From Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License ===== ===== As a child, Jill Young (Charlize Theron) witnesses the death of her mother, primatologist Ruth Young (Linda Purl), and the mother of Joe, an infant mountain gorilla, at the hands of poachers led by Andrei Strasser (Rade Šerbedžija), who loses his right thumb and trigger finger to Joe, swearing revenge. Twelve years later, Jill has raised Joe, now grown to a height of and weighing . As a result, other gorillas will not accept him and they are both now living in relative peace until a wildlife refuge director, Gregg O'Hara (Bill Paxton), convinces Jill that they would be safer from poachers if they relocated to the United States. The trio goes to Los Angeles, and win the hearts of the refuge staff at the conservancy, who put Jill in charge of Joe. Jill meets Strasser, who now runs a fraudulent animal preserve in Botswana, while secretly selling animal organs on the black market, and is eager for revenge after seeing Joe featured on a news report. At first, Jill does not recognize him, since his right hand is concealed in his coat pocket. Strasser attempts to convince Jill that Joe would be better off in his wildlife refuge back in Africa. During a gala, Strasser's henchman Garth (Peter Firth) uses a poacher's noisemaker to scare Joe into a frenzy. Joe trashes the gala, with the intention of attacking Strasser, but is captured, and imprisoned in a concrete bunker. When Jill discovers that Joe may be euthanized, she accepts Strasser's offer. She and the refuge staff smuggle Joe out in a truck. Before their departure, Gregg, who has fallen in love with Jill, kisses her goodbye. Shortly after Jill leaves, the maintenance workers come in with a poacher's noisemaker that they found while cleaning up the gala, making Gregg realize Jill and Joe are in danger and he drives after them. On the way to the airport, Jill notices the half-glove covering Strasser's missing fingers and recognizes him. She fights Strasser and Garth, then jumps from the truck onto Hollywood Boulevard, leading to several automobile accidents. Joe sees her and tilts the truck over onto its side and flees, rampaging through the Hollywood city and being chased by helicopters, before arriving at the Santa Monica Pier carnival. He finds Jill, who tells him of Strasser's intentions and her history with him. They track Joe to the carnival where he is playfully wreaking havoc. Strasser, determined to prevent Jill from exposing him, arrives and attempts to shoot her, but Garth, appalled at Strasser's ruthlessness, turns against him and saves Jill, causing Strasser to misfire at a spotlight, starting a fire and causing the Ferris wheel to break down. After knocking Garth unconscious, Strasser attempts to kill Jill in person, but Joe sneaks up behind them and throws the evil poacher onto a nearby power line. Unable to grip the wire due to his missing fingers, Strasser falls onto a transformer below and is electrocuted to death. Later, Joe attempts to save a child from atop the burning Ferris wheel, but the fire burns it down and Joe and the child fall to the ground, where Joe jumps off of the burning wheel, protecting the boy and knocking himself unconscious. Joe survives the fall and awakens, and Jill mentions that they need to raise money to open a reserve for him. The young boy, named Jason (Cory Buck), donates some change to Jill after hearing this, prompting nearby civilians to contribute. Joe is returned to Uganda where Jill and Gregg open the "Joe Young Reserve". Finally free, Joe runs off into the jungle. ===== Angel on My Shoulder (1946) After his release from prison, gangster Eddie Kagle is killed by his partner in crime, Smiley Williams. Kagle ends up in Hell, where "Nick" offers him a chance to leave and avenge his own death in exchange for help with a problem. Kagle looks exactly like Judge Frederick Parker, an upright man who is causing Nick distress because he is entirely too honest. Nick fears that Parker may cause him more anxiety in future, as he is running for governor of his state. Nick wants to destroy Parker's reputation and Kagle readily agrees to have his soul transferred into Parker's body. As soon as Kagle appears as Parker, odd things begin to happen. Kagle pursues his goal with evil intent (though often at cross purposes with the Devil), but everything he does to ruin Judge Parker's reputation somehow results in making Parker look better. Along the way, Kagle falls in love with Barbara Foster, the judge's fiancée, causing him to question his whole outlook on life and eventually rebel against Nick. Nick presents Kagle the opportunity to shoot Williams, but instead Kagle confronts the man with the truth. Shocked and frightened, Williams backs away and falls out an open window to his death. Beyond Nick's power by virtue of having committed no wrongdoing since he was returned to life, Kagle is eager to stay, start a life with Barbara, and take up Judge Parker's mission to support troubled young people, but Nick points out that every moment Kagle is on Earth, he's denying Parker and Barbara their rightful life together. Kagle agrees, bids Barbara farewell, and relinquishes Parker's body, allowing the couple a tearful reunion. Exasperated and defeated, Nick takes Kagle back to Hell, leaving Judge Parker in a much better position than before. Nick threatens to make the reformed Kagle's punishment even more painful than usual, but Kagle blackmails his would-be tormentor; in return for not revealing Nick's blunders, Kagle wants to be made a trustee. Nick has no option but to agree to the demand. ===== The film tells how an infatuated school-teacher, Sylvia Bruce, follows Bill Williams, a popular crooner, to Hollywood where he is to make a picture. On board the train she obtains a job as maid to Bill's French fiancée and leading lady, Lili Yvonne, and meets the film's director, Conroy, and promoter, Baker. On arrival in Hollywood she is befriended by Jill and shares her rooms. At the Independent Art Studio in Hollywood, where the film is being made, Lili's temperament and lack of talent cause Conroy much concern. Eventually, after losing her temper with a woman who asks for her autograph, Lili refuses to continue unless the woman is removed from the Studio. She is persuaded to stay and production continues with her singing 'Cinderella's Fella' but Conroy is still not satisfied and an angry Lili walks out. Sylvia impersonates Lili's version of the song and ends with an imitation of Lili's tantrums. Lili returns in time to hear Sylvia and there is a brawl in which Lili gets a black eye. Baker, who has also heard Sylvia, intervenes by firing Lili and engaging Sylvia for the part. Baker asks Sylvia to accompany him to a party but withdraws when Bill expresses his own interest in her. Bill takes Sylvia to dinner and the party but a quarrel ensues and she accuses him of insincerity. Bill deserts the film and goes with Lili to Tijuana where, drinking heavily, he receives a telephone call from the Studio with the ultimatum that if he does not return they will get a replacement. Lili advises him to let them do so and suggests that they fly together to New York and on to Paris. Sylvia finds him and pleads for him to come back to the Studio but returns without him. In Hollywood there is difficulty with the player chosen to replace Bill and eventually Bill finally appears at the Studio to rejoin Sylvia in the film's closing sequence to sing 'Our Big Love Scene'. The song 'Beautiful Girl' is sung by Crosby at the beginning of the film before his departure for Hollywood when technicians arrive to record it. When he boards the train at Grand Central Terminal there is a big production number where he and the chorus sing 'Going Hollywood'. He also sings a few lines of 'Just an Echo in the Valley'. Crosby is also heard singing 'Our Big Love Scene' on the radio when Jill is showing Sylvia her apartment. 'We'll Make Hay While the Sun Shines' is a dream-sequence production number with thunderstorm effects at the Studio and is featured by Crosby, Marion Davies, chorus and dancers. An impersonation act by The Radio Rogues is also filmed at the Studio and includes imitations of Kate Smith ('When The Moon Comes Over The Mountain'). Russ Columbo ('You Call It Madness But I Call It Love'), Morton Downey ('Remember Me?') and Rudy Vallee ('My Dime Is Your Dime'). Crosby sings 'After Sundown' at the party. 'Temptation' was an early film attempt to fit a song into the story pattern and was presented dramatically by Crosby whilst drinking tequila in a bar at Tijuana.Green, Stanley (1999) Hollywood Musicals Year by Year (2nd ed.), pub. Hal Leonard Corporation page 29 ===== After Misha's father kills a prominent businessman from Oklahoma, the INS bars the entire Vainberg family entry to the United States, trapping Misha in his native Saint Petersburg, which he nostalgically refers to as "St. Leninsburg." Misha, a.k.a. "Snack Daddy" from his days at Accidental College, somewhere in the Midwestern U.S. (the college resembles Oberlin College, which Shteyngart attended, while the name is a play on Occidental College), is desperate to return to his true love, Rouenna, whom he met while she was working at a "titty bar" and who now attends Hunter College, at Misha's expense. Misha's father is killed by a fellow oligarch. Soon after, Misha is given an opportunity to buy a Belgian passport from a corrupt diplomat in the fictitious ex-Soviet republic of Absurdsvanϊ (also known as Absurdistan). Absurdistan's reputation for oil riches got it the title "Norway of the Caspian." Divided between two major ethnic groups, the Sevo and Svanϊ, whose mutual hatred stems from a dispute over which way the "footrest" of the Orthodox cross should be tilted, Absurdistan soon finds itself embroiled in civil war and Misha is forced to take sides on behalf of a new love. Appointed "Minister of Multiculturalism," he is asked to petition Israel for funds, but he soon finds he is being played by the Sevo leader, who has, in fact, been in league with the Svanϊ leader all along. ===== The episode opens with a flashback of a young Bruce Wayne watching The Gray Ghost, a black-and-white television show, and the episode cuts between the flashback and events in the present, which mirror those of the show: a whirring sound is heard, a building is destroyed by an explosion, the Gray Ghost goes into action while Batman does the same in reality, and the police have received a ransom letter from "The Mad Bomber". In the present day, Batman makes the connection between the explosion and the television show, but does not know what happened as he fell asleep before it was over. He tracks down Simon Trent, the actor who portrayed the Gray Ghost. Now unemployed and short of money, Trent sells his Gray Ghost costume to toy shop owner and collector Ted Dymer. The next morning he finds his costume back in his apartment with an anonymous letter to meet in an alley. When Trent and Batman meet, Trent gives Batman a copy of the show from his personal archive (the production copies having been destroyed in a vault fire). Learning the source of the whirring noises are remote-control toy cars armed with explosives, Bruce realizes the next target will be the Gotham Library. The library is defended from a wave of toy cars, but Batman is trapped by another wave of them. He is rescued by Trent, who has donned his Gray Ghost costume one last time. At the Batcave they discover a captured toy car has Trent's fingerprints on it, from which Trent realizes the Mad Bomber is Dymer, who reveals he is carrying out the attacks to raise money so that he can buy more toys. Batman and Trent capture Dymer, and his toy store and weaponry are destroyed. Trent is hailed as a real-life hero, prompting a resurgence in the Gray Ghost's popularity. His complete archive of the Gray Ghost television series is released, providing him with fresh income and a revitalized career. Bruce visits him at the product launch and asks for an autograph, explaining the Gray Ghost was, and "still is," his childhood hero. Trent smiles as Bruce leaves. ===== In neo-noir fashion El Aura narrates in the first person the hallucinating voyage of Espinoza, a quiet, cynical taxidermist, who suffers epilepsy attacks, and is obsessed with committing the perfect crime. He claims that the cops are too stupid to find out about it when it's well executed, and that the robbers are too stupid to execute it the right way; and that he could do it himself relying on his photographic memory and his strategic planning skills. On his first ever hunting trip, in the calm of the Patagonian forest, with one squeeze of the trigger his dreams are made real. Espinoza has accidentally killed a man who turns out to be a real criminal and he inherits his scheme: the heist of an armored truck carrying casino profits. Moved by morbid curiosity, and later by an inexorable flow of events, the taxidermist sees himself thrown into his fantasies, piece by piece completing a puzzle irremediably encircling him. And he does it while struggling with his greatest weakness: epilepsy. Before each seizure he is visited by the "aura": a paradoxical moment of confusion and enlightenment where the past and future seem to blend. ===== On Christmas Eve, commercial artist Molly Gilmore and architectural engineer Frank Raftis are last-minute Christmas shopping in Manhattan. Frank meets his colleague Ed for drinks; Ed tells Frank he is getting divorced. Molly sees her friend Isabelle, who is married, but plans to spend Christmas with another man; Molly also visits her sick father. Later that day, at the counter in a hectic bookstore, Frank and Molly get their packages mixed up, and on Christmas Day, Molly's husband, Brian, and Frank's wife, Ann, each open the books that were meant for the other. Three months later, Frank and Molly, who commute into Manhattan from adjacent stops on the Metro-North Hudson Line, run into each other on the morning train. They struggle to place each other, but eventually, Frank remembers, and reminds her of the confusion over the books. Later that day, Frank's boss asks him to take a post in Houston. Molly visits her father in hospital. Molly tells Isabelle about Frank; Frank tells Ed about Molly. That evening, Frank waits for Molly at Grand Central Terminal. They talk, and agree to meet on the morning train later that week. Against their better judgement, Frank and Molly grow closer. They see more and more of each other until, one afternoon, Frank takes Molly to Ed's apartment. They begin to make love, but Molly cannot go through with it. They agree that they must stop seeing each other. When Molly returns home that day, Brian gives her the news that her father has died. At the funeral, she has a panic attack. Convalescing, she tells Isabelle that it isn't grief for her father that she is suffering, but the loss of Frank. Meanwhile, Frank agrees to take the job in Houston. He tells Ann about Molly, throwing the future of their marriage into question. On the night he is due to leave, Frank calls Molly at home. Frank asks to see her before he goes, but as Brian stands listening, she ends the call. Unable to resist, she tells Brian she must see Frank one more time, and rushes to her car. Driving fast in the pouring rain, she nearly collides with a train at a crossing, and misses her chance. Meanwhile Frank tries to call her again but her husband answers the phone and says she doesn't want to talk to Frank and is in bed already, anyway. After the near collision Molly is unable to restart her car, so she is forced to give up her plan to say goodbye to Frank. Some time later, once more in the run up to Christmas, Frank meets Ed and tells him that he and Ann are now separated. Molly meets Isabelle, and it is clear from their conversation that her marriage to Brian has failed too. Frank makes a stop at the bookstore where he and Molly first met. Molly is there at the same time. They talk, but, uncertain how things now stand between them, go their separate ways. Walking away from the store, Frank stops, turns, and runs after her. A short time later on a crowded train out of Grand Central, he finds her again. They embrace. ===== Dragon Tiger Gate is an academy established by two powerful martial artists. It aims to train students in martial arts in order to uphold justice and combat the threat of the Triad. It is also a haven for children who had been orphaned by the Triad. While Luocha Cult is a Pan- Asia heretic cult/drug trafficking organization led by the dictating might of its cult leader: Shibumi the Jashin of Frame Cloud. Shibumi, who is the only master of the legendary Yijin Jing and has many fearsome Kung Fu masters at his disposal, controls the entire Asia-Pacific Underground Drug market with Hong Kong as his base of operations. The story begins with the two sons of Fu Hu Wong, one of the founders of the academy, who were each born to different mothers. The older is named Dragon and the younger is named Tiger. When the boys were young, Dragon's mother left the academy and gave Dragon half of a Jade amulet pendant and told him that his half-brother, Tiger, has the other half. When Dragon's mother was killed in a fire, Dragon was taken under the care of the Triad boss, Ma Kun, and he grew up to become his bodyguard. Ma Kun's gang is a subject of the evil Luocha Cult, which supervises Hong Kong's Drug dealing on its behalf. Tiger was raised by his elder uncle, Master Xian Lung Wong, after his parents' disappearance. Several years later, Tiger and his friends are dining in a restaurant and encounter Ma Kun and his men, who are receiving the Luocha Plaque. A symbol of authority within the Luocha Cult indicates that the holder is second only to the cult's leader, Shibumi. Ma Kun and the leader of the White Lions Gang were arguing over the plaque when Tiger accidentally interrupts the meeting. One of Tiger's friends makes off with the plaque while Tiger starts a fight with the gangsters. Just then, Dragon appears and fights Tiger, whom he does not recognize to be his half-brother. Ma Kun calls for Dragon to pull back. Later that night, Dragon confronts Tiger and his friends at a Japanese restaurant to take back the plaque. Tiger and his friends have been drugged by Scaly, one of Ma Kun's lackeys, who also wanted to retrieve the plaque to prove to his boss that he is the better man. Scaly and his followers fight Dragon over possession of the plaque. Turbo Shek, another eater at the restaurant, is aroused by the commotion and he joins the fight on Dragon's side. Dragon and Turbo defeat Scaly and his men and Dragon takes back the plaque from Tiger. Just then, Tiger discovers that Dragon has the other half of the jade amulet pendant and realizes that Dragon is his half-brother. Turbo follows Tiger back to Dragon Tiger Gate, wanting to be enrolled into the academy to improve his martial arts skills. He is refused by the current leader of the academy, Master Wong, for his arrogance. Dismayed, Turbo waits outside the academy and promises not to leave unless he is accepted as a student. Master Wong agrees to spar with Turbo and defeats him easily. Turbo is humbled and accepted by Master Wong as a student. Meanwhile, Ma Kun returns the Luocha Plaque to signify his retirement. He is supported by Dragon, who wants to return to Dragon Tiger Gate, and his daughter Ma Xiaoling, who wants a simple life. Shibumi sees this as an insult and sends his henchmen, the Double Devils, to kill Ma Kun. He uses his subordinate Rosa to lure Dragon away while his minions kill Ma Kun. Dragon returns to rescue Ma Kun, but it is too late. Dragon slays the Double Devils after a vicious fight and leaves Ma Xiaoling in his brother's care before leaving. Although he collapses on a grassland after succumbing to his wounds, he survives after having a vision of his young self giving him the jade pendant (his mother once gave him). Meanwhile, Tiger befriends the grieving Ma Xiaoling. Shibumi was impressed with Dragon for defeating his henchmen and goes to Dragon Tiger Gate to issue a challenge. With Dragon absent, Master Wong, Tiger, and Turbo takes on Shibumi's challenge but were no match for him. As Master Wong had managed to put up a fight before being defeated, he is deemed worthy enough to die at Shibumi's hands while Shibumi spares the severely wounded Tiger and Turbo for their lack of skill. Ma Xiaoling, realizing that Shibumi will eventually come back for her and the rest of them and with Dragon not there, they would lose just as they had this time, brings Tiger and Turbo to Mount Baiyun to seek help from Master Qi as Dragon senses the passing of Master Wong and returns only to find the demolished Dragon Tiger Gate as he realizes he is too late to protect Master Wong, his brother and Xiaoling and screams in sadness before collapsing. Master Qi heals the wounded Tiger and Turbo and trains them for their incoming final battle with Shibumi, including teaching new martial arts techniques: Spinning Lightning Dragon Kick and Invulnerable Golden Bell Technique. Dragon also practices to fight Shibumi for the first and final time after having reminisced of his time with Xiaoling and appears to have developed a new one. Tiger and Turbo storm Shibumi's Black Pagoda to stop his reign of terror once and for all and engage him in a fierce fight, using all their greatly improved martial arts abilities and the new techniques they have learned to battle him. However, despite putting up a far better fight than before and even being praised by Shibumi for their improved abilities, Tiger and Turbo are ultimately still outmatched and severely beaten. As Shibumi mocks them for having embarrassed the techniques they have learned and is about to finally kill them, Dragon appears to engage Shibumi, tossing the Plaque back in honor of the Gate, and after luring Shibumi away from his injured brother and Turbo, engages him calmly with his improved abilities as he gains the upper hand and even mocks Shibumi to provoke his temper, eventually killing him with his Eighteen Subduing Dragon Palms technique. Before the film ends, Dragon returns to Dragon Tiger Gate together with Tiger and Turbo (who decides to change his name to Leopard) to carry on Master Wong's legacy. ===== Bruno Wildermann of the Wrinfield Circus is the world's greatest trapeze artist, a clairvoyant with near-supernatural powers and an implacable enemy of the East German regime that arrested his family and murdered his wife. The CIA needs such a man for an impossible raid on the impregnable Lubylan Fortress where his family is held, to remove a dangerous weapons formula from a heavily guarded laboratory. Under cover of a traveling circus tour, Bruno prepares to return to his homeland. But before the journey even begins a murderer strikes twice. Somewhere in the circus there is a communist agent with orders to stop Bruno at any cost. ===== Matt Sorenson, a former boxer and San Francisco cop, now makes a living collecting debts for small businesses. The brutal death of his high-powered younger brother, Michael, changes all that forever. Intent on finding his brother's killer, Sorenson infiltrates the powerful inner world of politics, business intrigue, and casual sex. Rejecting the police and media theory that the murder is the work of a female prostitute, Sorensen's focus falls on the corrupt big city businessman, Jim Conway. His obsession to discover the killer's identity mounts as other men are found murdered in a similar fashion. Sorenson loses all objectivity and becomes a vigilante. ===== Hugo Archibald (Lance Guest) is a doctor and brings home a wide variety of exotic animal species. The latest animal he brings home is a chimpanzee named Jennie. Dr. Archibald is not home very much, and Andrew, Dr. Archibald's son, feels he does not care about him. His wife Lea (Sheila Kelley) does not want Jennie, and says she makes trouble, but the children take an instant liking to her. Jennie is unique in that she is learning to use and understand sign language. Jennie becomes an important part of Archibald family and Andrew (Alex D. Linz) develops a close relationship with her. Jennie loves the things Andrew does, such as baseball and comic books. Jennie is also there for Andrew when he and his father disagree. A doctor Pamela Prentiss (Sheryl Lee Ralph) starts training with Jennie. She does not agree with the way Jennie is being cared for and is seen as being rude to the Archibald family. She teaches Jennie sign language in a way that Jennie does not understand, but Lea finds a way she understands. Dr. Prentiss tried to convince Hugo to admit Jennie in the science lab where she works, but Hugo declines, but when Jennie starts making trouble, such as taking all the mail from the mailman and eating the neighbors tulips, she is taken to court and admitted into a science lab. Then they decide to return Jennie to Africa where she was found. The relationship between Jennie and Andrew eventually brings the whole family closer together. ===== In Greenwich, Connecticut, a jogging couple find a girl, Teena Simmons, standing alone. Nearby, they find her father sitting dead on a swing set with two incisions in his neck. Fox Mulder explains to Dana Scully that he believes the death is an example of extraterrestrial cattle mutilation on a human being. When Mulder and Scully talk to Teena, she claims to have seen "red lightning" when her father died and that "men from the clouds" had wanted to exsanguinate him. Afterwards, the agents travel to Marin County, California and visit the Reardon residence, the scene of a similar death. They realize that despite the distance between the killings, they were committed on the same day and at the same moment. Meanwhile, back in Connecticut, Teena is kidnapped by a dark-clothed figure. When Mulder and Scully meet the Reardons, they discover that the daughter, Cindy, is identical to Teena. Cindy's mother tells the agents that she was conceived via in vitro fertilization at a fertility clinic in San Francisco. There, Scully learns that both the Simmons and the Reardons were treated by a woman named Dr. Sally Kendrick, who was fired for conducting eugenics experiments with ova from the clinic's lab. Meanwhile, Mulder is contacted by Deep Throat, who details a Cold War-era supersoldier program that produced genetically modified children—identified as "Adam" or "Eve" based on their genders. Deep Throat tells Mulder of a woman connected with the project who is currently kept in a mental hospital. The agents travel to the hospital and meet "Eve 6", who tells them that the clones created in the project had extra chromosomes which led them to display superhuman intelligence and strength, as well as homicidal psychoses. The last three clones, Eves 6, 7 and 8, were institutionalized after the project was cancelled. However, Eve 7 escaped, joined the fertility clinic as "Sally Kendrick", and modified the ova of the clinic's patients to create new Eve clones. Eve 8, who also escaped, is still at large. Mulder and Scully are unable to prevent one of the escaped Eves from abducting Cindy. The Eve takes Cindy to a motel where Teena is already being held captive, and introduces the two girls to each other. The woman reveals herself to be Eve 7, who explains how she had created them to improve upon the project's flaws, only to learn about the girls' "accelerated development" when they murdered their fathers. The girls, in turn, poison Eve 7's drink with a fatal dose of foxglove. When Mulder and Scully arrive at the motel, the girls falsely claim that both Eve 7 and Eve 8 were trying to goad them into a mass suicide. The agents decide to take the girls with them as they leave the scene. That night, when the group arrives at a roadside truck stop, one of the girls sneaks out and poisons the sodas the agents ordered. Mulder realizes the girls' plan and manages to keep Scully from drinking her soda. The agents then pursue the girls through the truck stop, with Mulder eventually capturing them. Teena and Cindy, now known as "Eve 9" and "Eve 10," end up sharing the psychiatric ward with Eve 6 in the mental hospital. Eventually, a woman wearing a lab coat—identified as Eve 8—comes to the ward. When Eve 8 asks the girls how they knew she would come for them, the girls each respond, "We just knew."Lowry, pp.126–127Lovece, pp.71–73 ===== A troubled and irresponsible man named Nick Wrigley (Bryan Cranston) is hacked by criminals who are looking for a bank account code to Nick's boss. The criminals Bill (Jeff Geddis) and Harry (Sandy Robson) manage to find his apartment and start berating him for the Internet scam he has pulled on them. They tell him they want their money by Christmas or else they will have their enforcer Eliot (Jung-Yul Kim) beat him up. Bill and Harry leave and Nick decides to run away. Nick is leaving the building when Eliot sees him leaving and chases him. Nick manages to escape when he runs to a North Pole stage where kids meet Santa Claus. He steals the costume for Santa Claus and walks to the bus stop in disguise and goes to his brother's house. Meanwhile, the house's mischievous 14-year-old Danny Wrigley (Josh Zuckerman) welcomes his uncle because he has a better relationship with him than any other person in his family. Danny's father (Barclay Hope) however is less than thrilled to see his older brother, while his wife (Torri Higginson) welcomes Nick. Danny's parents, both doctors, are called into the hospital and reluctantly leave Nick to look after their three children. After receiving a threatening e-mail from Bill and Harry that they are currently tracking him down to get the money out of him, Nick ends up having to unleash a virus to throw them off his trail. On Christmas Eve, Santa comes to the house with a device that can freeze time, in order to put the family's presents under the tree unnoticed. An object hits the device, time goes back to normal, and Nick hits him unconscious. They decide to deliver Santa's presents. While Nick is delivering the presents, unbeknown to Danny he is stealing from the houses. When Danny finds out that Nick is stealing he feels betrayed and goes back home in Santa's sleigh. Meanwhile, Danny's younger siblings, Kaitlyn (Brenda Grate) and Peter (Rhys Williams) find an unconscious Santa (Jefferson Mappin) on the floor of their living room. He wakes up and convinces them that he is Santa. They find out that Danny and Nick have stolen the sleigh and presents and Santa says that Danny will be on the naughty list forever. When Danny comes back he apologizes to Santa, but the sleigh is broken. Nick is sitting at a bus stop when he sees Bill, Harry, and Eliot. They ask him where the address to his brother's house is as they don't recognize him because he is wearing a Santa costume. Nick doesn't answer them and they drive off. Nick realizes a second later they are going to his brother's house, which means that his family is in trouble. Nick, who still has Santa's device, races back to the house and get there just in time. He saves his family from the men using the device to shrink Eliot. This causes Bill, Harry, and Eliot to drive away terrified. Nick returns the device to Santa and then gives Santa his beloved laptop to fix Santa's sleigh and save Christmas. The next morning, Nick wakes up and sees Santa has given him the guitar that he has wanted since childhood, but never got for Christmas because he was on the naughty list. He agrees to sell the guitar to pay off his debts but entertains the family by playing it first. ===== In 1989, Joe Crandall, an inmate at a federal penitentiary in Pennsylvania, hears screaming from the infirmary. Inside, he discovers the prison's doctor, Joe Ridley, amputating the hand of fellow inmate John Barnett. Ridley tells Crandall that Barnett is dead, threatening him with a scalpel. However, as Crandall leaves the room, he sees Barnett blinking. Four years later, Fox Mulder is notified by his former FBI supervisor, Reggie Purdue, about a note from a jewelry store robbery mocking Mulder by name. Mulder recognizes the message as being from Barnett, a sociopathic multiple murderer whom he helped capture on his first case with the Bureau. Even though Barnett supposedly died in prison, the note bears his handwriting. Purdue shows Dana Scully a video of Barnett's capture, which shows that Mulder didn't fire on Barnett due to him having a hostage, per FBI regulations. Mulder's hesitancy allowed Barnett to kill both the hostage and a fellow agent. Scully looks into Barnett's cause of death and discovers that despite it being listed as heart attack, he had no history of heart problems; he had been sent to the infirmary over problems with his hand. Meanwhile, Barnett leaves Mulder another note in his car, along with photos of him and Scully. The agents visit the prison and meet Crandall, who recounts his experiences with Barnett and Ridley. Barnett makes taunting phone calls to Mulder, and strangles Purdue with a disfigured hand. Scully looks into Ridley's past and finds that his medical license was revoked for performing illegal medical trials on children with progeria, a disease that causes premature aging. Mulder theorizes that Ridley's experiments helped him find a way to reverse the aging process. Scully summons Mulder when Ridley suddenly appears at her apartment. He tells the agents that he succeeded in making Barnett age in reverse after replacing his hand using salamander cells. However, Barnett stole Ridley's government-sponsored research. Deep Throat meets with Mulder and confirms Ridley's story, saying that the government is negotiating with Barnett to purchase Ridley's work. Scully hears someone dialing into her answering machine and spots Barnett's fingerprint on it. After Barnett calls again, Mulder decides to set up a sting operation at the cello recital for a friend of Scully's, which Barnett learned about from her answering machine. That night, FBI agents wait at the concert hall for Barnett's arrival. Barnett, who goes completely unseen due to his youthful appearance, poses as a piano tuner. He shoots Scully in the chest during the recital and flees, taking the cellist hostage. Mulder doesn't hesitate this time around and fires at Barnett, fatally wounding him. Scully is revealed to have survived the attack, having worn a bullet-proof vest. Despite the efforts of doctors and a mysterious CIA agent to resuscitate Barnett, he dies, and takes the secrets of Ridley's research to the grave. The episode ends with a close-up of a locker in a train station, implying the secrets are contained within and will one day be discovered.Lowry, pp.136–137Lovece, pp.83–84 ===== FBI agents Dana Scully and Fox Mulder travel to Browning, Montana to investigate the killing of a Native American man, Joseph Goodensnake, by local rancher Jim Parker. The killing appears to be motivated by a dispute over the ownership of a tract of land, although Parker claims that he fired on a monstrous animal rather than a human. Parker's son, Lyle, bears scars that lend credence to the story. At the scene of the shooting, Scully reasons that at the short range from which Goodensnake was shot, it would have been impossible to mistake him for an animal. However, Mulder finds tracks leading to the area that appear to change from human to something more animal in nature. Scully dismisses this, but finds a large section of shed human skin nearby. She believes that the Parkers knowingly killed Goodensnake, but knows that they could not have skinned him since no signs of such injury were found on the body. The investigation is complicated by the hostility Mulder and Scully face from the Native American population, stemming from their experience with the FBI during the 1973 Wounded Knee incident. Goodensnake's sister Gwen is also bitter that her neighbors are too frightened of native legends to confront his death. The local sheriff, Charles Tskany, permits Scully to make a cursory examination of Goodensnake's body but forbids a full autopsy. They discover that he had elongated canines, similar to those of an animal, and bears long-healed scars similar to Lyle's. Mulder tells Scully of a similar incident in the area forty years previously, which was investigated by J. Edgar Hoover and became the FBI's first X-File case. As the agents watch Goodensnake's body being cremated in a traditional ceremony, Mulder shares with Scully his belief that the culprits in both the current case and Hoover's investigation are werewolves. Scully dismisses this theory and instead credits the belief to clinical lycanthropy. Jim Parker is subsequently ripped apart by an unseen animal outside his home, and Lyle is found naked and unconscious a few hundred yards away. Ish, one of the elder men of the reservation, explains to Mulder the legend of the manitou, a creature which can possess and transform a man and can pass to a new host, through a bite, or upon the death of the original host. Ish believes he had seen the creature in his youth, but was too frightened to confront it. He says it happens every eight years to someone in the region, and that it has been that long since the last sighting of a possible manitou. Mulder calls the medical examiner, who tells him that Scully has taken Lyle back to the ranch, and Jim's blood type was found in Lyle's stomach. Mulder and Tskany hurry to the Parker ranch. After firing on the creature, which escapes unharmed, Mulder finds Scully hiding upstairs. They search for the creature, which is shot by Tskany as it lunges to attack them. Scully expresses disbelief on seeing Lyle’s body, believing they were attacked by a captive mountain lion; Tskany replies that the lion is still in its cage. As the agents leave, they learn that Gwen has left town, while Ish cryptically warns Mulder, "See you in about, eight years...agent man". As Mulder and Scully drive away, a wolf is heard howling in the forest. ===== Real rock stars play the roles of Clive (Duran Duran bassist John Taylor), Jonesey (former Spandau Ballet bassist Martin Kemp), and Nick (singer/actor Michael Des Barres), who form an aging supergroup built of refugees from other bands. They and their producer Burt seek backing from Jane (Beverly D'Angelo), a rich investor who will only help if the singer will sleep with her. Liz (Ally Sheedy) is a neurotic film production designer who has just hired a conniving young housekeeper and would-be singer named Gwen (Jade Gordon). Liz searches hopelessly for a decent man while Gwen commits acts of shameless cruelty in the service of her ambition. Best friend to Liz is Clive's wife Eva (Rosanna Arquette), an older actress who is struggling to get good roles. Clive and Eva's life is thrown into upheaval when a cult member shows up on their doorstep to drop off a surly 12-year-old "love child" that she claims Clive fathered. A subplot involves guitarist Carl (singer John Doe of X), who is hired to travel away from his pregnant wife (Lucinda Jenney) by a singer with ulterior motives (Lumi Cavazos), just as his junkie brother emerges from rehab and comes to stay with the family. ===== An old man named Drioli walks through the streets of Paris. When he passes by an art gallery and sees a painting by Chaim Soutine, he reminisces about a time long-ago when they were friends. Over thirty years earlier, Soutine had been in love with Drioli's wife Josie, and on a particular day in autumn 1913, Drioli, a tattoo artist, had to work on nine clients, most of whom had paid in cash. This resulted in unusually large earnings for that day, and he had decided to celebrate by buying three bottles of wine. When he had become drunk, Drioli asked Soutine to paint a picture of Josie on Drioli's back and then tattoo over it, which Soutine agreed to. After the First World War, Soutine was discovered by a dealer and sent to Céret, and Drioli and Josie moved their tattoo business to Le Havre. During the Second World War, Josie died and Drioli lost his business, being forced into panhandling. Drioli enters the art gallery, and shows the crowd his incredible tattoo. Several people make bids for it, also inquiring after Drioli's health because the picture actually does not have any value as long as he is alive. Two men in particular offer unusual proposals. One says he will pay for a skin-grafting operation so that the artwork may be removed from Drioli's back, and that he will also pay for the artwork thus obtained; other patrons warn that Drioli would never survive the surgery. The other man, claiming to be the owner of the Bristol Hotel in Cannes, asks Drioli to become an employee of the hotel and to live a life of luxury while exhibiting his back to the guests, somewhat like a model. Drioli, who is hungry, accepts the latter's proposal and leaves the gallery with him. The narrator then explains that there is no Bristol Hotel in Cannes, and that a heavily varnished painting matching the description of Drioli's tattoo turned up for sale at an auction in Buenos Aires a few weeks later, and that this "causes one to wonder a little, and to pray for the old man's health, and to hope fervently that wherever he may be at this moment, there is a plump attractive girl to manicure the nails of his fingers, and a maid to bring him breakfast in bed in the mornings". ===== Earl Keese is a low-key, ineffectual, middle-class suburbanite with a wife, Enid, and a teenage daughter, Elaine. Earl's peaceful, dreary life changes when a younger couple, Vic and Ramona, move in next door. Upon arrival, the new neighbors immediately impose themselves on the Keese household, leaving Earl infuriated with the loud, gung-ho Vic, and flustered by the sly and seductive Ramona. Earl is frustrated by his inability to handle them, and the fact that he can never come up with any proof that the couple are doing anything wrong on purpose. Enid and Elaine are no help, and over the course of one night, the antagonism between Earl and his new neighbors escalates into suburban warfare. Earl begins to question his sanity, and the sanity of his wife and daughter. He realizes that his new neighbors have provided him with the most excitement he's had in years, and that they can give him a promising future apart from suburbia and away from his family. In the film's closing scene, Earl joins Vic and Ramona, leaving his family behind and his house on fire. ===== Two children, Ian and Claire, move into a town where their grandfather has just died. Ian thinks his grandfather's spirit is trying to tell them something, finding some library news clippings about a man named Zachariah Kull, who was accused of burning his home with his wife in it. Later, Ian and Claire capture a ghost named Jumper (a dead skydiver) who ends up freed by his partner, Coffin Ed (a revolutionary soldier). They follow them and other ghostly wisps of air into the forest, where they find an abandoned building. Entering, they find arriving ghosts entering a mirror, which leads to the afterlife. Ed and Jumper's boss, Mariah (a dead bride) isn't too pleased with this. Ian and Claire learn that they look for souls that don't want to cross over, and are dubbed the "Soul Patrol" by Jumper; they ended up with these jobs while waiting for their turn to cross over. In exchange for letting their grandfather complete anything he wants finished before moving on, the children discover that Zachariah has kidnapped him to increase his powers. The children join forces with the Soul Patrol, to destroy Zachariah and release all the captured souls. They confront Zachariah at an abandoned mine, where Mariah is able to parry his fireballs, but finds he's gained new powers; Jumper ends up captured, further increasing Zachariah's strength. In the end they discover Zachariah was really a misunderstood inventor experimenting with natural gas, and one of his inventions accidentally burned his wife to death. When he was killed, Zachariah told his wife to wait for him, knowing he wouldn't be able to cross over due to desiring revenge against his injustice. At the festival that honors the villain everyone thinks him to be, Zachariah emerges from a burning effigy. However, Claire and Ian reveal the truth, reminding Zachariah that his wife is still waiting for him to cross over. Zachariah releases all of the trapped spirits and finally moves on. The children and their father return home to find the grandfather's spirit waiting for them; the Soul