Won't Back Down (previously titled Still I Rise, Learning To Fly and Steel Town) is a drama film directed by Daniel Barnz starring Maggie Gyllenhaal, Viola Davis and Holly Hunter. It was released on September 28, 2012.
Two determined mothers, a car dealer/bartender (Maggie Gyllenhaal) and a teacher (Viola Davis), look to transform their children's failing inner city school. Facing a powerful and entrenched bureaucracy and corruption from the teachers' union president (Holly Hunter) and the school's principal (Bill Nunn), they risk everything to make a difference in the education and future of their children.
To Rome with Love is a 2012 magical realistromantic comedy film written by, directed by, and starring Woody Allen. The film is set in Rome, Italy. The film was released in Italian theaters on April 13, 2012, and opened in Los Angeles and New York City on June 22, 2012.
The film features an ensemble cast, and Allen himself in his first acting role since 2006's Scoop. The story is told in four separate vignettes: a clerk who wakes up to find himself a celebrity, an architect who takes a trip back to the street he lived on as a student, a young couple on their honeymoon, and a funeral director who has a talent for singing in the shower.
To Rome with Love follows four interspersed but unrelated plotlines taking place in Rome.
American tourist Hayley falls in love with and becomes engaged to Italian pro bono lawyer Michelangelo while spending a summer in Rome. Her parents, Jerry and Phyllis, fly to Italy to meet her fiancé and his parents. During the visit, Michelangelo's mortician father Giancarlo sings in the shower and Jerry, a retired—and critically reviled—opera director, feels inspired to bring Giancarlo's gift to the public. Jerry convinces a reluctant Giancarlo to audition in front of a room of opera bigwigs, but Giancarlo performs poorly in this setting. Michelangelo accuses Jerry of embarrassing his father and trying to use him to revive his own failed career, which in turn breeds discontent between Michelangelo and Hayley. Jerry then realizes that Giancarlo's talent is tied to the comfort and freedom he feels in the shower; Jerry stages a concert in which Giancarlo performs at the Teatro dell'Opera while actually washing himself onstage in a purpose-built shower. This is a great success, so Jerry and Giancarlo decide to stage the opera Pagliacci, with an incongruous shower present in all scenes. Giancarlo receives rave reviews, while Jerry is unaware that his direction has again been slammed as he doesn't understand Italian and so cannot read the reviews. Giancarlo decides to retire from opera singing, because he prefers working as a mortician and spending time with his family. But he appreciates being given the chance to live his dream of performing Pagliacci, and his success has mended the relationship between Michelangelo and Hayley.
Newlyweds Antonio and Milly plan to move from their rustic hometown to Rome because Antonio's posh uncles have offered him a job in their family's business. The couple check into their hotel, and Milly decides to visit a salon before meeting Antonio's relatives for the first time. She becomes hopelessly lost and loses her cell phone, but ends up stumbling upon a film shoot where she meets Luca Salta, an actor whom she idolizes. He invites her to lunch. Back at the hotel, Antonio is worried that Milly has not returned in time for their lunch date with his aunts and uncles. Anna, a prostitute, then arrives, having mistakenly been sent to his room. Despite his protests, she wrestles him into a compromising position just as his relatives arrive; the only way he can think to save face is to introduce Anna as Milly, and he convinces her to pose as Milly for the day. The group goes to lunch at the same restaurant where Luca takes Milly. Antonio becomes jealous as Luca flirts with Milly, but they don't see him. Antonio's uncles and aunts then take him to a fancy party. Antonio has nothing in common with the people to whom his uncles introduce him, but most of the male guests turn out to be Anna's clients. Anna and Antonio go for a walk in the garden, and Antonio talks about how pure and good Milly is. When Anna finds out he was a virgin before he met Milly, she seduces him in the bushes. Meanwhile, Luca brings Milly to his hotel room and tries to seduce her. Milly decides to have sex with him, but then a gun-armed thief emerges from hiding and demands their valuables. Suddenly, Luca's wife and a private investigator arrive. Milly and the thief climb into bed and fool Mrs. Salta into believing the hotel room is theirs while Luca hides in the bathroom. Once his wife has left, Luca runs off. The burglar flirts with Milly and she has sex with him instead. When she returns to the hotel room, she and Antonio decide to return to their rustic hometown—but first they begin to make love.
Leopoldo lives a mundane life with his wife and two children. The best part of his day is watching his boss's beautiful secretary Serafina walk around the office. Inexplicably, he wakes up one morning to discover that he has become a national celebrity. Paparazzi document his every movement. Reporters ask him what he had for breakfast, if he wears boxers or briefs, whether he thinks it will rain. Leopoldo even becomes a manager at his company, and Serafina sleeps with him. He begins dating models and attending fancy film premieres. The constant attention wears on him, though. One day, in the middle of interviewing Leopoldo, the paparazzi spot a man "who looks more interesting," and they abandon Leopoldo. At first, Leopoldo welcomes the return to his old life. But one afternoon he breaks down when no one asks for his autograph. Leopoldo has learned that life can be monotonous and wearying whether one is a celebrity or a normal man. Still, it is much better to be a weary celebrity than it is to be a weary regular man.
