From Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License ===== Leocadia ("Leo") Macías (Marisa Paredes) writes popular romance novels under a pen name, Amanda Gris. Unlike her romantic ("pink") novels, her love life is troubled. She has a difficult relationship with her husband Paco (Imanol Arias), a military officer stationed in Brussels and later in Bosnia, who is physically and emotionally distant. The film starts with Leo writing about the feeling of having lost her lover, a feeling that she compares to the pain of a tight pair of boots that she cannot take off. Almodovar took for this first part of the film strong plot elements from Dorothy Parker's short story, The Lovely Leave Leo begins to change the direction of her writing, wanting to focus more on darker themes such as pain and loss, and can no longer write her romantic Amanda Gris novels. However, her publishers demand sentimental happy endings, at least until her contract is up. She begins to re-evaluate her life through her relationship with her publishers, her husband, her best friend Betty (Carme Elías), her "crab-faced" sister Rosa (Rossy de Palma) and her bickering elderly mother (Chus Lampreave). Only her maid (played by flamenco dancer Manuela Vargas) appears steadfast. She also meets Ángel (Juan Echanove), a prominent newspaper editor who quickly falls for Leo and her writing. After signing a contract with the newspaper, El País, Leo tells Ángel that she cannot write romances anymore, and that she has written a dark ("black") novel about a young mother whose daughter kills her husband because he tried to rape her. After that, the corpse of the dead man is hidden in a refrigerator. Although Leo throws this story out, she later learns that someone is turning it into a movie. (In fact, Almodóvar himself created a movie based on this same plot, Volver, released eleven years later in 2006.) After the inevitable disintegration of her marriage and then learning that her best friend was her husband's lover, Leo takes and survives an overdose, then goes with her mother to the village of Almagro to rest and recover. There she receives a call from her publishers, who are apparently delighted by the two manuscripts they have received from her — romances Leo never wrote or submitted. She returns to Madrid and learns that Ángel is her ghostwriter. More surprises unfold when she attends a brilliant dance performance featuring her maid, Manuela Vargas, and Joaquín Cortés, who plays the maid's son, Antonio. Antonio soon confesses that he is the one who took her manuscript now being made into a movie. A final surprise for Leo: after a false start, she finds love with the smitten Ángel, and the film ends with the tenuous promise of a "new year". ===== The movie begins in Manhattan, three years after the first movie, where the Cheetah Girls have just completed their junior year and are performing at a Graduation Party for the Manhattan Magnet's Class of 2006 ("The Party's Just Begun"). Later while having a sleep-over/Chinese food night at Galleria's (Raven-Symoné), Chanel (Adrienne Bailon) tells the girls that her mother, Juanita (Lori Anne Alter), is planning a trip to Barcelona, Spain, where they will be visiting Luc (Abel Folk), Juanita's boyfriend. Chanel is bummed and does not want to see Luc while the other girls are upset about being separated for the summer when Aqua (Kiely Williams) sees a shooting star and the girls make a wish together—to go to Spain with Chanel. At that very moment, one of the girl's magazines flips pages until it comes across an ad for a Barcelona music festival. Galleria enters the Cheetah Girls and the next day, her mother Dorothea (Lynn Whitfield), Juanita, and the Cheetah Girls all decide to travel to Spain together. When the girls arrive in Barcelona, they do some shopping before resting in a Cafe. Soon they hear a guitar playing and meet Angel (Peter Vives), a mysterious guitar player who accompanies them around Barcelona as they sing to the entire city, and he becomes Galleria's love interest ("Strut"). The next day the girls audition for the festival and earn a spot ("Cheetah Sisters"). The next day at breakfast, they meet Joaquin (Golan Yosef), a count, Luc's godson, and a handsome dancer who becomes a love interest for Dorinda (Sabrina Bryan). The next day after Dorinda finds out Joaquin is a dancer, she goes to his studio, where he teaches her tango ("Dance With Me"). That night Joaquin takes the Cheetahs to The Dancing Cat, a local Spanish night club where all the new artists perform their songs ("Why Wait")("A La Nanita Nana"). There they meet and befriended Marisol (Belinda), a Spanish pop star, beloved by all of Barcelona, and who will also compete in the Music Festival, and her manager/mother, Lola (Kim Manning), who appears nice and wins the Cheetah Girls' affection, but secretly plans a scheme to break up the Cheetah Girls, as they pose a threat to her daughter's chances in the competition, and she starts making Marisol take Chanel away from The Cheetah Girls. Meanwhile, Aqua and Dorothea have been designing clothes with Dorothea's old friends, Juanita is trying to get a proposal out of Luc, Dorinda is teaching hip hop to Joaquin's class, and Galleria is the only one focused on the competition, as she is writing a song called, "Amigas Cheetahs", which they will sing at the competition ("Do Your Own Thing"). Galleria notices that everyone is getting involved in other activities except for her ("It's Over"), and eventually decided to take a train to Paris, where she can meet up with her father, Francobollo, and he will take her back home to Manhattan. While at a train station, the other three girls find Galleria and sing the starting sequence of "Amigas Cheetahs", and Galleria says she will only come back if they stay focused. While Chanel walked around the house, she overhears Juanita talking to Dorothea about how she believes that Luc doesn't want to marry her because Chanel doesn't like him. Luc later proposes to Juanita, after Chanel gives him permission, and she gladly accepts. Luc tells Chanel that she can stay in New York with her friends for her upcoming senior year. However, the Cheetah Girls' dreams are in serious trouble. After the Cheetah Girls finish performing at The Dancing Cat ("Step Up"), Lola convinces The Dancing Cat's manager to pay the Cheetah Girls money. The competition will only allow amateur performs to compete. Accepting payment from The Dancing Cat makes the Cheetah Girls professional performers. However, they gave the money back and Angel, who was present during the entire exchange, investigates. Lola suggests that since the Cheetah Girls cannot perform as a group, Chanel should perform with Marisol instead since they can both sing in Spanish. Right before Chanel is going to get changed to perform with Marisol, the Festival Director informs that the Cheetah Girls are able to perform after getting a tip. Everyone is surprised when they see that the informer was his nephew, Angel. He informed that Lola tried to sabotage the Cheetahs, and his uncle reinstates the girls as the Cheetah Girls. Lola tries to dispute, but the Director will not hear it. Marisol finally tells off her mother, saying she is quitting the competition because she loves to sing and not to be famous, and her mother is just desperate to make her a star. The Cheetah Girls then perform "Amigas Cheetahs", and as a surprise, bring Marisol onto the stage (where Lola sees how happy her daughter finally is), along with Joaquin's dancing crew, Angel on the guitar and the Director on the trumpet. Their song is a hit with the crowd. An alternate ending concludes after this, where Juanita and Luc are having their wedding, and with everybody enjoying themselves ("Cherish the Moment"). (This scene is not shown in both TV or sing-along versions.) ===== Michael Scott (Steve Carell) is frustrated that Take Your Daughter to Work Day will force him to tone down his office antics. Toby Flenderson (Paul Lieberstein) and Stanley Hudson (Leslie David Baker) bring their daughters, Sasha (Delaney Ruth Farrell) and Melissa (Jazz Raycole) respectively, Kevin Malone (Brian Baumgartner) brings his fiancée's daughter, Abby, and Meredith Palmer (Kate Flannery) brings her son, Jake (Spencer Daniels). Pam Beesly (Jenna Fischer) is determined to befriend one child by the end of the day. She tries with Abby, who instead takes a liking to Jim Halpert (John Krasinski). Jim enlists Abby in emotionally conning her relatives into buying paper from him. Sasha walks into Michael's office and plays with his toys, and after he jokes she becomes quite fond of him. Melissa develops a crush on Ryan Howard (B. J. Novak) and asks for his number. A jealous Kelly Kapoor (Mindy Kaling) alerts Stanley that Ryan may be up to something. Stanley angrily reprimands a confused Ryan for his "motives", which Ryan later describes as "one of the most frightening experiences" of his life. Dwight Schrute (Rainn Wilson) begins to read one of his childhood horror stories to the children, but Michael enters and insists that he stop upsetting the kids. Michael shows the children and the office a video of him as a child (Jake Kalender) during an appearance on a kid's show, where he revealed his dream was to "get married and have 100 kids, so I can have 100 friends, and no one can say 'no' to being my friend." He retreats into his office when he realizes that he never came close to that dream. Toby talks to Michael, who decides to start online dating (with the user name "Little Kid Lover"). After being tormented by Jake all day, Dwight upsets him with a childish insult, which quietly pleases Angela Martin (Angela Kinsey). Pam wins over Jake with the paper shredder. Jim leaves the office early to go on a date, to Pam's chagrin. Michael and Dwight end the party by singing "Teach Your Children". ===== Since the alien symbiote to which he was bonded was destroyed during his capture,The Amazing Spider-Man #363 Cletus Kasady is presumed powerless and jailed at Ravencroft Asylum. However, the symbiote mutated his blood prior to its destruction, enabling Kasady to generate a copy of the symbiote and break out. During his escape, Kasady—again calling himself Carnage—frees fellow inmate Shriek. Over the course of their ensuing killing spree through New York City, they recruit Doppelganger, Demogoblin, and Carrion. Carnage dubs himself their "father", but in fact they all despise Carnage and stay with the group out of devotion to Shriek. As the death toll increases, Spider-Man, Venom, Captain America, Black Cat, Nightwatch, Cloak and Dagger, Iron Fist, Deathlok, Morbius, and Firestar all join the cause of stopping them. However, the heroes are polarized between Venom's desire to stop Carnage at all costs and Spider-Man's refusal to use violent methods, and Spider-Man ultimately abandons Venom to Carnage's mercies. In addition, Shriek uses her psychic powers to turn the populace of New York City into a bloodthirsty rabble, allowing the killers to continue their rampage with impunity. However, Carnage finally turns on the rest of his gang, and, in the ensuing battle, Shriek is distracted from using her psychic power. Taking advantage of the lull, the heroes acquire a device from Rand Corporation which projects feelings of love and hope into the villains, overwhelming them. Carnage flees, faking his death by covering a victim in a mock symbiote costume, and the others are captured. Once the heroes are dispersed, Carnage ambushes Venom. However, the device has left Carnage frantic and confused, and Venom pounds him relentlessly before tackling him into an electrical generator. Carnage is knocked senseless and left to be incarcerated. ===== Dew (Anne Thongprasom) is a young computer programmer who meets Ton (Attaporn Teemakorn) in Chiang Mai during her distant cousin's funeral. They immediately become attracted to each other and start to date each other over the phone. Back in Bangkok on Valentine's Day, Dew refuses to accompany her best friend, Ked, to a blind date because she is anxiously waiting for Ton's phone call. The consequence of this breaks Dew's heart as her friend is murdered by the blind date. Dew immediately leaves for Chiang Mai and finds comfort in Ton. The two start a serious relationship and marry soon after. However, their new-found happiness is cut short when Ton dies of a brain tumor. Dew is again left alone. Before leaving for Bangkok, she receives a mysterious letter, seemingly from her dead husband. As it turns out, Ton had written a series of letters prior to his death and arranged for them to be sent after his death to his widow. The letters help Dew through her grief. She finally is able to live without the love of her life and continues to live in Chiang Mai with their son, born after the death of his father. ===== On a world where aliens are commonplace, Kazuto Tokino decides on his own to run his grandfather's bathhouse despite the protests from his parents. Kazuto however lacks a lot of the skills needed to make such a venture successful and must get by on a sunny disposition. That alone might have made things hard enough for him, but an alien princess named Valkyrie destroys the bathhouse, and in the process mortally wounds Kazuto. However, she is able to save his life with a magical kiss, but that kiss costs her half of her soul and transforms her into an 8-year-old child, though when Valkyrie and Kazuto kiss, their souls connect allowing her to temporarily assume her adult form and wield the Key of Time, a powerful sword-shaped artifact. Princess Valkyrie is then stranded on Earth, unable to look after herself as the entire solar system is out searching for her. Over time, Kazuto and Valkyrie fall in love with each other. ===== The plot is virtually a retelling of the storyline of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz; however, as this is a sequel to the animated series Tales of the Wizard of Oz, in which Dorothy and the gang went through an entirely different series of adventures, this adventure is new to them all. All of Dorothy's friends become trapped in the situations they were in when she first met them, meaning they all must visit the Wizard as they did in the pilot for the TV series. Dorothy receives a letter from the Scarecrow, called Socrates in the special, as in the series, telling her that everyone is happy with the gifts the Wizard gave them, and that they miss her very much. She goes to find her magic Silver Shoes and is instantly taken back to Oz again by another Kansas twister, this time not by house, but an apple tree. Once she arrives there she is greeted by the Munchkins in Munchkinville. Glinda arrives to tell her that the previously melted Wicked Witch of the West has become reconstituted and is wreaking havoc again, having taken Socrates' diploma and burned it, destroyed the heart of the Tin Woodman, called Rusty, by turning herself into a Tin Woman, and dropping him into a pond where he rusted over again. She has also stolen the medal that belonged to the Cowardly Lion, called Dandy, and turned it into a daisy, and is planning to get Dorothy's silver shoes again. Dorothy sets off to find her friends, without knowing the Wicked Witch is watching them in her Crystal Ball. She finds and oils Rusty who has rusted after the Witch tricked him. They find Socrates in a corn field on a pole scaring crows again and get him down. They find Dandy crying, and after some unexpectedly cruel bullying from Socrates and Rusty, they cheer him up. After the four friends are reunited, they arrive at the Emerald City, only to be tricked by the Witch, who has captured the Wizard and taken over as the ruler of Oz. The Wizard, who in this continuity is not an Omaha huckster but an Ozite born and bred and the elected ruler of Oz, tells them to destroy her again and he will give them what they want. She arrives back at her castle just before Dorothy and her friends, but before they arrive she sends flying alligators to kill them. Socrates' quick thinking saves them as they hide under his straw (a method employed in more than one of the Oz books). Rusty saves them from a lightning bolt by sacrificing himself, which kills him, despite his being made of tin. Dorothy asks Glinda if she will help and a glowing ball brings him back to life. They arrive and are trapped by the Witch. She grabs Dorothy and tries to take her silver slippers. The gang (including the Wizard himself) try to get her back from the Witch, who gives her and Dandy the slippers. Dorothy, who is being held upside-down from the window, tells Dandy that he will turn to stone if he takes them, but he takes them anyway without being turned to stone. The Witch takes them only to be turned into stone, crumble, and fall apart. The gang returns to the Emerald City, only to find out that the Wizard is, after all, a humbug, unable as he always was to return Dorothy home. Glinda appears to tell Dorothy the reason that her friends didn't turn to stone was because they had brains, a heart, and courage. She also explains that the Witch was cruel and heartless, brainless enough to think evil could conquer good and cowardly in that she used slaves and suppressed others. Dorothy wishes to go back, and instantly a Kansas twister whisks her and Toto back home to Aunt Em and Uncle Henry again. ===== The movie flips between following a group of gamers in a dorm immersed in a role-playing game, and their characters (played by the same actors) as they journey through a world of fantasy and wonder to defeat a being known as "The Shadow" and rescue a princess. The latter is theoretically a heroic quest, but while the game master attempts to foster in a narrative, the players tend to be more interested in their characters' tolerance for ale, trying to apply the sneak attack damage multiplier to siege weaponry, et cetera. The movie both makes fun of gamer stereotypes and plays the discrepancy between an optimal RPG plot and the events of an actual RPG session for maximum absurdity. Characters attempting something dangerous freeze as dice clatter in the distance. The party thief picks the pocket of a bystander, then steals that bystander's pants—not because he wants the pants in any way, but solely to see if his skill statistics allow it. One character, while present, does not interact with the others for most of the game, as his player is absent. When an unlucky dice roll causes the death of one character, the other players' characters mourn him for a moment, and then immediately start squabbling over the items he was carrying. Characters spring to action, then keel over as their players forget and are reminded that the characters are asleep, players argue and make snack runs, and their game is frequently interrupted by a girl from the same dorm who demands they keep quiet so that she can study. The Shadow is eventually defeated, after a long quest, and the characters find themselves in a strange tunnel. On the other side of the door, they hear voices—the voices of their players, who are narrating the action in the hallway outside. Bursting into the room (as dictated by the players), the characters slaughter the gamers, then begin picking over the room for treasure. They discover that their entire adventure has been documented by the "strange sorcerers" they have just slain via their character sheets. In the midst of these revelations, the "Princess" (the girl who needs to study and is constantly interrupted by the gamers' noise) bursts in and reads them the riot act, thinking their outfits to be mere costumes; after she leaves, the adventurers seem quite stunned that their beloved Princess has such a foul mouth and temper. ===== Albert Campion rescues Val Gyrth from the streets of London, to help him save a family heirloom, the Gyrth Chalice, from a band of devious criminals. In Suffolk, he reunites the son with his family, but soon one of them is found dead, and preventing the theft of the chalice must be combined with solving the mysterious death. ===== The story starts when General Plastro, the general of the Tan army, was captured by the Green Army and locked away (During the events of Army Men: Sarge's Heroes 2). Brigitte Bleu observes this through a magic mirror and makes sinister plans to marry Sarge and get rid of Vikki Grimm, Colonel Grimm's daughter and Sarge's girlfriend. Brigitte decides that she is lonesome, and needs a king worthy of her magnificence, and says that Vikki is a treasure waiting to be buried. After Vikki saves Sarge from attacking gingerbread men, she is reprimanded by her father, Colonel Grimm for putting herself in danger. As she leaves, a Green Army soldier gives her a package from an unknown person. Inside was a dinosaur egg and a letter, saying "the story of your career awaits you. Follow the map and seek out the one called Rage. Tell no one, leave now”. Sarge walks up and tells her that her father’s rights about her being too adventurous for her own good. Vikki walks off in disgust, with Sarge commenting how that was a good start and how he’ll be buying plastic flowers for a week. As she traverses the Lost Caves, she is ambushed by Rage (a WarBot, an evil toy robot; WarBots first appeared in Army Men: Sarge's Heroes 2), Brigitte's WarBot friend who will do whatever she says, and is forced to the prehistoric jungle toy world. That was also when she meets a lion, who was also forced to the same world as Rage destroys the portal. Vikki decides to befriend with the lion, whom she calls Leo and they both help each other to get home. After enduring magic pillars, a pyramid, and magic air lifts, they come upon a volcano withanother portal. Once they step through, they end up in a medieval world. Vikki rescues a wizard named Merlin from a deadly chessboard. Merlin explains that he made a magic mirror that could see anywhere for Brigitte, thinking she would appreciate his mind. He directs Vikki to another portal, guarded by a ghosty barrier, an evil tree, and a moat dragon. When they reach the portal, they're captured by Rage and Tan Soldiers who appear to be minions of Brigitte. Brigitte had lured Sarge into the dollhouse where she lived and wanted to marry him. She and her henchmen found an space-alien themed toy set, which acted as a portal to an Outer Space World. Brigitte acquired a love gun from some Martians, who lived in the Space World in exchange for the secret of the portals; she used the gun on Sarge, and he instantly fell in love with her. Brigitte visited Vikki, who was being held in the dungeon, and told her that Sarge and she are going to get married. Brigitte leaves her mirror for Vikki to let her watch the wedding. As Vikki cries to herself, she's contacted by Merlin. He informs her that he left a few secrets in the mirror before handing it over. When Vikki asks about Sarge's situation, Merlin tells her only the kiss of his true love can apparently break the inducement. She asks if he’s kidding, which he isn’t. Meanwhile, in a toy store, Leo is being transported in a circus carriage, and is about to be burned in a microwave when he notices the bars are melting. He breaks out and travels to a portal that takes him back to the Medieval Castle. He and Vikki head to the Space World to stop the wedding. Once they acquire a stolen key from a Martian saucer, Vikki breaks into the room and kisses Sarge, breaking the trance on him. A voice tells all Martians to report for battle. Vikki tells Brigitte to call off the attack. She tries, but some monitors show they're now attacking all the other worlds. They split up; Sarge goes with Leo to stop most of the aliens while Vikki heads to the Alien Brain room, where the Brain, a cyborgic- style creature resembling a Martian head on a robotic spider body, refuses to call off the attack. After Vikki destroys the Brain, the attack stops. Sarge and Leo meet up with her, as Merlin congratulates Vikki for stopping the attack, and they head back to the Plastic World. At the Lost Caves, three lion cubs run up to Leo. Showing that he wasn't guarding the Portals, but protecting his family, he stays. Back at the Green Army Base, Vikki apologizes to Colonel Grimm and says that her home is wherever he is, with her father thanking her. The game ends with Brigitte sharing a cell with General Plastro, who tells her that before she gets any funny ideas, the top bunk is his and he blows a raspberry. Brigitte yells out “Noooooo!” ===== When Albert Campion is called in by the fiancee of an old college friend to investigate the disappearance of her uncle, he little expects the mysterious spate of death and dangers that follows among the bizarre inhabitants of Socrates Close, Cambridge. He and Stanislaus Oates must tread carefully, and battle some complex family dynamics, to solve the case. ===== The film depicts the trials and tribulations associated with obtaining a green card in the United States, exploring the secret underworld surrounding the immigration system and legal complexities that await undocumented immigrants. Green Card Fever explores the dynamics between immigrants from various countries of origin, and generations. Primarily the plot centers around Indian immigrants but involves Argentinians, Chinese, and the Middle-Eastern immigrants along the way, depicting the present United States as a transnational America. The film is dubbed as a romantic comedy but in substance it has more to offer. ===== Eighteen-year-old Harry (Norman Reedus), is an innocent, bashful burger boy who lives with his overly attentive mother Kate. Harry's father left the family sometime before the events of the film, leaving Kate for another man. They live in a ratty old apartment, where Kate treats her son like a child, even going as far to draw his bath water and connect a wire to his reading lamp, shutting it off when Harry is busy to get his attention. One day, Arnie (Adrien Brody), Harry's oldest and best friend, goes to a strip club, where the boss owes Arnie's mob boss money. Harry watches as Arnie beats the owner, and snaps, releasing his rage out on the owner, pummeling him to the point where Arnie has to pull Harry off to avoid killing him. Outside, both are visibly shocked by Harry's outburst, but Harry is shocked and confused at the fact that he liked it. Not long after, Arnie's boss Abie Pinkwise, meets the two at a local diner, where he remarks how much potential Harry has in the mob business. He invites Harry to become his apprentice, and Harry accepts. After leaving, Arnie attempts a heist at a small store, but backfires when the clerk holds him at gun point, sending him to jail. When Harry is told to ditch a car (evidence in a homicide), by his bosses, he leaves evidence (a magazine with his name on it), and a witness. He is arrested but is proven to be loyal to his employers by keeping silent, despite being beaten by the police. Now trusting him, the bosses get him out of jail and take him out to celebrate at a brothel. When alone with one of the women, Harry is unaroused, and timidly asks the prostitute if he seems normal. When he answers that he doesn't feel that way for neither men nor women, she gently replies that she isn't the kind of professional he should be talking to. He goes home dejected, and when his mother smells perfume on him the first signs of her jealous tendencies begin to show. As the months pass Abie shows Harry the ropes but when faced with killing someone, Harry hesitates, but ultimately does the crime, letting himself go as he did when beating the strip club owner. That night, upset by what he did, Harry goes to Louis Varga's house, only to find it empty, sans for Iris, his Hungarian maid. She offers him coffee, and it is here where Harry's alter-ego Madden (Holter Graham), appears. With Madden in control, Harry frightens Iris and thus causes her to quit. Angry, Mr. Varga makes Harry apologize to Iris, and makes Harry say he is in love with her to prompt her to come back under Mr. Varga's employment. Hesitantly, Iris accepts Harry's timid offer and the two begin dating, with Harry actually falling in love with Iris along the way, much to his mother's anger and jealousy. When Harry finds a house that he likes, he is set on moving into it as a means to escape his mother's controlling nature, but when she moves with him, she decorates the house as a replica of their old apartment, much to her sons anger. Arnie is then released from prison, and Harry hopes to get him back in the game as their getaway driver for a new hit coming up. However, the hit goes awry when it is revealed far too late that the man to be killed by both Harry and Abie, is actually Abie's long-lost uncle. Devastated, Abie pauses long enough for the police to be called, which is where Arnie flees. Abie and Harry manage to escape. While Abie grieves at home, falling off the wagon after years of sobriety, Harry and "Madden" meet up again and this leads him to Iris' house, where the consummate their relationship. Arnie then comes forward with the promise of immunity, and flips on Harry and Abie. Both Abie and Harry keep quiet during the interrogation. The mob has the three released, but now that it is clear that Arnie is a liability and cannot be trusted, Mr. Varga orders Abie and Harry to kill him. When Abie hesitates, still drinking and distraught over his uncle, Harry kills Arnie himself, despite his friend's pleading. Once again, in this blood-lust haze, Harry seeks comfort with Iris. At Arnie's funeral, Mr. Varga reminds Harry that when Abie drinks, he starts talking, and this makes him a liability. Mr. Varga hints that they may need to kill Abie to keep him silent. When Kate finds Iris' hair in Harry's underwear, he admits to having a girlfriend and Kate calmly says she would like to meet her. The stress puts a strain on Iris and Harry's sex life, and even "Madden's one-track mind" is of no use (during past sexual encounters, Harry has only had sex with Iris under Madden's persona). Worried for Harry's mental health, Iris resolves they really try, without Madden's help. The two go to a hotel, where they make love after Harry has her put on a mourning veil. At the family dinner where Iris was to meet Kate, things seem to be going well, until Kate has her son go out for ginger ale, leaving the two women alone. When Harry returns he finds Iris gone, his mother having driven her away in a jealous rage. Harry admits that he may be in love with Iris and is about to go after her when his mother stops him. Harry remains home and breaks off contact with Iris, his mother's hold over him stronger than ever. Despite the fact that Abie has stopped drinking and is no longer a threat, Mr. Varga orders Harry to kill Abie anyway. Harry kills Abie with the same ice-pick he gave Harry earlier in the film, in front of a diner full of witnesses. More upset than ever, Madden is revealed again, and though he goes to first Iris, then a brothel for relief, he turns to his mother. It is revealed though flashbacks that Madden is truly Harry. Harry then has sex with Kate, who proclaims that she had waited "so long" for this. The next morning is mundane, Harry takes his usual bath while his mother is in the kitchen. He hears a thud and goes to investigate, and there finds his mother hanging from the ceiling thinking she killed herself (Harry actually killed her, but his mental state won't let him notice). Mr. Varga calls Harry to inform him that they are relocating elsewhere, as Harry's act in the diner put them all under danger of arrest. Harry, clearly distraught from Kate's death, says that he will take his mother's corpse with him, and that she will "not get in the way" of their escape. Disturbed, Mr. Varga agrees to pick him up, only to attempt to kill him when Harry gets into the backseat. Harry draws his own gun and shoots both Mr. Varga and his henchman dead and takes the car to the bus station. Iris, who had left the city for California to be with her brother, is delighted to have Harry going with her. They sit on the bus, overjoyed to breakaway from the city and the mob altogether. Harry looks away across the seat with a smile, and shows Kate's body bag resting casually in the seat. ===== ===== At a cocktail party at the Reisner Institute, a Washington think tank, an invisible force drags a scientist named Devin into a nearby bathroom, where the force (implied to be a person) brutally throws Devin around for information. Devin mentions another scientist, Maggie Dalton, who knows the "formula" the invisible person is looking for. Apparently accepting this, the man releases him, warning him not to tell anyone he was there. As soon as the invisible man leaves (or rather, pretends to leave), Devin attempts to call someone on his cell phone, but the invisible man smashes the phone and slashes Devin's throat. The police arrive at the laboratory to conduct a murder investigation, but the laboratory's military supervisor, Colonel Gavin Bishop, insists it is an internal military situation and the police have no jurisdiction. Fearing attacks on the remaining scientists, the lab's owner, Dr. William Reisner, employs Frank Turner and his partner, Detective Lisa Martinez, to protect Maggie, but refuses to divulge any information on the nature of his work. The two detectives stand guard outside Maggie's house. When Lisa opens the door to let the cat in, the invisible man sneaks past her into the house. Just as he reaches the study where Maggie is, Lisa tracks him down, and he strangles her with a lamp's power cord. Suddenly, armed military commandos appear and storm the house, using thermal goggles to target and corner the invisible man. Outside, Turner confronts Bishop, realizing that they used him and Lisa to lure the invisible man to the house. Several stun grenades go off around the house, incapacitating the soldiers and allowing the invisible man to escape in pursuit of Turner and Maggie. He almost catches up to them, but is struck and badly injured by a car, and flees. Maggie is taken into protective custody by the police, where Turner's superior and friend, Captain Tom Harrison, has received orders to have her transferred to military custody. Frank helps Maggie escape from the police station and they flee in a stolen car. Bishop and Reisner, knowing their careers would end if Maggie talks, declare them fugitives. Maggie later tells Turner that five years prior, a team of scientists figured out how to make humans invisible, but something went wrong, leaving only two survivors. A year after the original project was scrapped, the Reisner Institute restarted the experiments as a covertly Department of Defense-funded operation to create the perfect soldier, codenamed "Silent Knight", which attempts to render humans invisible. The resulting serum does turn human tissue invisible, but with adverse effects: as it allows light to pass directly through the subject, the radiation damages the cells and causes physical and mental degradation, slowly killing the person. Maggie developed a compound called the "Buffer" to counteract the effects of that particular radiation. A soldier named Michael Griffin volunteered, and the serum succeeded, but the Buffer failed and Griffin seemingly died, which in turn got Maggie fired. Maggie believes that Griffin faked his death so he could use his powers without restraint, but now needs the antidote to the radiation before he dies. Maggie receives a message from a man named Ludlow, who has been in contact with her for weeks. Turner uses his contacts to find Ludlow, a soldier enlisted into the program after Sebastian Caine (the original guinea pig), but before Griffin. He had gone into hiding, but is now slowly dying from radiation. Ludlow has also been tracking Griffin, and reveals the true story to his supposed "death" and the program itself: Operation Silent Knight was never about national security, and neither was Griffin given the Buffer, since the Department used him to assassinate their political enemies. Meanwhile, Griffin infiltrates Bishop's office and both get into a fight. The latter attempts to reason with him and then, getting desperate, stabs him, but not kills him, with a pen. Griffin impales Bishop with the same pen, and uses his computer to locate Ludlow. Arriving at the hideout, Griffin attacks Turner, but Ludlow intervenes, sacrificing himself to allow Turner and Maggie to escape. Griffin decides to make them return by capturing Maggie's sister. When they meet at the train station where he is hiding, Griffin silently catches Maggie and tries to turn her invisible so he can take her unnoticed, but Turner intervenes. After a short fight, Griffin escapes with Maggie, leaving Turner with the arriving Reisner and his guards. A short time later, Reisner pursues an invisible man, but is soon captured and held by him. Believing him to be Griffin, he offers to send for the Buffer. The figure, however, is Turner, who used Griffin's discarded syringe to become invisible as well. Reisner, backing away, is hit and killed by a speeding car. Griffin takes Maggie to her old college laboratory to create the Buffer for him. Griffin forces her to inject herself with it first, then injects himself with another dose. With his survival seemingly assured, Griffin tries to kill Maggie, but Turner intervenes and knocks him out of the laboratory window. Turner runs outside, where Griffin renders him unconscious. As Griffin slowly turns visible, Maggie reveals that he has been poisoned, as the vial contained rat poison; she loses consciousness. Enraged, Griffin takes a shovel and attempts to kill her, but Turner, having recovered, stops him and impales him with the shovel. He then carries Maggie away for medical attention, leaving Griffin's body outside in the rain. A few days later, Maggie is recovering in hospital and is poised to be released. Heather tells her that Turner has not been found. Maggie insists that he will come back to her, as she knows that he needs her. Outside, they are being watched by a hooded invisible man, presumably Turner, who then walks away. ===== The film begins with the final moments of grandfather Semyon (Simon) Opanas beneath a pear tree.Philosophy, Iconology, Collectivization: Earth (1930) Next local kulaks, including Arkhyp Bilokin, contemplate the process of collectivization and declare their resistance to it, while elsewhere Semyon's grandson Vasyl (Basil) and his Komsomol friends also meet to discuss collectivization, although his father is skeptical. Later, Vasyl arrives with the community's first tractor to much excitement. After the men urinate in the overheated radiator, the peasants plow the land with the tractor and harvest the grain. A montage sequence presents the production of bread from beginning to end. That night Vasyl dances a hopak along a path on his way home, but a dark figure attacks and kills him. Vasyl's father turns away the Russian Orthodox priest who expects to lead the funeral, declaring his atheism. He asks Vasyl's friends to bury his son in a new way without priests and "sing new songs for a new life." The villagers do so, while Vasyl's fiancée, Natalya, mourns him painfully and the local priest curses them as impious and paganist. At the cemetery, Bilokin's son Khoma (Thomas) arrives in a frenzy to declare that he will resist collectivization and that he was the one who killed Vasyl, but the villagers pay him no attention. One declares that Vasyl's glory will fly around the world like a new communist airplane. The film ends with a downpour of rain over fruit and vegetables. ===== Jane (Susan Saint James), Elaine (Jane Curtin), and Louise (Jessica Lange) are suburbanites in Eugene, Oregon. These three women, friends since high school, are currently all struggling with money. Jane is divorced, trying to cope with the man she is dating, Robert (Fred Willard), her newly single father (Eddie Albert), who moves in with Jane after his wife leaves him for another woman, and her young children, who need dental work. Jane learns she is pregnant, which makes Robert unhappy since both he and Jane are nearly broke. Elaine's husband, an architect, has left her for a younger woman. He has also left her with no money, no credit cards, and many overdue bills, leading to a scene with a man at the power company (Garrett Morris). Depressed, she gets drunk and her car is pulled over by police officer Jack (Dabney Coleman). Elaine makes a pass at him, trying to get out of the ticket. When he accepts, then reveals he is married, Elaine smacks him with her purse. She makes it clear that if she is arrested by Jack, her one phone call will be to his wife. Louise owns an antiques store. Unfortunately, it is not a very successful operation, so she is always accepting funds from her veterinarian husband (Richard Benjamin) to keep the store open. While they are in bed one evening, in the early process of making love, the doorbell rings. Louise is served a court order and learns her husband plans on suing her to force her into bankruptcy to wipe away the enormous debt she has incurred. The women become desperate. Elaine even tries a yard sale to raise money, selling her husband's possessions, including his deodorant. At the peak of their woes, Elaine visits the local mall, where an acquaintance (Cathryn Damon) has coaxed her into helping out with staging a community pageant. Elaine stares at a large, clear ball soon due to hold thousands of dollars in a giant cash "give away" and formulates the idea of stealing the money. She calls Jane and Louise to the mall, where they scheme to steal the money by drilling a hole beneath the ball and sucking out as much cash as possible with a high-powered vacuum, then escaping via the river behind the mall. Despite getting caught by officer Jack in the act of stealing items needed for the heist, Elaine again manages to sweet-talk her way out of being taken to jail. On the evening of the heist, each woman has an unexpected distraction, but finally find their way to the mall. Jane and Louise go to work beneath the cash ball while Elaine readies herself to throw the switch to the mall's lighting controls, aiding their escape. Unfortunately, a minor occurrence nearly causes mall security to notice the noise caused by Jane and Louise stealing the money. With no other way to distract the guards and shoppers, Elaine begins to rant about the high cost of living and how so many things cost "the shirt off your back -- and even THAT'S not enough!" She begins an impromptu striptease, exposing her bosom to the crowd. An indoor light pole falls directly into the ball, sending cash flowing out into the mall, driving people into a frenzy to collect it. During the uproar above, Jane and Louise make their escape to the river with two large trash bags filled with cash, only to have their canoe tip over when Louise stands up. They both fall in, and Louise can't swim, leaving Jane to decide to save the cash or her friend. She saves Louise and the two bags float away. Hours later, the sun is rising and both Jane and Louise are still on the bank of the river, crestfallen over the loss of the money, joined by Elaine, wrapped in a blanket. The three begin to argue, but Louise notices a bag floating by and all three of them dive in after it. At the film's end, Jane has married Robert and gotten her father a condo in a senior's complex; Louise reopens her store and takes back her husband, whom she had left; and Elaine begins dating the officer, with enough secret money to bring her back to the lifestyle she had been accustomed to. ===== After his wife Lisa dies from an accidental electrocution, psychologist Cal Jamison relocates with his young son, Chris, from Minneapolis to New York City, where Cal begins working as a police psychologist for the New York City Police Department. The city has been plagued by a series of brutal, ritualistic child murders. The first victim is a young boy found murdered in an abandoned movie theater. A policeman named Tom Lopez frantically phones in the discovery of the body, and claims the crimes are being committed by members of an Hispanic cult practicing a malevolent version of brujería. Cal is appointed to examine Tom, who raves about the cult's powerful leader. A second victim is found eviscerated on a makeshift altar beneath a dock in Staten Island. Cal begins to inquire about brujería to Carmen, his housekeeper and nanny, who practices a benevolent form of it, leaving protection charms in the apartment for Cal and Chris. The following day, Tom, paranoid and being followed by mysterious men, stabs himself to death in a diner. Later, Cal and his new girlfriend, Jessica, attend a party where a mysterious Caribbean man, Palo, attempts to steal a necklace from Jessica; shortly before, Jessica had left her compact in the bathroom, and unbeknownst to Jessica, Palo rubs the pad with his fingers. When Cal returns home, he finds Carmen performing a ritual on Chris, and angrily throws her out of the house, despite the fact that she assures him she is attempting to protect him. Chris accompanies his affluent Aunt Kate and Uncle Dennis on a trip to stay at their country home. Meanwhile, Cal and Jessica consult Oscar Sezine, a friend of Tom's, who believes the cult is planning a ritualized murder for the summer solstice in four days time. Oscar performs a purification ritual in an attempt to ensure the safety of Chris, whom he worries may be targeted as a sacrifice for the solstice. The next morning, Jessica finds a boil on her face and falls ill. Before departing to reunite with Kate, Dennis, and Chris in the country, Cal receives a frantic phone call from police lieutenant Sean McTaggert. Cal arrives at McTaggert's apartment, finding it in disarray, and McTaggert seated with a gun, rambling in a paranoid manner. He shows Cal a photo and secret file he uncovered documenting elite businessman Robert Calder's ritual murder of his own son. Cal leaves with the file at McTaggert's insistence. After he leaves, McTaggert commits suicide. Meanwhile, Jessica has a panic attack after the boil on her face bursts baby spiders break free from the wound. While Cal tends to Jessica in the hospital, Kate leaves him a voice message that she has changed her plans and is going to return Chris to him, but the message is cut short. Unaware Kate has called, Cal departs the hospital with his friend Marty, who drives him to Kate and Dennis's country house. Upon arriving, Dennis tells Cal that Kate has gone to a 24-hour grocery store. In the living room, Dennis recounts he and Kate's travels to the Caribbean when Kate was a graduate student, and how they witnessed the power of a human sacrifice. Palo and Calder then enter the room, along with a number of other cultists, urging Cal to join, and stating that Chris has been predestined to become a sacrifice. Cal flees the house through an upstairs window after finding Chris no longer in his room. In the boathouse, Cal finds Kate's dead body before he is knocked unconscious by Palo. Cal is driven to an abandoned factory, where Chris's ritual murder is to be carried