Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Monday, July 5, 2010
Dr. Dolittle is a 1998 American family comedy film starring Eddie Murphy as a doctor who discovers that he has the ability to talk to (and understand) animals. The film was loosely based on the series of children's stories of the same name, but none of the material from any of the novels was used; in fact, it could be said that one of the few resemblances is a doctor who can speak to animals. Notably the pushmi-pullyu, a much loved feature of the books, only makes a very brief appearance in the first scene in which the tiger appears in his cage. The first novel had been originally filmed in 1967 as a musical under the same title, a closer adaptation to the book. However, the earlier film was a box office bomb, but still remains a cult classic and a two-time Academy Award-winner. Although the 1998 film was rated PG-13 by the MPAA, it was marketed as a family film.
The remake, however, was a success, and generated a theatrical sequel that was released in 2001, simply titled Dr. Dolittle 2. Both films also starred Raven-Symoné and Kyla Pratt as Dolittle's daughters. A third movie, Dr. Dolittle 3, with Pratt playing the main character, was released direct-to-video in 2006, however, it did not star Eddie Murphy or Raven-Symoné. A fourth film, Dr. Dolittle: Tail to the Chief, was released straight to DVD in 2008. A fifth film, Dr. Dolittle: Million Dollar Mutts was released straight to DVD in 2009
The film opens with John Dolittle as a child talking to his dog (voiced by Ellen DeGeneres). He asks his dog questions, one being "Why do dogs sniff each other's butts"? Her response is that it's their way of shaking hands. His concerned father (Ossie Davis) hears the question and says that the dog doesn't have any idea what he said. He was wrong. He finds this out when John meets his new principal and sniffs his butt. The dog obviously knows something is going to happen. When his father hires a minister to remove the John from him (and freaking him out), the dog saves him by biting the minister. The dog is then given-up for adoption. John is very upset and stops talking to animals as his father teaches him to hate them.
Thirty years later, we see John Dolittle (Eddie Murphy) shooing a puppy out of his apartment. He is a doctor, married with two children, and an animal hater. His eldest daughter Charisse (Raven-Symoné) wants to be named Paprika. His youngest daughter Maya (Kyla Pratt) is a nerdy girl who does experiments, such as raising what she believes to be a swan egg so it will bond with her. She also has a Guinea Pig named Rodney (voiced by Chris Rock). John's wife Lisa (Kristen Wilson) wants to spend time with him. Meanwhile at work, a large medical company owner named Calloway (Peter Boyle) wants to buy the company. This welcomed by the employees as it will bring financial gain.
John takes his family out to the country for a vacation. After taking the family to the country, he has to stay late at work to give Mrs. Parkus (Cherie Franklin), a woman who is addicted to shellfish in spite of the fact that she is highly allergic to it, medication.
Driving home, he accidentally hits Lucky and bumps his head on the windshield. Lucky, alive and well, walks away and shouts "Watch where you're going next time, you bone-head!". This is the first time that John has understood an animal since his childhood. The next day, John is driving Rodney to the country and Rodney starts talking to him.
Up in the country, an owl (voiced by Jenna Elfman) asks him to remove a twig in her wing. He obliges and she tells all the animals about his kind act. Soon many animals start asking favors of John. Scared, he goes to see Dr. Sam Litvak (Steven Gilborn) for a CAT scan, but nothing is wrong with him. He then meets two trash-eating rats (voiced by Reni Santoni and John Leguizamo) who obviously don't like him. The next day he finds Lucky being taken to a kennel. John rescues Lucky and takes him to the vet.
masturbator
The film was directed by Taiwanese director Ang Lee from a screenplay by Diana Ossana and Larry McMurtry, which they adapted from the short story "Brokeback Mountain" by Annie Proulx. The film stars Heath Ledger, Jake Gyllenhaal, Anne Hathaway, and Michelle Williams.