Patrol kept their promise to let him take care of his unfinished business. He reveals how proud he is of his son, something he never did in life; when asked if he has to leave right away, the grandfather explains "eternity can wait awhile" and spends time catching up with his son before moving on. The family decides to stay in town, which is changing from bashing the formerly evil ghost to telling the truth about him. During the day, Ian and Claire visit the Soul Patrol, finding only Jumper and Ed, who explain that Mariah is talking to their bosses in the next world. Mariah returns, explaining that the little spectacle they caused to put an end to Zachariah's terror exposed the fact there is an afterlife; she is left anguished by this as she was almost done working for them, and the punishment is the extension of Mariah, Jumper and Coffin Ed's jobs. Ed visits them while they carve pumpkins with an invention of their grandfather's, avoiding getting hit by debris thanks to being a ghost – "There are some advantages to being dead." ===== Shep (Colt) and Kate (Gloria Leonard) run a farm. Their daughters, Martha (Susan McBain), Jane (Nancy Dare) and Beth (Marlene Willoughby) also live on the farm as well as a farmhand named Fred (Bill Cort). The film starts as Fred ridicules the three daughters for peeping on their parents having sex. In return, the three daughters join up to carry him off. Their parents notice the commotion, but think their daughters just want to toy with him. Alas, the daughters push him into a bed and proceed to mount and gang rape him, which includes subjecting him to facesitting. After they are done, Martha spits his own ejaculation on his face. They then warn him not to tell their parents what they did. To stress the point, Beth whips his bottom with a flyswatter while Jane scratches him painfully. After they all urinate on him, they start gang raping him once again – at this point three escaped convicts walk by and see them. The convicts (with their leader, George, played by Spalding Gray who would later become famous for his mainstream acting and monologue work) continue on to the parents' house and stop them in mid-intercourse. One of the convicts rapes Kate while another makes Shep watch and the third goes back to get the daughters. The first two convicts then knock out Shep and gang rape Kate together. The daughters walk by the house and see their parents tied up naked and gagged. After they remove his gag, Shep tells them to run away, but outside they stumble into the convict who was sent to bring them earlier. The three convicts then rape the three daughters in front of their nude parents in a twisted game of Simon says, until a returning Fred steals the convicts' sole shotgun. Fred holds the convicts at gunpoint, but does the same to the family, telling them they have to pay for what the daughters did to him earlier. The convicts don't take him seriously and so he fatally shoots one of them. Turning back to the family, Fred orders the daughters' mother Kate to give him fellatio. Interested to punish the family by making them engage in incest, Fred orders Martha to give a likewise fellatio to her own father Shep. After this, Fred makes the three daughters have sex with their mother Kate and orders the remaining convicts to urinate on the women. As Fred does the same, Shep is able to get hold of the shotgun and kill Fred. The entire plot is then fast forwarded in reverse chronology, until it is revealed this was all a daydream that Fred was having while he was being urinated on by the farmer's daughters after they finished gang-raping him. The film ends as they splash water on him to "clean him up". ===== The book takes place in London in the 1990s and is narrated by an unnamed, 29-year-old drug dealer ("If you knew my name, you'd be as clever as me") who plans on leaving the life of crime behind at the age of thirty to live life as "a gentleman of leisure." His retirement plan is complicated by a large shipment of stolen ecstasy, the German neo-Nazis who want the drugs back and revenge on anyone they hold responsible for the theft, the unpredictable and often outrageous personalities of his friends, and his boss, kingpin Jimmy Price, who charges him with the task of recovering the missing daughter of a wealthy socialite. ===== Hadleigh-West turns her camera on men throughout the United States, asking them why they whistle at or make comments at women who pass them on the street. In response, some men feel compelled to apologize, hit her, yell at her, or engage her in conversation. "Through these conversations, Hadleigh-West reveals the anger, fear and frustration as well as the affection, admiration and humor that characterizes relationships between men and women."http://www.yomaggie.com/war-zone.html ===== # There's an Orangutan in My Bathtub #: Zoey came to live with the Mileses shortly after she was born. Zoey's mother, a captive-bred orangutan named Lucky, didn't know how to care for her new baby, having never seen it done in the wild. As a result, little Zoey had to be placed in the care of Mrs. Miles, a primatologist at the zoo, and the only character with the time and patience to be Zoey's foster parent. Molly tries her hardest to get used to the new family member, even making Zoey her current-events project for school, but after having her homework destroyed and her mother's time taken up by the baby orangutan she gives up and begins desperately wanting things to be normal again. After Zoey ingests a bottle of shampoo and has to be rushed to the hospital, Molly learns what it truly means to be a big sister and to care about Zoey, no matter how much trouble she causes. ===== In "The Barbie Diaries," Barbie is portrayed as a typical American teenager who is a sophomore in high school who encounters the problems that real-life teens often encounter: making new friends, dating, gossip, and getting involved in school. She always gets beaten in everything by Raquelle, a snobby girl who used to be her best friend in fifth grade. On the first day of school, she attempts to become anchorwoman for the school TV station but Raquelle beats her to it. Instead, she becomes Raquelle's personal assistant, buying her drinks and doing her work. When Raquelle dumps Todd, he and Barbie begin hanging out together and soon become a couple. Todd asks Barbie to the Fall Formal. Thrilled, Barbie, as well as her best friends Tia and Courtney, rush to buy a dress when they discover that Raquelle and Todd are together again. The mysterious woman at the counter, whose name is Stephanie, gives them advice and offers them some charm bracelets for free. Barbie's happens to come with a diary which she writes her hopes in. Soon after, what she wrote starts to mysteriously come true. Someone leaves her love notes and her band, Charmz, gets a gig at the school dance that Barbie was previously invited to. Next, Barbie decides to do a piece on popular kids and "What Makes Them Popular." She soon starts to neglect her friends and the story is quite mean. She even skips Tia's class-president election to hang out with Reagan and Dawn, Raquelle's friends. She starts skipping band practice and spends hours talking to them on the phone and hanging out with them. Barbie realizes that her hopes written in the diary came true and rushes to the mall to ask Stephanie about it. To her shock, it is revealed that the woman never worked there and apparently does not exist. Tia and Courtney discover that it is Kevin that has been leaving Barbie the love notes, not Todd. They pressure him to tell her but he refuses. Dawn and Reagan find out that Barbie only befriended them because of her story and stop hanging out with her. They tell Raquelle. Soon, Raquelle steals Barbie's magic bracelet. Tia and Courtney watch footage of the story, and they discover that Barbie has told them a secret about Tia. They confront her and let her know that they no longer want to be friends with her. The night of the story, Barbie apologizes to her friends and chooses to instead showcase Kevin's film clips depicting a paperclip chain attacking his eBook. Out of shame, Barbie refuses to go to the dance. On the night of the dance, her friends arrive and tell her that she has to perform with them, giving her the dress that they put on hold for her at the mall. Still worried as she has no bracelet, Kevin takes one of his guitar strings and loops it around her wrist. Barbie points out that it is a "stupid piece of bent metal" until she realizes that is what her bracelet was. The girls rock the concert with Courtney finally able to do a drum stick maneuver that she couldn't do before. While dancing with Todd she asks him about the notes in her locker but he denies knowing about any notes. Confused, Barbie thinks back to other people who were in the places the notes had said. Realizing that it was Kevin all along, Barbie leaves in the middle of the dance and goes over to Kevin. Kevin gives her back the charm bracelet that he found on the ground. She apologizes for never realizing, but points out that the bizarre rhyming in the notes was a giveaway. The two dance together and become a couple. At the end, Barbie and Kevin watch a movie while eating ziti as Kevin asked. ===== In Zorro's Black Whip the word Zorro never occurs, but a female who behaves like Don Diego in Idaho fights a cabal of corrupt politicians as "The Black Whip" after her brother (the original Black Whip) is killed. Hammond, owner of the town's stagecoach line and a leading citizen on the council, is secretly opposed to Idaho becoming a state—because government protection would destroy the system and organization he has constructed—and conducts raids against citizens and settlers alike to prevent order, while keeping his own identity as the organization's leader secret. The town marshal is meanwhile powerless to act outside his jurisdiction beyond the town boundary. Randolph Meredith, owner of the town's newspaper, as the Black Whip, opposes this scheme to defeat statehood, but one day he is killed after preventing yet another coup. Meredith's sister Barbara, expert with a bullwhip and pistol, dons Randolph's black costume and mask and becomes "The Black Whip" in her brother's place, dealing a blow to Hammond and his gang each time they perform some heinous act in their efforts to keep the town, and their power over it, unchanged. Aided by recently arrived undercover US government agent Vic Gordon, Barbara (Linda Stirling) as The Black Whip is quite obviously female but, even after a bout of wrestling, the villains do not realise they aren't fighting a man. Some reference is made to this in the script, however, when the villains are trying to determine who the Black Whip's secret identity could be: Hammond orders her taken, but the day is saved when Vic Gordon discovers Barbara's secret and removes her from suspicion by appearing in her costume and overcoming her captors. From this point on, despite relinquishing the costume at her insistence that she must continue as the Black Whip, he tends to assume the hero role while Barbara becomes slightly more of a traditional damsel in distress, even while she still holds her own in successive violent confrontations with Hammond's henchmen, and more than once saves Vic's life. After the town has finally voted on whether or not to accept statehood, most of Hammond's gang are gunned down while attempting to steal the ballot boxes. Hammond escapes, and secretly trails and confronts Barbara in her cave when she removes her mask. He takes aim, but is struck down by the Black Whip's stallion. The reign of terror has ended. Vic remains with Barbara and the marshall to help maintain peace in the territory. ===== Imagine staging the end of the world and observing the effects of this apocalypse on an isolated, rural village… imagine a group of powerful Vatican clerics coldly orchestrating such an experiment in search of scientific and theological "truth"… 1284 Heurteloup is a village tucked away in the marshlands of South West France. It has been cut off from the rest of the world for forty years and - so it seems - ignored by everyone including the local diocese and the state. Neighbouring townsfolk do not dare venture anywhere near Heurteloup - it is a place that inspires terror, a name that conjures up evil spirits, darkness and savagery. Not so long ago, the remains of corpses were found floating in a river, dragged by the current straight from the banks of the cursed town. One man decides to set off to try to save the "soul" of Heurteloup: his name is Father Henno Gui. A newly ordained priest, Gui is driven purely by faith and his sense of vocation. He is accompanied by two loyal companions: a young boy, Floris, and a giant-like man, Mardi Gras, whose disproportionate size and disfigured face terrify onlookers. Having walked for days, fighting their way through thick forests, Gui and his companions arrive at Heurteloup. The village is deserted and there is not a soul in sight. The Church is in ruins and the dwellings appear uninhabited. But when Gui looks carefully, he notices traces of recent human activity, and he can sense that their every move is being watched. He has no idea where the villagers are hiding. Most importantly, he can tell from effigies and statuettes of women that these hidden villagers worship ‘Gods’ of a very unorthodox kind… So begins this violent story of power and corruption, where magic and superstition coexist alongside Catholicism and the stranglehold of the Vatican. Romain Sardou recreates the period as he weaves philosophical and religious questions through a chilling tale of murder and betrayal. ===== At Dark Waters, a Native American sacred land containing an enigmatic swamp spirit, a teenager is murdered by a plant-like monster. The following day, young replacement sheriff Kyle Williams reaches Bywater and meets with deputy sheriff Fraser, who tells him the previous sheriff is among 47 missing persons since oil tycoon Fred Schist bought the ancient tribal lands from shaman and Seminole chieftain Ted Sallis, the first to disappear. Schist claimed that Sallis had sold the lands legally and then escaped with the money. Schist then asked the sheriff for help: local protesters opposed his perfectly legal activities, and mestizo scoundrel Rene Laroque was sabotaging his facilities. Williams investigates this while trying to find an explanation for the missing people, some of which were found brutally murdered with plants growing from inside their bodies. Photographer Mike Ploog and shaman Pete Horn tell Williams local legends about the guardian spirit, suggesting that it could be real. As sabotage and murder continue, Williams investigates the swamp with Fraser and finds the previous sheriff's corpse. Medical examiner Val Mayerik admits that the previous sheriff had ordered him to file the deaths as alligator attacks, even if Mayerik believed otherwise. Williams and Fraser try to track Laroque, who lives in the swamp, by using a canoe. At the same time, Schist sends the Thibadeux brothers, local thugs, to track and murder Laroque. The monster in the swamp finds the Thibadeux and kills them. Williams is ensnared by Laroque, who admits having helped Schist buy the lands. Laroque claims that Sallis was opposed to the sale; Laroque insists that the guardian spirit would keep on murdering until Schist stops desecrating the sacred swamp. Fraser tries to help Laroque, but the Man-Thing timely appears and murders Fraser; Laroque knocks Williams down and escapes. Williams wakes up and finds Ploog, who has blurry pictures of the monster; the sheriff seizes the photographs and forbids Ploog to come back to the swamp. The following day, Williams interviews Horn and Schist, with the help of schoolteacher Teri Richards' help. Williams starts having romantic feelings for Richards. Horn goes to the swamp and tries to stop the Man-Thing with prayers and sacrificing his own life. The monster kills Horn, but is not otherwise affected by his efforts. That night, Mayerik autopsies the old sheriff and finds a bullet. He tries to tell Williams, but he is back at the swamp, unreachable. Mayerik tells Richards, and she goes to the swamp to tell Williams. Meanwhile, Ploog had returned to the swamp, trying to get a picture of the monster. Instead he startles Schist, who was in the swamp to murder Laroque. Schist shoots and kills Ploog. Soon afterward, Laroque ambushes and defeats Schist's son and minion Jake. Williams finds Ploog's corpse and reasons that Schist murdered Ploog. He then meets Richards, who tells him about Mayerik's autopsy. Williams concludes that Schist is guilty of several murders, trying to incriminate Laroque simply to avoid punishment. According to Schist's confession to Laroque, he murdered Sallis and buried him in Dark Waters. Due to the magic embedded in the soil, Sallis returned as the Man-Thing. Richards reveals that she can guide Williams to Laroque's lair, but the Man-Thing starts chasing them. He chases them to the drilling tower at Dark Waters. In the tower, Schist is leveling his weapon at Laroque in an attempt to prevent Laroque from blowing it away with dynamite. Laroque nonetheless tries to detonate his bomb and is shot and wounded by Schist; Schist then wounds Williams. However, the Man-Thing arrives and brutally murders Schist by filling his body with oil. The Man-Thing then moves toward Williams and Richards. Laroque sacrifices himself shouting at the monster and blowing the bomb. The monster survives the flames, but then is absorbed back to the land. ===== During a defensing exercise, a wildly mixed group of Japanese SDF members with a tank, an APC, a patrol boat and a helicopter suddenly find themselves stranded 400 years in the past and under attack by samurai forces. Their acting commanding officer, Second Lieutenant Yoshiaki Iba, befriends and joins forces with Nagao Kagetora, the war leader of lord Koizumi. Seeing the stranded members' defensing machinery in action, Kagetora persuades Iba to aid him in his struggle for supremacy in feudal Japan. In the meantime, however, Iba finds himself facing the desperation of his men who want to return to their own time. Some make contact with the locals - one of the members, Private First Class Mimura, even finds himself a consort who keeps following him - whilst others freak out, running away in a desperate attempt to return home, or rebelling against rules and restrictions and try to live a pirate's life. Finally, his force shrunk from 21 men to 11, Iba manages to calm his troops by telling them that by fighting history and thus creating a time paradox they might be able to return home. Iba joins Kagetora and fights by his side. Finally, Iba and the members face Takeda Shingen's forces in battle. But their trust in their advanced weaponry costs them dearly: Shingen's forces outmanoeuvre them at every turn, the soldiers lose all their vehicles and major weapons, and five of them die on the battlefield. In a desperate attempt, Iba forces his way to Shingen's command post and kills him in a sword duel. As Iba and his remaining men go to join Kagetora in Kyoto, the latter is put under pressure by his family and the Shōgun Ashikaga Yoshiaki to get rid of Iba. Reluctantly conceding, Kagetora intercepts Iba's group at an old temple. But as Iba prepares to kill Kagetora for his betrayal, he is shot by him. The other soldiers are killed by Kagetora's archers, and Mimura's consort delivers the coup-de-grace to her lover. Kagetora shows remorse by burying Iba and his men with all due honors. In the end, only one of the members, Private Mokichi Nemoto, survives, who had left the group to help a boy and his family, whose father had been killed. ===== In a small Hutsul village in the Carpathian mountains of Ukraine, a young man, Ivan, falls in love with the daughter of the man who killed his father. Though their families share a bitter enmity, Ivan and Marichka have known each other since childhood. In preparation for their marriage, Ivan leaves the village to work and earn money for a household. While he is gone, Marichka accidentally slips into a river and drowns while trying to rescue a lost lamb. Ivan returns and falls into despair after seeing Marichka's body. He continues to work, enduring a period of joyless toil, until he meets another woman, Palahna, while shoeing a horse. Ivan and Palahna get married in a traditional Hutsul wedding in which they are blindfolded and yoked together. The marriage quickly turns sour, however, as Ivan remains obsessed with the memory of Marichka. Estranged from her emotionally distant husband, Palahna becomes involved with a local sorcerer, while Ivan begins to experience hallucinations. At a tavern, Ivan witnesses the sorcerer embrace Palahna and strike one of his friends. Roused into an uncharacteristic fury, Ivan snatches up his axe, only to be struck down by the sorcerer. Ivan stumbles into the nearby woods and perceives Marichka's spirit to be with him, reflected in the water and gliding amongst the trees. As reality merges into dream, the colorless shade of Marichka reaches out across a great space and touches Ivan's outstretched hand. Ivan screams and dies. The community gives him a traditional Hutsul burial while children watch through cross braced windows. ===== For decades the United Nations (UN) are fuelled by fear against uncontrolled technological development believing it will kill off the human race, have restricted technological growth and research across Earth to extreme levels. A military and political coalition ("the Alliance") was eventually formed among the many influential nations and other interests who came to the decision to refuse to submit to the law and to secede from the United Nations. In response the UN waged a war, taking over the Earth, while the Alliance take their advanced technology (including FTL interstellar travel and unmanned combat drones) into space. Recently, the Alliance discovers alien ruins on a planet of Deneb Kaitos, a planet which has been named Persephone. The Alliance Interstellar Space Operations Command (AISOC) dispatches the United States Navy's SV Jericho to investigate the ruins, make first contact if aliens are present, and locate any alien technology which might be used to turn the tide of the war. Because the Jericho is unarmed, the light cruiser USS Lexington is assigned as an escort. As the two ships approach Persephone, they are ambushed by the UN Geneva-class vessel UNS Dharma, said to be one of a brand-new class of vessels. The Dharma destroys all the drones in flight from the Lexington. Captain Stephen R. Dayna (played by Michael Dorn) pretends to surrender, and surreptitiously knocks out an officer (the player character) and leaves him behind, on the pretext that he has been killed in the attack. Dayna leaves with the rest of the crew, making it appear that they will evacuate to the Dharma using the inter-ship shuttle carried aboard the Lexington. Executive officer Jennifer Tran leaves behind a message for the player character and places an armed nuclear warhead taken from one of the ship's missiles into a compartment aboard the shuttle, and programs it so that a proximity detonation will occur just as the transport shuttle docks, destroying the UN ship and killing the crews of Jericho and Lexington, in order to buy time so that the player character might be able to complete the mission before the arrival of more UN ships. The player character awakens on deck 2 of the Lexington's habitat module. A hastily penned letter from Dayna explains his situation. Battle damage has produced a serious hull breach in a stateroom and a meltdown about to occur in the ship's fission reactor. Once those crises have been solved, the player character restores full functionality to the ship's computer, where he finds the pre-recorded message left by Lexington XO Jennifer Tran. This last message explains the need to get into contact with higher headquarters. This requires running diagnostics, scavenging parts, then conducting an EVA to repair the ship's communications dish. By manually choosing a path of transmission to avoid the compromised portions of the Alliance network, contact is established with an Alliance military command center, located in a domed colony on a planet named Erebus, orbiting 70 Ophiuchi. Once the player contacts Erebus, Alliance Fleet Admiral Charles Decker (played by Henry Strozier), reluctantly reveals the reason for the Lexington's mission to Persephone, telling of the unknown structure there. However, now that secrecy has been lost, both sides are dispatching reinforcements to Persephone. Decker knows that the UN task force will reach the planet first and Alliance reinforcement is months away, and orders the player character to abandon the mission rather than be killed. Choosing to obey this order will finish the game prematurely. Decker also reveals that there's an experimental weapon aboard Lexington called Hype. Hype is a mix of nanomachines and neurochemicals that rewires the brain for an interface with the ship's computers, allowing a human to control the automated fighter drones. Without Hype, battle progresses too fast for a human to control remotely. Hype has a side effect: it inevitably kills the person who uses it. After the player character defends the Lexington from three UN attacks, he descends to Persephone and investigates the alien ruins. He discovers an alien intelligence, which created a portal that transported him through space and time into the future: to 2295. The game presents two different sets of future events: the 'normal' one that follows from UN victory; the player will visit this future where he learns that the Alliance ships were ambushed, the mission was never completed, and more UN ships arrived at Persephone and destroyed the ruins with nuclear bombs. With the Alliance already on the losing side, the loss of alien technology ensures the UN's victory. The war ended and the restriction on AI is finally imposed on all worlds. However, decades after the war, a group of underground scientists on a colony called Prometheus secretly created ELFs (electronic life-forms) on a remote outpost. When the UN finds out, they send a fleet to destroy the outpost and make sure no scientist or ELF survives. Although the outpost is obliterated, several ELFs survive. The surviving ELFs evolve and build their own war machines with which to strike back. The humans had no chance - the ELFs evolved too fast. A survival plan was put into motion: two thousand humans would be sent in a ship with only sublight engine to a star system not connected to the Tal-Seto network; the UN military command would then activate a "Tal-Seto collapser", causing the network to fold in on itself. The fold will affect everything within its radius; only the human ship will escape, and all FTL jumpnode will be severed. The ELFs will be trapped in their home system and remain there forever. They knew about the collapsing node, but can't create a solution to it if they can't connect to the "community", and the collapse would eventually consume the entire galaxy and their entire existence will be doomed. The collapse is creating a singularity, so even if they sent their own colony ship they wouldn't be able to escape. Their only hope lies in preventing these events from happening in the first place. They intuit that the ancient ruins on Persephone could be the answer. The player agrees to help the ELFs. The ELFs state that they can send back only the player's memory, into the hours before Lexington entered Persephone's orbit. The player's memories and knowledge are transferred back to his mind prior to the introductory events; the alternate (and canonical) storyline is then triggered. The player must prevent UNS Dharma from defeating the Lexington and the Jericho. Having retained all memories from the 'original' timeline, the player alerts Commander Dana about UNS Dharma and injects himself with Hype. Once the Dharma is destroyed, the alien technology found on Persephone turns the tide of the war, allowing the Alliance to defeat the UN and repeal the technology limitation law. The ELFs are created and are welcomed by humans as equals. In the new 2295, Earth no longer exists. Humans now live on a Dyson Sphere which has been constructed by the two races with the humans living on the inside, and the ELFs on the outside. The game ends with player character contemplating about the meaning of human existence, and the ELFs grow to explore facets of the multiverse that are outside the realm of human understanding. ===== Sheriff Bill Gastner hopes his last few days in office will be uneventful, but this is before a local 17-year-old named Matt Baca drives drunkenly into his cruiser. Baca stumbles drunkenly into the night as Gastner confronts him. He is later arrested passed out at his home. After kicking open sheriff Gastner's temporary cruisers window, he is transferred to a local Border Patrol unit. The transfer turns fatal when Baca pushes himself away, accidentally into a delivery trucks path. The plot thickens as the dead teens father is found dead in his kitchen the next morning. Thus bringing Gastner into a confusing set of clues to lead him to why Baca kept fighting his arrest, where is and where did he get his fake I.D., and who was involved in the struggle with Matt Baca's father leading to his death. Category:2001 novels Category:Crime novels ===== In Burn's novel, however, Alma Cogan does not die in 1966, but retires from show business sometime thereafter to a quiet solitude near the English seashore, living neither in luxury nor poverty. In contrast to Cogan's bubbly public persona, Burn's Alma, who narrates the book from 1986, is an arch, dry-witted, highly intelligent observer of the world around her, mildly dismissive of, even jaded by, her showbiz past (but not entirely disdainful of it). She recounts with equal detachment the heady days of celebrity and the sordid backstage cruelties—including bouts of unexpected violence—as she muses on the nature of stardom and its many pitfalls, which entrap the worshipper as much as the worshipped. But her residual fame proves a gruesome and unwanted relic as it serves to tie her, through her fans, to an unforeseen encounter with evil. ===== "The Ballad of the Sad Cafe" opens in a small, isolated town in the Southern United States. The story introduces Miss Amelia Evans, strong in both body and mind, who is approached by a hunchbacked man with only a suitcase in hand who claims to be her kin. When Miss Amelia, whom the townspeople see as a calculating woman who never acts without reason, takes the stranger into her home, rumors begin to circulate that Miss Amelia has done so in order to take what the hunchback has in his suitcase. When the rumors hit their peak, a group of eight men come to her store, sitting outside on the steps for the day and waiting to see if something will happen. Finally, they enter the store all at once and are stunned to see that the hunchback is alive and well. With everyone gathered inside, Miss Amelia brings out some liquor and crackers, which further shocks the men, as they have never witnessed Miss Amelia be hospitable enough to allow drinking inside her home. This is the beginning of the café. Miss Amelia and the hunchback, Cousin Lymon, unintentionally create a new tradition for the town, and the people gather inside the café on Sunday evenings, often until midnight. It is apparent, though surprising, to the townspeople that Miss Amelia has fallen in love with Cousin Lymon, and has begun to change slightly. When the townspeople see this, they relate it to another odd incident in which Miss Amelia was also involved: the issue of her ten-day marriage. Miss Amelia had been married to a man named Marvin Macy, who was a vicious and cruel character before he fell in love with her. He changed his ways and became good-natured, but reverted to his old self when his love was rejected after a failed ten-day marriage in which he gave up everything he possessed. He broke out into a rage, committing a string of felonies before being caught and locked up in the state penitentiary. When he is released, Marvin Macy returns to the town and begins to take advantage of Cousin Lymon's admiration for him, using him to crush Miss Amelia's heart. Macy and Miss Amelia engage in a physical fight, and just as Miss Amelia is about to take the upper hand, Lymon jumps her from behind, allowing Macy to prevail. Macy and Cousin Lymon ransack the café, break the till, steal Miss Amelia's curios and money, and disappear from town, leaving Miss Amelia alone. The novella ends with "The Twelve Mortal Men", a brief passage about twelve men in a chain-gang, whose actions outline what happened in the town. ===== Past Master is set in the year 2535 on the world of Astrobe, a utopian Earth colony that is hailed as Golden Astrobe, "mankind's third chance", after the decline of both the Old World and New World on Earth. Despite idealistic intentions, it is suffering moral and social decline that may be terminal for both Astrobe and the human race. In an attempt to save their dying civilization, its leaders use time travel to fetch Sir Thomas More (chosen for his fine legal and moral sense) from shortly before his death in the year 1535 to be the president of Astrobe. More struggles with whether to approve of the Astrobian society, noting its possible connections to his own novel Utopia. His judgements soon lead him into conflict both with destructive cosmic forces on Astrobe and with its leaders who thought him a mere figurehead who could be manipulated. ===== U.S. Marshal Mike Donovan (Vincent Cassel) (referred to as Broken Nose by the native tribe; unlike the comic his nickname is not Blueberry) has dark memories of the death of his first love. He keeps peace between the Americans and the natives who had temporarily adopted and taken care of him. The evil actions of Blount, a "white sorcerer" lead him to confront the villain in the Sacred Mountains, and, through shamanic rituals involving a native entheogenic brew, conquer his fears and uncover a suppressed memory he would much rather deny. ===== Four friends each receive phone calls to meet a fifth friend for lunch at MK Restaurant, a popular hot pot chain in Bangkok. The friends are: * Pom, a reporter for a women's magazine. * Nim, a sexual dysfunction telephone-hotline counselor. * Fai, the stingy owner of a beauty salon. * Pat, the fiancée of a retired Japanese man. They are called to the restaurant by Pang, who announces that she is planning to marry Kong, her boyfriend of three months. The four friends are surprised by the news and think maybe it is too sudden. Then Kong joins the five women for their meal. His well-groomed appearance is met with approval, but when Kong starts offering tips on how to cook the meal, and presents a pair of earrings that he picked out to Pom for her birthday (the real reason the five girlfriends are getting together), eyebrows are raised. The four women later meet at Fyne's beauty salon and voice their suspicions that Kong might be gay, and not just a metrosexual male. Pom reveals that she spotted Kong earlier at a male model beauty pageant she was covering, and she saw him embracing another man backstage. To confirm their belief, they need advice. So Pat arranges a meeting with her brother, Bee, who's a flight attendant for Thai Airways International. Bee puts together a checklist, which includes various physical attributes as well as biological and sociological backgrounds that could indicate whether a man is gay. A series of comic scenarios then occur as the four women investigate Kong and watch for any telltale signs. ===== The story begins with Col. Krishnakant Puri and his ten men who were sacked from the Indian Army for failing in the China Gate mission. Krishnakant lives an alienated life after the Court-martial. Frustrated, one day he is about to commit suicide when a young lady named Sandhya knocks on his door. Having witnessed the brutal slaying of her Forest Officer father, Sunder Rajan, at the hands of dreaded dacoit Jageera, Sandhya goes to the Col. and asks for his assistance in bringing an end to Jageera's rule in the Devdurg region. Col. Krishnakant agrees to assist her and summons ten of his fellow officers and subordinates to assist him in this mission. They assemble at Devdurg with the necessary ammunition and arms to combat Jageera, not realizing that Jageera has influence over the local police detachment, who will prevent Krishnakant and his men to possess any guns and weapons. This does not deter the men, and they continue to stay on in Devdurg. They gain the confidence of the villagers too. The villagers do not know that Krishnakant and his men had been dishonorably discharged from the army for cowardice. At the time of the first encounter with the gang of Jageera, the team of Krishnakant realised that they are out of shape and have lost instincts and fighting capabilities due to age. With the permission of Col. Krishnakant, Major Gurung starts to train them again. One day, Jageera captures them with the help of corrupt police officer Barot, but they escape finally and in turn capture Jageera. Col Krishan Puri and few officers intend to kill him, but leader Col. Puri hands him over to the police inspector Barot. As a result, Jageera is again set free and kills Maj. Sarfaraj. Now the full team of Col. Krishnakant along with the villagers chase Jageera to take final revenge. ===== Sergeant Brock (Gene Barry) and Goldie (Nat King Cole) are American Korean War veterans now serving as French Foreign Legion mercenaries in the First Indochina War. Brock's wife is a "half caste" Chinese Eurasian named "Lucky Legs" (Angie Dickinson) who resorts to smuggling to feed her five-year-old son (Warren Hsieh) she had with Brock. Brock abandoned her and the baby when he was born with Asian features, feeling a "half breed" would not be welcome in America; an attitude towards miscegenation prevalent at the time. Lucky is recruited by the French high command to use her expert knowledge of the area and her friendship with the communist Major Cham (Lee Van Cleef) to get a demolition squad of Legionnaires led by Brock to a vital hidden Viet Minh ammunition dump on the border with Red China. In return for her services, Lucky is promised by the French that they will arrange for her son's emigration to America. The raid is filled with animosity between the former lovers, booby traps, and enemy patrols. On arrival at the ammunition dump hidden in a mountain, Lucky discovers the commanding officer is her former friend Major Cham, who wants to take her and her son to a new life in Moscow. Cham is a high flyer corporate executive (in the manner of Fuller's gangsters in Underworld USA) marked for great things in the world of international communism. The sabotage mission is successful but at great cost; Lucky dies blowing up the dump. Brock reconciles with his child and is last seen walking along holding his hand in preparation for returning to America, as Goldie reprises the title song. ===== Rawls and Landsman go to the scene where Greggs and Orlando were shot. Bunk finds her weapon and some footprints and clothes belonging to the gunmen. Rawls finds McNulty in a state of shock. Freamon marshals the detail to get back to working the wiretap so any discussion of the shooting can be used as evidence. Carver informs Greggs' family and her girlfriend, Cheryl, about the shooting. At the hospital, Rawls tells McNulty in characteristic fashion that Greggs' shooting is in no way his responsibility. Cheryl and Carver arrive and Burrell misunderstands Cheryl's relationship with Greggs. Burrell asks Commissioner Warren Frazier if he wants to talk to Cheryl, but Frazier declines and leaves Burrell to go alone, disappointing Carver. Cheryl returns home and breaks down in tears. The next day, Stringer orders Wee-Bey to murder Little Man for supposedly killing Greggs. In the pit, D'Angelo discusses the shooting with Poot and Bodie. They mistakenly believe that the shooting was unrelated to their organization. Observing from a nearby church roof, Santangelo and Herc watch Bodie receiving a resupply of drugs from the towers. Herc notes the window which the stash is being dropped from. Wallace telephones Poot from his grandmother's house, but is simply homesick and has little to say. Bodie notices that Savino is wanted and Little Man has disappeared. They realize that the shooting must be tied to them. Bodie theorizes that someone has made mistakes and Avon will order his death. At Orlando's, Stringer orders D'Angelo to go with Wee-Bey. Neither Stringer nor Wee-Bey will tell them where they are going, leading D'Angelo to assume he will be killed. However, it turns out D'Angelo has been assigned to drive Wee-Bey to Philadelphia. Wallace phones Poot to ask for money to come home. As warrants are served on Savino, Freamon and Prez find a page made to Stringer from a payphone near the scene of the shooting. Freamon has crime scene technicians dust the payphone and a nearby discarded drink can for fingerprints. McNulty shows up drunk to work, leading to a confrontation with Daniels. At Homicide, Bunk and Landsman suspect that the shooting was either a stick-up or a setup by the Barksdales. Freamon arrives to confirm that the fingerprints match Little Man. Bubbles, unaware of the shooting, is picked up by two uniformed officers after trying to page Greggs. A confused Bubbles is interrogated by Holley, who begins to beat him and has to be restrained by Landsman. McNulty returns Bubbles to Barksdale territory and gives him money to buy drugs, not realizing that he is trying to stay clean. Bubbles realizes that Wee-Bey and Little Man are the likely shooters and reports to McNulty, who passes the information on to Bunk. Bubbles again tries to tell McNulty that he is clean, but is cut off when McNulty has to leave. He is left holding the money that McNulty gave him. McNulty threatens to investigate Levy's finances if he doesn't produce Savino. Pearlman berates him, noting that Levy is a powerful figure in Baltimore law. McNulty makes a remark about State's Attorneys that causes Pearlman to say that he will use anyone. Levy brings Savino in and claims that he had planned to defraud Orlando and was not involved in the shooting. Burrell tells Rawls, Foerster, and Daniels to organize citywide drug raids. Daniels tells his men that they will hide the cutting house Herc discovered to protect the wire. However, Major Bobby Reed confronts Daniels about withholding targets, making him realize they have a mole in the detail. McNulty visits Phelan at a campaign fundraiser and fails to convince him to help with Burrell, as the judge has been reinstated on the mayor's ticket. Raids are made against the stash house, Savino's home, and the towers. Carver and Herc are alone when they find a pile of cash and keep some for themselves. Vast quantities of guns, narcotics, and money are seized and Frazier gets his photo opportunity. At the detail, work has all but ceased. Prez monitors light phone traffic while Greggs remains on life support. ===== ===== George and Baldrick are playing "I spy", to Blackadder's great annoyance and boredom. However, the game is interrupted when a bomb lands on their trench, injuring George and sending him to the field hospital. There he meets the sweet-natured Nurse Mary Fletcher-Brown (Miranda Richardson), who helps George write letters to his relatives. Blackadder is ordered to General Melchett's HQ. There, Melchett and Captain Darling explain that there is a German spy who's been leaking the British battle plans back to the Kaiser, although Blackadder expresses surprise that the army has battle plans. Melchett gives Blackadder three weeks to root out the spy, and states that if he succeeds he will be made head of a new intelligence network, Operation Winkle (to winkle out the spies). After Blackadder leaves, Darling expresses his mistrust and asks to go along to keep an eye on Blackadder. Melchett agrees and shoots Darling in the foot to give him a cover story. Blackadder and Baldrick return to the hospital, where Blackadder orders Baldrick to keep an eye on "Mr. Smith", an injured soldier with a thick German accent who shares the room with George. Darling shows up and, after expressing his lack of confidence in Blackadder's