From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Bodyguards and Assassins (十月圍城) is a 2009 Hong Kong/Chinese action/drama film featuring an all-star cast including Donnie Yen, Leon Lai and Nicholas Tse.

It tells the story of a group of bodyguards protecting Sun Yat-sen (1866-1925) from assassins in 1905 Hong Kong.

Cast

• Donnie Yen as the Gambler
• Wang Xueqi as the Tycoon
• Leon Lai as the Beggar
• Tony Leung Ka-Fai as the Revolutionary
• Nicholas Tse as the Rickshaw Man
• Hu Jun as the Assassin
• Li Yuchun as the Entertainer
• Eric Tsang as the Policeman
• Fan Bingbing as the Concubine
• Cung Le as the Henchman
• Zhou Yun as the Fiancee
• Mengke Bateer as the Hawker
• Wang Po-Chieh as the Heir
• Simon Yam as the Fugitive

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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Sorority Row is a 2009 American horror film. Directed by Stewart Hendler, the film stars Briana Evigan, Leah Pipes, Rumer Willis, Jamie Chung, Margo Harshman, Audrina Patridge, and Carrie Fisher. Produced by Summit Entertainment and written by Josh Stolberg and Pete Goldfinger. The film is a remake of the 1983 slasher film The House on Sorority Row.

Plot

Run by Mrs. Crenshaw, the college sorority Theta Pi is home to seniors and best friends Jessica, Cassidy, Ellie, Claire, Chugs and Megan who, despite Mrs. Crenshaw's best efforts, constantly throw wild parties. During one of these parties Megan discovers her boyfriend Garrett is cheating on her and with her friends help, decides to pull a prank on him as payback, faking her own death while making out with him. With help from the sisters, Garrett brings Megan out to a steel mill, intent on dropping her body down a mineshaft. After the sisters (jokingly) mention they need to release the air out of her lungs so her body won't rise to the top, Garrett stabs Megan with a Lug Wrench, actually killing her for real. Panicking, the group dumps Megan's body in the mineshaft, vowing never to speak of the events that transpired ever again.

Eight months later, during the party held after graduation, the girls all receive a picture sent to their phones: a hooded figure holding the bloody lug wrench Garrett used to kill Megan. As the girls become increasingly worried, Chugs reveals that after the incident, Garrett has been seeing a therapist and has developed a weird sense of humor. Jessica takes the lead and insists it is merely a prank by him and continue with the party. Megan's sister, Maggie, also arrives, wanting to honor her sister memory by attending the party. Later, Chugs leaves the party to go to her therapist appointment. While she is there, not knowing that her therapist was killed, she lies down and drinks champagne. As she tilts her head back to let the champagne flow down her throat the killer appears and shoves the bottle down her throat, before eventually slicing her throat with the Tool, which now has blades attached to the ends by the killer.

Later, a sorority girl named Joanna is killed by getting the tire iron shoved into her chin in the sorority shower after hearing about Megan's death. In the basement, Ellie finds Cassidy's blood-stained jacket (which the group had wrapped Megan's body in before dropping her into the mine) while Claire's boyfriend, Mickey, is murdered by getting the tire iron shoved into his head. The girls regroup and all receive a text message containing a clip of Megan's death and a message telling them to go to the mine shaft. Before leaving, Cassidy finds her boyfriend, Andy, and tells him to leave the party and that she'd meet up with him the next day. Driving to the shaft, the girls find Garrett. Thinking the obviously delusional Garrett is the one stalking them, Jessica runs over him when he tries to attack Cassidy with a mirror shard, discovering afterward Garrett has been receiving the same messages they have, proving he is not the killer.

After the girls return to the now empty sorority house, they receive a text message from Chugs's cell phone, telling them that she is dead. At the same time, Claire goes outside to turn off the broken hot tub filled with bubbles from the party. Suddenly, she realizes that someone in the bubbles is stalking her, and she runs back, only to find that the door is now jammed. While struggling to get into the house, Claire is dragged back into the massive amount of bubbles from the hot tub and shot in the mouth with her flare gun. Afterwards, Mrs. Crenshaw arrives. The girls confess to her at gunpoint that they are the ones responsible for Megan's death, and that the hooded killer is somewhere in the house. Mrs. Crenshaw tells the girls to lock themselves in a bedroom and to call the police while she searches for the killer. However, Mrs. Crenshaw is stabbed in the kitchen, leaving only Jessica, Cassidy, Ellie and Maggie.

While Maggie becomes trapped when the killer sets the house on fire with a Molotov cocktail, Cassidy and Jessica decide to check Mickey’s body for a cell phone to call for help (while Ellie hides upstairs) and run into Kyle, Jessica's boyfriend, who injures Jessica after getting into a fight with her. Cassidy and Jessica flee to an under-renovation bathroom where they find Megan's decaying corpse hanging in the shower. As Jessica checks the bathroom door, Kyle swings an axe through it, knocking her out. He catches Cassidy and tells her that Jessica told him they murdered Megan. He's then killed from behind by Andy, who turns out to be the real killer. Andy kills Jessica by stabbing her in the mouth with the tool before telling Cassidy that he just wanted to help her, killing everyone who knew about her involvement in Megan's death so they could never tell anyone else and reveal she was involved. Playing along with her mental boyfriend, Cassidy tells Andy that Ellie is in the basement, and while Andy goes to look for her, Cassidy fetches Ellie from upstairs and they try to run but are attacked by Andy. Telling Ellie to flee, Cassidy hits Andy with a lamp and tries to escape, but stops to help Maggie out of the burning house, allowing Andy to catch up and leave her dangling from a hole in the floor (while the fire is still active). As Andy prepares to finish Cassidy off, Ellie appears and blasts him with Mrs. Crenshaw's shotgun. He falls backward onto the burning floor, which collapses, plunging him into the fire-engulfed basement. With Andy dead, Ellie pulls Cassidy back up and the two save Maggie. The three girls escape from the burning sorority house, just as emergency personnel arrive onscene. (The song Emergency by Amiee Allen plays as the girls leave the house.)