Brokeback Mountain won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival, and was honored with Best Picture and Best Director accolades from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, Golden Globe Awards, Producers Guild of America, Critics Choice Awards, and Independent Spirit Awards among many other organizations and festivals. Brokeback Mountain had the most nominations (eight) for the 78th Academy Awards, where it won three: Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Original Score. The film was widely considered to be a front runner for the Academy Award for Best Picture, but lost to Crash.[2][3][4][5] At the end of its theatrical run, Brokeback Mountain ranked eighth among the highest-grossing romantic dramas of all time.[6]
Ennis and Jack first meet when they are hired by Joe Aguirre (Randy Quaid) to herd his sheep through the summer. After a night of heavy drinking, Jack makes a sexual pass at Ennis, who initially rejects, then allows Jack's advances. Although he warns Jack it was only a one-time incident, they develop a physical and emotional relationship. Shortly after learning their summer together is being cut short unexpectedly, they briefly fight, during which each is bloodied.
After the two part ways, Ennis marries his long-time fiancée Alma Beers (Michelle Williams) and fathers two children. Jack returns the next summer, but Aguirre, who witnessed Jack and Ennis on the mountain, does not hire him. Jack eventually meets, marries and starts a family with rodeo princess Lureen Newsome (Anne Hathaway). After four years, Jack visits Ennis. Upon meeting, the two kiss passionately, which Alma accidentally oversees. Jack broaches the subject of creating a life together on a small ranch, but Ennis, haunted by a painful childhood memory of the torture and murder of a man suspected of homosexual behaviour in his hometown, refuses. He also is unwilling to abandon his family. Ennis and Jack continue their relationship, meeting for infrequent fishing trips.
The marriages of both men deteriorate. Alma and Ennis eventually divorce. Ennis continues to see his family regularly until Alma, finally revealing her knowledge of the nature of his relationship with Jack, has a violent argument with him. Meanwhile, Lureen has abandoned her rodeo days and become a businesswoman with her father and expects Jack to work in sales. Hearing about Ennis's divorce, Jack drives to Wyoming in hopes they can live together, but Ennis refuses to move away from his children. Jack finds solace with male prostitutes in Mexico. Meanwhile, Ennis meets and later has a brief romantic relationship with a waitress, Cassie Cartwright (Linda Cardellini). Jack and Lureen meet and befriend another couple, Randall and Lashawn Malone; Randall gives the impression to Jack that he is open to homosexuality
The film was released on iTunes in November, 2009 and premiered on Disney Channel on January 17, 2010.
The phrase refers to the idea that a butterfly's wings might create tiny changes in the atmosphere that may ultimately alter the path of a tornado or delay, accelerate or even prevent the occurrence of a tornado in a certain location. The flapping wing represents a small change in the initial condition of the system, which causes a chain of events leading to large-scale alterations of events (compare: domino effect). Had the butterfly not flapped its wings, the trajectory of the system might have been vastly different. While the butterfly does not "cause" the tornado in the sense of providing the energy for the tornado, it does "cause" it in the sense that the flap of its wings is an essential part of the initial conditions resulting in a tornado, and without that flap that particular tornado would not have existed
After Tom takes Hannah to his father's (Sydney Pollack) sixth wedding, Hannah tells Tom she must go to Scotland for work. While she's gone, Tom discovers that without her, being with another woman week after week is not very fulfilling. He realizes that he loves Hannah, and decides to tell her his feelings when she gets back.
Upon returning, Hannah surprisingly announces she is engaged to a wealthy Scot named Colin (Kevin McKidd). Hannah asks Tom to be her maid of honor for her wedding. After discussing it with his friends, Tom decides to be her maid of honor, only to spend time with her and try to convince her she does not even know Colin, as well as making her realize that he loves her and she should be marrying him.
After arriving in Scotland, at Eilean Donan Castle, for the wedding, Tom realizes he is running out of time to stop Hannah. He meets all of Colin's family and must perform in the "games," in which the groom must compete to prove himself worthy of his bride. Tom is also in the competition with Colin, but loses in the last round. Tom takes Hannah out for a walk, hoping to tell her how he feels. However, the other bridesmaids interrupt for Hannah's bachelorette party (known as a Hen Night in the United Kingdom). On her Hen Night, Hannah parades around a pub and sells her kisses for change. As she goes around, Hannah then kisses Tom. Though it just started as a peck on the cheek, it turns into a passionate kiss.