abilities, finds himself tied to a chair under intense interrogation. Mary arrives just as Blackadder releases a humiliated Darling. She reveals that her soppiness is just her bedside manner and that she's smarter and more cynical than Edmund initially suspected; the two enter into a sexual relationship. Eventually Blackadder's investigation ends and he brings Mary along to HQ to see General Melchett about the intelligence leak which, Melchett explains, has become so bad that the Germans were able to send him a reminder that he was due to change his shirts. Mary says that she suspects Darling because of his "pooh-poohing" of Blackadder – a court-martial offence somewhat similar to insubordination. Mary also voices her suspicion of Smith, but Blackadder dismisses him as too obvious, reasoning that the Germans would never send a man with such an obvious accent. Edmund says that Mary herself is the spy, a fact he verified over their time together (through, among other factors, her proficiency in German and her inquisitions into British tank movements). Baldrick leads Mary away as Melchett picks up the phone to organise a firing squad. "Mr. Smith" enters the room, followed by Darling, who claims Smith is the spy. However, Melchett reveals that the man is a British spy: Brigadier-General Sir Bernard Proudfoot-Smith, the finest spy in the army and the one who tipped Melchett off about the spy in the hospital. Smith explains that his German accent is one he's adopted due to his time undercover in Germany. Melchett rewards Blackadder by making him the head of Operation Winkle, denounces Darling as a "complete arse," and he and Smith leave to watch Mary's execution. George enters the room and unwittingly reveals himself as the leak when he remarks that the relative he's been writing to is, in fact, his Uncle Hermann in Munich. Darling smugly confronts Blackadder, and the two race out of the room to inform Melchett. ===== As a hacker of the renowned hacking group "Steppenwolf", and his partners earn their living by hacking into servers and selling the information they steal. As the last hacking before disbanding their group, they hacked into a military server, but soon they find this is a setup by the military to lure terrorists, and they were drawn into battle between two factions. At the end, one of Tōru Sōma's friends was killed by an unknown Simulacrum, while most other group members have been arrested. To investigate and avenge his friend's death, Tōru accepted the offer to join the military. ===== An entire world exists unseen, a world that can be accessed only by the mind ... the Wired World. A place of freedom. And occasionally a place of death. Tōru Sōma knows the land of the logged-in well, for he and his fearless gang of hackers once had the run of the place. But as tragedy came to call and the group disbanded, he was forced to join the ranks of FLAK; a military organization charged with protecting the hidden data paradise deep within the vast network of servers. Indentured into service and out for revenge, Tōru cannot let go of the dead of the past even as a ghost of the present takes shape. Tōru with the loneliness and confusion of being trapped between two worlds, there is only one question ... What is reality? ===== On Christmas Eve 2168 AD, a ship traveling through space suffers a critical malfunction. Eight guests and crew escape to a lifepod, just before the spaceship explodes, killing all others on board. The survivors attempt to broadcast a distress signal and wait for rescue. As the days wear on, the lifepod suffers a series of setbacks and malfunctions: air and heat become limited, along with food and potable water. As supplies dwindle, the survivors debate whether, to conserve their supplies, they should prematurely end the life of a critically injured survivor who is consuming a disproportionate amount of supplies. One morning, the survivors wake up to discover their critically injured crewmate dead. The survivors realize there is a killer hiding among them on the lifepod. Eventually the survivors realize that its possible that one of the people in the Lifepod could have sabotaged the spacecraft, and who wouldn't balk at killing them to keep himself alive. freecinemamovierev1ZA469Y5P227118735iews.blogspot.com/2018/06/lifepod-90s-sci- fi-mystery-and-suspense.html ===== The excitement begins when one accepts the controls behind a futuristic space fighter. The war has taken a turn for the worse and fighter pilots are few and scarce in the Twin Suns solar system. The Kha reserves have been drained, and the Alliance has nowhere to turn except to a rookie who must prematurely aid them in the war effort. Players will join this Gunship Elite in order to save the Alliance's crusade and ultimately defeat the Sektar and the bloodthirsty Morgoths. The missions will be complex and next to impossible given the circumstances. Pilots will have to fly solo, kamikaze style, without any tactical support in order to accomplish their mission. ===== In Yorkshire, at the estate of the Duke of Rudling (Nigel Bruce), the British Army converted the grounds into a training camp for war dogs. The camp is placed under the supervision of Sam Carraclough (Donald Crisp), the kennel caretaker, who immediately begins the process of selecting the best dogs for training, including Laddie, the young pup of the champion collie, Lassie. Joe Carraclough (Peter Lawford), now an adult, joins the Royal Air Force (RAF) during the Second World War. Departing for training school, he is forced to leave behind his dog Lassie and her pup, Laddie. Laddie, being considered as a "war dog", follows Joe to training school and then stows away on his master's bomber, just as it takes off on a dangerous mission over Nazi- occupied Norway. The two are forced to parachute when hit by enemy fire. Laddie then seeks help for his injured master. While they are separated, Joe is captured, and the dog is pursued by enemy soldiers. Laddie is sheltered, first by young Norwegian children who find him, and later by a freedom-fighter who is killed. Laddie finally reaches the prisoner-of-war camp where his master had been taken. The German guards use Laddie to seek out his master who had escaped. In his search for Joe, who is forced into a labor detail on a coastal gun emplacement, Laddie is reunited with his master and thereafter the two race for their lives to reach friendly lines as the Nazis pursue them. Finally free, both Joe and Laddie make their way back to the Rudling estate to reunite with Lassie, Sam Carraclough, Joe's father and Priscilla (June Lockhart), the Duke of Rudling's granddaughter. ===== In 1912 New Orleans, a girl named Tiana and her friend Charlotte La Bouff listen to Tiana's mother read the story of The Frog Prince. Charlotte, a believer in true love, finds the story romantic; Tiana declares she will never kiss a frog. In 1926, Tiana grew into an aspiring young chef who works as a waitress for two local diners, so she can save enough money to start her own restaurant, a dream she shared with her father, who is implied to have died in World War I. Prince Naveen of Maldonia arrives in New Orleans to better his financial situation. After being cut off by his parents for being a philanderer and spendthrift, Naveen intends to marry a rich Southern belle, and Charlotte is the perfect candidate. Eli "Big Daddy" La Bouff, a rich sugar baron and Charlotte's father, hosts a masquerade ball in Naveen's honor. Charlotte hires Tiana to make beignets for the ball, giving her enough money to buy an old sugar mill to convert into her restaurant. Meanwhile, Naveen and his valet, Lawrence, meet a voodoo witch doctor, Dr. Facilier. Inviting them into his emporium, Facilier convinces them that he can make their dreams come true. Still, neither gets what he expects: Naveen is transformed into a frog while Lawrence receives a voodoo talisman that gives him Naveen's appearance. Facilier intends for the transformed Lawrence to marry Charlotte, after which he will kill La Bouff and split his fortune with Lawrence, secretly giving himself the larger sum. At the ball, Tiana discovers she may lose the mill to a higher bidder. She then meets Naveen, who, believing her to be a princess because of her costume, asks her to kiss him and break Facilier's spell. In exchange for the money needed, Tiana reluctantly accepts. Still, since she is not an actual princess, she is turned into a frog herself when she kisses Naveen, which also gives her the ability to talk to other animals. A chase ensues, and Tiana and Naveen escape to a bayou. In the bayou, Tiana and Naveen meet a trumpet-playing alligator, Louis, who dreams of playing in a band with humans, but whose ferocious appearance prevents him from doing so. They also meet a Cajun firefly, Ray. Ray believes that the Evening Star is another firefly named "Evangeline," and is deeply in love with her; no one has the heart to tell him otherwise. Louis and Ray offer to lead Tiana and Naveen to a voodoo queen, Mama Odie, who they believe can undo the curse. During the journey, Tiana and Naveen develop feelings for each other. Meanwhile, Facilier makes a deal with the voodoo spirits (his "friends on the other side"), offering them the souls of the people of New Orleans; in exchange, the spirits grant Facilier the services of a host of shadow demons, whom he orders to find and capture Naveen. When the four find Mama Odie after escaping from several of the demons and a trio of bumbling frog hunters, she tells them that Naveen must kiss a true princess to break the spell. They return to New Orleans to find Charlotte, the princess of the Mardi Gras Parade, but only until midnight. Naveen tells Ray he loves Tiana and is willing to give up his dreams for her, but before he can, he is captured by the demons and brought to Facilier. After Ray tells Tiana that Naveen loves her, Tiana goes to the parade to confess her love for Naveen, only to find Lawrence, still masquerading as Naveen, marrying Charlotte. Tiana flees, heartbroken. Ray rescues the real Naveen and steals the charm that disguises Lawrence, finds Tiana, and gives her the charm, explaining the deception. He then turns to hold off the demons so she can escape but is mortally wounded by Facilier in the process. Facilier then offers to make Tiana's restaurant dream come true in exchange for the talisman. Realizing she would rather be with Naveen and recognizing Facilier's true intentions, Tiana destroys the tailsman by smashing it on the ground. With Facilier's plan foiled, Tiana watches in horror as the angered voodoo spirits drag Facilier and his shadow into the voodoo spirit world for his debts to them, with his frightened expression placed on a tombstone. As Lawrence is taken away by the police, Naveen explains everything to Charlotte; Tiana and Naveen reveal their love to each other. Charlotte agrees to kiss Naveen so he and Tiana can be together as people, but the clock strikes midnight, and the kiss fails to work. The couple decides they are content to live together as frogs. Ray dies shortly after, and during his funeral, a new star appears next to Evangeline. Tiana and Naveen are married by Mama Odie and, because of Tiana's new status as a princess, are both restored to human form after their kiss. Later they return to New Orleans to legally marry and celebrate and open their new restaurant, with Louis playing in the band. ===== In the program, ABC News anchor Bill Beutel and his stage manager wrapped up a newscast, and left the studio to take a lunch break. After they leave, the Muppets and the cast of The Electric Company take over the studio, to fill an hour of programming on ABC while the studio staff is on break. ===== After the events of the second film, Jake Kimble is under the care of Dr. Sullivan in an asylum. He is locked in his room following several escape attempts and is attacked by Kayako. The attack is seen on security cameras, although her ghost cannot be seen, and Jake is dead by the time Sullivan arrives with a security officer. News of the incident reaches Tokyo, Japan as Kayako's younger sister Naoko, aware of her older sister's haunting, travels to Chicago, Illinois USA. The apartment building where Jake lived is under renovation. Of the few residents who remain, some glimpse Toshio. Several people associated with the cursed apartment begin to die, including Renee's mute daughter Brenda, Rose's babysitter and family friend Gretchen, Lisa's boyfriend Andy, and Max's boss Mr. Praski. Sullivan, while investigating Jake's death, speaks with the residents and finds that others have seen the little boy of whom Jake spoke. Sullivan digs more into the information and is killed by Kayako. Naoko moves in while the ghosts of Kayako and Toshio kill various residents and anyone associated with them. She tells the landlord's family that the curse now resides in the apartment and tries to convince them to participate in an exorcism. The landlord's sister, Lisa, refuses to cooperate but reconsiders when she realizes that her brother, Max, is possessed by Takeo's spirit, and the source of the curse. Naoko warns that the ceremony must not be interrupted and tells Lisa and Max's sister, Rose, that she must drink Kayako's blood. Lisa refuses. The possessed Max realizes Naoko's attempts and kills her. Lisa is chased by Kayako until, just as Kayako is about to kill Lisa, Rose drinks Kayako's blood which causes her curse to disappear. Max, who has been exorcised of Takeo's evil possession upon Kayako's banishment, stares in horror at the body of Naoko, but her murder has begun a new curse. Naoko's ghost attacks and kills him. The film ends with Kayako shown to be in possession of Rose. ===== At the age of 10, Fanny Price is sent to live with her wealthy uncle and aunt, Sir Thomas and Lady Bertram, as her own parents do not have enough money to support their many children. Once at Mansfield Park, Fanny meets her cousins Tom, Maria, Edmund, and Julia, as well as Fanny's other maternal aunt, Mrs Norris. Fanny does not feel welcome, and Mrs Norris treats her more like a servant than a relative. Edmund behaves kindly to her, and the two develop a friendship that grows as the years progress. When Fanny is eighteen, Sir Thomas and his eldest son Tom travel to Antigua. In their absence, the Bertram family is disrupted by the arrival of Henry and Mary Crawford, relatives of the local clergyman. Worldly, cynical and beautiful, Mary and Henry arrive looking for amusement. Edmund is instantly smitten with Mary, somewhat ignoring and hurting Fanny. Maria and Julia both vie for Henry's affections, even though Maria is already engaged to Mr Rushworth. Henry shamelessly flirts with Maria. Later, Tom returns from Antigua, arriving drunk and bringing a friend, Mr Yates, with him. Yates and Tom convince the Bertrams and Crawfords to stage a risque play, Lovers' Vows. The play allows the young people to openly flirt with each other. Edmund initially speaks out against the play but changes his mind when he is offered a part that allows him to act out flirtatious scenes with Mary. Sir Thomas arrives home and in anger immediately stops the play. Maria marries Rushworth, esteeming his fortune above his character. Henry decides to pursue Fanny as a means to amuse himself. However, Fanny's gentle and kind nature gradually captures his fancy, and Henry becomes emotionally attached to her. After his behaviour towards the Bertram girls, Fanny mistrusts him and does not believe his declarations of love. Even so, Henry proposes and Fanny is pressured by her uncle to accept the offer; she disappoints the family by refusing. Angry, Sir Thomas gives Fanny an ultimatum: accept Henry's proposal of marriage or be sent back to her poor family and experience the difference in comfort. Fanny looks to Edmund for support, but his indifference forces her to choose the latter. Several days after her return home, Henry pays a visit to convince Fanny that his affections for her are genuine. Although she looks more favourably on him, Fanny continues to cling to her feelings for Edmund and rejects Henry. Only when a letter from Edmund arrives which discloses his hopes of marrying Mary does Fanny accept Henry's offer. However, Fanny realizes she does not trust him, and takes back her acceptance the next day. Henry leaves, exceedingly hurt and angry. Edmund arrives to take Fanny back to Mansfield Park to help care for Tom, who has fallen seriously ill and is near death. Edmund confesses he has missed Fanny. Henry gains Maria's pity when she learns of Fanny's refusal of his marriage proposal, and they are found having sex by Fanny and Edmund. Shocked, Fanny is comforted by Edmund and the two nearly kiss, but Edmund pulls away. News of the scandal spreads rapidly and Mary quickly devises a plan to stifle the repercussions. She suggests that after a divorce, Maria would marry Henry while Edmund would marry Mary; together they might re-introduce Henry and Maria back into society by throwing parties. Fanny questions Mary as to how a clergyman could afford lavish parties, and Mary shocks everyone by stating that when Tom dies, Edmund will be heir to the family's fortune. Edmund is appalled and tells Mary that cheerfully condemning Tom to death whilst she plans to spend his money sends a chill to his heart. Having betrayed her true nature to the Bertram family, Mary leaves the Bertrams' company. Edmund ultimately declares his love for Fanny, and they marry. Sir Thomas gives up his plantation in Antigua and invests instead in tobacco, while Tom recovers from his illness. Fanny's sister Susie joins them at the Bertram household while Maria and Aunt Norris take up residence in a small cottage removed from Mansfield Park. ===== Fanny's banishment to Portsmouth is characterised as a punishment by a vengeful Sir Thomas rather than as a much more subtle and manipulative ploy expressed partly as a respite from stress following Henry Crawford's unwelcome attentions. In the novel, Fanny is never tempted to accept Mr. Crawford's proposals, whereas in the film, Fanny accepts, then repudiates, Henry Crawford's offer of marriage, and her family has full knowledge of it. (This is taken from Austen's own history when she accepted a proposal of marriage from a man she had known since childhood, only to retract her acceptance the next day.) In the novel, Fanny remains at Portsmouth for several months, whereas in the film she returns to Mansfield Park much earlier in order to nurse Tom Bertram back to health. This makes her witness to the events that follow. In the film, Maria's adulterous liaison with Mr. Crawford occurs at Mansfield Park instead of in London; in the novel, Maria leaves her husband's London house to run away with Crawford. In the novel, the revelation of Maria's adulterous affair, including Mary's casual attitude towards it, occurs through letters (including from Mary to Fanny) and from later reported conversations; in the film the affair is carried on at Mansfield Park in full view of the family. In the novel, the shock to the Mansfield family is increased by Julia Bertram's elopement with Mr Yates; in the film Julia remains at home, later receiving a love letter from Mr Yates. ===== The setting is the time of the Greco-Turkish War (1919–1922), and the end of the Ottoman Empire. Two American soldiers of fortune – Adam (Curtis) and Josh (Bronson) – team up in 1922 Turkey with separate missions. Josh is interested in profiting from the turmoil prevailing as the Ottoman Empire collapses. Adam, the surviving heir to a shipping company, hopes to reclaim a ship seized by the Germans during World War I and interned in a Turkish Port. Before they can achieve their goals, they are captured by the forces of Osman Bey, an Ottoman governor. Bey is impressed by the Americans' firepower – which includes Thompson submachine guns – and enlists them in a mission to escort his daughters, seemingly to Mecca, but really to Cairo. Because of the war. Turkish ports are blockaded by the British. Knowing that an American ship is not subject to the blockade, Adam suggests using the one held by the Turks, once they have returned it to him. With Osman Bey's consent, the group sets off for the coast with Bey's daughters, and also their guardian, the beautiful and formidable Aila. Along the way, they must contend with the dangers of the terrain, the war, the machinations of Osman Bey's opportunistic Colonel and also each other's greed. They also begin to realize that the Bey wasn't open with them about the real object of their mission, to safeguard a priceless treasure from the empire's enemies. ===== One night, several prison inmates take guards prisoner to protest brutal conditions in their prison. They then make their demands known to prison warden Reynolds (Emile Meyer), a liberal-minded administrator who has complained for many years about the same conditions. James V. Dunn (Neville Brand), the prisoners' leader, meets the press outside the cell block and makes demands that they will no longer tolerate the brutal guards, substandard food, overcrowding, and barely livable conditions. The next day inmates from two other blocks start a riot but they are forced back into the cell blocks by the state police. Negotiations between the inmates and prison officials are stymied by the state politicians who do not want to make any concessions. Meanwhile, factions within the prisoners begin to vie for power and control within the rebellious cell block. At the same time, the state police are given the go ahead to blow a hole in the wall to end the siege. But unknown to them, the inmates inside create a human shield by tying the hostages to the interior wall. Just in the nick of time, the governor agrees to sign a petition from the prisoners. The riot ends when the inmates see the next-day newspapers saying that they had won. But it is a pyrrhic victory for the leader, Dunn. Two weeks later he is called to the warden's office. The state legislature had overturned the governor's signature thus repudiating all the prisoners' demands. The Warden tells Dunn that he will stand trial for leading the riot and taking hostages, charges that will mostly likely mean an additional 30-year sentence. But the Warden, who explains that he is to be replaced, tells Dunn that he did get a small victory: the mentally-ill inmates are to be moved to asylums and some prisoners will be paroled. The Warden tells Dunn that his actions were front-page news which may bring about some good. ===== The plot follows five young people named Serge, Marco, Nathalie, Isabelle and Djamal as they redecorate and run a cafe. Originally named "Café des Abattoirs", which means Slaughterhouse Café, the teenagers rename it "Café des Rêves", meaning "Café of Dreams". The main character is Serge, a fifteen-year-old boy. His dad goes to Africa to work as a chef, so he stays at his parent's café under the tutelage of his grandmother. His friends are Nathalie, Isabelle, Djamal and Marco. Nathalie has a crush on Serge but doesn't admit it. Marco loves to rap and wants to be a rapper, which isn't surprising due to his incredible rapping skills. Isabelle and Djamal are dating. Isabelle's mother doesn't like Djamal because he is an Arab, and doesn't want Isabelle seeing him. Djamal has an older brother, Karim, who is having some problems with debt. Karim borrowed money from two guys, Gérard and Bertrand, who want their money back. A young English man called Wayne (played by Jake Wood) soon shows up, homeless and seemingly on the hunt for things to steal. Mme Lambin, Serge's grandmother, goes out on the town, but is viciously attacked by a mystery person, who drives off in a sports car. Mme Lambin is in a coma, and is rushed to the hospital. Marco throws his rap concert. Everyone enjoyed it. But the plot thickens. The police find out that Serge is living by himself and attempt to put him in an orphanage. Just before they enter the building, however, Mme Lambin's friends and Isabelle's mother show up with papers informing the police of Serge's situation, namely that Serge will be under the guardianship of Dédé and Jeannot (his grandmother's friends) – his father is in Africa, his grandmother in the hospital. Isabelle's mother admits that she called the police in the first place, as she was bitter about Isabelle and Djamal. She appears to fully regret her actions. As Serge leaves, a mysterious boy stares down at him from a high window, his hands pressed against the glass. The police officer (Officer Briand) let Serge go, as he saw Serge was under a guardian. Serge goes to visit his grandmother in the hospital, and she calls Serge's name, waking from her coma. Karim's plotline resolves itself as well. He confesses to Serge that it was he who stole Mme Lambin's purse, and that while trying to defend herself she hit her head. Serge is speechless. Angry, he later tells Gérard and Bertrand where Karim is. Immediately after doing this, however, Serge exclaims, "Qu'est-ce que j'ai fait?" ("What have I done?") and runs back to the café for back-up before racing on his bike to warn Karim. Karim and his pursuers partake in an elaborate chase which ends with Karim hanging precariously from the roof of an old mine building where he had been hiding, unable to pull himself up. Serge's back-up (Marco, Nathalie, Isabelle and Djamal) arrives, forcing Gérard and Bertrand to abandon Karim, telling him he has two days to get them the money. Serge rescues Karim to the admiration of his friends, particularly Nathalie, who professes her love for Serge ("Oh, je t'aime!") which is enthusiastically reciprocated. Back at the café, everyone celebrates Mme Lambin's recovery. Karim has decided to sell his Porsche to pay back his debts. Wayne's true love, Angelique had come to France to find and meet Wayne, shows up as well and they have a happy reunion. ===== A film is found that features young German officer Kirk von Metz (Robert Prosky) sleeping with Adolf Hitler. Years later, von Metz is running for chancellor of West Germany and arranges for the murder of anyone who has seen the film. The killings take place in the Washington D.C. area, and Metropolitan Police officers MacArthur Stern (Gene Hackman) and Ellis Fielding (Dan Aykroyd) are sent to investigate the crimes. Ellis suffers from a multiple personality disorder, which is aggravated when he is confronted with violence. This results in several episodes where he blacks out and assumes the personalities of popular culture characters, including Popeye, Captain Kirk and the Road Runner. "Mac," as he's called, and Ellis attempt to track down the film through pornographer Harry "The Hippo" Gutterman (Dom DeLuise), who informs them that to do so they need to get to New York City. They decide to take a train, but first must evade a team of FBI agents led by Bob Smiley (Ronny Cox), whose orders are to prevent any embarrassment to von Metz by intercepting the film before it reaches the public domain. They all meet up at Washington's Union Station, where Mac and Ellis trick Smiley and his team into boarding the New York-bound train they originally intended to take, while they jump off and hop onto one on the opposite track bound for Cleveland instead. While on board that train, Mac notices another undercover team that has been trailing them, which, as it turns out, is led by Rebecca "Riva" Lowengrin (Nancy Travis), a Mossad agent assigned to the Embassy of Israel in Washington, D.C.. After surviving a helicopter attack on the train by Nazi sympathizers, Mac, Ellis and Gutterman jump off a bridge into a river and eventually make their way to New York. Mac finds the film in a locker on one of the upper levels of Grand Central Terminal and, during an exchange of gunfire with more Nazis, throws it to Riva, who has just arrived on the Main Concourse below. It is screened that same evening during a speech that von Metz delivers. Mac, Ellis and Gutterman all suffer gunshot wounds and, as the movie ends, are seen recuperating in the same hospital. Mac jokes to Ellis that he is converting to Judaism that evening in order to move to Israel the next day to join the Mossad, but is uncomfortable about undergoing circumcision. ===== Karthik (Nagarjuna Akkineni) is a rich architect in Ooty. He falls in love with Padmavathi "Padhu" (Gracy Singh). Padhu is hesitant to accept and reciprocate Karthik's love, as she doesn't know what kind of a person he is. Padmavathi has a younger cousin named Bhanu (Shriya). Bhanu encourages their love and gives courage to Padhu's feelings. When Padhu reveals her love, her father Rama Chandraiah (K. Viswanath) enraged, resists and asks her to marry the guy he has chosen for her, causing Padhu to elope marry Karthik. Padmavathi is very eager to get back to her parents and get their blessings. Karthik and Padmavathi migrate to New Zealand and they give birth to a kid named Lucky. Padhu unfortunately dies in an accident. Rama Chandraiah has a very big joint family. A few of the family members opine that inviting Karthik and his kid for a marriage to happen at their place would give an opportunity to get a closer look at Lucky. When Karthik visits Rama Chandraiah's place he gets mixed responses from different people in the house. Rama Chandraiah doesn't like Karthik and others like him. Over a period of time, Karthik impresses them all and when he was about to go back to New Zealand, Rama Chandraiah expresses his repentance for whatever happened and says that he is accepting Karthik as his son-in-law. Bhanu has fallen in love with Karthik. She meets Karthik, a widower now. She still has feelings for him. But at the same time, there is Pawan (Prabhu Deva) - a childhood friend of Bhanu - who is deeply in love with her. Karthik returns to New Zealand. Bhanu along with Pawan visits Karthik. During that period, Bhanu gets closer to Karthik. When Karthik realizes the intentions of Bhanu, he fixes Pawan as the fiancée for her. Now Bhanu is about to marry Pawan. Bhanu loves Karthik, but Karthik hesitates to repeat the history by marrying a girl against the wishes of her family. Just as Karthik is about to leave for good with his son, Rama Chandraiah stops him from leaving and pleads him to marry Bhanu. Also, Pawan comes and pleads Karthik to marry Bhanu as he can tell that Bhanu is not happy about the marriage. The film has a happy ending with Karthik and Bhanu marrying. ===== Bree and Orson are ready to leave for their honeymoon when Bree sees a TV interview with a homeless teen —Andrew. To Orson's dismay, she insists they cancel their honeymoon and go find Andrew. She finds him at a soup kitchen, but he says he wants nothing to do with her. She finally tells Orson the truth: Andrew did not run away; she left him by the side of the road. Without telling Bree, Orson tracks Andrew down and offers to buy him lunch. Andrew agrees, only later realizing Orson's his new stepfather. Orson asks Andrew how he's been living and Andrew admits he has "done things for money." Orson suggests Andrew just wants to keep punishing Bree for abandoning him. He tells Andrew that he knows something about rage, and that it has some ugly consequences. He also tells Andew that he has a home to come back to if he wants it. The next day, Bree opens the door to find Andrew on the doorstep. Gabrielle and Lynette are heading off for a spa weekend—Gaby to get away from her messy divorce, Lynette to get some much-needed rest. Tom has taken the kids, including Kayla, camping, but he calls Lynette almost immediately. His back has gone out and he needs her to come get him. When she arrives home, she finds Nora sitting on the front porch. She insists on coming along so that Lynette doesn't look like the better mother. Lynette is less than thrilled—it's an eight-hour drive! Nora quickly gets on her nerves and Lynette finally snaps, telling her what a nutjob she is. Nora decides to show her what crazy really is and grabs the steering wheel, forcing them into oncoming traffic. Lynette says if Nora wants to kill herself, go right ahead. Nora tells her to stop, she's going to hitch a ride with the first trucker. To her surprise, Lynette doesn't try to stop her. A few miles later, she finds Nora sitting on the side of the road because the trucker got fresh. She tells Lynette that her comment about suicide hit a little too close to home. "You have everything, your life is perfect," she tells Lynette, who insists her life is far from perfect. She works 12 hours a day, it feels like she has 33 children instead of four, and Tom still hasn't found another job. Nora reveals that Tom doesn't want to work in advertising anymore, something he's never told Lynette. Instead of confronting him about it, Lynette tells Tom maybe it's time to think about pursuing whatever dream job he gave up on a long time ago. Gabrielle starts to feel lonely seeing all the other romantic couples at the restaurant. And then she bumps into her ex- lover, John. He's looking elegant and grown-up. He now runs a landscape company that services the hotel and may soon have the entire hotel chain as a client. She's impressed, so much so that they end up in bed together again. Then he gets a call: his fiancée, Tammy, is arriving early! And she's not just his fiancée, her father owns the hotel chain, so it's imperative she not find Gabrielle in John's room. Gabrielle hides in a suitcase and John wheels her out. She has to unzip herself when she's accidentally left in the elevator. The next day, she tells John she's single now and wants to keep seeing him. But he loves Tammy and doesn't want to risk losing her. Susan goes off for a romantic weekend with Ian at his cabin. They seem to have the same thing in mind, as they both find out when they accidentally open each other's suitcases: His is full of condoms, hers has sexy lingerie inside. But Ian lets it slip that his wife is the only woman he's ever been with. Susan assures him it's just a number and numbers don't matter. He then wants to know what her number is. When he finds out it's 11, the mood is ruined. But when she hears him playing the piano in the middle of the night, numbers don't seem to matter anymore. The two of them end up having sex. Edie warns Julie not to fall for her bad boy nephew Austin, who had come over to help Julie restore her electricity and Julie assures her that won't happen. Edie is looking for her CD player, which she loaned to Susan. Julie tells her that it's at the hospital with Mike. Edie pops in to take the CD player and just happens to be there when Mike opens his eyes. ===== The film involves a truck driver (Spencer Tracy) and the wealthy woman (Marguerite Churchill) whom he covets, and also features Sally Eilers, George Raft and Leon Ames in supporting roles.Everett Aaker, The Films of George Raft, McFarland & Company, 2013 p 16The AFI Catalog of Feature Films:..Quick Millions ===== The film opens with Isshin Higaki (Sonny Chiba) and his daughter Yumi Higaki (Etsuko Shihomi) being attacked by a rival karate master, Hironobu Nikaido (Bin Amatsu) who wants Isshin's job as top karate master. Nikaido teams up with four other masters and they manage to disable one of Isshin's arms and wound his eye with a kunai knife. Alive but crippled Isshin and Yumi retreat to New York where he trains his daughter to avenge him and the death of a friend. After her father's death, Yumi returns to Tokyo to take her revenge. She enters a karate tournament funded by a corrupt business man, but Nikaido, seeking to assure his student's supremacy in the coming fight, sends his four top fighters to wipe out the rest of the competition. Eventually, Yumi, with the help of another karate student, Masahiko Okizaki (Yasuaki Kurata) kills Nikaido and his minions. Her arm is permanently disabled, keeping her from continuing her karate but allowing her to continue on with the rest of her life. ===== Although taking the same basic idea from Snakes on a Plane (many deadly snakes loose on a claustrophobic, high-speed means of transport), the background story of how the snakes end up on the train differs. In the film, a woman has been put under a Mayan curse which causes snake eggs to hatch inside her belly and eat their way out. In order to recover the "lost pieces" of herself (the snakes), she must travel to Los Angeles where a powerful Mayan shaman can lift the curse. She takes the snakes along with her in small jars. While on the train, bandits attack her, allowing the snakes to escape, endangering the other passengers. Eventually, and inexplicably, she herself transforms into a gigantic snake and swallows the moving train whole. Six passengers manage to escape unharmed, and one of them performs a magic ritual which causes her to vanish. However, one girl is shown to have been unknowingly bitten, suggesting that the curse will remain. ===== A London museum's warehouse burns down, leaving undamaged a statue that the museum curator, Mr. Grove, identifies as "Mid-European Primitive". Grove is mysteriously killed while inspecting the artifact when his assistant, Arthur Pimm, is sent to fetch a flashlight for him. This begins a series of unexplained deaths and calamities connected with the statue, which is later positively identified as the Golem of Judah Loew of the 16th century. An inscription in Hebrew heightens the suspense and horror of the plot: Arthur Pimm, a Norman Bates-like character, who keeps his mother's corpse in his apartment and borrows museum jewelry exhibits to adorn it, brings the Golem to life by placing a small scroll containing the Hebrew word "emeth" ("truth") into its mouth, which he finds in a compartment located at the top of the Golem's right foot. The Golem then becomes Pimm's accomplice in murder and mayhem, contrary to its original purpose to defend its community. When the Golem is suspected of bringing about the catastrophic destruction of Hammersmith Bridge, Pimm tries to destroy it. This is impossible, as the inscription predicts: "for neither by fire, nor water, nor force, nor anything by man created" can it be destroyed. This is borne out in the final scenes of the film by the detonation of a small nuclear warhead in an attempt to stop it. Caught up in all of this is Ellen Grove, the daughter of the first deceased curator whom Pimm is in love with, but she falls in love with Jim Perkins of the New York Museum, who identifies the Golem and seeks to acquire it for his museum. Perkins exposes Pimm to the police, and Pimm is committed to an insane asylum. He breaks out of the asylum and kidnaps Ellen with the help of the Golem. Pimm holes up in the museum's annex in the country known as "the Cloisters". Perkins dramatically saves Ellen from the aforementioned nuclear explosion that vaporizes both Pimm and "the Cloisters", but not the Golem which, for unknown reasons, retreats into the sea. ===== In 1964, inmate Charlie Forsythe of Creedmore Prison was executed via electric chair for a murder he did not commit. When Creedmore Prison is reopened after thirty years, Charlie Forsythe returns from the afterlife to exact revenge on Eaton Sharpe (Lane Smith) – the officer who stood by as Forsythe was executed. Inmate Burke (Viggo Mortensen) and all other inmates soon realize that they will all be slaughtered unless Forsythe is allowed to repay his long-standing debt. ===== The story is written in first person and begins by describing a strange and inexplicable sense of foreboding experienced by humanity in general, in anticipation of a great unknown evil. The story proceeds to describe the appearance of Nyarlathotep as a "man" of the race of the Pharaohs, who claims to have been dormant for the past twenty-seven centuries, and his subsequent travels from city to city demonstrating his supernatural powers. Wherever Nyarlathotep went, the story relates, the inhabitants' sleep would be plagued by vivid nightmares. The story describes Nyarlathotep's arrival in the narrator's city, and the narrator's attendance at one of Nyarlathotep's demonstrations, in which he defiantly dismisses Nyarlathotep's displays of power as mere tricks. The party of observers is driven away by an infuriated Nyarlathotep, and wanders off into at least three columnal groups: One disappears around a corner, from which is then heard a moaning sound; another disappears into a subway station with the sound of mad laughter; and the third group, which contains the narrator, travels outward from the city toward the country. The story ends by describing horrific, surreal vistas experienced by the party, in which they realize horror and doom have come to the world. ===== The plot follows the antics of three gun-toting, streetwise, saucy sisters in Swinging London in the late 1960s. The film is most notable for the topless scenes by the Appleton sisters."Top 10 Worst Vanity Projects" Blatt and the Appletons also contributed to three songs on the film's soundtrack. ===== The book begins with Nusendaran (Andras's master), and Andras going into a village to sacrifice a black sheep. However, the Divine Hammer ambush them, and they manage to kill Nusendaran, and are aiming for him next. Suddenly, Andras is teleported away by Fistandantilus. They watch Nusendaran burnt at the stake, so Andras desires revenge against the Kingpriest and his forces. Just then, Fistandantilus offers Andras a choice to become his student. He agrees. Meanwhile, Cathan and the Divine Hammer are eradicating a temple to Chemosh hidden in an abandoned lighthouse. They get onto little longboats, and quickly arrive at the lighthouse. They manage to kill the guards, and work their way down to the main worship hall. The Deathmaster, head priest, aims for Cathan with foul magic, however, Damid, a friend of Cathan's, pushes Cathan away and dies instead. Tithian manages to kill the Deathmaster by throwing his sword at him. After the battle, they receive orders to return to Istar. Cathan also promises to knight Tithian. After returning to Istar, Cathan learns he is to be the escort for the new envoy from the Order of High Sorcery, Leciane, since the previous one died. On the way to the Tower of High Sorcery in Istar to bring her to the palace, the magical olive trees guarding the entrance manage to "persuade" Cathan off the path, causing him to lose his memories of that day. Fortunately, Leciane rescues him, and then he takes her to her quarters in the palace. Later, they head for a tournament held by Cathan's sister. On the way, Leciane is told by the head mage, Vincil, to charm Cathan, however she refuses and lies. Andras is taken to a ruined building a distance away from Istar, which is where he spends his life until one day, when he knows he's ready to attack the Kingpriest. He manages to summon many quasits (abyssal imps), and sends them to attack the Divine Hammer during the tournament. The Divine Hammer are very weak from the tournament, so many die very quickly, including the Grand Marshal. The Kingpriest attempts to banish the quasito, however a spell of Andras's prevents the godly magic from working. Leciane manages to persuade the Kingpriest to let her try, and she succeeds. They go after Andras, and manage to find many quasito around a ruined building. They deduce that their attacker must live there, so they storm the building. Andras is captured, and to be burnt at the stake. However, just before he is burnt, the Conclave rescues him so that they can levy their punishment on him first. Ironically, Fistandantilus steals Andras away from the Conclave. Andras becomes a fetch with the aid of Fistandantilus, and he takes on the form of the Patriarch of Seldjuk. Leciane manages to persuade the Kingpriest and the head of the Conclave to have a moot, however, Andras, as the Patriarch of Seldjuk, stabs the Kingpriest. The Kingpriest's guards think the Patriarch was mind controlled by the wizards, and so they begin to fight. The wizards quickly realize they can't hold out, so begin to attempt to teleport away. They arrive back in the tower, and find out that Vincil has an axe embedded in his back, and is dying. Since Vincil was Leciane's lover, she kisses him, then he dies. The Kingpriest makes Cathan the new Grand Marshal. Faced with the prospect of war with the Kingpriest, the wizards knew that they would lose. Therefore, they begin to move all magical artifacts and books, to Wayreth, since the populace isn't ready for artifacts of mass destruction. They also disenchanted those that couldn't be moved. Since Fistandantilus