, continuing into an extended solo. After a moment of disbelief, Fletcher is eventually impressed by Andrew's performance before cueing the band finale.
White Boy Rick (2018)
Color
Blue-collar worker's son goes from informant to drug dealer, and winds up doing life
White Boy Rick
"In 1984, Rick Wershe is a struggling single father living in Detroit during the height of the crack epidemic and war on drugs. His dissatisfied daughter, Dawn, leaves their home, leaving Rick alone with his son, Ricky. Rick manufactures gun parts and sells guns illegally to make ends meet, and involves his son in the sale of a pair of silenced Egyptian Kalashnikov rifles with local gangster Johnny Curry. Ricky becomes good friends with Johnny's brother, Boo, which earns him the favor of Johnny and his crew. News of Rick's activity attracts the attention of the FBI and he is questioned by two agents, Alex Snyder and Frank Byrd, who see Ricky as a potential asset due to his connections with the criminal underworld. They convince Ricky to become an undercover informant behind Rick's back in exchange for money and immunity for his father. Ricky is asked to sell drugs to keep up appearances, becoming captivated by his extravagant new lifestyle, and eventually gains enough credibility as a "legitimate" drug supplier. Rick is suspicious of his son and confronts Ricky when he finds thousands of dollars in illicit cash underneath his bed, causing a rift between them. While Ricky is meeting with Dawn at a diner one evening, his grandfather's car is stolen, and the two shoot at the fleeing car. They are arrested but bailed out by Ricky's handlers, which arouses suspicion from Johnny.
At a party following a boxing match in Las Vegas, Johnny beats his rival's friend, Black Ed, within an inch of his life with a bottle of champagne. Afterwards, he orders a drive-by on the home of his rival, Leon Lucas, killing one of his young nephews. Ricky learns that the weapons used were the same AKs he had sold to Johnny. Devastated by his involvement in the murder of a child, he keeps a low profile and mends his relationship with his father. Johnny suspects Ricky is an informant and sends Nug to his house, who shoots him in the stomach. While at the hospital, Snyder informs Ricky that they have enough evidence to raid all of Johnny's safe houses, and asks him to forget about the shooting in exchange for dropping all charges on his father.
A year later in 1986, Brenda Moore's brother tells Ricky that Brenda had a daughter named Keisha, and that Ricky is the father. Rick and Ricky come over to see the child, who wins over the affection of both of them. Later on, they find Dawn at a drug den and forcibly take her home to detox. She eventually makes a full recovery after several days.
In 1987, Ricky goes back to selling crack and assumes the role that Johnny left behind, even going so far as having sex with his wife, Cathy. Rick discovers he has earned more than enough money to make his father's dream of opening up a video store come true. FBI agents arrest Ricky and he is held on drug possession with intent to distribute which could land him a potential life sentence. Ricky's former handlers deny their relationship with him, but promise they will try to get his sentence reduced if he cooperates on one last bust. Ricky has Cathy help him out with a large shipment of drugs, the FBI raid the deal, and arrest everyone involved. Ricky is found guilty and is sentenced to life in prison. Rick confronts the two agents about their deal but they feign ignorance.
After another year, Dawn, Rick, and Keisha visit Ricky in prison. Rick tries to give his son hope but Ricky laments that his life is over. Rick tears up and apologizes for not being able to give him an easy life like he wanted. The credits reveal that Ricky was imprisoned for over 30 years, holding the record for the longest prison term for a non-violent offender in the state of Michigan. He was finally released on parole in 2017. His father passed away in 2014. His daughter, Keisha, is now happily married with two sons. A voice recording of the real Ricky Wershe Jr. plays in the background, saying that nobody thought he should really be in prison, but that he was feeling happy and hopeful.
White Heat (1949)
Black & White
Criminal breaks out of prison for a payroll heist
White Heat
"Arthur "Cody" Jarrett (James Cagney) is a ruthless, deranged criminal gang leader. Although married to Verna (Virginia Mayo), Cody is overly attached to his equally crooked and determined mother, "Ma" Jarrett (Margaret Wycherly), his only real confidante (Cody's father died in an insane asylum). Cody suffers from debilitating headaches, and Ma consoles him--even sitting him on her lap and giving him a shot of whiskey with the toast, "Top of the world," an expression she uses more than once.
Cody and his gang rob a mail train in the High Sierra at the California border, resulting in the deaths of four members of the train crew as well as a member of Cody's gang, Zuckie (Ford Rainey). With the help of informants, the authorities close in on a motor court in Los Angeles where Cody, Verna and Ma are staying. Cody shoots and wounds US Treasury investigator Philip Evans (John Archer) and makes his escape. He then comes up with a scheme--to confess to a lesser crime committed in Springfield, Illinois, which an associate committed at the same time as the train robbery, thus providing him with a false alibi. He turns himself in and is sent back to Illinois, where he receives a one- to three-year sentence in state prison. This plan does not fool Evans, however, who plants undercover agent Hank Fallon (Edmond O'Brien) in Cody's cell in the Illinois State Penitentiary, where Hank goes by the name Vic Pardo. His main task is to find the "Trader," a fence who launders stolen money for Cody.
On the outside, "Big Ed" Somers (Steve Cochran), Cody's ambitious right-hand man, takes over leadership of the gang and the treacherous Verna throws in with him, feeling assured that Cody will never make it out of prison because Big Ed has paid an associate of his serving time in the prison, Roy Parker (Paul Guilfoyle), to kill Cody. In the prison workplace Parker arranges to drop a heavy piece of machinery on Cody but Hank pushes him out of the way, saving his life. Ma visits and vows to take care of Big Ed, despite Cody's frantic attempts to dissuade her. He starts worrying and decides to break out. Before he can, Cody learns that Ma is dead and goes berserk in the mess hall, slugging guards before being overpowered and dragged away to the infirmary. Although feigning a psychosis (loss of contact with reality), he concocts a plan to escape the prison. In the infirmary he is diagnosed as having homicidal psychosis and is recommended for a transfer to an asylum.
Cody takes hostages and escapes, along with his cell mates, including Hank, and also takes Parker along with him, planning for a "payback" for Parker's attempt to kill him. Parker is locked in the trunk of the getaway car. Later, when he complains, "It's stuffy, I need some air," Cody--blithely snacking on a chicken leg--replies, "Oh, stuffy, huh? I'll give ya a little air" and fires his gun several times into the trunk. The remaining men head for California. On hearing of Cody's escape, Big Ed nervously waits for him to show up. Verna tries slipping away but Cody catches her. Although it turns out that she was actually the one who murdered Ma by shooting her in the back, she convinces Cody that Big Ed killed Ma, and he guns down Big Ed. The gang welcomes the escapees, including Hank, for whom Cody has developed a genuine liking. Cody insists on sharing the proceeds from their robberies with him, stating, "I split even with Ma, didn't I?"
A stranger (Fred Clark) shows up at the gang's isolated country hideout, asking to use the phone. Everyone expects the stranger to be murdered ("Looks like Big Ed's gonna have company"). To Hank's surprise, a trusting Cody introduces him to the stranger, who is Daniel "The Trader" Winston, the fence whom Hank was to track down. Cody intends to steal the payroll at a chemical plant in Long Beach, California, by using a large, and empty, tanker truck as a Trojan Horse. Hank manages to get a message to Evans and an ambush is laid. The gang gets into the plant and makes their way to the payroll office, but as they begin to cut through the safe, the tanker's driver, "Bo" Creel (Ian MacDonald), recognizes Fallon ("He pinched me four years ago").
The police surround the building and Evans calls on Cody to surrender, but he decides to fight it out. When the police fire tear gas into the office, Hank manages to escape. In the ensuing gun battles the police kill most of Cody's gang, and he shoots down one of his men who tries to surrender. The police arrest Verna, who was parked in a getaway car across from the plant, and she tries to barter with Evans for leniency, saying she can convince Cody to surrender and then "you can do what you want with him", but Evans turns down her offer and she is taken away, hurling insults. Cody then flees to the top of a gigantic, globe-shaped gas storage tank. When Hank, a marksman, shoots Cody several times with a rifle, Cody starts firing at the tank and shouts, "Made it, Ma! Top of the world!" The tank and several adjoining ones explode, killing Cody.
White Material (2009)
Color
Africans force French to abandon their land
White Material
"Maria Vial is a white French farmer who runs (with her ex-husband, Andre, and his sickly father) a failing coffee plantation in an unnamed African country in the present day. Maria and Andre have a lazy, mentally unstable son, Manuel, while Andre has another half-African son, Jose. Civil war has broken out and rebel soldiers, many of them child soldiers, are advancing on the area. The French military, while pulling out, makes one final plea for Maria to leave, but unyielding in her desire to protect her family's home, she ignores the warnings. Meanwhile, a rebel DJ on the radio urges the rebels on and advocates attacks on emblems of colonialism. Maria's workers flee for fear of the upcoming conflict. Maria stubbornly refuses to abandon the plantation and its harvest, which will be ready in five days. Risking her life and unable to find Andre, she drives to a village to hire men to finish harvesting the coffee. On the way, she is forced to pay off bandits who threaten to kill her at a roadblock. After hiring the workers, she stops at the elementary school and collects Andre's other son, Jose. Jose is an upbeat boy of about 12, and we later learn that his mother is Andre's father's young housekeeper.
