Hollywood Blockbusters

2007-11-20T03:37:00.001-08:00

Die Hard

2007-11-18T03:49:00.000-08:00

John McClane, a detective with the New York City Police Department, arrives in Los Angeles to attempt a Christmas reunion with his estranged wife Holly. He is taken by limousine driver Argyle to her workplace, the highrise Nakatomi Plaza. While Argyle waits in the building's parking garage, McClane joins the Nakatomi Christmas party, where he meets Holly's boss Joseph Takagi and sleazy co-woker Ellis. He finally finds Holly and they immediately get into an argument over her use of her maiden name Gennaro. Holly leaves McClane in a small room near the party.

A gang led by the suave and refined German terrorist Hans Gruber invades and secures the building, under the pretense of gaining the release of various terrorist operatives. The party-goers are subdued and it is revealed that the group are actually thieves; their plan is to use the false terrorist crisis to cover their theft of millions of dollars in bearer bonds from the building's security vault. When Takagi refuses to provide the vault combination, he is killed and Theo, the gang's technical mastermind, begins disabling the sequential vault locks, warning Gruber that the final electro-magnetic based lock will be impossible to bypass.

McClane manages to slip away during the round-up of the party-goers, albeit without his shoes. His attempt to summon help via the building's fire alarm brings him into confrontation with gang member Tony. He kills Tony, prompting the man's vengeful brother Karl to lead a hunt for the policeman through the building. McClane captures a radio and manages to convince a skeptical 911 operator to send a patrol unit, and then secures the attention of responding Los Angeles Police Department officer Al Powell by dropping the body of one of his pursuers onto the hood of the officer's car. He also takes a collection of C4 explosives and detonators off the body of another gangmember.

Nakatomi Plaza (in real life, the Fox Plaza).

The LAPD responds in force, but this merely accelerates Gruber's timetable. With the police led by the incompetent Deputy Chief Dwayne Robinson, Powell quickly proves to be McClane's only useful ally outside the building. A SWAT team and an armored transport are easily and brutally repelled, to which McClane retaliates by bombing two of Gruber's men along with an entire floor of the building with some of the C4. The blast unnerves Ellis who reveals McClane's identity to Gruber with the hopes of negotiating his release. He is murdered when McClane refuses to cooperate.

An incensed Gruber orders Karl to track McClane down and recover the detonators while Gruber goes up to the roof access, where he finds himself in an unexpected face-to-face confrontation with McClane. Gruber attempts to pass himself off as a hostage; the ruse is distraction enough that Karl and his team surprise McClane in an ambush. McClane kills two more gang-members but is forced to flee, leaving behind the detonators and severely injuring his feet. As he tends his wounds, Powell tells him via radio how, in the past, he had mistakenly shot a child "armed" with a toy gun. His grief had him heading for a career as a desk officer.

Outside, the spectacle attracts massive media attention, while the FBI arrives on the scene in the form of two swaggering agents. The duo order the building's power be cut, which serves only to deactivate the final lock on the building's vault, just as Gruber had planned. He "negotiates" with the FBI to release the hostages on the rooftop via helicopter transport. The agents plan on double crossing the "terrorists" with a surprise attack using gunships (with little regard to the hostages' welfare), while Gruber in fact is planning his own treachery; using the C4 to destroy the entire upper structure of the building, killing all the hostages and covering the gang's escape.

McClane investigates the roof access, wondering about Gruber's ealier presence in that area. He discovers the primed C4 and tries to alert Powell, only to be cut off by an attacking Karl. After a vicious battle, McClane leaves Karl hanging from a heavy chain. Back outside the building, an irresponsible TV reporter named Richard Thornburg accidentally alerts Gruber to the fact that Holly is McClane's wife. He takes her aside as a special hostage as his remaining men raid the vault and Theo goes to the parking garage to prepare the gang's getaway ambulance. Argyle, who has kept up with events via his limo's radio, rams the vehicle with his limousine and punches Theo unconscious.

McClane storms the roof, driving the hostages back down to safety with warning gunfire. The FBI mistake McClane for a terrorist and fire at him, while Gruber proceeds with the detonation of the C4. McClane escapes the blast by tying a fire hose around his waist, jumping over the side of the building, and shooting his way in through a window a couple of stories down. The gunship crew, including both FBI agents, are killed.

A battered McClane confronts Gruber one last time high up in the tower, with Holly being held at gunpoint. McClane tricks Gruber with a faked surrender and shoots the villain, who falls from the building to his death. As McClane and his wife leave the building, the seemingly-indestructible Karl reappears one last time, only to be gunned down by Powell. Holly and John are approached by Thornburg, still relentlessly angling for a fresh scoop. Holly punches the reporter and the couple departs the scene in Argyle's battered limo.

Die Hard 2

2007-11-18T03:48:00.000-08:00

The story begins on Christmas Eve, 1990, exactly two years after the Nakatomi Plaza incident. John McClane is at Dulles International Airport near Washington, D.C.. As he waits for his wife Holly to arrive from California, airport police tow away his in-laws' car and give him a parking ticket. Hanging out at an airport lounge, McClane sees a group of men, dressed in Army fatigues, and at least one of whom has a gun in his jacket, pass a package between them and disappear into a baggage handling area. He follows, and a fight ensues in which McClane kills one of the men.

McClane confronts the head of airport police, the hotheaded Captain Carmine Lorenzo, who dismisses McClane's report as punks stealing luggage, despite the fact that one of the assailants was wielding a rare porcelain gun (supposedly) capable of evading metal detectors. McClane storms off to investigate on his own, taking fingerprints from the corpse and faxing them to his friend, LAPD officer Al Powell, who runs them through several databases. The resulting records indicates that the man had been declared officially dead even before the fight, leading McClane to suspect that he had been part of a plot to seize control of the airport.

Which is exactly the truth: as weather conditions worsen, a vengeful rogue US Army officer, Colonel Stuart, prepares to hold the approaching planes and their passengers and crew hostage until he can free a former Central American general and drug lord, Ramon Esperanza, as the deposed despot is arriving at the airport under guard for trial by the United States government. Stuart has set up his operational base in a nearby church and has hacked directly into Dulles' communications and air traffic control.

McClane sneaks into the airport's control tower and confronts the head of air traffic control, Trudeau, just as Stuart commences his operation and takes control of the airport controls. McClane is chased out from the tower; as he descends in the elevator with reporter Samantha Coleman, she tips him to the presence of Stuart. McClane slips out of the elevator and into the underground maintenance area of the airport, where he gains assistance from an airport janitor named Marvin.

Trudeau and his controllers contact the approaching planes and inform the cabin crews (without mentioning the terrorists) that they must circle the airport. Trudeau’s communications director, Leslie Barnes, takes a team to a new antenna outpost at the skywalk to restore unbugged communication with the planes. He and Lorenzo’s SWAT team are attacked by a detachment of Stuart’s men. Fortunately, McClane heard about the auxiliary outpost while in the tower, and just as Barnes is about to be killed, McClane emerges and kills Stuart’s men. Stuart retaliates by crashing a British jet, killing everyone on board.

McClane returns to the underground maintenance level, where a two-way radio dropped by one of Stuart’s crew tells him that Esperanza is about to arrive in his now-commendeered plane, who has killed his guard and the pilots. McClane rushes to the runway and briefly apprehends Esperanza, before Stuart and his men show up to retrieve the general themselves. McClane hides in the cockpit of Esperanza’s plane, but Stuart and his crew toss grenades inside, forcing McClane to strap himself into the pilot’s ejector seat and escape the resulting blast by engaging the eject function.

An Army Special Forces unit arrives at the airport. Their leader, Major Grant, once served with Stuart and claims to know his tactics. Barnes surmises that Stuart’s command post is near the airport, and he and McClane find the church where Stuart is hiding. Shortly after McClane kills one of Stuart’s guards and takes possession of his submachine gun, Grant and his squad show up and a gunfight ensues. Stuart, his men and Esperanza escape on snowmobiles. McClane chases after them, but his gun left by one of Stuart's henchmen proves strangely ineffective. McClane checks the weapon and finds that the bullets are blanks.

McClane returns to the airport police station and announces to Lorenzo that Grant and Stuart are actually working together. Lorenzo thinks he is lying and attempts to arrest him, but McClane fires his submachine gun (still loaded with blanks) at Lorenzo. Finally convinced, Lorenzo mobilizes his police to converge on the hangar containing the Boeing 747 that Stuart has demanded as an escape vehicle.

Meanwhile, circling above the airport, Holly has unexpectedly found herself in the same plane as Richard Thornberg, the reporter who had endangered her and John during their previous meeting. As the terrorists' plans unfold, both Holly and Thornberg begin to realize that something is amiss; culminating in Thornberg listening into the tower radio transmissions, learning about the crisis and making a live news report from aboard the plane. The crowds in the airport watching the report are thrown into panic, which greatly hampers McClane's and Lorenzo's efforts to apprehend Stuart. Holly zaps Thornberg with a fellow passenger's stun gun.

McClane hitches a ride in Sam Coleman's news helicopter to the villains' plane, which is taxiing for takeoff. He manages to jump onto the aircraft's wing and finds himself in hand-to-hand combat with Major Grant. During the fight, Grant is sucked into one of the plane’s engines and killed, but Stuart takes up the fight and kicks McClane off the wing. As he falls, McClane opens the fuel hatch on the engine and it starts to dump. He then delivers his classic catchphrase, "Yippee-ki-yay, motherfucker" and uses his cigarette lighter to ignite the trail of fuel, exploding the plane and resulting in a fireball. The fire from the aftermath becomes a landing light for the other planes, which all make to the ground safely. Emergency services arrive and begin evacuating the air passengers, including Holly and a badly-shaken Thornburg. McClane and Holly joyfully reunite, Lorenzo tears up McClane's parking ticket as a Christmas gift, and Marvin drives the couple off

Die Hard with a Vengeance

2007-11-18T03:42:00.000-08:00

The antagonist in this movie is Simon Gruber (Jeremy Irons), brother of Hans Gruber (Alan Rickman, who, like Irons, was an English actor playing a German). Hans was a German criminal who was killed by NYPD cop John McClane (Bruce Willis) at the climax of Die Hard, the first film in the series. It first appears as though Simon is out to avenge his brother's death, but it is later revealed that other motives are at work.

He begins by blowing up a bomb in a department store and telling Inspector Walter Cobb, calling himself "Simon", that McClane must walk through Harlem displaying a sandwich board reading "I hate niggers", or expect 'another big bang at a public place'. When some offended African Americans threaten him, they are held back at gunpoint by shopkeeper and African American activist Zeus Carver (Samuel L. Jackson). Carver gets McClane away, not out of concern for a white man, but that the colleagues of a white cop might go gunning for every black person in the area if one of their own is killed; "One white cop dies in Harlem, tomorrow we got a thousand white cops, all of 'em with itchy trigger fingers." Back at the police station, Simon calls and insists that this "Good Samaritan" has become part of the game whether he likes it or not.

Simon has planted real as well as phony bombs throughout the city, and forces McClane and Carver to participate in a game of "Simon says", which usually consists of giving them information about a bomb and giving them a chance to defuse them.

The first game happens at a public telephone. Simon calls and reads them the As I Was Going to St Ives riddle. To answer the riddle, McClane needs to dial 555 followed by the answer within 30 seconds. They make the call, but are 10 seconds late. Simon laughs and says there is no bomb, since he "didn't say 'Simon Says'."

Zeus and John listening to Simon on the pay phone

McClane is told they have half an hour to go to a phone at a subway station near Wall Street from where they are on the upper west side. To do this, McClane commandeers a taxi and drives through Central Park, and makes a radio call for an ambulance which they follow through heavy traffic. McClane later manages to climb into the subway train from a grating and finds the bomb, quickly chucking it out the train window. Only Zeus makes it to the station to pick up the call. Simon says that McClane's absence is a breach of the rules and the bomb is detonated, however he had intended for the bomb to detonate regardless, since an activation switch was placed on the subway tracks to detonate the bomb once the subway car hit the switch. Only the audience is aware of the fact at this time.

After the bomb is detonated, they must go to another park to answer another riddle. This time, Simon says "What has four legs and is always ready to travel?" Zeus figures out that it is an elephant, and they find a briefcase bomb in an elephant fountain in the park. After a short argument on whether or not to open the briefcase, John decides to open it. When he does, an LCD screen reads "I am a bomb. You have just armed me." Simon then calls them again, telling them that they must use a 5 gallon and a 3 gallon jug to put exactly 4 gallons of water on the bomb's scale to disarm it, which they do in the nick of time.

When Simon next calls, he states that there is a bomb within one of the schools in New York. They must not evacuate schools, but the police start a massive search for the bomb. Simon's next riddle is "What is 21 out of 42?", and Zeus figures out that there have been 42 Presidents of the United States but is unable to remember who the 21st was. Later, a truck driver tells McClane he was Chester A. Arthur, and it identifies a school in which Simon claims to have placed a bomb — it is later found to be Chester A. Arthur Elementary School, the very school where Zeus' two nephews happen to be attending.

As Zeus and McClane are traveling between destinations, McClane catches and reprimands a boy for stealing a candy bar in plain sight. The boy comments that every cop in the city is searching the schools and one could, as the boy puts it, "steal City Hall". McClane abruptly realizes the nature of Simon's plan.

So far the police have been led to believe that all this is an overblown act of revenge. However, it is really a diversion from Simon's real goal: to rob the high-security vault in the basement of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, which holds the gold reserves of many nations, even more than Fort Knox. The need to search the thousands of schools in New York, none of which are located in the financial district, means that the police, emergency and Federal agencies are all occupied elsewhere. This enables Simon and his army of East European mercenaries to break into the vault and make their escape with a dozen dump trucks filled to the brim with gold bars.

McClane and Carver see through the plan and catch up with the gang as they embark their trucks on board a ship. They are captured and left on the ship with a huge bomb. When McClane first sees this bomb, he realizes that there is no bomb in a school - the bomb that police found in the school is an elaborate dummy filled with pancake syrup. Simon advises McClane that "some gentlemen in the Middle East seem to think they'll make a lot of money" when a substantial portion of the world's gold reserves are destroyed. Carver asks what this has to do with killing McClane to which Simon replies, "Life has its little bonuses". The two men are left handcuffed to each other sitting astride the bomb.

At this point they hold a heart-to-heart, with McClane admitting that he and his wife are yet again estranged, and Carver trying to convince him to try to at least call her. They both manage to get off the ship just as the bomb explodes, destroying the ship.

Simon has (via a taped message transmitted over the ship's radio) led the authorities to believe that the gold was still aboard the ship and that the whole affair was a plot to upset the world economy. However, McClane surmises that it is yet another diversion and that the gold is safe elsewhere, based on experience with Simon's brother, Hans. After suffering a horrible headache all day, McClane had finally managed to obtain a bottle of aspirin from Simon himself. Based on Carver's prompting, McClane then calls his estranged wife. As the call is connecting, McClane goes to take one of the pills, and a label on the bottom of the bottle shows that they were purchased from a pharmacy in Quebec, Canada. McClane is forced to leave the phone to pursue Simon, and leaves his wife hanging on the line. This leads the action to a warehouse in Canada where Simon and his gang have indeed taken the gold. There they witness Simon's gang being caught by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police before being attacked by Simon in a helicopter. The final battle ensues and as the helicopter hovers underneath some power lines, McClane cleverly shoots out the power lines with two shots, destroying the helicopter, and sending Simon to join his late brother.

As the film ends, McClane calls his wife on a nearby pay phone, despite worrying about the fact that he left her on hold. The credits roll as the call is connecting.

Die Hard 4

2007-11-18T03:39:00.001-08:00

At the start of the film, a terrorist breaches an FBI facility's computer system, and computer hackers are assassinated by the terrorist mastermind Thomas Gabriel (Timothy Olyphant), instead of being paid for their collaboration. The FBI, unaware of the killings, dispatches NYPD Police Detective John McClane (Bruce Willis) to visit a known hacker, Matthew Farrell (Justin Long), as part of their investigation regarding the breach. Gabriel's henchmen attempt to assassinate McClane and Farrell, but their targets escape. McClane transports Farrell to the FBI's Washington DC headquarters and its head, Assistant Director Bowman (Cliff Curtis), in the midst of a shutdown of the traffic system in DC. The stock market is manipulated shortly afterward, causing it to crash.

McClane is ordered to take Farrell into protective custody, and Gabriel sends more henchmen to kill the pair. McClane and Farrell evade their assassins again, and as the country's infrastructure is threatened with a major break down, Farrell tells McClane the terrorists are initiating a fire sale and that major utilities would be next. The detective and the hacker travel to a power hub in West Virginia to defend it, finding that the terrorists are already there. McClane battles terrorists while Farrell undoes the damage done to the computer system. They are contacted by Gabriel, who finds out that McClane has killed his lover Mai Lihn (Maggie Q) and angrily re-routes gas lines to destroy the hub in a gas explosion. McClane and Farrell escape once more, and on Farrell's advice, the pair visit his hacker friend the Warlock (Kevin Smith) for help. At the Warlock's home, they find out about Gabriel's background and attempt to hack into the terrorist's systems. Gabriel contacts the detective at the Warlock's home via webcam, and he shows that he has McClane's daughter Lucy (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) as a hostage. While McClane distracts Gabriel in conversation, Warlock determines Gabriel's location, at a hijacked NSA building.

McClane and Farrell travel to the NSA building, and the detective combats terrorists while Farrell discovers and tries to undo Gabriel's plan to steal backup financial information from servers in the building. Farrell is able to lock the terrorists out of their server hack, rendering the task incomplete, and then he is taken hostage by the terrorists. With McClane after them, Gabriel and his henchmen flee the building with their hostages. McClane manages to hijack one of the escaping trucks and pursues Gabriel and the hostages. Gabriel renders a hack to deceive the pilot of a F-35 Lightning II jet to attack McClane's truck. The jet engages McClane, destroying much of the freeway in the process, but the detective is able to escape. He tracks Gabriel to a warehouse, where the terrorist is forcing Farrell to undo the encryption at gunpoint. McClane and Farrell are able to kill Gabriel and his men before they force Farrell to decrypt the lock, resolving the crisis. The FBI arrives shortly after to tend to the wounds of Farrell, McClane, and his daughter. The final shot is McClane and his daughter leaving in an ambulance.

Die Hard

2007-11-18T03:39:00.000-08:00

Minority Report

2007-11-18T03:38:00.000-08:00

The film is set in Washington, D.C. in 2054, where murderers are apprehended based on foreknowledge. This is provided by three psychics termed "pre-cogs", nicknamed Agatha (Morton), Dashiell, and Arthur. The group making use of the pre-cogs is the Department of Pre-Crime, a high-tech policing division who arrest criminals predicted by the pre-cogs. Thanks to it, the city has gone six years without a single murder. At the start of the film, Pre-crime chief John Anderton (Cruise) is in the midst of apprehending a suspect, aided by his team. It is revealed that the pre-cogs only relate the time/date of the murder, the murderer's name, and the victim's name. All other facts, chiefly the location, can only be ascertained by clues given by the various images relayed around the time of murder. Images transfer from the pre-cogs' minds to a computer display, where Anderton manipulates the images in a manner similar to virtual reality to better determine how the murders might happen. Anderton is watched by Danny Witwer (Farrell), an observer from the Department of Justice sent to evaluate the system because the country is about to vote on whether to expand the Pre-Crime program nationally.

Danny Witwer (Colin Farrell) looks down on the pre-cogs in their holding tank.

Later Anderton goes to his apartment, where he watches home movies of his deceased six-year old son and his ex-wife. The next morning, Witwer is given a tour of the pre-cogs' chamber. The pre-cogs float in a translucent substance, which helps enhance the images they produce. Anderton stays behind and Agatha suddenly emerges from the pool and grabs him. She draws his attention to the ceiling, which also displays images in a pre-cog's mind, now a woman named Ann Lively being murdered. Intrigued by a murder which he's never seen, Anderton decides to investigate. He learns that the other pre-cogs' images of the murder are on record, but Agatha's recorded images are missing. Anderton tells this to Burgess (Von Sydow), his boss and the director of Pre-crime, who appears unconcerned.

The next day, Anderton finds a new case unfolding: a murder is to take place in 36 hours. This is unusual: because the pre-cogs are public knowledge, few plan to murder someone in any given time; most crimes are acts of passion, decided upon the spot. The victim is a man named Leo Crowe. The murderer is revealed to be Anderton himself. Believing that he is being set up since he doesn't even know the victim, Anderton takes it on the lam. He manages to escape Witwer and his own team in a car factory, and seeks refuge in the country home of Iris Hineman, one of the pioneers of Pre-crime. She reveals that the three pre-cogs were actually the children of people who experimented with a new drug that did serious damage to their bodies, and that the pre-cogs do not always agree in their opinions about the future. On occasion, those convicted of a pre-crime may have an alternative future other than the one where the murder is committed, and, when this happens, the dissenting opinion is left out. Anderton's only hope at proving his innocence is acquiring the hidden "minority report", which Hineman explains is contained in Agatha, the most gifted pre-cog.

Traveling undetected is difficult, since everyone is subjected to constant public retinal scans. Anderton visits a shady doctor (Peter Stormare) to receive an eye transplant. While recovering - during which he must keep bandages over his eyes or go blind -, he dreams of his son, abducted from a swimming pool. He awakens to discover that the pre-crime team is investigating the building with "spyders", robotic eye scanners. He tries to hide in a bathtub full of ice water to mask his body heat, but is scanned. The surgery proves successful, however, and he is not identified. Later, he manages to reach the Pre-crime offices. He takes Agatha out of the nutrient water disrupting the pre-cog hive mind that makes Pre-crime work and escapes again. Anderton finds a hacker friend who accesses Agatha's vision of the murder, which appears identical to the one he saw earlier. An anguished Anderton begins to wonder if a minority report even exists for his future crime. Agatha then begins showing the Ann Lively murder again, prompting Anderton to realize that she wants him to see who killed Lively, but they are forced to flee as the Pre-crime team enters the building.

Anderton (Tom Cruise) submitting to the "spyders" retinal scan.

Inexorably, Anderton ends up in Leo Crowe’s empty apartment. Searching the room, he finds a pile of photos of children, including his son. Anderton suddenly realizes that there is no minority report for himself, and that Leo Crow is responsible for kidnapping his son. Anderton had pre-planned this murder, a long standing wish to kill the previously anonymous person who took his son. Crowe then enters and Anderton viciously attacks him, eliciting a confession. Agatha tries to convince Anderton that he does not have to kill Crowe, that his future isn't set because he actually knows what it could be, unlike everyone else caught by the Pre-crime system. As he is about to shoot Crowe, Anderton reconsiders and reads him his Miranda rights. Crowe then says that if Anderton doesn’t kill him, Crowe’s family will get nothing: the entire murder was a set-up. Crowe refuses to tell Anderton who set him up, grabs Anderton’s gun to point it at his chest and manages a suicide by cop by worrying Anderton's hand. Anderton and Agatha leave.

The Pre-crime unit arrives and investigates the scene. Witwer sees the photos and raises questions as to what sort of child killer would leave so much evidence lying around. Witwer then discusses his doubts with Burgess and shows him the Ann Lively pre-vision, but two different ones; one from recorded images at Pre-crime, and the other from Agatha, downloaded by Anderton's hacker friend. The images have slight differences, which Witwer infers that represent two different murders; the first was the one Pre-crime witnessed and someone else, who had set up the first suspect, would then, right after the first suspect was apprehended, kill Lively. Witwer intuits that only someone high up would even have access to the pre-cog's pre-visions. Burgess interrupts his analysis by shooting him; since Agatha is with Anderton, Pre-crime is not able to prevent the murder.

Anderton hides in his ex-wife Lara’s house; there he realizes he was set up because of his discovery of the Ann Lively murder. Lively is revealed to be Agatha's mother, and was killed because she wanted to re-unite with Agatha and thus ruin Pre-crime. The police arrive and arrest Anderton. Later, Burgess accidentally reveals to Lara that he killed Lively. Lara then releases Anderton from prison, and as Burgess is giving a speech, Anderton confronts him by showing the audience Agatha's pre-vision of Burgess killing Ann Lively. Burgess takes a gun and starts after Anderton; the pre-cogs are back online, they predict the murder and the Pre-crime team race away to apprehend him. Anderton shows Burgess that he's at a dead end. If he doesn't shoot him, Pre-crime would end due to incorrectly predicting a murder; if he does shoot him, he would be arrested, but it would prove that the system works. Anderton then explains the fatal flaw of the system: if someone knows their own future, he or she can choose to change it. Burgess commits suicide.

In the final sequence, Anderton explains in voiceover that the pre-crime experiment was shut down. All the criminals imprisoned by the program were unconditionally pardoned, although some were kept under surveillance by police for years afterward. The pre-cogs were taken to an undisclosed location where they could live out their lives in seclusion and peace, no longer tormented by their talents. Anderton reconciles with Lara, who is now pregnant.

SWAT

2007-11-18T03:35:00.000-08:00

The film begins with a hostage situation in Los Angeles (loosely based on the 1997 North Hollywood shootout). Officer Jim Street, a hot-shot cop from the Los Angeles Police Department and his S.W.A.T. Team are sent to stop a gang of robbers who have taken over a bank. His high-tempered partner and close friend Brian Gamble disobeys a direct order from their lieutenant, and accidentally wounds a hostage. Gamble and Street are demoted by Tom Fuller, the SWAT captain, after an argument, and then Gamble quits. Street is punished, taken off the S.W.A.T. team and sent to work in the "gun cage," where he looks after gear and weapons.

The Chief of Police calls on Sergeant Dan "Hondo" Harrelson to help re-organize the S.W.A.T. division. Hondo is transferred in, and soon puts together a team made up of personality heavy cops, including himself, Street, Chris Sánchez, Deacon Kay, T.J. McCabe, and Michael Boxer.

Meanwhile, a drug lord by the name of Alex Montel kills his father and uncle for control of the family's crime empire. The L.A.P.D. stop Montel for a broken taillight, detain him, and eventually learn he is an international fugitive through Interpol. As they are transferring him, his associates, dressed as LAPD officers, assault the County Sheriffs bus Montel is on in an attempt to free him. Hondo's S.W.A.T. team foils the assault. As Montel is being brought into the police station in front of a group of reporters, he yells to them “I will give one hundred million dollars to whoever gets me out of here.”

The L.A.P.D. makes plans to transfer Montel into federal custody. They plan to fly him away, but an assailant (later revealed to be Gamble) shoots down the helicopter. The police next send out a large convoy, which is attacked by gang members. It turns out to be a decoy, and Hondo's team has spirited Montel away in two S.U.V.s. However, T.J. has been plotting with Gamble, and the two succeed in taking Montel from the other officers. Hondo and the rest give chase, and there is a final fierce battle, Gamble's group against the S.W.A.T. team. Hondo's team is victorious. T.J. kills himself rather than be captured, and there is a vicious hand to hand fight between Street and Gamble, with Street emerging the eventual victor when he kicks Gamble under the wheels of a passing train. Gamble's head is run over and he is instantly killed. The S.W.A.T. team delivers Montel to a federal prison awaiting trial.

The Rock

2007-11-18T03:33:00.000-08:00

Brigadier General Francis X. Hummel (Harris) is disgusted by the way the government abandoned many of his men after sending them on illegal suicide missions. He assembles a rogue team of 14 elite U.S. Marines (Force Recon), most of whom have previously served under him, though Captains Frye and Darrow are new. Hummel attacks a naval weapons depot, taking fifteen VX missiles. He loses one of his men during the attack, when a ball of VX gas is dropped and a marine is exposed to the agent, dying a gruesome death while the rest of the squad gets out in time. Hummel then occupies Alcatraz Island, taking 81 tourists hostage in the process. Hummel threatens to kill San Francisco's entire population with the VX missiles unless the government agrees to pay $100 million out of a supposed slush fund both to the families of American commandos lost in classified operations throughout the world, and to him and his men.

Captain John Patrick Mason (Connery) is an SAS operative imprisoned for 30 years without trial for stealing microfilm that contained sensitive U.S. Government secrets. Upon his capture, he was disowned by the British government. All evidence of his existence has been erased by both the British and the Americans. An expert escape artist, Mason attempted to escape many times over the years, although he was always recaptured. He has been locked in another maximum security prison for an unspecified length of time since his last escape attempt. FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover had orchestrated all of this, since Mason refused to reveal where the microfilm was hidden, and the policy was continued by then agent, now current FBI Director James Womack (John Spencer). Upon hearing of the VX missile crisis, and after a discussion with Navy SEAL Commander Anderson, Womack reluctantly calls upon Mason, as he is the only man ever to escape from Alcatraz, and he is the one who can guide the commandos into the island via the catacombs underneath it.

Dr. Stanley Goodspeed (Cage), an FBI chemical weapons specialist educated at Columbia (B.A.) and Johns Hopkins (M.A. and Ph.D.) with limited field experience, is placed on the mission as his expertise is needed to disarm the VX missiles.

Mason is summoned by the FBI and agrees to help, only after a "good-faith" conversation from Goodspeed, which will include a pardon, and a stay and haircut at the Fairmount hotel. After tricking Womack into a handshake, Mason throws Womack over the balcony (anchored by a rope) and escapes in a Hummer, leading the FBI and San Francisco police on a wild car chase through the city that causes unaccounted destruction throughout. He contacts his daughter, Jade Angelou (Claire Forlani), that he fathered during his first escape, as she is the only proof of his identity. Goodspeed tracks them down and calls in the police; Jade gets upset and accuses Mason of escaping from prison again, but Goodspeed alleviates her unrest by saying that her father is now assisting the FBI.