John, a well-known architect, is visiting Rome with his wife and their friends. John lived there some thirty years ago, and he would rather revisit his old haunts than go sightseeing with the others. While looking for his old apartment building, John meets Jack, an American architecture student who recognizes him. Jack happens to live in John's old building, and invites him up to the apartment he shares with his girlfriend Sally. (Throughout the rest of the story, John appears suddenly and inexplicably around Jack and makes unusually frank observations of events; reviewers have suggested that either John is an older mentor Jack imagines for himself, or John is reliving events from his past.) Sally tells Jack that she invited her best friend Monica, an actress, to stay with them while she recovers from a rough breakup. According to Sally, Monica gives off a sexual vibe that drives men crazy. John predicts Monica will bring trouble, but Jack can not imagine why he would be attracted to his girlfriend's best friend. Monica arrives, and one of her first conversations with Jack is about her intense sexual relationship with a female lingerie model. Because Sally has classes, she often asks Jack to show Monica around Rome. Monica impresses Jack with her knowledge of literature and art. Meanwhile, John keeps telling Jack that Monica will lead him to trouble and he criticizes her pseudo-intellectual facade. Even though John cautions Jack against cheating with Monica, he begins to succumb to her charms. Sally sets Monica up with one of their friends, and Jack is jealous of their relationship. One night he and Monica decide to cook dinner for Sally and for Monica's boyfriend. They flirt more and more until Jack kisses Monica; they go down to his car to have sex. Jack plans to leave Sally for Monica, but they decide Jack should wait until Sally finishes her midterms for Jack to break up with her. The trio go out for lunch after Sally's exams, and when they are alone, Jack tells Monica he plans to dump Sally that night. They make plans to travel to Greece and Sicily together. Then Monica receives a phone call from her agent and learns she has been offered a role in a Hollywood blockbuster. She will film in Los Angeles and Tokyo for the next five months and she immediately becomes completely focused on preparing for the role. She forgets about traveling with Jack, and he realizes how shallow she is. John and Jack walk back to the Roman street corner where they met and they part ways.
Branded (also known as The Mad Cow and Москва 2017) is a 2012 Russian and American science fiction film written and directed by Jamie Bradshaw and Aleksandr Dulerayn. It was released on September 7, 2012.
As the movie begins, the names of famous visionaries including Joan of Arc, Albert Einstein and Alexander the Great flash on the screen. A caption reads, "All of them saw things others didn't see. All of them changed the world."
In the early 1980s, in Soviet Russia, young Misha Galkin is in a public park at night looking at the stars. Suddenly the stars shift into the outline of a cow's head, which turns and looks at him. Moments later, Misha is struck by lightning. A woman examines him and, seeing that he is still alive, predicts that his life will not be ordinary.
In present-day Russia, Misha (Ed Stoppard) has grown up to become a high-powered marketing executive working with Bob Gibbons (Jeffrey Tambor). When Bob's niece Abby (Leelee Sobieski) comes to visit from America, Bob warns Misha to keep his hands off the girl, but despite Bob's warning, Abby and Misha drift into a relationship. Misha tells Abby various trivia about the history of marketing, such as that Vladimir Lenin invented modern marketing, and that Communism was the first true global brand.
Meanwhile, on a private Polynesian island, a marketing guru named Joseph Pascal (Max von Sydow) is meeting with the executives of fast food companies. The guru tells them that, to make fast food profitable again, they must change public perceptions of beauty and "make fat the new fabulous." An unseen voice-over narrator says that the companies agreed to carry out the guru's plan.
In a series of documentary-style flashbacks, narrated by the same unseen narrator, we see how Misha used his natural marketing savvy to rise from a poor clerk to a marketing exec. Misha's big break came when he met Bob, an American hired to spread Western brands and businesses in post-Communist Russia. In the present, Bob discovers Abby's relationship with Misha and is furious.
Misha is hired to do marketing for a new reality TV show, "Extreme Cosmetica," in which an overweight girl will undergo extensive plastic surgery to become skinny and beautiful. Everything goes wrong when, after the first operation, the girl falls into a coma. The public turns against the show and the glorification of skinny bodytypes in general, and Misha, as the show's marketer, becomes the scapegoat. He is swarmed by protesters, beaten by police and arrested. When he is released from jail, he angrily confronts his former partner Bob, saying that he's realized the truth: the show and the coma was all orchestrated in order to induce Abby and Misha to split up. Bob denies it ("it would take millions of dollars to manipulate public opinion that way, and it would take the greatest assassin in the world to fake the operation to put that girl in a coma!") Later, at a bar, they get in a fight, and then, Bob has a heart attack.
Full of guilt from the "Extreme Cosmetica" girl's fate, Misha realizes that "his marketing powers are a curse" (as explained by the narrator) and he leaves Moscow and withdraws from modern society. Six years later, Abby tracks him down to a rural community where Misha is living the simple life as a cowherd. While Abby is visiting him, Misha has a strange dream. In a dreamlike state, he performs the Red Heifer ritual, sacrificing a red cow and bathing in its ashes. When he wakes up from the ritual cleansing, he discovers to his horror that he has developed the ability to see strange eel- or blob-like creatures which cling to people's necks and appear to be the embodiment of marketing brand desires.
Abby takes Misha to her apartment in Moscow where she reveals that she is rich (due to an inheritance from Bob) and that they have a six-year-old son. In the intervening six years, the "fat is fabulous" campaign has changed society, everyone is overweight and images of fat people are used in advertising everywhere. Their son is also overweight and loves "The Burger" and other junk-food brands. Distressed by his grotesque visions no one else can see and disgusted by the rampant commercialism around him, Misha impulsively trashes Abby's apartment. Frightened by his behavior, Abby leaves Misha and takes their son with her.
Misha develops a plan to fight back against the branding-creatures using their own methods. Going back to his old company, he accepts a job to do marketing for Dim Song, a vegetarian Chinese restaurant chain. At the meeting with the executives, he perceives tentacles growing out of their necks connecting them to the collective Dim Song corporate-branding entity. Using dialogue which parallels Pascal's speech to the fast food executives earlier in the movie, he promises to fix Dim Song's problems. Misha's solution is to cause a fake anti-beef scare (using the public's fear of a mysterious virus similar to Bovine spongiform encephalopathy a.k.a Mad cow disease) which will frighten people from eating meat, thus turning them towards vegetarian food.
The anti-beef scare works, and burger sales drop precipitously. From the rooftop of a building, Misha watches a dragon-like entity hatch from an egg on top of the Dim Song building and fly towards The Burger restaurant, ripping apart and killing The Burger's corporate embodiment. Misha predicts that The Burger will go bankrupt within a week, and his prediction comes true. Back on the Polynesian island, the marketing guru tells the distressed fast food executives that they are in trouble, but there is still a way to save their brands. Before he can tell them his new plan, however, he is vaporized by a bolt of lightning.
