Night at the Museum is a 2006 American adventure comedy film based on the 1993 children's book with the same name by Milan Trenc. It follows a divorced father trying to settle down, impress his son, and find his destiny. He applies for a job as a night watchman at New York City's American Museum of Natural History and subsequently discovers that the exhibits, animated by a magical Egyptian artifact, come to life at night.
Released on December 22, 2006 by 20th Century Fox, the film was written by Robert Ben Garant and Thomas Lennon of Comedy Central's Reno 911! and MTV's The State and directed by Shawn Levy. The cast includes Ben Stiller, Robin Williams, Dick Van Dyke, Mickey Rooney, Bill Cobbs, Paul Rudd, Ricky Gervais, Carla Gugino, Steve Coogan, and Owen Wilson. A new novelization of the screenplay by Leslie Goldman was published as a film tie-in.
Larry Daley (Ben Stiller) is a divorced father who is unable to keep a stable job, the bulk of his career consisting of failed business ventures. He is desperate to win the support of his son Nick (Jake Cherry), whom he fears is beginning to look up to his more successful future stepfather, Don (Paul Rudd), a bond trader on Wall Street. Larry goes to a job agency and is sent to the American Museum of Natural History, where he is hired as a night guard. The three elder (soon to be retired) night guards, Cecil (Dick Van Dyke), Gus (Mickey Rooney), and Reginald (Bill Cobbs), give him a quick tour, advise him to leave some of the lights on, and warn him not to let anything "in...or out", which Larry meets with humorous skepticism. Once night comes, Larry discovers that the museum exhibits come to life, including a living Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton, a mischievous capuchin monkey named Dexter, miniatures led by cowboy Jedediah (Owen Wilson) and Roman General Octavius (Steve Coogan), an Easter Island head obsessed with "gum-gum" and a wax model of Theodore Roosevelt (Robin Williams).
Roosevelt explains to Larry that an Egyptian artifact — the Tablet of Akmenrah — was brought to the museum in 1952, and on that night, everything in the museum came to life, and each night since. However, if the exhibits are outside of the museum during sunrise, they turn to dust. Roosevelt helps Larry by restoring order (insisting it is the only time he will help), and while unnerved, Larry decides to remain as a guard. On Cecil's advice, Larry begins to study the history of the events and people in the exhibits to prepare himself better for their animation. He introduces himself to the museum tour guide, Rebecca Hutman (Carla Gugino), who is writing a dissertation on the life and times of Sacagawea (Mizuo Peck). Larry learns much of the history of the various exhibits from Rebecca. The next night, Larry uses what he has learned to better control the exhibits, but again fails when four Neanderthals set fire to a display, and one is turned to dust when he leaves the museum at the dawn. Larry barely manages to keep his job after the museum's director, Dr. McPhee (Ricky Gervais), discovers the mess. Larry tries to tell Rebecca about what happens to the exhibits at night, even offering to let her meet Sacagawea to help with Rebecca's dissertation, but she does not believe him and leaves in tears, convinced that Larry was making fun of her.
Larry brings Nick to the Museum, but fails to impress him when nothing comes to life. They find Cecil, Gus, and Reginald stealing the Tablet of Ahkmenrah. Cecil then reveals that, like the museum exhibits, the guards receive enhanced vitality and energy from the Tablet. Unwilling to forsake it, the three intend to steal the tablet, along with various other museum artifacts to fund their retirement, and frame Larry for the theft. Nick activates the tablet's power and brings the exhibits to life once more, but then Cecil locks the two in the Egyptian room and flees with the tablet. Larry releases the mummy of Pharaoh Ahkmenrah (Rami Malek) from his sarcophagus: surprisingly Akmenrah speaks English, having spent many years as an exhibit in the Egyptology Department at Cambridge University. Akmenrah then tells his jackal-headed "guards" to let them out. The three find the other exhibits fighting, and Larry, after the Easter Island head manages to get their attention, convinces them to work together to reclaim the tablet or else lose their ability to be animated.
Though the exhibits manage to capture Gus and Reginald without difficulty, Cecil escapes with the Tablet by stagecoach, whereupon Larry, Nick, Akmenrah, Jed, Octavius, and Attila the Hun pursue him through Central Park, eventually capturing him thanks to Larry's quick thinking of halting the horses with a secret word, "Dakota". The exhibits rush to return to the museum before sunrise, and Rebecca sees them crossing the road in front of her and realizes that Larry was telling the truth. Entering the museum, Larry introduces her to Sacagawea. The next day, Dr. McPhee fires Larry despite his effort to clean up the museum; but readmits Larry when the reports issued by the news media (i.e., cave paintings in a subway station, dinosaur footprints in Central Park and cavemen waving torches) end up increasing the museum's popularity. Some time later, Larry appears in Nick's classroom during Career Day. Later that night, Larry returns with Nick and all the exhibits celebrate. Cecil, Gus, and Reginald, meanwhile, are allowed to retain the vitality the tablet gives them at the cost of their retirement, as they are rehired at the museum as janitors. Larry does a final check of the museum and flips his flashlight into his holster, turning it off using his "Snapper" device (mentioned earlier in the film.)
During the film's closing credits, the three new janitors are shown briefly, including Dick Van Dyke dancing with his broom. He is every bit as limber and supple as he was in the 1960s.
Apollo 13 is a 1995 film that dramatized the ill-fated lunar mission of the same name in 1970. The movie was adapted by William Broyles, Jr. and Al Reinert from the book Lost Moon by Jim Lovell and Jeffrey Kluger, and was directed by Ron Howard. It stars Tom Hanks, Kevin Bacon, and Bill Paxton.
The film garnered critical acclaim and was nominated for many awards, most notably nine Oscars and won for Best Film Editing and Best Sound Mixing at the 68th Academy Awards.
On July 20, 1969, veteran astronaut Jim Lovell (Tom Hanks) is on his way home to a party for the Apollo 11 moon landing. After witnessing Neil Armstrong's historic first steps on the moon, Lovell tells his wife, Marilyn (Kathleen Quinlan), of his wish for a moon landing of his own.
A few months later, Lovell, who's expecting to fly Apollo 14, is giving a VIP tour of NASA's towering Vehicle Assembly Building while the massive Saturn V rocket is being assembled. As the US representatives question the need for any further moon landings after beating the Soviet Union to the moon, Lovell is informed by Deke Slayton (Chris Ellis) that he and his crew have been bumped up to be prime crew of Apollo 13. After informing his family of his new flight assignment, Lovell and his crew, Fred Haise (Bill Paxton) and Ken Mattingly (Gary Sinise) begin training for Apollo 13 instead of Apollo 14. As the launch date approaches, Marilyn's fears for her husband's fourth space mission manifest in nightmares and her unwillingness to go to the launch. Two days before launch, Lovell is informed that Mattingly had been exposed to German measles. Despite his efforts to overrule the flight surgeon's recommendations, Lovell bumps Mattingly off the flight. He is replaced by the backup Command Module Pilot Jack Swigert (Kevin Bacon), much to the chagrin of Haise and Mattingly.
On April 11, 1970, Lovell, Haise and Swigert are suited up for the launch. In Houston's Mission Control Center, Apollo 13 flight director Eugene F. Kranz (Ed Harris) prepares Mission Control for the flight. After the crew has been secured into the spacecraft, the mission is given the go ahead. During launch the middle engine on the Saturn V's S-II stage cuts off prematurely during its intended burn, which causes brief concern, but the astronauts make it into orbit without further problems. After performing the burn that will send the Apollo 13 CSM/LM to the moon, Swigert maneuvers the Apollo Command Module Odyssey to dock with the Lunar Module Aquarius.