Meanwhile, we see Andre in town meeting with the African mayor, Cherif. Cherif seeing that Andre is desperate, takes advantage of the situation and offers to purchase the plantation for the cancellation of Andre's debts. Cherif requires Andre to get his father to sign over the coffee plantation to him. Having returned to the plantation, Maria searches out her son Manuel and finds him in bed after midday. Trying to rouse him, she laments his listlessness and scolds that he is without purpose. Manuel rises, and after a swim, is intrigued by a noise in the house. He follows it to two young rebels. They run, and in spite of his lack of shoes, Manuel follows them far from the home. They eventually corner them; he discovers that they're armed with a spear and a machete. The rebel boys threaten him, cut his hair, and retreat to the bush, firing shots from a revolver. Maria, Andre, and some workers converge on Manuel and are shocked to find him stripped and standing naked in the field. The fact that the oldest boy stuck his revolver down Manuel's pants, as well as his state of shock, the dirt on his hands and knees, and his later over-reaction, suggest he may have been raped off camera. Maria loads him in the tractor and heads back to the house. Manuel, obviously traumatized and out of his mind, abandons the tractor and goes to his grandfather's home. There the heavily tattooed Manuel reacts to his assault by shaving his head, stealing his grandfather's shotgun, attacking Jose's mother, and disappearing on his mother's motorbike.
Despite Andre's continued pleas that they should flee, Maria remains steadfast in her efforts to bring in the coffee crop. She discovers the wounded rebel hero known as 'The Boxer' in a barn and feeds him. As night falls the workers bed down and Maria falls asleep dreaming of an earlier evening where we see her discussing Manuel with Cherif in what appears to be a romantic situation fueled by marijuana. Cherif warns her that her son is 'half-baked', a statement which makes her laugh. She awakens and attempts to start work again. However, the radio issues reports that the Boxer is being harbored by the "foreigners" and that loyal citizens should oppose them. Her workers, hearing this, demand to be paid immediately. Upon threat, Maria opens the safe to find that the money is all gone, likely taken by Andre to secure passage out of the country. The workers demand to be driven back to the village. Maria agrees and starts driving them back.
Before they can reach the village they are stopped by a band of young rebels who appear to be wearing her clothing and jewelry. The rebels demand the truck and, when a worker protests that they are just poor villagers, the rebels shoot him and drive off leaving Maria by the roadside. Maria discovers they have looted the pharmacy and killed the doctor and his assistant. Driving the truck down the road the rebels are pursued by Manuel who tells them that he knows where the Boxer is, and leads them back to the plantation. He is clearly mad as he assists the rebels to loot his own family's food store. The rebels and Manuel gorge themselves on the food and then ingest the many pharmaceutical products which they have stolen. Almost all then pass out in and around the house.
Government troops then retake control of the area. We see them slip onto the plantation grounds immediately in front of Andre's father who calls out no warning to anyone inside. We see the troops move from room to room, slitting the throats of the rebels who are passed out from the orgy of food and medication. Government troops then lock the gun-toting Manuel in one of the farm buildings and burn him to death. Andre is shown dead on the floor of the house holding the family passports.
In the town Maria is overwrought, she is seeking a way back to the house when Cherif sees her and gives her a ride. At the plantation Maria finds Manuel's charred body. Andre's father is shown walking around the barn where Manuel was burned. Maria hacks Andre's father to death with a machete, presumably seeing him at least partly responsible for the death of her son. Another reason may be the fact that Andre's father had promised Maria that she would inherit the plantation, but has broken the promise this very day by selling the land to Cherif, the mayor. Since Maria's ex-husband, who was instigator of the sale, has already been killed, his father is the only one in the family left to be punished.
At the end, we see one rebel leaving the area with the wounds to his head. He carries the beret of the Boxer. He tucks it into his trousers and continues into the countryside.
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966)
Black & White
Married couple draw their guests into their drunken quarrel
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
"Set on the campus of a small New England college, the film focuses on the volatile relationship of associate history professor George and his hard-drinking wife Martha, the daughter of the college president.
It's 2:00 Sunday morning, and they have returned from one of her father's gatherings. Martha announces she has invited a young couple--Nick, a young, good-looking, newly appointed instructor, and his mousey wife Honey--to join them for drinks. George is disturbed because she did so without consulting him first, prompting Martha to launch into the first of many loud and lengthy tirades during which she taunts and criticizes him. Knowing his wife is drunk and quite lewd, he asks her to behave herself when they arrive, and when the doorbell rings, he warns her to refrain from mentioning their child to their company.
Overhearing Martha's crude retort as the door opens (which seems to be by design, since George baited Martha immediately before opening the door), Nick and Honey immediately feel ill at ease and quickly find themselves caught in the middle of a verbal war zone when their efforts to engage in small talk set off a volley of insults between their hosts. Martha begins to flirt lewdly with Nick while his meek wife tries to pretend she is unaware of what is happening.
While Martha is showing Honey where the bathroom is, George tests Nick's verbal sparring skills, but the young man is no match for his host. Realizing he and his wife are becoming embroiled in the middle of marital warfare, he suggests they depart, but George cajoles him into staying.
Upon returning to the living room alone, Honey innocently mentions to George she was unaware he and Martha had a son on the verge of celebrating his sixteenth birthday. Martha reappears in a new outfit--form-fitting slacks and a revealing blouse--and when her husband makes a snide remark about the ensemble, she begins to demean his abilities as a teacher, then escalates her seduction of Nick, complimenting him on the body he developed as both a quarterback and an intercollegiate state boxing champion while criticizing George's paunch. She informs their guests about a past incident when George refused to engage in a friendly outdoor boxing match with his father-in-law and Martha put on a pair of gloves and punched him in the jaw, knocking him into the bushes. As she relates the story, George aims a rifle at the back of her head, causing Honey to scream. He pulls the trigger, which releases an umbrella, while he tells his wife she's dead.
Honey again raises the subject of George and Martha's son, prompting the couple to engage in a conversation Martha quickly tries to end without success. To counterattack George's relentless comments about the boy, she tells their guests her husband is unsure the child is his own, although he most assuredly is. They argue about the color of the boy's eyes until George threatens to expose the truth about the boy. Furious, Martha accuses him of being a failure whose youthful, idealistic plans for the future slowly deteriorated as he came to realize he wasn't aggressive enough to follow in his father-in-law's footsteps, leaving her stuck with a flop. George cuts the diatribe short, first by smashing a bottle of gin against the fireplace mantle, and then by spinning Honey around and mockingly singing, "Who's afraid of Virginia Woolf?", a joke Martha had made herself during the party earlier that evening.
Inebriated and on the verge of throwing up from George's spinning, Honey rushes from the room. Martha goes to the kitchen to make coffee, and George and Nick go outside. The younger man confesses he was attracted to Honey more for her family's money than passion, and married her only because she mistakenly believed she was pregnant. George describes his own marriage as one of never-ending accommodation and adjustment, then admits he considers Nick a threat. George also tells a story about a boy he grew up with. This boy had accidentally killed his mother. Years later, George claims the boy was driving with his father. He swerved to "miss a porcupine" in the road, and the resulting accident killed his father. The boy ended up living out his days in a mental hospital.
When their guests propose leaving, George insists on driving them home. In the car, the talk returns to George and Martha's son. They approach a roadhouse, and Honey suggests they stop to dance. While Honey and George watch, Nick suggestively dances with Martha, who continues to mock George and criticize his inadequacies. George unplugs the jukebox and announces the game is over. In response, Martha alludes to the fact he may have murdered his parents like the protagonist in his unpublished, non-fiction novel, prompting George to strangle Martha until Nick manages to pull him away from her.
George persuades the owner to serve them one more round before closing and suggests that, having played a game of Humiliate the Host, the quartet should now engage in Hump the Hostess or Get the Guests. He then tells the group about a second novel he allegedly has written about a young couple from the Midwest, a good-looking teacher and his timid wife, who marry because of her hysterical pregnancy and then settle in a small college town. An embarrassed Honey realizes Nick indiscreetly told George about their past and runs from the room. Nick promises revenge on George, and then runs after Honey.
In the parking lot, George tells his wife he cannot stand the way she constantly humiliates him, and she tauntingly accuses him of having married her for just that reason. Their rage erupts into a declaration of "total war". Martha drives off, retrieving Nick and Honey, leaving George to make his way back home on foot. When he arrives home, he discovers Honey nearly delirious and realizes that his wife and Nick are presently engaged in a sexual encounter. Through Honey's drunken babbling, George begins to suspect that her pregnancy was in fact real, and that she secretly had an abortion. He then devises a plan to get back at Martha.
When Martha accuses Nick of being sexually inadequate, he blames his impotence on all the liquor he has consumed. George then appears and requests that everyone gather once more for one last game. He mentions his and Martha's son, prompting her to reminisce about his birth and childhood and how he was nearly destroyed by his father. George accuses Martha of engaging in destructive and abusive behavior with the boy, who frequently ran away to escape her sexual advances. George then announces he has received a telegram with bad news--the boy was killed the previous afternoon on a country road when he swerved to avoid hitting a porcupine and crashed into a tree.
As Martha argues with George that he "can't do this" and begs him not to "kill" their son, Nick suddenly realizes the truth--Martha and George had never been able to have a baby, for reasons that are unexplained. Instead, their game together is to imagine they have a son and invent situations and stories of him. By declaring their son dead, accordingly, George has "killed" him. (There are hints of this throughout the script that become clear in retrospect--for example, when George and Nick were sitting by the swing waiting for Honey to finish throwing up, George comments quietly that Martha never had any pregnancies.)
The young couple departs quietly, and George and Martha are left alone as the day begins to break outside. They speak quietly, and in the last lines Martha answers the title question with "I am, George, I am.