Mason, Goodspeed and a team of U.S. Navy SEALs led by Commander Anderson (Michael Biehn) dive underwater and through the catacombs underneath the island. While the SEALs are initially successful in eluding the Marine patrols, they fall into a trap set by marine Captain Hendrix and are surrounded. General Hummel orders the men to surrender but Anderson refuses. The SEALs get nervous during the standoff, which breaks out into a firefight after they are provoked by Captain Frye against Hummel's wishes. Captains Frye and Darrow are part of the renegade marines purely for money and have a disregard for Hummel's code of honor, as Darrow unholsters his sidearm to execute a mortally wounded SEAL, but Hummel waves him away and personally closes the dying man's eyes. Hummel then looks into the fibre optics camera and delivers a stern warning to the FBI, who believe that all hope is lost.

With all of the SEALs killed by Hummel's forces, Goodspeed and Mason find that they are the only ones left between Hummel's VX gas rockets and San Francisco. Mason attempts to desert the mission, but stays after some persuasion from Goodspeed, notably as his daughter Jade and Goodspeed's pregnant fiancée Carla are one of the many citizens that are at risk. FBI Special Agent Ernest Paxton (William Forsythe), who personally advised Goodspeed in good faith, and in charge of the San Francisco region and is focused on the VX gas threat, notices that Director Womack is nervous about Mason taking part in the mission and having no supervision after the SEALs were killed. Paxton finds out that Womack's underlying motive is to recover the microfilm, even if that would have jeopardized the mission. Thus, Paxton understands Mason's anger when he says to Womack: "So you kept this guy without trial his whole life. No wonder he's pissed."

The Marines who are gathering up weapons realize that Goodspeed and Mason remain alive and attempt to bomb them, but they manage to survive. Mason guides Goodspeed through the catacombs to the morgue of Alcatraz. There they fight and kill two Marines stationed there. Goodspeed then defuses twelve VX rockets there by removing their guidance chips so that the rockets will just fall into the sea harmlessly. However, Hummel notes that the morgue team has not checked in and sends a trio of Marines. Mason and Goodspeed take the guidance chips with them and escape on a mine car, but it crashes and Goodspeed is stuck in a belt elevator and Mason hanging from the belt. The Marines arrive and begain shooting at Goodspeed. Mason sets the legs of Marine Captain Hendrix (McGinley) on fire and then drowns him. Goodspeed then tries to flee in the cable car and the Marines follow in another car. Mason surprises the Marines and knocks one of them into the abyss, but he gets choked by another, being saved by Goodspeed who shoots the Marine; Mason deduces that Goodspeed has never previously killed another person.

Hummel then demands over the island's speaker system that Mason and Goodspeed return the guidance chips or they will execute a hostage. Mason smashes the guidance chips, and then tells Goodspeed to disable the three remaining rockets while he surrenders to Hummel to buy time. During the confrontation between Mason and Hummel, both discuss their views on patriotism, and both realize that they are in a similar situation of being betrayed by their respective governments. Nevertheless, Mason tells Hummel that the plan to use VX gas on innocent civilians is insane, to which Hummel has no answer and strikes him. At the same time, Goodspeed is cornered by two Marines and is imprisoned in a cell, as is Mason. However, Mason breaks them out in the same way he got out in 1962. He then decides to abandon the mission, having realized that Hummel is a soldier and does not wish to kill civilians, though Goodspeed says that they cannot take that chance. Goodspeed tries to go on alone but is caught by a Marine sentry, then he is rescued by Mason, who decides to come back.

The Pentagon is preparing to load planes with Thermite Plasma, incendiary bombs, that will burn up the VX gas and also kill everyone on Alcatraz. However, the incendiaries, hot enough to burn the VX poison gas, are still in the testing phase, so it is taking time. There is less than an hour left, and the Pentagon calls Hummel and asks for more time. His remaining men believe it is a trick and urges him to fire one of the two remaining missiles. Hummel bows to their urgings and fires the missile, but at the last moment changes coordinates and sends the missile into the sea. The Marines are furious and wish to know why Hummel changed course. As Mason deduced, Hummel does not wish to kill civilians. (Hummel does subscribe to a code of honor throughout the film of trying not to kill innocents; he used tranquilizers to take out the men guarding the VX in the movie's beginning, and also told his men to cease fire during the firefight with the Navy SEALs.) As the US government essentially called his bluff, Hummel moves to his backup plan to leave the island with four hostages without firing the last missile. However, he is confronted by his surviving men, Captains Frye and Darrow, who openly reveal themselves as sadistic and being part of the mission for money; Hummel made the mistake of trusting Frye and Darrow although they never previously served under him, and perhaps they were not abandoned by the government unlike his other men. A firefight erupts, and Hummel, his loyal right-hand man Major Baxter (Morse) and Sergeant Crisp (Bokeem Woodbine) are killed. Mason and Goodspeed intervene at the last moment and drag the dying General out of the fray, Hummel tells them the location of the last VX missile and dies.

Goodspeed goes out to defuse the last rocket located on the lighthouse. He does so and takes out the VX canisters, but he is cornered by Captain Darrow (Tony Todd). Goodspeed kills Darrow by firing the empty rocket into his direction. Darrow is thrown in the air and is impaled by a pole sticking out of a pile of debris. As Goodspeed goes onto the roof of the lighthouse, he is fired upon by marine Private McCoy (Steve Harris), first with an M249 SAW machine gun and then an M40 rifle. But Mason sneaks up from behind and throws McCoy over the ledge to his death. Mason heads downstairs and is attacked by Private Cox (Brendan Kelly), an Irishman who resents Mason for being English, even though Mason is Scottish as Glasgow was given as his place of birth. Mason kills him by wrapping chains around his neck and throwing them into a nearby well, strangling him.

Unfortunately, the President finally approves of an air strike, and the F/A-18 Hornets carrying the incendiaries are ready and set out for the island, unaware that all the rockets are now defused. Goodspeed is attacked by the last surviving marine, Captain Frye (Gregory Sporleder), but kills him by shoving a VX bulb into his mouth and breaking it. Goodspeed (who has a pronounced fear of needles) saves himself from the exposure by injecting Atropine into his heart. He then sees the approaching jets. He remembers that he was told to set off two green flares when the threat was neutralized. He does so. The flares are seen and the pilots are told to abort their mission at the last second. Before he can disengage the live fire switch, one of the pilots drops a bomb, however, he swerved his aircraft and hit the back of the island, leaving the hostages safe. Goodspeed is thrown into the sea by the explosion but is rescued by Mason. After making radio contact with the FBI, Goodspeed tells Mason that Director Womack tore up the pardon, and so the best thing to do is for Mason to slip away and Goodspeed will say that he is killed. Before leaving, Mason gives him the address to a church in Kansas . Womack is skeptical about Mason's "death", but Goodspeed and Agent Paxton (who knows Goodspeed is lying about Mason's death) move to close the case.

At the movie's end, Goodspeed and his bride, Carla (Vanessa Marcil), are shown just married, fleeing the church with Mason's microfilm as a priest shouts at them for destroying church property.

As their car drives out on the open road, Goodspeed examines the microfilm and says "Honey, want to know who killed JFK?"

The Matrix

2007-11-18T03:32:00.000-08:00

Computer programmer Thomas A. Anderson leads a secret life as a hacker under the alias "Neo". He wishes to learn the answer to the question: "What is the Matrix?" Cryptic messages appearing on his computer monitor and an encounter with several sinister agents lead him to a group led by the mysterious Morpheus, a man who offers him the chance to learn the truth about the Matrix.

Neo accepts. Swallowing a red pill, he abruptly wakes up naked in a liquid-filled chamber, his body connected by wires to a vast mechanical tower covered with identical pods. The connections are severed and he is rescued by Morpheus and taken aboard his hovercraft, the Nebuchadnezzar. Neo's neglected physical body is restored, and Morpheus explains the situation.

The year is estimated to be around 2199, and humanity is fighting a war against intelligent machines created in the early 21st century. The sky is covered in thick black clouds created by the humans in an attempt to cut off the machines' supply of solar power. The machines responded by using human beings as their energy source, growing countless people in pods and harvesting their bioelectrical energy and body heat. The world which Neo has inhabited since birth is the Matrix, an illusory simulated reality construct of the world of 1999, developed by the machines to keep the human population docile. Morpheus and his crew are a group of free humans who "unplug" others from the Matrix and recruit them to their resistance against the machines. Within the Matrix they are able to use their understanding of its nature to bend the laws of physics within the simulation, giving them superhuman abilities. Morpheus believes that Neo is "the One", a man prophesied to end the war through his limitless control over the Matrix.

Neo is trained to become a member of the group. A socket in the back of Neo's skull, formerly used to connect him to the Matrix, allows knowledge to be uploaded directly into his mind. He learns numerous martial arts disciplines, and demonstrates his kung fu skills by sparring with Morpheus in a virtual reality "construct" environment similar to the Matrix, impressing the crew with his speed. Further training introduces Neo to the key dangers in the Matrix itself. Injuries suffered there are reflected in the real world; if he is killed in the Matrix, his physical body will also die. He is warned of the presence of Agents, powerful and fast sentient programs with the ability to take over the body of anyone still connected to the system, whose purpose is to seek out and eliminate any threats to the simulation. Yet Morpheus predicts that, once Neo fully understands his own abilities as "the One", they will be no match for him.

The group enters the Matrix and takes Neo to the apartment of the Oracle, the woman who has predicted the eventual emergence of the One. She tells Neo that he has "the gift", but that he is waiting for something, perhaps the next life. Neo interprets from this that he is not "the One". She adds that Morpheus believes in Neo so blindly that he will sacrifice his life to save him. Returning to the hacked telephone line which serves as a safe "exit" from the Matrix, the group is ambushed by Agents and police officers, and Morpheus is captured as Neo and the others escape. The group was betrayed by one crew-member, Cypher, who preferred his old life in ignorance of the real world's hardships, and made a deal with the Agents to give them Morpheus in exchange for a permanent return to the Matrix. The betrayal leads to the deaths of all crew-members except Neo, Trinity, Tank, and Morpheus, who is imprisoned in a government building within the Matrix. The Agents attempt to gain information from him regarding access codes to the mainframe of Zion, the humans’ last refuge which is deep underground. Neo and Trinity return to the Matrix and storm the building, rescuing their leader. Neo becomes more confident and familiar with manipulating the Matrix, ultimately dodging bullets fired at him by an Agent. Morpheus and Trinity use a subway station telephone to exit the Matrix, but before Neo can leave, he is ambushed by Agent Smith. He stands his ground and eventually defeats Smith, but flees when the Agent possesses another body.

As Neo runs through the city towards another telephone exit, he is pursued by the Agents while "Sentinel" machines converge on the Nebuchadnezzar's position in the real world. Neo reaches an exit, but he is shot dead by the pursuing Agent Smith. Back on-board the Nebuchadnezzar, in the real world, Trinity whispers to Neo that she was told by the Oracle that she would fall in love with "the One", implying that Neo is "the One". She refuses to accept his death and kisses him. Neo's heart beats again, and within the Matrix he stands up; the Agents shoot at him, but he raises his palm and stops their bullets in mid-air. Neo sees the Matrix as it really is: lines of streaming green code; he finally becomes "the One". Agent Smith makes a final attempt to physically attack him, but his punches are effortlessly blocked, and Neo destroys him. The other two Agents flee, and Neo returns to the real world just in time for the ship's EMP weapon to destroy the Sentinels that had already breached the hull of the ship. A short epilogue shows Neo back in the Matrix, making a telephone call promising that he will demonstrate to the people imprisoned in the Matrix that "anything is possible." He hangs up the phone and flies into the sky above the city.

The Matrix Reloaded

2007-11-18T03:31:00.000-08:00

Six months after the events of the first movie, Captain Niobe (Jada Pinkett Smith) of the Logos calls an emergency meeting of all Zion's Hovercraft Ship Fleet. She has successfully recovered the information left by Captain Thaddeus (in the Animatrix short film "Final Flight of the Osiris," recovered in the video game Enter The Matrix): 250,000 Sentinels are tunneling towards the underground city of Zion and will reach it in 72 hours. Commander Locke, the ranking military officer of Zion, orders all ships and their crews, including Neo, Trinity, and Morpheus, to return to Zion to prepare for the onslaught of the machines. The Caduceus receives a message from the Oracle, and the Nebuchadnezzar, in defiance of Locke's order, ventures out to allow Neo to contact her. Meanwhile, one of the Caduceus' crew members, Bane, encounters Agent Smith, who takes over Bane's body. Bane/Smith then leaves the Matrix via the hard line.

The Smith copies

Before the meeting, Neo and Trinity make love, but Neo is having trouble sleeping and has recurring dreams about Trinity falling and being shot by an Agent. After the meeting, he enters the Matrix to meet with the Oracle. Upon arriving, he encounters and spars with Seraph, the Oracle's bodyguard. Seraph is convinced that Neo is who he claims to be, and opens a back door, leading Neo to an isolated courtyard, where he meets with the Oracle. They have a conversation where the Oracle confirms that she is not human, and indeed a program of the Machine World. She also explains that self-aware programs exist in the Matrix besides the Agents that do not function properly, called Exiles. Finally, she says that to reach the Source, effectively the center of the Matrix, Neo needs the assistance of the Keymaker, another rogue program. He can access "back doors" such as the one Seraph used to take Neo to the Oracle. He is held captive by the Merovingian, a powerful and dangerous Exile.

The Oracle wishes Neo good luck and exits the courtyard just before Agent Smith arrives. Smith demonstrates his ability to infect other residents of the Matrix with his program, turning them into copies of himself. He attempts to compromise Neo, and the encounter soon becomes a fight between Neo and hundreds of Smith clones. After an extended, one-sided fight, Neo abandons the battle by flying away, something Smith apparently can't do.

Neo, Trinity, and Morpheus visit the Merovingian, who exists in the Matrix mainly for his own enjoyment; he is accompanied by his wife Persephone and a veritable army of skilled bodyguards. When the protagonist trio requests the Keymaker, the Merovingian is not compliant.

Persephone turns on her husband and takes the three to the Keymaker. Morpheus and Trinity flee the scene with him, while Neo remains behind to combat the Merovingian's henchmen, who use medieval weaponry to little effect.

Morpheus and Trinity take their cargo to the freeway, beginning a chaotic conflict between the heroes, the Merovingian's most skilled bodyguards, and agents loyal to the Matrix (therefore, not including Smith). Collateral damage is massive, but Trinity escapes while Morpheus and the Keymaker are saved in the nick of time by Neo.

Shortly afterwards, the Keymaker explains how to reach the Source. Three ships work together to get Neo to his destiny. The team responsible for taking down the power grid fails when their real-world selves are killed by Sentinels. With the power up, Neo will be unable to reach the source without triggering a fatal alarm system. Therefore, Trinity, against Neo's wishes, perilously enters the Matrix to take down the power.

The Keymaker leads Morpheus and Neo to the necessary door, where they are confronted by the Smith army. The keymaker opens the door safely thanks to Trinity, but dies holding the door for Neo and Morpheus. Neo walks through the final door while Morpheus leaves the Matrix.

Confronting the Architect, who describes himself as the creator of the Matrix, Neo asks the main question: "Why am I here?". The Architect says Neo is "the eventuality of an anomaly" he has been trying to eradicate from the Matrix program. Neo responds by saying the Architect has failed to answer his question, to which the Architect agrees with a slight smile in recognition that Neo was "quicker than the others". Neo is caught off-guard by what he is hearing, but the Architect continues, saying that "the Matrix is older than you know".

Neo confronts The Architect

The Architect tells Neo there have been many versions of the Matrix, and many predecessors to Neo himself. The wall of monitors surrounding the Architect's room shows possible reactions Neo has to the Architect's revelations. In the course of the dialog Neo realizes "Choice. The problem is choice." The Architect proceeds to detail the history of the Matrix and just how this problem of choice affected its design.

After some modifications about 99.99% of the pod-born humans accepted the program, bringing stability to the Matrix. Neo concludes that the point-zero-one percent who refused the program (and their offspring) constitute the population of Zion. It now becomes clear that the prophecy about "the end of the war" was designed merely as a measure to control both the Zionite rebels and The One.

The Architect continues to reveal that Neo's final task will be to "select from the Matrix 23 individuals – sixteen females, seven males – to rebuild Zion." The Architect then warns Neo "Failure to comply with this process will result in a cataclysmic system crash, killing everyone connected to the Matrix which, coupled with the extermination of Zion will ultimately result in the extinction of the entire human race." Neo tries to call the Architect's bluff saying that humans are necessary for machines to survive, but the Architect merely rebuts the claim, saying that machines are prepared to accept "certain levels of survival" and re-states Neo's dilemma, whether he is or is not ready to accept the responsibility for the death of every human being in this world. As a side-note, he adds that Trinity entered the Matrix to save Neo's life at the expense of her own, and shows Trinity being attacked by an Agent just as Neo had seen in his dream. Despite all logical reasoning, Neo chooses to try to save Trinity over the rest of humanity, and for the first time every screen shows the same decision: Neo walking to the door leading back to the Matrix. After warning the Architect that they had better not meet again (the Architect assures him that they will not), Neo reciprocates Trinity's saving of his life in the first film and uses his powers to remove the bullet and restart her heart.

Morpheus is dismayed when he hears that the Prophecy has been unfulfilled. Neo tells Morpheus that the Prophecy was just a lie and "another system of control." Morpheus refuses to believe it and, echoing the words of his mentor in the first film, Neo says "I know it isn't easy to hear, but I swear to you it's the truth."

The Nebuchadnezzar comes under attack by Sentinels outside the range of their EMP and the crew must abandon ship. As the ship goes down, Morpheus references the story of Nebuchadnezzar from the Bible: "I have dreamed a dream, but now that dream is gone from me" (Daniel 2:3&5). Neo then drops the Sentinels to the ground via a bio EMP (showing for the first time his super-powers in real life, outside the program) and immediately loses consciousness. Morpheus and Trinity proceed to pick up the unconscious Neo and return to Zion. The Hammer then rescues them and brings them aboard. The crew of the Hammer talk to Morpheus and Link, explaining they are the last remnants of a counter-attack organized by Lock in an effort to try driving back the machines in order to buy more time. However, an EMP was detonated, crippling most of the ships in the attack, and the Sentinels slaughtered them in their vulnerable state. Following the battle, the Hammer made a sweep of the battlefield and found a single survivor: Bane. This "chapter" ends with the revelation of Neo laying unconscious on the Hammer next to the now "human" Agent Smith, who has taken control of Bane in order to Kill Neo. The story is concluded in the last film of the trilogy, The Matrix Revolutions

The Matrix Revolutions

2007-11-18T03:29:00.000-08:00

The film's events immediately follow those of The Matrix Reloaded and assume familiarity with the story of the last two films.

Bane and Neo are both in an unconscious state. The former is said to be merely asleep, whereas Neo's neural patterns are identical to those of people who are jacked in to the Matrix. Morpheus, dispirited after the destruction of the Nebuchadnezzar and discovering the true nature of the Prophecy at the end of the last film, starts a search for Neo within the Matrix despite his not being jacked in. Neo is in fact trapped in a limbo: a subway station named "Mobil Avenue" that is a transition zone between the Matrix and the Source (the Machine mainframe). At this station, Neo meets a 'family' of programs, who tell him that Mobil Avenue is controlled by a program called The Trainman who, in turn, is an exile loyal only to The Merovingian. An interesting note is that Mobil is an anagram for limbo.

Seraph contacts Morpheus on behalf of the Oracle, who now resides in a different "shell" (see Cast, above). The Oracle informs Morpheus and Trinity of Neo being trapped in Mobil Avenue. Seraph, Morpheus and Trinity pursue the Trainman to secure Neo's release, but he escapes. The trio enter Club Hel to confront the Merovingian for Neo's freedom. The Merovingian demands "the eyes of the Oracle" in exchange for Neo's release, and Trinity responds by provoking a Mexican standoff, forcing the Merovingian to release Neo at gun point.

Troubled by new visions of the Machine City, Neo decides to visit the Oracle before returning to the real world. She informs him that, as the One, he has a connection with the Source (the Machine mainframe). The Matrix, and the rest of the Machine world, are derived from the Source as well. Thus we learn that all of Neo's abilities - both in and out of the Matrix - exist because of this connection (although the exact nature of this connection is never explained). This is how Neo was able to stop the machines giving pursuit after the Nebuchadnezzar was destroyed in The Matrix Reloaded, although the end result of his lack of preparation was temporary confinement in Mobil Avenue. She characterizes Agent Smith (who is also growing in power) as his exact "opposite", his "negative" and elaborates on the relationship between herself and the Architect (Tellingly, each of them ejects an exasperated "Please!" when Neo asks them about the other). She also tells Neo cryptically that "everything that has a beginning has an end" and warns that Smith's power threatens not only the Matrix but also the Source and eventually the Machine City. The Oracle states that the war is about to end "one way or another".

After Neo takes leave of the Oracle, an army of Smiths arrive at her home. They successfully assimilate the unresisting Oracle. Having gained her powers of precognition, the new Smith cackles maniacally at whatever future he is seeing.

In the real world, the remaining crew of the Nebuchadnezzar and the Mjolnir (referred to by the characters as "the Hammer") encounter Niobe's ship, the Logos and its crew. They successfully reactivate the deactivated ship and begin to interrogate the now awakened Bane, who claims he has no memory of the events of the earlier battle. After contemplating his visions, Neo announces that he needs a ship to travel to the Machine City, although he cannot explain why at the moment. Roland, the Mjolnir's captain, refuses him, but Niobe - who was told by the Oracle that she would have to make a choice to help Neo or not - lets him take the Logos. Trinity decides to accompany Neo. The two remaining crews plan to return to Zion and avoid the Sentinel army by piloting the Mjolnir through a series of service tunnels through which it is nearly impossible to navigate. Shortly after departing, the Mjolnir's crew discover that Bane has murdered a crewmember and has hidden aboard the Logos, but they are unable to return to warn Trinity and Neo. Before the ship can depart, Bane ambushes Trinity and takes her hostage. Neo fights with Bane, who reveals himself as a manifestation of Agent Smith. During the struggle, Bane/Smith blinds Neo by cauterizing his eyes with a severed electric cable. As Bane/Smith appears to have the upper hand he closes in on Neo - only to have his attack thwarted and reversed. Neo can see Smith, the program, in Bane as a fiery form in spite of his blindness. Neo then smashes Bane/Smith's head with a lead pipe and releases Trinity, who pilots them towards the Machine City (presumably 01 described in The Second Renaissance).

In Zion, the defenders deploy infantry armed with rocket launchers and Armored Personnel Units in order to protect the dock from assault. The dock is invaded by a massive horde of Sentinels, as well as two giant drilling machines, igniting The Battle of Zion. APU's fail and the humans are pushed back into the temple. Captain Mifune fails to get the gate open; with his last breath he tells Kid (who was renewing his ammunition supply at the time) to open the gate for the Mjolnir. Kid is reluctant at first, stating he did not complete the combat training needed, only for Mifune to tell him, "Neither did I," giving Kid the courage to do what is needed. Meanwhile, as the Hammer speeds toward Zion it is pursued by a large number of sentinels. Just as the remaining humans are about to be overwhelmed, the Hammer arrives at Zion and breaks through the gates, setting off an EMP and disabling all electronic equipment in the area. While this finishes off the Sentinels, it also disables the remainder of Zion's defenses. The humans are forced to fall back to the temple entrance and wait for the next swarm that will almost certainly kill them all.

Nearing the Machine City, Neo and Trinity are attacked by the city's defense system, hurling massive numbers of mobile bombs and Sentinels at the Logos. Neo uses his powers to destroy the incoming bombs, but the Sentinels are too numerous. To evade them, Trinity flies the ship up into the permanent electrical storm cloud cover, disabling the Sentinels but also the Logos' engines. As the ship glides to a verticle stop, it emerges above the cloud layer for only a split second, allowing Trinity her first, only, and last glimpse of real sunlight and blue sky. The ship then stalls and plummets back into the storm cloud as it free-falls towards the Machine City. The Logos then comes back out of the storm cloud directly over the machine city. Trinity attempts to ignite the engines but it is too late and the ship crashes into a machine tower. The impact of the collision fatally wounds Trinity, and she dies in Neo's arms.

The final fight between Neo and Smith.

Neo emerges into the Machine City to strike a bargain with the machines, personified by the Deus Ex Machina. Neo warns the machines that Smith (who has by now assimilated almost all of The Matrix) is beyond the machines' control, and will soon assault the Source to which the Matrix is connected. He offers to help stop Smith in exchange for a ceasefire on Zion. The second wave of Sentinels attacking Zion instantly responds by standing down while the Machines provide a connection for Neo to enter the Matrix and confront Smith. The world is now wholly populated by Smiths - the one with the Oracle's powers steps forth, asserting that he has already foreseen his own victory.

The city's population of Smiths stands by and watches while Neo and Smith square off. Fighting on the streets, through buildings and into the sky, they finally brawl in a flooded crater. Neo is eventually outmatched by Smith, who pauses to gloat that he has "seen this [the details of his victory] before," remembering the details aloud: he was supposed to say something. To both Smith and Neo's surprise, he announces "everything that has a beginning has an end," the Oracle's parting advice to Neo earlier in the movie. Neo understands this to mean that Smith's assimilation is not total, and baits the scared Smith into assimilating him, repeating Smith's refrain from their fights in The Matrix and The Matrix Reloaded: "It was inevitable."

Smith's assimilation of Neo is apparently successful. The Oracle-Smith asks his nemesis: "is it over?" to which the answer is a smile and a nod. Back in the physical world, Neo's body spasms as a surge of energy enters his body from the Matrix connection. Starting with the Neo copy of Smith, a white light begins to rip the agents apart from the inside out, one by one. This is similar to the deletion of Agent Smith at the end of The Matrix.

With the Smiths destroyed, all the programs and humans that have been possessed by Smith return to normal, including the Oracle. The Sentinels that were about to attack the humans withdraw from Zion; the human resistance cheers in victory, while Link and Zee share a moment of intimate happiness together. Neo, having sacrificed himself to save both the Machines and humans, is unplugged from the Matrix and his body is respectfully carried away by the Machines.

The Architect appears and tells the Oracle that she "played a very dangerous game" by attempting to change the way in which the Matrix functioned, to which the Oracle responds, saying that she understood the risk and knew it was worth taking. She asks the Architect what will become of any humans who want to be unplugged from the Matrix, and the Architect replies that "they will be freed". The closing shot of the film depicts a new dawn on the world of the Matrix, created by Sati. Plant life is shown in the Matrix, and for the first (and last) time the ever-present green tint is absent.

According to the game The Matrix Online, Neo's body, along with Trinity's, although not recycled, were never returned from Machine City, a plot point of the game that has yet to be resolved.

[edit] Reception

The budget of the movie was an estimated $110USD million, grossing over $139USD million in the United States and approximately $424,988,211 million worldwide,^[1] roughly only half of The Matrix Reloaded box-office total.The Matrix Revolutions was released on DVD& VHS on April 6th,2004. The film grossed $116 million USD in DVD sales, which made it a major hit.

DVD cover for the film

The movie was met with generally mixed reviews from critics. Revolutions scored only 36% on movie review aggregation site RottenTomatoes. ^[2] Metacritic's average critic score was 48/100 with a user score of 5.2/10 based on 268 votes. ^[3]

The Matrix Revolutions grossed $83.8 million in its first five days of release in the US ^[4]. It had a weaker opening than its predecessor that some have attributed to a more subdued marketing campaign in comparison to the summer blockbuster event, The Matrix Reloaded.

Praise of the movie generally focused on the strength of the movie's action sequences and special effects ^[5]^[6]. Some considered it "a better movie" than The Matrix Reloaded ^[7], which some said "raises the bar a notch or two" since the original movie, The Matrix ^[8].

Common criticisms of the film were that it was anti-climactic ^[9] ^[10] and self-indulgent (in one scene, the heroes run in front of three giant banners sporting the PowerAde logo, a sponsor of the films) ^[11]. Nevertheless, critics regard the movie as less philosophically obtuse than its predecessor ^[12] ^[13], Reloaded. Many critics had difficulty finding closure pertaining to events from Reloaded, and were generally dissatisfied^[14]^[15]. Its earnings dropped 66% in its second week ^[16].

The films were received in high praise of its conceptual complexity by some scholars and philosophers, as seen in the video The Roots of the Matrix. Philosopher Ken Wilber stated that The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions had expanded on the "simple dualism" of the first film - The Matrix - thus transforming the trilogy into a piece of "complex literature" with the second two installments of the trilogy

Blade

2007-11-18T03:27:00.000-08:00

Blade, the Daywalker.

The movie begins with a flashback of a pregnant woman being hospitalized after being bitten by, as one of the doctors said, some kind of wild animal. In the process of trying to revive her, she gives birth to her baby boy and dies. The next scene proceeds to the present and continues with a seductive woman bringing an unsuspecting man to a strange nightclub. As the scene progresses, the man realizes something is amiss in the club yet cannot quite discern why. However, his fears are soon confirmed when blood begins to pour down from the sprinkler system, revealing that most all of the club's patrons are vampires. Unable to escape from the hideous creatures which have now surrounded him, the young man seems doomed until one of the vampires notices an individual who has just entered, whom he calls "the daywalker".

Blade (Wesley Snipes) coolly enters the main dance floor, wreaking havoc amongst the vampire crowd. He immediately begins a no-holds-barred slaughter of the vampires, using a combination of martial arts and firearms to pick them off. Eventually, after fighting his way through numerous guards, Blade singles out one vampire in particular named Quinn (played by Donal Logue), nailing him to the wall with stakes. Upon hearing police sirens, Blade turns to Quinn and tells him "Give my regards to Frost" and setting him alight leaving a burnt Quinn along with the confused human as the only surviving inhabitants of his attack. The police take Quinn's crisp remains and send them for identification.