Fifteen months later, Theta Pi is being renovated from the fire and Maggie is now a Theta sister. As the girls sing the Theta Pi song, a figure with a scarred wrist (Garrett) is seen holding a garden trowel.

Cast

• Briana Evigan ...Cassidy
• Leah Pipes ...Jessica
• Rumer Willis ...Ellie
• Jamie Chung ...Claire
• Audrina Patridge ...Megan Blair
• Julian Morris ...Andy
• Margo Harshman ...Chugs
• Carrie Fisher ...Mrs. Crenshaw
• Matt O'Leary ...Garrett
• Matt Lanter ...Kyle
• Caroline D' Amore ...Maggie Blair
• Maxx Hennard ...Mickey
• Nicole Moore ...Joanna
• Deja Kreutzberg ...Riley
• Ken Bolden ...Dr Rosenberg

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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Avatar is a 2009 American-British epic 3-D science fiction film written and directed by James Cameron, starring Sam Worthington, Zoë Saldaña, Sigourney Weaver and Stephen Lang. The film was produced by Lightstorm Entertainment and distributed by 20th Century Fox. It premiered in London on December 10, 2009 and was released in the United Kingdom on December 17, 2009, one day prior to its theatrical release in the United States.^[4]

The film focuses on an epic conflict on Pandora, an inhabited Earth-sized moon of Polyphemus, one of three fictional gas giants orbiting Alpha Centauri A. On Pandora, human colonists and the sentient humanoid indigenous inhabitants of Pandora, the Na'vi, engage in a war over the planet's resources and the latter's continued existence.^[5] The film's title refers to the remotely controlled, genetically engineered human-Na'vi bodies used by the film's human characters to interact with the natives.^[6]

Avatar had been in development since 1994 by Cameron, who wrote a 114-page scriptment for the film.^[7] Filming was supposed to take place after the completion of Titanic, and the film would have been released in 1999, but according to Cameron, "technology needed to catch up" with his vision of the film.^[8][9] In early 2006, Cameron developed the script, the language, and the culture of Pandora.^[10] He has stated that if Avatar is successful, two sequels to the film are planned.^[11]

The film was released in traditional 2D and 3D formats, along with an IMAX 3D release in selected theaters. Avatar is officially budgeted at $237 million^[2], but some estimates put the cost at as much as $310 million to produce and an estimated $150 million for marketing.^[12] The film is being touted as a breakthrough in terms of filmmaking technology, for its development of 3D viewing and stereoscopic filmmaking with cameras that were specially designed for the film's production.^[13] Opening to critical acclaim, it earned an estimated $27 million on its opening day and an estimated $73 million after three days. Worldwide, the film earned $232,180,000 in its opening weekend, the seventh largest opening-weekend gross of all time.^[3]

Plot

In AD 2154,^[14] a human corporation is engaged in the colonization of Pandora, the lush moon of Polyphemus, one of three gas giants that orbit Alpha Centauri A,^[14] 4.3 light years from Earth. The humans seek to exploit Pandora's reserves of a precious mineral called unobtainium.

Pandora is inhabited by an indigenous species of sentient humanoids called the Na'vi. Standing nine feet tall, with tails and sparkling blue skin, the Na'vi live in harmony with the natural world around them, and are considered primitive by human standards. Humans are unable to breathe the Pandoran atmosphere, and peaceful interaction with the Na'vi is difficult. Human researchers, led by Dr. Grace Augustine (Sigourney Weaver) created the Avatar Program, taking human and Na'vi DNA and using it to genetically engineer human-Na'vi hybrid bodies called Avatars.

A human who shares genetic material with the Avatar can be mentally linked to it, allowing them to control its functions and experience what it experiences, while their own body sleeps. The story's protagonist, Jake Sully (Sam Worthington), is a former U.S. Marine who was wounded and paralyzed from the waist down in combat on Earth. His twin brother Tommy was a scientist working on the Avatar program; but when he is killed, Jake is extended the opportunity to take his brother's place, as he shares Tommy's genetic material and is therefore compatible with his Avatar. However, Dr. Augustine is less than happy about Jake being there, as his brother had a doctorate and years of extensive training to participate in the program. In contrast, Jake has no knowledge of Na'vi culture and has never used an Avatar. Regardless, the research team decides to let him go through with the program. During his first Avatar test Jake seems ecstatic to be able to use his legs once again.

Jake's first assignment is to escort Dr. Augustine and a biologist named Norm Spellman (Joel David Moore) through the hostile jungle. Eventually, the group is attacked and Jake becomes separated from the others, forcing them to leave him behind for the night and believing that he will "not survive" the alien environment. Throughout the night, he attempts to survive in his Avatar body, fending off dangerous creatures. This attracts the attention of a female Na'vi named Neytiri (Zoë Saldaña) who decides to intervene by rescuing Jake from certain onslaught. Although at first troubled by Jake's recklessness, she decides to take him back to the Na'vi Hometree, which is the center of her clan both spiritually and literally. The Na'vi decide to take Jake and teach him about their culture, so that they in turn could learn more about humans.

Jake encounters many of Pandora's beauties and dangers. Despite having originally gotten lost by chance, which led into his integration in the Na'vi tribe, he is sent by his military superiors to obtain the trust of the Na'vi clan, and convince them to abandon their Hometree, which sits above a large deposit of unobtainium. Jake finds himself caught between the military-industrial forces of Earth and a love for his adopted home and people. The humans attack and destroy the Hometree, forcing the Na'vi to flee. The Na'vi feel betrayed by Jake, ostracizing him from the tribe. Back at base, Jake and his compatriots are forcibly disconnected from their avatar interfaces and are arrested for arguing against the destruction. However, Trudy Chacon, disgusted at the violence, breaks the prisoners out, but Grace is mortally wounded in the departure from base. Deciding there is only one way that the Na'vi would listen to him now, Jake tames the Toruk, a formidable winged creature, and in doing so earns back the respect of the Na'vi. He offers to help fight the humans if they save Grace. They agree, but the attempt to transfer her consciousness into an avatar with the Sacred Tree fails due to her considerable injuries and Grace dies.

