Sunday, April 18, 2010

Vertigo

Police detective John 'Scottie' Ferguson is asked by an old college friend, Gavin Elster, if he would have a look into his wife Madeleine's odd behavior. Lately, she's taken to believing that she is the reincarnation of a woman who died many years ago and Elster is concerned about her sanity. Scottie follows her and rescues her from an apparent suicide attempt when she jumps into San Francisco bay. He gets to know her and falls in love with her. They go to an old mission church and he is unable to stop her from climbing to the top of the steeple, owing to his vertigo, where she jumps to her death. A subsequent inquiry finds that she committed suicide but faults Scottie for not stopping her in the first place. Humiliated and haunted by what has happened, he leaves the police force. Several months later, he meets Judy Barton, a woman who is the spitting image of Madeleine. He can't explain it, but she is identical to the woman who died. He tries to re-make her into Madeleine's image by getting her to dye her hair and wear the same type of clothes. He soon begins to realize however that he has been duped and was a pawn in a complex piece of theater that was meant to end in tragedy. Written by garykmcd

For a detailed PLOT SUMMARY, see Spark Notes.

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Alice in Wonderland

Disney version of Lewis Carroll's Children's story. Alice becomes bored and her mind starts to wander. She sees a white rabbit who appears to be in a hurry. She chases it into its burrow - and enters the merry, topsy-turvy world of Wonderland! Memorable songs and whimsical escapades highlight Alice's journey, which culminates in a madcap encounter with the Queen of Hearts - and her army of playing cards!

Part of the synopsis written by Tim Pickett, as published in IMDb.

For a detailed plot summary, you may visit BookRags.

To download this movie for free, go to Free Movies Theaters.com.

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

It’s been two years since Megatron’s body was dropped to the depths of the ocean. Since then a private team of humans called Nest have been working with the Autobots to eliminate the remaining Decepticons. Just when they think their job is nearly done, one Decepticon reveals a terrifying prophecy— “the Fallen shall rise again.”

The Fallen is one of the ancient Prime brothers, descendents of Optimus Prime. But unlike the others, the Fallen hated humans. He planned to destroy the Earth’s sun, giving him access to a powerful energy source and annihilating the human race in the process. In order to destroy the sun, he needed a massive device buried somewhere in Egypt. But his brothers were loyal to the human race and wouldn’t let him destroy the world. Instead, they sacrificed their lives to protect the key—the only object that would engage the device.

Sam (Shia Labeouf) is heading off to college 3000 miles away from his girlfriend MacKayla (Megan Fox), his overprotective and emotional mother, and his anxious father. While packing, he finds a sliver of the energy cube (which was destroyed in the previous film) attached to his sweatshirt. When he touches it, the sliver sends signals into his mind, causing him to see symbols which he later discovers are the lost language of the Primes. These symbols lead him, his girlfriend, his cowardly roommate, and a robot expert to Egypt in search of the key that will engage the sun-destroying device. The Decepticons set out in search of Sam, planning to probe his mind for the symbols and then destroy him.

The Autobots come to his rescue, but Optimus Prime, the last member of the Prime family, pays the ultimate sacrifice. With Optimus Prime gone, the fallen can rise again and set forth his plan to destroy the planet. Now both Sam and the Fallen seek the key; not only does it have the power to engage the sun-blasting device, but it can also resurrect Optimus Prime.

Official Website of the Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

Friday, April 9, 2010

The Lion King

The king of all lions, Mufasa, has a baby called Simba. This greatly angers Mufasa's brother Scar, who would have been next in line to the throne. Scar plots to kill Simba and Mufasa, and leads them to a gorge. There Mufasa is killed by a herd of Wildebeest, and Simba is led to believe by Scar that he is responsible for his death. Simba then runs away, and Scar becomes king of the pridelands. After several years, in which time Simba has grown up, he returns with the help of some new friends to the pridelands, where he has a final battle with Scar and wins back the pridelands.

The Lion King is the highest grossing 2D animated film of all time in the United States, and received positive reviews from critics, who praised the film for its music and story. During its release in 1994, the film grossed more than $783 million worldwide, becoming the most successful film released that year, and it is currently the twenty-eighth highest-grossing feature film.