That night, Hannah decides to confront Tom and ask about the kiss. However, when she gets to his room, her drunk cousin is there, trying to have sex with him. Hannah leaves and Tom runs after her. He knocks on her door, pleading for her to let him in. She refuses and asks about the kiss. He tells her he knew he was the one for her, not Colin. She refuses to say that she thinks so too and instead tells Tom that she still expects to marry Colin the next day. Tom cannot go through with watching Hannah and Colin get married so he decides to go home.
Connor Mead (Matthew McConaughey) is a notorious photographer who has a bad boy reputation of loving beautiful women and dumping them when they fall in love with him. Beautiful models and celebrities flock to his studio to get their picture taken, usually in lingerie, and throw themselves at him. Conner is so overloaded with women that he has to breakup with three women at the same time during a conference call in front of his next prey. His brother Paul (Breckin Meyer) is about to get married, and Connor thinks he is making a terrible mistake. As an incorrigible bachelor, Connor loves his freedom more than ever settling down and loving only one woman. Connor tries to talk Paul out of getting married, and it looks like Connor is about to succeed. Then the night before the wedding, Connor is visited by three ghosts, who take him back to his past, present, and his lonely future. They try to discovery the point in time where Connors became this womanizing jerk. Maybe there is still time to change him into a sensitive, feeling, and caring person that he once was, and he may even find his true love. Douglas Young (the-movie-guy
Connor Mead (Matthew McConaughey), a professional photographer and womanizing bachelor, returns to his family's estate for the wedding of his brother Paul (Breckin Meyer) to Sandra Volkom (Lacey Chabert). There he encounters Jenny Perotti (Jennifer Garner), a former girlfriend and childhood sweetheart who is serving as wedding planner. Connor offends most of the guests by declaring his disdain for romance and marriage and attempting to convince Paul not to go through with the wedding. That evening he is visited by the ghost of his late uncle Wayne Mead (Michael Douglas), who raised him after his parents' death in a car accident and mentored him in the ways of womanizing. Wayne tells Connor that he will be visited by three ghosts that night and will learn something important about himself.
The first ghost to visit Connor is the "Ghost of Girlfriends Past" in the form of Allison Vandermeersh (Emma Stone), one of his high school girlfriends. Together they revisit scenes from his past, focusing on his relationship with Jenny. Connor and Jenny were very close as children; she gave him his first instant camera which he used to take her picture, promising to keep it forever. By middle school the two were on the verge of romance, but Connor's hesitation at a dance caused Jenny to dance with and kiss another boy. Heartbroken, Connor was told by Wayne that he must avoid romance at all costs in order not to feel such emotional pain again. For the next two years Wayne schooled Connor in the art of seduction. When he next saw Jenny, at a high school party, Connor ignored her and had sex with Allison. Several years later, as adults, Connor and Jenny rekindled their romance, but Jenny forced him to woo her for several weeks in an attempt to rid him of his womanizing ways. After they finally did have sex, Connor panicked and left while Jenny was asleep, leaving her heartbroken. His relationships thereafter consisted of a series of meaningless flings.
Awakening back in the Mead mansion in the present, Connor accidentally destroys Paul and Sandra's wedding cake and unsuccessfully attempts to reconcile with Jenny. Storming out of the house, he is confronted by the "Ghost of Girlfriends Present" in the form of his assistant Melanie (Noureen DeWulf), the only constant female figure in his life. With her he sees that in his absence the other wedding guests make fun of him and his shallow lifestyle. Paul stands up for his brother, recalling that Connor helped to raise him after their parents' death, and expresses his hope that Connor will someday change for the better. Connor also sees that Jenny is being comforted by Brad (Daniel Sunjata), and is upset that his own actions and attitude are bringing the two closer. He is further upset to discover that three women who he previously broke up with via conference call are bonding with Melanie and each other over his disregard for their feelings.
The Midnight Meat Train is a 2008 horror film based on Clive Barker's 1984 short story of the same name, which can be found in Volume One of Barker's collection Books of Blood. The film follows a photographer who attempts to track down a serial killer dubbed the "Subway Butcher" and discovers more than he bargained for under the city streets.
The film was directed by Japanese director Ryuhei Kitamura and stars Bradley Cooper, Leslie Bibb, Vinnie Jones, Brooke Shields and Quinton "Rampage" Jackson. Its script was adapted by Jeff Buhler, the producer was Tom Rosenberg of Lakeshore Entertainment, and it was released on August 1, 2008.