With Neytiri's assistance, Jake assemble thousands of Na'vi from other tribes and lead them into battle with the increasingly violent human forces, in order to save their race and world. The humans detect the assembling forces and the security chief orders a preemptive strike to destroy the Na'vi's main Sacred Tree in order to break their will. Meanwhile, Jake attempts to make contact with the spirits of that tree, pleading with Grace to appeal to the Na'vi god, Eywa, and the spirits to help in the coming battle, but Neytiri tells him that Eywa will remain neutral.

In the resulting battle, the Na'vi put up a much more formidable defense with Jake's direction, but they still cannot defeat the humans while taking heavy casualties. However, the native creatures of the region suddenly appear en masse to attack the humans with overwhelming might; Neytiri interprets this as Eywa having decided to intervene in the battle for the Na'vi. Despite this reversal, the Security Chief orders the Sacred Tree bombed, but Jake manages to land on the shuttle and down it.

The Security Chief's craft is attacked as well, but he is able to escape the vehicle in his mecha as it crashes. As he proceeds to the Sacred Tree to destroy it, he finds the remote Avatar interface field pod Jake's compatriots had moved and hidden deep in Na'vi territory and decides to destroy it to kill Jake. Neytiri and Jake arrive to stop him and manage to defeat their enemy, but not before he seriously damages the pod, exposing Jake's true body to the planet's deadly atmosphere. Neytiri manages to understand the emergency and saves him by retrieving a protective mask from the remnants of the base.

After the battle, the humans are forced to evacuate Pandora, while Jake and friends decide to remain. The film ends with Jake permanently transferring his consciousness from his human form to his Na'vi avatar by way of a Na'vi ritual.

Cast and characters

Main article: Characters and wildlife in Avatar

Humans

• Sam Worthington as Jake Sully. Cameron cast the Australian actor after searching the world for promising young actors, preferring relative unknowns to keep the budget down. Worthington auditioned twice early in development,^[7] and he has signed on for possible sequels.^[15] Cameron felt that because Worthington had not done a major film, he was "game for anything", giving the character "a quality that is really real. He has that quality of being a guy you'd want to have a beer with, and he ultimately becomes a leader who transforms the world".^[16]
• Sigourney Weaver as Dr. Grace Augustine, a botanist who mentors Jake Sully.^[17] Weaver dyed her hair red for the part.^[18] Her character was named "Shipley" at one point.^[19] The character reminded Weaver of Cameron, being "very driven and very idealistic".^[20]
• Michelle Rodriguez as Trudy Chacon, a retired Marine pilot. Cameron had wanted to work with Rodriguez since seeing her in Girlfight.^[21]
• Giovanni Ribisi as SecFor administrator Parker Selfridge, a passive-aggressive character.^[22]
• Joel David Moore as Norm Spellman, a biologist who studies plant and nature life (like Weaver's character).
• Stephen Lang as SecFor's Colonel Miles Quaritch, the main antagonist. Lang had unsuccessfully auditioned for a role in Cameron's Aliens (1986); the director remembered Lang and cast him in Avatar.^[21] Michael Biehn, who was in Aliens, read the script and watched some of the 3D footage with Cameron,^[23] but was ultimately not cast in the role.
• Dileep Rao as Dr. Max Patel. A Scientist that works in the Avatar Program.^[24]
• Matt Gerald as SecFor's Corporal Lyle Wainfleet, the second-most prominent villain, after Quaritch.^[25]

Na'vi

• Zoë Saldaña as Neytiri, a princess of the Na'vi tribe central to the story, who is attracted to Jake because of his bravery.^[26] The character, like all the Na'vi, was created using performance capture, and is entirely computer generated.^[27] Saldaña has also signed on for potential sequels.^[15]
• C. C. H. Pounder as Mo'at, the Na'vi queen.^[28]
• Laz Alonso as Tsu'Tey, one of Pandora's finest Na'vi warriors and Neytiri's betrothed.
• Wes Studi as Eytucan, the Na'vi king of the Omaticaya clan, the husband of Mo'at and Neytiri's father.
• Peter Mensah as Akwey, a member of the Na'vi tribe.

Pandora's wildlife

• Banshee, ikran. The pteranodon-like mountain banshee is highly adapted for flight. Specially developed muscles attached to the breastbone allow for the powerful strokes needed to achieve lift. Bonding with a banshee is a dangerous and required rite of passage for all would-be Na'vi warriors. A Banshee bonds with only one Na'vi in their lifetime.^[29]
• Direhorse, pa’li. Horse-like creature with six legs, tough skin with no fur, long necks and small head, bold stripes, flexible carbon fiber armor over shoulders and along the back of the neck and head.^[30]
• Hammerhead Titanothere, angtsìk. This massive, grazing creature travels in small herds or packs. It is moderately social, but also extremely territorial and hierarchical. When angered, a titanothere will lower its head and charge at the perceived threat. The sheer momentum and ferocity of this display is usually enough to send any Pandoran creature running for cover. As for Human forces, the species is exceptionally resistant to most weapons available to ground forces, making them an extremely formidable force when charging en masse.^[31]
• Thanator, palulukan. The most fearsome of all Pandoran land predators, it possesses a wide, armored tail can slam prey or defend against other thanators. Cartilaginous plates around its neck that can flare, possibly as a threat display but more likely as an echolocation or other sensory pinpointing system. The speed of its neck and jaw strike is as swift as a camera shutter.^[32]
• Leonopteryx, toruk. A large aerial predator, similar to the Ikran, but much larger, with crests of bone on its head.
• Viperwolf, nantang. With six legs and a lean, powerful torso, the viperwolf has evolved to travel swiftly over long distances in search of prey. The ratio of brain mass to body weight of the average adult viperwolf indicates a high order of mental processing, pattern recognition and communication skills.^[33]
• The Hometree, Kelutrel. The Hometree stands over 150 meters tall, and is roughly thirty meters in diameter,^[34] large enough to house dozens of Na'vi. The tree is honeycombed with natural hollows and alcoves in which the Na'vi sleep, eat, weave, dance, and celebrate their connection to Eywa. Like many sacred sites on Pandora, Hometree sits above a large deposit of unobtainium.