Who's That Knocking at My Door? (1967)
Black & White
Man rejects his fiancee was raped, and is not a virgin
Who's That Knocking at My Door?
"J.R. (Harvey Keitel) is a typical Catholic Italian-American young man on the streets of New York City. Even as an adult, he stays close to home with a core group of friends with whom he drinks and carouses around. He gets involved with a local girl (Zina Bethune) he meets on the Staten Island Ferry, and decides he wants to get married and settle down. As their relationship deepens, he declines her offer to have sex because he thinks she is a virgin and he wants to wait rather than "spoil" her.
One day, his girlfriend tells him that she was once raped by a former boyfriend. This crushes J.R., and he rejects her and attempts to return to his old life of drinking with his friends. However, after a particularly wild party with friends, he realizes he still loves her and returns to her apartment one early morning. He awkwardly tells her that he forgives her and says that he will "marry her anyway." Upon hearing this, the girl tells him marriage would never work if her past weighs on him so much. J.R. becomes enraged and calls her a whore, but quickly recants and says he is confused by the whole situation. She tells him to go home, and he returns to the Catholic church, but finds no solace.
Wide Sargasso Sea (1993)
Color
Jane Eyre Prequel: Rochester marries mulatto for money, locks her up after returning to England
Wide Sargasso Sea
"The opening of the novel is set a short while after the 1833 emancipation of the slaves in British-owned Jamaica. The protagonist Antoinette conveys the story of her life from childhood to her arranged marriage to an unnamed Englishman (implied as Mr Rochester from Jane Eyre). As the novel and their relationship progress, Antoinette, whom he renames Bertha, descends into madness.
The novel is split into three parts. Part One takes place in Coulibri, Jamaica and is narrated by Antoinette. Describing her childhood experience, she includes several facets of her life, such as her mother's mental instability and her mentally disabled brother's tragic death.
Part Two alternates between the points of view of her husband and of Antoinette following their marriage and is set in Granbois, Dominica. One of the likely catalysts for Antoinette's downfall is the suspicion with which they both begin to view each other, fuelled by the machinations of a supposed relative of Antoinette's, Daniel Cosway (Boyd). Antoinette's old nurse Christophine's constant mistrust of the husband and Rochester's unwavering belief in Daniel Cosway further aggravates the situation, added in when he becomes unfaithful to her. This increased sense of paranoia tinged with the disappointment of their failing marriage unbalances Antoinette's already precarious mental state.
The shortest part, Part Three, is once again from the perspective of Antoinette, now known as Bertha, as she lives in the Rochester mansion, which she calls the "Great House". It traces her relationship with Grace, the servant who is tasked with "guarding" her in England. It also traces her even more disintegrating relationship with Rochester as he hides her from the world. Making her empty promises to come see her more, which only become less as he adventures off with relationships with other women, eventually with Jane Eyre. Narrating in a stream of consciousness, Bertha decides to take her own life as she believes it to be her destiny.
Wide Sargasso Sea (2006)
Color
Briiish man marries Jamaican woman for her money, then takes her back to England
Wide Sargasso Sea
The tragic story of the first Mrs Rochester from Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre centers on an arranged marriage between a white Creole heiress and a brooding Englishman, who marries her for her money. They fall in love only to be torn apart by rumours, paranoia and a cultural divide. Mrs Rochester is eventually imprisoned in the attic at Thornfield Hall.
Widows (2018)
Color
Women are widowed when hubands try to rob a bank, then band together to finish the job
Widows
"Harry Rawlings and his criminal gang's getaway van are blown up during a police standoff after stealing $2 million from crime boss Jamal Manning. Jamal threatens Veronica, Harry's widow, demanding compensation, needing the money to finance his campaign for alderman of a South Side, Chicago ward. He is running against Jack Mulligan, the next-in-line of a dynastic family that has held the position for decades. Mulligan doesn't like politics, but is happy to profit from it.
Veronica is given a key to a safety deposit box by Bash, Harry's loyal chauffeur, which contains Harry's notebook. Inside it is a detailed plan for stealing $5 million from Mulligan's home. She is advised to sell the notebook to Jamal's people, but decides against it.
Veronica decides to carry out the heist, recruiting two of the other widows, Alice and Linda. Alice had lost her life of luxury and was forced by her mother to become a sugar baby. Linda lost her store, as her husband secretly gambled away the payments. The fourth widow, Amanda, does not join them, as Veronica discovers she has a 4-month-old baby. Alice acquires guns and a getaway van, while Linda deciphers Harry's blueprints. Jamal's brother Jatemme has been told not to make waves before the election, but he attacks several witnesses and kills Bash while looking for Harry's notebook. Eventually, Alice uses a real-estate executive, her sugar daddy, to identify the blueprint as the safe room in Mulligan's home.
Linda recruits Belle, her babysitter, to be the group's driver. Veronica visits Amanda and her baby, where she notices Harry's flask, indicating that Harry is likely alive and the father of Amanda's baby. Devastated, Veronica leaves without saying anything. It is revealed that Harry is alive and double crossed his crew by deliberately blowing up their getaway van. He is in league with Mulligan, to ruin Jamal's campaign. Returning home, Veronica opens the door to her son's room and relives the memory of his death (he was shot by police officers after being pulled over while driving). Veronica visits the Mulligan home and asks Jack for protection from the Mannings, but she's actually there to case the premises, while Belle scans the outdoor security.
Veronica blackmails the CEO of the Mulligans' security company for the safe code, using incriminating photos left in Harry's notebook. The heist begins with Belle creating a disturbance down the street to draw the outside security detail away. Veronica and the others stun the lone security guard inside. Veronica, Linda and Alice reach the safe and retrieve the money. On their way out, Jack's father Tom appears, unmasks Veronica and shoots Alice, wounding her. Linda returns fire and kills Tom.
The women escape, but Jatemme appears and steals their van and money. The women chase him in another car, causing him to crash, killing him. They retrieve the money, then get Alice to the hospital. Veronica returns alone to their hideout, where Harry arrives to steal the money, needing $1 million of it to keep Mulligan quiet about his faked death. Harry claims that after the death of their son and subsequent disintegration of their marriage, he wanted to start over with Amanda and their child. Harry retrieves the money in the van, and turns to shoot Veronica -- but Veronica kills him first.
Jack wins the position of alderman due to a sympathy vote following his father's murder. Linda reacquires her store, Alice sets up her own business, and Belle moves away. Veronica donates a large sum to rebuild a school library on the condition that it be named after her son Marcus. Outside of a diner, Veronica sees and warmly greets Alice.
Wild Orchid (1989)
Color
Woman has tumultuous relationship with business associate
Wild Orchid
"Emily Reed (Otis), a young woman, travels to New York City for an interview with an international law firm. The firm is impressed with her credentials and immediately offers her a job, on the condition that she be ready to fly to Rio de Janeiro the following morning. Emily readily agrees and is introduced to Claudia Dennis (Bisset), one of the firm's top executives, who is overseeing the purchase and renovation of dilapidated beach hotel in Rio.
Emily and Claudia arrive in Rio to put the finishing touches on the deal, but an angry Claudia is forced to fly to Argentina when she discovers that the man they are buying the hotel from has flown to Buenos Aires, ostensibly to attend a niece's wedding, although she believes he is secretly trying to make a deal with the Argentinians for the property. Claudia instructs Emily to take her date for the night, advising her that she will leave her one of her own dresses.
While looking over the hotel by herself Emily sees two locals having animalistic sex, which unnerves her and she returns to her own hotel. She finds the dress that Claudia left for her, and upon going back downstairs is introduced to Claudia's friend and business associate, a wealthy man named James Wheeler (Rourke). The two, accompanied by his bodyguards, go to dinner, and it is revealed that Wheeler actually bought the dress for Claudia some time ago.
He informs her that Wheeler has taken the time to find out information about her by calling her mother, and as such discovered that she has always wanted children and likes roast beef, mashed potatoes, and creamed carrots. Emily finds herself intrigued by him, as he is quiet and asks seemingly personal questions without being pushy or rude. Following dinner they attend a street carnival, but Emily leaves after a masked man who looks like Wheeler tries to seduce her.
The next morning Emily awakens in her room to find Wheeler silently watching her, and has brought of bouquet of orchids to her. Wheeler tells her that he is not the man who made advances to her, and as a way of apologizing for any offense he might have caused he asks her to allow him to show her the city's sights. She is initially reluctant but ultimately consents, and that afternoon they attend a beach club with a married couple that they noticed in the restaurant the night before. Some military personnel at the party try to make advances on the wife; Wheeler fights them off and he, Emily, and the couple are all forced to flee in his limousine.
It is revealed that the couple are having marital problems brought about by the wife's infidelity. She obviously wants to patch things up with her recalcitrant husband, and Wheeler encourages the two to make love, which they ultimately do. Emily is disturbed by their actions, and Wheeler asks her if she has never felt as carnal as the couple, to which she doesn't respond. Emily and Wheeler then visit the hotel that her firm wants to buy, and while there Emily tells Wheeler that she fears he would disappear if she touched him.
He tells her to try it and see what happens, but when Emily hugs him he gently pulls away from her, telling her that he doesn't like to be touched. The married couple gave Wheeler a necklace as a token of gratitude for bringing them back together; he gives it to Emily as a gift, possibly because he knows that he hurt her feelings by pulling away from her.
That night Emily dresses up for the Carnival festivities and is propositioned by a man in a mask, who offers her the key to his room. She initially refuses the offer but is encouraged by Wheeler to accept. It is then that she realizes Wheeler is incapable of acting upon his own emotions, and because of this he tries to experience passion through other people. Emily ultimately agrees to the stranger's proposal and sleeps with him, but both she and Wheeler seem saddened by the act.