Misha continues his plan to destroy the world's major brands by using fear-based marketing to make customers afraid of them one by one. In a CG sequence, the brand creatures fly over the city attacking and killing one another: "Yepple" killing "GiantSoft", etc. Public opinion turns against marketing in general, and the Russian parliament considers a bill banning all advertising. Depressed and alone in his corporate office, Misha leaves a message on Abby's cellphone, asking her for forgiveness. At that very moment, Abby shows up. Suddenly, the building is raided by anti-advertising protesters, who smash through the doors and assault the employees. Misha is struck down while he and Abby try to escape. At that moment, an emergency broadcast plays on TV, saying that Russia and the other nations of the world have agreed to ban all advertising. The protesters stop their rampage, but Misha is already lying on the floor, bleeding from a head wound.
Some time later, all advertising has been banned, the Moscow skyline is free of billboards, and bulldozers are crushing old advertising materials in the dump. In the hospital, Misha has awakened with a bandage on his head, and is playing with Abby and his son. In another room in the same hospital, the "Extreme Cosmetica" girl awakens from her coma and wanders out into the advertising-free city streets. The voice-over narrator explains that thanks to Misha, the world was changed forever. The camera pans up into the night sky and reveals that the narrator is the cow constellation that young Misha saw at the beginning of the movie.
Angelina (Hinshaw) is an 18-year-old girl not far from graduating from high school. Her boyfriend (Weston) suggests that she take naked pictures of herself and sell them. She is initially hesitant, but does the photo shoot and uses the money to run away to San Francisco with her best friend Andrew (Patel). At a strip club party in the city, Angelina meets a wealthy lawyer, Francis (Franco) who offers to introduce her to a glamorous world of expensive dresses and lavish parties. Angelina also meets Margaret (Graham), a former porn star turned adult film director. Margaret offers Angelina, now using the porn name Cherry, direction in her entry into the San Francisco porn industry. Angelina makes several soft pornography films before deciding to do a hardcore film. After Angelina shoots the film, an angry Francis chastises her before getting them in a car accident. Angelina returns home to find Andrew watching one of her films. After an argument, she decides to leave and meets Margaret at a bar. They kiss before returning to Margaret's apartment. The final scene is of Angelina some time afterward, having moved in with Margaret and taken on a new job as a porn director.'
The film's name came from a portmanteau of the words "Detroit" and "utopia", and was inspired by an abandoned auto parts store, where the letter "A" in "AUTO" and the letters "R", "T", and "S" in "PARTS" were missing from the store's sign. The letter "I" had been painted into the appropriate part of the store front to make the sign read "UTO PIA".
The film does not feature any narration or spoken comments from the filmmakers. Instead, it primarily follows three residents of Detroit in various situations around the city, circa 2010. Interspersed is contemporary footage of different areas of Detroit shot by the filmmakers, and clips of historic footage. Segments of performances at the Detroit Opera House are incorporated as well.
The three Detroiters who are profiled are video blogger Crystal Starr, nightclub owner Tommy Stephens, and United Auto Workers local President George McGregor, each of whom reflect on their own experiences and share their observations about the city, its problems, and its opportunities. Also featured are portions of MayorDave Bing's discussions with city officials and residents about the possibility of geographically consolidating Detroit residents as a cost-saving measure. A group of artists, mostly newcomers to Detroit, are shown as well, particularly Steve and Dorota Coy. The Coys, who are performance artists, are featured on the poster and DVD cover for the film.
Locations that are shown or commented on include the Detroit/Hamtramck Assembly, where the Chevy Volt is assembled; the defunct Detroit Cadillac facility; and the abandoned Michigan Central Station.
The Intouchables (French: Intouchables[ɛ̃tuʃabl], UK: Untouchable) is a 2011 French comedy-drama film directed by Olivier Nakache and Éric Toledano. It stars François Cluzet and Omar Sy. Nine weeks after its release in France on 2 November 2011, it became the second biggest box office hit in France, just behind the 2008 film Welcome to the Sticks. The film was voted the cultural event of 2011 in France with 52% of votes in a poll by Fnac. The film has received several award nominations. In France, the film was nominated for eight César Awards and earned Omar Sy the César Award for Best Actor.
At night in Paris, Driss (Sy) is driving Philippe's (Cluzet) Maserati Quattroporte at high speed. They are soon chased by the police: when they are caught, Driss, unfazed, doubles his bet with Philippe, convinced they can get an escort. In order to get away with his speeding, Driss claims the quadriplegic Philippe must be urgently driven to the emergency room; Philippe pretends to have a stroke and the fooled police officers eventually escort them to the hospital. As the police leave them at the hospital, Philippe asks what will they do now, to which Driss answers: "Now let me take care of it." as they drive off.
The story of the two men is then told as a flashback.
Philippe, a rich quadriplegic who owns a luxurious Parisian mansion, and his assistant Magalie, are interviewing candidates to be his live-in carer. Driss, a candidate, has no ambitions to get hired. He is just there to get a signature showing he was interviewed and rejected in order to continue to receive his welfare benefits. He is extremely casual and shamelessly flirts with Magalie. He is told to come back the next morning to get his signed letter. Driss goes back to the tiny flat that he shares with his extended family in a bleak Parisian suburb. His aunt, exasperated from not hearing from him for six months, orders him to leave the flat.
The next day, Driss returns to Philippe's mansion and learns to his surprise that he is on a trial period for the live-in carer job. He learns the extent of Philippe's disability and then accompanies Philippe in every moment of his life, discovering with astonishment a completely different lifestyle. A friend of Philippe's reveals Driss's criminal record which includes six months in jail for robbery. Philippe states he does not care about Driss's past because he is the only one that does not treat him with pity or compassion, but as an equal. He says he will not fire him as long as he does his current job properly.