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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

G-Force is a 2009 spy-fi comedy film produced by Jerry Bruckheimer for Walt Disney Pictures in Disney Digital 3-D. Written by Cormac and Marianne Wibberley, the film is the directorial debut of Hoyt Yeatman, whose earlier work includes in the area of visual effects. Yeatman has previously worked with Bruckheimer on a number of films, including The Rock, Armageddon, and Kangaroo Jack. ^[4] It was released in the US on July 24, 2009 and reached #1 in the box office with 30 million.^[5]

This is the first live-action Disney film to be produced in Disney Digital 3-D, not including two concert films, Hannah Montana & Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert and Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience. The film was shown in competing 3-D technologies like Dolby 3D^[6] and RealD Cinema^[7].

This is also Jerry Bruckheimer's first 3-D film

Plot

The film revolves around an special FBI organization of trained secret agent animals, equipped with advanced tools including an advanced earpiece that allows the mammalian members to talk to humans. In addition to a team of cockroaches, the primary field team consists of guinea pigs Darwin (Sam Rockwell) (team leader), Juarez (Penelope Cruz) (martial arts), Blaster (Tracy Morgan) (weapons/transportation), star-nosed mole Speckles (Nicolas Cage) (cyber intelligence), and fly Mooch (reconnaissance) (Dee Bradley Baker). Hoping to impress his superiors on the eve of a budgetary review, the unit's leader, Ben (Zach Galifinakis), orders an unauthorized infiltration of the residence of home electronics and appliances magnate, Leonard Saber, who has been under FBI investigation for years. The team is able to successfully retrieve considerable sensitive information about a sinister scheme that is set to occur in 29 hours. However, when Ben's superior arrives for his evaluation, his astonishment at the team's capabilities and technology is overcome by his indignation at Ben's unauthorized mission and the fact that the downloaded intelligence appears to be useless information about Saber's coffee makers. As a result, the government agent orders the unit shut down, the equipment seized and the animals to be used as experimental subjects to be killed as security risks. With the help of their human compatriots, Darwin, Juarez, Blaster, Mooch, and Speckles escape with hopes of stopping Saber's scheme, but find themselves in a pet carrying case bound for a pet shop.

Now trapped in the store's pet rodent display case, G-Force meets Hurley (Jon Favreau), a gluttonous guinea pig, Bucky (Steve Buscemi) an irascible hamster and three sycophantic mice. Although Blaster and Juarez manage to get themselves sold to a family with plans to return to extract their comrades, Speckles' own attempt to escape by playing dead ends disastrously when he is thrown into and apparently crushed in a garbage truck. Meanwhile, Mooch manages to return to Ben to tell him where his mammalian agents are, but Darwin escapes (with Hurley, who is convinced that Darwin is his brother, tagging along) before he can arrive to collect them.

While Blaster and Juarez escape their new owners to return to Ben, he and his partner discover that the discredited intel has a destructive computer function that apparently hid the scheme. At this time, Darwin and Hurley make their own way to their superior. On route, Darwin sees a Saber coffeemaker and decides to investigate it, but his examination of the machine makes it come alive as a dangerous fighting robot that he and Hurley are barely able to defeat. Now with his suspicions vindicated, Darwin and Hurley transport the wreckage to Ben. However, upon arrival, Ben has lost all confidence in his team and confesses the shattering information that they are not special genetically enhanced animals as previously told, but ordinary ones Ben took in and trained for the team. However, Hurley lifts them from their despair by reminding the team of the astounding feats he has seen them do and the fact that they obviously made themselves extraordinary on their own.

Emboldened but with little time to stop the scheme, Ben provides the field team with the means to infiltrate the Saber residence and plant a virus in the computer mainframe. Unfortunately, FBI agents are ordered to capture the animals dead or alive, forcing the team to elude them with an extended pursuit thanks to a high speed vehicle especially designed for them. After that is accomplished and the team infiltrates Saber's mainframe, the plan is put into motion, and the resulting battle separates the group, only leaving Darwin to take the mainframe down. At the same time, Leonard Saber is shocked to discover that his appliances have become killing machines, expecting them to simply be able to effectively communicate with each other, while FBI takes advantage of this obvious pretext to finally openly move against the industrialist. When Darwin reaches the mainframe, he finds out that Speckles, whose home and family had been destroyed by humans, is the mastermind of the plan, whose masterstroke is to cause a massive planetwide bombardment of space junk pulled from orbit to make the planet surface uninhabitable. Speckles promptly amalgamates the various appliances in the vicinity into a giant walking being, which, combined with a localized bombardment of orbital debris, soon overpowers the police forces gathered at the mansion. Darwin manages to persuade Speckles that his new family is with the rest of the team and Ben, who had taken them all in. Speckles consents, and tries to shut it down, but realizes that it has gone too far. However, Darwin uses the computer virus on his PDA to take it down.

At the end of the film, the guinea pigs are personally commended by the FBI Director who also appoints them special agents of the FBI. Furthermore, G-Force is reinstated as a unit of the Bureau and expanded with Hurley, Bucky and the mice inducted as new recruits. Meanwhile, Saber makes the largest product recall in history, and Speckles is given the punitive duty of personally removing the malicious chips from all Saber products, which number in the tens of thousands.