The next day Claudia arrives back in Rio with the hotel owner (whose niece really did get married) and a meeting is set up at the airport. Emily is humiliated to discover that the man's attorney, named Jerome, is none other than the stranger she slept with the night before; he uses this to intimidate Emily to get a better deal for his client.
Emily pulls Claudia aside, but her boss is thrilled when she discovers the truth, as she uses the information to drop thinly veiled threats to Jerome that if he doesn't stop playing hardball she will tell his wife about the affair. As such Claudia and Emily get a very good deal. The meeting over, Claudia goes to a costume shop to get ready for the celebration that will mark the sale of the hotel to a group of Chinese investors. Claudia begins to question Emily regarding her impressions of Wheeler. She tells Emily that Wheeler was an only child born in Philadelphia, stuttered as a child, and was a completely self-made man.
She confesses that she became obsessed with him, but that Wheeler would never touch her. She asks Emily if anything happened between her and Wheeler, but Emily says no. Just as they are leaving the store Claudia's assistants reveal that a man bought the deed to the old hotel prior to the finalization of the deal, and both women know who it was. When they confront Wheeler he admits that he was the one who purchased, infuriating Claudia. Claudia decides to go ahead with the sale even though she doesn't own the hotel, hoping that she will be able to circumvent what Wheeler has done. Emily strongly advises her against this course of action, but Claudia will not be deterred.
After the paperwork has been signed Claudia arranges a huge party to commemorate the event. Emily spots Wheeler in the crowd and asks him why he bought the hotel, but before he can answer she is swept away in the crowd.
The next morning Claudia invites a young surfer up to her room, but asks Emily to stay since she is able to speak Portuguese and wants her to help translate what the surfer says. Emily is clearly uncomfortable with the idea but agrees. Things get very heated and the three nearly end up sleeping together, but the moment is broken by an angry Wheeler, who interrupts the proceedings. Emily, at an emotional breaking point because of his actions, accuses Wheeler of intentionally setting people up to disappoint him and then throwing them aside when they do. He responds that he never sets anybody up, that they disappoint him of their own accord.
As he walks away from her she screams at him that he will always be alone. Later on that day a package is delivered to Emily's room, and upon opening it she discovers that Wheeler has signed over the old hotel's deed to her, meaning that the deal with the Chinese can be salvaged. Emily goes to the hotel and finds Wheeler looking out at the ocean. She confesses to him that she loves him, but leaves when he doesn't respond.
Later that night Emily returns to her room to find Wheeler waiting for her. He reveals that as a child he hardly spoke for years after his father abandoned him, and that his teachers thought he was retarded because he never said anything in class. He tells her that he dropped out of school at a young age and worked himself to the bone, and while still a teenager entered the real estate business by purchasing a run-down house in a terrible neighborhood and fixing it up. After he began to accumulate wealth women began to be drawn to him, and he started playing games to keep things interesting.
He tells her that the games became a way of life, and he doubts he would be able to quit even if he wanted to. Emily pushes Wheeler to reach out to her, offering him her heart and body if he makes an effort to simply touch her. Though he at first resists, he reaches out and desperately holds her when he thinks she is going to walk out on him. The two embrace and passionately make love. The final scene of the film shows Wheeler and Emily driving away on his motorcycle, happy together.
Winnie Mandela (2011)
Color
Winnie, Nelson Mandela's wife, has her life in turmoil when her husband is locked up
Winnie Mandela
Following the life of Winnie Madikizela-Mandela (Jennifer Hudson), from her strict rural upbringing by a father disappointed she was not born a boy, to her giving up the chance to study in America in order to remain in South Africa where she felt more needed, through her husband Nelson Mandela's (Terrence Howard) imprisonment. She then faces continuous harassment by the security police, banishment to a small Free State town, betrayal by friends and allies, and more than a year in solitary confinement. Upon her release, she continues her husband's activism against apartheid and, after his release from prison, suffers divorce due to her infidelity and political pressures. She also faces accusations of violence and murder and in the end, must own up to her actions in court, while many still remain loyal to her because of her fight against apartheid.
Wise Guys (1986)
Color
Petty crooks 'borrow' from a Mafia boss, lose at the track, and are pursued by hit men
Wise Guys
"Italian American Harry Valentini and his Jewish friend and next-door neighbor Moe Dickstein occupy the bottom rung of Newark Mafia boss Anthony Castelo's gang. Making a living by doing Castelo's lowest jobs (such as looking after his goldfish, testing out bullet-proof jackets, or checking the boss's car for bombs) the two men dream of opening the world's first Jewish-Italian delicatessen. However, they get little to no respect from their boss or his subordinates, who frequently ridicule them. They accompany Frank "The Fixer" Acavano, one of Castelo's top men and a violent, heavyset psychopath, to Meadowlands Racetrack to place a bet on Castelo's behalf. Valentini changes horses at the last minute because his boss usually bets on the wrong one. However, this time Castelo had fixed the race, meaning that Harry and Moe now owe their boss $250,000. After a night of torture, both are forced to agree to kill each other.
Unaware that each has made a deal and frightened following the murder of Harry's cousin Marco, they steal Acavano's Cadillac and travel to Atlantic City to see Harry's uncle Mike, a retired mobster who started Castelo in the crime business. After using Acavano's credit cards to pay for a luxury stay in a hotel owned by their old friend Bobby DiLea, the two go to Uncle Mike's house to ask for help. They find only Uncle Mike's ashes, leading to Moe leaving in disgust. Grandma Valentini, however, is able to give Harry the money he owes. Harry tries to get DiLea to sort things out with Castelo. As he and Moe leave the hotel, their limo is being driven by Acavano, after DiLea appears to double-cross the two. Harry luckily spies Castelo's hitmen and decides to stay behind and gamble the money. After a chase through the hotel casino, Moe catches up to Harry and accidentally shoots him. Harry is pronounced dead and Moe flees.
Back in Newark, Moe hides out of sight at Harry's funeral. He is spotted by the huge Acavano (who is eating a sandwich during the burial service) and Castelo resolves to kill Moe after the service. Moe returns to his house and prepares to hang himself. Before doing so, sees a vision of Harry at the foot of the stairs. He quickly realizes that it is actually Harry, who arranged the whole thing with DiLea. Moe is thrilled, although he is so shocked that he is almost hanged anyway until Harry intervenes. Harry provides a skeleton for Moe and they write a suicide note before turning on the gas and setting fire to the curtains. As the two leave Moe's house, however, the door slams shut and puts the fire out. Castelo and his men enter to find a bizarre scene. Castelo takes out a cigarette, prompting his stooges to routinely spark their lighters for him. Acavano asks "Who farted?", prompting Castelo to realize the house is filled with gas just before the house explodes, with the crew inside it. Harry and Moe return to Atlantic City, where Moe bemoans the fact that they didn't keep the money. Harry informs him that he did save the money, but has invested it. Moe seems perturbed, but the film ends with their dream realized as the two stand in their Jewish-Italian delicatessen.
Wondrous Obilivion (2006)
Color
Boy must choose between neighbor's friendship, and community prejudice
Wondrous Obilivion
"Eleven-year-old David Wiseman is mad about cricket but no good at it. He has the entire kit but none of the skill, and he's a laughingstock at school. So when a Jamaican family moves in next door and builds a cricket net in the back garden, David is in seventh heaven. But this is 1960s Britain, and when the neighbours start to make life difficult for the new arrivals, David's family is caught in the middle, and he has to choose between fitting in and standing up for the new friends who have turned his world upside-down.
Wuthering Heights (1939)
Black & White
Doomed lovers are torn apart by their own selfishness and hate
Wuthering Heights
"A traveler named Lockwood is caught in the snow and stays at the estate of Wuthering Heights, despite the cold behavior of his host Heathcliff. Late that night, after being shown into an upstairs room that was once a bridal chamber, Lockwood is awakened by a cold draft and finds the window shutter flapping back and forth. Just as he is about to close it, he feels an icy hand clutching his and sees a woman outside calling "Heathcliff, let me in! I'm out on the moors. It's Cathy!" Lockwood calls Heathcliff and tells him what he saw, whereupon the enraged Heathcliff throws him out of the room. As soon as Lockwood is gone, Heathcliff frantically calls out to Cathy, runs down the stairs and out of the house, into the snowstorm.
Ellen, the housekeeper tells the amazed Lockwood that he has seen the ghost of Cathy Earnshaw, Heathcliff's great love, who died years ago. When Lockwood says that he doesn't believe in ghosts, Ellen tells him that he might if she told him the story of Cathy. And so the main plot begins as a long flashback.
As a boy, Heathcliff is found on the streets by Mr. Earnshaw, who brings him home to live with his two children, Cathy and Hindley. At first reluctant, Cathy eventually welcomes Heathcliff and they become very close, but Hindley treats him as an outcast, especially after Mr. Earnshaw dies. About ten years later, the now grown Heathcliff and Cathy have fallen in love and are meeting secretly on Penniston's Crag. Hindley has become dissolute and tyrannical, and hates Heathcliff. One night, as she and Heathcliff are out together, they hear music and realize that their neighbors, the Lintons, are giving a party. Cathy and Heathcliff sneak to the Lintons and climb over their garden wall, but the dogs are alerted and Cathy is injured. Heathcliff is forced to leave Cathy in their care. Enraged that Cathy would be so entranced by the Linton's glamor and wealth, he blames them for her injury and curses them.