Three days into the mission, the crew runs through an in-flight “housekeeping” checklist. Swigert is asked to stir the cryogenic oxygen tanks, leading to an explosion in the Service Module. The crew and Mission Control find that the oxygen tanks aboard Odyssey are leaking, prompting Mission Control to abort the moon landing, and the crew works to shut down Odyssey and power up Aquarius to act as a lifeboat so the crew can get home. On Earth, John Aaron, a flight controller specifically trained to deal with the electrical, environmental, and communication systems on the aircraft, recruits Mattingly to help prepare procedures to restart Odyssey once the crew is near Earth. Meanwhile, the Apollo 13 crew shuts down Odyssey, powers up Aquarius and orients the spacecraft so they pass around the far side of the moon, while a melancholy Lovell daydreams of his first steps on the lunar surface.
After regaining contact with the spacecraft, the team at Mission Control has to deal with more problems. To conserve power the crew must shut down Aquarius and remain in the freezing cold. Swigert suspects that Mission Control hasn't given the crew a re-entry plan because they have made a mistake that can't be fixed and they don't want the crew to find out. In a fit of rage, Haise blames Swigert's inexperience for the accident, after which a full-blown argument ensues, but is quickly quelled by Lovell. Houston radios in with another problem: they must deal with the carbon dioxide being created by the three men in the two-man Aquarius. An engineering team in Houston assembles a crude method of removing the poisonous gas, fashioning an adapter that allows the Command Module's supply of air cleaners to be used in Aquarius.
As the spacecraft approaches Earth, the crew makes a risky course correction by burning the Lunar Module's descent engine in order to avoid skipping off Earth's atmosphere. Despite Haise's fever and freezing conditions inside the cabin, the crew succeeds in righting their wayward spacecraft. With Earth approaching, Mattingly's team struggles to find a way to power up the Command Module with what little power is left on the spacecraft. Finally, power-up procedures are finalized and Mattingly instructs Swigert on reviving Odyssey.
After witnessing the damage suffered by the Service Module, the crew strap in for their descent into Earth's atmosphere. With one final good-bye to Aquarius, the lunar module that saved their lives is jettisoned. Odyssey re-enters the Earth's atmosphere, and after over four minutes of radio ionization blackout—three minutes is normal for re-entry—the crew reports that they are alive and well. Celebration rushes through Mission Control and in the homes of the astronauts' families. After splashing down, the crew is plucked out of the water and taken to the USS Iwo Jima for a hero's welcome. The film concludes with a monologue by Hanks (as Lovell) about the events that follow their return from space. Lovell shakes hands with the captain of Iwo Jima (the real Jim Lovell in a cameo) as the sequence ends with "I look up at the moon and wonder: 'When will we be going back, and who will that be?'"
Zatōichi (座頭市?) is a 2003 Japanese samurai drama and action film, directed, written, co-edited, and starring Takeshi Kitano ("Beat" Takeshi) as his 11th film.Kitano plays the role of the blind swordsman himself.
The film is a high-budget revival of the classic Zatōichi series of samurai film and television dramas. It premiered on September 3, 2003 at the Venice Film Festival, where it won the prestigious Silver Lion award, and went on to numerous other awards both at home and abroad. It also stars Tadanobu Asano, Michiyo Okusu, Yui Natsukawa, Guadalcanal Taka, Daigiro Tachibana, Yuko Daike, Ittoku Kishibe, Saburo Ishikura, and Akira Emoto.
The film's plot follows a traditional theme, with Zatōichi coming to the defense of townspeople caught up in a local Yakuza gang war and being forced to pay excessive amounts of protection money. Meanwhile, Zatōichi befriends a local farmer and her gambler nephew and eventually offers his assistance to two geisha siblings (one of whom is actually a man) who are seeking revenge for the murder of their parents. The siblings are the only survivors of a massacre that was carried out on their family estate in order to obtain large sums of money ten years ago. They soon discover the people responsible for the murders are the same Yakuza wreaking havoc on the small town.
After slicing his way through an army of henchmen, Zatōichi defeats the Yakuzas' bodyguard, a powerful ronin, in a duel. Zatōichi later wanders into town and confronts the Yakuza bosses, killing the second-in-command and blinding the elderly Yakuza boss (who had been masquerading as a bumbling old waiter up until this point) after opening his eyes for the first time and giving the boss the impression that he has been able to see the entire time. The film ends with an unexpected dance number led by noted Japanese tap dance troupe The Stripes, and Zatōichi walking down a trail und unexpectedly tripping over a rock, saying "Even with eyes wide open, my world is one of darkness."
American History X is a 1998 American film directed by Tony Kaye. The film tells the story of two brothers, Derek Vinyard (Edward Norton) and Daniel "Danny" Vinyard (Edward Furlong) of Venice Beach in Los Angeles, California. Both are extremely bright and charismatic students, and Derek is drawn into the neo-Nazi movement after their father, a firefighter, is murdered by a black drug dealer while trying to put out a fire in a South Central neighborhood. Derek kills two black gang members trying to steal his truck, and is sentenced to three years in prison for voluntary manslaughter. The story shows how Danny is influenced by his older brother's actions and ideology and how Derek, now radically changed by his experience in confinement, tries to prevent his brother from going down the same path as he did.
In the opening scene, Danny Vinyard, a young white supremacist, sits outside the principal's office, where his history teacher explains to the principal, Dr. Sweeney (Avery Brooks), that Danny wrote a book report sympathetic to Adolf Hitler's Mein Kampf. After some discussion, Dr. Sweeney calls Danny into his office and informs him that he will now be his history teacher, calling the class "American History X", and that his first assignment is to write a paper about his brother Derek.
Flashbacks throughout the film show Derek's transformation into a vengeful white supremacist in Venice Beach. Having already been influenced by his firefighter father's latent racism, Derek is driven to action when his father is murdered by a black drug dealer. Eventually Derek becomes second-in-command of a neo-Nazi gang, The D.O.C. (Disciples Of Christ), and entices young whites to join. The gang commits acts of intimidation, such as damaging a store owned by a Korean and challenging against groups of black players to basketball games, in order to win the basketball court as turf. One night while Derek is with his girlfriend Stacey (Fairuza Balk), three black men try to steal Derek's truck. Upon discovery of this, Derek shoots at the three men, killing the first one instantly, then killing the second wounded man with a curb-stomp in the street. The third man is able to escape in the bullet-ridden car. Danny watches in horror as this unfolds. The police arrive immediately afterward and arrest Derek as he smiles across the street at Danny.
After being convicted of voluntary manslaughter, Derek is sentenced to three years in prison. While there, he joins the Aryan Brotherhood. He becomes disillusioned with the gang, especially over the group's friendly dealings with a Mexican gang. When he voices these opinions, he is quickly shut down by the other white supremacists, so Derek chooses to not associate with them any more and is beaten and raped in the showers. It is while working in the prison laundry room that Derek gradually becomes friends with a black inmate named Lamont (Guy Torry).
While in prison, Derek is visited by Dr. Sweeney, whom he asks for help to get out on parole. Sweeney informs him of Danny's aspirations of becoming a neo-Nazi like Derek and heading to right where he is. Sweeney confides in Derek that he used to hate white people as a youth, but he came to the realization that racism was pointless. Sweeney asserts that Derek has spent his life pursuing answers, and then asks him: "Has anything you've done made your life better?" This proves a turning point for Derek, who further distances himself from the Aryan Brotherhood and changes his outlook on life. Lamont emerges as his only true friend in prison.
When Derek returns home he finds that Danny has become a white power skinhead and then tries and fails to convince him to leave the gang. Derek then tells the leader, Cameron Alexander, that he will no longer associate with him or the gang at which Cameron provokes Derek who beats him before leaving his office. During an ensuing confrontation, Derek's friend Seth Ryan points a gun at him, which Derek wrestles from him, and points it at the angry crowd before running away from the party. Danny angrily confronts Derek who tells him about his experiences in prison. The confession seems to prompt a change in Danny and they walk home with the insinuation that they will start to change their ways.