Dr. Karen Jenson plays a pivotal role in the film.

Doctor Karen Jenson (N'Bushe Wright) is the unlucky individual who performs the examination on Quinn's "corpse". During the examination, Quinn shockingly returns to life and feeds on both Jenson and her co-worker. However, Blade enters the morgue, having pre-supposed that Quinn would come back. He attacks the rejuvenated vampire, but is yet again forced to flee when the police arrive. As he makes to leave, Blade sees a bleeding Doctor Jensen lying on the floor, beckoning for him to help her. Due to the doctor's similarity to Blade's mother, he rescues Jensen and they head back to his base of operations. Quinn also escapes from the attack.

To suppress his thirst for blood, Blade is injected with a special serum on a daily basis.

The scene changes to the meeting room of The House of Erebus, a vampire Shadow Council. The Elder Dragonetti (played by Udo Kier) discusses Blade's recent intensified attacks, and berates a young Deacon Frost (Stephen Dorff) for his recklessness in running these clubs. During this scene, there is a short explanation of vampire politics - most vampires believe that they should more or less co-exist with the humans (maintaining a secret, Mafia-like power cabal), whilst renegades such as Frost believe they should rule them outright. It is also established that there is some stigma from "pure-blood" vampires (i.e. those who are born vampires) towards those born human and later turned into vampires.

The storyline switches back to Blade's lair, where Jenson meets Abraham Whistler (Kris Kristofferson), Blade's mentor and weapons technician in their fight against vampire-kind. Whistler delivers a small speech outlining Blade's past, their current mission and the nature of vampires, along with the power they hold in the outside world. Jenson decides to head home, although Blade reminds her it is is a possibility that, due to Quinn's bite, she too may become a vampire. It is also established in this scene that Blade is a half-vampire, and requires a serum to prevent his need to drink blood.

Blade learns the shocking truth of his now-vampire mother.

Upon arriving in her apartment, Jenson is assaulted by a policeman who is revealed to be a familiar - a human being who serves vampires (a collaborator, essentially, that after years of service might get rewarded by being turned into a vampire). Blade rescues Jenson, and later follows the familiar back to another club of Frost's, there discovering that Frost has plans involving a vampire blood-god named La Magra. The officer is killed by Frost at a party thrown by Deacon. Blade and Karen proceed to interrogate an obese vampire named Pearl. Blade and Karen attack Pearl with a UV-Lamp, searing the vampire's flesh. Blade and Karen enter the vampire library but are ambushed by Quinn and Frost's henchmen, along with Mercury (Played by Arly Jover ), a love interest for Deacon. Although Blade and Jenson are assaulted by Frost's private army, they escape due to the timely arrival of Whistler.

Jenson begins to work on a permanent cure for the vampire condition, using Whistler's research as her starting ground. During this time, Frost kills Elder Dragonetti by subjecting him to a sunrise, and forcibly gathers the other members of the Shadow Council as "volunteers". Shortly after this, Frost makes a second strike. Whilst Blade heads out to fetch the ingredients for his serum, Frost abducts Dr. Jenson from the lair and badly beats Whistler, leaving Quinn and the rest of his crew to finish him off. Upon Blade's return, he finds a taunting video left from Frost. In a poignant scene, Blade aids a bleeding Whistler in suicide (Blade hears a gunshot from outside, but doesn't see it happen). Stricken with grief, Blade vows to find and kill Frost.

Blade arms himself for a raid on Frost's base, taking along with him specially-designed pneumatic syringes loaded with EDTA (normally used as a blood thinner to clear blood clots in the heart, which has a highly volatile reaction to vampire blood). During his attack on the base, Blade fights his way through a horde of vampires, yet discovers a horrible truth once he reaches the top floor of the building. He learns that his mother (the pregnant woman from the flashback scene) did not in fact die, and is now Frost's vampire mistress, as it was Frost himself who had bitten his mother during her pregnancy. Overcome with shock, Blade is easily subdued by the guards, who knock him out and take him to the Temple of Eternal Night, where Frost reveals the final stages of his plan.

Frost successfully becomes La Magra, the vampire Blood God.

Using his resources and vast wealth, Frost has managed to rebuild the temple and intends to use it for La Magra's resurrection, a key ingredient of which is Blade's sunlight-resistant vampiric blood, along with the sacrifice of the other twelve council members (Ashe, Cianteto, Dragonetti, Faustinas who held two seats, Ligaroo, Lemure, Kobejitsu, Lobishomen, Von Esper, Upier, and Pallintine.) Through the ritual, Frost becomes an eminently more powerful vampire, far surpassing any other vampire's strength or speed, and gains the powers and attributes of each sacrificed member, including immunity to silver, instant regeneration of lost limbs, superior strength and speed, red bulging eyes (from the Kobejitsu tribe), and the ability to walk during the day (from Blade's blood.)

With Dr. Jenson's intervention Blade breaks free from his sacrificial housing, killing his mother and nearly draining Dr. Jenson to renew his strength. After Blade disposes of Frost's minions, including the death of Quinn and Mercury, the two meet for one final climactic battle at the base of the temple. Upon discovering that Frost cannot be killed by any conventional means, Blade empties every single EDTA syringe he has on Frost (who is now constituted entirely of vampire blood), causing his body to swell and explode.

Climbing out from the underground temple, Karen offers Blade her cure. Blade refuses, because "curing" him of his need for blood would also remove his Daywalker powers and he would be unable to hunt vampires, and requests for her to make him a better serum, reminding her that "there's still a war going on". The final scene shows Blade in Moscow, hunting down and killing a Russian vampire who persuaded a human to follow him to a vampire club. This sets the stage for the second film.

Blade II

2007-11-18T03:23:00.000-08:00

Two years have passed since the ending of the first film, and Blade has been keeping himself busy in the hunt for Whistler, who failed to kill himself in the original. He has been sweeping across Russia and eastern Europe searching for his old friend and mentor, enlisting the aid of a young man named Scud to design him a new line of equipment and weapons. Blade fights his way through a large gang of vampires, leaving a bloodsucker named Rush alive, yet telling him he'll be back for him. Finding Whistler locked in a tank of blood by a cruel gang of vampires who were keeping the old man alive for purposes of torture, Blade rescues him and brings him to Prague.

Meanwhile, a crisis has arisen in the vampire community. What seems to be a more developed strain of vampirism (dubbed the "Reaper virus") is sweeping through their ranks, giving its carriers fearsome new powers and features. The original carrier of the strain seems to be Jared Nomak, a one-time vampire who appears to have mutated into a creature even more dangerous - one that prefers the blood of vampires to human blood, in the process transforming his vampiric victims into Reapers themselves (albeit far less stable).

The Reapers bear a certain resemblance to Blade, being far stronger than common vampires and lacking an allergy to silver, but they also possess radical physical mutations: three-way jaws, leech-like tongues and hearts encased in a thick layer of bone at the front and back – in short, their only vulnerability is ultraviolet light. However, all these advantages are countered by an incredibly fast metabolism - they must feed almost constantly to avoid starving to death. It is why they prefer vampire blood to human blood - it possesses even more nutrition. And for all Reapers save Nomak, it is a losing battle - they still sicken and die shortly after being turned.

In order to combat the virus, the vampire elder / overlord Eli Damaskinos and his familiar servant Carter Counan (a lawyer) send their minions Asad and Nyssa (who is Damaskinos' daughter) to find and strike an uneasy treaty with Blade, convincing him with the argument that though vampires kill humans for food, they do so only in a controlled fashion. Reapers are even more dangerous as they feed almost constantly and once they finish the vampire population, they will doubtlessly descend on humankind. Whilst Blade may hate vampires, the Reapers are far more dangerous and neither side can attack them without uniting first.

To this end, Blade teams up with the Bloodpack, a group of vampire warriors and assassins who were originally assembled to kill Blade. The vampires are Reinhardt, Nyssa, Asad, Priest, Chupa, Lighthammer, Snowman and Verlaine. In order to obtain some measure of control over the group, Blade singles out Reinhardt (played by Ron Perlman), one of the group's more resistant members, and installs a remotely-activated explosive device in the back of his head. Setting their mutual hatred aside, Blade leads the Bloodpack in the fight against the Reapers and the investigation into their origins. During this time, Blade forms something of an intimate relationship with Nyssa, the daughter of Damaskinos and member of the Bloodpack. In the nightclub, Blade and the Bloodpack battle the Reapers, the Bloodpack vampire Priest being bitten and killed as he changes into a Reaper. Lighthammer is also bitten but does not turn.

In the sewers, Blade splits the team into groups. Reinhardt and Chupa corner Whistler, and Chupa proceeds to savagely beat Whistler for the death of Priest: "We lose a partner, and Blade loses one!" Reinhardt abandons Chupa, hunting for more Reapers. Whistler releases a batch of Reaper pheromones into the air in a bid to save himself. Just as Whistler is nearly finished, the Reapers attack and maul Chupa to death, allowing Whistler to escape. Meanwhile, Lighthammer transforms into a Reaper and feeds on, and kills, Snowman. His lover Verlaine gets him to chase her up a manhole, so that when she removes the cover, both of them are killed by the sunlight. When the Reapers kill Asad, it's left to Reinhardt, Nyssa, Blade and Whistler to escape.

After a climactic battle, Blade activates a UV Bomb that incinerates all the Reapers except Nomak who passes information along to Whistler. Blade is apprehended by Damaskinos' forces, along with Whistler and Scud. As it turns out, the Reaper strain is not a virus at all, but rather a genetic experiment gone wrong. In his efforts to replicate Blade – a day-walking silver-immune vampire, Damaskinos had numerous experiments performed on Nomak, who is in fact his estranged son. He remarks that Nomak was the first carrier of the strain but ultimately flawed, seeing as he was vulnerable to daylight, as were all the other carriers whom he'd infected. Damaskinos then reveals another horrible truth — he has been creating many more vampire prototypes, intended as the next step of vampire evolution, all of them kept in fetal form in a massive incubator. All they require now is Blade's biological make-up to give them protection from the sun, and the vampire nation will all be Daywalkers. In order to extract this, Damaskinos plans to have Blade killed and dissected.

During his captivity, Blade attempts to activate the pre-placed explosive in Reinhardt's skull, but Scud reveals that the bomb (which he himself had crafted) was never designed to go off. He himself is in fact one of Damaskinos' familiars and planned to side with the vampires rather than fighting against them. Figuring that it would all be over for the human race once all vampires were immune to daylight, he decided "[he] would rather be a pet than cattle." However, Blade has a trump card - he has always suspected Scud's servitude to Damaskinos, and his backhanded double dealing. Activating a second switch on his remote, Blade kills the unfortunate Scud, who unluckily happened to be holding the bomb at the time. After Whistler rescues him from the dissection (after escaping from Reinhardt with a gun himself) by killing the familiar watching over Blade, Blade fights his way through Damaskinos' henchmen, and after bisecting Reinhardt with his sword, heads towards the lead vampire himself while Whistler destroys the vampire fetii by shooting them.

Meanwhile, a vengeful Nomak has entered Damaskinos' stronghold, seeking revenge on the father who mutilated him and turned him into the first Reaper. Just before he can escape, Damaskinos is betrayed by Nyssa (who became disillusioned with her father's extreme methods) and killed by Nomak. In order to "complete the circle", Nomak also bites Nyssa and then makes to leave, whereupon he is confronted by Blade. After a very physical fight scene, Blade finds the weak spot in Nomak's physical defenses and jams his sword beneath his arm, penetrating his heart from the side, bypassing the bone shield on his heart. Blade then falls to the floor, nearly finished due to broken ribs and internal bleedings sustained during the fight. Severely injured, Nomak crawls away and props himself up against a pillar. He is mortally wounded, so he puts himself out of his misery by shoving the broken sword the final inch into his heart. Before he dies he comments that “it hurts no more” (during the film the Reaper Virus seems to cause him great pain).

With Nomak dead, Blade then carries Nyssa outside for the sunrise at her request, where she disintegrates in his arms before she becomes a Reaper.

In the film's final scene, the vampire Rush is in a London strip club, preparing to make use of one of the booths. However, as soon as the curtains open, he is shocked to find Blade on the other side of the glass, who casually remarks "You didn't think I'd forget about you, did you?", and stabs his sword into his skull.

The Tuxedo

2007-11-18T03:22:00.002-08:00

Jimmy Tong (Jackie Chan) is a taxi driver notorious for his speed and ability to get his customer anywhere in the least amount of time, usually without too many illegal methods. His reputation soon lands him a job as the personal chauffer of the mysterious but wealthy Clark Devlin.

Jimmy does not really know what his new boss' job is, but Devlin's friendly nature, unperturbable demeanor, and willingness to offer Jimmy advice wins Jimmy over and the two become pals. Jimmy has no idea that Devlin is a spy and when an attempt to kill Devlin partially succeeds, sending Devlin into a coma, Jimmy ends up accidentally wearing a rather unusual tuxedo of Devlin's. The tuxedo is a gadget capable of granting its wearer special abilities (including martial arts, the ability to dance, active camouflage, and being able to walk on walls) which Jimmy must use to stop the terrorist group responsible for Devlin's hospitalization. He joins genius scientist, Del Blaine (Jennifer Love Hewitt) to stop them. At first, she thinks Jimmy is irritating, but in the end when he saves her and the world, Del Blaine falls in love with him and they go for coffee.

The Medallion

2007-11-18T03:22:00.001-08:00

Eddie Yang is a Hong Kong police officer cooperating with Interpol in the capture of a crimelord named AJ "Snakehead" Staul. The operation is headed by the officiously paranoid Agent Arthur Watson and also involves a former girlfriend of Eddie's, a British agent named Nicole. The investigation leads the team to the kidnapping of a young boy named Jai, who holds the secret to a powerful medallion that gives its possessor superman powers and immortality. After a near-death rescue of Jai from drowning, Eddie is given supernatural martial arts powers, which assists him in tracking down Snakehead and putting an end to the arch-criminal's scheme

Rush hour

2007-11-18T03:18:00.001-08:00

Shortly after arriving in the United States to take up a diplomatic post in Los Angeles, Chinese consul Han's (Tzi Ma) daughter, Soo Yung, is kidnapped. Unwilling to trust the FBI, Han calls in his best friend, Detective Inspector Lee (Jackie Chan) of the Hong Kong police.

The FBI doesn't want an outsider like Lee interfering, so they palm him off on LAPD detective James Carter (Chris Tucker), a fast-talking and comically arrogant police officer. The two men do not remotely get along, but when they discover that they are being used, they set out to try to solve the case themselves.

They find out the person behind it is Juntao, a mysterious Chinese crime lord. Following a lead to Chinatown, Carter coincidentally sees the man in charge of Soo Yung's kidnappers. In reality, "Juntao" is not Chinese, but is in fact British Commander Griffin (Tom Wilkinson), a former Hong Kong police official and Han's supposed friend. After a fight in Chinatown, Griffin's henchman, Sang, (Ken Leung) angrily tells the consul that the ransom has been increased, and begins threatening Soo Yung's life. Disgraced, Lee and Carter are ordered off the investigation and Lee is sent back to China. But before he gets on the plane, Carter convinces Lee to help him try and save Soo Yung. Lee is surprised, as before then Carter has seemed to care about no one but himself.

The final confrontation comes at a Chinese art exhibition at the Los Angeles Convention Center, which Han is emceeing, while the ransom is being delivered. While Carter evacuates the crowd, Lee recognizes Griffin, who reveals his true identity and threatens to explode a bomb attached to Soo Yung if the delivery is interrupted. In a battle between Griffin's thugs on one side, and the F.B.I. and Lee and Carter on the other, Carter kills Sang, LAPD bomb expert Johnson (Elizabeth Pena) defuses the bomb and rescues Soo Yung, and Lee kills Griffin by causing him to fall from the center's roof.

Han and Soo Yung are reunited. Carter and Lee take a vacation together to Hong Kong - but Carter is shocked to hear that the flight will take 15 hours, and demands another seat as soon as Lee starts singing "War").

Rush Hour 2

2007-11-18T03:14:00.001-08:00

The film begins with Chief Inspector Lee (Jackie Chan) and Detective James Carter (Chris Tucker) traveling to Hong Kong on a vacation. Carter is interested in having a good time; however, soon after they arrive, a bomb explodes in the American Embassy. Inspector Lee is assigned to the case, which becomes personal when it is discovered that the man behind it is Ricky Tan, his father's former partner. Tan, who played an instrumental role in his father's death, is now the leader of the Triads, the most deadly gang in all of China.

The United States Secret Service, led by Agent Sterling (Harris Yulin), and the Hong Kong Police Force soon get into a fight over the jurisdiction of the case. Lee learns that Ricky Tan will be attending a dinner party on his boat. When confronted, Tan claims that someone is trying to frame him. Tan's underling, Hu Li (Zhang), appears and shoots Tan, and he falls off the boat. In the chaos, Hu Li escapes, and Carter is ordered to be flown back to Los Angeles and Lee is ordered to stay away from the case until its resolvement. However, Lee and Carter return to Los Angeles together, seemingly motivated by their desire to bring justice for their respective father's deaths in the line of duty.

On the plane, Carter tells Lee that every case has a rich white man behind it, and that the man is Steven Reign, a Los Angeles hotel billionaire. Carter says that he saw Reign on Tan's boat and that his calm demeanor during the shooting was suspicious. They set up camp inside the Reign Towers, pointing out a sexy Secret Service agent named Isabella Molina (Roselyn Sanchez), who Carter met and tried to woo on Ricky Tan's yacht. After Lee watches Molina undress, and a few misunderstandings, Molina tells the two men that Tan is money laundering US$ 100 million dollars in "Superbills" (high grade counterfeit US$ 100 bills) and asks them to find the trail.

Lee and Carter pay a visit to Carter's old friend Kenny (Don Cheadle), who tells them that a customer recently came in to his establishment with a suspicious amount of hundred-dollar bills. Carter checks them out and confirms that they are Tan's counterfeits. They trace the money back to the Triads, who are waiting for them and knock the two cops unconscious. Then they depart for Las Vegas. Lee and Carter wake up inside one of the Triads' trucks and escape. After finding out where they are, they realize that Tan is laundering that $100 million at the Red Dragon Casino.

At the Red Dragon, Lee and Carter split up. Carter makes a big commotion and distracts the security forces while Lee, at Molina's request, attempts to infiltrate the back area to find Tan's engraving plates (which were used to make the counterfeit money). However, Hu Li captures Lee, places a small bomb in his mouth, and gags him. She then takes him up to the penthouse, where it is revealed that Ricky Tan faked his death and is still alive. After saying a few words, he departs, leaving Hu Li to do whatever she wants.

Molina then takes out a gun, reveals herself as a Secret Service agent and attempts to arrest Hu Li. In the ensuring fight, Hu Li kicks Lee out of a window and he falls out onto the casino floor. Molina and Hu Li then fight, and Molina sweeps the trigger (that triggers Lee's bomb) out onto the casino floor. Hu Li finally manages to gain the upper hand and shoots Molina in the arm before jumping out onto the casino floor. After a frantic search, Carter and Lee end up together. Carter starts pulling the tape off of Lee's mouth. Lee manages to spit the bomb out seconds before Hu Li finds the trigger and detonates it. Carter then fights Hu Li while Lee heads to the penthouse to prevent Tan from getting the plates.

In the penthouse, Reign opens the safe and takes the plates. After Reign announces he is cutting the deal short, Tan stabs Reign to death. Lee confronts Tan, taking Reign's gun. Carter appears, having triumphantly (and accidentally) knocked Hu Li out. After a tense standoff, Tan knocks the gun in Carter's direction as he fires the gun, which nearly kills Carter. In the ensuring chaos, Lee accidentally kicks Tan out the window, who falls to his death outside. Hu Li then enters, holding a bomb. Lee and Carter leap out of the window just as the bomb goes off, sliding on decoration wires with their jackets. The wires snap, and they swing into a sign for the casino. Their momentum swings them into the path of oncoming traffic. Through Lee's nimble skill and Carter's dumb luck, they narrowly escape being hit by two successive trucks.

The film ends at the airport. Sterling thanks Lee for his work in the case. Molina says she would like to tell Lee something, and proceeds to kiss him for a short time, an event witnessed from afar by Carter. All three are going their separate ways; Carter to Los Angeles, Molina to New York, and Lee to Hong Kong. After Isabella heads for her flight, Lee and Carter say one last goodbye. Lee then gives Carter, who at first graciously declines, his father's police badge, stating that he can finally "let it go." In return, Carter gives Lee $10,000 that he won from gambling at Caesars Palace. Lee is more critical in his refusal of the money, but Carter is able to persuade Lee to take the money. After Lee reveals that he has always wanted to go to Madison Square Garden and watch a New York Knicks basketball game, the two of them decide to take another vacation in the Big Apple, dancing their way into the end of the movie to Michael Jackson's "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough".

Rush Hour 3

2007-11-18T03:13:00.001-08:00

Three years after the end of Rush Hour 2, Carter is no longer a detective, but a traffic cop on the streets of Los Angeles. Lee is now the bodyguard for his friend Ambassador Han, the former Consul from the first film. However, there is a rift between them as Lee is still upset at Carter about an incident in New York City where Carter shot (not fatally) Lee's then-girlfriend, Secret Service agent Isabella Molina (portrayed by Roselyn Sanchez in the second film), an event which led to their breakup.

During the World Criminal Court discussions, as the Ambassador addresses the importance to fight the Triad, he announces that he knows the identity of the Triad leadership known as the Shai Shen. Unfortunately, an assassination attempt on Han's life takes place and he gets shot, disrupting the conference. Lee traces and pursues the assassin and eventually corners him, discovering that the assassin is his godbrother, Kenji. When Lee hesitates to shoot Kenji, Carter shows up driving towards the two but Kenji manages to escape.

In the hospital, Lee learns that the bullet had missed Han's heart and that he will make a full recovery. Han's daughter, Soo Yung (Zhang Jingchu), now grown up, arrives and makes Lee and Carter promise to capture the one behind the assassination in order to ensure her father's safety. She then informs Lee and Carter that her father gave her an envelope which contains important information regarding the Triad, and that the envelope is in her locker at the martial arts studio where she works. Lee and Carter make their way to the martial arts studio where they battle a giant, (Sun Ming Ming), but find out that a gang of armed men had already arrived and taken the contents from the locker. Lee and Carter realize that Soo Yung and Han are in danger and rush back to the hospital.

Once they reach the hospital, Lee and Carter notice that the security and staff have all disappeared. Yung explains that they had all been called away. At that moment, a gang of assassins arrive to kill Yung and Han. Lee and Carter manage to defeat them, with the help of Soo Yung, and interrogate the leader of the assassin squad. Much to Lee and Carter's surprise, the Asian assassin is speaking French. With the help of a resident nun (Dana Ivey) to translate, find out that they are marked for death by the Triad along with Soo Yung and Han. For her protection, they take her to the French Embassy and leave her under the care of Reynard, the French ambassador. When a car bomb detonates, nearly killing Reynard and Soo Yung, Lee and Carter decide to go to Paris to investigate.

In Paris, (after getting a painful cavity search from a Parisian commissioner, played by Polanski) Lee and Carter meet up with George, a taxi driver. George refuses to drive Carter, saying that Americans make him sick. However, George must get away in a high-speed chase to get away from the Triads, and Carter gives him inspiration by telling him to believe he is a superspy, to which George responds well and performs driving maneuvers which get the chasers off their tail. Then the two attempt to investigate a Triad hideout disguised as a club. As Lee fights off a Triad assassin named Jasmine (Youki Kudoh), Carter meets a beautiful woman named Genevieve (Noémie Lenoir) and is immediately smitten. However, Lee and Carter are both forced out of the club and after a harrowing car chase, are captured by the Triads. They manage to escape the Triads by leaping into the city sewers. Lee and Carter then have a falling out concerning Lee's relationship with Kenji and Carter storms out, intending to meet Genevieve again. Later Reynard approaches Lee and tells him that Han received his information from an informant, who knows where the list detailing the Triad leadership is. The informant turns out to be Genevieve and both Lee and Carter end up looking for her.

After the two have encountered Genevieve they save her from an assassination attempt by the Triads and flee to their hotel room. However, they are attacked again by Jasmine and decide to hide out with George, who now believes he is a real spy and now has a great appreciation for the United States. They then learn that Genevieve doesn't just know where the list is, she is the list. The names of the thirteen Triad leaders are tattooed on the back of her head and that she will be decapitated and buried if the Triads get her. When Lee and Carter bring Genevieve to Reynard, he reveals that he has been working with the Triads all along. Kenji calls and informs Lee that he has captured Soo Yung and that he would like to exchange Soo Yung for Genevieve.

Lee arrives at the exchange point, the Eiffel Tower, with Carter, disguised as Genevieve. Kenji then challenges Lee to a sword duel and as the two are fighting, Carter breaks his cover and joins in on the fight. During the fight, Lee and Kenji fall off the tower and get caught in a safety net. Unfortunately, Kenji's sword cuts the safety net open and it collapses, leaving both men hanging on for dear life. Lee then grabs Kenji's arm, intending to save his life. Kenji tells Lee that if he holds on, both of them will die, but Lee is confident that he can still save him. Kenji then willingly lets go of Lee and falls to his death, saving Lee's life. Meanwhile, Carter single handedly defeats the rest of the Triad henchmen and saves Soo Yung. At the last minute, Jasmine returns and tries to kill him and Soo Yung, but she gets knocked halfway into a moving gear and is cut in half. As they send Soo Yung down the elevator, more Triads arrive. In order to escape, Lee and Carter use a French flag as a makeshift parachute and float to safety. Unfortunately, they are confronted by Reynard, who is holding Genevieve hostage. However, a gunshot is heard and Reynard walks to a nearby pond and falls in as he dies. George is the one who has shot Reynard in the back before he can harm anybody else. George then thanks Lee and Carter for teaching him how to be American. The police then arrive, with the commissioner from earlier claiming to have been helping (in reality trying to get undeserved credit). After giving the commissioner a team punch to the face, and with the case closed, Lee and Carter leave the scene dancing to War .

Faceoff

2007-11-18T03:11:00.000-08:00

An international terrorist for hire named Castor Troy is being relentlessly pursued by Sean Archer, an FBI agent whose son was killed years earlier when Troy attempted to kill Archer. The FBI receives information that Castor's brother Pollux has chartered a plane at a Los Angeles airport, leading Archer to believe that Castor is with him. Archer leads an FBI team in chasing the plane down a runway and is able to shoot one of the engines. Unable to take off, Castor kills the pilot and crashes the plane into a hangar. In the ensuing chaos, Pollux is captured by the FBI and Castor is knocked into a coma after bragging to Archer about a bomb that would destroy Los Angeles.

Archer believes Castor to have been bluffing, but after the FBI finds schematics for the bomb on a disk recovered from the wreckage, Archer realizes that it is real. Unable to find any information about the location of the bomb, Archer knows that the only way to obtain the location is from Castor's brother Pollux. Knowing he would never confess the bomb's location to the FBI, Archer's colleagues convince him to undergo a surgical procedure to switch faces with Castor's comatose body.

After the procedure, arrangements are made for Archer (as Castor) to be incarcerated with Pollux so that he can discover the location of the bomb which he does successfully. Castor awakens from his coma and has the procedure performed on himself, stealing Archer's face. Castor then kills everyone who knew about the operation and visits Archer in prison. Castor (as Archer) has the FBI negotiate a deal with his brother for his release in return for revealing the bomb's location. Castor disarms the bomb and revels in praise from his colleagues and the media, informing his brother that they are going straight.

Archer (as Castor) escapes from Erehwon prison, which is revealed to be inside an offshore oil platform, and swims to shore. He visits Dietrich Hassler, a known associate of Castor's and asks Dietrich for help killing Sean Archer (Castor). Archer (as Castor) meets Sasha and her son Adam, of whom Castor is the father. Pollux Troy is watching Dietrich's apartment and informs Castor of Archer's arrival. Castor (as Archer) sends an FBI team to kill Archer. Following a gunfight, Dietrich is killed by Castor (as Archer) and Archer (as Castor) manages to kill Pollux.

Castor and Archer look in a two-sided mirror, each seeing his nemesis in the reflection.

FBI Director Victor Lazaro berates Castor (as Archer) for the bloodbath. Castor, still angry at the loss of his brother, confesses his true identity to Lazaro and kills him, later blaming the death on a heart attack. Meanwhile, Archer (as Castor) returns to his suburban home and is able to explain the situation and convince his wife that he is really Archer.

Sasha and Archer (as Castor) track Castor to Lazaro's funeral, where Castor (as Archer) is holding Archer's wife and daughter Jamie hostage. The ensuing standoff leads to a gunfight in which Sasha and Castor's men are killed. Castor and Archer fight and Archer gains the upper hand. Jamie finds a gun and shoots at Archer, believing him to be Castor, but wounds him in the shoulder. Castor manages to escape in a boat, pursued by Archer (as Castor). After a lengthy chase both Archer and Castor's boats are destroyed and they are thrown ashore by an explosion. The two fight and Archer kills Castor with a spear gun. Archer's wife is able to convince the FBI of Sean's true identity and the face swap is reversed. The film ends with Archer adopting Sasha's son Adam.

The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift

2007-11-18T03:10:00.001-08:00

Sean (Lucas Black) is sent to Tokyo to live with his father, stationed in Japan as a U.S Naval Officer, after a street racing incident in the United States almost lands him in jail. He is introduced into the world of drifting after a chance encounter with another expat, Twinkie (Bow Wow), a hustler who sells American goods to the Japanese.