Over time, Driss and Philippe become closer. Driss dutifully takes care of his boss, who frequently suffers from phantom pain. Philippe discloses to Driss that he became disabled following a paragliding accident and that his wife died without bearing children. Gradually, Philippe is led by Driss to put some order in his private life, including being more strict with his adopted daughter Elisa, who behaves like a spoiled child with the staff. Driss discovers modern art, opera, and art, and even takes up painting.
For Philippe's birthday, a private concert of classical music is performed in his living room. At first very reluctant, Driss is led by Philippe to listen more carefully to the music and opens up to Philippe's music. Driss then plays the music he likes to Philippe (Boogie Wonderland, by Earth, Wind & Fire), which opens up everybody in the room to dance.
Driss discovers that Philippe has a purely epistolary relationship with a woman called Eleonore, who lives in Dunkirk. Driss encourages him to meet her but Philippe fears her reaction when she discovers his disability. Driss eventually convinces Philippe to talk to Eleonore on the phone. Philippe agrees with Driss to send a photo of him in a wheelchair to her, but he hesitates and asks his aide, Yvonne, to send a picture of him as he was before his accident. A date between Eleonore and Philippe is agreed. At the last minute Philippe is too scared to meet Eleonore and leaves with Yvonne before Eleonore arrives. Philippe then calls Driss and invites him to travel with him in his private jet for a paragliding weekend. Philippe gives Driss an envelope containing 11,000 euros, the amount he was able to get for Driss's painting, which he sold to one of his friends by saying it was from an up-and-coming artist.
Adama, Driss's younger cousin, who is in trouble with a gang, takes refuge in Philippe's mansion. Driss opens up to Philippe about his family and his past in Senegal, where his then-childless aunt and uncle adopted him from his real parents, and brought him back to France. His adoptive parents later began having children of their own, his uncle died and his aunt bore still more children. Philippe recognizes Driss's need to be supportive to his family and releases him from his job, suggesting he "may not want to push a wheelchair all his life".
Driss returns to his suburbs, joining his friends, and manages to help his younger cousin. Due to his new professional experience, he lands a job in a transport company. In the meantime Philippe has hired carers to replace Driss, but he isn't happy with any of them. His morale is very low and he stops taking care of himself. Yvonne becomes worried and contacts Driss, who arrives and decides to drive Philippe in the Maserati, which brings the story back to the first scene of the film, the police chase. After they have eluded the police, Driss takes Philippe straight to the seaside. Upon shaving and dressing elegantly, Philippe and Driss arrive at a Cabourg restaurant with a great ocean view. Driss suddenly leaves the table and says good luck to Philippe for his lunch date. Philippe does not understand, but a few seconds later, Eleonore arrives. Emotionally touched, Philippe looks through the window and sees Driss outside, smiling at him. Driss bids Philippe farewell and walks away.
It opened the 62nd Berlin International Film Festival in February 2012 and has subsequently been screened at other festivals. Its release date was 21 March 2012 in France.
1789, at the eve of the Revolution, the court at the Palace of Versailles still live their routines, relatively unconcerned by the increasing turmoil in Paris a distance away. The routines are seen through the eyes of the young Sidonie Laborde, who serves Queen Marie Antoinette.
When news about the storming of the Bastille reaches the Court, most aristocrats and servants desert the Palace, fearing that the government is falling. They abandon the Royal Family. But Sidonie Laborde, a young servant who is the Queen's reader, has a crush on her and refuses to flee. She feels secure under the protection of the Royal Family. She does not know these are the last three days she will spend by the Queen's side.
Like both those films, Frankenweenie is in black and white. It is also the fourth stop-motion film produced by Burton and the first of those four that isn't a musical. In the film, a boy named Victor loses his dog, named Sparky, and uses the power of science to resurrect him.
Frankenweenie, the first black-and-white feature film and the first stop-motion film to be released in IMAX 3D, was released by Walt Disney Pictures on October 5, 2012 and met with positive reviews and moderate box office sales. The film was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Animated Feature Film and has received nominations for a BAFTA and an Academy Award for Best Film in each respective animated category.
Young filmmaker and scientist Victor Frankenstein (Charlie Tahan) lives with his parents, Ben and Susan Frankenstein (Martin Short and Catherine O'Hara) and dog Sparky in the quiet town of New Holland. Victor's intelligence is recognized by his classmates at school, his somber next-door neighbor, Elsa Van Helsing (Winona Ryder), mischievous, igor-like Edgar "E" Gore (Atticus Shaffer), obese and gullible Bob (Robert Capron), overconfident Toshiaki (James Hiroyuki Liao), creepy Nassor (also Short), and an eccentric girl nicknamed Weird Girl (also O'Hara), but communicates little with them due to his relationship with his dog. Concerned with his son's isolation, Victor's father encourages him to take up baseball and make achievements outside of science. Victor hits a home run at his first game, but Sparky, pursuing the ball, is killed by a car.
Inspired by his science teacher Mr. Rzykruski's (Martin Landau) demonstration of the effect of electricity on dead frogs, a depressed Victor digs up Sparky's corpse, brings him to his makeshift laboratory in the attic, and successfully reanimates him with lightning. Seeing Weird Girl's living cat, Mr. Whiskers, the undead Sparky escapes from the attic and explores the neighborhood. He is recognized by Edgar, who blackmails Victor into teaching him how to raise the dead. The two reanimate a dead goldfish, which turns invisible due to an error with the experiment. Edgar brags about the undead fish to Toshiaki and Bob, which, in panic of losing the upcoming science fair, inspires them to make a rocket out of soda bottles, which causes Bob to injure his arm and Mr. Rzykruski to be blamed and fired due to his accused influencing and reviling the townsfolk for questioning his methods when he steps up for self-defence.