Producer Joe Daley, a long time friend of Buhler's, brought the two writers together and helped develop the script, along with producers Anthony Diblasi and Jorge Saralegui, for their newly minted horror factory The Midnight Picture Company. As of this entry, The Midnight Picture Company was busy shooting Book of Blood, the next film adaptation from the anthology of short stories that spawned Midnight Meat Train.
The film opens as a well dressed, barrel chested man stalks the late-night passengers of a subway train. He kills several people with a meat hammer and a butcher's hook. He dispatches his prey with unnatural strength. He wears a ring on his finger, adorned with an eight pointed star. We are then introduced to Leon (Bradley Cooper), a photographer who heads into the city's subway system at night to take photographs and saves a woman from a group of guys harassing her. The next day, he discovers the girl has gone missing. Leon is intrigued and begins to investigate newsreels about similar disappearances. His investigation leads him to a butcher named Mahogany (Vinnie Jones), whom he suspects has been killing subway passengers for as long as a hundred years.
Leon attempts to turn some of the photos he has taken of Mahogany in to the police, but they become suspicious of Leon's motives. Leon decides to take matters into his own hands and goes to the subway at midnight, where he witnesses the butcher killing several passengers and hanging them on meat hooks. Leon passes out on the subway floor after being attacked by the butcher who then strings him up like the other dead bodies. He passes out again when "something" begins to attack him and awakens the next morning in an abandoned subway platform with strange markings carved into his chest. Maya (Leslie Bibb), Leon's girlfriend, and her friend Jurgis (Roger Bart) examine the photos Leon has been taking of Mahogany, leading them to the killer's apartment. After breaking into the butcher's home, Jurgis is kidnapped. Maya goes to the police, but they won't listen to her. A police official, who seems to be involved with the unfolding conspiracy, directs the misguided Maya to a trip on the midnight train. Leon, unaware of Maya's involvement, decides to put an end to the butcher's crimes and heads to the subway entrance. Leon arms himself with a butcher's apron and several slaughterhouse knives.
Leon enters the train as Mahogany corners Maya. Leon attacks Mahogany and finally throws him out of the train. Eventually, they enter an underground cavern filled with bones and decomposing bodies. The train engineer enters the car and advises Leon and Maya to "Please, step away from the meat." The true purpose of the underground station is revealed as reptile-people enter the car and consume the bodies of the butcher's victims. As they exit the train, Leon and Maya discover they are in a station underneath city hall which is littered with the bones of hundreds of victims. Mahogany returns in a battered and bleeding state and charges at him, Maya is tossed aside. Leon engages him a final time ending with Leon driving a sharpened bone through Mahogany's throat in which Mahogany whispers with his dying breath "Welcome." At which Leon impales Mahogany's skull with a butcher knife. The train engineer explains to Leon that the reptile-people have always existed and the butcher's job is to feed them every night, in order to keep them "separate" and prevent them from having to come to the surface for sustenance, a scheme which the police are also in on and have helped to continue. The engineer rips out Leon's tongue with the same superhuman strength as the butcher and eats it, then he forces Leon to watch as he kills Maya on a altar of corpses with one of the butcher's knives and rips out her still-beating heart. When the engineer is done, he tells Leon that he will become the new meat train butcher, replacing Mahogany.
Viktor has a relationship with the humans of the area; he protects them from the werewolves that roam the countryside in exchange for a tithe. As human nobles meet with the vampire council for protection from the werewolves, Sonja guards them. Lucian hears the werewolves near Sonja and orders Death Dealers sent to help her. When his orders are denied, he steals a horse and sword from a nearby Death Dealer. Werewolves proceed to kill the nobles, causing Lucian to battle them. When Lucian changes into a Lycan in order to protect Sonja, the werewolves back down, leaving before Lucian is shot by Viktor's men. Viktor, despite acknowledging that Lucian saved his daughter, notes that Lucian transgressed the laws of the coven by removing the collar that keeps him in check (its inward-pointing silver spikes are designed to kill him if he changes into a Lycan) and feels betrayed by his favorite pet. He locks Lucian away after having him whipped.