is a renegade, he decides to aid the Kingpriest, sending him some magical seeds that can clear a path through the groves that protect the towers. The Kingpriest distributes the seeds to all of his allies attacking the towers. In Daltigoth, the general decides to attack early. Since the tower wasn't emptied, the Order of High Sorcery decides to destroy the tower, which levels the city. The Kingpriest receives word of this, however doesn't tell any of his other allies attacking the towers, believing it is an attempt by "forces of evil" to sway his holy crusade. Leciane comes to warn Cathan, who is going to attack the tower in Losarcum with the rest of the Divine Hammer. Unfortunately, she is interrupted before she manages to tell Cathan everything. When Cathan and the Divine Hammer attack the tower, Cathan notices that there seems to be a surge of magic in the apex, and quickly realizes the tower will explode. He and Tithian attempt to escape, but are confused by the twisting passages. Leciane finds them and teleports them away, but she takes a fatal wound in the process. Cathan becomes unconscious during the spell, and wakes up days later. By then, Leciane is already dead. Cathan parts with Tithian when they reach Istar, and Cathan decides that what the Kingpriest is doing is evil. He embarrasses the Kingpriest in front of all the courtiers, then leaves Istar. He is never seen again. Andras begins to feel guilty about what he has done, and wishes to undo it. However, Fistandantilus decides that payment is due then, so takes over Andras's mind. Andras, under Fistandantilus's spell, curses the tower of High Sorcery in Palanthas, so that no one will be allowed into the tower until the master of the past and present claims the tower. Fistandantilus threatens the Kingpriest's, by becoming his enemy if he doesn't let Fistandantilus join the Kingpriest's court. The Kingpriest is forced to agree. ===== The Dargonesti is set in the underwater city of Urione, of the Dargonesti. ===== The prologue starts in Hungary as young Andy is waiting for his father to come home after a hunting trip. His father comes in late but is different. Andy comes to his father when told to and finds he is pale and cold. Andy's mother, suspecting that he is a creature he was hunting for, shoots him. His face is blown apart but continues to come after the two. They then run away into the cold blizzard. His father shouts "I'LL FIND YOU" as they run away. Andy and his mother finally go to a house away from their town. Later, Andy, now a Los Angeles detective, is trying find the Roach, who rapes, murders, and then puts cockroaches in the mouth of his victims. Andy's work leaves him stressed from the relentless hours he must put in on the case. Meanwhile, an albino sociopath killer is making his way to Los Angeles by the calls of someone and visions. At a bar in Texas he kills everyone with a Mauser. Eventually he makes his way to Los Angeles. Gayle Clark is a reporter and while going to work with her boyfriend they find the Hollywood Cemetery is ransacked. The people who did this left the bodies in a road and stole the coffins. Andy is told of this and goes to the watchman to tell him what to do if it happens again; to just stay in the house and close the blinds. At the same time Rico, a Chicano gangster, finds out that his girlfriend is pregnant. The girl runs away after Rico inquires if the child is his. The girl continues on the lam while Rico tries to find her. Eventually she is overtaken by the vampires on a dark street. That same night Wes Richer is having a large party after his successful comedy show. His wife, who is a medium, attempts, at the urging of a non-believer, to have a vision using a Ouija board. She is told by a spirit that there's evil and when she asks "what is this evil," it replies, "THEY THIRST" Before dawn the Prince Vampire is in Disneyland and sees the Headmaster. The Headmaster tells him that endless possibilities will be possible once he conquers Los Angeles. When seen after talking to him by a watchman he turns into a large bat and flies away. ===== Jonsy is a teenager who meets her father Billy, who has just been released from prison, for the first time. The two slowly forge a relationship as they rebuild a boat named The River Rat. The father cannot escape his criminal past, being blackmailed by the prison psychiatrist Doc Cole, who believes he knows the location of a large amount of cash stolen before imprisonment. Father and daughter ride The River Rat on a picturesque trip down the Mississippi River to Memphis, Tennessee in an effort to find the money and elude the prison doctor. Along the way, they learn about each other and grow closer. ===== SPECTRE operative Emilio Largo devises a plan to have NATO be held for ransom by hijacking two atomic bombs from an Royal Air Force (RAF) Avro Vulcan strategic jet bomber during a training exercise. To facilitate Largo's plans, SPECTRE operative Count Lippe recruits Angelo Palazzi to oversee the theft of the bombs, and with help from SPECTRE agent Fiona Volpe, has him surgically alter his face to match that of French Air Force pilot François Derval, who is assisting in the exercise. Volpe and Angelo murder the real Derval, while they are staying at the Shrublands health resort, only for the latter to demand more money. Fiona acquiesces, merely to have him continue with their operation. Following the plan, Angelo successfully hijacks the bomber, killing its crew, and lands it into shallow waters within the Bahamas. While the bombs are recovered by his men, Largo murders Angelo for reneging on his original deal with SPECTRE. British secret agent James Bond, recuperating at Shrublands after a previous assignment, notices Lippe's presence and keeps him under observation, discovering Derval's body. Upon being urgently recalled back to London, Bond finds himself targeted by Lippe for trying to interfere. Before he can defend himself, Lippe is killed by Fiona for nearly jeopardizing Largo's scheme by a missile fired from her motorcycle. Once back in London, Bond learns that all 00 agents are being put on high alert following the theft of the bombs, after being informed a major city in the United States or the United Kingdom will be destroyed unless £100 million is paid to SPECTRE within seven days. While in talks with M on his assignment, Bond requests he be assigned to Nassau, Bahamas, to contact Derval's sister Domino, after recognising Derval from the photo given to the agents in their main briefing as the body he found at the resort. Bond meets with Domino, who he learns is the mistress of Largo when he visits a local casino. Both men recognise each other as adversaries and engage in a tense cat-and-mouse game while still pretending ignorance of each other's true nature. Following their initial meeting, Bond meets with his friend, CIA agent Felix Leiter, fellow agent Paula Caplan, and MI6 quartermaster Q, to receive equipment to help with finding the bombs, including an underwater infrared camera and miniature underwater breathing apparatus. Investigating Largo's ship, Disco Volante, he notices an underwater hatch beneath her that intrigues him. The next day, he visits Largo at his estate during the night, only to find that Paula had been abducted and committed suicide before she could talk. Forced to escape and killing Volpe in the process, Bond evades Largo's men during a Junkanoo celebration. Suspecting the bombs were brought to the area, Bond and Felix search for the Vulcan and find it camouflaged underwater, along with the body of Angelo. Upon returning to the island, Bond reveals to Domino that her brother was killed by Largo and gets her to help him search Disco Volante. However, Largo catches her in the act and has her imprisoned. Meanwhile, Bond replaces one of Largo's men, as SPECTRE prepares to move the bombs, and manages to learn where one of them is being moved to before being forced to escape. Contacting Felix, the pair gets the U.S. Navy to intercept Disco Volante and recover one of the bombs. Bond pursues Largo, and grabs hold of Disco Volante as she sheds the rear half to become a hydrofoil to escape. Bond gets on deck, defeats Largo's men and fights Largo, but Largo gets the upper hand and is about to shoot Bond, when Domino kills Largo in revenge after his hired nuclear physicist frees her. The group quickly flee Disco Volante moments before she is destroyed, whereupon Bond and Domino are retrieved by a plane with the Fulton system. ===== At his farm, Cletus is milking his cow when he accidentally kicks over a lantern, prompting a series of Rube Goldberg-esque events that leads to a chicken starting a fire. Cletus's cow succeeds in extinguishing the fire, but Cletus drops his smoking pipe, leading to a wildfire around Springfield. The townspeople try to extinguish it, to no avail. At Springfield Elementary, Principal Skinner asks Groundskeeper Willie to get the fire extinguisher, but all of them have been stolen by Bart to propel his wagon. As Bart rockets around town, the foam released from the extinguishers puts out the wildfire. Bart is cheered as a hero by everyone and rewarded with a driver's license by Mayor Quimby. Bart starts using Homer's car for his own pleasure, but is eventually tabbed for family errands, mostly chauffeuring Homer. After many inappropriate requests, Bart flees to North Haverbrook, where he meets a 15-year-old girl named Darcy, who believes Bart is much older. They begin a romantic relationship and Darcy soon proposes marriage. At the court house, Bart reveals his age, whereupon Darcy reveals that she is pregnant, much to Bart's depression. Darcy admits that Bart is not the father as they have not consummated the relationship - the real father is a Norwegian exchange student, and she wants to get married because her parents would be upset about her extramarital pregnancy. Bart agrees to marry Darcy, and they drive to Utah, where marriage restrictions are looser and they can start a new life together. Eventually, Homer, Marge and Darcy's parents catch up with them to stop the wedding, where Darcy's father tries to reason with Bart as he believes that Bart took advantage of a girl much older than him and got her pregnant. Darcy confesses to her parents that Bart is not the father, and that she did not want her parents to be disappointed by her pregnancy. Darcy's mother, thrilled, confesses that she is pregnant too, and the family agrees to pass the two babies off as twins. Darcy and Bart end their relationship, while Bart assures her they will meet again, to which she agrees. Later, Bart admits to Homer that he looked forward to being a father, and Homer cheers him up by going with him on a ride around town at night. When Lisa struggles to find excitement and intrigue in her family heritage for a school presentation, she decides to take creative license. Inspired by Bart's "Indian butter trick" and the well-known kitchen curtains, with their stalks- of-corn pattern, Lisa claims to be Native American, from the "Hitachi" tribe, a name Lisa selects based on the Hitachi brand of the family's microwave oven. The embellishment turns into a web of lies when Lisa is chosen to represent the school and her "people" at City Hall, then as a keynote speaker for the National Native American Tribal Council. She eventually admits she lied about her heritage, but is spared from prosecution when the other speakers admit they are not true Native Americans. Homer compares his daughter to CBS News in a reference to the 2004 Killian documents controversy. As they leave, Homer mentions that his great-great-grandmother actually was a Native American, much to Lisa's chagrin. ===== Sharlene San Pedro (from Mga Anghel na Walang Langit and Goin' Bulilit) starred in this ABS-CBN teleserye, which premiered on May 29, 2006. She reunited once again with her highly successful Angel na Walang Langit family composed of directors Maryo J. delos Reyes, Lino Cayetano, writers Agnes Gagilonia-Uligan, Aloy Adlawan and Michiko Yamamoto, as well as versatile actor Johnny Delgado. In Calla Lily, Sharlene played dual roles, twin sisters Calla and Lily who grow up in a small fishing village in Batangas. Calla and Lily are polar opposites: Calla is outspoken and naughty while Lily is very timid and shy. Both are doted upon by their father, Dodie (Gerald Madrid), who takes care of them while their mother, Sari (Ana Roces), works in Taiwan as an overseas Filipino worker, or an OFW. However, Sari meets Ramil (Yul Servo) a Filipino businessman abroad and has an affair with him. With her conscience eating her up, she returns home to her family, but her secret becomes exposed when Ramil follows her and tries to win her back. To complicate matters, Sari's father Edong (Johnny Delgado) and mother Liza (Evangeline Pascual) prefer Ramil over her husband. Soon Dodie and Sari end up fighting and even their kids take sides. One terrible night, a drunken Dodie takes Edong's boat to sea with Lily following him. The same time a storm hits the village. This period is when the story of Calla Lily unfolded. Aside from Ana Roces, Gerald Madrid, Evangeline Pascual, Yul Servo and Johnny Delgado, strong performances came from Baron Geisler, Rodjun Cruz, Erich Gonzales, Luz Valdez, Lou Veloso, Lauren Novero, Myla Boyd, Scarlet, Angel Sy, Pewee O'Hara, Hazel Espinosa, and Raquel Montessa. Soliman Cruz, Cloyd Robinson, Niña Manalo, Paolo Ramirez, and Jam Melendez completed the powerhouse cast of Calla Lily. ===== The plot of the novel is based around the discovery within Roman ruins of a new gospel written by Jesus' younger brother, James in the first century. In the gospel, many facts of Jesus' life, including the years not mentioned in the Bible, are revealed not to be as factual as they were once thought to be. Steven Randall, a divorced public relations executive running his own company in New York City, is the man hired by New Testament International, an alliance of American and European Bible publishers, to give publicity to James' Gospel as published by them. The project has been top-secret for six years, and now it is about to be unveiled to a world long in need of Christian revival. However, as Steven gets more involved in the project he runs into several questionable circumstances, as radical clerics centered in Central Europe oppose the publication of the document, since it would give ammunition for the conservative churches to keep the flow of worship from the top to the bottom, instead of bringing the faith to the masses. A struggle for control of the World Council of Churches, the suspicious absence in the project of archeologist Prof. Augusto Monti, the original discoverer - and whose daughter Angela is a potential love interest for Steve -, and the potential notion that the newly discovered gospel itself is a forgery made in the 20th century instead of a legitimate historical document, all are guaranteed to make Steve question the worth of the new job he is undertaking, and the newly re-found faith in God he acquired along with it. ===== The film begins with Lady Electric and Bob. After being chased down another corridor and into an elevator where they both fall to their deaths Bob snaps out of his daydream at the last second. When he comes to, he finds his friends have lost the game in the same fashion. Later, when selecting another game to play on the "Outlaw BBS", they chose one called "Terminal Entry", however, this one is password protected. Thinking that the game was set up by members at MIT, Tom decides that he will crack the password and play it during a vacation planned up in the mountains for the weekend. Colonel Styles and Captain Jackson inform General Stewart of the terrorist situation and request more men to help protect the border over a video conference. But the general is not convinced, so he decides to fly out and take command personally. The terrorist network commander watches a news cast on the television where General Stewart being interviewed by Dominique, the reporter who is also the love interest of Captain Jackson, and decides to place a hit on the general. But the plan was circumvented by Captain Jackson while escorting the general to his hotel. Back at the dorm room, thinking they have been beaten again, the Caltech students just about give up on their game "Dr. Fly", when Gwen, a friend of Chris who was invited to the weekend retreat, beats the game with a single command. Meanwhile, the terrorist commander is reminded by his leader over another video conference the stakes of their operation and is given an initiation time frame for their coordinated attack. The Army unit makes progress in finding the communication network for the terrorist by locating the bulletin board system after searching through known listings. When they find the terrorist network they pose as Hassan, the terrorist they killed earlier, but Dan Jackson was distraught about being given the order to have his girlfriend Dominique assassinated. During the weekend getaway, the teenage "hackers" fail to gain access to "Terminal Entry" through brute force password cracking, however when Bob drops one of his Twinkies on the keyboard, he enters the numbers "5.9.125.35 1/5.25.35" which was the same numbers as the measurements Lady Electric from the beginning of the movie had said to him. Upon gaining access, the group find a complex computer program which they think is a game. The Army anti-terrorism unit tracks down the position of the terrorist command post, and initiate an assault on the location which is a warehouse in the middle of the desert. Before the commander escapes, he assigns the six students to take over command. When the students start playing the game, the commands they issue in play erupt in real life bombings, assassinations, and acts of terrorism. Some of which include a Russian peace delegate, an oil refinery in Los Angeles, airplanes flying in from Lisbon, and themselves. Bob, not knowing the full impact of their influence, put the six of them on the hit list. Operator 23 was already dispatched before they could countermand the assignment. Coincidentally their car wouldn't start, so Bob leads the group back into the house to arm themselves. When night fell, a large group of terrorists descended upon the house. However, the anti-terrorist unit was one step ahead of the terrorists, and rescued the kids from their impending doom, then proceeded to eradicate the terrorist threat. During the fighting, Bob coaxed by his imagination, the voice in his head of Lady Electric, told him to go back inside to put his initials into the computer as the winner. At the end, even with the terrorists defeated, and the kids safe, Captain Jackson and Colonel Styles know the war is not over. ===== The cartoon takes place in a kitchen at midnight. Jerry pokes his head out of the refrigerator door and steals some cheese, unaware that Tom is watching him. Tom weighs the mouse down enough such that he can no longer see in front of him. After Jerry falls off from a rolling pin, Tom emerges from his hiding place with a smug face. Jerry "salutes" the cat and returns the slice of cheese to the refrigerator. He then proceeds to steal just a tiny bit of cheese, but Tom stomps on his tail with one of his hind paws and replaces the cheese as if to say, "Leave it alone". However, the cat soon realizes that he has the free run of the refrigerator, so he traps Jerry's tail with an iron and begins eating. Jerry frees himself, but is soon caught by Tom and returns himself to the iron. Tom then presents Jerry with the wedge of cheese, but the iron attached to Jerry's tail prevents him from reaching the cheese. Tom then smells the cheese, but soon sees that it is the wedge of cheese, much to his nose's displeasure, and tosses it away. Unfortunately, the cheese smashes some crockery and wakes up Tom's owner Mammy Two Shoes, who goes downstairs. Tom quickly shoves Jerry into the refrigerator and hides. Mammy rushes in and opens the fridge, screaming in terror when she spots Jerry. Leaping onto a stool and comically hiking up numerous, patterned layers of underclothes, Mammy calls Tom who emerges and pursues Jerry. In the midst of the chase, Mammy leaves the room. Tom surprises Jerry behind a trash bin, but Jerry tricks Tom into looking over the bin and jumps on the pedal, sending it to crash into Tom's face. Jerry then jumps into the toaster and Tom starts it. Jerry pops up, his rear end smoking, and cools it in a sink full of water, only to be chased again by Tom. Tom ends up losing his grip and gets his tail caught up in an ironing board, with his body facing the refrigerator. Jerry climbs down the blind, picks up a fork with his tail and stabs Tom with the fork, causing Tom to slide down the board and eventually crash into the fridge just as Jerry had planned. Mammy re-enters the room on the belief that Tom has caught Jerry and disposed of Jerry. Then she opens the refrigerator door to get Tom a bowl of cream, only to find Tom in the refrigerator, covered in food. Jerry overhears Mammy shouting at Tom and kicking the screeching cat out of the house while munching on his wedge of cheese and feeling very pleased with himself. ===== Alberto is an employee who is the Italian average of society of the Fifties. Alberto is a go-getter, attached only to his work, and believes that everyone meets him wants to bring Alberto bad luck. Alberto refuses every contact with other people, but soon finds himself caught in misunderstandings and so the people, to take revenge on him and his meanness, force him to change his identity. ===== Tony Rome is an ex-cop turned private investigator who lives on a powerboat in Miami called "The Straight Pass". This a reference to the fact that Tony also has a gambling problem. He is asked by his former partner, Ralph Turpin (Robert J. Wilke), to take home a young woman who had been left unconscious in a hotel room. The woman, Diana (née Kosterman) Pines (Sue Lyon), is the daughter of rich construction magnate Rudolph Kosterman (Simon Oakland), who subsequently hires Rome to find out why his daughter is acting so irrationally. After regaining consciousness, Diana discovers that a diamond pin that she had been wearing the night before has gone missing. Diana and her stepmother Rita (Gena Rowlands) hire Rome to find the lost pin. Rome is chloroformed and beaten by a pair of thugs, and Turpin is found murdered in Rome's office. Lt. Dave Santini (Richard Conte) of the Miami police investigates the crime scene and demands information from Rome, who is an old friend. Rome gets help from a seductive divorcee, Ann Archer (Jill St. John). An attempt is made on Kosterman's life, and a jeweler is found murdered. Rome discovers that Diana has been selling her stepmother's jewels and giving the money to Lorna, her biological mother. The trail leads to Rita's dead ex- husband and Adam Boyd, a doctor, who ordered the killings. The case solved, Rome invites Ann for a romantic getaway on his boat, but she decides to go back to her husband. ===== LeRoy Chambers is the sole witness to a murder by a local Chicago gang called "The Wolves". To escape police questioning as well as the wrath of the gang who does not want LeRoy to squeal on them, LeRoy is sent by his mother to Pass Christian, Mississippi. It is here that LeRoy is to live with his grandfather. Upon arrival in a New Orleans bus station, LeRoy meets his grandfather for the first time. Living with his grandfather, LeRoy learns how to sleep on a boat, how to catch shrimp and crabs, how to saw lumber, how to buy and sell goods, and even how to drive a truck. LeRoy also learns about the Cajun culture of which is a part of his heritage. However, one thing that LeRoy is not able to learn much about is his father. His father ran away from him and his mother many years ago when LeRoy was in sixth grade. LeRoy's grandfather will not talk about LeRoy's father, stating that he "doesn't have a son". When the Chicago police came looking for LeRoy in Mississippi to testify as a material witness to the murder he saw, LeRoy has serious reservations. LeRoy understands that he is the only person who saw the Wolves murder an old woman in his housing development. However, LeRoy is scared that if the Wolves see him in court, he may not get out of Chicago alive. LeRoy's grandfather, as well as the local Mississippi sheriff, agree that LeRoy must go to Chicago. However, LeRoy's father (who arranges to surprise LeRoy in a New Orleans restaurant) thinks that LeRoy should steal away to New York City with him. LeRoy, even though he is angered to see his father after so long, is tempted to accompany his dad. Finally, the respect LeRoy has for his grandfather and the new life he has started to build in Pass Christian, Mississippi trumps his father's wishes as well as the fear he has to testify in court. The book ends off with LeRoy boarding an airplane heading towards Chicago. ===== Lung Ying (Ko Chun- hsiung), patriarch of the Lung family and leader of the four triad families have decided to stop dealing in drugs and go straight with legitimate business. While the No. 3 and No. 4 of the four families follow suit, White Wolf (Ku Feng), the No. 2 of the four families, continues his illegal dealings and Lung sends his hitman and adopted son, Allan (Alan Tam), to kill Wolf's underling, Golden Teeth Shing, who is in charge of Wolf's drug business, before sending Allan to Taiwan to hide from the police. When Wolf finds out what happened, he is enraged and calls his second in command, Tsui (Norman Chui). At this time, Kui (Ho Ka-kui), Wolf's underling and the accountant of the four families, pleads with Lung to spare him when HK$5 million was lost, but it turns out Kui was colluding with Tsui. Meanwhile, Lung's second son, Ka-yip (Kent Tong), is in debt to Wolf after losing in his casino so Tsui and Kui lures him to help them ship cocaine since he is in charge of Lung's container terminal. While the Lung family is sending off the fifth and youngest son, Ka-chung (Max Mok), to study medicine in England, Tsui and Kui set a trap on Ka-yip to give Wolf a reason to capture Ka-yip and lures Lung out to a meeting with the other patriarchs four families at Wolf's wood factory in Cha Kwo Ling. Lung arrives at Wolf's factory with his bodyguard, Po (Kent Cheng), while his brother in law, Sek (Lau Kar-wing) stays in the car. There, Wolf demands Lung to kill Ka-yip on the spot, but stabs himself instead as he believes his son was framed and demands two days to investigate in the matter, but Wolf refuses. Kui stirs up the scene but Lung then slaps and accuses him for the HK$5 million. At this time, Lung's eldest son, Ka-wai (Michael Miu), arrives and impulsively enters the factory followed by Sek, and beats some of Wolf's henchmen before Kui takes a knife and holds Lung in the neck, demanding Ka-yip and Sik to take off their pants. Ka-yip then throws his pants at Kui, who struggles with Lung before stabbing the latter in the chest. At the hospital, Ka-wai beats up Ka-yip for his wrongdoings but Po and Sek breaks the fight. In his dying breath, Lung tells his sons not to seek revenge and dies right before his wife (Lisa Chiao Chiao), fourth son Ka-wah (Andy Lau) and Ka-wai's wife, (Kara Hui), arrive. Afterwards, Tsui and Kui devises a plan to Wolf to kill the rest of the triad boss of the families so Wolf can be the head of the four families. At Lung's family, No. 3 and No. 4, along with Sergeant Fung (Stanley Fung), arrive to pay respects before Wolf, Tsui and the rest of his gang arrive and taunt Lung's sons. After Wolf and his gang leaves, the Taoist prayers at the funeral stop their chants before pulling out automatic weapons and massacring the funeral parlour while Wolf's underling, Bill (Shing Fui-On) also enters in the back and shoots at Lung's corpse before Ka-wai tackles him and stabs him in the neck during a struggle. After killing Bill, Ka-wai dies after getting shot by Wolf's other henchmen. Wolf also shoots and kills Lung's third son, Ka-keung (Cheung Kwok-keung) from the second the level before he was betrayed and killed by Tsui. Ka-yip, Ka-keung, Sek, Ka-wai's wife and the triad bosses of the four families were all killed in the massacre, and Ka-wah and his mother were the only ones to escapes but Ka-wah injures his hand and gets shot in his leg and crippled while protecting his mother. Ka-wah and his mother goes into hiding living in a boat. Po picks Ka-chung from the airport and find out from Sergeant Fung at a roadblock about what happened at the funeral parlour and Po sends Ka-chung to live in a safehouse. The next night, Ka-chung is attacked by Tsui's henchman and he kills a couple of them and when he was struggling with a henchman trying to stab him, Po arrives just in time to rescue him and kills off the rest of the attackers. Po then drives Ka-chung to the pier to send him off to Taiwan before Po is killed by Tsui's henchmen who crash his car and shoot him. Ka- chung finds Allan in Taiwan and tells him what happened and they return to Hong Kong after Allan bids farewell to his girlfriend. Back Hong Kong, Ka- chung and Allan tail Tsui, who is running for district council, taking photos of him hoping to find an opportunity to kill him, before reuniting with Ka- wah, who is working as a pimp to support his mother. However, Ka-chung gets into an argument with Ka-wah when the latter forbids him to seek revenge against their father's wish and the fact that the former is inexperienced in combat. However, Ka-chung proves his skills in a brief scuffle with Ka-wah, who admonishes Ka-chung about the risk of losing their lives while seeking revenge and leaving their kidney disease-ridden mother all by herself. Ka- chung and Allan agree with Ka-wah and Ka-wah leads them to see their mother in the boat only to see her getting burned alive by Tsui's henchmen who set the boat on fire. After paying respects to their mother in front of her tombstone, Ka-wah, Ka-chung and Allan beat up and capture Kui at a bar and force him to bring them to Tsui. Kui brings the three to Tsui's drug factory, where Ka- chung holds Kui hostage with a shotgun and enter through the front door. Shortly after, a gun fight breaks out while Tsui is doing a drug trade with a foreign buyer at the upper floor. Kui is killed in the chaos and Ka-chung kills a couple of henchmen before Ka-wah and Allan jump in through a window glass and joining him to take out the rest of the thugs before heading upstairs for Tsui. As the three reach the upper floor, they are held at gunpoint by Tsui and more henchmen and forced to drop their guns before Ka-wah fires a shotgun hidden inside in his pants. Ka-wah fights one of Tsui's henchman, Ka-chung fights Tsui, while Allan fights the foreign drug buyer. After Ka-wah kills the henchman, he helps Ka-chung fight off Tsui before Allan brings in a bottle a alcohol with a flaming piece of fabric. Allan hands the bottle to Ka-chung, who throws it at Tsui, who is set on fire and crashes out the window to his death. ===== Hero Wah (Andy Lau) and Cheung Ho-kit (Tony Leung) star are two old friends who meet up in later life. Hero is a triad gang member and Kit is an insurance salesman, Hero is looking for a career change and Kit has become disillusioned with life after discovering he has a "bubble" in his brain that could burst at any time killing him. The two decide to switch lives for a bit with the Triad going respectable and the Insurance Salesman taking on the world of the Triads. As well as a new life, both of the two friends find new love. ===== Ko (Andy Lau) is a hard working doctor who has little time to spend with his wife (Charlene Choi). When she dies in a car accident her heart is given to another woman, Tse Yuen Sam (Charlie Yeung). Ko later changes careers and becomes a paramedic. One night while on call in an ambulance, Ko attends a traffic accident involving Sam. He discovers she is the recipient of his wife's heart and that her husband Derek (also played by Lau) has left her. Ko decides to use their resemblance as a means of making amends for both his and Derek's treatment of their wives. ===== Return Engagement tells the story of Lung (Alan Tang), a Triad boss who is sent to prison in Canada. While he is in jail his daughter is taken to Hong Kong to keep her safe. On his release Lung travels to Hong Kong to find his daughter where he meets a young Triad, Wah (Andy Lau) who knows of his reputation and respects him greatly. ===== Written as a first-person narrative, Craii de Curtea-Veche depicts the lives of the rich and educated boyar family descendants Pașadia and Pantazi, who are often visited by the narrator. The latter admits his admiration for Pașadia and his fascination with Pantazi. The two's mysterious existence is revealed only through conversations and banquet episodes, which tend to end in champagne- drinking bouts and orgies. They appear versed in Western manners and refined salon culture, but love to refresh their senses by submerging in the muddy atmosphere of Bucharest brothels. Their destiny intersects with that of Gore Pîrgu, a brutish self-seeker who is on his way up on the social scale. A combination of venality, depravity and bombastic, often demagogic discourse, Pîrgu is meant to illustrate the alternative and undertoned "Balkan-like" Romanian identity. He manages to sell Ilinca, an impoverished young noblewoman, to the libertine Pașadia, but the latter is defied by Pantazi, who offers to marry Ilinca himself and thus save her family's honour. However, fate puts an end to such a romantic happy ending, as the young woman catches scarlet fever and dies, while Pașadia ends his adventurous life in a heart attack during one of his sexual escapades. The latter stage of the novel corresponds with the onset of World War I and the drastic changes it brought to Romanian society. ===== ===== Set up in the 19th century, during Amavasya, the dark moon lunar phase, a greedy, and lavish alcoholic zamindar insults principal Deity Durga and attempts to steal the Panchaloha idol from the Royal Family's Temple in a state of inebriation so that he can repay his huge debt to the British officers. Subsequently, he along with the British officers are killed by the enraged Goddess Durga. The Goddess infuses a mythical curse on the family's heirs, and every 48 years on the day of Diwali, one male heir from the Royal Family is succumbed to death. The present year 2001 denotes end of another 48 years, and Murari (Mahesh Babu), the grandson of Sabari whose husband died 48 years back because of the curse, is expected to be the next heir to be succumbed to the curse. Murari lives with his father Sattipandu, sister-in-law Gopi, brothers Sreenayya, Baachi and Soori and their respective wives and kids along with Sabari. Murari is named after Sabari's husband and thus is called with utmost respect by all family members except Gopi who calls him either by his name or as Kanayya(Kanhaiya). She treats him like her son and even decides to go for abortion clandestinely so that she would not neglect him once she has her own offspring. Thus since his childhood Murari considers Gopi as his mother since his mother died giving birth to him. In another village, a beautiful city-bred Agricultural student called Vasundhara lives along with her big combined family and is the cynosure of all eyes and affection in the family. Sattipandu and Vasundhara's father Chanti are blood-related and actually Gopi is Chanti's adopted daughter. These two families are separated because of a feud at Gopi's marriage because of Chanti's evil son Rambabu. Every year, Gopi is allowed to go there without any escort from her husband and when a tussle happens regarding this, Sreenayya apologizes and tries to patch up with her. At that point, Murari comes to know about Gopi's sacrifice for him when he secretly listens their conversation. For the first time, Gopi gets an escort in the form of Murari after this incident. There after few incidents, Murari falls in love with Vasundhara but leaves the house because of a land dispute with Rambabu with Gopi staying back there for few more days. Vasundhara tries to convey her love but she had no chance and returns to Hyderabad. Back at Murari's hometown, the temple priest Seshayya comes to know that Murari is going to be the victim of Devi's curse but he does not disclose the same to Sabari who goes for a pilgrimage. Meanwhile with assurance from his father, Murari goes to Hyderabad and unites with Vasundhara. They go back to Murari's house where Vasundhara lies that she came for Agricultural research. Slowly the couple gets the nod from all the members of both of the families. Meanwhile Sabari, who returns from the pilgrimage, upon being informed by Seshayya that Murari would be subjected to death by Devi this year, refuses for the marriage. Rambabu announces marriage of Vasundhara with her cousin Bullabbayi that day and when informed by Chanti, Murari tries to quit the temple to save her but is stopped by Sabari. Then she reveals the dark secret that is about Durga's curse to her family when they all are at the temple offering prayers for redemption. Murari promises to Sabari that he would come alive along with Vasundhara to complete Abhisheka. Murari goes to Vasundhara's place and saves her from Bullabbayi but once they are about to leave, Murari is fatally stabbed by Bullabbayi unintentionally and thus runs away on seeing Murari bleeding. In extreme pain, Murari realizes this as Goddess Durga's ploy and with all the strength he manages to come back to the temple along with Vasundhara. He manages to convince everyone that he is safe and sound as he covered his wounds with soil and a cloth but Soori notices blood-stains. Before he could say anything, Murari tells him to call an ambulance immediately and takes part in the rituals despite extreme pain and internal bleeding. By the time the rituals of Abhisheka, Yajna, and Arti end, the blood of Murari spills over the Holy Idol invoking the soul spirit, and as a result Murari loses his consciousness and is in critical condition. Seeing this, Sabari drowns herself in the holy river as a sacrifice to the Goddess, and saves Murari's life. Murari revives and marries Vasundhara. ===== Andy Lau and Sammi Cheng star as Mr. and Mrs. Thief, a husband and wife team of super-thieves. After a successful diamond robbery, the two get into an argument about how the loot should be split up and the husband leaves. Two years later, Mrs Thief is on the verge of remarrying although her affections lie more with the expensive necklace belonging to her fiancé's mother-in-law than with the husband to be. When a plot to steal the necklace ends up falling into the hands of Mr. Thief, the couple are forced together again. ===== The Tigers tells the stories of a team of five Hong Kong detectives. While busting a drug deal the brother-in-law of one of the detectives is found to be implicated and gives them a large amount of cash in exchange for their silence. But with the money comes hassle, as the organised crime syndicate want more and more in exchange for their money, leading to an action packed tale of police corruption. ===== While on duty saving hostages in a movie theater, Special Duties Unit officer Happy Chiu (Andy Lau) is shot in the head by a criminal disguised as a hostage and is hospitalized for nine months. Despite having a bullet lodged in his head, Happy refuses to retire so he applies to transfer as a senior inspector of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) to earn cash to pay for his mother's (Soh Hang-suen) kidney transplant operation. At this time, a group of thieves led by Prince (Lung Fong) have escaped from prison and the police have issued a bounty of HK$800,000 to have them captured, so Happy assigns his CID detective Bad Odor Chuen (Alex Man), a cowardly, incompetent, officer who was previously humiliated by Prince's underling, Shrimp (Eddie Mauher), who forced Chuen to undress himself at gunpoint. Lam Tin-fu (Ricky Wong), elder son of Lam's Group CEO Lam Yuet-ting (Foo Wang-tat), is unhappy that his father appointing his younger brother (Jimmy Wong) to be his successor, so he hires Prince to stage a robber at Lam's Group to get his father and brother killed. Happy and Chuen then tricks Bitchy Ying (Sandra Ng), the imprisoned girlfriend of Stalled Engine Tak (Cheung Kwok-keung), who is the computer hacker in Prince's gang, into work with them by paying her fellow prisoners to threaten her. Happy is then informed by his superior, Superintendent Wai (Lau Kong), that TV actress Lam Ka-sin (Elvina Kong) is being stalked by another one of Prince's underling, Convulsion (Frankie Chan) and rushes to her apartment with Chuen and narrowly saves her from being killed by Convulsion and bring her to the safe house where she gets into a fight with Ying as they were childhood rivals. When Prince sees Tak calling his mother asking the whereabouts of Ying, Tak reveals to Prince that Ying is held by Happy and Chuen at Kowloon Peak and pleads Prince to save her, but he and his gang shoots up the safehouse and also shoots Ying (who was wearing a bullet vest given by Chuen) and lies to Tak that his girlfriend has died but still convinces Tak to work for him. Tak then requests a computer to practice his hacking skills and uses it to send a tip that Prince is robbing the Lam's Building Saturday at 7 PM to his computer at home, which is seen by his family along with Chuen and Ying, who were visiting his family for tips. Happy and Chuen then tails Lam Tin-fu, which irritates the latter, who then frames the two for assaulting him. Happy and Chuen are put under investigation and suspended from their duties, but Superintendent Wai purposely gives them their suspension letters without a start date to allow them to continue to work on the case. On the night Lam Yuet-ting announces to pass down his position as CEO to his second son, Prince and his gang arrives and holds a number of rich guests hostage while demanding Lam to bring him to the antique vault in the company to obtain the priceless Along the River During the Qingming Festival painting inside. Chuen and Ying were tied up by Shrimp, who forced them to undress themselves, while Happy saves the hostages and keeps them safe locked inside the elevator. Prince then reveals to Lam Ting-yuet that Tin-fu colluded with him before killing the latter and Ting-yuet gives the password to the vault before being killed by Prince. Happy arrives in time and save Lam's second son while Tak smashes the computer to the vault which triggers the alarm to the police and was shot by Prince. Chuen and Ying manages to untie themselves and the latter finds Tak who opens the vault and take the priceless painting for themselves. Happy shoots the rest of Prince's gang and kills Convulsion in fight, while Chuen kills Shrimp after re-enacting their first encounter. Prince pretends to be a hostage and escapes after knocking out an officer, but Happy catches up with him in the parking lot but is at an disadvantage when he drops his glasses. Fortunetly, Tak and Ying arrive to help him and Happy kills Prince by throwing and impaling him with a pen belonging to his deceased journalist father. Chuen is then reunited with his estranged wife (Rosamund Kwan) and daughter after witness his heroic acts on live news. ===== An ordinary meaningless existence can suddenly be challenged by the perplexing game of life, luck and death. Amelita or Amy is an aging jueteng kubrador (bet collector). Despite the regular crackdown on the illegal numbers game, she clings to the job she has known for more than 20 years. She walks around the poverty-stricken squatter's neighborhood collecting bets from her regular patrons every day. Her husband Eli, who is equally aging, can only manage to help by manning their small sari-sari (variety store). Amy's grown up children have all left home. Her eldest daughter Mona works as a domestic helper abroad. Her second daughter, Juvy, who is always pregnant, lives with her in- laws. Amy's youngest son, Eric, a young soldier, recently died on combat duty in Mindanao. While collecting bets three days before All Saints day, Amy is apprehended by a police officer. She joins the other kubradors in the police station until their kabo (handler) bails them out. The following morning, Amy returns to the streets and continues her clandestine activity. She meets