Eventually, Edgar's fish demolishes when he tries to show it to a skeptical Nassor (who was told by Toshiaki) and when Edgar is confronted by Toshiaki, Nassor, and Bob on the baseball field at school, he reveals Victor's actions, inspiring them to try reanimation themselves. Victor's parents discover Sparky in the attic and are frightened, causing the dog to flee. Victor and his parents search for Sparky while the classmates invade the lab, discovering Victor's reanimation formula. The classmates separately perform their experiments, which go awry and turn the dead animals into monsters—Mr. Whiskers holds a dead bat while it is electrocuted, turning him into a vampire cat; Edgar turns a dead rat he found in the garbage into a wererat; Nassor revives his mummified hamster Colossus; Toshiaki's turtle Shelley is covered in a growth formula and turns into a giant Gamera-like monster; and Bob's Sea-Monkeys grow into amphibious humanoid monsters. The monsters break loose into the town fair where they wreak havoc.
After finding Sparky at the town's pet cemetery, Victor sees the monsters attacking the fair and goes to help his classmates deal with them—-the Sea-Monkeys explode after eating salt-covered popcorn, and Colossus is stepped on by Shelley, while the rat and Shelley are returned to their original, deceased forms after being electrocuted. During the chaos, the town's mayor's niece Elsa van Helsing is grabbed by Mr. Whiskers and carried to the town windmill. The townsfolks blame Sparky for her disappearance and chase him to the windmill, which Mayor Bergermeister (also Short) accidentally ignites with his torch. Victor and Sparky enter the burning windmill and rescue Elsa, but Victor is trapped inside. Sparky rescues Victor, only to be dragged back inside by Mr. Whiskers. A final confrontation ensues, and just as Mr. Whiskers has Sparky cornered, a flaming piece of wood breaks off and impales him. The windmill collapses on Sparky, killing him again. To reward him for his bravery, the townsfolk gather to revive Sparky with their car batteries, reanimating him once more. Persephone, Elsa's pet poodle, who has a hair style similar to the Elsa Lanchester's Bride of Frankenstein, comes to Sparky as the two dogs share their love.
A former getaway driver abandons his Witness Protection Program identity in order to help his girlfriend get a job interview in Los Angeles. His former crew (which includes his ex-girlfriend), his girlfriend's ex-boyfriend, the inept United States Marshal assigned to him, and the law head off in pursuit.
Dredd is a 2012 British-South African science fictionaction film directed by Pete Travis and written and produced by Alex Garland. It is based on the British comic 2000 AD comic strip Judge Dredd and its eponymous character created by John Wagner and Carlos Ezquerra. Karl Urban stars as Judge Dredd, a law enforcer given the power of judge, jury and executioner in a vast, dystopian metropolis called Mega-City One that lies in a post-apocalyptic wasteland. Dredd and his inexperienced sidekick, Judge Anderson (Olivia Thirlby), are forced to bring order to a 200-storey high-rise block of flats and deal with its resident drug lord, Ma-Ma (Lena Headey).
Garland began writing the script in 2006, although the development of a new Judge Dredd film adaptation, that would be unrelated to the 1995 film Judge Dredd, was not announced until December 2008. Principal photography, using 3D cameras throughout on practical sets and locations in Cape Town and Johannesburg, began in November 2010.
Dredd was released on 7 September 2012 in the United Kingdom and on 21 September 2012 worldwide. Critics were generally positive about the film's visual effects, casting and action, while criticism focused on a perceived lack of the satirical elements that are found in the source comic and on excessive violence. Despite the positive critical response, the film earned just over $36 million on an estimated budget of $45 million.
The future United States is an irradiated wasteland known as the Cursed Earth. On the east coast lies Mega-City One, a violent metropolis with 800 million residents and 17,000 crimes reported daily. There, an addictive new drug called "Slo-Mo" has been introduced, which slows the user's perception of time to 1% of normal. The only force for order are the Judges, who act as judge, jury and executioner. Judge Dredd is tasked by the Chief Judge with evaluating new recruit Cassandra Anderson, a powerful psychic who failed the aptitude tests to be a Judge.
In Peach Trees, a 200-storey slum tower block, drug lord Madeline Madrigal, also known as "Ma-Ma", executes three rogue drug dealers by having them skinned, infused with Slo-Mo and thrown down the atrium from the top floor. Dredd and Anderson are sent in to investigate and learn of a drug den, which they raid. They arrest a thug named Kay, whom Anderson's mind probe reveals to be the one who carried out the drug dealers' execution. Dredd decides to take him in for questioning. In response, Ma-Ma's forces seize the tower's security control room and seal the building, using its blast shields under the pretence of a security test, preventing the Judges from leaving or summoning help.
Ma-Ma orders Dredd and Anderson killed, and the Judges fight their way through dozens of armed thugs. Arriving at the 76th floor, the Judges are assaulted by Ma-Ma and her men with Vulcan cannons that rip through the walls, killing numerous residents. By breaching a damaged outer wall, the Judges become able to call for backup. Meanwhile, Ma-Ma sends her henchman Caleb to confirm the Judges' deaths, but when they meet, Dredd throws Caleb off the tower in full view of Ma-Ma.
Dredd suspects Ma-Ma is desperate to keep Kay quiet and beats him for information. Anderson intervenes and uses her psychic abilities to read Kay's mind, learning that Peach Trees is the centre of Slo-Mo production and distribution. Anderson suggests they hide while awaiting assistance but Dredd insists they move up the tower and pursue Ma-Ma. Judges Volt and Guthrie respond to Dredd's call, but Ma-Ma's computer expert denies them entry by persuading them the call is part of the security drill. A pair of armed teens confront Dredd and Anderson, allowing Kay to disarm and overtake Anderson. Kay then escapes with her as hostage, and brings her to Ma-Ma's base on the top floor.