With the help of the scheming vampire Andreas Tanis, Sonja orchestrates Lucian's release. In exchange, Sonja promises Tanis her seat on the vampire council. Lucian escapes, kills several of the vampires and begins liberating the other Lycans. The guards begin slaughtering the escaping Lycans. Sonja remains behind, but when Viktor discovers that she has had a forbidden relationship with Lucian, he imprisons her. Lucian and some of the freed Lycans roam the countryside recruiting many of the labourers of the human nobles to their fight for freedom from the nobles and the vampires. He also travels to a cavernous location that is teeming with werewolves, attempting to contact them. The vampire nobles are outraged by the escape and growing chaos, demanding that Viktor recapture Lucian. Viktor however, knows that Lucian will come to him.
Lucian learns about Sonja's imprisonment from one of her attendants and sets out to rescue her. Lucian orders his followers to wait, but be prepared to attack if he does not return. Lucian rescues Sonja from the fortress but they are attacked by the Death Dealers. Sonja confronts Viktor and tries to get him to call off his guards by revealing that she is pregnant with Lucian's child. Disgusted, Viktor overpowers her and imprisons both her and Lucian. Sonja is sentenced to death at a trial presided over by her father and the council. Lucian is forced to witness Sonja's death, in which she is burned to death by sunlight, passing out afterward.
Lucian awakens when Viktor comes in to view his deceased daughter. As Viktor removes the pendant necklace he gave Sonja, an enraged Lucian transforms and overpowers Viktor. Lucian takes Sonja's pendant, escaping out a window. The escape is stopped at the castle walls by Death Dealers who shoot Lucian with crossbows. With a thunderous howl, Lucian summons the freed Lycans and the werewolves, who attack the coven, overwhelming it. Viktor sends Tanis to remove the slumbering Amelia and Markus from their crypts before joining the battle with his personal guard. The council, meanwhile are overwhelmed and butchered by the rampaging werewolves.
Lucian sees Viktor entering the fray and fights his way to him. Viktor and Lucian battle their way to the catacombs. The fight continues until Lucian overcomes Viktor. Viktor's 'final' words attest to his regret at not having killed Lucian the moment he was born, to which Lucian sarcastically agrees before forcing his sword through Viktor's mouth and head and letting the body fall into the water below. Lucian emerges to the courtyard which is ringed with the surviving Lycans, werewolves and freed slaves. He declares this victory as only the beginning of what will become a war between the races. Tanis is leading a very alive Viktor into a hibernation chamber on a boat.
The film ends with the opening scene of the first Underworld, with the audio from the scene where Kraven tells Selene that it was Viktor who murdered her family, rather than the Lycans, and that Viktor spared her because she reminded him of the daughter he condemned to death; Selene replies to Kraven, "Lies!"
A WOMEN IN BERLIN
A Woman in Berlin (German: Eine Frau in Berlin) is an account of the period from 20 April to 22 June 1945 in Berlin (Battle of Berlin). At the author's request, the work was published anonymously for her protection. The book purports to detail the writer's experiences as a rape victim during the Red Army occupation of the city. Two years after her death in 2003 the anonymous author was identified in the Süddeutsche Zeitung by Jens Bisky (a German literary editor) as Marta Hillers. Brisky said that Hillers was a journalist who worked on magazines and newspapers during the Nazi era, and who had also been a small-time propagandist for the Third Reich writing a navy recruiting brochure, but that she was probably not a member of the Nazi Party.[1][2]
The account describes her personal experiences the occupation of Berlin by the Soviets at the end of World War II and explains many of the horrors that the protagonist faced and the struggle of the inhabitants to survive.[3]
The German writer Kurt Marek (C. W. Ceram) was responsible for its initial publication in America in 1954.
In September 2003, (when Hillers's identity was first revealed), requests for access to the original diaries was not granted, and Christian Esch writing in the Berliner Zeitung stated that if the work was to be fully accepted as an authentic account this was necessary, because as he pointed out the text itself indicates that changes were made between the initial handwritten diaries and the typed manuscript which was then translated into English and published for the first time nearly a decade after the events, and that there are minor discrepancies between editions.[1]
Subsequently an examination of the notes done by Walter Kempowski on behalf of the publishing house indicated that it is a genuine diary Hiller kept at the time, though the typescript and the published book contain material not in the diary[4]. Antony Beevor a British historian who has written a detailed history on the Battle of Berlin, confirmed its authenticity by comparing its content with his own detailed knowledge of the period and the other primary sources he has accumulated.