Finding Nemo

Marlin (a clown fish) is a widower who only has his son Nemo left of his family after a predator attack. Years later, on Nemo's first day of school, he's captured by a scuba diver and taken to live in a dentist office's fish tank in Sydney.

So, while Marlin ventures off to try to retrieve Nemo, Marlin meets a fish named Dory, a blue tang suffering from short-term memory loss. The companions travel a great distance, at times hooking a ride with turtles and encountering various dangerous sea creatures such as sharks, anglerfish and jellyfish, in order to rescue Nemo from the dentist's office, which is situated by Sydney Harbor. While the two are doing this, Nemo and the other sea animals in the dentist's fish tank plot a way to return to Sydney Harbor to live their lives free again.

For pictures, reviews, cast, videos, and posters, you may view starpulse.

To download this movie for free, go to SHAREUP.

Spider-Man 3

After his previous adventures, Peter Parker (Toby Maguire) hopes to marry his girlfriend Mary Jane (Kirsten Dunst). But Peter is told by the police that the original killer of his uncle is still on the loose and his trail has been lost. The killer, Flint Marko, runs into a neuclear weapon testing facility and his atoms are fused with sand. After that he becomes the evil SANDMAN. But thats not all, as Harry Osbourne (James Franco) wants his revenge and become the second Green Goblin! Also, an alien life force fuses to Spiderman and starts to poison him / kill him / make him go crazy and Spidey finally rips the suit of. But Peter's rival photographer, Eddie Brock Jr. takes the suit and becomes the powerful yet lethal Venom. Will Spiderman defeat all of these enemies?

Extracted from Ruined Endings.

For trailers, pictures, reviews, casts and more information, go to the Spider-Man 3 Official Site

Thursday, April 8, 2010

Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs

As we rejoin the motley herd from the two previous Ice Age films, Manny the mammoth (Ray Romano) nervously pampers his expectant mate, Ellie (Queen Latifah), while his best friend, Diego the saber-toothed tiger (Denis Leary), bristles at the thought of Manny's domesticated existence. Meanwhile, Sid the sloth (John Leguizamo) continues to annoy everybody, and Scrat the rock rat is still trying to get that acorn. When Sid accidentally discovers an underground world populated by dinosaurs, he steals three dino eggs so that he, too, can become a "mommy." After the little ones hatch, their real mom comes to retrieve them, and snatches Sid as well, prompting the others to band together yet in order to rescue their friend. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide

 For more reviews, photos, casts, trailers and links, see IMDb, the Internet Movie Database.

To download this movie for free, go to pocketmovies.net.

Independence Day

On July 2nd, communications systems worldwide are sent into chaos by a strange atmospheric interference.  It is soon learned by the military that a number of enormous objects are on a collision course with Earth.  At first thought to be meteors, they are later revealed to be gigantic spacecraft, piloted by a mysterious alien species. After attempts to communicate with the aliens go nowhere, David Levinson, an ex-scientist turned cable technician, discovers that the aliens are going to attack major points around the globe in less than a day. On July 3rd, the aliens all but obliterate New York, Los Angeles, and Washington. The survivors set out in convoys towards Area 51, a strange government testing ground where it is rumored the military has a captured alien spacecraft of their own. The survivors devise a plan to fight back against the enslaving aliens.

When the world counter- attacked, the alien ships are invincible to normal weapon systems, then the President of the United States, decides to head to area 51, to formulate a plan to defeat the aliens.  The ultimate encounter occurs when mysterious and powerful aliens launch an all out invasion against the human race. The spectacle begins when massive spaceships appear in Earth's skies. But wonder turns to terror as the ships blast destructive beams of fire down on cities all over the planet. Now the world's only hope lies with a determined band of survivors, uniting for one last strike against the invaders - before it's the end of mankind.  The war is ultimately won on July 4, our Independence Day.

Synopsis contribution by Gustaf Molin, John Wiggins, and Robert Lynch

For more information about this film, visit Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia.

To download this movie for free, go to brothersoft.

The Dark Knight

Batman raises the stakes in his bourgeois war on crime. With the help of Lieutenant Jim Gordon and District Attorney Harvey Dent, Batman sets out to dismantle the remaining criminal organizations that plague the city streets. The partnership proves to be effective, but they soon find themselves prey to a reign of chaos unleashed by a rising mastermind known to the terrified citizens of Gotham as The Joker, a psychopathic criminal whose eerie grin, laughter, and inhuman morality makes him as dangerous than what he has yet to unleash.