While Dredd works his way towards Ma-Ma, she calls in the corrupt Judges Lex, Kaplan, Chan and Alvarez. The four relieve Volt and Guthrie from duty and are allowed into the building. Dredd encounters Chan and is suspicious that he does not ask about Anderson's status. Seeing his cover blown, Chan attacks Dredd, who kills him. Meanwhile, Kay tries to execute Anderson with her own weapon, but the pistol's DNA scanner does not recognize him and blows his arm off. Anderson escapes and later encounters Kaplan, whom she promptly kills after reading her mind. Elsewhere, Dredd kills Alvarez but runs out of ammunition, and is shot by Lex in the abdomen. Lex moves in to execute Dredd, but Dredd stalls him long enough for Anderson to arrive and kill Lex.
Anderson and Dredd obtain the code to Ma-Ma's apartment from her computer expert and confront her. Ma-Ma tells Dredd that in the case of her death, a device on her wrist will detonate explosives on the top floors, destroying the building. Dredd reasons that the detonator's signal will not reach the explosives from the ground floor, so he forces Ma-Ma to inhale Slo-Mo and throws her down the atrium to her death.
In the aftermath, Anderson accepts that she has failed her evaluation by getting disarmed, and leaves. The Chief Judge asks Dredd about Anderson's performance; he responds that she has passed.
The movie opens with a scene from the point-of-view of a psychotic killer in a night-dress, killing first their mother and then father with a hammer in the middle of a stormy night. The events are blurred and warped as if the killer is deranged or drugged.
Four years later, a newly divorced woman, Sarah (Elisabeth Shue), and her daughter Elissa (Jennifer Lawrence) find the house of their dreams in a small upscale town. But when startling events begin to happen, Sarah and Elissa learn the town is in the shadows of a chilling secret. As told by the neighbors: months earlier, in the house next door, a girl named Carrie-Ann killed her parents in their beds and disappeared, leaving only a brother, Ryan (Max Thieriot), as the sole survivor. Carrie-Ann ran into the woods after the double murder, and, though her body was never found, it was believed that she drowned. Ryan now lives alone in the house; the neighborhood hates him because his house drives down their property values. They want to purchase his house and demolish it, but Ryan won't sell. Weaver (Gil Bellows), a local police officer, appears to be Ryan's only supporter.
Against the wishes of Sarah, Elissa and Ryan begin a relationship. He tells her that he accidentally injured Carrie-Ann while they were swinging one day, giving her brain damage and making her extremely aggressive. For his safety, Ryan was sent away to take care of a sickly aunt and did not return home until after the murders. It is revealed to the viewer that Ryan has secretly been taking care of a woman who appears to be Carrie-Ann in a hidden room. Carrie-Ann escapes the room on two occasions and appears to attempt to attack Elissa. During the second escape attempt, Ryan accidentally kills Carrie-Ann while trying to hide her from some students. In his grief, he visits a diner where a student waitress attempts to comfort him.
While visiting Elissa’s battle of the bands, several high school students vandalize Ryan’s car and attack him. In defense, Ryan breaks Tyler's (Nolan Gerard Funk) ankle and runs home. The remaining students decide to burn his house down. Elissa stops the fire but, while inside, finds Ryan's secret room. She is attacked by Carrie-Ann as Ryan arrives home. At this moment, it is revealed that the current Carrie-Ann is actually the student from the diner, held captive and made to look like Carrie-Ann.
In order to keep Carrie-Ann secret, Ryan knocks Elissa out and ties her to a chair. He reveals that Carrie-Ann actually died during the swing accident but that he still needed Carrie-Ann in his life. It is also revealed that when the accident happened, Weaver was in a three-way drug session with Ryan and Carrie-Ann's parents. Ryan's father informs Weaver that he is now a "witness" to what happened and indirectly tells Weaver to "take care" of Ryan, which is why Weaver appears very sympathetic to Ryan compared to the townspeople. He knocks out the student and says he will make Elissa his new Carrie-Ann. It becomes apparent that the first "Carrie-Ann" rather was another victim attempting to escape from Ryan. When Weaver arrives, Ryan says Elissa isn't there, but Weaver hears her phone ring inside. In a scuffle with Ryan, Weaver is stabbed to death. Elissa escapes but is chloroformed by Ryan and thrown into the trunk of his car. When she awakes, she finds the second "Carrie-Ann" (from the diner) in the trunk and escapes. Sarah arrives at the house and hears Elissa's screams, but is stabbed by Ryan. During a struggle, Ryan is shot several times by Elissa using Weaver's gun and is then knocked out by Sarah.
Elissa and Sarah move out, and Ryan is shown in a mental hospital. To explain how he became disturbed, a flashback reveals that after the death of Carrie-Ann, Ryan's parents forced him to act as Carrie-Ann and abused him if he refused. This final twist provides the explanation for why we saw a long haired person in a night-dress kill the parents at the start: Ryan was in fact the killer we saw at the beginning, dressed as Carrie-Ann.
Sandra (Ann Dowd), a manager of a fast-food restaurant in the ChickWich chain, receives a phone call from a prank caller referring to himself as officer Daniels (Pat Healy). Claiming to have spoken with the regional manager, he states that the police received a complaint that an employee of the restaurant had stolen money from a customer’s purse that day. Daniels explains that he is preoccupied with the search of the suspected thief’s home and that Sandra would have to detain and question the staff member about the theft. With Daniels on the phone, Sandra agrees to help and summons Becky (Dreama Walker), who fits the caller’s description of the perpetrator.
Becky denies committing any theft, but complies with Sandra and Daniels when she is escorted into an office in the rear of the restaurant. The caller asks a series of questions and instructs Sandra to search Becky's pockets and purse for the stolen cash. When the money is not found, Daniels then orders Sandra to conduct a strip search, claiming that the alternative would be Becky going to jail while the larger investigation at Becky's home is being undertaken. When Becky is alone, the caller implies that her brother could also face separate charges if Becky does not comply calmly with the strip search. After she has stripped, the humiliated Becky is covered only by an apron. Daniels tells Sandra to put the clothing into a bag and take it to her car for later inspection by the police. He initially claims that clothes can sometimes have imperceptible pockets, but when Sandra is perplexed by his order, he states that the larger investigation involves possession of marijuana, and that the clothing may contain faint traces of it which would aid the case.