Lorina Charlotte Liddell (aged 13, born 1849) ("Prima" in the book's prefatory verse)
Alice Pleasance Liddell (aged 10, born 1852) ("Secunda" in the prefatory verse)
Edith Mary Liddell (aged 8, born 1853) ("Tertia" in the prefatory verse).
The three girls were the daughters of Henry George Liddell, the Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University and Dean of Christ Church as well as headmaster of Westminster School.
The journey had started at Folly Bridge near Oxford and ended five miles away in the village of Godstow. To while away time the Reverend Dodgson told the girls a story that, not so coincidentally, featured a bored little girl named Alice who goes looking for an adventure.
The girls loved it, and Alice Liddell asked Dodgson to write it down for her. After a lengthy delay—over two years —he eventually did so and on 26 November 1864 gave Alice the handwritten manuscript of Alice's Adventures Under Ground, with illustrations by Dodgson himself. Some, including Martin Gardner, speculate there was an earlier version that was destroyed later by Dodgson himself when he printed a more elaborate copy by hand,[6] but there is no known prima facie evidence to support this.
But before Alice received her copy, Dodgson was already preparing it for publication and expanding the 15,500-word original to 27,500 words, most notably adding the episodes about the Cheshire Cat and the Mad Tea-Party. In 1865, Dodgson's tale was published as Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by "Lewis Carroll" with illustrations by John Tenniel. The first print run of 2,000 was held back because Tenniel objected to the print quality.[7] A new edition, released in December of the same year, but carrying an 1866 date, was quickly printed. As it turned out, the original edition was sold with Dodgson's permission to the New York publishing house of Appleton. The binding for the Appleton Alice was virtually identical to the 1866 Macmillan Alice, except for the publisher's name at the foot of the spine. The title page of the Appleton Alice was an insert cancelling the original Macmillan title page of 1865, and bearing the New York publisher's imprint and the date 1866.
The entire print run sold out quickly. Alice was a publishing sensation, beloved by children and adults alike. Among its first avid readers were Queen Victoria and the young Oscar Wilde. The book has never been out of print. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland has been translated into 125 languages[citation needed]. There have now been over a hundred editions of the book, as well as countless adaptations in other media, especially theatre and film.
The book is commonly referred to by the abbreviated title Alice in Wonderland, an alternative title popularized by the numerous stage, film and television adaptations of the story produced over the years. Some printings of this title contain both Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and its sequel Through the Looking-Glass, and, What Alice Found There.
Sunday, July 4, 2010
Producer Raymond Wong first announced a sequel before Ip Man's theatrical release in December 2008. Ip Man 2 was intended to focus on the relationship between Ip and his most famed disciple, Bruce Lee. The filmmakers, however, were unable to finalize film rights with Lee's descendants and decided to briefly portray Lee as a child. Principal photography for Ip Man 2 began in August 2009 and concluded in November; filming took place inside a studio located in Shanghai. For the sequel, Yip aimed to create a more dramatic martial arts film in terms of story and characterization; Wong's son, screenwriter Edmond Wong, wanted the film to portray how Chinese people were treated by the British, as well as the Western perceptions towards Chinese martial arts.
Ip Man 2 premiered in Beijing on 21 April 2010. The film was released in Hong Kong on 29 April 2010. Ip Man 2 was met with positive reviews; critics praised the film's storytelling, as well as Sammo Hung's martial arts choreography. Other critics ultimately agreed that the sequel was not as good as its predecessor. The film grossed over HK$13 million on its opening weekend, immediately surpassing Ip Man’s opening weekend gross. During its theatrical run, Ip Man 2 brought in over HK$43 million domestically, and an estimated US$14 million worldwide.
I Come with the Rain is a 2009 neo-noir atmospheric thriller written and directed by Vietnamese-born French director Tran Anh Hung, starring American actor Josh Hartnett.
After making three movies about Vietnam (The Scent of Green Papaya, Cyclo, The Vertical Ray of the Sun), Tran Anh Hung intended to make a baroque action film, a passionate thriller, both intense and poetic, haunted by three characters from the mythology of film and the Western world: the serial killer, the private investigator, and the Christ figure.