The following morning Danny finishes his paper, and Derek gets ready for a meeting with his parole officer. Derek walks Danny to school before his meeting, and on their way they stop at a café where they are met by Dr. Sweeney and a police officer. They tell Derek that Cameron and Seth were attacked the previous night, and have been hospitalized. Derek claims no knowledge of the incidents but they ask him for help, which Derek reluctantly agrees to do.
At school, Danny enters a bathroom before class starts and is confronted by a young black boy, with whom he had a confrontation the previous day. The student shoots Danny three times in the chest, killing him. When Derek arrives on the scene he tearfully cradles his brother in his arms. The film ends with Danny narrating part of his paper, in which he quotes the conclusion of Abraham Lincoln's first inaugural address: "We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory will swell when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature."
Hotel Rwanda is a 2004 historical drama film about the hotelier Paul Rusesabagina (played by Don Cheadle) during the Rwandan Genocide of 1994. The film, which has been called an African Schindler's List,documents Rusesabagina's acts to save the lives of his family and more than a thousand other refugees, by granting them shelter in the besieged Hôtel des Mille Collines. Directed by Terry George, the film was co-produced by US, British, Italian, and South African companies, with filming done on location in Johannesburg, South Africa and Kigali, Rwanda.As an independent film, it had an initial limited release in theaters, but was nominated for multiple awards, including Academy Award nominations for Best Actor, Best Supporting Actress, and Best Original Screenplay. It continues to be one of the most–rented films on services, such as Netflix, and is listed by the American Film Institute as one of the 100 most inspirational movies of all time.
Tensions between the Hutu and Tutsi peoples lead to a war, in a country where corruption and bribes are routine. Paul Rusesabagina (Don Cheadle), the manager of Sabena Hôtel des Mille Collines, is Hutu but his wife, Tatiana (Sophie Okonedo), is Tutsi. His marriage is a source of friction with Hutu extremists, most prominently Georges Rutaganda, a friendly supplier to the hotel who also is the local leader of Interahamwe, a brutal anti-Tutsi militia.
As the political situation in the country deteriorates, Paul and his family observe neighbors being dragged from their homes and openly beaten in the streets. Paul curries favor with people of influence, bribing them with money and alcohol, seeking to maintain sufficient influence to keep his family safe. When civil war erupts and a Rwandan Army officer threatens Paul and his neighbors, Paul barely negotiates their safety, and brings everyone to the hotel. More refugees come to the hotel from the overburdened United Nations camp, the Red Cross, and orphanages. Paul must divert the Hutu soldiers, care for the refugees, be a source of strength to his family, and maintain the appearance of a functioning high–class hotel, as the situation becomes more and more violent, with mobs in the streets just outside the gates.
The UN Peacekeeping forces, led by Colonel Oliver (Nick Nolte), are unable to take assertive action against the Interahamwe since they are forbidden to intervene in the genocide. The foreign nationals are evacuated, but the Rwandans are left behind. When the UN forces attempt to evacuate a group of refugees, including Paul's family, they are ambushed and must turn back. In a last-ditch effort to save the refugees, Paul speaks to the Rwandan Army General, Augustin Bizimungu (Fana Mokoena) and when the bribes no longer work, he blackmails him with threats of being tried as a war criminal. The family and the hotel refugees finally leave the besieged hotel in a UN convoy, and they travel through retreating masses of refugees and militia to reach safety behind Tutsi rebel lines.
Film critic Roger Ebert includes the movie in his "most hated films" list.
Gigolos in Europe are being terrorized by a serial killer. In Malibu, Deuce Bigalow's wife Kate is dead from a shark attack, and Deuce is invited by his former pimp T.J. Hicks to Amsterdam where T.J. is currently pimping. Deuce goes because he is suspected of complicity in some dolphin-related injuries in Malibu and to take his mind off of Kate.
After T.J. shows Deuce his boat, or "float crib," the pair go to a coffee shop where they get high and bump into Heinz Hummer, a German gigolo. After leaving the coffee shop, Deuce finds Hummer dead in an alley, but thinks he is merely stoned and takes the dead gigolo to T.J.'s float crib, until T.J. gets back and immediately realizes that Hummer is dead. T.J. who plans to dump the body, but skeptical of Hummer's reputation of being well-endowed, pauses to unzip his pants and examine his genitalia. Unfortunately he is caught by a helicopter and is subsequently labeled by the media as a gay gigolo killer. T.J. escapes, but Deuce is apprehended and taken to the police station where he is interviewed by Gaspar, a police inspector who wants to know where T.J. is hiding.
Upon his release from the police station, Deuce finds T.J. at a restaurant and recalls that he saw the real killer walking away from Hummer's body. Deuce says it was a woman, so they both figure it was a she-john, a former client of the murdered gigolo. T.J. convinces Deuce to help find the real killer by becoming a gigolo again, visiting the former clients and "rooting" out the killer. They attend a meeting of the Royal Order Of European Man Whores (an organization of male prostitutes), but fail to procure a list of the clients. Afterwards, they get the list from Antoine, the professional gigolo who appeared in the first film.
Deuce and T.J. visit the first client on the list. While Deuce distracts the woman T.J. breaks into her residence and finds a brand of lipstick which might be the kind found on all the victims. After leaving, Deuce finds Gaspar on the street and shows him the lipstick. Gaspar throws the lipstick in the trash, but mentions that the lipstick found on the victims "is a very rare one: Lavender Love #66". As Gaspar enters the police station, his niece, Eva, approaches him and gives him his lunch. Eva slaps herself three times and slaps herself a few times. Deuce helps her pick up the things she dropped, and Eva explains to Deuce that she has obsessive-compulsive disorder. Fish-enthusiast Deuce sees that she has a painting of a fish, so they go to the Amsterdam aquarium together. Later, Deuce continues to investigate different women from Antoine's book, including a woman named Svetlana who was born near Chernobyl and has a very active penis for a nose, a hunchbacked woman, a woman with a tracheotomy, and a woman with gigantic ears.
While visiting Eva, Deuce is snooping around and finds evidence implicating Eva. Deuce then rushes to the police department and tells Gaspar that he thinks Eva is the man-whore killer. Gaspar is reluctant to believe this, and even drops many hints that he himself is the man-whore killer, but Deuce remains clueless.
While Gaspar has told Eva that he is the man-whore killer, Deuce rides with Gaspar to the Man-Whore Awards Ceremony under the guise of protecting the male prostitutes there. However, to Gaspar's surprise, Eva is chasing them on a motorbike, and shouting at Deuce that Gaspar is the killer. Gaspar pulls a gun on Deuce and proceeds to tell him that, once, he was a man-whore hopeful. While Gaspar was observing a demonstration on how to perform a certain sex act, one of his classmates offered to let him use his penis-enlargement pump. When the demonstration ended, Gaspar was horrified to learn that the woman who was on the receiving end of the sex act was his fiancée. Gaspar became so angry that he continued to pump until his penis exploded. He blames man-whores for the loss of his fiancée and his penis, and plans to blow them all up at their awards ceremony.
At the ceremony, Deuce evacuates the building and gets into a fight with Gaspar. Gaspar beats Deuce, but before he can activate the bomb via a remote control, the woman with a penis for a nose and the woman with the tracheotomy help Deuce in taking out Gaspar. Deuce then picks up one of the scattered award trophies littering the floor and knocks out Gaspar and taking the bomb detonator from him. For his bravery, Deuce is given the Golden Boner award - an explicit statue - and the respect of his fellow man-whores. He shares a passionate kiss with Eva, and accidentally sets off the bomb when the statue's penis bumps the detonator button. Deuce and Eva then promptly leave the scene. The following day, Deuce and Eva come to pick up T.J., who has been released from jail, and tells them that he is entering a brand new prostitution market: gay man-whoring. They all walk off as the screen fades to black.