Sandra explains to Daniels that she must resume managing the restaurant during the busy work day, and the caller instructs her to leave Becky under the watch of a male employee for “security reasons”. Sandra enlists Kevin (Philip Ettinger) for the task, but he protests the caller's orders to inspect Becky and refuses to be involved. Eventually Sandra brings in her fiancé Van (Bill Camp) to watch over Becky. Through Daniels' demands, Becky is ordered to remove the apron and perform jumping jacks nude for Van, under the pretense that contraband may be concealed in her body. When Sandra briefly visits the room, Becky attempts to plead with her about the ordeal. As punishment for this "disobedient" plea, the caller orders Becky to subject to a spanking by Van and to perform oral sex on him. After Van leaves with guilt, Daniels asks for another male to take his place. The custodian Harold is called in and is outraged by the caller's orders. When Harold tells Sandra the caller's intentions, she phones the regional manager and realizes that Daniels' call is a scam.
The police eventually arrive and escort Becky out as well as investigating for evidence. A detective from another location eventually arrests the caller from his office after similar incidents were reported from the same man, who is revealed to be a telemarketer and a family man. Becky wants to file a civil suit against Sandra, but her lawyer suggests an option to sue the national corporation of ChickWich. Sandra, who is now unemployed, ends her engagement with Van after the incident and is later interviewed by a journalist on the incident, but does not answer all questions because her lawyer is present.
The film ends with a message stating over 70 similar incidents occurred in 30 U.S. States.
Scott Murphy is a good guy that helps everyone in his small town. He has planted soybeans in a place where everyone is growing corn. The bank is about to foreclose on his farm which will leave his family destitute. He thinks he can help them more with what appears to be an accident, but in fact will be a suicide. He then gets to re-live the few days leading up to his accident which hurt his leg for life and cost him his football scholarship and a life of wealth and football glory. He seems to realize that if he chooses fortune that he may lose his future wife and kids. Kurt Russell plays a solid coach mentor role.
The Brooklyn Brothers Beat The Best is a 2011 independent comedy film, written and directed by Ryan O'Nan and starring Ryan O'Nan, Michael Weston and Arielle Kebbel. The story focuses on a failing musician named Alex, who joins an eccentric musician and a beautiful con artist on a tour across the United States. The film debuted at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2011.
The film opens with Alex (O'Nan), performing at a club with another artist. The performance goes badly, and Alex is kicked out of the partnership on account of his depressing lyrics. The next day, Alex arrives late at work much to the scrutiny of his boss and co-worker. He tries to leave early to go to a gig, although his boss refuses to let him go, and his co-worker taunts him about it. This prompts Alex to assault him and he is fired immediately afterwards.
Now out of work, Alex goes to his gig, which is at a school and involves him playing guitar for a group of mentally handicapped adults while dressed in a pink moose outfit. The gig goes well at first with the group getting up to dance while he plays, although one of them latter attacks him with a fake knife, prompting Alex to punch him. He is kicked out of the school, and wanders into a park where he meets a man named Jim (Weston) who recognizes him from the failed performance the night before.
After initially trying to chase him off, Jim knocks Alex unconscious and drags him back home where he proposes his idea of starting a band together, since he too was recently kicked out of a band. Alex, upset about being knocked out and abducted, chases Jim out of his apartment and later gets a call from his older brother Brian (Andrew McCarthy) Brian suggests that Alex stay at his place for a while to get his life back together, and Alex initially agrees, although later changes his mind and returns to Jim, agreeing to travel with him.
After borrowing Jim's Grandpa's car, the two begin writing music on the way to the first gig later that night, and arrive only to discover that Jim isn't technically booked at the club he wants to perform at. They meet with Cassidy (Kebbel), who works as a manager for the club and agrees to book them after taking an interest in Alex. That night, Alex and Jim perform together and are a huge success. They spend the night at Cassidy's place and in the morning, she insists on joining them on their tour.
Alex reluctantly brings her along, and she creates merchandise to sell during the shows. At the next gig, the band is greeted with star treatment and a top notch dressing room with complimentary wine and snacks. When Alex asks Jim how he managed to get a dressing room like that, Jim admits that he told the manager that Scott Weiland from the Stone Temple Pilots was fronting them.
Shortly before the gig, the manager confronts Jim about Weilands absence and Jim tells him that Weiland on a bender, and can't make the show. He convinces the manager that the story is true, and lies well enough to bring him to tears. The band doesn't get to perform but sells most of their merch and Cassidy steals a bottle of wine. After Jim falls asleep, Alex and Cassidy share the bottle and chat, although Alex becomes agitated when Cassidy reveals that she read the letter he writes to himself (the purpose of which is never fully explained).
The band continues its travels, eventually taking a gig in an unusual frat house. After the gig, Cassidy and Alex have sex, and Alex wakes up in the morning to discover that Cassidy has taken all their money and left. With little gas, Alex and Jim are unable to arrive at their next gig, and are stranded in a small town, unable to raise any money. Alex gives up and leaves, traveling to his brother's house.
Brian and his family, all born again Christians, are happy to accept Alex back home. He rooms with his nephew Jackson (Jake Miller), and teaches him a little of how to play guitar. The next day, Jackson expresses an interest in taking a music course, much to Brian's dismay. Alex tries to convince Brian to support Jackson's decision but Brian chastizes Alex for being a bad influence on his son. Alex deciding he is no longer welcome, gets ready to leave and as he is saying his goodbye to Jackson, he sees Cassidy walking down the street towards him. Cassidy explains that she returned the money, and that Jim's grandfather has died. When Alex asks where Jim has gone, Cassidy tells him where the club is, and Alex asks Brian to drive him. Brian reluctantly agrees to do so and they arrive to see Jim being thrown out. He reconciles with Jim, and the two perform outside the club.