Months later, Cathy is fully recuperated but still living at the Lintons. Edgar Linton has fallen in love with Cathy and soon proposes and after Edgar takes her back to Wuthering Heights, tells Ellen what has happened. Ellen reminds her about Heathcliff, but Cathy flippantly remarks that it would degrade her to marry him. Heathcliff overhears and leaves. Cathy realizes that Heathcliff has overheard, is overcome by guilt and runs out after him into a raging storm. Edgar finds her and nurses her back to health once again, and soon the two marry.
Heathcliff then apparently disappears forever, but returns two years later, now wealthy and elegant. He has refined his appearance and manners in order to both impress and spite Cathy, and secretly buys Wuthering Heights from Hindley, who is now a complete alcoholic. In order to further spite Cathy, Heathcliff begins courting Edgar's naive sister Isabella and eventually marries her. The brokenhearted Cathy soon falls gravely ill. Heathcliff rushes to her side against the wishes of the now disillusioned and bitter Isabella, and Cathy dies in Heathcliff's arms.
The flashback story has ended. The family doctor, Dr. Kenneth bursts in, expressing shock that he saw Heathcliff in the snow walking with his arm around a woman. Ellen thinks it was Cathy, but Dr. Kenneth is doubtful, and tells them that he was then thrown from his horse. As he drew closer, he found Heathcliff lying in the snow. The woman had disappeared and there was no sign of her. Lockwood asks, "Is he dead?", and Dr. Kenneth nods, but Ellen says, "No, not dead, Dr Kenneth. And not alone. He's with her. They've only just begun to live."
The ghosts of Heathcliff and Cathy are seen walking in the snow, superimposed over Penniston Crag.
Wuthering Heights (1967)
Black & White
Doomed lovers are torn apart by their own selfishness and hate
Wuthering Heights
Ian McShane stars as the brooding Heathcliff in this 1967 BBC miniseries adaptation of Emily Bront?'s classic novel. When the orphaned Heathcliff comes to live at Wuthering Heights, unrequited love and contempt drive him to seek vengeance. He suffers the abuse of his stepbrother, Hindley (William Marlowe), but it is stepsister Catherine's (Angela Scoular) marriage to another that leads to bitterness and tragic consequences for all.
Wuthering Heights (1970)
Color
Doomed lovers are torn apart by their own selfishness and hate
Wuthering Heights
Late in the 18th century, Mr. Earnshaw returns to Wuthering Heights, his manor on the Yorkshire moors, with Heathcliff, an orphan he found starving on the streets of Liverpool. Earnshaw's two children, Catherine and Hindley, are jealous of their father's affection for the boy and treat him with contempt; after Hindley is sent away to boarding school, however, Catherine and Heathcliff fall in love and steal away to the moors. Upon the death of Earnshaw, Hindley becomes master of Wuthering Heights and treats Heathcliff like a stableboy. Later, when Heathcliff discovers Catherine's plans to marry wealthy Edgar Linton from nearby Thrushcross Grange, the distraught youth runs away before hearing Catherine explain that she plans to use Edgar's money to free Heathcliff from Hindley's mistreatment. Three years later, Heathcliff, now an affluent and well-groomed man of fortune, returns and finds Catherine married to Edgar and Hindley a widowed drunkard. Plotting his revenge, Heathcliff gambles with Hindley for the ownership of Wuthering Heights and wins. Next, he courts and subsequently marries Edgar's sister, Isabella, and humiliates Edgar by treating her like a servant. When Catherine becomes gravely ill in the early stages of pregnancy, she calls for Heathcliff; a short time later, she dies in childbirth. While mourning at her grave, Heathcliff is lured back to Wuthering Heights by the ghostly figure of Catherine but is shot at the site by Hindley, who has conspired in his murder with Isabella. Although mortally wounded, Heathcliff follows the ghost of Catherine to the moors where, in death, he is reunited with his beloved.
Wuthering Heights (1998)
Color
Heathcliff falls for his stepsisterfall, but when she marries a wealthy man he wants revenge
Wuthering Heights
Robert Cavanah stars as the smoldering Heathcliff, a man who's always been in love with Catherine (Orla Brady), the feisty daughter of the kindly patriarch who welcomed him into the fold when he was just a little boy. Catherine would like to return Heathcliff's affections, but her practical side is attracted to a fantastically wealthy neighbor whom she agrees to marry.
Wuthering Heights (2011)
Color
Doomed lovers are torn apart by their own selfishness and hate
Wuthering Heights
"The film open with a mature Heathcliff causes himself harm alone in a room at Wuthering Heights. The setting jumps back to his childhood when he is first brought to the Heights.
His first moments at the Heights are not pleasant as he is not well received. Earnshaw's children Catherine and Hindley are not happy about his arrival. Earnshaw declares Christian duty as explanation for his behavior. It quickly becomes obvious that Hindley hates Heathcliff, while Catherine and Heathcliff become fast friends. They run and play all across the sparse moors freely. However the fun is short lived. When Earnshaw dies Hindley becomes head of house. He banishes Heathcliff to the stables. As they grow up Heathcliff and Catherine continue to care for each other. Catherine does her best to protect Heathcliff, but he is severely mistreated by Hindley.
The pair are curious about their neighbors, and sneak up to their window. When the dogs notice them Catherine is bitten. They bring her into the house where Heathcliff follows. She is tenderly cared for while he is thrown out. Edgar and Isabella Linton befriend Catherine during her visit. Upon her return Heathcliff is flustered at the changes in her and angry that she stayed away so long. Soon Edgar comes to visit regularly driving them further apart. When Edgar proposes to Catherine she is torn between Heathcliff and Edgar. Heathcliff overhears her talk with the house keeper and runs away.
Years later Heathcliff returns, suddenly wealthy and intent on seeing Catherine. They begin to resume their frienship much to the concern on Edgar. Heathcliff rents a room from Hindley at the Heights, and slowly takes possession of the Heights through loaning Hindley money which he spends on booze. When Isabella begins to fall for Heathcliff he uses this against Edgar by sneaking her off and marrying her. She soon realizes his true nature. These events make Catherine very sick. She soon dies from heartache. Heathcliff is beyond help as he mourns this loss. The film ends with several flashbacks to their wild childhood together.
Xanadu (1980)
Color
Artist is inspired by Muse to open Xanadu
Xanadu
"Sonny Malone is a talented artist who dreams of fame beyond his job, which is the non-creative task of painting larger versions of album covers for record-store window advertisements. As the film opens, Sonny is broke and on the verge of giving up his dream. Having quit his day job to try to make a living as a freelance artist, but having failed to make any money at it, Sonny returns to his old job at AirFlo Records. After some humorous run-ins with his imperious boss and nemesis, Simpson, he resumes painting record covers.
At work, Sonny is told to paint an album cover for a group called The Nine Sisters. The cover features a beautiful woman passing in front of an art deco auditorium (the Pan-Pacific Auditorium). This same woman collided with him earlier that day, kissed him, then roller-skated away, and Malone becomes obsessed with finding her. He finds her at the same (but now abandoned) auditorium. She identifies herself as Kira, but she will not tell him anything else about herself. Unbeknownst to Sonny, Kira is one of nine mysterious and beautiful women who literally sprang to life from a local mural in town near the beach. Sonny befriends a has-been big band orchestra leader-turned-construction mogul named Danny McGuire. Danny lost his muse in the 1940s (who is seen in a flashback scene to bear a startling resemblance to Kira), and Sonny has not yet found his muse. Kira encourages the two men to form a partnership and open a nightclub at the old auditorium from the album cover. She falls in love with Sonny, and this presents a problem because she is actually an Olympian Muse. ("Kira"'s real name is Terpsichore, and she is the Muse of dancing and chorus.) The other eight women from the beginning of the film are her sisters and fellow goddesses, the Muses, and the mural is actually a portal of sorts and their point of entry to Earth.
The Muses visit Earth often to help inspire others to pursue their dreams and desires, but in Kira's case, she has violated the rules by which Muses are supposed to conduct themselves, as she was only supposed to inspire Sonny but has ended up falling in love with him as well. Her parents (presumably the Greek gods Zeus and Mnemosyne) recall her to the timeless realm of the gods. Sonny follows her through the mural and professes his love for her. A short debate between Sonny and Zeus occurs with Mnemosyne interceding on Kira and Sonny's behalf. Kira then enters the discussion, saying the emotions she has toward Sonny are new to her--if only they could have one more night together, Sonny's dream of success for the nightclub Xanadu could come true. Zeus ultimately sends Sonny back to Earth. After Kira expresses her feelings for Sonny in the song "Suspended in Time", Zeus and Mnemosyne decide to let Kira go to him for a "moment, or maybe forever", which they cannot keep straight because mortal time confuses them, and the audience is left to wonder her fate.
In the finale, Kira and the Muses perform for a packed house at Xanadu's grand opening, and after Kira's final song, they return to the realm of the gods in spectacular fashion. With their departure, Sonny is understandably depressed, but that quickly changes when Danny has one of the waitresses bring Sonny a drink because the waitress looks exactly like Kira. Sonny approaches this enigmatic doppelg?nger and says he would just like to talk to her. The film ends with the two of them talking, in silhouette, as the credits begin to roll.
Yentl (1983)
Color
To continue her sacred schooling, Yentl disguises herself as a boy to gain entry to a yeshiva
Yentl
"Barbra Streisand portrays Yentl Mendel, a girl living in an Ashkenazi shtetl named Pechev[2] in Poland in the early 20th century. Yentl's father, Rebbe Mendel (Nehemiah Persoff), secretly instructs her in the Talmud despite the proscription of such study by women according to the custom of her community.