It becomes an agenda to Batman to stop the mysterious Joker at all costs, knowing that both of them are in an opposite line. One has no method at all and seeks to see the world plunge into the fire he has yet to light. One represents the symbol of hope and uses his own shadow to bring the peace and order he has yet to accomplish doing.

Part of synopsis written by Peteagassi.

Official Website of The Dark Knight

Tuesday, April 6, 2010

Star Wars (all episodes)

The Original Trilogy

The original trilogy begins 19 years later as Vader nears completion of the massive Death Star space station which will allow him and Sidious, now the Emperor, to crush the rebellion which has formed against the evil empire. He captures Princess Leia Organa who has stolen the plans to the Death Star and hidden them in droid R2-D2. R2-D2, along with his counterpart C-3PO, escape to the planet Tatooine. There, the droids are purchased by Luke Skywalker, son of Anakin, and his step-uncle and aunt. While Luke is cleaning R2-D2, he accidentally triggers a message put into the robot by Leia, who asks for assistance from Obi-Wan. Luke later assists the droids in finding the Jedi Knight, who is now passing as an old hermit under the alias Ben Kenobi. Obi-Wan tells Luke of his father's greatness, but says that he was killed by Vader. Obi-Wan and Luke hire the Corellian space pilot and smuggler Han Solo and his Wookiee co-pilot Chewbacca to take them to the rebels. Obi-Wan begins to teach Luke about the Force, but allows himself to be killed in a showdown with Vader during the rescue of Leia. His sacrifice allows the group to escape with the plans that allow the rebels to destroy the Death Star.

Vader continues to hunt down the rebels, and begins building a second Death Star. Luke travels to find Yoda to become trained as a Jedi, but is interrupted when Vader lures him into a trap by capturing Han and the others. Vader reveals that he is Luke's father and attempts to turn him to the dark side.  Luke escapes, and returns to his training with Yoda. He learns that he must face his father before he can become a Jedi, and that Leia is his twin sister. As the rebels attack the second Death Star, Luke confronts Vader under the watch of the Emperor. Instead of convincing Luke to join the dark side, the young Jedi defeats Vader in a lightsaber duel and is able to convince him that there is still some good in him. Vader kills the Emperor before succumbing to his own injuries, and the second Death Star is destroyed, restoring freedom to the galaxy.

The Prequel Trilogy

The prequel trilogy follows the upbringing of Anakin Skywalker, who is discovered by the Jedi Knight Qui-Gon Jinn. He is believed to be the "Chosen One" foretold by Jedi prophecy to bring balance to the Force. The Jedi Council, led by Yoda, sense that his future is clouded with fear, but reluctantly allows Qui-Gon's apprentice Obi-Wan Kenobi to train Anakin after Qui-Gon is killed by the Sith Lord Darth Maul.

At the same time, the planet Naboo is under attack, and its ruler, Queen Padmé Amidala, seeks the assistance of the Jedi to repel the attack. The Sith Lord Darth Sidious secretly planned the attack to give his alias, Senator Palpatine, a pretense to overthrow the Supreme Chancellor of the Galactic Republic. The remainder of the prequel trilogy chronicles Anakin's fall to the dark side, as Sidious attempts to create an army to defeat the Jedi and lure Anakin to be his apprentice.  Anakin and Padmé fall in love and secretly wed, and eventually Padme becomes pregnant. Anakin soon succumbs to his anger, becoming the Sith Lord Darth Vader. While Sidious reorganizes the Republic into the Galactic Empire, Vader participates in the extermination of the Jedi Order, culminating in a lightsaber battle between him and Obi-Wan. After defeating his former apprentice, Obi-Wan leaves Vader for dead. However, Sidious arrives shortly after to save him and put him into a suit of black armor that keeps him alive. At the same time, Padmé dies while giving birth to twins. The twins are hidden from Vader and are not told who their true parents are.

Synopsis extracted from Wikipedia.