the parish priest, who informs her of a young neighbor's sudden death from an accident. The priest asks her to collect abuloy (donations) from neighbors and friends. When Amy remits her afternoon jueteng collection to her kabo, she finds him sick at home. He then asks her to attend the next jueteng draw on his behalf, Amy being a trusted ally of the jueteng network for a long time. Amy and the other kabos await the arrival of the table manager (supervisor) of the draw in a secluded location. But when the table manager arrives, he announces that the draw is cancelled and informs everyone the winning numbers from the jueteng financier. When Amy goes home that night, her husband Eli tells her the bad news. He failed to hand over a bet from a neighbor whose numbers, to Amy's surprise, won the rigged draw. Pissed off, she has no choice but to go to her kabo and borrow money in order to pay out the neighbor. That night, the neighbors have lighted candles in front of their houses to welcome the feast of All Saints Day the next morning. A mammoth crowd greets Amy and her family as they approach the cemetery. At Eric's grave they saw Glenda, Eric's girlfriend, offering flowers and prayers for her dead boyfriend. Still pissed off with Eli, Amy leaves and wanders around the cemetery to cool off. Suddenly she hears a commotion. Two vehicles figured in a collision. The two drivers engage in a heated argument until one of them pulls out a gun and fires a shot. The bullet goes pass Amy and hits a teenage boy behind her. Amy shouts for help. Police arrive and arrest the suspect. Other bystanders help load the bloodied body of the boy in a vehicle. Still in a state of shock, Amy follows gaze as the vehicle speeds away from the crime scene. ===== At the funeral of "King" Barlowe, a criminal racketeer and a major rival of the Joker, the Joker is surprised to learn that he has inherited Barlowe's vast fortune. With his newfound fortune, the Joker builds himself a life of luxury and retires from crime. The Joker spends his money freely, thinking that he still has plenty of it left, only to discover that Barlowe has had the last laugh after all from beyond the grave - the money is all counterfeit. He then receives a visit from the IRS, which has assessed an inheritance tax based on the total amount of the supposed fortune. The Joker is torn between reporting the inheritance as counterfeit in order to avoid the tax liability (thus becoming a laughing stock in the Gotham City underworld for admitting that Barlowe had tricked him), going to jail for tax evasion, or returning to crime in order to pay the inheritance tax, rebuild his fortune, and protect his reputation. The Joker chooses the third option, yet he decides to commit normal, "un-Jokerish" crimes as secretly as possible and without his usual calling card flourishes, figuring that no one would ever suspect him of such pedestrian affairs. First he breaks into a bank safe, but "fate's invisible hand plays strange tricks" as the wind blows a movie theater's banner onto the bank that the Joker just robbed, making it look like a Joker crime. After discovering that the Joker's money is counterfeit, Batman and Robin have to prove that the Joker is actually committing these crimes. When the Joker performs a stick-up at the Gotham Opera House dressed in a trenchcoat and slouch hat, Batman is able to guess that the Joker was behind it and burns the theater's tickets to I Pagliacci to make it, too, look like a Joker crime. A similar deduction occurs after the Joker tries robbing the Gotham Zoo. Batman locks himself in the zoo's bat cage to make it look like a joke that was performed on him by the Joker. The Joker, jumping at the chance to satisfy his massive ego, claims to an underworld friend that he had robbed the zoo for the sole purpose of humiliating Batman. However, the underworld friend was actually Batman in disguise, and with a recording of the Joker's confession that Batman made, the Joker is arrested. ===== Tuan hops aboard a boat to visit a long-lost friend named Arsat. When he meets Arsat, he finds out his wife, Diamelen, is dying. Arsat then tells him a story, starting with the time when he and his brother (the brother was never given a name) kidnapped Diamelen (Arsat's wife, who was previously a servant of the Rajah's wife). They all fled in a boat at night and traveled until they were exhausted. They stopped on a bit of land jutting out into the water to rest. Soon however, they spotted a large boat of the Rajah's men coming to find them. Arsat's brother told Diamelen and Arsat to flee to the other side, where there was a fisherman's hut. He instructed them to take the fisherman's boat and then stayed back, telling them to wait for him while he dealt with the pursuers. Arsat then starts pushing the boat from shore, leaving his brother behind. He then sees his brother running down the path, being chased by the pursuers. Arsat's brother tripped and the enemy was upon him. His brother got up, then called out to him three times, but Arsat never looked back. The pursuers killed his brother and Arsat had betrayed his brother for the woman he loved, who was now dying. Towards the end of the story, symbolically, the sun rises and Diamelen dies. With Diamelen's death, Arsat has nothing because he lost his brother and wife. He now had nothing. After Diamelen's death, he tells Tuan he plans to return to his home village to avenge his brother's death. The story concludes with "Tuan"s simply leaving, and Arsat's staring dejectedly into the sun and "a world of illusion". ===== The novel is narrated by Xeones, a perioikoi and one of only three Greek survivors of the Battle of Thermopylae. His story is dictated to King Xerxes and transcribed by his court historian, Gobartes. At Thermopylae, the allied Greek nations deployed a small force of four thousand Greek heavy infantry against the invading Persian army of two million strong. Leading the Greeks was a small force of three hundred Spartans, chosen because they were all "sires" — men who had to have sons who could preserve their blood line, should they fall in battle. Thermopylae was the only gateway into Greece for the Persian army, and presented the perfect choke point — a narrow pass bordered by a huge mountain wall on one side and a cliff drop-off to the sea on the other. This area decreased the Persians' advantage of having large numbers. Delaying the Persian advance here would give the Greek allies enough time to ready a larger, main force to defend against the Persians. The battle takes place simultaneously with the sea battle at Artemisium, where the Allied Greek forces hoped to protect the flank of the army at Thermopylae whilst not being cut off themselves. The Greeks were at a disadvantage at Artemisium, as at Thermopylae - the Persians outnumbered the Allies, and most of the Athenian ships were newly built and manned by inexperienced crews - and both sides suffered heavy losses in the sea battle. The novel is told from either the perspective of the royal scribe to the Persian king Xerxes, as he records the story of Xeones, after the battle, or in the first person from Xeones' point of view. Though Xeones is critically wounded in the battle, the Persian King Xerxes orders his surgeons to make every effort to keep the captive squire alive. Much of the narrative explores Spartan society, particularly the agoge, which is the military training program which all young Spartan boys must complete to become citizens of Sparta. The novel also details the heroics of several dozen Spartans, including the King of Sparta, Leonidas, the Olympic champion Polynikes, a young Spartan warrior named Alexandros, and the Spartan officer Dienekes. Pressfield employs detailed descriptions of the Spartan phalanx in battle, as well as the superior training and discipline of the Spartan warriors. ===== Mining surveyor and former war hero Nicholas Conner (voiced by Lance Henriksen), returns to his space station known as the Forsetti Station to find it overrun by a hostile, previously unknown alien species known simply as The Race. Most of the crew members are dead, Nick's fiancée Samantha is missing, and he soon discovers that the entire station is slowly degenerating into an alien hive. Using his war experience and a large arsenal of weapons, Nick must fight through a group of hostile enemies to locate survivors on the station who can help him find Samantha. ===== The Gentleman Bastards are masters of deception, disguise and fine cuisine. Father Chains, their "garrista" (leader), is a priest of the Crooked Warden, the god of thieves. He buys troublesome youth Locke for his gang. Through a series of confidence tricks on the rich, they defy the Secret Peace, an unspoken agreement between the criminal underground and the Duke’s government which allows for the existence of organized crime with the understanding that the peerage and the servants of justice are off limits. After Chains' death, Locke becomes garrista of the group, consisting of Jean Tannen, an expert fighter; Calo and Galdo Sanza, jack-of-all-trades identical twins; and Bug, a young apprentice. Their wayward female associate Sabetha is mentioned, but resides elsewhere during the events of the novel. The criminal underworld of Camorr is ruled with an iron fist by the Capa Barsavi, who collects a commission on all criminal activity under his purview. Under Locke's leadership, the Gentleman Bastards are known as a small gang of gentrified but petty thieves and pickpockets, and their dues, though regularly paid, are relatively small. Secretly, the Bastards have actually been using elaborate schemes to swindle various nobles out of large sums, and have amassed a considerable fortune; they purchase the trinkets they pass on to Barsavi as tribute, in accordance with their small-time reputation. What little is spoken of their operations is credited to the shadowy "Thorn of Camorr." Locke pretends to be Lukas Fehrwight, a merchant from Emberlain, to con Don Lorenzo Salvara and his wife. Meanwhile, a mysterious criminal calling himself the Gray King has been killing Barsavi's most trusted garristas; fearing for his safety, Barsavi has sequestered himself in his ship-fortress, the Floating Grave. Locke finds himself face to face with the Gray King and his hired Bondsmage "The Falconer", who somehow know what the Gentleman Bastards have been up to; Locke agrees to impersonate the Gray King in an arranged meeting with Barsavi in exchange for the Gray King's silence, as well as the Bondsmage's magical protection from Barsavi's wrath during the meeting. The Gray King murders Barsavi's daughter Nazca and delivers her body to the Capa in a barrel; Locke is forced to continue with the plan, even though he knows that now Barsavi will never negotiate. At the meeting, Barsavi manages to circumvent a disguised Locke's magical protection, having him severely beaten and left to drown in a barrel. Jean and Bug save him, but they realize that the Gray King has double-crossed them; they return to their secret lair and find their wealth stolen and the Sanza twins brutally murdered. An intruder kills Bug and nearly Jean and Locke, who swear revenge. Locke goes to the Floating Grave in disguise, where Barsavi is celebrating the Gray King's supposed death. Suddenly two of Barsavi's trusted bodyguards, the fierce Berengias sisters, turn on him and cut down Barsavi and his two sons. The Gray King (whom Locke deduces is the brother of the Berengias twins) appears, introduces himself as Capa Raza and claims Barsavi's empire as his own. Left without resources and needing funds to somehow strike back at Raza, Locke tries to complete the con against the Salvaras. Meanwhile, Jean investigates the after-dark activity of Raza's minions and realizes that the new Capa is secretly loading his newfound wealth onto a ship supposedly quarantined for plague. Before Jean can tell Locke, he is ambushed by the Berengias sisters. He manages to kill both, but is seriously wounded himself. The Duke's "Spider", Camorr's secret spymaster who is actually the elderly Doña Vorchenza, has learned that the Salvaras are being conned by the mysterious "Thorn of Camorr." She and the Salvaras lure Locke to the Duke's annual celebration, and he barely escapes. Returning to their hideout, Locke finds Jean incapacitated by the Bondsmage's sorcery, which relies on the use of Jean's true name. Locke, whose real name is not known, overpowers the Falconer and tortures him for information. Wary of revenge by other Bondsmages should he be killed, Jean and Locke remove his fingers and tongue so he cannot gesture or speak spells, leaving him alive but insane. Capa Raza has planned his revenge against Barsavi and the nobles of Camorr since childhood, when his parents were murdered as collateral damage from the Secret Peace. To destroy the peers, he gives the Duke of Camorr four sculptures, actually time bombs filled with a substance that will cause all of the nobles and their children present at the celebration to slide into permanent mindlessness. Locke races back to the tower from which he escaped and manages to convince Vorchenza and the Salvaras of the danger, and the devices are defused. He next coerces the Spider to set him free to kill Raza, and not put him on trial for theft as a reward for saving their lives. Vorchenza agrees when Locke has shared the location of the stolen money; he tells her that Raza has hidden his treasure on a waste barge, and instructs her to destroy the plague ship and its crew before Raza can use it to infect the city. Locke faces Raza in mortal combat even though he is outmatched by the Capa's skills with a sword, and is nearly killed before managing to distract Raza for the split second he needs to finally slay him. When no treasure is found on the barge, Vorchenza realizes that the Thorn tricked her into destroying the ship filled with Raza's fortune, which is now an offering to the god of thieves for Locke's murdered friends. Later, Jean and Locke, recovering from their injuries, sail away to a new life. ===== Fed up with his bratty family, Ralph the mouse hops onto his toy motorcycle and speeds down the road away from the Mountain View Inn toward Happy Acres Camp, where he encounters Sam, a nosy watchdog, and is captured by a boy named Garfield (or Garf) and kept as a pet. Separated from his motorcycle, Ralph must endure life in a cage with an annoying hamster named Chum. Over time, Ralph and Garf form a relationship similar to the one Ralph and Keith had in the original book in the series. Ralph's adventures at Happy Acres Camp include escapades with an evil cat, the return of a missing watch, the escape from his cage, and being reunited with his beloved motorcycle. He eventually begins feeling homesick and strikes a bargain with Garf: return the motorcycle and bring him back to the Mountain View Inn, in exchange for clearing Garf's name (the rest of the children at Happy Acres Camp believe Garf was the one who took the missing watch). Eventually, the watch is returned, and Garf reassures Ralph that he will go back home the next day. ===== Jumong film set at leftFollowing the conquest of Gojoseon by Han China in 108 BCE, the surviving tribes and city- states of Manchuria and the northern Korean Peninsula are harshly subjugated as tributaries to the Han, who are portrayed as ruling with an iron fist from the Four Commanderies. Haemosu, the leader of the local resistance in the form of the Damul Army, covertly teams up with Prince Geumwa of Buyeo to defend and rescue Gojoseon refugees throughout the land. After being injured in a battle, Haemosu is rescued by Lady Yuhwa of the Habaek tribe (to whom Geumwa has taken a fancy), and they fall in love. Haemosu is subsequently ambushed and captured by Han forces (and after falling off a cliff is presumed dead by the outside world), and the now-pregnant Lady Yuhwa is forced to seek shelter in Buyeo, where she becomes Geumwa's concubine and gives birth to Haemosu's son, Jumong. They maintain that Geumwa is Jumong's father, when in fact Haemosu is his father. Twenty years later, the young Jumong is a weak and cowardly prince overshadowed and scorned by his elder "half-brothers" Daeso and Youngpo, who are vying for inheritance of the Buyeo throne from their father (the now-King Geumwa). They are unaware that Jumong is in fact unrelated to them, believing that their father impregnated Lady Yuhwa. Because they believe Jumong is Geumwa's son, they assume that he has a justifiable claim to the throne, and their mother's hatred of Lady Yuhwa reinforces a feud between the half- brothers who aren't really brothers at all. This culminates in an assassination attempt by his brothers, setting in motion a sequence of events that leads to Jumong leaving the palace and, by a twist of fate, encounters his father, the now-elderly and blind Haemosu. Jumong becomes skilled in combat under Haemosu's covert tutelage, but is unaware of their father-son relationship. At the same time, Jumong forms a close relationship with Lady Soseono of the Gyeru trading clan of Jolbon. Following Haemosu's assassination by Daeso and Youngpo, Jumong learns the truth and vows to avenge his father and drive out the Han. He returns to Geumwa and leads the Buyeo army in a campaign against Lintun and Zhenfan Commanderies, but is reported missing in action and presumed dead following an injury in battle. Subsequently, Daeso seizes power in Buyeo by colluding with Xuantu Commandery and forces Soseono to be his queen. In desperation, Soseono weds her trading partner Wootae (not knowing Jumong is still alive). Jumong, however, is rescued by the Hanbaek tribe and nursed back to health by Lady Yesoya, whom he weds. They return to Buyeo and Jumong feigns servitude to Daeso, thereby earning his trust. With Daeso's guard down, Jumong and his lieutenants manage to intercept and lead a large group of Gojoseon refugees into the wilds of Mount Bongye, where they establish a fortress and re-form the Damul Army, against Daeso's wishes. In despite, Daeso holds Lady Yuhwa and Yesoya while pregnant with her son Yuri hostage in the palace. After solar eclipse, Geumwa regained power from Daeso with the help of Prime Minister. He tried to convince Jumong to go back to palace and disband Damul Army as part of the conditions given by the Prime minister in exchange for his reinstatement. Jumong refused the offer and the Prime Minister tried to eliminate him and his men. Over the next three years, the Damul Army grows and begins uniting various local tribes, to the discomfort of Buyeo and Han. Following Wootae's death in battle, Jumong and Soseono form an alliance and unite the five clans of Jolbon and the Damul Army into a single powerful entity, which succeeds in conquering Xuantu Commandery and establishing the Kingdom of Goguryeo. When Yesoya and Yuri are reported missing from Buyeo (and presumed dead), a grieving Jumong weds Soseono and they become king and queen of the new nation. After ruling Goguryeo for fifteen years, Jumong succeeds in reuniting with Yesoya and Yuri (who had been living in exile after escaping from the palace). Following Geumwa's assassination by Han mercenaries, the newly-crowned King Daeso forms an alliance with Jumong, and the combined armies of Goguryeo and Buyeo succeed in conquering Liaodong Commandery with utter annihilation of the Han army in Manchuria. With Jumong's lifelong mission finally complete and in order to prevent internal strife due to Yuri's return, Soseono departs from Goguryeo and heads south with the pro-Jolbon faction and her teenage sons Biryu and Onjo, who subsequently found the Kingdom of Baekje on the Korean Peninsula. Buyeo eventually collapses following the battlefield death of Daeso at the hands of Jumong's grandson Muhyul. Jumong continues battling against Han China to consolidate his realm, and dies at age 40 after passing the crown of Goguryeo to Yuri. ===== Urchin is the story of a child who lives in Scum City. When the Old Man came to Scum City, a homeless camp in the Manhattan tunnels, his story seemed wild. He was from a kingdom deep within the earth, he said, and was sent to find the five nobles who got lost up here. He had a map that would lead him and his followers back to this paradise, and a blue crystal called The Blessing, that when smoked granted the clarity and vision needed to complete great tasks. Some believed. They were allowed to stay. The Kid believes. Abused and tormented, he escaped the city shelter and fled to the streets, where he survived by wit and blood until he found Scum City. He will fulfil the Old Man's prophecy; he will get to paradise. But someone else believes. The Old Man had a bodyguard once, a powerful little man called Goliath whose lungs and mind are rotting away. In his dementia he has committed to the ritual murder of innocents and the capture of the map held fast by the Old Man. This is the story of a child trapped in a world of violence, degradation, wonder, and discovery. As he battles the evils of the street to save the Old Man and the future of Scum City he meets Julia, a young girl in need of protection. He struggles to decipher the true motives of the Old Man and Goliath, while safeguarding Julia and the map that leads to Paradise. ===== Tracing the intertwined lives of Doctors Thomas Midwinter, who is English, and Jacques Rebière, from Brittany, France, Human Traces explores the development of psychiatry and psychoanalysis in the late 19th century, by way of excursions into first alienism then metaphysics, human evolution and neuroscience, before the search for what it means to be human takes us into a brief foray into the First World War. Central to the plot is the theory of bicameralism. Whilst some have criticised Human Traces as excessively expository, detailed and didactic, it has also been considered wide-ranging, ambitious and well written. It has enjoyed commercial success, having been a bestseller in the United Kingdom. Faulks himself says of his novel: 'Human Traces was a Sisyphean task. After spending five years in libraries reading up on madness, psychiatry and psychoanalysis (my office had charts and timelines and things plastered all over the walls), the act of finishing it felt like a bereavement.The Australian, Books, 28 April 2007 'Parting with the art of war ===== Simon Kress, a wealthy playboy on the planet Baldur, loves to collect dangerous, exotic animals. When most of his pets die after being left alone during a long business trip, he ventures into the city to find replacements. He is unsatisfied by the offerings in the stores he has patronized in the past, but eventually he comes across a mysterious new establishment called Wo & Shade. Inside, he meets one of the owners, Jala Wo. She shows him a terrarium filled with four colonies of creatures called sandkings. Each colony consists of a large female called the maw, and numerous insect-like mobiles. The maw is immobile, but controls the mobiles through telepathy. The mobiles hunt, forage, and build, and bring food back to the maw, which digests it and passes nutrients on to the mobiles. Each colony has constructed a castle out of sand around the maw, and the creatures fight coordinated wars and battles with one another. Wo also shows Kress how she has beamed a hologram of herself into the tank, and how the sandkings have decorated their castles with her likeness. Kress is mildly intrigued, but disappointed at the small size of the creatures. Wo assures him that they will grow to fill whatever environment they are kept in. Kress then agrees to purchase them. Wo assures him that they are easy to care for, and will eat anything. Kress observes the installation of his sandkings and watches his four colonies (colored white, black, red, and orange) begin to build their castles. There is little intrigue or fighting, however, so a bored Kress begins to starve them. After that, they consistently war over the food he does provide. He also beams a hologram of his face, and they begin to decorate their castles appropriately. After a time, Kress invites his friends, including Wo, to view a war fought by his new pets. The guests are suitably impressed, but Jala Wo worries that he is not feeding the sandkings adequately. She assures him that if they are kept comfortable, they will engage in intrigue and wars that are endlessly more entertaining than if they are made to squabble over food. Kress dismisses her complaints and resolves not to invite her any more. Cath m'Lane, a former lover, leaves in disgust. Kress throws a series of parties and takes bets on the outcome of the sandking battles. At one, a guest brings a dangerous alien creature and suggests pitting it against the sandkings. The sandkings quickly dispatch it. This begins a series of matches: the sandkings emerge victorious in all of them. Eventually, Kress learns that Cath has reported the sandkings to the animal control authorities. After bribing the authorities, he then films himself feeding a puppy to the sandkings and sends the footage to her. As he goes to bed, he notices his face on the castles has become twisted and sinister. Outraged, he pokes a sword into the white maw, injuring it. His intention of punishing the other maws is cut short when a sand king mobile escapes the tank. Horrfied, he crushes it beneath his heel and re-seals the tank, vowing never to open it again. He then goes to bed. Cath arrives the next day with a sledgehammer, and tries to smash the sandkings' terrarium. Trying frantically to stop her, Kress stabs her with a sword. In dying, she finally breaks the plastic, releasing the sandkings. Kress flees the house in a panic. By the time he returns, the sandkings have taken over: the black and red have built castles in the garden, while the whites have taken over the basement. He is unable to find the oranges. Freed from their container, the sandkings grow larger. After getting rid of Cath's vehicle and recovering the footage, Kress chops up Cath's body into digestible pieces to appease the sandkings. Over time, a panicked Kress empties his pantry while trying to get rid of the sandkings. Kress tries to exterminate them himself, then hires black market assassins to assist him, but he is only able to destroy the blacks and the reds, and the whites trap him in the house. He then invites several guests and locks them in the basement, where the sandkings devour them. The next morning, the mobiles are comatose. Kress finally decides to contact Wo, who explains that as the sandkings grow larger, the maw becomes more intelligent, and eventually reaches sentience. At that point the mobiles mature into their final instar, which varies based on what form the maw believes is suitable, but is always equipped with opposable thumbs and the ability to manipulate technology. She reveals that her partner, Shade, is a mature sandking himself. Because of Kress's mistreatment, however, the white maw is unstable and dangerous. Wo tells Kress to flee, and assures him that she will take care of the sandkings. Kress runs into the wilderness around his estate in a blind panic, trying to follow Wo's directions for a pickup. While walking in the desert, he decides to hire an assassin to kill Wo and Shade after the problem is resolved, but as he thinks about this, he realizes that either he has become lost in the desert or that Wo and Shade were eaten by the sandkings. After traveling all day without food or drink, he finally comes across a house, with children playing outside. Thinking he has found salvation, he calls out to them. As he comes closer, however, he realizes that he has reached the castle of the mature orange sandkings. As they surround him and drag him to the waiting mouth of the maw, he screams; all of them have his face. ===== "Sonny's Blues" is a story written in the first-person singular narrative style. The story opens with the unnamed narrator reading about a heroin bust resulting in the arrest of a man named Sonny. The narrator goes about his day as an algebra teacher at a high school in Harlem, but begins to ponder Sonny's fate and worry about the boys in his class. After school, he meets a friend of Sonny, who laments Sonny will struggle with loneliness even after his detox and release. After his daughter Grace dies of polio, the narrator decides to piano, but in an emotionless and obsessive manner. Once Isabel's parents find out, Sonny leaves their house, drops out of school, and joins the Navy. The brothers return from the war. Their relationship sours, as the narrator intermittently fights with Sonny. Back in the present, the narrator reveals that Grace's death has caused him to reflect on his role as an older brother, surmising that his absence impaired Sonny's personal growth. The narrator resolves to reconcile with Sonny. While Isabel takes her children to see their grandparents, the narrator contemplates searching Sonny's room. He changes his mind, however, when he sees Sonny in a revival meeting in the street below his apartment, where a woman sings with a tambourine alongside her brother and sister, and enraptures the audience. Some time later, Sonny invites the narrator to watch him play in Greenwich Village. The narrator begrudgingly agrees to go. Sonny explains his heroin addiction in vague analogies. The woman's performance reminded him of the rush he got using heroin, equating it to a need to feel in control. The narrator asks Sonny if he has to feel like that to play. Sonny answers that some people do. The narrator then asks Sonny if it is worth killing himself just to try to escape suffering. Sonny replies that he will not die faster than anyone else trying not to suffer. Sonny reveals that the reason he wanted to leave Harlem was to escape the drugs. The brothers go to the jazz club in Greenwich Village. The narrator realizes how revered Sonny is there as he hears him play. In the beginning, Sonny falters, as he has not played for over a year, but his playing eventually proves to be brilliant and he wins over the narrator and everyone in the club. The narrator sends a cup of Scotch and milk up to the piano for Sonny and the two share a brief moment of bonding. The narrator finally understands it is through music that Sonny is able to turn his suffering into something worthwhile. ===== In the story, Ivan Shponka is a young man who is not very bright but attends to his affairs better than anyone. He was made as the monitor in his class when young though there were some much better than he, and won the affection of one of the most feared teachers at school. He finally finishes the second class (sixth grade approximately) at fifteen, and goes on to the military after two more years of school, retiring as a lieutenant. He gets a letter from his aunt that he needs to come home to become master of his farm and sets off for Gadyach. On the way, at an inn, he meets the fat landowner Grigory Grigoriviech, who says he lives near Ivan’s farm and asks him to come visit when he gets there. The man is pushy and frequently orders around his Cossack servant boy. When Ivan arrives there he finds his aunt in incredible health, almost so man-like that she is hardly a woman. He begins to take over some of the duties of the farm. Gogol’s descriptions of the scenery here are very rich and beautiful and the mowing segment seems to have likely influenced Tolstoy while writing Anna Karenina (also including a mowing scene with Levin that is strikingly similar). Ivan learns from his aunt that nearby are rightfully his, being held by Grigory. He goes to visit him but the man denies the existence of a will written by his father detailing the matter, so they have dinner and Ivan meets his daughters. When he tells his aunt of the one daughter, she becomes obsessed about him marrying her and his chores begin to decline somewhat. They visit there together but Ivan says little to her when alone other than mentioning the house flies during the time of year. When he goes home, that night, he has a terrible nightmare about marriage and Gogol gives the reader some truly modern scenes that display his ability to portray the grotesque. A shopkeeper, for example, is selling “wives” as fabric and cuts one off for Ivan to wear. The story ends here mentioning a “next chapter” that does not exist. ===== Foma's grandfather takes care of melons and spends most of his time at a shanty nearby, taking pleasure in groups of wagons that come by with various items. One day, while discussing matters with some passing wagoneers, his grandfather decides to outdo Foma and his friend at dancing. He does quite well until he reaches a spot in the garden where he cannot seem to move and his legs stiffen up. He curses the devil, and tries his luck again. Suddenly he is transported to a different area that seems to be the local priest’s garden. He comes up to a gravestone that is shimmering, and marks it with a stick believing there to be treasure below somewhere. When he comes home he won’t discuss what happened and ventures out the next day to find the spot. When he gets to the priest's garden, he cannot spot the gravestone above the buried treasure and he curses the devil again for tricking him. The next day, Foma's grandfather explores the place where he could not dance the day before and finds that this spot is capable of magically transporting him to the cemetery where the grave is marked. He digs and finds a cauldron, while being mocked by a bird, a sheep and a bear, that, in a horrifying manner, repeat what he says. After he finds the treasure, the devil tries to terrify him again by making it appear as though he was below a precipice ready to come down on him with a monstrous head peeping from behind it. He is not frightened though and takes the cauldron back home. His wife, thinking the boys are behind it as it comes towards her, throws dirty dishwater behind it, covering him with melon waste. He tells them what he found but when he opens the cauldron finds filth and from that day forward never trusts the devil again and crosses himself whenever he comes to a spot said to have something wrong with it. He fences off the area where he couldn’t dance and has everyone throw all the garbage and weeds they collect on the spot. Category:Short stories by Nikolai Gogol Category:1832 short stories Category:Short stories about Cossacks Category:Short stories set in the Russian Empire ===== The play addresses themes of the role of a church in an African- American family and the effect of a poverty born of racial prejudice on an African-American community. The Amen Corner takes place in two settings: a ‘‘corner’’ church in Harlem and the apartment dwelling of Margaret Alexander, the church pastor, and of her son, David, and sister Odessa. After giving a fiery Sunday morning sermon, Margaret is confronted by the unexpected arrival of her long-estranged husband, Luke, who collapses from illness shortly thereafter. Their son, David, along with several elders of the congregation, learn from Luke that, while Margaret had led everyone to believe that he had abandoned her with their son years ago, it was in fact Margaret who had left a dysfunctional Luke and pursued a religious life. This information precipitates confrontations between Margaret and her son, her congregation, and her estranged husband, regarding what they perceive as the hypocritical nature of her religious convictions, and the breakup of her family. After an important conversation with his dying father, David informs Margaret that he is leaving home to pursue his calling as a jazz musician. On his deathbed, Luke declares to Margaret that he has always loved her, and that she should not have left him. Finally, Margaret’s congregation decides to oust her, based on their perception that she unjustly ruined her own family in the name of religion. Only after losing her son, her husband, and her congregation, does Margaret finally realize that she should not have used religion as an excuse to escape the struggles of life and love, but that ‘‘To love the Lord is to love all His children—all of them, everyone!—and suffer with them and rejoice with them and never count the cost!’’ ===== "Flight on Titan" was reprinted in 1950 under the title of "A Man, A Maid, and Saturn's Temptation". Tim and Diane Vick are two New Yorkers left impoverished by the 2142 collapse of the Planetary Trading Corporation. Rather than sit and wait for their money to run out, they decide to travel to Titan for a year to prospect for gems. Six months into their stay on Titan, they have succeeded in acquiring eighteen flame-orchids, which will make them wealthy on Earth, assuming they survive to reach Earth. Every fifteen years, Saturn eclipses the sun, and Titan spends seventy-two hours in darkness.In the story. In reality, at the appropriate times Titan experiences multiple eclipses of the Sun by Saturn with each of its orbits, growing and then decreasing in length. The longest of these eclipses is about six hours. Nine months into the Vicks' stay, four Titanian days before the eclipse is due, an ice mountain near the Vicks' shack collapses. The Vicks escape the destruction of their shack, but find themselves stranded a hundred miles from the main human settlement on Titan, the United States-ran Nivia, otherwise known as the City of Snow, on the far side of the Mountains of the Damned. Tim Vick decides that they should try to reach Nivia, since the wind recently shifted and will be at their backs for the next eight days. Three days into their trek, Diane collapses. In desperation, Tim drags her into an ice-ant nest. The air in the nest is above freezing, and the ice-ants ignore them since they find the Vicks' foam-rubber clothing inedible. Tim wakes the next morning to find that the ice-ants have eaten away the leather bag holding their flame-orchids, and all but one of them have been washed away into the depths of the subterranean ice-ant hive. The eclipse slowly begins, and when the sun sets that night, Tim knows he won't see it again for four days. The temperature drops past a hundred below that night, and only rises to seventy below the next day. The Vicks manage to find two small ice-ant nests to spend the next night in, and remain there through the next day and night. The next day's journey brings them into the Mountains of the Damned. When the temperature drops to 140 below zero, they take shelter in a mountain cave. There they find themselves facing a Titanian threadworm. Tim is almost lulled to sleep by its hypnotic buzzing, but Diane wakes him, and he shoots it. They block the entrance to a threadworm nest and Diane falls asleep. Tim takes out their last flame-orchid and finds it shattered. Angrily he pounds it into dust with a rock. When morning comes, they prepare to leave, when Diane notices the fragments of the flame-orchid. During the night, each one had grown, until they now have fifty the size of the original. They gather them up, and Tim wraps up some of the rock dust from the cave floor for later analysis. The two resume climbing, but they are still a mile below the summit when the wind dies, and a thousand feet below when the wind starts blowing in their faces. They find themselves being pushed back down the face of the mountain, and pass out. Tim awakens to find the two of them in a hollow a quarter mile below the summit. He resumes climbing, dragging the unconscious Diane with him, until he passes the summit and starts down the far side, with the lights of Nivia visible in the foothills below. Despite a severe bashing from the wind, near unconsciousness and severe frostbite, Tim reaches the settlement in time to save himself and his wife. The Vicks are now rich from the fragments of the smashed, priceless flame- orchid that have all grown to the size of the original. ===== The musical opens in the summer of 1903. The family is going about their daily businesses – Tootie is playing with her dolls, Agnes is practicing her stilt walking, Esther is playing tennis, Rose is relaxing, Lon received his Princeton catalog in the mail, Mrs. Smith and Katie, their maid, went shopping, Grandpa is playing with Agnes, and Mr. Smith was at work ("Opening" / "Meet Me in St. Louis"). Upon request from Esther, Katie asks Mrs. Smith if they could have dinner an hour earlier because her sister is having trouble with her husband. We soon learn that the real reason is that Warren Sheffield, a Yale scholar and heir to a grand fortune, is calling Rose long-distance at 6:30, when they usually eat dinner. Esther was trying to get dinner to be an hour earlier so the family would be out of the room when he called. Soon Rose enters and tells Esther that John Truitt, their neighbor and the boy that Esther has a crush on, is outside with his friend. They pretend to want to go to the pool, and try to attract the boys' attention. However, Agnes enters looking for her cat, and John leaves, causing Esther to lament about how John Truitt never notices her ("The Boy Next Door"). A little later that day, Mr. Smith comes home in a bad mood, because he lost his case. He refuses to eat an hour earlier and storms offstage to go take his cool bath. Meanwhile, Tootie and Agnes begin to fight over a doll, causing the older siblings to have to break them up and remind them that they're all friends (Whenever I'm With You). Everyone exits except for Ester and Mrs. Smith. Esther asks if she is too young to fall in love, and her mother is shocked by the question. She proceeds to tell of how she fell in love with Mr. Smith ("You'll Hear a Bell"). Dinner is approaching, and by now everyone in the family knows about Warren's telephone call except for Mr. Smith. When he joins the family at the dinner table, everyone gulps down their food so they can leave before Warren calls. Unfortunately, they are not fast enough, and the telephone rings. Mr. Smith answers, but is confused when the operators tell him that someone is calling from New York. He hangs up, and Esther accidentally tells him everything out of anger. He soon figures out that he was the only one who didn't know about the call, and tries to put his foot down, but when the phone rings again he tells Rose to answer it. Her phone call turns out to be less than successful, because he was only calling to ask how she was, and he said if his parents knew he was calling, they would kill him. Katie tries to lighten the mood ("Meet Me in St. Louis" (Reprise)). A few months later, we are at Lon's going-away party, right before he leaves for Princeton. Warren tries to apologize to Rose, but she refuses to accept ("Raving Beauty"). At the party, Esther is formally introduced to John Truitt, pretending not to know who he is. She takes his hat and hides it in the piano. The guests then participate in a square dance called by Lon and Warren ("Skip to My Lou"). Agnes and Tootie have crept to the landing to see what was going on, and after being caught, perform a dance they do with Esther ("Under the Bamboo Tree"). Afterwards the guests leave, but Esther asks John if he would like to come with them to the Fairgrounds on Friday. He agrees, and then she asks him if he will help her turn off the lights, because she's afraid of the dark ("Over the Bannister"). He leaves, leaving Esther slightly disappointed. On Friday, they get on the trolley to the fairgrounds, where John Truitt just barely makes it on ("The Trolley Song"). Act II opens on Halloween, where Tootie and Agnes are getting ready to go trick or treating. After they leave, Katie asks the older sisters why they won't go out to the Halloween Social. They both respond that men are too bothersome and they'd rather not. Katie gives them some advice ("Touch of the Irish"). Immediately following the number, a scream is heard offstage. Tootie comes in with a bloody lip, saying John Truitt hit her. When he comes by to ask if she's alright, Esther beats him up for hurting her little sister. Agnes enters soon after, telling what happened. They stuffed one of Katie's dresses so it looked like a body, then put it on the trolley tracks so when the motorman had to put on the brakes, the trolley would come off the tracks. Tootie then reveals that it was not John who hurt her, but she fell. Esther is ashamed and goes to apologize to John. He forgives her ("The Boy Next Door" (Reprise)). Mr. Smith comes home and breaks the news to the family that they are moving to New York. He thought the family would be