However, Sean runs into DK, short for Drift King, (Brian Tee) and his business partner Han (Sung Kang). DK challenges Sean to a race, where DK ends up winning in a blowout. Afterwards, Han tells Sean that he will be working with him to pay off the car that Sean smashed in the race with DK. Sean later finds out more about his friends, namely Han involved in a business partnership with DK, a "wannabe" Yakuza.

Sean gets involved in the film with Neela (Nathalie Kelley) and his budding relationship with her put him at odds with DK. Neela tells Sean that she and DK grew up together, and provides some insight to DK. Sean also slowly gains a reputation in the drifting scene after some tutelage and support (both financial and friendship) from Han and his gang of "misfits."

DK's uncle, a high ranking Yakuza, tells him that there is a discrepancy in the books, and that Han must be cheating them out of money. DK confronts Han and his group, but Han, Sean & Neela flee. A car chase ensues through the Tokyo streets, where DK chases Han and causing his car to flip over upside-down and explode, killing him.

Sean attempts to make amends by appealing to DK's uncle by returning the money and offering to an honor race, where whoever loses is run out of town. The race is on a touge that DK has the advantage on, because he's the only one to ever make it down to the bottom in one piece.

After a long race battle, Sean makes his way across the finish line, victorious, while DK survives a last-minute crash but suffering a humiliating defeat at the hands of Sean. DK's uncle tells Sean he is free to go, and DK presumably leaves Tokyo.

Later, Sean is hanging out in the underground parking lot with his friends and Twinkie comes up and tells him someone wants to race the new Drift King. The mystery car and driver pulls up and it's none other than Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel; from the first "Fast and the Furious" movie), driving his 1970 Plymouth Roadrunner. Neela counts off the race; the cars take off, and the movie ends without disclosing the race results.

2 Fast 2 Furious

2007-11-18T03:09:00.000-08:00

Brian O'Conner (Paul Walker), the disgraced cop from the first film, is on the run because he let Dominic Toretto escape. He comes to Miami to start a new life. Here he makes new friends Tej (Ludacris) an ex-street racer and well-known car tuner Jimmy (Jin) as well as Suki (Devon Aoki) - also a street racer. Conner competes with fellow street racers in high stakes races to win money for a living.

One night after winning a race, he is caught by US Customs agents after his car is disabled by the (fictional) claw-like ESD (Electronic Disruption Device) that is deployed by US Customs Agent Markham. He is arrested and his former boss FBI Agent Bilkins makes a deal with him saying that if he accepts to take part in a mission, his criminal record will be wiped clean.

O'Conner and Bilkins then travel to Barstow California where O'Conner proposes the deal to his childhood friend and ex-con Roman Pierce (Tyrese). Together their mission involves working undercover as street racers for a drug lord - Carter Verone, with help from Monica (Eva Mendes) an undercover U.S. customs agent who becomes Carter's love interest. They win a highly charged "audition" race and strike a deal with Verone, who stated, "Drive the package to the Keys and I'll personally hand over 100Gs($100,000) at the finish line". Roman Pierce requests that the prize be $100,000 for both himself and O'Connor.

This leads to several scuffs and car sequences throughout the movie, along with some spectacular car races. During the course of the movie Brian and Roman begin to realize the major trouble they are in and ask Tej to arrange a race for "pink slips" with two of the racers from the audition race earlier in the movie; O'Conner and Roman win Korpi's 1969 Yenko Camaro and Darden's 1970 Challenger R/T.

Later on that night Brian and Roman arrive at Verone's nightclub so Verone can "persuade" a police detective named Whitworth into keeping the local police away from Brian and Roman so they may transport the money. The next morning they embark on the mission in their Mitsubishis with Verone's money in the trunks and two of his henchmen riding along. During the transportation of Verone's money the corrupt Detective Whitworth calls in the army of police units he has waiting nearby. During the chase they lead the police to a warehouse complex. The police surround the front of the garage area so Brian and Roman's street racer friends create a "scramble" diversion allowing Brian and Roman to sneak away in the Camaro and Challenger continuing their mission. As the drama unfolds, Verone tries to escape aboard his yacht after informing Monica that he knew she was an undercover U.S. Customs agent. While aboard the yacht he scolds her on her slip-up for informing U.S. Customs agents about Verone's intention to flee the country via a secluded airfield. The finale occurs with Conner's Camaro jumping off of a nearby ramp and landing on the top of the yacht to save Monica. At the end Carter is arrested and the duffle bags carrying his drug money are recovered, save for an undisclosed amount having been secretly stolen by both Brian and Roman

The Fast and the Furious

2007-11-18T03:07:00.000-08:00

A gang of hijackers target trucks for their cargo of expensive electronic equipment. All the LAPD and the FBI have to go on is that the hijackers drove Sport Compact cars. Undercover cop Brian O'Connor (Paul Walker) attempts to find out who exactly is stealing the equipment by infiltrating the local racing community with the help of a local auto parts dealer. Brian suspects Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) is the leader of a street racing gang that are doing the hijacking, but his suspicions also target other gangs, most notably that of Toretto's rival Johnny Tran.

After O'Connor loses his Mitsubishi Eclipse to Dominic in a race for "pink slips" and it is then destroyed when they are confronted by Johnny Tran, O'Connor tries to gain the trust of Toretto by working with him on repairing and upgrading a burned out Toyota Supra to hand over to him. While doing this, O'Connor is constantly pressured by his superiors to bring the investigation to a satisfactory close, leading him to face a stark choice between the community he has embedded himself into and the woman he has become close to, Dominic's younger sister Mia (Jordana Brewster), or discarding his cover and discovering who from the street gangs is carrying out the hijackings.

According to interviews with director Rob Cohen, the plot serves as a vehicle to convey the street racing culture to mainstream audiences. The story follows the framework of a classic western: the "bad guys" in black Honda Civics hijack an 18-wheeler in the opening sequence. This is an allusion to western cinematography in which the "bad guys in black" hijack the proverbial stagecoach (the 18-wheeler). The scene concludes with a Civic brazenly ducking beneath the moving semi to avoid a collision with highway construction, which is a modern substitute for the chase concluding with a drop from a steep cliff.

Many consider this film to be a remake of the 1991 film Point Break. Both films feature an undercover cop infiltrating a gang of underground competition enthusiasts in order to gain information about who is pulling off a series of heists. In both films the undercover cop arrests the wrong gang first before closing in on the real culprits, who happen to be his newly found friends. More similar still, the protagonist falls for a significant female in the team leader's life, forcing him to ultimately choose whether to take up the life of those he was tasked to spy upon or do his job.

Batman

2007-11-18T03:06:00.000-08:00

Approaching its 200th anniversary, Gotham City's leaders fear that the high level of criminal activity will deter citizens from attending the celebrations. Gotham's mayor William Borg orders District Attorney Harvey Dent to make the city safe again, in hopes of revitalizing local business. Dent, in turn, targets mob boss Carl Grissom, who sponsors much of the criminal activity within Gotham and has paid off a significant segment of the police force.

Meanwhile, a dark vigilante dressed as a bat has attracted the attention of both the police and the local media. Newspaper reporter Alexander Knox is attempting to investigate, but his questions are deflected by skeptical cops, including Lt. Eckhardt, one of many police officers on the take from Grissom. After stonewalling Knox, Eckhardt is shown taking a payoff from Grissom's second in command, Jack Napier.

Grissom, on discovering that his mistress is involved with Napier, sets him up to be killed by Eckhardt in a raid on Axis Chemicals. The plot is foiled by the arrival of Police Commissioner James Gordon, who wants Napier taken alive, and Batman. Batman captures Napier, but releases him when Bob the Goon holds Gordon hostage at gunpoint. Batman vanishes, and in the confusion, Napier shoots and kills Eckhardt, then attempts to shoot a re-emerged Batman. The latter deflects his shot, sending shrapnel into the former's face. Napier falls over a railing into a vat of chemicals, presumably to his death. Although surrounded by the police, Batman escapes the scene.

Jack Nicholson as the Joker

Batman, as we discover, is actually billionaire industrialist Bruce Wayne, an orphan who lives alone in the large mansion Wayne Manor, with only his butler Alfred Pennyworth in attendance. At a fundraising party, Bruce meets and falls for famous photojournalist Vicki Vale, recently arrived in town to cover the "Bat Man phenomenon."

Napier, in the meantime, is not dead but horribly disfigured, with white skin, green hair, and a permanent grin (after a botched reconstructive surgery attempt). Already unstable, the trauma has apparently driven him completely insane. Calling himself "The Joker", he kills Grissom and usurps his criminal empire. His first scheme is to spread terror in the city by creating hygiene products that can kill by fatal hilarity due to being tainted with a deadly chemical known as "Smylex," so named because its effects on the nervous system leave a gruesome leer on victims' corpses. (An earlier scene in the Joker's lair reveals "Smylex" to be a Vietnam-era CIA-developed nerve agent. A folder identifies the substance as "Ddid nerve gas," likely a dioxin compound, supposedly discontinued in 1977). Following the death of a news anchor on-air, the city becomes paralyzed with fear (an unproduced scene shows that the purpose of the scheme was indeed chaos, but directed chaos – Gotham has faced crime waves, but the Joker has crippled the city's economic and social infrastructure – every hygiene product is rejected due to the potential risks, causing both severe damage to the stock market and horrifying health concerns, as no one dares even use soap). Making war on several fronts, the Joker then sets a trap at Gotham's Flugelheim Art Museum for Vicki, with whom he has become smitten. In the process, he defaces every piece of art in the building, save one (he spares Francis Bacon's Figure with Meat, saying "I kinda like this one"). Batman intervenes and saves Vicki, taking her to the Batcave to reveal to her the secret of the Joker's plot – the authorities are failing to put an end to the crisis because they are testing individual products for poison. The Joker has actually tainted hundreds of products at the source with individual components of the poison, and they only kill when mixed – any incomplete set of components is harmless and therefore untraceable. He gives her a complete list of toxic combinations, then renders her unconscious – he knows she photographed him during the rescue, and while he was impressed enough to give her the list instead of the police, he couldn't let her keep the film from her camera. She awakens at home, and after bemoaning the loss of the film, calls her editor with the list, which makes the morning paper. Incensed at Batman eluding him while taking Vale and ruining his poisoning scheme, the Joker vows to eliminate the mysterious vigilante for interfering with his plans.

Michael Keaton as Batman

Vicki's apartment is then the scene of a confrontation between the Joker, who has come to woo her, and Bruce, who has come to try and confess about his double life. After Bruce challenges the Joker to a fight, the Joker pulls a gun and asks him: "Tell me something, friend. Have you ever danced with the devil by the pale moonlight?" He then shoots Bruce. The Joker then leaves amid his own hoopla, and Vicki is shocked to see that Bruce has disappeared, leaving behind only a metal platter which he used as an impromptu bulletproof vest.

That confrontation confirmed for Bruce that the Joker is actually the man who murdered his parents many, many years ago in Gotham. The final clue was that his parents' murderer said the same phrase to him as The Joker said in Vicki's apartment ("Ever dance with the Devil by the pale moonlight?"). As Bruce grapples with this memory, he is shocked by the sudden appearance of Vicki in the Bat Cave, Alfred having decided that she deserved to know the truth.

Deciding the time has come to end the Joker's reign of terror, Batman tells the confused and torn Vicki that it's time for him to "go to work." His car breaks through into the Axis Chemical plant, where the Joker has been manufacturing his lethal cocktail, and activates its retractable armor while the Joker's goons attack. Dropping four high-powered bomblets from its hubcaps, the batmobile then beats a hasty retreat out of the exploding factory, coming to a dead halt in front of Batman, who had been remotely controlling the vehicle from a safe distance. However, the destroyed factory is far from the end of the Joker's schemes. Taunting his enemy from a helicopter, the Joker heads off, leaving Batman to anticipate his next move.

Deep in downtown Gotham, the Joker has put his own plans in motion to upstage the city's canceled anniversary celebrations with a grand spectacle: a nighttime parade at which he will dispense $20 million in free cash. Vicki and Knox are there to cover the pandemonium, and they notice strange tanks on the balloons. In the middle of his generosity, the Joker begins gassing the crowd. Batman arrives in his bat-shaped jet and snatches the balloons away to carry them out of the city and into the stratosphere. Furious, the Joker shoots Bob the Goon, his number one thug, in frustration. Batman returns to make a strafing run on the Joker, who responds by shooting down the jet with an insanely long-barreled revolver. Vicki approaches the downed craft but is captured by the Joker, who leads her to the top of Gotham Cathedral. Dazed but not finished, Batman pursues. At the top of the cathedral, the two adversaries confront each other in single combat. After defeating the Joker's minions, the Joker admits that he murdered Wayne's parents, shrugging off the slaying as youthful arrogance.

In a moment of opportunity, the Joker pulls Batman and Vicki off the belfry, where they cling to the ledge for their lives. The Joker's helicopter appears and he grabs hold of a dangling ladder, about to escape. Batman shoots a wire around the Joker's leg, connecting it to a stone gargoyle on the ledge. As the Joker is lifted away, the wire pulls the gargoyle loose, weighting down the Joker and causing him to plummet to his death.

The movie ends with Commissioner Gordon announcing that the Gotham police have arrested the rest of the Joker's gang and unveiling the Bat-Signal, supplied by Batman with a note promising to return if the city needs him.

Batman & Robin

2007-11-18T03:05:00.001-08:00

Batman & Robin is the fourth installment in the comic book-inspired film series initiated by Tim Burton, and the second directed by Joel Schumacher. Released in 1997, it starred George Clooney as Batman and Chris O'Donnell returning as Robin and introduced Batgirl (Alicia Silverstone), a niece of Bruce Wayne's butler Alfred (Michael Gough). The villains in this movie are Poison Ivy, played by Uma Thurman; Mr. Freeze, played by Arnold Schwarzenegger (who received top billing for this film) and Bane, played by Jeep Swenson. Unlike Batman Returns and Batman Forever, Tim Burton was not involved in any stage of production

Gotham City, the city in which Bruce Wayne—Batman's alter ego—resides, is threatened by Victor Fries, known also as Mr. Freeze. Batman and Robin manage to eventually capture him. Meanwhile, a young woman named Pamela Isley witnesses illegal genetic tampering and is, apparently, killed. She is resurrected, and hires a new bodyguard, Bane. They arrive at Gotham, and aid in Mr. Freeze's escape. Meanwhile, Alfred is dying and Wayne must find a cure, while dealing with troubles with Robin, and receiving help from Batgirl, a new hero of Gotham. She joins Batman and Robin and defeat Mr. Freeze, Poison Ivy, and Bane.

Batman Returns

2007-11-18T03:03:00.001-08:00

The story begins 33 years ago, at Christmas in Gotham City. The wealthy Cobblepots, having just given birth to a deformed child, drop him in the sewers, abandoning him. As the baby's basket rushes through the sewers, the credits roll, and eventually the child comes to rest at the feet of a group of emperor penguins from the zoo.

Thirty-three years later, it is Christmas time again in Gotham, as the ambitious but ruthless business tycoon Max Shreck gives a speech at a treelighting ceremony. However, the speech is soon disrupted by a criminal group of clowns known as the "Red Triangle Circus Gang". They fire guns and terrorize people, but Batman is summoned and is able to restore order. Shreck is kidnapped amidst the chaos and is brought to their leader, a short, deformed man known as "The Penguin". The Penguin informs Shreck of the reason he has taken him: he wishes to return to the society of Gotham, and he wants Shreck to help him achieve this. Shreck is skeptical, but the Penguin blackmails him with incriminating evidence of his more dubious business practices.

Shreck arranges for the Penguin to "rescue" the mayor's infant child from his own gang members. The plan works, and Penguin becomes a hero to all except a suspicious Bruce Wayne. The Penguin asks to be allowed to find his parents, and is given private access to the Gotham's Hall of Records, where he is seen jotting down an apparently unrelated list of names. He discovers his parents were a wealthy aristocratic couple. Adopting his birth name of Oswald Cobblepot, he publicly forgives his now-dead parents, winning the approval of a majority of Gotham. Shreck decides to use Oswald's fame to his own advantage, persuading him to run for mayor to remove the final obstacle to building a new power plant. Cobblepot reluctantly agrees, noting he still has his own plans to carry out.

During this time, Shreck attempts to murder his timid secretary Selina Kyle when she discovers his "power plant" was in fact a giant capacitor to suck power from the city. She survives her murder attempt at Shreck's hands after her body was circled by a large number of cats, and came back with a more assertive, unstable personality, ostensibly with a cat's nine lives (minus her first "death"). Kyle makes a homemade black vinyl catsuit and becomes a costumed vigilante under the name "Catwoman". During Penguin's efforts to cause chaos through his gang to create dissatisfaction with the current mayor, Catwoman bombs Shreck's department store. She subsequently fights Batman and is apparently killed again in the process when she falls off a roof.

While Selina Kyle pursues a romantic relationship with Bruce Wayne, as Catwoman she allies herself with the Penguin to get back at Batman for his killing her, although the two are still unaware of the other's alter-egos. When the subsequent plan is put into action, Batman is framed for kidnapping and murder and finds himself trapped in the Batmobile under Penguin's control, barely surviving. Although their plan was a success, Catwoman and Penguin's alliance falls apart when she rebuffs a sexual advance from him, and Penguin opts to kill Catwoman himself. However, his campaign to recall the current mayor is quickly destroyed when Bruce Wayne plays selected comments he stated while controlling the Batmobile, comments insulting the people of Gotham, which are played at a rally. The people of Gotham get angry and throw eggs and tomatoes at him, forcing Penguin to defend himself with his gun umbrella. The police chase after him, but Penguin flees into the sewers, renounces his humanity, and reveals his secret plan: to kidnap and kill the firstborn sons of Gotham's most prominent families in a twisted act of revenge against what was done to him.

Before this scheme is launched, Bruce Wayne meets Selina Kyle at a dance party hosted by Shreck, where she reveals to him her intentions to kill Shreck. The two subsequently discover the other's secret identity, but before they can leave to discuss this development, Penguin storms the hall and tries to take Max's son Chip, with Max persuading Penguin to take him instead, and Bruce and Selina depart. Bruce, as Batman, attacks Penguin's Red Triangle Circus goons, and puts a stop to the kidnappings. However, Penguin has a backup plan: an army of rocket-armed penguins is dispatched to bomb Gotham. Batman uses the Bat Ski-Boat to travel through Gotham's sewer system towards the Penguin's lair, managing to jam the birds' control signals and turn them around so that they attack the base instead. Fearing that something is amiss, Penguin uses his yellow duck vehicle to travel to the surface. Penguin arrives at the zoo's entrance, just in time for the Bat Ski-Boat to crash through a wall of ice, destroying Penguin's vehicle. Penguin attacks Batman at once and taunts him, saying that he is just jealous for not being born a freak, and having to resort to wearing a mask. Batman states that there may be truth to what the Penguin says, before revealing the remote device he used to control the penguins. Realizing that his "babies" are heading to his base to destroy it, Penguin lashes out at Batman with his umbrella blade. Batman knocks him down, but Penguin manages to grab the remote. However, the penguins have already arrived and begin to launch their missiles. Just then, a hatch opens on the Bat Ski-Boat, releasing several bats which swarm and attack Penguin, sending him crashing through a window to the murky water below.

Batman then glides through the window on his grappling hook and discovers Catwoman has come to kill Shreck. Shreck tries to bribe Batman into saving his life, but Batman just pushes him away, knocking him into an electrical generator. Batman tries to talk Catwoman out of vengeance, promising they could live happily together, but she refuses to listen to reason. During the argument, Shreck draws a gun he took from a Red Triangle clown and attempts to kill both of them. Batman is shot at, but the bullet missed while Catwoman is hit four times as she approaches Shreck. This leaves her with only two lives left. Shreck tries to shoot Catwoman a fifth time before she can reach him, but the revolver misfires.

Catwoman then sacrifices her next-to-last life by inserting a live taser into her mouth and pressing her lips to Shreck's, while grabbing the generator with her free hand. All of this causes an overload on the system, and a huge explosion follows. After the smoke clears, Batman searches the debris for Selina, only to find Shreck's charred corpse. Penguin, barely alive and seemingly poisoned by waste material, emerges from the slimy water and grabs for his gun umbrella to kill Batman, but picks up his "cute" one by mistake. He finally falls dead on the floor and is slid gently into the water by the penguins as a final tribute.

Driving through Gotham, Bruce sees Catwoman’s shadow. Investigating, he only finds Selina's cat, which he decides to take home. As the Bat-Signal lights up, the figure of Catwoman pops up on a rooftop, her eyes on the signal.

Batman Forever

2007-11-18T03:01:00.000-08:00

The film opens as Two-Face, the alter ego of former District Attorney Harvey Dent (Tommy Lee Jones), is holding hostages in a bank vault. Batman (Val Kilmer) arrives at the scene and consults with clinical psychiatrist Dr. Chase Meridian (Nicole Kidman). Batman then rescues the hostages and foils the robbery but is unable to apprehend Two-Face. Edward Nygma (Jim Carrey), a lowly worker at Wayne Enterprises has been doing unauthorized research at work into a brain-manipulating device, ostensibly as an entertainment medium, following his perceived rejection as a business partner by Bruce Wayne, whom he idolizes to the point of obsession. He is discovered at work late by a senior worker, Fred Stickley, who finds himself tested on the project and at Nygma's mercy. The device seems to affect Nygma's brain as an unexpected side effect. Stickley promptly tries to fire him, but Nygma murders him, doctors security tapes to make it look as if the man committed suicide and resigns from Wayne Enterprises.

A while later, Bruce Wayne invites Chase Meridian to accompany him to a Charity Circus, though ironically she is attracted to Batman rather than him. Two-Face and his thugs arrive at the event, firing guns and terrorizing the audience. They also bring a bomb that Two-Face will detonate if Batman does not appear. (Two-Face blames Batman for failing to thwart the criminal who threw acid into his face, disfiguring him and causing "left-brain damage" – an event re-shown in a TV program Wayne has been watching.) The Flying Graysons, the circus acrobats, work to remove the bomb through an opening in the top of the big top. The youngest member, Dick (Chris O'Donnell), manages to push Two-Face's bomb out of the circus and into the water surrounding it by going ahead of his family. When he returns, he finds that Two-Face has killed the other Graysons by shooting out the wires that they were climbing on, sending them plunging to their deaths. Feeling sorry for Dick's loss and responsible for Batman's failure to show at the circus (though he had tried to make himself heard above the panic), Bruce takes a reluctant Dick in as a foster son. Dick wants to kill Two-Face for murdering his parents. Later on, Dick discovers the Batcave and so knows that Bruce is Batman. Dick asks to become his partner so that he can play a part in killing Two-face. Bruce at first resists, insisting that such a quest for revenge goes on forever, as he knows only too well. Dick will not give in, however, naming himself 'Robin' partly at Alfred's suggestion (it was Dick's mother's nickname for him), even though one of his ideas was Nightwing (making a reference to the comic book Robin, who became Nightwing).

Val Kilmer and Chris O'Donnell as Batman and Robin

Meanwhile, Edward Nygma, who has been stalking Bruce Wayne and leaving riddles for him, is inspired and delighted by watching Two-Face's raid at the circus on live TV – and decides to become his partner in the form of the flamboyant and devious Riddler, master of puzzles and quizzes (he has been unhinged at Wayne's insistence that his research "raises too many questions".) He proceeds to show Two-Face his perfected device, which hypnotizes TV viewers and beams signals directly into/out of the human brain, allowing people to feel as though they are 'inside' TV shows – but as a side effect, allows Nygma to read their minds and, he claims, augment his own intelligence. The two villains make a deal: if Two-Face helps him steal enough priceless goods and money to fund his project into mass production, the Riddler will use his 'Box' device to learn Batman's true identity. Their deal sealed with a flip of the formers decision-making coin, Two-Face and the Riddler start their rampage.

After a launch event for the Box, where Nygma readopts his regular identity – albeit more based on his idol, Wayne, than ever (complete with a fake facial mole) – Batman's identity is indeed deduced. Two-Face unsuccessfully attempts to kill his enemy yet again, Robin aiding in foiling this. But, armed with the revelation about Batman, the villains attack Wayne Manor and the Riddler – at pains to prevent his partner in crime from killing his idol – blows up the Batcave and leaves a fourth and final riddle, while Two-Face kidnaps Robin and Chase. Soon, having solved the linking riddle and so located the Riddler's lair at NygmaTech's plant (on Claw Island), Batman is forced by the Riddler to make a choice between Robin and Chase, but ends up successfully saving both and destroying Riddler's central Box device. The Riddler and Two-Face are defeated: the former is overwhelmed by the exploding Box's brainwave overload; the latter falls to his death when Batman thwarts his final attempt to kill him, Robin and Chase, by launching a handful of coins when Two-Face makes one last flip. The brain-damaged Riddler is committed to Arkham Asylum, where (in his delusional state of mind) he proclaims himself rather than Bruce Wayne as Batman to a visiting Chase in the epilogue. The movie ends with Batman and Robin as a crime-fighting partnership, 'forever'.

Batman Begins

2007-11-18T03:00:00.000-08:00

Aged eight, Bruce Wayne falls into a cave where he is attacked by a swarm of bats. Bruce develops a fear of bats, and later urges his parents to leave an opera featuring bat-like creatures. Outside the theater, Bruce Wayne's parents are both killed in a robbery by mugger Joe Chill. Bruce blames himself for his parents' murder: had he not been frightened, the Waynes would not have encountered Chill.

After coming of age, Bruce returns to Gotham City from Princeton University intent on killing Chill, whose prison sentence is being suspended in exchange for testifying against mob boss Carmine Falcone. One of Falcone's henchmen kills Chill. Bruce tells his childhood friend Rachel Dawes about his foiled plan, and she expresses disgust for his blind vengeance without regard for justice. Bruce confronts Falcone, who tells him that he is ignorant of the nature of crime, so Bruce decides to travel the world for nearly seven years to understand the criminal mind. He is eventually detained in China for theft, where Ducard invites Bruce to join an elite vigilante group, the League of Shadows, led by Ra's al Ghul. Bruce is freed and travels to a mountaintop to begin his combat training with the League, who intend to use him to destroy Gotham. Bruce passes all the League's training, overcoming his childhood phobia in the process, but when ordered to execute a criminal, he turns on the League, destroying their headquarters and accidentally killing Ra's al Ghul. Bruce rescues an unconscious Ducard from the wreckage and leaves his mentor at a nearby village.

Bruce Wayne is ordered to bring a blue flower, which induces a hallucination of his phobia, allowing him to overcome it. Scarecrow later pours this into the city's water supply, intending to vaporize it into the air and spread panic

Bruce Wayne returns to a Gotham City that is mostly ruled by Falcone and begins plotting a one-man war against the corrupt system. He seeks the help of Rachel, now an assistant district attorney, and police sergeant Jim Gordon, who consoled him in the aftermath of his parents' murder. After reestablishing his connections to his father's company, Wayne Enterprises, Bruce is able to acquire, with the help of former board member Lucius Fox, a prototype armored car and an experimental armored suit. In his new Batman costume, he disrupts a drug shipment by Falcone and leaves the mob boss tied to a searchlight, forming a makeshift Bat-Signal. He also disrupts an assassination attempt on Dawes, leaving her with evidence against a judge who has previously gone soft on Falcone. While investigating the "unusual" drugs in the shipment, Batman is stunned by sinister psychopharmacologist Dr. Jonathan Crane, who sprays him with a powerful hallucinogen. Bruce's butler Alfred Pennyworth rescues Bruce, who receives an anti-toxin developed by Fox. Crane later poisons Rachel after showing her that the toxin, which is harmful only in vapor form, is being piped into Gotham's water supply. Batman saves her. The police enter Arkham Asylum and arrest Crane while Batman escapes with Rachel. After administering the antidote to Rachel in the batcave, he gives her two vials of it for Gordon – one for the detective to inoculate himself, and another to mass produce for the city's population.

At a party held at Wayne Manor, Bruce is confronted by a group of League of Shadows ninjas led by Ducard, who reveals himself to be the real Ra's al Ghul, the man killed earlier being a decoy. Ra's, who had been conspiring with Crane, plans to destroy Gotham by distributing the toxin undetected via Gotham's water supply and then vaporizing it with a microwave emitter stolen from Wayne Enterprises. Bruce, tricking his guests into leaving, fights briefly with Ra's while the League of Shadows set fire to Wayne Manor. Bruce escapes the inferno with Alfred's help just as the manor is destroyed. Batman arrives at the "Narrows" section of Gotham to aid the police in battling psychotic criminals, including Crane, who the League set free from the asylum. Rachel is confronted by but wards off Crane; Batman rescues Rachel when more criminals go after her. Batman intimates his identity to her while leaving Gordon in control of the Batmobile to stop the elevated train that is being used to transport the vaporizer to the city's central water hub. Batman battles Ra's aboard the train, then escapes just as Gordon topples the elevated line using the Batmobile's missiles, leaving Ra's to crash to the ground with the train.

Following the battle, Batman becomes a public hero. Bruce gains control of Wayne Enterprises and installs Fox as CEO, firing Earle. However, he is unable to hold onto Rachel, who cannot reconcile her love for Bruce Wayne with his dual life as Batman. Gordon, newly promoted to lieutenant, unveils a Bat-Signal for Batman. Gordon mentions a criminal who, like Batman, has "a taste for the theatrical", leaving a Joker playing card at his crime scenes. Batman promises to investigate it. As Batman is leaving, Gordon mentions that he hasn't thanked Batman for what he has done. Batman replies that Gordon will never have to, and flies off into Gotham.

Godzilla

2007-11-18T02:59:00.001-08:00

The film's opening credits play over a montage of French nuclear tests in the Pacific Ocean, observed by many iguanas. Then, in present days, a Japanese fishing ship is attacked by an unseen monster; only one survived (an old man). Traumatized, he is later questioned in a hospital by a mysterious Frenchman (Jean Reno) as to what he saw. But the man didn't answer until the Frenchman asks in English with a lit lighter moving left and right and repeatedly says only one word: Gojira (the name was later mistranslated as Godzilla by the U.S. media).