American Gangster is a 2007 crime film directed by Ridley Scott and starring Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe. Washington portrays Frank Lucas, a real-life gangster from Harlem who smuggled heroin into the United States on American service planes returning from the Vietnam War. Crowe portrays Richie Roberts, a detective attempting to bring down Lucas' drug empire.Filming was done on location in New York City. American Gangster was released in the United States and Canada on November 2, 2007. The film was also nominated for two Academy Awards, including a notable Best Supporting Actress nomination for Ruby Dee who appears on screen for less than 10 minutes.
Ellsworth "Bumpy" Johnson (Clarence Williams III), a disciplined and intelligent gangster, runs much of Harlem and imparts his wisdom onto his former driver turned right-hand man, Frank Lucas (Denzel Washington). Johnson dies of a heart attack in 1968, at an electronics store. Frank dislikes the new, flashy gangsters and decides to take control. To gain money and power, he travels to Bangkok, Thailand, and with the help of his "cousin" who is an Army Staff NCO, strikes a deal with a Chinese nationalist general in the Golden Triangle of Southeast Asia, who supplies him with pure heroin. Starting with a first shipment of 100 kilograms, Frank has the drugs transported back to America via military service planes. His final shipment comprises two tons hidden in the coffins of seven dead U.S. soldiers from the Vietnam War.
Meanwhile, Newark Police Department detective Richie Roberts (Russell Crowe) is juggling a failing marriage, late-night law school classes, and his police career. When Richie and his partner, Javier Rivera, discover nearly $1 million in unmarked bills in a car, Richie resists temptation and turns the money in. His rare honesty makes him a hated member of his precinct, causing his partner to be exiled from the force, while Richie's rampant womanizing behavior and undercover double life leads his wife to seek a divorce and custody of their son. After his exiled partner dies from overdosing on "Blue Magic", a relatively new and powerful type of heroin being sold for less money than its competition, Richie's honesty catches him a break when his superior Captain Lou Toback (Ted Levine) puts him in charge of a newly created task force to stop major drug trafficking in Essex County, New Jersey by going after the actual supplier, rather than the middle-men. Richie handpicks honest cops and gets to work on finding who is supplying Blue Magic.
Frank's unique drug supply enables him to sell pure heroin, as contrasted with the adulterated product sold by his rivals, and at a lower price, because he cut out the middle men in the supply chain. He creates a brand “Blue Magic” and with an effective monopoly on quality product, Frank quickly makes a fortune and buys several nightclubs and apartments. He moves his family from North Carolina to New Jersey, where he purchases a large estate for his humble mother. His five brothers are enlisted as his lieutenants in the drug trade – forming “The Country Boys” who work together to traffic and sell dope on Harlem streets. During his rise, Frank meets and falls in love with Eva, a Puerto Rican beauty queen. Through his discipline, organization, and willingness to kill those in his way, Frank quickly rises to the top of the Harlem drug and crime scene.
As Frank's business prospers, he makes a point of operating quietly and dressing with a modest conservatism both as a sign of strength and to avoid attracting the attention of the law. However, Frank disregards this habit for his wife for one ostentatious night out, attending the Fight of the Century between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier, in a gaudy chinchilla fur coat and hat, along with a ringside seat. As it happens, Roberts is on duty observing the event and sees this unknown, but obviously wealthy person associating with high-level criminals, as well as having better seats than the Italian Mafia. Roberts becomes suspicious, and he begins to investigate this unknown (to him) figure in New York organized crime.
Even as Frank realizes he has exposed himself to police scrutiny, he must make deals with the Mafia, in this case Lucchese crime family Mob boss Dominic Cattano (Armand Assante), and fend off corrupt NYPD detectives, such as Det. Trupo (Josh Brolin), who attempt to extort and threaten him. Trupo's dislike of Frank is capped when his prized Shelby Mustang is bombed before his eyes. Frank must also contend with local crime figure Nicky Barnes (Cuba Gooding, Jr.), who is taking some of Frank's product, diluting it himself, and selling it under Frank's "Blue Magic" brand name. Unidentified assassins try to kill Frank’s wife, further destabilizing him and threatening his marriage. Things take a turn for the worse when Frank sees the U.S. military vacating Vietnam, Fall of Saigon, which in turn cuts off his primary heroin transportation. His Kuomintang supplier sympathetically tells him "Quitting while you are ahead...is not the same as quitting."
Richie catches another break when his men witness Frank's cousin shooting a woman. They use the driver’s predicament to get him to wear a wire. The wire allows Richie and his task force to discover when a plane carrying drugs is landing, though Richie is ordered to cease his search of the coffins by a racist Federal agent who dismisses his assessment of Lucas' dangerousness and ends up snarling an anti-Semitic slur at him. Meanwhile, Trupo leads his band of police officers to Frank's mansion where they take Frank's emergency cash supply. Frank is enraged at what Trupo did, and sets out to kill him and other associated officers. Frank's mother pleads that he not go through with it, and Frank decides not to murder Trupo. When the plane lands, Richie and his men follow the drugs into Newark's projects and obtain a warrant. A huge group of police and detectives attack the drug apartments en masse and a large shootout ensues. Steve Lucas, Frank's nephew who gave up a promising baseball career with the New York Yankees and began work for his uncle dies in the shootout. Frank is at church when the bust goes down, but he is arrested after the service ends. Frank and Richie finally meet, and Frank’s attempts to threaten Richie are unsuccessful. Richie tells Frank that he will go to prison for the rest of his life unless he provides all the information he has, and accurately.
With no other options, Frank decides to provide names of numerous other criminals, including his and Richie’s common enemies: corrupt NYC detectives. Numerous corrupt cops are arrested, and a distraught Trupo kills himself to avoid arrest. Richie, having passed the bar exam, prosecutes Frank. Some time after the Lucas trial, he eventually leaves the prosecutor's office, and becomes a defense attorney. The first client he takes is Frank. Because of his cooperation, Frank receives a relatively light sentence of 15 years rather than the original 70. He is arrested in 1975. At the film’s end, he steps out of jail in 1991 significantly older and out of place.
The Dawns Here Are Quiet (Russian: А зори здесь тихие, 1972) is a feature film directed by Stanislav Rostotsky based on Boris Vasilyev's novel of the same name. In 1973 the film was nominated for an Oscar in the "Best Foreign Language Film" category.
The film is set in Karelia (North-West of Russia near Finland) in 1941 during WWII and was filmed near Ruskeala. In a railway station far from the front line, senior sergeant Vaskov is stationed with a group of young female anti-aircraft gunners. Vaskov is not used to these gunners' active, playful personality and therefore clashes with them over daily issues. But Vaskov, being the only man in the village, has to accommodate for them in many cases.
One day, two German paratroopers appear in the forest near their garrison. Thinking that the paratroopers may sabotage military facilities, Vaskov and five female gunners leave the station and attempt to stop the Germans in the forest. They pick up a perfect defense position, only to find that there are sixteen paratroopers instead of two. Though outgunned and outnumbered, Vaskov decides to hold the Germans for as long as possible. He also sends a soldier back to the garrison to ask for reinforcement. However, that girl is drowned in the swamp on her way. Vaskov and the remaining four soldiers fight the Germans in the forest, and all four girls are killed in action. Vaskov is also heavily wounded and finds the drowned soldier's clothes near the swamp. The desperate Vaskov attacks the cabin where the Germans rest. The Germans are totally surprised and are either killed or captured. Meanwhile, a reinforcement team departs the garrison to search for Vaskov and his group. The team finally finds Vaskov before he passes out.
Twenty years after the war ended, Vaskov with the adopted son of one of the girls comes to that place again.
The Way Home (집으로 – Jibeuro) is a 2002 film written and directed by Lee Jeong-hyang. It was the second-highest grossing local film in South Korea in 2002. It was released on DVD, with English subtitles, in 2003 by Paramount.
The Way Home or Jibeuro is a heart-warming story about a grandmother and her city-born grandson who comes to live with her in a rural village. The film, which reminds the younger generation of the unconditional love and care that old people selflessly give, won South Korea's equivalent of the Oscars for best picture and screenplay.