out among the cult. Cal thwarts the sacrifice by stabbing Dennis to death, and Marty, who followed them to the warehouse, comes to Cal's aid, shooting various cultists from an upper landing. Calder abducts Chris and the two ascend to the top of the warehouse in a freight elevator. Marty is incapacitated with a blowpipe dart by Palo, but not before he severely burns Palo's face, blinding him. Cal manages to chase Calder into a storage room, stabbing him to death before retrieving Chris. Cal puts Chris down and a blinded Palo attacks Cal, but falls off the scaffolding when Chris coaxes him toward him and is impaled on rebar below. Cal carries Chris and they escape from the warehouse. Some time later, Cal, Jessica (who is fully recovered from her attack), and Chris go to Move to a farm. In the barn loft, Cal finds a shrine adorned with various sacrificed animals. He is approached by Jessica from below, who admits responsibility, telling him they "will be safe now" as Cal looks on in shock. ===== As described in a film magazine, Hermann, a Russian military officer with a limited fortune, is fascinated when he hears the story of Countess Fedotovna, who won her fortune by playing three particular cards, the identity of which she refuses to reveal. Hermann gains entrance to the countess's house through a flirtation with Lizaveta, ward of the countess. He confronts the countess with a revolver and demands to know the cards she played. The countess collapses, dead of fright. Remorseful, Hermann goes home. The next morning he seems to see the phantom of the countess, who tells him that the three cards are the three, the seven, and the ace. The first two nights he plays the three and the seven and is successful. The third night he bets all of his money, feeling sure that the card will be the ace. However, he finds his own card has become the queen of spades and he has lost everything. With the loss of his fortune he also loses his mind. ===== The Hundred Acre Wood was populated with characters from A.A. Milne's Winnie the Pooh series of short stories. Each character had lost an item of value to them and wanted the item returned. The player moves through the Hundred Acre Wood and collects the missing items then returns them to their rightful owners. Only one item can be carried at a time, so picking up one item means leaving behind of whatever item is currently being carried. Some screens have interactive sub-elements. For example: you could "climb" Pooh's tree and see the limb where he kept his honey pots safely out of the reach of flood waters (a reference to a scene in the Disney animated movie The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh and Chapter 9 of A.A. Milne's book Winnie-the-Pooh). The game has no animation in the mode of a traditional Quest game such as King's Quest. Rather, the Hundred Acre Wood existed as a grid of connected static screens. Players move between the screen using the arrow keys and can only move North, South, East or West. The missing items are randomly assigned at the start of each new game to screens within this grid, although the various characters can always be found on the same screens. When an item is "dropped" on a screen in order to "pick up" another item, the dropped item stays on that screen until the user returns to retrieve it later, but not all items belong to one of the characters - for example, a board belongs to the bridge. Reuniting a character with their item results in a celebration screen. At random points, the items can be lost if the player runs into Tigger (who bounces them), or when the wind starts again. ===== You are Max Gardner (Brandon Massey), an American journalist in Paris, investigating a story about a big drug dealer who is covered by some influential politician. To get the dealer talking, you offer him incriminating photographs in exchange for some information. When Max arrives at the meeting point, the drug lord is dead and Max is mistaken for the killer. While evading the authorities, Max continues his investigation and finds an ally in Adda - the murdered drug dealer's lover - and the two of them work to uncover the conspiracy behind the murders. ===== Lord Emsworth's sister, Lady Constance, has decided that Emsworth's grandson George needs a tutor to keep him in line over the summer holidays and chooses Rupert Baxter, Emsworth's former secretary. Emsworth is worried that Constance is trying to get the controlling and unpleasant Baxter reinstated as his secretary. George, who does not want to be tutored during the summer holidays, dislikes Baxter, and Emsworth sympathizes with George. Meanwhile, Lord Emsworth's niece Jane is engaged to George Abercrombie. Constance disapproves since Abercrombie does not have money or a job, and wants Jane to marry someone else. Lord Emsworth previously agreed to give Abercrombie the position of land agent at Blandings, but Constance pushes Emsworth, who just wants to be left alone so he can read Whiffle on The Care Of The Pig, to rescind the job offer. This dismays Jane. The butler Beach brings an airgun and a box of ammunition to Emsworth. The gun was confiscated from young George on Lady Constance's instructions. George shot Baxter in the seat of the trousers while Baxter was tying his shoes. Emsworth again sympathizes with George. He reminisces about a time in his youth when his sister Julia borrowed his airgun to shoot her governess, and Beach mentions that he also had an airgun when he was young. Later, Emsworth sees Baxter outside bending over to pick up a cigarette. Acting on an impulse inspired by his childhood memories, Emsworth shoots Baxter with the airgun through a window. Baxter angrily comes into the room, thinking that George shot him again. Constance, however, suspects that Emsworth shot Baxter. Jane saw Emsworth shoot Baxter and threatens to tell Constance unless he writes a letter to Abercrombie giving him the land agent job. Emsworth writes the letter for her. Baxter eavesdropped on their conversation and knows Emsworth shot him. To keep Baxter from telling Constance, Emsworth reluctantly offers him his old job as secretary, which Baxter gladly accepts. However, Beach later delivers a note from Baxter in which he declines the job and says he will leave Blandings. Emsworth fears Baxter has decided to tell Constance after all, and Jane advises him to deny everything Baxter says. Furthermore, Beach announces he is resigning. Constance admits she shot Beach with George's airgun on an impulse. Though Emsworth had thought he remembered Julia shooting the governess, it had actually been Constance. Emsworth is alarmed about their indispensable butler resigning but relieved that Constance can hardly reproach him now. In front of Constance, Baxter accuses Emsworth of shooting him, which Emsworth denies, and says he was willing to return as secretary until Emsworth shot him a second time, though Emsworth only shot him once. Constance wants Baxter to stay, but Emsworth insists that Baxter will go, and that Jane will marry Abercrombie as she wants to. Beach tells Emsworth that he is resigning because he acted on an impulse and shot Baxter (though Baxter mistakenly thought Emsworth shot him again). He is not resigning because of Constance and says her shot actually missed. Emsworth convinces Beach to stay by telling him that Baxter is leaving, and decides to test his aim by again shooting Baxter through a window. Baxter shouts and immediately leaves on his motorcycle. Beach raises a glass of port in a toast to Emsworth's success. ===== Alison Scott is a career- minded woman, who has just been given an on-air role with E! and is living in the pool house with her sister Debbie's family. Ben Stone is laid-back and sardonic. He lives off funds received in compensation for an injury and sporadically works on a celebrity porn website with his roommates, in between smoking marijuana or going to theme parks such as Knott's Berry Farm. While celebrating her promotion, Alison meets Ben at a local nightclub. After a night of drinking, they end up having sex. Due to a misunderstanding, they don't use protection: Alison uses the phrase "Just do it already" to encourage Ben to put the condom on, but he misinterprets this to mean to dispense without using one. The following morning, they quickly learn over breakfast that they have little in common and go their separate ways, which leaves Ben visibly upset. Eight weeks later, Alison experiences morning sickness during an interview with James Franco and realizes she could be pregnant. She contacts Ben for the first time since their one-night stand to tell him. Although insensitive at first, Ben says he will be there to support Alison. While he is still unsure about being a parent, his father is excited. Alison's mother tries to persuade her daughter to have an abortion, but Alison decides to keep the child. Later, Alison and Ben decide to give the relationship a chance. The couple's efforts include Ben making an awkward marriage proposal with an empty ring box, promising to get her one someday. Alison thinks it's too early to think about marriage, because she is more concerned with hiding the pregnancy from her bosses, believing that they will fire her if they ever found out. After a somewhat promising beginning, tensions surface in the relationship. Alison is increasingly worried about Ben's lack of responsibility and commitment, and has doubts about the longevity of their relationship. These thoughts are due to her sister's unhappy marriage. Debbie's husband, Pete, works as a talent scout for rock bands, but he leaves at odd hours in the night, which makes her suspect he is having an affair. Upon investigating, she learns that he is actually part of a fantasy baseball draft, and that he has been doing other activities such as going to the movies on his own, which he explains he participates in to be free from Debbie's controlling manner. This results in their separation, and when Ben expresses amusement at Pete's deception, it leads to a heated argument with Alison as they drive to her doctor. Angered, she ejects him from her car and abandons him in the middle of a busy street. He tracks her down to her appointment and they both start another argument, leading to their own breakup. Ben and Pete decide to go on a road trip to Las Vegas. Under the heavy influence of psychedelic mushrooms, they realize their loss and decide to take responsibility for their relationships. Simultaneously, Debbie drags a timid Alison out partying with her, but they are refused admission to a nightclub by its apologetic bouncer on account of Debbie's age and Alison's pregnancy, leading to Debbie's tearful laments about her life and her desire to have Pete back. They reconcile at their daughter's birthday party, but when Ben tries to work things out with Alison, she doesn't want to get back together. Alison's boss finds out about her pregnancy, and sees an opportunity to boost ratings with female viewers by having Alison interview pregnant celebrities. After a talk with his father, Ben decides to take responsibility and goes to great effort to change his ways, including moving out of his friends' house, getting an office job as a web designer, and creating a baby's room in his new apartment. He also starts reading the pregnancy books that he had purchased early on. When Alison goes into labor and is unable to contact her doctor, she calls Ben, as Debbie and Pete are at Legoland. Ben discovers that the gynecologist they had been seeing is out of town, at a Bar Mitzvah, despite having assured them that he never took vacations. Ben calls him and leaves a furious voicemail, threatening murder. During labor, Alison apologizes for doubting Ben's commitment and admits that she never thought the man who got her pregnant would be the right one for her. When Debbie and Pete arrive at the hospital, Ben adamantly refuses to allow her to be at Alison's side, insisting that it's his place. Debbie is both furious and impressed that Ben took charge of the situation and begins to change her formerly negative opinion about him. The couple welcomes a baby girl (a boy in the alternate ending) and settle down happily together in a new apartment in Los Angeles. ===== ===== In a series of events that followed the Rapture, in which Jesus Christ takes away members of His church from Earth, some find themselves left behind. Eventually they meet at New Hope Village Church, located in the suburbs of Chicago. They then meet from time to time and become immersed in study of prophecies contained in the Bible. Their study reveals that the Antichrist will establish control of the Earth, and the Tribulation period lasting seven years will start after his covenant with Israel. Jesus Christ's second coming will fall on the end of the Tribulation. In the course of their study, some characters in the novel form a core group which Chloe Steele christens the "Tribulation Force", dedicated to fight the seven years' war with the Antichrist. ===== The protagonist, an Istanbul lawyer named Galip, finds one day that his wife Rüya (the name means "dream" in Turkish) has mysteriously left him with very little explanation. He wanders around the city looking for his clues to her whereabouts. He suspects that his wife has taken up with her half-brother, a columnist for Milliyet named Celal, and it happens that he is also missing. The story of Galip's search is interspersed with reprints of Celal's columns, which are lengthy, highly literate meditations on the city and its history. Galip thinks that by living as Celal he can figure out how Celal thinks and locate both him and his wife, so he takes up residence in Celal's apartment, wearing his clothes and eventually writing his column. Galip starts getting mysterious phone calls from one of Celal's obsessed fans, who displays an astonishing familiarity with the columnist's writings. After Galip's columns under Celal's name start to take the form of impassioned pleas to Rüya, a woman from Celal's past misinterprets the articles and calls Galip, thinking they are actually Celal's attempts to win her back. It turns out that Celal and the woman had an affair, and the fan who is calling Galip is the woman's jealous husband. In an eerie twist, it turns out that the husband has been following Galip around Istanbul in an attempt to find Celal through him, accounting for Galip's frequent apprehension that he is being watched. Galip finally agrees to meet both of them at a public location, a store called Aladdin's that figures in much of the narrative. Soon after, Celal is shot to death in the street. Rüya is found also shot in Aladdin's store. The identity of the killer is never discovered for certain. The novel ends with the postmodern twist of the author revealing his presence in the narrative. The story is more concerned with exploring the nature of story-telling as a means of constructing identity than with a straightforward plot. As such, it is full of stories within the main story, relating to both Turkey's Ottoman past and contemporary Istanbul. ===== At a thanksgiving service in Woodstock church for the victory at Worcester (3 September 1651), the Rev. Nehemiah Holdenough was compelled to cede the pulpit, which he had usurped from the late rector (Dr Rochecliffe), to Joseph Tomkins, who, in military attire, declaimed against monarchy and prelacy, and announced the sequestration of the royal lodge and park by Cromwell and his followers. Proceeding thither, he encountered Sir Henry Lee, accompanied by his daughter Alice, prepared to surrender his charge, and was conducted through the principal apartments by the forester Joliffe, who managed to send his sweetheart Phoebe and dog Bevis with some provisions to his hut, in which the knight and his daughter had arranged to sleep. On arriving there they found Colonel Everard, a Roundhead who had come to offer them his own and his father's protection; but Sir Henry abused and spurned his nephew as a rebel, and at Alice's entreaty he bade them farewell, as he feared, for ever. On his way to the lodge he met his Royalist friend, Captain Wildrake, whom he was sheltering in spite of his politics, and determined to send him with an appeal to Cromwell to reinstate his uncle at Woodstock. On reaching Windsor, the captain, disguised as a Roundhead, obtained an interview with Oliver Cromwell, and a compliance with Everard's request, on condition that he would aid in securing the murdered king's son, in the event of his seeking refuge with the Lees. Armed with the warrant of ejectment, the colonel and Wildrake, accompanied by the mayor and the minister, visited the Commissioners during their evening carouse, and took part in endeavouring to ascertain the cause of some startling occurrences by which they had been disturbed. Everard made his way alone to a dark gallery, in which he fancied he heard his cousin's voice, and suddenly felt a sword at his throat. Meeting Wildrake as he regained the hall, they hurried off to the hut where they found Dr Rochecliffe reading the Church service to Sir Henry and his daughter; and, after a reconciliation between uncle and nephew, the cousins were allowed a private interview, during which Alice warned her lover against betraying the king. Returning to the lodge they were told of other unaccountable events; and during the night Everard was ordered by an apparition to change his quarters. The sentinels also declared that they had heard strange sounds, and the Commissioners decided to retire to the village inn. Master Holdenough, too, confessed that he had been terribly shocked by the reflection in a mirror of the figure of a college friend whom he had seen drowned. Woodstock Palace The following day Sir Henry Lee was induced to resume his post, and his son Albert arrived with one "Louis Kerneguy", whom he introduced as his Scotch page. Sir Henry having no suspicion who his guest really was treated him without ceremony; and while Dr Rochecliffe and the colonel were planning for his escape to Holland, the disguised Charles amused himself by endeavouring to gain Alice's love; but, in spite of a declaration of his rank, she made him ashamed of his suit. A quarrel, however, having arisen between him and Everard, she evinced her loyalty by preventing a duel they had arranged, at the risk of her reputation and the loss of her cousin's affection. A similar attempt by Tomkins to trifle with Phoebe was punished by a death-blow from Joliffe. The next evening Everard and his friend, and Holdenough, were unexpectedly made prisoners by Cromwell, who, having received intelligence of their knowledge of the king's sojourn at Woodstock, had brought a large force to secure him. Wildrake, however, managed to send his page Spitfire to the lodge to warn them, and while Alice acted as Charles's guide, Albert, in his dress, concealed himself in Rosamond's tower. Cromwell and his soldiers arrived soon afterwards with Dr Rochecliffe and Joliffe, whom they had seized as they were burying Tomkins, and, having searched all the rooms and passages in vain, they proceeded to blow up the tower. Albert, however, leapt from it just before the explosion, and Cromwell was furious when he discovered the deception. In his rage he ordered the execution of the old knight and all his abettors, including his dog; but afterwards released them, with the exception of Albert, who was imprisoned, and subsequently fell in the battle of Dunkirk (1658). Alice returned in safety, with the news that the king had effected his escape, and a letter from him to Sir Henry, approving of her marriage with Everard, whose political opinions had been considerably influenced by recent events. Eight years later Wildrake arrived at Brussels with news for Charles. After Cromwell's son Richard abdicated, the Protectorate was abolished and the country descended into chaos. Order was restored when George Monck, the Governor of Scotland, marched into the City of London with his army and forced the Rump Parliament to re-admit members of the Long Parliament excluded during Pride's Purge. The Long Parliament dissolved itself and for the first time in almost 20 years, there was a general election. The Convention Parliament assembled and voted for Charles' restoration. In his progress to London, Charles, escorted by a brilliant retinue, amidst shouts of welcome from his assembled subjects, dismounted to salute a family group in which the central figure was the old knight of Ditchley, whose venerable features expressed his appreciation of the happiness of once more pressing his sovereign's hand, and whose contented death almost immediately followed the realisation of his anxious and long-cherished hopes. ===== The Rasterscan, a large damaged spacecraft, is drifting uncontrollably towards a nearby star. The Rasterscan can still be controlled and piloted to safety but only by a droid called MSB. Unfortunately, MSB is also damaged and (without help) can only repair toasters. The player needs to control MSB and, hopefully, use it to save the unfortunate spacecraft. ===== After suffering personal and professional misfortunes, boat designer Alan Haldane (Jack Hedley) decides to take a trip to Crete after 30 years away. Now a widower and having sold his business, Haldane wishes to find a new meaning, and rediscover the sense of belonging such as he'd experienced there during World War II. Back then, Haldane fought with the Andartes against the occupying German army; his skill and determination earned him the honorary name of "Leandros" and his exploits subsequently slipping into local legend. He'd also enjoyed an affair with co-partisan Melina Matakis, from whom he temporarily parted when repatriation took place. Once back in England his letters to Melina went unanswered; hence, this temporary parting became permanent. Now at a loose end, Haldane is met by many a mainly positive welcome, many remembering the exploits of the one they called Leandros. On reaching the area where he was based with Melina, a local homeowner, Annika, approaches. As glances are exchanged, this pretty and successful businesswoman and Haldane unconsciously form an immediate rapport. Annika had divorced her husband—an action in opposition to the values of Crete—however, this strong woman and Haldane get on so easily and both recognise a need for each other which grows ever- stronger each time their paths cross, which in time will become understandably frequent. Haldane at last manages to meet up with his Greek 'brother' from whom he was almost inseparable during the war, a lawyer named Babis Spiridakis. Haldane is pleased to see Babis, but the latter merely acknowledges Leandros' presence after an admittedly long time apart. But they talk and as facts are eased out into the open both men are in for a few surprises. It turns out both Melina and Haldane wrote letters to each other, which neither received. Haldane discovers Melina died four years ago. That might have been that, but Babis goes on to explain that Melina was pregnant with his child, a daughter, who with her husband runs a taverna. They have now gone on to bear him what is his grandchild. And if that's not enough, the magical bond between Haldane and Annika gets immediately complicated when Babis tells Haldane that Annika is actually the sister of Melina, therefore his daughter's aunt. Leandros determines to get to know his daughter and grandchild without any of them knowing. And he can never tell Annika, with whom he is falling deeply in love, because what he knows would tear everyone's world apart. In addition, those who still hold age-old vendettas plot against Leandros, such as Annika's matriarchal mother, Katerina. The stage is set for a Greek tragedy, in which all parts were cast many years earlier, to play right out to the bitter end. ===== Thomas Jerome Newton is a humanoid alien who comes to Earth from a distant planet on a mission to take water back to his home planet, which is experiencing a catastrophic drought. Newton uses the advanced technology of his home planet to patent many inventions on Earth, and acquires tremendous wealth as the head of a technology-based conglomerate, World Enterprises Corporation, aided by leading patent attorney Oliver Farnsworth. His wealth is needed to construct a space vehicle with the intention of shipping water back to his home planet. While revisiting New Mexico, he meets Mary-Lou, a lonely, unloved, and simple girl who works as a maid, bell-hop, and elevator operator in a small hotel; he tells her he is English. Mary-Lou introduces Newton to many customs of Earth, including church-going, alcohol, and sex. She and Newton live together in a house Newton has built close to where he first landed in New Mexico. Meanwhile, Dr. Nathan Bryce, a former womaniser and college professor, has landed a job as a fuel technician with World Enterprises and slowly becomes Newton's confidant. Bryce senses Newton's alienness and arranges a meeting with Newton at his home where he has hidden a special X-ray camera. When he steals a picture of Newton with the camera, it reveals Newton's alien physiology. Newton's appetite for alcohol and television (he is capable of watching multiple televisions at once) becomes crippling and he and Mary-Lou fight. Realizing that Bryce has learnt his secret, Newton reveals his alien form to Mary-Lou. Her initial reaction is one of pure shock and horror. She tries to accept what she sees, but ultimately panics and flees. Newton completes the spaceship and attempts to take it on its maiden voyage amid intense press exposure. However, just before his scheduled take-off, he is seized and detained, apparently by the government and a rival company; his business partner, Farnsworth, is murdered. The government, which had been monitoring Newton via his driver, holds Newton captive in a locked luxury apartment, constructed deep within a hotel. During his captivity, they keep him sedated with alcohol (to which he has become addicted) and continuously subject him to rigorous medical tests, cutting into the artificial applications which make him appear human. Eventually, one examination, involving X-rays, causes the contact lenses he wears as part of his human disguise to permanently affix themselves to his eyes. Toward the end of his years of captivity, he is visited again by Mary-Lou, who is now much older and whose looks have been ravaged by alcohol and time. They have mock-violent, playful sex that involves firing a gun with blanks, and afterwards occupy their time drinking and playing table tennis. Mary-Lou declares that she no longer loves him, and he replies that he doesn't love her either. Eventually Newton discovers that his "prison", now derelict, is unlocked, and he leaves. Unable to return home, a broken and alcoholic Newton creates a recording with alien messages, which he hopes will be broadcast via radio to his home planet. Bryce, who has since married Mary-Lou, buys a copy of the album and meets Newton at an outside restaurant in town. Newton is still rich and young- looking despite the passage of many years. However, Newton has also fallen into depression and alcoholism and the film ends with an inebriated Newton passing out in his cafe chair. ===== The movie opens with war footage from a World War Three ending with a nuclear attack Long after the nuclear war, the last human survivors are divided into three tribes. Robert (Clarke) and Ruth (Field) are about to be married in the ruins of a post-apocalyptic New York City during a brief interlude in ongoing hostilities between their tribe, the Norms, and the rival tribe the Mutates. The Mutes try to adhere to the tenants of the Christian Bible, while norms reject this. But raiders from a third tribe, the Upriver People, attack through the Hudson Tunnel, capturing Ruth and with several other women. The warring tribes must put aside their differences to rescue the women, a joint effort which takes up rather little time in this short film. The Upriver people need fertile women. Ultimately the Upriver tribe is defeated and they are trapped in the Hudson River Tunnel as it is flooded. With the women recovered, there are improved prospects for a more peaceful tribal coexistence as the film concludes. ===== The Dark Side of the Sun takes place on the Greek island of Rhodes. The story combines elements of supernatural Gothic romance with the contemporary conspiracy thriller. There are themes of telepathy and hypnosis, and a secret society, descended from the Knights Templar, holding clandestine meetings on the island. The historical back-story is linked to the suppression of the Templars, and seems also loosely inspired by the overthrow of Foulques de Villaret, 25th Grand Master of the Knights Hospitaller. His former stronghold at Lindos was one of the main filming locations. The Templar conspiracy theory element in the modern plot-line shows some influences from The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail, which had been published the previous year. ===== In a Mossi village in Burkina Faso, Bila (Noufou Ouédraogo), a ten-year-old boy, makes friends with an old woman called Sana (Fatimata Sanga), who has been accused of witchcraft by her village, and has become a social outcast. Only Bila is respectful of her, and calls her yaaba (Grandmother). When Bila's cousin, Nopoko (Roukietou Barry), falls ill, a medicine man insists that Sana has stolen the girl's soul. Sana undergoes a long and gruelling but ultimately successful journey to find a medicine to save Nopoko's life, but is still treated as a witch. After Sana dies, the real reason why she is hated in the village is uncovered, but the love and wisdom she invested in Bila and Nopoko lives on. ===== The film opens with an Orange walk on The Twelfth, and an audio tape being handed to Paul Sullivan (Dourif), an American human rights lawyer and activist, which becomes his death warrant. The film begins with a quote from Margaret Thatcher insisting that Northern Ireland is part of Britain. It ends with one from a former British intelligence agent, stating, "There are two laws running this country: one for the security forces and the other for the rest of us." UK mainland police investigator Peter Kerrigan (Cox), with the help of Sullivan's assistant, Ingrid Jessner (McDormand), investigates the shooting death of Sullivan and his Provisional IRA driver by security forces in Northern Ireland. The investigation reveals the men were killed without warning. Captain Harris, an ex-army intelligence officer now in hiding, possesses a tape recording of senior military leaders and Conservative Party politicians discussing how they arranged the rise to power of Margaret Thatcher. Harris gives a copy of the tape to Jessner, after which British security forces kill Harris and blame his death on the IRA. Kerrigan is blackmailed into silence. Jessner has the tape, but without Harris to authenticate it, the recording can be dismissed as a forgery. ===== Basing his film on real events, Bruce Beresford tells the story of a vocal orchestra created by the women in a Japanese Internment camp, a classic survivors' tale about women's ability to survive hardship and atrocity through perseverance, solidarity and creativity. The film opens with a dance at Raffles Hotel in Singapore. Wives and husbands, soldiers and socialites are enjoying a night of dancing, libations, and conversation. The scene is happy and carefree, but the film continues to unfold and it soon becomes known that a war is raging right outside the doors. Paradise Road is set during the time of World War II, and the Japanese forces have just attacked Singapore. When a bomb explodes right outside the club, it becomes known that the Japanese have advanced beyond defensive lines. The women and children are immediately collected and carried off by a boat to a safer location. A few hours out, the boat is bombed by Japanese fighter planes and the women must jump over board to save their lives. Three women, Adrienne Pargiter the wife of a tea planter, Rosemary Leighton-Jones a model and the girlfriend of a Royal Malayan Volunteer, and Susan Macarthy, an Australian nurse, swim their way to shore. The place on which they land is the island of Sumatra. The women are found by a Japanese officer, Captain Tanaka, and ushered to a deserted village. They are then taken to a prison camp in the jungle. The three women are reunited with the rest of the women and children from the boat. At the prison camp, there are women of all nationalities including Dutch, English, Irish, Portuguese, Chinese, and Australian; and they all come from many levels of society. Some of the women are nuns, some are nurses, and some are socialites and mothers. The women are forced to bow to the Japanese officers and its flag. The women must endure torture and hard labour while trying to remain positive and level headed. Many believe the war would end soon and their husbands or soldiers will come looking for them. Nonetheless, the living conditions are brutal, and many face sickness and death. The women have been at the prison camp for two years now. Adrienne Pargiter, a graduate from the Royal Academy of Music, and Daisy "Margaret" Drummond a missionary, decided to create a vocal orchestra in order to encourage the women. Some of the women fear for their lives because the Japanese officers, especially Sergeant Tomiashi "The Snake", who is made known for his cruelty and abuse, have prohibited any meetings whether religious or social. The orchestra finally performs for the entire camp, even the officers stop to listen to the vibrant music. However, the music only works as motivation for so long and the women continue to dwindle in numbers. After some time, the women are moved to a new location where they will remain for the duration of the war. The war ends and the women rejoice for their freedom. The film closes on a scene of the last performance by the vocal orchestra. The vocal orchestra performed more than 30 works from 1943 to 1944. The original scores survived the war and are the basis for the music performed in the film. In 1997, many of the survivors were still alive during the making of the film and contributed to the inspiration for Paradise Road. ===== Olivia (Jennifer Aniston) is a single, cash-strapped woman working as a maid in Los Angeles in order to make ends meet. She is surrounded by a support network of well-off friends consisting of Franny (Joan Cusack) - a stay at home mom with a large trust fund; Christine (Catherine Keener) - a successful television writer; Jane (Frances McDormand) - a fashion designer; and their husbands. While the disparity in financial situations between Olivia and her friends creates some friction, each woman is facing her own individual struggles. Olivia can't seem to find love or money and resorts to questionable tactics to satisfy both. Franny's inheritance sometimes causes tension between her and her accountant husband, who likes to spend it. Christine's marriage is falling apart because she and her husband can't communicate effectively. Finally, Jane is becoming increasingly unpleasant to be around, possibly because of her discomfort with her age and her husband's sexual ambiguity. Together, these women attend charity benefits, have lunch, lean on each other, and wade their way through life. ===== Lina and Gourry travel to the town of Acassi, known for its tasty octopus. However, the octopus meat is cursed, causing the person who eats it to only be able to speak takogo (タコ語, octopus language). Sorcerers and sorceresses cursed by this also cannot cast spells, since the spells have to be spoken in a common language in order for them to work. Gourry just happens to eat one of the cursed octopuses (after fighting for it with Lina), which causes him to speak in takogo. This often creates awkward situations during the film (the phrase "how horrible" being spoken as "flat chested", which offends Lina greatly). But soon, everyone in town starts to speak takogo (including Amelia and Zelgadis, who had just arrived in town), despite the fact that they have not eaten any octopus. Xellos is also there, seeming to know some details about what is going on but is not divulging anything. It soon becomes evident that the octopuses plan to use the accumulated anger from the villagers of Acassi to release a demon that was sealed many years before. Lina and her friends have to stop these plans before they come to fruition. However, it becomes complicated when Lina is infected with the takogo affliction, which negates much of her magic, including the Dragon Slave, her signature move. ===== A couple breaks into a deserted school. The girl is a beautiful blonde, and she follows the guy to the theater stage. She stops, seemingly afraid that she has heard something. He assures her that there is nothing to be worried about, but the girl, whose identity is later revealed to be Darla, turns towards him with a monstrous face and bites his neck, killing him. Buffy Summers begins her first day at Berryman High School. She meets Principal Flutie, who can't remember her name. Meanwhile, Xander arrives and announces he is troubled by mathematics work. He offers his best friend Willow a shiny nickel in exchange for her help. Cordelia and her gang of mean girls mock Willow's outfit, before mocking Xander for daring to speak to them. Xander searches for a witty comeback but is interrupted by Buffy bumping into him and dropping her things. She introduces herself and asks for directions to the library. Xander explains where the library is; after she walks away, he finds a stake that she dropped. Buffy arrives at the library and encounters the British librarian, Mr. Giles. She explains she's working on history, but instead of helping her with that, Giles slams a book on the desk entitled Vampyr. She leaves, obviously unsettled. After class, Willow approaches her, offering to help her with her studies. Buffy cheerfully accepts. The two walk through the school, and Willow admits to having a dorky nature. Buffy tries to convince Willow she's pretty, but Willow won't listen. Buffy asks her about the librarian. Willow says that Mr. Giles is new, "from some British museum". Cordelia and her gang interrupt them, attempting to get Buffy to join them and leave Willow. Two other school girls, Aura and Aphrodesia, talk about the new girl while preparing for gym class. However, they are interrupted by a body falling out of a locker. Meanwhile, Xander returns Buffy's stake. Xander then gives Buffy a tour of the school. Willow approaches Buffy and Xander, troubled. She explains about the body in the locker. Once Cordelia confirms the news, Buffy runs off. She meets Principal Flutie when he is coming out of the girl's locker room and asks to see the body. When she finds the two holes in the neck, she heads for the library. Mr. Giles is unsurprised by the news; instead, he is surprised that Buffy seems to be rejecting interest in Slaying. She angrily tells him that she loved her life before she knew about her calling and even loved it for a little time after. She explains she then lost everything she valued (including her Watcher) and now wants nothing to do with it. Xander overhears the conversation in the stacks. That night, en route to her first visit to The Bronze the cool student hangout in Sunnydale, Buffy meets a stranger, who warns her that she is living on a Hellmouth. He also gives her a large silver cross. It isn't revealed in the pilot that the stranger's name is Angel. This was the only deleted scene in the pilot. That night, Buffy meets Xander outside the Bronze and asks about Willow. Xander says that Willow has seemingly found a boyfriend, information that unnerves Buffy. She quizzes Xander about the guy's appearance; when he mentions a 'Lionel Richie' look, Buffy runs off. Xander follows. Willow is shyly hanging out with a handsome blond guy whose face turns to the monstrous form of a vampire about to feed. Xander and Buffy hear Willow's scream from the auditorium. Buffy charges in, finds the blond vampire biting Willow, and attacks him. Two other vampires emerge. Xander and Willow attempt to escape, using a cross to scare the vamps. Buffy dispatches the vamps and announces she is "The Slayer". One vampire runs away, and Buffy is left to dispatch the blond vampire. The next morning, Giles is unimpressed by Buffy's sloppy fighting and the fact that she allowed others to find out her identity as the Slayer. Her new friends, Willow and Xander, defend her, but Buffy is unbothered. ===== After a brief flash-forward to Frank Sinatra as an old man, saying "I miss my guys," the movie's main narrative begins during high points in the solo careers of the Rat Pack: Dean Martin has become a big success despite the breakup of his partnership with Jerry Lewis; Sinatra's career is at its peak; Sammy Davis Jr., is making a comeback after a near fatal car crash in which he lost one eye, and standup comic Joey Bishop is gaining exposure as an opening act for the other three. The Pack becomes complete when Sinatra reconciles with actor Peter Lawford, who has been ostracized since being seen out publicly with Sinatra's ex-wife, Ava Gardner. Lawford has married Patricia Kennedy. Abandoning a notion to seduce Pat for his own amusement, Sinatra becomes more interested in her brother John F. Kennedy's political ambitions. He sincerely believes Jack Kennedy would be a great president, but he also feels having a friend in the White House could benefit his own public image. Sinatra arranges for the entire Pack to perform at a JFK campaign fund-raiser. Sinatra also knows Kennedy's infatuation with the opposite sex and introduces him to Marilyn Monroe, who begins seeing Kennedy behind the back of her husband, baseball star Joe DiMaggio. Kennedy's pompous father, Joseph P. Kennedy, feels Sinatra's mob ties might hurt Jack's chances of defeating Richard Nixon in the election of 1960. He insists that Sinatra help the campaign from behind the scenes only; hypocritically, he also asks Sinatra to use those same mob ties to swing the West Virginia unions' support Kennedy's way. Meanwhile, the Rat Pack continues to enjoy success in Hollywood and Las Vegas, often combining their stage acts for joint performances. They even parlay their friendship into a movie collaboration, Ocean's 11, working and playing together at the same time, enjoying wine, women and song. Davis is sometimes secretly hurt by the racist jokes of their stage act, especially after his girlfriend, actress May Britt, insinuates that the rest of the Pack is laughing at him, not with him. Davis has a more serious brush with racism when he and Britt announce their engagement, which results in a mixed-marriage protest in front of Davis's hotel. Davis day-dreams about scaring the protesters away with a song and dance routine in which he wields a gun. But he concedes the possible political repercussions of an interracial marriage. He postpones the wedding to avoid hurting Sinatra, who had agreed to serve as best man. In the White House, President Kennedy seeks to renew his friendship with Sinatra. The two go sailing and plan for Kennedy to stay at Sinatra's Palm Springs residence during an upcoming West Coast presidential trip. Thrilled by the idea, Sinatra returns home and arranges for a guest compound to be built for Kennedy and his entourage. However, the FBI finds a potential mafia link to the White House through a woman, Judy Campbell, who shared phone calls, and possibly affairs, with both Kennedy and mob boss Sam "Momo" Giancana after being introduced by Sinatra to each. Kennedy's brother, attorney general Robert F. Kennedy, insists that the President cancel his stay at Sinatra's house and cut off all ties to the entertainer. This enrages Sinatra, who had sunk a lot of money and time into the renovation and had been at least partially responsible for Kennedy's being elected president. Sinatra takes out his wrath on Lawford, who as Kennedy's brother-in-law was Sinatra's direct link to the White House. Lawford finds himself repeatedly serving as a messenger between Sinatra and the Kennedys, including JFK's secret dalliances with Monroe, and he is sick of it. Lawford dreads delivering the news of Kennedy's decision to cancel his visit to Sinatra's house and stay instead with Bing Crosby, a Republican. A furious Sinatra physically throws Lawford out of his home and vows never to forgive him. The movie depicts this incident as the beginning of the end of the Rat Pack's influence in both politics and entertainment. ===== The film begins with the opening credits of a typical Star Wars fanfilm entitled "Bond of the Force". Gregory (Abe Peterka) plays Jacen Solo, and Jennifer (Rebecca Peterka) plays the offscreen voice of Jaina Solo. Jacen is on a forest planet searching for Anakin Solo, but only encountering a Sith Lord named Darth Katai, played by Zarth (Justin Whitlock). The two begin to duel, and it is an intense battle...until Greg misses his cue, incurring the wrath of writer-director Tom "Servo" Harrison (Chris Hanel). Tom gets into a fight with his friends, and they walk out on him. After a monologue based on High Fidelity, with Star Wars in the place of rock music, Tom reflects back a few months to the genesis of the fanfilm project. Tom, Greg, Jenny, and Zarth are seen hanging out at Excalibur Games, a hobby shop, playing the Star Wars pants game. Tom is revealed to be an employee at the store, working for store credit while he has his money saved up for film school. He claims the only downside to the job is the trekkies—specifically, two irate, Star Wars-hating ones named James (James Kropa) and Stewart (Michael Mulherin). The two enter the store, arguing over a discrepancy between the film Star Trek Generations and the Technical Manual. While waiting for Tom to get their new Star Trek cards, Stewart accidentally spills soda on a set of comics that Greg's boss ordered. Tom demands they pay for the damaged goods, and the Trekkies overpay him before leaving the store in a rush. Tom realizes that they can sell the undamaged books to Greg's boss for full price and pocket the money from the Trekkies. At Greg's suggestion, Tom combines the money with his remaining store credit and buys model lightsabers, which prompts the idea in his mind of making a Star Wars fanfilm. Tom, Greg, Jenny, and Zarth sit around discussing ideas for a plot for their fanfilm, deciding against a story about a mischievous not-good-but-not-evil Jedi, a story about a post-Return of the Jedi Boba Fett (sitting on his ass watching Jerry Springer all day), a story about all the sith in the galaxy competing for the master-and-apprentice positions, and a rock musical. Tom doesn't want to do just another lightsaber duel film, which had become a cliche in Star Wars fan films by that point, but because no one can agree on any of the other ideas, they decide to do a duel after all, much to Tom's frustration. Tom approaches the reluctant Trekkies to do the visual effects, offering them ten percent