Another seaborne attack just by the Eastern Seaboard culminated in the eventual destruction of a fishing ship. The crew, however, survived, after witnessing their boat sinking, but it shot up from underneath and landed with a huge splash in the surface.

Niko "Nick" Tatapolous (Matthew Broderick), an NRC scientist, who happened to be in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone (Ukraine) researching the effects of radiation on wildlife, was interrupted by the arrival of an agent of the U.S. State Department. He was sent to Panama, escorted by the military, to observe the wreckage of the recovered Japanese fishing ship (which had three gigantic claw marks on one side) and a set of massive dinosaur-like footprints in the grassy soil. The Frenchman is also there, observing the scene and introduces himself as an insurance agent. Aboard a military aircraft, Tatapolous identifies skin samples he recovered as belonging to a creature "unknown to science".

Godzilla then heads to New York City, dragging three trawlers under the sea on the way, then creating havoc in the Fulton Fish Market, before rampaging through the city. Manhattan is evacuated and the military attempt to kill Godzilla, first luring him out with a huge pile of fish. Godzilla takes the bait, but then shrugs off small arms fire, and evades and destroys three pursuing AH-64 Apache attack helicopters. He escapes, but not before Nick realises that the monster reproduces asexually, and is collecting food for his children. Nick is determined to find Godzilla's nest.

However, when a videotape from Panama is stolen by Nick's ex-girlfriend, Audrey Timmonds (Maria Pitillo), a would-be TV journalist for news channel "WIDF", he is thrown off the team. He is then kidnapped by the Frenchman who introduces himself as Philippe Roaché, an agent of the DGSE, the French Secret Service. He and his team have been keeping close watch on events, and are now ready to help clear up the mess they feel responsible for, but cannot acknowledge.

The military lure Godzilla out again, and after a fierce battle in the waters of the Hudson River with three U.S. Navy nuclear submarines, Godzilla is torpedoed and seems to be dead. Meanwhile Nick and a crack French team, led by Roaché, surreptitiously followed by Audrey and cameraman Victor "Animal" Palotti (Hank Azaria), track Godzilla through the subway tunnels to Madison Square Garden, finding hundreds of eggs. They start to lay explosives, but the eggs start to hatch. The Baby Godzillas begin to look for food, and since the team stink like fish, they become inevitable targets. After failing to contain the baby monsters and losing several members of the team, the remaining four of them take refuge in a TV broadcast booth. From there, Nick, Audrey, and Animal alert the authorities, who order an immediate strike by a trio of F/A-18 Hornets. The four escape just before the building is destroyed, only for an extremely enraged Godzilla (who managed to survive the battle in the East River) to emerge from the wreckage. The four make a getaway in a taxicab, and lure Godzilla to the Brooklyn Bridge where he becomes entangled in the steel suspension cables, and is an easy target for the fighters. As the three F-18s close in, they each fire a pair of missiles that slam into Godzilla's side. As the jets pass him, Godzilla uselessly tries to attack by snapping at them with his jaws, but fails, and the F-18s circle around and fire another wave of missiles that also slam into the monster's side. After many screams of pain, he finally falls to the ground. As Godzilla is left to die, he looks at Nick during his final moments as his heart slowly stops beating. At the end of the film Nick and Audrey reconcile while Roaché disappears into the night after stealing their videotape footage of the incident. He promises to return the tape after "certain information" has been removed. All seems well until we see in smoking ruins of the Garden, a single egg has survived and hatches; begining Godzilla: The Series.

The Sixth Sense

2007-11-18T02:53:00.002-08:00

As the film opens, Dr. Malcolm Crowe (Bruce Willis) a prominent child psychologist, returns home one night with his wife from an event in which he was honored for his efforts with children. The two discover they are not alone - a disturbed, nearly naked man named Vincent Grey (Donnie Wahlberg) appears in the doorway of their bathroom with a gun. He says, "I don't want to be afraid anymore." Vincent is upset that Crowe has not helped him, and Crowe realizes that Vincent is a former patient he treated as a child for his hallucinations. He condemns Malcolm for his inability to help him and shoots him in the stomach, and seconds later turns the gun on himself. The scene fades away with Malcolm's wife by his side, aiding him.

Months later, next fall, Malcolm returns to work with another frightened boy, 9-year old Cole Sear (Haley Joel Osment), with a condition similar to Vincent's. Malcolm becomes dedicated to this patient, though he is haunted by doubts over his ability to help him, after his failure with Vincent. Meanwhile, he begins to neglect his wife, with whom his relationship is falling apart. Malcolm earns Cole's trust and Cole ultimately confides in him that he is clairvoyant and can "see dead people." Though Malcolm is naturally skeptical at first, he eventually comes to believe that Cole is telling the truth, and that Vincent may have had the same ability as Cole. He realizes this one night, as he is listening to one of his tapes recorded while he was treating Vincent, and he hears pleading voices of dead people in the background. He suggests to Cole that he try to find a purpose for his gift by communicating with the ghosts, perhaps to aid them in their unfinished business on Earth. Cole is at first skeptical about this advice, as the ghosts terrify him, but soon decides to try it.

"I see dead people."

Cole communicates with the ghost of one girl who appears in his bedroom and appears to be sick. He finds out where the girl, Kyra Collins (Mischa Barton), lived and goes to her house, where a funeral reception is being held for her. Kyra's ghost gives Cole a videotape (inside a box), which Cole gives to Kyra's father. The tape reveals that when Kyra was bedridden with illness, her mother was poisoning her food, which led to Kyra's death (this behavior has been suggested as Munchausen syndrome by proxy or factitious disorder).^[1] Empowered now by his ability to use his gift to positive effect, Cole confesses his ability to his mother, Lynn (Toni Collette). Although his mother is troubled by his story, Cole tells Lynn that her mother (Cole's grandmother) went to see her perform in a dance recital one night when she was a child, though Lynn was not aware of this because her mother stayed in the back of the audience where she could not be seen; he also tells her the answer to a question she asked when alone at her mother's grave. Lynn accepts this as the truth, and her relationship with Cole is strengthened.

His faith in himself now restored as a result of his success with Cole, Malcolm returns to his home, where he finds his wife sleeping on the couch, watching their old wedding video. As she sleeps, Anna's hand releases Malcolm's wedding ring, revealing the twist ending of the film — that Malcolm himself is unwittingly one of Cole's ghosts, having been killed by his ex-patient in the opening scene. Due to Cole's efforts, Malcolm's unfinished business, of rectifying his failure to understand Vincent, is completed. Recalling Cole's advice about talking to his wife while she's asleep, so that she'll have to listen, Malcolm releases her to move on with her life and frees himself to leave behind the world of the living.

All of the clothes Malcolm wears during the movie are items he wore or touched the evening he died, including his overcoat, his blue sweater and the different layers of his suit.

Bruce Willis, who is left-handed, learned to write with his right hand for the film to hide from the audience that Crowe was no longer wearing his wedding ring.^[2] Though the filmmakers were careful about such clues of Malcolm's state, the camera zooms slowly towards Crowe's face when Cole says he sees dead people. In a DVD special feature, the filmmakers mention that they initially feared this shot would be a dead giveaway, but they decided to leave it in. The color red is intentionally absent from most of the film, but is used prominently (and only) in a few isolated shots scattered throughout the movie, in situations where the dead are present: such as the color of the balloon and Cole's sweater at the birthday party, the tent in which he first encounters Kyra, the numbers on Crowe's tape player, the doorknob to the locked closet and the grieving mother's dress. Shyamalan's film The Village similarly portrayed the color red as having connotations with evil and the supernatural — specifically, the mysterious monsters that inhabit the woods surrounding the village

Swordfish

2007-11-18T02:53:00.001-08:00

Stanley Jobson is a former hacker whose conviction for computer crimes has left him forbidden to touch a computer or to see his 10-year-old daughter, Holly. Thus, when Ginger, a beautiful and alluring woman, suddenly shows up and offers him a job hacking into government computers for her boss, Gabriel Shear, Stanley is torn.

While he needs the money to fight his ex-wife in court over custody of Holly, he knows that if he's caught in his old ways, he may be put away for good. Despite the ramifications, the amount of money offered is too enticing. He joins Gabriel's team: Ginger; a tough henchman named Marco; and others - including U.S. Senator Reisman, who is financing their operation.

Stanley sets out to hack into a government computer system to steal a secret government slush fund. Eventually Gabriel reveals that they are not simple criminals but rather are rogue agents waging a covert war against terrorism, even when the governments that originally hired them no longer support such a mission. The stolen funds would allow them unlimited resources in their covert war. The hacker must deal not only with Gabriel's lethal behavior and suspicious nature, but also Agent Roberts, the government field agent who previously arrested him and is now intent on capturing both him and Gabriel.

Bad Boys

2007-11-18T02:51:00.002-08:00

Detective Marcus Burnett (Martin Lawrence) and Detective Mike Lowrey (Will Smith) are officers in the Miami Police Department. While Lowrey is from a wealthy background and enjoys a playboy-like lifestyle, Burnett is married with three kids.

One night, $100 million of seized heroin is stolen by gangsters from a secure police vault. This was a major blow to Burnett and Lowrey, because it was the biggest drug bust of their careers. Now they are faced with an ultimatum from Internal Affairs—if they do not get the drugs back in five days, the narcotics division will be shut down. In the course of the investigation, it is discovered that one of the gang members, Eddie Domínguez, has absconded with some of the heroin. Dominguez is shot to death by a French drug kingpin by the name of Fouchet (Tchéky Karyo), who also kills escort girl Max, one of Lowrey's ex-girlfriends. The only witness to the crime is Max' roommate Julie Mott (Téa Leoni).

Julie will only testify to Lowrey, who is temporarily absent, so Burnett is forced to impersonate him in order to get her to co-operate. In order to continue the deception Burnett moves Julie into Lowrey's apartment, where he himself has to move into while Lowrey moves in with Burnett's family and claims to be Burnett in Julie's presence while Burnett claims to be Lowrey.

Meanwhile, Fouchet and his gang of criminals kidnapped Julie. Burnett, Lowrey and the Miami P.D. organize a team of commandos to stop the criminals from killing Julie and selling the drugs to a Colombian drug lord. A final battle erupts between Burnett, Lowrey and the criminals. The criminals are eliminated, Julie is saved in the process and Lowrey kills Fouchet.

Bad Boys II

2007-11-18T02:51:00.001-08:00

n this sequel Marcus Burnett (Martin Lawrence) and Mike Lowrey (Will Smith) are now detective lieutenants of the Tactical Narcotics Team of Miami PD. They are investigating the flow of ecstasy into Miami after breaking up a Ku Klux Klan rally wherein Lowrey accidentally shoots Burnett in the buttocks which, combined with Lowrey's apparent propensity for violence, becomes a point of contention between the two throughout most of the film.

Their search leads to a dangerous and neurotic Cuban kingpin named Johnny Tapia (Jordi Mollà), whose plan to control the city's drug traffic has sparked an underground war between Tapias crew and the Russian Mob.

Meanwhile there is a relationship between Lowrey and Burnett's sister, Syd (Gabrielle Union), who also happens to be undercover with the DEA. Syd has gone undercover as a banker for one of Tapia's associates. When the deal goes awry, Burnett and Lowrey jumps in and save Syd. When they ask Syd what she was doing being involved in the case, she refuses to tell them about it because she is under strict orders from the DEA not to discuss any information with the Miami Police Department because they have been reported to have too many leaks. In an unfortunate turn of events, Syd is captured by Johnny Tapia and taken to Cuba.

When the DEA refuses to take any action, Burnett and Lowrey along with their team of mostly ex-Delta commandos, prepare a plan to recover Syd from Tapia's capture. They construct two tunnels from a safe house owned by Lowrey and Burnett's colleague's brother (a member of Alpha 66) located directly opposite Tapia's mansion in Cuba. The first tunnel would allow several members from their team to surface in the garden of the mansion and take out the security room on the side of the mansion. The second tunnel intercepted the escape tunnel from the mansion in the case that Tapia planned to escape or if the CIA and other team members needed to escape, they could leave through an alternative route.

A RC car with video cameras attached to the top moves around the garden along the pool line to a group of soldiers who are playing Soccer. After attracting the curiosity of the soldiers, the vehicle explodes blowing the soldiers into the air.

A long gunfight ensues and eventually the Cuban military arrive outnumbering the team. An explosive named "Tapia house gift" is placed in the house and is detonated, destroying the house. However, the explosion cuts Burnett and Lowrey from their escape route and they come under fire from the Cuban military. Lowrey says they should resort to "Plan B" which had not been discussed or outlined. After a short-lived argument between Burnett and Lowrey. Syd encourages them to stop fighting and get on with it.

Lowrey breaks into a yellow Hummer H2 and drives it through the wreckage of the house. They are soon followed by another van through a drug-making area in the form of a shanty town on the side of a hill. The vehicles cause the solutions in these buildings to mix which cause explosionss.

After the long car chase they end at the U.S. Guantanamo Bay Naval Base. As Marcus and Syd plead with the soldiers at the lookout post, they are told they are standing in the middle of a minefield which is demonstrated by an iguana treading on the spikes just above the surface and finally exploding.

A gunfight erupts between Tapia and Lowrey with Tapia's friend becoming involved. Tapia then takes Lowrey and puts a gun to his head, threatening Syd and Burnett. Syd throws her gun on top of a mine close to Carlos (Otto Sanchez) and he gets killed. Burnett takes the opportunity and shoots Tapia in the head. Tapia's body then falls on a mine and explodes, charring the body into pieces. However, Lowrey remains alive and praises Burnett for his impecable aim and tells him that he hopes his next partner shoots that good. Back at Burnett's home it is revealed that they are to remain partners as Burnett shredded the papers. It is also revealed that Lowrey bought Burnett a new pool, but it too breaks. Burnett and Lowrey end up in the water and start singing the Bad Boys song

Bram Stoker's Dracula

2007-11-18T02:48:00.000-08:00

The film begins in a prologue, detailing how Vlad III the Impaler defeated an "overwhelming" Turkish force invading his homeland in 1462 (see the Night Attack) only to return home to find his beloved wife Elisabeta (Ryder) dead, having committed suicide upon hearing the false reports of Vlad's death in battle. Dracula, a devout Christian, immediately flew into a rage upon being informed by priests that her soul is eternally damned as a suicide, and desecrates a chapel and renounces God, declaring he will rise from the grave to avenge her death with all the powers of darkness.

Four centuries later, Jonathan Harker, an assistant real estate agent, travels to the mountains of Transylvania to arrange the transfer of Carfax Abbey in London, Count Dracula's (Oldman) newest real estate acquisition. Harker was sent because the previous agent, Renfield (Tom Waits) had returned from Transylvania insane. Upon arriving at the castle, Harker notices its bizarre, unnatural features, a place where shadows move by themselves. He also meets Dracula, a wrinkled, pale old man in brilliant red robes.

During the final signing of the real estate papers, the Count notices a picture of Harker's fiancée Wilhelmina "Mina" Murray (Ryder), whom the Count mentions bears a striking resemblance to his dead wife, Elisabeta. Dracula imprisons Harker, where he is enticed by Dracula's insatiable, beautiful, and bloodthirsty Brides. They systematically drink his blood, leaving him weak but alive, thus preventing him from escaping the castle.

While Harker is being held prisoner, the Count books passage on the ship Demeter to England.

When the Demeter arrives in London, the entire crew is dead. Since Dracula is in a box of his native earth and assumed to be cargo, he is delivered safely to the Abbey. Renfield becomes his servant. Mina's best friend Lucy Westenra (Sadie Frost) becomes his victim when she sleepwalks the night the Demeter arrives. Dracula ravishes her and drinks her blood. Dracula – now young and handsome again – gradually meets and charms Mina, but refuses to bite her. He also takes her dancing and when she drinks absinthe seems to begin remembering her past life.

Winona Ryder as Mina Harker

Dracula's nocturnal feedings from Lucy have caused noticeable changes in her behavior and obvious deteriorating health. The three men who are courting for her hand, Quincey Morris (Bill Campbell), Dr. John Seward (Richard E. Grant) and Arthur Holmwood (Cary Elwes), grow increasingly worried. Seward (whose asylum includes among its inmates Renfield) summons his old friend Dr. Abraham Van Helsing (Hopkins). Van Helsing performs a blood transfusion with Arthur (Lucy's fiancee) then the other two men as donors. But he recognizes also that Lucy is the victim of a Vampire.

Harker escapes from Castle Dracula and makes his way to a convent from which he sends word to Mina. She leaves to join and marry him, leaving a note for her "Prince" (as Dracula had introduced himself) that she must never see him again. Grief-stricken and enraged, Dracula breaks into the Westenra house and kills Lucy.

Van Helsing brings Arthur, Seward and Quincey to the family crypt where they see Lucy return to her tomb. She has fangs and a bloody mouth and seems to have been feeding off a small child. Horrified, Arthur drives a stake through her heart,Van Helsing cuts off her head Morris burns her body.

Sadie Frost as Lucy Westenra

When Harker (now with gray hair from his horror) returns with Mina, he is recruited to hunt down Dracula. He joins Van Helsing, Seward, Morris and Arthur in going to Carfax Abbey to consecrate the boxes of soil there, making it impossible for Dracula to use them. But the Count sees them. Taking the form of a green mist, he goes to Seward's asylum and kills Renfield for his betrayal, then enters the bedchamber where Mina sleeps. At first barely awake she eagerly welcomes him, but he insists upon telling her the truth – he is dead, a hunted creature, the one who murdered her friend Lucy. But despite her rage at this, Mina still loves him. She begs to become like him, to be with him. He at first tries to resist, but she insists. When the group of Vampire Hunters burst into the bedroom, they find Mina drinking Dracula's blood from his chest. Dracula faces off against them. He insists he was betrayed by God. Then, proclaiming "She is my Bride!" he retreats into the shadows.

Gary Oldman as "Prince" Dracula.

Mina begins to change the same way Lucy had. Van Helsing hypnotizes her and learns via the connection between her and Dracula that the latter is returning to his home by ship. The five Hunters plan on trying to reach the port of Varna before him via train. But Dracula reads Mina's mind and gives them the slip. Finally, they split up. Van Helsing and Mina go directly to the Borgo Pass and the Castle, while the others try to stop the Gypsies transporting Dracula.

At night, encamped before the castle, Mina begins to change as the Brides hover nearby. Mina attempts to seduce Van Helsing and almost succeeds. She bares fangs, trying to bite him but he reacts by touching her forehead with a piece of Holy Wafer. This sears her flesh and snaps her out of it. The Brides try to attack, but cannot get too close because of Van Helsing's cross. Next morning, a weary Van Helsing enters the castle, finds the Brides and kills them.

When the chase between the Hunters and the Gypsies carrying Dracula nears the Castle, Dracula senses Mina's presence and tells her what to do. She summons a kind of blue flame from the earth around the castle (first seen when Harker arrived) which rises to the clouds and causes winds. This impedes the Hunters, but they press on. During the fight, Morris is stabbed with a dagger.

The sun sets soon after the last Gypsy is killed. Dracula bursts out of his box. One of Jonathan Harkers' fighters takes his bowie-knife and slits the Count's throat,and almost at the same moment, Morris drives his bowie knife into Dracula's heart. The vampire staggers, but Mina fends off the men with a rifle. She asks her husband "When my time comes, will you do the same to me?" He says "No," and allows her to follow Dracula into the castle.

Gary Oldman as Count Dracula.

Inside, in the very chapel where he renounced God, Dracula lies wounded. He is aged again, and his face contorted to that of a demon. But Mina tries to pull the knife from his heart, and calls him "My love," kissing him. At the moment, the candles in the chapel light on their own. The desecrations Dracula committed on the altar repair. God forgives Dracula and he becomes young and his face that of a human being. He says to her "Give me peace," and she drives the knife all the way through his heart, and then after Mina decapitates him, Dracula dies. The fresco inside the castle sanctuary changes after Mina looks up and sees the "Count" appear, as if his soul ascended to Heaven and he became saved and reunited in Heaven with his long-lost love from the beginning of the film.

Pearl Harbor

2007-11-18T02:47:00.000-08:00

The movie begins on a Tennessee farm as two kids, Rafe McCawley (Ben Affleck) and Danny Walker (Reiley McClendon), play in a pretend fighter plane they made, pretending to be shooting down German planes. As they are playing, Rafe's dad is out dusting the fields in his old cropduster. When he lands and goes into his tractor, the two boys sneak into his plane and keep the pretend fight going. They accidentally start the plane and "fly" it down the runway, almost crashing it until it finally stops. Danny's father (William Fichtner) comes out and starts screaming at them and smacking Danny. Rafe grabs a board and whacks the dad to stop the beating, protecting his best friend.

It's now years later, and 25-year-old Rafe (Ben Affleck) and 24-year-old Danny (Josh Hartnett), both First Lieutenants in the U.S. Army, are at a U.S. Army Air Corps training field commanded by Major Jimmy Doolittle (Alec Baldwin). Rafe is very cocky as he and Danny do a particularly dangerous stunt (a game of chicken) that almost kills them (and more importantly to the brass, almost damages the planes). They are called into Doolittle's office where they are reprimanded, but Doolittle is actually quite impressed with Rafe as he reminds him of himself when he was young.

Later, Doolittle tells Rafe that he has been accepted to go to Britain and join Eagle Squadron, a squadron of volunteer American pilots serving with the Royal Air Force in the fight against the Germans. It is strictly a volunteer assignment, and Doolittle tells him it's his duty to talk him out of it. Rafe asks Doolittle what he would do, and Doolittle says he would go, so Rafe agrees to go as well.

Prior to Rafe leaving, there is a big dance in New York, and many nurses are coming to the event. Some of the nurses are traveling there by train, and one of them, Evelyn Johnson (Kate Beckinsale), is telling the other nurses how she first met Rafe while assessing his fitness to fly, and there she first agreed to go out with Rafe. They have been going out now for four weeks and two days. At the dance, Rafe tells Evelyn that in the morning he is headed off to Europe. They have a tearful good-bye, and Rafe tells her not to come to the train station to see him off. He goes to Europe, and Evelyn and Danny get transferred to Pearl Harbor.

While in Europe, the squadron Rafe is a member of is scrambled to intercept a formation of Heinkel He 111 bombers, but Rafe's fighter is attacked by a Messerschmitt Bf 109 escort. His oil line is ruptured, and his canopy jams. His aircraft crashes into the sea. In Hawaii, Evelyn is informed that Rafe is missing presumed killed.

Three months later while separately going to the same movie, Danny and Evelyn see a newsreel that shows British fighters being shot down by the Germans. Thinking of Rafe, both Danny and Evelyn leave the theater and by accident meet each other out front of the building. They strike up a friendship again which eventually leads to a romantic encounter in a parachute storage room.

Evelyn has stopped mourning Rafe, but on the morning she discovers she's pregnant, in walks Rafe. As it turned out, after he crashed into the English Channel, the impact meant he could escape, and he was rescued by a French fishing boat and returned to occupied France where he couldn't get word out to them that he was alive. Suddenly Danny appears, holding a telegram that Rafe is alive. Somehow, Rafe instantly realizes that Danny and Evelyn are now together and leaves the room, refusing to talk to Danny.

Danny and Rafe argue and eventually drive to a hillside to discuss what they are going to do about their situation. They have been drinking and fall asleep in their convertible under the stars. They are awakened the next morning by Japanese Zero fighters, Val dive bombers and Kate torpedo bombers flying overhead. The barely-awake pilots think it is the U.S. Navy performing exercises.

The Japanese attack catches the U.S. fleet largely unaware, despite Admiral Kimmel having been informed of a Japanese midget submarine destroyed near the entrance to the harbor. Much of the surprise came not from a lack of awareness of the planes, but a radar station dismissing the large number of contacts as a flight of B-17s. A bomb dropped from a Kate bomber ruptures the forward part of the USS Arizona's ammunition magazine, literally splitting the ship in half and sending it to the bottom. Meanwhile, Japanese fighters are attacking the airstrips present on the island to prevent any attempt to intercept the attack aircraft. Petty Officer Doris "Dorie" Miller (Cuba Gooding Jr.), a cook on the USS West Virginia, mans an antiaircraft gun and manages to shoot down a Japanese plane.

Around the same time, Evelyn, Sandra, Betty and the other nurses head towards the hospital to help injured people. On their way they are strafed, and many people flee into the hospital while some are killed. The gunfire forces Evelyn and Sandra to hide behind a fountain. Suddenly, a plane drops a bomb, and Betty is killed while the other women hide in the hospital.

Later, Evelyn and the other nurses are working frantically with masses of incoming casualties, having to prioritize which lives can be saved and who receives priority care.

Rafe and Danny make it to their Army auxiliary airfield, and together with another pilot manage to get their planes moving, though the other pilot is destroyed before getting off the ground. The two of them shoot down seven Japanese planes over the Harbor. They even use the same maneuver that got them into trouble at Doolittle's school to force four Zeros to crash into each other.

The attack finally ends, and because of their heroism, Rafe and Danny are both promoted to Captain and assigned to Doolittle (now promoted to Lt. Col) for a top secret mission. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt (Jon Voight) wants to send a message that the Japanese homeland is not immune from bombing. They are going to put Army Air Corp B-25 Mitchell bombers onto the aircraft carrier USS Hornet (instead of the usual light naval assault bombers), sail out close to Japan, take off a few hundred miles offshore, bomb Tokyo and land in China.

For the next five or six weeks, Rafe and Danny are in training, learning how to fly these planes, and most importantly, learn how to take off in such a short space more suited to launching fighters and light-strike aircraft. To achieve this, the aircraft are stripped of any unnecessary weight. Finally, they load the planes onto the aircraft carrier and head off towards Japan. The Hornet and her escorts are discovered by Japanese patrol boats, and have to take off a couple of hundred miles earlier than planned. They now know that they won't have enough fuel to get their original landing point in China and will instead have to land their aircraft earlier than planned.

They bomb Tokyo as planned and limp towards China, running out of fuel. Rafe crash lands his plane, but is caught by elements of the Imperial Japanese Army which are assigned to the invasion of China. Just as he's about to be shot by the Japanese, Danny comes flying down, shooting the Japanese soldiers, with forward-mounted machine guns as he crashes his plane, too.

The two, along with a few other men are confronted by more Japanese soldiers, and after a small gunfight, they are captured. Danny is dying but is tied to a board attached to his shoulders. Rafe is about to be shot when suddenly Danny takes his board and whacks the Japanese soldier, protecting Rafe, just as Rafe had done for him when they were younger. Another Japanese soldier then shoots Danny in the chest mortally wounding him. The Japanese soldiers are then finally shot by the other American airmen.

Chinese soldiers appear, and they are saved. Danny's wounds are mortal though and he dies in Rafe's arms. Just before he dies, Rafe tells him that he can't die because he's going to be a father. Danny tells him no, and that Rafe is going to have to be the father.

Later, the surviving Doolittle Raiders are seen coming off the plane. A pregnant Evelyn is there waiting to see who gets off. Rafe appears, and she is elated but waits to see if Danny is next. A somber Rafe then reaches back inside and helps carry out the coffin containing Danny.

A few years later, Rafe, Evelyn and their son Danny, who is named in honor of Rafe's best friend, are playing in the backyard. Then Rafe asks Danny if he would like to go flying, and an excited Danny points to the crop duster plane and, together, Rafe and little Danny fly off into the sunset.

Black Hawk Down

2007-11-17T11:54:00.000-08:00

A mixed assault force of Delta operators, Army Rangers, and Special Operations Aviation Regiment (SOAR) under the command of Maj. Gen. William Garrison was dropped by helicopters of the US Army's Special Operations Air Regiment (SOAR) deep into the capital city of Mogadishu's Bakaara Market, a stronghold of local warlord Mohamed Farrah Aidid to capture two of his senior lieutenants, Omar Salad and Abdi Hasan Awale. The raid by the Delta operators was successful and the wanted persons were captured and taken into American custody. However, when Somali militia armed with RPGs downed two Black Hawk helicopters, a 30 minute mission became a pitched battle between the American forces and Somali militia lasting almost 15 hours.

The code word to launch was "Irene." They were a formidable armada. The helicopter assault force included about 75 Rangers and 16 Delta troops in 17 helicopters. Idling at the airport was a convoy of 12 vehicles with soldiers who would ride three miles to the target building and escort the Somali prisoners and the assault team back to base. Most soldiers deduced that the battle would only take 30 minutes, and some neglected to bring canteens, and NVG, others opting to take out the ballistic ceramic plate in their body armor to reduced the weight carried around.

This movie follows the story of many soldiers during that fateful day. Staff Sgt. Matt Eversmann , who is commanding Ranger Chalk 4 for the first time as his platoon lieutenant was sent home due to illness and the guy who replaced him had suffered an epileptic seizure. However, minutes into the Operation, PFC Todd Blackburn slips and misses the rope as the Black Hawk banks to avoid an incoming RPG. Eversman is dismayed at a casualty this early into the Operation and frantically ropes down and administers first aid with the help of his Chalk's medic, Doc. Schmidt.

Meanwhile, Delta Operators storm the target building and capture all of the prisoners. Norm Hoot radios for extraction via the convoy, Uniform 64, led by Danny McKnight. Eversman and half of his Chalk carry Blackburn on a compact litter. Blackburn was eventually loaded into a humvee, with Sgt. Streuker driving the lead humvee. However, on their way back to base, the first fatality is claimed in the form of Sgt. Dominick Pilla as he is shot while manning the 50. cal of Streuker's humvee. He falls on the lap of SP4 Thomas, who is later badly shaken up and nearly ends up not joining them going back into the city.