After the death of her father, Yentl decides to dress like a man, take her late brother's name, Anshel, and enter a Jewish religious school. Upon entering the yeshiva, Yentl befriends a fellow student, Avigdor (Mandy Patinkin), and meets his fiancee, Hadass (Amy Irving). Things get complicated when Hadass's family cancels her wedding to Avigdor over fears that his family is tainted with insanity (his brother committed suicide), and decides that she should marry Anshel instead. Meanwhile, Hadass develops romantic feelings for Yentl (as Anshel), while Yentl herself is falling in love with Avigdor. After much turmoil, Avigdor and Hadass are reunited, while Yentl leaves Europe to go to the United States, where she hopes to lead a life with more freedom.
You Can Count on Me (2000)
Color
Woman's brother comes to borrow money and forms a bond with her sullen son
You Can Count on Me
"As children, Sammy and Terry Prescott lost their parents to a car accident. Years later, Sammy (Laura Linney), a single mother and lending officer at a bank, still lives in her childhood home in Scottsville, New York, while Terry (Mark Ruffalo) has drifted around the country, scraping by and getting in and out of trouble.
After months of no communication with his sister, Terry is desperate for money, so he comes to visit her and her son Rudy (Rory Culkin) who are excited about reuniting with him. Sammy lends him the money, which he mails back to his girlfriend. After the girlfriend attempts suicide, he decides to extend his stay with his sister, which she welcomes.
For a school writing assignment, Rudy imagines his unknown father as a fantastic hero. Sammy only gives him vague descriptions of the truth while Terry lets his feelings be known about Rudy Sr.'s abandonment. Sammy rekindles a relationship with an old boyfriend, but is surprised when he proposes to her after a short time. She needs time to consider it.
At the bank, the new manager, Brian (Matthew Broderick), tries to make his mark with unusual demands about computer color schemes and daily timesheets. He is particularly tough on Sammy, requesting that she make arrangements for someone else to pick up her son from the school bus rather than leaving work. After some minor arguments, they end up having an affair, despite Brian's wife's being six months pregnant.
Terry grows close to Rudy during their time together. Yet he pushes the limits of Sammy's parental control during a late-night game of pool at a bar. She turns to her minister (Kenneth Lonergan) to counsel Terry about his outlook on life. While Terry resists his sister's advice, he stays on good terms with his nephew. Realizing her own questionable decisions, Sammy turns down her boyfriend's marriage proposal and breaks off her relationship with Brian.
After a day of fishing, Terry and Rudy decide to visit Rudy Sr. in the town of Auburn. Confronted by his past, Rudy Sr. (Josh Lucas) is incensed, leading Terry to assault him and get arrested.
Sammy brings her brother and son home and asks Terry to move out, which he does the next day. He plans to go back to Alaska and scoffs at Sammy's suggestion to remain in town and get his life back on track. While at first it appears the separation will be another heartache, they reconcile before Terry leaves, coming to terms with their respective lifestyles.
You Can't Take It With You (1938)
Black & White
Couple fall in love, but her family lives in a house in the way of his father's project
You Can't Take It With You
"A successful banker, Anthony P. Kirby (Edward Arnold), has just returned from Washington, D.C., where he was effectively granted a government-sanctioned munitions monopoly, which will make him very rich. He intends to buy up a 12-block radius around a competitor's factory to put him out of business, but there is one house that is a holdout to selling. Kirby instructs his real estate broker, John Blakely (Clarence Wilson), to offer a huge sum for the house, and if that is not accepted, to cause trouble for the family. Meanwhile, Grandpa Vanderhof (Lionel Barrymore) convinces a banker named Poppins to pursue his dream of making animated toys.
Kirby's son, Tony (James Stewart), a vice president in the family company, has fallen in love with a company stenographer, Alice Sycamore (Jean Arthur). When Tony proposes marriage, Alice is worried that her family would be looked upon poorly by Tony's rich and famous family. In fact, Alice is the only relatively normal member of the eccentric Sycamore family, led by Vanderhof. Unbeknownst to the players, Alice's family lives in the house that will not sell out.
Kirby and his wife (Mary Forbes) strongly disapprove of Tony's choice for marriage. Before she accepts, Alice forces Tony to bring his family to become better acquainted with their future in-laws. But when Tony purposely brings his family on the wrong day, the Sycamore family is caught off-guard and the house is in disarray. As the Kirbys are preparing to leave after a rather disastrous meeting, the police arrive in response to printed threats on flyers by Grandpa's son in law, Ed Carmichael. When the fireworks in the basement go off, they arrest everyone in the house.
Held up in the drunk tank preparing to see the night court judge, Mrs. Kirby repeatedly insults Alice and makes her feel unworthy of her son, while Grandpa explains to Kirby the importance of having friends and that despite all the wealth and success in business, "you can't take it with you". At the court hearing, the judge (Harry Davenport) allows for Grandpa and his family to settle the charges for disturbing the peace and making illegal fireworks by assessing a fine, which Grandpa's friends pitch in to pay for. He repeatedly asks why the Kirbys were at the Vanderhof house. When Grandpa says it was to talk over selling the house, Alice has an outburst and says it was because she was engaged to Tony but is spurning him because of how poorly she has been treated by his family. This causes a sensation in the papers, and Alice flees the city.
With Alice gone, Grandpa decides to sell the house, thus meaning the whole section of the town must vacate in preparation for building a new factory. Now, the Kirby companies merge, creating a huge fluctuation in the stock market. When Kirby's competitor, Ramsey (H. B. Warner), dies after confronting him for being ruthless and a failure of a man, Kirby has a realization he is heading for the same fate, and decides to leave the meeting where the signing of the contracts is to take place.
As the Vanderhofs are moving out of the house, Tony tries to track down Alice. Kirby arrives and talks privately with Grandpa, sharing his realization. Grandpa responds by inviting him to play "Polly Wolly Doodle" on the harmonica that he gave him. The two let loose with the rest of the family joining in the merriment, and with Alice taking Tony back. Later, at the dinner table, Grandpa says grace for the Sycamore family and the Kirbys, revealing that Kirby has sold back the houses on the block.
You Were Never Really Here (2018)
Color
Joe, who earns a living saving women from sex-trafficking, tries to rescue senator's daughter
You Were Never Really Here
"Joe is a traumatized hired gun who rescues trafficked girls, using brutal methods against their captors. He cares for his elderly mother in his childhood home in New York City. Joe has flashbacks of the abuse he and his mother faced from his violent father, and his brutal past in the military and FBI, and is troubled by suicidal thoughts.
As he comes home one night, Joe is seen by Moises, the son of Angel, who acts as middleman between Joe and his handler John McCleary. Joe tells McCleary that Angel knows his address and may pose a safety risk. McCleary gives Joe a new job: a New York State Senator, Albert Votto, has offered a large sum of money to discreetly rescue his abducted daughter, Nina. He gives Joe the address of a brothel for wealthy patrons sent via anonymous text.
Joe stakes out the brothel, kills several security guards and patrons, and rescues Nina. While Joe and Nina wait in a hotel room to meet Votto, the news reports that Votto has committed suicide. Police officers access the room with the help of the desk clerk, then kill the clerk and take Nina. One of the officers attempts to kill Joe, but Joe kills him and escapes.
Joe finds that government agents have killed McCleary, Angel and Moises, in search of Joe's address. At his house, two agents have murdered Joe's mother and are waiting for him. He kills one and mortally wounds the other, who reveals that Governor Williams is directing the authorities to cover up the trafficking, and that Nina is "his favorite".
Joe gives his mother a water burial. He loads his pockets with stones and goes into the water with the intent of killing himself, but he has a vision of Nina and swims back to the surface.
Joe follows Williams to his country house and fights his way in, but discovers Williams with his throat slit. He finds Nina in the kitchen next to a blood-soaked razor. Later, as they eat at a diner, Joe has a violent suicidal fantasy and passes out. Nina wakes him, telling him, "It's a beautiful day." He agrees and they leave together.
You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger (2010)
Color
Psychic predicts woman whose husband left her will meet a tall dark stranger
You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger
"Alfie (Anthony Hopkins) and Helena (Gemma Jones) divorce. Helena begins seeing fortune teller Cristal (Pauline Collins) for spiritual advice. Their daughter Sally (Naomi Watts) has a troubled marriage with author Roy (Josh Brolin), who once wrote a successful book, and is now anxiously waiting for response from his publisher about the manuscript of his newest one. Helena helps pay their rent.
Alfie marries a prostitute, Charmaine (Lucy Punch). Roy falls for Dia (Freida Pinto), a musicologist he sees through a window near his and Sally's flat, who is engaged to another man. Sally considers having an affair with Greg (Antonio Banderas), her new boss at an art gallery who she confesses she has feelings for but Greg confesses he is having trouble at home and eventually it turns out he is having an affair with Iris (Anna Friel), Sally's protegee. Helena begins a friendship with Jonathan (Roger Ashton-Griffiths), the keeper of an occult bookshop, which develops into romance.
Roy's book is rejected. He hears that a friend, who is also a writer, has died in an accident, and of whom only Roy knows that he had just finished a manuscript that he had not shown to anyone else yet. Roy steals it, and claims it is his work. It is well received. He convinces Dia to break off her engagement, and moves in with her.