of his store credit (which was all already spent on the lightsabers). Tom ends up spending all his money on preproduction for the film, and finds himself no longer able to afford film school. He has a nightmare about his film being terrible, with poorly- rotoscoped lightsabers and a soundtrack by Meco. Back in the present, Zarth tells Tom he needs to "pull his head out". An irate Tom grabs a prop lightsaber, and the two enter a Matrix-inspired lightsaber duel fantasy sequence. When Zarth beats Tom, he asks him, "Do you think that's a real lightsaber you're holding?" Tom realizes he's been taking himself and the film too seriously, and has lost any sense of fun. On their way back to Excalibur Games, Tom and Zarth are stopped by Greedo. Greedo and Tom begin to play out a homage to Greedo's scene in A New Hope, until Zarth interrupts and points out that the gag has already been done—in Crapisode One. Back at Excalibur, the gang shows Greedo the scene in question. He flips out, complaining that a lightsaber fight is so overdone, but one Greedo scene is done before and suddenly it's off-limits. Jenny explains that a lightsaber duel is a formula, and can be personalized, but they can't add anything to a Greedo scene, because "in the end, you always wind up dead," which Greg then proves by shooting Greedo in the head. Later that night, the gang is eating pizza, and Tom apologizes to the others for his behavior. When it is revealed that Tom had dressed up as Darth Maul for the midnight showing of Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace, Tom recounts the story in a soliloquy reminiscent of Jaws. Tom then reveals how much he hated the movie, and how mad he was at George Lucas. Later, when he met his friends, he realized that no movie would have met his expectations. Now, he just wants to finish his fanfilm. The gang finishes shooting the duel, and holds the premiere in the store. Everybody is excited watching the film. After everybody else goes home, Tom reflects on the point of making a Star Wars fanfilm—to have fun. Your film may not be perfect, but you shouldn't care what others think, because in the end, "it's only a movie." ===== Ready to Run is the story of 14-year-old Corrie Ortiz (Krissy Perez), an energetic girl who dreams of becoming a jockey in the predominantly male sport of Thoroughbred horse racing. Although her father died in a racing-related accident, and her mother is against it, Corrie's spirited memory drives her to try to achieve her goal. She also has the gift her grandmother calls the "confidence of horses". It allows Corrie to communicate with her horse, Thunder Jam (TJ), who lives dispiritedly in his sire's shadow. Though TJ is an excellent runner, he has an immense fear of the starting gates. To conquer this fear, the team employs the strange tactic of placing headphones over TJ's ears. Surprisingly, the music works. TJ can now get through the gate with confidence. The headphones later become a trademark of Thunder Jam as he wins more and more races. B. Moody (Jason Dohring), an ex-circus rider, is picked up as the jockey, however, an accident caused by Thunder Jam's competition leaves Moody injured and unable to compete, thus forcing Corrie to step in and take his place. At the final race of the season their toughest opponent is doing everything he can to see that he wins. He takes it up with the judges that the headphones on TJ's ears are stimulating the horse in some rule breaking manner and should be disallowed. Dismayed, Corrie and TJ have to run the race without their signature item. After a rough start, Moody ingeniously puts TJ's music over the race course's loud speakers, and TJ, made confident by the familiar song, goes on to win the fictional Gold Rush Derby. ===== In an unnamed Midwestern U.S. city, the corrupt mayor William Dudley has allowed an oil refinery to be built right in the center of town, far from any river, lake or reservoir. On one typically hot summer day, Herman Stover, a dangerously disturbed employee at the works, has been denied an expected promotion and in addition, finds himself fired. He then decides to take his revenge against the works by opening the valves to the storage vats and their interconnecting pipes, flooding the area and sewers with gasoline and chemicals. It doesn't take long for this act of petty vandalism to start a fire, which starts a chain reaction that causes massive explosions at the refinery, destroying it and spreading a mushroom-cloud of flame that soon engulfs the entire metropolis. The drama focuses on a newly built hospital which, like the refinery and all civic buildings that went up during the mayor's crooked administration, is shoddily built and poorly equipped. There, head doctor Frank Whitman and his staff treat thousands of casualties from the fire while the city fire chief Risley keeps in constant contact with the fire companies fighting a losing battle against the fires, and Maggie Grayson, an alcoholic reporter, sees it as her chance to make it nationwide with her coverage of the story of the "city on fire". A major subplot of the film involves Diana Brockhurst-Lautrec, a wealthy socialite who is currently and secretly involved with Mayor Dudley to further advance her rank up the social circles and who also finds herself, along with the mayor, at the hospital assisting the head nurse Andrea Harper with treating the large number of casualties. The womanizing Dr. Whitman also becomes smitten with Diana after meeting her during the hospital's dedication ceremony prior to the fire. Herman Stover also arrives at the hospital having left the refinery before the explosion to stalk Diana, having known her since attending high school. No one ever finds out that Stover is the one responsible for the citywide fire, and on top of that, Stover is not sane enough to understand or regret his actions. When the hospital becomes surrounded by the fire, Chief Risley orders his son, Harrison, assemble a fire company to create a "water tunnel" composing of firemen creating a channel across a burning street to evacuate the hospital. Despite some casualties of the hospital staff and patients, the evacuation is successful. Stover is one of the casualties when, distraught and in a daze after Diana rejects him, is killed by falling debris from a building. Nurse Harper is also killed when she attempts to rescue Stover. Diana, Mayor Dudley, and Dr. Whitman are the last ones to make it out of the hospital. The final scene is set the following day at a quarry outside the city which is set up as a makeshift camp for the thousands of people rendered homeless by the fire as it is finally brought under control. There, Dr. Whitman and Diana acknowledge their love for each other, while Mayor Dudley gives a press statement about his actions and of his intention now to run for governor. Maggie Grayson, still reporting from the studio, signs off her broadcast and leaves with her assistant Jimbo on a date for assisting her throughout her coverage. The final scene shows Chief Risley leaving his headquarters with his staff telling them that it takes only one man to set fire and destroy a city. ===== ===== The story is written from the first-person view of Homer Van Meter, a member of John Dillinger's gang, who says he wants to tell the story of how Dillinger got the scar on his upper lip. Following a gun battle with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) at Little Bohemia Lodge, Van Meter, Dillinger and Jack Hamilton escape in a vehicle, though exchange gunfire with police from their vehicle some time later. The three men escape again, though Hamilton is shot. After ditching their damaged vehicle and stealing another from a passing motorist, the men take refuge in a rented room behind a bar, where they stay for the next five days. Hamilton's condition deteriorates, with it becoming apparent the bullet is lodged in his lung and the wound is turning gangrenous. Hamilton goes through periods of delirium. In a period of lucidity, he asks Dillinger and Van Meter to entertain him, by walking on his hands and doing "the trick with the flies" respectively, though Dillinger says he will do it later and Van Meter points out there are no flies around. Dillinger attempts to get Dr. Joseph Moran to treat Hamilton, though returns insisting to Van Meter that Moran "was a crybaby" and he doesn't want such a man to treat Hamilton. He tells Van Meter he threatened Moran into giving him the contact details of someone else, and Moran contacted Volney Davis, a member of Ma Barker's gang. Dillinger and Van Meter take Hamilton to stay with Davis, his girlfriend "Rabbits" and Ma's son Dock, in Aurora, Illinois. Rabbits performs surgery on Hamilton and removes the bullet, though as expected the surgery is too late and his condition worsens. News that Moran has been arrested leads both Dillinger and Barker's gangs to believe he will inform the FBI of their whereabouts, though they all elect to not abandon the dying Hamilton. They agree to instead make a final stand, though the authorities never arrive. When Hamilton's death appears imminent, Van Meter goes and catches flies with strands of thread, a skill he developed to pass the time when he was in prison. He catches several and shows them to an impressed Hamilton. Dillinger then entertains Hamilton by walking on his hands. While Hamilton is laughing at his antics, Dillinger's revolver falls out of his pants, discharging and injuring himself. The occupants realize Dillinger has only grazed his upper lip, shortly before noticing that Hamilton has died. Dillinger and Van Meter bury their friend, and Dillinger says he thinks his notorious run of good luck has ended and that he will be caught soon. ===== Clark Kent and Lois Lane arrive in the small town of Silsby to report on the world's deepest oil well. That night two small, furry, bald-headed humanoids come up through the shaft and scare the elderly night watchman to death. Lois and Clark arrive at the oil well and find the dead watchman. Clark and the foreman explore the surrounding area for signs of foul play when Lois glimpses one of the creatures and screams. No one believes her when she tells them what she saw. The medical examiner is summoned, and he later leaves with Lois. Clark stays behind to confront the foreman, who confesses that the well was closed for fear that they had struck radium and not oil. The foreman proceeds to show Clark ore samples that were collected during different stages of drilling; all of them glow brightly. Meanwhile the two Mole Men innocently explore the town. The residents become terrified because of their peculiar appearance and because everything that they touch glows in the dark (due to simple phosphorescence). Soon an angry mob forms, led by the violent Luke Benson, in order to kill the "monsters". Superman stops Benson and the mob and saves one of the creatures after it has been shot. He takes it to the hospital. The second creature returns to the well head and disappears down its shaft. A doctor announces that the injured creature will die unless he has surgery to remove the bullet. When a nurse refuses to do so out of fear, Clark volunteers to assist. Benson's mob arrives at the hospital demanding that the creature be turned over to them. Superman stands guard outside the hospital. Lois stands at his side, but a shot is fired from the mob, narrowly missing her. Superman sends her inside and relieves the mob of their rifles and pistols. Three more Mole Men emerge from the drill shaft, this time bearing a strange weapon. They make their way to the hospital. Benson and his mob see the creatures, and Benson goes after them alone. The creatures fire their laser-like weapon at him. Superman jumps in front of the pulsating ray, saving Benson's life, which Superman says "is more than you deserve!". Superman fetches the wounded creature from the hospital and carries him as his companions return to the well head. Soon after, from deep underground, the Mole Men destroy the drill shaft, making certain that no one can come up or go down it ever again. Lois observes, "It's almost as if they were saying, 'You live your lives ... and we'll live ours'". ===== Louis Stevens interrupts his older sister Ren's junior high graduation with a remote-controlled beachball meant to be full of confetti, unaware that his sidekick Beans has filled it with spaghetti, which spills on the school's gym teacher Coach Tugnut as the beachball explodes. Meanwhile, Ren breaks up with her boyfriend Gil, so she takes a job babysitting Beans. After Ren and Louis get into a fight and accidentally hurt a stranger named Miles McDermott, he talks the Stevens family and Beans into going on a vacation, which is the set of a new reality TV show called Family Fakeout. It is set on the fictional island of Mandelino, which in reality is only a short distance off the California coast. Louis accidentally destroys the sacred palace the family was meant to spend their vacation in, making the island's natives shun them and forcing them to live on their own. The family separates into two groups pitted against each other. Both groups encounter various situations, such as facing starvation and a "killer squirrel." Ren seeks solace with a native named Mootai and they fall in love. Mootai is actually an actor named Jason who is supposed to romance Ren merely to boost ratings, but he is genuinely interested in her. Louis' best friend Twitty and girlfriend Tawny come to the island to rescue them. Twitty is caught by the show's staff, but he escapes and shuts down the equipment monitoring the Stevens groups. Louis' older brother Donnie finds Tawny, and the newly- reconstituted family comes together and learns the truth. They unite with Twitty and Tawny to stop Ren from killing Louis because she believes he sold her and her new boyfriend out after being told by one of the island's natives. Ren corners him on a cliff, and despite the protests of the family and Miles, who tells her the truth, she pushes him off to his apparent death, much to the viewers' and Miles' horror. As Miles breaks down in guilt, a helicopter from another reality show, Gotcha, appears and says that Louis is safe and that the Stevens had tricked Miles; they planned a charade to get back at him for what he had done to them. Lance LeBow, the host of the TV show, "Gotcha", informs Miles that he is no longer a host of his own show because of his torments. He is then chased away by the Stevens family. Louis tells Ren that as his sister, he loves messing with her, but he would never do anything to hurt her. He then suggests she start a relationship with Jason back on the mainland. Jason comes and apologizes to Ren for stringing her along, but she forgives him and says she understood he was just doing his job as an actor. Jason confesses that when he told her he loved her, he wasn't acting and his feelings were real. After the family returns home and Beans pops up to disrupt their dinner yet again, Ren and Louis argue about who let Beans in the house. The film ends with The Twitty-Stevens Connection singing "Dream Vacation." ===== At the end of the 70s, the dysfunctional Kenneth Bianchi (C. Thomas Howell) lives with his mother Frances (Roz Witt) and is obsessed with joining the police force. When his application is refused, his mother sends him to Los Angeles to live with his sadistic cousin Angelo Buono (Nicholas Turturro). Kenneth unsuccessfully tries to join LAPD, and Angelo convinces him to start a prostitution business with him. They force Erin (Jennifer Tisdale) and April (Jessica Allegra), two girls from Tucson to work for them, but when they intrude on the territory of another prostitution ring led by Ronnie (Damon Whitaker), their business is destroyed and their money is stolen. The frustrated Kenneth and Angelo decide on revenge against Gabrielle (Kent Masters King) the prostitute who put them into competition with Ronnie, and Kenneth strangles her, feeling a great pleasure with her death. The two cousins become addicted to death, initially killing prostitutes and then attacking single women, dumping their bodies on the hill. ===== Henry Roth (Billy Crudup) is an obsessive-compulsive and somewhat misanthropic writer of children's books. His illustrator and only friend, Rudy (Tom Wilkinson), dies after a fabulously successful collaboration on their series of children's books about "Marty the Beaver." Henry is under contract to produce another "Marty the Beaver" book for Christmas sales. His publisher, Arthur Planck (Bob Balaban), assigns penniless, lovelorn illustrator Lucy Reilly (Mandy Moore) to work with Henry. She's being wooed by her ex-boyfriend Jeremy (Martin Freeman), who dumped her two years ago but shows up apologetic, having dedicated his new book to her. Lucy and Henry go to their publisher's beach house to work on the book. Will love bloom amid the rocks, or is Henry a bump on Lucy's road to Jeremy? Rudy's voice, from the grave, gives Henry counsel. ===== One summer afternoon, Shawn goes for a drive with his parents and dog, Ace (Alf in the Japanese version), but the family car suffers a flat tire in front of an abandoned mansion. Ace is upset by something inside the mansion and leaps out of the car to investigate. Shawn's parents follow Ace, but fail to return. As Shawn tentatively approaches the dilapidated structure, the entrance door swings open, and he's drawn into a magical vortex. Reunited with Ace, Shawn must travel into the heart of the Deep Labyrinth to rescue his parents. There is also a second story of another man who gets sucked into a warphole while talking on his cellphone. He finds himself trapped in a labyrinth. As he journeys through, he is forced to reconcile the past, and realize what it is that traps him in the labyrinth. Each scenario has multiple endings based on the actions and performance of the player, as well as helpful items sequential playthroughs, to aid unlocking all the secrets of the labyrinth. ===== ===== Following a traffic accident that left him clinically dead for more than 80 minutes, a Southern California antique dealer named Hatch Harrison begins experiencing strange dreams and visions that connect him to a psychopathic killer, a young man who calls himself "Vassago". Vassago believes that he is the human incarnation of one of the demon princes of Hell, and that if he murders enough innocent human beings and offers them up in sacrifice to his Master, he will be allowed to return to the afterlife and rule at Satan's right hand. He also has a strange condition that enables him to see in the dark, but also causes his eyes to be extremely sensitive to light. Meanwhile, the accident gives Hatch and his wife Lindsey, an artist, a new lease on life as they struggle to rebuild their marriage in the wake of their son's death from cancer five years before. As the couple set about trying to adopt a young girl named Regina, Hatch continues to be tormented by visions, in some cases even seeing through the monstrous killer's eyes. Making matters worse, Vassago slowly gains information about Hatch and his family in the same fashion, putting both Lindsay and Regina in danger. It is eventually revealed that Vassago's real name is Jeremy Nyebern; as a teenager, he brutally murdered his mother and sister, then attempted to kill himself. His life was saved by the same doctor who miraculously resuscitated Hatch, Dr. Jonas Nyebern, Jeremy's father (thus facilitating the seemingly supernatural bond between the two characters). Like Hatch, Jeremy was clinically dead for more than 30 minutes, and during that time, believes that he went to hell and was later returned to do Satan's bidding. At the book's climax, Vassago's visions lead him to kidnap Regina and take her to his "hideaway" (an abandoned amusement park, where, as a boy, Jeremy committed his first murder). There, he is confronted by Hatch, who bludgeons Vassago to death with a crucifix attached to a flashlight, thus saving Regina and Lindsay. During the closing moments of this confrontation, Hatch inexplicably begins speaking in another voice and calls himself "Uriel" (whom Hatch later learns is an archangel mentioned in the Bible), thus implying that Vassago's beliefs about his demonic heritage and short-lived journey to the afterlife may not have been entirely delusional after all. Uriel/Hatch tells Vassago/Jeremy that instead of returning to hell as a prince, he will be returned as a slave. After Vassago's defeat, the Harrison family strengthen their bond to each other, with Regina insisting on calling her adoptive parents Mom and Dad. ===== Starting from childhood attempts at illustration, young Jerome pursues his true obsession to art school. Jerome enrolls in Strathmore, an urban college. His roommates are aspiring filmmaker Vince and closeted-gay fashion major Matthew. Jerome looks for love amongst the coeds, but is turned off by them all, before falling in love with the art model, Audrey. In his art classes, he forms a friendship with perennial loser, Bardo, who guides him through the college scene and introduces him to a failed artist, Jimmy, a belligerent drunk. As Jerome learns how the art world really works, he finds that he must adapt his vision to the reality that confronts him. The community has been wracked by a serial killer, the Strathmore Strangler, who has confounded the police. As Jerome slowly loses his idealism at art school, he finds himself in competition with a strange newcomer, Jonah (an undercover detective), both for Audrey's affection and for artistic recognition. In a wild attempt to win a prestigious art competition, Jerome asks for, and gets, Jimmy's paintings, all of which are of the Strangler's victims. Jerome leaves a lit cigarette in Jimmy's apartment by accident, setting a fire and burning up the apartment and Jimmy. The police arrest Jerome as the Strangler (who in fact was Jimmy); Audrey realizes that her true love is Jerome and that she was stupid to be in love with Jonah (who is actually married); and Jerome is sent to prison. Jerome's paintings, especially one of Audrey, become prized by collectors; Vince scores a huge hit with his documentary of the Strangler called My Roommate: The Murderer. In prison, Jerome continues to paint and sells his works at high prices, not caring that people think he is the killer, while all the while Audrey is still in love with him. At the end, Audrey and Jerome share a kiss through the protective glass. ===== When a rock band at the top of their game suddenly loses their band leader/bass player, their musical direction becomes questionable. All the band members know is that the leader's clothes were found at the edge of a waterfront and he has not been seen since. To replace their missing leader, they hire a new bassist Natalie (Alicia Silverstone), who shakes up their thoughts of the band. But the biggest changes come when the band decides to go into seclusion to develop new songs and a new sound. They rent a mansion from an aristocratic couple (Peter O'Toole, Joan Plowright) (Lord and Lady Foxley) who are in need of money. When the staff hired to be on hand when the band arrives do not show, the couple decides to act as the butler, Benson, and the cook, Margaret. The obvious conflicts between the two cultures occur, but a respect for each other gradually follows. Meanwhile, the band's recording company is trying to trick them into signing a contract that obliges them to make the music as the company requires, denying their "creative control." Towards the end of the film, the status quo gets further shaken when the original band leader shows up and admits that his disappearance had been a planned publicity stunt. ===== Sheila Rilo (Silverstone) is a bank teller at Desert Savings Bank in a small desert town. Her boyfriend is Rick Becker (Joshua Leonard), the bank manager who was informed by his superiors that he would be fired if the bank's ATMs were to be robbed just one more time. Sheila and Rick have spent several years in an on-again off-again relationship, in which he uses her between other flings. After Sheila pays for most of Rick's education, he leaves her for his tutor. Sheila decides to exact revenge on Rick by robbing the bank and getting him fired. On the same night, Stuart (Paulo Costanzo) and Jason (Woody Harrelson), two other tellers from the same bank, have also decided to rob the bank. Stuart's plan is to steal $250,000 from the bank and bet the entire amount on one game of roulette in Las Vegas. Stuart, who is desperate for excitement in his life, is following the suggestion of his friend Max (David Krumholtz), even though the intelligent Stuart usually talks Max out of his hare-brained get-rich-quick schemes. Jason is a nature lover who lives with an orphaned duck. He was promoted to assistant bank manager, a position with much more responsibility but only a $0.55 per hour raise. He feels the bank owes him for years of loyal and underpaid service and he decides to get even by robbing the safety deposit box of a mean-spirited local millionaire, Charles Merchant (Cleese). Merchant, who got rich from making infomercials and selling videotapes on how to get rich quickly on the real estate market, is the person that shot Jason's duck's mother, therefore making easier Jason's decision to rob Merchant's safety deposit box. Jason is not the only one with a plan for revenge against the local tycoon. A disgruntled clothing store employee, Shmally (Cook), takes her revenge against Merchant the same night by having Carter (Marcus Thomas) help her throw eggs at Merchant's home. Carter Doleman is Shmally's friend and roommate and the bank's newest employee. Due to his inability to dress well and his lack of ability to get a job on his own, Shmally agreed to help him. When Carter was called for an interview at the bank, Shmally gave Carter a make-over, dressed him up properly and coached him on how to pass the interview. Anxious and excited about starting his first day of work, hesitant Carter lets himself be dragged out of bed by Shmally so that he can help her egg Merchant's house. ===== The party led by Quenthel Baenre journeys to the drow city of Ched Nasad in hopes of learning more about Lloth's silence. The beginning of the book is mostly a running battle as Quenthel Baenre foolishly commands the party to travel through the domain of Kaanyr Vhok who immediately dispatches his Tanarukk soldiers (led by an Alu-fiend) to destroy the party. The Alu-fiend takes an interest in Pharaun Mizzrym early but continues to harry them. The party eventually makes it to Ched Nasad. Once there, they realize Ched Nasad is in real danger. The city is very much in conflict as the lesser races have taken to the streets and violence is around every corner. One of Ched Nasad's noble houses has contracted with a Duergar mercenary band to attack the city (A plot which they believe will ultimately make their house rise to power). Unfortunately for the drow, the duergar do too good of a job with their stonefire bombs and in the ensuing battle Ched Nasad is destroyed. Quenthel's party fights at every turn to try and escape the doomed city and eventually they reach a portal (with the help of two new female additions to the party named Halisstra Melarn and Danifae). The book ends just as the drow party escape through the portal and the City's Calcified web strands give out causing Ched Nasad to fall to its doom. This book introduces the characters Halisstra and Danifae to the drow party, both of whom go on to become prominent in the rest of the series. ===== This is the third book in the War of the Spider Queen series. After emerging from the portal that they used to escape the city of Ched Nasad, the drow party plans its next phase of the mission. They decide to consult a priest of Vhaerun to see if any of the other deities know what has become of the drow goddess Lloth. Valas Hune knows where such a priest can be found and believes that this priest may help them in their quest. Valas' friend is far away, however, and the last thing that the party wants is to travel a huge distance to get to them, so on Pharaun Mizzrym's advice they decide to shadow walk to get there. The journey has some minor battles but nothing this group can't handle. They end up back in the Underdark after their journey and in the Domain of the duergar. It becomes evident that to get where they are going, they must travel through the home city of the duergar and will need passports to get through unharmed. The group rests for days in the city while they search for means to obtain these documents. Meanwhile, in Menzoberranzan, Gromph Baenre learns of an impending duergar invasion, and rushes to alert the ruling council until the lichdrow Lord Dyrr stops him. A duel is fought in Gromph's own sanctuary, but the lich prevails and imprisons Gromph in a glass sphere. Eventually, Matron Triel Baenre does learn of the impending duergar attack (Nimor Imphraezl posing as a drow commander from House Agrach Dyrr informs them), and the decision is made to send Menzoberranzan's army to the Pillars of Woe to destroy the duergar. Nimor's trap is thus set. The Army of the Black Spider is almost utterly destroyed in the ensuing encounter (and would have been if it were not for the ferocity of House Baenre troops). The army limps back to Menzoberranzan, leaving a token force behind to slow the duergar. Quenthel Baenre's drow party eventually escapes the duergar city and makes it to Valas' contact (Halisstra Melarn is captured by surface elves during this journey). They are told by Valas' priest friend to journey to Myth Drannor and acquire a magical item. After an intense battle with devils and a beholder, the group finally returns. The last part of the book entails the party's journey to the Abyss (in astral form, not physical) to inspect for themselves what has happened to Lloth. They come to a great barrier to Lloth's domain in the shape of a huge visage of a female face. They are powerless to get through the barrier and are about to give up when the god Vhaerun materializes and strikes the visage with his godly power. He is about to break through when the god Selvetarm (Lloth's guardian) materializes and fights him. The drow party realizes that the power of the gods is too much for them and must kill the priest of Vhaeraun to escape the Abyss. They flee the stronghold of the priest stunned and shaken. ===== Pharaun summons Jeggred's father, the demon Belshazu, and interrogates him to find a portal to the Abyss. Belshazu tries to escape, and during the commotion, Ryld Argith and Halisstra Melarn leave the party to pursue their own ends among the surface. Pharaun successfully binds the demon, and learns there is a demon ship that sails on the plane of shadow, and can take them to the Abyss. The party then journeys to an aboleth-filled lake to find this ship, and Quenthel Baenre and Pharaun both devise schemes to get rid of the other. Neither are successful, and they eventually find the ship. Meanwhile, back in Menzoberranzan, duergar and tanarukks are attacking, led again by Nimor Imphraezl. Gromph Baenre awakens in a cave nearby, trapped in a small sphere, but with the help of his familiar escapes. He is captured by an Illithid, but by using his cunning drow intellect he is able to defeat the foe. He finds an amulet of light and binds it to Nimor, trapping him in the Shadow Plane. Ryld and Halisstra are happy together, and she eventually converts to the followers of Eilistraee. It appears that Halisstra is a chosen one among Eilistraees followers, and is sent on a quest to recover The Crescent Blade, a sword that can sever the head of Lloth. She learns she must regroup with her old party to venture once more into the Abyss. During a conversation between Gromph and Triel Baenre, Quenthel recounts her death (at the hands of Drizzt Do'Urden in Siege of Darkness) and subsequent resurrection (by Shakti Hunzrin in Windwalker). Quenthel is uncertain what this event means, but anticipates she has been chosen for some special quest by Lolth herself. ===== This book focuses on two rather large and epic events. First the wizard duel between Gromph and the Lichdrow Lord Dyrr. Gromph Baenre, after being transported by Dyrr to "Halfling Heaven" returns and is near victory over the lichdrow when Nimor Imphraezl interferes. The spell duel continues until Dyrr polymorphs himself into a Gigant and petrifies Gromph. Only with Triel's help does Gromph continue the fight and finally destroy the Lichdrow's physical body by breaking his staff, releasing a devastating magical discharge. Nimor flees from the battle after he is warned that Lloth is awakening. The second major event in the book is the duel between Jeggred Baenre and Ryld Argith. Danifae sends Jeggred to kill Ryld using a portal. The battle takes place in a large swamp where Jeggred doggedly pursues Ryld even after being interrupted by many local beasts. The duo finally crash into a human logging camp where events become rather chaotic. Jeggred slaughters most of the loggers and uses their leader's enchanted axe to break Splitter. Ryld is killed moments later and a victorious Jeggred eats his heart in triumph. The group consisting of Quenthel Baenre, Pharaun Mizzrym, Danifae, and Valas Hune make very little progress in their quest to travel to the Abyss. They spend most of their time on the ship of chaos feeding it and making it ready for their journey. But, they finally do begin their journey with the help of Aliisza. Halisstra Melarn it seems has fully turned from the worship of Lloth and moves forward with her intentions of destroying the deity with Eilistraee's sword. ===== Quenthel Baenre, Pharaun Mizzrym, Jeggred Baenre, and Danifae continue their journey in the Demonweb Pits without Valas Hune, who disappears shortly before the story begins. Halisstra Melarn, with her new faith in Eilistraee, the Dancing Goddess, journeys with Uluyara and Feliane to fulfill her destiny as the slayer of Lolth, the Spider Queen, Goddess of Chaos. As the journey continues, Both Quenthel's and Hallistra's groups are attacked by numerous beings along the way, soon coming into combat with each other. Quenthel's companions easily defeat Hallistra's, sacrificing the drow Uluyara to Lolth in the process. Danifae strikes Halisstra down in the battle and leaves, believing her former mistress to be dead. Hallistra awakens later, however, bitter and angry. In her rage over losing, and her rage at Eilistraee for allowing it to happen, she throttles Feliane's weak body and soon destroys the Crescent Blade. This turns her from Eilistraee's faith back to her faith in Lolth. Quenthel's group later runs into a mercenary demon army, hired by Vhaeraun, the Masked Lord, in order to thwart his mother's plans and cause Lolth to die. Quenthel summons an extremely powerful demon, and Danifae summons a monstrous horde of spiders, which attack the assembled demonic forces. Halisstra, who followed Danifae, now attacks her in revenge for their earlier battle. Before either priestess becomes victorious, Lolth's tabernacle, the Spider Queen's inner chamber, opens, beckoning all three of her priestesses forth. Pharaun, magically paralyzed from a fight with a demon mage, is left on the ground to die at the hands of a host of spiders. Danifae, Halisstra, and Quenthel enter Lolth's tabernacle and are confronted by Lolth, in the form of 8 giant black widow spiders. The eighth and largest spider grabs Danifae, sucks her empty, and is then slaughtered by the other seven spiders. Danifae is in fact the Yor'thae, or Chosen of Lolth. From the gore rises a new form, essentially a giant black widow body with Danifae's torso. The Spider Queen instructs Quenthel to return to her position as Mistress of Arach-Tinilith, and punishes Halisstra for her heresy. Halisstra, now the 'battle-captive', is transformed into the Lady Penitent, reborn to eternally hunt and kill worshipers of Lolth's daughter, son, and former consort. Before returning to Menzoberranzan, Quenthel sacrifices Jeggred to the resurrected Lolth as a gift, and as punishment for opposing Quenthel earlier. ===== The book takes the reader into Menzoberranzan, the city of drow that is Drizzt's homeland. From here, the reader follows Drizzt on his quest to follow his principles in the cruel and competitive society of his underground homeland where such feelings are threatened. ===== Having lived in the Underdark for over forty years, Drizzt realized that neither he nor anyone around him would be safe, so he decided to travel to the surface. There he met with much adversity because of his race, but also found his true calling in life as a ranger, during his time with a blind ranger named Montolio. He eventually moved to Icewind Dale, where he joined with Catti- Brie, Bruenor Battlehammer, Regis the Halfling, and Wulfgar the barbarian. ===== The evil wizard Aballister has spent two years collecting and brewing a potion of power, as told to him by the imp, Druzil, sent by the Goddess of Poison, Talona. When he reveals it to his evil fellowship at the hidden stronghold Castle Trinity, the priest Barjin takes control of it and sets off to the major stronghold of the Snowflake Mountains — the Edificant Library. He finds an innocent, intelligent, and young, low- ranking priest, to open the potion, the Chaos Curse, which makes all who breathe it lose self-control. Cadderly must fight a memory-blocking spell in order to lift the curse and save the Library. ===== The protagonist of The History of Mr. Polly is an antihero inspired by H. G. Wells's early experiences in the drapery trade: Alfred Polly, born circa 1870, a timid and directionless young man living in Edwardian England, who despite his own bumbling achieves contented serenity with little help from those around him. Mr. Polly's most striking characteristic is his "innate sense of epithet", which leads him to coin hilarious expressions like "the Shoveacious Cult" for "sunny young men of an abounding and elbowing energy" and "dejected angelosity" for the ornaments of Canterbury Cathedral. Alfred Polly lives in the imaginary town of Fishbourne in Kent (not to be confused with Fishbourne, West Sussex or Fishbourne, Isle of Wight – the town in the story is thought to be based on Sandgate, Kent where Wells lived for several years).Chapter notes from The History of Mr Polly, Penguin Classics (2005). The novel begins in medias res by presenting a miserable Mr. Polly: "He hated Foxbourne, he hated Foxbourne High Street, he hated his shop and his wife and his neighbours – every blessed neighbour – and with indescribable bitterness he hated himself". Thereafter, The History of Mr. Polly is divided in three parts. Chapters 1–6 depict his life up to age 20, when he marries his cousin Miriam Larkins and sets up an outfitter's shop in Fishbourne. Second Chapters 7–8 show Mr. Polly's spectacular suicide attempt, which ironically makes him a local hero, wins him insurance money that saves him from bankruptcy, and yields the insight that "Fishbourne wasn't the world", which leads him to abandon his shop and his wife.; emphasis in original. Chapters 9–10, at the Potwell Inn (apparently located in West Sussex), culminates in Mr. Polly's courageous victory over "Uncle Jim", a malicious relative of the innkeeper's granddaughter. An epilogue then depicts Mr. Polly at ease as assistant- innkeeper, after a brief visit to ascertain Miriam's prosperity. ===== An outbreak of a mutant strain of mad cow disease infects the Irish countryside, turning people into ravenous, flesh-eating zombies. Caught amid this chaos are a young Spanish tourist and the local gravedigger. Together, this unlikely duo must fight for survival. ===== In post-independence India an Anglo-Indian teacher, Violet Stoneham (Jennifer Kendal), lives a quiet and uneventful life at 36 Chowringhee Lane in Calcutta, now Kolkata. Her brother Eddie (Geoffrey Kendal, Jennifer's father in real life) is senile and ailing in a nursing home. After the marriage of her niece Rosemary (Soni Razdan), she is alone except for her cat, Sir Toby. Her only joy in life is teaching Shakespeare, despite the lack of interest from her students. Returning home from church on a Christmas Day, Violet runs into a former student, Nandita (Debashree Roy), and her author-boyfriend Samaresh (Dhritiman Chatterjee), and invites them over for coffee. They accept her invitation after some initial hesitation. However, they quickly realize that Violet's apartment would be convenient for their tête-à-têtes while she is away at work. When Samaresh requests the use of Violet's apartment during school hours, saying that he would like to work on his novel, she agrees. For some time, this arrangement works to the benefit of all. Samaresh and Nandita get the privacy they desperately seek, and Violet has company when she returns home from work. Over time, she grows very fond of them, and begins to look upon them as her friends. Her old friends die or go away, she isn't appreciated at her job, and they are the only friends she has – the only people who can make her laugh. Eventually Samaresh and Nandita get married, and move on with their lives. Violet wants to meet them on Christmas Day, and bake them a cake. They have a party organized at home, however, and think she would be 'a fish out of water' if invited. So they lie about not being in town during Christmas. Violet comes over, any way, to drop off the cake on Christmas Day, and finally sees that she has been deceived by them. She walks home to her lonely life, slowly. The final scene of the film shows Violet reciting aloud from King Lear, with her only audience being a stray dog. ===== In 1948 Los Angeles, Easy Rawlins is laid off from his job at Champion Aircraft, and needs money to pay his mortgage. Easy's friend Joppy introduces him to DeWitt Albright, a white man looking for a missing white woman, Daphne Monet. Explaining that Monet's disappearance led her wealthy fiancé, Todd Carter, to drop out of the Los Angeles mayoral race, Albright pays Easy $100 ($ today) to find Daphne, who is known to frequent the juke joints along Central Avenue. Easy begins his search at an illegal club, where he sees the bouncer, Junior Fornay, eject a white man. Learning that his friend Dupree Brouchard's girlfriend, Coretta James, is a confidant of Daphne, Easy spends the night with Coretta and discovers Daphne is involved with gangster Frank Green. Albright arranges a meeting at the Malibu pier, where Easy is accosted by white youths, before Albright viciously humiliates one of the boys at gunpoint. Easy tells him about Green, and is given another payment to continue his search. Returning home, Easy is arrested by LAPD homicide detectives, who reveal that Coretta has been murdered. Interrogated and beaten before being released, he is approached by Matthew Terell, the remaining mayoral candidate. Terell is with a young boy, supposedly his adopted son, and inquires about Daphne, but Easy divulges nothing. After a nightmare about Coretta, he receives a call from Daphne herself. They meet at the Ambassador Hotel, and she asks him to drive her to meet a man named Richard McGee. Arriving to find McGee – the white man from the club – dead, and his house ransacked, Easy notices a pack of Mexican cigarettes while Daphne flees. At home, Easy is threatened by Albright and his goons to track Daphne down again. Easy sends for his friend, Raymond 'Mouse' Alexander, and confronts Joppy for leading Daphne to him. He meets with Todd Carter, realizing that Albright actually works for Terell, and secures another payment to locate Daphne. Returning home, he is ambushed by Frank Green but rescued by Mouse. Frank escapes after the trigger-happy Mouse shoots him in the shoulder, and Easy misses a call from Daphne. Questioned again by the detectives, Easy is given until the following morning to clear his name. Easy and Mouse confront Junior – the owner of the cigarettes – who admits to driving McGee home and being given a letter for Coretta to deliver to Daphne. They visit Dupree; inside Coretta's Bible, Easy finds the contents of the letter: incriminating photographs of Terell with naked children. At home, Easy finds Daphne waiting, and she reveals that Frank is her half-brother: their mother was Creole, and Daphne's father was white, while Frank's was black. Terell learned of Daphne's heritage, and the potential scandal forced Carter to abandon his campaign, but Daphne bought the pictures from McGee to blackmail Terell into silence. Hunting for Daphne and the pictures, Albright murdered McGee. When Coretta threatened to sell the pictures to Terell, Daphne sent Joppy to intimidate her, but did not expect him to kill Coretta. Albright and his men arrive, subduing Easy and kidnapping Daphne. Joined by Mouse, Easy abducts Joppy at gunpoint, forcing him to take them to Albright's cabin in the Hollywood Hills. Easy and Mouse kill Albright and his men and rescue Daphne; returning to the car, Easy learns Mouse killed Joppy. Daphne pays Easy and Mouse $7,000 for the pictures, and Mouse returns home to Houston with his share. Daphne reveals that Carter's family paid her $30,000 to leave town, but she believes that the pictures will ensure Carter's victory and their marriage. Driving Daphne to meet Carter, who rejects her, Easy receives the rest of his payment in exchange for the pictures. Daphne and her brother leave town, while Carter's election is assured. No longer in trouble with the police, Easy considers starting his own business as a private investigator. ===== Chong-kwai welcomes his friends Ted, May, Kofei and cousin April from Hong Kong to Thailand. He shows them a book he purchased from a strange man, titled The Ten Encounters, that describes ten ways to see ghosts and spirits. If they start the game, they must complete it or they will be haunted forever. Out of curiosity, the five friends start playing. In the middle of the game, Kofei disappears. Chong-kwai's mother, who is an expert on the supernatural, warns the friends to leave Thailand but April stays behind because she wants to find Kofei (her boyfriend). One night, April tries one of the methods and brushes her hair in front of a mirror at night. Her fate is uncertain. Back in Hong Kong, Ted and May continue to experience strange and ghostly encounters, with Ted being possessed by a ghost at one point. In Thailand, Chong-kwai sees that the drawings of characters in the book have been replaced by images of himself and his friends. Ted and May return to Thailand to complete the game, hoping that the curse will be broken after doing so. They perform the last step, which is to sleep while dressed in traditional garments for the deceased. In the ghost world, Ted and May find Kofei. April appears and helps them escape. All three ask April how she came to the ghost world and she tells them what happened. Thinking Kofei was dead, she committed suicide. Kofei decides to stay with April in the ghost world while Ted and May attempt to