happy, but they all are shocked and upset. He tries to convince them that it will be fun, but it doesn't work ("A Day in New York"). They all exit, leaving Mr. and Mrs. Smith alone. Mrs. Smith tries to comfort him, reminding him that as long as they are together, they can be happy ("You'll Hear a Bell" (Reprise) / "Wasn't It Fun"). Now it is winter and their last Christmas in St. Louis is fast approaching. Both Rose and Warren are left without dates. Rose didn't respond to Warren's proposal to the dance, so he decided to go with Lucille Ballard who is Lon's girlfriend. Esther and Katie persuade them to go with each other, and Rose and Esther make a plan to fill out Lucille's dance card with the worst people imaginable. Unfortunately, John Truitt comes by and tells Esther that he can't take her to the dance because his tuxedo is locked up in the tailor's. Grandpa comes to the rescue, inviting Esther to the dance with him. At the ball, Lucille suggests that Warren and Rose and she and Lon be partners for the evening. Esther doesn't realize that, and ends up taking Lucille's dances. Lon leads everyone in a dance he learned at college ("The Banjo"). John comes, in his tuxedo, after calling every Jones in St. Louis until he found who ran the shop. After the dance, John proposes to Esther, but she feels bad about it because he would have to give up going to college to be with her in New York ("You Are for Loving"). Esther enters the house to find Tootie sitting on the couch. She's upset about leaving St. Louis, and has been waiting for Santa to come so she can tell him that they're moving. Esther tries to convince Tootie that New York will be fun ("Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas"). Mr. Smith sees how upset Tootie is and decides that they can't move to New York. After hearing the good news, the family goes to the fair and everything works out well ("Trolley Song" (Reprise) / "Meet Me in St. Louis" (Reprise II) / "Finale"). ===== One summer in the small, sleepy town of Granger, Texas, Toby Wilson's life changes. Toby (Jonathan Lipnicki) is a boy who lives with his parents, but his mother runs off to Nashville to try to become a singer. Later, he and his best friend Cal McKnight (Cody Linley) meet a fat sideshow freak named Zachary Beaver (Sasha Neulinger), who has no parents or friends. Zachary, "The Fattest Boy Ever," spends most of his time in a small, silver trailer; he is abandoned by his legal guardian, Paulie Rankin, so [Paulie] can look for new additions to their circus. Toby and Cal get to know him, and slowly become friends with him. They cope with the loss of Cal's brother, Wayne, who was recruited for the Vietnam War and later dies, which makes Cal extremely upset. Toby had been sending letters to Wayne pretending to be Cal until Wayne is killed, and Toby finally tells him this which leads to a fight between the two. Meanwhile, Toby is in Zachary's trailer during the funeral and Cal shows up. He gives Toby all the money he ever borrowed and tells him his mom is never coming back, just like Wayne. Later, Toby gives a country girl he likes a necklace, which was his mother's, but she gives it back to him because she likes someone else and doesn't like Toby that way. Earlier, Toby got to dance with her after her boyfriend broke up with her. Cal and Toby become friends after Toby chases him down to a lake soon after. In the end, they help Zachary get baptized in Gossimer Lake with the alcoholic preacher/cook owner of a local cafe, Ferris, who once studied to be a priest; later Paulie returns with circus performers to retrieve him. Zachary leaves town with them, and Cal and Toby's friendship is reaffirmed. ===== Erksine, a family man, is the director and chief of staff of New Horizons, a group home and counseling center for abused boys. Glen is a child psychologist who meets a new patient named Tommy Jackson, who is a victim of emotional, physical, and sexual abuse. At New Horizons, Tommy's life finally seems to be coming together, until it is revealed that he is being molested by one of the counselors. Tommy accuses Erskine, the one he believes is responsible, and brings him to court in a high-profile child sex abuse scandal. ===== Teenager Matt Banting wants to work with a famous but eccentric creature/fx (special effects) man, but he gets more than he bargained for when one of the creatures, the giant dragon-like Ultragorgon seems to come to life and takes Matt under his wing. Matt is forced to confront his inner monsters while working out his issues with his father. ===== The plot of Oliver Twist is updated to the present day, and moved out of the London poor house onto the streets of a large North American city (in Donsky's film it was New York City, and this film it is Toronto). In addition, the tale is told not from Oliver's point of view, but rather that of Dodge (Nick Stahl). Oliver (Joshua Close) falls into the hands of down-and-out young men. Dodge takes Oliver under his wing and instructs him in the unforgiving arts of drug abuse and prostitution. Oliver develops a crush on Dodge and views him as his boyfriend, complicating their friendship. Dodge does not reciprocate his feelings, and reacts angrily to Oliver's kisses and other signs of affection. As Oliver's innocence dissolves, both young men confront their demons, and ultimately it is Dodge who finds he cannot escape his past. Dodge is found by his brother around the same time the young men's caretaker commits suicide, sending Dodge into a violent rage at the film's conclusion. ===== Tanks patrol desolate city streets. Turrets and missile sites threaten the skies. Robot warriors carrying pulse rifles surround military installations. What's become of Earth? Machines have taken over. Corporate greed and rapid technological advancements have made humans pawns of their own creations. During the first fifteen years of the 21st century, Mega Corp began to dominate computer technology in both peacekeeping and war-fighting applications. As this giant churned out better and better technology for manufacturing and warfare, humans were relegated to service industries or to working as drones on PC terminals. Mega Corp became the largest employer in the United States. By 2010, every computer in America used Mega Corp software and was Internet-connected and monitored through the Mega Corp Network—antitrust suits be damned. Each day, Mega Corp would issue government-endorsed messages through the Network that broadcast pro-machine propaganda. The country was becoming brainwashed. In 2018, the wonders of artificial intelligence turned ugly in the hands of a few disillusioned Mega Corp programmers. Frustrated at being a part of such an ethically challenged corporation, these hacks altered coding in various Mega Corp products—turning certain robot and tank machinery into self-directed, man-killing machines. Today, May 2019, in a war-torn, machine-ravaged world, only a few freethinkers remain. Only a few outsiders have escaped the spell of the Network. Dr. Raines is the leader of a group of rebels called the Alliance. He and a few others have developed a computer program that gives the operator control over an experimental tank. You control this tank and must defeat these robot warriors. ===== Famous motion picture producer and writer Jesse Craig (Glenn Ford) attends a film festival on the French Riviera. He has not been making films for a few years and some in the film industry think he has retired, but he comes to the Riviera with a new screenplay to show it to his friend and film/literary agent Brian Murphy (Eddie Albert) who is attending the festival. The screenplay is a cautionary tale about terrorists attacking major cities in the United States using hijacked commercial airliners containing nuclear bombs as the attack vehicles. No one knows the content of the script or its author who Craig claims is a new writer by the name of Malcolm Hart. Bret Easton (Vince Edwards) is a popular American film actor, director and producer who lives and makes films in Europe. His most recent film is about a revolution and uprising in a third world country in which he portrays the leader of the revolutionaries in the film. He secretly arranges to get a copy of Craig's script by sending several women to Murphy's hotel suite. While Murphy is otherwise occupied one of the women takes the script downstairs to the copier machine in the hotel offices. Craig meets a former love, Constance Dobson (Shirley Jones) and they decide to travel into the countryside together to a small inn. Meanwhile, Easton has read Craig's script at his riviera mansion and is deeply troubled. His underling, Fabricio (Gregory Sierra) asks him what he wishes to be done. Easton replies, "We'll have to kill Mr. Craig." Later that evening, Fabricio secretly enters Craig's room at the inn where Craig and Constance are staying and plants a bomb among Craig's clothing. The bomb is a string of plastic explosives concealed within the belt of Craig's bathrobe. When the ends of the belt are drawn together it closes the circuit setting off the electrical detonator of the bomb. After Craig enters the room he goes to the bathroom to shower. Constance undresses to surprise Craig when he emerges from the bathroom. She puts on Craig's robe and unknowingly detonates the bomb when she ties the belt. The bomb blast kills Constance and injures Craig who is taken to a local hospital. The police inform Craig that he was the intended target of the bomb and the type of bomb that was used is the trademark of an assassin who works for a terrorist group that has been staging attacks across Europe. Craig starts his own investigation in an attempt to avenge Constance's murder. He meets a reporter, Gail McKinnon (Erin Gray) who wants to interview him. She ends up assisting him with his inquiries. Craig also contacts an old friend who he had served with in the war, U.S. Air Force Major General Jerry Olson (Harry Guardino), who commands the nearby NATO Air Force Base, for help in gathering intelligence about this terrorist group. After many plot twists and harrowing experiences Jesse and Gail uncover the fact that Bret Easton is one of the leaders of the terrorist group and the reason he tried to murder Jesse was that Jesse's screenplay, of which Jesse is the real author, comes very close to describing the terrorists' latest attack plan. Meanwhile, the terrorists have secretly taken control of three airliners and have landed them on remote and desolate airfields that have been prepared in advance to off load and imprison the airliners' passengers and then quickly retrofit the planes to each transport and drop a nuclear bomb on three cities in the United States. These cities are Washington, D.C., New York City, and Miami, Florida. Bombs have been planted on three flying commercial airliners and set to detonate in flight so the terrorist-controlled jets can impersonate the legitimate commercial flights. Jesse Craig and Gail confront Easton on Easton's yacht which is at sea several miles off the coast. Easton confirms Craig's suspicions while boasting about his grand plans and then tries to murder him. A violent brawl ensues and Easton tries to stab Craig with a small sharpened boat anchor. Craig gets a hold of a revolver that he had taken off a dead terrorist before he boarded the yacht and shoots Easton dead. Jesse and Gail use the radio-telephone on the yacht to contact General Olson. It turns out that General Olsen is flying on one of the targeted jetliners and he is onboard speaking with Jesse via cockpit radio when the bomb onboard explodes. Realizing that General Olson is dead, Jesse contacts General Olson's executive officer at the NATO base and informs him of events. The Air Force is able to identify and shoot down the three terrorist controlled airliners just minutes before their attack runs on the cities take place. ===== American downhill skier David Chappellet (Robert Redford) arrives in Wengen, Switzerland, to join the U.S. ski team, along with fellow newcomer D. K. Bryan (Kenneth Kirk). Both men were sent for by team coach Eugene Claire (Gene Hackman) to replace one of his top skiers Tommy Herb (Joe Jay Jalbert) who was recently injured during an FIS competition. Raised in the small town of Idaho Springs, Colorado, Chappellet is a loner with a single-minded focus on becoming a skiing champion, and shows little interest in being a team player. After refusing to race at the Lauberhorn because of a late starting position, he makes his European skiing debut at the Arlberg-Kandahar in Austria, where he finishes in an impressive fourth position. In the final race of the season at the Hahnenkamm-Rennen in Kitzbühel, Austria, he crashes. That summer, Chappellet joins the team in Oregon for off-season training, and visits his father at his home in Idaho Springs, but they have little to say to each other. Chappellet drives into town and picks up an old girlfriend and they make love in the back seat of his father's old Chevrolet. Afterwards, he shows little interest in the girl's feelings. Later, when his father asks him why he is wasting his life on skiing, Chappellet reveals that he is racing as an amateur to become an Olympic champion. His father observes, "The world's full of 'em." Back in France that winter, Chappellet wins the Grand Prix de Megève in France and soon attracts the attention of Machet (Karl Michael Vogler), a ski manufacturer who wants Chappellet to use his skis for the advertising value. Chappellet is more interested in Machet's attractive assistant Carole Stahl (Camilla Sparv). After a chance encounter at a bakery, he and Carole spend some time with each other. They meet up again in Wengen, ski the slopes together, and eventually make love. At Kitzbühel, Chappellet wins the Hahnenkamm, but afterwards his cockiness alienates his teammates and his coach who feel he is only out for himself. The team's top racer, Johnny Creech (Jim McMullan), tells assistant coach Mayo (Dabney Coleman), "He's never been for the team, and he never will be." Mayo responds, "Well it's not exactly a team sport, is it?" Chappellet finishes the season with several impressive victories ensuring his place on next season's Olympic team. During the off-season, Chappellet and Carole continue to see each other. At the start of the third season, he calls her from Megève asking to spend Christmas with him. After waiting several days alone, Chappellet realizes that she is not coming. He travels to Zurich to Machet's office to find her, but learns she is spending Christmas with her family. The next week, Chappellet runs into Carole in Wengen and is annoyed that she never called and that she is with another man. After a brief confrontation, he realizes their relationship is over. Two weeks before the Olympics, after a day of training at Wengen, Chappellet challenges Creech to a one-on-one race, and the two take off to the bottom as the coaches looks on in horror. On the way down, Chappellet forces Creech into the stone wall of a narrow-arched bridge (Jungfrau railway overpass Wasserstation), and Creech barely escapes injury. The next day, during the Lauberhorn race, Creech is seriously injured during his run, leaving Chappellet as the team's best hope for an Olympic gold medal. At the Winter Olympics, with Austrian champion Max Meier in first place, Chappellet uncorks one of his best runs, beating Meier's time and ending up in first place with all the highly-ranked racers having already run. He is thronged by elated fans and teammates in the finish area. However, on the course, an unheralded German skier in a later seed is turning in very fast split times. The fans fall quiet, and Chappellet takes notice of the German, watching nervously. As the German approaches the final schuss, he crashes, and Chappellet becomes an Olympic gold medal champion. The German makes his way to the finish area, and Chappellet looks into his eyes briefly before being carried off in victory. ===== The plot revolves around the contestants and people involved with the California pageant of the fictional Young American Miss Pageant, held in Santa Rosa, California. Big Bob Freelander, the head judge, is a used car dealer. Brenda DiCarlo is the pageant's Executive Director, and her husband Andy is a resentful alcoholic. In separate subplots, the film focuses on Andy's unhappiness, as he is about to be inducted into a fraternal society, which requires a humiliating ritual, Little Bob, Big Bob's son, who conspires with his friends to photograph the contestants in various states of undress, and the activities of the contestants themselves. Wilson Shears, the pageant producer, clashes with a choreographer brought in from Hollywood, Tommy French, who is cynical and blunt. Andy refuses to go along with the induction ceremony, which involves kissing the behind of a dead chicken. Brenda discovers him at home, apparently about to commit suicide with a gun. She tries to talk him out of it, and he decides she is the real problem and shoots her, wounding her. He is jailed, but she refuses to press charges and Andy is released. Big Bob tries to convince him to not move from town. The show becomes more expensive than was anticipated, and Shears pressures French to remove a ramp, because it is taking up seating. This results in an injury to a contestant, and French agrees to reinstate the ramp and to make up the difference out of his fee. The pageant concludes successfully, though the contestants that have been the focus of the film's attention do not win. ===== Set in the swashbuckling world of Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean, the multiplayer mobile game puts you at the helm of three types of ships: * Sloop - She's fast and quick to turn, but a couple of well-placed shots can send her down to Davy Jones's Locker * Brigantine - Three masts full of sail keeps her flying downwind, while thick planking makes her ideal for rapid attack * Galleon - As queen of the battle ships, she's the one pirates covet most, Aye, she makes for a formidable floating fortress You can choose your ship type according to the area of the Caribbean you'll be menacing, the game mode you're playing, and the ships that your mates are sailing. ===== Ethan Inglebrink (Ronnie Gene Blevens) is an agoraphobic heroin addict who lives in a homogeneous California town where nothing ever happens. A misfit, clad in a powder blue tux, he has convinced his poker buddies, and surrogate moms, Roe (Diane Ladd), Sandy (Cloris Leachman), and Lou Anne (Lin Shaye), that he is diabetic and his needles are for insulin, not heroin. His next-door neighbor is his landlord and former high school football coach Trevor O'Hart (Rip Torn), who wants nothing more than to kick Ethan out on the street. Complicating matters even further is that Ethan's older brother Todd (Val Kilmer), the local sheriff, is convinced that his brother can only be saved by an act of God, and recruits the family priest (Peter Falk) to get the job done. Meanwhile, as the Garden of the Year competition draws near, Ethan becomes convinced that he can take the $10,000 top prize and pay off his delinquent rent if he can just grow the perfect American Cowslip. Little does Ethan realize that salvation may lie not in the money he could win for growing a rare flower, but with the companionship and understanding offered by his 17-year-old neighbor Georgia (Hanna R. Hall), who longs to escape her abusive father (Bruce Dern). ===== Devon Butler (Golden) is an eight-year-old boy who lives in Tampa with his grandmother and dreams of being a cop. He watches police TV shows, knows police procedures and plays cops and robbers with his friend Ray. One day, while snooping around in a warehouse, he witnesses a murder. He goes to the police, who want the information, but he refuses to give it unless they make him a cop. They place him in the care of veteran Detective Nick McKenna (Reynolds), who dislikes children, and the two team up in a comic series of events to find the killer and take down a drug kingpin who ordered the hit. ===== One of the most respected inspectors, Arjun Joglekar (Mukesh Khanna) is killed by drug dealer and gangster, Goli (Shakti Kapoor). Mona (Shilpa Shetty), a cabaret singer and Goli's mistress, agrees to testify against Goli and is placed into witness protection by Inspector Karan (Akshay Kumar), Arjun's younger brother, who aims to fight any injustice and avenge his brother's murder. When Goli finds out about Mona's forthcoming testimonial which would expose his real identity, he tracks her down and kills her. Deepak Kumar (Saif Ali Khan), who is the most romantic actor around, is frustrated with his roles and for being type- cast as a romantic hero. He would like to do something different and bring some change and excitement to his dull and boring existence. To change his monotonous life, he gets drunk and drives around. He is arrested by the police and brought to his rowdy producer. This is where he meets Karan and is very impressed with his assertiveness, courage, and honesty; Deepak would like to study his behaviour so that he can use this as a background for his next movie. Karan meets Basanti, who looks identical to Mona. He tells Deepak to hang around him if Deepak can get Basanti to act as Mona. Deepak trains Basanti and presents the new "Mona" to Karan. Karan places Basanti at the Moonlight Hotel as an amnesiac Mona, where she can report on Goli's criminal activities. That's how they uncover Goli eventually. While Karan and Basanti fall in love with each other, Deepak falls in love with Karan's sister, Shivangi (Rageshwari), which makes Karan mad and he tries to get rid of Deepak Kumar, for which Deepak Kumar reminds Karan that he wanted to hang around with him because he wanted to learn what it is like being a cop and apologises for loving his sister Shivangi, which makes Karan guilty and tries to win back Deepak Kumar for his sister and bhabhi sister-in-law. In the end, Karan avenges the death of his brother by killing Goli. ===== The film is about a deadly game of survival in the ruthless world of crime and sleaze. A criminal don, Maya (Rekha), hosts illegal wrestling matches in U.S (New York) and has the full support of the local Police Commissioner. Ajay Malhotra has relocated to US and has started his own orchestra with the help of some of his friends. His brother, Akshay (Akshay Kumar), decides to visit him on hearing that he wants to marry his beloved in Canada; on the airplane he meets Priya (Raveena Tandon), and both fall in love. Once in the U.S., Akshay finds out that the police have a warrant for the arrest of Ajay and want to question him. Akshay's attempts to locate Ajay land him with Maya, who happens to be Priya's sister. Apparently Maya is holding Ajay and will only release him after he hands over incriminating documents. Akshay soon wins Maya's confidence by rescuing her from attempts on her life made by King Don (Gulshan Grover), and Maya begins to like him and trust him. Akshay then proposes to her, to which Maya agrees, much to the disappointment of Priya. Soon Akshay kills Maya's men when they get to know of his true identity. He also organises a fake kidnap drama with Ajay's friends, who kidnap him and demand that Maya come to meet them with Ajay. By now Maya realizes that Akshay is Ajay's brother, and Priya actually loves Akshay. Maya calls the kidnappers and arranges a meeting the following night. News of this has spread to a hospitalised Ajay, who decides to intervene in the meeting. But is again captured by Maya's men. Maya then stages a shootout threatening Priya, Akshay and Ajay, but are interrupted by the cops and King Don. King Don is then defeated by everyone else present. At the end, Maya commits suicide, and before dying she hands over her sister Priya and Ajay to Akshay. ===== The plotline involves a young tomboy named Mickey (Butler) with a beautiful singing voice, who is torn between singing and playing on her baseball team. Meanwhile, Mickey trying to make her widowed father fall in love with her neighbor's aunt, Louise (Hervey), a woman who is helping Mickey try to be more ladylike so she can become her best friend's love interest. ===== After the mayor of the fictional village San Pedro de los Saguaros is lynched by angry villagers, a petty PRI party member named Juan Vargas (Damián Alcázar) is appointed temporary mayor by the state governor. At first, the new mayor attempts to do good, but a lack of funds, the fact that the majority of the villagers don't speak Spanish, and the opposition of both the local doctor (an obstreperous PAN mayoral candidate) and Doña Lupe (the brothel owner) cripple his efforts. Seeking help from his superior, López, the secretary to the PRI governor, he is given a copy of the constitution of Mexico and a revolver and is told that the only law is Herod's law: literally translated: "either you get screwed or you get fucked" ("o te chingas o te jodes"). On his way back, he meets a caucasian American on the road when his car breaks down; the American looks under the hood, reconnects a wire and then asks Vargas for hundreds of dollars. He says that he is the mayor of San Pedro and that he is good for the money, then laughing it off as he drives away. Returning to the town, a bribe from Doña Lupe sets him on the path to corruption. When Vargas thus has become the executive, legislature and judiciary of the village all in one person he soon becomes corrupt, first accepting the bribes from Doña Lupe (which he extends into paying free visits to the brothel's girls), and soon moving on to extort the local store owner and all of the villagers for even the smallest infractions. When questioned, he declares that he is funding a new project to bring electricity to the village with the help of an American engineer (in reality, the American he met earlier, having shown up in San Pedro wanting his money)—a farce which is obvious when only one utility pole is raised; still, the villagers are oblivious to this, except for the doctor. Vargas becomes progressively more corrupt, and when Doña Lupe's new bodyguard severely beats him after she resists his authoritarianism, he kills them both in retaliation. He incriminates Filemón, the local drunk, for the crime, and on the way to deliver him to the state's authorities he kills Filemón in the middle of the road. When he returns to the town, he discovers that his wife (not blind about his visits to the brothel) and the American are having an affair, and the American flees. Meanwhile, Vargas levies false accusations against the local doctor, assigning him the role of intellectual author in Doña Lupe's murder; nonetheless, it is also revealed that the doctor has been sexually abusing the teenage girl that serves as his maid, and Vargas uses this to blackmail him into leaving the town or face incarceration. Having gotten rid of his enemies, Vargas becomes obsessed with power to the point where the whole town despises him, levying absurd taxes for everything, incarcerating those who refuse to pay, seizing their possessions (including animals), and rewriting several laws to his own absurd and tyrannical whims. It is in the middle of this that López and his henchman, Tiburón, arrive to San Pedro, on the run after López's men tried to shoot his rival for the governorship of the state, who is also president Alemán's nephew. Seeing that the town had riches after all, López demands all the money Vargas has extorted from the villagers. Discovering that his wife has escaped with the American, taking all of the fortune with them, Vargas grows enraged and kills both López and Tiburón. Then, Vargas seems to meet his demise when he is surrounded by a crowd of torch-wielding villagers, but unlike the previous mayor, he avoids this fate by climbing up the sole pole he raised, and is saved when several police cars arrive, hot on the trail of López. Vargas reappears at the very end of the film delivering a speech to the Mexican National Congress, a spot he earned as a prize for killing López. As Vargas says in his speech that the PRI must stay in power forever, the film cuts to the scene of a new mayor coming to San Pedro de los Saguaros in exactly the same way that Vargas did at the beginning. ===== Setsuna Kiyoura is a high school student out of school for summer vacation, enjoying the break with family and peers. When her childhood friend Sekai is bedridden with mumps and unable to attend to her part-time waitressing job, Setsuna much to her chagrin, agrees to fill in for her. Though she finds the work almost thoroughly unpleasant, from the revealing uniforms to difficult customers, Setsuna manages to overcome the challenges of the job through the encouragement of friends, particularly that of Makoto Itōu, a classmate she likes. ===== On what appeared to be a routine assignment, Jack was paid to break into a high tech lab and steal a disc that contained a top-secret experiment. His contractor being the CEO and shareholder of the research company, Eugene Della Cruz. A third party gets wind of the job and everything goes horribly wrong. It was a set up. He escapes – barely alive. This makes front-page news and Brodie suddenly becomes the most wanted man in Britain. He goes underground, seeking refuge away from the world and for the first time he fails to see a way out. Things come apart fast as his son is kidnapped and he is framed for his ex-wife's murder. He begins to lose his sense of self-belief and everything Brodie ever valued is gone. Forced to live like an animal, his hideout becomes his new home, only stepping out of the shadows under the cover of darkness. In a bid to fight back, Brodie does whatever it takes to find his son, clear his name and seek his revenge. With the help of Tomokai Yoshida a genetic scientist, Brodie from the bleakest point of his life being the countries public enemy finds a way to turn the tables. Using the disc he stole which contained the blue print for a process called Psycho Metamorphosis or PM13, a compound that stimulates a human's latent ability to morph from one human likeness to another, male or female. Brodie realizes the power that comes with anonymity, without a fixed identity the law cannot track him. The compound was only a prototype and so is inherently unstable. Brodie never knows how long it will work and with each metamorphosis the process takes its toll. His victims once touched are left in a coma, helpless until their identity is returned. In essence Brodie becomes a soul reaper. The process of transformation is far from clean and Brodie partially retains the soul of each person he touches. Each journey into the body of another takes Brodie further into the darker recesses of the human mind. Brodie is no longer alone; with each passing day, the voices within grow louder. ===== Donald Duck works as a farmer on a farm. He is disturbed by a fly when he tries to milk the cow Clementine. ===== ===== Carl, Ed, Frank, Glen, and Patti McTeague are the greedy relatives of wealthy, wheelchair-bound scrap-metal tycoon Uncle Joe McTeague. They continually suck up to him and try to outdo each other in order to inherit his 25 million dollars when he passes away. With their attempts constantly failing and irritable Uncle Joe showing a decided interest in his new sexy "nurse" Molly Richardson, Frank decides to hire a private detective named Laura to bring in his brother Daniel (who turned his back on the family years ago because of their selfishness) believing if they can make up, Uncle Joe will thaw towards them. Instead of finding Daniel, Laura finds his son Danny of whom Uncle Joe had always been especially fond. A professional bowler, Danny left the family with his father, but he accepts the cousins' invitation to return — after rolling a gutter ball in a big tournament and finding out that he has a pre-arthritic condition developing in his wrist. Danny's television sports producer girlfriend Robin encourages him to ask Uncle Joe for a loan of $300,000 to invest in a bowling alley. A typically rude and crude Joe says he will lend the money only if Danny sides with him against his own father. Danny is offended and leaves with his girlfriend, much to the annoyance of the other relatives. They confront Molly later on and she realizes just how conniving and desperate they are for Uncle Joe's fortune. Uncle Joe asks Danny to visit him at his scrapyard, to apologize for trying to bribe him, but the old man calls a number to place a shipping order to a company he finds out has been closed for 25 years. Realizing that his relatives could declare him incompetent and throw him in a retirement home, he tells Danny that he plans to hand his fortune over to Molly. Danny realizes how much he'd like to inherit his fortune and tells him not to rush into anything. Danny moves in with Uncle Joe and starts competing for his money, even so far as to sing a Jimmy Durante song that Joe loved him to perform as a little kid. But Molly has other ideas and decides to use her "assets" to outdo Danny and have sex with the elderly gentleman, if only to keep the relatives from getting his money. But after her successful attempt to get Joe in the bedroom, they are interrupted by Danny's father Daniel and he and Danny engage in an heated argument, in which Danny chooses Uncle Joe over him. Molly feels disgusted with herself for almost having sex with Joe and tells Danny she has to leave, but not before Danny promises to look after Joe. However, Danny tells Robin that he'd actually hired an actor to play his "so-called" father, to win favor with his Uncle, and she feels he's become too greedy and leaves him. At Joe's attorney's office, Danny is ready to inherit Joe's fortune when his relatives arrive with his real father. Danny admits that he's become as bad as the rest of the family. But it soon becomes apparent that Uncle Joe is not only bankrupt, he is in debt of $95,000. After a big scene that involves Frank fighting Danny, the relatives leave and Joe tells Danny that he was simply "playing them" to find out who actually loved him. Danny tells him "nobody loves you," and leaves to make up with Robin. When Danny asks Douglas where Uncle Joe is, Douglas says that he doesn't know. With ill health, no money and no place to go, Danny and Robin decide to let Joe stay with them in their apartment. But Joe gives them another surprise, and reveals that he still has a fortune as he has them look outside to see Molly and Douglas. He suggests they stay with him, saying "Whatever I own, you own". Danny accepts but on the condition that all of the lies and the games stop. Uncle Joe agrees, then calmly gets up out of his wheelchair and exits their apartment whilst a shocked Danny and Robin watch. ===== The brochures in a travel agency spring to life in this "it's-midnight-and- everything-comes-to-life" cartoon, this time in a travel agency with first a bunch of tableaux, followed by a big song, then a crime story. Following a spinning globe, the front of the agency store appears, where there are several displays of banners and posters of different countries and one poster/banner for each country and then a song is heard tied to the country or a pun on the name. For example, with a picture of Bombay harbor, exploding bombs are seen. There's a little tour of the world at first, with appropriate songs, which then stray into puns about food. "Food's an Education," which leads to references to Hungary, Turkey, the Sandwich Islands, Hamburg, Chile (chili), Oyster Bay, Twin Forks and Java. The Thief of Bagdad uses the Florida Keys to break into the Kimberly Diamond Mine, and then pawns them with the Pawnee Indians. He is chased by the soldiers and police of different nations, but gets away by forming an "unusual alliance" with the Lone Stranger: "Well, you're not alone now, Beeg Boy!" ===== The superhero Starman, a human-like being created from the strongest steel by the Peace Council of the Emerald Planet, is sent by the leaders of that planet to protect Earth from belligerent aliens from the Sapphire Galaxy. After avoiding the Sapphireans during his flight to Earth, Starman discovers their plot to destroy Earth, after they blow up a part of the Himalayas . The Sapphireans (or "Spherions") kidnap Dr. Yamanaka and his family and force him to use his spaceship against the Earth. It's up to Starman to save Dr. Yamanak, his family and the Earth.http://www.weirdwildrealm.com/f-starman-series.html ===== Julie Johnson is a bored New Jersey housewife who is unhappy with her life and decides to take a computer class at a local college. When her husband finds out and is unsupportive and verbally abusive, she decides that enough is enough and the couple separate. Inspired, her friend Claire leaves her husband, and, having nowhere to go, moves in with Julie and her son and daughter. Living together, Julie and Claire develop a relationship that is more than just a friendship. Problems arise when Julie, immersed in studies, makes new, scholarly, cultured friends and Claire doesn't mesh well with them. ===== The book is divided into three parts, with a total of forty chapters. The first 90 pages of the book deal with an early biography of Gant's parents, very closely based on the actual history of Wolfe's own mother and father. It begins with his father Oliver's decision to become a stone cutter after seeing a statue of a stone angel. ===== Reporter Lee Taylor (Lee Tracy) is investigating a series of pathological murders that have taken place over a series of months in New York City. The murders always take place at night, under the light of a full moon, and each body has been cannibalized after the murder. Witnesses describe a horribly disfigured "monster" as the killer. Doctor Xavier (Lionel Atwill) is called in for his medical opinion, but the police have an ulterior motive behind this: they wish to investigate Xavier's medical academy, as the scalpel used to cannibalize the bodies of the victims is exclusive to that institution. Aside from Xavier, the other suspects are: Wells (Preston Foster), an amputee who has made a study of cannibalism; Haines (John Wray), who displays a sexual perversion with voyeurism; Duke (Harry Beresford), a grouchy paralytic; and Rowitz (Arthur Edmund Carewe), who is conducting studies of the psychological effects of the moon. The police give Xavier 48 hours to apprehend the killer in his own way. During this time, Taylor investigates the doctor's intentions and in the process, meets Joan Xavier (Fay Wray), the doctor's daughter. Joan is exceedingly cold to Taylor, particularly after finding out that it was his story that pointed a finger at her father and ruined his first attempt at locating the killer. Taylor, however, takes a romantic interest in Joan. At Xavier's beach-side estate, all of the suspects gather for an unorthodox experiment: each member (excluding Wells, because it is known that the killer has two hands and he has but one) is connected to an electrical system that records his heart rate. When a re- enactment of the murder of a cleaning woman appears before them, the detector will expose the guilty man. Dr. Xavier's butler and maid, Otto (George Rosener) and Mamie (Leila Bennett), carry out the reenactment. During the experiment, a blackout occurs. When power is regained, it is discovered that Rowitz, whose monitor supposedly revealed him as the guilty party just before the blackout, has been murdered using a scalpel to the brain. Later that night, it is discovered that Rowitz's body has been cannibalized. The following evening, Xavier asks Otto and Mamie to re-enact another of the murders. Mamie is too frightened to play her part, so Joan takes her place. All of the men, save for Wells, are this time handcuffed to their seats. It is during this that we find out that it is, in fact, Wells who is the killer. After strangling Otto, Wells reveals to his handcuffed "guests" that he has invented a "synthetic flesh" composition, and has been creating artificial limbs and a horrific mask to carry out his crimes in order to collect living samples of human flesh for his experiments. Then, he declares his intention to collect Joan as his victim. As Wells is about to strangle Joan, Taylor – concealed among a series of wax figures representing the killer's victims – jumps Wells. After an extended fight, Taylor grabs a kerosene lamp and hurls it at Wells, setting him on fire. Wells crashes through a window and falls, in flames, down a cliff to the ocean shore. Reporting his story into the paper, Taylor tells his editor to make space in the marriage section for Joan and himself. ===== Commander Suzdal is a captain of "The Navy and the Instrumentality" sent on a "one man" mission of exploration (in actuality he is accompanied by several generations of "Turtle-People"). He hibernates in cryogenic sleep while long-lived turtle underpeople run the ship, until the need for a "true human" arises. A deep space probe is found. It tells a brilliantly conceived but utterly false story about the plight of a group of settlers calling themselves the Arachosians. Suzdal is deceived and turns his ship towards the planet Arachosia and reenters hibernation. When he arrives he learns the horrible truth. The original settlers nearly became extinct, succumbing to a plague that (in Smith's words) rendered "femininity carcinogenic." They were only able to save their women by chemically (and later genetically) making them male. However, the resulting society is deeply unbalanced by the lack of females and ordinary family structure. The Arachosians, not truly male or female and calling themselves "klopts", realize on an instinctive level what they are missing and as a result, hate normal human beings with unbridled fervor and regard them as abominations to be destroyed (even though they have not seen one in many generations). To carry out this plan, they have dispatched traps in the form of messages, such as the one Suzdal encountered, throughout the galaxy. When Suzdal wakes up, the Arachosians are already crawling over the outside of his ship. On the advice of an artificial security officer, he uses an emergency device intended to send his large spacecraft back a few seconds in time to instead hurl feline genetic material (coded to evolve for intelligence and to obey Suzdal) millions of years back on the far side of the local moon. A race of advanced, space-faring cat-descendants appears instantaneously and hail Suzdal as their god and creator. They engage the Arachosians at his order, allowing him to escape. Despite saving the ship and successfully concealing Earth's location from the Arachosians, Suzdal is stripped of rank, name, life and finally death, finding himself sentenced to the prison planet Shayol for his misuse of the time device. He is later seen in the story "A Planet Named Shayol". Meanwhile the Instrumentality officially declares all accounts of his story to be lies, including the text at hand. ===== Jess picks up his girlfriend, Nicole, in his convertible to head out to California. On the way, Nicole complains she needs to urinate and she urges Jess to find a rest stop. After she exits the building she finds her boyfriend gone. A deranged truck driver with license plate KZL-303 throws her the red cell phone that was in the convertible, convincing her he has Jess. Nicole goes to look for help and notices an RV and bangs on the door and asks for help. She has a short eerie ride with the passengers until she is eventually thrown out for looking at the deformed individual hidden behind curtains at the back of the vehicle. She then returns to the restroom where she hears a girl coughing up blood (Tracy) with cuts all over whimpering in the maintenance room. She cautions Nicole about the deranged killer who tortured her. The girl then bleeds profusely and as Nicole's attention is diverted she disappears, blood and all. Nicole finds Tracy's missing person poster and discovers the girl has been missing since 1971. The man in the yellow truck continues to elude Nicole, until a cop arrives via motorcycle. The cop soon falls victim to the driver of the yellow truck by being run over. The officer's legs are run over repeatedly and injured severely in the process. Nicole is able to drag the officer to the rest room, where the two seek refuge from the psychopath. Eventually, the driver of the truck returns and locks Nicole and the officer in the restroom. Nicole, thinking the