Back in Mogadishu, Cliff Wolcott's Black Hawk, Super 6-1 is shot in the tail rotor by an RPG. It crash lands, killing both Wolcott and his co-pilot, Briley. One wounded Delta operator Staff Sergeant Daniel Busch crawls out of the chopper and defends it valiantly with his CAR-15, wounded several times but holding back militia until help arrives. Star 4-1, "a little bird" lands next to the crashed Black Hawk. The pilot defends the Little Bird with a submachine gun while his co-pilot Chief Warrant Officer Keith Jones escorts the wounded Delta operator back onto the Little Bird for immediate medivac.

Chalk 4, led by Eversman arrives on scene having witnessed the Black Hawk go down and proceed towards it on foot, leaving behind Twombly and Nelson to hold the defensive perimeter they were supposed to do initially. On the way there, they encounter several obstacles such as technicals and bullet wounds, namely Scott Galentine having his thumb blown off. Eversman's chalk and First Lt. Tom DiTomasso's chalk set up a defensive perimeter around Super 6-1 and wait for the SAR Bird to arrive and drop medics on scene.

Super 6-8 arrived with medics aboard, but took heavy small arms fire. Despite that, the medics are successfully inserted and the bird flies away.

The prisoners are loaded up into the convoy, which eventually moves out towards the crash site. Captain Steele led a force of Rangers and Delta Operatives towards the crash site on foot. Along the way, they encounter heavy enemy resistance, during which several soldiers were wounded, some badly. Eventually, after taking many casualties, they decide to stronghold an empty building and wait for the convoy, which is lost, bullet ridden and beleaguered making its way through the streets of Mogadishu. Sergeant First Class Paul Howe (Sanderson) argues with Captain Steele that there are still men pinned down at the crash site and wants to take a small contingent on foot. After a heated argument, Steele agrees to let Sanderson take his Delta men, and Grimes, who is a member of Chalk 4 and was separated during the start.

The convoy moving through the streets of Mogadishu is under heavy fire, with unreliable directions which leads to them around in circles. They suffer many casaulties, including one where a Delta operative (Tim Griz) has his legs blown off by an RPG and a driver of a truck (SPC Richard 'Alphabet' Kowalewski) has an unexploded RPG lodged inside his body. Eventually, the battered convoy is given the go-ahead to return to base.

Super 6-4, piloted by Mike Durant is ordered to take up the holding pattern formerly taken up by Super 6-1. After getting into positions, his Black Hawk is also struck by an RPG. Initially, all systems look good, but then the tail rotor gives out and Super 6-4 goes down as well. Since most of the force is dealing with Super 6-1, and there was only one SAR bird as no one expected two Black Hawks to be shot down, no medivac was available for Super 6-4. Streuker's Humvees are ordered to go back to assist Super 6-4. However, they cannot get there in time and Gary Gordon and Randy Shughart, two Delta snipers aboard Super 6-2 request to be inserted and provide defense for the fallen crew until a larger rescue squad arrives. After having their request rejected several times, Command eventually agrees for the two of them to be inserted. Fighting their way to the downed chopper, they rescue an injured Mike Durant and then heroically defend the chopper against mighty odds, as both of them are mortally wounded. Gordon is killed first, as Shughart then hands Duran Gordon's carbine, telling him 'Gordy's gone man, I'll be outside. Good luck,' before leaving and subsequently being killed himself. The crash site is overrun and Durant is taken prisoner.

All is quiet for a while, with both sides reaching a stalemate. Streuker's Humvees are not able to find a way to the crash site due to roadblocks, so Hoot offers to take a small contingent to it on foot, much like Sanderson earlier. They arrive at the crash site and find it deserted, albeit some looters which are scared off by Hoot. They then set out to destroy the Black Hawk as it contains documents and equipment that is best kept out of Somali hands.

Meanwhile, Twombly and Nelson, the two Chalk 4 machine gunners, who were meant to return with the Humvees are lost, and as they desperately try to find the crash site they are reunited with Yurek. As they reach Eversman's position, Twombly's radio is shot and, in a bid to save his comrade, Cpl. Jamie Smith is shot and mortally wounded. He would bleed to death later, despite desperate attempts to save him.

Hoot and his men arrive at the scene and they regroup with Eversman while a rescue convoy is formed. After a while, the sounds of fighting can be heard in the distance and Hoot asks Eversman, 'Well, shall we?' Eversman, regaining his confidence, leads his team for valour and professionalism, even marking the target building with a strobe himself so the Little Birds can perform a minigun and rocket strafing run. Afterwards, someone shouts 'The convoy is here!' as indeed, a convoy of 10th Mountain Division soldiers in Malaysian and Pakistani vehicles, along with the remnants of the lost convoy. They arrive to assist the beleagued soldiers, but it is not until early next morning before they are able to leave as it takes several hours to cut through the kevlar of the Black Hawk cockpit to retrieve Cliff Wolcott's body, as 'no man is left behind.' The APCs are full, so several of the leading characters must run the last mile on foot, also known as the Mogadishu Mile. They return without encountering significant resistance.

Back at the base, the soldiers collapse and the wounded are taken care of, while Eversman sees Hoot stock up on ammunition, and asks him whether he's going back out there or not. Hoot delivers his monologue and takes off, remarking that it's Monday and they had started a whole new week. The movie ends with Eversman speaking to Jamie Smith, promising to fulfill his final requests.

18 American soldiers and 1 Malaysian soldier were killed on the day covered, with a Delta, Matthew Rierson killed during a mortar attack on the base 2 days later. It is estimated that over a thousand Somali civilians and militia lost their lives. Mohamed Farrah Aidid was killed on August 2, 1996 during a battle with the rival militia . Major General William F. Garrison retired the following day.

Behind Enemy Lines

2007-11-17T11:53:00.001-08:00

The film's fictional plot is centered on a story of uncovering a massacre in the Bosnian War of 1992-1995 by an American airman.

Admiral Leslie Reigart's (Gene Hackman) carrier battle group is in the final stages of a NATO peace keeping deployment when the F/A-18F Super Hornet of Chris Burnett (Owen Wilson) and his pilot Jeremy Stackhouse (Gabriel Macht) is shot down by a SA-13 SAM controlled by renegade Serbian forces led by General Miroslav Lokar (Olek Krupa). Lokar is committing a secret genocidal campaign against the Bosniak people in a no-fly zone that the NATO plane violates and photographs; wanting to avoid being discovered, Lokar has the plane shot down and executes Stackhouse while Burnett escapes to the countryside.

From then on Burnett is on the run, narrowly escaping from the Serb attack time after time. A Serb sniper and right hand man of Lokar, Sasha (Vladimir Mashkov) is sent to get rid of Burnett. Bazda steps on a mine and his ally Sasha leaves him to die. Burnett is chased by Sasha and escapes death after he slides off a dam while being shot at by Sasha. He makes his way to Hac, a small town in Bosnia on the back of a pickup with a group of fighters. The entire town is at an all out war. When Serbian forces attack the mall he and the fighters are hiding in, he manages to flee by disguising himself in a Serb militant outfit after dressing up a dead Serb militant with his pilot suit. He loses his radio in the attack. All the while he maintains contact with his Admiral, to lead him to a safe point for a rescue attempt. The resulting attempt to rescue the downed aviator are complicated by political considerations which are enforced on Reigart by his NATO commanding officer Admiral Juan Miguel Piquet (Joaquim de Almeida). The situation intensifies when Serbs claim that the downed aviator was shot dead by Bosnian guerrillas, after they find their dead soldier in the pilot suit.

Finally, he manages to contact the carrier via a locater in his ejection seat. The Serbian sniper tracks Burnett and waits for him to move when he hears the noise of a helicopter and he moves in for the kill. But Burnett emerges from the snow and stabs him. Then Serbian tanks, armour vehicles and infantry surround Burnett. Then U.S helicopters appear and fire on the Serbs. Near the helicopter Burnett turns back for the photographs of the massacre. Under a hail of bullets he retrieves the disk and is rescued. After the rescue he hands over the disc containing the photographic evidence to Reigart.

Volcano

2007-11-17T11:50:00.001-08:00

Tommy Lee Jones stars as Mike Roark, a divorced Los Angeles emergency official who takes charge when a volcano grows out of the La Brea Tar Pits. A river of lava flows down Wilshire Boulevard, through the Metro Red Line subway tunnel, and creates a fountain of lava next to the Beverly Center shopping mall in Beverly Hills. The lava destroys one subway train in the Red Line, kills the Metro chairman by melting him, burns cars, firemen, homes, and fire trucks, and burns down the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

In spite of placing himself and his teenage daughter in danger, Mike decides to save the city by diverting the river of lava (with the help of demolition teams) into the concrete channel of Ballona Creek, which allows the lava to flow safely into the Pacific Ocean. But there's a problem. San Vicente Boulevard does not slope down like Mike is thinking. It slopes the opposite direction and the lava will not flow into the creek; it will instead flow the opposite direction; right into the thousands of patients at Cedars Sinai Hospital. So Mike orders the demolition team to plant charges in both the street and the Beverly Center but as they do; the lava hits a block on the Red Line subway and a massive geyser of lava erupts out of San Vicente Boulevard, threatening the Beverly Center and its occupants. Moments later, when all the charges are planted, they are fired one by one and the new 22-story Beverly Heights apartment building just across from the Beverly Center comes crashing down just as Mike Roark saves his daughter Kelly and a little boy named Tommy. Moments later, the lava hits the Pacific Ocean, bringing to an end Mt. Wilshire's reign of terror.

Hellboy

2007-11-17T11:48:00.001-08:00

In 1944, aided by the German Nazis' military and scientific departments researching the occult, the Russian mystic Grigori Rasputin spent five years building a huge machine, a dimensional portal device on an island off the coast of Scotland, which he intends to use to bring about the destruction of Earth by awakening the Ogdru Jahad (The Seven Gods of Chaos), monstrous entities which have been imprisoned and asleep since an undisclosed time. Rasputin's magical abilities alone can't sustain the power which the portal requires to remain open, which is why he uses the device to amplify and enhance his abilities. As his time to open the portal nears, he turns his attentions to his servant Ilsa von Haupstein, a member of the Nazi party, and grants her long life, youth and beauty along with the will to serve only him. Also in his employ is Nazi Colonel Karl Ruprecht Kroenen, who seemingly can't be killed. Kroenen has been decorated by Adolf Hitler for his work as one of the Nazi Party's most brutal leaders, and is Director of the Thule Occult Society, the Nazis's occult research division, and (as Rasputin's lackey) has been aiding in the construction of the portal.

However, the United States has sent forces of their own, along with a young doctor, Professor Trevor Bruttenholm, who is well-versed in terms of magic and sorcery. After deploying on the island, they watch in silence as Rasputin activates the portal and announces that "what [he] is about to do, can never be undone." After establishing the portal leading to the Ogdru Jahad, Rasputin is vulnerable because he can't simply disengage the link. At this point, fighting breaks out between the Nazi and American soldiers. In the midst of the battle, Bruttenholm manages to toss a grenade at the portal; trying to save his master, Kroenen goes after it and becomes impaled by rebar after the grenade detonates. With the device damaged, Rasputin's life force is drawn through the portal and he disappears through to the other side, seemingly dead.

Although he is lightly wounded, Bruttenholm orders the soldiers to maintain a lookout around the area as anything could have come through the portal due to the length of time Rasputin successfully held it open. The doctor's suspicions are confirmed when he and a photographer/soldier discover a bright red creature with a right arm seemingly made from stone moving amongst the crypt they were searching (revealed to be the demon Anachnu Korim Ve Ish Tachameem Oomo-odeem). Saving the creature from being shot to death by the other soldiers, Bruttenholm coaxes the creature into his arms with a candy bar, Bruttenholm discovers that the demon was a new-born baby demon, and later on that morning, the soldiers all make the creature their official mascot and give it the nickname "Hellboy."

Sixty years later, a young FBI agent named John Myers is sent from Quantico, Virginia to a building in Newark, New Jersey which is identified as Squeaky Clean Waste Management Services. This building is actually the physical location for the Bureau of Paranormal Research & Defense, which is run by Professor Bruttenholm. Bruttenholm tells Myers about their functions, then leaves him to be introduced to Hellboy through another agent, named Clay. Clay is Hellboy's primary bodyguard and housekeeper; he makes sure that Hellboy doesn't go AWOL and is always on hand to receive missions involving special 'parameters.' Also employed with the BPRD is a fish-like creature named Abe Sapien, who has a very advanced psychic ability, and Liz Sherman, a firestarter who has yet to learn to control her pyrotechnic abilities and is implied to have unintentionally injured people when overly emotional.

Meanwhile, Kroenen and Ilsa find a sacred cave and maze in the mountains of Moldavia. Kroenen deceives and stabs his guide to death, spilling his blood into an engraved portal and resurrecting Rasputin. Rasputin and his companions travel to New York and the Machen Library of Paranormal Artifacts. There, they release a demon known as Sammael, who resembles a hell-hound with a distinct insectoid appearance, and because of magical influence from Rasputin himself- now possesses the ability to split his essence in two each time he is killed, thus resulting in two Sammaels being reborn for every one that is killed.

Hellboy has to defend the city, battling the Sammaels through alleys, streets, and the subway, while trying to protect his friends from each attack. He and the team are first employed on a mission to a museum were he encounters the first Sammael. Hellboy later discovers that the Sammael deployed eggs in the city sewers. He, Sapien, and a group of agents go to the sewers. This results to the most of the team getting killed by the Sammaels that hatched from the eggs. While Sapien is wounded, Hellboy and agent Clay pursue Kroenen who appears just in front of them. The two get separated and Hellboy confronts a Sammael in a train station which ends up killing. Clay, waiting for Hellboy in the sewers, finds Kroenen. This leads Clay to fire at him, but Kroenen appears to be inmune to bullets. Just before Clay can reload his gun, he is stabbed by Kroenen repeatedly and falls unconscious. Kroenen also pretends to be defeated just before Hellboy arrives and calls for medivac. It is later revealed at the hospital that Sapien is going to be okay but that two agents died and that Clay wasn't going to survive to see the morning. Hellboy gets mad.

He is eventually pushed over the edge when Rasputin has Kroenen kill Professor Bruttenholm, who grasps onto a rosary as he dies.

Director Tom Manning takes over the BPRD and with the help of Hellboy and the others manages to find Rasputin at a mausoleum outside Moscow, Russia. Hellboy kills Kroenen to avenge the death of his adoptive father. Meanwhile Liz, with some help from Myers, lets go of the fear that has prevented her from unleashing her full potential and uses her pyrokinetic powers to encase herself in blue fire which she unleashed in a 'nova' effect, which she used to incinerate the army of Sammael demons. Unfortunately, Hellboy, Liz, and Myers are captured by Rasputin and Ilsa. Obsessed with wanting Hellboy to fulfill his destiny, Rasputin sucks Liz's soul away, killing her, and tells Hellboy that Liz will come back to life if he opens the locks of the stone that will open the portal to the Ogdru Jahad. Hellboy, caring for Liz, transforms into his true power as Anung un Rama, growing giant red horns and breathing hot breath. Just before Hellboy opens the locks with his right hand of doom that will activate the Ogdru Jahad's transformation of Earth into Hell, Myers reminds Hellboy of his Catholic faith and tosses Broom's crucifix necklace into Hellboy's grasp. Hellboy realizes that it means much more to him to live life on Earth as it is and snaps off his horns, causing the Ogdru Jahad to vanish from the world. As Rasputin expresses his disappointment in Hellboy, Hellboy stabs him with one of his broken horns.

However, Rasputin does not die; he is possessed by a demon from the Ogdru Jahad. This gigantic demon bursts out of Rasputin's body, grows to immense size, and crushes Rasputin and Ilsa. Hellboy grabs a stone sword from a nearby statue and attacks the demon's tentacles, then allows himself to be swallowed with a live band of hand grenades into its gullet. The demon dies in the resulting explosion. Liz's vital signs are gone when Hellboy returns from the fight, but he whispers into her ear and suddenly her life is restored. When she asks why her soul was returned, Hellboy replies that he simply told the demons of Hell the cost of taking her: "Hey, you on the other side. Let her go. Because for her I'll cross over, and then you'll be sorry." She and Hellboy kiss as she surrounds them in blue flame and our narrator tells us what truly makes a man, "Not how he starts things, but how he ends them."

Dare Devil

2007-11-17T11:46:00.001-08:00

The film begins in medias res with Daredevil clutching a cross at the top of a church, bleeding. He begins to make his way inside the church, to escape from the police spotlights. He is too injured to continue and collapses. The priest of the church comes along, holds a candle to his face, calling his proper name. Matthew Murdock then tells the story of his life as it flashes before his eyes.

When he was a boy, Matt often got beat up by the local bullies. He would come home to talks from his father, Jack, a washed-up boxer, who demanded he never fight back, for fear that his son wouldn't amount to anything, instead insisting he study and become a doctor or a lawyer. Together they live alone, albeit happily. One day, Matt sees Jack beating up a stranger, operating as an enforcer for the local mob boss, Fallon. As Matt runs away, he is trapped as a forklift smashes into radioactive biohazard chemicals that spill into Matt's eyes, blinding him. He cannot see, but his other four senses obtain superhuman sharpness, and he learns to perceive his surroundings by human echolocation. Blaming himself for his son's condition, Jack regains his dignity and returns to professional boxing; he is later murdered by Fallon for refusing to throw a fight. Wilson Fisk, the man who would later be the crime don known as Kingpin, gives the final death blow to Jack, killing him. Matt promises to fight evil and avenge his father.

In a well-known scene, the Daredevil logo is depicted in flames.

Years later, Murdock works as an attorney in Hell's Kitchen by day, becoming at night the vigilante known as Daredevil. As a lawyer, Matt seeks always to defend those who are innocent of any crime, spurning all other clients despite the insistence of his partner Foggy. As Daredevil, Matt seeks out and punishes those whom he cannot convict in the courtroom. He fights crime in solitude, until he meets the martial artist Elektra Natchios (Garner). Murdock becomes infatuated with Elektra and courts her. She, eventually, comes to reciprocate his emotions. In the meantime, reporter Ben Urich (Pantoliano), who has been investigating Daredevil, finds a clue that reveals Murdock as the vigilante.

After Elektra's father is killed by the Kingpin's assassin, Bullseye (Farrell), she believes the murderer to be Daredevil due to the weapon used. Armed with two sais, she locates him and attacks, beating the reluctant Daredevil by stabbing a Sai into his left shoulder. She removes Daredevil's mask, revealing his true face; before explanations can be made, Bullseye attacks. A short battle ensues, ending when Bullseye kills Elektra with her own sai. Daredevil sets out to avenge Elektra's death, fighting Bullseye in the church where he collapsed at the beginning of the film. The collapse is here explained as part of Daredevil's fights. The church itself is Daredevil's sanctuary, concealed by Father Stevens, the priest shown at the opening, who is Matthew's guide and mentor. Daredevil defeats Bullseye by throwing him through the church window, where he lands on a police car.

Daredevil then goes to Fiskcorp to fight Kingpin, beating him in single combat. Here it is revealed that the Kingpin's obesity is an illusion, created by a rotund stomach and the partial concealment of heavily muscled limbs; this is opposed to the comic series, wherein the obesity was factual. At one point in the fight, Kingpin gains the upper hand; unable to locate him, Daredevil breaks a water-pipe, causing the water to drench and thereby outline his enemy. He gains the information by which to strike Kingpin down. Matt had earlier used this method to gain a visual image of Elektra's face, which he believed very beautiful.

Daredevil spares the Kingpin after revealing his secret identity as Matt Murdock. The Kingpin promises him that he will be released from prison eventually and that Daredevil's secret won't be safe. Matt accepts this, choosing to meet the challenge when it comes. When Kingpin threatens to reveal Murdock's identity to the underworld, Murdock counters that if he did, the Kingpin would fall into disgrace for having lost a fight to a blind man.

Throughout the film, Murdock deals with the moral implications of being a vigilante, and tries to prove that he is not a villain. His decision to spare Kingpin is a means of proving the latter to himself, on the grounds that a villain would have killed his opponent. The film ends with Ben Urich, who realizes that a man like Daredevil is needed, deciding at the last moment to delete the article he had composed, and even encouraging Murdock to carry on with his fight.

True Lies

2007-11-17T11:44:00.002-08:00

The movie begins, James Bond-style, as secret agent Harry Tasker (Schwarzenegger) infiltrates the alpine Mansion of an international arms smuggler. Harry's mission is to track down nuclear warheads stolen from Kazakhstan. He is aided by his fellow Omega Sector agents, Albert "Gib" Gibson (Arnold) and Faisil (Grant Heslov), who communicate with him from a computerized van, waiting outside the mansion. Inside the Mansion, Tasker meets Juno Skinner (Carrere), an antiquities dealer, and the two dance the tango (over the song "Por Una Cabeza" - William Schimmel's version [1]) while Harry arranges an explosive escape.

In a twist for an action hero, Tasker has an ordinary home life. His wife, Helen (Curtis), is unaware that her husband is a spy and believes he is a computer salesman. Helen thinks Harry is boring, and their daughter Dana (Dushku), doesn't respect her father.

Working undercover, Harry and Gib contact Juno Skinner at her Washington D.C. office. It turns out Skinner is using antiques to smuggle the nuclear warheads into the United States on behalf of a radical Islamic terrorist group named "Crimson Jihad". The group's leader, Salim Abu Aziz (Malik), follows Harry and Gib when he believes they are asking too many questions.

An extended action sequence begins as Harry allows the faction members to tail him into a shopping center. He leads them into a restroom, which is destroyed in the subsequent melee. Aziz flees the battle on a stolen motorcycle, followed by Harry on a stolen police horse. The chase leads into a hotel, where Aziz rides the motorcycle into an elevator. The pursuit continues on the hotel roof, where Aziz escapes by riding the motorcycle off the roof into a swimming pool on the roof of a neighboring building. Harry tries to pursue but the horse refuses to jump and Harry ends up hanging over the edge.

Because of this action, Harry is late getting home and misses his own birthday party. To make amends, he visits Helen at her office the next day. He overhears Helen talking with a co-worker about her affair with Simon (Paxton). The subplot that follows (for the next third of the film) involves Harry's use of his agency's surveillance methods to learn more about Helen's liaison with Simon. At first, Harry believes Simon is an enemy agent, but soon discovers that Simon is a used car salesman who pretends to be a spy in order to seduce women. Harry and his team follow Helen to Simon's house, which they raid using SWAT tactics and a helicopter. Helen is taken prisoner and interrogated by Harry and Gib, who have disguised their voices. Under interrogation, Helen admits that she never slept with Simon, but that she craves adventure that she believes her husband can never provide. For kicks, Harry and Gib (dressed in spy garb and driving a white van) bring Simon to the top of a high dam where they intimidate him. Simon, dressed only in an undershirt and boxer shorts, thinks they are going to kill him. He tells them his whole scheme and soils himself. He finally folds to the point where he says, "Listen, I'm not a spy. I'm nothing! I'm navel lint! I have to lie to women to get laid. I got a little dick!; it's pathetic." The duo cock a gun and then Simon unsightly urinates and Harry and Gib leave him at the dam.

Harry gives Helen an assignment he thinks will appeal to her need for excitement. He enlists her in a mock spy operation which leads her to a hotel suite where she performs a striptease for Harry, who hides his face in shadow. Just as Helen discovers Harry through his disguise, the terrorists (Crimson Jihad) burst into the room, and Harry and Helen are taken prisoner.

At the terrorists' hideout, a small island near the town of Marathon in the Florida Keys, Aziz reveals that his faction has four of the stolen nuclear warheads and intends to detonate them. One is armed and set to blow up the island. Harry weakly apologizes to Helen just as she gives him a solid punch to the face that sends him to the ground. The two are eventually tied up. Skinner shows up, embarrassing Harry in the process by manipulating Helen into believing they may have had an affair (which they didn't). Helen only finds out more about Harry's secret past when Harry is injected with truth serum from a sadistic doctor he who eventually kills during his escape from the torture room.

A gun battle follows and most of the terrorists are killed, but one of the stolen nuclear warheads is set to detonate. The remaining terrorists flee the hideout with the other warheads. Harry and Helen separate during the battle. Aziz fires a rocket launcher at Harry, setting off an explosion and thinks he has eliminated Harry, but he escapes by jumping into the water. Helen is taken hostage by Skinner.

Once reunited with Gib, Harry coordinates an attack on the terrorist convoy, which is driving up the Overseas Highway connecting the Florida Keys. A truck carrying one of the nuclear warheads is blown up and part of the bridge is destroyed. In the limo, Helen attacks Skinner when her guard is down, in the ensuing fight, for control of the gun, the limo driver is killed, causing the limo to accelerate out of control towards the damaged part of the bridge. Harry eventually manages to rescue Helen just as the limo descends into the water through a destroyed portion of the bridge (presumably sending Skinner to her death in the process). Two of the stolen warheads are destroyed, while the bomb back at the hideout is allowed to explode relatively harmlessly.

Eliza Dushku as Dana, Harry Tasker's daughter.

Harry's daughter is kidnapped (offscreen) by Aziz and his terrorists. Harry goes to her rescue in a Harrier jet. There is a climactic battle with Aziz and his men at the top of a skyscraper, with Harry piloting the Harrier jet through the city of Miami.

Meanwhile, Dana steals the key used to detonate the nuclear bomb. This is discovered by Aziz, who chases her along with several henchmen. Dana is chased onto a crane on the roof of the skyscraper, and Dana threatens to drop the key. Harry flies the jet plane to where Dana is, and Dana slips and almost falls off the crane. Aziz grabs his gun, and fires at Harry, which shattered the back of the cockpit canopy. Aziz's henchmen, in a helicopter, flies by and shoots and shatters the front of the cockpit canopy.

Aziz and Dana end up on top of the Harrier, next to a skyscraper. Nervously standing on the jet in mid-air, a panicky Aziz threatens to shoot Dana as she clings to the front of the jet with her father. Harry signals Dana with a nod as she understands and clings on, just as he tips the jet sideways, causing Aziz to fall and his jacket to be caught on one of the jet's air-to-air missiles. "You're fired." Harry says to Aziz just as he launches the projectile through a building and into the helicopter piloted by Aziz's men resulting in a fireball.

The movie concludes "One Year Later..." with the Taskers back at home, though Helen and Dana are now aware of Harry's secret profession. Indeed, Helen has become Harry's partner, and they go off on a mission together. They meet up with Simon, who is still pretending to be a spy to pick up women. They confront him and he again wets himself and runs screaming from the room. The film ends as the couple dance a tango. A cut scene is shown after the credits with Gib in the van complaining about how he's been in the van for 15 years. He also says that next time, it's Harry and Helen's turn to be in the van.

Predator

2007-11-17T11:44:00.001-08:00

The film begins with a mysterious spacecraft entering the Earth's atmosphere. On the coast of Guatemala, a US Army Special Forces unit, led by Major Alan "Dutch" Schaefer (Arnold Schwarzenegger), is ordered by General Phillips (R. G. Armstrong) to rescue a cabinet minister. Dutch is informed they will be on their own. Former teammember and current CIA agent Major George Dillon (Carl Weathers) joins the team and they travel by helicopters to their destination within the jungle.

They are dropped behind the border where they find a crashed helicopter as well as traces of rebels being followed by U.S. soldiers. This unusual circumstance is noted by the team. They soon discover the slain U.S. soldiers hanging from a tree, all of them skinned and mutilated. Dutch reads the dog tags of one of the victims and realizes it to be his friend, Lieutenant James Hopper, a Green Beret squad leader stationed in Fort Bragg, and questions Dillon as to why Hopper's unit was in the jungle. Evidence from the pitched battle puzzles the team.

They find the guerrilla post, including multiple rebels and Soviet military advisers. The team attacks and destroys the base with little effort and with no casualties on their part, but the prisoners were marked as members of the CIA and assassinated in advance. Dutch puts together the intelligence items gleaned from his team members immediately following the attack, learning that not only was the "cabinet minister" story false, but the slain U.S. soldiers they'd discovered had been ordered to attack the base before disappearing. Dutch angrily confronts Dillon who states that Dutch and his team are "expendable assets". With a female prisoner, Anna, (Elpidia Carrillo) in their custody, the whole group proceeds to their Rendezvous point for extraction near the border. As they move through the jungle, they are unknowingly stalked by an unseen creature who views the group in infra-red and records certain phrases they speak.

The team attempting to kill the Predator. Left to right: Dutch, Mac, Dillon, Poncho, Billy

The group halts when its tracker Billy (Sonny Landham) is disturbed by a mysterious presence hiding within the trees. When Anna attempts to escape, Hawkins (Shane Black) chases her but is killed by the stalking creature.

Blain (Jesse Ventura) is killed moments later while searching for Hawkins' body. When Sergeant "Mac" Eliot (Bill Duke) rushes to assist his fallen comrade, he sees what appears to be a large, transparent creature with flashing eyes. Eliot starts screaming and immediately opens fire and is joined by the remaining members of the unit. In what is known as a "mad minute", all members of the team saturate the jungle with bullets. They stop firing and to their shock, are unable to find any bodies. The team cannot locate Hawkins' body but takes Blain's body with them. What they did not know, but is realized by Anna, was that they had only managed to wound the creature slightly in the leg, leaving a small puddle of glowing green blood on a jungle frond.