escape. However, when they wake up, they learn that they have become spirits. Chong-kwai and his mother attempt to revive Ted and May but fail. At the end, the sinister bookstore owner is seen selling another copy of the cursed book to an interested teenager. ===== The Specter Zone is a purgatory dimension set between heaven and hell, which is overseen by a shape-shifting being only known as the Gatekeeper, who forms a tournament for his own amusement and will bestow a second chance at life to any of the eight deceased fighters, all of which died in 1995. ===== The novel is written in a diary form as told by Enrico Bottini, an 11-year-old primary school student in Turin with an upper class background who is surrounded by classmates of working class origin. The entire chronological setting corresponds to the third-grade season of 1881-82 (Enrico says it has been four years since death of Victor Emmanuel II, king of Italy, and the succession by Umberto I, and also tells about the death of Giuseppe Garibaldi, which happened in 1882). Enrico's parents and older sister Silvia interact with him as written in his diary. As well as his teacher who assigns him with homework that deals with several different stories of children throughout the Italian states who should be seen as role models – these stories are then given in the book as Enrico comes upon reading them. Every story revolves around a different moral value, the most prominent of which are helping those in need, having great love and respect for family and friends, and patriotism. These are called 'The Monthly Stories' and appear at the end of every school month. The cover of the 1962 Garzanti edition 1962 ===== Jeremy Capello (Robert Sean Leonard) is a typical American teenager from Houston struggling with getting himself a girlfriend. Although he has caught the eye of his school's head cheerleader Candy (LeeAnne Locken), he has his attention fixed on his classmate and band geek Darla Blake (Cheryl Pollak), who in turn is unnerved by his constant staring at her. Recently, Jeremy has been having some weird nightmares about a strange woman trying to seduce him, and later he actually encounters that woman named Nora (Cecilia Peck), who makes an obvious invitation to him, while delivering groceries. His skirt-chasing friend Ralph (Evan Mirand) convinces him to take up the opportunity for a first erotic experience. But the encounter goes badly: First the woman bites him in the neck, then two strangers burst into the house, forcing Jeremy to run for his life. The next morning, Jeremy looks pale and does not feel well, and he sees in his father's newspaper that Nora's house has mysteriously burned down. Also, throughout the day he notices a strange man observing him. This man pops into his bedroom the very next night, introduces himself as Modoc (René Auberjonois) and carefully attempts to relay to Jeremy that he is now a vampire (albeit a living one, not an undead). Jeremy is initially highly skeptical, but a sudden aversion to garlic, an increasing sensitivity to sunlight and craving for blood slowly convince him otherwise. His new vampire "life-style" hampers his attempts to start a relationship with Darla, who has finally become interested in him; otherwise Jeremy begins to adapt to the minor impacts the change has brought to his life. Modoc even gives him a guide book and explains to him that vampires are just like any other "minority group" that has been persecuted over the centuries. Slowly, Jeremy's parents (Kenneth Kimmins and Fannie Flagg) notice that their son is behaving "most peculiarly" and begin to suspect that he may be a homosexual and that he is getting mixed up with bad company. To add to the ensuing confusion, the two men who had burst in on Jeremy's adventure are actually vampire hunters: Zealous professor Leopold McCarthy (David Warner) is determined to stop a "vampire armageddon" with the help of his feeble assistant Grimsdyke (Paul Willson). They are in the process of tracking their newest victim, but due to a mix-up they believe that Ralph is the vampire. One night, when Jeremy finally begins to exploit his new capabilities and wins back Darla's trust, McCarthy and Grimstyke kidnap Ralph and intend to "free his soul" in a small chapel. Jeremy and Darla arrive in time to save him, but then Jeremy is recognized as a vampire, and only his new-found power of hypnotism and the timely arrival of Modoc and Nora, who has come back from the dead, manage to save the day. Since McCarthy remains unrelenting, Modoc's female consorts turn McCarthy into a vampire, making a friend out of an enemy. The film ends with the Capellos assuring Jeremy that they love him and want to help him deal with his "problem". Jeremy then introduces Darla to his delightfully surprised parents, while Ralph just shakes his head at the whole hubbub. ===== In the 1940s, Leon "Bernzy" Bernstein is a freelance crime and street photographer for the New York City tabloids, dedicated to his vivid and realistic work and his unique ability to capture shots that nobody else can. He is very confident of his skills, declaring at one point, "Nobody does what I do. Nobody". With a police radio under the dashboard of his car and a makeshift darkroom in his trunk, he quickly races to the scene of horrific crimes and accidents in order to snap exclusive photographs. He is so good at his job that he becomes known affectionately as the "Great Bernzini". Bernzy meets a sultry widow, Kay Levitz, who owns a fancy nightclub. It seems the mob is muscling in on her due to some arrangement with her late husband. Kay asks if Bernzy could investigate an individual she considers troublesome. Generally unsuccessful with women, Bernzy agrees to help Kay, and he slowly begins to fall in love with her. After talking to his contacts, including journalist friend Arthur Nabler, he tracks down Kay's man, only to find him murdered. But when he calls the police, he becomes a suspect in the man's death. The police and the FBI are also very interested in this case. Bernstein makes a connection with a local gangster, Sal, uncovering a conspiracy involving a mob turf war about illegal gas rationing, and the Federal government. His activities get Sal killed and place Bernzy's life in great danger as he waits in hiding at an Italian restaurant where a mob hit is about to take place. ===== Elephants Dream full film An old man, Proog (voiced by Tygo Gernandt), guides the young Emo (voiced by Cas Jansen) through a giant surreal machine, in which the rooms have no clear transition to each other. After Proog saves Emo from flying plugs in a room consisting of a gigantic telephone switchboard, they run through a dark room filled with electrical cables and flee from a flock of bird-like robots. In the next room, Emo is tempted to answer a ringing phone, but Proog stops him and reveals a trap. The room is also occupied by a robot resembling a self- operating typewriter, which Emo appears to laugh at. The next room is a large abyss from which metal supports appear from below; Proog nimbly dances across the abyss on the supports, while Emo casually walks along and does not seem to notice the stilts supporting him. Proog explains to Emo that the machine is like clockwork and could destroy them both if one wrong move is made. The two enter an elevator that is catapulted through a series of apertures by a pair of mechanical slats. Proog instructs Emo to close his eyes as they ascend to an empty dark void. Proog asks Emo what he sees, and is pleased by Emo's reply that he sees nothing as they plunge rapidly into the next room. A projector creates an image of a door from which music emanates. Emo asks to go through the door, but Proog insists that it is unsafe, and presses a button within his cane to enclose them both in a smaller room. Proog asks Emo why he fails to recognize the beauty and perfection of the machine, to which Emo responds that the machine does not exist. Proog slaps Emo across the face, pushing the startled Emo to walk away. Emo mockingly imitates Proog's earlier tour to demonstrate the machine's absurdity and manifests the Hanging Gardens of Babylon and the Colossus of Rhodes, which threaten to destroy Proog's constructed world. Proog strikes Emo with his cane and renders him unconscious, causing Emo's creations to disappear. Proog desperately asserts to Emo that the machine exists. ===== The story starts when two experienced whalers decided to settle down in Reykjavík at the end of the whaling season. While there, they get into trouble and are thrown out of one establishment after another. When events escalated to violence, they break into a weapons shop and steal rifles to confront the police. ===== In Starless Night, Drizzt decides to return to Menzoberranzan in an attempt to keep the evil drow from launching another attack on Mithral Hall. He gives Guenhwyvar to Regis and tells him not to tell anyone where he went. When Cattie-brie later questions Regis about Drizzt's disappearance, and she makes Regis tell the truth. Regis then gives her Guenhwyvar and she decides to follow Drizzt . She first stops at the city of Silverymoon to meet with Lady Alustriel and to procure supplies. Alustriel, who has feelings for Drizzt, gives Catti-brie horses with magic horseshoes and makes a dwarven attendant, Fret, accompany her to the entrance of the Underdark. Meanwhile, Drizzt meets several elves in the woods near the Underdark, and recalls the surface raiding party that he was a part of as a young drow when he saved a young girl by pretending to kill her. She meets Drizzt, and the elves send a guide, Tarathiel, to help him through the woods. The pair encounters a unicorn in the grove of Montolio and Drizzt is able to pet it. He takes it as a sign that Mielikki, the goddess of rangers, approves of his sacrifice. He makes his way into the Underdark several days later. Catti-brie also arrives at the entrance to the Underdark within two days of Drizzt, and Fret goes back to Silverymoon. Drizzt goes first to Blingdenstone, the Underdark city of the deep gnomes, and stays for several days. Catti-brie also encounters a group of deep gnomes a day later and they show her a shortcut to Menzoberranzan. Then in Menzoberranzan, Drizzt is able to disguise himself for a little while as a slave driver on the Isle of Rothé, but is later found out. Catti-brie is near Drizzt at this point, and she witnesses his capture before being taken by Jarlaxle and held prisoner by the mercenary group Bregan D'arthe. Drizzt is taken to Matron Baenre's dungeon and tortured by one of Baenre's daughters, Vendes, the chief torturer. Entreri, somehow surviving the fall in the previous book, is now essentially the prisoner of Jarlaxle. He makes a deal with Cattie-brie in a bid to return to the surface and escape the evil drow city. He and Catti-brie steal a number of magical items from Bregan D'arthe and the sorcerer Gromph in order to free Drizzt from House Baenre during a ceremony involving all of the matrons of the eight ruling Houses of Menzoberranzan. Drizzt then kills Vendes, and in the daring escape out of the compound fights Dantrag Baenre, who was always considered the second-best to Zaknafein (and after Zaknafein's death, Drizzt). Drizzt is victorious, obtaining Dantrag's magical bracers, while Catti-brie chooses Dantrag's evil sentient sword Khazid'hea, who wanted to be wielded by Drizzt but could not (as Drizzt favors the scimitar). Catti-brie then explodes a section of the tunnel above the House Baenre compound, destroying most of the chapel dome and interrupting the ceremony of the Matron Mothers. Entreri escapes to the surface, and Catti-brie and Drizzt return to Mithral Hall, on the way stopping by the resting place of Wulfgar. ===== Siege of Darkness tells the story of how the Time of Troubles, in which all magic is temporarily disrupted and many gods and goddesses are forced to take the forms of their avatars and walk the material plane, affects the drow and Drizzt and company. The Spider Queen, Lolth, plots to keep Matron Baenre in power and to ultimately take Mithral Hall. In-house fighting results in the destruction of the 3rd house, House Oblodra, with the exception of their kobold/ goblin army, and the 4th house, House Faen Tlabbar, being left leaderless. Matron Baenre, along with the favor of Lolth, forms a loose house alliance to attack Mithral Hall. Realizing that they cannot possibly stop a drow army, the svirfnebli, the deep gnomes, are forced to abandon Blingdenstone. The battle for Mithral Hall takes place on the surface as well as in the Underdark. The drow were defeated with a little help from an unlikely source, the balor, Errtu. Through trickery, all Baenre wizardry and spells are temporarily interrupted and the heroes take advantage of the opening, killing Matron Baenre and defeating the drow offensive. Lolth's plan all along was to bring about chaos and to rid herself of Matron Baenre. ===== Passage to Dawn finds Drizzt and Catti-brie aboard the Sea Sprite six years after the events of the previous novel (Siege of Darkness, 1994), with the company of its captain, Deudermont, its wizard Robillard, and its powerful crew. The Sea Sprite is indeed a feared force on the Sword Coast, with few pirates choosing to attack its deadly wizard, drow ranger, panther, archer or ballista. They have been hunting pirates for the six years after the Battle of Mithral Hall. The balor, Errtu, who needs Drizzt to break his banishment; takes Deudermont's shape and it is unmasked when it hints to a mysterious island. Deudermont looks for the island to find out who sent the creature. The Sea Sprite crew goes to Mintarn in search of information about the mysterious Caerwich. They are attacked by pirates, but they manage to escape also because of the magical arrival of Harkle Harpell, who joins the crew. After a long and perilous journey, the Sea Sprite reaches Caerwich. There more dangers await the companions, but they eventually find an old hag who gives a riddle message to Drizzt and Catti-brie. The drow believes that the message implies that his father is alive and held by Lolth. The companions look for more information from a fiend of the Abyss, contacting it through a priest. On the journey back, the Sea Sprite is nearly destroyed by a storm and is saved by Harkle, whose spell magically transports the damaged schooner in Impresk Lake, near the residence of the priest Cadderly Bonaduce. The companions go to Icewind Dale where Crenshinibon lies, the place where Errtu will more likely show up. In the meantime the crystal shard itself is found and taken by Stumpet Rakingclaw. Errtu is summoned by a wizard, but he breaks free and flies to Icewind Dale. He takes Crenshinibon from Stumpet, capturing her soul and using her body as a bait to lure Drizzt to him. Stumpet's body leads the companions to the Sea of Moving Ice. There they are attacked by Taers sent by Crenshinibon, and they beat the creatures because of the arrival of Revjak and his warriors. Berkthgar and his men, who were also following the companions, arrive as well and eventually the heroes make the barbarian realize his mistakes. The companions then proceed to their quest and they eventually reach Cryshal-Tirith, where battle with Errtu's minions ensues. Regis infiltrates the tower and, with cunning and willpower, he manages to lock Crenshinibon in a box from where its power can't escape. In the meantime the others are saved by the arrival of Kierstaad, son of Revjak, wielding Aegis-fang, taken from Bruenor's quarters. Errtu's prisoner, Wulfgar, breaks free and joins battle with his warhammer. The companions eventually defeat Errtu. ===== In The Two Swords, Obould's horde has pressed the Companions to the very gates of Mithral Hall, where Bruenor and his clan launch a desperate, last-ditch effort to push the orcs back. A desperate rescue attempt succeeds, with Drizzt and Innovindil rescuing the latter's pegasus, which Obould had captured and chained as a trophy, and Drizzt is unexpectedly reunited with the Companions that he long thought dead. The only major plot line to be tied up in this novel is the question of what Drizzt will do about his relationship with Catti-brie. Other than that, The Two Swords resolves a few minor plot threads. Drizzt and the surface elf Innovindil bring their quest for the captured pegasus to a conclusion. A few more characters meet their demise in this novel. Ultimately, the novel keeps the major plot lines active for future novels, and introduces several more. ===== Wulfgar and his new friend, Morik the Rogue, are convicted of the attempted murder of Wulfgar's old companion Captain Deudermont, a crime they did not commit. Morik the Rogue is an unscrupulous human who comes along as a traveling and drinking companion to barbarian hero Wulfgar, and is a close, but not necessarily trusted, friend. Wulfgar's mighty warhammer Aegis Fang is stolen and sold to a notorious pirate. They narrowly avoid the horrors of Luskan's prisoner's carnival, but through the intervention of the victim himself, they are spared. As the book progresses, Wulfgar slowly climbs out of his despair, finally setting out to find the life he thought lost to the darkness. After their eviction from the city, they set out to become bandits on the roads outside the city. They prove to not be very proficient at it, though, and soon become involved in the politics of a backwater town in which the peasant fiancée of the local lord bears an illegitimate child. Wulfgar is blamed, but is helped to escape, and adopts the baby girl as his own. ===== After regaining his confidence and will to live (lost in Paths of Darkness, when Drizzt Do'Urden seemed to have died without being defeated fairly by Artemis, thus apparently taking from him the ability to prove to himself that he was a better fighter), Artemis Entreri finds himself allied with the mercenary Jarlaxle as the drow's tie to the surface world. Caught in the plans of Jarlaxle's band, Bregan D'aerthe, Artemis finds himself back in Calimport, the city in which he became known as one of the greatest assassins in Faerûn. Without many ties to the city after spending his time in captivity to the drow, Entreri must once again make his name known while trying to survive against the guilds of Calimport and Jarlaxle's lieutenants, Berg'inyon Baenre, Raiguy Bondalek, and Kimmuriel Oblodra. At the same time Jarlaxle succumbs to the mental intrusions of the crystal shard, Crenshinibon, as it pushes Jarlaxle to fulfill his unending ambitions. This is also the third novel in the Paths of Darkness series. ===== In the final episode of this series, Jarlaxle and Entreri find themselves having to answer for their actions at Zhengyi's construct. Both the Spysong network and the Citadel of Assassins have lost associates at the castle and search for a hero. Artemis Entreri finds himself uncharacteristically falling in love with the half-elf Calihye, the result of a magical flute given to him by Jarlaxle which forces the owner into a heightened emotional state. Entreri is betrayed by Calihye who still blames him for the death of Parissus. She attempts to stab him in the heart with a dagger while making love to him but is foiled by a kinetic barrier conjured by Kimmuriel. Jarlaxle seizes control of Castle Perilous and is summarily attacked by an army led by King Gareth himself. He immediately surrenders and confesses that he made an open bid for power against the king in order to unite the people of Palishchuk under Gareth's banner, willingly playing the part of a common enemy. Despite the queen's insistence that Entreri and Jarlaxle be executed for treason, they are permitted, along with Athrogate, to leave the city with his life with the promise that they will never again enter the kingdom. The trio head for Memnon, Entreri finally deciding to face his inner demons and confront the city of his birth. Entreri soon discovers that the city is in the iron grip of a corrupt high priest who impoverishes the people through fear demanding they pay indulgences in exchange for the promise that their dead children will go to a pleasant afterlife. Entreri learns that the high priest knew his mother intimately and might even be his biological father. Disgusted by the obscene luxury of the priest's palace and the resulting destitution of the city's non- clerical inhabitants, Entreri kills the high priest and orders the palace's second-in-command, on penalty of a similar fate as his superior, to redistribute the acquired riches among those who need it. In the end, Jarlaxle admits that he gave Entreri the flute in the hope that, in embracing emotions he'd suppressed since his traumatic childhood, he would rediscover his heart and find a purpose in life other than power. The story ends with Jarlaxle and Entreri parting ways, the latter saying he wants nothing to do with him ever again. ===== The first two acts take place in November 1915, looking forward to the liberation of Ireland. The last two acts are set during the Easter Rising, in April 1916. ===== The Ds have been invited to stay at Beckfoot at the start of the summer holidays while Mrs Blackett has gone with her brother, James Turner (whom they call Captain Flint), on a cruise for her health. However, when Great Aunt Maria finds out that the Blackett girls have been left at home, she decides to come and take care of them. She is unaware of the Ds' visit. Nancy Blackett insists that the Ds' holiday will not be spoiled and that they will learn to sail the Scarab, a dinghy their father has bought for them. So they move out to the Dog's Home, a small hut in the woods, and become secretive Picts while the Blacketts are martyrs to the Great Aunt. They are schooled in woodcraft by Jacky a local boy who brings them a rabbit to skin, gut and cook, and teaches them how to tickle trout. In the woods, Dick's ornithology comes to the fore. True to her character, Dorothea constantly romanticises their situation. The Great Aunt attempts to civilize the Amazon pirates, for example by making them read aloud, recite poetry and perform their party-pieces on the piano. Despite these ordeals, they manage to accomplish a number of adventures. They succeed in escaping for a day to accompany Captain Flint's partner Timothy to the copper-mine previously discovered in Pigeon Post. The Ds succeed in burgling Captain Flint's study at Beckfoot to commandeer some chemical equipment that Timothy needs. They are also introduced to sailing the Scarab. The Great Aunt in fact suspects that the Amazons are meeting the Swallows. Near the end of her visit, the Great Aunt goes missing and there is a hue and cry and search for her. She has gone to make her own enquiries after the suspected Swallows, but is forced to admit that she has been quite wrong. The Ds find her on Captain Flint's houseboat where Timothy has been living in somewhat squalid circumstances. Despite being the very people who must not meet her, they deliver her back to Beckfoot in their boat in time to catch her train, and manage to avoid revealing their identities. They slip away before they can be questioned, and Nancy manages to save the Great Aunt some embarrassment for which she gets praised in a letter to her mother. ===== ===== The protagonist of the story is Maddie Pace, a timid and indecisive young woman who lives on a small island named Gennesault (or "Jenny"), off the coast of Maine. Maddie is both pregnant and a widow, having recently lost her husband in a fishing boat accident. After a scattering of initial outbreaks, dead bodies all over the world begin to reanimate en masse and attack the living. The source of the phenomenon is eventually traced to "Star Wormwood", a bizarre alien construct orbiting above the ozone layer at the Earth's south pole. A space shuttle under joint American-Chinese authority visits the site and promptly meets with disaster.This scenario is impossible outside of fiction; an object could not physically sit stationary above the Pole while in the type of low Earth orbit that the Space Shuttle could access. After further attempts to destroy the object fail, the zombie plague spreads and civilization collapses. Jenny's inhabitants gather up all the available firearms to prepare for their own attack, which all too soon erupts from the island's small cemetery. The island's men are forced to destroy their undead loved ones as they crawl out of their graves. The still-moving pieces of the reanimated corpses are then burned with kerosene and the remains plowed underground by a bulldozer. Frank Daggett, the elderly man who did most of the organizing of the successful defense, suffers a fatal heart attack and has himself blasted to pieces so he won't reanimate. While she is hearing about the battle at the cemetery from her neighbor, Maddie recalls her own confrontation with the animated corpse of her husband, come back to get her from the bottom of the sea. She succeeds in destroying him/it and faces the future, however grim, with renewed confidence and hope. ===== It tells the story of a black house maid working in a New York hotel and an eccentric alcoholic and prejudiced writer who is a frequent guest there. The maid consumes some of the writer's semen which was left on his sheets as part of a possible black magic spell, in the hope that it will pass talent and ability along to her unborn son. The story is told, in part, in the past tense. King's notes at the end of Nightmares & Dreamscapes state that this story turned out to be a sort of trial for his later novel Dolores Claiborne and that it was partly written to explore the idea of why famous and talented people can sometimes be horrible in real life. ===== A very ordinary man named Howard Mitla, who has a strange aptitude for Jeopardy!, is confronted by the bizarre sight of a human finger poking its way out of the drain in his apartment's bathroom sink. He tries to deny the reality of what is happening, but the solitary digit eventually proves to be infinitely long and multijointed, and capable of attacking him. Mitla burns it with a bottle of heavy-duty drain cleaner, then chops it off with a pair of electric hedge trimmers. Howard, after cutting up the finger, starts thinking about the creature to which it was attached. He realizes it really had multiple digits and that there were several openings in an average bathroom, and an ominous sound is heard from the toilet. Investigating reports of noise coming from Howard's apartment, the police arrive to find him lying in a daze next to the toilet. He tells them, "If you have to go to the bathroom, I definitely suggest you hold it." The toilet lid pops up. The story ends with the officer lifting the lid after Howard asks, "Final Jeopardy. How much do you wish to wager?" ===== Recording studio executive John Tell notices a pair of old dirty sneakers in an adjacent stall while using the restroom at work. He, at first, assumes that the shoes belong to a fellow employee or a delivery person. However, when he visits the bathroom again throughout the week, he notices that not only have the shoes not moved, they are now surrounded by the bodies of dead flies and other bugs. Eventually, Tell discovers that the shoes were the trademark of a dealer who supplied the local talent with cocaine, and who was killed in the bathroom stall during an apparent robbery. Tell finally confronts the man's ghost, who informs him that he was brutally killed by Jannings, Tell's boss, a drug addict who was heavily in debt to the dealer at the time. Jannings used the stolen cocaine to fund his rehabilitation and rise to executive management. This prompts Tell to quit his job, telling Jannings he is a "worthless bastard" before leaving. When he arrives home, he resolves to find other work, pulling out the want ads and reading them while doing his business on his own toilet. ===== Katie Weiredman is talking to her sister on the phone one night. Her husband, Bill, a famous horror novel writer, is in his study trying to find inspiration for a new novel. Her children are arguing about whether or not to watch Ghost Kiss, a gory TV adaptation of Bill's earlier novel. Katie receives a second phone call. The incoming call is a sobbing and traumatized caller who sputters, "Take... please take..." before the line goes dead. Katie immediately assumes the call came from her daughter Polly, who is away at boarding school, but a call to Polly proves otherwise. Katie also rules out her mother, but she cannot reach her sister Dawn. Katie and Bill rush over to Dawn's house; despite the appearance of forced entry, Dawn is all right and did not call. Assuming that someone must have dialed the wrong number, Katie forgets about the call. Later that night, Katie finds her husband slumped in his chair, dead from a heart attack. The story then jumps forward in time to Polly's wedding day, five years to the day after Bill's death. Katie has remarried, but she still misses Bill. On the anniversary of Bill's death, Katie is in Bill's old office and she finds an old VHS tape of Ghost Kiss and puts it into the player. She is immediately overcome with grief as she recalls the events of five years past. Insensate, she grabs the phone and dials her old phone number. She is startled when the phone is answered by herself five years previously. She tries to warn her younger self of the tragedy that is about to happen, and tries to say, "Take him to the hospital! If you want him to live, take him to the hospital! He's going to have a heart attack!" In her state of shock, she is only able to say, "Take... please take...," before the line goes dead. She realizes the truth of what happened that night, and the episode ends with Katie sobbing over her lost opportunity to save her husband and a close-up shot of the ominous-looking telephone. ===== The story recounts bizarre and inexplicable events that have taken place in a notorious house in the town of Castle Rock. The house seems to take on a life of its own as new wings are added, growing in a way that seems proportionate to the awful events that occurred there. The new wings added seem to be connected to the deaths of men who, as boys, were molested by the house owner's wife. The story also serves somewhat as an epilogue to Needful Things, as stated by Stephen King himself. ===== Dr. Watson narrates a heretofore unreleased case in which he and Holmes are called by Inspector Lestrade on an unexpectedly rainy day to investigate the murder of the sadistic Lord Hull. Each member of Hull's family - his wife and three sons - has reason to murder him; his wife and bowlegged son suffered from constant abuse, while another son was doomed to never receive more than a pittance, due to his placement in the family line. Furthermore, Hull's family endured his treatment in the hopes that he would leave them with his considerable wealth; however, they had recently learned that Hull had rewritten his will so that none of them received a thing. Despite these motives, the family have effectively given each other alibis and the murder itself is effectively a locked room mystery; there's no place in Hull's study for anyone to hide without being seen, and all the doors and windows were locked by the lord himself. Holmes is eager to solve this mystery, but is allergic to Hull's numerous cats. Watson, however, notices that a certain table in the locked study casts odd shadows on the rug. When he goes to check the table, he discovers an illusion and demonstrates that the table has been rigged. The bookshelf's lowest shelf is, in fact, a photorealistic painting. The murderer, Hull's artist son Jory, had perfectly rendered the bottom shelf, then pasted the results against the back table-legs. When his father announced the new will, Jory made into the study, crouched behind the table, and rushed out to stab his father at the right moment. A cursory glance would not betray the illusion on a dark day, but on a sunny one, the lack of shadows being cast by the table-legs would have been noticeable. To help make the illusion perfect, Jory had prepared shadows out of black felt, and laid them down at roughly the place where shadows should be. Unfortunately, he was "caught by shadows on a day when there should be none". Furthermore, Hull had time to scream before he died, arousing the attention of his servants and making it impossible for Jory to either collect his paintings or frame the murder as a break-in gone wrong. Instead, Jory stole and burnt the new will, guaranteeing that he and his family would receive their inheritance. As Watson explains his insights, he slowly comes to the realization that Jory could not have executed the murder on his own and that, at the very least, everyone in the family knew of it and was lying for him. Holmes, who had already reached that conclusion while listening to Watson's narrative, gently chides him for his inability to understand the depths of human depravity. Watson also realizes that Holmes had understood everything not long from the beginning of Watson's story, yet deliberately kept his silence, letting Watson have his moment in the sun; rather than resenting his thunder being stolen, Holmes was genuinely impressed with the "deductive light" Watson demonstrated. Holmes and Lestrade discuss the various sentences that the Hulls will receive if the case is brought before court; Jory is guaranteed an execution, whilst the other two sons would be jailed for life and the wife jailed for some time in a women's prison. They eventually decide that the world is, perhaps, better off without Hull in it, and thus conspire to conceal the truth of what has occurred; Holmes and Watson collect the painting and the shadows, while Lestrade unlocks one of the windows in the room; they leave, and inform the waiting police that Hull was murdered in an attempted break-in. ===== After a summer spent abroad, the four Bradbury children return to their home on Maple Street and discover that something is growing upwards through the house's walls from below, replacing wood and plaster with metal and machinery, counting down to some cataclysmic event. Although somewhat afraid of what this was, Trent, the eldest of the four, realizes they have an opportunity to rid both themselves and their beleaguered mother of the tyrannical Lewis "Lew" Evans, their hated and feared stepfather. As the countdown approaches its final minutes, they contrive to lock Lew in his study and leave him to his fate, escaping the house just in time to watch as it raises itself from its foundations and blasts away into the clouds. The story ends with the children waiting on the curb for their mother to return, shaken but glad to be free from Lew's oppressive rule. ===== An 11-year-old boy named George Bruckner is at home with his mother, Ruth, when the two find out that George's 13-year-old brother Buddy has broken his leg playing baseball. George's mother must go into the city, an hour away, to visit Buddy in the hospital, but someone must stay home to watch her own mother, a huge, cantankerous, ancient, bedridden woman. George reluctantly volunteers. As George sets about the kitchen after his mother leaves, he begins to think about his "Gramma" and recalls the first time she came to the house. He had been six years old, and the old woman demanded that he come to her that she could "give him a hug". George was terrified by the idea and cried endlessly. His mother eventually pacified Gramma, promising that he would hug her "in time". George waits for his mother to return. As the hours pass, strange thoughts—events he had witnessed earlier—begin to surface in his mind. He recalls overhearing his mother's siblings begging her to care for the old woman: "You're the only one who can quiet her down, Ruth." Eventually, Ruth was forced to leave San Francisco and move to Castle Rock, Maine to care for their mother. George also recalls that Gramma had been kicked out of her church, as well as dismissed from her position as a schoolteacher, for owning particular books. He finally remembers that the woman had been infertile for a long while, any pregnancies she did achieve ending in miscarriages or stillbirths and it was only after being excommunicated that she became pregnant and gave birth to a healthy child. George suddenly hears a scraping sound on sheets; he imagines Gramma's long, ragged fingernails rubbing against her bed. He enters to check on her and watches the obese, white, almost formless woman for a few moments. Quite suddenly, he recalls other memories: his Gramma uttering strange words one night, and relatives dying the next morning. George abruptly realizes that his grandmother is a witch, having gained dark powers from reading the forbidden tomes. As George makes this realization, he realizes that his Gramma has died. Though terrified, he holds a mirror before her nose, making sure. Once he is convinced, he prepares to make a phone call to the doctor, only to find that the phone is dead. George opts to wait for his mother to come home, and thinks of the praise he will gain for handling the situation so calmly, until he realizes that he did not cover his grandmother's face. He imagines his brother tormenting him endlessly for this "cowardly" lack of action. Determined, George enters the dead woman's room and places a sheet over her flabby face. As he does, her hand suddenly wraps around his wrist and holds it for a few moments. George flees the room, injuring his nose in the process. As he tries to rationalize the movement, he hears groaning from the next room, as though the corpse was trying to get off of the bed. He then hears his Gramma calling him: "Come here, Georgie... Gramma wants to give you a hug." George is terrified and races from the room. He hears the enormous woman stumbling after him, and even guesses that as a witch, she waited until she was alone with him to die. His Aunt Flo calls, and he tries to explain the situation as Gramma enters the kitchen. Aunt Flo tells him that he must invoke the name of Hastur and tell Gramma to "lie down" in his name. Gramma knocks the phone from his hand, and George screams the phrase repeatedly: "You have to lie down! In Hastur's name! Lie down!" Gramma wraps her arms around him. The story jumps to an hour later, with George sitting calmly at the kitchen table. When Ruth returns, George runs to her, explaining that Gramma died. His mother fearfully asks if "anything else happened." George denies it and goes off to his room to sleep. It is implied that Gramma has possessed George, turning the boy into an evil warlock, as he used a spell to strike down his Aunt Flo with an aneurysm. The story ends with George grinning wickedly, imagining the kind of torture he will be able to inflict on his brother. It is not clarified if George has been possessed by the dead woman's spirit or has absorbed her evil powers to use as his own. ===== "Egypt in the year 1900". A mummy is discovered by three Egyptologists: Englishmen John Bray (Ronald Howard) and Sir Giles Dalrymple (Jack Gwillim) as well as French Professor Eugene Dubois (unbilled Bernard Rebel, who died three weeks before the film's UK premiere). Assisting in the expedition is Professor Dubois' daughter, and Bray's fiancée, Annette (Jeanne Roland), herself an Egyptology expert. All the artifacts are brought back to London by the project's backer, American showman Alexander King (Fred Clark), who plans to recoup his investment by staging luridly sensational public exhibits of the Egyptian treasures. Soon after arrival, however, the mummy revives and starts to kill various members of the expedition, while it becomes evident that sinister Adam Beauchamp (Terence Morgan), a wealthy arts patron whom members of the expedition meet on the ship returning to England, harbors a crucial revelation of the mummy's past and future. ===== The story mainly takes place in two Ontario locales. In flashbacks, the main character, usually but not always called Alan (he appears to have been alphabetized rather than named, and will answer to any masculine name beginning with A), and his brothers (also alphabetized) grow up outside of the remote town of Kapuskasing. The novel opens with Alan's purchase of a home in the Kensington Market neighborhood of modern-day Toronto. There are two main plotlines. Alan befriends Kurt, a thirty-something punk who operates a dumpster-diving operation. Kurt uses computer components that he retrieves from the trash and turns them into Wi-Fi network access points. Kurt's goal is to blanket the entire neighborhood with free and secure Internet access by attaching his access points to buildings in a wireless mesh network with the permission of their owners. Kurt's plan doesn't really get off the ground until he forms a partnership with Alan, who puts a more professional face on the operation and sweet-talks many local owners into allowing the access points to use their space and a small amount of their electricity. The second plotline features fantasy elements. Unbeknownst to most of the other characters, Alan and his brothers are not quite human. Their father is a mountain and their mother is a washing machine. Alan's eldest brother can see the future, his second-eldest is an island, his younger brother is undead, and his three youngest brothers are a set of Russian nesting dolls. Alan is the most normal-seeming of his family. Outwardly, he looks human, but he heals at an incredible rate, and if part of him is cut off, it will grow back, and the cut off part can be made to form a new copy of him, much like an earthworm does. Another plot strand concerns Alan's neighbors, a household of students and artists which includes Mimi, a troubled young woman who like Alan is not quite human. Born with wings on her back and no family history, she lives with her abusive boyfriend Krishna, a musician/bartender who can spot beings like Alan and his family, and hates them. Krishna amputates Mimi's wings every three months; she stays with him because she believes he's the only one willing and able to make her "normal." ===== Bablu Chaudhary (Shah Rukh Khan), a bubbly young man, is an aspiring chef. He gets a job as the head chef at a hotel and meets the charming Sonia Kapoor (Juhi Chawla), the hotel manager. They bond and Bablu falls in love with her. Meanwhile, Manu (Shah Rukh Khan in another role), Bablu's lookalike is a ruthless criminal who has escaped from jail to kill his partners, who have betrayed him. One day, when Bablu takes Sonia out for lunch, he gets arrested because the police think that Bablu is Manu. Bablu is able to prove his true identity, but not before Manu hears of his duplicate and decides to take his place by killing him. There is a lot of confusion about who is who by all associated with the two men, including Sonia, Bablu's mother Bebe (Farida Jalal), and Manu's girlfriend, Lily (Sonali Bendre). How these confusions resolve forms the crux of the story. ===== Jonas Taylor, a paleontologist and former diver, knows what horrors lie deep within the Mariana Trench. He continues to have nightmares about his encounter with the megalodon, an ancient shark that was thought to be extinct and murdered his ex-wife, as well as several others close to him. Now four years later, Taylor works for his good friend, Masao Tanaka, at his institute, along with his current wife, Terry Tanaka-Taylor, the daughter of Masao Tanaka. Together, they have continued to study the offspring of the megalodon they have killed, a female megalodon named Angel, who has grown to be much larger than her mother. Things are not going well for the institute after it comes under new ownership by a man named Benedict Singer. Singer hopes to profit off of Angel and opens the aquarium to the public against Tanaka and Taylor's wishes. They know that Angel is unpredictable and tourist activity could set her off on a rampage. One night, three young boys sneak into the institute with the hopes of catching a glimpse of the prehistoric shark. While in the underwater observation deck, the teens torment and aggravate Angel, who bursts through the viewing glass. The teens struggle to swim for their lives, but Angel attacks and kills one while the other two drown after becoming cornered in the underwater area. The commotion from the attack alerts Taylor that something is wrong. He radios his good friend, Mac, who also works on the institute's grounds and together they go to investigate. When they find the carnage, Taylor and Mac jump into the tank in order to survey the damage. While submerged, they are attacked by a flurry of male great white sharks, who have become attracted to Angel because she is ready to mate. Mac notices too late that Angel's tank is badly damaged. The shark rams the gates to her tank and breaks free. Mac quickly grabs a nearby tagging gun and is able to shoot a tag into Angel before she disappears. Realizing that Taylor is too badly injured, Mac pulls him from the tank and rushes him to the hospital with Terry. In the days following Angel's escape, Tanaka grows increasingly weary. Afraid for another massacre in the future, Tanaka realizes that they must recapture Angel as soon as possible. Taylor knows that she will head back to the trench by instinct, but now that she has tasted human blood, she will also seek that out as a food source. Over the next week, Angel sightings crop up as she destroys a ship, kills surfers and kills a whale named Tootie that was released by Sea World back into the wild. As the body count continues to climb, Taylor teams up with a scientist named Michael Maren, whose ego is bigger than his career. Unknown to Taylor, Maren is working with Singer's assistant, Celeste, who is determined to find the Mariana Trench before them. Celeste tries to coerce Taylor into revealing the location of the Trench, but Taylor refuses, knowing that if Angel were to get into the hands of Singer, it would be a disaster. Taylor, Maren and Tanaka attempt to capture Angel, but fail; due to her size and speed. After tracking her path and predicted trajectory, Taylor concludes she is heading at full speed to the trench. Meanwhile, Singer pursues Terry and manipulates her onto his deep-sea research station to format and study sonar records to determine what happened to one of the station's research vessels. While there, Terry realizes the station has uncovered a new marine predator thought to be extinct; the Kronosaurus. While it was said this species was a solitary hunter, the Kronosaurs had evolved to hunt in packs due to being trapped in the trench. Terry realizes the operation is dangerous and is almost killed by the station's crew, but is able to escape in a lifeboat submarine while the crew is torn apart by the raging Kronosaurs. Meanwhile, still in his pursuit of Angel, Taylor receives word of Terry being caught up in the secret operation at the deep sea research station. Determined to save her and end his obsession with megalodons once-and-for all, Taylor heads to the research station to confront Singer and Celeste, who fled days