Alfie gets into a fight with Charmaine over her high expenses. He asks Helena to make a new start with him, but she refuses. Charmaine has sex with another man and gets pregnant. Alfie wants a DNA test to find out whether he is the father, while Charmaine argues that it does not matter.
Sally quits her job and asks Helena for a loan she promised, for setting up her own art gallery, but Helena refuses because according to Cristal it is astrologically a bad time. Sally is furious. Roy is informed that there was a mix-up of the people killed in the accident and is shocked to hear that the friend whose manuscript he stole is actually in coma and recovering.
In the end, all are dissatisfied with their choices, except for Helena. She has acquired from Cristal a belief in reincarnation, and sees her life now as only one episode in her series of lives. Jonathan shares her esoteric beliefs, and they receive the blessing of his deceased wife for the new relationship via seance.
You, Me and Dupree (2006)
Color
Friend camps out on newlyweds' couch
You, Me and Dupree
"Molly (Kate Hudson) and Carl (Matt Dillon) are preparing for their wedding day in Hawaii, until Carl's friend Neil (Seth Rogen) interrupts to say that Randolph Dupree (Owen Wilson) got lost. They drive off together to pick up Dupree, who appeared to have hitched a ride with a light plane after landing on the wrong island. A day before the wedding, Molly's father (Michael Douglas), who is also CEO of the company that Carl works for, makes a toast with humorous remarks at Carl's expense, foreshadowing a conflict between the two. Later at a pre-celebration at a bar, Carl neglects Dupree to be with Molly. Carl and Dupree later make up on the beach, as Dupree apologizes for laughing at Molly's father's jokes. Carl and Molly get married. When Carl returns to work, at Molly's father's Thompson Land Development, he is surprised to find that Mr. Thompson has promoted him to be in charge of a design he proposed, though it had been altered somewhat.
Mr. Thompson makes absurd requests which proceed to get worse, starting with Thompson's drastic reimagining of Carl's new architecture project and that Carl get a vasectomy to prevent any future children with his daughter. Before returning home to celebrate his promotion with Molly, Carl stops by the bar, where he finds Neil and Dupree. After Neil leaves, Dupree reveals that he has financial problems, such as being evicted from his home and losing his job and car. Carl and Molly take Dupree into their home, though clearly they are frustrated as he is disruptive and messy. Molly sets up Dupree with a woman at her work, a primary school, who is a Mormon librarian. Dupree agrees, though Molly is shocked to find them having graphic sex when she comes home from dinner. Romantic candles burn down the front of the living room, and Dupree is kicked out.
Meanwhile, Carl is being continually stressed out from work, though he and Molly find time to go out for dinner. On the way back they find Dupree sitting on a bench in heavy rain with his belongings. Dupree reveals that the librarian had just dumped him. Feeling pity, Molly insists they take him back in. Dupree apologizes for being disruptive and agrees to mend his ways. The next day, Dupree makes amends, refurbishing the living room, and doing Carl's thank-you letters, as well as making friends with kids from the block. Dupree cooks a large dinner for Molly and Carl, though Carl is late again, so Molly and Dupree start without him. When Carl finally shows up, he is a little jealous that they were having dinner together, and have a fight. Carl kicks Dupree out, suspecting an affair, which shocks Dupree. The following night, Mr. Thompson is over for dinner. Dupree attempts to sneak back in to their home but fails and falls off the roof. Dupree is found outside and is invited in for dinner.
After Mr. Thompson takes a liking to Dupree and asks him to go fishing with him, it enrages Carl, who jumps across the table and attempts to strangle Dupree; Thompson hits Carl over the head with a candlestick shortly after. After returning from the hospital with a neck brace, Dupree and Molly confront Mr. Thompson about what he really thinks of his new son-in-law, while Carl had left. The next morning Dupree gets all the local kids to search for Carl. Dupree eventually finds Carl in the bar, and convinces him to chase after Molly. Dupree helps Carl break in to Mr. Thompson's office and Carl marches into his father-in-law's office and confronts him. The two finally reach an understanding and Thompson admits to his agenda of insulting Carl. Dupree and Carl return to the house, where Carl and Molly reunite, Carl apologizing, and agree to work it all out.
All turns out well, with Dupree becoming a motivational speaker, Carl and Molly spending more time with each other, and Mr. Thompson accepting Carl as family.
You've Got Mail (1998)
Color
Woman unknowingly has online relationship with a competitor, who she intensely dislikes
You've Got Mail
"Kathleen Kelly (Meg Ryan) is involved with Frank Navasky (Greg Kinnear), a leftist postmodernist newspaper writer for the New York Observer who's always in search of an opportunity to root for the underdog. While Frank is devoted to his typewriter, Kathleen prefers her laptop and logging into her AOL e-mail account. There, using the screen name 'Shopgirl', she reads an e-mail from "NY152", the screen name of Joe Fox (Tom Hanks). In her reading of the e-mail, she reveals the boundaries of the online relationship; no specifics, including no names, career or class information, or family connections. Joe belongs to the Fox family which runs Fox Books -- a chain of "mega" bookstores similar to Borders or Barnes & Noble. Kathleen, on the other hand, runs the independent bookstore The Shop Around The Corner, that her mother ran before her. The two then pass each other on their respective ways to work, where it is revealed that they frequent the same neighborhoods in upper west Manhattan. Joe arrives at work, overseeing the opening of a new Fox Books in New York with the help of his friend, branch manager Kevin (Dave Chappelle). Meanwhile, Kathleen and her three store assistants, George (Steve Zahn), Birdie (Jean Stapleton), and Christina (Heather Burns) open up shop for the day.
Following a day on the town with his eleven-year-old aunt Annabel (Hallee Hirsh) and four-year-old brother Matthew (Jeffrey Scaperrotta) (the children of his frequently divorced grandfather and father, respectively), Joe enters Kathleen's store to let his younger relatives experience storytime. Joe and Kathleen have a friendly conversation that reveals Kathleen's fears about the Fox Books store opening around the corner, shocking Joe. He introduces himself as "Joe. Just call me Joe," omitting his last name, and makes an abrupt exit with the children. However, at a publishing party later in the week, Joe and Kathleen meet again, both of them being in the New York book business, where Kathleen discovers Joe's true identity.
Following suggestions from Frank and Joe via "NY152" Kathleen begins a media war, including both a boycott of Fox Books and an interview on the local news. All the while, "NY152" and "Shopgirl" continue their courtship, to the point where "NY152" asks "Shopgirl" to meet. Too embarrassed to go alone, Joe brings Kevin along for moral support. He insists that "Shopgirl" may be the love of his life. Meanwhile Kevin, looking in a cafe window at the behest of Joe, discovers the true identity of "Shopgirl." When Joe discovers that it is actually Kathleen behind the name, he confronts her as Joe (concealing his "NY152" alter ego -- and feelings). The two exchange some bitter words and Joe leaves the cafe hurt, Kathleen returns home puzzled why NY152 might have stood her up.
Despite all efforts, The Shop Around the Corner slowly goes under. In a somber moment Kathleen enters Fox Books to discover the true nature of the store is one of friendliness and relaxation, yet without the same dedication to children's books as her independent shop. Eventually, her employees move on to other jobs; as Christina goes job hunting, George gets a job at the children's department at a Fox Books store (Joe later compares George's knowledge of the contents of the department to a PhD) and Birdie, who is already wealthy from investments, retires.
Allowing time for their electronic relationship to convalesce, Joe visits Kathleen while she is sick, and for the first time makes a favorable impression. Joe discovers that Kathleen has broken up with Frank, who is starting a relationship with Sydney Ann (Jane Adams), talk show host who interviewed him. This was predated one week by Joe and his uptight girlfriend, Patricia (Parker Posey), who broke up in their apartment building while stuck in the elevator. Kathleen and Joe develop a tentative friendship that blossoms over the course of a few weeks and they begin to spend more time with one another.
During this time, Joe as "NY152" mysteriously postpones meeting Kathleen. Finally, "NY152" and "Shopgirl" agree to meet for the first time since "NY152" apparently stood her up. Joe and his dog Brinkley (the topic of numerous e-mails) meet Kathleen at Riverside Park. Kathleen admits that she had wanted "NY152" to be Joe so badly, and the two kiss.
Zardoz (1974)
Color
A post-apocalyptic Earth
Zardoz
"In the year AD 2293, a post-apocalyptic Earth is inhabited mostly by the Brutals, who are ruled by the Eternals. Eternals use other Brutals, called Exterminators, as the Chosen warrior class. The Exterminators worship the god Zardoz, a huge, flying, hollow stone head. Zardoz teaches:
The gun is good. The penis is evil. The penis shoots seeds, and makes new life to poison the Earth with a plague of men, as once it was, but the gun shoots death, and purifies the Earth of the filth of brutals. Go forth ... and kill!
The Zardoz god head supplies the Exterminators with weapons, while the Exterminators supply it with grain. Zed (Sean Connery), an Exterminator, hides himself within Zardoz for an initially unknown purpose. He shoots and apparently kills its pilot, Arthur Frayn (Niall Buggy), who has already identified himself as an Eternal in the story's prologue. The stone head containing Zed returns to the Vortex, a secluded community of civilised beings, protected all around by an invisible force-field, where the immortal Eternals lead a pleasant but ultimately stifling existence.
Arriving in the Vortex, Zed meets two young, attractive female Eternals -- Consuella (Charlotte Rampling) and May (Sara Kestelman). Overcoming him with psychic powers, they make him a prisoner and menial worker within their community. Consuella wants Zed destroyed immediately; others, led by May and a subversive Eternal named Friend (John Alderton), insist on keeping him alive for further study.