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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Ninja Assassin is a martial arts film directed by James McTeigue and starring Rain. The film was produced by Joel Silver and the Wachowski brothers, and filming took place in Berlin, Germany.

Synopsis

Raizo (Rain) is one of the world's deadliest assassins, having been orphaned as a child and raised by the Ozunu Clan, believed by the world to be a myth. When the love of his life is executed by the Clan for betrayal, Raizo begins to harbor resentment towards the Clan. When his first official mission is completed, he is told to execute one of his fellow members for the same reason his lover died. He rebels against them, nearly dying in the process, and goes into hiding, seeking revenge on his former Clan. Meanwhile, Mika Coretti (Naomie Harris) is a Europol agent who investigates money linked to political murders and finds that it is linked to the Ozunu Clan. She defies her superior, Ryan Maslow (Ben Miles), and retrieves secret agency files to find out more. The clan, finding out about the investigation, attempts to assassinate her, but she is rescued by Raizo. Hiding in Berlin, Raizo and Mika must find a way to take down the Ozunu Clan permanently. ^[2]

Cast

• Rain as Raizo, one of the world's deadliest assassins.^[3]
  • Yoon Sungwoong portrays Raizo as a child, and Joon Lee portrays Raizo as a teenager.
• Naomie Harris as Mika Coretti, a Europol agent.^[2]
• Rick Yune as Takeshi, the leader of a team sent by the Ozunu Clan.^[2]
• Ben Miles as Ryan Maslow, Mika's Europol superior.^[2]
• Sho Kosugi plays Lord Ozunu. Leader of the Ozunu Ninja Clan.^[3]

Actor Collin Chou was originally cast for an undisclosed lead role after Jet Li turned down an offer,^[4] but Chou later left the role.^[5]

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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

2012 is a 2009 science fiction apocalyptic disaster film based loosely on the 2012 phenomenon and directed by Roland Emmerich. The film stars John Cusack, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Amanda Peet, Oliver Platt, Danny Glover, Thandie Newton, and Woody Harrelson. It was distributed by Columbia Pictures. Filming began in August 2008 in Vancouver.

The credits cite the bestselling non-fiction book Fingerprints of the Gods by author Graham Hancock as inspiration for the film,^[8] and in an interview with the London magazine Time Out Emmerich states: "I always wanted to do a biblical flood movie, but I never felt I had the hook. I first read about the Earth's Crust Displacement Theory in Graham Hancock's Fingerprints of the Gods." ^[9] The film briefly references Mayanism, the Mesoamerican Long Count calendar, and the 2012 phenomenon in its portrayal of cataclysmic events unfolding in the year 2012. Due to solar flare bombardment the Earth's core begins heating up at an unprecedented rate, eventually causing crustal displacement. This results in an onslaught of Doomsday event scenarios plunging the world into chaos, ranging from California falling into the Pacific Ocean, the eruption of the Yellowstone National Park caldera, massive earthquakes, and Megatsunami impacts along every coast line on the Earth. The film centers around an ensemble cast of characters as they narrowly escape multiple catastrophes in an effort to reach ships in the Himalayas, along with scientists and governments of the world who are attempting to save as many lives as they can before the disasters ensue.

Reviews of the film have been mixed, with critics pointing out the impossibility of the Apocalyptic scenarios depicted in the film. The film ran a much criticized viral marketing campaign in the form of the fictional organization Institute for Human Continuity, a fictitious book written by Jackson Curtis entitled Farewell Atlantis, and streaming media, blog updates and radio broadcasts from the apocalyptic zealot Charlie Frost at his website entitled This Is The End.

Plot

In 2009, American geologist Adrian Helmsley meets his friend, Doctor Santam Tsurutani, in India. Santam has discovered that neutrinos from a massive solar flare are acting as microwaves, causing the temperature of the Earth's core to increase rapidly. Adrian informs White House Chief of Staff Carl Anheuser and US President Thomas Wilson that this will instigate a catastrophic chain of natural disasters. At the G8 summit in 2010, other heads of state and heads of government are made aware of the situation. They begin a secret project intended to ensure humanity survives, choosing 400,000 people to board a series of gigantic ships to be constructed in the Himalayas. To help fund the venture, additional individuals are allowed to purchase tickets for one billion euros apiece. In 2011, the Mona Lisa is replaced by a replica and transported to Switzerland to survive the catastrophe.

In 2012, Jackson Curtis is a writer in Los Angeles who works part-time as a limousine driver for wealthy Russian businessman Yuri Karpov. Jackson's ex-wife Kate and their children Noah and Lily live with her boyfriend, plastic surgeon and amateur pilot Gordon Silberman. Jackson takes Noah and Lily on a camping trip to Yellowstone National Park, where they meet Charlie Frost, a conspiracy theorist living as a hermit and hosting a radio show from the park. Charlie believes a theory that suggests the Mayans predicted the world would come to an end in 2012, and claims he has knowledge of a secret "space ship" project and possesses a map of their location. The family returns home as cracks develop along the San Andreas Fault in California and earthquakes occur in the San Francisco Bay area. After being informed by Yuri's twin sons that they have tickets for a special ship while he will die, Jackson grows suspicious and rents a plane to rescue his family. He collects his family and Gordon when the Earth's crust displacement begins and they escape Los Angeles as it collapses into the Pacific Ocean.