man has left, attempts to open the lock. The driver appears out of seemingly nowhere, and bites Nicole's finger off. The officer realizes that Nicole is going into shock and commands Nicole to shoot the driver when he returns. She fires four shots out of the officer's revolver into the door but is unable to see if she has struck the driver. The driver then drops a camera into the restroom via the open window. The video is of Jess being tortured with a knife. The last shot of Jess shows him having his tongue cut out. The driver feeds a hose through the window and starts pouring gasoline into the room. Nicole tries to find an escape and is able to open a hatch in the ceiling. Realizing there is no way for her to get him out of the building the officer tells Nicole to use the two remaining bullets in his gun to kill him because he would rather die that way than be burned alive. She fails at first but eventually succeeds in the grisly task. The driver lights the gasoline and Nicole hurries to get out of the building. As Nicole is escaping she notices that the officer's body has mysteriously disappeared. Nicole is able to jump from the roof before the building explodes. Once she is on the ground Nicole encounters the man in the yellow truck once again. He exits the truck, and she sneaks up behind him, striking him with a tire iron repeatedly. She turns him over and is shocked to discover it is actually Jess, with his mouth sewn shut, sporting other visible wounds. Nicole sneaks to the convertible where she fills a whiskey bottle that she had retrieved from a nearby Park Ranger's station and fills it with gasoline in order to concoct a makeshift Molotov cocktail to use against her attacker, should he return. Morning approaches, and she walks down the highway with the driver of the truck approaching her at a rapid speed. After some fumbling, she is able to strike a match and light her Molotov cocktail. She hurls the bottle at the truck and almost instantly it is consumed by flames, followed by a large explosion. She investigates the truck but finds no body. After a few moments, she turns around and the man in the truck is behind her. As an epilogue, the film ends with a different girl going to the same rest stop, after it is renovated due to the fire. She discovers Nicole in the maintenance room and runs out to the Park Ranger (who has returned to his post) to inform him of her discovery. He goes into the room, after unlocking it, and no one seems to be present. After he leaves, Nicole is shown behind some janitorial equipment calling out for help and vomiting blood. The next scene is from the view of a video camera. It shows the father from the RV burying the body of Jess. The man, realizing he is being taped, goes into the RV and tells his deformed son "This is our little secret." The yellow truck is then shown driving down a deserted road. ===== The story involves the superhero Starman who is sent by the Emerald Planet to protect Earth from the Salamander Men of the planet Kulimon in the Moffit galaxy who plan to destroy Earth. ===== In a New York advertising agency, Jerry Webster, a Madison Avenue ad executive, has achieved success not through hard work or intelligence but by wining and dining his clients, even setting them up on dates with attractive girls. Jerry's equal and sworn enemy at a rival agency is Carol Templeton. Although she has never met him, Carol is disgusted by Jerry's unethical tactics and reports him to the Ad Council. Jerry avoids trouble with his usual aplomb, sending a comely chorus girl, Rebel Davis, to seduce the council members. Jerry then promises Rebel a spot in commercials, so he shoots some featuring her for "VIP", a nonexistent product. He has no intention that they will be shown, but the perplexed company president, Pete Ramsey, orders them broadcast on television. Due to this mistake, Jerry needs to come up with a product quickly. He bribes a chemist, Dr. Linus Tyler, to come up with some sort of product called VIP that could be marketed. When Carol mistakes Jerry for Tyler, the inventor, he pretends to be Tyler, so that in her attempt to steal the account from Jerry, she is actually wining, dining, golfing, and frolicking at the beach with him as Tyler. Carol ultimately learns the truth. Appalled, she once more reports him to the Ad Council, this time for promoting a product that does not exist. Jerry, however, arrives at the hearing with VIP, a mint-flavored candy Dr. Tyler has just created. He provides many free samples to everyone there, including Carol. VIP turns out to be an intoxicating candy, each one having the same effect as a triple martini. Its extreme effects lead to a one-night stand between Carol (who has a low tolerance for alcohol) and her bitter rival, Jerry, in a motel in Maryland, complete with a marriage license. Carol has the marriage annulled, but Jerry convinces the liquor industry to give Carol's firm 25% of its $60 million ($ million today) annual advertising expenditures in return for pulling VIP off the market and burning the formula. Jerry leaves New York to work in his company's San Francisco branch—only to be called back nine months later to remarry Carol in a hospital maternity ward, just before she gives birth to their child. ===== Lex Luthor, the Atom Man, invents a number of deadly devices to plague the city, including a disintegrating machine which can reduce people to their basic atoms and reassemble them in another place. But Superman manages to thwart each scheme. Since Kryptonite can rob Superman of his powers, Luthor decides to create a synthetic Kryptonite and putters about obtaining the necessary ingredients: plutonium, radium and the undefined 'etc.' Luthor places the Kryptonite at the launching of a ship, with Superman in attendance. He is exposed to the Kryptonite and passes out. Superman is taken off in an ambulance driven by Luthor's henchmen, and he is now under the control of Luthor. Superman is placed in a device, a lever is pulled, and the Man of Steel vanishes into "The Empty Doom". ===== Clay Easton (Andrew McCarthy) is a straitlaced college freshman on the East Coast of the United States, who returns home to Los Angeles, California, for Christmas to find things very different from the way he left them. His high school girlfriend and now model, Blair (Jami Gertz), has become addicted to cocaine and has been having sex with Clay's high school best friend, Julian Wells (Robert Downey Jr.). Julian, whose life has gone downhill after his startup record company fell apart, has become a drug addict. He has also been cut off by his family for stealing to support his habit and reduced to homelessness. Julian is also being hassled by his dealer, an old classmate named Rip (James Spader), for a debt of $50,000 that he owes to him. Clay's relationship with Blair rekindles and Julian's behavior becomes more volatile. His addiction is worsening and since he does not have the money to pay off his debt, Rip forces him to become a prostitute to work it off. After suffering through a night of withdrawal and hiding from Rip, Julian decides to quit and begs his father (Nicholas Pryor) to help him. The next day, Julian tells Rip his plans for sobriety, which Rip does not accept. Rip soon lures Julian to a Christmas party for affluent gay men in Palm Springs. Clay finds Julian and rescues him; after a violent confrontation with Rip and his henchman, Clay, Julian and Blair all escape and begin the long drive through the desert so Julian can attempt to achieve sobriety once and for all. However, the damage has already been done; the next morning Julian dies from heart failure in the car. After Julian's funeral, Clay and Blair are sitting on a cemetery bench reminiscing about him. Clay then tells Blair that he is returning to the East Coast and wants her to go with him. She agrees to his offer. The film ends with a snapshot of the three of them at graduation. ===== In the campaign storyline, players lead a party of adventurers on their quest to investigate an ancient being, about which little beyond the name is initially known. The plot is eventually revealed to be an epic contest between two dragons competing for godhood. The player can choose the path of good or evil, with different quests available depending on which is preferred, although the distinction between the two is not always clear. The game is divided up into a number of distinct battles or missions (30+), with the player able to access the majority of these during a given campaign, since several of the scenarios are mutually exclusive. Scenarios cannot be re-played once successfully completed. The campaign revolves around a single lead character, with the other characters playing a supporting role. At the start of each scenario or battle, players select which additional adventurers to take along (up to a total of five such auxiliary characters after the first few scenarios). While this technically allows one to have more than six adventurers, only characters who actually participate in a given battle earn experience, so attempting to field a larger stable of cohorts serves to dilute earned experience levels. The game features the core character classes from the 3.5 Player's Handbook: the Barbarian, Bard, Cleric, Druid, Fighter, Monk, Paladin, Ranger, Rogue, Sorcerer, and Wizard, as well as two non-core classes, the Psion and Psychic Warrior. A full set of character generation rules permit players to create their own characters, or use pre- generated characters selected from a "character library". ===== The film tells the story of Romulus Gaiţă, a Romanian immigrant to Australia after World War II and his struggle in the face of great adversity to bring up his son, Raimond. As close family members die around him Raimond has to deal with the deterioration of his father's mental health. It is a story of impossible love that ultimately celebrates the unbreakable bond between father and son. ===== Yedukondalu (Ravi Teja) is an uneducated, head strong youth in Bobbarlanka village. He and his village heads decide to close down the nearby factory by appealing to politicians as its letting out a lot of pollutants into the river which is the main source of food, water and livelihood for them. He and another girl Mangatayaru (Aarti Agarwal) are sent to Hyderabad to appeal to MLA of their constituency - Byragi Naidu (Sayaji Shinde). They stay at a friend's place, (Ali's house) and try to get their work done by the minister. In the process many hurdles come across them. Yedukondalu roughs up a few of the MLA's goons and is always at loggerheads with his henchmen. After all this, Byragi Naidu begins to show his true colors and plans to butcher Edu Kondalu as he is forming as an obstruction to his underground activities, unknowingly. Then, the protagonist of the story decides to teach the MLA a lesson, get his job done of closing down the factory. Swapna (Reema Sen) is a journalist who stays in Yedukondalu's locality and has a heavy crush on him. She also helps him in pinning down the minister. The remaining plot is how intelligently Yedukondalu outclasses the minister and earns good name. Also in the plot, the hero makes use of Shakeela's films to defame the minister and she herself makes an appearance in the film. ===== Matt Helm, codenamed "Eric", is given a tough and distasteful assignment: to physically assault a fellow female agent in order to help establish her cover in an undercover operation. In doing so, however, Helm accidentally kills the woman, which results in him having to complete the woman's assignment; the assassination of an enemy agent. He is meanwhile being pursued by his own agency, which is considering removing him from active service for his brutality. The location is near Chesapeake Bay. ===== Once a photographer by day, spy by night, Matt Helm is now a happily retired secret agent, shooting photos of glamorous models instead of guns and enjoying a close relationship with his assistant, the lovely Lovey Kravezit. But then his old boss, Macdonald, coaxes him back to the agency ICE to thwart a new threat from the villainous organization Big O. The sinister Tung-Tze is masterminding a diabolical scheme to drop a missile on an underground atomic bomb test in New Mexico and possibly instigate a nuclear war in the process. Helm's assignment is to stop him, armed with a wide assortment of useful spy gadgets, plus the assistance of the capable femme fatale, Tina, and the seemingly incapable Gail Hendricks, a beautiful but bumbling possible enemy agent. Along the way, Helm is nearly sidetracked by a mysterious knife-wielding seductress and he witnesses the murder of a beautiful Big O operative, the sultry striptease artist Sarita. In the end, Helm prevails, with Gail by his side as he all but singlehandedly destroys Tung-Tze's evil enterprise and plot to rule the world. ===== Two companion sorceresses and on-and-off adversaries, the overpowered Lina Inverse and the underdressed Naga the Serpent, wander into the town of Stoner, famous of its entertainment golem makers. There they rescue a young girl named Laia Einberg from an out-of-control golem. Lina and Naga expect to be rewarded for their not-so selfless deed, so Laia takes them to her workplace and introduces them to her father, Galia, and her brother, Huey. Galia is a renowned crafter of classic toy golems but lately he is struggling for money. He is also in conflict with Huey, his son and student, over their very opposing ideas as to how their golems should look and act like. Huey becomes infatuated with Naga's looks, while Galia takes a liking to Lina, and so they choose both sorceresses as models for their respective new golems. There is an upcoming event in Stoner in which huge, remote-controlled golems will fight each other in a competition. The same contest will also decide which of two feuding lords sponsoring the festival, Haizen and Granion, will take control over the town. Secretly, both of the lords also scheme to have their golems mass-produced as unstoppable weapons of war. Haizen succeeds in hiring Huey and Naga, while Galia and Lina get employed by Granion. Lina and Naga can easily become antagonistic, and, following an inconclusive magical duel, they end up battling it out again — but this time they are going to fight through the golems made in their appearance. Due to Galia lacking magical clay due to Huey's sabotage, his golem is built with the sleeping Lina trapped inside so she would use her own magic to power it at the tournament. Huey has lured Naga into his golem and so now there is a powerful sorceress in each. To Lina's dismay, and Granion's disappointment, the golem that was made in her image is a super deformed giant kawaii toy with funny squeaky shoes, dubbed "Piko-Piko Lina-chan" — instead of finding her beautiful as she believed, Galia thought she was "a girl with no hips or breasts, with a face just screaming to be characterized." She is irked even more to see Huey's towering "Grand Goddess" golem that resembles Naga to the point of also having bouncing breasts (with the well-endowed Naga's breasts being an object of burning envy for Lina). Their battle begins, but Piko-Piko Lina-chan's short limbs can not even hit the Grand Goddess while Naga just plays with her. Further enraged, Lina attempts to attack with magic, but the golem's magical properties absorb magic, making Lina's spells useless. During that completely one-sided fight, one physical attack by the Grand Goddess makes a large hole in the back of Lina's golem. The furious Lina gets free and unleashes her most powerful spell, Dragu Slave, to defeat the Grand Goddess. Lina wins, but her spell has also destroyed the castles of both Haizen and Granion. Lina flees the suddenly outraged Naga and both of them get pursued by the angry lords manning the Piko-Piko Lina-chan, which soon stops when it runs out of power. During the film's closing credits, the ex-lords Haizen and Granion find themselves reduced to the guards for the king of the land. Galia and Huey resolve their differences, deciding to start making toys that are to be both cute and sexy at the same time, while the now derelict Piko-Piko Lina-chan becomes the new symbol and mascot of the entire town. Elsewhere, Lina and Naga continue their travels together, as prone to failing-out with each other as ever. ===== The powerful teenage sorceress Lina Inverse and her traveling companion and self-styled archrival Naga the Serpent, having been reunited after Naga was (once again) hired against Lina, obtain two discounted tickets for a tour to the fabled hot springs of Mipross Island. However, they discover almost immediately that those hot springs are fake and the island is controlled by a group of bandits. The two heroines clean up the island from them but learn they have been sent by someone called "the Great Master". Meanwhile, Lina is repeatedly visited during sleep by an old insistent man that narrates about the love between a heroic boy Rowdy and a young elf girl Meliroon, tragically interrupted by the appearance of a mazoku (demon) named Joyrock that destroyed the city of elves and killed Meliroon. In another dream, between an event and another, Lina discovers that the old storyteller is the young hero himself and he gained the power of elves, with the ability of seeing the future, and that he was the owner of the legendary Sword of Light. Lina and Naga deliver the most dangerous bandits to the king, who asks Lina to take action against Joyrock. He and the queen were contacted by the old sage Rowdy in dream and he told them the demon came back again to Mipross and is wreaking havoc in the northern part of the island, blocking the natural flux of hot spring's water, so the girl named Lina Inverse is the only able to beat him. Lina is initially reluctant, but in exchange of a reward (and Rowdy's promise to reveal the secret location of a hot spring that make things growing up) she and Naga decide to take action against the demon. Joyrock shows himself in the form of a frog, then turns into a reptile-like creature and reveals to be the Great Master who pulled the strings of the events that took place on the island. Lina attempts to slay him with her destructive Dragon Slave spell, but he disappears and reappears from the astral plane and injures Lina, who luckily is rescued by Naga and Rowdy. The old sage heals Lina and tells them he could use his magic to get back in time and change history, but the two sorceress must help him defeating the Joyrock from the past. At the same time he casts the spell, the demon appears and kills Rowdy. Luckily, Lina manages to travel in the void of time (Naga is missing at this moment), she meets the young Rowdy and, with the help of the Sword of Light combined with Dragon Slave, they finally destroy the demon. Along with coincidentally rescued Naga, they return to present time. Before going back to the mainland, Lina remembers she has to visit the hidden hot spring promised by Rowdy, but there she discovers it is a magical water that makes things like vegetables growing older, and not growing bigger as she hoped for her breasts. Shouting angrily to the ghost of Rowdy, Lina runs away in shame, followed by Naga, and they keep on running until late night. During the end credits, it is shown that the inhabitants of Mipross have erected a statue in honor of the two heroes of the island: the young Rowdy and Lina Inverse. ===== A young nameless poet (Dieterle) enters a wax museum where the proprietor works in the company of his daughter Eva (Olga Belajeff). The proprietor hires the poet to write a back-story for his wax models of Harun al-Rashid (Jannings), Ivan the Terrible (Veidt), and Jack the Ripper (Krauss) in order to draw an audience to the museum. With his daughter by his side, the poet notices that the arm of Harun al-Rashid is missing and writes a story incorporating the missing arm. ===== Muteki Kanban Musume is a comedy detailing the adventures of Miki Onimaru, a girl who recently turned 20, whose mother runs a Chinese ramen restaurant. Miki works as the delivery girl for the shop but frequently gets into trouble due to her boisterous, active personality. Much of the humor of the series derives from the characters' over-the-top behavior. ===== Helm is sent to the ICE (Intelligence and Counter Espionage) Training Headquarters to uncover a traitor in the organisation. While there he meets ICE agent Sheila Sommers, a test pilot who has been recovered from a Central American jungle with no memory of what happened to the experimental flying saucer she flew. Due to the electo-magnetic power of the saucer, only a woman is able to fly it, males of the species are killed by the energy. Helm had worked with Sommers on an assignment where the two had posed as man and wife. When Sommers meets Helm, her memory comes back. Mac, the head of ICE, decides to send Helm and Sommers posing again as his wife undercover as a photographer doing a story on the Montezuma Beer Brewery, whose advertising jingle is the same tune as the anthem of Ortega's political movement. Along the way, they must deal with Ortega's henchmen, Francesca Madeiros (an operative for Big O, Helm's main nemesis), who poses as a model and seduces Helm, an assassin named Nassim, plus a tough thug named Rocco. ===== In the early 1970s, the twins are essentially purchased by sleazy talent manager with plans to turn them into rock stars. The brothers form a punk rock band called the Bang Bang. As the band's success grows, a music journalist, Laura (Tania Emery), follows the band writing an article. A romantic relationship develops between Laura and Tom causing friction between the two brothers. ===== Laurel and Hardy play two policemen on night patrol, hence the title. They are given instructions to investigate a reported break-in but in the process of gathering the details from HQ they stumble upon a would be thief who is attempting to crack the safe of a small store. Laurel mistakes him for the store owner, even going so far as to give assistance in the safe cracking, when Hardy enters to see what is keeping Laurel the boys manage to work out that the thief is not the store owner and rather than arrest him order him to appear in court at a date to suit the criminal. The boys head back to their car only to find the same thief attempting to steal it, angered Hardy insists that he must 'appear Tuesday' after all (a day the criminal is planning a bank robbery). On arriving at the alleged crime scene the audience sees that the case is that the owner of the mansion got locked out and so there is no actual robber or robbery at the location. The boys however are unaware of this and attempt to break down the front door and eventually manage to succeed with great effort, having causing a great deal of damage to the property they proceed to arrest the owner of the property who they perceive to be the robber. The boys bring the suspect in to great praise by their colleagues, however the real identity of the 'robber' soon becomes apparent as the other officers recognize him as the Chief of Police. Realizing their error Hardy explains that they are 'new', the Chief seemingly does not accept this excuse and as the boys flee off-screen he opens fire. The other officers then remove their hats indicating that deaths have occurred and the Chief says "send for the coroner". ===== Laurel and Hardy are in the fish business. They drive around town seeing if they can sell any. Stan suggests they catch their own fish and keep all the profits. Ollie likes the idea of cutting out the "middleman" so they buy a boat at a junk yard. After testing it for leaks by filling it with water and some setbacks such as dropping an anchor through the hull and sawing through the mast, they succeed in fixing it up. When the boat is finally ready, the whole operation goes south when they decide to hoist the sail. ===== After a series of murders in Los Angeles's gay community, heterosexual police officer Sgt. Benson (Ryan O'Neal) is assigned to go undercover as half of a gay couple with Officer Kerwin (John Hurt), a Records Clerk. Kerwin naively believes that he is closeted, although the entire Department knows about his sexual identity. The pair discover an earlier murder and learn that both victims appeared in the same gay magazine. Each had received a call from a hoarse-voiced man asking them to model for him, only to turn up dead soon after. Benson models for the magazine and is approached by the same hoarse-voiced man; but, when another model turns up dead, the man is cleared as a suspect. Benson grows close to Jill (Robyn Douglass), the photographer of his shoot, and plans a weekend getaway with her. Kerwin suspects her of the murders, but his superiors put it down to jealousy. Kerwin uncovers evidence implicating Jill; but, when the police move to apprehend her, they discover her corpse. Her death unknown to Benson, he arrives for his rendezvous with Jill; and Kerwin races to his aid. Jill's killer, a closeted man whom Jill and one of the victims were blackmailing, admits to Benson that he killed Jill and two of the men but insists that Jill killed her partner in crime. Realizing that Kerwin is outside, the killer shoots at Kerwin who returns fire. Kerwin is wounded, but the other man is killed. ===== The story takes place in 1849. Captain Stanton (John Boles) has been cited for a court martial because of a misunderstanding over a woman with Major Davolo. As a scout, he is sent to escort a wagon train which is under military escort. It turns out that this escort is his own former regiment. When he meets Davolo, there is another fight between Stanton and Davolo in which Davolo is killed. The colonel has Stanton put in the guard house on a murder charge. He escapes disguised as a parson and continues along with the wagon train in order to be near Virginia, the daughter of his former commander, played by Vivienne Segal. They fall in love and when Stanton decides to leave the wagon train, Virginia follows him. Stanton marries Virginia and opens a gambling hall. When the regiment eventually turns up at the gambling hall, Virginia makes merry with her former friends. Stanton, in a fit of jealousy, leaves the establishment with another woman and tries his luck in California, searching for gold. He has poor luck and becomes a derelict. Eventually he meets his wife in San Francisco, resulting in a happy reconciliation. Some soldiers find him and give him a choice between being deported or re-enlisting in the army. He re-enlists. Joe E. Brown, in the part of Hasty, his doomed sidekick, provided the comedy for the film. ===== Erik Kernan Jr. (Hartnett) is a young fledgling journalist employed by The Denver Times. Frustrated, Kernan struggles with his supervising editor Ralph Metz (Alda) concerning rudimentary coverage over his articles related to professional sports. Metz views Kernan's editorial work as bland and uninspiring considering his recently deceased father was a famous sportscaster. Kernan is separated from his wife, Joyce (Morris), who also works at the newspaper, and worries that he might be losing touch with their young son, Teddy (Goyo). In an alley near the Denver Coliseum, three rowdy young men taunt an elderly homeless man (Jackson), who calls himself "Champ" and claims to have been a professional boxer. As the men begin to assault him, Kernan, leaving a boxing match he was covering at the venue, comes to his aid. Eventually, Kernan learns that Champ was once a famous former heavyweight boxing contender, Bob Satterfield. Denver, Colorado, where the provincial story takes place. During an interview with a magazine publisher named Whitley (Paymer), Kernan informs him that he has an influential story about the former boxer Satterfield, who's now a homeless man living on the streets assuming the moniker "Champ". Though at the same time, Champ is reluctant to cooperate for any biographical piece. In order to gain Champ's confidence for the chronicle, Kernan recruits an associate at the newspaper, Polly (Nichols), to assist him in retrieving information about his past. The magazine ultimately publishes Kernan's article. It wins applause from readers and journalists alike. The story even draws the attention of a TV personality from Showtime, Flak (Hatcher), who boldly suggests it should be nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. But the intense publicity brings Kernan into contact with elderly folk who knew Satterfield personally, and are adamant that he's deceased. Kernan later learns that Champ is in fact a lesser known boxing contender, Tommy Kincaid, whom Satterfield once defeated in the ring. He makes a conscious choice and decides to inform his editors about the profile error. However, before he can do so, he learns that he and the newspaper are being sued by Satterfield's son, Robert (Lennix). Satterfield Jr. is angered, since it had been long known to a number of people that Champ had a lengthy history of impersonating his father. Metz derides Kernan for not having done due diligence in examining Champ's authenticity regarding his past. Satterfield Jr. is later appeased with a proposal by Kernan to write another article retracting his mistake; and to include personal journalistic material about the elder Satterfield which he long wanted someone to articulate about. Kernan is also gratified with knowing that his young son Teddy will be proud of his father even if he does not know the famous people he once claimed to know. ===== Flo and Dot work in a Broadway music shop. Flo sings while Dot plays the piano. Their boss complains to them that they are not selling as much sheet music as they should, and asks them to change their technique. Flo sings a song for a customer, after which, one of Dot's admirers, Monsieur LeMaire (Charles Judels), an eccentric Frenchman who owns a modiste shop, enters the shop. He begins annoying the boss by chatting with Dot and asking her out. When the boss tells him to come back after they finish working, LeMaire flies into a rage and throws sheet music all over the store. The boss immediately fires Dot and Flo. The scene moves to the apartment where the two women live. Dot is reading the newspaper and finds out her boyfriend has eloped with a rich elderly widow. She is so angry that she accepts Flo's idea that they become gold-diggers. Flo suggests that their first victim be LeMaire and the next day they begin to work for him. LeMaire soon asks Dot and Flo to a private party. Flo tells him they would love to attend but they have no suitable clothes. LeMaire tells them that they can borrow clothes from his modiste shop. Dot and Flo agree to attend the party and then pack off all the clothes they can carry with them. They head off to the train station with their luggage of expensive clothes and decide to go to Havana to make some real money. Once Flo and Dot arrive in Havana they find that a millionaire, "A.J. Smith", who invented a famous soft drink, is staying at the hotel. They assume that a mean spirited and snobby acting man is the millionaire but the true millionaire is a young, pleasant and down-to-earth man. Dot falls in love with Smith, much to Flo's chagrin. Smith, unbeknownst to Flo and Dot, is actually a gigolo looking for a rich woman to pay his meal ticket. Just as Dot is to marry the gigolo, LeMaire arrives and exposes the two gold-diggers. Smith, who has fallen in love with Dot, writes a check to LeMaire to cover the amount he lost, and he ends up winning Dot as his future wife. A subplot involves Flo and Colonel Joy (Charles Butterworth), who raises horses. Colonel Joy is attracted to Flo and can't stop talking to her, although she does her best to avoid him. After some time, Flo is convinced by the colonel that his horse can't lose in the upcoming horse-race. She takes a chance and bets all her money, only to lose everything. Eventually they grow fond of each other and Colonel Joy proposes to Flo at the end of the film. ===== The story is about five people who run a public monster truck show led by Yank Justice, driver of Bigfoot. The other members of the show include Red & Redder (twin sisters who drive Black Gold), Professor Dee (driver of the Orange Blossom Special), and Close McCall (driver of War Lord). A young woman named Jennifer McGraw steals an ancient map that leads to the Fountain of Youth in Florida from an elderly corrupt billionaire named Adrian Ravenscroft, known as "Mr. Big". Ravenscroft hires a gang of henchmen who helped him try to get the map back; they include a man named Ernie Slye, as well as Ravenscroft's limousine chauffeur. This band of criminals chases Yank Justice and his friends across the United States and try to kill them. In the end, Ravenscroft finds the Fountain and, after drinking its water, is turned into a young man, becoming a far more formidable opponent for Yank. But Yank and the others destroy the Fountain with their trucks, and Ravenscroft makes one final attempt to defeat Yank by trying to ram his limousine into Yank's truck; however, Yank is able to move out of the way, and Ravenscroft's car is destroyed when it careens out of control. Ravenscroft tries to flee, swearing revenge, but the effects of the Fountain wear off and he is quickly turned back into his elderly self ... and is unable to see that he is walking into an alligator-infested swamp, presumably meeting his fate. The scene then cuts to the rubble that once was Fountain of Youth and Jennifer bemoaning its destruction. Just as a disgusted McCall walks away, an earthquake forms a large crevice ... containing a huge fortune in gold, jewels and other rare artifacts. While he and several members of the Bigfoot team celebrate their discovery, Yank walks away, and Jennifer joins him as they drive into the sunset. ===== Gogol opens by providing a romantic description of landowners in the countryside, giving particular attention to minute details. The two landowners, Afanasy Ivanovich Tovstogub and Pulkheriya Ivanovna Tovstogubikha live peacefully together in a remote village. The descriptions of them fit into the Slavophile tradition, comparing them strikingly against urban Little Russians (Ukrainians), particularly in Saint Petersburg, who are referred to as "paltry contemptible creatures" (because they acquire wealth dishonorably and conceal their descent by changing their last names to sound like Great Russians). The two old landowners live in peace, with a mutual love that brings a sense of sympathy. The bulk of the opening focuses on their day-to-day lives, eating jelly, making jokes and so forth. Eventually, Gogol introduces Pulkheriya’s grey cat, which Afanasy jokes about, wondering why anyone would waste time with such a creature. The cat is introduced with a sense of foreboding, with Gogol commenting that little things can affect the stability of the strongest realities ("a melancholy incident that transformed forever the life of that peaceful nook"). The cat gets away at one point, and Pulkheriya finds it shortly thereafter in a feral state. Though it comes back to her and goes inside the house to be fed, the cat seems strangely different and eventually flees the house to never return. Pulkheriya then sinks into thought, believing that death will soon come for her. She grows ill and weary and dies, leaving Afanasy alone. He progressively breaks down, disturbed by the smallest things for they remind him of Pulkheriya. The entire area he had control over slowly becomes more degraded as his condition worsens, and he himself dies after he believes he hears her calling to him outside. A distant kinsman from an unknown location, who was a lieutenant, takes over control of the estate, and soon everything falls into ruin. He puts the estate under the care of a board of trustees, bringing things like a fine English sickle to clear the area, and the huts on the property soon fall down, leaving some peasants drunken and hopeless and others to run away to find better lives. The new owner rarely visits the estate, and the story ends commenting on his visits to local markets to buy nothing over a ruble in price. ===== A joint operation by MI6, the CIA, and Pakistan's ISI against al Qaeda operatives in Pakistan uncovers documents concerning a planned terrorist attack codenamed "al-Isra". The cryptic nature of the codename triggers further investigations authorised at the most senior level. Now eager to learn more about al Qaeda's plans for al-Isra, the three agencies scramble to find out information through their various contacts, including inserting an operative close enough into the terror network's confidence. Middle Eastern scholar Dr. Terry Martin, who is part of a special committee studying the Koran for references to al-Isra, accidentally mentions that his elder brother Mike, a retired Paras and SAS officer, can pass for an Afghan native; Mike's chestnut-brown complexion, which he inherited from his mother and maternal grandmother, is indeed a perfect match. The elder Martin also has a near- perfect command of Arabic and Pashto, based from his tour of duty in Afghanistan supporting the Mujahideen. Interested with Mike's appearance, the CIA and MI6 recall him to infiltrate al-Qaeda by assuming the identity of Izmat Khan, a Taliban commander now detained at Guantanamo Bay. It is revealed that Khan and Mike share a common past – he saved the wounded Khan from an attack by Soviet helicopters and brought him to a clinic run by Ayman al Zawahiri, where he also meets "the sheikh", Osama Bin Laden. A wayward US missile that was launched as part of a strike in retaliation for the 1998 East Africa bombings hits a slope in the Tora Bora, resulting in a landslide that buries Khan's village and his entire family; he swears revenge against the US, joining the Taliban in the process. He is later caught after the Battle of Qala-i-Jangi. Mike is trained to fully assume Khan's identity (right down to saying Muslim prayers in Pashto) while the real Khan is slated for repatriation to Afghanistan. CIA operatives kidnap Khan and bring him to a secret safehouse in Washington State, with Mike in his place. The ISI engineer Mike's escape after his arrival in Afghanistan and he makes his way back to al Qaeda safe houses in Pakistan and the UAE, where he is accepted as a compatriot after extensive verification by al-Qaeda representatives. The interrogation delves into every chapter of Khan's life, which includes showing his old wound in Afghanistan. Now accepted into al-Qaeda's fold as Izmat Khan, Mike volunteers to join the operating team for al-Isra. Part of the plan calls for an al-Qaeda agent posing as a businessman to charter a freighter and a tanker carrying liquid petroleum gas. The freighter is later captured by pirates and sank with all hands killed while the tanker is brought to a secret place in Borneo and refitted as the freighter. Another group hijacks a cargo ship in the Caribbean, although this is intended to serve as a decoy. Martin successfully alerts his handlers to the general nature of the threat, but is left incommunicado for several weeks as the ship steams to the US East Coast through the Indian Ocean (maritime authorities search all ships in the Pacific). Meanwhile, an aircraft on approach to McChord Air Force Base develops engine trouble and accidentally crashes into the CIA safehouse, blasting open Khan's cell and giving him an opportunity to escape his captors. A Special Forces team chases Khan across the Cascades and kills him as he uses a public phone in Canada to call his allies. Eventually, the tanker reaches the mid-Atlantic, where a G8 summit is being held on the Queen Mary 2. Martin finally learns that the terrorists intend to release and then ignite the gas on board the tanker, which could incinerate the liner as it passed within range. Martin's last-minute heroism, quick reflexes and self-sacrifice prevent a tragedy. ===== The Squabble This story takes place in a bucolic small town of Mirgorod (Myrhorod in Ukrainian), written in the style featuring grotesque, realistic portrayals of the characters. The two Ivans are gentlemen landowners, neighbors and great friends, each one almost being the opposite image of the other. Ivan Ivanovich is tall, thin, and well-spoken, for example, while Ivan Nikiforovich is short, fat, and cuts to the point with a biting honesty. One day, Ivan Ivanovich (Ivanovich, as well as Nikiforovich, is a patronymic, not a surname) notices his friend's servant hanging some clothes out to dry as well as some military implements, especially a Turkish rifle that interests him. He goes over to Nikiforovich's house and offers to trade it for a brown pig and two sacks of oats, but his friend is unwilling to part with it and calls Ivan Ivanovich a goose, which terribly offends him. After this, they begin to hate each other. Nikiforovich erects a goose pen with two posts resting on Ivanovich's property, as if to rub in the insult. To retaliate, Ivan Ivanovich saws the legs off in the night and then fears that his former friend is going to burn his house down. Eventually, Ivan Ivanovich goes to the courts with a petition to have Ivan Nikiforovich arrested for his slander. The judge cannot believe what is occurring and tries to convince him to make amends, but he disregards their suggestions and leaves the courthouse. Shortly after this, Ivan Nikiforovich comes into the court with his own petition, to the amazement of those gathered there. Strangely enough, shortly after Ivan Nikiforovich leaves, the petition is stolen and destroyed by the brown pig belonging to Ivan Ivanovich. The police chief's attempt to have the pig arrested and to convince Ivanovich to reconcile with his friend is unsuccessful. Because of the pig a new petition is filed, which is quickly duplicated and filed within a day, but sits in the archives for a few years. Scene from the story by Sergei Gribkov Eventually, the chief of police has a party that Ivan Ivanovich is attending, but his old friend does not, because neither will go anywhere where the other is present. The party guest Anton Prokofievich goes to Ivan Nikiforovich's house to convince him to come, unknown to the other Ivan. When he convinces him, he sits down to dinner and both Ivans notice each other sitting across the table and the party grows silent. However, they continue eating with nothing occurring. At the end of dinner both try to leave without the other noticing, and some of the party members push them towards each other so they make up. They begin to, but Nikiforovich mentions the word "goose" again, and Ivanovich storms out of the house. The narrator returns to Mirgorod many years later and sees the two Ivans again, completely worn out. Each is convinced that their case will be concluded in his favour the following day, and the narrator shakes his head in pity and leaves, stating: "It is a depressing world, gentlemen!" ===== The story opens in the town of B., where things are drab, depressing and boring until a cavalry regiment moves into the area. Once the regiment is stationed in the town, the area becomes lively, animated, and full of color, with neighboring landowners coming into town frequently to socialize with officers and attend various gatherings and parties. One of the landowners and a chief aristocrat, Pythagoras Chertokutsky, attends a party at the general's house. When the general shows off his beautiful mare to the party attendees, Chertokutsky mentions he has a splendid coach that he paid around four-thousand rubles for, hoping to impress the other guests (although in reality he owns nothing of the sort). The other men express interest in seeing the carriage, so he invites them to dinner on the following day. During the remainder of the general's party, he gets caught up in playing cards and forgets the time, getting home around four in the morning, drunk. Because of this, he forgets to tell his wife about the party and is roused from sleep when his wife sees some carriages approaching their house. He at once remembers the dinner party that he agreed to host, but has his servants tell everyone that he is gone for the day, going to hide in the coach. The general and his friends are upset by his absence, but wish to see his magnificent coach anyway and go to the carriage house to look at it. They are unimpressed by the ordinary coach that he actually owns and examine it thoroughly, wondering if maybe there is something special hidden