The story begins on a fine summers morning, when San-woo (Yu Seung-ho)) and his mother board a bus to the country. It is soon clear that the unsophisticated rural passengers annoy the seven-year-old urban boy. His mother is taking him to live with his 78-year-old mute, but not deaf, grandmother (Kim Eul-boon) while she looks for a new job after a business venture failed in Seoul. Eventually they reach their destination, a dusty bus stop in the Korean countryside near a simple village.
By now Sang-woo, who has arrived with junk food and toys, has no intention of respecting his mute grandmother especially as her house has neither electricity nor running water. His mother apologises for leaving the boy, telling her own mother it will not be for too long before leaving on the next bus. Alone Sang-woo ignores his grandmother, not even wanting to look at her even calling her a byungshin, or "retard". Next morning, the old grandmother goes down the hill to get clean water and washes her clothes at the river. She also grows melons and sells it in the market.
One of the Grandmother's friends is a hard-working country boy who attempts to become friends with Sang-woo, who declines until the end when he apologizes for making fun of him. The other is a young girl who Sang-Woo fell in love with, but is more into the country boy.
The old grandmother, who cares for her old friends very much, lives a simple and humble life. Eventually, from constant play, Sang-woo's Game Boy runs-out of batteries so he asks his grandmother for money for new ones. But she is poor and has none. Selfishly he teases her, and in an intolerant manner throws away her shoes, breaks one of her vases and draws graffiti on her house walls.
When this fails to get money from his grandmother, Sang-woo steals her ornamental hairpin to trade for batteries. He then goes off to find the shops. When he finally finds the right place he attempts to trade the silver hairpin but instead of getting batteries the shop keeper, who happens to be his grandmother's friend, hits him on the head and sends him home.
One day Sang-woo demands Kentucky Fried Chicken. But as the grandmother only understand "chicken", she takes some of her melons and trudges off to the market to buy a chicken. Bringing back a live one in the rain, she prepares a home-made boiled chicken instead of fried chicken. When Sang-woo wakes up he sees the boiled chicken he gets angry, throwing the food away. Later in the night he finishes the food because he is hungry. The next morning, his grandmother becomes ill and Sang-woo serves her the remaining chicken while caring for her.
Despite the hardships faced by the old grandmother who has osteoporosis, the only thing she needs Sang-woo for is to run thread through her needles. She stitches the shoes and shares her earnings with a friend who ends their meeting with the touching words "Come by again before one of us dies."
Sang-woo who remains angry and confused by the unfamiliar environment repeatedly rejects her attempts to please him. But her unconditional love slowly touches his heart. One day, Sang-woo gets up early and goes with his grandmother to the market where he sees how hard his grandmother persuades passers-by to buy her vegetables. After a long day at the market she takes Sang-woo to a shop and buys him noodles and new shoes. When they are about to board the bus home, Sang-woo asks his grandma to buy him a Choco Pie. She does but then hut as to walk home after spending her bus fare on the treat.
Eventually Sang-woo begins to love his grandmother, but because she is unable to read or write he makes some simple greeting cards, so she has some letters from him. Finally Sang-woo's mother returns and he goes back to Seoul. His depth of feeling for his grandmother are revealed when the bus leaves and he leaps to the back window to wave his tearful farewells. The film closes with the grandmother continuing to live alone in the thatched-roof house but with the letters of love from her grandson.
Before the end a credit notes the film is dedicated to all maternal grandmothers around the world.
Philadelphia is a 1993 film. The film's subjects include HIV/AIDS, homosexuality and homophobia. It was written by Ron Nyswaner and directed by Jonathan Demme. The film stars Tom Hanks, Denzel Washington, Joanne Woodward, Jason Robards, Antonio Banderas, Mary Steenburgen, Anna Deavere Smith, Lisa Summerour, Chandra Wilson and Ron Vawter. It was inspired by the story of Geoffrey Bowers, an attorney who in 1987 sued the law firm Baker & McKenzie for unfair dismissal in one of the first AIDS discrimination cases.
The film tells the story of Andrew Beckett (Hanks), a senior associate at the largest corporate law firm in Philadelphia. Although he lives with his partner Miguel Álvarez (Banderas), Beckett hides his homosexuality and the fact he has AIDS from the other members of the law firm. On the day he is assigned the firm's newest and most important case, one of the firm's partners notices a small lesion on Beckett's forehead. Shortly thereafter, Beckett stays home from work for several days to try to find a way to hide his lesions. While at home, he finishes the paperwork for the case he has been assigned and then brings it to his office, leaving instructions for his assistants to file the paperwork on the following day, which marks the end of the statute of limitations for the case. Later that morning, he receives a frantic call asking for the paperwork, as the paper copy cannot be found and there are no copies on the computer's hard drive. However, the paperwork is finally discovered and is filed with the court at the last possible moment. The following day, Beckett is dismissed by the firm's partners, who had previously referred to him as their "friend."
Beckett believes that someone deliberately hid his paperwork to give the firm an excuse to fire him, and that the firing is actually as a result of his diagnosis with AIDS. He asks several attorneys to take his case, including personal injury lawyer Joe Miller (Washington), with whom he had been involved in a previous case. Miller, who is homophobic and knows little about Beckett's disease, declines to take the case and immediately visits his doctor to find out if he could have contracted the disease through shaking Beckett's hand. The doctor explains the methods of AIDS infection. The doctor then offers to take a sample of Miller's blood, suspecting that Miller was asking about AIDS because he suspected he had contracted it and was trying to hide it. Miller dismisses the request by laughing it off, thinking it a joke. Unable to find a lawyer willing to represent him, Beckett is compelled to act as his own attorney. While researching a case at a law library, Miller sees Beckett at a nearby table. After a librarian announces that he has found a book on AIDS discrimination for Beckett, others in the library begin to first stare and then move away, and the librarian suggests Beckett retire to a private room. Disgusted by their behavior, Miller approaches Beckett and reviews the material he has gathered. It is obvious he has decided to take the case. Upon receiving a summons by Miller, the head of the firm, Charles Wheeler (Robards), worries about the damage the lawsuit could do to his business and reputation, although one associate (Vawter) unsuccessfully tries to convince them to settle out of court with Beckett.
As the case goes before the court, Wheeler takes the stand, committing perjury by claiming that Beckett was incompetent and claiming that he had deliberately tried to hide his condition. The defense repeatedly suggests that Beckett had invited his illness through promiscuity and was therefore not a victim. In the course of testimony, it is revealed that the partner who had noticed Beckett's lesion had previously worked with a woman who had contracted AIDS after a blood transfusion and so would have recognized the lesion as relating to AIDS. To prove that the lesions would have been visible, Miller asks Beckett to unbutton his shirt while on the witness stand, revealing that his lesions were indeed visible and recognizable as such.
During cross-examination, Beckett admits that he was originally planning to tell his partners that he was gay, but changed his mind after hearing them make homophobic jokes in the sauna of a health club. When asked about the truth of how he got infected, he confirms that he engaged in anonymous sex with another man at a pornographic movie theater. However, he and Miller gain an advantage when the one partner who suggested settling out of court confesses he suspected Beckett had AIDS but never said anything, and how he regrets his inaction.
Beckett collapses in court shortly after finishing cross-examination. During his hospitalization, the jury votes in his favor, awarding him back pay, damages for pain and suffering, and punitive damages. Miller visits Beckett in hospital after the verdict and overcomes his fear enough to touch Beckett's face. After Beckett's family leaves the room, he tells Miguel that he is ready to die. A short scene immediately afterward shows Miller getting the word that Beckett has died. The movie ends with a reception at Beckett's home following the funeral, where many mourners, including the Millers, view home movies of Beckett as a healthy child.
Requiem for a Dream is a 2000 film adaptation of the 1978 novel of the same name. The novel was written by Hubert Selby, Jr.; the film adaptation was directed by Darren Aronofsky, and starred Ellen Burstyn, Jared Leto, Jennifer Connelly, and Marlon Wayans. Burstyn was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance. The film was screened out of competition at the 2000 Cannes Film Festival.