As millions die in earthquakes worldwide, the group flies to Yellowstone to retrieve Charlie's map. The group narrowly escapes as the Yellowstone Caldera erupts. Charlie, who stayed behind to broadcast the eruption, is killed by the blast. Learning the ships are in China, the group lands in Las Vegas, where they meet Yuri, his sons, girlfriend Tamara, and pilot Sasha. They join the group and secure an Antonov An-225, fleeing Las Vegas as it is destroyed. The group flies to China, passing Hawaii as it is obliterated by volcanic eruptions. Also bound for the ships aboard Air Force One are Anheuser, Adrian, and First Daughter Laura Wilson. President Wilson chooses to remain in Washington D.C. and address the nation one last time and inform the people of the world of the impending disasters and is killed by a giant tsunami that sends the USS John F. Kennedy crashing into the White House. With the Vice President dead and the Speaker of the House missing, Anheuser appoints himself acting president.

Arriving in China in a crash-landing that kills Sasha, Yuri and his sons are taken to the ships, stranding the Curtis family, Gordon, and Tamara, who do not possess tickets. After leaving the crash site, the group is picked up by Nima, a Buddhist monk. They sneak into an ark through its hydraulics chamber with the help of Nima's brother Tenzin, a welder for the ark project. Meanwhile, Satnam and his family are stranded in India after their airlift fails to arrive. In his last moments, Satnam calls Adrian, informing him that an uncharted tsunami is engulfing India and heading towards the arks. Anheuser orders the arks sealed, trapping thousands outside. Adrian convinces the G8 leaders to let the remaining people board. As the ark's boarding gate is lowered and then raised, Yuri falls to his death getting his two sons aboard. Gordon falls between the gears and dies. A large drill then falls and becomes lodged between the gears, preventing the gate from closing and rendering the ship unable to start its engines. The tsunami begins flooding the ark. When the tsunami hits the airport, Air Force One is washed into the ark, setting it adrift. Tamara dies in a flooding room while crying for help. Jackson and Noah free the drill from the closing mechanism. The crew regains control of the ark, preventing a fatal collision with Mount Everest.

The date is now January 27, 0001. When the floodwater from the tsunamis recedes, satellite data shows that Africa rose in relation to sea level, and the Drakensberg mountains in KwaZulu Natal are now the highest on the planet. As three arks set sail for the Cape of Good Hope, Jackson reconciles with his family and Adrian starts a relationship with Laura. The movie ends with a view of the Earth with a geographically different Africa.

Production

Director Roland Emmerich and composer-producer Harald Kloser co-wrote a spec script titled 2012, which was marketed to major studios in February 2008. Nearly all studios met with Emmerich and his representatives to hear the director's budget projection and story plans, a process that the director had previously gone through with the films Independence Day (1996) and The Day After Tomorrow (2004).^[10] Later that month, Sony Pictures Entertainment won the rights for the spec script, planning to distribute it under Columbia Pictures.^[11] The studio planned to make the film for less than the estimated budget.^[12] The film was eventually made with a production budget of $200m^[2][3] – $260m.^[4][5]

Filming was originally scheduled to begin in Los Angeles, California, in July 2008,^[13] but instead commenced in Vancouver in August 2008 and concluded in January 2009.^[14] Due to the possible 2008 Screen Actors Guild strike, filmmakers set up a contingency plan for salvaging the film.^[15] Uncharted Territory, Digital Domain, Double Negative, Scanline, Sony Pictures Imageworks and others were hired to create visual effects for 2012.^[16] Thomas Wander co-wrote the score with Harald Kloser.

Cast

• John Cusack as Jackson Curtis, a science fiction book writer who occasionally works as a limousine driver^[17]
• Chiwetel Ejiofor as Adrian Helmsley, scientific advisor to the President^[18]
• Amanda Peet as Kate Curtis, Jackson's ex-wife^[19]
• Liam James as Noah Curtis, Jackson and Kate's son
• Morgan Lily as Lilly Curtis, Jackson and Kate's daughter^[20]
• Thomas McCarthy as Gordon Silberman, Kate's current boyfriend and a plastic surgeon.^[21]
• Danny Glover as Thomas Wilson, the President of the United States^[12]
• Thandie Newton as Laura Wilson, the First Daughter^[12]
• Oliver Platt as Carl Anheuser, the President's Chief of Staff^[12]
• Zlatko Burić as Yuri Karpov, a Russian billionaire
• Beatrice Rosen as Tamara, Yuri's Russian girlfriend
• Chin Han as Tenzin, a worker in Tibet^[14]
• Osric Chau as Nima, a Buddhist monk and Tenzin's brother
• John Billingsley, as Professor Frederic West, an American scientist.
• Johann Urb as Sasha, a Russian pilot
• George Segal as Tony Delgatto, an elderly traveling musician
• Blu Mankuma as Harry Helmsley, Adrian's father and Tony's musical partner
• Jimi Mistry as Dr. Satnam Tsurutani, a scientist who helps discover the events that are to come in India.
• Woody Harrelson as Charlie Frost,^[22] a conspiracy theorist disguised as Yellowstone hermit who prophesies the end of the world and is considered crazy by others. Harrelson compared his character to the mythological Greek figure Cassandra, whose predictions were dismissed^[23]

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Astro Boy (original Japanese name: 鉄腕アトム, Tetsuwan Atomu), is a 2009 computer-animated 3-D film loosely based on the long-running Japanese series of the same name by Osamu Tezuka. It was produced by Imagi Animation Studios,^[4] the animation production company of TMNT. The studio announced the project in September 2006. It was directed by David Bowers and produced by Maryann Garger^[5] with Pilar Flynn as associate producer.^[6] Freddie Highmore provides the voice of Astro Boy in the movie.^[7] The film also features the voices of Kristen Bell, Nathan Lane, Eugene Levy, Matt Lucas, Bill Nighy, Donald Sutherland, and Nicolas Cage. A trailer of the movie was shown in the North American Home Theater of PlayStation Home from December 28, 2008 to January 8, 2009. The movie was released first in Japan on October 10, 2009, and in the US on October 23, 2009.