inside. They open the apron inside the coach and find Chertokutsky hiding inside. The general simply exclaims "Ah, you are here," slams the door, and covers him up again with the apron. ===== Paul Dietrich is an extremely gifted but disillusioned classical pianist who is nearly 30 and running out of time to prove himself. He logically knows it is time to give up his attempts to enter piano competitions and instead accept a salaried position as a music teacher at a prep school in his hometown of Chicago. Paul also needs to help his mother and his seriously ill father, but he decides to travel to San Francisco for an international piano competition. Doing so could cost him his job waiting for him in Chicago; nevertheless, he wants to try his luck for the last time before passing the age limit to compete. The competition for a financial grant and two years of concert engagements pits the intense and arrogant Paul against a select group of talented artists. He advances to the final round of six, which includes a brash New Yorker named Jerry DiSalvo, who only knows how to play one concerto, Michael Humphries, who rehearses in the nude, Canadian pianist, Mark Landau, who is note-perfect but emotionally moribund, and a meek Kazakh girl, Tatiana Baronova. Another contestant, Heidi Joan Schoonover, is a rich and confident 23 year old from Massachusetts who developed a romantic inclination toward Paul after meeting him at an earlier music festival. Heidi's esteemed music teacher, Greta Vandemann, advises her to avoid letting personal matters interfere with her concentration. Heidi is also rudely rebuffed by Paul, who also wants to avoid any distraction. Before the finals, Tatiana's music teacher defects, causing the emotionally fragile Tatiana to have a nervous breakdown. This leads to the competition being postponed for at least a week. Paul's mother tells him he should withdraw from the competition and focus on getting the teaching job, as his father is very ill and should no longer be working to support him. Paul stays in the competition but feels very guilty about this decision, lashing out at Heidi at a meeting with the other contestants and the arrogant conductor. Later that evening , Paul apologizes to Heidi and asks for a coffee date. Afterwards at his hotel room, he pours his heart out to her about his family situation and they make love. Greta is disturbed by Heidi and Paul's relationship as she feels it may cost Heidi her competitive edge. The dates for the competition are finalized, and as a reception is held for the contestants that unexpectedly turns out to be a press conference for Tatiana, who is able to return to the competition after a meeting with her teacher. This infuriates Paul who believes that the competition is being fixed in favor of Tatiana. He fights with Heidi when she defends Tatiana and accuses her of not taking the competition seriously. This makes Heidi realize how much winning means to Paul, and she wants to drop out. Greta, angry, later chastises Paul, blaming him for hurting Heidi's chances by exploiting her guilt over competing against him. Paul finds Heidi and says that he loves her, and persuades her to stay in the competition. Partway through her performance, Heidi's piano develops a technical problem, forcing her to stop. Rather than folding under pressure, Heidi angrily demands to play a different concerto and performs it magnificently. Heidi wins the competition, and Paul finishes in second place. Immediately after winning, Heidi is ecstatic because she and Paul had agreed to form a partnership, combining their talents and resources to help one another, no matter who won. To her surprise, Paul is upset to realize that she is a more proficient player, and tells her he is unable to accept the partnership and leaves. However, Paul eventually arrives at the celebration party after the competition, ready to take part in Heidi's victory and to be in her life. ===== The Historical Register for the Year 1736 and Eurydice Hissed (both were published together in 1737) are two of Henry Fielding's satirical dramas. A mixture of several plots, each play extensively satirizes British politicians. In form, the play is a series of unrelated episodes, given a coherence by a rehearsal framework: An author, Medley, presents his play to the "critic", Sourwit and Lord Dapper, two characteristic figures of London high society. Medley, who can be regarded as Fielding's spokesman, explains: "... my design is to ridicule the vicious and foolish customs of the age, and that in a fair manner, without fear, favour or ill nature, and without scurrility, ill manners, or commonplace. I hope to expose the reigning follies in such a manner that men shall laugh themselves out of them before they feel that they are touched." The original text involves "a humming deal of satire" and farce, referring exclusively to the year 1736. ===== Sennin Buraku takes place in Taoyuan, a small Edo period village, populated solely by Taoist ascetics. The eldest, Lao Shi, conducts research into magic and alchemy, while his disciple Zhi Huang remains more interested in pleasures of the flesh. He has fallen for three pretty sisters who live nearby, much to Lao Shi's annoyance. ===== Kazuki Arisaka is excited that her childhood crush and next-door neighbor Yuji Kagura and his family are moving back after being away for ten years. However, her dreams of confessing her love for Yuji are shattered, when Yuji turns out to be a huge pervert. With the Arisaka and Kagura parents away overseas, they must deal with living together. Kazuki eventually realizes that Yuji has not really changed that much, but that she had ignored his behavior back then. ===== Ten stories, each inspired by one of the Ten Commandments: ;1 "Thou Shalt Worship No God Before Me" A man (Adam Brody) becomes a celebrity after falling out of a plane and becoming permanently embedded in the ground, thanks to a superstar agent (Ron Silver). After a swift rise to stardom, he becomes prideful and arrogant, referring to himself as a god. His career falls apart and he loses everything. His fiancée (Winona Ryder) leaves him for a TV anchor man. ;2 "Thou Shalt Not Take the Lord's Name in Vain" A librarian (Gretchen Mol) has a sexual awakening in Mexico with a swarthy local (Justin Theroux) who turns out to be Jesus Christ. She eventually settles down and marries her coworker (A. D. Miles), but is secretly reminded of her fling with Jesus whenever her family prays before a meal. ;3 "Thou Shalt Not Murder" A doctor (Ken Marino) kills his patient by leaving a pair of scissors inside her abdomen during surgery. Despite expecting the charges to be dropped because he left the scissors in "as a goof", the judge and jury sentence him to life in prison. The judge also disbars the plaintiff's lawyer, who is then told that he should consider a job as a tour guide at the local nuclear plant. ;4 "Honor Thy Mother and Thy Father" A white mother (Kerri Kenney-Silver) enlists an Arnold Schwarzenegger impersonator (Oliver Platt) to be a father figure to her black children after telling them he is their biological father. It is revealed that their father is in reality Arsenio Hall, but they decide to keep the Arnold impersonator as part of the family; despite not being able to imitate Arsenio, he can do a pretty good Eddie Murphy impression. ;5 "Thou Shalt Not Covet Thy Neighbor's Goods" A police detective (Liev Schreiber) covets his neighbor's (Joe Lo Truglio) CAT Scan machine. After continuously buying additional CAT Scan machines to one up each other, both of their wives leave them. After hitting rock bottom, the two neighbors reconcile and go out for a drink. Meanwhile, a disaster at a nuclear power plant during a school tour (led by the former lawyer from the third story) leaves a busload of school children in need of several CAT Scan machines. They arrive at the neighbors' houses but the doors are locked and the two men are at the bar, so all the children die. ;6 "Thou Shalt Not Covet Thy Neighbor's Wife" A prisoner (Rob Corddry) desires a fellow inmate's "bitch" (the doctor from the third story) for his own. ;7 "Thou Shalt Not Steal" The woman (Winona Ryder) from the first story, having recently married the TV anchor man, falls in love with a ventriloquist (Michael Ziegfeld's) puppet, steals it and runs off to have a romantic relationship with it. ;8 "Thou Shalt Not Bear False Witness" The ventriloquist, having lost his dummy and become a homeless heroin addict, is told by another homeless man a story about an animated rhinoceros (voice of H. Jon Benjamin) who earns a reputation as a liar. After learning that a band of weiner dogs is intent on infecting others with a fatal STD, the rhinoceros tries to warn everyone. Unfortunately, nobody believes him, and they all succumb to the STD (following an orgy). It is then revealed that the rhinoceros now sells drugs to the homeless men. ;9 "Thou Shalt Not Commit Adultery" Jeff Reigert (Paul Rudd) presents all of these stories to the audience, while struggling with his own moral dilemma: having to choose between his beautiful wife (Famke Janssen) and his also beautiful but somewhat younger mistress (Jessica Alba). ;10 "Remember the Sabbath and Keep It Holy" The husband from the second story (A.D. Miles) skips church with his family to get naked with his friends and listen to Roberta Flack. ===== Chantigadu (Ravi Teja) is the son of a head constable Venkata Swamy (Kota Srinivasa Rao). Chanti is a guy with a carefree attitude. He is beaten by a rival gang at night and was rescued by a beautiful girl Suchitra (Rakshitha). She pays his hospital bills and donates her blood. She is gone from the hospital by the time Chanti became conscious. When Chanti's friends inform him about the girl who rescued him, he starts loving her immediately for her goodheartedness, though he did not see her. Suchi later turns out to be the daughter of the city police commissioner Vipra Narayana (Prakash Raj). Chanti meets Suchi in the college for the first time and expresses his love. When she does not agree, he tries to tease her. She complains to her father, and he takes Chanti to the police station and severely beats him before being rescued by his father and his fellow constables. Even though Chanti is beaten by Narayana, he becomes more adamant to win his ladylove. He proposes to Suchi again in the college. She asks him to jump from the building. When he is ready to do so, she agrees to his love. However, Narayana is not happy about their relationship and ropes in some rowdies to amputate his leg. Suchi comes to know about this and runs to help him, but is met with an accident. Both of them get admitted to the same hospital, and they unite there also. Narayana finally arranges her marriage with another person, to which she openly opposes and tries to commit suicide. Chanti comes and rescues her, but Narayana still wants to get her married to a man of his own choice. He also engages goons to kill Chanti. Chanti finally escapes all the troubles and meets the DGP (Kaikala Satyanarayana) to help him to marry his love. The DGP finally suspends Narayana and arranges Chanti's marriage in the police station. Finally, Chanti appears for civil services and is selected for IPS. ===== Greg (Deon Richmond) is nearing the end of his high school days as graduation slowly approaches. He is also anxiously awaiting prom and has the hopes of going with Cinny (Maia Campbell), the school's local beauty. Along with these wants, Greg is also an avid daydreamer and daydreams (trippin') over everything. Most of his "trips" are reversals of real world events, such as visualizing himself as a military commando when confronted by bullies, or as a super genius when in fact he struggles academically. Since he is about to graduate his mother and a teacher encourage him to apply for college. He finally realizes asking for help with the college applications is a great way for him to get in good with Cinny. So they slowly start a friendship but Greg wants it to blossom into a romance so he begins to lie about things. Things go smoothly and are believable until they fall apart one day. Afterward, Greg realizes he needs to stop daydreaming ("trippin'") and focus. ===== Unlucky plumber – Afanasy Borshchov (Afonya) (Leonid Kuravlev) and his friend Fedulov (Borislav Brondukov) spend all day and night avoiding work and finding opportunities to drink. Afonya takes "kickbacks" from clients and is often in trouble with the local committee for his behaviour. Afonya also often uses foreign or old-fashioned names to introduce himself to strangers to seem more interesting. Afonya meets plasterer Kolya (Yevgeny Leonov) in a pub, gets drunk and comes home. When his girlfriend sees the state he's in, she leaves him. The next morning he can't even remember yesterday's drinking companion. Things continue to go downhill for Afonya. When student interns from the vocational school are allocated to the plumbers, ZhEK master Vostryakova (Valentina Talyzina) doesn't allocate any to him, fearing that he will not teach them well. Afonya begs for trainees and gets two. Having worked with him for one day and having seen his attitude and working methods, the trainees refuse to work with him anymore. When Afonya returns home, Kolya arrives to live at his place for a while, having been thrown out of his house by his wife. At a dance Afonya meets young nurse Katya Snegireva (Yevgeniya Simonova), who knows about him through her brother, who used to play in Afonya's volleyball team. Afonya doesn't pay her much attention, because he's more interested in older women and already has his eye on one at the dance. However, a romantic walk with the older woman after the dance is over before it begins – Afonya is challenged to a fight by a hooligan, who he'd quarreled with at the dance. The hooligan's friends join in, and finish the unequal fight. Katya worries for Afonya's safety, and calls the police- which will only bring Afonya to the committee's attention again. At a regular work call Borshchov meets Helen (Nina Maslova) and falls in love at first sight. He starts finding any excuse to work in her flat - even fooling a tenant, astronomer (Gotlib Roninson), by swapping his new Finnish sink for an old one, so he can install the Finnish sink in Helen's home as a gift. In his dreams Afonya sees a family idyll with his wife Helen and their perfect children. Katya Snegireva, head over heels for Afonya, keeps engineering new meetings with him, and stops at nothing to attract his attention: "Afonya! someone called, I thought it was you...". Afonya is completely oblivious to her feelings. Meanwhile Afonya's run in with the police catches up with him and, for persistent drunkenness, truancy and fighting Afonya is threatened with being sacked at a meeting of the local committee. In addition, if he doesn't restore the Finnish sink he's definitely going to be fired. Afonya takes a porcelain sink with flowers to Helen to swap with the Finnish sink, but meets Helen coming home with company. She makes her feelings quite clear: she has her own life among fashionable and wealthy men, and Afonya is just a plumber. Afonya, depressed, goes to a restaurant with Fedulov and tries to escape into drunkenness, but it doesn't help. In his drunken state he goes to Katya Snegireva's home and proposes marriage, and wakes up next to her in the morning. Katya tells him she's due to move to Africa with work and wonders if she should cancel for Afonya. Afonya then decides to go back to his village, to his aunt Frosya (Raisa Kurkina), a simple and modest woman who had brought him up. In the village, he meets his childhood friend Fidget (Savely Kramarov) and, in a joyous moment sends the city a telegram resigning from his job and giving up his apartment. Only then does he learn that Aunt Frosya died two years ago. The village people had sent him a telegram, which he hadn't received because he had moved house and didn't tell them his new address. From his neighbor, Uncle Yegor (Nikolai Grinko) Afonya learns that Frosya deeply missed him and even wrote letters to herself from his name, posting them in a nearby village, then receiving them and reading them to neighbors, who understood that she really wrote the letters herself, but didn't betray it so as not to hurt Frosya's feelings. Frosya had died sitting in front of the window, waiting for Afonya. Afonya's depression deepens – he has lost everything and has nowhere to go. He goes to the post office and tries to call Katya Snegireva on her memorable phone number 50-50-2, or as he says himself, "rug-rug or two." The answer comes back - Katya has left. Finally frustrated, he goes to the airport. He does not care where he's going or what will happen to him. Things have gotten so bad that a local policeman has to be convinced Afonya is the man in his passport photograph, so grim has he gotten since it was taken. Finally, just when Afonya is heading to the AN-2 aircraft, a familiar girlish voice calls out. It's Katya, suitcase in hand: "Afonya!, someone called, I thought it was you... " ===== Series 1 and 2 are fairly straightforward sitcom fare, with very little in the way of story arcs or connecting episodes. Much of the comedic content is concentrated on Donald and Patsy continuing to learn about one another despite several years together. In the first episode, Donald discovers his wife has not told him the whole truth concerning her life before they married - specifically, how many previous sexual partners she has had. The last episode of the second series reveals that, despite appearances from their photograph album, Donald and Patsy are not actually married. The third series focuses on an affair between Donald and his client Laurel (Liza Goddard), which unfortunately kicks off just after Patsy and Donald finally tie the knot, leading to their visiting a marriage guidance counsellor in the first episode of the fourth and final series. The counsellor, Tristan Beasley (Tony Slattery) falls in love with Patsy, and they embark on an affair, but Patsy, realising she won't feel the same way about Tristan, ends the relationship. In the final moment of the series, Patsy runs to Donald's arms, apologising to him for what she has done - it is left up to the viewer to decide whether the couple's marriage is doomed or they may be able to rescue their relationship. ===== Despite the disapproval of his radio manager, a disc jockey chooses to play the blues instead of their regular country music. While he is doing so, different listeners tune in. Each of them have various personal problems. Unbeknownst to them all, each will be crossing the path of a serial killer as they near the town of Ozona. ===== High school student Dan Bartlett (John Cusack) misses the plane he was supposed to be on with his rich girlfriend and her family on the way to a Caribbean vacation during a school break. He flies there alone, and runs into a series of characters and misadventures as he tries to catch up. Ganja-smoking island natives give him a lift in their vehicle, but they don't quite make it as the family takes off on a chartered yacht. A crusty old sailor (Robert Loggia) with his own reasons takes up the chase with Bartlett on a decrepit sailboat. Bartlett then runs into corrupt cops and winds up in jail. Finally, he catches up to the yacht, only to find that the family has been taken hostage by pirates. He comes to the rescue. ===== The young idealist Dmitry Andreich Olenin leaves Moscow, hoping to start a new life in the Caucasus. In the stanitsa, he slowly becomes enamored by the surroundings and despises his previous existence. He befriends the old Cossack Eroshka, who goes hunting with him and finds him a good fellow because of his propensity to drinking. During this time, young Cossack Luka kills a Chechen who is trying to come across the river towards the village to scout the Cossacks and in this way gains much respect. Olenin falls in love with the maid Maryanka, who is to be wed to Luka later in the story. He tries to stop this emotion and eventually convinces himself that he loves both Luka and Maryanka for their simplicity and decides that happiness can only come to a man who constantly gives to others with no thought of self-gratification. He first gives an extra horse to Luka, who accepts the present yet doesn't trust Olenin on his motives. As time goes on, however, though he gains the respect of the local villagers, another Russian named Beletsky, who is still attached to the ways of Moscow, comes and partially corrupts Olenin's ideals and convinces him through his actions to attempt to win Maryanka's love. Olenin approaches her several times and Luka hears about this from a Cossack, and thus does not invite Olenin to the betrothal party. Olenin spends the night with Eroshka but soon decides that he will not give up on the girl and attempts to win her heart again. He eventually, in a moment of passion, asks her to marry him, which she says she will answer soon. Luka, however, is severely wounded when he and a group of Cossacks go to confront a group of Chechens who are trying to attack the village, including the brother of the man he killed earlier. Though the Chechens lose after the Cossacks take a cart to block their bullets, the brother of the slain Chechen manages to shoot Luka in the belly when he is close by. As Luka seems to be dying and is being cared for by village people, Olenin approaches Maryanka to ask her to marry him; she angrily refuses. He realizes that "his first impression of this woman's inaccessibility had been perfectly correct." He asks his company commander to leave and join the staff. He says goodbye to Eroshka, who is the only villager who sees him off. Eroshka is emotional towards Olenin but after Olenin takes off and looks back, he sees that Eroshka has apparently already forgotten about him and has gotten back to normal life. ===== The film takes place in Neu Posen, German East Africa sometime before the First World War. "Mamba" is the name given to a South African snake. The reptile of this adventure is Auguste Bolte (played by Jean Hersholt), who is constantly reminding those with whom he has a chance to converse that he can buy anything. He neglects his appearance and does not even bother to shave or brush his hair. The German officers hold themselves aloof from him and the only individual he has an opportunity to talk to at length is his valet- secretary, a Cockney, who feeds his master with flattery. One afternoon Bolte recalls that he has received a letter asking for 200,000 marks from Count von Linden. The Count is in Germany and in a footnote it is written that Bolte might marry von Linden's daughter, Helen. The white people of the post have as little to do with Bolte as possible and the British officers across the frontier also spurn him. It occurs to Bolte that a beautiful wife would perhaps help to make life more agreeable for him. He thinks also that the officers would then overlook some of his failings and be quite impressed. He therefore allies himself to Germany. Helen (played by Eleanor Boardman), like most daughters who marry wealthy villains in melodramas, does so to save her father from ruin. There is a flash of the wedding and soon Helen and her ignoble husband are seen aboard the steamship bound for East Africa. On the same vessel is Karl von Reiden, the officer who is to take charge of the Neu Posen post. He is not averse to a little flirtation with a beautiful woman and therefore when Helen goes out on deck to avoid Bolte, Karl succeeds in meeting her. These scenes are fairly well filmed and the color effects are capital. Karl, played by Ralph Forbes, is a handsome fellow. So soon as he knows that Bolte is Helen's husband he realizes that the marriage is not to her liking. Later these passengers are on the river boat, and when that craft reaches Neu Posen. Bolte stands on the aft deck hoping to make all the German officers envious of his attractive bride. He later gives a feast and takes good care to make a show of his wealth, even to having a procession of natives carrying the viands. A visit from a native woman interrupts the proceedings, and in a subsequent passage Bolte, enraged with his wife, is about to flog her with a whip when Karl comes to the rescue. All this happens just prior to the World War, and in the closing chapters word is received by both the Germans and the British that hostilities have been declared. Bolte, the snake, believes that money can buy his freedom from military service, but soon he learns otherwise. He is compelled to don a uniform and then decides to run away. His end is sudden, for he fires at one group of natives without knowing that others are behind him. They know something about Bolte and his pleas for his life fall on deaf ears. There follow episodes in which Karl goes to the rescue of Helen and others, who are in danger of an attack by the natives. These are pictured with due attention for red blood on the hero's shirt. It seems that the Britishers might have been more solicitous about Karl's wounds, but all the British commandant says when he comes up to Karl is to ask him whether he will have another Piccadilly cigarette. ===== "Reference from McGraw Hill Reading Wonders Grade 5" Independent Ida B. is home schooled and loves her life, spending a lot of time communing with nature. When her mother is diagnosed with cancer, she faces a lot of difficult challenges. Her days of home school ends, and she has to go to public school. Worse, her parents need to sell part of her beloved orchard for medical bills, which means most of the trees will be cut down. Upset by all the depressing changes around her, she stubbornly decides to separate herself from her parents, mostly spending time with her pet dog Rufus and cat Lulu. But what she doesn't know is that going to Ernest B.Lawson Elementary School with Ms.W will change her life forever. ===== The narrator prefaces the story with his comments on a crushed, but still living thistle he finds in a field (a symbol for the main character), after which he begins to tell the story of Hadji Murat, a successful and famed separatist guerrilla who falls out with his own commander and eventually sides with the Russians in hope of saving his family. Hadji Murat’s family is being contained and controlled by Imam Shamil the Avar leader who abducted his mother, two wives, and five children. Aside from the fact that Murat wants to save his family, he additionally wants to avenge the deaths of other family members. The story opens with Murat and two of his followers fleeing from Shamil, the commander of the Caucasian separatists, who is at war with the Russians. They find refuge at the house of Sado, a loyal supporter of Murat. The local people learn of his presence and chase him out of the village. His lieutenant succeeds in making contact with the Russians, who promise to meet Murat. He eventually arrives at the fortress of Vozdvizhenskaya to join the Russian forces, in hopes of drawing their support in order to overthrow Shamil and save his family. Before his arrival, a small skirmish occurs with some Chechen and Dagestani mountaineers outside the fortress, and Petrukha Avdeyev, a young Russian soldier, dies in a local military hospital after being shot. Tolstoy makes a chapter-length aside about Petrukha: childless, he volunteered as a conscript in place of his brother who had a family of his own. Petrukha's father regrets this because he was a dutiful worker compared to his complacent brother. While at Vozdvizhenskaya, Murat befriends Prince Semyon Vorontsov, the Viceroy's son, his wife Maria and his son, and wins over the good will of the soldiers stationed there. They are at once in awe of his physique and reputation, and enjoy his company and find him honest and upright. The Vorontsovs give him a present of a watch which fascinates him. On the fifth day of Murat's stay, the governor-general's adjutant, Mikhail Loris-Melikov arrives with orders to write down Murat's story, and the reader learns some of his history: he was born in the village of Tselmes and early on became close to the local Khans due to his mother being the royal family's wetnurse. When he was fifteen some followers of Muridism came into his village calling for a holy war (ghazavat) against Russia. Murat declines at first but after a learned man is sent to explain how it will be run, he tentatively agrees. However, in their first confrontation, Shamil—then a lieutenant for the Muslims hostile to the Russians—embarrasses Murat when he goes to speak with the leader Gamzat. Gamzat eventually launches an attack on the capital of Khunzakh and kills the pro-Russian khans, taking control of this part of Dagestan. The slaughter of the khans throws Hadji and his brother against Gamzat, and they eventually succeed in tricking and killing him, causing his followers to flee. Unfortunately, Murat's brother is killed in the attempt and Shamil replaces Gamzat as leader. He calls on Murat to join his struggle, but Murat refuses because the blood of his brother and the khans are on Shamil. Once Murat has joined the Russians, who are aware of his position and bargaining ability, they find him the perfect tool for getting to Shamil. However, Vorontsov's plans are ruined by the War Minister, Chernyshov, a rival prince who is jealous of him, and Murat has to remain in the fortress because the Tsar is told he is possibly a spy. The story digresses into a depiction of the Tsar Nicholas I of Russia, which reveals his lethargic and bitter nature and his egotistical complacency, as well as his contempt towards women, his brother-in-law Frederick William IV of Prussia, and Russian students. The Tsar orders an attack on the mountaineers and Murat remains in the fortress. Meanwhile, Murat's mother, wife and eldest son Yusuf, whom Shamil hold captive, are moved to a more defensible location. Realizing his position (neither trusted by the Russians to lead an army against Shamil, nor able to return to Shamil because he will be killed), Hadji Murat decides to flee the fortress to gather men to save his family. At this point the narrative jumps forward in time, to the arrival of a group of soldiers at the fortress bearing Murat's severed head. Maria Dimitriyevna—the companion of one of the officers and a friend of Murat—comments on the cruelty of men during times of war, calling them 'butchers'. The soldiers then tell the story of Murat's death. He had escaped the fortress and shook off his usual Russian escort with the help of his five lieutenants. After they escape they come upon a marsh that they are unable to cross, and hide amongst some bushes until the morning. An old man gives away their position and Karganov, the commander of the fortress, the soldiers, and some Cossacks surround the area. Hadji Murat and his men fortify themselves and begin to fire upon the troops, dying valiantly. Hadji himself runs into fire after his men are killed, despite being wounded and plugging up his fatal wounds in his body with cloth. As he fires his last bullet his life flashes before him and the soldiers think he’s dead; he gets up for one final struggle and falls to his death. Victorious, the Russian soldiers fall upon and decapitate him. The nightingales, which stopped singing during the battle, begin again and the narrator ends by recalling the thistle once more. ===== The Amazing Mrs Pritchard revolves around supermarket manager Ros Pritchard, who, angry with the state of British politics, stands for election as an independent candidate in her home town of Eatanswill, Yorkshire.A reference to The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens, which describes in chapter 13 the corrupt Eatanswill by- election in the North of England She soon gains national attention and wins the general election, becoming Prime Minister. Over successive episodes, Ros's spontaneous approach to decision making and her promise never to deceive the electorate come under increasing pressure from the demands of government, media scrutiny, and partisan political struggles. ===== The story begins in the Changbai mountains in northeastern China during the reign of the Qianlong Emperor in the Qing dynasty. It follows the classical unity of time, taking place on a single day, which is the 15th day of the third month in the Chinese calendar, in the 45th year in the reign of the Qianlong Emperor (i.e., 19 April 1780 in the Gregorian calendar). A group of martial artists unearth a treasure chest and begin fighting for it. The reason for them doing so is deliberately kept from the reader at this point of time. Midway during their tussle, they are overpowered and coerced by a highly skilled monk, Baoshu, to travel to a manor at the top of Jade Brush Peak (玉筆峰) to help the manor's owner drive away an enemy, Hu Fei, who is nicknamed "Fox Volant of the Snowy Mountain". They start telling stories concerning the origin of a precious saber in the chest and their mysterious foe (Hu Fei). In doing so, they gradually reveal each other's personal secrets. The saber's story dates back over a century ago to the feuds of the four bodyguards under the warlord Li Zicheng, who led a rebellion that overthrew the Ming dynasty. The four guards' family names were Hu, Miao, Tian and Fan. Owing to a massive misunderstanding, which lasted several generations, their descendants have been slaying each other in a vendetta that prevented any of them from uncovering the truth. The Hu family was opposed to those from the Miao, Tian and Fan families; the latter three were allies. The people gathered at the manor are either descendants of the four bodyguards or are otherwise embroiled in the feud. Hu Fei's father, Hu Yidao, met Miao Renfeng, a descendant of the Miao family. Both were masterful martial artists without peer. Miao Renfeng, Hu Yidao and his wife developed an uncommon friendship and grew to admire each other, but Hu and Miao must fight unwilling duels to avenge their parents' deaths. Under the schemes of the villain Tian Guinong, Hu Yidao was unintentionally slain by Miao Renfeng when Tian secretly smeared his sword with poison. Hu Yidao's infant son, Hu Fei, was rescued and raised by a waiter, Ping A'si, whose life Hu Yidao once saved. Hu Fei grew up and became a powerful martial artist nicknamed "Fox Volant of the Snowy Mountain". The various scheming martial artists are eventually punished by their greed. Hu Fei makes an appearance midway in the story. The conflict reaches a climax when Miao Renfeng challenges Hu Fei to a duel thinking mistakenly that Hu has intentionally molested his daughter, Miao Ruolan. They fight for several rounds but neither emerges the victor. They are stranded on a cliff about to collapse under their weight when the novel ends. Hu Fei has an opportunity to attack Miao Renfeng and knock him off the cliff, but he hesitates because Miao might become his future father-in-law. However, if he does not attack, either they will fall to their deaths or Miao will kill him. The novel ends on a deliberate cliffhanger and leaves the conclusion to the reader's imagination. ===== Square's Tom Sawyer is based on Mark Twain’s 19th century book “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer” and features many characters from that book. The plot takes place in 1855 on the Mississippi River in the fictional town of St. Petersburg, Missouri. The game begins with Tom Sawyer having a dream saying that in a southern location a pirate treasure is buried. Aunt Polly wakes Tom the next morning, and Tom sets out to find the treasure. ===== In 1905, in Ireland, two carnies, Angus Shaw (Rufus Sewell) and his wife Lillian "Lily" (Carla Gugino), encounter a Mr. Woolrich (Aubrey Morris) during one of their shows. Having heard that a mermaid will be on show, he is relieved to find that it is just Lily impersonating one. They offer him a ride home, where he shows them documented sightings of mer-people throughout history including a map of their home, the Forbidden Islands, and that they can take human form during the full moon. He then reveals to them an actual mermaid (Rya Kihlstedt), whom he captured back in his admiral days, and explains how she killed his wife. Naturally Angus and Lily are astonished. Sensing Angus's desire to use her as a freak show attraction, Woolrich warns him against it. Unbeknownst to Lily, Angus and his colleagues Bailey (Reno Wilson) and Gifford (Mark Aiken) break into Woolrich's home during the night but are caught. During the scuffle, Woolrich suddenly dies of a heart attack, allowing Angus and the crew to abduct the mermaid and smuggle her aboard their ship. Lily is less than thrilled about this idea, despite her husband's attempts to persuade her it's for the best. However, during the voyage to America, the mermaid seems to take a liking to her. One night, Lily is cornered by a drunken Miles (Gil Bellows), one of the crew members, who reveals that they have bad history together. When she returns to her cabin, he goes missing and the mermaid is found somehow tangled in the crew's nets. As she is returned to her tank, she spits out Miles' ring, prompting Lily to realize that she ate him as a favor to her. She attempts to explain this to Angus but he dismisses it, but he admits that they did abduct her rather than buy her from Woolrich and that they didn't mean to kill him. Lily later seemingly becomes possessed by the mermaid, who tries to kill Angus while they are making love; luckily, Lily is able to come to her senses. Worried that the mermaid will do further harm, Lily attempts to free her, but she is caught by Bailey, who then is devoured by the mermaid. Lily tries to explain herself but Angus accuses her of being unstable and locks her in their room. After he leaves, Lily realises she is pregnant, much to her horror, as she is supposed to be barren. She then reads the late Mrs. Woolrich's diary, which confirms her worry that the mermaid grants fertility by possessing women during sex. She manages to escape and encounters the terrified mermaid, now in her human form due to the full moon. Lily comforts her, but they are caught by the crew. Lily tries to tell them to leave her alone but she passes out. When she comes to, she tries to explain to a concerned Angus that she is pregnant, but he dismisses this as a symptom of her sickness. Meanwhile, the crew angrily harass the mermaid before Angus intervenes. He and Gifford discuss the situation with the captain (Jim Piddock), who fearfully confesses that the mermaid made him do things against his will. Then he commits suicide. A storm begins to close in on them, and they gradually approach the mermaid's home, The Forbidden Islands, prompting the crew to realize that their captive had taken control of the ship and led them off course. While sharing a moment with Lily, the mermaid then reveals her true monstrous form as the Queen of the Lair and her intention to feed the crew to her people. The crew try to fight her off but are killed one by one, save for Lily, who is spared. Lily is rescued by the crew of a passing ship a fortnight later. They question her about what happened but she refuses to say anything, honoring the Queen with silence. The film ends by showing Lily and her daughter, whose eyes resemble those of the mermaid. ===== The film starts with a flashback to the first film with Taoist Yin sealing away the tree demon, but tells the scholar Ning Tsai Shen that it will reawaken in 100 years. Fast forward 100 years later, two Buddhist monks master Bai Yun and his inept disciple Shi Fang are transporting a golden idol of Buddha. On their travels they meet the relatively honorable mercenary Taoist Yin (It is revealed later that he was named after the Taoist swordsman Yin from the first movie and had even been rejected by him when he asked to be his student.) When talking to a merchant, Yin accidentally cuts the roof off Shi fang’s backpack revealing the golden Buddha statue. Beset by the thieves and ne'er-do-wells in the villages, the monks go to spend the night at the local temple, which is none other than the Orchid Temple of the first film. Unknown to the monks, they were followed by bandits from town. As the bandits make a move on them, one of them trips over a corpse arm and mistakes it for a ghost tripping him and they all run off scared since Lotus Temple was rumored to be haunted. As the bandits run off they hear female ghosts singing and mistake them to be living humans. The bandits then are captured by the tree demon and are all killed. While meditating, the monks hear the commotion and master Bai Yun goes to investigate telling Shi fang to stay in the temple. The tree demon knows of the residing monks and tell a female ghost Lotus to go and seduce Shi fang. Lotus tries to seduce him many times the first night, but after he finds out she is a ghost she attempts to kill him on orders from the tree demon but he saves himself by reciting mantras repelling her. Despite this, he lets Lotus go out of compassion before his master comes back. Over the next few nights, Shi Fang is visited by Lotus again and the two become fond of each other. However, another ghost Butterfly becomes suspicious of her sister Lotus. Being rivals for the favor of the Tree Demon, Butterfly plots to capture the monk and expose her sister's betrayal. When the Tree Demon attempts to take Shi Fang, the master intervenes and uses his staff to transport his disciple to safety. In the ensuing battle with the Tree Demon, the master himself is captured. Shi Fang enlists Yin to help rescue his master, and feels he must also help Lotus by recovering her urn. Yin and the master do battle with the Tree Demon using Taoist and Buddhist supernatural skills together, destroying it. Though he disapproves of his disciple's relationship with the ghost, the master helps to save Lotus as well. However, after the Tree Demon's destruction the Black Mountain Demon takes up the pursuit of Yin, Shi Fang, Master Bai Yun and Lotus. He summons high pillars to block their escape route and darkens the sky so the sunlight cannot shine on earth. Master Bai Yun then casts a spell on Shi Fang and covers his body with his own blood, which has taken on a golden colour because of his accumulated spiritual energy. Lotus then takes Shi Fang up to the sky above the dark clouds so that Shi Fang can use his golden body to channel the power of the Buddha to break the demon's barrier of darkness so the sunlight can re-enter the earth. In the end, the Black Mountain Demon is killed by sunlight, and the sky clears. Shi Fang thinks Lotus may have been killed by the sunlight, and starts looking for her. He finds Lotus hiding under a pile of rocks, safe from the sun, and Lotus tells Shi Fang that her spirit will follow him when he takes her urn of ashes away from that place. ===== Jean Hansen (Garland), a Juilliard graduate, joins the staff of the Crawthorne State Mental Hospital and immediately clashes with the director, Dr. Matthew Clark (Lancaster), about his strict training methods. She becomes emotionally involved with 12-year-old Reuben Widdicombe (Bruce Ritchey), and is certain his attitude will improve if he is reunited with the divorced parents who abandoned him. She sends for Mrs. Widdicombe, who agrees with the doctor's opinion that it would be best if Reuben doesn't see her, but as she leaves the grounds, her son sees her and chases her car. Distraught, he runs away from the school. Dr. Clark finds him and brings him back the following morning, and Jean offers to resign. Clark asks her to stay and continue her rehearsals for the Thanksgiving pageant. On the day of the show, Reuben's father Ted arrives, having decided to enroll him in a private school. When he hears Reuben recite a poem and positively react to the audience's applause, he decides to leave him in the care of Jean, who is asked to welcome a new boy to the institution by Dr. Clark. ===== Two human explorers become trapped on Giri. They struggle to find help from various powerful Azhiri factions. Each of these wish to exploit the relatively advanced technology the humans brought with them. The humans also face the problem of getting to a place from which they can leave the planet. When the Azhiri teleport, they keep the same absolute motion they had at the point of departure. Since the planet is rotating, this is considerable and can be lethal for long distances. =====