prior after discovering the trench's location. After boarding the station, Taylor is shocked at the Kronosaur discovery, realizing that there could be many more extinct marine life living in the trench. Confronting Singer, it comes to light that he had discovered a gas within the rocks of the trench that could be used in fusion to make him more money than ever. Their digging uncovered the Kronosaurs that were living deep in the trenches. The station is attacked by the Kronosaurs as Angel arrives in the trench after having mated with another megalodon. Singer is killed by one of the Kronosaurs while Celeste escapes in a submersible. Angel destroys the sub and devours Celeste. Taylor reunites with Terry, who returned to the station after her escape and together they head to the surface. On their way, they are attacked by another Kronosaur, but Angel attacks the beast, allowing Taylor and Terry to escape. As they reach the surface, Jonas knows the future looks grim with more megalodons are introduced in the ecosystem thanks to the pregnant Angel's escape, as they could be a real environmental disaster. Terry assures him this is a new dawn for science, but Taylor expresses his hope to have a normal life away from the horrors of the deep. Several months later, Angel, now living deep in the trench, gives birth to two pups, confirming Jonas' fears. ===== Rebecca Dark (née Penhallow) learns she is dying. A widow with no surviving children, she has been considered the unofficial head of the clan (the extended Dark & Penhallow families) for some time and is known to all of them as Aunt Becky. She has held periodic afternoon gatherings of her clan, which she calls levees, at her home over the years. The clan have a love-hate relationship with her levees, because they fear her sharp tongue, but derive a perverse enjoyment of seeing other members writhing under her digs and slams. She decides to hold a final levee where the reader meets the rest of the characters and learns a bit about them. She reads her self-written obituary to them, to their horror, followed by her will, which disposes of her possessions. Many of them are coveted by at least one member present, but very few of the announced recipients of each item are appreciative. The last item mentioned is the old Dark jug, an antique and prized family heirloom, although not of any great monetary value or artistic merit. She reveals the recipient will not be named now, but in a year's time and produces a heavily sealed envelope which has either a named person or a description of a person who best exemplifies what she feels are worthy qualities. In the year that follows, Aunt Becky has died and the family members try their best to live up to what Aunt Becky would have wanted in an attempt to win the heirloom, and in the process, many achieve self-discovery. There are several intertwining stories, but the most important ones involve the following characters: Young Gay Penhallow's fiancé, the shallow Noel Gibson, dumps her for Nan Penhallow, a devious and deceptive girl. Although she still pines for Noel, Gay's friendship with Dr. Roger Penhallow, 14 years her senior, deepens as Gay is matured by her grief. When Noel attempts to return to Gay, she realizes that her infatuation with him pales next to her love for Roger. Donna Dark and Peter Penhallow, who have despised each other since childhood, suddenly fall in love. They immediately make plans to get married, but their rival families soon discover their relationship. Although Donna and Peter resist attempts to break them up, they argue while they are eloping and part in anger. Peter leaves for South America. The couple remain estranged until Peter, who has returned at the end of a year, saves Donna from a fire. They then get married and leave for Africa. Joscelyn and Hugh Dark separated on their wedding night, when Joscelyn confessed that she was in love with Hugh's best man, Frank Dark. They remain separated for ten years until Frank returns and Joscelyn realizes that he was not worth the passion she felt for him. She regrets her decision to leave Hugh and is sure that he must despise her. After a confrontation with Hugh's mother, Joscelyn realizes that Hugh still loves her and she returns to him. Margaret Penhallow, the family dressmaker and an old maid, agrees to marry Penny Dark in order to improve both of their chances of getting the jug. Although she is not very fond of Penny, Margaret longs for a home of her own. Penny, similarly, has doubts about the match as he enjoys being a bachelor. He eventually decides to break the engagement, and is surprised and chagrined by Margaret's joy over her "jilting". Margaret then sells a first edition of The Pilgrim's Progress that she inherited from Aunt Becky and uses the money to buy a house for herself and to adopt Brian, an illegitimate and lonely orphan who is largely neglected by the family. In the end, Dandy Dark, the person in charge of the jug, confesses that his pigs have eaten Aunt Becky's final instructions. As the family prepares to argue over the jug, the Moon Man, the eccentric Oswald Dark, destroys it. ===== The novels are set in a future dystopia Earth where a parallel world called Overworld reminiscent of the worlds featured in post-Tolkien secondary world fantasy has been discovered. The corporations that run Earth send actors into Overworld in order to provide the masses of an overcrowded world with virtual- reality entertainment. Hari Michaelson is a famous Actor and son of a now- mentally ill libertarian professor. On Overworld, he is the assassin Caine, while his estranged wife Shanna is another Actor playing the mage Pallas Ril. In this world Actors are people who travel to Overworld through advanced technology and assume an alternate persona which they then use to carry out 'adventures'. Pallas is captured by Ma'elKoth, the Emperor of Overworld's human kingdom of Ankhana on one of her adventures. Ma'elKoth's plan to rule Ankhana by wiping out a final resistance group, is blocked by a spell that causes others to forget the existence of the resistance group's members. The remainder of the book plays out the conflict between Ma'elKoth, Caine and the resistance. Hari finds himself manipulated by both the powers on Overworld and the Studio on Earth, and must defeat them both in order to save himself and Pallas Ril from death. ===== At the beginning of the cartoon, the Big Bad Wolf is chasing Little Red Riding Hood. But then Little Red Riding Hood stops and points out that the two of them are in the wrong cartoon. The Wolf shoos her away and decides to go and meet Cinderella (played by Red from Red Hot Riding Hood). He takes a taxi to her house and immediately falls in love with her upon seeing her, but she sternly rebuffs him. Eventually, Cinderella calls her Fairy Godmother to get rid of him and set her up for that night's ball. The second the Fairy Godmother hears that there is a Wolf, she rushes right over. The Fairy Godmother traps the Wolf, then gives Cinderella a red evening gown and transforms a pumpkin into a Woodie for her to go the ball, but tells Cinderella that she has to get home by midnight (just like in the classic fairy tale). The oversexed Fairy Godmother then keeps the Wolf busy. She appears before him in an old-fashioned 1890s swimsuit ("Miss Repulsive 1898") and then an evening gown before trying to snuggle up to him on the couch. She chases him all around Cinderella's house, but the Wolf escapes when he gets the Fairy Godmother's wand, turning Cinderella's bathtub into a convertible. He leaves for the nightclub where Cinderella is performing, with the Fairy Godmother in pursuit. Soon after arriving, the Wolf accidentally kisses the Fairy Godmother, thinking she was Cinderella, which only further deepens her lust for the Wolf. Cinderella soon comes out on-stage and performs a show dance while singing the song "Oh Wolfie" (to the tune of "Oh Johnny, Oh Johnny, Oh!"). The Wolf howls and chases after Cinderella, but the smitten Godmother uses various methods (usually a mallet) to keep him in line. When the clock strikes midnight, the Fairy Godmother warns Cinderella and she leaves, but not before the Wolf starts to pursue his chase. The Godmother once again tries to stop him, but this time, the Wolf uses her own methods against her and pursues Cinderella. Cinderella rushes home as the Fairy Godmother's transformation wears off, but she manages to make it home in time—it turns out that Cinderella is a Rosie the Riveter and that the reason she had to be home by midnight was so she would not be late for the night shift. Cinderella's relieved to be rid of the Wolf, but it is revealed that the bus is full of wolves, who start wolf-whistling and catcalling at her as the cartoon ends. ===== Two poor sisters (played by top list models My Duyen and Bang Lang), living in a slum area in Ho Chi Minh City have found a malicious way to get money, usually by acting disabled. After they trick a man and put him to sleep they steal all his belongings and money. The sisters decide to go out to a fancy restaurant, and soon, meet the young owner. The younger sister eventually falls in love with him, even though the two sisters decided to kidnap him for ransom. In the end karma finds the sisters. Category:2004 films Category:2004 in Vietnam Category:2004 crime drama films Category:Vietnamese films Category:2004 drama films ===== ===== Although Michael has become a more mature individual since the first film and shows more concern for others, he still feels that, by birthright, he deserves to start at the top of his father's law firm. Michael's father does offer him a position at the law firm: a clerking job, and explains that only after thorough knowledge of the firm, a law school graduation, and passing the state bar will he ever be considered for a partnership. Michael takes a summer vacation with Tommy to Australia. Michael has big plans to show his cousin Tommy a good time aboard a luxury yacht, until he discovers that the yacht he chartered is actually an old, rusty fishing boat. But when modern-day pirates chase the fishing boat, the boys are forced to jump ship, leaving them stranded on a desert island. The pirates are led by Frakes, who earlier had pick-pocketed Michael and discovered through his ID that he comes from a wealthy family. The pirates plan to kidnap Michael for a large ransom. Meanwhile, Tommy and Michael struggle to find their way on the island to be met by the boat's captain, Jake Hunter, who scuttled the fishing boat to lose the pirates. He later admits he hated being a fishing boat captain and only stuck with it because it was his late-father's calling. After several days the pirates finally find the boys when Michael shoots a flare gun to get an airplanes attention. As they attempt to leave the island on their raft two of the pirates approach them. Michael and Jake swim away and leave Tommy who can't get his life jacket off behind, promising to rescue him later. Michael and Jake come up with a plan to get Tommy back. Jake and Tommy outwit the pirates by absconding in their speedboat, Frakes attempts to shoot Michael, but fails due to his firearm being gunked up with quicksand he had gotten trapped in earlier while chasing Michael; leaving the villains stranded. As the boys escape they call the Australian Coast Guard for help. The pirates are arrested and their speedboat is seized. During a lunch the boys have with Michael's father and Tommy's mom, Michael arrives and tells Jake and Tommy that due to asset forfeiture, Frakes' boat is now their property. Michael proposes using the speedboat, combined with the reward money, to launch a boat tour service with Jake and Tommy as his partners, and Jake captaining the boat. Michael also tells his father that he will begin the process for law school application, and accepts his dad's clerking job to help him prepare for that. Michael's father is proud of him for going into the business with him (but now with a more mature view), now realizing that there is no royal road to success. ===== For ten years, Michael Bluth had been waiting for his father, George Sr., to make him a partner in their family company. On the morning of his father's retirement boat party, Michael discusses the announcement of his promotion with his son, George Michael. The two of them are living in one of the Bluths' model homes, to show their support for the business. After dropping his son off at the frozen banana stand his father started, Michael goes to see his oldest brother Gob (an amateur magician), to ask for his check to cover party expenses. Gob tells Michael that their sister Lindsay had been staying at the Four Seasons for a month. Upset by both Lindsay's avoidance of him and her abuse of the company's largesse, Michael goes to tell his mother, Lucille, that the company checkbook is closing. At the banana stand, George Michael's cousin Maeby plays a prank on him, taking advantage of the fact that he does not recognize her. The kids discuss how they never see each other, and Maeby suggests they kiss at the boat party to teach their parents that the cousins need to see each other more often. Back at the hotel, Lindsay's husband Tobias, believing that the boat party is pirate-themed because of a joke from Michael, begins trying on Lindsay's blouses. He mistakes a group of garishly dressed men for pirates, and boards a van full of homosexual protesters. Finally, George Sr. gives his retirement speech, and appoints the new CEO: his wife Lucille. The dismayed Michael decides it is time to move on. The family poses for a photo; Maeby goes through with her previous suggestion and kisses George Michael as the SEC raids the ship. George Sr. calls his secretary with instructions on what to do. Lindsay takes command of the boat and Lucille tells Buster, her youngest son, to find a channel to the ocean on the maps. Buster, despite his cartography lessons, can only offer certainty that the blue part of the map is land before a panic attack sets in. The SEC hauls George Bluth away, leaving the family in turmoil. At the police station, Tobias joins up with the family and tells them he discovered that the men on the other boat with him were in fact actors from the local theater. Believing that a path has been shown to him, Tobias informs the family that he has decided to become an actor. Michael then informs the family that their dad is being kept in jail, and the SEC is putting a halt on the company's expense account. Lucille decides to put Buster in charge. This is too much for Michael, who accepts a job in Arizona with a rival development company. When Buster discovers his academic pursuits didn't prepare him for running a big company, the family turns to Michael, begging for his help. Michael rejects their imposition, but Lindsay says he should visit their father before leaving. Michael does indeed visit his father in jail, asking why he wasn't put in charge. George informs him that he put Lucille in charge because he believes they cannot arrest a husband and wife for the same crime. Michael tells him that is not true, and George curses the advice of his attorneys. At the model home, Lindsay is trying to steal some belongings that she can grab and sell when she comes across George Michael. He opens up his heart, saying he wishes the family could see each other more often, and when Michael sees this, he decides to stay in California and try to save the family business. ===== The book begins with a note from the solicitor for Commander Malcolm Stevenson, who, we learn, has died recently (in about 1930), and we learn that this was written by him in the months before his death. Stevenson's narration begins with a series of seemingly unrelated vignettes, of which the only one that is readily sensible occurred during World War I, leading the last survivors of a sinking decoy ship, Stevenson managed to sink a German submarine, and with the British survivors wounded and with no way of taking prisoners, killed the Germans as they attempted to surrender. That incident still haunts him. Quite wealthy, he runs a flotilla of coastal steamers in a desultory but increasingly profitable way. He awakens, after having been taken, injured, from a damaged car, on a night on which he has been drinking heavily. Still bearing the mental and physical scars of the naval encounter, he meets a dancer, Mary (Mollie) Gordon (whom he nicknames Sixpence), at a dance hall in Leeds, where she entertains lonely gentlemen by dancing with them, or sitting out a dance and talking, at sixpence a dance. He has the best evening he has had in years with Mollie. The police call in Stevenson to consult on guns they have found being smuggled into the United Kingdom, found near a burned-out lorry. Stevenson cannot identify the guns, but puts together something Mollie said, and something said by his cousin by marriage, pioneer aviator Sir Phillip Stenning, and realises Mollie's brother may well have been the driver of the lorry. He approaches the police. Rather than risk publicity from a police interrogation, they ask Stevenson to do the initial questioning himself. They tell Stevenson they are convinced the guns are being smuggled in for an armed uprising in connection with the upcoming General Election, although they have no idea who is responsible. Stevenson returns to Leeds, and approaches Mollie at her employment. Through artful questioning, he confirms she would be able to identify her brother's lorry. Torn between the desire to help the police, and his own growing affection for Mollie, he invites her down to his home in Devon for a platonic vacation. She agrees. The morning after their arrivals, he takes her to the police station in Newton Abbot, where the police await. Stevenson watches as through gentle, but deceitful questioning, they get her to identify the lorry. They lead her to believe her brother is dead. Stevenson's sense of fair play is outraged, and he takes Mollie away to consult with his solicitor. After consultation, she tells all to the police, but knows little of help. Stevenson and Mollie track down her brother, Billy, in Leicester. Stevenson and Billy recognise each other. Stevenson is realising that he did not crash his car that night, but that, drunk, he went for a walk on the beach and was assaulted by men there, and the car crash was faked. Billy confesses involvement, admitting that he has been paid to take packages from a ship being landed on the coast to a barn. Sometimes, he would convey people as well. He little cared what he conveyed so long as he got paid. After Billy meets with Stevenson's solicitor, he is taken to the police. He can identify the destination of the goods, but what the police want is to interrupt the landing, catching the ship and everyone involved. Sir Phillip warns that this is a dangerous enterprise, but Stevenson allows Billy and Mollie to participate, and offers the services of one of his ships to help intercept the smugglers. Billy is duly contacted by the smugglers for another run. As they prepare, Stevenson asks Mollie to marry him. She refuses him, until they have lived in the same house for a time and come to know each other better. As the police, Stevenson, and the others meet in his house, they are fired on. In seconds, Billy and one of the police are dead, and Mollie is wounded in the shoulder. Stevenson and Stenning go in pursuit of the gunmen, who try to escape by ship. Through expert ship handling and knowledge of the Channel tides, Stevenson manoeuvres the other ship into a position where she must run on to the rocks of "The Shackles" (probably his relocation of the genuine "Manacles" reef to a location off Dodman Point). Stevenson makes a token attempt to save the other vessel, but it fails (as Stevenson probably knows it would), and the ship sinks, killing the men aboard. Stevenson hurries to the hospital to see how Mollie is. Mollie's wounds have become infected, and despite Stevenson sparing no expense for her care, her condition slowly worsens. After a night in which Stevenson remains by her bedside, pouring out his heart to her and telling her of his plans for them, she dies. The gunmen's bodies are recovered, one Dutchman, one Russian (probably a Communist) and a recent Cambridge graduate. The embittered Stevenson tracks down the Cambridge man's contacts, and finds a female co- conspirator. They had smuggled guns and Communists into the country so that, at the proper moment, the plot could be exposed and blamed on the Labour Party, ensuring a Conservative victory. Stevenson, realising that the girl was present that night he was drunk and that she persuaded the others to spare his life, tells her of the deaths that have resulted from the actions, and leaves her to her conscience; first learning who was the brains of the conspiracy: a Cambridge political science don. First taking precautions to ensure the story would survive his death, Stevenson goes to confront the don. The professor denies nothing, but attempts to defend his actions by telling his view of what must follow a Labour victory. Stevenson, realising the don lives in an ivory tower, gives the don an ultimatum: The story will be in the press, assuring a thumping Labour victory in the election now only days away (and the professor's arrest), unless the professor kills himself by Friday, four days before the election. The professor does so, falling "accidentally" from a high window, and Stevenson has little sympathy when told about how the professor's sister will be devastated. Stevenson returns to his work on Monday, at least having assured that the election will not be influenced either way. He returns to his lonely road which he had shared with another for so brief a moment, and which will soon lead to his death. ===== A diary found with an unearthed skeleton casts new light on a lost piece of history from World War II. It belongs to a young German soldier who was stationed on the Eastern Front alongside a group of Romanian soldiers who always fought at night. Their true nature is soon revealed and when they change sides all Hell breaks loose. ===== In San Francisco, Freudian psychiatrist Isaac Barr treats Diana Baylor, a woman with obsessive–compulsive disorder suffering from frightening and horrific childhood memories, which include images of her drunken father and his death in a fire for which she wasn't blamed. Isaac becomes concerned about Diana's obsessive-compulsive habit of checking a handgun her sister gave her. Diana suggests Isaac meet her sister, Heather Evans, who knows things about their parents that may shed light on her neuroses. Heather tells him that Diana was sexually assaulted by their father, and denies giving her the gun. She reveals to him that she's unhappily married to a gangster, Jimmy Evans, whom she's afraid to leave under threat of retaliation. Isaac confesses that he finds her irresistible, and the two have sex. Afterwards, Heather divulges that her and Diana’s mother left after their father raped Diana. Subsequently, their father died in a fire, which police suspected Diana might have started. Heather defended her sister, who has since blocked the ordeal out of her memory. During a public dinner with Jimmy, Heather induces an episode of "pathological intoxication" by drinking wine and is subsequently taken to the hospital. After recovering in the emergency room, she sneaks away with Isaac to an abandoned lighthouse near the Golden Gate Bridge. While climbing the stairs to a balcony, she accidentally drops her purse and lets loose a metal dumbbell handle, which she claims she keeps for protection. Determined to help Heather leave her husband, Isaac asks his friend, defense attorney Mike O'Brien, to investigate Jimmy's illegal activities. Mike informs Isaac that Jimmy is under federal investigation for a myriad of financial crimes. He warns Isaac to stay away from the gangster’s wife, but the infatuated Isaac follows her and Jimmy to a restaurant. Claiming she feels ill, Heather leaves the restaurant early, and gets a ride home from Isaac. Later that night, she drinks cough medicine, which brings on another episode of pathological intoxication. As Jimmy forces a kiss on her, she grabs one of his metal dumbbells and uses it to knock him in the head. He falls into a filled bathtub and drowns. Heather is arrested and held on suspicion of Jimmy's death. Isaac hires Mike to represent her, and enlists the help of an expert on pathological intoxication. The expert testifies in court that several of his patients have done harm to themselves or others in the throes of pathological intoxication. Due to the testimony and the absence of a murder weapon, Heather is found not responsible for Jimmy’s murder, due to temporary insanity. However, she is sentenced to confinement at to a psychiatric facility, where she will be released in four to six weeks, pending evaluation. Isaac serves as the head of psychiatry at Overland, and assures Heather she will be released as soon as possible. During a symposium, Isaac overhears a colleague give a speech on one of Sigmund Freud patients who had persistent dreams of arranging flowers, the same dream Diana had described to him during an earlier session. Isaac realizes that Diana fabricated those stories. He confronts a courthouse guard who recognized Heather before her trial, and he recalls that she used to frequent the courthouse as a spectator, whenever Isaac testified on behalf of the insane. Mike tells Isaac that Jimmy's brother recently died, making Heather the beneficiary of Jimmy's $4 million life insurance policy. Isaac goes to the hospital to confront Heather, who admits to the ruse but threatens him not to cross her. She claims to have hidden the dumbbell she used to murder Jimmy, which is covered in Isaac’s fingerprints after he touched it at the lighthouse. Outside the hospital, police detective Huggins approaches Isaac, whom he suspects of murdering his lover’s husband in exchange for a cut of Jimmy’s life insurance policy. Isaac returns to the psychiatric hospital and tells Heather that he has reported her crime to two assistant district attorneys who want to interview her. She reminds him that double jeopardy prevents her from being tried twice, and agrees to the inquiry. During the evaluation, Isaac observes as Heather gives a false report of the crime, blaming Isaac for killing her husband. At Heather’s request, Diana joins her, but fails to bring the dumbbell, which Heather planned to hand over as evidence of Isaac’s guilt. Heather screams at her sister, and further loses her temper when she discovers the interrogators are hospital psychiatrists, not prosecutors as Isaac said. She is sedated and dragged away by orderlies. Sometime later, Isaac meets Diana, who has changed her hair to look like Heather’s. She assures him that she dropped the incriminating dumbbell into the bay, but Isaac does not trust her. Isaac enlists Pepe Carrero, a former client, to follow Diana when she visits her sister. Although Heather wants Diana to deliver the dumbbell to Detective Huggins, Diana is too nervous to go through with it. Heather coerces her to switch clothes in the bathroom, allowing Heather to escape the hospital as “Diana,” while Diana stays behind as an inmate. Pepe follows Heather, and tries to steal the dumbbell from her, but she retaliates by shooting him in the chest. She telephones Huggins and arranges to meet him at a marina. Isaac catches up to Pepe just as he is being taken away in an ambulance. Pepe directs him to the marina, where Isaac intervenes just as Heather passes off the dumbbell to Huggins. Isaac grabs the dumbbell, rendering his old fingerprints inadmissible. Heather takes the two hostages at gunpoint, and forces Huggins to drive away from the marina. A rainstorm hits, and he crashes into the ocean. Isaac escapes the sinking car and Heather follows him to the abandoned lighthouse, situated nearby. As she chases Isaac onto the balcony, he deduces that Heather was the one who was raped by her father, not Diana, and she must have started the fire that killed him. Heather admonishes him for trying to “shrink” her. A portion of the balcony breaks off, causing Isaac to fall. Just then, Huggins appears. Heather points her gun at him, but Isaac reaches up from the dangling balcony and pulls her over the edge. She falls to her death, and Isaac scrambles back inside. Diana is tried as Heather’s accomplice, but is found not guilty. Sometime later, posing as Heather, she seduces a wealthy man, and pretends to have a condition that forbids her from drinking. ===== Smiley (Colin Petersen) is a mischievous boy who lives in the small country town of Murrumbilla (based on Augathella). His father is an alcoholic drover who is a poor provider for the family, his mother works as a laundress to make ends meet. Smiley is always getting into trouble with his best friend Joey (Bruce Archer). He decides to try to save up enough money to buy a coveted bicycle. Smiley takes on various odd jobs, showing enterprise, hard work, and persistence in slowly accumulating the considerable sum (four pound) needed, despite getting involved in a number of pranks, including getting into trouble with the local law enforcement in the figure of Sergeant Flaxman (Chips Rafferty). Smiley unwittingly helps the local publican, Jim Rankin (John McCallum), sell opium to aborigines who live in a camp near the town. Smiley's father steals his savings and loses it playing two-up. Smiley accidentally knocks him out and runs away to the bush, where he is bitten by a snake. His life is saved by a boundary rider, Bill McVitty (Guy Doleman). Rankin is arrested and the townspeople chip in to buy Smiley a bike. A romantic subplot involves Rankin and Sergeant Flaxman vying for the affections of Miss Workman the new local schoolmistress (Jocelyn Hernfield). ===== Having learned swordsmanship from his father, the young country bumpkin d'Artagnan arrives in Paris with dreams of becoming a king's musketeer. Unaccustomed to the city life, he makes a number of clumsy faux pas. First he finds himself insulted, knocked out and robbed by the Comte de Rochefort, an agent of Cardinal Richelieu, and once in Paris comes into conflict with three musketeers, Athos, Porthos, and Aramis, each of whom challenges him to a duel for some accidental insult or embarrassment. As the first of these duels is about to begin, Jussac arrives with five additional swordsmen of Cardinal Richelieu's guards. D'Artagnan sides with the musketeers in the ensuing street fight and becomes their ally in opposition to the Cardinal, who wishes to increase his already considerable power over the king, Louis XIII. D'Artagnan also begins an affair with his landlord's wife, Constance Bonacieux, who is dressmaker to the Queen, Anne of Austria. Meanwhile, the Duke of Buckingham, former lover of the Queen, turns up and asks for something in remembrance of her; she gives him a necklace with twelve settings of diamonds, a gift from her husband. From the Queen's treacherous lady-in-waiting, the Cardinal learns of the rendezvous and suggests to the none-too-bright King to throw a ball in his wife's honor, and request she wear the diamonds he gave her. The Cardinal also sends his agent Milady de Winter to England, who seduces the Duke and steals two of the necklace's diamonds. Meanwhile, the Queen has confided her troubles in Constance, who asks d'Artagnan to ride to England and get back the diamonds. D'Artagnan and the three musketeers set out, but on the way the Cardinal's men attack them. Only d'Artagnan and his servant make it through to Buckingham, where they discover the loss of two of the diamond settings. The Duke replaces the two settings, and d'Artagnan races back to Paris. Porthos, Athos, and Aramis, wounded but not dead as d'Artagnan had feared, aid the delivery of the complete necklace to the Queen, saving the royal couple from the embarrassment which the Cardinal had plotted. Captain Tréville eventually inducts d'Artagnan into the Musketeers of the King's Guard. ===== Sakthi (Prashanth) is studying Engineering in a college in Chennai, and he gets into quarrels every other day. Not able to withstand the threats from hooligans, his billionaire parents-mother (Jayamurali) and father (Vijayakumar) pack him up to his mother's village where his grandfather Velayutham (M. N. Nambiar) and grandmother Sivagami (M. N. Rajam) are rich and respected farmers cultivating paddy. In that village, an innocent, comical relative of Shakthi Kaipulla (Vadivelu) is constantly challenged by Sakthi’s distant relative Kattadurai (Riyaz Khan). Sakthi visits his grandparents and decides to stay there for a while. A marriage of their relative is planned, and the whole family from all over Tamil Nadu assembles. Neelaveni (Kiran), who accompanies her relatives, falls in love with Sakthi. Kattadurai is supposed to marry Neelaveni. Many events follow. Kattadurai often clashes with Sakthi and gets beaten up. Amidst the wedding preparation, a group of former enemies including Vaira Kannan (Raj Kapoor) and Neelavani's aunt (Anuradha), along with Neelaveni’s father (Prathap Singh), kidnap Neelaveni. Sakthi goes after them. After a huge tussle, Sakthi brings back Neelaveni. Whether they unite or not is the rest of the story. ===== The film is set in a small coastal community in New Jersey where the only action in town is a nightclub called The Pavilion. The owner, Pete (played by Jackson Sims), can barely make the payroll so in an effort to bring in more business, he hires a sultry stripper named Danny Lee (Cathy Haase). Danny Lee's act soon turns the head of Ralph, which is not good news for his bed-ridden wife Luanne (Loretta Gross). Luanne's nasty talent is her gift for gossip, and when she begins to suspect that Ralph has adultery on his mind, she starts spreading more ugly rumors that have just enough basis in fact to stick. Soon things spin out of control and a wave of violence begins. ===== Raymond Lembecke (Vincent Gallo) is an ex-con just out of prison after serving time for selling drugs for his mob boss Tony Vago (Rod Steiger). (Lembecke was innocent and took the rap for Vago.) Lembecke thinks Vago owes him big time so, when his former boss gets him a measly job in a warehouse, he decides on revenge and plans to steal a million dollars' worth of drugs from him. Lembecke plans the heist with Marcus Weans (Mykelti Williamson) and the disturbed trigger-happy Curtis Freley (Kiefer Sutherland). They kill an undercover DEA agent (who's wearing a wire) during the heist. They decide to skip town and head to Las Vegas to sell the stolen goods; later they hope to make it to Mexico. As they head out of the city they kidnap a couple who own a recreational vehicle. But soon, hostage Gordon Jacobson (Kevin Pollak) falls under the spell of the Stockholm syndrome and begins to emulate his kidnappers and wants to stay involved in their hunt. In addition to fleeing the police, the group must avoid an assassin named Sir (Martin Sheen) who has been dispatched by the mafia. ===== Kyoji is a cook living in Macau. He works for a Thai restaurant in Hong Kong and has been having an affair with Seiko, the wife of his boss, Wiwat, who orders Kyoji to poison her. After the deed is done, Kyoji is ordered to leave Hong Kong. He consults with the mysterious Monk, who gives him money and advice to contact Lizard. Kyoji then boards a cruise ship, and is given a small, dreary cabin belowdecks, where nothing seems to work properly. In trying to find his way back topside, he gets lost. Finally, up on deck, he meets Noi. Noi has a baby named Nid, whom Kyoji finds hanging on the deck rail in a harness, where Noi left the child while she was swimming. Eventually, the ship reaches its destination, Phuket, Thailand, where real life-or-death adventures begin for Kyoji as he starts to put the pieces together about what he's done. ===== The film concerns Wang's one-armed martial arts master being stalked by an imperial assassin, the master of two fighters (the Tibetan lamas) who were killed in the previous film. The title refers to the assassin's weapon, the "flying guillotine", which resembles a hat with a bladed rim attached to a long chain. Upon enveloping one's head, the blades cleanly decapitate the victim with a quick pull of the chain. The Boxer's adversary is the assassin Fung Sheng Wu Chi who is blind, is an expert user of the Flying Guillotine, and relies on others to identify one-armed men, which he then kills. When the One-Armed Boxer is invited to attend a martial arts tournament, his efforts to lie low are unsuccessful, and the assassin soon tracks him down with the help of his three subordinates competing in the tournament: a Thai boxer, a yoga master, and a kobojutsu user. The One-Armed Boxer leaves the tournament and, using a series of traps, defeats the assassin's subordinates. Unable to directly confront the deadly assassin himself, the One-armed Boxer devises a plan that uses misdirection. Taking advantage of the assassin's blindness by using bamboo poles as a lure, each time the blind assassin throws his weapon, it becomes snagged on one of the bamboo poles effectively removing the inner blades of the assassin's deadly weapon; however, as it still contains a jagged outer edge it is still a formidable weapon. The One-armed Boxer then proceeds to convert a coffin-maker's shop into an elaborate trap. Once the weapon is finally destroyed, the One-armed Boxer engages the assassin in a duel and defeats him. ===== First-year student Mayumi Takahashi attends a junior high school called , where the penalty for any student (usually girls) making the slightest mistake is being sexually humiliated by the perverted, corrupt and misogynistic teachers running the school, the principal being a demonic, jester-like villain named "Toenail of Satan". However, before the teachers can take their sexual advances too far, Kekko Kamen steps in and delivers a sound beating to the teachers, and usually performs a finishing attack by jumping into the air and landing crotch-first onto her opponent's face. ===== Huddie Ledbetter leaves his father's house just barely into his twenties and arrives at a brothel on Fannin' Street ran by Miss Eula, who nicknames him Leadbelly and has him play at the bar. For a while, she takes care of him until the police arrive, breaking up a party. Leadbelly and an old man escape via a train and Leadbelly buys a twelve-string acoustic guitar from the old man. Seeking work, he takes a job picking cotton. He soon leaves on a train to Silver City where he meets Blind Lemon and they start playing shows together. At one show, a drunken man tells Leadbelly to keep playing, and threatens him. Leadbelly responds by smashing his guitar onto him and is arrested. He escapes from jail and leads a normal life until he and a drunken friend are playing around with a gun, and Leadbelly accidentally shoots him. He is thrown in prison where he is forced to work in a chain gang. When he tries to escape, he is caught and put in a box. His father arrives and tries to bail Leadbelly out, but fails. Before leaving, he manages to convince the warden to get Leadbelly a twelve-string acoustic guitar. After getting the new guitar, he plays a song for Governor Pat Neff who reassures Leadbelly he will be set free. After he leaves prison, he returns to Fannin Street, sees it has lost its former glory, and he is reunited with Miss Eula. He returns to his father's home only to find that a new family lives there. A group of men attack Leadbelly and slash his throat. Leadbelly happens to stab and kill a man in self-defense but is thrown back in prison. John and Alan Lomax visit the prison and interview Leadbelly, having him play all his songs for them. After he finishes telling his life story, they tell him they will see what they can do about getting him out of prison. The film ends with a title card stating that Leadbelly was released from prison and pursued his music career. ===== The Legacy continues the plot-line of The Icewind Dale Trilogy, with Wulfgar and Catti- brie preparing for their marriage and Drizzt returning from the first of many visits to Lady Alustriel of Silverymoon. Drizzt returns to a disturbed Catti- brie and eccentric Regis, who has returned to Mithral Hall after a stint as master of Pasha Pook's thieves' guild. While Bruenor plans the wedding, Wulfgar's tribe settles the appropriately named Settlestone and begins to prosper. Wulfgar, on the other hand, is straining his relationship with Catti- brie, who feels his possessiveness is excessive and unwise. When Wulfgar unexpectedly attacks Drizzt and appears to have lethal motives, the tension builds, despite the drow's diffusion of the situation. Newly introduced is the dwarf battlerager, Thibbledorf Pwent. The dwarf, knocked unconscious during the invasion of Mithral Hall, pledges fealty to Bruenor. Among his personality quirks are a disgusting smell, and ungreased, ridged armor, which also serves as Pwent's primary weapon. Meanwhile, in Menzoberranzan, Drizzt's sister Vierna (Taken in by Matron Baenre after the fall of House Do'Urden) is preparing to recapture her brother. Vierna believes that this quest, if successful, will gain her the full favor of Lolth, the chief drow goddess. Vierna enlists the help of Bregan D'aerthe, the most prominent mercenary band in Menzoberranzan. Jarlaxle, Bregan D'aerthe's leader, briefly doubts Vierna's sanity and designs, but is convinced when Vierna turns her brother Dinin into a drider. The story returns to Mithral Hall, with Bruenor preparing a detachment to investigate a goblin disturbance in Mithral Hall's unexplored lower tunnels. After the goblins are routed, tension builds between Wulfgar and Catti-brie. Wulfgar had wanted his fiancée to stay out of the fight, for reasons that didn't satisfy the woman. A patrol goes missing soon afterward, and Drizzt prepares to investigate. Oddly, Bruenor suggests that Regis accompany the drow. Drizzt, with a few second thoughts, allows the halfling to join him. The pair discover the patrol, slaughtered; Drizzt identifies the murderers as dark elves and leads a pursuit. After the battle with the drow, Drizzt questions Regis on his new-found combat abilities, and discovers that the halfling is actually Artemis Entreri, wearing a familiar magical mask. Drizzt had previously used the item to pass as a surface elf, and had not realized its capabilities. Entreri then turns Drizzt over to the dark elves, who escape to the Underdark. Entreri then challenges Drizzt, attempting to settle their feud from The Halfling's Gem. Apparently, this was Entreri's price in the operation to recover the wayward drow. The assassin is informed that he cannot kill Drizzt in the duel, because Vierna intends to sacrifice her brother to Lolth. Meanwhile, Bruenor and Wulfgar realize Regis' deception and manipulation: Bruenor was charmed to allow Regis to follow the ranger on his expedition; and Wulfgar was persuaded that Drizzt had kissed Catti-brie. Catti-brie, Bruenor, and Wulfgar, together with Cobble (Mithral Hall's High Priest) and Pwent, move to rescue Drizzt. The duel between Drizzt and Entreri begins slowly, Drizzt not wanting to give the assassin satisfaction. Entreri counters by successfully taunting the drow with the whereabouts and well-being of Regis. Jarlaxle and Vierna are impressed with the battle, allowing it to continue until Wulfgar and company arrive. In the meleé, Vierna crushes Cobble beneath a steel wall and Drizzt escapes, but violates his vow to never take a dark elf's life. The moral struggle inherently ends with a repudiation of the vow, if necessary to save the lives of those for whom Drizzt cares. Bruenor and his entourage also escape, and Entreri asks for an opportunity to pursue his nemesis. He kills his appointed escorts when alone and fails to find a hidden Drizzt. Drizzt's friends are also searching for him, as are Vierna and Bregan D'aerthe. The parties of Bruenor and Vierna collide, with another raucous combat. Bruenor attacks the Drider Dinin. Pwent is separated from the group, falling down a pit after overcoming dark elf poison. Vierna summons a Yochlol, a demonic handmaiden of Lolth, which attacks Wulfgar, then wraps a tentacle around Cattie-brie's leg. Wulfgar, desperate, repeatedly strikes the chambers ceiling with his hammer, causing a collapse that kills both Wulfgar and the Yochlol. ===== Pryd Holding, where much of the story is set, is troubled by the threat of powrie dwarves, domination by other kingdoms and religious conflicts between the brutal Samhaists, led by the cruel and evil Bernivvigar and the seemingly more benevolent brothers of Blessed Abelle, to which Brother Bran Dynard belongs. Also complicating matters is that Prince Prydae, the last of his line, suffers an injury in battle that leaves him impotent. Brother Dynard has recently returned from the south, where he was sent to enlighten the people, but instead became fascinated and enlightened by the people, and took a wife, the beautiful Jhesta Tu mystic Sen Wi. Sen Wi has come to Pryd holding with Dynard to help explain the ways of her people to the brothers of Blessed Abelle. One night, a beautiful young woman, Callen Duwornay, is sentenced to death for adultery. Forced to endure sexual humiliation as part of her punishment, she is stripped completely naked in front of the community, is bitten by a poison snake and then left for dead, hung over the road that is being constructed to connect Pryd Holding with the other kingdoms as a warning to others. Sen Wi and Dynard find her hanging naked and rescue her from the dwarves that are beating her. Sen Wi uses her training to heal Callen and they take her to Dynard's friend, Garibond, to heal. After recovering, an apparently still naked Callen leaves Garibonds home and disappears. Some time later, after changing her name, Callen gives birth to a daughter, whom she names Cadayale. Brother Dynard and Sen Wi go before the brothers of Abelle, but they are appalled to find that he was "enlightened" by the "beasts of Behr" rather than enlightening them as he was supposed to. Additionally, the brothers refuse to recognize Sen Wi as his wife, referring to her instead dismissively as his concubine. Sen Wi realizes that she is pregnant and that her baby is suffering within her due to her having taken the poison and pain from Callen into herself. Sen Wi later dies giving birth in Garibond's home, using the last of her strength to save her son, whom Garibond names Bransen, combining his parents name. Dynard himself is later killed by a dwarf on the highway when he is sent to see the higher order of Abelle. Adopted by Garibond, Bransen is a constant source of ridicule, mockery and abuse in the town by local bullies due to his disfigurement, shown kindness only by Cadayale, daughter of Callen. With old age overtaking him and suffering a terrible injury to himself due to the cruel machinations of Bernivvigar, who wishes to sacrifice Bransen, Garibond