The music is written by Academy Award Winner Gustavo Santaolalla and the English alternative rock band Radiohead. The film also makes heavy use of post-rock, including songs by Explosions in the Sky, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, and A Silver Mt. Zion
The action takes place in Los Angeles, Mindanao (Philippines) and Hong Kong and allows the meeting of Western and Asian actors
Two years after killing Hasford a serial murderer in the line of duty, Kline now works as a private detective, but he is still haunted by the ghosts of his past. A powerful pharmaceutical conglomerate boss hires Kline to find his only son Shitao who has mysteriously disappeared in the Philippines where he had been helping in an orphanage.
Kline follows the trail left by the ethereal Shitao to the jungles of Mindanao, and then to the urban jungle of Hong Kong, where he enlists the help of Meng Zi, an old police officer friend. The search leads Kline to cross paths with local organized crime syndicate boss Su Dongpo, who is making trouble for the underworld, triggered by an overriding passion for his drug-addicted girlfriend Lili.
Caught in the crossfire between the Hong Kong police and Su Dongpo's mafia drug ring which is also hunting for Shitao, Kline found himself alone, in this unknown city, when Meng Zi is victim of an assassination attempt and hospitalised.
Leaving behind his 5-stars hotel for a shabby murder scene apartment in order to get inside the mind of Shitao, Kline gradually loses himself in the terrifying memories of Hasford, whose speciality was dissecting his victims' limbs while they were still alive, then reassembling them into installation sculptures.
After a few weeks immersed in his haunted memories, torn between good and evil, Kline is about to leave Hong Kong when he finds Shitao, who has become a mysterious vagrant with healing powers.[3][4]
Rush Hour 2 was released August 3, 2001 and grossed $347,325,802 at the worldwide box-office,[1] becoming the 11th top grossing film of 2001 worldwide, the highest grossing live action martial arts film of all time, and the second-highest-grossing martial arts film of all time, behind Kung Fu Panda.[2]
The United States Secret Service, led by Agent Sterling (Harris Yulin), and the Hong Kong Police Force soon get into a fight over the jurisdiction of the case. Sterling believes Ricky Tan is a minor player in a larger conspiracy and wants him left alone so he will lead them to the people in charge. Lee, believing Tan is actually the head of the operation, learns that Tan will be attending a dinner party on his yacht. Tan scolds his underling, Hu Li (Zhang Ziyi), who then leaves as Lee and Carter confront Tan. Tan claims that someone is trying to frame him. Hu Li suddenly appears and shoots Ricky Tan, and he falls off the boat. In the ensuing chaos, Hu Li escapes, and an angry Sterling holds Lee responsible for Tan's death, and orders him off the case. Carter is ordered to be flown back to Los Angeles for involving himself. However, Lee and Carter return to Los Angeles together, seemingly motivated by their desire to bring justice and meaning for their respective father's deaths in the line of duty.
On the plane, Carter tells Lee that every case has a rich white man behind it, and that the man is Steven Reign (Alan King), a Los Angeles hotel billionaire. Carter says that he saw Reign on Tan's boat and that his calm demeanor during the shooting was suspicious. They set up camp outside the Reign Towers, pointing out a sexy Secret Service agent named Isabella Molina (Roselyn Sánchez), who Carter met and tried to seduce on Ricky Tan's yacht. After Lee watches Molina undress, and a few misunderstandings, Molina tells the two men that she is undercover, looking into Reign's money laundering of US$ 100 million dollars in superdollars (high grade counterfeit US$ 100 bills).
Lee and Carter pay a visit to Kenny (Don Cheadle), an ex-con known to Carter who runs an illegal gambling parlor frequented by Asian criminals in the back room of his Chinese restaurant. He tells them that a usually broke customer recently came in to his establishment with a suspicious amount of hundred-dollar bills. Carter checks them out and confirms that they are Reign's counterfeits. They trace the money back to a bank friendly to the Triads, who are waiting for them and knock the two cops unconscious, with Molina looking on. Then they depart for Las Vegas. Lee and Carter wake up inside one of the Triads' trucks and escape. After finding out where they are, they realize that Reign is laundering the $100 million through the new Red Dragon Casino.