Plot

The film begins in Metro City, a small city that floats above Earth, which is now covered in discarded robot parts. Toby Tenma finishes a physics pop quiz ahead of all his classmates and is free to leave, so he rewires Orrin (the family servant robot) who takes Toby to the Ministry of Science.

Toby's father, Dr. Tenma, is at the ministry, meeting with President Stone and Dr. Elefun. They have captured two cores of energy, a "positive" (good) core and a "negative" (evil) core. Toby is placed in a room where he is supposed to stay until the end of the demonstration, but he escapes and runs off to the demonstration room.

President Stone orders the Red Core to be placed into a robot called "The Peacekeeper" to power it. The Peacekeeper begins to malfunction and tries to attack the scientists, vaporizing Toby before the adults are able to deactivate the robot.

Soon after, Dr. Tenma is seen holding blueprints of a robot replica of Toby, in hopes of recreating his son. He takes hair from Toby's hat to access all his memories and place them in the robot. Dr. Elefun provides the Blue Core to power the very advanced Toby robot. The robot Toby comes to life, to the excitement of Dr. Tenma. Tenma then takes Toby home, at first excited to spend time with his son, but he quickly realizes the new Toby is not the same as the old Toby.

Dr. Tenma calls Dr. Elefun, fearing that he may have made a mistake. Dr. Elefun makes a point that Toby cannot be exactly duplicated. Dr. Tenma grieves over the fact that whenever he sees Toby, he is reminded that Toby is really gone and will never come back.

While in his room, Toby worries about his father, since he has never been that angry with him before. While Toby gets into a quarrel with cleaning robots outside his window, he discovers he can understand them but falls out the window only to discover that he can fly.

President Stone discovers Toby's energy signature and his blue core, and orders his troops to capture it. When Toby returns home he overhears his father talking with Elefun about deactivating Toby. Dr. Tenma reveals that Toby is only just a copy of the original Toby and that he no longer wants him since his face only reminds him of his real son and the pain of losing him. Devastated, Toby flies off but not before Elefun assures him that he has a place somewhere in the world.

Toby is ambushed by military drones. A barrage of missiles temporarily disables Toby, causing him to fall to the Earth's surface. Toby wakes up on the Earth's surface, covered in broken robots, where he meets a robot dog named Trashcan. Trashcan leads Toby to a trap where he is wrapped up and captured by a group of kids, but released when he appears to be a human. Toby is then abducted by the "Robot Liberation Front", who name him "Astro". They then warn him of Hamegg, who enslaves robots. Cora and the children break in to free Toby/Astro.

Tenma promises to President Stone that he will deactivate Astro when they capture him and give Stone the blue core for the Peacekeeper. Cora takes Astro to their home, filled with tons of children and the Fagin-like ringmaster Hamegg. However, Hamegg isn't as evil as he seems. Hamegg eagerly welcomes Astro into their family. Later that night, Hamegg talks with Astro and how he used to work in Metro City with Dr. Tenma, but was thrown away due to his "intimidating brilliance".

The next day while out searching for parts in Brazil, Trashcan tried to tell everyone else that Astro is a robot, but fails. (Trashcan writes on the ground "He's A Robot" but then one of the kids comments "Makes me wish I knew how to read.") Astro finds a 100 year old robot named Zog. Using the power of his blue core, Astro revives Zog. They take him back to their home and fix him up for the robot games. But Astro is slightly upset when he discovers that it is a fight to the death. Before the games start, Hamegg electrifies Astro and reveals to everyone that he is a robot. So, Hamegg puts him in the games. At Yankee Stadium, Astro easily clears all the robots but is put up against Zog, who refuses to fight Astro. Hamegg, forcibly tries to get Astro to fight, but Zog attacks him (being over 100 years old, the rules of robots not being allowed to harm humans doesn't apply to him, since it has been the rule for 50 years). Just then the military arrives and Zog tries to defend Astro, but Astro stops Zog and goes with the military.

Astro is taken back to the lab he was made in and Dr. Elefun tells him that he is wonderful and none of this is his fault, but Astro believes that it is hard to fit in and that perhaps this is his destiny. Dr. Tenma takes out the blue core and apologizes to Astro, who says he shouldn't be sorry and apologizes for not being a better Toby. Dr. Tenma gives Stone the core, but betrays him and takes it back, putting it in Astro. Astro wakes up wondering why Dr. Tenma has done that, but he replies that even though Astro is not Toby, he is still his son.

Astro escapes so Stone uses the red core to reactivate the Peacekeeper, however, the Peacekeeper absorbs Stone and heads to destroy Astro, with Stone's mind controling it. With the entire city cleared and the Peacekeeper on the rampage, absorbing every weapon it comes across, Astro flies into the city to protect it from the rampaging behemoth. Meanwhile, Cora and the others hijack Hamegg's car to head to Metro City and help Astro. In the resulting showdown, the city's power source is destroyed but Astro manages to hold it up and causing it to land unharmed before continueing his destructive battle with the Peacekeeper. He's captured by the Peacekeeper but when it tries to absorb him, it doesn't work. Dr. Tenma tells Astro that if the blue core and red core come together, Astro and the Peacekeeper will die. Knowing that the Peacekeeper must be stopped, even if it means sacrificing himself, Astro flies into the Peacekeeper's red core, resulting in a massive explosion that completely destroys the Peacekeeper. Stone emerges from the rubble unharmed but is quickly arrested while Astro was deactivated since the blue core was drained in the explosion. But Zog arrives and because he was revived with the blue core, he is able to return some of the energy back to Astro, reactivating him.

Astro finds his place as a hero and everyone rejoices. Cora reunites with her parents. But before any celebrating can happen a large alien attacks the city and Astro, now at peace with his robotic nature and his destiny as a hero, immediately launches into action after reassuring his concerned father, "I was made ready!" The movie ends with Astro flying off to fight off the alien.