makes a deal with the brothers of Abelle to take in Bransen should he die. Garibond himself is later burned to death for heresy and for harboring the Book of Jhest, written by Dynard. After this, Bransen is taken in by the monks, but most of them treat him cruelly as well. Bransen utilizes both sides of his heritage in the novel to overcome his crippled state and become the Highwayman. With help from a soul stone, the hematite, combined with his knowledge of The Book of Jhest, Bransen overcomes his physically weak form by centering his chi, which greatly increases his mobility. With his newfound ability, he rescues Cadayale from the bullies who wished to rape and beat her for helping him, killing the lead bully, Tarkus Breen. After weeks of robbing from the tax collectors to give back to the poor, becoming a local Robin Hood, Bransen risks everything to rescue Cadayale and Callen from Bernivvigar and Prydae, who sought to rape Cadayale to beget an heir, leading to the deaths of both men. Afterward, Bransen, Cadayale and Callen are banished from Pryd Holding by Bannagran, Prydae's closest friend and temporary ruler. With hope in their hearts, the three depart for the south to seek a better life. In 2007, Matthew Hansen of Marvel Comics/Dabel Brothers Productions adapted The Highwayman to a comic book. ===== In Trial by Fire, we meet a young Andacanavar as he embarks on one of his earliest adventures. With his Elven-forged blade and improbable allies, the ranger fights to save a world of magic from the ravages of a DemonWar. ===== The final novel in the first trilogy begins with the mopping up of Bestesbulzibar's army and the battle against the demon's spirit, which has possessed the highest levels of power within the Abellican Church. Again, it is up to Elbryan and Pony, along with their friends, to combat the corruption and attempt to end its terrible hold forever. ===== On the remote Scottish island of Skua, Perdita has been branded "the witch's daughter" by islanders. They believe her mother died cursing the sea on which they depend for their livelihood. She lives alone in a tumbledown house by the loch, never goes to school, and has no friends. One summer Janey, who is blind, and her brother Tim visit the island with their naturalist father. The children befriend the lonely girl, and together they search for rare orchids, explore the island caves, investigate a crime, and find treasure. ===== Roswell G. Flemington, owner of a model ship company and formerly a serviceman of the United States Navy, grew up in a home where his mother required silence. Thus, as an adult, he makes as much noise as he possibly can, is obsessed with the Navy, and behaves thunderously in response to any slight. One day, after twenty years his wife has had enough of his obsession with noise and finally walks out on him. Now alone, he begins to hear every little noise – a drip of water, the margin bell on a typewriter – like an explosion or gunshot. He sees a psychiatrist who helps him understand that conflict with his wife has caused him to relive his resentment against his mother to the point that he internalizes his mother's affliction. He now realizes it is all in his head, all he needs to do is overcome the mental block with "mind over matter", and he does. The only problem is that when his wife returns to pick up her jewelry, he tells her about it and proceeds to "shut her out". Unfortunately, his solution proves too effective, and Flemington finds that he can hear nothing. Now desperate to hear anything, Flemington puts a record on, setting the volume at its highest setting. Although the scene is silent, the insides of his apartment vibrate from the sound of his stereo. As the episode ends, Flemington opens up the windows to the street below, and begs for noise. ===== Visiting a city, Lina Inverse and Naga the Serpent witness a sudden rampage of the dragon army of the young Marlene and effortlessly repel the attack. Marlene's estranged father Lord Culvert then hires Lina to help stop his daughter's raids. But Naga, Lina's friend-enemy "greatest rival", decides to instead join Marlene's side for a bigger bid. Lina and Culvert lead the human army for an assault on Marlene's castle. Meanwhile, Naga and Marlene's forces set out as well in the other way, leaving the castle vacant for Lina's magic to level. Naga and Marlene rush back and meet Lina and Culver's army. Marlene has a natural relationship with dragons and is able to command them easily, but her dragons flee after only hearing the very name "Lina Inverse" and Lina quickly defeats Marlene's warlord Thornfort. Lina and Naga meet for a personal duel, from which Lina emerges victorious. Marlene also challenges Lina with her Chaos Sword, but Lina manages to break it. But then Marlene's other warlord, Gaizno, reveals his real form, transforming himself into a gigantic evil dragon that starts attacking both sides and the city itself. During the great battle, Lina and Naga work together, as Naga succeeds in distracting Gaizno with creative magical attacks long enough for Lina to overcome Gaizno's magic defenses and destroy him with her powerful Dragon Slave spell. Marlene and her father reconcile and end their war, which they waged only over the amount of her weekly allowance money. The land's dragons and humans are also going to live in peace and rebuild the city together. Lina and Naga leave for their new adventures, as always bickering and fighting each other on their way. ===== Hunting guide Mike Davis (Burt Lancaster) came across a cache of diamonds in a mining area located in a remote region of South West Africa. He was caught by the mine's police but refused to reveal the diamonds' location, even under torture at the hand of the diamond company's security chief, Vogel. He left South Africa for some time. Davis returns to get the diamonds which he still expects will be at the spot where he found them. The mining company's owner, Martingale (Claude Rains), tries to find out where the diamonds can be found by guile rather than force. He hires a beautiful prostitute, Suzanne Renaud (Corinne Calvet), to seduce Davis and get him to reveal the secret location. Davis plans an illegal entry into the diamond mining area to retrieve the diamonds and plans to escape to Portuguese Angola. Meanwhile, Vogel is attracted to Suzanne and offers to marry her. But Suzanne is attracted to Davis who is more interested in his diamonds than Suzanne. Davis finds the diamonds but Martingale threatens to kill Suzanne unless Davis gives him the diamonds. Davis gives up the diamonds and ends up leaving the country with Suzanne, discovering that he loves her more than the diamonds. ===== An African sorcerer conjures up a flying horse, which he shows to the Caliph. When the sorcerer refuses to sell it for any amount of gold, the Caliph offers any treasure he has. The sorcerer chooses Dinarsade, the Caliph's daughter, to her great distress. Prince Achmed, Dinarsade's brother, objects, but the sorcerer persuades him to try out the horse. It carries the prince away, higher and higher into the sky, as he does not know how to control it. The Caliph has the sorcerer imprisoned. Pari Banu (center) with her attendants, preparing to bathe When Achmed discovers how to make the horse descend, he finds himself in a strange foreign land, a magical island called Wak Wak. He is greeted by a bevy of attractive maidens. When they begin fighting for his attention, he flies away to a lake. There, he watches as Pari Banu, the beautiful ruler of the land of Wak Wak, arrives with her attendants to bathe. When they spot him, they all fly away, except for Pari Banu, for Achmed has her magical flying feather costume. She flees on foot, but he captures her. He gains her trust when he returns her feathers. They fall in love. She warns him, however, that the demons of Wak Wak will try to kill him. The sorcerer frees himself from his chains. Transforming himself into a bat, he seeks out Achmed. The prince chases the sorcerer (back in human form) and falls into a pit. While Achmed fights a giant snake, the sorcerer takes Pari Banu to China and sells her to the Emperor. The sorcerer returns and pins Achmed under a boulder on top of a mountain. However, the Witch of the Flaming Mountain notices him and rescues Achmed. The sorcerer is her arch-enemy, so she helps Achmed rescue Pari Banu from the Emperor. Then the demons of Wak Wak find the couple and, despite Achmed's fierce resistance, carry Pari Banu off. Achmed forces a captive demon to fly him to Wak Wak. However, the gates of Wak Wak are locked. He then slays a monster who is attacking a boy named Aladdin. Aladdin tells of how he, a poor tailor, was recruited by the sorcerer to retrieve a magic lamp from a cave. When Aladdin returned to the cave entrance, the sorcerer demanded the lamp before letting him out. Aladdin refused, so the sorcerer sealed him in. Aladdin accidentally released one of the genies of the lamp and ordered it to take him home. He then courted and married Dinarsade. One night, Dinarsade, Aladdin's magnificent palace and the lamp disappeared. Blamed by the Caliph, Aladdin fled to avoid being executed. A storm at sea cast him ashore at Wak Wak. When he tried to pluck fruit from a "tree", it turned into a monster and grabbed him, but Achmed killed it. Achmed realizes the sorcerer had been behind this and is further enraged. He reveals to Aladdin that his palace and the lamp were stolen by the sorcerer because of his obsession for Dinarsade. Then the witch arrives. Since only the lamp can open the gates, she agrees to attack the sorcerer to get it. They engage in a magical duel, each transforming into various creatures. After a while, they resume their human forms and fling fireballs at each other. Finally, the witch slays the sorcerer. With the lamp, they are able to enter Wak Wak, just in time to save Pari Banu from being thrown to her death. A fierce battle erupts. A demon steals the lamp, but the witch gets it back. She summons creatures from the lamp who defeat the demons. One hydra-like creature seizes Pari Banu. When Achmed cuts off one of its heads, two more grow back immediately, but the witch stops this regeneration, allowing Achmed to kill it. A flying palace then settles to the ground. Inside, Aladdin finds Dinarsade and Dinasade reunites with her brother. The two couples bid goodbye to the witch and fly home in the palace. ===== Two sisters, Chieko Nakakita as the elder and Mitsue Tachibana as the younger sister, one a dancer and the other a script supervisor at a big movie studio, become embroiled in union activities when a strike is called in sympathy with striking railroad workers, one of whom boards with the sisters and their parents. The girls' father argues with them about their strike, but finds his views changing when he himself loses his job. ===== The novel begins with where Amber and Ashes leaves off. Former Majere monk Rhys Mason is trying to escape the clutches of the death knight Auseric Krell after Rhys has the kender Nightshade, in the guise of a Khas piece, recover the imprisoned soul of Ariakan for his mother, the god Zeboim. Mina, as enigmatic as ever, escapes imprisonment to set off on a quest that will test even her considerable will. All the while, evil spreads across the land, gaining ground with each new day. With so much at stake, with the very soul of Krynn on the line, champions must be found even in the darkest places. ===== Cliff Clavin (John Ratzenberger) competes on the television game show Jeopardy!, which has temporarily moved taping to Boston for a special occasion. Cliff amasses $22,000 by the end of the Double Jeopardy! round, more than twice the score of the second place contestant, theoretically ensuring a win. For the Final Jeopardy! clue of "Archibald Leach, Bernard Schwartz and Lucille LeSueur" in the category of "Movies", Cliff responds incorrectly with "Who are 3 people who've never been in my kitchen?", signing the amount of his wager as "$22,000 Big Ones!". Having overconfidently wagered his entire score as revealed, Cliff loses all of his winnings, and the match. Cliff objects and argues, demanding that his answer be accepted. The show's host, Alex Trebek, later arrives at Cheers, tells Cliff that his response should have been accepted earlier, and announces to Cliff his resignation as the host of Jeopardy!. However, Cliff convinces Trebek to remain as host by telling him how much the show and Trebek mean to him. After Cliff shares the news with others that he "saved Jeopardy!", Norm Peterson (George Wendt) praises Trebek for doing this just to make Cliff feel better. However, Trebek says that he did not realize that Cliff was at the bar and that meeting him had been a coincidence. Trebek says that Cliff scares him and that the story about quitting the show was a fabrication to placate him. Meanwhile, Sam Malone (Ted Danson) receives telephone calls from women whom he previously dated; they are angry with him for making dates, making them wear "French-cut panties and a miniskirt", and not arriving at a roller rink. He eventually discovers that his "little black book" has been stolen and enlists the help of bar patrons to find it. Through their detective work, Sam discovers that the thief has called Sam's women in alphabetical order, and that Rebecca Howe (Kirstie Alley) is the next recipient on the list. Carla uses her bluff to blackmail the reluctant Rebecca into helping Sam capture the thief. The thief calls Rebecca, who asks him to meet her at the bar instead of the roller rink. Then the thief enters, turning out to be a teenage boy named Timmy (Greg E. Davis), who wants to become a "babe hound" like Sam. After getting his little black book back, Sam lets Timmy go, advising him to start as a "babe pup" and to call girls around his age, and gives him $25 for a haircut and a tip for a shampoo girl. ===== Chief Wiggum stops Troy McClure for reckless driving and notices his driver's license requires him to wear corrective lenses. Because of his vanity, Troy dislikes wearing his glasses. He visits Selma Bouvier at the DMV and offers to take her to dinner if she lets him pass the eye test. After dinner, paparazzi photographers see Troy leaving with Selma and the story hits the news. His agent, MacArthur Parker, says that Troy can stage a career comeback if he continues seeing Selma. On his agent's advice, Troy asks Selma to marry him and she agrees. The night before the wedding, a drunken Troy tells Homer that he does not love Selma and is only using her as a sham wife to further his career. Marge and Patty try convincing Selma her marriage is a sham, but she accuses them of jealousy. She confronts Troy, who shamelessly admits that their marriage is a sham but claims she has everything she could want and will be "the envy of every other sham wife in town". Selma has her doubts but agrees to marry Troy because she fears being alone. Parker thinks he can get Troy the part of McBain's sidekick in McBain IV: Fatal Discharge if he sires children. Troy and Selma prepare to conceive a child, but Troy is uncomfortable sleeping with women because of his "bizarre fish fetish"; rumors of his unconventional sexuality once squelched his career and prevented his comeback. Selma decides that bringing a child into a loveless marriage is wrong and leaves Troy. A tabloid TV show confirms that Troy has turned down the role of McBain's sidekick to direct and star in his own film, The Contrabulous Fabtraption of Professor Horatio Hufnagel, produced by 20th Century Fox. ===== In a pre-credits scene, Ernest P. Worrell is showing off a new device he has bartered from a guy off the street. He called it a "changing coffin" that transforms the user into any disguise. Ernest enters the coffin as Vern flips a switch, then Ernest gets pulled in screaming. Dr. Otto is a mysterious villain with a hand attached on top of his head. He is plotting world domination using his "gloom beam," an electromagnetic device that he uses to launch attacks on financial institutions to erase their contents and cause worldwide chaos. In a broadcast signal intrusion, Dr. Otto announces the "Riddle of the Gloom Beam:" > "When the money is scrambled to the very last cent, > riots and hatred soon will commence. When all the world's commerce will be > put in a bind, > from the evil that lurks where the sun never shines. It is I, Dr. Otto von > Schnick-ick-ick-ick, > who has played on you this trick-ick-ick-ick." "'But who's Dr. Otto?' you > may well ponder, > while all your magnetic cash is squandered. It's he who had an eye, and yet > couldn't see. > It's he who served bouillabaisse, when he was a she. It's he who gambled > with brains, and a gun. > It's he who had all, and yet had none. And to stop this horrible twisted > trick, > just exchange the poles of old Saint Nick. And if that doesn't do to save > the day, > put another quarter in and try another play." Dr. Otto's first target is Cincinnati, Ohio, where a bank affected by the Gloom Beam decides to disrupt Dr. Otto's scheme before it can cause world chaos by sending in his archnemesis: all-American boy Lance Sterling, born on the same day in the same hospital as Dr. Otto. While Lance was a gifted child born to loving parents, Dr. Otto was the end result of a botched abortion, neglected by his parents (whom he later kills). To foil Lance, Dr. Otto uses a "changing coffin" and transforms himself into various characters in an effort to stop the heroes: Rudd Hardtack, Australian trainer of child militants; Laughing Jack O'Cockney, pirate captain; Auntie Nelda, the cantankerous elderly woman; and Guy Dandy, wealthy playboy. Lance and his sidekick Doris Talbert escape each disguise in unusual ways: they survive Hardtack's game of Russian roulette; when Laughing Jack uses Lance as bait to catch a swamp monster, the monster turns out to be an old friend of Lance's, who lets them free; when Auntie Nelda poisons them into a trap, Lance is able to sway Tina (a woman Dr. Otto used as bait) into using Dr. Otto's transporter blanket to get them out; and they stumble into an elevator that leads straight to Dr. Otto's lair during a chase with Guy Dandy. Meanwhile, the gloom beam continues to cause chaos around the world, with comical effects: the President of the United States, for example, is overjoyed that Dr. Otto has effectively wiped out the national debt. In a climactic showdown, Lance and Doris face off against Dr. Otto, all his disguises, and his robot henchman. In the end, it comes down to Lance choosing between a conspicuously labeled "Right Button" and "Wrong Button." He chooses the Right Button—which he realizes too late that it was not the right button (thus implying that was the subject of the "switch the poles" clue)—and, as massive electric bolts fire off in all directions, the lair self-destructs. The scene then flash-cuts to Doris, Lance and Tina pushing their car down a road. At a gas station, they encounter Ernest, who informs them that they, have had no gas since the money went bad. As they all push the car down the road, Ernest takes his hat off to reveal Dr. Otto's third hand, as he says "Have a nice day, knowhutimean?" ===== Dr. Watkins narrates throughout the cartoon. Dorlock Homes lives on Beeker Street in London. Inside of their apartment, Homes is busily engaged in "deduction" — tax deduction, that is, hoping to write off such costs as "magnifying glasses and gumshoes" and "cab fares, to and from murders". Following a knock on the door, a mailman falls into their flat. While Homes attributes it to curare, a type of poison, the mailman chides him for not fixing the step. Homes, angry, quickly snatches the letter from and sternly informs him in no uncertain terms "Just for that, you receive no gratuity." The letter says that there is a criminal on the loose named the Shropshire Slasher. Homes and Watkins go to a pub where the Slasher is known to hang out. Homes' attempts to gather clues land darts in his bill. When the Shropshire Slasher is finally revealed, Homes repeatedly attempts to arrest him, but the Slasher proves much stronger and effortlessly defeats Homes. Watkins, on the other hand, speaks much more politely and reasonably to the suspect and he not only willingly divulges his identity, but is peacefully persuaded to turn himself back over to the police. Just then, a kind, old woman arrives selling flowers. Homes accuses her of selling them without a license and threatens to arrest her. The Shropshire Slasher moans "Mother!" Before Homes has time to consider what has happened, the Shropshire Slasher grabs him by the neck and starts shaking him violently, causing an assortment of objects to fall from Homes' person. The Shropshire Slasher and his mother then leave, with him explaining to her that he promised "the nice gentleman" that he would give himself up, and her praising him for willingly giving himself up. Watkins asks a beat-up looking Homes in what school he learned to be a detective. Homes answers: "Elementary, my dear Watkins. Elementary". ===== At the funeral of their German-born grandfather Johann von Wolfhausen, brothers Jan and Todd Wolfhouse discover that family tradition demands that they travel to Munich on Oktoberfest to spread his cremated ashes at the Theresienwiese. There, the brothers unintentionally start an altercation that takes down an entire Oktoberfest tent. They then participate in Beerfest, an underground drinking game tournament run by Baron Wolfgang von Wolfhausen, where they discover that the von Wolfhausens are related to the Wolfhouses. The German team angrily denies the family ties, revealing that Johann was a stable boy who stole the recipe for "the greatest beer in all ze world" decades ago and ran away with his prostitute mother (the brothers' great grandmother), Great Gam Gam. Enraged by the mockery of their ancestors, Jan and Todd challenge the Germans to a drinking game. The brothers' defeat humiliates them in front of everybody, with Wolfgang pouring their grandfather's ashes on them and Jan getting punched in the eye. Swearing to get revenge on the Germans, Jan and Todd return to Colorado where they recruit their drinking friends from college—binge drinker Phil "Landfill" Krundle, Jewish scientist Charlie "Fink" Finklestein, and male prostitute Barry Badrinath—to assemble an American Beerfest team, though they do not divulge this to Great Gam Gam. During the team's year of training, Jan and Todd find out that their grandfather did not steal the family beer recipe, but was actually the rightful heir to the family brewery in Bavaria. The team uses the rediscovered recipe to brew Schnitzengiggle Beer, whose delicious taste fills them with awe. After the German team receive a bottle of Schnitzengiggle in the mail, the Wolfhausen clan goes to America to take the recipe back. Following a confrontation between the Wolfhausens and Jan and Todd, the Wolfhausens forge evidence that the brothers' restaurant has health issues to put them out of business. Fink quits the team, having been fired due to a slipping performance at the lab. Meanwhile, Landfill catches Great Gam Gam's caregiver Cherry stealing the beer recipe for the Germans. He overwhelms Cherry in a fight, but is pushed into a vat full of beer that drowns him due to the yeast ingredient submerging him. Minutes later, Jan discovers Landfill's body. Thinking Landfill committed suicide due to his wife taking their kids and leaving him earlier because of the strain that his involvement was putting on their marriage (which was also the reason he quit the team), the team decides to disband. After the funeral, Great Gam Gam reveals that she knew about Beerfest the entire time. She then motivates the bereaved team with a rousing speech, and everyone except Barry change their minds. Barry explains that he cannot join due to a traumatizing incident years ago during a game of table tennis, in which a racket was forcefully shoved up his anus. Sympathizing with Barry, Great Gam Gam encourages him to rise above it, causing him to relent and join the team. Shortly after, Landfill's Southern twin brother Gil reveals himself to the group and offers to join the team, which they accept. Like his brother, Gil can drink copious amounts of beer and he even invites the other members of the team to call him "Landfill" in honor of his dead brother. In Germany, the team uses an empty wooden keg as a Trojan Horse to get inside, where they emerge to boos and jeers. The Americans are allowed to participate after Jan and Todd show how uncannily they resemble the two Beerfest founders, thus convincing the crowd of their von Wolfhausen ancestry. In the finals (bootline chug), Cherry gibes Gil about the death of his brother, causing him to crack and the Germans to win. Jan offers the Germans a double or nothing opportunity. The Germans tell Jan they already have the recipe and thus no need for a rematch, but Fink points out that Cherry only stole a recipe for a low-carbohydrate strawberry beer, prompting Wolfgang to have Cherry killed. When one of the von Wolfhausens knocks off Fink's yarmulke, he enters into a state of purely concentrated rage (the "Eye of the Jew") which allows him to coach the team to victory, barely gaining the win when the German team's anchor fails to finish "Das Boot" (Boot of beer) by one drop. ===== The Sea of Trolls is set in Anglo-Saxon England, Scandinavia, and the mythical realm of Jotunheim. Jack Crookleg, the main character of the book, is being trained by a famous skald (bard) named Dragon Tongue, when he and his younger sister, Lucy, are captured by Viking raiders. The pair are to be sold as slaves to "Picts" as soon as they reach land. On board the Viking ship Jack meets and ultimately befriends Thorgil, a young would-be berserker, and Olaf, the leader of the raiders, along with Boldheart, the crow. The two captives are spared because Jack is a bard and because Lucy is to be given to the queen, a half-troll named Frith. When they arrive at the court nothing goes as planned. Jack is sentenced to menial labor and made to clean the barn. There Jack encounters the deadly troll-pig, Golden Bristles, who is to be sacrificed to the goddess, Freya, by being placed in a wooden cart and left to sink in a bog. After singing Olaf One-Brow's praise-song for the Northman's homecoming, Jack inadvertently makes Queen Frith lose her hair. Queen Frith threatens to sacrifice Lucy (instead of the troll-pig) to the goddess Freya, because Jack set Golden Bristles free. However, Frith allows Jack a chance to save Lucy and their freedom if he can make her hair grow back, which is much more difficult than she makes it sound. Jack goes with Olaf and Thorgil to Jotunheim, land of the Trolls, to seek the mythic Mimir's Well, a well with magical water (song mead) which gives the drinker knowledge, at the roots of the world tree Yggdrasil. Olaf One-Brow is killed by a "trollbear," a gigantic bear native to Jotunheim. Jack and Thorgil are captured by a dragon, but Bold Heart tricks the dragon and enables Jack and Thorgil to escape. Thorgil slays the baby male dragon but gets some blood on her tongue, allowing her to speak with birds. On the way Jack also visits the queen of the Jotuns (Trolls), as he needs her consent to continue seeking Mimir's Well. He finds the tree Yggdrasil and Mimir's Well. Both he and Thorgil drink from the well, and Jack saves some for Rune, a skald (bard) who teaches Jack poetry. With the knowledge Jack gains from drinking from Mimir's Well, he returns to the land of the Northmen to restore Frith's hair. Upon return, Jack and Lucy are summoned to the court. Jack explains to Queen Frith that she needs to cut off 1/3 of the hair from her troll cats but no more to restore her hair. She doesn't listen and cuts all of the cats' hair off. As a result, Frith's hair grows everywhere not just back on her head. She runs off crazed. Later Olaf's oldest son commands the ship and takes Jack and Lucy back to their village. Jack finds his mother and learns that Dragon Tongue has been crazed ever since Jack and Lucy's kidnapping. He goes to see Dragon Tongue with Bold Heart and Dragon Tongue's heart stops beating. Jack gives Dragon Tongue the remaining mead from Mimir's Well and he comes back to life. Dragon Tongue tells him that he became a crow during the voyage. ===== At the beginning of the story, Fumihiko Matsumaru is outside a movie theater waiting for his date to arrive. When it becomes obvious that he has been "stood up", he crumples his tickets in frustration. As he is about to toss the tickets into a trash can, a girl approaches, and in the "voice" of the tickets, implores him to not waste them. Dumbfounded, he sees the movie with her, which is Roman Holiday. During the movie, he notices that the girl is reading the subtitles out loud. When he asks her about this after the movie, she says that she was practicing the lines, and that she wants to be Audrey Hepburn. At dinner, she explains that she is a 20-year-old novice voice actress. Going home, they find that they live in the same neighborhood before they part ways. (In the anime, she recites appropriate lines from Roman Holiday.) Matsumaru goes to bed, but he can't sleep. In the darkness, he hears the sounds of sirens; there is a fire in the neighborhood. When he goes to investigate, he discovers that the girl's apartment has burned down. Since she has nowhere to stay, Matsumaru asks her to stay at his apartment; she dazedly accepts. The next day, Matsumaru learns at work that his marketing concept has been approved as the mascot of a snack product called "Ha" ("leaf"). Furthermore, Aka is chosen to voice Nekoki. They decide to keep their live-in relationship a secret from their employers due to Aka's worries about an appearance of impropriety. She also insists they are not a couple just from having slept together once in a moment of weakness, and that she will merely be lodging with him. The series is heavily concerned with the developing dynamic of their relationship. ===== The plot concerns Robert and Jeff, two old friends who are taking their theater partnership (Jeff writes the plays, Robert directs them) to the big screen in their first film. They've saved filming the final and most important scene of their movie for last; a complicated outdoor sequence involving hundreds of extras portraying disillusioned marines jogging at sunset. All is going seemingly well, until suddenly yet slowly, three cows walk directly into the shot. In response to this, some colorful language is exchanged. After some deep contemplation of whether or not one could feasibly find cows on a marine compound, let alone in Guam at all, Robert has somewhat of a mental breakdown as the sun continues to set "seemingly faster than it's ever set before". This causes Robert and Jeff to question their work, their relationship, the artistic health of contemporary film-making, and the ethics of shooting cows with firearms. The other two roles are a hard-nosed manager (Reuben) and a geeky production assistant (Craig). ===== The film follows a diverse group of mostly middle- class Los Angelenos through the emotional ups and downs in their flawed yet very human lives, each loosely connected to each other through a restaurant. In the first story, Mamie reluctantly agrees to work with a would-be young filmmaker in order to locate the now grown son she secretly gave up for adoption after becoming pregnant from her stepbrother Charley - who is later revealed to be gay - 19 years earlier. In the second story arc, her stepbrother, and his domestic partner, Gil, are deciding whether or not to confront their friends, a lesbian couple, regarding the paternity of their son. And in the third, a young man, Otis, is involved with a band and trying to keep his father, Frank, from learning that he is gay, while also dealing with the seemingly gold-digging woman, Jude, who inserts herself into their lives. ===== Lobby card Unable to find work in London at the height of World War I, American chorus girl Myra Deauville resorts to prostitution to support herself. She meets her clients on Waterloo Bridge, the primary entry point into the city for soldiers on military leave. During an air raid, she meets fellow American Roy Cronin, a member of the Canadian Army. Distracted from her original plans by an air raid, she makes no attempt to solicit Roy, and he remains naively unaware of her profession. After the raid is over, Roy escorts her to her apartment, and the two have dinner there. Describing herself simply as an unemployed chorus girl, Myra gains Roy's sympathy, and he offers to pay her overdue rent. After she rejects his offer and he departs, Myra returns to the streets. The following morning, Roy returns to visit her, and landlady Mrs. Hobley lets him into her apartment. There he meets Myra's friend and neighbor Kitty, who tells him Myra needs someone to love and protect her. Myra later berates Kitty for interfering and rejects her advice to marry Roy to ensure a better future for herself. Roy brings Myra to visit his family at their country estate, where he proposes to Myra, who later that night tells Roy's mother, Mary, the truth about herself. Mary is sympathetic but implores Myra not to marry Roy. The following morning, Myra slips away and returns to London by train. Eventually Roy visits her and asks her to explain her abrupt departure. Because he is on the verge of returning to the battlefields in France, he begs Myra to marry him immediately. She agrees, but escapes from her apartment through a window while he waits for her in the hallway. Seeking the rent, Mrs. Hobley enters, and believing Myra has run off to avoid her financial obligation, reveals her true profession to Roy. Although shocked, Roy searches for Myra and eventually finds her on Waterloo Bridge, where he tells her he still loves and wants to marry her. The military police insist Roy join a truck of departing soldiers or be considered a deserter, and once he secures Myra's promises to marry him upon his return, he departs. The air raid sirens sound, and as Myra seeks shelter, she is killed by a bomb. ===== The film is separated into four stories: * The first story involves André (Fabrice Luchini), who takes his 16-year-old cousin (played by Lise Danvers) to the beach to perform fellatio on him in tune to the waves of the incoming tide. * The second story is titled Thérése the Philosopher, an adaptation of the novel of the same name. It involves a teenage country girl (Charlotte Alexandra) who intermingles sexual desires in her imagination with her dedication to Christ after being locked in her room. * The third story features Elizabeth Báthory (Paloma Picasso) as a countess who murders young girls in order to gain eternal youth by bathing in their blood and a girl (Marie Forså) putting pearls inside her vagina.Walerian Borowczyk’s Heroines of Desire - Endnotes no.26. sensesofcinema.com * The final story involves the daughter of Pope Alexander VI, Lucrezia Borgia (Florence Bellamy), having sex with her male relatives. ===== Patrick Stewart stars as Mace Sowell, an ex-DIA (Defense Intelligence Agency) agent who believes his life is in danger from his former boss, Admiral Thomas Michelmore, who is now running for President of the United States. Sowell has information about the underhand dealings of his erstwhile boss at the DIA which would ruin his Presidential campaign if it ever was released into the public domain. The information is located in cyberspace and is scheduled to be sent to every major newspaper in the western world unless Sowell reprograms the mail server remotely from his computer every 24 hours using a special password only he knows. To complicate the issue, Sowell is in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease and has difficulty in convincing people his information is not paranoia as a result of his condition. Sowell retreats to the safety of his barricaded home, kitted out with a variety of defenses and security devices to try to escape those he thinks are out to harm him. Kimberly Williams (Father of the Bride) plays the part of Andi Travers, his caregiver. Mace is initially extremely hostile towards Andi and only agrees to allow her to live and work with him as his daughter threatens to have him committed. For the same reasons, he visits a psychiatrist, Dr. Simon, but only after taking heavy precautions such as disguising himself as a rabbi or Telecoms worker. He is unable to convince his psychiatrist or his daughter and her partner of the truth of the threat he faces, partly due to the fact that he never discussed his career in the DIA with his family and also because paranoia is a common symptom of Alzheimer's disease. Mace keeps a daily video log in his private study to track the progress of his 'operation' and also monitor his mental health, usually while working out. More and more, he uses post-it notes tacked to the walls of the house to remind him of certain tasks, a visible indicator of the progression of his disease. He subjects Andi to a full background check but finds nothing suspicious. Their relationship is fraught at first as she tries to convert Mace to a macrobiotic diet. She also becomes enraged when she finds out that Mace has security cameras in every room of the house including her shower, and that he has searched her underwear drawer. Mace doesn't seem to have very many friends, however he is close to Stu (Craig Shoemaker), a man who cleans his pool and does other odd jobs for him. Stu tells Andi that he has known Mace since before the onset of his mental degeneration. Stu often likes to impersonate Humphrey Bogart and Robert de Niro. Amongst the jobs Stu carries out or Mace are drills — training exercises whereby Stu dresses up in quasi-military gear and balaclavas and simulates breaking into Mace's house and attacking him. Stu does this more out of friendship and lack of anything better to do than because he believes Mace's claims about being under threat. During one such drill Andi mistakes Stu for a genuine burglar and severely injures him with a golf club. Mace's daughter Michelle chooses to call the house at this point to check on her Father and Andi covers for Mace saying that everything is fine, for which he is grateful. Mace slowly begins to trust and depend upon Andi as his mental faculties continue to deteriorate. In the end, Andi gets the drop on Mace, revealed as an agent for Michelmore. Mace expresses admiration to Andi for being able to fool even him. He attempts to find a gun, but finds that Andi has long since removed or disarmed many of the traps he had placed in his home. He finds one that she missed, a gun hidden beneath the kitchen sink, and shoots her but is wounded by Andi himself. In his last action of the film, Mace sits at his computer and sends out the information he had kept hidden to news organizations worldwide, one of his last acts of clarity as he succumbs almost completely to his disease. ===== Barkley "Bark" (Victor Moore) and Lucy Cooper (Beulah Bondi) are an elderly couple who lose their home to foreclosure, as Barkley has been unable to find employment because of his age. They summon four of their five children—the fifth lives thousands of miles away in California—to break the news and decide where they will live until they can get back on their feet. Only one of the children, Nell (Minna Gombell), has enough space for both, but she asks for three months to talk her husband into the idea. In the meantime, the temporary solution is for the parents to split up and each live with a different child. The two burdened families soon come to find their parents' presence bothersome. Nell's efforts to talk her husband into helping are half-hearted and achieve no success, and she reneges on her promise to eventually take them. While Barkley continues looking for work to allow him and his wife to live independently again, he has little or no prospect of success. When Lucy continues to speak optimistically of the day that he will find work, her teenage granddaughter bluntly advises her to "face facts" that it will never happen because of his age. Lucy's sad reply is to say that "facing facts" is easy for a carefree 17-year-old girl, but that at Lucy's age, the only fun left is "pretending that there ain't any facts to face ... so would you mind if I just kind of went on pretending?" With no end in sight to the uncomfortable living situations, both host families look for a way to get the parent they are hosting out of their house. When Barkley catches a cold, his daughter Cora (Elisabeth Risdon) seizes upon it as a pretext to assert that his health demands a milder climate, thus necessitating that he move to California to live with his daughter Addie. Meanwhile, son George (Thomas Mitchell) and his wife Anita (Fay Bainter) begin planning to move Lucy into a retirement home. Lucy accidentally finds out about their plans, but rather than force George into the awkward position of breaking the news to her, she goes to him first and claims that she wants to move into the home. Meanwhile, Barkley resigns himself to his fate of having to move thousands of miles away, though he too is entirely aware of his daughter's true motivation. On the day Barkley is to depart by train, he and Lucy make plans to go out and spend one last afternoon together before having a farewell dinner with the four children. They have a fantastic time strolling around the city and reminiscing about their happy years together, even visiting the same hotel in which they had stayed on their honeymoon 50 years prior. Their day is made so pleasant partly because of the kindness of people they encounter, who, although strangers, seem to find them a charming couple, to genuinely enjoy their company, and to treat them with deference and respect—in stark contrast to the treatment the two are receiving from their children. Eventually Barkley and Lucy decide to continue their wonderful day by skipping the farewell dinner and dining at the hotel instead; when Barkley informs their daughter with a blunt phone call, it prompts introspection among the four children. Son Robert (Ray Meyer) suggests that each of the children has always known that collectively they are "probably the most good-for-nothing bunch of kids that were ever raised, but it didn't bother us much until we found out that Pop knew it too." George notes that it is now so late in the evening that they won't even have time to meet their parents at the train station to send off their father. He says that he deliberately let the time pass until it was too late because he figured their parents would prefer to be alone. Nell objects that if they don't go to the station, their parents "will think we're terrible," to which George matter-of-factly replies, "Aren't we?" At the train station, Lucy and Barkley say their farewells to one another. On the surface, their conversation echoes Lucy's comments to her granddaughter about preferring to pretend, rather than facing facts. Barkley tells Lucy that he will find a job in California and quickly send for her; Lucy replies that she is sure he will do so. They then offer each other a truly final goodbye, saying that they are doing so "just in case" they do not see each other again because "anything could happen." Each makes a heartfelt statement reaffirming their lifelong love, in what seems an unspoken acknowledgment that it is almost certainly their final moment together. Barkley boards the train, and Lucy and he acknowledge each other and wave through the closed window as the train pulls away. The film ends with a somber Lucy turning from the scene. A Let Me Call You Sweetheart instrumental plays into the credits. ===== In 2005, Amber Williams, her boyfriend Colby Patterson and their friends Zoe, Roger, and P.J. stage a prank at the town carnival where Roger impersonates the "Fisherman" killer. Afterward, everyone sees P.J.'s body impaled on a tractor smokestack instead of mattresses that were supposed to break his fall. The public believes the Fisherman is behind it, and the friends burn the evidence and make a pact to keep it secret. One year later, Amber returns to town to discover that Colby never left to pursue his scholarship. She goes up to the mountains where she encounters one of the officers who witnessed the accident, Deputy Haffner (K.C. Clyde). Later that night, Amber awakens to 50 text messages reading "I know what you did last summer". She drives to Zoe's shack where Zoe allows Amber to sleep for the night. The next day they find Roger and Colby, but they angrily dismiss them when told about the messages. Amber is attacked on a ski-lift by someone wielding the hook. A drunken Roger contemplates suicide with the hook from the prank. When he investigates a noise, he is attacked and killed by the Fisherman. Colby is also attacked while swimming. They go to warn Roger and find him dead along with a suicide note and the hook. Deputy Haffner shows up and gets their statements. Afterwards, they return to Amber's house to find pictures of them from the high school yearbook sliced up and stuck to the wall reading "SOON". They all stay at Zoe's place and find Lance, P.J.'s cousin, outside. He shows them a message engraved on his motorbike. The night of Zoe's concert, after her performance, she, Amber and Lance are attacked by the Fisherman. Zoe is stabbed and thrown over a balcony to her death. P.J's dad, the sheriff, comes in, only to be killed as well. The Fisherman then attacks Colby in a kitchen and hooks him in the mouth, killing him. Outside, Amber and Lance run into Deputy Haffner, who reveals that Roger told him about the accident. The Fisherman then advances towards Haffner and impales him on a forklift. Amber and Lance get into a car and run the fisherman down. He gets up and is revealed to be the undead Ben Willis, the man who committed the original murders 8 years ago. Willis attacks them, but is cut with a hook by Amber and disappears. Amber and Lance go to face Willis, deducing that the hook will hurt him. They are chased into a warehouse. Amber then fights Willis and eventually stabs him in the head, and pushes him into a snow blower driven by Lance, killing Willis. A year later, Amber is driving across the desert when a tire blows out. She stops the car, and loses reception. Willis appears behind her and she screams, ending the film with a slicing sound of the hook, leaving her fate unknown. ===== Karin Hanazono is an ordinary 13-year-old girl who becomes depressed after the death of her parents and her last companion, her pet cat Shii-chan. With poor grades, a mean aunt, and few friends who understand her, she feels lonely and desperately believes that God will help her out of these circumstances one day, holding on to the last remaining memento: a ring that originally belonged to her mother. Things change for better for Karin when she meets Himeka Kujyou and her cousin Kazune, whom she lives with. A confrontation after Kazune insults Karin's cat and