As they drive away to continue their tour, now with Cassidy rejoining them. Cassidy promises to repay Alex and Jim, and during the final moments of the film, passionately kisses Alex.
Friends Will McKenzie, Simon Cooper, Jay Cartwright and Neil Sutherland have finished their A-levels and are about to leave Rudge Park Comprehensive, much to the relief of Mr. Gilbert, their sardonic, mean sixth form tutor. Within their final week of school however, Jay's grandfather dies, Simon is dumped by his girlfriend Carli, and Will's divorced father tells him he has married his much younger mistress. The boys decide to go on holiday together and Neil books them on a trip to Malia, Crete.
Their accommodation in Malia is awful, confusing Neil as it apparently looked different on the booking process. On the way to the bars, the boys encounter a strange youngster named Richard (Theo Barklem-Biggs) who came alone to Malia for a holiday. While walking past the bars, the boys are tricked into entering a bar which is really empty but meet four girls; Alison, Lucy, Lisa and Jane. Their initial meeting goes less than smoothly as Will chats to Alison and pokes fun at her clichéd "Greek waiter boyfriend", Simon bores Lucy talking about Carli, Neil has a non-conversation with Lisa, and Jay gets stuck with the bubbly and overweight Jane. The girls go on their way after Neil seduces two older women, but arrange to meet the boys the next day.
Outside the bar, Simon sees Carli across the street; this is because Neil asked Carli where she was going on holiday and absentmindedly booked the same place. Simon then angrily tells Neil that the point of the holiday was to take his mind off Carli, but decides to go and speak to her. He talks awkwardly with her before being knocked down by a quad-bike ridden by James, an abusive club rep and Carli's new boyfriend. Carli reveals she is going to an all-day boat party later in the week, and Simon pledges to meet her there.
The next morning, Will and Simon awaken to the sound of Neil having sex with a middle-aged woman and find Jay sleeping face-down in an ants' nest outside. After sobering up, they go to meet the girls by their hotel pool. While there, a little boy pushes Jay into the pool and later pulls Jay's shorts down, after which Jay throws him into the pool in retaliation, only to find out that the boy did not lie when he said he can not swim. The boy is rescued by other hotel patrons. At the same time, a man shows up who had reserved poolside sun-loungers by putting towels on them, and is angry because the boys have thrown the towels in the pool and taken the chairs for themselves. The staff then ask the boys to leave. Will tries to convince the staff to let him have the seats and points out that the man's daughter, who is in a wheelchair, does not even need another chair. Having publicly humiliated themselves, the boys are quickly ejected from the hotel.
Outside, Jay argues with Simon over his continuing obsession with Carli and they fight in the street. Will and Neil separate the pair and drag off Simon and Jay, respectively, in different directions. Desperate to buy a ticket for the boat party, Simon sells his clothes to James, including what he is wearing, but never gets paid for them and is left naked. Meanwhile, Jay angrily tears up two of the four boat party tickets he secretly bought for all of them as a surprise. He and Neil then go to a nightclub later that night hoping to meet more girls, only to witness a male stripper performing autofellatio on stage. The duo subsequently run into James and his friends, during which James threatens to injure Jay if they don't leave.
Later that evening, the four boys meet back at the bar and bury the hatchet. Before long, the girls turn up and suggest that they all go skinny dipping at the local beach. Jane attempts to kiss Jay, but when two men poke fun at him over her weight and Jay pulls away, she leaves him behind. Will has better luck with Alison until she spots her boyfriend Nicos having sex with another woman, and leaves crying. Lucy and Simon appear to be growing closer until he sees Carli on the beach and leaves Lucy alone in the sea. Will contemplates suicide in the hotel pool, but Neil cheers him up and the boys go out partying.
Eventually, they are able to obtain tickets for the boat party and on board. Carli kisses Simon passionately in order to make James jealous, and Simon realises he is being used, and leaves Carli. Jay apologises to Jane, and she takes him into the toilets to perform oral sex. After finishing, they encounter James, who mocks Jane's weight and demands a banknote from Jay, so that he can snort drugs. Jay gives him a €20 note that had been concealed in his anus to be used as a bribe for 'corrupt foreign police' when necessary, resulting in James unknowingly walking around with faeces on the end of his nose. Neil bumps into Richard during the boat party and is introduced to Richard's parents (both senior citizens), who came over at Richard's request to pick him up. When Neil is about to kiss the mother as a polite gesture, Lisa rushes over and tells her to back off, as she thinks Neil is trying to make moves on her like he did with the other older women at the bar. After Neil tells Lisa that his girlfriend back home dumped him, and he did not want to tell the others to save on being embarrassed, they feel no longer limited in the kind of sex they have.
Meanwhile, Alison hunts out Will and asks to be his girlfriend, which he eagerly accepts. Simon finally sees that Lucy, who gave him her ticket so that he could attend the party, is more worthy of his attention than Carli. Knowing that he has been less than kind to her, and encouraged by everyone on the boat, he decides to swim all the way to shore to tell her how he feels, as a grand romantic gesture, and dives into the sea. However, he nearly drowns and has to be airlifted to shore. As paramedics load him into an ambulance, a concerned Lucy rushes forward and kisses him, and they reconcile whilst Simon tells her 'It's normally bigger, it's just cold'.
After the boat party is over, the other boys and girls visit Simon in hospital, and once he recovers they all spend the rest of their holiday together as couples. Eventually, the four boys head home to the UK. As they meet their families at the airport, their girlfriends exit the same terminal and introduce themselves to the boys' parents as the film ends. Neil and Lisa quickly rush from the airport when Nicole is also waiting for him at the airport (Neil had lied about Nicole dumping him during the boat party). In a final scene before the credits, a drunken Mr. Gilbert is seen riding a quad bike through the streets of Malia in his underwear with a tie round his head in a John Rambo style.