The film depicts different forms of addiction, leading to the characters’ imprisonment in a dream world of delusion and reckless desperation that is subsequently overtaken and devastated by reality.
The film charts three seasons in the lives of Sara Goldfarb (Ellen Burstyn), her son Harry (Jared Leto), Harry’s girlfriend Marion Silver (Jennifer Connelly), and Harry’s friend Tyrone C. Love (Marlon Wayans). Each character is ultimately destroyed by addiction and self-delusion.
The story begins in summer. Sara Goldfarb, an elderly widow living alone in her Brighton Beach apartment, spends her time watching infomercials on television. After a phone call announces that she will be invited to be a participant on a game show, she becomes obsessed with matching her appearance to a photograph from Harry's graduation, her proudest moment. In order to fit into her old red dress, the favorite of her deceased husband, she begins taking a regimen of prescription weight-loss amphetamine pills throughout the day and a sedative at night. The pills alter her behavior, but she passionately insists that the chance to be on television has given her a reason to live. Over the fall, however, her invitation does not arrive, and she begins to up her dosage, causing nightmarish hallucinations, where she is the principal subject of the game show.
Her son Harry is a heroin addict. Together with his friend, Tyrone, and his girlfriend, Marion — who are also addicts — he enters the drug trade in an attempt to realize their dreams. With the money they make over the summer, Harry and Marion hope to open a fashion store for Marion's designs, while Tyrone dreams of escaping the street and making his mother proud. However, at the beginning of fall, Tyrone is caught in the middle of a drug gang assassination, causing Harry to use the majority of the money they've earned to bail him out of prison. Meanwhile, because of the arrests and shootings of dealers, it becomes very hard to obtain any drugs, throwing Harry, Tyrone, and Marion into a state of deprivation. Growing more desperate, Harry convinces Marion to have sex with her psychiatrist in exchange for money, causing a rift in the relationship. The group continues to deteriorate as Marion begins prostituting herself and Harry's arm becomes severely infected from improper injection technique.
With winter comes the final arc in the characters' downward spirals. Sara's sanity unravels and she is put in a mental institution, where she undergoes painful electroconvulsive therapy. Harry and Tyrone travel to Florida, believing they can start over there, but Harry's deteriorating condition forces them to visit a hospital, where they are arrested. However, Harry is taken to another hospital because of his arm, and it is amputated. Tyrone must deal with racist prison guards, hard labor, and drug withdrawal all alone. Harry has a recurring dream of Marion waiting for him at a pier, but awakens and realizes that he is alone. Marion meets with a pimp, who makes her have sex with him for drugs and later at an orgy for heroin.
Lost in misery, each character curls into a fetal position. In Sara's dream, however, she wins the grand prize that the game show offers and meets Harry here. In her fantasy, Harry is a successful businessman, engaged to Marion. Mother and son hug and say how much they love one another through the cheers of the crowd and the glowing stage lights.
The Devil Wears Prada is a 2006 comedy-drama film, a loose screen adaptation of Lauren Weisberger's 2003 novel of the same name. It stars Anne Hathaway as Andy Sachs, a recent college graduate who goes to New York City and gets a job as a co-assistant to powerful and demanding fashion magazine editor Miranda Priestly, played by Meryl Streep. Emily Blunt and Stanley Tucci co-star in support of the two leads, as catty co-assistant Emily Charlton, and critical yet supportive Art Director Nigel, respectively. Adrian Grenier, Simon Baker and Tracie Thoms play key supporting roles. Wendy Finerman produced and David Frankel directed; the film was distributed by 20th Century Fox.
Andrea "Andy" Sachs (Anne Hathaway), an aspiring journalist fresh out of Northwestern University, lands the magazine job "a million girls would kill for": junior personal assistant to icy editor-in-chief Miranda Priestly (Meryl Streep), who dominates the fashion world from her perch atop Runway magazine. She puts up with the eccentric and humiliating requests of her boss because, she is told, if she lasts a year in the position she will get her pick of other jobs, perhaps even the journalistic position she truly craves.
At first, she fits in poorly among the gossipy fashionistas who make up the magazine staff. Her lack of style or fashion knowledge and fumbling with her job make her an object of scorn around the bustling office. Senior assistant Emily Charlton (Emily Blunt), her co-worker, is condescending to her. Gradually, though, with the help of art director Nigel (Stanley Tucci), Andy adjusts to the position and its many perks, including free designer clothing and other choice accessories. She begins to dress more stylishly and do her job competently, fulfilling a seemingly impossible request of Miranda's to get two copies of an unpublished Harry Potter manuscript to her daughters.
She also comes to prize chance encounters with attractive young writer Christian Thompson (Simon Baker), who helped her obtain the Potter manuscript and suggests he could help her with her career. Her relationships with her boyfriend Nate (Adrian Grenier), a chef working his way up the career ladder, and other college friends begin to suffer due to the increasing time she spends at Miranda's beck and call.
Shortly afterwards, Andy saves Miranda from social embarrassment at a charity benefit when the cold-stricken Emily falters in reminding Miranda who an approaching guest is. As a result, Miranda tells Andrea that she will accompany her to the fall fashion shows in Paris, rather than Emily. Miranda warns Andy that if she declines, it could adversely affect her future job prospects. Emily is hit by a car before Andy can tell Emily the next morning, making her choice moot.
During a gallery exhibit of her friend Lily's photography, Andy again encounters Christian, who openly flirts with her, much to the shock and disgust of Lily, who witnesses it all. After Lily calls her out and walks away, Andy bumps into Nate. When she tells him she will be going to Paris, he is angered by her refusal to admit she's become what she once ridiculed. They break up in the middle of the street the night before she leaves for Paris.
In Paris, Nigel tells Andy that he has gotten a job as creative director with rising fashion star James Holt (Daniel Sunjata), at Miranda Priestly's recommendation, and will finally be in charge of his own life. She finally succumbs to Christian's charms, and sees her boss let down her guard for the first time as she worries about the effect an impending divorce will have on her daughters. In the morning, Andrea finds out about a plan to replace Miranda as Runway editor with Jacqueline Follet, editor of the magazine's French edition, later that day. Despite the suffering she has endured at her boss's behest, she attempts to warn Miranda.
At a luncheon later that day, however, Miranda announces that it is Jacqueline instead of Nigel who will leave Runway for Holt. Later, when the two are being driven to a show, she explains to a still-stunned Andrea that she was grateful for the warning but already knew of the plot to replace her and sacrificed Nigel to keep her own job. Pleased by this display of loyalty, she tells Andrea she sees some of herself in her. Andrea, repulsed, said she could never do to anyone what Miranda did to Nigel, primarily as Nigel mentored Andrea. Miranda replies that she already did, stepping over Emily when she agreed to go to Paris. Andrea questions if the cut-throat fashion industry is truly where she wants to be and Miranda replies that "everybody wants to be us".
Andrea gets out of the limo at the next stop, going not into the show with Miranda but out into the street, where instead of answering yet another call from her boss, she throws her cell phone into the fountain of the Place de la Concorde, leaving Miranda, Runway and fashion behind.
Later, back in New York, she meets Nate for breakfast. He has accepted an offer to work as a sous-chef in a popular Boston restaurant. Andrea is disappointed, but her hope is rejuvenated when he says they could work something out. At the film's conclusion, she is interviewing for a newspaper job. The interviewer reveals that he received a fax from Miranda saying she was by far her biggest disappointment, but that if he did not hire her, he was an idiot. Andrea offers Emily the clothes she wore to Paris, insisting she doesn't need them any more. Emily accepts and tells Andrea's replacement she has some large shoes to fill. In the last scene, Andrea, dressed casually but with a bit more style, sees Miranda getting into her car across the street. They exchange looks and Miranda gives a soft smile once inside the car. She then snaps back to her usual self and impatiently says "Go!" to the driver.