ultimately her feelings invoke something within her and the ring, causing everything to go smoothly for Karin, including weather matters. It turns out that her precious ring is in fact a holder of the power of God, and Karin, as its bearer, is a goddess. With this revelation, she is hunted down by mysterious enemies who are seeking that power while trying to control her strength. On her journey, she discovers more about her past, and the truth of her goddess heritage, as well as how it affects others around her like Kazune and Himeka. The adventure continues in Kamichama Karin Chu with the main cast now in the eighth grade. Kazune returns from his trip to England, so Karin and the gang are back together again. Karin and the gang travel through time, along with a new comrade, a celebrity named Jin Kuga. ===== While preparing for an inspection, the crew of the starship Bustler reread their manifest and discover that they are supposed to have something called an "offog"; however, nobody knows what that is. They devise a plan to pass the inspection anyway, but the plan backfires. Offog is ultimately revealed to be a typographical error for "official dog". Captain McNaught, having faked the destruction of the "offog" to avoid further questioning, unintentionally causes the grounding of the entire fleet. ===== One night after hearing the words of Maxwell H. Brock (Julian Burton), a poet who performs at The Yellow Door cafe, the dimwitted, impressionable, busboy Walter Paisley (Dick Miller) returns home to attempt to create a sculpture of the face of the hostess Carla (Barboura Morris). He stops when he hears the meowing of Frankie, the cat owned by his inquisitive landlady, Mrs. Surchart (Myrtle Vail), who has somehow gotten himself stuck in Walter's wall. Walter attempts to get Frankie out using a knife, but accidentally kills the cat when he sticks the knife into his wall. Instead of giving Frankie a proper burial, Walter covers the cat in clay, leaving the knife stuck in it. Carla and Leonard admire Walter's "sculpture", Dead Cat. The next morning, Walter shows the cat to Carla and his boss Leonard (Antony Carbone). Leonard dismisses the oddly morbid piece, but Carla is enthusiastic about the work and convinces Leonard to display it in the café. Walter receives praise from Will (John Brinkley) and the other beatniks in the café. An adoring fan, Naolia (Jhean Burton), gives him a vial of heroin to remember her by. Naively ignorant of its function, he takes it home and is followed by Lou Raby (Bert Convy), an undercover cop, who attempts to take him into custody for narcotics possession. In a blind panic, thinking Lou is about to shoot him, Walter hits him with the frying pan he is holding, killing Lou instantly. Meanwhile, Walter's boss discovers the secret behind Walter's "Dead Cat" piece when he sees fur sticking out of it. The next morning, Walter tells the café-goers that he has a new piece, which he calls "Murdered Man". Both Leonard and Carla come with Walter as he unveils his latest work and are simultaneously amazed and appalled. Carla critiques it as "hideous and eloquent" and deserving of a public exhibition. Leonard is aghast at the idea, but realizes the potential for wealth if he plays his cards right. The next night, Walter is treated like a king by almost everyone, except for a blonde model named Alice (Judy Bamber), who is widely disliked by her peers. Walter later follows her home and confronts her, explaining that he wants to pay her to model. At Walter's apartment, Alice strips nude and poses in a chair, where Walter proceeds to strangle her with her scarf. Walter creates a statue of Alice which, once unveiled, so impresses Brock that he throws a party at the Yellow Door in Walter's honor. Costumed as a carnival fool, Walter is wined and dined to excess. After the party, Walter later stumbles towards his apartment. Still drunk, he beheads a factory worker with his own buzzsaw to create a bust. When he shows the head to Leonard, the boss realizes that he must stop Walter's murderous rampage and promises Walter a show to offload his latest "sculptures". At the exhibit, Walter proposes to Carla, but she rejects him. Walter is distraught and now offers to sculpt her, and she happily agrees to after the reception. Back at the exhibit, however, she finds part of the clay on one figure has worn away, revealing Alice's finger. When she tells Walter that there is a body in one of the sculptures, he tells her that he "made them immortal", and that he can make her immortal, too. She flees, he chases, and the others at the exhibit learn Walter's secret and join the chase. Walter and Carla wind up at a lumber yard where Walter, haunted by the voices of Lou and Alice, stops chasing Carla, and runs home. With discovery and retribution closing in on him, Walter vows to "hide where they'll never find me". The police, Carla, Leonard, Maxwell, and the others break down Walter's apartment door only to find that Walter has hanged himself. Looking askance at the hanging, clay-daubed corpse, Maxwell proclaims, "I suppose he would have called it "Hanging Man" ... his greatest work." ===== Im Dae-ho (Song Kang-ho) has been a huge fan of professional wrestling since his childhood. In South Korea, a wrestler called Kim Il was a big star in the 1970s, but Dae-ho preferred a cheating fighter called Ultra Tiger Mask. Years later, when his job at a bank isn't going well, Dae-ho decides to try professional wrestling himself. ===== ===== On their way to their jobs at the Death's Head Tavern, Oliver "Puddin' Head" Johnson (Lou Costello) and Rocky Stonebridge (Bud Abbott) encounter Lady Jane (Fran Warren), who asks them to bring a love note to the tavern singer, Bruce Martingale (Bill Shirley). At the tavern, the notorious Captain Kidd (Charles Laughton) dines with Captain Anne Bonney (Hillary Brooke), a female pirate. She complains that Kidd raided ships in her territory and demands her share of the treasure. Kidd informs Bonney that he has hidden the amassed treasure on Skull Island, and that he has the only map to its exact location. He agrees to take her, with her ship following close behind in the event of a double-cross. But as Oliver nervously waits on them, he inadvertently switches Lady Jane's love note with Kidd's map. Rocky discovers the mistake and negotiates with Kidd to take them along and share the treasure in exchange for the map. Kidd ostensibly agrees, but intends to kill Oliver and Rocky once he gets the map. The voyage begins with the addition of Bruce, who has been shanghaied. Kidd unsuccessfully attempts to regain the map throughout the entire voyage. Meanwhile, Bonney mistakenly believes that Lady Jane's love note was written to Oliver, and becomes intrigued. During the voyage Kidd raids an English ship carrying Lady Jane, and kidnaps her. When the ships reach Skull Island, Oliver and Rocky dig up the treasure. Kidd arrogantly declares his plans to dispose of them along with Captain Bonney. Bonney alerts the others to Kidd's true intentions, and signals her crew to attack. Bonney's crew wins the fight, the treasure is recovered, and Kidd becomes her prisoner. ===== Charles, Baron Frankenstein (Sting), Dr. Zalhus (Quentin Crisp), and Frankenstein's assistant, Paulus (Timothy Spall), attempt to create a female mate, Eva (Jennifer Beals), for his creation (Clancy Brown). They succeed, but after being taught by Dr. Frankenstein, she has her own ideas about what is good for her. ===== The novel deals with UFOs and alien abductions, illustrating how the government and military cope with an increasingly intrusive and hostile alien presence. It draws on government work on UFOs and is a "what if" novel that reflects some of the author's concerns about the defence and national security issues raised by the UFO phenomenon. The book is a techno-thriller that draws on real crisis-management procedures. ===== In June 1983 in Dutchess County, New York, Sebastian Cole's stepfather, Hank, drops a bomb: he announces that he is having a sex change operation. Sebastian's sister, Jessica, leaves immediately for California, and his mother, Joan, takes him back to England. Eight months later, Sebastian is back in New York, knocking on Hank's door. Hank (now Henrietta) takes Sebastian in and supports him over the next few months of high school. Sebastian's "adventures" are mostly self-destructive. ===== When Jerry is shopping for clothes with Elaine, he finds a suede jacket that he likes. He has doubts about buying the jacket because it is very expensive and has a candy-stripe lining. He eventually decides to buy it. Kramer persuades Jerry to give him his old leather jacket as he will no longer be using it. The following night, Jerry, Elaine and George have dinner with Elaine's father, writer Alton Benes. While preparing for the dinner, George arrives at Jerry's apartment with the song "Master of the House" stuck in his head. Both George and Jerry are nervous to meet Alton because they are in awe of his writings. Kramer enters the apartment and asks them to guard his illegally parked car for two minutes as he carries down some doves that he is looking after for a magician friend. However, they refuse to help because he often underestimates how long things take to do. As they enter Alton Benes' hotel, Elaine has not arrived yet, forcing them to wait with her father for 30 minutes. Jerry and George are made increasingly uncomfortable by Alton's socially awkward and intimidating manner. When Elaine finally arrives, she explains that Kramer promised her a lift if she would wait in his car for two minutes. He returned over 20 minutes later, and the car had been towed for being illegally parked. On their way out, they notice it is snowing. Jerry knows snow would ruin his suede jacket and asks Alton if they can take a cab, but Alton replies that the restaurant is only a few blocks away. George suggests Jerry turn the jacket inside out, but because of the candy-stripe lining, Alton insists he turn it back. He also silences George when he starts singing "Master of the House." The next day, Kramer notices Jerry's jacket (now badly damaged from the snow) hanging in the bathroom and asks if he can have it. Elaine arrives and tells Jerry that her father had a good time, even though he usually hates everyone. As Alton drives home, he finds himself singing "Master of the House." ===== Montigny, Meurthe-et-Moselle, 1944: Squad leader Sergeant Larkin (Harry Guardino) and his men are taking a well-deserved rest behind the lines after conducting front-line combat operations for several weeks. Rumor has it the unit will be rotated state-side and the men are almost giddy in anticipation. During an interlude at a church and later at a tavern, the senior non-commissioned officer, Platoon Sergeant Pike (Fess Parker), happens upon acquaintance Private John Reese (Steve McQueen) who has been assigned to his platoon. Reese was a former master sergeant, demoted to private after a court martial, who walks about armed with a distinctive M3 submachine gun. Reese is the quintessential troubled loner, managing to alienate almost everyone in the squad right from the beginning. Unlike his jubilant comrades, the prospect of a long break from combat, perhaps the end of the war itself, renders Reese morose. The company commander, Captain Loomis (Joseph Hoover), is worried because Reese, although already having won a Distinguished Service Cross, acts irresponsibly when there is no fighting, but Pike comments that he is a good soldier in combat. Pike informs the men that they will shortly be going back on the line rather than home. After much bitter complaining, the men get ready to move out. The remaining members of 2nd Squad include con-man/scavenger Corby (Bobby Darin); Corporal Henshaw (James Coburn), a mechanic who can fix anything; the easy-going, somewhat- naive kid, Cumberly (Bill Mullikin); and family man Kolinsky (Mike Kellin). The squad has their own mascot, a young Polish displaced person Homer Janeczek (Nick Adams), who is not a soldier, but stays with the squad in hopes of accompanying the men upon their return to the United States. The morning after they arrive at their appointed post and dig in, the men realize that an unannounced overnight withdrawal of the main American force has left them spread dangerously thin. Finally, Pike arrives to explain the situation, which only heightens everyone's awareness that any reconnaissance by the Germans across the valley will quickly reveal how weak the American defenses are there. One stroke of good luck is the sudden and mistaken arrival of an Army company clerk, Private First Class James Driscoll (Bob Newhart in his first film role). Larkin quickly puts Driscoll’s jeep to use by having Henshaw drive it back and forth behind their lines, after rigging it to backfire and sound like a tank, in an attempt to fool the Germans. Driscoll himself is put to use improvising misleading radio messages for a hidden microphone, discovered by Corby, left by the Germans in an abandoned pillbox (Newhart was noted for his telephone conversation skits in his stand-up comedy routines). Additionally, Larkin has his men run wire to three empty ammo cans, partially filled with rocks and hung from trees, distributed along gaps in their front lines, which they can pull to create noise to make the Germans believe that a much larger American force is present. A German raid results in Cumberly's death, but Reese manages to eliminate three Germans in close combat. Worried that the German survivors will report on the understrength American lines, Reese recommends attacking a large, opposing German pillbox, flanked by a minefield and barbed wire, to make the enemy pause and convince them the Americans are at normal strength. Larkin, fearing an overwhelming enemy assault on their positions, decides to go find Pike and obtain his permission for the pillbox attack. Unable to locate Pike because he has gone to the rear, Larkin returns and berates Reese when he finds out Henshaw, whom Larkin had put in charge in his absence, had been convinced by Reese to go to a supply dump to obtain satchel charges. After a heated argument with Reese, Larkin is killed in an artillery barrage. Reese decides to proceed without orders and two others, Henshaw and Kolinsky, go along. Shortly after they set out, Sgt. Pike and the rest of the company begins to return to the line. The squad's attack fails when Henshaw accidentally sets off an undetected S-mine, fatally burning with the exploding flamethrower tanks he carries, as well as illuminating the battlefield. Reese and Kolinsky retreat, covered by smoke from the company mortar squad. As they run back to their lines, Kolinsky is struck by shrapnel through the back and abdomen, and finally dies, screaming about his guts, as a medic and others attend to his wounds. A furious Captain Loomis berates Reese and promises him a court-martial for defying orders to hold the line, but only after the American assault at dawn. The dominant German pillbox fires on the advancing Americans, who press on despite heavy casualties. Determined to eliminate the pillbox, Reese gets within striking range, aided by Corby, manning a flamethrower. Reese throws a satchel charge into the pillbox, but, in the process, is wounded in the back and stomach. When the unexploded satchel charge is tossed out by the alert defenders, the wounded Reese retrieves it and carries it back through the pillbox opening, blowing up the fortification's occupants and himself. Corby, at Pike's command, directs his flamethrower at the blown-out pillbox window, until it is engulfed with fire, as the Americans continue to advance, and fall, to other unseen German weapons. ===== AiAi, MeeMee, Baby, and GonGon are barbecuing bananas on Jungle Island when, all of a sudden, the alarm bells of the Tree Palace sound. King Junjun of Jungle Island tells them the sorrow and naysayers that have spread throughout the five kingdoms, brought on by Prince AbeABE of Monkitropolis and Princess Dee-Dee of Kongri-la's visit to the island. Once the prince and princess's identities are revealed, their true love for each other is, too. King Junjun and the Super Monkey Ball team work together to bring on the wedding of the year - but it is not easy. Monkitropolis and Kongri-la are great rivals, and before the wedding can happen, AiAi and friends must help bring peace to them. If the game is 100% completed, a visit from AiAi from the future will tell how the monkeys are inside magic energy balls, which are invented by AiAi and GonGon from a later time period, which is the reason the monkeys have balls. Baby returns home with this version of his father. ===== The Laughing Corpse takes place a month after the events of Guilty Pleasures and begins with Anita and her manager Bert visiting Harold Gaynor, a local millionaire that wants Anita to animate a 300-year-old corpse. He informs Anita that he'd be willing to pay millions of dollars for her to do this, even supplying a willing "white goat" that would be needed for an animation of that level. Anita immediately refuses the offer, with Bert agreeing not to take on the case after discovering that the "white goat" was a euphemism for a human sacrifice. Anita is later called in to a murder scene by Dolph, the head of the area's supernatural crimes unit. A family was discovered to be torn apart, with a child missing and possibly still alive. Anita theorizes that it would likely be a flesh-eating zombie as there was too much blood left at the scene and that only two people could raise and control a zombie of that power: herself and vaudun priestess Senora Dominga Salvador. The only other person capable of this feat, Peter Burke, recently died. Anita sets up a meeting with Salvador through her mentor Manny Rodriguez, where she discovers that Salvador is both very evil and very powerful. Salvador demonstrates her technique for capturing the souls of the dead and installing them in zombies, preventing the zombies from degrading and allowing further punishment of the dead. She invites Anita to become her partner and help create ensouled zombies for profit, to which Anita refuses and is chased out of the house by an unseen creature. At the funeral for Peter Burke, Anita meets the deceased's brother John Burke, who is also a powerful vaudun priest and capable of committing the zombie murders. Later that day Anita also meets up with Irving Griswold, who supplies her with information on Gaynor, including the name of one of Gaynor's former lovers, Wheelchair Wanda. Irving then tries to get Anita to reveal who the current Master of the City is, only for Irving to discover that it is Jean-Claude after he appears in an attempt to persuade Anita to accept her position as his human servant. That evening Anita investigates a cemetery where remains of one of the murdered family members was discovered and through her powers discovers that a grave has been recently disturbed, with another being empty. The tombstone for the empty grave has been smashed, with Anita finding a charm bracelet. Anita takes some pieces of the tombstone and the bracelet to an associate that is a touch clairvoyant, who reluctantly tells her that the charm bracelet belonged to a woman sacrificed to raise a zombie. Anita is later attacked several times, once by zombies in her apartment and again later by thugs who attempt to kidnap her and her friend Ronnie. The two manage to foil the kidnapping attempt and discover that the thugs were working for Gaynor. Anita eventually visits the town's red light district with Jean-Claude, who helps her intimidate Wheelchair Wanda into talking about Gaynor and divulging that he is obsessed with the idea of finding a historic family treasure and getting revenge. Anita is called to another crime scene so recent that she believes that the zombie might be still hiding in the neighborhood. Dolph begins a search of the neighborhood as well as authorizing Anita to show John his brother's possessions in an attempt to discover any involvement in the murders. Through this she discovers that Peter possessed a gris-gris that contained a portion of the power of a powerful vaudun practitioner that would increase the power of any animator who possessed it. With John, Anita and the police confront Salvador with the gris-gris, which is revealed to be hers. Her grandson Antonio then confesses that he was supposed to remove the charm after Peter's death and now fears what punishment he might receive for this failure. The police discover a video of the events relating to the charm, and with the confession they then arrest Salvador. Anita then returns to the latest crime scene, where she is attacked by the zombie and lays it to rest. Upon returning home Anita is kidnapped by Gaynor's bodyguards and taken to his home, where Anita finds that Salvador has used her influence to gain bail. Gaynor informs Anita that he and Salvador are going to force Anita to raise a relative of Gaynors using his ex-lover Wheelchair Wanda, who has also been kidnapped. Anita refuses, which prompts Salvador to go to another room to begin a spell that would compel Anita to obey her. Anita manages to kill the bodyguards holding them captive and tries to escape with Wanda, only for the compulsion spell to force her to return to the cemetery near Gaynor's home. At the cemetery Salvador informs Anita that she gave Peter a gris-gris to raise his power enough to raise Gaynor's ancestor, as she was unwilling to perform a human sacrifice in front of witnesses. However, because Gaynor's ancestor was an animator, he rose as an uncontrollable flesh-eating zombie and Burke was murdered to keep the animation a secret. Salvador orders Anita to "perform human sacrifice", but due to a loophole in the spell Anita only has to perform the command literally and kills the guards holding Wanda. The resulting power from their sacrifice allows Anita to raise and control every corpse in the cemetery and she commands them to kill both Salvador and Gaynor. Anita then lays the zombies to rest. In the epilogue Anita explains that the "disappearances" of Salvador and Gaynor have never been solved, that she continues to refuse Jean-Claude, and that she is now considering the extent and implications of the power she now realizes she has. ===== At the Bureau of National Security headquarters, Special Agent Alex Scott is accosted by his rival, Carlos, before being briefed on his next mission. Scott is assigned to recover a stolen fighter, the "Switchblade," plane sold to arms dealer Arnold Gundars. Gundars is sponsoring middleweight world boxing champion Kelly Robinson's next match and using the event to auction the plane. The agency has contacted Robinson and assigned him to be the civilian cover for Scott's mission. Scott and Robinson travel to Budapest, where Scott plans to penetrate Gundars' compound during a pre-fight party. Arriving in Budapest, Robinson is kidnapped. During the interrogation Scott bursts in, frees Robinson, and fights the kidnappers before revealing this was a test which Kelly passed by not divulging Scott's identity. At Gundars' party, Robinson replaces Gundars' pen with a duplicate fitted with a tracking device before confronting his European challenger in the party's boxing ring. Scott, posing as a member of Robinson's entourage, uses this as a diversion to enter Gundars' private office and hack his computer. Robinson arrives unexpectedly and trips an alarm. The two are forced to escape and manage to evade their pursuers by hiding in a sewer. After returning to base, Robinson helps Scott seduce Agent Rachel Wright by feeding him lines from the Marvin Gaye song "Sexual Healing". Scott succeeds, but is interrupted by movement on the pen tracking device. He tracks Gundars to a bathhouse, which Scott believes is a dead end. Robinson has a hunch that the plane is hidden in the building, leading the two into a fight with Gundars' men. Gundars speeds off in his car, with Wright in pursuit. Wright's car explodes and Scott blames Robinson for her death. The two engage in a public confrontation that leads to Robinson's arrest. Scott convinces the BNS that the operation can continue and tracks Gundars down again. Robinson reaches the arena just in time for his fight. Scott finds Gundars with terrorists, who are busy fitting the plane with a nuclear missile. Scott takes the men by surprise and forces them to surrender, before being disarmed by Agent Wright, who reveals she is a double agent. Wright tortures Scott for the Switchblade's activation codes. Scott activates the contact lens gadget, allowing Robinson to see the dilemma as he battles his opponent in the ring. Robinson gets knocked down for the first time in his career, but recovers, defeats his opponent, and departs for the bridge. Robinson sets off a firefight which kills many of the terrorists. After Carlos lands in a parachute, Robinson infers that Carlos is also corrupt. When Carlos provokes Kelly, he knocks him out, scattering the terrorists for them to take cover. Robinson takes out the remaining terrorists, while their leader, Zhu Tam, and Gundars are both killed by Wright. After the bomb on the plane is destroyed, Robinson tells Rachel to put the gun down. Wright makes up a lie that the BNS suspected that Carlos was corrupt and says that they pretended to team up with Carlos so they can catch him and uses this to convince the others that she is innocent. The confusion leads to a fight between Scott and Carlos, allowing Wright to escape with Gundars' briefcase. Scott and Robinson attempt to fly the Switchblade away, but it crashes into the river. While in the water, Robinson discovers the nuclear weapon. Scott realizes the mission is a success after all, and Robinson remarks that he will be recognized as a hero. Later in Monte Carlo, Scott and Robinson track down Agent Wright and place her under arrest. Scott turns up a copy of USA Today and sees a picture of Carlos in a parade with President Bush. Robinson takes this news hard, and refuses to accompany Scott to BNS headquarters for a mission debrief. Scott tells Robinson the agency has perfected a jelly-like substance that will allow its wearer to float through the air. Robinson happily agrees to go, and Scott tells another agent to retrieve some jars of jelly and two parachutes. ===== In the late 1960s, astronauts training in an Apollo simulator have their session ended early. They grumble about it, but their commander, Chiz (Robert Duvall), knows the reason for the abort: the Pilgrim Program. The Russians will be sending a Moon landing mission up in four weeks. The Americans had a secret alternate plan to the Apollo program, the fictional program Pilgrim, in case this happened. One man would be sent to the Moon in a one-way rocket (depicted in the film as a Titan II), using a modified Project Gemini craft. He would stay on the Moon for a few months in a shelter pod launched and landed before him. Later, a manned Apollo mission would come to retrieve him. The equipment is ready, but the Russians complicate matters by sending up a civilian. Chiz, although trained and qualified, is an Air Force colonel. NASA and the White House insist that an American civilian be their first man on the Moon. Lee (James Caan), one of Chiz's crew, is tapped. Chiz is outraged, but agrees to train Lee in the few days they have. Chiz pushes Lee's training hard, half to get him ready, half hoping he will drop out and Chiz can step in. Lee persists, driven by the same astronaut dream. After a press leak about Pilgrim, the Russians launch a week early. Deflated at not being first, everyone carries on. The shelter pod (a LEM lander) is launched and landed successfully. Lee is launched on schedule. He encounters a power drain malfunction en route which tests his character and hinders radio contact. The Russians have also lost contact with their team. As Lee orbits the Moon, he does not see the beacon of the shelter. With only seconds left before he must abort and return to Earth, he lies about seeing it. Mission Control okays his retro burn and he lands. Now all radio contact is lost. Lee gets out of the Gemini lander and walks around with one hour of oxygen in his suit. He finds the crashed Russian lander on its side, the three dead cosmonauts sprawled around it. Everyone on Earth is nervously awaiting news, but none comes. Lee takes the Soviet flag from a dead cosmonaut and lays it on a nearby rock with his own American flag. With little air left and nowhere to go, Lee spins the toy mouse his son gave him. It points right, so he walks in that direction. People on Earth are losing hope as his time has run out. Lee looks at his watch to see that he has just minutes of air left. A red glow on his arm catches his attention. It is the locator beacon atop the shelter. Lee is last seen walking towards the shelter... towards survival. ===== Unlike the previous game in the series, Rumble Roses XX does not have a story mode. ===== ===== The plot involves the plight of a Princess "No-Knees", so named because she is unable to jump. Captured by a demon, the imprisoned princess discovers that the dungeon she is held in is actually a sentient elemental creature named Wally. Using Wally's portal-making ability, the princess sets out to escape and defeat the demon. ===== Hayworth stars as the Muse Terpsichore who is annoyed that popular Broadway producer Danny Miller (Parks) is putting on a play which portrays the Muses as man-crazy tarts fighting for the attention of a pair of Air Force pilots who crashed on Mount Parnassus. She asks permission from Mr. Jordan to go to Earth and fix the play. Jordan agrees and sends Messenger 7013 (Horton) to keep an eye on her. Terpsichore uses the name Kitty Pendleton and quickly gets an agent, Max Corkle (Gleason), and a part in the show. As the play is being rehearsed, Kitty takes every chance she gets to tell Danny that his depictions of the Muses are wrong. Danny, who has fallen madly in love with Kitty, is soon persuaded to her point of view and alters the play from a musical farce to a high-minded ballet in the style of Martha Graham, scored by Mario Castelnuovo- Tedesco. The revised play debuts on the road and is a complete flop. Danny, who is in debt to gangsters who will kill him if the show isn't a success, has no choice but to go back to his original concept. He and Kitty quarrel over this, and Kitty is ready to leave when Mr. Jordan shows up and explains the whole situation. Despite her argument with Danny, Kitty still loves him and decides to save him even if it means damaging her and her sisters' reputation. Max Corkle hears Kitty talking to Mr. Jordan and realizes this is the same heavenly messenger he had heard about in Here Comes Mr. Jordan. (Corkle makes a reference to the previous movie and tells Mr. Jordan that his old friend Joe Pendleton, now living his life as K.O. Murdock, is doing just fine - and has a wife and two children.) Kitty returns to the musical and performs "Swingin' the Muses" the way the producer had intended. When the musical becomes a hit, Terpsichore learns her time on Earth is up and she must return to Heaven. After getting Corkle to tell the police about the gangsters, she says she wants to stay with Danny—but she is now invisible to mortals. Mr. Jordan says that she will see Danny again and grants her a vision of their eventual reunion in the Afterlife. ===== Rita Hayworth in Tonight and Every Night. Behind her is an uncredited Shelley Winters Near the end of the war, a reporter from Life magazine comes to the Music Box Theatre in London to write a story about the music hall that never missed putting on a performance during the Blitz. Stage manager Sam Royce recalls the halcyon days at the beginning of the war: Theatrical impresario May "Tolly" Tolliver is rehearsing her performers when dancer Tommy Lawson comes to audition. Although Tommy is a naturally gifted dancer, he improvises all his steps and consequently, Tolly refuses to hire him. Taking pity on Tommy, Americans Rosalind Bruce and Judy Kane, members of the troupe, teach him their routines, and he wins a part in the show. One night, RAF pilot Paul Lundy comes to the theater and is infatuated with Ros. When German planes discharge their bombs over the theater, the audience and performers take refuge in the building's basement, and there Paul meets Ros and invites her to dinner. Ros refuses his invitation, but after the raid, she and Judy stop by the neighborhood restaurant, and Paul is waiting with champagne. Ros begins to date Paul, but when he tricks her into coming to his apartment by promising to introduce her to a non-existent soldier from her home town of St. Louis, she feels betrayed and refuses to talk to him. Desperate to see Ros, Paul convinces his group captain to request that the Music Box troupe appear at the upcoming RAF theatrical. At the RAF show, Paul begs Ros to forgive him, and when he is called away on a mission, she relents and accepts his confession of love. Tommy, who is also in love with Ros, begins to drink to dull the pain of rejection. After Paul returns from his assignment, he tells Ros that he must leave again the next morning, and the two plan to spend an intimate evening at Paul's apartment. When they arrive, however, they find that Paul's building has been flattened in a German bombing raid. The next day, Paul is planning to propose to Ros when he is called into his group captain's office and ordered to leave immediately on a secret assignment. Two weeks pass without word from Paul, causing Ros to worry. One night, Ros sees several flyers from Paul's squadron, and when they tell her that the entire squadron has been on a two-week leave, Ros believes that Paul has lost interest in their romance. When Ros receives a note from Paul's father, Reverend Gerald Lundy, asking to meet her after the show that night, she assumes that Paul has sent him as an emissary to terminate their relationship. Ros is relieved when Reverend Lundy explains that Paul has been assigned a special mission and shows her a Bible that Paul had sent to his father. The Reverend opens the Bible to the page marked by Ros's picture, and on that page, a passage, proposing marriage, is highlighted. The Reverend then proposes for his absent son and welcomes Ros to the family. Upon learning of Paul's proposal, Tommy jealously predicts that Ros will desert the theater. When Paul returns soon after and asks Ros to honeymoon in Canada, she refuses to leave the troupe until Tommy offers his congratulations and insists that she go. Afterward, Judy, who is secretly in love with Tommy, goes to console him at the pub, and after drinking a toast to Ros, they kiss. Their happiness is short-lived, however, as a German bomb strikes the pub, killing them both. Despite the tragedy, the night's performance goes on, and as Ros sings Judy's song, she determines to stay with the show. File:Tonight-and-Every-Night- LIFE-6.jpg|Florence Bates, Geraldine Farnum, Lee Bowman, Rita Hayworth, Janet Blair and Leslie Brooks File:Tonight-and-Every-Night-LIFE-1.jpg|Rita Hayworth and Jack Cole File:Tonight-and-Every-Night-LIFE-2.jpg|Rita Hayworth and Jack Cole File:Tonight-and-Every-Night-LIFE-4.jpg|Rita Hayworth and Lee Bowman File:Tonight-and-Every-Night-LIFE-5.jpg|Janet Blair, Lee Bowman, Rita Hayworth and Florence Bates ===== Sally Elliott (Rita Hayworth), a musical star meets up with Indiana boy Paul Dresser (Victor Mature), a runaway who after a brief stopover with a medicine show arrives in Gay Nineties New York. He composes the title tune for the fair lady and becomes the toast of Tin Pan Alley. ===== In Spain, during the early nineteenth century, Don Jose Lizarabengoa arrives in Seville to begin service as a corporal in the Spanish dragoons. He meets Carmen, a gypsy, who steals his watch, and becomes obsessed with her. Carmen slashes the face of a peasant woman who insults her. Jose is ordered to arrest Carmen but allows her to escape. For this Jose is demoted and confined to guard duty. Jose's commanding officer, the colonel, also falls in love with Carmen. A fortune teller warns Carmen she will be killed by a man she really loves. She goes to meet Jose, who is discovered by the colonel. The colonel challenges Jose to a duel during which Carmen trips the officer, causing him to fall on Jose's sword and die. Jose is wanted for murder. He and Carmen flee to the mountains where Jose discovers Carmen is married to Garcia, the leader of a gang of bandits. Jose and Garcia have a knife fight in which Garcia is killed. Jose marries Carmen and takes over the gang, but the couple keep fighting. Carmen goes to Cordoba and becomes the lover of the bullfighter Lucas. Pablo, one of the bandits, betrays Jose to the police for a reward. Jose tracks down Carmen, who refuses to return to him. She spits on him, he stabs her, and a policeman shoots Jose, mortally wounding him. Carmen and Jose die in each other's arms. ===== In a desolate village, after the collapse of a collective farm, Futaki is having an affair with Mrs. Schmidt (Éva Almássy Albert), as he is awakened at dawn by the ringing of church bells. Mr. Schmidt (László Lugossy) conspires with another co-worker to steal the villagers' money and flee to another part of the country. As Futaki is sneaking out of the Schmidt home, he discovers Schmidt's plans, after which he demands to become part of the scheme—all of this being watched by a lonely drunk man known as the Doctor (Peter Berling), who writes the events down in a notebook. However, the conspiracy is terminated when rumors spread across the village that the charismatic and manipulative Irimiás (Mihály Vig), a former co-worker who had been presumed dead, is returning. Meanwhile, Irimiás and his friend Petrina (Putyi Horváth) make a secret deal with a Police Captain in a nearby city, to spy on the community. At the village, the Doctor discovers he has run out of fruit brandy. Unaccustomed to abandoning his house, he decides to go out to buy liquor nonetheless. Outside, he is met with hostile weather and the arrival of the night. After purchasing his brandy, he is approached by Estike (Erika Bók), a young girl who desperately reaches out for his help. Behaving aggressively towards the child, the Doctor reconsiders and naively tries to apologize as the girl leaves and disappears in the darkness. Chasing after her, the Doctor passes out, and collapses in nearby woods, and is found in the morning by the town's conductor who takes him to a hospital. The morning before the Doctor left his house, Estike is tricked by her brother, Sanyi (András Bodnár), into planting a "money tree" somewhere in the wasteland. She tortures and poisons her cat to demonstrate that she has some control over something in her life. After finding out she has been deceived by her brother and trying in vain to recover her money, she succumbs to silent despair, devastated by what she's done to her pet. Dangerously marauding in the woods, the girl approaches the local bar, and peers through its window, where most of the villagers dance to accordion music, unaware of the child's voyeurism. Afterwards, she encounters the Doctor and cries out for his help to save her cat. Rebuffed, she retreats into an abandoned ruin and poisons herself. The following day, Irimiás arrives at the village while Estike's funeral is being held. Filled with grief, Irimiás speaks to the villagers hatefully and convinces them of handing him the money of their proposed venture in order to start a new collective farm in another city. The villagers travel together to a distant abandoned building, where they collapse into sleep and have intense nightmares. Meanwhile, Irimiás and Petrina meet with an accomplice in a nearby city to acquire explosives, for reasons never explicitly explained. The next day, Irimiás tells the villagers that the plan to establish a new farm has been delayed and that their only hope of establishing a farm is to scatter around the country for an unspecified amount of time. Schmidt and Kráner (János Derzsi) demand Irimiás return their money. Irimiás agrees, but upon expressing his disapproval at their lack of trust, the villagers shamefully return the money. After traveling in a truck to the city, each of the villagers is assigned a different task by Irimiás and dismissed, except for Futaki, who tells Irimiás that he would rather get a job as a watchman, and leaves on his own. Government officials receive Irimiás' report detailing the villagers' descriptions, abilities and defects, and decide to re-write it in a more bureaucratically friendly way before filing it away and leaving for home. The Doctor returns home several weeks later, unaware that Irimiás had taken the entire community with him. As he sits down to write some notes, the same bells that woke Futaki up start ringing. The Doctor decides to leave his house once more to investigate the ruined church where the closest bell is heard. He discovers a madman in the middle of ruins desperately ringing the bells and shouting that Turks are coming. Frightened, the Doctor returns home, muttering nihilistic thoughts. The bells keep on ringing as he covers his windows with boards, completely submerging himself in darkness as he writes the narration that began the film. ===== Giph (Tijn Docter) is a young security guard and writer. He has a girlfriend Samarinde (Carice van Houten), who is a physician and model. He is on holiday in Spain with her and their friends. Giph's mother Lotti () has recently died. Giph plans to end the relationship after the holiday. Samarinde turns out be pregnant. The question arises whether Samarinde will have an induced abortion. However, she has a miscarriage. Giph loves Samarinde again and they continue the relationship. A large part of the film consists of flashbacks, about Lotti's multiple sclerosis and euthanasia by lethal injection, and Giph's relationship with Samarinde. ===== In 1995 Hollywood, novice screenwriter Robert Sandrich has written an autobiographical script inspired by his lover's death by AIDS- related cerebral tuberculosis. It impresses both studio executive Jeffrey Tishop and his wife Elaine, but for commercial reasons Jeffrey is willing to greenlight the project only if Robert changes his protagonist from Maurice to Maggie and shifts the focus of his plot from gay to straight people. Robert initially refuses to compromise his principles, but when Jeffrey threatens to make the film without his participation, he decides to accept the $1 million paycheck he's been offered and make the requested edits. Both Jeffrey and Elaine find themselves attracted to Robert, who becomes a frequent guest in their Malibu home and soon drifts into a sexual relationship with the manipulative producer. The connection Elaine feels to the grieving young man is more emotional and cerebral than physical and, after discovering Robert is addicted to Internet chat rooms, she tracks him down online and engages him in conversation while posing as a gay man. Using information he has revealed to her in person, she convinces him that he is communicating with his dead lover. Complications ensue when Robert reveals he's having an affair with Jeffrey, which forces Elaine to face the truth about her seemingly perfect marriage and prompts a confrontation that leads to tragedy. ===== Don Coyote (voiced by Frank Welker) is a swordsman who travels the land in search of adventure, with the help of his noble horse Rosinante (voiced by Brad Garrett), Sancho Panda (voiced by Don Messick) and his cynical donkey, Dapple (voiced by Frank Welker). These crusaders of chivalry ride the countryside fighting for truth, justice, and beauty. Their attempts to do so are complicated by Don Coyote's state of mental unbalance and constantly mistaking everyday objects for horrific monsters. Coyote is always successful, for accidental reasons. ===== The game takes place in a multiverse where fictional universes exist mostly by the minds and dreams of people. One such universe called Arcapaedia is inhabited by video game characters, especially the two stick-figured, triangle-headed Yeet and Boik. However all the arcade games have been diminished due to the lack of bad guys and villains taken away by the puristic Hunnybunz Family. Since heroes and good guys are not able to rescue the missing characters, Yeet and Boik having a neutral alignment, set off to thwart Hunnybunz, his wife and his lovechild's intentions. ===== In the opening pages of the book, we see Billy and his half-brother Jud sleeping in the same bed in a troubled household. Billy tries to encourage Jud to get up to go to work, but Jud only responds by punching him. Soon afterward Billy attempts to leave for his paper round, only to discover that Jud has stolen his bicycle. As a result, Billy is late and has to deliver the newspapers on foot. There is a flashback to several months before when Billy returns home to find a man whom he does not recognize leaving his house. He asks his mother and finds out he is a man she had come home with the night before. It becomes obvious that Billy's father is absent. His mother then tells him to go to the shop to get some cigarettes, but he instead steals a book from the local bookshop and returns home to read it. Jud comes back drunk from a night out. Still in flashback, the next scene takes place at a farm. Billy sees a kestrel's nest and approaches it. Billy is then approached by the farmer and his daughter. At first, the farmer tells Billy to "bugger off" but when he realizes that Billy was looking for a kestrel, he soon takes an interest. The flashback ends. Later on in the day, Billy is at school, where Mr Crossley is taking the register. After the name Fisher, Billy shouts out 'German Bight', inadvertently causing the teacher to make a mistake. The class then proceeds to the hall for an assembly run by the strict head teacher, Mr Gryce. During the Lord's Prayer, Billy starts to daydream, and after the prayer has finished, Billy remains standing after the rest of the people in the hall have sat down. Billy is told to report to Gryce's room after assembly. Billy goes to Gryce and gets caned. He then goes to a class with Mr Farthing, who is discussing 'Fact and Fiction'. One of the pupils, Anderson, tells a story about tadpoles. Then Billy is told to tell a story, and tells a story about his kestrel. Mr Farthing takes an interest. The class then has to write a tall story, and Billy writes about a day when his father comes back home and Jud leaves to join the army. After the lesson, Billy gets into a fight with a boy called MacDowall, which is eventually broken up and warned by Mr. Farthing. After the break, Billy goes to physical education (PE) with Mr. Sugden. Billy doesn't have PE kit because his mother refuses to pay for it, so he is forced to wear clothes that do not fit for him instead. He goes onto the football pitch and is told to play in goal. After a very long lesson, which involves Billy performing acrobatics on the