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See also: This Is It (Michael Jackson concerts), This Is It (Michael Jackson album), and This Is It (Michael Jackson song)

Michael Jackson's This Is It^[7] is a 2009 American concert film documenting Michael Jackson's on-stage and behind-the-scenes rehearsals of the concert series of the same name scheduled to start on July 13, 2009, but canceled due to his sudden passing eighteen days prior on June 25. The film, dedicated to Jackson's three children, consists mainly of Jackson rehearsing musical numbers, with most songs compiled from footage of several rehearsals. Between songs, Jackson is shown directing and leading his team, and behind the scenes work for the concerts is shown. The film's director Ortega confirmed that when Jackson had filmed footage of himself rehearsing that he never had the intention of releasing it to the public, but after Jackson's death, it was agreed that the film be made and released for Jackson's fans. The footage was filmed at the Staples Center arena in Los Angeles, California. Despite originally being set for October 30, the film's release date was rescheduled for October 28, 2009 due to a strong demand by Jackson's fans. The film was given a wide worldwide release and a limited two-week theatrical run from October 28, to November 12, 2009. Tickets went on sale a month early on September 27, 2009, to satisfy a high anticipated demand; to date, the film has broken numerous records via tickets both pre-sale and sales worldwide.

Since the film's confirmation, AEG Live has faced criticism; mostly consisting of theories that they'd only made the film solely for them to be able to make a profit off Jackson. Multiple members of Jackson's family had confirmed that they didn't support the film and some family members went as far as to try to stop the film agreement in August. The film has also been surrounded by multiple controversies, including allegations regarding the appearance of body doubles in place of Jackson, which Sony denied, and an outrage from Jackson fans; with some going as far as to start a protest against the film. On August 10, 2009, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Mitchell Beckloff approved a deal between Michael Jackson's estate, concert promoter AEG Live, and Sony Pictures. The agreement allowed Sony to edit the hundreds of hours of rehearsal footage needed to create the film. Sony subsequently paid $60 million for the film rights.^[5]

The trailer premiered during the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards on September 13, 2009, along with the simultaneous launching of the film's official website.^[8] The film was released to mainly positive reviews from both critics and Jackson fans; the film's portrayal of Jackson and his performances were generally praised, while criticism mainly consisted of both critics and fans having felt that the film was made just to profit off Jackson's death and that Jackson wouldn't have wanted the film released because he was a "perfectionist". In the film's opening weekend it grossed over $23 million - in the United States alone - making the film number one at the box office^[6] and making it the fifth highest-grossing Halloween debut.^[9] With the film's current worldwide revenue gross of over $200 million,^[10] the film is the highest grossing concert movie in history.^[9]

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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Fast & Furious, also known as The Fast and the Furious 4, is the fourth film in The Fast and the Furious film series. The film was released in the United States on April 3, 2009. The plot connects with the original film of the series from which Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Michelle Rodriguez, and Jordana Brewster reprise their roles.^[3][4] The film was directed by Justin Lin, who also directed the third installment of the series, The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift.

Plot

The movie opens up with Dominic Toretto and his new crew hijacking fuel tankers in the Dominican Republic. The crew consists of Letty, Rico, Tego and Han Lue. After a heist, Dominic believes that the trail is too hot and leaves Letty to go elsewhere. While he is in Panama City, Toretto gets a call from his sister Mia. She tells him that Letty has been murdered. Dom heads back to Los Angeles and examines the car crash that Letty was in and finds traces of nitromethane. Dom then goes to the only car mechanic that uses nitromethane and coerces him into giving him the name David Park, the man who ordered the fuel.

Meanwhile, FBI agent Brian O'Conner is trying to track down a drug dealer named Arturo Braga. His search leads him to David Park. Dom arrives at Park's apartment first and hangs him out of the window by his ankles before letting go. Brian, who was also on his way to Park's place, saves Park and Park becomes the FBI's new informant. Park gets Brian into a street race through Los Angeles; the winner will become the last driver on a team that traffics heroin between the United States-Mexico border for Braga. Dom also shows up to race. At the end, Dom and Brian are neck-and-neck, and Dom wins when he hits Brian's rear fender and causes him to spin out. Brian uses his power as an FBI agent to arrest another driver, Dwight Mueller, and takes his place on the team.

The day after, the team meets Fenix, one of Braga's men. It was revealed to Dom that Fenix was the person who murdered Letty. They drive across the border, using underground tunnels to avoid detection. Brian had prior knowledge that after the heroin was delivered Braga ordered the drivers to be killed (he was able to plant Letty undercover to capture Braga in exchange for Dom's freedom when she was murdered), and after a tense stand-off, Dom blows up his car to distract Braga's men and Brian hijacks a Hummer with USD $60 million worth of heroin. Both Dom and Brian drive back to Los Angeles. They hide the heroin in a police impound lot. The next day, Brian tells his superiors that he can lure Braga into a trap, forcing him to personally show up to exchange money for the heroin, so that the police can arrest him. He says he will do this if they will pardon Dom. At the drop site, however, the man who claims to be Braga is a decoy and Campos, the real Braga, escapes and flees to Mexico.

Brian and Dom head out to Mexico on their own to catch Braga. They find him at a church and apprehend him. As Braga's henchmen come down to rescue their leader, Brian and Dom drive through the underground tunnels back to the United States. During the final moments of the chase, Brian crashes his car and is injured after being T-boned by Fenix at the end of the tunnel. Before Fenix can kill Brian, Dom, who was not far behind, drives into and kills Fenix. As police and helicopters start streaming to the crash site on the U.S. side, Brian tells Dom to get out of there. Dom says he is tired of running. Despite Brian's request for clemency, the judge sentences Dom to 25 years to life. In the last scene of the movie, Dom boards a prison bus that will take him to Lompoc penitentiary. As the bus drives down the road, Mia and Brian, along with Tego and Rico (who assisted in the Dominican Republic heists), arrive in their cars to intercept it.

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