Bodyguards and Assassins is a 2009 Hong Kong-Chinese action-drama martial arts film directed by Teddy Chen. It featured an all-star cast, including Donnie Yen, Nicholas Tse, Tony Leung Ka-fai, Leon Lai, Wang Xueqi, Simon Yam, Hu Jun, Eric Tsang and Fan Bingbing
In 1905, Sun Yat-sen (called “Sun Wen” in the film) intends to come to Hong Kong (then a colony of the British Empire) to discuss his plans for revolution with fellow Tongmenghui members to overthrow the corrupt and crumbling Qing Dynasty. Empress Dowager Cixi sends a group of assassins led by Yan Xiaoguo to kill Sun. Revolutionary Chen Shaobai arrives in Hong Kong a few days before Sun’s arrival, to meet Li Yutang, a businessman who provides financial aid for the revolutionaries. As Sun Wen’s arrival day draws near, trouble begins brewing in Hong Kong as Chen Shaobai’s acquaintances are murdered and Chen himself is kidnapped by the assassins during a raid. Li Yutang decides to
In 1905, Sun Wen intends to come to Hong Kong (then a British colony) to discuss his plans for revolution with fellow Tongmenghui members to overthrow the corrupt and crumbling Qing Dynasty. Empress Dowager Cixi sends a group of assassins, led by Yan Xiaoguo, to kill Sun. Revolutionary Chen Shaobai arrives in Hong Kong a few days before Sun's arrival, to meet Li Yutang, a businessman who provides financial aid for the revolutionaries. As Sun Wen's arrival day draws near, trouble begins brewing in Hong Kong as Chen Shaobai's acquaintances are murdered and Chen himself is kidnapped by the assassins during a raid. Li Yutang decides to officially declare his support for the revolutionaries after the newspaper agency is closed by the British authorities, who maintain a policy of laissez-faire towards China's political situation. Li rallies a group of men, including rickshaw pullers, hawkers and a beggar, to serve as bodyguards for Sun Wen when he arrives. Li's son Li Chongguang is chosen to act as a decoy for Sun Wen to divert the assassins away while Sun attends the meeting and leaves Hong Kong safely.
The Krug are being controlled by the wizard Gallian (Ray Liotta) who is amassing an army to overthrow King Konreid (Burt Reynolds), with the assistance of the King's nephew Fallow (Matthew Lillard)
As the epidemic spreads, resulting in the collapse of society, the frightened and desperate government set up asylums all over the world to quarantine the blind victims, in the hopes that the epidemic can be prevented from stopping. The doctor is taken to the asylum along with the many other people infected with the highly infectious “White Sickness”, and his wife pretends to be blind – thus risking her life – to save her husband. The film follows the doctor, his wife and several people as they try to survive in this makeshift, self-governed prison where there is no law or order.
The people in ward 3, led by a man who proclaims himself “king of ward 3″, have control over the food and has a gun, and use this to demand valuables from the others, and even sexual services by the women. Reluctantly they comply. The doctor’s wife kills the king of ward 3. A man in her ward suggests to find out who did this killing, and hand this person over to ward 3 to appease them.
After a fire the doctor’s wife discovers that the guards have left, so the people are free now. Patient zero recovers from his blindness, giving the others hope that the blindness may suddenly lift as quickly and inexplicably as it came.
Craven produced A Nightmare on Elm Street on an estimated budget of just $1.8 million,[1] a sum the film earned back during its first week.[2] An instant commercial success, the film's total United States box office gross is $25.5 million.[2] A Nightmare on Elm Street was met with rave critical reviews and went on to make a very significant impact on the horror genre, spawning a franchise consisting of a line of sequels, a television series, a remake, and various other works of imitation.[3][4]
The film is credited with carrying on many clichés found in low-budget horror films of the 1980s and 1990s, originating in John Carpenter's 1978 horror film Halloween, including the morality play that revolves around sexual promiscuity in teenagers resulting in their eventual (usually graphic) death, leading to the term "slasher film".[4][5] Critics and film historians argue that the film's premise is the question of the distinction between dreams and reality, which is manifested in the film through the teenagers' dreams and their realities.[6] Critics today praise the film's ability to transgress "the boundaries between the imaginary and real",[7] toying with audience perceptions.[8]