goalpost, the class goes back inside and each has a shower. After Billy intentionally lets in the winning goal to end the lesson, he is humiliated by Mr. Sugden who forces him to take a cold shower. After this, Billy goes straight home to feed Kes. He takes her out and flies her, and is approached by Mr. Farthing, who is apparently impressed by Billy's skill. Mr. Farthing then leaves, and Billy goes out to place Jud's bet. However, he finds out that the horse that Jud intends to bet on is unlikely to win, and instead uses Jud's money to buy a portion of fish and chips, and some meat for his kestrel. Billy returns to school, and whilst sitting in a maths lesson sees Jud walking towards the school. The lesson finishes, and Billy leaves hurriedly. He tries to hide from Jud and falls asleep before he bumps into Gryce, who reminds him that he is supposed to be in a Youth Employment Meeting. Billy goes along to his Youth Employment Meeting, and the Youth Employment Officer finds it very difficult to recommend anything, as Billy claims that he has no hobbies. After the Youth Employment Meeting, Billy goes straight home and finds that Kes has disappeared. He frantically searches for her and returns home. Jud is there, and he tells Billy that the horse he was supposed to place a bet on won and that he has killed Kes. Billy then calls Jud a "fuckin' bastard" and has a fight with him. His mother criticizes Billy's language, and Billy runs away. Another flashback takes place in which Billy visits the cinema with his father. When they return home, Billy's father finds that his wife has been having an affair with Billy's 'Uncle Mick'. Billy's father punches Mick and leaves the house. After the flashback has ended, Billy returns home, buries the kestrel and goes to bed. The story is set in only one day, apart from the flashback passages. However, the film version, directed by Kenneth Loach from Barry Hines's screenplay, dispenses with the flashbacks and portrays the events in a linear fashion. ===== Alex Kovac, playing poker in New York City, drops $10,000 to gamblers Joey and Harry that he can't pay back. Alex persuades pal Jerry Feldman to hop on a plane to Las Vegas with him and try to win $10,000 to pay off the debt. Finding out that a similarly named Jerry Feldman is a regular there, Jerry is comped $10,000 by the casino, no questions asked. A room and other perks go along with the comp. A waiter named Smitty, an old acquaintance of Alex's, is an expert card-counter, so he is staked to a high-limit blackjack game by the guys. Patti Warner, a former girlfriend of Alex's, is now the mistress of the casino's boss. Their mutual attraction returns, but trouble follows after a $500,000 victory at the tables, not only from the casino but from Joey and Harry, who have come to Vegas looking to get their money or get even. ===== Kathy has seemingly been happily married to Peter, but their relationship has grown routine. She cannot help but wonder what would happen if she ever got together with her high school sweetheart, Tom, whom she had never slept with. Being married prevents her from acting on that, so she asks her friend, Emily, to look Tom up when she goes to Denver, and to sleep with him, then tell Kathy what it was like. Emily does this, but when she tells Kathy that Tom is awesome and they had sex all night, their friendship suffers, as does Kathy's marriage. Things become even more complicated when Emily learns she is pregnant, and is uncertain if Tom or her boyfriend Elliot is the father. ===== A highly aggressive, paranormal intelligence thriving within the electrical grid system of Los Angeles, California is moving from house to house. It terrorizes the occupants by taking control of the appliances, killing them or causing them to wreck the house in an effort to destroy it. Once this has been accomplished, it travels along the power lines to the next house, and the terror restarts. Having thus wrecked one household in a quiet, suburban neighborhood, the pulse finds itself in the home of a boy's divorced father whom he is visiting. It gradually takes control of everything, injuring the stepmother, and trapping father and son, who must fight their way out. ===== Three rebellious teenage girls decide to even the score in the battle of the sexes. Looking back a few years after the events depicted, Jefferson Roth (who, along with her sisters are named after former presidents) tells the story of the last few months of her senior year at a Wisconsin boarding school when she and two girl friends, the naive Lisa and the outrageous Karen, conspire to use a pistol to turn the tables on males after a wealthy older man, with whom Karen had a one-night stand, refuses to give her his home phone number. They stage a sexual assault on David, Lisa's on-and-off boyfriend, in an effort to try to be more like their male counterparts. However, it backfires, as all three girls learn they are not able to have sex the way they feel a man can. Their unfaithfulness to their own objective is summed up in Karen's words, just prior to her tragic ending, "I wish I had a boyfriend." ===== In Venice, Los Angeles, Trish Deveraux, an 18-year-old high school senior, decides to throw a slumber party while her parents are away. Their neighbor, Mr. David Contant, is given the job of checking on the girls. She awakes and gets dressed shortly before going to school. Meanwhile, Russ Thorn, an escaped mass murderer, kills a telephone repair woman and steals her van. Trish meets up with her friends Kim, Jackie, and Diane. She invites the new girl, Valerie, to the party but she declines the offer. After school, one of their classmates, Linda, goes back into the school to retrieve a book but gets locked inside. She is attacked and presumably killed (or presumably passes out) by Russ, armed with a power drill. As the party begins that night, the girls smoke marijuana and drink alcohol, while Valerie babysits her younger sister, Courtney across the street. Two boys from school, Jeff and Neil, arrive and spy on the girls while they change clothes. Russ kills Mr. Contant outside with his power drill. Diane asks Trish permission to go with her boyfriend, and goes to his car to find him decapitated and is murdered as well. The girls order pizza and, while on the phone with their coach, Rachel Jana, the girls answer the door and find the pizza delivery man with his eyes drilled out. The teens arm themselves with knives as Jeff and Neil run for help, but both boys are killed. Russ gains entry to the house and murders Jackie. Trish and Kim barricade themselves in Trish's bedroom, but Russ enters through a window and kills Kim as Trish flees. Valerie and Courtney enter the house to find Kim dead, and hide from Russ. Coach Jana, having grown concerned over the phone call earlier, arrives, and is confronted by Russ, who disembowels her with the drill. Valerie chases Russ with a machete, eventually severing his hand before slicing his stomach open. Russ emerges and attacks them once more, but Valerie finally kills him with the machete. Valerie and Trish break down in tears as Courtney looks on in shock. ===== Kenneth Magee (Desi Arnaz, Jr.), a young writer, bets $20,000 that he can write a Wuthering Heights-calibre novel in 24 hours. To get in the mood for the undertaking, he goes to a deserted Welsh manor. Upon his arrival, however, Magee discovers that the manor is not as empty as he was told. Still there are Lord Grisbane (Carradine) and his daughter, Victoria (Sheila Keith), who have been maintaining the mansion on their own. As the stormy night progresses, more people come to the mansion, including Lord Grisbane's sons Lionel (Price) and Sebastian (Cushing), Magee's publisher's secretary, Mary Norton (Julie Peasgood), and Corrigan (Lee), a potential buyer of the property. After much coaxing, the Grisbanes reveal that they are here to release their brother, Roderick, who was imprisoned in his room for 40 years because he seduced a village girl when he was 14 and killed her when he found out she was pregnant. When they go to release him, they find the room empty and conclude that he broke out recently by breaking the bars in front of the window. Moments later, Lord Grisbane has a fatal heart attack. As Magee talks about getting the police, screams are heard and they find Victoria strangled to death. When Corrigan, Magee, and Mary decide to leave, they discover all of their cars have slashed tires. Soon, Diane (Louise English) and Andrew (Richard Hunter), a young couple who Magee met at the train station, arrive seeking shelter from the storm. They are soon killed when Diane washes her face with water that has been replaced by acid and Andrew drinks poisoned punch. The remaining five decide to find Roderick and kill him before he kills them. Magee, Sebastian, and Mary search a series of tunnels behind a bookcase. During their search, they get separated and Sebastian is hanged to death from the ceiling. Mary makes it back to Corrigan and Lionel while Magee remains lost in the tunnels. Corrigan soon reveals that he, in fact, is Roderick and that he escaped his prison decades ago, but returns every now and then to make them think he was still trapped. He then proceeds to kill Lionel with a battle axe and chase Mary throughout the manor. Magee soon finds them and, after the ensuing fight, knocks Roderick down the stairs; during the fall, Roderick accidentally stabs himself with the axe. As Roderick is dying, his victims suddenly walk into the room, very much alive; it is revealed that all was a joke put on by Magee's publisher, even Roderick rises, his wound was also a fake. It is revealed that it was all Magee's story, as he finishes his novel and returns to give it to his publisher. When his publisher gives him his $20,000 he proceeds to rip it up, as he has learned that some things are more important than money. ===== On June 9, 1970, at the Meadowvale General Hospital in Southern California, a doctor arrives to attend to three women in labor at the same time during a solar eclipse. Two boys and a girl are born - Curtis Taylor, Debbie Brody, and Steven Seton. Flash forward ten years to a young couple fooling around in the cemetery at night. Suddenly, unknown assailants kill the boy with a shovel and then strangle the girl with a jump rope. That same night, Joyce is interrupted from the horoscopes she's working on when her brother Timmy sneaks in the window, and lies about having locked himself out while feeding the dog. The next day, Joyce arrives at the Thomas Jefferson Elementary School, where she is volunteering for her Civics class, to find Sheriff Brody talking to Ms. Davis' class about the murder. He shows the children a jump rope handle and asks if anyone was in the cemetery the night before. Debbie and Curtis exchange glances but say nothing. After the teacher refuses to let the class go until she has officially dismissed them, the Sheriff says goodbye to Debbie, who is his daughter, and then leaves. Debbie, Curtis and Steven ask Ms. Davis not to assign homework because everyone will be at their birthday party next week, but she turns them down. When the three arrive at Debbie's house after school, she brings Curtis and Steven to the closet in her room and charges them each a quarter to watch through a peephole as her older sister Beverly strips down and dances around while she's changing clothes. Later, Debbie calls her father outside while skipping rope. After he narrowly evades a skateboard on the stairs - actually a trap set up by Curtis - Debbie drops her skipping rope on the ground, showing him that it is missing its handle. While he is distracted, Steven beats the sheriff from behind with his wooden baseball bat as Debbie stands and watches. Timmy shows up while Steven, Curtis and Debbie are arranging the Sheriff's body on the stairs, making Debbie quickly call for her mother, saying that their father fell and hurt himself. After the sheriff's funeral, Curtis, Steven, and Timmy go playing hide-and-seek in the junkyard. While Steven counts, Curtis dares Timmy to hide inside an old refrigerator, and then locks him in. Timmy manages to escape and returns home, where he tells Joyce about the incident. However, she doesn't believe him because of his lie about the dog, and he admits that he'd gone to Debbie's that night hoping to be able to use the peephole. Elsewhere, Debbie pastes a picture of Ms. Davis in her scrapbook, as well as an article about her father's death. That night, Debbie turns off the house security system and lets Curtis switch his replica gun with the sheriff's revolver. A few days later, Curtis shoots Ms. Davis with the revolver; Joyce later discovers the body in a closet. Meanwhile, Timmy attacks Curtis on the playground for locking him in the refrigerator, and on his way home is lured up to Debbie's tree house, where she almost pushes him off the edge onto a garden spike, but is interrupted by the phone ringing. Upon returning home, Joyce finds a note from Timmy, telling her he is in the junkyard. When she goes looking for him, Curtis and Steven try to run her over with a junk car, wearing a sheet with holes cut in it like a ghost to avoid being identified. She manages to avoid the car, tricking them into driving over a short drop- off. A police officer arrives and Joyce tells him what happened, but the kids are gone. That night, Joyce shows Timmy how she creates horoscopes. She says the solar eclipse that occurred during the births of Debbie, Curtis, and Steven blocked Saturn, the planet controlling the way a person treats other people, which means that something is missing from their personalities. Curtis waits outside with the revolver, hoping to kill them, but is startled by the headlights from a van. Once the couple in the van begin to have sex, he shoots them instead. Similarly, Debbie looks through the peephole at her sister, aiming an arrow at her, but does not shoot. At Curtis, Steven, and Debbie's birthday party, Curtis tricks Joyce into believing that he poisoned the cake to make her look crazy. Later, there's a brief moment of panic when she and Timmy think their house has been broken into, but it's only Joyce's college boyfriend. That evening, Beverly discovers Debbie's scrapbook of kills. She confronts Debbie over it and then shows the scrapbook to their mother. Debbie lies and says the scrapbook belongs to Curtis, so their mother forbids Debbie from hanging out with him and tells Beverly to burn the book, which she does. That night, Debbie tells Curtis and Steven to come to her house, then kills Beverly with a bow and arrow after tricking her into looking through the peephole. When the boys arrive, they are disappointed that she didn't wait for them, but help her move the body away from the house so it can be discovered. When her mother catches Debbie mopping up the blood on Beverly's floor, she lies and says it was nail polish. After Beverly's funeral, a distraught Mrs. Brody checks herself into the hospital. Curtis, Steven, and Debbie enjoy their freedom playing tag at Debbie's house, during which Curtis demonstrates that he can rewire the security system to lock all the doors to the house. When Timmy shows up and throws rocks at their window, they chase him down and almost succeed in strangling him with a garden hose before Joyce intervenes. Debbie once again blames Curtis and Steven and makes herself look innocent. When Joyce threatens to call the Sheriff, Curtis says he'll just think she's crazy, and threatens to have her arrested for assaulting a minor so she has to let them go. The next day, Debbie pastes a picture of Joyce into her scrapbook. Later, she tells Joyce that her mother has to see a psychiatrist that night, and asks if she and Timmy can babysit her at 7pm. Joyce agrees, unaware that it's a trap. After Joyce and Timmy arrive at Debbie's house, she lets Curtis and Steven in the back door, and Curtis rewires the security system to lock them in. Curtis and Steven try to shoot Joyce, while Debbie uses her jump rope to try to strangle her, as well as her bow and arrow. After several near misses, they manage to lock Steven in a trunk, and subdue Curtis after he runs out of bullets. While Timmy runs to a neighbor's house to call the police, Debbie escapes through a window just as her mother arrives home. She lies to her mother about Curtis and Steven, saying that they did bad things and Joyce was going to blame her for it. Her mother believes her and flees with her. The police arrest Curtis and Steven, much to the shock and anger of the townsfolk. As he is taken away, Curtis gives Joyce and Timmy an evil smirk. In the final scene, Debbie is playing with a large car jack outside a motel someplace else. When her mother comes out looking for her, she calls her Beth – they've changed their names and moved to a new town. Her mother makes Debbie recite her new name again, and Debbie promises to be a good girl from then on. After they leave, the camera pans around a corner to reveal a driver crushed underneath a nearby truck. ===== The poverty-stricken Squire Amos Haggard, who is a former friend of the Prince of Wales, is desperate for money and is always plotting for ways in which he can recoup the family fortune. The Squire's son, Roderick, is idealistic and falls in love very easily. Roderick is more interested in beautiful young ladies than he is in money, and his foolishness often brings his father's schemes undone. Nathanial Grunge, their servant, is richer than his two masters, and would like to be free of them to pursue his own dreams (something he finds impossible to do because the Squire often uses Grunge's money in his get-rich- quick schemes). ===== Ab is a Stone Age boy who grows to young manhood amid the many dangers of his times. With his friend, Oak, he digs a pit and catches a baby rhinoceros, participates in a mammoth hunt with the tribe to prove himself a man, and courts the young women from a neighboring tribe. One girl in particular, Lightfoot, holds the attention of both men, and Ab is forced to kill his friend in a savage fight. He wins Lightfoot for his mate, but is haunted by guilt for his murdered companion. As Ab grows older, he helps the tribe kill a marauding sabre-tooth tiger, leads his people in a great battle against an invading tribe, and eventually becomes the leader of the cave men, and the patriarch of a large personal family. Ab is used by the author to support his contention that there was no sharp division between the Paleolithic and Neolithic periods, that man learned to make fine, polished tools and weapons gradually and naturally, as Ab does. During his life Ab invents and perfects the bow and arrow, and is the first of the primitives to domesticate wolves as pets. ===== In The Flopsy Bunnies, Benjamin Bunny and Peter Rabbit are adults, and Benjamin has married his cousin Flopsy (one of Peter's sisters). As for Peter, Mopsy, and Cotton-Tail, they haven't been married yet and still live with their mother (Mrs. Josephine Rabbit). The couple are the parents of six young rabbits generally called The Flopsy Bunnies. Benjamin and Flopsy are "very improvident and cheerful" and have some difficulty feeding their brood. At times, they turn to Peter Rabbit (who has gone into business as a florist and keeps a nursery garden), but there are days when Peter cannot spare cabbages.In the original frontispiece to the tale, a sign over the garden tended by Peter and his mother reads, "Peter Rabbit and Mother – Florists – Gardens neatly razed. Borders devastated by the night or year". The illustration was eventually replaced (probably in the third printing) because of the difficulty in lettering the noticeboard in non-English editions (MacDonald 1986, p. 40;Linder 1976, plate 8). It is then that the Flopsy Bunnies cross the field to Mr. McGregor's rubbish heap of rotten vegetables.MacDonald 1986, p. 40 One day they find and feast on lettuces that have shot into flower, and, under their "soporific" influence, fall asleep in the rubbish heap, though Benjamin puts a sack over his head. Mr. McGregor discovers them by accident when tipping grass-clippings down and places them in a sack and ties it shut then sets the sack aside while attending to another matter. Benjamin and Flopsy are unable to help their children, but a "resourceful" wood mouse called Thomasina Tittlemouse, gnaws a hole in the sack and the bunnies escape. The rabbit family (Benjamin, Flopsy, and the Flopsy bunnies) fill the sack with rotten vegetables (two decayed turnips and three rotten vegetable marrows). Then the animals mend the hole which Thomasina Tittlemouse made. Afterwards, they hide under a bush to observe Mr. McGregor's reaction. Mr. McGregor does not notice the replacement (as the bunnies have replaced the six baby rabbits with the rotten vegetables), and carries the sack home (still thinking he has the six baby rabbits), continually counting the six rabbits (he says, "One, two, three, four, five, six leetle fat rabbits!"). The McGregors do not know that the youngest Flopsy Bunny is out there and eavesdropping. His wife Mrs. McGregor (thinking the rotten vegetables are the six rabbits) claims the skins for herself, intending to line her old cloak with them. However, she reaches into the sack and feels the vegetables (which she had thrown out the day before) and discovers them. When she felt the rotten vegetables, she becomes very, very, angry. She accuses her husband of playing a trick on her (saying to him, "You silly man! You've made a fool out of me! And you have done it on purpose!"). Mr. McGregor also becomes very angry, and he throws a rotten vegetable marrow out through the window, hitting the youngest of the eavesdropping bunnies who has been sitting on the window-sill. When the rotten vegetable marrow hits the youngest Flopsy bunny, it breaks his arm. Their parents decide it is time to go home. With the Mc Gregors defeated once again, they are left to argue. At Christmas, they send the heroic little wood mouse a quantity of rabbit-wool. She makes herself a cloak and a hood, and a muff and mittens. Scholar M. Daphne Kutzer points out that Mr. McGregor's role is larger in The Flopsy Bunnies than in the two previous rabbit books, but he inspires less fear in The Flopsy Bunnies than in Peter Rabbit because his role as fearsome antagonist is diminished when he becomes a comic foil in the book's final scenes.Kutzer 2003, p. 56 Nonetheless, for young readers, he is still a frightening figure because he has captured not only vulnerable sleeping bunnies but bunnies whose parents have failed to adequately protect them.Kutzer 2003, pp. 55–6 ===== Bec and Kawl are art students who dabble in the occult and this leads them into a whole range of adventures from meeting the tooth fairies and defending the Earth from alien traffic cones. The stories are often parodical, taking the form of humorous versions of staple themes of fantasy, science fiction and horror. The heavy use of parody also extends to dialogue and characters. ===== Sandhana Krishnan (Madhavan), also known as Sakhi, is an automobile company employee who lives in a joint family. He comes across a model named Priya (Sadha) and becomes attracted to her. Sakhi uses Priya's friend to gain her attention. He later comes across her diary and uses it to make Priya fall for him by posing as her ideal guy. Sakhi tricks priya and his family (tells them lies about how Priya is the ideal bride and fits well into their family and they get married. Unlike Sakhi's conservative family, Priya's wealthy family is 'cosmopolitan' and outgoing. Her mother (Aishwarya) is a party going socialite, while her father (Pratap K. Pothen) restricts himself to his house and is generally ignored by his wife. Priya is accustomed to being independent. Brought up with modern values, Priya finds it hard to adjust with the family of Sakhi, since they believe in different values. Sakhi goes about life as usual, as in before he got married and puts his family before Priya. He tells Priya that they will be going to the movies but Priya comes to know too late that the 'date' includes his entire family. When Priya points out that as newly weds, any wife would want/expect their first outgoing would be just them not a battalion, an angered Sakhi tells her how he wants his family with him. Sakhi hands out the necklace Priya purchases for herself to his sister before his entire family because she admired it, without asking Priya first. Priya is upset, but refrains from making a scene, instead choosing to berate Sakhi in private. Sakhi tells Priya that if she likes that necklace she could use it whenever she wants as it stays in the family anyhow. Priya mentions that Sakhi had no right to offer her stuff to someone else and she's only mentioning that he has a bad attitude so he will correct it. They frequently fight because him and Priya are from two different worlds. Eventually, Priya becomes pregnant. Sakhi is overjoyed but Priya has doubts, as she isn't mentally prepared and also because she thinks, their constant fights will have a negative influence on the child. Priya also argues that it has only been 4 months into their marriage and she's still too young, but they can have kids later. However, Sakhi wants the child. Priya is miserable but still decides to carry out the term for sakhi and mentions to her mother about her situation. Priya's mother makes an appointment for her to have an abortion. Sakhi finds out in time and rushes to the hospital where a reluctant Priya is being pulled towards the operation theatre by her mother. Priya is injured at the hospital in an accident and Sakhi takes her back to his home to recover. How she doesn't lose the baby. They fight again, followed by another fight and Sakhi forgetting Priya's birthday and later wishing her. On her birthday before the party, Priya finds her old diary in Sakhi's suitcase, and the two have an epic argument in which she accuses him of tricking her into loving and marrying him. Sakhi hits her in front of guests and she leaves to go to her parents' house and expresses her desire to get divorced, and also to abort the child. Sakhi challenges her decision and takes her to court. The judge rules that Priya will have to have the baby after which, custody goes to Sakhi. Sakhi moves into Priya's parents' house with her in order to take care of his unborn child, claiming he doesn't trust them, as they might try to abort his baby. After delivery, Priya moves back in with Sakhi's family for a period of two months, to feed and care for the child. As time passes, Priya becomes extremely attached to the child and is unwilling to leave. She eventually agrees to give full custody to Sakhi since she sees how much he loves the baby. Heartbroken, Priya leaves with her parents. In the car, her mother happily speaks of another possible husband for Priya while Priya is devastated to leave Sakhi and her child. Finally, Priya's father stands up to his wife and encourages Priya to reconcile with her husband. Priya gets out of the car and stands on the road, unsure of what to do and where to go. Sakhi meets her on the streets. The two ask each other for forgiveness and reconcile. ===== A delirious archaeologist stumbles into his group's camp without his partner, both of whom have been exploring a nearby cave. He quickly goes mad, requiring hospitalization. Their interest piqued by this strange turn of events, the group sets out for the cave. Once there, they find a deep pool of water, behind which is a large statue of Caltiki, the vengeful Mayan goddess who was ceremonially presented with human sacrifices. Hoping to find artifacts, the group sends one of their own down into the pool. At the bottom, he finds a menagerie of skeletons clad in gold jewelry. Running out of oxygen, he comes back up, clutching as much gold as he can carry. Although wishing that he not go down again, he insists on doing so, suggesting that they could become wealthy from the treasures below. Relenting, they let him descend once more. As he collects more and more treasure, his cable to the surface suddenly begins to move erratically. Fearing for his safety, the group pulls him back to the surface, only to find, upon removing his face mask, that his flesh has been reduced to a decayed mass over his skeleton. Moments later, the shapeless creature that attacked him rears up from the pool, attempting to digest anyone within reach. One of the group is briefly caught by the arm but is then rescued. As the team escapes, the shapeless mass begins to crawl out of the cave. Nearby, there is a tanker truck full of gasoline. One of the scientists drives the truck directly into the moving mass, which violently explodes and sets fire to the blob, destroying it. The team returns to Mexico City to take their injured colleague to a hospital. Still on his arm is a small piece of the blob, which is slowly digesting him. The surgeons carefully remove the creature, wrapping it up. They find that his arm is nothing more than a few moist scraps of flesh still connected to the underlying bones. After further experimenting on the creature, scientists discover that it is a unicellular bacterium that quickly grows when in the presence of radiation. A comet emitting radiation, that crosses Earth's path only once in every 850 years, is quickly approaching. At the comet's closest approach to Earth, the remaining piece of the blob removed during the surgery begins expanding to an enormous size and reproducing. Unfortunately, the removed sample of creature is stored in the home of expedition member Dr. John Fielding (John Merivale). While attempting to convince the Mexican government to send its army to destroy the reproducing blobs, Fielding is arrested, but manages to escape. A colleague finally convinces the authorities to sound an alarm, because the multiplying creatures will soon be beyond even their ability to control. The government marshals a regiment of soldiers equipped with flamethrowers and jeeps and sends them to Dr. Fielding's home. Upon their arrival, they find that the amorphous blobs have continued to multiply and have overrun the house and grounds. Dr. Fielding's wife and child have been forced to hide on a second-floor window ledge to escape being devoured. Fielding arrives just in time to save them, just as the arrayed soldiers lay waste to the creatures with torrents of fire. ===== Believing she is being rejected by her boyfriend Sam, Joey attempts suicide with sleeping pills, but recovers after having her stomach pumped. When she looks forward to a brand new life, she discovers that she is pregnant. Being tortured by the thought of an abortion and unable to contact Sam, Joey finds herself becoming delusional and emotionally unstable. Joey begins to see the spirits of dead people, and also feels stalked by a mysterious ghost woman. She believes the ghost wants to hurt her unborn baby. As the story unfolds, it is discovered that the ghost is Sam's wife who committed suicide by jumping in front of an oncoming train. She is now awaiting Joey's baby's birth so that she may be reincarnated within her. After discovering this, Joey would rather kill herself and her baby than let this woman become her child. While in a hospital, awaiting the birth of her child, Joey jumps off the building twice, but survives both times. She gives birth in the end realizing the terms with her situation. Her psychiatrist's explanation is that Joey feels guilty about Sam's wife's suicide. Finally she accepts this responsibility, no longer recognizing Sam and disillusioned about her baby's father. As Joey checks out of the hospital, the camera pans across a room of expecting mothers, each with a ghost hovering by their sides. ===== As a child, Phil Davis (Greg Germann) was able to outrun, outjump and outhit anyone in his class, until a kid from California, Ace Montana (Marc Raymond), moved into town. Ever since then, Ace has been number one and Phil number two. Even in the cul-de- sac where the four childhood friends and rivals (Montana, Davis, Blaine Moosman (Ross Brockley) and "Big Jimmy" Scaldoni (Perry Anzilotti) live, the Montana's mailbox is #1, and the Davis' mailbox is #2. After a basketball game where Phil's son's team loses to Ace's son's team, Phil realizes that the Davis family's second-place status has passed on to the next generation. Phil's wife Kim (Lauren Holly), the den mother of the local Cub Scout pack, gives a pinewood derby kit to each of the Cub Scouts. Although the boys are supposed to make their own cars from the kits, with appropriate adult supervision, the four dads obsessively take over the project, totally excluding the boys. As each man becomes more and more obsessed with building the fastest car, their wives eventually become so annoyed that they leave the house, taking their sons with them. Soon, "Big Jimmy" is the first to break secrecy to talk to Blaine, and the two of them then talk to Phil, showing him on the title page of the Pinewood Derby Bible that Ace Montana is the author. Not only that, but the car Ace built as an eight-year-old boy in California still holds the record for the fastest pinewood derby car on record. The three men decide to collaborate to build one car that will beat Montana's. To this end, they steal Ace's record holding car to reverse-engineer it, finding out that Ace's real name is Stacy Lynn, but are nearly caught in the act of returning it. The three men then succeed in building a fast car that will break the record, and Blaine and Jimmy decide that Phil should have the honor of having his son enter the car in the competition. At the Derby, the men and their wives are re-united. Kim tells Phil that their son Brady (Adam Hicks) has built his own car while staying with his grandfather, with advice from grandpa's neighbor, and she challenges him to "do the right thing". After some soul-searching, Phil passes up the car the three men built, and allows Brady to register his car for the race - but "Big Jimmy" still wants to beat Ace, and takes the car for his son to enter. After several races, the competition comes down to five finalists, including Ace's, Brady's, and the car the three men built. In the final race their car is leading the pack but loses a wheel. Ace's car then takes the lead, but on the flat part of the track, Brady's car takes the lead and finishes first, setting a new pinewood derby record. Ace is shocked, but makes a gesture of congratulating the Davises; still, the minute he leaves the room, he throws a temper tantrum. When Phil asks Brady who grandpa's neighbor was who gave him advice, Brady points out a man in the audience, who turns out to be the man in the instructional video Phil has been watching to help design his car. ===== After the mysterious disappearance of his older brother Masato, Gou Kazama returned to Japan from his travels, determined to find him. He soon discovered that Masato had been abducted by the Criminal Global Syndicate “Crown”, who had hopes to create the ‘ultimate fighter’, kidnapping the world’s strongest and most skilled martial artists to use in their inhuman experiments. Gou was eventually abducted by Crown and modified into a Guyborg, and during an escape he became a new entity via unknown means known as Guyferd. Using the style of the Ken'nou-ryu martial arts with his newfound power, Gou fights Crown while continuing the search for his brother. ===== Darlene Pullen, who is a struggling single mother with two children (a rebellious teenage daughter and a sickly young son) and a lousy job as a maid, is left a tip of a single quarter with a note saying that it is a "lucky quarter". She takes a quick gamble on it and finds that it brings her some small luck. Moving on to a real casino, she keeps trying her luck, and soon she's winning thousands of dollars. All seems to be going exceedingly well until she suddenly reappears back in the hotel room, left with nothing but her lucky quarter. All of her success was a fantasy. As her two children come to visit her at work, she lets her son have the quarter, and as he uses it in a gamble, it starts to pay off just as it did when Darlene was fantasizing. ===== The film opens with Tom Joad (Henry Fonda), released from prison and hitchhiking his way back to his parents' family farm in Oklahoma. Tom finds an itinerant ex-preacher named Jim Casy (John Carradine) sitting under a tree by the side of the road. Casy was the preacher who baptized Tom, but now Casy has "lost the spirit" and his faith. Casy goes with Tom to the Joad property only to find it deserted. There, they meet Muley Graves (John Qualen) who is hiding out. In a flashback, he describes how farmers all over the area were forced from their farms by the deed holders of the land. A local boy (John Arledge), hired for the purpose, is shown knocking down Muley's house with a Caterpillar tractor. The large Joad family of twelve leaves at daybreak, along with Casy, who decides to accompany them. They pack everything into a dilapidated 1926 Hudson "Super Six" sedan adapted to serve as a truck in order to make the long journey to the promised land of California. The trip along Highway 66 is arduous, and it soon takes a toll on the Joad family. The elderly Grandpa (Charley Grapewin) dies along the way. Tom writes the circumstances surrounding the death on a page from the family Bible and places it on the body before they bury it so that if his remains were found, his death would not be investigated as a possible homicide. They park in a camp and meet a man, a migrant returning from California, who laughs at Pa's optimism about conditions in California. He speaks bitterly about his experiences in the West. Grandma (Zeffie Tilbury) dies when they reach California, the son Noah (Frank Sully) and son-in-law Connie (Eddie Quillan) also leave the family group. The family arrives at the first transient migrant campground for workers and finds the camp is crowded with other starving, jobless and desperate travelers. Their truck slowly makes its way through the dirt road between the shanty houses and around the camp's hungry-faced inhabitants. Tom says, "Sure don't look none too prosperous." After some trouble with a so-called "agitator", the Joads leave the camp in a hurry. The Joads make their way to another migrant camp, the Keene Ranch. After doing some work in the fields, they discover the high food prices in the company store for meat and other products. The store is the only one in the area, by a long shot. Later they find a group of migrant workers are striking, and Tom wants to find out all about it. He goes to a secret meeting in the dark woods. When the meeting is discovered, Casy is killed by one of the camp guards. As Tom tries to defend Casy from the attack, he inadvertently kills the guard. Tom suffers a serious wound on his cheek, and the camp guards realize it will be easy to identify him. That evening the family hides Tom under the mattresses of the truck just as guards arrive to question them; they are searching for the man who killed the guard. Tom avoids being spotted and the family leaves the Keene Ranch without further incident. After driving for a while, they must stop at the crest of a hill when the engine overheats due to a broken fan belt; they have little gas, but decide to try coasting down the hill to some lights. The lights are from a third type of camp: Farmworkers' Wheat Patch Camp (Weedpatch in the book), a clean camp run by the Department of Agriculture, complete with indoor toilets and showers, which the Joad children had never seen before. Tom is moved to work for change by what he has witnessed in the various camps. He tells his family that he plans to carry on Casy's mission in the world by fighting for social reform. He leaves to seek a new world and to join the movement committed to social justice. Tom Joad says: > I'll be all around in the dark. I'll be everywhere. Wherever you can look, > wherever there's a fight, so hungry people can eat, I'll be there. Wherever > there's a cop beatin' up a guy, I'll be there. I'll be in the way guys yell > when they're mad. I'll be in the way kids laugh when they're hungry and they > know supper's ready, and when the people are eatin' the stuff they raise and > livin' in the houses they build, I'll be there, too. As the family moves on again, they discuss the fear and difficulties they have had. Ma Joad concludes the film, saying: > I ain't never gonna be scared no more. I was, though. For a while it looked > as though we was beat. Good and beat. Looked like we didn't have nobody in > the whole wide world but enemies. Like nobody was friendly no more. Made me > feel kinda bad and scared too, like we was lost and nobody cared.... Rich > fellas come up and they die, and their kids ain't no good and they die out, > but we keep a-coming. We're the people that live. They can't wipe us out, > they can't lick us. We'll go on forever, Pa, cos we're the people. ===== Nine-year-old Osbert is the second son of Ealdorman (Earl) Uhtred, Lord of Bebbanburg in Northumbria. Danes raid Bebbanburg, and Ealdorman Uhtred's first son, also called Uhtred, is killed while scouting the raiders. Ealdorman Uhtred renames Osbert Uhtred. Ealdorman Uhtred is killed during a disastrous attack on Danish-seized Eoferwic (York) and his son is captured by Danish Jarl Ragnar the Fearless. Ragnar, amused by the boy's bravery during the battle, keeps him as a thrall. Uhtred's uncle, Ælfric, takes Bebbanburg and usurps the title of ealdorman from Uhtred, the rightful heir. Uhtred befriends Ragnar's youngest son, Rorik, and has many clashes with one boy in particular, Sven, son of Kjartan, one of Ragnar's shipmasters. One day, Sven kidnaps Ragnar's daughter, Thyra, and removes part of her clothing in an effort to sexually assault her. Uhtred charges Sven from hiding, taking Sven's sword and attacking him with it. Uhtred, Rorik, and Thyra escape back to Ragnar's hall. Ragnar dismisses Kjartan from his service when Kjartan makes light of his son's behaviour. He also crushes one of Sven's eyes with the hilt of his sword - adding darkly that he would have crushed both, had Sven stripped Thyra completely naked. Uhtred then goes viking across East Anglia, and participates in the conquests of Mercia and East Anglia, and the invasion of Wessex. He is kidnapped by a priest, Beocca, an old family friend. He then escapes from Wessex and rejoins Ragnar. Uhtred enjoys life with the Danes, but flees after Kjartan and his men set fire to Ragnar's hall and kill everyone who tries to flee. Ragnar remains inside, preferring to die on his terms rather than at Kjartan's hands. Kjartan abducts Thyra. Uhtred hopes to escape Kjartan's assassins by spreading the rumour that he too died in the hall-burning. Uhtred then joins King Alfred in Wessex. There he learns to read and write, and sails with Alfred's fleet of 12 ships against the Danes. After a battle with the Danes, he meets Ragnar the Younger, Earl Ragnar's eldest son, and tells him how his father died and that Thyra was kidnapped. They part friends, swearing that one day they will band together to take revenge on Kjartan and rescue Thyra. Seeking to take command of the fleet, Uhtred gains it on the condition that he marry the orphaned Wessex girl Mildrith. He is not told that, by marrying her, he will also assume her family's very large debt to the Church. Afterward, he takes part in a siege against Guthrum, and is among a group of hostages exchanged when the Danes and Saxons make peace. Staying with the Danes in the city over the winter, he again meets Ragnar, who saves him from death when Guthrum breaks the peace and murders the other Saxon hostages. Uhtred then escapes to find his wife. She was taken by Odda the Younger, another Wessex ealdorman, to the north. There he fights in the Battle of Cynwit, where Uhtred kills the renowned Danish leader, Ubba Lothbrokson, in single combat. The novel concludes with Uhtred riding with his men to Exanceaster to find his wife and newborn son, instead of going directly to inform Alfred of his victory. ===== The episode begins with a parody of Tales from the Crypt, with Mr. Burns as the Crypt Keeper. The scene begins in a dungeon room, where a crypt opens, and after several waves of rats, snakes, spiders and rabbits crawl out of a coffin, the Cryptkeeper sits up in it. He proclaims himself to be the master of "scare-amonies" to the delight of zombie Smithers. A bound Moe interrupts in protest and is killed in an iron maiden, his blood spilling onto the floor and spelling out "Treehouse of Horror XVII". Moe himself takes delight in this and proclaims "A Ho Ho! Look at that, my blood is a genius! Fancy Roman numerals and everything!" ===== 16-year- old Mugi Tadano tries to shake off his latest heartbreak by working at his friend's aunt's beach-side inn. One day he spies on a beautiful girl, Yuu Tsukisaki, changing clothes in an alley behind the inn. Instead of getting angry, Yuu charges him the price of a soda for watching her. The next day Mugi is set up on a blind date with Yuu, and they have a great time — until Mugi walks in in the middle of her bath. Yuu decides to leave on the next ferry out, leaving Mugi heartbroken again. However, when he returns home, he is surprised to find that Yuu and her younger sister Tsukasa are going to be his housemates, as their parents were mutual friends. The series follows Mugi's adventures with his new roommates. In the first few days, Tsukasa leaves the two of them alone. Mugi's classmate and childhood friend Manami shows interest in Mugi but later supports their relationship. Yuu attracts several boys and even visits her home town over in Tokyo, making Mugi so jealous that he follows her, and ends up meeting his ex. Other girls visit their household, including Mugi's big sister-like childhood friend Sayuri who has become a model, and classmate Kiku Murakami, who tries unsuccessfully to smear Yuu's reputation. Mugi discovers he has a talent for cooking, and meets Tetsu Shiba, an owner of a small restaurant, and Aoi Sonobe, a young woman who likes Tetsu. Yuu and Tsukasa's mother visits and wants to take her back. Tsukasa senses that Mugi likes Yuu, so she tries to set him up as much as she can. Sayuri gets engaged. Kazumi tells Mugi that he likes Manami and wants to date her. A busty young woman, Mako Minamino, joins the household as Mugi's father's love interest. After numerous missed opportunities, Mugi finally confesses to Yuu that he likes her and they become a couple. Later stories involve more girls and relationships, including schoolmate Urara Haruno who has a reputation for dressing sexy, her sister Moe who enjoys reading romance novels, Tooko who is a Japanese idol in love with Mugi, and Tsukasa's friend Pepper from America who joins the household. While Mugi and Yuu still try to figure out how to advance their relationship they see their friends hooking up: Sayuri gets married, Tetsu and Aoi agree to sign a marriage certificate, and even Mako and Mugi's father sign one. =====