Ellie (Queen Latifah) and Manny (Ray Romano) are expecting their first child, and Manny is obsessed with making life perfect and safe for the family, since his first experiences as a husband and father went bad when his family were killed by hunters. At the same time, Diego (Denis Leary) finds himself unable to catch a cocky gazelle (Bill Hader) he has been stalking and decides to leave the herd, believing that he is losing his predatory nature as a tiger. Sid (John Leguizamo) grows jealous of Manny and Ellie and “adopts” three apparently abandoned eggs that he finds in an icy underground cavern and call them Eggbert, Shelly, and Yoko. Manny tells him to put them back, but Sid instead looks after the eggs, which hatch into baby Tyrannosaurus the next morning.
Although Sid tries his best to raise the three dinosaurs, their rambunctious behavior scares away all the other animals’ young and ruins a playground Manny built for Ellie’s baby. A female Tyrannosaurus, Momma, whose eggs Sid stole, soon returns and carries both Sid and her young underground, with Diego in pursuit. Manny, Ellie, Crash, and Eddie (Seann William Scott, Josh Peck) follow as well and discover that the icy cavern leads to a vast jungle populated by dinosaurs thought to be extinct. Here, an Ankylosaurus threatens the herd despite Diego’s efforts to fend it off; they are saved from a further crowd of angry reptiles by an insane, one-eyed weasel named Buckminster, or Buck (Simon Pegg).
Buck has been living in this jungle for some time and is chasing Rudy (a huge albino Baryonyx), intending to avenge the eye he lost to it. He agrees to lead the herd through the jungle’s perils to Lava Falls, where Momma has taken Sid and her babies. In the meantime, Sid and Momma try to outdo each other in feeding the offspring; he loses this contest, but is soon welcomed into the family regardless. The next day, however, Sid is separated from the family and attacked by Rudy. Sid is knocked onto a loose rock slab that is floating on a river of lava and about to plummet over the falls.
As the herd moves toward Lava Falls, Ellie goes into labor and a Guanlong pack strikes, causing a rock slide that separates her from Manny and Diego. Manny doubles back to protect her and Diego fends off further attacks, while Buck takes Crash and Eddie ahead to rescue Sid. Just as he goes over the falls, the trio swoops in on a commandeered Pteranodon only to been chased by a flock of Quetzalcoatlus on the way and saves his life. Manny reaches Ellie, and there is suddenly a reaction, the cry of a newborn baby, then he sees that it is a girl. He wants to name her Ellie, or Little Ellie, but Ellie instead names her Peaches after the fruit (and the codeword they had chosen for Ellie to use if she went into labor during the trip). Sid is saddened at the fact that he never had a chance to say goodbye to "his" children as he returns to the herd and learns of Peaches' birth.
Before they can exit the jungle, Rudy attacks at full force; Buck lures Rudy away from the group and is nearly eaten himself, before Diego saves him at the last second. They then ensnare him briefly, but he escapes and resumes his onslaught. The herd is saved by the timely arrival of Momma, who charges at Rudy and knocks him off a cliff before roaring her victory. As she and her children wish Sid well, Buck – now without a purpose in life since Rudy is gone – decides to join the herd and live on the surface. However, a distant roar tells him that Rudy is still alive; he changes his mind and sends the herd home, blocking off the path to the underground jungle at the same time so that no one else can go down there. Manny and Ellie welcome Peaches into their frozen world and admit that Sid did a good job looking after Momma's children (though Manny tells Diego that he will never let Sid babysit Peaches). Diego decides to remain with the herd, while Buck stays where he wants to be: underground, battling it out with Rudy.
Evan Almighty is a 2007 American comedy film, and sequel to Bruce Almighty. It was directed by Tom Shadyac and stars Steve Carell, Lauren Graham, John Goodman, and Morgan Freeman reprising his role as God. Evan Almighty was released in cinemas on June 22, 2007. After jumping from Jim Carrey to Steve Carell as lead actor, production of the film began in January 2006. Several visual effect companies were used to provide CGI for the numerous animals and climactic flood scene at the end of the film.
Newly elected to Congress, former local television newsman Evan Baxter (Steve Carell) leaves Buffalo and shepherds his family to suburban northern Virginia, where his congressional campaign declares he will change the world without explaining how he will do so. On his first job, he meets Marty (John Michael Higgins), Rita Daniels (Wanda Sykes), and top congressman Chuck Long (John Goodman). Soon after his arrival, strange things start to happen: animals follow Evan without any apparent reason; he grows a beard that immediately reappears no matter how many time he shaves; eight vacant lots in Evan's neighborhood are purchased in his name; ancient tools and wood are sent to his house; and the number "614" appears everywhere he goes.
Evan soon learns the number indicates a verse in the Book of Genesis, in which God instructs Noah to build an ark. Later, God (Morgan Freeman) appears and commands Evan to build a replica of Noah's Ark in preparation for a deluge. His family initially believes he is having an extraordinary mid-life crisis; later, his sons suspect something greater is occurring and assist him in the construction of the ark, although his wife Joan (Lauren Graham) does not. Reappearing, God tells Evan the flood will come at noon on September 22.
Animals later follow Evan to Congress. When he explains the reason for this, Chuck Long suspends him. Joan, upon seeing a news report that features the Ark, takes their three sons to her mother's house, thinking to abandon Evan. Evan then builds the Ark alone, gaining international notice. Some time after Joan leaves Evan, God appears to her as a waiter at a diner, wearing a name tag displaying "Al Mighty". In this guise, he tells her God does not give things, but only the opportunity by which to obtain things, citing togetherness of families as one of these things. Seeing his meaning, Joan returns to Evan to finish the Ark together. Meanwhile, word reaches Evan that Chuck Long has commissioned a dam and has cut corners in doing so.
On September 22, Evan loads hundreds of animals onto the newly finished ark in front of live news crews and nearby citizens. Minutes pass wherein is no sign of rain, provoking the spectators' scorn. A large rainstorm does come, but is brief. Evan takes this as a sign of the coming deluge, but is proven wrong. Joan tells Evan to leave the Ark; Evan, however, remembers Congressman Long's dam, which he fears may burst. As he thinks on this, the dam does burst, flooding the streets. At this, all spectators and policeman board the ark, which sails down the streets of Washington D.C. on the floodwaters of the lake until it eventually lands touching the front of the Capitol. Evan then tells Long that the flood was caused by his poor design of the dam, which incites the other congressmen present to turn against Long. As investigations on Chuck Long are occurring, Evan and his family later go on a hiking trip, during which God reappears to Evan, telling him that the way to change the world is by doing one Act of Random Kindness ("ARK") at a time.
The Truman Show is a 1998 comedy-drama film directed by Peter Weir and written by Andrew Niccol. The cast includes Jim Carrey as Truman Burbank, as well as Laura Linney, Noah Emmerich, Ed Harris and Natascha McElhone. The film chronicles the life of a man who discovers he is living in a constructed reality soap opera, televised 24/7 to billions across the globe.
The genesis of The Truman Show was a spec script by Niccol. The original draft was more in tone of a science fiction thriller, with the story set in New York City. Scott Rudin purchased the script, and instantly set the project up at Paramount Pictures. Brian de Palma was in contention to direct before Weir took over, managing to make the film for $60 million against the estimated $80 million budget. Niccol rewrote the script simultaneously as the filmmakers were waiting for Carrey's schedule to open up for filming. The majority of filming took place at Seaside, Florida, a master-planned community located in the Florida Panhandle.
The film was a financial and critical success, and Paramount's marketing approach for the film was similar to Forrest Gump. The Truman Show earned numerous nominations at the 71st Academy Awards, 56th Golden Globe Awards, 52nd British Academy Film Awards and The Saturn Awards. The Truman Show has been analyzed as a thesis on Christianity, simulated reality, existentialism and the forthcoming rise of reality television.