Star Wars Home Page

Schindler's List

Schindler's List (1993) is Steven Spielberg's unexpected award-winning masterpiece - a profoundly shocking, unsparing, fact-based, three-hour long epic of the nightmarish Holocaust. Its documentary authenticity vividly re-creates a dark, frightening period during World War II, when Jews in Nazi-occupied Krakow were first dispossessed of their businesses and homes, then placed in ghettos and forced labor camps in Plaszow, and finally resettled in concentration camps for execution. The violence and brutality of their treatment in a series of matter-of-fact (and horrific) incidents is indelibly and brilliantly orchestrated.

Except for the bookends (its opening and closing scenes) and two other brief shots (the little girl in a red coat and candles burning with orange flames), the entire film in-between is shot in crisp black and white. The film is marvelous for the way in which it crafts its story without contrived, manipulative Hollywood-ish flourishes (often typical of other Spielberg films) - it is also skillfully rendered with overlapping dialogue, parallel editing, sharp and bold characterizations, contrasting compositions of the two main characters (Schindler and Goeth), cinematographic beauty detailing shadows and light with film-noirish tones, jerky hand-held cameras (cinema verite), a beautifully selected and composed musical score (including Itzhak Perlman's violin), and gripping performances.

The screenplay by Steven Zaillian was adapted from Thomas Keneally's 1982 biographic novel (Schindler's Ark), constructed by interviews with 50 Schindler survivors found in many nations, and other wartime associates of the title character, as well as other written testimonies and sources. Oskar Schindler was an enterprising, womanizing Nazi Sudeten-German industrialist/opportunist and war profiteer, who first exploited the cheap labor of Jewish/Polish workers in a successful enamelware factory (Deutsche Emailwaren Fabrik or D.E.F.), and eventually rescued more than one thousand of them from certain extinction in labor/death camps.

Before the film was made, Spielberg had offered Holocaust survivor and director Roman Polanski the job of making the film, but Polanski declined. Since then, ten years later, Polanski made his own honored Holocaust film, the Best Director-winning The Pianist (2002). Stanley Kubrick abandoned his own plans to make a similar film in the planning stages, called "The Aryan Papers" - based on the Louis Begley novel Wartime Lies.

The unanimously-praised film with a modest budget of $23 million deservedly won seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director (the first for Spielberg), Best Cinematography (Janusz Kaminski), Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Original Score (John Williams), Best Editing (Michael Kahn), and Best Art Direction. It also won nominations for two of its male leads: Best Actor (Liam Neeson) and Best Supporting Actor (Ralph Fiennes), Best Costume Design, Best Sound, and Best Makeup. Other organizations including the British Academy Awards, the New York Film Critics Circle, and the Golden Globes, likewise honored the film. It was the first black/white film since The Apartment (1960) to win the Best Picture Academy Award, and the most commercially-successful B/W film in cinematic history.

Review by Tim Dirks

To know more about the film, go to filmsite.

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Clash of the Titans

The gods of Ancient Greece were immortal. Endowed with super- natural powers, they breathed the rareified air of Mount Olympus, lived on ambrosia and nectar and were worshipped by the mere mortals who dwelt on the plains below and built temples to their honor.

Love and charity were not necessary part of the lives of these super-beings.  They frequently betrayed their god-like attributes. Benevolent, vengeful contrary and bawdy, they quarreled and fought for power and pursued selfish aims, In fact, they were almost human.

Persius, son of Zeus, could be considered an immaculate start to any man's life, but not when your father's philandering has upset a fistful of gods as powerful as Hera, Athene, Thetis and Aphrodite. Persius was to experience the vagaries of the humor and temper of the gods.

CLASH OF THE TITANS tells of Persius' battles to win the hand of beautiful Andromeda. The gods look down and help or hinder according to their whims, as Persius, aided by Pegasus, the winged horse, and Bubo, an owl of uncommon talent, overcomes the three Stygian witches with one eye between them, a monstrous two-headed wolf/dog, Dioskilos; Medusa of the Gorgon's head; and ultimately the terrifying Kraken, a giant monster raised from its primeval home on the sea-bed to bring destruction.
 
(Synopsis from the official pressbook)

For pictures, reviews, casts, and more details about the film, go to imdb.com.

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Citizen Kane

The newspaper baron Charles Foster Kane, one of the richest and most powerful men in America if not the world, dies. His last word: "Rosebud". A newspaperman digs into his past seeking the meaning of the enigmatic word. He finds evidence of a child torn away from his family to serve Mammon. Grown into manhood, Charles Foster Kane becomes a newspaperman to indulge his idealism. He marries the niece of the man who will become President of the United States, and gradually assumes more and more power while losing more and more of his soul. Kane's money and power does not bring him happiness, as he has lost his youthful idealism, as has the America he is a symbol for.