That night they decide to set up a "night defensive position" with claymore mines, flares and trip wires. Later the flares go off and Eliot wrestles with what he believes to be the creature that killed his friend, but upon using a flashlight to examine his kill, sees that what he has actually been fighting is a wild boar. The team finds it funny at first, but stop laughing when they realize that the creature used the convenient distraction to come into the camp and make off with Blain's body. Now the remaining team members begin to realize they are dealing with a powerful alien creature. When questioned at daylight, Anna recalls a local legend of villagers disappearing in particularly hot years, much like this one, until their mutilated bodies are discovered. She says that the village women refer to whatever killed them as the "Demon who makes Trophies of Men." Dutch decides to lay a trap for the creature knowing now that they are all being hunted. After the various traps are set, Dutch walks out into the clearing to get the creature to move and expose itself. Suddenly a huge thing trips a net trap, but the creature struggles free, shooting in all directions and causing a dead fall log to swing down and seriously injure Poncho (Richard Chaves).

Mac and Dillon pursue the Predator claiming that they want "payback" for their lost comrades, only to find the creature waiting for them as they are killed by its advanced weaponry and tricked by its playback of phrases like "over here" in their voices. Dutch, Billy, Pancho, and Anna struggle through the jungle towards the extraction point. At a huge log bridge, Billy stays behind to make a suicide-stand against the Predator, which buys the survivors some time. The creature kills Billy easily and catches up with the rest and kills Poncho and slightly wounds Dutch. Realizing that the Predator will not kill an unarmed person as it would be "unsporting", Dutch refuses to give Anna a gun and tells her to flee towards the extraction location.

Although wounded, and with the creature catching up, Dutch escapes by sliding off of a cliff and dropping into a huge river eventually going over a large waterfall and crawling out through the mud at the water's edge. The Predator continues his pursuit, landing in the water seconds behind Dutch. Covered in mud, Dutch finally sees the creature when the advanced technology that warped visible light is damaged and waits for his own death. But the creature doesn't appear to see him. Once the creature leaves, Dutch realizes the creature couldn't see him because he was covered in mud. The mud blocked the heat from his body and made him invisible to infrared vision. The creature goes to where he had left Mac's, Dillon's and Billy's, bodies so that he could prepare his human trophies. Meanwhile Dutch, lacking firearms, prepares to fight the creature by creating a variety of primitive weapons, including bow and arrows, and two M203 grenades he has left, converting the shells into improvised explosive arrows. As Dutch arms himself for battle, the Predator cleans the skulls of his victims to display as trophies. The scene is set for the final showdown between the two.

After nightfall, Dutch starts a large fire and lets out an intense war cry and awaits the creature's arrival. Dutch surprises the creature using a modified explosive-tipped arrow once again making the creature visible and the creature fires his plasma caster energy weapon all over the jungle trying to flush Dutch out into the open. Dutch gets his two spears he had made and follows a trail of the creatures blood, but that is exactly what the predator wanted him to do. The creature circled around Dutch to find him in a little hole. Dutch makes a run for it but ends up falling in a river, washing away his mud disguise. The creature corners Dutch. The two face each other and the creature decides to remove his high-tech weapons in favor of more sporting hand to hand combat. The creature casts off its firearms and its mask, showing its true face and a fight follows where, because of the huge difference in size, Dutch seems to be getting the worse of the fight. But, Dutch tricks the alien into following him into a booby trap, springing a huge log which crushes the Predator.

The creature, now mortally wounded and covered in its own glowing blood, activates a self-destruct device attached to its wrist and begins to mimic a maniacal laugh patterned after Billy's voice which the creature had copied. Dutch immediately runs for cover as the creature self-destructs and a massive explosion ignites the jungle. As dawn breaks the rescue helicopter with General Phillips and Anna arrives on the scene (which shortly before had been hidden by a mushroom cloud) and encounters Dutch standing alone on the scorched plain. Flying back to safety, Dutch stares at the jungle in mournful silence.

Cliffhanger

2007-11-17T11:41:00.000-08:00

In the opening scene, hotshot mountain climber and rescue worker Gabe Walker (Sylvester Stallone) meets with his friends Hal Tucker (Michael Rooker) and Jessie Deighan (Janine Turner) on a narrow peak in the Rocky Mountains. While moving from one mountaintop to another via a steel cable, Hal's girlfriend Sarah's harness breaks and she is left dangling over a deep chasm. While the others frantically come up with a solution, Gabe straps himself in and goes out to save Sarah, but fails.

Months later, Gabe returns to town for the first time since Sarah's funeral. Overcome with guilt over having lost Sarah, Gabe has returned only to pack up his remaining possessions so he can leave permanently. However, a radio distress call comes in to the local rescue center where Hal and Jessie still work. Hal heads off to find the stranded climbers while Jessie pleads with Gabe to join Hal's rescue attempt. Battling his inner demons, Gabe meets Hal on the mountain, where the latter, still angry with Gabe for failing to save Sarah, lashes out and almost throws Gabe off the cliff.

The rescue turns out to be a fake; the two climbers are taken prisoner by ruthless thieves led by Eric Qualen (John Lithgow), who seeks to recover three suitcases containing $100 million in uncirculated US currency belonging to the United States Department of the Treasury. With the aid of turncoat Treasury agent Richard Travers (Rex Linn), Qualen and his associates attempt to steal the suitcases via a daring air-to-air transfer, but the transfer is foiled and the three suitcases are lost among the mountains. The thieves' plane loses power during the attempt and crashes. The suitcases holding the money have beacon locators, but the thieves need expert help locating them in the mountainous terrain, thus prompting them to summon the unwitting Gabe and Hal to their aid.

The group locates the first of the three cases, and Gabe is tethered to a rope and ordered to scale a steep wall to retrieve it. Gabe frees himself from the rope, and the group begins firing up the cliff, causing an avalanche which kills one of Qualen's men. Seeing the money flutter down from the top of the cliff, Qualen presumes Gabe dead and orders the group to proceed to the second case.

Walker survives the avalanche and makes his way to an abandoned cabin where he finds Jessie, who was airlifted into the area earlier. Together, they reach the second case only moments before Qualen and his mercenaries arrive. They find the case empty (except for a single $1000 bill with the words "Want to Trade?" written on it) and split up to find Gabe. A fight ensues between Gabe and one of the thieves, resulting in the latter plummeting into the darkness. The thieves, with Hal still as their guide, make their way to the abandoned cabin for the night while Gabe and Jessie throw the money into a fire and lay down to sleep.

The following morning, Gabe and Jessie attempt to beat the thieves to the remaining case. Qualen flags down and commandeers a rescue helicopter while Travers, Hal, and the last remaining mercenary track the case. Once within a reasonably close distance to the case, Travers leaves the mercenary to kill Tucker, only to find that Gabe has beaten him to the case once again. Gabe kills Travers while Hal manages to dispatch the remaining mercenary. Meanwhile, Jessie, who signaled the rescue helicopter thinking it to be a fellow rescue team member, is taken hostage by Qualen.

Communicating by radio, Qualen and Gabe make a deal to exchange Jessie for the money Gabe collected from the third case. Qualen releases Jessie, but Gabe throws the bag of money into the helicopter's rotors. In the following confusion, Qualen's helicopter falls precariously against the side of the mountain, suspended by a steel cable. Gabe and Qualen fight atop the dangling wreck. Gabe manages to jump off as the wreckage plummets several thousand feet, carrying Qualen with it. The film ends as Gabe, Hal, and Jessie are found by federal agents and rescued.

Conair

2007-11-17T11:39:00.000-08:00

Cameron Poe, a highly decorated and honorably discharged United States Army Ranger returns to Alabama from his tour of duty in the Gulf War to reunite himself with his pregnant wife, a waitress at a local diner. Upon leaving the diner, he and his wife are assaulted by three belligerent customers, and Poe accidentally kills one of them in self-defense. He pleads guilty to manslaughter charges on the recommendation of his attorney, but receives the maximum sentence of 7-10 years because his military skills classify him a deadly weapon. He is incarcerated before his daughter is born.

Poe maintains correspondence with his daughter throughout the duration of his sentence. During this time, elements of his personality reveal a sense of honor, nobility, and utilizing violence only as a last resort to resolving conflicts. To pass the time, Poe becomes a heavy reader, learns Spanish and origami. He develops a close friendship with fellow prisoner Mike "Baby-O" O'Dell. He is paroled on his daughter's seventh birthday, having served seven years in prison.

Poe is scheduled to fly home to Alabama along with an assortment of inmates bound for a new Supermax prison being constructed in his home state. The inmates are incarcerated for a variety of extreme offenses, ranging from serial- and mass-murder to an assortment of petty offenses. Many are extremely dangerous and chained to their individual transport cages inside the C-123 airplane, including William "Billy Bedlam" Bedford, Nathan "Diamond Dog" Jones and Cyrus "The Virus" Grissom.

The transfer is overseen by U.S. Marshal Vince Larkin (John Cusack), brought in to ensure a safe and efficient transfer and DEA agent Duncan Malloy (Colm Meaney), interested in planting an undercover officer among the officers & inmates to acquire valuable intelligence from one of the convicts on the flight. Larkin discourages Malloy's intent to plant an armed undercover DEA agent aboard the plane. Malloy grudgingly accepts the conditions, but slips the agent a concealed firearm in his sock just before he boards the plane.

After take-off several of the prisoners remove hidden pins from beneath their skin. One of the inmates, Pinball (Dave Chappelle), retrieves petrol and matches lodged in his throat and ignites a fellow convict, causing a distraction and allowing Grissom and Jones the opportunity to unlock their restraints. Pinball opens Grissom and Jones's security cages. The inmates revolt, killing or detaining the guards in the cabin and killing the co-pilot with the security firearm. Grissom instructs the pilot to reassure the control tower below that the flight is on schedule, and the inmates take control of the plane.

As Pinball unlocks the restraints of the undercover DEA agent he discovers his hidden gun. The agent panics and immediately takes Pinball hostage and starts making demands for a prompt landing. After being momentarily distracted, the agent is shot by Grissom. The plane makes its scheduled landing in Carson City for a prisoner swap, where an assortment of prisoners and guards disguised as prisoners (to stand in for prisoners killed in the takeover) are transferred off the plane. Several other convicts are transferred aboard the plane. One of them is Garland "The Marietta Mangler" Greene, a notorious serial killer. Another is Francisco Cindino, the mastermind of the operation, a prominent drug lord that drafted the other prisoners into the operation in exchange for asylum in "non-extradition territory".

For the duration of the movie Poe remains the anti-hero, thrust into a heroic stance to protect both Baby-O, who suffers from diabetes and needs a now-missing insulin shot, and one of the female guards, who is restrained and of particular interest to "Johnny 23," an infamous serial rapist, with "23" being the number of his victims. Poe, on numerous occasions, is responsible for alerting local authorities to the dire situation of the plane and, in one sequence, writes messages to Larkin on the shirt of Pinball (he died during the rush to get back on the Jailbird in Carson City after he removes the plane's transponder), which he drops out of the plane onto the streets of a crowded city. He is successful in concealing his identity until the end of the film, where he actively resists the inmates on the plane and aids Larkin on a ground chase through Las Vegas after the plane famously crashes on the Las Vegas Strip. The end of the chase sees Cyrus crushed by a large machine, Poe reunited with his daughter (having managed to preserve the stuffed rabbit), and Garland Greene eluding capture and gambling in a casino.

Air Force One

2007-11-17T10:59:00.000-08:00

President James Marshall (Ford), on a visit to Moscow, announces in a speech that the United States will not negotiate with terrorists, after an operation by U.S. and Russian Federation special forces captured the tyrannical leader of Kazakhstan, General Ivan Radek (Jürgen Prochnow). With his visit to Moscow complete, the President is now on his way home to Washington, D.C. aboard Air Force One. However, Soviet neo-nationalists posing as a news crew have infiltrated the plane.

One of President's Secret Service detail, Gibbs (Xander Berkeley), works alongside the terrorists; once the plane is aloft, he kills three fellow agents before opening the on-board weapons locker. The terrorists - led by Egor Korshunov (Gary Oldman) - storm the plane and take hostages, including Chief of Staff Lloyd Shepard (Paul Guilfoyle), Military Advisor Major Caldwell (William H. Macy), National Security Advisor Jack Doherty (Tom Everett), and Marshall's wife and daughter. Several others are killed during the shootout, including the military officer charged with carrying and protecting the nuclear launch codes of the United States Strategic Command (carried in a briefcase known as the football). The flight crew declare an emergency and prepare to land at Ramstein Air Base, Germany. The President is evacuated to an escape pod by numerous Secret Service agents, who are killed defending him. At the last moment, Marshall flees the escape pod and retreats to the baggage deck. The terrorists kill the pilots and take control of the plane, which takes off again, to the surprise of standby Ramstein crew.

In Washington, D.C, Vice President Kathryn Bennett (Glenn Close) arrives at the White House, assessing the situation alongside the Secretary of Defense Walter Dean (Dean Stockwell) and other officials; they soon learn that Marshall did not board the escape pod. The terrorists call the Vice President, demand the release of General Radek, and threaten to begin executing hostages. This threat is soon realized -- National Security Advisor Doherty is shot and killed when Bennett calls to report that Russian President Petrov will not release Radek (he tells Bennett he would only do so to save President Marshall).

Still on the baggage deck, having already killed one terrorist, Marshall finds a satellite phone. While attempting to call the White House, a second terrorist finds Marshall and detains him; nevertheless, the call reaches the Situation Room. Marshall manages to covertly order an attack on Air Force One so he can subdue the terrorist. The plan works, and Marshall attempts a fuel dump to land the plane. Recognizing the presence of someone on the baggage deck (the terrorists assume him to be a Secret Service agent), Korshunov executes Deputy Press Secretary Melanie Mitchell in an effort to force Marshall's surrender. While two of the terrorists attempt to restore the fuel controls, Marshall slips by and takes another terrorist hostage, using his keys to free the hostages. Major Caldwell proposes a ruse whereby an air-to-air tanker will force Air Force One to an altitude that permits parachuting from the rear of the plane. Many of the hostages escape with parachutes, but then the tanker explodes, stranding the President and his family, Caldwell, Shepard, and Gibbs, all of which are captured and taken to Korshunov.

Korshunov forces the President to call Petrov to secure Radek's release. In Washington, Dean persuades the Cabinet to sign a Presidential Incapacitation Document, but Bennett refuses to sign it. As Radek's release is prepared, Marshall and the hostages free themselves and kill the remaining terrorists, but Korshunov captures Grace and also shoots Chief of Staff Shepard and flees to the parachute ramp. In a vicious fight, Marshall manages to eject Korshunov from the aircraft by deploying the latter's parachute while it is wound around his neck. Marshall calls Petrov before Radek's release, and prison guards kill the former general as he flees.

Kazakh MiG fighter jets loyal to Radek reach Air Force One and inflict serious damage on its engines and maneuvering mechanisms. U.S. fighters intercept and fend off the hostile aircraft just in time to save the President's plane. With Air Force One unable to land, an air-to-air ropeline rescue is arranged. Before the evacuation can be completed, the plane begins a rapid descent with Marshall, Gibbs, Major Caldwell, and a rescuer. Marshall insists on rescuing his family and then a wounded staff member before he evacuates the plane. Once it is the President's turn to leave, Gibbs drops all pretense, killing two of the others. Marshall fights with Gibbs, and escapes on the ropeline, leaving Gibbs aboard the 747, which crashes into the sea. The C-130 rescue aircraft announces that it is now "Air Force One", and the film ends with the plane flying toward safety with the F-15s flying and the First Family aboard.

Doom

2007-11-17T10:55:00.000-08:00

The film begins on Mars in 2046, in a research facility at a location known as Olduvai where scientists are running for their lives. One by one, they are grabbed and pulled into the darkness by some unseen monster, screaming in terror. Eventually, all but a Dr. Carmack are killed. As the doctor sends an SOS rescue signal, the "thing" breaks through the door, growls and stares at the doctor, and the scene fades out.

On Earth, a team of elite special ops Marines has their leave interrupted by Sarge (The Rock), who has received a call from Olduvai. As the men suit up, Sarge pulls aside one of his men, John "Reaper" Grimm (Karl Urban), and asks him not to go because his sister is on the station. Reaper suits up anyway, and their team is deployed to Mars via a teleportation device called the Ark, located in Nevada. The Ark was discovered in 2026, and for twenty years scientists have been trying to discover who built it, and why. Upon arriving at the Mars research facility of the Union Aerospace Corporation (UAC), they meet a victim of the Ark travel, Pinky (Dexter Fletcher), who had his legs severed by the Ark during an early attempt to use it. They meet up with Dr. Samantha Grimm (Rosamund Pike), Reaper's sister, who explains the situation.

"Reaper" on the left and "Goat" shown on the right.

Their mission is simple: eliminate the threat, secure the facility, and retrieve UAC property. They set off and quickly locate Dr. Carmack, who is disturbed to the point of tearing off his own ear. They return him to the lab, and Dr. Grimm tries to sedate him. John converses with his sister and learns that they have discovered humanoid remains on Mars that contain a 24th chromosome that made the creatures superhuman, invulnerable to disease and with the ability to regenerate quickly. Meanwhile, the Marines continue to explore the facility, encountering strange creatures intent on killing them. One of the creatures, an imp, succeeds in slaying one of the Marines, but is promptly killed and brought to Dr. Grimm. From blood samples taken from two hostile creatures, it is determined that their genetic makeup has been altered by the addition of the 24th chromosome; however, the injected chromosome seems to "choose" whether or not the result causes the person to be superhuman or a monster, using what Dr. Grimm believes to be the unmapped 10% of the human genome, and latching onto what could be a gene that predestines people to be evil. Consequently, the chromosome is classified as an infection, which is later spread by the projectile tongues of those infected.

Through multiple attacks by the imps, the squad is reduced to just Sarge, Reaper, The Kid (Al Weaver), Duke (Razaaq Adoti) and Dr. Grimm. They realize that despite their best efforts, a larger monster called "The Baron" (presumed to be the original infection) has escaped to Earth through the Ark. Before leaving, Sarge takes the Bio Force Gun (BFG9000 of Doom fame), humorously dubbing it the "Big Fucking Gun".

On Earth, the group finds the UAC facility full of bodies. Sarge orders that everyone breathing must be killed to prevent the infection from spreading. The Kid finds a group of living, non-infected humans and reports this to Sarge. He argues that the order should be rescinded ("Go to hell"), but Sarge responds by saying that violating the CO's order is punishable by death and shoots The Kid for insubordination. The group continues through the facility until Duke is killed during a major assault by zombies. In addition to Duke's death, and Sarge being dragged away by the zombies, Reaper is hit by a ricocheting bullet. Consequently, to save his life, Dr. Grimm injects Reaper with Chromosome 24. Rather than becoming one of the monsters, Reaper is endowed with superhuman strength and speed, as well as near instantaneous healing ability.

Following Reaper's change, the movie takes on its first-person shooter perspective, reminiscent of Doom 3. In a span of a few minutes, Reaper slays an array of monsters, including the Baron, several imps, a fair amount of zombies, and Pinky (who has appropriately mutated into a Pinky Demon).

Switching back to a standard camera angle, Reaper emerges at the exit of the facility. Bodies are scattered everywhere, and a blue burning hole in the wall, the mark of a BFG blast, is still settling. Near this hole, Reaper encounters Sarge and an unconscious Dr. Grimm lying on the floor. Reaper asks Sarge what happened to the non-infected survivors, to which he replies that he took care of it: he has killed them. Reaper then notices the same injury on Sarge that Dr. Carmack had before he turned into an Imp. After Dr. Grimm escapes to safety, the two Marines face off, Reaper having exhausted most of his current clip and Sarge similarly limited to a single BFG round. After ineffectively using this ammunition, the two engage in hand-to-hand combat, which favors Sarge. Sarge's transformation begins to manifest during the battle, making him that much stronger. Reaper prevails by throwing Sarge into the Ark, followed by a grenade. The Ark locks down after this, preventing further travel and appearing to seal the fate of both Sarge and the UAC Mars facility. Reaper then retrieves Dr. Grimm, who is just visibly conscious but unable to stand or walk, and holds her in his arms as he uses the elevator to return to the Earth's surface.

Ocean's Thirteen

2007-11-17T10:54:00.001-08:00

Danny Ocean's (George Clooney) crew gather around a hospital bed where Reuben Tishkoff (Elliott Gould) lies after suffering a heart attack. A flashback to four weeks earlier shows Reuben meeting with Vegas' most hated businessman, Willy Bank (Al Pacino) on the construction site of their new hotel. After Reuben secures crucial deals for Bank, he is intimidated into giving up his part of the investment, a strategy often employed by the vindictive Bank in previous deals. The shock causes Reuben's heart attack.

The gang swears to take revenge on Bank by utterly ruining his hotel, "The Bank", on the night of its grand opening. They aim to rig the various games at the casino so the players will win instead of the house. Bank was forced to take some hostile investors onto his Board of Directors to open the hotel, and if the house does not make at least $500 million in the first quarter, Bank will be removed from the chairmanship of his own hotel. The team also wishes to destroy any chance of Bank's winning the prestigious Five Diamond Award, the highest distinction granted a hotel. All of Bank's other hotels have won this award, and he has purchased valuable diamond necklaces to commemorate the successes. He has already optimistically purchased a necklace for his new hotel as well.

The main problem they face now is the artificial intelligence security system which 'can not only think, but reason', Greco, for which they hire Roman Nagel (Eddie Izzard) to lend his technical expertise. Their only other problem is how to ensure that all the patrons of the casino leave the place after making their wins but before they can lose their money all over again. Roman reveals the system was designed by a former classmate of his, Greco Montgomery (Julian Sands) and that it's designed to monitor all gamblers' psychological responses upon winning to make sure that they weren't expecting it (indicating a legitimate win). The only way to bypass it is by a huge natural disaster or a magnetron. If the system senses any trouble, it will automatically lock down, and rebooting would take three minutes twenty-one seconds. They rent a large tunnel boring machine, so it will induce an artificial earthquake underneath the hotel by generating the same resonance as the building. This is supposedly the drill that dug the Channel Tunnel from the British side.

Rusty (Brad Pitt) and Danny set about polluting a hotel room with biochemicals and bedbugs. In the lobby, a disguised Saul (Carl Reiner) is in line to check in. He "accidentally" drops a Five Diamond Award folder, catching the attention of Bank's aide, Abigail (Ellen Barkin), who immediately rushes to assist Saul. In line behind them, the genuine Five Diamond Award reviewer (David Paymer), who is supposed to be anonymous, is rudely jolted and then given the chemical-treated room by a bribed clerk. For the rest of his stay, the team ensures that he is treated as if he were an unwanted guest at a one-star hotel — he is not able to eat at the best restaurant so that the team can feed him a contaminated dumpling in the Chinese Restaurant (that gives him food poisoning), has his room filled with a noxious smell, gains multiple rashes from chemicals planted in the room, and is finally evicted from the hotel early by brutish security guards (Virgil and Turk in disguise). Before he leaves, the unhappy reviewer confronts Bank without revealing his identity and walks off.

Virgil Malloy (Casey Affleck) is sent to a Mexican factory to make the rigged dice. Upset by the terrible working conditions at the factory, he leads the workers on strike for better pay. The team sends Virgil's brother Turk (Scott Caan) to get the factory running again, but instead Turk joins the strike. The team eventually pay the factory workers their requested raise ($36,000 for the entire labor force, amounting to a $3.50 per week increase) and the factory reopens.

Disaster strikes when the drill intended to simulate the earthquake breaks down. As the replacement drill (the one that dug the Channel Tunnel from the French side) is only available for purchase and exceeds their budget, they have no choice but to make a deal with their old enemy Terry Benedict (Andy Garcia) for funding; Benedict claims he has a rivalry with Bank because Bank's new hotel is blocking his pool from sunlight. Benedict requests that, in return for his financial aid, they double his investment plus steal the diamond necklaces that Bank has purchased in expectation of his Five Diamond accreditation; Ocean, Rusty and Linus reluctantly agree. Soon after, Benedict even plays along with the plan when he coerces Banks into buying a rigged domino table, run by Frank (Bernie Mac), posing as a domino dealer. The diamonds are housed in a glass case in the penthouse and are worth $250 million collectively.

Yen (Shaobo Qin) is introduced as Mr. Weng, a high-roller and rich businessman, and Linus (Matt Damon), disguised with a distinctive nose, as his business manager. Yen the acrobat infiltrates the elevator shafts and air conditioning ducts and discovers that accessing the diamonds from the floor or ceiling will be borderline impossible. The new plan to access the diamonds is for the disguised Linus to seduce Abigail, who has access to the room with the diamonds. When opening night arrives, Linus uses pheromones to seduce her, leading him to the diamond room for privacy. Inside, he inconspicuously places small explosives around the base of the column containing the jewels.

Downstairs, the FBI enters and arrests Livingston (Eddie Jemison), as he has been caught rigging machines. An agent (Bob Einstein) tells Bank that a new set of machines will be coming in shortly. Roman then brings in the rigged machines, putting them in place of the genuine machines. Prints on the machine are matched with Livingston’s, and the casino comes up with a list of known associates- Ocean's Eleven. The list, with pictures, is downloaded to the computer in Bank's office. Basher (Don Cheadle), dressed up as the stunt man for the hotel's opening show that evening, distracts Bank from the computer while Virgil and Turk modify the downloaded names and faces so that the team's cover is preserved.

The infiltrated dice from Turk and Virgil's Mexican factory are distributed throughout the casino. When the team activates their equipment, disguised as Zippo lighters, the dice will flip and stop, manipulating the outcomes of games. Also, a slot is rigged to pay a huge progressive, and Rusty leaves the final dollar coin for the next person who trips the win (since the monitoring system is still active at this point).

With the drill turned on, a mock earthquake begins and Bank rushes to the Greco system. His tampered mobile phone acts as a magnetron, shutting down Greco for three minutes. Bank is trapped in the security office and the rigged games can now be played. Team members in the casino, including Danny, Rusty, Saul, Yen, Frank, and a recovered Reuben, all make sure that everyone who plays at the casino wins, so the casino pays out millions. When the system reactivates, a stronger earthquake is simulated, prompting everyone in the casino to cash in their chips and evacuate, taking away all the money with them.

Upstairs, the FBI agent disrupts Linus and Abigail, revealing Linus was using her to steal the diamonds and replace them with replicas. As Linus is then taken away, the agent is revealed to be his successful criminal father, who is also in on the scheme. As the two reach the helipad to leave, Francois Toulour (Vincent Cassel), alias "the Night Fox" (the antagonist from Ocean's Twelve), reveals himself, after following the whole crew from the start in a partnership with Benedict. Held at gunpoint from Toulour, Linus hands over the diamonds. Toulour throws him the gun, which is revealed to be empty, then base-jumps off the casino roof.

Basher lands the helicopter, and the team detonates the explosives, freeing the diamond case from the floor. The helicopter takes off, detaching the glass case carrying the real diamonds from the building. It is revealed that Linus never switched the diamonds. Danny confronts Bank, who has lost a total of $500 million dollars from the whole ordeal, not including the necklaces, telling him he broke the rules and needed to learn from what he's done; he also states that Bank obviously isn't going to go to the police and that there's no point in Bank threatening him, because all the people Bank could hire to destroy Danny like Danny more than Bank. As the helicopter flies off, an aghast Bank watches shell shocked. As Francois also witnesses this, he discovers his set of diamonds are fake and throws them away.

The team celebrates as the fireworks Bank had organized go off on the stroke of midnight, and Reuben is given the deed to 4.6 acres of land on the Las Vegas Strip. Danny pays a final visit to Benedict, chiding him for his trickery, telling him they were aware of Toulour's presence and informing him that the 72 million dollars promised to Benedict had been donated in Benedict's name to the children's charity "Camp to Belong".

Danny, Rusty, and Linus meet at McCarran airport and watch Benedict being featured on The Oprah Winfrey Show- a reference to a previous scene in which Rusty finds Ocean in his apartment watching the show and crying- for his apparent generous donation, before going their separate ways. Before leaving the airport, Rusty sits down to play a game of slots presumably rigged by Livingston. After rigging the machine to deliver a progressive jackpot on the next play, Rusty gives his seat at the machine to the beleaguered hotel reviewer. Rusty smiles as he walks away, hearing the man scream that he had won the $11 million jackpot as everyone crowds around him and cheers. This is alluded to earlier when several characters are debating how much money they would need to be paid in order to suffer as the reviewer did.

The Departed

2007-11-17T10:52:00.001-08:00

The film begins in South Boston and Charlestown during the Boston riots featuring a montage of documentary footage with voice-over narration by Irish mob boss Francis "Frank" Costello (Jack Nicholson). In the early 1990s, Costello is in a local store to collect his pay-off money from the owner. A young boy is there, Colin Sullivan, who Frank takes a liking to. Using his influence, he has the owner give Colin two bags of groceries and tells him to come look for him, if he ever wants to "earn" some extra money.

CUT TO: Many years later, an older Sullivan, now in his mid twenties, (Matt Damon) is finishing his training for the Massachusetts State Police with classmates, including fellow cadet Barrigan (James Badge Dale). In another class are cadet Brown (Anthony Anderson) and Billy Costigan (Leonardo DiCaprio). All four men graduate to become state troopers. Sullivan is a sergeant, and has just passed the state trooper detective test. He goes in to meet with the calm and collected Captain Queenan (Martin Sheen), and the aggressive and cynical Staff Sergeant Dignam (Mark Wahlberg) of the Special Investigations Unit. When Sullivan exits, Costigan goes in. The undercover division of the Special Investigations Unit wants to assign Costigan, whose family has long had ties with the Boston underworld, to infiltrate Costello's crew. For his service, he gets a "bonus", tax-free payment upon completion of his assignment. To make his assignment believable to everyone, especially Costello, they create a false conviction on Costigan for assault. He will get a four month jail sentence and afterwards probation with mandatory sessions with a psychiatrist. His police academy record and file are concealed from the public, and even the department itself, and the only ones who can access Costigan's file are Queenan and Dignam.