The movie is framed around the television show "The Truman Show." Its main character, Truman Burbank, has lived his entire life since before birth in front of cameras for the show, though he himself is unaware of this fact. Truman's life is filmed through thousands of hidden cameras, 24 hours a day and broadcast live around the world, allowing executive producer Christof to capture Truman's real emotion and human behavior when put in certain situations. Truman's hometown of Seahaven is a complete set built under a giant dome and populated by the show's actors and crew, allowing Christof to control every aspect of Truman's life, even the weather. To prevent Truman from discovering his false reality, Christof has invented means of dissuading his sense of exploration, including "killing" his father in a storm while on a fishing trip to instill in him a fear of the water. However, despite Christof's control, Truman has managed to behave in unexpected manners, in particular falling in love with an extra, Sylvia, instead of Meryl, the actress intended to be his wife. Though Sylvia is removed from the set quickly, her memory still resonates with him, and he secretly thinks of her outside of his marriage to Meryl. Sylvia subsequently starts a "Free Truman" campaign that fights to have Truman freed from the show.
In the film's present, during the 30th year "The Truman Show" has been on the air, Truman discovers facts that seem out of place, such as a spotlight that nearly hits him (quickly passed off by local radio as an airplane's dislodged landing light) and a "Truman Show" crew conversation on his car radio that is describing his morning commute into work. These events cause Truman to start wondering about his life, realizing much of the town seems to revolve around him. Stress on Meryl to continue her role causes their marriage to unravel. Truman seeks to get away from Seahaven but is blocked by the inability to arrange for flights, bus breakdowns, sudden masses of traffic, and an apparent nuclear meltdown. After Meryl breaks down and is taken off the show, Christof brings back Truman's father, hoping his presence will keep Truman from trying to leave. However, he only provides a temporary respite: Truman soon becomes isolated and begins staying alone in his basement. One night, Truman manages to escape the basement undetected via a secret tunnel, forcing Christof to temporarily suspend broadcasting of the show for the first time in its history. This causes a surge in viewership, with many viewers, including Sylvia, cheering on Truman's escape attempt.
Christof orders every actor and crew to search the town, breaking the town's daylight cycle to help in the search. They find that Truman has managed to overcome his fear of the water and has been sailing away from the town in a small boat named Santa Maria (the name of the ship in which Christopher Columbus discovered the New World). After restoring the broadcast, Christof orders the show's crew to create a large storm to try to capsize the boat. However, Truman's determination eventually leads Christof to terminate the storm. As Truman recovers, the boat reaches the edge of the dome, its bow piercing through the dome's painted sky. An awe-struck Truman then discovers a flight of stairs nearby, leading to a door marked "exit". As he contemplates leaving his world, Christof speaks directly to Truman via a powerful sound system, trying to persuade him to stay and arguing that there is no more truth in the real world than there is in his own, artificial world. Truman, after a moment's thought, delivers his catchphrase, "In case I don't see you ... good afternoon, good evening, and good night," bows to his audience, and steps through the door and into the real world. The assembled television viewers excitedly celebrate Truman's escape, and Sylvia quickly leaves her apartment to reunite with him. A network executive orders the crew to cease transmission. With the show completed, members of Truman's former audience are shown looking for something else to watch.
Ratatouille is a 2007 computer-animated film produced by Pixar and distributed by Walt Disney Pictures. The film was the eighth movie produced by Pixar, and was directed by Brad Bird, who took over from Jan Pinkava in 2005. The title refers to a French dish which is served late in the film, and is also a play on words on the species of the main character.
The plot follows Remy, a rat who dreams of becoming a chef and tries to achieve his goal by forming an alliance with a Parisian restaurant's garbage boy. Ratatouille was released on June 29, 2007 in the United States, to both critical acclaim and box office success, and later won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, among other honors.
Remy is a rat who lives in the attic of a French country home with his brother Emile and a pack led by his father Django. Gifted with a keen sense of smell and taste, Remy aspires to be a gourmet chef, inspired by France's recently deceased top chef, Auguste Gusteau, but instead he is put to work sniffing for rat poison. When the pack is discovered by the home's occupant, they flee into the sewers; Remy becomes separated from the others and ends up marooned underneath Gusteau's restaurant in Paris, conversing with a hallucination of the famous chef.
Urged on by Gusteau, Remy makes his way up to the restaurant's kitchen skylight to watch the staff in action. There, he observes Alfredo Linguini, the son of Gusteau's former mistress, being hired as an escuelerie by Skinner, the restaurant's current owner and Gusteau's former sous-chef. When Linguini spills some of the soup and attempts to recreate it using random ingredients, Remy is horrified, and falls into the kitchen; instead of escaping, Remy attempts to correct the soup. Remy is caught by Linguini just as Linguini is caught by Skinner, but before anyone can stop the serving staff, the soup is served and found to be a success. Colette, the staff's only female chef, convinces Skinner to retain Linguini, believing him to be the success behind the soup. Linguini takes Remy home, realizing he cannot kill him as instructed by Skinner as Remy was the "little chef" that made the soup.
Remy and Linguini find a means to overcome their language barrier, with Remy pulling Linguini's hair under his toque blanche to control his limbs like a marionette. The two work together to successfully cook in the kitchen, even overcoming challenges placed by Skinner. Skinner, suspicious of Linguini's talents, discovers that Linguini is actually Gusteau's son and by Gusteau's will, is the rightful owner of the restaurant; this revelation would ruin Skinner's plans to use Gusteau's name to market a line of microwaveable meals. Remy discovers Skinner's documents and retrieves them, bringing them to Linguini, who subsequently fires Skinner and takes control of the restaurant, much to the staff's delight. Linguini and Colette even begin to develop a romantic bond, with Remy feeling that he is being left behind. Remy finds Emile in the restaurant's trash, and Remy is reunited with the pack. Django warns Remy that humans and rats will never get along, but Remy insists that it will all work out. Meanwhile, Remy begrudgingly feeds Emile and his growing group of friends from the kitchen's pantry as the nights pass.
Anton Ego, a food critic whose review earlier cost Gusteau's one of its star ratings, announces he will review the restaurant again the next day based on its rising success. Linguini, under pressure of Ego's pending arrival, has a fallout with Remy, causing Remy to retaliate by leading a raid on the kitchen's foodstocks that night. Linguini catches the rats stealing the food and chases them all out, including Remy, telling the rat he never wants to see him again. Remy, dejected, is captured by Skinner, who recognizes Remy was the real talent behind Linguini's success and wants to use the rat for his own commercial ambitions. However, Remy is quickly freed by Django and Emile. Remy returns to the kitchen to find a frantic Linguini apologizing for his actions, and asking Remy back to help. Linguini then reveals the truth to the rest of the staff about Remy, resulting in a mass walk-out; but Colette later returns after recalling Gusteau's motto: "Anyone can cook."
Impressed by his son's determination, Django organizes the rest of the pack to help out in the kitchen, and throw Skinner and a health inspector, bound and gagged, into the freezer when they try to interfere; Linguini dons roller skates so he can wait on all the tables by himself, while Remy and Colette work together to prepare a variation on ratatouille for Ego. Ego is amazed by the dish, which evokes childhood memories of his mother's cooking, and asks to see the chef. Linguini and Colette wait until all the other customers leave to reveal Remy and the rats to Ego. Ego leaves the restaurant deep in thought, and writes a glowing review of the meal the next day, declaring Remy to be "nothing less than the finest chef in France."
A short time later, Gusteau's is exposed and closed down by the health inspector, and Ego loses his job and his credibility as a food critic for praising a restaurant filled with rats. However, he eagerly funds a popular new bistro, "La Ratatouille," run by Linguini and Colette, featuring dining areas for both humans and rats and a kitchen designed for Remy to continue cooking. The film ends with the camera sweeping across a long queue waiting outside the bistro and the bistro's sign, which sports a rat with a cooking hat and spoon.