Written by Jon C. Hopwood

For more details about this film, go to filmsite.

To download this movie for free, go to ALLMOVIA.COM.

Monday, April 5, 2010

The Silence of the Lambs

Based on Thomas Harris's novel, this terrifying film by Jonathan Demme really only contains a couple of genuinely shocking moments (one involving an autopsy, the other a prison break). The rest of the film is a splatter-free visual and psychological descent into the hell of madness, redeemed astonishingly by an unlikely connection between a monster and a haunted young woman. Anthony Hopkins is extraordinary as the cannibalistic psychiatrist Dr. Hannibal Lecter, virtually entombed in a subterranean prison for the criminally insane. At the behest of the FBI, agent-in-training Clarice Starling (Jodie Foster) approaches Lecter, requesting his insights into the identity and methods of a serial killer named Buffalo Bill (Ted Levine). In exchange, Lecter demands the right to penetrate Starling's most painful memories, creating a bizarre but palpable intimacy that liberates them both under separate but equally horrific circumstances. Demme, a filmmaker with a uniquely populist vision ( Melvin and Howard , Something Wild ), also spent his early years making pulp for Roger Corman ( Caged Heat ), and he hasn't forgotten the significance of tone, atmosphere, and the unsettling nature of a crudely effective close-up. Much of the film, in fact, consists of actors staring straight into the camera (usually from Clarice's point of view), making every bridge between one set of eyes to another seem terribly dangerous. -- Tom Keogh

For more details and reviews, please see this item at wigix.com.

Sunday, April 4, 2010

Patton (1970)

Patton (1970) is the epic film biography of the controversial, bombastic, multi-dimensional World War II general and hero George S. Patton. The larger-than-life, flamboyant, maverick, pugnacious military figure, nicknamed "Old Blood and Guts," was well-known for his fierce love of America, his temperamental battlefield commanding, his arrogant power-lust ("I love it. God help me, I do love it so. I love it more than my life"), his poetry writing, his slapping of a battle-fatigued soldier, his anti- diplomatic criticism of the Soviet Union, and his firing of pistols at fighter planes.

The film, shot in 70 mm. widescreen color, received a phenomenal ten Academy Awards nominations and won seven major awards: Best Picture, Best Actor (Scott refused to accept the honor), Best Director (Franklin J. Schaffner), Best Story and Screenplay (Francis Ford Coppola and Edmund H. North), Best Art Direction/Set Decoration, Best Sound, and Best Film Editing. Its other three nominations were: Best Cinematography, Best Original Score (Jerry Goldsmith), and Best Special Visual Effects. The story was based on two books: Patton: Ordeal and Triumph by Ladislas Farago and A Soldier's Story by General Omar Bradley (portrayed by Karl Malden). As a result of Coppola's breakthrough win in 1970, he went on to write and direct The Godfather (1972).

Although George C. Scott portrayed the famous general perfectly and became Scott's archetypal film, the role was also considered by Burt Lancaster, Rod Steiger, Lee Marvin, Robert Mitchum and John Wayne. The subject matter was remade as a TV-movie entitled The Last Days of Patton (1986), also with Scott in the lead role.

Review by Tim Dirks

Web Site of General S. Patton

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Friday, April 2, 2010

Black Hawk Down

Action/war drama based on the best-selling book detailing a near-disastrous mission in Somalia on October 3, 1993. On this date nearly 100 U.S. Army Rangers, commanded by Capt. Mike Steele, were dropped by helicopter deep into the capital city of Mogadishu to capture two top lieutenants of a Somali warlord. This lead to a large and drawn-out firefight between the Rangers and hundreds of Somali gunmen, leading to the destruction of two U.S. Black Hawk helicopters. This film focuses on the heroic efforts of various Rangers to get to the downed black hawks, centering on Sgt. Eversmann, leading the Ranger unit Chalk Four to the first black hawk crash site, Warrant Officer Durant who was captured after being the only survivor of the second black hawk crash, as well as many others who were involved. Written by Matthew Patay: revised by Brady Schloz

Official Website of Black Hawk Down

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