Sullivan, along with Barrigan and Brown, is now in an elite task force of the Special Investigations Unit (SIU) headed by the sardonically humorous Captain Ellerby (Alec Baldwin). They are after Costello and are coordinating with the FBI. Staff Sergeant Dignam introduces himself to the group but does not reveal whether or not they have a mole in Costello's gang. They briefly go over what it is that the department is targeting: Francis Costello and military micro-chips. They expect that Costello will sell them to China. A freelance thief had stolen the twenty micro-processors but somehow ended up deceased in a dumpster.

Costigan is out of jail and uses his drug-dealing cousin as a back-handed way of attracting Costello's attention and fights a man in a bar. He then becomes a member of his crew, pairing up with his right-hand man Mr. French (Ray Winstone). Costello tells Costigan that he knew, respected, and feared his father and Uncle Jackie, both of whom were heavily involved in the criminal underworld. It is therefore these two family connections which really motivate Costello more than anything else to try to assist Costigan in his own questionable way.

Meanwhile, Sullivan begins a romantic relationship with criminal psychiatrist Madolyn (Vera Farmiga), who also happens to be the assigned psychotherapist for Costigan as a part of his probation for the fabricated assault conviction. Although she wants to keep their relationship professional, a romance develops, but Costigan and Sullivan remain oblivious to each other's identity.

During one of his heists Costello, through Sullivan's information, discovers that there is a police informer in his organization. To catch the insider, he requires each member to fill in his particulars in a form, including social security numbers. Costigan knows that this envelope will end up in the hands of Costello's man at the police. He follows Costello (who has the envelope) into a pornography theater, where he witnesses Costello handing over the envelope to Sullivan, whose face is hidden in the darkened auditorium. Attempting to disclose the mole's identity, Costigan shadows Sullivan into the streets, only to eventually lose him in Boston's Chinatown neighborhood.

Meanwhile, Sullivan is assigned to uncover the mole in SIU (himself). This makes for some tension between Sullivan and Dignam, whose suspicion of Sullivan rises. Above suspicion, Sullivan focuses instead on finding the police snitch in Costello's crew. Sullivan orders the SIU to trail Queenan and eventually follows him to a meeting with Costigan on the rooftop of a run-down building on the harbor. Having become insomniac, dependent on Valium and suffering from panic attacks, Costigan explains he wants out, to which Queenan assures him that while it cannot be done overnight, he will get him out of it. Sullivan tells Costello's men that the snitch is most likely at the building. As the men approach, Costigan flees, but Queenan stays behind and is confronted by them and thrown off the building to his death. In the ensuing gunfire, between Costello's men and the police, the officer who tailed Queenan is wounded and Delahunt, one of Costello's men is critically wounded. Later on, when the men return to their hideout, Timothy Delahunt (reported later by the local media to be yet another undercover officer, possibly made public by the state police to throw suspicion off of Costigan) reveals to Costigan - just before he succumbs to his wounds - that he knows he's the mole.

Sullivan orders Dignam to hand over the information regarding his undercover, which Dignam refuses. Ellerby, who has taken over the department for Queenan, orders Dignam off duty with pay for two weeks. Guilt-ridden over having indirectly caused his senior officer's death, Sullivan finds Queenan's cell phone in his homicide file and calls Costigan, pretending to be the new agent assigned to replace Queenan. After Costigan hangs up, Sullivan finds information in Queenan's file indicating that Costello is an informant for the Federal Bureau of Investigation and immediately begins to fear betrayal.

Costello and his crew are being tailed to an old warehouse where they are to pick up a shipment of cocaine. Sullivan disengages the tail at Costello's demand and sets up a police ambush at the scene instead. Costigan, wary that the police potentially know of the situation, manages to slip away unnoticed. Costello's entire crew is killed in the ensuing shoot-out, and a wounded Costello abandons the car in which Arnold French and he were driving and escapes to another part of the warehouse, only to end up in a tense confrontation with Sullivan. Costello admits to his informant status and denies telling anybody about Sullivan's connection to him as he feels Sullivan is like a son to him but Sullivan doesn't believe Costello and insults him before Costello attempts to shoot him. After an exchange of gunshots Costello is killed by Sullivan.

Later at the station Sullivan arrives to praise from his co-workers and meets Costigan, who asks to simply receive his payment and be allowed to leave. While Sullivan retrieves Costigan's information in another office, Costigan notices Costello's envelope on Sullivan's desk and quickly flees. Sullivan realizes that Costigan has discovered his true identity and erases Costigan's police file. Following his flight from the station, Costigan appears outside of Madolyn's office. He gives her an envelope, telling her to open it if anything should happen to him, or if he calls and tells her to open it. On a subsequent morning, Madolyn is at the apartment she shares with Sullivan, and finds an envelope from Costigan in his mail. It contains recordings of Sullivan and Costello's conversations, along with a phone number. Madolyn reveals the recordings to Sullivan and immediately ends her relationship with him. Sullivan calls the phone number and speaks to Costigan, who reveals to Sullivan that Costello kept the recordings as insurance to use as a possible legal immunity if he was arrested. He also reports to Sullivan that Costello's lawyer came to Bill with the recordings, meaning that Costello trusted Costigan the most of all of his men. They arrange to meet where Queenan died.

Trooper Brown (Anderson) confronts Costigan

On the rooftop where Queenan was killed, Costigan confronts and handcuffs Sullivan, intending to arrest him regardless if the charges don't stick. Trooper Brown appears and tries to talk down Costigan, who, claiming that he has substantial proof that Sullivan is the rat, quickly flees into an elevator, holding his gun to Sullivan's head. The elevator reaches the bottom floor, and just as Costigan begins to exit, he is shot in the head by Barrigan. Barrigan starts to uncuff Sullivan but then Trooper Brown arrives and sees Costigan's body and is caught off guard, allowing Barrigan to shoot him in the head and remove the only witness to Sullivan's guilt. Barrigan reveals to Sullivan that he is also a mole in the police force and aware of Costello's informant status. Being that they are the only ones remaining, Barrigan says they need to look out for one another. As the two begin to manipulate the crime scene, Sullivan asks for the gun to clean the fingerprints, and as Barrigan looks away, Sullivan shoots him in the head. To save himself, he blames everything on Barrigan and recommends Costigan for a posthumous Medal of Merit in a later testimony. At Costigan's funeral, Madolyn, now pregnant with either Sullivan or Costigan's child, walks away from Sullivan in silence.

Following the funeral, Sullivan returns home to find Dignam waiting there, having been tipped off by Madolyn about his connection to Costello. Dignam shoots him in the head and quickly leaves. As Sullivan's corpse lies in the apartment doorway, the camera pans out and a lone rat crawls conspicuously across the balcony railing, silhouetted against the gold dome of the Massachusetts State House.

V for Vendetta

2007-11-17T10:50:00.001-08:00

The story is set in the near future, when Britain is ruled by a totalitarian regime called Norsefire. It follows Evey Hammond, a young woman who, at the start of the film, is rescued from state police by a masked vigilante known as "V". After rescuing her, V takes Evey to a rooftop location to witness his spectacular destruction of the Old Bailey accompanied by Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture. The regime explains the incident to the public as a planned demolition, but this is shown to be a lie when V takes over the state-run British Television Network (BTN) the next day. He broadcasts a message urging the people of Britain to rise up against the oppressive government on November 5 (Guy Fawkes Night); one year from that day, when V will destroy the Houses of Parliament.

Evey, who works at the BTN, helps V to escape. V brings Evey to his lair, where she is told that she must stay in hiding with him for her own safety. She stays for some time, but upon learning that V is killing government officials, she escapes to the home of one of her superiors, Gordon Dietrich, who is also a good friend. However, the state police raid Gordon's home shortly afterwards, and Evey is captured. She is incarcerated and tortured for days, finding solace only in notes left by another prisoner, Valerie. Evey is eventually told that she will be executed unless she reveals V's whereabouts. An exhausted Evey says she would rather die, and, surprisingly, is then released. Evey discovers that she has been in V's lair all along, and that her imprisonment was staged by V. By forcing Evey to experience what he had gone through long ago, V hoped that Evey would understand that our integrity, "the very last inch of us", can be more important than our lives.

Evey initially hates V for what he has done, but comes to realize that having faced her own death, she can now live without fear. She leaves V, promising to return before November 5.

V (Hugo Weaving) and Evey Hammond (Natalie Portman) in the Shadow Gallery. Evey is taken there after their escape from the BTN.

Meanwhile, Inspector Finch, through his investigation of V, learns how Norsefire came to power, and about V’s origins. Fourteen years previously, Britain had suffered from war and terrorism. The ultra-conservative Norsefire party led a reactionary purge to restore order; so-called enemies of the state disappeared during the night. The country was deeply divided over the loss of freedom until a bioterrorist attack occurred, killing about 100,000 people. The fear generated by the attack allowed Norsefire to silence all opposition and win the next election by a landslide. A cure for the virus was discovered soon afterwards. With the silent consent of the people, Norsefire turned Britain into a bigoted totalitarian order, with their leader Adam Sutler as High Chancellor.

However, the viral catastrophe had actually been engineered by Norsefire as a ploy to gain power. The virus had been engineered through deadly experimentation on "social deviants" and political dissidents at Larkhill detention center. V had been one of the prisoners, but instead of being killed by the experiments, he had gained heightened mental and physical abilities. V eventually destroyed the center and escaped, vowing to take revenge on Norsefire's regime.

As November 5 nears, V's various schemes cause chaos in Britain and the population grows more and more intolerant and subversive towards government authority. On the eve of November 5, Evey again visits V, who shows her a train that he has filled with explosives in order to destroy Parliament through an explosion in the abandoned London Underground. He delegates the destruction of Parliament to Evey, believing that the ultimate decision should not come from him. He then leaves to meet Party leader Creedy; who, as part of an earlier agreement, has agreed to bring V the Chancellor in exchange for V's surrender. Creedy kills the Chancellor in front of V, but V does not surrender, instead killing Creedy and his men. V, mortally wounded in the fight, returns to Evey. He thanks her, and then dies. His body is placed upon the train with the explosives.

Evey is about to send the train down the track, when she is discovered by Inspector Finch. However, Finch, having learned much about the corruption of the Norsefire regime, allows Evey to proceed. Meanwhile, thousands of Londoners, all wearing Guy Fawkes masks, march on Parliament to watch the event. Because Creedy and the Chancellor are dead, the military stands down in the face of a civil rebellion. Parliament is destroyed by the explosion. On a nearby rooftop Evey and Finch watch the scene together, while the crowd outside remove their Guy Fawkes masks, revealing the faces of some of those who were killed by the regime.

X-Men

2007-11-17T10:40:00.001-08:00

In a German Concentration camp in occupied Poland during 1944, a young Magneto is separated from his parents as they are herded into the camp. In a moment of panic and horror, the boy reaches out and begins to bend the metal gates of the camp with the power of magnetism before being knocked unconscious. Many years later, in Meridian, Mississippi, a young girl named Marie kisses a boy and sends him into a coma. In Congress, Senator Robert Kelly attempts to pass a "Mutant Registration Act", which would force mutants to publicly reveal their identities and abilities. Dr. Jean Grey speaks against the act, but is balked by Kelly. Magneto begins his plans to level the playing field between mutants and humans. Marie, now calling herself Rogue, is on the run from her home and heads to a small town in Canada, where she meets a cage fighter calling himself Wolverine. As the two head off down the road, they are attacked by a mutant called Sabertooth, an associate of Magneto. Cyclops and Storm arrive and save Wolverine and Rogue. When Wolverine regains consciousness, Professor Xavier explains that Cyclops and Storm are part of a group of mutants who are trying to seek peace with the human race, educate young mutants in the responsible use of their powers, and stop Magneto from starting a war with humanity. Professor X promises to help Wolverine discover his lost past, as well as determine why Magneto is after him. Rogue, in the meantime, has begun to make friends at school and a boy named Bobby shows a romantic interest in her.

Meanwhile, Senator Kelly is abducted by Mystique and Toad, and brought to Magneto, who tests a machine on Kelly that artificially induces mutation. Kelly, thanks to his new abilities, manages to escape imprisonment, and he eventually washes up on a beach. After an accident causes her to use her powers on Wolverine, Rogue is convinced by Mystique (disguised as Bobby) that Xavier is angry with her and that she should leave the school. Professor Xavier, using his mutant locating device called Cerebro, locates her at a train station and sends Cyclops and Storm after her. Mystique, still disguised as Bobby, infiltrates Cerebro and sabotages the machine. Wolverine arrives at the station ahead of the other two and convinces Rogue to stay with Professor Xavier. While Sabertooth and Toad attack Cyclops and Storm inside the train station, Magneto reveals who he was truly after by kidnapping Rogue. Xavier confronts Magneto during his escape, but allows him to leave after Magneto threatens to kill the police that have surrounded the building with their own guns. Senator Kelly arrives at the school, in a rapidly deteriorating condition--his body is rejecting the forced mutation and now disintegrating at the cellular level. Professor Xavier reads his mind and learns of Magneto's mutation machine, which draws power from Magneto himself, severely weakening him in the process. Xavier realizes that Magneto plans to use Rogue's ability to absorb other mutant's abilities on himself, this way Rogue can power his machine. Kelly's body is rejecting the mutation and he soon dies. Knowing he must prevent this from happening to anyone else, Xavier attempts to use Cerebro to locate Rogue. Mystique's sabotage causes Professor X to fall into a coma. Jean fixes Cerebro and then uses it herself. She discovers that the machine is on Liberty Island, leading the X-Men to the conclusion that Magneto intends to mutate the world leaders who are meeting for a summit on nearby Ellis Island.

The X-Men arrive to stop Magneto as he sets up his machine atop the torch of the Statue of Liberty. They are immediately confronted by Mystique and Toad. Mystique and Wolverine become separated from the others, as Toad takes on Storm, Cyclops and Jean, with considerable success; kicking Cyclops into a side room, launching Storm into the second floor of the building and nearly killing Jean with his sticky slime which he spits onto her face as she held him with her telekinesis. In the end, Mystique attempts to ambush Wolverine by disguising herself as Storm, but Wolverine recognizes her scent and stabs her. Storm eventually overcomes Toad and electrocutes him with a bolt of lightning. Just as the group arrives at the top of the statue, Magneto and Sabertooth incapacitate the group and continue with their plans. Magneto transfers his powers to Rogue who is forced to use them to start the machine. Wolverine breaks free and initiates a fight with Sabertooth. Wolverine is thrown over the side of the statue and Sabertooth redirects himself to the group to finish them off. Wolverine returns, and Cyclops, with Jean's help, blasts Sabertooth out of the statue. With Jean stabilizing him, Storm uses her abilities to send Wolverine to the top of Magneto's machine. With time running out, Wolverine attempts to stop the machine and save Rogue, but Magneto, now having regained some of his strength, halts Wolverine's claws. Cyclops manages to find a clean shot, wounding Magneto and allowing Wolverine to destroy the machine. Placing her hand to his face, Wolverine succeeds in transferring his regenerative abilities to a dying Rogue. Professor Xavier recovers from his coma, and the group learns that Mystique is still alive when they see her impersonating Senator Kelly on a news broadcast. Xavier visits Magneto in his plastic prison cell, and the two play chess. Magneto warns his friend that he will continue his fight, to which Xavier promises to always be there to stop him. Xavier checkmates Magneto and leaves

X-Men United

2007-11-17T10:37:00.000-08:00

A mutant named Nightcrawler attempts to assassinate President McKenna, but he fails when he seems to come to his senses. Jean is confronted by Cyclops, where she admits she has been having bad feelings about the future. Wolverine reappears after discovering nothing at Alkali Lake and is immediately asked to look after the children of the school. After some difficulty, Professor Xavier locates Nightcrawler with Cerebro and sends Storm and Jean to retrieve him. They find Nightcrawler who willingly leaves with them, explaining that he had no control over his actions in the White House. Cyclops and Professor X visit Magneto in his plastic prison to see if he had any part in the attack on the President. Reading Magneto's mind, Professor X discovers that a covert government operative, William Stryker, has been extracting information from Magneto. A trap is sprung and Cyclops and Professor X are captured via Stryker and Lady Deathstrike. A military invasion of the school begins, with the soldiers sedating every mutant they find. Siryn wakes everybody up with one of her sonic screams and Colossus and Wolverine round up a number of the students. Wolverine stays behind to confront the attackers, and finds them led by William Stryker. Stryker offers Wolverine the truth about his past, but before Wolverine answers, Iceman creates a thick wall of ice between them.

The X-Men join with Magneto and Mystique to stop Stryker.

Impersonating Senator Robert Kelly, and Stryker's assistant Yuriko Oyama, Mystique gains information about Magneto's prison and provides a means for him to escape. Mystique tricks one of Magneto's Security Guards, implanting large amounts of iron in his body which was later on extracted by Magneto via force of magnetism. Wolverine, along with Pyro, Iceman and Rogue, heads to Iceman's home in Boston. The police arrive just as the group is about to leave. After a policeman shoots Wolverine in the head, Pyro begins using his abilities to attack the officers and destroy their cars. Rogue manages to stop him just as the X-Jet arrives to pick them all up. The X-Jet is targeted by two Air Force fighter jets who attempt to force a landing. After the X-Jet refuses to land, the pilots fire missiles. Storm tries to distract the pilots with several tornadoes but the last pilot fires two missiles. Jean is able to destroy one of the missiles, but the other detonates directly behind the jet. The jet, en route to a crash landing, is stopped at the last moment by Magneto, who is standing on the ground. Magneto has learned that Stryker orchestrated the attack on the President, and has been experimenting on mutants. Jean Grey reads Nightcrawler's mind and determines that Stryker's base is located at Alkali Lake, inside the dam. Stryker has been using a drug, injected directly into the back of the neck, to control mutants. He has also stolen enough equipment from Xavier's own Cerebro unit to build a second Cerebro; he plans to use Professor X to kill all of the mutants in the world. The X-Men and Magneto join together in an effort to stop Stryker. On the way to Alkali Lake, Pyro has a conversation with Magneto about how the world perceives them.

Stryker gains control over Professor Xavier through his son, Jason Stryker, who is able to project powerful visions in the mind, blinding a person to reality. Professor X is instructed to use Cerebro to find and kill all existing mutants. Mystique infiltrates the base disguised as Wolverine. Mystique manages to take over the control room, opening up the main gates for the X-Men. Storm and Nightcrawler pair off, searching for the kidnapped students. Jean, Magneto, and Mystique are attacked by a brainwashed Cyclops on their way to rescue Professor X. Cyclops' optic blast causes damage to the generators that keep the dam from collapsing. Jean gets Cyclops to return to his normal self by telling him she loves him. Wolverine finds Stryker in an adamantium smelting room along with Lady Deathstrike. Wolverine and Lady Deathstrike begin fighting, which ends with Wolverine pumping Deathstrike full of molten adamantium metal, killing her. Wolverine finds Stryker on a landing pad and stabs him in the stomach. Stryker attempts to bargain with Wolverine, telling him that if he comes with him he can tell him about his past. Wolverine refuses and straps the wounded Stryker to the helicopter wheel. Mystique, disguised as Stryker, uses Jason to convince Professor X to kill all humans. Magneto and Mystique escape on the helicopter, alongside with Pyro who has decided to join them. Meanwhile, Nightcrawler teleports Storm inside of Cerebro, from where she frees the Professor from his telepathic illusion. A malfunction aboard the X-Jet prevents it from taking off and the dam finally bursts. The flood gets stronger, drowning Stryker. Jean leaves the jet and creates a telekinetic wall in order to stop the wave, and at the same time raises the jet above the flood waters; all the while surrounded by a corona of fire. Jean activates the X-Jet's primary engines, before releasing the torrent of water down on herself.

Back at the White House, the President prepares to address the country on the perceived mutant threat. Just as he begins his speech the X-Men appear before him. Rogue gives him the files from Stryker's private offices while Professor X tells him about the events of the last few days. Then Professor X warns him that humans and mutants must work together to build peace, or they will destroy each other through war. Back at the mansion, Xavier states that Jean Grey always felt left behind compared to others. Wolverine then reveals to Cyclops that Jean Grey truly loved Scott, and chose to be with him. The film ends with a voiceover by Jean Grey, on the process of evolution. The camera floats over Alkali Lake, showing a vague shape of a Phoenix in the lake.

X-Men: The Last Stand

2007-11-17T10:36:00.001-08:00

A pharmaceutical company called Worthington Labs announces that it has developed an inoculation to permanently suppress the X-gene that gives mutants their powers, offering the "cure" to any mutant who wants it. While some mutants are interested in the "cure", including the X-Men's Rogue, many others are horrified by the announcement. In response to the news, the X-Men's adversary Magneto raises an army, warning his followers that the "cure" will be forcefully used to exterminate the mutant race.

Cyclops, still heartbroken about the loss of Jean Grey, returns to Alkali Lake, where Jean sacrificed herself to save the X-Men. Jean appears to Cyclops, and as the two kiss, Jean changes and appears to kill Cyclops. Sensing trouble, Professor Charles Xavier sends Wolverine and Storm to investigate. When they arrive, the two X-Men encounter telekinetically floating rocks, Cyclops' glasses, and an unconscious Jean.

Xavier explains that the majority of Jean's power is seated in her unconscious mind (Sigmund Freud's "Id") and that, as a result, her powers are largely fueled by instinct, and not under her complete control. In fact, when Jean was a little girl she was so powerful that he had to put telepathic blocks on her mind to help keep her powers under control. Her bottled up powers manifested themselves as an id-like alternate personality called the "Phoenix"--a purely instinctual creature, ruled not by logic, but by its own violent desires. Wolverine is disgusted to learn that Xavier has kept Jean in check telepathically, but when Jean awakens, he realizes she is not the Jean Grey he knew. Wolverine asks about Cyclops, but she cannot remember and fears she killed him. Jean pleads with Wolverine to kill her before she harms anybody else, but when he refuses, the Phoenix surfaces and telekinetically slams Wolverine into a wall. She then flees to her childhood home. Magneto, also aware that Jean's powers are loose, meets Xavier at Jean's house. The two men vie for Jean's loyalty until the Phoenix resurfaces, unleashing her devastating power. Furious at being caged within Jean's subconscious for twenty years, she destroys her family's house, disintegrates Xavier, and leaves with Magneto.

Jean Grey unleashes her power

Following the losses of Xavier, Cyclops, and Rogue (who decides to take the mutant "cure"), the X-Men regroup and confront Magneto's army, which is attacking the pharmaceutical company's laboratory on Alcatraz Island. During the battle, Beast injects Magneto with the "cure", nullifying his mutant powers. After the battle, Wolverine nearly coaxes Jean back to sanity. However, soldiers arrive and fire upon Jean. The Phoenix quickly emerges and begins to destroy everything and everyone around her. While the other X-Men flee to safety, Wolverine fights his way to Jean, relying upon his healing abilities to save him from her destructive power. Momentarily gaining control, Jean begs Wolverine to save her. Telling Jean he loves her, Wolverine reluctantly kills her with his claws.

Despite the X-Men's losses, life goes on. The school will continue, even without Xavier. Rogue returns and tells Iceman she had to take the "cure." The two reconcile and continue their relationship now able to touch each other. Magneto, now an ordinary man, sits at a chessboard and reaches out toward a metal chess piece that trembles slightly — indicating that the cure might not be as permanent as thought. Following the closing credits, Dr. Moira MacTaggert checks on a comatose patient who greets her with Xavier's voice, implying that he has transferred his mind into this new body.

Constantine

2007-11-17T10:31:00.000-08:00

The film opens in a ruin in Mexico, where a young man finds the Spear of Destiny wrapped in a Nazi flag. This historical artifact was allegedly used by Roman soldier Longinus to pierce the side of Christ on the Cross. The character seizes the spearpoint and becomes possessed, heading for Los Angeles.

In Los Angeles we see John Constantine (Keanu Reeves) perform an exorcism on a teenage Filipino girl; although he is successful, he is unnerved by the boldness of the demon, who attempted to leave the girl's body to cross over into humankind's realm. After meeting a detective named Angela Dodson (Rachel Weisz), who wants to know if her twin sister committed suicide, John uncovers a plot by Mammon, the son of Satan, to betray his father and claim dominion over Earth immediately.

There are many worlds, according to Constantine, of which Earth is only one; it is a neutral place between Heaven and Hell. Apparently, God and Satan wagered on which can win the most souls among humans. Eschewing direct intervention as part of the bet, angels and demons cannot exist in the Earth plane; Instead, they interfere with humans by using what John refers to as "half-breeds," not fully angelic or demonic in form — though the movie gives no indication as to whether they are actually half-human in any meaningful sense. Some humans are able to see the half-breeds that walk among them. Having lived with this ability since birth, Constantine was institutionalized as an adolescent and eventually committed suicide to escape the torment of seeing them but not being believed. Though resuscitated by doctors, he was officially dead for two minutes, which he spent in Hell. Unfortunately for the young Constantine, time moves at an incredibly slow speed in the underworld, compared to Earth. ("Take it from me, two minutes in Hell is a lifetime.")

His "successful" suicide, which is considered a mortal sin in the eyes of God, has condemned him to Hell upon his eventual death. To escape this fate, he has spent the latter part of his life trying to win back God's favor by battling the forces of Hell, though his time on Earth is brief; Constantine has smoked 30 cigarettes a day since he was 15, and is now dying of lung cancer. Because of the number of demons he has slain, Constantine knows that Satan harbors a specific, personal grudge against him, even though he's destined for Hell. Characters repeatedly express the sentiment that he is the only soul that Satan will leave Hell to reap personally. Constantine's time is mostly spent destroying — permanently 'deporting' them back to Hell — demons who break the "rules" of the game.

Investigating the apparent suicide of Isabel (Rachel Weisz), another seer like Constantine, at the instigation of her identical twin Angela, Constantine discovers Mammon's plot. He needs a powerful psychic to possess, and then needs God's help to be released physically, into the earthly plane. Interrogating the half-demon Balthazar by threatening to give him Last Rites before destroying him, Constantine discovers how Mammon plans to get God's help — "the blood of God", found on the Spear of Destiny. By destroying the body of the psychic with the Spear while Mammon is possessing her, he would be free to walk the Earth. However, Angela, ignoring Constantine's instructions, is kidnapped and possessed.

Chasing after Angela, Constantine confronts a room full of half-breed demons guarding Mammon's attempted entry. His apprentice, Chas Kramer (Shia LaBeouf) blesses the water for the fire suppression system in another room, while Constantine, announcing that he will deport all present as violators, lights his cigarette lighter under a sprinkler which releases the blessed water, then shoots all the present, weakened half-breed demons with bullets made from melted-down crosses, destroying them. Chas and Constantine subdue Mammon. Using telekinesis, Archangel Gabriel (Tilda Swinton) kills Chas. Gabriel tells John he killed Chas for interfering in the "birth." Gabriel incapacitates Constantine and begins to summon Mammon using the Spear of Destiny.

Gabriel, angry at how humans can achieve salvation so easily (by simple repentance), wants Hell on Earth because, in his view, humans are truly noble or heroic only when confronting real adversity. By giving them the ultimate adversity, Gabriel thinks that mankind would become worthy of his divine gifts.

The injured Constantine takes his own life a second time in order to win an audience with Satan, whom he informs of Mammon's plot. Satan defeats Gabriel, who apparently has lost divine favor, and returns Mammon to Hell. Satan then asks what Constantine wants as reward for the information and is surprised when Constantine asks for the release of Angela's sister from Hell. Heaven consequently accepts Constantine for his selflessness. As he begins ascending towards the light, he flips off the Devil. Satan, enraged at having lost Constantine's soul, revives him and removes the cancer from his lungs so that he can live on and prove that he truly belongs in Hell. On the way out of the building, Constantine confronts Gabriel who hasn't fallen, but instead is reduced to human, ironically now meriting the same forgiveness and salvation that he earlier decried as undeserved. He urges Constantine to kill him, but instead of shooting him, Constantine just punches him in the face, introducing him to the new sensation of pain.

Constantine's fate now belongs to him, and at the end, he is seen chewing (presumably) nicotine gum, to kick off smoking.

At the end of the film's credits, Constantine visits Chas' grave, saying that he did a good job and leaves his cigarette lighter on top of the grave. When Constantine is about to leave the graveyard, Chas appears as an angel and is dressed as Gabriel was previously. Chas then flies off into the sky. Constantine then smiles to himself.

XXX

2007-11-17T10:30:00.001-08:00

Xander Cage, a.k.a. xXx, a law-breaking, extreme sports enthusiast, with a propensity for rebellious behavior, is 'hired' by Augustus Gibbons to go undercover in order to find out more about the underground group 'Anarchy 99' and in particular their leader 'Yorgi', a Russian ex-soldier who has a grudge against society and authority.

Delving into the dark underworld inhabited by the group, Xander finds himself drawn to Yorgi's, apparent, girlfriend Yelena, who turns out to be an abandoned agent of a Russian intelligence agency, the FSB and he negotiates an asylum deal with Gibbons to save her life.

Anarchy 99 turn out to be planning a series of chemical weapons attacks on major world cities, utilizing a high speed automated sea-faring drone, named Ahab, with the device designed to travel to each location, deploy its toxins and carry on its journey.

After dealing with agent-turned-criminal Milan Sova, who finds Xander's methods so extreme that he defects in support of Yorgi, Xander arranges an operation to raid the remote castle which Yorgi and Anarchy 99 have been using as their base and laboratory.

After Xander shoots and kills Yorgi, the movie has Xander speeding along winding roads, and parasailing onto Ahab, the drone, as it speeds down the river towards Prague, finally ending in his successful destruction of the drone and the chemicals onboard.