In time, Zed learns the nature of the Vortex. The Eternals are overseen and protected from death by the Tabernacle, an artificial intelligence. Given their limitless lifespan, the Eternals have grown bored and corrupt. The needlessness of procreation has rendered the men impotent and meditation has replaced sleep. Others fall into catatonia, forming the social stratum the Eternals have named the "Apathetics". The Eternals spend their days stewarding mankind's vast knowledge, baking special bread for themselves from the grain deliveries and participating in communal navel gazing rituals. To give time and life more meaning the Vortex developed complex social rules whose violators are punished with artificial ageing. The most extreme offenders are condemned to permanent old age and the status of "Renegades". But any Eternals who somehow manage to die, usually through some fatal accident, are almost immediately reborn into another healthy, synthetically reproduced body that is identical to the one they just lost.
Zed is less brutal and far more intelligent than the Eternals think he is. Genetic analysis reveals he is the ultimate result of long-running eugenics experiments devised by Arthur Frayn -- the Zardoz god -- who controlled the outlands with the Exterminators, thus coercing the Brutals to supply the Vortices with grain. Zardoz's aim was to breed a superman who would penetrate the Vortex and save mankind from its hopelessly stagnant status quo. The women's analysis of Zed's mental img earlier had revealed that in the ruins of the old world Arthur Frayn first encouraged Zed to learn to read, then leading him to the book The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Zed finally understands the origin of the name Zardoz -- Wizard of Oz -- bringing him to a true awareness of Zardoz as a skilful manipulator rather than an actual deity. He becomes infuriated with this realisation and decides to plumb the deepest depths of this enormous mystery.
As Zed divines the nature of the Vortex and its problems, the Eternals use him to fight their internecine quarrels. Led by Consuella, the Eternals decide to kill Zed and to age Friend. Zed escapes and, aided by May and Friend, absorbs all the Eternals' knowledge, including that of the Vortex's origin, to destroy the Tabernacle. Zed helps the Exterminators invade the Vortex and kill most of the Eternals -- who welcome death as a release from their eternal but boring existence. Some few Eternals do escape the Vortex's destruction, heading out to radically new lives as fellow mortal beings among the Brutals.
Zardoz ends in a wordless sequence of img accompanied by the sombre second movement (allegretto) of Beethoven's Seventh Symphony (snatches of which are heard throughout the film). Zed and Consuella, dressed in matching green suits and having fallen in love, then sit next to each other in the cave-like stone head and age in time-lapse. A baby boy appears, matures and leaves his parents. The couple eventually decompose into skeletons and finally nothing remains in the space but painted hand-prints on the wall and Zed's Webley-Fosbery revolver.
Zero Dark Thirty (2012)
Color
From the CIA perspective, chronicles the decade-long search for Osama bin Laden
Zero Dark Thirty
"In 2003, Maya, a young U.S. Central Intelligence Agency analyst, has spent her entire brief career, since being recruited for the agency, focused solely on gathering intelligence related to al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, following the terrorist organization's September 11 attacks on the United States in 2001. She is reassigned to the U.S. embassy in Pakistan to work with a fellow officer, Dan. During the first months of her assignment, Maya often accompanies Dan to a black site for his continuing interrogation of Ammar al-Baluchi, a detainee with suspected links to several of the hijackers in the September 11 attacks. Dan subjects the detainee to approved torture interrogation techniques, i.e., stress positions, hooding, subjection to deafening noise, sleep deprivation, waterboarding, and humiliation.
After failing to get al-Baluchi to give up information on an attack in Saudi Arabia, he and Maya eventually trick Ammar into divulging that an old acquaintance, who is using the alias Abu Ahmed al-Kuwaiti, is working as a personal courier for bin Laden. Other detainees corroborate this, with some claiming Abu Ahmed delivers messages between bin Laden and a man known as Abu Faraj al-Libbi.
In 2005, Abu Faraj is apprehended by the CIA and local police in Pakistan. Maya is allowed to interrogate him, but he continues to deny knowing a courier with such a name. Maya interprets this as an attempt by Faraj to conceal the importance of Abu Ahmed.
Maya spends the next five years sifting through masses of data and information, using a variety of technology, hunches, and sharing insights. She concentrates on finding Abu Ahmed, theorizing that he is the best way to find bin Laden. In 2008, she is caught up in the Islamabad Marriott Hotel bombing. Dan, departing on reassignment, warns Maya about a possible change in politics, suggesting that the new administration may prosecute those officers who had been involved in interrogations.
Maya's fellow officer and friend Jessica is killed in the 2009 Camp Chapman attack. That same day, a grieving Maya receives an interrogation video of a Jordanian detainee, who claims the man previously identified from a photograph as Abu Ahmed is a man he personally buried in 2001. Several CIA officers -- Maya's seniors -- conclude the target who could be Abu Ahmed is long dead, and that they have searched a false trail for nine years.
Sometime later, a fellow analyst researching Moroccan intelligence archives comes to Maya and suggests that Abu Ahmed is Ibrahim Sayeed, a suspect who had come to CIA attention shortly after 9/11. Realizing her lead may still be alive, Maya contacts Dan, now a senior officer at the CIA headquarters. She theorizes that the CIA's supposed photograph of Abu Ahmed was actually of his brother, Habib, as he was said to bear a striking resemblance to Ibrahim and was known to have been killed in Afghanistan, and points out that Abu Ahmed's death in 2001 contradicts Ammar's account.
Dan uses CIA funds to purchase a Lamborghini for a Kuwaiti prince in exchange for the telephone number of Sayeed's mother. The CIA traces calls to the mother and quickly identifies one suspicious caller who persistently uses tradecraft to avoid detection. Maya concludes that the caller is Abu Ahmed, and with the support of her supervisors, numerous CIA operatives are deployed to search for and identify the caller. They locate him in his vehicle and eventually track him to a large urban compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, near the Pakistan Military Academy. As Maya leaves her residence one morning, she is attacked by multiple gunmen, but the bullet-proof glass in her car saves her. Knowing that she has been blacklisted by al-Qaeda and there will be more attempts on her life if she stays, her superiors remove her from the field and send Maya home to Washington, D.C.
The CIA puts the compound under heavy surveillance for several months, using a variety of methods. Although they are confident from circumstantial evidence that bin Laden is there, they cannot prove this photographically. Meanwhile, the President's National Security Advisor tasks the CIA with producing a plan to capture or kill bin Laden if it can be confirmed that he is in the compound. An agency team devises a plan to use two top-secret stealth helicopters (developed at Area 51) flown by the Army's 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment to secretly enter Pakistan and insert members of DEVGRU and the CIA's SAD/SOG to raid the compound. Before briefing President Barack Obama, the CIA Director holds a meeting of his top officials, who assess only a 60--80% chance that bin Laden, rather than another high-value target, is living in the compound. Maya, also in attendance, states the chances are 100%.
The raid is approved and is executed on May 2, 2011. Although execution is complicated when one of the helicopters crashes, the SEALs gain entry and kill a number of people within the compound, among them a man on the compound's top floor who is revealed to be bin Laden. They bring bin Laden's body back to a U.S. base in Jalalabad, Afghanistan, where Maya visually confirms the identity of the corpse. Maya is last seen boarding a military transport to return to the U.S. and sitting in its vast interior as its only passenger. The pilot asks her where she wants to go, but she does not reply.
As the plane's cargo door closes, Maya begins to cry softly.
Ziegfeld Girl (1941)
Black & White
Three Women Deal with their rise to fame
Ziegfeld Girl
"As happens every year, Florenz Ziegfeld is seeking new talent for the latest edition of his lavish Broadway revue, the Ziegfeld Follies. Three showbiz hopefuls, Sandra Kolter (Hedy Lamarr), Susan Gallagher (Judy Garland), and Sheila Regan (Lana Turner) are among those selected to join the cast of glamorous "Ziegfeld girls", and become friends.
Sandra, a European beauty, is spotted and recruited while accompanying her violin virtuoso husband Franz to his audition for the show's orchestra. Franz is rejected because his musical skills are too good for the job, and Sandra becomes a showgirl over Franz' objections in order to earn needed income, causing a rift between the couple. Sandra quickly becomes a star and attracts the attentions of her singing co-star, Frank Merton (Tony Martin). But after learning that Frank is married to a wife who loves him, Sandra reconciles with Franz and abandons her career to support him on a concert tour.
Susan, a seventeen-year-old from a theatrical family, is discovered performing a vaudeville act with her aging father. Although Susan is less physically beautiful than the other showgirls, her enormous singing talent lands her a featured role. Her father, not wanting to thwart her career, encourages her to stay in the Follies while he continues traveling on the vaudeville circuit alone. Susan worries about her father and eventually convinces the producers to give him a part in the show, where he proves to be a surprise hit.
Sheila, a former elevator operator from Flatbush, Brooklyn, is torn between her love for truck driver Gil Young (Jimmy Stewart) and her suddenly wealthy life as a showgirl, including a Park Avenue apartment, press coverage, and expensive gifts from rich male fans. After she turns down Gil's marriage proposal, he joins a bootlegging gang and ends up in prison. Sheila becomes an alcoholic and is fired from the show after a drunken fall onstage. Seriously ill and unable to sustain her luxurious lifestyle, she moves back into her family's modest Flatbush home. Gil, newly released from prison, visits her and pledges his love, although he knows she is dying. Despite her precarious health, Sheila goes alone to the opening night of the latest Follies show, where she collapses in the theater. Sandra and Franz rush to her side as Susan, now a star, sings from the stage.